The famous Crystal Prep Academy, or CPA for short, was always known for its high standards, its reputation in and around Canterlot City, but most importantly its competitive environment to provide a challenge and the prospect to excel. In order to achieve greatness the private school needed a firm hand and a brilliant head at its top, with a vision for the bigger picture. A way to earn recognition. This much needed head for the school was found 15 years ago: Principal Abacus Cinch, who was a bonfire of pure discipline to earn Crystal Prep the reputation it deserved. Or, at least that was what she herself liked to think...

Abacus couldn't believe it. She created the perfect atmosphere for students. Yes, the fees were expensive, but when you wanted to learn with the best equipment available under perfect conditions, a price had to be paid. Expensive exchange programs in oversea scholarships, science fairs, sport events... she could supply it all. Over her years as a principal of CPA the competitive spirit she stoked served its purpose. Her students built a reputation for themselves, but more importantly the school, and by extension, her. They won every competition in all provinces of knowledge, as well as all sport event.

Crystal Prep had a reputation, indeed! The desire to be better than others, engagement and a network of contacts from the school board to circles of the most respected universities, an unbroken influence. This was how her legacy should endure.

Then the Friendship Games happened.

Dean Cadance always represented the opinion that understanding, emotional support and encouraging her students to make friends was the right course of action to help Cinch's school. Seriously, this woman had a major in 'Analytical and Applied Psychology' with the topic, 'How Love Can Bring Out A Student's Hidden Potential'. How unprofessional. Principal Cinch could only roll her eyes at such ridiculous and naive sentiments,the dean was a lost cause.

But now, Cadance felt herself confirmed in her beliefs after the conclusion of the Games.

Luckily for Cinch the students were trained well enough from her and still looked out for their own future first and foremost to lead at some point in high places. And it would be her credit. Her reputation was the bait to bring the most intelligent young minds to CPA and the most talented of them all was her, Twilight Sparkle.

And how did she thank Cinch for her accomplishments? Her support? She dared to leave the principal, her school, her empire. She dared to stain her legacy. The reason made her furious. Friendship. For CHS the students of Canterlot High School, who started to make themselves their own reputation. Some third-class backwater institution for common people. People, who would never have the ability to leave their mark on the world, like Abacus Cinch did.

She still remembered them; Principal Celestia and her sister, Vice-Principal Luna. How smug they were after the games, to announce the Friendship Games a tie, to declare all winners. They knew they never would have beaten Cinch and Crystal Prep in anything, so those upstarts had to use cheap tricks to even the odds for them. Trained attack plants, wings out of nowhere and of course extended hair and some ludicrous looking animal ears, surely their purpose was to mock her.

This arrogant and impudent lowlives from Canterlot High! First they turned her own students against her and in the end they had the audacity to look at her with an amount of self-righteousness and sardonic satisfaction that Abacus needed all her attained professionalism to stop herself from exploding in everybody's face.

All that caused by a power she only knew from fairy tales and would never have believed in, if she didn't witness its power with her own eyes first hand... magic. Reality certainly proved her wrong this time. Such a curious force, indeed. If someone would have asked her before the Friendship Games, she would have denied that such a thing even existed.

But Principal Abacus Cinch always was a pragmatist and preferred cold logic over irrational decisions based on emotions and childish wishes. She learned a long time ago to adapt her worldview in order to succeed. Otherwise she wouldn't stand where she was; a respected, influential and well-known person with a reputation in society.

After Twilight Sparkle transformed into that monster, made by the very power she obtained, this naive girl nearly destroyed the entire world! Cinch knew exactly why she couldn't handle it. She was weak.

Twilight Sparkle didn't even appreciate the little musical number she held for her, Cinch had liked her song. It had a... dramatic touch.

Besides, a little pressure never hurt, in her opinion. It showed who was reliable and it always served to separate the wheat from the chaff. On second thought, this girl fit perfectly into Celestia's little friendship school.

No, this simply wouldn't do.

She needed something to pay them back for her humiliation, showing them their place once and for all. But she could not declare magic to be real or she risked landing in a mental institution. She would lose everything! Then Cinch remembered something she discovered a long time ago. In a long forgotten underground section of Crystal Prep were documents and books in form of a little private study. She closed this area off from the public entirely and told the superintendents of the school board that she stored only assorted literature in these rooms and no more questions were asked.

The Crystal Prep Academy stood on these grounds for a little over 100 years now. It was founded by the first principal of the school, Principal Sombra. The only thing she knew about this man was that he was head of the academy for only 10 years before he was admitted to a mental asylum.

The documents said that he had an unhealthy obsession with crystals for some reason. Cinch guessed his madness was the reason for the name of the academy. Well, never mind. Abacus now knew what she needed to do.

It was break time in CPA, a time where five of the most famous students of the academy met each other to talk. It was like a ritual they decided to perform since the Friendship Games in order to know each other better. They wanted to become friends, if that was possible, like Twilight taught them. Like the six students of CHS taught to them, the Rainbooms most of all.

The Shadowbolts were a dynamic group of five girls, that was for sure. The very competitive Indigo Zap, the bipolar Sour Sweet, the paragon of bluntness: Sugarcoat, the rock music loving Lemon Zest and last but not least, the straight and poised Sunny Flare, the unofficial leader of their team. Most people thought that Sugarcoat or Sour Sweet were thier group's leader, because they talked more in public, they didn't know that Sunny was more the silent observer type.

After the games they wanted to hang out more with each other to see where it went and it worked out in the end, much to their joy.

It was a sunny monday, scattered clouds were painting the sky. The girls sat on their chairs at a large table in their school uniforms and enjoyed a good meal. Sometimes the high entry fees were worth it. On the menu today was fried chicken with an exquisite mango sauce, supported by roasted potatoes, french bread or salad and, for the vegetarians, lasagna.

"So... how was your weekend?" Indigo Zap started the conversation awkwardly. Sometimes they had to try harder to make a dialogue work. They were still more accustomed to surrounding themselves with students who shared their interests or looked up to them. Or both.

Principal Cinch searched long and hard before she decided who would represent Crystal Prep in the last Friendship Games. In the end she picked the students with the highest grades, like Twilight Sparkle, for the competitions of knowledge and popularity and athletic skills for the sport events. A reputation had to be upheld. It was good that she decided to pick them, otherwise they might not be sitting together now.

"That was a really bad attempt to start this conversation. But we all are still unused to this whole friendship business, so it was fine," Sugarcoat remarked without twitching.

"Don't worry about it, we are all friends here. In fact, Sugarcoat, I'm sure you couldn't do it much better, so don't act like it!" Sour Sweet voiced her opinion in an attempt to help, with mixed results.

Lemon Zest nodded her head silently in support for Indigo... or because she just really liked the music she was hearing in the moment; both were possibilities.

Sunny Flare had enough and came straight to the point, "Girls, calm down. We all know why we are here." She touched Lemon's shoulder to get the teenager's attention.

"Dude, that was the best part!" Lemon looked around in confusion, "Oh, are we talking about that now?"

Finally Sunny Flare could start, "Yes we are. Alright girls, listen up, since the Friendship Games we tried to make the other students of Crystal Prep understand that working together and trying to get along would make this place much more bearable. We learned that lesson from Twilight, but mostly from this Sunset Shimmer girl and her friends-"

"Her transformation was awesome! Did you see those wings? They looked like they were made of freakin' sunlight!" Lemon exclaimed helpfully.

Sunny just groaned and continued after giving a short glare, "As I was saying before someone rudely interrupted me, the problem is that nobody, except maybe the students who witnessed the Friendship Games, would believe what happened there. In fact I still can hardly believe it myself. The point is that the other students see no reason to change the way they are. And frankly, I can't blame them for that. I would have acted the same way if someone just came up to me and wanted to change the way I am. So, has anybody an idea to actually succeed with something?"

Sugarcoat corrected her glasses on her nose with two fingers before she replied stoically, "You already mentioned some points, but the facts remain. Nobody wants to change, because there is no reason to do it in the first place. Next, this magic we saw is a great hit in the internet with various videos the students made during the entire ordeal, but of course people think that everything in them was just well-made special effects. We can only change the attitude of the others if we are able to prove that Cinch tried to blackmail Twilight with the Everton scholarship. On this way we could show the students that their principal is a fraud and that there is a better way to live with each other."

"I don't think that will work. It's just Twilight's word against hers and it doesn't count that Sparkle told others about it after the Friendship Games. Without any solid evidence we can't do anything. And Cinch is not stupid. I'm sure she didn't make a file or something like that and only threatened her privately for pressure. She manipulated the girl, because she knew Twilight would do anything to keep her chance to go to Everton," Inidigo voiced her thoughts and sighed, "The same way we helped Cinch to pressure her into using that pendant." Now she sulked.

Lemon put a hand upon her shoulder in a supporting manner.

Sunny rubbed her chin thoughtfully, "Maybe we can make this work if we could show them that magic exists in the first place. I mean, the students of CHS seemed to have no problems with it and if our fellow classmates would have no other choice than to acknowledge its existence, maybe they'd believe us about Cinch without any proof about her shady methodes. Besides, such a behaviour isn't too out of character for her to believe something like that."

Sour Sweet rested her head upon a hand, deep in thoughts herself, "Hmm, you know... I'm surprised that those Rainbooms are even still freely walking around and weren't already taken away by the authorities with their abilities. It's like our government had more important things to do!" she explained, irritated by the lack of action from the higher ups.

Sugarcoat mumbled something inaudible to herself about not underestimating the ignorance of humans.

"Did you hear the rumors about some incidents around Canterlot? Many humans went missing in the last weeks and never found again,“ Indigo Zap informed darkly, scrolling through the news messenger on her cellphone.

"I totally heard that, too! These disappearances happened especially on the outskirts of the city and the more rural areas, but mostly near the Everfree Forest," Lemon Zest filled out the rumors, for those of her friends not in the know, with more information.

"This may sound far-fetched, but we all heard about the 'special effects' from the Battle of the Bands, right? And after the whole thing with Twilight we can certainly say that this was probably real magic what the Dazzlings used. That being said, the disappearances of humans could be the doing of other magical beings. We should look deeper into it and help!" Sunny Flare decided and earned shocked expressions from her fellow Shadowbolts.

Indigo was the first to comment, "Uh... Sunny? I know we want to make things better, but isn't that much too dangerous for us? Don't misunderstand me, I'm always willing to show my awesome skills. The problem is just that whatever kidnaps humans will most likely be very dangerous, like maybe even on the deadly danger level. We should let the police handle this."

"The police is completely overwhelmed. They didn't find even one of the missing persons yet and they won't be able to handle magic. We don't really qualify as magic experts either, but-"

*RIIIIING!!!*

Sunny started to defend her idea, but they heard the bell and knew their break was over.

On their way back to class they wanted to talk more about it, but Lemon saw something strange, "Look, there's Cinch. Where is she going? I thought those stairs only lead to the restricted sections in the underground of Crystal Prep?" In response the others looked silently into the direction she pointed and indeed saw the principal walking down the stairs.

"Only one way to find out! We will follow her; make sure she doesn't cause more trouble and go our way!" Sour Sweet said with her usual change of attitude.

"She's right. Cinch clearly has a plan with the way she behaved since the Friendship Games. This woman is obsessed with revenge on Twilight and Canterlot High School and is just mad that she didn't win. A seriously sore loser," Sugarcoat commented with narrowed eyes.

The five teenagers nodded their heads and followed Cinch into the restricted sections. The underground level was cleaner than they expected, and still... older seemed to be the right word to describe their feelings. The corridor changed from the modern architecture upstairs to old walls of stone. It felt like they followed their principal into a secret dungeon. Maybe it was, or a prison.

They did so for a long time to a room, where they hid outside behind the door and looked into it the moment the principal walked straight to its end. It had the appearance of a private study. That was certainly interesting.

In the study was a set of two bookshelves, one to the right side of the room and one to the left, filled with many old looking scrolls and books, a big table made of mahogany, a grand leather chair and a high desk made of stone with four whole black candles, one on every corner of it and finally in the middle laid a mysterious tome. It was big, covered the high desk nearly from the bottom to the top, was colored in a bright red and had something written upon its front. Sadly they could not see what it was from their perspective.

Now they had to wait. Nobody noticed the red magical circle beneath the woman.

Principal Abacus Cinch was surprised at the condition this room was in. Since for quite a long time nobody entered this room, she believed, and still no dust was found in here. She wondered briefly how that was possible. So many books and scrolls, surely they handled interesting topics that could help her in her plans, right? She had to destroy the growing reputation of Canterlot High and reestablish her position over those upstarts. Then she saw the book upon the high desk and went to it. It was bright red and upon its front were golden, gleaming... symbols? Cinch never saw something like that in her entire life. She didn't even know how to start in order to understand what was in front of her.

She opened the tome and found notes on several papers in front of the first page. It looked like some kind of documentary or diary. In the belief she was alone, Cinch started to read them out loud.

I always was obsessed by two things in my life: crystals and knowledge, especially long forgotten knowledge. And finally I, Sombra, found the ancient tome I heard about. I need to make these notes before others, who could never understand my brilliance, would take my work away from me. I searched for 20 years of my life before I found it and followed hint after hint before my discovery. An old colleague of mine told me about long forgotten ruins in Greece, a temple, where the humans of old worshiped beings known as 'Elementals' in their own society called 'Scions of the Elementals'. This happened 2500 years ago. The more modern society decided to ignore it and called this historical place a 'temple of religious fanatics'.

They believed that our world has her own magic and that it could be used for great things. I ventured far and went deep into the temple. I found it in a restricted area, because the authorities believed this place to be too dangerous and old to search beyond the main hall. There was an ancient door with Old Greek written on it.

Luckily I studied dead languages for years and could translate its message perfectly, which said:

"Welcome friend, before you can enter and visit our inner shrine, answer one question to ensure that you are indeed a fellow brother: 'What are the five true elements of nature our lords, the Elementals, represent?'"

If someone talks about the elements of nature then people simply assume until this day that fire, earth, water and air are the answer, but I found out the truth through years of research. I answered out loud in front of the door in the dead language: 'Everlasting Fire. Unyielding Water. Unbending Earth. Relentless Air. Unforgiving Thunder'.

The door quaked and opened.

The beauty of the hidden shrine was astonishing. Somehow flora grew in this place and I found a pond of the clearest water in the center of the room. And there it was; the holy shrine itself. It stood in the middle of the pond on a little green island. The construction itself was small and nothing special, but what I found in the shrine was another thing entirely. Upon a pedestal laid the target of 20 years research, 'The Art of Summoning', written by the Scions for future brothers and sisters who would follow the elementals.

I was ready to take the power I deserved.

I spent a long time translating it from Ancient Greek into our modern English in my own copy. After I was sure my translation was flawless I needed something I didn't have at the time; magic. But because the book was infused by magic it could be used to find other sources of said energy, or so my translation told me. I searched, with the tome as my compass, over the whole world until I found a place with enough magical energy for my purposes. It led me to Canterlot City and the epicenter was a horse statue in front of a military base. I heard they wanted to build a new high school in its place instead, because Canterlot didn't need the base any longer, but I couldn't wait. Nevertheless, destroying the statue would have drawn unnecessary attention.

No, a little bit less magic was enough, too. Later I found an old church with a magical heart-shaped sky blue crystal, the size of a man's head. they called it the 'Crystal of Faith', because it shimmered if someone had strong emotions. They didn't even know that it was a magical artifact, thinking it was a relict of god. I needed this place, so I used all my influence I could muster to buy the church, the land and the crystal would be mine.

I just needed a cover for my plan, and the rumors of a school being built gave me the perfect idea. I always wanted to be a principal or in a position of power in general, sadly this land never had a king.

That was the cornerstone for my new private school, the Crystal Prep Academy.

In the underground I built my private study and finally I could start my plans. I had to follow the instructions from the tome exactly, and after 10 more years I had the necessary ingredients. I wonder if the Scions of old had everything at their disposal? In this time, most humans forgot about magic and think of it only as a fantasy. How disappointing. It was worth the effort.

I summoned a fire elemental.

Sadly, my first summon led to the destruction of the only copy I made of the tome and its translation. Well, I decided that I would note the instructions later on a single sheet of paper and keep it safe in the back of the tome. And still, all the time I translated the rest... for nothing. The Crystal of Faith was taken away, too. The moment the fire spirit looked upon it was taken away from me. I never found out where or why.

My master helped to awaken in me my inner magic. Crystal Magic. Yes, he told me that every being on this world had its own spark of magic. Without it, there was no life. Some humans were even able to manipulate it and gain new abilities. Mages, or magi as they are called, indeed existed in ancient times. I can call myself a part of that proud profession now, found out about ruins and places of old and other planes of existence. I won't write them down, because most humans are unworthy of such knowledge in my opinion.

So much power, but I wanted more, I wanted... to rule, to be a king and no mere Scion, no mere unimportant footsoldier.

I will rule and create my kingdom of dreams- no, an empire! Yes, my Crystal Empire!

Cinch read the last words of the notes she found and was, well... surprised would be the understatement of the century. She didn't know she wasn't alone with that feeling. or that five girls heard every word and were very shocked as well.

The principal didn't know where to start. She tried to collect herself before she did the next step. Did she even want that? Did she want to summon some supernatural entity? What happened to Sombra? He wanted to rule, that much was clear, but somehow he ended up in an asylum, powerless. What she did know was that Sombra went mad with power, that he couldn't control himself.

Exactly like Twilight Sparkle.

On the other hand, what possibilities did she have? Her legacy crumbled away since the Friendship Games, she was mocked by fellow successful principals and members of the school board alike for what, to their knowledge, occurred. Just because her, what did they say? Ah yes, her 'so called elite' lost the games to a 'commoner school'. Oh how they laughed. No, her legacy, her reputation was on the brink and she wouldn't lose everything she worked her entire career for. She knew that those five girls, the Shadowbolts, acted behind her back since the Friendship Games, that they wanted to change her school, her students. They wanted to make everything like... in Canterlot High.

No, she would NOT let that happen! They wished to make Crystal Prep like Cadance always wanted. Yes, she would gladly support them in their endeavour. Cinch could already see the smug, gloating, self-righteous faces of Principal Celestia and Vice-Principal Luna before her very eyes, taunting her. It made her blood boil.

Without a second thought she opened the tome at the end and took out the paper from Sombra to summon one of those infamous elementals, “Let's see...”

1. Step before the tome with the red circle in front of it, so that the elementals will feel your presence.

2. Ignite the four black holy candles upon the high desk.

3. Let the tome rest in the center between them, so that it can absorb the magical flames.

4. Recite the following words to summon an elemental:
Beings of the Elemental Plains, hear my plea!
I came to summon you,
I came to serve your will,
I came to learn under your guidance,
I came to live in your name,
I came to die for your glory,
I came to understand your magic,
I came to unleash you upon this world,
Command me!

5. Serve, and become a true Scion of the Elementals.

PS: Push the button under the right side of the high desk before you start, so that nobody may interfere, otherwise the results could be deadly. The mechanism will activate a hidden portcullis and close off the door to keep out potential intruders.

Cinch swallowed because of the last part and checked. There really was a red and lightly shining circle. But first, she found and pushed the button, like mentioned in the notes, a portcullis fell down. She could have sworn she heard someone scream in surprise. Must have been her imagination, she figured. Abacus really needed to stop worrying so much. Nobody except her could possibly know about this place. She looked a last time into the direction of the door and listened. No, nobody had followed her.

Principal Cinch started the ritual. She already stood on the circle; step one was complete. Now to step two. She took a confiscated lighter out of her pocket and lit all four candles, which produced black flames no less, then she placed the tome exactly in the center. Suddenly the object began to glow and the flames were absorbed by it in a slow flow. Now to the quote. She cleared her throat and started the incantation:

"Beings of the Elemental Planes, hear my plea!

"I came to summon you,

"I came to serve your will,

"I came to learn under your guidance,

"I came to live in your name,

"I came to die for your glory,

"I came to understand your magic,

"I came unleash you upon this world,

"Command me!"

Something strange appeared behind the tome. A circle in blazing red energy, filled with symbols she never saw before. And then it came, an elemental of fire.

It was like nothing Principal Cinch ever saw before. This entity was literally made of living flames. If she guessed correctly, the being was around 6'6”, or something close, tall. It stared down at her with blazing yellow eyes. Its body looked similar to the one of a human, just much, much broader in its upper body, unlike a normal human being. It didn't really have legs, but swirling flames instead to let it float a little over the ground. She was lucky it stood on magical stone, at least she thought it was, because nothing melted under the burning heat. The being's flames weren't really like normal fire either; its entire body was made of black fire, like the candle flames, and it wore slate gray armor on its entire upper body, except its massive arms. On the armor were the same symbols of the summoning circle.

What surprised her the most was its ability to speak English fluently.

"A long time has passed since my last summons," the elemental started with a voice that sounded like scorching flames, "I see. You, mortal, do you want to serve us? Speak up, before I burn you to ashes!" it demanded, annoyed by the principal's lack of action and imitation of a fish.

"Y-Yes! I summoned you, oh great elemental of fire! I came to learn under your wise guidance and do as you wish," she said with a shaky tone.

"Tell me, what is your name, future Scion?" it demanded to know.

"My name is Principal Abacus Cinch. Do you grant me the humble honor to know your name, oh great one?" Cinch sucked up to the elemental. For a moment she thought she heard someone mock-gag in disgust.

The entity seemed to ignore her behaviour and answered, "My name is Igniticious, High Recruiter and part of the elementals of my master's division. I see the curious look in your eyes, being of flesh. His name is none of your concern, yet."

"High Recruiter, my Lord?" She inquired curiously. The elemental indeed sounded male. But mostly like a burning flame.

"It means that I'm one of the fire elementals who can recruit non-elementals and grant them power. Such is my task in his name. Now, Scion, stand in front of me and be bestowed by the power of the Everlasting Fire!" Igniticious shot magical flames from his hands in Cinch's direction.

Black flames surrounded her and she started to have second thoughts, but she felt... no pain? The flames engulfed her body and they started to transform her. Her glasses burned away and her skin changed its color from the former light opalish grey to dark scarlet. She grew in her stature to at least 6.5 feet in height, her irises turned from grayish fuchsia to a brilliant glowing amber, her sclera from white to a warm red, like fire, and her hair changed from various tones of violet into various shades of the same blazing amber like her eyes.

Otherwise her body stayed largely the same.

Her attire was changed by the black flames, too. Cinch now wore silky, with sewn-in red colored runes as protection, ornate garments in crimson, her shoes just changed their colors from the previous blue shades, light and dark, into coral ones.

Principal Abacus Cinch was no more.

"This incredible feeling..." Cinch whispered in awe and gasped at how she sounded. Her voice was the same, but with a little distortion, an echo of crackling fire. A symbol of her new existence as a half-elemental. This power was extraordinary in her opinion. Everything she could do now, the possibilities were endless! Perhaps she wanted to build a name for herself, but no rulership like Sombra.

No, she was always a principal at heart and never tried to reach for higher positions in the educational system, even if her desires told her otherwise. It was enough for her to serve in a greater scheme and to earn a position for herself in the ranks of her new masters.

She knelt in front of the High Recruiter, "Master, what do you desire?" Cinch asked, humble but determined.

"Before we go any further I think we should take care about the eavesdroppers. Some of your former students, I presume." Igniticious concentrated flames in his hand in form of a little fireball and destroyed the door, screams were heard in the upcoming dust.

After it cleared, Cinch saw them. Her students, former students; she had to remember herself. The Shadowbolts.

Lemon Zest coughed heavily and glared at the fire elemental, "Dude, that wasn't cool!"

"Oh-" Sour Sweet giggled sheepishly,"-what a pleasant surprise to meet you here like this Principal Cinch. What have you done, Cinch?! Are you insane?!” she exclaimed angrily, clearly in shock.

The others weren't faring much better. They watched the woman's actions the whole time until now, but could not do anything, because the door was closed off right in front of their faces. Literally. They knew she wanted revenge and was angry about the Friendship Games, but to make some kind of pact with a strong and very scary entity was surely no solution!

"You little pests. Did you really think you could trick me? That I wouldn't notice your presence?" the High Recruiter boomed in a powerful voice.

"There is no reason to do something drastic, maybe we can talk this out," Indigo Zap nervously tried to negotiate.

"That isn't the way, Principal Cinch! We you know didn't like the tie in the Friendship Games, but we-" Sunny Flare started to lecture, but was interrupted.

Abacus laughed wholeheartedly in response. After a few more chuckles she looked with disdain at her former students, "Oh, you naive, pesky little fools. Do you really think I would still care about those ridiculous Friendship Games? Yes, I was angry about how things went, but now I don't have to worry about it anymore. I found my true destiny and you could never understand how small you all are in comparison to the greater picture the magic of my master granted me," she clarified reverently, "But we can't let you run away and blab about what transpired here. I'm sorry young ladies, but... how did the old trope go? Oh, yes. 'Curiosity killed the cat'."

She didn't like taking a life, but she had to do it, otherwise those girls could cause trouble in the future. Cinch vowed her loyalty, not only for her own dreams, but to the plans of her masters, too. Yes, it needed to be done.

Before the five teenagers could meet a terrible end, the earth quaked. The fireball didn't only damage the entrance, but the ceiling as well.

"We have to go, now! Move!" Sugarcoat screamed panicky at her alarmed friends.

Before the new Scion could run to escape an inglorious end, Igniticious concentrated his magic and in a blink of an eye he and Cinch were gone.

The Shadowbolts took off and ran as fast as they could, the crumbling ceiling in hot pursuit their entire way back. They ran up the stairs and jumped through the door into the school corridor where their little adventure started, hoping they were safe.

Sour Sweet panted heavily, "T-That was much too close. We are lucky Crystal Prep had such a deep underground system, otherwise the whole school might have been in danger. I swear, the next time we might kick the bucket with our luck."

They heard fast approaching steps and saw Dean Cadance coming their way in high heels and wondered how she could maintain this speed with that style of footwear.

"Thank goodness! There you are! I was worried about you. I couldn't find you or Principal Cinch anywhere. After the earthquake started and I couldn't find the principal in her office, I just ordered the evacuation of the campus! What happened to you?" She was clearly worried about their well-being.

The five girls looked at each other in fear and nodded their heads. Sunny Flare stepped forward and announced, a little disturbed by what they just witnessed, "Dean Cadance we have to tell you something very important, it is about Cinch."

"Hmm? What happened?" Cadance inquired, very confused now from the behaviour of the students in front of her.

"You should sit down, because I don't think you will believe-", before she could say more, the dean interrupted her in a smug tone, "Friendship Games, remember?"

"Right, you were there. Well, never mind. OK, everything started today during our break. We talked about-"

In a realm not many mortals entered in its existence without an elemental affinity, a disturbance interrupted the tranquility. A magical circle with runes made of fire appeared and with it High Recruiter Igniticious and his new Scion, Abacus Cinch.

"Wh-Where are we?" Cinch asked, unsure and confused.

"Welcome to the Elemental Planes. More specifically, the kingdom of the fire elementals, the Burning Mountains.” he introduced proudly, "Now, are you ready to go further, before the young humans disturbed us?"

"Yes, I am." Cinch knelt down again. Igniticious put one of his big hands on her shoulder and surprisingly it didn't hurt her.

"My Scion, stand up and be acknowledged. Wear your new title with pride, bring us honor, devour your foes with your flames and make all who dare to defy our masters pay. Rise now and mark the world, Blazing Inquisitress, Abacus Cinch!" The High Recruiter intoned

"My Lord, I thank you for the honor you gave me, but may I inquire, what do you want me to do now?"

"Now, I will give you your basic training and after that you may have your first mission," the elemental answered, thoughtful of his Scion.

Cinch understood his idea and the High Recruiter was right. She had no experience in battle or combat in general. She could fudge documents, she could blackmail and she could intimidate, but she could not use a weapon or her new magic. Yet.

"I apologize for any further delay, but still have questions. What does the word 'Scion' mean exactly?" Cinch thought she could anger the High Recruiter with her questions and was worried.

Igniticious's eyes had a familiar expression, amusement, she thought, "Of course you may ask. We don't need mindless pawns who cannot think on their own in your position. To answer your question, 'Scion' is a title which describes you as a half-elemental. Humans, when they accept an elemental as their master, take some traits of the element they choose. You, for example, can no longer feel pain by the heat of fire, but be careful. Beings much stronger as you could still deal great amounts of damage to your body despite the immunity. I think you already noticed, the moment I touched your shoulder you didn't receive any torment by my flames."

"And my new title? Does it entail a special meaning?"

"Your title of 'Blazing Inquisitress' is your formal rank in our rows and describes you as some kind of special force. After your training you will be sent on missions, which need a more... delicate approach. You are no lesser fire elemental, the ones incapable of speech or following more complicated orders, those who are used in the army as patrols, for example. You will receive orders from me or other fire elementals in leading positions above your rank as a special force."

"I understand, master. I read that humans can learn their own kind of magic, if they have the potential to become magi. Will you teach me that in my lessons, too? I read about it in the notes of a former Scion of fire. He founded my school." Abacus really wanted to find out if she would have the potential to have more powers than one, but first she had to learn the extent of her abilities in her new position as an inquisitor.

Igniticious chuckled, a crackling sound was heard, "Ah, you mean Sombra, young Scion? I know about him. It was not I who was once summoned by him, but... I know that he failed. He got greedy and demanded things beyond him. A pity. He had such great potential, but picked the wrong path, leading to his own demise. I have the feeling you are not so foolish and know that greatness is not something you can demand. Let us begin your tutelage."

Cinch was ready, yes. She would learn what was necessary and she would rebuild, no, renew and improve her legacy, her reputation. She would make her mark in the world once again and nobody would stop her. She would make them all pay for their arrogance, every single one who dared to laugh at her.

The former principal knew who her targets were one day. Her master told her over the powers he gave Cinch. The High Recruiter said something about a task his master got from his master. Truly, she had a long way to go before she could meet the highest ranked fire elementals. And she wouldn't have it any other way. Only over hard work, dedication and the iron will to be better than others. Yes, one day, they would meet again and she would show them.

She would show them the capabilities of Abacus Cinch, the Blazing Inquisitress.

"My lord, one last question. What will you do about the girls who saw us? There are people in Canterlot City who know magic exists and they will try to stop us the moment they hear about our alliance." Those foolish CHS students would try to play hero again. She simply knew it.

High Recruiter Igniticious had a malicious glint in his eyes before he indulged her with more information, "Don't worry about them and listen well. The elementals of Terra have awaken. Ruins, places of old and races long forgotten are about to be revealed. 'Beings of Mythology', as ignorant humans call them, walk now on Earth and many of them are hungry. Many humans around the world 'are missing' already and only the strong may survive."

"B-But how exactly do you want to achieve that? We are talking about a place with a population of over 300.000 citizens. Those meddling teenagers may hide themselves somewhere until they can talk with others about us." Abacus wasn't sure how they could stop the Shadowbolts from talking about them in such a big city like Canterlot.

Her master chuckled darkly at his Scion's lacking faith, "I am confident there is not much for us to fear right now. The world is changing, every country, town or village has its own problems in this very moment we speak," Igniticious answered mysteriously, "Remember what I told you about the lesser fire elementals? They can't do much, but they can guard, defend, attack and conquer, if you are clever enough to use them to the best of their abilities. In our army is a pure force of lesser fire elementals and they could need the exercise to lose some dust from all these centuries of boredom. I know the elemental who leads them. He is not that strong in comparison, but he gets the job done. His name is Raga. I think they should pay them a visit. We shall unchain the Infernal Guard upon this human city. We will begin your training the moment I return. Wait for me and make yourself comfortable around this place in the meantime." In a teleportation flash he vanished.

Cinch looked in the distance and admired the view of the Burning Mountains. Her thoughts drifted finally to her future targets, "Twilight Sparkle, Sunset Shimmer. Please don't surrender too easily to this new world before we can meet again."

"-and that is everything what happened until you met us," Sunny Flare ended her tale in an exhausted voice. The dean of Crystal Prep was obviously very doubtful about the principal's supposed 'downfall into insanity', as Sugarcoat called it in their discussion. But after she heard more and more, she decided to believe the Shadowbolts. It was an incredible story. If she didn't know from the Friendship Games that magic was real, Cadance would have demanded a drug test for the five students.

She listened attentively and never knew that Cinch would go this far, "OK, girls. We have to go and find Twilight and this Sunset Shimmer. From what Principal Celestia told me, she and one of her 'friends out of town' know much more about magic than others. I will call Shining Armor and ask him some things. Perhaps you remember him, he was once an alumni of CPA and has connections to the police. Shining became a police officer recently, maybe he can help us with alarming the local authorities if this goes south.”

Cadance took out her phone and picked Shining's number. After half a minute he answered the call, "Cadie? I thought you are in the school at this time?"

"That does not matter at the moment. Listen Shiny, I will visit you at the police station immediately. It is very important," she informed briskly.

He stammered, confused and startled, "Wa-Wait, what do you mean? Cadance, I-," she ended the call and prepared herself to go this instant.

"Alright, I will take my leave, please be careful, we don't know what will happen next. Here, let us exchange our numbers Miss Flare. Please call me when you see something suspicious and for everything that is holy to you. Don't play hero again, just call me. You nearly died down there and I won't let you toss your lives away for nothing. Take care of yourselves." Dean Cadance ran outdoors swiftly, out of their sight.

The resulting awkward silence between the girls explained this entire day perfectly for them.

"Guys, we should totally leave the school and look around. See if we can find something suspicious," Lemon Zest offered her opinion in a rare, more serious voice.

"GAAHH! Come on! She really just wants from us to play nice and let her handle this? She didn't even see Cinch and what she was ready to do! The police will just get their asses kicked!" Indigo exclaimed in frustration.

Sunny Flare put a hand on her friend's shoulder to calm her down, "Indigo, we have no magic of our own. How are we supposed to do anything? Let's leave the school, like Lemon said, and look out for anything out of the ordinary. Or whatever can be defined as such in these days."

In the outskirts of Canterlot, hidden by curious eyes, a giant dark red portal made of flames appeared. The being who left it was a fire elemental. he was 8'3” and made of indigo flames. His body was very humanoid; not as thick as most other elementals. But what lacked in body, he had in power, enough to keep his position. He was more magically orientated, his flames could melt nearly anything and he took great pride in that ability. His eyes were navy in color and like all fire elementals they were like blazing, sharp looking holes which looked like they could see into your very soul. He wore royal blue armor with glowing orange runes as a full body armor. It gave him a more gallant appearance.

He was one of the few elementals who used a weapon. On his back rested a bastard sword. It was two meters long and 30 centimeters broad. Its sheath was navy blue and looked fancy with one little indigo rune as an ornament in its center. The blade itself was a silvery color for the most part and its sharp side was a burning ice blue. It was made of Zyphorium.

"So this is Canterlot City, the town High Recruiter Igniticious mentioned. I don't know why we have to attack this worthless place, but an order is an order. The higher ups will know what to do,” he mused, then, unsheathing his sword, raising it to the sky. He intoned, “Hear my call! Come and fight for the true lord of the fire elementals! Come, Infernal Guard!"

More portals, this time smaller, but with the same runes and color, appeared in their unholy glow. The Infernal Guard had arrived.

The lesser elementals were small, more in the size of normal humans, with a little range in their size from 5'3” to 6'6”, but they all looked the same. Their bodies were made of orange flames, with swirling fire instead of legs, which let them hover over the ground. They wore brown armor with three little orange runes per armor piece; on their bracers, helms and chest-plates. They had still a broader upper body than humans. In their helmets were blazing red eyes. The earth burned under their angry flames.

In the end, 1200 Infernal Guards assembled themselves.

"Burn this city to the ground and teach the inhabitants true fear! Attack!" their leader screamed at his soldiers.

He watched the beginning of the assault and already decided to teach the humans how unprepared they were. They couldn't win this fight. They didn't even know that the magic of their own world awoke or what magic even was. He would make them fear his Infernal Guard. He, Commander Raga, would bring their demise.

"It is good to see that nothing seemed to happen here. God, I just jinxed myself, didn't I?” Sour Sweet facepalmed for her tempting of fate.

"Sunny Flare, we should look out for something that can be called as 'out of the ordinary'. Well, I didn't see something like that, but can you hear that?" Sugarcoat asked in a monotone voice.

"Hm?" The friends listened to the loud noises. Then she recognized them: panicked screams, "We have to hurry!"

The Shadowbolts ran around Sugarcube Corner and what they saw horrified them to their very being. An entire army of fire elementals. They set buildings on fire and attacked every human in their sights, the dying screams of people, who burned to death, shocked them madly.

"Oh my god! They're killing everybody! They're burning down our hom-" She gasped in realisation. Before Indigo Zap could run back home, she was tackled to the ground by Lemon Zest, "Hey! Let me go Lemon! I have to leave! I have to save my parents!" She pleaded in blind fear.

"Dude! We have to stay together now. These guys will grill you like a chicken if you run off! They already spread, look around you. You have to believe that your parents will survive on their own," Lemon reasoned wisely with a very soothing tone.

She was right. Over the entire town, screams of humans were heard from all directions. They had to find a safe place; they had to run away!

Canterlot City had fallen.

Sunny Flare and her friends ran away as fast as their legs could carry them, demoralized from the assault on their once proud home. The skyscrapers the town had began to burn away under the attack of the elementals, two already collapsed and crushed every poor soul nearby under falling rubble.

Suddenly Sunny's cell phone vibrated.

"OH MY GOD CADANCE! It's terrible, the elementals...! Yes? Hm... oh... OK...WHAT?! Alright, fine, we are coming! Be safe and wait for us there!" She shouted into her phone. "Girls, we have to go! Dean Cadance found a place in the outskirts of the city where they think we'll be safe for some time," Sunny said with new courage.

"Where is this place?" Sugarcoat asked with a frightful voice.

"Sweet Apple Acres. Follow me; I know where that is. My mom always bought apples from there," the teenager explained, determined for the first time since the start of the attack and began to run again, the rest following her lead, "We can't go there without a vehicle, it would be suicide! We need a car. This is an one hour tour then, but none of us know how to drive..." Sunny Flare looked around for a fast solution, before some of the elementals caught up to them, “They are strong, but not fast,” she thought analytically.

As if a higher being heard her plea, a red car stopped besides them. The window went down and they saw...

"Moondancer?!" the Shadowbolts all exclaimed, surprised and happy at the same time to see at least one of their classmates alive and well.

Moondancer had cream colored skin, wore her signature glasses with black frames and her hair in a ponytail. The girls were never happier to see her.

"Girls, jump in! We have to go before these living disasters for every respectable physicist on this world catch up to us!" They didn't need a second invitation.

"So, any idea where to go?" She looked at her classmates pleadingly. There was no time for long debates.

"Shiny, please, I know that was too much for you. Don't bottle up your emotions," Dean Cadance pleaded with her fiance. She and Shining Armor tried to escape the never ending attacks of the Infernal Guard in form of head sized fireballs.

Her plan was to ask Shining to send the police to Crystal Prep under the, more or less true, cover story of a completely unexpected earthquake under the academy,and later to convince Shining Armor to let his colleagues search for anything suspicious.

Maybe they would have found something important.

The moment most of the police was ready, strange things attacked them. They were made of living fire and wore some kind of armor. That must have been the 'elementals' the girls talked about, Cadance guessed. The police answered by shooting bullets at them, but they didn't deal any damage at all, because the munition just burned to ashes in them or even before they reached their targets.

In the end, Shining grasped Cadance and they escaped in a close call with the help of the station's police jeep.

Others weren't as lucky as them.

They drove like mad for 40 minutes through town, hoping to escape the city and to search for survivors they could take with them in the jeep. Other people had the same idea and it was madness all around. Many streets were completely blocked because of burnt-out cars, sometimes with the car's passengers still inside.

He snorted angrily, "Cadie, I just had to watch colleagues of mine, people I called friends, some for years, BURN ALIVE. I don't know how I could look their families in the eye ever again. I was one of the leading officers and I could do NOTHING! I couldn't defend them like it was my duty. I failed and those things just slaughtered everybody. I just hope at least some of them could escape, before it was too late."

"I'm so sorry Shining. But you can't give up hope, we have still us and I'm sure many of your friends managed to escape in time," the dean of Crystal Prep said empathically.

Tears of despair, fury and self-loathing made themselves known on the young man's cheeks, "I wanted to protect the innocent, but we had to run away, like cowards. So many people burned and killed. I'm sure I saw our neighbor on the ground one block ago. You told me a lot of things before I started to assemble my colleagues. Things about Cinch, about these 'elementals', about the Friendship Games. I still can't believe Twily had a part in all of this. All this sounded like some fairy tale or Dungeons & Dragons kind of thing. I thought you just wanted to joke about my passion with games and comics about knights and other things I like. I certainly wasn't ready for this. I'm still not sure if I'm dreaming, but I fear that's our reality now."

Cadance rubbed gently his tears away with a finger and wanted nothing more than taking all his pain away, "I don't know why that had to happen, and so suddenly. I'm not even certain what will happen from now on, but we can't give up. Twily counts on us, she needs her big brother."

Shining Armor laughed bitterly, "You are right. Thanks. But honestly? I don't know what to do, I can't search for my parents, because these things destroyed the streets with their flames and in the inner city are most of them. I'm only relieved to know that Twilight and her new friends are safe. They, their principals and a few students wanted to spend a week in a summer camp; It was called 'Camp Everfree', I believe. She will be safe there. I will call her on her phone when we are somewhere safe," he explained his feelings and thoughts in a more determined state of mind.

"I know how you feel. I saw students, I consoled during my time as a dean in their hardest times, dead on the streets and I'm very close to a breakdown. That my ladybug is alright is one of the things that give me hope that we can survive this...! SHINING! THERE!" Cadance shouted urgently and pointed a finger in the direction of three young girls.

One of them wore a red ribbon on her head, had red hair and yellow skin, one girl had hair with two shades of mulberry and white skin and the last had fully purple hair and slightly orange skin color. Shining Armor stopped the jeep and shouted in their direction, "Girls! Come here, we'll bring you to safety!"

"But my sister told me to never go in some stranger's car-" one of the girls started.

"We have no time! You can trust us, please!" Cadance looked into their eyes with sincere hope and worry on her face. They were convinced.

After the trio safe in the car they tried to rest before the red haired member of the group spoke up frightfully, "T-Thank ya kindly. Without y'all these monsters would have gotten us. Ah'm Applebloom. Ma' friends here are Sweetie Belle an' Scootaloo," she said in a thick country accent.

"Do you have a home we can go to? Where are your parents?" Cadance asked with a motherly voice to calm them down.

"I don't know about my parents. They are on vacations somewhere and I didn't ask them. I live currently with my big sister, Rarity." Sweetie Belle answered with a little squeak in her voice.

"I have no idea about my parents either. My dad works as a businessman all over the world and only comes home once every few weeks over the weekend and my mom lives with me in the inner city, but those monsters destroyed and burned down everything there," Scootaloo had tears in her eyes, worried about her mom.

"Oh sweetie, everything will be OK. I'm sure your mother could escape in time," Cadance consoled the little girl.

"We sure as sugar can go to ma' home, Sweet Apple Acres. Our farm is in the outskirts o' the city. Ma' big brother and Granny Smith should be there and workin' on the farm right now," the country girl announced hopefully.

"Are you sure we'll be safe there Apple Bloom?" Scootaloo inquired nervously.

"Don't be a chicken, Scootaloo." Sweetie Belle joked, Applebloom giggled.

"Girls, calm down. Apple Bloom, show us the way," Shining Armor ordered.

"I will call sunny. Hopefully they are fine," that being said, Cadance chose Sunny Flare's number.

After one hour they reached Sweet Apple Acres, hoping that enough people could escape. The entire city was ablaze now. Luckily for them, Sweet Apple Acres had the biggest distance between the city and as the orchards came into sight they didn't see any fire elementals. Maybe they were lucky.

The jeep stopped short and everybody stepped out to look at their "new home" for the time being.

"Big Mac! Granny!" Apple Bloom screamed longingly as she jumped out of the car and ran into the house.

Shining parked the vehicle in front of the entrance for safety measures. As they went to go in, Appl Bloom came back out with a tall, well built young man; Big McIntosh, and an older woman who could only be Granny Smith.

"Ah'll be. Ma' little Apple told the truth. We really do have visitors." Granny Smith smiled warmly at them. Then she whispered into her grandchild, Big Mac's, ear, "Look at that. This fine young lady sure looks nice, doesn't she?" Big Mac blushed a little bit on his cheeks and saw his granny's mischievous smile.

"How much do you know about the situation?" Cadance asked, completely missing the conversation.

"Enough. Big Mac her' was in Canterlot when these vermints attacked the city and came back as fast as he could. We will show them! They won't take this land away from us!" Granny declared hotly. "An Apple never leaves his farm, and no vermin will tell us otherwise!"

"Eeyup," Big Mac supported in all his wisdom.

"Those things are called fire elementals and common weapons don't hurt them at all. Do you have maybe something to defend us here? Like great amounts of water?" Shining asked, feeling a little stupid for such a question.

"Eeyup," came the long reply.

"Can you show me the way?" he enquired with a raised eyebrow.

"Eeyup." Big Mac started to walk to the barn and Shining followed him.

"You don't talk much, do you?" Shining commented, grinning.

"Nope," the farmer answered with his own smile.

After they came back, Shining wasn't as cheerful as the others thought. He sighed in exhaustion, "If I'm honest we can maybe defend us against a few of them, but in the end we can't hold this place. There were hundreds of those things and if they come here, this place is lost.”

"Shining-", Cadance started, as they heard a car on its way to the house. They all ran outside to look at who it was and saw...

"Girls!" the dean screamed joyfully, "Thank goodness! You're fine! I was so worried about you!"

"We just escaped certain death. No biggie," Lemon Zest replied in a relaxed tone.

"I'm sure we are out of the worst for the time being. Seriously, this was too close, I thought we were goners!" Sour Sweet added her thoughts.

"Well Ah'll be. come in young 'uns. Y'all are in for our famous 'Apple hospitality'. Time to eat something, no fight was ever won with an empty stomach, right Big Mac?" Granny Smith asked her grandson.

"Eeyup!"

Before he could go his way Granny Smith whispered once again in his ear, "Lookie here, now there are seven beautiful youn' girls for ya! Choose wisely and make me many little Apples, y'hear?" She walked into the kitchen and left Big Mac alone.

He could only muster one answer to his grandmother's idea. With a blood red head and full conviction he shouted to the heavens a frantic, "NOPE!"

Author's Note

Greetings my avid readers!

I hope you enjoyed the chapter.

Just that you know, I will use italics for Sour Sweet's Sour personality...best joke ever and the elementals, because they don't really have vocal chords, so I wanted to make it clear that they don't 'speak' in the common sense.

And the trick to stop the Shadowbolts from interfering was made by me to go another approach. I always see this typical: "Hero-comes-in-the-last-second-and-stops-the-summoning-of-other-beings-in-last-second-cliche". And it is boring as hell.

Thank you very much for reading and stay tuned!