Blake and I were quick to follow Lydia back to the library while some of the townsfolk scurried back into their homes, others were readying themselves for a fight that hopefully will never come. We finally arrived at the library and we both saw the door slightly ajar with voices emitted from within. It sounded like an argument in there and while I was beginning to have second thoughts, I quickly shook my head and pushed the door open, revealing the messy state of the library within.

“Any over all, what do you have to prove if your really not working for this lady?” Rachael asked, hovering off the ground with her arms crossed. Lydia glanced over to the irritated Skyborn.

“If I was, then why am I here looking for a way to stop her?” Lydia asked. Rachael looked like she was about to say something but the Farmer pulled her down.

“Easy there, she’s ain’t lying so stop this yelling.” Jacqueline said. As the others looked over at the Magi, Angelina see the two of us and gave us a little wave. I gave her a wave back, which earned us a smile from her. We walked inside and shut the door behind us while being mindful of rue scattered books across the floor, a large pile near the wall proved Lydia’s words on finding a way.

“Not a day here and you’ve somehow trashed the place.” I said with a quiet chuckle, making myself known. Lydia soon saw me and Blake and frowned upon sight of us.

“What are you two doing here, didn’t I ask for you to stay out of this?” Lydia asked, putting her hands on her hips. Crossing my arms and with a roll of my eyes, I retorted by saying.

“I don’t remember you asking that, more along the lines of This has nothing to with you and I beg to differ.” I told her with a frown. This brought a shameful look from Lydia, no doubt realizing now her rudeness from earlier.

“Besides, ah think ya need some more help to defeating this villain sugarcube.” Jacqueline pointed out. Lydia looked between both me and the apple farmer.

“Look, this nice that you all want to help but it’s too dangerous.” Rachael simply snorted at this as Lydia continued. “I’m trained in the magical arts of defence and offence so I’ll be alright.”

“Yet the spell she used before just got brushed aside…” Blake whispered a bit. I laughed a little at this, gaining Lydia’s attention from my sudden laugh.

“Look, if you want to help then help me find a book.” Lydia said, looking at the many bookshelves. Upon mentioning the word book, the large pile of books erupted and revealed the pink and puffy haired party planner and baker, Dianne Pye with a book in hand. She giggles a bit as Lydia rolled her eyes.

“Is this about these Elements of Harmony? What are they anyway?” Rachael asked, still frowning from before.

“They… they are some sort of magical artifacts that should banish the Nightmare away, but I don’t know where they are, what they are, or what they do!” Lydia said loudly.

“The Elements of Harmony; a Reference Guide.” Dianne said as she looked at a bookcase. Lydia turned wide eyed before running over and seeing the book in question.

“But… how… how did you find it?!” Lydia asked, pulling the book out.

“It was under ‘E’~” Dianne said, skipping away. Lydia stared at the party planner and shrank a bit.

“... Oh.” was all she said before opening the book. As she read the book out loud I noticed Blake looking off at the window, she stared at it as her left foot was tapping. To anyone else it means nothing but I’ve been friends with Blake for a long time that this ment there’s something up.

“Something bugging you, Blake?” I asked her with a little concern in my voice. She hummed a bit before looking at me.

“Just… do you have the feeling that you’re being watched?” she whispered to me. I gave a curious look but then I thought about it and…

“Yeah, kinda creepy to be honest.” I told her, feeling a chill crawl up my spine afterwards. After our exchange of words I notice the Lydia was now pale as she held the book.

“The location of the five elements… is in the Castle of the two sisters within the Everfree forest.” Lydia said, earning some scared looks from everyone but Angelina, who saw all this and put on a scared look as well. It was kinda funny.

“Then let’s get a move on.” I told them all, not really caring much for the dangers that lurks within the forest infamous for the many disappearances of foolish travelers that dared to walk across the Everfree. “The sooner we do this, the sooner we get to go home.” I added.

“Umm, Isaac… you do know what’s the Everfree Forest is right?” Sophia asked in a nervous tone. “The place filled with monsters and rumored to be a place where people disappear…”

“Yeah I know that, everyone knows that but if what Lydia said was true, if we don’t do something we’re looking at an eternity of endless night.” I told them all, a look of seriousness and a tone to match as well. This earned a blush from Sophia before she fanned herself.

“Besides, Angelina goes into the forest all the time, and she’s fine.” Blake added, earning a shock looked from the shy Skyborn. The rest of them stared at her as Angelina brushed some of her hair in front of her face. “Uhh, I shouldn’t have said that…” Blake added.

“Nice going.” I said, elbowing Blake with a frown. Blake looked over at the shy Skyborn with an apologetic look.

“W-Well, even if it’s a bad idea, I still need to go in there.” Lydia said, steeling her nerves.

“Uhh, don’t you mean ‘we’?” Rachael corrected. Lydia then looked up from her book once again, seeing all of us with silent looks that said we were going as well and there was not a damn thing she could do to stop us. I looked at her with a smirk and said.

“We’re going with, whether you like it or not.” I said with the same smirk. Seeing that there was no use in trying to make us change our minds, Lydia sighed in defeat before we all exited the library and headed towards the edge of the forest. On the way, I could feel a chill run up my spine again with the feeling of being watched in the back of my mind as we walked. As we walked I saw Blake wrapping her hands in some wrappings. Back in school she took some fighting classes as well as some magic classes as well.

After following them for five minutes, we had stopped just in front of the the path that led into the Everfree. It wasn’t until we had begun our trek that I had snapped my fingers and caused them to burst into flames and engulfing my hand. This action had gained me a curious look from Lydia.

After walking through the dark part of the forest, the light of the full moon shone brighter than the flame in my hand so with a quick flick of my wrist, the fire vanished into a puff of smoke. I then put my hands into the pockets of my jacket and felt something small and rectangular inside the left pocket.

“So, none of you have been in here before?” Lydia asked everyone. I stayed silent as I pulled out the item in my pocket before seeing that it was the MP3 player I had misplaced a few weeks back. Blake looked over and shifted a laugh as she remembers how I was during the first week.

“Ugh, heavens no! Just look at it - it’s dreadful.” Sophia said with a bit of disgust. I reached into my pocket again and pulled out the earphones that belonged to the Mp3.

“And it ain’t natural. Folks say it ain’t right.” Jacqueline added her words into the conversation. I plugged in the earphones before putting them on.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Lydia asked with a questioning side glance. I turned on the Mp3 and waited for it to loud.

“Nobody knows. You know why?” Rachael asked with a grin forming on her face. Once the Mp3 was one, I maxed out the volume before selecting random.

“Rachael, quit it.” Jacqui said with a groan and facepalm.

“Because everyone who-” Rachael’s words, along with everyone else’s were drowned out by the song that had just began to play. I did notice Rachael’s face planting in the ground after Blake came over and smacking her over the head. From the looks of it the two of them got into an argument.

Just as I began to get into the feel of the song, the earth beneath gave away. Eyes wide as dinner plates, I fell and began sliding down to what I could tell was a cliff. I quickly took hold of an exposed root before looking and seeing Jacqueline sliding down fast. Quickly taking hold of her wrist, I held her up from falling just as she did the same with Lydia. I could see that Lydia had spoken to Jacqui but because of the music, I couldn’t hear a single word coming from either of them. Shaking my head, I had managed to get the earphones out of my ears which in turn, caused them hang loosely from my pocket.

“Let go.” Was the first thing I heard coming from Jacqueline. Snapping my attention back at the two women under me, I could see the panic look on Lydia’s face.

“Are you crazy!?” Lydia yelled in her state of panic. I peeked over the edge and had caught a glimpse of Angelina.

“Just trust her dammit!” I shouted as I felt my hand start slipping away from the root. Closing her eyes, Lydia let of Jacqueline’s hand and slid off the edge with a scream of fear.

“Got ya!” Yelled Rachael as she held Lydia up with one arm while Angelina held Lydia up by the other arm. Both Skyborn’s struggled to keep a firm grip on Lydia as they flew down and out of my field of vision.

“Alrighty… now what?” I asked the woman under me. This brought a sigh from Jacquie.

She reached over to a large stone that poked through the ground before checking if it wouldn’t just slip off. Getting her idea, I started to do the same and before we knew it, we had began to climb down the cliff and reached the others. Though I did find it odd that the cliff suddenly broke apart but thinking of the Night crazed woman from earlier, I only just shook my head and thought nothing of it. I reached into my pocket to take out the Mp3 only to find it missing again.

‘Great, it must’ve slipped out while I was climbing down.’ I mentally groaned. Everyone made sure that no bones were broken and that no one was hurt, though I did ask where had Sophia been while all this happened.

“I’m terribly afraid of heights so I tend to stay in a relatively safe distance from the edge but I did find another way down here.” The Fashionista said before pointing at what appeared to be an old stone staircase that was carved out from the large hill.

“But what about Dianne?” Asked Jacqueline after she had took a glance around the group. I did the same but saw no sign of the party enthusiast.

“Weee!” The loud voice belonging to the baker in question echoed just as she appeared sliding off the edge before performing a perfect backflip and landing on her feet unharmed.

“Should’ve seen that one coming, huh?” I asked the farmer next to me, earning a laugh from her. Lydia only stared in disbelief but stayed silent dispute the situation she had been in. Looking around I heard a popping sound as Blake appeared near us. She also had some headphones in her- wait that’s my MP3! It took a few moments I got my music player back and stuffed it in my pocket as I looked at the others.

Once everyone made sure they were fine, we began moving once again. As we walked deeper into the forest, the soothing sounds of the night echoed around us but of course with the constant bragging that Rachael does, the sounds were drowned out by her egotistical rambling.

“... But once Me and Angie saw the edge, we spread our wings and flew faster than you could ever see us fly and BAM! Caught you in the nick of time.” Rachael said for the tenth time in a row. Everyone groaned at the excessive bragging that Skyborn brought.

“Don’t you ever shut up, bird brain?” I asked with a frown. She looked down at me and glared.

“ Why I ought to-” She started but was cut off my Angie as she simply glared at the both of us.

“Why do you to act so immature towards each other?” Lydia asked to the both of us.

“Cause that’s how our friendship works.” Both me and Rachael said without missing a beat.

“What?” Asked Lydia. Jacquie caught her attention before asking anymore questions.

“It’s complicated, so don’t ask.” Was all the farmgirl said. It was true, our continues ‘Fights’ never lead to anything more than an argument that would be simply be solved by a dare given to us by Dianne. It’s an odd type of Friendship that can leave others to wonder if we were friends or enemies, maybe even frenemies. I looked over at Blake and thought on our friendship before shaking my head.

“So I heard Simon was back in town-” Rachael began to say before being cut off by a gasp from Lydia.

“Manticore!” She yelled in surprise as the animal in question growled but hadn’t made a single move. With a more focused glance, I had noticed that it kept its right paw up. By the looks of both Jacquie and Rachael, they looked ready to start a fight.

“How ‘bout we let an animal expert handle this.” I told them, keeping my arm up and my hands open in case they wouldn’t listen. “Angie, can you see what’s wrong with it?”

“Him.” The Animal caretaker corrected.

“Him. Can see what’s wrong with him?” I repeated my question. With a nod, Angie walked up to the growling Manticore before saying soothing words to it. Everyone looked ready to defend Angelina at the moment the Manticore decides to attack but to their surprise, the Manticore lifted its paw and showed Angie a large gash covered in dry blood. Angie frowned before taking a hold of an item that was lodged inside the open wound before pulling it out without haste, causing the Manticore roar in pain. Jacquie and Rachael were about ready to shove me aside until they both heard the cat like pure from the beast itself.

In Angelina’s hand was a jagged silver dagger covered in blood. She held it up despite her disgust while the Manticore’s wound simply closed itself, leaving only the dry blood and a scar behind. It looked at Angie and purred while itself onto Angie. The latter was taken by surprise but quickly began to pet the Manticore.

“Aw you’re just a little ol’ baby kitty, aren’t you? Yes you are, yes you are.” Angie cooed at the Manticore. Lydia looked at this in shock as Blake started to laugh at the look on her face.

After the Manticore walked deeper into the dark forest, Angie then dropped the dagger in pure disgust. Seeing this, I walked over to her before the others caught up.

“How did you know there was something wrong?” Lydia asked the Pink haired Skyborn. Angie turned to look at Lydia.

“I didn’t, Isaac did but I showed him kindness and helped the poor thing.” She answered with a smile. I smiled as well.

“The power of Kindness is a wonderful thing~!” Blake said in a funny singsong voice, which only made Angie blush a bit.

“We should keep moving.” Said Lydia once she walked on ahead of the group. We followed behind and as we walked deeper into the forest, the light of the moon was soon blocked by the treetops above us.

“No. My eyes need a rest from all this icky muck.” Just as Sophia said those words, everything seemed to have become darker. “Well, I didn’t mean that literally.”

I had tried to light my hand on fire again but it was extremely cold for me to do so. After the fifth attempt, I gave up and put my hands into my pockets for warmth. Again, I saw Blake simply stand there normal as if the cold isn’t bothering her. I smirked a bit before saying.

“The cold never bothered you anyway~?” I said jokenly, earning a glare out of my friend.

“Do you want me to put you into the ground?” she threatened. I chuckled as Lydia spoke.

“That ancient ruin could be right in front of our faces and we wouldn’t even know it.” Lydia complained.

“Hey!” I shouted at the person who pushed me.

“I didn’t see you there, my apologies.” It was Sophia who apologized.

“Right here…” Rachael said to which was followed by a disgusting squelch or squish. “Guh…” She said in disgust.

“Oh wait, I think I stepped in somethin’.” Jacqueline said. Just as she said this, I felt the bottom of my shoe sink an inch into the ground.

“I think I did too.” I replied but continued on walking, ignoring the horrendous filling of mud seeping into my shoes. Without warning, Angie let out a terrified scream and this caught the attention of all of us.

“It’s just mud.” I told Angie. She shook her head and simply pointed to the left of her. Looking towards where she pointed at, I was greeted with a scary face carved onto a tree.

I walked over to it before looking at the trees surrounding us, seeing the same face growing more and more grotesque as I looked on. All of a sudden, Dianne had appeared in front of the tree I stood next to.

“Wow, the unoriginality on these are off the charts.” She said before seeing the rest of the face carved trees. “Seriously, it’s like she isn’t even trying?” She grumbled the last part, leaving confused.

“Okay?” I said in confusion. She looked back at the tree and took a very deep breath.

“Things that bother you never bother me! I feel happy and fine, AHA! Livin’ in the sunlight! Lovin’ in the moonlight!Having a wonderful time!” She yelled in a singing song fashion that had made her look and sound hilarious. Her normal happy go lucky smile was replaced shortly by a furious look.

By the distant sound of laughter, I could tell that the group found this oddly funny as well. I mean, I did too knowing the song she just yelled was supposed to be one of joy and happiness but she expressed it in the most ironic way possible.

It’s almost as if an illusion was being broken around us, the trees grotesque faces soon vanished while the darkness around us was lit up from the moonlight. After everyone had stopped laughing, which took longer than one would expect, we began to resume our trek towards the ancient castle.

As we walked, the distant sound of flowing water echoed and was coming from up ahead. Ignoring the feeling of dread, I followed the girls as we spotted a river. I made sure to keep myself away from the very edge of the river while making sure no one noticed me doing so.

“How are we supposed to get past this? The current is way too violent.” Lydia said in an informative tone. It looked Dianne had an idea but wasn’t able to tell it as the distant cries of despair sounded from our right.

Oddly enough, it was a tall giant that made those cries as he stomped the waters in sheer disgust to something. The Giant’s attire appeared as if he was a fashion enthusiast and his mullet was a golden blonde. Lydia was the first to speak as she walked closer to the giant.

“Excuse me, Sir? Why are you crying?” Asked Lydia while everyone caught up behind her. The Giant turned and looked down at us before answering m

“Well, I don’t know. I was just sitting here, minding my own business, when this tacky little cloud of purple smoke just whisked past me and tore half of my beloved mustache clean off, and now I look simply horrid.” Said the Giant before sobbing into his hands almost comically.

“Is he serious? This has to be a joke.” I told Rachael.

“If only.” She groaned.

“So that’s what this fuss is about?” Jacquie groaned as well while Dianne and Angie stared with a blank expression.

“Why, of course it is. How can you be so insensitive? Oh, just look at him. Such smooth and unblemished skin.” Sophia said, gesturing towards the Giant.

“I know.” The Giant said with a sniff.

“And your expertly coiffed hair.” Sophia kept speaking towards the Giant.

“Oh, I know, I know.” The Giant said with a loud sob.

“Your fabulous manicure.” Sophia said, looking at the Giant’s nails.

“It’s so true!” The Giant said with another sob.

“All ruined without your beautiful mustache.” This caused the Giant to finally break into tears again.

“It’s true, I’m hideous!” The Giant said between loud sobs.

“I simply cannot let such a crime against fabulosity go uncorrected.” Sophia said with a hint of determination. Blake heard the two of them speak and groan.

“This is so stupid…” she mumbled to herself.

“But it’s just facial hair.” I said out loud only to be ignored by both Sophia and the Giant. “It’ll just grow back.” I grumbled to myself with an annoyed frown.

“This is sooo not cool.” Rachael groaned just as a loud snip was heard from Sophia. Looking back at the fashionista, I was surprised to see her long ponytail missing.

“Oh-hohohoho! My mustache. How wonderful.” On the Giant’s face was the cut off hair attached onto his face, replacing his torn mustache.

“This isn’t like you, Sophia. You’d normally rather die than mess your hair up.” Rachael commented. Sophia gave somewhat of a forced smile.

“Oh don’t worry, hair grows back and I’ve heard short hair is back in season.” She said before looking at the now calm river. “Now let’s keep moving.” She said. Those words caught the attention of the twenty foot Giant.

“Allow me.” Said the Giant as he bent down and picked up large log and placing down, making sure it was on the ground at the other side as well. Sophia thanked the Giant, so did Dianne and Angie.

I only gave him a friendly wave but was still annoyed at the situation we were just in. The girls walked across the log without delay while I simply looked at the moving water before taking a large gulp of air and carefully walked across. Once I was across, I felt my entire body shiver in fear over what could’ve happened.

“Hey, slowpoke!” Rachael yelled. I looked up and saw that she along with the others had gone farther away. “Come on!” She yelled. Taking a deep breath, I sprinted towards the rest and caught up with them the span thirty seconds.

Once I did catch up with them, the ancient castle came into view. I wasn’t the only one who saw this by the sound of Lydia’s excited voice.

“There it is, the ruin that holds The Elements of Harmony. We made it!” Lydia exclaimed in excitement before beginning to run towards the castle.

“Lydia, wait for us!” Shouted Jacquie as we all tried to catch up with her but stopped as we saw the edge of a cliff. After seeing this, I kept sprinting.

“We’re almost the- Whoa!” She yelled as she tried to balance herself but to no avail and slipped. I reached towards her right hand and took a firm hold of it before pulling her back, causing me to fall onto the ground on my back with Lydia on top of me.

“Developed a fetish for falling?” I joked, earning a frown from the woman on top of me before she stood up.

“Now what?” Dianne said with a frustrated sigh. Rachael looked down at her feet and saw the untied rope for the the other post on the other side.

“Duh.” She said with the rope in hand. I gave her deadpan look as she held the rope.

“You don’t even know how to tie a knot. You avoid shoelaces like if was some sort of a disease.” I told her with my arms crossed. This made the athletic skyborn frown while blushing in embarrassment.

“I practiced and I’ll prove it.” She said before spreading her wings and flying across the large gap. As she flew, a thick layer of fog settled in.

“Odd, it isn’t that cold.” Lydia noted while I stood, shivering from the sudden shift in the temperature.

“S-says y-y-you.” I stuttered out. Lydia looked back at me with a questioning glance.

“You okay, Icy.” Asked Dianne. I glared at her use of the nickname.

“I’m tired and cold as balls, I’m far from okay.” I said, managing to not stutter my words. “When I get back home I’m taking a hot shower.” I said to no one in particular.

“I think I’ll second that.” Jacquie said with a raise of her hand.

“I just want to lay down. I’ve had too much excitement in one day.” Angie said in her usual quiet tone. Blake nodded at this without saying anything as we continued to wait while conversing with one another, though Lydia wanted no part of the conversation as she would ignore any and all of our questions about her. Blake looked around at the fog, frowning a bit.

“What’s taking her so long?” Lydia said with frown as she stood in front of the bridge. Looking towards the thick layer of fog, I narrowed my eyes as I caught a glimpse of four silhouettes. One silhouette took flight and Rachael appeared from the fog.

“Pfft, like I’d ever leave my friends hanging.” Muttered the Skyborn athlete. She looked crossed with whatever happened at the other side of the bridge but said nothing, only mentioning how she’d never leave her friends hanging for something so selfish, whatever that something may be.

After cautiously making our way across the bridge and calming down Angie from her fear of heights. She was never interested in flying and often chooses to walk but seeing the large chasm below the bridge must’ve really frightened her.

After a short trek from the bridge, we had finally arrived at the ancient castle and by the looks of it, it has been abandoned for ages. I let out a loud sneeze as the dust fell from the broken roof, earning me an angered shush from Lydia.

“Hey look, we’re here… now what?” Blake asked, looking up at the castle. Lydia frowned at her before looking around.

“If the book is true, then the Elements of Harmony should be in the observatory nearby.” She explained.

“You mean the one right over there?” Dianne asked as she pointed to a ruined looking building nearby on a hill. After seeing this we all headed up there. As we got closer and closer Blake’s frown became more and more deeper. When Angie saw this she asked about it and Blake answered simply that this was too easy.

“Let’s just get this over with.” I sighed before we all headed towards the ruined building. Though soon we found out that the building we saw was actually what remains of the old castle of the two sisters. The gates have long since rusted off its hinges, allowing free access to the innards of the ruins. Once inside, I snapped my fingers once again creating another flame that soon engulfed my whole hand to which I then used as a torch. Walking in and exploring we made our way to the observatory where we found a large mechanism.

“Alright, this is it… this device holds the Elements.” Lydia said as she rubbed her hands together as we all looked at it. “It’ll have a large number of traps, safety functions, everything to keep anyone from the elements, if you all let me I can-”

Blake walked over and punched the device. After hearing some things break from inside it a small latch opened up and five orbs rolled out.

“Or… that.” Lydia said, feeling bad that something so simple just happened. Blake rolled her eyes as everyone picked up one of the orbs.

“So… now what?” the speedster asked, tossing her orb in the air and catching it. With a frown Lydia spoke.

“Well, there’s six Elements, and only five of them are here… I believe if I cast some magic into them, maybe…” with a deep breath Lydia closed her eyes and started to levitate the orbs. With a hum the orbs started to glow. As we all waited I notice something out of the corner of my eye. Turning I saw a black and blue mist closing in around Lydia.

“Trouble!” Rachael yelled as she saw this. Before we could act the shadows shot forward, knocking everyone away from the purple Magi. I was quick to recover before using my still blazing hand and shot out a stream of fire that dissipated the shadows upon contact.

“Is everyone alright?” I asked out loud to the groaning group. As they nodded I looked and saw that Lydia, along with the Elements, were missing. Cursing a bit I looked around and saw some lights coming from the castle. Getting the others attention we all ran towards the castle. As we got back to the main room of the place I saw a large number of shadow creatures forming around us.

“You lot go!” Blake yelled as she charged at the monsters. Without a word I ran off deeper into the castle with the other reluctantly in tow.

“Wait, are we going to leave her?!” Sophia yelled, looking behind us.

“Blake can handle herself in a fight, don’t worry!” I yelled as we ran through the halls, avoiding various obstacles which include and not limited to crumbling floor, collapsing ceilings and even possesed rusted armors. When we ran up the step to the tower, we already at our limits but we didn’t stop until we finally arrived up the steps. As we got up there I saw that Lydia was at her own limit, clothes tattered and burnt, breathing heavily as the Nightmare was also breathing heavily but had the upper hand.

“You are a skilled mage, but you could not defeat me.” she said as she raised her hand and a scythe of shadow appeared over Lydia. “You’ll be remembered as one that came close to defeating me.” She said but before she could strike Lydia down, the burning embers that lit up my hand traveled up my arm and lit up the dragon tattoo of mine before reeling my hand back as a tiny ball formed. With an angered yell, I unleashed a torrent of fire that decimated the scythe and pushed the Nightmare back.

“Get Lydia!” I yelled at the others and it was Jacqueline and Rachael that ran up to the battered Magi before dragging her back and away from the Nightmare. The woman shook her head and looked over at me.

“You are starting to get on my nerves boy.” she said as the shadow scythe appeared in her hands.

“Yeah, I get that a lot.” I told her with a smirk. With a frown she dashed forward to bring a quick slash. I ducked under it and dodged her follow up be pushing back. She twisted around before extended her hand out. A beam of darkness shot out from her hand towards me. “Oh no.” I managed to say before being hit by the beam. The force alone managed to send me flying back onto the wall and impacting an old crumbling pillar but before I hit the pillar however, I managed to use my arm to soften the impact to my back. “Ah!” I yelled in pain, hearing the audible crack of my arm. As I held my broken arm I watched as the Nightmare got closer to me.

“Any last words before going into the weave of life boy?” she asked, holding the scythe as if she was the Grim Reaper. She loomed over me, her scythe ready to strike me down within an instant.

“Not last words per say, regrets however I have plenty.” I said to her jokingly before wincing at another surge of pain from my arm. The woman looked down at me, a sight of sorrow before lifting the scythe up to strike me… right before a pillar slammed into her and sent her into a wall. Blinking I looked over to see Blake panting in the doorway, or well a broken one, looking a little worse shape as I was. Her arms were bloodyed and had vains of dark blue coursing through them. She glanced over at me before saying.

“You… look like shit.” she said with a chuckle. I gave her a look before saying.

“The adrenaline is honestly keeping me from screaming to my hearts content over the fractured or possibly shattered arm that I currently have.” I told in her in the most calmed tone I could ever muster, one that even brought a look of worry to Blake having rarely heard me like this. The two of us looked at the pillar moved out of the way and the Nightmare, now a bit disheveled than before, some of her armor is cracked or destroyed, showing that the underclothes are in tatters of old age, and just looked like… well someone who got hit by a pillar.

“This… is getting really annoying!” she said before looking at Blake in surprise. “How are you still alive!?”

“Don’t know, just something odd about me.” Blake said as she sat down. “Can’t feel my arms now… this sucks.”

“Lucky you.” I said to her with a roll of my eyes. “At least yours ain’t… This!” I said, showing her the grotesquely limp arm of mine. As the two of us looked at each other the Nightmare got closer to us.

“Can I… just simply… finish you two off?!” she yelled. As she did there was a bright light. Looking back I saw a rainbow like beam coming towards the Nightmare, having her slump over a bit. “Oh fuck me.”

“My eyes.” I hissed as I blocked my view of the beam, the multitude of colors were beginning to give me a headache especially when they were spiraling like that. After the blinding light of colour and lights, the beam hit’s the Nightmare and the sound of her screaming filled the room. It was also the last thing I heard as the pain was too much and I passed out.

When I regained consciousness, the first thing that I could hear was the obnoxious beeping of a heart monitor. When I opened my eyes, I couldn’t help but hiss at the sudden ray of light. After a minute or two of rapidly blinking, I found myself within a decent sized medical room no doubt in the hospital back in town.

I looked down at my right arm, remembering the events that led me here and found that it was wrapped within a cast. I felt no pain trying to move it, so it must mean that a doctor helped fix it. I sat up and saw the many gift baskets that crowded the bed, one of them had a sealed slice of apple pie. Seeing it had caused an immediate reaction from my stomach, earning a growl at the sight of the pie. There was however a downside, the basket that contained the delicious pie was just out of reach and with the cast being suspended by the bed, I doubt I could reach it but despite this facts, I gave it a good ol’ go. I stretched my arm as far as humanly possible, only managing to graze my fingertips on the basket. I retracted my arm and took a few deep breaths before trying again, comically sticking my tongue out as if it would do me any good. I pulled my arm back and glared at the outreach basket.

“You will be mine.” I said to it before reaching out for it again and to my surprise, the basket was pushed towards me and allowed me to reach it. With victory in my hand, I pulled the basket to me and saw that along with the slice of pie, there were many apple based products thanks to the Smith family. “Yummy yummy pie in my tummy~” I sang as I unpacked the pie and was immediately rewarded with it scent. There was even fork inside the basket, lucky me! As I picked up the fork in one hand I looked up to see that I wasn’t alone, a cross from me was Blake. She was still asleep but I was that her arms were covered in wrappings. I shrugged a little as I took a bite of the apple pie. After a few moments of appley heaven I heard some shifting around as Blake started to wake up.

“Ugh… my mouth taste like shit…” she groaned as she looked around before seeing me. “Oh, sup?”

“Pie.” I said before taking another bite of the pie and humming blissfully. Blake rolled her eyes as the door open and a nurse with red hair peeked in.

“Excuse me but there’s some guests here to see the two of you.” she said before moving out of the way as Sophie and Angelina came in.

“Isaac, it’s good to see you awake!” Sophie said, rushing over to my side as I ate apple pie. I internally groaned and kept myself busy by eating the pie that I now decided to eat slowly, remembering how Granny Smith, the grandmother of Jacqueline Smith, bakes these pies only rarely and when she does, people would get out of their way as I can smell it from home.

“Umm, Sophie maybe it be best if you, you know, don’t be very umm, clingy…” the soft spoken Skyborn said to Sophie.

“Darling, what do you mean?” Sophie asked, earning her one of Angelina’s very rare to be seen deadpan stares. Angelina shook her head as she talked to Blake, who was trying really hard not to laugh. Sophie blinked a few times before looking back to me. “How are you feeling Isaac? Other than the broken arm I mean.”

“Well I’m right handed and it just so happens that my right arm is completely knackered.” I told her with a straight face. This caused Sophie to look at me sadly.

“If there’s anything I could do for you Isaac, just say so.” Sophie offered to me as I saw the other two were chatting with each other. When I was finally done with the pie, I placed the container it came in back into the basket before asking.

“So what brings you two here?” I asked the two of them.

“We came by to check up on you, the others would’ve came but work got in the way.” Angelina explained with a little smile. “I’m happy to see that the two of you are alright.” This got a smile from me and Blake before I said.

“Thanks you two, it means a lot.” I told them with honesty. While I did get a bright smile from Angelina, which is a sight to see, it also got Sophia to try to hug me but I quickly stopped her and said. “No clinging!” I exclaimed to her. She quickly backed off with a sad look.

“Sorry…” Sophia said. Before long the two of them said their goodbyes and left. I sighed a bit as I saw Blake munching on her own apple pie.

“Mine.” she proclaimed as she took a bite out of it. I rolled my eyes at this and laid back onto bed, resting my head against the pillows for some time, hearing Blake happily eating her pie in the quiet room. After a few minutes there was a knock on the door.

“It’s open!” I yelled to the person knocking and was immediately greeted with the door opening as soon as I uttered those words. The being that walked in wore a white dress that flowed from the person. Her skin was a sun kissed tanned colour and her hair was a golden blonde colour. Her smile was warm and motherly as she looked over at the two of us.

“I do hope I’m not interrupting something.” Princess Celestia asked with a warm tone. The two of us stared at her as Blake dropped her fork in surprise.

“Uh… P-Princess Celestia?” I said, honestly surprised to see the Princess of the Sun within our room. Blake was in the same state as I, she was so shocked she had halted her consumption of the pie. She chuckles at this before speaking.

“I wanted to come down to thank you for the two of you for helping my student with the events that transpired a few days ago.” she explained all with just a simple smile. I blinked at the revelation that we had been out for a few days.

“That’s- You don’t… You don’t need to thank us.” I said, mustering up the courage to speak to the Princess of the Sun. It was a pretty big deal honestly, never once in my life did I think I’d speaking to the woman who brings about the day. The woman smiled at me as she walked over to me.

“But I should, not only you two help save the land and everyone that lives in it but you also… Well I simply need to thank the two of you.” the Princess said with a smile. “If there’s anything that you both need or want just ask.” I smiled a little at this but ultimately shook my head at the offer.

“I’m fine as is, your highness, but I appreciate the offer.” I told her, turning down her reward. She gave me an odd smile before nodding.

“Alright then, I do hope that you and…” she glanced over to Blake as she finished her plate. “Your friend will get better.” With that the turned to leave us. Right before she left she stopped at the door and spoke. “And don’t worry about expenses of the hospital.” she said before leaving. She gave me one last glance before leaving but something about the way she looked at me was odd but I just couldn’t tell how. I shook my head at this, thinking that it was just my imagination. Blake was still looking at the door with mouth agape.

“You’re going to catch a fly like that.” I told her, suppressing a laugh. She soon closed her mouth and looked over at me.

“Did… that just happen?” she asked in complete disbelief that the Princess was truly here, thanking us for our actions. I nodded at this, knowing the feeling.

“Yeah, it just did.” I said before laughing a little, I actually got to meet her personally. Oh I feel so giddy. As I was giggling to myself the door opened and Skyler walked in, looking confused.

“Hey, is there a reason some royal chariot was right out front of the hospital?” she asked, making me burst out laughing.

End of Chapter III

Author's Note

-List of Names-

Twilight Sparkle: Lydia Aurora
Spike: Drake
Pinkie Pie: Dianne Pye
Rarity: Sophia Belmont
Fluttershy: Angelina Calliope
Rainbow Dash: Rachael Dawn Wind (Wind is a real surname, it's Finnish)
Applejack: Jacqueline Smith
Scootaloo: Skyler Hawk