//-------------------------------------------------------// The Last Warrior -by Blazing_Dusk- //-------------------------------------------------------// //-------------------------------------------------------// Prologue //-------------------------------------------------------// Prologue Alright, so um... I'm gonna level with you here, I know you won't believe me but this is all true. I know it might seem impossible, it may seem like an old mares tale (granted by the time you read this it probably is) but everything I am going to tell you is the truth, that understood? Good. Ever heard of Sombra the Shield? No. how about Starswirl? No, not 'the bearded'. So what about Scootaloo the unchained? No, well of course not, that's why I'm here. They are the three most well-known Warriors, for various reasons. Sombra became King Sombra. Starswirl was the first to use moonlight as a power source (so awesome, once you can do it). And then their's me, that's the whole point of this tale. Oh! Right, a Warrior is a pony who's natural magic takes the form of combat magic instead of what it would be normally. Most ponies have to change the form of their magic before casting a combat spell, Warriors don't, however, we have to do the same thing to get normal magic, so say I wanted to fly, I'd have to change the form my magic takes to weather magic before I can do anything that most Pegasi can just do. Also before I forget all Warriors have a single spell that we use on instinct and doesn't drain our magic pool, I don't really understand how but mom says it's better to not worry about it. So on with my tale, or legend depends on when you're reading this. My name is Scootaloo, I'm a fifth-teen-year-old filly with titles that you'll find out about later. My story starts back when I was twelve, just two weeks after Tireks attack... Author's Note Hey guys! This has been planned for the past few months and I am happy to get it out to you all Chap 1 & 2 (maybe 3) will be out soon Just want to say this, auto correct changed ten (before I made it start when scootaloo was twelve) to renamed about five times:facehoof: https://static.fimfiction.net/images/emoticons/facehoof.png //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter One //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter One In Ponyville Elementary, Mrs. Cheerilee’s class were sitting not so patiently at their desk awaiting the end of the school day. One student didn't seem to notice anything around her. This filly had a purple mane, orange skin and feathery orange wings, she was wearing baggy clothes that included faded blue jeans and a white tee-shirt that looked like somepony splashed it with pink and purple paint. This filly was so out of it she didn’t even realize that school was almost over as she was so lost in thought, after all, she was to be meeting the couple that had been thinking of adopting her after school. However, the thought of possibly being adopted wasn't what got her thinking. The filly was thinking about the fact that she hadn't been told who was planning on adopting her which confused her as she could remember other foals being told the names of the ponies who they were meeting with. "Scootaloo!" The class teacher, Mrs. Cheerilee called out trying to get the attention of said filly. The elementary teacher understood why Scootaloo wasn't paying attention but she couldn't just allow anypony to not pay attention regardless of what is going on in their lives, mostly. "Oh, ah sorry Mrs. Cheerilee, I've just been really distracted by something." The purple haired filly said as she looked up from her page which was supposed to have her notes on it, however, it was blank. "Well, maybe you can use your schoolwork, or perhaps my lesson, to get your mind off of whatever it is that has you so distracted." Mrs. Cheerilee told the filly. Scootaloo could tell from Cheerilee's tone that she didn't mean what she was saying and was more or less putting on a show for her other students. Scootaloo almost laughed at the lack of actual interest Cheerilee was showing in the conversation, in fact, if Scootaloo didn't know any better she'd swear her teacher was trying to stall the class just as any student in the room would. "Yeah Scootaloo you shou-" Diamond tiara was interrupted by a loud crash from outside the windows. Cheerilee went to take a look out the windows and gasped at what she saw. "Students get to the bunker Now." Cheerilee told her class not knowing what exactly she had seen but recognizing the threat it held. Cheerilee began leading her students down the halls to the schools emergency underground bunker. As they left Scootaloo started feeling more uncomfortable the farther they got from whatever was outside, Scootaloo felt like she should turn around and... Do what? Get herself killed, after all, she had no powers to speak of, nothing she could do to help. Hell, she couldn't even fly. So why then, had she turned around. The purple maned filly felt like she had made the right decision despite the fact that she knew she had made the wrong choice. Scootaloo skidded to a halt when she finally caught sight of the monster that was attacking. The monster was a manticore. However, something seemed wrong with it. Its coat was pitch black and it had pure red glowing eyes, it lacked a mane. The manticore was twice the size of a normal one and had double, no triple the wingspan. Pure evil seemed to roll off the beast and just being near it gave Scootaloo a feeling of despair, hopelessness, anger and hatred. At that moment Scootaloo made a very stupid decision that paid off in the end. She decided to taunt the monster, yeah definitely not her brightest moment. But nevertheless, she simply voiced her thoughts. "What the hell is wrong with this thing?" Scootaoo immediately realized her mistake when the monster turned to her, "Oh no!" Scootaloo turned and ran as fast as she could. She didn't get very far before the monster swiped at her with its paw which sent her into the side of the school hard enough to knock some of the bricks out. Scootaloo stood up and looked down at herself. "I-I'm not hurt, like at all." Scootaloo groaned slightly, "Okay mostly uninjured." "Hm, a Warrior who does not know how her inner magic works. How intriguing." The monster said as it stalked over to Scootaloo. "You can talk! And what do you mean? What's a Warrior? What do you know about my magic?" Scootaloo asked, her anger rising. Unnoticed by Scootaloo, but noticed by the monster, violet sparks came into existence around Scootaloo's right hand. "Yes yes, I know these things and you, will not live long enough to find the answers. Now DIE!" The monster lunged at Scootaloo and she somehow managed to roll to the side. As Scootaloo stood up her right wrist flicked up and in a flare of light, a glowing violet chain formed while moving in an upwards direction, just barely missing the monster. "W-what did I just do?" Scootaloo asked as she watched the chain slowly disappear. The monster began to charge again. The orange Pegasus filly was trying to summon the chain again, but with no knowledge of how her magic worked or what she had just done, she was unable to. "Come on, now would be a good time." Scootaloo was frantic and angry enough that her magic reacted. At that moment Scootaloo became the epicentre of a magical detonation that blasted outwards launching the monster back toward the everfree forest, coincidentally nowhere near the area that Queen Twilight and the council were trying to retake however still technically within the borders of the Everfree kingdom. Scootaloo stood in place swaying ever so slightly, in such a way that would make most think she was drunk. "Well, that works." Scootaloo slurred before she promptly collapsed and her magic, seeking a safe place to rest and finding a location that seemed saturated in Scootaloos magical signature, ended up teleporting her back to the orphanage. And that is how my story starts. Yeah, I know the fight was kind of short and boring but hey that's what happened. What if they don't know about the whole Everfree Kingdom thing what? I'm pretty sure anyone reading this will know about that. Mom stop. No not the look! Alright fine ya technicolour freak, I'll tell em'. So basically Equestria gave up part of its land to form a new kingdom because of an ancient law about random castles popping up outta nowhere. What? I explained it. Wait no! Mom don't tell her! I'll lose cuddle privileges or be put on the couch! Mom NO! Come back. Scootaloo's voice got faint as she chased after her mother. Author's Note So hope you enjoyed. Don't know when updates will happen as I have a busy schedule with school but I will do my best. BD out edit: There's a grammatically correct way of spelling 'outta'... huh. //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter Two //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter Two Alright now where was I? Oh right, when I woke up in the bushes next to the orphanage... A bush shook as an orange Pegasus stood up. "Uh, my head. Now what the hell just happened?" Scootaloo asked herself as she rubbed her head. Scootaloo took a look around. Right beside her was the solid red brick wall that made up the back of the Ponyville orphanage. Scootaloo looked down at her hands. "How did I do that?" She asked herself. Thinking back to the battle Scootaloo recalled what it had felt like when she summoned the chain. Focusing on that feeling, she tried to pour some of her magic into it only for her instincts to take over. The flow of magic immediately diminished to almost non-existent and with a violet flash the chain was around Scootaloo's right wrist. "Woah, now how do I dismiss..." Scootaloo didn't get to finish her thought as she heard voices coming from the front of the orphanage. "Are you sure about this?" "Of course I'm sure. The beast that Cheerilee saw is gone and Scootaloo's magic trail leads here." "Alright Twi. Now we just gotta find the squirt." Scootaloo couldn't understand why Twilight and Rainbow were looking for her. "What are you guys doing here?" Scootaloo asked as she came around the side of the building. The filly was leaning against the wall for support and holding her head. Rainbow Dash was dressed in her customary black jeans, an ordinary chain clipped to a belt loop and disappearing into her pocket. Rainbow was also wearing a tie-dye t-shirt with her black-with-white-accents vest. When Scootaloo looked at Rainbows hands She noticed the technicolor Pegasus was wearing black fingerless gloves and she had a gold bracelet with a cyan gem in the shape of a six-pointed star, scootaloo also noticed that Rainbow had a standered issue whether control team digital wristwatch on her left wrist. Twilight was wearing a simple navy blue skirt that went to her knees. Twilight wore a simple purple V-neck t-shirt that had magenta trim, this t-shirt had two holes in the back for Twilight's wings just as Scootaloo's and Rainbow's did. Scootaloo noticed a lavender gem shaped like a lightning bolt on a gold chain around Twilight's neck. Twilight's mane was neat and up in a ponytail. "Well we're looking for you and we are going to adopt you, weren't you told about that?" Rainbow Dash questioned as she began looking Scootaloo over for injuries. Rainbow suddenly grabbed Scootaloo's right arm. "Hm, magic, almost no casting charge, same signature, combat in nature." Rainbow Dash went to grab the chain only for her hand to pass through, "It even recognizes whether someone is friendly or not." "We need to head inside for the meeting," Twilight said gesturing to the double doors that made the entrance to the orphanage. "So you guys are really adopting me?" "Yep, gonna see about moving you into the castle tonight actually." Came Rainbow Dash's response. Twilight rolled her eyes and sighed. No matter what she said or did Rainbow was dead set on bringing Scootaloo home that night. "We also need to make sure your magic is in working order, and I'm guessing you don't know how to dispel that chain," Twilight stated in such a way that made it clear that she would be teaching Scootaloo how to do just that. "So Rainbow how'd you pick up so much about the chain back there?" Scootaloo decided to question her idol. This curiosity was founded because Scootaloo was pretty sure Rainbow Dash couldn't do so two weeks ago. "Oh that, part of my guard training is identifying spells. Funnily enough, being able to do that helps with your magic control which is also in my training." Whether she knew it or not Rainbow Dash had just gotten Scootaloo's full attention. "Guard training? Wait, you're joining the Everfree guard!" The orange Pegasus squeezed at the thought of such an awesome pony in such an awesome position. "Nope, I'll be leading those featherbrains." If it weren't for the fact that they had reached a door labelled 'Mrs. Milino's office' Scootaloo very well might have fainted. "Are we all ready for this? Your answer better be yes by the way." There was no way for Twilight's voice to carry more authority than it already had in that single moment. In fact, the authority in Twilight's voice had momentarily stunned both Pegasi. "I'll take that as a yes." Twilight pushed open the door and the three entered. Mrs. Milino was a rather average earth pony mare with a brown coat and a grey mane and tail. She had piercing blue eyes that seemed to dull and full of wisdom, of course, her thinking bronze framed glasses could be part of that. She was wearing a pantsuit and everything about her screamed boring. Her cutie mark was hidden from view, as was customary for professional settings. "Hello. I see you brought Scootaloo with you." Mrs. Milino seemed surprised that Scootaloo was there, "Just to be clear, this meeting is more of a formality than necessary, seeing as you two seem to be Scootaloo's favourite ponies." "Would there be any issues with us bringing Scoots home with us tonight? I mean somethings going on with her magic and the castle is pretty well equipped for dealing with magic." "Well all I need is your signatures and she's yours. Scootaloo why don't you go pack your things." Scootaloo got up to do just that. Well imma pass the mic off to my lovely marefriend. Oh shut up. So this goes back to when the beast attacked the school... Diamond Tiara happened to turn her head at the exact moment that Scootaloo had turned back and started running towards the monster. Diamond Tiara was wearing a simple white skirt with a plain black belt. She wore a faded blue t-shirt and had her customary yellow jacket on over top. Her tiara on her head. And her cutie mark, on the back of her left hand was visible. "Oh Faust! Silver, Scootaloo just turned around and went back the way we came." Diamond Tiara couldn't believe what she had just seen. Silver Spoon was startled by her friends' words. Silver Spoon wore a black skirt with a simple grey open back t-shirt with the bottom half being fully closed. She also had her glasses on and a peril necklace. The reason she had the open back shirt was due to her cutie mark being on the back of her left shoulder. "Oh please tell me you aren't going after..." Silver Spoon trailed off as she noticed that Diamond Tiara had already left, "And you went after her." Diamond Tiara arrived just in time to see the monster notice Scootaloo. Diamond could feel the presence of the monster, all that despair and hopelessness. It seemed to effect Diamond more than Scootaloo seeing as Scootaloo could still move. When the shimmering violet chain whipped upwards Diamond gasped in shock and awe. As the beast began to charge at Scootaloo Diamond noticed that the orange Pegasus seemed frantic and then the area was bathed in violet light as Scootaloo's magic blasted outwards. When Diamond could see again the monster was gone and Scootaloo was on the ground. As Diamond went to go help Scootaloo the Pegasus filly vanished in a flash of purple light. Diamond Tiara didn't know what to think about what she just saw. Well that's my side of what has been told so far. Alright DT we gotta go to bed now, so shut 'er down Till next time Author's Note Hey what up? Next chapter has quite a bit to go over so it could take a while. BD out //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter Three //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter Three I'm going to be covering a bit more than usual here so there are things I'll be skipping. Things started to pick up about a week after I was adopted... Scootaloo walked into the crystal castle, her attire remained mostly unchanged. The only difference being the black vest that she had received from Rainbow Dash, the vest once belonging to the cyan Pegasus. As the orange filly walked a violet light shined around her right wrist as a glowing violet chain formed. "Hey, I'm home!" Scootaloo called as she made her way past the main chamber and into the royal chambers, a central foyer that split off into seven rooms with room to expand. The central foyer had a kitchen and living area. Each bedroom had its own bathroom. The living room had a TV and radio as well as a few couches facing the TV. Applejack was tending to the plants in the room when Scootaloo had entered. Despite being one of the shorter royals, Applejack practically towered about four inches over Scootaloo's four foot eleven frame. Applejack wore a plain white t-shirt with a short-sleeved flannel jacket over it. She also had a pair of blue jeans on. Applejack's cutie mark was on her left forearm. "Oh hey sugercube, your parents aren't here right now. Actually, it's just you and me right now." Applejack said as she looked up. Scootaloo let out a short chuckle. "Yeah, and the 30 somewhat guards around this room." The two shared a laugh at that, "Well if you see mom tell her I'm in my room." "Which..." Scootaloo closed her door as she entered a room that had no markings on Its door, "... One. 'Sigh' I'll just assume both then." Scootaloo dropped her school bag next to her door, swiping her copy of the newest Daring Do novel off her desk as she flopped down on her bed. Scootaloo had an hour to kill before magic practice with her parents. Scootaloo may have gone overboard on decorating her bedroom. She had a few wonderbolts posters hung up on her walls with a few of the Everfree guard. Scootaloo's desk was cluttered with school work, a lamp, a photo of her, Twilight, Rainbow Dash and Spike. Scootaloo had a sound system sitting atop a bookshelf. The bookshelf was full of Daring Do books and a few miscellaneous fiction novels. Scootaloo's scooter was placed in the corner. With a flick of her wrist, Scootaloo turned her stereo on. The song Hero by skillet started playing. Twilight had given Scootaloo some kind of contradictory advice about her magic, Uses it whenever she can for whatever she can in order to get practice with it, just don't get dependent on it for everything. Since you have an hour of doing nothing I'll take over Ah, come on mom! Go find your girlfriend or something. So while Scootaloo was at home waiting for me and Twilight to get back, I was out looking for a birthday gift... Rainbow Dash wore the exact same thing she had when adopting Scootaloo except she had no gloves as her cutie mark was on the back of her left hand. "Captain, why did you give the Queens guards the day off?" One of the guards assigned to watch over Rainbow Dash asked a hint of curiosity in his voice. Rainbow glanced at the guard, having to look up to meet his eye. Rainbow might have been the most intimidating mare in the Everfree kingdom but she was still shorter than most guards at five foot six. "She went to Equestria to arrange things for our daughters birthday. You should see how secure the castle is when royalty visits." Rainbow answered as she entered the skate shop. Her guards stationed themselves around the door. Rainbow began to search the shelves for the perfect gift to give her daughter. Rainbow Dash gasped in shock when she came across a few crystals on display. "Hey shopkeep, how much for these?" Rainbow asked the owner of the store. "Oh, those spent mana crystals, five bits each." Rainbow Dash couldn't believe it, this stallion clearly didn't know what you could use spent mana crystals for. Rainbow Dash bought all twenty and rushed home with them. Meanwhile in Equestria... Sparky Oh fine, so I was in Equestria while all of this was happening... "Twilight my dear, what brings you to Equestria today?" Celestia asked her fellow roller as Twilight entered the throne room. Celestia wore an elegant white sleeveless dress with golden trim. The dress made it easy to see Celestia's cutie mark on the left side of the upper area of her chest. Celestia wore a pair of simple gold bands on each wrist. And as always, Celestia wore her golden tiara. Celestia sat up straight on her throne, making her near seven-foot tall frame apparent. The princess had one leg crossed over the other. Twilight was dressed in her casual clothes as usual. She wore nearly the same thing as when she adopted Scootaloo except her shirt had an open back which made her cutie mark visible in the middle of her upper back. The open back shirt also allowed for less restricted movement of a Pegasi' wings. Twilight had her mane down. Twilight was the tallest of the Everfree royals at five foot eight. "It's my daughters birthday on Thursday." Reality seemed to stop around Celestia as Twilight's words sunk in. Daughter? How could Twilight have a daughter, let alone one celebrating her birthday? "You did read my last letter right?" Twilight asked as she looked up at her old teacher with a look of slightly miffed disappointment. Celestia didn't know what to do, she'd had that letter for a week and hadn't gotten a chance to read it. "Errr, no I haven't had a chance to, why?" Celestia confessed, she could hear her sisters barely contained laughter in the background, "And I suppose you've read the letter." Luna, in stark contrast to her sister, wore a pair of dark blue jeans and a black tank top. The deep blue mare also had her silver tiara on. her cutie mark was on the top of her left forearm. Luna sat on her throne in a less regal position, one leg dangling over the arm and her head was nestled between the arm and back of the chair, a portable game console sat on the arm of Lena's throne plugged into an outlet. Luna was so much shorter then her sister it was ridiculous, Celestia had a good fourteen inches over Luna's five foot nine frame. "Didn't need to, but, yes I did," Luna said, still trying to hold back her laughter. Celestia huffed in annoyance at that. Of course, her sister had time to do all her jobs and look through her own mail, but also time to read Celestia's mail as well. "Well, what were the contents of this letter that clearly, and better, make this situation make more sense," Celestia said as she looked back at the Queen of the Everfree kingdom. "Rainbow Dash and I adopted a filly last week and I want you guys to come to her party on Saturday," Twilight stated as if it was the most important thing in the world. "We'll see what we can do." Celestia and Luna said together. Alright I think it's time I took over And I'm coming up soon to About four days later on Saturday... Scootaloo opened the door to the royal chambers to find the lights in the foyer were off. "What the? I didn't even know you could shut the lights off in here." Scootaloo began to look for a switch to turn the lights on, which was like looking for a needle in a haystack, in the dark with a glowstick. "At least I have the glow from my chain," Scootaloo muttered to herself. The lights flashed on suddenly. "SURPRISE!" A group of voices chorused. Scootaloo saw her parents, their friends, Spike, Celestia, Luna, Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom as well as Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon. "Were you surprised? Huh huh!" Pinkie Pie asked as she jumped up and down. Pinkie wore a plain blue skirt a white V-neck t-shirt and a pink Hoodie over top. The pink mare's cutie mark was at her colour and only visible because of the V-neck. Pinkies excessive jumping and bouncing made it difficult to tell that she was the shortest one in the group. "Pinkie Pie, calm down. Of course, she was surprised." Rarity informed her friend of the obvious. Rarity wore a purple skirt and a dark blue long-sleeved shirt. Her cutie mark was on the back of her left hand. "Hope you enjoy the party." Fluttershy got Scootaloo's attention. Fluttershy wore a dark forest green form-fitting tank top that cut off about an inch above her belly button. Fluttershy was also wearing black leggings. Fluttershy's cutie mark was on her back just underneath her shirt. Apple Bloom was dressed similarly to her sister, the only difference being that Apple Bloom wore a flannel shirt instead of a jacket. While Sweetie Belle wore a purple tank top and dark blue jeans. "Happy birthday squirt, so you wanna open your gifts now or later?" Rainbow asked only to be interrupted by a loud crash from outside. "What was that?" Apple Bloom looked startled by the loud noise. "WHERE IS THE WARRIOR?!" Scootaloo couldn't help but remember that the beast had called her a Warrior before. the orange filly hoped that whatever was outside wasn't looking for her. Author's Note this chapter took awhile due to summitives and exams at school. as a quick note to people, if you're going to tell me there are mistakes just send me a pm with all the ones you found if you're going to give corrections, I just don't want excessively long comments. I am only writing this to get practice, not to improve spelling/grammar, however the main reason for this being written is to get the idea out of my head, so before you comment to say why you don't like this, if you were going to, note that I and the readers that enjoy this don't really care. sorry if anyone thinks this is me targeting them, I've just seen a lot of this crap lately and am tired of it. thanks to all the supporters and people who are enjoying this updates might be irregular as my girlfriend and some family members are having some life issues and I need to help her through them BD out edit: this is awesome! apparently, my editing programme recognizes the MLP characters names... IT EVEN RECOGNIZED THE ACRONYM! //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter Four //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter Four Things got kind of hectic at around this point, guards running about and leading citizens into the castle as it is considered the safest place in Ponyville One of the guards burst into the room looking frazzled. He began to talk extremely fast while breathing heavy, seemingly explaining something, or asking a question. "SOLDIER! calm down none of us can understand you." Rainbow Dash called out to the guard. "It's the chimera and a pack of timber-wolves." The guard said after taking a deep breath, "The Chimera is asking for the Warrior and said that if she doesn't come out soon then the wolves will start killing everyone." "Warrior? do you have any idea who they are talking about?" Twilight asked the guard. The guard shook his head, saying that he all he could tell is that they meant a specific pony. "I think they might be looking for me." Scootaloo idly fiddled with her chain, "You know, 'cause of the thing with that beast last week. He called me a Warrior." Scootaloo still had no idea what that meant. "No! Absolutely not!" Twilight exclaimed as she stomped her way over to Scootaloo, "You are not taking on a single timber-wolf let alone a pack of them with a chimera on top of it!" "B-but if I don't go out there they will start to kill ponies!" Scootaloo fired back. "And why do you think that you have to be the one to fight this?" Rainbow Dash asked looking slightly less upset than Twilight. "Because if you have the power to do something, help someone and you don't, then the blood of anyone who got hurt, or worse, killed because of whatever you ignored is on your hands." Was Scootaloo's reply. the room sat in stunned silence for a few moments after that. "Well, that is an interesting way of looking at things, that doesn't mean yo-" Rarity began to say. "Go, we've got you covered." Pinkie said in a low voice, and before anyone could react Scootaloo was gone. everyone in the room was quick to follow. once outside they saw the purple haired filly walking towards the chimera. "Hey ugly!' Scootaloo called out trying to get the chimera's attention, "I heard you were looking for me." "Oh yes-" the tiger head started. "We most certainly-" the goat head continued "Have been" the snake finished "Hey that's pretty good, but cut the crap." Scootaloo flicked her wrist, unravelling her chain, "I know you don't talk like that for one and for two, I thought you wanted to fight me." "Us Fight you?" the tiger head was already laughing and the goat head could say no more before laughing as well. "No Warrior that's what we brought these insufferable wolves for." The snake sounded annoyed, weather at Scootaloo or the other two heads no one could tell. One of the wolves jumped at Scootaloo from the side, trying to clamp its jaws down on her left arm. The wolf ended up biting down on nothing as Scootaloo rolled to her right coming up with a swift uppercut into another attacking wolf, once she was standing she flicked her chain out in front of herself before sweeping it towards the left to stagger the group of three wolves coming at her from the front. "You seriously think a bunch of lame ass wooden wolves will be able to kill me?" Scootaloo seemed confident as she sent a barrage of pebbles and small stones at the group of wolves via her telekinesis, "You must be crazy to think walking trees can beat me, or really anyone in this town." Through all of this Scootaloo didn't notice the wolf coming at her side until it had already knocked her to the ground. The wooden wolf opened its gaping jaws in an attempt to bite the filly's head off, only for Scootaloo to catch it, one hand at its snout the other on its lower jaw. "W-we have to help her!" Fluttershy couldn't hold back her tears, "There's no way she can do this on her own." "I don't think there's anything we can do without making the Chimaera start killing at random." Applejack was frowning, she couldn't see any way to help the young Pegasus. Applejack noticed the way that the groupe of wolves orintaited themselves, no way to take out more the one without hitting Scootaloo and risking having them start going at civilians. "As much as I hate to say it, Girls I think Applejack may be correct." Celestia seemed to hate both the words she said and herself for saying them. Twilight dropped to her knees, her hands over her mouth with tears streaming down her face. "She's out there fighting for us, in a fight she has no business being in." Twilight chocked and was unable to say anything for several seconds. "AND WE CAN'T HELP HER!" "I know it sucks, but there's nothing we can do to help, not with the town in danger." Rainbow crouched down to comfort her marefriend, she then noticed the gleam of a sword hilt under some rubble, "Unless..." "We need to start clearing the civilians out so that we can do something." Rarity was hesitant, but they had to do something. Other than Rainbow, who was busy freeing a sword, and Twilight, who couldn't get up, everyone went to help the townsfolk. Scootaloo put as much force, both physically and telekinetically as she could into getting the wolf off of her body, she succeeded and also ripped it's lower jaw off. Reacting quickly the young Warrior grabbed the wolfs head and slammed it into the brick road beside her. Stopping to look at the mangled head of the beast Scootaloo grasped just what she had done. "I, I killed it. Holy shit I actually killed it." Scootaloo took a step back just before the wolf started to reform, "Aw come on! I killed you so stay dead damn it!" Before the wooden wolf could get back up Scootaloo stomped its head in, then picked it up and threw it at a wall where she decided to attempt to sever its head with her chain. This did not work, so Scootaloo ended up throwing it at the nearest storm cloud. "Alright, who's next?" Scootaloo turned around only to see no one there, "Huh, where'd they g-" The chimera backhanded Scootaloo through the wall behind her, and the wall behind that, and the next three after that. Alright it's my turn now bitches A tree house that looked identical to the one at sweet apple acres sat in the middle of a wide-open field. Two young fillies were in the tree house one sitting in a chair the other laying on the floor unconscious. these girls looked identical, same clothes, same colours, orange and purple, same wings. Their only difference? The eyes, the one sitting had crimson slitted eyes while the other, whose eyes were open despite being unconscious had magenta eyes. The girl with magenta eyes gasped and sat up. "ugh, where am I, why does my head hurt?" "Well first of all, hello sister." the sitting filly said as she smiled down at the other filly. "Wait, who are you? What do you mean sister? And what happened to the chimera?" "Well in order, your in our mind. you got backhanded through several walls. I'm like a second personality in our head. Come on, we share our body and our mind and were born together how aren't we sisters. And lastly Nothing, the damned thing is still alive and kicking." The crimson eyed filly seemed to be very angry with the chimera. The magenta eyed filly looked around the area noting how it looked like the CMC clubhouse. "So uh, do you have a name or do we need to come up with one?" "Oh don't worry about it Sis, I am kinda partial to the name FireFly." The now named FireFly grinned, "Much like how you like the name Scootaloo." "That's a nice name actually, I really like it." Scootaloo truly liked the name and it showed by the look on her face. "Alright, you rest up here, I'm gonna go deal with that chimera." And with that FireFly disappeared, leaving Scootaloo to wonder if she had gone insane. With a grunt of effort, Rainbow got the last rock off of the sword she had seen earlier. "Holy fucking shit she tore it's jaw off at the hinge." Luna gasped in surprise as she turned the child in her arms away from the sight on reflex. Not many would be able to rip off the jaw of a timber wolf. Rainbow's head turned back to the fight in time to watch her daughter slam the wolfs head into the ground. Rainbow smiled at her daughter only to groan as the wolf started to reform. Everyone winced at Scootaloo's next actions, the other wolves seemed to be smart enough to run. "Well, that was unnecessarily brutal." Rarity seemed almost as revolted at the idea of what just happened as Fluttershy was. "To be fair, Timber-wolves are usually soulless automatons." Twilight chimed in, quick to defend her daughter's actions. After that, there was a loud crash that caught all of their attention. looking over they noticed Scootaloo had been knocked through several walls. There were several tense seconds before Scootaloo came back out of the hole in the first wall, only her eyes were now crimson and slit. "Oh, that's it." FireFly was evidently in control now, "I hope you are ready to die 'cause I'm gonna make you regret the day you were born." "Oh? You're going to do that, HA! don't make me laugh-" The Goat head was interrupted as she started to chock due to the chain now around her neck. FireFly was standing atop the chimera's back pulling her chain tighter. FireFly intended to end the chimera, after all, it had threatened innocents and that was not allowed. Unfortunately, the snake did not like this development and attempted to kill both FireFly and Scootaloo as they shared a body. FireFly jumped off of the monstrosity, letting her chain dissipate as she did so. "Whoa, there's no need for that, both I and my sister are rather attached to this body you know." FireFly grinned as a steel sword skidded across the ground coming to a stop in front of the filly. The Warrior picked it up and tested its weight with a couple swings. "Entirely too long and heavy, but it will do." with a swift swing at the incoming snakehead, it is severed. The other two heads gap at the limp neck/tail thing of the snake shocked at how quickly it happened. In their shock, they didn't notice the magical rainbow of harmony until it had disintegrated them. "I don't understand." Twilight was confused, she didn't think the power of the elements would actually kill anything. "I thought the elements were a force for good. how could they kill anything?" Fluttershy seemed terrified of the power she held within herself. "Don't know, Don't care. But anyway names FireFly, nice to meet all of you, thanks for taking in me and my sister in, even if you thought it was just her." FireFly loved the look on Rainbow's face when she realized what that meant. "AW COME ON!" And that is the tale of how I scared my mother for the first time. Oh yeah also other stuff happened and we still don't know why the elements killed the chimera Author's Note Whoa, this chapter kinda got away from me and I just couldn't stop so don't expect this kind of length all the time, or really at all again BD out //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter Five //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter Five Mom kinda freaked out at this point, it was kinda funny actually. That wasn't funny, why won't you just drop it? It is so funny "What are you talking about?" Rainbow Dash was fairly confused by the idea of her daughter having a second personality sharing her mind, "I swear if you're trying to replace her." "Anything you do to me you do to her, and no I'm not trying to replace her." FireFly was upset at this notion, "She's basically the only thing I care about in this world, she's my sister damit." "Dash calm down this sounds like a case I read over a couple years back when I lived in canterlot." Twilight didn't seem sure of things herself and was almost as suspicious as Rainbow Dash. Everyones gaze snapped over to the lavender alicorn at once, well everyone but Pinkie who was instead focused on FireFly. "Well, she ain't lying if that helps any." Applejacks words made the filly scoff. Twilight turned her head to look at the farmer. "Yeah that helps, Thank you." Twilight looked back at FireFly, then she swept her gaze around the area taking in all of the damage, both from during and before the fight, "Dash, we need to direct the residents of this area into the nearby emergency shelter." "On it. GUARDS! I want a full sweep of the area done by morning, then we'll asses the damage and begin repairs, leave no stone unturned, Now go." Rainbow shot off to assist the guards in their mission and to lead the residence of the area to the shelter. Every single guard present started to remove rubble and look to make sure none was trapped under anything. "Applejack, Fluttershy would the two of you be able to help with rebuilding in the morning?" It was apparent to the lingering civilians that all six of their leaders had the same main priority in this situation, the safety of their subjects. This was in spite of the recent family issue that had cropped up and marked out the views of the leading council, Every life mattered equally. "No problem Twi, me an' my brother will help with whatever is needed." Applejack was always ready to do what was needed to help those around town, this trait was only amplified once she and her friends took control of the town and its surrounding area. "I'll see if any of the animals can help, I'm sure I can at least get Mr. Bear to help though." Fluttershy's help in these situations was a little different however it was just as effective as, if not more so than Applejack and her brother. Of course, it helps that its hard to be afraid of a bear when Fluttershy is around. "So now that the plans are laid are we going back to the castle?" FireFly seemed mildly annoyed with just sitting in place. Twilight sighed before nodding and leading the group back to the castle, FireFly whooped in joy. I can't quite recall if it was the next day or a few days later when mom took me to see a doctor about magical illness's It was the next day Scootaloo was nerves while she sat in the waiting room of the magical illness department of the local hospital. She didn't know what the doctor would say about her condition, whether he said there was no problem or if he tried to get ride of FireFly. "The fucker can damn well try." FireFly growled from within their shared mind. It was rather startling to find that they could communicate within their mind like this, however, it was quite useful 'you'll never be alone' FireFly had said and if she was honest? Scootaloo really liked that idea. "Don't worry about anything Scootaloo, we already know that FireFly doesn't want to hurt you so we won't be getting rid of her," Twilight reassured her adoptive daughter. Scootaloo could only nod, far too deep within her worries to really understand what the lavender alicorn was saying. A nurse stepped into the room with a clipboard in hand. "Scootaloo, the doctor will see you now." Scootaloo and Twilight stood and followed the nurse. They arrived in a normal hospital room with the doctor waiting. "Ah yes hello. you're the filly with another pony in her mind correct?" The doctor wore the stander blue and white uniform. Scootaloo nodded in response, still far to nerves to actually say anything. "Good good, for a moment I was worried I had the wrong room." That made scootaloo giggle, "Well the first thing to do is assure the both of you, we are not going to try and get rid of either of you. We are merely talking about what this means for you and giving your mother here some advice to help her with the raising of the both of you." Both Scootaloo and FireFly sighed in relief at that, although FireFly was still fairly tense. The red-eyed filly knew she was a lot more violence-prone than her sister and she thought that would end up costing the two of them. The doctor seemed to believe that this was a perfectly fine condition for one to have, as he nodded and wrote something down. "Now the report here says that their magic is combat in nature, completely naturally." Twilight offered a confirmation, "Does FireFly show any violent tendencies, any at all?" "Yes actually she does, during the attack she seemed much more willing, and even a little eager to injure and maim those she was fighting," Twilight answered after a brief pause to think on the question. The doctor nodded and continued to write on his clipboard. "Good, good. any difference you can see between them that is unrelated to their magic?" "Oh yes, FireFly is more patient and less easy to excite but other than that they seem very similar, the main difference is how pronounced their traits are." "Ah, that is very helpful. Now a question for Scootaloo." The doctor looked at the young filly, "How does it feel having FireFly around, how is it affecting you? Please tell me anything you might think could be related." "It's hard to describe, kinda like getting something that was incredibly important back only you didn't know it was missing in the first place if that explains things at all." Scootaloo was being honest, the doctor continued to take notes, "And it makes me happy, like whenever I'm sad I know there's someone there to cheer me up. And now that I think about it my magic is a little easier to control now." "And now I'd like to speak to FireFly please." Scootaloo nodded and closed her eyes, she reopened them they were the red dragon-like eyes of FireFly. "Fire away doc." "if I told you the only way to keep Scootaloo alive was to remove you, what would you say to that." Twilight gasped and FireFly looked unaffected. "Say you could say this with one hundred percent certainty and could prove it." The doctor nodded, "I'd say when do we start." The doctor nodded and Twilight looked shocked "That's all I needed. Queen Twilight it would seem your daughter has a case of Twin Absorption Magic and Mind Meld or T.A.M.M for short. This is not dangerous all it means is that as their magic signatures formed they merged, which later lead to their minds melding. They are just a pair of twins who share the same body, mind and magic." The doctor smiled. "Could this explain why they were born with combat magic rather than pegasus magic?" Twilight wasn't concerned, she was just curious. "Possibly, however, I doubt it as there are other cases out there where that didn't happen. I should caution you from mentioning this to other doctors, most believe this to be a disease that needs to be cured rather than what it is." Twilight looked like she was ready to fight to protect FireFly. "They can try. No one is hurting either of my daughters while I live." That simple declaration meant the world to FireFly, as she saw the look in Twilights eye. Not only would the alicorn fight to protect FireFly, shed kill if it meant keeping the red-eyed filly safe. Later on mom taught me and FireFly more magic, theory mostly but still Scootaloo sat in the common room of the royal family's area of the crystal castle with Twilight, a series of books lay forgotten to the side as Twilight taught both the orange pegasus and her sister about how magic worked. "Magic is a force that works alongside nature, not against like some believe. This is relatively easy to prove, pegasi don't change the nature of clouds, they just help the cloud do what it would otherwise." Twilight was drawing diagrams to help with her point, one image showed a cloud letting the water within it out slowly while another showed a cloud letting it's water out quickly with a pegasus assisting it. "Mom, we already know all of this, can't you teach us how to solve the issue we are having with energy constructs." Scootaloo seemed annoyed with her mother and her inability to simply answer the question she was asked. "And we'll get to that but first, why is conjuration simply not an actual thing?" Twilight's question would confuse many unicorns and even more ponies of all tribes, after all, everyone knows about conjuration. "The amount of energy needed to create something from nothing is so vast that it simply can not be done by mortal beings, we are not capable of storing that kind of energy." Scootaloo's answer may have been true many would rebuff it on account of the cases in history, "And most documented cases are a teleport summon or a transfiguration of the air, which well difficult is still very much possible to a degree." "Right. But if conjuration is impossible for us because of our limited magic energies why can we do energy constructs?" Scootaloo was puzzled by this, she wondered why one was possible and the other wasn't, "This is because a construct uses whats present to solidify, not the energy. An energy sword? actually made of air, the glow is energy binding the air particles together." "when did she become an expert on energy constructs." "I was board alright." Scootaloo jumped in surprise, not expecting Twilight to hear FireFly, "Sorry, forgot to mention the general surface layer telepathy spell I cast so that I could hear FireFly." "Don't see how this helps us." If FireFly was upset she didn't convey it at all. "Well your spells are underpowered, that comes from focusing on the flow of magic. Being focused on the flow usually makes you underestimate the amount of power needed. The reverse is true of focusing on the magic itself, you will overpower a spell because you overestimated the amount of power needed." Twilight quickly made a ball out of the air around her using her magic, "You need to instead focus on what you want to have happen and let your magic do the work for you. Now try." and Scootaloo did, she ignored the magic and it's flow and just focused on the form she wanted it to take. Closing her eyes Scootaloo didn't see the vaguely sword-shaped construct start to form in her hands, nor did she see Twilight's smile. The pegasus filly did, however, feel the sword solidify in her hands, Scootaloo opened her eyes and gaped at the blade. "Wicked! Now we can some serious damage with this and our chain." FireFly sounded as excited as Scootaloo felt. Giving the blade a few swings Scootaloo came to realize that trusting her magic was the right call as the sword just felt perfect from the balance point to the blade length, everything was perfect. "Woah. My magic did this?" "Yep, and now we can move on to your next lessons." Twilight grinned at this point, "How to actually use a sword, and magic conversion." At this point I was out assisting in the clean up so Applejack and Fluttershy could start to rebuild when the first sign of the danger to come showed up... "Alright soldiers. Report." Rainbow shouted out to those under her command in the area. One of the guards working through the ruble stepped over to her. "Seven found injured in the ruble, two were sent to the hospital for further treatment. No dead were found, however..." At this point, The guard with a black mane and blue coat hesitated, "I wouldn't bring this up if it weren't related but my wife was found in the rubble, she's conscious but mostly unresponsive." "Mostly? Well, take me to her." Rainbow Dash said as she turned to follow the guard, "Oh, you get the rest of the week off, paid, let us know if you'll be able to return at the end of that period, family is important after all." "Th-thank you captain." The pair arrived at the location of the stallions wife. The mare was wrapped in a blanket visibly shaking, she had a medic checking her over. Said medic looked up and noticed the two. "Oh, captain. It's good to see you here, I'm not sure what's wrong with her, she just won't respond to anything." The guard removed his helmet and moved to sit beside his wife. "Alright, I'll see if we can get through to her." Rainbow Dash made her way over to the couple, "Hello miss, can you hear me." There was no response except the mare blinking once. Rainbow tilted her head and thought for a moment before she smiled. "Blink once for yes twice for no, understand?" One blink, "Good, now did you live in this area." Two blinks, "Just visiting okay. Let's see, did the chimera do this to you." Two, "Did you see the chimera's 'Boss'?" One, "Is that the thing that did this to you?" One, "Are you a good artist?" The mare twisted her neck slightly to show her cutie mark, an image of two paint brushes crossed. Rainbow smiled and nodded her thanks. "Can you draw the thing that did this to you?" The mare nodded her confirmation, "I'm gonna need a pencil and some paper over here!" Once the mare had a pencil and paper she set to work drawing an image of the creature that put her in her current state. "She's uninjured. It's like she was terrified by something, but I can't think of anything that could do this to someone." The medic looked over to Rainbow Dash as she spoke. "I have an idea, I just hope I'm wrong." Rainbow didn't like the idea that had formed in her mind. She really hoped this wasn't connected to her daughter but it seemed it would be. "Captain, she's done." The mares husband stated. Rainbow turned to look at the image. "Shit." it was a perfect match to Scootaloos description of the monster from the attack on her school, only now there was fog rolling off of various parts of its body, and it had 4 eyes. The beast wings had holes in them while the ridges looked incredibly sharp. That was our first clue of what was to come, we didn't even have time to prepare Nothing we did could have prepared us. What I wouldn't give to find out what The beast had been planning ahead of time Well, we'll be ready next time something like this shows up, we learned from this Author's Note Huh, that got away from me. 440 minutes and 20 of looking it back over for mistakes and it's at 2,600 words Well now to work on chapters 6, 7 and maybe 8 Really happy with how this came out, especially with how the old version (got to 1,512 words there) ended up with me wanting to replace the whole thing well, see you all next time BD out //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter Six //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter Six At this point we were really worried about the Beast coming back I was looking over all case records that the guard had access to that could be connected in any way Twilight walked into her and Rainbows study to find the prismatic mare slumped over the desk asleep. With a sigh, Twilight walked over to the desk to wake her marefriend up from her nap. "Rainbow, hey Dashie, wake up." Twilight gently shook Rainbow's shoulder. Nothing happened, Rainbow remained asleep. Continuing along this line for the next ten minutes proved fruitless. "Oh screw it," Twilight slammed her fist into the surface of the desk on the opposite end from Rainbow's head, "WAKE UP!" "I'm up!" Rainbow shot up into the air and looked around the room. After seeing Twilight, Rainbow landed softly on the floor, the prismatic maned mare looked rather annoyed with the alicorn. "I see you're looking over old files that may pertain to the monster that Scootaloo saw at her school." Twilight telekinetically picked up a file and began to look through it. The file had all the same visual components as the Beast as the image the mare who had been affected the other day had drawn, paralyzing fear, unending fog, monstrous glowing eyes and the mangled wings. "You know the worst part? Every case has this thing described differently, which is why no one put it together sooner." Rainbow handed a file over to Twilight, "That's the first case we believe was about this 'Beast' and the description is entirely different to all of the other cases." Twilight read the description in the file, then another file and another, and was confused by what she saw. As far as Twilight could tell the creature from this case was a normal manticore, only with a slight aura of fear and the glowing eyes. "That first one I handed you. That's from around two months ago." Rainbow looked back at the pile of files on the desk, "Two months Sparky, that's how long this things been around, how long it's had to plan and we had no idea until now? There's something else going on here, and we need to find out what." "Your right, we do." Twilight set the file down and grabbed Rainbows hands, "But not now. How about we get the guards on this and join the others in giving Scootaloo and FireFly their birthday presents." The idea of not dealing with this threat personally made Rainbow Dash squirm in her seat but there was one thing Rainbow would drop everything for, family or more specifically, her children. We had no way to know what the beast was planning at this point, mostly because everyone who knew was either dead or with the beast... However, once again Scootaloos birthday was interrupted... "Sorry, we didn't get a chance to do this sooner squirt," Rainbow said as the first gift was passed to the orange-furred filly. "It's not a problem," Scootaloo opened the new gift to find a new pair of flight goggles to go along with her new scooter, stereo, wing care set and various books and wonderbolts merchandise. "Put them on, I have a feeling that they will prove to be useful." FireFly enjoyed moments like this, just sitting with family. Scootaloo took the goggles and put them on, positioning them over her eyes. After getting a feel for the fit Scootaloo pushed the goggles up onto her forehead, her mane getting pushed out of the way. "Thanks, Rarity" Receiving a quick 'your welcome' Scootaloo moved on to the next gift that was presented to her. After unwrapping it Scootaloo found a set of mana crystals, the largest of which were on a necklace as a pendant, which scootaloo put on. "That one has a localized shield spell tied to it, the spell normally takes a lot of focus so this way all you have to do is pour magic into the pendant." Rainbow grinned as the stone lit up mere moments before a bubble of violet magic popped into existence around Scootaloo. "We can set up the others later, there's a lot you can do with these crystals you know." Twilight Smiled at her daughter and glanced at her new goggles, "Those goggles allow for some interesting things with these mana crystals." Scootaloo looked up at that and smiled as she thought of the spells she could attach to her goggles. "So many possibilities, perception spells, vision-based spells or just a flashlight." Scootaloo laughed lightly at that last one. "Oh hey, that reminds me, remember back when you first noticed my chain?" Scootaloo looked at her parents, Twilight looked at Rainbow Dash and nodded. "Aw come on Sparky, why do I have to explain it." Rainbow leaned back in her chair as she looked at her marefriend, "Alright fine, so the reason why I was the one who did all the spell recognition stuff is because as captain of the guard I have to be able to recognize if a spell is harmful at the minimum, and as it turns out I'm pretty good at it. I can get information on spells that most can only get with a spell scan while it's being cast." That's... really odd, I'm going to sort through our memories for anything odd like that concerning our parents and their friends." Before Scotaloo could protest FireFly dived into their shared mind. "Yeah, we all thought it was mighty odd too," Applejack commented as she downed her drink and stood up to toss the can out. The entrance into the common area burst open as several guards ran into the room. "Queen Twilight, Captin Dash, Ladies Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy and Applejack, new information has come to light concerning the case of the Beast." The lead guard handed Twilight a witness report. "This says one of the guards who tried to hold the Chimera off heard it mention a cave behind the old castle in the Everfree Forest." Twilight handed the file off to Rainbow Dash, who began to look through it. "We may even have an idea on why the elements vaporized the Chimera, it's leftover magic signature was dark, not corrupt, and it wasn't just dark magic it felt like it would rot everything around it simply for pleasure if it was alive." "What was done with the ashes?" Rainbow asked the guard who had described the magic. "They were gathered and placed inside a jar then placed in a secure location." "I want that secure location to be somewhere no one ever goes, that jar is to be isolated except for two guards on a rotating station, no living things within eight meters of it, am I clear," Pinkie ordered the guard. as she stepped forward, none of her usual cheer present in her demeanour. "Crystal ma'am." The lead guard nodded to a pair behind him, both of whom rushed off to carry out their orders. "There's one other thing, we have a prisoner who claims to have information on the beast." "Take us to them." The look on Twilight's face spoke volumes about her opinion on this matter. This part occurred a few hours beforehand... A small timberwolf-like being was hiding in a bush as various creatures from the Everfree forest gathered in a clearing just outside of a fairly large cave. The wolf shook slightly with fear as it looked towards the cave waiting for a chance to escape "You have to wait until you get something useful to tell the ponies," The wolf reminded itself. This wolf was rather small, roughly the size of a small colt of around thirteen, it had black fur and brown bark-like plating adorned its body, mostly on its arms and legs with a series of plates on its back that stretched around to the front, although it had no plating on its chest or stomach. The weirdest part of this wolf was that it appeared to walk on two legs and had arms. "Welcome all to my humble abode. We will be attacking that pitiful town just outside our forest in three days then we shall move onto the rest of the world." The Beast called out to the creaturs of the Everfree. That was all the wolf needed to hear before it's fear got to be too much and it bolted in the direction of ponyville. The Beast looked at the fleeing wolf with a grin "Perfect." It knew I was there the whole time and took advantage of that you couldn't control that but back to where we were... All six of the Everfree Kingdoms leaders and Princess Scootaloo stood outside a cell that contained the being with information on the Beast. The cell block had walls made of an opaque crystal and heavy metal doors. "Alright let's get to it, this info could save lives." Rainbow opened the door and stepped into the room. "Finally they sent you all here." The timberwolf thing looked relieved to see the seven of them. Scootaloo held a half-formed energy construct sword behind her back. "Alright first question, what are you exactly?" Fluttershy sat across from the handcuffed wolf, who looked shocked at the question. "What? How the fuck does that matter. I have things I need to tell you otherwise your citizens will die!" The wolfs fist hit the table in frustration. "You want to give us that info? Fine, but first your gonna answer the questions we ask you, whether you like it or not, clear." Rainbow pulled a second chair up to the table and sat down. At the Wolf's nod, she seemed to relax about the situation a little. "Fine. I am a timberwolf, or at least that's the thing I'm closest to being, and no I have no idea how I ended up like this." The Wolf looked fairly angry at being delayed in giving the information he held. "Alright, and your name?" Fluttershy was now holding a clipboard and a pen "Frost Walker, why?" "Legalities." Twilight took the clipboard from Fluttershy and left the room. Rainbow got up to follow her, Scootaloo stayed in place wither her sword still behind her back. "Now what is the information on the Beast that you claim to have?" Fluttershy asked the wolf. "It's gathered a small army of creatures from the Everfree, including timberwolves, manticores and I think I saw a hydra." Frost Walker tapped his knuckles against the table. "And I'm fairly certain they will be attacking here in three days." Rarity and AppleJack both left the room, followed by Fluttershy after she thanked Frost for his time. Once everyone else had left Scootaloo left as well. "I want the guards ready for an attack by tomorrow," Rainbow told her second in command, who gave a salute and rushed off. "What are we going to do with Frost Walker?" Applejack was the one to bring the question up to the group, Rainbow grunted in response. Fluttershy sighed as she looked back to her friend. "Right now our main concern is the Beast we'll deal with everything concerning Frost Walker afterwards." Fluttershy looked back towards the cells, "We have too much going on at the moment." "Indeed, as much as it pains me to say it, the situation with Frost isn't nearly as urgent as the incoming attack," Rarity's displeasure at the current situation was made evident in her voice. At this point, Rainbow looked thoroughly annoyed. "This beast is coming after our kingdom, probably after our citizens. And you know what we know for sure?" Rainbow gestured to Scootaloo, "It's coming after Scootaloo in three days or less." "Which is why Scootaloo will have a guard detail at all times." Twilight put an arm around her daughter's shoulders. "I'm not sure that will make a difference mom." Scootaloo looked up at the lavender mare with a frown, "I don't think we can do anything to keep it from getting to me." The rest of the group seemed disturbed at the fillies attitude. Applejack walked forward and placed her hand on Scootaloo's shoulder. "That doesn't mean we won't do everything we can," Applejack told the young pegasus. Fluttershy nodded in agreement along with Rarity. At that point we had a timeframe for the Beast to attack and we knew where it would attack, where ever I was Not your fault I know that but doesn't change the fact that this monster attacked the whole town, anyway things really started going the next day... Scootaloo sat in her usual seat in the classroom staring at the back of Diamond Tiara's head as Cheerilee went on about something, Scootaloo didn't know what. "So how long till Tiara ask Scootaloo to the dance next week?" Scootaloo faintly heard Apple Bloom ask Sweetie Belle. Scootaloo sat up straight in surprise at her friends' words, not believing that Diamond Tiara would ask her to the dance. "Don't know. Tomorrow maybe?" Was Sweetie's response. Scootaloo scowled and moved to turn around to confront her friends on their choice of conversation when the door slammed open and one of her personal guards stood in the doorway, his hand still on the doorknob. "Everyone needs to get to the emergency bunker now! Princess, you're with us." Scootaloo kicked her bag to Sweetie and jumped clear over her desk, the smoky shape of her sword forming in her hand the whole way. "It's here," Scootaloo stated as she followed the guard squad out of the building. "Town square, but it's forces are all over town so we'll likely have to fight our way there." Scootaloo nodded as her sword solidified and her chain glowed a little brighter. As the group ran through town they took pot shots at whatever they could hit that wasn't a civilian or a guard member. Scootaloo rolled forwards under a timberwolf as she threw her sword to the side, it began to dissipate at the pommel once it had left her hand and ended up going through the neck of a manticore with glowing red eyes. The Warrior flicked her chain out behind her as she stood, wrapping the chain around the midsection of the wolf that had jumped her, she pulled with all her might and threw it at another wolf down the street that was about to pounce on a mare. A pair of nearby guards rushed forward to get the mare out of there. The guard to Scootaloo's left rushed forward and stabbed his sword into the chest of another wolf, lifting it up over his head and slamming it into the ground behind him he withdrew his sword and sprinted back to the group. There was chaos all around them at this point, fires both beginning and spreading, ponies were running and screaming. "We'll have to turn roads blocked ahead, look!" The lead guard of the group pointed up in front of them, Scootaloo ground her teeth together as she looked at the three manticores and timberwolf pack in front of her. "I'll deal with that, just keep running." Before the guards could protest Scootaloo sprinted forward. "Maybe I can affect the form of my chains the way Twilight taught me to form my sword." Scootaloo thought as she ran. Scootaloo whipped her chain at the manticore on the left, which also hit a timberwolf and went right through its head due to the bladed edge Scootaloo added to the chain. The manticore managed to step out of the path of the chain. Scootaloo pushed off the ground slashing at another wolf with her sword as she did. She then pushed off of the wall she hit with one foot and thew her sword at the manticore quickly following it with one end of her chain. The sword struck home in the beast' arm and the chain snacked its way around the manticores neck twice. The Manticore tried to pull the chain from its neck, however, once Scootaloo hit the ground behind it she pulled hard on the chain, severing the manticores neck. The other manticore took a step away from Scootaloo at this point. Once Scootaloo turned her gaze to said manticore, however, it did the intelligent thing and fled only to be caught in a storm of arrows. Scootaloo stood and grabbed a timberwolf that had been coming at her out of the air, using its momentum against it she threw it at the building she had just jumped off of, then she threw her newly formed sword at it. As the guards caught up Scootaloo found herself terrified by how naturally this whole thing came to her. No one should find fighting this easy, no one should be this effective with a weapon without training. Scootaloo couldn't understand why it was so instinctual to her. The group continued to pick off enemies until they would arrive in the town square. "Ah, so the Warrior does come." The Beast grinned at Scootaloo, "And is that fresh blood?" This was my first real fight and it would take everything I had to win, but first We had to deal with our own trouble back at the castle, it wasn't pleasant... "Two days at most, that's how long we have." Rainbow was dressed in full battle armour as she and her fellow rules sat around a table in the war room. "We won't be ready for this." Rarity looked down at a map of Ponyville, "How likely is it that the enemy has planned for the power of the elements?" "I'd say it's guaranteed, we foiled its first plot with that power, it won't allow that a second time." Twilight was taking note of every safety bunker on the map. "True, which means there is probably little to nothing we can do to prevent Scootaloo's involvement in this." AppleJack didn't like this, there was something more to this but they had no clues. "But it has no way to know about the other effects of the elements, seeing as we just found those recently." Fluttershy was the type to always look for a positive, and in these situations, those kinds of people were needed. "We'll have to do everything in our power to stop this and be prepared for the next threat then." Pinkie was unusually sombre. "The flair was set off! it's here!" The group hears from the other side of the door. All six mares rushed out of the castle to get to the location the flair had been set off. "Ah ah ah, where do you think you're going?" A hydra sneered as it walked towards the six. Twilight nodded to her friends and began to activate the elements. The rainbow energy beam that came with the use of the elements blasted towards the hydra, who dodged to the left. "Did you really think that we wouldn't be prepared for that, really?" Once the Hydras vision returned to normal and it could make out what was in front of it, they were shocked to only see Twilight standing in front of them. "The real question should be why was it so much brighter than normal?" Twilight grinned up at the hydra as an earsplitting boom could be heard and a rainbow wave washed over the sky, None of that registered with the hydra as it was sent reeling from pain as Rainbow Dash plowed into it faster than sound. Applejack dove out of a nearby bush, planting her left foot she did a quick spin and drove her heel into the side of the hydras bowed head. Pinkie seemed to appear behind the hydra and fired a shot from her party o be an actual cannonball. The cannonball was quickly followed by Pinkie herself, grabbing the hydras rightmost head, Pinkies trajectory curved back to the ground, where she landed on the hydra head, cracking the road underneath her. Rarity came out of a short-range teleport and sent hailstorm of rocks and dirt towards the hydra from the right, immediately followed by a subsonic uppercut from Rainbow Dash to the right centre head. Applejack punched with all her might with her right hand into the hydra's center of mass, pushing it back a couple feet. A wave of fear and guilt washed over the hydra as Fluttershy glared at it, this caused the hydra to hesitate. The moment of hesitation was all Twilight needed to fire off a simple magic bolt spell for each head before she blasted forward grabbing the necks of the two central heads as she passed, completely flipping the hydra. The next attack came from Fluttershy who slammed a guards discarded shield into the rightmost head, knocking it out. Rarity used the disorientation of being partially knocked out to weave a rope out of the grass, leaves and sticks around the area and pinned the Hydra with that. Pinkie ended up knocking the Hydra out completely by bouncing from one head to another. As it turns out, fighting six highly coordinated people that know each other really well is incredibly difficult by yourself They always fail to realize that theirs a difference between being outnumbered and outclassed, and can never see it when both are true Author's Note 3,454 before i went back over it... what? How does this keep happening! I really don't want people expecting 3,000-word chapters but I keep getting longer and longer I tried to keep this one under 2800 damit! Well new character, YAY! when do people usually start to hate the new character? But to be serious this chapter was a blast to write, it's really getting into what this story is going to feature, fights and for a first real combat chapter it turned out well. But that's my opinion, I'd like to hear yours ... Unless it's something like 'bad story cause twidash' //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter Seven //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter Seven This was the worst fight id ever been in, it took everything I had just to fight let alone win Fighting something that can use your worst nightmares against you isn't easy The Beast was even larger than Scootaloo remembered it being the last time she saw it, easily three or four times the size of a normal manticore. Its wings were massive, filled with small holes and seemed to be bladed along the ridge. A literal cloud of fog rolled off of its pure black fur, this cloud swirled behind the hulking figure of the beast and clocked most of its lower body. The four solid red glowing eyes on its head narrowed as it gazed down at Scootaloo. "It seems that I'll have to kill you myself." Scootaloo heard a gust of wind and rolled to her left just as the Beast brought its fist down on her location. Reacting quickly Scootaloo swung her sword upwards followed by her chain with a bladed edge. The Beast swung its arm towards Scootaloo, launching her into a group of guards. "Get the civilians out of here, it's after me not them." Scootaloo pushed herself up and threw her sword. As the Beast sidestepped the improvised projectile Scootaloo brought another blade down in an arc to the left, slashing the leg of her opponent before she continued with her momentum to bring her chain down in an arc, Striking inches from the wound she had previously made. Letting her momentum carry her, Scootaloo brought the chain in an upward arc quickly followed by making to stab her sword into her opponent's ribs only for one of the Beast wings to seemingly appear and block the strike. Scootaloo felt the Beast fist hit her stomach in an uppercut that sent her into the air were the Beast struck her again, sending her spiralling before she hit the ground. "It is such a pity that you are the last of the warriors, after-" The Beast dodged away from a thrown sword "-all you are not what I was told to expect of a Warrior." The Beast lurched forward as a rock the size of Scootaloo's head hit it in the back of the head. As the Beast stood back up to its full height, half a dozen daggers found their way into its chest and stomach, Scootaloo charged at the Beast, who went to punch her with its right hand only to have the orange filly roll under its fist and between its legs. Standing up Scootaloo drove the point of her blade into the back of the monster she fought, just to the right of its spine. A violet aura formed around the rock that had been thrown previously as Scootaloo lifted it again and threw it, quickly followed by another dozen daggers. Flicking her chain out in a way that caused it to wrap around the waist of the Beast, Scootaloo pulled on the chain as hard as she could which launched her at the Beast where she slammed her left foot into the base of its spine. "That is it! No more games." The fog in the area thicked alongside the Beast anger, "Now feel fear as it shreds your mind, ruins your sanity and tears into your very soul." Scootaloo felt a wave of overwhelming fear as her vision darkened, deep within their shared mind FireFly looked up as the same wave hit her. Scootaloo's vision returned to her but she was in a new location, just outside the crystal castle or what remained of it. With a growl Scootaloo went to stand only to find she was chained to the ground, helpless. Grounded. There was a scream to her left which grabbed her attention, she wished it hadn't. To her left the entire town was burning as were its residents, Rainbow Dash laid on the ground next to her, both her legs broken and her wings torn from her back. The guard captains armour laid twisted next to her. "No Twilight, he killed her. why can't I die?" The prismatic mare muttered over and over and that was when Scootaloo noticed the body of her other mother, or what was left of her. The heads of her friends laid on the ground their bodies on the other side of the field. Each of the elements were laying around the field, Applejack was knelt over the body of her sister, one of her arms missing and a sword in her abdomen, Rarity was next to Sweeties body her horn missing and her legs mangled beyond repair, Pinkie was nowhere to be seen and Fluttershy seemed unharmed, if not for one of her wings being gone and all of her animal friends laying dead around her. "What, what is this?" Scootaloo's voice was hoarse. "What is this? Why my dear, this is what happens when there is a Warrior around." The beast laughed out and gestured to the destruction and carnage, "This is your fault." Timberwolves and Manticores ran around the area, snatching any who made it of the fire and making a meal out of them. The sun was dim and the moon was broken in the sky. The Everfree forest was spreading out, reaching for new land to corrupt. There was a pile of guard gear, armour and weapons. "He did this!" FireFly ragged within their mind as Scootaloo looked out around the field. FireFly's Rage and terror served to fuel Scootaloo's building anger into a raging inferno. "So you did all of this?" The Beast grinned down at her. "Yes, all of this because of you." The Beast gazed at the chaos and destruction, oh how he couldn't wait to do this in the real world. "And I have so much more planned. I wonder how loud the yellow one can actually scream, what it will take to finally end the pink one. But most of all, I wonder how much of it you can watch before you snap." "Oh I've already snapped, didn't you know? Only the truly broken and insane can look out at this and be calm." Scootaloo levelled a glare at the Beast that could have rivalled Fluttershy's stare, "And now? You are the thing that ruined my family, I hope you're ready to die because I'm going to rip your heart out and shove it so far up your ass it'll come out of your mouth." Scootaloo's eyes glowed a vibrant and violent violet as flames of the same colour ignited around her hands. As she ripped her restraints apart the world around Scootaloo cracked and fell apart. The Beast stumbled back as Scootaloo's hands ignited in the real world. Scootaloo opened her eyes revealing their violet glow. With a grin, the filly charged forward at speeds far greater then she had achieved earlier in the fight. After closing the distance Scootaloo launched into a series of attacks made up of punches and kicks, each leading into the next. Right hook, left foot Roundhouse, right jab, left jab, right, left, left, right, Scootaloo pushed off the ground and did a frontflip bringing the heal of her right foot down on the beast quickly followed by a half-dozen daggers and her sword blade being driven into the Beast shoulder. Once Scootaloo hit the ground she poured magic into her pendant causing a shield to form around her just in time to block a strike from the claws of the Beast. Scootaloo jumped back and rolled to the right coming back up with one of the guards shields. Spinning once around Scootaloo threw the shield at the Beast. Jumping after her thrown weapon Scootaloo spun in the air driving the Beast in the side of the head with her left foot. Quickly flicking her chain out and wrapping it around the Beast neck Scootaloo pulled herself in and began to land punch after punch into the monsters face. "If you're going to try to use someone's fears against them make sure it won't just make them want to kill you more!" Each word was accompanied by another strike. With a growl the Beast grabbed Scootaloo a threw her straight up, with a flap of its wings the Beast launched itself after Scootaloo. Once the Beast had caught up to Scootaloo it grabbed her and with a quick spin to build momentum it threw her back down at the ground. Scootaloo created a small crater upon impact. "You think you can win! Just because you beat your fear!" The Beast roared as it punched at Scootaloo, and once the Beast had lifted its fist Scootaloo was nowhere to be found. "I told you, I'd kill you." Scootaloo's blade was pushed through the heart of the Beast, Scootaloo pulled the blade down before forcing it back up, cutting the heart in half. "Is it dead?" Scootaloo pulled out her sword out and quickly cut the Beast head off. "Yeah, it's dead." And Scootaloo collapsed in exhaustion. And that's it, no more Beast... Scoots and FireFly were out for a while after this so we'll go over what went on over the next day or so... Rainbow Dash sighed as she leaned back in her throne, unable to focus on the world around her, far more worried about her daughter. The six were only holding court to go over repairs to the town and what needed to be done about security. "I assure you sir, the security around the kingdom is as strong as we can get it, building a military takes time and we didn't have that time before this threat came after us." Twilight gestured to the guards around the room. "Yes, I understand that. My point is that this is a problem that we need to solve, and if the guards' current leadership can't do it then perhaps we need new leaders in the guards," The stallion stated with a sneer. "Excuse me? Are you implying that my guards failed?" Rainbow Dash stood from her throne, helmet in hand, "That can't be right, they did their job to the best that they could have in this situation. Protect the civilians and get them to safety. SilverWing single-handedly led thirteen foals to the nearest bunker and fought off and killed seventeen Timberwolves, then went back out to escort other civilians." "Yes but-" "But what? He didn't fight the Beast? Again not his job, three, three guards were killed by that Beast once it got into town, an additional five were injured and can't work in the guard anymore. What do you want the military to kill themselves? We were on route, that monster is the kind of thing that we deal with not the guard." Rainbow was visibly seething at this point, "SilverWing, how much of a warning did everyone have?" "Two minutes ma'am." The grey coated guard by the door answered with a solute. "Two minutes, know what that did for us? six hundred seventy-two civilians made it into the bunkers in that time, a defence mounted and kept just over half of the enemy's forces out of town. Guards were already moving most of the other civilians by the time the enemy even entered the town, the entire high school and both of the elementary schools were in their bunkers on top of the aforementioned civilians." Rainbow had stepped down to be on the same level as the stallion who suggested that the guard had failed, with her helmet now on her head, "Four guards, that's what bought us that time, they went and fought a battle they couldn't win and you dare suggest that my guards failed." "Night Crest, your under arrest for suspected treason, you have the right to a lawyer and will face trial after an investigation." Twilight 's voice came from behind Rainbow Dash. "what? You can't do this!" Night Crest took a step back in surprise. "What? Arrest someone for a crime they may or may not have committed? I was of the understanding that that is what arresting someone was. Or are you talking about the charges specifically? Surely you understand that as a fledgeling kingdom that just suffered an unprovoked attack, we can't take any chances when a coup could be a concern, after all it's not like your suggestion implied removing, or replacing a member of this council, oh no not at all I mean why else would I arrest you?." Twilight smiled at Night Crest as a guard cuffed his hands together, "Besides, it may make me a tyrant, but I do have the power to just arrest anyone because of whatever reason I want, oh the joys of being a new nation. But I'm sure you are innocent and this will all prove to be a formality to assure the public." Night Crest sneered up at the lavender mare as he was carted out of the room and towards the dungeons. Twilight then looked up and gestured to the guards around the room, signalling them to announce that court would go to recess. "That was marvellous my dear, even if Night Crest wasn't part of anything we could use this to our advantage, show we take security seriously." Rarity stretched as she stood from her throne. "Yeah, and if we treat this properly and there really is a coup being staged we could try to get Night Crest to be our man on the inside." Applejack idly twirled her stetson. Twilight turned to her fellow rulers and began to walk towards their shared living quarters. "Oh Night Crest? He's already on our pay detail, as Celestia once told me if something might prove to be a problem make sure you have a way to control it before it truly starts." Twilight smirked as she opened the door to the royal common room. "Right, I guess ya don't lead a country for a thousand years by having everyone love you." Applejack stood and followed the only alicorn of the group. "I'm going to check on Scootaloo." Rainbow exited through a different door, one that leads to the west wing. My memory of this time is mostly pain and doctors but I'll see what I can remember... Scootaloo blinked as she woke up and groaned as the pain hit her like a sack of rocks. Her head throbbed and her muscles felt like they were on fire. "She's up!" Scootaloo heard someone shouted from across the room and Scootaloo groaned again. "Shut up! Oh, holy fuck that hurts." Scootaloo growled before she noticed her chain around her wrist, attempting to cast the spell to dispell it proved fruitless. Attempting to dispell the chain a second time had the same result. "You are facing a minor case of magical exhaustion coupled with physical exhaustion. The extream replenishment of magic that your body is going through is what's causing you that pain." The doctor spoke softly, for which Scootaloo was thankful. "Well, how long will that take?" Scootaloo turned her head to look at the doctor as she voiced her main question. "A couple more hours, you've had just under twenty hours to recover while you were out." The doctor gestured to the nurse, who opened the door and let Rainbow Dash in. "So how you felling their Squirt? Like shit, I'd wager." Rainbow took a seat next to the bed. Scootaloo rolled her eyes and looked up at her mother. "Everything hurts." Scootaloo looked up at the ceiling with a frown, "Know what? I'm gonna do it, I'll ask Diamond out to that dance once I get out of here." "Boute time." Scootaloo nearly jumped out of the bed, "We need to talk later, I found what I was looking for and it's pretty odd." "FireFly surprise you? Guess it's hard to get used to having your sister in your head." Rainbow chuckled lightly, "But I'm glad you can at least look on the bright side of things, speaking of which, congrats" Scootaloo looked into the mirror that Rainbow Dash had pulled out and saw that she had earned her cutie mark. "AW FUCK YEAH!" Three days later Scootaloo stood outside the front doors of Ponyville High, nervasly bouncing from one foot to the other. She had told everyone she was ready, she lied. "Oh would you relax." Scootaloo would have glared at FrieFly if she could, instead, she just built a dagger out of the air around her hand and used it to clean her nails. Scootaloo was dressed in her usual clothes except her neckline dipped a little lower to show her cutie mark, a flaming chain wrapped around a sword. Diamond Tiara stepped out of the school. The earth pony wore what she always did, the only difference being that she had lost her old tiara. Diamond looked up and noticed Scootaloo, with a large smile Diamond ran over and hugged the pegasus. "Hey Diamond, what's up?" Scootaloo hugged her friend back. "Nothing much, I didn't know you were released yet." Diamond Tiara looked up at Scootaloo. "Yeah, I just got out." Scootaloo idly twisted the chain on her wrist, "So ah, hey I was wondering, would you like to go to that dance with me?" "I'd love to, maybe we could go to dinner beforehand." Diamond nearly jumped up in sheer joy at Scootaloo's question. And that is the story of how I started, where my journey began, and hey it'll probably be filled with more excitement later on. Scootaloo, now at the age of fifteen put the recorder down and leaned back in her chair. Scootaloo still wore her black vest, only now it had dark purple accents. She had swapped her faded blue jeans for a pair of black shorts and her tee-shirt still had a low neckline, and it was still splashed with colour the same way her old favourite shirt had been. A black guard promotion hat sat on the desk in front of Scootaloo along with a pair of black fingerless gloves. Scootaloo looked around the room with a smile. "You coming to bed or are you gonna start talking about that monastery in the recordings?" Diamond called out from Behind Scootaloo. "Yeah, I'm coming just give me a minute." Scootaloo stood and went into her bedroom, leaving the flair of light from the throne room unnoticed, alongside to quite sound of crystals grinding together. One Year earlier... Author's Note 1,500 words from start to end of the fight, damn The fight was interesting to write to, was originally longer but I felt it got a little too graphic at points Come on there's no way Celestia didn't manipulate the shit out of people and had an inside man for everything that could have gone wrong, a thousand years and no one tried to overthrow her? Well, it's done, arc 1 finished... it's 23:00 here so I'm gonna go to bed Let me know your thoughts BD out