Despite what the name implied it to be to everypony, Ponyville’s Golden Oaks Library wasn’t an entirely a library. At least not like the ones found back in Canterlot City or even the castle. It did have the necessities needed for it to be called a library though. Such as having multiple shelves full of different books and giving ponies an estimated time as to how long they can have them before needing to be returned. While it may not have been built and constructed like all the other libraries found in other towns and cities, it was still a library in its own right. Ponies would often into it and ask Twilight for a specific book, and she’d set the tools needed for them to get it for a limited amount of time.

Most of the time, they would be able to return the book on time. With the item only just being a day or two late, and there’d hardly be any problem. Other times, they’d be gone for much longer, and they were returned, Twilight would be left with no choice but to fine them a fee. Not all ponies that returned her books wanted to pay the fee, but, once they got a good scare from Spike, they all but begged her to take their money. Twilight never really wanted to do it, but knew that she had to put her hoof down when needed. Even if it meant giving some ponies a scare from the one thing that they could all agreed was their biggest fear.

As good as that was to know, that was not what kept Golden Oaks Library from completely being a library. It was something else that only Twilight, Spike and the six of her friends knew of, with a few others knowing as well. Underneath the floor of the library, was a bigger section of books that only Twilight herself and those that she trusted knew about. One that had books that Twilight did give to others that wanted to buy them and keep them permanently. It was always a wonder to ponies how she made her money, since practically lived a library of all places. Until she showed them to the underground sections and gave them books that could actually be bought and paid for.

That was the first thing that Twilight had in her home that ponies knew about. The second one was something more secretive than even that. Save for the ponies that knew of it and kept it secret for the magic mage. Like the ones that were currently seeking shelter within it from the danger that was happening down below.

“What do you think is happening up there, Momma?” Dinky asked softy, her tiny voice echoing across the wide round walls of the room. “Do you think that Spike killed the werewolf or made it go away?”

“I don’t know sweetie.” Derpy replied, holding Dinky close. “I certainly heard everything that was happening down there. It sounded like they were going at each other pretty hard.”

“No shit.” Amethyst grunted, rubbing at her ears. “Even from all the way down here I could hear them roaring and screaming at each other. It’ almost like both of them having the lungs of a dragon or something.”

“Well, Spike is a dragon after all. Even though he was raised by ponies, he still has the traits of a dragon at his disposal.” Snowflake commented softly. “Just as his martial arts and magic trainer Master Venture Vine. She was the one who helped him become as powerful as he is now to face something like that.”

“We all know that, but I’m still worried about him.” Midnight said quietly, looking up at the opening above them. “It’s been ten minutes since Spike told us that he had beaten that werewolf. He hasn’t come own like he said he would. I’m wondering if there was something is going on right now. Or if he even went outside to investigate”

Cloud Kicker bit her lip in worry. “Oh, Faust no! Please tell me that he’s not going to do or is doing right now! I know he’s a dragon and all, but I doubt that even he can stand against the group that I had seen outside! At the very least he’ll be able to burn a few of those mutts before he’s overwhelmed! If not them, then by the dragon he said that he sensed outside the library!”

“I wouldn’t be so sure about that Cloud Kicker.” Snowflake replied confidently. “Spike may not look it, but he can face more than one enemy on his own. For almost his entire life, he was trained in many different fighting styles. Including against an entire group rather than just one other pony, dragon, or even a thestral. They’re as closest to be supernatural creatures as whatever others are out there in town right now. I wouldn’t doubt Spike too much when it comes to facing creatures like that.”

In truth, while Spike did have sparring matches and duels with a multitude of ponies and bat ponies, it wasn’t limited to just them. At least, not to the ones that were in Canterlot City and in the Solar and Lunar Divisions. Spike’s martial arts and magic teacher, Venture Vine Ryu Doragon, sometimes came over to Canterlot to visit the young drake. While on occasion it was just to see and spend time with him, most of the time it was to help him keep his power at its peak. Due to how much destruction they caused, they’ve often go out in wild isolated areas where no ponies or animals were around.

Spike would even go to see Venture Vine himself, even though it was pretty far from Canterlot City. She lived on the far northeastern side of the Everfree Forest, which was all the way over the other side of Foal Mountain. Regardless of how much of a fly it’d be, it was worth the training sessions and the amount of pay that came with made it all the better for Venture Vine. After all, it wasn’t often you got special time with a protector of a village of the Everfree Forest. Especially if that pony was not only half dragon, but a guild master as well.

“Even so, he’d better not do anything stupid up there.” Cloud muttered, her brows furrowing as her ears pinned back. “The last thing that we need is for that kid to get himself killed. If he dies, not only things will get a hell of a lot worse for us, but Twilight is gonna get pissed at us for not keeping him safe.”

The door to the secret room suddenly burst open, causing Snowflake, Midnight, Cloud and the Hooves family to jump in fright. Their fear soon quelled into relief when they saw a bloodied Spike standing at the entrance. Patches of black fur covered various parts of his body, but something told the group the blood wasn’t his.

“That’s teenager to you Cloud Kicker.” Spike bluntly stated as he walked inside of the room, using his tail to slam the door shut. “And for the record, it was me protecting the you, Dinky, Ms. Derpy Snowflake, and Midnight. Not the other way around.”

“Spike! You’re okay!” Dinky squealed as she broke out of her mother’s hold. Before she got even halfway, Amethyst captured her in a magical aura. “Sis! What’re you doing?!”

“Best not to touch him right now Dinky.” Amethyst advised. “You see the fur patches and the blood on him down you?”

It was at that moment that Dinky noticed the fur and red patches on Spike’s paws, face, forelegs and chest. Her face of elation turned into one of revulsion as she recoiled sharply. “Ewwww! You’re all bloody!”

“Well, I was fighting a werewolf just ten minutes ago.” Spike replied, shaking the fur off of him. His snake-like tongue began to lick to blood off of him like a cat cleaning its fur. “I think forgive me if I seemed to be more than a little dirty.”

“I’m not sure if Rarity would feel the same way sweetie.” Derpy chuckled. “If she were to see your right now, she’d be screaming her head off and blubbering about how your scales weren’t shining as bright as diamonds.”

Spiked rolled his eyes. “I believe you there. But I’d still rather not hear it from her of all ponies or anyone else. Because I so do not wanna have my ears screamed off of my head.” He said dryly, recalling all the times where Rarity had dramatically screamed about how horrid he had looked at times. “At least Fluttershy cares more if she damages my hearing or not. I swear that mare talks softer than owl flapping its wings.”

Cloud burst out into a chortle. “Now isn’t that the truth.”

“Anyway, how have you guys been holding up here since I was up there dealing with our…guest?” Spike asked as he faced the entire group. “I hope I didn’t cause too much of a ruckus and make you guys too scared.”

“Oh, you scared us plenty. Thank you very much.” Amethyst snorted dryly, ignoring the scolding glare Derpy shot her. “On the flipside, this place has managed to barricade us pretty well from that giant werewolf from upstairs. It looks like Twilight kept up in her care of this place and making sure that it as stable and secure.”

“Well, you are right about the secure part.” Midnight murmured, looking around at the various equipment around the room. Her eyes glinted as they reflected the light of the battle knives, swords, arrows blades, and many other weaponries hanging and sitting around the room. There were also books and glass bottles that Midnight couple only guess were ones on medicine and potion. Along with maps leading to places other than Ponyville, other than the ones that Twilight, the girls and Zephyr took themselves. “I never thought that Twilight would have a preparation of weapons hidden underneath here. And here I was thinking only a few hours ago that she only had them stashed in her drawers in the main library room.”

“Well, this is Twilight we’re talking about after all. Always preparing herself for anything that may come to her. No matter what it was.” Snowflake commented with a laugh. “To be honest, I’m not really surprised that she has something like this. I feel a lot safer now that we have this to use to our disposal if the treehouse gets broken into again.”

“So do I. Now that we’re down here, we can take a breather and figure out what do next.” Spike sighed as he closed his eyes. He soon opened them and let the gleaming slitted orbs land right on Cloud. “Which reminds me of something else.” He said as he stepped closer to the persian blue mare. “Cloud Kicker, do you mind explaining to me what the hell I just saw?!”

Cloud blinked at the drake in confusion. “What? You mean the werewolf? I said that I had him tailing my ass and-”

“No, not that.” Spike held a claw up to stop Cloud mid-sentence. “What I mean is what you saw outside of the treehouse before you came here! You clearly told us not to go outside before that werewolf broke into the library. And when I looked outside, I could clearly see what you were talking about! With that being said, do you mind explaining to me why I saw a whole army of every single folkloric creature in the book, outside looking for somepony to devour?!”

“What?” Derpy felt her fur turn a lighter shade of grey at Spike’s words. “W-what did you just say?”

“Exaclty what you heard me say Ms. Derpy.” Spike said somberly. “When I was throwing the body of the werewolf out the door, I looked outside and saw what could only be described as a fucking nightmare! I didn’t just see werewolves outside! I saw lycans, zombies, ghouls, vampires, succubi, and thralls like the one outside the library, running and flying across the town! There were even dogs and black winged cats bigger than even that werewolf that I fought earlier! It wasn’t just a group of monsters that I saw out there, Cloud Kicker! It was a fucking folkloric army!”

Silence flew throughout the room after Spike’s words echoed about the secret combat room. A heavy breathing that came from the drake was the only thing that was heard as he stared at Cloud. Her younger sister and nieces were looking at her as well, mixed looks of worry and inquisitiveness swirling through their eyes like whirlpools. Cloud felt herself shrinking under the gazes as they silently begged her to tell them what she had seen. Sighing, Cloud slumped against the wall, dreading what she was going to tell them.

“It…it just came without warning.” She said softly, the quietness in the room allowing the others to hear her clearly. As if she was speaking at normal volume. “Me and Blossomforth were just beginning to recover from almost getting crushed at the Town Square. We barely managed to keep from getting squashed by the roof. I thought that was the worst of it, but…” She began to whimper like a puppy being out in the middle of the rain. “That’s when we heard the howling, and the roaring, and the screeching. Then this group of huge lions, with crow-like wings, came flying in out of nowhere and tried to attack us. If the royal guards hadn’t shown up when they did, we would have become cat chow.”

Spike’s reptilian ears perked. “Wait, the royal guards are here in Ponyville?”

“Yeah, they are. I saw a few of them galloping around the streets trying to get at some of the monsters that are in it now.” Cloud nodded, shuddering. “Anyway, the guards managed to get the lions out of there. But they did manage to get mauled pretty good by those feisty cats. It wasn’t too serious. They could still stand and fight, but something tells me that they’re going to be having everlasting scars.”

Images of Zephyr being bitten by Nightmare Moon and drained of his blood entered into Spike’s mind. He gave an involuntary shudder as he tried to banish the image from his mind, knowing that now wasn’t the time to think about that. Forcing the bile in his throat down, he asked, “Okay, so what happened after that?”

“After the royal guards threw the lions out, me and Blossomforth decided to get out of there ourselves. I didn’t want us to run the chance at getting attacked by those lions if they decided to go back inside the Town Square. So, we took the secret back entrance that the Town Square has in the back of the building.” Cloud continued, letting out a bitter chuckle. “Looking back, I just wanna go and whack myself upside the head for choosing such a shitty decision.”

“Let me guess.” Amethyst muttered, her eyes half-lidded. “You ran into the werewolf after you left the Town Square?”

“Not immediately. Me and Blossomforth were too shocked at seeing a whole army of zombies, giant dragons, lycans and fucking vampires all around in the street.” Cloud replied, remembering the fear she felt upon seeing Nightmare Moon’s pets. She could still see the look of absolute terror on her best friend’s face at being in the middle of the beastly army. “We tried to go hide somewhere, but a few werewolves caught whiff of us and gave chase. I tried to stay and help Cloud with the mutts, but she practically kicked me away before I could stop her. She told me to run while she fended off the werewolves, and there was already more trying to get at me. S-so I…so I ran. A-and…that’s how I ended up here.”

“That would explain why that werewolf just randomly barged into here out of nowhere.” Derpy said contemplatively. “Unlike that, um…thrall that almost flattened the treehouse earlier.”

“So, wait, Auntie Blossomforth stayed to fight the werewolves alone?” Dinky asked timidly, her eyes growing wet. “I-is…is she going to be okay?”

Cloud shook her head, her mane flowing in front of her eyes. “I don’t know baby. I-I really don’t know right now. I don’t know if Blossomforth is still alive. I don’t know if she’s dead and became dog chow for those fucking werewolves! And I certainly don’t know if they decided to turn her into a bloodthirsty pony devouring werewolf herself!” Her eyes shut tightly like she was being given a shot. “I just…dammit! I JUST DON’T KNOW!”

Her right hoof swung through the air, slamming into the wall like baseball being launched into the air like a bat. The combat weapons and sealed bottles rattled and rolled across the tables, some of them even falling to the floor, but not shattering. Midnight and Snowflake frowned in disapproval at Cloud, but said nothing as they went to clean up the mess.

“…I don’t know either Cloud Kicker. Neither do Snowflake, Midnight, Derpy and Dinky know if Blossomforth is okay right now.” Spike sighed, keeping his tone honest and sincere. “But that doesn’t mean that we can’t find out for ourselves. Which is why I have a plan.”

“You do?” Derpy asked. “What plan do you have?”

“You’re not going to have is go outside and confront those things, are you?” Amethyst asked worriedly, despite knowing the answer. “Because that’s the last thing I wanna do right now.”

“Well, yes and no.” Spike said sheepishly, smiling apologetically at the unicorn. “Yes, because we can’t stay here forever. One of those things is going to find us eventually and I’m pretty sure the last thing you guys want is to be turned into lycans, werewolves, or zombies.” He watched in slight amusement as the Hooves Family, Midnight and Snowflake shivered. “No, because I’m not intending for us to go out there like how we are now. At least not you three.”

“Wait, are you saying that we’re going to be suiting up?” Dinky asked with a cute head tilt. “Like, using the weapons in this place?”

“Yes. That’s exactly what you’ll be doing.” Spike said immediately. “I get that you guys are very powerful in your own right. And you’re all more than equipped a kicking the asses of almost every creature out there, minus the thralls. Except for maybe you Dinky.”

He smiled sympathetically as the younger unicorn pouted cutely. “Be that as it may, it doesn’t hurt for you guys to be a little more extra prepared. You don’t wanna waste your magical powers and resort to your last resorts too quickly. Remember, you’re not just dealing with ponies and normal creatures here. You are dealing with creatures and beings that are the very epitome of darkness and evil. Only craving for blood and destruction. And the only way to stop somethin like that…” He lifted a paw and unsheathed his claws, letting them gleam in front of the eyes of the mares and filly. “…is with the cold steel of a blade.”

“Alright. So, what you’re saying is,” Amethyst as she ran a hoof through her mane. “We should use the weapons in Twilight’s secret combat room to prolong us from using more power than we need to. That way, if we do have to us it, we’ll have a bigger chance of winning before we eventually run out? Or have to use our trump cards?”

“Uh-huh!” Spike chirped with his signature trademark grin. “That’s exactly it Amethyst! If you do this, you’ll all have a bigger chance at surviving what we’ll be facing up there! Not only that, but we’ll also have a bigger chance at finding Blossomforth and getting her back here to the library!” A smile came to his face as he hovered in the air. “See?! It’s the perfect plan! Our survival will be increased if we do this! And, if we use our magic carefully, we’ll be able to keep it longer and not get drained so quickly!”

“…Yes. Yes, that sounds like a wonderful plan.” Snowflake said as she thought over it. “It would certainly save us the effort in using more magic than necessary against the monsters up above. And we’d be able to last longer in combat and save more magical endurance and stamina should we need it.”

“Plus, you and I are Shenrons, and Spike is a dragon.” Midnight added, gesturing to said drake and their draconic crosses. “It’d be pretty tuff for any creature, folkloric and supernatural or not, to go against ones that have draconic powers. Well, except for the thralls of course. Those are the real threat for us.”

“We can deal with them when the time comes. For now, we can just focus on the less powerful creatures bound to the earth. If we’re lucky, we’ll have enough power and endurance to defeat the thralls. If that royal guards don’t do it first that is.” Spike said, clasping his paws together. “So, what do the rest of you think? Does that sound like a plan?”

“Yes. It sure does Spike.” Derpy replied immediately, smiling with approval. “It’s certainly something that I can go with. Anything that can keep me and my daughters safe, I’m willing to go with.” She held her youngest daughter close to her as she nuzzled the top of her mane. “Besides, it’s not like Dinky hasn’t been in this room before, along with Amethyst. They know this place from top to bottom. So, they should know which weapons are the best to use.”

“I sure do Momma!” Dinky nodded, smiling sweetly. “And I know which ones will be the best ones to slay the big bad wolves and all those other monsters out and town!”

Amethyst nodded with a chuckle. “When you have Twilight as a magic trainer, you tend to pick up on a few of her nerdy habits.”

“Well then, it’s settled!” Spike said as he clapped his paws together. “Let’s rummage around this place and see what weapons you’re most efficient at! You guys are in luck, since these weapons are magically enhanced! So you shouldn’t have that much trouble in dealing the fatal blow against any monster that tries to eat you!”

“Yeah, we kind of already know that Spike.” Cloud said looking at the swords handles as gemstones glowed within them. “We can literally see magical gemstones glowing from inside of the swords. They’ve been doing that ever since we got here.”

The drake paused, before sweat dropping as a blush blossomed on his scaly cheeks. “Oh, right. I kind of figured that already.” Shaking his embarrassment away, he put up a more jovial attitude as he headed towards the closes weapon filled corner. “A-anyway, we can worry about that in a minute! Why don’t we go through here and see which weapon is best fit for you guys so we can get out there and save Blossomforth?”

“Yeah!” Dinky squeaked, leaping out of her mother’s embrace and pounding towards the winged purple drake. “Let’s show those big scary monsters why you don’t mess with the Hooves Family! Are you with me Momma? Big sis? Auntie Cloud?”

Derpy smiled warmly as she, Amethyst, Snowflake and Midnight followed her youngest daughter and Spike. “All the way little muffin. All the way.”

I had made another little mistake in the author's not, and that was giving the impression that we were going to see the Hooves Family, Spike, Midnight and Snowflake being thrown into combat. What I meant to say when I put in that author's note, is that they were planning to go back and face the folkloric army. Which is why none of you have seen them go and face them yet. That will happen in either the next chapter or the chapter after that one. Also, if some of you are wondering why I had given Twilight a secret magical combat chamber, is because I wanted to have her be a mare that is prepared for situations similar to that of the one that Ponyville is in now. Probably not anywhere near the scale of supernatural, but still prepared for situations like that nonetheless. Well, Spike is going to make sure that Snowflake, Midnight and the Hooves Family are plenty prepared, because I promise you they are going to get very bloody by the time they get out to face the folkloric army for real.

Next time: The girls try to escape the jaws of the Timberwolf pack and being eaten alive. All while getting a very scary surprise in the midst of it.