Moondancer always saw herself as a levelheaded, intelligent woman of science. Then magic happened.

It was frustrating for her, because it changed many fundamental rules which were previously facts. Science. Clear knowledge. She could sit here in this barn and nothing would come to her mind.

And then there were the fire elementals.

Where did they come from? Where did they go? How was it possible that these elementals could even exist?! Oh wait, she knew the answer, magic. Where was their world and their country? It couldn't be Equestria. Sunset would have known, so she firmly believed. But where else? Well, they were fire elementals. Maybe their country was called something like ‘Flamelands’ or ‘Vulcano Planes’?

One of their biggest problems still was that magic made communication very limited. She tried to rebuild two walkie-talkies with different spare parts. She got everything from this girl named Bon-Bon. It was strange. Why should a girl like her have so much technical equipment and the necessary spare parts anyway? Moondancer felt like she was in a bad spy movie. Well, at least she got it all for free, because the devices went dead.

No matter what she tried in the last hours, nothing seemed to work. Magic seemed to eliminate a successful walkie-talkie, but why? Maybe it would accept devices which would be powered by magic? Or it was interfering with electricity? It was worth a try, but there was one little, tiny, maybe-significant problem... she had no magic of her own that she could call her own. Maybe Moondancer had to ask Sunset Shimmer, Ms. Celestia or Ms. Luna for their help, but the latter two had their own magic for only a very short time and had no prior knowledge, unlike the amber teenager, if she understood Twilight correct.

But what then? It was very frustrating, indeed.

Besides, there was still one tiny part of her that simply refused to believe in magic, no matter how much proof existed. Normally, she would adapt her worldview after the facts, but magic just changed or destroyed whatever it saw fit to. Had it even any rules? She made a mental note to ask Sunset Shimmer about it.

Moondancer laughed in her mind and scolded herself for those stubborn thoughts. She was acting like a little child. Who was she to denounce magic as mere fantasy when so many died from its changes? That would be disrespectful to the victims, right?

No. She had to pull herself together. To help the others, even if only a little. The former Crystal Prep student really wished she could use magic now. Maybe she would be able to connect magic and technology, or perhaps she could invent magic based devices, which would be helpful.

Moondancer just wished to create something to help. Was that so wrong?

She started trembling and had to kneel down from the sudden invasion of her brain. Her body started to glow in a white light. Basic knowledge about her own power and its connections to other materials flooded her mind.

Then there was a kind female voice in her head, but it said only two words, "Constructor Magic."

Well, now she really needed help. She wouldn't try to use magic without any form of backup knowledge from a good, recommended and recognized book. Or someone who would know its mechanisms. The teenager rarely trusted knowledge she couldn't verify somehow. A source had to confirm this sudden influx in her head. She wouldn't trust it without scientific proof or whatever was the magical equivalent.

Moondancer just hoped that the fiery magician would come back quickly.

Sour Sweet, Indigo Zap, Lemon Zest and Sugarcoat finally reached Ponyville. They had to ask Moondancer for her car, but the girl didn't want to part with her vehicle without a discussion. They managed to convince her after 30 minutes and many promises to bring her car back in one piece. The glasses-wearing teenager was very reluctant about this idea, but Sugarcoat surprised them with skill in driving, without having her own license. She just said that her butler took her many times to the training ground for many driving lessons. It was thought of as training before she would start driving school.

The reason for their visit to the small town was that they wanted to search for information. Someone had to know something about the entire situation. They were tired of being clueless. Sunset told them about the changes of humans to members of new races, but until now they never met anything intelligent on two legs except humans... and beings who weren't made out of living flames. It was time to investigate if someone saw something out of the norm or what could count as such, given the situation.

The Shadowbolts went to the center of the market and looked around themselves. They had a purpose and wouldn't leave this place empty-handed. The small town was silent. Too silent. Recent events were kept in the back of the mind.

"Did Moondancer say something about the strange behaviour of the citizens and I missed it? Because something is seriously off here," Indigo Zap commented, slightly irritated.

"I'm positive the inhabitants of Ponyville know something. And if they keep secrets from us, we'll make them talk!" Sour Sweet stated.

They looked around for awhile, but nobody seemed to acknowledge their presence. It creeped them out.

"I second that thought. Canterlot City was literally erased and those people go about their everyday business like nothing happened. They have to know something. You can't tell me that they didn't encounter refugees, mythical animals or anything else that would be considered as 'not normal'," Sugarcoat supported her athletic friend.

"Ha! I'm sure Moony just didn't pay attention to her surroundings, like always, when she is on one of her research missions!" Lemon Zest exclaimed enthusiastically.

"Aren't you students of Crystal Prep? I saw how you participated at the Friendship Games," a female voice said from behind.

The girls turned around and Indigo stepped in the front, asking in an aggressive tone, "Who wants to know?"

A woman in a green with a floral print skirt, brown knee-length boots, a white shirt, bright green eyes, fuchsia colored hair and pink skin stood in front of them.

"Oh! Where are my manners? My name is Ms. Cheerilee. I am... was a teacher at Canterlot High School. Please follow me. You act much too suspicious around here. We have to talk in private." She signaled them to do as she said and left.

"Stranger-Danger," Lemon whispered amusedly to her friends. Indigo laughed.

The rest of the girls looked at each other, questioningly.

"We should follow her. This Cheerilee seems to know something," Sugarcoat said to her fellow Shadowbolts. Everybody nodded in agreement and followed the mysterious woman in caution and curiosity.

Said former teacher led them to the southern outskirts of Ponyville, dangerously close to the Everfree Forest. There stood a lonely little wooden shop, decorated with masks on the walls outside. They were in many sizes and colors, some looked like animals. It gave the girls a vibe of slight uneasiness, but the wood was a beautiful ebony and it imitated the touch of the lands of Zebrica for the friends. This shop, it could be seen as a hut, too. Also on the front was an inscription in finely written golden letters, ‘Zecora's Herb Paradise’.

"Ms. Cheerilee, it's cool that you want to talk with us and all, but do you even know what happened in Canterlot?" Lemon Zest inquired out of the blue, her arms crossed behind her neck in boredom.

Cheerilee stopped in front of the door and turned around to face the girls, a sorrowful look on her face, "I saw it myself. Canterlot City, or more like its burning remains. I worked in CHS as a teacher, but I never lived there. Ponyville is my home and it was summer break, so I was here when it happened." Tears filled her eyes.

"When the first refugees came to Ponyville, full of terror and fear, and explained what those... things did to the town, I couldn't believe it. I needed proof. So I drove to the borders of the city and saw that the tales were true. I feared that everyone had died in the attack, but you are here, which gives me hope that more known faces survived. You saw what happened to Twilight Sparkle at the Friendship Games, but we'd already had two magical incidents before that at CHS. I know about magic. So, please. Tell me the truth girls. What happened? I saw and heard some very strange things and need them confirmed by a reliable source," Cheerilee pleaded sincerely.

"Why should we tru-" Indigo Zap couldn't finish, because Sugarcoat already agreed.

"Alright," the white-haired girl simply said.

"Wait! Sugarcoat, why should we trust her? Maybe she is lying to us. Maybe she works for the bad guys," Lemon asked in a rare serious tone.

"Trust me in this girls. I'm always told that I'm extremely blunt, but I'm honest, too. I can kind of feel it when someone wants to lie to my face. Besides, the pained and saddened look in her eyes is genuine," Sugarcoat answered neutrally. The others accepted it, with some trepidation.

After they made sure that nobody was near them, Sugarcoat started to give Cheerilee, in a low voice, a short summary of some events which were related to the question at hand.

She told the woman what these things were, why they most likely attacked, about the confrontation with Commander Raga, Cinch, their current knowledge about the situation of the world until now. Then about the natural magic inside every being and that some could awaken it, with whom they escaped to safety at Sweet Apple Acres and finally why they were in Ponyville at the moment. Cheerilee never interrupted the girl and listened intently.

During the explanation, a wide range of emotions were seen on the teacher's face. Anger, horror, despair, hope and many more. Cheerilee thought about the unbelievable tale she just received and gave the students a sad smile at the end.

"I'm so sorry that you all had to witness such things, but it certainly supports the claims of a dear friend of mine. As you already mentioned, many humans were transformed into members of a new race. I don't know about any others yet, but I can confirm the existence of trolls," she confessed with a slight smile.

The Shadowbolts just looked confused.

They entered the hut and, like outside, the inner building was decorated with masks, little statues, pictures, paintings and carpets in varied colorations. All of it presumably originated from Zebrica. And of course, there were the herbs. Lots of different herbs, many of them unknown to the girls. They were kept safe in different cases made of wood or glass.

"Please wait here a few moments. There is someone you should meet. I'm sure she has some of the information you seek." Cheerilee stepped through a door in the back of the room and left the teenagers alone.

"What do you think girls? Isn't that decoration just marvelous? It's a trap!" Sour Sweet exclaimed.

"Chill, dudette. I don't think we are in any immediate danger here. It looks very homey to me," Lemon Zest voiced her opinion with a bright grin.

"If she and her mysterious friend are planning anything fishy I will teach them a lesson," Indigo Zap announced confidently.

"Don't worry, young one. We mean you no harm, see? The spirits judged you as trustworthy." This new female voice was unknown to the girls, it had a strong Zebrican accent, but was soft, a little melodic and had a motherly touch. They turned to the direction of the voice.

"So you are... Zecora?" Sugarcoat was stunned. Her friends didn't fare better.

Before them stood definitely... something. This ‘Zecora’ was tall, at least 6'5”. She had sienna brown colored skin, two 20 cm, black, strong, curved tusks. She had her hair made in the form of an alternating black and white mohawk, blue eyes and wore five golden rings around her neck, her left leg around the thigh and one big golden earring per side. They saw that this being had three thick fingers, instead of five like a human, was quite athletic and well-built. She had a little more muscle than the average female humans on herself, but it still took nothing from her feminine and quite exotic charm. She had a broad but still delicate looking nose, pointy ears and her earlobes reached to the start of her neck, but they still had an appearance that fit this Zecora character, somehow. The face in general was not round, but slightly elongated in its form.

She wore simple dark brown leather boots and knee-length, white and black striped shorts, like a zebra's fur and a dark brown shirt with a strange symbol in its center, a vortical black sun.

"This is Zecora. She was once a normal human and a little while ago she became a troll. Zecora, these are the girls I told you about," Cheerilee introduced calmly.

"It is a pleasure to meet some humans aside from Cheerilee; no offense, my dear friend. But no possibilities to communicate with others can be rather tiring for the nerves," the stranger said in an apologetic tone.

"No problem. I know you have to be careful and hide yourself here. After the events of Canterlot City most people are on the lookout for everything 'not-human' and certainly not for a friendly talk. It can be quite dangerous nowadays," the former teacher replied, worried about her friend's wellbeing.

"Ms. Cheerilee said that you would help us to search for more information. How?" Sugarcoat demanded to know in her monotone voice.

"My young friend, the truth hides its face behind the shadow of deceit. Not everything is how it seems. Tell me, did you see the behaviour of the citizens of Ponyville? Wasn't it strange to you?" Zecora said patiently in a teacher-like voice.

"Of course," Indigo answered instead, "They acted really weird, like nothing special happened in the last while. They should at least be worried about the changes, if not terrified about the fate of Canterlot City," the sportswoman agreed.

"My transformation into a troll happened fast and without warning, but it gave me new abilities. Deeper connections to the spirits of the beyond. They whisper secrets when I ask the right questions, at least sometimes." Zecora closed her eyes briefly, silence.

"So you are... haunted or something? That sounds like you need an exorcist," Lemon started with a silly grin.

Sugarcoat nudged her friend with an elbow, nervous that the girl may have angered the tall woman by accident. Her worries were luckily unfounded.

Their host chuckled, “Ah, you misunderstand me. I can't speak with the deceased, but with the spirits of nature in its whole. I am a shaman. The spirits of fire, earth, water and wind. There is a fifth element, but we shamans have no connection to it; thunder. From what I understood it is like this, because thunder doesn't count as a fundamental element like the other four for us trolls. Sometimes I meditate and they answer me. Like now, the spirits are afraid. An unholy presence made itself a home in the Everfree Forest. It is responsible for the strange behaviour of the humans around here... and more," Zecora explained warningly.

"Well, that doesn't sound so good. Maybe we should go back and ask one of the others for help, who actually can use magic," Indigo said nervously.

A kind and warm smile adorned the troll’s features, "In my meditation, the spirits and my mojo, or as you call it, magic, showed me four faces. Four young women, who would be able to help me with my personal quest. I didn't receive names, but you are the ones I seek. I asked Cheerilee to help me to look around. If she would find four suspicious or interesting looking young souls. I expected that the spirits would show me help in the form of adults, but I trust their judgment without question."

The girls looked confused. Why would she trust them?

But before they could ask, Cheerilee said only in an annoyed tone, "It is a cultural thing. Don't question it. I tried... believe me."

Zecora looked amused at the fuchsia-haired woman before she continued, "I created with my abilities, herbs and other ingredients totems which should protect Ponyville from harm. But more and more humans fell under its dangerous influence when time passed, because the dark presence collected enough power to overcome my wards. We need to stop this incoming threat or the poor souls of Ponyville will be lost."

A pregnant silence ruled the room.

"!" Cheerilee gasped and her eyes widened. She looked very nervous.

Sour Sweet noticed it, "What's wrong, Ms. Cheerilee? Do you remembered anything important?"

The others looked confused, Zecora nodded sagely, indicating to Cheerilee that she should continue.

"Well, it was strange, at the beginning. People reacted how you would expect after hearing that an entire city was destroyed and a great portion of its inhabitants lost their lives. Many panicked and left Ponyville as fast as they could, because it was potentially a next target, being so close to Canterlot City.”

Sugarcoat voiced her agreement, “Yes, that is the most logical response to what happened.”

“But then... they came back after a very short time and were... changed. They acted normally again, like the news of Canterlot never happened. To be honest, I was terrified by their behaviour. I asked some of them why they returned so suddenly and everyone said that they didn't know what I was talking about,” she recounted fearfully.

The girls glanced at each other in great uncertainty.

A thought entered the woman’s mind, “It reminded me a little bit of the Battle of the Bands we had half a year ago. There were three girls, the Dazzlings. They were actual Sirens, from what Principal Celestia once told the staff of teachers after most of us demanded an explanation why we acted so violently to this time. They could control emotions with magic and force you to act in a much more aggressive way with their voices, so that they could feed on the resulting negative energy. Sunset Shimmer told the principal about everything, after she demanded that the girl should explain what happened. Well, you saw the Friendship Games yourself, so you know about the whole magic business, too. But that is beside the point. Excuse my rambling.”

“Are you kidding?! Real Sirens? How awesome is that?!” Lemon Zest shouted gleefully. She was always a fan of Greek mythology. A secret hobby of hers.

The educator smiled awkwardly, “Out of fear, I came to ask Zecora for help, because she always had good and very helpful advice for me ever since we met." The duo smiled at each other in understanding, "So I was quite shocked to see her like this. But only at first. Because of all the crazy things I already witnessed at the school I gave her a chance to explain herself and she told me about her 'new culture'. Things, which supported your story earlier.”

Zecora took over again, “Indeed, I heard about the sightings and rumors of creatures you would only know from mythology from my dear friend here and I can surely confirm that they are true. I saw something what you would call a timberwolf, if I'm correct, and a manticore very briefly, too. Luckily, they lurked outside of the town and didn't attack until now. I think that is, because the sheer number of humans and size of the city intimidated them enough to not attack directly. Yet.”

Cheerilee spoke once more, “So I agreed to look out for these four mysterious girls and saw how you ran around in Ponyville like you searched for something important. And I was right in the end.” A pleading glint was in her eyes, ”Please, help her. Zecora has never been wrong in the entire time we've been friends with each other. This threat is a danger for us all and it gains more and more strength from what we know. Many simply refused to leave Ponyville and when I asked the only answer was: 'I can't. Ponyville is my home. I have to stay.' It was said without emotion, like a programmed message, or something committed to memory from a piece of paper."

After Cheerilee was finished, Indigo Zap declared for all of them, "We're in. Show us what you got, Ms. Zecora." Her friends nodded in support.

"Just 'Zecora' is fine. I was never a person for formality. Let me show you how we may find out our next step." She led the others to the room in the back, where Cheerilee went in earlier.

The room itself wasn't much to speak of. The walls were made of black wood and the ground, humus to their surprise, was painted with a purple glowing circle. It had a diameter of three meters and was filled with many foreign symbols. Around the circle were four dark brown totems, positioned in the form of a square. They were decorated like troll faces. All had the same facial expression of calmness. From the ceiling hanged decorations which looked like white bones in different formations, and they gave the impression of a very disturbing art. The same unknown symbols were on them.

"Are those bones from animals?" Lemon asked, a little green color in her face.

"Of course. I can create spells and rare talismans with a lot of animal bones. Sometimes I can even predict your future from them, if you desire. But you shouldn't bring me a black cat. That would mean seven years misfortune for you. No refunds," Zecora replied smugly.

The girls looked like they were shortly before the point of running for the hills. Cheerilee saved the day.

"Oh for goodness' sake! Zecora, your advice is good, but I swear, your newly discovered troll humor is hardly droll humor. Don't worry girls, she was just joking," the woman tried to calm them down.

"I'm sorry, my dear human friends, but I couldn't resist. To answer your question in honesty though, these 'bones' are made of enchanted, hardened white clay from my homeland. They repel any magical attack on my mind and hold off unwanted guests, like most wild animals, from this place. I gave one little accessory to Cheerilee, so she would be hidden from dark intentions as well."

In support of the claim, Cheerilee showed them a little clay figurine she pulled out of her pocket. It looked like a decorated white monkey.

"What are these symbols on the clay and the totally-not-creepy glowing circle?" Lemon Zest asked in honest interest.

"These symbols are powerful mojo of us trolls. They have their origin from our language, Tro'ju, by name. They let me do some helpful things, like safeguard the mind from sinister spells or communicate with the spirits. As already mentioned, I am what we trolls call a 'shaman'. I'm new at this, but the basic knowledge the spirits granted me, gave me enough hints to work with it and I learned fast enough to create the totems and everything you see here in a short time." Zecora looked visibly proud.

The Shadowbolts were in awe. Cheerilee rolled her eyes at her friend's boasting.

"Now, let us call the spirits," the shaman said, suddenly all business.

Zecora positioned herself in the circle and sat down on her heels, she faced the girls and Cheerilee in front of the door, calm and in concentration. She spoke in a tongue the others didn't understand. It had to be Tro'ju, or so they thought.

"Oh Spirits of this world, grant me insight,

“I plead for thy guidance, send aid for my plight,

“Spirits of Fire, illuminate my path,

“Spirits of Water, purify my senses,

“Spirits of Wind, blow away the illusions of my enemies,

“Spirits of Earth, let me stand firm in times of uncertainty,

“Oh, show me what is my task."

The circle under Zecora started to illuminate in a much stronger purple, her eyes radiated in a brilliant white and one by one the formerly inactive totems were powered by mojo. The eyes of every totem began to glow in the color of its representative element and out of their wooden, slightly open troll mouths came fog in the same coloration.

The totem in the right upper corner behind Zecora reacted first. Its eyes took on a vibrant brown color, thick fog left its mouth.

The Terra Totem.

Second, the artifact on the left upper corner. Sky blue eyes and continuing emissions, like a calm breeze.

The Aero Totem.

Next, the anterior right totem. Blazing red eyes and a breath like the hottest fire.

The Ember Totem.

Finally, the one on the anterior left position. Dark blue in both cases, with the appearance of fluent water.

The Aqua Totem.

After what seemed like only two minutes for the others, the totems returned to their inactive state. Zecora's eyes took their blue color once more and the glow of the circle dropped to its former intensity.

Sugarcoat broke the meaningful silence and inquired with sheer interest and awe. The others could hear it in her voice; "What did you see?"

Zecora looked into the eyes of everyone present. They were filled with determination, "I saw our next destination. We are going to Camp Everfree."

Zecora, the four remaining Shadowbolts and Cheerilee took the former teacher's car to reach their destination faster. The shaman's friend brought her vehicle to the back of the hut and Zecora got in, with slight problems because of her size; she was lucky that Cheerilee had a very long car and they drove off. They used streets with very low traffic to avoid unnecessary attention.

Luckily for them ever since the whole fiasco started cars were a rare sight. Not because cars didn't work anymore, but because most gas stations were empty already. Some places were forsaken and abandoned after everything started and these kinds of businesses counted to them. What that meant to everyone: ‘First come, first serve’. The owners of the vehicles which still had fuel rarely used them, to spare the remainder.

At first they wanted to walk to the Camp. It would have been a two hour trip, but Cheerilee insisted to help them, somehow at least.

Zecora's hut/shop was filled with many important items and she didn't want to risk that someone broke in and stole essential materials. So she asked Cheerilee to stay behind after she brought them to their destination, to close the shop, and to wait inside until everything was over. It was, at the moment, the safest building in Ponyville.

The woman agreed with slight annoyance, but she knew that it was the only way. She was no fighter at all. Zecora once tried to teach Cheerilee the traditional art of fighting with a rod. it ended with a swollen blue eye and an eyepatch for one week.

She herself brought her own weapon for the case of close combat.

It was an ebony colored staff, decorated on both of its ends with titanium-made globes the size of a fist. The staff itself was two meters long and well balanced for its user, especially since the former human transformed into a troll, because of her higher strength and agility. Over the whole weapon were different kinds of runes and symbols in Tro'ju, even on the globes, to make the rod more resistant and to fortify the damage it could cause.

The shaman gave each of the girls a little bracelet made of the white clay, with enchantments written in her new native language. Now they wouldn't be affected by attacks on the mind and soul, at least. The body... wouldn't be so lucky.

Just in case, before they left, Zecora took some potent tonics with her that she made beforehand, created with some mojo and herbs. They were kept in small test tubes in a little green leather bag, which rested besides her.

Soon they arrived.

"That is close enough, my friend. We'll walk the rest of the way on foot. We can't risk getting detected already," Zecora said to Cheerilee.

The young woman stopped her car and faced the others, "Please be careful girls. I know Zecora. She can hold her own. But you have no magic at your disposal like the principals and Sunset Shimmer. Listen to her-"

Sour Sweet had enough and tried to stop the woman from channeling her inner pedagogue any further, "Ms. Cheerilee, have some faith in us. I know you were a teacher at CHS, but we know what we're doing. We're no little children anymore!"

"I know, but so much is in jeopardy. Zecora, protect them and be safe," Cheerilee said in a pleading voice.

A confirming nod. "I will do my best. We all will. Let us begin," Zecora ordered their group.

The Shadowbolts left the car, Zecora gave Lemon Zest her bag with the tonics and asked her to keep it safe for emergencies. She would try to protect them to the best of her abilities and couldn't focus on the bag, too. Cheerilee wished them luck and returned to Zecora's shop.

They wandered around the camp's main road to reach it, in order to avoid unwanted contact with... well, whatever posed a threat here. The group tried to reach Camp Everfree from the north side, where the campers would live.

Zecora signaled them to stop, "You girls told me of everything your other friends described to you from this place when they had their field trip here, right?" The five former students nodded their heads in unison. "Then this shouldn't be here." She pointed in the direction of a big sign, it looked new, so it was only recently put there.

On a big white sign was written in red letters:

"Do I have something wrong with my eyes? Wasn't that man the person who wanted to close Camp Everfree and planned to build a spa resort in its place? I thought Twilight and her friends saved it with their Crystal Gala Fundraiser from his greedy hands?" Indigo Zap mentioned utterly confused.

"Maybe he bought this land after all. He waited for the right moment and used the opportunity, when the camp directors were gone. What a sick monster," Sour Sweet added, disgusted.

“Something isn't right here, why should he buy the camp at a time like this anyway? I'm sure he, like everyone else, knows already about the changes everywhere, especially a big businessman like Filthy Rich. He's one of the most famous persons around here because of his real estate empire. He has to know the facts already," Sugarcoat stated, irritated.

"I fear this man plays a part in everything. He is in alliance with the dark presence," Zecora replied ominously.

"That can't be right. Filthy Rich may be a greedy salesman, but he's no murdering lunatic... right?" Lemon queried in an unsure tone.

"There is just one way to find out. I will lead in front, follow me very closely and be quiet," Zecora urged.

The humans and the troll approached the last treeline before they would be in the open and see the camp site. They peeked through their natural-made hideout of bushes and leaves... only to gape at the presented sight in astonishment, fear and slight interest.

It didn't look really like the ‘Camp Everfree’ the others described, not at all. The entire earth of the camp's ground was dead, black and littered with dark orange glowing fissures, the buildings in ruins for the most part. Above all CHS’ camp gift, the dock itself, was hit the worst. It was changed from wood to some kind of strange black crystal, but the most disturbing thing was the gigantic dark yellow glowing, with creepy black spots covered portal. It looked like a door, at least 12 meter tall and five meters wide.

The other details couldn't be overlooked either.

On the former courtyard and to the left and right of the modified dock were groups of bipedal beings in simple black cloaks, faces hidden. The cloaks themselves had little black shoulder pads of some spiked metal.

The two beneath the unknown people existing magic circles at the dock were colored in a sickly green and the one in front of a destroyed pavilion in ice blue, the symbols of these constructions alone made the girls feeling ill in the stomach.

The spellcasters looked like humans, judging from their stature, and stood together with three per circle in specific positions for them in the structure of the spell. The positions were arranged in the outer part of it and the cloaked figures were positioned so that the three casters formed a triangle. Above the mages and their corresponding conjuration levitated a blood red crystal in the center of every single one of the circles. The crystal itself was formed like a three-dimensional octahedron, the size of a medium-scaled dog.

The caster themselves knelt in their positions, like a respectful greeting of a knight before his lord.

"Warlocks," Zecora whispered in awe and fear.

"Warwhat?" Indigo didn't listen, she was hypnotized by the view.

"Warlocks. I know from the spirits that we trolls have them in our rows, too. They are black sorcerers who inflict mostly pain and suffering with their abilities, rarely something good. It looks like they came through this big portal there, this ill feeling you surely got from looking at the spells. Those can only be created by a warlock's sinister energy. They can put curses on your body to feel pain, on the mind to control your will or cripple your soul. These warlocks are clearly trying to summon something, but what?" Zecora closed briefly her eyes and thought about a plan. She stared back at the girls with a worried look.

Sugarcoat remembered something important and her eyes widened, "Sunset mentioned something very similar..."

"I saw some disturbing things in Amara's mind. For example strange tall beings. They wore these black cloaks and stood in bigger groups of six to ten in big icy-looking circles made of energy. It looked like they tried to summon something evil. I felt the coldness over the memory. But before I could see more, the memory faded."

Zecora thought about Sunset's words. They disturbed her greatly, "I fear I can't protect you any longer, not from so many threats at once. We have to go and think about a new-"

"Well, well, what do we have here? I thought the sign made it clear enough that intruders weren't welcome at this place," a business-like voice stated, annoyed.

Sugarcoat recognized the person in front of them immediately. The blue suit with the three little money bags on it, this arrogant face, it just could be him. "Filthy Rich?!" the girl exclaimed in shock.

"Dude, why are you taking part in this?! Did you even kill the camp directors of Camp Everfree?!" Lemon Zest demanded to know in sheer fury.

"Wait, what is wrong with your eyes? You creep! Why are they looking so strange?!" Sour Sweet made a valid point, his pupils were slitted and the eyes dark red instead of white.

"I knew you were bad news. You really deserve it to be called Filthy," Indigo stated angrily.

He shook his hand with a raised forefinger in a lecturing and disapproving way in front of the four friends' faces, "Didn't your parents teach you any manners or explained to show respect for your elders? You could say I recognized the signs and seized the chance which presented itself to me. You see, I couldn't just let the Rich Company go to waste because of these strange changes in the world. I did what I had to do. But before I tell you more..."

Filthy Rich snapped his fingers and through the trees behind the team came something what could only be a demon, or how a demon would look like in their minds.

It looked like a dog, but instead of fur, this strange ‘animal’ had thick black ice in its place. The dog itself had slit eyes in a dark shade of yellow and a spear-like end on its long, slim tail. From tail to snout, the dog was 5'7” long, the tail alone 40cm, 5'3” tall and it had little, but very sharp looking icicles around its entire body.

Even Fluttershy would find it difficult to describe it as cute and innocent.

"What in the name of the bloody Tartarus is that?!" Indigo Zap demanded to know, disgusted.

He grinned evilly, "That, my dear, is called a 'Frost Hound'. They are very good at searching and discovering their prey. It smelled you and led me to your position. As you might have guessed by now, it is a demon. I am connected to it as its master at the moment and I won't let you go and tell others about us, but I'm curious. How aren't you under our curse? The citizens of Ponyville should have fallen under our control by now.”

Something had stopped their influence on the citizens at first, but they managed to overpower it, whatever it was.

Sugarcoat pointed at the unholy magical constructions near the dock in revulsion, “What are you trying to call?!”

Filthy was visibly surprised, “How do you know about their purpose?” He dismissed it, “It doesn’t matter."

Though she wasn't entirely correct, much to Filthy's relief, for the circles existed for two purposes. The green ones to control a sapient being's mind. And the blue one was their connection to another realm, the realm where he got his new pet from.

Before the man could continue, Zecora had an idea of how to find out the limits of the mind control spell, "You can control people this far away from here? How does that work? I didn't know such feats were possible." She asked her questions in a very well played voice of mock-interest.

If the fact that Zecora was a troll surprised him, he hid it well. "It doesn't work like that. We have to place a 'receiver' for the spell at the location we want to control the inhabitants. It is a crystal, infused by a sacrificed soul, and we needed two crystals to cover the entire town. It is a very tedious process," Filthy Rich explained patiently.

The girls were deeply disturbed by the fact that magic like this existed. Sour Sweet and Lemon nearly lost their food.

"Oh, thank you very much for this information," Zecora said sweetly, controlling her emotions.

"Hmph. You don't seem to understand your situation. You are already dead. It won't matter that I told you about it. Consider this knowledge as a last gift," Filthy Rich replied calmly.

He snapped his fingers again and three more Frost Hounds surrounded them, "I must confess, I have only four of them under my control, but it will be enough for you.” He put his focus on Lemon Zest. “And I didn't forget your accusations, young lady. Let me tell you what happened. I think that I can answer your questions before you will meet your inglorious end..."

Filthy Rich was a patient man. He always got what he desired, when he worked and waited long enough for it. Now his wish was denied for the first time in his life.

He heard about a quiet little piece of earth in the Everfree Forest, with its own lake to boot. The businessman instantly bought the land and wanted to review the place for his future spa paradise. What he found there instead wasn't what he expected or even wanted to find at all... competition.

Two young adults, Gloriosa Daisy and her brother Timber Spruce, were co-directors of their very own summer camp, Camp Everfree. It was founded by their great-grandparents and stood exactly where he wanted to build.

But Filthy Rich wouldn't give up this easily. He visited them and announced that they had to pay him 'monthly rent', so to speak, if they wanted to keep the camp open, otherwise he would flatten it to the ground. He owned the land in theory and showed them the necessary documents. They had to comply. But he couldn't simply kick them out. That was out of his abilities, because their family lived there first. Well, as long as they could pay, that was.

For some time they could keep their agreement, soon they had problems with paying, but the salesman was not heartless. He gave them time until the end of the month to settle their debts or it was over for Camp Everfree. His plan would soon bear its desired fruits.

But then the Crystal Gala Fundraiser happened. They could collect enough money and not only to keep the camp going, but to buy themselves free from him thanks to many highly remunerated donations. Filthy Rich had lost.

He left the party in their honor, sour from his loss.

The tall man strode angrily through the woods and sat down in front of a small pond, "It is a disaster! I promised my business contacts a relaxing spa in a natural environment and now I'm empty-handed, defeated by mere teenagers. Grrr! All of that, because of those meddling students from Canterlot High School, stupid fundraiser. This little brats, how dare they ruining my business?! I lost A LOT of money because of them!”

"Maybe I can help you, Mr. Rich," a bell-like and soft female voice offered.

"What?" Filthy Rich turned around to face the woman who spoke to him.

The first thought that came to his mind was how stunningly beautiful she was. Then he noticed her appearance, “Who and what is this woman?”

She looked truly exotic. Fir green skin color, a flawless face, luscious lips, hazelnut brown eyes, a delicate nose. Her well-formed eyebrows possessed an elegant form, colored in fire red, same color like her hair, it reached to the middle of her back, silky and voluminous. Her ears were special, they were pointed and elongated on the top side, but not much. Otherwise they looked like human ears. The woman was maybe 5'9” in height. Nearly her entire figure was hugged perfectly by a three-layered robe in three shades of royal purple, adorned with a shimmering emerald in its center on the stomach region. She wore excellently crafted black boots to support her style, they had slightly heightened heels. Her ample chest and very feminine stature gave her an astonishing, yet still fragile, appearance, but he knew better. Behind those brown eyes lurked the silent promise of harsh punishment for everybody who dared to underestimate her.

He met enough men and women in his long years of business. She was not like them. No, not at all. This woman was much more dangerous, his instincts told him.

"W-who, no, w-what are you?" It annoyed him greatly. How could this woman make him so nervous? Filthy Rich felt like prey and she was the predator.

She giggled, oh how cute and adorable it sounded in his ears, "Luviel. My name is Luviel Dawnseeker and I am an Emerald Elf. You could say I've searched for you for some time. I will help you. All I ask for in return is that you meet a... client of mine. You see, I left my kingdom to discover and investigate the magical disturbances I felt, which have their origin in these lands. I felt them since I came into existence in this form.”

He tried to pull himself together, looking professional was the key. Ignoring his desire to declare her a living product of fantasy, because he only heard a few unconfirmed rumors about non-human races until now, was a task on its own, “Ms. Dawnseeker, you have my attention. I would like to hear more.”

Filthy could have sworn a growl escaped her throat, must have been his imagination, “I met this client on my way here and he has something I need. But he will only give it to me when I find him a person who can provide him with possibilities to hide from curious eyes. He mentioned your name and description, because you are well-known and he needs your reputation."

He was talking with an actual. Living. Elf. Or Emerald Elf, as she called herself. Of course the man had heard the stories about other sapient races, but he didn't believe them. Now he knew better.

"Who is this 'client' you are talking about, Ms. Dawnseeker? I am sure we can come to an agreement. It would have to be beneficial for both sides of course," Filthy Rich assured in a professional tone.

"That would be me, Mr. Rich. I indeed seek a mutually beneficial situation for the lot of us," a powerful and confident male voice announced.

Filthy Rich's ‘future business partner’ looked like the very opposite of reputable and he was sure that this man's picture should be in every dictionary on the world beside the words ‘shady’ and ‘Grim Reaper’. Or both.

He wore a black cloak which radiated an aura of the deepest darkness and had an ice blue mask. The mask looked like a person, a human, in pure agony. Mouth wide open, the empty eye-holes widened, but he couldn't see anything through the blackness in these openings. The elf's client wore over his chest, back and upon the shoulders silver armor with black highlights, reinforced by steel for safety measures. He was heavily muscled, having a broader build than a typical human. And very tall, too. At least 7'2”. Above the cloak was a black, scaled belt. The buckle was a golden colored miniature version of the man’s mask.

Filthy Rich made a mental note; he would never meet this guy somewhere else, unless under the bright daylight. Or never again. Yes, he liked that option the most.

"Allow me to introduce myself, partner. I am Punisher Vyndrak. You might say I 'talk' with unwanted guests or captured beings of interest in a... closer way."

What kind of title was that?!

"Enough!" Luviel exclaimed, visibly annoyed and furious. It scared Filthy a little, "I helped you to find this man and you gave me your word that you would return to me what is mine."

"Ah, yes," the ‘punisher’ said, uninterested.

Vyndrak took out a dagger. Its hilt was a deep yellow with a silvery shine to it, adorned with fine green metallic lines made of Khoryndium, one of the newly created alloys, found in the Emerald elf's homeland. The blade itself was made of pure green magic and had the form of a large kitchen knife. It was gleaming and illuminated its surroundings.

"Here is your little spell dagger. I have no use for elf magic. Next time you should be more careful in a fight and try not to lose something in your haste. These timberwolves looked quite angry. You are lucky that my masters want to avoid direct conflict with your kingdom, for now. Otherwise I would gut you like a fish. That your natural connection to the flora makes it possible for one of your kind to find other sapient beings eventually aided me in the end. You still served my goals," Vyndrak taunted in arrogance.

"For your information, I was in the middle of a break as they suddenly attacked me. That still doesn't mean that I will forgive you. Believe me, monster, I want to do nothing more than to kill every living member of the Adepts of Khom, when I see one. You are lucky that so many innocent humans are in this camp there and I don't want to endanger their lives in the crossfire. Otherwise you would meet your dark maker, scum," Luviel replied coolly.

Filthy Rich was rarely surer in his entire life than in is this moment. He never wished more for the ability to make himself invisible. These two scared the money out of his pockets! He hoped he would survive them. So the businessman tried to place himself as a mediator between the adept and the Emerlad Elf.

He raised his arms in an attempt, emphasis on attempt, to soothe both of the heated factions, "Ms. Dawnseeker, Mr. Vyndrak, I know you have some 'repulsion' for each other, but I'm sure when we sit down and-"

"Stay out of this!" both screamed at the poor man at such a volume that he feared he would go deaf.

But when Filthy Rich was honest with himself, he admired the little elf. Especially because they had such a difference in their height, but the woman couldn't care less and talked the adept down like an adult would a child who stole a cookie without permission.

"I have enough from you! I will go for now, but I will hunt you down, if you attack these campers," Luviel stated the fact.

"Don't worry, I have no interest in them. Yet. Hehe." Vyndrak smiled darkly, not that it was visible.

The Emerald Elf took her spell dagger and put it in its sheath with force before she glared for one last time with a silent promise in the direction of the punisher and a very... apologetic expression at Filthy Rich? The man was sure in his mind that she looked pityingly at him. Then she left the two men alone.

Vyndrak coughed once and switched to a much more polite voice, "Finally. But now it is time to conduct business, don't you think? The reason why I searched for you, Mr. Rich, my dear partner, was your reputation. You see, our organization wants to spread its influence, but in order to do that we need first something like a base of operations. Subtlety is key. If you would help us in our endeavour, you would be paid handsomely for your troubles. This little camp there would serve this purpose perfectly. Of course, we will let the humans leave first to avoid any questions. When they are gone, I wish for you to help us in safeguarding this location and to make sure that other people won't come here. Ever again."

Filthy Rich was many things, but ‘stupid’ wasn't one of them. From what he understood, these ‘Adepts of Khom’ sounded like a very violent bunch and he didn't want to take any part in it. Now he had to gently tell the man that we wasn't interested. Very gently.

"Mr. Vyndrak, I can assure you that I want to work with you and your colleagues, but I fear I have to decline your gracious offer. So-" he couldn't continue, because Vyndrak exploded in laughter.

After he calmed down, the Adept of Khom locked eyes with Filthy Rich, or so the salesman thought, he wasn't sure with this mask. Vyndrak's polite tone was gone, "I think you misunderstand the situation you are in, partner. That was not a 'request'. More a... 'strong advice in the name of self-preservation'. It would be truly horrible if something happened to your daughter and wife, don't you think?” The punisher chuckled ominously at Filthy’s pale face, “Don't be so surprised, Mr. Rich! I did my homework and know about your family. Diamond Tiara and Spoiled Rich, right? If you value their lives, then you will comply and do what is expected of you. Do we have an agreement, partner? And don't think you can escape me. We will find those two and I will make them scream." At the end of Vyndrak's 'proposal', his voice was completely malicious.

Filthy Rich was never this terrified before. He wanted to avoid death, because it was an one-time business, but he couldn't let his family be in danger. Diamond Tiara, his wife Spoiled Rich and the family of, including Diamond's friend herself, Silver Spoon were all together on the holidays.

He stayed behind to build his new spa resort.

They just called them this morning and they were fine back then. He just hoped that they were safe and it would stay like that.

As a responsible and loving father and husband, he could only make one logical decision and the founder of the Rich Company already hated himself for it.

"I understand. Mr. Vyndrak. We have an agreement. I-It was a pleasure to conduct business with you." Filthy Rich needed to pull himself together or he would scream at the punisher out of sheer fury.

"See? This decision wasn't so hard, right? Now, I will go and collect some of my fellow adepts, then we will return to this place. Oh, and please don't try to betray me. We both know how that would end, don't we? Your task will be to observe the camp until it is left alone by the other humans. Don’t disappoint me, partner." Vyndrak gave him a mocking bow and disappeared out of sight.

Filthy Rich groaned heavily. Sometimes he REALLY hated his job.

The man returned to Camp Everfree, only to witness how everybody left the party. The last one was one of the co-directors, Gloriosa Daisy.

She smiled in triumph at him as she recognized his figure, "Filthy Rich! We got enough money to save the camp and we will buy ourselves free from you and your shady methods. I calculated the revenues and the needed amount of money to buy the land where the camp rests on and it will be enough. Camp Everfree will stay. And that thanks to the Rainbooms who saved me from my own corruption and showed me a better way.” About what was she talking about? Corruption? Had everybody gone insane when he wasn't looking? “Maybe you will learn your lesson one day, too. I told you that I got this and that we would give you your money in time. Here, the last payment." Gloriosa turned on her heel and left him behind to tell her brother and the students of CHS about the good news.

Oh, the irony was strong. If this naive girl only knew that he was the smallest of their problems.

But he couldn't warn them. He heard rumors about this... confrontation between Gloriosa and those seven special girls during the fundraiser. They would stay to fight and from what he saw, these adepts wouldn't falter and simply kill them, he had to save them. Besides, they didn't seem to be the negotiation type. Now that he thought about it, Filthy Rich was sure that his daughter mentioned the names of these girls, but he didn't really listen at the time.

Nothing of interest happened during the last day of CHS' field trip. Filthy Rich even spoke with the siblings again and wanted to convince them to leave this place, not anymore for his sake, but because they would meet a very unfortunate fate when Vyndrak returned and they were still here. He even joked about it and gave them hints, but they just reacted angrily at him and demanded that he should leave them alone. Gloriosa Daisy and Timber Spruce decided to stay in Camp Everfree. He couldn't do anything more for them.

When the time of their departure arrived, Filthy Rich hid himself from the eyes of the students and the caretakers of Canterlot High. They collected themselves one last time in front of the bus, Gloriosa and Timber with them, before they would leave and return home.

He listened in. It annoyed him that they decided to meet that early in the morning.

"Attention students!" the tall woman with the multi-colored hair announced happily, "We had an exciting week here in Camp Everfree and I want to thank you all for the good time."

The students clapped their hands. Some cheered, like the girl with the cowboy hat.

"Yeehaw! Ah'll be, that week sure was somethin'!" the country girl said.

He saw that Timber Spruce was talking with a camper, a female student with lavender skin. They laughed with each other and locked eyes with blushing faces. Yes, clearly more interest than simple friendship. It reminded him of his younger years. The man wondered if that was even legal. Wasn't she just a student and he a co-director of his own camp?

Gloriosa went in front of the assembled students and told them her own opinion about the week, "At the beginning of the camp, I told you I will make this week for you the 'BEST WEEK EVER' and in the end, it really was. But not only because of Timber or me, no. It was, because every single one of you played an important role to achieve that goal. Your Camp Gift, this wonderful dock, will be a beacon for future campers, I'm sure of it.”

More cheers echoed through the forest.

She continued joyfully, “Furthermore, I wanted to thank you all for the Crystal Gala fundraiser, I can positively announce that we have enough money to buy this piece of land. Camp Everfree will continue to stand at this place!" The students clapped louder and more cheered in loud support.

"Yeah! The Wondercolts saved the day again!" the girl with the rainbow colored hair screamed as the loudest of all.

The other caretaker, a woman with midnight blue skin, finally announced, "Before we leave, you surely are wondering why we called you this early." Yes, Filthy Rich was wondering, indeed. "Well, before we finally return home, Principal Celestia and I had a short talk with our dear camp directors and this forest has some wondrous sights to behold. We want to visit a few of them so we will return to Canterlot later than originally planned."

"Oh! I read about some of the natural wonders of the Everfree Forest. I'm so excited to finally verify what I read about them," the same lavender girl, who was talking with Timber before, rambled.

Filthy Rich just groaned. Her friends seemed to chuckle at their friend's antics.

At last, they left. Only he and the both co-directors were still there. This was his last chance to save them. He would-

"Ah, the other humans finally left, good. But it seems that two of them stayed. The camp owners, I guess. Well, we should greet them. Don't you agree, partner?" Vyndrak mused in dark glee and anticipation from behind the businessman.

Filthy Rich mentally cursed his luck and fate in the worst way possible. Every sailor on the world would blush from envy at his creativity.

"O-oh! Mr. Vyndrak. I didn't expect you so soon." He glanced nervously behind hiw new 'employer'. "And I see you brought company."

Nine human-looking people in black cloaks and less imposing armor with hidden faces stood behind the punisher and waited for further instructions.

Vyndrak ignored the man and looked around, taking in their surroundings. His eyes landed finally on the dock, "Perfect! Yes, this will do nicely. Adepts! Position yourself on the dock like we trained. Go!"

The adepts followed the order and took their places on and around the dock, Vyndrak himself was standing at the very end of the jetty, one step away from falling into the lake. There he would open their portal for supplying this new outpost.

"Begin the ritual!" the punisher shouted excitedly. Filthy Rich was nervous about what could come next.

A black magic circle with some unknown symbols in them appeared under every adept, which made the salesman violently ill to the stomach when he looked directly at them. Their bodies began to glow sinisterly and fine beams of equally dark energy came from every adept. They collected themselves in Vyndrak's back and entered his body. The punisher himself stood on a very big version of the circle, at least five meters in diameter. He stood like a praying statue, but was filled with concentration. His body consumed the magic of the other nine adepts and his eyes were nothing more than shining black holes, overflowing because of the influx of power.

After nothing seemed to happen, the earth started to quake strongly. It alarmed the co-directors, Gloriosa and Timber, who came running out of their house and witnessed the end of the ritual.

Vyndrak opened a gigantic, dark yellow and black portal, formed like a door. The entire dock was suddenly consumed by darkness and the former wood was transformed into some black crystal. When he was finally finished, the dangerous man and his subordinates lost their unholy aura, the circles disappeared.

Filthy Rich was terrified, but fascinated at the same time by this show. The siblings had another opinion about it entirely.

"What have you done?!" Gloriosa Daisy shouted in shock and fury. Her brother didn't react much better.

"Whatever you did, take it back! You have no idea what you are doing, but I can see that you used some very evil magic. Return the dock to its former state and leave or we will call the police!"

Filthy Rich wanted to facepalm so hard that his face would have hurt for quite some time. There were times, when you should stand your ground and there were times to keep quiet for the sake of survival.

This situation didn't count as the first option in his book.

The punisher realized that they had an audience and saw the enraged young adults, "Oh, someone just volunteered. Congratulations, your souls will help our goals immensely. You little humans should have run as far as you could, but now we don't need to search for our sacrifices."

Vyndrak smiled at them with madness in his eyes. Not that they could see it. He snapped his fingers and four adepts took the siblings as prisoners. They tried to struggle in irritation and fear.

"W-what are you doing? Release us at once!" Gloriosa demanded hotly. She and her brother struggled even harder, but their captors didn't have much problem keeping them down.

"Bring them to me," Vyndrak ordered, bored by their futile attempts to escape. The siblings were brought next to him in front of the portal.

"Please, wait here. I want to show you something, but before that, tell me. What is this camp worth to you?" Filthy Rich didn't like where this was going. The co-directors felt the same.

The punisher summoned a big black scythe. The hilt was 2.3 meters long, It was nigh-on covered with ice blue runes, thicker on the end. Vyndrak held it lovingly in his hand as it was surrounded by a dark gray color. The blade was black like the deepest darkness, but the blade itself was not only long and slightly curved to the inside, but thin blood red highlights decorated its sharp side. It would look like real blood in the right light.

Vyndrak looked proudly at his weapon. "Do you like it? I named it ‘Soulcutter'. A fitting name in my opinion."

The former bravery of the siblings was replaced with utter terror and fear for their lives.

"You didn't answer my question yet. What meaning. Has this camp. To you?" he queried again in strained patience.

Timber answered this time, stuttering nervously. "I-it's our home! Our great grandparents f-founded this place and since then it's been in the ownership of our f-family.”

"Y-yes, we saved enough money to save our camp, our home, from this man there. Filthy Rich. He wanted to close it down so that he could open a spa resort here," Gloriosa supported her brother.

The man in question felt a little guilty now, when she worded it like that.

"I see... so this place is of greatest importance for you. It is your only home and a camp to give others the enjoyment of this place, because you want to make others happy. Finally, you did everything in your power to keep it open. How admirable." The Adept of Khom didn't say more and strolled slowly to the center of Camp Everfree. He raised his scythe above his head in a straight line, the big end pointed in the direction of the ground.

"W-What are you doing?" Gloriosa asked, confused.

In answer of her question, the entire scythe was suddenly engulfed by a black-orange outline. Vyndrak looked with sadistic glee in the direction of the siblings, "You will now witness the might of the Adepts of Khom! You shall feel despair and know that you could do nothing to stop me. I hereby declare the permanent shutdown of. Camp. NEVERFREE!"

"NO!!” Gloriosa and Timber shouted in despair. Tears streamed down the woman's face.

Vyndrak slammed his magic fueled scythe deep into the ground. Cracks emerged all over the camp's grounds. The magic of the warlock let the earth succumb to death. It changed color from its former bright brown and lush green to lifeless and hardened black rock. Fissures opened all over the place, the magic in its unholy gleam of orange oozed out of them. Buildings collapsed, the camp site was destroyed and finally the little earthquake which shook them all abated. He pulled his weapon out of the ground, sent it away from where he summoned it and admired his work.

Now both of the siblings were in tears and Gloriosa screamed, not only in sadness, but in sheer anger, too, "You MONSTER! How could you do that?! You destroyed everything! That was our home, our livelihood!"

No person was harmed, because all stood on the crystallized dock. The earthquake didn't reach, much less harm it in the slightest.

Filthy Rich was disturbed by this display of power. He was lucky that he decided to comply with their one-sided business. The punisher would have destroyed him. Maybe he still would. The chairman was, frankly, scared.

"Yes! Show me your despair! I enjoy and thrive in the suffering of my victims. They shall feel true fear and realize that there is no hope for them and in the end... I can and I will take everything away from them. Adepts! Form in groups of three. Two teams will open circles for the mass mind control curse and the other for the summoning of future outsider support. But before you do that, we have to conduct one last point of business." The leader of this group returned to the dock.

Vyndrak walked up to the both siblings. They knelt in front of him, despair in their eyes. "What could you possibly do to us anymore!? You took everything away what we had!" Timber spat in front of the punisher.

Mentioned man chuckled in response, "Oh. Don't you remember? I said at the start of our little conversation that your souls would serve as sacrifices." He pulled out two small ice blue daggers out of a big pocket on the left side of his cloak.

"You see, as warlocks we need sacrifices for some of our spells, but only a few won't do, so I searched and found this little town, Ponyville. It has enough inhabitants for a great summoning. But they could just escape, so we will alter their minds to stay there. On this way we can farm their souls, like crops.” He then addressed the remaining adepts, “Bring me the Soul Prisons!"

Two of them listened and ran through the big portal. They came back shortly later and brought two dark purple crystals, about the size of a football and in the form of one, too.

Vyndrak presented the co-directors the dark artifacts in mad joy, "These, my dear lambs, are Soul Prisons. They serve as conduits for our spells and to extract a soul out of a body. But they are rarely used, because they are expensive to make and need a lot of preparation time.”

Their eyes turned to pinpricks.

He laughed openly at their misery, “It is funny... some humans think that a body is nothing more than a collection of nerves, muscles, tissues, bones, cells and fluids. Powered by energy from mitochondria, the cells which supply the body with energy. But the truth is much more complicated. Without magic and without a soul, a body would be nothing more than a dead piece of meat. But back to business. When a Soul Prison is filled with a soul, a strong and skilled warlock can modify the crystals in multiple ways. For example, to create, you could say 'receivers' for spells. If you put a modified crystal at one specific place, the magic you cast will work at this place, even from higher distances. Not for very great distances, but enough to reach Ponyville, certainly. We will send our mind control curse from here to Ponyville and YOUR souls, captured and modified in Soul Prisons, will serve as the necessary receiver. Isn't that great? I just have to use these two daggers here. They are enchanted to steal a soul, and from the weapon itself the soul can be redirected. In this case, to the Soul Prison," Vyndrak sadistically finished his explanation.

Filthy, Timber and Gloriosa were all terrified by this knowledge.

"P-please! You don't have to do this!" Gloriosa begged the Adept of Khom in tears.

"Yes, you are right... I really don't have to do this-" He mercilessly rammed the first ice blue dagger into Gloriosa's heart, absorbing her soul and killing her instantly.

"NOOO!! GLORIOSA!!" Timber screamed, crushed.

"-but I want to do it, girl," Vyndrak finished his sentence, laughing, and looked in Timber's empty eyes, who was broken by the loss of his sister.

"Any last wishes?" the punisher asked the green-haired boy in mock-pity.

A little color and light returned into Timber's eyes, now filled with disgust and hatred, "I hope you will die horribly. Someone will bring justice upon you and may you rot in hell for your crimes!"

"I heard it is a nice warm place. Maybe I will ask for my next vacation there," Vyndrak answered thoughtfully.

He rammed the second dagger into Timber's heart, taking his soul in the process.

Vyndrak looked to the shocked Filthy Rich, "Don't be so surprised, partner. It was all part of our business. You should have read the fine print of our non-existent contract," he said smugly.

The businessman broke down on his knees, "I-I didn't want this! Yes, I wanted to close the camp to build my spa paradise here, but not like this! Not over the dead bodies of two innocent people!"

Vyndrak rolled with his eyes, "Don't be so sensitive. Did you take drama class in your time in school? You two!" He pointed at two of his subordinates, "Take these dead bodies and dump them somewhere deeper in the Everfree Forest. Let the predators have a meal for free. I don't want the corpses here." The duo in question saluted, took one body each and went into the Everfree.

Two hours later they returned. They reported that they found a big cave with remains of other humans. It was surely the home of a strong predator, so they dumped the bodies in the end of the lair and returned to the new base.

Filthy sat all this time on the dock. He didn't know how he should feel. Confused, terrified, angered, sad, disgusted, guilty? There was too much to feel in this moment for him. Vyndrak modified and finished the two new receivers by this time.

"Ah! The Soul Prisons are finished. Cheer up, partner. The worst is behind you, I promise. Our presence has to stay a secret, but I have one last task before you can do your side of the bargain." He presented Filthy Rich the Soul Prisons. "These two babies need to be placed at the highest points of the town in order to have the, well, 'best signal', you might say. There is a lot of magic theory behind that and I don't want to bore you. The point is that a cloaked stranger would be anything else but subtle, so you have to do it. Easy, right?"

"Why..." Rich muttered, confused.

"Why what?" Vyndrak inquired curiously.

"Why do I have to help you taking the souls of other humans?" the salesman asked tiredly.

The punisher sighed longly, “I already told you, but I see that your little moral code won't allow that, so I prepared a present for you. Because I like you and I'm thankful from the depths of my black heart. No, seriously, I am. I just have problems showing my feelings. You know... the whole death and destruction thing and all. Here!"

He gave Filthy Rich a translucent vial, a blood red flame filled the little container.

"Wh-what is this?" Filthy asked in fear, but slight interest.

"Demon fire my friend. Open the vial and you'll see what will happen. Or even better, I will open it for you." Vyndrak released the little flame in the direction of Filthy Rich.

"WAH!" the human exclaimed in sheer surprise. The flame flew directly into Filthy Rich's mouth. He coughed a few times, fearing he would burn alive from the inside... but nothing happened.

Then he felt it. The pain.

"Ugggghhhh."

"Don't worry, partner. the Demon fire spreads inside your body and makes you a half-demon. You can use magic and it will awaken your darkest desires. Well, that is the side-effect. But hey, nothing in life is free, except death," Vyndrak said, attempting to joke.

Finally the Demon fire ended its work and Filthy Rich opened his eyes. They were now slit and changed color to a dark red.

He felt... powerful. Very powerful. Yes, he would spread the influence of his company, but most importantly it would happen in the name of his new master, Damnation Seeker Khom.

"I hope I could satisfy your curiosity. Now prepare to die," Filthy Rich announced darkly.

"I understand, so you are more a victim and a used puppet than one of the ones responsible. The spirits are saddened, and so am I," Zecora stated in compassion.

"Puppet? Ha! I was never this powerful before. My master granted me true magic and you won't take it away from me. Besides, I can't let you go and talk about everything now, can I?" He replied, annoyed.

"I want to kick this Vyndrak guy into next week," Indigo Zap voiced her thoughts. The other girls and Zecora could only agree.

During the explanation by Filthy Rich, many questions shot through their minds. Who was this mysterious Emerald Elf, this Luviel Dawnseeker? And where was Punisher Vyndrak? He was nowhere to be seen.

But they knew one thing for sure; the others had to be informed as soon as possible.

"Girls," Zecora started calmly, "Do you remember what we talked about on our way to this place? What we would do if we would encounter a very dangerous situation?" she asked the others.

They nodded shortly.

"Ok... CLOSE YOUR EYES!" the shaman screamed warningly.

Zecora grasped the one tonic she held hidden in her shorts. A mixture of mojo and herbs as a trigger. She tossed it onto the ground and a brilliant white light, similar to a flashbang, just without the sound, came into existence.

"GAHHHH!" Filthy Rich exclaimed in shock. The flash blinded him. The dogs were affected as well and snarled angrily in pain.

After a short time, the man and his four Frost Hounds could see again. Their prey was gone.

"They mustn't escape! After them, my pets!" ordered a furious Filthy Rich. He was tricked, but wouldn't allow their escape in the end.

The hunt was on.

Author's Notes:

Greetings my avid readers!

I hope you enjoyed the chapter.

A prayer of respect for Glorioa and Timber. They've met with a terrible fate, haven't they?

And I have an announcement to make: I have a proofreader now.

That means, that the chapters will be corrected piece for piece.

Prologue and Chapter 1 have now the edited versions, with 20% more grammar. Ok, I'm not this bad, it could be worse, but hey. If someone wants to read the proofread versions, two chapters are ready.

I will write it down at the top of the Author's Note, when a chapter was proofread and again edited and filled in by me. Just so you know.

Thank you very much for reading and stay tuned!