The Never-verse

by Thunder Quill

Rating: teen
Tags: Alternate Universe, Romance, Adventure, Crossover, Anthro
Length: 8949

this is the story of a monk named Thunder Quill, and his childhood friend Twilight Sparkle, on a quest to save the Crystal Empire from the wailing death, and find out what ever sinister force is behind it

The frozen north, the name given to the stark and unforgiving frontier that lies beyond the crystal mountains. A bleak wilderness where barbarian clans and tribes of giant roam the land, and fierce dragons rule the sky. But amidst the frozen savagery stands a bastion of civilization: the Crystal Empire, the jewel of all of Equestria. Behind the city’s high walls those both hardy and brave carve out an existence from this bleak land under the guidance and protection of the legendary heroine, Princess Luna, yet there are some things that all the courage and friendship in the world cannot stand against. A virulent plague swept the city, a terrible affliction that began in the Beggar’s nest. Soon all of the Crystal Empire would feel the touch of the Wailing Death. The disease could not be cured. Panic ensued, the streets erupted into violence. The Jewel of the North was brought to its knees. To save the Crystal Empire, Sir Shining Armor, paladin of Celestia, and right hand of Princess Luna, put forth a call for a champion. A rush of would-be heroes answered his call: some drawn by promises of grandeur and glory, others by the lure of bits. Those with the greatest potential were initiated into the Academy to train and study under the greatest minds of the Crystal Empire, all in the hopes a champion might emerge to save the city from the wailing death… and whatever sinister force might be behind it.

Any questions comments or concerns about this story are welcome

Contains level 4 anthro

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2014-01-24 09:12:34 UTC

The Prologue: Graduation Day

I woke up early as usual, at the alarm clock’s ring, roughly 4:00 am equestrian time. I stood up, stretched my legs, looked in the mirror, saw a white unicorn with black spiky hair and tail, with a yin-yang cutie mark about 25 years old, and looked at the calendar I have next to my bed. My eyes widened at the realization at what day it was. Graduation Day. I had completely forgotten that it was coming up. I heard a knock at my door. “Hey Thunder are you awake?” A voice I’ve known since my early childhood asked.

“Yeah, Twilight, I'm up” I said, I galloped out the door, and almost ran into Twilight, who was waiting right outside the door. I put on the breaks, and it took most of my monk reflexes not to accidently tackle her and knock us both onto the floor, I was able to stay on my hooves. Twilight however was not so lucky. She backed up as to avoid my charge out the door and tripped over her tail and landed on her flank. Spike, her draconic familiar, started laughing. She gave both of us a glare and I extended a hoof to help her up. She accepted it and I helped her up. “So… today’s graduation day, what exams do you have?” I asked her trying to diffuse a awkward situation.

“I have my final magical exam, and then… I believe that’s it. What about you?” she asked.

“Well, I have my final combat exam, and thats it for me. How about after one of us finishes we wait for the other one by the entrance to the room of their exam? Sound good?” She nodded and we went to the main combat room where we wished each other good luck and we went to our different exams. I went to the main combat instructor, the only minotaur instructor in the Academy, Iron Will, and said “Thunder Quill reporting for final combat exams sir!”

“Its about time you showed up recruit. As you know, today is your final combat exam, you are report to corporals Heavy Weight and  Caramel respectively for your melee and ranged exams. Dismissed!” He told me, I went to corporal Heavy Weight, it was strange for a pegasus  to be in highly skilled in melee but it was what he was skilled in so, its not my place to criticize. My challenge was to destroy a practice dummy in ten seconds flat. I put on the speed and force behind my hooves and destroyed in in about 5 seconds. Corporal Heavy Weight seemed to be impressed with my combat prowess.

“Its not very often that you see a unicorn with melee skills, they mostly go towards magical classes, like your friend, Twilight Sparkle. But you have far exceeded my expectations, you believe will prove to be invaluable in the war.”

“Thank you sir.” I said.

“That will be all. Dismissed!” He said, I then went to corporal Caramel for my ranged exam. This was gonna be a little bit harder, seeing as i haven’t trained as much in the use of shuriken, darts, or sling. But I took the shuriken, took a breath, and threw the shuriken. It hit its mark dead center, I did it, I was finished. I had graduated! Corporal Caramel motioned me over.

“That was a job well done Thunder, I honestly expected you to fail this exam outright, you never showed any promise in ranged weapons. But I am pleasantly surprised that you passed the exam with flying colors. You are to report to Sir Shining Armor, to receive the blessings of Celestia before you leave the Academy. Dismissed!” He said to me I left him and saw Twilight waving me over.

“So how’d it go?” She asked.

“I passed with flying colors! How about you?” I replied.

“Instructor Trixie gave me a little tutorial about magical safety, and then I had to take two scrolls and use them to destroy a statue in the middle of the room. It was easy, and i got this from her!” She held up a magic rod. “It has unlimited uses of ray of frost, I know its only a cantrip, but unlimited uses! I know that’ll be useful!” She said getting more excited with every word she said. I chuckled lightly at her enthusiasm.

“Thats awesome Twilight, really, it is, but do you know who’s giving us the blessings of Celestia before we leave?” I asked her. She shook her head no. “Well, who’s your BBBFF?” I said with a grin. She froze, and a huge smile came to being on her face.

“Shiny?” She asked, I nodded, my grin growing. She started jumping up and down, yelling “YES! YES! YES! YES!” Before releasing other ponies were starting to stare. She stopped and blushed so hard, her face might catch on fire. We then proceeded to the graduation room. After asking the Guard entry, we entered and Twilight rushed forwards to her big brother best friend forever, Sir Shining Armor, also dubbed Shiny by Twilight and me.

“Twilly!” he said also rushing forwards to give her a hug. He then noticed me standing behind them. “Thunder! How are you? How was the ranged exam, I know you were worried about it?” He asked me.

“It went much better than i expected, I guess i was worried for nothing.” I said with a laugh.

“And Twilly, how’d the magical exam go?” He then asked his sister. As she went into great detail about her exam, I started thinking about how I met them, it was a dark point in my life…

It was a dark and cold night in  the Crystal Empire, the ponies of the Blacklake District, the rich and the famous, were snobs, not willing to help anypony in need. I used to live there, with my family, but they were some of the first to fall to the Wailing Death, and I was cast out into the streets, having to resort to stealing scraps from the garbage just to survive. I was about maybe 10 years old at the time, just a blank flank, so no one cared about me anymore. And it was so cold. I was just laying there, under some garbage, trying to leave this world that had given me so much misery and hatred. That was not to be. As I lay there freezing and dying, I noticed a bright lavender light shining up above me. I turned my head towards the light and saw what I believed to be an lavender angel come to take me away from my misery. Her lips were moving but I heard no sound. I closed my eyes and all was black. When I came to, I was in a warm bed. I got up as quietly as I could, and walked out the door of the room. I then started to explore the house I was in. I saw pictures of a family, and one particular member stood out to me. It was the lavender angel who had saved me, now that i looked at her, she appeared to be the same age as me. “Where am I?” I said to myself.

“You're in the house of Sparkle.” A voice behind me said. I whipped around, not the smartest move because i became light headed, and fell to the floor. The person who spoke to me galloped over and helped me up. I started to say thank you, but the words died in my throat when i took a look at the person. It was the lavender angel.

“W-who are you?” I asked. She straightened.

“Oh, I'm sorry, I’ve forgotten my manners, my name is Twilight Sparkle.” She said. “What’s yours?” She then asked me.

“My name is Thunder Quill.” I said, “You saved me, why?”

“Well I couldn’t just let an innocent pony freeze to death could I?” She said matter o’ factly.

“Well in one night, you have shown me more kindness than any other pony in this district.” I said.

“Thank you, Where do you live? Your parents are probably worried sick about you.” She told me. My whole body started shaking at that, Twilight noticed and rushed over to me to make sure I was ok. “What's wrong?” She asked me.

“My parents, they died of the Wailing Death five years ago, I was cast out onto the streets and abandoned.” I said. While Twilight gasped.

“Oh my god, I am so sorry, I didn't know!” She said.

“Its ok, you didn't know, how could you know.” I said to her, which calmed her down. “So, anyway, where are your parents? Do they know i'm here?” To this she nodded.

“We were walking home from the library, I was learning new spells, and I was casting a detect life spell to see if it worked. I sensed a faint life signature near me, near death, and I told my parents. We then rushed over to see who it was. We found you, freezing to death underneath a pile of garbage. We lifted you up and brought you here so we could heal you back to health.” She finished the story.

“I would have died if not for you, thank you.” As I said that, a colt ran up to Twilight and said...

“Twilly, mom and dad want to see you in the living room.” He then took notice of me. “Hey are you ok, when we found you, you were pretty close to death, we weren't sure if you would make it, good to see you did.” He said to me. “What’s your name?” He asked me...

“Thunder Quill, and yours?”

“My name is Shining Armor, I'm Twilight's older brother.” He said to me. “My parents would probably like to talk to you as well, Thunder.” He told me. Twilight told him thank you and she showed me the way to the living room. When we got there, Twilight's parents rose when they saw her and me, Twilight's mom asked me, “Are you ok dear, we were afraid we were going to lose you, we are so glad you are ok.” She said. “What’s your name dear?”

“Thunder Quill.” I said. Her parents were startled at that. Her father said,

“We heard that the whole Quill line had been killed by the Wailing Death. If you really are who you say you are, then the person in charge of the Quill estate would be in big trouble for lying to officials.” When he said this I snarled,

“My so called uncle, he told the officials that my parents and me died so he could get his hands on the Quill fortune.” I sighed, “I guess he won, nopony is going to believe the word of a 10 year old, and no offence, but even if you do believe me, we have no evidence that proves that he lied. So at this point he has won.” I said slumping a lot. “I thank you for saving me, and for your hospitality, but I’ll think i’ll go now.” I said, starting to move towards the door, when suddenly, a lavender light stopped me in my tracks. I turned my head around and saw, not Twilight's parents horns glowing, but Twilight’s horn glowing, stopping my movements.

“No.” She said. “You are not leaving, you have no where to go, you are going to stay here with us, where you will be part of our family. Is that understood?” She asked me. I nodded weakly. She released her magic, and started to fall to the floor. I stopped her from falling and caught her in my arms. I looked up at her parents, for confirmation about what she had declared. They smiled and nodded. I looked at Twilight's sleeping face, and smiled, for the first time in five years.

I came out of my flashback with Twilight and Shiny looking at me strangely.

“You ok there dude?” Shiny asked me.

“Wha- yeah, I'm fine” I said.

“You were thinking about that night, weren’t you?” Twilight asked me, looking concerned. I sighed, she could read me too well.

“Yeah I was.” I said.

“What nigh- oh, that night" Shiny said. “The night that we found you?” I nodded. “Well, I guess it’s time to get your…” Shiny stopped. Many ponies in masks had teleported into the room and had started attacking the other graduates. “We’re under attack, destroy the invaders!” He yelled to the room. Me and Twilight wasted no time rushing into action. I charged at one and started beating the pony to death, whilst Twilight Started Flinging spells across the Room, She cast summon creature, and a dire badger came into our plane of existence, and started attacking the masked assailants. She then used her rod of frost and used that to freeze the attackers in their tracks. I had killed the first enemy, and started rushing towards another, when I noticed an assailant sneaking up behind Twi with a dagger, she didn't even notice the bastard. I changed direction immediately, but I realised that i wouldn’t get there in time. The mare who had changed my life, saved me from death, became friends with me when she didn't even know me, was about to die and I couldn’t do anything about it. I felt all the anger and hatred towards the people who knowingly screwed with ponies lives and made their lives miserable, the killers of innocents. My eyes started glowing white, I felt, strangely calmer, more relaxed than i had felt since Twilight took me in. I ran faster, four other attackers jumped in my path, I punched them each in the muzzle, i heard their noses break, each of the collapsing to the floor not moving. I was almost to her, but the dagger was closer to to her back. I felt my magic being activated, and I teleported right next to the  attacker, I could feel his eyes widening behind his mask. I smiled and punched him in the mask, so hard it broke, and the face behind it exploded. Twilight jumped forwards and looked back behind her, and her eyes widened when she saw what had happened, and was even more shocked when she looked at me and saw that what I had done, and what my appearance was, with my white glowing eyes, and my bloodspattered appearance. The fight was then over with the last invader being the one whose head exploded from my puch. My eyes lost their glow and I fell to the floor. Twilight was still standing there in shock. Shining Armor, rushed over to my side and helped me up. I leaned against his side trying to regain my strength.

“Twi, you ok?” I asked. She snapped out of her shock and nodded.

“Yeah, i'm ok, how did you do that?” she asked me in awe. I shook my head.

“I don't know… I just started feeling something, I felt like i couldn’t help you, the Mare who changed my life, saved it, took me in when no one else would, became my friend, you were about to die, and if i couldn’t save you, I felt like my life would be meaningless again.” I said feeling both shocked and embarrassed at my sudden emotional outburst. By the look of Twilight's face, I had shocked her too. If the redness on her face was any indication, I had embarrassed her as well. Shining Armor was the first to recover.

“I believe that, power you just exhibited was called zen, it allows very powerful monks to sense danger, hit harder, be hit harder and longer, and be faster. But anyway, you two need to secure the Waterdhavian creatures.” He told us. We both gave him confused looks. He sighed, “The Waterdhavian creatures are four creatures that when certain regents are gathered from each creature, will hopefully cure the wailing death." Our eyes went wide at this. "Go. Take this key, this will unlock the door which leads to the creatures. Now go! There isn't much time!"

"You can count on us Shiny!" Twilight said. We rushed out the door and stopped at the carnage that awaited out right out the door. Bodies of mutilated ponies and goblins littered the hall. A lone masked figure stood in front of us.

"What's this? I was expecting Armor, not some wet behind the ears adventurers!" He said. "Let's see how you deal with my minions fools!" And with that the figure teleported away, leaving four goblins behind. The goblins looked at each other then at us, then charged at us, swords raised. The first goblins face met my hoof and fell to the floor,  I sensed danger and dodged right before Twilight cast burning hooves and burnt the second and third goblin to a crisp. The fourth goblin made it past me and made a mad dash for Twilight, but before it could get more than 5 feet, spike, Twilight’s draconic familiar burned that goblin into ashes.

"Nice job Spike!" I said. He grinned smugly. We then rushed to the door that the key opened. The door led to a hallway, which we galloped full speed into the next room. The next room was a storage room. At one end of the room, the mysterious masked pony was waiting.

“What!? You survived!? It matters not, you shall die here!” The pony yelled. With that, he summoned more goblins while teleporting away.

“Ugg, this again?!” Twilight groaned. I readied my hooves, while Twilight readied her Rod of Frost. The goblins charged at us, a couple fell my hooves, while more fell by Twilight's powerful magic. Goblin after goblin fell to her Magic Missile and Flaming hooves. I saw a goblin coming after Twilight, but this time she was able to sense the attack coming, she whipped around and cast a Magic Missile right into the bastards face. The goblin flew across the room and exploded on a wall, spewing guts and gore everywhere. Thankfully that was the last goblin, for after that spell, Twilight’s face went a nasty shade of green, and then proceeded to vomit on the floor. I rushed over, careful not to step on the puke. I started rubbing her back, telling her it was going to be ok. After a couple of more minutes, she calmed down enough to talk. “I didn't know my magic was that powerful…” She said, still looking a little pale.

“We need to keep going, are you ok to travel?” I asked her, She nodded. “OK then, lets go.” We continued on, fighting the occasional goblin and trying to find the Waterdhavian creatures. We eventually came to a three way split. We decided to take the middle door. Through the door was some more goblins and…

“Skeletons! Really!” Twilight yelled, It was true. There were the skeletons of ponies galloping towards us, ready to mangle us, we galloped to meet them. One of my hooves met one of the skeleton’s skulls, shattering it instantly. Twilight used her Rod of Frost to freeze another, and I gave it a roundhouse kick to shatter it completely. We then saw the main attacker to the Academy, the masked mage, who, I was just noticing now, didn’t have a horn that I could see, so what was he? We galloped towards each other, me going into zen mode, him casting a powerful spell at me. I gave him a confident smirk, completely believing that my newfound Zen powers would protect me.That was completely false. The spell hit me and instantly, I screamed in pain and was thrown across the room. I lay there, trying to re-gather my senses. I heard Twilight scream, and winced at the noise. I saw her eyes start to glow. Her horn glowed with a light that almost appeared white. The mysterious mage started to glow, he was lifted into the air. He then started screaming, and his limbs started ripping off, one by one, which fully snapped me out of my stupor. I leaped to my hooves and I ran to Twilight's side.

“Twilight stop!!!!” I yelled at her. “This isn’t you! What would your parents think?” She didn't even look up. She continued to try to tear the mage apart. “What would Shiny think?” That made her look at me. Her eyes lost their glow, and started to tear up. She then fell to the ground. I caught her, and helped her up. She was able to stand albit shakily. She was looking at anywhere but me. “Twilight, look at me.” She still refused to look at anywhere but me. “Twilight, look at me.” I put a hoof to her chin and made it face me. Her face was tear stricken, and tears were still streaming down her face. I pulled her into a hug. She tried to pull away, but I wouldn’t let her. She finally gave up and sobbed into my shoulder. I patted her on the back and shh’d her. She calmed down after 10 more minutes. She sat sniffling on the floor, me sitting right next to her.

“I wanted to destroy him…” She finally said “I thought you were dead, I just couldn’t stand the thought, I wanted him to feel the suffering that he caused you” I looked at her in surprise. She looked up at me, “When you explained what you felt, you know, in the graduation room.” She said, with teary eyes. “I… felt something… something I’ve never felt before.” We got closer to each other. “It was the most wonderful feeling I’ve ever felt.” We got even closer. “It was a feeling I’ve only heard described by Cadence, our old foalsitter.” We got so close that I was getting lost in her lavender eyes. “The feeling that she called, love.” We kissed, it wasn’t like anything that I had ever experienced. It was one of the most wonderful feeling I’ve ever felt. Our arms intertwined, bringing us closer together than ever before. The only reason why we broke the kiss was that we needed to breathe. We stared into each others eyes and smiled. Then the same thought came to our minds at the same time.

“The Waterdhavian Creatures!!!!” We untangled our limbs and scrambled to our feet. We rushed through the next door and came to the stables. We saw our old foalsitter, Cadence, fighting goblins alongside another mare who we didn't recognize. We rushed into the fray, me entering Zen mode and started punching the life out of any and all goblins near us with Twilight casting all kinds of spells, Magic Missile, Burning Hooves, Ray of Frost. It didn't take very long before all the goblins were dead. Cadence Smiled at us and pulled us over into a hug.

“Twilight, Thunder how are you?” She asked releasing us. As she released us she noticed we were holding hooves. “Oh my goddesses! You two are in love!” She gasped. We blushed but did not deny it. Nor did we stop holding hands. “You know, I always knew you two would hit it off. So, does Shining know?” At this, we froze. With the discovery of our love for each other, we completely forgot about Shiny.

“Umm, no, We kind only found out when i tore a attacker limb from limb…” Twilight said quietly, but Cadence still heard. She blanched.

“You did what? You tore a pony limb from limb?” She screeched looking very angry. She charged to Twilight, with a hoof raised. But the second before the blow landed, I came between Twilight and Cadence, taking the blow meant for Twilight. I was knocked to the floor, I forgot how powerful blows Cadence could land. Cadence’s eyes widened. She used her magic to help me up and started apologizing profusely. “Ohmygodohmygodohmygod! I am so sorry!”

“It’s no problem I couldn’t let Twilight get hurt without you knowing the full story.” I then explained the event from when after we destroyed the skeletons to now. Her eyes widened when I described the circumstances for when she tore the limbs off the mage.

“I believe the event that you are describing is called a magical overload, only the most powerful mages can access it, it increases magical ability by a factor of about 15. It also empowers and maximises all of your spells, but it only lasts about 1 min and afterwards the user is weak and tired so it needs to be used wisely.” Cadence explained to us.

“Cadence, Why are we still here, we need to be out looking for the rest of the Waterdhavian creatures” The unknown mare said,

“Ohh yes Twilight, Thunder, this is Cursed Betrayal, she is in charge of the priests helping against the plague.” Cadence said. I frowned at Betrayal. Twilight saw my frown and leaned towards me and asked:

“Hey, what's wrong?”

“It might be nothing, but the harmony of betrayal seems… off”

“How so?”

“Her evil side is much larger than her good side, but let’s keep it quiet for now. OK?” she nodded. Cadence then told us to come to the hall of harmony within the week for information about the waterdhavian creatures.

Level up sequence:

Level up X2 Twilight Sparkle

HP+ 12 total: 18

new spells: Sleep, Shield, Summon Creature II, Invisibility

Level up X2 Thunder Quill

HP+ 24 total: 36

New feats: Monk Speed, Still Mind

Act 1 Scene 1, the Peninsula District

Soon the day came when Twilight and I had to go to the Hall of Harmony, for information regarding the Waterdhavian creatures. We saw Cadence and Cursed Betrayal arguing over something when we came in. “This is a mistake Cadence!” Betrayal spat, “We have no reason to trust these… students!”

“Please, Betrayal, calm yourself, if Shining Armor believes in them then they should be trustworthy.” Cadence was pleading with the angry mare.

“Shining Armor is binded due to the fact that the mage is his sister, and the monk is practically his brother!” She was shouting.

“Betrayal, I will not have you talk about my love that way!” Cadence yelled starting to get angry. Twilight and I rushed in before things could get any worse.

“Betrayal, Cadence calm yourselves!” I yelled at them. “This is the Hall of Harmony, can we please have some?” I asked them. They looked away from each other, snorting. “Now then, if we’re all calm here, Shining wanted to see us, where is he?” I asked them.

“Through the door, he’s waiting for you.” Cadence said.

“Thank you.” I told her. We started walking towards the door when Cadence called out to us

“Good luck!” We both looked at each other with a semi-worried look. We still hadn’t told Shiny about us. We walked through the door and saw Shining smiling at us.

“Twilly, Thunder! How are you, I haven’t seen you two since the attack!” His smile faded, and was replaced with a sad look. “I thought you two had been seriously injured or worse, Cadence told me about the spell you took Thunder, it was lucky you had your zen stance activated or you might be dead right now.” His face grew even more sad. “And Twilight, Cadence also told me what you did after Thunder was hit, I thought you had more control over your emotions.” Twilight started crying. That was too much for me, I hugged Twilight, which shocked the hell out of Shining. “Are you two… In love?”

“Its that obvious huh?” I told him sarcastically still a little ticked that he made her cry. Shining suddenly seemed to realize what he had done.

"Oh my goddess twilight I am so sorry."

“Its ok Shiny, you didn't know why I did it other than I lost control of my emotions. Now, you wanted to talk to us about the location of the waterdhavian creatures?” She asked him.

“Oh yes, that’s right, we’ve had reports of strange things happening in all four districts of the city. In the Beggar’s Nest, we have had reports of walking dead, zomponies if you will.” Twilight and I shuddered at that. “In the Docks, we have had more criminal activity than usual. In the Peninsula district, or the prison district, we have had a prison break, when you go there, speak to lieutenant Thunderlane, he will explain more about the break. And in the blacklake district…” He trailed off.

"What about Blacklake?" I asked.

"Thunder, your uncle has one of the creatures." Shining said. I froze, my mind reliving the horrors that my uncle had committed against me.

It was a few weeks after my parents had died. My uncle had called me into the study.

"Boy, do you know why I called you to MY study?" He asked me. I ground my teeth in anger. He knew that he hated that my parents home now belonged to him.

"No uncle." I said, putting all the venom and hatred I could into each word.

"Because you are too expensive to keep around." He said laughing. I froze, he wasn't doing what I thought he was doing, was he? "I see you have figured out what I plan to do, you see my dear, nephew, you are going to tell me where the Quill fortune is or..." I felt a sharp point right above my heart, damn it, it’s a trap! "You will die." He finished, grinning evilly.

"I'll never help you, you bastard! I would rather die than betray my parents!" I yelled at him trying not to think about the consequences. His smug grin turned into a scowl.

"Fine then, die like your trash parents, I hope you see them in Tartarus." He growled turning and starting to leave the room. It all happened in a fraction of a second. Right before the point pierced my heart, I moved faster than I thought possible, moving out of the path of the dagger and started rushing towards my uncle. He turned around, and met my hoof. I started to beat the life out of him, but he pushed me off of him, and yelled for the guards. I rushed through the door, past the surprised Guards, and, though my old home,  which I thought I would never see again, rushed through the front doors and out into the streets of Blacklake.

"Thunder? Thunder? You ok?" I heard Twilight say.

"Wha- yeah, I'm ok?" I told her, shaking myself out of my reverie. "Just thinking about the night I left my parents home." She looked at me sadly.

"We'll get through this together." She told me. I smiled and nodded at her. Shining looked at us in amusement.

"Wow, you two really in love. Anyway, you two need to check out these places. Before you go, take these.” He handed us a stone and some kind of pass. “That pass will let you go past the gates into the districts. But the stone, that is much more impressive. The stone is called a Recall stone, if you hold it and concentrate, you will be teleported back here to the hall of harmony. I will wait for you two here for when you have the regents.” We started to leave the Hall of Harmony, when Shiny stopped me, “Thunder, I know you would never hurt Twilight on purpose, but please, you have to promise to not let anything happen to her.” Shining begged me.

“Don't worry Shiny, I won't let anything happen to Twilight.” I promised him.

I left the hall, and met up with Twilight, and were wondering where we were going to go first, when a mare rushed up to us.

“Please, you have to help me!” She begged us.

“What's wrong?” Twilight asked her. Despite me being talkative around the Sparkle family, I was really shy.

“My husband, he works at the Prison, he’s the cook there, I heard about the Prison break, and he hasn’t come home since the break, please if you are going there, please try to find him?” She asked us.

“Ok, sure, What's his name?” Twilight asked

“Carrot Cake. Mine’s Cup Cake.” She told us.

“Ok, Mrs. Cake, if we find your husband we will help him get home.” Twilight promised her. We left Mrs. Cake and started walking towards the prison. “You were really quiet during that. I guess getting a marefriend still won't help your shyness yet huh?” Twilight asked me. I shook my head no. This reminded me another time when my shyness was in overload.

“Come on.” A filly Twilight was asking me. “I want you to meet my other friends, their dying to meet you.” She must have noticed my pained expression and realised her bad choice of words because she blanched. “Sorry, extremely bad choice of words, but still, come on, at least meet one of my friends. Please?” She gave me her best puppy dog eyes. I could never resist those eyes. I sighed.

“Ok, fine, but only one of your friends.” I told her.

“Ok, that works, because I really only have one friend outside you and Shiny.” She told me. So we went off to find her friend in Blacklake. “Her name is Rarity, and she is good with magic, almost as good as me.” She told me. We reached Rarity’s home, a modest home, not on the scale of the Sparkle’s or the Quill’s, but a nice home nonetheless. Twilight knocked on the door and after a few minutes, the door opened and we saw a white filly the same color of my coat, but with dark purple hair.

"Twilight darling, how are you?" She asked her. She then noticed me and asked: "Twilight, who is this?"

"That's a long story, May we come in?" Twilight asked. Rarity invited us inside. She told her parents that we were going to her room.

"Well, we're alone, what's up?" Rarity asked. Twilight looked at me, I wasn't in any place to talk, so she told my story for me. By the end of it, Rarity was crying. I had cried so much over these past few years that I just never cried anymore. Rarity walked over to me and I cringed, thinking about what had happened every other times my uncle had hit me. But she didn't, she instead hugged me. I froze, expecting to be hit, but I relaxed when I figured out what was going on. She was still sobbing when she let go of me. “T-that h-horrible m-man!” She managed to choke out in between sobs. “W-why d-did he do those terrible things to you?” She asked, finally getting control of her emotions. I was still a little nervous about talking, but I guess it was now or never.

“I think it was because he wanted the Quill fortune, an almost limitless sum of bits, gems, magical items, scrolls and other such things. My so called uncle isn’t even my uncle at all, he’s just a gold digger who has the power to make others do what he wants, either through intimidation, bribery or magical power. He is a very powerful mage, he uses it for his own gain.” I laughed bitterly. “I guess the magic of friendship does not apply to him.” We talked for a little while longer, and said goodbye to Rarity and we went back to Twilight's house.

We had reached the gate to the Peninsula district and a Crystal Guard stopped us.

“Halt! None may pass by order of Princess Luna!” He said to us. Twilight showed him our pass and he bowed in respect. “My apologies Lady Twilight and Lord Thunder, you may go through as soon as you are ready, but be careful, there is a prison break in this area, are you sure that you want to be going into this area?” He asked us.

“Yes we are sure.” Twilight said. He let us pass, bading us to be careful. We went through the gate and entered the Peninsula district. When we entered, we saw the Crystal Guards fighting against some convicts. We rushed in to Aid the guards. Twilight was casting Magic Missile, whilst I was beating any and all convicts, teleportation is a major boon when you're a monk. After Twilight and I entered the fight, it was over in a matter of seconds. A guard came over and asked us.

“Thank you for the assist, but who are you and why are you here?”

“I am Twilight Sparkle, and this is Thunder Quill. We have been instructed by my brother, Shining Armor, to find the regents for the cure.” She told the guard.

“Ok, well, be careful here, there is a prison break going on as you know.”

“Ok, thank you.” She told him. We went on our way. The next few minutes were relatively uneventful, until we heard yelling close to us.

“Leave me alone!” We heard a mare’s voice yell.

“Ohh? And how are you gonna stop us?” We heard a stallion’s thuggish say smugly.

“Maybe with us helping?” I found myself saying surprised at my boldness. The stallions whipped around, surprised at us being there.

“Oh yeah, and what are you gonna do about it?” The biggest one of them said. “Maybe after we finish with you, we’ll have our way with her.” He pointed to Twilight. I felt hate bubbling up inside of me. My eyes started to glow, but the idiot didn't notice, he was too busy eyeing up Twilight, same with his two buddies. So it came as a huge shock to the other two when I came up and exploded the leader’s head. The other two were frozen in shock, including the mare, who was a cyan blue pegasus with a rainbow mane and tail, but only for a second. The two convicts rushed at me, swords at the ready. I dodged them and called:

“TWILIGHT!!!” She got the message and sent a burning hooves at the charging stallions. They saw what was happening and tried to turn around, but it was too late. you could almost hear their skin bubbling and burning over their screams of agony that could be heard across the entire city. The fight over, I went up to the still frozen in shock mare and asked. “Are you ok?” She looked at me and regaining some sense of calm said in a shaky voice.

“Y-yeah sure, thanks for saving me, not that I needed it.” I rolled my eyes at that.

“What's your name?” I asked her.

“Rainbow Dash!” She said proudly. “The one and only pony to ever perform the sonic rainboom!”

“Really, the sonic rainboom?” Twilight said skeptically. “Thats just an old mare’s tale”

“Oh yeah? I’ll prove it!”

“Wait no-” I started to say, but it was too late. She had already flown up in to the sky. After a minute, we couldn't see her anymore. But,

“Look there she is!” Twilight yelled. We could see Rainbow coming down, forming a mach cone around her. At the last second, she accelerated, and we heard an ear shattering boom, and a rainbow going away from where the boom originated. She landed a second later.

“What did I tell ya?” She said proudly.

“Yes.” I deadpanned. “And managing to bring every single convict in the area to try to kill us.” She winced and looked around. Sure enough we could hear the convicts and see the shadows of them gathering around us.

“Hehe, umm oops?” Rainbow said nervously. I just scowled and activated zen mode, while Twilight cast Summon creature II, and shield on us three. The convicts charged, and we met them head on. I punched a few in the face, making them fly backwards into the walls of the square we were in. Twilight was using her quarterstaff like a boss, using it to stun enemies then casting burning hooves to finish them off. Rainbow actually surprised me. She moved as a blur, slicing the convicts necks, and blasting them back with her speed. It wasn't long before they were all down, and we were left standing there. Rainbow started to loot the bodies.

“Rainbow!?” Twilight gasped. “What are you doing?”

“Looting the bodies, duh.” Rainbow said matter o’ factly.

“But why?” I asked

“Its expensive to survive in this city, and i’m gonna need all the help i can get.” Rainbow said

“What kind of skills do you have?” I asked.

“I'm trained as a rogue, I can pick locks, disable traps, pickpocket, and such.” Rainbow said proudly.

“What about sneaking, move silently, sneak attack?” Twilight asked.

“Nah, i'm too cool for sneaking.” Rainbow said.

“Well, we could use a rogue to help us in our quest.” I said while Twilight and Rainbow looked at me in shock.

“Thunder, can I speak to you alone please?” Twilight asked.

“Yeah sure. Hey Rainbow, can you wait here a moment?”

“Umm… sure.” We walked away, and Twilight said to me.

“Thunder, WHAT THE BUCK ARE YOU THINKING!?” She yelled at me in a whisper. I was slightly shocked at her response.

“Umm, I was thinking that we could use a rogue in our quest?” I said

“Are you thinking upstairs or downstairs?” Twilight asked me. I was offended at that response.

“Twilight, I love you, and nopony else.” She looked at me skeptically. “Ok then, can either one of us pick locks non magically?” She shook her head. “Can either one of us disable traps?” She shook her head again. “Ok, can you see the logic in my asking her to join us?” She sighed

“Yes, yes I can, but if she tries anything with you, or vice versa, she will be thrown out into the sun. Am I understood?” Twilight said. I gulped and nodded. We went back to Rainbow, who looked at us.

“So, Rainbow, do you still want to join us?” Twilight said.

“Yeah, I figure I owe you, and I always pay my debts. So, what’s our quest?”

“Our quest is to find the regents for the cure of the wailing death.” Rainbow looked shocked.

“There’s a cure!?!?” I nodded. “When was it discovered?” She practically screamed at me.

“Recently, why?” Twilight asked. Rainbow looked sad

“My parents were one of the first casualties of the wailing death.” She said.

“So were mine.” I said. Instantly Rainbow jumped at me.

“What! You feel bad for me? Try to lie to me so i’ll feel better?! HUH? HUH?” She screamed at me. She raised her hoof in anger, ready to hit me, when Twilight pulled her away from me. Her eyes were glowing white. That was not good.

“HOW DARE YOU!” Twilight yelled at Rainbow, her voice sounding demonic. “HOW DARE YOU TRY TO HURT HIM! YOU WANT PAIN, I’LL GIVE YOU PAIN!” But before she could do anything I ran up and tackled her to the ground, breaking her concentration and sending Rainbow to the ground.

“Twilight stop! She doesn't know! She thought I was lying to make her feel better!” I yelled at her. Her eyes stopped glowing and she looked at me. Her eyes started to tear up, and it wasn't long before she was sobbing into my coat, with me comforting her. Rainbow was in shock again, staring at us slack jawed. After a few minutes, calmed down enough to look at Rainbow and said:

“I-i’m sorry. I l-lost control of my emotions again.” Twilight said, still sniffing.

“Rainbow, my parents really did die from the wailing death, I was cast out into the street, by my uncle. I was living on the streets for five years, until one night, when i was near death, Twilight and her family, they found me and saved my life.” I explained to Rainbow. She looked at me with sorrow.

“I'm sorry I acted without thinking first, I just get so mad when people say stuff like what you said, trying to make it seem like the world is still ok, but its not, my parents are dead, and nothing can bring them back. Well, enough of that, what's next?” Rainbow said, recovering.

“We get into the prison, and figure out what is causing it.” I told her. She gave me a look.

“But, umm, if we’re looking for the regents for the cure, why are we investigating the prison break?” She asked me.

“Well, the creatures escaped, roughly a week ago, and the prison break happened what, a few days later? That doesn't seem suspicious to you?” I asked her.

“Ok, ok, I get it, but how do we get in? That place is locked down tight, even I couldn't get in.”

“Well my brother, Shining Armor, told us to go see Lieutenant Thunderlane, he will explain more about the break, and hopefully how to get into the prison.” I told her. She froze when I said Thunderlane. “Rainbow are you ok?” I asked her.

“We can’t go see Thunderlane.” She told me.

“Why?” Twilight asked her. Rainbow looked apprehensive.

“He said that the next time he sees me, he’ll kill me himself.” She told us.

“Well, i'm sure he won't.” I told her. She gave me a death glare.

“Have you ever met him?” We shook our heads. “Then you don't know how bucking serious this guy is. He said he’ll kill me and he means it.”

“I won't let him, if he wants to hurt my friends, he has to go through me.”  I told her. I looked at Twilight who sighed.

“That goes for me as well.” Twilight told Rainbow. She looked at us, tears starting to form in her eyes.

“I'm your friend?” We nodded. She launched herself at us, giving us a bone shattering hug. “Thank you, I've never had a friend before. I've been a thief all my life, everypony wanted me dead.” She told us. I looked at her sympathetically.

"It's the same with me, please try not to hit me again, I was raised in the blacklake district, I didn't have any friends, even before my parents died. Only people who wanted something from me, and when i was kicked out of my house, they wanted nothing to do with me, just to mock me and torture me even more. But then Twilight found me and saved my life. And for once in my life, I felt loved." I finished my tale and Rainbow was quietly sobbing. I gave her a brief hug. She relaxed, and stopped sobbing. She looked at me.

"Wow, that was some tale. I think I'm ready to go see Thunderlane now. Lets just hope he doesn't try to kill me..." She said, sounding nervous at the end.

"Don't worry, if he tries to hurt you, we'll stop him." I told her. With that, we went off to see Thunderlane. We found him in the Guard HQ, looking over some plans. He smiled at us when he heard us come in, but that face of happiness changed to a snarl of rage. He drew his sword, and charged towards Rainbow, but found himself stopped by a white aura of telekinesis, my TK.

"What!?" He snarled at us. "Are you going to kill me too, just like my baby brother?!" He yelled at us. Rainbow winced and we shot around to look at her.

"Rainbow, what is he talking about?" I asked her.

"Its a long story, and I don't want to talk about it if he's gonna kill me in the middle of it." She told us. I looked at Thunderlane and said:

"OK, Lieutenant Thunderlane, I am going to let you down on one condition, you cannot harm Rainbow Dash in any way she is with us, trying to save the city on a mission from Twilight's brother Shining Armor, if you cause any harm to her, you will be afflicted the same way. Got it?" He gulped and nodded. "OK, I am going to let you down now." I let him down, and he gave Rainbow a venomous glare. "Rainbow, lets hear the story." I told her. She swallowed, and started her story.

It was about 10-15 years ago, and Rainbow was a thief, stealing food and medicine, but never harming anypony, to avoid giving ponies the same pain she felt when her parents died. She did all this to help herself and the little group of orphans whose parents had died of the wailing death. She had just broken into a house, and was stealing some food and medicine with her partner in crime, and best friend, Gilda, who had just noticed a safe in the study.

"Hey, Dash, lets see what's in this safe. Can you pick the lock for me?" She asked Rainbow, but Rainbow shook her head.

"No, remember, we only steal food and medicine, nothing else." Rainbow told her. Gilda gave her a glare, and stomped off to the kitchen. "Gilda, be quiet we can't let anypony hear u-" She started to say, but then she noticed a grey blue Pegasus foal with a dark blue mane and tail. Unfortunately, Gilda noticed him as well and flew towards the foal with a longsword in hand. "Gilda, NO!!!" Rainbow yelled, but it was too late. Gilda's sword had pierced the foals heart. He fell to the ground, longsword still in his chest. Rainbow stood frozen in shock, while Gilda grabbed the sword from the foals chest and pulled it out. Rainbow un-froze and with a scream of rage, launched herself at Gilda. "WHY!!!! WHY THE BUCK WOULD YOU DO THAT!!!!! HE WAS ONLY A FOAL!!!!" She screamed at her. Gilda shrugged.

"He would have called his parents, or the guards, I couldn't let him do that." She said nonchalantly. Rainbow was so enraged, she was incapable of coherent speech, when she heard the sound of hooves running down the stairs. They turned at the same time, to see a dark blue Pegasus colt standing in the doorway, sword drawn, eyes wide, full of rage and hatred.

"Who did this?" He spoke calmly, but clearly had rage behind it.

"She did it!" Gilda yelled at him, then bolting out of the window, leaving Rainbow to deal with the armed Pegasus.

"Why did you do this, he was only a foal, he didn't even have his cutie mark!!!" He yelled at her.

"I didn't kill him!" She told him. "It was that bitch who flew out the window!"

"Likely story. Now prepare to die." He told her, charging at her. Rainbow, not wanting to be skewered at the end of a blade, flew out of the house, and into the night.

“That bitch! She kills a foal, doesn't even care, and then blames it on me?! Where is she?” Rainbow then proceeded to hunt Gilda all over the city. Rainbow found her next to the clocktower, laughing her flank off. Rainbow landed next to her and Gilda looked up.

“Oh hey Dash? What's up?” Gilda then noticed the anger evident in her best friend’s eyes. “Oh come on, you're still not mad about what happened at that dude’s house are you? I already explained why I did it, so calm down.”

“No I will not calm down, you killed a foal, he didn't even have his cutie mark!” Rainbow yelled at the top of her lungs, pulling out her dagger and rapier. Gilda looked at the weapons and sighed.

“Really Rainbow? You could never beat me in a fight, so why try now?” She asked her, drawing her longsword and short sword and charging at her. Rainbow parried the bigger blade with her dagger, knocking it to the side, while leaving Gilda open to attack from Rainbow’s rapier. Gilda dodged it,  and thrust with her shorter blade. Rainbow gasped, and looked down to see the blade entering her stomach. She fell to the ground, gasping for breath, her blades falling to her sides. In her dimming vision, she saw Gilda laughing at her, ready to end her. But right before she blacked out, she saw a orange earth pony charging towards the griffin. When she awoke, she was in the hall of harmony, and the clerics told her that she was left on the doorstep, near death. She was healed and went out to look for Gilda, only to find that she was dead, right where she was about to kill Rainbow. She never did find out who saved her.

Rainbow finished her story, and we were all silent. Even Thunderlane, who was, growling for most of the tale, was shocked into silence when he found out that Gilda had tried to kill Rainbow.

“Rainbow… I’m sorry… I was just so wrought with grief that I was just willing to kill the first person that came in my way. I should've believed that you never would've killed my little brother… from what I've heard of you, you only steal from the people who hoard, and give to the poor, and only keep what you need to survive.” Thunderlane said. He shook his head. “I’ll help any and all of you to get into the prison. Now, the main entrance is locked, but we've had reports of a smaller gang breaking off with a key into the sewers near the prison.” We thanked him and left to go to the sewers.

level up!

Thunder Quill: level 4 Monk

+12 hp, total 48

No new feats.

Twilight Sparkle: level 4 Wizard

+6 hp, total 24

No new feats

New spells: Continual Flame, Flame Weapon

Rainbow Dash: level 4 Rogue.

+8 HP total 32

No new feats.