Rise and Fall

Chapters

Something's Going On
Brawl
Forest Encounter
Aftermath
Guardians
Of the Forest

Something's Going On

Chantalot was almost like the center of Harmonia. The grandeur was rivaled by very few others, as was it's class. Here, the regal sisters, Princesses Celestia, the Sun Raiser, and Luna, the Night Watcher, ruled over Harmonia. Kindness was fairly common amongst the people here, but so was the snobbishness.

At the center of it was the Eclipse Castle, a mighty fortress and the second most impenetrable building in the land. Joined to the magnificent marble and granite building was the Chantalot Academy for Gifted Mages. Here, Espers gathered to learn about magic and other things they would need in life, or as some of them put it, "Stuff teachers say we'll need in life, but most of which we won't wind up using anyway." Those were the words of a girl in a bright red shirt, grey shorts, and red sneakers. Her name was Moondancer, one of the Academy's top students, and today wasn't the first time. The red-head had many habits, especially skipping classes, although she still studied and did better than most of her class. "Seriously, I'm studying to be a medic. Why do I need to know about the Great Shadow War?" she asked her friend sitting next to her. She was wearing a white shirt under a pink sweater, dark purple capris, and pink sneakers. "Twilight?" She nudged her friend. With no response, she sighed and slipped the book the girl was reading from her hands.

"Hey!" she cried. "I was reading that!"

"And I was talking," Moondancer said. "Seriously, do you have serious interactions with anything other than books?"

"Yes," the girl replied. "I go on missions and I meet quite a few people on them."

"If you say so," she said, handing her back her book. If there was one thing that got Twilight Sparkle excited, it was books. She practically lived in a library! What made her really happy was the fact that being one of Celestia's personal student gave her nearly unrestricted access to the Chantalot Archives, the larges collection of books, scrolls, and knowledge in general in Etheria. "Hey, why don't you come to the party this weekend?" suggested Moondancer.

"I have a test on Monday."

"The party only lasts one night."

"One night I could be using to study." As Twilight defended her case, another girl passed by. She had fiery yellow and crimson hair and was wearing a yellow shirt, red skirt, and black jacket and boots. "Sunset, back me up," said Twilight.

Sunset Shimmer wasn't exactly the most sociable student in the school, to most. Others, though, like Twilight and Moondancer saw her a bit differently. "About what?" she asked.

"What's the best thing to do on a Saturday night: party or study for the test on Monday that counts for ten percent of your final grade?"

Sunset looked between the two of them and shrugged. "Depends."

"On what?"

"How easily you can grasp and recall. If it's easy, then relax. If not, don't even remember there's a party." She continued on her way. "Anything else you losers need?"

"Nope," said Moondancer. "Thanks, Sunny! She's not as bad as she used to be," said Moondancer.

"It's amazing what a little closure will do," Twilight said in response. "So, can I go back to studying in peace?"

During school, Twilight, Sunset, and Moondancer were the three geniuses of the Academy, ranking 1st, 2nd, and 4th, respectively. Their competition was out on a week-long mission and was coming back in time for the test. Their usual hangout was Joe's Donuts, the best bakery in the city. "Hey, Joe," Moondancer greeted as the trio walked into the café.

"Sunset, Moondancer, and Twilight! Good to see you guys are still loyal t' this place," came the reply from a man with messy blonde hair and bright green eyes wearing a white shirt, brown trousers and loafers, and a white apron standing behind the counter. "What can I getcha?"

"Half a dozen: two plain, two chocolate double glaze, and two apple fritters," answered Twilight.

"And three cups of coffee: two mocha, one cappuccino," added Sunset.

"Coming right up," said Joe, disappearing into the kitchen.

"So, what to discuss..." pondered Moondancer as they sat down. "Neither of us are going to the party."

"Are you?" asked Twilight.

"It wouldn't be the same without my besties," she said, wrapping an arm around each of them. "Besides, my conscience wouldn't let me go to an awesome party without at least one of you guys... or both!"

"Speaking of guys," Sunset said, twisting Moondancer's arm away from her, "Has anyone heard from him?"

The two shook their heads. "I'm pretty sure he's fine," said Moondancer, "But he's never been out for this long. And no, I'm not in love, nor do I want to screw him. I'm just worried."

Twilight blushed. "Okay, one, good to know; two, I didn't need to know that; and three, why are we talking about him?" Twilight saw him as competition... dangerous competition. Outside the trio, he was the only one who was as close to the Princess as they were.

"Still jealous?" teased Sunset, as the donuts and coffee arrived.

"I am not jealous," she replied, biting into a plain donut. "Just... cautious. He's among the top five students in school-"

"3rd, to be exact," said Moondancer as she licked off her chocolate mustache.

"-And the Princess may actually give him access to the restricted area of the archives!"

"Okay," Sunset said, "Now we've gone from jealous, skipped paranoid, and went straight to crazy. Princess Celestia would never give anyone access to that area. I heard only two people in her royal court have ever been in there."

"Yeah well... anything can happen."

"Not that."

"You don't know that!"

"Twilight, chill."

Twilight relaxed. "You're right. What am I worried about? He's coming back late from his little mission. He'll either be late for the test, or he'll be unprepared due to all the work! Ha! In your face!" She happily ate her donut as her friends watched her. Moondancer circled her finger around the side of her head while making quiet "Cuckoo" noises.

Summersville was the symbol of unity in Harmonia and got it's name due to it being the town that most often hosted the Summer Sun Celebration. It was a symbol of how each race, Gaians, Skyborn, and Espers, could coexist. It was also home to the best party planner in the country, possibly the continent. She was bubbly, excitable, friendly, and always wore pink. Her name was...

"Pinkie Pie! Where's the order?!" The Carrot Cake, and his wife Cup Cake, were a couple that ran Sugarcube Corner, the local bakery of the town. They took turns running the store when they weren't both in town for any reason.

"Right here," said a girl as she burst through the kitchen. She had hair like cotton candy and wore a light pink shirt under a small, darker pink sleeveless jacket, white shorts, and pink flip-flops. "Two orders of triple layer chocolate cake. Milk on the outside, dark on the inside, caramel in the middle... mmmmmm..." She licked her lips and stared at the marvel in the box. A man walked up to the counter, dropped some coins, and took the boxes. "And have a superific, fantabulous day!"

"Oh, Pinkie? Didn't you say you wanted to close early for something?" said Mr. Cake.

"Oh, yeah," she said as she headed for the door. "Thanks Mr. C!" Pinkie down through the town, saying his to everyone she passed. She soon came up to a farm. A sign hung over the entrance to the vast apple field and read, WELCOME TO SWEET APPLE ACRES". Pinkie bounced over to a barn at the center of the field and saw a young man wearing a white t-shirt under an open red plaid shirt, blue jeans tucked into his brown boots, and working gloves, carrying a bundle of hay over to a stack. "Hey Big Mac!" Pinkie called, waving to the muscular man.

He turned and waved back. "Hi Pinkie," he said in a deep voice. "You here to help out Applejack?"

"You betcha!"

Big Mac dropped the bundle next to the pile. "Well, the apples have all been picked up. The baskets just need to be taken to storage and the apples sorted."

"I'm on it," Pinkie said, saluting before she skipped off to the field to pick up the basket.

Applejack Apple was known as "the Most Dependable Person in Town", and she lived up to her reputation. She never missed an event she said she would be at, competed in any event or tournament as a representative of the town, and even helped around town from time to time. But behind all the dependability was another motive. She took paying jobs in guilds and worked as a bouncer in a pub called The Leaking Keg, run by a man called Keg O'Rum. The truth was that although her family was comfortable, they also had a rather large debt looming over their heads and Applejack saw it as her responsibility. Her Granny Smith was too old, her little sister, Applebloom, was too young, and her older brother, Big Macintosh, was too busy. Today she was at the Leaking Keg. Keg was wearing a messy white shirt, brown work pants, black shoes, and a white apron. "Applejack!" he called over the noise of the rowdy pub, "Cleanup on table five!"

From at the door stood Applejack. Standing 6 feet, she was practically a giant amongst many, especially for a Gaian girl of 18. She wore a green plaid shirt tied up in front, brown fitted shorts, a brown leather vest, and brown fur-cuffed boots. Her dark brown belt had a trinity of red apples on the buckle, to which was attached a holstered revolver on the side and a sheathed blade on the other. She wore a brown Stetson hat over her back-length blond hair was tied up at the end in a ponytail and her green eyes shone like emeralds in sunlight. "Am comin'," she said, walking over to a table and picking up a man that drank himself to sleep. "Sheesh. You oughta be stoppin' these guys before they get this smashed." She took him outside and whistled. Two guardsmen took him from her. "Make sure he gets back home, but you oughta know where that is by now, seein' as he comes here everyday with the same result."

At the end of the day, she picked up her travel sack, bag of bits, and headed home. Eversville used to be a nice place, long ago, until all the dark magic filled up the vacuum left when the Princesses left their castle there. The surrounding forest went wild and was soon called the Everfree Forest. Many who knew anything about that forest looked for every possible way to get to the town without having to go through the forest. Both the plant and animal life became more violent and dangerous and thugs made ambush spots and hideouts all over the forest. But seasoned travelers like Applejack had learned to defend themselves. But today was a bit odd. She had been walking for ten minutes and no one had attacked her; a new record. Then, she heard a growl. She sharply reached behind her back and drew the large hunting knife, with a 12-by-3 inch blade, it was probably one of the largest people had ever seen. She crept forward and crouched behind some bushes. She pulled them apart and saw a large cragodile... but something was wrong. Cragodiles are known for their tough, rock hard skin. Those who are able to even get a tenth of the 5 inch thick skin on its back could make the most peelproof, fireproof, and waterproof leather materials on the planet. This one looked like chunks of flesh had been ripped out of it. It lay there in a growing puddle of blood, heaving for breath. Applejack approached the creature slowly, watching her surroundings for the attacker. She placed her hand on its head. "Poor thing. Y' must be in so much pain." She gripped the blade and raised it over her head. She gazed into the monster's pleading, miserable eyes, then looked away as she buried half the blade in its skull. She pulled it out and whipped it on it's back, making an "X". She kept going and saw a trail of blood that led to an abandoned campsite, with the tent still up and embers still glowing where the fire was. She scanned the area and found no sign of life, and so she moved on.

"Hey Applejack!" Applebloom, called out as her sister approached. She was wearing a yellow shirt, blue overalls, and brown boots. Her red hair was tied in a similar fashion as Applejack, but with a ribbon instead of a hat. "You came in late today."

"It's a Friday night. The party ended late," Applejack said. Bloom was fully aware of Applejack's many jobs and worried for her, but Applejack always said she was fine. "Did, Pinkie come over?"

Applebloom nodded. "She organized all the apples and brought in all the buckets. She also stayed to help Big Mac move the hay."

"That's nice." Applejack looked around. "Where is Mac?" she asked.

"Right here." Applejack turned to see her brother, standing two inches above her, standing at the entrance to the house. "Applebloom, time for bed." The young girl groaned, but hugged her brother and sister goodnight before going in. "What's up?"

"Is Granny asleep?" Mac nodded. "Ah saw a dead cragodile today," she answered as they went in.

"That ain't new," said big Mac. "With all the poachers in the forest and the town, I doubt there wouldn't be dead animals."

"No, no. This was different. It was like something attacked it and left it t' suffer. Had t' put it out of its misery myself. There were chunks o' flesh missing from every part of it's body, as if it was being shredded. Ah don't know what coulda done that to a cragodile."

"Dragons, hydras, another cragodile..."

"Nah. Something was odd. There was a trail of blood that led to a campsite. Ah think... ah think a person did it."

"Impossible," Mac said immediately. "Unless it was a Gaian with a completed mark or the Blood of Titan, nothing coulda ripped a cragodile the way you described it. Tell ya what, tomorrow, we'll go check it out together. For now, get some sleep, okay?" Applejack nodded, and headed up the stairs.

The next day, Applejack and Mac went to the same place in the woods Applejack had seen the dying crag. "Ah swear it was right here!" There was nothing left but a black patch in the ground. "Am certain!"

Big Mac examined the area. "Well, something was here, alright," he said. He ran his fingers across the ground, black smearing his gloves. "It must've... decomposed or something."

"Come on!" She took Mac to the campsite. Everything was as she saw it.

"Looks more like the crag attacked the person and the person defended his or herself," deduced Big Mac. "He must've decided that the crag was more useful if he took it than if he let it rot."

"What makes you say that?" asked Applejack as she walked over to what Big Mac was looking at.

"Well for one thing, there's a bunch of shed scales, limbs, and some entrails, most likesly belonging to the crag." Applejack plugged her nose, as did Big Mac, when the stench of rot hit. She stared at the massive pot filled with the innards of the cragodile, next to the shed skin and disembodied legs.

"Damn," she said. "Either this guy was big, well trained, or not human. You'd have to break a dozen black steel blades just to cut through its neck. But the level of brutality as it stands is inhuman."

"Could've been a werewolf," suggested Big Mac, "... or a werebear, in this case."

"Whoever or whatever it was, it killed the crag and took everything except the innards and hind legs. The pelt could be cashed in for quite a price... once you can get through the scales, which could make some pretty decent armor, and the bones can be used to make some pretty good weapons." Applejack sighed. "Y'know what? Maybe ah am getting worked up. Maybe you're right and it was another animal. The camper must've been a spectator and scavenger."

Big Mac nodded. "Eeyup. Now let's head back. Got a lotta work t' do."

Back in Canterlot, Moondancer had still not given up on getting Twilight and Sunset to go for the party. The sat together in their dorm room and Moondancer said, "C'mon you guys. It'll be great! Besides, you two need to relax."

"I'm relaxed," the two said in unison.

Moondancer looked between the pair. "Sunset I believe you. Twilight, you are anything but relaxed. You're more tense than a stretched vine. You need this more than anything."

"What I need is to study so I can pass the test next week so I don't have to repeat magic kindergarten and so I can move on with my studies."

"There's more to life than books. You retaught me that."

"Yeah, well then, there wasn't a test counting for 20% of my final score coming up two days later."

"You're planning to use all of tomorrow to study anyways. Can't you take one night off?"

"No."

"For me?"

"No!"

There was a ping and Moondancer pulled out her phone. "Huh."

"What is it?" asked Sunset.

"Well... apparently, Princess Celestia wants to see us."

Ten minutes later, they were all standing in Princess Celestia's office. The arch-mage wore a brilliant white shirt, brown trousers, and brown shoes. "Ah. Thank you for coming on such short notice," she said.

"What is it, Princess?" asked Twilight.

"Do you remember that test that counts for 20% of your grade?" Twilight nodded and shot a smug look at Moondancer. "I'm calling it off." The smirk disappeared. "It wouldn't be fair if not all of you were present for the test, as even I am unsure of when your... competitor will be returning. Besides, I have a much more interesting idea... a job."

"Really?" asked Moondancer, excited.

"Yes, really," Celestia replied, pulling out a file. "There's a small... incident in Eversville I would like you three to investigate."

"Incident?" asked a curious Twilight.

"Yes. Townspeople have reported several abnormal events occurring in the town ever since excavators discovered the gem mines in the fields just beyond."

"What do you mean by strange?" asked Sunset. "That word has a lot of different meanings in my experience."

Celestia looked at a list from the file. "Kidnappings, odd sightings, murders-"

"MURDERS?!" Everyone turned to Twilight. "S-Sorry. But there have been any murders since the Changeling attack. Even Eversville, with all the thugs and psychos, murder? What of the guards you posted?"

"None of them have reported anything. None of them have seen anything. The worst part is... some of them are missing." The three girls froze. "No trace of them have been found in the past week we've searched."

"And you're sending three students?"

"I believe you are capable. You are my personal students. Besides, you're all legal adults."

"Barely," muttered Twilight.

"Besides, this is your test. So you can say no and buh-bye to 20% of your final score. But 80% is still an A, right?"

Twilight broke. "We'll do it."

"We will?" said the other two in unison.

"Sure. Besides, jobs count as extra credit, right? It's win-win!"

Sunset face-palmed. "Oh, Faust protect us."

"So, I guess we can go for that party now, huh?" Moondancer said, leaning on Twilight.

She sighed. "Why the heck not."

"YAY!"

Meanwhile, Twilight's "competition" was relaxing after a hard weeks work. Evening Spark donned an orange sweatshirt, a black sleeveless hoodie, brown khakis, and black boots with fingerless gloves and a pair of goggles around his neck. His 2-foot-4-inches-tall, scaly companion was orange with pink scales and bright pink eyes and was wearing a blue hoodie. They were sitting by a campfire. It dimmed, and his companion spat a fireball into it, causing it to burn to life once more. "Ugh, this this boring," she said. "That wasn't a Class 7 job, that was a Class 3! Seriously, we've taken tougher guys in less time," she added, looking back to the sea of unconscious bodies behind her.

"Yeah, I know," he said. "You don't have to rub it in, Ember. If I'd known it would've been this simple, I'd have checked the Class 8 board."

"You were lazy."

"I was tired."

"Same difference."

The boy laughed. "Y'know, sometime I wonder what would've happened if I hadn't hatched you."

"One, don't say that, it sounds super weird. Two, you'd be bored, miserable, and half dead."

"Yeah, you keep telling yourself that."

At that moment, she started to sniff. "Ugh, I hate this! A... a... a... Oh, never... ACHOO!" As she sneezed, she shot out a burst of bright pink fire. It curled and faded, leaving behind a scroll, which the boy picked up. "There has... to be... another... alternative," she said, sniffing.

The boy read the scroll and smiled. He folded it and placed it in the shoulder bag next to him and slung it over his shoulder. "New plan," he said, getting up. "We leave now. Princess Celestia just hit us with another job."

"So why are we going back to Canterlot?" asked the little dragon, blowing he nose on a large leaf.

"I want to cash in my mission success officially. The money could come in handy for the next one."

The dragon shrugged. "Whatever you say." As they walked away, Eve's hand lit up and the flame was trapped in a bubble and dimmed as its oxygen burned out.

Brawl

Eversville was not so bad once you got to know it. It was pretty much a rough city, but it wasn't all bad. Despite the many cases of robbery, bar brawls, street brawls, brawls in general, and other cases, the town was fairly livable. Eve had some fairly good experiences in the town. He had fought off a chimera, gotten into a bar brawl, and even got a job as a bouncer. And as he entered the town, he saw the bar gave him the job in the distance, it's neon-lit sign flickering. "We should probably pay Keg a visit," said Eve. "He really helped me out with that job. If it weren't for him, I'd still have to actually got to class."

"Yeah," Ember replied sarcastically. "That would've been horrible."

As they approached the train station at the end of the town, Eve heard a loud crash. He turned to see a man flying out of the window of the Leaking Keg. "Some things never change," Eve said, smiling. "Wonder who's bouncing?" Once they reached the station, he looked at the board to see that the next train was arriving thirty minutes from then. He walked over to the counter, where he saw the attendant wearing a white shirt, blue vest and trousers, and a black hairband holding her hair in a bun. "Two for Chantalot," he said, dropping four gold coins onto the counter.

"Sure," she said, taking the coins and typing something in on the computer. "So, what brought you here in the first place?"

"Had a job in the Everfree. This was the closest town to where I was."

"And Summersville?"

"Like I said, closer to where I was."

She printed out the ticket and handed it to him. "The whistle will go off when the train arrives and again when it departs. Have a good one."

"Thanks." He picked up their tickets and headed for the bar. As he entered, the smell of smoke, alcohol, and sweat filled his nose. People were drinking, chatting, or getting "serviced" in private. "Didn't know they provided that kind of service."

"We don't," said a voice. Eve turned and saw Keg standing by a table. "Some people just take a few liberties until I have t' drop da hammer." His dark skin, thick dreadlocks, and strong Jamagican accent gave him away.

"Keg!" Eve shook the large man's hand firmly. "How've you been?"

"Not bad, mon," he said. "Business has been pretty good. Got a new bouncer for mid-day and night shifts."

"I noticed. I could also tell whoever you hired must be good judging by the guy I saw get thrown out the window when I got in town."

Keg laughed and said, "What brings you to town in da first place, mon?"

"Well, this was the closest place with a train station," Eve replied. "Been in the Everfree for a week trying to deal with some problems the town was complaining about. We're headed back to Chantalot today."

"Ah, yes. I've heard report dat some raiders have been muggin' travelers on their way to da town. It's been killin' me business for the last three weeks! What took ya so long?"

"Hey, I'm still in school," Eve said, raising his hands in defense. "I still got homework and classes."

"Which you neither do unless it's a presentation, nor attend unless it's a practical," came a voice. Keg looked down and saw Ember standing next to Eve's leg. "Thank you for finally noticing me."

"Oh. Sorry 'bout dat," Keg said, smiling sheepishly. "Didn't see ya down dere!"

"Oh, yeah. That never gets old," she deadpanned. "I should burn your foot..." she added, her nostrils flaring and puffing smoke, "... but I need something to drink."

"Sure ting. What can I get ya?"

"One mug of apple cider with semi matured Arborian sap for me, one mug of milk for Ember."

"WHAT?!" Ember cried, outraged. "What do I look like? A hatchling? Why the heck would you order-"

"Throw some Arborian sap in there too," Eve added grinning. "Same maturity. Oh, and make it chimera milk, if you can manage."

"Sure ting," Keg said as he walked to the kitchen behind the counter.

"So," Eve said, smiling smugly, "The Troll Master just got trolled."

"I have taught you well," Ember said, imitating the voice of a wise, old mentor, then spat a plume of smoke at his face, covering it in soot. "Next time, it'll be fire. There's only room for one Troll Master here."

"Whatever you say," Eve said, wiping the soot from his face. "Sore loser," he mumbled.

"What was that?"

"Hm? What?"

"You said something." Ember's nostrils were flaring again.

"Oh, um, I was gonna tell Keg to add some quarts to the order," Eve said, smiling sheepishly.

"Oh... okay," Ember said as she walked over to a table.

"Sheesh. I need to master that fireproofing spell, ASAP," he thought to himself as he walked over. After a while, Keg brought out the drinks and went back in to get the quarts Eve ordered after. He was tough, but you only want to get your eyebrows burned off and hair burned to half it's length once. It had taken him almost five months to get his hair back to reach his shoulder blades again, and he didn't want to have to try and fail at using the growth spell again... that was a nightmare.

"Yeesh, who's the new bouncer?" Ember wondered. "Whoever it is must be good because there hasn't been a bar fight since we got in."

"We've been in here for ten minutes," Eve replied.

"Exactly!" At that moment, Ember got her wish. Five men walked into the bar. the one in the middle was wearing a red shirt, black vest and trousers, and black loafers. His messy mane of thick, dark orange hair framed his bright yellow eyes. At his sides were twins, both wearing light gray shirts, darker gray hoodies, black trousers, and gray shoes, though one had darker hair than the other. At his immediate right was a large, bulky man towering over the rest. He had on a brown tank top, army khakis, and black boots and his hair was styled as a Mohawk. "There we go!"

"KEG!" the man cried. "WHERE THE HELL IS MY PAYMENT?!"

Keg rushed out of the back room. "Get lost, Brick. Ah told you already, Ah don't need ya protection anymore, you sorry bag of lies! You never said anyting about a bloody levy on all me deliveries!"

"Times change," said the man. "Economy's gone to shit and the inflation rate is rising faster than a hot air balloon under a Tartarus fire pit! I'm just trying to keep up."

"You sure the economy isn't bad because you have a business in it?" The man turned back to see who had spoken. "Over here, creep." The man turned to see a Ember drinking from her mug.

"Hey, kid," he said, waving to get Eve's attention, "Control your brat sister."

"Chill, Ember," Eve said, noticing the smoke she was puffing.

"HEY!" The men looked over and saw a tall girl with her hands on her hips wearing an orange shirt, blue jeans with a belt with three apples on the buckle, and brown boots.

"Stay outta this, missy," Brick said. "This ain't none of your concern."

"Actually, I kinda work here," she replied, "So it is kinda my concern."

Brick moved towards the girl. They were about the same height, so he stared her dead in the eye and said, "My, my. So Keg can afford to pay for a beauty like this? No wondering he's struggling to pay his actual dues."

"Listen, partner. I suggest you leave. 'Cause if you insist on causin' trouble..." she cracked her knuckles, "Ah might have to throw you out."

"Oh?" the man chuckled. "Better idea. How about you come home with me and I show you how a real man treats a hot thing like you." He leaned towards Applejack and held up her chin. Suddenly, he screamed in a high pitch voice that even a banshee would struggle to match. Eve turned to see why and saw Applejack's foot buried between the man's legs. Brick fell over, reaching out to grab a table for support. He stumbled upon Eve's table and saw him smiling. Out of anger, he poured Eve's drink over his head. "Now that's funny."

As the drops fell, however, the ends of his hair turned pink and blended with the rest of the bright ginger at some point. Eve looked up. "Now that was just rude." He wiped the drink from his face with a napkin. "You don't remember me, do you?"

"Nope. And I really don't care." He turned away and struggled back. He tapped the big man to his right and he stepped forward. He towered over Applejack by a good five inches or so and was almost double her width; all muscle.

"Well, ain't you a big fella," Applejack said.

The man prepared to lunge forward, but stumbled backward when a blur passed between him and Applejack. Applejack traced the stream of silver, orange, and pink to Eve, who was leaning on a nearby empty table. "I remember you," he said. "I saw you last time I was here, about a month ago." The man cracked his neck. "Look, I just want to say I'm sorry about breaking both your arms." He cracked his shoulders.

"Wait, what?" Applejack asked, confused.

"But you had it coming. What was it, um..." He cracked his knuckles. "Brass Knuckles, right?" The man charged at him. Eve ducked under Brass's swing and pulled his own fist back for a punch, streams of silver spiraled around his hand. He buried his fist in the man's mid-section. There was a good three second delay before the impact took effect and sent the man crashing through a wall and out of the bar. Applejack stared, bemused, as Eve shook his hand as if trying to shake off pins and needles. "Gah! They should call you Brass Body. Sheesh!" He looked to his table. "Hey, Ember, you want in on this?"

"I'm good," she replied, raising her mug to him. "Have fun."

"Okay." He turned back to face Brick. "Still wanna go down this road, Brick?"

"Ash, Cinder," the man said, and the twins stepped forward. "Hurt. Them," he said, agitated.

"Really?" Eve said, bemused. "Okay." The twins split up. The one who targeted Applejack tried to tackle her and missed. She grabbed his collar as he passed and flung him into his brother. The two flew across the room and landed on a table. Eve used his magic to levitate them, but was distracted when an angry Brass came charging back in through the door. Eve dropped them and rolled out of the way, but Applejack stood her ground and collided with him. She dug her feet into the ground and managed to stop him after a few feet. Using the momentum, she swung him over her head and as he came down, started to spin. Once she picked up enough momentum, she flung him towards the door, in front of which Eve had levitated the twins. They all exited the building with a mighty CRASH!

"Nice going, partner," Applejack said, tipping her hat to Eve.

"And to you," Eve said, tipping his goggles, as he had no hat to tip. At that moment, Brass scrambled out of the room. "Hey! Where're you going?"

"You'll pay," Brick yelled from the door as he left. "Both in cash... and in pain!"

"Yeah, yeah." Eve sat back down in his seat. "You and what army?"

"Nice," Ember said. "We should get a bonus for this."

"We?" Eve asked.

"Yeah. I was there for moral support."

"How?"

"By helping you keep in mind that I'm just a poor, little dragon." Now she was doing puppy-dog eyes. "And if anything happened to you, no one would be there to protect me."

Eve laughed. "You're impossible."

"Hoo-WEE!" Eve saw Applejack approaching the table. "That was quite somethin', I'll tell ya. Never met an Esper that could punch quite like that!"

"Yeah, well, I hate being limited to stereotypes," Eve replied. "Plus, an adventurer can't just rely on one particular set of skills."

"You in a guild?"

"Nope. School. But I'm in a special course that lets me spend more time out of a classroom."

"Neat. So what brought you here? The monster attacks?"

"Thugs, actually. What monsters?" Before Applejack could reply, Brick was back in the room with his cronies. "Great."

"Doesn't he ever learn?" Applejack straightened up, getting ready for another fight. "He looks more serious now," she added, noticing the savage expression on his face.

"Don't worry," Eve said, pulling at his gloves. "His gang's pretty tough, not that they showed it just now, but they aren't much. Last time I checked, he had about ten guys in his crew. I also checked and realized he'd need a lot more than that to take on me and Ember. Imagine how many he'll need to take on all three of us."

Brick spotted them and whistled. Instantly, more thugs filed into the bar, wielding swords, guns, clubs, and other weapons. "Um... 'bout that many?" Applejack asked.

"... nineteen, twenty, twenty-one, twenty-two..." Eve counted them as they entered... and they kept coming. "Yeah. I'd say about... that many... give or take."

At that moment, something rang and Applejack took out an apple-shaped pocket watch. "Keg, mah shift just ended."

Keg came out of the kitchen and saw the army. "WHAT?! YOU WANT TO LEAVE NOW?!"

"Nah. Count this as overtime," She said, cracking her knuckles.

"Not in here!"

Eve levitated the broken wood from when Brass crashed throw the wall and fixed the hole, then turned back to look at the army. "So..."

"I believe you asked, 'Me and what army?' How's this?"

Eve scanned his opponents. "Didn't expect you to hear that, but not bad. Strength in numbers, strength in size, strength in... a bunch of other things," he said as his eyes fell on a man with what looked like a cannon.

"So, is Keg ready to pay up, or do I have to help myself?"

"OVER MY DEAD BODY!"

"Fair enough. Boys?" With that order they advanced. "Bring the pain."

Eve looked up as the men charged. "Consider it brought!" He got up and everything stopped... to him, at least. He ran through the crowd, shoving thugs, crossing arms, placing weapons in strategic points, and flipping tables and chairs. Once he sat down, everything had returned to real time and thugs were flying away, punching one another, or getting hit by their own weapons or furniture that floating in the air in front of them a seconds ago. By the time it was over, ten goons where on the ground, unconscious or whining in pain.

"Well, this'll be fun," Applejack said, punching one of them into another. Then the whole bar erupted into chaos.

Twilight groaned. She was wearing a yellow shirt, purple sweater, purple capris, and black sneakers and had been waiting for hours for Moondancer and Sunset to show up for almost half an hour. She stood in front of a dorm room, pacing impatiently. "We're here!" She turned to see Moondancer, wearing a red shirt, black short shorts, and red sneakers, and Sunset, wearing an orange shirt, black jeans, and black sneakers, walking towards her.

"What took you so long?" Twilight asked, upset.

"Whadoyou mean?" asked a confused Moondancer. "I said the party was at ten o'clock."

"And it's quarter past ten! We're late!"

"I don't think you can actually be late for a party, Twilight," said Sunset.

"Aw," Moondancer said, hugging Twilight. "You cared enough to not go in without us."

"Well,, actually, I was waiting because it would be weird if it was just me," Twilight said.

"True," Sunset said. "It would be odd to see Twilight come to a party on her own by her own choice." She stepped forward and knocked on the door.

"Who is it?" said a cheery voice.

"Three girls."

"Password?"

"Minuette, open this damn door before I rip it off and break it over your head."

At that moment, the door opened, making a bass beat barely audible. At it stood a girl with light blue hair and darker bluer highlights. She wore a blue sweater, white shorts, and flip-flops. "Ha! Well if it isn't three of my favorite people! Come on in." Once they crossed the threshold, the full volume of the music hit. The ground they stepped on was rattling and lights were going off every which way. There was a sea of people dancing, drinking, and talking; for a moment, Twilight forgot they were still on the school grounds.

"Nice soundproofing spell," said Sunset. "Who set it up?"

"Our special guest," Minuette replied. She gestured over to the large set of speakers and turntables, where there stood a girl with blue hair with teal highlights wearing a white hoodie with circuit-like designs, blue jeans, and white sneakers, along with a set of headphones and a pair of purple-tinted shades, who was responsible for mixing the music.

Moondancer gasped. "IS THAT DJ PON3?!" she cried, both out of excitement and in an attempt to overpower the music. "HOW DID YOU GET HER TO COME?!"

"I'VE BEEN PREPARING THIS PARTY FOR A WHILE NOW," Minuette replied as they made their way across the room, which was a lot roomier on the inside than one would think from outside. "I HAD SPARKLER CONTACT LYRA A MONTH AGO TO TRY TO BOOK HER FOR THIS GIG. IT WAS NOT EASY... OR CHEAP." Soon, they reached a table, which was lined with earphones and headsets of different styles. "PUT THESE ON!" Once they did, the music seemed to die down slightly. "Better?" Minuette said in her normal voice.

"Enchanted headsets," Moondancer said, impressed. "Did you not prepare for this?"

"Thank Sparkler," she said. "She had the idea. That girl is always planning ahead. Kinda like you, Twilight."

Twilight woke from her daydream at the sound of her name. "Hm? Oh, yeah. She's pretty organized."

"Now, come on! It's a party. So lets HAVE! SOME! FUN!"

"Now that... was fun." Applejack said, trying to catch her breath. An entire corner of the bar was littered with the unconscious, groaning, whining, writhing, singed, and/or frozen bodies of Brick's gang members. She looked up as one started to get up again. "Don't," she said to him. "Get up, and Ah break yer leg." He charged at her, wobbly, swinging his club over his head. Applejack caught his weapon as it came down and crushed the wooden weapon in her grip. She spun and kicked his knee from the side. There was a sickening crack, and the man fell to the ground, howling in pain and holding his broken leg. "I warned ya," she said, sitting down at on a chair.

Eve was sitting on a table, catching his breath and noticed one of them regaining consciousness. He looked up at Eve, who picked up a mug, made a shushing noise, then threw the mug at the man's head, putting him back to sleep. "Lightweight," he said. "One mug and he's out."

"That joke was horrible," Ember said, standing on a pile of unconscious goons. Her hoodie was stained with something, Eve deduced it to either be blood or cider, but didn't really want to know. "I thought you were the master of one-liners."

"Well sorry if my brain is still trying to cool down after taking on about thirty guys."

"Thirty? I counted forty."

"See my point?"

"What's going on in here?" called a voice from outside.

Eve's ears shot up. "I know that voice!" He looked at Ember, who had a similar shocked expression on her face. "We should probably leave."

"Yep!" She jumped on his back and a whistle went off outside. "Was that the train, or the royal police?"

"Who cares? Our train should be here by now anyway and I don't want to know!"

"This way," Applejack said as she and Keg opened the door to the back room.

"I'll cover for ya," he said.

"Thanks," he replied as they went through the kitchen. Keg tossed a sack of coins to Applejack, who thanked him and followed.

They raced to the station, where their train was about to depart. The second whistle went off and the train began to move. "So it was the train," said Ember. As they ran, there was another whistle. "Huh?" Ember turned back to see three officers, all wearing blue, yellow, and white uniforms, running towards them. One had silver hair, another red, and another black. "GAH! Step on it!"

They train had started to move. Eve looked back at the guards, then at the departing train. "Hang on!" he said as he grabbed Applejack's arm.

"Wait, wha-" she lost her breath when there was a ripple, a flash, and suddenly, they were on the back of the train. She was still holding Eve's hand while his other hand held the top of the last car. With her free hand, Applejack opened the door and jumped in, realizing it was the cargo car when she landed on a bag. She helped him in, shut the door, and the three collapsed. HOO-WEE! Now that was somethin'!"

"No kidding," Eve replied, slightly out of breath. "That was crazy!"

"So where're ya headed?"

"Chantalot. You?"

"Summersville. Ah live and work on a farm there."

"Cool. What of school?"

"Homeschooled. Took the National Aptitude Test a year ago and passed. You?"

"Final year. In a few months, I'll be out."

"Oh. And what about that creep and his crew? How'd you come to meet them?"

"Well, I took a request as a bouncer at Keg's place a while ago. He was the reason. After we chased them away, the job was done. Never thought he'd make a come back."

"You broke the big guy's arm?"

Eve hesitated. "Yeah... wouldn't have been my first call, but he wouldn't stay down. That, and he hurt someone close to me."

"Friend?"

"I don't have friends."

"Really?"

"Just acquaintances."

"Ah don't believe ya." Eve looked shocked by her comment. "If you were willing to break someone's arm for this person, he or she must've been a friend."

Eve smiled. "You speak from experience?"

"For a while, Ah shut everyone except mah family out after Ah lost mah parents. Mah Granny Smith got me back to makin' friends. I started helping around the town, bringing in food, helping fight off monsters, and just helping in any way Ah could. But Ah realized at some point that the reason Ah did what Ah did was because Ah saw them as mah friends. They were nice to me even when Ah was cold to them. Only a real friend could do that."

"Sorry," Eve said. "First off, about your parents. Second, because I've never met anyone like that."

"And yer partner over there?" Applejack said, gesturing to a sleeping Ember.

"She's... probably the only person I can call... a friend."

"That close, huh?"

"Almost like a sister to me."

Soon, the train pulled over and the conductor announced their arrival at Summersville. "This is mah stop," said Applejack, sneaking out the back. "Nice meetin' ya."

"Same here."

Thirty minutes later, they reached Chantalot. He got off the train and made his way to his dorm room. Once he opened the door, he was greeted by a 4-foot-tall grayish-brown creature with glowing yellow rectangles for eyes slanted down towards each other. It's lower arms and legs were about twice as thick as the upper halves, like gloves and boots, and where adorned with spiral flame-like and wing-like runes, respectively, that glowed blue. A cylindrical appendage around its neck acted like a high collar, hiding most of its face from the nose down. An armored skirt around its waist was split into four slabs, the side ones reaching its ankles, back one reaching the back of its knee, and the front reaching just above the knee. "Bolt, get me an ice pack. I've got a major headache."

"Someone talk to you about friendship?" it replied in a young female voice, as she walked over to the fridge in the room.

"Just the word stirs up bad memories," he replied, laying Ember down in her bed before collapsing onto his. "And I don't want to talk about it."

"No," Bolt said, bringing him the pack, "I didn't think you would."

Forest Encounter

Sunset, Twilight, Eve, and Moondancer had made their way through the forest and now stood before the Castle of the two Sisters. They stared over the massive chasm that stood between them and the castle. Only one problem. "Where's the bridge?" asked Moondancer.

"Um..." Twilight pointed at the half of the bridge on the other side, then leaned over to see that the other half was on their side. "So, this just got a bit complicated."

"Oh for fucks sakes," Sunset said in frustration.

"Why don't we just teleport across?" asked Moondancer.

"It wouldn't be one of the most impenetrable buildings in Harmonia if it an Esper could simply teleport over it in situations like this," Eve explained. "There's a powerful set of protective glyphs that surround the castle that prevent anyone from teleporting across to the other side."

"Well, what if we just teleported as far as possible and just hung on to the edge?"

"I mean we can't teleport from this spot; the edge of the chasm. Any other distance would be too far. Besides..." He chucked a stone over the chasm and watched as a chunk of ground crumbled and plummeted to the abyss below. "I don't thing it's wise to put our lives in the hands of ancient, worn-out soil."

"Fair point," said Twilight.

"Okay, so what the hell now?" said Sunset.

"Hm... if two of us can hold up the two halves of the bridge long enough for another to cross to the break and fix, we should be able to get over."

"So, who's going?"

"I vote Twilight," said Moondancer.

"Seconded," agreed Sunset.

"What?!" Twilight cried in shock. "Why me?"

"You are the lightest. It'd be easier to hold up your weight than anyone else's." Twilight mumbled something inaudible before moving closer to the edge.

"This is anything but safe," she said, "Or sane for that matter. Why can't one of us repair the damage from a safe distance? Like on the solid ground that is less likely to break beneath my feet and send me plummeting to my death?"

"If you can manage that kind of focus to warp matter with the required level of precision from this distance," Eve said, "Then by all means." Twilight growled. She didn't particularly hate Eve, she just didn't like his attitude. He was the type of person that would laugh in the face of certain death and make jokes his final words as he died. But the worst part of it all was his "know-it-all" attitude.

"Fine," she grumbled. She couldn't argue. She was the smallest in the group, being 5'5" and weighing 65kg. Moondancer and Eve were 5'7" and Sunset was 5'8", all weighted just over 70kg. It was a sound plan, but she couldn't help but wonder the soundness of the mind that came up with it. Sunset tapped a red and yellow sun-shaped mark on her right shoulder, her symbol, and Eve tapped his, a yellow five-point star in a swirling blue fireball. A stone on the right side of their belts lit up with similar marking.

All people gained a symbol once they discovered their magic talent. A rune can be obtained by advancing their skills, allowing them to perform more complex skills. Once said level is reached, they can engrave their symbol into a stone. Until then, all attempts to mark their symbol on anything to make a rune will be unsuccessful.

Sunset and Eve's hands glowed teal and yellow, respectively, as did the two halves of the bridge. Telekinesis was a basic Esper spell, like teleporting. Twilight mad her way, cautiously, across the deathtrap. "This is a terrible idea."

"This is a great idea," said Moondancer, who was using her own telekinesis to help hold up Twilight to the best of her abilities. Twilight tiptoed across the bridge to the center.

"Okay," Twilight said to herself. She took deep breaths and focused, drawing in all the splinters of wood to the gap in the middle. The broken wood began to reform itself, extending from one end to the other. Soon, the bridge was repaired and Twilight walked over to the other end. "It's set."

They each went across, one at a time, and were soon standing in front of the brilliant structure. The worn, dull stone structure may have looked old, but anyone would be able to see how beautiful it used to be... once they get passed the fact that it looked like a haunted house that could scare the life out of a ghost. "Okay, let's split up into two groups," Eve suggested. "We can cover more ground this way."

"True," agreed Twilight. "But whatever it is that committed those murders ripped a full grown man in half. Not sure if decreasing our numbers is a good idea."

"We'll be able to move faster than as a big group. Besides, if anyone of us gets in trouble, send a signal flare. If that's not possible, run and scream and hope the other group finds you."

"Gee, that's encouraging," Twilight said sarcastically.

"Oh! Oh! I wanna go with Sunset," Moondancer said excitedly.

"Sorry, I'm going with Twilight," Sunset said.

"Aw, come on, Sunny," Moondancer said. She ran over and hugged Sunset's arm.

"Nope." She slipped out of Moondancer's grip, grabbed Twilight, and dragged her into the castle. "We'll check the castle."

"Oh," Moondancer said, downcast. "Guess I'm going with Eve," She said, now holding his arm. "C'mon, Evie. We'll take the back."

"Please don't call me Evie. Sounds like the name of some fox-looking creature from another land."

The town of Summersville was known for many things. One was Sugar Cube Corner, a bakery that made the best pastries in the entire central region of Harmonia. Another thing was Carousel Boutique, an exotic store for the newest trending designer brand, Rare Flare, founded by the mesmerizing Rarity Belle. At only 17, she had successfully started her own brand, though with the help of a few generous benefactors, and she was the soprano for the famous singing group, the Magi Tones. In two years, she had built her own brand and name ans spread it as far as Magehattan and Los Pegasus. However, this attractive young woman was not only a master seamstress and critic, she was also a powerful Esper, having her own magic rune, engraved with three diamonds. As a woman entered the store, she was greeted by a lady with long, delicately curled purple hair, radiant blue eyes, and fair skin wearing a long white gown with slits to expose her thighs and black tights underneath, low, purple cuffed boots, and blue eyeliner. "Welcome to Carousel Boutique, where everything is chic, unique, and magnifique! How may I help you?"

The other woman had white hair with a green tint, bright yellow eyes and wore a green sweater over a black tank top, black trousers, and mint green sneakers. "Oh, hello, Rarity," she said. "I was just here to pick up the order I made for a party dress?"

"Oh, of course Lyra," Rarity replied. "Coco!"

"I'll be right there, Miss Rarity," came a reply. From a door came a young lady, about Rarity's age, with pale green eyes and hair stripped with two different shades for green, wearing a white shirt with a purple collar and red neck tie, cream trousers, and black shoes. She came out holding a bag with the costumer's dress. "Here you go," she said, handing the bag to Lyra.

"Oh, thank you," she said. She paid and walked out.

"Another satisfied costumer," said Coco. Noticing an odd silence, she turned to see Rarity, staring off into space. "Um, Rarity?"

"Hm? Oh, terribly sorry," Rarity said, shaking her head.

"Are you okay? I could take over while you get some rest."

"Well... I have had quite a number of orders lately."

"That's... not what I meant."

Rarity paused for a moment. "Coco, I am perfectly capable of handling two different, unrelated responsibilities. I've done so for quite some time now."

"I know, but I'm worried for you," Coco replied. "Last week, you collapsed halfway up the stairs of the boutique."

"That was just an unusual surge I wasn't prepared for."

"Look, Rarity. I don't want to seem ungrateful or pushy, but you need to take it easy. Neither of you jobs is easy, but both are important... and both are taking a lot out of you. So I ask you, not as your co-worker or an assistant or another person, but as your friend: go home and get some rest."

Rarity took a deep breath. It wouldn't be a bad idea to take at least the rest of the day off. Coco was a good seamstress and businesswoman. She could run the store in her absence. She could also take some time to check on the odd feeling she had last week. "Very well. If you're absolutely sure you can handle the store on your own for the day..."

"You can count on me," Coco said, proudly. "Besides, it's just half a day. What could go wrong?" She paused as the two stared at each other. "Um... forget I asked that and pray to Faust the universe didn't hear me."

"Indeed. And asked about what?" Rarity replied with a smug look. The two laughed and Rarity went up. "Don't forget t lock up when you're done."

"I won't."

Rarity entered her room and walked over to her bed. She reached under and pulled out a ring of large pearls. Her symbol, three diamonds, and her matching rune glowed as she levitated them, her hands and the beads covered in a blue aura as they floated. She spread her arms and the beads separated and revolved around her. They stopped and scanned each of them, which showed different parts of Harmonia. "Nothing unusual," she said. "So what was it?" As an enchantress, Rarity had the ability to sense fluctuations in magic, even the slightest shift in its concentration in an area, using gemstones as mirrors and monitors to watch certain areas. Few humans with magic possess such a level of focus. She put the beads away and collapsed on her bed. "Maybe a good rest should clear my head. Perhaps it was just a random surge."

As she drifted off into sleep, Rarity found herself in a forest, one she, and many in Harmonia and the rest of the world knew well: the Everfree forest. Terrifying as it was, she had seen this dream many times, but there hardly ever, if at all, a nice ending. She walked through the deathly quiet forest and found herself at a bridge. Opposite it was what she recognized as the Castle of the Two Sisters. She admired the structure and how beautiful it would look with a few improvements and restoration. Suddenly, the side of the castle burst and two people flew out. As they got up, a massive, gray figure walked out and roared. It swiped at them with its massive arms. They dodged the first few blows, but were caught off guard and slammed into a tree. One tried to shake its fallen comrade awake. However, the conscious one did not see the creature come up behind him. Rarity attempted to cry out a warning, but her voice made no sound. She only watched in horror as the creature swiped at the figure, sending it flying several feet. She gasped and backed away. The creature stood over the other body and reached down, but was hit by two projectiles. It turned to see another figure standing by the hole in the castle while another ran over to the one that had just been hit. It pushed its helper aside as the object exploded, engulfing the area in white. Once it cleared, Rarity saw the figure. She paled when she noticed it was missing an arm. The figure cried out in anguish. It fell to the ground, blood pouring from what was left of its arm. Suddenly, the background shifted and Rarity was standing by a tree on the other end of the bridge, facing the castle. All four figures were motionless on the ground. The creature approached one and picked it up. For the first time, Rarity heard a voice. "Leave... them... alone." It dropped it and turned to face on figure, which was now highlighted in yellowish-amber. It got up as did the other two, who now glowed purple and orange, who helped the third, who glowed red. The scene shifted and now the remaining figure was surrounded by bright pink flames and a similar aura, murmuring something inaudible. Behind it was what looked like an ethereal pair of wings, and in front was a symbol that looked like a flame with a series of ancient runes around it in three consecutive rings. The yellow figure slammed it's good arm into the ground and the ground beneath the other three glowed. In a flash, they were gone. The creature jumped at the figure, who slashed its remaining arm across the symbol in front. The wings covered them and there was a bright flash of white light which engulfed the scene.

Back in the castle, Sunset and Twilight were walking through the halls of the castle, looking for signs of anything odd. "So," Sunset started, "What's up with you and Eve?"

Twilight was taken by surprise. "What? What about me and him?"

"You always seem to be on his case. Any reason."

"No... yes, actually. How can Princess Celestia give him access to restricted areas? I mean, what's he done?"

"Well, he does do missions higher than his level and he has a dragon..." She stopped when she noticed Twilight's glare. "What?"

"Not my point. He doesn't attend classes or do assignments unless it's practical work, he sleeps through most of the classes he goes to unless it's a practical class, and-"

"Yet he's competing with some of the smartest people in the school?" Sunset finished.

"There's definitely something wrong."

"So you don't like him because... you think he cheats? Or he's paying off the teachers?"

"Well, there's that," Twilight responded, "But also, he always thinks he knows everything when, clearly, he doesn't. He's made mistakes many times when answering questions, especially in history!"

"So... he's... a know-nothing?"

"Grrr, you're not listening," Twilight said frustrated.

"I am, but I'm hearing jealousy talking."

Twiligh stopped in her tracks. "What?"

"Look, Twilight, I'm as curious as you, but maybe he makes up for the missed classes. He does do a lot of extra credit work and goes on a lot of missions. Maybe he's an outside learner."

Twilight groaned. "But he never take anything seriously. He's always making jokes about everything."

"Maybe it's his way of dealing with stress or his emotions," Sunset suggested.

"Are you defending him?"

"I'm not defending anyone. All I'm saying is you should probably get to know someone better before you start judging them." Sunset paused in thought.

"What?" asked Twilight.

"I'm actually the voice of reason. in this situation." She looked to Twilight. "I think the world may be ending."

Twilight smiled. "Soon, Moondancer will stop hitting on every guy she meets."

"Shit! The apocalypse is upon us!" They laughed and continued through the castle.

"Does Twilight... hate me?" Eve asked as he and Moondancer made their way through the yard behind the castle.

"Huh? Um... I don't think it's that simple."

"Go on."

"Well, I think she's little... skeptical of you because the two of you are so different, yet so similar."

"Mhm. Keep going," Eve said as he lifted a sagging branch so it would hit them.

"I mean you're both smart and good with magic, but you're methods are entirely different. She likes to read books, you like to gain knowledge from first-hand experience. She's serious, but you make learning look as fun as playing Blackjack. You're both good at what you do. But Twilight has been the Princess's persona protégé for quite a while, and I mean a while, now, longer than the other three of us. She's probably just a little overwhelmed by how you've kept up without following the norm. Twilight's all about logic, so she has a little difficulty accepting things that don't follow the normal structure of said things."

"So I'm some kind of anomaly to her, so she doesn't like me?"

"Um... something like that. She doesn't know how to feel about someone who doesn't study as hard as she does, yet competes with her for the highest grade, so I guess what overshadows the mix of emotions might be either jealousy, misunderstanding or lack of understanding, or a mixture of any of the above."

"Is there anything I can do? The last thing I want is to have consistent bad blood with anyone, especially when I have little to no idea why."

"You don't have a lot of friends, do you?"

"Only real friends to me are my family and Ember... and Bolts."

"Why?"

"I... have a few trust issues."

"Twilight thought friends would distract her from her studies. She's learned better than that, but still keeps her circle of friends small. Sunset is... unique, and I'm, admittedly, a bit boy-crazy..."

"A bit? Last month you heard the Wonderbolts were in town and had a plan on how you were going to screw Soarin... or get him to screw you-"

"NOT THE POINT!" Moondancer said with a slight blush. "And it was a sound plan, if only Fleet Foot and Spitfire weren't involved. Adding girls to the equation was a lot harder than I thought, especially since I don't know which way they swing."

"There's an equation?"

"Yup."

Eve paused for a while. "Teach me," he said, mockingly. Moondancer pushed him playfully.

"Look, you just need to help Twilight know you better."

"How do I do that? She can barely stand being around me and avoids it when possible."

"Then make the circumstance. Find a way to, I don't know, start a conversation, or something." She placed a hand on Eve's shoulder. "You just need to show her that you aren't as bad as she thinks. Sometimes, people need a little enlightenment in order to understand why they have no need to have any negative image of something they don't fully understand."

Eve smile. "Wow."

"What?"

"You are smart?"

"I know," she said proudly. "Was there any doubt?"

"Well, since you came of age, with the number of guys you've screwed or who've screwed you, I thought your brain would be all-" He was halted by another playful shove. Suddenly, they was a rumble. "What was that?" They ran back to the castle and met up with Sunset and Twilight, both of whom were buried under a large shelf in the castle library. Eve levitated the shelf off them as Eve helped them up and out. "What happened?"

"We saw something," said Sunset. "Dark, rugged, big, about ten feet tall. We followed it in here, then suddenly, the whole shelf came down on us."

"There was a rumble," said Moondancer.

"That was the thing running away," Twilight said. They walked through the corridor Twilight and Sunset saw it go through. As they turned a corner, Twilight felt an odd feeling under her shoes. She looked down and went pale. "G-Guys?" They all looked down and saw a red stream under their feet. "Is that... blood?" The followed the trail to the door at the end of the hall. Hesitantly, Eve opened it. From the crack flowed an odor so foul, it made their noses want to commit suicide and their insides want to throw out everything in them. Eve put his scarf over his nose while the others used their hands and arms. He pushed the door open. The sight was no better than the smell and Twilight's stomach lurched. The lower half of a man was slumped against a wall on the far side of the room, the other half was pinned to the wall with massive stone spikes. The body was pale and splattered with blood, which also covered the floor of the room. It looked like a bedroom, with a large bed, drawers and tables against the walls, and a massive window to the right.

"Oh, shit," Sunset said, sympathetically.

Eve moved forward to examine the body. "Cause of death: loss of blood... rapid loss of blood."

"Yeah, no shit Captain Obvious."

"Victim was also apparently pulled in half," Eve said with an evil, smug smirk.

"Can we be serious, please?" Twilight commented, agitated at how anyone could joke about this.

"Okay, okay." Eve looked closer. "Huh. No scratching or bruising or any sign of a struggle."

"Poor bastard didn't even put up a fight," said Sunset.

"Or couldn't," added Eve. "How tall was the thing you saw again?'

"I estimated about ten feet."

"I think it was the same thing that did this."

"You figure that out all by yourself?"

Eve wave his hand over his rune and it levitated from his belt and up in front of him. A light came from the symbol on it and scanned the room, highlighting everything in a different color. Eve noticed something odd about the stone spikes: the were glowing red. Normally, inorganic material should react to the scan. That is unless it was touch by or contained magic... or wasn't organic. "I think I know what did this." At that moment, there was a rumble.

"Just like before," said Moondancer, "But closer." But instead of a bookshelf falling, there was a crash and something burst through the wall. Sunset and Twilight moved as the massive figure charged, but Moondancer and Eve were caught in it's wake and were sent through the other wall. They landed outside the castle and got up to face their adversary. It was big, gray, and had glowing green eyes. Large, odd symbols were etched into it's arms and legs. "Is that...

"A golem." The massive stone beast roared and charged at them, swinging its arms. Moondancer tripped and the creature caught her in a swing. She flew into Eve and both slammed against a tree. Eve got up and tried to wake up an unconscious Moondancer, but was knocked away by the golem. The golem reached down to pick her up, but was distracted by a projectile slamming into its back. Eve saw Twilight throw barrage after barrage of purple bolts as Sunset came over to help him.

"We need to leave," she said. "Come on."

"Something's wrong," Eve said. "It's too smart."

"What?"

"The way it pinned the man to the wall, the way it ambushed us, the way it's been so well hidden all this time..."

"Well, it is kinda odd that this thing would be roaming around the forest and no one could notice it... or live to say they did."

"I think... I think it's..." At that moment, the golem stomped the ground, causing them to jump and Twilight to lose her balance. The golem swiped her away and looked at Sunset and Eve. The marks on its arm glowed and it roared. A ball of energy formed in front of it and flew forward, spinning into a disk. "LOOK OUT!" Eve pushed Sunset out of the way as the ball exploded in front of them.

"HOLY SHIT! EVE!" Sunset saw a bleeding stump where Eve's right arm had been. He screamed in anguish as he fell to the ground, clutching his bleeding arm. He looked up and saw Sunset, hands blazing, running towards the golem, firing a barrage of fireballs at the creature. "BURN YOU MOTHERFUCKER!" Soon, everything was blurring, then everything turned white.

Eve now found himself standing on a large body of water, both arms restored. He looked around and saw nothing else. "Great," he said. "I'm dead." The water rippled beneath him. He looked down and saw Twilight and Sunset's conversation. "He never takes anything seriously." "Does.. does she really see me that way?" The image changed and now the golem was standing over Twilight's lifeless body. "No, no, NO!" He knelt down and slammed the water with his fists. "Get me out! I have to-" He was cut off when on of his fists got caught in the water... then the other. Soon, he was being dragged. "Hey! What's going on?! HELP!"

Eve's eyes shot open. The area was scorched, spots of fire scattered all over. He turned his head and saw the golem walk towards Moondancer. It turned away and walked towards Twilight. It picked her up and brought her to its eye level. "Hey," Eve groaned. The golem turned its head slowly to face him. It dropped Twilight and turned to face him. "Leave... them... alone..." he said through labored breaths. The golems hands formed into fists and the marks began to glow. Eve felt the rage flow through him, but also, some kind of control. An energy washed over him and something hit him. He held out his one good arm, the tip of his index finger glowing. He traced a shape into the air in front of him and recited:

"In Light, the darkness scatters,

In flames, the ice shall shatter,

Shifting reality,

By law of causality,

Let them be my image,

Let them extend my rage,

That you may feel my fury,

As I have felt their pain,

Before my wrath, the nature will tremble,

In the wake of my presence the sky shall shake,

You alone shall face this power,

You alone shall fall and break,

Return to rubble, crumble at your fault,

Purification be eternal as all things halt,

Pay for your crimes, blame life for your sins,

In all events, the light shall win!"

As he finished, the Sunset and Twilight helped Moondancer to her feet. They looked over at him and were shocked at what they saw. Behind him was a symbol resembling a pair of wings emerging from the center of a ring; in front of him was a spiral flame with a series of runes arranged around it in three rings. "What is he doing?" asked Twilight, still trying to process the scene in front of her.

But Sunset knew. "Oh no."

"What?"

"He recited an Ars."

"What? But... that's only done for Level 8 spells and above." They made their way over to Eve. "EVE, STOP!" A bright pink, flame-like aura formed over him and a ring of orange and pink fire surrounded him. "YOU'LL KILL YOUSELF!"

Eve looked at them. "But not you." He slammed his fist into the ground and the ground beneath them glowed. A ring appeared and a light flashed. Once the light died down, the found themselves on the other side of the chasm.

"What?" Sunset looked around, confused. "How did he...?"

"LOOK!" They could still see Eve facing the golem.

"You can take my arm, you can take my life, but you will never..." The flame grew, "Ever..." The wings grew wider, "EVER..." He raised his hand over his head. "Lay a hand... on my friends." The ground beneath them began to break and rise. They were now standing on a large, floating, chunk of rock. The golem attacked, jumping at Eve. "Endflame, Style Four: Soul Flare." He brought his hand down and cut the seal in front of him as the golem stood above him. The flames turned bright vermillion and the wings and ring engulfed the two. There was a bright flash and the white light expanded until even the girls were caught in it.

Rarity jolted up from her bed and felt a hand on her arm. She turned to see a girl with green eyes and pink and purple hair wearing a light purple dress, white button-up sweater, and purple boots. "Rarity?"

"Oh, Sweetie."

"Are you okay?" Sweetie asked in a worried voice.

"Yes, of course darling. Why?"

"Well for one thing, your eyes were glowing while you were asleep again."

"Oh..." Rarity knew what that meant. It wasn't a dream.

"Also, you're really late, like reeeeeeaaaaally late."

Rarity looked at her alarm clock. 10:49AM. "SWEET CELESTIA!" Sweetie giggle as she watched her sister hurry to get ready.

"That's my sister."

Aftermath

Five months. Five months since the last mission. Five months since they fought the golem. Five months since they heard anything about Eve. Everyone had started to fear the worst. Celestia had sent guards to search the area and quarantined it. No one could enter except the guards whose duty it was to search the place.

Back at the Academy, Celestia's students were handling the loss differently. Everyone knew Eve was missing, but very few suspected the truth. Many thought he had changed schools. Others thought he had left to pursue his own interests. Others believe he had been expelled for reckless behavior, but also knew that if that was the case, he would still have a letter of recommendation for the Princess herself for the stuff he's done! Very few could say anything bad about him. Those who could usually kept to themselves due to lack of support from the rest of the group. They were the ones who spread rumors of him being a traitor; rumors that were paid no attention.

However, those that were there took the situation differently. Moondancer seemed to have been hit hard, Twilight barely, and Sunset was somewhere in between. They met at their usual spot at Joe's one day after school. Today, Moondancer was in even worse shape than she was the week before. The others couldn't help but notice her paled skin, ragged hair, and the fact that her grades were slipping.

Twilight, one the other hand, refused to let this setback ruin her concentration. So she did what she always did when something she couldn't do anything about bothered her: she buried herself in her studies. "So," said Twilght, "Am I the only one who thinks Coach Iron Will is trying to kill us?" She wasn't built for extreme physical activities, but P.E. was a compulsory class.

"My issue is with Professor Turner," replied Sunset. "The guy's a walking history book! How is anyone so acurate? Maybe he did build that time machine..."

"We both know time travel is dangerous and very near impossible, Sunset," Twilight said. "Besides, maybe he just reads."

"Yeah. He probably walked through the damn books himself! What do you thing, Moon?" Sunset turned to Moondancer and her heart somewhat sank. Not just her appearance, but the aura of depression she gave off. "Moon?"

Moondancer's eyes stared blankly. No one was sure whether she had spaced out or was keeping quiet on purpose. "Uh, Moondancer? You okay?" asked Twilight.

Moondancer looked up. "Am I okay?" she repeated, as if trying to properly register the question. "Was that rhetorical, or was that your attempt at a sense of humor?" she snapped.

Twilight had never seen an aggressive side to Moondancer and was shocked by this response. "It was just a question, Moondancer."

"Yeah, a stupid one," she shot back. "I thought you were supposed to be the smartest person in the school."

"Moondancer?" Twilight said, taken aback. With that, Moondancer got up, grabbed her cup of coffee, and walked out.

"Wow," said Susnet. "For a genius, you can be really oblivious sometimes."

Twilight got up to follow Moondancer, with Sunset following close behind. They found her at alone in the park opposite the cafè sitting on a bench. Twilight approached her. "Okay, Moondancer. What's got you in such a bad mood today?" Moondancer ignored her and continued drinks her coffee. "Moondancer?" No response. Twilight was getting impatient with her attitude. "MOONDANCER!" The red-haired girl slammed her cup onto the bench and got up to face Twilight, who stepped back.

"What do you want?" she asked venomously.

"What's wrong with you?"

"What's wrong with me? Are you that oblivious?"

Twilight took a moment to think. Not a lot of things could upset Moondancer, especially to this degree. She didn't have a boyfriend to dump or get dumped by (more likely the former), she didn't fail any tests, although her scores have been slipping, and she seemed to go about her day without a hitch. So what was it?

"Am I the only one that cares?" Moondancer said. Then it hit Twilight.

"Moondancer, are you still thinking about..." Moondancer remained silent. "Moondancer, he wouldn't want us to mope over him."

"How would you know?" Moondancer replied, angrily. "You didn't even know him!"

"Yes I did," Twilight replied, defensively.

"You knew his name. You knew some of his classes because they were the same as ours. You didn't know him."

"Well, he was constantly out on field assignments and-"

"And yet, I knew him like he was my roommate!"

"That's you. He got to know you, not me," Twilght snapped back. "Why should I have cared if he didn't?"

"Because he DID care, but you were too busy competing with him and staying hostile towards him for no apparent reason to notice."

"What? I was never hostile."

"He didn't see it that way."

"He... What?" Twilight was surprised at this.

"You know how I know? Because on that last mission, he talked to me. About how he was unsure about how to approach you. You wouldn't talk to him, you would barely even look at him... what was he supposed to think?"

Twilight was taken aback, but stood her ground. "He was immature, irresponsible, impulsive, never took anything seriously-"

"And yet, he was one of the smartest kids in school. This is exactly why he never approached you outside class! You didn't even try to understand." Twilight could see the seriousness in her face. Her eyes red with a mix of anger and grief. "Do you know what he asked me? He asked me if you hated him." Twilight's heart jumped. "He asked how he could get you to see he's not as bad as you make him feel. You know the word he used to describe how he thought you saw him? 'Anomaly'."

Twilight was speechless. She had, indeed, seen Eve as childish and never taken anything seriously, but she never knew there was anything more to him. She was never bothered to find out. But she certainly didn't hate him... did she? "Moondancer, I-" She didn't know what to say. Moondancer was practically in tears now, her eyes swelling and watering. Twilight felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned to see Sunset standing behind her. The fiery-haired girl moved over to Moondancer and placed a hand on her shoulder. She pushed the two together gently into a hug and said, "Now make up. All this sappiness and depression is making me sick."

"Aren't you at all hurt?" asked Twilight.

"Why would I make that clear? So you can drag me into the sappiness? Hell no. Now, when you two are done, I have an idea of how we can all get some much needed closure."

"How?" Twilight asked, curiously.

"How the fuck do you think?"

"Was the swearing necessary?"

"It helps get the point across," Sunset replied smugly. She grinned.

"Are you suggesting we..."

"Head over to another one of Minuette's parties and get so drunk we forget everything?" Twilight looked bemused while a small smile creeped across Moondancer's face, who chuckled slightly. "No. That's her idea," she added, gesturing towards the red-head. "I was thinking we head back to the scene of the incident."

Twilight's face went from bemusement to downright shock. "You do realize the Princess closed that area off to the public?"

"I'm pretty sure the Princess would appreciate us going to see if anything can help us find our missing companion... or at least pay our respects to him."

"This is a terrible idea..."

"Sounds like a great idea," Moondancer said, wiping her eyes.

"Great," Sunset said, clapping her hands together. "So we can leave when you two aren't contemplating sucking face."

Both girls blushed when they realized they had been hugging for the entire time. "Please tell me you find this kinda hot?" Moondancer said as seductively as possible.

"Do I really want to put my sexual alignment to question?"

"That's what you get for burying your head in fucking books through puberty and high school," Sunset added.

"MOONDANCER!!!" Twilight yelled as she felt her friend's hands creeping down her back... and towards her butt. Moondancer just smiled sheepishly.

"Wow. Not much has changed," noted Twilight. The burn and blast marks from the fight were still visible, craters still deformed the ground, bridge was still fixed. Everything was as they remember... except one thing: the large mystic circle burned into the ground where Eve had used the Ars to beat the golem. The area around the mark was scorched as if a lava ring burned around it.

"Damn," Sunset gawked at the mark. "That's level 8, at least."

"That was reckless," said Twilight. She felt a cold glare from Moondancer on her right. "I mean, uh, respectable," she added, smiling sheepishly. The temperature stopped dropping. The three spread out. There were no guards, so they didn't have much to worry about. Twilight went over to the wall of the castle, which still had a massive, gapping hole from when the golem had charged through the building. Sunset walked over to the tree behind Eve where his arm was severed in an attempt to save her. Moondancer walked around the area. Then, something caught her eye.

She walked over to what looked like a fairly large rock buried in the ground. She pulled out the microwave-sized rock and noticed something odd on it. "Guys?" They girls came over to where she was. She held the rock up to them.

"Uh, it's a rock, Moonie," said Twilight.

"Yeah, I know. But what's on the rock?" Twilight leaned in and saw a series of complex lines running through it like a large, arcane circuit board.

"Those are... sentry lines..." Twilight stated.

"Those are only used for AI... Or golems."

Sunset looked closely at the marks and spotted the central mark: a five-point star in the centre of a blue spiral flame. "Eve made these."

"Mhm. He had his own golem. Her name was Bolt. I'm guessing this is her... or what's left."

"Golems are kept active by either implanting a power source directly into the body or creating a link between them and their handler so they feed off the handler's magic. This was the latter."

"But when disconnected from the handler for tow long, if they don't find another handler, they... die."

"So, maybe he really is..." A feeling of dread and sorrow struck the trio.

"So... What now?" asked Twilight.

Sunset responded after a while by taking the golem and slamming it into the ground. Twilight then burned a pair of wings into tree behind it. Moondance then finished by using her magic to engrave a message into the tree above the wings: EVE, THE HERO ENIMGA. They there got up. And walked away. "Well, I think we can all sleep a bit better... in a few days," said Twilight.

"Well, at least we won't be stuck on it," Sunset added.

"Yeah," Moondancer added. "Who knows? Maybe he'll visit us in our dreams."

"That would be too fuckin' creepy," said Sunset.

"Ditto," Twilight said in agreement.

In the distance, Celestia watched. She stood in her white overcoat, yellow shirt, and white trousers and shoes, her celestial, rainbow-esque hair flowing magically behind her in the night wind. She smiled as she watched her students from her balcony. She wished they could've all gotten alone while Eve was still alive. That realization also brought in a feeling of dread. She has lost one of her students... and no one outside the school and castles walls would know the true story. She was not like any other leader who would cover up the truth for their own selfish interests. She did it to keep the school open. No one would support her knowing the risks involved in some of the assignments they undertook. She walked towards her desk and pulled out a pen and a sheet of paper and began writing. At a that moment, a shadowy mist with the appearance of a starry night sky entered the room. It rose rom the ground and manifested in the form of a young woman in her mid-20's. She was dressed in a long flowing dark blue gown with a shimmering base of stars. The sleeves were detached and her hair was held back by a black headband with a moon-shaped adornment on the left side.

"Good evening, Luna," Celsria greeted. "How's the night looking?"

"So far, so good, Sister," Luna replied. "Honestly, I was hoping to find something to do, but all seems well with the Everfree and the Phantasia."

"That is good to hear."

Luna noticed Celestia's writing something and got curious. "Pray tell, Sister. What could you possibly be working on this late at night?"

"It's more casual than work, Little Sister," Celestia replied.

"Well, do you know your students are at the site?"

"I am aware," Celestia said. "They went to... honor their fallen friend."

"I never expected Twilight Sparkle to be friends with him."

"None of us did. But it seems the experience must have made something click."

"Did it do the same to you?"

"Yes." Celestia rose and held the paper out to Luna, who took it and began reading. "One thing I appreciated more than Eve's intelligence was his intuition and initiative. In conjunction with his imagination, he rivaled my three best students!"

Luna continued to read the paper and her eyes grew wide in amazement. "He came up with this idea?"

Celestia nodded. "He had taken a lot of missions and last year, he realized how consistent attacks related to dark magic were rising. Everfree monsters were running wild, criminals and gangs using illegally acquired RUNEs; the boy was an optimist, but he was not blinded to the truth."

"But, you had a say in this as well?"

"Of course. We were on the same page. I had wanted to do something like this for quite some time now, but the situation had never been so dire as to call for such action."

"Until now." Celestia nodded. Luna looked down the paper, still reading.

"But he did, admittedly, design the seal." Luna nodded in approval at the work of art at the top and bottom of the document. "In any event, I think this occurrence is a good chance to begin this promising project."

"How high is the risk?" Luna asked, looking up from the paper.

"On average, not very high. They would each receive the necessary equipment for undergoing their tasks with little to no casualty. Also, there will be a strong selective system that will not allow anyone who is underqualified into the program, but will see that they have a place if they fit the necessary requirements."

Luna thought for a while and handed the paper back to Celestia. "You have my full support, Sister."

"I'm glad. Now, we need the support of Cloudsdale and Appaloosa to start up." She turned to her desk and picked up the phone. "Raven? Please, set up a delegation with the Mayors of Cloudsdale and Appaloosa. I would also like the rulers of all other affiliated cities and towns of Harmonia present. I think it's about time we took more... direct action."

Back in the forest, a hooded figure watched the girls from the trees. As they left, he smiled and stared at the tombstone. "Well, at least you guys won't forget him," he said. "That's the important thing." He raised his arm and a holo-computer appeared above it. As he spoke, a small, blue, winged creature flew next to him and landed on his shoulder. "Well?"

"Nothing," the feminine creature replied. "No sign anywhere. Maybe she ran off?"

"It's likely. But in any case, we should head back." At that point, the creature sneezed out a blue fireball, which rolled and turned into a rolled scroll with a pop!

"I hate this. How does anyone live like this?" she asked, sniffing. The boy handed her a hankerchief, which she gratefully accepted. "Well?" she asked as he read the scroll.

"Well... looks like we're heading back into the city."

"You do still have four hours of external assignments to clock in."

"Yes!" the boy said in excitement.

"I'm surprised you two weren't related," the creature said, shaking her head and smiling.

"Me too, Quill," he said, petting her. "Me too."

Guardians

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Of the Forest

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