hdy4u4ye8

by the great pepsi man

heyeheyeye7eye7

10. sjb5irirur

In a Far Away Land

by TheReaderAndWriter

--

The Cube

--

An orange and yellow earth-pony was doing her usual chores on a lovely farm. It was a hot and sunny day as she was busy struggling with her tools in the bright sun. She was sweating and was quite thirsty. For what felt like the hundredth time that day alone, she dug a hole in the ground. Her apple orchard, as it were, was bound to have a fantastic harvest that season and she needed to work to make sure an even greater year followed. The last sapling next to her looked so young and healthy. It was her calling in life to help it grow big and strong, just like all the others. This hole would be the last one of the day. Then after finishing her chores she could spend the afternoon relaxing in the shade. With great force she struck the earth for what she hoped would be the last time. A shock went up her body as she hit something solid. Applejack couldn't help but to feel strange. She was sure whatever she struck should have given off a clang but she could only hear complete silence.

"What in tarnation?" asked Applejack. She dug at the ground with her hooves. The moment she uncovered the object, her eyes widened. "Sweet Celestia, what the...?"

The little purple pony Alicorn put down a heavy book upon the table. Twilight Sparkle leaned back to bask in the sunlight. After hours of enjoying the lovely literature she finally managed to sneak in a bit of relaxation.

It was a wonderful day just like any other. There wasn't a single cloud in the bright blue sky. The sun was at its peak. When she had walked out the door that morning, Twilight had expected scorching hot air on such a day, but the pleasant wind managed to cool her just right. Despite not being too fond of the feeling of flight, Twilight couldn't deny that she felt just a little bit of longing. She wanted to feel the wind under her wings. Without even realizing it her wings had spread out wide in an unintentional urge to fly. When she noticed it she rolled her eyes.

"Again?" Folding in her wings she looked around the area in embarrassment. The tables around the restaurant were oddly bustling that day. Sighing in complete relief she closed her eyes. Nopony of the dozens of ponies had seen her do it. They were simply too busy enjoying the day. Earth-ponies, pegasi and unicorns were all gathered. Eating, chatting, laughing. "What a wonderful day," Twilight said, smiling. When she opened her eyes she noticed something; a familiar face was walking towards her in the crowd.

"Hey, Twilight!" said Spike. The little green and purple dragon was holding a sweet drink, cooling off in the hot sun. "What's up?"

"My wings," Twilight said with slight embarrassment. She didn't speak of it to a lot of ponies, barely even her friends, but she could always talk to Spike. Her life had gone through plenty of changes lately, so it was great to have someone who was always willing to listen. He was more than a friend, more than an assistant, he was like her personal diary. He held all of her feelings and he was always there for her, something she needed these days more than anything.

"Again?"

"Yeah. Couldn't help it. And my leg is tired, I've waved back to so many ponies today it's insane. The mayor, Rose, Derpy Hooves, everpony you can imagine."

"That sucks."

"Spike!"

"What?"

"Language!"

Immediately covering his mouth with his claw, he avoided her stern eyes. "Sorry, slip of the tongue."

"Don't let it happen again... again," said Twilight. They were all growing up, weren't they? She becoming a princess and being introduced to the possibility of so much responsibility, little Spike not being able to help one too many slip-ups. Things were ever-changing just like it was supposed to... for better or for worse.

"Good day, Princess," said a brown stallion walking past the table.

"Hello, Time Turner," said Twilight. Spike waved. After the pony had passed, the princess turned to the dragon. "I'll never get used to titles. Ever."

"Don't be ridiculous, Twilight. Of course you will. I got used to being called Spike the Incredible," said Spike.

"What?"

"Oh, little inside joke. I figured since you're Princess Twilight, I'm Spike the Incredible," said Spike.

Twilight chuckled. "Spike, you've got to earn titles." Spike glared at her with a skeptical look. Twilight couldn't help but to wonder. "What's wrong?"

"Twilight, you magically became an Alicorn and a Princess while still being barely an adult. Sure, you're good at magic, and I'm happy for you, but I'm not sure you're the best one to tell me about earning stuff," said Spike. He took a sip of his drink.

"Well, um, I-"

"Don't worry about it. And you're right. Believe me, one day I will earn a title," said Spike with a determined glint in his eyes.

"Hey there, Princess Twilight," said a tall yellow stallion.

"Hello, Twilight, Your Highness," said his wife, the blue mare at his side. She couldn't help but to giggle. "Look, little Carrot Cake, Pound Cake, that's your Princess Twilight," she said to their two little foals.

"Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Cake." said Twilight.

"Oh, Princess, we met Applejack just a few minutes ago. She said she was looking for you. Have you seen her?" asked Mr. Cake.

Twilight shook her head. "Can't say that I have."

"Well, it sounded a bit urgent," said Mr. Cake.

"Speaking of which. Sweetie, we need to get back to Sugarcube Corner with the ingredients. Pinkie Pie's going to run out any minute now," said Mrs. Cake.

Before anyone could do anything else a voice could be heard in the crowd. "Twilight! Twi'! yelled out a familiar voice. "Twi', you've got to see this here!" yelled Applejack. Twilight turned her head towards the yelling. Picking out Applejack in the crowd was easy; her hat easily stuck out. The orange and yellow pony was running while holding something in her mouth, or was she? It was strange. Twilight had to look, and then look again, and again and again.

Whatever was in Applejack's mouth was without a doubt something otherworldly and it was very strange to watch. As though Twilight's brain was struggling to comprehend it. All she knew was that it was an object. It was fuzzy, difficult to even mentally grasp, like a fog, a static, a mistake. It moved independently of Applejack's movement, yet Twilight's brain was telling her that the object was still in Applejack's grasp.

"What is that thing?" asked Twilight.

"I don't know, it looks pretty cool though," said Spike.

"I think we better just leave, Dear," said Mrs. Cake to her husband. He quickly nodded and they moved, as did many other ponies around them. They knew better than to stay with Twilight Sparkle when the crazy stuff started to happen. And it always did.

"What's wrong, Applejack?" asked Twilight as the mare stopped in front of her.

"I found this under Sweet Apple Acres. I don't know what it is, but, I think you should take a look at it," said Applejack.

"What is it?"

"I don't know! It was just lying there in the ground. Do you know what it is?" asked Applejack.

When Applejack put it down on the table in front of her, Twilight started to look at it closely. She could get fascinated by even mundane things if she just thought about them hard enough. Something as strange as this was quite easy to get curious about. Twilight gently poked at the object, she could only feel an extremely smooth flat texture. It was neither warm nor cold.

"Do you have anything to tell me? Where did you find it?"

"Just in a hole I dug up."

"And was there anything around it?"

"Nothing. Oh, and I haven't dug there since last spring," said Applejack. Twilight glared at the little object. From what she could see, the object was roughly the size of an apple, despite constantly seemingly shifting. Twilight looked away from the object, just looking at it gave her a headache. "Yeah, that happened to me too. Don't worry, it'll pass," said Applejack. "It sort of becomes clearer after a while."

"And what does it look like?" asked Spike, starting to poke the phenomenon.

"Like a cube, but different," said Applejack.

"Fascinating," said Twilight. "Also, stop poking it, Spike."

"Ooh! What's that thing?" asked a cheerful voice. Twilight turned around to see Pinkie Pie looking over her head. The purple pony's eyes were larger than normal. "Looks freaky-deaky."

"Yes, I'm struggling to even comprehend it. Imagine the possibilities, the discoveries this could lead to," said Twilight.

"I doubt this will lead to anything," said Spike.

"You never know, Spike. Twilight, be extra careful. I know you like doing experiments and stuff, but this could be pretty dangerous stuff as far as we know," said Applejack.

"I assure you, I will follow the strictest scientific protoco- Spike, stop touching it!" said Twilight, pulling away the curious little dragon from the object with a magical pull. A purple aura enveloped him and quickly faded. "I'll just take this back to the library, maybe I can find something in the books about it," said Twilight, focusing her thoughts and energy on the object.

The moment the aura appeared around the object, Twilight felt a huge pull in her gut. Energy was flowing into her horn and beyond at an astounding rate. Within seconds, before her friends could even try to help, Twilight felt faint. All the power in the world couldn't have stopped the theft of her magical energy. She tried to get away, she tried to stop, but nothing could help her. The object was starting to solidify. Suddenly Twilight was able to see a square form inside the haze, growing and growing. Depth could be seen within the shape as it grew. Several pillars made from Twilight's energy shot out all around them. An aura forming the shape of a cube passed them all, the translucent walls moving uninterrupted through them. In the blink of an eye, the cage expanded far out into the distance. Finally, it let Twilight go. She fell to the ground where she struggled to stand up. Everything was spinning, but the cube especially. It was turning around, and the rotation sped up constantly. Within a few seconds it was spinning so quickly Twilight couldn't even see the corners.

"What the hay is going o-" Then everything went dark. Silence fell.

Landscapes

--

Twilight couldn't see anything in the endless darkness. Light didn't exist and neither did sound. In that void, she couldn't even feel her own body. Not even her heartbeat seemed to exist. She couldn't breathe but it didn't feel necessary. Suddenly, with a deafening explosion, a light pierced through the darkness, giving her the ability to see again. She could see the black silhouette of her own legs in front of her. Everywhere around her in the dark gray void, against the rays of the strong light in the distance, she could see the outline of hundreds of different ponies. They were in front of her, behind, above and beneath. All of them faced the light. Some of the black shapes looked afraid while others seemed confused.

When trying to speak she couldn't even hear her own voice.

The light suddenly expanded to envelop them all. As Twilight, with great force, got back the ability to feel, the brightness blinded her. Without warning she felt a strong wind hitting her face. Her teary eyes couldn't see much except something blue rushing towards her.

Once she hit the surface she tumbled down into the darkness. It didn't take long before she came to a halt in the water's cold embrace. Her head felt like it was spinning uncontrollably, she couldn't even feel which way was up. She just swam straight ahead in panic. Without warning something grabbed hold of her wing and pulled. The first thing Twilight did when she breached the surface was to gasp for air and cough up water. Whoever had helped her patted her roughly on the back while dragging her towards shallower water.

"Come on, come on, not another one. Breathe, come on," said an unfamiliar voice. Twilight turned around to face the stranger, but she was so disoriented she turned in the completely wrong direction. She lost her balance and fell down into the water. For a few short moments she lied on her back, trying desperately to make sense of what had just happened. Frightened, she barely realized her head was lying against a flat sandy, warm, surface. In the corner of her eye, the shape of a pony gazing down at her. The sun was right above them, she couldn't see anything clearly. Within the moment the pony looked up at somewhere in the distance, and then fled. Less than a minute later something familiar and smaller rushed to Twilight's side.

"Thank Celestia you're okay," said Spike. Twilight coughed again as he supported her head.

"Spike, are, are you alright?" asked Twilight. Spike nodded, his form slowly becoming clearer and sharper.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Don't worry. I'm a lot tougher than I look, you know."

"Thick scales," said Twilight. He smiled at her. "Spike, who was that pony?"

"Who?"

"There was someone who, he helped me. I would have drowned." Spike helped her up. Twilight finally felt the fog filling her mind clearing. She looked around for the pony, but nopony was visible anywhere.

"Um, Twilight, where are we?" asked Spike, sounding worried.

Twilight took a good look around, the only thing she knew was that they simply could not be in Ponyville anymore. It was like the universe had just thrown its hooves up in the air and decided the laws of everything had been a mistake and rebuilt everything from scratch. Everything was made out of cubes or cubic shapes. Everything. The ground itself was a repeating pattern of variedly colored squares. It seemed Twilight was lying on the edge of a beach, next to a large body of water, possibly an ocean. The landscape was clumsily made from squares, hard edges were visible everywhere. Up the beach, again made of large identical cubes, were a landscape that looked roughly like a forest. The trees' wood and even leaves made from cubes the same sizes. All the cubes the large landscape was built from had sides of exactly one meter in length. Standing up, Twilight was only two heads taller than the cubes right in front of her.

"This is so weird. I saw some ponies in that darkness, wait, you saw that too, right?" asked Spike.

"Yes, I did. There were so many."

"I recognized Rarity among them, her pretty mane is hard to miss," said Spike.

"Spike, I think... I think the whole population of Ponyville are here somewhere," said Twilight, dreading the possibility. "We can't know yet, but we have to hurry and make sure. Somepony might be hurt."

"Maybe. You're right. Come on, I saw, a mountain somewhere in that direction. We can see more from up there," said Spike and pointed in towards the forest.

"Come on, up you go," said Twilight, spreading her wings. Spike jumped up on her back. Twilight needed to take the fastest route. She took a running start, hoping what she had been taught had actually stuck with her. She started to flap with her wings, and then she took the leap... Only to fall headfirst into the sand. Spike was launched several blocks, rolling until he hit a sand dune. Twilight stood up quickly, flapping her wings in confusion.

"Great flying Twilight, you're a regular Wonderbolt," said Spike as he got back up on his feet.

"It's not my fault, there's no air resistance. Nothing could fly like this," said Twilight. She couldn't help but to feel amazed; the rules of physics were just wrong. Twilight looked over to the water, while it did move, it too was a surface that flowed with the linear waves, going between steps instead of anything a normal liquid would do. "Come on, we're walking," said Twilight. She was about to pick Spike up with her horn, but to her shock she realized it was impossible. There was simply no magical energy to use. It was gone. Without noticing, Spike climbed up on her back again. While certainly troubled, Twilight couldn't let it affect her. Friends could have been in trouble. Climbing up one of the large cubes, easily of a larger mass than both of them, Twilight and Spike rushed into the green forest, leaving the ocean behind them. The large blocks were rushing past them as Twilight just focused on continuing forward.

"A bit to the left, yeah, there it is," said Spike, pointing at a mountain at least thirty blocks high, visible between the trees. The hill was at least thirty cubes high. Twilight rushed in and out of shades of the trees. So many of the trees looked the same, a few were much larger and a bit more unique, but with so few possible variations, she quickly got a sense of déjà vu. The ground under her hooves felt a bit weird. While it did feel like she was walking on grass, the surface seemed mostly unyielding. It had been obvious on the sand. Sure, she sunk down a bit, but it had been like sinking into a sandy marshmallow. At one point she had just stopped sinking; the cores wouldn't give.

"It's sort of empty, isn't it?" asked Twilight.

"And quiet," said Spike.

"If you add 'too quiet', you'll have to walk," said Twilight. As the blocks were a head taller than Spike, he quickly did a zipping gesture over his mouth. Still, he was right. So far Twilight had only heard herself, Spike, and the ocean. Then Twilight remember the voice of that stranger.

"Spike, are you sure you didn't see anyone else with me? Anyone?"

"What? No. Nopony," said Spike. "Who did you see?"

"I don't know. I think he saved my life. Hopefully he'll be fine," said Twilight.

"For now I just hope we'll be okay," said Spike.

As Twilight reached the large hill, she climbed up just she could see above the trees. The landscape stretched far out below them, reaching the horizon and beyond.

"I think there's some fog far away," said Spike, standing near her head, peering out into the wilderness.

"Don't look at the fog, look after our friends, or something that can tell us where we are," said Twilight as she looked in every direction.

"Hello!?" Is there anypony there?!" yelled Spike. His roar seemed awfully lonely in the silence, but then his shout was met.

"Spike!? Is that you!?" yelled someone else. It was close. Twilight turned around. A rainbow stuck out from the green forest. Somepony was running on the, surprisingly solid, leaves.

"Rainbow Dash!" said Twilight with relief. Another familiar face was both terrible and great. Sure, Rainbow Dash was trapped there too, but at least they were not alone. Together they could pull through, Twilight was sure of it. The blue pegasus with the rainbow-colored mane noticed them both.

"Twilight! You're alright! Awesome!" said Rainbow Dash. Twilight carefully climbed down the large blocks. She reached the foot of the mountain as Rainbow Dash jumped down from the nearest tree. They both ran towards each other and embraced each other in a hug.

"Noticed I didn't get one of those," said Spike as he jumped off Twilight's back. Twilight wrapped her wing around him with care. He gave a little smile. In an otherwise completely unfamiliar situation, a warm embrace with dear friends can really calm the senses.

Twilight let go of them both. Before speaking she took a deep, calming breath. "Alright. What do you know?" Rainbow Dash just shrugged.

"I don't know what's going on! I can't fly, I can't find anypony, everything is just wrong! I was just resting above Ponyville, then this weird pyramid or whatever covered everything, then everything got dark and then I was here. And I couldn't fly! This is whole thing is just screwed up! Did I mention I can't fly!?" yelled Rainbow Dash.

"Calm down, Rainbow. I'm sure we'll get to the bottom of this. How did you get here?"

"I just fell down on the ground, it hurt a lot, but I'm used to crashes. I- I mean, I woke up on the ground after this darkness was everywhere and everything was fine. Totally fine," said Rainbow Dash.

"How far away? Where did you wake up?"

"Not far, in the middle of this forest," said Rainbow Dash.

"I knew I heard something," said a different voice. All three in the group turned to the left. From behind the thick trunk of a tree, a brown stallion with spiky hair walked out of the forest and into the open.

"Time Turner! You too?" asked Spike.

"Yes. I saw Lyra and Bon Bon too not far from here, I'm glad I found you three, Princess," said Time Turner.

"Are you alright?"

"A bit bruised, but fine otherwise. I landed on one of these... 'trees'. If it's alright with you, Princess, I have something to say. It's from the mayor," said Time Turner.

"The mayor? You've met her?"

"No, not yet, Princess, but Lyra had. Apparently, the Mayor and around ten other ponies found each other immediately. She's quickly organized a type of search net. I'm not sure it's of good design, but what do I know?" said the stallion and shrugged.

"What's the plan?" asked Rainbow Dash.

"Well, the sun is quite high. The plan is to make every pony go out in several directions, calling out for other ponies. When those ponies meet, they go out in other directions to search for more, meeting back where they first found each other when the sun sets, then go back with that group to the other group, and then the other, and finally meeting back at a cave the mayor found."

"Sounds dangerous, I'm not sure it's a good method either. Maybe a grid would be better," said Twilight.

"Probably, but to her credit we are facing a potential crisis, are we not? We need to find as many ponies as possible and we currently don't have much time to think. It would be best if you all make sure to be back here by sunset and wait for me if I'm not here first," said Time Turner.

"Um, alright. I guess that's better than nothing," said Twilight.

"Right now we have nothing, so what else is there?" asked Time Turner, continuing in another direction. Before long, he disappeared among the trees.

"Well, alright. Let's do it," said Rainbow Dash.

"Alright, I'll go with Spike. You go that way. Keep shouting for others," said Twilight and pointed towards another part of the woods.

"Sure thing!" said Rainbow Dash. She jumped up on the nearest tree and started to run over the treetops. Without wasting time, Twilight and Spike started to walk in another direction, within a short amount of time, they started to yell out to others.

"Hello! Is anypony there?!" yelled Twilight. "Please answer me!"

"Hello?! Is that you, Twilight?" a high-pitched voice responded. Immediately Twilight and Spike picked up the pace. In the distance, the sun was slowly coming down. They had been out for hours, but they couldn't find anyone. They had almost decided to turn back, but then something had moved in the distance.

"Applebloom!" Twilight broke into a run towards the little filly, walking into view. Twilight stopped right in front of her to give her a hug. "Thank goodness you are alright!" said Twilight.

"Twilight, I'm so glad to see you. I was so scared! I can't find my brother," said Applebloom, crying into her embrace.

"Big Macintosh? Is he here?" asked Spike.

"I don't know, Spike. I was playing with him at home, but then something weird happened. I fell down into a pond. Twilight, I'm hungry," said Applebloom. Twilight could relate far too well. She was starving, they all were. They had seen plenty in the past few hours. Snowy pine forests, plains, even deserts, but not a single piece of food.

"We found you, that's all that matters. Come on, Applebloom. We'll go back. We might find your brother with the mayor," said Twilight.

"Can you find your way back?" asked Spike.

"Yes, we'll just go right back. I mean, it's hard to get lost when you only have four directions to follow," said Twilight.

Applebloom dried her tears and looked up at Twilight. "Do you really think my brother is there? Will my sister be?"

"I don't know, I'm sorry," said Twilight.

Spike suddenly jumped off Twilight's back. He walked towards a little dark crevice on the side a hill. It was just two blocks wide but seemed very deep. "Hello? Who's in there?" asked Spike. Applebloom walked over to him.

"What is it?"

"I saw something, there's someone in there," said Spike. Twilight was hopeful. It was lucky timing. She looked over at the sun, it was slowly setting. The shadows of trees started to cover them all. It was getting darker as the sky got redder. Applebloom looked into the hole with a curious look on her face. Things were quite red in the fading light of the square sun, but as the light faded, something else stayed crimson, something inside the crevice.

"Spike, what is that?" asked Applebloom.

With a screech a large eight-legged creature shot out of the darkness. Its eight flat red eyes bright with a terrifying ferocity. The spider was hideous. While one would think a creature made from blocks wouldn't be terrifying in the least, one would be proven wrong. It's not in the way something looks that makes it horrible, it's how it moves. The monster moved with precision, its limbs stretching and shooting out with precision and speed far too quick for such a large body. It moved just like any spider, and it was without a doubt a cold-blooded predator. Nothing caring would try to harm a filly like that. It wanted to slaughter them, and it cared for nothing else.

Spike jumped out of its grasp, but it quickly took a grip around Applebloom, it's fangs fully visible and ready to strike right into her neck. Twilight hadn't had time to save her.

"Applebloom!" yelled Twilight in shock as she rushed to help her, but she would never make it in time.

With an impact that could crush diamonds, a hoof struck the spider between its many eyes from above. Within moments it ceased to move. Completely. It was dead. Twilight looked up at the stallion's face. It was a large red pony.

"Big brother!" shouted Applebloom. Big Macintosh pulled his sister close to him, looking so very relieved.

"Are you okay, Big Mac?" asked Spike. He was still shaken up from the ordeal.

"Eeyup."

Twilight walked closer to the dead animal. It was crushed and its head had been smashed into dozens of smaller cubes. For a moment its body flashed red, then every part of it picked itself apart and vanished. There wasn't a single trace anything had even happened.

"Come on, let's get back before anymore of those things show up," said Spike, climbing up on Twilight again.

"Right. Come on, this way," said Twilight. They turned around and started to return.

"The spot where I met them is just up ahead. Hopefully they have already arrived," said Time Turner. As they walked past a hill, Twilight saw Bon Bon and Derpy Hooves standing in wait by a tree. They both perked up when they saw the group.

"Finally! I thought you'd never come back."

"Another flaw with the search net. It increases waiting times every level up. If Lyra has found many, then we might be here for quite some time," said Time Turner.

"I guess. But hey, at least we found some," said Bon Bon, looking over at the group. Twilight had waited for Time Turner and Rainbow Dash quite a while, but it had been worth it. Rainbow Dash had found Scootaloo, two other fillies, Mr. Cake and his foals. Time Turner had found two stallions. Applebloom and Scootaloo had been quite happy to see each other. Bon Bon had returned completely alone.

Twilight looked at the still setting sun, it was just at the horizon. The night would fall completely within a few short minutes.

"By the way, did Lyra's magic work?" asked Twilight. Bon Bon looked confused.

"I don't know. She doesn't use it that often. Why?"

"Twilight's magic doesn't work," said Spike. This drew some surprised gazes Twilight's way.

"Peculiar," said Time Turner.

"It stopped working after I-" but before Twilight could say anything else Spike covered her mouth with both claws. He gave her a very serious look.

"Twilight, ix nay on the aused cay his thay," he whispered with a stern voice. Twilight realized he could have been right. Since it was a crisis they needed to stay focused on solving it, instead of being angry at her. She would tell them when the time came, another day.

"Well, I can't use magic, I wonder if anypony else can," said Twilight. She hoped that was the case, otherwise others would start wondering why Twilight of all ponies couldn't use magic. It was the last thing she needed.

"Twilight, I'm still hungry," said Applebloom. Twilight couldn't help but to worry about the little filly. Their situation was bad enough as it was, hungry babies and children certainly did not help her feel any ease of mind.

"Can't you just eat some of that tall grass?" asked Spike.

"But it looks so blocky and weird. What if it's bad for you?" asked Applebloom.

"Then don't," said Bon Bon. Twilight didn't approve of her voice, it was too harsh for speaking to a worried filly. At least it was understandable, some of them couldn't quite handle it as well as, say, Rainbow Dash did.

"Bon Bon, I know you're a bit stressed, but don't worry. We do this sort of thing all the time. Stay with us and everything will be fine," said Twilight.

"You do, yeah. Not me, ever. I want to go home," said Bon Bon. Time Turner cleared his throat. "... Princess." Time Turner nodded his head in approval. Twilight Sparkle felt a bit of a relief that the stallion managed to keep a cool head, it felt reassuring that, yes, she had ponies around her who seemed dependable, or at least collected. Big Macintosh was a shining example of such a pony, but for the moment he didn't have the roll of a leader. He was only concerned with being a protective brother. Like a hawk he kept looking around himself with a very fierce look Twilight rarely saw on him. Applebloom was sitting very close to her sibling.

"So, Bon Bon. I heard the mayor is in a cave. Is that true?" asked Spike.

"It's more like an overhanging cliff. It's nothing impressive," said Bon Bon.

"Where?" asked Rainbow Dash.

"Towards the sun."

Twilight took one last look at the sun, as it disappeared over the horizon. Night had come. Within a few short moments something could be heard in the distance. It was yelling voices, rapidly coming closer.

"Run! For the love of Celestia, run!" yelled a familiar voice. It was a good friend: Rarity. Suddenly at least a dozen ponies came into view as they rushed between the many trees. Lyra was running in front of Applebloom.

"Bon Bon, go! Run! To the mayor!" she gasped. Twilight heard a familiar screech in the distance. Spiders. A lot.

"Go!" roared Big Macintosh. They all took off as fast as they could, following Lyra towards the mayor.

"How fast are they?!" asked Spike from Twilight's back.

"Quiet! Just keep going!" said Rarity in a panic. While Twilight certainly felt a bit of panic, she couldn't help but to feel glad Rarity was among them.

The group kept running, finding the way without bumping into each other was far too hard in the darkness. Twilight made sure to keep her pace up, but she also stayed behind everyone, making sure nopony split off from the group.

"Twilight, I think they are getting closer," said Spike.

"Look! Another cave! We can hide in there!" said Bon Bon. Twilight didn't have time to think it through or object, before she knew it ponies were struggling to get into a dark crevice in the side of a hill. Twilight got inside, realizing there was plenty of room in the darkness. Whatever light shining down from celestial bodies didn't reach far into the darkness. Only silhouettes were visible. Big Macintosh was last, rushing in.

"Quiet," said Rarity tensed. While the noise of their collective breathing seemed to almost echo into the cavern, Twilight still kept her mouth shut. They waited. Before long Twilight started to hear a disturbing clattering noise of several legs rushing over the grass. For just a moment she expected the creatures to pass, but then several sets of eight eyes started to peer into the opening. Legs and fangs started to reach into the hole, their movements so deadly and precise.

"W- will that hold?" asked Spike. Twilight just made sure to keep him steady on her back, in case they needed to flee.

"Big brother, can't you do anything?" asked Applebloom. Big Macintosh shook his head, his look was worried. Sure, he defeated a single spider with ease, but that had been from above, unannounced. Attacking several of them at once while they were aware was suicide even for someone as strong as him.

"We're dead, we're dead, oh we're so dead," said Bon Bon.

"Hey, at least things can't get any worse," said Lyra.

"Don't say tha-" and that's when the lightning struck somewhere far away. Without warning rain started to pour, droplets seeping through the natural roof above them, dripping on their heads. "I knew it. That always happen. Always. I literally think Discord magicked up those words just for fun," said Spike.

"Spike, it's pretty dark in here. Could you breathe some fire?" asked Twilight. In short order, Spike took a deep breath and started to spew out wild green flames. When the green fire left the immediate vicinity of the dragon, they turned to green blocky circles, projectiles, hitting the ceiling with a small bang. Green fire, just with the same cubic characteristic of everything else, started to burn for just a second before disappearing.

"Whoa, it's never done that before," said Spike.

"Shoot them, then, Spike!" shouted Rarity.

Aiming at the spiders, Spike spew several other bits of flames. While the projectiles took several seconds in between, the spiders caught fire easily, which they spread to the rest. Within moments, the cave lit up with the green light of the flames. The rain wasn't enough to put it out, and to Twilight's relief the monsters eventually retreated into the woods. The moment the flames went out among the trees, Twilight half expected them to return, but there was only silence.

"Awesome, Spike!" said Rainbow Dash. In the incredible relief of the moment, several ponies expressed their happiness with joyful cheer.

"Lyra? Is the mayor far?" asked Twilight.

"Not much, I think."

"Then we better get going."

Unhappy Campers

--

The whole little herd decided to keep their pace brisk. The darkness felt like an invitation for trouble. Within ten minutes they had reached the end of the forest. In front of them plains stretched out far and wide. Twilight could barely make out a mountain against the star-filled sky far into the distance.

"That's the one. Come on! Let's hurry," said Lyra.

As Twilight ran over the open area, she felt the plains were a good place to rest. Any threat could be seen from far away, every hurdle of blocks could be anticipated and easily jumped. They quickly got closer and closer. In the corner of her eye, Twilight could see several other herds of ponies rushing towards the landmark.

"Let's see, good, many has come. There's Filthy Rich's group, Berry Punch's, that one over there is probably your father's, Rarity," said Time Turner. Rarity looked in the direction, relieved. Among the group was Sweetie Belle and both her parents.

"Thank heavens," said Rarity in utter relief.

"Look, Mr. Cake, there's your wife!" said Spike and pointed.

When they got close, the mountain seemed clearer. It was very wide, with a large hollowed out portion in the middle, hanging over several ponies who were taking cover from the rain. Twilight got under the quite high overhang, finally getting a chance to dry out from the cold water. Rarity, Mr. Cake, and several others split from the group to meet or find families. The place was absolutely bustling. Among all the ponies, several who were constantly joining their group, the mayor was standing. The brown and gray mare was constantly pointing in several directions. "No, rations! Alright, have anyone seen Miss Cheerilee? We need her to care for the children while we work! Yes, and give the sick and wounded some!" Twilight hadn't even seen Celestia handle so much at once, and it was clearly too much. She seemed exhausted, whenever someone asked her something, she took a second too long to respond.

Twilight walked up to the tired mayor. When she saw Twilight she seemed relieved.

"Princess! I'm glad you're safe. Please tell me you have a solution to all of this," said the mayor.

Twilight shook her head. "I'm sorry, I don't know anything about how to solve this."

"Well, shoot. Please help me, I- I feel like I keep forgetting things," said the mayor. Twilight nodded her head.

"Rainbow Dash, see if you can't find Fluttershy, Applejack and Pinkie Pie. Spike, could you try to, very carefully, start a fire somewhere? Time Turner, you're good with numbers, right? Please do a headcount," said Twilight.

"Yes, a headcount, of course. Everyone is returning, we need one," said the mayor.

"Big Macintosh, take Applebloom and Scootaloo to Rarity's family, then go and find the strongest stallions and mares so I can talk to them," said Twilight just as a green light sprung up deeper into the cavern. Eventually the green flame shifted color into something a bit more natural, and warm. Ponies immediately started to gather around it.

"Everyone, everyone, let the sick and wounded keep warm! Spike, could you make another one over there, near the patients and doctors?" asked the mayor.

Twilight turned to her friends. "Come on! Go! Don't stand here wasting time. And find out if everyone here is from Ponyville or not!" Without further delay, they scattered out into the cave. She lost them in the crowd. "Patients?" asked Twilight, turning to the mayor who shook her head with worry.

"From what I've seen, it seems everyone inside Ponyville was, well, transfered here. Including everyone in the hospital."

"Miss mayor? Another group came in, they had three more foals," said a male pony, an assistant, to the mayor.

"Find the families! We need to know if any children are still out there. Find that out at once!" said the mayor before turning to Twilight. "This is a complete disaster. We don't have any food, and there's plenty of hungry ponies here."

"How are the patients?" asked Twilight.

"Go ask the doctor. I have enough on my mind. Does anyone have anything we can gather rainwater in?!"

Twilight left the poor mayor to her duties and instead walked towards the doctor. As a Princess, Twilight felt a sting of shame. She should have led the ponies around her, but more than one leader in a crisis could be detrimental, and she was scared. For the first time in a good long while, she was terrified of screwing up. The mayor was tired, but at least she did a good job.

The doctor was swamped with work in the cave's corner where the patients were all lying on the ground, sometimes raised up on blocks connected to the wall. A warm flame sprung up not far away from the cold sick and wounded.

"How is it doctor, how are they?"

"It's terrible. Our magic doesn't work, but even if it did we don't have equipment or medicine to properly take care of them. Some were in bad shape even before taking nasty falls. Four otherwise healthy ponies have broken legs, five have concussions. We're still missing two patients who can't even walk. Unless they've been found by somepony, they are out there in the rain, unable to even crawl to cover," said the doctor. Despite a completely calm disposition, his voice was trembling. No training in the world could have prepared him for this. "I'm not sure some of them will last the night," said the doctor, turning to Twilight with the tiniest hint of despair in his eyes.

Twilight looked away, to her relief she saw a large stallion walk into the cave, holding a sick exhausted mare on his back.

"Thank Celestia! Sir, over here! Get her over here! We still have another one missing, but I'll take anything right now. Come on, up by the fire. Don't worry, Miss Sweet, you're safe. Princess, please move, you're getting in the way a bit," said the doctor as he showed the stallion where to leave the patient.

Not wanting to disturb anyone more than she had to, Twilight walked away. Wherever she turned scared faces filled with dread could be seen. Hearing the soft cries of split families and children made it difficult to even stay inside the cave, but Twilight endured. She made a promise to herself that she would pull them through the crisis in whatever way she could. Spotting Big Macintosh carefully making his way through the packed cave, Twilight moved over to him.

"Have you found any guards?"

"Eeyup," said Big Macintosh. Whatever timid or relaxed expression he usually had was gone. Instead he reminded Twilight of her own brother, a brave royal guard. His eyes were focused and filled with awareness, along with a grim tone. He reached a group of guards, still in their metal armor.

"Princess Twilight Sparkle, how may we serve you?" asked one of the guards, saluting along with his fellow soldiers.

"Well, um, I, I want..." She took a deep breath. Head back, eyes forward, back straight. "I want you all to follow this stallion's orders. He might be a farmer, but he knows how to protect his cattle against wolves and his harvest against thieves. When it comes to protecting a place such as this, I can't imagine anyone more suitable," said Twilight. She turned to Big Macintosh. "Big Mac, order and help these guards to keep watch around the entrance. We'll figure out shifts and such later, but for now we need protection against the spiders," said Twilight.

"Eeyup."

"Good. Get to it at once," said Twilight. They immediately moved towards the cave entrance, where there were less ponies. Twilight could barely see over those around her, but she noticed that with every new arrival, it was getting more and more crowded.

"Twilight, there you are!" said Rainbow Dash. Twilight turned around to face her.

"Anything?"

"No, nothing. Applejack, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie aren't here, that's for sure. Nopony that I've asked have seen them."

"Oh no," said Twilight with worry. Spike suddenly came up from between a family sitting on the cold stone ground next to them.

"Twilight, the fires has been lit, but they go out every few minutes. Also, I tried to send a message to Princess Celestia, but the paper just burned up," said Spike.

"Seems we're on our own. Well, we've done stuff like this before."

"Not like this," said Rainbow Dash.

"You two, of all the ponies you've seen, are all from Ponyville?" asked Twilight.

"Almost everyone, but I did see some strangers. I talked to them, some are from Canterlot, Appleloosa, visting or on vacation to Ponyville, that sort of thing," said Spike.

"So it was everyone inside Ponyville. Was anyone away?"

"Well, I think Granny Smith was visiting an old relative," said Spike.

"All I know is that Scootaloo's parents were in Cloudsdale for the weekend. I watched Scootaloo for them," said Rainbow Dash.

"So they are probably alright, if perhaps worried. I'm not sure Scootaloo wants to hear her parents aren't here, but maybe it's good for her to know they are safe. Check in with her, just in case," said Twilight.

"I'll get right on it," said Rainbow Dash, walking away.

"Spike, I'm a bit at a loss. I don't know what to do," said Twilight. Spike shrugged, at a loss for words. "I mean, we need food, water, blankets, beds... I, I can't..."

"Twilight. Things are going badly right now, but you can do it. I know you can," said Spike.

"I... Okay, we need food. Come here, Spike," said Twilight, turning to walk towards the exit.

"Why?"

"Because if we see something dangerous out there, I want your to shoot fire at it," said Twilight. Spike jumped up on her back.

"What are you going to do?"

"Try to eat that strange tall grass," said Twilight.

"What? Are you sure? It might be dangerous."

"Everyone here are hungry. If we can eat the grass, we should. I have to try it, for everyone's sake," said Twilight. The cold rain hit her as she wandered out of the overhanging cliff. It felt even colder than before, the large cubes hitting her with the same texture as drops, bouncing off her while still making her fur wet. Immediately she spread her wings and folded them over Spike. When it came to the food, she didn't have too look for very long, the plain was absolutely covered in tall grass. Before tasting it, Twilight looked around. There was nothing unfamiliar or dangerous in sight. Taking a deep breath, she leaned down and bit at the closest bit of grass. It felt quite strange. Her teeth could only break of individual small cubes. They were as chewy as gum, but the texture was definitely that of grass. Eventually, the little blocks started to loose it's shape and turned into something a bit more familiar, more easily eaten. She shallowed.

"How is it?" asked Spike.

"It's alright. It gets better as you chew," said Twilight. She turned to Spike behind her. "But it's still just grass. We won't be able to live well off it."

"Okay, let's take some for the others," said Spike. Twilight nodded and picked up a bit of the grass with her hooves. To a mildly crushing disappointment, the grass simply disappeared when she held it. The blocks simply disappearing very quickly, turning to crumbles and then fading into nothing. "Oh, come on!" shouted Spike.

"I suppose we'll have to wait until the rain is over, then we'll have to all eat out here," said Twilight.

"Twilight, I don't think you realize just how crowded it is. That cave is pretty huge, but it can't hold us all. There's over 1200 ponies in Ponyville, and from the looks of things we've only got-"

"674," said Time Turner, walking up to them from behind.

"That many?" asked Spike.

"Currently. The amount of ponies that are turning up are diminishing. We've gotten almost a hundred more within the last quarter of an hour. We are missing over half the population of Ponyville," said Time Turner, his face quite serious.

"Anyway, my point was that this huge field won't last for very long. It's big, but at most we can eat for one, maybe two days," said Spike. Twilight realized he was right, and it was clear that Spike saw her understand. "But, hey, um, look on the bright side. With that many out there, some are bound to find each other. Who knows? Maybe there's a group even larger than ours somewhere out there, doing totally fine," said Spike.

"We can only hope. Now, Princess, please get inside. You might catch a cold," said Time Turner.

"I think we'll have to try to get some sleep soon," said Twilight.

"Yes, perhaps a good night's sleep will help calm our nerves."

That night's rest wasn't so much different for Twilight than any night before a long difficult test, just colder. She simply couldn't sleep. Every moment she lied down, eyes wide open, looking at the entrance. Not a single second passed where she didn't think 'new arrivals will shop up... now', but nopony ever came. All she could see over all the resting ponies were the few guards during their shifts. From time to time Spike got up to rekindle the flames that would constantly go out. It was clear he was exhausted, more so than many others there, but he didn't budge. He kept getting up, lighting the fire and then sitting down again without complaining.

Looking at Spike whenever he got up to help keep everyone warm just made Twilight feel worse. Without magic she felt useless and helpless. She was defined by her magical ability, losing it was the last thing she needed. Spike was at the moment far more capable than her, and while she was happy to have him there she would much rather help everypony herself. As a Princess she felt like she was being forced to abandon her role as the protector of them all. What had she done to help everypony since she had arrived? Eaten a little bit of grass. There was so much more she could have done, but only with her magic. Now she just waited for any good news at all and for the morning to come. She half expected it to never arrive at all, this place was just that crazy. No matter how many hours she waited, no Applejack, no Pinkie Pie and no Fluttershy walked in through the large opening. Twilight just hoped they were safe, wherever they were. She would have settled for anyone to walk in, any stranger. It would have made her relieved to see just one more join their herd.

As the hours slowly passed by, the cave became quieter and quieter. Eventually even the most nervous and restless of ponies fell asleep. Whatever hint of crying could be heard slowly stopped. The rustling of ponies lessened, breathing slowing down. Once it was completely silent, only guards changing shifts made any noise. Except for the brave soldiers, Twilight had a suspicion she was the only one not asleep. No matter how much he had tried, Spike didn't last the whole night. He had slumped down next to Twilight, eventually gripping her in his sleep like a newborn yearning for its mother. She didn't mind having her friends sleep next to her; the cave was cold even with the warmth of everyone around her.

However tired she was she eventually found herself unable to sleep because of thirst and hunger. There was no way for her to get up, go out, and eat anything without waking up far too many poor little ponies, not from where she was lying. She simply endured. At least the rain had stopped. Twilight was hardly the only one hungry. What she wouldn't have given for some food.

She realized a rustling sound came from deeper into the cave, no doubt another pony having to get up to use the little filly's room. Twilight tried to guess who it was, just to pass the time.

Okay, it's a pony bigger than me, no doubt. Tired too, judging from all that moaning and groaning. The voice is of a stallion. Big Mac? No, he's sleeping at the front of the cave. Rarity's father? Nah, I can see him from here. Time Turner is in front of me, so it can't be him. Mm, only three hoofsteps, so he must be holding something. Wait... that doesn't... that doesn't make sense. Nopony inside the cave had anything that needed a whole leg to hold.

Suddenly, light started to shine from deeper into the cave. Twilight immediately turned around, just in time to see a tall stallion look up. The light was slightly blinding, but it was clear the stallion noticed her watching him. Something was wrong.

"Hey, what are you doing? Get back to sleep," said Twilight. The stallion kept starring at her, then, just as Twilight realized just what was wrong, he started to dart all over the cave. "Hey, what are you- Hey! Intruder!" shouted Twilight to the guards at the front. As she followed the stallion with her eyes, light started to sprung up wherever he went. It only took a few seconds before the whole cave was basking in bright light. As a final touch, the stallion rushed straight towards Twilight. The sun rose behind him, blinding Twilight yet again. In a single moment, the stallion pulled something out from behind his back and placed it in one smooth motion. Like magic, a large brown cube appeared right in front of her. Twilight tried to grab hold of the stranger, a potential danger, as guards ran to them. The stranger avoided her, and then fled deeper into the cave and around a corner.

Twilight got up and followed him. When she rounded the corner she was shocked to find nothing but a dead end, barely two cubes in. He was gone.

"Princess! What's going on?" asked a guard who caught up with her. "Where did that pony go?"

"I don't know," said Twilight. "Keep a lookout, inside the cave and out," said Twilight. She turned around. Several ponies had woken up, at least a hundred.

"Please, everyone, it's alright. I think we're perfectly safe. There was a pony here, one I'm sure was not from Ponyville," said Twilight. With tired eyes, the mayor walked up to her.

"Where did she go?"

"It was a stallion, actually. He simply disappeared," said Twilight. She looked around in the cave. smaller rectangular cubes were placed around the cavern, on walls, floors, even in the ceiling. Taking a closer look, Twilight realized that the objects were actually some sort of torch. They burned with a warm small flame. Slowly the cave became warmer. More and more ponies were waking up in the commotion. The sun's rays starting to light up the cave, but its light was nothing compared to the torches'.

"Well, at least it's bright," said Time Turner.

"It's warm," said Derpy Hooves.

Twilight walked over to the large cube the stranger had put down. It was almost twice as wide and slightly shorter than any of the other cubes. It was a wooden chest. Twilight gestured to the others to stay back before she carefully opened it.

Instantly smelling a pleasant earthy scent, she opened up the lid to find a large chest absolutely packed with carrots, baked potatoes, apples, bread and wheat. All of it was blocky, of course, but it still smelled like real, proper food. It downright made Twilight's mouth water.

"Food?" asked Spike. Immediately the buzzword was picked up by the ponies around Twilight. She looked over all her ponies.

"Listen, I know we are all hungry, but first and foremost we must be reasonable about this. Firstly, we're not sure this is safe to eat, it could be poisoned. Secondly, even if this is safe, it's a lucky break that we can't take lightly. For all we know, this might be the only food we'll get. We need to be able to ration it out fairly, and in an organized way," said Twilight. They gave her a quick look, and then at the food, only to go for the meal like it was their last. Before they could even touch it, a sharp whistle was heard right next to the chest. The mayor closed the lid with a bang before going up on it.

"The Princess is right. We're hungry, but not starving. If this is safe, we will know so by morning, and as Twilight has told me, the grass outside should last at least a day. There is no rush to eat, and we need to keep ourselves under tight control before we waste away what might be our only chance of survival," said the mayor. Her voice, facing a serious crisis, was all the explanation Twilight needed to understand why she had been elected mayor. Ponies backed off slightly unwillingly but not with any defiance. The mayor turned to Spike. "Spike, you have a strong stomach. You should be able to eat a bit without being in severe danger, right?"

"Are you asking me if i want to get sick?"

"If you do this and you start to feel a bit queasy, we'll know it's not safe to eat in just a few hours," said the mayor.

"I don't know..."

"Spike, I wouldn't do that if I were you. This might be a golden opportunity, but I don't want you getting hurt," said Rarity.

"On the other hoof, if you do this, then you'll pretty much get first bite," said Rainbow Dash.

"I'll do it!" said Spike with enthusiasm, which was met by cheer. The mayor opened the lid and looked inside. She grabbed an apple and handed it to Spike, who, after some hesitation, bit down, quickly eating. He did look more satisfied, it was a rather large apple.

"Princess, look, there's a book in here," said the mayor, reaching in and picking up a leather-bound book. Twilight gladly accepted the blocky literature and started to read, but was disappointed when it was basically just a note, with only one side having writing on it.

"What does it say, Princess?" asked a stallion in the crowd.

"It says 'This should help you a little. Tomorrow I will come back to talk to you all about stuff you need to know. Meet me out on the plains alone at noon. Others can come too, but they have to keep their distance until I say it's cool. I want to help, but I don't know anything about you. I give you the food so you can know how nice I am. See you tomorrow. - S.D,'"

"'S.D? Do we know anyone like that?" asked Spike.

"I can't think of any stallion that would have those initials," said Twilight. "You know, there was something familiar about- of course! That was the stallion who saved me from drowning!"

"That's the guy?" asked Spike.

"There's no doubt in my mind. I think we can trust this pony, Spike. Hey, maybe he'll know of a way home," said Twilight.

"Hm, I'm not so sure," said the mayor.

"Me neither," said Rarity.

"Considering he knows how to get food, I think we don't have much of a choice," said Spike.

Meeting and Intent

--

The day Twilight had gotten the message was a lively one. Towards noon around five more ponies found their way to the cave, and another ten had been found after organizing a search party. While the situation was still dire, Twilight couldn't help but to notice a shift in atmosphere. Ponies were hopeful again. The newly acquired food made them feel like they would be alright. It was like everyone thought they were making progress on getting home again. Knowing a stranger would come, perhaps with answers, made everyone able to chat with that extra hint of excitement instead of dread. Without much danger, thankfully, the day passed. The night was peaceful, and with much less crying. Every moment was filled with the question. 'Would this stranger be able to help them?'

On the morning of the meeting, Twilight was waiting at the entrance of the cave. She would go out within a few moments.

"Twilight, are you sure about this?" asked Spike.

"We don't have a choice Spike. Don't worry, I can do this. He saved my life and gave us food and torches, I have to at least give him the benefit of the doubt." said Twilight.

"But let another one do it, Rainbow Dash is stronger and faster than you. If things go bad, she can handle it better," said Spike.

"I'm the Princess, I will have to do things like this a lot in the future. I might as well start now," said Twilight. She took a deep breath. With a light grip, a little claw tugged on her wing.

"Be careful," said Spike, with big eyes.

"Stay safe. I'll be back soon," said Twilight.

"Hey, Twilight. We won't be far behind you," said Rainbow Dash.

"Be careful, darling," said Rarity.

Twilight just left, too impatient to stay much longer and too nervous to get out a heartfelt goodbye. Walking out, she realized that it was the first time she had actually exited the cave. A faint feeling of home just vanished as she took just a few steps out into the sun's warm rays. It didn't take long until Twilight noticed something far off in the distance: a pony looking at her.

Not wanting to waste time, Twilight started to pick up the pace. With nervous steps she approached the stranger. When she looked back, the cave was at least two hundred blocks away. Rainbow Dash, Rarity and Big Macintosh were all standing about halfway, obviously tense.

"Hey," said the pony. Twilight turned her head forward, looking at the stallion. He was slightly taller than she was, and his mane was short and bright orange. His light gray coat was slightly dirty and his hooves muddy. While it seemed he had gone through a lot, his eyes were still lively and sharp. One wouldn't describe him as gruff, but there was definitely an impression of seriousness on his face.

"Hello, Sir, I'm Princess Twilight Sparkle," said Twilight.

"Okay, alright, er, Ma'am. I'm Swift Digger. Just, just Swift Digger... Alright, I'll be honest, I did not think you were a princess, Ma'am," said the stallion. He sounded a bit uncomfortable.

"What's wrong?"

"Oh, just stuff like, I'm not really decent. Dirty and stuff," he said.

"If it's alright asking-"

"Totally fine."

"-could you please get right to business and tell me what you want?" asked Twilight.

"Oh. Oh! Right! I, I want to know just who you... Alright, sorry, I'm not used to company. I'll just try to be clear, okay? I'll tell you what I know and what you need to know. Questions can come after," said Swift.

"Seems fair, Mr. Digger," said Twilight.

"Alright. Okay. My name is Swift Digger, but you knew that, of course, because I told you." He shifted a bit awkwardly. "Well, I saw you a couple of days ago, falling into water, and I helped you out. At first I thought you were just another pony like me, someone who was stuck here, but then all of these other ponies started showing up, and now you're all in there. I've helped you out with the food, because I know how dangerous this place can be if you don't know what you're doing. So, now, I want to be able to teach you the basics, so you don't all die, you know? Because, I've been alone a long time, and it would be nice to know I'm not all alone anymore," said Swift. He took a deep breath. "And that's pretty much all I wanted to say... Ma'am."

"I see, I think."

"Who are you ponies, where did you come from?" asked Swift. "You aren't here to come get me, are you?" asked Swift.

"Well, no. We were all teleported here by my- some weird cubic thing we found in Ponyville," said Twilight.

"Ponyville?" asked Swift.

"Yes, that's correct, although almost half of us are missing," said Twilight and nodded.

"Wow, bummer. But what's Ponyville?"

"It's the town where me and my friends live," said Twilight.

"Oh, so you're their leader."

"Well, actually, the mayor is that."

"But I thought you were a Princess... Ma'am," said Swift confused.

"You can stop calling me ma'am. You can just call me Twilight, if I may call you Swift," said Twilight, trying to sound kind.

"Seems fair, Twilight."

"Where are you from?"

"I, I don't want to say. It's nothing bad, but it's a bit painful, you know what I'm saying?"

"I... see."

"This cubic thing you're talking about, I've never heard of it," said Swift.

"Are you sure? It was very difficult to see, it gave you a headache if you looked at it," said Twilight. Swift Digger shook his head firmly.

"I've never seen or heard of anything difficult to see," said Swift. "Now, I want to teach you how to use something really important. I'm not even sure it'll work, but what the hay, right?"

"What is it? No, wait, I want to ask you if you know a way home, or if you know much about this world."

"Sorry, I don't know any way from this place. But listen, this is important, it's the thing that will make you able to survive in this world," said Swift. He looked passed Twilight, at her friends. Looking back, Twilight saw them hiding, very poorly, in the tall grass. Big Macintosh's flank was sticking up too much. "Since you seem alright, I think I feel safe with a few more of you around. Besides, this lesson would go better with more to learn it. Everypony in your group has to learn it, but it's easy to teach, I think, I haven't actually tried it with anyone," said Swift.

Twilight waved to her friends to come closer.

"This is Rarity, this is Rainbow Dash, this is Big Macintosh," said Twilight. Suddenly someone looked out from behind Rarity. "And... that's Spike," said Twilight, hardly approving of Spike's presence. He should have been back in the cave, where it was safer.

"Hey, Swift Digger, call me Swift. Alright, I'm going to teach you something. Oh, wait, I don't have a name for it. Okay, something... Will? Nah. Let's call it... Intent. That's a pretty cool word for it," said Swift.

"What is it?" asked Twilight. Focusing, Swift was deep in thought until he looked up at them with inspiration.

"I think I need to show you it. Look at this patch of dirt," said Swift, looking down on a cube in the ground between them. "See what happens when I try to kick it." He stomped his foot on the grass. "Nothing." He kept kicking, and kicking, and kicking. "It doesn't budge. Not one bit. Nothing in this world can be destroyed by just trying to harm it. Even leaves are like a rock," said Swift.

"Hang on, that's not true. What about when Twilight ate some grass yesterday," said Spike.

"Oh, right, I saw that... I- I mean," Swift said, receiving some odd looks. "I've been spying on you. After all, you came here from out of nowhere and I needed to know more before I talked and stuff. What? It's not like that's weird, not with something like this," said Swift.

"I can see why, but you should see why we're not amused," said Twilight.

"Totally. I'm sorry. I'll be more open if we meet later," said Swift. "Anyway. When you ate, I was actually a bit impressed. Without thinking about it, you used your hunger as Intent. Intent is what make it so you can afflect-"

"'Affect'," said Twilight.

"Right, affect the world. Look at me, now I use Intent," said the stallion, looking at the patch of dirt again. He took a deep breath, then started to stomp on the cube. Before their eyes, cracks started to appear on the surface. In a short moment the cube disappeared. In its place only a large cube shaped hole appeared. Dirt was visible on all sides. Twilight could clearly see a small cube of dirt, about the size of her hoof, lying on the ground inside the hole. It looked strange, like the small block was fading away in a non-existent breeze. "Very few things can be affected without Intent in this world. Some can, but not much at all. That little cube can be picked up without Intent, but it will disappear completely in a few minutes without it," said Swift. He snagged up the cube, it was like it was glued to his hoof.

"But, what about the dirt then? What now?" asked Spike.

"Now, with Intent, I can put it down somewhere else," said Swift, flinging the block down beside him. In the blink of an eye a large block of dirt appeared next to the stallion. Twilight was amazed, not at the stallion, but by the phenomenon. Mass vanishing and appearing, it broke laws of physics. It just hammered home how different the place was. "That's the basics, I think. Blocks and stuff have, like, counter-Intent, or something. Your Intent can't do more than max Intent, some blocks go quicker, some slower. Some you need axes and picks and stuff to even make cracks in. Some will just vanish if you try to force it without tools."

"How do you use Intent?" asked Spike.

"Well, alright. Whenever you do something, like destroy a block, picking it up, pushing it in a direction, you have to imagine really hard on what you're doing, and what you want to do. If you want to break a block, focus on it breaking. Imagine that your Intent is coming from your brain and flowing into your hooves or tools or whatever you're using," said Swift.

"Like this?" asked Spike, starting to pound on the ground with his claws. Cracks were appearing.

"That's right, but little dude, never-" Spike fell down in a hole. "... dig straight down," said Swift Digger as Spike climbed out of the hole, slightly dizzy. He was holding a block in his claw. It was fading away, becoming dust in an nonexistent wind. Closing his eyes, focusing, he managed to make it stick to him, keeping itself intact. "The little guy has got it!"

"I've got to try this," said Twilight. Now this was something she was familiar with, learning new things and using them. She started to dig at the ground, and it was cracking, but then Twilight heard a gasp. She looked up straight ahead. Just two block away, Swift was standing on his two hind legs, holding something in his hooves. It was curved and drawn. A bow, with a sharp arrow ready to fire. He pointed towards her. He let go of the string.

"Twilight!" yelled Rainbow Dash. Twilight could feel the arrow zip past her with a sharp whistle. She heard it hit something behind her, with a crunch. Turning around, Twilight saw something large and green stand just a few blocks behind her.

"MOVE!" shouted Swift, surging forward with great speed. In the chaos Twilight saw something strange almost materialize in Swift's mouth. It was a sword made from wood. He slashed at the large green creature, it was standing upright. Its mouth and eyes were hollow and dark as night. It had no other features on its face. Swift pushed Twilight back as the monster flew back with great force from the attack. A faint sound could be heard, like from a fuse. The next moment the creature exploded, leaving behind a large crater in its wake.

Twilight saw Rainbow Dash and Big Macintosh pounce on Swift, pinning him to the ground.

"What was that?! Are you trying to kill the Princess?! Answer me!" said Rainbow Dash, twisting Swift's leg.

"That hurts," he said with a cold voice.

"Answer me, jerkface!" said Rainbow Dash, twisting his leg even more.

"I call those green little bastards Creepers, because they always creep up on ya. If I hadn't shot it, then your Princess would have died in a fiery explosion," said Swift.

"I don't trust you, I think it was a setup."

"Whatever," said Swift, giving her another cold look. Twilight was a bit disoriented. "Let me go, right now. I'm warning you," said Swift.

"Yeah, right," said Rainbow Dash. Swift started to bash his head on the ground below, within a second the ground vanished, and they all three fell into the hole. Quickly getting out, Swift made another object appear in his hoof, replacing the sword, he tossed it to Twilight. She gripped it like by instinct, holding on to it with her Intent.

"I've written down all you need to know. Farming, how to craft your first tools, when monsters appear and where. All the basics are there, and reminders. If you ever need me, go north. The sun goes up in the east," said Swift Digger, before he started to run.

"Wait, I believe you, don't mind my friends. They are just being careful!" said Twilight. "You can live with us," said Twilight. Swift Digger turned to the group.

"Sorry, but even if my best stuff wasn't back at my place, I still wouldn't go with you. I remembered that I don't like crowds. Good luck, Princess. I think we'll see each other again," said Swift, before running north. "I'll keep an eye out for more of your Ponyville-friends!" he yelled as he disappeared into the forest.

Twilight quickly turned to her friends, walking over to help Rainbow Dash and Big Macintosh up out of the hole.

"Rainbow Dash, wasn't that a bit extreme?" said Twilight, finally having calmed down.

"That green thing could have been on his side," said Rainbow Dash.

"While it's not completely unreasonable to be suspicious of Swift Digger, making claims like that certainly is. If that 'Creeper' really was on Swift's side, why would he shoot the creature in the face?" asked Twilight.

"I..."

"All I'm saying is that if that pony saved my- our lives, then we should show our appreciation."

"I think Rainbow Dash did the right thing, but not because of that Creeper," said Spike. "Twilight, that pony had weapons hidden somewhere on him, or he suddenly made them. If he was really trustworthy, would he really bring weapons to a meeting like this?" Twilight realized that her assistant had a point.

"Mm, that is actually worrying. I'll have to be careful around him, but, we should still act civil. Both parties need to show at least some trust if we're going to become friends," said Twilight. "I just want you to know that I love how much you care about me, Rainbow Dash. I completely understand why you did it. It was a chaotic moment, after all," said Twilight. "And thank you for being so quick to act with her, Big Macintosh," she added with a polite nod.

"Hey, let's go back and teach the other ponies about this Intent-thing. Even if he is dangerous, this could come in handy," said Spike, holding onto a small cube of dirt.

"You do that, I'm going to read this book," said Twilight, walking back to the cave with the group.

Doing what she loved most, Twilight sat on a block with the book almost pressed against her muzzle. Somewhere off to her right, Spike was standing in the middle of a crowd being the center of attention for once. He was yet again explaining the simple principle of Intent as best he understood it. Some ponies in the crowd started to pick up the skill. When they tried it, the mayor eventually told them to test it outside of the cave, unless they had plans on sleeping in holes later.

"Hm, this one looks interesting," said Twilight, looking at a paragraph.

"What is it?" asked Rarity. For once, she was just as curious about a book like Twilight could be.

"Apparently, we can use intent, materials, and an idea to create, or 'craft' small objects, such as sticks, buttons and ladders," said Twilight.

"Oh," said Rarity, sounding disappointed that one particular tidbit of information wasn't as interesting as some of the others.

"Unless he's just bad at writing, it seems we have to just try to put things together, and the Intent will sort of make it happen, eventually. He writes it can take a while to get the hang off," said Twilight.

"Well, it does take a while for some to get this stuff," said Spike.

"For your information, I am struggling as much as I possibly can to grasp this skill," said Time Turner defensively.

"You've been trying for an hour! Almost everypony has gotten it within ten minutes! It's not that hard!" said Spike.

"Well, pardon me," said Time Turner, rolling his eyes.

"Hm, Big Macintosh, could you go out and get a block of wood from a tree? I need to test this creating business," said Twilight with her eyes focused on the page, not even willing to stop reading.

"Twilight, maybe we should get a lot more than just one," said Spike.

"What?" asked Twilight, a bit distracted.

"If that book is right, monsters appear and comes out when it's dark. What if they come around here? We should make a wall around the cave entrance so everypony can be safe," said Spike.

Twilight finally looked up from her book. "You're right! We need to start preparing. The trees are pretty close by, if we remove some of them, then we'll also get a clear view around us."

"We might be in trouble if several of them comes along and decide to blow up that wall for the rest to come in," said Spike.

"Do you think those ghastly creatures can make up plans?" asked Rarity.

"I don't know, Rarity. I sure don't hope so," said Spike.

Twilight flipped a few pages back, stopping on Creatures and Monsters. "It doesn't say anything about them being intelligent in this at least," said Twilight. But, the book was badly written. The spelling was below average, the prose wasn't scientific enough and it lacked details. It was usually 'This works like that. That creature does this.' If Swift Digger hadn't called the green creature a Creeper, then Twilight would have been unable to recognize one by the text alone. The truly important things were more clear, though, such as farming and getting food.

"In any case, I want the rest of you to know that if I could use this skill, I would have helped you with the fortification," said Time Turner.

"Hey, if Twilight wants me to watch my language, you should watch yours!" said Spike.

"It refers to us making this dwelling more protected, Spike," said Time Turner with a deadpan tone.

"Oh."

Twilight helped the mayor and Time Turner to overlook the creation of the walls. It was a slow process, mostly due to the fact that the hundred or so ponies with the energy to help didn't quite know how to use Intent properly. Often they dropped the small cubes, or aimed it wrong so they had to replace it. During the hours of labor small cubes of wood were scattered all over the plains, often disappearing into nothingness. Also, the workers could only carry one at a time, two if they didn't mind just walking with three legs over the blocky landscape. The forest was not as close as Twilight had remembered it to be.

Still, a great wall, three blocks high, was slowly taking shape a certain distance from the cave. They needed enough space for all the ponies. At least they would not be so incredibly cramped that night, if they could build the wall in time. Surprisingly, the project had a positive effect on some of the ponies there. It made them think just a little less about Ponyville. Having something to do and focus on was just what some of them needed. If the wall could make them all feel safe, then it was possible none of them would be hearing another pony weep that night.

"Make sure you don't miss the overhang, spiders can climb walls according to the book. We don't need to be boxed in with a dozen spiders," said Twilight to a couple of workers.

"It seems to be coming along well," said the mayor.

"Though, I must say my fellow friends are quite uncoordinated. It's a pet peeve of mine," said Time Turner.

"It's fine. No, Big Mac, focus on building over there where the other side is lower. We can finish that last if we have to," said Twilight. The large red stallion just gave her a puzzled look. "It will still be three blocks high from one side. The sun will set soon, we can't focus too much on details," said Twilight.

Spike walked up next to her and sat down on the ground, exhausted. "Okay, this is pretty hard. I just need to take five," he said, taking big breathes of the cooling evening air. He noticed Twilight's book next to her and started to read with some curiosity.

"I just wish we had more materials. We need more wood," said Twilight. Suddenly Spike yanked on her wing.

"Twilight! We did it all wrong," said Spike.

"What?" She turned to face him.

"According to this, we can make four plank-blocks out of one wooden block," said Spike, holding up the book. He had a claw pointing at the page of the chapter entitled 'Crafting'. Twilight quickly skimmed the chapter, it did indeed say something about creating more material from one wooden block.

"If this is true, then we'll be done in time for sure," said Twilight.

"Big Macintosh! Get a block over here! Take one from the wall if you have to!" yelled the mayor.

A few moments later Big Macintosh came along to give Twilight and Spike a piece of the wall.

"I think I'll do this," said Spike, taking the block.

Twilight read the page more carefully. "I think Swift says that you're supposed to focus on the materials in your grip, and imagine it turning to something else. In this case, more wood. With Intent, of course," she said.

Spike stared intently on the block in his claw. No matter how much he focused, it simply would not change. "I'm a bit lost. Does it say anything else?"

"Just that you're supposed to craft something, that's it."

Spike started to fiddle around with the object, twisting and clawing at it until he started to bash it in frustration. "Come on! Work! Become more! Split! Something!"

Big Macintosh looked on with interest, eventually he reached out his hoof. Spike handed it to him with a sour look on his face. Big Macintosh started to hit the object himself, but his strength didn't do anything. Then he did something different, he took a grip with booth his hooves, his Intent enough to grasp it, then pulled them apart. Suddenly the block was split along the middle with the sound of a large branch being broken apart, then four blocks fell out of his grasp, landing on the ground with a light thud.

"You did it!" said Twilight with joy. The four wooden cubes' surface reminded her a bit of planks. They were the same size as the block they had sprung from. Spike picked one up and tested placing it. The large block appeared in front of them. "Great! Time Turner, could you go tell the rest of the ponies they don't have to walk to the forest anymore? We have more than enough now."

"At once, Princess," he said, immediately leaving them.

"Spike, maybe you should get back to work now. And take this block with you," said Twilight.

"Er, right," said Spike, starting to punch the block. He shook his fists in pain. "Darn, forgot to use dirt on it! Ouch, ouch, ouch!" He started to hop on the spot. "We need some tools or something!" Twilight started to skim through the book again.

"Hang on... didn't I read about...? Oh, here's something I think will make you very happy," said Twilight.

New Rules

--

Four days had passed. Each and everyday had been filled with activity. The food had run out much faster than Twilight had expected. Feeding over 600 ponies took their tool on their supplies, even when rationing them. Fortunately, Swift Digger's book was the starting point they had needed. Most of the plains around their 'base' had been turned into farmlands. The only crops were wheat, along with small patches of watermelon. As long as the ponies could keep the their food supply secure from monsters it would all turn out fine, Twilight was sure of it.

For whatever reason, plants seemed to grow quite quickly. At most it only took three days before something was ready to be harvested. There was one problem though: lack of space. At the moment there simply wasn't enough space for all the wheat to grow, at least not within the safety of the outer walls. They constantly needed to expand on the other side of the walls. The forest surrounding the large plains was vast, they had to clear several acres every day just to make room to work the ground and plant seeds. It was hard labor and not one pony could afford not to help. Twilight had herself prepared more farmland than she had ever even though possible. Using intent on tools to dig up dirt and place seeds was a very strange thing. It was all a very slow process.

In a way the lack of space gave them another problem. They severely missed something from back in Ponyville: privacy. The large cave had seemed like an excellent temporary home, but after a few days it was becoming clear her fellow ponies just couldn't stand the cramped conditions. Even something as simple as going to the bathroom undisturbed was a luxury, especially at night when monsters seemed to roam free outside the wooden walls. The only relief they had was the fact that whatever 'leavings' they left behind also disappeared, just like any other small object in the world. Still, Twilight understood that they needed to live more securely. That evening, while outside the cave but still within the surrounding walls, Twilight proposed something to Rarity, the mayor and Big Macintosh.

"A town? You want us all to build an entire town?" asked Rarity.

"Why not? It seems like a good idea to me. We might be stuck here for several weeks, maybe more, and you know how much trouble we're having keeping everypony happy," said Twilight.

"Well, I suppose we could do that, but...," said the mayor.

"We can't do much right now except provide ourselves with food and look for other ponies from Ponyville. If we can give each and every pony here a home, I think we should."

"Well, a town would be much easier to spot if someone gets close enough. For all we know, our fellow equestrians might have seen the mountain and simply ignored it," said Rarity.

"That's a good point. I don't see why we couldn't at least think about it. We're already clearing away plenty of the woods. We should have more than enough space soon," said Twilight.

"Well, if everypony likes the idea, then I don't see why we couldn't do it. But, how would we even start?" asked Rarity.

"I thought that you, Spike, Applejack (when she finds us), and everypony who knows anything about planning and cities could get together and plan out the layout, location, such and such. I thought that we could use a bit of dirt to mark out where the houses should be and then we can-" Suddenly Twilight started to hear a cheer over by the main gate. "This seems promising."

Quickly running over to the commotion, Twilight managed to make her way among the gathering crowd. Being just a tiny bit taller than the average pony, she could eventually see that it was Rainbow Dash and two brave volunteers that had returned from her scouting trip. The thing that brought so much cheer was that they were not alone.

Looking extremely tired, but otherwise healthy, about fifteen ponies followed the trio in through the gate which was quickly sealed with a few blocks of stone. Twilight felt relief when she realized that one was a lost patient, and two others were foals. Her heart filled with warmth as a mare and stallion rushed right past the princess in order to get to the newcomers. The two parents embraced the first foal with tearful joy. It was one of the few truly wonderful moments they all had, and it was just what some of them needed. Though, Twilight noticed just how lonely the other little child still seemed to be.

The grey and brown pony named Strong Will, one of the volunteers, walked away, looking both shaken up and proud. The pegasus walking next to him was blue, with the bearing of a military stallion, but with the smile of a goofy hyperactive teenager.

"Good work, Soarin. You too, Strong Will," said Rainbow Dash to the two volunteers as she trotted over to Twilight, all the while getting praise and attention. It was impossible not to notice Rainbow Dash's confident smirk. She loved the moment just as much as Twilight did. When Rainbow Dash walked up to her, Twilight gave her a hug.

"Great work, Rainbow Dash. I was worried when you didn't come back yesterday."

"We had enough food and a torch. To me, it was nothing but a camping trip," said Rainbow Dash. She looked over to Soarin and Strong Will, both looking a bit worse for wear. "Although, I think Strong Will might be afraid of spiders. He was shaking the entire night. Wuss. Soarin was much more helpful though. Oh, hey, Twilight, we found this too," she said, focusing on her hoof. Suddenly small white seeds appeared in her grip. One thing that had not been written in the book, but that Spike had self-taught, was the ability to hold and store many blocks and items at once, without being visible. It was like one's Intent was able to grab something for one to later use. It was quite annoying to keep focus all the time, especially with many items, but it was still a practical skill. When asked how he had discovered it, Spike had mentioned Swift Digger when he had made a sword appear. It was clearly the same ability.

"What are these?" asked Twilight, taking the seeds.

"I'm pretty sure they are pumpkin seeds. We found some growing and thought they could come in handy. Maybe. I tried to make something of them, and it turned into these."

"It might be useful. Have you noticed anything else while you were out?" asked Twilight.

"Just one thing."

"App-"

"No. No Applejack, Fluttershy, or Pinkie Pie. I tried, Twilight, I really did, but I couldn't find them anywhere," said Rainbow Dash. "For now, let's just be happy I managed to find at least some, okay?"

"... Okay. You did good work, Rainbow Dash."

"I'll be out tomorrow again, to do more, I hope," said Rainbow Dash. "Right now, I need to get some grub. I'm starving!"

"What was that you mentioned? What did you see?"

"At first, I thought it was a Ponyvillian, but I was wrong. Twilight, there are monsters out there that look like us," said Rainbow Dash. "It was a zombie-pony, Twilight."

"Are, are you telling me that somepony was turned into-"

"No, no, of course not. I thought so too at first, but then I saw several others. They all looked exactly the same, just like the spiders or Creepers do. They tried to attack, but we fended them off," said Rainbow Dash. Twilight glared at her, so far no creature had been 'fended off' once it had spotted someone. "Alright, we ran away when they attacked us. But we did so coolly, just so you know!" She walked towards the cave with a grumbling stomach, Twilight paid her no mind. Instead she walked back to Big Macintosh.

"Big Mac, I have some new seeds for you!" said Twilight as she got close to him. He reached out his hoof to receive them. With some interest the farmer turned the little white blocks over in his hoof. "I'm sure you can find a use for them, I'll have to inform the guards of a new type of monster Rainbow Dash found," said Twilight. "Where is your second-in-command?" asked Twilight. Big Macintosh did a quick nod towards the western wall off in the distance. Twilight quickly recognized the silhouette of a particular guard walking along the edge of their territory, peering out into small holes to see what was happening outside.

Before Twilight could walk over to him, she heard a mare scream towards the cave.

"Back off!" another voice yelled, a stallion. Twilight realized who it had been. It was Swift Digger.

Without wasting a second, She ran towards the cave. The scene she had arrived to was unexpected.

In the middle of a large ring of ponies constantly backing away from the center, Swift Digger stood holding a bow and arrow. He had the rope tensed, aiming right for Rainbow Dash.

"Do as I say!" yelled Swift Digger with a fierce voice. The anger in his eyes seemed downright mad.

"Don't tell me what to do!" said Rainbow Dash, equally angry. She noticed Twilight in the crowd. "Get away! This guy is crazy!"

"Do as I say and nopony gets hurt!"

"Swift Digger, what are you doing here, pointing weapons at my friends?" asked Twilight, trying to keep her head cool.

"This broad stole my stuff!" yelled Swift.

"He's insane, Twilight," said Rainbow Dash.

"Swift Digger, I assure you, Rainbow Dash would never steal anything. Now, what was it that went missing?" asked Twilight. All she managed to do was to grab Swifts' attention, as well as the spot where he aimed. He turned to face the princess.

"She took my disc!" yelled Swift Digger. Twilight kept trying to keep cool but having an arrow pointed at her made that difficult.

"Calm down. What disc?"

"My disc! My record! She stole it!"

"Swift, Rainbow Dash would never-"

"I saw her! She took it right out of my house!" yelled Swift.

"I've never been in any house!" said Rainbow Dash defensively.

"Oh, yeah? I followed you all the way back here, even when you had to be dumb enough to make those zombies follow you!" yelled Swift.

"Hey, I might have been followed by some zombies, but I was never in any house!"

"Swift, please put the bow down. Threatening her with violence isn't going to solve anything," said Twilight as she noticed several guards stepping closer. Most of the crowd had scattered, now only a dozen ponies on guard-duty remained.

"What? I'm not threatening her, I have to keep her in check! She was bitten!" said Swift Digger.

"What?" asked one of the older guards, confused. Swift turned his bow towards the stallion.

"Bitten! Don't you get it?! She will turn into one of them, it's already too late! We have to lock her up!" said Swift.

"What do you mean with 'bitten'?" asked Twilight. Seemingly happy somepony listened, Swift calmed down a bit, still holding his bow at the ready.

"I saw her. She was bitten by one of the zombies. When you're bitten, you start to act like them," said Swift. "Everything looks edible after a few hours. Everything. After a couple of days you will just keep trying to eat flesh until you burst."

"This guy is crazy, Twilight, don't listen to him." Twilight didn't doubt her friend Rainbow for even a second and gave her a calm nod.

"Just a few minutes after the bite, you're not really yourself. You start making excuses. 'Nah, I'm fine', 'I'm not that hungry'...

"I wasn't bitten, I swear!" both Swift Digger and Rainbow Dash said at the same time. Swift immediately tensed up again, aiming his bow at her.

"Then what's that teeth mark?" asked Swift. Twilight looked over at Rainbow Dash, she didn't see any bite mark.

"What are you talking about?" asked Rainbow Dash.

"The one on your wing," said Swift. That's when Twilight realized that particular tidbit was true. There was a mark just by the base. Rainbow Dash looked it over, very clearly recognizing the small wound, staring at it for several seconds. She looked up at Swift with a defiant look.

"I don't see any bite mark," said Rainbow Dash.

"Big surprise," said Swift with a biting sarcasm.

"Wait, wait, Swift, is this... if this is true, then what can we do?" asked Twilight.

"There's only one thing. We have to get her to drink some milk."

"Milk?"

"Here it's like a remedy or something. The milk of a cow can cure any sickness from monsters. I have some back at my house, but she was bitten yesterday. The trip takes a whole day if you walk."

"Twilight, you can't believe this guy, can you?" asked Rainbow Dash, a tone of worry in her voice.

"Rainbow Dash, you are bitten, that part isn't wrong," said Twilight.

"It was just a spider who did it. It's not a bite, it's just a scratch," said Rainbow Dash, shrugging. Twilight didn't know what to think. Until...

"Actually, Princess, that's a lie," said Soarin, suddenly walking in from between the guards. Twilight turned to face him. "We've been with Rainbow Dash all the time. She was bitten there, without a doubt, by a zombie-thing," said Soarin. Strong Will was behind him, nodding.

"He's lying! They all are! Tell them, Soarin, I was never at any house-"

"Shut up! You're either coming with me, or you'll have to get a taste of the void right here!" said Swift, pointing his arrow right yet again straight at Rainbow Dash.

"I never-"

"Rainbow Dash, it's alright. We can go, we can all go."

"No. For all I know, she could have bitten everypony already! You'd start making plans with her, just bite others because it 'seemed like fun'. Just three more," said Swift.

"Then, then, I'll go with you."

"Princess Twilight, don't," said Soarin with worry in his voice.

"I can't just let anyone go. I'm used to these types of risks, and everyone I know who can take care of themselves are needed here," said Twilight.

"I'll go with you, then," said Soarin. "I'm still tired, but I can make the extra trip."

"And I shall accompany you as well," said Time Turner, appearing behind Twilight.

"You want to go, Time Turner?" asked Twilight.

"These idle hooves are in dire need for some excitement again," he said with a pleasant smile.

Swift finally lowered his bow and arrow, making them disappear into his Intent. "Three ponies and one who's almost a zombie. Yeah, I can deal with that if things go bad. Get some food and we'll go right away," said Swift, always with a watchful eye over Rainbow Dash.

"Twilight, this is humiliating!" said Rainbow Dash. Time Turner was walking with a thick rope in his mouth, it being connected to Rainbow Dash's neck.

"Don't listen to her until we've given her the antidote," said Swift Digger. "Also, I want my rope back later."

"Could you at least hand me some bread?" asked Rainbow Dash.

"Again? We gave you one ten minutes ago," said Soarin.

"But I'm hungry now! Really hungry," said Rainbow Dash.

"Seems to be getting worse. As long as she doesn't give out a scream, we know we're not too late," said Swift, constantly looking around them as they walked through the dark forest. The sun was on its way down.

"What if it is too late?" asked Twilight.

"And what does a scream have to do with it?" asked Soarin.

"The scream, it's like you get new instincts. It's like you need your new zombie buddies to get close. It lures them in. First they, and you, get close to everypony they can find and try to bite them too. Then, you either live long enough to eat so much you die, or the zombies start eating you... and you won't even mind it, because, hey, a fellow's got to eat, right?" asked Swift Digger.

"You seem to know a lot about that," said Twilight, assuming he simply didn't make it up on the spot to scare them. Swift Digger didn't say anything.

"All I know is that something is pretty wrong with Rainbow Dash. During the whole day, she was giving me and Strong Will some odd looks. He told me Rainbow Dash had starred at him weirdly all night," said Soarin.

"I did not, this is so stupid," said Rainbow Dash. "And stop tugging so hard!"

"I'm not the one tugging, Rainbow Dash, it's you. You've been struggling the hole way," said Soarin. It was true. Despite constant words of 'it's fine' and 'I'm coming', Rainbow Dash still constantly tried to resist them. It gave Twilight a distinct impression of Swift Digger being right.

"Swift, is it possible Rainbow Dash took your disc under the influence of this bite?" asked Twilight.

"I don't know. I just know what I saw," said Swift Digger. He just kept looking forward, not being too keen on talking.

"It still doesn't make any sense to me. What was this disc?" asked Twilight. It took slightly too long for Swift to respond.

"It's really important to me, okay? That's all you need to know." Not wanting to pry anymore, Twilight instead looked towards the setting sun. In a few minutes the monsters would be coming out to get them.

"Is it far?"

"No, just over that hill there," Swift said and nodded towards the front. It was less than a minute away. "Come on, let's run. As long as we can get into the house before-"

An terrifying, deafening shriek suddenly appeared, reaching far and wide into the wilderness. Twilight turned back, shocked to see Rainbow Dash struggling like a madmare to get out of the leash.

"We don't have much time! Grab her!" yelled Swift, making a wooden sword appear in his mouth. The sun set and darkness fell. Loud, terrifying moans could be heard all around them. Twilight saw several things move in the dark shadows of the forest. Within a few short seconds, they were almost surrounded.

"She bit me!" yelled Soarin, carrying Rainbow Dash on his back.

"Relax, you have a while! Just keep going!" yelled Swift Digger.

"Ignore the pain, Soarin!" said Twilight.

"Run!" shouted Time Turner. The started to sprint towards the hill. Twilight looked to her left to see the very first monster of the night step out of the shadows. It looked just like a pony, but whatever color its coat had had was green with decay and mold. Its eyes had turned black, the iris barely visible in those two dark depths. The appearance wasn't the most frightening thing about it, instead it was its movements. It could barely walk, yet moved with great speed as it shifted over the ground, dragging its hooves. It simply should not have been able to move like that.

"Guys, come on, everything's fine, relax," said Rainbow Dash with an eerily calm voice, while still biting Soarin's back.

"Just keep going, I'll stall them! Just push the button to get in!" yelled Swift, turning around to face the hoard, sword in a tight grip with his teeth. Twilight didn't have time to think, all she could think about was getting her three ponies into safety.

Without even looking back, they rushed over the hill to see a small house fifty blocks away. The little building was made from red bricks. Seeing a proper house would have made Twilight feel safe in any other situation. They struggled climbing down the hill, Soarin fell down the last block and hit his head.

"Soarin!" yelled Twilight, there was no response. Rainbow Dash got up and started to run back towards the zombies climbing over the hill. Their steps down the cubes seemed almost impossibly precise for something so seemingly dead. Time Turner rushed to Soarin to pick him up on his back.

"Please continue, Princess!" Time Turner shouted as he rushed past Twilight towards the house.

"Rainbow Dash!" yelled Twilight.

"Sorry, I'm a bit busy!" yelled Rainbow Dash, eagerly climbing up to the monsters. Twilight ran after her, biting down on her tail and pulled. "Don't, I belong there!"

"You're coming with me!" mumbled Twilight through her teeth. Then everything went dark as Rainbow Dash bucked Twilight between her eyes.

What happened next was a blur, somepony picked her up as Rainbow Dash screamed through twisted laughter as Twilight tumbled on someone's back as Swift Digger shouted for the door to close as the moaning could no longer be heard. Then it all went silent.