1055 AD, January 27th

“Twilight, the town reservoir is filled to the brim.”

“Excellent. Check.”

“Twilight, we got the fire response team ready for action at a moment’s notice.”

“Wonderful. Check.”

“Twilight, the alarm system’s up and running.”

“Fantastic. Check.”

As a red tick appeared in another empty square, a shudder of contentment ran through Twilight’s body. She’d never admit it to anypony – her friends especially – but filling out a check list with those seductively straight-lined ticks was a guilty pleasure of hers.

Looking up from her list, Twilight noted the position of the sun.

‘Good. It’s not even noon and we’ve already got three-quarters of the town’s defences up to date and running.’

“Um, Twilight, dear?”

Twilight glanced to her left and saw Rarity approaching with a trio of brilliant gems in her telekinetic grasp and an unsure frown. “Is everything alright, Rarity?”

“Oh yes, it’s nothing too major. I just have some concerns with these enchantment trap… thingies,” Rarity fiddled with a sparkling ruby, cheeks gaining a tint of pink from embarrassment. “I was never the best spell-caster at school, so… could you possibly teach me how to work these for the future?”

“Of course,” Twilight practically jumped at the chance to teach. She motioned to the gems. “May I?”

Rarity relinquished the trio of gems and watched as Twilight separated an amethyst from the cluster. Holding the amethyst in front of her, Twilight gestured to it.

“It was early in the reneighssance era when ponies discovered gemstones could hold and store spells. Originally, they thought it was because gems were the solidified tears of Mother Faust herself when she wept upon seeing three of four children slaying each other in a fit of rage. Nowadays, science has taught us that gemstones and crystals are capable of this due to their three-dimensional molecular arrangements. When it comes to enchanting gems, there are two main factors: the size of the gem and the complexity of the spell that is cast. For instance…”

Twilight’s eyes narrowed and her horn shone brighter. Rarity winced as the amethyst gave a bright purple flash which mercifully lasted only a few seconds. When it dimmed, she noticed that there was a now a small glow within the gem which throbbed like a tiny heartbeat.

“I’ve now enchanted the stone with a Tier 1 Arcane Incantation, an Illumination spell to be exact. It is capable of illuminating an area in a six metre diameter for eight seconds,” Twilight continued. “Note the glow, indicating the spell is active. In this case, without further tampering, it will be set off in two instances: the destruction of the stone or the enchanter consciously activating it. Don’t worry about setting it though; modern security devices take care of that, all you need to do is insert one, and then read the manual that came with the device.”

Twilight gave a single nod and the stone lit up with a purple light. It was a gentle glow and Rarity gazed upon it with awe. It only lasted for eight seconds before fading; the stone lost its small heartbeat and grew dim once more.

“As you can see,” Twilight pointed at the centre of the amethyst. “The light is gone, signalling there is no more magic in store. However, the enchantment is still there – watch what happens when I try to cast a different enchantment.”

Her horn shone and the aura surrounding the amethyst became more intense. The gem did not glow brightly though; it remained dark.

“In order to cast a different enchantment, you must dispel the active enchantment; ‘purify’ it in other words,” Twilight channelled magic into the stone and the heartbeat came back. Rarity noticed that it was brighter and throbbed more frequently than before. “A single gemstone – no matter its size – can only hold one type of spell. Likewise, the complexity of the spell cannot exceed the gemstone’s size. Tier 3 and 4 spells will simply cause an amethyst of this size to fracture. Quite spectacularly I might add. On the other hoof, filling a gemstone to capacity with magic after a successful enchantment will give it ‘charges’. Basically, it increases the amount of times the enchantment can be used before it needs to be energized again.”

Rarity nodded and gestured to the amethyst. “So you just filled this gemstone to capacity, correct?”

“Yes.”

“How many times can it perform the illumination spell?”

“As I said, it was a low-level spell which even a foal would find trivial to perform. This gemstone could hold up to six charges. The amount of charges decreases in response to the complexity of the spell, though this can be rectified by using a larger gemstone. Thankfully, even low-level defensive spells are effective against most creatures, which means small gemstones – which can be hidden much more easily than larger ones – are sufficient for our defences.”

“I see,” Rarity noted with fondness that Twilight would make a good mentor. She wondered if she should send Sweetie Belle to her for lessons in magic. “Although – and forgive me for bringing this back up – I recall you enchanting your Smarty Pants doll during that ‘letter to Celestia’ incident. That was not a gem.”

A small bit of colour entered Twilight’s cheeks, but she quickly got over her previous shame and nodded. “There exists a more advanced field of enchantment; it is the practise of breaking down an enchanted gemstone on the molecular level and combining it into an otherwise non-enchantable object. This is called Imbuement and Smarty Pants was my first successful attempt at it.”

“You… imbued your doll with a gemstone enchanted with a Want-it-Need-it spell?”

Twilight grimaced and sheepishly looked away. “I… was a filly and… I didn’t like baths. Let’s just… leave it at that.”

“As you wish,” Rarity felt a bit inadequate because of her lack of knowledge. She brushed the feeling aside once she remembered how envy almost ruined her friendship with Fluttershy. “So these enchantments… I’ve never actually done one before.”

“Oh, they’re not hard. You just do the regular method for when you want to cast a spell, but instead of projecting it, you push it into the gem,” Twilight smiled in reassurance, handing the gems back. “It sounds harder than it is, really.”

Rarity pursed her lips, unsure. “If you say so then I’m willing to try.”

Twilight noticed this and stepped forwards to wrap a wing around Rarity’s shoulders. “Come find me later on if you’re having trouble; it’s okay to ask for help, you know.”

“Yes, I know, dear,” She smiled back. “Thank you for explaining this.”

“No problem.”

The white unicorn departed and Twilight turned back to her checklist.

A pair of rose-petal eyes lowered in front of her face and Twilight emitted an unflattering bleat of surprise before falling back on her haunches.

“Rainbow!”

Rainbow Dash clutched at her belly as she rolled about in the air, laughing. “Oh stallion, you should have seen the look on your face!”

Twilight flushed. “Weren’t you supposed to be clearing the…?” She paused and sighed. “Right… ten seconds flat – I forgot.”

“Mm, actually more like eight point two seconds,” Rainbow’s snickers died down as she set her gaze on something else. A sly grin spread across her face and she cooed, “So do your feathers need preening or are you just happy to see me?”

Twilight blinked in confusion as she looked at her wings, puffed out from fright. She turned back and tilted her head quizzically.

“Seriously?” Rainbow Dash’s grin fell as she raised an incredulous eyebrow. “You haven’t had a wing boner yet? Never read about it?”
“Is it a colloquial term?”

“Dunno what that means,” She shook her head and waved it off. “Forget about it. I kinda wanted to talk to you about something else.”

Brushing the dirt from her coat and checklist, Twilight stood, still sore over the shock. “What is it?”

“I got a letter calling me back to Wonderbolt Academy,” Rainbow Dash rubbed the back of her neck, apparently nervous. “The princesses want all Wonderbolts and recruits to fly around Equestria to see if we can find wherever the creatures are coming from. I won’t be here for a while.”

Twilight gave a single nod. “That makes sense. But why do you look so worried?”

“I don’t want to leave Ponyville hanging…” Rainbow Dash muttered.

“Rainbow,” As the Element of Loyalty, Twilight didn’t expect any less from the pegasus. “Ponyville will be fine; we’ve stood against Nightmare Moon, Discord, and bunny stampedes after all. Besides, the whole of Equestria needs you to find out where those creatures are filtering in from.”

Rainbow Dash nodded. “I guess. Some of my toughness has rubbed off on everypony, huh?”

“Right,” Twilight playfully rolled her eyes. “So you need to go around and allow some of that ‘toughness’ to rub off on Equestria.”

The pegasus bit her bottom lip. “Are you sure you’ll be okay?”

“Positive. Now when are you supposed to leave?”

“The sooner the better, but I don’t want to leave until I’ve said goodbye to the rest of the girls,” She shrugged and hovered further into the air. “So I guess I should get going.”

Twilight nodded and waved. “Good luck.”

“Don’t need it, but thanks!” Rainbow Dash soared off in the direction of Sugarcube Corner. “Try not to have another freak-out while I’m gone!”

At once, Twilight’s affectionate smile dissolved into an annoyed frown. “Why does she have to bring that up all the time?”

Shaking her annoyance off, Twilight decided to go see how the Apple family was doing. They had a lot of territory to defend and though she didn’t doubt Applejack or Big Mac’s ability to take care of their home, a few extra hooves couldn’t hurt. Plus, they had Fluttershy’s animals to take care of as well.

Tucking the checklist into her saddle bag, she set off to Sweet Apple Acres.

“Lemon, Caramel?”

“No thanks.”

“Lemon, Zip?”

“No, I’m good – thanks.”

“Lemon, Mister Guard?”

“No thank you, miss.”

“Lemon, Thunderlane?”

“Oh, that’d be great.”

“Yay!” Pinkie reached up and turned the tap on her lemon helmet. She took a small cup from her saddle bag and collected the liquid in it. “Here you go!”

“Cheers,” Thunderlane took a long sip and exhaled. “That hit the spot.”

Smiling brightly at another satisfied pony, Pinkie bounced off in search of more hard workers in dire need of refreshments.

Part of the plans for the town’s defence entitled building a barricade along the part of Ponyville facing the Everfree forest to prevent any mean animals from entering the town limits and making a fracas.

Once the platoon of guards had arrived from Canterlot early this morning, they began to get to work on the barricade, only to discover that several creatures had already appeared and entered the tow limits, though thankfully, they seemed to be docile.

The creatures closely resembled ponies, but they had six legs instead of four, and their bodies were significantly longer, less girth. Their coats only came in black while their manes and tails were silvery-white. Their eyes however, shone brightly and came in a variety of colours ranging from ruby red to emerald green. If one were to watch them feed on the grass, they would also notice that they possessed long, prehensile tongues coloured a deep shade of purple.

The Royal Guards were quick to keep everypony back before proceeding to try and shoo the creatures away. It went without a hitch; they only seemed interested in eating the grass, and moved away from the town limits at the guards’ behest. Now they were content to graze and simply watch as the barricade was being built.

Twilight had been there not too long ago, taking notes and murmuring to herself as she studied their behaviours before excitedly zipping off to record her findings.

‘Talking to yourself – Twilight, girl, you so cray-cray.’

“Oh hey, can I get a drink?”

“Yessir!” Pinkie bounced over and poured Ambrosia a cup, handing it over with a brilliant smile. “Fresh as the day it was picked!”

The construction worker took a sip and nodded with a noise of delight, licking her lips. “I’ll say.”

“It’s my own super-duper special recipe! Wanna hint?” Pinkie glanced around conspiratorially and leaned in. “1842.”

Ambrosia raised one eyebrow. “Uh… what does that mean?”

“I have no idea!”

The construction mare nodded, realizing she should have expected such an answer. “Thanks for sharing that with me.”

“No problem-o!” The pink pony skipped away. “La-la-la, la-la-la, la-la-la…”

Pinkie continued her rounds for the next five minutes, handing out refreshments and snacks until she noticed that one of the creatures had trotted past a part of the barricade that had yet to be built.

It was smaller than the rest and had burning pink eyes; a youngling, apparently.

Pinkie felt a strong urge to take it home and give Gummy a playmate, but through sheer willpower – Twilight would have been impressed by her resolve – she resisted it, and instead picked up a patch of fresh grass in her mouth.

Clicking her tongue, she gained the attention of the grazing pony-like animal. Its nostrils twitched as it came closer, tongue slithering out to grab the grass. Pinkie backed off before it could. She felt a surge of excitement as it followed.

It was like a little puppy!

Pinkie led it back to its herd, clicking her tongue all the while. Once it was far enough away from the barricade, she allowed the searching tongue to take the grass from her mouth. She smacked her lips – that had been an awfully tasty patch of grass; now she was hungry.

‘It’s almost lunch-time anyway; maybe a song will take my mind off all those yummy baked goods!’

It took her a second to think up a tune and she inhaled deeply, theatrically before bouncing around the youngling, singing,

Pinkie gradually evolved from bouncing to cartwheeling, delighted when she saw that the youngling was watching her movements impassively.

SKLUTCH

Pinkie flinched as something warm and coppery splattered her face.

Cracking open her eyes, she blinked dumbly as a mangled leg was thrown in front of her, spasming. She only dimly heard the rest of the youngling’s herd give terrified bleats and thunder off.

The attacker ignored the commotion, intent on its catch.

Significantly larger than a pony, the creature was quadruple; the hind legs were shorter and less muscular than the forelegs. Two extra limbs were located on its chest with five slender digits; they occupied themselves by dragging the cooling body of the grazing animal under its body. White fur covered every inch of its bulky body, save for the scaly paws, which were tipped with vicious looking talons. It didn’t appear to have a neck – the torso ended in a flat area where three eyes were arranged in a triangular pattern, completely black.

At first there was no sign of a mouth, but then the creature reared the front half of its body upwards, and the skin on its belly split open to reveal lines of jagged teeth. The arms on its chest tore up the carcass and placed them in the mouth, ribbons of blood and pieces of flesh falling as it feasted.

Pinkie could only stare.

As if sensing her presence for the first time, the attacker gave a deep rumbling sound and the eyes were immediately covered by transparent yet apparently tough lenses, almost like eyelids.

That one action snapped Pinkie out of her stupor and she became aware of the panicked shouts of her friends, the taste and smell of blood, the feel of it sliding down in thick droplets down her face.

Pure terror and horror welled up in her chest as she stepped backwards, whimpering.

‘Giggle at the ghosties, giggles at the ghosties, giggle at the ghosties…’

“Ah… ha, ha… h-heh, heh, heh… ha, heh…” She knew she was making the sounds, but it didn’t feel like laughter.

She didn’t feel like laughing at all. In fact she felt like crying as she watched the corpse of the harmless grazer be ripped to shreds and devoured. There was so much blood…

The bushes and shrubs near the Everfree Forest rustled and another creature stalked out – this one was covered in dark brown fur.
Its penetrating gaze examined the fleeing herd before ultimately settling on Pinkie. With three snicks the eyelids came up and its arms folded tight against the chest. It started towards her at a languid pace that quickly turned into a sprint; clumps of dirt and grass were thrown up by its feet as it charged towards her.

Pinkie heard somepony calling her name, but her legs refused to move. She watched as it came closer and closer until she could almost feel its arms digging into her innards and its paws stomping her to pieces and her life draining from her-

SMACK

Pinkie waited for the pain, but none came.

When she opened her eyes, there was a Royal Guard before her.

“U-uh…”

The stallion had intercepted the creature’s charge and was actually holding it back through sheer strength. His forelegs were on either side of its head and his hind legs were firmly planted in the dirt. Furrows in the ground marked where he had been pushed back by the predator’s momentum before gaining a hold.

“Pinkie…” The guard looked back, showing a young face scrunched with effort and teeth clenched in determination. “Run!”

Then the guard turned, drew his head back, and smashed his forehead into one of the monster’s eyes.

There was a sharp crack and the attacker roared in pain, shaking its head back and forth and throwing the stallion off balance. As he was thrown out of the way, Pinkie could see that one of the creature’s eyelids had been shattered and pieces of debris had impaled the eye. Streams of dark blue blood flowed down from the ruined socket, soaking its fur.

As the guard attempted to get back on his feet, the monster raised one paw and brought it down on his midsection. His eyes went wide as the wind was knocked out of his lungs.

The paw lifted and came down once more, but he managed to roll out of the way and buck the limb as it smashed down on nothing but grass and dirt.

There was a sickening snap and the monster’s skin bulged outwards. It roared again, but backed off instead of attacking. Growling, it took off back into the forest, its broken appendage trailing uselessly behind it.

Its companion took notice and the arms grabbed what remained of the corpse before it retreated, too.

When he was satisfied there was no more immediate danger, the guard turned to Pinkie with a shaky smile and said, “You okay?”

Pinkie nodded. She was immeasurably grateful, but for some reason no words came to mind.

“Pinkie!”

The townsfolk and the guards working on the barricade arrived, frantic and wide-eyed in the former’s case.

“Mother Faust, when that thing charged we thought…” Ambrosia trailed off. “Are you two okay?”

“I’m fine,” The guard waved off his friends’ attempts to examine him, though he did accept a helping hoof up. “You know us earth ponies; it’ll take a lot more than that to put us down.”

“Dude, you are crazy!” Thunderlane laughed, relieved that nopony was badly hurt or worse. “I can’t believe what I saw! I wasn’t hallucinating, right? He stopped that thing, head-butted it, and kicked the hell outta its leg. Scared them both off!”

The guard shrugged. “Ah, anypony else would have done the same – it’s not a big deal.”

“Damn it – I should have done something,” One of the other guards, a unicorn, stomped his hoof, regret in his tone. “Too far away for telekinesis and by the time I tried to get a Paralysis spell up and running…”

Caramel was the one to notice Pinkie’s silence. Frowning in concern, he placed a hoof on her shoulder. “You okay? Hey, you don’t look so good.”

“She’s in shock.” One of the guards said.

Pinkie couldn’t find the energy to say or do anything to reply; the grazer’s carcass was all that filled her mind.

“I’ll take her to Nurse Redheart,” Carrot Top stepped forward to gently loop a foreleg around Pinkie’s neck. “Hey, uh, you should come too. You know, just to be on the safe side.”

“Well…” The guard who saved Pinkie’s lip bit his bottom lip in indecision and it took the insistence of his concerned friends before finally nodding. “Yeah, I suppose so. You guys going to be alright if I go?”

“We’re almost finished anyway,” Ambrosia gave a supportive smile and cocked her head towards Ponyville. “You two go and get checked out.”

Pinkie allowed Carrot Top to lead her towards town, the guard at their side. She felt lost and confused and cold; was this what being in shock was like? She didn’t like it.

Wetting her lips, she turned to the guard, opened her mouth, and forced a few words out of her throat. “Th-thank you…”

The stallion smiled at her. “Hey, what are friends for?”

“And this here… stone disarms ‘em?”

“Obsidian wand,” Twilight corrected. She gestured to the metre and a half long tool that Applejack held in her tail. “Obsidian is famous for its magic-dampening properties; simply making contact with anything magical will cause the object to ‘short out’. On an enchantment stone, it renders it inactive.”

Applejack let out a low whistle as she waved the wand around. “Fancy. So how come ah ain’t getting shorted out?”

Twilight flinched as the wand came close to her and raised a hoof to her horn subconsciously. “Earth ponies and pegasi aren’t as sensitive to magic as unicorns and alicorns are. If that wand were to touch a unicorn, they’d feel drained. If it were to touch their horns directly, it’d completely short out their magic. I hear it’s quite painful.”

“Oh, sorry ‘bout that.” Applejack lowered the wand with a sheepish grin.

“It’s fine,” The threat dealt with, Twilight lowered her hoof. “I know for a fact that alicorns are more resistant against obsidian, but I’d rather not figure out first-hoof just how much more resistant we are. Although that would make for an interesting experiment; I should set one up in a controlled environment after this is all dealt with and detail my findings to Canterlot’s School for Gifted Unicorns. I bet the princesses would love it!”

“I bet they would,” Applejack nodded to the knapsack of inactive stones resting beside her. “So if they’re all turned off and everything, how do ah go ‘bout turnin’ ‘em back on?”

“Unlike unicorns and alicorns, who can reactivate their magic without any assistance, magical items need a different source of magic to activate. Unicorns and alicorns, naturally, have an easier time with this, but earth ponies and pegasi can reactivate them by holding the items close to their bodies and allowing ambient magic to feed directly into them. There’s no special technique; holding it in your hoof or near your chest is enough.”

“Alright-y then,” The farmer nodded. “Hold ‘em tight to turn ‘em on and give ‘em a poke to turn ‘em off. Simple enough; mighty thankful for th’ help, Twi’.”

“Anytime.”

The two mares adopted startled looks as the ground beneath their hooves shook. As one, they turned to face the orchard.

Discord ran by – for someone who floated and teleported constantly he had quite the pace – wearing a dark brown cowboy hat with a piece of hay between his lips. Behind him, a herd of rabbits followed, their tiny paws kicking up a small dust cloud.

“Discord! This isn’t helping!” Fluttershy flitted after them, Angel hanging onto her tail for dear life. “They just ate; they’ll get tummy-aches!”

“Oh lighten up, my dear Butterbye! I’m not going to do anything too bad!”

The draconequus jumped, turned, and started running backwards at the same pace.

Applejack let out a groan and hung her head as the group ran off. “Ah better see t’ tha’ before everypony starts panickin’ again. Sorry t’ cut our chat so soon.”

Twilight waved the apology off. “It’s fine. Do you need any help?”

“Nah, ah’m good,” Applejack placed her hoof in her mouth and let out a loud and sharp whistle. “Winona! Get mah rope; we got a B-class stampede!”

The farmer ran off, leaving Twilight to try and get the ringing out of her head. Moments later, Winona scampered after her master with a length of rope in her jaws. Twilight smiled fondly at the entire event.

Even in the midst of a possible invasion, her friends – she deemed Discord as her worst friend and best enemy – still found ways to make her marvel at just how much more fulfilling her life had become after discovering the magic of friendship.

Seeing that the one thing the Apples were having trouble with was rectified, Twilight decided to do one more round of the town’s defences before taking a lunch break.

A purple-eyed creature trounced through the Everfree, crying out for its mother.

It had been separated from the herd after they scattered when its sibling had been taken from them by a predator.

Now it was lost in unfamiliar territory.

The land was strange; the sky wasn’t the colour it had always been, the smells weren’t the same, and there were creatures it had never seen before. Friendly, but strange creatures.

Still, the grass was edible, the air was breathable, and it felt lighter than it did in familiar territory.

It would have been tolerable if the predators hadn’t followed.

The youngling stopped to catch its breath, chest expanding and shrinking with every breath.

Snap

It perked up and sprang forwards.

A predator with golden fur emerged from behind.

From in front, a predator with light brown fur charged.

The youngling paused in primal terror, muscles locked as the claws extended and-

The predators smashed into one another.

Six eyes in total blinked in confusion, staring at the spot where the prey had been. The protective lenses retracted and they sniffed and tasted the air. The prey hadn’t ducked at the last second – it was simply gone.

The two hunters growled and snapped at each other for a few brief seconds to vent their frustration before lumbering off, disgruntled at the unfair evasion.

Six minutes and twenty seconds later, the purple-eyed creature reappeared, still in the same petrified position. It took a few moments for it to realize the predators were gone and when it did, its ears flicked in astonishment.

One second the hunters were there and the next they were gone.

Perplexed but not ungrateful, the youngling bayed and pranced off in search of its mother.

Author's Notes:

Note 1: Twilight's quote on crystals being enchantable because of their molecular arrangements is the most widely-accepted theory amongst the scientific community, but there are others who believe that it has to do with something else.

Note 2: Pinkie found nothing funny about something being killed in front of her, rendering her antics null.

Note 3: Easter Egg in this chapter - see if you can find it!