Author's Note

Major thanks to Battlecat for letting me use his OC Silver Spark at the start of the chapter. Go check out his stories!

Open up your eyes

In Canterlot High

It was the just past noon as Alexia Vare watched her partner, Veronica Marksen, was pacing back and forth in front of “Canterlot High School”, looking more worried than she had ever seen the normally calm and collected woman be before.

“You’re sure he’s here? You could have misheard them!” Alexia asked, saying it in as calmingly as she could as she tried to calm her comrade down.

“It came straight from our neck communicators, it is quite literally impossible to mishear anything through it. Frostbite is here in “Ponyville” and he’s undoubtedly here for the same reasons we are!” Veronica rebutted, resting her head against a wall of the “wonder colt” statue. “I thought he still had at least a fraction of honor left...but I see he really is the shell of man everyone called him…”

“He slaughtered over fifty purifiers in cold blood remember?” Alexia reminded Veronica, sitting down on the floor next to Veronica. “I mean, even I didn’t think he had any good left in him after doing something like that…”

“We all tried to cope after Haven… He just didn’t cope with it properly. I’m not defending his actions… but he didn’t kill them to satiate some kind of bloodlust… if only we got him the help he needed…” Veronica rubbed her forehead with her hand.

“It’s too late to think about that. He did what he did and we can’t change that. But we can’t think about him for now…”

Veronica stood up in anger, slamming her fist against the statue, creating a visible crack in the wall.“Can’t think of him?! You know as well as I do that he’s more than willing to do anything just to slow us down! Add that to finding my husband, figuring out why his esper signal is still active, dealing with this stupid school idea you had,”, Alexia wanted to giggle at that one, but stood silent, “, it’s just too much for me to handle!”. Veronica started to breathe at a faster rate, she was visibly sweating.

“Veronica...you’re not acting like yourself. You need to calm down!” Alexia said, getting up and putting an arm on her shoulder. For all the time she knew Veronica, Alexia had only seen Veronica act like this once before, and it was after the “Haven” incident. The statue would be as good as gone if she didn’t calm her down soon. “We’ll deal with all of these problems, but we’ll deal with them one at a time. Let’s find your husband first, then let’s worry about Frostbite ok?”

Her calming voice started to sooth Veronica, her breathing slowing down. “Fine...I’ll stop worrying for now, but we will need to think up of a plan later. Now let’s head back to the rendezvous point and-”

Veronica was interrupted when the sound of something slamming against a wall from the school wall to their left broke her train of thought. Both looked to see two figures pushing another against the wall. From the looks of it was a case of a “bully mugging”. Veronica growled as she started to walk to the two figures, fists clenched, only for Alexia to grab her arm, stopping her. She looked around to see Alexia shaking her head, a smile on her face.

“You already have enough to deal with now. Head back to the rendezvous point, I’ll catch up soon ok?” she said, tapping her chin with two fingers.

Veronica took a couple deep breaths before nodding and did also tapping her chin with two fingers. “Just... don’t put anyone in a hospital while I’m gone ok?”

Alexia gave her a playful smirk as she walked off to the two figures, “I can’t promise anything!”

Silver Spark groaned in pain as Lightning Dust pushed him against the wall. He looked at her as she and Gilda surrounded him, his backpack now several feet from him.

“Hey, buddy!” Lightning said, her voice sounded happy but it was obvious it was a ruse.

“You two again,” he groaned “, look, whatever you two want, I don’t care. Now if you’ll excuse me” He tried to get past them until Gida stopped him with her hands. She had the same face of malice intent as Lightning, it was a wonder how these two weren’t expelled already.

“We need to have a chat Silver. You ran from us earlier today and made us look like fools in front of the football team!” Gilda explained, cracking her knuckles and shoulders as Silver clenched his fists. When these two had one of their “chats” with someone, it always ended with the unlucky victim on the ground in pain. But not him, he was not going to just let these two beat him senseless without a fight. He readied his fists, looking at the two for possible ways he could trip the two and run like hell back home.

“A chat? I love chats! Or talking in general! But I don’t recall chats being so physical.” A new voice almost shouted, catching all of their attention. Looking at where the voice came from, he saw a woman with emerald green eyes and short black hair with gold highlights. She was at least as tall as Gilda, if not then just a little bit bigger. She seemed oblivious to the current situation though, casually walking over to them.

“Well, this chat is! Now if I were you, I would buzz off before you get involved in this “chat”.” Lightning warned, waving a fist at the new girl. “and believe me, you don’t want to be apart of our chats.”

“Was that a threat?” The new girl asked, tilting her head to the side, “Because it’s not nice to threaten people you know.”

Lightning Dust walked up to the new girl, Gilda stopping Silver from leaving with a strong sucker punch to his gut, forcing him down to the ground, as Lightning got her face mere inches from the new girls.

“So what?! And what are you going to do about it huh?!” She asked aggressively, cocking her fist back for a punch, then started laughing at her in a mocking tone.

“How old are you two?” The new girl asked, unaffected by her laughter.

“What?” Lightning asked, “why...what does age have to do with this?!”

“Answer the question already”

“We’re both eighteen.” Gilda answered, Why do you care?”

Silver was catching his breath as Gilda picked him up by the neck and slammed his body against the wall. He groaned again as he felt Gilda continue hit his body, it wasn’t a surprise seeing these two beating someone while they’re down. What was a surprise was when the new girl reeled her head back and headbutted Lightning Dust’s head. Lightning reeled back in pain as the new girl grabbed Lightning's shoulders and delivered a strong knee to her stomach. Lightning’s body bent forward to clench her stomach, but the new girl grabbed her right arm and spun Lightning’s body into the wall, her body falling down to the ground. She was groaning in pain, clenching her stomach as the new girl stepped over her. Gilda could only look on flabbergasted as the new girl looked at Gilda with the same seemingly oblivious face as before.

“Just making sure I won’t get arrested for that.” She stated, retightening her hand straps.

Gilda grew furious seeing her friend beat around like that and charged at the new girl. She cocked her left hand back as she swung at her, only for the new girl to grab it mid swing and redirect it to the wall. Silver cringed as Gilda’s hand punched the wall, a loud thud crack emanating from the wall. Gilda bit her lower lip in pain as the new girl proceeded to left hook Gilda in the face twice, sending her face against the wall, and gave a painful looking roundhouse kick to her side, slamming her body even harder against the wall. Looking at Gilda, Silver saw that her left hand was all beaten up and bleeding, a tiny hole in the wall where her fist once was. He was surprised this new girl could such damage and how she did all of that so quickly like it was some kind of natural reflex.

Silver didn’t even notice Lightning creep up behind the new girl, grabbing her arms behind her back. She didn’t even resist, giving a small laugh as she rubbed her feet against the ground. Gilda, getting up and seeing the opportunity, was quick to try to deliver a right hook to the new girl’s face. But at the last second, the new girl cocked her head forward and headbutted Lightning right in the face, forcing her to release her as she quickly ducked. Gilda ended up right hooking Lightning right in the face as the new girl rolled under Gilda’s legs and quickly stood up. She turned around and kicked Gilda directly on her spine, making her stumble and fall on Lightning, forcing them to fall to the ground. They were both groaning as Silver noticed that Gilda was bleeding slightly from the side of her head, an injury she must have gotten from her head colliding with the wall.

The new girl walked a couple of feet away from the two, she barely even broke a sweat from the fight it seemed. “Where did you two learn to fight? Old kung fu movies?” She asked sarcastically, stretching her arms forward as the two girls got up, groaning in pain. “Actually scratch that, at least old kung fu movies had a basic understanding of how to fight, something you two clearly don’t understand.”

Silver thought he heard what sounded like a dart gun firing for a moment, but shrugged it off as he backed up. Lightning pushed Gilda out of her way with a grunt, breathing heavily as she reached for something in her pocket. “You goddamn *YAY*! It’s time you learned your place!” Lightning growled, reaching for something in her pocket. The new girl looked around rolled her eyes as Lighting pulled out a switchblade from her pocket. The blade flicked up as Lightning slowly walked over to the new girl.

Her walk quickly turned into a run as she ran at the new girl, ready to strike her down with her knife. She yelled as she swung the blade, but the new girl comically yawned and easily dodged Lighting’s attempt at a slash. Lightning growled as she gave an unexpected kick to the new girl's side, putting her off balance as Lighting swung her knife at the new girl’s face. She stumbled back a couple of feet as Lighting kicked her in the chest, making her fall to the ground in front of Silver. The new girl put her hands put over her face, Lightning's knife now dripping blood.

“Oh my god!” Silver shouted, rushing over to her side as Lightning gave another sadistic laugh. He prayed to God that she didn’t do too much damage to the new girl, angry he just stood there while this girl he never met before was fighting his battle. He could have done something...he could have stepped up and protected her, but he didn’t. He just stood there and looked on, memories of his family rushing through his head.

“SEE?! That is what happens! Maybe next time you’ll be smart and stay out of things you aren’t apart of!” She mocked, waving her knife around playfully.

She was laughing hysterically as Silver lifted her upper body up, checking to see if she was cut anywhere else. Thankfully there seemed to be none. “That’s enough Lightning! Your beef is with me, not her!” Silver said, standing up and in front of the new girl. He may not have been a fan of willingly joining fights, but he refused to let Lightning hurt this girl any more than she already did.

“We’ll deal with you later! This new girl made punching bags out of us! I think that’s more than enough reason to have some beef with her!” Lightning explained, aiming her knife at Silver. “Now get out of the way so I can make sure this *YAY* remembers not to mess with us!”

“Um...Lightning...maybe’s that enough… if the school finds out about this-” Gilda said, her voice full of uncertainty, but Lightning interrupted her.

“Who says they will? This could be our little secret!” Her voice seemed to have changed, becoming more raspy and deep than before. “Now help me out and beat Silver Freak senseless while I gut this girl like the pig she is!” This caught Gilda off guard so she started to back off, then proceeded to just run like hell from Lightning, soon becoming out of sight.

“Ugh! Fine! Guess I’ll just have to deal with both problems on my own!”

When Lightning started to get close to him, Silver went and ran at Lightning, careful to avoid her blade as he tackled her to the ground, grabbing her arms with his. The two struggled for what felt like hours, Lightning never letting go of the knife, until finally, Lightning rolled on top of Silver, freeing her arms as she raised her arms above her head, bringing her blade down upon Silver. He quickly grabbed her arms again, fighting to keep the blade from coming down upon him. Despite Silver training daily, he was unprepared for Lightning’s strength as she slowly overpowered him, the blade inching closer to his face. While Lightning was a jerk and may not have been above using physical to get what she wanted, Silver felt like he was fighting a different person when he looked into her eyes. They weren’t the eyes of a bully who only cared for herself, they were like the eyes of a wild animal, going in for the kill. It was unnatural, to say the least, something he had never seen before in his life. The most he could do to avoid getting his face stabbed was move the blade to the side, making it land on the shoulder. His eyes widening as he felt it’s blade start to dig into his skin, making him bite his teeth as Lightning laughed.

“Guess I need to teach you a lesson too! Oh, how lucky I am!” She laughed, digging the entire blade into his shoulder, making him let go of the blade as she raised it up again. He felt so tired Silver wasn’t even able to raise his arms again in defense, so he closed his eyes, feeling regret that he wasn’t able to do more.

He waited for the killing blow, but it never came, much to his confusion. Suddenly he heard what he could only describe as a mixture of a lion’s roar and a Komodo dragon’s hiss as he felt Lightning’s body suddenly get off of him. Naturally confused, he opened his eyes to find the girl standing on top of him, Lightning several feet away on the ground. Her hands were closed together, her arms aimed at the ground. Silver swore he saw something purple go into her hands, so he rubbed his eyes to make sure he wasn’t seeing things from the pain. Surely enough the glow was not there once he was done.

“This is getting out of hand, I need to finish this here and now!” The girl stated, her face and voice expressing anger, “But first.” She unwrapped on her hand wraps and tied it around Silver’s wound. She did it quickly, but he noticed that on the back of her hand the girl had a detailed tattoo of what he could only describe as the head of a raptor straight out of a museum. He also noticed to his horror that she had a deep cut running from her cheek to the very bottom edge of her eye, blood still coming out of it.

“Keep pressure on the wound, for now, this should stop the bleeding until we can get professional help.” She explained, forcing his hand over his wound and put pressure on it.

Lightning groaned in annoyance as she charged at the new girl, raising her knife over her head as she swung it down at the new girl. But to her surprise, the new girl went for something behind her back and unsheathed a massive blade.

It looked like the unholy child of a kukri and a ballistic knife. Its blade was long and bending, a dark purple symbol of what looked like some dinosaur encrusted on the blade. Its hilt was short and basic, a pin on where the blade and the hilt met. It was at least three times the size of Lightning’s tiny switchblade, overkill, to say the least.

She blocked Lightning’s attack with her own blade, kicking Lightning back as she twirled the blade with surprising speed and perfect balance. Lightning looked at the blade with fear, backing up slightly before taking a step forward, with a newfound sense of determination.

“You think an oversized butcher knife and some fancy moves are going to scare me? Let’s see what you got!” She screamed, running at her ready to swing again, “Take this!”. The girl readied herself as Lightning swung down her knife over her head, the girl dodging to the left. Lightning growled as she attempted to swing again, the girl deflecting with her blade, throwing Lightning off balance. The girl then used her free hand to grab Lightning’s and put her blade against Lightning’s neck. Silver swore he saw the girl’s eyes glow purple as she squeezed Lightning’s hand, an audible crack coming from it. Lightning screamed as she dropped her knife, the girl quickly letting go and grabbing the knife. Then to Silver’s shock, the girl flipped the blade facing down and stabbed Lightning in her shoulder, making her scream more.

Silver was feeling a sense of dread as the girl kicked Lightning square in the chest, sending her flying against the wall. He heard what sounded like bones cracking as Lightning’s body fell to the ground, still somehow conscious. She walked over to Lightning, squatting down as Lightning started to half heartedly laugh. “Hehe...do *cough* it then…*cough* kill me *cough*...finish it.” she coughed, “I know you want to.”. The girl just chuckled as she grabbed the switchblade and forcefully removed it from Lightning’s shoulder, much to her displeasure and pain.

“Death would be a mercy to a brat like you. No...I’m going to call the police and go about my day. Be lucky I was going easy on you.” She warned, still looking at Lightning. She reached behind Lightning’s back and seemed to grab something, putting it in her pocket before Silver could see.

The girl backed up a couple of feet, dusting her pants and skirt off as she took a deep breath. “That got out of hand fast...I mean that girl went from zero to coo-coo crazy in like one second…” She looked at Silver, making him take a step back in fear, “you ok? I saw them rough you up a little.”

He took some time to gather himself before reluctantly responding. “I’m fine. Thanks for the help, even if it got out of hand at the end. Shouldn’t we call an ambulance now?” He asked, fixing his hoodie as the new girl stretched her arms to the sky.

“Yes, but they’ll live regardless if we call or not. You got a phone?”

Silver nodded and got his phone out of his pocket, dialing 911.

“What’s your name?” she asked, sheathing her blade back behind her.

“Silver Spark...yours?” he asked in return, waiting for the operator to pick up.

“It’s Diamond...Diamond Breaker.”

Soon the police arrived, an ambulance taking Lightning away as Silver and Diamond sat on the ground. They were covered by tin foil coats as a nurse finished bandaging Diamond’s cut, her left cheek and eye now covered in bandages, his shoulder also bandaged.

“I saw you fight “Lightning”, and let me say you’re not half bad in a tussle...where’d you learn to fight?” She asked, grabbing a roll of hand tape out of her pocket and wrapping it around her exposed hand.

“My guardian...he’s runs a dojo right under our apartment so I have easy access to training. Speaking of which, where did you learn to fight like that?”

“My siblings and I were abandoned from a young age, we learned how to survive on the streets until we were... taken in by a military family and got some proper training. They taught us how to use weapons, disarm opponents, usual military stuff. Combine that with what I learned on the street and that makes for one killer combination. Just never thought I would have to use them in “Ponyville” of all places.”

Silver stopped and looked at Diamond confused. “What is that supposed to mean?” He asked, confused yet curious by her statement.

“It’s the name. “Ponyville”, “Canterlot”. I wouldn’t expect things like school muggings to be common in such...happy sounding and looking places.”
“Heh...it may look like that at first glance,that’s partially the reason why me and my guardian came here in the first place. But Canterlot as a whole can be just as bad as any other city. You just got to open your eyes wide enough…”

“DIAMOND BREAKER!!!!” A voice screamed, catching both by surprise. Silver looked to see where the voice came from, but he then noticed that Diamond looked very much afraid.

“Crap...I’m so dead…”

I woke up with a massive headache, it felt like someone had just beat my head over with a baseball bat. The world was blurry, so it took my eyes a moment to adjust. When they finally adjusted, I saw that I was still in my seat. Though what did change was a furious Twilight and a slightly embarrassed Sapphire, who didn’t seem all that invested in what Twilight was saying.

“I can’t believe you just used an untested spell like that on a pony! You could have hurt him!!” Twilight scowled, lifting my head up with her hoof and shining a light from her horn into my eye.

“I’ve tested the spell before.” Sapphire protested, still not sounding interested, “ The rats and other small creatures were perfectly fine most of the time.”

I winced my eyes as I groaned, forcing my head away from the light. “How come whenever I wake up from something out of my control, it’s always Twilight’s face that’s in front of mine?” I asked sarcastically, getting up to see that snowstorm had only gotten worse since I was put to sleep.

“Oh thank Celestia! You can talk! I am so so so so so sorry Signal! I guess my sister forgot that she can’t just go putting spells on anypony she wants!”

“She’s one to talk. Didn’t the gay pride horse tell us about that “smartie pants” incident for something? a strangely familiar voice asked.

“WHAT?!” I exclaimed, almost jumping out of my seat to their surprise, “Who said that?!”

“Did that spell give you short term memory loss? We literally just talked like not two minutes ago!

“Um...we didn’t say anything... are you all right?” Twilight awkwardly asked, looking at me like I was insane or something.

“He must be hearing voices. Must be a side effect of being forcefully taken out of the spell.” Sapphire explained, “I told you we should have waited until we got there.”

“Oh great then! Is it permanent?” Twilight asked, facehoofing herself.

“It should wear off soon...hopefully....”

Sorry! I’m here to stay!

“Great...now I have voices in my head... are we at least anywhere near the “Crystal Empire”?” I asked, rubbing my head with my hoof.

“That’s was the original reason why I came here actually. We should be reaching the Crystal Empire soon so I would recommend that you two get dressed.” Twilight explained, two suits of silver armor laying on the chairs across from us.

That reminds me! Almost everybody here is naked, yet did you notice how well dressed this “Sapphire” is?

“No it never really did cross my mind...odd...”

After getting adorned in the less flashy, but still useless, personal royal guard armor, I struggled to get the helmet on my head.

It’s moments like this that make you realize how much of an advantage unicorns have in this world huh?

“Shut up...”

I tried to balance it on my hooves as I slowly went to raise it over my head, only for it to fall off and fall on the floor. I groaned in frustration as I wanted face hoofed myself, only stopping because I was wearing metal boots and didn’t want to hurt myself.

Say...do ponies here call normal shoes “horseshoes” or do they just call them “shoes”?

”I think they just call them regular shoes...”

Lame

It was then that the helmet glowed bright yellow and it floated onto my head, fitting quite nicely on me.

“I wish I could wear my mithril armor, but I suppose this armor will have to do too.” Sapphire sighed, magically lifting her own helmet over her head.

“Uniforms are the way ponies can differentiate you from some kind of hired hoof. Though I wish these helmets didn’t have to show so much of my face.” I complained, “They could at least try to hide it with glass or something...”

Have you seen how big these pony’s eyes are? I think they have to make the helmets like this or they would be blind.

“The equestrian military used to make less revealing helmets, but they were too costly so they stopped mass producing them.” Sapphire explained, “Only the very highest ranks of the military get those helmets anymore.”.

We both walked into the next train car to see the mane six talking to themselves while Mithril and Keen were standing by the door, looking out the window. We walked next to them, looking out to see the unending snowstorm.

”That Pinkie Pie is quite the... “interesting” pony isn’t she?” Keen asked, wearing a similar helmet as ours but one side was completely covered in metal save for a small eyehole.

“I heard stories about her hyperactiveness, but to see it with my own two eyes...” Mithril mumbled, shaking his helmet loose of confetti before putting it on his head.

I chuckled as I stood next to them, looking out at the snowstorm. “Take it from somepony who works with her, you’ve only seen the tip of this gargantuan iceberg.” I joked, the snowstorm almost mystifying me as I looked on into it.

”I do not envy you Flare. I don’t think I would survive a day with that living embodiment of chaos.” Keene explained, extending her front hoof on my body.

I laughed at her comment, though I couldn’t deny it was hard getting used to her at first. “She’s actually quite nice once you get past her childish tendencies.”

And her god like physic breaking powers.

The train started to slow down as I felt my body shiver uncontrollably for a couple of seconds. I got an overwhelming sense of dread as the train stopped, the doors opening to let in a gust of cold wind and snow. I had to back up as my lungs felt clogged up, breathing almost impossible for a couple of moments. I eventually got my breath back, the dread wearing off as everypo-body stared at me confused and concerned.

“Y’a alright? Y’a looked more scared than Fluttershy on Nightmare night.” Applejack asked, Fluttershy lowering her head blushing as everybody walked off the train.

“I’m alright... just got a little headache for a second...” I lied, walking off the train with the rest to be met with nothing but more snow.

I hate snow. It’s cold and wet, and it gets-

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“Geez, it’s cold!” Rainbow complained, rubbing her front hooves together as Rarity scoffed at her.

“Ha! and you all mocked me for bringing extra scarfs!” She laughed, levitating a scarf around her neck as the train left behind us. Next to her was Spike, who was holding a comically large amount of scarves for Rarity.

I looked around and saw a frozen train station, it looked like a ghost town. There wasn’t a single soul in sight like everybody had just abandoned everything and left. I’d been to situations like this plenty of times before as a purifier and never been scared, but this one in particular was the first that gave me goosebumps. I heard the train leave, going back as we all looked back for a second before looking forward.

I hope nobody forgot anything in there, because that train is gone!

“Where the heck is the crystal empire?” I asked, looking around as my armor did nothing to protect my body from the cold.

“You’re standing in it. Welcome to the Crystal Empire.” A new voice explained, a new figure walking out of the snow storm and onto the boarding station. The figure was wearing a black scarf around his neck and muzzle with some weird looking goggles over his eyes, his fur white, and his mane bright and dark blue. He took off his goggles to show his bright blue eyes, though it looked like he was trying too hard to look cool.

“Shining!” Twilight exclaimed, running over to her B.B.B.F.F, (big brother, best friend forever), and hugging him.

“Twiley! It’s great to see you again!” He returned the hug, looking at the rest of the mane six. “It’s great to see all of you!”. His head turned to me and my pony counterparts, tilting his head in confusion. “Aren’t you that one pony with amnesia at our wedding? “Signal” wasn’t it?”

I nodded my head, walking up to him as he let go of his sister. “I never got to congratulate you on your marriage, so congrats on finding your love.” I extended my hoof out to shake his, for which he extended his out to shake mine.

“Thanks. You seem to be doing better than the last time we met, I mean you’re protecting my little sister now!”

“Why she choose me, only Celestia knows, quite literally.”

“That’s not all! You’ll never guess who came to visit me in Ponyville and is here to help us! Sapphire!” Twilight said, full of excitement.

“Sapphire Shores? Why is she here?” He asked, perplexed as Twilight rolled her eyes.

“No! Sapphire Dazzle! Our little sister! She came back!” Twilight went and dragged Sapphire in front of Shining Armor.

Huh...how convient. She never did tell us her last name.

He looked even more confused as he stared at Sapphire, looking back at Twilight. “Twiley we never... maybe the stress is getting to me because I can’t remember having another little sister.”

Sapphire put her hoof on Shining Armor, slightly smiling. “It is probably the stress, but let’s not worry about that now, we have an empire to save.”

Shining smiled as she took her hoof off of him and he lowered his goggles, turning around to the snowstorm. “Ok then. We should hurry, there are things we really don’t want to run into after dark.”

“What kind of things?” Fluttershy asked, her voice filled with fear.

“The Crystal Empire wasn’t the only thing to return, It came too.”

Oh joy! The pronoun game!

We followed Shining into the snowstorm, our metal armor making it slightly harder to move through the thick layers of snow. It felt like we were walking against a strong wind, each step we took seemingly harder than the last. The snow was unrelenting in its assault against us, each one of us struggling to move except for Pinkie Pie who was just hopping through the snow with glee.

“How much farther?!” I asked, yelling since the storm was trying to deafen my question.

“Shouldn’t be too much further! Just keep going!” Shining answered, moving forward undaunted by the storm. He pointed at a bright light in the distance, that was the Crystal Empire apparently.

I fell back a couple of feet to Sapphire as I sighed loudly, catching her attention.

“You ok?!” she asked, managing to speak over the storm.

“It’s just about this “King Sombra”! Can you really think he is a “being of pure evil”?!”

“According to Twilight, this was the pony who enslaved an entire empire for his own personal gain! So he could be!”

“Have you ever head the saying “history is written by the winners”?! He may have been a bad pony for enslaving an empire, but a being of pure evil would be like a giant black smoke monster with a raspy evil voice! And I doubt this “Sombra” is anything like that!” Just then an ominous roar filled our ears, the storm died down as though it feared the voice as well.

“W-w-what was that?!” Fluttershy asked, looking around terrified.

“Probably just some predator. It should leave us alone, as long as we stick together.” I explained, looking back to see nothing but snowy terrain.

“W-w-w-what if’s it’s some horrible monster? Or worse! Kind Sombra?!” Fluttershy asked, panicking as she hugged Mithril by his neck.

“If it’s a monster then we’ll just kick its sorry butt! And King Sombra was trapped under several thick sheets of ice for Celestia knows how long! He’s probably long de-” I went on, but I saw noticed that everybody was looking behind me in terror, some already backing up. Now I’ve been in enough situations to know what was going to happen next. I sighed as I lowered my head.

“Something’s right behind, isn’t it?”

They all nodded their heads in unison.

“How far we talking? Is he several miles away or...”

CRRRRYYYSSSSTTTALS!!!!! A raspy, and honestly terrifying, voice bellowed from behind me.

I slowly turned around to see a massive black smoke monster with the head shaped like that of a unicorn. It had spiked teeth with red eyes, it also had a red horn that was long and slightly bent. Dark purple smoke flowed out of its eyes, Bright green colors surrounding said eyes. It looked down at me angrily and let out an ear-piercing roar that created a shockwave that sent us back a couple of feet.

Let’s see... giant smoke cloud with a demonic horse head, black and red color scheme, raspy intimidating voice... I think he’s the villain.

“Ok let’s not panic... maybe if we just slowly walk away we can-”

“RUN!!!!!” Shining yelled, none of us arguing as we booked it from the monster, it taking a moment to move and chase after us.

We ran as fast as our hooves could move, looking back every now and then to see the smoke beast getting closer. As I ran I looked to my side to see something black growing out from the snow. I didn’t have a chance to think of what it was as a giant black jagged crystal came shooting out of the floor at me, but luckily slowly enough so that I could easily outrun it. More crystals started to shoot out of the ground at all of us, Twilight and Shining Armor occasionally destroying ones in front of them with their magic. But as we got closer to the light, the crystals started to get faster and faster, making it more difficult to dodge them.

Twilight was in front of me as I saw three crystals shoot out in front of her at a slant angle. She managed to shoot the one in the middle with a spell, but I could see that she wouldn’t be able to shoot the other two in time.

Unless you intend on eating talking horse on a stick, I recommend hurrying your...eh... flank... up and save her!

“WORKING ON IT!”

I felt the adrenaline kick in as I ran as fast as I could to Twilight, managing to make it right next to her before the crystals got to her. With all my strength, I shoved my body as hard as I could against her’s, pushing her away as the crystals shot up upon me. I definitely would not be able to dodge those crystals in time, so I braced myself for the inevitable.

THAT WAS YOUR PLAN?! GET YOURSELF KILLED?!?!

“On the bright side, at least I won’t have to listen to you anymore!”

I turned to my side in an attempt to protect my vital organs as the crystals slammed against my body. It created several dents in my armor, making me grunt in pain, as I was sent flying into the air and back towards the smoke monster.

“SIGNAL!” Twilight cried out, still running as she looked at me helplessly.

I was spinning around as I saw another big crystal shoot out of the ground, a last-ditch plan popping into my mind. The crystal was coming at me from a slant angle, and it was wide enough to comfortably stand on, perfect for the plan I was cooking up.

I managed to regain control of my body as the crystal was approaching me. I used my weight to move my legs to face the crystal, bending my knees in preparation for what was to come. I closed my eyes as I got closer and closer to it, praying that my plan would work. When my legs hit the crystal, no amount of preparation could have prepared me for the pain that flew through my four legs, a single tear leaving my eye.

How the actual hell did that not break you legs?!

I didn’t respond as I looked at where the group was, and taking a big breath I sprung my legs up. My own force combined with the crystals momentum allowed me to go launch like a cannonball, launching off the crystal and towards the group. More crystals started to shoot out at me, but by some miracle I managed to land and propel myself even further with them, not tripping as I neared the group.

“OH MY CELESTIA, THAT ACTUALLY WORKED!!! HOW DID THAT WORK?!” I exclaimed, the barrage of crystals ending. I started to lose altitude as I saw the group lookup and see me flying towards them.

Why you asking me? I’m just a voice in your head released by a spell from a talking pastel colored unicorn.

“Hey! Signal Flare can fly! Fly Signal fly!!!” Pinke exclaimed, a party horn suddenly in her mouth as she blew it.

“WE’RE ALMOST THERE! KEEP GOING!” Shining yelled bellow me, slowing down as everybody else ran ahead. I saw Shining stop and turn around, firing a blast of magic at the beast, who just dodged as it started to envelop him.

“WHAT ARE YOU-” I tried to ask, but out from the corner of my eye, a red light appeared from the smoke and started to get brighter. It kept getting brighter until I realized that it was a spell heading straight for me. I was helpless to dodge as the red spell hit my underbelly, pain washing over me yet again as I gained more altitude from the blast, flying straight through the light. As I passed the light, I looked to see an amazing sight. The cold, snowy ground was now replaced with a warm, grassy one, the sun now shining brightly on top of me. The cloudy sky was replaced with a perfectly clear blue sky, a gust of warm wind blowing against my exposed body. But I didn’t have much time to admire the beauty for long as I realized I was flying straight towards a giant pink crystal collum.

“NO NO NO NO!!!” I cried out, flailing my legs around as I started to spin out of control again. I crashed into the collum with my head facing the ground, the sound of something cracking filling my ears. “Why....me...?” I groaned in pain as I started to fall, unable to fix myself as I landed face first on the floor. How I wasn’t knocked out now I didn’t know as I saw Fluttershy, Keen, and Pinkie hold up some signs. “9.5” “3”, and “happy face” respectively.

Where did they get the signs?

“If Pinkies involved, don’t question it.”

But-

“DON’T QUESTION IT!”

I was in so much pain that I could barely move, not caring as I felt something drag me by my legs away from the pillar. I closed my eyes in pain, so I didn’t see who dragged me but, a minute or two later I felt my body stop moving and a sense of relaxation washed over me, soothing the pain. Once the pain started to die down, I looked up and opened my eyes to see to my amazement, a city that looked like it was made of crystals in the distance. It was mesmerizing, the architecture like something straight out of a fairy tale (which makes sense seeing what world I’m in), and the colors breathtaking. It almost made me forget about what just happened as I heard somebody else fall through the wall of light. I looked around to see Shining Armor on the floor, pieces of what looked like the crystals that attacked us attached to his horn. Twilight went to help him up as I felt my body be raised with magic, I looked to see that Sapphire had just helped me up.

“I saw what you did to save Twilight. Thank you” Sapphire said thankful, cringing as she looked at my armor.

“OK! What in the name of the two sisters was THAT?!” Mithril asked, breathing heavily as he took his helmet off.

”I too am confused by what that beast was. Was it a monster created by King Sombra?” Keene asked, also breathing heavily as she caught her breath. ”If so then what kind of dark magic are we up against?”

Shining Armor got up, trying to activate his magic but it was like the crystals canceled it out, then proceeding to look at everyone. “That was King Sombra. He’s been trying to get through the barrier ever since we put it up, but the magic holds him back.”

Twilight looked confused as she looked at her brother’s horn. “But Princess Celestia sent me to protect the empire from King Sombra, but it looks like you’ve already got it handled with the shield!”

“How do you think the shield is cast? We can’t do this forever and we need a permanent answer to this problem. It doesn’t help that somepony else keeps attacking the shield. That must be the reason why she sent you.”

I walked in front of everybody, hearing a gasp or two but I didn’t care as I cleared my voice.“I don’t know what would make somebo-pony want to work with a terrifying, but generic beast like Sombra, But I do know that now that we’re safe, we can properly prepare for him. Nothing can stop us now!” I stated, walking forward only to feel lightheaded and fall down on the ground.

Oh, almost forgot! You’re bleeding from those first two crystals that hit you!

“Oh now you tell me as I pass out from blood loss! Thanks a lot!”

I felt my vision blur as my eyebrows started to feel heavy, I used what energy I had left

“SWEET CELESTIA! SIGNAL! We need to hurry!” I heard somebody say, but I couldn’t tell who it was as my consciousness faded in and out.

We should play a drinking game! Everytime you get knocked out/pass out, take a shot!

I finally lost my battle with my eyebrows as my eyes closed, my body slowly shutting down, but I was able to let out one last response.

Oh screw you...

It was late in the afternoon as Applejack was walking through a part of Sweet Apple Acres. She was carrying her basket of apples in one hand and a small ladder in the other as she approached another tree for apple picking. Winona was with her, happily running around as she put her basket on the floor and rested the ladder against the tree, ready to pick some apples. She reached and grabbed the lowest hanging apples first, putting the good ones in the basket and throwing the bad ones away.

She was humming a little tune as she started singing.“♫We’re apples forever. Apples together. We’re family but so much more. No matter what comes we will face the weather. We’re apples to the-♫”

*squish!*

But her song was interrupted by what sounded like something piercing an apple. That was odd to her because the fruit bat sanctuary was nowhere near where she was, that fact made her think of the worst-case scenario.

“If that’s one of them pesky apple stealing vampire fruit bat varmin, I’m a go get the shovel!” she grumbled as she walked over to the noise, careful not to step on any fallen apples.

She kept on walking, reaching the origin of the sound, which was behind one particularly thick apple tree. As she got closer, she then heard another sound, which sounded more like an arrow firing from a bow, which was then followed by the sound of something piercing the tree. Then to her surprise, a voice she never heard before appeared.

“Damnit! The voice complained. It sounded hoarse and very unnatural, just hearing it sent shivers down Applejack’s spine. “Ugh...why here Frostbite? Why now?”.

Applejack quickly hid behind the tree as she heard some footsteps approach the tree. The sound of something being forcefully removed from the tree followed the footsteps, which was then followed by silence. Applejack didn’t know what to make of the situation, so she just stood there not making a noise. After several seconds she decided to take action by slowly poking her head around the tree. To her confusion, all she saw was a bow laying against a tree stump with some arrows nearby in a quiver, neatly organized together into rows. Winona started to growl next to her, catching her attention, but then quickly started whimpering and ran off back to the house.

“What in tarnation?! Winona! Come back!” She called out, but Winona was too far away at that point. “What could have scared her like that?” she asked out loud, soon answered when she felt something sharp poke the skin of her neck.

“I’m only going to ask you this once.” The voice coldly explained,“Who the hell are you and what the hell are you doing here? Don’t make me ask twice!”

Applejack froze up, too scared to move a muscle. “M’ah names Applejack! Me and my family live on this here apple farm! Who the hay are you?!” She asked, the sharp object soon leaving her neck.

She turned around as soon as the object left her, making a small gasp as she looked at the stranger. He wore a basic grey tank top with black pants, his arms and what she could see of his chest covered in what looked like burn scars. He had a pair of black gloves on with little holes at the end of them, a symbol of a white feather on each of gloves. Around his neck was a golden necklace with a blue rock attached to it, it looked as though it was glowing. Most glaring to Applejack about him was his face, it seemed off to her. It looked like a face, but at the same time seemed fake, like some really well-made face mask. That, combined with his voice, just overall creeped her out.

His grey eyes glared at her, a one edged knife with a long blade with the symbol of some kind of four-winged bird encrusted on the blade in his hand. “I don’t have to say jack. Now leave, I want to be alone...”

Now that Applejack knew what she was dealing with, she could properly deal with him.“Now, wait just a darn-tootin' minute! Not only are you tresspassin’ on private property, but you’re also shooting the apples we sell to pay the bills! If anyone’s leaving it’s you!” Applejack argued, pointing a finger at him angrily.

He groaned in annoyance as he walked away from her, walking to his bow and picking it up. “Damn it kid... I don’t have time to deal with you!” He complained, taking an arrow out of his quiver. “Tell you what, if you want, you can watch me. All I ask is you just let me stay... please...”

She honestly wanted to go get big Mac and kick this stranger out of their orchard, but something about the stranger’s tone shift from angry to stressed made her doubt her decision. “oh...fine...but after this, You’ll have to find somewhere else to go shoot yer arrows!”

“Fine by me.”

Applejack put her hands on her sides as she went behind the stranger. He notched another arrow into his bow. As he pulled it back, he moved the bow up towards one of the many apple trees, letting it go as it perfectly hit another apple.

He was completely silent, not saying a word as he grabbed another arrow. “You ah...got a name?” She asked, trying to make small talk with him. She didn’t want to bring up his scarred skin or his offputting voice, so his name seemed like a good starting point.

“Keen Eye. My mother had a sick sense of humor when she named me.” He explained, aiming his bow.

“Ever since I was a kid I loved watch’en archery on tv. It used to be my dream to join up with them and bring home the gold, but I never found the time to join a class and learn how to use one.”

“If you’re passionate enough about anything, you’ll make time to practice. Just don’t expect your dream to come true all time.

He then just went quiet, creating an awkward silence between the two save for the occasional sound of an arrow being fired. “A’h noticed yer eyes. You blind?” It may have been blunt and perhaps offensive, but she didn’t have much else to go on at the moment.

“If I was then how could I warn you about the wolf spider in front of you?”

“There ain’t a-” she looked down and indeed a wolf spider was right in front of her, soon scurrying away from the two of them. “Won’t you look at that! But if you’re not blind, then why are your eye’s-”

“Grey? I was born with them. And not all blind people have grey eyes.”

“Uh...right... You knew to this little part of Canterlot?”

“Just got here yesterday.”

“Any reason for coming here?”

“Personal matters”

“Where do you live?”

“You ask a lot of questions... I live in a hotel.”

“You don’t have any family here you can live with?”

He fired another arrow as soon as she said “family”, except he missed the tree completely and the arrow was sent flying through the orchard. His hands were shaking violently as he hung the bow around his body. He stood there silent for what felt like forever, Applejack afraid to say anything else.

”Won’t you look at the time. I should go...sorry for bothering you.” He said coldly, finally breaking the silence as he walking past her as he grabbed his quiver.

Applejack knew she said something wrong to him, something that may have hit to close to home for the man. “Did I say something wrong? I’m awfully sorry if I did!” She reached out to him, but he avoided her hand.

“No...it’s fine...here, catch” He tossed one of his arrow at her, Applejack easily catching it as Keen started to walk off. “It’s my way of saying “Thanks”...If you want I can pay for all those apples I shot...”

Applejack shook her head as she looked at him.“Don’t mention it, and you don’t have to pay...We’ll be fine.”

Keen Eye nodded at her, a small smile growing on his face. He said nothing as he walked away, soon hidden by the dozens of apple trees. As soon as he left, Applejack looked at the arrow he gave her. It was cold in her hand, feeling like some kind of metal. It was completely black, save for some white writing on the body she had never seen before in her life. It looked like nothing she had ever seen before, almost indescribable, she would have to look up what it said later.

As she walked off, Applejack pondered why he reacted so oddly to the word “family”. “Must have had something bad happen to him with his family...I won’t pester him about it, assuming we see each other again that is” she said to herself out loud, walking back to the farm.

Applejack was so busy pondering and walking that she didn’t notice the bright blue lightning shaped eyes peering at her from the bushes. When she was out of sight, Frostbite appeared out of some bushes and walked over to the tree where Keen was shooting arrows at.

“Pathetic. Breaking down that quickly by some dumb teenage girl. I thought you were better than that “Keen Deadeye”.”

Just barely within earshot, he heard the sound of a bow being drawn. Quickly responding he bent his body to the side as an arrow shot out of the orchard and flew past him, hitting a nearby tree.

“And I used to think you had some honor left in you “Frostbite”. But I guess we’re all wrong every now and then.” Keen retorted, walking out of the tree’s and dropping the normal bow in his hand. He was wearing a grey and black suit of armor, his face covered by a barbuta style helmet. It had two eyeholes covered by a green visor, which glowed brightly as he grabbed his custom-made collapsable compound bow from his back. He unfolded it as Frostbite unsheathed a one-handed longsword from his back.

“What are you doing here Johnathan? You knew revealing yourself to us would only make your life here harder so whats your endgame?”

“You hurt me deeply Wilson! Perhaps I just simply intended on retiring and living here” He said, purposefully going over the top as he clenched where his heart would be.

“We both know that’s a lie John. Why expose yourself to me? Especially after all you did to us?

“Can’t a man just want to talk to an old friend? Say, where’s your wife? You two were inseparable if I remember.”

Keen stood silent, seemingly unaffected by his comment. But behind his mask, Keen was fighting back tears from forming as Frostbite snapped his fingers.

“Oh right! She’s six feet under!” He laughed, Easy to forget that. She was never that memorable honestly.”

Keen audibly growled as his body lit up bright green, notching an arrow in his bow and aiming at Frostbite. “You WILL pay for her death!”

Frostbite laughed as he raised his blade at Keen. “Save me your melodrama. And what about the other forty-nine plus Purifiers I killed? Don’t I need to pay for their deaths too? Or do they not matter? I don’t even understand why you cared so much about her, I mean she wasn’t that good looking.”

It took every ounce of Keen’s mental energy to not run up and try to beat Frostbite to death with his bow. “This isn’t just about her! It’s about the community here! These people don’t deserve to die for our mistakes!”

“Have you started to believe the lies the government said about me? I don’t needlessly kill innocent people like the rest of you did at Haven. Unlike them, I killed with a just reason behind me.”

That line threw Keen over the edge, anger taking control of him.

“SAREN WAS INNOCENT YOU TORE DAMN MONSTER!!!!!!!!” He screamed, firing another arrow then running at Frostbite.

Frostbite smirked under his helmet as he dodged the arrow and readied his blade. Keen feel right into his trap, setting his plan into motion.

”Too easy”