Magical Ponies: Defenders of Earth

by Sea Pony

The First Defender

Sarah huffed and puffed she was back in her pony form. The field around her was filled with craters and damaged trees. She had been practicing magic for three days now and she was starting to get the hang of it.

Spike said that she had a long way to go before she was as good as she used to be when she was Twilight Sparkle, but that she was much stronger than the average twelve years old filly. Spike came back with a tray of meat. She turned back in her human form and instantly started to eat like a ravenous wolf. She didn't knew what animal he had killed to make the meal and she didn't want to ask. All she knew is that Spike was an amazing cook.

Transforming into a pony became a lot less scary after she learned how to turn back into a human by herself. And she even started to like being a pony. She felt powerful while in that form like she could take on the world by herself. But she knew she shouldn't become too overconfident or else she would get killed by one of the Nightmares that was sure to pop up.

Things had been peaceful since the Manticore attack. Sarah suggested that maybe the person that was making Nightmares had been scared when they defeated their monster so easily.

Spike doubted it. He had an idea of who could have the power to make Nightmares real and he really doubted she would be intimidated by a filly that just learned magic.

Sarah let herself fall on the grass and sighed in contentment. ''Your food is amazing as always Spike.''

The little dragon puffed his chest proudly. ''Not to brag but I have been doing this for centuries.''

Sarah rose an eyebrow at that. ''Now that I think about it, if you're as old as you say why were you in a egg?''

Spike shrugged. ''I don't know, it happened after all the magic left Equestria. If I had to guess I would say it might have been a survival mechanism. Maybe my body turned me back as young as it could so I wouldn't need much magic to survive.''

''Do all dragons do that?'' Sarah asked curiously.

''I don't know, I grew up around ponies so I never knew that much about dragons. Heck I didn't even know I could grow wings before it happened.''

Sarah looked at his back. ''You don't have wings right now.''

Spike sighed at that. ''Yeah which mean I will have to go throught my molting again. Which won't be pleasant but at least I won't risk being attacked by a Roc this time.''

Sarah cocked her head. ''You were attacked by a rock? How does that work? Are rocks sentient on Equus?''

Spike rolled his eyes at the young girl. ''Not a rock, a Roc, R-o-c they're a species of giant birds.''

''Oh.'' Sarah replied her cheek flushing at her mistake. Then she put on a toughful expression. ''Now that I think of it Equus really sound like a fantasy world. It's weird that they're so much parallels between our legends and Equus.''

Spike shook his head. ''It's not weird at all. When Equestrians came on Earth we had a unwritten rule about not talking about our world to the native. But a lot of Equestrians still wrote legends and fairy tales about our world and pretended they were fictional.''

''How do you know so much about the past when you were stuck in that egg all this time?'' Sarah brushed aside a hair that fell down in front of her eye and looked at the small Dragon.

''Well it's a trick I learned from a spirit of chaos. I can use magic to observe the world around me, I use magical people like an anthena to do this. That's why I instantly knew you were there that night, you were a very powerful anthena.''

Sarah shook her head. ''Is there a limit to magic? It sound like you can do absolutely anything with it.''

Spike made a more or less gesture with his hand. ''Magic is limited to the power and imagination of the caster. Not only that but most magic users are specialised in certain type of spells and would have a lot of difficulty learning spells they don't specialise in. You are an exception because your specialisation is magic itself.''

Sarah blushed she still felt weird whenever Spike alluded to the fact that she was special. Apart from her inteligence she never really felt like she had that much going for her. Boys didn't even knew she existed and most girls didn't want to hang out with the nerd of the school.

Sarah looked at the Sun that was begining to dip in the horizon and lifted herself from the ground. ''We should probably go home my parents are probably begining to get worried.''

Spike nodded and was about to follow her but then both of them stopped in their track when they felt a force push against their minds. Spike didn't show any discomfort but Sarah who was not used to this almost fell back in the grass.

''W-what was that?!'' Sarah asked in alarm looking all around her.

Spike eyes darkened and with a frown he responded. ''A Nightmare has been unleashed.''

---

The town of Harmony wasn't big but it wasn't that small either. With a population of twenty-thousand people, most of the town was pretty calm and peaceful. That is until you reached the Main Street where all the most well known stores and restaurants of the town were.

It was a very popular spot for teenagers and adults alike. School students could be seen hanging with their friends enjoying of their last few days of vacation. None of them could expect that the events of today would change their town forever.

The peace of the day was shattered as a blood curling screetch was heard from the distance. With a loud thud a creature born from nightmares landed in the middle of the street. It looked like a tarentula, that is if a tarentula was the size of a bear.

The giant spider looked around and spotted it's meal. A teenage girl let out a shrill scream as the monstruous spider tackled her on the ground. She began to panic as it's fang snapped at her a few inches away from her face.

''Hey let go of her ya monster!'' Another girl screamed at it, she had messy blonde hairs which she hid with a old worn down cowboy hat. Her emerald eyes glared angrily at the beast. The girl took a chair that laid close to a furniture store and threw it at the tarentula.

The monster screetched in anger and ran at the cowgirl. As soon as she saw she had it's attention she ran away as fast as she could. And everyone in the vicinity followed her example. Screaming as they ran for their lives, in the chaos no one noticed a small girl with her Dragon running toward the danger instead of away from it.

The girl was engulfed in a blinding light and once it's died down a purple pony stood in her place. The spider was drooling as it got closer to the cowgirl who wasn't fast enough to outrun the beast. Sarah took aim and blasted the eight-legged monstrosity with a beam of magic.

The cowgirl stopped once she saw she wasn't being followed anymore and looked at her savior in disbelief. ''Ah must be dreaming. A purple Unicorn is fighting a giant spider.'' She pinched herself and felt pain which confused her even more.

Sarah felt a cold shill when the giant spider came running at her, but she calmed herself and though of the best strategy. ''Spell four should do the job.'' She muttered to herself.

Her horn lit up and a black cloud appeared above her. And then she carefully waited for the Nightmare to come closer. ''Steady... steady... Now!'' As soon as it came a few meters away from her Sarah released the spell and a spear of lightning came crashing down on the ground. But to her shock the spider had managed to jump away from the attack just in time.

''Okay plan B arachnids don't like cold right? so let's do spell three!'' With that she lit up her horn again and fired a beam of ice at the Nightmare. Sarah cried out in joy and made a little jump when the attack hit it's target. But the fight wasn't over.

The spider had ice all over it's body but it was still able to move. It jumped at Sarah with a screech of hatred but the ice slowed it down enough that she could dodge the attack easily. ''When in doubt kill it with fire.'' Sarah said with a sadistic smile before throwing the first spelled she ever learned at her foe.

A ball of fire shot from her horn which made her recoil. She stopped herself from falling by planting her hooves firmly on the ground. The force of the fire sent the Nightmare crashing on the wall of a store and it exploded releasing dark mist all around it. All that was left was a spark of light where the Nightmare used to be. Sarah threw a magic beam at the small sphere of light and it turned into small multicolored shards that vanished into nothingness. ''You won't haunt the dream of anyone anymore Nightmare.'' She said in a satisfied tone.

And with that Sarah and Spike ran away from the scene. None of them noticing that the same girl they had saved earlier was silently following them with a gleam in her eyes.

---

Abigail Smith felt bad about spying on the creature that had saved her life. But it was not everyday a mythical being just appeared in front of you. She followed the Unicorn until it reached the wealthier part of town. It stopped in front of a bigger than average house. This part of the town wasn't for rich people exactly but it wasn't for the middle class either most people living here were lawyers, doctors and pro sport players.

The Unicorn looked around to make sure no one was there and Abigail pressed herself against a wall her heart beating wildly at the though of getting caught. Once it though it was alone the Unicorn was enveloped by a shining light and standing in it's place was a young girl with well kept brown hairs. She looked like the shy type, her skin was pale probably because she didn't get out much and she wore a shirt with long sleeves and pants that covered all her legs despite the fact that they were still in summer. She was probably too self-conscious to show much skin.

Abigail looked at her in wonder and disbelief. The small girl opened the door and quietly made her way inside closing the door behind her. She was probably going to sleep for the night. Abigail let out a breath she didn't know she was holding. It was certainly the weirdest day of her life. A giant spider attacking the town and a Unicorn fighting it head-on.

She didn't know the girl personally but if she was lucky she was going to her school. If so she would try to befriend her. Abigail was a simple girl but even she couldn't resist the thrill of befriending a mythical creature.

---

''Sarah come watch the TV quick!'' Her father yelled from downstair. Sarah groaned in annoyance. What could be important enough to disturb her sleep? If her father was waking her up because his favorite soccer team had won again she was going to strangle him.

Sluggishly she got out of bed and came downstair. On the television was an asiatic woman talking excitedly. ''And now we come to the main news of the day. These images were filmed by the phone of a witness yesterday. Could these images be real or could it be a very elaborated prank?''

The image cut off to a low quality video of Main Street. Sarah felt her heart in her throat when she saw a very familiar tarentula appearing on screen. The blood drained from her face as she watched herself throw spells at the Nightmare. All the while her father was cheering at the screen like the dork he was.

The video stopped and the screen returned to the news host. ''Normally we wouldn't take images like these seriously but we had dozens of witnesses confirming the validity of this recording. People who have seen the Unicorn have dubbed her Celest, named after the horse Goddess in ancient European mythology.''

Wait Celest? That sounded eerily similar to Queen Celestia Spike had mentioned a while ago. Another thing that might have come from ancient Equus history. Just how much had the Equestrians affected their culture?

Her father smiled and looked at her. ''This look like something straight out of an anime. I never thought I would get to see a real life superhero.'' then he frowned as he noticed how pale she was. ''Are you okay? You look like you've seen a ghost.''

''H-huh?! Oh it's nothing it's just... I really don't like spiders.'' She lied, her face was sweating nervously. Her father looked at her with a frown for a few seconds before shrugging and looking back at the television.

Sarah silently made her way back in her room. Spike was sitting on a chair in front of a desk. He had just returned from one of his hunt and was happily eating the remain of a bird. Sarah grimaced a little at the sight and looked away. ''Spike we're in trouble, someone recorded me fighting that tarentula yesterday.''

Spike swallowed what he was eating and waved dismissively at her. ''Don't worry about it. They only saw you in your pony form right? They have no way of knowing that you're Twilight Sparkle. Heck I would be surprise if any of them know that the Unicorn they saw has a human form.''

She glared at him for dismissing her concerns so nonchalantly ''I though we were suppose to keep magic a secret? Weren't you the one that said Equestrians turned themselves into humans to not disturb the natives of this world?''

Spike nodded but he still didn't look concerned at all. ''You are right, but the world from a thousand years ago was very different from today. Humans believed that magic was an evil force that came from demons and they did all those horrible witches hunt that killed hundred of innocents. We hid our origins to protect ourselves. But humans today don't fear magic as they used to, heck most of them don't even believe it exist.''

''So why do you hide yourself with that spell if everything is okay now?'' Sarah asked pointing at him accusingly.

''Well because if I revealed myself the media would be all over us and we wouldn't have a moment of peace. Not only that but the Nightmares would know where we live and you and your family would be in constant danger.''

''... Good point.'' She admited with a sigh.

''So...'' Spike began. ''I heard you were begining your third year of high school in a few days. From what I heard students in third year are suppose to be around fourteen and yet you're only twelve.''

Sarah blushed and played with her hairs nervously. ''Yeah, when I was in elementary school I managed to skip two years and because of that I have been surounded by older students most of my life.''

Spike whistled and looked at her proudly. ''You're still as smart as you ever were from the look of things.''

''Sometime I wish I could be dumber so people would stop looking at me as if I'm an alien everytime I talk about science.'' Sarah said quietly while looking down on the ground, but Spike had heard her.

''I can listen to you nerd out about the lastest technology if you want to. I'm not as smart as you but I learned most of the jargon after having live with your past incarnation.'' Spike stated with a sympathetic smile. Then he took one last bite at his meal and threw the bones in the trash can.

Sarah stood in silence for a few minutes. ''Did Twilight Sparkle ever have friends?''

Spike smiled fondly as memories came rushing in his mind. ''She didn't have much friends when she was young. She was too busy burying her face into books. But once she left Canterlot for Ponyville she made five friends and they were inseparable. Together they became the bearers of the Elements of Harmony and they saved Equestria many times.''

''Canterlot? Ponyville? Was your entire kingdom based on horse puns?'' Sarah asked incrediously. Spiked laughed out loud at that and shook his head.

''You have no idea.''

---

Abigail looked at her phone, everyone was talking about Celest. Which didn't surprised her at all in a single day she had become the mascot of the whole town. And people couldn't wait for her next appearance.

There were all sort of theories about where she came from. Some people said she lived in an ancient forest and decided to come out to fight the monster. Other thought she came from another world entirely. The craziest theory stated that she was a robot built in the shape of a unicorn.

Abigail was probably the only one that knew that Celest was none of those things. She was just a human girl who had the ability to transform in a purple unicorn. Admitedly it sounded just as crazy as all the other theories, but she had seen it with her own eyes.

She relaxed on the bench she was sitting on. She still couldn't believe there was a real life superhero running loose in their town. Why now? After living in a mundane world for centuries why did monsters and mythical creatures sudenly started appearing on Earth? And why couldn't she have appeared when-

Abigail shook her head. No she couldn't blame that on the poor girl she was probably still in kindergarden when it happened.

She heard the sound of a wheelchair behind her. She smiled as her best friend came into sight. ''Hey Abigail long time no see. What are you looking at?'' She asked with her usual smirk. The cowgirl showed her her phone and her friend rolled her eyes in disgust.

''Geez Celest again? It seem like she's the only thing people talk about today.'' She said throwing her hands in the air.

''Ya don't like her?'' Abigail asked curiously while pocketing her phone.

The girl shrugged. ''Eh, I don't hate her but seriously? We have the first superhero ever and it had to be something girly like a purple unicorn? Couldn't it have been something badass like Thor or The Flash?''

The cowgirl chuckled at that. ''Seriously? That's your complaint? You're worse than a boy sometime Charlotte.'' The girl in wheelchair sticked out her tongue at Abigail. And they both burst out laughing.

Both of them became silent as they saw the sun setting. A sense of nostalgia hitted both of them. ''School is going to start pretty soon. It will be the first time ya can attend since... You know what.''

Charlotte groaned. ''Ugh. Don't remind me, I bet we will get a boring teacher again this year.''

''Mr. Doodle wasn't so bad.'' Abigail tried to defend but the tomboyish girl wouldn't have any of it.

''Not so bad? He was so bored half of the time I though he was on the verge of suicide. The other half of the time he just talked about his wife.'' She made a gagging expression.

The cowgirl tried and fail to contain her mirth at the reply. ''That's mean Charlotte. Not everybody can be passionated about their work.'' She turned her phone back on and noticed it was getting late. Lifting herself from the bench she looked at her friend apologetically.

''Ah should get going. Tomorrow ah have to place buckets all over the farm in preparation for the harvest.'' And with a final goodbye Abigail left the park and made the long trek to her home.

Abigail admired Celest for what she had done and she hoped she would have the chance to see her once again. But at that moment she didn't know how closely related Celest story's was to her own.

Comments

[JDunk1971]

An artist by the name of Mauroz over on DA has a similar concept for his comic.