New guy at CHS: The Mystic Realm

Cobalt and his friends traveled through the stronghold's courtyard. Cobalt's men were racing out Brisk's elite army one by one, "Girls, don't worry about the foot soldiers. They'll just waste our time. Let's just head towards the main keep!"

"Right!"

"Not so fast!" A large ball of energy came flying towards them. Cobalt reacted quickly, and cut the ball in half, splitting around him and his friends.

"What was that?!"

"Sorry for doing this, but I gotta stop you guys from going any further. However, I know this going to be fun," Soon, a shirtless, tattooed warrior, stepped out from the shadows wielding a long sword of some sort. Once Scarlett saw this man, she clenched her weapon.

"Who are you?!" Twilight yelled.

"The name's Strikes. As in, I'll strikes you with my blade," Cobalt cringed at that horrible pun, "What? Not a good pun? Yeah... that wasn't a good one..."

Cobalt sighed as he looked at Scarlett gripping her blade ever so tightly.

She'll get a cramp doing that. Well, might as well let her loose...

"Scarlet, you know what to-," Before Cobalt could finish, Scarlett dashed for Strikes head on. She slammed her sword onto the ground as Strikes dodged it with ease.

"Oh, you're Scarlett? You've grown so much since I last seen you..."

Scarlett gritted her teeth as the girls looked on in confusion, "Cobalt, who's that?" Twilight asks.

"Strikes, former assassin, high paid mercenary. Murderer of Scarlett's parents..."

"That's him? Wow, she must have so much anger built up. What should we do?" Rainbow responded. She looked on at Scarlett who was extremely enraged.

"We keep moving. Scarlett, take care of Strikes for us!"

"Don't have to tell me twice," Before she could strike again...

"Scarlett!" She turned around to see Cobalt mouth the words, "Calm... down..., " She nodded and took a deep breath... before nodding back at him. Cobalt gave the thumbs up, and ran off with his friends to continue the assault.

"How were you after I murdered your parents? Oh wait, I remember, you led the rest of your family to kill me and my men only for them to die as well. Ha, are you here to join them?"

"Not a chance, I'm ready for my vengeance..."

"Still controlled by vengeance, huh? Ha, your vengeance is going to get you killed like it did your family..."

"We'll see about that," Scarlett and Strikes dashed towards each other to begin their battle.

Meanwhile, Rarity was being transported with in a large rocketship. She looked at the other prisoners being transported. All of them young girls like her. She looked towards the back of the ship, visualizing the assault.

Cobalt... no...

"Hey, shut it!" One of the guards yelled. Rarity had just spoken out loud, "Don't let me catch you talking again, or I'll toss you off this ship myself!"

Rarity fell silent knowing she did the one thing Cobalt did too much. Speak out loud...

Oh Cobalt... how I miss you so...

Back on the ground, Cobalt and his friends made it through the main keep, until they met large door, and a person waiting in front of it, "Who are you?!"

The person manifested two polearms before walking from the shadows, "My name is Spark, and I'm afraid that I can't let you by here. By the Commander's order, I must prevent you from going any further," Cobalt's friends got ready to fight, but he held his hand up.

"A man with you type of formality shows that you're an honorable knight. I can tell from looking at you that you're not a regular mystic. You're a mystical knight. The highest a knight can get to. Not only that, but you seem so... loyal. Someone who wouldn't backstab the wrong person. Hm, why do you fight for Brisk?"

"Brisk saved me from a dark place. He knew my prowess while others looked down upon me. He took me in to train, and look at where I am today. If I am to be honest with you, it's an honor to be here to see you Cobalt. However, I can't allow you or your friends to pass. I'm sorry, but this is how it has to be."

"No it doesn't. You're on the wrong side. You don't know what Brisk's true intentions are..."

"You're right, I don't, but I owe Brisk, and I have to be loyal to him until I repay my debt to him."

Cobalt tried to speak again, but Rainbow stepped up, "Loyal huh? To the wrong person? There's too many people like you that are blinded by fulfilling someones debt. I understand you're trying to be loyal, and that's awesome! But if you give that loyalty to the wrong person, then you're in for trouble from a lot of people."

"Brisk looked for powerful people that had potential. I was one of those, and I must remain loyal to him."

"Your loyalty is strong, but it should be with someone else. Someone who deserves it... like Cobalt," Rainbow turned around to smile at Cobalt, but turned around back at Spark with a look of determination, "But talk is cheap. I'll just show you with my blades. Maybe afterwards, you'll join us instead of Brisk."

"Hmph, your loyalty to Cobalt matches mine, and you look like a strong opponent. Very well then, I shall accept your challenge," Both of them got ready to duel as Cobalt signaled the others to go on.

"Are you sure you can handle him? He's a powerful knight."

"Nothing is stronger than friendship. Don't worry, I'll handle him Cobalt. Just get going! Go get Rarity!" Cobalt nodded as he followed his friends to open the door.

That's 4 of us out of the group now. There's only 5 of us... I only know where this is leading...

They then arrived in another room similar to the other one. This time, there were multiple paintings on the wall. Each painting of multiple soldiers, before and after images apparently. In the before picture, they were smiling gleefully. In the after, their bodies were mutilated beyond recognition.

They then heard a faint whistling. A light soon shined upon a man behind a large canvas painting away with a large brush. He began speaking between each stroke, "Here I see... 5 individuals... for my greatest masterpiece... yet! Staring... Shining Cobalt himself!" The man flipped the canvas over to reveal them standing in there exact spot, "Now for the aftermath, I must create such an astounding visual!"

The man took his brush, and began painting large blobs in the air that began floating towards them. Cobalt took one step back before signaling for his friends to run from the blobs, "Go!" Cobalt and his friends ran around while the blobs began chasing them.

Fluttershy then turned around, and began whistling a harmonic tune. Soon, multiple birds began manifesting within the rooms, and flew in front of each blob, but were instantly killed when the blobs exploded. Once the bird's lifeless bodies fell onto the ground, the man looked on in surprise, "Oh, such a marvelous piece that I must paint. I shall call it: Broken Wings!"

Fluttershy clenched her whip in rage at how nonchalant this individual was at the murder of these birds. Manifested by magic or not, they were still animals. She yelled, "Who are you?!"

Before he could answer, Cobalt answered for him, "Renowned artist: Gold. Known for his unique paintings of what could end your life."

"H-He... does not deserve to live...," Fluttershy felt enraged, and this caused Gold to chuckled loudly.

"Oh don't frown young lady. A beautiful face like yours shouldn't frown. It'll ruin my beautiful canvas!"

"I'll fill that canvas with your own blood when I'm through with you...," Fluttershy looked at Gold with burning rage in her eyes.

"I'm not going to stop you there. Go get 'em Flutters!"

"With pleasure!" Fluttershy jumped into the air, before coming down gracefully. He whip surrounded her body as she came down, creating a tornado of petals and death.

"How graceful!"

Cobalt looked at his friends and nodded, "Let's leave them to that. Let's go!" They all nodded before continuing on.

Again, they entered a room that was quite elegant. Possibly belonging to a woman of a refined nature, similar to that of Rarity. Only this felt... deadly and dark, "Ohoho! Finally, the great Shining Cobalt has arrived," A curvaceous lady stepped from the shadows. She wielded large claws that looked to be the length of her own arm, "And now, to finally place your head along with the other men that have agreed to be my trophy!" She pointed over to a large trophy case. Within the trophy case were many heads of men that she has killed. Most of them decayed heavily.

Pinkie stepped up, and loaded her cannons, "Listen here toots, I don't want any of those claws on my Cobalt. If you're going to get to him, you'll have to get through me first. Maybe you can join those heads in that trophy case over there."

"My, such an annoying high pitched voice. Hmph, I shall deal with your annoying voice first before him. Let's go partyhead!"

"Bring on Ms. Prissy!"

"The name is Phantasia!"

They both went to battle, much to Cobalt's surprise, "That was rather fast. By the way, that's Phantasia. She's the noblewoman of one of the nations subjugated by Brisk. She has a lot of men that ask for her hand in marriage, but she dislikes men with a passion, so she rejects them before beheading them. She's a dangerous woman."

"I see...," Twilight looked on as Pinkie battled Phantasia with such tenacity. She had never seen this side of Pinkie before.

"Let Pinkie handle her. Let's keep going. I have a feeling we have more rooms to surpass. Besides, I don't know how long Harmony and the twins can keep the assault outside going..."

"Right, let's go...," They ran off with Cobalt thinking to himself.

First, Brute and Applejack. Then Scarlet. Then Rainbow. Then Fluttershy..., and now Pinkie. Who's next?

Cobalt got his answer, "Stop there!" They all stopped in a large library with Onyx waiting, "I see that you're friend there, Twilight Sparkle was it? I heard that you were an excellent strategist. Well, a strategist must be skilled in combat just as much as strategy."

"I'm afraid its foolish to duel me in battle. If you wish to duel me, then I'll fulfill your wish."

"Twilight, that's Onyx. He's the smartest man in the mystic realm. If you're going to duel him, be weary of his crafty movements. He uses a lot of illusion magic."

"Hmph, not a problem. Get going Cobalt, I'll deal with him," Cobalt nodded as he ran off with the only remaining girl, Sunset with him.

"Cobalt, was it smart to let the others fight them like this?"

"They'll be fine. They're all extremely strong, so don't worry about them. I'm just worried about not getting the person we came here for, Rarity. If we find out she's not here, this whole assault will be all for nothing."

"Don't worry, she'll be-," Sunset stopped, and shot an arrow into the ceiling.

"Huh?!"

"Oh, deary Cobalt. It's about time you've arrived!" A woman that looked liked Cobalt's mother landed from the ceiling. Cobalt sighed and looked away.

"Hello Aunt Ruby..."

"Aunt?!"

"Yes, and my nephew Cobalt is all grown up. However, that won't stop me from teaching you a lesson about family."

"I don't need a lesson from the likes of you Ruby! You were exiled from our family for a reason!"

"Hm, and your friend. I've heard a lot about Sunset. She ruled her high school with an iron fist for 3 years. She's beaten into submission, and she's shown forgiveness. Why can't you show me that same forgiveness!" She shot a large fireball at Cobalt, in which he dodged easily.

"Attempting to kill our family to save your own sorry hide takes a lot of forgiving. If you're looking for redemption, surrender yourself. You're all I have left..."

"Aw, that's a lot coming from you!" She multiple fire beams at Cobalt, but each were shot away from one of Sunset's arrows.

"It takes a lot to be forgiven. You think everyone forgave me right away? You have to prove to everyone that you've been rehabilitated. Doing this won't prove anything..."

"Do you know what it's like to be hated by everyone, including your family?!"

"Yes, I know that feeling all too well," Sunset looked down, "I haven't seen my own family in so long. However, that doesn't mean that they're at fault for my previous actions! That was my own selfish fault... If you want forgiveness, you have to earn it! It took me months to earn my own forgiveness, and you have to do the same!"

"I've tried for years, and have yet to achieve forgiveness! But if you insist to stand in my way girl, then you'll just burn along with Cobalt!"

"You must not have known, but I have a fire that burns brighter than your own flames..."

"My fire has the power of the sun."

"The sun is a lump of coal compared to my heat..."

"Sunset...," Cobalt tried to stop her, but he stopped, "I'm counting on you. Don't kill her, please..."

"Don't worry Cobalt, go get that girl!"

He nodded before running off.

And then there was one. I expected this. Now there's only one person left for me to take care of... Brisk... here I come...