My Life as a Teenage Fairyby Boring OtakuChaptersChapter 1 It was a Bright and Sunny nightChapter 2 Physical MiseducationChapter 3 Falling in LoveChapter 4 School’s InChapter 5 The Death of the PartyChapter 6 Show and TellChapter 7 Combat ReadyChapter 8 In Umbra Luna EstPrologueChapter 1 It was a Bright and Sunny night12 Years Ago “Dear, are you sure you don’t need anything before I leave?” Cumulus Stream asked his wife for the twelfth time this morning. Posey gave him a patient smile, she couldn’t blame for her husband being so nervous it was new territory for her too. After six years of marriage, they decided to bring a little one into the world. In eight months they would be parents and bring home a bright and bouncing baby boy. With modern magic and technology, Posey couldn’t help but want to learn her baby’s gender. “Honey please,” she giggled “I’m not that far along yet. I don’t need you to wait on me hand and foot.” “But...” Cumulus started “I don’t want you waste all your vacation days now, and not be here for the later trimesters” Posey interjected (which was easy because her husband spoke just as softly as she did). Cumulus begrudgingly agreed with his wife, he would never forgave himself if his job made him miss an ultrasound or the first time his son starting kicking. His worried cyan eyes met her ever-calm cerise ones, she really did have a way of reassuring others and keeping her composure. Both his wife’s words and her demeanor sent waves of soothing assurance through him. With a deep sigh Cumulus grabbed his bagged lunch and hard hat. “Okay, but I’ll be a phone call away. Say the word and I’ll fly home in a heart beat.” Cumulus added while to their front door. Posey bit her lip to hide her growing amusement, neither her nor husband were exactly Wonderbolt material when it came flying despite their Skyling heritage. Then again she had seen what aderaline and a desire to protect did her husband when she nearly fell in her garden last week. “I’ll give you a call, if anything happens. Now please go to work before you’re late, I don’t think Bow will want to cover for you again.” Posey lightly pushed her husband further towards the door, hoping he would catch the hint on the ever closing window of time to be on-time. Cumulus lightly chuckled and pulled his wife in for a kiss. ”Goodbye, my little flower. I’ll see you later tonight.” With that final goodbye, Cumulus Stream left his wife alone. Posey idled by the door for a moment before moving on with picking up a few things around her warm, cozy little cottage in the clouds. She brushed her shoulder length curly, light raspberry hair behind her ear. Posey normally keep it up in tight bun in order to keep it out her way while she worked in her garden however, lately she felt like keeping it free. She couldn’t put her finger on it but she craved a little spontaneity in her rountine. Her friends chalked it up to her being pregnant but Posey was always like this. Posey prided herself in being a little random like when she changed the frames of her glasses from black to navy blue or when she dyed a strip of her hair blue, variety was the spice of life as they say. Even her cutie mark was a minor case of rebellion, she was a Skyling as evident by her warm yellow wings tucked on her against her deep rose turtleneck. Posey’s home was with the clouds and her talent should be with weather, but here she was with three light colored flowers decorating her shoulders. Her garden was her small rebellion against the status quo and she would be darned if she would get rid of it. Speaking of my garden, Posey interrupted her self-imposed crusade against society’s norms to remember to tend to her garden. Luckily, she was still small enough that her talent would not have too much of a strain on her body. Despite the ever closer time she would be able to hold her baby in her arms, Posey was not looking forward to her restriction in being able to tend to her floral babies. Now’s not the time she chastised herself, grabbing the gloves and watering can I should make sure my flowers can survive the day. Posey’s garden was her pride and joy, she loved to share it to neighbors and friends. It wasn’t much to unassuming eye but she was the talk of the town as she was one of the few gardeners that was not assisted by a Gaian or their magic. The simple fact any flowers could survive this high was a marvel of tenacity and a lot of patience on Posey’s part. She couldn’t help but envy Gaians not only did they have amazing strength and endurance but they had an awe-inspiring connection to all of nature. Posey had seen this strength firsthand when she and her husband visited a maternity store on the ground. A tan skinned pregnant Gaian lifted up a twin stroller from the top shelf much to dismay and fear of her Mage partner. She giggled at the memory as she pulled a stubborn weed that grew near her lilies. A loud crash of shattering glass startled Posey out of her memories. In her shock, she knocked her watering can and it went tumbling through the clouds. She was too preoccupied with calming her breathing and slowing her racing heart to notice or care. “WHAT IN THE NAME OF CELESTIA WAS THAT!” Posey shrieked (barely getting louder than a polite conversation). After the crash was a series of small whimpers, of which did not go unnoticed as being a soft spoken woman and marrying a very demure man her ears were trained to pick up on sounds that would have gone unheard by most. Posey placed a hand over her chest in a vain attempt to calm herself down, she reached down into her garden and armed with the fierce and dangerous trowel she left there last week. Finally, after what felt like an eternity Posey managed to raise herself to her feet. In an attempt to stop herself from shaking like a small dog after drinking a cappuccino, Posey began to reason with herself. The noise couldn’t have been an animal as very few and fly up high enough to reach her let alone even walk on clouds. It was no small feat for Mage to be able to replicate cloud walking magic and no Gaian can cast spells like a Mage. Despite her self-assurance, each step she took was like a tortoise walking through molasses. Eventually after forever and a half, Posey reached the shed door. Mustering all the little bravery she possessed, her hand inched towards the handle and turned it. Hoping to catch whatever it was off guard, she quickly pulled the door open. Gaining a little more bravery Posey opened one of her eyes and was greeting with a sight that made her drop her pseudo-weapon in shock. The source of all that noise was not a teenage hooligan or a burly burglar wearing all black clothes but was a thin, shivering toddler. The girl was thin, even for a toddler, she had long, straight pale rose hair that when all the way down to her waist. Behind long bangs was a pair of cyan eyes that held Posey’s, wet with tears of the girl’s evident fear and pain. The girl’s feet were caked with dirt showing she was formerly a resident of the ground. Her skin was pale almost like she had rarely been touched by sunlight and was littered with knicks, some more recently as they dropped with a silver fluid that seemed be blood for her. None these features were what shocked Posey and held her attention that honor to the girl’s wings. Her wings were not feathered like Posey’s or all Skylings, they were not that different from a butterfly’s. Her wings looked like they were made of stained glass, they were primarily a transparent orchid color and were accented with light cerulean ovals in upper portion and pale lemon yellow near where her wings connected to her back. Posey and girl sat in stunned silence for almost half a minute before the shock had finally gone away. Posey was the one to break the both were under by taking a step closer. The girl visibly shrunk, Posey was so sure had she not been blocking the only exit, the girl would have long bolted. “Wait!” Posey spoke softly to spook the already terrified girl, “Don’t worry I won’t hurt you.” The girl didn’t look so sure but didn’t try to run or fly away. “Can you understand me?” Posey asked, more to herself not really expecting an answer. The girl nodded, surprising Posey as the girl didn’t look more than three years old. “Can you speak?” The girl shook her head. “How old are you.” She held two fingers. “Are you lost?” No response. “Where are your parents?” Again no response. “Are you hungry?” Posey wanted to raise the girl’s spirits, hoping to get more of response later. The girl nodded vigorously and began to visibly salivate. Posey tried not to cry as it pained her to someone so thin for her age even with her height. “Well, come with me.” Posey reached her hand towards the girl to grab causing her to recoil in fear. “Don’t worry, I promise I won’t hurt I just want to look at cuts and get you some food.” She reassured as sweetly as she could. “F-food?” The girl managed out with evident difficulty as she stood she confirmed Posey’s theory that she had no clothes on whatsoever. “Yes,” Posey still held her hand out “Food.” The girl hesitated staring Posey’s hand for a moment before taking it. She met Posey’s smile with one of her own and began to follow her back home. Okay that’s step one Posey thought, carefully leading the girl over the glass. The next five are explaining this to the police and Cumulus. Posey bit her lip while she thought for moment. “Hey, you wouldn’t happen to have a birth certificate with you. Would you?” The girl blinked, staring at Posey like she asked if the moon raised in the day. “Yeah I thought so.” This was going to be a long morning. Author's Note I’m so nervous this technically my first chapter, I hope you liked it because I forgot to save the changes twice and I had to start over after two hours of work. Seriously it was like 1,020 words to 475 words I was so close to snapping . Let me know there was any mistakes or things need clarification, thanks again Chapter 2 Physical MiseducationThe Present-day Fluttershy was many things: an avid animal lover, an extremely patient person, a decent singer but a good flyer was not one of them. She knew this because of the current lecture she was getting from the P.E. teacher. “For Celestia’s sake Shy! What was that?” Coach Arduous Hooves roared from his fold up chair. Fluttershy landed face first on the cloud where her coach was seated comfortably barking orders at students all morning, much to his visible disdain. He grabbed an iced tea from his cooler and took a long sip to cool his vocal cords for one of his signature “pep talks”. Why should he strain himself while he whipped this punks into shape? Arduous already went flight school and he could outfly this punks even with his slight belly. Especially that little rainbow haired tomboy that went on bragging that she was fastest in all of Magicka the other day. Rolling his eyes at the memory, Arduous hailed himself up to lecture the hot mess that was this awkwardly tall Skyling. Fluttershy began brushing herself off from her most recent acquaintanceship with the cloud. She immediately felt the hot wash of shame when her eyes met with her coach’s. Despite her newly acquired height that came with becoming a teenager, her teacher still towered over her. Not to mention his fierce glare made her shrink in fear. “F-flying.” She answered meekly under her breath. “I’ve seen newborn babies fly better that!” Arduous went on, completely ignoring Fluttershy’s barely detectable response. “I tripped.” Fluttershy muttered. A vein popped out on Arduous’ head and his tanned skin turned a deep red. Fluttershy clamped her mouth shut, realizing she was only digging her hole deeper. “YOU TRIPPED!” He screamed, “Over what? The air?” Fluttershy struggled to hold back her tears as she felt the eyes of her classmates. She could hear their whispers and laughter from here. She felt like the center of attention, something she hated especially when it was at her expense. With a great sigh, Arduous stopped his verbal assault. He lifted his hat and ran his pudgy and sweaty fingers through his short brown mop of thinning hair. His words done their job, now running on shame Fluttershy would perform better. It was either that or be left an outcast by her classmates. This was the thing about teaching teenagers, they did most of the work when came to correcting mistakes because their insecurities provided incentives more than grades. Now he could focus on relaxing and leave the work to the kids. “Run the basics for the rest of class, tomorrow morning we’ll measure your wing power and go through the course again.” Arduous turned away and marched back to his chair and iced tea. Fluttershy hung her head in shame and made the long trip to the shed to get the weights for strength training. It was already hard enough to fly normal, now she humiliate herself further by barely getting the air with weights on her awkward limbs. She felt oh-so-familiar tears sting her eyes, threatening to tumble down her cheeks. Don’t cry, you big baby. she berated herself, You already embrassed yourself enough. Like sharks sensing blood in the water, the sound of laughter began circling around her. Two boys from her class swooped down from the course and landed directly in Fluttershy’s path. The wind from their landing knocked the unexpecting girl to the ground. The two boys howled like hyenas as if Fluttershy’s misfortune was the funniest thing in the world. “Where are you going, Klutzershy?” the shorter boy jeered. “Probably to go buy a new pair of wings.” his friend elbowed him, causing them to erupt in laughter again. “I-I’m g-going to get weights. L-leave me alone.” Fluttershy managed, hiding behind her bangs. “You’re going to more than that to fly like a normal Skyling tomorrow. You’ll need a miracle.” The lighter haired bully shouted through his laughter. Fluttershy didn’t respond and tried to push past them. The taller bully grabbed her long hair and pulled it hard, yanking her back down to the floor of the cloud. She yelped in pain from not only the fall but the rough pull to her hair. Tears began streaming as she massaged the scalp where some strands of hair was yanked out. Her wet eyes began searching for some help as she was clearly outnumbered. All the other students had cleared after Coach stopped yelling and said Coach was currently napping oblivious to her distress. Fluttershy cried out in resignation of her fate and braced for the emotional or physical pain. “You call yourself a Skyling? You might as clip your wings now!” The obvious ringleader of the two bullies continued. “In fact...” the boy roughly grabbed her right wing and pulled it to the full span. Fluttershy cried out in pain and began to struggle to get away. The other boy grabbed her arms and used his weight to pin her down. “No, please don’t...” Fluttershy begged fully crying. If the boy pulled even one of her flight feathers, she would have to fly unbalanced for months. And she knew they wouldn’t stop at one, Fluttershy may have been a weak flyer but she didn’t want to have go without something that made a Skyling. She made a small pray that the bullies weren’t paying attention in Biology and gritted her teeth for the pain. Before any of her feathers were pulled out a strong gust of wind knocked the main bully off Fluttershy’s wing. Through her tears, all she could see was a rainbow of hair. With the confusion she managed to push the other boy off of her and stood up. Wiping her eyes, Fluttershy could finally see her savior. The girl was small, almost five inches shorter than Fluttershy. She had slightly tanned skin, no doubt due to exposure to sun from a lot outdoor activities. She was wearing a bright turquoise crop top with a black tee underneath, athletic short shorts and white and magenta sneakers. Her eyes were the same shade of magenta as her shoes and fixed in fierce glare at the two bullies. But most alarming besides her sudden appearance was her hair, it was in short ponytail and had six bright colors to make a rainbow. Fluttershy couldn’t take her eyes off it, she had never seen anyone with so many separate colors in their hair. There’s no way that’s natural. She must have dyed it. Flutershy declared, then again here she was with pink hair so who was she to judge. The rainbow haired stood bravely in front of Fluttershy, not taking her eyes off the two bullies. Now off of the ground, Fluttershy could put together what happened. The light haired boy was blown off of her by the wind of how fast the rainbow girl was flying. He wasn’t just a few few feet away, he had been knocked back into a few clouds. After recovering from the shock, he pulled himself from the large fluffy cloud covered in water and spare pieces of cloud. Despite his new appearance his eyes were burning with anger and hatred for the new girl. His friend started to laughing at the boys new look, the rainbow smirked cockily and even Fluttershy couldn’t help but giggle. The boy shot his friend a death-glare, instantly shutting him up. He quickly flew back to the cloud and swooped right into the girl’s face. Even with the person between them, Fluttershy still shrunk back and hid behind her bangs. The rainbow girl didn’t even flinch and, despite the sheer size and weight difference between the two, stood her ground. “What’s your problem, Rainbow Crash?” the boy shot to the smaller girl. “You’re my problem, you jerk! What did she ever do you to you, huh?” this Rainbow “Crash” shot right back. “She existed, what’s it matter to you anyway? Don’t you have a race to lose or something?” the boy waved his hand dismissively. Rainbow “Crash” fumed and clenched her fist, if looks could kill both boys would six feet under. She opened her mouth to say another insult before stopping as a thought crossed her mind. “Okay, why don’t we have a little bet?” she smirked confidently. The boy raised one of eyebrows.”I’m listening.” “You, me and that idiot over there.” She shot a finger to the other boy who snapped to attention after being called out. “We race, if I win you don’t mess with her ever again.” she shot a look of sympathy in Fluttershy’s. “And what if I win?” the boy smiled haughtily, already looking down on the girl. “Then I’ll be your servant for all of Flight school.” she countered fearlessly. Fluttershy gasped, the boys leered lecherously, but the Rainbow girl glared back unabashedly as if already knowing what kinds of thoughts with through these pubescent boys’ minds. The boys looked back at each other for a moment before agreeing to her deal. “Around the usual place, one lap.” she finished, not showing any fear or hesitation at the prospect of losing. “Fine Rainbow Crash,” Fluttershy assumed that wasn’t her real name. “I hope you like maid uniforms ‘cuz that’s the only thing you’ll be wearing.” the taller boy looked a little too happy at that idea. Both boys began laughing confidently and flew over to the track were the big races took place, a place Fluttershy rarely visited. The Rainbow girl exhaled as soon the boys’ were out of earshot. She suddenly turned to Fluttershy, causing her to jump in surpise. “You think you can hold the flag.” Fluttershy nodded unable to get herself to speak clearly. The Rainbow girl smiled a genuine smile and flew off to meet the two boys, leaving Fluttershy alone. A stream of stress tears flowed down her face. Her legs shook like newborn deer nearly giving out and made her fall. She was petrified, not only had she nearly some of lost her flight feathers but now she had roped someone else into this. If only she had a strong enough flyer none of this would have happened in the first place. Everything the Rainbow girl had, Fluttershy wanted. She had myriad of colorful hair while she was stuck with boring and flat pale pink color. The girl managed to pull off comfortable and athletic clothes while she wore the bland sundresses her mother left up for her in the morning. And most of all she was oozing confidence and assertiveness, she took over the situation, was able to protect Fluttershy and stand up to the bullies despite being outnumbered. Thoughts raced through her mind as took the flag Coach thrown on the cloud in frustration with her poor attempt of flying. Would the girl win? What if she didn’t? Would she blame her for losing? What would those two have her do if she lost? Her racing thoughts and anxiety caused to chest to tighten. It was like lead weights were placed on her chest, her breathing became rapid like she wasn’t getting enough air. Fluttershy had always had problems with being high up in the clouds, but this, it was like being air tight elevator with ten people. After seconds that felt like they were stretched to an eternity, she began to recognize that this was one of her panic attacks. Fluttershy dropped to the ground and began slowing her breathing. She focused on her surroundings and began listing all things that affected her five senses. Children laughing and talking excitedly with their friends, the cool almost cold feeling of the cloud below hear, the black and white checkered flag she found a moment ago, the scent of water in the condensed clouds all around her and finally slight metallic taste of blood from bitting her tongue when she fell. With a calm and measured exhale, she managed to stand and her spread her wings to take off. Eventually her slow and weak wings managed to carry her to the flag bearer’s cloud in the middle of the track. She heard many people express that exasperation with her slow arrival, but said nothing. Counting down in her mind, she raised the flag. The racers spread their wings in anticipation, a look of determination spread to Rainbow girl’s face. Confindent in the face of fear, Fluttershy mused taking another shot at herself. Finishing her countdown, she waved the flag as hard as she could triggering the racers to go. Before she could blink the three racers took off whizzing by her, the wind stung her eyes and pulled her hair into her face. Trying to push her hair, Fluttershy was blown back by the torrent of air. The final racer flying was did it, she lost her footing and tumbled of the cloud. Her long hair was blinding her until she turned towards the earth causing it blow the opposite. Gravity, a tool that caused balloons to float and clouds to hang over the sky, was now pulling the teen Skyling to the surface. Her lungs froze in fear not allowing her to scream. Despite the stinging pain to her eyes, she stared unblinking to the green surface of the planet. Her skin burned with freezing cold winds whipping all around. Her wings snapped firmly to back, absolutely refusing to heed her prayers and open to save their from this fate. Her mind went blank with the abject terror of her current situation, not allowing her to form a single, coherent thought. Her body was betraying her, despite her whims it was making not effort to listen her and even try to save itself. Nothing could save her, she wasn’t dreaming or hallucinating. She was powerless to stop it. She was falling. Author's Note All right second official chapter . I’m still super nervous about this whole, I’ve written short stories for years now but this the first I’ve ever had others read it. I think that why I choose to write about Fluttershy, I really relate to her especially in sports. Anyway let me know how the pacing is going, I’m going too fast, too slow. I’m open to criticism of all kinds I need to get better, thanks for reading I’ll try to finish the next asap. Oh and to anyone curious the five sense technique is something I thought of to help with my panic attacks it really does to anyone struggling. Chapter 3 Falling in Love Here’s the thing about falling, movies tend to stretch it out. In some cases people have enough time to turn around in midair, do a silent prayer to whatever god they believe in and think about all the moments leading up to their fall. This wasn’t Fluttershy’s case, the only thing on her mind was falling. Eventually, fear released its icy grip on her lungs and finally allowed Fluttershy to gasp for air. Sadly, almost all of it was immediately expelled through her screams of terror. She thrashed her arms and legs around, as if trying to find something solid to grasp into existence. Fluttershy was panicking and she had every right to be. She was going to die, there was no way she could survive from this height. As the green floor of a clearing in the forest grew closer and closer, the grim reality set in and a strange calmness was sent through Fluttershy’s mind. There was no fighting this, her wings still refused to open and everyone was still to preoccupied with the race to even notice she was gone let alone that she had fallen. Ironically, a race that was originally for her benefit would be the thing that brought her life to a sudden end. She would have laughed if the wind wasn’t practically suffocating her. Shifting her weight, Fluttershy turned herself to face the very clouds she had fallen. The people on them had long sunken away to mere blobs of color, blissfully unaware of the teen hurtling to the ground. Fluttershy laughed humorlessly as tears welled up in her eyes. She let them fall with no restraint, no one would see them anyway so why even bother. Funny she thought, I did everything to not be noticed by others. Now I’m going to die forgotten. Fluttershy smiled a painful smile before squeezing her eyes shut awaiting the pain and nothingness of death. Suddenly, her body came to a screeching halt cushioned by some amorphous force. There was no pain, no nothingness, she didn’t even lose consciousness. “Is this Heaven?” Fluttershy wondered aloud, her eyes still squeezed shut. “No, this is Marigold.” a thin, whispery voice answered. Fluttershy tore her eyes open and she sat up searching for the source of the voice. Before she could even call out to the speaker, she looked down at her new location. Her jaw dropped as she realized what had happened, her saviors were butterflies. Thousands of them, each with unique shades of pinks, yellows, and blues, she had never seen such creatures before, the only things that flew high enough to reach her were usually birds of prey or the occasional group of migrating geese. But these were so new to her, they were fragile looking yet here they were supporting her entire weight. Something was calming about them, so serene, she almost felt like singing. But she wasn’t exactly some songwriter or something so it wasn’t like a song was just going to pop in her head. The butterflies beneath her began to calmly and slowly disperse, allowing Fluttershy to spread her wings and hover on her own. She didn’t even have trouble doing it like she normally did in class, watching the butterflies calmly flap their wings spread serenity to her frazzled nerves allowing her calmly fly on her own without pressure. Fluttershy watched them fly off to their various homes, all but one. This was one was a bright merrigold with black and brown spots on its wings and it hovered just above her head. It seemed like it was curious about something, That’s fair, I would be pretty curious if something fell on me in my home. Remembering the rules she had read about dealing with wild animals. “Shhh. It’s okay, thank you all for saving me.” Fluttershy spoke softly. She held her hand as a perch and the butterfly landed to rest its wings. Fluttershy’s heart leap with excitement, not only she had saved by a beautiful cloud of butterflies but now one landed on her finger with no coaxing. She squeed with delight, watching the butterfly calmly opened and closed its wings. “You’re so beautiful!” she cooed happily. “You are as well.” another whispery voice said flattered. “Huh?” Fluttershy blinked. She scanned the clearing she landed in. With the exception of herself and a few woodland creatures there wasn’t anyone else there. Must have been the fall she thought, allowing the butterfly to fly away. I’m still pretty shooken up. It’s not like animals can talk or something like that, Fluttershy rolled her eyes at the very concept. That’s something for a kids’ show or those the Disneigh movies that always made her tear up. The butterfly, after getting a rest, made its way to one of the tulips that lined the clearing. Unbeknownst to butterfly, a thin, almost invisible spider web lay in wait for an insect enticed by the promise of nectar. The silk entangled the creature’s wings and trapped it only inches from its food. Its violent thrashing triggered the owner of the web that lunch was served. The spider crawled out slowly, choosing the support threads to walk on and get closer to its earned meal. “Wait!” Fluttershy flew towards the web, doing her best not to stir up a wind to blow both creatures away. She arrived just inches in front of the arachnid. “That butterfly is poisonous, if you eat it you’ll die.” she warned, hoping in some alternate world the spider would be able to understand her. For some reason, this strange otherworld seemed the one she lived in, as the spider paused for a moment and then using its fangs and front two legs to cut the web holding the butterfly, setting it free. “Whew, thanks kid.” chittered oddly feminine voice. Fluttershy looked around again for a person because there was just no way a spider thanked her. There’s no way that spiders even have the mental ability to form a language let alone one that she, a Skyling, could understand. I must have gotten a concussion from the fall, she shook her head. Before she could further question her withering sanity, an deafening boom erupted through sky and explosion of colors flew across the afternoon sky. For the second time that day, Fluttershy’s jaw dropped as she stared at the mixture of sound and color flying overhead. As the boom faded away, her ears were filled the sounds various voices all yelling at once. Fluttershy’s hands flew over her ears to try protect from the sounds’ assault on her eardrums. Where were they coming from? she scanned the forest again, there so many voices it had to be a lot of people, but how could she have missed them? “What was that?” a high pitched female voice squeaked. “To the pond children, it must be a predator!” a older male voice chirped. “Flee! Flee! Flee!” a group of voices sang in unison. “Hide in trees, the birds cannot get us all!” the same whispery, thin voice squealed. “Wait! Birds?” she wondered aloud. Fluttershy was confused why would a human ever be afraid of birds nevertheless after an explosion. “Flee, princess!” a songbird hovered a few inches in front of her face. “The skies are ablaze with light!” Fluttershy stared slack jawed at the bird, she was too stunned for words. Those voices weren’t from people, they were from animals. More importantly, they were all terrified from that “sonic rainbow” thing, they needed to be calmed down. Gathering all the courage she possessed, Fluttershy walked towards where she heard most of the voices, on the edge of clearing. She cleared her throat and prepared her most calm and collected voice. “Shhhh.” she shushed. “It’s okay.” The voices stopped. Various burrowing animals poked their heads out, from snakes to bunnies. Fluttershy gave them a kind smile and they followed her into the clearing. Cupping a hand to her ear, she walked to the pond where she could hear some otters duck into the water. “It’s alright, you can come out now.” she spoke loudly this time, ensuring they heard her voice. After a few minutes, an otter family surfaced together. After climbing onto the grass, they greeted her by rubbing their heads against her legs affectionately, she returned the affection with soothing pats on the head and tummy. Eventually, the birds returned one by one as the rainbow sat peacefully overheard. They chirped happily, landing on the grass next to her. Fluttershy tucked her sundress underneath her so could sit comfortably with the animals, she felt more at peace here than she ever did in the clouds. Here there were no tests, no competition, no one to force her to be something she wasn’t. Just her and theserene beauty of nature, she could get used this. As the thought of staying here passed through her mind, Fluttershy felt a warm glow spread to her shoulders before a white flash of light shone. When the light faded on her shoulders were left with three pink butterflies. Fluttershy’s smile grew a mile wide, Even destiny agrees with me, she quirked. She felt like a Skyling with a new lease on life, now she had a constant reminder of her purpose in life. “It really is an honor to meet you, Princess.” the voice returned again. Fluttershy looked up only to be greeted by the merrigold butterfly from earlier that afternoon. “So that voice was you, huh?” Fluttershy put her finger out for the butterfly. “Yes, your highness.” the butterfly obliged landing gracefully on her finger. “You shouldn’t call me that, I’m not a princess.” Fluttershy corrected. “What do you mean, even we butterflies can tell royalty when see them.” the butterfly replied assuredly. Fluttershy shook her head. “No I’m not, the only true royal is Queen Celestia and she doesn’t have any children.” She wasn’t wrong, the only family even distantly related to the great Solar Mage was Prince Blueblood and even then it was so diluted at this point any noble could say they were related. The relation was in name only and he had no real power in leading the land. “Only the Fae of royal heritage have the power to us. If you are not royal, how are we speaking right now?” “Look Miss...” “Marigold, your highness.” “Miss Marigold, I can only speak to you all because of my cutie... What did you just say Fae?” Fluttershy exclaimed. What in world was a fae? “SHY!!! What, in the of the name of the Goddess Faust, are you doing down here!” an all too familiar voice bellowed, shocking her out of her calmness. “Oh no.” Fluttershy moaned. “Do not trust him. He will try to deceive you. Be on your guard.” Marigold warned, fluttering close to her ear. “W-what do you mean?” Fluttershy stuttered. Marigold didn’t answer, she took off back into the forest. Fluttershy watched her disappearing form. What did she mean? Who would try to deceive her? she thought as her Coach approached. A chill ran down her spine, her wings shuffled on her back, itching to spread and fly away. All of her nerves were at attention as if they were ready to spring into action. She instantly hopped to her feet as he marched furiously towards her. “Well!” Arduous crossed his arms, tapping his finger waiting for her response. He had gotten so close to her, he was only an arm’s length away. Fluttershy didn't answer to preoccupied with her thoughts, it didn’t make sense. Coach didn’t ever move far from his seat until class was done, never before. How did he even know she fell, he was asleep the entire time and how would he know where she fell? Her eyes glanced to forest where her Coach emerged from. And why did he come from the forest and not the sky? she wracked her brain and none of this made any sense. “Goddess, Shy. You’re hopeless” Arduous facepalmed. “Come with me. Now. And maybe I won’t mention this little hooky day of yours to your parents.” He reached out to grab her but she took a step back to avoid him. Arduous narrowed his eyes and made another attempt to reach her. This time Fluttershy simply moved to away without moving her feet. Her wings spread, ready to take off at a moment’s notice. “Fluttershy, you are already in deep enough trouble as is. Do you want you want add disobedience to playing hooky.” Arduous growled, shooting a heated glare at her. “I wasn’t playing hooky.” Fluttershy snapped, surprising herself. “What are you...” “I fell from the clouds.” she cut him off. “And a real teacher would be making sure I didn’t seriously hurt myself from the fall. Or that I, amateur flyer, didn’t hurt my wings from trying to catch myself.” Arduous Hooves’ eyes went wide with shock and a slight twinge of fear. He shot out an arm towards her, she jumped out of the way and took to the skies. Fluttershy never flapped her wings so hard in her life, she fought hard against gravity but felt a strong hand grip her ankle. She turned to find her teacher or whatever creature looked like her teacher gripping her ankle. “You aren’t going anyway, Little princess.” he hissed through his inhumanly sharp fangs. The eyes of her teacher faded away in a green flicker and were replaced with pupilless blue ones. Fluttershy tried to kick her leg free, in response the creature to dig its nails in her skin. She cried out in pain while a sickening smirk spread over its face almost too eager to cause her pain. She felt her sticky, warm blood flow from the wound. The creature pulled her leg down while still keeping its claws in her ankle. Fluttershy pulled up as hard as she could while shaking not caring if it made the wound open more. The creature fought against her, raising its other arm to grab her ankle better. Before the fake Coach could reach her, a hawk swooped in and pecked at the hand holding her leg. The creature hissed inhumanly clutching its injured hand. The hawk dived slashing with its talons at the creature’s face trying to get at its eyes. “Flee, your highness. We will deal with it.” a noble sounding male voice screeched at her. She turned and headed towards the large clouds that her flight school was seated on. More birds swooped in from the forest and began dive-bombing or clawing at the creature. Not all of them had sharp talons like the hawk but what they lacked in claws they made up in sheer numbers, as many went for the face and eyes of the creature. With the chaos of the birds, a male deer charged from the forest and knocked the creature over. The Fake Arduous, giving up acting human, hissed openly and slashed upwards at the new threat. The deer narrowly dodged and retaliated by lower his head and charging antlers first. Fake Arduous tried to stand up and dodge at the same time but wasn’t as agile as the deer and was stabbed in the abdomen. If the eyes were enough of a hint of the creature’s inhuman nature, its green fluorescent blood was confirmnation. Fluttershy felt her stomach churn, nearly causing her to vomit. This was the first time she had seen violence like this, but now wasn’t the time to stop. Not wasting this opportunity, she took off to safety of the clouds. Had Fluttershy been timed, she was certain she would broken all of her old speed records and even the records of other members of her class. She was that fast, well to be fair she was that scared. Fluttershy sped past the clouds her class was on not even bothering to spare it a glance. She didn’t stop flapping her wings even as she flew past that Rainbow girl who was busy celebrating something. Fluttershy was so not interested, she kept going until she reached the familiar gate of her house. Finally, she landed in front yard nearly on the verge of tears. Fluttershy had never been so glad to be home, not caring about her wound she ran to her front door. Now on a normal day Fluttershy would remember that she put the key under the mat or politely knock on the door. However between; the shock of falling and thinking she was going to die, finding a clearing full of animals she hadn’t seen outside of a book, seeing a sonic rainbow thing in the sky, finding out she could talk to animals, getting her cutie mark, and being attacked by some shape-shifter disguised as her teacher, this was not a normal day. Fluttershy proceed to pound on the door like the police at a magic grass house. After half a minute, her younger brother finally opened the door. “Alright jeez, don’t you normally have the key.” Zephyr Breeze yawned, despite the fact it was almost 4 in afternoon. Beside herself in relief and exhaustion, Fluttershy collapsed into a hug much to the shock of Zephyr. “Whoa, what’s up with you?” taller boy questioned holding his sister up. “I’m just...” Fluttershy said dreamily. “So glad to see you.” With that final statement, the exhaustion of flying and all the events of the day took ahold of her and she passed out into her brother’s arms. Author's Note Have you ever been writing and listening to music, only to realize you’ve been writing the lyrics. I’m not kidding it took me a whole paragraph to realize I wrote lyrics to Death of a Bachelor. I probably wouldn’t have noticed until I reread it, I’m such a great writer . Thanks for putting up with my atrocious writing and reading this story you guys, I really do appreciate it. Chapter 4 School’s In Every inch of Fluttershy’s body ached, which made sense as just she awoke to find herself on a forest’s floor. Slowly raising her sore body, she got a good look at her new location. Almost all of the trees were covered in a slick layer of moss making the roots and trunks a deep green color. A blanket of fog hung in the air making it impossible to see farther than a few feet around her. Oddly, despite waking up in a new place she felt at peace as if deep down she knew nothing would harm her here. Fluttershy shivered rubbing her bare arms, the bright yellow sundress she wore didn’t exactly provide much in terms of warmth. Especially since she discovered that she somehow lost her shoes when arrived to this place. She slowly rose to her feet, struggling to not to slip on the roots. In the distance Fluttershy heard a twig snap. Her gaze snapped towards the source of the noise, a young doe. This deer was unlike any she had seen in the books it had white fur. Her coat was like fresh snow on the first day of winter, completely pure untouched by other color. Even in the foggy setting, the doe’s coat seemed to glow. The doe stared unblinking at her, not moving an inch. Unconsciously, Fluttershy took a step closer to the deer to get a better look. The doe turned away from her and leaped away in opposite direction. “W-wait!” Fluttershy shouted, taking off after her. Fluttershy ran not caring what debris she stepped on. She had to catch it, she didn’t know why but she couldn’t be left behind. Branches tore in her dress and nicked her skin, but she continued running feeling the cold forest air chill her lungs. Every time she got closer to deer, it would always leap forward increasing her lead on Fluttershy. “Wait! Please don’t leave me!” Fluttershy held her arm out trying to reach out for the deer. The deer ignored her and continued its silent trek through the forest. Tears streamed down her face, her lungs burned from running and she had lost the sensation in her legs. Her vision began to darken until she could only make out the white outline of the deer amidst the darkness. “I DON’T WANT TO BE ALONE!!!” Fluttershy shot up in her bed covered in a cold sweat. Her chest heaved quickly and her hands were slick from gripping the sheets. She ran a sweat covered hand through her slightly damp hair. Fluttershy brought her knees and rested her head on them, slowly rocking back and forth. It was just a dream her thoughts soothed. I’m safe, I’m safe. Was she though? Earlier this day, something that looked like her teacher tried to capture her. It knew her about her parents and called her “princess”. Was she really safe at home? What if it followed her? Can it change into anyone? How would she know who to trust? Are there more of them? Fluttershy felt her breathing quicken and become very shallow. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath counting the seconds before she exhaled. This isn’t helping. I need to do this one step at a time. Panicking was only going to make things worse for her. First things first she had to tell her parents what happened. Fluttershy glanced out her window, Queen Celestia has already begun setting the sun and part of the sky was a deep blue. This meant her dad should be home and she could tell both of them at once. Fluttershy went to the side of her bed and stood up. Hesitating for only a second she walked to her door and opened it. “Please, there must be something else we can do.” a meek feminine voice begged. It was her mom, she sounded so close to tears. “This is insane! It’s too early for her to leave, she’s only fifteen years old. She doesn’t even have her cutie mark yet for Faust’s sake.” a normally quiet male voice fumed. That was her dad but she had never heard him so angry before. Fluttershy walked softly heading to the stairs. “I have my orders, sir.” an official sounding person answered curtly. “If she were to stay here any longer, she would hunted down and killed. The Academy will both protect and teach her.” Fluttershy’s blood ran cold. She stood frozen on the stairs. Her mother started crying, while her father arguing with the voice. They were talking about her, her life was in danger. It broke her heart not only hearing her mother cry but her father fighting so hard on her behalf. She sunk low on the stairs and tears streaked silently down her cheeks. Eventually, the living room grew silent. An eerie and uncomfortable silence, only broken by her mother’s voice. “Zephyr...please go wake up your sister.” her voice was shaking and barely audible but everyone in the house heard her. Fluttershy listened the slow footsteps of her young brother until he appeared at the bottom of stairs. The siblings stared at each other neither one of them breaking the gaze. He turned to their parents and nodded to the top of stairs. Using the wall for support Fluttershy stood up and made her way into the living room. Her mother sat on the couch, clutching tissues in shaking hands her puffy eyes fixed on her daughter. Her father stood in center of room in front of a tall royal guard. The guard was stern and built no doubt from years of service to the kingdom. His wings were covered with immaculate white feathers preened to perfection and his blonde hair was messy from his golden helmet. His eyes were a bright blue, the standard color for soldiers. All the lower soldiers of the royal guard had to change their eye color to standard blue. In the past, it was meant to make them all look the same to ensure enemies of Magicka never learned who the soldiers were. However, in modern times as the three races intermarried, the soldiers came in all kinds of skin colors. The tradition continued as a rite of passage. With all of his professionalism, Fluttershy saw a twinge of sympathy as she came down the stairs. It came as a bit of reassurance that the guards were not the inhuman, unfeeling creatures they were portrayed as on television. She turned her attention back to her parents “Fluttershy,” her father sighed, looking to his wife “you have to...” “I know. I heard from the stairs.” Fluttershy couldn’t look them in eyes, it hurt too much. Her mother jumped from the couch and pulled her daughter into a hug. Any restraint on her tears went out the window and Fluttershy began wept openly. Posey held her daughter and, despite her being much shorter, supported her fully. She apologized too many times to count. Fluttershy’s father and brother joined in the embrace and entire the Shy family cried in each other’s arms. After what seemed like an eternity, Posey broke apart the hug. “I’ll go pack your things. We don’t know how long you’ll be gone.” Fluttershy nodded and let go of her mother, immediately feeling cold. Fluttershy stared unblinking at the wall. The guard had begun explaining why she had to leave but his words were like white noise to her. Eventually he realized the teen wasn’t listening to him and decided to hold off on his explanation. Everyone stood up once Posey walked down the stairs, she was carrying a suitcase and Fluttershy’s light green over the shoulder bag. Her entire life fit into one suitcase and a bag. Walking without thinking, Fluttershy grabbed the bag, carefully putting the strap between her wings, and the suitcase. Fluttershy’s dad walked to the door and held it open for the two. The guard left first, giving the family time to say final goodbyes. Zephyr ran up and hugged his sister, she felt his hot tears drip onto her shoulders. They felt like acid burning into her skin but Fluttershy fully reciprocated the hug. Cumulus gave a hug and kiss to his daughter’s damp cheeks, he gave her a smile not wanting the last thing she saw was her father crying. Fluttershy tried to smile naturally, but it looked pained and forced. Posey placed an reassuring hand on her daughter’s shoulder. “I’ll see you...later.” Fluttershy didn’t want to say goodbye. It had such a final connotation, even if it sounded weird “see you later” was of a less bitter pill to swallow. Despite her being the one to cry first, Posey was the only one to speak. “We’ll see you later, honey.” was her goodbye. Fluttershy got inside placing her bags onto the back seat of the black carriage, the standard issue for carrying civilians, and closed the door. The soldier climbed into the front seat and started the magical engine. In the past, carriages were seen as a privilege for the extremely wealthy and did little more than flaunt that the owner could afford to “employ” Gaians or the occasional Skyling to pull them around. Some even used whips to “encourage” Gaians to move faster. As soon as Queen Celestia came into power, she ensured that anyone who used Gaians to pull carriages would be jailed for a hate crime. Nowadays they run on magic and could be enchanted to fly into Skyling cities, but they remain as ugly blot on Magicka’s history. Fluttershy stared out of the tinted window watching her family hugging each other. She could tell by the way her mother’s shoulder were shaking that she was crying and her father was only holding back by a thread. As if torturing her, the guard took his time before finally pulling off. Fluttershy reached into her bag and found her phone and earphones. “While you’re at the Academy I’m going to ask you not to talk to anyone from the outside.” the guard watched her the rear-view mirror, his blue eyes pierced into hers. “Can I trust not to do that or I am going to have take it?” Fluttershy nodded. “Good.” His eyes went back to the road. Fluttershy put in her earphones or she liked to call them a modern version of a ‘Do Not Disturb’ sign. She didn’t even play music, she just wanted to avoid conversation as much as possible. The night sky sat peacefully shining a seemingly infinite amount of twinkling stars. Fluttershy frowned, this night couldn’t even bother to rain or show any imperfections. Instead the moon shone proudly in sky, the only thing even close to blemish was a dark shadow on the surface and even that seemed to resembled the profile of a woman. As if even at its worst, the night was too beautiful and tranquil to even bother with the qualms of teenage girl leaving home. Fluttershy played instrumental music just to fill the empty air but sat the entire trip in a solemn silence. On the outskirts of Magicka Seated on an ancient sable throne accented with fluorescent greens was a Queen. But she was no spoon-fed little royal coddled from youth to be handed the throne. No, she earned it this black, spiked crown that sat comfortably amongst her dark cerulean hair and no one in the Hive dared to disagree. The Queen had dark brown skin complimented with her cold harlequin green eyes. She wore deep ebony sleeved dress accented with blue with a generous amount of cleavage and a bright emerald green corset. Even though she was a royal, she despised idleness, even now she was communing with the generals of her army to be positioned in optimal places in her enemy’s kingdom. Even the great Sun Goddess had blind spots in her immortal watch. Her pointed ears quirked to the sounds of humming wings in the cavernous halls of the Hive. We will continue this conversation later,Commander. Of course, my Queen. She cut off the link and turned her attention to her drone. He was pitiful to say the least. His wings were torn even by the standards for their kind, his dark brown skin was covered in dirt, blood, and heavens knows what else, and most pathetic of all he was on his knees sobbing like a newborn grub. She rolled her eyes, besides idleness she hated when people would let their emotions take over completely it made her job so much harder. “Your report, Fang?” the Queen commanded, already knowing the answer based on his mewling. “Forgive my Queen, I-i-i-i di-d-d-d my best! I—“ “Quit your blubbering, you cur!” she hissed exposing her fangs. The drone mouth snapped shut. Tears streaming down his cheeks and his entire body shook in absolute terror. The Queen rose from her great throne and made her way down the marble stairs to the floor of her throne room. Her face was cold and unreadable not that the drone even dare look her in the eye. Her heels clicked down the stairs, echoing as they were the only sound in the great hive. “Now, your report? Where you successful in apprehending the little princess?” the Queen spat like very word left a sour taste in her mouth. The drone didn’t answer but the Queen could feel the waves of fear oozing from his pores. Feeding on emotion made their species especially great at sensing it. She continued slow walk her heels still clicking the floor. The drone lifted his blue pupilless eyes only to be greeted by the Queen in all her glory. She was tall even from the perspective of the kneeling drone, her height was last measured at a good 7 feet. “Please my Queen, I can still be useful...” his begging was interrupted by heeled boot to the teeth. Blood and chips of teeth went flying as the drone fell back into the floor. He gurgled on his blood and howled out in agony. “I beg of you don’t...” the Queen stamped her foot onto his throat. He gurgled, choking on the pressure and the blood in his throat. The drone’s eyes went wide with panic and began desperately clawing at her foot. The Queen’s stared coldly into his eyes, watching him squirm and thrash about. A wicked smile spread to her lips. “Hmm, what’s that? Fang darling, you have to speak up now.” The drone’s body went continued convulsing before suddenly going limp, his eyes still frozen wide open. She stepped harder until she heard a sickening crunch. Not missing a beat she turned back to her throne. “Clean up this mess and get me a new pair of shoes. This ones are completely ruined.” the Queen called over her shoulder. Three drones appeared from the ever-changing halls of the Hive. Two picked up the body and carted it off to be disposed outside while the other one began scrubbing the blood off the inky gray floor. The Queen sat back on her throne and crossed her legs with fresh blood still dripping from her black glass heels. This was how a ruler stayed in power; not a little fancy name, not some great bloodline, not age. But having the conviction to make your actions match your words. Queen Chrysalis had earned her throne and she planned on keeping it. She wasn’t going to let some grub from a long dead hive to take what belonged to her in first place. She chuckled imagining how that the “princess” would grovel at her feet all too soon. Author's Note This is my first time ever writing violence let me if it’s paced weird or just plain awful (I rated the story teen just in case it’s too much for some people). You probably noticed but I really pushed forward the time someone gets their cutie mark. Think of it like puberty, some people are just late bloomers. When you think about it discovering your purpose in life takes a much longer time than does in the show and some people never really find it until their forties. I think that’s my biggest fear, at 20 years old a lot people are expecting me to have my life together when like a few years ago I was asking to go to bathroom. Anyway for reference the ages of the girls; AJ and Rarity are the oldest at 16, Rainbow and Fluttershy are both 15 and Pinkie and Twilight are the youngest at 14, despite the gaps in age they’re all in the grade at school. Thanks for reading . Chapter 5 The Death of the Party Canterlot Academy stood alone in the Everfree forest, no other buildings surrounded it. The campus was enclosed with a twelve foot tall gate made of stone, while the front door was metal. The door had ornately designed sun and moon nearly touching while closed but when it opened the celestial bodies were pulled apart. The outside walls of the building were a deep burgundy and lined with cream outer bricks. It was meant to look inviting while still being stern but to Fluttershy it only looked like prison. She stood in the main courtyard holding her things, staring at her new home. After the guard dropped her off she didn’t have any energy to explain that she hadn’t heard where to go. And there was no staff in front of the building to ask where to go, so here she stood too nervous to ask for help and too awkward to look for the guard and ask for him to repeat himself. Isn’t social anxiety so much fun! she sighed. “Hey, are you having a staring contest with the school?” a cheery voice called from out of nowhere. Fluttershy jumped, dropping her suitcase to floor. A girl appeared from the ether directly in front of Fluttershy. The new girl’s light cerulean eyes gazed quizzically at Fluttershy. Where had she come from, Fluttershy didn’t hear any footsteps. The girl was just as tall as Fluttershy and had pink hair like her. That was about were the similarities ended as the girl’s hair while pink was a few shades darker and was ridiculously curly. It was done up in a low ponytail with some hair left out in a bang compared to Fluttershy’s natural look. She wore short blue jean shorts and long yellow striped white socks that went above her knees, her shirt was a simple bubblegum pink with two blue and one yellow balloons. Another stark difference between the two girls was that the new girl was very curvy, she had wide hips and a generous bust. “Oooo I wanna try I wanna try!!!” the girl bounced up and down before holding her eyes open trying not to blink. Fluttershy blushed slightly, realizing she was staring at the girl’s “assets”. The girl’s eyes began to water and turned a very unhealthy red. Fluttershy cleared her throat politely. The girl began shaking violently and groaned in pain still managing to hold her eyes open. Until finally, she blinked. “Awwwww, so close.” she shook her fist at the building “You win this round building.” “Umm...” The girl turned back Fluttershy almost like she forgot she was there. Fluttershy was used to it. “Um...hi. My name is...Fluttershy.” she mumbled hiding behind her bangs like usual. “Hi Fluttershy. My name is Pinkie Pie. Well it’s actually Pinkamena Diane Pie but you can call me Pinkie” Fluttershy’s eyes widened, no one ever heard her when she spoke to them for the first time. Pinkie Pie gave her a kind smile. “I have very good ears.” Pinkie answered, sensing her confusion. Pinkie suddenly gasped loudly startling Fluttershy for the second time. A huge excited smile spread across her face. She grabbed Fluttershy’s shoulders and shook her in enthusiasm. “OH. MY. GODDESS. Are you a new student?!?” she punctuated every word. “Yes.” Fluttershy managed with all the shaking. Pinkie stopped shaking her and jumped up and down squealing with excitement. She grabbed Fluttershy’s hand and pulled her up the stairs into the building. Pinkie went on like rapid-fire all about the building nearly dislocating Fluttershy’s wrist. “This the cafeteria, the food here is sooooo good especially the cupcakes. Want one?” she pulled out a cupcake with blue frosting. “How...where?” Fluttershy stared at the dessert that appeared from nowhere. The question went unanswered as she whisked away to next stop on their impromptu tour. Pinkie rattled off the classrooms and extracurricular rooms in the school talking a mile a minute. Until the reached the final stop on the tour. “And here’s the stairs.” Pinkie waved both arms with grandiose, finally releasing her death grip on Fluttershy’s wrist. “Where do they go?” she massaged her wrist to allow blood to return to her skin. “The Dorms, we don’t sleep in the classrooms silly.” she giggled. Fluttershy figured it was a boarding school but she wasn’t fully comfortable with the idea of sharing a room. Even with her parents and her younger brother she always got a room to herself. Being naturally introverted the idea of not getting privacy after an emotional taxing day of school was already annoying her. She groaned and followed Pinkie Pie up the stairs. The dorms were built similar to the rooms of a hotel, with doors going down the hallway. On the opposite side of each room was a separate bathroom, one for each room. The wallpaper was a royal blue with white highlights. Before they got the actual rooms, there was a large common area with a large flatscreen television with a PlayStation and a Xbox, a large couch that seated at least six people and chairs for extra people. Pinkie Pie went on about all the games she owned and how great she was at Super Smash Brothers, had Fluttershy been in a better mood she would have humored Pinkie but she was far too exhausted to be polite. “And here’s your room.” Pinkie gestured to a plain looking wooden door it was the first one from the common area. Great now she would have to listen to people play around at all hours of the night. Fluttershy grabbed the door handle and turned it experimentally. It was unlocked oddly enough but it was for the best as she didn’t have her room. She was looking forward to taking a long shower and falling asleep in a comfortable bed. All of the stress of the sudden move had left smelling less than fresh. “SURPRISE!!!” a chorus of voices shouted at her all at once. In shock, Fluttershy dropped her suitcase. She jumped backwards, but Pinkie was standing too close and Fluttershy tripped and pulled her down to the ground. “Oh my goodness, were we too loud.” a purple haired girl asked. Fluttershy felt the all the eyes in the room on her, making her feel small. She helped Pinkie up from their most recent acquaintanceship with the carpet. She just wanted to crawl into bed and be surrounded in nonjudgmental silence not having a party with complete strangers. The purple haired girl cleared her throat and tried to alleviate the awkwardness. She was by the best dressed of the girls in the room which wasn’t hard as the girls wore casual clothes. This girl wore a lovely black pencil skirt and a slightly off-white long sleeve shirt with a neckerchief, all complimented with a black pair of heels. She picked up an elegantly wrapped bag from the couch behind her. “Hello my name is Rarity St. Germain.” She handed off the bag. “Here you go darling, just a few essentials for staying in a new places.” These “essentials” were a small compact with a large black and blue butterfly on the front, a pair of seafoam jewel earrings, and bottle of perfume. Despite them seeming frivolous in nature, the gifts were highly versatile and could be used no matter the time. Fluttershy was surprised as the objects were strangely personalized. “Do you like them? We only got your picture recently so I didn’t have time to make you a gorgeous ensemble to compliment your figure.” Rarity looked visibly disappointed at this more than Fluttershy. Fluttershy gave a polite smile, “It’s okay, these are great gifts. Thank you.” Rarity flashed a blinding smile and sat back onto the couch. The next girl to give her gift was a tall, strong looking Gaian named Jacklyn Apple, she had blonde hair tied together with a bright red band and wore a brown Stetson. Everything from her orange flannel and blue jeans to her sturdy looking, brown boots just screamed farm girl. Her gift was a hand stitched quilt. It was surprisingly expertly crafted, every stitch was made with such love and care despite her being a stranger to this girl. She gave her thanks and received a bone crushing hug. The girl by far the most mature one in the room and took the role of big sister to everyone. AJ, as she asked to called, exuded a welcoming and comforting aura, soothing Fluttershy’s anxiety. Also her freckles were just too cute! Next was a Mage named Twilight Sparkle, she had deep, dark blue hair with a purple and a bright raspberry streak running through it. Her school girl looking outfit told Fluttershy she was the studious type as did her gift. “Our teacher Ms. Harshwhinny mentioned that you were a fairy so I decided to get you a little reading material on your species.” Twilight levitated an ancient looking tome from her bag. Fluttershy grabbed it with a delicate touch as the book looked older than time itself. Fluttershy rarely met any Mages, as it was rare for any to be skilled enough to learn a cloud walking spell, but she could tell Twilight was not one. For starters, she used a levitation spell without a wand. All Mages even the immortal Sunbringer had to use a wand or a staff to focus their magic in order to do spells, if they didn’t the magic would an unfocused ball of energy flying around randomly. This was why baby Mages were dangerous to be around and must have their magic suppressed and is only released when they begin training in school. The other reason why was that her magic aura was bright raspberry color instead of the violet color of her eyes. She didn’t what she or the other girls were but she was afraid to bring it up. What was she supposed to say, ‘Hey let’s go around the room and each say one interest you have and what your heritage is’ that would be ridiculously intrusive. Fluttershy thanked Twilight and asked if she would be willing to help her study the book. Twilight’s eyes light up like a Heart’s Warming tree and she agreed with a huge giddy smile. She was happy that Twiligh agreed to help because the book was so large and written in old English it would take at least three archaeologists to comb over it and understand even a sentence. Next was Pinkie Pie, who was nearly bursting from excitement wanting for her turn. She practically threw her gift at Fluttershy. It was a stuffed white rabbit, Fluttershy cooed affectionately hugging the toy close to her chest. She thanked Pinkie and named the toy Angel because of its pure white fur. Pinkie Pie’s smile larger than the one of the girl who's being celebrated. The final gift belonged to Rainbow Dash, who Fluttershy just recognized much to the rainbow haired girl’s disdain. “Thanks for standing up for me.” Fluttershy blushed. Rainbow Dash chuckled, ”Nah it was nothing. I kinda owe you one anyway, that race got me my cutie mark and put me down in the history books.” “What do you mean?” Pinkie took the bait. “Oh I just me proving those old stories and making a sonic rainboom, you know. No biggie.” Rainbow checked her nails, trying to sound cool and detached. No one in the room reacted. “What in the hell is a sonic rainbow?” Jacklyn questioned. “A Sonic Rainboom!” Rainbow urged, dropping the cool act. The girls continued staring at her with confused expressions. “You know the old story about a Skyling flying fast enough to break the sound barrier and create a huge rainbow that can be seen from anywhere.” She went on, looking exasperated. “I think I remember that story. That’s so amazing that you can do something that unbelievable.” Fluttershy lied, hoping to spare her feelings. Rainbow Dash puffed out her chest with pride and handed Fluttershy her gift. It was a pair ankle weights much to her dismay. She hoped to escaped the exhaustion of flight training. Fluttershy gave a fake smile and thanked Rainbow. After the gift exchanging, the girls sat in an awkward silence. Taking this opportunity, Fluttershy ducked away into her room to finally put down her things. They ate snacks while she placed her suitcase under her new bed. No one spoke other than polite conversation, even Pinkie was quiet (well quieter than normal). Fluttershy recognized this silence as she used it many times before, it was the silence of trying to avoid an elephant in the room. “Okay, ah’ll say it.” AJ exclaimed, tired of the waiting. “We’ve been cooped up in huge school like a bunch of hens for dinner. Ah wanna go home already.” AJ threw her arms up in frustration. “We all want to go home, but Queen Celestia asked that go to this school.” Twilight explained. “Why should we suffer because we’re a little different.” Rarity demanded. Twilight sat in stunned silence before regaining her composure. “Her majesty has deemed this to be the safest place for us in the land.” “Funny, I don't recall the guards mention that this was prison instead of a school.” Rarity added bitterly, earning a glare from Twilight. “Well it’s not like all of us are forced to be here.” Twilight shot back venomously. “And there it is, I was beginning to wonder when you would bring that up.” “You act like you trapped here but Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy and I are the only ones who can’t leave.” “I-i... can’t leave.” Fluttershy asked, tears welling up in her eyes. “Nice job, Twilight. Make her cry on her own party.” Rainbow announced breaking up the argument. Pinkie walked over to crying girl and rubbed her back. “It's not my fault, Jacklyn brought it up.” She pointed accusingly. “Don’t drag me into this, you decided to be a sour apple.” AJ put her hands on her hips. Twilight glared and stormed out of the room. She telekinetically opened the door and slammed it shut. “That little stuck-up bookworm, she practically kisses the very ground the Queen walks on. It’s my fault I have dark magic.” Rarity ranted at no one in particular. “But Goddess forbid anything have the gall to not fit into the black and white status quo she decided the world is in.” No one disagreed with Rarity, but Twilight was not the only one as even their Queen decided to hide them away from the world. If the millennia old ruler had decided that they were rejects to society then anyone could share in the opinion. The grief really hit Fluttershy as lay in Pinkie’s arms letting out her sadness. This her new reality, she was trapped her. She didn’t have the comfort of being amongst her kind as half of the girls could leave whenever they wanted. Even surrounded around four other people, Fluttershy had never felt more alone. “Your majesty, the council is ready for you.” a young maid curtsied. Celestia adjusted the golden belt that cinched her flowing white dress. A golden crown sat above her ever-flowing pastel multicolored hair. She inhaled slowly, calming herself before appearing in front of her subjects. They looked to her for strength and stability, if there was even a crack in the facade tabloids would on her be on her like sharks to blood. Putting on her most friendly smile, Celestia used her golden magic to open the great doors to the meeting room. All conversations came to a stop as Celestia made her way to her seat at the head of the great table. The table was surrounded with six members of the three race from the various cities of Magicka. In the past the only nobles allowed in the room were Mages and the occasional Skyling but this was one of the various backward practices she and her sister abolished when they came into power. “Good Morning, everyone. I hope you’re all had a good trip here.” Celestia greeted pleasantly. “Let’s not waste each other’s time today, Princess.” the Mage representative from Canterlot answered curtly. Celestia took a sip of tea, looking unfazed from the comment. The nobles in the latter years of her rule had taken to calling her Princess. To an outside listener it was a simple slip of the tongue but to a citizen they would be horrified by the very concept of speaking this way to their Queen. Calling her princess was a very subtle way to disrespect the crown it was like saying that she will always have someone more powerful than her or insulting her for going without a husband for the entirety of her rule. “According to an outside source, you moved six girls into a secret location without the knowledge or permission of the council.” Chairman Fancy Pants interrupted the standoff. Celestia placed her cup onto the saucer soundlessly. “I had no idea I had to answer to you all for every decision I made. Should I have contacted you all before I ate breakfast this morning?” “With all due respect, Princess,” a Gaian from Manehattan spoke up, “When it comes to the safety of all Magicka you do.” “Harboring those creatures will put us all danger, you should have let us know before...” “I have watched over this land for millennia and I have to make difficult decisions before, this was one of those times.” she raised her voice, the peaceful facade cracking. “Right because that turned out so well before.” the man shot back venomously. The great matriarch stood silent. Her fist clenched under the table but her mouth maintained a constant neutral line. She stood to her feet. “This meeting is adjured, my decision stands. The girls will remain there and none of you are to bring this to the public.” Celestia declared with a tone of finality. Not looking at the members of her council, Celestia turned a heel and exited the room barely holding the burning fury she hid under a neutral face. She was certain had she been younger that man would be a pile of tackily dressed cinders. Celestia couldn’t deal with the council like this, Luna was better at this than her. In the past, Luna could silence an entire room with just a look and if things got too boisterous she could call everyone’s attention with the royal Canterlot voice. Just one thing on a long list that her sister excelled at that she was awful with. Celestia felt the stab of loneliness and walked the cavernous halls of her palace alone. But hopefully this be the last year she would face immortality alone. Funny, despite the fact that her palace was filled to brim with guards, maids, and the occasional dignitaries she was terribly lonely. Author's Note I decided to no longer use the original cover image, it is completely unfair and rude to use another person’s art without their knowledge or consent. I wouldn’t want my story to be copied to another source and not be given the credit I deserve. I apologize to the artist and to all readers for doing something so insensitive and ask that you check out FuyusFox on deviantart, her work is amazing and deserves to shared. Chapter 6 Show and Tell If tension was tangible, you wouldn’t be able cut this tension in the classroom with nothing less than a water pressure cutter. The girls sat in class in dead silence, none of them even looked at each other much less spoke. Twilight sat at the front of class while everyone else was scattered around in various seats. She opened her backpack and took out a slender, mulberry colored wand. It had a raspberry colored six pointed star and resembled a conductor baton. Other than the star, the wand was unremarkable and looked to be made in rush without any love or care. It was the complete opposite of Rarity’s. Rarity’s wand wasn’t even a wand, it was a parasol. The handle was black and curved upward for grip, the pole was a deep violet and had a small blue jewel on the bottom, the canopy had white lace covering the top and the tip held a ball shaped crystal with a dark jewel in the center and black wings on the sides. The wand just oozed personality and was designed with such time and care that not a single piece was out of place. AJ and Pinkie both had a pot of dirt on their desks but both Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash’s desks were bare. Before the girls could get comfortable with the silence, the door swung open to reveal their teacher Ms. Harshwhinny. As her name implied she was a stern looking woman with a permanent scowl on her face. She had a short blonde hair cut into a professional looking bob cut and cold blue eyes that cut through Fluttershy immediately and froze her blood. Her heels clacked loudly on the linoleum floors as she walked to the front of the class. “Good morning students, my name is Ms. Harshwhinny. That’s a miss not missus, remember now because I don’t like to repeat to myself.” Ms. Harshwhinny greeted her class. “The reason I say this is because I see we have a new student today.” she gestured to Fluttershy. “Come to front of class and introduce yourself.” Fluttershy raised her hand. “Um...I already met the others earlier today so...” “That’s funny I don’t recall giving you a question to answer.” Ms. Harshwhinny answered curtly. “No...I-i was just wanted to...” “Talk back when I did not ask for your opinion. Now come to front of class.” Fluttershy nodded and moved quickly to front. She avoided eye contact with everyone in class and took a shaky breath. “Hello my name is Fluttershy. I’m from Cloudsdale, it’s nice to meet you all.” “What is your species?” Ms. Harshwhinny pressed. “I-i guess a fairy.” Fluttershy hid behind her bangs. “Say that again and this time say it like you’ve spoken to another person before.” Pinkie raised her hand, leaning on her desk slightly. “I heard her Ms. Harshwhinny, she said...” “Pinkamena!” Harshwhinny snapped. “I was not talking to you so that means you keep your mouth shut.” Pinkie frowned and sat back into her seat. “Again, Fluttershy.” “A Fairy.” she said as clearly and loudly as she could manage with the growing lump in her throat. This volume satisfied Harshwhinny and she allowed Fluttershy to sit back down. Fluttershy stared down at her hands hoping to attract as little attention as she could. Harshwhinny went on with the rest of her lesson. “Okay, I hope all of you have practiced your magic because I want to see all your results.” She started from the front of class with Twilight. Twilight grabbed her wand and sat straighter immediately. Harshwhinny placed an apple on her desk. “I want you to do a simple levitation spell, pick up the apple and place it into my hand.” Ms. Harshwhinny walked back a few paces and held out her right hand. Twilight nodded and pointed her wand towards the apple. She concentrated her magic into the wand and pointed it at the apple. A bright raspberry aura slowly enveloped the apple. She lifted her wand upwards but the apple remained on the desk. Twilight raised the wand higher to no avail. She stood up from her chair and fully extended her right arm but the apple remained stubbornly on the desk. Twilight growled in frustration and applied more magic to apple. The aura grew larger and larger but it didn’t even budge. Her magic enveloped the wand and the aura grew brighter. As if taunting her the apple didn’t bother to move. Her magic became blinding bright, the aura spreading to the desk. “That’s enough, Twilight.” Before Harshwhinny could finish, Twilight’s wand snapped in half and the apple was crushed into mush. There was even some cracks on the desk. Sweat rolled down Twilight’s face and her chest heaved as she gulped for air. Harshwhinny pinched the bridge of her nose. “Twilight, for the last time. You need to learn to control your magic.” “I can do it,” she urged. “It’s just the wand makes it hard to...” “That is how Mages use their magic. Even Celestia herself uses a wand! Are you saying you’re better than Celestia?” Harshwhinny pressed leaning down to stare directly in Twilight’s eyes. Twilight paused and looking down at her feet. “No.” “Then learn to use a wand or you will continue to stay here.” Harshwhinny turned to the next student. Twilight sat in seat grabbing the broken pieces of her wand. She sniffled, wiping her tears quickly and turned her attention to the next person showing their magic. Harshwhinny turned her seemingly permanent glare over to Rarity. Rarity grabbed her wand, slightly trembling in fear. “I want you to perform a simple illumination spell, Rarity.” She nodded, standing from her seat. Holding her wand in one hand, Rarity waved her other hand in front the canopy of her parsol. The parasol opened and the jewel on the top shone slightly as if coming to life. Rarity twirled it slowly and closed her eyes in concentration. She held up her wand extending her arm fully. “Illuminate.” Rarity said almost trancelike. The jewel began to glow a bright blue spreading throughout the room, until the top of her wand shone like a lighthouse on a stormy night. Harshwhinny watched on, unimpressed. “Good now hold it.” Rarity kept her magic concentrated in the jewel, maintaining the light spell. “Hold it.” Sweat began to bead on her forehead. “Hold it.” Her face scrunched up in concentration. “Hold it.” The color of the jewel slowly began to darken. The light was dyed from a brilliant blue to deep wine purple. “Stop, Rarity we’ve talked about this.” Rarity’s wand snapped shut and she lowered her arm. Her face still damp from exertion and her azure eyes were filled frustration. “It’s still an illumination spell, I don’t see what I did wrong.” she crossed her arms in defiance. Harshwhinny stared unimpressed at Rarity’s reasoning. “Dark magic has not been used for over a millennia and I like to think for good reason.” “I’m not choosing to use it this is just how my magic works.” “All Mages use light magic, you can’t just change the rules just because don’t suit your wants.” “If that’s the case shouldn’t our classes still be segregated.” Rarity retorted. Harshwhinny’s eyes narrowed. She stomped forward until she was inches away from Rarity. Her blue eyes, seething with rage, glared hard at the teen. Rarity stood her ground and never broke eye contact. “Use light magic or never go home. Your choice.” Harshwhinny spat venomously. Rarity said nothing but she sat back in her seat. Her gaze never breaking while her teacher moved on to the other girls in the class. Ms. Harshwhinny moved on to Pinkie and AJ. Without having to be told the two girls grabbed their pots. Gaian magic was very subtle, it wasn’t flashy like casting spells or flying on wings much too small to really support their body weight. But their strength and endurance was something to be marveled at. In the Olympics they have to separate species with any events revolving running or lifting weights it would be that unfair. But another way their magic would manifest was with plants. AJ closed her eyes and focused her magic into her hands, flowing throughout the dirt until she found the seed. In her mind she heard the seed’s voice. “Water, please I’m so thirsty. AJ went to her backpack and pulled out a bottle of water. She poured in a decent amount and communed with the plant. C’mon little fella, that should be enough. I don’t have enough energy to grow. Ah can help with that. AJ’s hands were enveloped in soft orange light, much fainter than the aura Rarity and Twilight used to cast spells. It spread throughout the pot and reached the seed. With the added energy the seed sprouted roots that cut through the dirt to have more access to the new magic. The seed grew larger and sprouted a stem. AJ added more magic and the stem continued growing until it exited the dirt. The stem stood tall and bloomed into a beautiful red and purple flower. AJ, winded from the exertion, held up the new flower in triumph. All the girls in the class gasped in surprise and crowded around her desk. “That’s amazing, Jacklyn.” Twilight complimented. “D’aw, it ain’t much. He just needed a little convincing.” AJ said affectionately. “Are you kidding, that’s so awesome.” Rainbow Dash gushed. AJ blushed and smiled shyly. This happy atmosphere was broken swiftly by one person’s question. “Pinkamena, where is your pot? ” Ms. Harshwhinny questioned. Pinkie’s excited smile faded and she grabbed her barren pot. Harshwhinny glared harshly at Pinkie’s results. “Did you even try?” “Yeah I did I just couldn’t hear its voice. I don’t think there’s a seed.” she explained staring at the pot. Ms. Harshwhinny facepalmed. “Don’t be absurb, of course there’s a seed in there.” “Then maybe my...” Ms. Harshwhinny cut her off. “Don’t go blaming your curse for everything. Being a Werewolf should not stop you from being a Gaian. Maybe if you tried focusing on something for more than two seconds, you could make some progress.” Pinkie sadly placed her empty pot back on her desk. She stared forward and her hair drooped a little, losing a bit of its curl. Ms. Harshwhinny went on to Rainbow Dash, who was all to eager to show off her magic. She smirked confidently and held out her two hands. Just above them the air grew colder and the water in the air condensed into a small cloud. Adding more magic, the cloud began to darken until tiny droplets of water drizzled down like rain. “Thank you Rainbow Dash, that’s enough.” “Really,” she looked up in disbelief “I can go much further than this, maybe I can make snow or maybe lightning and...” “The point of this school is to help you blend in with the public not to show off. Your speed is already alarming as is but the ability to create lightning will make you stand out like a sore thumb.” Ms. Harshwhinny replied bluntly. “But...” the cloud grew larger and the raindrops fell more heavily. “That is enough Miss Dash.” she asserted harshly. The cloud dissipated only leaving behind a puddle of water. Rainbow frowned deeply but didn’t push any further. Finally Ms. Harshwhinny turned to Fluttershy who was so caught up with watching the girls’ magic she completely forgot about that she would have to display her magic too. She instantly felt her stomach do flips and her heart pounded like she just ran a marathon. “I can’t do weather magic.” she muttered. Harshwhinny sighed. “Ms. Shy I doubt even bats could even hear that.” “I can’t do weather magic.” she spoke up, still avoiding eye contact. “Ms. Dash can you explain to Ms. Shy how to use weather magic.” Rainbow got up and sat next to Fluttershy. She give her a kind smile to help sooth the anxious girl. “Hold out your hands.” Rainbow Dash used her own hands as an example. Fluttershy complied, slightly shaking nervously. “Breath.” The two girls took a deep and measured breath. “Focus on the air, it’s filled with water but right now it needs to change.” Fluttershy tried to sense the water in air. She knew it was there because the air wasn’t dry but she couldn’t feel it. “And for the water to change it needs to be a little colder, focus on dropping the temperature a little.” Fluttershy felt a strange energy around her, it felt heavy and cold. It was hidden amongst other energies but it was so distinct she was surprised didn’t feel it sooner. “Can you feel it?” Rainbow looked up at her, but her words were like static to Fluttershy’s distracted mind. “I think so.” She located the heavy energy, it was behind her near the front of class. A swirl of emotions came into Fluttershy’s mind. Loneliness, sadness, a hint of jealousy, but most of all she felt the bittersweet taste of melancholy. “Well show it who’s boss. You got the magic and it has to listen to you.” Rainbow Dash created another cloud that immediately began raining. Fluttershy closed her hands together. A warm yellow glow shone through her intertwined fingers. She envisioned her creation, the magic swirled in her hands before taking form. She opened her hands to reveal a small songbird. It was slightly translucent, showing it was indeed not a living creature. The songbird fluttered its wings and took flight. It flew around the classroom for a while before finding its target. The bird landed noiselessly on Pinkie’s desk much to her surprise. She glanced at a tired looking Fluttershy, clearly unsure of what to do with the creature. Before she could ask any questions, the bird chirped a happy tune. Pinkie was surprised for a moment before going into deep thought. That tune sounded so familiar but where had she heard it before. The bird continued the song into the chorus causing Pinkie’s face to light up. “That’s my Granny Pie’s song, I haven’t heard that since I was a kid.” the bird hopped onto her finger. Everyone’s jaws dropped, while Fluttershy beamed happily at Pinkie’s smile. “How did you do that?” Twilight asked first. “I just felt that Pinkie was feeling a little homesick so I wanted her to give a little something from home.” Pinkie smiled appreciatively. Twilight levitated her notebook and pencil out of her backpack. She ran at full speed to Fluttershy’s seat. Her eyes shined with excitement, she looked like a little kid in a toy store. Tearing open her notebook, she began on a blank sheet of paper. “Wait, wait, wait, okay start from the beginning and don’t leave out any details. Even the little ones, everything could be important.” She pulled out her cellphone and pressed play on the recorder. “I...” Fluttershy started. “THAT IS ENOUGH! ALL OF YOU GO BACK TO SEATS!!!” Ms. Harshwhinny exclaimed. Her tanned face turned to deep red. All the girls hurried back to their seats quickly, without protest. Her cold blue eyes cut through Fluttershy, causing her to flinch. She marched to front of class still glaring daggers at the newest student. “This school,” she took a breath to calm herself, “was built to help creatures blend in. It was not meant to be a circus to show your unnatural abilities to the world. Take this as your final warning, Fluttershy, either learn normal magic or stay here forever because it’s going to be a cold day in Hell before I authorize any dangerous creature to be set loose on Magicka.” Ms. Harshwhinny grabbed all of her things and headed to door. Before she left she placed an identical wand on Twilight’s desk. Not sparing a parting glance or goodbye Ms. Harshwhinny left the classroom. The girls sat in awe for a few moments before fully realizing their teacher had just left them alone. Rarity was the first one to grab her things. “Wait!” Twilight stood in front of the door. “What’s got ya so worked up all of sudden?” AJ questioned picking up her new plant. Twilight hesitated, second guessing her decision. She thought it over before continuing her statement. “I need to talk to you all.” “Well, you have our attention.” Rarity gestured to the door she currently blocking. Twilight looked around at the girls walking up to her. She shuffled her feet nervously, something was clearly bothering her. Her nervous body language began to unsettle her fellow classmates. “What is it, Twilight?” Pinkie asked getting antsy just watching her. Twilight exhaled and turned to the door. She pointed her wand at it and closed her eyes. The wand lit up for a second before going out like an old light bulb, Twilight growled in frustration and focused her magic through her hand to cast a binding spell on the door. “Okay, that should be good.” Twilight turned back to everyone. “Will you just tell us what’s wrong already!” Rainbow shouted impatiently. “Oh right, sorry.” Twilight blushed softly, not realizing she had just left in the dark for a while there. “Okay, here goes nothing,” she took a deep breath. “You know that old story about the Nightmare Mage that was sent to the moon?” “Yeah my ma used ta tell me that story when Ah was a kid.” The other girls nodded. “Why is that story so important?” Pinkie asked. “I think it’s true.” Twilight said on bated breath. There was a long pause before Rainbow Dash spoke first. “Well duh!” she rolled her eyes. “Ah mean Ah kinda figured it out when Ah got a little older.” “I mean really Twilight, Princess Luna just disappears then there’s a strange new shadow on the moon.” Rarity shrugged “It kinda seems obvious when you say it out loud.” Pinkie said bluntly. Fluttershy nodded. Twilight gaped shocked, she didn’t expect them to believe her so soon. She had a speech prepared and everything. The new revelation took the wind out of her sails for a bit but she continued with the rest of her findings. “Well I think she going to escape her prison by this summer.” This statement got more of reaction as the everyone began voicing their disbelief. “Are you sure Twilight?” Fluttershy asked. “I’ve checked hundreds of books and they all say the same thing. On the longest day of the thousandth year the stars will aid in her escape and she will bring about nighttime eternal.” “Oh wait, I have an idea.” Pinkie raised her hand. “Why do we just tell Queen Celestia, she beat her before, right? All she needs to do is get her sun magic and blast that edgelord back to the moon.” Pinkie made fake laser noises with her mouth. The other girls agreed but Twilight shook her head. “I told her in person all my findings and she sent me to this school, something about making friends or whatever.” Twilight huffed still sensitive about her brush-off. “Our leader disregarded a possible threat to national security?” Rarity shouted in disbelief. Twilight nodded her head apprehensively. Rarity groaned in frustration and despair began to set in the group. Fluttershy felt the mood dipping, she racked her brain about the story she was told as a child. There’s has to be something they could use to save their home. “Well if she isn’t going to help then it’s up to us.” Pinkie stood tall, looking heroic as possible. “Uh beg your pardon, Pinkie, but six teenagers can’t save the world from a thousand year old moon goddess.” “But we have to do something.” Pinkie insisted. “Like what, get murdered?” Rainbow shot bitterly. “Maybe not.” All eyes went to Fluttershy. She blushed but continued on with her point. “In the story, Queen Celestia didn’t fight Nightmare Moon alone. She used the Elements of Harmony.” Twilight’s face lit up. “Fluttershy, you’re a genius. All we have to do is find the Elements and bring them to the Queen.” “And where do we find them?” Rarity asked Twilight. She paused unsure of how to respond until a smile spread across her face again. “The Castle of The Two Sisters, it was the old home so they could still be there.” The girls looked amongst each other, agreeing to this plan. They exchanged phone numbers and left the classroom. They had a plan or at least a part of it. It was something, much better than leaving the safety of their world to chance. Unbeknownst to the girls, as they made plans to save their world dark forces were conspiring to destroy it. Queen Chrysalis sat back in a comfortable black leather chair, it was a large step up from the ancient stone she sat upon in her Hive. Of course she wouldn’t trade that throne for anything but the way this material supported her back was making almost reconsider. The room she sat in was a large office meeting room in a five story building recently cleared out after the business went bankrupt despite this everything still looked as immaculate as when the building was open, table in front of her lined with delicious looking desserts and fresh fruits with which a haughty looking Skyling was indulging in. She looked to be in her twenties and was wearing an old looking Wonderbolt uniform with a large tear in front. A female Mage with white hair, a fancy looking, starry cape and matching hat looked on in disgust. Had Chrysalis been in a better mood she might of indulged the two’s antics but she was beyond annoyed. This mystery person who had the audacity to call her like was some cheap hired help, obviously knew nothing about her species as she left her no creatures to feed on and considered her to be equals with this riff raff. An amber haired Skyling who was a disgraced Wonderbolt turned assassin, a proud looking Mage who probably had more boasts than actual magic ability, a pack of flea-bitten werewolves who refused to return their human form, and an annoying Gaian child who wouldn’t stop running her mouth for one second. “Why do you think they called us here, do you think we’re in trouble? I don’t think so I don’t usually leave any witnesses.” The girl was named Nerium Oleander. Nerium had light pink hair with red highlights tied up into twin pigtails. Her clothes could only be described as closet vomit as everything she wore was chosen at random. A neon green hoop skirt, red sneakers, black leg warmers that she wore on her arms, and a white T-shirt with a kids’ TV character plastered on the front. Everything about her was practically begging for attention, from the way she sat in a chair crisscross like a kindergartener to the fact that as soon as she entered the meeting room she jumped from tangent to tangent like a monkey on speed. From wondering if the world is a simulation to claiming water was a chemical being used to mind control aliens that invaded the planet. With every flap of the girl's mouth, Chrysalis’ patience was ground down to be nearly razor thin. “Or maybe it’s because...” She finally snapped but was cut off by another voice. “Will you shut your mouth?” A large female werewolf snarled. “Gods, even newborn pups don’t yap as much as you.” Nerium turned her head towards the new speaker. The werewolf still resembled human despite her transformation, she still wore clothes and stood on two feet. She was, of course, covered in fur but it was a similar color of human skin but she had wolf like ears that were turned backwards in anger, a long tail the color of the hair on her head, her legs were bent like the hind legs of a dog and large claws on her hands and feet that slightly curved like a cat. Nerium’s expression went from sunny and cheery to a vacant look. Before anyone could blink Nerium swiped her arm across the werewolf’s neck, causing her flinch back. The she-wolf ran a hand over her throat but felt not blood or pain. She laughed at herself for getting so scared. This little kid barely came up to her chest and had no weapon, what could she possibly do. Nerium smirked and held up her left arm. She clenched her fist to reveal a long, thin blade that unsheathe from her leg warmer, it was as long as her forearm but had no blood on it. The smirk faded from the werewolf’s face and she began choking violently. Blood erupted from a thin wound the entire length of her throat and she coughed up more blood from her mouth. Her hands went to her throat as she tried in vain to stop the bleeding. The slice was thin but the blade cut so deep into her throat that it severed multiple arteries and blood was leaking into her trachea. Her pack looked on in stunned silence as one their own suffocated on own her blood. Nerium marveled at her weapon like a proud mother. She giggled, giddy with euphoria. Nerium loved nothing more than when she could silence barking dogs herself. The she-wolf dropped to her knees reaching out towards the girl. “Awwwww, is the poor puppy having some trouble breathing? Well maybe she should thought of that before she was rude to a serial killer.” Nerium cooed watching the tears stream down the dying girl face. Nerium using with one finger, gently pushed on the she-wolf’s forehead, causing her to fall to the floor. Her body spasmed for a few moments before going still, she was dead. All eyes went wide with horror as Nerium went back to her chair and bit into an unpeeled orange. “Goddess, that was dark.” Lightning Dust pushed away her plate, completely losing her appetite. “The Great and Powerful Trixie was not ready for this sudden dark turn, she is beginning to have second thoughts.” Trixie declared in third person, not taking her eyes off the now dead body. The Diamond Dogs pack began to stir not exactly comfortable with the idea of being in the same room their pack member’s killer. Some growled in anger while others whined in fear, the alpha silenced their thoughts with a single glance. Before anyone else could speak, the lights flickered on and off leaving them in total darkness before turning on to reveal a new person that appeared from nowhere. She wore a inky black hood that covered her entire body. This new person was extremely tall, nearly towering over Chrysalis. She exuded an aura of malice and darkness, causing everyone to get goosebumps. She lifted her hooded head to reveal a pair of bright yellow eyes and dark skin. She gave them a devilish smile and cleared her throat to speak. “Good afternoon, my name is Ombré. I brought you all here to offer you a job opportunity.” Ombré’s silky voice boomed in the quiet room. “My master has been trapped in a magical prison that will be broken in three weeks time and I need to you all to protect her.” “You need all of us to protect your master, don’t this seem like overkill.” Lightning Dust gestured to the crowded room. Ombré chuckled softly. “Think of it as insurance, my master was imprisoned for centuries and there are those who want her to never break free.” “I don’t serve anyone.” Chrysalis hissed in disgust. “Much less some shadowy figure I don’t even know.” “Oh forgive me, my master is Nightmare Moon.” “Nightmare Moon!” The alpha scoffed loudly. “Wasn’t she supposed really powerful, why would she need so much protection?” Lightning Dust shot leaning back in her seat. “After being freed she will be weak and vulnerable, a millennia in stasis would do that to anyone.” Ombré explained. “And what’s in it for the Great and Powerful Trixie.” The Mage crossed her arms. Ombré smirked confidently, “An all powerful Black Mage, I’m sure she could grant your every desire if you were to help free her from her prison.” Queen Chrysalis thought it over for a moment, this Nightmare Moon could help her spread her drones all over Magicka. Her Hive could feed on all their love for generations to come. With all the power she desired she could bring Celestia herself to her knees. Her mouth watered just thinking about it. And when earned Ombré’s master trust, she would take her out using her new power from all the love she would feast on. Chrysalis chuckled darkly. “You have the Changeling Swarm’s loyalty.” “Trixie is in, your master will help her locate her family’s treasure.” “Hey along as you’re paying good, you got me.” Lightning Dust shrugged. “Help us spread our pack and we shall help you.” the Alpha replied. “This sounds like fun, I’ve been looking for some new toys to play with.” Nerium giggled playing with her blade. Ombré smiled maliciously. Humans were so easy to play, just offer their desires and all common sense goes out the window. She knew this people would betray her later she wasn't a fool, but by the time they do this they would already have served their purpose. She could dispose of them herself once she regained her full power. Ombré could hardly wait, she yearned for the power that was stolen from her but now all the cards were stacked in her favor. Celestia was no longer connected to the Elements of Harmony and there was no power on this barren rock to stop her “Master”. Now this entire world would now what it means to fear the night. Author's Note For all those curious I based Rarity’s wand on Eclipsa’s from Star vs the forces of evil, speaking of which OH MY GOD that finale I’m still recovering from that feels trip. But for the future I’m totally using some of those dark spells they're just too cool to past up . Chapter 7 Combat Ready Fluttershy finally got into the rhythm of her new life at school; she would wake up a little early everyday to meditate with Twilight since they both had issues with anxiety morning meditation would help with staying calm throughout the day, have breakfast with Pinkie who despite having a sweet tooth actually enjoyed having fruit and oatmeal in the morning, class with everyone where she learned that she could create illusions of clouds to appease Ms. Harshwhinny, and finally meet up to research the location of the Elements of Harmony. “Hey Twilight.” Fluttershy greeted the bookworm sitting cross legged on the library floor. “Hmm.” Twilight grunted, currently cross referencing three books on ancient magical artifacts. Twilight was always the first person in the library, she was the one to suggest research in the first place. The others would arrive at various times with Rainbow Dash always being last. She was the most vocal about finding the Elements until she learned that they would have to research what they were, how to find them, or even what they do. Rainbow wanted to scan over the entire Everfree Forest despite everyone voicing that would have taken far longer than their three week deadline. “Hey guys!” Rainbow Dash finally flew excitedly into the library, making the pages flutter. All girls growled in frustration with Rainbow’s arrival as that gust of wind not knocked back at least fifteen minutes of their work. Twilight tore her reading glasses off her face and marched up to where Rainbow hovered in the air. “Rainbow Dash! Where were you? You were supposed to be here almost an hour ago!” Twilight scolded. Rainbow rolled her eyes and landed softly on the floor. “Chill out Twilight, I’m here what’s the big deal?” “The big deal is that we need to be here together in case one of us finds the Elements and we can leave together.” AJ emphasized the last syllable. “Yeah, yeah, well then I guess you don’t want to hear what I found out today.” “What did you find out today?” Twilight threw down the book she started rereading. Rainbow smirked before continuing. “Everyday I go for a fly around the school and everyday I found a blind spot in the guards. There’s an old guard in the back of school who falls asleep right after lunch, that gives us about a hour opening to leave school.” Twilight held her mouth open in stunned silence, she had no idea Rainbow Dash could fly and be so observant of her surroundings. Even she struggled to do two things at once. “Great job, Rainbow. That was very observant of you.” Rarity complimented. “Well a future Wonderbolt has to be able to multitask.” she boasted. “This is good, now when we know where the Elements are we know to get out and get them.” Fluttershy added reinvigorated by their success. “The only problem is we still don’t where they are.” Twilight groaned in frustration. “We’ve been searching for almost a week now with no luck, it’s not like we’re just going to find a book all about these things.” “Elements of Harmony: A Reference Guide.” Pinkie read off the title of leather bound tome. Twilight snatched the book out Pinkie’s hands, scanning over the title. She stared at Pinkie, mouth agape. “I’ve been looking for so long, how did you find it?” “Oh it was under things that would further the plot.” Pinkie explained offhandedly. The girls stared at their bubbly friend before brushing off the comment. After a while of knowing Pinkie, they had learned to just roll with it and move on. Twilight went on to read the book aloud. “The Elements of Harmony, powerful ancient artifacts that when united with a spark can wielded to banish evil and open the path to peace throughout the land. The wielder of the Elements must embody the six traits of balance; Honesty, Kindness, Laughter, Generosity, Loyalty and Magic. Only united can this great magic be used, if any Element is not present the power will remain dormant. Be warned, if the Elements are ever misused they will turn to stone and remain that way until a new bearer reignites them.” Twilight read off the passage of the tome. For a while no one spoke how could they, the passage gave them so much and yet nothing at all. Twilight turned the book around showing them the last image of the Elements of Harmony. They were six hexagonal gems, each one a color of the rainbow. They were so unassuming, they resembled any gems a person would use for an expensive item these things were their saviors from an eternity of darkness. “Okay now we know they look like so we can find them.” Pinkie said happily. “Ah guess that’s it then, we got a time to leave and we know the place they should be.” AJ was unsure about this whole thing, it just seemed too easy. “Not quite, we’re missing just one thing.” Twilight closed book and stood up. “What?” The girls said in unison. “We need to learn how to fight.” Twilight answered easily. “Huh? Why do we need to learn how to fight?” Pinkie scratched her head. “We are going to one of the most dangerous forests in Magicka alone. We need to know how to defend ourselves or we’ll be killed in seconds.” Twilight answered plainly. A chill ran down Fluttershy’s spine. She didn’t even consider just how dangerous this really was. Everything about the Everfree forest was unnatural; the plants grew on the own, the animals run wild, and the weather changed its own. Fluttershy couldn’t even imagine a world like that. “Hmph Ah been in my fair share of fights, Ah can defend y’all on my own.” AJ cracked her knuckles and stood tall. “Yeah me too.” Rainbow puffed out her chest not wanting to be outdone. “Show me.” Twilight countered. “In the library, I figured you all people wouldn’t want to destroy school property.” Rainbow joked. Twilight smirked confidently. “Not here.” She closed her eyes, envisioning a location in her mind. Twilight charged her magic, spreading her aura to cover the six girls. There was a bright flash and they were gone. The girls reappeared in courtyard that served as their outside gym. Twilight was severely winded but beamed with pride. “Here.” she breathed. “How did you do that?” Rarity marveled looking around their new location. The courtyard was empty only filled with a few trees and a dirt field that flattened for outside activities. “Teleportation spells take a lot of energy but they’re fairly easy if you know what you doing.” Twilight explained sitting on the ground to catch her breath. While Twilight recharged her magic the group split into threes to spar with each other. Since AJ and Rainbow has the most experience they sparred together to test their limits. AJ stretched her legs feeling her joints pop from a long day of class. Rainbow pulled her arm across her chest and switched to opposite arm. “Don’t expect me to hold back on you, AJ.” Rainbow spread her wings readying them to take off. “That’s funny, Ah was gonna say the same thing to you.” AJ smirked taking off her hat and tossing it to the floor. Rainbow Dash made the first move taking off at breakneck speeds, she pulled her right arm back and aimed it at AJ’s face. AJ used her forearm to block the punch instantly feeling the shock ripple through her arm. Her opposite arm grabbed Rainbow’s collar. Shifting her feet she slammed her to ground with an over the shoulder toss. The girl bounced on the hard dirt, dazed and slightly winded. AJ raised her foot to stomp on the girl. Rainbow rolled out of the way her boot. If this was sparring to AJ Rainbow hated to see her get serious, as her stomp shattered the patch of earth. Rainbow jumped to her feet, her back was sore from the throw but her wings were undamaged. She took to the air and zipped behind hit AJ’s back with a swift kick. AJ stumbled but was still standing. She turned and tried to retaliate with a punch. Rainbow flew around and punched her opposite side. The Skyling became a rainbow colored blur of punches and kicks, AJ’s eyes could barely follow her making it impossible to defend. Rainbow slammed her fist into AJ’s jaw causing her to fall to the ground. With a frustrated shout, AJ slammed her two fists into the ground shattering the earth and sending a torrent of wind throughout the courtyard. The resulting shockwave knocked Rainbow off course and she crashed face first into the ground. This left an opening for AJ to close the gap between the two. Rainbow quickly stood up only to be met with an axe kick to the head. The metallic taste blood filled Rainbow’s mouth as she narrowly avoided another kick. AJ was merciless not giving her inch to catch her breath. She stumbled dizzy from the axe kick opening herself to an attack. AJ sent a hard roundhouse kick to Rainbow’s stomach, sending her flying into one of the errant trees surrounding the field. The trunk snapped from the sheer force her kick and the tree nearly fell on Rainbow. The two girls stood up at opposite ends of the field, covered in various scratches and bruises from their fight. AJ wiped blood from her nose from one of Rainbow’s punches. Rainbow spat out blood from AJ’s kick. Both girls glared at each other, daring the other to make the first move. The air around Rainbow came to life, crackling with electricity. Her hair and clothes fluttered around as if blown by some invisible force. The sky suddenly darkened to a deep gray color to match Rainbow’s anger. Clouds overhead dumped heavy buckets of rain going completely unnoticed by the two fighters. The skies erupted with the boom of thunder and lightning crashed dangerously close to the battle grounds. Rainbow’s wings sparked with electricity as they spread open at the ready for flight. The ground beneath AJ shook as she charged her magic to her limbs. Pebbles began floating off the ground before breaking apart by the sheer force of her magic. Her eyes began glowing with a bright green aura until her pupils disappeared within an emerald glow. The glow spread to her body spreading bright green vein-like structures to her arms and legs. “Should...should we stop them?” Fluttershy asked from her hiding place behind a large tree. “Even if we wanted to I don’t think we can.” Rarity gaped feeling the ripples of their magic power. “Remind me to never piss of Jacklyn.” Twilight whimpered hiding behind Pinkie. Pinkie nodded, fighting her instincts to run away from the carnage. Both girls took the first move, Rainbow took off like a bat out of hell. Her body completely encased in so much electricity that the rainbow blur she left behind had steaks of yellow electricity flowing throughout. AJ pushes off the ground hard, shattered the earth leaving a huge crack, she ran matching Rainbow’s speed. Rainbow cocked back her right fist while AJ spun around to ready her leg. They shouted from the exhilaration of the fight. Rainbow’s fist connected with AJ’s face and AJ’s foot slammed into Rainbow’s face. The sheer force sent an enormous wave of magic and wind. The ground shook from the sheer force of the collision and a lightning bolt struck the now damp field. Their heads snapped backwards from the impact of the attacks. Blood went falling and both girls slammed hard into the dirt. They twitched slightly before laying still, both unconscious. The clouds stopped raining and the thunder faded away to a distant memory. With Rainbow unconsicous, the clouds dissipated and the weather returned to the sunny skies as if trying make up from the sudden storm. The other girls peeked their heads up from their hiding places. They glanced at each other before walking to their unconscious friends. “Well who’s next?” Twilight asked, nobody volunteered. Ombré watched her crystal ball with growing curiosity. The four girls carried their friends of the field and went on with their practice. She chuckled softly, at their clumsy excuse of training. The two Mages barely knew any offensive spells and other two girls didn’t even use their magic. “Are they going to be a problem?” Lightning Dust sat in the corner of the room, sharpening her daggers. Ombré glanced at her she hadn’t even sensed her presence. She’s pretty good for a human Ombré noted actually impressed. She had meet many humans in her long life but the ones who deviate from the righteous path were always the most interesting. “These children are nothing more than a minor inconvenience.” Ombré waved her hand dismissively. “There’s no reason to worry.” “I worked for a lot of people in my life and a lot of them were brought down because of these minor inconveniences.” The hooded woman turned her cold gaze to the assassin. Something about her made Lightning Dust’s skin crawl she had worked for so many bad people; corrupt nobles whose “girlfriends” needed to be silenced, crooked cops who wanted to hide their tracks, crime bosses whose competition was going too far. But she never felt this coldness before like this person was just hollow, completely without a soul. “Please, this children will hardly be a hindrance to our goal. In fact they will be of great help to us.” These girls were dangerous but their morals would be their downfall. They grew up under the rule of Celestia, their true magic was suppressed and even now they refuse to hone their skills. The golem girl and the descendent of the Lightning Bird both had powers that fit into the norm and could become powerful. But the other girls were taught to restrict themselves and were oblivious to their true power. Instead of breaking the rules to prepare for the battlefield they were walking into, they were going in with a witch who refuses to go without a wand, a dark Mage who only uses light magic, a werewolf who can’t transform, and a Fairy who doesn’t even know about her powers. These six are so clueless about their impending deaths it was almost sad. Ombré smiled darkly thinking of their expression morph into despair when they watched their Sun Goddess fall before her feet. Her black magic ensnare them and they would learn their insignificance in the world. They won’t even fight back, just sit in awe of her power. Ombré licked her lips in anticipation, humans were so easy to manipulate it's always so much fun to watch hopelessness set in. They would try to fight it or run from it but just as the certainty of death the shadow would always overtake the precious light. Author's Note I changed the genre of the story, it didn’t feel exactly like a slice of life anymore. I hope you still enjoyed it regardless . I apologize for such a long gap between the chapters, I’ve been struggling with my depression recently and had to get new medication the one I was taking didn’t really help. I’ve debating whether or not I should be telling people about all this but it’s better that you all know just in case I disappear again. I’m so sorry if the time between the chapters is really longer than normal but I will try to write whenever I get the motivation. Chapter 8 In Umbra Luna EstSomething has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.PrologueLong ago in the land of Magicka, there were two powerful mage sisters who ruled over the land. The eldest used holy light magic to raise the sun and brought about the glorious day. The younger using dark magic brought the stars and moon for the serene night. With their wisdom and kindness the two sisters brought upon generations of peace and balance, until, one night as the younger mage raised the moon and stars she noticed other creatures besides the three races that she and her sister ruled over and protected. The Lunar Mage observed that they had all types of unique magic and forms. Despite some of their threatening apperances they were nonviolent and strived to live in harmony. The younger mage went to her sister with excitement about the new races and told her of the plan to intergrate the two societies, but the eldest rejected the plan. She explained the three races were superstitious and fearful, the sun mags feared that if the new races were introduced so suddenly there would be panic and violence. The youngest sister with a heavy heart denied the other races request to live alongside the three races. The Lunar Mage grew more upset at her subjects’ resistance to accept things that were unique, this resistance even spread to her night as she seen many people shut themselves up their houses and refuse to glance at the night. Some of the nobles even began excluding her from the meetings about her country. It wasn't apparent of course as no one would dare insult a princess to her face, but she was no fool she heard them deliberately mentioning her sister as Queen or news of celebrations or meetings just happening to not reach her. Until one day, the dark voices of contempt and jealousy became stronger and louder using her natural proximity to dark magic to engulf her soul and turn her into a creature of darkness, Nightmare Moon. Nightmare Moon used her powerful black magic to shroud the land in darkness and the creatures orginally shunned by the three races to walk freely. Reluctantly, the eldest used the strongest light magic artifacts, the Elements of Harmony, to trap her sister and the nightmare into the moon for eternity. The Solar Mage took domain over both the Sun and Moon and ruled over the land alone. However, she allowed the newly discovered races to live amongst the three races although even with the hope for peace, all is not right in the land of Magicka Author's Note This my first fanfic ever, after so many years of reading them I finally (with a push from my friends and nothing to do after taking a break from college) decided to start my own. Please let me know if clarification or spelling-check is needed in the chapters. I apologize ahead of time for the quality of the writing but hope you all enjoy the story.
Chapter 1 It was a Bright and Sunny night12 Years Ago “Dear, are you sure you don’t need anything before I leave?” Cumulus Stream asked his wife for the twelfth time this morning. Posey gave him a patient smile, she couldn’t blame for her husband being so nervous it was new territory for her too. After six years of marriage, they decided to bring a little one into the world. In eight months they would be parents and bring home a bright and bouncing baby boy. With modern magic and technology, Posey couldn’t help but want to learn her baby’s gender. “Honey please,” she giggled “I’m not that far along yet. I don’t need you to wait on me hand and foot.” “But...” Cumulus started “I don’t want you waste all your vacation days now, and not be here for the later trimesters” Posey interjected (which was easy because her husband spoke just as softly as she did). Cumulus begrudgingly agreed with his wife, he would never forgave himself if his job made him miss an ultrasound or the first time his son starting kicking. His worried cyan eyes met her ever-calm cerise ones, she really did have a way of reassuring others and keeping her composure. Both his wife’s words and her demeanor sent waves of soothing assurance through him. With a deep sigh Cumulus grabbed his bagged lunch and hard hat. “Okay, but I’ll be a phone call away. Say the word and I’ll fly home in a heart beat.” Cumulus added while to their front door. Posey bit her lip to hide her growing amusement, neither her nor husband were exactly Wonderbolt material when it came flying despite their Skyling heritage. Then again she had seen what aderaline and a desire to protect did her husband when she nearly fell in her garden last week. “I’ll give you a call, if anything happens. Now please go to work before you’re late, I don’t think Bow will want to cover for you again.” Posey lightly pushed her husband further towards the door, hoping he would catch the hint on the ever closing window of time to be on-time. Cumulus lightly chuckled and pulled his wife in for a kiss. ”Goodbye, my little flower. I’ll see you later tonight.” With that final goodbye, Cumulus Stream left his wife alone. Posey idled by the door for a moment before moving on with picking up a few things around her warm, cozy little cottage in the clouds. She brushed her shoulder length curly, light raspberry hair behind her ear. Posey normally keep it up in tight bun in order to keep it out her way while she worked in her garden however, lately she felt like keeping it free. She couldn’t put her finger on it but she craved a little spontaneity in her rountine. Her friends chalked it up to her being pregnant but Posey was always like this. Posey prided herself in being a little random like when she changed the frames of her glasses from black to navy blue or when she dyed a strip of her hair blue, variety was the spice of life as they say. Even her cutie mark was a minor case of rebellion, she was a Skyling as evident by her warm yellow wings tucked on her against her deep rose turtleneck. Posey’s home was with the clouds and her talent should be with weather, but here she was with three light colored flowers decorating her shoulders. Her garden was her small rebellion against the status quo and she would be darned if she would get rid of it. Speaking of my garden, Posey interrupted her self-imposed crusade against society’s norms to remember to tend to her garden. Luckily, she was still small enough that her talent would not have too much of a strain on her body. Despite the ever closer time she would be able to hold her baby in her arms, Posey was not looking forward to her restriction in being able to tend to her floral babies. Now’s not the time she chastised herself, grabbing the gloves and watering can I should make sure my flowers can survive the day. Posey’s garden was her pride and joy, she loved to share it to neighbors and friends. It wasn’t much to unassuming eye but she was the talk of the town as she was one of the few gardeners that was not assisted by a Gaian or their magic. The simple fact any flowers could survive this high was a marvel of tenacity and a lot of patience on Posey’s part. She couldn’t help but envy Gaians not only did they have amazing strength and endurance but they had an awe-inspiring connection to all of nature. Posey had seen this strength firsthand when she and her husband visited a maternity store on the ground. A tan skinned pregnant Gaian lifted up a twin stroller from the top shelf much to dismay and fear of her Mage partner. She giggled at the memory as she pulled a stubborn weed that grew near her lilies. A loud crash of shattering glass startled Posey out of her memories. In her shock, she knocked her watering can and it went tumbling through the clouds. She was too preoccupied with calming her breathing and slowing her racing heart to notice or care. “WHAT IN THE NAME OF CELESTIA WAS THAT!” Posey shrieked (barely getting louder than a polite conversation). After the crash was a series of small whimpers, of which did not go unnoticed as being a soft spoken woman and marrying a very demure man her ears were trained to pick up on sounds that would have gone unheard by most. Posey placed a hand over her chest in a vain attempt to calm herself down, she reached down into her garden and armed with the fierce and dangerous trowel she left there last week. Finally, after what felt like an eternity Posey managed to raise herself to her feet. In an attempt to stop herself from shaking like a small dog after drinking a cappuccino, Posey began to reason with herself. The noise couldn’t have been an animal as very few and fly up high enough to reach her let alone even walk on clouds. It was no small feat for Mage to be able to replicate cloud walking magic and no Gaian can cast spells like a Mage. Despite her self-assurance, each step she took was like a tortoise walking through molasses. Eventually after forever and a half, Posey reached the shed door. Mustering all the little bravery she possessed, her hand inched towards the handle and turned it. Hoping to catch whatever it was off guard, she quickly pulled the door open. Gaining a little more bravery Posey opened one of her eyes and was greeting with a sight that made her drop her pseudo-weapon in shock. The source of all that noise was not a teenage hooligan or a burly burglar wearing all black clothes but was a thin, shivering toddler. The girl was thin, even for a toddler, she had long, straight pale rose hair that when all the way down to her waist. Behind long bangs was a pair of cyan eyes that held Posey’s, wet with tears of the girl’s evident fear and pain. The girl’s feet were caked with dirt showing she was formerly a resident of the ground. Her skin was pale almost like she had rarely been touched by sunlight and was littered with knicks, some more recently as they dropped with a silver fluid that seemed be blood for her. None these features were what shocked Posey and held her attention that honor to the girl’s wings. Her wings were not feathered like Posey’s or all Skylings, they were not that different from a butterfly’s. Her wings looked like they were made of stained glass, they were primarily a transparent orchid color and were accented with light cerulean ovals in upper portion and pale lemon yellow near where her wings connected to her back. Posey and girl sat in stunned silence for almost half a minute before the shock had finally gone away. Posey was the one to break the both were under by taking a step closer. The girl visibly shrunk, Posey was so sure had she not been blocking the only exit, the girl would have long bolted. “Wait!” Posey spoke softly to spook the already terrified girl, “Don’t worry I won’t hurt you.” The girl didn’t look so sure but didn’t try to run or fly away. “Can you understand me?” Posey asked, more to herself not really expecting an answer. The girl nodded, surprising Posey as the girl didn’t look more than three years old. “Can you speak?” The girl shook her head. “How old are you.” She held two fingers. “Are you lost?” No response. “Where are your parents?” Again no response. “Are you hungry?” Posey wanted to raise the girl’s spirits, hoping to get more of response later. The girl nodded vigorously and began to visibly salivate. Posey tried not to cry as it pained her to someone so thin for her age even with her height. “Well, come with me.” Posey reached her hand towards the girl to grab causing her to recoil in fear. “Don’t worry, I promise I won’t hurt I just want to look at cuts and get you some food.” She reassured as sweetly as she could. “F-food?” The girl managed out with evident difficulty as she stood she confirmed Posey’s theory that she had no clothes on whatsoever. “Yes,” Posey still held her hand out “Food.” The girl hesitated staring Posey’s hand for a moment before taking it. She met Posey’s smile with one of her own and began to follow her back home. Okay that’s step one Posey thought, carefully leading the girl over the glass. The next five are explaining this to the police and Cumulus. Posey bit her lip while she thought for moment. “Hey, you wouldn’t happen to have a birth certificate with you. Would you?” The girl blinked, staring at Posey like she asked if the moon raised in the day. “Yeah I thought so.” This was going to be a long morning. Author's Note I’m so nervous this technically my first chapter, I hope you liked it because I forgot to save the changes twice and I had to start over after two hours of work. Seriously it was like 1,020 words to 475 words I was so close to snapping . Let me know there was any mistakes or things need clarification, thanks again
Chapter 2 Physical MiseducationThe Present-day Fluttershy was many things: an avid animal lover, an extremely patient person, a decent singer but a good flyer was not one of them. She knew this because of the current lecture she was getting from the P.E. teacher. “For Celestia’s sake Shy! What was that?” Coach Arduous Hooves roared from his fold up chair. Fluttershy landed face first on the cloud where her coach was seated comfortably barking orders at students all morning, much to his visible disdain. He grabbed an iced tea from his cooler and took a long sip to cool his vocal cords for one of his signature “pep talks”. Why should he strain himself while he whipped this punks into shape? Arduous already went flight school and he could outfly this punks even with his slight belly. Especially that little rainbow haired tomboy that went on bragging that she was fastest in all of Magicka the other day. Rolling his eyes at the memory, Arduous hailed himself up to lecture the hot mess that was this awkwardly tall Skyling. Fluttershy began brushing herself off from her most recent acquaintanceship with the cloud. She immediately felt the hot wash of shame when her eyes met with her coach’s. Despite her newly acquired height that came with becoming a teenager, her teacher still towered over her. Not to mention his fierce glare made her shrink in fear. “F-flying.” She answered meekly under her breath. “I’ve seen newborn babies fly better that!” Arduous went on, completely ignoring Fluttershy’s barely detectable response. “I tripped.” Fluttershy muttered. A vein popped out on Arduous’ head and his tanned skin turned a deep red. Fluttershy clamped her mouth shut, realizing she was only digging her hole deeper. “YOU TRIPPED!” He screamed, “Over what? The air?” Fluttershy struggled to hold back her tears as she felt the eyes of her classmates. She could hear their whispers and laughter from here. She felt like the center of attention, something she hated especially when it was at her expense. With a great sigh, Arduous stopped his verbal assault. He lifted his hat and ran his pudgy and sweaty fingers through his short brown mop of thinning hair. His words done their job, now running on shame Fluttershy would perform better. It was either that or be left an outcast by her classmates. This was the thing about teaching teenagers, they did most of the work when came to correcting mistakes because their insecurities provided incentives more than grades. Now he could focus on relaxing and leave the work to the kids. “Run the basics for the rest of class, tomorrow morning we’ll measure your wing power and go through the course again.” Arduous turned away and marched back to his chair and iced tea. Fluttershy hung her head in shame and made the long trip to the shed to get the weights for strength training. It was already hard enough to fly normal, now she humiliate herself further by barely getting the air with weights on her awkward limbs. She felt oh-so-familiar tears sting her eyes, threatening to tumble down her cheeks. Don’t cry, you big baby. she berated herself, You already embrassed yourself enough. Like sharks sensing blood in the water, the sound of laughter began circling around her. Two boys from her class swooped down from the course and landed directly in Fluttershy’s path. The wind from their landing knocked the unexpecting girl to the ground. The two boys howled like hyenas as if Fluttershy’s misfortune was the funniest thing in the world. “Where are you going, Klutzershy?” the shorter boy jeered. “Probably to go buy a new pair of wings.” his friend elbowed him, causing them to erupt in laughter again. “I-I’m g-going to get weights. L-leave me alone.” Fluttershy managed, hiding behind her bangs. “You’re going to more than that to fly like a normal Skyling tomorrow. You’ll need a miracle.” The lighter haired bully shouted through his laughter. Fluttershy didn’t respond and tried to push past them. The taller bully grabbed her long hair and pulled it hard, yanking her back down to the floor of the cloud. She yelped in pain from not only the fall but the rough pull to her hair. Tears began streaming as she massaged the scalp where some strands of hair was yanked out. Her wet eyes began searching for some help as she was clearly outnumbered. All the other students had cleared after Coach stopped yelling and said Coach was currently napping oblivious to her distress. Fluttershy cried out in resignation of her fate and braced for the emotional or physical pain. “You call yourself a Skyling? You might as clip your wings now!” The obvious ringleader of the two bullies continued. “In fact...” the boy roughly grabbed her right wing and pulled it to the full span. Fluttershy cried out in pain and began to struggle to get away. The other boy grabbed her arms and used his weight to pin her down. “No, please don’t...” Fluttershy begged fully crying. If the boy pulled even one of her flight feathers, she would have to fly unbalanced for months. And she knew they wouldn’t stop at one, Fluttershy may have been a weak flyer but she didn’t want to have go without something that made a Skyling. She made a small pray that the bullies weren’t paying attention in Biology and gritted her teeth for the pain. Before any of her feathers were pulled out a strong gust of wind knocked the main bully off Fluttershy’s wing. Through her tears, all she could see was a rainbow of hair. With the confusion she managed to push the other boy off of her and stood up. Wiping her eyes, Fluttershy could finally see her savior. The girl was small, almost five inches shorter than Fluttershy. She had slightly tanned skin, no doubt due to exposure to sun from a lot outdoor activities. She was wearing a bright turquoise crop top with a black tee underneath, athletic short shorts and white and magenta sneakers. Her eyes were the same shade of magenta as her shoes and fixed in fierce glare at the two bullies. But most alarming besides her sudden appearance was her hair, it was in short ponytail and had six bright colors to make a rainbow. Fluttershy couldn’t take her eyes off it, she had never seen anyone with so many separate colors in their hair. There’s no way that’s natural. She must have dyed it. Flutershy declared, then again here she was with pink hair so who was she to judge. The rainbow haired stood bravely in front of Fluttershy, not taking her eyes off the two bullies. Now off of the ground, Fluttershy could put together what happened. The light haired boy was blown off of her by the wind of how fast the rainbow girl was flying. He wasn’t just a few few feet away, he had been knocked back into a few clouds. After recovering from the shock, he pulled himself from the large fluffy cloud covered in water and spare pieces of cloud. Despite his new appearance his eyes were burning with anger and hatred for the new girl. His friend started to laughing at the boys new look, the rainbow smirked cockily and even Fluttershy couldn’t help but giggle. The boy shot his friend a death-glare, instantly shutting him up. He quickly flew back to the cloud and swooped right into the girl’s face. Even with the person between them, Fluttershy still shrunk back and hid behind her bangs. The rainbow girl didn’t even flinch and, despite the sheer size and weight difference between the two, stood her ground. “What’s your problem, Rainbow Crash?” the boy shot to the smaller girl. “You’re my problem, you jerk! What did she ever do you to you, huh?” this Rainbow “Crash” shot right back. “She existed, what’s it matter to you anyway? Don’t you have a race to lose or something?” the boy waved his hand dismissively. Rainbow “Crash” fumed and clenched her fist, if looks could kill both boys would six feet under. She opened her mouth to say another insult before stopping as a thought crossed her mind. “Okay, why don’t we have a little bet?” she smirked confidently. The boy raised one of eyebrows.”I’m listening.” “You, me and that idiot over there.” She shot a finger to the other boy who snapped to attention after being called out. “We race, if I win you don’t mess with her ever again.” she shot a look of sympathy in Fluttershy’s. “And what if I win?” the boy smiled haughtily, already looking down on the girl. “Then I’ll be your servant for all of Flight school.” she countered fearlessly. Fluttershy gasped, the boys leered lecherously, but the Rainbow girl glared back unabashedly as if already knowing what kinds of thoughts with through these pubescent boys’ minds. The boys looked back at each other for a moment before agreeing to her deal. “Around the usual place, one lap.” she finished, not showing any fear or hesitation at the prospect of losing. “Fine Rainbow Crash,” Fluttershy assumed that wasn’t her real name. “I hope you like maid uniforms ‘cuz that’s the only thing you’ll be wearing.” the taller boy looked a little too happy at that idea. Both boys began laughing confidently and flew over to the track were the big races took place, a place Fluttershy rarely visited. The Rainbow girl exhaled as soon the boys’ were out of earshot. She suddenly turned to Fluttershy, causing her to jump in surpise. “You think you can hold the flag.” Fluttershy nodded unable to get herself to speak clearly. The Rainbow girl smiled a genuine smile and flew off to meet the two boys, leaving Fluttershy alone. A stream of stress tears flowed down her face. Her legs shook like newborn deer nearly giving out and made her fall. She was petrified, not only had she nearly some of lost her flight feathers but now she had roped someone else into this. If only she had a strong enough flyer none of this would have happened in the first place. Everything the Rainbow girl had, Fluttershy wanted. She had myriad of colorful hair while she was stuck with boring and flat pale pink color. The girl managed to pull off comfortable and athletic clothes while she wore the bland sundresses her mother left up for her in the morning. And most of all she was oozing confidence and assertiveness, she took over the situation, was able to protect Fluttershy and stand up to the bullies despite being outnumbered. Thoughts raced through her mind as took the flag Coach thrown on the cloud in frustration with her poor attempt of flying. Would the girl win? What if she didn’t? Would she blame her for losing? What would those two have her do if she lost? Her racing thoughts and anxiety caused to chest to tighten. It was like lead weights were placed on her chest, her breathing became rapid like she wasn’t getting enough air. Fluttershy had always had problems with being high up in the clouds, but this, it was like being air tight elevator with ten people. After seconds that felt like they were stretched to an eternity, she began to recognize that this was one of her panic attacks. Fluttershy dropped to the ground and began slowing her breathing. She focused on her surroundings and began listing all things that affected her five senses. Children laughing and talking excitedly with their friends, the cool almost cold feeling of the cloud below hear, the black and white checkered flag she found a moment ago, the scent of water in the condensed clouds all around her and finally slight metallic taste of blood from bitting her tongue when she fell. With a calm and measured exhale, she managed to stand and her spread her wings to take off. Eventually her slow and weak wings managed to carry her to the flag bearer’s cloud in the middle of the track. She heard many people express that exasperation with her slow arrival, but said nothing. Counting down in her mind, she raised the flag. The racers spread their wings in anticipation, a look of determination spread to Rainbow girl’s face. Confindent in the face of fear, Fluttershy mused taking another shot at herself. Finishing her countdown, she waved the flag as hard as she could triggering the racers to go. Before she could blink the three racers took off whizzing by her, the wind stung her eyes and pulled her hair into her face. Trying to push her hair, Fluttershy was blown back by the torrent of air. The final racer flying was did it, she lost her footing and tumbled of the cloud. Her long hair was blinding her until she turned towards the earth causing it blow the opposite. Gravity, a tool that caused balloons to float and clouds to hang over the sky, was now pulling the teen Skyling to the surface. Her lungs froze in fear not allowing her to scream. Despite the stinging pain to her eyes, she stared unblinking to the green surface of the planet. Her skin burned with freezing cold winds whipping all around. Her wings snapped firmly to back, absolutely refusing to heed her prayers and open to save their from this fate. Her mind went blank with the abject terror of her current situation, not allowing her to form a single, coherent thought. Her body was betraying her, despite her whims it was making not effort to listen her and even try to save itself. Nothing could save her, she wasn’t dreaming or hallucinating. She was powerless to stop it. She was falling. Author's Note All right second official chapter . I’m still super nervous about this whole, I’ve written short stories for years now but this the first I’ve ever had others read it. I think that why I choose to write about Fluttershy, I really relate to her especially in sports. Anyway let me know how the pacing is going, I’m going too fast, too slow. I’m open to criticism of all kinds I need to get better, thanks for reading I’ll try to finish the next asap. Oh and to anyone curious the five sense technique is something I thought of to help with my panic attacks it really does to anyone struggling.
Chapter 3 Falling in Love Here’s the thing about falling, movies tend to stretch it out. In some cases people have enough time to turn around in midair, do a silent prayer to whatever god they believe in and think about all the moments leading up to their fall. This wasn’t Fluttershy’s case, the only thing on her mind was falling. Eventually, fear released its icy grip on her lungs and finally allowed Fluttershy to gasp for air. Sadly, almost all of it was immediately expelled through her screams of terror. She thrashed her arms and legs around, as if trying to find something solid to grasp into existence. Fluttershy was panicking and she had every right to be. She was going to die, there was no way she could survive from this height. As the green floor of a clearing in the forest grew closer and closer, the grim reality set in and a strange calmness was sent through Fluttershy’s mind. There was no fighting this, her wings still refused to open and everyone was still to preoccupied with the race to even notice she was gone let alone that she had fallen. Ironically, a race that was originally for her benefit would be the thing that brought her life to a sudden end. She would have laughed if the wind wasn’t practically suffocating her. Shifting her weight, Fluttershy turned herself to face the very clouds she had fallen. The people on them had long sunken away to mere blobs of color, blissfully unaware of the teen hurtling to the ground. Fluttershy laughed humorlessly as tears welled up in her eyes. She let them fall with no restraint, no one would see them anyway so why even bother. Funny she thought, I did everything to not be noticed by others. Now I’m going to die forgotten. Fluttershy smiled a painful smile before squeezing her eyes shut awaiting the pain and nothingness of death. Suddenly, her body came to a screeching halt cushioned by some amorphous force. There was no pain, no nothingness, she didn’t even lose consciousness. “Is this Heaven?” Fluttershy wondered aloud, her eyes still squeezed shut. “No, this is Marigold.” a thin, whispery voice answered. Fluttershy tore her eyes open and she sat up searching for the source of the voice. Before she could even call out to the speaker, she looked down at her new location. Her jaw dropped as she realized what had happened, her saviors were butterflies. Thousands of them, each with unique shades of pinks, yellows, and blues, she had never seen such creatures before, the only things that flew high enough to reach her were usually birds of prey or the occasional group of migrating geese. But these were so new to her, they were fragile looking yet here they were supporting her entire weight. Something was calming about them, so serene, she almost felt like singing. But she wasn’t exactly some songwriter or something so it wasn’t like a song was just going to pop in her head. The butterflies beneath her began to calmly and slowly disperse, allowing Fluttershy to spread her wings and hover on her own. She didn’t even have trouble doing it like she normally did in class, watching the butterflies calmly flap their wings spread serenity to her frazzled nerves allowing her calmly fly on her own without pressure. Fluttershy watched them fly off to their various homes, all but one. This was one was a bright merrigold with black and brown spots on its wings and it hovered just above her head. It seemed like it was curious about something, That’s fair, I would be pretty curious if something fell on me in my home. Remembering the rules she had read about dealing with wild animals. “Shhh. It’s okay, thank you all for saving me.” Fluttershy spoke softly. She held her hand as a perch and the butterfly landed to rest its wings. Fluttershy’s heart leap with excitement, not only she had saved by a beautiful cloud of butterflies but now one landed on her finger with no coaxing. She squeed with delight, watching the butterfly calmly opened and closed its wings. “You’re so beautiful!” she cooed happily. “You are as well.” another whispery voice said flattered. “Huh?” Fluttershy blinked. She scanned the clearing she landed in. With the exception of herself and a few woodland creatures there wasn’t anyone else there. Must have been the fall she thought, allowing the butterfly to fly away. I’m still pretty shooken up. It’s not like animals can talk or something like that, Fluttershy rolled her eyes at the very concept. That’s something for a kids’ show or those the Disneigh movies that always made her tear up. The butterfly, after getting a rest, made its way to one of the tulips that lined the clearing. Unbeknownst to butterfly, a thin, almost invisible spider web lay in wait for an insect enticed by the promise of nectar. The silk entangled the creature’s wings and trapped it only inches from its food. Its violent thrashing triggered the owner of the web that lunch was served. The spider crawled out slowly, choosing the support threads to walk on and get closer to its earned meal. “Wait!” Fluttershy flew towards the web, doing her best not to stir up a wind to blow both creatures away. She arrived just inches in front of the arachnid. “That butterfly is poisonous, if you eat it you’ll die.” she warned, hoping in some alternate world the spider would be able to understand her. For some reason, this strange otherworld seemed the one she lived in, as the spider paused for a moment and then using its fangs and front two legs to cut the web holding the butterfly, setting it free. “Whew, thanks kid.” chittered oddly feminine voice. Fluttershy looked around again for a person because there was just no way a spider thanked her. There’s no way that spiders even have the mental ability to form a language let alone one that she, a Skyling, could understand. I must have gotten a concussion from the fall, she shook her head. Before she could further question her withering sanity, an deafening boom erupted through sky and explosion of colors flew across the afternoon sky. For the second time that day, Fluttershy’s jaw dropped as she stared at the mixture of sound and color flying overhead. As the boom faded away, her ears were filled the sounds various voices all yelling at once. Fluttershy’s hands flew over her ears to try protect from the sounds’ assault on her eardrums. Where were they coming from? she scanned the forest again, there so many voices it had to be a lot of people, but how could she have missed them? “What was that?” a high pitched female voice squeaked. “To the pond children, it must be a predator!” a older male voice chirped. “Flee! Flee! Flee!” a group of voices sang in unison. “Hide in trees, the birds cannot get us all!” the same whispery, thin voice squealed. “Wait! Birds?” she wondered aloud. Fluttershy was confused why would a human ever be afraid of birds nevertheless after an explosion. “Flee, princess!” a songbird hovered a few inches in front of her face. “The skies are ablaze with light!” Fluttershy stared slack jawed at the bird, she was too stunned for words. Those voices weren’t from people, they were from animals. More importantly, they were all terrified from that “sonic rainbow” thing, they needed to be calmed down. Gathering all the courage she possessed, Fluttershy walked towards where she heard most of the voices, on the edge of clearing. She cleared her throat and prepared her most calm and collected voice. “Shhhh.” she shushed. “It’s okay.” The voices stopped. Various burrowing animals poked their heads out, from snakes to bunnies. Fluttershy gave them a kind smile and they followed her into the clearing. Cupping a hand to her ear, she walked to the pond where she could hear some otters duck into the water. “It’s alright, you can come out now.” she spoke loudly this time, ensuring they heard her voice. After a few minutes, an otter family surfaced together. After climbing onto the grass, they greeted her by rubbing their heads against her legs affectionately, she returned the affection with soothing pats on the head and tummy. Eventually, the birds returned one by one as the rainbow sat peacefully overheard. They chirped happily, landing on the grass next to her. Fluttershy tucked her sundress underneath her so could sit comfortably with the animals, she felt more at peace here than she ever did in the clouds. Here there were no tests, no competition, no one to force her to be something she wasn’t. Just her and theserene beauty of nature, she could get used this. As the thought of staying here passed through her mind, Fluttershy felt a warm glow spread to her shoulders before a white flash of light shone. When the light faded on her shoulders were left with three pink butterflies. Fluttershy’s smile grew a mile wide, Even destiny agrees with me, she quirked. She felt like a Skyling with a new lease on life, now she had a constant reminder of her purpose in life. “It really is an honor to meet you, Princess.” the voice returned again. Fluttershy looked up only to be greeted by the merrigold butterfly from earlier that afternoon. “So that voice was you, huh?” Fluttershy put her finger out for the butterfly. “Yes, your highness.” the butterfly obliged landing gracefully on her finger. “You shouldn’t call me that, I’m not a princess.” Fluttershy corrected. “What do you mean, even we butterflies can tell royalty when see them.” the butterfly replied assuredly. Fluttershy shook her head. “No I’m not, the only true royal is Queen Celestia and she doesn’t have any children.” She wasn’t wrong, the only family even distantly related to the great Solar Mage was Prince Blueblood and even then it was so diluted at this point any noble could say they were related. The relation was in name only and he had no real power in leading the land. “Only the Fae of royal heritage have the power to us. If you are not royal, how are we speaking right now?” “Look Miss...” “Marigold, your highness.” “Miss Marigold, I can only speak to you all because of my cutie... What did you just say Fae?” Fluttershy exclaimed. What in world was a fae? “SHY!!! What, in the of the name of the Goddess Faust, are you doing down here!” an all too familiar voice bellowed, shocking her out of her calmness. “Oh no.” Fluttershy moaned. “Do not trust him. He will try to deceive you. Be on your guard.” Marigold warned, fluttering close to her ear. “W-what do you mean?” Fluttershy stuttered. Marigold didn’t answer, she took off back into the forest. Fluttershy watched her disappearing form. What did she mean? Who would try to deceive her? she thought as her Coach approached. A chill ran down her spine, her wings shuffled on her back, itching to spread and fly away. All of her nerves were at attention as if they were ready to spring into action. She instantly hopped to her feet as he marched furiously towards her. “Well!” Arduous crossed his arms, tapping his finger waiting for her response. He had gotten so close to her, he was only an arm’s length away. Fluttershy didn't answer to preoccupied with her thoughts, it didn’t make sense. Coach didn’t ever move far from his seat until class was done, never before. How did he even know she fell, he was asleep the entire time and how would he know where she fell? Her eyes glanced to forest where her Coach emerged from. And why did he come from the forest and not the sky? she wracked her brain and none of this made any sense. “Goddess, Shy. You’re hopeless” Arduous facepalmed. “Come with me. Now. And maybe I won’t mention this little hooky day of yours to your parents.” He reached out to grab her but she took a step back to avoid him. Arduous narrowed his eyes and made another attempt to reach her. This time Fluttershy simply moved to away without moving her feet. Her wings spread, ready to take off at a moment’s notice. “Fluttershy, you are already in deep enough trouble as is. Do you want you want add disobedience to playing hooky.” Arduous growled, shooting a heated glare at her. “I wasn’t playing hooky.” Fluttershy snapped, surprising herself. “What are you...” “I fell from the clouds.” she cut him off. “And a real teacher would be making sure I didn’t seriously hurt myself from the fall. Or that I, amateur flyer, didn’t hurt my wings from trying to catch myself.” Arduous Hooves’ eyes went wide with shock and a slight twinge of fear. He shot out an arm towards her, she jumped out of the way and took to the skies. Fluttershy never flapped her wings so hard in her life, she fought hard against gravity but felt a strong hand grip her ankle. She turned to find her teacher or whatever creature looked like her teacher gripping her ankle. “You aren’t going anyway, Little princess.” he hissed through his inhumanly sharp fangs. The eyes of her teacher faded away in a green flicker and were replaced with pupilless blue ones. Fluttershy tried to kick her leg free, in response the creature to dig its nails in her skin. She cried out in pain while a sickening smirk spread over its face almost too eager to cause her pain. She felt her sticky, warm blood flow from the wound. The creature pulled her leg down while still keeping its claws in her ankle. Fluttershy pulled up as hard as she could while shaking not caring if it made the wound open more. The creature fought against her, raising its other arm to grab her ankle better. Before the fake Coach could reach her, a hawk swooped in and pecked at the hand holding her leg. The creature hissed inhumanly clutching its injured hand. The hawk dived slashing with its talons at the creature’s face trying to get at its eyes. “Flee, your highness. We will deal with it.” a noble sounding male voice screeched at her. She turned and headed towards the large clouds that her flight school was seated on. More birds swooped in from the forest and began dive-bombing or clawing at the creature. Not all of them had sharp talons like the hawk but what they lacked in claws they made up in sheer numbers, as many went for the face and eyes of the creature. With the chaos of the birds, a male deer charged from the forest and knocked the creature over. The Fake Arduous, giving up acting human, hissed openly and slashed upwards at the new threat. The deer narrowly dodged and retaliated by lower his head and charging antlers first. Fake Arduous tried to stand up and dodge at the same time but wasn’t as agile as the deer and was stabbed in the abdomen. If the eyes were enough of a hint of the creature’s inhuman nature, its green fluorescent blood was confirmnation. Fluttershy felt her stomach churn, nearly causing her to vomit. This was the first time she had seen violence like this, but now wasn’t the time to stop. Not wasting this opportunity, she took off to safety of the clouds. Had Fluttershy been timed, she was certain she would broken all of her old speed records and even the records of other members of her class. She was that fast, well to be fair she was that scared. Fluttershy sped past the clouds her class was on not even bothering to spare it a glance. She didn’t stop flapping her wings even as she flew past that Rainbow girl who was busy celebrating something. Fluttershy was so not interested, she kept going until she reached the familiar gate of her house. Finally, she landed in front yard nearly on the verge of tears. Fluttershy had never been so glad to be home, not caring about her wound she ran to her front door. Now on a normal day Fluttershy would remember that she put the key under the mat or politely knock on the door. However between; the shock of falling and thinking she was going to die, finding a clearing full of animals she hadn’t seen outside of a book, seeing a sonic rainbow thing in the sky, finding out she could talk to animals, getting her cutie mark, and being attacked by some shape-shifter disguised as her teacher, this was not a normal day. Fluttershy proceed to pound on the door like the police at a magic grass house. After half a minute, her younger brother finally opened the door. “Alright jeez, don’t you normally have the key.” Zephyr Breeze yawned, despite the fact it was almost 4 in afternoon. Beside herself in relief and exhaustion, Fluttershy collapsed into a hug much to the shock of Zephyr. “Whoa, what’s up with you?” taller boy questioned holding his sister up. “I’m just...” Fluttershy said dreamily. “So glad to see you.” With that final statement, the exhaustion of flying and all the events of the day took ahold of her and she passed out into her brother’s arms. Author's Note Have you ever been writing and listening to music, only to realize you’ve been writing the lyrics. I’m not kidding it took me a whole paragraph to realize I wrote lyrics to Death of a Bachelor. I probably wouldn’t have noticed until I reread it, I’m such a great writer . Thanks for putting up with my atrocious writing and reading this story you guys, I really do appreciate it.
Chapter 4 School’s In Every inch of Fluttershy’s body ached, which made sense as just she awoke to find herself on a forest’s floor. Slowly raising her sore body, she got a good look at her new location. Almost all of the trees were covered in a slick layer of moss making the roots and trunks a deep green color. A blanket of fog hung in the air making it impossible to see farther than a few feet around her. Oddly, despite waking up in a new place she felt at peace as if deep down she knew nothing would harm her here. Fluttershy shivered rubbing her bare arms, the bright yellow sundress she wore didn’t exactly provide much in terms of warmth. Especially since she discovered that she somehow lost her shoes when arrived to this place. She slowly rose to her feet, struggling to not to slip on the roots. In the distance Fluttershy heard a twig snap. Her gaze snapped towards the source of the noise, a young doe. This deer was unlike any she had seen in the books it had white fur. Her coat was like fresh snow on the first day of winter, completely pure untouched by other color. Even in the foggy setting, the doe’s coat seemed to glow. The doe stared unblinking at her, not moving an inch. Unconsciously, Fluttershy took a step closer to the deer to get a better look. The doe turned away from her and leaped away in opposite direction. “W-wait!” Fluttershy shouted, taking off after her. Fluttershy ran not caring what debris she stepped on. She had to catch it, she didn’t know why but she couldn’t be left behind. Branches tore in her dress and nicked her skin, but she continued running feeling the cold forest air chill her lungs. Every time she got closer to deer, it would always leap forward increasing her lead on Fluttershy. “Wait! Please don’t leave me!” Fluttershy held her arm out trying to reach out for the deer. The deer ignored her and continued its silent trek through the forest. Tears streamed down her face, her lungs burned from running and she had lost the sensation in her legs. Her vision began to darken until she could only make out the white outline of the deer amidst the darkness. “I DON’T WANT TO BE ALONE!!!” Fluttershy shot up in her bed covered in a cold sweat. Her chest heaved quickly and her hands were slick from gripping the sheets. She ran a sweat covered hand through her slightly damp hair. Fluttershy brought her knees and rested her head on them, slowly rocking back and forth. It was just a dream her thoughts soothed. I’m safe, I’m safe. Was she though? Earlier this day, something that looked like her teacher tried to capture her. It knew her about her parents and called her “princess”. Was she really safe at home? What if it followed her? Can it change into anyone? How would she know who to trust? Are there more of them? Fluttershy felt her breathing quicken and become very shallow. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath counting the seconds before she exhaled. This isn’t helping. I need to do this one step at a time. Panicking was only going to make things worse for her. First things first she had to tell her parents what happened. Fluttershy glanced out her window, Queen Celestia has already begun setting the sun and part of the sky was a deep blue. This meant her dad should be home and she could tell both of them at once. Fluttershy went to the side of her bed and stood up. Hesitating for only a second she walked to her door and opened it. “Please, there must be something else we can do.” a meek feminine voice begged. It was her mom, she sounded so close to tears. “This is insane! It’s too early for her to leave, she’s only fifteen years old. She doesn’t even have her cutie mark yet for Faust’s sake.” a normally quiet male voice fumed. That was her dad but she had never heard him so angry before. Fluttershy walked softly heading to the stairs. “I have my orders, sir.” an official sounding person answered curtly. “If she were to stay here any longer, she would hunted down and killed. The Academy will both protect and teach her.” Fluttershy’s blood ran cold. She stood frozen on the stairs. Her mother started crying, while her father arguing with the voice. They were talking about her, her life was in danger. It broke her heart not only hearing her mother cry but her father fighting so hard on her behalf. She sunk low on the stairs and tears streaked silently down her cheeks. Eventually, the living room grew silent. An eerie and uncomfortable silence, only broken by her mother’s voice. “Zephyr...please go wake up your sister.” her voice was shaking and barely audible but everyone in the house heard her. Fluttershy listened the slow footsteps of her young brother until he appeared at the bottom of stairs. The siblings stared at each other neither one of them breaking the gaze. He turned to their parents and nodded to the top of stairs. Using the wall for support Fluttershy stood up and made her way into the living room. Her mother sat on the couch, clutching tissues in shaking hands her puffy eyes fixed on her daughter. Her father stood in center of room in front of a tall royal guard. The guard was stern and built no doubt from years of service to the kingdom. His wings were covered with immaculate white feathers preened to perfection and his blonde hair was messy from his golden helmet. His eyes were a bright blue, the standard color for soldiers. All the lower soldiers of the royal guard had to change their eye color to standard blue. In the past, it was meant to make them all look the same to ensure enemies of Magicka never learned who the soldiers were. However, in modern times as the three races intermarried, the soldiers came in all kinds of skin colors. The tradition continued as a rite of passage. With all of his professionalism, Fluttershy saw a twinge of sympathy as she came down the stairs. It came as a bit of reassurance that the guards were not the inhuman, unfeeling creatures they were portrayed as on television. She turned her attention back to her parents “Fluttershy,” her father sighed, looking to his wife “you have to...” “I know. I heard from the stairs.” Fluttershy couldn’t look them in eyes, it hurt too much. Her mother jumped from the couch and pulled her daughter into a hug. Any restraint on her tears went out the window and Fluttershy began wept openly. Posey held her daughter and, despite her being much shorter, supported her fully. She apologized too many times to count. Fluttershy’s father and brother joined in the embrace and entire the Shy family cried in each other’s arms. After what seemed like an eternity, Posey broke apart the hug. “I’ll go pack your things. We don’t know how long you’ll be gone.” Fluttershy nodded and let go of her mother, immediately feeling cold. Fluttershy stared unblinking at the wall. The guard had begun explaining why she had to leave but his words were like white noise to her. Eventually he realized the teen wasn’t listening to him and decided to hold off on his explanation. Everyone stood up once Posey walked down the stairs, she was carrying a suitcase and Fluttershy’s light green over the shoulder bag. Her entire life fit into one suitcase and a bag. Walking without thinking, Fluttershy grabbed the bag, carefully putting the strap between her wings, and the suitcase. Fluttershy’s dad walked to the door and held it open for the two. The guard left first, giving the family time to say final goodbyes. Zephyr ran up and hugged his sister, she felt his hot tears drip onto her shoulders. They felt like acid burning into her skin but Fluttershy fully reciprocated the hug. Cumulus gave a hug and kiss to his daughter’s damp cheeks, he gave her a smile not wanting the last thing she saw was her father crying. Fluttershy tried to smile naturally, but it looked pained and forced. Posey placed an reassuring hand on her daughter’s shoulder. “I’ll see you...later.” Fluttershy didn’t want to say goodbye. It had such a final connotation, even if it sounded weird “see you later” was of a less bitter pill to swallow. Despite her being the one to cry first, Posey was the only one to speak. “We’ll see you later, honey.” was her goodbye. Fluttershy got inside placing her bags onto the back seat of the black carriage, the standard issue for carrying civilians, and closed the door. The soldier climbed into the front seat and started the magical engine. In the past, carriages were seen as a privilege for the extremely wealthy and did little more than flaunt that the owner could afford to “employ” Gaians or the occasional Skyling to pull them around. Some even used whips to “encourage” Gaians to move faster. As soon as Queen Celestia came into power, she ensured that anyone who used Gaians to pull carriages would be jailed for a hate crime. Nowadays they run on magic and could be enchanted to fly into Skyling cities, but they remain as ugly blot on Magicka’s history. Fluttershy stared out of the tinted window watching her family hugging each other. She could tell by the way her mother’s shoulder were shaking that she was crying and her father was only holding back by a thread. As if torturing her, the guard took his time before finally pulling off. Fluttershy reached into her bag and found her phone and earphones. “While you’re at the Academy I’m going to ask you not to talk to anyone from the outside.” the guard watched her the rear-view mirror, his blue eyes pierced into hers. “Can I trust not to do that or I am going to have take it?” Fluttershy nodded. “Good.” His eyes went back to the road. Fluttershy put in her earphones or she liked to call them a modern version of a ‘Do Not Disturb’ sign. She didn’t even play music, she just wanted to avoid conversation as much as possible. The night sky sat peacefully shining a seemingly infinite amount of twinkling stars. Fluttershy frowned, this night couldn’t even bother to rain or show any imperfections. Instead the moon shone proudly in sky, the only thing even close to blemish was a dark shadow on the surface and even that seemed to resembled the profile of a woman. As if even at its worst, the night was too beautiful and tranquil to even bother with the qualms of teenage girl leaving home. Fluttershy played instrumental music just to fill the empty air but sat the entire trip in a solemn silence. On the outskirts of Magicka Seated on an ancient sable throne accented with fluorescent greens was a Queen. But she was no spoon-fed little royal coddled from youth to be handed the throne. No, she earned it this black, spiked crown that sat comfortably amongst her dark cerulean hair and no one in the Hive dared to disagree. The Queen had dark brown skin complimented with her cold harlequin green eyes. She wore deep ebony sleeved dress accented with blue with a generous amount of cleavage and a bright emerald green corset. Even though she was a royal, she despised idleness, even now she was communing with the generals of her army to be positioned in optimal places in her enemy’s kingdom. Even the great Sun Goddess had blind spots in her immortal watch. Her pointed ears quirked to the sounds of humming wings in the cavernous halls of the Hive. We will continue this conversation later,Commander. Of course, my Queen. She cut off the link and turned her attention to her drone. He was pitiful to say the least. His wings were torn even by the standards for their kind, his dark brown skin was covered in dirt, blood, and heavens knows what else, and most pathetic of all he was on his knees sobbing like a newborn grub. She rolled her eyes, besides idleness she hated when people would let their emotions take over completely it made her job so much harder. “Your report, Fang?” the Queen commanded, already knowing the answer based on his mewling. “Forgive my Queen, I-i-i-i di-d-d-d my best! I—“ “Quit your blubbering, you cur!” she hissed exposing her fangs. The drone mouth snapped shut. Tears streaming down his cheeks and his entire body shook in absolute terror. The Queen rose from her great throne and made her way down the marble stairs to the floor of her throne room. Her face was cold and unreadable not that the drone even dare look her in the eye. Her heels clicked down the stairs, echoing as they were the only sound in the great hive. “Now, your report? Where you successful in apprehending the little princess?” the Queen spat like very word left a sour taste in her mouth. The drone didn’t answer but the Queen could feel the waves of fear oozing from his pores. Feeding on emotion made their species especially great at sensing it. She continued slow walk her heels still clicking the floor. The drone lifted his blue pupilless eyes only to be greeted by the Queen in all her glory. She was tall even from the perspective of the kneeling drone, her height was last measured at a good 7 feet. “Please my Queen, I can still be useful...” his begging was interrupted by heeled boot to the teeth. Blood and chips of teeth went flying as the drone fell back into the floor. He gurgled on his blood and howled out in agony. “I beg of you don’t...” the Queen stamped her foot onto his throat. He gurgled, choking on the pressure and the blood in his throat. The drone’s eyes went wide with panic and began desperately clawing at her foot. The Queen’s stared coldly into his eyes, watching him squirm and thrash about. A wicked smile spread to her lips. “Hmm, what’s that? Fang darling, you have to speak up now.” The drone’s body went continued convulsing before suddenly going limp, his eyes still frozen wide open. She stepped harder until she heard a sickening crunch. Not missing a beat she turned back to her throne. “Clean up this mess and get me a new pair of shoes. This ones are completely ruined.” the Queen called over her shoulder. Three drones appeared from the ever-changing halls of the Hive. Two picked up the body and carted it off to be disposed outside while the other one began scrubbing the blood off the inky gray floor. The Queen sat back on her throne and crossed her legs with fresh blood still dripping from her black glass heels. This was how a ruler stayed in power; not a little fancy name, not some great bloodline, not age. But having the conviction to make your actions match your words. Queen Chrysalis had earned her throne and she planned on keeping it. She wasn’t going to let some grub from a long dead hive to take what belonged to her in first place. She chuckled imagining how that the “princess” would grovel at her feet all too soon. Author's Note This is my first time ever writing violence let me if it’s paced weird or just plain awful (I rated the story teen just in case it’s too much for some people). You probably noticed but I really pushed forward the time someone gets their cutie mark. Think of it like puberty, some people are just late bloomers. When you think about it discovering your purpose in life takes a much longer time than does in the show and some people never really find it until their forties. I think that’s my biggest fear, at 20 years old a lot people are expecting me to have my life together when like a few years ago I was asking to go to bathroom. Anyway for reference the ages of the girls; AJ and Rarity are the oldest at 16, Rainbow and Fluttershy are both 15 and Pinkie and Twilight are the youngest at 14, despite the gaps in age they’re all in the grade at school. Thanks for reading .
Chapter 5 The Death of the Party Canterlot Academy stood alone in the Everfree forest, no other buildings surrounded it. The campus was enclosed with a twelve foot tall gate made of stone, while the front door was metal. The door had ornately designed sun and moon nearly touching while closed but when it opened the celestial bodies were pulled apart. The outside walls of the building were a deep burgundy and lined with cream outer bricks. It was meant to look inviting while still being stern but to Fluttershy it only looked like prison. She stood in the main courtyard holding her things, staring at her new home. After the guard dropped her off she didn’t have any energy to explain that she hadn’t heard where to go. And there was no staff in front of the building to ask where to go, so here she stood too nervous to ask for help and too awkward to look for the guard and ask for him to repeat himself. Isn’t social anxiety so much fun! she sighed. “Hey, are you having a staring contest with the school?” a cheery voice called from out of nowhere. Fluttershy jumped, dropping her suitcase to floor. A girl appeared from the ether directly in front of Fluttershy. The new girl’s light cerulean eyes gazed quizzically at Fluttershy. Where had she come from, Fluttershy didn’t hear any footsteps. The girl was just as tall as Fluttershy and had pink hair like her. That was about were the similarities ended as the girl’s hair while pink was a few shades darker and was ridiculously curly. It was done up in a low ponytail with some hair left out in a bang compared to Fluttershy’s natural look. She wore short blue jean shorts and long yellow striped white socks that went above her knees, her shirt was a simple bubblegum pink with two blue and one yellow balloons. Another stark difference between the two girls was that the new girl was very curvy, she had wide hips and a generous bust. “Oooo I wanna try I wanna try!!!” the girl bounced up and down before holding her eyes open trying not to blink. Fluttershy blushed slightly, realizing she was staring at the girl’s “assets”. The girl’s eyes began to water and turned a very unhealthy red. Fluttershy cleared her throat politely. The girl began shaking violently and groaned in pain still managing to hold her eyes open. Until finally, she blinked. “Awwwww, so close.” she shook her fist at the building “You win this round building.” “Umm...” The girl turned back Fluttershy almost like she forgot she was there. Fluttershy was used to it. “Um...hi. My name is...Fluttershy.” she mumbled hiding behind her bangs like usual. “Hi Fluttershy. My name is Pinkie Pie. Well it’s actually Pinkamena Diane Pie but you can call me Pinkie” Fluttershy’s eyes widened, no one ever heard her when she spoke to them for the first time. Pinkie Pie gave her a kind smile. “I have very good ears.” Pinkie answered, sensing her confusion. Pinkie suddenly gasped loudly startling Fluttershy for the second time. A huge excited smile spread across her face. She grabbed Fluttershy’s shoulders and shook her in enthusiasm. “OH. MY. GODDESS. Are you a new student?!?” she punctuated every word. “Yes.” Fluttershy managed with all the shaking. Pinkie stopped shaking her and jumped up and down squealing with excitement. She grabbed Fluttershy’s hand and pulled her up the stairs into the building. Pinkie went on like rapid-fire all about the building nearly dislocating Fluttershy’s wrist. “This the cafeteria, the food here is sooooo good especially the cupcakes. Want one?” she pulled out a cupcake with blue frosting. “How...where?” Fluttershy stared at the dessert that appeared from nowhere. The question went unanswered as she whisked away to next stop on their impromptu tour. Pinkie rattled off the classrooms and extracurricular rooms in the school talking a mile a minute. Until the reached the final stop on the tour. “And here’s the stairs.” Pinkie waved both arms with grandiose, finally releasing her death grip on Fluttershy’s wrist. “Where do they go?” she massaged her wrist to allow blood to return to her skin. “The Dorms, we don’t sleep in the classrooms silly.” she giggled. Fluttershy figured it was a boarding school but she wasn’t fully comfortable with the idea of sharing a room. Even with her parents and her younger brother she always got a room to herself. Being naturally introverted the idea of not getting privacy after an emotional taxing day of school was already annoying her. She groaned and followed Pinkie Pie up the stairs. The dorms were built similar to the rooms of a hotel, with doors going down the hallway. On the opposite side of each room was a separate bathroom, one for each room. The wallpaper was a royal blue with white highlights. Before they got the actual rooms, there was a large common area with a large flatscreen television with a PlayStation and a Xbox, a large couch that seated at least six people and chairs for extra people. Pinkie Pie went on about all the games she owned and how great she was at Super Smash Brothers, had Fluttershy been in a better mood she would have humored Pinkie but she was far too exhausted to be polite. “And here’s your room.” Pinkie gestured to a plain looking wooden door it was the first one from the common area. Great now she would have to listen to people play around at all hours of the night. Fluttershy grabbed the door handle and turned it experimentally. It was unlocked oddly enough but it was for the best as she didn’t have her room. She was looking forward to taking a long shower and falling asleep in a comfortable bed. All of the stress of the sudden move had left smelling less than fresh. “SURPRISE!!!” a chorus of voices shouted at her all at once. In shock, Fluttershy dropped her suitcase. She jumped backwards, but Pinkie was standing too close and Fluttershy tripped and pulled her down to the ground. “Oh my goodness, were we too loud.” a purple haired girl asked. Fluttershy felt the all the eyes in the room on her, making her feel small. She helped Pinkie up from their most recent acquaintanceship with the carpet. She just wanted to crawl into bed and be surrounded in nonjudgmental silence not having a party with complete strangers. The purple haired girl cleared her throat and tried to alleviate the awkwardness. She was by the best dressed of the girls in the room which wasn’t hard as the girls wore casual clothes. This girl wore a lovely black pencil skirt and a slightly off-white long sleeve shirt with a neckerchief, all complimented with a black pair of heels. She picked up an elegantly wrapped bag from the couch behind her. “Hello my name is Rarity St. Germain.” She handed off the bag. “Here you go darling, just a few essentials for staying in a new places.” These “essentials” were a small compact with a large black and blue butterfly on the front, a pair of seafoam jewel earrings, and bottle of perfume. Despite them seeming frivolous in nature, the gifts were highly versatile and could be used no matter the time. Fluttershy was surprised as the objects were strangely personalized. “Do you like them? We only got your picture recently so I didn’t have time to make you a gorgeous ensemble to compliment your figure.” Rarity looked visibly disappointed at this more than Fluttershy. Fluttershy gave a polite smile, “It’s okay, these are great gifts. Thank you.” Rarity flashed a blinding smile and sat back onto the couch. The next girl to give her gift was a tall, strong looking Gaian named Jacklyn Apple, she had blonde hair tied together with a bright red band and wore a brown Stetson. Everything from her orange flannel and blue jeans to her sturdy looking, brown boots just screamed farm girl. Her gift was a hand stitched quilt. It was surprisingly expertly crafted, every stitch was made with such love and care despite her being a stranger to this girl. She gave her thanks and received a bone crushing hug. The girl by far the most mature one in the room and took the role of big sister to everyone. AJ, as she asked to called, exuded a welcoming and comforting aura, soothing Fluttershy’s anxiety. Also her freckles were just too cute! Next was a Mage named Twilight Sparkle, she had deep, dark blue hair with a purple and a bright raspberry streak running through it. Her school girl looking outfit told Fluttershy she was the studious type as did her gift. “Our teacher Ms. Harshwhinny mentioned that you were a fairy so I decided to get you a little reading material on your species.” Twilight levitated an ancient looking tome from her bag. Fluttershy grabbed it with a delicate touch as the book looked older than time itself. Fluttershy rarely met any Mages, as it was rare for any to be skilled enough to learn a cloud walking spell, but she could tell Twilight was not one. For starters, she used a levitation spell without a wand. All Mages even the immortal Sunbringer had to use a wand or a staff to focus their magic in order to do spells, if they didn’t the magic would an unfocused ball of energy flying around randomly. This was why baby Mages were dangerous to be around and must have their magic suppressed and is only released when they begin training in school. The other reason why was that her magic aura was bright raspberry color instead of the violet color of her eyes. She didn’t what she or the other girls were but she was afraid to bring it up. What was she supposed to say, ‘Hey let’s go around the room and each say one interest you have and what your heritage is’ that would be ridiculously intrusive. Fluttershy thanked Twilight and asked if she would be willing to help her study the book. Twilight’s eyes light up like a Heart’s Warming tree and she agreed with a huge giddy smile. She was happy that Twiligh agreed to help because the book was so large and written in old English it would take at least three archaeologists to comb over it and understand even a sentence. Next was Pinkie Pie, who was nearly bursting from excitement wanting for her turn. She practically threw her gift at Fluttershy. It was a stuffed white rabbit, Fluttershy cooed affectionately hugging the toy close to her chest. She thanked Pinkie and named the toy Angel because of its pure white fur. Pinkie Pie’s smile larger than the one of the girl who's being celebrated. The final gift belonged to Rainbow Dash, who Fluttershy just recognized much to the rainbow haired girl’s disdain. “Thanks for standing up for me.” Fluttershy blushed. Rainbow Dash chuckled, ”Nah it was nothing. I kinda owe you one anyway, that race got me my cutie mark and put me down in the history books.” “What do you mean?” Pinkie took the bait. “Oh I just me proving those old stories and making a sonic rainboom, you know. No biggie.” Rainbow checked her nails, trying to sound cool and detached. No one in the room reacted. “What in the hell is a sonic rainbow?” Jacklyn questioned. “A Sonic Rainboom!” Rainbow urged, dropping the cool act. The girls continued staring at her with confused expressions. “You know the old story about a Skyling flying fast enough to break the sound barrier and create a huge rainbow that can be seen from anywhere.” She went on, looking exasperated. “I think I remember that story. That’s so amazing that you can do something that unbelievable.” Fluttershy lied, hoping to spare her feelings. Rainbow Dash puffed out her chest with pride and handed Fluttershy her gift. It was a pair ankle weights much to her dismay. She hoped to escaped the exhaustion of flight training. Fluttershy gave a fake smile and thanked Rainbow. After the gift exchanging, the girls sat in an awkward silence. Taking this opportunity, Fluttershy ducked away into her room to finally put down her things. They ate snacks while she placed her suitcase under her new bed. No one spoke other than polite conversation, even Pinkie was quiet (well quieter than normal). Fluttershy recognized this silence as she used it many times before, it was the silence of trying to avoid an elephant in the room. “Okay, ah’ll say it.” AJ exclaimed, tired of the waiting. “We’ve been cooped up in huge school like a bunch of hens for dinner. Ah wanna go home already.” AJ threw her arms up in frustration. “We all want to go home, but Queen Celestia asked that go to this school.” Twilight explained. “Why should we suffer because we’re a little different.” Rarity demanded. Twilight sat in stunned silence before regaining her composure. “Her majesty has deemed this to be the safest place for us in the land.” “Funny, I don't recall the guards mention that this was prison instead of a school.” Rarity added bitterly, earning a glare from Twilight. “Well it’s not like all of us are forced to be here.” Twilight shot back venomously. “And there it is, I was beginning to wonder when you would bring that up.” “You act like you trapped here but Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy and I are the only ones who can’t leave.” “I-i... can’t leave.” Fluttershy asked, tears welling up in her eyes. “Nice job, Twilight. Make her cry on her own party.” Rainbow announced breaking up the argument. Pinkie walked over to crying girl and rubbed her back. “It's not my fault, Jacklyn brought it up.” She pointed accusingly. “Don’t drag me into this, you decided to be a sour apple.” AJ put her hands on her hips. Twilight glared and stormed out of the room. She telekinetically opened the door and slammed it shut. “That little stuck-up bookworm, she practically kisses the very ground the Queen walks on. It’s my fault I have dark magic.” Rarity ranted at no one in particular. “But Goddess forbid anything have the gall to not fit into the black and white status quo she decided the world is in.” No one disagreed with Rarity, but Twilight was not the only one as even their Queen decided to hide them away from the world. If the millennia old ruler had decided that they were rejects to society then anyone could share in the opinion. The grief really hit Fluttershy as lay in Pinkie’s arms letting out her sadness. This her new reality, she was trapped her. She didn’t have the comfort of being amongst her kind as half of the girls could leave whenever they wanted. Even surrounded around four other people, Fluttershy had never felt more alone. “Your majesty, the council is ready for you.” a young maid curtsied. Celestia adjusted the golden belt that cinched her flowing white dress. A golden crown sat above her ever-flowing pastel multicolored hair. She inhaled slowly, calming herself before appearing in front of her subjects. They looked to her for strength and stability, if there was even a crack in the facade tabloids would on her be on her like sharks to blood. Putting on her most friendly smile, Celestia used her golden magic to open the great doors to the meeting room. All conversations came to a stop as Celestia made her way to her seat at the head of the great table. The table was surrounded with six members of the three race from the various cities of Magicka. In the past the only nobles allowed in the room were Mages and the occasional Skyling but this was one of the various backward practices she and her sister abolished when they came into power. “Good Morning, everyone. I hope you’re all had a good trip here.” Celestia greeted pleasantly. “Let’s not waste each other’s time today, Princess.” the Mage representative from Canterlot answered curtly. Celestia took a sip of tea, looking unfazed from the comment. The nobles in the latter years of her rule had taken to calling her Princess. To an outside listener it was a simple slip of the tongue but to a citizen they would be horrified by the very concept of speaking this way to their Queen. Calling her princess was a very subtle way to disrespect the crown it was like saying that she will always have someone more powerful than her or insulting her for going without a husband for the entirety of her rule. “According to an outside source, you moved six girls into a secret location without the knowledge or permission of the council.” Chairman Fancy Pants interrupted the standoff. Celestia placed her cup onto the saucer soundlessly. “I had no idea I had to answer to you all for every decision I made. Should I have contacted you all before I ate breakfast this morning?” “With all due respect, Princess,” a Gaian from Manehattan spoke up, “When it comes to the safety of all Magicka you do.” “Harboring those creatures will put us all danger, you should have let us know before...” “I have watched over this land for millennia and I have to make difficult decisions before, this was one of those times.” she raised her voice, the peaceful facade cracking. “Right because that turned out so well before.” the man shot back venomously. The great matriarch stood silent. Her fist clenched under the table but her mouth maintained a constant neutral line. She stood to her feet. “This meeting is adjured, my decision stands. The girls will remain there and none of you are to bring this to the public.” Celestia declared with a tone of finality. Not looking at the members of her council, Celestia turned a heel and exited the room barely holding the burning fury she hid under a neutral face. She was certain had she been younger that man would be a pile of tackily dressed cinders. Celestia couldn’t deal with the council like this, Luna was better at this than her. In the past, Luna could silence an entire room with just a look and if things got too boisterous she could call everyone’s attention with the royal Canterlot voice. Just one thing on a long list that her sister excelled at that she was awful with. Celestia felt the stab of loneliness and walked the cavernous halls of her palace alone. But hopefully this be the last year she would face immortality alone. Funny, despite the fact that her palace was filled to brim with guards, maids, and the occasional dignitaries she was terribly lonely. Author's Note I decided to no longer use the original cover image, it is completely unfair and rude to use another person’s art without their knowledge or consent. I wouldn’t want my story to be copied to another source and not be given the credit I deserve. I apologize to the artist and to all readers for doing something so insensitive and ask that you check out FuyusFox on deviantart, her work is amazing and deserves to shared.
Chapter 6 Show and Tell If tension was tangible, you wouldn’t be able cut this tension in the classroom with nothing less than a water pressure cutter. The girls sat in class in dead silence, none of them even looked at each other much less spoke. Twilight sat at the front of class while everyone else was scattered around in various seats. She opened her backpack and took out a slender, mulberry colored wand. It had a raspberry colored six pointed star and resembled a conductor baton. Other than the star, the wand was unremarkable and looked to be made in rush without any love or care. It was the complete opposite of Rarity’s. Rarity’s wand wasn’t even a wand, it was a parasol. The handle was black and curved upward for grip, the pole was a deep violet and had a small blue jewel on the bottom, the canopy had white lace covering the top and the tip held a ball shaped crystal with a dark jewel in the center and black wings on the sides. The wand just oozed personality and was designed with such time and care that not a single piece was out of place. AJ and Pinkie both had a pot of dirt on their desks but both Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash’s desks were bare. Before the girls could get comfortable with the silence, the door swung open to reveal their teacher Ms. Harshwhinny. As her name implied she was a stern looking woman with a permanent scowl on her face. She had a short blonde hair cut into a professional looking bob cut and cold blue eyes that cut through Fluttershy immediately and froze her blood. Her heels clacked loudly on the linoleum floors as she walked to the front of the class. “Good morning students, my name is Ms. Harshwhinny. That’s a miss not missus, remember now because I don’t like to repeat to myself.” Ms. Harshwhinny greeted her class. “The reason I say this is because I see we have a new student today.” she gestured to Fluttershy. “Come to front of class and introduce yourself.” Fluttershy raised her hand. “Um...I already met the others earlier today so...” “That’s funny I don’t recall giving you a question to answer.” Ms. Harshwhinny answered curtly. “No...I-i was just wanted to...” “Talk back when I did not ask for your opinion. Now come to front of class.” Fluttershy nodded and moved quickly to front. She avoided eye contact with everyone in class and took a shaky breath. “Hello my name is Fluttershy. I’m from Cloudsdale, it’s nice to meet you all.” “What is your species?” Ms. Harshwhinny pressed. “I-i guess a fairy.” Fluttershy hid behind her bangs. “Say that again and this time say it like you’ve spoken to another person before.” Pinkie raised her hand, leaning on her desk slightly. “I heard her Ms. Harshwhinny, she said...” “Pinkamena!” Harshwhinny snapped. “I was not talking to you so that means you keep your mouth shut.” Pinkie frowned and sat back into her seat. “Again, Fluttershy.” “A Fairy.” she said as clearly and loudly as she could manage with the growing lump in her throat. This volume satisfied Harshwhinny and she allowed Fluttershy to sit back down. Fluttershy stared down at her hands hoping to attract as little attention as she could. Harshwhinny went on with the rest of her lesson. “Okay, I hope all of you have practiced your magic because I want to see all your results.” She started from the front of class with Twilight. Twilight grabbed her wand and sat straighter immediately. Harshwhinny placed an apple on her desk. “I want you to do a simple levitation spell, pick up the apple and place it into my hand.” Ms. Harshwhinny walked back a few paces and held out her right hand. Twilight nodded and pointed her wand towards the apple. She concentrated her magic into the wand and pointed it at the apple. A bright raspberry aura slowly enveloped the apple. She lifted her wand upwards but the apple remained on the desk. Twilight raised the wand higher to no avail. She stood up from her chair and fully extended her right arm but the apple remained stubbornly on the desk. Twilight growled in frustration and applied more magic to apple. The aura grew larger and larger but it didn’t even budge. Her magic enveloped the wand and the aura grew brighter. As if taunting her the apple didn’t bother to move. Her magic became blinding bright, the aura spreading to the desk. “That’s enough, Twilight.” Before Harshwhinny could finish, Twilight’s wand snapped in half and the apple was crushed into mush. There was even some cracks on the desk. Sweat rolled down Twilight’s face and her chest heaved as she gulped for air. Harshwhinny pinched the bridge of her nose. “Twilight, for the last time. You need to learn to control your magic.” “I can do it,” she urged. “It’s just the wand makes it hard to...” “That is how Mages use their magic. Even Celestia herself uses a wand! Are you saying you’re better than Celestia?” Harshwhinny pressed leaning down to stare directly in Twilight’s eyes. Twilight paused and looking down at her feet. “No.” “Then learn to use a wand or you will continue to stay here.” Harshwhinny turned to the next student. Twilight sat in seat grabbing the broken pieces of her wand. She sniffled, wiping her tears quickly and turned her attention to the next person showing their magic. Harshwhinny turned her seemingly permanent glare over to Rarity. Rarity grabbed her wand, slightly trembling in fear. “I want you to perform a simple illumination spell, Rarity.” She nodded, standing from her seat. Holding her wand in one hand, Rarity waved her other hand in front the canopy of her parsol. The parasol opened and the jewel on the top shone slightly as if coming to life. Rarity twirled it slowly and closed her eyes in concentration. She held up her wand extending her arm fully. “Illuminate.” Rarity said almost trancelike. The jewel began to glow a bright blue spreading throughout the room, until the top of her wand shone like a lighthouse on a stormy night. Harshwhinny watched on, unimpressed. “Good now hold it.” Rarity kept her magic concentrated in the jewel, maintaining the light spell. “Hold it.” Sweat began to bead on her forehead. “Hold it.” Her face scrunched up in concentration. “Hold it.” The color of the jewel slowly began to darken. The light was dyed from a brilliant blue to deep wine purple. “Stop, Rarity we’ve talked about this.” Rarity’s wand snapped shut and she lowered her arm. Her face still damp from exertion and her azure eyes were filled frustration. “It’s still an illumination spell, I don’t see what I did wrong.” she crossed her arms in defiance. Harshwhinny stared unimpressed at Rarity’s reasoning. “Dark magic has not been used for over a millennia and I like to think for good reason.” “I’m not choosing to use it this is just how my magic works.” “All Mages use light magic, you can’t just change the rules just because don’t suit your wants.” “If that’s the case shouldn’t our classes still be segregated.” Rarity retorted. Harshwhinny’s eyes narrowed. She stomped forward until she was inches away from Rarity. Her blue eyes, seething with rage, glared hard at the teen. Rarity stood her ground and never broke eye contact. “Use light magic or never go home. Your choice.” Harshwhinny spat venomously. Rarity said nothing but she sat back in her seat. Her gaze never breaking while her teacher moved on to the other girls in the class. Ms. Harshwhinny moved on to Pinkie and AJ. Without having to be told the two girls grabbed their pots. Gaian magic was very subtle, it wasn’t flashy like casting spells or flying on wings much too small to really support their body weight. But their strength and endurance was something to be marveled at. In the Olympics they have to separate species with any events revolving running or lifting weights it would be that unfair. But another way their magic would manifest was with plants. AJ closed her eyes and focused her magic into her hands, flowing throughout the dirt until she found the seed. In her mind she heard the seed’s voice. “Water, please I’m so thirsty. AJ went to her backpack and pulled out a bottle of water. She poured in a decent amount and communed with the plant. C’mon little fella, that should be enough. I don’t have enough energy to grow. Ah can help with that. AJ’s hands were enveloped in soft orange light, much fainter than the aura Rarity and Twilight used to cast spells. It spread throughout the pot and reached the seed. With the added energy the seed sprouted roots that cut through the dirt to have more access to the new magic. The seed grew larger and sprouted a stem. AJ added more magic and the stem continued growing until it exited the dirt. The stem stood tall and bloomed into a beautiful red and purple flower. AJ, winded from the exertion, held up the new flower in triumph. All the girls in the class gasped in surprise and crowded around her desk. “That’s amazing, Jacklyn.” Twilight complimented. “D’aw, it ain’t much. He just needed a little convincing.” AJ said affectionately. “Are you kidding, that’s so awesome.” Rainbow Dash gushed. AJ blushed and smiled shyly. This happy atmosphere was broken swiftly by one person’s question. “Pinkamena, where is your pot? ” Ms. Harshwhinny questioned. Pinkie’s excited smile faded and she grabbed her barren pot. Harshwhinny glared harshly at Pinkie’s results. “Did you even try?” “Yeah I did I just couldn’t hear its voice. I don’t think there’s a seed.” she explained staring at the pot. Ms. Harshwhinny facepalmed. “Don’t be absurb, of course there’s a seed in there.” “Then maybe my...” Ms. Harshwhinny cut her off. “Don’t go blaming your curse for everything. Being a Werewolf should not stop you from being a Gaian. Maybe if you tried focusing on something for more than two seconds, you could make some progress.” Pinkie sadly placed her empty pot back on her desk. She stared forward and her hair drooped a little, losing a bit of its curl. Ms. Harshwhinny went on to Rainbow Dash, who was all to eager to show off her magic. She smirked confidently and held out her two hands. Just above them the air grew colder and the water in the air condensed into a small cloud. Adding more magic, the cloud began to darken until tiny droplets of water drizzled down like rain. “Thank you Rainbow Dash, that’s enough.” “Really,” she looked up in disbelief “I can go much further than this, maybe I can make snow or maybe lightning and...” “The point of this school is to help you blend in with the public not to show off. Your speed is already alarming as is but the ability to create lightning will make you stand out like a sore thumb.” Ms. Harshwhinny replied bluntly. “But...” the cloud grew larger and the raindrops fell more heavily. “That is enough Miss Dash.” she asserted harshly. The cloud dissipated only leaving behind a puddle of water. Rainbow frowned deeply but didn’t push any further. Finally Ms. Harshwhinny turned to Fluttershy who was so caught up with watching the girls’ magic she completely forgot about that she would have to display her magic too. She instantly felt her stomach do flips and her heart pounded like she just ran a marathon. “I can’t do weather magic.” she muttered. Harshwhinny sighed. “Ms. Shy I doubt even bats could even hear that.” “I can’t do weather magic.” she spoke up, still avoiding eye contact. “Ms. Dash can you explain to Ms. Shy how to use weather magic.” Rainbow got up and sat next to Fluttershy. She give her a kind smile to help sooth the anxious girl. “Hold out your hands.” Rainbow Dash used her own hands as an example. Fluttershy complied, slightly shaking nervously. “Breath.” The two girls took a deep and measured breath. “Focus on the air, it’s filled with water but right now it needs to change.” Fluttershy tried to sense the water in air. She knew it was there because the air wasn’t dry but she couldn’t feel it. “And for the water to change it needs to be a little colder, focus on dropping the temperature a little.” Fluttershy felt a strange energy around her, it felt heavy and cold. It was hidden amongst other energies but it was so distinct she was surprised didn’t feel it sooner. “Can you feel it?” Rainbow looked up at her, but her words were like static to Fluttershy’s distracted mind. “I think so.” She located the heavy energy, it was behind her near the front of class. A swirl of emotions came into Fluttershy’s mind. Loneliness, sadness, a hint of jealousy, but most of all she felt the bittersweet taste of melancholy. “Well show it who’s boss. You got the magic and it has to listen to you.” Rainbow Dash created another cloud that immediately began raining. Fluttershy closed her hands together. A warm yellow glow shone through her intertwined fingers. She envisioned her creation, the magic swirled in her hands before taking form. She opened her hands to reveal a small songbird. It was slightly translucent, showing it was indeed not a living creature. The songbird fluttered its wings and took flight. It flew around the classroom for a while before finding its target. The bird landed noiselessly on Pinkie’s desk much to her surprise. She glanced at a tired looking Fluttershy, clearly unsure of what to do with the creature. Before she could ask any questions, the bird chirped a happy tune. Pinkie was surprised for a moment before going into deep thought. That tune sounded so familiar but where had she heard it before. The bird continued the song into the chorus causing Pinkie’s face to light up. “That’s my Granny Pie’s song, I haven’t heard that since I was a kid.” the bird hopped onto her finger. Everyone’s jaws dropped, while Fluttershy beamed happily at Pinkie’s smile. “How did you do that?” Twilight asked first. “I just felt that Pinkie was feeling a little homesick so I wanted her to give a little something from home.” Pinkie smiled appreciatively. Twilight levitated her notebook and pencil out of her backpack. She ran at full speed to Fluttershy’s seat. Her eyes shined with excitement, she looked like a little kid in a toy store. Tearing open her notebook, she began on a blank sheet of paper. “Wait, wait, wait, okay start from the beginning and don’t leave out any details. Even the little ones, everything could be important.” She pulled out her cellphone and pressed play on the recorder. “I...” Fluttershy started. “THAT IS ENOUGH! ALL OF YOU GO BACK TO SEATS!!!” Ms. Harshwhinny exclaimed. Her tanned face turned to deep red. All the girls hurried back to their seats quickly, without protest. Her cold blue eyes cut through Fluttershy, causing her to flinch. She marched to front of class still glaring daggers at the newest student. “This school,” she took a breath to calm herself, “was built to help creatures blend in. It was not meant to be a circus to show your unnatural abilities to the world. Take this as your final warning, Fluttershy, either learn normal magic or stay here forever because it’s going to be a cold day in Hell before I authorize any dangerous creature to be set loose on Magicka.” Ms. Harshwhinny grabbed all of her things and headed to door. Before she left she placed an identical wand on Twilight’s desk. Not sparing a parting glance or goodbye Ms. Harshwhinny left the classroom. The girls sat in awe for a few moments before fully realizing their teacher had just left them alone. Rarity was the first one to grab her things. “Wait!” Twilight stood in front of the door. “What’s got ya so worked up all of sudden?” AJ questioned picking up her new plant. Twilight hesitated, second guessing her decision. She thought it over before continuing her statement. “I need to talk to you all.” “Well, you have our attention.” Rarity gestured to the door she currently blocking. Twilight looked around at the girls walking up to her. She shuffled her feet nervously, something was clearly bothering her. Her nervous body language began to unsettle her fellow classmates. “What is it, Twilight?” Pinkie asked getting antsy just watching her. Twilight exhaled and turned to the door. She pointed her wand at it and closed her eyes. The wand lit up for a second before going out like an old light bulb, Twilight growled in frustration and focused her magic through her hand to cast a binding spell on the door. “Okay, that should be good.” Twilight turned back to everyone. “Will you just tell us what’s wrong already!” Rainbow shouted impatiently. “Oh right, sorry.” Twilight blushed softly, not realizing she had just left in the dark for a while there. “Okay, here goes nothing,” she took a deep breath. “You know that old story about the Nightmare Mage that was sent to the moon?” “Yeah my ma used ta tell me that story when Ah was a kid.” The other girls nodded. “Why is that story so important?” Pinkie asked. “I think it’s true.” Twilight said on bated breath. There was a long pause before Rainbow Dash spoke first. “Well duh!” she rolled her eyes. “Ah mean Ah kinda figured it out when Ah got a little older.” “I mean really Twilight, Princess Luna just disappears then there’s a strange new shadow on the moon.” Rarity shrugged “It kinda seems obvious when you say it out loud.” Pinkie said bluntly. Fluttershy nodded. Twilight gaped shocked, she didn’t expect them to believe her so soon. She had a speech prepared and everything. The new revelation took the wind out of her sails for a bit but she continued with the rest of her findings. “Well I think she going to escape her prison by this summer.” This statement got more of reaction as the everyone began voicing their disbelief. “Are you sure Twilight?” Fluttershy asked. “I’ve checked hundreds of books and they all say the same thing. On the longest day of the thousandth year the stars will aid in her escape and she will bring about nighttime eternal.” “Oh wait, I have an idea.” Pinkie raised her hand. “Why do we just tell Queen Celestia, she beat her before, right? All she needs to do is get her sun magic and blast that edgelord back to the moon.” Pinkie made fake laser noises with her mouth. The other girls agreed but Twilight shook her head. “I told her in person all my findings and she sent me to this school, something about making friends or whatever.” Twilight huffed still sensitive about her brush-off. “Our leader disregarded a possible threat to national security?” Rarity shouted in disbelief. Twilight nodded her head apprehensively. Rarity groaned in frustration and despair began to set in the group. Fluttershy felt the mood dipping, she racked her brain about the story she was told as a child. There’s has to be something they could use to save their home. “Well if she isn’t going to help then it’s up to us.” Pinkie stood tall, looking heroic as possible. “Uh beg your pardon, Pinkie, but six teenagers can’t save the world from a thousand year old moon goddess.” “But we have to do something.” Pinkie insisted. “Like what, get murdered?” Rainbow shot bitterly. “Maybe not.” All eyes went to Fluttershy. She blushed but continued on with her point. “In the story, Queen Celestia didn’t fight Nightmare Moon alone. She used the Elements of Harmony.” Twilight’s face lit up. “Fluttershy, you’re a genius. All we have to do is find the Elements and bring them to the Queen.” “And where do we find them?” Rarity asked Twilight. She paused unsure of how to respond until a smile spread across her face again. “The Castle of The Two Sisters, it was the old home so they could still be there.” The girls looked amongst each other, agreeing to this plan. They exchanged phone numbers and left the classroom. They had a plan or at least a part of it. It was something, much better than leaving the safety of their world to chance. Unbeknownst to the girls, as they made plans to save their world dark forces were conspiring to destroy it. Queen Chrysalis sat back in a comfortable black leather chair, it was a large step up from the ancient stone she sat upon in her Hive. Of course she wouldn’t trade that throne for anything but the way this material supported her back was making almost reconsider. The room she sat in was a large office meeting room in a five story building recently cleared out after the business went bankrupt despite this everything still looked as immaculate as when the building was open, table in front of her lined with delicious looking desserts and fresh fruits with which a haughty looking Skyling was indulging in. She looked to be in her twenties and was wearing an old looking Wonderbolt uniform with a large tear in front. A female Mage with white hair, a fancy looking, starry cape and matching hat looked on in disgust. Had Chrysalis been in a better mood she might of indulged the two’s antics but she was beyond annoyed. This mystery person who had the audacity to call her like was some cheap hired help, obviously knew nothing about her species as she left her no creatures to feed on and considered her to be equals with this riff raff. An amber haired Skyling who was a disgraced Wonderbolt turned assassin, a proud looking Mage who probably had more boasts than actual magic ability, a pack of flea-bitten werewolves who refused to return their human form, and an annoying Gaian child who wouldn’t stop running her mouth for one second. “Why do you think they called us here, do you think we’re in trouble? I don’t think so I don’t usually leave any witnesses.” The girl was named Nerium Oleander. Nerium had light pink hair with red highlights tied up into twin pigtails. Her clothes could only be described as closet vomit as everything she wore was chosen at random. A neon green hoop skirt, red sneakers, black leg warmers that she wore on her arms, and a white T-shirt with a kids’ TV character plastered on the front. Everything about her was practically begging for attention, from the way she sat in a chair crisscross like a kindergartener to the fact that as soon as she entered the meeting room she jumped from tangent to tangent like a monkey on speed. From wondering if the world is a simulation to claiming water was a chemical being used to mind control aliens that invaded the planet. With every flap of the girl's mouth, Chrysalis’ patience was ground down to be nearly razor thin. “Or maybe it’s because...” She finally snapped but was cut off by another voice. “Will you shut your mouth?” A large female werewolf snarled. “Gods, even newborn pups don’t yap as much as you.” Nerium turned her head towards the new speaker. The werewolf still resembled human despite her transformation, she still wore clothes and stood on two feet. She was, of course, covered in fur but it was a similar color of human skin but she had wolf like ears that were turned backwards in anger, a long tail the color of the hair on her head, her legs were bent like the hind legs of a dog and large claws on her hands and feet that slightly curved like a cat. Nerium’s expression went from sunny and cheery to a vacant look. Before anyone could blink Nerium swiped her arm across the werewolf’s neck, causing her flinch back. The she-wolf ran a hand over her throat but felt not blood or pain. She laughed at herself for getting so scared. This little kid barely came up to her chest and had no weapon, what could she possibly do. Nerium smirked and held up her left arm. She clenched her fist to reveal a long, thin blade that unsheathe from her leg warmer, it was as long as her forearm but had no blood on it. The smirk faded from the werewolf’s face and she began choking violently. Blood erupted from a thin wound the entire length of her throat and she coughed up more blood from her mouth. Her hands went to her throat as she tried in vain to stop the bleeding. The slice was thin but the blade cut so deep into her throat that it severed multiple arteries and blood was leaking into her trachea. Her pack looked on in stunned silence as one their own suffocated on own her blood. Nerium marveled at her weapon like a proud mother. She giggled, giddy with euphoria. Nerium loved nothing more than when she could silence barking dogs herself. The she-wolf dropped to her knees reaching out towards the girl. “Awwwww, is the poor puppy having some trouble breathing? Well maybe she should thought of that before she was rude to a serial killer.” Nerium cooed watching the tears stream down the dying girl face. Nerium using with one finger, gently pushed on the she-wolf’s forehead, causing her to fall to the floor. Her body spasmed for a few moments before going still, she was dead. All eyes went wide with horror as Nerium went back to her chair and bit into an unpeeled orange. “Goddess, that was dark.” Lightning Dust pushed away her plate, completely losing her appetite. “The Great and Powerful Trixie was not ready for this sudden dark turn, she is beginning to have second thoughts.” Trixie declared in third person, not taking her eyes off the now dead body. The Diamond Dogs pack began to stir not exactly comfortable with the idea of being in the same room their pack member’s killer. Some growled in anger while others whined in fear, the alpha silenced their thoughts with a single glance. Before anyone else could speak, the lights flickered on and off leaving them in total darkness before turning on to reveal a new person that appeared from nowhere. She wore a inky black hood that covered her entire body. This new person was extremely tall, nearly towering over Chrysalis. She exuded an aura of malice and darkness, causing everyone to get goosebumps. She lifted her hooded head to reveal a pair of bright yellow eyes and dark skin. She gave them a devilish smile and cleared her throat to speak. “Good afternoon, my name is Ombré. I brought you all here to offer you a job opportunity.” Ombré’s silky voice boomed in the quiet room. “My master has been trapped in a magical prison that will be broken in three weeks time and I need to you all to protect her.” “You need all of us to protect your master, don’t this seem like overkill.” Lightning Dust gestured to the crowded room. Ombré chuckled softly. “Think of it as insurance, my master was imprisoned for centuries and there are those who want her to never break free.” “I don’t serve anyone.” Chrysalis hissed in disgust. “Much less some shadowy figure I don’t even know.” “Oh forgive me, my master is Nightmare Moon.” “Nightmare Moon!” The alpha scoffed loudly. “Wasn’t she supposed really powerful, why would she need so much protection?” Lightning Dust shot leaning back in her seat. “After being freed she will be weak and vulnerable, a millennia in stasis would do that to anyone.” Ombré explained. “And what’s in it for the Great and Powerful Trixie.” The Mage crossed her arms. Ombré smirked confidently, “An all powerful Black Mage, I’m sure she could grant your every desire if you were to help free her from her prison.” Queen Chrysalis thought it over for a moment, this Nightmare Moon could help her spread her drones all over Magicka. Her Hive could feed on all their love for generations to come. With all the power she desired she could bring Celestia herself to her knees. Her mouth watered just thinking about it. And when earned Ombré’s master trust, she would take her out using her new power from all the love she would feast on. Chrysalis chuckled darkly. “You have the Changeling Swarm’s loyalty.” “Trixie is in, your master will help her locate her family’s treasure.” “Hey along as you’re paying good, you got me.” Lightning Dust shrugged. “Help us spread our pack and we shall help you.” the Alpha replied. “This sounds like fun, I’ve been looking for some new toys to play with.” Nerium giggled playing with her blade. Ombré smiled maliciously. Humans were so easy to play, just offer their desires and all common sense goes out the window. She knew this people would betray her later she wasn't a fool, but by the time they do this they would already have served their purpose. She could dispose of them herself once she regained her full power. Ombré could hardly wait, she yearned for the power that was stolen from her but now all the cards were stacked in her favor. Celestia was no longer connected to the Elements of Harmony and there was no power on this barren rock to stop her “Master”. Now this entire world would now what it means to fear the night. Author's Note For all those curious I based Rarity’s wand on Eclipsa’s from Star vs the forces of evil, speaking of which OH MY GOD that finale I’m still recovering from that feels trip. But for the future I’m totally using some of those dark spells they're just too cool to past up .
Chapter 7 Combat Ready Fluttershy finally got into the rhythm of her new life at school; she would wake up a little early everyday to meditate with Twilight since they both had issues with anxiety morning meditation would help with staying calm throughout the day, have breakfast with Pinkie who despite having a sweet tooth actually enjoyed having fruit and oatmeal in the morning, class with everyone where she learned that she could create illusions of clouds to appease Ms. Harshwhinny, and finally meet up to research the location of the Elements of Harmony. “Hey Twilight.” Fluttershy greeted the bookworm sitting cross legged on the library floor. “Hmm.” Twilight grunted, currently cross referencing three books on ancient magical artifacts. Twilight was always the first person in the library, she was the one to suggest research in the first place. The others would arrive at various times with Rainbow Dash always being last. She was the most vocal about finding the Elements until she learned that they would have to research what they were, how to find them, or even what they do. Rainbow wanted to scan over the entire Everfree Forest despite everyone voicing that would have taken far longer than their three week deadline. “Hey guys!” Rainbow Dash finally flew excitedly into the library, making the pages flutter. All girls growled in frustration with Rainbow’s arrival as that gust of wind not knocked back at least fifteen minutes of their work. Twilight tore her reading glasses off her face and marched up to where Rainbow hovered in the air. “Rainbow Dash! Where were you? You were supposed to be here almost an hour ago!” Twilight scolded. Rainbow rolled her eyes and landed softly on the floor. “Chill out Twilight, I’m here what’s the big deal?” “The big deal is that we need to be here together in case one of us finds the Elements and we can leave together.” AJ emphasized the last syllable. “Yeah, yeah, well then I guess you don’t want to hear what I found out today.” “What did you find out today?” Twilight threw down the book she started rereading. Rainbow smirked before continuing. “Everyday I go for a fly around the school and everyday I found a blind spot in the guards. There’s an old guard in the back of school who falls asleep right after lunch, that gives us about a hour opening to leave school.” Twilight held her mouth open in stunned silence, she had no idea Rainbow Dash could fly and be so observant of her surroundings. Even she struggled to do two things at once. “Great job, Rainbow. That was very observant of you.” Rarity complimented. “Well a future Wonderbolt has to be able to multitask.” she boasted. “This is good, now when we know where the Elements are we know to get out and get them.” Fluttershy added reinvigorated by their success. “The only problem is we still don’t where they are.” Twilight groaned in frustration. “We’ve been searching for almost a week now with no luck, it’s not like we’re just going to find a book all about these things.” “Elements of Harmony: A Reference Guide.” Pinkie read off the title of leather bound tome. Twilight snatched the book out Pinkie’s hands, scanning over the title. She stared at Pinkie, mouth agape. “I’ve been looking for so long, how did you find it?” “Oh it was under things that would further the plot.” Pinkie explained offhandedly. The girls stared at their bubbly friend before brushing off the comment. After a while of knowing Pinkie, they had learned to just roll with it and move on. Twilight went on to read the book aloud. “The Elements of Harmony, powerful ancient artifacts that when united with a spark can wielded to banish evil and open the path to peace throughout the land. The wielder of the Elements must embody the six traits of balance; Honesty, Kindness, Laughter, Generosity, Loyalty and Magic. Only united can this great magic be used, if any Element is not present the power will remain dormant. Be warned, if the Elements are ever misused they will turn to stone and remain that way until a new bearer reignites them.” Twilight read off the passage of the tome. For a while no one spoke how could they, the passage gave them so much and yet nothing at all. Twilight turned the book around showing them the last image of the Elements of Harmony. They were six hexagonal gems, each one a color of the rainbow. They were so unassuming, they resembled any gems a person would use for an expensive item these things were their saviors from an eternity of darkness. “Okay now we know they look like so we can find them.” Pinkie said happily. “Ah guess that’s it then, we got a time to leave and we know the place they should be.” AJ was unsure about this whole thing, it just seemed too easy. “Not quite, we’re missing just one thing.” Twilight closed book and stood up. “What?” The girls said in unison. “We need to learn how to fight.” Twilight answered easily. “Huh? Why do we need to learn how to fight?” Pinkie scratched her head. “We are going to one of the most dangerous forests in Magicka alone. We need to know how to defend ourselves or we’ll be killed in seconds.” Twilight answered plainly. A chill ran down Fluttershy’s spine. She didn’t even consider just how dangerous this really was. Everything about the Everfree forest was unnatural; the plants grew on the own, the animals run wild, and the weather changed its own. Fluttershy couldn’t even imagine a world like that. “Hmph Ah been in my fair share of fights, Ah can defend y’all on my own.” AJ cracked her knuckles and stood tall. “Yeah me too.” Rainbow puffed out her chest not wanting to be outdone. “Show me.” Twilight countered. “In the library, I figured you all people wouldn’t want to destroy school property.” Rainbow joked. Twilight smirked confidently. “Not here.” She closed her eyes, envisioning a location in her mind. Twilight charged her magic, spreading her aura to cover the six girls. There was a bright flash and they were gone. The girls reappeared in courtyard that served as their outside gym. Twilight was severely winded but beamed with pride. “Here.” she breathed. “How did you do that?” Rarity marveled looking around their new location. The courtyard was empty only filled with a few trees and a dirt field that flattened for outside activities. “Teleportation spells take a lot of energy but they’re fairly easy if you know what you doing.” Twilight explained sitting on the ground to catch her breath. While Twilight recharged her magic the group split into threes to spar with each other. Since AJ and Rainbow has the most experience they sparred together to test their limits. AJ stretched her legs feeling her joints pop from a long day of class. Rainbow pulled her arm across her chest and switched to opposite arm. “Don’t expect me to hold back on you, AJ.” Rainbow spread her wings readying them to take off. “That’s funny, Ah was gonna say the same thing to you.” AJ smirked taking off her hat and tossing it to the floor. Rainbow Dash made the first move taking off at breakneck speeds, she pulled her right arm back and aimed it at AJ’s face. AJ used her forearm to block the punch instantly feeling the shock ripple through her arm. Her opposite arm grabbed Rainbow’s collar. Shifting her feet she slammed her to ground with an over the shoulder toss. The girl bounced on the hard dirt, dazed and slightly winded. AJ raised her foot to stomp on the girl. Rainbow rolled out of the way her boot. If this was sparring to AJ Rainbow hated to see her get serious, as her stomp shattered the patch of earth. Rainbow jumped to her feet, her back was sore from the throw but her wings were undamaged. She took to the air and zipped behind hit AJ’s back with a swift kick. AJ stumbled but was still standing. She turned and tried to retaliate with a punch. Rainbow flew around and punched her opposite side. The Skyling became a rainbow colored blur of punches and kicks, AJ’s eyes could barely follow her making it impossible to defend. Rainbow slammed her fist into AJ’s jaw causing her to fall to the ground. With a frustrated shout, AJ slammed her two fists into the ground shattering the earth and sending a torrent of wind throughout the courtyard. The resulting shockwave knocked Rainbow off course and she crashed face first into the ground. This left an opening for AJ to close the gap between the two. Rainbow quickly stood up only to be met with an axe kick to the head. The metallic taste blood filled Rainbow’s mouth as she narrowly avoided another kick. AJ was merciless not giving her inch to catch her breath. She stumbled dizzy from the axe kick opening herself to an attack. AJ sent a hard roundhouse kick to Rainbow’s stomach, sending her flying into one of the errant trees surrounding the field. The trunk snapped from the sheer force her kick and the tree nearly fell on Rainbow. The two girls stood up at opposite ends of the field, covered in various scratches and bruises from their fight. AJ wiped blood from her nose from one of Rainbow’s punches. Rainbow spat out blood from AJ’s kick. Both girls glared at each other, daring the other to make the first move. The air around Rainbow came to life, crackling with electricity. Her hair and clothes fluttered around as if blown by some invisible force. The sky suddenly darkened to a deep gray color to match Rainbow’s anger. Clouds overhead dumped heavy buckets of rain going completely unnoticed by the two fighters. The skies erupted with the boom of thunder and lightning crashed dangerously close to the battle grounds. Rainbow’s wings sparked with electricity as they spread open at the ready for flight. The ground beneath AJ shook as she charged her magic to her limbs. Pebbles began floating off the ground before breaking apart by the sheer force of her magic. Her eyes began glowing with a bright green aura until her pupils disappeared within an emerald glow. The glow spread to her body spreading bright green vein-like structures to her arms and legs. “Should...should we stop them?” Fluttershy asked from her hiding place behind a large tree. “Even if we wanted to I don’t think we can.” Rarity gaped feeling the ripples of their magic power. “Remind me to never piss of Jacklyn.” Twilight whimpered hiding behind Pinkie. Pinkie nodded, fighting her instincts to run away from the carnage. Both girls took the first move, Rainbow took off like a bat out of hell. Her body completely encased in so much electricity that the rainbow blur she left behind had steaks of yellow electricity flowing throughout. AJ pushes off the ground hard, shattered the earth leaving a huge crack, she ran matching Rainbow’s speed. Rainbow cocked back her right fist while AJ spun around to ready her leg. They shouted from the exhilaration of the fight. Rainbow’s fist connected with AJ’s face and AJ’s foot slammed into Rainbow’s face. The sheer force sent an enormous wave of magic and wind. The ground shook from the sheer force of the collision and a lightning bolt struck the now damp field. Their heads snapped backwards from the impact of the attacks. Blood went falling and both girls slammed hard into the dirt. They twitched slightly before laying still, both unconscious. The clouds stopped raining and the thunder faded away to a distant memory. With Rainbow unconsicous, the clouds dissipated and the weather returned to the sunny skies as if trying make up from the sudden storm. The other girls peeked their heads up from their hiding places. They glanced at each other before walking to their unconscious friends. “Well who’s next?” Twilight asked, nobody volunteered. Ombré watched her crystal ball with growing curiosity. The four girls carried their friends of the field and went on with their practice. She chuckled softly, at their clumsy excuse of training. The two Mages barely knew any offensive spells and other two girls didn’t even use their magic. “Are they going to be a problem?” Lightning Dust sat in the corner of the room, sharpening her daggers. Ombré glanced at her she hadn’t even sensed her presence. She’s pretty good for a human Ombré noted actually impressed. She had meet many humans in her long life but the ones who deviate from the righteous path were always the most interesting. “These children are nothing more than a minor inconvenience.” Ombré waved her hand dismissively. “There’s no reason to worry.” “I worked for a lot of people in my life and a lot of them were brought down because of these minor inconveniences.” The hooded woman turned her cold gaze to the assassin. Something about her made Lightning Dust’s skin crawl she had worked for so many bad people; corrupt nobles whose “girlfriends” needed to be silenced, crooked cops who wanted to hide their tracks, crime bosses whose competition was going too far. But she never felt this coldness before like this person was just hollow, completely without a soul. “Please, this children will hardly be a hindrance to our goal. In fact they will be of great help to us.” These girls were dangerous but their morals would be their downfall. They grew up under the rule of Celestia, their true magic was suppressed and even now they refuse to hone their skills. The golem girl and the descendent of the Lightning Bird both had powers that fit into the norm and could become powerful. But the other girls were taught to restrict themselves and were oblivious to their true power. Instead of breaking the rules to prepare for the battlefield they were walking into, they were going in with a witch who refuses to go without a wand, a dark Mage who only uses light magic, a werewolf who can’t transform, and a Fairy who doesn’t even know about her powers. These six are so clueless about their impending deaths it was almost sad. Ombré smiled darkly thinking of their expression morph into despair when they watched their Sun Goddess fall before her feet. Her black magic ensnare them and they would learn their insignificance in the world. They won’t even fight back, just sit in awe of her power. Ombré licked her lips in anticipation, humans were so easy to manipulate it's always so much fun to watch hopelessness set in. They would try to fight it or run from it but just as the certainty of death the shadow would always overtake the precious light. Author's Note I changed the genre of the story, it didn’t feel exactly like a slice of life anymore. I hope you still enjoyed it regardless . I apologize for such a long gap between the chapters, I’ve been struggling with my depression recently and had to get new medication the one I was taking didn’t really help. I’ve debating whether or not I should be telling people about all this but it’s better that you all know just in case I disappear again. I’m so sorry if the time between the chapters is really longer than normal but I will try to write whenever I get the motivation.
Chapter 8 In Umbra Luna EstSomething has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.
PrologueLong ago in the land of Magicka, there were two powerful mage sisters who ruled over the land. The eldest used holy light magic to raise the sun and brought about the glorious day. The younger using dark magic brought the stars and moon for the serene night. With their wisdom and kindness the two sisters brought upon generations of peace and balance, until, one night as the younger mage raised the moon and stars she noticed other creatures besides the three races that she and her sister ruled over and protected. The Lunar Mage observed that they had all types of unique magic and forms. Despite some of their threatening apperances they were nonviolent and strived to live in harmony. The younger mage went to her sister with excitement about the new races and told her of the plan to intergrate the two societies, but the eldest rejected the plan. She explained the three races were superstitious and fearful, the sun mags feared that if the new races were introduced so suddenly there would be panic and violence. The youngest sister with a heavy heart denied the other races request to live alongside the three races. The Lunar Mage grew more upset at her subjects’ resistance to accept things that were unique, this resistance even spread to her night as she seen many people shut themselves up their houses and refuse to glance at the night. Some of the nobles even began excluding her from the meetings about her country. It wasn't apparent of course as no one would dare insult a princess to her face, but she was no fool she heard them deliberately mentioning her sister as Queen or news of celebrations or meetings just happening to not reach her. Until one day, the dark voices of contempt and jealousy became stronger and louder using her natural proximity to dark magic to engulf her soul and turn her into a creature of darkness, Nightmare Moon. Nightmare Moon used her powerful black magic to shroud the land in darkness and the creatures orginally shunned by the three races to walk freely. Reluctantly, the eldest used the strongest light magic artifacts, the Elements of Harmony, to trap her sister and the nightmare into the moon for eternity. The Solar Mage took domain over both the Sun and Moon and ruled over the land alone. However, she allowed the newly discovered races to live amongst the three races although even with the hope for peace, all is not right in the land of Magicka Author's Note This my first fanfic ever, after so many years of reading them I finally (with a push from my friends and nothing to do after taking a break from college) decided to start my own. Please let me know if clarification or spelling-check is needed in the chapters. I apologize ahead of time for the quality of the writing but hope you all enjoy the story.