//------------------------------//
// Chapter 4 - Magical Misfires 
// Story: War of the Unfoals 
// by NPP6 
//------------------------------//

	Midnight and Diamond came to a halt as they entered the clearing. Diamond heard her mentor hiss lightly. “So that’s how it happened…”
“Midnight? What’s going on? This place feels funny.”
“This clearing has a history. At one point, it was saturated with dark magic. This was then overlaid with purification magic. At some point harmony magic got mixed in as well.”
“What happened here?”
“A cult tried to resurrect Nightmare Moon.”
Diamond looked around the clearing wide-eyed. “You mean… This is where Nyx was born?”
“Yes, and something reactivated the spell.”
“So there’s another Nightmare Moon running around?”
“Another nightmare foal at least. This is also probably how our new friends happened.”



“Alright, has everypony got everything they need?” Ditzy Doo looked around her family. “Nopony forgot anything?”
Her husband was gently nodding, then gave a start. “Oh! Actually, I did almost forget something. Just a moment.”
Ditzy shook her head as the Doctor ran out to go into the house for whatever he’d forgotten. Then she sat up straight as she heard the doors close and lock. The TARDIS started powering up for travel.
“Doctor? Doctor, something’s wrong!”
“I’m sorry Ditzy, I’m so sorry.”
The pegasus felt ice in her veins. “Doctor, what are you doing?”
“What needs to be done.” There was a muffled thump that Ditzy could only guess was her husband letting his weight fall into the door. “You’re right Ditzy, we can’t keep running away when our friends in Ponyville are in danger. I was right too though, the girls need to not be here for this one. The TARDIS will bring you back in a day or two, if everything calms down… if it doesn’t… Please take care of our girls Ditzy. For all the dark things that followed me into this universe of light, those two make me regret nothing.
“If the TARDIS can’t get a lock on this time and place… I programmed it for one last trip. It’ll take you somewhen safe, somewhere you and the girls can be happy. Take care of our girls Ditzy, and take care of yourself.”
Ditzy eventually managed to get the door open. By that point, Equestria was very far away.



The Doctor collapsed and let himself cry for just a moment. He could afford that much, just a minute to grieve.
“Doctor.”
The stallion paused for a single beat of each heart, then wearily picked himself up and dried his eyes. He knew that voice, it meant he might have to explain a few things. “I’m sorry, but Dinky can’t play tonight, she’s–”
“On the third moon of Kirjath 726 years ago.”
The Doctor froze mid-turn. “How could you possibly know that?”
“Because while she’s there, a group of smugglers are going to come across your family. Don’t worry, these ones are fairly friendly, especially when they figure out who they’re dealing with. A year later, one of the members of the crew will tell me about that, and I will investigate, hoping she’s still there. Much later in her timeline, I will ask her about it, and return an item she had forgotten there and thought lost to her forever.”
“…So you get sucked in too.”
“No Doctor, I dive in headfirst. As you have probably guessed, the pony you think I am is currently at home with his mother, sound asleep. If all goes well, he will wake up tomorrow and be rather upset that he missed out on everything that’s going to happen tonight.”
“The Unfoals.”
“Actually, they’re only the start of the problem. Don’t worry, the others can handle them. We need your help to deal with another threat, one that is going to strike without warning.”
“What?”
“Think about it Doctor. The Unfoals are potential. Raw, pure, unfiltered potential. They are the ones that might have been but never were. Which means that they are custom made to be their prey.”
The Doctor felt his blood run cold. “No. No, not them. Not in Ponyville.” He turned to face the voice.
The Time Pirate had changed slightly since The Doctor had last seen him. He now had a large metal cutlass strapped to his back, over the cloak that completely obscured his features. The colt took a step forward, revealing a needle suspended in a clear bubble on his fetlock before the cloak shifted and covered it again. “We need your help Doctor. We can’t stop them alone.”
Black Diamond stepped around a corner, an old scar notching her ear the he knew for a fact she had not had yesterday. A slightly less familiar face came around the other corner, Distra, the unicorn with the Gallopfreyan cutie mark, gave him a sad smile as she took her place in the formation.
The Doctor swallowed and nodded. “Right then, let’s save Ponyville. Allons-y.”
Black Diamond coughed. “Actually, we need to grab one more pony before we do that.”



Button’s ears perked as he neared his destination. Carousel Boutique. He wasn’t sure why, he just felt like if something was going to happen, then that’s where it would happen. Sweetie Bell and her friends tended to attract trouble.
It seemed like his hunch might be paying off though, he could hear shouting from inside. He had come at it from the side and a little back, the shortest route from his house. He galloped around to the front and charged through the shattered front door. He froze at what he saw inside.
Ponies. Small, about his size. Black coats, no manes, solid white eyes. They were a little less twisted in real life, but long hours of mowing these monsters down had conditioned his mind enough to identify them automatically.
Shadows.
A thought struck him and he looked back and forth between the stock enemy from his favorite game and the key he had strapped to his back. A manic grin slowly began taking over his face as he drew his blade. Best. Night. Ever!
His enemies took a collective step back, unnerved by the glee pouring off the colt. He moved to attack–
And changed his plans abruptly when he heard Sweetie Bell scream again, jumping onto the register counter to dodge one of the only creatures in the room not watching Button warily. Button swung his keyblade into his mouth and charged, weaving his way through his foes and shoving several dress racks to be obstacles.
He jumped up onto the counter and rolled, coming up with a vicious horizontal slice at the shadow between him and Sweetie. To his shock, the blade just ghosted through the monster, and the momentum of the attack carried Button through it as well.
Button spun as he slid across the counter into Sweetie Bell, and then both of them careened off the end, sending the cash register flying. By the time the pair picked themselves up, they were surrounded.
Sweetie shot a magical pulse at one of the shadows, but it ghosted through just like Button’s attack had… and like her others spells had, he realized. Button’s eyes darted frantically, and then he saw it, a way out. There was no way to tell Sweetie about it though… He really hoped she’d be understanding about this…
He pulled his keyblade out of his mouth and threw it towards the door. In the instant of distraction that bought, he ran at Sweetie Bell from behind and dropped, sliding forward with his forehooves outstretched. When he was just past being directly under her, he popped up, slamming his back into her stomach and taking her hooves off the ground.
And then Button charged, hoping he was right.
He ghosted through the shadow he was trying to tackle, then used the fallen register as a launch ramp to jump over some boxes and a tipped dress rack. He landed softly, bending his knees to absorb the shock of the impact and then redirecting the energy into forward momentum. He barely paused as he bent his head to grab his weapon in his mouth on the way out the door.



Scootaloo braked hard as she stopped just outside of town hall. There was another filly there, coming from the other direction. “You can feel it too, huh?”
Lily Longsocks nodded. “Something’s gonna happen tonight. I’m gonna help.”
Scootaloo smiled, opening her mouth to respond. She never got the chance.
Both fillies sensed danger at the same time and dodged reflexively. As it turned out, that was unnecessary, as no attacks were inbound. There were however a lot of strange looking foals surrounding them.
“Changelings?”
Lily shrugged. “Maybe. Does it matter?”
Scootaloo’s wings buzzed as she righted her scooter. “Nah, guess not.”



The colt was silent as he stalked his prey. He had her now. He would taste sweet vengeance soon.
He hated her, this bright filly. He had honestly signed up with Demon Blood just for a chance to hurt her. And she deserved it, after what she’d done.
He was so close, he could taste victory. He had been patient, biding his time and studying her for weeks. He had already known much about her, but now, he knew everything he needed to know to hurt her in the worst ways.
And now it was time. Time to use the weapon he had taken such care to prepare, just for her. The very alchemy that she loved so much would be used to bring her down.
He allowed himself a small, feral smile as he pointed the charm at her…



Applebloom twitched. Something felt off. She was alone in the barn – so long as nopony counted the ghosts she knew were keeping an eye out for her – but something felt… off.
She closed her eyes, trying to reach out with her senses to find what was wrong. On instinct, she opened her eyes and spun, locking eyes with a colt hiding in the shadow of a haybale. He was pointing something at her, but before she could figure out what it was, she felt a rush of magic.
You Are Mine.
She felt the press on her mind and realized what was going on – at least basically. A mind control spell of some kind.
Be Mine.
Zecora had warned her about these. They were dangerous on both ends. Applebloom smirked as she remembered how to deal with this kind of attack.
She reached out with her own magic – the spell had already connected to her. She grappled with it, turning it, forcing it back on its source. She turned the spell back on the caster. Be Mine.
She could sense his worry, this was not something he was expecting. Distantly, she could hear Ruby and Mitta shouting her name, sensing the magic at work below them. The colt’s voice echoed in her head again. BE MINE.
Her grin widened. This colt had no idea what he was doing. He was just pushing, trying to force his way into her mind. He had no control, no technique. Applebloom sensed her ghostly friends hitting the connection with their energy, trying to break it from the outside. She redoubled her efforts, striking with a well-placed applebuck that shattered his clumsy ramming. Be. Mine.
Something snapped. Something else clicked. She felt the spell rushing through her, looping back and forth between her and the colt. They were both lifted into the air, drawn towards the center of the spell’s path until they slammed into each other, muzzles bouncing off each other and threatening nosebleeds.
And then the spell ended explosively, throwing both foals away from each other as their worlds went white.



Inside the farmhouse, Granny Smith was smiling gently as she moved back and forth in her rocking chair. Her smile abruptly fell when she heard something.
She opened her eyes and turned to look at the old curio cabinet. There were several things in there, but the one that drew her attention was an old wooden box with a gemstone embedded in the lid.
The box was nothing new, it had been there since her son and his wife had died. What was new was that the gemstone was glowing with a brilliant white light.
Granny slowly got up and walked over. She opened the cabinet and then gently placed a hoof on the box in reverent confusion. Leaning in, she asked the box the only question she could.
“What in tarnation?”