Canterlot Collegeby SilentpegasusChaptersChapter III: ClassesChapter I: A New LifeChapter II: A Whole New WorldChapter III: ClassesChapter III Classes After his little chat with Cadence Mantis decided to walk around the school a little. There was a large courtyard at the front of the school that lead up to the front steps. He admired the old castle style architecture the school had. It reminded Mantis of old stories he read as a child. He could make out a figure near the steps of the school. She had red hair with streaks of yellow that reminded him of fire. As he drew closer he could see that the woman was struggling with her luggage cart. The stranger let out a frustrated groan and just laid down in submission. While the spectacle was fun to watch the Changeling’s conscious was acting up. “Need a hand?” He said as he offered the woman his hand to help her up. “Thanks.” She said brushing the dirt off her black leather jacket and blue jean pants. “Rough day?” “You have no idea. First my train was delayed because of a crazy passenger, the people at the baggage claim almost lost all my stuff and I have no idea where I’m going.” She gave a huff and took some deep breaths. “I’m sorry. Here I am ranting and raving. You probably think I’m crazy.” “Everyone’s crazy to some extent. My name’s Mantis. Yours?” “Sunset Shimmer.” She smiled. “I don’t suppose you know where the dorms are do you?” She said as she looked around at the different buildings. “Yeah they’re over there.” He pointed to the building he came from. “What’s your room number?” “D13.” “Well, that makes finding it easy.” He chuckled a little and Sunset looked at him not understanding the situation. “That’s my room. It appears we are roommates.” The woman blinked and looked at him in surprise. “At least you look somewhat normal.” She chuckled. “Oh you have no idea how wrong you are.” Mantis chuckled. “C’mon roomie I’ll show you the way.” Mantis walked beside the girl and put his hands behind his head. “So are you a mage?” The woman gave a nod. “I specialize in fire magic.” She snapped her fingers and a small flame appeared on her finger tip. “I know it’s pretty basic.” The woman said as the flame went out. “Basic, but useful. Elemental magic is always handy no matter the occasion.” The two continued through the halls of the dorm room until they reached their destination. The blonde opened the door and held it as she stepped inside. “Welcome to paradise.” Sunset looked around the room and saw that Mantis had already claimed the room on the right. “Need a hand with your things?” “No. I can handle it. Thank you.” She went inside the room on the right and started un packing her things. She set a few spell books on the shelves along with some novels. She pulled out an Immersion Visor and a copy of Fantasia Crusade. There was a knock on her door and she called for it to be opened. “Hey I was thinking we should head down to the cafeteria soon for some dinner?” Mantis then noticed the game on the desk. “You play?” A soft hue of pink flashed across Sunset's cheeks. “Yeah. I know I’m kind of a dork when it comes to anything having to do with magic. Including video games.” She adverted her eyes from the man. “No it’s cool. I play myself and magic definitely is an interest of mine.” Sunset let out a happy sigh and followed the man towards the cafeteria. They walked through the halls idly chatting with one another. As they sat down with their trays of food Sunset asked something that was on her mind. “What kind of magic do you use?” Mantis snapped his fingers and a stack of cards appeared before him. “I use card magic.” He picked up one of the cards that had a decorative back print. He flipped the card to show a spell circle on the other side. There was a faint magic emanating from the card that Sunset could sense. “Card magic?” “These cards hold spells that I’ve cast before hand. All I have to do is run some magic through it and the spell can be used.” He said as he made the deck vanish. “Why don’t you just cast them normally?” She took a sip of her water after asking the question. “The really powerful ones take to long to cast or too much magic to use on the fly. This way I can still cast them quickly without sacrificing either.” He said taking another bite from the food. “The downside is I can only use each card once and have to recast and re-seal them in the card later.” “So they’re like grenades? Use them when the time is needed?” Mantis nodded as he took a bite of his food. “That still leaved my question unanswered. You told me that you used cards to store your magic, but you haven’t told me what kind of magic was in them.” “Very perceptive.” He smiled. “My real magic is-” He was cut off as he saw a familiar pair of girls walk by with four more girls about their age. “Hey Twilight.” Hearing her name, the indigo scholar turned and smiled as she saw the man. She and her friends went to get some food before joining them at the table. “These are my friends. Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy and you’ve met Rarity.” The fashionista smiled at the man while the rest greeted him in their own way. Applejack and Rainbow Dash gave him a nod, Pinkie gave him a big smile while Fluttershy hid behind her pink bangs. “Nice to meet you all. My name’s Mantis and this is my roommate Sunset.” The fire mage hid her gaze from Twilight. The purple haired scholar looked at Sunset and sighed. “I didn’t realize you’d be here Sunset.” Twilight said in a flat tone. “I was asked to come here by Princess Luna.” Sunset stated. Mantis looked at the two girls and sat quietly. After finishing his meal, Mantis headed back to his room and saw the knight sitting on his bed. “Those two mages.” It began in a gravely voice. “Their magic is not normal. Be cautious around them.” “Twilight definitely, but Sunset seems harmless.” Mantis said in a flat tone. “You take things too lightly. Her magic is unusual.” It crossed it’s arms and huffed. “Should anyone discover your true identity then they must be dealt with.” “Knock that off. You’re being paranoid and if anyone does then I, not you, will deal with it. Besides, we're the last ones who should be criticizing weird magic.” He heard the door to the main dorm room open and he signaled the knight to hde. The armor vanished as it stepped into another swirling portal. There came a knock on his door. “It’s open.” The door opened to show Sunset. “Were you talking to someone just now?” Mantis shook his head and played innocent. "Must be my imagination. Sorry.” “It’s alright. So you know Twilight?” Sunset bit her lip and sighed at the question. “Sort of. It’s complicated.” Mantis saw a small shine of regret mixed with sadness in her teal eyes. Mantis felt it best to not press the young mage about it. Mantis turned in early that night s he’d be ready for his first day of classes. Mantis and Sunset had a few classes together that included Literature, History and Advanced Magic. He would have his special lesson with Cadence after his last class was over, which he was looking forward to. His first class was Literature with Professor Cherilee instructing. He was surprised to see that Twilight along with her five friends were also in the class. They would be covering a multitude of books during the semester. The next class after that was science. Thankfully Mantis saw a friendly face and paired up with Rarity for the lab portions. After that was History that Mantis, Rarity, Sunset and Twilight had. At the end of the day he headed to advanced magic. The classroom was actually a large lecture hall that could seat over two-hundred people despite the class only being around twenty or so students. Mantis took a seat between Twilight and Sunset. The professor was five minutes late before the door opened to show the professor in question. Her lime green hair was a mess and her round glasses were crookedly resting on the bridge of her nose. Her green blouse and matching skirt were wrinkles. She looked as if she just rolled out of bed. She adjusted her glasses that sat in front of her yellow eyes and sighed. “Alright, alright settle down. Let’s get introductions out of the way.” Twilight raised her hand. “Yeah?” “How should we introduce ourselves?” “I don’t know. Your name, your magic, things you like, things you hate, hobbies. Plans for the future. Whatever you want.” She said in a flippant tone. Many of the students were wondering if this lady was the real deal. “Why don’t we get an example?” A girl with short lime green hair said. The woman huffed and stood up from her desk. “Fine.” She took a moment to adjust her hair by putting it in a bun and adjust her glasses. “My name is Professor Viridian Thorn. I suppose I like a lot of things. Same with disliking them.” The whole class seemed to roll their eyes at the bland answers. “My plans for the future is to get through this year as easily as possible. As for my magic,” She waved her hand over the potted plant on her desk and a red spider lily grew from the pot. “I can do that.” The woman sat back down in her chair and crossed her legs. She started going through the class list who followed her example. There was a girl named Lyra who’s specialty was sound magic, next was a girl with shoulder length dark blue hair and fierce green eyes that were behind a pair of purple rimed glasses. “My name is Lapis Papillon. I’m an ice mage.” She said before sitting back down. “Next is-” The door to the classroom opened to show a student with well groomed blonde hair and had an arrogant look about him. Mantis saw Twilight groan and roll her eyes as she saw the man. “Who’re you?” The woman asked. “I should need no introduction.” He said in a snarky tone. “Yeah well unless you’re on the list, beat it.” She tapped her finger against a clip board. The blonde man’s eye twitched as he glared at the woman. “I am Prince Blueblood.” He said crossing his arms. The professor looked at the list and sighed. “That’s nice. Now go sit down somewhere.” The Prince huffed and sat down in the back of the class. Thorn kept going through the names and eventually called on Twilight who was all too happy to introduce herself. “Hello, my name is Twilight Sparkle. I love to read and learn about magic.” She smiled before sitting back down. Sunset was up next and she tentatively stood up. “Hi. My name is Sunset Shimmer and I use fire magic.” She sat back down and waited as the rest of the names were called. “Mantis Xanthous? Am I saying that right?” Mantis sighed and stood up. “Yeah. Well, I use spirit magic.” Twilight and Sunset both shot him a confused look. As he went to sit back down the bell signaling the end of class rang. As he stood up, the teacher called Mantis to hold him back. Once the last student left, the woman took off her glasses and sighed. “Nice job keeping a low profile brat.” She hissed with a hint of sarcasm to her voice. “I could say the same thing about you. How and why the hell are you here?” He said crossing his arms. “I’m here to make sure you don’t get your head blown off and as to how....well, I’m not called an infiltrator because it sounds cool.” Mantis only rolled his eyes a t the woman's remark. She closed her eyes and opened them again, but the white of her eyes turned black and her yellow pupils became like a cat’s. “Bottom line. Watch your back, because if something bad happens to you then everything bad will happen to me.” Her eyes shifted back to their disguise mode. “Yes mom.” His tone was dripping in sarcasm. The woman snarled as he walked out of the room. Mantis sighed as he walked through the halls to meet Cadence in an empty classroom for their lesson. he opened the door to see Sunset, Twilight along with the three Princesses inside. “Well we’re all here. Didn’t know this would be a group lesson.” “Mantis? What are you doing here?” Sunset asked as Cadence stepped forwards. “I selected Mantis as my apprentice.” The Princess of love stated. The two young women looked at the pink haired woman. Sunset then looked at Mantis. “Why didn’t you tell me?” “And miss your reaction?” He chuckled. Sunset scrunched her nose and pouted. Awe, she looks cute when she's pouting. He thought with a smile on his face. Celestia then stepped forwards. “Twilight said that you use something called spirit magic. Care to elaborate?” Mantis sighed and scratched his head. “The short version is that I can summon beings from the spirit realm.” That made the women in the room look at him in surprise. “Now before you go and call the guards let me explain. I do not study necromancy.” “But you summon spirits from the dead.” Twilight said. Mantis pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. “Let me explain the difference, necromancy is when you forcibly rip a spirit from the spirit realm and force it into a corpse or another vessel. This process makes the spirit go rabid and lose all sense of who or what they were.” Twilight nodded her head. “My magic is similar, but also different. I make a contract with a spirit and bring it into the physical realm without having it sacrifice it’s sanity.” “But your still bringing the dead back to life.” Sunset added. “Kind of. These spirits are bound to me and are for the most part friendly. I can bring one forward if you want.” The Princesses looked at one another unsure if they should allow it. “Very well, but if something goes wrong then it’s your head.” Luna stated. Mantis pulled out his deck of cards and started looking through the cards. He found one and pocketed the deck. He threw the card on the ground and muttered some words. The card glowed bright yellow and soon began to take shape. The light faded and a woman wearing a white and blue shrine maiden outfit appeared. Her light yellow hair was loose and flowing. On each of her wrists were shackles with broken chains at the end. In her right hand she held a parasol in her right hand. The woman had a smile that could melt the harshest winter and a calming aura around her. “You summoned me master?” She said looking at Mantis. “Ladies this is one of my contracted spirits. Virgo the Maiden.” The woman curtsied at the new faces. “It’s a pleasure to meet you all.” Luna still kept her guard up around the spirit. “What did you call me for master?” “Just trying to explain to them that I am not a necromancer. You see I didn’t force Virgo to come here. We worked out an agreement and she comes when I call her. She also has her free will intact.” “But what about her physical form? How does she manifest herself?” Celestia asked. “I use my own magic to give myself a body. My master’s magic keeps my door open until I return.” Virgo commented. “Door?” Twilight asked. “Yes, it is how I come to this plane of existence. Master uses his cards as a sort of conduit for the spell.” “Why do you keep calling him master?” Cadence asked. “It’s just what she calls me and refuses to call me anything else.” Mantis said with a sigh. “You can go back now Virgo.” The woman nodded and vanished back inside the card. “See? No dark magic or anything like that.” “Magic like that is incredibly dangerous.” Celestia stated. “All magic is dangerous in one way or another. Mine just happens to be more so than normal magic.” He shrugged. “I’ve been doing this for years. I know what I’m doing.” “Just be sure to be careful.” Cadence said. “Anyway, shall we get started?” Celestia cleared her throat and nodded at her niece. “I welcome you three to becoming our apprentices. You three have show an increased understanding of the magical arts that few others have done. We will be going over many forms of magic and I encourage you three to explore several different possibilities and broaden your horizons.” Twilight could barely stand still as excitement welled up inside her. The rest of the small class was mostly spent going over the different subjects they would be covering. They were dismissed afterwards and they each returned to their rooms. Mantis decided to get online and complete a few quests. His Avatar spawned in the Town of Dawn and looked around at the simple starter town. There were a few players buying new equipment. Mantis received a notification that LavenderTwilight was online. He figured he should go clear up as to why he left her and her group so abruptly yesterday. He walked into the local tavern where he saw the purple clothed mage sitting at a table with the group he saw yesterday. He sent Twilight a party invite and alerted her of his presence. Twilight joined and invited the rest of her friends. “Hey, sorry about yesterday.” Mantis stated. “I had an unexpected guest that I couldn’t ignore.” “It’s okay. Not like you meant to leave.” She said. Mantis looked to see that the rest of her group had reached level five. “So Mr. Expert, why have we stopped leveling up?” Rainbow said in a snarky tone. “Because you haven’t dedicated your character to a specific line yet. You’re still using the undeclared class.” He looked at the other members of the party to see they were in a similar situation. “You need to pick either a warrior, rogue or mage to continue onwards.” The flyer groaned not understanding the game’s stupid rules. “You guys do know the strengths and weaknesses of each class right?” “Twilight was trying to explain it, but she goes off on rants and gets too complicated.” The flyer said as the lavender mage scrunched her nose and pouted. “What? It’s true.” “To be fair dear it went over my head a bit.” Rarity admitted. Mantis sighed and pinched the bridge of his mask and stood up. “C’mon. I’ll show you what I know.” The rest of the group followed him out of the tavern and walked through the town streets. Most of the buildings were made of stone and wood. The man lead the group out towards a forest. “Okay so I’m going to explain the three different types of character classes. Now access your inventory. There should be three tarot cards.” The girls opened their menus with a swipe of their arms. They scrolled through their items and found the three cards. “Those cards allow you to swap between classes until you’re ready to choose a class before you reach level six.” “We know that already.” The rainbow haired woman said. “Before you go ahead and make your decision you should know that once you make a choice, you cannot access the other two. It’s also good to choose a class that works with your personality.” Mantis looked at the yellow winged flyer. “You said you don’t like fighting. Is that correct?” “Y-yes.” She peeped out. “I think a support mage would work better than an archer class.” He pulled out a staff to show the girl. “You stay in the back and support your combat teammates. Such as healing, increasing their strength and speed long with curing bad status effects.” The girl tentatively smiled. “Twilight said you could raise animals in this game. I like animals.” Mantis scratched his chin and thought for a moment. “Yes you can. The Druid subclass in the Enchanter branch. It allows you to summon animal familiars that can attack your foes or heal your allies, but you can only access subclasses when you reach level twenty.” He said before putting his staff away. “Let’s get back to the basics shall we?” “Sometime today would be nice.” Rainbow said in a frustrated tone. Mantis rolled his eyes at the remark and held up three fingers. “As you know there are three main classes; Mage, Warrior and Rogue. Think of them as three different trees with many branches that cover a large range of abilities.” He closed two of his fingers. “I’ll first go over the warrior class. Partier, Kicker. Step up.” “You can call me Pinkie!” The woman said with a smile. “AJ, is fine for me partner.” Mantis nodded at the words and told them to take their weapons out. Pinkie pulled out her large battle axe and Applejack did the same with her sword and shield. He folded his arms behind his back and got ready for the lesson. “Warriors are frontline combatants. They’re the ones you want to send into the fray to take up and deal the most damage. There are three paths or branches to take, each with their own advantages and disadvantages. Guardian, Champion and Barbarian. Guardians have a large amount of defense and health, but do the least damage in the warrior line.” “Think of them as a wall made to soak up damage and get your enemies’ attention. They usually have a large shield with them and a one handed sword, axe or mace.” “Spike is Guardian.” Twilight commented. Rarity and the others giggled at the thought of the small boy holding such a large piece of equipment. “Next is the Barbarian. They’re the opposite of the Guardian. Instead of using a sword and shield they typically have a large weapon that needs two hands to hold, such as a war hammer, great sword or battle axe.” Pinkie looked down at her large weapon. “They could also duel wield two single handed weapons.” “They do the most damage out of any class and have a large amount of health, but have little defense and are very vulnerable to long range attacks like spells and arrows. Their job is to take out large amounts of the enemy’s health and armor.” “Finally, the Champion is in between the two, balancing both defense and offense. They use a shield in one hand and a one handed weapon in the other. The Champion is also the quickest out of the warrior tree. All warriors use heavy armor and stamina.” “Stamina?” Applejack asked. “On your hud there should be a second bar underneath your health bar. For mages the color should be blue, warriors and rogues should be yellow. That bar allows you to use special abilities unique to each class.” He pulled his staff out again and saw a level five Goblin. He pointed the top of the staff towards the Goblin and a bolt of yellow lightning shot out. The creature curled up and shattered. “Watch my status bars.” He pointed to the floating bars above his head. Mantis then stabbed the ground with the bottom end of his staff and muttered a few words before a yellow aura swirled around beside him. His magic then took the likeness of the goblin he’d just slain. A small amount of the blue bar was chipped away, but was slowly filling back in. “The ability I just used called resurrection, used some mana to resurrect the goblin as my servant. Normal attacks from a staff, slashes from a sword, or simple shots from a bow don’t cost any mana or stamina and they’ll regenerate over time. To speed up your recovery time you could drink potions.” “My brain hurts.” Rainbow said clutching her head. She didn’t really understand all tis complicated stuff. She just wanted to kill stuff. The goblin beside the man vanished and turned to ash. “Moving on to the Rogue classes. Like the warrior, there are three main branches; Assassin, Archer and Ranger. Assassins use small weapons like daggers, stiletto knifes and brass knuckles. They inflict critical damage on their opponents and inflict bad status effects; like poison or bleeding and do the most damage out of the Rogue tree. They take the enemy by surprise, hit them fast and hit them hard.” “Awe yeah!” Dash said with a fist pump. “They also have the least amount of health and defense. They’re classified as a glass cannon.” Dash’s enthusiasm took a small hit. “The Archers use a bow and arrow along with a multitude of tricks like smoke bombs, caltrops and grenades. Distance is a must for this class and tend to kill their targets over a long period of time and hopefully before it gets too close. They can detect flaws in armor and can sense enemy movement. It’s their job to see everything on the battlefield.” “That’s a lot of pressure.” Rarity said with a hand on her hip. “Lastly, theres the Ranger. They can use either a single dagger and have a pistol crossbow or wield two of the same. Their dagger attack isn’t as damaging as an Assassin’s and their crossbow isn’t as accurate as an Archer’s bow. They can still give bad status effects and cause problems for the enemy with traps and grenades.” Rainbow looked at her twin daggers and sighed. “Rogues usually wear light or medium armor to help with their stealth and speed.” “Finally, there’s the Mages. Arcane Warriors, Sorcerer and Enchanters. Arcane warriors are the damage doers. They call in heavy spells that can burn, electrocute, freeze and do all kinds of crazy spells. Enchanters are mostly in the rear, keeping an eye on everyone’s status, healing them and boosting their abilities. Sorcerers, which is what I am, are in between. We can provide support to our party and can make things difficult for my opponents. I personally consider it the most versatile class.” “The major flaw for mages is that they take more damage than rogues and are terrible in close quarter combat. Mages also can only wear light armor which do not grant a lot of protection. It’s preferable that they are with a warrior to protect them at all times.” “Wait, your title says Necromancer.” Rarity pointed out. “After you reach level twenty you can select a subclass. Necromancer is under the Sorcerer branch.” Mantis said. “Also keep in mind what your party needs to do missions. It’s preferable that you have a balance.” Pinkie had a large grin plastered on her face. “A party? I love parties!” “Party as in who you’ll mostly be playing with.” Twilight clarified. “It’s important to have a cooperative and balanced group.” Dash only groaned at the words. “This isn’t a game where you can charge in blindly and come out on top.” Mantis stated. “You need teamwork and careful planning. If you do not, then you’ll surely die. I know that’s not a big deal in a video game, but still.” The man received a message and sighed. “Sorry ladies that’s all for today. I need to go help a friend of mine.” “Can’t we come?” Mantis chuckled at Pinkie’s question. “Sorry, but it’s a real world issue” He chuckled. “We’ll go over weapons and equipment next time and think about what class you lot want.” He accessed his menu and vanished in a flash of light leaving the group of girls to themselves. Twilight then took the stage. “So did you all understand that?” Twilight looked at her friends and saw their gears turning. “I think so.” Fluttershy peeped out as she looked at the tarot cards. “I think I want to change to a support mage. I’m no good at fighting and I want to see the animals.” “Ah’m no good at shoot’n or those fancy spells.” Applejack said. “Besides, ah like this sword and shield.” “We need someone with good aim to be an archer.” The group all looked in the direction of Rainbow Dash. Out of all of them, she’s played the most games usually involving some form of shooting. Her usual kill death ratio was at least ten kills to every death. “Fine, at least I can be a sniper and blow things up.” Dash swapped her class to an Archer and pulled out her bow. Pinkie opted to keep her barbarian class. She loved smashing things with the large hammer. “Hmm, well we already have two warriors and two mages.” Rarity said as she put a finger to her chin. “I suppose I’ll choose the assassin class.” She selected the tarot card and traded her staff for two daggers. “I can make due with these.” “The more you level up, the better equipment you can use.” Twilight checked the time and sighed. “Sorry girls, but we should get off and do our homework.” “Ugh, we just got started.” Rainbow whined. “No complaining Dash. Twi’s right.” AJ said before the group started logging off one by one. ~~~ Mantis set his headset aside and looked at his right hand to see that it was glowing a golden color. "Another one huh?" Author's Note Sorry this took a while. I'm in the middle of my last semester at college and have been hammering down the details for my graduation and what not on top of looking for a job so I can have some $$$ to spend. In case those of you who don't know, Virgo is one of the twelve Zodiac spirits. The other eleven and a few more, will make an appearance later on. Here is a red spider lily. Hope you enjoyed this chapter! Chapter I: A New LifeChapter I The Treaty It has been three years since the ‘The Royal Wedding Invasion’ as it has became known by many in the land of Equestria. The disgraced Queen Chrysalis had gone into hiding as soon as she was launched out of Canterlot by Captain Shining Armor and Princess Cadence. Since that time, a new regime of Changelings have taken hold and sought peace with Equestria. A collaborative effort by the other Changeling hive underwent to apprehend the mad Queen. After many negotiations Princess Celestia, co-ruler of Equestria, and her younger sister Princess Luna, forged a peace treaty with the Changeling race which ushered in a new era of trade and prosperity. Unfortunately many Equestrians still resented the Changelings for the attack and chose to only tolerate them rather than welcome them, because of this not many Changelings migrated to Equestria and those that did were treated poorly and were met with with accusing glares, unfair rates and even acts of physical violence. Celestia wanted there to be true peace with their new allies and allowed integration within the school system, even a school she personally taught at; Canterlot College. Mantis Xanthous yawned as he waited outside the Principal’s office. Since there were still few Changeling’s in Canterlot he kept his real features hidden with a basic illusion spell. He had light skin and dark golden hair that matched his eyes. The doors opened and Mantis stood up, cracking his back. He made his way inside to see three women. On the left was a woman that only looked a few years older than him with tri-colored hair and a had on a pink sport coat with matching skirt and heels. There was also a set of pink wings coming from her back. On the far right was a woman with flowing blue hair that reminded the man of the night sky. Her bright blue eyes seemed to pierce everything they fell upon. Her dark blue wings matched her blue business suit. Lastly, in the center was a woman who had multi colored hair and angelic white wings. Her calm magenta eyes focused on the man. “Greetings.” She said with a smile. “My name is Princess Celestia, this is my sister Luna,” She gestured to the blue haired woman who narrowed her eyes. “and my niece, Princess Cadence.” “Hello.” The woman smiled. Mantis gave them each a nod. “Mantis Xanthous. Nice to meet you.” He smiled. “Let’s shoo the dragon out of the room shall we?” He snapped his fingers and his disguise shattered like clay revealing his golden spliced eyes, ebony black skin and hair that was a dark gold color. “As you know, in order to enroll in my school, students must pass a rigorous entrance exam.” Celestia stated. “Most students spend years attending one of the many schools that prepare them for this institution. You are one of the few who haven’t and yet you passed the entrance exam with ease.” “If you can’t learn, then you can’t survive.” Mantis said in a firm tone. “True.” The woman folded her hands. “I’m pleased to run a school and country that accepts all forms of people.” She reached for her tea cup. “Mages, flyers, griffonians, draconians....Changelings.” He frowned at the words. “Tell me, why do you want to go to this school?” “I’d like to expand my knowledge.” He said in a calm tone. “I know that this school has quite a bit to offer and I plan to take advantage of that, like any other student aiming to come here.” Luna raised an eyebrow. “Also to show this generation that all Changelings aren’t blood thirsty psychopaths bent on reducing your country to a pile of rubble.” He said with a small smile. “Do you harbor any feelings of revenge against this country?” Luna asked. “Aunt Luna I really don’t think-” Cadence was cut off as Mantis raised a hand. “Not the country itself.” The man said with a sigh. “Of course I’m more angry at certain individuals rather than the whole country and it’s populace. I suppose I’m able to differentiate between the two, unlike some people I know of.” “You’ve got quite a mouth on you.”He gave laugh at the comment. “Sorry, I only get like this whenever someone has a gun pointed at me.” He whistles in a high pitched tone. There was a red flash and a faint slashing noise coming from behind the curtains. Two soldiers with spell rifles fell to the floor, motionless. A figure wearing wearing a red tunic under golden armor that shined in the sunlight stepped out from the curtains. The figure’s helmet had a pair of wings on either side and the eye holes were slanted giving them a menacing look. Hanging off it’s back was a black cape that had been torn at the edges. Celestia and the others immediately stood up at the sight of them. “Relax. This one is with me.” He said as he looked at the figure who nodded. “Leave us.” A portal opened up behind the figure and it walked through the portal before it vanished. “In my situation I need a reliable body guard.” He glanced down at the guards. “For obvious reasons.” Celestia and Cadence glared at Luna. “Precaution.” Luna stated. “I do the same.” Luna looked down at the guards and gritted her teeth in frustration. “They’re fine. Give them a few minutes and they’ll be back on their feet.” Celestia cleared her throat before speaking “I believe my school would value having a guest such as-” Mantis raised his hand. “No offense Princess Celestia, but if it’s one thing that gets under my skin it’s beating around the bush.” He sighed. “I’m not following.” “If by ‘guest’ you mean political prisoner, then you’re right.” “You’re not-” “I’m not an idiot.” He said in a serious tone. “While the New Changeling Government and your military are busy hunting down Chrysalis, your army needs something to keep them from--what was it?--Right, ‘doing anything they might regret.’” He deadpanned. “I’m insurance. A hostage to make sure they do what your government says until things are up and running.” Celestia bit her lip at the words. “Although I suppose I’m also here for my own protection.” “What do you mean?” Cadence asked. “Do you know how much my head is worth to that crazy witch? She’d cut my face off, sew it to a ball and kick it into my mother’s yard.” Cadence gagged at the words. “Chrysalis has always been twisted like that.” “You make it sound as if you know her.” Luna stated. “Well I should, she’s my aunt after all.” ~~~ An indigo haired woman by the name of Twilight Sparkle finally finished unpacking her things in her new dorm room. Her desk was in order, her books stacked on shelves and her small collection of games were on the shelf above. Her little brother Spike and her friend Rainbow Dash got her into gaming a few years ago when she moved to Ponyville. She started out on the generic action, first person shooter games, but never really cared for them. Once she got her hands on role playing games she was hooked. She had recently gotten her hands on the newest game engine and RPG. The machine was called an Immersion Visor. It looked similar to a pair of incognito sunglasses. The machine scanned the user’s brain through the eyes and connects to the nerve center in their head to make the game look, hear, feel, smell and taste games in a whole new way. This lead to the creation of Virtual Reality Games or VRG’s. One such game that had caught the scholar’s interest was ‘Fantasia Crusade.’ It had everything. A compelling story, rich lore, amazing visuals, dynamic combat and a unique interface. It was the first virtual reality massive multiplayer online role playing game, or VRMMORPG for short. Twilight was hesitant at first to buy the game, but her curiosity got the better of her. She could barely stay offline once she got a taste. However, she was responsible enough to not let it affect her studies or social life. Once done with stacking, she left to meet her friends in the lounge of the school. The lounge had three floors dedicated to it. The basement was used for storing things for special events. The main floor had a cafeteria, reading area and a game room. The top floor was for the club offices. “C’mon guys its really fun. Just try it.” The scholar had been trying for weeks to get her friends interested in the game, with little success. “Twilight it’s an RPG.” A girl with rainbow colored hair and cyan wings said. “It’s boring.” The flyer said as she sat back. “You play more video games out of everyone here Dashie.” A girl with pink curly hair stated. “I play awesome games Pinkie.” The flyer said crossing her arms. “Like ‘Daring Do: Lies of a Thief’ and ‘Guns of Honor.’” “Yeah Twi, as much as I’d like to play it sounds really complicated.” The voice came from a girl who had a brown leather Stetson sitting atop her blonde hair that was tied in a ponytail. “Ah can barely shoot straight in Dash’s shooting games.” “I think it sounds cool! I’ll try anything as long as it’s fun!” The pink haired girl said. “Thank you Pinkie.” Twilight smiled. “Rarity? Fluttershy?” She turned to the other two girls. One had a beautiful head of purple hair that had a slight curl to it and did a good job of contrasting her sapphire blue eyes. The other was hiding behind her lochs of pink hair and had a pair of butter yellow wings. “I-I don’t know. It sounds kinda scary.” The flyer said shrinking back. “As fun as it sounds dear, games like that take up a lot of time.” The beauty said with a sigh. Twilight sighed in defeat. “Besides Twilight, games like that are for dorks. No offense.” Dash said. “Then I guess you think the Wonderbolts are dorks.” Twilight muttered. The cyan flyer’s ears twitched at the words. Dash’s head whipped around and glared at her friend. “I met Soarin and Spitfire there and did a few quests with them.” “No way they play that game!” She said slamming her hands on the table. “I was as shocked as you are when I met them in game.” Twilight grabbed her phone and logged onto the website. After signing into her account she accessed her friend’s list and pulled up their profiles. “Here they are.” She slid her phone over to the flyer and read the info. The avatar’s face was the spitting image of the golden winged Wonderbolt. Her character had a bright red hood and sleeveless robes with two daggers on her back. ‘FireSpitter’ Level 23 Human Rogue/Assassin. Offline for 4 days 6 hours. The next picture was a blue winged man, with blue hair, wearing shiny silver armor, holding a silver sword and a black iron shield. ‘BlueBolt’ Level 22 Human Warrior/Champion. Offline for 3 days 5 hours. “Still think it’s just for dorks Rainbow?” Twilight chuckled. The flyer dropped the phone and glared at Twilight. “How many bits for the game?” “Sixty. Excluding expansions and add ons.” The cyan flyer took off with a blur behind her towards the nearest game store. “Well, that’s two.” Rarity suddenly grabbed her friend’s phone and found Twilight’s avatar. ‘LavenderTwilight’ Level 15 High Elf Mage. Offline for 3 days 9 hours. Her character was wearing dark purple mage robes, with a matching witch hat and held a light purple staff that crackled with purple magic. The avatar’s ears also had a point to them. “That outfit is amazing!” Rarity yelled. “Hardly. The higher level you are, the better armor and robes you can buy and craft.” Rarity bit her lip and sighed. “I suppose it could give me ideas for a new fashion line.” The fashionista said giving back the phone. “Not to mention all the cosplayers that are in the game. You’d probably make a killing.” Twilight shrugged. “Well, then I will definitely look into it.” She smiled. Rarity then glared at Applejack. The farmer gulped as she felt the fashionista’s sapphire blue eyes on her. Eventually she slammed her hands down on the table and grunted. “Dang it! Fine!” The farmer grumbled a she crossed her arms. “I’ll give it a shot. Just get those dang eyes off me!” Rarity smirked at her small victory. “S-since everyone else is doing it. I’ll do it.” Fluttershy squeaked. “You’ll have a good time Shy. You can even raise animals in it.” The flyer smiled as her wings fluttered slightly at the news. Twilight sat back with a smile on her face. “Awesome! Let me know when you guys get it and download it. I’ll teach you the basics.” “I still need to unpack dear.” Rarity said. “Okay, how about we get it later?” Twilight said. “Sure. Although it may take me a while to get my things.” ~~~ Mantis sighed as he made his way out of the main building and headed towards his new dorm room. Most of his bags had already been delivered to his dorm. As he made his way out he accidentally bumped into someone. “Oops. Sorry about that.” As he looked at the purple haired girl he was a bit struck at her beauty. Her sapphire blue eyes were like two deep pools one would find in a tropical rainforest. “Oh it’s alright.” She had an accent that had a refined tone to it. Mantis shook his head and helped her up. “I was just coming for my things.” “Likewise.” Mantis said gesturing to his bags. “Need a hand with them?” “Oh I couldn’t ask you to help.” “I insist. I feel bad for knocking you over.” Rarity smiled at the golden haired man. “Well, aren’t you generous.” She smiled. “Rarity?” The woman turned to see her scholarly friend coming up to them. “Sorry, I got a call from Spike and I had to take it.” “Not a problem at all dear.” She smiled. Twilight then noticed Mantis. “Who’s this?” She asked. “Oh yes this is....Sorry, but we haven’t exchanged pleasantries.” Rarity said. “Mantis Xanthous.” He said before kissing Rarity’s hand. “At your service.” The blue eyed girl gave a small giggle. I still got it. “Rarity Belle.” She smiled. “I’m Twilight Sparkle.” Mantis froze at the words. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t your older brother-” “Prince Shining Armor? Yeah, I’m his little sister.” If the young man had a danger meter installed in his brain it would have gone off loud enough for it to be heard for miles. Luckily he remained calm and shook her hand. “Nice to meet you.” He smiled as he followed the girls. His eyes shrank when he saw that Rarity had two luggage carts filled to the brim. “Bring your house in pieces Rarity?” “What? A lady needs the essentials.” Twilight couldn’t help but role her eyes at the words. Mantis took one of the larger ones and slung it over his back. “So where am I hauling this thing to?” “Room B36. Just follow me.” Twilight said. “We’re in the same room. Where are you staying?” Locust reached into his pant pocket and pulled out a slip of paper. “Room D13.” After ten minutes of walking through the dorm building, the three arrived at Twilight and Rarity’s room. Mantis set the bag down and sighed. “Thank you again dear.” Rarity smiled. “No biggie. See you two around.” He said as he made his way towards the D wing. He arrived at room D13 and opened the door. It was a small living area with a large TV, a couch and a kitchenette. There were three doors, one two on the right and one on the left. He opened the one on the left and saw a nice bathroom that had a full shower and bathtub. The bedrooms were the same; one double bed, a desk and bookshelf. “A little small, but I can work with this.” He started unpacking his things and put his clothes away. Mantis set his immersion visor on the nightstand and brought out a few bottles, beakers and cylinders. He unpacked his computer hard drive and monitor and connected them to the school’s wireless network. The man put the helmet on and laid down in bed. He connected the helmet to his hard drive and the visor came to life. “Start up.” He said as several light’s flashed before his eyes and he felt a falling sensation creep over him. Soon his eyes closed and everything went dark. Light filled his vision as he looked down at his armored hands. “Good to be back in this world.” He gripped his hands and looked at the large town that laid before him. Several shops and buildings filled the streets. Several NPC’s were selling goods. Mantis swiped to the left and his character menu popped up. ‘CrowofSpirits’ Level 30 Dark Elf Mage/Necromancer. Online. His character was dressed in a dark yellow robes that appeared to have black feathers attached to the back. He had several potions attached to his belt and a long staff with a glowing yellow orb attached to one end was on his back. On his face was a plague doctor mask that was painted dark gold and a flat brimmed hat was on his head. He checked his inventory and items. Forgot I stocked up after that last raid. He let out a sigh and made his way into the crowd. Author's Note I hope you all enjoyed the first chapter of this new fic. The inner workings of the digital world will unfold as the story progresses. Chapter II: A Whole New WorldChapter II A Whole New World After nearly an hour of setting an account, Rarity was ready to jump into the land of Fantasia. She laid down in her bed and slipped the visor on. The visor in front of her glowed white and she felt her eyes become heavy. “Speak the words as they are displayed.” The machine said in a mechanical tone. Rarity took a moment to read the screen. “Audio sensory test.” The fashionista said. The screen went dark and Rarity gulped and she felt her body tense up. “Relax yourself.” The machine stated Rarity took in a breath and relaxed her position. “Please say the command you wish to select.” “Start up.” Rarity felt woozy and soon her eyes fell shut. Rarity opened her eyes to feel herself floating in a white void. She looked around her and she saw an endless white space in front of her. “Welcome adventurer.” Rarity’s head whipped around in the direction of the mother like tone. She saw what looked like a goddess clothed in white robes and had a golden crown holding back her flowing white locks of hair. In her hand was a golden staff with the image of the Sun on the top. “Welcome to the world of Fantasia. Our world is experiencing an incredible time of peace and prosperity. However, there is much danger in this world and it is up to adventurers like you to brave the storm of chaos and darkness that is returning. Are you ready?” “Indeed.” Rarity said. The woman then snapped her fingers and a scroll appeared before her. “Then scribe your name onto this scroll and let your name be forever written into history.” Rarity took a moment to think and entered her account name. ‘RadiantGemstone.’ The Goddess then held out a stack of cards that flew into the air and formed four larger cards each the size of Rarity. “Then select your destined path.” Rarity looked at the card that had a sword and shield imprinted on it. “Become an unstoppable force of muscle if you choose the Warrior class. A sword and shield are your best friend, or just a large weapon that will devastate anyone in your path.” The goddess said. Rarity raised an eyebrow as looked at the card that had a pair of daggers and a bow on it. “Stealth and sneaking is your ally if you choose the Rogue class. Attack form a distance with a bow as a Ranger, or use the shadows to your advantage and strike with the daggers when the enemy’s back is turned as an assassin.” Rarity then looked at the card that had a staff imprinted on it. “Become a master of the arcane arts and let the world see your skill with a staff.” The girl then turned her attention to the last card that had all three of the card’s pictures on it. “This card is for the indecisive and wish to see what they are proficient at before making a selection.” Rarity took a moment to think before selecting the last card. “So the decision is made.” The woman raised her staff and the other three cards vanished. The card Rarity selected slid into the floor and appeared beneath her feet. “Good luck adventurer and be vigilant.” The card glowed and Rarity looked down to see the card opening like a door. Suddenly The girl was falling through open sky towards a world with a beautiful landscape, rich with fields, mountains and kingdoms came into view. Rarity soon realized she was heading right towards one of the fields at a break-neck pace. “WAAAAHHHAHAAAA!” She yelled as she hit the atmosphere and felt resistance as she brought her arms up to shield herself. She opened her eyes to see the lush green fields, the mountains that pierced the very sky and in the distance she saw a shimmering white city. The wind whipped by her as she closed her eyes and hit the ground. Rarity opened her eyes to see that she was in the center of a crater, but otherwise unharmed. The woman shook her head and groaned. “Well, that was rude.” She said to the sky. “Rarity? That you?” A familiar southern accent was music to the girl’s ears. She looked out of the crater to see her five friends looking down at her. “Nice to see you’re still in one piece.” The characters’ faces were the spitting image of her friends in the real world. They each had a tunic with leather armor on, but in a different color that suited them. Above their head read their names. ‘DashingSpectrum#1’ ‘AppleKicker’ ‘PinkPartier’ ‘CritterShy’ and ‘LavenderTwilight.’ Rainbow and Fluttershy’s characters had cyan and yellow wings coming from their back. “You made it!” Pinkie yelled as Rarity climbed out of the hole with Applejack’s help. “Yes, but why did she drop me from the air?” Rarity huffed as she brushed he dirt off her white tunic. “Chill out Rarity. It’s supposed to get your blood pumping.” Dash said as she slammed her fist into her open hand. “Where are we anyway’s Twi?” Applejack asked as she looked at their friend who was donning purple mage robes. “We’re close to the Town of Dawn.” Twilight said pulling up her map. “You five have to go through Dusk Forest and meet me on the other side.” She said pointing to a line of trees fifty feet away from them. “What? You can’t come with us?” Fluttershy said with a gulp. “Sorry, but no one above level five can enter there. It’s a special training ground for beginners. Don’t worry, the monsters in there are the weakest in the game.” “Weak?” Dash grumbled wanting a challenge. “It’s only to help you get the hang of things. Like a tutorial program.” The flyer groaned at the words. “What class did you guys’ choose anyway?” “Ah picked the warrior.” Applejack said as she took out her her sword and shield. “I chose the indecisive one.” Rarity said. “I need to understand things first before I make a decision.” “S-same.” Fluttershy squeaked. “I’m not good at fighting.” “It was between Warrior and Rogue, wanted to see which one was more awesome so I chose the same.” Dash said. “Same!” Pinkie yelled. “I want to see what everyone can do.” “That’s very smart. A lot of players do that.” Twilight smiled. “Wait, what if we need advice?” Applejack asked. “We don’t know anything about this game.” Twilight tapped her lip and swiped left brining up her menu. “I’ll send you guys a group chat request.” She hit the send button and the five girls got the notification. “I’ll be able to talk to you guys during your mission.” Twilight then pulled out her map and selected the nearest town. The girl’s body then transformed into purple light and shot towards the sky. “Just call me if you have any questions.” Rarity sighed and looked at her friends. “Well, what are we waiting for?” Dash asked running down the path. “Wait for me Dashie.” Pinkie yelled running after her friend. The other three sighed and ran after the two as they entered the forest. The crunch of leaves and gravel filled the air as they walked down the path. The air had a certain thickness to it and several insects started buzzing. “I must say that this is amazing.” Rarity said. “Ya can say that again.” The southerner said. “If I didn’t know better, I’d say this place was real.” The path kept winding and turning until they came to a clearing where a few large beetles were hovering. They had large mandibles and claws. Above their heads showed a green bar with the letter HP next to it. Above the bar was a title. ‘Lvl. 1 Terror Beetle.’ “Okay, what should we-” “CHARGE!” Dash yelled running in with Applejack who had her sword and shield drawn. The beetles immediately noticed them and swarmed the two women. AJ was doing a good job of slashing her sword and bashing her shield. The beetles then noticed the rest of the group. “Um Twilight?” Rarity gulped. “We need some help on some....ugh....beetles.” She said in a disgusted tone. “They’re attack isn’t too bad, but they have bad status effects.” The mage’s voice rang out. “She mean’s dealing with ‘em Twi.” AJ said as she bashed one with her wooden shield. “I don’t have any weapons!” Dash yelled. “Select them from your inventory.” Twilight sighed. Dash caught a breather and swiped left brining up her inventory. There were several low level weapons to choose from, but settled on a pair of daggers. The other’s did the same. Pinkie found a large battle axe and slashed a beetle. The bug glowed red and shattered into digital code before dropping some loot. Fluttershy panicked and selected a wooden bow and a quiver of arrows appeared on her back. Rarity rapidly scrolled through her menu and found a long staff with a jewel at the tip. She activated her staff and a purple ethereal beetle appeared and attacked it’s counter part. Fluttershy was quivering against a rock and her arm was shaking as she held the bow. Her avatar instinctively pulled out an arrow. The yellow flyer soon saw a cross hair appear in front of her. As she put it over the beetle, the prompt turned red and she released the arrow. The bolt got the beetle between the eyes and was digitized. Soon the bugs were no more and the girls sighed in relief. “Hey I leveled up!” Pinkie smiled. The same went for the other five girls. ‘PinkPartier has reached level 2.’ The others got a similar notification as they progressed through the forest. They killed a few more of the creatures and they each found themselves at level 3 by the end. As they stepped out of the forest they saw their purple mage friend. “You guys made it!” Twilight smiled. “Yeah, thanks for the help coach.” Dash said in a dry tone. “We almost got slaughtered out there!” “There were several tutorial prompts dear.” Rarity stated. “I always turn those off.” “Now why in the name of Celestia did ya do that?” Applejack asked. “Because I’m awesome!” The group only face palmed at the remark. “Rainbow, this isn’t like any type of hack and slash game.” Twilight said. “You need strategy, careful planning and timely use of your abilities.” The girl sighed. “What we need is a game master.” “A what now?” The farmer asked. “A game master is someone who knows how to play the game to the best extent.” “So like a mega nerd?” Dash asked. “An expert.” She corrected. “Someone who knows the game. How to play it, what missions to take and how to level up faster.” “You’re our expert darling.” Rarity said looking at her friend. “No, someone whose better than me. I’m rusty at this game as well.” The indigo haired mage sighed. “Hang on.” The woman swiped and found her friend’s list. Her eyes scanned the lists and smiled. “Yes, he’s on!” “Who?” “A friend of mine. He’s really good at this game and he helped Spike and I get started when we started playing.” She said as she selected the contact. “Hang on a second girls.” The girl waited for a moment. “Hello?” The voice was masculine. “Crow, nice to hear from you.” “Right. Sorry I haven’t been on. I’ve been moving around a bit.” “No problem. I’ve been busy as well. Anyway, I need a favor. My friends just bought the game and they need help....surviving.” “Rookies huh?” “Yeah, they’re new to RPG’s.” “Okay, I just need to finish up murdering these goblins. Then I’ll join ya.” “Cool. I’ll send you an invite.” The line went dead and Twilight turned back to her friends. “Okay, my friend should be here soon. A word of warning he can be a bit...callous and a little sarcastic, but he’s a nice guy when you get to know him.” “Be careful about chatting with people online dear.” Rarity said. “Have you ever met him in real life?” “No and besides we’re only gaming friends. We don’t even know each other’s real names.” Twilight said waving the question off. “So how good is this guy?” Applejack said. “He’s good. Crow helped me beat a raid quest.” A beam of light then came down from the sky close to the group. They squinted and saw a figure come down from the beam. The beam of light stopped and they saw the mask wearing individual stand in front of them. “Man that’s tingly.” He said as he shook his head. The man blinked a little to readjust his eyesight. “Ah, nice to see you again Twilight.” He looked at the scholar’s avatar. “Yeah, it’s been a while.” Twilight nodded. “So these are the rookies huh?” He eyed each of them up. “Yeah, they’re from my school.” “Okay, so what do you all know how to do?” Pinkie Pie was waving her had in front of herself “How do you see your stats?” Mantis shook his head and started screaming internally. What have I gotten myself into? With a deep breath the man pulled out his staff. “Okay the first thing you need to know is-” His avatar suddenly vanished from sight leaving the group of girls bewildered. “Um, what just happened?” “That punk ditched us!” Dash yelled. Twilight pulled up her friends list and saw he was offline. “No, I think he lagged out.” Twilight said. “It happens sometimes.” Back in the real world Mantis shot up in his bed and winced as his eyes readjusted to his room. He looked beside him to see the armored knight from before. “What’s the big idea?” “We have a guest.” He applied his disguise and followed the knight to the door. The knight vanished as Mantis pulled out a monocle and looked at the door. The wood appeared to vanish from the man’s sight and saw that Princess Cadence herself was outside his door. He pocketed the item and opened the door for her. “Princess.” “Hello. Am I interrupting anything?” “Not really.” He said as she walked inside his dorm. She took a seat on the couch before Mantis grabbed a chair and sat across from her. “So what brings you here?” “I wanted to ask you for a favor.” She sad as she folded her hands. Mantis raised an eyebrow at the woman. “I wish to take on an apprentice. Would you be interested?” To say he was surprised would be an understatement. “Why me? I’m sure there are other mages here who would kill for the opportunity to become your apprentice. I didn’t even know you were looking for one.” “Well, Princess Celestia and Luna both have apprentices of their own. I’m sure you know that Twilight is Celestia’s.” Mantis had heard of the girl’s exploits as Celestia’s pupil and the Element of Magic. “Princess Luna’s is actually a former student of Celestia.” He sat forward and let his disguise drop. “And you have no problem with the fact that I’m a member of a despised race that almost burnt your city to the ground and ruined your wedding?” “That was Chrysalis and her forces. I doubt you had anything to do with that.” “True. I was busy with other affairs at the time.” “Besides, I think we can learn a lot from each other. I know next to nothing about Changelings. Their magic, philosophy or anything like that.” “This is starting to sound like a one way street. What do I get out of this?” “Apprentices such as Twilight, get special access to the Canterlot Archives.” That got his attention. Mantis had heard that the Canterlot Archives housed some of the most powerful magic ever created by Starswirl the Bearded and several other legends. Mages around the world would kill to just to spend five minutes among the ancient tomes. “You wouldn’t have unlimited access. There is some magic that should never see the light of day.” “That I understand all too well.” He sat back and thought for a moment. “You’ve talked me into it. I have to say you surprise me Princess. I never thought the wife of the Carnifex would be a Changeling sympathizer.” Cadence looked at him in confusion. “Wife of the what?” “Oh apologies. It’s sort of a nick-name Changelings have for your husband.” He smiled. “In the Changeling way of life we are born with a name, but when we mature we are given a second name from the ancient Changeling language. It’s more of a title and it usually having something to do with their occupation.” This interested Cadence immensely. She had no idea their culture had something so unique. “Fascinating. So Carnifex means Captain? Soldier? Prince?” She guessed as she tilted her head to the side. Mantis scratched his head and bit his lip. “I’m not sure if you want to know. It isn’t exactly flattering. It’s more of a insult.” Cadence frowned at the man. “Well what do you expect? Your people waged a war on us we wanted nothing to do with. It’s only natural for us to do something to de-humanize our enemies. It makes it easier to fight them. As I understand that your military had a similar strategy. I believe they called us insects, maggots, etcetera.” Cadence let out a heavy sigh remembering hearing some of the soldiers joke about the degrading nicknames. “Still want to know what it means?” Mantis crossed his arms and saw that she was not backing down. “Fine. In your language Carnifex means Butcher.” Author's Note Now before everyone jumps down my throat, I will NOT be making Mantis into another Kirito from SAO. (Cringes) I mostly based his character off of these people. Shiroe from Log Horizon. Lelouch Vi Britannia/Lamprouge Solas from Dragon Age: Inquisition. And Finally Lucy Heartfilia from Fairy Tail (You'll find out why next chapter)
Chapter III: ClassesChapter III Classes After his little chat with Cadence Mantis decided to walk around the school a little. There was a large courtyard at the front of the school that lead up to the front steps. He admired the old castle style architecture the school had. It reminded Mantis of old stories he read as a child. He could make out a figure near the steps of the school. She had red hair with streaks of yellow that reminded him of fire. As he drew closer he could see that the woman was struggling with her luggage cart. The stranger let out a frustrated groan and just laid down in submission. While the spectacle was fun to watch the Changeling’s conscious was acting up. “Need a hand?” He said as he offered the woman his hand to help her up. “Thanks.” She said brushing the dirt off her black leather jacket and blue jean pants. “Rough day?” “You have no idea. First my train was delayed because of a crazy passenger, the people at the baggage claim almost lost all my stuff and I have no idea where I’m going.” She gave a huff and took some deep breaths. “I’m sorry. Here I am ranting and raving. You probably think I’m crazy.” “Everyone’s crazy to some extent. My name’s Mantis. Yours?” “Sunset Shimmer.” She smiled. “I don’t suppose you know where the dorms are do you?” She said as she looked around at the different buildings. “Yeah they’re over there.” He pointed to the building he came from. “What’s your room number?” “D13.” “Well, that makes finding it easy.” He chuckled a little and Sunset looked at him not understanding the situation. “That’s my room. It appears we are roommates.” The woman blinked and looked at him in surprise. “At least you look somewhat normal.” She chuckled. “Oh you have no idea how wrong you are.” Mantis chuckled. “C’mon roomie I’ll show you the way.” Mantis walked beside the girl and put his hands behind his head. “So are you a mage?” The woman gave a nod. “I specialize in fire magic.” She snapped her fingers and a small flame appeared on her finger tip. “I know it’s pretty basic.” The woman said as the flame went out. “Basic, but useful. Elemental magic is always handy no matter the occasion.” The two continued through the halls of the dorm room until they reached their destination. The blonde opened the door and held it as she stepped inside. “Welcome to paradise.” Sunset looked around the room and saw that Mantis had already claimed the room on the right. “Need a hand with your things?” “No. I can handle it. Thank you.” She went inside the room on the right and started un packing her things. She set a few spell books on the shelves along with some novels. She pulled out an Immersion Visor and a copy of Fantasia Crusade. There was a knock on her door and she called for it to be opened. “Hey I was thinking we should head down to the cafeteria soon for some dinner?” Mantis then noticed the game on the desk. “You play?” A soft hue of pink flashed across Sunset's cheeks. “Yeah. I know I’m kind of a dork when it comes to anything having to do with magic. Including video games.” She adverted her eyes from the man. “No it’s cool. I play myself and magic definitely is an interest of mine.” Sunset let out a happy sigh and followed the man towards the cafeteria. They walked through the halls idly chatting with one another. As they sat down with their trays of food Sunset asked something that was on her mind. “What kind of magic do you use?” Mantis snapped his fingers and a stack of cards appeared before him. “I use card magic.” He picked up one of the cards that had a decorative back print. He flipped the card to show a spell circle on the other side. There was a faint magic emanating from the card that Sunset could sense. “Card magic?” “These cards hold spells that I’ve cast before hand. All I have to do is run some magic through it and the spell can be used.” He said as he made the deck vanish. “Why don’t you just cast them normally?” She took a sip of her water after asking the question. “The really powerful ones take to long to cast or too much magic to use on the fly. This way I can still cast them quickly without sacrificing either.” He said taking another bite from the food. “The downside is I can only use each card once and have to recast and re-seal them in the card later.” “So they’re like grenades? Use them when the time is needed?” Mantis nodded as he took a bite of his food. “That still leaved my question unanswered. You told me that you used cards to store your magic, but you haven’t told me what kind of magic was in them.” “Very perceptive.” He smiled. “My real magic is-” He was cut off as he saw a familiar pair of girls walk by with four more girls about their age. “Hey Twilight.” Hearing her name, the indigo scholar turned and smiled as she saw the man. She and her friends went to get some food before joining them at the table. “These are my friends. Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy and you’ve met Rarity.” The fashionista smiled at the man while the rest greeted him in their own way. Applejack and Rainbow Dash gave him a nod, Pinkie gave him a big smile while Fluttershy hid behind her pink bangs. “Nice to meet you all. My name’s Mantis and this is my roommate Sunset.” The fire mage hid her gaze from Twilight. The purple haired scholar looked at Sunset and sighed. “I didn’t realize you’d be here Sunset.” Twilight said in a flat tone. “I was asked to come here by Princess Luna.” Sunset stated. Mantis looked at the two girls and sat quietly. After finishing his meal, Mantis headed back to his room and saw the knight sitting on his bed. “Those two mages.” It began in a gravely voice. “Their magic is not normal. Be cautious around them.” “Twilight definitely, but Sunset seems harmless.” Mantis said in a flat tone. “You take things too lightly. Her magic is unusual.” It crossed it’s arms and huffed. “Should anyone discover your true identity then they must be dealt with.” “Knock that off. You’re being paranoid and if anyone does then I, not you, will deal with it. Besides, we're the last ones who should be criticizing weird magic.” He heard the door to the main dorm room open and he signaled the knight to hde. The armor vanished as it stepped into another swirling portal. There came a knock on his door. “It’s open.” The door opened to show Sunset. “Were you talking to someone just now?” Mantis shook his head and played innocent. "Must be my imagination. Sorry.” “It’s alright. So you know Twilight?” Sunset bit her lip and sighed at the question. “Sort of. It’s complicated.” Mantis saw a small shine of regret mixed with sadness in her teal eyes. Mantis felt it best to not press the young mage about it. Mantis turned in early that night s he’d be ready for his first day of classes. Mantis and Sunset had a few classes together that included Literature, History and Advanced Magic. He would have his special lesson with Cadence after his last class was over, which he was looking forward to. His first class was Literature with Professor Cherilee instructing. He was surprised to see that Twilight along with her five friends were also in the class. They would be covering a multitude of books during the semester. The next class after that was science. Thankfully Mantis saw a friendly face and paired up with Rarity for the lab portions. After that was History that Mantis, Rarity, Sunset and Twilight had. At the end of the day he headed to advanced magic. The classroom was actually a large lecture hall that could seat over two-hundred people despite the class only being around twenty or so students. Mantis took a seat between Twilight and Sunset. The professor was five minutes late before the door opened to show the professor in question. Her lime green hair was a mess and her round glasses were crookedly resting on the bridge of her nose. Her green blouse and matching skirt were wrinkles. She looked as if she just rolled out of bed. She adjusted her glasses that sat in front of her yellow eyes and sighed. “Alright, alright settle down. Let’s get introductions out of the way.” Twilight raised her hand. “Yeah?” “How should we introduce ourselves?” “I don’t know. Your name, your magic, things you like, things you hate, hobbies. Plans for the future. Whatever you want.” She said in a flippant tone. Many of the students were wondering if this lady was the real deal. “Why don’t we get an example?” A girl with short lime green hair said. The woman huffed and stood up from her desk. “Fine.” She took a moment to adjust her hair by putting it in a bun and adjust her glasses. “My name is Professor Viridian Thorn. I suppose I like a lot of things. Same with disliking them.” The whole class seemed to roll their eyes at the bland answers. “My plans for the future is to get through this year as easily as possible. As for my magic,” She waved her hand over the potted plant on her desk and a red spider lily grew from the pot. “I can do that.” The woman sat back down in her chair and crossed her legs. She started going through the class list who followed her example. There was a girl named Lyra who’s specialty was sound magic, next was a girl with shoulder length dark blue hair and fierce green eyes that were behind a pair of purple rimed glasses. “My name is Lapis Papillon. I’m an ice mage.” She said before sitting back down. “Next is-” The door to the classroom opened to show a student with well groomed blonde hair and had an arrogant look about him. Mantis saw Twilight groan and roll her eyes as she saw the man. “Who’re you?” The woman asked. “I should need no introduction.” He said in a snarky tone. “Yeah well unless you’re on the list, beat it.” She tapped her finger against a clip board. The blonde man’s eye twitched as he glared at the woman. “I am Prince Blueblood.” He said crossing his arms. The professor looked at the list and sighed. “That’s nice. Now go sit down somewhere.” The Prince huffed and sat down in the back of the class. Thorn kept going through the names and eventually called on Twilight who was all too happy to introduce herself. “Hello, my name is Twilight Sparkle. I love to read and learn about magic.” She smiled before sitting back down. Sunset was up next and she tentatively stood up. “Hi. My name is Sunset Shimmer and I use fire magic.” She sat back down and waited as the rest of the names were called. “Mantis Xanthous? Am I saying that right?” Mantis sighed and stood up. “Yeah. Well, I use spirit magic.” Twilight and Sunset both shot him a confused look. As he went to sit back down the bell signaling the end of class rang. As he stood up, the teacher called Mantis to hold him back. Once the last student left, the woman took off her glasses and sighed. “Nice job keeping a low profile brat.” She hissed with a hint of sarcasm to her voice. “I could say the same thing about you. How and why the hell are you here?” He said crossing his arms. “I’m here to make sure you don’t get your head blown off and as to how....well, I’m not called an infiltrator because it sounds cool.” Mantis only rolled his eyes a t the woman's remark. She closed her eyes and opened them again, but the white of her eyes turned black and her yellow pupils became like a cat’s. “Bottom line. Watch your back, because if something bad happens to you then everything bad will happen to me.” Her eyes shifted back to their disguise mode. “Yes mom.” His tone was dripping in sarcasm. The woman snarled as he walked out of the room. Mantis sighed as he walked through the halls to meet Cadence in an empty classroom for their lesson. he opened the door to see Sunset, Twilight along with the three Princesses inside. “Well we’re all here. Didn’t know this would be a group lesson.” “Mantis? What are you doing here?” Sunset asked as Cadence stepped forwards. “I selected Mantis as my apprentice.” The Princess of love stated. The two young women looked at the pink haired woman. Sunset then looked at Mantis. “Why didn’t you tell me?” “And miss your reaction?” He chuckled. Sunset scrunched her nose and pouted. Awe, she looks cute when she's pouting. He thought with a smile on his face. Celestia then stepped forwards. “Twilight said that you use something called spirit magic. Care to elaborate?” Mantis sighed and scratched his head. “The short version is that I can summon beings from the spirit realm.” That made the women in the room look at him in surprise. “Now before you go and call the guards let me explain. I do not study necromancy.” “But you summon spirits from the dead.” Twilight said. Mantis pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. “Let me explain the difference, necromancy is when you forcibly rip a spirit from the spirit realm and force it into a corpse or another vessel. This process makes the spirit go rabid and lose all sense of who or what they were.” Twilight nodded her head. “My magic is similar, but also different. I make a contract with a spirit and bring it into the physical realm without having it sacrifice it’s sanity.” “But your still bringing the dead back to life.” Sunset added. “Kind of. These spirits are bound to me and are for the most part friendly. I can bring one forward if you want.” The Princesses looked at one another unsure if they should allow it. “Very well, but if something goes wrong then it’s your head.” Luna stated. Mantis pulled out his deck of cards and started looking through the cards. He found one and pocketed the deck. He threw the card on the ground and muttered some words. The card glowed bright yellow and soon began to take shape. The light faded and a woman wearing a white and blue shrine maiden outfit appeared. Her light yellow hair was loose and flowing. On each of her wrists were shackles with broken chains at the end. In her right hand she held a parasol in her right hand. The woman had a smile that could melt the harshest winter and a calming aura around her. “You summoned me master?” She said looking at Mantis. “Ladies this is one of my contracted spirits. Virgo the Maiden.” The woman curtsied at the new faces. “It’s a pleasure to meet you all.” Luna still kept her guard up around the spirit. “What did you call me for master?” “Just trying to explain to them that I am not a necromancer. You see I didn’t force Virgo to come here. We worked out an agreement and she comes when I call her. She also has her free will intact.” “But what about her physical form? How does she manifest herself?” Celestia asked. “I use my own magic to give myself a body. My master’s magic keeps my door open until I return.” Virgo commented. “Door?” Twilight asked. “Yes, it is how I come to this plane of existence. Master uses his cards as a sort of conduit for the spell.” “Why do you keep calling him master?” Cadence asked. “It’s just what she calls me and refuses to call me anything else.” Mantis said with a sigh. “You can go back now Virgo.” The woman nodded and vanished back inside the card. “See? No dark magic or anything like that.” “Magic like that is incredibly dangerous.” Celestia stated. “All magic is dangerous in one way or another. Mine just happens to be more so than normal magic.” He shrugged. “I’ve been doing this for years. I know what I’m doing.” “Just be sure to be careful.” Cadence said. “Anyway, shall we get started?” Celestia cleared her throat and nodded at her niece. “I welcome you three to becoming our apprentices. You three have show an increased understanding of the magical arts that few others have done. We will be going over many forms of magic and I encourage you three to explore several different possibilities and broaden your horizons.” Twilight could barely stand still as excitement welled up inside her. The rest of the small class was mostly spent going over the different subjects they would be covering. They were dismissed afterwards and they each returned to their rooms. Mantis decided to get online and complete a few quests. His Avatar spawned in the Town of Dawn and looked around at the simple starter town. There were a few players buying new equipment. Mantis received a notification that LavenderTwilight was online. He figured he should go clear up as to why he left her and her group so abruptly yesterday. He walked into the local tavern where he saw the purple clothed mage sitting at a table with the group he saw yesterday. He sent Twilight a party invite and alerted her of his presence. Twilight joined and invited the rest of her friends. “Hey, sorry about yesterday.” Mantis stated. “I had an unexpected guest that I couldn’t ignore.” “It’s okay. Not like you meant to leave.” She said. Mantis looked to see that the rest of her group had reached level five. “So Mr. Expert, why have we stopped leveling up?” Rainbow said in a snarky tone. “Because you haven’t dedicated your character to a specific line yet. You’re still using the undeclared class.” He looked at the other members of the party to see they were in a similar situation. “You need to pick either a warrior, rogue or mage to continue onwards.” The flyer groaned not understanding the game’s stupid rules. “You guys do know the strengths and weaknesses of each class right?” “Twilight was trying to explain it, but she goes off on rants and gets too complicated.” The flyer said as the lavender mage scrunched her nose and pouted. “What? It’s true.” “To be fair dear it went over my head a bit.” Rarity admitted. Mantis sighed and pinched the bridge of his mask and stood up. “C’mon. I’ll show you what I know.” The rest of the group followed him out of the tavern and walked through the town streets. Most of the buildings were made of stone and wood. The man lead the group out towards a forest. “Okay so I’m going to explain the three different types of character classes. Now access your inventory. There should be three tarot cards.” The girls opened their menus with a swipe of their arms. They scrolled through their items and found the three cards. “Those cards allow you to swap between classes until you’re ready to choose a class before you reach level six.” “We know that already.” The rainbow haired woman said. “Before you go ahead and make your decision you should know that once you make a choice, you cannot access the other two. It’s also good to choose a class that works with your personality.” Mantis looked at the yellow winged flyer. “You said you don’t like fighting. Is that correct?” “Y-yes.” She peeped out. “I think a support mage would work better than an archer class.” He pulled out a staff to show the girl. “You stay in the back and support your combat teammates. Such as healing, increasing their strength and speed long with curing bad status effects.” The girl tentatively smiled. “Twilight said you could raise animals in this game. I like animals.” Mantis scratched his chin and thought for a moment. “Yes you can. The Druid subclass in the Enchanter branch. It allows you to summon animal familiars that can attack your foes or heal your allies, but you can only access subclasses when you reach level twenty.” He said before putting his staff away. “Let’s get back to the basics shall we?” “Sometime today would be nice.” Rainbow said in a frustrated tone. Mantis rolled his eyes at the remark and held up three fingers. “As you know there are three main classes; Mage, Warrior and Rogue. Think of them as three different trees with many branches that cover a large range of abilities.” He closed two of his fingers. “I’ll first go over the warrior class. Partier, Kicker. Step up.” “You can call me Pinkie!” The woman said with a smile. “AJ, is fine for me partner.” Mantis nodded at the words and told them to take their weapons out. Pinkie pulled out her large battle axe and Applejack did the same with her sword and shield. He folded his arms behind his back and got ready for the lesson. “Warriors are frontline combatants. They’re the ones you want to send into the fray to take up and deal the most damage. There are three paths or branches to take, each with their own advantages and disadvantages. Guardian, Champion and Barbarian. Guardians have a large amount of defense and health, but do the least damage in the warrior line.” “Think of them as a wall made to soak up damage and get your enemies’ attention. They usually have a large shield with them and a one handed sword, axe or mace.” “Spike is Guardian.” Twilight commented. Rarity and the others giggled at the thought of the small boy holding such a large piece of equipment. “Next is the Barbarian. They’re the opposite of the Guardian. Instead of using a sword and shield they typically have a large weapon that needs two hands to hold, such as a war hammer, great sword or battle axe.” Pinkie looked down at her large weapon. “They could also duel wield two single handed weapons.” “They do the most damage out of any class and have a large amount of health, but have little defense and are very vulnerable to long range attacks like spells and arrows. Their job is to take out large amounts of the enemy’s health and armor.” “Finally, the Champion is in between the two, balancing both defense and offense. They use a shield in one hand and a one handed weapon in the other. The Champion is also the quickest out of the warrior tree. All warriors use heavy armor and stamina.” “Stamina?” Applejack asked. “On your hud there should be a second bar underneath your health bar. For mages the color should be blue, warriors and rogues should be yellow. That bar allows you to use special abilities unique to each class.” He pulled his staff out again and saw a level five Goblin. He pointed the top of the staff towards the Goblin and a bolt of yellow lightning shot out. The creature curled up and shattered. “Watch my status bars.” He pointed to the floating bars above his head. Mantis then stabbed the ground with the bottom end of his staff and muttered a few words before a yellow aura swirled around beside him. His magic then took the likeness of the goblin he’d just slain. A small amount of the blue bar was chipped away, but was slowly filling back in. “The ability I just used called resurrection, used some mana to resurrect the goblin as my servant. Normal attacks from a staff, slashes from a sword, or simple shots from a bow don’t cost any mana or stamina and they’ll regenerate over time. To speed up your recovery time you could drink potions.” “My brain hurts.” Rainbow said clutching her head. She didn’t really understand all tis complicated stuff. She just wanted to kill stuff. The goblin beside the man vanished and turned to ash. “Moving on to the Rogue classes. Like the warrior, there are three main branches; Assassin, Archer and Ranger. Assassins use small weapons like daggers, stiletto knifes and brass knuckles. They inflict critical damage on their opponents and inflict bad status effects; like poison or bleeding and do the most damage out of the Rogue tree. They take the enemy by surprise, hit them fast and hit them hard.” “Awe yeah!” Dash said with a fist pump. “They also have the least amount of health and defense. They’re classified as a glass cannon.” Dash’s enthusiasm took a small hit. “The Archers use a bow and arrow along with a multitude of tricks like smoke bombs, caltrops and grenades. Distance is a must for this class and tend to kill their targets over a long period of time and hopefully before it gets too close. They can detect flaws in armor and can sense enemy movement. It’s their job to see everything on the battlefield.” “That’s a lot of pressure.” Rarity said with a hand on her hip. “Lastly, theres the Ranger. They can use either a single dagger and have a pistol crossbow or wield two of the same. Their dagger attack isn’t as damaging as an Assassin’s and their crossbow isn’t as accurate as an Archer’s bow. They can still give bad status effects and cause problems for the enemy with traps and grenades.” Rainbow looked at her twin daggers and sighed. “Rogues usually wear light or medium armor to help with their stealth and speed.” “Finally, there’s the Mages. Arcane Warriors, Sorcerer and Enchanters. Arcane warriors are the damage doers. They call in heavy spells that can burn, electrocute, freeze and do all kinds of crazy spells. Enchanters are mostly in the rear, keeping an eye on everyone’s status, healing them and boosting their abilities. Sorcerers, which is what I am, are in between. We can provide support to our party and can make things difficult for my opponents. I personally consider it the most versatile class.” “The major flaw for mages is that they take more damage than rogues and are terrible in close quarter combat. Mages also can only wear light armor which do not grant a lot of protection. It’s preferable that they are with a warrior to protect them at all times.” “Wait, your title says Necromancer.” Rarity pointed out. “After you reach level twenty you can select a subclass. Necromancer is under the Sorcerer branch.” Mantis said. “Also keep in mind what your party needs to do missions. It’s preferable that you have a balance.” Pinkie had a large grin plastered on her face. “A party? I love parties!” “Party as in who you’ll mostly be playing with.” Twilight clarified. “It’s important to have a cooperative and balanced group.” Dash only groaned at the words. “This isn’t a game where you can charge in blindly and come out on top.” Mantis stated. “You need teamwork and careful planning. If you do not, then you’ll surely die. I know that’s not a big deal in a video game, but still.” The man received a message and sighed. “Sorry ladies that’s all for today. I need to go help a friend of mine.” “Can’t we come?” Mantis chuckled at Pinkie’s question. “Sorry, but it’s a real world issue” He chuckled. “We’ll go over weapons and equipment next time and think about what class you lot want.” He accessed his menu and vanished in a flash of light leaving the group of girls to themselves. Twilight then took the stage. “So did you all understand that?” Twilight looked at her friends and saw their gears turning. “I think so.” Fluttershy peeped out as she looked at the tarot cards. “I think I want to change to a support mage. I’m no good at fighting and I want to see the animals.” “Ah’m no good at shoot’n or those fancy spells.” Applejack said. “Besides, ah like this sword and shield.” “We need someone with good aim to be an archer.” The group all looked in the direction of Rainbow Dash. Out of all of them, she’s played the most games usually involving some form of shooting. Her usual kill death ratio was at least ten kills to every death. “Fine, at least I can be a sniper and blow things up.” Dash swapped her class to an Archer and pulled out her bow. Pinkie opted to keep her barbarian class. She loved smashing things with the large hammer. “Hmm, well we already have two warriors and two mages.” Rarity said as she put a finger to her chin. “I suppose I’ll choose the assassin class.” She selected the tarot card and traded her staff for two daggers. “I can make due with these.” “The more you level up, the better equipment you can use.” Twilight checked the time and sighed. “Sorry girls, but we should get off and do our homework.” “Ugh, we just got started.” Rainbow whined. “No complaining Dash. Twi’s right.” AJ said before the group started logging off one by one. ~~~ Mantis set his headset aside and looked at his right hand to see that it was glowing a golden color. "Another one huh?" Author's Note Sorry this took a while. I'm in the middle of my last semester at college and have been hammering down the details for my graduation and what not on top of looking for a job so I can have some $$$ to spend. In case those of you who don't know, Virgo is one of the twelve Zodiac spirits. The other eleven and a few more, will make an appearance later on. Here is a red spider lily. Hope you enjoyed this chapter!
Chapter I: A New LifeChapter I The Treaty It has been three years since the ‘The Royal Wedding Invasion’ as it has became known by many in the land of Equestria. The disgraced Queen Chrysalis had gone into hiding as soon as she was launched out of Canterlot by Captain Shining Armor and Princess Cadence. Since that time, a new regime of Changelings have taken hold and sought peace with Equestria. A collaborative effort by the other Changeling hive underwent to apprehend the mad Queen. After many negotiations Princess Celestia, co-ruler of Equestria, and her younger sister Princess Luna, forged a peace treaty with the Changeling race which ushered in a new era of trade and prosperity. Unfortunately many Equestrians still resented the Changelings for the attack and chose to only tolerate them rather than welcome them, because of this not many Changelings migrated to Equestria and those that did were treated poorly and were met with with accusing glares, unfair rates and even acts of physical violence. Celestia wanted there to be true peace with their new allies and allowed integration within the school system, even a school she personally taught at; Canterlot College. Mantis Xanthous yawned as he waited outside the Principal’s office. Since there were still few Changeling’s in Canterlot he kept his real features hidden with a basic illusion spell. He had light skin and dark golden hair that matched his eyes. The doors opened and Mantis stood up, cracking his back. He made his way inside to see three women. On the left was a woman that only looked a few years older than him with tri-colored hair and a had on a pink sport coat with matching skirt and heels. There was also a set of pink wings coming from her back. On the far right was a woman with flowing blue hair that reminded the man of the night sky. Her bright blue eyes seemed to pierce everything they fell upon. Her dark blue wings matched her blue business suit. Lastly, in the center was a woman who had multi colored hair and angelic white wings. Her calm magenta eyes focused on the man. “Greetings.” She said with a smile. “My name is Princess Celestia, this is my sister Luna,” She gestured to the blue haired woman who narrowed her eyes. “and my niece, Princess Cadence.” “Hello.” The woman smiled. Mantis gave them each a nod. “Mantis Xanthous. Nice to meet you.” He smiled. “Let’s shoo the dragon out of the room shall we?” He snapped his fingers and his disguise shattered like clay revealing his golden spliced eyes, ebony black skin and hair that was a dark gold color. “As you know, in order to enroll in my school, students must pass a rigorous entrance exam.” Celestia stated. “Most students spend years attending one of the many schools that prepare them for this institution. You are one of the few who haven’t and yet you passed the entrance exam with ease.” “If you can’t learn, then you can’t survive.” Mantis said in a firm tone. “True.” The woman folded her hands. “I’m pleased to run a school and country that accepts all forms of people.” She reached for her tea cup. “Mages, flyers, griffonians, draconians....Changelings.” He frowned at the words. “Tell me, why do you want to go to this school?” “I’d like to expand my knowledge.” He said in a calm tone. “I know that this school has quite a bit to offer and I plan to take advantage of that, like any other student aiming to come here.” Luna raised an eyebrow. “Also to show this generation that all Changelings aren’t blood thirsty psychopaths bent on reducing your country to a pile of rubble.” He said with a small smile. “Do you harbor any feelings of revenge against this country?” Luna asked. “Aunt Luna I really don’t think-” Cadence was cut off as Mantis raised a hand. “Not the country itself.” The man said with a sigh. “Of course I’m more angry at certain individuals rather than the whole country and it’s populace. I suppose I’m able to differentiate between the two, unlike some people I know of.” “You’ve got quite a mouth on you.”He gave laugh at the comment. “Sorry, I only get like this whenever someone has a gun pointed at me.” He whistles in a high pitched tone. There was a red flash and a faint slashing noise coming from behind the curtains. Two soldiers with spell rifles fell to the floor, motionless. A figure wearing wearing a red tunic under golden armor that shined in the sunlight stepped out from the curtains. The figure’s helmet had a pair of wings on either side and the eye holes were slanted giving them a menacing look. Hanging off it’s back was a black cape that had been torn at the edges. Celestia and the others immediately stood up at the sight of them. “Relax. This one is with me.” He said as he looked at the figure who nodded. “Leave us.” A portal opened up behind the figure and it walked through the portal before it vanished. “In my situation I need a reliable body guard.” He glanced down at the guards. “For obvious reasons.” Celestia and Cadence glared at Luna. “Precaution.” Luna stated. “I do the same.” Luna looked down at the guards and gritted her teeth in frustration. “They’re fine. Give them a few minutes and they’ll be back on their feet.” Celestia cleared her throat before speaking “I believe my school would value having a guest such as-” Mantis raised his hand. “No offense Princess Celestia, but if it’s one thing that gets under my skin it’s beating around the bush.” He sighed. “I’m not following.” “If by ‘guest’ you mean political prisoner, then you’re right.” “You’re not-” “I’m not an idiot.” He said in a serious tone. “While the New Changeling Government and your military are busy hunting down Chrysalis, your army needs something to keep them from--what was it?--Right, ‘doing anything they might regret.’” He deadpanned. “I’m insurance. A hostage to make sure they do what your government says until things are up and running.” Celestia bit her lip at the words. “Although I suppose I’m also here for my own protection.” “What do you mean?” Cadence asked. “Do you know how much my head is worth to that crazy witch? She’d cut my face off, sew it to a ball and kick it into my mother’s yard.” Cadence gagged at the words. “Chrysalis has always been twisted like that.” “You make it sound as if you know her.” Luna stated. “Well I should, she’s my aunt after all.” ~~~ An indigo haired woman by the name of Twilight Sparkle finally finished unpacking her things in her new dorm room. Her desk was in order, her books stacked on shelves and her small collection of games were on the shelf above. Her little brother Spike and her friend Rainbow Dash got her into gaming a few years ago when she moved to Ponyville. She started out on the generic action, first person shooter games, but never really cared for them. Once she got her hands on role playing games she was hooked. She had recently gotten her hands on the newest game engine and RPG. The machine was called an Immersion Visor. It looked similar to a pair of incognito sunglasses. The machine scanned the user’s brain through the eyes and connects to the nerve center in their head to make the game look, hear, feel, smell and taste games in a whole new way. This lead to the creation of Virtual Reality Games or VRG’s. One such game that had caught the scholar’s interest was ‘Fantasia Crusade.’ It had everything. A compelling story, rich lore, amazing visuals, dynamic combat and a unique interface. It was the first virtual reality massive multiplayer online role playing game, or VRMMORPG for short. Twilight was hesitant at first to buy the game, but her curiosity got the better of her. She could barely stay offline once she got a taste. However, she was responsible enough to not let it affect her studies or social life. Once done with stacking, she left to meet her friends in the lounge of the school. The lounge had three floors dedicated to it. The basement was used for storing things for special events. The main floor had a cafeteria, reading area and a game room. The top floor was for the club offices. “C’mon guys its really fun. Just try it.” The scholar had been trying for weeks to get her friends interested in the game, with little success. “Twilight it’s an RPG.” A girl with rainbow colored hair and cyan wings said. “It’s boring.” The flyer said as she sat back. “You play more video games out of everyone here Dashie.” A girl with pink curly hair stated. “I play awesome games Pinkie.” The flyer said crossing her arms. “Like ‘Daring Do: Lies of a Thief’ and ‘Guns of Honor.’” “Yeah Twi, as much as I’d like to play it sounds really complicated.” The voice came from a girl who had a brown leather Stetson sitting atop her blonde hair that was tied in a ponytail. “Ah can barely shoot straight in Dash’s shooting games.” “I think it sounds cool! I’ll try anything as long as it’s fun!” The pink haired girl said. “Thank you Pinkie.” Twilight smiled. “Rarity? Fluttershy?” She turned to the other two girls. One had a beautiful head of purple hair that had a slight curl to it and did a good job of contrasting her sapphire blue eyes. The other was hiding behind her lochs of pink hair and had a pair of butter yellow wings. “I-I don’t know. It sounds kinda scary.” The flyer said shrinking back. “As fun as it sounds dear, games like that take up a lot of time.” The beauty said with a sigh. Twilight sighed in defeat. “Besides Twilight, games like that are for dorks. No offense.” Dash said. “Then I guess you think the Wonderbolts are dorks.” Twilight muttered. The cyan flyer’s ears twitched at the words. Dash’s head whipped around and glared at her friend. “I met Soarin and Spitfire there and did a few quests with them.” “No way they play that game!” She said slamming her hands on the table. “I was as shocked as you are when I met them in game.” Twilight grabbed her phone and logged onto the website. After signing into her account she accessed her friend’s list and pulled up their profiles. “Here they are.” She slid her phone over to the flyer and read the info. The avatar’s face was the spitting image of the golden winged Wonderbolt. Her character had a bright red hood and sleeveless robes with two daggers on her back. ‘FireSpitter’ Level 23 Human Rogue/Assassin. Offline for 4 days 6 hours. The next picture was a blue winged man, with blue hair, wearing shiny silver armor, holding a silver sword and a black iron shield. ‘BlueBolt’ Level 22 Human Warrior/Champion. Offline for 3 days 5 hours. “Still think it’s just for dorks Rainbow?” Twilight chuckled. The flyer dropped the phone and glared at Twilight. “How many bits for the game?” “Sixty. Excluding expansions and add ons.” The cyan flyer took off with a blur behind her towards the nearest game store. “Well, that’s two.” Rarity suddenly grabbed her friend’s phone and found Twilight’s avatar. ‘LavenderTwilight’ Level 15 High Elf Mage. Offline for 3 days 9 hours. Her character was wearing dark purple mage robes, with a matching witch hat and held a light purple staff that crackled with purple magic. The avatar’s ears also had a point to them. “That outfit is amazing!” Rarity yelled. “Hardly. The higher level you are, the better armor and robes you can buy and craft.” Rarity bit her lip and sighed. “I suppose it could give me ideas for a new fashion line.” The fashionista said giving back the phone. “Not to mention all the cosplayers that are in the game. You’d probably make a killing.” Twilight shrugged. “Well, then I will definitely look into it.” She smiled. Rarity then glared at Applejack. The farmer gulped as she felt the fashionista’s sapphire blue eyes on her. Eventually she slammed her hands down on the table and grunted. “Dang it! Fine!” The farmer grumbled a she crossed her arms. “I’ll give it a shot. Just get those dang eyes off me!” Rarity smirked at her small victory. “S-since everyone else is doing it. I’ll do it.” Fluttershy squeaked. “You’ll have a good time Shy. You can even raise animals in it.” The flyer smiled as her wings fluttered slightly at the news. Twilight sat back with a smile on her face. “Awesome! Let me know when you guys get it and download it. I’ll teach you the basics.” “I still need to unpack dear.” Rarity said. “Okay, how about we get it later?” Twilight said. “Sure. Although it may take me a while to get my things.” ~~~ Mantis sighed as he made his way out of the main building and headed towards his new dorm room. Most of his bags had already been delivered to his dorm. As he made his way out he accidentally bumped into someone. “Oops. Sorry about that.” As he looked at the purple haired girl he was a bit struck at her beauty. Her sapphire blue eyes were like two deep pools one would find in a tropical rainforest. “Oh it’s alright.” She had an accent that had a refined tone to it. Mantis shook his head and helped her up. “I was just coming for my things.” “Likewise.” Mantis said gesturing to his bags. “Need a hand with them?” “Oh I couldn’t ask you to help.” “I insist. I feel bad for knocking you over.” Rarity smiled at the golden haired man. “Well, aren’t you generous.” She smiled. “Rarity?” The woman turned to see her scholarly friend coming up to them. “Sorry, I got a call from Spike and I had to take it.” “Not a problem at all dear.” She smiled. Twilight then noticed Mantis. “Who’s this?” She asked. “Oh yes this is....Sorry, but we haven’t exchanged pleasantries.” Rarity said. “Mantis Xanthous.” He said before kissing Rarity’s hand. “At your service.” The blue eyed girl gave a small giggle. I still got it. “Rarity Belle.” She smiled. “I’m Twilight Sparkle.” Mantis froze at the words. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t your older brother-” “Prince Shining Armor? Yeah, I’m his little sister.” If the young man had a danger meter installed in his brain it would have gone off loud enough for it to be heard for miles. Luckily he remained calm and shook her hand. “Nice to meet you.” He smiled as he followed the girls. His eyes shrank when he saw that Rarity had two luggage carts filled to the brim. “Bring your house in pieces Rarity?” “What? A lady needs the essentials.” Twilight couldn’t help but role her eyes at the words. Mantis took one of the larger ones and slung it over his back. “So where am I hauling this thing to?” “Room B36. Just follow me.” Twilight said. “We’re in the same room. Where are you staying?” Locust reached into his pant pocket and pulled out a slip of paper. “Room D13.” After ten minutes of walking through the dorm building, the three arrived at Twilight and Rarity’s room. Mantis set the bag down and sighed. “Thank you again dear.” Rarity smiled. “No biggie. See you two around.” He said as he made his way towards the D wing. He arrived at room D13 and opened the door. It was a small living area with a large TV, a couch and a kitchenette. There were three doors, one two on the right and one on the left. He opened the one on the left and saw a nice bathroom that had a full shower and bathtub. The bedrooms were the same; one double bed, a desk and bookshelf. “A little small, but I can work with this.” He started unpacking his things and put his clothes away. Mantis set his immersion visor on the nightstand and brought out a few bottles, beakers and cylinders. He unpacked his computer hard drive and monitor and connected them to the school’s wireless network. The man put the helmet on and laid down in bed. He connected the helmet to his hard drive and the visor came to life. “Start up.” He said as several light’s flashed before his eyes and he felt a falling sensation creep over him. Soon his eyes closed and everything went dark. Light filled his vision as he looked down at his armored hands. “Good to be back in this world.” He gripped his hands and looked at the large town that laid before him. Several shops and buildings filled the streets. Several NPC’s were selling goods. Mantis swiped to the left and his character menu popped up. ‘CrowofSpirits’ Level 30 Dark Elf Mage/Necromancer. Online. His character was dressed in a dark yellow robes that appeared to have black feathers attached to the back. He had several potions attached to his belt and a long staff with a glowing yellow orb attached to one end was on his back. On his face was a plague doctor mask that was painted dark gold and a flat brimmed hat was on his head. He checked his inventory and items. Forgot I stocked up after that last raid. He let out a sigh and made his way into the crowd. Author's Note I hope you all enjoyed the first chapter of this new fic. The inner workings of the digital world will unfold as the story progresses.
Chapter II: A Whole New WorldChapter II A Whole New World After nearly an hour of setting an account, Rarity was ready to jump into the land of Fantasia. She laid down in her bed and slipped the visor on. The visor in front of her glowed white and she felt her eyes become heavy. “Speak the words as they are displayed.” The machine said in a mechanical tone. Rarity took a moment to read the screen. “Audio sensory test.” The fashionista said. The screen went dark and Rarity gulped and she felt her body tense up. “Relax yourself.” The machine stated Rarity took in a breath and relaxed her position. “Please say the command you wish to select.” “Start up.” Rarity felt woozy and soon her eyes fell shut. Rarity opened her eyes to feel herself floating in a white void. She looked around her and she saw an endless white space in front of her. “Welcome adventurer.” Rarity’s head whipped around in the direction of the mother like tone. She saw what looked like a goddess clothed in white robes and had a golden crown holding back her flowing white locks of hair. In her hand was a golden staff with the image of the Sun on the top. “Welcome to the world of Fantasia. Our world is experiencing an incredible time of peace and prosperity. However, there is much danger in this world and it is up to adventurers like you to brave the storm of chaos and darkness that is returning. Are you ready?” “Indeed.” Rarity said. The woman then snapped her fingers and a scroll appeared before her. “Then scribe your name onto this scroll and let your name be forever written into history.” Rarity took a moment to think and entered her account name. ‘RadiantGemstone.’ The Goddess then held out a stack of cards that flew into the air and formed four larger cards each the size of Rarity. “Then select your destined path.” Rarity looked at the card that had a sword and shield imprinted on it. “Become an unstoppable force of muscle if you choose the Warrior class. A sword and shield are your best friend, or just a large weapon that will devastate anyone in your path.” The goddess said. Rarity raised an eyebrow as looked at the card that had a pair of daggers and a bow on it. “Stealth and sneaking is your ally if you choose the Rogue class. Attack form a distance with a bow as a Ranger, or use the shadows to your advantage and strike with the daggers when the enemy’s back is turned as an assassin.” Rarity then looked at the card that had a staff imprinted on it. “Become a master of the arcane arts and let the world see your skill with a staff.” The girl then turned her attention to the last card that had all three of the card’s pictures on it. “This card is for the indecisive and wish to see what they are proficient at before making a selection.” Rarity took a moment to think before selecting the last card. “So the decision is made.” The woman raised her staff and the other three cards vanished. The card Rarity selected slid into the floor and appeared beneath her feet. “Good luck adventurer and be vigilant.” The card glowed and Rarity looked down to see the card opening like a door. Suddenly The girl was falling through open sky towards a world with a beautiful landscape, rich with fields, mountains and kingdoms came into view. Rarity soon realized she was heading right towards one of the fields at a break-neck pace. “WAAAAHHHAHAAAA!” She yelled as she hit the atmosphere and felt resistance as she brought her arms up to shield herself. She opened her eyes to see the lush green fields, the mountains that pierced the very sky and in the distance she saw a shimmering white city. The wind whipped by her as she closed her eyes and hit the ground. Rarity opened her eyes to see that she was in the center of a crater, but otherwise unharmed. The woman shook her head and groaned. “Well, that was rude.” She said to the sky. “Rarity? That you?” A familiar southern accent was music to the girl’s ears. She looked out of the crater to see her five friends looking down at her. “Nice to see you’re still in one piece.” The characters’ faces were the spitting image of her friends in the real world. They each had a tunic with leather armor on, but in a different color that suited them. Above their head read their names. ‘DashingSpectrum#1’ ‘AppleKicker’ ‘PinkPartier’ ‘CritterShy’ and ‘LavenderTwilight.’ Rainbow and Fluttershy’s characters had cyan and yellow wings coming from their back. “You made it!” Pinkie yelled as Rarity climbed out of the hole with Applejack’s help. “Yes, but why did she drop me from the air?” Rarity huffed as she brushed he dirt off her white tunic. “Chill out Rarity. It’s supposed to get your blood pumping.” Dash said as she slammed her fist into her open hand. “Where are we anyway’s Twi?” Applejack asked as she looked at their friend who was donning purple mage robes. “We’re close to the Town of Dawn.” Twilight said pulling up her map. “You five have to go through Dusk Forest and meet me on the other side.” She said pointing to a line of trees fifty feet away from them. “What? You can’t come with us?” Fluttershy said with a gulp. “Sorry, but no one above level five can enter there. It’s a special training ground for beginners. Don’t worry, the monsters in there are the weakest in the game.” “Weak?” Dash grumbled wanting a challenge. “It’s only to help you get the hang of things. Like a tutorial program.” The flyer groaned at the words. “What class did you guys’ choose anyway?” “Ah picked the warrior.” Applejack said as she took out her her sword and shield. “I chose the indecisive one.” Rarity said. “I need to understand things first before I make a decision.” “S-same.” Fluttershy squeaked. “I’m not good at fighting.” “It was between Warrior and Rogue, wanted to see which one was more awesome so I chose the same.” Dash said. “Same!” Pinkie yelled. “I want to see what everyone can do.” “That’s very smart. A lot of players do that.” Twilight smiled. “Wait, what if we need advice?” Applejack asked. “We don’t know anything about this game.” Twilight tapped her lip and swiped left brining up her menu. “I’ll send you guys a group chat request.” She hit the send button and the five girls got the notification. “I’ll be able to talk to you guys during your mission.” Twilight then pulled out her map and selected the nearest town. The girl’s body then transformed into purple light and shot towards the sky. “Just call me if you have any questions.” Rarity sighed and looked at her friends. “Well, what are we waiting for?” Dash asked running down the path. “Wait for me Dashie.” Pinkie yelled running after her friend. The other three sighed and ran after the two as they entered the forest. The crunch of leaves and gravel filled the air as they walked down the path. The air had a certain thickness to it and several insects started buzzing. “I must say that this is amazing.” Rarity said. “Ya can say that again.” The southerner said. “If I didn’t know better, I’d say this place was real.” The path kept winding and turning until they came to a clearing where a few large beetles were hovering. They had large mandibles and claws. Above their heads showed a green bar with the letter HP next to it. Above the bar was a title. ‘Lvl. 1 Terror Beetle.’ “Okay, what should we-” “CHARGE!” Dash yelled running in with Applejack who had her sword and shield drawn. The beetles immediately noticed them and swarmed the two women. AJ was doing a good job of slashing her sword and bashing her shield. The beetles then noticed the rest of the group. “Um Twilight?” Rarity gulped. “We need some help on some....ugh....beetles.” She said in a disgusted tone. “They’re attack isn’t too bad, but they have bad status effects.” The mage’s voice rang out. “She mean’s dealing with ‘em Twi.” AJ said as she bashed one with her wooden shield. “I don’t have any weapons!” Dash yelled. “Select them from your inventory.” Twilight sighed. Dash caught a breather and swiped left brining up her inventory. There were several low level weapons to choose from, but settled on a pair of daggers. The other’s did the same. Pinkie found a large battle axe and slashed a beetle. The bug glowed red and shattered into digital code before dropping some loot. Fluttershy panicked and selected a wooden bow and a quiver of arrows appeared on her back. Rarity rapidly scrolled through her menu and found a long staff with a jewel at the tip. She activated her staff and a purple ethereal beetle appeared and attacked it’s counter part. Fluttershy was quivering against a rock and her arm was shaking as she held the bow. Her avatar instinctively pulled out an arrow. The yellow flyer soon saw a cross hair appear in front of her. As she put it over the beetle, the prompt turned red and she released the arrow. The bolt got the beetle between the eyes and was digitized. Soon the bugs were no more and the girls sighed in relief. “Hey I leveled up!” Pinkie smiled. The same went for the other five girls. ‘PinkPartier has reached level 2.’ The others got a similar notification as they progressed through the forest. They killed a few more of the creatures and they each found themselves at level 3 by the end. As they stepped out of the forest they saw their purple mage friend. “You guys made it!” Twilight smiled. “Yeah, thanks for the help coach.” Dash said in a dry tone. “We almost got slaughtered out there!” “There were several tutorial prompts dear.” Rarity stated. “I always turn those off.” “Now why in the name of Celestia did ya do that?” Applejack asked. “Because I’m awesome!” The group only face palmed at the remark. “Rainbow, this isn’t like any type of hack and slash game.” Twilight said. “You need strategy, careful planning and timely use of your abilities.” The girl sighed. “What we need is a game master.” “A what now?” The farmer asked. “A game master is someone who knows how to play the game to the best extent.” “So like a mega nerd?” Dash asked. “An expert.” She corrected. “Someone who knows the game. How to play it, what missions to take and how to level up faster.” “You’re our expert darling.” Rarity said looking at her friend. “No, someone whose better than me. I’m rusty at this game as well.” The indigo haired mage sighed. “Hang on.” The woman swiped and found her friend’s list. Her eyes scanned the lists and smiled. “Yes, he’s on!” “Who?” “A friend of mine. He’s really good at this game and he helped Spike and I get started when we started playing.” She said as she selected the contact. “Hang on a second girls.” The girl waited for a moment. “Hello?” The voice was masculine. “Crow, nice to hear from you.” “Right. Sorry I haven’t been on. I’ve been moving around a bit.” “No problem. I’ve been busy as well. Anyway, I need a favor. My friends just bought the game and they need help....surviving.” “Rookies huh?” “Yeah, they’re new to RPG’s.” “Okay, I just need to finish up murdering these goblins. Then I’ll join ya.” “Cool. I’ll send you an invite.” The line went dead and Twilight turned back to her friends. “Okay, my friend should be here soon. A word of warning he can be a bit...callous and a little sarcastic, but he’s a nice guy when you get to know him.” “Be careful about chatting with people online dear.” Rarity said. “Have you ever met him in real life?” “No and besides we’re only gaming friends. We don’t even know each other’s real names.” Twilight said waving the question off. “So how good is this guy?” Applejack said. “He’s good. Crow helped me beat a raid quest.” A beam of light then came down from the sky close to the group. They squinted and saw a figure come down from the beam. The beam of light stopped and they saw the mask wearing individual stand in front of them. “Man that’s tingly.” He said as he shook his head. The man blinked a little to readjust his eyesight. “Ah, nice to see you again Twilight.” He looked at the scholar’s avatar. “Yeah, it’s been a while.” Twilight nodded. “So these are the rookies huh?” He eyed each of them up. “Yeah, they’re from my school.” “Okay, so what do you all know how to do?” Pinkie Pie was waving her had in front of herself “How do you see your stats?” Mantis shook his head and started screaming internally. What have I gotten myself into? With a deep breath the man pulled out his staff. “Okay the first thing you need to know is-” His avatar suddenly vanished from sight leaving the group of girls bewildered. “Um, what just happened?” “That punk ditched us!” Dash yelled. Twilight pulled up her friends list and saw he was offline. “No, I think he lagged out.” Twilight said. “It happens sometimes.” Back in the real world Mantis shot up in his bed and winced as his eyes readjusted to his room. He looked beside him to see the armored knight from before. “What’s the big idea?” “We have a guest.” He applied his disguise and followed the knight to the door. The knight vanished as Mantis pulled out a monocle and looked at the door. The wood appeared to vanish from the man’s sight and saw that Princess Cadence herself was outside his door. He pocketed the item and opened the door for her. “Princess.” “Hello. Am I interrupting anything?” “Not really.” He said as she walked inside his dorm. She took a seat on the couch before Mantis grabbed a chair and sat across from her. “So what brings you here?” “I wanted to ask you for a favor.” She sad as she folded her hands. Mantis raised an eyebrow at the woman. “I wish to take on an apprentice. Would you be interested?” To say he was surprised would be an understatement. “Why me? I’m sure there are other mages here who would kill for the opportunity to become your apprentice. I didn’t even know you were looking for one.” “Well, Princess Celestia and Luna both have apprentices of their own. I’m sure you know that Twilight is Celestia’s.” Mantis had heard of the girl’s exploits as Celestia’s pupil and the Element of Magic. “Princess Luna’s is actually a former student of Celestia.” He sat forward and let his disguise drop. “And you have no problem with the fact that I’m a member of a despised race that almost burnt your city to the ground and ruined your wedding?” “That was Chrysalis and her forces. I doubt you had anything to do with that.” “True. I was busy with other affairs at the time.” “Besides, I think we can learn a lot from each other. I know next to nothing about Changelings. Their magic, philosophy or anything like that.” “This is starting to sound like a one way street. What do I get out of this?” “Apprentices such as Twilight, get special access to the Canterlot Archives.” That got his attention. Mantis had heard that the Canterlot Archives housed some of the most powerful magic ever created by Starswirl the Bearded and several other legends. Mages around the world would kill to just to spend five minutes among the ancient tomes. “You wouldn’t have unlimited access. There is some magic that should never see the light of day.” “That I understand all too well.” He sat back and thought for a moment. “You’ve talked me into it. I have to say you surprise me Princess. I never thought the wife of the Carnifex would be a Changeling sympathizer.” Cadence looked at him in confusion. “Wife of the what?” “Oh apologies. It’s sort of a nick-name Changelings have for your husband.” He smiled. “In the Changeling way of life we are born with a name, but when we mature we are given a second name from the ancient Changeling language. It’s more of a title and it usually having something to do with their occupation.” This interested Cadence immensely. She had no idea their culture had something so unique. “Fascinating. So Carnifex means Captain? Soldier? Prince?” She guessed as she tilted her head to the side. Mantis scratched his head and bit his lip. “I’m not sure if you want to know. It isn’t exactly flattering. It’s more of a insult.” Cadence frowned at the man. “Well what do you expect? Your people waged a war on us we wanted nothing to do with. It’s only natural for us to do something to de-humanize our enemies. It makes it easier to fight them. As I understand that your military had a similar strategy. I believe they called us insects, maggots, etcetera.” Cadence let out a heavy sigh remembering hearing some of the soldiers joke about the degrading nicknames. “Still want to know what it means?” Mantis crossed his arms and saw that she was not backing down. “Fine. In your language Carnifex means Butcher.” Author's Note Now before everyone jumps down my throat, I will NOT be making Mantis into another Kirito from SAO. (Cringes) I mostly based his character off of these people. Shiroe from Log Horizon. Lelouch Vi Britannia/Lamprouge Solas from Dragon Age: Inquisition. And Finally Lucy Heartfilia from Fairy Tail (You'll find out why next chapter)
