It hadn’t been the journey Pearl expected. She started around the mountains and Whinnypeg, asking the residents of each little village she passed through if anypony lost a filly fifteen years ago. Nopony did. And none of the libraries she browsed through during her travels had any information on her cutie mark.
Pearl sighed through her nose. It wasn’t that food was hard to come by. She’d learned from Emerald Foliage, her adoptive mother, which plants were poisonous and which ones were safe to eat.
It had been two days since she last slept. That week, the troubles had really begun. Pearl would find a quiet place to camp for the night, only to wake up near one village or another. Every one of them showed recent damage, complete with smoke and fire. The final straw happened when she woke up in Baltimare to find it in a state of chaos.
Ponies were crying. Emergency crews cleaned up debris. Guards were on the prowl, looking for the attacker. For her. In any other circumstance, she would have surrendered and accepted punishment for the crimes. But with her chaotic sleep, she couldn’t allow herself to be brought into confinement with other ponies. A makeshift blowgun and darts tipped with snooze weed ended the pursuit. At the very least, she was glad she didn’t have to harm them.
Passing through yet another small village, Pearl stopped to watch two young fillies playing on the monkey bars at the school playground. She regarded them with a slight smile and started on her way again when she heard one of the fillies scream. She looked again and found that one of them was now belly first on the ground. She gasped and galloped up to them
"Oh no! Are you okay?" Pearl asked as the filly's friend came over to check on her.
“She fell off the monkey bars!” the filly’s friend said to Pearl.
The filly rolled over on her back, sucking her bottom lip with tears in her eyes. "My elbow hurts!"
"Let me see."
The filly let go of her elbow and showed Pearl a nasty scrape.
"Owww!" Pearl said, recalling all the times she'd skinned her legs on mountain rocks.
The filly hissed in pain and put her hoof back over the wound. "Owie!"
"Hey, don't do that! You've got all kinds of dirt on your hoof, it'll just make it worse."
"But it hurts!'
"I know. Let me help you."
Pearl set her bags down and dug out some of the medicinal herbs she packed. She rolled them in their pack to tear them and expose their healing oils. "Ok, just hold still. This'll make it feel better and keep it from getting infected."
The filly cringed as Pearl pressed the now open pack against the wound as if expecting it to sting. A moment later, she smiled. "That does feel better! Thanks, miss!"
"You're welcome. Just be more careful, eh? You get your parents to put a bandage on that."
The filly hopped up and gave Pearl a quick hug around the legs. “Thanks, miss!”
With that, the two fillies ran off. Pearl smiled after them. If her magic was going to be such a threat, the least she could do was help ponies wherever she could.
Three days later...
Three buildings in Fillydelhpia heavily damaged.
Several small villages attacked.
Ten acres of forest destroyed.
Two farms wiped out.
Many bits worth of damage.
“What in tarnation?!” Applejack asked out loud at the breakfast table as she read through the newspaper.
“What is it, Applejack?” Apple Bloom asked, her voice distorted in the innards of her apple juice cup. The filly set the glass down and studied her sister’s face. “Let me guess, Derpy got the mail mixed up again?”
Applejack shook her head ruefully. “Wish it were somethin’ that minor this time.”
Apple Bloom cocked her head and raised an eyebrow in silent prodding as she took a bite of toast smothered with zap apple preserves.
“A being known only as The Destroyer has been on a violent rampage,” Applejack read directly from the paper, her eyes moving from left to right, “attacking several villages and damaging many acres of forestland. Witnesses have spotted the mysterious creature in or near the towns of Manehattan, Fillydelphia and Baltimare. All eyewitness accounts confirm that The Destroyer only attacks at night and vanishes during the day. It has been described as an equinoid figure with batlike wings and two curved horns. Anypony with information about The Destroyer or its whereabouts should contact a member of law enforcement or the Royal Guard immediately.”
“Eh, what a bunch of hooey!” Granny Smith spat. “It’s just a crazy story for gettin’ folks excited. Newspapers had ‘em all the time when I was a filly.”
“Eeyup,” Big Macintosh agreed.
Applejack gulped down a nervous knot in her throat. As much as she wanted to believe Granny, her adventures with Twilight Sparkle had all but wiped the word “impossible” from her vocabulary. “I don’t know, y’all. I’ve seen some pretty crazy stuff.”
Apple Bloom’s eyes went wide. “What do we do if it comes here?” she asked, her voice hastened with a note of panic.
Applejack rubbed her chin with her hoof as she tried to come up with something. She couldn’t, but she knew just the pony who could. “I need to tell Twilight about this. She’ll know what to do.”
“Oh, quit yer worryin’ and fussin!” Granny Smith said. “Ya done scared yer little sister. Eat yer toast before it gets cold!” To further emphasize her point, she slammed her hoof down on the table, rattling the plates and cups on it.
Everypony’s mouth closed. It was Granny’s age-old signal that the current conversation had reached its end.
That afternoon, Applejack galloped to Twilight Sparkle’s castle, hoping that the well-read alicorn would listen to reason. Even as Applejack explained the situation, Twilight and Starlight Glimmer never looked up from the books they were reading in the library of the castle. Spike was there too, listening intently but not saying a word.
“We’re in a crisis here, Twi!” Applejack yelled, the panic in her voice escalating. “There’s something mean and powerful out there, and it’s burnin’ down farms and attackin’ villages and cities! We’ve gotta do something before it causes any more damage. And if that creature comes here…”
“You’re being ridiculous!” Twilight Sparkle snapped, finally looking up from her book.
“After everything we’ve been through together and all the crazy stuff we’ve seen, are ya really gonna just sit there and shrug this off?” Applejack asked.
“W-what kind of creature?” Spike asked, stammering.
“Some sort of bat-winged, equine… thing.”
Twilight glanced over at Spike, watching him shiver and bite his nails. “Look, Applejack, now you’ve got Spike all worried.”
“Good! At least I’m not the only one takin’ this seriously.”
Starlight Glimmer put her book down and turned her attention to their conversation. “Okay. Let’s back up a bit. Do you have any proof?”
Applejack pulled the rolled up newspaper from her saddlebag and showed the others the story. “It says so right here! Just ask the folks in Manehattan, Fillydelphia and Baltimare, who all saw it.”
Twilight stared at the paper a moment, then scoffed and rolled her eyes. “Applejack, you can’t believe everything you read in the paper. For all we know, it’s just a silly story somepony wrote up, like a Bit Dreadful. A lot of newspapers used to have those.”
Applejack rolled her eyes, muttering, “That’s what Granny said.”
“She may be right,” Starlight answered. “And if not, it’s probably ponies overreacting.”
Applejack pointed a hoof at Starlight. “You of all ponies got no room to talk about overreactin’.”
“Applejack!” Twilight snapped as Starlight flattened her ears in shame. “Listen to yourself. You need to calm down.”
“No, it’s okay,” Starlight sighed. Her ears perked back up. “She’s not wrong.”
Applejack shut her eyes, drew a deep breath and let it out slow. “I’m mighty sorry about that, Starlight. Guess this has me worked up.”
“If it’s any help, I’ll keep my eyes and ears open,” Twilight said. She stood up and gave Applejack a reassuring pat on the back. “I agree with Starlight, though. I think you might be overreacting. If this thing is real, I’ve got a direct link to Princess Celestia.” Twilight shot Spike a wink, who responded with a thumbs-up.
Applejack regarded them for a moment, then smiled. “Thanks, Twi. I sure hope this is all a hoax.”
With that, Applejack turned for the door and left.
***
“Destroyer?” Spike asked. “I don’t like the sound of that!”
Scoffing, Twilight shook her head. “Don’t worry about it, Spike. There’s probably no such thing as a bat-winged, two-horned Destroyer. And if there is, we can handle it. Right, Starlight?” She shot Starlight Glimmer a smile.
“Right!” Starlight answered, holding up an affirmative hoof.
“I just remembered, I was supposed to meet Zecora this afternoon. You two want to come along?” Twilight asked.
Frowning, Starlight shrugged. “No thanks. This book is getting too good.”
“And I got comics to catch up on,” Spike said.
“Okay, then. If I find the Destroyer out there, you’ll be the first to know.”
Twilight slipped on a saddle bag to carry the tea Zecora had promised her and set off for the zebra’s hut in the Everfree Forest. As she went, Twilight mentally chided herself for the way she’d treated Applejack. Her friend did have plenty of reason to worry, with her farm potentially on the line. On the other hoof, travelling to Zecora’s reminded Twilight how everypony had reacted to the zebra before they got to know her. They’d blown her existence way out of proportion, incorrectly believing her to be a witch who dabbled in curses. Stories about The Destroyer were likely a similar case…
***
Twilight returned to Ponyville just as the sun had begun to set. In addition to the tea, Zecora loaned her a book on natural health brews and tonics. Twilight knew better to walk and read at the same time, but she supposed a quick peek at the pages couldn’t hurt. She checked the index, locating the recipes for stress-relieving teas and turned to the appropriate page.
This simple recipe begins with warm milk, green tea and raspberries, three excellent stress-fighting-
“Oof!” a sudden impact snapped Twilight from her reading, causing her to stumble and drop the book. As she picked it back up with her magic, she got a look at what she’d ran into, silently berating herself for her carelessness. She’d bumped into a mare she'd never seen before who wore a body-covering brown cloak, her face obscured in the darkness of its hood.
“Oh, excuse me,” came a weary voice from underneath the hood.
“No, that was my fault. I should’ve been watching where I was going.” Twilight caught a glimpse of the face hidden under the cloak. She was a young unicorn about Twilight’s age, maybe a couple years older, with a thin lock of pearly off-white and pale violet mane dangling next to her horn. Her indigo eyes were listless and hugged by dark circles telling of exhaustion.
“You don’t look so good,” Twilight said. “Are you okay?”
Rubbing her eyes, the stranger made a breathy noise that Twilight couldn’t tell was a yawn or a sigh. “I’m so tired. Haven’t slept in five days. So tired.”
“Five days?! Why haven’t you slept?”
“My magic goes off in my sleep. Ponies get hurt.” The cloaked pony made another one of those breathy noises and drooped. It looked to Twilight as if keeping her head up was taking all her strength. "Help me, Masked Matterhorn!"
Twilight blinked at the request, then realized this pony was so sleep-deprived she must be delirious. "Don't worry. I and the other Power Ponies will help you, uh..."
"Pearl. Pearl Blush."
Twilight smiled, glad to help even if she had to play this role to do it. "Okay, Pearl. Come with me. The Power Ponies are powered up!"