//------------------------------// // Episode 5: King of the Hill // Story: TCB: Yellowstone: The Series // by Anonsi //------------------------------// Yellowstone The Series By: Anonsi (I bet this one starts  with ‘Twilight Sparkle’) Episode: 5 King of the Hill ____________________________________________________________________________ For ages, Equestria has existed separate from the rest of the world, protected by a magical barrier that prevented it from being seen, touched, or reached by humans and their machines. But five years ago, the ponies of Equestria landed on the shores of human lands claiming to be there to save the earth and humanity from pollution, hate, and greed. To do this, the top human scientists and pony magicians created a potion to turn humans into ponies in places called, Conversion Bureaus. Within two years of its release, more than half the total human populace on Earth has converted. The balance of the world has been forever altered, as the remaining human nations form new governments for those humans that remain.         Megan, Zorro, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash are taking a much needed rest since their return from Paris and a well earned celebratory day of shopping for destroying an artifact that could summon skeletons up from their graves. With two days of no new missions, and human conversions at an all time low, the human agents and the Elements of Harmony are all using their new found free time to catch up on some old pastimes... ____________________________________________________________________________         Twilight Sparkle adjusted her position on the sofa for the fourth time this hour, but once again was unable to bring herself to read the heavy tome that sat in front of her. No matter where she sat down to read today, or with what book, something just seemed to be...missing.         “What’s the matter with me?” she asked herself exasperated, “I’ve been looking forward to reading Spells of Antiquity for a week, and now I can’t even bring myself to skim the first page! ARRG!” More frustrated than angry, she slammed the book’s cover shut and got up to pace around the empty lounge. “Maybe I just need to do some good old fashioned science, or finish writing that thesis paper about humans for Canterlot University’s council of scholars.” A faint pain from her gut caused Twilight to cast a forlorn look at the book and force a weak chuckle, “Maybe I should go get some lunch.”                  “Hey Twilight! Talking to yourself again?” asked a cheerful voice from behind her, surprising the unicorn enough for her to nearly jump through the roof.         Twilight spun around to see Pinkie Pie standing in the door way, wearing what appeared to be a fluffy yellow chicken costume. The dopey chicken suit covered all but the pink mare’s legs and face, and Pinkie was looking at Twilight with an expression of sincere interest through the ever open beak of the costume. Despite how odd this would seem to anypony else, the purple unicorn took it in stride and returned her friends joyous smile with one of her own. “Pinkie! You are just the pony I needed to see!” exclaimed Twilight as she trotted over to Pinkie. ‘A party! That’s what I need to get out of these doldrums!’         Pinkie Pie somehow beamed even brighter at the words, “Awww, that’s such a nice thing to say Twilight! What can your ol’ Auntie Pinkie Pie do ya for?”         Elated, Twilight Sparkle continued, “Well I was going to ask if you had a party coming up, but it looks like you already have a costume party about to start! Is there a theme, or can I be anything? I think I have the materials to make a decent Mareribbean pirate costume!”         Pinkie looked over the feathery yellow chicken outfit and then back to Twilight with her usual smile, “Oh this chicken suit isn’t for a party you silly filly!”         “It’s not?” asked the unicorn dejected.         An apologetic look came over Pinkie’s face as she continued, “Nope, Fluttershy asked me to help count some eggs before they hatch, so I’m wearing this thing to blend in and not scare the little chickies!”         Twilight lowered her head and folded her ears back, feeling genuinely disappointed that there was no party to be had. “Well okay then,” she said with a weary tone, “I guess I’ll go try seeing what the others are up to. Do you know where they all are?”         The pink mare placed a hoof to the side of her yellow and feather head, looking very thoughtful as she replied, “Sorry, but I don’t think I know where everypony is. I do know AJ and Dash are in the gym watching Hawk and Dimitri fight each other.”         “What?” asked the unicorn as she cocked an eyebrow, “Why on earth are they doing that?”         Pinkie just gave a bright smile through the beak of the costume and said with an innocent giggle, “I don’t have a clip-cloppin’ clue, but they aren’t trying to hurt each other so I guess it’s just for fun! Of course I think that if they wanted to do something fun, they could have just had a party! Those are always fun!” The unicorn rolled her eyes and stifled a small laugh, “Some of what humans consider fun is probably a lot different than what we do Pinkie. Trust me.” Twilight collected her books quickly, moving out the door and down the hall with a certain spring in her step. “Bye Twilight!” called the pink mare as she waved both her fore-hooves after he departing friend. “Bye Pinkie!” the unicorn shouted back. Now alone, Pinkie mused to herself, “A costume party huh? That does sounds like it could be fun, and I haven’t thrown one in a really long time to boot! Ooh! And Rarity could make the costumes! She’s been dying to sew something! Oh it’ll be super-duper-MEGA-Fun! They’ll all LOVE IT!” Humming merrily as she bounced down the corridor to Fluttershy’s sanctuary, the pink pony had already begun thinking of ways to make this the biggest and best costume party she could ever throw. *        *        *         The aging President Joseph McCullough sat at his desk and exhaled heavily as he sorted through the dozens of folders that were strewn over his desk, all of them marked “Immediate Response Required” in big red letters. He picked up a weighty looking tan folder first and inspected its contents. It was a report made by Agent O’Connell about the situation in Egypt, and from the looks of the evidence he had collected, things were far worse than previously thought. Apparently whatever had been under the pyramids had been moved, and the only thing that remained was a message left behind by whoever took it:         “The Master watches all with Death’s cruel sight,        His Brothers in Darkness shall return to him forgotten might,         He shall again rise up to crush the light,         and with his waking, bring forth Eternal Night.”         Looking up from the disturbing report with a weary expression, Joseph eyed the brilliant equine figure that was sorting through her own pile of paperwork in the center of his office. She rested on some large pillows as she glanced over one report after another, some dealing with policy in her homeland and others that dealt with the current crisis. The man could tell by her tired expression that keeping her own kingdom in order while also dealing with the wild magic polluting the rest of the world was wearing her down both mentally and physically. The last thing she needed right now was a prophesy of doom, especially one she would blame herself for.         “Celestia,” said Joseph standing up from his desk, “How about we take a small break and get something to drink?” The Princess looked away from her own work and eyed the President with a confused, but also grateful expression. The man moved to the office’s secret door that led to the White House kitchen and gestured for Celestia to follow, saying, “Maybe some scotch  and small talk will help us get through the paperwork?”         The goddess laughed quietly as she hovered a report back onto her pile and stood, stretching out her wings as she did so with a very pleasant sigh of satisfaction. “I think I’ll just have some tea thank you,” she replied while moving to the doorway, “Human alcohol and ponies don’t exactly mix if I remember correctly.”         Joseph rubbed his chin as the memory resurfaced in his mind, “Now that you mention it, I do remember your ambassadors having trouble finding the bathroom that one time.”         “Thank you for putting it so delicately Joseph,” Celestia replied with a bemused smile as she moved past him and through the doorway, “and I’m still extremely sorry about that by the way.”         The President merely chuckled and followed her out the door, “Don’t be. It takes practice to get good at drinking. Besides, nobody liked Senator Hannibal anyway. He was the sort of guy who just wouldn’t let things go.”         Celestia let out a hearty bout of laughter and looked at the president with a mischievous smile as she continued to walk down the hallway, “What ever happened to him? I don’t recall seeing him since then...is he still a senator?”         Seeing Celestia’s warm and curious expression almost made the old man tell her that he had the senator killed five years ago. “No,” Joseph half lied as he returned her smile with one just as friendly, “he retired to Canada I think. Apparently it was the only place he could be far enough away from such ‘disgusting beasts.’ Like I said; he just wouldn’t let things go.” The President hoped that his years of being a politician had finally made him good enough at lying. Celestia looked off down the hallway with a concerned expression, “Well I hope he’s not causing any trouble, I’d hate to think that after all these years someone could still hold a grudge over something so small.” Joseph gave a relieved little sigh, and wanted to reassure the equine goddess that Hannibal wouldn’t be a problem. But given the fact that the dead were rising from their graves these days, he couldn’t be too sure. Instead he simply placed an arm around the back of the Princess’s neck and did another trick he picked up during his presidency: changing subjects.  “So anyway Princess, how’s the family?” *        *        *         Hawk and Dimitri stood facing each other on a large, square training mat in the center of the gym, both of the men wearing comfortable looking t-shirts and loose work-out pants. A veritable rainbow of pastel colored ponies with a very small cadre of humans cheered from the bleachers around them, drawn by the excitement of a live combat demonstration. Applejack and Rainbow Dash, who had asked for the afternoon activity, were sitting closer to the mat and observed the action closely, only giving shouts of encouragement between bouts. “Alright Dimitri, come at me,” Hawk instructed. The young man sighed heavily as he looked over at the crowd that hadn’t been there when Pinkie Pie had left, but had miraculously appeared only minutes afterwards. “Vhy am I the one who has to do this?” “Because Zorro didn’t want to and Barnes scares me,” Hawk stated matter-of-factually. “Vhat about Megan?” Hawk took up a defensive posture and dismissively said, “She told me to make the rookie do it, so I did. Now would you hurry up attack me?”         Dimitri cracked his knuckles in response and adopted an aggressive stance, causing the crowd to cheer with anticipation. After a moment the young man charged Hawk and sent a right hook towards the face of his enemy. Agent Hawk grabbed Dimitri’s arm and swept the young man’s leg out from under him, sending the assailant tumbling to the floor. Hawk put a foot on the back of his opponent’s neck while also pulling on the grappled arm. The crowd went wild.         Dimitri fruitlessly squirmed on the ground before letting loose a guttural growl, “Сын сука!”                  “My Russian is a bit rusty Dimitri, does that mean ‘I surrender?’” Hawk asked confidently, only loosening his pull on Dimitri’s arm so the pinned man could move with a bit less pain. The young man in his grasp slapped the mat with his free hand, signaling his surrender. As Agent Hawk released Dimitri from the pin, the doors to the gym glided open, drawing the attention of everyone in the room to the small purple unicorn that trotted in with a certain spring in her step. Hawk helped the younger man up off the ground and said, “Looks like the crowd keeps growing.”         “Разве это не тот, который вы хотите спать с?” Dimitri asked with a smile.         Hawk punched him in the shoulder and quietly hissed, “Shush, or I’ll have you training with Megan, and she’s not as gentle as I am.” Turning to the unicorn, the man put his hands on his hips and asked, “Good morning Twilight, do we have a mission?”         “Oh no, I’m just here to watch!” she said with some enthusiasm, “I’ve read that human martial arts are one of the last great art forms, so I just thought I’d come down and take some notes.” With a lightning quick smile to Hawk, Twilight cantered over to where Applejack and Rainbow Dash were sitting, nestling herself down into a comfortable spot next to them as she hovered a notebook and pencil out of her bags.         “Well alright then, I guess me and Dimitri can get back to training,” replied Hawk as he took off his t-shirt and revealed his well toned torso to the audience, which caused the recently converted mares and the few women in the crowd to burst into a chorus of cheers and whistles. Chancing a glance at Twilight, he saw the young mare blush slightly as she ducked her head behind her notebook while her pencil hovered above the small tome looking ready to write.         Dimitri shook his head and gave Hawk a flat look, “Почему?”         “I’m just giving the people what they want,” Hawk said taking up a defensive stance. “Now come on and attack me.” *        *        *         Things were going better than the President thought they would. So far the discourse between him and the divine equine had been light and the atmosphere cheerful. The weariness that had once been present in the Equestrian princess’s features had disappeared with each story the old man had convinced her to tell, which was a rather simple feat in and of itself. It seemed to him that the Princess enjoyed talking about her people and their habits immensely. Currently, President McCullough sat across from her at the elegant dinning room of the White House, the aging human barely holding back a fresh batch of guffaws as Celestia continued one of her many favorite stories. “...so after we finally get out of the entrance hall and to the ballroom, I find the dance floor absolutely wrecked, covered with cake, and the guests about to riot. And that’s when it happened...” The Princess only paused long enough to finish off her tea before proceeding on, “So the ballroom is wrecked, cake is all over the place, and Twilight, bless her heart, says ‘Things can’t get any worse.’” Celestia stood up suddenly and spread her wings as she struggled to contain her laughter, “But then the doors to the gardens burst open and all the animals, and I mean all the animals, start running amok inside the ballroom. But that’s not the best part,” she said turning to Joseph with a gleeful expression. The President took another shot of scotch before asking, “Okay, I’ll bite. What was the best part?” Celestia smiled all the wider as she continued, “Fluttershy, the element of kindness, bursts in after them and screams,” The Princess took in a deep breath and yelled, “YOU ARE GOING TO LOVE ME!” while her face took on a deranged expression. Joseph and Celestia both exploded into laughter, the President needing to clutch his sides from the pain while the Princess rolled over onto the floor. For several minutes all the pair could do was laugh maniacally. They only began to calm down when they started gasping for air. “Tw-Twilight was...absolutely mort...mortified,” Celestia managed to say between breaths, “I...I had to track her down afterwards and...tell her that everything was okay.” With some effort, she regained her previous composure and returned to sitting on her haunches at her spot at the table. Giving once last calming sigh, Celestia looked at her empty tea cup with eyes still reminiscing the memories that swam in her head. “You miss her I take it?” asked Joseph as he set down his now empty shot glass. The alicorn gave the human a sweet look and nodded her head, “I miss all my little ponies Joseph, but Twilight especially. I feel awful about sending her and her friends to deal with this crisis.”         “Then go see her,” the man said bluntly, “Take them all out to lunch or something.”         “Really?” asked Celestia with mild surprise, “But what about all the reports? I can’t just leave them all for you to deal with!”         “I’ll be fine princess,” replied Joseph as he stood from his chair and walked through the doors that led to the balcony. He placed his hands behind his back as he added, “I’ve been through two wars and the deadliest plague in history, I think I can handle a few stacks of paper.”         Princess Celestia rose to her hooves and quietly joined the old man on the balcony, taking in the sunny weather of late morning. Her calm expression belied the resolute tone she now addressed the human with, “Joseph, if you think I might have a break down during this crisis then you are sorely mistaken. I’ve been alive for a very long time, and I can assure you that I am not so unused to such pressure.”         “It’s not that,” the man assured her, “It’s the fact that you’ve done a great deal and deserve a small break. Two months of doom and gloom does no one any good, and I think it’s time you went out and had some fun.” Joseph’s mouth curved into a playful grin as he looked at the elegant equine goddess, “Besides, what will the paparazzi think if you shut yourself up inside a musty old building with a human for two months? Think of all the scandalous magazine articles!”         The Princess let go a dainty little laugh, “I happen to enjoy such works of fiction Joseph, even ones that assume to know what my sister and I do behind closed doors.”         The President returned his gaze to the grounds of the White House, “As long it’s all fiction, right? Now you’d better get going before the scotch wears off and I’m begging you to stay.” Celestia gave him a smile as bright and as warm as the sun before galloping off the balcony and taking to the sky with a mighty leap. Her wings beat the air with strength and poise, and each flap sent her flying faster into the great blue beyond. Within moments she was nothing but a shining streak in the distant blue sky. After watching the small speck disappear into the great azure beyond, Joseph returned inside and made his way back to his office. Eyeing the pile of paperwork that waited for him with disgust, the President sat in his chair and opened up O’Connell’s report. With the assorted photos, copy of the mysterious message, and mission log, there was one wall painting that stood out as particularly interesting to the President: It was of some sort of high priest in black robes, possibly the owner of the tomb, standing amongst a crowd of men with jackal heads. Above him was an eclipsed sun, and on the ground in front of him were six stars. *        *        *         Twilight entered her room and gently hovered her bags into a far corner before throwing herself onto her bed with a huff. She rolled onto her her side and gazed longingly at her saddlebags, eventually summoning the will to magically open them and pull forth her notebook. Hovering the small tome over to her, she rolled onto her back and held the book above her. With a sigh she opened it to the most recent entry: a four page long section on the range of human movement, as well as some basic drawings of defensive and aggressive stances she had observed. As the unicorn went over her notes, she once again focused on the drawings. She accepted that art was not her special talent, but she grimaced at just how crude her sketches were compared to her writing. The arms and legs were disproportionate from one another, the head was less a circle and more a rhombus, and the hands...oh Celestia the hands. She considered fixing the drawings before looking at torso of each sketch. They were her favorite part to say the least, and obviously the most well done section of the figures. They were all fairly well proportioned, strong, muscular, attractive... Twilight quickly closed the book and sent it flying back to her bags, suddenly noticing that her breathing had gotten faster. “Well I think it’s time to go get some lunch!” she decided rather soundly. The unicorn rolled out of bed and moved out into the hallway ready to find something to do other than be alone with her thoughts. She cantered down the hallway and into the lobby, briefly waving hello to Ditzy and her daughter as she passed. She turned down the corridor that led to the cafeteria only to run face first into a pair of familiar legs and toppling over the man they belonged to.         “Hey, watch where you’re going!” Hawk chided as he nursed his backside.         “Oh my goodness, Hawk I’m so sorry! Did I hurt you?” she said with a quiver of worry in her voice. Unicorn horns weren’t known for being especially sharp, and could in fact be considered down right dull, but she did not want to be responsible for accidentally stabbing the man who had saved her life multiple times.         The man sighed as he stood up, brushing off any lingering specks of dirt as he did so. “It’s all right Sprinkles,” he said once he had risen to his feet, “I’ve been through worse. Are you okay?”         “I’m fine, I’m just glad my horn didn’t hurt you,” she replied with a relieved little huff.         “Thanks for the concern,” he said as a quick flash of inspiration crossed his face. “Are you hungry?” Twilight simply nodded and gave a friendly smile, “I’m famished, and I can’t think with an empty stomach. In fact I was heading to the cafeteria for some lunch when we...well, bumped into each other.” Agent Hawk shrugged and continued, “I was just thinking that maybe you’d like to join me for lunch out in the city today.”         “That sounds...” began the unicorn, unsure what to make of the request. That was until her stomach growled like some voracious beast of course, which spurred Twilight to give the man a sheepish smile and reply, “You know what? That sounds lovely. Goodness knows I haven’t really gone outside since the whole Headless Horseman thing.”         “That was over a week ago Twilight.”         “All the more reason to go then, right?” replied the unicorn with a bright smile, “I’ll go get some bits and then we can-”         “Whoa there missy,” Hawk interrupted as he pulled out a small pouch from his coat’s pocket, “I’ll pony up this time.” *        *        *         The sky above Manhattan was clear and clean as Princess Celestia soared through its heights. The air was much better than it had been when she and her sister first came ashore, a fact that the elder Princess now relished. But as much as she loved flying in these renewed skies, she did have a purpose for coming here.         Far below her, below the gleaming skyscrapers and other impressive glass towers, she spotted her destination. She angled herself for a nosedive and tucked in her wings, becoming a screaming missile heading straight for the large parking lot at rather unsafe speeds. Truth be told, she could stand to be a bit more subtle about her approach, but she enjoyed the exhilaration of moving so fast almost too much. In seconds the wind was screeching past her as the ground grew closer at ridiculous speeds. When she was nearly fifty feet away from the asphalt of that lot, she flared out her wings and braced her legs for the coming impact.         Celestia hit the ground hard near the large human ship known to her as the Odin, and sent small tremors running through the earth. Looking about with a bright smile, the Princess saw a woman toiling with some maintenance on the airship’s underside. What was odd to the equestrian princess was that the woman seemed to not even acknowledge the alicorn’s rather obvious arrival, and continued to work with her back turned to her.         “Nice of you to drop in Celestia,” called the woman in a neutral tone, her back still facing the Princess.         Celestia cracked an amused grin as she approached the woman. “I’m glad to be here...” The Princess paused as she realized she couldn’t quite place the human’s identity in her mind, “...I’m sorry, I can’t quite remember your name Miss...?”         The woman turned to face her with a completely neutral expression, which was made even harder to read by the sunglasses that completely obscured the woman’s eyes. “Captain Samantha Barnes.”         “Ah of course! Now I remember you, you were there when Twilight returned from her journey two months ago!” exclaimed the Princess with a bright smile. Then she placed a fore hoof to her chin and mused, “I don’t think I ever properly thanked you for getting her back to me in one piece Captain.”         “It was nothing,” replied Barnes in her emotionless tone. Quickly glancing towards the Bureau’s entrance, the woman added quickly, “and you do not have to address me by my rank, i-if you do not want to.”         Celestia smiled warmly at Barnes and said in an almost song like voice, “Well in that case, I thank you Samantha Barnes, for the safe return and continued protection of those dearest to me. Albeit two months late.” The woman simply nodded, Celestia barely making out the faintest signs of a smile on Barnes’ face.         “Is there anything I can help you with Celestia?” asked the woman, her tone still void of emotion.         The alicorn’s eyes popped open with the sudden reminder of why she came, “There is actually! I was hoping I could have a nice casual lunch with Twilight and her friends today. If she’s not too busy that is.”         Barnes placed her hands behind her back and answered with a factual coldness, “Agent Hawk took Twilight Sparkle out to lunch forty-eight minutes ago. I do not know where their current location is.”         “Oh really?” asked Celestia pleasantly surprised before looking off into thought as a devious smile crossed her lips, “I wonder if my dear student is delving into less...academic interests.”         “It is improbable that the excursion will have a romantic conclusion. In addition to the barrier created by them being a different species from one another, both Twilight Sparkle and Agent Hawk are inept in such pursuits,” stated Barnes flatly.         The alicorn let go a very soft chuckle as she eyed Barnes with bemusement, “Poor kids don’t stand a chance, do they?” Releasing a heavy and rather tired sigh, she looked out towards the city streets and continued with a pleasant tone, “That being said, I think it might be a service if I go and find them.”         “Undoubtedly,” replied the woman stoically.         Celestia flashed a smile towards Barnes as she gently spread her wings, “I have enjoyed this conversation Ms. Barnes, but I unfortunately cannot stay. I took a break to have lunch with my student and by the stars I’m going to do just that!” The divine mare let go a peal of sparkling laughter before adding, “I would very much like to have another talk with you and the rest of your team sometime soon, if you wouldn’t mind too much.”         Barnes shifted uncomfortable for a brief moment, “I...” her stern and rigid voice faltered and gave way to one far more compassionate, “...I would love to talk to you again your highness.”         “Splendid!” exclaimed the equine goddess, “Until next time Samantha, stay safe and keep an eye on my dear little ponies for me.”         “I will,” replied Barnes, once again in an emotionless tone, “and Celestia...” “Yes?” “It is likely that Twilight and Hawk will end up at Central Park at some point today. If you wish to meet them, that would be the place to wait.” Celestia smiled brightly at the woman, who merely remained stoic as stone. With a mighty leap and a few strong beats from her wings, the princess was sailing towards the center of the city and out of sight. The woman returned her attention to the Odin, smiling wide. “That wasn’t so bad now was it?” Barnes asked herself sweetly. *        *        * The entrance to the New York Public Library was a familiar sight to the Twilight, but it still always found a way to wow her each time she came back. The beautiful architecture and the two stoic lions that guarded the entrance certainly helped of course. Those two lions implied that the humans who built this place believed that the knowledge contained within was worth both protection and reverence. An implication that the young mare couldn’t repress smiling at. She and Hawk quickly began to ascend the grand steps into the great hall of knowledge.                  “Twilight, could you slow down a little?” asked Hawk, a good six steps behind the eager unicorn mare.         Twilight turned around and gave him an apologetic smile, “Sorry Hawk. It’s just that this is one of my favorite places in the whole city.”         “Big surprise there,” he said, chuckling to himself as he caught up to his pony escort.         “Oh haw-haw. Very funny,” Twilight responded rolling her eyes. Renewing her ascent, she added with a huff, “Come on, I want to see if they have anything on trolls.” She deftly cantered up the steps with such eagerness that it forced Hawk to double step just to keep pace with the her. As the two finally entered the seemingly vacant library, the young mare took in a deep breath, relishing the familiar and wondrously musty smell that filled her nostrils. It was the smell of knowledge and the printed word, the smell of thoughts and ideas immortalized upon parchment. It was the smell of books. Glorious books. The library’s main lobby was a massive room decorated in polished white marble with magnificent pillars reaching up all the way to the ceiling. Tall windows lined the wall above the door and let in rays of sunlight into the great hall. The room had an air of grandeur that made Twilight love this place a little more each time she came. Something had been installed since last she had come here however which gave the unicorn pause. In the center of the white marble floor was a large, rectangular object standing on a circular platform, and rose a half meter above Hawk. Its surface was smooth and black, obviously metallic in nature, and at its center was what appeared to be a blue crystal. Twilight eyed the strange object warily as Hawk entered behind her. Giving the man a confused look she asked, “Hawk...what is that?” The man rubbed his chin and shrugged. “Haven’t the foggiest Sprinkles.” Hawk leaned over and patted Twilight on the back as he flashed her a devious grin, “Wait here while I try some science on it.” Moving away before she could protest, Hawk approached the platform and inspected it. With no sign of any way to activate it, the man gave it a swift kick to the side resulting in a dull CLANG.         The jewel in the center lit up, as a shrill and fractured voice spoke out, “WELcoME t-t-t-T-TO THE nEw Yo-Rk pu-PU-pu-PUBlic LiBRarY!”         Twilight and Hawk exchanged confused glances, shrugging as they turned back to the large rectangle. “What are you?” asked the small unicorn.         “TheeeeEEeeee-e-ee-e WinD ANd ThE WiLlow’S is is is is is is is is is is...” There was a loud beep from somewhere in the room, and the black pillar immediately went silent as the jewel at its center went dark. Soon after, a man about the same age as Hawk appeared from a hallway that led deeper into the library.         The man that walked towards them was skinny and his black hair was mostly obscured by a blue baseball cap that complemented the Tetsujin Industries jumpsuit he had on over the rest of his body. In the crook of his left arm he carried what appeared to be a large laptop, and in his opposite hand he had a small black box with two red switches. He wore a very annoyed look on his sharp features.         “Sir, as thankful as I am that I am not the last human on Earth, I’d thank you more to not kick the AI that cost three and half million bits,” he said stepping between Hawk and the machine. He knelt down next to the black pillar and opened up a well camouflaged panel, setting his laptop to his side and connecting it to the monolith with a USB cord.         Hawk backed up and respectfully tipped his hat as Twilight stepped forward with eyes glimmering with curiosity. “Excuse me sir, but may I ask what this...thing is?”         The man did not look up from his work when he answered, “This hunk of junk is named Socrates by the company, but I usually just call it a pain in my neck. Well, that amongst other things that are inappropriate for common conversation. It’s supposed to run the entire library, but right now all it can do is spout nonsense.”         “Good to know that money went towards something useful,” Hawk said with a chuckle.         The man gave a snort and joined Hawk in his small bout of laughter, “Yeah, tell me about it. ‘Course I’m not complaining about the paycheck they give me for getting these things to actually work.” Looking up from his laptop’s screen, the man extended a hand to Hawk and said, “My name is Isaac by the way.”         Hawk shook Isaac’s hand quickly before releasing it and replied, “I’m Agent Hawk, and this little horsey next to me is named Twilight Sparkle.”         Isaac moved his hand over to Twilight saying, “It’s a pleasure to meet you Ms. Sparkle.”         “It’s nice to meet you too Mr. Isaac!” she responded with earnest excitement while extending a hoof to the man.         Isaac returned his attention to the screen of his laptop, “So, what brings you two to the library today?”         “Books,” stated Hawk flatly, earning him a annoyed glance from Twilight.         “Don’t be rude,” chided the small purple mare.         Isaac merely chuckled at the exchange. He opened his mouth to speak, but a sudden and loud boom of thunder interrupted him. Hawk turned to look towards the street, “Weird. Twilight, did Dash see any storm clouds rolling in today?” “No, not a one,” replied the unicorn following his gaze. It had grown dark and overcast outside, with a low layer of mist covering the ground. It created an eerie atmosphere that had many ponies outside quickening their trots. Without warning, the monolithic AI sprang to life and began to chant in an almost sinister voice, "Cold be hand and heart and bone and cold be sleep under stone never more to wake on stony bed never, till the Sun fails and the Moon is dead In the black wind the stars shall die and still be gold here let them lie till the Dark Lord lifts his hand over dead sea and withered land." The words hung heavy in the silence that followed them. “He’s not programmed to say that,” Isaac stated worriedly after a few moments. Hawk and Twilight exchanged looks of concern, knowing full well what such oddities could be a sign of. The man drew his revolver and moved towards the door, motioning for Twilight to follow him, “Come on Sprinkles, looks like duty calls.” The unicorn trotted after him, but not before giving Isaac a grave look, “Mr. Isaac, please stay indoors until this storm clears up. Oh, and if you hear any explosions, just...keep your head down.” “Will do,” replied the technician eyeing the mare with utter confusion. “Doo-ooooN’t loOK It in ThE eyes!” chimed the monolith. *        *        *         “Thanks for your help today Pinkie, and I’m really, really sorry about your chicken suit. I didn’t know the chickens could be so, well, violent!” Fluttershy said apologetically to the pink earth pony as they both picked up the remains of what was once a yellow chicken costume.         “Aw don’t you fret!” replied Pinkie patting her demure pegasus friend on the head, “as good ol’ Applejack would say, ‘That ther chicken suit was itchier than a bucket full a fleas!’”         Fluttershy spat the yellow feathers she had in her mouth into a small basket with the other remnants of the pecked to pieces suit. Looking at Pinkie Pie with a thoughtful stare, she said, “I don’t think I’ve ever heard Applejack say that.”         Pinkie bounced over to the pegasus and wrapped a hoof around the back of her friend’s neck, “Oh Fluttershy. I didn’t say that she had said it you big silly, I said that was what she would have sai-”         She was interrupted by a loud roar of thunder that echoed through the air and shook the earth. Fluttershy immediately dove underneath the nearest patch of shrubbery with a yelp, while Pinkie merely jumped with surprise and stared at the cloudless blue sky with confusion. A second crack of thunder sounded out over the clear expanse, sending an icy shiver down the pink mare’s spine and leaving a feeling of hopelessness in her heart. She recognized the feeling. It was the same one she felt a week ago when she and her friends had confronted the Headless Horseman.         “I thought the weather ponies said there weren’t going to be any storms today,” came the meek pegasus’s voice from the bushes.         Pinkie glared at the sky and responded with an edge to her voice,  “This isn’t a storm Fluttershy, it’s another monster popping into existence!” Without hesitating, the pink pony charged towards the entrance of the Bureau while shouting behind her, “See you later Fluttershy! I need to go do something about this!”         “O-okay,” mumbled Fluttershy as more thunder rumbled through the sky, “I’ll just stay here.”         Leaving the yellow pegasus alone in a shrub did not exactly feel right to Pinkie, but Fluttershy had her animals and that shrubbery. She should be fine. Bursting through the rear entrance of the Bureau and making her way down the halls, the pink mare eventually found herself at the communication lounge where Rarity, Zorro, Megan, and Dimitri stood talking to President McCullough through the telescreen.         “...intercepted phone messages indicate that the animals from Central Park’s zoo have gotten loose and started attacking the citizens.”         “Should I go get Fluttershy sir?” asked Megan, “She’s a wonder with animals.”         The aging man on the screen shook his head, “If only it was that simple. Based on those reports, these animals have glowing eyes and can laugh. Any attempt to ensnare the beasts was met with lethal failure, and I fear Fluttershy would meet a similar fate. The fog limits vision, so there’s going to be close quarter’s combat, so Dimitri, I’m assigning you to get your partner and yourself in there to help Agent Hawk and Twilight take out the threat.”         “I vill tell her right avay sir,” replied Dimitri with a salute as the screen blinked off. Turning towards the door with a brisk step, the young man saw the pink pony standing in the door way. “Oh hello Pinkie! Ve are going to go subdue some animals in Central Park.”         “Well what are we waiting for?” responded the pink mare with urgency, “There are ponies to save! Oh, and humans too I guess.” Placing a hoof to her chin she added, “We really need come up with an all inclusive word for saying things like that. Bronies? No that won’t work, it reminds me too much of brownies. Sweet, delicious, fudgey, chewy, warm, brownies that go with milk! But now’s not the time to talk about brownies Dimitri! There’s ponies and humans to save from spooky animals!” With that, Pinkie Pie charged down the hallway towards the entrance lobby. Dimitri looked back at the rest of the group in the lounge. All of them, save for Rarity who simply shook her head, stood with odd looks on their faces and waited for the young man to add something to his partner’s eccentric outburst. He could only shrug and run after the pink mare. *        *        *         The fog had caught Celestia by surprise, as did the sudden storm that now rumbled somewhere above her. The once bright and sunny day she had been looking forward to spending with her student was now dark and misty, giving the forested park an eerie atmosphere. The other ponies who had been enjoying the park when she had first arrived had all left after the first booming thunderclap, no doubt a holdover from their herd instincts.          Regardless, Princess Celestia now stood alone in a foggy field glaring up at the sky. “Blasted human weather,” she huffed with feigned displeasure, “You just had to rain on the day I visit my student didn’t you?” The storm clouds rumbled a low reply that made the shining mare give a pleasant grin. “I guess there’s no use in sweet talking you away is there?” she said with sigh. Celestia spread her glamorous wings out wide, shuddering slightly as the temperature began to drop rather quickly. Far too quickly for her liking. Glancing at the darkening shadows of the trees, the Princess strained her eyes as she scanned the shadows of the tree line. Something darted between the trees, and was followed by a good few more somethings. A lot of somethings that were definitely not ponies. Celestia closed her wings. If whatever she saw was dangerous, she couldn’t let them run free and hurt even one of her little ponies. “Who goes there?!” she called out, “Come out and reveal yourselves!” There was a long silence as the world around her grew ever more dim. Celestia stood in the small clearing with nothing but the fog and the fading echos of her call for nearly a minute before her demand was answered. From the shadows stepped forward nearly a dozen lupine figures, all of them barring their gleaming white fangs as guttural growls filled the silence. “Wolves,” the alicorn said with disdain, “my least favorite type of canine.” Celestia counted each of the growling beasts as they slunk out of the shadowy cover of the woods, and eventually stopped at ten. She spread he wings out again, this time in a more imposing fashion, and began channeling power into her horn. “Not that you can understand me,” she called out to the wolves, “but if you value your safety, then you should all retreat back to whatever you call a home.” The wolves continued to advance towards the Princess despite her imposing stance. It wasn’t long before the dazzling white alicorn found herself surrounded by the feral beasts, each one eyed her hungrily as they circled. Celestia waited for their inevitable rush, when they would all be unable to escape the spell she had prepared. They circled. She waited. “Come on,” Celestia said under her breath, “What are you waiting for?” The wolves continued to circle, and as time went on their panting breaths began to sound like laughter. Sick, maniacal, taunting laughter directed at her. At first Celestia just thought she was hearing things, but as the sound continued she realized that the wolves were actually laughing. As they continued to cackle, the Princess’s face contorted in horror as the eyes of the wolves began to glow with an unearthly blue light. Celestia lowered her head and grumbled to herself, “Horse-apples.” *        *        *         “See anything Hawk?” asked Twilight as she scanned the now ominously foggy woods.         “Not yet,” he replied, “but in my experience, that usually doesn’t mean something isn’t there.”         The small purple unicorn shot the man a curious look, “You have experience with this sort of thing?”         Hawk looked at the unicorn with a shrug, “Well not with this kind of situation in particular. I’ve never had to deal with ghosts and goblins until this whole mess started, but I do know my way around an ambush.” After exchanging a welcome laugh, they both looked back into the darkness of the forest that surrounded them. The trees, that had once seemed alive and welcoming, now looked twisted and dangerous, and the verdant green grass had turned to a much darker shade. It was almost as if the fog was choking the color out of everything it touched. Twilight herself noticed that she could barely make out the color of her own coat. To add to the off putting atmosphere, the air had gotten much colder as she and Hawk ventured deeper into what was once Central Park, causing her to shiver occasionally. It was cold enough now that, despite the mist, the unicorn could see her breath hang in the air. After a minute of what felt like aimless wandering, the both of them found themselves in a large field that was mostly obscured by thick fog and seemed eerily vacant of life. “Like this here,” said Hawk stopping in his tracks, “this just screams ambush.” Twilight looked around at the foggy nothingness that surrounded them. There wasn’t a sound to be heard other than their own breathing. Looking back to Hawk, the unicorn offered up a weak smile and said, “Maybe we’ll get lucky and whatever manifested isn’t all that horrible?”         Somewhere behind them in the fog, tree limbs began snapping. Something that sounded big was coming for them. Hawk immediately stepped between Twilight and whatever was approaching them, raising his revolver to greet it when it finally showed up.         “Guess not,” said the unicorn as she moved behind Hawk and began scanning her memory for any spell that might help take down a large unnatural creature. It was then that Twilight saw the large pair of glowing blue orbs that were silently charging them from the opposite. “Hawk there’s another one!” screamed Twilight as she pointed a hoof at the approaching lights.         The man glanced over his shoulder, and a smirk crossed his face. “Nice flank.” Despite the grim situation, Twilight took the time to glare at him and shout, “Excuse me?!” Hawk seemed to realized what he said and hastily added, “The tactical maneuver! It’s called flanking, I was just...” “Whatever!” shouted Twilight as she returned to face the oncoming attacker, barely registering the warmth that had made its way into her cheeks. It was a warmth that quickly faded, as a very angry looking polar bear charged out of the fog towards her, its eyes gleaming with ghostly blue light and set on her. The small unicorn panicked and let go an unfocused bolt of force that barely hit the white ursine. Unfazed, the bear continued towards her with a snarl of rage. Loud bangs erupted from behind her, as Hawk began to shoot the second polar bear that had been lurking in the treeline, which now charged towards the man. With drastic amounts of distance between her and her own fanged opponent disappearing rapidly, Twilight tried to focus on another spell that could stop the creature. Before she could however, Hawk wrapped an arm around her waist and threw her over his shoulder. With two more shots towards the second bear, the man began running full out into the fog and away from the bears while a small confused pony watched the two hungry ursine monsters charge after them. Hawk ran as fast as his legs could carry him through the fog until a small artificial pond came into view. The man slowed his pace enough to ask, “Can you teleport us outta here?” Twilight shouted back at him, “DON’T SLOW DOWN! THEY’RE RIGHT BEHIND US!” Agent Hawk redoubled his speed towards the pool while managing to call back, “Just get us out of here when we hit the water!” Twilight Sparkle barely heard the request above her own mind’s frantic panicking, ‘The force bolt didn’t work at all! We’re going to die! Why are their eyes like that? They look so...depressing...Wait, what did Hawk just say? Teleport? Right! I can do that easily enough, but where should we go? We can’t just leave these things running around, so leaving is out of the question...’ “GET READY!” Hawk shouted as he leapt up into the air. The quick change in elevation and sudden feeling of flight made the unicorn mare’s thoughts solidify on the one pony that she knew could help: Celestia. She squeezed her eyes shut and focused hard, feeling the familiar power enter her horn. Before the man’s feet hit the water, an orb or bright pink energy surrounded him and the pony that was slung over his shoulder. In a brief moment the both of them were gone. *        *        *         A jeep drove down the paths of Central Park at extremely dangerous speeds while its radio blared music loudly, only barely avoiding the occasional ditch and all too frequent low hanging tree branch. Dimitri seriously questioned how he had let Pinkie convince him to let her drive.         “I WANNA ROCK AND ROLL ALL NI~IGHT, AND PARTY EVER-RY DAY!” shouted the pink pony in tune with the song, “Oop! there’s our turn! I think it’s our turn anyway, but whatever here we goooooooo!”         The car swerved down a side path that allegedly led deeper into the park while the young man in the passenger seat tried to hold on for dear life. Despite not having hands and being shorter than necessary to actually drive the car, Pinkie was doing an exceptional job of not crashing into anything or anyone. Not that Dimitri noticed, as he and his lunch had parted ways somewhere back along the road. Clutching his large axe close to his chest for comfort, the young man mournfully eyed the pony that drove the jeep, “Vhy did I let you drive?” Pinkie Pie smiled at the man in a truly gleeful expression, “I challenged you to a shotgun race and you won! Remember?” “Oh...right...Vait, how are you even driving the car?!” “I’m standing on my hind legs! This driving thing is a lot harder when you can’t sit down!” she returning her gaze back to the foggy path in front of them. The jeep took another sharp turn, somehow dodging a rather gnarled tree, and burst out into a wide open field. Dimitri breathed easier with the knowledge that there were now very few things for the car to collide into, and even went so far as to poke his head above the dashboard. It was almost obscenely foggy, and Pinkie was driving far too fast for the young man to make anything out in all the gloom. “Do you know vere you are going?” he asked the jubilant pink pony as he slowly inched out of his fetal position. Pinkie Pie made another sharp turn before replying, “Kinda. My Pinkie Senses are telling me that somepony needs our help from somewhere...” she rolled the steering wheel all the way to the left and pushed down on the accelerator, “...in a this way sort of direction!” Now sitting completely upright, axe still gripped with all his strength, Dimitri scanned the gloomy fog that clouded everything for any sign of Hawk or Twilight. Seeing nothing through the thick layers of mist and shadows, he hoped that the pony’s ‘Pinkie Senses’ were as accurate as she claimed they were. “Get ready Dimitri!” she said suddenly with a chipper tone. “Vhat?” he asked scanning the horizon, “Did you see something?” She gave the young man a bemused look, “Pfft, no. I can’t see a thing, but I can totally hear a bunch of ponies laughing their flanks off dead ahead! I knew we should have brought that van! This jeep is just too small to fit a bunch of ponies in.” Dimitri cocked an ear to the breeze and was barely able to make out the faint sounds of laughter on the wind. He regarded Pinkie Pie with an impressed expression and reached for his shotgun. While he did in fact hear the laughter as Pinkie did, he was not so sure that it was a group of ponies laughing. As the jeep grew closer to the cackles, a very pained scream came from out of the fog. *        *        *         Celestia made the first move.         Beating her wings with enough force to kick up a strong breeze, she flew a ways into the air to take her out of reach of the wolves’ jaws. Her horn shimmered with power as she summoned the energy for a spell that would put the beasts to rest for good. The pack of wolves beneath her stopped their circling and simply looked at her as she rose into the air, but their jeering laughter almost seemed to intensify.                  “Oh you won’t be laughing for long you curs!” shouted the Princess as a sphere of shining white light emanated from the tip of her horn.         The sphere hovered above her for a few moments before it launched itself towards the center of the circling wolves, leaving a trail of glittering light in its wake. The shining orb hit the ground and sent powerful waves of energy cascading across the field, each one sweeping over the wolves and igniting them in a brilliant blaze of white fire. Despite the flames, the wolves continued their chorus of sinister cackling. Celestia could barely contain her disgust as the flames ebbed away, revealing the frightful condition of the beasts. The fire had scorched most of the flesh from their bones and left them with just enough charred skin and muscle to make her queasy. Not only did the appearance of the wolves turn more abominable, but so too did their ongoing laughter. The alicorn grimaced at the gruesome forms of the wolves. She had lived longer than any other pony in the world, but she had only seen such terrible things in her nightmares. ‘All the more reason to destroy them,’ she thought as her features hardened. Celestia prepared another spell that would turn the lupine horrors to ash, and her horn began shining with a dazzling display of power. A sudden sharp pain struck her left wing, accompanied by a the sound of thrashing wings. She tried to stay aloft as more stabbing pains ran across her back and wings, while small dark and feathered forms swarmed around her. The sun princess beat her wings to try and force the creatures away, but only served to give them more openings to attack from. From what she could tell between all the flapping, pecking, clawing, and general confusion, she had somehow failed to notice a flock of crows as they had flown up behind her. Though none of the black birds kept still for long, the princess did notice that their eyes glowed with the same malevolent blue light as the wolves, and what was worse was that these foul birds were forcing her down to the jaws of the laughing lupine monsters below. Their constant assault made it nearly impossible for her to focus on a spell to get rid of them for good. She had to get some distance if she was going to end the existence of these monstrous beasts before they tore her to pieces. With a mighty flap of her wings, Celestia shot through the air at great speeds while she focused some energy into her horn. The crows pursued, the glowing blue beads that were their eyes cut through the fog and gloom, making it impossible for them to loose sight of the majestic white alicorn. The wolves also gave chase below, no doubt following the trails of blood that her fresh wounds were leaving behind. Celestia pushed herself to go as fast as she could through the gloom, her wounded wings only barely keeping her ahead of the crows. ‘I just need a bit more time, and then those blasted monsters will be cinders!’ She banked left to try and buy herself a few more seconds for her horn to accumulate the power needed to get all of her flying pursuers, coming dangerously close to the ground where the wolves had amazingly kept pace with her. A shot of pain ran through her right side, causing that wing to contract immediately. Letting loose a loud scream of pain, the Princess rolled through the air and collided with the ground and tumbled over the field. He entire body ached from the impact. The back of her mind screamed for her to rise up and face her attackers, but something was keeping her muscles from moving. She could hear the dark and sinister laughter of the wolves as they surrounded her, and above her circled the crows that had grounded her. All of their eyes shined with the horrid and unearthly glow. As a growing numbness spread through her, Celestia made one last effort to stand, but collapsed back onto the ground in a heap. Her mind swam with dozens of thoughts, all of them eventually leading back to one simple desire,  ‘I can’t die here...I can’t leave Luna...I can’t leave her again...’ A small sliver of energy returned to her as she closed her eyes and began forcing herself to rise, only to have a heavy paw press down on her neck. She looked up in terror as one of the wolves, one with half of its face burnt off, now stood triumphantly above her and glared into her eyes. The glow from its gaze seemed to drown the last reservoirs of resistance Celestia had left in her, and she now laid transfixed with the ominously shining orbs. The wolves’ laughter began to consume her mind, and it became all that she could hear. Seeing it’s prey helpless, the wolf almost leisurely placed its jaws around Celestia’s neck as the others members of its dark pack drew closer. The undead wolf pack suddenly ceased their laughing. They heard something coming and they all turned to face the oncoming disturbance. As the burned creatures looked away from Celestia, she felt as though a great weight of hopelessness was lifted. Small reserves of energy flowed into her tired muscles, while pains that had once been too much to bear melted away almost entirely. All the undead beasts seemed distracted by some noise on the air, that Celestia herself found strangely intriguing. It was loud, fast paced, and...coming right at her. With the wolves distracted by the oncoming noise, the Princess teleported some ways off and prepared for another spell. It took a short time, but her strength was slowly returning to what it had been previously. The sound of dozens of flapping wings drew her gaze skyward, where she could saw the large murder of crows swirling above where she once was, their beady blue eyes refocusing on her. The hopeless feelings returned in force, but her spell was ready for them. A massive cone of fire burst from the princess’s horn that lit up the gloom and caught all the oncoming crows in its flames. The blazing white inferno died quickly, but its effects were undeniably effective. The only thing that remained of the crows were clouds of dark ashes and some cinders that drifted through the air. With her strength returned, Celestia perked an ear to the wind and heard the rambunctious music not too far off, as well as the snarling and broken laughter of the wolves. The radiant princess spread her wings out wide and lowered her head, her gaze hardening into a scowl. “I think I have had quite enough of these beasts.” *        *        *         Pinkie Pie had cranked the radio up all the way as they had gotten closer to the laughter, she and her human guardian sang along with the lyrics of the current song while she accelerated over the uneven terrain. Dimitri had propped himself up in the passenger’s side seat with his shotgun leveled forward, or as much as it was going to be with the pony’s driving, and his axe strapped to his back.         “PLANET’S DEVASTATED, MANKIND’S ON ITS KNEES!” they sang as they crested a hill and into view of a pack of half burned wolves looming over a large white something. “A SAVIOR COMES OUT THE SKIES IN ANSWER TO THEIR PLEAS!”  There was a flash of light from the center of the mass of beasts and the white thing was gone. Dimitri fired off a shell into the nearest wolf’s skull, dropping the creature. “THROUGH BOILING CLOUDS OF THUNDER. BLASTING BOLTS OF STEEL. EVIL’S GOING UNDER DEADLY WHEEEEELS!” Pinkie steered the vehicle into the throng of half dead lupine monsters, ignoring the mass of flapping wings above them as she collided with three wolves, while sending another one under the wheels of the jeep.         The sudden bump sent Dimitri tumbling out of the jeep and rolling over the darkened earth. The pain from the impact was easily pushed to the back of his mind thanks to the adrenaline pumping through his veins, and the young man quickly righted himself with his weapon at the ready. The four wolves that had encountered the front end of the jeep all rose to their legs accompanied by a horrifying chorus of pops and snaps. The creatures turned to face Dimitri with their brightly glowing eyes and cruel, guttural laughter.         The man let loose another blast at the closest wolf which took off its lower jaw. Despite missing half its mouth, the beast was still able to give off the sinister cackle. The four monstrosities charged at him. He answered with another blast, this time hitting the lead wolf where he needed to. The top of the wolf’s head vanished in a cloud of red and black mist, while the rest of its body dropped to the earth with a thud. The other three charged over the now lifeless form of the other one with fangs ready to pierce the man’s throat.         Another shell fired from the man’s weapon and took off the left side legs of the one currently in front. It didn’t yelp in pain, nor did it stop trying to get to him. It continued crawling on its two remaining legs towards the man while sinister laughter echoed from its mouth.         With two of the lupine monsters nearly on him, Dimitri dropped his shotgun and pulled forth the his medieval axe from its sheath. Doing some quick measurements in his head, the young man braced for the beasts’ attack and readied a swing. As soon as the lead wolf was in range Dimitri launched his strike at its shoulder with enough force to send it crashing sideways into its follower. The young man had only a brief time before both wolves would get back up on their legs and rip him to shreds, so he took the opportunity to put his axe into one of their heads.         The swing came down hard on the wolf that lay atop the other, and proved well placed as the creature ceased its enraged flailing. He didn’t have time to remove his weapon from the downed wolf before the one beneath it rose to its feet and leapt at him with a snarl. The jaws of the burnt wolf clenched tightly around Dimitri’s left arm and viciously attempted to pull the young man to the ground.         The bite sent tremors of intense pain all throughout Dimitri’s body, but the young man bore through it. With his free hand he reached for his axe and hefted it above his head, holding it just beneath the head so his next few strikes would be as powerful, and more importantly, as accurate as possible.         Dimitri chopped down as hard as he could at the creature’s neck. The young man could feel the undead wolf’s jaws dig deeper into his arm with each swing he made until the possessed beast’s head finally came free of its body. The jaws of the charred canine loosened as the ghastly glow faded from its eyes, the head falling to the ground shortly after with a thump.         Dimitri looked over to the wolf that was still crawling towards him despite lacking two of its legs. Dark laughter still emanated from its open maw and the ghostly blue light still filled its lupine eyes. A well of doubt began to fill the young man’s chest as he approached the undead creature, but it was quickly dismissed by the song that repeated in his mind. He raised his axe above his head and sang, “THIS. IS. THE PAIN KILLER!” As he brought the strike down, the sky lit up with a burst of bright fire from not to far off. *        *        *         Pinkie Pie was not exactly sure how she felt about driving the jeep into the laughing mass of wolves. She hated doing harm to anything, living or dead, but she had promised herself to do what she had to in order to protect others, and had vowed to never freeze up like she did with the Horseman. On one hoof, the wolves were obviously evil and dead set on seeing her and all of her friends mauled to death, which did not sit well with her at all. On the other hoof, the thumps of the wolves hitting the bumper were getting kind of disturbing.         “Ah, what can ya do?” she said to herself with a sigh as she swerved into another near skeletal canine and sent it tumbling into a crumpled and inanimate heap nearly ten meters away. Pinkie spotted two more of the possessed creatures making their way towards Dimitri, who was occupied with the one on his arm. “Oh no you don’t you sneaky puppies!” she shouted as she turned sharply and drove at them, “HONK HONK! COMING THROUGH!”         Their bodies fell under the wheels of the vehicle and crumbled under the weight. Pinkie Pie drove back around to make sure they weren’t getting up, and was genuinely disappointed when she saw that the burned, battered, and broken bodies of the wolves were shakily rising to their feet as if they were broken puppets being pulled on by invisible strings.         The jeep turned towards the wolves’ and again slammed into them, this time crushing their skulls against the bumper. The music blaring from the vehicle’s radio helped the pony block out the squashing sounds that followed, but the two bumps that jostled the jeep were much harder to ignore. A blast of fire from not too far off illuminated the sky and burned away a great deal of fog. The sudden explosion of flame surprised Pinkie enough to make her stop her car and look towards the fading embers that drifted down from mist filled air. Shortly after, the shining form of Princess Celestia appeared from the gloom flying towards the remaining wolves. The divine princess’s glamorous white coat bore a dozen painful looking cuts and her wings were dotted with deep red patches. Her face, in addition to the scrapes and scratches, had possibly the angriest expression Pinkie had ever seen on a pony, especially one who was as kind and gentle as Celestia. The princess landed close to where Dimitri was and glared at the remaining wolves that circled them around the field. “Get close to me!” Celestia called to Pinkie and Dimitri with commanding shout. The pink earth pony leapt from the driver’s seat of the jeep and rushed towards the alicorn, who’s horn was beginning to glow with a great deal of power. She arrived at the princess’s side shortly before Dimitri did, and felt a pit grow in her stomach when she caught sight of his left arm. Rays of light shot out of Celestia’s horn towards the remaining wolves. When the rays hit their marks, the lupine horrors were once again covered with intense white fire, except this time the flames did not subside until the creatures were nothing but ashes and wisps of black smoke. The world became quiet, save for the music that still played from the jeep, and upon surveying the battle field, Dimitri gave an impressed whistle and said, “Черт, Those volves vere nasty.” “Not as nasty as what happened to your arm,” said Pinkie Pie worriedly as she trotted over for a better look. The young man winced as he looked down at the gash in his forearm. “Yeah...I vas trying not to think about that.” “Such wounds are not to be ignored young man,” said Celestia as more light glowed from her horn. After a short time she pointed it at the man’s wounded arm, sending dazzlingly white sparks of light from her horn’s tip and into the lacerated flesh. Where each spark landed, new skin and muscle grew until all that was left of the bite was a scar. “There,” she said as the last of the sparks faded, “now we must...” The Princess swayed on her hooves and just barely stopped herself from falling over. A look of concern flashed across Pinkie’s face as she tried to help steady Celestia by bracing her body against the alicorn’s side. “Princess? What’s wrong?” Celestia smiled weakly at the pink pony as she regained her previous composure. “I am alright Pinkie Pie. Just a bit tired.” With a small chuckle she added, “I haven’t been in a fight like that for nearly a millennium! Not since...” The Princess’s words trailed off as old memories began to resurface. “Not since vhat?” asked Dimitri flexing his newly healed arm. Celestia’s face turned into a scowl, “...not since Nightmare Moon used such dark magic against me a thousand years ago.” “Well that’s good right?” asked Pinkie Pie with a bright smile, “That means you know how to take these things down for good!” the pink pony happily bounded over to her young human companion and continued, “You can team up with me and Dimitri! We got a jeep and everything and Dimitri even brought some really loud music that’s way cool even though the lyrics don’t always say nice things but that’s okay because the guitars are wild!” After a brief pause to digest what the young mare had said, Celestia nodded and with a soft smile replied, “Yes, remaining together is the best option. There’s no telling what other beasts have succumbed to this darkness.” Pinkie very nearly exploded with enthusiastic cheers and back towards the jeep shouting, “I GET TO TEAM UP WITH THE PRINCESS! WOOOOO!” Laughing under her breath, the princess turned to the young man with a grin, “Excitable little pony, isn’t she?” “I cannot say I blame her,” he replied as he replaced his axe into its sheath. Walking a small way off, Dimitri picked up his shotgun and reloaded it while saying, “So Princess, vhere do ve go now?” Celestia pondered the question as she and the young man walked to the waiting jeep, “To wherever Twilight Sparkle is Agent Dimitri. I will not allow any harm to come to her while I live.” “Oh that’s so weird!” Pinkie Pie called back from the driver’s seat, “Agent Hawk said the same thing! That is one seriously cool co-inky-dink if you ask me, though it’s weird how it’s always about Twilight and not anypony else like me or Rarity or Fluttershy or Ditzy Doo or Rusty Bolts or Pot ’o Luck or Sherbet Surprise or...” As the pink pony continued to ramble off names, Dimitri gingerly moved her over to the passenger’s side and climbed into the driver’s position. Casting an almost forlorn look to Celestia he said, “Hold on to something Princess...the back seat can get a little rough.”         The equine princess climbed into the bed of the vehicle and stated rather excitedly, “Don’t worry about me Agent Dimitri. I’m immortal.”         Dimitri merely shrugged as he cranked the radio up and pressed down on the accelerator. The loud music trailed off as the jeep shot across the field and into the thick fog, a faint black mist following silently in its wake. *        *        *         The thick fog and clouds that hung low to the ground drifted aimlessly over the dark, empty field. The once vibrant green grass now looked dead and lifeless in the gloom, while the warm summer breezes had turned into chilled winds. A sudden spark of bright light disrupted the oppressive atmosphere for a brief instant, leaving behind a human man and purple unicorn mare as it vanished.        The man tucked his body into a protective ball around the pony when his feet hit the ground, and deftly rolled across the grass.         Hawk looked around the deserted field after a few moments had passed, and noting that there was no sign of any bears, loosened his protective hug around Twilight. “Where did you take us?” he asked as looking down at the pony that was cradled in his arms.         It took a moment for Twilight to respond, as her mind was still reeling from the spell. She recalled that succeeding in a blind teleport often had side effects. Sometimes a pony would appear a bit singed when they reformed, or have a really bad case of vertigo, and in some unfortunate cases they would be missing a limb. Twilight currently suffered from the intense case of vertigo, and in an attempt to stop herself from throwing up all over her human rescuer, she rested her head against his chest to steady her head.         “Twilight?” Hawk asked with a twinge of concern in his voice.         Waving a dismissive hoof in the air, the unicorn groggily replied, “I’m fine Hawk, I just feel like I’ve had a headache for three months. It happens when a unicorn teleports without a destination in mind.” She looked up at the man’s face with slight difficulty, asking, “Are you okay? Anything missing or have a burning sensation?”         The man inspected himself, confirming all fingers and toes were right where they were supposed to be, and that he felt no different than before the unicorn’s spell was cast. “I’m good,” he responded with a grin, “but you look like you just took a shot or two of whiskey.”         Twilight managed a smirk saying, “It’s not that bad. I should be fine in a minute or two, so long as I don’t move around too much.”         The man looked like he was about to laugh before a roar in the distance drew his attention. “We may not have a minute. Are you good enough to walk?”         “I think I can stand,” she replied. ‘I wouldn’t mind staying here though,’ the mare thought to herself, ‘this dumb fog is freezing, and Hawk’s stupidly attractive chest is nice and warm!’ Her cheeks began to redden as the thought echoed in her head. Suddenly realizing what she had just admitted, she subtly shook the thought from of her mind while also trying not to make herself sick in the process.         Hawk gently placed her on the ground where she stood with slightly wobbling legs. The mare gave a weak smile at her success, and it only grew stronger when she looked up at the man as he reloaded his revolver. His presence was comforting in these kinds of situations, and Twilight couldn’t help feeling the pleasantly warm feeling in her cheeks spread throughout her body. There was another roar close by that snapped the unicorn back to reality. Looking in the direction the sound came from, the little pony saw two pairs of glowing eyes faintly gleaming through the gloom.  ‘Right. The bears,’ Twilight reminded herself, ‘No time for lovey dovey feelings. Not that I even know where those are coming from...I mean Hawk is nice looking and all, for a human, but seriously, we aren’t even the same species! Even if I was into him, which I am not, I sincerely doubt humans are into cross species relationships. That’d just be-’         Two loud bangs from Hawk’s revolver interrupted her thoughts. The two furious creatures the eyes belonged to ignored the wounds and continued to rapidly close the distance between themselves and their targets, leaving very little time for Twilight to think of a strong enough spell that would stop them in their tracks. Add to the fact that she was still a little woozy from her blind teleport to the mix, the prospects of surviving the next few moments were becoming increasingly bleak.         Deciding to fall back on a spell that had always proved reliable, Twilight focused her magic around the bears in a telekinetic grip. A purplish cloud sparkled into existence around the polar bears, lifting the ursine creatures off the ground with her will alone. The unicorn chanced a glance at Hawk, who’s face wore a very amused expression.         “Why didn’t you do that before?” he asked turning to Twilight.         Twilight replied with an apologetic smile, “They kinda spooked me. I think it has something to do with those eyes of theirs.”         “The eyes the robot told us not to look at when we were leaving the library?” Hawk said as he aimed his revolver at the nearest floating bear.         “No doubt,” Twilight responded as she refocused on maintaining the spell, “and I hope you can shoot that thing with your eyes closed.”         Hawk squeezed down on the trigger and fired a bullet right into one of bear’s eyes, resulting in the large ursine creature going limp as blood and a faint black mist dripped out the new opening. Twilight bit her lip and looked away as the haunting memory of dead dogs flashed to the surface of the unicorn’s mind. There was a second loud bang that stopped the second bear’s mad thrashing. Twilight released her magical hold on the bodies and let them hit the ground with a heavy thud. After taking a deep breath, she looked over to the corpses of the two of them, each had a bleeding hole where their left eye should have been.          Holding back the bile in her throat, she asked at length, “So, what now?”         Hawk walked over to the bears and prodded their bodies with the barrel of his revolver, eventually turning to Twilight and offering a shrug. “I have no idea. To tell the truth, I’ve just been guessing my way through most of this supernatural stuff. Hell, I didn’t even know if shooting them in the head would even work.”         Twilight swallowed the urge to throw up at the macabre scene and instead opted to concentrate on figuring out what their next move would be. “Okay let’s think,” she said as she began walking away from the two dead polar bears, “by now our friends are sure to have been sent in to get control of this situation by the Princess.”         “And Joseph,” added Hawk as he moved to keep pace with her.         A somewhat forced grin crossed the unicorn’s face as she continued, “Yes of course, sorry. Anyway, all we need to do is figure out which agent or pony was sent in, and then I can use a detection spell to find them!”         “Sounds good to me,” said the man while he replaced the empty rounds in his gun, “If memory serves me right, I think Dimitri was next up on the rotation. Knowing that kid, he’ll have that axe of his strapped to his back.”         The pony nodded in agreement and began to weave her spell. Soon, her horn glimmered with power and her irises shined with a pale pink glow. Twilight closed her eyes and beheld the world much differently, as if all the things inside of it were just white outlines on top of a infinite black canvas. She looked around for a moment or two before finding a small multicolored speck moving quickly some distance away.         “Aha! I found him!” she shouted excitedly, “He’s moving way too fast to be walking so he must be in one of those automobile things!”         “Good,” Hawk commented from behind her, “Which way is he headed?”         Twilight focused harder on the object, trying to cement the image of the young man’s axe in her mind. Her imbued vision grew stronger as she concentrated, the multicolored mass becoming closer and more defined as the seconds ticked on.         “I think he’s coming towards us,” she said with a relieved, albeit strained, voice. It was becoming more difficult for the purple unicorn mare to focus. The air had suddenly become colder around her, causing the little pony’s teeth to chatter against her will. Opening her eyes, Twilight tried to rub some warmth into her legs while saying, “Yowza...Hawk, did it get colder out here or is it just me?”         There was no response from the man. Raising an eyebrow, Twilight turned to look behind her. What she saw nearly caused her heart to stop from the mix of surprise and horror. Agent Hawk stood with his back turned to the unicorn, but what he was facing was something that could only be described as a living nightmare. It was what appeared to be a cloud of black mist with two brightly glowing blue orbs for eyes. Within the dark swirling vapors was what looked like a starving human with leathery, ashen gray skin that seemed barely able to stretch over its gnarled old bones. Whatever the creature was, it was staring right into the man’s eyes.         “Hawk?” squeaked Twilight.         The mist creature glanced over Hawk’s shoulder at the unicorn, instantly filling the pony’s mind with thoughts of hopelessness and despair. The whispers echoed in her head ceaselessly, continuing to tell her terrible things. ‘What have you done Twilight Sparkle? You convinced your friends to leave their lives behind. They had good lives in your homeland, lives that you begged them to leave. You took away their lives...their homes...their families...and they will all die here. They will all Die because You brought them Here. They will DIE hating YOU for forcing them away from those they love. YOU HAVE KILLED YOUR FRIENDS TWILIGHT SPARKLE.’         She tried to look away from the thing’s horrid visage but she couldn’t find the willpower to even blink. Tears welled up in her eyes as the mental assault continued, and the never ending swarm of voices that told her that she was the doom to all she loved grew only more intense. What was worse was that something in its voice or its eyes made her believe every word of it. The feeling of such total despair soon filled every inch of her being.         “W-what do I do?” she asked the creature with a whimper.         ‘Come with me dear one, I shall save you...come with me to my home under the hill...Come with me and save the ones you love from your cruelty...’         The shadowy monster drifted away to the barest edge of their vision until the only thing of the creature that could still be seen clearly were its glowing blue eyes. Twilight and Hawk began to slowly walk after it, hypnotized by the alluring promises of the ghost like figure. The unicorn was only barely aware of her surroundings as she followed the glowing orbs into the deep gray mists. All she could hear was a voice in her mind telling her how she was an awful pony, and how following the lights would make everything better. She began to forget about where she was, and even that Hawk walked next to her. There were only the eyes. She couldn’t even perceive the sound of her hoofsteps as they clopped over the increasingly large stones that littered the ground. There was only the sound of the voice.         ‘Come...’ said the voice, ‘We are almost there Twilight...Soon it will be over...Soon you will be at peace...With Us.’ Twilight smiled. Soon it would be over. Soon she wouldn’t have to worry about hurting her friends ever again. Then she heard something beneath the voice. It sounded far off and faint, but her mind focused on it. ‘What is that?’ she thought.         ‘Ignore it,’ the voice said to her, ‘Listen to me, listen to only me.’         The noise in her head got louder, and the unicorn stopped walking as she listened to it. The sound was odd, almost musical, and she started hearing voices that sang with it. Voices that were very familiar. Craning her head away from the hypnotic stare of the monster, Twilight gazed towards two new lights moving very quickly towards her. “Pinkie Pie?”         Pinkie Pie hit the breaks as soon as she saw her small unicorn friend, creating shallow trenches as the vehicle skidded to a halt in front of the unicorn. “Heya Twilight!” chimed the cheerful pink pony over the blaring music, “How’d your date with Hawk go?”         The bright pink earth pony was a welcome contrast to the dull gray that had surrounded Twilight for what felt like forever, and the unicorn didn’t bother to try and supress the smile that spread over her face when she saw her friend. “Pinkie Pie! Thank goodness you’re here!” shouted the unicorn as the grim thoughts faded from her mind completely.         “It’s not just me Twilight, Dimitri and the Princess are here too ya’ know,” replied the jubilant pony as she pointed to the vehicle’s bed with her hoof.         Twilight’s eyes went wide as they fell on the shining and regal form of Princess Celestia, who looked mildly discombobulated from the car ride she had just taken. “Princess! W-what are you doing here?!” the unicorn blurted out.         “Oh, I was just in the neighborhood...” said the Princess with an innocent smile. The alicorn quickly hopped out of the jeep and gave her pupil a loving nuzzle, “...and maybe making sure my star student is safe and sound.”         Pinkie Pie exited the vehicle with Dimitri and moved to stand next to the Princess.        “Not to interrupt,” said Dimitri, “but vhere is Agent Hawk? Vasn’t he vith you?”         “Oh right!” Twilight replied as the seriousness their situation returned to her. Breaking away from Celestia she turned around and quickly scanned the fog for her human partner or any sign of the creature, finding only a prone form in the mist. “Hawk? Is that you?” she asked with worry heavy in her voice.         “I’m alive,” replied the shape, “I just need a minute.”         The ponies and Dimitri all gave a collective sigh of relief and walked over to Hawk, who was lying on his stomach with his gun still clenched firmly in his hand. Dimitri was the first to arrive at his side and knelt down to offer the man a hand. “Vhat happened to you comrade?” asked Dimitri.         Hawk groaned loudly as he rolled onto his back, looking a very sickly pale. “Bears,” he replied after a moment, “bears and a big, misty, ghost man...thing.” Taking Dimitri’s hand, Hawk pulled himself up into a sitting position and gazed at the faces of the ponies, which were awash with worry and relief. He cocked a brow when he saw Celestia and added, “I’m glad you could join us Princess, what brings you to this neck of the woods?” “I was going to take my dear student out to lunch, but it seems you beat me to it. I was going to wait for you here until, well, this happened,” she said with a weary smile. As she looked around the gloom, Celestia’s smile faded completely as she continued, “And what of this ‘ghost-man thing’ Agent Hawk? Did you destroy it?” “No,” he said flatly, “After we took down the bears some sort of black mist dripped out of them and turned into the whatever it was. I remember looking it in the eyes as it formed, but things get pretty hazy after that.” Celestia’s expression grew distant as she nodded, “I had a similar experience with a pack of wolves, save for the appearance of the specter of which you speak.” Looking to the bright pink pony that stood not far off inspecting the ground for some reason, she continued, “Though the young Ms. Pinkie Pie and Agent Dimitri seemed impervious to its effects. Might I ask how?” “Oh that’s easy!” replied Pinkie Pie cheerfully, “Just put a song in your head, or hay, sing out loud! That’s what me and Dimitri did when we saved you after all. It drowns out all of them spooky-wooky voices!” “Where’d you learn that?” asked Hawk, color very slowly returning to his face. Twilight flinched at the question, knowing full well Pinkie’s favorite way to answer such inquiries. The bouncing pink pony hopped over next to Hawk and leaned in close to his face. “Do you really want to know?” she asked between giggles. The man looked to Twilight, but the unicorn had already buried her forehead into her front hooves. Looking back into the large, round, and bright blue eyes of Pinkie, he answered meekly, “Yes?” Pinkie Pie’s smile grew very large as she began to sing, “Weeelllll~! When I was a little filly and the sun was going do~wn...” “Is she...?” began Celestia with rather bemused expression. Pinkie wrapped a foreleg around Hawk’s neck and continued, “...the darkness and the shadows would always make me fro~wn!” The man looked very confused, but seemed to have an undeniably healthier color than before.         Twilight gave her mentor a resigned look and stated, “She is.”         “I’d hide under my pillow, from what I thought I saw, but Granny Pie said th-”         “AHA!” Dimitri suddenly interrupted, “It is a Barrow Vight!”         All the others stared at him, some more relieved than others, and Pinkie herself looking mildly offended. “Dimitri! You interrupted my favorite song!”         The young man tried to sound apologetic, but his words were buried under his own enthusiasm, “Sorry Pinkie, but I think I’ve figured out just vhat this thing is! It is a Barrow Vight! Сын от суки, it all makes sense!”         “I’m glad it does for you Dimitri, because I don’t have any idea what you’re talking about. What the hell is a Barrow Wight?” asked Hawk as he stood up, looking fully recovered.         Dimitri cleared his throat and began in as official a voice as he could muster, “Barrow Vights are a type of undead that can possess things, and it gets a hold of its wictem by looking them in the eyes and hypnotizing them. Then it leads them to his lair and sacrifices them.”         “Why on earth would it do that?” asked Twilight, utterly horrified.         Dimitri shrugged, “I don’t know. Maybe because it is evil?”         The unicorn let out a small huff at the simplistic answer, but continued, “Okay, do you know how we defeat it? I’ve haven’t gotten as far as I would like to with my copy of ‘Spooky Spectres and Pesky Poltergeists,’ so at this point you know more than I do. ”         “Vell, according to Tolkien’s Bestiary, singing could repel the Vight, but to destroy it you vould need sunlight,” said the young man with a nod to Celestia. “The light vould instantly kill it, as vell as free anything that is being possessed. Allegedly.”         “And the one pony that can bring out the sun decided today was a good day to visit the park? Convenient,” Hawk stated as he looked around at the oppressive fog that surrounded them, “Now the question is: where is the little smoke cloud?”         “Hiding in its Barrow Den if it is not here,” said Dimitri, “It is like big hill vith door. Ve can just follow Pinkie Pie’s ‘Pinkie Sense’ to find it.” Hawk eyed the young man incredulously. Dimitri put his hands up and said flatly, “Yes, I know, but it vorks.”         “I can confirm that,” Twilight said raising hoof. The older man digressed and motioned for Dimitri to continue, saying, “Anything else?” “If ve stay close to Pinkie, ve should not have trouble getting there. Ve may need to force it outside once ve get there though.”         Hawk raised a curious eyebrow, “Why?”         Celestia let out a small sigh as she looked up as the clouds above, “Because Agent Hawk, it is much easier for me to clear the sky of clouds than it is to shoot rays of sunlight, especially in my weakened state. I may be one of the most powerful beings in Equestria, but here in human lands my powers are slow to recuperate and my wounds are a great deal more...persistent.”         “Are you going to be alright Princess?,” Twilight asked looking at her teacher with utmost concern.         The radiant Princess gave her student a warm smile and nodded, “Yes Twilight Sparkle, I will be fine. Such mundane attacks can do no harm that an hour’s rest will not recover.”         “So what are we waiting for?!” shouted Pinkie Pie as she trotted in place impatiently, “Let’s go! Let’s go! Let’s go! Let’s go! Let’s go!”         Twilight rolled her eyes and looked to the humans with a confident grin. “Well come on then, we’d better get going before Pinkie keels over from anticipation! Let’s go bust that ghost!”         Hawk and Dimitri exchanged amused looks and readied their firearms as Princess Celestia gave one last loving smile to her young unicorn ward before taking flight. With Pinkie leading the way while humming a chipper tune, the humans and ponies walked into the encroaching mist.         Their march through the fog was made much more pleasantly with the added company of Pinkie Pie, who hummed and sang songs constantly, often incorporating the few things they could make out in the gloom into whatever she was singing flawlessly. In their wake, patches of sunlight began to shine through the mist and burn away the dark fog. The color of the grass and trees seemed to return as they became illuminated, and the chill wind that once dominated the air began to falter to a much warmer breeze.         Within five minutes the diverse group arrived at their destination. It was just as Dimitri described it would be. There in front of them was a very large hill with dark stone steps that ended at a large black rock doorway. The door was wide open, practically beckoning to them to enter the deep darkness that lay within. “So you’re like ghost repellent right?” Hawk asked Pinkie Pie as he drew his revolver. “Yuh-huh!” replied the cheerful pink pony. “Good,” said the man, “Then you lead, Dimitri follows, then Twilight with some light, and I’ll be the caboose on this little train.” “That means I’m the engine right?” Pinkie asked with excitement, “I always wanted to be a train engine! Or was that a train conductor? I forget, but anyway I love trains! They’re like moving rooms that you can stick together, and I’ve always wanted to have a train that had, like, a million rooms so I could put a party in each one and have a non-stop PARTY TRAIN! CHOO CHOO!” The humans took a nervous step back towards Twilight as Pinkie began to pump her arm and make train noises. Twilight just rolled her eyes and called to the enthusiastic pony, “Pinkie stop! You’re scaring the humans!” Pinkie Pie stopped moving completely, appearing frozen in mid hoof pump while smiling like a loon. Twilight let out a small sigh and looked to the man to her right with an embarrassed blush in her cheeks. “Sorry Agent Hawk, Pinkie tends to go off on some pretty crazy tangents sometimes.” “I’ve noticed,” he stated with a hint of amusement. Glancing at the unicorn he added, “Can you...ya know, make her get going again?” Twilight nodded and turned back to her pink friend, calmly saying, “Okay Pinkie, move out.”                  “Okey-dokey!” Pinkie replied as she sprang back into motion and skipped up the dark stairs to the entrance of the Barrow Den. Dimitri readied his axe and followed after the bouncing pink pony while Twilight and Hawk moved in behind him. By the time they climbed to the mouth of the Den where Pinkie stood waiting and looked down into utter darkness of the burial mound, thin rays of light were beginning to shine through the fog, but not nearly enough to illuminate the black depths of the mound.         Pinkie entered the Den with a noticeably smaller spring in her step, and her large blue eyes looked around the dark hallway warily. After Dimitri stepped in after the pink mare, Twilight summoned a small orb of light to her and trotted into the dark after the other two. She was only mildly comforted by the sound of Hawk’s footsteps that followed close behind her. The light from the unicorn’s horn proved effective in illuminating the innards of the mound, and despite the long shadows that the light cast, it revealed the many grim features of the Barrow Wight’s lair. The walls were a mix between jagged outcroppings of stone with large, coffin sized, holes in them and smooth masonry. The sections of the walls and ceiling that were made of worked stone were no less intimidating to the small pony, as they were decorated with gruesome scenes of humans being struck down and devoured by hideous monsters with frightening faces and toothy maws. Gulping down the fear that was welling up in her throat, the purple mare began to quietly hum one of her favorite songs and hoped that she wouldn’t have to meet any of the creatures depicted on the walls. Although the tune helped her focus against any dark thoughts, her own curiosity once again drew her eyes to the carvings. Her inner academic took mental notes as she passed each carving, memorizing little facts about each one. Particularly those that depicted the monsters being slain.         Before long the group arrived at a large stone archway that led into an antechamber of sorts. Channeling some additional power into her horn, Twilight sent the small orb of light from its tip towards the center of the room where it floated serenely in the gloom. The light illuminated much of the dark space, revealing that the room took up a great deal of space within the hill. Twilight guessed that the roof of the hall had at most, only a half meter separating it from the outside. Stalactites and stalagmites dominated the edges of the underground chamber, obscuring the numerous wall carvings that completely circled the room. From a purely architectural and geographical standpoint, Twilight had to admit it was impressive, but what really drew her attention were the mounds of glittering treasures scattered all over the floor.         Gold, jewels, silks, and every assortment of opulent finery was there in piles that sparkled like stars in the dim light. The eyes of the four companions went wide as the looked over the trove, Hawk even giving an impressed whistle as he and Dimitri moved into the chamber for a closer look.         “Hey Dimitri,” Hawk began as he bent down to look at a fine golden scepter, “why’s a ghost need so much gold?”         “Vell, according to myth he doesn’t,” replied the younger man as his eyes scanned the small mountain of riches, “He only keeps it so he can lure travelers into lair and kill them.”         “Seems to be working,” said Twilight with a small chuckle as she passed by the two men.         Pinkie Pie found the small joke a great deal more amusing than the unicorn and giggled uncontrollably. “Ohmygosh, Twilight, *snort* that was a good one,” she managed to say amongst the fit of jubilant chortles.         The two men exchanged amused looks and stood up to follow the pair of ponies, Dimitri saying with a dismissive sigh, “Probably cursed anyvay.” Twilight led the group to the center of the large tomb, doing her best to see anything else in the darkness. From the center of the room, she discovered that the piles of gold were actually arranged in such a way that they made two other paths. One path lead to what appeared to be a rather odd looking stone slab. It was adorned with strange carvings that hurt the unicorn’s eyes just by looking at them. Above the altar, propped up in an ornate stand, was what appeared to be a long golden knife with a blood red ruby embedded in its pommel. Twilight shuddered at thought of what it was used for. The second path through the treasure piles lead to the foot of a throne, seemingly chiseled from the very rock of the dark stone walls itself. It was decorated with the same strange runes she had seen on the altar, but it only took a glance to make her whole body shake as terror began to well up in her heart. She quickly averted her gaze from the throne, looking instead at the rocky floor beneath her hooves. Despite Pinkie Pie standing right next to her, the feeling of fear didn’t leave the unicorn, and she felt her heart begin to beat faster as a familiar cold seeped into her skin. The others felt it too, and the purple mare could see each of them, even Pinkie Pie, shiver as their eyes darted from shadow to shadow. Even the small orb of light that hovered above them seemed to dim as the temperature dropped. Twilight could only assume that the Barrow Wight had grown tired of waiting, or that they had all finally walked right where it wanted them to. The shadows of the Barrow Den grew darker, and a frightening black mist began to gather around the base of the throne. Hawk and Dimitri stepped in front of the ponies, putting themselves in between the mist and the small equines with weapons at the ready. A dark pillar of smoke rose up from shifting mass of shadows until it stood a head taller than Hawk. The black mists flowed off the pillar, revealing the ghastly form of the Barrow Wight within. It opened its horrid glowing blue eyes and glared at the group, assailing their minds with waves of despair. “Hey you!” shouted Pinkie as she pushed hey way in front of the humans, “Why don’t you pick on somepony your own size!” The colorful earth pony’s smile was nothing but confident, and she stood unblinking against the horrible creature’s haunting visage. The Wight’s glowing eyes narrowed as they fell on the small pink mare, and the ghostly creature let loose an unearthly wail as it flew towards her with withered arms reaching for her throat. The cry of the creature created a stabbing pain Twilight Sparkle’s heart, and the small unicorn collapsed on the stone ground as her breath flowed out of her. She saw Hawk and Dimitri had fallen to the ground as well with their hands clutching their chests in pain, and watched in silent horror as the billowing black cloud that enveloped the ghastly creature descended around her and her friends. Only Pinkie Pie still stood to oppose the Wight. Her smile hadn’t even begun to waver, and she showed absolutely no sign that the phantom’s gaze affected her. “You don’t scare me,” she said to it defiantly, “I won’t let you scare me! I won’t let fear stop me from saving anypony ever again!” The Barrow Wight answered by trying to wrap both of its withered hands around Pinkie’s throat, fully intending to squeeze the life out of her. However, its claw like hands never connected. When they got near the pink pony’s neck, the Wight reeled back, as if something about Pinkie Pie had physically repulsed it. The ghastly monster glared at the colorful mare with all the hate it could muster as it drifted away from her and back into the shadows, vanishing completely. Pinkie Pie let go a exaggerated sigh of relief as the dark creature disappeared and inspected the two humans before giving a small harrumph. She let loose a small giggle as she trotted over to Twilight with a small bounce to her step. The unicorn herself was feeling better and better with every step her bubbly friend took towards her, and by the time Pinkie arrived at her side, Twilight was already beginning to stand. “How are ya Twilight?” Pinkie asked her with a pleasant, if a bit concerned, smile. “Still hanging in there?”         Twilight took a second to settle her mind and make sure the only thoughts in it were her own. Confirming all the sorrowful thoughts were gone, she nodded and said, “Yeah, I’m good. I swear though, I am getting absolutely sick of this thing and its hypno-vision.” Looking worriedly at the two downed humans, she let go a sigh of relief as Hawk began to stand up.         “Oh hey!” Pinkie called to the man cheerfully, “I thought you were asleep!”         “Asleep?” asked Twilight.         Pinkie nodded vigorously, “Oh yeah, those two were out like a pair of busted lights!”         The man was still picking himself up off the ground when Twilight arrived next to him, and his groggy movements sent small tremors of worry through the unicorn. “Hawk? Are you hurt?”         The man answered her with a back handed slap that sent the purple pony tumbling to the ground. Hawk then raised his revolver and leveled it at Pinkie Pie, pulling the trigger as soon as the sights aligned with the colorful pony’s head. The shot went high and cut through the mare’s cottony mane and hit a pile of gold behind her.         Pinkie Pie was still trying to comprehend that Hawk had just slapped Twilight to the floor when the first shot was fired at her, and the near miss sent the pony diving behind the nearest mound of treasure on a reflex. The pink mare’s heart raced as she tried to put as much of the pile between her and the now hostile human as possible. Another shot rang out as a bullet blasted its way through her cover, leaving a small hole in the heap of finery roughly three centimeters from her head.         By now, Pinkie was panicking. She had been ready to face down a ghost, she had even been ready to take down some ghost wolves to protect her friends, but now one of her newest friends was trying to kill her and the bright pink pony honestly did not know what to do. She frantically searched for something that might restrain the man or buy her more time to figure out what was actually going on, and her eyes eventually fell on a small outcropping of stalagmites that would make the perfect place to hide. She went for it, only narrowly avoiding a third shot as she dashed out from behind her old cover.         Diving behind the protective rock formation, Pinkie tried to calm herself down as best she could, while also trying to find Hawk before he found her. She peered between the small stone pillars in search of the man, but he was nowhere to be seen.         “Now where did he go?” she whispered under her breath. A click from behind her answered the question. Pinkie spun around to see the imposing form of Agent Hawk standing over her with his revolver pointed squarely at her forehead. His skin was as pale as a corpse’s and his eyes glowed with an all too familiar blue light. “Oh,” she said with a faint chuckle, “there you are. I don’t suppose this whole trying to kill me is just some kind of joke you humans like to do, is it?” The possessed man didn’t show any sign in his expression that he was joking. Of course, Pinkie couldn’t say she saw much of any emotion on the man’s face other than a faint sneer that glared at her from behind the gun’s barrel. All of her thoughts were cut short however, as Hawk pulled the trigger. She was pleasantly surprised when, instead of a loud bang followed up by sudden death, there was an audible click. Looking up she saw that the possessed human was equally surprised. “I guess you don’t know how those things work either,” she said to the possessed agent, a grand smile spreading over her face. Pinkie moved quickly and grabbed the barrel of the gun with her teeth, yanking the weapon out Hawk’s grip and throwing it across the large room where it clattered on the stone floor some five meters away. “You won’t be needing that thing anymore!” she said happily turning to face the still very much possessed Hawk. The Barrow Wight inhabiting the man’s body obviously did not like that, and sent a clasping hand towards the pony’s throat. Pinkie Pie dodged to the left and galloped to the center of the room where Dimitri and Twilight were still recovering. Upon arriving beside Dimitri’s prone form, the bright pink mare began to nuzzle and prod the young man as she frequently looked back over her shoulder at Agent Hawk, who seemed to be taking his time in walking after her. “Come on Dimitri! Wake up!” she shouted at the near unconscious man. The young agent merely mumbled his response as he drifted in his half conscious state, “Отец, пожалуйста, не заставляйте меня идти…” Pinkie let out a frustrated little whimper as she bounded next to Twilight. The unicorn was in a similar state as the young Dimitri, if a bit worse for wear. Her left eye was beginning to swell shut from where the possessed Agent Hawk had struck her, and she was unable to do more than lay on the ground and mumble nonsense while blood trickled onto the floor from her nose. No matter how much prodding or shaking she did, the young mare could not stir her friend. She was alone, and for a second, the many songs that played in her head all stopped. That brief second was all the Barrow Wight needed. Two heavy footsteps stopped just behind her as fear finally began to take hold in Pinkie Pie’s mind. Turning around to look up at the deathly pale face of what once was Agent Hawk, she could only stare into the intense blue orbs that had replaced the man’s eyes. ‘You have failed,’ said a voice in her head, ‘You have no hope of defeating this vessel. It is beyond your ability to fight, and my hold over it is stronger than your white magic. You stand alone against a foe that you cannot defeat.’ Tears began to well up in Pinkie’s eyes as she felt her heart sink into a pit that had formed in her stomach. The young mare’s color appeared to drain out of her, and her mane and tail lost their cotton candy like appearance, instead becoming depressingly straight. ‘You need not feel despair,’ the voice continued, ‘I shall make your end a grand festival. One so great that all your friends will forgive you for failing to save them.’ “Really?” Pinkie asked as a weak smile crossed her face, “How?” Hawk pointed at the altar. ‘There young one. There is your salvation.’ Pinkie looked at the large stone table, her eyes glancing over the knife and odd runes that adorned it. Strangely, the symbols looked much less sinister now, and to Pinkie, they even looked rather friendly. Pinkie trotted over to the altar, and after a hop and awkward climb, she laid herself down on top of it. Hawk went over to a pile of treasure and extracted a beautifully sewn white cloth. After grabbing another handful of golden finery, he draped the cloth over Pinkie and began outfitting the small pink pony with some of the finest jewelery she had ever seen. “What are those for?” she asked. ‘You want to look your best for the festivities, don’t you?’         Pinkie, being hypnotized, agreed completely with the sentiment. The jewelry did look very pretty after all, and the pink pony was sure that if Rarity were here, the dazzling white unicorn would have had a field day. Rolling her head to the side, Pinkie Pie looked longingly at her friends. Twilight had opened one of her eyes and seemed to be looking around the room in a haze while Dimitri was trying to stand up, but appeared to be having some trouble. They were both saying something, but Pinkie couldn’t make it out. Even though they were both right there their words sounded so far away. When the possessed man had finished placing a golden amulet with deep blue sapphires around Pinkie’s neck, he reached for the final item of the ritual. Hawk took hold of the large golden knife and held it above the mare with the blade pointed straight at her stomach. The colorful pony looked at the tip of the knife as it began to descend towards her, and with a final thought of her friends she closed her eyes.         The tip of the sword stopped mere centimeters above the pink pony’s skin as a purplish pink glow enveloped the blade. Hawk looked over his shoulder with a sneer and his blue eyes burned with hatred at the source of the opposition. There in the center of the tomb, glaring daggers out of the one eye that she could open, was Twilight Sparkle. She was not yet able to stand up, but all that mattered to the young mare was that she was conscious enough to save her friends. Both of them.         Dimitri on the other hand had recovered enough to stand, and was already upon the enthralled agent by the time it had turned around to glare at them. The two humans grappled next to the altar, Hawk leaving the large knife floating in midair in favor of strangling the young man who dared to challenge him. Fortunately for Dimitri, the Barrow Wight may have taken over Hawk’s body but apparently knew nothing about martial arts.         The young human used a leg to sweep out one of his opponent’s out from behind to unbalance him, and with a mighty heave sent the possessed man hurtling into a large pile of golden trinkets away from the altar. Dimitri did not let up in his assault, and moved over to the still recovering Hawk and shoved him face first to the ground.                  “Stay down,” he said as he pinned the older man’s arms behind his back, “I vould prefer not to hurt my superior officer too much.”         By this time Twilight Sparkle had risen to her hooves and thrown the golden dagger to some far corner of the den. She trotted as quickly as she could to the altar where Pinkie was lying in some sort of dreamlike trance. “Pinkie!” Twilight shouted as she tried to shake her friend out of the haze that was clouding her mind, “Pinkie wake up!”         The act proved futile, as the pink pony remained in her torpid state despite Twilight’s increasingly desperate attempts to wake her. The sounds of struggle from behind forced the unicorn to accept the fact that, although Pinkie wasn’t conscious, she was at least unharmed. Turning about to face the two grappling humans, Twilight summoned more power to her horn and surrounded Agent Hawk with a glimmering field of magic. He struggled and squirmed as best he could, but it was far too late.         Dimitri moved off of the possessed man as Twilight lifted him up into the air and turned him over, as to make sure the only thing in danger of his ghostly stare was the ceiling. “Don’t even bother struggling,” she called to the monster inhabiting Hawk’s body, “the only place you’re going is outside and into the sunlight, and then this whole nightmare will be over!”         Then something Twilight wasn’t expecting happened: Hawk began laughing. It began slow at first, more of a bemused, barely audible chuckle, but it rose in pitch and intensity until his insane cackles filled the entire underground chamber. Eventually, a voice that seemed to be made of pure malice echoed out of the man’s mouth, “Oh, is it now?”         Twilight and Dimitri exchanged understandably worried looks. The young man gave a small shrug before shouting up at the creature, “Vhat do you mean? You are beaten! All ve have to do is carry Hawk’s body outside and poof! You are dead. Hawk is free. Ve go party.”         “This is as true as it is unavoidable,” it stated in a cold, almost bored, tone, “but you are wrong to assume that this nightmare will end with my destruction.”         “We know that!” countered Twilight angrily, “We won’t be done taking down monsters like you until all the magic that escaped from Equestria dissipates!”         It began to laugh to itself again, as if it found something amusing with the last statement. “Dissipates? The power that has swept over this world will not simply disappear. It must be gathered and contained as it was so long ago, and is again now.”         The words peaked the unicorn’s innate curiosity. “The wild magic is being collected?” she asked with somewhat less anger in her voice. “By who?”         The small unicorn could hear a grotesque sort of pride in the voice’s reply, “The Brothers in Darkness, who even now stir within their forgotten tombs and ancient prisons, corrupting the weak minds of men and beast alike to aid them in fulfilling their ultimate purpose.”         “Which is what, exactly?”         A sadistic grin crawled over the possessed man’s face, “To spread darkness and death to every corner of this world for all eternity! To bring and end to those that usurped their kingdoms by resurrecting the one who will bring forth the Everlasting Night!” The voice once again laughed in its twisted sounding cackles as its words resonated throughout the chamber.         “Vhy are you telling us all this?” asked Dimitri, “Are you not afraid ve vill stop you?”         “You cannot stop what has already been set into motion! You can only delay it!” replied the Wight, its malevolent voice stained with a disturbing cheerfulness. Twilight and Dimitri again looked at each other, both wearing uneasy expressions on their faces. “Let’s get this over vith,” said Dimitri at length, “I feel like this monster has been alive too long.”         “Agreed,” replied Twilight, lowering Hawk’s body enough so that she could move it through the passage that led out. “Could you get Pinkie?” Twilight said to the young man as she began walking towards the exit, “I’d rather not risk losing any focus on keeping this one contained.”         Dimitri nodded and ran over to the altar where Pinkie Pie still slept. With one fluid motion the young man removed the jewelry that adorned the pony and hefted her over his shoulder as he made his way out of the tomb after Twilight. The Wight did not bother to struggle against Twilight’s hold over him, nor did it flinch when it saw the first hints of sunlight that illuminated the door that led outside.         Beyond the entrance were fields of bright green grass and wondrous blue skies. A refreshingly cool breeze blew in from the outside, something that seemed to nauseate the Barrow Wight in Hawk. Twilight couldn’t contain a smile from crossing her face as she sent the man in her magical grasp levitating into the daylight. The moment the light touched Hawk’s extremely pale skin, the voice of the Barrow Wight let go a very short lived scream as black smoke fled from the man’s body and evaporated in the afternoon sun. The man’s body went limp after all of the dark mist had vanished.         Twilight trotted out into the sunlight and set Hawk down on a soft patch of grass next to her. A smile spread over her face as color began to flow back into the agent’s skin. Using a steady hoof she opened up one of his eyelids to see that his eyes had returned to their normal, non glowing state.         Dimitri emerged from the underground and gingerly placed Pinkie Pie on the ground next to Hawk. It wasn’t long before her mane, tail, and coat were all renewed to their usual tone and fluff. The bright pink pony awoke soon after, slowly opening her large sky blue eyes and gazing up at the young man that was kneeling down next to her and the smiling purple unicorn that joined him soon after.         “Am I dead?” she asked groggily.         Dimitri let out a small laugh and replied, “No, but you still have to drive us back to Bureau. So there is still a chance.” “I think I’ll let you drive this time. I feel like I ate another batch of Applejack’s baked bads,” Pinkie said through a bout of weak chuckles. With a contented little sigh, Pinkie Pie closed her eyes and fell asleep. Twilight nuzzled the side of her friend’s head before trotting back over to where Agent Hawk was laid out. He still had not woken up. Twilight couldn’t help but feel a knot begin to grow in her stomach. The Barrow Wight’s warning, or boast, echoed in her mind and the feeling of dread practically consumed her. As the young unicorn mare waited for the man to regain consciousness, she heard the sound of large wings from above. Looking up, she gained some relief as she saw the majestic form of Princess Celestia descend from the azure blue sky towards her. The glamorous alicorn landed gracefully next to Twilight, a brilliant smile covering her face. “Twilight!” she said happily as she wrapped her neck around her student’s “Thank goodness you’re alright.” Releasing the unicorn from the hug, the Princess looked at the unicorn’s swollen eye and furrowed her brow somewhat, saying worriedly, “It seems the creature put up a fight.” Twilight nodded, and she looked at her mentor with a serious expression as she replied, “I’ll tell you about it later your majesty, but right now we need to get back to the Conversion Bureau and get the others. This crisis isn’t as simple as we thought.” Celestia’s raised a confused eyebrow and asked intrigued, “How do you mean Twilight?” The young unicorn sighed and prepared herself. Looking at her teach with a with look of honest terror, she said, “The Eternal Night is coming.” The End of Episode 5 And it couldn’t come any faster, am I right? HA HA! That was a joke. It’s funny because it took so long to come out. Get it? … So anyway, Episode 6 is going to be shorter and hopefully it won’t take a year and a half before it gets out! Thanks for being patient with me.