Boom! Double post! Told ya!
I'm probably going to stick to posting two chapters at once, at least until I've made it through season 1. Most of the interesting things I have pre-planned for Myles kick off in season 2, however I've been pleasantly surprised with how he's fit into season 1 so far. Regardless, just so you guys get more per update and this doesn't feel like it's taking forever, I'll give this a shot.
I'm not sure about what all is going to happen here. I have at least one thing I know has to happen because of a mistake I made earlier. I also have at least one thing that can't happen because it would ruin the episode. I'll elaborate on those after the chapter if the former still winds up happening.
I don't own My Little Pony
(Settle in for a longer chapter)
Boast Busters or Shattered
Myles snuck quietly along the tree line, keeping an eye on the surface of the swamp water. He didn't bother checking the woods behind him, whatever lived in the swamp kept the other inhabitants of the Everfree forest at a distance, which was why it had caught his attention.
Before Twilight arrived, his excursions into the forest were usually a death-defying sprint trying to lose a potential predator or lure it into a trap. Any knowledge he'd gained of the creatures who lived there was usually at the cost of a few hairs from his tail and a few fresh bruises. Now that his crystal warning system was in place, he had time to look explore. He had always intended to do so in order to familiarize himself with the types of creatures who lived there, as he had no doubt there were dozens of varieties he didn't know about. While it put him in danger of being attacked, it also meant he might figure out a better way of fighting a monster without the stress of having to keep it away from Ponyville at the same time.
At least, that's the reasoning he gave the Mayor when he told her of his intentions to explore. If he was completely honest, he'd have just admitted that he was curious about the place. Before Nightmare Moon returned he had had no idea the old royal castle was in the forest, there might be other ruins inside as well. Myles also recalled glimpsing what appeared to be a straw-covered hut in the woods on one occasion as well, but he had been too busy running from timberwolves to take a look at the time and later he couldn't find the spot he'd seen it in again.
He'd passed the swamp before, but he'd never stayed long enough to see anything unusual that lived there. If he hadn't noticed the lack of wild animals around the water, he probably wouldn't have bothered looking for anything there.
Myles jumped as he heard a loud croak from a nearby toad, which then quickly hopped away. The toads seemed to be the one exception to the absence of wildlife in the water. Initially he considered that they might be the reason for the quiet, but they didn't act aggressively at all and if they were poisonous there would still be other creatures in the habitat, they'd probably leave the toads be. He had just decided to read up on toads in the library when he noticed something else strange. If he looked closely he could see the swamp was populated by hundreds of toads, their natural camouflage made them hard to spot, but if one looked carefully they could be picked out. Myles had never seen so many toads in one place before, but that wasn't what bothered him. Every other time he'd seen a toad it was accompanied by their signature bellowed, grating croaks, often overlapping each other to make a constant din that made them one of Myles least favorite animals.
The swamp inside the Everfree forest, however, was quiet as a tomb.
The toad that had surprised him had been the loudest noise he'd heard in the last hour and the creature had fled quickly afterwards. Myles kept still and observed closely. The ripples the toad had created when he hopped through the water had spread to the center, almost barely visible at this point, but suddenly the water's surface writhed with new waves from several new sources. He heard a few loud croaks and several wet impacts as what looked like every toad in the swamp fled, putting as much distance between themselves and the water as possible. Before Myles could begin following them, the water's surface churned as though they were rapids in a river. He took a tentative step back, but froze when he heard it. The sound was muffled and indistinct, clearly coming from deep below the surface, but it was loud enough that Myles felt it through the ground at the same time.
He couldn't decide if the sound had more in common with the toad's croaks or the growl of a predator. The noise became louder and repeated, this time overlapping itself, and the water's surface seemed to grow more violent. Myles quit pondering the sounds quality and dashed between the trees towards Ponyville. He couldn't be sure what lay beneath the swamps surface, but he knew there was more than one of them, and they were each probably bigger than his house.
As he spotted the edge of Ponyville, he heard the sound again. It was distant, but clearer now, and it was accompanied by the sound of trees being broken like twigs. He stopped running when he got outside the perimeter and listened. After a few more roars, the sound faded and Myles breathed a sigh of relief.
As he entered his home, he decided he wasn't curious enough to go back to the swamp anytime soon. And even then, he'd have to be certain to leave a full regiment of Celestia's personal guard at the town's edge in case it tried to follow him back. He briefly considered writing the Princess for permission to fill the swamp with crystal depth charges, but instead shook his head and chuckled, imagining the Princess' reaction to him effectively asking to bomb the forest, even if it was for the safety of Ponyville.
He put on his saddle bag and checked the perimeter crystal to see that everything was in order before leaving for the library. As he neared the center of town, he spotted what looked like a stage extending from a brightly colored carriage parked next to the town hall. Most of Ponyville seemed to have gathered around it. He spotted a light blue unicorn in a well-adorned cape walking behind the curtain as the crowd dispersed. Whatever had been going on had just ended, so Myles simply shrugged and continued towards the library.
After a few knocks on the library door, it was opened by a distressed looking Twilight.
"Hey Twilight," Myles frowned as he spotted her expression, "Something wrong?"
"No," she said quickly, "Nothing. What did you need?"
Myles looked at her quizzically before continuing, "Do you have any books on wildlife, specifically swamp-dwelling creatures?"
"Oh," Twilight seemed to relax a bit, "I'm sure I do. C'mon inside and we'll see what we can find. Myles spotted a door in the middle of the room as he entered and raised an eyebrow. Twilight chuckled nervously and made it vanish. "Just a joke I was playing on Spike."
Myles rolled his eyes as she turned and was about to make a sarcastic remark when the crystal on his leg emitted two dull tones and glowed red. He tapped it with a hoof and spotted two fading red shapes on the perimeter wall. They weren't that large but were vaguely pony-shaped. Myles grumbled as he turned back to the door.
"Gotta check the perimeter. Guess I'll look at those books later."
Twilight laughed nervously, "Okay, I'll leave them out for you."
Myles galloped towards his home, making a mental note to try and figure out what was bothering Twilight after he was done dragging the foals sneaking into the Everfree forest to the mayor's office. As far as he knew, Ponyville didn't have a jail or even anything resembling law enforcement, the town hadn't had need of them. Perhaps they'd build one after tonight, but for now, he'd have to resist the temptation to repeatedly smack the ponies who forced him to go back into the forest twice in the same afternoon. Or rather night, Myles noticed the sun setting on the horizon and doubled his speed. He had to act fast, the forest was a completely different place at night.
While the Everfree forest was certainly deadly during the daytime, the dangers that rose with the sun generally just ate you quickly, and you would have had plenty of warning. The nocturnal predators of those cursed woods tended to be a lot more subtle and thorough. If Myles didn't get the idiots out now, no one would ever find a trace of them. And he'd have to avoid telling their relatives that he secretly hoped they were eaten, there were scant few alternatives that he knew of and all of those made being devoured alive seem like a mercifully pleasant alternative.
He checked the perimeter again before running into the forest, making sure to enter the same area in which the delinquents did in order to make picking up their trail easier. Myles growled in frustration, following the blatant trail of broken tree limbs and smashed foliage and keeping alert for the creatures the two would inevitably wake as they all but bulldozed a path through the woods. Their trail wasn't hard to follow and they had cleared some of the debris as they went on, so Myles kept up a brisk gallop along their trail, not worried about being stealthy. Whatever could be alerted to the presence of prey had already been roused. These two only stood a chance if he could get to them first.
An expression of surprise crossed Myles face as he broke into a clearing and continued following the trail, which now amounted to twigs and leaves the two had shaken loose as they crossed the clearing and entered the caves. Myles hadn't been inside the caves yet, but he knew many of them were occupied, having spotted several animals retreating into them at night. He lit up his horn and charged into the cave, following the sound of voices. They sounded young, probably schoolchildren on a dare. He realized at least one was a unicorn as Myles spotted a magical light ignite a little ways into the cave, the only light aside from his own. If he was very lucky, he'd be scolding these two for waking up a colony of bats in about a half hour.
"What do you think you're…?" Myles began, causing the two young ponies to turn towards him as the one's light continued to grow brighter. As the cave was illuminated, Myles groaned.
Today's allotment of luck must've gone towards keeping the swamp creature from following him, because it was obviously spent already. The two glanced around at what made Myles stop talking and their jaws dropped.
"…run…"
His voice was barely audible over the building rumble.
"Wha-!?"
"Shhhh!" Myles cut off the shorter one's shout and continued in a harsh whisper, "Run back to town as fast as you can and get help." The massive shape behind the two began to stir.
"B- bu-but what abo-"
"If I survive tonight," Myles hissed through gritted teeth, more from anger than a desire to be quiet, "you will both have permanent hoof-shaped indentations in your thick skulls when you wake up tomorrow, but the only way you are going to wake up tomorrow is if you RUN!" Myles shouted at the two, causing them to jump as he pulled a few crystals out of his saddlebag. The two small unicorns ran full tilt out of the cave, screaming the whole way. Myles didn't bother to tell them to be quiet, the damage had already been done.
He embedded a crystal in either side of the cave and tuned them to form a barrier between him and the creature. The barrier flickered into being just as what appeared to be a translucent, house-sized bear rose to its feet. Myles covered his ears with his hooves as the creature let out an ear-splitting roar. His head spun, but because of the barrier muffling the sound and the adrenaline already pumping through his veins Myles was able to leap to his feet with little trouble. He galloped out of the cave and made for the woods.
Behind him, he heard a shrill pitched whine as the crystals overloaded from the strain. Myles growled but didn't look back, he'd hoped the crystals would buy him a greater head-start, but that would have been lucky and his current reserve wouldn't have filled a teaspoon. He thought quickly, he couldn't handle the beast himself and though he didn't doubt the two colts would get help, he wasn't confident it'd be able to find him in the dense woods. He certainly wasn't leading the beast back to town. Suddenly, Myles let out a laugh as he turned further into the woods. There was a location nearby that would be easy for anypony to find, and help may already be waiting there.
"C'mon fuzzball!" Myles shouted over his shoulder. "You and I are gonna meet some new friends!" He heard trees buckle and fall behind him and felt the massive bear's rampaging footfalls behind him grow louder. He put on a burst of speed as he spotted an opening in the trees, skidding to a stop only when he made it to the clearing ahead. The massive blue shape crashed through the trees towards him but Myles merely smirked. He lightly kicked a rock with one of his rear hooves.
The soft "bloop" the stone made as it broke the surface of the swamp seemed to echo off the tree trunks.
As the water behind him turned into a tumultuous spray, Myles grinned and prepared to run again. The smile slowly faded from his face as the sound of falling trees faded to silence. He could see the texture of the strange beast's hide, covered in stars similar to the Princess Luna's mane but a lighter blue. He could make out the shape of a constellation on its side, the bright points that formed the shape only outshined by the creature's eyes. Of course, Myles could see all this because the beast had stopped its raging pursuit and was now looking behind Myles with its eyes wide.
"Okay," Myles muttered, "I'm no longer as confident in this plan as I was ten seconds ago." He heard giant splashes as something emerged from the water behind him. Myles sprinted directly for the hairy shape in front of him without looking back. The beast looked shocked for a moment, but then raised a massive claw to strike as the pony approached.
"Hey! Why don't you pick on somepony great and powerful instead?!"
Myles leaned his head forward as he sprinted between the confused bear's legs. After a moment, trees shook as the beast dropped back to the ground and wood splintered as the massive bear turned itself around.
"I TOLD YOU TO RUN!" Myles shouted at the orange colt ahead of him, who had turned and fled after shouting at the bear.
"I am running!" the young pony called back.
Myles frowned and glanced back at their pursuer, who seemed even more determined to catch the small things that had disturbed its rest. He thought he saw something other than anger in its eyes and reconsidered. Perhaps it just really wanted to get away from the swamp. Myles tried angling back towards the caves, but the bear continued on its current path.
"Please tell me your friend went for help!" Myles shouted as he sprinted to catch up with the orange colt fleeing ahead of him.
"Yeah, don't worry, the great and powerful Trixie will take care of that Ursa Major!"
"Who?"
"The great and powerful Trix-"
"I swear to Celestia if that is the name of your imaginary friend I am going to finish you off before that ursa even catches up!"
"No! She's real! Very real! Also very great and powerful!"
"Yeah, I figured that much out already. Hope she can defend the town."
"Why? It's after us!"
"And WHERE EXACTLY ARE YOU RUNNING TO?!" Myles' eyebrow twitched as he screamed at the colt.
"…oh yeah…" Myles heard him mutter as he finally caught up. The realization caused the other pony to slow a bit before Myles shoved him onwards with his shoulder.
"Too late now," Myles yelled, "This party's coming to Ponyville whether it's ready for it or not." He nodded forwards, indicating the increasingly sparse trees and the outline of a few buildings ahead. "This time you keep running! Understand?"
"You got it!" the colt screamed in desperate acknowledgment of the two angry monsters behind him. One last bit of luck seemed to have held out, as the creature from the swamp appeared too territorial to pursue them.
Myles turned and skidded to a stop as he had done in front of the swamp, this time settling several yards in front of his own house. He grabbed a couple of spare crystals inside with his magic, the window of his house shattering as he pulled them outside and began to enchant them. He closed his eyes and listened to the crystals' pitch fluxuate slowly. His ears twitched about as he tried to ignore the ursa roaring and smashing through anything in its path, focusing instead on tuning the crystals in front of him. As the ursa's latest roar faded, Myles estimated it was only a few dozen yards away. Myles pushed the thought that he might be gone in mere seconds to the back of his mind and focused.
The crystals hum harmonized and Myles thrust them both into the ground and triggered them with a manic grin. He opened his eyes just in time to see the ursa slam against the barrier at full speed. The crystals squealed in protest at the strain, but wavered back and forth in pitch as the bear rose up and slammed its claws into the barrier. "Neat, huh? Just thought of it. Maybe a double reinforced barrier won't last long, but as long as those crystals keep juggling the magical load between each other," Myles sat down and panted, a smirk edging its way across his face, "you are staying put, fluffy."
Once again, Myles smug expression fell apart into one of worry as he heard something else and responded in a monotone "Oh no." He looked down as he heard a second deafening "crack" from the ground in front of him. "No." The soil shifted and so did the rock beneath. "No no!" He looked up as the ursa roared again and slammed itself into the barrier. "NONONO!" The crystals moved back as the rock it was anchored to scraped against its other broken pieces. "NO NO NO NO NO-" Myles got to his feet, his eyes bugging out as the ground beneath him buckled as well.
Myles turned to run as he shouted, "NONONONONONONONOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAH!" Myles stumbled as the ground where he was running heaved itself free of the earth and erupted underneath him.
In adrenaline fueled clarity he watched as the massive boulders were pushed over and ricocheted off each other in their horizontal avalanche headed directly towards his house. The rock he was standing on lurched forwards and flung him towards the house. He curled his hooves against himself and aimed his back towards the house as his horn sparked with magic.
"Ow," Myles stated flatly, partly out of anticipation of the coming pain and partly in case he didn't have the chance later.
He saw a gray-blue orb flicker into existence around him just before the first boulder hit him. The orb pulsed brighter as it was struck, sending him flying backwards through the wall. Wood splintered to pieces as he went through and the rest of the wall burst inwards as the torrent of rocks smashed into his house. His bed and dresser shattered and were thrown airborne, followed quickly by the pieces of his work table and storage trunk.
Still watching the chaos unfold at a crawl, Myles heard a faint hum as the music crystal from his bedside table floated towards his protective shell, his gala ticket still stuck to the bottom. He chuckled and opened the barrier a bit, letting the crystal float inside and into his hoof before he closed the shield around himself again.
Violas began to play as he drifted through what used to be the place where he lived. He turned and saw the other wall of his house burst as he was pushed through it. He heard the rest of his house collapse behind him but he was focused on the building next door. He remembered complaining to the Mayor about the placement of his house, how it seemed like his nearest neighbor was two dozen yards away, almost like they didn't want to admit he lived in town. The violas held their chord a bit then let it fade as they began preparing the next. Even with his senses allowing him to perceive the chipped paint on the house next door approaching slowly, it occurred to him that perhaps his house was actually too close.
The cellos struck the first note of their sequence.
He accelerated towards the wall as time sped up again.
Myles wondered who in their right minds paints a house that shade of yellowy green.
And then everything went dark.
"-sycally, he'll be fine," Myles heard a familiar voice state, "Lots of nasty contusions and a few lacerations from shrapnel. And he obviously has some blood loss, which is why it looks so bad, but evidently his magic soaked up most of the impact. That, however, is what worries me. Given Myles' preexisting magical hindrance and the strain it would have taken to generate a barrier to protect himself from the impact… he'll be bed ridden for a month, at least."
Myles cracked open an eyelid, seeing the same doctor who'd treated him previously talking to Twilight and the rest of his friends. Twilight's eyes widened as he sat up and threw his covers off, swinging his hooves over the side of the hospital bed. The doctor's jaw dropped in disbelief before he shook his head and walked towards his patient.
"Mr. Shardslow," he began.
"Shardsole," Myles corrected automatically as his hooves hit the ground, shaking a bit before he stood up, "And I'm sorry doc, but I've got plans for this month."
"Myles!" Twilight threw her hooves around him and the others soon followed, squeezing him as tightly as the last time he'd woken up here. The embrace made Myles wince in pain as it brought the numerous bruises to his attention "I know you don't like it, but you really should get some rest."
"Not yet, gotta take care of something right away," he gently squeezed past the girls and walked into the hallway. He looked around and, spotting the staircase, headed towards it. Twilight was right behind him with a look of increasing concern on her face.
"Myles, you shouldn't even be out of bed yet, let alone walking around," Twilight pleaded with him as he began to descend to the first floor, the girls following close behind, "We just want you to be okay."
Myles glanced around and met her eyes, his expression softening a bit, "Thanks," Twilight smiled, thinking she'd convinced him, but then she saw him walking away again.
"Myles!" she called after him.
He made his way to the front entrance of the hospital and threw the doors open, looking around at the town in disbelief. He shook his head and scowled as he spotted two colts he recognized, standing across the road with their mouths agape. Myles walked up to them until he was only a foot away. Though not very tall for a pony, Myles still looked a little frightening as he drew himself up to his full height and glared down at the two.
They shivered and shrank a little as they looked up at him.
"Names," Myles said in a monotone.
"Wh- wha whu?" The small blue colt tripped over his words.
"What are," Myles injected every syllable with his frustration from the past several months, "your names?"
"S-s-snips."
"Snai-," the other trailed off into silence.
"Speak up," Myles growled as the two shook.
"Snails," the orange colt managed to blurt out.
Myles snorted, blowing the two colts' manes back as the searing hot air rushed past them. Then he leaned in and brought his face forward until it he was glaring directly into Snails' eyes from a few inches away.
"Never," he began quietly before turning and bringing himself to glare at Snips at the same uncomfortable distance to finish, "-again."
Myles walked back through the entrance of the hospital, the doors still held open by some shocked medical staff who had watched this scene unfold. The doors closed behind him as the staff ran to check on the two colts. Snips was shaking like a leaf and Snails seemed to have fainted.
Finally, he turned back to Twilight and his voice shook a little as he asked, "How long was I out?"
"It's been about three hours since the Ursa Minor attacked."
"Only three hou- MINOR?!" Myles interrupted himself as his mind caught up with the end of Twilight's statement. Twilight nodded nervously.
"Three hours?"
"Yes."
"Is… is everypony okay?"
"Everyone's fine," Twilight gently placed a hoof on his shoulder, "but you need rest!"
Myles sighed in frustration. "What happened?"
"I will tell you as soon as you get back to your hospital bed." Twilight stood between him and the town and gave him a stern glare. Myles groaned and made his way back inside. A nurse offered him a wheelchair but he walked right past them.
Back upstairs, Myles rolled back into his bed without a word. Rarity used her magic to float the cover over him and he muttered a quiet "Thank you," to her as he turned to face Twilight.
"Well, the town was attacked by an Ursa Minor," Twilight began nervously, but seemed at a loss for where to go next as Myles rolled his eyes. Applejack stepped forward. "You bein modest again? We told you, you're our friend no matter what. Twilight drove it off," she turned to Myles and finished with a proud grin.
"Twilight?" Myles eyes widened as he looked back to Twilight, who hung her head and looked away nervously. "What's wrong?" he asked her with genuine concern.
"She's just worryin' for no reason again. Did ya hear about Trixie?"
Myles frowned, "I've heard of her, but I've never had the displeasure of meeting her." Rarity giggled.
"She was spoutin' loads a hooey in the town square about bein the best magician in Equestria and telling everyone she'd beaten an Ursa Major while showing off her magic. Twilight thought we didn't like her because she used magic too, so she got all in a tizzy for nuthin'. Anywho, those two colts outside bought into Trixie's lies and went into the forest to lure an Ursa Major to town so Trixie could show how 'great an' powerful' she wus." Applejack laughed a bit.
"She pretty much just ran away, screaming," Rainbow interjected with a grin.
"Then Twilight stepped up and used her magic to lull the beast to sleep, give it a milk bottle and swaddle it to sleep. She knew what to do because she'd been researching Trixie's boasting." Rarity had continued.
"It was just cranky," Twilight seemed to have her confidence back, "it was just a baby after all." Myles groaned and let his head fall to his pillow, causing Twilight to rush to his side, "Are you alright?!"
"'m fine," Myles grumbled, "but I really, really do not want to meet that monster's mommy." The girls giggled nervously. "So everypony's fine and there wasn't even any damage?"
"A few roofs," Twilight began, "the water tower will have to be replaced, your neighbor's wall and…" she trailed off nervously.
Myles sighed, "My house, I know." The girls looked shocked. "I was actually there for that bit." Myles tilted his head forward to look at them, "Is there anything left?"
"Just these," Twilight's eyes began to water as she placed his gala ticket and music crystal on the table next to him, "We- we found them in your hooves…" Twilight looked ready to cry, Myles leaned forward and put a hoof on her shoulder, "Hey! What's wrong? You saved the day! Everypony's fine."
"But you!" she stuttered, "Your house! You lost everything and we couldn't help! If I hadn't been too scared of what everyone might think of me, I would have acted earlier an- and-" Twilight stammered, "When I- I mean, when we found you… you were…" she trailed off weakly and Myles examined his leg, eyeing the dark purple bruises and a bandage around his shoulder that was tinted dark red with blood. He'd been cleaned up by the doctors and still looked pretty awful. He must've looked like a nightmare when the girls found him. Myles grinned as a thought occurred to him.
Myles began to chuckle a bit, catching the girls' attention as they looked aghast at his sudden mirth (the exception being Pinkie Pie, who joined him in his laughter), which had escalated to a full belly laugh which stuttered as he said "HA-Ow! Ow! Hahahahaow, it hurts to laugh! Hehheheheheow! Heheow!"
"Myles?" Twilight tried to get his attention, looking frightened as her friend shook with laughter. "Maybe you should lie down…"
"Don't worry about me," Myles said through his continued chuckles, "I probably gave poor Snips and Snails heart attacks! HaHehhoooooo-ha-ow!" He closed his eyes and leaned back. "I mean, I was trying to scare them enough to make them stay away from the forest, but I must've looked like a bucking zombie! HAHAHOOHAHEH!" Twilight cracked a smile but her eyes were still watering. Myles pulled her over into another hug. "I'm fine Twilight. And I'm sorry you had to deal with the ursa on your own."
"There's nothing you could have done…"
"Not at the time no," Myles shut his eyes, "but I'm going to have to write to Princess Celestia about getting a new supply of crystals, trying to find my own isn't working and if I want to do my job I'll need them. As soon as I get out I'm improving the perimeter as much as I can. The early warning system isn't enough and I don't want you or anyone else to get hurt if I can't protect the town myself."
"But Twilight can beat an Ursa Minor, probably an Ursa Major even," Twilights eyes widened and she shook her head at Rainbow Dash's words, but Rainbow missed this and continued, "Between the two of you, you can totally handle anything that comes out of that forest if you can already handle the biggest, baddest thing around, right?" Her grin faded as she saw Myles' grim expression. "Myles?"
Myles looked up and smiled, "Oh! Sorry, Rainbow, I spaced out there for a minute."
Twilight shot him a skeptical look, but he shook his head, yawned and stretched. "Well, you need to get your rest, we'll leave you to it. We're so glad you're feeling better though, Myles." The girls approached and hugged him again before filing out of the room. He waved goodbye to them, mouthing a silent "thank you," to Twilight. When he thought they'd gone, he sighed heavily and crossed his hooves over his eyes.
"Myles," Twilight's voice came from the doorway, where Myles spotted her when he sat up quickly, "What else is out there?"
He closed his eyes and turned on his side, "I don't know, Twilight, and hopefully we'll never have to find out, but I'll sleep easier after we've prepared for it."
WOO! That definitely turned out a little different as usual, but for once I had a list of things I knew had to get into (or out of) this chapter and I got them all!
Firstly, just in case you were still wondering about the one I mentioned at the opening that was the result of a mistake in a previous chapter, I demolished Myles' house. Mean of me, I know, and not even strictly necessary, I suppose. In my excitement in getting the first two chapters out, I gave Myles house a bit of a generic description, completely forgetting the design I'd thought up that more suited his job, though that design is in question now as well. I could have gone back and rewrote the previous chapters to have the new house design, but I'm lazy by habit, and my brain immediately tried to talk me out of doing it. It wasn't long before it threw out the idea of destroying his house in the upcoming fight with the ursa and I was instantly taken with the idea. It was exciting and it gave me more interesting stuff to do with Myles in season 1. Don't expect to see it next chapter either, it'll take a few episodes for it to be built because I need him to have no place of his own for an upcoming episode. It didn't go down the way I thought though, originally the ursa was going to smack him through his house and then knock the rest down while pursuing him. At which point Myles and the ursa would continue to fight a bit while he called Trixie a coward only to be saved by Twilight himself. This went out the window when I had Myles' encounter and attempt to use the swamp monster to his advantage before the fight comes to Ponyville, meaning he had to run halfway across the Everfree forest. Twice. It also occurred to me that while Myles is stubborn and foolhardy at times, he is not stupid and his concern for the town would mean he would never face down the ursa at the town border with only his magic. I love how he came up with a last-ditch plan and how it worked out, but once again I took him out of a major part of the episode because I realized that a)he wasn't going to survive being crushed between boulders and the ruins of his house without using some magic and b) I wasn't too eager to type out the rest of the episode when Myles couldn't do much without messing up the episode's lesson.
Speaking of trying not to step on the episode's toes, I guess we didn't really touch on Myles crystal magic this chapter, but this was partially on purpose. When getting ready to write this one I put the episode on as I usually do, but I didn't remember the opening challenge by Trixie as well as I thought. I think I had misremembered it as the magical showdown she has with Twilight in a later episode, as I didn't recall Applejack and Rainbow Dash challenging Trixie. The clincher, however, was Trixie actually uttering something along the lines of "Anything you can do, I can do better!" Originally Myles was going to challenge Trixie and fail because his magic gave out on him, but once I realized some non-magical ponies rose to the challenge and Trixie had used those words which would've just been vague enough to allow Myles to drag crystal magic into the works. You may recall I spent most of the previous chapter introducing another reason for him being the ONLY pony able to perform crystal magic for now. So either Trixie would have to figure out crystal magic on the spot, which wasn't very plausible even before I deliberately wrote in a reason for even Twilight to be unable to do it, or Myles would have to miss the opening showdown. As I previously said, I was going to make up for this by including him heavily in the second half of the episode, but that didn't happen… oh well.
Another thing I wanted in this story and worked into this chapter was foreshadowing! Woo! It's almost like I remembered stuff about writing or something. Some of it wasn't all that subtle and I hope that at least one bit was subtle enough. We shall wait and see, since I obviously can't elaborate now
Oh and the secure perimeter was going to be a gradual change leading up to season 2, only improving when he made progress with his research. I like it better this way, though. Protecting his friends is a better reason and more incentive for him to make improvements at a faster pace now that Everfree has humbled him (kicked his rump).
Audience participation time! I'm a little tired of writing the word "perimeter" and I think Myles' next defensive/early-warning system will go by a snappy acronym, but I can't really think of one right now. Leave your suggestions for acronyms, with or without what it stands for, if I like the acronym enough I'll fill in the words. Oh and make sure to keep it clean. Like, not even "Bucknet" is acceptable. Hmmmm…. Actually….
-Dr. Spacewizard Esq.