Rise and Fall

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."