The return of the silent atmosphere in Zecora’s hut did nothing to comfort the group of ponies huddled in a corner. The light bubbling of Zecora’s cauldron in the background and the sound of wind whipping through the trees outside failed to make the frightened bunch forget about the creatures that waited just beyond their wooden sanctuary.

Spike, who had been cowering in a ball behind the group, peeked over the shivering mass of ponies and searched the front of the house for any signs of the creatures. He noticed the human carefully looking out of the window with his back to the wall, scanning the surrounding area outside the house.

“A-are they gone?” The young dragon made no attempt to hide the fear in his voice as he made a last-ditch attempt at convincing himself that the danger had passed.

Tom carefully leaned closer to the window and searched. “I can’t see anything… it’s way too dark out there.” He turned to the group and announced his findings in a hushed tone. Satisfied that his visual search would yield no more results, the boy leaned close to the door to listen for any sign of the beasts outside.

*Thump*

Tom jerked back from the door as the creatures outside started to ram into it. The noises of growling and low howling returned as well. The human stood between the door and his group of strange companions with his hand on his sword and his body arched sideways in preparation to fight.

*Thump* *Thump* *Thump*

Each blow to the door shook the very walls of the house, causing candles to jump slightly on their tables and books to vibrate on the surrounding shelves. The cowering band of ponies, a baby dragon, and a zebra could barely keep themselves composed as each subsequent blow on the door rattled their very beings.

Fluttershy let out a shrill whimper and looked down and away from the danger while shielding her face with her forelegs. Rarity attempted to comfort Spike, who had clung to her after the creatures started their barrage on the hut, but the best she could do was put her foreleg around him while she stared fearfully at the door.

The rest of the group occupied themselves with either mentally coping with the situation while blankly staring in a mixture of fear and despair in the general direction of the door, or staring fearfully at Tom and hoping with every fiber of their being that he could protect them from the beasts outside.

“D-do you think they can get in?” Pinkie stuttered nervously while looking at the human with tears in her eyes.

“Don’t worry, darklings aren’t known for being the most persistent monster.” Tom glanced back at the group while trying to reassure them and ease their fears.

“B-but… what if they walk through the walls? I saw them pass through a log while they were chasing me like it wasn’t even there.” Twilight suggested fearfully. She was expecting the creatures to be able to come from anywhere, even from behind her.

“Don’t worry… they’re either too stupid to realize that they can do that, or they are just trying the less direct approach to rile us up. Judging from how they’re acting, though, I think they are just stupid.” Tom replied with a calm, almost cocky expression. “I’m sure that once they figure out that the door won’t immediately break, they will go aw-” He was interrupted by the sound of glass shattering and the ponies all screaming in unison.

The slayer whipped his head around just in time to be greeted by a black mass in the shape of a mouth full of teeth heading in the rather specific direction of his face. Apparently, one of the beasts had gotten frustrated with the lack of headway on bursting through the door and decided to take the more direct route of jumping through one of the nearby windows.

“Ok never mind!” Tom exclaimed in surprise while quickly sidestepping out of the way. The creature landed beside him and skidded to a halt with its claws dragging on the floor.

Having missed its initial attack on the human, the darkling suddenly turned its attention forward to the group of ponies cowering in the background. The beast growled fiercely at the sight of its prey. Twilight and the others gasped in fright as they saw the monster staring at them with its mouth agape as if it were showing them its teeth so they could admire them while it was ripping them apart.

Before the monster could react, Tom whipped his sword out of the holster on his back and forcefully swung it down into what he could loosely identify as the creature’s neck with one swift motion. The monster’s shadowy form offered little resistance as the luminescent blade cut through it, separating the head from the body.

As the darkling collapsed into a satisfying cloud of black smoke, Tom turned his attention back to the source of the danger. While the door gradually kept jolting more and more as the hinges and lock weakened under the pressure of constant abuse, more of the shadowy beasts had gotten the same idea their friend had gotten.

The sharp sound of glass shattering cut through the air once more as another beast flung itself through the other window. Two more of the feral creatures flooded in through the use of the new passageways to get at their prey.

With a soul-rending howl, the creatures ran straight towards the human with their mouths dripping eagerly with saliva. If they failed to attack the boy, then they could just get behind him to get at the ponies while the others distracted their protector.

Tom quickly dispatched the first charging beast by running his blade clean through the middle of its body. The beast gave a whimper as the sword was lifted up and out of its form, causing it to fade into smoke as it collapsed to the floor.

The two other darklings jumped Tom in unison. While he was preparing to dispatch the one that rushed at his legs, the other one jumped into the air towards him. Caught off guard by the sudden charge, Tom quickly held the blade sideways in between him and the monster as it careened into him. Despite his attempts at bracing against the flying creature, the boy was knocked backwards and landed on the ground with a harsh thud.

The ponies all gasped in surprise as their protector was suddenly plowed to the floor. They watched helplessly as the human wrestled with the beast on top of him while also kicking at the other creature which was trying to rip at his lower half.

Fortunately, the beast that jumped him had caught his sword in its mouth and was held back by it. Tom grunted while wrestling to keep the beast from getting too close to his face. He could feel the cold saliva the creature was producing dripping onto him as it snapped and growled at him while trying to get past the obstruction in its mouth. The darkling seemed to be burned from contact with the blessed weapon, but it ignored any semblance of pain it might have felt as its mouth smoked while it still growled and snapped.

Tom heaved heavily as he found the strength in him to kick away the second beast hard enough to knock it on its side. He then quickly lifted the monster on top of him up slightly and kicked it into the air above him. Acting on instinct alone, the boy managed to stick his sword up vertically and aimed for the creature's head.

The beast snapped at him while falling, managing to catch the sword in its mouth as it fell on top of it. The blade made a sickening crunch as it pierced through the monster’s skull. Tom grunted in pain as the beast’s head came to a stop just above the hilt of his sword, causing the creature’s elongated teeth to sink into his hand.

After shielding his eyes while the heavy creature’s weight was lifted off him by its conversion to smoke, Tom quickly jumped up and faced the other creature. The darkling backed up while growling fiercely at the slayer. Suddenly, the beast paused and turned to look at the door.

The hinges, after minutes of holding fast through the onslaught they were facing, popped off the door and landed a short distance away with a loud clatter. The rest of the door subsequently flew onto the floor once the next bash from the creatures hit it.

A line of five or so darklings slowly walked through the opening to join the one already inside. Beyond the line of creatures flooding into the small house, there was a seemingly endless wall of the beasts lining up in front of the doorway, pushing and clawing past each other to get a chance at entering. The creature Tom had briefly fended off turned its head and joined its friends in stalking closer to the human, who in turn started backing closer to the conglomerate of petrified ponies behind him.

“W…we…” Spike tripped over himself trying to get the words past the knot in his stomach. “Are we going to die?” He looked over to Twilight in tears waiting for an answer from the unicorn that had been his sisterly figure ever since his birth.

Twilight glanced at her number one assistant before looking around at her other friends. They were all trying their best to remove themselves from the situation, to imagine that this was just an awful nightmare they would wake up from at any moment.

“I don’t know Spike.” The purple unicorn sullenly looked down at the young dragon before returning her gaze to the bleak scene in front of her.

Tom kept backing closer to the group while looking around at the sea of horrific beasts descending upon them. Judging from the expression on his face, Twilight could tell the human was frantically thinking of anything he could do to circumvent their imminent demise.

Damn it... There are way too many of them to fight off… The human’s mind raced to find a possible solution. There was no way he could fight this many of the beasts without some of them getting past him and getting to the helpless group of ponies behind him.

“Well then… I guess I have no other choices.” Tom thought out loud to himself with a stern tone of voice.

The boy stopped just in front of the group of ponies and stood his ground against the shadowy legion approaching them. With a steely look of determination, he raised his right hand in the air and held it out in front of him. He opened his palm and steadied his feet before focusing all of his attention ahead.

“Take this you glorified shadow puppets!” Tom shouted fiercely at the approaching attackers.

Suddenly, a beam of blue light shot out from his hand. It shone fiercely in front of him, enveloping the entire front of the small hut in its wake. The group looked on awestruck as the creatures were all but obscured from their vision by the blinding light.

The Beasts let out a deafening cry, and those immediately next to the human were almost instantly blown into smoke before disappearing into the light. Tom walked forward while concentrating heavily, causing whatever creatures remaining in the house to retreat as their entire form burned in the light.

Once at the doorway, Tom shouted again as he focused his energy into the beam of light, causing it to grow in intensity. The light shined out of the hole and into the clearing outside the house, completely eradicating any of the beasts that lingered near the hut.

The light faded from sight as Tom stood on the fallen door, breathing heavily with his arm still outstretched in front of him. He then backed up a few steps before falling backwards and catching himself with his hands.

“*Huff* *Huff*” The human sat there on the floor while breathing deeply as if he just ran a marathon.

Meanwhile, Twilight and her friends stood at the back of the room where they had gathered and stared at each other for a moment. They took a moment to process what had just happened before finally looking back to the human resting on the ground.

“We’re… ok?” Fluttershy was the first to break the silence that hung over the group. She blinked a few times to make sure that she wasn’t just imagining things.

“We’re better than ok Fluttershy…” Rainbow Dash spoke up while looking around at her friends in disbelief. “We’re alive!” She exclaimed joyfully while jumping triumphantly in the air. Everyone else started cheering and bouncing happily with the vigor that only a near death experience can bring.

After taking a few moments to celebrate and hug each other to make sure they were, in fact, alive, the group quickly made their way over to the human and gathered around him.

“You did it, Thomas!” Twilight exclaimed happily while moving in front of the tired out human to offer him help with getting up. She almost couldn’t believe that he had managed to pull off such an impossible victory. The unicorn felt like hugging him until his face turned blue, but she instead decided to offer him a helping hoof to get up.

“Yeah…*Huff*… I guess I did.” Tom wheezed heavily while reaching forward to accept the unicorn’s outstretched hoof for support.

Twilight gasped in shock as she looked at his hand. Numerous puncture marks and a few lacerations were bleeding profusely from where one of the creature’s teeth had come down onto him with full weight.

“Your hand is bleeding...” The purple unicorn observed while carefully helping him up. “It looks pretty bad… we should take you to a hospital.” She suggested with concern brimming in her voice.

The group looked at the injury with worry and sympathy evident in their faces. They felt horrible knowing that the boy had gotten injured while saving them. Tom looked down at his hand before inhaling sharply as he ran his fingers over it. The ponies cringed in shock as they wondered why he was being so reckless with his wound.

“Owch… this feels bad… but don’t worry.” Tom winced in pain as he held up his hand and bent his fingers to check if he could still move them.

Suddenly, the injuries glowed orange as what appeared to be crackling flames appeared around them. Tom grimaced in pain as the wounds started closing up from the inside out as if the process actually burned as much as it appeared to have. Soon the glow stopped and the human’s hand looked good as new. He clenched his fist to assure himself the pain was gone.

“One of the perks of being the slayer… better than any band-aid I know of.” Tom explained while looking around at the group staring in curiosity and wonder at the feat they had just witnessed.

Twilight wanted to ask the human so many questions. Where did he come from? Just what is a slayer exactly? What other strange abilities did he have? But before she could act on her curiosity, Zecora spoke up from beside him.

“Interesting… you seem to hold such great power, how fortunate that you were here during our darkest hour.” The zebra spoke softly, still trying to calm her nerves after the ordeal they all just went through. “What kind of creature would want to harm us all...? We should inform the princess of our incredible close call.” She suggested while pondering why they would be attacked by these strange beasts.

“I agree completely, Zecora. Spike, take a letter… we need to let the princess know about everything that’s happened tonight.” Twilight spoke up while looking over to the young dragon standing off to the side.

After settling down and taking a moment to catch their breath, the group started to calm themselves down from the nerve-racking experience they just had. Everyone took a seat and got comfortable as Twilight reached into her bag and pulled out a feather quill and a piece of paper to give to Spike. The young dragon waited eagerly while the unicorn thought for a moment on what to write to the princess.

“Dear Princess Celestia, there is a frightful matter that I need to discuss with you. Upon reaching Zecora’s home and showing her the package you sent, she asked us to search the woods behind her house for materials needed to research the odd substance.” Twilight took a moment to inhale as Spike quickly wrote down her words.

“While searching for these materials, myself, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash were attacked by three monsters that I have never seen or read about before. I got separated from the others and most likely would have died had it not been for the sudden appearance of a human from an odd flash of light. He saved my life and fought off the creatures, even when more of them showed up at Zecora’s house. I am unsure of what any of this means, but I was hoping you could shed some more light on the reason you sent us out here. Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle… There... that should do it.” The purple unicorn finished as she watched Spike roll up the scroll and light the bottom part of it on fire to send it to the princess.

“You use a baby dragon to send messages back and forth to your princess?” Tom looked at Twilight with a confused expression. The odd phenomenon was unlike anything he had seen before.

“Yeah, it’s convenient… I thought magic explained a lot of gray areas for you?” Twilight asked while looking back at the apparent expert on the supernatural with a perplexed look on her face.

“Some things are just too weird to understand, even with the excuse of magic…” The boy sighed in annoyance. “So how long does this usually take?” He asked while leaning back against a wall and placing his hands behind his head.

Twilight thought about the logistics of everything involved for a moment before explaining. She had never really taken much thought as to how long the process of writing the princess took. It usually wasn’t even a two-way process due to the princess not needing to respond to her weekly letters.

“Well… it takes a few minutes for the scroll to reach the princess seeing how she is all the way in Canterlot… and then it takes a few minutes for her to reply and send it back.” Twilight said in a helpful tone. The unicorn wasn’t sure if her explanation had answered the boy’s question, or just confused him further.

“That reminds me… In all of the commotion, I forgot to ask, where am I and who are all of you?” Tom spoke up while inspecting the group around him.

“Oh... of course, I must have forgotten as well considering the circumstances.” Twilight said in a sheepish tone while turning to the group and preparing to introduce them. Everyone perked up from hearing that they were about to be introduced to a new person.

“You already met Applejack and Rainbow Dash… Over there is Pinkie Pie and Rarity.” The unicorn pointed to each of them respectively as they nodded in return.

“Hi, there!” Pinkie bounced happily while grinning at Tom. The human felt slightly uncomfortable while looking at the hyper pony smiling ear to ear at him. In his experience, most things that happy were either mentally disturbed, trying to kill him, or both.

“Pleased to meet you, darling.” Rarity added while smiling openly and nodding her head in their direction. She gave a courteous bow to the human which gave him an insight into her personality.

Twilight continued naming off her friends to Tom. As he watched them introduce themselves, the boy seemed genuinely interested in each of them rather than just sitting by idly and waiting for the long winded introductions to cease.

“Over there is Fluttershy and Zecora.” The purple mare pointed to the two sitting at the back of the room.

Fluttershy smiled timidly at the boy and spoke softly. Tom could tell she was a bit more fragile than the others from how she was still shivering in fright from earlier. “T-thank you for helping us out Mr. Greene.” The yellow pegasus stuttered slightly while still trying to calm herself down.

“A pleasure to make your acquaintance… even if your arrival doesn’t quite make sense.” Zecora said curiously while briefly turning her head from the book she was reading to look at the boy. The human felt a little confused as he tried to process the zebra’s need to rhyme.

“And this is Spike… he lives with me and helps me out from day to day.” Twilight smiled and looked over to the last person she had to introduce. The young dragon smiled openly at Tom while waving at him.

“I’m glad you showed up when you did. I don’t think we could have lasted long without your help.” Spike stated while chuckling nervously as he thought about what could have happened if the human had not dealt with the monsters.

Tom took a moment to inspect the group of strange animals smiling at him before smiling back at them in a friendly manner. Seeing the human’s accepting expression made the ponies happy that he wasn’t too weirded out by them.

Twilight looked back at him while thinking of how to explain his current location. It was a lot of information to put in such a concise and timely manner. “You are in a land called Equestria. In it, ponies live in peace with most of the other species that inhabit the land. As you may have noticed, there are three kinds of ponies that live in Equestria.” She explained while motioning toward the members of each race of pony. “There are unicorns like myself and Rarity, they can use magic. There are pegasi like Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy, they can fly as you may have gathered on your own. And then there are earth ponies like Applejack and Pinkie Pie, they don’t have any special attributes.” Tom nodded understandingly as the unicorn finished her explanation. She was surprised to see that the human seemed to be catching onto Equestrian customs faster than she expected.

Tom thought about his situation for a moment before turning back to the group, who had already started chatting with each other. He wondered how much time he would be spending in this strange new world, and why he was sent here in the first place. The boy finally shrugged and gave up on explaining his surroundings for a moment before joining the others in conversation.

After a few minutes of waiting and talking, Spike exhaled sharply as a flaming scroll popped out of his mouth. He reached out his arm with the scroll and waited for Twilight to take it. After levitating it out of the young dragon’s hand and opening it, the unicorn read the letter aloud.

“Dear Twilight Sparkle, I am terribly sorry to hear about your life threatening experience. Had I known that there would have been any danger on your journey, I would have taken the trip myself. In regards to the sudden appearance of a human, I am thankful for it happening, but I cannot offer any insight as to why.” Twilight paused for a moment to take a quick breath. The group listened intently as she continued reading the message.

“In light of the appearance of the mysterious black substance and aggressive new monsters in the Everfree Forest, I believe it is time that we start investigating the causes of these phenomena. I will arrange for either Luna or myself to come to Ponyville tomorrow in order to talk with you further on the issue and to meet this human. Stay safe, Princess Celestia.” The purple mare finished reading the letter before rolling up the scroll and putting it away.

“I guess we should just go home and wait until tomorrow to investigate this any further.” Twilight sighed before turning to look at the gaping hole where Zecora’s door had once been. “But what are we going to do about Zecora? It’s too dangerous for her to stay out here alone.”

Tom’s face brightened up with confidence as he formulated an idea in his head. “I think I may have a solution to that problem... Do you have any spare candles Zecora?” The human asked while turning to face the enchantress. Zecora thought for a moment before replying. With her mind still being the foggy mess that it was, the zebra wondered if she could remember where the simplest items in her house were.

“I think I might have some in the back, but how will candles protect me from a monster attack?” Zecora motioned toward the human with her hoof while looking at him doubtfully.

“Just trust me… what do you have to lose?” Tom asked while looking over to the door, which was still lying on the ground.

Zecora sighed at the sight of the broken door before turning to search for the candles. After finding a few unlit candles, the zebra placed them on the table in front of the human and waited to see what he could do to solve her problem. Tom grabbed two of the candles and walked over to the door.

“I may not be able to fix your door, but I should be able to make it safe for you to stay here.” Tom explained before concentrating for a moment.

Everyone looked on in curious wonder as Tom’s hands started to glow with a similar blue light to the one he used on the beasts just minutes previous. The light enveloped the candles with a dim glow as they started turning blue themselves. The light died down, and Tom was left holding two deep blue candles.

“These are blessed candles… I can make them by imbuing any regular candle with positive energy. A single one can be used to ward evil away from its glow, and two or more can be used to make a barrier that can keep a room or other enclosing safe from any minor evil creature.” Tom explained while placing the candles just behind the fallen door in a line between the front and back of the house. “Just light these up and they should keep your house safe for the night. I also recommend not stepping outside until daybreak.” He said in a confident tone while stepping back from the candles.

Twilight looked at the candles for a moment pensively. She figured that it would be easier if she just used her magic to light the candles for the zebra. She also wanted to see the effects of the candles herself.

“Here, let me light them for you.” Twilight suggested while concentrating for a moment. Soon, her horn lit up a bright purple. As she performed the spell, the wicks of the candles started glowing as well. After a moment of concentration, one of the candles lit ablaze. To everyone’s amazement, the flame on the candle was a bright shade of blue that threw off a mesmerizing glow of colored light.

After both candles were lit, a puff of blue smoke lifted into the air above them abruptly. After the smoke dissipated, a thin blue aura flashed between the candles and encased the area in front of the door. The force field-like aura flashed for a few times and then faded from view, leaving only the candles aglow with blue flame sitting on the floor.

The ponies looked on in awe at the spectacle before moving closer to investigate. Twilight was the first to act on her curiosity as she stuck one hoof past the area between the candles. Once she breached the line the candles had made, the blue aura partially appeared again around her outstretched hoof. The purple unicorn waved her hoof around the aura, causing thin waves to ripple around it. She then pulled her foreleg back in, causing the strange aura to disappear completely once more.

Twilight inspected her hoof briefly before eyeing the candles themselves. They were unlike anything the unicorn had ever seen or read about before in her life.

“Odd, it doesn’t feel solid… kinda like it isn’t even there. Are you sure this is going to be strong enough to protect this place, Thomas?” Twilight asked, more curious than doubtful while turning to face the human. Most magical force fields she knew about were solid to anything that the caster didn’t let through.

“It only becomes solid when something evil tries to pass through it,” Tom replied while stepping past the barrier to demonstrate the rippling effect. “As long as Zecora stays behind these candles, she should be safe until she gets her door fixed. These things last for a long time on their own, so unless something powerful extinguishes them they should last for a few days.” he explained while taking a moment to soak in the bright glow of the aura as he glided his hand through it. It was a rare occasion that he slowed down to appreciate the beauty of some of his abilities.

Spike looked at the blue flame of the candles for a moment before scratching his head curiously. If the candles were meant to work on evil creatures, then he wanted to be sure that they worked on everything that could have caused the zebra trouble.

“Will it work on Timberwolves?” Spike asked quizzically while poking the aura once with his claw.

“What’s a timberwolf? I’ve never heard of anything like that.” Tom asked curiously while looking to the dragon with a confused expression.

Rainbow Dash looked up from one of the candles she had been inspecting and gasped in surprise. Timberwolves were such a common creature that it was a wonder how anyone could be unaware of them, let alone someone who fights monsters.

“You mean to tell me that you hunt monsters for a living and you have never heard of timberwolves?” The cyan mare asked in a state of disbelief. The boy shrugged and shook his head in response.

“I guess they just weren’t around in my time.” Tom reasoned. Rainbow Dash nodded in revelation as she agreed with the human’s point of view. She then exhaled while thinking of the best way to describe the beast in simple terms.

“Timberwolves are nasty monsters made of wood… they look like wolves and act like them, hence the name.” Rainbow Dash shook her head to rid herself of the frightful thoughts about the creature in her head.

Tom furrowed his brow in thought while calling upon his knowledge of the supernatural. “Sounds like an inanimate object being possessed by living energy and morphing to fit its surroundings.” The human explained to no one in particular and turned to Spike. “So in answer to your question Spike, yes it should work on timberwolves.” The young dragon looked confused at the explanation given but nodded in satisfaction of his question’s resolution.

Twilight yawned and looked outside at the night sky. She couldn’t believe that so much had happened to make her stay out this late. “Now that that’s settled, I think we should be getting home now.” The purple mare suggested tiredly while picturing her warm, safe, and cozy bed at the library. Everyone nodded in agreement while realizing how late it was getting. The human sighed while thinking about his situation further.

“Where am I going to go? I don’t exactly have anywhere to crash for the night.” Tom spoke to himself while deep in thought just loud enough for the others to hear.

“Hey, maybe you could stay with us! Don’t you think that would work out Twilight?” Spike perked up and exclaimed excitedly. He turned to look at Twilight pleadingly.

Twilight thought for a moment about the matter. Tom had nowhere to go and didn’t know anything about Equestria, much less Ponyville and the surrounding area. The purple unicorn could find no objections to the human staying with them in the library, and the fact that he had just saved her life twice made her feel that the least she could do was to offer him a place to stay.

“I think that’s a wonderful idea, Spike.” Twilight smiled at the young dragon’s suggestion before turning to the human. “You are more than welcome to come stay with us for as long as you like Thomas.” She said in a courteous tone.

The human smiled warmly at the proposition. He wasn’t used to getting this much gratitude for his actions. “Thanks, and please… call me Tom.” He explained with a friendly chuckle.