The Chance of a Lifetime

Chapters

A New Beginning
Odd, that wasn't supposed to happen
Watchers and Apologies
Taking it All in Stride...more or less
A Fusion of Ma'at and Isfet
Things will never be the same...

A New Beginning

Author's Note

Hey guys, so here's my new story! I hope you enjoy it. Sorry about saying so little, I just don't have much to say.

DISCLAIMER: Some sections are not my own, but are from Wildcard25's FiMfic, "Ladies' Man on Campus." His fic is my inspiration to write this one. The same goes with the setting, and some of the characters. All original content is mine.

UPDATE 11/26/2014: I've changed all of the characters to ponies. Reason being, it still had too much plagiarized content, and I couldn't think of any other way to remove it except to make them all ponies. Tell me what guys think!

UPDATE 03/11/15: After giving it much thought, I've decided to make all of the characters anthropomorphic. This is because there's going to be some parts where human appendages will be needed, but I still want to avoid being pinned for plagiarized content.

A New Beginning

My name is Bright Scales, 19-year-old pony who has been caught up in the ideals of Co-Principals Celestia and Luna Diade to participate in an experiment for their Canterlot University. They had agreed that their campus was ready to break tradition and go from an all-mare university to a normal one. One with mares and stallions alike taking classes.

They advertised the opportunity on Snaptext and Instacam, and what resulted was an absolute frenzy. It is a wonder they never seemed overwhelmed by the mountain of press and headlines both good and bad.

Over 10,000 stallions applied for it, doing their best to follow the given criteria:

They had to be between 18- and 21-years-old, in good academic and financial standing (it was clarified that they were looking spending habits, not simply for stallions with a lot of money), gave letters of recommendations from 3 or more non-family connections, no criminal records of any kind for any reason, and a 1,000+ word essay as to why they wanted to be chosen and why they were uniquely suited for the honor.

Six of us remained by the end of the month-long process, and each of us were judged by the co-principals themselves in a lengthy interview. We shook their hands, greeted them, then spent half a day each in their offices as students went in and out and we were given the opportunity to interact with them to a limited degree.

At the end of the interviews Principal Luna asked us which stallion would be most suited to represent all stallions at this university if they were not chosen.

I chose Onyx Ace.

Everypony else chose me.

What have I gotten myself into…

…

…oh buck it, what do I have left to lose? This may be what I need to get over my fears once and for all. If I cannot get over my fear here, then I may never get another chance and my dream may never come to pass.

A lone colt eyed the massive gates that led into Canterlot University with apprehension. He was a sapphire-blue unicorn with forest green hair and his cutie mark was a dragon mech surrounded by musical notes, all on a sheet of parchment. His name was Bright Scales. He was seriously starting to regret accepting Principal Celestia's request now that he was here. He took a deep breath and talked softly to himself.

"Ok, Bright. This is it. This is what you got yourself into. No turning back. Don't fuck up, now." Bright inhaled deeply, then steeled himself and walked into the building.

As he walked his way to the building, he looked around seeing nothing but mares everywhere, all dressed in the Canterlot Academy uniform. They had pitch-black skirts with a red-and-white stripe across the top, yellow blouses, and large capes that depicted their mascot-- an alicorn-- and the name of their school: The Canterlot Warponies. If he wasn't so nervous, Bright would've snorted at the design; it seemed pretty bland and definitely needed to be changed.

But as it was, Bright was already anxious from his current predicament, and the fact that many of them looked pretty sexy wasn't helping to calm himself down at all. He was acutely aware of them staring in his direction and whispering to their peers about why a colt was in their school. He tried ignoring them, but it was really difficult. He eventually decided to keep focusing on finding his way to the Principal's office, wherever the hell that was.

He finally made it into the building, where he examined a map of the university on a wall. "Ok, so the Principal's office should be over that way." he followed the directions with a brisk, nervous pace. While he was trotting along, he started singing under his breath. Music always had helped to calm his nerves, and his situation definitely warranted it.

In fields where nothing grew but weeds,
I found a flower at my feet.
Bending there in my direction.

I wrapped a hand around its stem.
I pulled until the roots gave in.
Finding now what I've been missing...

As he trekked down the hall, he passed a group of six more mares: two Earth ponies, two unicorns, and two pegasi. He didn't pay much attention except to acknowledge their presence with a sideways glance. When the two parties passed, the group stopped dead and turned to stare at the young stallion who had passed them. The lavender unicorn with purple hair and a pink stripe through it spoke first, "Girls, was that just me, or was that a colt?"

"I don't know." replied an orange, blonde-haired, freckled Earth pony wearing a cowboy hat in a western accent.

"That wasn't just you, Twilight," an alabaster unicorn sporting long, curled, indigo-hued hair answered. "That really was a colt."

"A colt in our school??" the second Earth pony repeated, this one being all pink and her hair like pink cotton-candy. She didn't seem surprised at all. In fact, her expression was one of pure excitement as she continually bounced on her feet.

"Why would a colt be here?" a buttercup-yellow pegasus with long pale-pink hair asked softly.

"I'm not sure," the other pegasus replied, this one cyan-skinned and sporting short, rainbow-colored hair. "But that means we're gonna find out the answer." With that, the six mares started trailing the oblivious Bright Scales.

Meanwhile, Bright was unaware of his six new followers as he stopped to recollect his thoughts, still looking for the principal's office. "Okay, so I'm at the T-junction that was shown on the map...so I should take a left and--"

He turned to his left and came face-to-face with the poofy-haired pony.

"GYUH!" Bright yelped in surprise as he slipped and fell flat onto his rump, making a dull thud as he hit the floor.

The mare confusedly looked at him and asked, "Why did you fall down like that?"

"You're seriously asking me that question?" he shot back. "Ow, that hurt."

"You okay?" another voice called from somewhere behind him.

Bright looked over his shoulder and saw that it was the same mares that he had walked passed before. The one with the purple hair and pink streak through it had spoken. She offered him a hand, and he gratefully took it. When he got back onto his feet, he answered,

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"Sorry about that, Pinkie does that with new faces," she explained.

"Oh...ok." Bright said quietly. He looked at the pony named Pinkie, who grinned at him.

The pegasus with the rainbow-colored hair brusquely stepped up to him, "Hey, buddy, don'tcha know this is a school for mares only?"

"Yeah, I know." he said nervously.

"Then why the heck are YOU here?" she demanded. Bright quailed away in fright. Whoever she was, she scared him.

"Now now Rainbow Dash, stop scaring the poor dear," Chided the indigo-haired unicorn. She turned to Bright. "Don't mind Rainbow, darling. She's always so suspicious. Now if I may ask, what is your name?"

"M-My name's Bright. Bright Scales."

"Well Bright, charmed and delighted to meet you," the unicorn began. "My name's Rarity, and these are my friends, Fluttershy..." she gestured to the other pegasus with the long, pale pink hair.

She avoided making eye contact with Bright until softly saying, "Hello."

"...Applejack..."

"Howdy." the orange Earth greeted, tipping her tan Stetson hat.

"...Twilight Sparkle..."

"Nice to meet ya." the other unicorn said.

"...And you already met Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash." Rarity finished. Bright glanced at them, and saw that Pinkie was waving hi wildly to him, that goofy grin still plastered to her face. Rainbow, on the other hand, was giving him a smug smirk.

"Pleasure to meet you all." Bright said politely, as he tried very hard not to stare at them inappropriately.

"You still haven't answered my question though," Rainbow continued impatiently. "Why are you here?"

Before Bright could speak up, an older pony's called out, "Ah, there you are, Bright! I've been looking for you."

The seven of them looked ahead, and there stood an alicorn, her billowing hair a mix of cobalt, pink, green, and blue. Her skin was snow-white, while her cutie mark depicted the sun.

"Principal Celestia!" the girls gasped.

Wait, that's the principal? Bright asked himself, finally meeting the pony--er, alicorn is more appropriate--who had sent that letter.

"Thank you so much for escorting him to my office, girls." Celestia thanked them

"Um, we didn't actually escort him. We just talked, that's it." Fluttershy spoke up.

"I see." Celestia said. "Well then Bright, come into my office and we can talk there."

"Yes ma'am. Bye, um...it was a pleasure meeting you all." Bright waved goodbye as he followed the principal into her office. The six mares just stood there, confused with all that was going on.

"I wonder what the principal wants with him?" Applejack asked.

"I'm not sure. Seems kinda weird, if you ask me." Rainbow answered.

"I don't know about you guys, but I think he's quite cute." Pinkie admitted.

The others stared at her, until Twilight spoke up. "I have to agree with you on that one, Pinkie. Bright does looks like quite the looker."

"Well, we'd better get to class now. Come on everypony." Twilight said, and the six friends turned around and set off to their first-period class.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Inside the principal's office, Celestia stood behind her desk, looking at Bright. Next to her was the Vice Principal, Luna. She had the same kind of weird flowing hair as her older sister, but was dark-blue. She also had purple skin, but with a subtle greyish tint to it. Her cutie mark was one of the crescent moon.

"Now then Bright, my sister and I would like to first welcome you into Canterlot University." Celestia began.

"Thank you, ma'ams. I'm honored that you chose me for such an important undertaking." Bright replied. He felt quite relaxed; this was familiar territory, thanks to a lot of similar talks with his parents and past teachers.

"We know that this is, without a doubt, a completely new experience for you, but all we ask of you is to follow the rules, don't step out of line, and respect our students, and you will receive the same amount in return." Luna stated.

"Yes ma'am. I won't forget."

Celestia reached into a drawer of her desk and pulled out a sheet of parchment, then handed it to Bright. He took it and skimmed through it quickly.

"That is your schedule. When you arrive at your assigned mares' dormitory, speak with the dorm leader; she'll assign you a room." Celestia explained, confirming what Bright had already deduced.

"I understand."

"And by tomorrow morning, your school uniform that you must wear on campus should arrive."

"Yes ma'am." Bright said. "Just out of curiosity, what will I be wearing?"

"You'll find out when you receive, but I can tell you that you should be receiving it around 7:45 or so tomorrow morning." Celestia answered.

He nodded. "Yes ma'am."

"Good. Luna will now escort to your first-period class."

Luna strode over to the boy. "Shall we go?" he nodded.

As they were leaving, Celestia stopped them. "Oh, one more thing Bright...please do exercise some self-control over yourself around my students, would you?"

Bright's face flushed red in embarrassment. "Y-Yes ma'am." he shakily muttered.

Celestia and Luna chuckled as the latter led him out of the office.

As the door closed, the principal stared at the closed door a few more moments. He shows so much promise...but he's so shy too. she thought. Just like Fiernen... When she thought that, her mood immediately dampened. She sighed and turned to look out the window in melancholy. "Fiernen," she mumbled to no one in particular. "Where did you go?"

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

"Your sister's quite the jokester, huh?" Bright asked Luna as they kept walking.

"Yes she is. Ever since we were fillies, she would never miss a chance to tease me. Thankfully, it wasn't the bad kind, but that doesn't mean it came without the tricks." she explained.

"Seems that's what siblings tend to do." Bright noted.

"Despite all that, we get along well enough like sisters should."

"Well that's nice to hear." he said.

They stopped in front of the first room, "The teacher here is Ms. Arya. She's very nice and will help you in any way she can. I must go now, will you be fine on your own from here?"

"Of course." he answered.

"Well, have a good day." Luna said, as she went back to the office.

Bright looked at the door and knocked on it, "Come in." a voice called from inside.

Bright opened the door and stepped inside seeing the classroom had at least twenty mares there. They looked about a year or two older than Bright was himself. Ms. Arya herself was a middle-aged mare sporting longish, teal hair and green skin.

At the sight of Bright, the mares all stopped whatever they were doing, gaped at him, and started gossiping. "Isn't that the same colt from outside?"

"Yeah, but why's he still here?"

"He actually looks kinda cute."

Bright could feel his face heat up again. With some effort, he ignored their stares and looked at the teacher.

"Ms. Arya?"

"Yes, that's me." she replied. A second later, she realized who he was. "Ah, you must be the new student that Principal Celestia had informed me about earlier."

"NEW STUDENT?!" all of the mares exclaimed in shock.

"Yes, girls. Principal Celestia and Vice-Principal Luna have decided that this school is ready to become a co-ed school. However, they brought in this young stallion to put it to the test. Everypony, this Bright Scales, your newest fellow classmate."

Bright didn't say anything at first, just stared at the ground a little longer. Come on come on, he frantically thought to himself. Don't just stand there and look like an idiot. Do something!. Finally, he lifted his gaze to look at the class, and gave them a weak smile. "Hi there."

Mrs. Arya continued. "Now, you all are expected to treat Mr. Scales with the same level of respect as any other guest if this test is to be successful."

One of the mares, a pegasus, raised her hoof.

"Yes, Cloudchaser?"

"When will Principal Celestia announce whether or not we'll become a co-ed school?"

"If all goes well, then she and her sister will make the final decision by the end of the school year." Ms. Arya said. "Now girls, what do have you all have to say to Mr. Bright?"

All of the mares gazed back at the shaking Bright. The poor colt had never had this many strangers stare at him at all, much less like this. It was all very disconcerting.

"Welcome to Canterlot University, Bright Scales." they brightly exclaimed in unison.

"T-Thanks..." he stammered. I guess...

"Now Bright, please find an empty seat, then we may continue our lesson."

"Y-Yes ma'am." he muttered, then walked past many desks looking for a seat that had yet to be taken. All of the mares' stares of wonder, happiness, and in few cases, lust, were certainly not lost on him. All they did was make his face become redder, if that was even possible.

Finally, Bright spotted a chair to the same alabaster unicorn he met earlier...Rarity, was it? He idly noted as well that the other five he'd met in the hall were here too.

He walked over to her and asked, " 'Scuse me, but is this seat taken?"

"No darling."

"Thanks." he thanked, taking his seat as Ms. Arya began her lesson.

Approximately three hours later, Bright found himself within the academy's cafeteria. He had to admit, it was significantly larger than the one at his old school.

I just hope that the food here isn't as different. he thought. He got in the lunch line, and he received his food: Pepperoni pizza.
"Looks good, at least." he muttered to himself. He filled the rest of his tray, then walked back into the cafeteria, carrying the tray with him. He didn't react when a lot of the mares turned to stare at him...or more specifically, the amount of food he was carrying. It was quite a lot, and he doubted many ponies here, if any, ate this much.

But this time, he didn't care: Bright was always one who had a huge appetite, so he was used to this kind of attention.

He looked around the cafeteria in search of a spot where he could sit. Many of the tables were filled with groups. Should I ask any of them if I could join, or would that be considered intruding? Bright thought. He spied an empty table. He shrugged. Guess I'll be sitting solo for now.

But before he could move to it, a familiar voice called out: "Hey Bright! Come sit here!"

He looked to his right and saw the distinct, poofy-haired visage of Pinkie Pie waving him over. Sitting with her were the rest of her friends. Bright trotted over to the six mares, internally sighing in relief. These were familiar faces, albeit those he'd known for less than 12 hours, but he could relax a little bit.

He took a seat between Applejack and Fluttershy. "Thanks for inviting me to eat with you all. I was just about to eat alone."

"Well, I'm glad I prevented that." Pinkie said with a grin.

"Got enough food there, pal?" noted Rainbow.

"I guess I do, comparatively speaking. I guess it's because I love food." he said lightly. The more time he spent with these mares, the more he relaxed. They seemed friendly enough.

Bright nodded, then took a large bite out of his slice of pizza. He savored the saucy taste. Delicious. he thought.

"So, what do you think of Canterlot University so far, dear?"asked Rarity.

"It's almost nothing like my old school: It's much bigger, definitely cleaner, and obviously a LOT more mares than what I'm used to." he replied.

"Yeah, well get used to it." Rainbow flatly stated. Bright gave her a disapproving look. "I'm sorry, is there something shoved up your ass? I didn't mean anything against you mares."

"So why did the principal and her sister pick YOU for their experiment and not anyone else?" Applejack interjected before Rainbow could retort.

"Well, they were looking for the one best and the brightest colt students in one of the neighboring schools, and I happened to be at the top of the list."

"Did you accept their invitation right away?" Twilight asked.

"Not immediately. In fact, I was just about to turn it down altogether." Bright said. "But the more I thought about it, the more I liked the idea. Finally, I couldn't bring myself to say no, so I accepted it so I could a least have a roof over my head."

"Oh, ok." Twilight admitted.

"Speaking of which, I hope all of my luggage got here in one piece. There's some stuff in there that are pretty delicate, and they'll be a pain to fix." he added. "Plus I've gotta talk with the dorm leader so she can assign me a room, whoever she may be."

The six grinned when Bright said that, and Twilight proudly replied, "Well look no further, because she's sitting right here."

"You're my dorm leader? Wow, how cool!" Bright exclaimed brightly(no pun intended).

"That it is. I'll help you get settled into your dorm room when school's all done, then give you a tour of the campus if you'd like tomorrow."

"I'd appreciate that a lot. Thanks."

"Not a problem."

"Hey, since we're getting to know each other, how about you all tell me about a bit about yourselves?" Bright suggested.

"That's an awesome idea!" Pinkie said, smiling widely.

"I'll go first. I'm really into flying." Rainbow proudly declared. "I'm the captain of the Pegasus racing team, and I'm training to join the Wonderbolts. I also like to play guitar, and I'm a master at it if I do say so myself."

"Wow you're very active, huh?" Bright whistled, impressed.

"You bet. What about yourself?"

"Well, I haven't done any competitive sports, but I do some physical activities." Bright answered.

"Like what?"

"Well let's see...my hobbies are singing, dancing, martial arts, track, playing guitar & piano, and practicing with my rope dart."

"Wait, hold on a second. What's a rope dart?" Fluttershy asked, curious. The same went with the rest of the mares.

Bright rubbed the back of his head shyly. "Well, I can't say really tell you well, but it's pretty much a spike stuck to a long rope. It'd be easier if I showed you all after school."

"One more thing," he added. "I don't mean to brag, but I'm really good with my guitar too. There's not one song I can't play with it."

"Well then...we'll see how you stack up to me." Rainbow replied with a devilish grin.

"That a challenge?" Bright asked as he mirrored her smile and held out a hand.

"You bet." She grasped his hand. She's got a firm grip, Bright noticed.

"Alright then. You're on." With that, they shook.

"I think that's gonna have to wait, Rainbow." Twilight chimed in. "I'm the smartest mare here. Matter of fact, I'm the top student here. I work at the library as the assistant."

"Yeah, and that's where she is in most of her free time, always buried in a book." Rainbow muttered, to which Twilight glared at her.

Rarity followed Twilight. "I'm a fashion designer. Whenever I've got some extra time, I design and make clothing for both stallions and mares. I've been doing it for a long time now."

"Whoa, that's a lot of hard work." Bright said.

"Yeah, but the pay is more than worth it."

"Ooh-ooh, me next, me next!" Pinkie cheered. "I supervise the preparations for all of the school's special events and parties."

"Huh, sounds pretty cool." Bright said.

Fluttershy spoke up. "I'm very good with taming and caring for animals."

"That goes without saying." Rainbow added. "One time, she managed to tame a dragon that had wandered onto campus and now he even visits from time to time."

"Really?" Bright looked at Fluttershy, impressed. "Incredible..."

"He was just lost and confused, that's all." Fluttershy hastily explained, blushing.

Applejack went next. "I'm from out of town, where my family grows our very own apple farm. We supply the school with apples." She pulled out an apple from her pack and offered it to Bright.

He thanked her, took it and bit a large portion out of it. When the taste hit his taste buds, his eyes widened in delight.

"Dang...talk about juicy. Your family makes some really good apples."

"Thanks a lot, Bright. That really means much to me." she replied with a blush.

"Hey guys!" a familiar voice called out from behind them. Bright looked up and saw a light-orange unicorn trotting over to their table. Bright's eyes lit up when he recognized her.

"Sunset!" he exclaimed eagerly. He stood up and trotted quickly over to her. Sunset looked at him in surprise, then realization dawned on her face, and the two hugged each other tightly. They stayed like that for a long time, then they broke apart.

"It's been so long!" Bright said. "How've you been all these years?"

"I'm doing good, thanks for asking." Sunset replied with just as much enthusiasm. "I heard about the co-ed experiment that Principal Celestia had cooked up for some time, but I never thought that YOU would be chosen. That's so cool!"

He gestured for Sunset to sit down with the others. "Come on. Take a seat. We can continue our little discussion with the rest of yo-- I mean, OUR friends."

She nodded, and the duo walked back to the other six.

"So, I take it you two have known each other for a while?" Rainbow asked, rather unnecessarily.

"You better believe it." Bright eagerly replied. "Sunset and I've been best friends since we were kids. She's practically a sister to me."

Sunset just rolled her eyes. "Still haven't lost your tendency to be melodramatic."

"Hey!" Bright exclaimed, while the others just laughed.

"So, Bright..." Sunset continued. "It's been what... five years since we last met? So that means you're--"

"About 19 and a half." was the quick reply.

"Wow, you've really grown a lot since." she said.

"Heh-heh...never even noticed." he replied.

For the rest of lunchtime, the eight friends chatted animatedly, trading jokes and stories. Then the bell rang, and they parted ways as they all headed for their third-period class.

When school was over, Bright met with the others in front of the building, then set off for the dorms.

Upon entering Bright saw his luggage, boxes, and bags all stacked neatly in the lobby. "There's all my stuff."

"Whaddaya say we help ya get it all in your new room?" Applejack offered.

"Thanks." Bright said. The eight of them each took an item, then followed Twilight through the hall before stopping at one of the rooms.

"This is it," Twilight said, as she opened the door, and they walked into another, smaller lobby. Branching off from it were eight short hallways. Twilight went up to the leftmost door and walked through. Inside, there was a TV, a bathroom, a kitchen, a medium-size bed, a closet, and a desk. Next to the desk was a window that offered a wide view of the outside world. "Welcome to your new room, Bright. Hope you like it."

"Thanks, girls. It's not quite as big as my old place, but it looks roomy enough." Bright said, as he placed the bag he was carrying on his new bed.

"Need any help unpacking?" Sunset offered.

"No thanks, y'all can just drop it my stuff on the floor. I'll take it from here. Thanks anyway."

"Ok, we'll be by later after we've decided on dinner plans." Twilight said.

"Got it." Bright, said before she closed the door. Bright sat up looked around the empty room. Wow, this place needs some SERIOUS remodeling. he thought.

A couple hours later, the seven mares were on their way back to Bright's room to check on him. They were all out of their school uniforms.

"I wonder how Bright's doing right now?" Sunset wondered aloud.

"Aw, he's probably just taking a break, just like everyone is." Rainbow said.

"Wait, what's that?" Applejack interjected. The seven of them huddled together and pressed their ears to Bright's door. They heard music and singing emanating from it.

You promised me the sky,

Then tossed me like a stone.

You wrap me in your arms...

And chill me to the bone.

Cautiously, they pushed open the door, and what they beheld took their collective breaths away.

Bright's walls were covered with intricate drawings and paintings of dragons, pegasi, Earth ponies, strange unicorn-like creatures with fish scales all over its back, and a bunch of other magical creatures. Some were depicted angry or intimidating, others were drawn and colored sleeping, and still others were doing something with joyful expressions. His desk had numerous more drawings of various gadgets, a microscope, a whole mess of precision tools, and a laptop.

Underneath the windowsill, no less than three small speakers were placed around a guitar amp, blaring the music the girls had heard from before.

Then there was Bright Scales himself.

Bright was currently in the center of his room, playing on a guitar that was hanging on a strap around his shoulder and hooked up to the amp and singing along with the music that blared from the speakers.

There's truth in your lies, doubt in your faith, all I've got's what you didn't take.

So I; I won't be the ONE; be the one to leave this...in pieces.

And YOU; you will be aLONE; alone with all your secrets...and regrets.

Don't lie.

At the end of that last line, Bright immediately flew into a very fast guitar solo. It was obvious he'd been playing that instrument for a long time.

So I; I won't be the ONE; be the one to leave this...in pieces.

And YOU; you will be aLONE; alone with all your secrets...and regrets.

Don't lie.

With that, the song continued a little bit longer, then ended altogether.

Bright just stood there, breathing slightly more heavily than usual.

Meanwhile, the seven mares who'd watched him stood rooted where they were, mouths agape in shock and awe.

Neither group said anything for some time. Then he casually took the guitar off his shoulder and gently leaned it against the amp. Rarity broke the silence:

"Whoa..."

Bright whipped around, and beheld the seven mares gaping at him. Their stares brought back that familiar rush of blood to his face as he blushed.

"Umm...hi?" he tentatively ventured.

"That...Was...AWESOME!!" Rainbow cried out, startling everybody else. "That was totally amazing! How long have you been playing the guitar?!"

Bright backed away slowly, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. "Thanks, but it was nothing really..."

"NOTHING?! How can that be considered 'nothing'??"

Suddenly, Bright found himself mobbed by the seven girls, all hurling questions at him nonstop. There were so many, they all melded together into one, incohesive mess. At first, he tried answering their questions, but that got too difficult. Soon enough, a throbbing pain started to form in his skull while simultaneously he started growing short of breath. The clamor climbed higher, and Bright started hearing a faint tone. It was faint, but was definitely high-pitched. As the noise reached a crescendo, the tone had transformed into a mechanical scream, deafeningly loud, unbroken, and one that the poor young colt was all too familiar with. Instinct took over for a moment, and he seized up in panic.

Finally, he had had enough of this. He roughly shoved aside Pinkie Pie, then dashed over to the window. He batted it open and leaned out of it precariously, covered in sweat and gulping in generous amounts of fresh air.

A ringing silence settled over everypony, while the seven mares stared in shock at Bright.

"B-Bright?" Sunset finally spoke up. "You uh...you okay?" He didn't immediately answer, but instead pulled himself back into the room. He was still panting, but he seemed to have calmed down. "Y-Yeah...I'm good...," he panted out. "Just had a...panic attack." He took a minute to fully catch his breath before he explained.

"I'm sorry about that. That's actually why I'm so anti-social: I'm a little agoraphobic." he explained.

"Agora-whatnow?" Rainbow said, giving him a confused look.

"Agoraphobia." Twilight corrected. "It's a fear of being in situations where it is difficult to escape from, or where help may not be available."

"Yeah that."

"Oh darling, we're so--" Rarity started.

Bright raised a slightly trembling palm, silencing her. "It's alright. None of you never knew."

He inhaled deeply, then blew out that breath. He looked around. "Weren't we going to have dinner?" he asked.

"Oh that's right!" Applejack exclaimed. "We completely forgot about that, huh?"

"Yeah, I'll make sure to lay off those practice sessions of mine until I KNOW that I won't be interrupting anything." Bright joked, eliciting a laugh from everyone present. Then, all eight ponies filed out of his new bedroom. Just before he walked through the doorway, he stopped momentarily.

Ah, I could definitely get used to this.

Then he sighed.

Then again, it might just bring with it more panic attacks. He froze again. Anger and fear welled up inside of him as past memories flashed before his inner eyes.

Three figures singing for numerous little fillies...a large alcove with a wooden ship and many different props all over the place...

"IT'S ME! I'M GONNA GET YA!!" a voice screamed at him with a pirate accent...unimaginable pain in his head--

"Bright, you OK?" Twilight's voice echoed, slicing through his memories like a surgical knife through water. Bright blinked, then shook his head to clear his mind.

"Yeah, I'm good." he replied. She nodded, then turned around walked back into the kitchen. He stayed in place, standing stock-still. Then, unconsciously, a hand rose up and ran through his hair. It stopped when he found a series of depressions in it. But these weren't scattered all around. They were arranged in two 'U's, their ends touching.

It had taken a long time for the hair in that area to grow back, but finally it did. Bright had that scar ever since he was a little kid.

Ever since that incident...

Odd, that wasn't supposed to happen

Author's Note

Wow, just wow. I never expected so many people to like this story. It's a MASSIVE improvement from my last story. Sorry about releasing this chapter so long after the first one, but I had a huge project to present last Tuesday. But now that winter break's here and the homework load has nearly disappeared, I should be able to pump out more of these babies before I have to get back to school. Now, to be honest, I'm a little sad that nobody understood the Inheritance Cycle references: Fiernen, Bright Scales. Oh well, the series is pretty old, so I doubt many people still read it anymore.

But enough of me, let's get on with the chapter!

Odd, that wasn't supposed to happen

The sun had yet to rise when Bright's alarm clock went off. He groaned and, without opening his eyes, reached out and hit the snooze button unnecessarily harshly. He immediately fell back to sleep. Five minutes later, it went off again. He groaned again, then cracked open his eyelids and turned off the alarm completely. He slowly sat up in his bed and rubbed his eyes, yawning.

This was one of his least favorite routines. While it was definitely necessary if he wanted to stay in shape, sometimes he wondered if waking up at 5 AM was really worth it.
With some effort, Bright managed to roll out of bed and stumble over to his closet. He pushed open the doors, revealing some training gear: Adjustable weights for his hooves, weighted exercise clothing, and two long, coiled lengths of red rope. At the end of one was a shining, metal spike. The other held two silver metal spheres within a sealed pouch.

Bright grabbed the second and hung it on a loop on his belt. This one he used for training because the spheres had much more weight to them than the spiked rope dart. The latter he used for demonstrations and sparring matches.

Without missing a beat, he quickly and quietly strapped on the training garments and weights. Bright closed the closet door and sneakily exited his room, making sure to shut the door behind him.

He stepped into the still-dark halls. He examined his surroundings and whispered to himself, "Alright then...now what path did Twilight take again?"

It took him some time, since he knew nothing about this building's layout by heart, but finally he found himself at the same entrance that he came in from yesterday.

The air was cool outside, so he inhaled deeply, savoring the rejuvenating effect.

"Alright then," he muttered. "Let's get started."

TWO HOURS, THIRTY-NINE MINUTES LATER...

Bright staggered through the door to his dorm, breathing very heavily and drenched in sweat. He stood there for a few minutes, then gathered the strength to quietly close the door. There, he drunkenly made his way to the bathroom and locked the door. He stripped down fully, set everything off to the side to air-dry, and stepped into the shower. Ten minutes passed until he stepped out of it. He was damp from the shower but his smile was one of content. He sighed in relief; that shower really did wonders in helping him recover.

As he wrapped a towel around his waist, a knock on the door surprised him. That's strange, he thought. If what I read on the schedule was right, then most of the students don't wake up until an hour from now.

Nevertheless, he answered it, though he prudently opened it a small amount.

It was Principal Celestia.

She was holding in her arms a cardboard box with what Bright could only guess was his school uniform. His suspicions were confirmed when Celestia handed it to him.

"Here's your uniform. Let me know if anything doesn't fit right." she said. He nodded in thanks, took them, and closed the door. He took a moment and peeked inside. Internally, he sighed. Oh, boy.

About an hour later, he was back in his bedroom, waiting for the others to wake up. He was wearing the school uniform that the principal had ordered for him: A red and yellow long-sleeved dress shirt, black pants, and a black blazer.

He had put on the outfit, and everything fit perfectly. Bright had to give Celestia some credit: she sure knew how to make good estimates on what sizes a pony wore.

His normal morning routine done, he had spent the last sixty minutes drawing a bunch of stick figures. He was using them as models for when he made details later on. He had just finished drawing out the basic outline of the characters and had started putting in the basic shapes when somepony knocked on his door.

Bright swiftly tucked the drawing into a drawings portfolio he made just for that purpose, then strode over and opened it up.

"Oh good morning, Twilight." he said brightly. She was dressed in her uniform as well.

"Morning Bright." she replied. "I see you've already gotten your uniform."

"Yup." He held out his arms. "So, what do you think?"

"You look great." she said.

"Thanks."

"Ready to go?" she asked.

"Almost; can you gimme a minute?." he requested.

"Ok. Just don't take too much time." she added. He chuckled. "I won't."

Twilight went back to the dormitory lobby where all of the other girls were waiting.

"So, he set?" Rainbow asked. Twilight shook her head. "No, he said he needed a minute."

Soon, Bright walked out of his room, shouldering his backpack. "I'm ready. Let's go."

"Come on, everypony. We don't wanna be late for class, right?" Sunset reminded them, and all eight of them hurried off to their first class.

When they got inside the school, Principal Celestia and Vice-Principal Luna were waiting for them in the hall.

"Good morning, you all." Celestia brightly greeted.

"Good morning Principal Celestia." They all replied. "Good morning Vice-principal Luna."

The two older women turned to Bright. "Well, Mr, Scales, how is the school uniform working out for you so far?"

"It fits great, ma'am." he said.

"Good. Now then, off you go to your classes!" Celestia added, and they all hurried off.

The group quickly made it to their classroom. Bright's appearance didn't go unnoticed. By the contrary, the mares started smiling and waving at him.

"Oooh! Check out his outfit!"

"I know, he's even more adorable now."

Bright's face reddened and he kept his head low as he walked to his seat, though it wasn't helping to stem the flow of gossiping and staring at all. Throughout class, he saw many of them winking and flashing more smiles in his direction and generally flirting blatantly with him.

It's alright, Bright, he repeated to himself. Just ignore them...don't feel scared...

His gaze then drifted to stare at some of their rears. He shook his head.

...And stop doing that, you moron! he scolded himself.

Later on, it was Gym class. Bright received his gym uniform from the principal and was now changing into it outside of the locker room. But his mind was buzzing in restlessness; he could hardly believe that he was so close to a mares' locker room.

Calm yourself, pal. he thought. I know it's exciting and all, but peeking is NOT what you should be doing. I seriously doubt they'd forgive me for doing that.

When he was done changing, he went onto the track. An adult pegasus was already there. She sported hair spiked up and colored like fire, a silver whistle around her neck, and aviator sunglasses.

She noticed him walking over and smirked at him. "So you're that male student that Principal Celestia brought in." she said.

"Yes ma'am. My name's Bright Scales." he answered. "You the coach?"

She nodded. "Coach Spitfire." the gym instructor introduced.

"Pleasure to meet you."

"Likewise." She started inspecting his physique. "Hmmm...you look fit enough, but we'll see how well you do in my training." she commented.

"Really?" Bright said, surprised. "I always thought I looked like a stick figure."

Spitfire shrugged. "Not surprised. You've got the figure of a swimmer: deceptively thin, but packing a lot of energy and endurance."

Soon thereafter, the rest of the students had arrived. Coach Spitfire began their class with some laps around the track. Rainbow was at the front, while Bright found himself jogging slowly in the middle of the group, and all the while the coach kept yelling things like: "Come on, pick up the pace! Get all that lead outta your legs!"

Rainbow's pretty fast. Bright idly noted. But she can go faster than that, I can feel it. An idea popped into his mind. His mouth curled into a grin as he contemplated it. I guess I'll just have to pull it out myself.

With that, Bright picked up the pace, steadily getting faster and passing other mares as he did so. Soon, he was running right behind Rainbow. He'd slowed down to a steadier speed to conserve his energy.

"Hey Rainbow! Behind you!" Bright shouted excitedly. He couldn't stop himself; he just had so much adrenaline racing through his veins.

Rainbow swiveled her head and glanced behind her. She did a double-take when she realized who it was. Bright couldn't help but laugh a little at her. He waved jovially at her.

"How's it going?" he called out.

"Good!" she replied in kind. "You're pretty fast." Then she smirked.

"But not fast enough!" With that, Rainbow picked up the pace, and Bright copied her action, this time managing to get neck-and-neck with her. She glanced to her right and there he was, much to her surprise.

Huh, he sure wasn't kidding when he said he was fast, she thought. But I wonder...does he have the endurance to back it up?

Wow, she doesn't even look tired, he noticed. Then Rainbow picked up the pace, and Bright followed by her side. The two kept at it: Rainbow increasing the bar, and Bright quickly matching her speed. Both passed everypony else multiple times. And the whole time this was going on, Coach Spitfire watched them, utterly spellbound.

No one had ever come CLOSE to rivaling Rainbow Dash's speed, and this Bright Scales colt was easily going neck-and-neck with her. She was so shocked that she didn't notice how none of the other mares were running anymore.

Eventually, it became clear that the two were tiring out. Rainbow was panting through her mouth, while Bright was breathing faster through his nose. The former looked back at the latter, stunned. How the heck is he not stopping?? she wondered.

Bright looked back at her and their eyes met. He shocked her even more by flashing a smile. Then he did something that made her almost stumble to a stop:

He surged ahead and SPRINTED.

For a moment, she was shocked. Then her face became a mask of determination and she let loose a loud yell. She floored it and raced after Bright, sprinting forward with all her might. And slowly, ever so slowly, she came closer and closer...they were neck-and-neck again...there, she did it! She passed him!

Rainbow glanced over her shoulder to get a good look at his surprised face--

Her smug expression changed to one of confusion, and she slowed herself to a halt, then fully turned and looked around. Where did he go? Rainbow thought, panting very heavily. He was just there, I know he was!

She felt a hoof on her shoulder, and behind her stood Bright Scales.

He looked just as tired as she did, with his form hunched over in fatigue. But his face held a weak grin.

"Great job. I've never....raced somepony....so fast." he managed to pant out.

After she got over her initial shock, Rainbow turned to face him properly, then mirrored his smile and held out a sweaty hand.

"Thanks. You're not....so bad....yourself." she replied. Bright took her offered hoof, and they shook. But this time, they were shaking in mutual praise.

Their eyes locked once more, but now they held it. They would've stayed like that for much longer, but they were interrupted by a deafening squeal.

"OH MY CELESTIA! BRIGHT, THAT WAS AMAZING!!!" one mare screamed as she raced over to the duo. She wasn't alone; trailing behind her was practically the entire gym class...and they were heading straight for Rainbow and Bright.

Bright's pupils shrank to the size of pinpricks and his mouth fell open in fear at the fast-approaching mob. Hidden reserves of energy he never knew he had burst forth, sending more adrenaline pumping furiously through his body. The poor stallion scrambled upright, all traces of fatigue gone and replaced by utter terror. He turned tail and booked it as fast as he could in the opposite direction, trying to get away from the mob.

Twilight, Fluttershy, Pinkie, Sunset, Applejack, and Rarity were the only other ones who didn't join them. Instead, they watched the whole spectacle helplessly.

"We've got to do something!" Rarity exclaimed. She tried to follow them, but Applejack stopped her.

"Rarity, there's nothing we can do." she said. "Besides, it looks like he's got it handled."

"That's ridiculous! The poor dear's gonna get trampled if we don't do something!" she spat back as she struggled to get free.

"AJ's right, Rares." Twilight added. "Look at where he's running." She pointed.

They other five followed her finger back to Coach Spitfire's motionless figure. Realization dawned on Rarity.

He was heading for the coach. It seemed that he hoped the presence of him being chased by a mess of mares would snap her out of trance.

Thankfully, the coach blinked twice, then her shocked expression became one of anger. Without hesitation, she snatched up the whistle she had dropped and blew it, hard.

Everypony stopped in their tracks. Spitfire's face was tomato red, and she looked ready to get physical. She stomped past Bright and over to the now-terrified group of students.

"WHAT IS YOUR PROBLEM?!" she shrieked. All of the mares quailed in fear before Spitfire's furious gaze. "THAT IS NOT HOW YOU ALL ACT!"

"YOU'RE NOT A BUNCH OF DITZY HIGH SCHOOLERS! I EXPECTED MUCH MORE OUT OF YOU ALL THAN THIS!!" she continued.

Bright and the other seven watched the whole scene as Spitfire ranted on them for a while longer, then ordered the others to continue running without stopping 'til she said so.

The coach turned to the rest of the mares who were still on the track and motioned them over. When all seven of them were gathered around, her expression softened.

"So, did you all know that Mr. Scales would react like that?" she asked.

"Y-yes ma'am." Fluttershy replied quietly.

"He's agoraphobic, so he can't handle large-scale chaos directed at him like that." Twilight explained.

"I see. You all may go and shower yourselves off. You at least have the self-control to not freak out over everything." The coach glanced at Bright, who was still standing where he'd stopped. "You too, Bright. It wasn't your fault."

"But where do I shower, ma'am?" he asked. Spitfire inwardly sighed. She'd forgotten that he was a colt.

"Ok, do you know where the groundkeeper's shed is?"

He nodded an affirmative. "Well, you'll be showering in a stall near the shed."

He gave another nod, then jogged away. Spitfire looked back at the group of students that remained. Most of them had stopped running in favor of watching their conversation.

"Did I tell any of you to stop??" she demanded. "Keep going, you fillies!"

Meanwhile, Bright finally found the shower Coach Spitfire had told him to find.

Shower's little small, huh? he thought. Ah, well. It'll do.

He took a quick shower, then toweled himself dry and hurried to his locker before anyone could notice. There, he quickly changed back into his uniform and placed his gym clothes back in the locker. Then he strolled back into the building and waited until the seven mares had arrived.

"Took you all long enough." Bright said.

"Well, you can thank her for us taking so long." Applejack explained, gesturing to Rarity.

"Hey, am I not allowed to look my best after gym?" she inquired as she unconsciously ran a hoof through her mane.

Applejack rolled her eyes. "Yeah, whatever."

"So Bright, I'd like to ask you something." Rainbow said.

"I know what you're gonna ask," Bright interrupted her. "How did I get so fast?"

"Well, before class Coach Spitfire told me that I had the physique of a swimmer: thin but very strong." he explained. "Plus, I do all sorts of physical activities."

"I like to sing, which helps my lung capacity. I enjoy fencing, which aids in reflexes, aim, and hoof-eye coordination. My speed, endurance, and thin figure are probably from the fact that I DO swim a lot." he elaborated.

A sudden growling stopped him. Pinkie pressed a hand to her stomach.

"Eh-heh, sorry but gym always gets me hungry." she explained sheepishly.

"You're not one to complain, Pinkie. That race with Rainbow's made me famished." Bright agreed.

"Then let's go get some lunch." Sunset said, and the eight friends headed to the cafeteria.

When they arrived, it became obvious how widely news of Rainbow and Bright's little race had spread.

All conversations died down and plunged the whole room into silence. Everypony else turned to stare at the eight friends, more specifically, at Bright. The lone colt unconsciously shrank away, afraid of a re-do of what had happened during gym.

"What're y'all starin' at??" Applejack demanded. "There's nothing to see! Go back to your food!"

The cafeteria slowly regained some of its noise, but it was noticeably suppressed. The farm pony simply huffed in annoyance. "Come on, y'all." she sighed to her friends.

They all hurried to get their lunches, then trotted over to a deserted table. There, they ate in silence. Finally, Sunset shattered that barrier and asked Bright a question: "Sooo...erm, so when are you gonna show us that rope-dart of yours, Bright?"

Bright halted and lifted his gaze to look at the unicorn thoughtfully. "After school. I'll show you all after that tour."

He cracked a small smile. "You DO remember saying you'd do that, right?"

"Of course we did!" Twilight answered. "I'm the one who thought of it in the first place."

She suddenly looked up at something behind Bright and her expression immediately soured. Curious, the unicorn colt looked over his shoulder. Walking over to them was another unicorn. She had shoulder-length, snow-white hair and electric-blue skin.

"Why, hello there." she said. "You're the colt everypony's been talking about, yes?"

"Yes, I am." Bright said cautiously.

"I'm the Great and Powerful Trixie. But you can just call me Trixie."

Bright stared at her blankly. "Great and Powerful Trixie?" he repeated, curious. "That your stage name or something?"

She smiled slyly. "You could call it that. I'm a magician." Trixie said while puffing out her chest with pride.

"Oh...that's cool. Maybe you could show me some other time." he answered. He felt something strange stir within him when he talked with the blue unicorn. It certainly wasn't lust, he'd felt that before at his old school. It was...it was...

Ah, whatever. Not like it matters, really. Bright thought.

"Well I guess I'll see you later, Bright. See you later." Trixie suddenly said. With that, she turned around with a flourish and trotted away. She made sure that the cautious colt got an eyeful of her butt as she walked off. Bright just stood rooted where he was. His left lower eyelid was partially closed as he took an expression that just blared out, Dafuq?

He shrugged it off and walked back to the other seven. When he took a seat, however, he noticed that all of their gazes were fixated on Trixie's retreating form, their faces adorned with identical scowls.

Bright raised an eyebrow. "Ummm...what's with all the hateful looks?"

"Bright, you need to be careful when you're around Trixie." Sunset warned. Her reply only made Bright more confused.

"Why?"

Twilight turned and looked at him with a serious expression. "Bright, Trixie is notorious for seducing colts. It's been one of her favorite things to do."

"And now with you here, this is like a dream come true to her."

Bright suddenly understood what he was feeling earlier. It wasn't an emotion. Instead, Bright realized that it was suspicion. Suspicion that "The Great and Powerful Trixie" was hiding something.

Hmph, Great and Powerful...gimme a break, he thought.

"Alright alright, I'll be careful." he assured. That calmed the mares down considerably. As they ate, Bright noticed something else:

"You'd think that a lot more mares would be mobbing us about our race, Rainbow."

Rainbow looked around as well. "Yeah. Then again they might be waiting until after school, so let's all lay low for now."

Everypony nodded; they couldn't think of a better solution. The rest of lunch and the day passed in a blur for Bright, and soon the young colt was being led around the school by Sunset, Pinkie, Applejack, and Fluttershy.

The first place they went was back to the track field. There, a variety of different sports were currently in practice: Soccer, softball, pegasus racing, magical duels, and more. Bright looked up to watch the pegasi mares practice and was surprised to see Rainbow Dash at the head. She flawlessly performed a series of complex acrobatics, one after another.

The colt just stood still, staring in wonder at the twisting aerial dance. He blinked.

"Wow, just wow...Rainbow's amazing, isn't she?"

"That she is,. Makes sense, though, since her lifetime goal is to become a Wonderbolt." Sunset agreed. "Come on, we still have to show the rest of the school."

They arrived in the indoor pool. There, Bright saw the swimming team in action and he had to admit: They were good. But before he knew it, he found himself intensely analyzing their techniques--

"Hey, Bright!" Pinkie's voice shook him out of his daze. He blinked, then smiled at the pink Earth pony. "Yeah, I'm cool." he reassured. "I was just looking at the swimmers' techniques, and well...." He trailed off.

"Well what, sugahcube?" Applejack pressed.

Bright turned to stare at the swimming team, who had all stopped to listen to whatthe colt had to say. "Well...you're all taking breaths way too frequently. Try every seventh or ninth stroke or so."

Surprise rippled through the aquatic mares. They'd always thought they were fine in that area.

"Hey, foal. How are we supposed to do that?" One of the mares demanded.

Bright tilted his head. "That's simple. Try the 3579 exercise. It's an exercise that's 4 laps per set, where you breath every third stroke for the first lap, then every fifth stroke, and so on. 10 sets."

The colt continued. "This exercise teaches you how to control your breathing and strengthens your lung capacity. I'm not saying that every fifth stroke is bad, it's just that it's a good idea to aim higher than normal."

"Well, I'd better get going. See you all later!" With that, Sunset, Pinkie, Bright, Fluttershy, and Applejack departed. The others just floated there, still surprised at how professional the little freshcolt was.

"Wow Bright. Ah didn't know you knew so much about swimming." Applejack commented.

Bright chuckled and rubbed the back of his head. "Heh heh, well my mother loved to swim herself. She taught me all sorts of tricks and exercises."

"Sounds like you have an awesome mother!" Pinkie proclaimed, unnecessarily loud.

Bright winced at her declaration, but then he smiled in affirmation. "Right. Now, can we please finish this tour? There's some things I would like to take care of."

The mares thought that was a good idea, so they hurried along. They quickly showed him the various classes, gymnasium, and library.

Their last part of their tour was the auditorium. Bright was caught off-guard by how huge it was. If he hadn't known where he was, he would've thought they'd just led him into a movie theater. On the stage, Bright saw Rarity working methodically on a costume.

"Rarity here designs and creates the outfits for all of the plays and productions that our school does." Sunset explained.

"Hey Rarity!" Pinkie called out.

The white unicorn looked up from her work when she heard somepony calling her name, and smiled when she saw that it was Bright and the others who were giving him that tour Twilight had suggested.

"Oh hello, girls and Bright. I was just reviewing some details for our upcoming talent show." she said.

Bright looked around at the vast array of dresses and outfits. "My goodness Rarity. Did you make ALL of these yourself??" he asked in surprise.

"Well...yes, darling. I did." Rarity confirmed sheepishly.

"Oh my Celestia, Rarity. You're incredible." he breathed in awe.

"W-Why t-t-thank you, B-Bright. T-That means a-a lot t-to me." she stammered as she blushed.

Then Bright remembered something that she had mentioned. "Did you say you're working on the outfits for the talent show?"

"Yes I did. Why, are you interested in it?"

"Yeah. Sounds like a good way to come out of my shell for once." Bright said.

The ponies said their goodbyes, with Rarity promising she'd meet up with them again once she finished on more costume, then headed outside.

"And there you have it, Bright. That concludes our tour of Canterlot University!" Pinkie enthusiastically proclaimed.

"Welcome aboard!"

Pinkie playfully hit Bright's shoulder, accidentally sending him falling in Fluttershy's direction.

He slammed into her, and the two fell to the ground. Thinking fast, Bright grabbed her sides and reversed positions so now he had his back to the ground instead of Fluttrershy. He squeezed his eyes shut as he waited for the impact.

They hit the grassy ground with a THUD.

"Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry, Bright!" Pinkie exclaimed as she and Sunset rushed over to help them up. "Are you two--"

Pinkie never finished her sentence. Sunset's and her's jaws dropped at the scene before them.

Fluttershy and Bright were lying on the grass, Flutters on Bright. Their eyes were closed, Bright's arms wrapped around her back, and they were kissing deeply.

Huh? What's that soft thing that's on my lips? Bright thought in confusion. He cracked his eyelids open a hair, then they fully shot open when he saw Fluttershy kissing him. He made a strangled sound, and her eyes flew open too. When she realized their predicament, the two panicked and struggled to extricate themselves. Finally, they managed to scramble to their feet.

Fluttershy was beet-red in the face as she tried to stammer out an apology. "I-I-I'm so so sorry, Bright! I-I don't know what came over me! I-"

Bright shushed her with a raised hand. He was definitely embarrassed, but he struggled to hide it for her sake.

"It's alright." he calmly said.

"Umm, you two have got a little problem..." Pinkie prompted very quietly.

The colt and mare turned to look at the pink party pony, then followed her gaze. Both of their breaths caught as they saw everypony on the courtyard gawking at them.

"Fluttershy! Who did you think you are, putting the moves on Bright like that!" Trixie reprimanded Fluttershy.

Bright felt a small spike of anger flare up within himself. Who was she to be talking to Fluttershy like that?

But that anger was replaced with terror when a replay of gym class ensued; all of the mare students dropped everything they were doing and barreled towards him and Fluttershy. All he could see, however, was a single figure's silhouette sprinting closer, shrouded in darkness. It was massive, at least 8 feet tall and it emitted a high-pitched, mechanical scream. Only one thought flew through Bright's panicking mind: RUN.

"Come on!" Bright yelled and seized Fluttershy's hand with his own, then the duo sprinted for dear life while an angry mob of mares tore after them in hot pursuit.

Watchers and Apologies

Author's Note

YES! Over 400 views, that's wonderful guys! It's an amazing thing, to see so many people find my story so intriguing. I want to give a special thanks to a friend of mine, Brenda Penuelas. She's really helped me in keeping me motivated. Thanks a lot, mother!

Sorry that this chapter is shorter than the previous two, but I hope you all still enjoy it.

One more thing, I'm now focusing on finishing up my preparations in writing my new story, "The Costs of Survival and the Benefits of Sacrifice." No need to worry, though. It's almost ready to be submitted, and I'm working in tandem with another guy named CrystalSeeker. For those of you who read my previous story, "Elementary, My Dear Twilight." this is the same basic concept, but almost everything else is changed.

But anyways, onto the Chapter 3!

Watchers and Apologies

Bright and Fluttershy ran through the hallways of Canterlot University, with a mob of angry mare students hot on their hooves. They tried everything they could think of to shake the mob off their scent, but to no avail.

Eventually, Bright noticed Fluttershy was ready to keel over with exhaustion. She was barely out of reach from the mad, rabbling bunch and was struggling for breath. He knew she couldn't go on for much longer.

Thinking fast, Bright concentrated and snatched her off her feet with his magic, then levitated her to his side. Now with this new burden, Bright started feeling tired himself. He had to throw the mob off. But how?

An idea struck him and he grinned. Perfect!

"Alright, brace yourself Fluttershy!" he said to her. She was so tired that all she could do was give a sleepy nod.

Bright clamped his eyes shut and focused with all his might on a single action in his mind. He struggled to clear his head of all excess thoughts except for that sequence. Once he did, he summoned the magic within him and in a flash of golden light, he and Fluttershy were gone.

The mob stumbled to a halt and looked around in shocked confusion.

"Where did they go??" one mare cried out.

"How should I know!? They just disappeared!" another responded, just as loudly.

The mob of mares decided to give up on their chase and go back to their dorms. One by one, they trickled back to their rooms. Once everything went quiet, a shimmer appeared in front of the wall.

The shimmering mirage darkened and took shape until they were two inky-black shadows of a certain pair of ponies. Then the blackness faded away, revealing Bright and a sleeping Fluttershy.

The exhausted colt looked around just in case somepony had stayed behind, then collapsed onto his rump next to her, panting heavily.

"Huff, huff...well...at least we...lost them." he wheezed to Fluttershy.

The pegasus' eyes fluttered open and she weakly lifted her head. She gave a small smile in agreement.

"Let's hope our luck...doesn't run out yet." he added.

The two were silent for some time as they both caught their breaths. Finally, Bright decided to break the ice.

"So, was that your first kiss?" he asked. He was genuinely curious about it.

She nodded in response. "Yes it was. I'm guessing it was the same with you?"

"Yup. Now that you mention it, it felt...nice." he noted.

"R-really?" Fluttershy stammered, blushing.

"You're pretty good, especially given that was your first kiss." Bright added.

"W-why th-thank you...Bright. Now that you mention it, you're a good kisser too."

Now it was Bright's turn to blush. "Well...thanks, Fluttershy."

"Well, I guess we should be getting back to the dorm."

"Wait!" Fluttershy stopped him. "We can't get back without being seen by anypony else, and I don't think you have enough energy to make us invisible all the way through the school."

He grimaced. "Yeah, good point." He pondered for a moment, then lit up when an idea struck him.

"I've got it!"

"Here, hold onto my back." he ordered. Fluttershy obeyed, and Bright closed his eyes again. He gathered all of his remaining energy, then focused on a picture in his mind. He directed the energy to his horn, and the two disappeared once again in another flash of golden light.

Seconds later, they zapped back into existence in the lobby of their dormitories. Bright staggered forward a step, then collapsed on his belly and lay there snoring. Fluttershy immediately followed suite.

Unfortunately, the latter's nap wouldn't last.

BANG!

One of the dorm room door's banged open, yanking Bright back into alertness.

Somepony stormed out. It was Rainbow Dash.

"There you are!" she yelled. Her loud voice caused the others to look out of their dorm rooms to see what the commotion was all about. When they saw Fluttershy and Bright shaking with exhaustion, they rushed over to help. They soon had formed a ring around the duo, gazing in concern at the latter.

Rainbow was the sole exception: Her gaze was one of irritation and impatience. Bright was very quick to pick up on her expectancy, so he turned slowly to face the rainbow-maned pegasus. He flashed a weary smile of amusement.

"If you want an explanation, now's not the time." he said weakly. "Flutters and I are obviously spent, so we need some..."

He never finished; Exhaustion had finally overtaken him and he slumped to the ground. The mares--barring Fluttershy of course--suddenly became worried, as they thought he was unconscious. But on closer inspection, it turned out Bright was just sleeping peacefully. Twilight, Applejack, and Rainbow gently lifted Fluttershy's sleeping figure and placed her onto Applejack's back, then carried her to her dorm room. Sunset, Rarity, and Pinkie did the same with Bright.

When the second trio had tucked the snoozing colt under the covers of his bed, they stayed where they were and gazed at him for a long time. Different thoughts ran their each of their heads:

He looks so cute when he's asleep. Aww, I just wanna cuddle him so much!

Wow, I never realized how handsome a colt Bright is. He's a very well-toned colt, that's for sure.

He seems so...peaceful. All of this time that I've known him, I've never seen Bright this relaxed before. It's actually pretty alluring.

It was clear to the three mares that they all liked the oblivious stallion. Finally, they shook off their daydreams and silently left him to recover in peace. As soon as the door closed, a look of concentration creased Bright's muzzle. His eyes were still closed, but his horn sputtered, then glowed dimly. It glowed with light for a few seconds, then snapped off. At the same time, Bright slumped down. He looked even more worn-out than before.

Meanwhile, Pinkie, Rarity, and Sunset headed over to Fluttershy's room, and joined the other three in waiting for the buttercup-yellow pegasus to wake up. Thankfully, they didn't have to wait long.

15 minutes later, her eyelids fluttered open, and she yawned.

"Hey everypony." she greeted drowsily. "What'd I miss? Last thing I remember was Bright teleporting him and I into our dorm."

"Nothin' much, sugahcube." said Applejack. "Ah'm surprised you're already awake."

"Yeah, you literally collapsed with exhaustion when we saw you and Bright." Twilight agreed.

Fluttershy blushed at the mention of the stallion's name, but she quickly shook it off.

"I-I'm surprised too." she admitted sheepishly. "Just a minute ago, I felt a weird rush of energy. It wasn't much, but suddenly I didn't feel so tired anymore."

When she said this, the unicorns' eyes widened. They looked at each other, and they instantly knew both had the same thought:

Bright.

Pinkie Pie, ignorant of their shock, turned to the bed-bound pony. "So, what was it like?"

"What was what like?"

The pink Earth pony rolled her eyes. "Oh, please. You know what I mean."

"What was it like kissing Bright?"

That got everypony's attention. The entire room went silent as they awaited the response.

The shy pegasus tried vainly to hide behind her mane.

"G-Girls, that's not s-something you j-just talk about." she stammered.

"Oh, come on Flutters!" Rainbow sighed playfully. The others voiced their agreements as well. Finally, she had no choice.

She sighed. "Oh alright fine!"

Everypony eagerly waited for Fluttershy to describe the experience.

"I-I can't describe it all in detail; it was all so fleeting..."

"...But I can say that it felt absolutely heavenly. All my worries and stress just..." She trailed off as she looked off into the distance with a dreamy look.

Sunset broke the silence. "Wow, I actually am a little jealous of you, Flutters."

"Me too. You're one lucky mare, darling."

"B-But it was an accident." she meekly protested.

"Accident or not, that's still your first kiss." Sunset smirked. "You should be proud."

"Yeah, congratulations Fluttershy." Rainbow agreed. She just flushed in embarrassment and tried hiding behind her mane again.

"Well come on, girls. It's getting late, so we should be getting ready for bed." suggested Rarity. The others concurred, then left Fluttershy's room and headed to their own...

...Well, almost all of them.

Rainbow stopped right in front of her door and looked around. When she saw nopony else, she sneaked over to Bright's room. She tip-toed over to his bedroom and peeked inside. She was taken aback at what she saw.

Bright was laying on his bed, the covers neatly made under his body. He was wide awake and staring right at her motionlessly. Rainbow was impressed by how fast he'd recovered.

She gulped as a sudden wave of unease swept over her. He tilted his head by a miniscule amount.

"So, I'm guessing you want to know what the hell actually happened with Fluttershy and I, yes?" he asked calmly. The irritation from earlier overtook her uneasiness.

"You better believe it, buddy." she growled. "I don't want you to lie to me, or else..."

Bright nodded, though he wasn't intimidated; He doubted she could hurt him much, if at all.

"No need to be so angered. It was a simple accident."

He explained. "Pinkie caught me completely off-guard when she hit my shoulder, and I switched our positions so I would take the brunt of the impact, not Flutters."

Though Rainbow wasn't nearly as good at detecting lies as Applejack, Bright sounded sincere. She relaxed.

"Okay I believe you." she apologized. "I'm sorry I thought you were trying to put moves on Fluttershy."

"It's quite alright. I probably would've acted the same way if I was in your situation."

The two shared a smile, and the cyan-maned pegasus found herself hypnotized by his profile. Bright smiled a few seconds longer, then slowly dropped it. He adopted a confused expression in its place.

Rainbow was just standing there, looking dreamily at him. He raised an eyebrow.

"Umm...Rainbow? You ok?" he asked.

...No response. Now he was getting a little unnerved. Bright glanced out the window. He was so surprised by how dark it was, he temporarily forgot about the lovestruck mare.

"Whoa! It's already dark!" he exclaimed. His exclamation snapped Dash out of her trance. She blinked, then realized the time.

"Hey Bright, come on. Let's go have some dinner." she said.

"Sure. Sounds awesome, I'm famished." he concurred.

"I'll bet you are." she joked, and they chuckled.

She turned to the door. "Come on. We're gonna be having dinner at Twilight's dorm room."

They made their way to the purple unicorn's room, where everypony else already was. They were gathered in her kitchen, and Twilight herself was searching in her refrigerator. It looked to Bright like they were trying to figure out something.

"Oh hey there Bright!" Twilight greeted brightly. "I didn't expect you to be up and about so quickly."

"Well I am so...yeah." he answered. Real smooth, moron. he thought sarcastically.

"Anyways, so what's for supper? I'm starving." he quickly asked.

Twilight looked down sheepishly. "Sorry, but we're still trying to figure out what to have."

"Maybe I can help. I still owe you for welcoming me into your school when you could've just as easily ignored me."

"Awww, that's sweet of you to say that darling." Rarity cooed, blushing.

He flashed her a small smile, then strode over to Twilight's fridge and peeked inside.

Alright...so there's some eggs...lots of lettuce...great, I've got all I need!

He grabbed what the required ingredients, then closed the fridge door with an imaginary flick of magic. The mares were perplexed; what did he have in mind?

"Sorry about this girls, but this is going to take some time to make." he apologized.

"No, it's alright sugahcube." Applejack reassured. "Take all the time you need."

He nodded, then set to work. He swept the kitchen and grabbed the tools he'd need. Then Bright began expertly levitating many of the tools and foods simultaneously with his magic, mentally directing them to slice, mix, beat, pour, and skin the ingredients. At one point, the colt even left the dorm room completely and returned with a couple small peppers. He wasn't kidding when he said it would take some time: Almost twenty minutes had passed before Bright finally had combined all of the mixtures together into a big ceramic bowl. He sprinkled some salt and pepper into it, then scooped out a sample with a wooden spoon and took a small taste.

His eyes lit up at the flavor. Perfect, it's just how Mom taught me Bright thought. He slowly poured the thick, reddish-brown substance into a pot and cooked it over the stove. A few minutes later, Bright turned off the stove and lifted the lid. He deeply sniffed the aroma wafting out. A look of satisfaction crossed his face. Ahh, smells like how she did it, too.

"Hey everypony! Dinner's ready!" he called out. The mares were all lounging around in Twilight's living room in boredom, but perked up at Bright's announcement. They hurriedly made some room on the couch for Bright. He walked in, happy but drowsy. Behind him floated a large pot of the soup he'd created, a bunch of bowls, spoons, and drinks. All of this magic was really taking a toll on what little energy he'd recovered.

Maybe I'll skip tomorrow's workout? he pondered. He mentally shook his head. Of course not. The exhaustion will just mean more of a challenge.

"Wow, Bright. That smells delicious, what is it?" Sunset exclaimed, sniffing the rich aroma hungrily.

"It's called Skulblaka Soup. A family recipe and name."

Rainbow raised an eyebrow curiously. "Skulblaka? What does THAT mean?"

Twilight, however, brightened up at the word. "It means 'Dragon' in the ancient language."

"Wow, you've got your ear to the ground Bright. Not many ponies have even heard of the ancient language."

Bright blushed. "Yeah well, my uncle is quite the fanatic on it. He's never stopped researching and learning more about it." He proceeded to pour some soup into the eight bowls with a ladle and passed one to each of the waiting mares. He kept the last bowl for himself and gestured with his hand for the pot to return to the kitchen stove.

Pinkie scooped out a spoonful. "Why is it called Dragon Soup?"

Bright smiled mischievously. "Try it and find out."

The seven looked at each other, shrugged, blew on their morsels to help cool it down, and helped themselves with Bright joining them. Immediately, it became clear why his family named it "Dragon Soup."

All of their eyes widened at the taste. They swallowed the burning liquid quickly and coughed violently. Rarity, Twilight, and Fluttershy fanned their hands over their mouths, while Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, and Sunset seized their cups and drank greedily.

They all turned to look at Bright, only to find him laughing his head off. He tried to eat another spoonful of soup, but another wave of laughter forced his hand to drop the spoon and hold his stomach. At last, Bright calmed down enough to sit back up and wipe his eyes. He looked back at them all, still grinning like an idiot.

"Now you know why my family calls it Dragon Soup."

"Wha...What did you put in this?" gasped Applejack.

"Habanero pepper." he explained. "One of the hottest peppers in the world."

"Then how...how are you not bothered?" Fluttershy huffed.

"Guess I inherited my dad's tolerance for spicy foods." Bright giggled. "More milk, anypony?"

The rest of dinner was spent with the Mane Eight trading stories, laughing, and generally having a great time. It was about 9:30 at night when they'd all decided to turn in for bed. Bright didn't go straight to sleep, though. Instead, he sat at his desk, writing with a quill on some parchment something. He blew on it to dry it, then rolled it up and stuck it in a pocket of his training gear. Finally, the drained stallion cast a couple spells on his door and went to bed.

Outside, a trio of figures lay hidden in the shadows. All three were about Celestia's height, but that was all they had in common. One was a human, while the other two were pegasi, a blue mare and a green stallion. The man whispered:

"Are you two sure that this is where you sensed that massive vortex of energy?"

The mare simply looked at the man, eyes glinting. He sighed. "Alright, but how is Bright connected?"

Another long silence.

"Even if that's true, constantly stalking him isn't the best idea. What happens if somepony discovered us?"

"..."

"...I see. But if we're gonna go through with this, I want both of you to promise me that neither of you will NEVER interfere in any way unless absolutely necessary, understand?"

The pegasi opened their mouths to protest, but the man raised his hand to silence them. "Understand?"

They nodded weakly, defeated.

The man returned the gesture in satisfaction. "Good. Now let's get back home."

With that, the ponies unfurled their huge wings and took flight. The man stopped to glance back at Bright, then floated into the air without a sound and followed the retreating figures into the night.

Taking it All in Stride...more or less

Brrrrrinngg!!! The loud ringing of the alarm assaulted Bright's exhausted ears. Reluctantly, he turned it off and got up. He quickly got on his training outfit, but also an MP4 player, a pair of earbuds, and some light winter gear.

Once he'd made it outside, Bright deeply inhaled and smiled contentedly.

Ahh, this is why I love fall and winter, he thought. The air smells so fresh and refreshing.

It had been only three months since the school year had began, but Bright was already making a name for himself. It took Sunset, Twilight, and their friends almost the entirety of the first month to get him out of his shell. However, once he did he started interacting with the girls a lot more openly. The stallion was very careful to avoid anymore "Fluttershy incidents," as he'd come to call it. There were some close calls, but other than that, life was pretty normal for Bright.

Bright pressed 'Play' and got to work. The music started out softly, so his first few motions were slow and fluid. Gradually, the music picked up and he followed suite.

Meanwhile...

Applejack stirred in her bed, then groggily opened her eyes. She sat up in her bed, rubbing away the sleep from her eyes. She glanced at her digital clock and was mildly surprised at how early in the morning it was.

"Wow, ah woke up early." she said. "Guess it wouldn't hurt to get ready early, too."

She slid out of bed and plodded over to the door, but movement from outside caught her attention.

Applejack looked out of the window and turned her gaze down to the ground.

To her shock, there was Bright Scales. He had on a set of weird-looking training clothes and earbuds in his...well, ears. In his hands was a long length of red rope. All of that sweat he'd procured brought out his muscles in sharp relief. The farm pony watched as Bright launched himself into the air and jabbed the weighted length of rope in a bunch of different directions, all while performing a corkscrew.

AJ found herself blushing red at the sight. Bright was certainly dedicated to whatever he was doing, and he looked damn sexy doing it.

Oh wow, Bright's sure full'a surprises, ain't he?

Suddenly Bright stopped. He switched off his music and stood in place with his hands clasped on top of his head, catching his breath.

Just then, something happened to catch his eye. It was a streaking mirage that flitted by just out of sight. Quickly, he craned his neck to get a better view. Instead Bright found himself staring at Applejack, leaning from the window of her bedroom and looking right at him.

It took him a second to register who it was. When he did though, the poor stallion's face paled and he sprinted back to the entrance of the school. Once he got there, he collapsed into a cross-legged position and sat there as he pondered what in the hell he should do. He could either face Applejack or the entire school. The solution was simple.

It took Bright little time to find his way back to his dorm, and ta-da, there was Applejack waiting for him. He swallowed his fear and approached the smirking Earth pony.

"Umm...morning?"

"So, what were you doin'?" she asked slyly. Bright gulped audibly.

"Uh, well...th-that was just...errr--" he stuttered. An orange finger on his lips silenced him.

"That was a rhetorical question, sugahcube."

"Riiiight, s-sorry. Listen, please don't tell anypony about that ok?" Bright pleaded.

Applejack cocked an eyebrow. "Oh? And why not?"

"Because I don't want anymore attention!"

She thought about it, then looked at Bright with a wide grin.

"Sure, ah can do that. But first you have to do something for me..."

"And what would that b--mph!"

Bright was taken completely off-guard when Applejack suddenly leaned in and kissed him deeply. His eyes widened and he tried to pull away, but the farm pony wrapped an arm around his back and kept him rooted in place.

Slowly, his expression softened and he adopted a dazed face, though his shock and confusion didn't abate whatsoever. Applejack released him a few seconds later. Bright didn't move, though; The poor stallion was now frozen, still reeling.

"...And now you've got yourself a deal, pardner."

And so she trotted back to her dorm with a little more energy than before. Bright just stood there. He absentmindedly lifted a hand to his tingling lips and touched them.

Holy crap, I've already been kissed by two mares this school year... he thought elatedly. If this keeps up, soon everypony will want a piece of me!

Bright snapped out of his elation, thinking seriously this time. Then again, that might create some serious consequences. It might even cause this experiment to fail.

I'd better be more cautious from now on. I can't stop them from falling for me, but I can stop anypony from catching me, like Applejack.

He walked back to his bedroom, brainstorming and writing down some ways to keep future incidents that could jeopardize the experiments from happening again. He made sure to hide it in a safe place so nopony could figure out how to circumvent them.

That was too close for comfort. I need to be more careful in the future, otherwise this whole thing could fall apart.

When school finally began that day, Bright tried going about his classes as if nothing had occurred, but he just couldn't entirely get his...encounter with Applejack out of his head. Things didn't improve after school.

When the last period of the day was finished, Bright met up with the girls and together they headed to his locker. Upon opening it however, a huge number of envelopes tumbled out.

The stallion stared at the pile in confusion. "What the hell?"

"Well, looks like a lot of ponies have something to say to you." Sunset redundantly commented. Bright just shook his head and sighed.

"I'm more worried about the fact that they picked the lock on this thing." he said dryly as he bent down and picked one up. He read the letter inside and his eyes bulged open & his jaw dropped.

"What is it Bright? Something wrong?" asked Rainbow Dash.

Pinkie snatched another letter from the pile and opened it. Her eyes widened too.

"It says: 'If you're up to it, why don't you hang out with me? We could get to know each other a little more. Love, Aria."

"Seriously, a love letter??" exclaimed Bright. He dropped the one he was holding, then everypony picked a random letter.

"You and I should get together sometime. I bet we could make an amazing instrument duet. Love, Ocatavia." said Rarity.

"Dear Bright, the two of us are a little lonely. Why don't you keep us company sometime? Love, Flitter & Cloudchaser." read Applejack.

Bright shook his head. He dropped his bag and opened it up, then started stuffing the letters inside. The girls looked at him.

"Are you seriously gonna read all of these?" Sunset asked. Bright nodded silently then glance up back at her.

"I admit that I'm a little curious at what everypony here wrote to me, but other than that these things are just taking up space." he replied emotionless. As he picked up the last bunch of letters though, voices stopped him.

"BRIGHT!!" a mob of mares shrieked at the corner. The others were surprised by the mob's sudden appearance, but Bright calmly called back to them.

"Look, if you're gonna flirt with me, at least do it in front of me. These letters aren't going to woo me." The mares were caught off-guard by what he said, as their faces went from excited to bewildered and confused as they shifted uncomfortably.

"Oh, and one more thing..." Bright added, a strange twinkle appearing in his eyes. Without warning, he sprinted past his friends...straight for the mob. Both parties stumbled backwards in shock.

As he approached the larger group, Bright smiled mischievously and his horn started glowing, preparing to cast a spell. The mares started to panic when he crossed half the distance between them and wasn't slowing down at all. They tried to scramble out of his way, but it was futile. Bright was going to plow right into them.

But when he was a mere two feet away from the closest mare, golden light enveloped him from sight. When it cleared a second later, he was gone. Another gold flash, this time behind them, spat him out. He skidded to a halt and yelled, "Catch me if you can!"

The mob jumped at his voice, then they turned around and rushed off to try and catch him, leaving the Mane 7 standing where they were, utterly bewildered.

"That was really...odd of Bright, wouldn't you agree?" Rarity commented. The others nodded in agreement.

"Shouldn't we follow them? Just to make sure that Bright's ok?" Twilight asked. Rainbow waved her hoof dismissively. "Nah, I'll think he'll be fine. Considering how fast he is, I doubt they'll even be able to keep up with him for very long, much less catch him."

"So, anypony wanna head back to the dorm?"

"Sure."

Author's Note

Holy s***! This chapter took WAY too long to make. I'm so, so sorry for the long wait. I was grinding on one idea for so long before I finally decided to scrap and start again from scratch. Even now that I've posted it, the chapter seems rushed but I can't figure out how to fix it. Anybody have any ideas, that would be very helpful. Thank you and I hope you enjoyed this crap chapter.

A Fusion of Ma'at and Isfet

Each letter that Bright read created absolutely no reaction from him. While some of the letters were rather sweet, others were just outright unnerving how forward they were written. It wasn't that he didn't enjoy the newfound attention,--far from it--but the rational part of his mind knew that these mares weren't going to cease their attempts to win him over with this, not by a long shot.

Damn, Bright thought grimly. This keeps getting harder and harder.

After almost an hour, he'd only gotten halfway through the pile of "lust letters," as he'd come to call them. He decided to go to bed and finish looking at them for the night. The colt tucked them away beside his desk, crawled under the sheets, and fell asleep quickly, waiting for the first rays of tomorrow's sunlight.

The next day, Bright went about his day like nothing was wrong...or so it seemed. Underneath his calm demeanor, he was very cautious. His eyes kept darting from place to place and his horn glowed very faintly in case he needed a quick escape. It wasn't until he started changing for gym did he finally lower his guard.

On his way to fourth period from lunch, Bright noticed something on the announcements board. It was a poster, red with golden lettering:

Showcase your musical prowess! Sign up for the 2016 Battle of the Bands between University of Canterlot, Eastern Equestrian College, and Trottingham Conservatory!

Bright was intrigued. He'd had an idea for something like this, but he never thought he'd actually get to use it. Of course, when he thought of it, it was so ridiculously absurd, there was no way he would ever be able to pull it off on his own. But that was 7 years ago.

Maybe now...

"Looking for a band to play in?"

Once again, Pinkie had managed to almost give Bright a heart attack when she suddenly was looking over his shoulder. He blinked, still rather freaked as to how the hell she could do that.

"Well, you're in luck." she said, taking his blink as a yes. "The girls and I were the ones who organized this whole deal, and the ones who won it last year."

Bright was impressed. They were only about 22-23 years old and yet they set up such an event so early in their time in college.

"Thanks for the offer, but I think I've got my own in mind." he answered neutrally, recovering quickly from his shock at her appearance. Now it was Pinkie's turn to be intrigued. Bright already had a band made? Did he play with some of his friends at Ponyville College or something?

"Well, it's not exactly a band, per say. It's more of a 'one-man-band-hybrid' kind of thing." he said. Pinkie cocked her head. "What do you mean by that?"

"It means I'm just that good." the stallion cockily replied, his cryptic statement just spawning more questions and hardly any answers. With that, he smiled and put a hand on her arm. "Come on, we're gonna be late for class."

The pink Earth pony flinched at his touch. His hand was warm, yet callous and thick from years of work. At the same time, his grip was gentle and caring, like he was holding a hollow glass orb.

With an impish grin, he dragged her along to fourth period. After school, Bright whipped out his phone and dialed a number. It rang a couple times and somepony on the receiving end picked up.

Bright talked for a minute or so with the voice, then hung up and raced back to his room. He threw all of his school stuff on the bed and opened up his laptop. Furiously typing and clicking, he established a link.

The computer pulled up an image of an empty room. It was quite bare, only showing a large dresser and a king-sized bed off to the side. The walls were a camouflage pattern of sapphire and forest-green. Then, two figures entered the screen's view.

They were two big pegasi, one blue and the other green, just like the room's color scheme. A pair of massive wings hung from their backs, giving them a sort of regal appearance. At first they looked like any other pony. On closer inspection, though, there were a couple of abnormalities about them that would've given away that they weren't exactly 'normal'.

Both of them had cat-like, slanted eyes instead of the normal round eyes of ponies. The white tips of fangs poked from their lips, startlingly bright against their shimmering furs' brilliance, though they weren't obvious and could easily be overlooked if one wasn't deliberately searching for them.

When their eyes registered Bright, both of their muzzles split open in wide grins, each revealing two rows of sharp teeth.

"Hey there Bright! How've you been?" the green pegasus said...well, brightly. "The mares there giving you any trouble?" His voice was quite musical, like he was constantly singing, which served to add to that regal image.

"Hey Dad. No, not particularly." Bright smiled. "About the worst thing that happened was when one of my dorm-mates and I got chased through the school after I accidentally kissed her."

"'Accidentally??' Bright, how in the hell do you accidentally kiss a mare?" the blue pegasus asked in a deep, feminine voice. Bright laughed.

"Well Mom, the rest of my dorm-mates were giving me a tour of the campus and one of them slapped my shoulder. I accidentally was knocked into her and before we hit the ground, I switched our spots so she'd fall on top of me." he explained. The two pegasi guffawed, their melodious voices filling the dorm.

"Wow honey, of all the ways you imagined your first kiss to be, I bet this wasn't one of them." Bright's mother chimed, still chuckling. "That's pretty funny, if I do say so myself."

"Looking back on it, I guess it was." Bright admitted. The three exchanged stories and chatted animatedly for a while, until a knock on the door interrupted them.

"Oh, hang on." Bright said, then turned to the door. "Come in!"

The door opened and revealed the occupants on the other side to be Twilight, Applejack, Pinkie and Rarity. They'd all changed out of their school uniforms and into casual clothes.

"Sorry, are we intruding?" Twilight asked. She noticed that Bright was still in his uniform, so she figured he was working on something important.

"Nah. I'm just talking with my parents." he said coolly. At the word 'parents', their eyes lit up. They weren't expecting a chance to meet them so soon, and they had all started growing attached to the rather enigmatic stallion.

Applejack said, "Oh! Would it be alright if we said hello?" Bright smiled and gestured them over.

"Sure thing." He turned back to the computer screen.

"Mom, Dad, these are some of my dorm-mates." he said as they came into view. His parents were taken aback by their looks. His mother decided to voice aloud what they were both thinking:

"Ooh, you're one lucky colt, arent'cha Bright?" she ribbed with a sly look on her face. The four mares and her husband all burst out laughing, while Bright just widened his eyes.

"Mom!" he cried, only making them laugh harder. His face flushed with embarrassment.

"So mares, I hope you're treating my little colt well." she continued. She knew that Bright would take it in stride, even if he didn't show it now.

"Oh don't worry, Ms. Scales. We're making sure he feels very welcome here in Canterlot University." Rarity drawled as she slowly slid a finger up his neck, a saucy grin stuck on her muzzle. The stallion shivered from her touch, not expecting it.

"That's good, that's good. So Bright, you said 'some' of your dorm-mates. How many are you hiding from us?" His father asked, joining along with messing with Bright.

"Hahaha, just four more." he deadpanned. "By the way, these are Applejack, Rarity, Twilight, and Pinkie." he added, pointing to each of them in turn.

"Nice to meet you all." his mother waved. Her husband simply nodded and grinned slightly.

As it turned out, that was sort of a bad idea.

The appearance of his teeth freaked out, causing the mares to stumble back in fright and, in Rarity's case, squeak in fright.

Bright and his parents just looked at them in confusion. "What?" he asked. "What's wrong?"

"I...you...he...his t-t-teeth..." Twilight whispered, still shaking. The three ponies' eyes widened in understanding. Oh, dammit...

This wasn't exactly something that Bright could just explain away. The only evidence of carnivorous teeth on a pony at all were from the fossilized remains of an ancient pony ancestor that lived hundreds of millions of years ago known as a 'Dragon-morph', named so for its striking similarities to modern-day dragons. These included things like sharp teeth and claws, leather-winged appendages, and sometimes even evidence of a fire-breathing organ. Why ponies and dragons were so related to each other so close in time baffled scientists. What's more, their existence as 'natural' has even been called into question. All recorded fossils were found to be in a very specific time period, only lasting a couple thousand years before vanishing just as suddenly. It was as if they had been purposely created, then subsequently eradicated.

Bright wet his lips and tried to say something, but his mother beat him to the punch.

"Oh, I'm so sorry about that. This is just a little spell we found and decided to test it on ourselves." she said. "Have any of you heard of the ancient language?"

Twilight lit up as she connected the dots and exclaimed, "Ohh, I get it! So you and Mr. Scales did an A-L spell on yourselves?" The blue mare nodded. "Precisely, and this was the result."

"Now before anypony says anything, we knew what we getting ourselves into. You see, my husband's good friend is a HUGE fanatic in that language, not to mention one of Equis' leading researchers in it."

Her husband teasingly spoke up, "Oho, just 'one of'? Excuse me, but he's THE leading scientist in it." The older mare just rolled her eyes.

"Anyways, we came across a small scroll with the spell on it and sent it to him to translate. Long story short, he said it was okay so we did it." She laughed. "Guess we did it because we both love dragons."

"That sounds awesome." Pinkie commented. She had an odd gleam in her eyes, as if she was thinking of something rather satisfying. The other three college mares apparently recognized that look, as Twilight said, "Pinkie, don't you get any ideas. Any kind of magic with the ancient language is extremely difficult to perform, mostly due to how little we know about it."

"Oh yeahhh...I forgot how lucky we were when Era--"

CRUNCH

"AAHHH! GET IT AWAY!!"

The dorm shook from the explosion of noise. The room got deathly quiet until the five college ponies scrambled to Bright's window to see what just happened.

On the tennis courts, the tennis team was racing to clear the courts, while on the opposite end lay the unconscious form of a four-legged creature. What exactly it was, nopony could tell, but it was massive.

"Bright, what was that?" his mother asked worriedly. She and her husband couldn't see a whole lot, but it was obvious something wasn't right.

"Sorry Mom and Dad, I've gotta cut this short." he apologized. "I'm gonna go see if I can do something about all this." As he talked, he raced to his closet and threw it open. Digging through its inky depths, he let out an 'Aha!' and pulled back to reveal a pair of wicked, silver-and-gold metal gloves. They both sported razor-sharp claws and a white circle lay in the palm of each.

"Oh Bright, must you use those?" his dad admonished. "I doubt you'll need that much help in dealing with whatever it is out there."

"Better to be safe than sorry," he waved off. "I'm really sorry I've gotta go so suddenly. I love you!"

With that, he closed the screen and ended the call, then ran out the door and into the halls. Meanwhile the mares were standing there in dumbfounded shock.

"What...what kind of gloves were those?" Rarity quietly asked. Pinkie bounced on the soles of her feet excitedly.

"I dunno, but they looked SO badass! Come on, let's go watch him!" She sped off after him without another word, shaking the other three out of their shell-shock into following her.

Bright soon made it outside and raced to the tennis courts. He knew that it'd be much faster to just teleport there, but he didn't want to risk scaring it. Besides, he wanted to have as much strength as possible just in case things went south. The creature came into view again, and he slowed to a halt in disbelief.

Laying before him was a Dire Timberwolf. Had it been standing on all fours, it would've been level with Bright's chest, while its body was a lot smoother than a normal one's. Furthermore, it even seemed to have its own 'fur'; a thin layer of soft grass grew from its body. However, Bright wasn't focused on any of that, but instead at its collection of wounds, of which there were legion.

Gashes adorned its wooden body and a fist-sized chunk was missing from its snout, while its right ear hung limply on its side by a few strands of bark. The wolf's left foreleg and right back leg were canted at odd angles, implying that they were broken. Golden-brown, sap-like blood oozed from the injuries like molasses.

Holy shit... Bright thought, shaking his head in disbelief. What did this to you? He came to a stop a few feet away from the wolf. Its amber eyes flickered and slowly brightened as it lifted its head to gaze at him. Its upper lip curled back into a slight snarl and it let out a threatening growl. The noise reverberated through the ground and set Bright's teeth chattering from the vibrations.

Cautiously, the stallion raised a hand towards the timberwolf, his palm face-up. He willed himself to maintain composure in order to make sure he could help it. Despite its obviously battered condition, adrenaline would send it back onto its paws and kill not only itself, but also injure others.

Bright said calmly, "Zu'u los aan key ahrk aan fahdon." I am a pony and a friend. The wolf's growl ceased, its eyes grew sharper and more alert, and it stared at him intensely, never blinking. Finally, it laid its head back down and closed its eyes.

"Kogaan." Bright thanked, then slowly stepped forward and over to it. He placed a hand over the closest wound: an intimidating gash that went in an inch or two deep into the wolf's wooden flesh that spread from its nose, across the right cheek, and ended just above the collarbone.

The unicorn's horn glowed sapphire as he worked arduously to repair the damage. Every now and then he had to talk to the wolf, soothing it and comforting it, letting it know again and again that everything was going to be alright. The wolf didn't really understand what the pony was saying, but it did the trick well enough.

Bright had to look through its memories to try and ascertain how certain wounds had been received, and also to figure out what had attacked such a formidable creature. Sadly, the memories were fragmented and confusing to say the least, rendering them useless on the latter.

Still, Bright did what he could to ease its suffering. At last, he found himself back in front of the wolf's muzzle. The stallion looked as if he had just swam around in a pool of honey, then rolled around in the Everfree. Bits of branches, leaves, and dirt clumps all clung to his body and clothes. Moreover, all that magic left him drained and his arms drooped at his sides, exhausted.

The wolf opened its amber eyes again and stood up, looking at its own body as if amazed that this thing healed its...his own wounds. He cocked his head at the strange pony, then suddenly tackled him to the ground.

Scared, Bright thought that he was being attacked, but the thought vanished just as quickly when he felt a warm and wet stripe run across his face.

The wolf was licking him in thanks. His newly-repaired tail wagged happily as he continued licking away, his front paws planted directly on his chest.

"Whoa hey, easy there! Down boy, down!" Bright cried, squirming and trying fruitlessly to get it off. The wolf soon got his drift and hopped off his chest. He sat down and looked at him anxiously, tail still wagging. Bright gently petted his head, making him lean into the pony's touch, enjoying every bit of it.

"Bright..."

The blue stallion turned around and saw, to his great surprise, a whole crowd of students in and around the courts. At the front of the mass were the principal and vice-principal, both of whom bore the same amazed expression. Behind all of them Bright spotted the tell-tale lights of a couple ambulances, as well as some paramedics and Animal Control ponies. Everypony present had differing faces, ranging from disbelief to amazement to love-struck to horror. Then again, that last one was mostly directed at the timberwolf, though he didn't seem to notice or care.

Bright fidgeted nervously. All the stares may as well have been guns pointed right at him. If anything, he actually preferred firearms then ponies; at least then he'd have an excuse to erect a shield.

"I'm very sorry Principal Celestia." he apologized quickly. "I should've waited for you to get here first. I didn't mean--"

She raised a hand, stopping him. "There is no need to apologize for your actions, Bright. Because of your skill and quick-thinking, you saved this wolf's life."

He smiled slightly, but it soon faded as he thought of a question. "So, what happens to the wolf now?"

The vice-principal smiled. "I believe that's a decision for you alone. You saved his life, and he apparently wishes to be alongside you."

He knew where she was going with this, and tried to protest. "But ma'ams, having pets on-campus is against the rules to begin with, let alone wild animals."

"Then we shall make an exception to that rule. Besides, it doesn't look as if he wishes to leave you."

Bright was floored by her statement, then elated. He'd always wanted a timberwolf for a pet, but his parents had always said they were too dangerous to tame to be worth having one. He looked down at the wolf and it returned it, panting jovially.

Looking into the timberwolf's deep amber eyes, Bright made his decision. He scratched his head and looked back up.

"Then I'll take him in and raise him as my own," he proclaimed proudly. The wolf happily barked and trotted over to the adult mares. it sniffed their feet, curious as to who they were. He found them friendly enough and they were soon petting him as well.

"Guess he's taken a liking to you two as well." They laughed and agreed. The crowd joined in as well. Everypony just stood where they were for God knows how long, watching the wolf trot around and explore his surroundings. When he came close to the mares, some would squeal and back away, some would only lean back nervously, while others would stay where they were and even hold their hands out for him to sniff. He seemed rather happy with his environment, but Bright wasn't paying attention to that. He was trying to figure out what name he should give the timberwolf.

Fenrir? Nah, too Horse*. Adoff? No, ponies'll think I'm saying Adolf, and that's just gonna get annoying having to explain myself over and over. Wait...aha! Yeah, that'll work!

Taking a deep breath, Bright drew upon his magical reserves once more and set his horn aglow yet again. A large dog collar materialized in his hands. It was made from an orange-and-yellow leathery material. The way it was patterned made the collar look like dragons' scales. On the polished red metal plate was engraved a single name in Midas' gold:

Filtiarn.

Bright grinned to himself. He found it rather amusing how ironic it was of his choice of name for the timberwolf. 'Filtiarn' was an ancient Dirish (pronounced dire--ish) name that meant 'lord of wolves'. The fact that he was giving such a name to a wooden canine brought a smile to his face.

Bright whistled to get the wolf's attention and gestured him to come. He just stared at the pony, wondering what he was trying to do. Bright sighed. Looks like he'd have to train Filtiarn the basics as well when he got the chance. Instead he walked over to the wolf with the collar and gently put on the collar.

Filtiarn seemed confused about why this pony had strapped on a foreign piece of material around his neck, and ran around in circles, trying vainly to get a better look at it. All he ended up doing was trip on his paws and fall muzzle-first onto the ground. Everypony guffawed at the wolf's antics; he was so big, yet he acted like a dopey puppy.

Undaunted, Filtiarn sprang back up onto his paws and tried again, only to procure the same results. Still, he didn't give up, nor did he get tired. At this point, Bright, the Mane 7, the principals, and everypony else was howling with laughter. That managed to get FIltiarn's attention off the collar and he stopped, cocking his head in curiosity and wondering why these ponies were making such strange noises.

Bright wiped his eyes and, with some effort, forced himself to calm down lest he pass out from oxygen deprivation. Slowly he was able to regain control of his breathing.

"Hey Filtiarn, here boy!" he called. The wolf didn't really understand the command, only staring at him blankly. Bright sighed; he wasn't sure how to get Filtiarn to follow him, at least not without training him first.

Oh well... he thought. Probably should just keep trying. He tried calling him again, but still got nothing. He called for the timberwolf a third time, nothing.

On the sixth attempt, Filtiarn finally got the hint. Slowly, the wolf padded softly over to the stallion. Bright giggled and patted his head and smiled serenely--

Out of nowhere, a white-hot blade drove itself into Bright's mind, forcing the stallion to his knees as he clutched his temples. The pain...oh God, the pain...it was unfathomable.

"BRIGHT!" several ponies screamed. The Mane 7 bolted over to his side. He didn't even acknowledge their presence, so far lost in pain as he was.

"Bright c'mon, talk to us, please! What's wrong?? BRIGHT!!"

Their voices were fading from his ears as the wind howled louder in his mind's eye. Then, everything went red. Disjointed images flashed before his eyes and disappeared just as quickly, which only served to worsen the migraine. Bright could barely keep up with them.

Three shadowy figures, writhing and twisting through smoke...Maniacal laughter, two male and one female...flames engulfing cities...

Canterlot?? PONYVILLE?! Bright watched in horror as both cities went up in a blaze of despair and agony. Then, just as suddenly, he was moving...

Moving at tremendous speeds through darkened streets...a dilapidated, ancient building...a golden ball, floating upward...in front of a familiar red-furred muzzle...

Through a dark, foreboding forest...a massive tree...six gems hovering before it...

A menacing metal structure of alien likeness, nestled away in blistering cold...weaving through silent halls and corridors...a safe with no handles...a white diamond rising from black depths...

All eight objects brought together, the diamond surrounded by the aforementioned seven...a bluish-white ball of energy of titanic size...

The energy was launched at a stone door, blasting it apart.....in the dust cloud, a green-armored hand appeared.....a massive alicornoid silhouette stood, covered in dull green armor....Bright was terrified simply by looking at it....

Everything white suddenly, and a rage unlike any Bright had ever felt before swept through him. The desire to destroy was indescribable, and so was the accompanying power that pumped through his veins. He wanted to tear apart all of his enemies, rip them to pieces limb-by-limb, and nothing was going to stand in his way. Miraculously, it vanished on the spot. A booming voice, riddled with desperation and pain, replaced it.

Save us, Bjartskular! Stop the Vul Gein from devouring this world! Unlock Harmony's true power, and unleash the True Juggernaut in the Kasindr Sanctum. The sanctum is hidden within the Key of Leadership's alter. Hurry! If they find it before you, all will be lost! Save us, Bjartskular! SAVE US!!

Bright screamed into the howling maelstrom, broadcasting his misery for all to hear. Then, everything started to fade; the throbbing headache, the earsplitting noises, the blinding images. Before it all went black however, he heard one last voice. It was much softer and gentler than the previous one, like that of a caring mother soothing her foal.

Six keys lay in the realm of cruel irony.
The seventh key sleeps in the Lost Foal's cleansing fires.
The final key is sealed in the cold-hearted bosom of the Predecessors.

Bright's last thought before he slipped into unconsciousness was how familiar voice that second voice was...

Author's Note

Hey everybody I'm back. First off, I just want to express just how thankful I am at how far this story has come since 2014; 1,300 views, and almost 60 likes!

Now, I know that doesn't seem like a lot when I compare it to other fanfics that I've been reading like "The Infinity Effect" by creamofwheat2311, but the fact that it's MINE is...awesome. Thank you so much for your continued support and faith in me. I know you never say anything outright, but still I'd like to thank you.

Anyways, so this took a helluva turn, didn't it? What happened to Bright? What is this mysterious prophetic voice begging for his help? And why does Bright recognize the second figure? Only one way to find out...

By the way, for those of you who are confused by the title, Ma'at and Isfet are Ancient Egyptian terms for "harmony" and "chaos", respectively

So thank you everybody, and I'll see you all in the next chapter!

Things will never be the same...

Blinding sunlight brought an unwelcome throbbing to Bright's eyes, compounding the pounding migraine that pulsed in unison. He groaned in discomfort and clenched his eyelids shut tighter, trying feebly to block it out. It turned out to be fruitless and he scowled irritably. Bright forced himself to take a deep breath and relax in hopes that the pain would bleed itself away.

Slowly, agonizingly slowly, the painful pulsing faded to a dull throbbing. Bright hesitantly cracked open his eyes and blinked, allowing his eyes to adjust to the light. In the back of his groggy mind, he realized that he was on his back, and lying on something soft. Whatever it was, it definitely wasn't the tennis court ground.

What am I laying on? I thought I was outside... he wondered. Outside, when...I...I...!

Suddenly, the memories roared back and he shot up. The timberwolf--no, he was Filtiarn--, those weird images...and that voice...

Bright looked around. He was sitting upright on his bed, in his room...how the hell did he get here? The sapphire stallion groaned and heaved himself out of his bed, only to fall muzzle-first into the floor, which only served to detonate more pain to the front of his face.

Goddammit...why? he bemoaned silently. Bright looked back and tried flexing his feet with little success, leading him to the conclusion that they were stuck with pins and needles.

Growling, Bright gritted his teeth and dragged himself over to his desk chair, seething over the fact that he looked for the whole world like a pathetic, paralyzed cripple. He reached the base of the swivel chair and was in the process when--

BANG!!

--the door to his bedroom was flung open and slammed into the wall, forcing the sapphire colt to jump in shock. He lost his grip on the chair and face-planted into the unforgiving floor for the second time.

Snarling, he whipped his head and glared at whoever was at the door, then his face slackened in surprise at who it was. Rainbow Dash had her arm against the door and her face shined with an odd mixture of misplaced anger and joyous relief, as was the other six familiar mares behind her.

"Oh, hey girls." Bright said cheerfully. "What's up?"

"WHAT'S UP?!" Rainbow yelled. Bright was shocked back onto his feet by her tone. He didn't know what could've set her off like that.

"I should be asking you the same bucking thing, buddy! Care to explain what the hell happened to you back on the tennis courts??" she demanded. Bright stared at her, not at all following. Whatever she's referring to, it's probably got to do with that weird vision I saw... he thought.

"Sorry, I don't remember..." he said somewhat calmly. "It was kind of a blur." Rainbow wasn't satisfied, though. Pointing an accusatory finger at him, she angrily said, "A blur?! Bright, you almost exploded! Don't scare us like that again, you hear me?!"

The stallion blinked, perplexed. Did I make them worry about me? What DID happen?... He sighed, then fully faced her and walked to the rainbow-maned mare until the tip of her finger hovered before his chest. He gently took her hand, making her face heat up and change into a bright lilac.

"Look, I'm sorry that I scared you all, but I promise that it was not at all my intention and I hope you can forgive me."

Still blushing, she looked down at the floor and nodded slightly. Bright smiled a little, then let go of her hand. All of the ponies stood in an awkward silence for a time, until he cleared his throat.

"So...what did happen to me, anyways?" he asked, looking towards the other mares. They didn't answer him at first. The fact that they wouldn't meet his eyes very much unnerved him; they acted as if what Rainbow said was true.

"Girls it's alright, I'm not gonna be mad." he reassured them. Twilight hesitated, then shakily took a step forward and looked up at him nervously.

"Promise you won't...freak out, or something?" she asked weakly. Bright gave his word, and she sighed. "What Rainbow said is somewhat accurate: your body almost...um, almost annihilated itself from sheer magical e-energy..." Bright gulped audibly. "Where...where did that come from? I mean, even if I'm pissed off, I can't possibly...possibly pulled that much energy."

"T-The paramedics couldn't t-trace it's source, b-but it was really, really old...and desperate." She turned back at Bright, waiting for that inevitable shift to utter horror at what had transpired. She blinked in surprise when she found him wearing a thoughtful, yet worried expression instead.

"Where could it have come from? Ancient, yet in pain....a lot of it, if the amount of energy is anything to go by." he mused quietly. "It couldn't have been the Greybeards, their Thu'ums aren't meant to communicate through mental links...no, not the Locust either. That's far outside of their nature to beg the help of a random pony, even if they're dependent on us for sustenance..."

Bright's mind was whirring quickly, running through all of the races that could the message could have come from. The Necromorphs, the demons of Marae, the changelings. None of them fully fit the description he'd compiled, though: The Necromorphs would've wanted to consume Equus, not help it. Thousands of years ago, Peacekeeper Andrew Dareios saved Equus from being absorbed by Omega, leader of the Blood Moons, and by proxy the Necromorph race.

The demons of the Marae kingdom only cared about fucking each other senseless(don't ask, just look it up). Plus, they'd proven over and over again that they were content as they were now. Even Lethice, their queen, publicly stated their desire to be largely left alone herself. Considering how much admiration the Marae citizens held for her, she spoke for all of them.

As for the changelings, not only did they lack the mental abilities to perform such a feat, Chrysalis was a female. The first voice Bright had heard was a male's. Besides, after what the Elements did to her and the Changeling Empire a couple years ago, it's impossible to think that Chrysalis could have enough power to threaten the world like she used to.

"Bright...Bright! BRIGHT!!" Applejack's voice snapped him out of his thoughts. He started and looked at her. "Y'alright, sugahcube? You jus' blanked out on us." she asked kindly.

Bright nodded. "Yeah, I was just thinking who might've sent me that message." Twilight and the others hummed in thought, wondering as well who the mysterious, desperate being was.

"So Bright....what, what did you see?" Fluttershy almost whispered. He faced her and opened his mouth to reply, but another voice behind her interrupted him.

"Yes, we'd like to know that as well, Bright."

Everypony whirle around and stared at the dorm room's entrance. Standing there the Principal and Vice-Principal. Both of their eyes were unusually piercing, lancing out towards the poor young stallion.

"P-Principal Celestia! Vice-P-Principal Luna!" Bright yelped. "W-What are you doing here?" Celestia's muzzle crinkled into an amused smile.

"I think you will find that you'll be asking that question many times, Mr. Scales." she answered. "Though given the circumstances surrounding your current condition, that should come as no surprise."

"Mares, would it be alright if you give Mr. Scales and us some privacy?" Luna questioned. Nervously, the seven younger mares nodded and shakily hastened to vacate Bright's bedroom. When the door closed, Celestia and Luna's horns glowed white and blue, respectively. They glowed and pulsed irregularly for a few long moments, then they faded back to normal.

"We've cast spells around this room so none of the information you tell us may leave without our permission." Celestia explained. "So, Mr. Scales, would you please explain to us what you bore witness to earlier?"

Bright sweatdropped and fidgeted nervously, refusing to meet their indifferent stares. "W-Well...um, there was a lot of pain, first off..."

Luna nodded. "A common reaction when an immense amount of energy is pressed upon one's consciousness. What else?" She trotted over to him and put an arm over his shoulder comfortingly.

"Don't be afraid Bright. We promise that nobody save those who you choose to relay this to will ever know of it." she reassured him. Slowly, Bright cleared his throat and continued.

"I saw...one, no two, two dark-furred ponies...I think they were ponies. They--they were standing over Canterlot, then Ponyville. Everything was on fire..."

"Go on, Bright. It's okay." Luna whispered. Bright took a shaky breath, then said "Then, there was a...a group of gemstones. They came together and shot some...some sort of blue beam..."

"We don't mean to be overbearing Bright, but we have reason to believe that what you've experienced may yield some valuable information regarding an ancient prophecy." she said kindly. Understandably, Bright stared at her in disbelief. "A prophecy? What does what I felt have anything to do with some random prediction?"

"Bright, please do try to exercise some seriousness. This isn't just a random prediction we're referring to. This one in particular is the Prophecy of Doom and Unity."

"Oh...what a comforting title." he jested weakly. "What...what is this prophecy?"

Celestia replied, "The Prophecy of Doom and Unity tells of the return of the two worst beings borne of Equus."

"King Sombra and Nightmare Moon." Those names alone lowered the temperature of the room ten degrees, and the atmosphere immediately turned much more tense. Bright's pupils shrank somewhat, and his mouth felt full of sawdust.

"W...what?" he squeaked. She nodded solemnly.

"What the fu--!?" Bright tried to say, but Luna pressed a hand over his mouth, silencing him. "Hold Bright. You have yet to hear the rest of the prophecy, which goes as such:

The King and Queen of Darkness, punished in Hell's maw,
will arise once more, to carve the world they saw.
The world will burn, and Equus will fall,
unless the Eight Unity Keys converge, to end it all.

Six keys lay in the realm of cruel irony.
Their holders already know how to be wary.
The seventh key sleeps in the Lost Foal's fires,
and the final key is sealed in the icy bosom of the Predecessors.

But alone, the sacred keys will be for naught,
Without the help of the True Juggernaut.
Into the Kasindr Sanctum, in the heart of the Betrayed One's lair,
the Keys' holders must descend and be wholly prepared.

Bearers of the Keys, however, be cautioned
of the winding path that is infected by darkness.
A single misstep, one wrong move,
And the world will be forced to turn to their Doom."

A ringing silence followed Luna's recitation of the prophecy. Bright could barely keep his mind coherent at all, much less remain calm. Sweat poured from his body and dampened his fur, while terror and dread did the same to his mood. A million questions whizzed through his reeling brain. Who were the seven Keys? Who was the True Juggernaut? Why the hell was there a damn WARNING at the end of the prophecy?! Only one managed to squeeze out of his jaws though.

"Why...why me?"

Celestia sighed. "Luna and I wish to know that as well Bright. We're both very sorry for having to dump all of this onto you, but we feel that it's better for you to know the possibility of this rather than be unprepared for if we truly need you." Bright's jaw worked, but no other sounds came out.

Nopony could blame him, though. How often is it that you find out that you're POSSIBLY part of some world-changing, apocalyptic battle against two fucking-insane beings?!? Stumbling, the blue stallion clung to his chair for support, breathing heavily. It was all he could do to not faint.

"Bright...I'm so sorry for this." Luna apologized softly. "Neither of us wanted to burden you like this..."

Despite it all, despite his fear, shaking, everything, Bright held up a shivering hand. "I-It's...f-f-fine...I think." he stuttered. "But...why do you trust me with this? What does this have to do with my vision?"

Celestia sighed loudly and closed her eyes, angling her head downward to the floor. "Bright, we didn't wish to burden you any more than we already have, but I suppose there is no way around it." Luna looked at her sister with an odd expression, then wilted softly in understanding and mimicked her.

"When this prophecy had first been uttered, certain individuals were divulged the signs to look for when the prophecy has been set into motion. One of them was a pony who experienced a powerful vision after they tamed the Oakskinned Canine." Bright stared at her and groaned, rubbing the bridge of his nose.

"Please don't tell me that I was the unlucky bastard who happened to heal the ONLY supersized Timberwolf in the world." he sighed. They didn't respond, but their expressions were answer enough and the stallion shook his head in exasperation. "Again: why me?"

"Bright, maybe it's time you stop asking why you were chosen to be a part of this prophecy." Luna said firmly. "The fact remains that you were chosen, and it might behoove you better to seek out how to fulfill it."

"...fine." he sighed heavily. Bright slumped in his chair and glanced up at them. "Anything else I should know?" The stallion looked at them in a strangely comprehensive mixture of weariness and apprehension.

"As a matter of fact, there is. Because of your role, you will need to set out on a quest to seek out and obtain the eight Keys of Unity." Luna said blankly. Bright gave her an equally dry stare. Celestia fixed a calm glare at the young stallion, speaking with iron seriousness: "Do not think that you will collect them alone. If you recall from the prophecy, there will be seven others."

He nodded solemnly and heaved a loud sigh. "Alright," he said in resignation. "Would you happen to know who and where they are?" Luna blinked at him and pointed with a thumb at the door. Flashes of blue and white wreathed it for a split second, then it swung wide open. The seven mares piled against the door tumbled unceremoniously onto the ground with a series of yelps.

Bright just stared at them in surprise. He asked, "Hi girls...uhhh, why were you trying to lis--" He froze and looked at the pile of ponies in sudden shock, his mind clicking.

"Th-they're...you've gotta be kidding me..." Everything about these mares he knew before had been shattered. THEY were the Elements of Harmony, the ones who turned Discord to stone, who eradicated Nightmare Moon during her attempt to return to power, who defeated Tirek the centaur?!

"I...you...that...WHAT?!" he finally yelled. The Mane 7 flinched at his tone of voice and looked at the sisters for an explanation.

"Umm...h-hi principals, Bright..." Twilight stammered. "J-J-Just what's he freaking out about?" Celestia fixed a level gaze at her and coolly answered with "That you, barring Ms. Shimmer here, are the Element Bearers."

THAT got the mares' attention quite well. In a flash they scrambled back to their feet and gawked at her. "But ma'am, why would you tell him that??" an astonished Pinkie said.

Luna swiftly answered. "Because the time has come for the Elements of Harmony to be used again. However, Mr. Scales will have to aid you in order to restore balance to Equus."

Silence prevailed over the room for Celestia knew how long. A pin dropping would have sounded deafening in that moment. When the fragile but thick blanket of stillness was shattered, the culprit was not one who had contributed to the conversation the entire time.

A loud thunk could be heard from Bright's window, making everypony jump in surprise. They all exchanged looks and Bright got up to check it out. He got to the window just fine, but when looked out of it, he yelled "Shit!" and quickly pulled his head back and doubled down in...

...laughter.

The other mares were confused as to why he was laughing, but just then a giant wooden snout poked its way through the new opening, nose quivering from the multitude of smells. The snout wiggled around and strained to get in, but the creature's body following it kept it out. Filtiarn had arrived. Evidently he'd smelled his way to Bright's dorm and, recognizing the Principal and Vice-Principal's smells as well, was trying desperately to get in. Loud scratching and crunching could be heard from outside as he tore up the roof simultaneously.

The sheer ridiculousness of the situation forced them into laughing fits, to which Filtiarn tried harder to wriggle his way in futilely, earning even more raucous laughter from the ponies.

The hilarious circle continued until everypony managed to settle down enough to breathe. Bright managed to calm Filtiarn down enough to make him lie down on the roof somewhat complacently. His tail still wagged energetically, making rhythmic bumps from outside, but not too loud to be a nuisance. Probably.

"Well...I guess we needed that." Rainbow commented, to which all heads nodded in agreement, some smiling again. Bright said, "Sooo...principals? About the prophecy."

"Yes Mr. Scales? What is it?" Celestia asked. The stallion fidgeted for a bit then asked, "If I have to complete a quest and go out to gather these, uh keys, then how will this affect my studies?"

The older mares hummed in thought before Luna replied, "I suppose that you will be exempt from your studies."

"Next question, is it alright if I contact some people on this?" Celestia nodded gently in response. Without another word, Bright pulled out his phone and dialed a number. He waited for a few seconds before a distinctly male voice issued from the receiver.

"Hey Sky, what's up bruv?" Bright said jovially. "You doing good, how's research? ...mm I see." Pinkie and Rainbow leaned in a little to catch more of the mystery stallion's voice, but to no avail.

"What?? Dude you're a fucking idiot for that, so don't blame it on your dad. Hey listen, I've got a favor to ask...yeah, that kind.....yeah, uh-huh.....okay, I'll see you within 30 minutes, alright? By the way, I'm bringing some uh, classmates. Just a heads-up....what? Oh yeah, there's seven of 'em......shit, I know Sky, I know. They're essential to this as well. Thanks man, I owe you--no you dingus, don't you deny it I OWE you! Okay, good-bye."

He hung up and turned to face them, grinning childishly. "Alrighty then, I got our destination in mind." Sunset cocked her head at him, confused. "Aaaaand that would be...where?"

Bright just smiled and said "Steele Industries."

Author's Note

Three years...

Three years for me to figure out how to keep this story going. For so many times I feared that I would have to cancel, yet I couldn't bring myself to do it. I wanted to give you guys a longer chapter, but finally I said "screw it" and ended it on this cliffhanger.

I humbly beseech you for your forgiveness for this transgression.

Thank you so much for understanding, and I'll see you in the next chapter.