Fraternitatis

by Toni_PWNeroni

Rating: mature
Tags: Human, Comedy, Adventure, Tragedy, Dark
Length: 16771

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2013-03-29 15:06:32 UTC

Chapter 1: Rampage!

Chapter 1

Darkness. Darkness and pain made up Thomas' world. His mind was sluggish and hazy, as if his thoughts were obscured by a thick fog. He had trouble forming coherent thoughts and his head was constantly assaulted by a sharp pain, causing him to involuntarily groan on occasion. Thomas tried to open his eyes, only to screw them shut again, his eyes too sensitive to take in the bright light. All of his other senses protested in unison to his situation. It felt as if every joint in his body ached like he had just run a marathon. His hearing was muffled and a faint white noise seemed to be ever-present, as if he had been on the receiving end of a concussive stun-grenade. He tasted bile in his mouth and his chest felt constricted with his laboured breathing. All in all, Thomas felt like death warmed up. He faintly recalled the ritual in the library, but everything after the bright light it caused was obscured by pain and a rush of wind and fire. His world was pain. He lived, breathed and thought pain. Just as he was about to reside himself to what looked like an existence of torment, his pain became alleviated. His joints no longer hurt anymore, and his headache faded to a dull throb instead of a sharp spike. His face muscles relaxed from their tensed state and he took a deep, relieved breath that ended with a long, drawn out sigh. As his vision began to return, his eyes were once again assaulted by a bright light. Blinking in the glare, he waited for his vision to improve and took in his immediate surroundings. He was lying in a pristine-white bed, with everything within a few feet obscured by a drawn curtain.

“So I'm in a hospital somewhere....” he reasoned, his thoughts confirmed by the smell of disinfectant in the air that always accompanied a hospital environment. Thomas counted himself extremely lucky. He had managed to end up somewhere safe, rather than god-knows where. He sighed with relief again, causing someone on the other side of the curtain to shuffle towards him.

“It's awake!” said hearty female voice.

“Shhh! We don't know what it is! What if it's dangerous?” said another female voice in a hushed whisper thick with concern.

“It?” thought Thomas, unsure of what was actually happening.

“Ah know, sugar cube. It's kinda funny-lookin'. I ain't never seen anythin' like it!” drawled another woman in a different accent.

“Oh, perfect! I'm in America......just what I need..." His youthful curiosity got the better of him, however, and he sat bolt upright just as the curtains were drawn. A collective gasp filled the room as everyone took in the scene. Thomas couldn't believe what he was seeing. His bed was ringed by a cast of technicolour creatures that stood on all-fours and vaguely resembled small horses. Their eyes were much larger than those of any horse he had every seen, with each one wearing an animated expression. A lavender one with a dark purple mane that was highlighted with a rose-coloured streak regarded him with a look of thoughtful concern. She was the minority of the group of creatures however, as almost every other of the beings present wore looks of fear, shock and nervousness at his sudden movement.

“Great....I've jumped dimensions.....well, at least it's not America...” Thomas mused inwardly.

“It's ok....umm, we're not going to hurt you. We just want to see if you're ok...” started the lavender one, her concern evident. Thomas cocked his head slightly. While he usually kept a somewhat open mind, this situation was a bit much for him. He had landed himself in a world of what appeared to be multicoloured ponies that took the place of humans in their role in society. What's more, he could see that the one that had just spoken to him had a horn protruding from her forehead, while a cyan mare with a mane of all the colours of the rainbow to her left clearly had wings tucked to her sides.

Something about the situation made Thomas snap. His breathing became increasingly shallow and laboured. The shock of what had happened to him coupled with the magical fatigue of performing such a magical-intensive ritual hit him like a ton of bricks. He began to hyperventilate and sweat profusely. His vision became blurred and a dull ringing filled his ears. What was he going to do? How would he get back home? Would he ever see his brothers again? Would he ever succeed in finding his master? He didn't know. For once, Thomas had no answer or rationale for his situation. That scared the absolute shit of him. His magical aura began to wildly surge and flicker as his control over his abilities faltered in his unstable psychological state. The ponies before him slowly withdrew from the bed in fear, seeing the panicked creature not taking the situation well. But before Twilight could call for the doctor to help calm him down, something terrifying happened. The creature's eyes glowed a bright blueish hue that made his eyes devoid of pupils. His face muscles tensed and his body began to go into convulsions and odd twitches. The creature sobbed and grunted as if caught in a horrific seizure brought on by demonic possession. Thomas felt his control slip from his grasp. His mind was too fractured to properly deal with what he was experiencing. His rational mind was at war with his instinctive fight-or-flight reflexes. Having never bothered to learn how to gain complete control over his mental state, Thomas could feel his natural instincts kick in and take over his conscious mind. The last thing he remembered before being consumed by darkness was the terrified look on the ponies' faces as his inner-monstrosity made it's presence known to the world in all it's horrific barbarism.

“Run!” shouted Rainbow Dash, bolting toward the door with the rest of her friends following closely behind in a mad dash of survival. Whatever this thing was, it was clearly dangerous. They scampered out of the hospital (though thankfully it was just about empty today) and ran at full gallop down the road before turning to see if they were safe. Inside the hospital, Thomas' instincts had completely taken over his mind. He no longer had any rhyme or reason to dictate his behaviour, and he consequently went on a barbarous rampage. His normally dormant instincts took the reins of his body and proceeded to weave chaos. Flames erupted from his open mouth, his roaring voice consuming anything in it's way with intense heat and burning it to ashes. Random objects floated about as if caught in micro-gravity, the boy's mind picking up anything and everything within reach and either tossing it in a random direction or utterly obliterating it with his power. The ponies outside gaped in awe and fear as a whole section of the hospital simply disintegrated into thousands of splinters of wood as a shock wave rocked the foundations. The creature roared at the top of it's lungs and threw itself at a nearby tree and used it's limbs to rip it apart in a berserker rage before letting loose a fireball that burnt whatever was left.

“This isn't good! I need to find spike and warn the Princess! We need help!” shouted Twilight, turning away and galloping at full pace toward the library. She was followed by her friends, not wanting to be on the receiving end of the creature's fury. Debris fell in random places, with chunks of what used to be trees and pieces of houses and other buildings fell, as if caught in a huge tornado that threatened to wipe Ponyville off the map. Ponies scattered and screamed as they ran in sheer panic. Twilight and her friends made a beeline for the library and rushed inside, picking up Spike (who was standing in the doorway aghast at the destruction occurring outside) and slamming the door behind them.

“Spike! Hurry, I need you to take a letter so we can get help!” demanded Twilight, her eyes darting about feverishly, hoping that whatever that thing was, it didn't come here.

“W-what's going on, Twilight? What's happening?” began the baby dragon fearfully, wincing as an explosion rocked the ground outside.

“No time to explain, Spike, just get it done!” she cried, magically handing him parchment and quills. The dragon hesitated for a moment, but regained his composure and resolutely complied.

“Ready!” he announced, bringing the quill up to the parchment.

“Dear Princess Celestia, urgent assistance needed. Some kind of creature with horrible magic is attacking Ponyville! Please help us before it hurts us! Signed, Twilight Sparkle! Now send it!” she finished in a rushed voice, feeling slightly relieved when the dragon blew at the rolled up letter and it burst into a magical flame that blew away in the wind toward her mentor and ruler, Princess Celestia. She only hoped that help would get here in time. A blood-curdling roar sounded outside as Thomas continued his mindless rampage and demolished sections of the town at random. It was a miracle that no ponies were hurt. Everypony in the library cowered in fear, with some shaking like leaves in the wind as the terrifying monster continued his efforts outside. Fluttershy hid her face in Rainbow Dash's mane, shivering violently. Spike and Rarity held each other, while Applejack, Pinkie Pie and Twilight nervously stood in the centre of the room, awaiting the hopeful arrival of any help from their Princess. Not ten seconds later, the room was bathed in the bright majestic light that accompanied the teleporting royal Alicorn sisters, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. They were immediately greeted by an anxious Twilight and they held a look of grave concern on their royal faces. Nothing had ever threatened Equestria like this before, even dragons didn't rampage like this creature. It was wild, random and bloodthirsty in nature. Such a brutal adversary made Luna shiver reproachfully at the prospect of such a barbaric creature.

“Oh Princess! Thank goodness you're here! Please! Help us before that thing destroys Ponyville!” cried Twilight, her desperation reaching Celestia's ears. The sun raiser regarded her faithful student's desperation and complied with a small, reassuring nod.

“My sister and I will do all we can, Twilight, but we have never faced such a creature before. We don't know how this will end...” she spoke, her warm, soft voice calming her subjects somewhat.

“We must hurry, sister! It's coming this way!” said Luna, stepping in, trying to make haste. The two alicorns exited the Ponyville Library and stood directly in the path of a rampaging Thomas, defying his animalistic will. Luna stepped forward, bravely taking a stand against Thomas.

“Cease thy destruction and return to from whence thou came!” she demanded in her roaring, commanding voice, earning the undivided attention of Thomas' clouded mind. He turned slowly to face the defiant ponies that were bigger than the rest and let loose a howl of fury that ended in a terrifying burst of fire from his mouth that pelted straight for the royal sisters. Luna had no time to react, but Celestia had anticipated such an offensive strategy, and threw together a magical barrier just in time to dissipate the incoming flames before they had a chance to singe either of them. Thomas roared in frustration before letting loose a much larger, concentrated and steady blast of fire, it's heat intensifying enough to change it's hue to a brilliant blue as it surged toward the Princesses. Luna's eyes widened in realisation and hastily drew from her own magical reserves to reinforce the barrier against the much stronger onslaught. The barrier warped and buckled under the immense heat and pressure it was forced to keep at bay. Celestia and Luna didn't flinch, or hesitate when Thomas subsided his attack to take a breath, as they dashed forward, their spells at the ready. Luna fired first, her azure-coloured spell hitting the teenager at full force, but was amazed when he simply shrugged it off. He simply dismissed the attack as if putting up with a slight chill in the air, rather than a spell that was meant to knock him unconscious. Celestia fired, her crimson spell summoning a circular barrier around Thomas, encasing him in it's protective bubble. Twilight, who stood watching from her balcony in the distance, wondered what Celestia had planned, unable to make sense of the fact that she had conjured a barrier for him. Then, the prospect dawned on her. Celestia had created a reverse barrier, it's purpose meant to keep the creature in, rather than keep attacks out. Celestia and Luna moved simultaneously, their spells synchronised in perfect unison as they performed their deadliest attack yet, earning a surprised gasp from Twilight, having never seen her ruler use such lethal force on any foe before. The barrier served as the perfect means to unleash a devastating move against their foe, while keeping it's side effects from harming the surrounding landscape. Celestia called forth white-hot flames that filled the inside of the barrier, intending to scorch her foe into submission. Luna assisted, with a maelstrom of lightning to accompany the flames, each attack amplifying the other with their heat and energy, resulting in a particularly deadly combination. Thomas became obscured by the attack, but his howls and roars of pain and fury pierced the outside world, growing in intensity. Before long, the barrier shimmered and flickered before giving out entirely, it's strength failing to stand against Thomas' furious counter-attack and the terrifying power of their foe was revealed. The flames and lightning swirled in a maelstrom of untold power, controlled entirely by the furious boy, standing unscathed at it's heart, his normally brown eyes shining a bright crimson as they seemed to drill twin holes right through Celestia as she observed them with a mixture of defiance and apprehension.

“What in Tartarus is this monstrosity?” she thought, fearing the worst as the bipedal being slowly inched closer, his movements painfully slow as his advance built fear and panic.

“Sister! What can we do? It's too powerful for us!” cried Luna, dodging a rogue burst of flames that fell away from the towering inferno. Celestia didn't have an answer, but right at that moment, a bright light shone in the sky, brighter than her sun and casting a glare all around them. Celestia and Luna shielded their eyes a little, before catching sight of the origins of the mysterious light. Rather than yet another attack from the creature, it was an immensely powerful teleportation signature, indicating that whatever was teleporting into the airspace above them was either massive in size, or arriving from a great distance. Celestia lost her composure when she and Luna finally saw what had just teleported into the air. Two more bipedal creatures that bore striking resemblance to the out-of-control monster had appeared, free falling to the ground with an audible thud as they landed solidly on their elongated hind limbs and making a few impact marks on the earth beneath them. They were clearly older than the first one, their greater size evident of that fact. There were two things, however, that distinguished them from the furiously rampaging beast. First, they seemed much calmer and in control, though the younger of the two's face was wet with what were probably tears. The other difference was that, in contrast to the brute, they wore much more extravagant clothing. They both wore long garments that covered most of their bodies, though the older one's clothing was clearly better-made and more extravagant. They sprang into action in perfect unison on the loud, spoken command of the older creature. Celestia instinctively activated another barrier to protect herself and her sister, unsure of just what they were doing. They went straight for the younger, raging creature, ignoring Celestia and her sister as well as the dangers of the huge maelstrom above.

Julius and Erik had finally managed to arrive in the same world as their brother, only to find that he had completely lost control of his inner-demon.

“Great, the shift made him unstable....this may take some effort.” Julius thought to himself as he and Erik went in a controlled free fall toward the ground, landing effortlessly on the surface. He noticed that some native creatures closely resembling horses fearfully recoiled from their sudden appearance. Julius had expected nothing less, for if Thomas had previously been the only example of their species that they had ever encountered before, then they would naturally fear two more arriving without warning. Thomas' control had completely shattered, with his powers ruling his mind, rather than the other way around. Julius grimaced at this notion. He instantly knew that Thomas could not be reasoned with in his current state, his conscious mind was being suppressed by his subconscious. Since the subconscious mind was concerned almost purely with survival in this case, it took almost anything unknown as a threat to it's existence, and therefore tried it's utmost to ensure the continued survival of the body, even if it meant utterly destroying whatever stood in it's way. Being driven to such a state of mind was a daunting experience, having no control over your actions. As far as Thomas was concerned, he was in a deep sleep from which he couldn't wake up unaided. In the time it took Julius to analyse the problem, Erik had done the same. They exchanged serious looks and nodded, instantly knowing which course of action to take. They moved in practiced harmony, preparing for what they were about to do as if they were one person.

“Erik!” shouted Julius, giving his brother the go-ahead. Erik complied, running toward Thomas while Julius encased both Erik and Thomas in a protective barrier. Erik had a working knowledge of the human mind and psyche, knowing that what he was about to do could cause major psychological damage to his younger brother, but it was the most peaceful solution. Julius had provided a means to stop Thomas from escaping, and Erik stretched out his hand, directing his powerful flow of consciousness right at Thomas' face, feeling his brother's mind as if it were his own. He established a link between their minds, grimacing slightly from what lay inside Thomas'. Pain, suffering, rage, hate, desperation and fear hung in his mind like a thick fog that clouded everything else from view. Somewhere in the depths of that haze, lied the consciousness part of Thomas' mind, and the key to stopping his rampage. Erik felt around, his brother's mind reacting to the foreign invader with protest, mentally trying to block him from certain areas and fighting his presence the whole way. Finally, Erik smiled. He had found the small, frightened part of Thomas' mind that was his consciousness. His subconscious mind had taken over when he found that he was unable to coherently make sense of what it saw or felt. It was fractured. Splintered. Shattered beyond recognition. If Erik were to try and bring it to the surface now, it would destroy itself, as it struggled to find rhyme or reason to it's existence with whatever limited capacity it had, only to further fracture. Erik would just have to try his hardest to bring back his lost brother, knowing that if he tampered with his mind too much, Thomas would never be the same again. He could lose his memories, his feelings, or become an entirely different person. Erik frowned, trying his best to rearrange the shattered pieces of Thomas' mind back into the brother he knew and loved, before he was pulled out of Thomas' mind by Julius.

“That's enough, Erik. There's nothing more we can do for him, but hope me makes it through...” Julius' thoughts swam through Erik's mind, as he felt his connection with his younger brother cut off by his elder. The result was Thomas instantly passing out as his mind was re-scrambled and realigned. His control over the maelstrom of fire and lightning winked out of existence and the barrier Julius had conjured dissipated. Erik sighed in relief and as he slumped onto the ground, his energy drained from sudden exertion of mental force. Julius stood there, putting his hand on Erik's shoulder, comforting him. The moment seemed to last for a good twenty seconds before their thoughts were interrupted by one of the horses behind them.

“Thank you.....but why have you come?” demanded the brilliant white winged-horse behind them, making Erik jump at the realisation that they had the power of speech, much less the ability to speak English.

“Mein Gott, was haben wir uns da eingelassen? (My God, what have we gotten ourselves into?)” he said without thinking, musing to himself more than anyone else.

The white horse cocked her head to the side slightly, confused at his words.

“I'm sorry, do you speak Equestrian?” she asked, regarding his strange speech pattern.

“Equestrian!” scoffed Erik, unable to contain himself.

“....yes, can you understand us?” asked the horse, uncertain. Julius stepped forward before Erik could say anything else and answered the question for him.

“Yes, we understand you.” he said simply, regarding the alicorn with interest. “Interesting,...” he thought. “She has both wings and a horn. What do you call a winged unicorn?”

Celestia paused for a moment, before continuing.

“Why have you come here?” she asked in a measured, even voice, trying not to sound threatening. The older creature looked her in the eye before answering in his own strangely-accented reply.

“He is our brother, we had to help him...” he said, earning a reproachful look from Luna as her gaze shifted from the two before her and the unconscious one behind them.

“Hast thou come to destroy as he did?” she demanded, not wanting to deal with not one, but two of these strange beings at once, much less ones that so easily overpowered the first.

“No.” replied Julius, his tone one of warm reassurance. He did not want the equine beings to regard them as threats, despite what their brother had done. “We came to find our brother. We were worried about him.” he finished, indicating to the crumpled form behind him.

“Very well, then I must demand only three more answers before I leave....” she began, earning a reassuring nod from the older of the two. “What is your species? What is your name? And do you intend on staying in this land?” she chose her words carefully, unsure whether or not she would like her answers. Julius also chose his words carefully, not wanting to upset or endanger their presence here. Despite his power, he did not feel the need to use it in order to achieve desirable results when simple diplomacy would suffice. But at the same time, he did not want to endanger this world by introducing anymore concepts or information than he needed to. What if the concept of of a parallel dimension caused a existential crisis, obliterating this dimension?

“My name is Julius Collins, I am a human, and I don't intend on staying. My brother, Erik and I came only to retrieve our other brother, Thomas, that is all. But it may take some considerable time before we are able to return to where we came from......do you understand?” he finished, leaving the open-ended question to do the work for him. He was unsure of whether or not the concept of magic was a safe subject in this world. It wasn't even entirely safe on Earth, hence why his kind kept to the shadows and hidden from the general public.

“I understand, teleporting such a great distance can take enormous preparation....I hope you intend to make your stay here peaceful?” She smiled when her question was replied with nods from both of the human brothers, though the younger one seemed reluctant to speak. “Very well....arrangements will have to be made and damage must be addressed. I'm afraid I have to be short, but I must insist that you remain in only in this village, and under the supervision of whomever I choose.....will he be a problem?” she said, indicating to Thomas as she finished with a concerned voice.

“He will not repeat his actions, we have seen to that. He may be confused and disoriented when he wakes up, but we will make sure he doesn't do anything wrong.” spoke up Erik, standing up as he did so. Celestia was slightly taken aback at the even stranger accent with which the younger human spoke, but decided to go with it.

“Very well....” she stated, before turning to the library. “Twilight! I have a mission for you.” she said, with the onlooking lavender unicorn promptly gasping slightly at hearing her name called, before she teleported the short distance to the Princess's side, ready to hear her instructions.

“Yes, Princess?” she asked.

“Princess, huh? So this Equestria is ruled by royalty? Interesting, I wonder if this is arranged absolutely or constitutionally?" Thought Erik, his scholarly mind already working in overdrive. Wondering about many aspects of the new society they were apparently now stuck with until Julius could rebuild another portal. Although, he was unsure of just how long they would be welcome here, so he asked his brother in a way that he knew only they would understand.

“Julius?” Julius turned to his brother, instantly recognising the change in accent and understanding what he was going to ask, and why he was asking in Latin, rather than English/Equestrian. He obviously did not want the native inhabitants to know what he was asking. “Julius, cum poteris construere alius rituali? (Julius, when will you be able to construct another ritual?)” Julius replied, earning a look of apprehension from his younger brother.

“Sex saltem mensium. Est hoc mundo, etiam secundum diversam pro me ad probate exigere eadem ritum (At least six months, this world is too different for me to try the exact same ritual).” Erik grimaced. Celestia, Luna and Twilight exchanged worried looks, they had no idea what the brothers were saying and knew that they were being purposefully excluded from the conversation. Celestia, however recovered first and turned to her most faithful student.

“Twilight, I want you to keep a watchful eye on these....humans during their stay in Equestria.” she said carefully. Twilight kind of knew that this sort of request was coming, but she shrugged off the arrangement and took the mission with her usual enthusiasm.

“Yes, Princess, I'll do my best.” she finished with an awkward bow. Celestia nodded before turning to Julius a final time.

“Julius Collins....” she started, letting the unfamiliar syllables of the strange name roll across her tongue, hoping that she had pronounced it correctly. “I hope you would do well to make your stay here a peaceful one. You have the gratitude of both myself and my sister for helping avoid any further damage to Ponyville.....you will stay with Twilight Sparkle, my student, until you are able to travel back to your home.” she said, letting the words sink in, hoping that they fully understood what she was saying. Both of the humans nodded in unison, showing that they would respectfully comply with her orders.

“Yes, your majesties, we will do so.” stated Julius, bowing respectfully while indicating to his brother to follow suite. Celestia smiled slightly at their formality, before giving a final word to her sister and Twilight Sparkle. She said her goodbyes and she and Luna promptly teleported back to Canterlot.

“Well, this is going to be an interesting experience...” Erik thought, his mind working at double-pace as he began to devise more and more ways to observe this new world and everything it had to offer.

Chapter 2: Awkward Introductions

Chapter 2

Awkward Introductions

Anypony that happened to be glancing outside their hidey-holes or houses that they had

taken shelter in during what they believed to be a strange magical storm of some kind would have met an extraordinary sight on Ponyville's main street leading up to the library. Twilight Sparkle, the librarian trotted somewhat awkwardly, unsure of how to treat the two guests trailing behind her. Both were bipedal and stood at a height that would have easily matched their princess, if not exceed her stature. They walked calmly, but with a slightly hurried pace, clearly not wanting to attract any unwanted attention before Ponyville's residents began to come out of their shelters and begin repairing the damage. As they filed into the library, Twilight used her magic to bolt the door shut. She then turned and smiled a little sheepishly to her friends, all of whom were wearing looks of utter terror or shock at the newcomers.

“What in the hay, Twi? Why did you bring them in here?” demanded Applejack, the first tobreak the tense silence. Twilight had to tread carefully here, she didn't want to cause unneeded tensions between her friends and her new unexpected guests.

“It's ok, Applejack, their not here to hurt anypony. They just saved us from that monster!” she added, blurting out the last part without thinking. She immediately felt a little ashamed and turned to the older of the two brothers, who was currently carrying Thomas slung over his shoulder like a rucksack. “Umm, sorry....I didn’t mean it....really..” she said apologetically. Julius gave a soft grunt and nod of recognition, but it was Erik that replied.

“It's fine, little pony, we take full responsibility for what our brother has done.” he stated, trying his best to sound remorseful given the trouble his little brother has caused. This did little to alleviate any tensions regarding the strange new visitors, however. Upon hearing the words 'our brother', several of the ponies gasped in surprise and shock.

“That terrible monster is your brother?!” blurted Rainbow Dash, her jaw in danger of dropping to the floor. Erik looked more than a little uncomfortable. Thomas had done little to help the ponies see them in a favourable light. Rather than try to correct the rainbow-maned mare's outburst, he opted instead to chuckle apologetically.

“Hehehe.....yeah, sorry about that. Nobody was hurt, right?” Two reactions from the mares were immediate in response to Erik's apology. Firstly, they felt somewhat relieved that he seemed to actually care about their well-being, but that was overshadowed by their reaction to his accent.

“What kind of place do you come from? Your Equestrian sounds funny!” piped up Pinkie Pie, positively bouncing around him and occasionally invading his personal space as if to get a closer look at his features. Erik scowled at her, realising that this reaction was probably going to be all-too-common in this world, where apparently nobody spoke German.

“It's because, er, Equestrian isn't my first language.” he said slowly, earning inquisitive looks from Twilight. She was about to ask him more, but they were interrupted by Julius.

“Not that I don't enjoy these awkward introductions, but can we move along? Thomas needs seeing to.” he drawled in a bored, flat voice that prompted Erik to move out of his way and allow Julius to walk past him. Twilight took a long, pained look at the slumped form of Thomas slung over Julius' shoulder before offering to allow him to rest in her bed, but Julius declined the offer.

“It's not a problem,” he interrupted Twilight's protests “I can attend to his rest just fine.” he finished curtly, before amazing Twilight by simply conjuring a stretcher bed out of thin air that floated three feet off the ground. Twilight's (as well as everypony else's) eyes threatened to bulge right out of their sockets. They were astounded at the strange magic that the slightly rude older brother wielded almost lazily.

“T-that's not possible....you can't just create stuff like that! How the hay did you do that?!” demanded Twilight, her eyes impossibly wide. Julius didn't answer the dumbfounded unicorn, he chose to ignore her curiosity in favour of tending to his unconscious brother, whom he was now moving onto the bed. Thomas lay on his back with a pained expression on his face. His eyes were scrunched up and he was breaking out in sweat, as if caught with a high fever.

“Is there anything we can do?” asked Twilight, her concern overpowering her fear.

“Ah dunno, Twi, what if it wakes up?” cut in Applejack, her face clearly set with lines of worry.

“It's fine.” Julius replied curtly, before turning to Erik, who was still standing awkwardly at the door. “Erik, I need your help with this one.” stated Julius, his voice carrying what Erik recognised as urgency, but came across as rude demanding to the ponies.

“Oh-um, ok. Come one, girls. I think we should leave them alone for this...” Twilight indicated to her friends to head into the kitchen with her. They were only too happy to comply, with Applejack and Fluttershy practically competing to exit the room first, not wanting to anger the strange and powerful visitors that had somehow been dumped on Twilight's doorstep.

“Erik, we need to try and make his mind understand.....do you think you can do that?” Julius asked seriously, his gaze unblinking as he let the words sink in. Erik knew the risks of playing with peoples' minds like this, it could cause irreversible damage to Thomas' mind if done incorrectly.

“Y-yes.....I think I can do it...” he replied uncertainly, placing his hands on Thomas' forehead as he prepared for a particularly difficult magical challenge.

“Try not to worry, Erik, I will be with you every step of the way.” his older brother assured him, also bringing up his hands, gathering his power as he prepared himself. The plan was to once again delve into Thomas' mind and try to force his consciousness to accept what had happened. Denial was a powerful adversary, and if they couldn't mend what damage Tom's subconscious had caused, they were in for serious problems. Reaching out with their minds, they both plunged their thoughts right into the depths of Tom's scarred mind, searching for the small, frightened part of him they knew to be his waking thoughts.

*        *        *

Erik landed roughly on the ground, the sudden impact causing him to stumble as his body struggled to gain it's bearings. Julius landed gracefully beside him, unfazed by the situation. They stood in what appeared to be a lush green field, bordered by a forest to one side and a farm to the other. The gentle breeze washed over Erik's face as he took in his surroundings. This vision was quite unlike any of his previous visits to Tom's mind, as they usually took the form of a library or city, owing to Tom's intellectually complex mind reflecting his studious habits. But this setting was simple, rustic, and in complete contrast to the Thomas he knew.

“Julius....where are we?” he wondered out loud, drawing a slightly worried look from his brother.

“I'm not sure...but I were to take a guess....I'd say that Tom's mind has fractured so, that each piece of what's left has it's own thoughts, but are not individually capable of forming complex thought processes anymore.”he grimaced. Erik matched his brother's expression, understanding. Tom's mind had been shattered into so many pieces, that whatever was left no longer had the complex or even mature mind capable of sustaining anything more complicated than a simple setting that any child could imagine. Just at that moment, Erik heard laughter in the distance. It was the playful laughter of a child, happily playing games like any small child would. Erik and Julius walked over to the source of the noise and caught sight of a two small boys playing with a soccer ball, kicking it to each other. Erik smiled at first, before frowning, recognising the first boy's features. It was exactly how he remembered Tom when he was a small boy, not even eight years old. Erik began to worry as he saw the other boy that he was playing with, who turned out to look exactly the same. They could have been twins, but Erik knew that Tom didn't haveany brothers or sisters. Before coming into the care of their master, he was an only child.

The two boys laughed as they played with the ball, kicking it to each other, until one of themplayfully picked up the ball and started running in the opposite direction. He continued laughing, but the other boy began to cry and scream in annoyance and protest.

“Hey! No fair! I want to play with it too! I thought you were my friend!” he cried, tears streaming down his face as the other boy stood just outside his reach, teasing him with the ball.

“Haha! I got the ball! It's mine now! Why would I play with a little wimp like you? You can't even kick in a straight line!”he teased in a childish sing-song voice that only made the other boy cry harder. The boy would have continued teasing, but a third boy, exactly like the first two, appeared out of nowhere and grabbed the ball before kicking it to the crying child.

“Here ya go! Don't listen to that dummy! He's just a bully.”he said, trying to comfort the crying child. Erik felt a tap on his shoulder, as Julius indicated to their right, revealing yet more identical boys engaged in various activities. Sitting under a tree with an open book was another, slightly older Thomas, probably ten years old. Erik and Julius walked over to him, spotting another Thomas sitting next to him reading a comic book while eating a sandwich. Erik stopped as one of the boys running about in the field bumped into him, not looking where he was going.

“Oof! Sorry, guv! 'Shoulda watched where I was goin'!” he said in a strong cockney accent before continuing his game with another duplicate.

“What do you make of this, Jules?” Erik asked his older brother. Julius took another look

around before taking some time to think about his answer.

“I would say that Tom's mind has split off into distinct personalities, with each representing a part of the brother we know. Each of these boys represent some part of Thomas, but they are all children because they technically have not been individual entities for very long.”he explained, drawing from his limited knowledge of the human mind. He paused for a moment, before pointing to each of them in turn, and naming their strongest characteristic, thereby showing which part of Thomas they represented. “innocence, anger, sadism, happiness, sadness, heroism...”he pointed to the boys playing in the field, the bully, and the boy that had stepped in to give the ball back. “Intellect and fun-loving”he indicated to the boys sitting under the tree reading books and comic books He turned again, pointing to yet more children arriving into the field to join the first group. Erik also began naming them, trying to make sense of what piece of Thomas they represented. If they understood what they were, then perhaps they could somehow reconstruct the Tom they knew.

“So.....hesitation? (he pointed to a boy that seemed to shuffle awkwardly, like he was deciding whether or not he should be playing with the other boys), love, and—what?” Erik was taken-aback slightly, spotting a slightly older Tom that was probably in his early teens, awkwardly blushing as he kissed a similarly-aged girl that looked remarkably similar, possessing the same coloured hair, eyes, and even clothing. The only discernible difference (apart from gender) was her long hair tied in pigtails.

“Hmmmnnn.....his femininity, no doubt.” commented Julius, earning a quizzical look from his brother. They continued walking, until a sight before them made Erik stop dead. The last boy to arrive to the field and join the others did not even vaguely resemble the other children. His hair was jet black instead of the light brown every other child had, and his features were noticeably different. If this child had anything to do with Thomas' mind, it didn't look like he belonged at all. He shuffled nervously as he tried to have fun with the other children, but ended up sitting in a secluded corner by himself. Julius regarded him for a moment, but he decided that he and Erik had better finish what they had started.

“If we want to reconstruct Thomas as we knew him, we will have to merge all of these children to form one, single consciousness....” Julius explained as he brought up his hands, gathering his focus for the magical task ahead. “This will not be pleasant, but it's necessary....”he sighed, motioning for Erik to reinforce his magical power with his own reserves for the arduous task of splicing apart everything they saw and re-shaping their basic building blocks. Julius began chanting in an archaic tongue, the syllables unfamiliar and mysterious to Erik's ears, but he focused on channelling his energies into the technique regardless. The effect was immediate, with several of the closest children hunching over as if the all had sudden stomach aches simultaneously. They groaned in slight pain before falling to the ground and simply disintegrating, like ashes in the wind. The particle remains of the pieces of Thomas' mind swirled around in a dense cloud, it's volume increasing whenever it came across another 'child'. The idea was to utterly break down everything they saw and reform the collective minds into one, hopefully restoring Thomas. But before they could finish the technique, Julius' efforts encountered resistance. He was taken aback at this opposition, flinching reflexively. He opened his eyes and saw that only two boys were left out of the original two dozen. Both were Thomas' normal age of around sixteen, but they couldn't be more different. One looked exactly like the Thomas that he knew as his brother, but the other was an older version of the strange boy that they had seen earlier, his face contorted with rage and pain as he screamed at Erik and Julius.

“GET OUT! GET OUT! GET OUT!” he repeated, his screamed seeming to carry

immense magical power, his mind pressing down on Julius' efforts. At this point, the resistance that Julius felt working against his efforts to restore Thomas to his former self felt like an endeavour in futility. It was like trying to break apart a boulder with a toothpick, it was impossible. Julius' pushed harder, wrestling for control over the mindscape with the strange teen. Even with Erik's own vast reserves reinforcing him, he felt that he was fighting a losing battle. Whatever this boy was, it was incredibly powerful and it wanted them gone from Thomas' mind.

“GET OUT! GET THE FUCK OUT!!” he screamed, his face contorting unnaturally as

his voice grew impossibly loud, forcing Erik to cover his ears in a vain attempt to block out the deafening noise. Erik's concentration was broken, resulting in his contributions to Julius' efforts to be cut off. Julius now stood alone in the face of whatever this thing was. His power faltered, flickering under the immense might of the boy's onslaught of psychic energy, trying to force them out of Thomas' mind. Julius stood almost no chance against such a force alone. It was akin to attempting to boil the ocean with a cigarette lighter.

“I could.....no, I don't want to risk it. I promised myself that I would NOT use it...” he

contemplated, deciding to concede to the boy's efforts and bail, hoping that he won't cause too much damage.

“Brother, as much as it pains me, we have to leave them be. There's nothing else we can do.” he said gravely, grabbing Erik's arm and using what remained of his strength to unceremoniously wrench them out of Thomas' mindscape before his brother could protest.

*        *        *

Coming back to the real world, Erik shuddered as his consciousness returned to his body, the initial shock of his spirit being trapped in such a frail vessel slightly nauseating at first. He swallowed the bile that threatened to escape from his stomach and looked down at Thomas' limp form on the stretcher bed. He wasn't writhing around or covered in cold sweat anymore, thankfully, but his expression looked faintly pained; as if he were merely having an unpleasant nightmare. Erik sighed in relief as his strength gave out, the accumulative strain of such a taxing mental activity hitting him all at once in waves of fatigue. If Julius was suffering any similar symptoms, he hid his fatigue well.

“Now, we wait. Hopefully he's back to how he was before...” he muttered, regarding Tom's form with a concerned look. Peering through a gap in the kitchen door was several pairs of colourful eyes, all of them wide in wonder and interest. Twilight in particular was intrigued.

“What kind of magic is this?” she wondered, trying to make sense of the mysterious brand of mystical arts these men wielded. She leaned in further, trying to get a better look at the younger of the two men and consequently lost her balance, falling through the doorway and landing on her muzzle in the library with an audible thud. Erik and Julius simultaneously turned to the source of the noise to find Twilight red with embarrassment.

“Ummm, hehehe, sorry....but is he okay?” she tried her best to move past her awkward entrance.

“He'll be fine, he just needs a few days' rest.” replied Julius, sighing a little. He knew that he and his brother were going to have to indulge Twilight's burning curiosity. He knew a scholar's mind when he saw one, and Twilight's mannerisms were endemic of someone steeped in an academic thirst for knowledge of the unknown. He smiled a little, Twilight's rampant curiosity not unlike his own when he was a younger man.

“I didn't thank you for allowing us to stay here, did I?” he said, catching Twilight off-guard.

“U-um, no, but it's okay, really! Princess Celestia herself invited you here, so it's an honour! It's not everyday that I get to host for, uhhh...., whatever you guys are....” she trailed off, her expression unsure.

“Yeah! Just what are you guys anyway? You look like someone took a bear and shaved it!” piped up Rainbow Dash, walking out from the kitchen. Twilight's face turned into a look of utter panic, mortified at Rainbow's words.

“Rainbow! Don't insult them! That could have been extremely rude....I think...” Despite his fatigue, Erik broke out into a fit of laughter, clutching a stitch in his chest as he doubled over. Twilight and Rainbow Dash looked at Erik like he had sprouted a second head, with the rest of the ponies (and dragon) in the kitchen filing out into the library to see what was causing the noise, only to find Erik chuckling weakly on the floor.

“D-don't worry about it.” he gasped, stifling his laughter to a more manageable level. Despite the grave situation and the concern he felt for his younger brother, he felt immensely relieved to be able to laugh again. “I will try to answer any questions you have. It's the least we can do, you offered us shelter here, after all.” he finished, standing up. The tension in the air (between Twilight and the brothers at least) seemed to disappear as the unicorn scholar almost bounded like Pinkie Pie with excitement as she made her way over to Erik, grinning from ear to ear.

“Really? You don't mind? There's just so much we don't know about your species!” she began, before restraining herself with what looked like enormous effort.

“Don't worry, little pony, I am just as curious about your kind.” Erik replied in a light, friendly voice.

“I'm glad....and Twilight Sparkle...that's my name.” she said.

“Erik Müler.” he replied cheerfully, extending his hand to shake her hoof, though he did so gingerly; unsure of how exactly to shake hands with someone (or somepony) that didn't in fact have any hands. Before Twilight could start with any more questions, she was interrupted by Rainbow Dash, who had grown past the fact that the librarian was now hosting a few strange-looking house guests.

“C'mon guys, Twilight's going into egghead-mode. We should help with fixing up the town.” she announced, fluttering out the door followed by Rarity.

“Um.....I should probably go and see if my animals are still ok....if that's alright with you...”

Fluttershy mumbled, keeping as close to the wall and far away from the humans as possible on her way out, as if she were afraid of bursting into flame if she come too close. She 'Eeped' slightly when she made eye-contact with Erik, and scurried out the door like a frightened rabbit. Pinkie Pie bounced over to the door, but stopped dead with a gasp.

“I just realised that I still have to throw a welcome-to-Ponyville-party for you guys!!” she said ecstatically, zipping out the door in a pink blur before Erik could even respond. Lastly, Applejack slowly walked out the door, keeping a weary eye on the two human brothers. She turned to Twilight before leaving.

“Now ya sure that yer okay with this, Twi? You saw what that other one did....” she said, taking a reproachful look at the sleeping Thomas with concern etched across her features.

“It's fine Applejack, the Princess trusts them, so I will too.” Twilight replied resolutely. Applejack nodded slowly and finally left the library, closing the door behind her. Now the brothers were left with only Twilight and Spike (who was still staring at Erik and Julius in awe and apprehension. There was a long, uncomfortable silence that followed the departure of Twilight's friends, until it was broken by the sound of Erik's rumbling stomach.

“*Ahem* sorry.” he said, grinning sheepishly “What's for lunch?”

*                *                *

The repairs to Ponyville's streets were well-underway, with the work moving surprisingly quickly. Despite the damage to the town, the local corner café was defiant to the circumstances and remained open for business. Taking full advantage of the day's problems, this café had remained open and consequently enjoyed the boosted business generated from the many ponies constantly at work whenever they stopped to take a break for meals. Despite the relatively crowded rush for lunch, Twilight managed to grab an outdoor table for her and Erik.

“Stay here, I'll get us some food.” she assured him, leaving Erik at the table. He drew more than a few curious stares from passers-by. Several ponies openly gaped at Erik's appearance, staring in wonder at the unusual creature sitting like a pony at the dining table as if there were nothing unusual at all. Anypony in the long cue leading outside from the ordering counter inside the restaurant stared at Erik as well, making the young man uncomfortable. While he and his brothers had been under the care of their master, they had been confined to their master's estate for the majority of their lives; this isolation now reflected Erik's behaviour. Erik felt like he was suffocating under the pressure of so many eyes interested in his person. He tried to relax and took a deep breath, taking in a much greater amount of oxygen than usual. He slowed his breathing and stretched out his senses, taking in everything. His extrasensory awareness instantly picked up all of the eyes watching him; their gazes coming from all sides. The effect on Erik was immediate; he instantly felt agoraphobic and felt his heart pump faster. He began to break out into sweat, the perspiration beginning to show in his face. His left eye twitched with tension and his throat went dry. He couldn't breath. He couldn't think. He couldn't make a sound. He was at the mercy of so many eyes watching his every move. His whole world felt like it was suffocating him.

“Erik, umm, are you okay?” his moment of extreme anxiety was interrupted and he as immediately brought back down to Earth (err, Equestria).

“I-it's nothing. I'm just n-not used to crowds...” he stammered, wiping the sweat from his forehead with his sleeve, before realising that he was still wearing his dressing gown and pajamas; having not slept at all as he and Julius were searching for a way to follow Tom's signal.

“Oh, okay.....” Twilight was unsure of Erik, was he as unstable as his brother? Were all of these humans violent and unstable? Erik looked a right mess. His left eye was twitching and his face perspiring. Twilight wasn't sure, but she was worried at his apparent agitation.

“Well.....anyway, the food's here.” she said, trying to put on a cheerful voice. A waiter walked over to the table, casting a curious eye, but saying nothing, and placed a tray of various food and drink in front of Erik and Twilight. Erik saw what looked like a milkshake of some kind and something resembling fries, as well as what appeared to be sandwich filled with daisies. Erik looked down in surprise The food looked like a cross between Earth cuisine and food commonly eaten by farm animals. He noticed that the majority of the food contained hay. Luckily, he noticed a salad next to the milkshake.

“May I eat the salad, Miss Sparkle?” he asked politely, gesturing with his trembling hand at the garden salad.

“Oh, sure! You don't want the hayfries?” she asked while pushing the salad across the table to the human.

“Humans don't normally eat hay....” he said quietly, trying not to sound ungrateful.

“Oh! I'm so sorry! I didn't even think to ask what humans normally eat!” Twilight's sudden panic was put down by Erik.

“It's alright, we can eat salads just fine.” he assured her, using his fingers pick out a cherry tomato and pop it into his mouth. As soon as he began chewing, the rich, juicy flavour exploded in his mouth; treating his taste buds to an unexpected pleasure. “Mein Gott! These are amazing! How in the world did you grow these?” he exclaimed, finding another tomato and eating it with relish. Twilight smiled at his antics, happy that Erik had relaxed somewhat.

“Earth Ponies have a latent affinity for the land, they are the best gardeners and grow the best food in Equestria!” she explained, earning thoughtful looks from Erik. “Do humans normally eat tomatoes?” she asked hopefully, trying to learn more about the nature of her house guests.

“Well, yes, we do. Humans eat a wide variety of fruits and vegetables, but they are normally a side dish to the main part of a meal, or added for extra variety and flavour.” explained Erik, his face positively lit up with enthusiastic joy as he began eating lettuce and mushrooms.

“Huh....how does that work? If you can't eat hay, what else do you eat?” she asked, trying to figure out just what exactly constituted a human diet. She got the shock of her life when Erik, who was too hungry and focused on eating, spoke without even thinking about his answer.

“Well, humans are omnivores, we eat a variety of meats along with our vegetables!” he said, savouring the taste of a particularly juicy tomato. Twilight gasped with horror, her eyes wide with apparent fear and disgust. Erik caught her expression and immediately realised his mistake.

“Y-y-you eat meat?! H-how? W-why would you do something like that?” she stuttered.

“Don't worry, Miss Sparkle, we don't normally eat ponies.” he tried to assure her, earning only more looks of fear and disgust.

“Normally?”

“Well......my culture doesn't.....but I can't say with absolute certainty about every other human culture....” he tried to put it gently, but only succeeded in intensifying Twilight's shock.

“Y-y-y-you're not going to eat m-m-me, are you?” she cried.

“No! Of course not!” he tried his best to reassure her. Twilight did her best to calm down, nervously watching Erik while he chewed his food and spotted the fact that he had canine teeth like a wolf. His body was indeed well-adapted for eating meat. Erik tried to divert the conversation to something that Twilight would be more comfortable with.

“Maybe I should fill you in on the details later, hmm? Now I have a question for you.” he said, Twilight gulping nervously slightly.

“S-sure, go ahead.”

“How do unicorns perform magic? I've noticed that unicorns' horns glow, with the corresponding object glowing with the same hue. Is this normal?” he asked in his normal scholarly tone, the inquiry instantly curing Twilight of her nervousness as she recognised a fellow scholar's curiosity.

“Well, yeah! We unicorns learn how to use magic for day-to-day activities, but some study

spells and enchantments too! I'm Princess Celestia's star pupil! So, I get to study the secrets and finer arts when it comes to magic!” she said proudly, Erik's face lighting up with keen interest.

“Princess Celestia? The large white winged unicorn? She is the daughter of your ruler?” he

posed the questions in rapid succession, but Twilight, also used to scholarly inquiry was more than capable of keeping up.

“Daughter? No, she's the co-ruler of Equestria! She and her sister, Princess Luna, are the guardians of the day and night, respectively. She and Luna are a rare species of pony called Alicorns! They are the rarest and most powerful of all!” she said with practised enthusiasm, as if lecturing a classroom full of students. Erik was beginning to understand.

“Okay, so Princesses Celestia and Luna are joint rulers, but why are they called the guardians of the day and night? Is that a symbolic title?” he asked.

“Umm, no. Princess Celestia is responsible for moving the sun across the sky! And Princess Luna brings us her beautiful night!” she said. Erik's immediate sceptical look caused her to stop, however.

“How can two alicorns control the day/night cycle when it's already governed by the rotation and orbit of the planet?” he asked incredulously.

“Huh? You mean that's not normal where you come from?”

“Of course! It's basic physics!” he exclaimed. Erik now had a greater appreciation for those poor scholars that had had to explain the notion of a heliocentric view of the solar system to people that were used to taking every word of the church for granted.

“That's....that's crazy! Sure, I bet your weather acts randomly too, huh?” he said

sarcastically, not realising just how spot-on she was. She shook her head doubtfully and scoffed at Erik's confirmation. “Yeah...and humans walked on the moon, I bet.”

“Well, actually......” Erik trailed off. Twilight was dumbfounded.

“N-no way!” she exclaimed, dropping her daisy sandwich in surprise. “You actually HAVE studied the moon? How in Equestria did you humans even get there? I mean, Princess Celestia is the only pony I know of that can cast magic that powerful. Wait....are humans THAT powerful with magic?”

“Actually, magic is almost non-existent among humans. My brothers and I are some of the

few exceptions.”

“WHAT?! No magic?!”

“I think, we will have to leave this for another time....everyone's staring at us...” Erik muttered, indicating to the small crowd of gawking passers-by that seemed to have accumulated. Twilight snapped out of her initial shock and looked around, realising that they were indeed surrounded, and that many were openly staring at them.

“Errr, sure, maybe we should get back to the library...”

*                *                *

Back inside the Ponyville Library, Julius sat cross-legged on the floor facing his sleeping brother. His eyes were closed and his brow furrowed in concentration. Julius was in the middle of his daily mental exercises. He was far behind in his self-imposed training regimen, due to his near-constant efforts to find Erik in the last few days. He was only now making up for it. Random objects floated about, slowly orbiting the young man; captured in the grip of his mind's power. He meditated on the current situation, attempting to determine the best cause of action. Julius was always the most serious when it came to training and preparation out of his brothers, and stuck to his studies whenever possible. Among his goals in his studies was the pursuit of higher awareness. According to his master, the human mind had access to higher planes of existence that stretched the awareness to a greater level. Accessing these higher planes brought a myriad of benefits such as heightened senses and the ability to draw from the natural energies of the environment. Currently, Julius was attempting to force his way to the next highest plane. Unfortunately or him, his concentration was rudely interrupted by the sudden appearance of Erik and Twilight, who had rushed in through the front door. Twilight had followed Erik through the front door only to find several objects fall out of the air and land in a heap surrounding the sitting older brother. Julius gave the pair of them a reproachful look as he stood up, retrieving a few items along the way. Erik looked apologetic, realising that he had interrupted his brother.

“Erm—sorry Jules....” he said hastily, rushing past him to the bathroom. Julius sighed in exasperation, taking a quick look at Thomas before conjuring a chair to sit in. Twilight, her curiosity getting the better of her, wandered over to him and awkwardly tried to strike up a conversation with the irritable older brother.

“Um, so.......Jules is your name, right?” she asked, taking a tentative step toward him.

“My name is Julius, but my brothers insist on calling me by that pet-name.” he said a little

forcefully. Twilight cringed slightly, with Julius realising his forcefulness and softening his tone somewhat. “Here.” he said, handing Twilight a backpack that he had stationed in a corner. “This should answer most of your questions about us, I don't have the time, nor the patience for a lecture.” he said irritably. “I need to have some time to think, so don't bother me.” he finished, walking out the door before Twilight could even respond. She was left blinking dumbly at his abrupt departure, but her curiosity took over when she remembered that she had been given the bag. A human artefact full of Celestia-knows what kind of information.

“Spike!” she called, with the small purple waddling out of the bedroom.

“What is it, Twilight?” he yawned sleepily.

“How could you have been asleep at a time like this?!” she demanded.

“I was tired.” he said simply, shrugging. “You kept me awake all night with those extra assignments you had to send, because Owlowiscious is away at Fluttershy's remember? Today's weird stuff can only keep me excited for so long, you know” he explained, his tone bored and slightly irritable from being woken up.

“Oh, right...sorry Spike, just go back to sleep. I can handle this.” she said, motioning for

him to return to bed, to which he gladly complied. Twilight used her magic to pick up the backpack and began slowly opening it as she walked over to her study desk. She didn't get far, however, because she bumped into the strange wooden object that Julius had created out of thin air to sit on. She grimaced with the slight pain and rubbed her foreleg, too excited to stop. She reached her desk and finished opening the bag, her expression akin to a child on Christmas morning. The first thing she pulled out of the bag she instantly recognised as a wallet, but the material it was made of was unfamiliar to her. She found two more identical wallets made of the same material deeper in the bag, pulling them out to get a closer look. They were made out of some kind of supple and smooth black material that she couldn't name. She opened the first wallet, scanning it's contents. What she found was a variety of small plastic cards, not unlike library or ID cards taking up all of the wallet slots. She pulled out one at random and studied it's surface, unable to read the text on it's surface, but recognising a picture of Julius' face adorning it's front. She pulled out another card, this one featuring a symbol of some kind, followed by a set of random digits and a black stripe across it's other side. She looked through the wallet's other slots and found multiple other cards just like the second one, each having a different symbol or string of random characters. She kept digging, finding unusual-looking slips of paper in one of the pockets, covered in symbols and seemingly random pictures across their surfaces.

“Ugh.....” she groaned in slight annoyance. She couldn't even hope to read anything written on these plastic cards or the slips of paper, but she did find something somewhat familiar in another pocket compartment. “Is this......money?” she wondered out loud, spilling the contents out onto the desk to reveal a small variety of coins. She found they were all adorned with the same picture of a female human wearing a crown one side, her face surrounded by yet more text. Now she was getting somewhere! She instantly knew that these coins were some kind of human currency, and that humans had a princess too! A crown, whether adorning the head of Princess Celestia, or some unknown human was unmistakable in what it represented. Leaving the wallets for a moment, she continued digging through the backpack and found a number of books of several different sizes. She immediately selected a small one and opened it carefully, only to find that, like the coins and cards, it had been printed in a language she couldn't read.

“Hold on....” she thought, frowning slightly as she regarded the book, turning it's pages back and forth. She could see that this book definitely wasn't any novel or textbook. It was organised in such a way that a word was highlighted in bold, followed by a paragraph of text beneath.

“It's a dictionary!” she exclaimed happily, realising that this would make her efforts all the

more easier. She charged up her horn, casting a most difficult spell. During her studies, she had gone through times when she had several assignment due at the same time on top of her usual reports. In order to save time, she had come across a spell that would instantly take all the information from a book, convert it into impulses that could be interpreted by her brain, and reorganised in such a way that would allow her to actively use and understand the information from the book as if she had read it from cover to cover. She had yet to use such a spell on learning an entirely new language, however. Straining herself with effort, her magic gripped the book and it's pages flipped through, as if being read at breakneck speed. Twilight gasped slightly as her spell finished and the immense load of new information hit her like a ton of bricks. She felt a headache coming on, but she had done it! She flipped over the dictionary to read it's cover, understanding it's words for the first time.

“The Concise Oxford English Dictionary, huh? So this language is called....English? But it's so similar in structure to Equestrian!.” Still, she could read it now! With renewed enthusiasm, she went back to studying the various contents on the wallets. Despite her newfound knowledge of this new language, she STILL didn't recognise a lot of what was on the cards. She could recognise that they were covered in numerals, but they looked like nonsensical serial numbers, like those used in a library register, but way more complicated. She noticed that all of them bore the name 'Mr. Julius Collins', followed by a set of what looked like dates. Only one of the cards in this series had any actual English text written on it's surface.

“The Bank of England?” she thought, her mind going into overdrive. “If these serial numbers represent just oneclient in a banking system.....then there must be literally millionsof humans just for this bank alone! There are at least a dozen bank cards here, so....is it possible that this 'England' is home to tens of millions of humans?” She wasn't sure, but she kept going through Julius' wallet. She picked up the card showing Julius' face, which she now recognised as a 'passport'. “Whatever that is.” she mused. She began reading it, still not finding any major answers to her questions.

“Name: Collins, Julius. Nationality: Australian. Date of Birth: 22 June 1987. Sex: M. Authority: Melbourne.” several things struck her mind at once. She recognised that 'Australian' was the demonym of the name of the country in which Julius had been born, but the dictionary didn't specify anything beyond the most basic of information.

'Australian (Noun) – A native or inhabitant of Australia, or a person of Australian descent.'

Not very helpful in this case, but she DID remember another definition.

'Australia - an island country and continent of the southern hemisphere, in the SW Pacific, a member state of the Commonwealth; population 21,262,600 (est. 2009); official language, English; capital, Canberra.'

She had only vague ideas of what the 'Pacific' and the 'Southern Hemisphere' were, owing to the fact that it was a compact dictionary, as opposed to an encyclopaedia, but she got the gist of it. She didn't however, understand the dating system used by humans.

“Hmmm, I'll have to ask Erik about that one..” she thought. But then she stopped dead in her tracks, realising that Erik had rushed to the bathroom fifteen minutes ago and she hadn't heard from him since! She dropped what she was doing and bolted over to the bathroom door, gently knocking.

“Erik! Are you okay in there?” There wasn't an answer. “Erik, are you alright?!” she

demanded, getting a little worried. Swallowing her worries, she used her magic to forced the lock open and barge through the door, only to gasp in shock as what she found. Erik's crumpled form lay on the cold tiled bathroom floor.

Prologue

Prologue

The bitter chill of the European winter coupled with high altitude was a fearful combination. Snow fell in abundance in all directions as winter's icy grip made it's presence known in the European Alps. In the higher regions of these mountains, stood a house built from only the finest marble and timbers. The original builder of this home had spared no expense in defying nature and putting his grand masterpiece right where he wanted. What might seem strange to any onlooker was that the house was completely unaffected by the erosion of the harsh climate. It stood as pristine as the day it had been completed. This dwelling was protected by powerful magic. Upon entering the manor, one could see exquisite taste had gone into it's construction. Sculptures of marble and paintings adorned the walls. Suits of armour from centuries gone by stood ever watchful at various doorways. The main entrance hall was dominated by a spectacular staircase that framed the entrance in perfect symmetry. Anyone who entered this house would have thought that it was the secret getaway of Bill Gates or European royalty. But this couldn't have been further from the truth. As the sun's weak rays began to pierce the icy environment outside and stream in through the windows, a young man in his early twenties and sporting an old, worn dressing gown strode purposefully across the entrance hall and into an adjoining corridor lined with a luxurious red carpet. He stood at average height and his physique showed that he wasn't used to manual labour. His piercing blue eyes were framed by his bright blond hair, giving him a distinctive Aryan appearance. Yawning slightly, he walked down the corridor and stopped when he entered the kitchen at the other end. In the kitchen stood another, younger man in his mid teens. He slouched in his chair at the kitchen table cupping a mug of steaming coffee between his hands, attempting to fight off the cold. His face was one of weariness, with deep frown lines etched into his forehead and dark purple shadows under his eyes. His light brown hair was a mess, sticking up at odd angles and giving off the general impression of disorganisation. As the first man entered the kitchen, he gave the younger man a soft grunt of recognition as he headed straight for the coffee machine on the kitchen bench. The tired-looking youth at the table gave a small smirk of mischief when he heard the slightly frustrated groan of the older man from behind him when he realised that the coffee machine was empty. He smirked a little more when a second groan, more exasperated than the last sounded as the older man found that there was no coffee in the pantry either.

"Seriously, Thomas? You drank all the coffee again?" sighed the blond in a thick German accent. "You were up all night going over those molecular transference books, weren't you? I told you not to do that! You know how fixated you get!" he growled, his frustration deepening as he realised that he was not going to have his morning coffee today.

"Hehehe....sorry Erik....but if it makes you feel any better, I know I'm close to a breakthrough this time!" responded the teenager with a distinctively English accent that shifted from a formal RP to a cockney as he took a particularly loud sip from his mug, as if to emphasise that he had coffee, while the other man did not. Erik simply face-palmed, his sluggish movements now amplified with the denial of much-needed caffeine.

"C'mon, Thomas! I keep telling you, that kind of transfer just isn't possible!" he sighed in exasperation, lecturing the younger boy as if he were scolding a small child that believed he could fly. The younger man responded with a look of resolute defiance in his eyes, despite the tiredness he felt.

"Master told us that anything is possible, you just have to find the way to get it done!" he stated, earning another groan from Erik.

"That old man is long gone, brother. If he were as wise as he claimed to be, then don't you think he would have had the foresight to avoid what happened to him?" This argument rolled off of their tongues, as if they had had this conversation thousands of times.

"He's not dead! He would have survived somehow! I just know it!" denied Thomas, his jaw set with determination and his gaze stern. Erik sighed again as he massaged his temples.

"I'm not going to even try arguing with you today..." he sighed as he shuffled out of the kitchen, back across the entrance hall and into the library at the other end. The library was vast and contained volume after volume of ancient and dusty tomes, each one a treasure trove of mystical knowledge. Large scrolls of ancient parchment adorned the walls, showing off the ancient texts they contained. Rows upon rows of shelves that stretched from the floor to the ceiling and crafted of only the finest timber made up the library. In the centre of the room was a large reading table constructed out of a rare wood found only South America. Upon it was another, older man pouring himself over the mountains of books and scrolls that hid his face from view. Erik shook his head.

"Studying at god-knows what hour, as usual..." he mused. The table was covered in piles of tomes that towered up to nearly a metre high, each one precariously balanced on the other.

"What is it?" grunted a slightly irritable voice from behind the stacks of knowledge. "I'm busy, go away, Erik." said the man in an much more nasal accent than the other two inhabitants of the house. Erik however, did not heed the older man's words.

"Thomas drank all the coffee again.....you're the expert on conjuration, can't you help?" pleaded the blond man, his shoulders sagging. The other man sighed in frustration as he put down his book and stood up from the table, revealing his features. He stood at least six foot tall and had a slightly muscular physique. His frame was clad in the dark robes of a wizardly scholar, lined with patterns of silver and sporting wide sleeves and a drawn back hood. His face was slightly more angular than the younger man before him, his thin jaw lined with short black facial hair that framed his face sporting an expression of boredom and exasperation. He looked to be in his mid twenties, though his intellect and world weariness far exceeded his peers. His normally bright green eyes darkened with his mood and his black hair hanging in bangs, further framing his features.

"Come on, Jules! It takes you five seconds!" pleaded Erik.

"I told you to stop calling me that, Erik. My name's Julius." he grunted. Julius sighed again, before speaking once more. "Alright. Hold out your hand." he commanded, flexing his fingers as he prepared himself. Erik gladly held out his right hand, thanking the older scholar as he accepted the coffee beans that appeared out of nowhere, blossoming into existence in his palm.

"There, now leave me be." snapped Julius, giving Erik a dismissive wave of his hand. Erik was about to retort, but his train of thought was interrupted when Thomas bounded into the library, still in his singlet top and boxer shorts.

"I think I’ve got it! I know I have!" he said triumphantly. Both of the other men present groaned in annoyance. Ever since the three students of magic had lost their master, Thomas had been determined to find a way to bring him back from wherever he had disappeared. That was over three years ago. Ever since their master's disappearance, each of the three former pupils had gone their own way in studying the mysteries and intricacies of magic and it's arts. While different in appearance, speech and manner, the three young men had formed a relationship of brotherhood, and  lived together as if they were indeed brothers. Erik had pursued the discipline of the softer side of the magical arts, preferring to delve into illusion and powers of the mind. He hated the idea of violence, but that wasn't to say that he didn't know how to handle himself should the need arise. He held a deep curiosity for the unknown, and constantly sought to explain things. He was a man of science and research as well as a scholar of magic. Thomas, who had been merely thirteen at the time of his master's disappearance had chosen the headstrong and brash path of battle magic. Despite his normally childish and immature demeanour, he was a prodigy in manipulating the elements to his will and the art of combat. On more than one occasion, the other brothers had to clean up scorch marks and prevent spontaneous bolts of lightning from destroying the house. Thomas was young and inexperienced. What he made up for in pure talent, he lacked in restraint and control. His only other studies were of figuring how to return their missing master. He had poured himself into his studies and tried his hardest to master the art of magical travel and movement. Julius, the oldest of the three, had almost completed his training under the master's tutelage three years ago. Since then he had silently confined himself to the library and the training hall, rigorously pushing himself to new limits. He never seemed to stick to one specific area of magic, having trained for longer than either of the other two men, he seemed to branch off into all fields of the arts. This was quite a feat, seeing as most wizards (though, there weren't many in the first place) preferred to specialise in one or two areas. Julius was a prodigy of untold potential, his skills had never been fully shown to his peers, and for that reason, they kept a fairly respectable attitude toward him. They listened to his council and opinions. They never tried to make him furious for any reason, not knowing the exact depths of his abilities. This arrangement suited Julius just fine, as it allowed him to spend his time doing what he liked the most, studying and further expanding his skills. Apart from their fierce brotherhood that they had developed over time, it was apparent that none of the brothers had much in common, except for the way in which they had been chosen to study magic. All three had been uniquely gifted in magic at birth, and all three were orphans that their former master had taken under his care, seeing their potential. They had spent their childhoods in this house, forbidden to leave the confines of the estate, having been magically tied to the land and physically unable to leave. Not that their childhood was a bad one, no. They had been properly cared for and raised with morals and responsibility. Their master had been as much as a mentor as a father to them in every respect. They all loved him (though at times, they would deny it) and they all missed him for more reasons than any child would miss their father. They needed to complete their training in order to leave the house and go out on their own into the wide world. They had pledged their loyalty and allegiance to their master, and they were bound by a magical vow to fulfill that promise. As a result of their master's absence, they were stuck in a loophole. If their master did not return and finish their tutelage, they were magically bound to this place indefinitely. Erik had simply given up on any return of their master and adoptive father, and had simply resigned himself to his own works. He hated being cooped up here in the Alps, but he had accepted long ago that he was here to stay. Thomas, on the other hand, seemed to come up with a new “fail-safe” scheme every week.

“Hey, don't give me that look, Erik! I really have it this time! I know what I did wrong!” he exclaimed, as he rushed over to the study table and pulled a book out of the middle of one of the towering stacks, not caring that the rest of the stack toppled in a heap and earning an annoyed glare from Julius. Thomas opened the volume and flipped through the pages feverishly until he came across what he was searching for.

“Hah, Eureka!” he exclaimed triumphantly, pointing out a passage in a book entitled Nordic Runes of the 8th Century Volume IX. “I mistranslated a couple runes last time!” he announced, almost shoving the old book up Erik's nose in his eagerness to show him what he had found.

“Thomas, this says that these rituals are incomplete.....of course their not going to work.” sighed Erik, feeling a stress-induced headache coming on.

“I improvised, ok? I can't take everything in the book as the word of God!” argued Thomas.

“No. They are precise instructions that have been carefully constructed by wizards that were much cleverer and more experienced that you. The fact that they don't work means that they are incomplete. Just face it, Tom.” countered Erik, shoving the book out of his face and back to Thomas.

“You'll see!” he grinned in return, choosing to ignore his older brother's advice. Julius didn't say anything. He simply sat back from his studies and observed the younger brothers bickering. He had no patience for their arguments, so he chose to either ignore them or quietly observe, rather than make his own points. He knew that both of them were wrong, but he chose not to correct them. It wasn't his place, he was no master, and he didn't pretend to be; despite their clear dire need for close and watchful teaching. He sighed again as he bent down below the table and opened a compartment on the underside, retrieving some chalk and handing it to Thomas' eager hands.

“Do you really have to encourage him?” asked Erik incredulously as the chalk was passed into Tom's hands.

“I have no part in this. I just don't want him messing up my carefully prepared notes...” said Julius flatly, indicating to the mess of loose leaf pages scattered around the desk. Erik huffed in annoyance as he resigned to one of the couches in the corner as he watched the enthusiastic teen trace a ritual circle adorned with ancient Nordic Runes on the wooden floor with the chalk.

“Try not to fall asleep this time, at least, will you?” drawled Erik, earning a sheepish look from Thomas accompanied by a blush on his face. The last time Tom had attempted a ritual of this nature, he had sat in a meditative pose in the circle for three hours before dozing off and falling asleep, the lack of actual magic happening boring him.

“Don't worry, I have plenty of energy from all that coffee this time!” he replied, grinning from ear to ear. Erik returned his grin with a scowl, being reminded of his lack of morning coffee irritating him.

“Alright-y” he said cheerfully, sitting down cross-legged in the middle of the circle. He calmed his nerves and slowed his breathing, closing his eyes and furrowing his brow in concentration. He sat there for a good ten minutes while the other two brothers looked on with a sense of general disinterest.

“I give it another ten minutes before he falls asleep again.” said Erik, breaking the silence

“Five.” replied Julius, finally giving into Erik and Tom's childish games for once.

“You're on.” declared Erik, checking his watch.

“Will you guys shut up?! I'm trying to concentrate!” snapped Thomas, his eyes opening and frowning in irritation.

“Oh, come on, Tom, we have to entertain ourselves somehow. It's not like you're gonna magically make our master appear in front of us like nothing's happened. For all we know, he could be dead by now!” he snapped back, giving in to his irritation.

“SHUT UP!” yelled Thomas, his grief rising to the surface. Thomas had always had a short fuse, but this time he was exceptionally pissed off. He was tired of the way Erik had simply given up on their master and sat contently on the couch, more concerned about what he was going to have for lunch than reuniting with their stolen master and finishing their studies under his guide. Tears welled up in his eyes, overflowing down his cheeks with one dropping from his face and onto the floor. Suddenly, Julius' attention was focused. It seemed like it was all happening in slow motion, as if caught on film by a high-speed camera. Thomas was glaring daggers at Erik while a tear fell from his face and onto the floor. The second that tear hit the floor, the runes and the ritual circle blazed in a brilliant blue light, burning the image onto Julius' retinas, causing him to shield his eyes while his hearing picked up the surprised yelps of both Erik and Thomas. A roaring sound like rushing wind in a blizzard filled the room and accompanied the bright light of the ritual circle. The noise was deafening, matching the intensity of the light with an equal measure of sound. As quickly as it had begun, it was all over. The light faded and the noise subsided, leaving the ritual circle empty of it's previous inhabitant. The runes on the outside of the circle still glowed a faint blue hue that shimmered and sparkled with mystical energy as the effects of the ritual faded, like dying embers in a fireplace. It took a little over five seconds for the shock to settle in and for Erik to spring out of his chair and over to the circle.

“Scheiße!” he cursed in his native tongue, his fear and dread taking hold as he realised just what Thomas had done. Erik frantically tried to reactivate the circle, but the ritual had only enough magical energy for one use, and the runes consequently shattered and broke apart as their function had been fulfilled. “Scheiße!!” he cursed again, realising that he had little chance of repeating the exact same ritual. Thomas had successfully completed a trans-dimensional portal ritual, but they had no idea where he would have ended up or even if he was still alive. He could have teleported twenty miles under an ocean, or in the middle of a star, or even into the void itself! “Thomas.....” Erik muttered in disbelief. “Thomas...” he said again, as if saying his adoptive brother's name would bring him back to his side. “THOMAS!!!” he wailed, tears streaming down his face as his knees gave out and he fell onto all fours in despair. “THOMAAAAAAASSSS!!!” he screamed, his sanity taking a serious blow as the very real possibility of losing his brother for good sailed it's way through his consciousness. His bloodshot eyes turned to Julius, who was still staring slightly open-mouthed at the used-up ritual circle.

“Julius! DO SOMETHING!” He screamed, his normally calm composure shattered. Julius quickly got up rather stiffly, his left leg asleep from sitting at the table for so long. He hobbled over to the spent ritual and let his consciousness stretch out and analyse the tattered remains of the ritual. All magic leaves a trace in it's wake, and this ritual was no exception. Julius was well-versed in reverse-engineering a multitude of spells, illusions and rituals, but this was something he had never come across in his studies. He frowned in frustration as he realised that it could take a considerable amount of time before he fully understood just how to compose the exact same ritual down to the very last detail. The fact that the ritual was in fragments, rather than a complete picture of what it once was didn't help either. The missing fragments that made up the rest of the ritual would take some deciphering and assumption on his part. He hated assuming things. So many things could go wrong. He stood up calmly, walking over to his weeping brother and picked up, letting him support himself on his arm.

“I can't do it right now, Erik. It could take a few days for me to produce the same result. I'm sorry, but it's the best option we have...” he said in a careful, balanced tone.

“B-b-ut w-hat-t if h-h-he's not ok on the o-o-other end?” sobbed the younger brother, his grief giving way.

“There's nothing we can do, but hope, little brother...” said Julius, his voice steeling itself as he already started making mental preparations. He would not get any sleep tonight.

* * *

The sun shone brightly and cast an atmosphere of general happiness as the citizens of Ponyville went about their daily routines. Young fillies and colts made their way off to the school house, while adult ponies made their way to various jobs and errands for the day. Pegasi patrolled the skies, clearing any sign of overcasting clouds that were not scheduled for the day. It was nine in the morning, and an average day in Ponyville was in full swing. At the Ponyville Library, which incidentally was made out of a hollowed-out tree, Twilight Sparkle dragged herself out of bed, groaning with protest at having to wake up at this un-Celestial hour. She shuffled sleepily over to the bathroom and splashed some water on her face in an attempt to wake herself up. She couldn't sleep in today, she had a very important assignment due. She had spent half the night starting it, and she was almost finished, but she was also required to run some errands for the day. She walked downstairs to find her assistant, Spike, having already made her breakfast.

“Uuuuggghhmmmm.... thanks for breakfast, Spike.” she mumbled, rubbing some sleep out of her eyes. Her assistant turned to greet her with a hopeful look in his eyes.

“Uh oh, I know what that look means!” Twilight mused to herself as she already knew what the baby dragon was going to ask her.

“My pleasure, Twilight, and may I say that you look lovely this morning?” said the dragon, trying and failing at sneaking a subtle compliment.

“Yes, Spike, you can go visit Rarity today.” she sighed, knowing full well that the young dragon had a raging crush on Ponyville's resident fashion designer.

“Gee, thanks Twilight! But—how did you know what I was going to ask?” the dragon asked, scratching his head.

“Oh, call it a hunch.” shrugged Twilight, too tired to deal with anything more complicated than eating or sleeping at the moment as she turned to her first slice of toast topped with hay-bacon strips. “Just make sure you get back before four o'clock, ok? I need you to send a letter to Princess Celestia. My paper is due today.” she instructed.

“Will do, Twilight. Just as long as I get to be with.....her” he finished, almost dreamily. If Twilight wasn't so tired, she would have chuckled at the lovesick baby dragon's antics. But she simply had too much on her plate at the moment—both metaphorically and literally—as she wolfed down her remaining pieces of toast and hay-bacon strips and began to prepare herself for the day's errands. She went back upstairs and grabbed her saddlebag and a few books she needed for her trip out today. She walked over to her dressing table and grabbed a few coins and slid them into the money pocket of her saddlebag before heading out the door.

“See ya later, Twilight!” called Spike.

“Bye Spike, see you later.” she responded, her mind already focussed on the task ahead. “Now, let's see.....first I have to go to market..” she thought to herself as she trotted over to the town centre. Market stalls lined the street, selling all manner of food, tools and other wares. As she made her way over to the magical herb stall, she passed by Applejack's apple cart.

“Well howdy there, Twi! You jus' runnin' errands t'day?” asked Applejack, her friendly accent warming Twilight's heart every time she heard it.

“Actually, I have a ton of stuff to do today, AJ. I have to submit my major assignment to Princess Celestia today, and I still haven't finished it!” she said, with a slight undertone of franticness and stress. Applejack simply chuckled, knowing all-to-well what happened when Twilight was late for an assignment.

“Don't you worry yourself too much, Twilight! A'hm sure ya can get it done on time! Jus' make sure ya don't make any problems like las' time, ya'hear?” she said playfully, gently prodding Twilight on the shoulder as he finished her sentence. Twilight's ears narrowed slightly. She was still a little ashamed of what she had done when she had gone a little fruit bat-dung crazy when trying to invent problems rather than solve existing ones for her Friendship Reports.

“Umm, actually, this is an assignment for a potion I have to try and make. It has nothing to do with my Friendship Reports, it;s just really difficult to get right, you see.” she explained. Applejack simply chuckled again.

“Well, alright, jus' don't go an' stress yourself too much, ohkaye?” she said, shaking her head a little. She knew Twilight's talents lied in scholarly pursuits, but she just couldn't fathom herself just why it took that much effort. She would rather harvest a thousand apple orchards than go through the tedious assignments and research projects that Twilight routinely completed for Princess Celestia.

“While I'm here, can I buy an apple?” asked the bookworm unicorn.

“Have one on me, Twi. You gotta keep your strength up for all them books!” she said cheerfully, tossing Twilight a free apple from the back of the cart.

“Thanks, Applejack. Maybe I'll see you later, huh?”

“Maybe, Twilight. Good luck with your paper!” she replied, waving to the lavender unicorn as she trotted toward the magical herb and ingredient stand at the end of the street. As she trotted up to th stand, she was greet by the owner, knowing Twilight to be a regular customer

“Hello, Miss Sparkle! What can I get for you today?” greeted the stallion.

“Hey Mr. Herb! Can I get some blue-tint ivy and some Green-belle flowers today?” she politely asked.

“Oooh, sorry Miss Sparkle. I'm all out of Green-belle today. Sorry!” her face fell at those words.

“Great, now I have to walk all the way to Zecora's place for them.” she paid for the blue-tint ivy and thanked the store stallion before trotting off toward the Everfree Forest. Within a half hour, she was almost there. Trudging through the thick forested area and sticking to the beaten path that lead directly to the mysterious zebra's hut. She caught sight of the exotic dwelling and gently knocked on the door. She was greeted by the kind and thoughtful face of Zecora, he Zebra features a rare thing in somewhere as far north as Ponyville.

“Good day, Twilight Sparkle, how are you? Is there something I can do?” she greeted the scholar pony with her usual customary rhyming method of speech.

“Hi Zecora, I was wondering if you had some Green-belle flowers? I need them for a potion assignment.” she explained.

“Hmmm, Green-belle? An interesting notion. What, pray tell, is this potion?” she asked, curious of the younger pony's attempt at potion making.

“Princess Celestia has tasked me with brewing something called the Drought of Inner Peace” explained Twilight, hoping that Zecora knew of the potion's requirements.

“Ah! That's quite difficult to brew! Just a moment, I will get some for you.” she said, disappearing back into her hut and retrieving some green-belle flowers from a basket in the corner. Twilight thanked Zebra for her help and started to head on back to the library, ready to begin brewing the potion. She had just cleared the tree-line of the Everfree when a strange noise assaulted her senses. It sounded like a kind of....wailing. Almost like something was in pain. She looked left and right, but was unable to single out the source of the noise.

“Hhmmmmmmnnnnnnn!”

She heard it again, louder this time. She looked directly above and spotted something that made her stare in shock. Hanging from a tree branch was the strangest creature she had ever seen It appeared to be almost completely hairless and lanky in stature. It was wearing what appeared to be primitive clothing, and was clearly in pain. The thing was slung over a tree branch and swaying slightly in the wind, earning a feeble groan of pain as it's body was gently rocked from side to side. Suddenly and strong gust of wind appeared, and the creature tumbled out of the tree entirely, with Twilight scampering out of the way just in time to avoid being squashed by the creature’s body.

“Hey, Twilight! What's up?” said a slightly gruff voice to her right. Ah, that's what had caused that sudden burst of wind. Rainbow Dash had just landed next to her. “So what are you doin' in the Everfree Fores—whoa! What the hay is that thing?” Rainbow Dash did a double take as she spotted the strange creature on the ground.

“I have no idea, Rainbow....” she said quietly, observing the weird thing. “But I think it's hurt somehow...can you go and get Fluttershy?” she asked.

“Umm, sure thing, Twi. I'll be back in a flash.....just, be careful...we don't know what it can do, ok?” she said, concerned. Twilight nodded absent-mindedly as Dash took off in the direction of Fluttershy's cottage for help. Meanwhile, she stared at the thing. It seemed to be anatomically similar to monkeys and bears, though with odd proportions and elongated limbs that ended in claw-like appendages. She looked a little closer and she became a little startled when she realised that it was looking right at her in the eye. It's eyes were glazed over and misty, endemic of a concussion. Whatever this thing was, it had taken a fairly solid blow to the head.

“H-help....me........” Twilight froze. She was stunned. This thing could talk! It was intelligent enough to ask for help!

“I-it's ok, you'll be alright soon.” she tried to soothe the creature's distress, but before she could say anything further, it's eyes lost their light as the creature passed out. Whatever this thing was, or where it had come from, it needed help, and quickly! She regarded the creature for a moment, taking in it's strange, oddly proportioned form and lack of fur.

“What the buck is going on?!” she thought to herself and she heard the faint approach of Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy in the distance.