1055 AD, February 11th

“To the coolest friends anypony has ever had,

What’s up? How’s everything going in Ponyville? No monster attacks or anything? I’ve seen more of those flying things all around Equestria, but they haven’t really bothered trying to attack. Soarin calls them angler bats; pretty catchy, eh? Also seen a lot of pony animals that aren’t really ponies; dunno what to call them yet, but they’re pretty friendly.

We still haven’t found wherever or whatever’s causing the monsters to appear, so that kinda sucks. We’ve checked the Everfree Forest as best we could, Baltimare, Las Pegasus, Manehatten – pretty much everywhere. At first, it was wicked awesome zipping around Equestria with the Wonderbolts and all the other cadets, but now we’re all getting anxious. Spitfire wants to find the source as badly as I do and she’s starting to get a little… you know, ‘don’t look at me or I’ll shout your face into your throat’. Not that she’s a hard-ass or anything. Well, she is, but in a good way.

So yeah, other than that, there’s nothing else to say. Looking forward to your reply and to see if you guys did manage to find something. Twilight, you’re a super-smart egghead, so you’re bound to figure this all out soon. Fluttershy, I didn’t expect to be gone this long, so could you splash a cup of orange juice on Tank’s shell? Trust me – he’ll know what it means. Rarity, I don’t care how ‘in’ it is; I’m not wearing a sunhat when I get back. Pinkie, it’s awesome to hear you getting back to your old self again! Applejack, for crying out loud, that prank was five years ago; get over it already!

With awesomeness, Rainbow D-”

“-Dash!”

Rainbow Dash exclaimed in surprise as Cloudchaser landed before her, causing the letter and pencil to drop from her hooves and onto the lush grass. Before she could even attempt to choke out a ‘what the hay?’, Cloudchaser grabbed her shoulders and gave a firm shake.

“Rainbow Dash, you’ve gotta come with me!”

“Wh-wh-where’s th-the f-f-fire?” Cloudchaser’s alarmed expression was all Rainbow Dash could see.

“We found something!” Cloudchaser finally let go, allowing Rainbow Dash’s pupils a chance to correct themselves. She pointed a hoof towards the forest from across the meadow. “Or… or we think we found something!”

“Does it have to do with the monsters?”

“Spitfire thinks so.”

“Sweet!” Rainbow Dash carefully put the stationary into her saddlebags before hovering into the air with an excited grin. “Finally, we get to kick some butts!”

Cloudchaser gave a weak smile as she zipped into the air and led her towards the forest. “Well, if you can find a butt to kick, let me know.”

Rainbow Dash trailed after Cloudchaser as they soared over the trees; it wasn’t a long flight, but they were considerably closer to the town of Wavebreaker, which made Rainbow Dash worry if there were creatures on their way to it right now.

‘Gotta check up on them when I have time.’

“Down here.”

Cloudchaser flared out her wings to catch the air and come to a stop before descending. Rainbow Dash followed suite and they both ended up on a dirt trail that weaved between several trees towards a small clearing. She could see spots of blue and yellow; the rest of the Wonderbolts and cadets were already there.

She felt a flash of guilt wondering how long they might have been searching for her, but pushed the feeling away as she and Cloudchaser approached the clearing.

The cadets were all gathered around a huge burrow in the dirt – Rainbow Dash heard there were plenty of giant striped moles around here – watching as Spitfire, Fleetfoot, and Soarin talked amongst themselves. She could only make out the words once she was close enough.

“… danger could be down there,” Fleetfoot said. “We should just report this to the princesses and let them deal with it.”

“Even if we sent our fastest flier it’d still take a day to get the message to Canterlot and then who knows how much longer before back-up arrives,” Spitfire argued. “And what if there isn’t anything down there? What if it’s just a dwelling for… for…” She turned to one of the cadets. “What was it you saw again?”

“Uh, a black turtle… rat…” Bulk Biceps scratched his head, narrowing his eyes in thought. “Thing. It looked like those angler bats; all bug-eyed and… weird.”

“Yeah, that,” Spitfire turned back to Fleetfoot. “Hell, could have even been made by a mole. Just because one of those creatures crawled out from it, doesn’t mean it leads to the source of the problem. We should go in and gain visual confirmation.”

Rainbow Dash was inclined to agree.

“Uh, pegasi and being underground don’t exactly go hoof-in-hoof, ya know,” Soarin put in. “I once went into a mining tunnel when I was a kid and it was totally sick; not in a good way either.”

Rainbow Dash was also inclined to agree with that.

“And what if there’s something down there that has a hankering for pegasi, huh?” Fleetfoot’s lisp was especially noticeable when she pronounced her ‘s’. “You’re gonna look more than a little silly when you come out with your face missing.”

Noticing Thunderlane by her side, Rainbow Dash leaned in and whispered, “How long they been at it?”

“Got here eight minutes ago, Spitfire sent Cloudchaser for you five minutes ago, and they started arguing pretty much immediately after,” Thunderlane replied, eyes centred on the burrow. “What do you think we should do? I’m itching to see what’s in there.”

“Same here,” She nodded in agreement. “But I kinda get what Fleetfoot’s saying; don’t want anypony getting hurt, right?”

“True, but we’re Wonderbolt cadets. We’re going to have to face danger at some point.”

“Yeah, you’re right; better us investigate than ponies from Wavebreaker.”

“Cadets!”

The cadets, Rainbow Dash included, instinctively snapped to attention at Spitfire’s shout. The captain had her goggles pushed up to reveal her bright orange eyes.

“We’re going to send a team in to investigate the burrow. This team will consist of myself, Fleetfoot, Bulk Biceps, Thunderlane, and…”

‘Pick me pick me pick me pick me pick me-’

“Rainbow Dash.”

‘Yeah!’

“The rest of you stay out here; if we’re not within twenty minutes, you all take orders from Soarin. Am I understood?”

A chorus of shouts rang out, “Yes, ma’am!”

The selected ponies joined Spitfire and Fleetfoot by the entrance to the burrow. As Rainbow Dash checked her supplies – food, tools, etc. – she couldn’t help but notice that Fleetfoot looked pretty sour; she rummaged about in her saddlebags with more force than necessary, and her lips were curled into a frown.

She really didn’t like this plan it seemed.

‘Jeez, we’ll be careful, won’t we? It’s not like Spitfire would actually put us in any danger.’

As she watched, Spitfire approached her friend and said something Rainbow Dash couldn’t quite hear. Fleetfoot was having none of it though and uttered something back in response. Whatever it was, it made Spitfire spin around with a hiss of disgust.

‘Whoa…’

Rainbow Dash frowned in concern but kept quiet for the time being; she wasn’t the most ‘tactful’ of ponies, as Rarity put it – many time – but she figured saying something now in front of everypony wasn’t quite the right move to make.

Maybe when she had a chance to catch Spitfire and Fleetfoot alone…

“Everypony keep close to one another,” Fleetfoot ordered as she brought out a heavy-duty flashlight and aimed it down the burrow. “Don’t wander off.”

As they went down into the burrow, leaving the rest of the group and sunlight behind, Rainbow Dash was reminded of the time she was in the mining tunnels built by the Diamond Dogs.

The burrow wasn’t quite as large or wide, but it was more than enough to fit even Bulk Bicep’s muscled form. There also weren’t any torches lining the walls, so they really had to rely on their own flashlights to see. If there was one thing she was thankful for, it was that the burrow was dug from earth and not stone, making it easy on her hooves.

Not that she was sensitive about them or anything.

“So are these moles dangerous?” Thunderlane asked after a bit of walking in silence.

“Only if you try to hurt their young,” Spitfire answered. She paused when they came up on a fork in the path and used some bright orange, emergency chalk to mark the route before leading them down the right tunnel. “Besides that, they’re pretty much harmless. I think their saliva causes pain if it gets in your eyes, but you can just wash it out.”

Another span of silence after that, during which they went down several other tunnels, Spitfire marking their route each time. The air was pungent with the smell of soil and Rainbow Dash covered her nostrils with a wing.

“Bulk Biceps, are you sure you saw one of those creatures?” Fleetfoot asked.

“Definitely,” Bulk Biceps nodded. “Cloudchaser and I were filling our canteens by the stream when I saw something moving through the trees. Flew up, went over, and saw one of those things climbing out of the burrow.”

“Maybe it just lives down here,” She suggested. “Maybe all these tunnels were made by it. We haven’t seen any moles yet.”

“No,” Spitfire shook her head and aimed her flashlight down a tunnel to her right. “Smell that?”

Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow, but took her wing away to inhale. She almost choked and recoiled in shock. “Blagh! What the hay is that smell?!”

“Mole droppings,” Spitfire replied simply, apparently immune to the horrendous stench. “A good way to tell if a network of tunnels were made by moles is if there’s a chamber where they all go to crap. Sort of like a bathroom, you know?”

“Cool, great…” Thunderlane muttered, both wings covering his muzzle. “Please tell me we’re not going down there.”

“But you do bring up a good point, Fleetfoot,” Spitfire continued. “It’s weird we haven’t seen any moles yet. We passed by a nesting chamber not long ago; no young, no anything.”

“That creature probably chased them out or killed them,” Fleetfoot sighed, aiming a heated glare at the captain. “I told you we should have sent for the princesses.”

“We don’t know anything yet,” Spitfire retorted with more than a hint of irritation. “You’re jumping to conclusions and freaking everypony out. If you want to go back – any of you – then feel free to do so.”

Rainbow Dash and the other cadets shuffled about awkwardly as Fleetfoot noticeably geared up, ready to have another argument.

“Just because you’re the captain doesn’t-”

“Wait.”

Spitfire held up a hoof as she aimed her flashlight down the tunnel they were travelling, lighting up a bend.

Rainbow Dash tilted her head. There was… definitely something she could hear. It was very faint and it faded in and out occasionally, but it sounded like…

“Sounds like a wind chime,” She said, turning to the other cadets. “You guys hear it, right?”

“Sounds like rushing wind to me,” Thunderlane said, ears flicking. “What about you, dude?”

Bulk Biceps scratched at his chin with a look of deep concentration. “… Sounds like… a wind chime… that’s caught in rushing wind.”

“… Yeah… good ear.”

“Let’s go,” Spitfire marked the wall quickly before moving forwards. “Quietly.”

Rainbow Dash felt her heart beat in anticipation as she lowered herself to the ground and moved forwards, not quite a crawl and not quite a walk. Perhaps they would finally get some answers!

‘Alright, I’m ready for ya, whatever you are.’

She watched with baited breath as Spitfire peeked around the corner of the bend, muscles primed for combat. She was ready for anything.

“… What the hell is…?”

Spitfire stared at whatever caught her attention for a few moments before hissing in discomfort and looking away. Rubbing at her eyes with a wing, she raised her free hoof and beckoned them forwards.

They did so and Rainbow Dash looked around the corner, over Spitfire’s shoulder. She expected a huge creature giving birth to the monsters or some mad scientist creating them in his secret underground lab, but not…

“Okay, that’s real bad for the eyes…” Thunderlane blinked rapidly and looked away.

Rainbow Dash had no idea what to make of… whatever was floating in the middle of the tunnel. She couldn’t even look at it for very long; it gave her a headache if she tried to.

The most she was able to discern was that it was literal tear in nothing; a jagged fracture that glowed like the sun with a white light. The air around it shuddered violently and it seemed that this was what was causing the sound of wind chimes.

“That’s not something you see every day,” Spitfire muttered. She tried looking at it once more, but quickly turned away, blinking tears away as she said, “Guess you were right, Fleetfoot. There was something down here.”

Fleetfoot shrugged. “Let’s just report to the princesses.”

“Rainbow Dash,” Spitfire turned to her and Rainbow Dash straightened her posture. “You’re our fastest flyer, so I want you to deliver this message to Canterlot.”

Swelling with pride, Rainbow Dash smirked and saluted. “You can count on me, ma’am.”

Spitfire retrieved a pencil and scroll from her saddlebags and started writing on it. Rainbow Dash looked around as she waited, trying to see if there was anything else of interest besides the headache-inducing, glow-y crack in space.

There was a depression in the wall to her right; it looked like something was digging another tunnel, but just stopped suddenly. Were the moles surprised by the tear? Did they abandon the burrow entirely? She couldn’t blame them; this thing was making her hair stand on end.
She didn’t know how to explain it, but… somehow she instinctively knew that this fracture was… unnatural, that it shouldn’t exist.

‘Wish Twilight was here. She’d be able to make sense of all this.’

“Here,” The scroll was pushed towards her and she accepted it, tucking it into the recesses of her saddlebags. “You can find your way back, right?”

“Yeah, no problem.”

“Good,” Spitfire turned to the others. “Thunderlane, Bulk Biceps – you two follow me and we’ll establish a-”

Vzzzzzzzz

For a moment, Rainbow Dash thought there was a bee humming around her head. Ears twitching in discomfort, she squinted as she looked towards the fracture. It hurt to look, but she was able to immediately tell something was going on with it.

“Oh shit…” Thunderlane murmured uneasily as the fracture pulsated, the buzzing growing in volume.

Vzzzzzzzz

“Everypony get back! Back!” Fleetfoot shouted, flapping her wings to hover back a few yards.

“What do we do?!” Bulk Biceps exclaimed, not quite panicked but very worried.

Rainbow Dash would never admit to feeling afraid, but dealing with something she couldn’t even look at without wincing was seriously putting her on edge, especially since that damned buzzing was making it hard to think!

The light increased to a point where Rainbow Dash had to shield her eyes with her wings and she heard Spitfire shouting something, but it was drowned out.

“Get…! There’s…!”

VZZZZZZZZZ

And just when she thought she would go deaf, there was silence.

Her own breathing seemed to echo off the tunnel walls.

Rainbow Dash cautiously unfurled her wings, blinking away tears, bottom jaw falling as she saw that the fracture was gone and in its place was one of the pony-like creatures, looking just as confused as she was.

“… What the hell just happened?”

“I don’t know, Dash,” Spitfire rubbed at her eyes with a hoof. “But I think this just got a whole lot more complicated.”

Princess Celestia was stirred from her slumber by a series of hasty knocks on her door.

“Hm? Whuzzat?” Dazed, she sat up, her night-cap flopping forwards to cover her face. She paid no mind to it and sluggishly pulled herself out of bed, giving a mighty yawn. “Mm… yes… I’m coming…”

The knocks continued without pause and Celestia grumbled in annoyance as she reached out with her magic to open the door, supressing another yawn.

“Hm… He-”

“Sister, I think I know where these creatures are coming from!”

Celestia simply stared at Luna’s wide-eyed expression with an unflattering look of confusion. Attempting to shake the cobwebs from her mind, she muttered, “Wha…?”

“The bearer of one of the Elements of Harmony – Rainbow Dash – arrived mere minutes ago with a message! She and the Wonderbolts discovered an anomaly near the town of Wavebreaker, within the abandoned dwelling of giant striped moles! From her description, I believe I know what we’re facing and the origins of these creatures!”

“… Wha…?”

Luna growled in irritation. “By Mother Faust’s mane! Discord has turned all cake sugar-free!”

“What?!” Celestia’s eyes lit up with righteous anger. “Where is he?! I’ll punch him!”

“Excellent,” Luna’s right foreleg shot out and touched her sister’s chest. “Come with me.”

“Wait, where-”

“-are we going?”

Celestia blinked a few times in shock as she looked around to behold the Royal Archives. As Luna hurried off to rummage through the books and parchments, Celestia extended her wing to nip at it. The flash of pain told her this wasn’t a dream.

“Lu-Lu, forgive me, but you know I’m rather out of it when I just wake up,” Celestia rubbed at one eye as she trotted over to her sister, casually dodging books that were casted aside. “Could you repeat… well, everything?”

“Rainbow Dash arrived at the castle some four minutes ago with information about the creatures that have been appearing all over Equestria,” Luna answered, flipping through the pages of a particularly thick book. “They discovered an anomaly in the dwelling of a colony of giant striped moles near the town of Wavebreaker. The tunnels were abandoned, most likely because of the anomaly. Unfortunately, shortly after they found it, it disappeared, leaving one of the more docile creatures in its wake.”

Celestia was starting to shake the cobwebs from her head to think clearly now. She was concerned by her sister’s words and how she was haphazardly tossing books aside; Twilight would have been appalled.

“They gave a description and I know I’ve seen something similar to that somewhere,” Luna skipped through several other books, emptying an entire shelf. Realizing this, the younger princess flapped her wings and hovered to the very top row. “It should be here…”

Celestia caught the falling books in her magic as she replied, “In the Starswirl section?”

“Yes, it- aha!”

Shouting triumphantly, Luna pulled a huge tome – Celestia shuddered at the thought of that dropping down on her – out from the shelf and flew back down, beaming with victory.

“Starswirl the Bearded’s Autobiography,” Celestia read the title. “My, he did love writing, didn’t he?”

Luna opened the book and her horn lit up to flip through the thick mass of pages, her eyes bright with excitement.

“It should… be… right…”

She slapped a hoof down somewhere past the middle of the book and began reading.

“In the depths of these woods, I find it quaint that mine thoughts do choose to bring forth memories of mine encounter with one Sir Candle Blaze, an alchemist of the highest degree. What significance this doth entail for mine current predicament eludes me, but I shan’t exclude it.

“I met Sir Candle Blaze eight winters past on one warm evening, as I was prodding and poking about with an incantation of the Arcane school, hoping to uncover the secrets behind fire. Imagine my surprise when a haggard unicorn did stumble out of the woods, looking as if Tartarus itself was on his heels. Perplexed, I did ask him, ‘For what reason does thou spring from the woods in such a manner?’ Sir Candle Blaze then answered, ‘Trickery! Dark magic is afoot! Mine life would surely be forfeit if I did not flee when I did!’

“He did speak nonsense and so I asked, ‘Make sense, stallion! Calm thyself and tell me what ails thee.’ The poor stallion shook and trembled as he cried, ‘An unnatural hole that sings death ripped the air asunder before mine very eyes! It shone like the sun, but oh, there was no warmth, no comfort; mine eyes wept upon seeing it, for I could make no sense of what is not of this world!’ Astonished, I did ask, ‘Mother Faust guide us, friend. Where did thou lay eyes upon this monstrosity?’ He told me, but would not go back. It mattered little for I found nothing in those woods and thought the stallion a fool.

“As I have said, I know not why this particular memory comes to me, but perhaps it is because I hath ignored a recurring dream for some time now. ‘Tis a dream I hath had since meeting Sir Candle Blaze, but thought nothing on it, for mine mind is a fickle mistress even to me, and often regales me with dreams of no clarity. And so, I write this down to impart my experience;

“There is a tree on a hill. I walk and walk towards it, never getting closer. There is no sound, no life, and no warmth; mine senses tell me I am dead, yet I still walk. Mine eyes are besmirched by visions of ponies dear to me, but their faces shift like sand, constantly changing. I walk and walk for what feels like several lifetimes; the tree gets no closer, but I see lights on the branches, as if the sun itself hath given birth. They tremble and shake; a sound so haunting and beautiful cometh from them, and I am remiss, for what I cannot say. I wake every time, confused but not frightened, and there are words in my head, unfamiliar and with no meaning.

“Entropic Fractures…”

Celestia felt a chill run down her spine. “What… what does it mean?”

“Sister…” Luna said gravely as she shut the book. “I think we’re being invaded by another world. Perhaps even another plane of existence.”

A mouse, white coat darkened to steel grey, watched with eyes holding intelligence far beyond what its brain should have been capable of.

Without a sound, it turned to scurry away into a hidden hole, its movements jerky and uncoordinated. Blood had started to leak from its ears and eyes.

It would die soon, but not before finding a spot where it would never be found.

Author's Notes:

Note 1: Wavebreaker is a town of striking similarity to Ponyville, though it was founded several years after the latter. The population mostly consists of earth ponies with pegasi coming second and unicorns third. Being near Manehatten and built on fertile ground, it has a stable trading partnership with the metropolitan city dealing in grain and vegetables.

Note 2: Society marches on - though the word 'incantation' is more accurate, the term 'spell' is more widely known and accepted as a substitute. Additionally, the manipulation of fire, water, and electricity through magical means is no longer categorized in the Arcane school of magic, it is its own separate school - Elemental.

Note 3: Just finished watching the 100th episode of MLP and am now recovering from having several hype-related heart attacks simultaneously.