While sitting on a nearby stump near the blood drenched cottage that is surrounded by guards, I feel my hands shake with horror and anger. I clench them to stem the shaking and focus my nerves. Giselle is sitting nearby, surprisingly normal.

"They didn't deserve this. No being deserves this... You seem unsurprised." I say with a bitter tone, obviously confused at her reaction to the situation.

"I've seen worse done for far less. Griffons don't have the best attitudes, and you can bet that deaths like these pale in comparison to those seen in some of the less reputable areas where we Griffons live. You aren't wrong though. This is horribly messy and disrespectful." she replies in a monotone almost somber tone.

I can't help but feel useless... All I could do was point him towards a magical focus point in that room. I barely could hold down my stomach. Now we are just waiting for Echo to start to track her from a long distance. I need to learn some more spells and master my other alignments. Earth is good for defensive measures and affecting the body while Air seems to be decent with offensive actions and manipulating energy but then again I haven't mastered it... So much I can still learn...

"Can you teach me about the air element? I know this is a bad time but while we're waiting I'd like to gain a better understanding of my alignments. Maybe I can be more useful." I say with a confidence and conviction.

Giselle gives me a look of surprise and then nods before walking over to a nearby clearing a little into the woods. She sits again there, pointing to a spot in front of her. I sit down facing her, crossing my legs.

"The Air alignment is something that is fickle to master and even more annoying to use. It helps control the energies that are latent around us, often used to amplify other spells or weaken enemies attacks. Basic absorption barriers are made using it and can be combined with other alignments to provide either a negative or positive attribute. For example, let me show you a fire barrier." Giselle says before looking down at her upright claw and focusing. An off-white, almost grey color, aura gathers around it. After a moment this forms into a ball, which then turns red and expands around Giselle, covering her body in a thin membrane.

"When making a barrier you must give it conditions like every other spell. What it should protect you from, if it should absorb the force applied or even reflect it back, and so on. I made this barrier negate kinetic energies, completely stopping physical blows as long as my magical power allows it. You can even set it to where it only deflects some kinetic energy instead of all of it, saving some of your magical reserves. Air is considered one of the more complicated and unknown alignments due to all of it's applications. Now, watch again." Giselle says before moving away and throwing a stick into the air.

The stick falls after going a few feet upwards and strikes Giselle on the head. Instead of a painful yelp however, the stick bursts into flames, turning to ash. I stand in awe, looking down at my hands.

"I knew Air could control energies but I didn't know it could do all of this. Can it do something like control something as small as particles?" I askwith an excited grin.

"Parti-what? I dunno what you're talking about but if it holds energy then it can be manipulated by magic through the Air alignment." Giselle says with a confused look.

If that's the case... Then a little bit of science would be of use here.. Let's see, you make that happen by creating a dense amount of those...

I focus on my closed hand, making sure I'm facing a tree. I use my will to make my magic specifically gather a lot of negatively charged particles in the air, focusing them into one point. I open my hand, smelling the ozone in the air along with feeling small electrical pokes on my palm. I increase the amount of magical power I am putting in the spell, and watch in astonishment as a ball of electrical energy sits in my palm. I create a separate spell at the same time, which puts a barrier blocking electrons from passing to me. I will the energy to be released forwards while pointing my palm towards the tree and a split second later a sizable bolt of lightning strikes it, splinting the tree instantly while lighting it on fire. I turn towards Giselle, eyes more than a bit dazed from the brightness, and smile. Her expression is nothing but amazement. She flies to the tree and then to me.

"How did you do that? Lightning magic is something that not many magic users even try, let alone can control! Whenever any try it just comes out as an electrical burst and isn't focused at all." Giselle exclaims, looking all over my body for something to explain what I did.

"I just.. Well, controlled the electrons in the air. Focused them onto one point, making them dense enough to cause lightning to happen when they were released. I also made sure to give them a direction, so it didn't just fork everywhere. Should've used a spell to cover my eyes and protected my hand more. I felt a small jolt, even after putting a barrier around my body." I say, still dazed.

"Electrons? What are those?... You'll have to teach me sometime, but keep that a secret. If magic users found out you could control lightning that well, you might get experimented on." Giselle says with a grin.

"Right, I can't imagine Twilight would give me space if she knew I could do that... Strange though, It didn't cost me much to use such a spell. I suppose it's because the energy already existed. All I did was condense it. Well thanks Giselle. I learned quite a bit from you surprisingly." I say with a chuckle.

"Hey! What's that supposed to mean!? Just because I'm a Griffon doesn't mean I'm stupid. We're just hard-headed is all." Giselle says before punching my shoulder playfully.

"Right, right.. Anything else you can teach me about the Air element?" I say, wondering if there's anything I missed.

Giselle stops to think for a moment and then nods hesitantly. She reaches down, touching the ground while holding a claw to the side with a small flame in it. A moment later the grass seems to die while the flame grows in intensity.

"This is something that is only acceptable to use in teaching and emergency moments. Those that don't use the Air alignment find this to be a horrible thing, but it's saved me multiple times. Simply take the life force out of nearby living things to fuel your other spells. Keep in mind this is a mixed spell though. Air and Dark alignment, when used together, can be used to sap the energy from others. Don't be an idiot and use it constantly though. Nature is alive for a reason, it can fight back." Giselle says quietly before returning the energy back to the grass.

Seems like there's plenty of taboo things here... I feel like if I use that then I'll get in trouble, especially with Celestia. Emergencies only then. Seems like she had some issue using that spell, it must be because she doesn't have the dark alignment.

A scaly hand touches my shoulder and I shiver before replying in the least startled tone of voice I could muster. "Hello Echo, nice of you to scare the crap out of me like that. I assume you've gotten her magical scent huh boy? Huh?" I say in a playful manner.

"I have something, but it isn't good. The next time you call upon me like a dog however, I will teach you more than a few things about the darkness. What we have is a very powerful ritual spell, one used to most likely heal the wounds and perhaps change the look of the caster." Echo says before crouching down and sighing. "Finding her will be much harder now that she has a different look while also having her leg returned to her. These deaths were tragic, but unfortunately we have no real lead besides one thing perhaps. Rituals like these tend to leave an aura around the altered parts of the body, in this case the whole body. This means that if we can see one that is constantly putting out an aura for no reason, it must be her. We also know the look of the foal. After talking with a few guards it seems he had a white coat with peach or tan like patches." Echo says with a glimmer of hope in his tone.

"She can't hang out here in the forest forever, but I think one of us should stay here and scout the area for a few days. I don't mind being that one, though I am inexperienced with that spell. My eyes will make up for it and find any lone stragglers in these woods." Giselle says with resolve resounding in her tone.

"I can go back to Canterlot. The dark alleys there will be filled with information that I am very good at extracting. Any sign of a new traveler with a white coat and peach spots will help greatly." Echo utters underneath a bragging tone.

I chime in with a scratch of the head, "I suppose I will return to Ponyville and make sure the Elements of Harmony are protected. She didn't seem too interested in attacking them or else one would most likely be dead right now. That and she might return there for supplies for whatever agenda she has to please her 'King'"

"We have a plan, that is good. Let us go, and return back to the home in Ponyville four days from now. By then, hopefully one of us will have news." vocalizes Echo before he gets up and begins to walk towards Canterlot.

Giselle simply nods and takes to the skies, activating a spell on her eyes before going northwards. I sigh and focus my magic before concentrating on a location that is familiar. I release my magic, teleporting myself to the Everfree Forest. In front of me lies Zecoras hut. Before I begin to walk towards it I gather more magic in my hand, releasing my frustration into a nearby tree, shattering it with a punch. I sigh after my immature outbreak and look ahead at a concerned Zecora. She nods at me and then goes back inside after I smile at her.

I'll need to return to Ponville soon, but first I'll check up on 'Ms. Nature'. If I happen to find that bitch, I'll make sure she feels as much pain as I am allowed to make a being feel in these lands.

Author's Note

I think I'm going to make my chapters more than 2500 words from now on. Even to me this seems a bit short. Now that Devan is properly pissed, I'm sure I'll have plenty to work on. Hope you enjoyed the chapter, more coming later ~~this~~ next week.