//------------------------------// // The Magnet’s First Strike // Story: The Malignant Magnet // by derpyland //------------------------------// It was midmorning in Ponyville – a beautiful spring day. Winter had been wrapped up only a few weeks earlier. Unlike most days that see terrible disasters, it was not raining and there were no stormclouds on the horizon. In fact, the bright yellow sun was shining rather cheerfully, and the smell of violets permeated the air. It was simply impossible to look outside at the weather and figure out that a dark terror was about to be unleashed upon Equestria. If it had been raining scorpions or abominations from another dimension then that might have been a clue. But, sadly, Discord was on vacation, so the land was utterly devoid of chaos. Twilight Sparkle was sitting in the laboratory of her crystal castle, drinking a cup of darjeeling tea. (Afterward, analysis wondered if the entire disaster could have been prevented if Twilight had instead consumed, say, a piece of toast, or perhaps a flavored muffin. In fact, oranges were actually in season at the time. But as they say, hindsight is 20/20.) On this particular morning the purple alicorn was very pleased with herself. When Tirek destroyed her tree home, he had also destroyed her laboratory and all of its arcane equipment. It had taken her weeks of work to refurnish her new castle with all of the rare items she had lost. Acquiring some of the tools that had been vaporized was quite challenging: some of the pieces were unique, and reforging them took more time than she would have liked. But that setback was all behind her now. Her laboratory was now fully restocked, and no detail had been overlooked – not even rare-earth magnets. Yes, today is a new and promising day, Twilight thought happily to herself. I have a feeling that everything is going to be just fine! A few feet away from the princess, resting quietly on a wooden shelf, was an ebony magnet. There really wasn’t anything special or strange about it – it was just a round, featureless, black magnet, about half the size of a hockey puck. It utterly lacked any evil cursive writing, and it did not have that sinister glow (usually green, I think, but sometimes red) that tipped ponies off that something was Very Wrong. It didn’t even have any warning labels. The only thing odd about it was that most neodymium magnets are silver, not black, but that was hardly an indication that the magnet was possessed by a sinister evil bent on global domination. But, in fact, that magnet really was possessed by a sinister evil bent on global domination – and today was its day to strike! The magnet decided that it had remained quiet long enough; this was the day it would seize power and terrorize the world. This was its moment! Twilight was completely oblivious to the sinister force that was about to burn Canterlot to the ground. (Of course, had she not been oblivious, it’s doubtful there was anything she could have done to change what happened. After all, it was already too late to change her choice of breakfast. But still.) Using her magic, she absent-mindedly lifted a metal spoon to stir her tea. Her gaze never left the 847-page book she was reading – How to Organize Your Checklists in 96 Easy Steps. The magnet struck! Using the evil energy that the evil enchantress had given it all those ages ago, the evil magnet focused all of its evil magnetic attraction onto the innocent spoon that Twilight was holding. Since Twilight had a firm magical grip on her spoon, the magnet flew off the shelf and toward the utensil. By carefully altering the shape and density of its magnetic field, the magnet missed the spoon, banked around it, and shot across the lab. As the magnet saw where its course was taking it, a surge of triumph shot through it. My calculations are perfect! the magnet thought. It would have shouted, but since it was just a magnet it lacked a mouth and was therefore incapable of shouting. (It also lacked eyes, but its evil life force compensated for that handsomely.) The magnet’s trajectory was on a perfect course to demolish a set of glass beakers that was holding a rather volatile set of liquids. The faint swish that the magnet made when it shot through the air was not enough to get Twilight’s attention. However, the jarring sound of breaking glass was a different story. Twilight jerked her head up just in time to see red, green, and yellow liquids ooze out of a row of broken beakers and begin forming a puddle on her brand-new workbench. Twilight gasped. “But – that’s not possible! Those chemicals don’t react with glass! How could–” At that moment the multicolored pool of liquid began to smoke ominously. Twilight instantly stopped talking and teleported herself out of the room and into the adjacent hallway. Mere seconds later, her crystal palace reverberated with a muffled BOOOOOM. Twilight sighed. “And to think today was going so well,” she muttered. Inside the lab, the ebony magnet felt its evil powers grow. Ebony objects endowed with evil tend to grow in power when they are used in evil ways, and this object was no exception. It knew that as it spread destruction, its abilities would increase until it was utterly unstoppable. Destroying the lab of a princess was a good start – but the day was still young. It was time to unleash its fury upon an unsuspecting countryside. Just as Twilight and Spike walked into the ruined lab, the magnet focused its energies on the iron window frame on the far side of the room. It then shot across the lab, shattered the window, and soared outside the castle. “What in Equestria was that?” Spike exclaimed. Twilight sighed. “Another lab disaster, I guess. I just don’t get it! Those beakers were supposed to be made of top of the line glass. They should never have just disintegrated like that. I am definitely going to file a complaint with the manufacturer.” Spike ambled over to the broken window and looked outside. He saw a small black object arc around a metal lamppost and soar high in the sky over Ponyville. “I don’t know, Twilight,” Spike replied. “I think that broken beakers are going to be the least of your problems today. Whatever that thing is, it looks like it’s up to no good.” “Don’t be silly, Spike! It’s just a magnet. How much harm could a magnet possibly do?”