New Winds on the Horizon

Hey guys!

Now, as soon as technical difficulties stop bugging me, I'll be posting chapters more frequently, but life is against me on that, so I'll try my best! :D

Also, screw what I said in the first chapter! I'm gonna swear to my hearts content! XD

Enjoy!

~Cyclone speaks in these~

+Proton speaks in these+

/ I respond to them in these \

[These are author notes]

~...The way they're all looking at us...~

+...this training is going to be hell...~

........................................

~+/ Fuck. +~

"C'mon Atom!", Glare exclaimed, "Hop to it!"

Dark looked at Jet who slide up next to the group, "Jet. How would you like to be our motivational expert?"

The snake smirked, understanding something I didn't. She snaked [See what I did there? XD] around behind me, and before I could turn...

*WHISH, CRACK!*

She snapped her tail with a loud crack over my rump. I yelped, leaping into the air.

"OW!!!", I exclaimed, rubbing my sore cheek.

"Get moving and she won't need to do it again.", Naga said, stifling laughter at my pain.

"Get moving where?", I asked.

*SLAP*

"DUDE!"

"What?", Blue asked.

"Why'd you slap me?!?!"

"You broke Rule 1.", he retorted.

"Rule 1?"

"Never question The Blue, The Rhino, The Zeph, The Naga, The Frag, The Janvier, The Red or The Dark."

"That's a very long list."

"Yeah..."

*WHISH, CRACK!*

"OK! I'm moving!"

Rubbing my even sorer cheek I began a jog toward my house, guessing that's where they wanted me to go.

Blue flew over me, "Oh, and you can find the rest of the rules in your handbook."

"Yeah, I didn't get a hand-"

*WHACK*

"-book."

We arrived at my house, seemingly calm.

~But in reality, I'm about to break somepony's neck.~

+I'm wishing we'd stayed in bed this morning.+

/ And I'm hoping for this training to be less painful than what I anticipate. \

"So Atom.", Rhino said walking in front of me, "We're going to start with speed training! Dark. Zeph. If you will."

Both ponies stepped forward smirking.

~Great.~

"Ok Atom!", Dark announced, "There will more than likely be a race during this competition, and since you'll be racing AJ, you won't be allowed to use your wings."

"So we're going to drill you in endurance runs, just like in Boot Camp.", Zeph said taking over from Dark.

"You were in Boot Camp?"

*SLAP*

"Oh come on!!!"

"In answer to your question, yes. I did a while as a Royal Guard, but...", he trailed off, leaving the rest of us a little puzzled. Well not Blue.

+He'll tell us when he's ready.+

"ANYWAY,", Dark said loudly, regaining attention and dispelling the awkward moment, "Atom start running."

"Whe-"

*SLAP*

"Mother of Celestia I hate you."

"Around the whole town. FOUR TIMES! Gogogogogogogo!!!", Dark exclaimed.

-----------A Few Hours Later-----------

*BZZZTT!*

"OW!!! Dude, I thought Jet was the motivational expert!"

"Oh yeah...", Dark studied the snake for a moment, "Jet stick your tail out."

She looked at him quizzically before complying. Dark charged a small amount of lightning in his hoof and maneuvered it around Jet's tail...and...charging it with the lightning...

The serpent smiled evilly at me.

~+Oh shit...RUN!!!+~

Seeing the danger and needing no more encouragement, I shot off like a rocket for the last few hundred meters.

Since it was already late in the day when the training had begun, it was now about early evening and the nearby Everfree's tall trees blocked most of the remaining sun.

I collapsed down on the ground in front of the rest of the group, where they sat, joyfully talking about...I don't know what. Mostly likely how they are going to torture the shit out of me.

*WHISH, CRACK, BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZT!!!*

"FFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU-"

-----------Meanwhile at Sweet Apple Ares 3rd Person POV-----------

"-CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK!!!!!!!!!!!!"

"Was that Atom?", a certain small yellow filly asked her big sister.

"Eeyup.", AJ said, rearing up again to buck the sandbag hanging from the rafters of the barn.

"I bet they're all putting him through hell and back.", Big Mac stated with a slight chuckle.

The rest of the Mane 6 had already packed up and left for the day, leaving AJ with her siblings alone in the barn.

"Well,", AJ grunted as she bucked the sandbag again, "In any case ya'll know how he goes."

"Eeyup. He ain't gonna let ya win either.", Mac replied.

Before AJ could answer, a spine chilling scream rang out, loud enough to carry across the entire orchard, but not as far as the rest of the town, nor Atom's house.

"What in Equestria was that?", Applebloom asked, jumping to her hooves at the sound.

"Sounds like somepony's in trouble! Stay here Applebloom!"

Applejack and her brother dashed out of the barn and looked around, spotting a commotion along the path that lead to the Everfree.

"HEY!", Big Mac yelled, seeing a group of ponies holding down another, startlingly white stallion. The Apples ran down the path as the group of cloaked ponies began to drag the white stallion back to the forest.

"No! HELP!!! PLEASE!!!", he screamed.

A cloaked pony broke from the group and met AJ and Big Mac. With a swish of his hoof, he took down the massive stallion sending him to the ground.

AJ swerved around his hoof and bucked him in the side, but something just swallowed her hooves up, holding her in place as the pony turned, flipping her onto her back and driving the wind from her lungs. He followed up with a quick punch to the side of the mare's head.

"NO!!! Nononononononononono!!! Let me go! Fuck all of you!", the white stallion's cries for help touched AJ's ears, but she was helpless as he was taken deep into the forest.

The cloaked pony stood over Applejack. It raised it's hoof, and in the dim light it appeared to materialize into some type of blade.

The pony's hoof began it's descent.

*SHING!*

The cloaked pony looked up from it's blade, now crossed by another, straight into Atom's snarling face.

"Get away from my wife you motherfucker!", Atom put his other hoof around the back of the other pony's neck and pulled his head down, dislodging the two blades and severing the pony's neck as Breeze swung upwards.

The pony's body dropped to the floor and Atom helped AJ to her hooves.

As Atom's friends galloped up from the end of the path, the corpse began to be surrounded in a swirling black substance.

It grew until the body was absorbed into the ground and the substance dissipated.

Atom held AJ, puzzled by the events of the last few moments.

Thank Celestia his friends had decided to let him go for the day when they did. And were it not for Applebloom warning him of what had happened to AJ as he arrived at Sweet Apple Acres, he dreaded to think of the outcome of that scenario.

"DAMN IT MYSTIC!!!"

"I'm sorry sir, h-he managed to-"

"I DON'T CARE!!!", the large pony's horn glowed with a deep red aura as he struggled to contain his anger.

"High Priest.", a soft mare's voice sounded, "We have apprehended the subject. But we lost Shroud."

The High Priest sighed in relief, "Good work Veil. How did you lose Shroud though? He was one of our best fencers."

Veil shifted nervously on her hooves, "Th...The subject strayed onto the path heading to Ponyville and a mare and stallion heard his screams. Shroud stayed back to give us some time to escape. The mare was Atomic Vortex's wife."

The High Priest's eyes widened. After a long pause he spoke, "Did he utilize the demon again?"

"No sir.", Veil replied.

"Good. If he comes even remotely close to gaining that power again...", The High Priest stood, flaring his wings and using his horn to write one final thing on the paper before him, "...kill him."

Ok, so this is gonna be the chapter for me to leave you for a small amount of time as my laptop gets repaired! Don't worry I'll be using my backup computer, so I will still be around. :D

As a final note, any of the OCs that weren't in this chapter, don't worry. Every OC will get their shot during this arc!

Until next time!

See ya!