The Legend of Fauna

The next morning, Twilight woke up feeling fantastically warm. As cold as it had gotten after they left Fluttershy's cottage, it was a miracle that she wasn't freezing. Much of last night was a blur though. All she could remember after the talk with the Harmonians was the sound of thunder... she sighed. The one thing she still couldn't get over. At least she wasn't alone though. One or both of the Rainbows were afraid of it. She thought, even if the memory was still sketchy at best.

She decided it was still too early to get up and tried to pull her comforter over her face. When she grabbed it, her senses started to wake up a bit more, and she couldn't help but think it felt... bony. What's more, she realized she felt something over her back too. The more she thought about it, whatever she was pressed up against was not inanimate. It was moving. Falling and rising slowly. And there was weight on her thigh. Just one of them, and the other one felt like it was on top of said weight. The more she thought about it, the more she wanted to try and stop thinking and go back to sleep. She continued to hope that what she was beginning to think wasn't the truth and then her ears started to work again.

The final nail in the coffin; she could hear his breathing above her head. Oh no. Oh, no, oh please no. please, please, please, tell me I didn't! She started to open her eyes in the relative darkness. Being as perfect as her vision was in the dark now, she saw several things she didn't want to. The first of which was that her legs were wrapped around his. Next was his bare torso being mere centimeters from her face. Then was her left hand, which was firmly tangled up in his. Finally, she wasn't under a cloth, save for her own clothes. The reason her 'comforter' felt bony is because it was. She was under a wing. No, no, no, no, no, oh gods, why? Why did this happen? How did this happen? I don't think I want to leave... No! Bad! Not him! Get up! Get away from the bed, now! She was about to push him off, but then she noticed his face.

He looked so... happy. She felt a wave of emotion crash over her. No, stop, I don't want this! But... it wouldn't be so bad would it? No, please, just don't do this to me. I can't handle this right now! I don't... I don't know what's going on! But... I don't want to leave... and he's so warm... The girl didn't know what to feel. This was more than new, and completely unexpected. I mean... I can't just... wake him up can I? And... he summoned all six of them yesterday... he must have been tired... I think I'll just... stay here... Soon enough, she started to fall back to sleep herself. Would it really be so bad? She kept repeating to herself. Thinking about it now might not be the best thing she could do at the moment either. The more she thought about it in the position she was in, the more she wanted this to happen again. But finally, grogginess hat taken it's toll, and the girl simply fell asleep.

When next Twilight woke, things hadn't changed much. If anything, she was only a little bit more entangled around him than she was earlier. Now she had her free arm over his side, even further pressed up against him. She could feel every muscle in his back. Her heart beat started to rise. The girl groaned. Oh, gods, what is he gonna think if he wakes up like this? Even if he did get in bed with me, I highly doubt he curled my limbs around his! Ugh, this isn't okay. This is worse than yesterday! She thought, frustrated with the whole ordeal. She wanted to move, she didn't want to move. She wanted to go, she didn't want to go. She wanted this to happen again, she didn't want this to happen again. Before she could do anything, she felt the man's arm and wing tighten around her. He was beginning to wake up.

Oh, shit! Pretend you're asleep! The man released his grip and the wing that was covering her spread it's full length in the air. The rest of his limbs seemed to be pushed away from his sockets, then slowly pulled back in, making popping sounds as they did. He yawned, and then put the warm wing that used to be her comforter away on his back. Aw. It's cold now, she thought. The man started to shake her shoulder. “Hey, Twilight. It's morning.” He was just gonna leave it like this? Not even worried about how I would react? What... what happened? The girl decided it would be best to pretend that he woke her up, and rolled over to stretch. “Hmm... what? Is it really?” One leg freed and the rest of her body to herself, she was already wishing she'd never moved. That was likely the best she'd slept in months.

“Yeah. Go ahead and do whatever you need to to be presentable. My cousin is likely already here. It's time to get to work.” She looked up at the man. By some form of magic, his hair almost looked better than it did yesterday, the ringlets were tighter and sparkled in the morning light. His green eyes prominently showcasing their heritage with the flecks of gold everywhere. The girl felt her heart beat increase again. Get up before this ends up just like yesterday morning! But it was already heading in that direction. He had sat up, which gave her her leg back and then she quickly turned around and stood up. She regretted that decision, because she started to lose vision and control of her body after doing so. Oh no. She was beginning to fall face forward to the second floor of the tree, but then she was caught. Her heart skipped a few beats and increased in pace.

“Whoa there. Take it easy. You had a long day yesterday.” She could feel the rest of his body on her back. Her knees hit each other. She'd regained enough control by now to release herself from him and walked away from the bed. “Uhh, thanks. I, uh... need to go to the bathroom, so if you'll excuse me...” The girl started to walk toward the door by the staircase, but before she could make it, he'd grabbed her hand. She turned to look at him, and was met by those eyes again. “I... know this might sound weird but... I had an... insightful... dream last night and... well... um...” Was he nervous? No way... he isn't about to... He took a deep breath. “I just want you to know that... If ever the sun, the moon, the sky, and the earth all came crashing down, I'll be there, right by your side.” He kissed her hand, and then escaped down the stairs. The girl nearly collapsed where she stood.

Why did he say that? How did he know that phrase? No one... no one could know that phrase... I never told anyone... how? The girl was taken back to her elementary school days. The days before her father had been injured, the days where her life looked like it might actually turn out normal. The days where there was no impending doom that relied on her becoming a fighter for the world. There was a contest for the second graders. A writing contest. She had always been fascinated by the stories of knights, wizards, and dragons, how they all had the romantic hero and the lonely princess hidden in a tower. Some based on real events, others based completely in fiction, but all the same, the knight would always confess to the princess his love at the end of the story, and there would be a happy ending.

So of course her little self wanted to be the hero of the story instead, and rescue the helpless knight in the tower. The knight Pirouette came to be. She was the strongest in the land, there wasn't a man that could rival her. As the story went, one day, her prince was kidnapped. An evil creature had kidnapped him and taken him away to a dimension that was made of chaos. It had the head of a horse, the wing of a bat and a bird, the body of a snake, the claw of a chicken, the paw of a lion, the foot of an alligator, and the hoof of a horse. She thought she was clever for calling this crazy thing she made up Discord in reference to one of the ancient creatures of legend, the fallen god of chaos.

Pirouette fought her way to Discord's castle that hung upside down from the top of a cliff and made her way inside. The castle was strangely bigger on the inside with several gigantic chambers almost as big as their own lands. Pirouette fought gallantly against all of Discord's monsters and eventually made it to the monster himself. In a final attempt to thwart Pirouette's rescue, he challenged her to a duel. He used dirty tricks and put her prince in danger to force her to fail. But, in the end, through the sheer devotion Pirouette had for her prince, she defeated Discord and rescued the prince.

When she finally freed him from his prison she said to him 'My lord, if ever the sun, the moon, the sky and the earth came crashing down, I will be there, right by your side.' However, this story never made it to the writing contest. The shy young Twilight couldn't bear letting someone else read her words, something that contained her very heart in soul in them. So she hid it away, never to be found. When her father's office exploded, so did the story, burning up in flames. “I never told anyone... how does he?” She let her words trail off as she decided she could no longer ignore her bladder.

Two days was long enough to go without one, so she took a shower while she was there. The room was oddly shaped in the sense that it was long and thin. At the end of the room was where the shower head and bathtub were, and near the front of the room was the sink and mirror. Still no electric powered anything though. The light was being let in by a small blurry window to the left of the bath. Inside she found her bag, and seeing that there were towels underneath the sink, everything was good to go.  Around half an hour passed before she heard knocking at the door. “Twilight, are you gonna be done soon? I gotta pee.” Her little brother had woken up. “I was about to get out anyways. Give me a sec.” She rummaged through her bag for clothes and quickly dried her self off. There were several sets of the same she just had on, save for the colors being traded from place to place on each one. She decided she'd take the blue lined purple jacket with the white shirt and the dark blue pants. Now clothed, she exited the bathroom with her bag to see a very tired looking Spike.

“Have you seen Zephraim today? I think I heard him yell last night, but I wasn't awake enough to react.” The girl's face immediately turned red. She'd seen a lot of Zephraim today. More than she knew she wanted. “Um... nope, I haven't. Ha ha, he uh... must've gotten up early!” The boy narrowed his eyes at her. “You're doing that thing where you raise your pitch again. What did you do?” The girl avoided eye contact with the dragon boy. “Oh, nothing. I uh... need to go see if Andromeda is still here. I need to talk to him.” Not a lie, and a quick escape. The girl thought to herself. She threw her bag back on the bed and then gasped. “What's wrong?” She almost answered him, but caught herself. “Nothing. didn't you need to pee?” The boy stared at her, half awake. “I will find out eventually.” He said, staring her down with his slitted pupils. “I don't know what you're hiding, but I will.” He turned and shut the bathroom door behind him.

Twilight sighed and started work on the bed. There were gray, black, and white feathers in a few places on the bed. She grabbed them and threw them under the bed seeing no better way to hide them. Oh, gods, I feel so... dirty. This is all his fault! But... you liked it, didn't you? No! Stop that! But you did like it. And you want more... No! Liar! He's an ass! He just shows up in my life out of the blue and I woke up with him the next morning! But you feel safe around him... you don't want to be away from him, do you? “Gods damn it, shut up! I do want to...” The girl realized she said the last part out loud. She quickly hid the last of the feathers, but kept one in her pocket. She couldn't fathom why, but all the same, it was there. As she headed down the staircase, she started to hear the voices of some people she knew, and some she didn't.

“Now then, shall I examine her?” I guess that means Andromeda is still around. But who is he examining? “I can't see why not, that is, unless you object. But if he does, he could probably tell you why you look like you do right now.” Who looks like what? And why is Zephraim not concerned about whoever seeing Andromeda? “I wouldn't mind knowing where I came from. Save for the last date I saw, I don't have anything. I don't even know what race I am. I don't have a mark.” That's the voice of some girl. And not one I know either. What time is it? “I would also like some answers here. I'm going to be rather concerned if this girl isn't a Mage. Because if that isn't the case, then Umbra can do very strong magic from a very long range. She'd be dead too if I hadn't thought to try and protect her immediately, and even then, her attack still broke my barrier.” Another Mage? This must be the Eclipse guy he was talking about... earlier... Gah, stop thinking about it! I get it, he's pretty! The girl continued to argue with her inner self until she reached the ground floor of the library.

She opened the door and saw four people sitting in the library's folding chairs, one of which being Andromeda. To his left was Zephraim, and to his right was a man she'd never seen before. He was clean shaven, save for some blue-violet hairs beginning to sprout from his chin. His hair was long and straight in most places, and was a rather unique shade of blue-violet, and very velvety. His pupils were slitted and his ears were pointed, on top of very pale skin, making this guy part of the V-strain. His irises were bright yellow, but had little flecks of silver that dotted them in a few places. This was more than likely one of Luna's sons. Next to him was a person she'd never seen before. It was a girl, likely around her own age, wearing tattered long black robes. She had shiny black hair and bright yellow eyes that almost looked to sparkle. Her hair was short to medium length, but it looked a little ragged.

The vampiric man took notice of her before anyone else did. “So you must be Stripes.” The rest of the group turned to look at her, and then Twilight felt the need to hit Zephraim. “You told him my name was stripes!?” The Angel shrugged. “Haven't even said a word about you yet. At least not today. But at no point have I used any name for you in our conversations.” The sorcerer supported him. “Master Sparkle, it may not be such a coincidence that he came up with that name himself. It is rather befitting of you...” The girl brought her hand to her head and started to rub her temples. “Whatever. I don't like that name, so don't call me it. Hi. I'm Twilight.” The man stood and bowed. “Ah, I see. My name is Eclipse. I am second in command of the core and the current head paladin of the Divine church. It is a pleasure to meet the new incarnate of Yamirix.” The girl bowed back, almost on instinct after having Celestia beat manners into her during her early days of studying. She flew herself a chair over the large wooden table and took a spot next to Zephraim.

“So who's this?” She asked, motioning to the across from her. Eclipse was the one to answer. “We don't know. She doesn't even know. That's what we're trying to figure out.” The sorcerer then took his staff in both hands. “Be very still young lady. I will begin trying to recover some of your memories, but if you move, that will conflict with my search of your brain for intact data. Due to the extreme speed of electric impulses, it will interfere with my magic, and the less you have going about, the better I can search. Are you ready?” The girl nodded, and then the sorcerer's staff started to glow with a light blue tinge. He touched the red end of the crystal to the girl's sternum and soon, her whole body was covered in Andromeda's magic. The room was deathly silent for several minutes. But after that, Andromeda returned his staff to his side and sighed. “Well, did you get anything?” The Angel asked. The sorcerer shook his head.

“Unfortunately, nothing of great value. Save for a few skills and basic knowledge, this child is devoid of tangible memories. As she said, the date is the only thing I found in there. December fifteenth, 2985.” The two Mages and the Angel stopped and looked at each other. “You don't mean to tell me that that day is her birth day?” Said the vamp. The sorcerer nodded. “I do find it odd that she remembers that over her name, but yes, that is in fact her birth date. However, there is one other thing I learned. On January first of 3000, she was put into stasis by very powerful magic. But not anything normal. As a matter of fact, it wasn't even done with soul art. This is something Eldritch.” The girl spoke up. “Eldritch? What does that mean?” The indigo headed Mage decided to answer.

“Weird and sinister, or ghostly by definition. But in this case, he means what most people know as chaos magic. Supposedly, Eldritch magic is another form of the traditional magic that Mages use. However, it is unstable and has a tendency to blow up or cause unexpected results, i.e. chaos magic. The practice eventually became dangerous, so it's faded out of culture. You can't even find books on the stuff now. Even in other countries.” The Mage girl said, matter-of-fact-ly. “Oh... Um... I guess, what do I do now? I... don't really have anywhere to go back too, and I honestly don't even recognize the technology you guys have.” The girl had fallen into a sulk. The male Mage put a hand on her back.

“Worry not, I will keep charge of you for now. I did rescue you, and I feel responsible for you if nothing else. As a matter of fact... why don't we have you train with us today? With the exercises I have have planned, we should easily be able to tell if you're a Terran or not.” The girl perked back up. “You'd really do that for me?” The male Mage nodded. “I wouldn't be a very good man of the cloth if I just threw you out on the street would I?” The girl sprang up and hugged the vamp. “Oh, thank you so much! I will do everything I can to repay you for this!” The Angel stood. “Well then. I guess it's about time for our guests to arrive. Applejack and Rarity texted me about half an hour ago, and Fluttershy said she would bring Rainbow with her, so we should see them around 10:00.” The man raised his chin. “You found her?” The Angel sighed.

“Yeah. Apparently she had intel on Fluttershy's location about a month ago, but decided to wait rather than pursue her. I don't actually think anyone but you me and her know she's here. But, uh... when I confronted her, things got out of hand real quickly so we ended up in a fight. Luckily she won, so I didn't manage to hurt anybody.” The Mage girl shot air from her mouth. “Yeah, save for yourself. Dumb ass here went all kinds of crazy, summoned some blood covered thing, and ended up shooting himself in the leg. If it weren't for me, he'd be in a wheel chair right now.” She said, throwing a smug smile at him. However, he didn't react in a way that she wanted. He just smiled and stared deep into her eyes. Her heart beat started to rise again, and she quickly looked at her lap. “Really now? What all did you happen to do with the hunter this time? You didn't brag about anything specific did you?” The Angel scratched at the back of his neck.

“I... yeah, no, I pretty much blew it. All six of them know who I am now, and anything I didn't say, Fluttershy went ahead and filled in the details. Save for Eris here, everyone knows who you are too.” The vamp frowned. “Well, that's just great. Wait a minute, who's Eris?” The angel pointed at the amnesiac. “Her. I mean, she doesn't have a name because of some Eldritch magic right? What better to call her than the product of chaos?” The girl put a finger to her chin. “Eris, huh? I like it... weird enough, it even sounds a little familiar. Why not? I guess you can all call me Eris now.” The four others nodded. “But, uh... what is it that everyone but me knows? Do you guys have a secret or something?” The young men looked at each other. “Um. We're cousins, but our parents are... unusual people. And bad things could happen to the rest of our families if anyone with a bad agenda found out about that. It's nothing you need to worry about.” The girl shrugged. “I guess I understand that. You're some kind of high ranking guy in the military right? I'm sure you probably have some enemies out there.” Both men sighed in relief.

Then there was a knock at the door. Zephraim moved to quickly open the it, revealing the Blonde... and the knight. “Oh, hey... uh... How are you still...” The Terran and the knight made their way inside. “Mornin' y'all” The blonde said as she dropped a basket of freshly picked Apples on the table. She stood in one corner and yawned. She looked tired. “A question for another time, Lord Zephraim.” The knight said as he placed a metal coated hand on his shoulder. “I see my brother still sits cross-legged in chairs. What does the morning bring you?” The sorcerer stretched both of his arms and replied without looking at the knight. “Oh, nothing much. Just one new mystery after another. Master Eclipse picked up a stray who is steeped in Eldritch. I found a basement with several magical items dating all the way back to our time, and after reading through half of this library, I've found books that I wrote. You know. Same old, same old.” The knight's jaw dropped. “You mean to tell me this building has a hidden store?” The sorcerer nodded. “From the looks of it, this place was something you owned. The basement is riddled with your Mark.” The knight picked up the sorcerer and put him on his feet. “Show me.” He said, seriousness in his voice. The sorcerer and the knight made their way to the staircase, and then disappeared.

Twilight thought about what the sorcerer said and looked around. “The chandelier is new. When did that get there?” She said as she pointed to the most notable change. The big gold ornate piece of metal holding about twelve candles on it. “Andromeda said something about finding it in the basement this a few hours ago. Did you know this place had a basement?” The vamp asked. The girl shrugged. “I got here yesterday night. I don't know anything about this place other than this is where Celestia arranged for me to stay.” The Mage girl answered. “Funny that ya mention that. My brother sold this place to the city a while back. Ah heard that the top floor was gonna be rented ta whoever was gonna run the library, but Ah guess they never found anybody because it's been a few months since then. We didn't keep up with it much because we didn't have the time, and nobody in the family wanted it.” The Angel nodded.

“That sounds about right.” The Mage girl decided to question that. Did Celestia own it now? “Why is that?” The Angel was caught off guard. Apparently, he didn't intend to say that out loud. “Oh, uh... it's nothing. Don't worry about it.” Another knock on the door. “I'm gonna go talk to Andromeda, will you get that?” He said to the Mage girl. She stared him down. “Fine. But you and I are going to have a talk later.” The Angel gave a nervous smile and ran down the stairs. Reluctant to get up, the Mage girl went to open the door. “Good morning. Oh... you're here...” Fluttershy said to the vamp. She walked inside followed by the Angel knight and the Valkyrie, who was dragging a half awake Rainbow into the library. She tossed her on the floor. “Will ya get up already? I friggen flew your ass over here! Come on!” The girl on the floor made slow movements, but eventually dragged her body to the nearest empty chair.

“I'm up, I'm up, geez.” She said mid yawn. The vamp responded to the pale Angel. “That's right. But I don't have anything to say to you. Whatever you did, you had your reasons for leaving. You will always be welcome at home.” She looked away and started to look through the books. “Thank you...” She whispered. The other people in the room simply looked to one of the two in confusion. “I don't really know what's going on here either.” Said the voice hidden in the corner of the library. “So uh. You're here. Uh... whoever ya are. Ah don't know who this guy is either. Anyone wanna explain?” The pale Angel girl and the Terran directed their attention to Twilight. “Uh... This is Eclipse, he's Zephraim's cousin, and this is Eris. We don't know anything about her other than that she was born thirty years ago and lost about sixteen of them to Eldritch magic.” The pale Angel tilted her head. “Eldritch magic? Is that even still a thing?” Twilight nodded slowly. “Sort of? Or apparently. That's what Andromeda said was weird about her.” The Mage girl shrugged.

“In any case-” The Vampiric Mage stood. “I will be your instructor today. Is this all of you? Or are we missing one?” Missing one? Pinkie isn't- “I think Rarity is still getting ready. That guy that works at her shop said she takes a few hours to get ready. His name is like... Cobalt?” Said the 'missing' person from behind Twilight. “That's what he said. Andromeda and Ephraim are down stairs right? I'm going to visit with them while I still have the time. I'll see you later Pinkie.” The other voice made the sounds of steps toward the back of the library. “Kay~!” She sang at the back of the library. “Sooo, what are you guys up to?” The three who had their backs turned to the girl finally all decided to stare at her.

“When did you get in here? Ah didn't see ya walk in.” The pyro waved her hand around. “Don't worry about it. Are we gonna do something or what? I ain't got time to be bored ya know. I could be doing productive things. Like working.” She said, with a relatively bland tone. “You're... ignoring a job to hang out?” The pyro sighed. “Yeah, long story, I don't feel like getting into it right now.” They were interrupted by another knock on the door. “Twilight? Are you there? I'm coming in.” The tailor flung the door open for all to see her... white tank top and... jeans. “Hold on. You spent a few hours getting ready and picked out... that? What are you? My mother?” The vampire said. The tailor scoffed, but was quickly followed by the Mage knight. “Yes, she did! I cannot believe it myself! Was I zis bad? I would at least put on a nice dress, no?”

The Valkyrie and the Angel knight simply shrugged. “Hate to break it to ya doll face, but, yeah, you've had some less than spectacular moments.” The Valkyrie said. The Angel knight started to giggle. “Do, pfft, do you remember that time that her city was being attacked by those bandits, and, and she called us out there to deal with it because she was still trying to decide whether or not she was going to wear armor for the occasion?” The Valkyrie joined her. “Oh, gods, that did happen! You, pfft, you friggen showed up in like, a dress and sandals! Oh, gods, this crap brings back memories. And then there was that time with the wolves in the northern forest by the cliffs!” The armored Angel and the Valkyrie continued to laugh at the short comings of their sister until she'd had enough. She lifted the Valkyrie with her magic and grabbed the hand of the Angel knight and headed toward the staircase.

“Zere is a time and place for zis, but not now! Ze ozers are waiting for us in ze basement. Andromeda said he needed me to look at somezing, and you two are coming wiz me!” The Angel knight simply followed, but the Valkyrie tried to fight her off. “Oh, I don't wanna hang out with those guys! Having the old fart around is bad enough, but I gotta deal with Opty too? Come on!” She was unsuccessful. “Too bad. Au revoir, mon petit fils.” The Mage knight said, and shut the staircase door behind her as she pulled the valkyrie in. The tailor took the attention of the group. “I'll have you know that it takes a lot of work to keep my hair like this. Not everyone is born with Zephraim's beautiful hair. Ugh, why can't I have Celestia's hair?” The vamp folded his chair and set it aside. “Fun fact; his father is the reason his hair curls is like that.” The tailor furrowed her brow. “Really? You mean the black demon king? That man has gorgeous curly hair?” The vamp scratched at his neck. “I mean, I can't say it in those words, but it is curly like that. In any case, you're all here, so now we can get started.” He raised both of his hands, and his dark violet magic started to spread from one person to another. He began to say words of some language that only Fluttershy understood, and suddenly, they were out side, on a plateau, in the middle of the desert.

Most everyone was ready for the move, save for the sleeping Angel. She fell from where she was and hit the ground. “Ow! Oh, gods, why is the floor so hot now?” Said the groggy Angel as she picked her face from the sandstone. She looked around to see clear blue sky and sand. That was it. There wasn't anything else in sight for miles. “Uh... Am I dreaming? Or are we like, ten or so miles south of Pony Ville?” The other girls were just as confused, once again, save for Fluttershy, who was standing by the vampiric Mage. His pale skin almost disappeared in the white sand. “No, this is no dream, and yes. We are about ten miles south of town. Good guess, by the way. As I said earlier, I will be training the six of you today.” The blue Angel tilted her head. “Six of us? I thought Fluttershy was already EC.” The man nodded.

“That's right. And She will be helping me and doing some training herself, but when I said six, I meant six. Eris here will be joining you.” He said as he pointed to the girl in black robes. “Whoa. Okay, who is that?” Twilight put a hand on Rainbow's shoulder. “We don't know, she doesn't know. So we called her Eris based on the circumstances.” The dark headed girl objected. “What do you mean I have to join? I don't even know these girls!” The man shot a sinister look at her. “Oh? What happened to 'I'll do everything I can to repay you?' Perhaps you'd like to roam the desert instead. Alone. I asked if you wanted to join and you said yes. He who does not work does not eat. You also happen to be a suspect in a serial murder case. I'm sure if you don't find the comfort of luxury appealing, then you could stay... at the holding cell?” The girl whined. “This isn't fair! I don't know if I even did anything! I don't even know who I am!”

The vamp simply added a smile to his unforgiving eyes. “Oh well, nameless suspect A. It's too bad you had to be executed for your crimes. A shame really.” The vamp spun a key chain he was wearing on his right arm around his wrist and caught it in his palm, where it turned into a sword, but retained it's key shape. He put his empty left hand behind his back and started to walk toward the dark headed girl. “Holy, hearth's warming, I'll work out! I swear!” He flicked the key sword around his wrist and then it morphed back into it's key chain form. “Now that Eris has willingly agreed to train with us... any more objections?” He said with that wicked smile on his face. A unanimous “No sir” came from the rest of the girls. “Now then. I assume that none of you have had any training with any kind of weapon, so if you do, speak now, or forever hold your peace.”

Twilight perked up. She was a sharp shooter. “I just so happen to be the best shot at the Academy, just behind your mom and your aunt.” He looked completely unimpressed. “Alright, physical training with strength based weapons for you. Next?” The girl's jaw almost dropped. P-physical training...? with... strength based weapons? Oh, gods, I shouldn't have even opened my mouth. The girl thought as she sulked. “My dad used ta teach me how ta box when Ah was little. Ah still go a few rounds with my brother every now and again.” The man looked her up and down and then removed his finger from his chin. “I can see that. You have a very strong core, superior legs to even myself, and quite the pair of triceps there. Hand guns. You'll shooting dual hand guns.” The Terran looked confused. “Wait, what? Guns? I cain't shoot ta save my life! Ah never even held one before!” He smiled. “Perfect. This will be even better then.” The blonde remained in her broken state of trying to think of how the man even came up with that in the first place.

“What about you speed demon? Got something to prove? I am the second in the core after all. If you want a shot at the military, I'm the man to impress.” The blue Angel was fired up and ready to go. “I'm a junior Air force trainee! I used to help my local recruiter run the camp at my school after classes.” She certainly looked proud of herself. “Oh well in that case...” He motioned for Fluttershy to come over. “I'll have to have you retrained. I've always hated the way the Air force handles things. Terrible form, poor technique, and pathetic instructors. Fluttershy, would you kindly teach this girl how to really fight?” The girl nodded. “Sure. I guess I'll have to start by destroying what she knows. How should I go about it though? Protocol 6 or 8?” The man seemed to think about it for a second then said “8” And moved on to the tailor. “Now before we do this, I just want you to know that I am so sorry for everything I am about to do. But, in the event you do manage to hit me today, I'll do something nice for you later okay?” The blue Angel made a face of disgust. “If I hit you? Come on Fluttershy, you know I'm way faster than you. I'm just afraid I might hurt you.” The girl slowly nodded. “Oh... okay then. Protocol 3 it is...” The man did a quick turn to look at the two Angels. Then he laughed. “By divine grace am I gonna have to watch yours. That's gonna be real entertainment right there.” He then went back to the tailor. The blue Angel was suddenly more uncomfortable than she had been.

“I have a history of sword play, specifically fencing at my father's request. I've studied it for years.” She said, in her haughty tone. “So that means... oh wait, I know, strength training with magical weapons. You're going to be fun to work with.” The man moved on without giving her a chance to complain. “S-strength training...?” She looked frightened. Next up was the Pyro. “Uh, ya know, funny story...” He frowned. “Hmm... let me guess... You don't have a too terribly great set of relationships with the people you grew up with due to something involving you lacking physical ability, and because of that, you have been a runaway since about... seven years ago right?” The girl pressed her index fingers together and looked at the ground. “Yep. You're going to take a little more than extra work. Alright, that's all of you. Eris and Pinkie will be getting basics from me, the rest of you will be dealing with shades, and... pfft... Rainbow is getting Protocol 3 from Fluttershy...” He could barely contain a smile as he said it. He handed a standard silver octagonal duel disk to the black haired girl and then addressed the rest of the group.

“Most of you have an inkling about how to fight, and as such, that's what you'll be doing. Fighting me. Your goal: hit me once. If you accomplish that, you're free to go for the day, and I will warp you back to the library. Anyone who makes it through day one early is getting dinner from Zephraim. And let me tell you, that is something you want. The guy is a fantastic cook. Right Fluttershy?” The girl nodded. “As long as you have a taste for Anyan food. He's really into that stuff. It's good, but it can have odd textures here and there.” The man took a duel disk from one of his coat pockets and placed it on his arm. He typed something into it and five different notification sounds went off in five different pockets. “With that said, Equip your disks. I'll be sending a package to them based on what needs to be worked on. Once you finish downloading it, run the application to get your weapon. It's matterwave based, so as long as you have the generator in your disk, it should work.” Each of the girls, save for Eris and Fluttershy, opened whatever application had just been sent out and equipped their disks. Twilight's matterwave became a hammer, but not one that she could easily lift.

“Oh, come on! I can't even hold this thing, let alone swing it!” She complained. The Terran next to her was almost as bad. “At least ya know where to put yer hands. Ah don't know what ta do with these things!” The rainbow headed girl opened her application but got nothing. “What the? Is this some kind of joke? How come I didn't get anything?” The man giggled. “Did you check you feet?” She looked down and noticed that her feet were now covered in some kind of armor. She tried to lift one, but only barely managed to move her foot. “What the hell? How am I supposed to fight with this?” The pale Angel responded. She had a dark look in her eyes, and a thin smile. “Easy. You kick.” The blue Angel looked to find that her instructor was wearing them as well. “There's no way. Y-you can't possibly...” She stopped as the pale Angel sent a kick that she could barely detect centimeters from her nose and held it there. “Oh, I'm sure you'll find that I can quite possibly do that.” She said as she put her foot down.

The tailor complained next. “Alright. I must be honest with you here. um... where do it put my hands on this... thing?” What she had in front of her was a large curved blade that was a good amount of her height, and just a head shorter than she was. The man came over and put her hands on the back of the blade toward the thinner part of it. “About here will get you the best results. Be careful about gripping it too hard though. Wrapping your fingers around it will get you cut. I'm sure you want to keep your pretty hands pretty, so I suggest you find a way to use magic to hold it steady while you swing it.” The girl tried to lift the hilt less blade, only to find it far heavier than she imagined. “Goodness, what is this made out of? Lead?” He answered quickly.

“Sort of! The matterwave can simulate all the properties of known metal, but because it is literally compressed light mixed with stimulated compounds of Aerolite, making it all the more dangerous if you get it in your blood stream, so once again, don't cut yourself.” The tailor held the blade as if it were a very heavy dirty sock now. He then moved on to Pinkie and Eris. “You two will simply be given short swords to start with, and I will be teaching you form and more basic fundamentals of swordplay to begin with. However, I imagine I'll see something better for you as the week goes by.” He flicked his writs around again, taking hold of the full sized key sword. Then he stepped to the center of the plateau and made five circles out of magic in it. Two circles were large and took up the center and top of the plateau, and the three smaller ones were at each other direction.

“Fluttershy, you and Rainbow take the top. Pinkie, Eris, with me in the middle. The rest of you just pick one of the outer circles.” They each moved to their respective places and stood. The indigo headed Mage thought she recognized this. “Is this one of those expansion circles?” The man nodded. “Good eye. Much like a pocket dimension, after I activate these circles, you will be given your own little place to run around and avoid getting hit without running into each other. Fluttershy is likely going to beat the living stuffing out of poor Rainbow here, but my consciousness will be divided in four places, so you three might not have it so bad. However, I have had about two years practice at this, so don't get your hopes up. Next step is for me to make the shades.”

The man drew the shape of a spell circle in the air above him with his magic, and then three more of those same circles appeared next to Twilight, Applejack, and Rarity. The dark violet outline of Eclipse took shape on each girl's circle, and then it prepared a silhouette version of his key sword, but shaped to match each girl's weapon. Rarity's shade with a duplicate key shaped curved blade, Applejack's with odd key shaped guns, and Twilight's with strange a key shaped hammer. “The session will end in five hours, or when you beat my shade, slash Fluttershy for you Rainbow. However, if anything, I do not see that happening. Good luck ladies. And remember, have fun~” He snapped his fingers, and then everything around Twilight was gone. Blue skies and endless flat sandstone in every direction. That and the dark violet colored Eclipse shade.

“So, how is this going to work? Do I just try and hit you?” The shade nodded. “That will be the basic premise. As you attack, I will point out your flaws, and it's your job to improve your technique. To start, you should grip that hammer at the base of it's head, and the end of it's hilt. You have spaghetti arms, or really, really, weak muscles in them. As a whole, you're rather scrawny miss Sparkle. So, to counter act that, we need to train your weakest muscles as fast as we can. The easiest way to do that; heavy lifting in short bursts. But you also don't know how to fight at close range based on what you've told me, so you also need to learn that as well. So, I've decided that the hammer will be your best weapon for what you need.” The girl blinked. “Oh, so, you didn't just avoid all of our strengths for no reason.” The violet silhouette nodded. “I have been doing this for almost three years now. You should give me some credit. But now it's time to learn. En garde Sparkle!” He yelled. Then he was more or less right beside her. He'd raised his hammer before he moved, and suddenly, it was coming down toward her head. She reacted quick enough to block the overhead swing, but she could feel her knees strain. Her legs were a second from giving out, but luckily, Eclipse pulled back.

“Huh. You might just be stronger than I gave you credit for. That was supposed to break your knees.” The girl anchored herself with the hammer and brought herself to a stand. “Trust me, you weren't far off.” The man nodded. “Very well. Clearly you can still stand, so swing at me.” The girl took the hammer's neck in one hand and used the other to pull the hilt around her body. She came close to her target, but he easily avoided her. Her swing continued and nearly pulled her off her feet. “Damn it!” She lost her balance and fell on the hard stone ground. “The swing it self wasn't bad. You've got the idea as to how to use the weapon, now you need to try and control it. Get up and swing again. You have ten seconds.” The girl scrambled to pick herself up, then ran to grab the hammer she'd lost during the fall. The man had counted to five by the time she reached it. She managed to grab the head end and pull on it, but with one hand, she couldn't lift it. The man had counted down to two. She desperately pulled on the heavy hammer and started running toward the shade.

“Too late. Don't lose it again.” He was suddenly right next to her, and his hammer was quickly coming across his side. Twilight pulled her hammer with all her force to move in the way of his, and just in time. The two metals clashed and rang out a tone, and once again, Twilight was sent flying. “Damn it!” She said as she struggled to get a foot hold on the ground. She didn't fall this time, and took the chance to run at him while he was recovering from his swing. She came in and tilted her body inward with the hammer in both hands at her arm's full extension. It grazed the shade. She managed to pull herself around the hammer this time and keep from falling. “Very good. It seems that you're picking this up rather quick. Your other friends aren't doing so hot, but you might have a shot. Now that you've figured out how to use the weapon, try and learn how big it is. Contrary to how it feels to hold, it's not as big as it is heavy. As a matter of fact, this thing isn't much larger than your average sledge hammer. Twice as heavy, but not much bigger.” The man cam in for another swing, and this time he brought it from the other side. She noticed that it was a little bit slower this time and took advantage of that. She stepped out of its range and pulled her lead foot forward to bring the hammer around he was quick to block, but all the same, that was an attack.

“Yes!” The shade backed up and reset his weight. “Don't get too excited. I gave you that one. Now do it again!” He wasn't kidding about the freebie. He came back, and he came fast. She didn't have the strength to react and took the flat end of the hammer to the ribs, breaking nearly each one it touched. She flew back and landed a good five feet away on her shoulder. The pain was excruciating, but after seeing the ground glow, the ribs were back in place. “Ah, that may have been a bit excessive. Sorry, I got excited. You're fine now though. Get up and come at me.” Her body was slowly beginning to ignore the pain as adrenalin started to course through her veins. She wanted to hit him now. A running step forward, and one that felt stronger than usual. She lowered the hammer head and came for a golf swing at the shade. He backed off, then spun a kick at the same spot he'd hit the first time. She was sent back a few feet again from the much less powerful kick and without broken ribs.

“Power is great, but swings like that leave you wide open. Keep it close in the event you miss and need to block immediately. Chain a swing next time.” The girl nodded. She could feel as if the hammer was progressively getting lighter. She wasn't sure what was causing it, but she was focused enough that she could ignore it. Two attacks? How would I do that? She thought. Nothing came to mind, so she went with the only example she could think of. Zephraim and Fluttershy's little spat had a lot of movement in it. Either of them swinging their swords around looked so fluid... not a single motion was wasted, just used to power a swing in a different direction. So how would I...? The sight of Zephraim using the back of his hand to wield the blade came to mind, so she thought she'd try it out. She flipped her right hand around and ran toward the shade. With as much strength as she could, she pulled the hammer head up. It was blocked, but then she decided to try and thrust it at him. With the momentum she'd gained, she eased the hammer toward Eclipse's shade and let it's own weight carry it forward. He stepped back, but it was much closer to hitting him than anything else she'd done.

“I guess you've seen Zephraim do at least something. However, what you just did isn't something easy to imitate perfectly like that. That is to be expected from the inheritor of the dark god though... Hmm... Now I must test a theory. I don't know if you know this, but Yamirix is known as the great teacher. Besides you and Andromeda, there have been other inheritors of Yamirix' power, just not on this side. The way my father's friend describes it, he can copy just about anything he sees ever since he obtained Yamirix' power. Of course, there are physical limitations to that. In his case, he was a Terran, so instead of magic, it was technology that he could simply look at and the know how it worked. In your case, your body isn't very strong, but if you see it done, you can probably copy it. In a moment, I'll come at you from three different angles with consecutive strikes. Then I want you to repeat what I did.”

The girl got ready to intercept the incoming hammer strikes from the quickly approaching shade, but made mental note to record how he moved to do it. When he started, he built his momentum until he stopped with his left foot, and pounded his right into the ground, letting the hammer take all of it and bring crushing force from the right. She reared the hilt to block the swing, and it felt like her hands were going to break. He let the hammer bounce off hers and reared it above his head. Another downward swing was coming. He was moving just fast enough to hit her regardless of whether or not she tried to dodge, so another block was going to be the only thing from that hammer and her skull colliding. It came down with less force than the last strike, and surprising to Twilight, her knees endured the strike. Once again, he let the hammer bounce off, and followed the swing to rear it back to his left, making the next strike at her side. The final strike same down, and she had just enough time to block, but this one broke her guard. It sent her a good few feet back, but she managed to endure all three strikes, some with more ease than others.

“The circle is taking effect rather quickly with you. It usually take another half hour to kick in for most, but you seem more adept for this than you realize. Now, come at me. The exact same strikes.” The shade stood back and readied his key hammer to block. As if she knew how it was going to feel before she did it, the girl copied his exact movements. One step forward, bring the weight to his left with a resounding clang. Another step forward, reusing the momentum of the bounce, bring it down with a little additional force. Another resounding clang. A final step forward, and a new thought came to mind. Based on the reaction her own body felt, his wasn't likely super different physically. If I follow through to this strike with a way to move his hammer, I can get him. She moved in a slightly different manner than he did with his third swing. Instead of simply following through, she let the hammer fall more with it's hilt poised to hit his. The end of the steel pushed his hammer just far enough the she could bring hers down on his shoulder. The shade dropped the key and clutched the injured spot, but made no sound. It picked the key hammer back up and let it revert to it's original state.

“Consider my theory proven. Congratulations. You've accomplished what I didn't expect from any of you, and that's a pleasant surprise more than anything. With that said, the others still have about an hour left to get that done, so I'm going to need you to give me thirty pushups before I can let you go. In this circle, it's worth about five times what you actually accomplish, just be prepared for the soreness tomorrow. It isn't fun. You shouldn't worry too much though. We won't do this again until Thursday.” The girl groaned. “Ugh, pushups? Is that really what I have to do? Isn't there something else?” The shade didn't have a face, but if it did, it would be frowning.

“No. you can barely lift a 15 pound hammer. You need arm strength more than you know. Here, I'll even give you a reason for it. Say you've gotten into a duel with someone on Umbra's side, like you will at the end of the week. Provided you don't overpower them with your soul art, they're likely still standing and just fine. You enemies will not just let you go because you won. They will come and try to kill you with whatever means they have. Sure, losing the duel means the ritual is screwed, but you dead means one less obstacle for them to over come the next time they try. A little technical knowledge, and making a matterwave turn into something else isn't all that hard. What happens then, if you can't defend yourself?” He made a good point, and not one she could argue. “Alright, fine... I guess it's better to be safe then sorry.” The girl moved into push up position with her fulcrum at her knees.

“Uh, no. Bitch pushups are not allowed. Straighten your legs and give me a real ones.” She was afraid to admit that she hadn't ever been able to do a pushup before, but she went ahead and tried. To her utter surprise, it wasn't hard at all. As a matter of fact, before she knew it, she'd already accomplished a third of her quota. “So, what all magic is in this circle?” She said between breaths. The pushups were beginning to get harder.

“Good question. This is what my parents call a level eight spell. Typically, you won't see this high level magic in common use because of how taxing it is on the user, and quite often, the power spent to output ratio is highly unporportional. But in this case, you're seeing the result of the mixed dimension magic. Using what we learned from my father's home, a true level seven spell is actually quite less powerful than the combination of several more efficient spells used all at once. As you know, by the time one passes a level four spell, the ratio for power required to power obtained starts to skew itself, but at level four, it is the most efficient use of magic one can have. As such, by combining multiple lower level spells, you get higher level magic for half the cost and just as much power. I'm currently casting five spells right now. A single four, or my shadow conscious spell. A simple regeneration spell, the reason you don't have broken knees or ribs at the moment. The expansion spell that makes the space you're occupying twenty times as big as it is. The strengthening spell, or what's causing your work to quintuple, and finally...”  He helped her up after she finished her set. Her arms felt like wet noodles right now.

“The spell that's keeping onlookers from seeing us. Our 'real enemy' has been watching you ever since I arrived, which likely means she's been watching you ever since you arrived.” For some reason, she felt a chill run down her spine. “Well, you should be fine in his company in any case. I'm almost surprised you haven't noticed her presence yourself. You have good instincts.” The shade started to disappear and it's figure was replaced with Eclipse himself. He shook her hand with something inside of it and smiled with those bright yellow eyes at her. She felt like it was something familiar. Something soft. “Enjoy your reward. And try not to get too comfy with my cousin this time. You might want to hide these a little better though.” He let go of her hand, and suddenly, she was in front of the Library, back in Pony Ville. After running her thumb across what was in her hand, she immediately recognized it, and threw it back in her pocket. Did it fall out? Gah! Why did I even keep this thing? She thought to herself. Seconds later, the door swung open to Zephraim wearing a white apron over his black elastic shirt and dark gray cargo pants with his hair tied back. She almost thought it odd to find him in a pony tail.

“Oh, so you were the one who managed to hit him. Good job. And with a hammer too... Well, come on in. I'm making food. Just hang out or something. I suggest you don't move much to keep from feeling as little soreness as possible tomorrow.” He quickly turned away and headed back upstairs to where the smell of soy and brown sugar were filtering through the base of the library. The Mage walked inside and noticed several things that were different with the library. First of all, there was furniture. There were a few spaces between the bookshelves that lined the walls and raised to the ceiling, and most of them had a proper arm chair, or at least a nicer chair than the metal folding chairs they had been using. In other spots were kerosene lamps that were far brighter than the candles they had been using. Finally, there was a stack of books just sitting out on the table. Rather than going to see what they were, she decided to follow Zephraim upstairs. The smell of fire and bubbling oils and cooking meats started to increase as she went up.

Upon reaching the top floor, she found that the place had been completely rearranged. The two beds were moved closer to the window at the north east of the library, and a bookshelf toward the south west side had been moved in between the beds to reveal that the tree had a balcony hidden behind it's leaves somewhere on that side. There was a screen on a small console in the middle of the room connected to what looked like a generator of some kind, but not one she'd seen before. Near that was the couch she saw this morning, and another arm chair like the ones down stairs. The kitchen on the north west side of the library was covered in pots and pans, and Zephraim was at work. Fire and food flying in one direction or another and a giant pot boiling something that seemed to smell sweet and savory at the same time.

“So, I see you remodeled.” The man responded as if he were half listening to her and what he was doing. He turned his head once to see where she was, then returned to his work. “Not without help, but yeah. At some point that basement was hidden away with magic for some reason or other. Andromeda noticed it later in the night when he was pulling books to read yesterday. This place originally was owned by the Apples, but that store was hidden long before they got to Pony Ville almost 2500 years ago, yet it was already christened with their family crest. There's a book down there that chronicles it, but it too was in the cellar. Supposedly, this place was Ephraim's long ago because that was originally his Mark rather than a family crest. It makes sense, but none of the possible people who would have known about this place remember building it. In any case, most of the furniture is very ancient, but oddly well preserved.” He rattled off as he was tossing food one direction or another, adding sauces here and there, tasting things every now and again.

“I see. So... you wanna tell me what was going on this morninnng-!” The girl tried to lean on something, but had forgotten how useless her arms felt after working out what was apparently most of the day. However, she never hit the ground. She was caught before then, and suddenly, she was in his arms. Again. “I told you to relax. At least sit down if you wanna talk.” Embarrassed, infuriated, and infatuated, she simply complied and sat on the couch after being released. The Angel went back to doing his work. He emptied the larger cooking utensil which she suspected to be a wok into the larger pot with the sweet smell coming from it. The hot savory beef collided with the warm sweet sauce in the pot, making an unusual, but welcome rapture of smells. “So? What about this morning?” He said as he turned around. All the pots had lids on them, and each of the fires on the stove heads were barely burning. He looked to be simply keeping the food warm now.

“You were in my bed! That's what about this morning! And where did you learn that phrase?” The man came and sat in the arm chair just to the side of the couch. “What about it?” He said looking directly at her. She raised her hands. “Wha-? You! Were in! My bed! That is not okay!” The man reclined. “I don't see the problem here.  You were not gonna let me go sleep by myself, so I simply got comfortable.” The man splayed out his wings and put his hands on the back of his head. “What do you mean I wouldn't let you go? I know for a fact that I passed out after the...” The word was caught in her throat. She didn't want to say it. If it came out of her mouth, it was admitting defeat. For whatever reason, the notion that she was afraid of anything drove her insane. But... this was something she still hadn't gotten over, after so many years. She instinctively reached for her back, then pulled her hand away shortly after she figured out what she was doing. “You know what? Whatever. I was asleep, and then suddenly, you were with me when I woke up. Don't do it again.” The man closed his eyes. “As you wish. But I will say that you would have woke up freezing if I wasn't there.” He started to let his breath lengthen and slow. “Wait a minute, don't you go to sleep! I'm not done with you yet! Where did you learn that phrase?” It burned with the office building... That story shouldn't exist anymore...

“I was told not to answer that. For now, let's just say that you sent me on a trip last night.” I sent him on a trip? What does that mean? Wait... he was told the phrase? Who in the world knows it? I made it up! “Who told you that phrase! It shouldn't exist anymore! No one on this earth should know it but me!” The man sighed and moved in close to the girl. One arm on the back of the couch, the other on it's arm, she was trapped. He looked her deep in the eyes with his own. “If ever the sun, the moon, the sky and the earth came crashing down, I'll be there. Right by your side.” He kissed her forehead, and went down stairs. The sound of a door opening and footsteps walking inside meant the rest of the group had returned from training. The girl was stunned. She couldn't move. Her heart was beating a mile a minute, her entire body was warm, and her cheeks were flushed. What in the hell is going on?