Marius Lucius stood motionless in the center of the circular, leaning on his oaken staff, his eyes closed. To an unsuspecting observer, it would seem as though the old wizard—in his gray tall pointed hat and white beard and hair—had fallen asleep standing. However, to acquaintances who were familiar with him and his students, he was deep in concentration.

For several minutes he waited patiently as his senses reached out into the dim and empty space of the tower, searching for its presence. The slumped bodies of the smugglers and thieves were scattered around the place. Evidently, they had underestimated the power of the artifact they brought over, especially their own wizard, a young lady barely two years past her apprenticeship who lay near the edge of the hastily scratched magic circle.

The smugglers have been onto something, something their young wizard had stumbled upon and the rest of the group capitalized on. Marius would have shaken his head if he could at the moment. It was amazing no one else had made the same discovery—after all, jumping dimensions was impossible. That was until the smuggler’s wizard made a mistake in a long jump spell and did just that, of course. A simple error in the symbols required for the spell circle. Any self-respecting High Wizard would have spotted the mistake and corrected it in a heartbeat before they even started casting.

It could not have been more than two months since the jumps started, plentiful pristine cut gems first flooded the markets all around the kingdom starting in the same period. Then came trinkets of unusual quality and aura finally rumors of a creature that led Marius to this tower. What he had not known, however, was the presence of the spirit. He came here expecting a short fight—just enough to stretch his magical muscles—and apprehend the smugglers and thieves and finally get the thing back to its dimension safely.

So here he was, still and waiting. His senses probed as it rose upwards through the stone spiral staircase, feeling all the little swirls, eddies and disturbances in the air.

There! It had hidden itself in a crevice near the third spiral of the staircase. Darting out of its hiding place, it made for the ceiling. Marius summoned a bit of his magic. A thread of hardened air latched onto the spirit. There was a flare of red and the spirit disappeared, the destroyed binding spell dissipated in tatters.

With a barely perceptible huff, Marius opened his eyes and tapped the cobbled floor twice with his staff. The sound of flapping wings echoed in the room and a jet black raven landed on his right shoulder.

“A difficult one, eh Cassius?” Marius asked his familiar.

Cassius cawed.

Marius chuckled. “I do not believe this one is as bad as the Ghost of Westhall, my dear friend.”

Cassius cawed in reply.

Marius ran a hand through his beard and hummed. “Perhaps. But this spirit do not reek of the Underworld, it is likely a forest spirit that followed these nincompoops—” He gestured to the supine humans. “—back when they returned from over there. Luckily for them, this one seems peaceful enough, it only made them fall asleep as opposed to killing them.”

A snore punctuated his statement. Cassius cawed in agreement.

“Well, since the spirit does not want to be found, let us try something different.”

Marius gave Cassius a small smile and raised his staff. His eyes closed once again and magic gathered at its tip. A white light lit the tower when he slammed the staff down. Several ribbons of pure white erupted from the floor and shot up into the air.

“Spirit! I bind thee! For I seek answers to a few question!”

Red fire flared, burning the ribbons but more replaced them and latched onto the spirit. A neigh, anguished and in pain echoed throughout the tower.

“Submit and I shall not destroy you! Submit!”

Marius poured more magic into the spell. The white light redoubled in brightness. The fire flared and then petered out in an avalanche of binding ribbons. Slowly, the ribbons dragged the spirit down towards Marius.

“Be calm, spirit. I merely wish to speak with you.”

“Then, you will do,” a feminine voice, harsh and filled with bitterness answered.

Red fire, now tinted with black erupted, obliterating the binds. Marius raised his staff. A dome of white flashed briefly before the fires consumed it.

“Oh dear.”

The fires descended on Marius and in a flash of black tinted red, a thoroughly confused Cassius was alone in the tower with the unconscious humans. He took off and slipped out of the tower through a small window into the night. There were two persons whom his master trusted the most and he flew in their direction.

---

Princess Twilight Sparkle stared the blank parchment. Her mind churned, looking for the words to put on that accursed piece of paper. A quill floated beside her head forgotten as ink dripped onto the carpeting of her study. The past two months have been well, strange. Not Ponyville strange—the stars knew how many weird things happened in Ponyville on a near weekly basis—but nevertheless strange enough.

First, there were reports of frightened diamond dogs yelping about furless and hornless minotaurs invading and driving them away from their gem mines with conjured fires, wind and lightning and wicked looking blades. It was initially dismissed as hallucinations from overwork, what with their near constant mining for their precious gems. It had to be—minotaurs could not wield magic.

A few weeks later, Hoofington reported sightings of the same creatures in the section of the Everfree forest bordering the town. The town was not attacked but ponies soon reported that their belongings—jewelry and other valuables—disappeared overnight. It was blamed on a serial cat burglar. Imaginary minotaurs stealing jewelry was impossible, after all.

Then just last week, Daisy galloped into town screaming about furless minotaurs in armor and cloaks and then promptly fainted in the town square. Twilight, along with Mayor Mare urged everypony not to wander off alone, especially not into the Everfree. Nopony went about without at least a partner and every parent watched their foals like hawks. Applejack and Rainbow Dash even went to invite Zecora to stay in the town but the zebra was adamant in staying put.

However, despite their best efforts, Ditzy Doo woke up three days ago to find her daughter, Dinky Doo gone. Ditzy was devastated and the townponies terrified. If these creatures could spirit foals away in the dead of the night through locked doors and windows, then nopony was safe. Twilight ran herself ragged casting so many wards on the houses along with a few other unicorns and helping to direct the search for Dinky.

Presently, she set the quill in the inkwell. Rubbing her bloodshot eyes, Twilight sighed. There was a sound of hooves alighting on stone floor. The balcony doors threw open and Rainbow Dash stepped into view.

“Hey, Twi,” she said.

Twilight turned around to Rainbow’s forlorn face. “Hello, Rainbow Dash. Still no sign of Dinky?”

Rainbow shook her head and then peered over Twilight’s withers. “You still trying to write that letter to Princess Celestia?”

Twilight slumped. “Yes… but I just can’t find the right words to put it! The Royal Guards Princess Celestia sent were a great help but those minotaurs were long gone…”

Rainbow frowned. “What do you mean? There’s still plenty of the Everfree forest to cover!”

Once again, Twilight sighed. “Rainbow, while you and your team were searching the northeastern sector towards Zecora’s hut, I had the Royal Guards check the spots where the minotaurs were claimed to have been spotted.”

Rainbow hovered and crossed her forelegs. “And yeah?”

“They found tracks, well, boot or shoe prints. It was nothing like anypony have seen!” Twilight grinned, clopping her hooves. “By my estimate from the size and known minotaur hoof to height ratio, they must be over eight feet tall—”

“Focus, Twilight.” Rainbow rolled her eyes.

Twilight blushed. “Oh, right. Yes. Tracks. The guards followed the tracks but they disappeared further into the forest. The rain must have washed them away…” Twilight held up a hoof to forestall Rainbow. “But don’t worry! There was enough tracks for me to extrapolate the direction and I triangulated it to,” she levitated a map of the Everfree forest and poked a hoof on the castle ruins, “here.”

Rainbow looked at the map and then flared her wings. “Dinky’s there? So what are we waiting for? We should rescue her!”

She turned and galloped out of the door only for her to be wrapped in a magenta glow and floated back in front of a less-than-impressed Twilight.

“I wasn’t finished. The guards checked the castle and found it empty. There was a magic circle of some kind.” Twilight’s face fell. “It’s nothing I’ve read or seen and it must be what the minotaurs used to get here… and back to wherever they live.” She set Rainbow down.

“B-but what about Dinky? How do I tell Ditzy?!” Rainbow was suddenly in Twilight’s face.

Twilight turned back to the parchment, still as blank as before Rainbow dropped in. “That’s why I can’t put the words in my letter…” she said, barely louder than a whisper.

“Twilight, look. We can’t just give up now!”

Twilight slumped once again, her wings sagging. “I know… I posted guards at the circle, in case the minotaurs returned.”

Rainbow bumped her hooves. “And when those foalnappers come back, I’m gonna give a piece of my hoo—”

A loud bang cut her off. The ground shook for a brief moment, throwing Twilight and Rainbow off their hooves. When they picked themselves up, the two of them galloped out onto the balcony. Looking north to the green expanse of the Everfree forest, a pillar of oily and red tinted smoke rose near the eastern edge.

Rainbow’s heart sank. “That’s Zecora’s hut!”

Twilight and Rainbow shared a brief look before they took wing. Twilight hoped that they were not too late.

---

“No, Nigel… I don’t want to give up my Guide to Every Owl Familiar Needs…” Olivia Cromwell murmured as she buried her face into her pillow.

Nigel, the snowy owl familiar in question dozed in his perch across his master’s bed. There was a sound of a rock hitting the window and he jerked into consciousness. He peered out of the window into the magelight lit street and saw nothing.

Nigel closed his eyes and returned to sleep. He promptly jumped when something thumped on the window. This time, he saw a familiar raven scratching at the window. With a twitch of a wing and a thread of magic, the window flew open in a rush of wind.

Olivia shot up in her bed with a yelp. “Nigel! What did I tell you about letting the autumn in?”

Her eyes widened as Cassius alighted on the foot of her bed.

“Cassius? What are you doing here?”

Cassius cawed.

“What!? What did the professor do this time?”

Another caw.

Olivia sighed. “And now he needs us to save his senile, old arse.”

Cassius preened for a brief moment before he gave a little caw.

Olivia rubbed her face with her hands. “Right. Let me go get Elizabeth and we can get moving. Marius’ residence first?”

Cassius nodded and flew over to Olivia’s right shoulder.

“Nigel, please get Sapphira. You know where she is.” Olivia slipped on a robe and walked the ten steps to Elizabeth’s room.

Elizabeth was already up and changing into her heavy dress and coat. She glanced over to Olivia’s questioning look. “You were not exactly quiet, Olivia. Please get changed.”

Olivia shrugged and returned to her room. I wonder what stupid spirit or magical artifact did the professor chased down this time? she thought as she pulled on her own dress and cloak and slipped into her pair of boots. Grabbing her oak wood staff and clipping on her holding bag, Olivia stepped out into the corridor. Elizabeth was already downstairs, her glimmering white staff at the ready.

The small party exited the two storey apartment.



Marius’ residence was were all the across the city. Whitehall, the capital city of the Kingdom of Albion, was heavily patrolled by the Royal Guards, so for an average citizen, it was reasonably safe. But of course, it was also prudent to be ready when travelling at night. Low crime did not mean no crime, after all. Nigel and a black cat, Sapphira, joined Olivia, Elizabeth and Cassius halfway through the narrow streets.

The moon was on its way towards the horizon when they reach Marius’ residence. The thin three storey apartment was a simple stone and mortar affair, sitting in a small square plot of well-tended grass. Cassius leapt off Olivia’s shoulder and disappeared over the wrought iron gate. A few moments later the gate unlocked and opened itself in a small flash of blue-white magic.

Olivia and Elizabeth stepped through to find the front door already opened. They stepped the threshold into the dim light of their mentor’s house.

“So, what is this parcel we’re supposed to be picking up, Cassius?”

Cassius disappeared further into the apartment, cawing loudly.

Olivia shot an incredulous look at Elizabeth. “Did he just say…”

She trailed off when a pale violet head topped with a horn and scraggly blond mane peeked out of the doorway to Marius’ study.

“Oh good lord, Cassius did say a unicorn!”

There was an “Eep!” and the head disappeared back into the room. Olivia could barely contain her squeal as she all but ran over with an impassive Elizabeth in her wake.

“Oh! Oh! Would you like a carrot?” Olivia asked as the foal stared at her, its amber eyes the size of pinpricks.

“U-um, I am a little hungry…”

Olivia gasped. “She talks!” she squealed.

And then Nigel landed on Olivia’s head and pecked.

“Nigel! Stop it! Ouch!” Olivia winced as the snowy owl dragged her away by her red hair.

Elizabeth crouched in the space vacated by Olivia with a small carrot in hand. A small smile appeared on Elizabeth’s face when the filly nibbled on the carrot. “Hello, little one. Professor Marius sent us.”

Recognition lit in the filly’s eyes. “A-are you Miss Somerset?”

Elizabeth Somerset nodded. “And the loud one there is Olivia Cromwell.” She pointed to the pouting woman. “The professor has described us to you?”

“Uh huh. Professor Mar-ee-us said only the two of you can enter his house…” The filly nodded. “Oh, I’m Dinky Doo by the way…” Dinky tipped her head shyly.

“She’s so adorable~” Olivia yelped in pain when Nigel pecked her again. “Nigel!”

Elizabeth patted Dinky. “Marius want us to bring you to him. Are you ready to travel?”

Dinky nodded.

Elizabeth scooped the filly up in her arms. “Then let us be going,” she said.

---

Zecora’s hut was smoldering when Twilight and Rainbow landed in the clearing. Twilight’s horn lit and several pieces of burnt wood lifted into the air and deposited them to the side. Rainbow lifted off and hovered over the burnt ruin, looking. After several minutes of lifting and looking, Rainbow shook her head. Zecora was nowhere to be found.

Twilight heaved a sigh of relief. Dread still gnawed at her, however, as Zecora was still missing. Twilight hoped it really was not the minotaurs this time. Now, she had to make her next move. What caused the explosion? The red tint… Then realization dawned on her.

Twilight turned to the flying Rainbow. “Rainbow! Did you see the Alicorn Amulet?”

“Nuh-uh.” Rainbow shrugged.

Twilight’s eyes shrunk to pinpricks. “Oh no…”

An explosion of red flames to the north rocked the forest.

“This is bad.” Twilight started to hyperventilate.

“Twilight!”

Twilight turned at the voice Rarity. Her friend waved at her from a chariot along with Fluttershy. The chariot touched down a few feet in front of Twilight. Pinkie Pie and Applejack joined soon after in another chariot.

The guards unhitched themselves and bowed. “Princess Twilight, we got here as soon as we found the rest of the Elements of Harmony.”

Twilight straightened up, suddenly painfully aware of the crown on her crown. With a breath and a wave of her hoof, she quietened her fast-beating heart. Turning to the guard who addressed her, she said: “Stay here in case Zecora finds her way back. Make sure the area is safe. The girls and I will find out what’s happening to the north.”

The guard nodded. “Yes, your highness.” He began barking orders at the other guards.

“Let’s go, girls.” Twilight trotted into the forest, confident that her friends were right behind her.

---

“Why do you insist in helping this world, human?”

Marius deftly deflected a red beam of magic directed at him. The spirit had a form now, an elegant horse with slender legs, body and head. Her fur was a sleek black and her mane a fiery red. Most curiously were her possession of wings and a horn. With a twirl of his staff, he redirected another red magic beam into a tree, slicing it cleanly in half.

“As I recalled, you were the one who brought me here, intending to destroy it.” Marius smiled. “I cannot see this beautiful world simply go to waste.”

“They deserve it!” the spirit snarled. “They lifted nary a hoof while I suffered!”

Marius was contemplative for a few seconds. With a tap of his staff, balls of pure white light slammed onto the hooves of the spirit. “You are a mare of many doors. I unlock one and it reveals another,” he said.

The spirit stopped. “What are you getting at, human?”

Marius leaned on his staff. “You were trapped in that trinket for a long time. You felt abandoned.” He stared into her blood red eyes. “You are nothing but a scared little girl.”

The spirit jerked as though struck by a lightning spell. Then a tremor ran through her. “… Enough. Enough! You shall perish along with the princesses who abandoned me to a fate worse than death!”

Marius braced himself as great waves of magic gathered at her horn. White energy gathered at the tip of Marius’ staff, ready to disperse into a dome of hardened air.

However, before the spirit could release its attack, multihued light erupted behind Marius. He looked back in time to see a rainbow of light arching into the sky, crashing down on both of them. It felt refreshing, like a hearty hug of a good friend. Not so for the spirit, however, as she wailed in anger as the light burnt it to tinder.

Almost as soon as the light started, it ended, depositing Marius roughly on his feet. As soon as his vision cleared, six mares stepped into view. Each of them was a representative of the color in the rainbow he saw. Each of them also stared wide eyed him, silent.

The silence was broken by a sobbing. Marius glanced over a snow white unicorn with cornflower blue mane. Evidently, that was the spirit. The light had cleansed her instead of destroy.

There was a rustle of underbrush and his two students, along with the filly burst into the clearing.

“Aww, are we too late to save your silly arse again, old man?” Olivia asked, panting.

Marius smiled. “We are done here.”