TCSW Side Story: The Stone Guardianby Eragon5055ChaptersPrologue: On the way homeA Normal Day (Ch.1)Guardian (Ch. 3)Prologue: On the way homePrologue: On the way home. Antaeus found himself running, again. Of course the school bullies had to choose him as their target today. They couldn't take the day off, they couldn't just check their accounts and find that they already had their bullying quota met for the day and decide to just go home. They'd rather be chasing him across town then do anything else. Antaeus ran as fast as his hooves could carry him and turned around the corner. "If I was a unicorn, this would be the part I would use some awesome spell and laugh gloriously in triumph, but noooooo. I had to be born an earth pony, miss the line where they were handing out horns." he muttered. Around the corner, he saw a pony reading a newspaper on a public bench. Anteous formed a plan and pulled from his school saddle bag a pair of Groucho Marx glasses. With a leap he quickly took the newspaper from the pony, despite her protests. He promised her silently that he would pay the random mare back as he quickly messed with his mane so that it covered his forehead as he turned a second corner Three fillies came darting around the corner. Confusion spread across their collective face as the stared down the street, their target had miraculously vanished. One of the fillies shouted "Shoot! We lost him in the crowd!" The biggest of the trio back hoofed her company. "Idiot! How could we lose him in a crowd if there are only three ponies on the street!?! He must be hiding!" The smallest of the band then stated, "Maybe, we should ask somepony if they saw where he went." The leader, ignoring his team member then shouted "Maybe we should ask somepony if they saw where he went!" "I just said that-" "Quit whining and go ask that pony over there." The filly grumbled and approached the pony reading a newspaper that was completely unfolded. The filly could barely see the pony hiding behind the newspaper and doubted he could have seen anything beyond the paper, but she dare not disobey the boss. "Excuse me, have you seen a light brown colt with a black mane run through here?" The stranger looked up from behind the paper, revealing that he had thick glasses and the bushiest eyebrows and mustache that the trio had ever seen. "I believe you're going to have to be more specific" Not deterred by the stallion’s appearance, the bully replied, "He's a scrawny light brown earth pony with a mark on his forehead. You can't miss him." "Ah yes, I believe he went that way." The leader of the gang then exclaimed in victory, "Alright, we have him now. Let's go!" The three then started off in hot pursuit of their target. When the three were out of sight, Anteous finally found it safe to lift off his glasses. "That actually worked? They must be dumber then a bag of hammers." An annoyed sound startled the colt and he turned around to find an angry mare staring him down. "I believe you took something of mine." The colt gave a sheepish grin as he handed back the paper to the mare. She sighed and stated. "I'll let you off the hook this time. But, you do something like that again, bullies will be the least of your worries" Anteous gulped as the mare took the paper and mumbled to herself, "Now I can finally see how the Mare-iners did." Anteous then awkwardly snuck away. When he was the mare was out of ear shot, he quietly celebrated his victory over his oppressors. "Name. Dr. Free. Dr. Scott Free. No autographs." .................... "Mom!" Anteous shouted as he entered the store. The young colt slumped his saddlebag on the store counter, exhausted from his earlier escapades. "I'm home." "Hey, you’re just in time. Could you come help me in the back?" Anteous gave a small grin as he left his things on the counter and went to meet his mother in houses garden. He found his mother was watering their flowers. The yellow unicorn was humming a little tune as she took care of the plants. She turned her head and smiled, "Could you please hose down the statue, I'm afraid the birds have gotten it again." Anteous gave small grown, "It always gets like this. Can't I clean it tomorrow?" The mare let out a sigh, "No. We have some major clients coming to the shop to buy flowers for their wedding. It won't be good for business to have the first thing that they see be covered in pigeon paint." Anteous reluctantly went and grabbed the hose and started to spray the statue down as her mother went back to her work. The colt grumbled as he cleaned the statue. It was the third time this week that he had to clean the stupid thing, as the colt swore that the local birds had decided that it was going to be their outhouse. The grey statue stood dripping wet, once again restored to the clean image of a unicorn stallion looking proud, about to walk forward. His mother had always joked that his dad could never sell his master piece, but the Anteous darkly thought they should have sold it for rubble a long time ago. His mother then spoke up after he was done cleaning the statue. "So, how was your day?" He replied curtly, "Fine, Mom." "You weren't chased by those bullies again, were you?" "Don't worry Mom. I can outrun those bozos and diffidently outsmart them any day of the week." "I just don't want see you come home with a bloody nose. I can't believe the school hasn't taken action and caught these foals." The mare exasperated as she spoke, "Just because they are the mayor's kids, it doesn't make them exempt from the rules." The mare gave a small stamp on the ground as she spoke to emphasis her point. "Really Mom, I'll be alright. I can handle a couple of bullies just fine." To emphasis his point, the colt puffed out his chest and gave his best confident grin he could must. The mare gave a giggle at the sight. "O.K. tough guy. How bout we go upstairs and have dinner. What do you say about having spaghetti tonight?" "Heck ya!" The mare laughed as the two headed up the stairs to fix dinner. "Catch those trees!" The chief of police died a little inside as he said those words. Officers gave chase down the street, the bewilderment of the predicament not fully gone. Ahead of the army of cops, raced two trees carrying a rather large wooden desk down the road. At second glance, one could see the ponies’ faces and hooves as they stuck out from the ridiculous costumes. Ponies got out of their way as they ran down the streets of the small town, most stared and the strange sight before their eyes, others busted out laughing at the ridiculousness of the situation. The pegasus of the pair started to analyze their situation. "Touch." "Yes Go?" "Why are stealing the mayor's desk again?" "Why, it's quite simple my dear. The mayor Undertable Deal's desk represents many things. Power, wealth, and sitting behind a mayor's desk implies that your smart and you know what you’re doing. By stealing the desk, we have essential stolen those idea's!" "Wow! That's amazing!" "That's not all, by taking this desk, we take away the wall that separates the mayor from his people. He can no longer sit behind his desk and do nothing anymore!... Mainly because he has no desk anymore." "You're so smart Touch!" The pegasus exclaimed to her earth pony partner. "I know!" Touch replied back, with a big grin on his face. . Notes This story will not affect the overall plot of The Chronicles of Star Well. It is meant only to be a way to expand the universe and to tell characters stories that could not fit the main story without making it confusing and deluded. This story is not necessary for TCSW, but I thought you might like it anyway. A Normal Day (Ch.1)Chapter 1: A Normal Day "It seems that ya made it home in one piece." Anteous walked up his school steps to find his friend greeting him. "Those Current sisters are going to eat their words." Anteous smirked, "Yeah I made it home alright, no thanks to you." The pegasus shrugged as they made it into the building. "I figured that ya could handle 'em. I wouldn't of betted on ya if I didn' have a chance ta win." "Wasp, hold the phone. You made a bet on safety?" The black stripped pegasus gave a devilish grin. "Yah. With 'em Current sisters. I can' wait ta see the look on 'eir faces when they get a look ach ya. How did ya escape anyway mate?" "While you were betting on my on whether I LIVE OR NOT," Anteous gave Wasp a stare in which the pegasus looked away and whistled, "I ran until I got to the side roads and manage to make a quick disguise to fool them." "Hold on. That actually worked?" "They fell for it as easily as I would fall in Cloudsdale." "That's a hoot!" The two friends laughed as the reach their classroom. Much to the two's chagrin, the three pegasi were waiting at the door. The biggest one, whose name was Snap Corn, gave a creepy grin, one the earth pony would rate in a scale of 'one' to 'terrifying' as a 'What? Are you an idiot? RUN FOR YOUR LIFE!!!'. "Hey blank-flank, we missed you the other day." "If you missed me so much you could of sent a letter." Anteous immediately wished he wasn't born with such a big mouth. "Ha, funny. Will see whose laughing as I knock your teeth to the floor. We owe to you since you skipped out yesterday on your weekly pulverizing." "What's this I hear about 'pulverizing'?" The three bullies turned ghost white, as they turned to see Mr. Math, the class teacher and the only teacher in the whole school that wasn't afraid to stand up to the them standing behind Anteous and Wasp. "Nothing Mr. Math. Just giving some friendly greeting to these two." Mr. Math clearly was not buying it, the teacher continued to make a scowl at the three. "As I recall, Only Miss Pop is in my class. Miss Snap, Miss Crackle, I suggest you make haste to your classrooms, don't want to be tardy now do we." Snap turned to face the brown colt and stated, "We'll see you after school." and promptly left, with Crackle Corn in tow. Anteous and Wasp were about ready to celebrate another victory, the familiar older voice of their teacher began behind them, "You two better take your seats as well." Anteous and Wasp made it to their seats as the rest of the classroom started to settle down. Anteous noticed that in his peripheral vision Wasp confronting two mares, who both had the look of utter disbelief as they looked his way. Anteous made a mental note that he should get Wasp to split his winnings, after all, it was his tail that was on the line. As the classroom finally quieted down, Mr. Math began his daily routine by starting with the roll call. "Let's start with Pop Corn." The begrudged mare replied, "Here" "North Current." "In the House." replied the energetic mare. "South Current." "Present." stated the twin sister, barely taking her eyes from a book that she was reading. The teacher continued down the line through the students, each giving their normal call until he finally called Anteous name. "Anteous." "Rather be nowhere else." The colt stated eliciting a couple of chuckles through the classroom. Mr. Math ignored them and went right ahead into the first subject of the day, history. Yep, today was turning out to be a normal day at the Hoofington School House. A cloaked figure stood on a hilltop overlooking the city of Hoofington. In his hand was a strange white staff with a grey stone unicorn's horn bolted to the end. The cloak figure wore a strange white mask with black lines going down from its eye holes like tears. He stood there for what it seemed like an eternity. The figure several times consulted his watch as he waited, and ended up having to sit down on the hill after a couple of hours past. From his high viewpoint, the figure finally saw something that caught his attention. A short distance away, the air seemed to twist and shimmer, looking almost as a mirage in the grassland. The phenomenon continued forward at a slow pace toward the city. The cloaked figure looked at the event and picked up his staff. "Finally." a voice spoke from the mask, unnatural in its tone. "I mean, seriously. It shouldn't take this long for them to get here." The figure tapped his staff into the hill below him, the horn on the end glowing with a black aura. The ground violently opened up and swallowed the figure. The ground reclosed and left no sign that it had been disturbed. Meanwhile in the distance, the mirage continued its advance toward the city. Guardian (Ch. 3)Chapter 3: Guardian Anteous was in middle of class as the cities siren sounded. The school's sirens were not far behind, causing the class to start to get a little worried. The brown pony caught himself thinking 'What is going on?' through the noise. 'We aren't scheduled for a storm today.' "Everypony stay calm." Mr. Math commanded, "I'll go find out what all this is about. Stay in your seats until I come back." Everypony watched their teacher intently as he walked out of the classroom. Then, of course, every foal got out of their seats to try and listen to what was going on outside the door. The door was crowded and Anteous was barely able to hear over the sounds of the sirens. Mr. Math's voice rang out from beyond the door as he raised his voice. Anteous was able to catch snipe-bits of the conversation. "-Tarturus is going on... Attacked by...? How that even poss... Evacuation!" The wall of students collapsed as Mr. Math opened the door. The stallion ignored the pile of students as made his way to the front of the class. Mr. Math's face gave a look of dead seriousness not seen since he caught a student skipping school a week ago. The whole class recovered their positions and moved into their seats, something was going on and it was big. "Class." The stallion said. He stood there for a couple of seconds, searching for the correct words to use. "We are to evacuate the school." Worried whispers rang throughout the classroom, but Mr. Math silenced them as soon as they came. "We leave in an orderly fashion, I want nopony trampled on the way out." "What's happening?" a voice called out. "Why are we evacuating?" Mr. Math raised his hoof again to silence the class. "The city guard is engaged with a group at the city wall." A filly jumped out and shouted "We're under attack!?!" The whole classroom flew into frenzy, and it took a couple of seconds for the stallion to regain control of the classroom. "Remain calm. The city guard has it under control. The city has been ordered to evacuate as a precaution. Now, I what you to line up and follow your fellow classmates outside. There will be teachers out there to supervise and there is no need to panic." The students made their way out of the classroom, whispering to one another as they entered the hallway. Anteous found himself at the back of the line and was able to see his teacher whispering to the school principle at the side. The colt perked up his ears and tried to listen to the conversation. "- you’re going to put them in a panic if you hurry them." Mr. Math whispered. "Maybe panic is the appropriate response. The radio said that they have broken past the wall and making their way down Market Street. They'll be here in no time. Anteous's ears stood straight up. 'Market Street? No!' The colt then bolted backward into a gallop down the hall. H e did not stop even when he heard the shouts of his teacher calling his name. He was in a panic as he ran and only one thought, one word crossed his mind. 'Mom.' .................... Anteous ran down the street as he made his way to home. He saw nopony as he made his way down the street. The sirens had stopped their blaring and only sounds that he could hear were the sounds of his hooves as they hit the street and the sound of his own heart. The silence of the street only served to further unnerve him. The street continued to look more and more roughed up as time went on. Anteous found several strange yellow colored crystal formations scattering the road, giving proof that a something took place. The colt finally reached his home and found his worse fears realized. The front door was smashed in and the inside shop was a mess, broken flower pots scattered the floor with their contents spilled. Anteous ran inside shouting in a frenzied panic at the top of his lungs. "MOM!?!" The foal searched furiously throughout the store and into the upstairs rooms, checking every door while shouting for his absent mother. He found nopony as he searched, he didn't even find any of the strange crystals that were scattered throughout the street. As he continued to search his shouts slowly became quieter as his efforts proved fruitless. After he finished upstairs he slowed down to a crawl as he made his way down the stairs. "Only one place left,” he spoke to reassure himself. The colt made his way to the back of the house to the garden out back. Anteous entered and was stunned to find that one big crystal formation decorated the destroyed garden. The silent stature stood untouched in the center by some miracle, the only witness to the events that transpired. The colt broke sat down as tears formed in his eyes. Anger mixed in the grief and the confusion he was placed into, the three emotions wrestling inside him, threatening to explode. A vibrating sound quietly filled the air, breaking the colt from his trance. Above him was the strangest sight in the foal's life as two creatures descended from the open sky of the garden. The creatures looked like giant honeybees with big eye's and no pincer to decorate the mammal like mouth. The creatures landed on two legs and pointed strange tube like objects at the young earth pony as he sat there confused at the sight. One of the bees spoke in a strange emotionless voice. "Surrender pony. Prepare for capture." Fear gripped Anteous and he shouted "HELP! ANYPONY, PLEASE HELP!" "Silence pony." barked the insect, "Prepare for capture." The colt made a whimper as they stepped closer to the colt, making him back into the stone pedestal that the statue stood upon. He was trapped with nowhere to go. As fear continued to grow inside as the invaders continued to draw closer, something else started to build inside the pony, adding to his confusing. The creature lifted his weapon and took aim at the earth pony, causing Anteous to cringe and close his eyes. The feeling continued to build, becoming unbearable in the colt's chest. The insect fired his weapon, a yellow liquid flying out of the barrel, the energy burst simultaneously from the colt. Time seemed to slow as the room filled with a black flash that disappeared as soon as it left. Anteous waited a couple of seconds, expecting to be hit by the projectile at any moment. A heavy thud filled the air causing the colt to cringe and then open his eyes when he realized he hasn't hit. His eyes were met by the sight of a grey stallion slamming his rear hooves into the second assailant, the first sprawled out on the floor. The second bug was sent flying into a wall, the creature instantly falling unconscious onto the floor. Anteous was stunned as he started to recognize his rescuer. Standing before Anteous was the stone statue.
Prologue: On the way homePrologue: On the way home. Antaeus found himself running, again. Of course the school bullies had to choose him as their target today. They couldn't take the day off, they couldn't just check their accounts and find that they already had their bullying quota met for the day and decide to just go home. They'd rather be chasing him across town then do anything else. Antaeus ran as fast as his hooves could carry him and turned around the corner. "If I was a unicorn, this would be the part I would use some awesome spell and laugh gloriously in triumph, but noooooo. I had to be born an earth pony, miss the line where they were handing out horns." he muttered. Around the corner, he saw a pony reading a newspaper on a public bench. Anteous formed a plan and pulled from his school saddle bag a pair of Groucho Marx glasses. With a leap he quickly took the newspaper from the pony, despite her protests. He promised her silently that he would pay the random mare back as he quickly messed with his mane so that it covered his forehead as he turned a second corner Three fillies came darting around the corner. Confusion spread across their collective face as the stared down the street, their target had miraculously vanished. One of the fillies shouted "Shoot! We lost him in the crowd!" The biggest of the trio back hoofed her company. "Idiot! How could we lose him in a crowd if there are only three ponies on the street!?! He must be hiding!" The smallest of the band then stated, "Maybe, we should ask somepony if they saw where he went." The leader, ignoring his team member then shouted "Maybe we should ask somepony if they saw where he went!" "I just said that-" "Quit whining and go ask that pony over there." The filly grumbled and approached the pony reading a newspaper that was completely unfolded. The filly could barely see the pony hiding behind the newspaper and doubted he could have seen anything beyond the paper, but she dare not disobey the boss. "Excuse me, have you seen a light brown colt with a black mane run through here?" The stranger looked up from behind the paper, revealing that he had thick glasses and the bushiest eyebrows and mustache that the trio had ever seen. "I believe you're going to have to be more specific" Not deterred by the stallion’s appearance, the bully replied, "He's a scrawny light brown earth pony with a mark on his forehead. You can't miss him." "Ah yes, I believe he went that way." The leader of the gang then exclaimed in victory, "Alright, we have him now. Let's go!" The three then started off in hot pursuit of their target. When the three were out of sight, Anteous finally found it safe to lift off his glasses. "That actually worked? They must be dumber then a bag of hammers." An annoyed sound startled the colt and he turned around to find an angry mare staring him down. "I believe you took something of mine." The colt gave a sheepish grin as he handed back the paper to the mare. She sighed and stated. "I'll let you off the hook this time. But, you do something like that again, bullies will be the least of your worries" Anteous gulped as the mare took the paper and mumbled to herself, "Now I can finally see how the Mare-iners did." Anteous then awkwardly snuck away. When he was the mare was out of ear shot, he quietly celebrated his victory over his oppressors. "Name. Dr. Free. Dr. Scott Free. No autographs." .................... "Mom!" Anteous shouted as he entered the store. The young colt slumped his saddlebag on the store counter, exhausted from his earlier escapades. "I'm home." "Hey, you’re just in time. Could you come help me in the back?" Anteous gave a small grin as he left his things on the counter and went to meet his mother in houses garden. He found his mother was watering their flowers. The yellow unicorn was humming a little tune as she took care of the plants. She turned her head and smiled, "Could you please hose down the statue, I'm afraid the birds have gotten it again." Anteous gave small grown, "It always gets like this. Can't I clean it tomorrow?" The mare let out a sigh, "No. We have some major clients coming to the shop to buy flowers for their wedding. It won't be good for business to have the first thing that they see be covered in pigeon paint." Anteous reluctantly went and grabbed the hose and started to spray the statue down as her mother went back to her work. The colt grumbled as he cleaned the statue. It was the third time this week that he had to clean the stupid thing, as the colt swore that the local birds had decided that it was going to be their outhouse. The grey statue stood dripping wet, once again restored to the clean image of a unicorn stallion looking proud, about to walk forward. His mother had always joked that his dad could never sell his master piece, but the Anteous darkly thought they should have sold it for rubble a long time ago. His mother then spoke up after he was done cleaning the statue. "So, how was your day?" He replied curtly, "Fine, Mom." "You weren't chased by those bullies again, were you?" "Don't worry Mom. I can outrun those bozos and diffidently outsmart them any day of the week." "I just don't want see you come home with a bloody nose. I can't believe the school hasn't taken action and caught these foals." The mare exasperated as she spoke, "Just because they are the mayor's kids, it doesn't make them exempt from the rules." The mare gave a small stamp on the ground as she spoke to emphasis her point. "Really Mom, I'll be alright. I can handle a couple of bullies just fine." To emphasis his point, the colt puffed out his chest and gave his best confident grin he could must. The mare gave a giggle at the sight. "O.K. tough guy. How bout we go upstairs and have dinner. What do you say about having spaghetti tonight?" "Heck ya!" The mare laughed as the two headed up the stairs to fix dinner. "Catch those trees!" The chief of police died a little inside as he said those words. Officers gave chase down the street, the bewilderment of the predicament not fully gone. Ahead of the army of cops, raced two trees carrying a rather large wooden desk down the road. At second glance, one could see the ponies’ faces and hooves as they stuck out from the ridiculous costumes. Ponies got out of their way as they ran down the streets of the small town, most stared and the strange sight before their eyes, others busted out laughing at the ridiculousness of the situation. The pegasus of the pair started to analyze their situation. "Touch." "Yes Go?" "Why are stealing the mayor's desk again?" "Why, it's quite simple my dear. The mayor Undertable Deal's desk represents many things. Power, wealth, and sitting behind a mayor's desk implies that your smart and you know what you’re doing. By stealing the desk, we have essential stolen those idea's!" "Wow! That's amazing!" "That's not all, by taking this desk, we take away the wall that separates the mayor from his people. He can no longer sit behind his desk and do nothing anymore!... Mainly because he has no desk anymore." "You're so smart Touch!" The pegasus exclaimed to her earth pony partner. "I know!" Touch replied back, with a big grin on his face. . Notes This story will not affect the overall plot of The Chronicles of Star Well. It is meant only to be a way to expand the universe and to tell characters stories that could not fit the main story without making it confusing and deluded. This story is not necessary for TCSW, but I thought you might like it anyway.
A Normal Day (Ch.1)Chapter 1: A Normal Day "It seems that ya made it home in one piece." Anteous walked up his school steps to find his friend greeting him. "Those Current sisters are going to eat their words." Anteous smirked, "Yeah I made it home alright, no thanks to you." The pegasus shrugged as they made it into the building. "I figured that ya could handle 'em. I wouldn't of betted on ya if I didn' have a chance ta win." "Wasp, hold the phone. You made a bet on safety?" The black stripped pegasus gave a devilish grin. "Yah. With 'em Current sisters. I can' wait ta see the look on 'eir faces when they get a look ach ya. How did ya escape anyway mate?" "While you were betting on my on whether I LIVE OR NOT," Anteous gave Wasp a stare in which the pegasus looked away and whistled, "I ran until I got to the side roads and manage to make a quick disguise to fool them." "Hold on. That actually worked?" "They fell for it as easily as I would fall in Cloudsdale." "That's a hoot!" The two friends laughed as the reach their classroom. Much to the two's chagrin, the three pegasi were waiting at the door. The biggest one, whose name was Snap Corn, gave a creepy grin, one the earth pony would rate in a scale of 'one' to 'terrifying' as a 'What? Are you an idiot? RUN FOR YOUR LIFE!!!'. "Hey blank-flank, we missed you the other day." "If you missed me so much you could of sent a letter." Anteous immediately wished he wasn't born with such a big mouth. "Ha, funny. Will see whose laughing as I knock your teeth to the floor. We owe to you since you skipped out yesterday on your weekly pulverizing." "What's this I hear about 'pulverizing'?" The three bullies turned ghost white, as they turned to see Mr. Math, the class teacher and the only teacher in the whole school that wasn't afraid to stand up to the them standing behind Anteous and Wasp. "Nothing Mr. Math. Just giving some friendly greeting to these two." Mr. Math clearly was not buying it, the teacher continued to make a scowl at the three. "As I recall, Only Miss Pop is in my class. Miss Snap, Miss Crackle, I suggest you make haste to your classrooms, don't want to be tardy now do we." Snap turned to face the brown colt and stated, "We'll see you after school." and promptly left, with Crackle Corn in tow. Anteous and Wasp were about ready to celebrate another victory, the familiar older voice of their teacher began behind them, "You two better take your seats as well." Anteous and Wasp made it to their seats as the rest of the classroom started to settle down. Anteous noticed that in his peripheral vision Wasp confronting two mares, who both had the look of utter disbelief as they looked his way. Anteous made a mental note that he should get Wasp to split his winnings, after all, it was his tail that was on the line. As the classroom finally quieted down, Mr. Math began his daily routine by starting with the roll call. "Let's start with Pop Corn." The begrudged mare replied, "Here" "North Current." "In the House." replied the energetic mare. "South Current." "Present." stated the twin sister, barely taking her eyes from a book that she was reading. The teacher continued down the line through the students, each giving their normal call until he finally called Anteous name. "Anteous." "Rather be nowhere else." The colt stated eliciting a couple of chuckles through the classroom. Mr. Math ignored them and went right ahead into the first subject of the day, history. Yep, today was turning out to be a normal day at the Hoofington School House. A cloaked figure stood on a hilltop overlooking the city of Hoofington. In his hand was a strange white staff with a grey stone unicorn's horn bolted to the end. The cloak figure wore a strange white mask with black lines going down from its eye holes like tears. He stood there for what it seemed like an eternity. The figure several times consulted his watch as he waited, and ended up having to sit down on the hill after a couple of hours past. From his high viewpoint, the figure finally saw something that caught his attention. A short distance away, the air seemed to twist and shimmer, looking almost as a mirage in the grassland. The phenomenon continued forward at a slow pace toward the city. The cloaked figure looked at the event and picked up his staff. "Finally." a voice spoke from the mask, unnatural in its tone. "I mean, seriously. It shouldn't take this long for them to get here." The figure tapped his staff into the hill below him, the horn on the end glowing with a black aura. The ground violently opened up and swallowed the figure. The ground reclosed and left no sign that it had been disturbed. Meanwhile in the distance, the mirage continued its advance toward the city.
Guardian (Ch. 3)Chapter 3: Guardian Anteous was in middle of class as the cities siren sounded. The school's sirens were not far behind, causing the class to start to get a little worried. The brown pony caught himself thinking 'What is going on?' through the noise. 'We aren't scheduled for a storm today.' "Everypony stay calm." Mr. Math commanded, "I'll go find out what all this is about. Stay in your seats until I come back." Everypony watched their teacher intently as he walked out of the classroom. Then, of course, every foal got out of their seats to try and listen to what was going on outside the door. The door was crowded and Anteous was barely able to hear over the sounds of the sirens. Mr. Math's voice rang out from beyond the door as he raised his voice. Anteous was able to catch snipe-bits of the conversation. "-Tarturus is going on... Attacked by...? How that even poss... Evacuation!" The wall of students collapsed as Mr. Math opened the door. The stallion ignored the pile of students as made his way to the front of the class. Mr. Math's face gave a look of dead seriousness not seen since he caught a student skipping school a week ago. The whole class recovered their positions and moved into their seats, something was going on and it was big. "Class." The stallion said. He stood there for a couple of seconds, searching for the correct words to use. "We are to evacuate the school." Worried whispers rang throughout the classroom, but Mr. Math silenced them as soon as they came. "We leave in an orderly fashion, I want nopony trampled on the way out." "What's happening?" a voice called out. "Why are we evacuating?" Mr. Math raised his hoof again to silence the class. "The city guard is engaged with a group at the city wall." A filly jumped out and shouted "We're under attack!?!" The whole classroom flew into frenzy, and it took a couple of seconds for the stallion to regain control of the classroom. "Remain calm. The city guard has it under control. The city has been ordered to evacuate as a precaution. Now, I what you to line up and follow your fellow classmates outside. There will be teachers out there to supervise and there is no need to panic." The students made their way out of the classroom, whispering to one another as they entered the hallway. Anteous found himself at the back of the line and was able to see his teacher whispering to the school principle at the side. The colt perked up his ears and tried to listen to the conversation. "- you’re going to put them in a panic if you hurry them." Mr. Math whispered. "Maybe panic is the appropriate response. The radio said that they have broken past the wall and making their way down Market Street. They'll be here in no time. Anteous's ears stood straight up. 'Market Street? No!' The colt then bolted backward into a gallop down the hall. H e did not stop even when he heard the shouts of his teacher calling his name. He was in a panic as he ran and only one thought, one word crossed his mind. 'Mom.' .................... Anteous ran down the street as he made his way to home. He saw nopony as he made his way down the street. The sirens had stopped their blaring and only sounds that he could hear were the sounds of his hooves as they hit the street and the sound of his own heart. The silence of the street only served to further unnerve him. The street continued to look more and more roughed up as time went on. Anteous found several strange yellow colored crystal formations scattering the road, giving proof that a something took place. The colt finally reached his home and found his worse fears realized. The front door was smashed in and the inside shop was a mess, broken flower pots scattered the floor with their contents spilled. Anteous ran inside shouting in a frenzied panic at the top of his lungs. "MOM!?!" The foal searched furiously throughout the store and into the upstairs rooms, checking every door while shouting for his absent mother. He found nopony as he searched, he didn't even find any of the strange crystals that were scattered throughout the street. As he continued to search his shouts slowly became quieter as his efforts proved fruitless. After he finished upstairs he slowed down to a crawl as he made his way down the stairs. "Only one place left,” he spoke to reassure himself. The colt made his way to the back of the house to the garden out back. Anteous entered and was stunned to find that one big crystal formation decorated the destroyed garden. The silent stature stood untouched in the center by some miracle, the only witness to the events that transpired. The colt broke sat down as tears formed in his eyes. Anger mixed in the grief and the confusion he was placed into, the three emotions wrestling inside him, threatening to explode. A vibrating sound quietly filled the air, breaking the colt from his trance. Above him was the strangest sight in the foal's life as two creatures descended from the open sky of the garden. The creatures looked like giant honeybees with big eye's and no pincer to decorate the mammal like mouth. The creatures landed on two legs and pointed strange tube like objects at the young earth pony as he sat there confused at the sight. One of the bees spoke in a strange emotionless voice. "Surrender pony. Prepare for capture." Fear gripped Anteous and he shouted "HELP! ANYPONY, PLEASE HELP!" "Silence pony." barked the insect, "Prepare for capture." The colt made a whimper as they stepped closer to the colt, making him back into the stone pedestal that the statue stood upon. He was trapped with nowhere to go. As fear continued to grow inside as the invaders continued to draw closer, something else started to build inside the pony, adding to his confusing. The creature lifted his weapon and took aim at the earth pony, causing Anteous to cringe and close his eyes. The feeling continued to build, becoming unbearable in the colt's chest. The insect fired his weapon, a yellow liquid flying out of the barrel, the energy burst simultaneously from the colt. Time seemed to slow as the room filled with a black flash that disappeared as soon as it left. Anteous waited a couple of seconds, expecting to be hit by the projectile at any moment. A heavy thud filled the air causing the colt to cringe and then open his eyes when he realized he hasn't hit. His eyes were met by the sight of a grey stallion slamming his rear hooves into the second assailant, the first sprawled out on the floor. The second bug was sent flying into a wall, the creature instantly falling unconscious onto the floor. Anteous was stunned as he started to recognize his rescuer. Standing before Anteous was the stone statue.
