My Little Balladeer

by Ardashir

Chapter 13

My Little Balladeer
Chapter 13

After some time there in the door of Carousel Boutique I finally fell asleep. I must have dreamed something, but I didn’t remember it a bit beyond feeling happier. So whatair I dreamed, it must have been a good dream. The next thing I recollect properly was feeling a warm wet velvety something touching my cheek and hearing elegant snorts and whinnies. I opened my eyes and looked to see Rarity standing there. Even this early, she had her mane and face done up, and she wore something like a fluffy nightgown and slippers, such as you’d see some lady wear in a Hollywood movie. She snorted and whickered some more, all the while giving me a curious look. Given that last night she’d seen me sleeping on her cot in the back, and now she found me here in the doorway with my guitar across my lap, I easily figured why.

“We had us some guests last night,” I told her. She gave me a curious look, and I added, “Thorne sent some of his friends from Sunny Town to pay a visit. We’d better go and tell Twilight and the rest right soon.”

She just looked on me, tilting her head to the side, and made more sounds like any horse would make. She didn’t speak a single word. I wondered why she didn’t talk, and then I realized what it must be.

“Twilight’s spell wore off,” I said to her. I pointed to her mouth and then tapped my ear, a-shaking my head no. “I don’t understand Equestrian anymore.” Her blue eyes went wide and she nodded, her mane spilling in purple waves. She nudged me with her snout, I reckon you’d call it, and backed away to give me room to stand. I rose up and moved my bedroll away. She’d turned to go behind a screen. I saw her silhouette through it as she removed her robe and slippers, and then she came back out from behind it. I wondered me why she felt the need to have privacy to undress but not to walk around naked as the day she’d been born, but I couldn’t ask. I opened the door for her. She smiled and nodded and stepped out. I followed her and tapped her shoulder.

“There’s something you need to be seeing,” I told her. I pointed to where those dead ponies stood the night afore. She looked. Her eyes went wide, and no wonder. The ground there showed slimy and fouled like it had the morning afore at Sweet Apple Acres. And in the middle of it, and leading away from it, a nasty slimy trail with hoofmarks set in it. I saw how it went down the street and it minded me of something that happened away over the sea in England, more than a hundred years gone, how one snowy winter morning dozens of folks woke up and to find hoofmarks running across their yards, their roofs, down streets and by windows. They nair did see whatair made those prints. I give you my honest word, I wish I hadn’t seen them myself that night.

I began to hear other neighs and whinnies, high and shrill, like from more than one frightened horse. I looked across the bridge and into Ponyville and saw other ponies out and about. In the distance the sun stood just clear of the horizon. It made long shadows lie across the houses and streets. In and around those shadows I saw ponies I didn’t know. They were a-pointing at the prints, and they were right scared. Even without Twilight’s speaking spell I could tell that.

I heard Rarity whinny nearby. She spoke to those Night Guards and pointed at the hoofmarks. They rose up, blinking like they were tired or maybe just against the sunlight. When they saw what she pointed at they went wide awake. They dashed back into their pavilion and started neighing. They came back out and those white pegasi, the Day Guards, followed them. They looked to have just rushed into their armor. When they saw what Rarity and I stood by, their eyes shot wide open. They whinnied into the big tent. Another one of them, a unicorn with what might be rank bars on his armor, came out. His horn glowed and a sort of cone made of pale gray-green light went over the hoof marks. He turned and looked like he wanted to speak with Rarity but she was already dashing back through her front door. I followed after her.

Once inside I saw her a-running up the stairs. I figured she meant to go and check on her little sister and her friends, so I waited. I heard more whinnies from the town, sounding further off. I wondered me if Applejack or Twilight had gotten any visitors like we did, wondered more if they’d be alright.

Right about then Rarity came back down. She gave a sigh when she saw me and smiled. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo all came down the stairs after her. They were sounding excited, and they began to head for the door. Rarity neighed at them once and they stopped. She hoof-pointed to the kitchen and they went for whatever breakfast little ponies eat, though they looked like they’d rather be looking at those prints outside. Rarity turned to me and whinnied and whickered. I shook my head at her.

“I don’t understand,” I told her. She touched her hoof to her face the way some folks will slap their forehead to show they should’ve known better than to do such a thing. Her horn glowed and a book nearby floated over to me along with a picture she had of her friends. I figured she wanted us to go to the library and have Twilight spell me again so we could talk. I pointed to her and me and then off towards where I recollected the library to be at. She nodded and set her saddlebags on. Then she went out the door, and I followed her.

Once outside I saw the Royal Guards guarding that patch of befouled earth. They said something to Rarity. She responded them back as she went past. They stepped back looking at her respectful-like. We both walked on. As I passed that patch of dirt I smelled something worse than a skunk dead by the road in summer. Rarity smelled it too by the way she screwed her nose up. She looked like some fancy lady who just found she’d stepped into something nasty in a barnyard. If things hadn’t been so right worrisome then, it’d be a little bit funny to see Rarity a-working so hard at acting like a lady. No, I take that back. She didn’t work at it. It came natural to her, like.

She hurried across the bridge and into Ponyville. She went in a swift canter, like what you use when you’re riding a horse and want to get somewhere right quick without tiring it out. I made speed to go along after her but she still moved faster than I did until she looked back over her shoulder and saw me trailing behind. Then she slowed, but only a little. We went through the square with its town hall and fountain. Some ponies had what looked like small wagons, like pushcarts with them, but none were setting up for the day. Instead they just pointed at those nasty hoofmarks and spoke to each other.

As Rarity cantered along some ponies who saw her neighed after her, like they wanted to know what we were about. She paid them no heed. We went by Sugarcube Corner and I heard an excited whinny. I didn’t need to look to know it was Pinkie Pie a-bouncing up to us. She whinnied and snorted and whickered at me with a happy look on her face before Rarity got her attention and pointed to the hoofmarks where a trail of them ran nearby. Pinkie and Rarity talked a moment or two before Pinkie jumped up on her hind legs and gave her a salute. She dashed back into Sugarcube Corner. As soon as she did, Rarity headed for the library again and I followed her.

I saw how the one trail of those hoofmarks seemed to be leading down the way we were going. I didn’t like what that could mean. I found myself hoping that Twilight and Spike were alright. We passed by some nice houses and buildings right then. I remembered them from yesterday but I’d paid them little heed with air thing that I’d been seeing and doing. I saw someplace kindly like a mansion with a big brown-coated and black-maned pony stallion outside, wearing a tie and with money bags for a cutie mark. A smaller pony stood by him, a little pink filly with a white-streaked lavender mane and showing a little crown, what they call a tiara, on her flank. She huddled back behind him as Rarity and I went by. He whinnied something after her, like he demanded an explanation. I saw Rarity’s ears go down just a moment long like whatair he said angered her and then we were past. We went by another place that made a flowery smell. Two mares stood outside, a pink one with a blue mane and tail and a blue one with pink mane and tail. They looked so alike I took them for sisters. They whinnied something after Rarity too, a-sounding worried. She didn’t stop but she answered them back. They nodded at her with wide eyes and went back inside their building. By now Pinkie was caught up to us and keeping pace.

By then we were approaching the library, and I felt some relief to see how the tracks went off and away around it without stopping. As we came up on it I heard wings flapping. Fluttershy dropped down by us. I saw that she wore her saddlebags like Rarity and Pinkie did. She nodded Rarity and me, and gasped to see those hoofmarks nearby. She whinnied and neighed at us more, sounding fearful. Before I could say air word I heard galloping and Applejack ran up. She had her saddlebags and I saw a lasso hanging at her side. I wondered me where Dash was. The ladies themselves whinnied and neighed at each other, sounding near as worried as I felt right then. I saw how the guards stationed at the library were just getting up, and I remembered the ones at Rarity’s boutique or in the town square, how they’d looked like they were just waking up.

“Thorne spelled them last night,” I said to myself, “Him or Lyra, so that those dead ponies could get in and by them.” Applejack looked at me when I spoke. I saw how her eyes widened when she realized I didn’t know Equestrian any more. She went past her friends and started a-pounding on the library door.

I reckoned I couldn’t do much else then, so I sat myself down and waited for Twilight to come and work her magic again so we could talk.

* * *

Twilight awakened from a pleasant dream in which she introduced John to Princesses Celestia and Luna to hear a noise like somepony sought to batter her door down. She groaned. This was the first morning after a nightmare-free night in days, and she wanted to luxuriate in it for just a little longer.

“Just another five minutes,” she groaned, but the racket only got louder. And now mingled in with it she could hear the voices of her friends. Pinkie Pie’s especially seemed oddly close by her ear.

“Twilight! WAKE UP!” And then something clashed and clanged by her ear. Spike yelled, and so did she.
“Pinkie!” Twilight almost flew out of bed. She looked to see Pinkie holding a pair of cymbals. The pink party pony swept them out wide for a second clash. Twilight’s horn glowed and they froze, held motionless. “Don’t ever do that again! And how did you get inside, anyway? And what’s going on?”

“I got inside through the back door, and John and everypony else is at your front door trying to get in because your spell wore off and he doesn’t speak Equestrian anymore and there’s a bunch of zombie pony tracks out in the streets like you and AJ found on Sweet Apple Acres yesterday and everypony in town is acting like they’re about to start running away and I think that big meanyface Thorn was here last night and…” Pinkie got no further.

“What?” Twilight jumped out of her bed, sending the covers and pillow flying. She wasn’t sure how, but somehow she managed to get her saddlebags on, pulled Spike out of his basket, and grabbed Pinkie with her telekinesis all at once before heading downstairs at a rush. The dragon and pink pony floated along behind her. The noise outside and the banging on the door both doubled in intensity. “Pinkie, there are no zombie ponies! And why didn’t you tell me Thorn snuck back into town?”

“I just did, Twilight, but that’s okay, he’s gone now!”

Twilight rolled her eyes at Pinkie’s words as she yanked the door open. Applejack almost went spilling to the floor. Past her, she saw Rarity and Fluttershy. They both looked honestly and deeply frightened. John squatted behind them. She couldn’t make out human facial expressions very well, yet she thought he looked concerned too. Off to the side she saw Captain Bastion and the Royal Guards, both Day and Night Guard, rising on shaky legs from what looked like a very deep sleep. She wondered what had happened to them but decided to ask later. Right now her friends came first.

“Girls, what’s going on?” Everypony started talking at once. Twilight shook her head and said, “One at a time! Rarity, you go first.”

“Twilight, this is the worst possible thing!” Rarity pointed back out into the street. Twilight saw a nasty, slimy trail like the one she’d seen at Sweet Apple Acres, but many times bigger and wider, in the dirt of the Ponyville street. Rarity said, “I woke just this morning and found John seated in the doorway with his guitar in his lap. Well, naturally, I woke him and tried to ask if my cot had been somehow below standard, only to for him to show me a trail of the most horrid-looking hoofmarks in the street just outside my door!”

“I saw them myself, just this morning outside my cottage,” Fluttershy broke in, her voice trembling. “Sometime last night I thought I heard and smelled something terrible outside. My animals were all terrified, and Angel hopped up into my bed and stared at the window like he thought something was going to try and break through. I crept up and peeked a-and…” She made a little whimper. Rarity nuzzled her reassuringly. John reached over from where he sat and gently patted her shoulder.

“Go on, Fluttershy,” Twilight told her, though she felt certain of what she’d hear.

“I saw some, some things standing outside my cottage,” Fluttershy said fearfully. “They were horrible, Twilight! They looked like ponies who’d d-died and rotted, and their eyes were empty sockets filled with red fire. They scratched all around my door like they wanted to come in, but they couldn’t. I remembered what John said about good things scaring away bad spirits in his world,” She turned and nuzzled John’s fingers, “So I put on my Element of Harmony and they started backing away. I worried about the rest of you, but I was too scared to go anywhere until this morning.” She looked down, shamefaced.

“Don’t fret none, sugarcube,” Applejack told her. “Ah saw ‘em last night when Ah was going back ta Sweet Apple Acres from Rarity’s. Ah figured on what John said too, an’ about how some monsters can’t hurt yah any ‘less yah give ‘em permission. Ah knew you an’ Rarity were smarter than that, Twi, so Ah hurried back to make sure Granny Smith an’ Big Mac were okay.”

“And?” Twilight asked, worrying. She looked down and saw Spike writing it all down, even though his claws shook. She brushed against him and he calmed a little.

“This mornin’ everything looked fine, but when Ah went outside Ah saw more o’ those nasty hoofmarks, right up by the house this time.” She shuddered. “Ah tol’ Big Mac ta stay an’ protect Granny Smith. Then Ah got my lariat an’ ma Element an’ I came right here to find ya’ll.” She froze and went pale before she turned on Rarity, saying, “Apple Bloom an’ the rest of the Crusaders were with you last night, Rarity. Are they okay?”

“Need you even ask, Applejack? I checked on them before I came here.” Applejack sighed relief. Rarity added, “Oh, and Twilight, I’m afraid that John here,” she pointed at him, “Doesn’t speak Equestrian any more. I trust you can renew the speaking spell? If nothing else, I want to thank him for standing guard at my door last night.”

“What? Oh, yeah, sure, I made sure to keep that spell memorized.” Twilight walked up to John. Purple light began to gather along her horn as she readied the spell. He looked like he was bracing himself as he bent forward, letting her set her horn against his forehead. She felt the spell rush into him and he winced. Twilight felt sympathy. Even the simplest speaking spell felt painful when cast on you as it briefly rewired the language centers of your mind to a completely different vocabulary.

“It hurts the less than yesterday,” he said, rubbing his forehead like it pained him, “But at least now we can talk. Wait, Twilight, I do wonder something. If, I mean to say when I get back home, will I be able to talk plain English again or will I just be a-talking to horses for the rest of my life?”

“No, you’ll be fine,” she said with a laugh. “Unless it’s renewed every day or two you’ll revert to speaking only your own language.” She might have said more but Rarity stepped up to him.

“John, I can guess that you guarded my door last night,” she said, batting her eyes. “That was a very gentlecoltly thing to do, and I wanted to express my gratitude.” Then, before he could say or do anything, she leaned in close and gave him a quick kiss on one cheek. Twilight thought she heard Spike make a choked sound.

“I thank you kindly, Rarity,” John told her. He patted her on the shoulder and added, “I’m grateful, but there’s no need to do air special thing. I’d have done that for a friend, whoair they were.”

“Yes, but you did it for me and my little sister, and I want you to know I appreciate it.” Rarity said in her most ladylike fashion, bowing her head to him. John looked more than a little embarrassed, if red cheeks meant the same thing on both humans and ponies.

“Rarity, John?” Twilight stepped between them and looked from her to him. “Maybe you could tell me what you saw last night?”

“I did more than just see things, Twilight,” John said. He gave a quick description of what he’d seen and heard at Rarity’s door. Twilight didn’t believe in zombie ponies, but John’s account still left her feeling cold, especially when it came to him describing what the creatures said to him before they left. She noticed that Pinkie had gotten a big tub of buttered popcorn from somewhere during the description, but she stopped eating and began looking a little green about halfway through.

“Wait, you talked to them?” Spike said when John finished. He shuddered. “You’re braver than me. I wouldn’t have even opened the door.” John looked at Rarity, and then the little purple dragon.

“You might could be right surprised what you’d have done, if it meant protecting a good friend,” John said to him. “I wasn’t all that brave myself, to be honest. I just opened the door and stood right inside there. I nair did go out by them or even want to, and I’m not ashamed to say that.”

“Still, John,” Twilight said to him, “It was very brave. Thanks for the information you gathered too. That was pretty clever.” John just shrugged at her words.

“I learned in the Army and after that the more you know about someone you’ve got to fight, the stronger you are against them. Knowledge is power is an old saying in my world, and I reckon it’s one here too.”

“It is,” Twilight said. “My brother serves in the Royal Spellguard, and he told me that once that the more you know about someone you have to fight, the better armed you are against them.”

“Fight,” Fluttershy said unhappily. She looked around at them all, worry in her eyes. “Will it really have to be that way? I don’t want to have to hurt anypony, even if they want to hurt me.”

“I’m afraid so, Fluttershy,” Twilight answered her. “I’m not looking forward to it either. But from what John told us just now, Thorn wants to fight, he means to fight, and that means we have one whether we want it or not. Either that or we let him do whatever he wants with Ponyville and everypony in it. And if he’s sending monsters from the Everfree right down into town, then the sooner we stop him from hurting ponies the better.” Twilight wanted to say more, but stopped at a rumble from her belly. Her friends grinned and Spike stifled a giggle. Even John looked amused. Twilight smiled herself and said,

“Maybe before we do any more planning, we ought to have breakfast.”

“Ooooh!” Pinkie Pie hopped up on her hooves. “That’s right! I wanted to invite you all to Sugarcube Corner for breakfast! I got up extra-early to make everything and it’ll be super-duper, so come on!” She turned and bounced off into Ponyville. Twilight and the others followed her. As Twilight walked down the street, she kept an eye on what happened around her.

A low murmur of conversation filled the air. Ponies huddled together in small groups, talking in fear filled voices about what they’d discovered this morning. In the distance she thought she saw Filthy Rich and some of the other more well to do townsponies headed off for the mayor’s residence. None of them looked happy. Twilight wondered what that was all about and got the unpleasant feeling that she’d be sorry when she learned. She saw how some of the ponies looked at John as well. He strode along in their midst, and given the hard looks some ponies sent his way she suddenly felt that it might be best for him to stay with them. She wasn’t the only one to notice. Both Rarity and Applejack, walking on either side of John, pressed in closer beside him. If John noticed himself, he gave no sign of it, though Twilight strongly suspected that he knew.

At least, she thought, it feels pleasant out for early spring. The smells of food cooking and even the dung odor of the fields around town were covering the foulness that hung around the hoofmarks the Sunny Town ponies left, whatever they might really be. The night chill was already vanishing before the dawn’s warmth and the sky above looked clear. She could just make out a few winged figures working among the clouds. Twilight wondered if that was where Rainbow Dash was. It seemed odd for her to not be here. She wondered if somehow Thorn had gotten her. She quickly dismissed it. If Thorn held one of the Elements hostage, she felt sure he would have already bragged to them about it.

She walked up to and down into Sugarcube Corner behind Pinkie, who hopped in with her usual happy mood. Mister Cake stood behind the counter, and Mrs. Cake was in front of it by a table loaded down with muffins and danishes and even some eggs and a few gemstones. Pumpkin and Pound were standing underneath their mother having their own breakfast, both nursing away. The only other pony inside was Derpy, devouring a plate of cherry and apple muffins like she was starving.

“Mornin’, everypony! Oh, and you too, er, John,” Mister Cake said as they came in, with a nod to them all. “Everything on that table is yours. Need anything else?”

“Yes,” Twilight said as she walked up to him, removing a heavy purse filled with bits from her saddlebags, “Some privacy. I’m sorry, Mister and Mrs. Cake, but we’re going to have to be talking about some very sensitive things. About, well, from a few nights back and what we’ll have to do about it.” She hoped she didn’t insult them. They looked a bit taken aback. Twilight quickly handed the bits over, saying, “I know the breakfast rush is good business for you, so I hope this helps cover for everything.”

Mister Cake opened the bag and looked inside. He nodded and closed it before saying, “Thanks, Twilight. Normally I’d say it’s no need, but with the foals…”

“I understand,” Twilight said. The Cakes turned and walked back upstairs to their actual home, but not before Pinkie promised them everything would be alright. She also gave Pumpkin and Pound a hug and promised to tell them stories later when their Auntie Pinkie came back. She also asked Derpy to go, but not before promising to bake a whole plate full of muffins for her later as a gift. Twilight asked Derpy to send Rainbow Dash right there if she saw her. Derpy promised to and the mailmare flapped out. Then Pinkie hopped over to the table.

“Everything’s okay, now we can talk, right?”

“Talk later,” Twilight said. “Let’s eat first.” She heard no complaints, and they set to. They all ate eagerly, though she noticed that John avoided anything with hay in it and that Spike’s table manners were oddly improved the way they usually did when he ate with Rarity. She sat back and sighed in repletion when she finished, noticing that the others did so too. John looked very satisfied and spoke to Pinkie.

“Pinkie, if I’m not here later, please tell the Cakes that they make some capital rations. Airy time I eat here, I think it’s the best meal I ever did have. If you ponies weren’t as good as you are I’d swear your cooking was witch magic.”

“Naawww,” Pinkie said back, looking thrilled at the compliment, “It’s just earth pony magic.” When John looked confused, she added, “Pegasi fly and control the weather, unicorns have fancy-schmancy magic like Twilight and Rarity, and earth ponies like AJ an’ me are real good with plants and animals and growing things and making food and stuff like that.”

“That you are,” John responded. He indicated Applejack as well as Pinkie and said, “I speak no slight against Rarity’s cooking, but between your farm and this here bakery, I doubt I’ve ever eaten better food aforetimes. Well, maybe at home with Evadare.” He looked down at that for a moment. Twilight felt a twinge of guilt again as she thought of how and why he was here, and of her share of responsibility in it. Judging from the look on everypony else’s face, they felt it too. Applejack took John’s hand in her hoof and gave it a squeeze.

“We’ll do all we can ta get yah home in one piece, John, we promise.”

“I know, and I thank you all,” he said, looking around the table. “It’s just that I’ve been thinking on something Thorn told me in the library the other day, about how I might return home to find time gone different between Equestria and Earth.” His voice and demeanor turned dark as he added, “How there might could be years gone, maybe whole decades of them, and airy soul I know dead and buried, and all because I came here.”

Twilight stared in shock. That, she suddenly realized, was one thing she’d never thought of when she used the Elements to summon help. Her own reading on alternate dimensions was limited. But from what she did know, she could see absolutely no reason to believe that two weeks in Equestria might not be fifteen years in John’s world.

“What?” Applejack said, sounding stunned herself. “Come on, John, why would yah take Thorn at his word? He lies like a rug.” Rarity and the others chimed in as well, agreeing with Applejack. AJ added, “’Sides, it don’t work like that. Does it?” She looked hopefully at Twilight as she finished.

“I…,” Twilight began, and then she forced it out. “I don’t really know. It might be a lie of Thorn’s, but it might be true, too.” As they gave her looks of stunned disbelief, she forced herself to add, “I don’t even know if we can return John to his own world after we beat Thorn. I, I’m sorry, John. I, we were desperate.”

We were desperate. Up until then it seemed like a perfectly serviceable reason to her. She’d been fearful for her friends, for Equestria, for her own mind after what Thorn’s spellbook nearly did to her. Concern for whoever they brought didn’t even enter her mind. She repeated so quietly she herself barely heard it, “I’m sorry.”

Twilight looked up. Fluttershy and Pinkie looked shocked. Rarity took hold of John’s arm and gave him a look full of sympathy. John looked stunned. And Applejack? Twilight saw the slow anger building in her eyes as AJ looked at her.

“Twi,” she said, her voice dangerously soft, “are you tellin’ me that to save our own necks, we mighta cost John his whole life in his world and everypony he ever knew?”

Twilight looked back at her. She wanted to say something, anything, but nothing would come to her lips. Applejack started to rise, but John took hold of her shoulder and she stopped. Twilight wanted to look John in the eyes to apologize, but right at that moment she felt she couldn’t have looked at her own reflection.

And then Pinkie jumped up with a yelp. Her tail stuck out behind her and shivered fast enough to blur.

“Twitchy tail! Something big’s gonna happen!” she cried and then something came smashing through the window behind her and into the room. Twilight found herself up out of her chair and facing it before she even knew that she’d moved. Applejack stood beside her. She heard chairs skidding across the floor as the rest of her friends and John stood up.

Rainbow Dash hovered before them. A few bits of glass showed in her mane but she didn’t notice them. Her eyes were big enough to show the whites all around her rose-red irises.

“Dangit, Dash!” Applejack said. “Cain’t yah ever just use a door like normal ponies…”

“No time!” Dash said. The words spilled from her in a rush. “It’s Lyra, she’s in the main square talking to everypony! She wants Thorn’s spellbook back and she has timber wolves with her!” And with that she turned and darted back out the window, not even bothering to look to see if they followed.

Twilight followed hot on her heels, hearing her friends behind her, wondering just what Thorn and Lyra were up to now and what else could possibly go wrong today.

* * *

“I’m sorry, John. I, we were desperate, I don’t even know if we can send you back home.”

I think it’s no lie to say I near about felt the world drop away under my feet when Twilight said me those words. I wondered which world it was. Equestria, or Earth, with all my friends and dear ones on it? The Forshays and Reuben Manco and Evadare, dear God, how the hell would I ever even want to go on living if I lost Evadare? These ponies were good, and I was right glad to have met them and to help them against a wicked man like Thorne. But I’d swear my good word on a Bible, I nair wanted to spend my whole life through here, no more than I’d want one of them to come and be stranded back amongst human folks at home.

I’m not rightly sure what happened in those next few minutes. Rarity touched me gentle on the arm, like to say her reassurances from last night again. Applejack spoke some hard words to Twilight. I saw how she started to rise. I found it in me somehow or other to take her by the shoulder and hold her. She stopped. I looked at Twilight my own self and wondered whatair I could say or ask. She didn’t look at me. I wonder if right then she wanted to look at airy one.

And then Pinkie yelled “Twitchy Tail!” and Dash flew in through that big window Sugarcube Corner had. She looked more scared than I thought she could be. I heard her yell something about Lyra back in the town square a-speaking to the ponies there, and how timber wolves were with her. Dash turned and flew off like someone set her tail ablaze. We all pounded after her like she was our last hope of Heaven.

The first thing I saw in the town square was a big crowd of ponies. I think most all of the town must have been there together. Their low talking was like a breeze rushing through cattails, low and scared. I heard something snarling like the world’s almightiest big dog, four-five of them, but odd in some way I couldn’t place. More than all that, I heard Lyra’s voice. I went to see what happened but stopped when I saw how Pinkie shivered all over. I bent to her.

“Pinkie, are you alright?”

If she heard my words, she gave no sign. Her tail bottled out behind her like the world’s almightiest big house cat, then both it and her mane just unraveled and hung straight and limp as she said in a voice with all her laughter fled from it, “This is Bad. Real BAD. It’s the Doozy!” She said no more that made sense, so instead I gave my attention to Lyra as she spoke to everyone there.

“So now you see what Master Thorne can do to Ponyville if you don’t make the Elements and John return his stolen property! He can send the beasts of the Everfree into town whenever he wants!” Lyra stopped then to let the ponies work that thought over in their heads. Twilight and Applejack and the rest got together and began forcing a path through the crowd to where Rainbow Dash hovered, waving her hoof at them. I heard Lyra say, “Please, everypony, listen! Master Thorne still wants to be our friend and, yes, our protector! He’ll forgive everything we’ve done to him in our mistaken ingratitude…” There was more such, but I didn’t hear it. Because just then the crowd parted enough that I could see what stood by and around Lyra.

I’d seen many a strange sight thus far, and this was one more that I’d be sure to remember. Later I thought on how I noticed the Day and Night Guard, the latter with goggles of smoked glass over their eyes, a-trying to keep the ponies back and away from Lyra and what stood with her. Captain Bastion was there and yelling orders to his men, or I should say his ponies, telling them to keep in stampede formation in case ponies panicked. Twilight and the others stood by him. A little further back I saw the black and brown stallion I’d seen before, along with a brown and gray mare who carried herself like someone important, and two-three other ponies who looked just a trifle better fed and kept than everyone else.

But what I noticed right off was the five timber wolves around Lyra where she stood on her hind legs. They were named right proper, let me tell you, for these were wolves made of timber. They were all of wood, dark and thick with bark. Their jaws opened and snapped and showed in place of fangs thorns like tenpenny nails, ready to rip pieces off of whatair they bit. Their eyes showed cold yellow with what some call corpselight and others call fool’s fire. I told myself that I’d be a fool right then if I rushed in reach of those jaws or let air other do it.

“Lyra, have you gone insane?” Twilight said to her. She stayed clear of those timber wolves as she tried to keep Lyra’s attention. “You brought these monsters into Ponyville!”

“No, you did!” Lyra yelled back at her. She stabbed a hoof at Twilight and her friends where they stood. “You got rid of Master Thorne’s gift to you! You summoned your own human to fight him!” She pointed at me. I saw some of the ponies nearby give me scared looks while others gave me sudden mean ones. I went up close by Twilight and her friends and by Captain Bastion’s troops. They seemed the calmest here, and I’ve seen what even a small horse can do to a man when it’s scared. Lyra went on, yelling in a shrill and scared voice, “You’ve resisted and defied Master Thorne at every turn, and took away every other choice he, I mean we, had. You’ve proved yourself unwilling to even pretend to listen to his efforts at a peaceful resolution…”

“Was sendin’ them monsters inta town last night his idea o’ peaceful?” Applejack yelled back at her. “They mighta killed somepony!”

“Master Thorne made sure they wouldn’t,” Lyra shot back. I watched her while she spoke. “Master Thorne is just helping them after Celestia and Luna abandoned them. He can cure them, he can make them be alive again.” A new murmur went through the ponies at that. She turned away from Applejack and the rest of the Elements and made as though she pleaded of the crowd, “Please, don’t we want to be on the side of such a being? Or will you let the Elements ruin our chance at such a friendship, just because they’re jealous of Thorne?” The murmuring in that crowd started to get louder and busier, like bees in a hive, bees that might could sting you to death.

Now that I stood closer, I saw more things. The timber wolves never got far from Lyra, but when they stepped close by her she shied away. I saw too how her eyes seemed to crawl over them now and then, like she wondered if they’d bite her. I wondered myself if the timber wolves were there to guard her, or to watch her. Because by the way she shivered and the way her voice sounded brittle it seemed like Lyra knew she’d made a deal with the Devil and wondered if the payment was a-coming due.

“Lyra, please!” Rarity spoke up. I saw her go up closer by Lyra and the timber wolves than I thought she should. I stepped up alongside her in case things went wrong. I reckon I wasn’t the only person to think that. Captain Bastion stepped up on her other side, a-spreading his wings out like to make himself look bigger. Rarity said, “Lyra, darling, you’ve seen what Thorne did. He took control of you in the library the other day when you spoke to us. He’s done nothing but cause harm since he came here. If he wants anything from us at all, he’ll have to come here and surrender himself into the custody of the Princesses.”

“And, Lyra,” Twilight said as she went up and stood in front of Rarity. I wondered myself how wise it was to have so many of us standing all together in front of her like that. Captain Bastion didn’t look any too sure himself as Twilight said, “I want to make sure we’re all very sure about one thing. Thorne is not getting that spellbook of his back, ever. It tried to use me to free Discord, and it nearly succeeded.” A gasp went through the crowd of ponies when she said that, and that low rumble of their speech started getting louder. From the corner of my eye I saw how the Day and Night Guard stiffened at what they heard and stood just a little firmer where they were. Twilight ignored it all to keep her eyes locked tight on Lyra’s frightened ones and say, “That book is staying where it is forever. I’ll die before I let him get it back and use it to do what he’s threatened to do to everypony. And that’s my final word on it.”

Lyra looked from her to me and Rarity, and then past us all to the rest of her friends. Or maybe just those who’d once been her friends.

“That’s it?” She said in a voice that sounded hurt and lost. “That’s really it, then?” Just a second long I thought I saw tears in her eyes. She looked down and sighed out so faint I barely heard her over the talk and growls and stamping hooves. “Then I’m sorry, but…” And she raised her head up high and showed no more hurt or regret there as she began to recite words we’d all heard before.

“Holaha! Eroyhe! Strong Alector! Somiator, sleep ye not! I made my wish before this! I make my wish now! I never saw the day my wish did not come true!”

And right then several things all happened at the once. Twilight yelled back, “No!”, and I saw the glow along her horn as she got ready to fight whatair spell Lyra sought to set on us. The timber wolves howled and charged the crowded ponies, and they screamed and dashed air direction all at once like frightened horses will when there’s a wolf in the fold. Captain Bastion went to try and set himself between Rarity and Lyra, and maybe between her and me too. His guards threw their selves at the timber wolves to hold them off from the townsponies. Rarity stiffened and gasped, her eyes wide like she didn’t believe what she saw Lyra doing. And me? I set one hand on Rarity’s withers and the other in my back pocket where I kept The Long Lost Friend, and I started to recite something from it air near as I could remember.

“I, John, go on a journey today. I walk upon God’s way, and walk where God himself walks… I pray that no wolf bite me, no beast tear me, and no murderer secretly approach me. Save me, O God, from sudden death!” And then, because else it sounded selfish to say it just for me right then: “Save my friends from sudden death!”

I heard Lyra finish what she was saying. And something seemed to reach itself into my chest and grab my heart like to crush it to nothing. Pain blew up in me like it set my chest and head on fire. I dropped and felt the dirt of the street scrape across my old jacket. I just thank whoever that I didn’t feel my old guitar smash to splinters under me. I heard someone scream right nearby, the kind of scream a dying horse makes. More screams followed, and I heard Twilight yell out, “Rarity! John!”

Hooves tramped all around me. I curled myself up and they went past without trampling over me. I opened my eyes and winced when the sunlight put nails right into my skull to do it. I blinked and saw Fluttershy standing beside me like to protect me. And then I looked and saw what made me forget about all else.

Captain Bastion lay sprawled in the street, his eyes wide and staring, his mouth wide open, and the blood running from his ears and nose and mouth to stain his white coat and golden armor. He didn’t move or twitch. And beside him lay Rarity. Her eyes were closed like she slept. I saw the least trickle of blood running from her nose and mouth. I started to crawl over to them both. I couldn’t have walked right then for my life. I made it to their sides when Fluttershy laid herself against me, holding me still.

“John,” she said in that soft voice of hers, “Hold very still. Try not to move.” I saw that she didn’t look at me. I wondered what she looked at. And then I heard the growl.

I looked up from where I lay beside one living friend among these ponies and the one dead one and saw one of the timber wolves, stalking closer with air step it took, as it got ready to leap at Fluttershy and me both.

* * *

Twilight’s memories of the next few moments would be an eternal confusion in her mind. She remembered Lyra starting her spellcasting. She cried out in warning and began working her own countermagic. And then the timber wolves charged, snarling and snapping and howling. Ponies screamed in terror and scattered in every direction. Twilight forced herself to ignore it and imagined what it would feel like to stand right beside Lyra, smell her scent and feel that dirt under her feet and hear her voice crying out Thorn’s spell.

A loud snap filled her ears and light flashed as she teleported. Lyra was still calling out the spell as Twilight hurled herself at her.

“—Never saw the day my wish did not come true! Let it be as Master Thorn will – OOF!”

Twilight and Lyra rolled over and over. Lyra cried out in sudden fear and anger. One of her forehooves caught Twilight in the ribs and drove the air from her lungs. From somewhere else far off she heard a scream of dying agony. Twilight collapsed, fighting for breath. She began rising. Lyra yelled. Something small and very, very hard collided with Twilight’s skull right beside her horn. She dropped, her head spinning. Somehow she forced words out.

“Lyra, why? Why are you doing this?” Lyra started to run off, but hesitated, and suddenly bent her head down by Twilight’s ear.

“I’m sorry, Twilight, I’m so sorry, but Thorn has Bon Bon!” Then she turned and charged off towards where John and Rarity and Captain Bastion stood. Twilight turned her throbbing head to watch and froze.

She saw the townsponies fleeing in all directions from the timber wolves. Several of the royal guard fell back before them, trying to shield their flight. She saw a filly from Apple Bloom’s class named Diamond Tiara go running by, screaming as one darted after her and ripped off a swath of hide from her flank, ruining her cutie mark. As it did Applejack lassoed it and pulled hard, and Rainbow Dash darted down on it from above straight into its head hooves first. It gave a yelp that choked off into a wet crunch as it slammed into the ground to lay there unmoving.

She saw Spike running towards her, fear and concern filling his eyes. Then one of the timber wolves hit him and they rolled over and over, the baying monster and a suddenly enraged baby dragon. It yelped and snarled and so did Spike as pieces of bark and wood went flying, ripped away by his claws and fangs. Another of the beasts charged for the townsponies but stopped when Pinkie popped up in front of it. She waved a stick she’d gotten from somewhere and yelled, “Go fetch!”

The timber wolf hopped up and down in a sudden eagerness to play as she tossed it off to the side where nopony stood. The timber wolf charged after it and as it snatched at the stick Pinkie covered her ears. There came a sudden loud boom and the timber wolf disappeared inside of a pink cloud. The monster reappeared, charging away from town, yelping in panic and stained hot pink.

Later Twilight would wonder that she noticed any of those things.

Because she saw Lyra charging towards Rarity and John and Bastion where all three of them lay motionless, with blood running from their mouths and ears and noses. Fluttershy stood between them and a timber wolf as it walked closer, licking its fangs in anticipation. Fluttershy shivered but she held her ground as the monster approached.

No, Twilight thought, No, that can’t have happened, I didn’t fail everypony again, I can’t have let ponies die…

And something growled close by her ear. Twilight turned her head and saw the last timber wolf, the biggest and fiercest of the lot, as it slowly stalked closer to her with every step.

Comments

[Ardashir]

And here's Chapter 13. Sorry this took as long as it did, there were unexpected troubles. I hope you enjoy it!

[wlam]

She waved a stick she’d gotten from somewhere and yelled, “Go fetch!”

The timber wolf hopped up and down in a sudden eagerness to play as she tossed it off to the side where nopony stood. The timber wolf charged after it and as it snatched at the stick Pinkie covered her ears. There came a sudden loud boom and the timber wolf disappeared inside of a pink cloud. The monster reappeared, charging away from town, yelping in panic and stained hot pink.

She's hot, she's pink, she's dynamite.

[Godiswithus3]

Damn..........RIP Bastion, just when I was starting to like him.

“I, John, go on a journey today. I walk upon God’s way, and walk where God himself walks… I pray that no wolf bite me, no beast tear me, and no murderer secretly approach me. Save me, O God, from sudden death!” And then, because else it sounded selfish to say it just for me right then: “Save my friends from sudden death!”

I very much appreciate the Judeo-Christian reference. It does me good.

And..........Jeez, everything started going badly now.

Rarity, John and Diamond Tiara are sersiously hurt, the town folks are in serious danger, and Twilight is pretty close to the gates of death herself. And I hope Spike is surviving his struggle against the timber wolf.

Good action from Pinkie, RD and Aj.