They Walk Among Us

"Your healing magic is powerful, Steven Reilly. But if you don't attack, then I'm afraid that you cannot win."

What she said was right. Steven can heal himself as much as he liked, but the ghouls would just keep attacking.

One ghoul swiped at him, and he barely dodged it. But another ghoul quickly swiped at him before he had any chance to recover, and his cheek got slashed. He didn't know how much longer he could last against them. The ghouls, however, didn't seem to be getting tired at all. They just kept mindlessly attacking him.

Thinking quickly, Steven jumped back and immediately charged into the group of ghouls. But being ghouls, they weren't able to have any emotions. And they definitely couldn't feel surprise. So as he charged, two ghouls caught his two front hooves. But Steven had been expecting this, so he immediately kicked back so that he landed on the floor with his two hind legs, and he immediately span in place, slowly loosening the ghouls' grips and throwing them toward the stone walls.

But they just stood up again. They could not feel pain.

Steven began panting heavily. Although the fight with the wolves was very painful, this fight with the ghouls immediately beat it as the hardest fight he had been in so far. Luckily for him, though, the ghoul's fingernails had been trimmed neatly, so that they could not draw blood. But it was still painful for him all the same. Not to mention all of the tension in his muscles and bones just screamed for him to give up already.

But even though all of this was going on, he could still see Luna just standing there calmly, sipping into a cup of tea that she had just left to make. She was so calm.

As the ghouls were slowly walking to him, he immediately used his healing magic again. But the healing magic was now weaker than ever, and they only managed to heal the minor scratches left by the ghouls' attacks. They didn't heal all of the fatigue he had. And things were just going to get worse from this point.

"Use your magic for offense, Steven Reilly. It is time for you to get out of that shell of yours and fight back."

Easy for her to say. Steven was busting his flank just trying to defend himself, and now she was expecting him to fight back and defeat them? That was way out of his league. He couldn't defeat these ghouls. All his magic could do was power up others' magic or heal. Hell, it can even revive. But he couldn't use it to attack. It was nothing but enhancement magic!

Enhancement Magic...

Enhancement.

Immediately after he got the idea, he strafed out of the ghouls' paths. He needed time to charge up his magic for what he was about to do next. He ran around the length of the arena, trying to buy some time while his magic started focusing on the tip of his horn. After about half a minute of running around aimlessly, Steven immediately unleashed his magic. Not on the ghouls, no. On his hooves. The blue magic immediately started to cover his hooves, and it formed two gauntlets and boots.

Steven could hear Luna stop sipping tea. That must mean that he was doing things correctly.

Steven waited in silence, listening to his magic crackling like electricity as even more magical power was transferred to his newly formed 'gauntlets'. He could feel power start flowing through him, but he needed to wait for the ghouls to come to him. The gauntlets began to look like they were made of steel, glowing with blue lines of light.

As he waited, the ghouls slowly approached him. If there was a weakness to being a ghoul, it was the fact that they were unable to run or think. The normal pony would back off after seeing his newfound power that was visibly flowing through him. But the ghouls just came at him. Around four meters away from him, they quickly broke into a jump.

Steven began to doubt this plan. He had never tried it before. But its because of that that it was worth a shot.

It's now or never.

Steven immediately lifted a hoof, punching the ghoul while it was pouncing on him. The ghoul didn't move, nor was he able to pull his hoof back. His hoof started to shake very violently, and it took all he had to keep it still on the ghoul. Right at that moment, a brilliant blue flash boomed out from the punch, and the ghoul flew away, disappearing into a wisp of smoke.

Steven smiled. Now he can fight.

There were only four ghouls left to fight. Two ghouls on both his sides swiped at him, but he ducked quickly enough. As he ducked, he used his hoof to sweep the ground where one ghoul was standing on, tripping it. He immediately jumped to its side, and rose one of his hooves as high as possible. He immediately felt power crackling in his right hoof, and then it came crashing down on the ghouls' body, which immediately disappeared into smoke as well.

Three ghouls left. Each surrounding Steven, they quickly jumped to pounce on him. Steven saw no escape from that, so he quickly ran and tackled one of the ghouls mid-air. He looked at its rotting flesh, and immediately felt disgusted at the sight. Using its body as a landing pad, he jumped off it, landing on the ground on all four hooves, The ghoul, however, came crashing down onto the dirt, scraping a bit of earth as he landed. Steven immediately ran towards it, turned around and used one of his hind legs to lift the body from the ground and send it flying. The ghoul came back face first, and Steven used both of his front hooves to catch its head as it came crashing down. He felt power flowing within him as he held on tightly to the ghoul's head, and he immediately crushed the ghoul's head into smoke, after which its body also disappeared.

Two ghouls left. But they were nowhere to be seen. He looked right. No ghouls there. He looked left. No ghouls there. He looked in front. Still no ghouls there. Which must mean...

He quickly ducked as he came to the revelation, feeling two strong gusts of wind touch his mane as two very powerful swipes came from behind him. Begging that his idea would work, he quickly channeled all of his magical power into both of his hind hooves, which then kicked the two ghouls behind him. The hooves stayed there, gathering power into his 'boots' to kick them even more fatally. He felt a small, but strong gust of wind start spinning around his hooves, and then he heard a mighty explosion, sending the ghouls crashing into the stone wall, disappearing into wisps of smoke like the rest of them.

He did it. He defeated them. He had beaten the ghouls. As he came to the idea of winning, his 'gauntlets' and 'boots' disappearing. He immediately collapsed, only now realizing how tired he really was after that whole ordeal. But now that he came to discover the true potential of his magic, he felt that he wanted to explore it further. To explore it until its limits, if there were any limits to magic.

Suddenly, he heard a slow clapping sound echoing through the stone-walled arena.

He looked up to see Luna, who was softly banging her hooves onto the stone wall. She started descending towards him, and he impulsively threw himself into an awkward bow. He suddenly felt pain scorching through his muscles, begging for release from this suffering. But Steven knew that he could not fight anymore, and if Luna was even a tiny bit alike to Celestia, then he knew better than to upset her.

"Please don't bow to me." said Luna, smiling awkwardly. "I've had far too many people bow to me before, afraid that I was still my evil self, Nightmare Moon."

Steven looked up, very relieved to be allowed to stop bowing. However, he did not know anything about the Princess Luna's evil side or of any nightmares (if he didn't count his own experience with the Voice) and moons.

"Ah." said Luna, circling him. "But you know not of Nightmare Moon, do you not? Twilight tells me that you were one of the Earth-folk."

Steven gulped nervously. Why did Twilight tell Luna that I was a human? If Luna was anything like her sister, then she would've put him in the dungeons or kill him right then.

"I know that you still remember everything after the crash." asked Luna. "And the reason why you needed me to help you to learn magic was because you were no different from a human once, were you?"

"Yes, your majesty." said Steven, looking down. He then spoke in a much lower voice. "Sorry."

"Sorry?" asked Luna, who began to laugh. "Worry not, Steven Reilly. Unlike my sister, I am not prejudiced against humans. or former humans, for that matter. I have always strived to make peace with the humans, but their actions, and to be honest, our own as well, have prevented such a thing."

Luna then turned to face the stone wall.

"War." said Luna. "Even as a child, I have always hated war. But my sister drowns in its glory. Whenever there is war, she always seems to change into a different personality entirely. Her revelation of that is what made her unable to bear to wield the Elements of Harmony."

Steven looked at her blankly. What fresh hell are the Elements of Harmony?

"She felt that she a warmonger such as herself should not be allowed to wield the Elements." said Luna. "And that's why she gave it to those friends of yours. But even for someone as bloodthirsty as herself during times of war, Celestia has always cared for her subjects. Never, in the history of the world, has she so recklessly sent soldiers to their death."

Luna sighed dejectedly, and then turned to look back at Steven.

"Canterlot has changed, Steven Reilly." said Luna. "It has changed a lot in the five days since the crash. Of course, the crash itself brought in strange new creatures, buildings and the sort, but the greatest change was the change in my sister's heart. Something snapped in her after she woke up from the crash. And you can see it in mane. Its colour has dulled, Steven Reilly."

Steven remained silent. He sensed that Princess Luna was trying to tell him something, but he failed to see it.

"I have a mission for you, Steven Reilly." said the Princess, looking at him determinedly. "A mission which you must not fail. The Elements are scattered. To restore Harmony, you must gather all the Elements again. But I see that you have already succeeded halfway."

Suddenly, something struck Steven. He had heard that somewhere before.

"Tell me what I must do." said Steven.

"It's pretty simple, actually. With your current companions, you have already done half of what you must do."

The Voice had already sent him on this mission before Luna did.

"Princess-" said Steven.

"The world has changed, Steven Reilly." said Luna. "Nothing will ever be the same again. But without Harmony, the world will rise into chaos. It has already started. We must do our best to make peace."

Luna quickly looked away, and she remained silent.

"Princess Luna, I-"

"And you cannot do it alone." said Luna. "You need your friends to come with you. I am sure that the Rainbow one would follow you, and maybe the shy one and the children. But Twilight wants to stay here. And I think that nothing can change her views other than the truth."

Steven just stood there, listening intently to what the Princess was saying.

"When you meet Twilight later tonight, go to the Stellar Corridor, and enter the second door to the left, on the right side. You should see a symbol of a Sword and a Shield on that door." said Luna. "But now, it is time for me to train you as best as I can to prepare you for your journey."

"Thank you, Princess."

"No need to thank me, Steven Reilly." said Luna, smiling for the first time. "You have been doing an excellent job. I was just about to call off the ghouls when you demonstrated your excellent control of power. As you know, your magic is an Ancient Magic. Powerful, but uncontrollable magic. You have taken that power and wielded it into something I myself have never seen before."

Princess Luna then flew to the top of the stone wall again.

"Now, Steven Reilly." said Luna. "Are you ready to double the training?"

Steven quickly washed himself with healing magic. While listening to Princess Luna, he had more than enough time to charge and store up magical energy for when the training continued. He knew that the next things Luna will make him fight would be much stronger than ghouls, but he didn't care. If what Luna had just told him was true, then he needed as much training as possible to gather up all the Elements. Elements. He would have to ask Twilight about them later.

"Yes, Princess Luna."

Luna immediately pointed her horn to the moon, and her horn began to glow again. All of a sudden, the ground started rumbling much more than before, to reveal three giant, creatures of stone.

"Golems!" shouted Luna. "Also immune to raw power, so you're going to have to use magic! And they themselves can kill you with just one punch."

Luna had definitely upped the stakes. The golems, now fully out of the ground, quickly tried to stomp on him, but he managed to dodge all of it. He quickly went to the farthest point as possible from the golems, and he quickly summoned his magic to make the gauntlets again. He felt the same course of energy flowing through his body, giving him a feeling of strength.

As soon as his magic finished charging, he ran towards the group of lumbering giants, and quickly punched the bodies of one of them. He felt the same power packed in his punch, threatening to destroy anything it touched. He was prepared for it to be over soon. He was prepared to see the golem break into a million pieces.

But something was wrong.

The punch took too long. He was still there, shaking violently for the power of his punch to destroy the golem, but there was nothing happening. None of the golems were moving as well. They just stood there, looking at him. He tried to put even more power into his single punch, and he felt as if he was almost there, until..

There was an explosion of blue light. He felt himself being yanked back by an extremely powerful force, which then made him crash right through the stone wall created by Luna. He felt the force of his being thrown back actually break the wall, and he landed outside, back in the gardens, lying on the piece of wall he flew straight through.

He couldn't stand up. The pain was completely unbearable. he couldn't concentrate, nor could he feel anything other than pain and agony. He laid there, unmoving, lifeless.

On top of the stone wall, he saw Luna's horn starting to grow purple, and the golems began to dig back under the ground.

"No!" he shouted. Luna looked back. "I can do this."

Luna's horn stopped glowing, and the golems did nothing but stand on the surface, inviting him to come back to the arena. But Steven couldn't even sit up, much less stand up and fight back. he quickly summoned as much strength and concentration as he could to slowly heal his own body. It helped a bit, but he was still far from okay.

He slowly stood up, dangerously swaying from side to side, as if he was a building about to topple down very soon. he quickly made his way back to the arena, where the golems began to attack him again. He quickly dodged all of their punches, but one of the golems easily picked him up from off the floor, holding him in his vice-like grip.

"RAAAAAAAAAAAGH!" roared the golem. He tried to move, but he couldn't. The golem was holding on to him too tight. The painful muscles and bones from the crash just now began to act up again, and he felt as if his body was going to break apart anytime soon.

But he had also noticed something else.

Inside the golem's mouth was something strange. An orb-like object, black and blood-red, slowly spinning in place. If this was what he thought it was, then Steven had a good idea about how to defeat these monsters. The first thing he needed to do, however, was the hardest. He had to break free from the golem's grip.

So he did the only thing his magic could do at that point. He slowly managed to cover his whole body with as much magical energy as possible, evenly spread out, and...

He exploded.

Luckily for him, golems can feel surprise and pain. The bright flash of his explosion had blinded the golem, and he saw the its hand begin to glow bright red, like burnt steel. He let go of Steven, who fell lightly onto the ground below him.

The golem who held him then began to lumber around, swinging his arms wildly and hitting the other two golems in the process. He watched as the golems fought among one another for a while. He needed to charge up his energy for his final attack.

The other two golems quickly grabbed hole of the blinded one to give him time to recover. The blinded one soon shook his head and looked straight ahead. As the other two let go, the golem angrily tried to look for Steven. But it wasn't hard. Steven wasn't trying to hide.

The three golems charged at Steven, running huge footsteps at a time. Steven quickly summoned back his gauntlets and boots.

They were very close. But not close enough.

Now they were closer.

Closer...

Almost there...

Almost at the exact time that the golem tried to smash him with its fist, Steven jumped out of its way, only to jump on top of the golem's hand. He quickly ran up the length of its arm, and then he jumped into the golem's open mouth. The golem realized what he was trying to do by then, but it was already too late. Steven used his magic to turn his steel gauntlets into large, sharp lances, and then he used all his might to drive one of them into the golem's orb. He managed to make a small dent, but he needed to push harder. With the help of his boots, he manage to root himself into the golem's open mouth while he pushed the whole length of his hoof into the golem's orb.

The golem screamed as the lance completely pierced through the orb, slowly cracking it and finally shattering it. Steven quickly jumped off the mouth of the golem, and only seconds after the jump, the golem's orb exploded, and the golem itself fell back to the floor, its body separating into smaller rocks and boulders.

Knowing that they had found out about their weakness, the other two golems quickly drilled themselves into the ground, disappearing from view.

Once again, he heard the slow clapping sound of Luna's hooves. He quickly deactivated his magic and collapsed to the ground.

"Again, another well done job, Steven Reilly." said Luna. "Are you alright? You seemed to have suffered a lot of pain when you crashed through that wall."

"I'm fine, Princess" he said. "Really."

"No, you're not." said Luna, looking at him with pity, and a smidge of... respect? "You need to save up your energy for when you have to forcefully break out of here to find the Elements."

Steven looked up and stared at Luna.

"What?" he asked.

"Well, the main reason I'm here to teach you, Steven Reilly, is because my sister wants to use your powers for her cause. She wants you to help with the war effort on our side." she said. "And she won't want to let go of such a valuable asset such as yourself."

Luna dipped her head down and walked to him. He felt her horn lightly touch his own horn, and then he saw the strangest thing. The Moon in the sky quickly brought down a huge stream of energy into her horn, which was then channeled into his horn. As the powerful magic overwhelmed him, he felt everything slowly start to recover. His bones, his muscles, he slowly felt relaxed again.

Luna then took a step back. She looked as if she was admiring her own work.

"It looks like your scar is there to stay, Steven Reilly." said Luna. "Now, I hope you remember what you need to do, because your mission stands on the edge of a knife. Stray but a little, and you will fail, Steven Reilly."

She then flew off, back to the castle. The stone walls also retracted back to the ground, and what used to be a pile of destruction turned back into a normal field in the Royal Gardens.

He thought about what Luna had said.

Stray but a little, and you will fail.

He knew what he must do. The only problem was that he knew not what would happen if he did do it. But what hope is there left? The humans in Black Wesa were already experimenting on ponies, and their war is already breaking out. If they don't do something soon, then the war will consume the world.

He needed to convince Twilight to oppose the Queen. But how is he able to do that? The Queen was her mentor, her teacher, and even a guardian. How in the world was he supposed to make Twilight go against the Queen.

All he could do was hope. Hope for the best.

Hope that whatever was behind the door in the Stellar Corridor, the second door to the left on the right side bearing the symbols of a Sword and a Shield would help in his mission.