Chapter 1: A Rift Opens

It was morning in Ponyville, there was nothing special about this morning, just like every other. Twilight Sparkle arose from her bed, slightly groggy to say the least; her hair was a mess and resembled the time where she went a little bit crazy. She slowly crawled out of bed, her hooves cantering on the wood floor of the tree-library she called her home. She looked over at Spike, half expecting him to get up after all the noise she'd been making. He didn't. She made her bed as she did most mornings (a habit she picked up from Rarity) and went downstairs to get something to eat. As she lay her hoof on the first step though she felt weird, this was no longer a morning like every other, her horn tingled and glowed without her wanting it to, as if she was casting a spell. It faded in seconds but it was enough to spark inquisition into the mare as she looked for a book on 'Horn Dysfunction'.

She took a lot longer to find any book related without her number one helper Spike to do it for her, so it was a good 30 minutes before she found what she was looking for; "Your Horn and you: A guide for Unicorns". Gently she opened the front cover to the contents page and searched for anything that would cause a horn to cast a spell by itself!

"Horn Grooming, No, Horn Shining, No, Casting your first Spell, No, Ah!"

Spike rubbed his eyes and sauntered down the steps to the Library.

"Twilight, what's all the noise? A certain dragon needs his sleep." He added, wishing he had never gotten out of his cot.

"Oh, sorry to wake you Spike, Just having a weird morning, you know how it is."

"Well could you keep the weirdness down for a bit, its six a.m."

Spike climbed back up the stairs as Twilight lightly chuckled to herself. She closed over the book and thought that the best way to find out what happened was to write a letter to the Princess and get Spike to send it whenever he decides to wake up. She went to her small kitchen and carefully made herself a sandwich with grass, she had the time after all, as she went back into the Library she picked up a Quill and Inkwell; Carrying all three with her magic now. She gently laid the Quill and Ink on her lectern before taking a bite from her sandwich. She sighed and rejoiced in the fact that today could be a lazy day; she had nothing to do and decided that the best way to spend it was some good, old, relaxing studying, but first, a letter to the Princess.

Dear Princess Celestia

I am writing to you on formal terms, I wa-..

A sudden crash as if a speeding stallion had just crashed into her house interrupted Twilight and made her jump. Quickly she turned around and saw a mess of books on the floor with a small yellow Pegasus flank sticking out of it, Wings still flapping gently.

OH Come on! Spike exclaimed through the floor.

"Fluttershy!" Twilight exclaimed, slight angst in the fact she would have to reorganize all those books.

"Oh, I-I-I'm really sorry T-T-Twi-." She was cut off mid speech by Twilight.

"What's going on? Is it another Dragon!"

"N-N-No it's… scarier."

"Sorry, what?"

"Scarier." Fluttershy raised her voice by a decibel or two, still only being heard by those used to her frailty.

Scarier than a Dragon?. Twilight wondered what in the world could be scarier than that, especially for Fluttershy.

"I think, I should just show you."

It was still dark when they left Twilight's house, They walked at a fast trot, Wanting to get there but at the same time, scared at what she would find. I always thought Dragons were Fluttershy's biggest fear. They slowly came up on the edge of Fluttershy's Cottage within a couple of minutes, but as they got there Fluttershy jumped into a bush leaving Twilight standing there, still not seeing anything remotely scary or different for that matter about her Cottage. The yellow mare stretched out a hoof and pulled in Twilight, Gently.

"I don't see anything Fluttershy" Twilight whispered, almost humouring her.

"Look!" She said in silent exclamation.

Twilight peered out of the bushes and didn't believe what she saw. There were 9 strange ponies outside Fluttershy's house, If you could even call them ponies. They all stood on two hoofs and wore large leathery horse shoes apart from the colts that had hairy hooves that came to five small digits on each. Each wore clothes unfamiliar to Equestria that would make Photo Finish faint. There were three tall ones that looked the same, but one considerably older in comparison and looked like the drawings of Starswirl. There was one very tall one who dressed in green and had a very well groomed blonde mane, that would even make Rarity jealous, there were also five small ones, smaller than the ponies in the bush, one with a beard and an axe and four small hairy ones that looked more scared than anything. The larger ones were deep in conversation that Twilight could just make out, they were talking about their surroundings and how they had no idea where this was. The bearded one looked particularly confused.

Fluttershy began to nudge Twilight who must have gone off into one of her 'Thinking Moments' as she just stared into space with her jaw open. The purple pony shook her head and looked again, as if trying to make them disappear but to no avail. Suddenly some of them drew long tree saplings with string between them, they looked like toys. The one with the blonde mane put a twig with a knife on the end into it. It didn't look like much of a toy anymore.

The air was tense Twilight could tell that they must of heard Fluttershy wiggling in the bush.

"Aaaaaaah!" Yelped Fluttershy as she reared on two legs and fell out of the bush. It was all too fast for Twilight, The blonde ones knife had gone and was now running over too them with the others, they had large swords, not like the ones the royal guard had in Canterlot. Quickly Twilight leapt out of the bush and ran too Fluttershy, Adrenaline taking control with reckless abandon, The knife-twig was now through Fluttershy's left front leg and bleeding, she was wailing louder than usual, probably because she had never been in this amount of pain with her submissive attitude. Twilight felt a little sick, she was no Nurse Redheart. She had all but forgotten the nine strange ponies that had ran towards her and was taken over with worry for her friend. She felt tears well up in her eyes not knowing what to do, panicking she pranced from side to side, trying to help her.

She suddenly felt that she was no longer alone; she turned around to find the largest four of the group surrounding her and Fluttershy. She had now stopped crying and was scrunched up into a ball sobbing. Her blood had stained her yellow coat and made a sick pink colour. Twilight collapsed with fear and quaked, lying down with her hooves on her head.

"P-P-P-Ple-le-a" Her ability to talk had reduced to a nervous mess. It seemed that the weight of their presence had moved from her, she peeked through one eye and saw them move towards Fluttershy. Filled with sudden anger she raised her hind legs and bucked hard and fast into the legs of one of the strange pink ponies. Her legs rattled off something hard, she felt as if she had kicked a lamppost. Once she had stopped shaking from the recoil she jumped around and expected the worst.

Were they eating her?

Were they killing her?

Were they torturing her?

A million sick ideas of what could be happening ran through her mind as she opened her eyes to face them. She was greeted with a sight she had not expected to see. The one who had shot Fluttershy was now tending to her wounds (Fluttershy would not co-operate though, through fear) and the rest turned to face her.

"Are you alright?" Asked a strange deep voice.

"I'm f-f-fine, Wha-a-t are you, What are you doing to my friend?" Twilight stammered

"There is a time and a place to explain such things friend, But now, This youngling needs seeing to" The oldest of the group said in a calming, gentle voice.

(I know this is not 3000 words like I promised but it is what I wanted to leave it at, and I think leaving it here finishes this chapter off well)