Rise of Equestria: Children of the Heros

Night time was drawing near and all of the kids at the club house were picked up by their parents. While they were walking home, they told their parents everything they did and what happened with the others. They got a few laughs from their parents, a few were just  while others gave their children a scolding or two.

Over at the Carousel Boutique, both Drago and Mystical got sent to their rooms after dinner was over, while Clarity had to stay downstairs to help her mom try out a few dresses. Clarity didn't like trying out fancy getups, but she did it anyways to help her mom.

"Ouch! Mom, not so tight." Clarity said as Rarity tightened up her corset.

"Sorry, darling. I'll try to be more careful. You know, Clarity, I couldn't help but wonder why you're always frowning. You know it's never a good idea to stay mad at whatever it is. I haven't even seen your beautiful smile in 2 years."

The moment Rarity mention Clarity not smiling for that long made her think back to the day when it all began

2 years earlier

It was a Friday morning at school and Clarity was looking forward to hanging out with her friends. When she went inside the school building, she could see a group of fillies and colts conversing about either the homework and how some of them forgot to do them. She chuckled and took her seat, getting out her homework.

"Alright everypony, class is about to start. If you've already finished your homework assignments, please go right ahead and leave them on my desk so I can grade them." Ms. Cheerilee said.

All the students turned in their homework assignments and proceeded to walk back to their desks. Clarity even brought a couple of magazines with her to keep her occupied after class.

The class day went on well, most students got A's and B's on their homework assignments. About 2 hours into the school day, it was finally time for recess. The colts either played dodgeball or basketball. Clarity stayed on the bench and read some magazines that had info on the latest studs of Canterlot. Mystical sat next to her big sister, reading a book on the latest designer outfits. Meanwhile, their little brother, Drago was being helped to learn how to fly with the help of Fusion Rainbolt and Thunder Strike. Mystical couldn't stop giggling at how adorable her brother looked when he was flapping his little dragon wings so fast and could barely lift himself off the ground.

"Our brother is growing rather quickly, right Clarity?" asked Mystical. Clarity was snapped out of her imagination.

"Huh, what?" Clarity asked. Mystical pointed at Drago who was still trying to keep himself airborn. The sight of him made Clarity giggle a little bit before looking back a her magazine. "You're right, he is growing quickly. It's too adorable."

"Clarity, I don't think we shouldn't be reading those magazines. Mom'll be very mad if she finds out."

"Oh don't worry, Mystical, I got permission from her."

"Yes, but did you ask Ms. Cheerilee if you could read it out here?"

"As long as I'm careful it's alright."

Just after finishing her sentence, she was struck in the head by a dodge ball. She became lost in a daze and tumbled over. The moment the other kids saw this, they began to laugh. Clarity got up and saw the other ponies laughing at her and pointing. She felt like she wanted to burst into tears. But somepony stopped her from doing so.

A single colt who stood in front of Clarity, facing the crowds of fillies and colts.

"What makes you think it's alright to make fun of somepony who just got hurt?! You think that's funny, huh?!" said the colt. Clarity looked up to see that it was Eternal Flames' oldest son, Sunrise Scorcher. "It's one thing to laugh at jokes, but it's another to laugh at somepony else's pain whether it's physical or not! Laugh at her pain again and you'll be sorry!" he said.

"Oh yeah, and just how are you going to do that?" Thunder Strike asked.

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"Trust me, buster, you don't know who you're dealing with right now!" Sunrise growled. He soon started to channel this fire around his whole entire body while at the same time, it wasn't burning the ground or Clarity. It was like he could control the fire and who he can burn and who he chose not to.

"What did you call me, you blasted CHILI PEPPER?!" Thunder Strike also started emitting strange powers around him, but with him, he started generating electricity around his body.

The next thing that happened was the boys leaping at each other, exchanging blow for blow. One minute, Thunder Strike was dominating, the next minute, it was Sunrise Scorcher.

During the middle of the fight, Clarity fainted. She woke up a few moments later to see that Sunrise was still standing, panting and bruised up and exhausted, while Thunder Strike was on the ground, covered in bruises. He was knocked out cold.

"I told you before, you laugh at her pain... you'll be sorry!" Sunrise panted. Clarity felt both grateful and confused. Sunrise stood up for her when she got hit in the face by a ball, but she was confused about how he was able to generate fire. Sunrise walked over to Clarity and offered his hoof to pick her up. "Hey, you alright?" he asked.

Clarity nodded and gave him her clawwed hoof. He helped her back up and rubbed her head gently.

"T-Thanks Sunrise." Clarity said, turning away, trying to hide her blushing.

"No prob. Well, recess is almost over. I'd better be prepared for next class and my parents' lecture." Sunrise says before walking back into class with the others.

Back in the present day

"Mom please, I'd rather not talk about 2 years ago." Clarity said, hiding her face from her mother.

"I do apologize, darling. I just wanted to see you smile again. You know how much I love you and your brother and sister. Even if they do get into fights from time to time." Rarity says.

"Y-yeah, I love you too, mom." Clarity said, in a tone filled with guilt. Clarity's mom had made a valid point. If there was one thing that could make a parent happy, it's to see their children smiling. But Clarity didn't want to smile because of some uneasy feelings she had deep within her heart the more she kept thinking about the day Sunrise stood up for her.

Meanwhile, Spike was talking with Mystical Gem and Drago in their room.

"Now listen to me, both of you. This fighting has gone on long enough. I love you both, but you have to understand that it pains me and your mother to see you guys fighting so much. First of all, Drago, you have to watch how you talk to your sister. It's never okay to talk to her the way you just did earlier at the clubhouse today. She may still be a filly, but she'll be a growing mare someday. As for you, Mystical, you can't just go around and slap your brother in the face, he's still 9 years old, you're almost a teenager. You need to control your temper or it's going to get you into trouble. Do you both understand me?" Spike asked.

"Yes, dad." Drago says, looking down.

"Yes, daddy." Mystical said, also looking down.

"Good, and to get my point across, you're both grounded for one week. You are not to leave the house for any reason other than having to go to school throughout the week. You eat your dinner after school is over, do your homework, take a shower and go to bed. Can I trust you two to do that for me and your mom?" Spike asks again, earning a disappointed nod from both of his kids. "Good, now wait in here until I let you know when dinner is ready." Spike then left their room and closed the door. Afterwards, both Mystical and Drago slammed the back of their heads on their pillows.

"I can't believe I can't hang out with the guys. This sucks." Drago groaned.

"How am I suppose to spend some quality time with the girls now?" Mystical groaned. "This never would've happened if you just kept your mouth shut, Drago, I mean SERIOUSLY!"

"Oh go take your overly dramatic attitude elsewhere, I don't got time to deal with your nonsense." Drago said, with his eyes facing the wall and his back facing Mystical. "It's always the same with you. You always blame everything on me. I'm starting to think that you and Clarity didn't want me as a brother." Drago then shot his eyes open and covered his muzzle. "S-sorry, that came out wrong."

"Drago..." Mystical said. Drago turned to see that his sister pounced onto his bed, pinning him.

"What in the hay do you think you're doing?!" Drago asked loudly.

"Now you listen here, Drago! I never said I was better off having a younger sister! I didn't care if you were the first son born because all I wanted was to have the chance to be a big sister." Mystical said, with tears in her eyes. "And I couldn't be more happier than finally having my very own little brother! So don't you EVER say that again. I love my little brother!" Mystical got off of Drago and let him sit up. After he did, Mystical leaned forward and gave him a hug.

"M-Mystical...I...I'm sorry." Drago wrapped his claws around his sister for a warm hug, showing her that he was truly sorry and even shed a few tears while doing so. "I'm sorry for all the mean things I said to you. I'm such a lousy brother!"

"It's alright, just let it all out."

Mystical could hear her brother sobbing quietly on her shoulder during their warm embrace. Mystical then started to think to herself while she and Drago were hugging. 'But you're wrong, Drago. You are never a lousy brother to me and never will. I'll stick by you and help you in any way I can, like any good big sister would.'

Back at Eternal's and Sunset's house. The family was having a rather awkwardly quiet dinner. It somehow became too awkward and silent until finally, Sunset spoke up.

"Okay, why is everpony so silent? Is something the matter with you boys?"

"Go on, son. Tell your mother everything you told me." Eternal Flames said to Solar.

"Okay, dad. Mom, back at the clubhouse...Sunrise...and Burning Sparkle...they...they fought again." Solar said. Sunset's levitation magic on her fork wore off when she heard that. She turned to Sunrise with a stern look and made Sunrise duck under the table with only his eyes visible to everypony in the room.

"Now now, Sunset. Let him finish."

"But...Burning Sparkle tried to get the jump on him. I blew his cover and Sunrise just punched him. Pretty soon, they both ended up exhausting each other out after that." Solar explains.

Surely, Sunset's stern look became more and more calm. She looked at Sunrise and spoke. "Well, I'll let it slide for now, but I don't want you to make this a habbit to try and finish your little brawl. You let us handle it from now on, okay?"

"Yes, mom." Sunrise replied, getting back onto his seat to finish his dinner.

The next morning, Sunrise had woken up a bit earlier than his family in order to catch up on some training. In order not to wake up his parents, he sneaked downstairs and slowly walked towards the front door. When he reached the door, he slowly opened it wide enough to sneak out of. He then slowly closed the door shut and proceeded to do some laps around Ponyville.

After he was done, he decided to get a little adventurous when he came across the Everfree Forest. He was getting a bit lost the more he ventured into the forest. But finally, he came across a small clearing with a tiny lake.

"Alright! Time for a swim!" Sunrise said to himself.

But, little did he know that there was an evil army watching him from afar in the thick forest.

"Well well, it looks like we've found our first victim of the day." said a quiet, female voice.

"Yes, I hope you plan on making this work with your new army." said a quiet and deep male voice.

"Don't worry, this army will have a taste of something much better than my previous traitorous army." Just then, both of them heard the sound of another female voice.

"Sunrise, what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be back at home, resting? The Everfree Forest is dangerous. It doesn't matter what time of day it is, there's monsters always lurking behind every corner." Clarity said to the swimming stallion.

"Oh lighten up, Clarity. If they ever mess with me, I'll roast them. Now why don't you come join me for a little swim? The water feels cool and relaxing for this hot spring weather." Sunrise said, backstroking.

"What will Eternal Flames and Sunset Shimmer think about this?"

"Hey, chill out. My dad always knows that I train every morning. He's cool with it. Although, it's a different story with mom. She'd never approve of me going out training this early in the morning."

"It seems we've got 2 unsuspecting preys." said the deep male voice, quietly.

"Yes, I think now is the time to let two of our soldiers to enjoy their breakfast. Go on, my children." said the quiet, female voice as she turns to a group of soldiers with red eyes. Two of them approached the clearing close enough to not be seen. These soldiers were changelings, but this time, they were red changelings. They took the form of Solar Flare and Mystical Gem and proceeded to walk towards the swimming stallion and his pony/dragon hybrid friend.

Clarity saw both Solar Flare and Mystical Gem coming out of the dark forest and immediately got the sense that these two weren't their siblings, but rather somepony else. Sunrise Scorcher decided to take a break from his swimming and got out of the lake. When he got out, he also noticed his brother and Clarity's sister. Even he knew that his brother would never venture into the Everfree Forest. It was then that Clarity signaled him over and whispered to him. "Listen, I don't know if your brother knows you come here often, but if I know my sister well, she never comes to the Everfree Forest."

"You're not the only one who knows your siblings." Sunrise whispered back. "No way does my brother come here. He knows his boundaries and he's not exactly the risk taker. Let's find out right now." Sunrise cleared his throat and spoke out to his brother's imposter. "Yo, Solar, what brings you here?"

"HIya...bro. Hey listen, mom and dad are waiting for us back home, she made breakfast already." said the fake Solar.

"And mother has sent me here to find you in order to...uh...go mine for jewels." said the fake Mystical.

"Hmm, that does sound good.....if you think mom was okay with me being here! She doesn't even know I'm here so how in the hoof did you find me out here? You're not really Solar Flare, ARE YOU?!" Sunrise pointed at his brother's imposter

"And my mom would NEVER send her precious children to look for her other children. She always asks daddy to look for us. So that means YOU'RE NOT MYSTICAL GEM!" Clarity said, pointing at her sister's imposter.

Both of the fake siblings hissed and growled before changing back into their original forms.

"Wait...changelings? I thought Princess Celestia signed a peace treaty with them!" Clarity said in surprise.

"Not these bozos. These guys are different than the old ones." Sunrise pointed out. Both of them heard two chuckling voices from the forest and got into their battle stances. "Looks like we're gonna fight whoever's out there."

"Stay on your guard, Sunrise, this could be dangerous!" Clarity says.

"It is useless to stand up against us." said a deep male voice. This really got their attentions as they saw two tall pony figures walking towards them very slowly. Both figures reached the clearing where the sun revealed a unicorn stallion who looked like an older version of Dark Void and Shadow Force. He wore a suit of armor and a red cape. This was King Sombra. Next to him was a tall insect pony with holes on each of her hooves, long blue mane and green eyes with insect pupils. Her name was Queen Chrysalis.

"I know you! You're that freaky bug lady that my dad trashed years ago. I can tell you're not in the mood for a friendly chat so what the hay do you want, lady? Same goes for you, Sombra." Sunrise asks.

"You would be wise to keep your mouth shut young man." Chrysalis said before levitating Sunrise off the ground and bringing him much closer towards her. "Unless you want the love sucked out of you right here and now."

"LET HIM GO!" Clarity shouted.

"Oh? Why should I? I'm just having a friendly chat with him. Unless you disapprove of me having your boyfriend all to myself if that's what you might be thinking." Chrysalis retorts, clinging onto the levitated stallion.

"I said...LET...HIM..." Before Clarity was about to finish her sentence, a loud roar was heard from the distance. It caught everypony off guard when from up above, Eternal Flames dove down and landed in the clearing with a serious look on his face.

"Well, well, well. If it isn't the Rogue Prince. Get him my soldiers and feed to your hearts content!" Chrysalis ordered. Soon an army of 10 red changelings swarmed Eternal Flames. He took to the sky and started fighting them off with effortless ease. But there was one red changeling who decided to charge at Sunrise Scorcher while his guard was down. It had him pinned and was about to sink its teeth in his neck until Eternal Flames intervened and pinned all of the changelings under him. They were all squirming, growling and hissing.

"SILENCE!" Eternal shouted at them with a death stare, making them cease. "If you EVER come near my son again..."

"Your son? I never knew the Rogue Prince had a child." Chrysalis says with a confident smirk. Eternal Flames turned and look to see the evil Changeling Queen Chrysalis and gave her a look where he wanted to rip her to shreds.

"You...What are you doing here and why is Sombra with you?" Eternal asks, in a low and deep tone.

"Apparently, I am now the King of both the Blood Changelings and Darkness." Sombra replies.

"Blood Changelings?!" Eternal asks with a look of shock.

"Yes, apparently since my last hive betrayed me and left me for Thorax, I was left no other option. I was on my own, trying to fend for myself and trying to build a new hive. But I could find no luck...that is...until I discovered Sombra lurking in the forest. We first started out as enemies, but soon grew a connection that gave us both a brand new army of changelings. While I still feed off love, my new changeling army feeds off of the blood of ponies. I was about to send my soldiers to enjoy a tasty breakfast, but unfortunately..." Before Chrysalis was able to finish, Eternal stopped her.

"SILENCE...no pony lays a harmful hoof on my son and if I EVER catch you trying to sick your changeling army on him ever again, I won't hesitate to roast you and your army as well as Sombra! Now get out!"

"Just know one thing, Eternal Flames. This was only a wicked reunion, next time we meet, we'll have our entire changeling army and waiting ready to take over all of Equestria." Sombra says, smirking. "See you soon...Eternal Flames."

Sombra and Chrysalis gathered their changeling armies and disappeared into the Everfree Forest. Sunrise walked up to his dad with a look of guilt in his eye.

"Dad I--"

"You deliberately disobeyed me." Eternal says to his son with a harsh glare. Sunrise never felt sorry or scared in his life seeing his dad looking and being this mad at him.

"Dad, I'm...I'm sorry."

"Let's go home." Eternal says, still in a harsh tone. Eternal escorted his son as well as Clarity out of the forest.

"I thought your dad was okay with you being out here." Clarity said to Sunrise quietly.

"I was wrong, okay? Also, why were you in the forest?" Sunrise asks quietly. Clarity couldn't help but blush and turn away.

"I...I was...just passing by."

"You sure about that, Clarity? Because it looks to me like you'e hiding something."

"Just shut up and follow your dad so we can get outta here." Clarity retorts, annoyed and still blushing.

It took them a matter of a couple of minutes to get out of the forest. Outside the forest, Shadow Force was waiting for them with the same exact stern look on his face.

"Shadow." Eternal said.

"Yeah, cousin?" Shadow replied.

"Take Clarity home. I've got to teach my son a lesson." Eternal took another look at Sunrise, who immediately hid himself behind one of the trees with only his eyes visible. Shadow walked towards the two children.

"Come, Clarity. Sunrise...good luck." Shadow said as he was walking Clarity back to the Carousel Boutique. But he was then stopped by Eternal whispering to him.

"Gather the guys later on tonight, we'll have to discuss a very important matter."

"Gotcha." Shadow whispers back. After that, he continued to take Clarity back home.

"Sunrise!" Eternal called out, making his son flinch. He proceeded to walk towards his dad looking down at the ground. He sat down right next to him and looked up. Eternal's harsh glare disappeared and instead had the look of disappointment. Soon, he faced his son eye-to-eye and began to speak. "Sunrise, I'm very disappointed in you."

"I know."

"You could've been killed! You deliberately disobeyed me and what's worse, you put Clarity in danger."

"I was just trying to be brave like you."

"I'm only brave when I have. Sunrise...being brave doesn't mean you go looking for trouble."

"But you're not scared of anything."

"I was today."

"You were?"

"Yes...I thought I might lose you."

"Oh...I guess even kings get scared, huh?"

"mmhmm."

"But you know what?"

"What?

"I think those red changelings were even scareder"

Eternal couldn't help but chuckle. "Because nopony messes with your dad" Eternal gave his son a clever grin with a hoof extended out to grab his son and snatched him, giving him a noogie. "Come here, you!"

"YOUCH! DAD, KNOCK IT OFF!!!" Sunrise grunted while his father chuckled. Sunrise struggled and struggled until finally, he broke free and tackled his dad. "Pinned ya, dad!" he said, confidentally.

"Yes, yes, I know." Eternal chuckled, but then his expression grew more stern. "But when we get home, you're grounded for a week. You shouldn't have went into the Everfree Forest."

"Aww, man. Just my luck."

"There consequences that lead to certain actions in life son. Going in the Everfree Forest alone is one of them. Now go on home and I'll talk it out with your mother so she doesn't give you any more scoldings than I already gave you."

"Well...I guess that's alright."

"Good, now come on."

Eternal Flames took Sunrise Scorcher back home and sent him to his room while he talked things out with his wife. It took him a while to convince her to not push the lecture any further, but he got through to her.

Shadow Force had finally escorted Clarity back to the Carousel Boutique. Shadow then knocked on the door.

"Who is it?" asked Rarity.

"Shadow Force." he replied.

Rarity opened the door and saw that Shadow had brought home Clarity. "Oh thank you, darling. I just was wondering where this little filly had run off to."

"Well, Eternal found her with Sunrise in the Everfree Forest." Shadow replied. Rarity gasped.

"Clarity! What were you thinking?!" Rarity asked, with a worried look.

"I'll let you talk things out with your daughter in private. I gotta get back to work." Shadow said. "So long, Rarity."

"Bye, Shadow and thanks again, darling." Rarity brought Clarity inside the boutique and closed the door. "Young lady, it's time we had a little girl talk, upstairs, in your room, this instance!" she said with a stern look.

"Alright mom." Clarity walked up to her room with her head hanging down. She then started talking to herself in a quiet tone so she didn't have her mom listening in on her. "What's wrong with me? Why did I have to follow him? Now I'm gonna be grounded. I just don't understand why this is happening to me."

Clarity and her mom finally headed inside Clarity's room and closed the door behind them. Clarity took a seat on her bed, still looking down while her mother had her eyes locked on her.

"Clarity, young lady, look at me." Rarity said in a calm, stern tone. Clarity complied. "I'm very disappointed in you, Clarity. You and I both know that the Everfree Forest is dangerous no matter what time of day it is. Why did you go in there in the first place?"

"I...I saw Sunrise walk in there so I...I went to go get him out of there." Clarity said.

"Why didn't you just get tell his parents where he was at? Going in there all by yourself is just too reckless. What would've happened if a vicious predator got to you before you could get to Sunrise?!"

"I wasn't thinking straight."

"Why not?"

"Be-because..." Clarity began to blush a little bit.

"Because why? Spit it out!"

"BECAUSE I LIKE SUNRISE!" Clarity shouted, before covering her mouth in embarrassment. Rarity looked shocked. "Mom...please...don't tell my brother and sister, or my dad! I don't want to be made a laughing stock!" she begged.

"Clarity, calm yourself down. Look, since you were honest, I'll go easy on you by grounding you for the rest of the weekend and I won't tell a soul about your little crush you have."

"Thanks mom."

"You're welcome, darling. Now give me a hug."

Clarity just shrugged it off and hugged her mom lovingly.

Later that night

The Rogues and Mane 7 were gathered at Twilight's castle after Eternal Flames had called them up there for a meeting.

"Listen up, everypony, we've got a bad situation. Earlier today, I had an unexpected encounter in the Everfree Forest with a couple of ponies that I'm sure some of you know quite well." Eternal said.

"Who?" Twilight asked.

"Queen Chrysalis and her new changeling king, Sombra."

"WHAT?!" Everypony shouted.

"Apparently, they've built an entirely new changeling army. Red changelings to be exact. From what Chrysalis has told me, these new red changelings only feed off blood instead of love."

"Damn that grandpa of mine! I can't believe he's still alive! When I get hooves on him I'll--" Shadow got cut off by Tidal Wave.

"Shadow, relax! Now's not the time to lose your temper."

"Then what are we suppose to do now?" Fluttershy asks.

"I say we kick some changeling but like we did back at Canterlot!" Rainbow Dash says.

"Now, just a minute, honey. We don't even know where they've built their new hive and going after them without a plan would be like sending a foal out in the streets of Manehatten, alone." Spark Wave says.

"He's right, besides, where's the fun in ending this story so early?" Pinkie asks.

"Huh?" Everypony asks.

"What? I'm just trying saying it's pointless to have the author of this story end it here." Pinkie said.

"I have no idea what you're talking about Pinkie, but moving on." Sunset says. "If anything, I say we should stay on the lookout for them for now, especially when we all have our kids to look after."

"Sunset's right, our kids' safety is our #1 priority." Heat Wave says.

"If that's the case, then Ah'll come up with a secret code word fer mah sons." Applejack says.

"I'm with AJ on this one." Ground Dasher says.

"Alright, but we have to make sure we all know it. Having several seperate code words could confuse our children, especially since they always hang out with each other." Eternal Flames implies.

"Alright then. Does anypony have any ideas?" Hurricane Blitz asked.

"Does "Cupcakes" sound alright?" Twilight asks.

"Yeah, that might actually work." Sunset says.

The rest of the gang nodded in approval.

"Then it's settled. Be sure to whisper it to your kids so that no pony eavesdropping on you can hear it." Eternal implies.

"Agreed." The gang said in unison.

"Good...meeting adjourned."