Equestria's Kishin

Maka found that she slept very well, because she couldn't remember anything happening after they went to bed the night before besides slumping down on a fluffy blanket. She woke up, and the sun was shining brightly through the window. She laid in the center of a patch of sunlight, and it warmed her coat. Maka hadn't felt this calm in ages. She stretched her hooves in front of and behind her to relax her muscles, and rolled her head on her neck. Her lungs filled up with air as she took in a deep breath through her nose, and the air smelled faintly of pine trees. She opened her eyes fully, now that she felt completely awake, and looked around the room to see her friends still in deep sleep. Opening the bedroom door, she quietly walked down the staircase to the living room. Soul was sprawled out on the couch, snoring obnoxiously. Maka soon discovered that Flutterhsy was already awake, and busy in the kitchen.

"Good morning, Maka!" she said merrily. "I hope you all are hungry, because I thought I would make a nice yummy breakfast for all of you."

Wow, she's probably the nicest pony in the world, thought Maka. There was a huge spread on the table, complete with scrambled eggs, mixed fruit, and pancakes with butter and syrup. "We better go wake up everypony," said Fluttershy as she grabbed a bell in her mouth and walked into the living room. The bell rang, and its sound was soft and beautiful, but loud enough to wake someone up. One by one, the group came downstairs, first Patty and Tsubaki, followed by a sleepy-looking Black Star, then Death the Kid and Liz. Soul, on the other hand, remained asleep.

"We better leave him be," Maka told Fluttershy. "He loves his sleep more than anything." She laughed as she and everyone else walked into the kitchen, spirits rising to see all the delicious food Fluttershy had prepared.

"Wow, Fluttershy, you really outdid yourself," said Liz. "This looks amazing!" Black Star had already dug his face into a stack of pancakes, and Tsubaki and Kid graciously thanked Flutterhsy before sitting down to enjoy breakfast. Fluttershy gathered food on a separate plate complete with fruit, three pancakes, a large spoonful of eggs, and a glass of orange juice. She fluttered out to the living room, and set the plate on the small table near the couch where Soul was sleeping. Then, she came back into the kitchen to eat her own breakfast. While Maka was eating, her thoughts concerning the Tatzlwurm attack the previous night returned. She couldn't shake the feeling it had something to do with the Kishin. After everyone finished their meal, Maka made an announcement.

"Guys, let's go to the living room. There's something I want to talk about." Her face was very serious looking. Most of them got up from the table and followed her to the living room, which seemed to be like a designated meeting place now. Black Star shoved a few more pancakes into his mouth before leaving the breakfast table. Soul had woken up, and he was enjoying his breakfast that Fluttershy had left out for him from the comfort of his couch bed. Maka began to speak. "Remember how I mentioned how strange the Tatzlwurm attack was last night?" The rest of them nodded silently, recalling what she had said before they all went to sleep the night before.  "Well, Twilight mentioned during the attack how strange it was to find that particular monster in the Everfree Forest. Now, this may be jumping to conclusions, but what if it has to do with the Kishin? It seems things like monster attacks almost never happen in this world."

"That's kind of a long shot, Maka," muffled Soul through a mouthful of food.

"She could have a point, though," said Death the Kid. "The wavelengths could very well cause anomalies in the behavior of creatures in this world."

"I'm sure weird things happen from time to time anyway, Kishin or no Kishin," said Liz.

"You could be right," said Maka. "But we should keep our eyes and ears peeled, just in case."

"Indeed," Kid responded. Soon after he spoke, there was a knock on the door.

"Fluttershyy!" called a voice from outside. "Are you in there, darling?" Fluttershy heard the voice, and came to open the door.

"Good morning, Rarity! Here to drop off Opalescence?"

"Indeed. Would you take care of her for the afternoon while I work?"

"Of course! I'm always happy to help." Fluttershy smiled. Rarity looked past Fluttershy to see seven other ponies gathered in her living room.

"Good heavens, darling," she said as she walked into the house. "Who are all these ponies? What are they doing in your house?"

"These are my new friends. They're not from here, but they have an important mission here in Equestria. They're all staying at my house while they're here. Everypony, this is my friend, Rarity."

"It's a pleasure to meet you all," Rarity said, bowing slightly to demonstrate her manners. "Now, what are all your names?"

"This is Maka, Soul, Death the Kid, Liz--"

"Oh my! What an exquisite mane you have, darling!" Rarity interrupted Fluttershy while she stepped forward to admire the stripes in Death the Kid's hair. "Wherever did you get it done? It's so...edgy!" Kid stepped backwards as Rarity leaned forwards in admiration. Not of Kid, but of his hair. He collapsed on the floor.

"It's so asymmetrical! I'm hideous!" he cried.

"Oh, not at all darling, it looks smashing," Rarity assured him.

"Who cares how it looks if it can't be perfect?" Death the Kid was practically sobbing.

"Well, we can't let an imperfection like asymmetry ruin such a beautiful mane," Rarity announced. "Follow me!" She began to dramatically dash out the door, and paused in front of the house when she realized he wasn't following her. "What are you waiting for darling? We're going to even out those stripes in your mane!"

"Are you really going to--" Maka didn't even finish her sentence before Kid was out the door following Rarity, still crying about his asymmetrical hair.

"Well, there he goes," muttered Maka.

"I think we found Death the Kid's soulmate," joked Liz sarcastically. Black Star and Soul chuckled.

"We should probably head back to the library. Twilight will want me to practice magic again today," said Maka. "And Black Star could work with Rainbow Dash again. Do you think you two could get along today, Black Star?"

He shrugged, trying to act casual. "That pony is almost as cool as me. I can put up with her for a little bit."

"Try not to be rude today, okay Black Star?" Tsubaki told him. He rolled his eyes.

"Fine."

Tsubaki smiled at him, thankful that he at least acknowledged her instructions.

"What are Liz, Patty, and I supposed to do while you guys are busy?" Soul whined. "Yesterday was pretty boring just waiting all day for you to finish magic lessons."

"We could go watch Kid get his hair done," laughed Liz. Patty giggled as well. "It might be interesting."

"Eh, I've got nothing better to do," Soul said, implying that he agreed to go with them. "You wanna come, Tsubaki?"

"No thanks, guys. I think I'll stay here and help Fluttershy clean up from breakfast." She smiled pleasantly at them.

"Suit yourself," said Liz as she turned to walk out the door, followed by a bouncing Patty and a sluggish Soul.