The upper floor was fairly clear of students as the pair walked together towards the stairwell that would put them near the office. Spike trotted between them obediently, seemingly less agitated after his encounter with Sunset, his doggy nails clicking on the cheap tile. Cadence was quiet for a distance, watching the stragglers head down, all quiet, somber, and strangely focused, and Luna resisted the urge to loop their arms together to offer some form of comfort. She had to remain the Vice Principal in view of the students, especially today.

Finally, Cady spoke, her voice soft, “They're…so somber…so focused. Nothing like I remember the year I came to watch the Games when I was in school.” Her hand found Luna’s bicep. “What has been going on to do this to them? To Sunset? Is my Ladybug really going to be safe if she goes here?”

Luna sighed, and allowed herself the briefest touch of laying a hand over Cady’s. “This is the third magical event this year…though it is also the first we have prepared for. The first was a complete shock, and the second…” A shiver went through her at the memory of reptilian eyes and the pressure squeezed around her mind that took motor control away. “…the second was against an ancient evil that had been banished from Miss Shimmer’s homeworld many thousands of years ago. At this point, the students and staff are prepared to get everyone innocent out of the line of fire as quickly as possible. None of us are willing to be hostages a third time, and plenty wish they could join in fighting back the way Miss Shimmer and her group of friends seem to have been tasked with.” She let her hand drop. “I believe…based on what we saw, that Sunset Shimmer will endeavor to remove Twilight Sparkle from harm’s way with all haste. She is…exceptionally motivated, and to listen to it, the group’s power operates on the virtues and tenants of friendship.”

“Friendship?” Her best friend stared at her, a little dumbstruck. “There’s…magic…powered by friendship?”

A light chuckle escaped. “Trust me, it was something I had a great deal of trouble wrapping my brain around…and yet…having witnessed it myself, I can attest to just how powerful it is.”

Cady studied her. “What virtues?”

“Nothing like religion might cast under the title. Loyalty, for example, though from Miss Dash’s demonstrations, it seems to manifest both literally and as a form of conviction, a sense of purpose. Miss Fluttershy’s Compassion, Miss Pie’s hopeful Optimism.”

Her best friend hummed. “So each one represents one of these virtues?”

She made a loose wobbly motion with one hand. “I believe they represent all of them, but each of them is a paragon of one particular virtue above the others.”

“So…Loyalty, Compassion, Optimism…what about the others?”

Luna thought back to her conversation with Sunset. “I believe Miss Apple represents the Truth and Honesty in all its manifestations, and Miss Belle, that of Generosity.”

There was a pause. “And Sunset?”

The educator frowned. “That has never been fully explained or identified to me. There is a sixth facet, what Miss Shimmer refers to as ‘Elements’ but she has clarified that that Element belonged to the princess who came for the crown she stole. That one she named Magic, and asserted it was not hers.” Luna mulled it over. “If I had to name Miss Shimmer’s strongest virtues since she began to remake herself…while she shows all the other virtues as things she has embraced wholly, her leadership and the surprisingly deep well of empathy for not just others emotions but their thoughts and abilities, are perhaps her strongest qualities. Both are good candidates in my eyes…and they were traits that she has always possessed…just ones that had become…warped by the persona she used to express.”

Toying worriedly with her ponytail, Cadence let that sink in. “So this magic is why they had wings and ears and horns?” At Luna’s nod, she asked, “And you think that this power is enough to stop whatever is going on? With Abacus Cinch?”

“I…believe so. Abacus is off balance—she has been desperately trying to acquire intelligence on Miss Shimmer for weeks, and is, as far as we know, entirely unaware of both Miss Shimmer’s group of friends and the preparations of the rest of the school. In addition, for all its evil…whatever power she commands was something Miss Shimmer held at bay by herself for well over an hour. Yes, it drained her, but she held out, after countering the defenses that attacked her on arrival.” There was something satisfying about that, on a visceral level, considering how Crystal Prep’s principal had always taken every opportunity to belittle the students of Canterlot High.

Cady’s brows pinched. “What do they want anyway?”

Luna shrugged. “If the pattern is consistent? Power. Control. What do tyrants and bullies usually want?”

The other woman made a face. “Why Twily then? We love her—I know Sunset does, even if she hasn’t admitted it yet—but…she's just a teenage girl, Lu. She doesn't have magical powers or a position in power anywhere. She’s a girl who struggles with anxiety and is so adorably in love with her best friend that it makes your heart melt, and she’s brilliant, but…how would any of that catch the eye of some magical evil?”

“I wish I knew, Cady,” she responded. “It could be any number of reasons, none of them good. It could simply be because she is young and fairly innocent—we are learning that there may be a grain of truth in a lot of legends. Or maybe there is some reason we are not aware of? Some qualifier or ability she has that matters to Abacus.” The halls were fairly empty by now, as they descended to the main floor, thirty or so feet from the door to the office. “Either way, we’ll do our part in getting her free of that woman’s clutches…”

A low growl of warning interrupted Cadence’s response. Both women looked down to see the dog between them had gone stiff, hackles bristling and fangs exposed. His ears were pricked and focused on the open door ahead, and his body sunk low to the ground in a stalking crouch.

Cadence immediately dropped down to unhook his lead, whispering, “Good boy, Spike. Stay with me though.” The dog glanced her way, then bobbed his head in something like a nod. She straightened, her hand already reaching into her jacket, revealing exactly where she had squirreled away the paintball gun Luna had given her. “Trouble, I think.”

Luna nodded, switching to hand signals from their SCA and LARP days—Cady may not have participated the way Shining had with Luna’s favorite hobbies, but she had gone to observe all their major events, and had learned the way the pair had communicated without alerting their opponents. One hand touched the bracelet given to her by Trixie Lulamoon, and the other for the pocket knife she’d concealed in her own pocket. Together, all three crept forward on quiet feet, until Luna could peer into the office.

Her anger rose at what she saw. Two figures, surrounded by the hazy dark shimmer and the plasticky look of a bad Halloween costume were up to no good. One had their secretary backed into a corner, menacing her with some kind of short sword, and the other was kneeled down, having pulled something out of the wall and was busily cutting through it with a large knife. The main office was otherwise trashed, the desk overturned and earth from some broken potted plants scattered everywhere.

Luna withdrew, and leaned close enough to Cadence’s ear that her lips tickled the tiny, fine hairs on pink skin. “Both of them are bad. Aim for the head, preferably the eyes.”

The pink skinned woman nodded, and as Luna went to pull back into her own space, one hand grabbed the lapel on her jacket, stopping her. Her brows furrowed in confusion, which was quickly dispelled when Cadence pressed a kiss to her lips.

As kisses went, it was brief; a warm but firm contact of lips against hers that lasted only a few seconds. It wasn't a gesture of passion—Luna knew that from experience—but it did come with the brush of fingers lightly along her jaw, a gesture of affection and care. “For luck,” Cady breathed against her mouth as she pulled back.

Humor joined the coil of warmth, and she fought the urge to laugh, settling for an affectionate eye-roll at the dorky movie reference. Maybe there was something to the whole ‘friendship magic’ thing, more than just in Sunset Shimmer and her friends. It certainly had done wonders for her own courage, knowing that she had her best friend facing the monsters with her.

Counting down with her fingers, she lunged into the room, pocket knife primed but mostly serving as the distraction. “Hey!” Luna barked aggressively. “Unhand her, foul knave!” She might as well draw on the old theatrics. “Turn, cowards, and face the wrath of Nightmare Moon!”

It was mostly bluster—at least until she could get to the pole-arm hidden in her office—but it worked as a tactic to draw their attention. Both of the smoke shrouded figures whipped around at her voice, the one closest to Raven staring in utter disbelief at her. “Who?” they sneered. “All I see is the last remnants of the fool bloodline that challenged the Master ages ago.” The face twisted into a plastic sneer. “I’m going to enjoy gutting you in your own domain, human.”

A vicious snarl, and they lurched as twenty five pounds of canine snapped his jaws closed on their leg, shaking and savaging fabric and flesh. “Blasted hound!” they hissed, trying to dislodge their furry attacker.

It was enough to cover up the fast Pop! Pop! of a paintball gun firing in rapid succession from a fairly close range. There was a follow up SPLAT, as a mud colored splotch blossomed on their forehead, and another splattered against the bridge of their nose, sending more of that liquid into their eyes.

There was a long moment of shocked silence, before their visage—to Luna’s eyes a false, mask-like face that seemed both rubbery and plastic all at once—cracked and fell apart like broken glass, the shards dissolving before they hit the floor. Left behind was….something that firmly settled itself in the ‘uncanny valley.’ It was almost a caricature of a fantasy elf—humanoid, but with features far too long, thin, and pointed to be pleasant to the eye, with a waxy sort of beauty that was too perfect for her eyes to believe it to be real: high, sharp cheekbones, pointed chin, overly large, dark eyes, high forehead, long, pointed ears, and long hair that fell past their shoulders in waves like a shampoo commercial actor. Hands with long fingers that had far too many joints reached up as an acrid smoke rose up from where the pellets had struck, and a pained keening started as those nails tried to claw the mess off their forehead. Black veins of some kind began spreading out from the impact point, a toxic spider’s web, that seemed to suck away layers of flesh and fat. Pale skin withered and cracked, soon stretched over bones, paper thin and translucent, and the soft tissue seemed to rot away—nose, ears, even the eyes…

The whole ordeal took less than thirty seconds before the figure collapsed in a heap to the floor, rapidly breaking down into a powdery, foul smelling earth that stank of arrested decomposition. The bronze blade the figure had been holding clanked to the ground with a dull thud against the discarded clothing and cheap carpet. Luna blinked, having not expected that.

Neither had the second not-human being masquerading as a Crystal Prep teacher. “How?!” She hissed in shock, eyes wide and staring at Cadence, who was pointing the weapon at her now. “How is it you pathetic humans could—you don’t even believe the old stories, let alone remember how to fight!”

Cadence stared down the sights of the pistol. “It's called google. You should try it sometime.”

Rubbery features twisted with hate. “I’ll kill you!” She cried, launching from her crouch towards the pink skinned woman. Purple fur impacted her with a ferocious growl as the dog nearby lunged away from the pants leg he’d been tearing at, and latched his jaws at the ‘woman’s’ throat. His muzzle wasn't long enough to actually clamp around her throat, but he provided enough interference for Luna to start moving and Cadence to fire again.

POP! POP-POP!

One splattered on the wall, but the other two pellets burst over the woman’s nose and cheek, and she fell backwards with a yelp. The dog barked and snapped his jaws again and again at face and hands as the human guise shattered like the other had, and they began to waste away, until only that foul earth remained amidst a second pile of discarded clothing.

Raven Inkwell calmly picked up her overturned chair and sank into it. “…I must say, I was not expecting that when you came in here yelling, Luna.”

“I was not expecting it to be quite that effective,” the dark skinned woman responded blandly, nudging the earthy mass with a toe. “Perhaps I will consider sponsoring an after school paint-ball club next year.” Her eyes found the secretary’s. “What exactly did they want, Raven?”

The woman gestured to where an entire outlet had been pulled from the wall by brute force, along with several feet of thick cable behind it, that had been jaggedly severed by a serrated tool. “They cut the phone line, and were asking if there were any others. I refused to answer either way. They were also quite confident about cellphones being unable to call out either.”

Luna swore under her breath. “Then we have no way of calling for aid.” She headed for her office, unlocking the door. “Very well then. I suppose it truly does fall to us.” She eyed Raven. “Are you with us, Miss Inkwell? Or would you prefer to remain safely in my office until it is over?”

Her secretary gave her an arch look. “Try and stop me,” she countered. “Those animals caught me by surprise—I’m not surprised anymore.”

Cady reached into her coat. “I've got a spare,” she offered, holding out a second paintball pistol to the brown haired woman.

Pale fingers accepted it and the extra clip. “Hopefully I can still hit what I aim at. It has been a good many years since I went hunting with my brothers.”

Snorting, Luna opened her office and headed for the cabinet. Once that was open, she lifted the dark chainmail shirt from its box, shedding her jacket in favor of the padded shirt that accompanied the mail, and slipping the navy colored links over her head, before retrieving the dark blue and black leather pieces that went over top the chain on her shoulders and provided protection to her arms while also looking intimidating as all hell. Dark hair was swept into a bun, and she pulled on the helm that had once cost her a pretty penny from a professional craftsman, fingers tracing the batwing-like design that swept up and back from brow pieces. It may have been a mixture of SCA armor and her old LARP costume, but it made a statement, and if it caused her enemy to pause even for a moment, that was to her advantage. Especially when she took that moment to bury a blackened iron glaive in their guts. Adjusting her gauntlets, she then held out one final item to Cady. “Would you please carry this until we find my sister? I think it may work better than anticipated.”

Cady took the sword belt and looped it over one shoulder so the weapon fell along her back. “…isn't this a family heirloom?”

She nodded. “Sixteenth century Italian steel, the honor weapon of a half dozen Solaire duelists and reputed to have triumphed in over two dozen duels. It came with the family to America, and it has hung on the wall since my great grandfather’s time. I had it restored and repaired.”

There was a click, and the school’s PA system came on, triggered by an override that she herself had signed off on for this exact circumstance. Trixie Lulamoon’s voice came over the speakers, broadcasting to every corner of the school. “Code: Rainbow is a go! This is not a drill!” There was a crackle and then a shriek of something going critical. “The Grrrrreat and Powerful Trrrrixie has something for you, monsters! Courtesy of the Lulamoons!”

Luna took up her glaive. “We have some monsters to slay, ladies. Let’s not keep them waiting.” Canterlot High was officially at war.

Author's Note

*cackles*

Shots fired.

Can I just say I really love Cady and Luna's friendship? So much fun to write! :P Also, obligatory Star Wars reference.

The war has begun.

Also, for those of you who submitted characters to make cameo appearances, you'll start seeing those soon. :}