Blood Brothers To The End

by MorningStarTheMage

Rating: mature
Tags: Comedy, Romance, Adventure, Science Fiction, Anthro, Drama
Length: 17678

Two orphaned brothers find themselves thrust into a new world and with a range of unique powers gifted to them by an unknown deity, they must save Equus from those who wish to destroy it, from both outside and in. my first ever fanfic, be gentle

Two orphaned brothers find themselves thrust into a new world and with a range of unique powers gifted to them by an unknown deity, they must save Equus from those who wish to destroy it, from both outside and in. my first ever fanfic, be gentle.

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2016-08-04 14:44:09 UTC

I choose my brother...

'kaboom!' the sound of an explosion rings through the room. The speakers crackling slightly as the bomb goes off.

"Damn it! Not again!" cried the teen. "This game sucks!"

He threw down the controller as he launched himself off the bed towards the bedroom door. The sound of the game over screen ringing through the hallway as the teen dropped down the stairs two at a time.

" I need food, now..." he said out loud.

"Then get some you big dope.." came an all too familiar voice.

"Shut your trap William! I wasn't talking to you!" shouted the teenage boy.

"Too bad Lewis, you cant pretend your brother doesn't exist! I have too much sway on you!" came a smug reply from William.

" I hate you William..." Yelled Lewis.

"Whatever." Came the nonchalant reply. Lewis reached the bottom of the stairs and passed through the living room into the kitchen. There was a note the kitchen counter that read 'Dear Lewis, i left some food in the oven, just turn it to 180 degrees and leave it for an hour, love Mom' Lewis had seen the note the moment he had come home from college.

He had come home and kicked off his shoes, and immediately gone for a drink when he had noticed it. He wasn't hungry so he simply decided it wasn't the time to eat. But now it was, and damn was he hungry.

"5 hours without food really does a number on you." he thought to himself as he twisted the nob on the oven to 180.

"I really hope its chicken this time, i do not want steak again. i don't think my lower jaw can handle it." Within seconds the oven was glowing and he could faintly make out a chunk of meat in a small pot within the oven.

"Good." he thought to himself as he walked back through the living room towards the stairs.

"Hey, get me a drink will you?" yelled William.

"Screw you, get it yourself!" replied Lewis, his voice raised just enough for his brother to hear him.

"Fine then, ass-hat, i'll get it myself." retorted William, with his voice cracking ever so slightly. for a 14 year old, his brother had quite the mouth on him, but only when their mother wasn't there. otherwise he was a perfect little angel, though he couldn't fault his brother, he had to be angel too if he wanted to avoid incurring the wrath of their mother.

"maybe you should tone down that language." Said Lewis as his brother passed him.

"Maybe you should tone down your face!" Came the rather cleverly thought up reply.

"Wow a five year-old could've come up with a better response than that, and probably quicker." replied Lewis, a faint smile tracing his lips. Though they rivaled constantly, they were still brothers. Well, sort of. They were both orphaned at a young age, William at 4 and Lewis at 8. At the orphanage, the two found companionship in each other, Lewis being the guardian, despite his wiry frame and William being the ever curious child he was born to be. The two gravitated towards each other, and after just a few months, a bond was formed.

After 5 years together at the orphanage, a woman came by looking to adopt. She was watching the children play in the garden when she observed the two of them, hands clasped tight to each other, fingers crossed at the end of the garden. They had seen her come in, just like they saw the rest, and just like with the rest, they prayed they were chosen.

"My, my." said the woman. "Who are those two at the back there?" she asked the owner of the orphanage.

"Those two are Lewis, aged 13, and William, aged 9. why? do you think they might be the ones?" replied the owner with curiosity.

"Perhaps. are they related?" said the woman in thought.

"No they aren't, but they are like brothers to each other, if you wish to take one, then the other will follow you home. they are bonded like that. its strange, they do look remarkably similar, if you didn't know any better, they could be mistaken for brothers!" exclaimed the owner, her mind drifting to the memories she held of the two. "if your looking for loyal children, then these two are perfect!" she said, hope shining through her voice.

"Alright then. i will trust your judgement. i would like to adopt them both please. And if possible, i would like to take them back with me right away!" said the woman, joy creeping into her voice.

"Of course! i will let the boys know right away!" said the owner, and with that she ran out to tell the boys the good news. Of course that was 5 years ago, and the two had since lived good lives in the care of their new mother.

knock, knock . the sound of the door being rather violently hammered came rushing to Lewis's ears, shaking him from remembering the story his mother had told him about how she met them.

" who is it?" came Williams muffled voice, the shuffling off the food in the fridge covering his voice slightly.

"dunno." replied Lewis.

"Then find out!" yelled William, his head poking round the corner of the door frame. "Yeah, yeah whatever." Lewis replied " who is it?" he said, opening the door slightly.

"Delivery!" came an unknown yet, oddly cheery voice.

"Delivery of what?" asked Lewis, curiosity peaking his interest.

"Just a few books, my good man!" replied the, still, oddly cheerful voice.

"Well alright then, pass 'em here." said Lewis, his voice automatically tuning itself to his regular greeting and response format as he opened the door.

"Of course, of course, here ya go my friend!" said the man. With a clear look at him now, Lewis could see the man was obviously in his 50's, his grey hair and beard showing under the standard company cap.

"thanks very much sir." said Lewis, his voice coming out automatically, his mind barely registering what he was doing.

"No problem young man, and because you got such good manners, i wont even charge ya!" giggled the old man, his bubbly-ness only overshadowed by the strangely satisfactory grin on his face.

"Weird..." Lewis thought to himself. "Thank you very much sir."

"not a problem young man, have a nice day!" and with that the old man trotted down the stairs to the door, a spring in his step.

"That didn't feel right." thought Lewis. why was that guy so cheerful? he seemed so pleased with himself. so strange.

"Oh well!" he thought, "Might as well see what these books are for." Lewis thought to himself.

Just as he was about to open one of the books, William came crashing into him at full speed, knocking Lewis off his feet and into the sofa behind him.

"OWW! What the hell was that for?!" yelled Lewis, his voice hoarse from the impact.

"For not letting me choose a book! i was watching the whole time and you didn't even bother to ask if they might be mine!" William harrumphed in triumph.

"OK then, are they yours?" asked Lewis.

"Nope." replied William, a smile on his face "But i do want to choose the one we are going to read together!" Lewis' face dropped.

"Together?...  Really?.." he said, his face looking more and more like a wet pillow with every syllable.

"Yep!" replied William, a grin adorning his features "I want to read this one! The Art Of Magic" he said, his voice becoming more curious as he considered the title and what may lay within the Pages.

"Fine, but i'm holding it!" said Lewis, defiance in his tone.

"Whatever, just hurry up and read it!" squealed William in delight. "Well alright then.." Lewis thought to himself. "Lets see what this is about." and with that he opened the book.

A bright flash filled the room and then darkness. Lewis blinked but couldn't see, his eyes enveloped in darkness. He moved his hands but couldn't feel the sofa beneath him, in fact he couldn't feel anything at all. This was wrong, so wrong. Was he dead? Was there a bomb in the book? Had he died of a heart attack? All these thoughts and more crossed Lewis' mind as he seemingly floated about in space, stuck and unable to move.

"William!?" he shouted in fear. "WILLIAM ARE YOU THERE?!" panic now taking over. "Shit.." he thought. "what is happening to me?" he said, fear gripping his body. Suddenly a voice that could only be described as unnaturally loud, boomed through the silence, causing Lewis to twist his head in all directions.

"DO NOT BE AFRAID BOY. I HAVE BROUGHT YOU HERE FOR A REASON. A REASON SO IMPORTANT, THE FATE OF A PLANET HANGS IN THE BALANCE." the voice bellowed.

"WHAT? WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?" screamed Lewis, his mind jarred at the thought that there was something else here with him.

"FRET NOT CHILD, FOR I HAVE BROUGHT YOU NO HARM, THE SAME WITH YOUR SO CALLED BROTHER." Brother.. the thing just said brother.

"William was alive!" Lewis thought. "Thank god he was alive!" now Lewis' thought turned to the matter at hand, what came next? This thing, this grand voice, had plucked him from his sofa and dragged him into what seemed like space, and all for some important reason? What was happening?

"Who are you?" shouted Lewis at the top of his lungs.

"I AM NO-ONE DEAR BOY, BUT YOU ARE SOMEONE IMPORTANT. I AM SENDING YOU TO A PLACE YOU WILL NOT BELIEVE COULD EVER EXIST. BUT YOU MUST TRUST ME."

Trust? Trust it with what? His life? before he could continue his train of thought, the voice spoke again.

"NOW THEN, BESIDES THE BELONGINGS ON YOU, I AM BESTOWING UPON YOU A SATCHEL. THIS SATCHEL IS AN INFINITE VOID IN WHICH YOU CAN STORE ANY AND ALL OBJECTS YOU DEEM NECESSARY. BEYOND THIS I WILL GIFT TO YOU POWERS YOU HAVE NEVER SEEN, AND THAT THE WORLD I AM ENTRUSTING YOU TO HAS NEVER SEEN EITHER, BUT I ASK YOU THIS, IF YOU WERE TO TAKE ONE THING WITH YOU, WHAT WOULD IT BE?" the voice said, its words echoing in Lewis' mind. One thing. One thing that could make or break whatever the fuck was happening.

He didn't need much time to think, even with all this new information being thrown at him, as he had already chosen. Mustering up all he could in his lungs he said...

"I choose my brother..."

Welcome to Equestria...

Flash. A blinding flash enveloped Lewis once more causing him to clamp his eyes shut in fear.

"Crap, what the hell!" screamed Lewis, his fear consuming him once more.

"AHHH what the hell is happening!" came a distant voice. it sounded like it was drifting closer.

"William? are you there? cried Lewis, his voice echoing into the darkness.

"Lewis?! Is that you over there? What the hell is going on?! I'm so scared right now!" screamed William, close to the brink of tears.

"Don't worry William! its OK now! all will be explained i swear!" replied Lewis, his brotherly instinct to protect influencing his words,

"OK, OK, i trust you! But where are we?" said William, his voice calming slowly.

"I don't know but right now, we are, i'm assuming, in space drifting among-st the stars or something." said Lewis "I'm sure we will be ok!"

"But how do you know?" questioned William, his voice showing signs of anxiousness.

"Because the big voice out there says its going to help us. i know that sounds weird but you need to accept that for now. Got it?" asked Lewis.

"Yea ok i got it, thanks." replied William.

"No problem. Ok then big voice, we are here. what now?" Lewis yelled, his brother staring out into space waiting to hear this so called voice.

"I AM HERE." came the voice, its words causing the very air around them to shake.

"OH MY GOD ITS REAL!" cried William in fear.

"Relax its ok, its not going to hurt us, it said something about a task it has for us, and powers."

"INDEED I DID." replied the voice "YOU TWO ARE SPECIAL, THE BOND YOU SHARE IS ONE OF THE STRONGEST ON YOUR PLANET, AND THIS MEANS YOU ARE CAPABLE OF HARNESSING GREAT POWER."  the voice bellowed.

"What does it mean our planet? what does it want?" questioned William.

"It wants us to travel to another world and save it form disaster or something along those lines. it said we would gain powers that neither of our worlds had seen and that we would have satchels that work like black holes. as crazy as this sounds, you have to believe me." answered Lewis, his brotherly instincts once again returning, forcing him to answer the question in the most easy to understand method.

"Ok so, magic powers, black hole satchels and other worlds? is that everything?" Said William, his mind absorbing all the information.

"INDEED IT IS YOUNG ONES, FOR NOW THIS IS THE BEST I CAN DO, IF I HAD MORE TIME, PERHAPS I COULD EXPLAIN BETTER, BUT AS IT IS, I AM BENDING ENOUGH RULES JUST TO GET YOU IN. FROM HERE ON OUT ITS UP TO YOU." Boomed the voice.

"Wait what? Your just throwing us in there? no other explanation?" cried Lewis.

"YES. NOW GO ALONG, I NEED TIME TO REST FROM THIS, AS IF TRANSPORTING ONE HUMAN WASN'T ENOUGH, IT ASKS FOR ANOTHER! SHEESH MAYBE THEY OUGHTA SLOW DOWN WITH THEIR MULTIPLICATION RATES, JUST BE LUCKY I PLANNED ON BRINGING YOU BOTH ANYWAY, NOW GO, BEGONE!" thundered the voice as another flash, even brighter than the last enveloped the two brothers sending them off to a new world.

'Tweet, tweet' the sound of birds arose Lewis from his slumber.

"uh balls where am i?" he moaned, his head screaming in pain.

"Just relax whatever you are, we will get you fixed up right away!" replied a strange feminine voice.

"Mom?" asked Lewis.

"Mom? no i'm not your mother, if you creatures even have mothers! How strange, a whole new species that can talk and even has parents! This is so exciting i might just scream!" cried the female voice.

"Huh what?" Lewis thought, his headache beginning to clear up.

"Twilight, perhaps you should let the creature recuperate first before throwing all your questions at it at once." said another, more motherly female voice to the one now known as twilight.

"AWW but Princess, look at it! a strange new race that fell from the sky! It has no fur on its skin, it has no muzzle, its eyes are the same blue as the other one, they share the same dark brown mane but they lack a tail, this one has a small blonde streak however that suggests a genetic defect!  This one when measured in height is only a little shorter than you whilst the other one is just under your sister's size and over mine! The best part is that there's two of them to study!" replied the twilight voice.

"Two? wait, Two. WAIT TWO!" Lewis thought, he suddenly sprang form the bed, his mind clear and immediately began calling out for William " William!? where are you!?" he screamed in worry.

"Oh my goodness!" cried the motherly female voice.

"AHHHHHH!" screamed the twilight female voice.

Now that his mind was awake, he was able to fully take in his surroundings. Lewis looked around to see, books, lots of them. all on neat little shelves. The room itself was circular and had a strange looking horse head statue carved from wood in the center on top of a small wooden coffee table. alongside the table, horse head statue and books, where two red sofa's  with gold trimmings, an arch-like doorway leading to some sort of kitchen on his left and at the back of the circular room, lay a set of stairs that led up to some sort of ledge. once establishing he was in some sort of library or crazy old lady home, Lewis began to register the other beings in the room besides himself.

8 strange looking creatures lay before him and beyond them lay his brother. Lewis' instincts said brother, but his mind said, what...

Lewis began to properly register the things in the room.

The first was a large purple furred creature with dark purple hair with a single streak of pink running through it. it was wearing a red jumper with a white button up shirt underneath, with a black plaid skirt and black leggings running down to some simple black pumps. This one was staring wide eyed and in fear at Lewis whilst whispering something that sounded a lot like;

"Oh Celestia save us please!" over and over very quietly.

The next one was tall, like really tall, but still only slightly taller than Lewis himself. It had white-ish fur with a very faint trace of cream to it, it had a mesmerizing pastel colored hair thing that was curling in windless air. Like a wave. it had a slight glare to its eyes but it also held curiosity. it looked wise, like it was planning out every possible outcome in its mind at once. it was wearing a light cream colored sundress, with golden weaving all down one side, ending in a beautifully accurate sun stitch. it had golden slippers on its feet and a crown on its head. It sounded like it was saying;

"Its alright Twilight, i'm here to protect you and your friends."

Strange so this one must be the Celestia thing the purple one was murmuring to, and the purple one must be this Twilight thing. Interesting.

Behind the Celestia was a dark blue furred creature with remarkably similar features. it was only slightly smaller but was wearing almost identical clothing besides color, this one was wearing dark blue. Its hair had a similar wavy effect, though it had stars in it, or so it seemed.

Next to the blue one stood 5 more creatures. a pink one with fuzzy hair. a blue one, with rainbow colored hair. a white one with deep purple hair. An orange one with regular blonde hair and a stetson of all things. and finally a butter yellow one with baby pink hair. what struck Lewis as odd was that these creatures not only had fur, but also a tail and ears, as well as horns and wings. was he high? no that cant be it. then he remembered that there was his brother laying on the other sofa and before the creatures could even register his movements in their conscious minds, Lewis was beside him once more. that burst of speed had surprised even Lewis himself.

"William are you okay? these things didn't hurt you did they? oh thank god your alive, you had me so worried!" cried Lewis tears welling in his eyes. he strained to hold them back.

William wasn't answering, his breathing was steady however, notifying Lewis that he was just asleep. He heard the creatures whispering behind him and turned to see the Celestia one, the Twilight one and the dark blue one standing just a few feet away.

"Excuse me sir." said the Twilight one in the middle " would you mind telling us your name?"

Lewis was unsure of these creatures motives but answered " Lewis.. what did you do to me while i was unconscious, and where am i?"

"Be calm." replied the Celestia one on the right " i am Princess Celestia Ever-free Faustes the first, current ruler of the kingdom of Equestria, over there is my sister, Princess Luna Ever-free Faustes the second and here is my student and protege Twilight Sparkle. To answer your questions, we did not do anything to your bodies whilst you were unconscious,  and you are currently in the Ponyville Library in the continent of Equestria. does that answer that?" she said, her voice calm yet wary, almost like she was prepared to either sit down and have a nice chat or gut you. Lewis couldn't tell which one.

"nice to meet you Celestia, Luna and Twilight, my name is Lewis. its a pleasure to meet you. if its ok with you could i please get some air? i feel a tad lightheaded." replied Lewis, his mind bumping into autopilot once more, he amazed himself sometimes.

"Yes but if we could just say one more thing before you do." said Luna and Celestia in unison.

"what might that be?" asked Lewis, curiosity mixing with worry.

"Welcome to Equestria..."

So these books contain Magic...

Lewis was standing outside against the tree house thing. It was so strange to him, that he had simply appeared in this realm without any explanation, yet the citizens of the town he was in, didn't seem to care. they simply went on with their day, unaware that there was an alien just a few hundred feet away. he had stepped outside in order to clear his head, so he could properly clear his head. His brother had woken up just a few minutes after Lewis had acquainted himself with everyone, William was likely inside the tree house library with the two sisters, most likely getting to know everyone. as soon as the two sisters had said their welcome, the rest of the group had come forwards to say hello. Lewis could remember them all just about.

Firstly there was Pinkie pie, also known as Pinkie. she was in front of the others and was basically bouncing on the spot. she had pink hair, and pink fur. She only had ears, no horn or wings. she was wearing a light blue denim jacket over a pink sleeved white top with some balloons on it. she also wore some denim shorts that left her legs open to the elements and some pink and white striped socks that went up to her knees. she was wearing dark blue pumps trainers.

she had greeted them with a grin so wide he thought she had broken her jaw, but as it turned out she was just happy to 'have new friends' as she had said.

Next up was a blonde haired girl with tan orange fur. She was the one wearing a stetson. Her name was applejack and her southern twang came from her original home town, Appleoosa. She said she and her family owned a farm and that she would be happy for them to visit sometime, Lewis politely agreed to. she had on denim overalls and a yellow undershirt. She had thick brown cowboy boots that suited her style well. The stetson was tilted back slightly so that she could see properly.

After her came a rainbow haired, blue furred firecracker. Her name was Rainbow Dash, as she had proclaimed as if expecting him to know her. He didn't. After a rather unceremonious response she had informed him that she was on the weather team and that she kept the clouds in check for the town. It was only then that Lewis registered the wings on her back. Strange, she could control clouds, did that mean that she could touch clouds as if they were solid? That would be nuts. She was wearing a black running top with a blue and yellow jacket tied around her waist. She also had some darker blue running joggers on and some running shoes that had some green lines on the side.

Beyond her was a purple haired, white furred woman who seemed to radiate class, though to Lewis, it seemed abit put on, as if to impress. Her name was Rarity, a fashionista who wanted nothing more in life than to be rich, famous and loved by all. Such modesty, but Lewis didn't mind, he liked people who dreamed big, because they always strive to do better. she mentioned a boutique to him and then left with a twirl. he hadn't even had time to register what she was wearing before she was gone.

Finally came a butter yellow girl with long baby pink hair. When she spoke he literally had to ask her to repeat herself 5 or 6 times. Eventually he found out her name was Fluttershy. WOW. Irony. she spoke even less than Rarity but at least she was nice. She was wearing a long sleeved, slightly over sized green jumper and a small pink knee length skirt, it was so adorable.

Well at least now Lewis knew who the people who looked after him where. He would have to find a way to repay them somehow, though he felt like he would be doing that rather soon. William came out of the front door a few moments later.

"Hey dude where you been?" he asked with mild concern "Pinkie pie was just telling me that she owns a bakery, we should visit sometime!"

Lewis nodded and spoke "Yeah sounds like fun, but we don't have any money right now."

"Pinkie thought you might say that, she said it was on the house." replied William, a smile on his face "Hey Lewis, why do you think we are here?" he asked suddenly, his face solemn, it was unsettling on a 14 year old.

"I don't know." Lewis replied a frown breaking through "I really don't, and besides, i'm more concerned on if we can get back."

"Why?" William quizzed "Everyone here is super nice!"

"I know but still, didn't they feel a tad too friendly to you? I mean, not a single one showed any sign of worry except Princess Celestia, i could see it in her eyes." Lewis said, his tone hiding his concern rather well.

"What? How do you know?" William asked, confused.

"I don't know i could just see it in her eyes, worry, curiosity, anxiousness. All there. And when i looked harder i swear i could see her brain calculating every angle, like she was ensuring that she was prepared for any possible outcome. It was strange, she seemed so much like me for a moment." Lewis said, his face now as solemn as Williams was.

"How so?" asked William, his curiosity growing.

"She worries, then plans, then relaxes, then worries some more. i know because i do the same thing, she just does it on a grand scale, i mean, she's a princess, she has a nation to rule. Why shouldn't she worry." replied Lewis, his eyes on the grass beneath his feet.

"Well of course she has to worry, she's the princess! Its her job to worry for her people, besides, the only person you should worry about is me! And yourself of course!" spoke, William, trying to break his brother out of his funk.

"I know, i know. so what now? What do we do?" asked Lewis, turning to his brother for council.

"I'm not sure, but Princess Celestia mentioned something about a castle to me before i came out here to look for you again, though i don't know what or where it is..." said William, his mind trying to focus on the positives.

"Tis the city on the side of the mountain." answered an unexpected voice.

"AAAHH!" cried both Lewis and William.

"Jeez!" cried Lewis "You scared me to death!"

"We hope not!" replied a worried looking woman.

It was Princess Luna, the younger sister.

"Sorry Princess Luna we didn't hear you step outside." said Lewis, his heart rate slowing down.

"Yea sorry for screaming like that." William added in after.

"Tis alright, we just hope we did not hurt thee." spoke Luna, in a worried tone, her voice like a gentle breeze.

"No, we should be fine. But thanks for asking, you were saying about the city on the mountain?" said Lewis with curiosity.

"Aye, tis the one you see up there, it is the cornerstone and foundation on which the Equestrian nation was built." said Luna "Tis also mine and Tia's home."

"Tia?" said both William and Lewis in unison.

Luna's face turned bright red. "thou were not meant to hear that name. Tis our nick-name for our sister. Tia."

"Ohhhhhh." said both Lewis and William once more.

"That makes sense." said William.

The trio turned towards the door at the sound of it being opened. Twilight poked her head out.

"Princess Luna, your sister would like to talk with you, oh and you two as well" she said matter-of-factly, pointing at the two of them.

"Of course, we shall be right in Miss Sparkle." said Luna, her tone just as smooth and calm as her sisters, but with just a hint of naivety and youth tucked away.

The trio stepped through the door, into the sitting area of the library. The princess was sat on one of the red sofa's besides Twilight and Pinkie. On the other sofa sat Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy.

"Princess, whats wrong?" asked Lewis.

"When we recovered your bodies, we also found some things that we believe may belong to you two.

What? that couldn't be right. The two of them didn't bring anything, wait, yes they did! The voice mentioned satchels, and power...

"Can we see them?" Lewis asked, his mind focused on what they may show him.

"But of course, they are yours, we hope." said Princess Celestia.

twilight then proceeded to levitate, yes levitate, with magic, 2 satchel bags, and 3 books from next to the sofa. The books looked all too familiar.

"One, oh my god was that magic and two can i please see those books?" Lewis said, curiosity mixing with murderous intent and focus.

Twilight hadn't picked up on it.

"Of course and yes, that was magic. From what we have seen of your anatomy whilst you were unconscious, you cannot control magic. Its a shame, i would've like to see how well you would have performed!" said Twilight, a smile on her face as she levitated the books towards you.

Lewis stared at them in fear and anger. He recognized the books.

"Lewis, is that..." spoke William, his voice shaky.

"It is, its the book that brought us here. The Art of Magic..." replied Lewis.

"The books that  brought you here?" said Twilight "But that would mean, these books have magic in them! I have to scan them, quickly!"

Twilight then proceeded to scan the books with her magic. The others just watching in curiosity.

"Princess..." said Twilight ominously "I cant recognize the magic signature, and that means..."

"That these books contain magic that is not from this world..." spoke Celestia, her tone just as ominous as Twilight's.

Lewis gazed in anger at the books before him and then it hit him. his mind was filled with just a singular thought, one that could lead to disaster. 'So these books contain magic...'

Lets go save a city...

"Twilight..." spoke Lewis, his voice low and quiet.

"What is it Lewis?" Twilight asked, confused by his sudden shift in tone.

"Pass me that book." Lewis said, whilst pointing towards the second book down.

The book in question was a hardback bible style book. It was large, easily over 600 pages long and had the old fashioned, wizarding style cover. It was brown leather, with small golden chains attached to it, one on the top half, one on the bottom. Each chain had a single padlock with no keyhole. On the cover of the book, lay a symbol, and some markings that Lewis couldn't make out, it almost looked like another language. The symbol itself was a sideways facing, simplistic, minimalist fox head. It was a deep orange, with red highlights in certain areas, giving slight definition to the head.

"Why do you want this book?" asked Princess Celestia, her eyes narrowing in apprehension.

"I would just like to have a quick read, that's all." spoke Lewis, his eyes never once leaving the book.

"Well, if he gets a book, i want one!" intervened William, his natural rivalry with his brother, unconsciously influencing his actions.

"I don't know" said Twilight "These books are infused with magic, i don't know what would happen if you were to read one..." Twilight spoke uncertainly.

"I don't really mind about the consequences." spoke Lewis, his tone becoming more aggressive, his eyes once again never leaving the book.

"Well if you get that one, then i want..." William contemplated which one he wanted, though there wasn't much choice "That one!" he exclaimed, pointing towards the last book in the pile of three.

This particular book was again, hardback and leather, although this one was steel grey. The books title, simply said, Draconeqium. On the book was a similar style of chain, only bronze, and once again, without keyholes. The Draconeqium also had a symbol on it. it was a dragons eye, vicious and snake-like, but it seemed too real, like it was actually a creatures eye at some point.

"I still don't know." said Twilight in confusion "What if you get hurt by the magic, or worse, we get hurt as well, what if releases a monster or traps the town in magic or sends it to another dimension or..."

"Twilight." spoke Princess Celestia softly.

Almost immediately, Twilight shut up.

"Calm yourself Twilight." spoke Celestia, her eyes no longer holding worry, instead they held curiosity "I believe it is up to the owners of these books to decide whether or not to read them."

"She's right Twilight, you cant just take another pony's stuff because you feel like it! That would be super duper mean!" said Pinkie Pie, seemingly appearing out of nowhere.

"Wait pony..." William said, his mind trying to process the information it had received.

"Yea pony, why what did i say?" asked Pinkie in confusion

"Sorry its just, we uh, don't really know what you mean by that..." asked William, all the while, Lewis was still staring intently at the book.

"Oh that's right, you don't know our anatomy! We are descendants of ponies, 4 legged quadraped creatures that roamed the plains of our planet Equus." said Twilight in a dictionary like fashion "Our race evolved from those quadraped creatures, to what we are now over millions of years. We are Anthroponites, or Ponies for short." Twilight said, in a pleased manner, quickly glancing at Celestia in approval.

Across the room, Luna was nodding in approval. Celestia simply stared at Lewis, analyzing him like an experiment.

"OH, we know what Ponies are, we have them on our planet, just not as evolved as you are, we evolved from Monkeys you see." Replied William, displaying his knowledge of human ancestry.

"your planet has Ponies too! But why aren't they evolved like us?" asked Twilight, her eyes sparkling with curiosity.

"I don't know, maybe they lacked the right circumstances or something." William said in a manner that caused Twilight's jaw to drop in awe of his complete lack of care.

"B-b-but you don't even know..." blubbered Twilight.

"No, why would i? I'm only fourteen." William said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

All this time, Twilight was unaware that the books previously wrapped in her magic, were now in Celestia's hands. She was handing the second one to Lewis.

"Thank you." said Lewis, his eyes meeting Celestia's for a moment.

Within them he saw plans and schemes involving himself and his brother. Plans so well thought out, it was like she had been thinking about them for years. It was brief, but for a second Lewis swore he could see the faintest of smiles on Celestia's lips.

"Wait, PRINCESS!" shouted Twilight in frustration "What are you doing?"

"Simply giving these two young men what belongs to them, besides, they cant read them. There are keyhole-less padlocks on them." Celestia replied, her voice giving of the faintest hint of mischief.

However, Lewis simply smiled as he had already realized something they hadn't. The padlocks didn't have keyholes. Because instead, they had touch pads. Small, almost unrecognizable touch pads in the shape of a thumb. Celestia took notice of his smile as she handed William his book.

"Sweet!" exclaimed William "I wanna read it! Lewis, how do i get these chains of?" William asked, grinning ear to ear.

Lewis leaned over and whispered into Williams ear about the the touch pad locks.

"OOOOHHH! That's awesome, but how?" asked William his face the picture of awed.

"No clue." Lewis said.

"Alright then lets get this show on the road!" exclaimed Pinkie.

"Show? What show Pinkie?" asked Twilight.

"That one." replied Pinkie, staring at the two brothers.

Celestia and Luna had positioned themselves at either side of the brothers, Luna seemingly clued in on what might happen. Lewis and William simultaneously placed their thumbs on each padlock, each one sliding undone with a mechanical chink. The chains slid into themselves, vanishing from sight, most likely with magic. Lewis and William opened the covers of their respective books, all the while, Twilight, her friends, Princess Luna and Princess Celestia stood by in waiting, unprepared for what may happen.

Within the each books front cover lay a single hand outline, with some sort of rune in the middle.

"Lewis..." William said quietly.

"Do it..." said Lewis in response.

The Princess' tensed as the two brothers place their right hand on the rune marking, fingers spread apart.

Immediately, the books shone with golden light, the two brothers were engulfed in the light, their skin began to change to gold, even their clothes did the same. The Princess' covered their eyes, as did Twilight and her friends. The glow calmed, but only by a little to reveal the two brothers suspended in midair, the arms and legs spread wide like a star, their eyes open but with a godlike white light shining from them, all the while, the two books floated in front of them at arms length, the golden glow still shining brightly as the pages of the books flicked past at lightning speed. Wind tore around the room, throwing books and papers everywhere. Both the Twilight and her friends were screaming, whereas the Princess' began trying to contain the storm of magical energy surrounding them.

"LUNA" screamed Celestia "The magic fluctuations are too strong, i cant contain the magic!"

"KEEP TRYING" replied Luna at the top of her lungs.

Suddenly, Lewis turned to Celestia slowly, his arms now by his side.

"BE CALM, WE ARE IN CONTROL." spoke Lewis, his voice echoing loudly, almost akin to the royal voice.

William had turned to them as well, his face stoic and calm.

"WE WILL NOT LET YOU COME TO HARM" William said, his voice all too similar to Lewis' voice.

The storm stopped immediately. The golden glow dissipated into nothingness. The books stopped flickering on a single page. The last one. The rune from the front cover was also on the back, a circle with a hexagon in it, each small segment between the hexagon edge and circle edge had a number of smaller runes within. dead center was the picture from the front cover. The runes glowed brightly, suddenly, each brothers right hand had the respective rune hovering slightly over the outer palm. Their bodies, began to change.

Lewis' muscles began to define, his hair began to grow ever so slightly. Two, Brown furred, white tipped fox ears popped from his head, his blonde streak changing to white. At his waist, Two Brown furred, white tipped fox tails slid out from the hem of his trousers. His jacket changed into a single black hooded cloak. His eyes became more cat like, his pupils dilated to slits, his iris' a beautiful shade of shimmering gold.

William began to change as well. The rune on his hand began to change colour, from gold to dark orange. Suddenly, two massive fiery wings sprung from his back. They were dark grey dragon scales with literal fire as the skin between the spinal pieces. From his head sprouted two, large, dirty yellow horns. They pointed to behind him whilst curving down slightly at the tip. His eyes changed to that of a lizards, the iris' a flaming orange, like flowing lava. Williams physique changed as well, just the same as his older brother, his body began to define, his small layer of fat hardened into raw muscle. The wings closed in, and with a light rustle, thy shifted into a black hooded cloak, identical to Lewis'.

The two brothers floated down to the floor once more, the books closing and landing with a hard thud on the floor. The brothers breathed in whilst, all present stared in awe.

"Sister, do you feel it? Raw magical energy, and a kind i cannot recognize..." Said Luna to Celestia.

"Yes, i feel it, one is like a raging fire, one like a silent spirit. Yet with the fire i feel, a cool breeze, the brittleness of bark, the speed of lightning strikes and... ...the cold embrace of death. its the same with Lewis, i feel not just a silent spirit, but i feel, the keenness of a hunter, the speed of sound and yet, i feel, raw power, godlike in form. This worries me so." said Celestia in reply.

"Well?" said Lewis "What do you think?"

"This power, is this what the voice was talking about?" replied William.

"WOAH, look at you bro, you look half dragon!" exclaimed Lewis.

"What about you! You look half fox!" Exclaimed William in a similar manner.

"OH MY GOSH!" Twilight yelled "You two have magic now? I must study the effects!"

"No Twilight, there is no time, Lewis, what did you experience when you touched the book?" asked Celestia.

"Not much, but i did feel a flood of knowledge, another language, spells and incantations, something called Blood Destruction and another called Astral Movement, then a Night-stalker vision spell and various combat techniques. I fell like i just absorbed the knowledge of a thousand warriors and mages all at once, but i cant remember all of it, only the basics. the more advanced stuff is clouded, like fog." answered lewis, looking at his cloak, and feeling his ears and tails. To his surprise, he could feel them, like they were a part of his body.

"Its the same with me. I remember tons but its cloudy, but i distinctly remember names, Tiamet Lord of Fire, Lindworm Master of nature, Fafnir bringer of the thunderclap, Typhon the souring Wind and Bahamut, the dragon of death. All i know is that these five names each belonged to a legendary dragon, but i don't know from where." interjected William, doing the same as his brother and admiring his physique.

"Well, right now we do not know what to do with you, so you shall have to return to Canterlot with us." said Celestia.

"But Celestia, you cant just take them away, not without letting me study them!" Twilight wined.

"Twilight, you will be able to study them in due time, but right now we need to ensure they can control this new power." Celestia said in such a way that no-one could raise a single word against her.

"Fair enough, Twilight could you hand me the three books, oh and the satchels as well please." said Lewis.

"Yea ok i guess..." replied Twilight, a frown on her face "Here you go, take care i guess..."

"We promise to visit Twilight!" exclaimed William whilst he and Lewis grabbed their respective items "That's a promise!"

"Alright then but swear you will come back!" Twilight said.

"We do swear." said both William and Lewis simultaneously.

Pinkie's left eye twitched.

"Let us go." said Luna "There is much to discuss."

"Indeed." concurred Celestia as she walked out the door "We should head back right away so we can get started on..."

Celestia stopped in her tracks.

"Oh no." she said staring at the mountain where Canterlot resided.

The two brothers looked up to see the city and in it, a huge nine headed serpent creature stomping about. Even from where they were they could make it out, and they must have been several miles away, at least ninety.

"What is that?" asked William in horror.

"Tis a fully grown Hydrys Serpantes, or hydra for short. We do not have much time, we must stop it! To Canterlot!" Luna exclaimed.

Luna and Celestia got into a black carriage and sat down ushering the two to get in.

"Lewis, with this power do you think we could..." William was about to continue when he was cut off by Lewis.

"William, we were given this power for  reason." Lewis said, his face the definition of determination "Lets go save a city..."

Would you like some tea?...

The view from the carriage was horrifying to say the least. Looking out of the window, the two brothers, Lewis and William, could see devastation and destruction as the Princess' carriage circled high above the city of Canterlot. What were once white and gold manor houses and apartments, were now smoke, ash and rubble. The guard towers leading into the city were gone, no trace left. Several business' were demolished, only the signs left behind were proof they ever existed at all.

"Oh my god, its terrible." spoke William silently.

"It is." said Lewis, his body slowly tensing as he watched anthroponite after anthroponite get crushed and melted from the hydra.

On the way up to the city, the Hydra had began firing beams of fire from the two heads in the center of its body. One of the beams barely missed the carriage they were in.

"How can we stop it?" asked Lewis, turning his head to Celestia and Luna, who were sat opposite them with grim looks on their faces.

"We cannot kill it, that's for certain. Hydra's have the ability to regenerate any part of it body at will. It cannot truly die. This is because it has a very large, magic infused heart. This heart beats 48 times faster than a ponies, and this coupled with the magical energy infused into it, means it can rapidly heal any part of its body." Celestia murmured, her tone dark, her face brooding. She had dealt with this hydra many a time, but this time, it was early.

"So cant we take out its heart?" William said in response.

"No We cannot, The creatures heart is encased in an organic substance that is harder than the crystals beneath the city. In order for thou to tear out the creatures heart, thou would need strength no pony has ever achieved and an immense amount of magical power to boot. We are afraid, it just is not possible to kill." said Luna, her tone filled with despair.

"No we cannot kill it, but we can slow down its regeneration. For some reason we cannot fathom, a hydra cannot regenerate properly if all heads are severed at once. It extends it regeneration process by many hundreds of years. That's how we've been dealing with it before, but not without heavy casualties." as Celestia said this, a large beam of super-heated fire, came roaring past the carriage, shaking it off course.

"Your highness" shouted a royal guard piloting said carriage "The magical crystal keeping the carriage afloat has been hit, it wont stay airborne for much longer, your grace."

"I understand sir, keep us in the air a little longer!" Celestia replied, shouting over the noise of the carnage below.

"So what can we do to help?" asked Lewis "We have our new powers, perhaps there's something we can do?"

"Perhaps, dost thou know battle strategy, if not then perhaps you can work with the ground team to cut off the heads." Luna said, almost as if she didn't expect them to do anything.

"We can help we swear!" said William, desperate to prove his worth.

"Alright, but we don't want you getting hurt, will you be okay?" asked Celestia.

"Of course, with this power i'm sure we can help turn the tide of the fight!" replied William, his voice filled with vigor.

"For thou sakes, we hope so." said Luna her tone neutral, and her focus on the Hydra.

Lewis looked out the window once more to see fire, and devastation. Then he remembered the knowledge transferred to him by his book.

"Celestia, i need some time to read through my book. How much longer can the pilot remain airborne before needing to drop you to safety?" asked Lewis, his mind continuously formulating idea after idea.

I believe we can stay up for maybe, 10 more minutes." replied after quickly surveying the magical crystal buried in the floor of the carriage with her magic.

"That should be  more than enough time." Lewis replied, his mind had come up with a plan, and it involved their new powers.

Lewis leaned over to William and whispered the plan into his ears. William stared straight ahead, eyes wide, mouth in a perfect o shape.

"OOOOOOHHHH, i get it!" said William, the plan making sense in his young mind "I can do that easy!"

"Good." said Lewis  "Then the first step is..."

Lewis closed his eyes, for a second the rune on the back of his hand appeared, turned purple, and vanished. When he opened his eyes, they were no longer gold, but an eerie misty purple.

"This should work just fine." He said.

"What did you do? What happened to your eyes?" asked Celestia, slightly worried he had hurt himself.

"Its just the Night-stalker spell. It allows me to see specific things that i register as necessary through walls and other objects, i can track specific people or objects as long as i can remember what they look like, i can also see in the dark and rather easily track movement. My mind is sharper than even yours Celestia." Lewis spoke with a sly grin.

Celestia could tell he was being truthful. They had an unspoken connection, and she knew from his eyes that everything he had just said was true.

Lewis moved over and yelled out to the guard.

"Hey, can you flip this thing upside down?!"

"Are you crazy?" Replied the guard "We'll die!"

"No we wont, trust me!" Said Lewis, his face determined. Its shook the guards resolve.

"Alright, i trust you." he said, before flipping the carriage slowly.

Below them, the Hydra was still firing beams of fire at the surrounding buildings. Suddenly, one of the heads looked up and noticed the carriage, roaring in frustration at having some, small object buzzing around its head. The other heads, stopped and looked the same way, and then, began firing beams of fire at the carriage.

"Oh horesapples!" cried the guard, veering to the left, the carriage still turned on its head. The guard had narrowly avoided two beams, and was sweating in panic.

"Whatever thou plans to do, thou better do it fast!" cried Luna, desperate to get out of the sky.

Lewis turned and grinned at Luna. He knew what to do. he turned to William and nodded, William then proceeded to grab two corners of the roof of the carriage, and then rip it open.

"What are you doing?" screamed Celestia, Her face contorted in fear. She obviously wasn't expecting that.

"Alright the, time to go William!" shouted Lewis over the sound of the air being torn apart by the vacuum.

William and Lewis, grabbed hold of the edge of the newly formed gaping hole, and flipped out. Celestia's screams of panic, dissipated into nothingness as the two fell from over 15,000 feet down towrds the ground. The two yelled over the howling wind.

"Are you ready William?" Shouted Lewis.

"Always! I trust you!" replied William, a smile on his face. He trusted Lewis with his life, and he was about to put that faith to the test.

"Then lets go!" shouted Lewis.

William then proceeded to shift his cloak back into the large, scaly, flame covered wings he had received from the book and spread them wide. Now with the wind under his wings, he tilted them back, and immediately vanished from sight. Lewis turned around in midair to see William, soaring at high speeds down at a 45 degree angle towards the Hydra. He watched as William breathed in deeply and then breathed out at full force, a stream of orange flames spewing from William's mouth. The flames reached an immense length, although it wasn't meant to damage the Hydra, it was meant to distract it, and it worked. The Hydra turned all of its heads to the source of the heat, and seeing another dragon like creature, ripped it's attention away from the city, and focused entirely on William.

Lewis had been right, the Hydra's natural instincts were similar to lizards and other carnivorous animals. Its dominant nature, meant that, should another creature that seemed similar in strength appear, Its natural instinct to challenge said creature would arise. The Hydra had shifted into domination mode, and was now trying to fight William, to prove its dominance.

"Yes, it worked!" whispered Lewis to no-one in particular as he continued to fall. Thanks to his Night-stalker spell, he had already calculated the speed in which he was falling, the height he was currently at, and the angle he would have to be at in order to land safely.

"Welp" said Lewis "I suppose i should do my part now." and with that, Lewis flipped back round to face the ground.

He had been waiting to try this power out since he had learned about it from the book.  He focused all his mental energy on the name of the spell...

BLOOD DESTRUCTION

The rune on the back of Lewis' hand appeared on and with a brilliant red flash, it grew in size. It encased Lewis in the light and then vanished. Lewis' skin crawled. He could his his blood literally boiling beneath his skin, it was the most excruciating pain he'd ever felt. His mind went blank from the pain.

If you were on the ground looking up, you would see and massive Hydra, easily trumping the castle in size. A small flaming creature breathing fire, and of to the far right, a small red light, falling at incredibly high speeds. This red light would then proceed to explode in red electricity, the sky itself covered in crimson, as the red light convulsed and exploded again and again in violent brilliance.

Lewis could feel his skin tearing apart as the lightning erupted from his hand. suddenly, the pain vanished. He opened his eyes and saw he was on the ground, a crater easily the size of a football field around him. The buildings he had destroyed when he landed, lay in ruin around him. He could see his reflection in some broken glass. His physique had changed, his body even more toned and defined than before. His once brown hair and fur, was now a deep maroon red. His face and arms were covered in strange, dark red, tattoo like lines and symbols. The spell had worked. He had transformed. He could however, still feel his blood boiling beneath his skin. Lewis turned to face the Hydra. It was time to show them what he was really capable of. Lewis kicked off of his Left foot, and immediately vanished from sight. what had actually happened was, he had so much strength in his body, kicking his foot had launched him into the air.

This incredible burst of speed left a delay, and even in the air, he could hear a sonic boom below him, where had kicked from. Now In the air, Lewis turned his arms behind him, and using magic, he formed a platform that looked just like the red rune on his hand. He kicked off of it once more, this time in the direction of the Hydra. he rocketed towards the Hydra with unnatural speed and just before colliding with its chest, he pulled back his right arm, and unleashed a powerful right jab to its central core.

The Hydra, was a dominant creature, and having a fly buzzing around was annoying, but imagine its surprise when another fly collided with its body at such speed and with such force, that the Hydra was knocked off its feet, and into the mountain side.

"WOOP WOOP!" screamed William as he saw his brother collide with the Hydra. He had always admired his brother, but right now, his brother was the coolest guy on this strange new planet.

"Now William!" screamed Lewis from below.

William looked around in shock, realizing he had forgotten his role, and quickly plunged downwards towards the castle. He knew what he needed.

Meanwhile, Lewis was stood on the ground amidst the wreckage caused by the Hydra's flight. he watched as the Hydra slowly rolled over, and stood up, all its heads, staring him down.

"Ha, didn't see that coming did you." Lewis said, seemingly to the Hydra, to which it roared in frustration.

The Hydra lumbered towards Lewis having completely forgotten about his previous foe, and without hesitation, released several beams of fire towards the tiny figure. Lewis kicked off of his right foot, launching sideways at great speed. Another delayed boom sounded in the background as he practically flew towards the city walls. The Hydra followed. Perfect.

The Hydra lumbered into a large clearing, unaware of William, high above it, holding a large column. He had sharpened it down with his flames to the point that it was almost as sharp as a blade on one side. It hadn't taken him too long, all he had to do was increase the intensity to which the flames burned and narrow the stream, a perfect little laser to slice up the marble with. He had been waiting high above for just a few moments when he saw the Hydra below him. He looked forward to see Lewis, with his hand up. Then, it dropped. That was the clue, with a grunt, William let go of the massive column.

"Oh god this better work." said William as he watched the column drop.

Lewis was watching with grim satisfaction. He has planned this from the start.

Step 1: Get the Hydra's attention.

Step 2: Lure it to a large open space.

Step 3: Allow William to drop the sharpened column onto the Hydra.

It all came to fruition. The Hydra looked up with all its heads just a little too late. The column of sharpened marble came down with a sickening crunch. One by one, all the Hydra's head were severed piece by piece. The column finally hit the ground. every head had been severed. The hydra's limp body slumped to the floor, lifeless. Now for the finishing touch.

Lewis walked over towards the Hydra's body and without hesitation ripped a massive hole in it stomach. He climbed and re-appeared moments later carrying a large, black, pulsating sphere.

"Lewis, what is that?" asked William as he floated down to the ground.

"This is the Hydra's heart." replied Lewis, a grin on his face.

"But Luna said you cant remove its heart?" said William, confusion across his face.

"Yes you can. Its simple, you just have to calculate the exact force needed to rip the organic cords connecting the heart and the body. Simple." Lewis replied almost as if he didn't care.

"Is that.." came a familiar voice.

Lewis and William turned to see Luna and Celestia gliding down to them. They must have returned to the castle and began making their way to the two as soon as they arrived.

"Impossible..." whispered Luna "No-one has enough power to cut that out!"

"That's where you are wrong your highness." said Lewis.

"My brother is so cool!" shouted William.

"Well, i suppose we should head back to the castle." said Celestia.

"Hang on." said Lewis.

The two brothers began to glow. Lewis' symbols disappeared, his hair returning to brown. His iris' became the sky blue they were always meant to be. His ears and tails tucked themselves away, seemingly into nowhere. The same thing happened to William. His horns dissipated into nothingness, his wings vanishing into the cloak they were before. His iris' returning to a similar blue, that his brother had. The two brothers were back to normal.

"But how?" said Luna "thou can shift between forms?"

"Of course!" said William.

"Well then, lets go back to the castle, there is much we must do to repair the city." said Celestia as she began walking in the direction of the castle.

The four of them reached the castle after walking through wreck after wreck, Celestia comforting any pony she came across. They were now standing in the castle's lush court room.

"So..." said Celestia slowly, she seemed both shy and scared "Would you like some tea?..."

I just want some sleep...

'Nice tea...' thought Lewis to himself as he sipped the uniquely flavoured tea from the rather expensive looking gold trimmed china cup, Though would it really be called china here? He'd have to ask at some point.

The room, if it could be called a room, resembled a grand hall in both size and decoration. Its lavish interior was decorated entirely in gold and cream colours. There were beautifully crafted, hand-made shelves made from the finest wood money could buy. At least, that's that's what Lewis assumed. The carpet was a beautiful crimson colour, that both contrasted and blended perfectly with the cream and gold. They were resting on what seemed to be designer chairs, the golden trim, still remaining. Lewis began to wonder if Celestia's favourite colour was gold. The ceiling had beautiful paintings all across it. They depicted the two sisters standing at the height of their power in front of a massive crowd on ponies. The interior decorator must,ve had a field day. But it did look nice. William hadn't touched his cup yet, he was too busy staring at the ceilings paintings.

"Whoa, how did they paint those? They're crazy!" exclaimed William, his voice filled with wonder and awe.

"Well it was much easier to do with our magic, but the painter was using a multiple cast point spell. Like one big spray of paint covering the ceiling."Celestia explained, admiring the paintings as she had done many times in the past. The detail still amazed her, the unicorns new spell meant artists everywhere flourished. He had gifted the art world. Its a shame she was basically immortal, she had wanted to see what more he could've done.

"Well it certainly looks good." said William, looking down for a second.

"Well, now that thou art comfortably settled, we would like to discuss with thou just how thou defeated the Hydra so easily." Luna interjected, her voice anxious, with a hint of desperation. She was either really scared, or really excited. Lewis' bet was on nervous.

"Well, it wasn't easy" replied Lewis, giving in to Luna's silent plea "First i had to figure out a way of cutting of all the heads within a short period of time, so as to ensure it went down without much of a fight. I started by surveying the landscape with the Night-stalker spell, then i had to figure out if i could use anything in the surroundings to my advantage. It didn't take long before i'd figured it out. You see, on our planet, there is a traditional death penalty method that was used to kill the most dangerous criminals in existence at the time."

Celestia turned in surprise.

"You punish your own kind with death?.." Celestia said, her face uncertain.

"Only if they committed a serious offence, like mass murder or something" replied William, finally taking a sip of his tea "Good stuff..."

"Ah i see, well i hope your planet has moved on from such barbarity?" Celestia spoke, her voice lilting slightly in abject hope.

"Sort of" said Lewis in return "Our kind no longer rolls out the death penalty like hot cakes anymore, instead it's only used on the literal, worst of the worst, and even then, we have found a better way of doing it. But returning to the topic, this method of execution was know as the guillotine. One of the most famed methods of execution on our planet."

"Yea, its nuts. Basically, the convict sentenced to death is forced to put their head over a thin, indented piece of wood so that their neck is resting on the indent. High above them, lay a massive angled metal blade. This blade is suspended by long ropes and will only fall when the ropes are released by hand, or cut. When that happens, bye bye head." finished William, his most apt description causing slight panic to spread to the two sisters.

They must not have seen that side of him yet, he was dark like that.

"Oh my goodness..." said Celestia, covering her mouth like she was about to vomit.

Luna simply stared forward at William, seemingly unfazed by it all. Perhaps she had seen death more than her sister had, who could say.

"Hmm, thou planet seems twisted in nature, yet thou seem relatively normal in retrospect. Perhaps there art some hope for thou yet." spoke Luna softly her eyes drifting vacantly to the floor.

"Maybe..." said Lewis.

"Ok, we need to get back to what you were saying, the guillotine came to you after surveying the city with the spell. Then what?" Celestia said, rather unceremoniously trying to change the subject from twisted death.

"Oh yes, from there it was relatively simple, i needed something that would be capable of acting like a blade, but couldn't see anything. So instead i focused on the length and side, rather on sharpness. I calculated the length and width of the hydra, and used time based variables such as distinctive sounds and elements to calculate the movement of the heads. Not easy. Regardless, i did it, then i looked about for something standing tall that would be the right length when landscape to do the job. I found it when i happened to glance at the castle, i saw all these, rather fancy marble columns and pillars just sitting here. I analyzed them to see which one would cause the least structural damage if removed and then began working out how to sharpen it." Lewis finished in a rather succinct manner.

"Well that is some rather impressive forethought and analyzation. That spell of yours is really something." Celestia pondered for a moment, about what Lewis couldn't tell.

"My guess is that Lewis realized I could concentrate my flames into a concentrated beam, strong enough and precise enough to cut the marble. Am I right?" William said, turning to Lewis in expectation.

"Yep, that's pretty much it." said Lewis, staring at the cups wondering how he had managed to get into this situation.

Having tea with royalty, whilst discussing the details of a fight he had been involved in with a mythical beast was not something Lewis expected to be a part of. Ever.

"From there it was pretty straight forward, lure the hydra to a large open space, that was Lewis' job, and then drop the sharpened marble guillotine on all of its heads, my job. " William wrapped up.

"Yes well i suppose that is quite impressive planning for someone who knows nothing of hydra's." Celestia spoke, her tone rather amused. She was liking these two even more than she thought she would.

"Yes, twas a marvelous victory, we can see the headlines in the news now. 'Unknown heroes save our kingdom'." Luna said in a mocking tone, it was light however and was meant to amuse. And amuse it did.

It must've been a trigger for William as he simply burst out laughing, Luna joining him, their voices loud and clear as they giggled away. Celestia and Lewis simply chuckled, they both knew the quirks of having younger siblings.

"So" said Celestia, William and Luna still giggling " What do you plan to do know?"

"I'm not sure. You mentioned as were walking here that we could stay in the castle?" Lewis asked lightly.

"Indeed, and the offer is still open." Celestia said thinking back to it.

She wasn't sure why she was asking them to stay, perhaps it was her maternal instincts besides having the mind of a 20 year old. Perks of being an alicorn, your body reaches peak fitness and shape rather easily and your mind doesn't age, therefore she could always be sharp and ready, never feeling withered or tired. Her young mind wouldn't allow it. They had been walking through the halls when she simply blurted it out.

"Would you like to stay at the castle with us?" she said, not even looking back at them.

At the time, they had said nothing, most likely assuming she had just spoke to herself or had gone nuts. No-one in their right mind would let the people who killed a Hydra stay in their home with them. Yet there she went, simply asking out of the blue, expecting no response, and receiving none.

Celestia focused once more onto the real world. Lewis had cast his eyes down pondering what to do now.

"I think we will accept your offer. Who better to show us the ropes of this world than the rulers of a nation!" Lewis answered, his tone slightly elated at the idea that they wouldn't be begging for a place to stay.

"Of course, myself and Luna shall ensure you fit in well here." Celestia said, smiling gently, her lips curling upwards in the gentlest of ways.

"Tis settled then!" Luna said, returning to the conversation after finally calming down from her giggle fit "You shall stay here with us, and we shall have a most merry ti..."

Luna was interrupted by the large doors to the chamber being flung open and a large white furred, two toned blue haired man rushing in. he was wearing purple Armour with golden trim. Lewis was right, gold was her favourite colour. He had removed his helmet upon entry, he seemed flustered. Something about him seemed familiar, maybe his eyes. He looked young, but not too young. When he spoke his voice was young and filled with vigor, but had a slight croak to it, like he had been yelling for a large portion of his life.

"Your highness' we found no trace of those creatures that defeated the Hydra, we are on the hunt now though, rest assured these monsters will be found and..." The man had stopped speaking as he began to register the other company in the room. His eyes widened.

"The monsters they're here!" he yelled "Get back your grace's who knows what they're capable of!"

The man had drawn a large silver broadsword from a sheath on his back. He had a horn which crackled slightly as he began to charge his magic.

"Shining Armour, what is the meaning of this?" declared Luna in a most displeased tone.

"But your grace. the beasts are sitting right over there!" the man now known as Shining Armour exclaimed.

"Yes Mr Armour, we know. We invited them to do, as we would do any savior of Canterlot." Celestia said in an unamused tone.

"Bu-Bu-But they're monsters! They killed a Hydra. A HYDRA!" he yelled once more.

"Yes they did, and they did an excellent job, now please Sir Armour, put that sword away before you embarrass us and yourself further." Celestia said rather sternly. That was new.

Shining Armour sheathed the large blade, and bowed to the princess'.

"I'm so sorry your Highness' i meant no disrespect." He blabbered.

"Tis not us thou should be thanking..." said Luna, her chin up, eyes cast down like she was staring at dirt.

Shining Armour turned to face the two brothers, who had been sat there awkwardly since he had barged in.

"I'm so sorry sirs, if you are sirs." said Shining Armour

"We are sirs.." replied the brothers simultaneously.

"I'm sorry, i meant no disrespect to you." he stuttered "Please forgive me!"

"Not a problem Mr Armour" replied William "We forgive you!"

"Thank you, you are too kind." Shining Armour breathed a sigh of relief " if there is anything i can do to repay you, just please let me know."

Lewis looked out of the large stained glass windows of the room, each one depicting the same ponies. the two sisters and their ponies. The sun was setting, yet it was, stopping in midair and the moon was stuck near it. Lewis dismissed it as just another weird thing about this world. At that moment, William chose to yawn rather loudly.

Lewis chuckled.

"Well, for a start how about you show us to our rooms?" Lewis replied, smiling gently "Because right now, I just want some sleep."

Just looking around...

'Tweet tweet' the sound of chirping birds awoke William from his slumber. He sat up in the large, circular bed, pulled down the silvery bed sheets and sat up. He yawned and stretched his arms up wide.

"Good morning me." he said to himself, a euphoric smile on his face. He'd had a pleasant dream.

"Now then" he mumbled as he crawled out of the large bed, a hand resting on the beds top posts for support "What's on the agenda for today?"

"Not much i would say." came an all too familiar voice. It was Lewis, slowly rising from his bed across the room. He had the same silvery sheets and the same circular bed. William pondered for a moment just how the castle was able to afford such amenities.

"Welp we can't sit around and do nothing with the sun so bright!" he returned, gazing out of the large glass and wood doors, which led to the shared balcony. The sun was indeed bright, so bright that the two brothers had to squint to see anything.

"Well at least its not too early, about 11ish i would say." a slight purple mist appearing for a second before vanishing from Lewis' eyes. He had just calculated the time based on the suns position in the sky. Damn he was good.

"So" William asked whilst grabbing some clothes from the wardrobe to the left of the bed "What shall we do?"

"How about we take a tour of the city, after all, its not everyday you land in a new world, might aswell explore abit." Lewis said as he also grabbed some clothes from the identical wardrobe. 'Such intricate designs' Lewis thought as he pulled out a rather plain looking golden shirt. However if you were to look closer, you would see small lines of silver cloth, skirmishing across the surface of said shirt, creating brilliant patterns that, when placed in the right light, would glow and shine rather spectacularly. Lewis moved the shirt out of the sunlight and proceeded to change the light blue pajamas he had been wearing to said shirt. He also grabbed some slightly ripped at the knees jeans to boot.

"Wow, these clothes look totally over the top." said William from across the room.

Lewis turned to face him and saw William looking down at the clothes now adorning his body. He was wearing a dark grey button up shirt with rolled up sleeves and some dark red chinos.

"Nice choice, really makes the blue in your eyes stand out." Lewis said in a neutral tone

"I can't tell if your taking the piss or not..." William said, unsure on whether his brother had just complimented him, or insulted him.

Suddenly, a loud knock on the door startled the two brothers from their rather enlightening conversation.

"Excuse me sir's"  came a monotone voice through the large steel doors to the bedroom "The highness' have requested you come down and join them for breakfast. Would you like a preview of the menu before you go down?"

"No thank you, we will be down in a moment." replied Lewis, picking up his black cloak and wrapping it around his neck. Apparently the cloak can't change back into the jacket he was wearing before he gained all that magical energy from the book. Thinking about the book, Lewis turned to the dressing table to check on it. He waltzed over and took a glance at the title. Thanks to the magic and knowledge he had obtained, he was able to translate the language to English in his mind. It said Emperium Kataranica which roughly translated as, The Kitsune Empirica. The book contained untold amounts of knowledge on the ancient Kitsune race which once wandered a planet known as Valen. Lewis was mildly upset that he would never get to meet the race that discovered all these amazing magical techniques.

"C'mon." came Williams voice from the doorway.

Lewis turned to the door to see William halfway through, waiting for Lewis to follow.

"Lets go." he said.

"Yeah sure." replied Lewis, placing the book in his black hole satchel.

Lewis was rather pleased he had remembered to bring said satchel with him to Canterlot, as the previous night, before going to bed, he had experimented with it, to see how it worked. As it turned out, the satchel worked like a request system. you could place whatever you wanted into it, regardless of size, as Lewis had found out by placing the entire wardrobe within the confines of said satchel. He then tried to get it out and realized that by visualizing what he wanted, so long as it was in the satchel, he could simply pull it out. Pretty neat, but boy did he have some devious plans for this bad boy.

Lewis grabbed the satchel and slung it over his shoulder, he then proceeded to join William in the doorway as they followed one of the awaiting guards to the dining room. William had grabbed his cloak before leaving too, but nit his satchel.

"I can't wait to explore the city, i hope we get to see some cool stuff!" William exclaimed, his shoes tapping on the cold marble floor.

"I'm sure we will have a great time." Lewis spoke, absentmindedly admiring the stained glass windows in the corridors.

"Where should we go first?" asked William, grinning at the prospect of adventure.

The guard escorting them then proceeded to speak "Perhaps you should go to the mane street shopping center, they have tons of shops and maps and other such things, i'm sure you could go there and get lost for hours." the guard hadn't even turned to face them when he spoke, perhaps he wasn't allowed to? Who knew, well besides him and the other guards, and the Princess' and probably the other citizens, ok off topic.

Lewis contemplated the idea for a moment before simply saying "sure, could be fun."

"Thanks for the suggestion sir!" spoke William to the back of the guards head.

"Not a problem, anyways, we're here." as the guard said this, the trio rounded the corner and came to a large marble archway that led into another rather spacious room. This particular room stretched perhaps half the length of the room they were in the previous night. Within the room lay a large feast hall style table, and about a dozen chairs. At the head of the table sat Celestia, quietly sipping tea and reading a newspaper. Round the corner on her left, Luna was playing with her food, pretending her salad was an ocean and her fork, a boat. It looked like parent and child.

Both princess' perked up at the sound of William and Lewis entering the room.

"Ah good morning, i trust you slept well?" asked Celestia, placing her tea on a fancy looking place mat, and dropping her newspaper. She had a rather noticeable grin.

"Yea we had a great sleep, and as always the sun comes and ruins that slumber." spoke Lewis sarcastically.

Celestia's grin dropped into a slight frown "You don't like the sun?" she asked.

"Nah i'm just messing, i like the sun and the moon both the same." said Lewis smiling with his eyes closed.

Both Celestia and Luna's eyes went wide, grins adorning both their features.

"Splendid! How kind of thee to say!" Luna rejoiced.

"Well, i suppose we should ask you to sit down, i'm sure you have plans for the day." Celestia said, the grin still evident.

"Indeed we do your highness', oh wait, sorry, Celestia." William said, his slip-up causing him to turn red. Like a beetroot.

"Hehe" giggled Celestia quietly "Its quiet alright. So, what plans do you have?"

"Well, the guard who brought us here suggested we go to mane street shopping center." Lewis said as he watched a waiter bring out a plate of food. He smiled when he saw it was a simple cheese sandwich. He pickled it up and took a bite.

Celestia nodded "Yes that does sound like a good idea, but you cant go without some money to spend, that would just be silly, here take this."

Celestia then proceeded to conjure up a small brown pouch filled with small gold coins.

"These are bits" explained Celestia "They are the currency of this  nation and are a necessity to doing anything."

Lewis took the pouch and then proceeded to drop said pouch into his satchel, the money vanishing from sight.

"That was good!" exclaimed William, finishing the last bite of his sandwich before swallowing rather loudly.

"Yes it was, now then i suppose we should get going?" Lewis said, standing slowly from the chair he had been sat in.

"Alright, lets go shopping." said William as he jumped from his chair, waving to the two Princess' as they were escorted out of the castle.

It had only taken 10 minutes for the two of them to make their way though the hustle and bustle of Canterlot's high street. They had made it all the way down to the Mane Street Shopping Center. The building was exceedingly large, almost too large to be a shopping mall. It was more akin to the castle, and that was just the outside. It had beautiful white wash walls and simple yet stand out marble columns in silver. It had an entirely glass roof and if you were high enough, you could probably see everyone within. As the two stepped towards the doors, William's stomach growled.

"Woah, the sandwich not enough this morning?" asked Lewis, smiling at the gastric outburst.

"Uh sorry, but no. I need more food. And fast!" William replied.

"Well look, there's a coffee shop just at the front there, see it?" Lewis said, pointing out a small coffee shop nestled into the wall near the entrance to the mall.

"Yes, food!" William exclaimed as he ran towards the shop.

"Hey wait!" cried Lewis, following suit.

As they ran, they failed to notice the pony sitting in the shade with a newspaper, who proceeded to fold up said newspaper and walk away, the ponies cap tilted slightly down so as to avoid showing their face.

William ran at full speed, through the sliding doors of the Mall, huh, sliding doors.. and straight into the coffee shop. Lewis took notice of the name, Coffee Thyme.

The shop itself wasn't too big, but it had enough space to move around in. The interior was a stylish maroon red with multiple red highlights around it's only room. It had dark mahogany tables and dark wicker chairs. There were about 7 tables and some bar stools at the counter in the back left. The smell of coffee was strong here.

"i think we should sit here." William said as he jumped onto a wicker chair right in the center of the coffee shop.

"Sure, sounds good." Lewis said, taking a chair opposite him.

The coffee shop was eerily quiet and empty, it seemed as though the shop had been abandoned when some tip tapping came from behind a door at the back of the shop. The door swung open to reveal a cream furred, brown maned girl wearing a white button up shirt with the top two buttons undone, and a black knee length skirt. She was holding a small circular black tray that was most likely used for waitress-ing or whatever it was called. She hadn't noticed the two new customers.

"Alright what now, I've stocked the kitchen, again, I've checked the restroom to make sure it's clean, again. I think that's it. God this job is so boring i just wish something interesting would happ..." the waitress slowed her speech to a halt as she stared at the two hairless creatures, that happened to be staring right back. She had no idea how to react.

"H-h-hello there, m-my name is M-Milky Latte, H-how can i h-help you?..." she stuttered, unsure of what to do next. She knew that a customer or two may appear at this time, but not two hairless creatures, she was contemplating calling mall security.

"Hi, we'd like to order some coffee and snacks. We were told to check out the mall by the princess'." explained Lewis, a slight smile on his face. He'd only seen this reaction when they stepped out of the castle gates. The guards had simply gawked at them.

"Oh my Celestia, I'm so sorry, let me get you a menu!" Milky Latte exclaimed.

She quickly dashed round the corner of the counter and straight to the table the two brothers were sat at. She handed them a thin board with a few pieces of paper clipped to it.

"I am so sorry, i didn't even know you were with the Princess'. Wait, they aren't coming are they? Oh my gosh this place is a total mess, i need to clean, I'm gonna be in such trouble if the princess' think the store is ..." Milky Latte was stopped in her panic attack by Lewis holding his hand over her mouth.

"Relax, the Princess' aren't coming, it's just us. They gave us some money and let us out of the castle to explore. We were still hungry after breakfast so we stopped off here. Does that explain everything alright?" said Lewis, slowly removing his hand from the girls face. She was flush red.

She had just made a scene in front of the Princess' friends. Celestia forgive her.

"Right, sorry for over reacting." she mumbled, beet red.

"Its quite alright Milky, may i call you Milky?" said Lewis, chuckling lightly.

"Yes that's quite alright Mr?" responded Milky, looking Lewis up and down in wonder. She had never seen a fur-less pony before, it was quite intriguing.

"Lewis. Just Lewis" he responded, a smile on his face.

William hadn't been paying attention at all, he was too busy staring at the menu, wondering what all the flavors were like.

"Hey, can we order now?" he asked, his voice mixed with a hint of longing as he stared at the coffee machine behind the counter.

"Sure, I'm ready when you are." said Lewis in reply, glancing at his menu for a second. He already knew what he wanted.

"Alright" said Milky, standing up a little straighter with a small smile on her face "What can i get ya?"

"I want an espresso shot please!" exclaimed William, grinning slightly. He never got to have espresso back on earth.

"I'll just have a herbal tea please." said Lewis, looking at William's excited face for a second, and smiling.

"Sure thing, they will be right out!" spoke Milky, smiling as she walked round the counter to get the drinks.

As she was preparing them, she took the time to examine the customers. The two looked really out of place, their short, scraggy black cloaks clung over their rather expensive looking clothing. They looked similar, but not entirely. She couldn't fathom why. They both had the same sky blue eyes, and similar coloured mane's, though the younger ones was more akin to dirty blonde than brown. They both seemed relatively happy, the older, being more calm and mature. The thing that bothered her most, was the fact that they radiated a fierce aura from them. It warranted confidence and strength, but it wasn't smug, rather, dependent. Almost like they wouldn't be this way without each other. They seemed familiar, and then she remembered the Hydra attack from the day before. Thanks to help from the Unicorn Mage Academy and the royal guard, the damage had been repaired relatively quickly, and the city's atmosphere returning to normal, just a few short hours after the attack ended. She had remembered reading a report in the newspapers this morning about two strange creatures fighting the Hydra, single handedly, without any help from the guards. The two creatures had all but annihilated the Hydra within minutes of arriving on scene, The reports spoke of two male, fur-less creatures soaring from the heavens and devastating the Hydra in mere moments. How had she not seen it? Two strange creatures wander into the coffee shop, right after a large monster was defeated by two unknown creatures. Their affiliation with the princess' couldn't be mere coincidence, these two must have been the ones who defeated the Hydra.

"Eh-hem.." came a quick short burst of noise, shaking Milky from her thoughts. Lewis was stood in front of the bar, watching in worry as Milky let the steaming hot coffee miss the cup entirely and land in the collection tray.

"Are you okay, Milky?" he said, a little worried she may have passed out on her feet.

"What, oh my goodness, i am so sorry, i drifted off and completely forgot about the drinks. I promise this wont happen again!" she yelped, begging for forgiveness with her eyes.

"Not a problem, we don't mind waiting for the next batch." replied Lewis, an amused smile on his lips.

"Hey Milky!" came a new voice from the door to the shop.

Three women walked in. One had light blue fur and a two toned, light blue and dark blue mane. She had dark blue eyes and was wearing some dark blue jeans and a small, white crop top. She also had a dark grey jacket on.

Next was a mint furred girl with two toned, white and mint green mane. This girl had shining golden eyes, similar to the gold Lewis had when he transformed, only not so 'radiant'. She was wearing a light green partially see through flowing dress top, with a small white undershirt. She had some light blue jean shorts on,

The third girl was white furred, with a single tone, baby pink mane. She had light blue eyes and was wearing a white button up shirt, a denim jacket and a small, floral, pink skirt.

"Oh hey guys, its good to see you!" said Milky as she walked round the counter to her friends, immediately forgetting both the coffee and her train of thought. She ran over and gave them all a hug, in group formation.

"I can't believe that you cam this early, my shift doesn't end for another 10 minutes, and besides i have customers." she said grinning, before her face dropped as she remembered, she had customers.

"Oh my Celestia" she said, turning to the rather confused looking William and the chuckling Lewis "I completely forgot you guys were here, let me get your drinks!" with that, Milky ran round behind the counter and began pouring the coffee again.

"Not a problem, like i said, we can wait." Lewis said, William nodding in the background.

"Well, well" came the same voice as before. It was the blue furred girl, and she had walked to the counter alongside the other two "A stallion with manners, that's what i like to see, so what's your name?" she asked, eyeing the taller boy up, and glancing at the younger one.

"Lewis and it's a pleasure to meet you Miss?" Lewis responded, stretching out the last word in anticipation of an answer.

"Minuette, and these are my friends." The girl now known as Minuette said, waving her hand at the other two girls there. The mint girl introduced herself first.

"Hey, my name is Lyra, Lyra Heartstings. It's nice to meet you!" she said, a smile on her lips.

"Heya" came the other girl "My name is Twinkleshine, and it's so good to meet you. I hope its not too much trouble, but, you two look familiar. Where you in the news?" she asked, her eyebrows askew.

"I don't think so, unless you count facing a Hydra news worthy." Lewis said in a rather monotone voice.

"Wait i was right?!" screamed Milky, who had been listening in the whole time "I thought you seemed familiar! You two were the strange creatures that fought that Hydra yesterday!"

"No way!" exclaimed Minuette

"You killed the Hydra? Just the two of you?!" asked Lyra in shock.

"Yeah we did!" exclaimed William, now moving up to the bar "And it was awesome!"

"What my brother is trying to say is that, yes, we were the ones who defeated the hydra, why?" Lewis said, glancing at his brother, who had puffed out his cheeks in annoyance.

Lyra looked at both Minuette and Twinkleshine for a moment. All three grinned and turned to the brothers.

"What are you doing today?" all three questioned simultaneously.

Milky Latte nearly dropped the cup she was holding when they asked that. She was about to berate them for asking such a thing when she was interrupted by Lewis.

"Well" he said "By order of the princess'. Just looking around."

I believe in you...

The outskirts of the shopping mall..

"Quiet down you imbecile!" came a sturdy male voice, the dark alley causing an echo for a few moments.

"What do you want now? Its almost ready, stop complaining!" came another voice, this one far more feminine, she sounded rather upset.

There was a light rustling, and the sound of heavy metal objects clanging on the floor could be heard.

"Damn it Hair Trigger, you cant drop those, they're incredibly dangerous, one misfire and we all go to jail before we've even started" moaned a rather young male voice, his tone clearly agitated.

"Shut up, the both of you, i will not allow this opportunity to go to waste, the mall is still undergoing repairs, the guards are scattered, and the citizens think the danger is over, they'll be completely under prepared for this." replied the older male voice.

QuickHoof had been waiting for six months for an opportunity like this, one where he could make thousands of bits in just a few minutes, he wasn't going to let this slip through his fingers.

Picking up one of the large metal grapple rifles on the floor, he aimed it up towards the roof, his target, the small entryway on top, that would allow his team access to the control room for the malls security measures.

With a single trigger pull, he fired..

Within the shopping malls central district..

"Hey slow down! My arm hurts!" cried William as he was pulled along for the ninth time by Lyra, her giggling the whole time.

He'd been in almost every shop in the north to east district, almost 12 in total, and in each one, Lyra had insisted on him buying either her, or her friends something cool. And judging by the way Lyra was dragging him along William wasn't sure if she was gunning for his wallet, or his arm.

Lewis laughed light heartedly. He'd been following Lyra and William around whilst being barraged by questions from Minuette and Twinkleshine, whilst Milky Latte followed on just slightly behind, a content smile on her face.

"Why wont you tell us how you did it?" moaned Minuette.

She'd been practically begging to know how the two brothers had descimated the hydra in such a short time. Lewis' rather succinct reply was,

"Its classified." much to the dismay of the two mares.

Lewis had noticed that all four friends had very distinct, almost stereotypical personalities. Twinkleshine was the dumb blonde, the classic airhead who had almost no idea what was happening, but went along with her friends with a smile on her face. Minuette was a whole other ball game. She was the commanding, bold, fearless leader type who led the group on their adventures, and alongside this personality, came her wandering eyes. Lewis had on more than one occasion spotted Minuette's eyes wandering over his form, and of almost every other man they passed. Her libido was further emphasized by the almost endless array of innuendo's she spewed. Almost at the end of every sentence, came a new dirty joke and a cackle worthy of Hades' approval. Lyra was bubbly. Almost unnaturally so. her seemingly boundless energy, coupled with her unique interest in William's hands had definitely worried Lewis at first, but soon her personality, her kind nature and her boundless joy had removed any traces of doubt or worry from his mind.

Finally came Milky Latte. She was quiet, eerily so. She was like the groups support, if the group were a team from league of Legends. The thought of that made Lewis chuckle internally. She was always ready to support her friends and always had a reason to back up the points they made, if they made any at all. Their questions were justified by her, making it all the more difficult for Lewis to keep his and his brothers abilities a secret. If he were being interrogated by these four women, he had no doubt he would crack under her relentless application of reason.

"Wait Lyra stop! Please no more! My arms on fire!" yelled William from far ahead.

His arm now had a rather severe case of carpet burn and the joint holding his arm on felt rather suspiciously like it was going to snap.

"C'mon William, keep up!" yelled Lyra, a grin on her face as she charged towards a store that let you build your own stuffed animal.

"Oh dear" said Milky "This is going to end in disaster, i should go stop them from blowing up the store, could you guys go ahead to the fountain near the middle, we can all meet there. Thanks, Later!" she said as she jogged after the overly energetic mint unicorn mare and the rather terrified young man.

"Well darn" said Minuette, her tone shifting to an uncomfortably sultry one "Looks like we are all by ourselves." she grinned with half lidded eyes to Lewis.

Lewis' immediate response was to simply nod and say "Yep, all alone in the middle, of a mall..." his gaze turning to her with an unamused stare.

"Guys, i gotta go pee." said Twinkleshine as she simply walked off to the toilets without a second thought.

"Well damn.." said Lewis as he realized he really was truly alone with Minuette.

"What? Don't you like hanging out with me? Or is it that you just prefer Twinkleshine? Hmm?" said Minuette mockingly in response to his comment.

"It's not that i dont like hanging out with you Minuette, I'm just worried for my safety, that's all." stated Lewis, his expression shifting to that of a grumpy old man, which contrary to popular belief, didn't suit the young man at all "Plus, Twinkleshine isn't my type, no offense to her.." he added last minute, just quiet enough for Minuette to miss.

"Huh, well alright then, how about we go grab a drink and wait for the others at the fountain?" offered Minuette, her tone surprisingly neutral.

"No thanks, I'm not that thirsty, you go on ahead, I'll meet you at the fountain." replied Lewis, shifting the small bag he carried from one hand to the other.

This bag held a little surprise for the princess'.

"Suit yourself" Minuette said, turning away and heading to some juice shop "See you there!"

With a sigh, Lewis began to slowly walk towards the hallway leading to the central plaza containing the fountain.

Lewis was about half way through when he heard a noise coming from a security door behind him, and then felt something cold and sharp, press against his neck.

"Don't move" came a short gruff voice "Forward, towards the fountain." the voice said, as he felt the sharp object, which Lewis guessed was some sort of magic spear, as he'd seen the guards using, press harder against his back.

Begrudgingly, Lewis started forward, mentally sighing to himself "This is gonna be along day.."

Meanwhile, in the Make-A-Friend stuffed animal shop..

"I want it to have dark brown fur and shiny blue eyes, like my friend here, and make it quick good sir!" yelled Lyra, once again catching the attention of the other customers.

"Lyra keep it down!" whispered both Milky and William simultaneously. They had to deal with a hyper active Lyra in a child's wet dream store. It was a nightmare.

First she wanted a bunny animal, then a bear, the a fish, then a bear again! Then she wanted two, but decided on one after throwing a good six or seven unstuffed bear, fish and bunny animals on the floor. Then Lyra had decided to model it after her new 'best friend' and thus, both Milky and William were stood behind a grinning Lyra at the dressing counter, where the bears would be dressed.

"Lyra c'mon, we have to go! I told them we would meet them at the fountain in ten minutes!" Milky whisper yelled to Lyra.

"Yea, yea just a minute! Its almost ready!" said an over excited Lyra, her eyes never leaving the bear as the employee's dressed it in clothes similar to the ones William were currently wearing.

William sighed, and with a heavy head he glanced outside the shop window. The whole mall was alive, like it's own little ecosystem, and William was rather enticed by that idea. He'd always admired nature, and all it had to offer, and even in this mall, the world it contained was alive and breathing and thus he believed it to be a unique part of nature in and of itself. He watched the many citizens going round doing their daily business, when something caught his eye.

A silver furred, lilac maned mare, standing near a security door. She was glancing round in a slight frenzy, almost like she was searching for someone.

William started to feel uneasy. He'd seen the mall security, and they certainly didn't wear all black camouflage. This was concerning to him, and without so much as a word, he left the shop, leaving Milky and Lyra alone. He failed to notice a second black camouflage figure enter the store immediately after he left.

Outside the eastern halls security room..

Hair Trigger was on edge. She had been informed by their youngest recruit, Rumble, that there were two ponies of great concern within the mall. "Envoys of the princess'" he'd said. Pff, like the princess' would send an envoy to the most undamaged section of Canterlot. What a load of rubbish. She had considered radioing back to tell him he was overreacting and was being an idiot when she'd got an almost immediate response from their leader, QuickHoof, telling them to remain vigilant. That the threat was very much real. She was now officially nervous. What kind of envoy caused their fearless leader to call an immediate shift in play style. careful, no rushing. This would, rather unfortunately, extend the time this would take to over 3 hours. Damn, she would have to send a letter to work explaining why she wasn't in today.

"Alright, i can do this." she said, kicking herself mentally for her hesitation.

Her job was simple, QuickHoof, had the security and announcements, Rumble had the hostages, and she had the perimeter, once rumble had the hostages and the announcement had been made by QuickHoof, he would then proceed to move from the security booth, to the main jewelry stores, raiding each one, leaving as little as possible. Her job was to remain alert and report any issues.

After all, she was the teams magic sniper user.

Her weapon was a simple golden barrel, with a stock at one end, a simple trigger for her hands, and a small magic cartridge for the rifle. The mechanism was super simple and even a baby could figure it out, but it took finesse to hit a target from over 200 meters without a scope. Luckily her team had her, the most successful sniper in all of bank robbing history, she held a record that went out to only those in the Friendship Games, the sporting event that occurred every four years. She had planned on being a part of it next year.

With only slight hesitation, Hair Trigger left her spot from behind the security door, heading towards the stairs leading up, every now and then, glancing at her wrist, flicking through the magic crystal cameras she placed.

"No one so far" she thought to herself as she began heading up. she failed to register William, shifting behind her as she went.

At the central plaza fountain..

Lewis had been sat on the edge of the fountain for over 20 minutes. The now recognizably young stallion who'd brought him there had wandered in the direction of a familiar Make-A-Friend store. He just hoped William was out of there, he would've hated for his backup to get caught too.

Lewis had been thinking of a way out since the stallion had placed him at the fountain, a small microphone attached to his collar, and some sort of small metal bomb attached to his chest. The orders were simple.

Stay put, don't move, don't make a sound.

"C'mon William" he thought to himself as he shifted his arms to a more comfortable position "I believe in you.."