It was fascinating watching Witching Hour and Tiddlywinks move around the farmhouse and cast warding spells. They moved in perfect harmony with one another, always close, their magic wove together into single spells of perfect execution. The house was being covered in protective wards and defensive measures.

Bucky moved along behind them, adding his own touches. Aversion fields for those with hostile intent. A new dark magic ward he had learned that not only caused a powerful form of aversion, but also caused fear and confusion as well for those with hostile purposes or intent. It was powerful new magic and this was good practice. Another dark magic ward caused a random teleportation field. It was not a lethal spell, but the rapid fire teleportation would induce severe nausea, vomiting, and motion sickness in all but the most hardy and seasoned teleporters.

Bucky debated internally about a ward that caused the targets to become deaf, dumb, and blind. It wouldn’t physically hurt them, and the effects could be reversed, but it was a nasty thing to do to somepony.

He snapped to attention and noticed Witching Hour and Tiddlywinks staring at him.

“Yes?” Bucky inquired slowly.

“Your cloak. You are an ENCHANTER. Your cloak should BE interesting. I know a little bit of enchantment, but nothing like you. Have you done anything with your black cloak?” Witching Hour inquired.

“No… I didn’t know I was supposed to. You mean we actually wear these when out on duty? That’s a bit… corny,” Bucky replied.

Rolling her eyes and snorting, Witching Hour had trouble believing that somepony so dense could be so powerful and dangerous. “Yes. We actually wear the cloaks when we are out in the field. We don’t stand out because we aren’t seen. WE AREN’T NOTICED. And if by some chance we are, memories are given a little editing because ponies are happier not knowing for certain that we exist. The cloaks are our armor. OUR PROTECTION. Each cloak is unique and represents the wearer. Tiddlywink’s cloak changes to look like clothing depending on who is viewing it. It might look like a rain coat or even a suit jacket. He blends in with the crowd and becomes completely UNREMARKABLE and unobservable.”

“Oh,” Bucky mumbled. “I see.”

“BECAUSE YOU SUCK at defensive magic, you should make your cloak as defensive as possible. We can help you. OR YOU CAN GO TO LYRA,” Witching Hour suggested.

“You seem nervous,” Bucky said casually.

“I am TELLING my BOSS who is a known WARLOCK that he sucks at MAGIC,” Witching Hour said as she cringed away from Bucky.

Nodding, Bucky smiled. “I understand. That must be stressful,” he said in reassuring voice.

“YOU HAVE NO IDEA,” Witching Hour replied in a somehow shy and sheepish manner.

Bucky found that he rather liked the dark blue mare and the orange-yellow stallion. For all of their quirks, they were good unicorns and Bucky was glad to have some of the faith in his own type restored. He had been having some issues with his own kind lately after having to deal with his own traitorous house.

“WE HAVE decided to STAY,” Witching Hour stated, snapping Bucky back to attention. “We like your TOWER. It is CHARMING. The tower is what has sold us on the idea of working together.”

“Sparkler and I could probably help you shape stone into another tower. But we’d need to find a big boulder for Sparkler to work with,” Bucky offered.

“Thank you,” Witching Hour said graciously.

“So tell me… what do you know about the unicorns that are running around that nopony can seem to find…” Bucky inquired.

Today, I finally ran down and devoured a squirrel. It took a great deal of effort, and the burst of speed I had to summon near the end was considerable, but the squirrel was delicious. They are rats with big fluffy tails. The bones are easily crunched and swallowed without complications.

Much to my dismay, there were witnesses. Dinky and Piña will recover in time I hope.

My mother Thistle tells me I need to lay off the frogs, my constant snacking is hurting their numbers. She scowled at me and scolded me about the still kicking frog leg sticking out of the side of my mouth after she caught me in the act. She doesn’t understand how tasty they are. They’re slippery and really easy to swallow whole. She doesn’t particularly like frogs and she doesn’t understand why I love them so much.

I performed a valuable service today in the garden. Working among the earth ponies my father has hired, I went through the garden and devoured any slugs I could find. I did the best I could to ignore the gagging and retching sounds all around me. While bugs are crunchy and delicious, slugs are slurpable and chewy. I also found a really big nightcrawler which had a pleasant earthy flavour.

I found a dead woodchuck. It was slightly rotten and mouth wateringly stinky. Took me a while to track it down and find it, it was near a stump at the edge of the treeline. Thankfully, nopony was around to witness me eating it. It tasted really good, things that are rotten always taste just a little bit better, but it has given me terrible gas. I am not supposed to eat carrion. I feel kind of guilty for doing it, but it smelled so good and tasted even better. At least I resisted the urge to roll in it, the compulsion was almost overpowering. So stinky!

I feel so ashamed. I farted in the kitchen, a carrion fart. Mother Lyra vomited into the sink and claims that the smell curdled the milk in her teats. I certainly hope this is not the case. I feel terrible. I want to die from the shame I feel. I can’t help how I am. It is a struggle to contain my inner nature.

Earlier today, near the treeline, I saw a strange animal I’ve never seen before. It was black, had white stripes, and sort of looked like some kind of cat. I wonder how it tastes. After I am done writing, I think I will try to catch one if I can find one. So many things to eat, so little time.

Sparkler read the scroll from Twilight Sparkle for the third time and tried to come up with something other than anger in response. She wasn’t angry with Twilight, far from it, but angry at the situation. Out of the thousands of ponies in Ponyville, a miniscule number were interested in police work.

Thunderlane. Pegasus. Cool head. Militia member. Not terribly bright but faithful, loyal, and true to any cause he lends himself to.

Big McIntosh. Earth Pony. Gentle giant. Strong. Cool headed. Physically intimidating. Stubborn and honest.

Sunshower Raindrops. Pegasus. Exceptionally strong flier. Exceptional intelligence. Can communicate with birds and has a predilection for gossip. Tends to know what is going on.

Blossomforth. Pegasus. Flexible. Scrapper. Capable melee combatant. Fearless in defense of her friends. Known risk taker. A bit hot headed.

Bulk Biceps. AKA: Snowflake. Pegasus. Sounds scary but is actually quite timid and shy. He’s willing to serve and might be useful in situations that require muscle. Rivals Big Mac for strength.

Cherry Berry. Earth Pony. Head of the Ponyville Airborne Watch Union. Smart. Observant.

Holly Dash. Unicorn. (Type II) Helped to save Mayor Mare from unknown assailant. Now filled with a desire to protect and defend.

Twinkleshine. Unicorn. (Type II) Highly social extravert. Good with ponies. Friendly. Good at calming down crowds. Has helped Barley deal with the refugees for quite some time.

Orange Swirl. Pegasus. Fast. Works as a messenger and she delivered this scroll. Fearless. Organised. Strong communications skills.

A meeting with all of them had been arranged in just a few days, giving Sparkler time to prepare. She didn’t know what to do, and for a moment, she felt a burst of panic. She had no idea what she was doing. She wondered briefly if she was in over her head.

She quickly recovered her resolve though, determined to see this through. Hopefully, the first recruits would be enough to show ponies that a difference could be made and more ponies would join. Foal steps.

Heading off to the house, she hoped she could talk to Berry Punch for some advice.

“So these unicorns just start showing up from out of nowhere and start creating trouble,” Bucky said, trying to understand everything he had just heard.

“Yes. Look, we were going to tell you eventually, but Princess Luna wanted to give you some time to settle in. She was hoping that as the, uh, unascended alicorn of war, you’d be able to sniff out their weakness and hopefully start figuring out who and what they are,” Witching Hour said.

Bucky eased himself against the cushioned back of the chair and rested his barrel upon the arm of the chair, leaving his front legs dangling over the side. He thought for a moment, trying make sense of everything he had heard.

“We have a mystery,” Witching Hour stated.

“We certainly do,” Bucky agreed. “I need more information. I need everything you know. I need everything Luna knows. And maybe I should talk to Celestia too.”

“Or Twilight,” Witching Hour said.

“What does she know?” Bucky asked.

“Twilight Sparkle has a hunch. She believes that the unicorns are mirror travelers. She can’t prove it yet. It is just a hunch. But Twilight, like you, has powerful hunches. Celestia believes Twilight is wrong and they are simply from another part of this world. Luna hasn’t taken sides because of the delicacy of the issue,” Witching Hour replied.

“Is there something I am missing?” Bucky asked.

Sighing, Witching Hour nodded. “Celestia was in love with Sombra. A different Sombra. One that existed on the other side of a mirror. Twilight and her friends had to get involved. There was a dimensional rift. I don’t know all of the details, but this Sombra was good. And immortal apparently. He and Celestia have been seeing one another for the past thousand years or so. I don’t know how it ended, but the Elements of Harmony had to be used. Celestia came back kind of broken. It took her a while to recover. Now, Twilight Sparkle sees a new threat and believes they are mirror hoppers, and Celestia dismisses it by saying that Twilight Sparkle is making an assumption because of whatever happened on the other side of the mirror,” Witching Hour explained in a calm collected voice.

“Sheesh,” Bucky gasped. He shivered and shuddered, realising his own relation to Sombra and then he thought about Celestia thinking about him in that way. “What a mess. Now I am worried about talking to Celestia about this.”

“You should be worried. She is very sore about the issue. Any mention of mirrors is met with outright hostility. The room becomes kinda hot and stuffy. She just lost her secret lover of the past one thousand years,” Witching Hour whispered.

“Celestia deserves any comfort she can find,” Bucky said in Celestia’s defense, knowing full well what Celestia had been doing for the past thousand years. His mind filled with images of the cosmic alicorn and everything he was shown. He was probably one of the few ponies that had any hope of understanding Celestia’s true pain, and he was completely unable to say anything. The realisation almost made him cackle.

The house filled with screams as Sentinel made his way through the front door. He staggered, having difficulty seeing, and long streams of drool dribbled from his lips.

“STINK!”

“STANKY!”

“WHAT DIED?”

“ACH… CRIVENS! SOMETHING DINNAE SMELL GOOD!”

“SENTINEL! UGH!”

“MOMMY! SMELLS BAD! REAL BAD!”

There was the sound of retching from the kitchen and the clatter of glass.

“That’s twice today… what is that abominable odour? Lyra, you okay?”

Sentinel fell to the floor and wished that he would die. The black and white striped cat like creature had sprayed him with some noxious liquid that had squirted out of its backside. It was like being bathed in liquid farts. His father’s cloud of freezing toxic mist smelled worse, but the black and white creature’s chemical defense had a much stronger effect.

He looked up and saw his mother Derpy looked down at him through his blurred vision caused by his burning eyes. “Mama… help me,” he begged.

“My colt found a skunk,” Derpy said as she tried not to gag.

Author's Notes:

SENTINEL!

Smells like typos.