Primal Nature

by PonyPear4262

Rating: teen
Tags: Alternate Universe, Dark, Adventure
Length: 14520

Twilight Sparkle, prodigy of mind and magic, discovers a creature of unknown origin and legendary power.

Twilight Sparkle, brilliant scholar and Magister, stumbles upon a mysterious creature of unknown origin deep in the Everfree forest. The Chimera, a beast with power beyond imagining. However, is it truly the monster it appears to be?

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2013-04-02 14:54:33 UTC

1: Exploring the Everfree

Princess Celestia looked out from her balcony with a solemn gaze, her mouth curled into the small, knowing smile that had seen as many joyous births as it had deaths; a smile that knew the rise of gods as well as it did the fall of great civilisations. It was the half-sincere mask she wore to protect her ponies. Her kingdom. Her jewel of creation. She had heard once, a long time ago (to any normal pony; a blink of an eye to the Sun herself), that some races, including the proud battle-born Gryphons of the mountains, saw her Equestria as a paradise that was reserved only for the greatest to be reborn in as a pony. Absolute bollocks of course; the idea was so preposterous that Celestia found it very unlikely that any creature could have faith in such a thing. But now, seeing the beautiful bustling city of Canterlot, not to mention the gently rolling hills and gorgeous fields of the distant Meadows under the light of her setting sun... it suddenly made much more sense.

"Don't bother trying to ignore my handsome face, my pretty pony princess..."

Celestia's mood immediately soured at the sound of Discord's sultry voice from behind her. She turned to face the hideously amusing statue that stood in the centre of her chambers, allowing a small growl to escape her muzzle at the sight of her nemesis.

"Be silent, abomination," she said in disgusted monotone.

"Ooooo, naughty. Is that your pet-name for me, honeybunch? You did request for me to come up here to your chambers, aloooooone after all..."

"By request, I assume you meant 'order your keepers to drag you from the garden, making sure to bang you against as many hard surfaces as possible on the way".

"And here I was thinking you were just being feisty."

"Oh yes, Discord. I can't help falling for your infinite charm. All those times you twisted and corrupted my ponies, water under the bridge, you twisted insane monster."

A gleeful cackle. "Oh, how I've missed you Celestia. You never fail to put a smile on my face. Granted, said face is a little bit stiff at the moment, but you know what I mean."

"Enough idle banter," Celestia stood tall over the petrified spirit. Her alabaster form glowed with heavenly light, while her billowing prismatic ethereal mane ignited into lustrous golden flame. "We, Princess Celestia, Sol Invictus, hereby punish thee for thy crimes. Plead for mercy, tyrant."

The draconequus chuckled. "Banishment, my dear Celestia? I'm disappointed that you honestly expe-"

"SILENCE." the Alicorn stated simply, the pure power of her magic transforming the command into a inescapable law. "Discord, Lord of Chaos, for your crimes against ponies, the world, and all that is Good and Order..." The floor around Discord's statue glowed brightly in the shape of an impossibly intricate rune.

"No..." For the first time in the aeons of his existence, Discord was truly frightened.

The Solar Princess gazed at him without any trace of pity or sympathy. "We banish you to non-existence. The world will no longer have to bear the weight of the countless atrocities you have committed. All will be free from your madness. Forever."

"You can't."

A small smile. "I can."

Immediately, the inlaid rune blazed into life, constraining the statue with chains of white hot energy. The air thrummed with energy as the God of Chaos faced his end. The binding stone cracked and sizzled, the technicolor form of Discord writhing in pure rage.

"NO! I CANNOT BE DEFEATED. I AM CHAOS INCARNATE. DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT YOU'RE DOING?!" The restraints were pulled taut as the enraged spirit of Disharmony frantically resisted the colossal might of the Sun.

The room exploded.

The Everfree forest has always been, and likely always will be, an unexplained phenomenon. Most ponies say that the chaotic behaviour of the weather and wildlife is a result of the God of Chaos, Discord's, reign, while others claim that it is related to the still unexplained desertion of the Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters about 1000 years later. However, there are a few who believe that the Everfree predates both these events, a relic of a time where the world was in a permanent state of controlled chaos. A world that was as static as it was mobile. A free world.

Despite the mysteries surrounding the cryptic copse, no pony dared venture far into it, for the beasts and monsters that had become synonymous with the treacherous jungle only became more aggressive and violent. Though the creatures and plants that call the Everfree home are almost infinite in variety and evolutionary complexity, there are far more than just powerful predators; creatures of the supernatural are the true rulers of the forest. Among these almost legendary monsters are the Star-Beasts, incarnations of the constellations that rival gods; wraiths and revenants, lost souls that are said to have been summoned from Hell itself; and the chimera, magical amalgamations born from Chaos.

Twilight Sparkle was more than aware of the dangers of the Everfree forest, but the risk of agonisingly painful death paled in comparison to her insatiable appetite for learning, her curiosity reflecting that of a pony less than half her age. Trotting warily through the undergrowth, horn beating back the encroaching shadows with a warm violet glow, the lavender mare's eyes, burning with a fierce intelligence, flicked back and forth between a mostly empty map, the constantly flipping pages of a book, and a document, stamped with the Princesses royal seal; all floating casually in the air a leg's length in front of her, held in her magical grip. Twilight scanned the area around her before looking back at the map in front of her, bringing it right up to her eyes, before huffing in frustration. As pleased as she was that her lifelong friend had finally given her a task besides the usual humdrum activity that was usually give to her as Magister and Vizier, the information she had been received from Princess Celestia to work with was subpar at best: a map that was based mostly on popular belief, an equally-speculative summary of the phenomena she was to investigate and a jungle survival guide… for dummies, as the title unashamedly declares. The Element of Magic sighed, but she couldn't help smirking. If anyone could appreciate the Sun Goddess' sense of humour, it was her faithful protégé. She wasn't too bothered; she still had the poison joke on standby for the next Grand Galloping Gala, after all.

A sudden crunch snapped Twilight out of her musings, and she whirled in the direction of the sound as she simultaneously prepared both an energy shield and a stun spell, her lean muscles tensing in preparation for flight or fight, as the shadow of the beast swelled and stretched, huge jaws gnashing and crunching a pitiful. mutilated orange--

A small white bunny rabbit hopped out into the clearing and chewed on a malformed lump of carrot, before bolting with terrified shrieks at the sight of a panicked unicorn who was surrounded with a corona of magical energy. Twilight just stared, dumbfounded, for a moment, before releasing the built-up tension with a long exhale. She closed her eyes and began to breath in a steady rhythm, entering a semi-meditative state with practised efficiency, and reached through into her pocket dimension. Twilight reached out with her mind into the storage space, picked out another roll of parchment from a filing cabinet and receded back into her body, the chosen paper materialising in front of her.

Twilight unfurled the parchment, yet another map, providing a rough guide to what, and where, wildlife could be found within the Everfree forest. The forest was coloured green in the areas nearest the edges, meaning that the wildlife was mostly harmless, though that could mean anything from bunny rabbits to city-sized ethereal bears in the Everfree. A vast plane of white ringed with varying shades of red took up the remainder of the representation of the wood; red areas meant "danger" and the white translated as "people with bigger balls than you have tried, buddy". Glancing back at the map which showed her route, the irritatingly pessimistic voice at the back of Twilight's mind couldn't help but point out that her destination sat on the very edge of the white area… right in the middle of a bright red welt.

The purple pony slumped back onto her haunches, yelled out "Well, look on the bright side, at least things are merely life-threatening and not a complete disas-" and was promptly thrown forward onto her face as a colossal burst of primal magic erupted from between the trees in the vague direction of her destination. Twilight Sparkle lamented the direction her life was taking as she galloped off to the source of the disturbance.

Deep, deep within the forest, where the soil remained untouched by the Sun's blessed light, 3 pairs of eyes cracked open.

2: Encounter

Shadow. That was the only thing they knew. They did not know where they were, what they were, or why they were; the only thing they could see or think about was the oppressive gloom that pressed down on them from all sides. One of them was starting to panic and shout, the other two were still trapped in a haze of semi-consciousness. Tentatively, they took small steps forward, towards the light. The light was frightening in its power, blinding two of their six eyes with the rays it cast. Regardless, they did not stumble. Stumbling was for prey, which was something they simply knew. It was a inarguable truth that seemed to be etched into their three minds; the knowledge that prey was weak, and that they were strong.

Why then, the leading head asked, is the light so painful? The others did not understand him. They did not know of this light. They shared in his fear, but did not recognise it. That is no problem, he thought, for I am the strongest. Emboldened, they continued towards the strange light, carried by the leader. The light continued to blind him, but the opposite head relieved him of his burden somewhat, guiding them with his own sense. He spoke of tingles and colours, things that held no meaning to the others. But eventually, the light exploded, and they saw the world.

It was so colourful. The sky was purest blue, the trees and grass a luscious green, and the earth a rich brown. The leader, who knew himself as Lion, could not see the Sun for its light, which made him sad. The second head, who called himself Goat, said the sun was so beautiful and bright, but did not know of its colour. The final head, Serpent, did not know either, but could sense so many other things: most of them prey. Serpent described his ability as "tasting", a concept that remained alien to his two partners of mind and body. As happy as the thought of the food was, they knew that they were still weak, which was not a good condition to be in when hunting. Goat started panicking again at the idea of other, perhaps even stronger, hunters and Lion felt his hind legs buck periodically. Serpent showed displeasure at this, due to his unfortunate configuration. Lion calmed Goat, and looked around with the sharp eyes of a true predator, albeit ones that were blinded from the too-bright light.

From what he could tell, they were in a large clearing somewhere in the midst of a colossal forest. The trees that crowded and hemmed them in on all sides obscured the rest of the world from his sight, but he caught glimpses of small creatures watching, stalking and fleeing from them, and his sensitive ears and nose picked out their scents easily amongst the undergrowth. Behind them, a great hole in the earth,  the entrance obscured by vines and plants, must have been where they… slept? None of them knew why they awoke in that burrow. Burrows were for those who hid, not those who hunt. When they tried to step forward to explore their home, they almost fell to the ground; Goat's and Lion's steps were out of synch from delirium. Lion felt irritation at this, but Goat was too busy panicking to notice. Lion didn't blame his other part for his behaviour, for it was his nature to act as such. Goat provided the alertness and caution that tempered Lion's sometimes lax and prideful attitude. Serpent, on the other hand, had the cunning and patience which, alongside his strange sense, proved to be deadly. When Goat, with help from Lion, Serpent and a reasonably large rock, eventually regained control of his faculties, they walked unsteadily along a worn, yet clear, path out of their grotto. Serpent occupied himself with snapping up the small ones: tiny rodents that were too quick for Lion and unsuitable for Goat, but proved to be an ample solution to the constant hunger pangs. Goat, for his part, chewed half-heartedly on his grass. The sensation of something that was not meat was still peculiar to Lion, even when they were united as one being for as long as they could remember. In fact, they didn't even know if there was a time where they weren't fused, and if they had ever been separate. The idea was simply too odd.

Suddenly, Goat stopped the three in their tracks and went into full-alert, clamping his mouth shut and staring intently at a patch of bushes off to their left, all while channeling his findings to Serpent and Lion: a bright orb of purple light, controlled but intense. Serpent tasted the entity, his own unique form of detection giving them a clearer impression of their prey. Lion turned his huge head to stare at the disturbance. He savoured the fearful gasp he picked up with his large ears when he bared his fangs. The signs were different, but it was undeniable: it was a pony.

Twilight wasn't the most athletic pony in the world, by any means (bar that one time she placed 5th in the Running of the Leaves, but that's an entirely different story). However, over the few years up to and the few months since the Princesses' offer to become Magister and Grand Vizier to the throne, she had kicked her lazy habits somewhat and managed to maintain a reasonably fit physique as a result, a small achievement she took pride in, even if she was nowhere near her friends' Rainbow Dash and Applejack's level of inequine speed and strength. The lavender mare was doubly pleased with her newfound athleticism as she galloped at a steady speed towards the site of the Flare she had spotted earlier. At least, she thought it was a Flare: the uncontrolled power of the released energy lent credibility to this observation, but the nature of the magic was radically different to any style she had encountered, it was more like Disc-

Twilight stumbled slightly as a wave of anxiety and fear washed over her. It wasn't him. It COULDN'T be. She regularly checked on the statue in the Canterlot gardens for this very reason, and the Harmony seal that kept him locked away in his stone prison was as stronger than ever. Still, it would not be unreasonable to consider that something had managed to release him… Twilight wished she had her friends alongside her, like the old days, but they weren't around. Rainbow Dash was gallivanting off around Equestria in a tight spandex uniform with the Wonderbolts, Pinkie Pie and Applejack were still busy back in Ponyville as always (none of them were quite sure how Pinkie managed to become mayor, but they had to concede that tourism had boomed massively since her election), while Fluttershy had joined a political party in pursuit of a greener Equestria and only sporadically came back to Canterlot for political reasons. Only Rarity seemed to stay around in Canterlot with her, and that was liable to change what with Sweetie Bell's rapid rise to singer super-stardom on the horizon. Twilight loved them all, and always will, but it seemed her new status in the nobility had all but quashed her social life. Spike, the faithful little dragon that he was, had hung around the castle with her for a while, but she knew he itched to travel to Draconis, the land of the dragons, to learn about his own species. She worried about the idea, as was her duty as his mother/big sister, but he had proven himself to be more than capable of handling himself now that he had gone through his first true growth spurt. He had reached the point now where he stood nearly as tall as Princess Celestia at full height, and the small green flames he belched in his younger years were now roiling emerald infernos that Twilight used to great effect when dealing with stubborn and self-important nobleponies.

Twilight sighed. Nobleponies. That was what she dealt with mostly nowadays. She was incredibly proud of her achievements, having become the first Magister and Grand Vizier to the thrones in centuries. She had been confused at the revival of such ancient titles at first, until Princess Luna revealed to her that they were simply brought back so that Twilight's skills as a bureaucrat and incredible magical ability could be put to good use for the good of Equestria. Twilight half-suspected that Luna used that truth to cover up the fact that she was the closest friend to both monarchs, and they would like to keep her around, but she didn't mind: Celestia was practically a second mother to her, and she had become very close to Luna after she returned to Canterlot. Despite all that, her workload most days was mostly dealing with arrogant unicorn aristocrats who wouldn't take no for an answer. She was a Magister; she had more raw power and skill in her shortest eyelash than the inbred upper-crust of Canterlot society would ever obtain in their entire lives, yet she had to prostrate herself just to get them to understand that neither the Princesses nor her cared about their mostly petty concerns.

The purple unicorn stopped as she picked up something huge on her magical senses. Quickly, she brought out her maps and cast a scrying spell on herself, projecting her location onto the parchments relative to their size. What she found was unsurprising: a small purple 6-pointed star shone near her destination which, when superimposed with the colour-coded map, sat in the middle of the red blotch of unspeakable horror. Stashing the documents back in her null-space and withdrawing a pair of binoculars, the Magister creeped towards the presence, scanning her surroundings intently with a practised eye. She lifted the binoculars to her eyes with her telekinetic grip and peered through the trees at the being. She caught a glimpse of a colossal yellow-black mass of fur, which made her pause: was it a manticore? No, she thought, no manticore has ever felt so… ancient. Frowning, Twilight kept sneaking up on the entity, eventually stumbling upon a patch of bushes that would provide a good vantage point to finally see what had been awoken in this crazy fore-

It was huge. The monster easily dwarfed Princess Celestia, who, due to her status as one of the only two Alicorns, was already twice as tall as Twilight herself. The creature had the front half and forelegs of a oversized lion, which fused seamlessly with the rear end and cloven hooves of an equally proportioned charcoal-black goat, with the head lying just behind the lion's, on its back. The tail of the creature forced Twilight to quash the bile rising in her throat: a seemingly mile-long snake, coiling and writhing as it devoured an unfortunate mouse whole, grew out from just above the chimeric beast's rear end. Peering closer at the serpent, Twilight noticed bony ridges along its jaw and brow, as well as small spines travelling up the length of its back. Even when she was reeling with shock and fear, Twilight's inner scientist was immutable: she immediately drew comparisons to dragons, although the pointed tongue that flicked out from between its lips momentarily meant that it was closer-related to a snake. The goat was even more confusing. Looking at it as a practised negotiator, the constantly shifting gaze showed confusion and anxiety, which must mean it was… frightened? The lion showed no such emotion, just the calm and prideful glare of a predator that triggered an instinctual urge to flee in herbivores like Twilight and her kin. Resisting the traditional fight/flight response that had been deeply ingrained in her psyche, the purple unicorn simply sat and observed the perplexing creature. Twilight noticed that it seemed somewhat unsteady when it walked, and that the head of the lion was hanging low to the ground. The behaviour reminded her of herself in the mornings, and considered the possibility that it was newly awoken. The goat's hind legs bucked erratically on occasion, which made the dragon-snake-tail snap out in irritation. Did that mean that they acted independently of one another? Twilight wondered in horrified fascination. Setting down her binoculars, she closed her eyes and looked through her inner library of information that she had gleaned through her years of devouring every book that crossed her field of vision. She realised that this monster was not new; rather, it was incredibly ancient. This was not just a chimera, it was THE Chimera. Unfortunately, other details of her findings escaped her at this point in time, which made her horn spark in annoyance.

Twilight's eyes snapped open as the deafening silence hit her like a sledgehammer. She realised that she had been subconsciously listening to the irregular breathing pattern of the Chimera, a sound that had stopped abruptly. Trembling, she lifted the binos to her eyes, and was greeted with 3 pairs of eyes staring intently in her direction. She had been noticed. But how? She had suppressed all sound with a spell, and shrouded herself with a camouflage enchantment long before she encountered this monster. The only thing she could have done was… Shit. The spark. Were Chimera magically sensitive? The lion practically answered that for her as it bared its huge razor-fangs at her. Twilight gasped as she looked right into it's eyes: they were not the same as any manticore she had encountered, despite the other external similarities. The Chimera's gleamed with savage intelligence, the eyes of something that knew EXACTLY what it was doing. But that also gave Twilight a shred of hope: could it be reasoned with?

The Magister slowly got up, stashed the binoculars in her pocket dimension, and trotted carefully out into the clearing. None of the Chimera's heads made any sign of moving closer, they simply remained where they were and appraised her silently. Twilight pounced on her opportunity, clearing her throat softly before speaking.

"I'm not sure if you can understand me, but I mean you no harm…" Twilight wasn't a fool: she tapped her pool of shadow magic while she spoke and moulded the energy into a spell that would force the Chimera to fall unconscious if it attempted to attack her.

"… I simply wish to know why you are here in the Everfree forest, and what your intentio-" She didn't get any farther. Despite the stealth benefit of shadow magic, the goat head seemed to detect the black energy that slowly slithered towards them. Sparks of electricity danced between its horns, and Twilight was blasted with a huge bolt of magical lightning. The purple prodigy immediately called the shadows back and altered them fluidly into a pitch-black shield that deflected the attack. The lion, bemused curiosity shifting into primal anger, leapt forward and shattered her barrier with a single crushing blow. Twilight cried out as a claw cut into her foreleg, spattering blood over the grass at her hooves. With a blinding flash of light, she reflexively teleported away out of reach, but the snake tail caught her off guard by spraying acid from its mouth right where she appeared. Twilight yelped and lifted herself into the air with a powerful gust of wind, where she used her new-found height to her advantage by quickly taking stock of the situation.

The lion was incredibly fast and strong, even when disoriented, while the snake and goat could track her movements with a combination of powerful chemosensory devices and magic detection, respectively. Not only that, but the goat had access to lightning magic, which it could use to devastating effect, and the serpent could spray a torrent of highly corrosive acid, if the decaying shrubbery was anything to go by. The only way to end this fight - besides killing it, Twilight reminded herself, as she was more than capable of doing if she let her emotions get the better of her - would be to restrain and to calm it down and learn of it's intent. Frantically, she searched for something that could help, but only found trees.

Trees. Better than nothing.

Twilight landed on all four hooves, a feat Rainbow Dash would be proud of, and tapped her knowledge of elemental magic. Fire blossomed at the tip of her horn and she ignited the forest around the still reeling Chimera; not enough fire to cause any lasting damage, but enough for her purposes. The beast looked around at the flames curiously and backed away from them warily, too distracted to notice the blade of solid shadow that manifested in mid-air and slashed along it's side. Howling in pain, all three heads turned away to reveal it's other side to Twilight, who gathered a ball of pure force on the tip of her horn. With a cry of effort, the shimmering wave crashed into the creature's side and launched it into the air. Twilight immediately strung together of a series of spells while the Chimera was still airborne, and unleashed them in rapid succession.

Shift to water magic. Cast on ground beneath lion-goat-snake-thingy. Create mud slide. Shift to arcane magic. Decrease friction, shift direction of gravity. Direct towards giant tree, tap nature magic. Result…

None of them were quite sure what just happened. The purple pony had stepped out to meet them off it's own accord, which confused Lion greatly: they were huge and powerful. Was the pony stupid, Lion wondered. Goat warned him that she was very bright, painfully so, which gave Lion pause. Bright things tended to be very dangerous, they had learnt that lesson the hard way. Serpent felt it's fear, but also it's confidence. When the pony's mouth opened and she spoke to them, Lion was even more confused, for no prey they could remember ever tried speaking with them before. She spoke of how she meant them no harm, but Goat saw through the trick: he was not to be fooled by the bright pony, who intended to harm them with a dirty spell. Lion was angered by this ruse, and went in for the kill, but only managed to scratch her. The pony blinded them with another trick, but Serpent had her taste; no prey ever escaped after Serpent had tasted them. Annoyingly, she had escaped with another trick, and then she had hurt them. That wounded Lion deeper than the small scratch on his side, for he was a creature that prided himself on being the strongest.

When they found themselves flying through the air after being struck by some invisible fist, they didn't know what to think. Even Serpent's food thoughts were silenced temporarily. They hit something very hard, right on the top of Goat's head, silencing him. When Serpent and Lion recovered from the shock, they were trapped in a shell of wood and grass, and weren't able to move at all. The purple pony had walked over to the Chimera, and looked them right in the eyes. Then they FELT her.

I'm sorry, she said in their minds.

Why are you sorry, Lion thought back, you bested us.

She looked surprised by Lion's reply, much to his amusement, but she quickly answered: Despite what you may think, I never meant to hurt you. I needed to know what… who you are.

Images flooded their shared minds, images of them destroying homes, killing ponies, devouring them.

Food, Serpent thought diplomatically.

Shut up, Lion thought back. He wouldn't have cared what Serpent was thinking normally, but the anger that spiked from the lavender mare that spoke to them convinced him that she could easily destroy them now if she wanted.

Goat chose this time to awaken, and subsequently panicked when he felt the alien conscious in their minds. The purple pony who bested them did some bizarre trick, and all three components of the Chimera's mind immediately calmed. The outsider probed their thoughts gently (but kept away from Serpent's) and spoke to them again.

You are obviously unaware of your situation, she thought pityingly, which annoyed Lion. I represent our monarch, she may be able to help you, she told them.

When she showed them an image of her leader, all three minds seethed with rage. They knew this princess. They weren't sure how they knew this, but she was the Enemy. She was not to be trusted.

Twilight gasped as the telepathic connection shattered abruptly, and stumbled back as the snake snapped at her frantically. The serpent then sprayed acid on their wooden prison, dissolving the bindings and allowing them to tear themselves free. The Chimera barged past Twilight and roared as it fled deeper into the woods.

The Magister lay prone on the ground for a few minutes, though it seemed more like an hour, reeling from the flood of new information that she had gleaned from her brief interaction with the Chimera. She couldn't help herself; she SQUEE'd for the first time in years. As she got back to her feet, the aches and pains from her battle almost knocked her over again. Gathering what energy she had left, she visualised the gates of Canterlot castle, and teleported away with a flash.

3: Explanations

It was a normal day in the esteemed city of Canterlot; the majestic marble buildings that lined the streets of the capital, that sat proudly atop a mountainous cliff, shone a bright white with reflected light. Spires of gold sparkled brilliantly in the midday Sun; decadent creations born from countless centuries of flourishing peace. The entitled citizens, nobleponies especially so, went about their day with traditional flamboyance, garbed in fashionable headwear and the occasional waistcoat. Unicorns were far more common in the regal city than elsewhere in Equestria, as many of the upper-crust of Canterlot high society were descended from Princess Platinum, ancient leader of the Unicorn tribe before the founding of Equestria. At the centre of this city sat Canterlot Castle: the home of the Royal family. Put simply, it was a sight unlike any other, with countless spiralling towers of gold and marble, and the beautiful stained glass windows depicting significant events in Equestrian history decorating the throne room. It was truly a work of art in and of itself.

Outside the colossal golden gates, flanked by the white stallions of the Royal Guard, that stood at the entrance to the Castle, Magister Twilight Sparkle popped into existence with a bright flash of magic. The guards, accustomed to Twilight and her teleportation by this point, hardly flinched before smiling warmly at her in welcome… smiles that suddenly dropped after they laid eyes on the lavender mare's battered and burnt form, hunched over and breathing heavily with fatigue as the adrenaline left her body. They immediately leapt forward to assist, carrying the unicorn into the Castle, where an azure alicorn picked up and carried Twilight's unconscious body up to her chambers with the blue glow of her magic. Servants and guards shot the pair anxious  and frightened looks as they hurried through the winding corridors of the castle, no doubt wondering why the Lunar Princess was carrying the beaten Grand Vizier in such a hurried manner. Whatever the reason, it probably wasn't good, since Princess Celestia was rumoured to have had an attempt on her life barely an hour earlier.

Upon reaching the oak doors of the Magister's chambers, the princess blew them open and settled Twilight on top of her bed in a smooth flexing of arcane might. Twilight exhaled calmly once her head reclined into her sinfully comfortable pillows (enchanted with the same incantation as the seat of Celestia's throne: even a princess' backside needed some TLC now and again) and turned her head slightly to take in her friend/mentor's worried face. Noting that the Moon Goddess was likely to start panicking or plotting her righteous vengeance any second now, the purple unicorn smiled soothingly, if a little shakily. The simple act made Princess Luna's expression visibly relax, but she was still clearly on edge.

"I assume, by your unorthodox arrival, that my sister's errand did not quite go as planned…?" she asked tentatively.

Twilight looked up thoughtfully for a moment. "Actually, it went about as well as predicted. Trouble just seems to gravitate towards me sometimes," she put on a false smug look. "Perhaps it's because of my tragically enormous brain?" she added jokingly.

Luna rolled her teal eyes, but the edges of her mouth curled upwards into a smile at the attempt at humour. "Oh, of course. I'm surprised you ever get attacked by anything nowadays; I'd have thought that any monster or would-be assassin would flee with their tails between their legs after seeing your almost planet-sized ego." Both mares laughed at that.

Luna's smile hardened into a frown and her eyes grew serious as she cleared her throat. "Now, I realise that you're unfit to do much more than rest and heal right now, but an incident occurred here in the Castle an hour or so before you returned. Before you ask, no, I won't divulge information about it to you at the moment, as it would only give you something else to worry about. However, I would like to know what happened in the Everfree that did…" she gestured with a hoof to her numerous cuts and bruises. "… this, to you. Is that an acid burn?"

Twilight, who had been listening intently despite her exhaustion, nodded slowly. "Alright, I can do that. It started, as you probably know already, when Celestia came into my office yesterday with an errand for me…" The purple mare went on to recount her experiences in the Everfree Forest, all the way up to the magical explosion, when the Royal physician rapped loudly on the chamber doors. Luna, who had been listening with rapt attention to Twilight's tale, jumped at the sudden noise.

"Oh! Somepony must have requested for a doctor," the Lunar Diarch smiled bashfully, cheeks reddening slightly. "Like I should probably have done before I rushed you here…" Twilight suppressed a giggle: Luna can be so adorable sometimes, she thought. "Anyway, I leave you in the doctor's trustworthy hooves for now, my friend." Luna turned and trotted to the door.

"Wait," Twilight said. Luna stopped and turned to look at the Magister, now sitting up in her bed, curiously. "What happened to Celestia? Don't try and hide it, I know something's wrong. Is it related to this "mysterious incident" you mentioned?" Luna's eyes widened as Twilight spoke, before setting her mouth in a grim line.

"Who told you? Was it one of the guards? I ORDERED them NOT to let you know about it! Was it Smoking Crater? That insubordinate little-"

"Stop." Luna's mouth shut closed with an audible click at the Vizier's commanding tone. "Nopony told me anything. Every time I mentioned Celestia's name, your eyes narrowed slightly and your lips tightened, suggesting worry or anxiety. I was going to let that slide, but when I told you about the Flare, you flinched. Luna. What happened?"

Princess Luna regarded the purple mare. Her eyes were focused and calculating, completely different to her previously bright and open look. Her demeanour had shifted slightly too: where the unicorn was previously laid-back (well, as laid-back as the pedantic purple pony could get, at least), now she was leaning forward and intense. Resolute. Luna was no longer beholding Twilight Sparkle, the bright and inquisitive student; this unicorn before her was the third most powerful pony, politically and magically, in Equestria, only surpassed, on both counts, by the diarchs and only two remaining Alicorns alive: Princesses Luna and Celestia themselves. The pony in the bed was Lady Twilight Sparkle, Magister and Grand Vizier to the throne, and she was an opponent like no other.

"I… Please, Twilight. Don't get worked up over this. I promise I'll tell you everything I know later, but just calm down and let your magic regenerate for now," Luna slowly walked back to the bed as she spoke, her tone and eyes pleading for her friend to listen. "I know you mean well, but… please? For me?"

Twilight regarded Luna with her cold eyes, before closing them and exhaling slowly. When she opened her eyes again, the cool intensity had been replaced with their usual warm brightness. "I-I'm sorry, Luna. I just feel so useless right now. My best friend is worrying about me when her sister is probably in an even worse situation. I don't deserve your kindness, Princess, you should just send me back to Ponyville, I'm sure Celestia wouldn't mind, I haven't been meeting her expec-" Twilight was cut off mid-ramble when two hooves and a pair of beautifully soft wings wrapped her up in a hug.

"Twilight, NEVER think like that again. Celestia and I both trust you with our lives, an honour reserved for only a hoofful of ponies in our long existence. I will be back later, I promise you," Luna pulled back from the hug and smiled softly at her blushing friend. "Why don't you read a book or something? Research that thing you were working on. Uhh, what was it again…?"

Twilight grinned with her typical enthusiasm. "Oh, I was expanding on my previous studies into magic styles. I was wondering if it was possible to reliably mix two or more styles together without it resulting in a explosive reaction…" Luna suppressed a giggle: Twilight can be so adorable sometimes, she mused, as Twilight entered her infamous lecture mode. An even more impatient knock on the door snapped them both back to reality.

"Oops, it seems we left the good doctor waiting for too long. Goodbye for now, Twilight!" Luna hurried over to the door, pulled in a startled doctor and trotted hurriedly away down the corridor. Twilight watched the new arrival with some amusement as he blinked and looked around at his new arrivals, not quite comprehending what just happened. He eventually realised he wasn't alone in the room, and walked over to the purple unicorn in her bed. "Ok, my lady, my name is- Hey, wait, are those… acid burns?"

Twilight glared at the oily salve on her forelegs; she knew it was meant to heal the wounds that she received from the Chimera's tail, but that didn't stop it feeling so odd on her fur. "Stupid highly-corrosive acid breath…" she muttered under her breath. She hadn't actually divulged the specific cause of the wound to the doctor, instead coming up with a believable half-truth: "I went into the Everfree forest. Weird stuff happens in there." The Magister's eyes drifted down her foreleg and rested on the fresh bandage that hid a large gash, courtesy of the Chimera's lion paw. Yep, weird stuff does indeed happen in the Everfree forest, Twilight thought bitterly. She sighed and stopped poking at her numerous sore spots, instead glancing idly around her room while she thought of something to occupy herself with until Luna's return. Her bedchambers weren't as grand as the princesses, but that was mostly due to personal preference, as her status was probably enough to net her a room that dwarfed her old library in Ponyville; even after she informed the castle staff that she'd rather her room was simple, it was still quite imposing.

The ceiling seemed to stretch upwards quite a ways, despite assurances that it was only half the height of some of the other rooms in the castle, and extravagant gold ornaments decorated the walls and furniture. Sat in front of the enormous fireplace were a few cushions; perfect for curling up with a book on, as Twilight had discovered. Instead of a window, Twilight's chambers had a balcony that offered an excellent view of Canterlot, upon which sat her trusty telescope, and rather than a wall, she had a bookshelf that had already proved to be woefully inadequate for the  bibliophile. She found a way however, namely an incantation that allowed her to "layer" additional bookshelves atop the installed one, and anyone could switch the layer that was present in the occupied dimensional space with ease: essentially condensing an entire library into one bookshelf. The whole system was kept working with a spell nexus she had etched into each separate shelf, along with a corresponding volume of magical  batteries that each stored enough power to keep it going for years without recharging. Twilight was pretty smug about the fact that one of the most masterful magical mechanisms in Equestria was designed purely to ensure she had enough reading material to keep her from going mad with boredom, but Twilight was a professional; she was only smug with visitors.

Twilight eventually decided that some pleasure-studying wouldn't go amiss, and swiftly recalled her brief, yet intense, skirmish with the Chimera. She had been missing some information from her Hall of Knowledge, AKA her brain, a dilemma that needed to be resolved right away. Feeling that her magical power was already beginning to recover after her short battle and huge teleportation leap directly to Canterlot Castle, Twilight reached out with her telekinesis to her inter-dimensional bookcase, flipped through a few layers, then pulled out the book she was looking for: The Eldritch Compendium: Everfree Edition, the one book she probably should have taken with her when she went on her perilous journey, in hindsight. Flicking through pages rapidly and expertly with her magic, she quickly found the section describing the legendary Chimera. Unfortunately, as with all semi-mythical creatures, the details were very vague: it's physical appearance is described as having 2, 3, 4 or more different parts and being anywhere from pony-sized to the dimensions of a multiple-storey building. It abilities were conflicting as well, stating that it could breathe fire, frost, acid, lightning, steam, or a mix of all or some of them. There was nothing about it's specific nature, origin, modus operandi or biology, nor were there any strategies to employ when fighting one. There was only a sliver of relevant information she could glean from the tome, and that was about how the Chimera and it's brethren were wiped off the face of the planet by Princess Celestia and her most powerful spell: Sol Invictus. Twilight shivered when she saw the name. She knew the effects of the Unconquered Sun more than any other pony alive, princesses excluded, and couldn't think of any real scenario where that much force would be necessary, except for warfare; a concept as alien to ponykind as a dictionary to Rainbow Dash.

Twilight shook these stray thoughts from her mind and glared at the useless compendium. How did something like this even get PUBLISHED? she seethed. Bitter at the waste of time reading it had been, she hurled it at the wall. Twilight slumped back down into her bed for a minute, then immediately sat bolt upright again. In all her 25 years of life, Twilight Sparkle had never purposefully damaged a book. Not once. Not even when the book was filthy, offensive, badly-written or just plain bad; she simply never felt the need. Am I really that wound up right now? Sheesh, Luna was right when she told me I needed to relax… Twilight thought, unnerved slightly as she returned the book, thankfully not too badly harmed, from the floor to it's rightful place on her quantum bookshelf.

Twilight Sparkle couldn't relax after that, however. As much as she dismissed it, she couldn't shake the feeling that, just before her outburst, she heard a voice.

Deep, deep in the Everfree forest, a colossal fusion of lion, goat and serpent was on a rampage. Bolts of magical lightning arced and split the air while trees dissolved into liquid. The local fauna fled in every direction in sheer terror, but most were torn apart and devoured by Lion's razor-toothed maw. The taste of the raw flesh and the exhilaration of the devastation fed their anger at being defeated by that purple pony. She wasn't even using her full strength, and they still fell to her craftiness. But the pony could not escape their wrath again, even when she vanishes with the bright light. Serpent had  tracked her scent, Goat had felt her magic, and Lion had tasted her blood. All three minds relished the thought of facing the pony in battle again, and showing her true fear. Goat offered up a name for the pony. She was the colour of the light between the burning Day and freezing Night, and the snatches of thought she revealed to them during their brief imprisonment had given them a word…

Snake and Goat sensed another predator, one that dwarfed them in size. Turning, Lion saw a Bear of Stars. It was huge, but size was not a factor to the Chimera: the Star-Bear before them was a youngling, and it would pay for it's brash foolhardiness. Goat propelled them forwards with it's powerful hindlegs, bringing Lion in close enough to bite deep into the Ursa Minor's neck and slash at its eyes with his serrated claws. The cry of pain and fury that came from their opponent's mouth brought the Chimera immense satisfaction, even as they were thrown off. Twisting in the air, they landed on all fours, just as the Ursa charged forward to attack again. Lion and Goat worked in unison, shifting their weight to Lion's half and spinning around so that Goat's cloven hooves were aimed directly at the magical monster's snarling head. When Serpent, who had the perfect angle to watch the approaching cosmic beast's lumbering approach, gave the signal, the Chimera kicked out with incredible strength and precision, bucking the Star-Bear right in it's face. As it reeled back in pain and surprise, Serpent shot out like a bullet and sprayed his corrosive breath directly into it's open mouth, with a brutally satisfying result. The Ursa fell to the ground and clutched at its head and neck, gurgling in pain from the assault. Lion looked down on it with disdain, for the powerful magic that formed its bloodless body sustained its life. It was pitiful.

The three worked in tandem for the finishing blow: acting on their newly-awakened instincts, the draconic Serpent conjured a small spark in their body, which Goat fuelled with his magic, creating an internal firestorm. Lion felt the power, and he commanded it. Opening his jaw wide open at the Star-Beast, flame billowed from his maw and incinerated the arcane monstrosity alive. It's screams were drowned out by both the forest fire and the Chimera's bleating roar.

The Chimera was awakened, and only two thoughts ran through their intertwined minds: The name of the pony that disgraced them, Twilight, and an image of a small frontier settlement located at the edge of the Forest. The one that Twilight had feared they would destroy.

We will draw you out, Twilight Sparkle, and we will see who is the predator…       and who is the prey.

4: Evolution

It was the day after Twilight's return from her expedition in the Everfree forest, and she still hadn't finished recounting the experience to Luna. Not through any fault of her own, she was simply too busy in Celestia's absence. Twilight had been kept in the dark about this "incident" at the Castle, but she hadn't earned her position for nothing: judging by how busy Luna had been, when she was normally reasonably free to attend to her own business outside of the Court, Celestia must have been unable to perform her royal duties. Is it really so serious that they won't tell their own student, who also happens to be Magister and their chief advisor? Twilight wondered, somewhat bitter at her continued ignorance. Still, at least I'm out of the bedroom for a while. She walked down the hallway with hardly a limp, a result of her extended resting period. Even the wound inflicted by the Chimera's claw had healed up nicely, and her burns were nowhere to be seen or felt, though some fur was still off-colour slightly.

The purple unicorn had decided to check up on the other magi in the R&D department, a facility she was in charge of, to see how they had been doing in her absence. The other magi were each talented in a specific type of magic, unlike Twilight, who possessed broad understanding of a variety of styles and techniques. Working together, they had devised new spells and theories, as well as developed new technology. Simple spells that serve useful purposes enchanted onto devices, which, when powered by magical energy, activate the enchantment. More complex gadgets, like long-range communication devices, require a great deal more effort to create and ensure the enchantments hold. But, the overall benefit is that the spells can be used by anypony, as long as they have some sort of power source, and they can be easily produced en masse. Twilight hurriedly made her way through the Castle, but she managed to draw attention to herself all the same; ponies looked at her worriedly, the whole castle anxious from the events of the last few days. The Magister felt something else too. The atmosphere felt different. A strange... presence. It was unnerving, to say the least.

Twilight glanced at the guards posted at the entrance to the Magical Research and Development department, who nodded her through with barely a glance. No-one could replicate the unique feel of her magic, so she was never asked for proof of her identity. She trotted through and glanced around the facility. It was very utilitarian, entirely sterile white. The multiple work stations, upon which sat the devices, chemicals and spell books that were used in the experiments. There was only one mage she recognised in the lab: Event Horizon, the expert on kinetic magic, who was manipulating pieces of a 3D puzzle with his mastery of forces.

"Hey, Horizon! Where is everypony?" Twilight called out as she walked over to the middle-aged stallion.

Horizon looked surprised for a second, then turned and greeted her with a gentle smile. "Hello, Miss Sparkle! I'm afraid this whole business with Princess Celestia seems to have shaken everypony up a bit. Not to worry, I'm sure the rest of us old fools will be back soon enough. How a young talent such as yourself puts up with us for this long, I will never know." he joked with a small chuckle.

Twilight laughed with him. "Oh, come on. You're not THAT old! Besides, you all made my move back to Canterlot all the more bearable. I'm really grateful..." Twilight looked down at her hooves, humbled by the older unicorn.

"Now is not the time for you to be grateful, Magister Sparkle! You have plenty to do as it is! Don't worry, I'll send for you when the others return. Personally, I think you should be getting on with your own pet project in your own time, as it's quite lonely down here. I don't mind; I'm only meditating right now, so the quiet is only beneficial." He  waved a hoof at the 3D puzzle floating on it's own before him. "The implications of your research into magic styles will prove to be very beneficial, correct?" Twilight nodded proudly, making the kinetic mage grin cheerfully.

"Now, take these and get going!" A hole spontaneously opened in the space next to him. 6 books and a collection of research equipment launched out of it like confetti from Pinkie Pie's party cannon, which Twilight caught in her telekinetic grip. Rolling her eyes good-naturedly, Twilight left the department with a wave of a hoof. As she walked out the doorway, she glanced up out an overhead window, catching a glimpse of a damaged tower. Celestia's tower. She grimaced: Just what the hay happened when I was gone? Twilight's thoughts asked. Suddenly, a telepathic link attempted to connect to her mind. Frowning, she gave permission for the contact- Twilight, come to the throne room right away! We will explain when you get here, Luna's thoughts relayed into her mind. The connection broke just as quickly as it started, and Twilight only hesitated for a split second before she felt the familiar sensation of her body dispersing with a brilliant violet flash.

Luna paced angrily back and forth in the throne room, momentarily stopping to glare daggers at sister before she resumed her nervous habit. Princess Celestia just watched her wearily.

"We cannot believe this…" Luna muttered, loudly enough for the other Alicorn to hear.

"Used the Royal We again," Celestia stated automatically, barely acknowledging Luna's anger at the correction. "I still fail to see the problem, Lulu."

"The problem? THE PROBLEM?!" Luna turned and shouted in the Royal Canterlot voice, an archaic and very loud tone of voice originally in use over 1000 years prior, before catching herself and speaking at a more bearable volume. "The problem, Tia, is that you neglected to tell me that you were planning to do something like that, and even more worryingly, you didn't tell Twilight either. You know, one of the most knowledgable ponies in Equestria?"

"Magister Sparkle didn't need to get involved. She works hard enough as it is…" Celestia's voice took on an odd tone as she spoke.

Luna snorted in a decidedly unladylike manner. "Are we talking about the same mare here? She took full responsibility of all her duties in weeks. WEEKS, when it should've taken MONTHS. She's busy day in, day out, but she's so efficient that she somehow finds the time to make magical and scientific breakthroughs on the sidelines!"

Celestia didn't respond immediately, simply staring off to the side for a while. Eventually, she turned her head and gazed at Luna right in her eyes. "Are you saying that I need Twilight? That I am powerless without her?" she asked, ice-cold and deadly serious. Her lunar counterpart was taken aback; she knew Celestia to be prideful, almost arrogant sometimes, but that was back before her banishment to the Moon over a thousand years ago. The solar diarch that had welcomed her with open arms upon her return, and subsequent release from her darker half's control by Twilight Sparkle and her fellow Element Bearers, had been calm, laid-back, cheerful and wise, traits that had formed in her millennium of ruling alone. Now, however, the Princess was acting very strangely, something that scared Luna more than she liked to admit. Before she could respond to the accusation, a burst of energy silenced the two arguing god-siblings.

"…Well?" Twilight asked. Luna turned to look at her, grinning genuinely, despite the situation at her first and best friend. The purple mare bowed her head ever so slightly at the two princesses in acknowledgement. Twilight smiled warmly at Luna before gazing at Celestia with intensity. The alabaster Alicorn, to Luna's satisfaction, practically smouldered under the glare, but stood tall.

Celestia cleared her throat gently before speaking. "Ah, my faithful student. Luna called you here so we could bring a matter to your attention-"

"If this matter is anything other than why you look like you went on a trip through Tartarus to make friends, then you have your priorities in the wrong place," the Vizier interrupted calmly, making both diarchs falter slightly. Celestia couldn't deny that she looked haggard: her mane, normally prismatic and billowing in the solar wind, was limp and fading to its natural pink colour. Her magenta eyes were tired and ringed with black. "Also, why have you not told me what happened to you, and ordered Luna to keep quiet about it as well?"

"It was not neces-" Celestia tried to interject.

"I hold the most important titles in the kingdom, as well as being personal student to both princesses. You of all ponies know that I don't normally throw my weight around, but I just thought I'd remind you of those facts before you dare try to tell me something that's so obviously important 'isn't necessary for me to know'"." Twilight was relentless in her verbal assault.

Luna was in awe. The ferocious intelligence that Twilight possessed had been practically turned into a weapon in court, where she wielded it to shoot down attempts to circumvent the law or bleed the country dry of bits, but she had never torn into either of the goddess' like she was now. She was so… in control. Feelings that Luna thought she had long since repressed were suddenly pulled to the forefront of her mind, and she felt a powerful urge to give Twilight a hug, to make the purple mare smile… Luna shook her head, pushing the inappropriate thoughts away. Twilight Sparkle is my student. It is wrong of me to feel such emotions, she thought. The Moon Princess tore her eyes away to see her sister ruffling her wings irritably.

"Twilight, please just listen! Ponyville is in danger!" Celestia shouted in exasperation.

That got her attention. Twilight's eyes widened instantly, and her ears snapped forward to drink in the four words she never wanted to hear. Celestia hastily continued before she was interrupted again. "I know you're curious, but now is not the time nor the place. I need you to gather the guards and get to Ponyville NOW."

Twilight's mind was working furiously. "Under attack? But external relations are healthier than ever! Unless-" The Magister's eyes narrowed, her muscles tensing up in preparation. "the Everfree."

Luna nodded gravely. "We don't know any of the details, but yes, something is wreaking havoc in Ponyville as we speak." Twilight closed her eyes and reached deep inside herself. She felt for the lock. There. She unwound a restraint in her psyche, one of the many limiters she had placed on herself over the years. Immediately, the temperature in the throne room increased dramatically as power rippled along Twilight's fur and sparked along the length of her horn, much to the other occupants surprise.

"Twilight?! What-" Both princesses shouted.

"No time to explain! I need to get to Ponyville right away, we'll talk when I return!" Twilight divided her attention in order to cast multiple spells simultaneously; the forgotten books and equipment she retrieved from the labs, she threw into a summoned wormhole, sending them to a pocket dimension for later use. At the same time, she expanded her awareness, found the unicorn guards she assigned as leaders of their respective squads when she took on her responsibility as Magister Militum (alongside her numerous other ones, all of which combined into her singular title) and telepathically ordered them to get into formation out in front of the throne room. As she was doing all this, she quickly and precisely unwound the anti-teleport wards that protected her chambers, and then materialised inside. Books on healing and anti-venoms were frantically thrown into her null-space, before she teleported, remade the wards again in a heartbeat, and flashed back to the throne room doors… All of this done in the space of several seconds.  In her haste, she forgot to account for the time it would take for the guards to actually get to where she wanted them to be, so she simply teleported them all to her location. After waiting five more agonising seconds for them all to stop throwing up from the experience, she opened a portal to Ponyville that would allow them to cut their travel time down from half-a-day to ten minutes, a feat of  physics-bending arcane might that would have given Event Horizon himself a run for his money. The armoured stallions, rippling with muscle, armed with wing-blades and spears, took one glance at the ominous look on the Magister's face and promptly galloped straight into the magic gateway, closely followed by the purple mare herself.

The twin goddesses of ponykind simply sat and stared for a very long time, before the younger opened her mouth to speak.

"I get the feeling that she's a bit on edge." Luna stated, earning an exasperated sigh from her elder.

Applejack jolted from her slumber underneath one of her apple trees. Grumbling to herself, she lifted her hat off her face, perched it on her head and got to her hooves. "What in tarnayshun...?" Her ears swivelled forwards and backwards as she listened carefully for the noise she had heard. It was strange but it almost sounded like a bunch of cows mooing...

A shrill, blood-curdling wail tore through the air, closely followed by the crack of lightning and a bleating roar. The orange earth-pony's head snapped around to the source of the disturbance: the house.

"Applebloom." Biting back a whimper, she grabbed her trusty lasso in her mouth and bolted through her family orchard to help her sister.

Lion looked down at his prey contemptuously. They had found the ponies, rather young ones based on their size, cowering in a large empty building and tending to some cows. Goat was curious as to what she was doing with them; it seemed like they were collecting their milk in metal containers. Serpent glared at the animals and licked the air, revelling in the taste of their fear. Lion, meanwhile, had eyes only for the ponies. He peered closely at them one after the other: one was a light yellow, with a ribbon in her hair. Wingless and hornless, unlike the other two. The next one was trying desperately to look brave, orange with a purple mane, wings extended outwards in fright. Goat found the sight hilarious. The last one was even more interesting to Lion: a horned one, white with a pink mane. Serpent noted that Twilight Sparkle had a horn as well, but Goat sensed that this specimen had only a spark compared to the purple one's Sun. Serpent didn't care.

Food, he thought. He slowly uncoiled and moved over to the winged one, who squeaked pitifully. Lion and Goat kept their eyes on the other two as Serpent wound tight around the pony, crushing and strangling it's tiny neck-

Goat bleated in shock as a huge force slammed into them from behind, at the point where Serpent was attached. Serpent slackened and instinctively snapped back to repel the attacker. Lion turned to look, expecting a purple horned-pony, but was greeted with a mundane, orange one. Her eyes widened in terror as Lion regarded the new arrival, but she made no attempt to run. Goat blasted her with lightning, throwing back her out the structure with barely a thought, while Serpent  shot back and sank his teeth into the purple-haired pony, who was already suffering from his previous attack. The other ponies batted at Lion's face, who knocked them unconscious with a blow from his paw. Serpent was halfway through devouring his prey when the Chimera was wrapped around and constricted by a ring of rope, tossed expertly by the elder orange mare behind them. With incredible strength, she managed to pull them outside into the open air, where Lion tensed his muscles and snapped the rope into pieces. Goat blasted her with electricity, which she nimbly dodged, but Lion grabbed her in his jaws and tossed her into a tree, where she slumped to the ground. The Chimera went to finish the job, but Goat stopped them by bleated ecstatically as he detected a familiar violet brightness that had appeared in town. The Chimera turned and bounded towards the gathered buildings with incredible speed and gathered flame in their body. Twilight Sparkle will not win this time, for the Chimera is changed. It is evolved. It is the ultimate predator.

5: Encounter II

When Twilight and her guards appeared out the other end of the portal, in the Ponyville market street, the sight that greeted them was unpleasant to say the least. Panic-stricken ponies were practically stampeding through the streets, and several houses in the vicinity were ablaze. Twilight shuddered as she felt that familiar alien magic that permeated the air. It was here, but it was different too. She quickly counted the guards she had brought with her: three squads of five; one unicorn, two pegasi and two earth-pony. They stood in their squads behind their leader. Establishing a telepathic link with the unicorns, she gave them their orders: Teams on the left and right, gather up all civilians and lead them to the centre of town. Anypony remember the Summer Sun Celebration several years ago? The one where Nightmare Moon returned? There were a few affirmatives. Take them to the building where she made her appearance. It's hard to miss. When you're done, one team stay behind to cover them while the other contacts me and moves to my position. A chorus of "yes ma'am"s traveled back over the link, and she addressed the third group of soldiers. Bulwark, your squad comes with me, for back-up. It shouldn't prove to be a big problem, it went down last time without much of a fuss. All the same, be on the lookout for the acid breath. She chose to ignore the bemused expressions on their faces at that last sentence.

"Twilight! Twiliiiiiight!" The purple unicorn turned back at the sound of her name, and wasn't surprised to see the rosy features of Mayor Pinkie Pie. The unnaturally frightened expression on her face unnerved her more than she cared to admit, however.

"Twilight, this big scary monster just showed up in Ponyville and set fire to loadsa buildings and Applejack hasn't showed up and Blue Moon and Sweet Scent-" Pinkie choked out a sob and stopped rambling for a moment. "Blue Moon and Sweet Scent... you don't know them, they moved here a couple of years ago, but they were the best magic-users in town. They tried to help, held back the monster for a while, but... They- they-"

Twilight cut off her friend by wrapping her up in a hug. "Pinkie, I'm sorry, but I need you to be strong for me, OK? Help calm everypony down, keep their spirits up." She smiled softly. "That's your talent, after all!"

The pastel-pink pony lips curled upwards into a sad smile and her flamboyant cotton-candy mane regained some of it's  regular poofiness, clearly pleased that she was able to help. "Okie-dokie-lokie, Twi. I'll do what I can!" Pinkie ran off to assist the guards with her unmatched ability to calm the spirit with joy and cheer. Twilight turned to look at her soldiers, who nodded stiffly: they were prepared. The Magister nodded back at them, grateful for their bravery, before running off to the source of the chaos, dousing fires with her magic as she went.

As they navigated Twilight's old hometown, the purple unicorn was glad that Bulwark and his team-mates were here with her. Bulwark was very talented with shield spells, thought not quite as masterful as Twilight's brother Shining Armour. The other soldiers in his team, though she didn't know them nearly as well as their leader, she knew to be extremely skilled at working as a team, as well as individually. Hopefully, by working together they could fix the mess she created... Twilight quashed the rising guilt instantly: now was not the time for pointless regrets. Choosing instead to focus her mind on more practical things, she considered the situation she had found herself in once more. The group of stallions with her were trained and skilled at defence, but should be able to easily take down the Chimera with her help. This time, however, it will almost certainly be wide awake and, if the latent energy she could feel was anything to go by, significantly more powerful than before. But why wasn't it attacking them? Maybe it's playing with it's food... Twilight shuddered at the thought. No, it's probably being held back by some brave ponies to let the others get away.

The sight of Twilight's old library tree home sent waves of nostalgia through the purple unicorn's mind, a sensation that was dispelled at the sight of a colossal chimeric monster engaging in a fight to the death with a familiar purple-green dragon right in front of it.

"Spike!" The sight of her best-friend/brother/foster-child/assistant threatened to overwhelm Twilight with elation and dread. Spike was a ferocious fighter, but her maternal instincts compelled her to reject the idea of him in pain.

"Twilight, stay back!" Spike roared as he spat a jet of viridian flame at his adversary, who leapt to the side to avoid it. The drake swiped with his serrated claws, but the Chimera ducked under the blow and retaliated by biting into his leg. The goat head pelted Spike with bolts of lightning as he screamed in pain, but he managed to disengage from the monster by attacking with a desperate blast of fire. The Chimera let go of Spike, leapt back and inhaled deeply, making a sound like a steam train as it did so. Spike, who was severely wounded and unable to get to his feet, flapped his wings in an attempt to escape, but it wasn't enough. The Chimera released a huge gout of orange flame from its jaws, a roaring inferno that dwarfed even Spike's draconic breath.

"Enough." There was a burst of light, and a dome of solid violet energy  surrounded Spike and the five ponies who teleported between the two combatants. Bulwark reinforced Twilight's barrier with his own, while the four other soldiers got into position and readied their weapons.

"I'm so sorry, Twi, I couldn't do it, I… I failed you…" Spike sobbed, cradling his leg and folding in his wing.

"No, Spike. I'm the one who failed you. All of this is my fault. I'm going to teleport you to the town hall now, and you're going to get medical attention," Twilight turned to look at her friend with a sad smile "Please, don't worry. We'll fix this."

Spike looked up at the unicorn, expression unreadable. "Pinkie Promise?"

"Pinkie Promise." Spike smiled as he vanished with another burst of purple magic. Twilight turned to look back at where the Chimera stood glaring at them. "Everypony ready?"

"Yes, milady!" Bulwark and his team confirmed, standing firm. The pair of earth-ponies stood in a jousting position, spears at their sides. The pegasi hovered above the ground, covering the left and right flanks with their hoof- and wing-blades extended, while Twilight and Bulwark stood at the back of the group, horns glowing in anticipation.

"On my mark." Twilight closed her eyes and thought of Luna's beautiful night, of the infinite void between the stars and the sleek silver surface of the moon. Her magic changed, becoming darker, heavier, colder. Shadows creeped along her fur as she remembered her training with the Moon Goddess; of how she mastered the darkness in her heart and made the void itself bend to her will.

My name is Twilight Sparkle, and I wield my Shadow.

The Magister's eyes snapped open, and her allies stared in awe: the purple unicorn's shadow swelled and writhed as if it were truly alive, some times it even reached up out of the ground and danced along her body. Her eyes were cold and detached, completely focused. They all recognised the sensation of this magic. She had shifted magic styles into that of Darkness, the power of the Lunar Princess herself.

"Begin the operation." The barrier dissolved, revealing the Chimera's features in all their gruesome detail. It snarled once, then twisted its feline maw into a grim mockery of a smile. Then it spoke.

"Twiiiii-liight. Spaaaarkle." The Chimera's lion head rumbled in a voice that had clearly not been used in a very long time. It was not so much a voice as a half-snarl, yet it did not give the impression of just hate; rather, it was more of mocking welcome. Twilight didn't give it the satisfaction of seeing her squirm, nodding slightly to the earth-pony soldiers. They leapt into action, barreling side by side into the monster. The Chimera reared back in order to bring its paws down on their heads, when a thick tendril of pure black reached up out of the ground, wrapped around its neck and pulled it back down to the earth with enough force to crack the cobblestone beneath it. The earth-ponies speared the monster with their weapons, trapping its front paws with their lances, before calling upon their innate magic. They stood firm against the Chimera's incredible strength. With another nod from Twilight, the pegasi took to the air, spiralling around each other as they slashed at the Chimera with their hoof-blades. The huge snake tail reached up to snap at them, but they moved too quickly. Flying high up into the air, they dove at blistering speed down onto the Chimera's back, drawing a bleating complaint from the startled goat head. Bulwark levitated multiple shards of razor-sharp steel from a pouch on his armour, and hurled them with the incredible telekinetic strength and precision of unwavering self-discipline.

Enraged, the Chimera countered the relentless assault by abusing one simple fact: they had three heads. The lion head released a small fireball, deep crimson this time, at the flying shards. The fireball exploded, blowing the shrapnel off trajectory and embedding them in the earth. The goat's horns were wreathed in brilliant lightning, its eyes blazing with power as it called a miniature thunderstorm to blast at the pegasi. The flying ponies twisted in the air to land on all four hooves, but failed to notice the pools of seething acid at their feet. Before they could register how close they were to death, two shadows  reached out and plucked them from the air, with audible sighs of relief. Using the lull of combat to its advantage, the Chimera jerked its entire body upwards, breaking the shadows binding its lion head. The ponies realised that their opponent was not to be trifled with, and promptly moved back and circled the beast, a more cautious approach that would allow them to strike from all sides while maintaining a strong position. The Chimera made to lunge toward one of the pegasi, who was cradling an injured wing, and the earth-pony standing directly behind it swiftly attacked. The serpent tail uncoiled and stretched out to intercept... and immediately recoiled just as a colossal blade of black, shaped like a guillotine, crashed down where its neck was about to be, avoiding death by inches. The lion turned to attack Twilight, angry at the near-decapitation of its tail, and buckled as 6 razor-sharp shards of metal embedded themselves in its side, courtesy of Bulwark. The goat head's eyes and horns crackled with power as it grabbed the shards with its telekinesis and threw them at bullet-speed back along their previous trajectory. Twilight's shadows stopped them a split-second before they chewed through the other unicorn's neck.

Despite their greater numbers, the ponies realised over the course of the fight that the monster they were fighting was more than they could handle; every time they attacked it, it never gave them an inch in return, as every attack on it was knocked aside or countered. Every time they managed to scratch it, it would deal a far greater injury in return. This wouldn't be a big problem if this was any other monster... but the Chimera had three minds, each capable of thinking for itself, as Twilight had learned from their previous encounter, and that meant it learned quickly. Very quickly, unfortunately; every tactic they used in their attempts to harm it were only successful half the time, and the creature never left room for mistakes after that. Eventually, the battle was reduced to a pissed Chimera, covered in scratches, against a mostly unharmed, albeit quite drained, Twilight Sparkle, with five wounded ponies occasionally getting in the way. Eventually, the inevitable occurred.

The armoured pegasus, bleeding and burnt, snapped his bladed wings at the Chimera, who turned and released a jet of white-hot flame in his direction, all in the blink of an eye. Twilight, mortified, watched the foolishly brave stallion scream in agony as his golden armour, the pride and joy of the Equestrian Royal Guard, fused to his flesh under the incredible sizzling heat, his body turning to ash and his ragged mane evaporating to thin air. Twilight's focus faltered briefly as she turned away from the horrifying sight, and her eyes caught the sight of two other pony corpses. Blue Moon and Sweet Scent, two ponies who gave their lives to protect their home and friends, resting for eternity in one another's arms. Twilight turned back to face the monster, who hadn't even given his fallen opponent a second glance. She used her prodigious mental prowess to capture the seething anger at her friend's sacrifice, and turn it into power.

For the first time, Twilight Sparkle combined the natures of her magic, the cold, controlled Shadow merging with the passionate element of Fire. With a roar, the purple unicorn gathered a colossal ball of greasy black flame, large enough to consume a house with ease, and hurled it with wild abandon at the Chimera. It barely registered the attack before it was ablaze in the freezing burn of the magical fire, and was unable to resist when a barrier of force, two powerful earth-ponies and a pegasus in the throes of a grief-fuelled rage sent it flying through the air into a thankfully deserted house. Twilight, exhaling slowly, extinguished her Flame, and reluctantly released her hold on the Darkness. Looking around, she realised that they had managed to defeat the Chimera before the other squad of guards arrived. She was glad that no other ponies had to get hurt now, besides them. In fact, she almost sighed loudly in relief... before a soul-rending roar of pure, primal rage tore the air apart. The sound seemed to come from every direction, and reverberated through the bones of all who heard it. Twilight's heart nearly stopped entirely from the despair she felt, at the realisation that the monster they had battled was nowhere near finished yet. All heads turned to look at the crumpled house which they had thrown their enemy at, and watched with fascinated dread as the Chimera stalked slowly towards them, heavily wounded yet alive. Without warning, it immediately broke into a sprint towards a paralysed earth-pony and pounced, digging its huge feline claws into flesh, carving through metal and bone like knives through butter. The pony was eviscerated, taken down with hardly a scream.

The rest of the soldiers, upon seeing their comrade die so suddenly, jolted out of their fear-fuelled paralysis and moved in to attack. The pegasus reared back onto his hind legs, using his wings to balance himself, and with a downward flap of his wings, flew across the ground towards the Chimera at breakneck speed. He attacked with a flurry of blows, snapping his bladed wings and slashing with his hoof-mounted swords, but was stopped in the middle of his assault by a bolt of white lightning from the goat head's horns. The stallion was thrown to the ground and was struck by two more blasts before Bulwark intervened with a magical shield, but it was too little, too late; yet another Guard had fallen to the beast. Twilight desperately tried to find her emotional centre in order to command the Shadow once more, and succeeded. The Chimera was hit by a series of solid black spears of darkness. However, the Magister, in her haste, only had a fraction of the control she normally wielded, and so her attacks were weak and shattered upon contact with the Chimera's stony hide. Meanwhile, the monster's serpent tail struck the last earth-pony soldier repeatedly, denting armour and breaking bone. The stallion, despite his exemplary mastery of inherent earth-pony magic, crumpled under the blows and succumbed to the toxic fangs of the creature.

Twilight turned to look at her last remaining companion, with a grim expression. "Bulwark, run. Now." She turned back to face the creature before he could respond, slashing at the monster with blades of darkness and smashing it with shadows. The Chimera was largely unfazed, simply batting most of the attacks aside with relative ease and continuing to stride towards them. The Chimera responded by inhaling deeply, the foreboding steam engine noise sounding like death to Twilight's ears, and blasting a colossal firestorm at her. Twilight, on the verge of a breakdown at this point, reached out to call up a shield, but the Shadow pulled away from her panicking mental grasp. Twilight had forgotten that the darkness was not hers to own, only to command if she showed restraint over her emotions, something that was far beyond her capabilities as she faced her end.

When Twilight realised she wasn't a burning husk, she opened her eyes and saw a sight that struck at her very soul: a dying Bulwark, focusing his last remaining strength on maintaining a flickering shield. He looked up at her with resignation, and spoke softly. "I swore my life to the Princesses, and you are their closest friend, as well as my comrade. I would lay down my life for you a hundred times over, my Lady." He grunted, and his horn sparked as he cast one last spell before his shield flickered and died. Twilight teleported back a few metres as the Chimera leapt onto the defiant Guard and devoured him. The purple unicorn felt a familiar coldness at the edge of her consciousness, and reflexively pushed it away as she tried to unlock another restraint, to no avail. The coldness resisted her efforts, as if something was forcing it into her mind, and Twilight was overwhelmed by the one emotion she was warned to never rely on. The one emotion that served only itself, and, in the distant past, turned one of the most powerful unicorns alive into a soulless tyrant.

Hatred built up within Twilight, a terrible wrongness that bubbled along the length of her horn and seeped out of her eyes, turning the violet orbs bloody red and her sclera a poisonous green. The pressure at the base of her horn increased until she did the only thing she could do to release it: use it up. Twilight's mind crafted the spell instantly, and a stream of pure, pulsating black hatred spat out of her horn and struck the Chimera in the chest, sending it flying through the air once more as black crystals erupted from its flesh. Twilight quashed the spell immediately, but the damage had been done: black crystals formed on her horn, effectively disabling all her magic until they were removed. Twilight lost all hope as the Chimera got back to its feet, glaring at her spitefully.

The Chimera was furious. They had come to this pathetic settlement in order to settle a debt with Twilight Sparkle, but they had nearly been defeated several times. All because she brought 5 pathetic pieces of trash to annoy them while she sat back like a coward. That was why they were so excited when she had hit them with that odd black fire, the rush of battling a true opponent dulling the agonising pain of the infernal flames. Then they had been knocked into a building and disregarded immediately, which was they saw as a grievous insult, and they made sure to repay them in full, cutting them down like the prey they were. All that was left was the lavender unicorn herself. Lion could hear her ecstatic heartbeat and the whimpers of fear as she looked into their eyes. It was thrilling.

Suddenly, Goat went quiet, the fairly-constant chatter of information regarding the magic being thrown at them ceasing.  Lion was about to question him, before they were hit by that. They didn't need Goat's ability to feel the pure desperation in the attack. It felt wrong. It permeated their body and ravaged their skin with black crystals. When they got back to their feet again, Lion saw Twilight Sparkle for what she really was: a battered and broken mare who's power had deserted her, leaving behind a burnt husk who would resort to using such twisted magic to save herself. Enraged, the Chimera crushed the crystal growing out of their skin and walked slowly up to their final remaining enemy, licking their lips in preparation for the feeding.

Goat went from silent to ballistic as he sensed something huge. Something infinitely dark and cold, not unlike Twilight Sparkle's shadowy magic from earlier. In fact, it was almost identical, if not for the sheer scale. Even Serpent was stunned by the power behind it. Despite all their combined senses telling them to run and never look back, the monster continued to move toward their prize.

That was a mistake.

The world was plunged into darkness as tendrils of shadow wrapped around the Chimera and lifted it into the air, crushing him with unimaginable force. Panicking, the Chimera caught sight of a midnight blue pony, this one with both wings and horn, and significantly larger than the ones from before. Her eyes were glowing a brilliant green, anger rolling off of her like a wave. The Chimera suddenly understood: where Twilight Sparkle had wielded the Shadow, this goddess before them created it. They pushed against it with all their limbs, searching for an opening to escape. In desperation, they blew a streak of golden flame at the immobile lavender unicorn, distracting the Dark One long enough for them to break their restraints and reveal their ace-in-the-hole.

Huge leathery dragon wings unfurled from the sides of the Chimera, magical appendages that had sprouted after they had been set on fire and thrown into the house, but kept hidden for security's sake. They took to the air like a rocket, the air currents sliding over their form easily as they flew towards the Everfree forest. Glancing back, they watched the Dark One attempt to catch them unsuccessfully for a few moments, before dashing over to her fallen comrade and embracing her. The two vanished into blackness, and their enemy escaped, heavily damaged, but alive.