It has been a few weeks of incredibly boring traveling since Zecora and I left Ponyville. Literally nothing but grass and other plants for miles around the road. Most days I would spend training in the fortress rather than walking absentmindedly. Though I was rather tempted, we hadn’t taken a train since I didn’t want an official record of where we had gone. Sure, Blueblood could keep it from getting to the princesses but I hadn’t survived this long without listening to my old friend paranoia.

So ya, boring road trip overall. We ran into one or two ponies along the way but we never said anything to each other. There were no caravans or anything since no trader worth their time would walk instead of take the train. No one attacked us or caused a scene or did something else crazy. It got to a point where I almost missed the disaster zone that is Ponyville.

Almost.

Luna showed up in my dreams twice during the trip, each time asking some questions about my ‘condition’. The second time she also got into talking about my nightmares but I just told her I had no idea what it was about. Besides, once she was sure my mind wasn’t slowly dripping from my ears she would usually excuse herself, saying that she had work to do. I guess being princess of dreams is a busy job and since my nightmares are rather minor it wasn’t that big of a deal. I’m sure she had some filly wetting herself about the Headless Horse or whatever.

Anyway, we were heading to a small town in the Hayseed Swamps in search of the brown nest. Apparently it’s hard to keep track of four magical objects over three thousand years so Gnarl didn’t know exactly where each nest was. He did have a general idea of where to start looking and thanks to a certain gryphon we had managed to narrow down the location of the first.

This town, called Murky Bottom, has an unusual problem. The only reason the princesses had not heard about it was because the town was rather remote compared to most of Equestria. Unicorns in town have been having strange magic fluctuations. Somedays they are ridiculously strong while other days they have no magic at all. Some left when this started happening but most of them are stubborn and refuse to leave.

The other kinds of ponies haven’t felt anything so that meant whatever it was had to do with their horn. I thought there might be a magic source nearby that is being absorbed by their sensitive magic appendages but that didn’t explain why some days they had no power.

This strange occurrence pales in comparison to some of the things I’d seen happen. What made this interesting is that this didn’t start happening until about a year ago; right when I arrived in Equestria.

After days of walking through marshes and swamps we made it. The town was about half the size of Ponyville and stood entirely on wooden platforms. It was built to survive in a swamp filled with magical creatures so making things pink and pretty wasn’t really an option. Same deal came with the ponies as the difficulties of living there had made them naturally tougher. Cutie marks here were a lot different from the rest of Equestria as well. Instead of flowers and butterflies these ponies had poker chips and alligator skins. A few of these not-so-cute ponies glanced my way as we walked in but none so much as gave me a second thought.

I had hoped that as soon as I was here I would be able to sense the magical disturbance and trace it but that plan fell flat on its face. Whatever was going on in the town, it definitely wasn’t ambient magic in the air. Great, my one lead on the nest turns out to just be pony rumor mill. I wanted to leave immediately but my legs were heavy with dried mud and ached from days of work. All it took was passing by a tavern to convince me I should rest.

“I don’t know about you Zecora but I really could use a drink.” She just nodded and followed me inside. The room I entered was what you would expect from a tavern. There was a few tables and chairs set up for patrons to enjoy their food and drink. A counter in the back was manned by a pony, a few stools standing next to it. A hallway on the side led off to the rooms. It felt like I was in the bad start of some D&D campaign. You all meet in a tavern by chance. Suddenly a dragon descends on the town.

Thankfully that didn’t happen. Instead my first encounter seemed to be a few ponies sitting at one of the tables. Unlike the others in the bar who were focused on their poker game, these ponies took an interest in me as I took a stool by the counter. Zecora hopped up next to me while the bartender came over.

“What can I do you for?”

I put a handful of bits on the counter. “A room for the night and whatever drink you recommend.” The coins floated off the counter and were replaced with a key attached to a wooden tag. Engraved into the tag was what I could only assume was the room number. As I stuffed it into one of my bandoleer pockets a glass of ale was placed in front of me. The bartender tipped his hat and then turned to serve Zecora while I took a few gulps.

“Well what do we have here?” I turned my head just enough to see that the group had moved from the table and was now standing behind me. The pegasus mare who had spoken had a mane that would make Rarity faint while her two friends were no better looking. “You certainly took your sweet time getting out here. Faust teaches patience but you take it to a whole new level.”

Evermore already? Here I thought it would take a little longer for them to find me. And what does she mean I took my time getting here? I turned back around and took another drink as the mare scoffed at me.

“Hey! Don’t ignore us.” By now the bartender could see something was about to go down and was beginning to shrink behind the counter. Zecora on the other hand just sipped her drink, her eyes closed calmly. When she was done she put the glass back down on the counter. Her eyes snapped open, the normal friendliness behind them replaced with cold reasoning.

“You may deal with them as you wish, or would you prefer I gut these fish?” A nod from me was all she needed before she leapt up and out of sight. I continued drinking my ale as the sounds of a brawl happened behind me. All in all it took about thirty seconds before the sounds died down and Zecora returned to her drink.

Probably forgot to mention that zebras outside of their homeland are all trained in some crazy martial arts style. Basically it was kung fu for horses and Zecora was a black belt. I challenged her once on the way here out of boredom and she wiped the floor with my inexperienced ass.

After I finished my drink I turned to look at the damage. Only one table had been broken in the brawl and the pony that was responsible was lying in the center of the wreckage. Another pony had half its body through the door, his hooves hanging about a foot above the floor. I assumed the last was somewhere outside the broken window. The group that had been playing poker was unphased, either too focused on their card game or just didn’t care about a bar brawl.

I turned back around and put another handful of bits on the counter. “We’ll take care of the ponies as long as you don’t say anything about this.” The bartender, now poking his head out from behind the counter, looked at the bits and then at the damage done. After a moment he got up and nodded as he took the bribe.

“Zecora, fetch the one outside for me while I grab the other two.” She nodded and walked off to the door. Without missing a step she opened it with the pony still hanging through the newly made hole. I threw the unicorn that had been tabled over my shoulder and then grabbed the other one by the back of his neck. Both were still alive, just unconscious after the ordeal Zecora had put them through.

Wasn’t long before I was sitting in the room I had rented for the night with the two ponies lying on the floor nearby. My backpack was lying in the small closet on the side and I had made sure to lock the window. There was no bathroom so I assumed they used outhouses here. I had been using trees for the past month so an outhouse could only be an improvement.

I tied together the hooves of my prisoners along with using the magic suppressor I had bought to combat in-heat mares. Odd. This group is even smaller than the one they sent after me the first time. Must be a scouting party that got too cocky. It would make sense that they would have one of each race than.

The bed in the room was too small for me so I let my legs hang off the end while I thought. That pegasus spoke as if they had been waiting for me. How would they know I’d come to this town though? I was interrupted by a knock at the door. Taking no chances, I drew my dagger and opened the door. Only about an inch of space could be made due to the small chain that attached the door to its frame. Turned out to be Zecora and oddly enough she was empty hooved.

I closed the door to remove the chain and then let her in. As I re-latched the door I asked her the obvious question “Where is the third pony?”

“Sorry to ruin your fun, but it seems the mare has run.” I just nodded in response and returned to the bed. “I doubt these two will awake without a terrible headache. You will have to wait till then if you have some sort of plan.”

I sighed. Great. Looks like we’re going to be here awhile. It was the middle of the afternoon so with nothing better to do I got up and headed for the door. Once I reached it I tossed the key onto the bed. “Watch those two for me. I don’t want to take the chance they have another unicorn that can track them. Also don’t open this door unless you hear me say ‘Faust has a lovely ass’.” Zecora nodded at my strange choice in password before taking a spot on the bed.

Once I was outside I dropped my hood. No sense in hiding now. I had hoped that with my hood on I would look like a small minotaur or diamond dog. However now that I knew my enemy was lying in wait for me it didn’t matter. If they are here then there is something in this town that either I want or they want. Until those two wake up I’ll just have to look for leads myself.

I walked down the street a bit before I found a unicorn I could question. I changed my accent a bit to make it sound as if I was from Canterlot. “Pardon me ma'am, I’m an investigator with Princess Celestia. I’m here about the strange magical occurrences that have been happening over the past year. Could you tell me what you know about them?”

Her voice had a slight twang to it. “I suppose, but I hardly use my magic so there ain’t much to tell. Some days lifting stuff is easy but then a day or two later I can barely lift a spoon.”

“Is that pattern consistent? A day or two of super-charged magic and then almost nothing?”

“Yep. Same thing every time though when it happens there’s no telling. Folks around here have actually gotten used to it for the most part.”

“Alright, thank you for your time.” She continued on her way while I searched for another unicorn. Wasn’t long before I found two having a chat outside a home. “Excuse me, I’m here investigating the magical disturbances under the orders of the princess. Is there anything you two could tell me about this?”

The first to speak was a grey stallion with a growling voice. “Not much. A day or two of feeling like you can take on the world then poof, it’s gone.”

The other guy had a rust red coat and spoke much clearer. “No one knows what triggers it really. We thought that maybe there was a bug or something but that turned out wrong.”

“What makes you say that?”

“If there are a few unicorns together when one gets his boost, all the unicorns get it. It even seems to be more common when unicorns are grouped together.”

“I see, is there anything else about this you two know?” Both shook their heads after a moment of thought. “Then I’ll take my leave. Good day.” I walked off in search of more ponies to question. As I continued questioning those unicorns I found I began putting together what I knew.

These magic surges happen at random, though unicorns in groups seem to have them more frequently. Those affected gain a boost of power for about thirty-six hours before all their power is drained, leaving them with almost nothing. Within the next few days their magic normally replenishes itself and they continue about their lives.

It almost sounds like something is releasing large amounts of magic for unicorns to absorb only to drain those afflicted later. The question now is why. Any physical being, whether it be magical or non-magical, has the capability to absorb magic and change it so that it can use it themselves. You wouldn’t gain more magic by supercharging the unicorn before taking it all away.

With the sun hanging low in the sky I returned to the tavern only to find the door to my room had been blown off. What remained of the charred wood was in a pile on the opposite side of the hall. I couldn’t hear any ponies talking inside so I assumed whoever had done this was gone. Being careful never got one killed though so I drew my dagger and peeked inside. Despite the mess everything inside appeared just as I had left it minus the fact the magic suppressor was now smoking and its wearer awake.

“What the hell happened here?” Zecora leapt up ready to attack me. “And Faust has a lovely ass.” She calmed down at my ridiculous password. With no danger in sight I put the dagger away and went to work piecing together what remained of the door using magic. Thankfully the door had been separated into four or five chunks so it made repairs easy for me.

“It seems the strange rumors are true, unicorns gain power out of the blue. It would have broken the ring, if I hadn’t removed the thing.”

“And when you removed it all the magic shot out at once and hit the door?” She nodded. “Strange. The ponies I talked to all said that the power they gain would never do something like this. Usually all they would notice is increased telekinesis as well as a boost to any other spells they use. On top of that the magic would stay for a day or so before disappearing and it looks like our friend here is already tapped out.” With the door done, though still burned, I squatted down next to the unicorn. “So why are you here?”

Just like my previous interrogation the cultist started out strong in her conviction. “I come here to do Faust’s work, you vile creature. I noticed that our third member is missing so it’s only a matter of time before she returns with reinforcements.”

I put on a simple smile as I made a show of twirling my dagger between my fingers. “And you are so sure that your friend got away? Did you not think for a second that, as we speak, her body is sinking in the muck.” She flinched slightly at this though she did her best to hide it.

“Even still it is a matter of time. When our report doesn’t come in for the week they will assume the worst and come here to destroy you!”

“Hmmm… what’s going on?” Both of us looked to see the earth pony stallion stirring. I glanced back at the mare and grinned at what I found behind her eyes. Caring and compassion, more commonly known as love. A strong emotion that I could manipulate. I walked over to the stallion as he woke up, making sure to cast my sound muffling spell on the room as this was about to get messy.

After a moment of thinking I decided to go with the Joker impersonation again. “Well, well, well. So glad you could join us for our little chat. We were actually just discussing what it is you two were doing here. I’ve tried to keep up a polite conversation but your marefriend here isn’t much for it.” Both of the ponies flinched at the word marefriend. Got you right where I want you.

“She… she’s not my marefriend.” As he said this he looked the mare right in the eyes, not helping his case one bit.

I grabbed the stallion by the chin and turned him so he was looking at me. “Oh don’t be so modest. She’s a real looker and how feisty! I bet she’s real mean under the sheets.” The two of them blushed at this while I continued. “You know though, this doesn’t really look like the kind of place a man would take his girl out to. Begs the question why you two are really here.”

“We-” Seems my fake mannerisms threw him off as he almost spilled the beans. “I’m not telling you anything monster!”

“Ouch. What did I do to deserve such hatred and spite? My companion and I walk into town, tired and in need of rest. We find the nearest tavern and sit down for a drink after traveling for a month by foot. And what do you do? You attack us, forcing us to defend ourselves. We bring you up to our room to keep you safe but instead of showing gratitude you spit at us. Your actions would drive a normal person to take revenge.” As I ended my little rant I looked at my reflection in my dagger. I stood there for a few seconds to let the silence soak in before taking the blade and poking the stallion just below the chin. I could hear the mare’s breathing quicken as I lightly dragged the tip along his jaw.

“All you need to do to make it up to me is tell me why you’re here. After all, we wouldn’t want an accident to separate such a lovely couple.” Though the stallion held his breath steady, the mare was rather the opposite. Her breathing was becoming more erratic as I assumed she was starting to cry. Based on the stallion’s reaction I hit the nail on the head.

“Cloe, don’t say anything.”

The mare spoke between small sobs. “But… but he…”

“Don’t do it! We swore to never betray our brethren.” I just sat there and waited as my actions undid what conviction the mare had left. It was only a matter of time until…

“The Evermore knows that one of your creature spawners is here. We also have a few other possible locations being watched so that we could get the drop on you, but our leaders are certain one is somewhere nearby.”

I displayed a large grin though the stallion was the only one who could see it from where I was standing. “Thank you my dear. That will be all.” Before anyone could react I stuck the dagger into the left side of the stallion’s throat and pulled right until it was free. From where the mare laid all she could see was my back and a bloody dagger. That is until her partner dropped to the ground just within her field of vision.

I stood up and walked over to my bag so I could wipe the blade clean. The mare on the other hand was scooting over to the body as fast as her tied up hooves could move her. Once there she cried out, though whispers could be heard between each sob. “This isn’t happening, this isn’t happening, this isn’t happening…”

Eventually my blade was pristine once more and I had grown tired of the mare’s ranting. “Gatekeeper, could you tie the mare to her coltfriend? No sense in breaking them apart.” Zecora did as she was asked, the mare giving no struggle as she held the head of the stallion underneath her own. “Good, now take the lovely couple out back and toss them in the swamp. My spell should keep anyone from hearing any disturbances.”

Zecora followed her orders silently, throwing the two of them on her back. The mare seemed completely out of it at this point as she gripped the body, his blood staining her coat. The body would serve as weight to pull her underwater, drowning her. It was almost poetic in a deliciously evil kind of way. Killed by the corpse of her lover.

Zecora returned having washed the blood from her coat. I had done the same with the floorboards with a bit of telekinesis. Once I was sure she had sunk like a stone I released the spell. It would be days before rigor mortis caused the bodies to rise to the surface and by then I would be long gone.

“If what those two cultists said is true, than perhaps the strange things happening here are too.”

I nodded. “From what I could gather from the town these magical outbursts are being controlled. If the entire area was covered in ambient magic this would be normal but instead it seems something is letting loose concentrated bursts of magic for unicorns to absorb. After a day or two whatever it is comes back and drains them of the magic.”

“Why would anyone play such a trick of the hat? They aren’t gaining power draining unicorns like that.”

“I know. It still doesn’t make sense to me either but what happened in here makes me think it is more likely. Whatever is doing this didn’t like that I had put that magic suppressor on the unicorn so it tried overloading it.”

“Unless this thing is made of shadow, your amazing theory is rather shallow.

I just sighed and placed a hand against my temples. I’m way too tired to deal with this right now. As I walked over to the closet I removed my cloak, after which came my gear and weapon. All of it was wrapped up together and stowed behind my backpack so that any thieves that dared to come in wouldn’t see it. Since the bed was too small for me I grabbed my sleeping bag and tossed it on the ground. The bundled cloth unrolled itself and I was quick to get comfortable.

“Let’s deal with this tomorrow. I’m too tired to plot and there’s still the chance Evermore comes back with more bodies. We’ll need to be ready.” I heard Zecora jump on the bed. It wasn’t long before I was fast asleep. Good thing too because Zecora snores. Loudly.

* * *

I jolted into an upright position, my heart threatening to explode from my chest. I took a few much needed gasps of air waiting for my head to stop spinning. Okay, minor nightmares are one thing, but that… that was something else. As I tried to push the bad dream from my thoughts something moved out of the corner of my eye, though all I saw when I turned was darkness.

I’m just jumping at shadows. I need to calm down. I got up and paced around the room a bit until a faint voice seemed to whisper from nowhere, just barely audible over Zecora’s snoring. Whatever words had been spoken weren’t articulate enough to understand, making it seem as nothing but wind to the untrained ear. While my back was turned something passed by the window, blocking the only source of light for the room for a split second and causing me to turn.

Okay, I’m not completely crazy. I did a quick pinch test just to make sure I wasn’t still dreaming. Painful as normal. Not a dream. I glanced out the window in search of whatever was sneaking its way around. At night the swamp took on an eery look, the town’s moss-speckled wood structures only adding to this. A light fog had begun to seep in from the swamp though it did little to impede my eyesight.

After a few seconds I was about to give up when I saw it. A dark form had been peaking around the corner of one of the buildings. It seemed to have noticed me however as it disappeared just as I looked its way. Either this is an Evermore spy or whatever is causing the strange occurrences here. Better find out which it is now rather than later. I headed out the door, grabbing my gear and key from where they were using telekinesis. By the time I was out the door I was wrapping the cloak around me with everything else already in its place.

I went to where I saw the thing and looked over it. Nothing remarkable was there physically though there was some magic mixed in with the air. There was no trail leading down the street so with no other clue I stuck a hand into the cloud. Such a small amount of magic took no time to absorb. This magic… it’s my own! That means this thing must know where the nest is.

A sound echoed through the fog that was growing denser by the minute. The sound was something made of wood snapping under pressure. Well I’m not going to figure this out by sitting here. I headed down the street making sure each step I took was on something solid. The fog made judging sound difficult so I was forced to use my other senses.

After about a minute, in which I had gone about fifty yards, I found the source of the previous sound. A plank, part of the road, was snapped in two. One piece hung loosely by one of its horribly bent nails while the other I assumed was in the bog below. I hardly took notice of this as the fog was now thick enough that I couldn’t see the tavern behind me.

I turned slowly as I tried to spot anything out of the ordinary. I controlled my heart rate and breathing as my body worked like a machine. My eyes scanned what I could see of the town while I made sure that I was ready to leap at a moment’s notice. One hand hovered around my dagger while the other was extended in front of me, ready to release a spell on command.

When I had come a full 360 degrees I was greeted with a silhouette in the fog. It didn’t seem to have a set shape as it writhed around before fading away into the mist. I walked briskly after it, holding myself back from a full sprint as adrenaline pumped through me faster than my magic. The wooden platforms soon gave way to soft soil as I stepped beyond the boundaries of the town.

My body locked up as the same windy voice began to echo around me from no clear direction. As I looked around for the source I realized how thick the fog had gotten as I no longer could see the town. I felt as magic began to prickle in the air but it was not my magic from before. This felt like smoke, light and free yet at the same time suffocating. It was right then and there I realized something.

It’s been leading me away from town!

I didn’t get a chance to revel in how amazingly smart I had been as a circle of dark blue flames sprung to life around me. My feet sunk into the ground as if it were molasses. I tried pulling them out with my legs but it only served to speed up the process. Now up to my waist in liquid dirt, I flung spells at the circle in a mad attempt at escape. This didn’t stop until my arms were also trapped beneath the earth. The last thing I thought before I was swallowed whole was-

Why didn’t I wake Zecora up?

Author's Notes:

Cliffhanger because why not?