//------------------------------//
// Beginning of the End 
// Story: Dying Embers 
// by MrSpartan 
//------------------------------//

“Oh I’m so sorry about your fabrics,” said Fluttershy. 

“Oh it’ll be fine. They weren’t due for another month, anyhow,” replied Rarity.

Rainbow Dash spoke up, “So how exactly did all those things get in here anyway?”

“I’m not sure, but it was awful,” ranted Rarity. 
“One moment I was finishing getting ready for the day and heading downstairs to work, the next moment I find my lovely boutique filled with those pests.” 

“Now wait just a second here. First Fluttershy’s animals are too scared to come out of hiding. Applejacks animals start freaking out and the little statue of Princess Celestia snaps in half. Then we hear how the weather-making in Cloudsdale isn’t working right. Now Rarity’s house is overrun by a plague of pests!” said Pinkie Pie as she counted out the strange occurrences on her front left hoof with her right while sitting back on her haunches. “This is crazier then that time I found that weird hoof print just outside my window this morning.” The others gave her a look of confusion. 

“What hoof print?” quietly asked Fluttershy.

“This one silly,” Pinkie said with a big grin as she reached behind her back and tossed out a molded imprint of the hoof print into the midst of the group.

“How’d you do that?” asked Applejack. 

“You silly-willy box of Applejacks. I was carrying that with me the whole time. I mean, what kind of character would I be if I didn’t have at least one important contribution to advancing the plot?” said Pinkie with a smile spreading ear to ear. She stared back at the others. They just accepted it as Pinkie being Pinkie. Though Applejack silently wondered how and when she had been carrying that without the others noticing and why she would even take a mold of the print at all. Applejack decided not to over think it.

“Whoa, you weren’t kidding, this IS a weird hoof print.” It was Rainbow Dash as she was holding the hardened clay imprint in her hooves. She was turning it sideways and upside-down as she inspected it. 

“Come on RD. Ya’ll can look at that later. Right now we still gotta see Twi at the library.”

“Oh yeah,” said Dash.

“I’ll go with you,” Rarity said, “She’ll probably know why there were so many of those foul creatures in here and how to keep them out of my beautiful boutique.” 

And so, the group of ponies went down the street to Twilight Sparkle’s house to find out just what the hay was going on. Along the way they noticed that most of the other ponies were inside. They would see the occasional pony trot by as if something was wrong. But when one of them asked what was wrong the only response they would get was, “Sorry can’t stop to explain.” The cluster also heard the occasional racket coming from some of the buildings as they passed. Seemed like others in town were having their own problems. 

________________________________________________________________________________


As the assortment of equines arrived at Twilight’s house they were preparing to be shown some sort of predicament here. The tension was palpable as Rarity knocked with a nervous twitch of the eye. “Twilight it’s us. May we speak to you?” It was Spike, Twilight Sparkle’s baby dragon assistant and in many ways her little brother, that answered the door. He seemed to be fine, the five ponies noted with relief. 

“Hi guys!” Spike said with a smile. “Twilight is reading upstairs. Come on in.” He stepped to one side and held the door open for them. As they walked in they didn’t see anything out of place. 

“I guess Twilight isn’t having any trouble today. That’s good,” Fluttershy said. She was relieved that not all of Ponyville was having trouble except Pinkie Pie. 

“What do you mean?” Spike asked with a blank look on his purple and green scaled features. “Yes, what’s all the commotion about?” It was Twilight.

“Twilight!” yelled Pinkie as she suddenly blocked Twilight’s entire field of vision. “You wouldn’t believe it! All the animals everywhere are going crazy with a capital two plus two equals FISH! Not only that, but things are breaking, the weather in Cloudsdale isn’t working right and Rarity even had rats in her house! RATS! No pony has seen an actual rat in Equestria in, like, foreveeeeeeeeer!” She was speaking a mile a minute. It was so much talking in such a short amount of time it was a wonder of the world that she hadn’t passed out from lack of oxygen. “Also I was-mnmphmunamph…” She was trying to go into more detail but Twilight had put her hoof in her mouth before she could start another aneurism causing explanation. 

“I think I get the gist of it Pinkie,” said Twilight.

“Okey doki loki,” Pinkie said before finally giving the librarian back her personal space.

“Pinkie also said she found this hoof print at her house.” Dash said as she handed over the little clay impression she had been carrying on her back. Twilight levitated it closer to herself to examine it more closely. The other mares and Spike all leaned in to look at it too. To call it a ‘hoof print’ was a stretch, seeing as how it barely looked like one at all. It was roughly hourglass shaped with one end a little bigger than the other. It was also very deep which indicated whatever or whoever made it was at least as heavy as the average pony. The bottom of the print wasn’t smooth like an animal print either. It had a pattern in it like was wearing clothes on its feet at the time. It also didn’t seem to have any claws; though they wouldn’t show if the claws were retractable like some animals had. The most peculiar thing however though was the center of the print was covered in ashes. 

“Wow. I’ve never seen anything like this before. It’s defiantly not a horseshoe print Pinkie.” stated Twilight. “Why are there ashes in the middle?”

“Well the print WAS burned into the ground when I found it.” Pinkie Pie said.

“It doesn’t look like any animal print I’ve seen” said Fluttershy.


_
_
_
_
_


An hour later, anyone entering the library would have seen the six of them all helping Twilight look through the multitude of books in a fruitless attempt to find out where all the problems were coming from. They were just about stumped when Spike burped up a scroll with a small puff of magical fire. 

“A letter from Princess Celestia?” Twilight said in surprise. She was usually the one sending letters back to the Princess of Equestria not the other way around.

“What’s it say?” asked Rainbow Dash.

“Hold on a minute. Let me see,” Twilight replied, clearing her throat. 


“My faithful student Twilight Sparkle,
I require your presence as well as that of the other Elements of Harmony. Gather your friends as quickly as you can and be ready at your home for some of my guards to arrive. They will take you to my castle in Canterlot. Be ready. 
Princess Celestia


The room got uncomfortably quiet after that as they waited, not knowing what else to do. Not thirty minutes later there was a firm knock on the library door. Twilight used her levitation spell to open it and saw two large pagesi in golden armor. 
“Miss Sparkle, you and the other elements of harmony are needed in Canterlot. Are you and your friends ready?” the right guard said.

“Yes we are,” she said.

It was a fairly uneventful ride on a gold chariot to Equestria’s capitol city. On the way they failed to notice the path of crushed trees in the distance creeping closer and closer to their homes from the Everfree. Their ignorance would not last long.