Twilight's decision to give her coat to Comet didn't prove helpful for the rest of the morning. For the rest of the way she and Rainbow Dash walked to the location that the map sent them, the freezing wind felt like small needles poking into Twilight's skin.
"If I r-remember correctly," Twilight spoke above the wind to Rainbow Dash. "Our destination is three blocks from here. Th-third house on the block." The two had been walking in a straight line down a street for about five minutes, and had spent at least an hour walking to the town. At the time, it was probably about 5:40, and they were both glad to know that their location was only three blocks away.
"That's good to know!" Rainbow Dash said. "I'm getting cold, but you must be freezing!"
"Y-you don't even know!" Twilight said.
"I still want to know why it directed us to somepony's house. It would be weird to just go into a stranger's house and be like, 'Hi there! We were sent to your house, pony we've never met or heard of before!' right?"
"True. But we h-have to at least check."
They were silent for the rest of the way down the block. Just like in Ponyville, all the houses were unlit, and nopony walking the streets. For some reason, it felt completely desolate. Just like in Ponyville. The sun was just starting to come up, and the faint silhouette of Canterlot Castle and the mountain it was perched on the side of came into view behind the rising sun. The dark purple of the sky was beginning to turn lighter.
After another ten minutes of walking, the two friends' cutie marks started flashing, just as they had earlier that morning. They looked at each other, then turned to their left to see that they were right in front of the house they were supposed to be at.
"I guess this is where we're supposed to be." Rainbow Dash said to Twilight.
Twilight let out a short sigh. "I hope this goes well." She slowly trotted to the door, and then knocked on it with her hoof. Not so loud that it sounded like somepony was trying to break down the door, but not so quietly that nopony could hear it from the inside. Then they waited. A half minute passed, then a whole minute.
"Ya think anypony's home?" Rainbow Dash asked Twilight.
"I don't know." Twilight said. "I'm going to knock one more time, then I'll have to see what I can do."
Twilight began knocking on the door with her hoof again. But on the third knock, they heard something that sounded like small pieces of metal clashing. The two both flinched at the sound. No sooner had they heard the first time, it happened again. Then a second time, and a third time. Twilight and Rainbow Dash both stepped back, as the door jolted downwards, then leaned towards them, eventually falling to the ground right in front of them. The sound they heard was obviously the hinges breaking. Inside, it was pitch black. Their hearts started beating twice as fast as before.
"Y-you go in first, Twi." Rainbow Dash said. She sounded quite scared. "I'll be right behind you. Promise."
"Alright..." Twilight's voice sounded just as scared as Rainbow Dash's. But without hesitation, she took a step into the house. But before she could even take her fourth step into the house, she jumped back, keeping her right forehoof off the ground. She let out a loud 'ow!'
"What happened?" Rainbow Dash jumped back as well, sounding even more scared.
"There's something sharp on the floor!" Twilight said as she lifted her hoof to see what is was. On the bottom of her hoof, there was a big shard of glass sticking into it. Twilight instantly lifted it out with her levitation magic, cringing in pain as she did it. Blood started slowly oozing out of her hoof. The cut wasn't major, but the smart choice was to find a way to treat it.
"Maybe whoever's inside can lend us a bandage." Rainbow Dash said. But they both knew that there was probably nopony inside. And if there was, they probably wouldn't lend them a bandage.
"Hold on." Twilight said, still keeping her injured hoof off the ground. "I'm not going to blindly stagger around in the darkness. I need light." She created a light with her horn. It was just enough light to show them what was in the house. "Now let's both go in."
"I agree." Rainbow Dash said, keeping close to Twilight.
As the two walked into the house, the light uncovered a terrifying sight. It looked like a battle royale had just taken place in there, as there were chairs overturned, a table leaning on a corner missing a leg with random materials dumped off the side of it. Tons of books were in front of a bookshelf, disorganized just like if they had all fallen off. Another bookshelf beside it was completely overturned. A few glass bottles broken on the floor, which was the source of the broken glass that Twilight stepped on. And it was everywhere. Trying to dodge the glass would be a real challenge. Besides the light from Twilight's horn, there was none, obviously, which just added to the unnerving vibe.
"The Cutie Map wanted us here?" Rainbow Dash said, keeping her voice down in case somepony inside had no good intentions.
"It must have." Twilight answered. "Nothing else would explain our cutie marks' reactions."
Just then, the two heard hoofsteps behind them. They didn't move a muscle, and Twilight was too scared to turn off her light spell.
"Excuse me, ladies." A colt's voice said from behind them. "Mind if I ask what you're doing in my house? I know you didn't break in. The door caved in from the inside."
Twilight and Rainbow Dash, frozen with fear, both tried to force words out of their mouths, but were barely able to. Rainbow Dash eventually broke the silence by answering. "Um, n-nothing." She forced out, tripping over her words. "W-we were sent here b-by somepony...I mean...it's a long story...see-"
"Turn around so that I can see you!" The voice demanded. "Both of you!"
Twilight and Rainbow Dash instantly turned around. They saw who the figure was, revealing to be a unicorn with brown fur and a deep black mane and tail. But what scared them the most was his eyes. They were bright red, and glowing in the dark of the night. After they turned around, the colt set his eyes on Twilight first. He looked surprised for a brief second, then that look changed to amusement. He let out a short, loud laugh.
"Twilight Sparkle? The princess of friendship herself, in my own house." He said. "That's certainly something you don't experience every day."
"Okay, we're sorry we intruded into your house." Twilight said, still shaking with fear, but at the same time, keeping calm. "But we were sent here for on a business problem. No offense, but it does seem like there's been a problem here."
"Problem?" The colt said, letting out another short laugh. "Quite the opposite has happened here, your highness."
"Um, would you mind telling me what happened?" Twilight sounded very confused.
"I would mind." The brown colt said, a devilish grin stuck on his face. It looked like the kind of grin Discord would give every now and then, but it was not reassuring. Not one bit.
"I'm sorry sir, but we must know. It's very important. Plus, I refuse to believe that all this," Twilight pointed at the mess. "Is a good thing, without you telling me why."
"Oh, but it is." The colt said, his grin beginning to disappear from his face. "You're just going to have to take my word for it."
"Now I definitely know something's wrong." Rainbow Dash said before Twilight could speak again. As soon as she finished her first sentence, the brown colt's grin completely vanished. "Look. We're sorry we barged into your house while you weren't home, but we were sent by a map telling us something was up here. Now if you'd just tell us what's going on, we can help out and pretend nothing ever happened, alright?" By this time, the brown colt's face morphed into an angry frown. His eyes flashed brighter, and without hesitation, he levitated Rainbow Dash into the air, and then violently slammed her into the wall. The impact shook the only standing bookshelf, but didn't completely knock it over. Rainbow Dash didn't get up.
"Rainbow Dash!" Twilight yelled. She quickly flew to where her friend was tossed. "Rainbow Dash, can you hear me? Wake up!" Rainbow Dash didn't respond at all. The impact knocked her out.
"Well," The brown colt said. "That took less effort than I thought. Now are you ready to leave me alone?"
Twilight turned to look at the colt who had just beat up her friend. She gave him an extremely angry look. Twilight was done trying to be reasonable at this point, as she knew if she didn't act soon, then she would fail her mission. She knew that this pony was the problem that the map sent them to solve. "Alright," She said. "If it's a fight you want, then that's what you'll get."
The colt began to smile. Then he laughed. He laughed long and loud. And then he stopped, and shot her a confident glare. "Go ahead." He said. "Ladies first."
Twilight hesitated no longer. She immediately shot an attack spell at the colt. With expert reflexes, he didn't even bother using a shield spell, but instead stepped to the side, dodging with perfection. He started laughing again, as Twilight shot more attack beams at him. He dodged every one. Every single one.
"It's hard to believe you're the one who defeated Tirek." He mocked. "Now my turn." He started another beam spell. But he charged this one. He charged it for quite some time. His horn glowed an electric blue, and sparks started hovering around it. The glow got bigger and bigger the longer he charged it. Twilight stood her stance, readying a shield spell. Finally, the colt leaned forwards to shoot his beam. Sparks pulsed throughout his horn, and then he was ready to let the beam go. But then, he stopped it. He faked his spell. In an instant he teleported behind Twilight, and then pushed her forward with a quick air spell. It pushed furniture everywhere, scattering the mess in all directions. Twilight fell to the floor. Then the colt used his magic to push a bookshelf beside the alicorn onto her. Then the colt shot a bolt of lightning at Twilight in an instant. "Want more?" He said. "Try and escape and I'll give it to you."
"I don't want to fight you." Twilight said. She was struggling to breath under the bookshelf. "I'm j-just trying to help."
"I already told you, I don't need help!" He raised his voice. "I don't need help from you, or her," He pointed at Rainbow Dash. "Or even Celestia herself! In fact, my goal is to end her, and nobody can stop me!"