Rise and Fall

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."