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              Are you a Weapon or a Meister?               
                     -by DEACTIVATED-                      
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       Summer Weekends; A Relaxing Day at the Park?        
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Summer Weekends; A Relaxing Day at the Park?
"Come on, Twilight! I'm going to start growing a grey mane by the time you're ready!" An impatient Rainbow Dash groaned, causing her other friends, Fluttershy, Applejack, Pinkie Pie and Rarity to sigh.
Twilight turned around so quickly she accidentally slammed her hind leg on a nearby table. She took a sharp intake of breath, waiting a second or two to let the slight pain dissolve, before she glared at Rainbow Dash. "Seriously? I'm only double-checking to make sure everything's in order, Rainbow. Calm down."
"I can't 'calm down', Twi! It's the first day of Summer, and I want to go test my flight skills. I can't do that when you're taking as long as Celestia's age to do something so simple."
Twilight sighed and went back to double-checking. "Whatever you say, Rainbow Dash. I don't see why you need to 'test your flight skills', anyway. You're pretty good at what you do - you might even be the best, Dash."
Rainbow Dash huffed, a little flattered (but annoyed all the same) and turned to her other friends, who were sitting at a table having some conversations about various things.
"And then I said, 'Who? What? I'm sorry, I don't speak burrito!'" Pinkie erupted into laughter at her confusing joke, while Rarity only shook her head in amusement, a small grin plastered on her face.
"I can never understand you sometimes, Pinkie." She sipped the last of her tea and nodded to Rainbow Dash, serving as a 'welcome back.'
Rainbow plopped herself in an empty seat before she dropped her head on a table and went limp, as if she were a ragdoll. She groaned quietly, rolling to her head to the right a little to look at Fluttershy.
"Can you believe this, Flutters? I surely can't." Rainbow let out a small huff again.
"She's almost done, Dash-"
"I'm already done." Twilight interrupted. "Sorry to interrupt, Fluttershy."
"No harm done." A warm smile grew on the yellow pegasus's face.
Rainbow Dash zoomed out of the room so fast that, if Rarity had any tea left, it would've caused it to spill halfway across the room.
Everypony else got out of their seats excitedly - although definitely slower than Rainbow - and headed towards the exit. Twilight was the last to leave her home, locking the door and even double-checking that. She carried her saddlebag with her. Inside it carried 7 different towels - 6 for everypony, and one extra just in case. They weren't going to a beach, but instead the park. Everypony agreed that, on the first day of Summer, they would all meet up and go relax at the park. Work had finally been lifted off everypony's shoulders, and to celebrate 3 months and some of no work, they all chose that as the best answer.
"TWILIGHT SPARKLE!" An irritated, raspy and loud voice broke out of her thoughts. "WHERE IN THE WORLD ARE YOU?! YOU SAID YOU WERE DO-"
"I'm coming, Rainbow Dash! Stop yelling!" With one last glance at her home, Twilight hurried off to catch up with her friends.
"Man, for a Princess, you sure are slow." Rainbow Dash muttered under her breath.
Twilight smacked her upside the head with her wing.
"Ow! Hey!"
The park was beautiful. Even Rainbow took a moment to take it all in. Even if they visited it many times before, it was still quite a sight to see. The sky was a clear baby blue, white puffy clouds scattered across the wide sky. Around the perimeter of the entire park, there was a large dirt trail with smaller paths leading to different locations. Trees were also scattered here and there, but one large tree caught the attention of everypony at first glance. It was about 17 feet tall (including the leaves) and 4 feet wide at the trunk. The leaves' girth was about 15 feet wide, and it provided so much shade that only itty-bitty, tiny specks of sunlight peeked through the giant horde of green leaves, if not none at all. This tree was located to the far left of the park. In the middle there was a fountain made of stone, an unknown pony sprouting water out of her mouth while in the pose of standing on two hind hooves. Fresh, green grass was everywhere and a few daisies and other flowers scattered in clusters all over the park. Small fillies chased each other in one section, shrieking, 'you're it!' when they finally touched their target before galloping in the other direction. The adult mares and stallions sat on benches talking about certain things that Twilight couldn't hear from her location, but she could tell it was probably something humorous because one of them chuckled afterwards.
"Let's go sit under there!" Rainbow Dash nodded to the huge tree and quickly flew there. Twilight had to gallop, knowing Rainbow would be angry again if she didn't hurry, and her friends followed her.
After setting down the towels, Twilight laid down on her light purple towel. Rarity, Fluttershy, Applejack and Pinkie did the same on their towels (each pony's towel was the color of their fur). They talked happily, discussing about how happy they were that Summer was finally here. Pinkie was, once again, telling random jokes that quickly changed subjects at each breath she took. Rarity was casually chatting with Twilight, Fluttershy and Applejack were with Pinkie's conversation (although they had a chat between each other as well). Rainbow Dash, after doing several flips and zooms across the sky and wowing the ponies watching, eventually laid down with the rest of her friends.
A couple of hours passed by quickly. Ponies came and went, but the girls stayed in the same spot chatting. Without them noticing, they slowly became more and more tired. Work's effect seemed to slowly press in on them, as each mare yawned at least twice within 30 minutes.
"I'm going to...take a nap." Rainbow yawned, closing her eyes and shifting to sit in a more comfortable position.
"Me too." The rest of the girls said in unison, also moving slightly and drifting off to sleep.
Twilight, even though she closed her eyes, was the last to stay awake. Many things were on her mind. She knew she had a lot of anxiety, but she was always able to shrug off those worries and distract herself by having fun with her friends or take her mind to another place while reading.
Yes, she sighed mentally. I won't worry now. I should just sleep like my friends and maybe I'll forget later, when I wake up. With that in mind, she smiled and fell asleep.

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     A Fateful Encounter; Protecting a Friend in Need?     
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A Fateful Encounter; Protecting a Friend in Need?
{- - - - - - - T W O    D A Y S    L A T E R - - - - - - - }
A bone-chilling screech filled the air, followed by a soft "glowing" noise as a red kishin soul floated in mid-air. A teenage girl wiped the sweat off her forehead with her free hand, her other hand being occupied by the staff of a certain scythe. The said scythe chuckled before turning a bright blue. It then morphed into shapes in mid-air before it transformed into a boy, landing on the ground. He, with his hands in his pockets, made his way over to the soul and grabbed it. He gobbled it down in a few bites, despite it being two-times bigger than an average fist. A satisfied "aah" was heard by the boy.
The boy, who was in his teens around the age of 15, smiled back at the girl. His eyes were a deep shade of red and his eyes were slanted downwards. His white hair was messy but covered a bit due to the headband that circled the middle of his head. Certain stickers and badges were placed on this headband. His blank-white teeth were as sharp as a shark's. He wore a black jacket with yellow sleeves and design on the top-right of his chest. He also wore maroon khakis and black and yellow shoes.
"What're you smiling for, Soul?" The girl laughed softly, a joking smile inching higher on her face. The boy, named Soul, chuckled again.
"Nothing," He dismissed with a nonchalant wave of his hand and a shrug. He smiled another humorous grin. "I'm just thinking about what I'll be able to do when I'm a Death Scythe."
The girl rolled her eyes and smacked him upside the head. "You silly oaf. C'mon, it's late. Let's contact Lord Death and get back to our apartment."
Soul sighed and shrugged his shoulders. "Whatever. Let's go."
The girl, named Maka, walked down the alleyway they were in, looking for a window. She had green eyes and dirty-blond hair strung up in two pigtails on each side of her head. She wore more uniform-like clothing than Soul, with a white undershirt, a white-striped green tie, a long black jacket with the backside of it ending near her feet, a yellow vest underneath, a red-plaid short skirt, and black shoes with a lot of buckles. Her teeth were straight as opposed to Soul's. She also wore white gloves.
Suddenly, a very loud crash stopped both of them in their tracks. The two quickly turned around. Soul jumped high in the air and morphed into a scythe. Maka, with a lot of practice and experience, caught him with one hand and positioned herself into a fighting stance. She became a still as a statue a few seconds later. Her heart raced with alarm and seemed to be beating as loud as a drum. Soul's reflection shone in the scythe's blade, and his expression wasn't any different - alert, determined and ready.
Everything was dead silent - only the small squeaks of mice and cawing of birds (who were escaping due to the loud noise) interrupted this silence. After about a minute or so of staying still, Maka narrowed her eyes and slowly tiptoed closer to the source of the sound, which was another small alleyway to the right about 5 feet wide.
"Anyone there?" She called as she peeked down the said alleyway - the only part of her showing was her left pigtail and one-third of her face. When no one answered, she grunted softly and stepped completely into view. Soul sighed, as if he were holding his breath the entire time of waiting.
He transformed back into his human form. "It's probably nothing. Maybe someone ran past and accidentally tripped, then ran away shortly after."
Almost immediately after he said that, something under a trash bag shifted, followed by a groan. This made both Maka and Soul flinch, but they narrowed their eyes at the bag. Soul didn't want to transform again only to find out it was a rat or some other harmless creature, so he stayed in his current form.
"Is anyone there?" Maka repeated, taking a step closer before the bag rolled away to reveal a woman.
The pair gasped in shock. What was a girl, nonetheless a girl looking about 15 to 17 years old, doing in a small, dirty and dark alleyway being covered by a trash bag?
Instantly Maka rushed to her side, brushing off any excess dirt and garbage. She was able to get a closer look at the girl from this close up. She had long, straightened dark blue hair with one, thick strip of hot pink running down it and a triangular dent in her bangs. She wore a uniform looking extremely close to Maka's, only it was in shades of purple. Other differences were that she had no coat or gloves, purple sneakers, her tie was dark blue with pink stripes, and her skirt was a little longer with no plaid. Her eye color wasn't definable at the moment, as she seemed to be sleeping or unconscious.
Maka lightly shoved her to wake her, but the girl didn't bat an eye - quite literally.
"Do you think the kishin we killed a few minutes ago did this?" Soul whispered, showing no emotion.
Maka raised two fingers to the girl's neck, then lowered her head close to her chest. Moments later she pulled away and stood up. "She has a pulse and a heartbeat. Along with that I hear faint breathing. Kishins don't leave people alive, Soul. In fact I don't think she even had an encounter with the one we defeated. She would've been killed or majorly injured if that happened."
Soul nodded in bored understanding. "So what do we do with her? We're not going to just leave her here, are we?"
Maka shook her head. "Of course not, you idiot. She needs shelter. Some other creature, or even worse another kishin, might harm her if she's in this state." She nodded to the girl. "I think the best place we could shelter her in would be our apartment at the moment. Come on, help me carry her back."
Soul sighed and came closer to the girl. He was about to pick her up when something very heavy slammed into his stomach, knocking the air out of his chest. He widened his eyes and flipped mid-air, his shoes smacking the brick wall of a nearby building. In the split-second he had, Soul's legs sprang and, in a wide jump, he landed next to Maka and turned on his heel to face the attacker. Speaking of whom, Maka's eyes were as wide as they could stretch from shock, but showed hints of anger and determination inside as well. She instantly went into a defensive pose.
Both of the pair stared at the attacker. Soul growled quietly. He wanted to transform to show them who's boss, but he needed to find out who their enemy actually was first.
A raspy cough filled the alleyway. The person stood up and quickly jerked their head to look at Soul over their shoulder. Red-violet eyes glinted slightly. It was too dark from where they were standing to tell if the person were a female or a male - actually, it was too hard to tell what they looked like in general.
Suddenly, they took a step forward towards the light.
If Maka's eyes could widen any more, they would've widened to fit her face. The attacker was a female, around the same age of the unconscious one, but she wore much more different clothing. She wore a baby blue short-sleeved T-shirt with a darker baby blue undershirt. The undershirt had long sleeves, so they passed the T-shirts' and stopped at her wrists. She also wore royal blue denim shorts that stopped right above her knees, and she had rainbow socks with white sneakers. On the top-right of her chest there was a pin. It looked like a cloud with a rainbow lightning bolt peeking out of it.
Her red-violet eyes were narrowed and her face contorted to a mixed expression of anger, fear and panic. Her long, slightly-messy hair was highly unique, being all of the colors of the rainbow. Her skin was tan; Soul guessed she probably did outside activities due to this and the fact that her forearms and calves twitched slightly to show muscles.
"Stay back! This is one of my best friends - try to harm her and I'll send you to the hospital!" She spat, raising her fists and shifting her feet to stand in a more intimidating pose.
Maka's gaze softened. She wasn't looking for trouble; she was only trying to protect her friend from suspected harm. "Calm down." She dropped her fists and spoke in a reassuring, but slightly strict, voice. "We were only trying to help. Your friend is unconscious, but alive all the same."
The girl grunted and lowered her fists a little. "How do I know you didn't do this to her? How can I trust you?"
"You can check her for injuries. Me and my partner here only found her." She motioned to Soul, who also dropped his fists at the same time as Maka did. He nodded to the girl, a suspicious glance being sent the stranger's way.
Slowly, the girl stepped back and crouched next to her friend, still keeping a fist at the ready. Suddenly, she started to frantically search the unconscious female for any hidden wounds. When she found none, she looked up with an apologetic but slightly alert glance.
She stood up and walked closer to the pair. "Sorry," She muttered loud enough for them to hear. "I just saw my friend and I...thought you had hurt her."
Maka smiled and shook her head. "We understand," She looked up at the night sky, saw the eerie, smiling moon and frowned slightly, then turned back to the girl. "but it's getting pretty late. Is your home close by?"
She lowered her head and looked away. "No," She huffed. "In fact, I don't even really know where it is."
Maka tried to keep a smile so she didn't depress her or make her feel guilty. "That's fine. Would you like to come stay at our apartment for tonight?"
She looked up and grinned slightly. "Yeah, that would be nice. Do you have any extra room?"
Maka nodded. "There's an extra room with about 15 sleeping bags and one large bed." When the girl tilted her head, she laughed. "The bags are so that, if we ever go on a camping trip or vacation in general, we'd have enough for our friends." She seemed to understand and smiled fully.
"Well, that's great. Here, I want to show you my other friends." She jogged past them, then stopped and turned around. "I'm Rainbow Dash, by the way." Rainbow nodded to the other girl, still in the alleyway. "That's Twilight Sparkle." Maka twisted her head and glanced at Twilight.
"I'll stay and watch over her." Soul offered. Maka blinked in confusion.
"Soul is actually wanting to help for once? Am I dreaming?"
Soul narrowed his eyes. "It's not like I have anything else to do. I'm not interested in meeting a bunch of girls."
Maka nodded, serving as a silent ,"thank you" and started to make her way to Rainbow.
Rainbow took one last sad glance at her fallen friend and continued walking. The two girls exited the small alleyway and the larger one came into view. Instead of going to the left, where most civilization was, she went to the right and continued walking. Almost instantly Maka felt a pang of pity, and she stopped momentarily; to the right, she knew there was another small alleyway, but after that there was a dead end. She snapped out of her small pity party and jogged to catch up with Rainbow.
"So, Rainbow, where do you live? I haven't seen you around before." Maka questioned, partly out of trying to start a conversation but also out of curiosity.
"Ponyville, although it's definitely not around here. Ponyville is more cheerful and colorful than this place."
Weird name, Maka thought to herself, knowing it would be offensive if she said it out loud. "Do you guys ride horses a lot there?" She joked.
Rainbow stopped, turned around and made a contorted face, almost as if it were such a strange question that she couldn't believe Maka had asked that. "No! That would be weird, disrespectful and uncomfortable sitting on ponies' backs all the time."
Maka narrowed her eyes, but conducted it must be a tradition of Ponyvillians to not ride horses. She smiled apologetically, trying to lift the sudden negative aura around Rainbow. "Sorry. I didn't know about your traditions."
Rainbow grinned and laughed softly - the effect worked, and she returned to her happy mood. "It's all good. No offense taken. You just startled me a bit."
She looked back ahead of her and continued walking. As Maka thought, she turned to the left to a small alleyway. Four people, with the moonlight shining on them enough to show that they were female, looked up and widened their eyes happily at Maka.
"Wow!" A cheery and high-pitched voice caught the attention of Maka. She looked to her left and jumped out of surprise, seeing an energetic teenage girl staring gleefully at her inches away from her face. "We've been here for two days! It's nice to see a different face. We took a nap at a park and when we woke up, we were here in clothes I don't remember wearing and in a human body! That's pretty freaky, huh? Well, you're a human, so it's not that weird to you. Nevermind that," She took a breath of air. Her face changed quickly to one of serious depression and concern. "Have you found anypony by the name of Twilight Sparkle? When we woke up we couldn't find her anywhere."
Maka nodded, still slightly confused to the whole 'woke up in a human body' part. Weren't they already humans before? "My partner, Soul, is back there protecting her. She's unconscious, but she isn't harmed."
The other girls who were in the back of the alleyway (Maka just now noticed they were standing closer to them now) gasped in shock, but relief was obviously seen.
"You don't need to worry - she's fine." She reassured, making them soften their concern. She sighed and glanced at Rainbow, then glanced back at the other girls. "Gosh, where are my manners?" She giggled and extended out a hand to them.
"I'm Maka Albarn, a Meister and student at DWMA. It's a pleasure to meet you."

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               What to do; Meeting the Crew?               
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What to do; Meeting the Crew?
As Maka had her hand extended, flashes of happiness and kindness fluttered through the girls' eyes.
"Howdy, sugarcube!" One of them yanked Maka's right hand and shook it excessively with so much strength she was sure her entire body was shaking, even if the other girl wasn't budging a inch. Maka stretched her fingers and rolled her wrist the instant she let go.
Gosh, why does she have such a strong grip?! She thought, shocked. She looked up and forced a smile even though her hand in general hurt like it got ran over by a steamroller. Her urge to rage was strong, and normally, she'd Maka Chop someone for doing something like that and criticize them to be careful next time, but these girls seemed a bit too sensitive to her. She didn't want them to be afraid of her or avoid her, so she kept her mouth shut and tried to ignore it.
The girl's slightly messy platinum blonde hair, which was in a low ponytail and secured by a red band, jumped to the side as she flipped her bangs. She placed her hand on her chest, motioning to herself, as she spoke. "I'm Applejack, but you can call me AJ if you'd prefer."
Maka nodded to the obvious cowgirl. She had tan skin and muscles along her limbs like Rainbow Dash, although her legs (especially her calves) were the bulkiest; they looked like pure muscle, really. Over these guns, she wore a tiger-orange T-shirt with long, denim overalls, straps overlapping her shoulders. Right below the middle of her chest, there was a large pocket with a red apple-shaped symbol sewn into it. Brown,  leather cowboy boots with no spurs went from the bottom of her feet to half of her calves. White laces in the shapes of apples were scattered among her footwear. She also wore a plain cowboy hat that looked like it held a lot of value. Applejack's grassy green eyes lit up with so much respect it was almost overwhelming.
Next, Maka turned to another girl. When she shook her hand, it was soft and smooth, unlike Applejack's calloused one. She shook it with such delicacy it was just screaming "fancy". Along with this difference, her skin was pale, and she wore a ring on her right hand with a golden shank and a baby blue, four-sided-diamond that seemed of great importance. She donned a white, silky spaghetti-strap dress (with few visible dirt smudges, but it was very clean for someone who wore it in a small alleyway for two days in a row) with a sleek, purple ribbon surrounding her waist. The dress ended just below her knees, and she also wore white low pumps. Her dark violet hair was in two, large separate curls going in different directions and looked just as smooth as her ribbon. The curl covering her left eye was shorter than the other one, ending near her ear while the other curl stopped at the base of her neck.
"It's quite a pleasure to meet another lady such as yourself," She smiled warmly, giggling a bit. "I'm Rarity, darling." Maka could already feel her anger slipping away a little bit by this point - key word being little.
Maka turned to her left to see the girl who explained everything in one breath. She had remarkably puffy, magenta hair with a small, gravity-defying curl in the front. Her light blue eyes sparkled with obvious excitement, along with a teeth-showing smile that reached from ear to ear. Below her face a detailed necklace hung from her neck in the shape of three balloons - on the left and right sides were blue balloons with yellow strings, and in the middle was a higher-placed yellow balloon with a blue string. The collar of her white polo surrounded the rest of her neck, while her shoulders were covered by a bubblegum pink, denim short-jacket. A hot-pink short skirt halting at mid-thigh was worn above baby blue socks starting at her knees. Neon pink sandals concealed her feet, which were tapping to a hidden, upbeat tune in the girl's mind.
She shook Maka's hand excitedly like Applejack, although definitely not as strongly. "Well, it's nice to meet you too, Maka! If I need to be formal, I'm Pinkamena Diane Pie! Everypony calls me Pinkie Pie or Pinkie, though, so you can call me that as well! I'm very happy you decided to help us. I know taking in six new girls might not be your forte," Her smile faded for a split-second, but widened even more (if that was even possible) in the seconds that followed. "so thank you so much! You really don't know how happy we all are. Living here for a day has been terrible, and I'm starving!" Her smile lowered into a humored grin. "Oh, you should've seen Rarity's face when a cockroach ran up her arm! She screamed and ran around waving her arms even though it already fell off minutes earlier!" She burst into giggles and snorts, while Rarity's eye twitched in displeasure. "She reminded me of a person being chased by bee-" The rest of her words were muffled as Rarity shoved a hand over her mouth (which didn't stop her from talking) and laughed nervously, forcing a grin.
"Sorry," She apologized, obviously embarrassed. "She can get a little...carried away. I'm so very, very sorry."
If it were Soul or Black*Star running their mouth, she would've definitely Maka Chop'd them with all her available strength - with Pinkie, however, she wasn't so sure what to do. It was extremely rude to hit someone after they introduced themselves, no matter how talkative, and it would put a bad impression on herself.  Instead, she tried to keep her positive attitude as best she could.
She shrugged. "It's fine, really. There's no need to apologize."
Wait. Maka thought. Wasn't there four girls? Which one am I missing? She scanned the area quickly and noticed a few pink strands of hair dangling from behind Pinkie's right. Unlike Pinkie's magenta hair, they were taffy pink. When she directed her gaze lower, she now noticed some faint-yellow, low-heeled fashion boots with blue buckles behind Pinkie's legs. It was hard to see the person, almost as if they were trying to hide.
"Uh...hi?" Maka extended her hand again, this time towards the hidden girl. The girl slowly tilted her face an inch outwards, and Maka was able to see pale skin and cyan eyes. Almost immediately she shrunk back again, only to step out from behind Pinkie a second later from the other direction and minced a few steps towards her. She took her hand and shook it barely before quickly letting go and rubbing her other arm.
She reminds me an awful lot of Crona... Maka thought silently.
She started muttering small whispers that Maka couldn't hear. "I'm sorry, what did you say?" Maka tried to sound as soft and caring as possible - this girl seemed to be the extremely sensitive type. The girl went completely silent as she glanced up at Maka.
Yup. Maka confirmed as she kept her gaze on the girl. She's like a female copy of Crona.
"I'm Fluttershy..." The girl muttered again, this time at least a bit audible. She brushed a long cluster of hair away from in front of her eye and placed it behind her ear. She wore (now-visible) pink butterfly earrings and a matching necklace with a silver chain. A yellow-laced sundress with spaghetti straps started below her neck and ended at her ankles. It was tight around her waist due to a thin, silky, baby blue ribbon and a bow on her left hip, and was loose near her feet - so loose that she could do the splits if she wanted. She also wore two blue-pearl bracelets on each wrist. Her hair was so long it ended with a curl just above her waistline. Bangs covered half her face at an angle.
Fluttershy suddenly became interested in the wall next to her. Her long eyelashes swayed as she blinked. There was an awkward silence among the whole group (except for Pinkie, who was still talking with Rarity's hand over her mouth) as Maka thought about some things. Would she really be able to take them in? How is she going to pay for the food, now that it has to be multiplied by six? Were the sleeping bags good enough for them? They were guests, after all, and she didn't know how long they would actually be staying. With school and missions in mind and other responsibilities, she wasn't sure if searching for their town was an option. When the thought of struggling by having to care for the girls for the rest of her life came into view, she mentally cringed.
There was some good to it, however. She could always have a few more female friends to hang around. They would provide good company, they could help with paperwork, chores, or other work, and they seemed like the kind of person everyone wants to have as a friend. Along with that, if they cause too much trouble at home, she could enroll them at DWMA so they could occupy their time there instead. She knew that the DWMA isn't a place where you dump people because they mess up your house, but it could also help them learn self defense moves in case a kishin attacks or someone tries to rob them. All she needed to do then would be to find out if they were Weapons or Meisters.
A cough belonging to Rainbow Dash interrupted Maka's pondering and worries. "So, uh," She scratched the back of her head. "Do we leave, or...?"
Maka blinked and glanced at Rainbow. "Right, right. Sorry about that. Let's go."
Well, the choice of leaving them here just got hurled out a window. She thought to herself.
As she led them away, Pinkie turned around to say goodbye to the alleyway. Maka thought it was a bit strange, and she sighed, angry and impatient. If she wasn't going to Maka Chop them, she had to release her hidden frustration in some way. Pinkie turned around, a bit surprised at her sudden hurry, and got the memo. As she skipped over to her friends, she hummed a cheery tune.
"So, where do you live? Also, what is this place called? I don't think I've ever seen a town like this." Rarity decided to start a conversation.
Maka laughed a little. "You don't know where you are right now?"
"Well, if I did, I wouldn't be asking, would I?"
Maka nodded. "Good point. Well, Soul and I live in an apartment together. This is Death City, located in Nevada."
"This place is called Death City?" Rarity repeated. She sounded a bit surprised.
"Yes. Is there a problem?" Maka turned to Rarity slightly.
The elegant woman shook her head. "No, no. I'm just... surprised that the citizens here would call it something so dark." Her expression seemed troubled.
Maka shrugged. "It's not much of a surprise. As you can see, this place is already dark, with kishins running around every now and then."
"Uh, girls?" Fluttershy raised a finger as she looked at the sky with eyes wide in utter shock and fear. To her annoyance, no one turned around (or reacted, in general).
"There's even a school I go to named DWMA, which stands for Death Weapon Meister Academy." Maka continued, not hearing Fluttershy due to her quiet voice.
"Girls..."
"The master there is named Lord Death."
"Girls?"
"He has a son named Death the Kid."
"MAKA!" Fluttershy suddenly snapped, causing Maka to whip her head over her shoulder.
"What?" She stopped walking and turned to Fluttershy completely (which made everyone else stop, too) as she searched the area in alarm. "What happened?"
"T-The moon..." Fluttershy pointed to the sky, where a bright yellow crescent moon smiled eerily. "I-I-It's... smiling at me..."
Everyone else deadpanned when they looked up; except for Maka, who sighed in intense annoyance and continued walking in the direction she was going earlier. She guessed they had never even heard of Death City before if they never saw the moon or the sun like that before. "It's fine." She bit her cheek so she wouldn't Maka Chop them. "The moon is always like that."
They all stared at Maka (who kept walking despite them staying behind) with expressions of pure amazement. "You're not scared or at least surprised that the moon looks evil - or better yet, has a face?" Applejack inquired, mouth wide open.
Maka glanced over her shoulder, her movements jerky from frustration, and shakily answered, "No. Not at all. The moon's always been like that. Now, come on. Soul is waiting for us." And with that, she continued walking.
The group all looked at each other, shocked at her anger. Without another thought they all hurried to catch up, not wanting to make her more frustrated than she already was.
When Soul came into view, the group of girls eyed him suspiciously but with hints of respect for protecting their friend. He had positioned Twilight so she sat upright, facing the wall Soul sat up against with her legs in an Indian-style pose. He had his head dropped as if he were sleeping, but Maka could tell he was awake due to him humming a random song.
When Soul looked up, on the other hand, he nearly choked on his own spit when he saw how many girls came back. "Woah woah woah," He stood up, his eyes flickering all over the newcomers, and then snapping his attention to Maka. "Are you planning on overrunning the apartment with women and leave me to be the only cool guy?"
Maka laughed but motioned to the other end of the alleyway with her hand, which opened up to the streets and roads of Death City. "We'll be right back, okay?" She informed the girls as she and Soul headed towards that specified direction. They abruptly turned a corner at the opening and disappeared behind the brick walls, leaving the girls to themselves.
Many buildings sat side by side in different shapes and sizes. All of the buildings had white walls with red roofs, but because of the nighttime darkness, it made everything look grey or black. They seemed to loom overhead, making the city a lot more creepier. The smiling moon in the pitch-black sky only produced a minuscule amount of moonlight, so everything was lit up dimly. Cafes and stores had signs protruding out of them, displaying their name (which often had 'death' in it). The city seemed averagely occupied, with the occasional group of people hurrying down the sidewalks, paying no attention except a glance at Maka and Soul. Skulls with spiky teeth scattered the city's signs, buildings, etc.
"What's the meaning of this?" Soul inquired with a sigh, stuffing his hands in his jacket pockets.
"They were in an alleyway, Soul. The one with the dead end." Maka huffed. "Do you expect me to leave them there? What kind of person do you take me for?"
"It's not that," He argued. "I agree they might die if they were left there, but six girls? How do you plan to pay for the bills and such if they're using up half our income? I doubt they have money to buy suitable clothes, too. It makes me all the less cooler if I'm poor."
"I know, I know," She crossed her arms. "But what choice do we have? We've already brought their hopes up. I may be the kind of person to kill kishins and Maka Chop you and Black*Star when you're acting up, but I'm not the kind of cruel person to tease girls about where they're going to live."
Soul looked away, hands still in his pockets. He was quiet for a few minutes. "You're right," He suddenly sighed, dropping his head. "It would be uncool to deny them to live with us now."
Maka tilted her head to the side and grinned. She twirled on her heel and turned the corner, continuing down the dark alleyway. Soul sauntered right beside her. "It's not all bad, Soul. We could enroll them in the DWMA, after all. That could help them to become more responsible than they already are, and then they could buy themselves their own apartment, if they don't find their town by then."
"Town?" Soul raised an eyebrow, keeping his gaze fixated in front of him. "You mean they don't live here?"
"No. They live in a town named Ponyville."
"Whatever. Anyways, you'll have to have their and Lord Death's permission to let them enter the DWMA. You know that, right?"
Maka nodded. "Of course I do. I'll just contact him through a nearby win-" She suddenly caught her breath in her throat, slamming her foot into the ground to cease her movement. Her eyes widened in surprise as she stared into nothingness.
"Maka?" This time, Soul turned his head to look at his Meister. When she didn't answer, he grabbed her shoulders and shook her. "Maka! Maka, snap out of it! It's not cool to act like you're having a heart attack, Maka! Maka? What's wrong?"
The girls, who were surrounding Twilight, snapped their attention to the horrified Maka now. Rainbow stood up, but stayed where she was. "Is she okay? What happened?!"
"Stop! Let go of me, Soul!" Maka's voice was shaky yet stern, but she started to breath again. Soul reluctantly released her. "It's just...how long ago was it that we killed that kishin earlier?"
Soul blinked in confusion. Was she worrying about that? "Uh, I dunno, an hour ago? Why?"
Her eye twitched and she laughed nervously. "We...uh...." Maka gulped. "Forgot to contact...uh...Lord Death." Her voice cracked near the end.
Soul looked expressionless for a second before he closed his eyes, exhaled the breath he forgot he was holding and put a hand on his chest where his heart was. He used his free hand to support himself on the wall. She was just overreacting. "Don't freak out like that, Maka. You made me think you were dying. That wasn't cool at all."
However, when he looked up, Maka was already at the far end of the alleyway - the end that was closer to where the girls came from - and was frantically breathing and writing on a window as she muttered quiet words. The girls now stared at her with a bewildered expression. Rainbow sat down slowly, as if she thought Maka was still having a heart attack.
Soul rolled his eyes and made a 'tch' noise. "She reminds me of Kid sometimes..." He muttered under his breath.

//-------------------------------------------------------//
   To the Apartment; A New Place for Strangers to Stay?    
//-------------------------------------------------------//
To the Apartment; A New Place for Strangers to Stay?
"Forty-two, forty-two, five sixty four, whenever you wanna knock on Death's door." Maka muttered quickly, breathing on the window and writing the said numbers. She wrote so quickly her numbers were sloppy, and you could only realize what they were if you stared at them for a few concentrating seconds. Despite her untidy handwriting, the window made alien-like beeping noises as blue lines rolled across it's surface. Soon, it shined so brilliantly the entire window was now blank-white.
"Lord Death! Are you there? I'm sorry I called you late!" Maka tried to slow her words to sound more professional.  "Maka and Soul reporting!" Soul stuffed his hands in his pockets and ambled to his anxious Meister.
The window dimmed down, and there stood a tall figure. He was black and spiky - especially on the shoulders and hips. He only seemed to be supporting himself on one pole, which zig-zagged in a pile of black spikes. He owned no visible arms, but his forehead was cylinder-shaped and tall. Having a zig-zag line on top of this, he also wore the same, white skull shape that was seen all across Death City as a mask.
"Why, hello, Maka! Good evening! Or, rather, good night. You too, Soul. So, how did it go? Did you catch the kishin egg?" His voice was surprisingly goofy-sounding.
Maka nodded quickly. "Yes, we did."
"Why did it take you so long, though? I was too busy at the time to watch you, so please fill me in on the details." He narrowed his eyes. "It wasn't too hard to defeat, was it?"
Maka winced. "No, it, uh..." She rubbed the back of her head, looking away nervously. "We defeated it an hour earlier, actually..."
Death tilted his head. "What distracted you?"
"Soul and I were on our way to contact you, but then we sa-"
"Woah! You look really, really creepy! You also look funny, too!" Pinkie tilted into the view of the window at an angle, giggling and smiling wide as she always did. Maka gasped and tried to shove her away, but she struggled and managed to stay where she was.
Death blinked and stared at the cheery female. "Who is this, Maka?"
Maka sighed and ceased trying to push her away. "Like I was saying, when Soul and I were trying to find a window, something near us made a loud noise. We looked down an alleyway and saw an unconscious girl, so we tried to help her. Then another girl attacked Soul, but soon she led us to a whole other group of women who said they were living in that dead-end alleyway for two days. I just now remembered to call you a few seconds ago."
Death was quiet for a moment as he looked deep in thought. He was staring at Pinkie with narrowed eyes, but hints of concern and confusion were visible as well. "Who is she?" He repeated. "While your explanation told me where she came from, it didn't tell me who she is."
"This is Pinkie Pie. She was one of the girls along with Fluttershy, Rarity and Applejack, Rainbow Dash and Twilight Spark."
"Sparkle." Pinkie corrected with a grin. "Her name is Twilight Sparkle."
"Right, right. That's what I meant."
"Those sure are exotic names. You aren't from around here, are you?" Death resumed his normal expression.
"Nope! We're from a town called Ponyville!" She laughed and stepped in front of Maka, sticking her face inches away from the window. "This town is much more darker than where we're from. Did you see the moon, by the way? It has a creepy face!"
"You get used to it. It's not even that scary, in my opinion."
"Hey, why are you guys talking to a-!" Rainbow let out a choking gasp, widening her eyes in amazement and being accompanied by a few gasps coming from the other girls (minus Twilight) who had followed her. They all stood behind Soul and Maka, staring at Death; except Pinkie, of course.
Death backed away a little; he started to feel a bit uncomfortable with all of them gaping at him like that. Turning to Maka, he asked, "Are these the rest of the girls?"
Maka nodded slowly, shoving Pinkie behind her and flipping her head over her shoulder swiftly to glare at the women before looking back at him with a neutral expression. "Yes. This is Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Fluttershy, and Rarity. Twilight is back there." She pointed with her thumb to each girl respectively.
"Where are you going to let them stay?"
"With Soul and I, at our apartment." She huffed. She quickly glanced at Soul, who returned the look.
"Alright, but remember that that's your choice and your choice only. Are you going to help them find a job to help pay the bills? With all of them now staying with you, I'm sure it'll cause the bills to raise their amount."
Maka shook her head. "No. I was actually planning on letting them join the DWMA. Is that alright?"
Death shrugged. "Do you know what they are yet?" The young Meister quickly understood what he was referring to and lowered her head in embarrassment.
"No. I still have to find that out."
"Well, once you do, tell me. As long as they're okay with it, they can sign up. They have my permission." Two long, black lines with small, white tips sprouted out of his shoulders. The tips enlarged into over-sized hands, which he clapped together and gave two thumbs up. Then, he saluted to her with an ending wave of his hand. "I'm very proud of you for helping these women, either way. I will see you later, Maka! Goodbye!" The window flashed a bright light before it darkened and returned to normal glass.
The girls were silent, still staring at the window in pure awe and their mouths agape (although Rarity covered her mouth with her hands). Maka clenched her fists together; she could feel an angry rant coming on for barging in like that. Doing that was almost like making a lot of noise when someone is on the phone. Yet, she thought, them barging in did settle the issue of whether they were allowed to come to the DWMA. Due to this, she released the tension and sighed. She felt refreshed, as if all her anger had exited through her exhale and she breathed in a wave of peace - or, rather, a forced peace.
"Now then," She turned quickly on her heel and started walking in the direction of the streets. Soul stayed a few seconds until he went back to Twilight's area and picked her up bridal-style. Then, he followed in Maka's direction as he kept his trademark lazy look. The unconscious bookworm's arms dropped and swayed beneath her as he walked. "It's almost midnight. I have classes tomorrow, and you girls need some deserved sleep after, what I'm assuming is, a very uncomfortable night." When she looked back and saw they hadn't moved from their spot, she was sure she felt a vein in her neck pop from frustration. Pausing, she took a breath of air.
"GIRLS!" She snapped, making them all turn their heads and causing Soul to flinch. "Let's go."
With the uneasy females about fifteen feet behind her, the large group hurried to Soul and Maka's apartment. Some people on the other side of the street stared at them suspiciously, but after Maka sent a terrifying glare their way, they quickly looked away and whistled a cheery tune.
"Gosh, that girl seems a bit on edge, don't 'cha think?" Applejack whispered to her friends, careful not to allow her tone to go any higher in case Maka heard. They all nodded.
"I don't see why she needs to be so infuriated. Do you think she regrets letting us stay with her? I heard she lives in an apartment complex. Maybe it's too crowded for all of us." Rarity speculated quietly.
"I'm not sure." Fluttershy muttered in her normal tone. "I don't think I'm looking forward to being that close to her, though. She scares me... her voice is too loud and demanding for my standards. I just want to be back with Angel and my other animals back in Ponyville..."
"Me too." They all agreed, and sighed as they absorbed their surroundings.
Maka, on the other hand, had heard all of it. They had, despite her attempt to hide it, seen her annoyance with them. She felt slightly heartbroken, but she quickly pushed the emotion away. Even though I didn't mean to offend or hurt them, I shouldn't cry over it. I'll just apologize and try to act nicer from now on. She thought. Soul noticed her mental struggle and nudged her with his shoulder. She shook her head slightly and looked up at him.
"Something bothering you?" He questioned.
"No." Maka looked back ahead of herself. "I'm fine."
Soul chuckled. "Don't lie to me, Maka. You know you're horrible at it."
"I'm not lying. Get off my back, will you?"
"You are lying. Is it those girls? I bet it is. Just for the record, I heard what they said, too." He looked ahead, a smug grin visible on his face. "They just misunderstood you. They'll soon see you're not as bad as you look... er, sound."
Maka softened the tension in her expression. "I guess you're right... hopefully, at least." She laughed a bit and became more excited when she saw their apartment up ahead. She started to jog instead of trudge; the group behind her noticed this extreme change with interest as the building came closer.
"We're here!" Maka exclaimed, throwing her hands up in the air. Applejack blinked once they caught up with her.
"Er..." She tilted her head slightly. "She's suddenly happy?" Maka suddenly stepped aside to the left, waving to the entrance with one hand as the other rested behind her back. Soul stood right next to her, looking at the wall with a bored look. Twilight was still in his arms as her chest rose and fell peacefully.
"Guests first!" She grinned widely. Now, she did have a smudge of anger still residing in her core, yet with the relief of arriving home safely and her recent encouragement, the glee heavily outweighed the hostility.
The said guests, unsure whether Maka was calm or not, continued anyway and strided into the building to avoid the cold night air.

//-------------------------------------------------------//
   Confusion When Awake; Breakfast at a Stranger's Home?   
//-------------------------------------------------------//
Confusion When Awake; Breakfast at a Stranger's Home?
Light flooded into Twilight's eyes as soon as she opened them, shining so brightly that all she could see was white - due to this, her head started to sense as if it were imploding as she felt an intense headache coming on. Groaning, she blinked a few times and rolled over, covering her face in whatever was under her. Even with her eyes closed, the light lingered in her vision. This only worsened the pain to an extent where she was squeezing a cushion that was under her.
Wait.
Cushion?
After a few seconds of letting the light dim down,  a confused Twilight turned over and opened her eyes.
She was both pleased and disturbed.
When she sat up straight, Twilight was glad that she could finally see clearly and with no pain. The past headache now seemed like a bad memory as it was replaced with a soothing feeling. The light wasn't shining so brilliantly anymore, either - Twilight guessed it was just her eyes being sensitive due to them being shut for so long.
She was disturbed because the more she looked around, the more confused and anxious she became. She was laying down on a red couch with bronze, curling armrests, and in front of her was a smaller white table ending with inward-curving curls. On the left side of the table, there was a chair with the same design as the couch. On the other side, facing her, sat a love-couch with, again, the same design. A lamp with a golden staff and a round, blue light-bulb was shut off in the corner- the light was coming from a large window with green curtains above the chair. The floor was covered in blue-purple tiles with a giant, green rug. Posters scattered the walls, most of them being comprised of skulls, certain music bands and faces eating small, floating orbs. The said walls were painted pale yellow, but one section had peeled away to reveal green-brown bricks. A short, brown shelf with closed doors supported a black-and-grey stereo set. There was a kitchen around the corner, but from her perspective, she couldn't clearly tell what was in it.
This isn't my home! Twilight realized, scanning the room in surprise. If I'm not home, where am I? She looked down to check if anything happened to her, and sharply gasped when she noticed she was in a human body wearing purple uniform clothes.
She would've screamed if she didn't remind herself that doing that would alert the people in the house, if there were any; for all she knew, they could be dangerous. Considering she randomly woke up in a house that isn't hers and no memory of arriving there herself, she wasn't eager to risk what would happen if she met the house owner.
Twilight got off the couch slowly and stood up, staring at the ground. It's been a long while since I was a human...hopefully I can walk alright without messing up. I don't want to fall and cause noise. She contemplated, narrowing her eyes. Finally, she quietly breathed in a large gulp of air and held it as the princess carefully placed one foot in front of the other. She had to navigate around a white table with a book on it and four same-colored chairs, but she didn't look away from the floor. She was too focused on being able to walk correctly.
All was okay until Twilight's left ankle bent awkwardly, making her slam sideways into the wall next to her and collapse completely. Rubbing her injured arm, she shakily and slowly stood up again after a couple of seconds, looking around the room nervously. As she did this she was able to realize she was in the kitchen, the room she couldn't see before; the ceiling was the same, yellow color as it was in the living room. The walls were now a tiled pale red - there were no posters, but there was a tiny window above the sink. A red oven was on the left of the said sink and a pale blue fridge was on the right, along with a pale blue door. Blue-purple cabinets were attached to the very top of the wall and below the sink. With more caution this time, Twilight hobbled to one of the chairs to help support herself.
A grunt sounded from behind her. Twilight yelped, quickly flipping around to see a boy with messy, white hair and a thin, black headband. Standing with the blue door open, he wore a casual blue shirt, maroon jeans and blank white socks. His mouth was open slightly to reveal oddly sharp teeth, and his crimson eyes were wide with genuine shock.
Twilight, out of alarm, let out a small shriek and clumsily stumbled into the chair behind her.  It collapsed almost immediately, along with her. Quickly standing up, she brushed her purple skirt to remove the dust. The boy didn't move, despite all the commotion; he continued to stare at her until his bewildered expression turned into a smug grin.
"Are you the owner of this home?" Twilight smiled, obviously nervous and embarrassed. "I'm so sorry. I honestly don't know how I got here. I just woke up and here I was... you know what, nevermind. I know that sounds crazy. I'll go ahead and leave right now." She awkwardly yet swiftly turned the opposite direction and headed towards (what she guessed was) the exit door.
Almost instantly she felt a hand on her shoulder stop her. She flipped around in slight fear of the boy being upset, but instead, she was met with his smug smirk. "You don't need to leave." He chuckled. "I actually brought you here. In fact, it's probably best you stay." Removing his hand off of her, he then shut the door leading to the room he came out of and shoved his hands in his pant pockets.
Twilight blinked, relieved he wasn't angry but confused at the same time. He... brought me here? Why'd he do that?
When she repeated her thoughts out loud, he narrowed his eyes in slight thought, then relaxed them. "Maka, a friend of mine, and I found you unconscious under piles of trash." He picked up the fallen chair, set it back on it's feet and scooted it under the table. "It's dangerous to go out during the night, so it's even more uncool to leave an unconscious girl out where she could be seriously hurt or killed." His eyes flashed, as if he realized something.
Twilight was at a loss for words. All this news was completely new to her; the last thing she remembered was being in Ponyville Park, relaxing with her friends as the summer day went by. She did remember falling asleep, but she hadn't expected to go unconscious and wake up in the human dimension. She didn't remember going through the magic mirror, either; it wasn't like she could, anyway. The mirror was in the Crystal Empire. How the heck would she get from Ponyville to the Crystal Empire while asleep? It didn't make any sense whatsoever.
I don't understand any of this, she thought with a cringe. but trying to do so is making my headache return.
When she focused back on what was happening around her, a teenage girl with sandy-blonde pigtails and wearing casual (yet preppy) clothes walked into the room via the entrance door with multiple shopping bags in her arms and hands. She nodded to the boy in a short greeting but froze when her green eyes met Twilight's purple ones. Silence covered them like a blanket of thick snow as they stared at each other. After almost half a minute, the girl snapped out of her thoughts.
She set her bags down on the white table, rolled her wrists and stretched her arms. "I got the groceries. I saw we were almost out of milk, so I bought another jug just in case." She said, directing that towards the male.
He nodded approvingly. "Thanks." He motioned to Twilight. "She woke up. I already told her how she got here."
Yeah, I totally remember that happening. Twilight thought, resisting the urge to roll her eyes.
After the girl stopped stretching, she turned to Twilight with a warm smile and an extended hand. "Hi. I'm Maka Albarn, and that's Soul Eater." She pointed to the boy, who raised his hand out of his pocket to lightly move his fingers nonchalantly in an effort of a lazy greeting. Twilight took Maka's hand and shook it, a bit concerned on why the boy's name was Soul Eater. What she didn't see was Maka widening her eyes and gasping lightly as soon as she touched her. She quickly regained her composure before Twilight could even take notice. "This is our apartment. You've been out cold for a while, but based on what information your friends have given me, you must have been in a coma for a day or two."
Twilight widened her eyes; not only because of this shocking news, but also with the fact Maka mentioned her friends.
"Are my friends here too?" She questioned anxiously. "Are they okay?"
Maka nodded and pointed to another door next to the entrance. "That's my room over there. You can go see them, if you'd like."
Twilight thanked her and rushed to the door, opening it and entering the room in one swift move.
Soul was leaning against the pale blue door with his arms crossed when Maka turned to him with a serious expression. "Why did you react like that when you shook her hand? It was as if she electrocuted you or something." He raised an eyebrow as he asked this.
"It was her soul wavelength... I've felt it before, but I'm used to it being much stronger than her's is. It didn't even hold much evil passion or dark energy, unlike the rest of her kind. I'm not sure she even knows what she is." She looked back at her bedroom's door. "Her soul was light purple with large, violet wings and a unicorn's horn. Last time I checked, human souls don't look like that. It's exactly like Rarity's wavelength, only stronger."
Soul widened his eyes. "Wait a second... you don't mean... she's a..."
Maka turned to him again. "Yes. I do mean that." She narrowed her eyes, then looked back at the door.
"It's no doubt. Twilight's a witch."

//-------------------------------------------------------//
    Witches in Death City; But is the Travel Worth It?     
//-------------------------------------------------------//
Witches in Death City; But is the Travel Worth It?
Soul blinked. "Twilight is a... witch?"
Maka nodded softly, then sighed. "Rarity is too. It may not seem like it, but they are."
"Why didn't you notice it beforehand, when we first approached them?" He tilted his head to the side a bit.
The blonde narrowed her eyes, then glanced at Soul. "I'm not entirely sure, but I have a guess. I realized Rarity had a special wavelength when we met them yesterday, but it was very weak. Add that to the fact I couldn't put my finger on what kind of soul her's was, and that might explain why I couldn't assume she was a witch. Twilight's soul, on the other hand, is very powerful. I'm guessing she's strong enough to use Soul Protect. The only explanation I can think of for why I didn't observe it yesterday might be because, while she was unconscious, her Soul Protect was on. When I shook her hand, her Soul Protect turned off... it felt like an energetic blast shot through my veins, honestly." She looked down at the ground, then returned her gaze back at Soul with a worried mind. "Should we trust them?"
Soul shrugged. "How should I know? I don't know everything. I'm not some goody two-shoes teacher's pet like you." His eyes widened when he saw the furious, boiling glare Maka shot him. He nearly cringed when he saw her slowly reaching for the book on the table.
Twilight and her friends quickly snapped their attention to the door when they heard a short, loud yelp, but they cautiously returned to their conversation after a few seconds.
"So... you're saying you all fell asleep at the park like I did, but then you woke up as humans in different locations?" Twilight raised an eyebrow, trying to understand what happened.
"That's correct, darling." Rarity smiled.
"Yup! We were in different locations, yet we were all still in a certain area. It was like being in different columns in a maze. Then, we heard a bunch of grunts and angry screaming and we all got scared, so we tried to run away from the scary noises and we ended up in the same place - that one, single alleyway. We stayed there for two days." Pinkie explained in one breath.
"We couldn't find you, though," Applejack rubbed the back of her neck. "We were real worried, sugarcube. I'm just glad you're safe and sound."
"Me too, girls." Twilight sighed. "Me too..."
Rainbow Dash slowly veered away from the conversation as she looked around the room. Although there was no carpet, Fluttershy, herself, Applejack and Pinkie sat on the faint-purple tiled floor while Rarity and Twilight sat on Maka's neat-made alice-blue bed. Two windows with yellow curtains were set in two different places; one above her brown desk on the other side of the room (which had a few books on it, along with a yellow desk-lamp, a cup with a several pencils and pens, and a photograph of a foreign landscape with an Arabic phrase) and one above her bed. A tall, violet wardrobe stood in the corner of the room next to this desk, with a calender with several lines and circles hanging above the same desk on the other side. On the left side of the door was a green-lined mirror and a small, blue trash basket, and a bookshelf filled to the brim with books was on the right.
"Hey!"
Rainbow looked back at Twilight quickly. "What?"
"Were you listening?"
She blinked, then blushed faintly in embarrassment. "Ahaha... no, not really."
Twilight rolled her eyes with an amused grin. "Typical Rainbow Dash." She chuckled. "Anyways, I was basically saying that, for the time being, we'll need to get a job. Maka and Soul live in this apartment together, and we can't lay around in their house doing nothing to help them as they work their flanks off to pay for extra food, heightened bills, etc., etc. because of us. Plus, with their age, I'm guessing they have school. Add that on top of their responsibilities and that makes us more in need of working, rather than sucking up their supplies and giving nothing in return like leeches."
Rarity, although she shivered to the thought of being compared to the blood-sucking worm, nodded. "I agree completely. That would be the nicest and most generous offer we could give."
Twilight smiled to her ex-unicorn friend, then looked back at everyone else. "So it's decided?" She only continued until after she got answers from everyone - they all agreed. "Great! I'll ask Maka and Soul about it." She stood up and stretched her tired legs and back.
Suddenly, her stomach rumbled so loud that everyone in the room could hear it. She covered her abdomen immediately, blushing. Applejack, Pinkie and Rainbow burst into hearty laughter. They didn't stop soon, despite Twilight's embarrassed protests.
"Hey, it's not my fault! I haven't eaten in two whole days!"
Applejack wiped a tear from her eye, and her laughter faded away into her sighs. "I'm sorry, sugarcube. I didn't mean to upset you."
When Rainbow and Pinkie didn't stop laughing, the cowgirl huffed and smacked them lightly on the back of the head. They then ceased their laughter - slowly.
"Sorry." They both apologized in unison, although since they were still chuckling, Twilight didn't find it very convincing that they were truly apologetic.
Applejack stood and put her hands on her hips. "For now, my suggestion is that you put off the whole 'job offer' for a short while and come eat some breakfast grub."
Twilight smiled. "Alright, then. Let's go." Her stomach grumbled again, causing her to cover her stomach once more and blush, along with also making Rainbow and Pinkie burst into hilarious laughter.
A man in a white, stitched up lab coat hurried through the sunny streets of Death City. People stared at him as he passed by them due to the shocking fact that a giant screw stuck out of his head, but he didn't seem bothered by the stares nor the screw. He seemed to have his mind on other things, wearing a concerned look. A woman with golden-blonde hair wearing an eyepatch on her left eye followed right behind him, the same expression printed on her face.
Their concern slowly transformed into confusion and worry as they neared upon their destination - an apartment complex. The man stopped, looking at one apartment in particular. He slowly twisted the screw in his head, still in thought.
"This is where Maka, Soul, Crona and Ragnarok live, isn't it? Are you sure this is the right place, Stein?" The woman turned her head to look at the man.
The man, named Stein, stopped turning the screw and nodded. "Of course it is, Marie. I can feel the wavelength right now." He motioned towards the one apartment he had been staring at. "The two witches are in there. One is exceptionally strong, while the other is more weaker."
Marie, the female, nodded. "But... don't you think Maka and Soul would have at least tried to fight them by now?"
Stein made a 'tch' noise. "It doesn't seem like it. The witch soul wavelengths aren't wavering or fading at all. They seem to be as strong and healthy as they felt from back at the academy. Anyways," he opened his hand at his side, not moving his gaze. "Weapon form, please."
Marie nodded as her entire body was suddenly engulfed in a glowing yellow. Her body then swirled and formed a shape into Stein's hand. The glow shattered and faded into nothingness, as if it were a fragile cover, revealing a tonfa-like hammer in Stein's grasp that went all the way up his arm to his elbow.
Stein continued hurrying and entered the building. He then proceeded to rush up the stairs, ignoring the confused and surprised looks he was getting from the staff and visitors, and passed each floor within seconds.
First floor.
Second floor.
Third floor.
Fourth floor.
Finally, at the fifth floor, Stein slowed as he walked down the multicolor hallway.
"Room 506... " Stein muttered this constantly as he did so. He blinked and frowned when he finally found the correct room. What confused him most was that laughter and joyful conversation could be heard, along with cheers and agreements from inside the room. He didn't know what to expect; he just knew the wavelengths both didn't feel evil. They actually felt quite the opposite. Maybe they're good witches and that's why Maka and Soul aren't attacking them... He thought. Although... Maka never met a kind witch before, from what I know, so I don't actually know how she'd react in that situation. Even with that thought in mind, he knew he needed to be highly serious about this and not accept the witches with open arms (not that he would, anyway). There were two witches in Death City - one even being incredibly strong. That was a potential danger itself. There was no way he'd let them go just because their soul wavelengths feel kind.
He grunted and stepped back a few steps, putting himself into a fighting stance.
"Ready, Marie?"
"Yes." The hammer replied.
Stein nodded and raised his foot, and using all his strength, he kicked the door down, cracking it in half in the process.

//-------------------------------------------------------//
Like Twenty Questions; Confronting the Grim Reaper in Person?
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Like Twenty Questions; Confronting the Grim Reaper in Person?
The entire room went dead silent as everybody froze. Soul was sitting in a chair until he slowly leaned back too far and collapsed. The group of ex-ponies blinked and stared at the new visitor with pure awe. Maka stood at the sink, washing dishes until she looked back to see who was at the door. She turned off the sink and put down the plate she was washing.
She looked confused, but smiled nonetheless. "Oh, hey Professor Stein. What brings you here?"
The man simply narrowed his eyes. "I've come to take these two witches off your hands."
Maka instantly went pale. "O-Oh, uhm, alright." She looked back at the table to see Soul, who had stood and brushed himself off, with wide eyes as well. She glanced back at Stein. "How about we do that instead? They know us better."
"I can see that." He glanced at the group of girls, whom all appeared to be frightened, then back at Maka. "That's not necessary, however."
"Well, can we accompany you to help?"
Stein gave the bookworm a glare. "Marie and I can do it fine by ourselves, thank you."
He started taking steps towards the girls, but Maka stopped right in front of him. "Are you sure? I mean, witches are hard to handl-"
"Move out of the way, Maka, or you'll get a whole month of detention and you'll fail your next test grade." Stein interrupted her. The girl hesitantly yet quickly stepped away, allowing the man to continue walking.
He stopped right in front of Twilight and Rarity. The girls both looked up at him.
"Is... is there something w-wrong, mister?" Twilight asked, quickly glancing at Maka with concern. The young Meister stared at the ground in quiet shame.
"You're going to have to come with me." He motioned to Rarity. "You have to come as well."
Rarity looked offended. "I'm afraid you must be mistaken, good sir. You said you needed witches, correct?"
Stein nodded. "That would be correct."
"Then you are indeed mistaken. We aren't witches. None of us are."
"That, although, is incorrect." He leaned forward slightly, which made Rarity lean back. "I can sense souls, so your lies are useless."
Twilight blinked. "Wait wait wait... what do you mean by 'souls'? How is it even possible to 'sense a soul'?"
Stein turned to the purple-clothed female. "Do you know anything about souls?"
Twilight nodded. "Of course. They're an energy to represent us as beings, in most religions." She furrowed her eyebrows. "Although, I have no idea how that would relate to honesty. Even if you could 'sense souls', you should also sense that we aren't lying."
Stein sighed and leaned back. "No. That's not what a soul is." He twisted the screw in his head slowly. The girls all cringed.
"Doesn't that hur-"
"A soul is the small orb lying inside your body to give you energy to live. With the soul removed, you are dead. All creatures, weapons and humans have souls. Certain kinds of souls look different. Kishins have corrupted, red souls. Witches have purple souls. Humans and weapons have small, blue souls." He stopped twisting the screw. "I can sense your soul, as I said. Both of yours are purple, while everyone else in the room has small, blue ones. Now, I don't have all day. Let's go." He shifted his arm holding the hammer. "It would be a shame if anybody got hurt."
Twilight and Rarity stood up slowly. Stein stepped back and waved to the door. The two girls hesitantly started walking towards it, looking back in confusion and worry.
Applejack shot out of her seat. "Now, you wait just a darn minute. You think you can burst into Maka here's home and kidnap two girls who you 'can sense that are witches'? That's pretty rude and, might I add, illegal."
Stein pushed the bridge of the glasses. "Two witches in the middle of Death City is dangerous. I will admit, their souls don't feel evil. Maybe they didn't kill anyone or do anything bad. Nevertheless, I still need to bring them to Lord Death to see what he wants to do about the situation."
He turned around to face the door but was instead met with Rainbow Dash crossing her arms and glaring. "You're not going anywhere with our friends." She spread her legs to block his path. "Don't you dare take a step closer."
Stein blinked. "Oh? And what will you do if I happen to?"
She cracked her knuckles and neck. "I'll fight you, screwhead."
Maka and Soul looked up and widened their eyes. "Don't do it." They mouthed to her frantically. Rainbow noticed but ignored them.
Stein shrugged. "Okay." He continued walking.
Rainbow raised her fist and slammed it into his stomach faster than you could say "soul." Stein didn't react - he simply raised his palm and pressed it onto her forehead.
The blue-clothed woman blinked before laughing. "You seriously think putting your hand on my head will stop me? Man, I should've known a man with a giant piece of metal in his brain was dumber than avera-"
ZAP!
Rainbow barely had time to widen her eyes before she went flying out the doorway and crashed into the wall, leaving a devastating print. Everyone except Maka and Soul gasped - the two merely looked away, wincing. Slowly, Rainbow shakily stood, looking up at Stein in awe.
"W-wha - how did - when - what...?!" She stumbled, but caught her balance before she could fall. "You just... put your hand on my... head and... then I..."
"Soul Force." Stein muttered. "I sent my soul wavelength into you in the form of a powerful energy." He clucked his tongue and smiled. "Does this mean I won?"
Rainbow blinked. "I don't... understand..." she muttered.
Stein nodded. "I'll take that as a yes." He continued walking, going out the door and into the hallway. He only stopped when he noticed the witches weren't following. They were in the doorway, staring at their injured friend in worry. He turned towards them, raising an eyebrow. "Well? Are you coming?"
Twilight looked up with a furious glare. "How dare you do that! She could've broken a couple of her ribs or maybe even her spine from that impact, and here you are expecting us to follow you?!" She clenched her teeth, baring them. "You better apologize!" She walked out, taking a few steps towards him.
"Apologize for what?" He twirled the hammer in his hand. "She said she would fight me if I took another step. I need to bring these witches to the DWMA, so I kept walking. You expect me to apologize for doing my job?"
Twilight squeezed her fists. "You could have gone easier on her." A faint, purple aura started to slowly cover her entire body. "You didn't have to almost kill her!"
Stein noticed the glow and narrowed his eyes. He now knew that at least Twilight was a witch, and if she ever objected, he would have  proof. "Calm down. If I had gone easier then she would've kept fighting and made this whole ordeal longer. That's not the strongest of my wavelength, either. She's lucky I didn't decide to use Marie on her."
"I don't care about 'if' you used anything else on her. What you did was almost break her back over her trying to defend her friends!"
"I've already said that I'm just doing my job. I'm not going to apologize for something I need to do. Now, let's go."
Twilight placed her feet firmly on the ground, the glow brightening slightly. "I'm not going anywhere unless you at least apologize to her."
Stein narrowed his eyes, contemplating what to do in the situation. If he just said sorry, then the worst that would come out of this was a few rivalries including him. If he didn't, then a fight would most likely occur. It intrigued him that a witch, of all things, was this persistent in defending someone. Then again, he told himself, there have been a few other witches who did the same. Witch Angela and Mifune, for example. According to Black*Star and Tsubaki, Angela had stood in front of an injured Mifune, as if guarding him, and refusing to move despite Black*Star being three times taller than her, two times older and fifty times stronger. So, he told himself, that it was indeed possible, although maybe a little rare considering all the other witches in existence weren't as friendly as Angela or Twilight.
He sighed and turned to Rainbow Dash. "I apologize for injuring you."
The glow around Twilight dimmed and she 'hmphed', brushing her skirt and narrowing her eyes.  "The others have to come with us if we go with you." She sighed, too, obviously trying to calm herself. It was obvious she was still angry, however, even if she tried to hide it.
Stein nodded. "That can be arranged." He turned to Maka and Soul, whom had walked out of the room and now stood in the hallway with everybody else. "If you're late to class then you'll be excused for now. The reason of your absence is understandable, although I do suggest you start getting ready for school now." He then motioned at the end of the hallway. "Back to the situation at hand; ladies first."
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The trek to the mystery destination was confusing, interesting, and embarrassing at the same time. Pre-teens and young teens stared at the group of girls as they passed as if they were aliens from another planet. Fluttershy whimpered and hid behind Rainbow Dash the entire time, trying to avoid everyone's gaze and refrain from being the center of attention. Twilight was sure that a couple of the people who they came across could see souls as well, and from the surprised and disgusted looks they were getting, it made her think about whether being a supposed 'witch' was exactly like being a timberwolf in a room full of rabbits. However, after they finally passed hallway after hallway, Stein came to a stop upon a fancy, decorated door with a large, sharp n' pointy skull on the very top. He opened the door and moved aside for the group to enter.
Twilight's mouth opened in awe once she did. The room had scattered themes, but it was beautiful nonetheless. Upon entering the room, she was met with a very long hallway with red guillotines atop her (which she tried not to be under in case one of the blades fell, even after having reassurance from Stein that they wouldn't fall). After finally exiting the long, cobblestone path, there was a very large dark grey raised platform which supported a golden-rimmed, wacky shaped mirror with candles. In the distance, there was nothing else but steel, random crosses scattered everywhere in the seemingly endless room. The room literally looked as if there was no end - even if she squinted, she could not see a single wall or other obstacle. What baffled her the most was that, even though the roof was a baby blue sky with white, puffy two dimensional clouds slowly inching their way around - actually moving - there were windows that showed what was actually outside. When Twilight glanced at her friends, she could see that they were just as amazed as her.
"Oh, hiya Stein! It's good to see you again, yes?" A loud, goofy voice rang out in the lonely room as the group stepped up onto the platform. Stein nodded.
"It is indeed, Lord Death."
Pinkie instantly saw the silly figure standing next to the mirror and gasped, jumping up and down in surprise. "I know you! I know you!" She repeated, pointing at him.
Death tilted his head to the side a little. "Oh, you remember me? I have to say, I'm quite flattered." A black line sprouted out of his side, which morphed into an enormous gloved hand. He pointed at her, narrowing his eyes. "You're... Pinky Cake, right?"
Pinkie giggled. "Pinkie Pie, actually."
He groaned and snapped his fingers. "Dangit! I was so close, too!" He laughed and then turned to the others. He widened his eyes when he saw Twilight, who widened her eyes as well.
He was silent for a moment before he suddenly exclaimed "OH!" Twilight flinched but kept her same confused yet surprised expression. "You must be Twilight Sparkle! The one that was unconscious, right?"
The purple witch blinked. "H-how do you know my name and that I was...?"
"Maka told me about you yesterday."
"...oh." Well, that sure is comforting.... She thought.
Pinkie seemed to notice her discomfort and wrapped her arm around Twilight's neck. "No worries, Twilight! This guy's a nice pony! ....person? Ghost? Blanket? Enchilada?" She looked at Death. "What are you, anyway?"
Death blinked. "I never told you?"
She shook her head and took her arm off of Twilight. "Nope!"
He nodded. "Ah, alright then." He placed his giant hand on his chest, motioning to himself. "I'm what you would call a Shinigami, or a Grim Reaper."
Rarity choked on air, gasping. "A-a Grim R-Reaper?" She took a step back, glancing at Applejack.
He nodded, then sprouted another arm from his side and waved them frantically as his eyes furrowed in concern. "Yes, yes, I am a Grim Reaper but there's no need to be afraid! There was no reason to before, so there shouldn't be one now, right?"
Pinkie shook her head. "Nuh-uh! I don't see a reason to be scared at all. You seem like a nice Grim Reaper."
"Thank you, Pinkie Pie." He looked at Twilight, then at Rarity. "Anyways, you two are the witches, eh?"
The two girls looked at eachother, then back at Death. "Apparently." Twilight muttered, unsure.
"Ah, I understand. Now, have you ever killed someone or something?"
Twilight widened her eyes and made a disgusted expression. "No! That's horrifying to even imagine!" Rarity covered her mouth in horror while everyone else, except for Death and Stein, gasped.
"Have you ever wanted to kill someone or something?"
"Of course not!"
"Even if it or they were most sadistic person or thing you ever met?"
"No. I would want to teach them a lesson and send them on their way, maybe locking them up in prison if they were that bad."
Death narrowed his eyes in thought. "What if it or they hurt or killed someone dear to you?"
"...my answer still remains."
"You hesitated."
"I hesitated because I'm not sure where you're going with this." Twilight crossed her arms.
"What if the evil person was your most dearest friend, and you had to kill them to save the world? Would you do it?"
"No." She sighed, realizing he avoided the implied question.
"So you would let the world be reduced to destruction and rubble over friendship?"
"No. I would find another way around saving the world."
"Like what?"
"Trying to persuade the 'evil' person to stop."
"What if they declined?"
"I would make them stop."
"Without resorting to violence?"
"Violence would be my very last resort, but if necessary, then yes. Murder would never be an option, though."
Death nodded. "Would you ever disagree with a friend if they were doing the wrong thing?"
"I would try to tell them to quit whatever they were doing, but if they didn't then I would disagree."
"Would you ever be the one to take the 'evil' role?"
"Never, ever, ever in my whole entire life have I even considered that."
"I see." Death became silent, staring at Twilight in hidden contemplation.
She became noticeably uncomfortable and coughed. "Is there an issue?" She instantly felt a flash of déjà vu but ignored it.
Death blinked, then perked up. "Oh, sorry. I was just thinking about things." He turned to Rarity. "Do you agree with everything she just answered my questions with?"
"Absolutely." The fancy witch stood up straighter to look more professional.
Death nodded. "Well, then that solves everything." He clapped his hands together and tilted his head to the side. "You're off the hook and free to do whatever you wish."
Stein raised an eyebrow as the two witches looked completely confused.
"Excuse me, but what the hay do you mean?" Applejack spoke up, raising an eyebrow as well.
"Well, as Stein may or may not have explained, witches are like criminals in Death City. They are seen to always be either captured or killed, although honestly the latter is preferred by most." He paused for a moment before continuing. "Infact, the latter is taught by our students here to be necessary. Witches are rarely befriended by or have become allies of the DWMA - rare enough to where there's only been about one or two known to have done that - so that's why you might have gotten strange looks from passerby students."
Everyone seemed to understand what he was saying and breathed a large sigh of horrified relief, especially Twilight and Rarity, at the fact that they could've almost been killed. Twilight reminded herself to thank Maka and Soul properly later for basically saving their lives.
Rarity blinked. "Wait... excuse me, but are you implying that this is a school or an educational building?"
Death nodded. "I am indeed."
Rainbow Dash scoffed with a smirk and leaned closer to Applejack's ear. "Pretty crazy school, if you ask me." She then winced and stood up straighter again. It was obvious her injury hadn't stopped being sore yet. Applejack snickered at her joke, not noticing her cringe.
"Ooh, so what does this school teach?" Pinkie Pie leaned forwards and backwards, teetering on her heels with a wide, excited grin.
"We teach and train our students to kill evil, corrupted humans called Kishin. The Meister/Weapon pair are required to collect ninety-nine kishin souls and one witch soul in order for the Weapon to upgrade to a Death Weapon, or a Weapon that I, myself, can use. This main goal may take from a few years to maybe even a decade - some students don't even finish because they either sadly lose their life or lose their sanity."
The whole room fell into silence, once again.
"You... teach the students to.... kill?" Applejack blinked. "And risk their lives?"
"Yes - well, no. Yes and no." Death scratched the back of his head. "Gee, when you say it like that you make it sound more brutal than it actually is." He sighed and looked up at the sky-ceiling. "Well... the students have to agree to signing up for the school, first off. They are told what they'll have to go through and what they'll most likely experience. So, yes, we do teach them that but it's at their permission, of course. If anyone is risking their own lives it's themselves."
"But... why would anyone want to do such a terrible thing?" Rainbow Dash asked. "Why are the humans even 'corrupted', anyway?" She tried to pretend she knew what a human was.
"To answer that, I guess I should explain that human souls and kishin souls have the same value. If you consume either one you will get the same amount of power. Kishin souls, however are more difficult to collect because they almost always come with a battle in which only one comes out alive. So, to gain power easier, some decide to consume human souls instead. To become a kishin, you must kill and consume multiple human souls. This, of course, means murder of the innocent. Then, at that point, madness starts to kick in and the newly formed kishin goes insane. The urge for eating more and more human souls grows, which means more death and more murder. That's why our students here are taught to defeat them - the kishin, engulfed in insanity and slowly growing stronger with every soul, has no more reason or order anymore and only focuses on killing the student instead of even considering changing sides. So, really, we're helping Death City and the world by slowly removing the threat of kishin."
Twilight now understood - even if it was brutal and sickening to think about, they really were saving the world by killing. She didn't want to think about what it would be like if ponies had to survive in that way, either. Humans have a hard lifestyle... She muttered under her breath. Then again, she didn't really remember any of this last time she visited the human world. Her skin was also no longer purple, and the moon and sun now had a face and, might she add, the moon could bleed for some creepy reason. Not only that, but there was no mention of souls at all last time - except not in the way she was hearing about them now. Consuming souls? Yeaaaah, didn't really ring a bell. To her, it sounded like some cliché horror thing.
Then another strange thought hit her.
What if she wasn't in the human dimension?
Pfft. She chuckled mentally. Of course I'm in the human dimension. I have fingers, toes, I walk on two feet, and I no longer have a horn, wings, or tail. She was instantly reminded that, although that was true, she was also discriminated on because of supposedly being a witch - she definitely didn't remember that happening last time. So, if she was a human/witch, what's with all the soul business and the mythical creatures and the killing? Perhaps, she thought, I'm in the human dimension but... in a different part of it?
Before she could ponder about where she actually was, Death coughed loudly before laughing.
"It seems the tables have turned." He said in a joking tone, sounding as if he was smiling.
Twilight blushed and looked down at the ground in embarrassment as she heard Stein chuckling. "Oh... sorry, heheh." She looked up at Death. "Was there something you asked?"
"No. I just finished explaining things and the whole room went deadly quiet." He laughed, then gained a more serious tone. "However... you did seem to have some conflict going on inside that magical brain of yours. I'd guess that from your reactions and answers you gave earlier you really aren't from around here at all, like you're from a totally different galaxy." Twilight felt a chill down her spine as he got dangerously close to the real truth - and sounded serious about it. "I can tell this must all be completely different from what you're used to. I won't go any further into detail for now. You all, infact, should just go back home and rest to let that sink in. That sink needs to rest, as well." He chuckled at his own pun, to which Pinkie burst out into laughter at. It took at least ten seconds for everyone else to understand it.
"Let that s-ink i-n! I get it! I get it!" She wheezed in between gasps.  "That one's a-a classic!"
Death's eyes squinted as if he was smiling and waved his giant hand in a gentle pushing motion. "Now, shoo. Go home, little piggies."
Pinkie - still crying from laughter -  turned around and walked towards the door casually, her arms swaying at her sides even if her waist-up was shaking. Everyone else, including Stein, followed her, glancing at Pinkie with a strange look every now and then. But just as Twilight was going to go with them, Death's quiet voice called out to her in a tone that reminded her of Celestia.
"Just a moment, Twilight."

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   Seven Centuries Ago; Some Explanation for the Random?   
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Seven Centuries Ago; Some Explanation for the Random?
Twilight slowly turned to look at Death. His general atmosphere was so thickly serious she could've cut it with a butter knife - there was no more humor in his tone, either. This made her slightly concerned and worried at the same time.
"I hope you realize how important it is that you return to Equestria immediately."
Everything seemed to freeze, including time itself. Twilight merely continued to look at him, and he did the same.
Only when his eyes slanted, as if furrowing his eyebrows, did time resume. Twilight widened her eyes to their full extent and opened her mouth to speak, then closed it. She opened her mouth again slowly, only to stutter and stumble over her words in surprise.
"H-how do you kno-w ab-bout -"
"...goodness, did Pinkie never tell you about me?"
"What?" She blinked, her pupils shrinking.
"Well, I thought she at least would've mentioned me, better yet let others know I exist."
"....what?"
Death sighed. "Hmmm... I guess I should explain, yes?" He tapped his chin. "Let's see... it was about seven centuries ago when I met her."
Twilight narrowed her eyes. "Pinkie can't live that long."
"I am aware." He nodded. "Time goes by faster here than in Equestria. For her it must've been about fifteen years, when she was only a filly."
Twilight deadpanned. "You know she's a pony?"
"Of course. That's how I met her."
"How did you know that was her, then?"
Death laughed. "Are you kidding me? There's nobody else I know that's as energetic, random and pink as Pinkie. Don't forget, I also know her voice like the sound of silence itself."
Twilight crossed her arms, wondering how he knows her so well. "You still haven't explained how you met her."
Death nodded, gaining a serious mood again. "Right. Sorry." He coughed, and his voice had a strange tint to it. "Well, as I said, it was about seven-hundred slash fifteen years ago. I was in this very room, doing what I did..."
(Seven centuries ago....)
A very large, spiky and pitch-black figure paced around the Death Room. He had his mind on certain things. The madness-brainwashed Asura was recently detained into a bag formed from his own skin, ripped clean off by Death himself.
Death was worrying and thinking, the worst mix of actions known to man. Asura - whom had murdered three of his companions, including his own weapon - had gone insane, and Death could do nothing about it except keep him locked up for now. He somehow couldn't kill him, even if he wanted to. It was mysteriously proven fact.
He was devastated, horrified and disappointed all at once at his son's actions. He tried to think of what to do, even if his capture was already a century ago. He knew Asura wouldn't stay there forever. He was still alive. Even if he couldn't escape on his own, Death knew someone else would bail him out eventually. He didn't know when or who this would be, but he could almost feel it was proven that this is what would happen in the near or far future.
He sighed, bringing a long, jagged and clawed hand up to his face. "What am I going to do..." He muttered, his voice deep and rough. "I think I just need to relax for a bit. I can worry about this later."
Just as he said that, the mirror behind him flashed with a bright, purple light. He spun around quickly to face the mirror in surprise.
"What the....it doesn't normally do that..." Death stayed in his place, his non-existant eyes wide. The image in the mirror swirled and rolled with conjoined mixtures of many hues. It was as if the rainbow had a malfunction and was reduced to a mushy goo of colors, and was being displayed in his mirror.
As he watched in interest and confusion, the colors split apart like a curtain to reveal blurry shapes. The first color he noticed was pink. In fact, because of the blur, it looked like the image was nothing but pink.
He stepped forward to take a closer look, intrigued by this strange event. He examined the mirror on all sides, front and back, with every little detail. Was this an error of some kind? Did the mirror glitch or something? Could mirrors even glitch in the first place?
He stepped back, sighing. Looking into the mirror's image again, he gasped under his breath when he was met with a tiny, also surprised face.
It was... a pony?
The mirror was no longer blurry, so Death could clearly see the attributes of this young filly that couldn't be older than seven. With dark pink hair fluffed up to look like a cottonball and light pink fur, it's big blue eyes stared up at Death through the bottom of the mirror. It didn't even look much like a horse - he was only able to guess that due to it having small hooves and the general body structure of an equine. Death noticed a colorful mark on it's flank, which looked like three balloons. He blinked, and so did it.
"Who are you, mister?" It spoke. Death flinched, surprised it could speak. It sounded like a female.
"Excuse me?"
"I asked you who you were." She tilted her head to the side a little bit.
He blinked again, then coughed lightly. "Oh. I'm Death."
"Ooh, spooky name." She giggled, a wide smile spreading across her face. She plopped onto the floor, still grinning.
Death sweatdropped. She... wasn't afraid of him? That was very odd to him, considering most human children would run at the mere sight of him. She wasn't the tiniest bit scared, even after hearing his voice. "Mhmm...." He was so shocked that he didn't really have much to say.
He was, in fact, talking to a multicolored, young horse that could talk and wasn't afraid of him... was he dreaming, or was he hallucinating from having so little friends?
"So, what'cha doin' in my mirror? It looks cramped in there." Her high-pitched voice broke out of his thoughts. He narrowed his eyes in confusion for a split-second, then blinked, nodding. "Ah. Well, I'm not actually in your mirror. I'm looking at you through a mirror, and so are you. Sort of like a call using... mirrors."
She blinked, a wide smile on her face. "So it's like FaceTime?"
"What?"
"Nothing." She giggled, to which Death brushed it off as a strange horse joke or something.
"How exactly did you get my number?" He asked, and the tiny filly giggled.
"Oh, that was your number? I just wrote random numbers in my bedroom mirror and it glowed, then it showed me you."
He stayed silent. So it was a normal call? Why did it flash so many colors, then?
Then a thought hit him like a truck, and made him slightly excited.
"What is your world named?" He tried to sound as less confusing as possible, but despite that the filly still understood completely.
"Equestria. Why?"
His eyes squinted as if smiling, although the structure of his skull mask might not have showed it in the way he intended. "Ah... no reason. It's just that you and I are in different dimensions."
The tiny filly squealed in delight. "Really? We are?" She hopped up and down in glee. "That's so cool!"
He nodded. That explained why the mirror seemed to act differently than normal - connecting to a different dimension wasn't exactly the easiest feat for it. "It is indeed."
She laughed. "Oh, momma and papa would love to hear about this!"
Death tilted his head in amusement. "Oh?" He didn't see much harm in that. If her parents were anything like human parents, they most likely wouldn't believe an enormous, pitch-black being with a gnarly skull for a face named Death appeared in her bedroom mirror. "Would they?"
"Yup!" Just then, a voice called from faraway on her side of the connection. It was too faint for Death to make out what it said, but he did hear it. The filly's face dropped, and a smile was replaced with a disappointed frown. "Nobody, Momma!" She called back.
"What's wrong?" He suddenly became a bit concerned.
"Momma wants to know who I'm talking to. I have to go."
"But didn't you want them to meet me?"
"Yeah, but not right away. That's forcing too much on them. I got my cutie mark today and threw the biggest party we've ever had - or the only one we've ever had. They're probably exhausted anyway. I'll have to show you to them another time." Her voice dropped to a whisper. "Bye, Death!"
He nodded, also disappointed that one of the first 'children' to ever stay around him was leaving. His eyes widened with the realization he never got her name, if she had one.
"Okay, but before you go, may I have your name? I just want to remember it in case we meet each other again."
She smiled, and nodded excitedly. "My name is Pinkamena Diane Pie, but you can call me Pinkie Pie or Pinkie." Her eyes lit up with excitement and anticipation. "I'll call you tomorrow, okay? My parents are going out to visit other family members around noon and won't be back until nighttime."
"That's a large time gap." His whisper mirrored her excitement.
"Mhmm! Then we can talk and stuff, right?"
"Of course." His non-visible smile softened. "Goodbye, Pinkie Pie."
She nodded and waved to him the same grin on her expression. He leaned down, brought up a jagged claw and waved back before the mirror's image dispersed into darkness. He sighed and stood up straighter. "Man, what a day..."
He then realized that was the first time he smiled in a whole century. That was both depressing and cheery, but he decided to see it in the latter. He, ironically, smiled and floated out of the Death Room to go release his mind of his former worries and replace them with happy thoughts.
It had been several weeks before Death ever saw her again. He hadn't forgotten her during that time, but he thought that maybe she forgot or her parents didn't go on that visit. Death was in the Death Room, dismissing someone out of the room right before the mirror glowed as it had before. The person he was speaking with left the room, thinking it rude to stay around during a call.
Death turned around quickly to face the mirror, surprised at the many colors swarming his mirror again.
She had called again! He smiled even though it couldn't be seen and floated over to the mirror. The blurry colors became clear, and there stood Pinkie Pie. While he was pleased, he was also confused. Why didn't she look different? You would think that over many weeks, she would change at least a little bit. Death couldn't find one change. Maybe she was immortal like him and aged slower than average?
"Death!" She squealed and giggled. "I'm so happy to see you again!"
"I feel the same." His deep voice showed nothing but happiness. "It's been a while since I've seen you, Pinkie."
"One day isn't that long, silly goose!" She laughed and snorted.
He paused for a moment. One day? It had been weeks. She was at least smart enough to know about dimensions, so she should know that weeks are not one day. She seemed to notice his confusion and tilted her head to the side.
"What's the matter?"
"Nothing, nothing... something just baffled my mind for a second. We're in different dimensions, correct?"
"Yup."
"Do you think that maybe we have different time zones as well? It's been weeks for me, while it had been a day for you."
She widened her eyes. "It's been weeks?" She repeated, her mouth opening in shock. "I'm sorry! I would've called you sooner if I knew time passed so quickly over there."
Death shook his head. "No, no, it's okay. That's in the past now. What matters is now, right? Your parents are gone on that trip, I'm assuming, so there's no issue."
Pinkie smiled wide.  "Right." She plopped down in a sitting position, to which Death did the same. "So," Pinkie giggled. "Where are you at the moment?"
Twilight widened her eyes. "Wait a second... so you were the 'Death' being she was talking about!"
Death tilted his head to the left. "Oh, so she did tell you about me?"
The witch nodded. "Yes. She told all of us. We just didn't believe her, because... you know."
His head straightened, and he seemed to smile. "Right, I understand." He sighed and looked around. "Ah, but that was all I wanted to inform you about. Kind of got off topic, but I am serious." He looked at Twilight straight in the eyes. "Promise me you and your friends'll find a way back to Equestria safe and sound. It's of utmost importance."
She frowned. "I am aware. But..." She trailed off, looking behind her. She looked back at Death. "Is there a time limit? And if there is, what would happen if we don't return in time?"
"There is, and if you don't then your ability to return is diminished." His serious demeanor made a U-turn and came back. "It won't close and open many years later or anything like that. There's no second chances. It will close permanently, and you'll be stuck here for the rest of your life."
Twilight's mouth opened in horror. "How do we get back to Equestria, then?" She sounded panicked.
Death noticed immediately and widened his eyes. "Hold on, hold on! I didn't mean to worry you; the time limit isn't short. You just have to return within a year."
The witch blinked. "Oh." She breathed a sigh of relief. "That's not short at all."
"Exactly. Now..." He tapped his chin. "To return, I believe you have three choices."
He held up one finger. "The first and most easiest choice is to make three Death Scythe pairs connect soul wavelengths. Then a portal will open, and you can step right in. However, there's a catch. The Death Scythe pairs who open the portal need to enter it. They cannot open it for others, only themselves." He narrowed his eyes. "Along with that, while it is the easiest out of the three, it is the longest. When your time limit is a year, making three Death Scythe pairs almost seems impossible."
He held up another finger. "The second choice is the more difficult one, with no definite time range. You must find out who or what transported you here in the first place, which might take a long or short time. It all depends on who the said person is. Then you have to somehow make them transport you back. It seems easy enough, but most beings who can do that are rare and often don't like doing that for others. So, you must convince and persuade them to help you. Explaining your situation may be enough, but sometimes it isn't as easy."
He held up a third finger. "Finally, the there's the third choice. This option is probably the most complicated and may not work or go as planned." He motioned to his mirror. "You can contact someon- I mean, somepony in Equestria, and request that they somehow find a way to transport you back. This may fail for the reason that the pony you contact doesn't believe your circumstance is real, or they may just hate you and not care. Or they don't know how to complete your request. Of course, they can get somepony else to help, but that means connecting to their universe all over again, and who knows how long that would take - don't forget that our worlds have different time zones. One day there is several weeks here. You may not connect with them again by the end of the year."
Twilight sat in uneasy silence, thinking about the options. "But all of them have a bad quality to them..." She muttered.
Death nodded. "Right. I would personally try all of them, but the Death Scythe option would be the first I'd do. It is possible, but unlikely. Doesn't hurt to try, though."
Twilight nodded. "Okay.... thank you, Death." She bowed lightly in respect and turned around, running under the guillotines and hurrying for the door.
As she put her hand on the doorknob, Death faintly called out to her again. She turned to him again, frowning. "Yes?"
"When you see Pinkie again... be sure to give her that skull bracelet in your shirt pocket."
Twilight blinked and reached into her pocket, pulling out a thin, short and silver bracelet with occasional tiny blue gems on it's chain. The most noticeable feature was the tiny skull hanging on it, looking exactly like Death's mask. "Oh... uhm, okay."
"Thank you. It's important to her and to me. I'd appreciate it if you'd do that for me. Now, have fun! G'bye!" He waved to her, closing his eyes and seeming to smile.
Twilight nodded and exited the room, wondering how the bracelet got there, why it was important and how Death knew where it was.
"Strange city, I tell ya..." She muttered, starting to walk down the crowded hallway once again to look for her friends.