Mystery Of The Fourby Haoryu ChangerChaptersPrologue: Moving InFirst School DayAfter SchoolPrologue: Moving InIn the upper-middle class of Ponyville, a newly built house stood. Not a gigantic house, probably a bit smaller than Ponyville's library. A few hours ago, the movers finished their job and left. A carriage pulled in afterwards, dropping off four colts. And those same colts now stood in front of the house. "This is our new home." The eldest said, with a voice a bit deeper than the average colt his age. This colt wore a spiked, night blue mane and tail, with his eyes having the same color, and his coat were a lighter shade of blue with a matching horn. On the back of the oldest colt, sat a foal, who babbled in response. The foal had some resemblance to which he was sitting on. He had a sky blue coat and a horn, with a lighter shade of blue for his spiked mane and tail. He had sky blue eyes, and he looked as big as the cake twins. The second youngest unicorn colt smiled at his big brother. He was half as tall as his older bro. His turquoise coat stood out, and he had a straight mane and tail that was blue as well. The last of the four, who was a year younger than the oldest, stood there silently, waiting for his older brother's next order. His coat was dark blue, reminding one of Luna's coat. His mane matched the oldest of the four, which he was a smidgen smaller than. Neither of them seemed to have their Cutie Marks yet. Not that surprising since none of them were any older than the Cutie Mark Crusaders. "Alright." The oldest colt started. "Let's get settled in." The other two followed as he started to walk inside. The youngest rode on his back. They found the living room. It was an average room. With beige walls, light brown couches of different sizes, dark brown tables, and picture frames up on the wall, holding pictures of different ponies who these four might know. The oldest used his magic and three cushions appeared in a flash of blue light. He plopped himself down on one, letting the youngest sit in his lap. The other two sat down and listened carefully. "Look, I know this is hard for both of you. It's hard on me too." He sighed. "I just thought that... we needed a quieter place to stay. She invited us here and everything happened so fast back at Bramane..." The other two knew who he was talking about when he said "she", but they didn't know what he meant by everything happening fast back in Bramane. "I want all of us to live normal lives, peaceful ones. Do you understand?" His younger brothers nodded, save for the foal, who was sucking on the edge of the cushion. The oldest stopped his baby brother from sucking the cushion and continued. "Alright, here's what's going to happen. Starting next week, every weekday, if you like it or not, you will go to school. Learn, have fun, make friends, the usual stuff. Every morning I'll take Blast to the daycare, for her to come and pick him up, and you two will head off straight to school. If I'm busy at the time, Comet will drop him off instead." This resulted in the second oldest, Comet, to nod. "When you come home, make sure you eat and feed Blast. You too burst." Burst, the second youngest, nodded happily. "You can choose when, but make sure you do your homework and chores." "Alright Game Changer," Comet replied. Game Changer remembered one more important thing. "And Comet! Don't take off yours, Burst's, or Blast's spell! Got it?" "Unless it's an emergency," He replied with a smirk. "Unless it's an emergency. That's why I taught you how to take it off in the first place." It was a stare-down between the serious Game Changer and smirking Comet. "We're going to meet a lot new ponies! Aren't we Comet?" Burst asked excitedly. He had a squeaky voice because of his young age. Comet turned and jumped up with a smile. "Yup! Can't wait to make new friends!" He replied, with a high voice. The oldest looked at his two brothers, he rarely smiled on the outside, this was no different. "It's great that they aren't too mad about moving out of Bramane. They actually look happy a little bit." He thought to himself. "Alright you three, do whatever you want. I'm going to go to the other room and relax. Please don't bother me unless it's important." "Okay, Game Changer," Burst said cheerfully. Game Changer got up from his seat and placed Blast on the floor. He made his way to the other room, where he pulled out some headphones and a portable CD music player. He plugged in the headphones and pulled out a CD case with multiple CDs inside. He took out one CD with a title that read: Reasoning: Unquestionable He placed the CD in the slot of the player and put on his headphones. He adjusted the volume to his liking, and skipped the songs until he found his favorite track, Lost Of Despise. He sat there quietly, listening to his music with his eyes closed. A couple seconds passed, and something started to disturb him. Which he soon realized that it was his brothers rampaging around the house. They yelled and laughed so loud that he could hear them even with his music blasting through his headphones. He grunted in frustration, and yelled. "Why do you all have to be so wild! Somepony's gonna get hurt!" After he yelled, there was no hint of noise coming from the rampaging colts. "How is that "playing" anyways? You're just screaming while you run around, doing Celestia knows what, like maniacs!" He got no response. "This isn't going to be easy." The older brother murmured. He knew that around that corner, three colts were giggling madly, even if one was just a foal. First School DayMs. Cheerilee stepped to the front of the classroom, blocking the students in the middle from seeing what was on the chalkboard. "Good morning class!" The kids stopped chatting as she spoke. "Today we have a new classmate. He's new to Ponyville and I want him to feel welcomed." She explained. Game Changer stepped inside from the doorway. He didn't show much emotion. Not even nervousness. Which is common for a new student his age. He just wore a frown, and stayed silent. "His name is Game Changer..." Ms. Cheerilee waited for him to introduce himself but he didn't. She decided to continue speaking. "Go and sit next to Diamond Tiara." She pointed to where his desk was. "We're learning about the Orders Of Operation at this time. Are you alright with that?" "Yes, I'm good at math." Game Changer went to his seat and sat down. He crossed his forelegs and closed his eyes as if he didn't want to pay attention. He was waiting for the teacher's lesson, but it didn't matter to him since he already knew the ins and outs of the Orders Of Operation. "Hey there." Game Changer opened his eyes. He looked to his right and saw a gray filly with baby blue glasses. Silver had a concerned look on her face. "Order Of Operations is kind of difficult. You may want to pay attention." Game Changer once again closed his eyes and replied, "I'll know when I need to pay attention." He simply said. Silver wanted to provoke him again but decided against it. She didn't want Ms. Cheerilee to get angry at her, and besides, it's his own fault if he fails. The students in the classroom listened to the lesson. They were all equally confused, save for Game Changer, but understood better as the lesson went on. "Ms. Cheerilee." A white coated, unicorn filly put her hoof up. Ms. Cheerilee stopped for a second and said, "Yes Sweetie Belle, go ahead." "Um, what do we do first? Multiplication, or Division?" She asked. "Either one is fine. Just make sure you answer going left to right, following the order of operations." She made clear. "Um, okay." Sweetie was still a bit confused, but soon she will get it. The lesson went on for ten more minutes, with students asking questions left and right. Though it didn't feel like Tartarus for Ms. Cheerilee like some would think. She loved teaching her students. Their innocent confused faces would soon be learning faces. Ms. Cheerilee glanced at the class every now and then, and she always saw Game Changer with crossed forelegs, looking down with his eyes closed. As if he wasn't paying attention. She decided she would speak to him if he was struggling later, then give him a lecture of why to pay attention in class. The only thing stopping her from not yelling at him in the middle of class was that he said himself that he was very good at math. She will soon see if that is true. "Okay class," She began. "You will all go in groups of three and practice as I mentioned yesterday." She pulled out a sheet of paper. "I already have some groups made here..." She started to name the groups out loud, and the students started to group up according to her readings. As she finished calling the groups, Game Changer with his eyes closed noticed that he wasn't in a group. "Oh!" Ms. Cheerilee realized. "Game Changer, you can work with Apple Bloom and Diamond Tiara. They only have two ponies in their group." She instructed. Game Changer opened his eyes and looked to his right to see two ponies, most likely Apple Bloom and Diamond Tiara, smiling and waving at him. He got out of his seat and went over to the desk they were at. He sat down and asked, "So what do we need to do?" "Weren't ya payin' attention?" Apple Bloom scowled. Game Changer noticed that the filly had a country slur. "I wasn't here yesterday..." He replied. Apple Bloom noticed how rude she was. "Oh! I'm sorry! A-Ah wasn't thinkin'." Game Changer crossed his forelegs and closed his eyes. "Don't worry about it." Diamond Tiara cleared her throat and started to explain. "Ms. Cheerilee said that we have to do twenty questions on Order Of Operations, and we have to do it on Bristol board." "Alright." "So? What color should we get?" Apple Bloom asked. "For the Bristol board? Um... maybe pink?" Diamond Tiara chose. "You're just saying that because you're pink. Ah think it should be red." Apple Bloom suggested. "First of all, I chose pink because it signifies elegance. And second, you're just picking red because of apples." She defended. "Pink doesn't represent elegance, it represents love. And yes, maybe ah chose red 'cause of apples. But that doesn't mean we shouldn't pick it." The two fillies started to argue. Before the fight got any more intense, Game Changer spoke up. He opened his eyes and said, "How about a light shade of blue, like the color of the sky. It stands out, and if you need to know, it signifies peacefulness." He honestly wanted sky blue because it made him think of his younger brothers, mostly Blast. The two fillies stopped arguing and turned to the colt. Apple Bloom beamed. "Sure! That sounds great! Diamond?" She shrugged. "It's alright with me. Light blue it is then." Game Changer once again closed his eyes with his hoofs crossed. Apple Bloom took initiative and went off to go get their picked Bristol board. Diamond Tiara and Game Changer sat there in awkward silence. After a minute or two, Diamond decided to start a conversation. "So?" She began. "Why'd you move to Ponyville?" She asked. Game Changer spoke up. "If you really want to know, I wanted to move to a more peaceful place." "You mean, you? Or your parents?" "Me." "Oh. Well... do you like it here so far." "I haven't been here for long, only about a week. But yes, I do like this place so far." "Cool. You'll love it here. Most ponies know each other already. It's like a big family of some sort." "Interesting." "So why did you say that you were the one who decided to move here?" Game Changer didn't want to answer that question. It was too personal and he didn't even know the filly all that well yet. "Can't you mind your own business." Diamond didn't take that to offense at all. The old one would have. "Oh... sorry... I'm still not good at that." "At what?" "At talking. I-It's a long story." Apple Bloom returned with a sky blue Bristol board on her back. She placed it down on the table along with a some markers and a sheet of paper with twenty questions on it. "Here's the stuff. Let's get to work." The whole class was hard at work. Some struggling but soon picked up when Cheerilee came around to assist. Apple Bloom and Diamond Tiara was so into their work that they didn't notice that Game Changer wasn't helping. It wasn't until Apple Bloom looked up to get a red marker, that she saw the colt doing nothing. "Hey! Are ya gonna do any work, or just sit there and do nothin'?" Apple Bloom, slightly mad, asked. Game Changer simply replied, "If I do help. You won't learn anything." Apple Bloom and Diamond exchanged confused faces. "What do you mean?" Diamond asked. "If I do the questions, I'll get them all right in a minute, and you two won't get a chance to experience and learn how to do them properly." "That's horse apples!" Apple Bloom shot back. Game Changer didn't respond. Eyes still closed. "Alright Mr. Smartypants." Apple Bloom took the sheet with all the questions. "What's... question seven?" Apple Bloom showed the question sheet to Game Changer, who glanced at it for a mere question. 7. 6 + 4 × 9 "Forty-two," He answered as he closed his eyes again. Apple Bloom looked at the Bristol board. "...Ha! You're wrong. It's ninety." She said with confidence. "You forgot that you had to do the multiplication first," He said. Apple Bloom's ears dropped as her confidence dropped tenfold. "U-Um..." Diamond Tiara showed Apple Bloom a scientific calculator. "He's right," She said. "O-Okay, lucky guess... What's question twelve?" "Seventeen." He instantly replied. Apple Bloom was baffled. "You didn't even look at the question!" "But he got it right!" Diamond Tiara said while punching in on her calculator. "What?" "While I looked at question seven I used the opportunity to look at all the other questions," He explained. "B-But, how?" Game Changer sighed. "You should get a new Bristol board, same color. You wrote your mistake with the marker. Get a piece of paper and write rough work on there. I'll check the answers and correct you, and we'll write our finished answers on the new Bristol board." "Alright! That sounds great! Ah'll get a new Bristol board right away-" "Class! It's almost time for recess. Organized your stuff for later and get ready for lunch." Ms. Cheerilee instructed. "Ah guess it's time for recess then." "We'll continue after lunch." Game Changer got out of his seat and used his magic to levitate all the papers and stacked them from biggest to smallest. He put all the markers back in their case and began to trot back to his desk. Apple Bloom and Diamond Tiara went to their own seats. Waiting for the other students to finish putting away their stuff. After a few minutes, everypony was finished, and Ms. Cheerilee let everypony out for recess. Fillies and Colts were running around, playing. Some were on the merry-go-round, at the slide, or playing tag. A group of fillies and colts from Ms. Cheerilee's class and some from other classes were about to play some stallionhunt. "Alright, so Scootaloo's it." Sweetie asked. Scootaloo didn't mind since she was one of the fastest in their class. It didn't even serve as a challenge. But something was on her mind. She looked over to the swing set and saw the new colt reading a red colored book by himself. "Hey, everypony. Want to ask the new kid if he wants to play?" Scootaloo asked. "Ah don't know. He seems really into that book." Apple Bloom used the book as an excuse. She felt as if this colt wasn't the playing type. "Oh come on. It's not like he's Twilight or anything." Scootaloo began to trot over to Game Changer. "Scootaloo! Wait!-" Apple Bloom sighed in frustration. Game Changer flipped a page through the book titled: Creatures In Equestria. He heard hoofsteps coming from his right and looked up to see an orange pegasus coming his way. Scootaloo smiled at him and asked, "Hey there! Do you wanna play stallionhunt with us?" "I'm busy at the moment." He returned to read his book. "Come on! Don't be such a bookworm." Scootaloo reached in to grab the book to stop him from reading. Game Changer reacted quickly and pulled back, making Scootaloo miss the book by an inch. "I said I'm busy!" He got up from the swing set and started walking away. "Now leave me alone!" Scootaloo frowned and scratched her head. "What's his deal?" She turned and walked back to the group. "Taken by how he stormed off, he doesn't want to play with us, does he?" Diamond asked. "Nope." "Ah told you he wasn't going to play." Apple Bloom told. "He's so stubborn," Scootaloo said with a frown, as she crossed her forelegs and sat down. "Not so much stubborn. But..." Apple Bloom was lost in thought, not knowing how to describe him. "It looks to me like he's hiding something." Scootaloo thought. Others started to nod in agreement. "What makes you think that?" Apple Bloom asked, clearly a bit mad at Scootaloo's conclusions. "Well he's always quiet, he keeps himself away from others as much as possible. He's... just so secretive." "He's just nervous that's all... Right?" "Really Apple Bloom?" "Alright, maybe not." "I agree with Scootaloo." Diamond Tiara said. "While Apple Bloom went to get supplies for our work, he and I talked." "What happened?" Dinky asked. Others started to surround Diamond. "Nothing really. I just asked where he came from, if he liked it here, and so on." Diamond Tiara put a hoof to her chin. "But one thing did seem suspicious." "What?" Rumble asked. "He said that he decided to move here, and he didn't mention his parents at all." She informed. "Hmm, that does seem odd." Sweetie Belle added. "And when I asked him why he said that, he told me kind of rudely to mind my own business. I know it wasn't my business, but his reaction seemed odd." All heads, except for Diamond Tiara who was still lost in thought, turned to see Apple Bloom. She stared, frowned and finally admitted defeat. "Okay! Yes, he's probably hiding something. Ah just didn't want to invade his privacy, but the anticipation is killing me!" The others smiled at her response, as the school bell rang to indicate the end of recess. "We better get back to class." Silver Spoon said. They all got up and went back to their classroom. For the rest of school. The kids went on with their work. Apple Bloom and Diamond Tiara worked on the questions while Game Changer sat there with his eyes closed, forelegs crossed. Once they were done, Game Changer looked at the rough work and pointed out their mistakes. They got the "multiplication first" right, but still didn't understand division. After he corrected all of the work, he helped put it on their sky blue Bristol board. They handed it in right after, and Ms. Cheerilee was surprised of how early they finished. She looked over the answers and was shocked to see every single one right. They even put brackets down to help organize the equations. She smiled at the three and congratulated them on their fabulous work. For the rest of class, Diamond, and Apple Bloom played board games, that Cheerilee supplied them with, to pass the time. They also secretly talked about a plan to find out Game Changer's possible secrets. After school, the group of school kids gathered at the Cutie Mark Clubhouse to discuss the plan. What are these devious, but curious, kids up to? And what will they find? After SchoolThe end of school. For most it meant joy, fun, and freedom. For Game Changer however, it meant work. He was trotting down to the Daycare service. He didn't so much hate it, he just didn't trust it. He was forced to keep his baby brother there until his trusted babysitter came to pick him up. But today she was unavailable so Blast had no choice but to stay at the daycare. Hopefully, he was alright at the place. It's just one day... The first day. As he arrived at the Daycare building, a wine red mare trotted out with Blast on her back. Game Changer went at ease once he saw his brother alright. He couldn't take ANY chances. Especially after what happened back in Bramane. He approached the mare, and she recognized him. She smiled as Game Changer used his magic to levitated Blast off of her and onto him. He gave his thanks and walked off. After a couple of minutes walking, he looked back at his brother who was riding his back. He sighed. "Was it a good idea coming here?" Blast babbled in response. For a split second he slightly smiled. No pony could have noticed without looking at Game Changer in the eye. Very soon after that quick smile came a determined face. "I won't let any of those... things, get you. Not you, not Burst, and not Comet. I swear it!" Suddenly, something rustling could be heard. Game Changer snapped his head towards the noise, but all he saw was bushes. He narrowed his eyes at the bushes but decided to ignore the noise so he soon took off again. Game Changer opened the door to his house, and what he saw didn't surprise him. Mess, mess, and more mess. It's always the same deal with his other two brothers. Mostly Comet. Changer sighed. "Why...?" He asked himself in annoyance. He heard an explosion from the kitchen. From what it sounded like, Game Changer guessed it was a magic blast from Comet. He charged up his horn and teleported himself and Blast to the kitchen. Where Comet was on a counter about to throw a cake. He quickly took away the cake from his reckless brother with his magic, making him slip off the counter and falling to the floor and causing Blast to start laughing. His gaze turned towards Burst, who was also about to throw a cake but stopped when he saw Game Changer. "Hi, Game Changer!" He said innocently. "Hey." Changer looked back at Comet, who was rubbing his head from the fall. "What, is going on here?" "Hey, Game Changer. We were just playing around." "Playing around. Really...?" He deadpanned. "Okay! So we were making a bit of a mess. But that can be fixed with one swipe of magic. Watch!" Comet's horn glowed dark blue and in a scan of magic, the room was clean along with the rest of the house. "That's not the point!" Game Changer argued. "I don't see any other problems." Game Changer frowned. "The point is that I don't want to attract attention. You're making a mess and a bunch of noise, and that really doesn't help!" "Oh come on! Chill out will ya?" Game Changer gave Comet an intensifying glare. "Why can't you just be responsible for once. When I'm not home you are the pony in charge." Comet rolled his eyes. "Or do I have to put Burst in charge?" This made the reckless colt grit his teeth in anger. He walked up to his older brother and stared him down in the face. Game Changer sighed once again. "I think you need to chill out." Comet's eyes widened as blue magic surrounded him. When he looked up back at his brother he saw his horn glowing. "Hey!" He tried to protest. Comet started to slowly rise in the air uncontrollably. "Sorry, but you'll never learn otherwise. ...Actually, you'd probably still wouldn't learn after this." After Game Changer's sentence was finished, Comet disappeared in a flash. Burst tugged on Game Changer's leg and asked, "Is Comet going to be okay Game Changer?" He asked adorably. "Oh, I'm sure he'll be fine with Mr. Discord. But enough with that. How about I start teaching you how to use your magic. Properly." Burst's eyes glistened at this offer. "Really?!" Game Changer nodded. "Yaaay!" He screamed in joy. Game Changer mentally sighed. "Hopefully he won't turn out like Comet." He thought. "Come on. Let's go to the backyard." Changer commanded. For the next hour, Game Changer taught Burst basic magic abilities. Levitation, physical contact, and other beginner spells. Blast was on the sidelines, smiling and yelling in joy. At one point, a butterfly landed on his nose, causing him to sneeze cutely. Soon after, he began to teach Burst basic teleportation. Burst grew a little tired of all the magic usage, but he always picked himself up, determined to impress his older bro. Game Changer was positive that Burst was ready for combat spells. Just in case. "Alright. This next lesson will be a little different. Just bare with me, okay?" "Alright! I'm ready for anything!" He said excitedly. "Okay. Now this is an easy spell once you get the hang of it." Game Changer backed up. He was about ten meters away from Burst. "First, you want to concentrate." He started. Burst closed his eyes and took in a deep breath. "Good. Now, remember how I taught you physical magic?" Burst nodded his head, eyes still closed. "You want to focus your physical magic on one point, just in front of your horn." Burst started to squint his eyes, straining himself to channel his magic. Game Changer could see a shining, albeit weak, blue magical ball form, in front of Burst's horn. "That's it." Burst gritted his teeth and started to sweat. He was trying his hardest to create the physical magic in front of him. After the electric magic ball grew a bit bigger, Game Changer called out, "Now what you want to do, is try to throw your magic at me! Usually, it should explode on impact, but that's another lesson!" Burst made a small gasp. "B-But... won't it hurt you?" He asked worriedly. "Don't worry. It won't." "O-Okay." Burst drew his head back a bit and snapped it forward to throw the magic at Game Changer. After hearing a small impact in front of him, Burst opened one eye and saw that his magic only went a few feet in front of him. He opened his other eye and was saddened. "Aww..." His little ears drooped low. Game Changer walked up to his younger brother and placed a hoof on his shoulder. "How about we take a break for now. Is tomorrow after school a good time for your next practice? Burst gave him a sad smile and nodded. "Hey, don't be sad. That was a great first try. Just because you didn't get it today doesn't mean you'll never ever get it. If you practice, you'll be able to do it in no time." Changer reassured him. Burst nodded and hugged Game Changer. "Okay." Game Changer ruffled Burst's hair lovingly, and Burst broke his embrace. Just then, a soft thud sound could be heard behind them. They heard Blast giggling and they turned to see Comet flat on his belly. "Have fun?" Game Changer asked without emotion. "Oh yeah, totally! Discord and I went on a pranking spree. The funniest in my opinion was this rainbow pegasus's reaction. I tried to get Discord to prank this yellow pegasus, but he kept on yapping on how she's too delicate or something like that. Oh well, I'll get her myself one day." Game Changer shook his head and sighed. "One day, you'll understand Comet. One day." Comet stretched. "Well. All that pranking made me hungry. What's for dinner?" "Bring Blast and come inside. I'll cook something up." So with that, the four went inside. To soon eat, and rest for the night. Meanwhile "He even takes care of his three brothers! He's such a gentlecolt..." "He's smart, responsible. I LOVE his attitude. He's always so... serious. He rarely shows any other emotion." "But..." "I don't know if I should ask him..." A group of colts and fillies from Ms. Cheerilee's class grouped up after spying on Game Changer. They couldn't see what happened inside his home, but they did see what happened in his backyard. "Nothing today guys. We'll have to settle for tomorrow." Scootaloo said. "Well, we have some clues. Like, what was he talking about when he said he won't let any of those "things" get them?" Sweetie Belle added. "He's hiding somethin'. But what?" Apple Bloom asked. "We have to be patient. That's all." Diamond Tiara explained. "We'll meet up here tomorrow. And we'll find out eventually." Silver Spoon said. "Alright. Well, I have to go. See you guys later." Rumble started his departure. "Me too. It's getting late." Button Mash said. "Okay, bye!" One by one the kids left. All were anticipating for the secrets to soon be revealed. But one stood out. She liked this colt. Much more than she should. Perhaps she has a secret aswell?
Prologue: Moving InIn the upper-middle class of Ponyville, a newly built house stood. Not a gigantic house, probably a bit smaller than Ponyville's library. A few hours ago, the movers finished their job and left. A carriage pulled in afterwards, dropping off four colts. And those same colts now stood in front of the house. "This is our new home." The eldest said, with a voice a bit deeper than the average colt his age. This colt wore a spiked, night blue mane and tail, with his eyes having the same color, and his coat were a lighter shade of blue with a matching horn. On the back of the oldest colt, sat a foal, who babbled in response. The foal had some resemblance to which he was sitting on. He had a sky blue coat and a horn, with a lighter shade of blue for his spiked mane and tail. He had sky blue eyes, and he looked as big as the cake twins. The second youngest unicorn colt smiled at his big brother. He was half as tall as his older bro. His turquoise coat stood out, and he had a straight mane and tail that was blue as well. The last of the four, who was a year younger than the oldest, stood there silently, waiting for his older brother's next order. His coat was dark blue, reminding one of Luna's coat. His mane matched the oldest of the four, which he was a smidgen smaller than. Neither of them seemed to have their Cutie Marks yet. Not that surprising since none of them were any older than the Cutie Mark Crusaders. "Alright." The oldest colt started. "Let's get settled in." The other two followed as he started to walk inside. The youngest rode on his back. They found the living room. It was an average room. With beige walls, light brown couches of different sizes, dark brown tables, and picture frames up on the wall, holding pictures of different ponies who these four might know. The oldest used his magic and three cushions appeared in a flash of blue light. He plopped himself down on one, letting the youngest sit in his lap. The other two sat down and listened carefully. "Look, I know this is hard for both of you. It's hard on me too." He sighed. "I just thought that... we needed a quieter place to stay. She invited us here and everything happened so fast back at Bramane..." The other two knew who he was talking about when he said "she", but they didn't know what he meant by everything happening fast back in Bramane. "I want all of us to live normal lives, peaceful ones. Do you understand?" His younger brothers nodded, save for the foal, who was sucking on the edge of the cushion. The oldest stopped his baby brother from sucking the cushion and continued. "Alright, here's what's going to happen. Starting next week, every weekday, if you like it or not, you will go to school. Learn, have fun, make friends, the usual stuff. Every morning I'll take Blast to the daycare, for her to come and pick him up, and you two will head off straight to school. If I'm busy at the time, Comet will drop him off instead." This resulted in the second oldest, Comet, to nod. "When you come home, make sure you eat and feed Blast. You too burst." Burst, the second youngest, nodded happily. "You can choose when, but make sure you do your homework and chores." "Alright Game Changer," Comet replied. Game Changer remembered one more important thing. "And Comet! Don't take off yours, Burst's, or Blast's spell! Got it?" "Unless it's an emergency," He replied with a smirk. "Unless it's an emergency. That's why I taught you how to take it off in the first place." It was a stare-down between the serious Game Changer and smirking Comet. "We're going to meet a lot new ponies! Aren't we Comet?" Burst asked excitedly. He had a squeaky voice because of his young age. Comet turned and jumped up with a smile. "Yup! Can't wait to make new friends!" He replied, with a high voice. The oldest looked at his two brothers, he rarely smiled on the outside, this was no different. "It's great that they aren't too mad about moving out of Bramane. They actually look happy a little bit." He thought to himself. "Alright you three, do whatever you want. I'm going to go to the other room and relax. Please don't bother me unless it's important." "Okay, Game Changer," Burst said cheerfully. Game Changer got up from his seat and placed Blast on the floor. He made his way to the other room, where he pulled out some headphones and a portable CD music player. He plugged in the headphones and pulled out a CD case with multiple CDs inside. He took out one CD with a title that read: Reasoning: Unquestionable He placed the CD in the slot of the player and put on his headphones. He adjusted the volume to his liking, and skipped the songs until he found his favorite track, Lost Of Despise. He sat there quietly, listening to his music with his eyes closed. A couple seconds passed, and something started to disturb him. Which he soon realized that it was his brothers rampaging around the house. They yelled and laughed so loud that he could hear them even with his music blasting through his headphones. He grunted in frustration, and yelled. "Why do you all have to be so wild! Somepony's gonna get hurt!" After he yelled, there was no hint of noise coming from the rampaging colts. "How is that "playing" anyways? You're just screaming while you run around, doing Celestia knows what, like maniacs!" He got no response. "This isn't going to be easy." The older brother murmured. He knew that around that corner, three colts were giggling madly, even if one was just a foal.
First School DayMs. Cheerilee stepped to the front of the classroom, blocking the students in the middle from seeing what was on the chalkboard. "Good morning class!" The kids stopped chatting as she spoke. "Today we have a new classmate. He's new to Ponyville and I want him to feel welcomed." She explained. Game Changer stepped inside from the doorway. He didn't show much emotion. Not even nervousness. Which is common for a new student his age. He just wore a frown, and stayed silent. "His name is Game Changer..." Ms. Cheerilee waited for him to introduce himself but he didn't. She decided to continue speaking. "Go and sit next to Diamond Tiara." She pointed to where his desk was. "We're learning about the Orders Of Operation at this time. Are you alright with that?" "Yes, I'm good at math." Game Changer went to his seat and sat down. He crossed his forelegs and closed his eyes as if he didn't want to pay attention. He was waiting for the teacher's lesson, but it didn't matter to him since he already knew the ins and outs of the Orders Of Operation. "Hey there." Game Changer opened his eyes. He looked to his right and saw a gray filly with baby blue glasses. Silver had a concerned look on her face. "Order Of Operations is kind of difficult. You may want to pay attention." Game Changer once again closed his eyes and replied, "I'll know when I need to pay attention." He simply said. Silver wanted to provoke him again but decided against it. She didn't want Ms. Cheerilee to get angry at her, and besides, it's his own fault if he fails. The students in the classroom listened to the lesson. They were all equally confused, save for Game Changer, but understood better as the lesson went on. "Ms. Cheerilee." A white coated, unicorn filly put her hoof up. Ms. Cheerilee stopped for a second and said, "Yes Sweetie Belle, go ahead." "Um, what do we do first? Multiplication, or Division?" She asked. "Either one is fine. Just make sure you answer going left to right, following the order of operations." She made clear. "Um, okay." Sweetie was still a bit confused, but soon she will get it. The lesson went on for ten more minutes, with students asking questions left and right. Though it didn't feel like Tartarus for Ms. Cheerilee like some would think. She loved teaching her students. Their innocent confused faces would soon be learning faces. Ms. Cheerilee glanced at the class every now and then, and she always saw Game Changer with crossed forelegs, looking down with his eyes closed. As if he wasn't paying attention. She decided she would speak to him if he was struggling later, then give him a lecture of why to pay attention in class. The only thing stopping her from not yelling at him in the middle of class was that he said himself that he was very good at math. She will soon see if that is true. "Okay class," She began. "You will all go in groups of three and practice as I mentioned yesterday." She pulled out a sheet of paper. "I already have some groups made here..." She started to name the groups out loud, and the students started to group up according to her readings. As she finished calling the groups, Game Changer with his eyes closed noticed that he wasn't in a group. "Oh!" Ms. Cheerilee realized. "Game Changer, you can work with Apple Bloom and Diamond Tiara. They only have two ponies in their group." She instructed. Game Changer opened his eyes and looked to his right to see two ponies, most likely Apple Bloom and Diamond Tiara, smiling and waving at him. He got out of his seat and went over to the desk they were at. He sat down and asked, "So what do we need to do?" "Weren't ya payin' attention?" Apple Bloom scowled. Game Changer noticed that the filly had a country slur. "I wasn't here yesterday..." He replied. Apple Bloom noticed how rude she was. "Oh! I'm sorry! A-Ah wasn't thinkin'." Game Changer crossed his forelegs and closed his eyes. "Don't worry about it." Diamond Tiara cleared her throat and started to explain. "Ms. Cheerilee said that we have to do twenty questions on Order Of Operations, and we have to do it on Bristol board." "Alright." "So? What color should we get?" Apple Bloom asked. "For the Bristol board? Um... maybe pink?" Diamond Tiara chose. "You're just saying that because you're pink. Ah think it should be red." Apple Bloom suggested. "First of all, I chose pink because it signifies elegance. And second, you're just picking red because of apples." She defended. "Pink doesn't represent elegance, it represents love. And yes, maybe ah chose red 'cause of apples. But that doesn't mean we shouldn't pick it." The two fillies started to argue. Before the fight got any more intense, Game Changer spoke up. He opened his eyes and said, "How about a light shade of blue, like the color of the sky. It stands out, and if you need to know, it signifies peacefulness." He honestly wanted sky blue because it made him think of his younger brothers, mostly Blast. The two fillies stopped arguing and turned to the colt. Apple Bloom beamed. "Sure! That sounds great! Diamond?" She shrugged. "It's alright with me. Light blue it is then." Game Changer once again closed his eyes with his hoofs crossed. Apple Bloom took initiative and went off to go get their picked Bristol board. Diamond Tiara and Game Changer sat there in awkward silence. After a minute or two, Diamond decided to start a conversation. "So?" She began. "Why'd you move to Ponyville?" She asked. Game Changer spoke up. "If you really want to know, I wanted to move to a more peaceful place." "You mean, you? Or your parents?" "Me." "Oh. Well... do you like it here so far." "I haven't been here for long, only about a week. But yes, I do like this place so far." "Cool. You'll love it here. Most ponies know each other already. It's like a big family of some sort." "Interesting." "So why did you say that you were the one who decided to move here?" Game Changer didn't want to answer that question. It was too personal and he didn't even know the filly all that well yet. "Can't you mind your own business." Diamond didn't take that to offense at all. The old one would have. "Oh... sorry... I'm still not good at that." "At what?" "At talking. I-It's a long story." Apple Bloom returned with a sky blue Bristol board on her back. She placed it down on the table along with a some markers and a sheet of paper with twenty questions on it. "Here's the stuff. Let's get to work." The whole class was hard at work. Some struggling but soon picked up when Cheerilee came around to assist. Apple Bloom and Diamond Tiara was so into their work that they didn't notice that Game Changer wasn't helping. It wasn't until Apple Bloom looked up to get a red marker, that she saw the colt doing nothing. "Hey! Are ya gonna do any work, or just sit there and do nothin'?" Apple Bloom, slightly mad, asked. Game Changer simply replied, "If I do help. You won't learn anything." Apple Bloom and Diamond exchanged confused faces. "What do you mean?" Diamond asked. "If I do the questions, I'll get them all right in a minute, and you two won't get a chance to experience and learn how to do them properly." "That's horse apples!" Apple Bloom shot back. Game Changer didn't respond. Eyes still closed. "Alright Mr. Smartypants." Apple Bloom took the sheet with all the questions. "What's... question seven?" Apple Bloom showed the question sheet to Game Changer, who glanced at it for a mere question. 7. 6 + 4 × 9 "Forty-two," He answered as he closed his eyes again. Apple Bloom looked at the Bristol board. "...Ha! You're wrong. It's ninety." She said with confidence. "You forgot that you had to do the multiplication first," He said. Apple Bloom's ears dropped as her confidence dropped tenfold. "U-Um..." Diamond Tiara showed Apple Bloom a scientific calculator. "He's right," She said. "O-Okay, lucky guess... What's question twelve?" "Seventeen." He instantly replied. Apple Bloom was baffled. "You didn't even look at the question!" "But he got it right!" Diamond Tiara said while punching in on her calculator. "What?" "While I looked at question seven I used the opportunity to look at all the other questions," He explained. "B-But, how?" Game Changer sighed. "You should get a new Bristol board, same color. You wrote your mistake with the marker. Get a piece of paper and write rough work on there. I'll check the answers and correct you, and we'll write our finished answers on the new Bristol board." "Alright! That sounds great! Ah'll get a new Bristol board right away-" "Class! It's almost time for recess. Organized your stuff for later and get ready for lunch." Ms. Cheerilee instructed. "Ah guess it's time for recess then." "We'll continue after lunch." Game Changer got out of his seat and used his magic to levitate all the papers and stacked them from biggest to smallest. He put all the markers back in their case and began to trot back to his desk. Apple Bloom and Diamond Tiara went to their own seats. Waiting for the other students to finish putting away their stuff. After a few minutes, everypony was finished, and Ms. Cheerilee let everypony out for recess. Fillies and Colts were running around, playing. Some were on the merry-go-round, at the slide, or playing tag. A group of fillies and colts from Ms. Cheerilee's class and some from other classes were about to play some stallionhunt. "Alright, so Scootaloo's it." Sweetie asked. Scootaloo didn't mind since she was one of the fastest in their class. It didn't even serve as a challenge. But something was on her mind. She looked over to the swing set and saw the new colt reading a red colored book by himself. "Hey, everypony. Want to ask the new kid if he wants to play?" Scootaloo asked. "Ah don't know. He seems really into that book." Apple Bloom used the book as an excuse. She felt as if this colt wasn't the playing type. "Oh come on. It's not like he's Twilight or anything." Scootaloo began to trot over to Game Changer. "Scootaloo! Wait!-" Apple Bloom sighed in frustration. Game Changer flipped a page through the book titled: Creatures In Equestria. He heard hoofsteps coming from his right and looked up to see an orange pegasus coming his way. Scootaloo smiled at him and asked, "Hey there! Do you wanna play stallionhunt with us?" "I'm busy at the moment." He returned to read his book. "Come on! Don't be such a bookworm." Scootaloo reached in to grab the book to stop him from reading. Game Changer reacted quickly and pulled back, making Scootaloo miss the book by an inch. "I said I'm busy!" He got up from the swing set and started walking away. "Now leave me alone!" Scootaloo frowned and scratched her head. "What's his deal?" She turned and walked back to the group. "Taken by how he stormed off, he doesn't want to play with us, does he?" Diamond asked. "Nope." "Ah told you he wasn't going to play." Apple Bloom told. "He's so stubborn," Scootaloo said with a frown, as she crossed her forelegs and sat down. "Not so much stubborn. But..." Apple Bloom was lost in thought, not knowing how to describe him. "It looks to me like he's hiding something." Scootaloo thought. Others started to nod in agreement. "What makes you think that?" Apple Bloom asked, clearly a bit mad at Scootaloo's conclusions. "Well he's always quiet, he keeps himself away from others as much as possible. He's... just so secretive." "He's just nervous that's all... Right?" "Really Apple Bloom?" "Alright, maybe not." "I agree with Scootaloo." Diamond Tiara said. "While Apple Bloom went to get supplies for our work, he and I talked." "What happened?" Dinky asked. Others started to surround Diamond. "Nothing really. I just asked where he came from, if he liked it here, and so on." Diamond Tiara put a hoof to her chin. "But one thing did seem suspicious." "What?" Rumble asked. "He said that he decided to move here, and he didn't mention his parents at all." She informed. "Hmm, that does seem odd." Sweetie Belle added. "And when I asked him why he said that, he told me kind of rudely to mind my own business. I know it wasn't my business, but his reaction seemed odd." All heads, except for Diamond Tiara who was still lost in thought, turned to see Apple Bloom. She stared, frowned and finally admitted defeat. "Okay! Yes, he's probably hiding something. Ah just didn't want to invade his privacy, but the anticipation is killing me!" The others smiled at her response, as the school bell rang to indicate the end of recess. "We better get back to class." Silver Spoon said. They all got up and went back to their classroom. For the rest of school. The kids went on with their work. Apple Bloom and Diamond Tiara worked on the questions while Game Changer sat there with his eyes closed, forelegs crossed. Once they were done, Game Changer looked at the rough work and pointed out their mistakes. They got the "multiplication first" right, but still didn't understand division. After he corrected all of the work, he helped put it on their sky blue Bristol board. They handed it in right after, and Ms. Cheerilee was surprised of how early they finished. She looked over the answers and was shocked to see every single one right. They even put brackets down to help organize the equations. She smiled at the three and congratulated them on their fabulous work. For the rest of class, Diamond, and Apple Bloom played board games, that Cheerilee supplied them with, to pass the time. They also secretly talked about a plan to find out Game Changer's possible secrets. After school, the group of school kids gathered at the Cutie Mark Clubhouse to discuss the plan. What are these devious, but curious, kids up to? And what will they find?
After SchoolThe end of school. For most it meant joy, fun, and freedom. For Game Changer however, it meant work. He was trotting down to the Daycare service. He didn't so much hate it, he just didn't trust it. He was forced to keep his baby brother there until his trusted babysitter came to pick him up. But today she was unavailable so Blast had no choice but to stay at the daycare. Hopefully, he was alright at the place. It's just one day... The first day. As he arrived at the Daycare building, a wine red mare trotted out with Blast on her back. Game Changer went at ease once he saw his brother alright. He couldn't take ANY chances. Especially after what happened back in Bramane. He approached the mare, and she recognized him. She smiled as Game Changer used his magic to levitated Blast off of her and onto him. He gave his thanks and walked off. After a couple of minutes walking, he looked back at his brother who was riding his back. He sighed. "Was it a good idea coming here?" Blast babbled in response. For a split second he slightly smiled. No pony could have noticed without looking at Game Changer in the eye. Very soon after that quick smile came a determined face. "I won't let any of those... things, get you. Not you, not Burst, and not Comet. I swear it!" Suddenly, something rustling could be heard. Game Changer snapped his head towards the noise, but all he saw was bushes. He narrowed his eyes at the bushes but decided to ignore the noise so he soon took off again. Game Changer opened the door to his house, and what he saw didn't surprise him. Mess, mess, and more mess. It's always the same deal with his other two brothers. Mostly Comet. Changer sighed. "Why...?" He asked himself in annoyance. He heard an explosion from the kitchen. From what it sounded like, Game Changer guessed it was a magic blast from Comet. He charged up his horn and teleported himself and Blast to the kitchen. Where Comet was on a counter about to throw a cake. He quickly took away the cake from his reckless brother with his magic, making him slip off the counter and falling to the floor and causing Blast to start laughing. His gaze turned towards Burst, who was also about to throw a cake but stopped when he saw Game Changer. "Hi, Game Changer!" He said innocently. "Hey." Changer looked back at Comet, who was rubbing his head from the fall. "What, is going on here?" "Hey, Game Changer. We were just playing around." "Playing around. Really...?" He deadpanned. "Okay! So we were making a bit of a mess. But that can be fixed with one swipe of magic. Watch!" Comet's horn glowed dark blue and in a scan of magic, the room was clean along with the rest of the house. "That's not the point!" Game Changer argued. "I don't see any other problems." Game Changer frowned. "The point is that I don't want to attract attention. You're making a mess and a bunch of noise, and that really doesn't help!" "Oh come on! Chill out will ya?" Game Changer gave Comet an intensifying glare. "Why can't you just be responsible for once. When I'm not home you are the pony in charge." Comet rolled his eyes. "Or do I have to put Burst in charge?" This made the reckless colt grit his teeth in anger. He walked up to his older brother and stared him down in the face. Game Changer sighed once again. "I think you need to chill out." Comet's eyes widened as blue magic surrounded him. When he looked up back at his brother he saw his horn glowing. "Hey!" He tried to protest. Comet started to slowly rise in the air uncontrollably. "Sorry, but you'll never learn otherwise. ...Actually, you'd probably still wouldn't learn after this." After Game Changer's sentence was finished, Comet disappeared in a flash. Burst tugged on Game Changer's leg and asked, "Is Comet going to be okay Game Changer?" He asked adorably. "Oh, I'm sure he'll be fine with Mr. Discord. But enough with that. How about I start teaching you how to use your magic. Properly." Burst's eyes glistened at this offer. "Really?!" Game Changer nodded. "Yaaay!" He screamed in joy. Game Changer mentally sighed. "Hopefully he won't turn out like Comet." He thought. "Come on. Let's go to the backyard." Changer commanded. For the next hour, Game Changer taught Burst basic magic abilities. Levitation, physical contact, and other beginner spells. Blast was on the sidelines, smiling and yelling in joy. At one point, a butterfly landed on his nose, causing him to sneeze cutely. Soon after, he began to teach Burst basic teleportation. Burst grew a little tired of all the magic usage, but he always picked himself up, determined to impress his older bro. Game Changer was positive that Burst was ready for combat spells. Just in case. "Alright. This next lesson will be a little different. Just bare with me, okay?" "Alright! I'm ready for anything!" He said excitedly. "Okay. Now this is an easy spell once you get the hang of it." Game Changer backed up. He was about ten meters away from Burst. "First, you want to concentrate." He started. Burst closed his eyes and took in a deep breath. "Good. Now, remember how I taught you physical magic?" Burst nodded his head, eyes still closed. "You want to focus your physical magic on one point, just in front of your horn." Burst started to squint his eyes, straining himself to channel his magic. Game Changer could see a shining, albeit weak, blue magical ball form, in front of Burst's horn. "That's it." Burst gritted his teeth and started to sweat. He was trying his hardest to create the physical magic in front of him. After the electric magic ball grew a bit bigger, Game Changer called out, "Now what you want to do, is try to throw your magic at me! Usually, it should explode on impact, but that's another lesson!" Burst made a small gasp. "B-But... won't it hurt you?" He asked worriedly. "Don't worry. It won't." "O-Okay." Burst drew his head back a bit and snapped it forward to throw the magic at Game Changer. After hearing a small impact in front of him, Burst opened one eye and saw that his magic only went a few feet in front of him. He opened his other eye and was saddened. "Aww..." His little ears drooped low. Game Changer walked up to his younger brother and placed a hoof on his shoulder. "How about we take a break for now. Is tomorrow after school a good time for your next practice? Burst gave him a sad smile and nodded. "Hey, don't be sad. That was a great first try. Just because you didn't get it today doesn't mean you'll never ever get it. If you practice, you'll be able to do it in no time." Changer reassured him. Burst nodded and hugged Game Changer. "Okay." Game Changer ruffled Burst's hair lovingly, and Burst broke his embrace. Just then, a soft thud sound could be heard behind them. They heard Blast giggling and they turned to see Comet flat on his belly. "Have fun?" Game Changer asked without emotion. "Oh yeah, totally! Discord and I went on a pranking spree. The funniest in my opinion was this rainbow pegasus's reaction. I tried to get Discord to prank this yellow pegasus, but he kept on yapping on how she's too delicate or something like that. Oh well, I'll get her myself one day." Game Changer shook his head and sighed. "One day, you'll understand Comet. One day." Comet stretched. "Well. All that pranking made me hungry. What's for dinner?" "Bring Blast and come inside. I'll cook something up." So with that, the four went inside. To soon eat, and rest for the night. Meanwhile "He even takes care of his three brothers! He's such a gentlecolt..." "He's smart, responsible. I LOVE his attitude. He's always so... serious. He rarely shows any other emotion." "But..." "I don't know if I should ask him..." A group of colts and fillies from Ms. Cheerilee's class grouped up after spying on Game Changer. They couldn't see what happened inside his home, but they did see what happened in his backyard. "Nothing today guys. We'll have to settle for tomorrow." Scootaloo said. "Well, we have some clues. Like, what was he talking about when he said he won't let any of those "things" get them?" Sweetie Belle added. "He's hiding somethin'. But what?" Apple Bloom asked. "We have to be patient. That's all." Diamond Tiara explained. "We'll meet up here tomorrow. And we'll find out eventually." Silver Spoon said. "Alright. Well, I have to go. See you guys later." Rumble started his departure. "Me too. It's getting late." Button Mash said. "Okay, bye!" One by one the kids left. All were anticipating for the secrets to soon be revealed. But one stood out. She liked this colt. Much more than she should. Perhaps she has a secret aswell?
