Some time had passed. Twilight Sparkle had been teaching our two battlemages some simple unicorn magic to pass the time. It turned out that Twilight, for her occasional impatience and neurotic nature, was a superb teacher. With her help, the destructive duo could now form a simple telekinetic shield, could cast simple featherlight spells, and their fine telekinetic control had improved greatly, among other things. Ren spent a lot of his time deep in thought, practicing spinning a fork around in his magic. He might have appeared to have simply zoned out, but this was not the case.

He was lost in the vast grey expanse that was his mind. Some simple furniture was laid out in a small area, sectioned off by massive bookshelves not unlike those found in Twilight’s abode. These were his mind’s representation of all the knowledge that he possessed. Where he had forgotten something about a particular subject, that part of its book was simply blank. He was currently wracking his brain for what he knew about portals, and about how and why they worked. In particular, he was trying to figure out in greater detail just where exactly the transportation process had gone wrong. He was left with the conclusion that the cube had some sort of enchantment left to it, enough to drag him into portal space. However, it ran out of mana before he could be safely dropped off at the intended destination. So, being unable to stay in the pocket dimension without the protection of the enchantment, but unable to move any further, he was simply dumped at the most convenient exit point. This exit point just happened to be located right in the middle of Twilight Sparkle’s yard. He had a nagging suspicion that this place was blocked off from outgoing traffic, otherwise he’d surely have seen some equines in Dereth as a result of Asheron’s initial call to arms. Perhaps they had resisted the call? That much was possible, the princesses were certainly capable of neutralizing the compelling magics Asheron had inadvertently unleashed upon them.

A darker thought shot through his mind like an arrow. What if they had come, but were simply killed on arrival, or worked to death as slaves? There was a long period after the initial call in which those who had answered were enslaved by the Olthoi. And, a few exceptional earth ponies and pegasi aside, ponies didn’t really strike Ren as the type to be very capable of manual labor. He could be wrong, but he imagined the workload simply killed off those who had survived. If he ever made it back to Dereth, he’d need to request an audience with the High Queen and ask her about it. She’d probably think he was crazy if this hunch turned out to be incorrect, and move to have him placed in an asylum. She’d think that the years of stress had finally made him crack. It was a risk he was willing to take, though. He was used to being an outlaw in certain jurisdictions, what was one more? The Hea Tumeroks of Aheurenga certainly still had a “kill on sight” order placed in his name after he had led the charge to aid Lytelthorpe, which was under siege by them.

He sat on the lumpy grey couch next to the unremarkable grey lantern. He looked up at his mental corkboard of sorts, telling him what he needed to do and when. For some of the more complicated tasks he needed to accomplish, the pinned papers even stated why. Of course, having a corkboard would indicate that he was at least somewhat organized, which he was most definitely not. The papers were pinned haphazardly, some overlapping over others.

He saw a flashing paper that immediately grabbed at his attention. The mind is a truly wonderful thing, able to reconstruct itself to suit just about any situation. The flashing scrap of paper told him in no uncertain terms that he was being called for.

He sighed inwardly, watching the grey expanse dissipate before his vision. He picked himself up off the floor, grunting with annoyance as uncooperative muscles protested their use. The familiar sensation of constant prickling erupted throughout his body as he realized that he had been sitting in such an unergonomic position for so long that not just one part of his body had fallen asleep, everything had. Literally the only thing not asleep was his head.

---

Sitting in the small kitchen of her treehouse, Twilight Sparkle was worried. Ren had lost his initial exuberance and enthusiasm, replaced by something very closely related to apathy. Murr was as sarcastic as ever, and he even took the opportunity to make her laugh a few times. Ren entered the room slowly, being so late to answering her call that she was actually about to call him again, thinking he hadn’t heard her. These were very worrying signs, and though she never pretended to be a certified psychologist, she could tell that something was eating at him.

“Yes, oh wise master?” Ren answered in a dry monotone. His lingering wit was a good sign, though it tended to manifest rather rarely as of late. Visitors tended to perk him up. Perhaps it was the sheer boredom of having nothing meaningful to do that was making him feel this way? Cabin fever, while not a credible disease, was certainly an ailment. She gave it a bit of a ponder before snapping herself out of her funk. Ren was starting to shift around uncomfortably on his hooves.

“Ren, can you tell me why you just spent the last four hours staring at a wall?”

Ren shrugged. “I could tell you, but you’d think I was crazy.”

“Your definition of crazy and my definition of crazy are probably two very different things.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Even if I told you I spent all that time wracking my brains over figuring out what exactly went wrong and trying to figure out how I might fix it? Oh, and I can navigate my mind like a room.”

Twilight remained unimpressed. “I’ve heard and seen weirder. I even think I’ve done weirder things.”

“And I still haven’t worked it all out yet.”

Twilight brought a hoof to her face in agitation. “Have you thought of, I dunno, letting it go for a little while? It’s not like an apocalyptic timer is counting down and if we don’t meet the deadline it’ll give deadline a whole new meaning.”

Ren averted his gaze. “Um, about that. Murr and I have been talking – we think that the Bael’Zharon is going to start sending more of his grunts after us, into Equestria. We don’t know where, we don’t know when, we don’t even know what, but we know that something’s coming. The good news is that Murr was just about the strongest single being he had available to him, so his only real course of action is to send packs of lesser minions our way. Unless he’s decided to get off his lazy ass and do something himself for once.”

“So, we find them, we neutralize them, and we go about our daily lives. Simple as that.”

“Yeah, Twilight, but just how do you expect us to be able to track his troops? I can usually tell when portals are being used to get into a more sparsely populated area, but Equestria is a gigantic place filled with an untold amount of ponies. And Pinkie Pie completely throws me off. I can’t keep track of it all.”

“I have an idea, and you may think this a bit strange…”

The three walked into Sugarcube Corner, smiling at Pinkie who was diligently working the counter.

“Hi! What can I do for you guys today? Ooh, I know! Is it the… erm…” Pinkie cut herself off as Ren started vigorously shaking his head ‘no’.

“Sorry, Pinkie. We’re not here for any treats today. I need to ask something of you,” Twilight said, smiling gently.

“Ask away, my purple compatriot!”

“Ren and Murr have told me that a certain big old jerk who’s been terrorizing their homeworld may be sending more minions after these two. They said he himself might even be making an appearance. The thing is, they can’t get here without portaling in here in much of the same manner as Ren and Murr do. If they show you what it feels like for someone to be moving around Equestria through a portal, can you… I guess, attune yourself to that? Can you be our early warning system?”

The bubbly pink mare lifted a hoof to her chin in thought, pondering. “Hmm… I might be able to. My Pinkie Sense is very versatile, you know.”

Twilight gave a good natured chuckle. “I know it is. Alright you two, do what you seem to do best.”

“This won’t be exactly like what it would feel like for someone to portal into Equestria from Dereth, as every portal works a little differently, but this is a good base to go off of. I’m going to cast a spell called ‘Portal Recall.’ It skips the process of making a portal and simply rips me from this physical plane into a pocket dimension used for travelling. When you feel something like you’re going to be feeling, come and find one of us. We will do what we can to track them down,” Ren said to Pinkie. He turned to Twilight. “A little side note, I figured out how to cast Empyrean magic with a horn. It’s actually a bit more potent coming from a horn than some other magical implement, but the – um, not sure what word I should use here – interfacing is a bit different. I didn’t have to relearn all of my spells, as I had previously thought, but I did have to relearn how to cast Empyrean magic in general.”

Twilight nodded. “It’s more potent because your horn is directly joined with your thaumaturgical system, rather than having a periphery connection through your limbs. I bet if you tried hard enough, you could cast with your bare hands in human form.” She suddenly looked deep in thought. “Humans do have a thaumaturgical system, right? I knew I should have done some more experiments…”

“No, we have to have a focusing implement. Asheron can cast with his bare hands, as can Bael’Zharon. Come to think of it, I think humans are the only beings that have to focus their magic through an implement. I don’t think we have a physical thaumaturgical system, as you call it. I’ve seen my fair share of human insides, and I think I’d know if there was something like that.”

She shuddered, and then regained her composure. “It’s not supposed to be physical. It’s supposed to be a mental and spiritual system of connections.”

“Oh. Well. Enough of this learning garbage, I need to do what we came here to do in the first place. Shurov Thipaj!” The pony disassembled into the customary purple globs, and winked from view. Ponies stopped what they were doing to look at the spot where he used to be. A quiet murmur in the crowd started to get louder and louder as the ponies speculated on what happened to him.

“Nothing to see here! This guy just cast a really weird teleportation spell, is all!” Pinkie waved a hoof dismissively, assuring the crowd. Pinkie’s knees twitched violently as she accustomed herself to the sensation. Yep, there would be no mistaking that feeling for anything else – and make no mistake, she had no plans to do anything but go directly to Twilight when she felt it. She nodded wordlessly her lavender friend. “Seriously, that was almost painful,” she whispered to her. Twilight’s expression turned sympathetic.

The same dark grey stallion opened the doors to the shop yet again, walking nonchalantly to the group as though nothing had happened. “So,” he said loudly, “What’s the verdict? Can you trace that?”

“Yeah. Seriously, that’s not even subtle. How do you people be stealthy when portalling in feels like this to everyone in a Celestia-knows-how-long radius?”

“No one else has been able to trace it. Perhaps because too many people are using it at once to even bother trying.”

The pink mare narrowed her eyes skeptically. “I don’t think that’s how that works, Ren…”

He raised an eyebrow. “Really? That was just me portalling out – imagine feeling that hundreds of times a second. Not even you would be able to keep up, I’m sure of it.”

She stared at him for another couple seconds, attempting to detect any trace of deceit. Satisfied at finding none, she let her gaze move to Twilight. “Since you’re here, I’ve got a present for you guys. I think it should help with making up with Fluttershy. She’s not exactly impressed with either of you two, I don’t think. I don’t know, though – Ren might have a little more of her favor for moving as fast as he did to stop this guy,” she pointed accusingly to Murr, “From killing us all.”

“For what it’s worth, it is rather impressive that you got attached to us that quickly,” Twilight interjected.

“I – I’m not attached! I just never liked the idea of innocents being hurt or killed for my failings! I will do what I have to do and work as hard as I have to if it means that no one – damn it – pony gets hurt on my account,” the stallion in question retorted.

“Wow, you’re really having trouble with the pronouns, aren’t you?” Twilight commented. She smiled innocently when Ren cast a withering glare her way. He certainly seemed more lively. She could consider her secondary objective completed.

But it would seem that fate had other plans for Ren and Murr, because suddenly, Pinkie doubled over. She struggled and gasped for air as the three rushed to help her.

“People – things – coming in, lots of them – could be wrong, but I’d wager it’s Canterlot they’re after,” Pinkie let out in a strangled hiss. “They’re almost a day’s walk from it,” she finished, having regained enough of her composure to speak normally again.

Twilight and Ren shared a look. “That was fast,” Ren commented.

“Indeed,” Twilight agreed.

“Alright, so we’re going to Canterlot to lead the defense, then?” Murr asked.

Ren sighed. “No, Murr. We are the defense. We have to intercept them as early on as possible and make sure that only the princesses know – they’d know anyway, Twilight hides nothing from them – but I think that it’d be better for us in the long run if they heard it from us instead of her. If the common pony were to hear of this, mass panic would ensue.”

Twilight shook her head. “No, I’ll tell them – you’re going to be a bit preoccupied with dispatching the army headed in their direction, and I will make sure to mention that. They can’t be too angry with you if you’re acting in their defense, after all.” Her horn started to glow. “I’m going to send you both to Canterlot. Pinkie, which direction from the city is the army you described?”

The pink party pony shuddered. “North.”

Ren and Murr were enveloped in a soothing pink glow, the very same that surrounded Twilight’s horn. “Good luck guys, and remember, the army’s about a day’s walk north of the city.” The two stallions gave a mock salute before they disappeared.

The crowd was confused again – what was going on? Why had Pinkie collapsed? They started to give their questions voice, to the surprise of Twilight Sparkle.

“Who were those guys?” came one voice.

“What were they doing here?” came another.

“What’s going on?” came a third.

Twilight sighed and raised a hoof to her face. “Alright, everypony. I need you to keep calm. There is a bit of a situation, one that you wouldn’t understand without some serious exposition, and we don’t have the time to give you that exposition. Just know that you will be safe as usual, and try not to worry. The last thing anypony needs is to go into a panic.”

 ---

Ren and Murr reeled and retched from their experience with direct teleportation.

“My God, and I thought that portals were bad –“ Murr paused to retch once more into the bucket provided to him.

Ren had mostly recovered by this point, and was trying to wash his mouth out with fresh water. But liquids, it seemed, only further agitated his condition, as he realized when he suddenly had the urge to vomit again.

It took them a while to get that out of their systems, almost an hour by any account. They asked the first pony they ran into for directions, finding them pleasurably simple to follow, thankfully.

Once they were a safe distance away from the city, they shifted into their native bodies and started running as fast as they could toward the impending clash in the north.

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