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.