Twilight looked with disgust at the old mare. “What are you doing here?”

“I was correct,” she responded. “You really are different. I’ve been observing all of you, and you seem to be the only one who was willing to truly face your fears. You figured it out so nicely, and inspired all of your friends into courage. Truly remarkable. You really do merit a place in the world of the future.”

“You keep talking the same nonsense. What are you talking about? What was the point of all this?”

“I wanted to see what you would do with the knowledge of what terrified you the most brought to the forefront. All of you in your own way tried to defy that future by distancing yourselves from what was shown, but you, alicorn, were the only one who remained resolute to the end. You didn’t give in to fear, you pushed through despite your fear. That is the emblem of true courage.

“The time is quickly coming where your services will be invaluable. You place your faith and trust in your friends and your princesses, never once thinking that a far stronger power can exist and that neither will protect you from it. The complacent attitudes of ponies will dissipate, and all will slowly come to know their own fears and terrors. Those that are not able to handle it will be thrown aside until they can gather the necessary strength.

"This will be a world where only the strong reign, and the weak will slowly fade away into nothingness or grow stronger themselves. The mistakes of the past will not be repeated. That is my true duty in my profession. I am to show them a vision of their most deep-rooted painful fears, and bring it to the forefront. Soon, it will no longer be by choice that they see.” She let out her grating laugh.

“ENOUGH!” screamed Twilight. “Princess of not, I will not stand idly by while you boldly claim to seek not only to usurp the princesses, but torment all of the citizens of Equestria.” Her horn began glowing with her rage, and she shot a powerful blast at the mare.

She only stood there shocked for a moment before jumping out of the way. The spell hit the pouch holding her crystal ball, and it began rolling away. “Hee hee hee. You’re a feisty one, alicorn. Would you like to play? Give it your best shot.” Twilight’s horn flashed for a moment, and then faded. “Come on now. Don’t just stand there. I want to have me some fun.”

“Fine, then,” she replied, before fading away like mist.

“Gotcha!” came her voice from another direction.

This blast was a direct hit, and went right through her, though once her magic faded there was no hole, and she didn’t react like she was in pain.

The old mare looked towards Twilight. “You’re going to have to do better than that. Surely you should know better than to call out your position. I’ll give you credit for that illusion of you, but you ruined your chance at a sneak attack. Would you care to try again?”

The mare didn’t even try to fight back. She did the bare minimum of avoiding attacks, but even when she was hit the same thing happened every time. There was no damage done.

Twilight knew what she had to do. If a regular attack wouldn’t work then she had to take her by surprise. If she had the ability to make herself intangible then the only way to get her would be if she wasn’t using her power when she was hit.

Storing up magic, and altering the nature of the blast, she fired. It passed right through the mare as expected.

“Don’t you ever learn? You’ll never beat me by repeating the same moves over and over. I thought you’d at least be smarter than that.”

Twilight smirked. “Maybe I am.”

The blast she fired bounced off of several surfaces before hitting the mare in the side. “Huh. A reflecting spell," she said with mild interest as the blast went through her. "Better than I thought, but ultimately still use-AHH!”

She suddenly cried out in pain as they heard the sound of breaking glass. She looked panic-stricken as she turned towards where the spell had landed. The crystal ball had two giant holes in it, and was slowly cracking. “Ahh! No!” A dark smoke began pouring out of her body.

"She let out a deranged sounding laugh. “I give the battle to you, alicorn. I don’t properly exist in this world. I am only a creation of my master and his power. In order to maintain a physical form I need a physical object to bind myself to. Namely, my crystal ball.”

A big grin came to her face as her body began turning black and smoky as well. “I had fun while it lasted, but this is only a temporary victory. This was just a preview of the events to come. I hope you can maintain your attitude in the days to come. Soon everything you know will be different. And only then will Equestria be led in the right direction.” As the last of her body faded away with her insane cackling the crystal ball shattered into a million pieces.

Twilight wasn’t quite sure how to react at first. None of them were. Before they could even think much on it they heard a familiar voice calling out, “Twilight!”

Spike came running up the group of them, panting away. “I… I have… an important… message.” Bending over and gasping he tried to get his breathing under control. After a short time, when his breathing was almost back to normal, he continued, “I’ve been looking all over the place for you. Princess Celestia sent me an important message for you. She said she wants you to come to Canterlot immediately. There’s something really important she needs to discuss with you personally. Supposed to be some kind of trouble.”

Twilight looked at the remains of the crystal ball, hearing the words of the old mare. “This is just a preview of the events to come.” What had happened here, and the trouble that was brewing in Canterlot… they were interconnected in some way. There was a powerful force that was planning to overthrow Celestia and Luna, and seemingly rule by fear. She wouldn’t let that happen.

“Tell her that I’m settling an issue here in Ponyville at the moment, but I’ll come over after that. It shouldn’t take more than an hour to get to Canterlot.”

“Alright, Twilight. I’m on it.”

As Spike took off she looked towards her friends. “There is something big about to happen. Something bad. Man, only a month after that whole incident where Princess Celestia and Princess Luna were captured by the plunder seeds, and now something else wants to attack us. Applejack, I think you should go to your sister. She needs you now. In fact, I think all of you should head to Sweet Apple Acres for now. Hopefully Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle will be there too. I’d like for all of you to stick together in case I need you.”

“Right!” came the unanimous reply.

“Alright, then. I’m heading out. I hope I’ll see you soon.”

Unfurling her wings she took to the sky, racing off towards Canterlot.