The Tourney

Chapters

Chapter 1 - Contestants 324α:324β
Chapter 2 - Kachin
Chapter 3 - Aftershocks
Interlude: A heart to heart
Chapter 5 - Grocery
Chapter 6 - Freeze
Chapter 7 - Trust
Chapter 8 - The illusionists
Chapter 9 - The Chosen
Chapter 10 - Another Day
Chapter 4 - The Beginning

Chapter 1 - Contestants 324α:324β

"Hah! Sure is chilly out here." Clarke said with a smile as the frigid Colorado breeze whooshed past him while he sat on a nearby park bench. He looked out onto the playground from his seat on the freezing piece of metal and sighed happily as he watched the group of kids under his care jump, run, and slide all across the play area like it wasn't close to freezing outside. The thought of their young minds finding such joy in their playtime brought a content smile to his lips, as he pondered how many people his age would give up almost anything for just a taste of that simplistic kind of joy. Truly these kids had things figured out, and watching them always made his days shine just a little bit brighter.

"Mr. Clarke?" The young man shook his head in surprise as the high pitched voice and soft tug on his pants from the little girl below snapped him out of his thoughts.

"Oh, hey there Julie! What's up?" He asked the young girl happily as he flashed his best smile. She remained silent in the face of his greeting and his attitude slowly dropped as he watched the little girl squirm around in place while tugging on the legs of her winter pants, a dance that he was all too familiar with. "Oh boy, sweetie I'd love to help but you really should ask Melissa." He said in reference to his female partner who usually handled these types of situations, if she wasn’t too preoccupied goofing off that is.

"I tried, but I couldn't find her," Julie said with growing embarrassment and anxiousness. Clarke spun his head around to scan the area, and unsurprisingly, the eighteen-year-old daycare partner he had been stuck with all week was nowhere to be found. He growled to himself silently as he balled his fist, but his frustration could wait until after he helped the girl. Kneeling, Clarke placed his hands on Julie's shoulders and kept a gentle look on his face.

"Okay sweetie, do you think you can hold it for just a minute longer while I go get Melissa?" He asked hopefully as he gave her an endearing shake. The girl looked at him in the eyes and blushed for a moment before looking away and continuing to squirm. Clarke could tell that time was running out, and while he hoped he wouldn't have to go the extra mile to help her, he knew that letting an 'accident' occur was far from an ideal solution.

"O-okay." She said with a bit of a stutter as she took a deep breath and slowly calmed herself down.

"Good girl, I'll be right back." With that he sprung to his feet, glanced one more time towards the playground to make sure everyone was alright, and sprinted towards the minivan where Melissa would undoubtedly be hiding. His feet sloshed and dipped into the snow-covered grass as he ran, but just before he got to the van in question he faintly heard a raspy old voice speaking in a hushed tone from the other side. As he got closer to the corner in which they parked, he slowed down so as not to be discovered as his curiosity got the better of him.

"...your wildest dreams manifested, an endless deluge of pleasure, power, and influence beyond comprehension. All of it could be yours. You just have to play a little game first." Clarke slowly peeked around the corner of the minivan and watched as his blonde-haired co-worker stood right in front of a hunched over and scraggly looking man who was seemingly presenting her with a small leather bracelet that had a pink gem set in the middle.

The man's appearance was unsavory to put it lightly, and no doubt he was persuading the young woman to buy some knockoff product among other recreational things that the youngins were into nowadays. Clarke realized that made him sound like an old man despite him only being about six years older than her, but it was still the truth of the matter. Despite the dangerous air surrounding the man in front of them, there was a potty dancing five-year old that needed help and there was no time to waste.

"Ahem!" Clarke said loudly as he rounded the corner and crossed his large and well-toned arms for maximum intimidation. Melissa turned around and looked at him at the same time as the old man and the look of shock on her face turned into a sigh of relief.

"Phew! Don't scare me like that dude, I thought you were a cop. Just one sec okay?" She said as she attempted to return to her dealings with the seedy stranger, but Clarke was not going to let her slip away that easily.

"Oh no, not 'one more sec' Julie needs to go to the bathroom now! So you're going to stop...whatever this is and go do your job of helping her." He said sternly as he pointed back to the playground.

"Please, can't you just help her? I'm seriously in the middle of something." She said dismissively as she once again tried to turn around.

"Are you insane? I love the girl, really I do, but I ain't about to do something like that. I ain't trying to catch no case." The girl continued to ignore him and converse with the stranger, but at this point Clarke had reached his breaking point. "Listen, I tolerated you staying on your phone when cleanup time hits, I tolerated you skimping out on storytimes, and just about the only thing you have a grasp on is nap time, so I am telling you one last time to get out there and help before I get your ass fired!"

"It seems you have something much more...pressing to attend to. I think I will take my leave." The man said with a strange inflection as he tried to slink away from the two daycare workers.

"No no! Wait!" Melissa said to the man as she grabbed onto his long dirty sleeve to keep him close by.

"Yes please! Go run along back to whatever bridge you crawled out from underneath of, and I'm sure you'll find someone better suited to purchasing your quote-unquote merchandise," Clarke said harshly as he dropped any pretenses of politeness or patience.

"Shut up Clarke!" She screamed as she kept her hand gripped onto the man's dirty coat. "With his help I won't need this stupid job! I can finally say goodbye to you and those snot-nosed kids!" She yelled at him angrily while giving him a slight shove on the chest. Clarke wanted to shout right back at her, but the sight of a bright pink bracelet in the clutches of the man's free hand inching ever closer to Melissa quickly laid his anger to rest. The old man smiled so wide that he almost looked like some kind of cartoonish monster, and his eyes darkened as his face contorted further and further into a horrid abomination beyond description. "So why don't you do us both a favor and go!?" She yelled with ignorant finality.

"Watch out!" Clarke screamed as he yanked Melissa away from the man who was preparing to strap the bracelet on her by force as she was distracted. While that may not have sounded bad, what Clarke saw was the man's body and muscles shrinking to a point where he looked like a skeleton wearing a skin covering. Not only that, but the bracelet he was holding looked like it was swirling with an otherworldly entity or force within. Whatever was about to happen to her couldn't have been good, but it seemed Clarke was going to learn first hand what would happen as the man clasped the pink bracelet around his wrist instead of Melissa's.

"Get the hell away from her you son of a-" Clarke's voice was cut off as he was immediately encased in a large alabaster orb made of pure magical light. In a matter of seconds the orb dissolved into the ground and disappeared, leaving no trace that the young man had ever even been there in the first place.

"Well...that wasn't supposed to happen," The old man said with wide eyes as he procured a large mass of papers all stapled together from out of nowhere and flipped through it. "That definitely wasn't supposed to happen." He hummed to himself in thought and tapped his foot nervously as he brought his hand to his chin. "This could spell trouble." And with that, he faded away in the blink of an eye, leaving behind a very confused and terrified girl lying on the ground.

"What the hell?" Melissa said with a quiver in her voice as she stared at the spot where Clarke had just been standing. The only trace being a large black scar where the orb had manifested from beneath him. She didn't have long to contemplate the events that had just transpired however, as she felt a small tug on the back of her shirt. She turned around and saw the timid Julie standing next to her with a massive look of embarrassment on her face. One whiff of the strange smell permeating the area made Melissa grimace as her suspicions were confirmed.

"Miss Melissa...I had an accident."

Fighter Swan adjusted the cone-shaped paper hat atop her blonde mane and stared out at the empty table placements before her. She looked to her left to the large clock that hung above the kitchen sink and could see that the time was now twelve-thirty, about a half-hour past the time stated on the invitation. She let out a loud sigh of unease and continued to stare at the table sets on her right and left with a perplexed expression.

It just didn't make sense to her, not one bit. How was it that everypony she invited had gotten the time wrong? Was it some sort of strange evil magic that attacked the birthday party RSVPs of the world? She figured she'd give at least another hour before deciding to report their possible kidnappings to the police station.

Just as Fighter finished getting lost in her thoughts, she saw the light brown head of her mother peeking around the corner, a cone-shaped party hat atop her dark black mane as well. Fighter met her mother's eyes and could tell that she was upset, and while Fighter understood the frustration of waiting on a bunch of ponies who were so terrible with directions, and or time management, she didn't understand why her mother looked ready to cry.

"Honey...if you want I can bring out the cake now. Then we can open presents." She said with a bit of a pained smile and strained hopefulness as she stepped out from around the corner.

"They're just a bit late mom," Fighter said as she rolled her eyes. "I think we can give them at least until one-thirty before we move to the next stage of the festivities without them." Fighters mom looked down for a moment and took in a sharp breath before responding.

"It is your special day though honey, and I'm...sure they'll understand if you'd want to at least have a little sample, right?" She continued with her hopeful smile and tone of voice.

Fighter looked down at the empty seats once again and contemplated her mother's reasoning. They were the ones at fault for not managing their schedules correctly, so it wasn't that big of a deal if she just had one slice, right?

"I guess it's alright...not everypony needs to be here for the cake and first present," Fighter conceded, much to the relief of her mother who was just about to head into her room to bring out Fighters very special red velvet cake. "We'll just wait for dad, he'll be here any second!" She added with a smile.

Her mother froze in place, her light brown coat somehow growing paler with each passing second, and her eyes looking like they were about to burst out of her skull. A long, awkward pause filled the kitchen slash dining room, and soon Fighter began to grow a bit antsy from her mother's silence.

"Uh, mom? Are you alright?" Her mother quickly shook herself free of the shock and took another deep breath before reapplying her smile, albeit with more visible strain than it had before.

"Listen, honey...your father," She started as she slowly turned around, but when she saw her daughters confused expression she felt her heart stop. How would she break the news to her? On her birthday no less. Suddenly she was saved by the bell, as a loud series of knocks pounded on the door across from the kitchen. Both she and Fighter looked off towards the sound of the door, and while she was both startled and confused, Fighter was brimming with happiness.

"Ah! There he is." Fighter said gleefully as she hopped out of her chair and walked towards the front door past her mother. She wondered why her mother was acting so weird all of a sudden, but considering how she acted daily she figured it was nothing new. She couldn’t really fault her for any of that, but with her dad finally there she could at least talk to one 'normal' parent for once.

Not long after the knock, a second round of knocks graced the wooden door, this time summoning her mother as well. Fighter stood back, albeit a little reluctantly, as her mother took charge and made her way to the door first. She felt the anticipation filling her bones as her mother's purple magic aura coalesced around her horn and the doorknob simultaneously. The loud click of the lock coming undone preceded the grand entrance of the pony she had waited so long to see...only for all of her hopes and expectations to be torn to shreds before her.

"Hey, hey, hey! Guess who it is!" Shouted the tall dark blue bat pony as he greeted the girls in the doorway before him. "Sorry I'm a bit late kiddo, but hopefully this present will more than makeup for it!" He said as he ruffled Fighters mane and dropped said present onto her back. Happily he continued past her and strode into the house, apparently not picking up on the atmosphere.

"Lucky." Fighters mom attempted to warn him as he entered into the empty kitchen filled with birthday decorations.

"Woah," He said in awe as one of the happy birthday signs taped on the ceiling came undone and floated sadly onto the ground beside him. "Guess I was later than I thought, huh?"

"Lucky!" The bat pony turned around and saw his sister with a stern, yet saddened face, standing in the hallway and pointing towards Fighter who was still standing in the same spot as when he entered, her head hanging low.

“Oh.” Was all he said in response as he looked towards his saddened niece, his ears falling in sympathy and embarrassment.

"Stay right there," His sister said through clenched teeth before slowly creeping towards the hallway leading to her room. The look on her daughter's face positively crushed her, so she was going to do whatever it took to cheer her up. Quickly she picked up the massive red velvet cake that laid heavily upon her bed and ushered it through the narrow hallway and towards the kitchen. As she entered the main area, she looked to the still-open door with confusion as both her brother and daughter were missing.

"Lucky?" She called in confusion, getting a muffled response from the kitchen. She entered into the decorated area and dropped the cake onto the table with a loud slam to get the attention of her brother who currently had several cookies lodged in his good for nothing maw. "Lucky! What in Sparkles name are you doing?! I told you to stay there!" She said angrily as Lucky looked at her like a snake caught in the street lights.

"I just thought," His voice was still muffled as he messily spoke with his mouth full, so he quickly took a large embarrassing gulp. The dry cookies then became lodged in his throat, causing him to sprint for the sink and drown it down in tap water. "Sweet Celestia that was close!" He said in a panicking tone.

"LUCKY!" She screamed once again as she magically grabbed the bumbling stallion by his ear and yanked him closer to her.

"Sorry Sunny! I'm sorry! I thought you just meant for me to stay in the house." He quickly explained as he let out little pained yelps in time with her hard tugs on his ear. Finally she let go of her younger brother's ear and sighed into her hoof while shaking her head.

"You're such a dolt. Come on, we're leaving." She said as she turned and headed for the still-open door. Lucky nodded submissively and followed his sister out into the bright sun-filled city. "We are going to find my baby, and we are going to make this the best day of her life!"

Fighter leaned her head against the tree behind her and looked up at the dimming orange sky with a sense of longing. She wasn't sure how long it had been since she'd run from her home, but thankfully nopony in the Canterlot memorial park cared enough to question why a sobbing filly was curled up and bawling in the middle of the field. True, Fighter did say thankfully, but she knew that the one thing she wanted more than anything was for somepony, anypony at all to notice her.

In the hours prior, while she sat there in solitude crying to herself, she watched the many various family and friends playing and laughing around the park. It made her so unbelievably angry to watch them all continue like there was nothing wrong with the world. She wished that for just a single moment she could have a taste of what that was like, to not be so alone and forgotten. She would have given anything for that wish to come true, but as time went on more and more of those families disappeared. Now she was just sitting in the park by herself, as alone on the outside as she felt on the inside.

The wind gently blew past Fighter, caressing her damp cheeks and making her feel slightly relaxed as a result. She took her time in solitude to stare at the clouds above and think about what to do next, about why this day of all days had to end up so terribly. Why would her father just skip out on her birthday like that? He promised her that he'd be there no matter what, but she should have known better than to trust anyone. Not even her so-called friends bothered to show up for her, the fact that she even made excuses for them made her feel sick to the stomach.

Fighter Swan closed her eyes and took in a deep breath through her nose before exhaling through her mouth. The tears still tried to escape despite drying long ago, and the sadness was still weighing heavily on her heart, but at least the cool evening breeze was helping to keep her calm. Fighter looked down to her left and placed a gentle hoof on top of the simple wrapped gift that her uncle had given her. A flimsy box wrapped in a pink paper, with a yellow bow to mimic her mane and coat colors. Such a small detail, but even so the thought of him purposely making it like this brought a faint smile to her lips.

Seeing as how he went through so much trouble to come, despite being quite busy himself, he proved to her that there was at least one decent pony beside her mom. She figured that if anything on this day had a chance to go right, it would be this gift. No matter what it was, she’d be happy to have a gift from somepony willing to show up for her, it could be a used napkin and she’d still cherish it. Besides, It was her birthday after all, and what was a birthday without at least one present?

She placed the gift in her lap and took her time carefully unfolding the wrapping paper around the box. While she knew it would be easier to bite down and tear it apart, she always chose to keep the wrap in as perfect a condition as possible. She'd do it to show the pony who took the time to wrap it that she appreciated the effort. After a few minutes of fumbling with the intricate folds with her clunky earth pony hooves she was finally able to slide the small white box out of the wrapping.

'Seriously, how did uncle Lucky even wrap this?' She thought to herself in confusion as she finally managed to lift the flimsy lid off of her gift. Fighter Swan gasped and went wide-eyed as she was met with a shimmering green gem lying down neatly within the box. Slowly she reached her hoof towards it and giggled as the leather straps connected to the gem seemingly moved on their own and coiled around the edge of her hoof like a lizard tail. She stared at the bright gem in awe as she noticed flourishes of magic swirling within its diamond frame, and very quickly she found herself forgetting all of her worries the longer she stared.

As if the world was fed up with her brief moment of joy, the fast winds from before suddenly whipped up a violent gust that smacked her pigtails directly into her eyes. Fighter let out a grunt of surprise and pain as she swatted her braids away, but almost immediately she noticed the absence of her new gift. Frantically she looked all around the area, quickly doing away with the box and paper she had spent so long unwrapping and letting them fly off into the sky with the wind, and noticed the gem tumbling off towards the far off fountain. As she chased after the bracelet, she wondered why it was rolling against the wind as opposed to with it, but she quickly dismissed the thought as she finally pounced on the bracelet and stopped it right in front of the fountain.

"Gotcha!" She said triumphantly as she lifted the gem once more and allowed the enchanted leather to coil around her left leg and fuse together around her. She sat down and wagged her tail in excitement as she continued to stare at her birthday gift, yet when she looked at its completed form around her wrist she felt slightly disappointed. While the gem was still green, it was no longer shimmering with the same bright hues it had done when in the box. She tried to get the bracelet off, but dropped her jaw in fear as she felt the leather quite literally fused with her skin and fur.

Desperately Fighter bit down on the gem and tried to pull it off, but no matter how hard she pulled she felt like she was yanking on her own flesh. She let go of the gem and stared at it in fear as she desperately thought of what to do next, until a loud whooshing noise swirled behind her. Fighter turned around and jumped back in surprise as she saw a massive white orb of magic sprouting out of the ground instantaneously, the wind swirling around it like a miniature tornado. From out of the orb stepped a large bipedal creature that pointed in her direction with a look of pure rage on its face, and immediately the filly was paralyzed with fear.

"Listen here you son of a god...damned…" Slowly Clarke's anger-filled rant stopped as he looked down to the small pink filly standing on the bright green grass and looking at him in fear. Clarke slowly spun around and took in his surroundings, from the tall pony statue beside him to the orange setting sun in the distance, and finally back to the young equine before him.

Both stood there in shock and confusion, neither of them knowing what to make of the situation, yet for some reason they both felt a sense of strange familiarity with the other. Fighter slowly relaxed her tense posture and instead looked at the man in awe of his appearance. Clarke mirrored her movements and began taking in her appearance as well, with neither of them making any more than slow and small movements.

Clarke looked down at the filly, and despite knowing for a fact that it was not human, he couldn't stop himself from noticing so many similarities. The expression on her face, the hairstyle, and the look in her saucer-shaped eyes all screamed out to him that there was something much more complex going on in her head. As he inspected her in fact, he could see specks of salt as well as stains around her eyes, but only faintly when in the orange light of the evening.

He didn't know what compelled him to take a step closer to her, but he just felt like this child needed comfort. How did he know it was a child? He just did. How did he know it was a she? He just...did. It was so strange to him, he knew he needed to be freaking out about where he was or what he was seeing, but he couldn't help but place that all on the back burner in favor of this filly.

Fighter watched as the man stepped closer to her, yet she made no motion to move. She felt like she should have been scared, but all she felt was the same sadness from before eating away at her. There was nothing she felt like she needed to fear from him, even when he knelt next to her and placed a hand on her mane. He began petting her, an action that made her feel unbelievably calm all of a sudden, but the moment he started scratching behind her ear she felt like a dam had broken.

She practically jumped into the man's arms and hugged him, forcing him to sit back against the base of the fountain as he comforted her. Clarke wasn't sure what was going on, but he knew that whenever he saw a kid this distraught that he needed to help. Be it human or...pink horse he didn't care. Somehow he just felt...right comforting her in her sadness, almost as if he too could feel everything she did. Neither of them had even said a word to each other, yet there they continued to rest as simply being in the presence of each other helped calm them both down.

They somehow knew that when together, there was nothing to fear.

"I already told you I SOLD IT!" Yelled the scrawny sales pony as he was held to the ground by a long white arm belonging to a very tall and very powerful human.

"I know what you said! I'm not deaf for Christ's sake. We just need to make sure." He replied as a loud crash emanated from the caravan that they had taken into the alley with them. "Find anything yet Fiddler?" The man shouted towards the cart.

"Still looking Todd." Replied the muffled voice of the stallion within the caravan as he tossed out a wooden clock that smashed into the ground just outside of the ramp entrance. The clock let out one last sad cuckoo as it broke apart, leaving the small chicken piece to fall out and tumble down the small pile of smashed items that the clock now rested on.

"No! I already told you I don't have it! Stop breaking my goods!" The stallion pleaded only to have his face shoved into the ground once again.

"Shut up, we're only done when we say we're done!" He looked up for a moment as the sound of smashing items ceased from within the caravan cart. "We done?" He asked curiously.

"Yeah, we're done." Replied the dark blue pegasus as he stepped out of the caravan and stretched his neck. "I guess he was telling the truth."

"That's what I've been trying TO TELL-oof!" The sales pony was lifted by the man and slammed back into the ground even harder, this time knocking the air out of his lungs.

"You know, I'm getting real tired of your bitching," Todd said as he picked the earth pony up with one hand and pinned him against the stone wall of the building behind them. “I’ll give you one chance to redeem yourself though, tell us who you sold it to or else the fist train will embark on a one way trip through your head." There was a moment of silence as the pony continued to hyperventilate while staring at the human's fist when unceremoniously they were interrupted.

“Really? The fist train?” Fiddler asked dryly from behind the man.

“Don’t undermine me while I’m interrogating here!” Todd blurted out in embarrassment. “Thanks to my friend here you now have ten seconds before I foist my frustrations onto you.” He said as he tightened his grip around the pony’s neck.

“Oh come on! That wasn't even my fault!” The sales pony exclaimed, no longer even trying to hide his frustrations with the psychotic biped threatening him. Todd continued to leer at the pony and awaited an answer, so quickly the stallion wracked his brain for the memory of his first, and only, sale of the day. “It was this thestral, a stallion! I didn’t ask his name, I just sold it to him.”

“What did he look like?” The pegasus asked impatiently, and the sales pony only scoffed and rolled his eyes at the question.

“Please! He was a thestral, take a guess! Blue mane, gray coat, gold eyes! They all look the damn same!” He replied with growing frustration as he squirmed against the human's grip, trying desperately to find a position that would allow him to breathe better.

“What, you didn’t see a cutie mark?” Fiddler continued.

“Heh, forgive me for not staring at another stallion's flank. I know it may be a surprise to you but most decent ponies don’t swing that way!” The stallion added, smiling at his little jab and clearly no longer caring about his own safety. Fiddler nodded his head vacantly and gave the sales pony a ‘not bad’ expression before looking away in thought. Feeling nervous, the stallion gasped as he remembered one more thing that could get him out of this alive.

“Wait, there is one more thing.” Both Todd and Fiddler looked at him curiously as his tone shifted to a more calm version, as opposed to his frantic voice from before. “He was pretty chatty about WHY he wanted the bracelet. Said something about a gift for his niece's birthday today, had me wrap it up all nice for him too.”

“And this matters how?” Todd asked skeptically.

“I’m getting there! The kid’s name was Fighter Swan. If anything I’d say it’s a lead for you two eh?” The stallion asked hopefully. Todd and Fiddler shared a look of unease, before the pegasus nodded to his partner. With a reluctant sigh he let go of the stallion and allowed him to gasp for air on the ground.

Without another word the dangerous duo slowly left the alleyway, but the stallion could see as they were turned away from him, the familiar-looking bracelets on their wrists. He made a mental note that if he ever came across one again, he’d go ahead and just smash it to pieces.

“So what are we supposed to do now?” Todd asked Fiddler as they exited into the semi-busy street filled with vendors closing up shop, and ponies heading home after a long day of work.

“Well we need to find them as soon as possible. Shouldn’t be too hard I guess. Not many thestrals in Canterlot, and if we see any streamers then we’ll know there’s a party going on.” The pegasus theorized, despite not being too thrilled to begin searching either. “I’d say we have the best chance looking for them from the sky.” Todd nodded in agreement before stopping in an empty portion of the street and smirking.

“At least this part never gets old.” He whispered happily, and Fiddler was inclined to agree. Together they stood, their bracelets beginning to glow with a bright red light, until Fiddler took in a deep breath to prepare himself.

“WIND RIP!” He shouted, his voice echoing all around them as the wind began to swirl and whip up like a hurricane. With one powerful flap of his wings he soared into the sky well above most of the tallest buildings surrounding them, while Todd underwent something different. As the nervous ponies watched him in awe, he began to quickly float off of the ground as the wind lifted him up, and with full command over the power of the air he rocketed into the sky just as his partner did, until they were both but specks in the orange canvas above.

Chapter 2 - Kachin

“Fighter!? Fighter Swan!?” Lucky Day shouted as he continuously flew up and down the block in a desperate bid to spot his niece from his bird's eye view. They had been searching for hours, but there was no trace of where she went after leaving the apartment. Lucky continued to fly around the area until he felt his already worn-out wings beginning to slow down. Quickly he changed his trajectory towards the next block over where his sister Sunny was searching and glided towards her, panting heavily the entire way.

"Sunny! You found her?" He called out to his sister as she emerged from a dark alleyway with a worried expression.

"No! Nothing!" She said as she sat down and began chewing on her hooves anxiously. "I don't know Lucky, I think we need to call the police. She's been missing for hours, and we can't find her in any of her normal spots." Sunny said with increasing worry.

"I-It's okay sis," He said as he wrapped her in a hug that she thankfully returned. "She's probably fine, but reporting it to the police will definitely speed things up. She'll be back with us in no time." He said as convincingly as he could to calm down his shivering sister. Eventually the mare regained her composure and broke the hug, giving her brother a nod of determination.

"Alright, I'm good. This is no time to get hysterical. Fighter needs us." She said with renewed vigor in her voice. Lucky was about to agree with her, until the distinct sound of somepony landing on the empty street behind them caught his and Sunny's attention.

"Hello there!" The dark blue Pegasus called out heartily. "When I was flying by, I couldn't help but notice that you were calling somepony's name. Are you looking for them?"

"Yeah, her name's Fighter Swan, little pink filly with a blonde mane and tail." Lucky quickly described, hopeful that this stranger had seen her. There was an awkward pause as the stallion brought a hoof to his chin and looked down in what seemed to be thought. Upon closer inspection however, Lucky could see him smiling from ear to ear and trying his best to hide it behind a hoof.

"That's all I needed to hear." He said before letting out a long sigh of relief that seemed to relax his shoulders. Sunny and Lucky looked at each other in confusion as a sense of dread quickly built up within them both, yet before either one could act the stallion immediately sprang into action.

"WIND RIP!" He shouted forcefully as the red bracelet attached to his hoof lit up with a bright light, causing the calm breeze around them to suddenly whip and stir like they were in a hurricane. Instinctively Lucky flared out his wings and was sent flying back by the force of the wind, slamming him directly into the stone building behind him. As he was pinned against the wall he looked up to see a terrifying bipedal creature swinging its arms around while standing in mid-air, and from its motions came bursts of concentrated air that flew directly towards him and his sister.

"Sunny!" He screamed with fear as he forced himself out of the wind's grip and lunged at her, pushing her out of her own little wind trap that had successfully glued her to the ground. She took in a loud breath that was drowned out by the sounds of exploding rock, as the powerful pillars of wind drilled into the ground where she was standing with ease.

With his head devoid of ideas, and his body turning to desperation mode, he quickly pushed his sister further into the alley they had been backed into and stood in front of their attackers.

"Run Sunny! Find Fighter and ge-" He didn't even get to the end of his sentence before a massive beam of purple magic flew past him and struck the floating creature square in the chest causing him to scream out in pain and fall closer towards the ground. Suddenly all of the wind died down ever so slightly, reducing the hoof lifting strength to a mere harsh breeze.

"Where is she! What do you know about my daughter?!" She screamed angrily towards the Pegasus who only looked at her with mild interest.

"Now that's something I don't see every day. A normal pony able to actually hurt Todd." With that simple remark as a response, the Pegasus jumped up into the air and flapped his mighty wings, causing blades of wind to fire towards the siblings. They did their best to dodge the swirling weapons as they careened towards them, but the speed at which they came was far too great for either of them to react in time. The blasts connected to both of them, causing Lucky to spin out of control and hit the wall, and for Sunny to smash into a group of metal trash cans deeper within the alley.

Lucky slowly slid down the wall, dazed and confused from the throw, and his eyes filled with nothing but swirling and blurred images. He looked off to the side and could faintly tell that Sunny was lying unconscious in a pile of garbage, but she was quickly picked up by the biped and tossed over his shoulder.

"Why...are you...doing this?" Lucky asked with a pained raspiness in his voice.

"That's simple," The biped said as he tossed Sunny onto the ground and rested his foot on her head. "We have questions, and you have answers. You'll give us those answers," He started applying pressure to Sunny's head, and within seconds he could hear her screaming louder than he'd ever heard before. The very sight making his heart break into a million pieces. "Or else little miss trigger horn here will have to be drinking out of a straw for the rest of her life."

“And then, I was stuck there waiting for over an hour and a half! Not ten minutes, not thirty minutes, but a whole hour and a half!” Fighter said as she paced back and forth on the grass directly in front of Clarke who remained seated against the fountain. Very quickly after calming the filly down, he did the first thing any rational person would do and asked the kid what was wrong. Well in all honesty, the first thing a rational person would have done was freak out at the fact that a talking pink pony was venting all of their problems onto them, but Clarke was never one to make things all about him. Especially when there was a child in distress.

“That’s not the end of it, I take it?” Clarke asked calmly as the filly paused to catch her breath. She shook her head no and began to let out a low chuckle of frustration.

“No, oh ho ho no! It only gets worse. You see after my mom talked to me about it I assumed that my dad would still show up! I mean silly me, why would I expect that, he’s just my DAD!” She emphasized with a stomp on the ground. Clarke let out an exhale as he rubbed his neck awkwardly as it wasn’t the first time he’d dealt with a kid who had neglectful parents; this only made her seem even more human to him than before. He guessed that even alien horses still had the same types of problems as humans did, so hopefully his experience would still mean something when helping her.

“So, you’re truly upset at the fact that your father lied to you?” Clarke asked her, garnering a sideways glance from the filly.

“Gee, is it that obvious!?” She said huffily as she sat down on the grass. She took a deep breath and looked at him with an apologetic face before continuing. “I’m sorry, I’m just so peeved-oop!” Quickly she clasped her hooves over her mouth and looked at Clarke like a deer in the headlights, yet he simply cocked his head to the side curiously. Fighter slowly lowered her hooves and internally rejoiced that he was cool with that little curse she let slip out. She knew that if her mother had heard that, she’d be having to clean the kitchen every day for the next month.

“Well...what I mean is that,” Slowly she returned to her earlier train of thought, thankful for Clarke’s patience and willingness to listen. “Would it have killed anypony to at least pretend to like me? Am I so bad that nopony could even stand to show up for free cake? I know I would!” She said as she pointed to herself frantically.

“Well, what about your mother? Your uncle? Didn’t they come?” Clarke asked the precocious little scamp, hoping to lead her along the right path. Fighter sighed once more and looked towards the ground.

“Well that’s different. They’re supposed to show up.” She said softly, doing her best to rationalize to herself why anyone would be there at all.

“Why do you say that?” Clarke continued, curious as to what her response would be, only for the filly to scoff and roll her eyes at the question.

“Well, ugh, they’re my mom and Uncle. Pretty much the only ponies I ever talk to anymore. For them it’s... mandatory I guess.” She said to him as her emotions again began to rise. She was trying her hardest to show him her reasoning, but even she could sense the faults within her argument as she unconsciously rubbed her bracelet clad hoof.

“Well...your father certainly didn’t feel the need to show up, but your mother put everything together for you. Your uncle, I assume, doesn’t live with you, yet he still showed up to support you.” He said as he watched her stance becoming more uncomfortable. “I understand how it feels to think you’re not worth caring about, but if you pay attention to the pe-...ponies you already have, you’ll see that they love you no matter what.

“Sure some other ponies may not notice you in the way you like, some may even lie, but that doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong with you Fighter.” She looked up at him with wide eyes and a dropped jaw when she heard him say those words. “If you keep putting yourself out there, then I guarantee you’ll find the companionship you deserve. Just always remember that there are still ponies out there who care about you more than anything.” There was a long pause as Fighter considered his words carefully.

Here was this random creature who appeared out of nowhere, taking the time to help her through her problems. She couldn’t imagine what questions he should be asking right now, the amounts of things weighing on his mind, yet here he was spending time with her. He certainly made a good point about her mother and uncle caring, a point that she reasonably couldn’t refuse, but still she just couldn’t shake the sour feeling in her heart. Her hopeful expression quickly fell into another frown as she turned away from him.

“Thanks, Clarke, but I know you’re just trying to make me feel better. I appreciate mom and uncle Lucky, but let’s face it, I’m not worth anypony else’s time.” She said with sad resignation, only to have the familiar hand rest on her mane yet again.

“You’re too hard on yourself Fighter. Everyone deserves love and recognition, no exception,” She turned up to look at him once again, and the warm smile on his face practically slingshotted her into another happy expression. “And for what it’s worth, I think you’re pretty cool.”

Clarke watched as the filly’s already humongous eyes grew even larger, it was a sight that was simultaneously the cutest, and the most disturbing thing he’d ever seen.

“Best gift ever…” She whispered to herself so quietly that not even Clarke was able to hear as he looked up to the darkening sky above them.

“So, it’s getting pretty late. Do you...like...have to go home or something?” Clarke asked curiously.

Fighter shook her head to regain her bearings and suddenly felt her heart drop into her stomach as she realized that almost half of the day had passed since she ran from home. The stars were now out, the clouds were barely visible, and she now had to somehow explain why she was now casually hanging around a tall monster.

“Oh no! Mom is gonna kill me!” She said as she clasped her hooves onto her face in fear. Quickly she made a beeline for the large gate entrance to the park before skidding to a halt and turning around to look up at Clarke while trotting in place nervously. “Um, just follow me okay? We have to get home before mom makes the punishment worse!”

“What? Me go with you?” Clarke said as he too began to feel a bit nervous. “I don’t know if that’s a good idea, I assume you don’t have humans here so I don’t want to freak anyone out.” Clarke said as his everyday empathy and politeness came back in full force.

“Come on Clarke! Where do you expect to go? Are you just gonna sleep here in the park like a homeless guy? Cause you’ll get arrested if you do that.” She explained matter of factly, trying her best to not bring up the fact that he was technically her birthday present and she was not about to let him just slink away.

“Hmm.” Clarke hummed in thought as he tapped his chin, debating what he should do. In all honesty it did make sense, as if he just wandered off who knows what trouble he’d end up in. Even though she was just a kid, he’d grown quite fond of her. He figured his best bet was getting some answers from her family, as she would be the only pony around that could vouch for him if he were ever considered a monster or alien. If ponies in this place were as paranoid and rash as scared humans it was only a matter of time before he was chased with torches and pitchforks.

“Alright, I’ll follow you. We’d best come up with a good explanation though.” She gave him a quick thank you before sprinting towards the gates that looked to be quite a ways away from the fountain in the center of the park. Clarke however caught up to her in just a few quick strides, and managed to maintain her pace with just a simple jog while she seemed to be tiring herself out.

“Uh, Fighter? You alright?” He asked as he continued to jog beside her, the sounds of her heavy pants accompanying the patter of her hooves against the soft grass.

“I’m...fine! Ugh, I gotta get out more.” She said with dispersed panting before finally slowing down to a walking pace.

“Here, let me try something,” Clarke said as he leaned down towards her and scooped her up in his arms. Fighter let out a quick eep of surprise as he hoisted her onto his shoulder and continued to walk, the sensation of being so high up dizzying her for a moment. “Now we can make it back to your home faster.”

“Uh-huh.” Fighter said with a slight crack in her voice as she nervously dug her front hooves into Clarke’s shoulder for fear of losing balance, despite his hand still resting on her back to do just that.

“Are you okay? Do you want back down?” He asked nervously as he heard and felt her anxiousness. Fighter was about to request that he do so, until she noticed that in just a few big steps they had already reached the gate. If she wanted to make it home fast, this was her best bet, even if she wasn’t the biggest fan of heights.

“No...no I’m fine. Double time it Clarke!” She said with determination as she hardened her grip. Clarke winced a little at the pressure she put on him, but in the interest of her comfort on his shoulder he gritted his teeth and bore it. With a nod he sprinted out of the gate and onto the stone street outside, making sure to watch his step in the dark.

Fighter squinted her eyes and did her best to guide Clarke as he ran through the empty streets with frantic lefts and rights as the scenery around them rushed past in a blur. As they traveled up a steep hill of a street, both Clarke and Fighter heard the chattering of a crowd just up ahead. Fighter stretched her neck upwards to see further ahead and was just able to make out the forms of several ponies being questioned by a group of police ponies who were blocking off the entrance to the street she’d most often take back home.

“Where next?” Clarke asked as he heard the approaching voices growing louder. Fighter wracked her brain for a solution, but the sounds of the hoofsteps steadily getting closer began to place pressure on her.

“Uh...through there!” She said as she pointed to a small and narrow street that ran right between two tall buildings very close together, so Clarke quickly nodded and followed her command, sprinting through the street to the other side. “Make a left.” She continued, setting them back on what she assumed was the correct path. Fighter kept her eyes peeled after that in case there were any other distractions, and after a few more close calls with ponies running about and talking about some sort of 'attack' they had managed to make it to her street.

“Is it always that busy at this time of night?” Clarke asked as he walked through the small and empty street area, the sounds of crickets adding a strange sense of familiarity to the scenery.

“I don’t know...I’m never out this late.” Fighter said with a look of pure terror on her face. Clarke picked her up off of his shoulder and gently set her down on the ground beside him.

“I’m sure it’ll be alright. I think your mom will be too focused on me to be angry at you.” Clarke said with a chuckle that hid his apprehension with meeting more ponies.

“Yeah...yeah let’s hope for that.” She said before taking several deep breaths and leading Clarke down the road. He looked up to the buildings around him, the first time he’d gotten a chance to since he got here, and felt confused at the juxtaposition of their quality. Many of the buildings he’d passed on the way here were made of the same stone as the streets beneath him, but these wooden buildings looked to be in much poorer condition. Some had what looked to be boarded up windows, yet they all still had some form of light that indicated someone still living inside.

Nervously he continued following Fighter until she led him to a long staircase leading up to the top floor of one of the nicer wooden buildings, there he could see a multitude of doors signifying it as a type of apartment complex. While he was glad that such a building wasn’t in as poor a shape as he initially expected, he was still concerned with how quickly it’s stair access led to the street outside. The wooden boards creaked as he and Fighter made their way up, though Clarke tried his best to offset his weight on the tiny steps so as not to break them, and soon they both stood in front of a brown door with faded black numbers in front labeling it 14C.

“This is it…” Fighter said as she turned her head and looked up at Clarke.

“Yeah, I’ll just...let you do the talking first.” He said as he backed up and waited by the door. “Just holler if you feel like things are going south so I can grab their attention. Use a code-word like….pineapple.” Clarke explained as he sat against the wall outside. Slowly, Fighter nodded as she knocked on the door, but to her surprise it slowly creaked open on its own.

“Pineapple, pineapple, pineapple, pineapple.” She repeated to herself silently as she slowly entered the unusually dark house. The only light she could see was flooding into the living room to the left from the kitchen on the other side of the apartment. She heard the sound of humming coming from the kitchen, and with a deep breath she announced her return.

“Mom? Uncle Lucky? I’m home…” She said with waning vigor as the sound of a dropped fork and hushed whispers filled her with dread. There were some more thuds and muffled noises that suddenly made her feel very uncomfortable, but the moment she saw a strange blue Pegasus round the corner out of the kitchen she froze.

“Well, well, well. You must be Fighter Swan!” He said happily while he flashed her a smile that although looked genuine, was seething with underlying anger and aggression. “Happy birthday sweetheart, have you tried that cake yet? It’s positively scrumptious! Mmm mmm!” He said while shaking his head and licking his lips. Fighter took a step back in fright, only to feel her rump bump against something warm. She looked up and saw another towering creature just like Clarke, only this one was a pale white with deep red hair and an opened button-up shirt. His head nearly touched the ceiling, and his face was much more honest than the Pegasus’ as he glared at her with murderous intent.

“Y-y-you mean…” She paused as she tried her best to focus on the right course of action and put on her bravest face. “You ate my PINEAPPLE cake!” She yelled with a pathetic, yet no less meaningful, stomp on the ground. Both the Pegasus and Human looked at each other in confusion, before the stallion shook his head and let out a low chuckle.

“Todd.” He said simply as he motioned for them to follow him into the kitchen. Before Fighter could scream she felt the man's hands pick her up harshly and clasp his hand over her maw to keep her quiet. She squirmed in his grasp, but it proved too much to bear as practically none of her attempts netted her any results.

As he walked her into the kitchen her eyes widened in horror as she saw both her mother and uncle sitting at the table and tied to their chairs, her mother being unconscious, while her uncle was bleeding from the temple. She felt her heart beginning to race as she was sat down on the far end chair facing the Pegasus, with Todd removing his hand from her mouth and placing it on her shoulder as a warning.

“Now, listen here Fighter, can I call you Fighter?” He asked as he motioned to her with a free hoof.

“W-w-w-well-”

“Ah doesn’t matter,” He interrupted while waving a dismissive hoof in her direction. “What does matter is that pretty little trinket on your hoof.” He said while staring down the pink bracelet on her left hoof. “Now seeing as how it’s already attached I assume you’ve met your partner, so I’m only going to ask this once. Where are they?”

“W-w-what? What... what are you talking about?” Fighter curled her hooves to her chest and stuttered partially from the fear, and partially to buy as much time as possible to think of a plan. The stallion rolled his eyes and gestured to the man behind her, the bracelet on his hoof catching Fighter's eye for the first time.

“This here’s Todd, my partner. He showed up a few seconds after I put this bad boy on.” He said while flashing it to her in its entirety as it lit up with a bright red light. “He has one too, and everyone else we’ve met has had a similar experience.” He leaned closer to her and stared directly into her eyes. “We aren’t stupid, we know you’ve seen them.”

“Oh...right. Well...he ran off! One look at me and he screamed and ran, I did the same too. I ran right home after I saw him.” She lied while doing her best to remain calm and not focus on the large shadowy figure that had slinked past her peripheral vision in the living room to the left. The stallion groaned into his hooves and slowly dragged them down his face before pushing the chair back and standing up.

“Listen kid, here’s the deal. We HAVE to kill one of you.” He said as he slowly walked around the table towards her uncle who was lightly fidgeting against his restraints. “Now me and Todd here have agreed that axing a little filly isn’t exactly something we both have on our bucket list, but we’ve gotta do what we’ve gotta do.” He placed his hoof on Lucky Days head and rotated it faster and faster until he threw it to the side, causing his neck to let out an audible crack that made her flinch and her uncle groan in pain.

Fighter wanted to scream, but the grip on her shoulder only tightened every time she let out a reaction that the man didn’t like. All she could do was watch in horror as he turned around and slowly made his way to the other side of the table where her mother was, placing his hoof against her cheek this time as she sat there unconscious.

“You can either, A, tell us where he is so we can kill him and get on with our lives, or B, keep your mouth shut and force us to kill not only you, but your whole family as well.” He slowly caressed her mother’s cheek and walked back over to his original chair. “No witnesses and all that, you get it right? So what’ll it be?” Fighter looked at him a shivering mess, as she contemplated her options. She couldn’t believe what was happening right now, her whole family was in danger and she didn’t even know what for.

She looked up to the man behind her and saw his menacing glare staring right back down at her, and she was beyond relieved to see that he was. That meant that he wasn’t focused on her saving grace slowly getting closer to the seated Pegasus.

“How about C?” Clarke said as he grabbed the Pegasus by his mane and wing and tossed him across the table with all of his might, slamming him directly into the other human and knocking them to the floor. “Fighter! Get them out of here!” He shouted as he jumped across the table and stood between the recovering intruders and the filly’s family.

“You wanted me, now I’m here.” He said as the man rolled the Pegasus off of him and stood back up with a toothy grin.

“Yeah, and now we finally get to have some fun newbies!” The previously silent man shouted happily as he lunged directly towards Clarke. He tried to throw a gut punch towards the young man, but Clarke expertly deflected the fist to the side and used his momentum to lead him into an open-palmed face strike. Todd growled before throwing a second punch that again was deflected and met with an opened palm strike. Finally he tried throwing a kick to Clarke's side, but as soon as he had made contact the man wrapped his arms around it and began pounding down on his leg with an elbow before tossing him back onto the ground. Clarke looked to the side as he felt a brush of air and saw the Pegasus lunging at him in mid-air, so he quickly ducked, placed his hands on the ponies torso, and redirected his path into Todd once again.

"You'll have to try harder than that, I know some MMA!" Clarke said with determination, and just a hint of cockiness. Todd stood back up, apparently unfazed from the previous failed attempts, and cracked his neck from side to side as his pony slowly joined him.

"Please, that was just the warm-up!" He yelled angrily as both he and Fiddler lunged at Clarke simultaneously. As they continued fighting on the other side of the kitchen, Fighter frantically hopped onto the counter and reached for the knives that were all the way to the back, only to once again realize that they were just out of her reach.

“Come on mom! I told you I can’t reach them when you put them there!” She screamed in frustration as her heart rate skyrocketed the more she heard Clarke fighting. Quickly she popped out one of the lower counter drawers and used the extra inches of height to reach the knife rack, pulling out the first one she could and stuffing it in her mouth. Fighter ran to her uncle who was fiercely pulling at his ropes, but the moment he saw her cutting he stopped to avoid getting in her way.

“Come on Uncle Lucky, help mom!” She said with a muffled voice due to the knife handle in her mouth. The moment she cut off the bindings on his hooves he pulled down on the rope in his mouth and positioned it so he could finally bite it off with his sharp teeth. With a burst of speed and adrenaline Lucky Day ran over to his sister across the table and immediately snapped off her binds with his teeth, freeing her instantly and tossing her onto his back.

“Run Fighter!” He yelled just as both Todd and Fiddler tossed a bruised Clarke onto the table and continued wailing on him as he struggled.

“Hold him down!” Todd yelled to Fiddler who had slid under the table and pulled Clarke’s arms back to pin him there. Clarke shook and pulled in every way he could, but no matter how hard he tried he couldn’t break free. Todd began pounding down on his chest and throat mercilessly, but in turn he left himself wide open for a kick to the groin that sent him reeling back. Clarke may have been pinned, but he was far from giving up.

“Fighter, let’s go!” Lucky yelled as he ran back and tried pulling on the filly who was standing in the doorway and looking at Clarke in fear.

“But Clarke! We can’t leave him!” She yelled as she resisted her uncle's attempts to drag her away. Clarke heard the girl screaming and craned his head upwards to look at her scared face.

“It’s okay, just go! I can handle them!” He said, knowing full well that it was an uphill battle with these two. He’d need nothing short of a miracle to win, but he couldn’t truly do it with her still there and putting herself in danger.

Fighter looked at him and could immediately tell that he was lying, but what really drew her attention was Todd getting back up and grabbing one of the many knives from the rack with a look of fury on his face. Time seemed to slow down, as the screams of both Clarke and her uncle echoed as if they were far off in the distance, and the stabbing motion of Todd’s knife filled hand moved ever so slowly towards Clarke. She couldn’t watch this, she couldn’t let this happen, not to Clarke. He was alive, and no one deserved to die. He was there for her when no one else was, he was her friend, he was her birthday miracle, he...was HERS!

“KACHIN!” She shouted with an otherworldly force that echoed all around the house like a siren. The foreign words left her mouth in an instant, and with no explanation as to why, but what she did notice were both her and Clarke’s gems finally glowing up with their respective pink and green lights. Instantly Clarke’s skin and clothes began to harden with a shiny silver metal that made the table beneath him groan, and the moment the knife made contact it merely bent to the side like it was as bendable as freshly boiled noodles.

“What the-?” Was all Todd could say before a solid metal hand wrapped around his neck and squeezed. The table Clarke was on Finally collapsed, and Fiddler let out a scream of pain as the heavy metal man's full weight bore down on him. Todd gripped his hands around Clarke’s metal appendage and eventually started prying it off after using every ounce of strength within him. He was certainly stronger than most humans, but compared to Clarke in this form he knew it would take everything he had not to be crushed like a soda can.

“RAH!” Suddenly Todd was blindsided as he looked up and saw the same filly from before, this time covered in the same metal as Clarke, jumping towards him with her hoof pointed out. With no way to dodge he took the full force of her leaping punch and was sent flying backward into the wall, knocking him to one knee and gasping for air.

“Wind...rip!” Fiddler wheezed out from beneath Clarke’s metal body, causing both his and Todds gems to glow and the front door of the house to burst open as wind flooded inside. Todd quickly recovered from his hit and jutted both of his arms forward as he curled his hands into fists, commanding the wind to swirl around them like a tornado and blast both Clarke and Fighter backward. Though not strong enough to push them back too far, he was still able to get Clarke off of his partner and temporarily incapacitate them while he helped Fiddler back to his hooves as he coughed and wheezed.

“You’re gonna pay!” Fighter said angrily as she stomped on the ground with her metal hoof, causing the wood floor to partially shatter and splinter beneath her. Suddenly she felt a heavy hand resting on her head, causing her to look up at Clarke who had his eyes narrowed and focused on the intruders before them. She looked at him, then over to her uncle who was staring at her and Clarke with wide eyes, clearly confused as to what was happening.

She understood what he meant with that small gesture, that now was not the time to get angry. Now was the time to focus on stopping them quickly, so that they couldn’t harm anypony ever again. She gave a determined nod to her uncle who nervously returned it and headed for the door with her mother still unconscious on his back. Suddenly that brief moment was cut off as both her and Clarke were hit with another blast of wind that, while not strong enough to move them, was still enough to smack some broken table pieces and kitchen items into her face as well as her metal braids.

“You know...we wanted this to be quick and quiet, in and out, no hassle. So that the cops outside wouldn’t get wise, but then you just had to unlock your spells!” Fiddler said as their gems lit up once again, followed by Todd launching another ineffective blast of wind. “So who cares if they hear us, we’re gonna make you all suffer! I hope you’re happy, girl!” He said with a voice dripping of malice as he and Todd got in what looked like low fighting stances.

“WIND STOCK!” He shouted once more, this time a different spell that ceased all wind in its entirety and instead directed it all towards Todd's hands. The sound of the rushing winds grew louder as they prepared one final strike to end them, and after only a few seconds of waiting their attack was released.

Clarke sprung into action and dug his metal fist into the floor while grabbing onto Fighter Swan as tightly as he could, as he could already tell that this was going to be bad. He had just barely managed to scoop fighter under his armpit as the fierce wind, stronger than any blast they had let out prior, struck them both and shook the entire building like an earthquake. Clarke’s metal jacket and scarf whipped around wildly as the fierce wind threatened to tear them out of their dug-in position, but Clarke still held on with the thought of Fighter’s safety solely on his mind.

The wall behind them soon began to rip and tear in multiple places when the winds bounced off of their metal frames and tore directly through the flimsy roof, sending it flying into the night sky, revealing the stars above them and allowing the wind to fire off above the building like a roaring white beacon. The sounds of screaming ponies rudely disturbed by the violent hurricane generated within the apartment was barely even audible above the roaring gales shredding the wooden walls apart, and it showed no signs of slowing anytime soon.

“We can do this all day!” Todd screamed with a smile as he focused the winds harder on Clarke’s arms.

“Yeah! We’ve practiced, and we can keep this going for however long it takes! Ha!” Fiddler shouted just as enthusiastically, allowing himself to get drunk on the power. Clarke held on as best as he could, but he knew that he wouldn’t be able to hold out for another minute, as already his arms began to shake. Whatever Fighter had done to them was about to wear off, and he could feel it. He looked up through the wind and could see the blurry figures in front of him as they gloated, but what he also saw was a large blast of purple light fly directly into Todds left eye.

“GAAAAH!” He screamed in pain as he dropped the spell and clutched at his eyes desperately. “My eyes! My eyes!” His cries for pain only continued as more and more smaller purple blasts pelted him all over the chest, pinning him to the wall and eventually sending him through it and down eleven feet from the second floor of the building.

"What!?” Fiddler said in surprise as he looked down the hall to the front door of the apartment, where a wobbly, barely standing, and panting brown unicorn mare stood with her horn smoking. He looked from her, to the metal duo finally standing up, and growled to himself in frustration before hopping out of the hole in the wall after his partner. With a loud explosion of wind the two took to the sky and disappeared into the darkness, leaving everyone who was left to simply stare out of the hole after them before simultaneously collapsing onto the ground.

“.....Jesus Christ.” Clarke said in between pants as his metal skin and clothes slowly returned to normal, leaving his body feeling like he had just done a triathlon with zero preparation.

“......Sweet Celestia.” Fighter said as well, as she underwent the same reverting changes as Clarke.

“Lan...guage…” Her mother panted heavily before slowly becoming the first to pick themselves up. She limped over to the two of them as they laid down side by side, both of them already passed out from the exertion. She had no idea who this man was, or why he and her daughter were both metal, but from the looks of it he had kept her safe at the cost of his well being. When Lucky got back with the police, and more than likely the royal guards, she’d have to make sure to pass that on before they inevitably took them away.

She looked off to the side and shook her head in disappointment at the sight of her destroyed kitchen, and the large portions of the missing roof. She could tell that after all of this was said and done, she’d have a lot of things to worry about, but as she laid down and cuddled her sleeping daughter, she knew that she should enjoy this moment of silence while it lasted. At least Fighter was safe, and to her that’s all that mattered.

Chapter 3 - Aftershocks

Fighter groaned as she slowly woke up to the sounds of loud beeps and the sensation of an extremely comfy bed beneath her. She slightly shifted from left to right beneath her covers until a sharp pain coursing through her body made her stiffen and let out a sharp breath of pain. After a minute or two, the pain subsided, leaving her now fully awake with a dull ache just out of reach on her back. She gave a frustrated grumble, then slowly lifted her head to see that she was in a decently sized hospital room with some machinery wired to her on the right, a large second-story window to the left, and several empty chairs across from her. Well mostly empty as she saw the curled up and snoring form of her uncle resting on multiple chairs shoved together into a makeshift nest.

Fighter winced in pain as she slowly allowed herself to lay down once again, the aftershocks of the gems spell causing her entire body to spasm and contract in pain from top to bottom. She let out a few labored breaths as she continued to search for a more comfortable way to lift herself, but thankfully she found a button on the bed frame that allowed her to raise the top half of the bed. With a better look at the room, now no longer needing to strain herself to get it, she could see a large cup of water on the sink counter next to the chairs. All of a sudden she was reminded of how thirsty she was, as her dry and sore throat cried out for nourishment. She licked her lips anxiously before looking up at her barren forehead and sighing in sad realization.

"Why couldn't I have been a unicorn?" She said while glaring at her head and flattening her ears.

With a hum of contemplation, Fighter carefully lifted her legs and tried swinging them off of the bed, but she immediately dismissed the idea when the pain proved too much for her to bear. She grumbled in frustration and looked around the room for any other solutions, quickly spotting an unattached wire hanging beside one of the powered down machines to her right. She figured that if it wasn't in use then nopony would mind if she borrowed it.

She snapped off the wire from behind the machine, rather easily if she might add signaling to her that it must have been designed that way, and proceeded to lay it down across her lap. She estimated it's length to be three and a half feet, just enough distance to reach her goal if she aimed just right. With her eyes narrowed in determination she slung back a majority of the thick wire and aimed her shot.

"Alright, one shot, one opportunity." She whispered to herself in a raspy voice as she tossed it across the room while keeping a small amount in her hooves to keep control. As it soared towards its target, time seemed to slow down to a crawl until she yanked it back at just the right time to cause the wire to snap at the end. With a quick whip she struck her uncle's flank, causing him to yelp in surprise and fall out of his chair bed in a clumsy mess.

“AH!” He screamed in surprise before quickly gaining his bearings and looking towards the bed. “Fighter? Did...did you wake me up?” He asked in groggy confusion while rubbing his eyes.

“Water.” She wheezed out with, albeit exaggerated, pain in her voice as she pointed to the filled cup by the sink. With a shake of his head and a tired yawn he picked himself up and grabbed the cup before bringing it over to the filly.

“Thank you.” She said gratefully as she downed the water in an instant.

“I know it must have been hard to speak,” He looked at her with a pained expression and rubbed his stinging rear end momentarily. “But did you really have to wake me up like that?”

“How else was I supposed to?” She asked as she handed him the empty glass. “There was nothing around but this detachable wire.” She said as she showed him the tool she had used as a makeshift whip. Lucky Day took a closer look at her tool and slowly looked towards one of the unused monitors beside her bed, and to the very thick torn wire slot she had gotten it from. His ears and heart dropped simultaneously as he looked on the damaged piece of equipment and quickly yanked the wire out of Fighter’s hooves.

“Hey, what gives?” She asked in confusion as she saw her uncle quickly roll the monitor across the room towards one of the tall curtains that hung from the ceiling and hid it behind the cloth.

“Okay!” He said with a clap of his hooves while turning to her. “We just need to make sure no one finds that. If they do, we just say it was broken when we got here,” Fighter’s ears dropped down as well once she realized what she’d done, but her self reflection was quickly shut down by her uncle. “What do we say if somepony asks what happened? Especially your mother?”

“It was broke when we got here?” She asked nervously, only to have her already disheveled mane ruffled by the stallion once again.

“Good girl,” He said before pulling up one of the empty chairs and sitting next to her bed. “So, how’re you feeling sweetie?”

“Oh, I’m fine!” She said happily just as her left shoulder began to cramp up, forcing her to grab onto it in pain. “H-honest…” Lucky watched her sudden shock of pain and tsked over and over as he slowly placed his hoof on her head and leaned her back against the bed.

“It’s okay little one, the docs said you just have severe exhaustion, but it’s nothing too serious. You’ll be out of here before you know it.” He said reassuringly.

“What about you? I thought you were bleeding from the head?” She asked with growing concern as she noticed the lack of injury on her uncle.

“Oh, that. Well turns out it was just a flesh wound really, the worst I got was a sprained hoof,” He said as he flexed his hoof for her, but when she gave him a curious stare he quickly chuckled sheepishly and rubbed the back of his neck. “Well, what I thought was a sprained hoof, turns out it was just another false alarm.”

“What about mom?”

“Oh! She had some minor horn and magic exertion, but with a little rest and no magic use she’ll be fine. She was released early, at her request, and she’s out taking care of something right now.” Lucky continued to explain happily. Fighter looked away for a moment and sighed in relief, but even if her mother and uncle were alright, there was still a nagging feeling in her heart. She lifted her bracelet clad hoof and laid it against her chest, rubbing it anxiously as her thoughts turned to the kind man who took the time to listen yesterday.

“And...Clarke?” She asked nervously as she lightly gripped her bracelet. It was at this point that her uncle became much more serious, and his happy smile from before quickly fell as a result.

“Right….him,” Fighter gave him a weird look at the way he addressed Clarke, but before she could even question it he continued. “Well, that’s kind of the thing your mom had to take care of. She should be back any se-” Suddenly Lucky Day was interrupted as the sound of the room’s door opening cut him off. They looked to the door and saw Sunny Day, Fighter's mother, entering with a look of exhaustion on her face.

“Huh? Oh! Fighter!” She exclaimed, the bags under her eyes becoming less noticeable as her face beamed with excitement the moment she spotted her daughter up and awake. Sunny wrapped her legs around the filly for a hug and planted a kiss on her forehead before feeling her slowly returning the gesture. “Did anything happen while I was gone?” She asked her brother curiously.

“What!? Nothing, nothing! Just...hanging out with my favorite niece! Right, Fighter?” He said nervously as he put on his biggest smile and nudged her back.

“It...was broken when we got here?” She asked, knowing full well what she was doing and trying her best to hide her devious smile in her mother's hug. Lucky let out a nervous laugh as his sister glared at him even harder, but Fighter held in her snickering for just long enough to break the hug and change the subject. It was fun to torment her uncle in such a way, but there were many more important things on her mind.

“Mom, Uncle Lucky said you were taking care of something...something having to do with Clarke?” She asked anxiously. Quickly her mother switched gears from her uncle, over to her.

“Well, yes and no. It’s just something important that happens to include...him,” Her mother said with slight apprehension. Fighter surprised her mother with a look of sadness, followed by a low grumble that was almost inaudible from how quiet and restrained it was. “What...what’s wrong honey?” She asked nervously, afraid that she’d upset her precious, bedridden daughter.

“He has a name, mom.” She said in frustration as she looked away from her and down at her bracelet again. Sunny gave her daughter a sorrowful look and lifted her hoof to try and pat her lovingly, but she ultimately stopped herself and just let out a sigh instead.

“Look, I came back to tell you two that I have to go somewhere for a little bit. Can you please keep an eye on Fighter while I’m out Lucky?” She asked her brother kindly.

“So keep doing what I’ve been doing for the past twelve hours?” He asked sarcastically.

"You were asleep when I woke up." Fighter said with a deadpan expression as she turned to him.

"Fighter, could you just, like, be cool? For once?" He said while waving his hooves around pleadingly. Both of the girls rolled their eyes at his antics, but as they did he noticed just how exhausted his sister looked in the light.

“What about you Sunny? Shouldn’t you wait here?” he said as he pointed at her eyes from across the bed. “You look like you haven’t had a rest since last night.”

“I’m fine, really I am,” she replied shakily, denying the obvious accusation. “Besides, when the princess requests your presence you can’t really refuse right?” Fighter snapped her head to her mother in shock, while Lucky simply dropped his jaw from the admission. Sunny couldn't help but giggle at the looks on their faces.

“She apparently heard about the incident and wants to talk to me personally about it. I was skeptical at first, but they eventually convinced me with this royal summons.” She said as she pulled a scroll with the royal seal on it out of nowhere and opened it up for them. They skimmed the contents and eventually settled their eyes on the bottom portion stating that her royal highness Princess Twilight had summoned her. “I’m about to head to the castle, which is where I’ll be. I’m a little nervous. I must look awful.” She said as she slowly started to mess with her mane, which was actually still as luscious as it was the day prior.

“Y-yeah, sure thing Sunny. I’ve got Fighter.” Lucky said cautiously as he grabbed Fighter into a one-armed hug and held her like she was an emotional support teddy bear.

“Bring a big bag mom! Take some of the silverware and decorations! They won’t miss them, and we can sell them to ponies desperate for a taste of the good life!” Fighter shouted with excitement as her eyes filled up with stars from the opportunity.

“Fighter!” She said loudly as she shook the unrolled scroll at her daughter. Fighter looked down, ashamed at being called out for such a bad idea. Sunny Day coughed for a moment and put her scroll back into her saddlebags. "Only a little bit..." She mumbled under her breath before giving a sly smirk to her daughter.

All of them shared a slight chuckle at the joke. As their laughs petered off, Sunny looked down at her daughter with a sorrowful expression, then leaned over and gave her a big kiss on the forehead, along with another hug. "I love you." She said with only the sincerity a mother could imbue the words with. Fighter parroted the phrase, and with one last pat on the head, she was off.

As she stepped out of the room, her brief respite came to a close, allowing the Dread welling up in her gut to come back in full force. There was more to be said about the summons she'd been given. It was specifically about the safety of her family, and especially her daughter. She had no doubt in her mind that this ‘Clarke’ had something to do with it.

Only time would tell.

Clarke jolted awake as the last image of his dream, a massive fight inside of an enclosed room, flashed by like a violent car crash. He groaned with a mixture of sadness and anger at his rude awakening before it quickly turned into a low whine. He was no stranger to being awoken by his dreams, but every time without fail it would always lead to him waking up at the worst times in the middle of the night. He slowly lifted his arm to reach for the lamp on the nightstand beside his bed, but the moment he did he felt as though the entirety of his arm had come down with a case of rigor mortis as it popped and crackled from the small movement.

Clarke pushed through the pain and continued extending his stiff arm until he noticed a distinct lack of wooden table beneath his hand to guide him. Of course this was also nothing new, as he'd quite often move it without much thought throughout the day, so he continued to roll to the right in order to find it. He was determined to find that damned light and start his crappy day right, but that was until he suddenly rolled himself too far and fell onto the dense floor chest first.

"Uuuuaaaaaaagh!" He screamed in pain as all of his pain receptors fired off at once the moment he had slammed into the floor. As he laid there in agony, Clarke heard the sound of a creaking door opening up on his left and turned to face it. What he saw was a white pony with wings and covered in golden armor standing in the doorway and looking at him nervously.

"Oh...you're awake." The stallion said with a nervous tone as he simply stood there uneasily and looked around the well-decorated guest room. Meanwhile, as the pony continued to stare, Clarke simply dropped his face to the ground and moaned in sadness.

"It wasn't a dream!" He said in one long and drawn out groan as he lightly punched his fist into the carpet.

"Are you alright?" The stallion asked idiotically as Clarke continued to groan.

"Yeah… I'm fan-FUCKING-tastic! I just love screaming bloody murder and lying face first in the ground for fun!" He shouted angrily before flying into a coughing fit that only intensified the pain in his chest.

"A-alright! Geez! You don’t have to be so mean about it," The young stallion said as he jumped back from the man’s outburst. “Just… let me see.” He said as he cautiously approached Clarke and placed a hoof on his back. Quickly he applied pressure to the base of Clarke's spine in between two of the lower lumbar joints and twisted, causing an audible crack to escape his back.

"Aaaaaaaaah, fuck me!" Clarke said as he curled his back in pain and got onto his arms and knees. "What the hell?!" He screamed as he snapped his head to the side and glared daggers at the fearful guard.

"I'm just doing my job sir,” He said as he raised his hooves in defense. “The princess ordered me to aid you in such a way if you were to wake up in pain, you should be able to move more easily now." The stallion explained as he backed away from the man, the distance allowing him to calm down more easily. Clarke was about to mock him for his particular brand of 'help' until he realized that he was now able to move his joints much more freely than before. Granted his muscles were still violently sore from the spell that Fighter had cast on him, but they were no longer immovable as a result of the treatment.

"Th...thanks," He said as he finally stood back up, his wobbly knees forcing him to lean against, and eventually sit back down on the bed. They stared at each other for a moment before the guard resumed awkwardly looking around the room and attempting to whistle. "So… you said something about a princess?" Clarke asked as he wrapped his left arm around his stomach and leaned forward. The guard slowly stopped whistling and cleared his throat before answering.

"Yes, Princess Twilight Sparkle. She requested for you to be taken into custody and kept here in the castle until you awoke. She wanted to meet with you as soon as you did." The stallion explained calmly, his earlier oblivious tone being quickly hidden with poise and military bearing.

Clarke looked around the dark, yet pristinely decorated room, and placed his hands into the soft marshmallow of a bed he sat on, making a ‘not bad’ expression as he did so. This princess certainly knew how to treat her guests, that was, assuming he was a guest and not a prisoner there. He assumed that he’d get his answer soon enough, there was no reason to poke the bear when he was just barely waking up.

"Alright, what about Fighter Swan?" Clarke asked, noticing the stallion's look of confusion at his question. "Little pink girl, with blonde hair done in braids? If last night wasn't a dream, she should have been there."

"A dream?" the guard said while looking at Clarke like he was crazy. "Well I don't know who that is, but I'm sure the princess will be able to answer any questions you have." The guard deflected the question with a forced smile, but all that did was cause Clarke to sigh in disappointment and roll his eyes.

"Well, can you at least tell me where the hell I am?" He asked with waning patience.

"You're in Canterlot Castle." He answered simply as if Clarke knew what that meant, causing him to sigh once more while slowly placing his palm against his face as he did so.

"I’m sorry, but you’re saying that like I’m supposed to know what a Canterlot is," Clarke responded angrily, wincing as his frustration made his gut ache even harder.

“Eh, heh… right. Well you’re in Canterlot, the capital city of Equestria, and this is the castle… of Canterlot,” He explained awkwardly as he turned around and headed for the door. “That’s the gist of it, but I’m sure the princess will be able to thoroughly answer any questions you have, she’s really smart.”

“Alright, let’s go meet this princess.” Clarke obliged the naive guard's eagerness to move on, as he had already grown tired of the talking. He decided it’d be simpler to just wait it out for now and ask the princess everything he needed to know, it did seem like the quicker option, as it was either that or twenty questions with a skittish guard.

As they stepped into the pristine white corridor Clarke gasped at the sight of the glistening walls and decorations all around him. It looked like something straight out of a history book of ancient castles, while still having a slightly modern accent to its long flowing window curtains and portraits. Speaking of windows, just across from the door of his room was a massive window with the bright midday sunlight shining through.

Clarke placed his hand against the glass and looked out onto the castle grounds below, and the sight simply took his breath away. Dotting the landscape outside of the window were multiple ivory spires, as well as green grass and statues dotting the garden looking area below. There were winged ponies flying all over the place, as well as a multitude of horned and barren ponies scampering around below them. He could barely even comprehend how something so beautiful could ever exist.

“Uh… excuse me,” Clarke snapped away from the beauty before his eyes and looked over to the guard as he waited there anxiously. "It's this way." The guard said while pointing down the hallway.

"Right...right." Clarke gave one last glance out of the window before slowly turning away and following the guard down the halls. The walk continued in silence for most of the way, with the occasional direction given by the guard, and Clarke took this moment to think about things.

How could any of this be real? Was it possible that this was all one big elaborate dream, one that was just unbelievably detailed and lucid? As much as he wanted to believe that, he knew it couldn't be true. He’d never experienced both pain, and beautiful scenery in a dream without waking up, and simultaneously having the mental fortitude to even question it. This was no dream, but if that was the case, then what was this? Why was this happening to him? Did he truly turn into freaking colossus yesterday night and fight alongside a tiny pink pony in a miniature kitchen? A brief glance at the bracelet around his wrist quickly reinforced that memory as fact.

“Hey, so what’s your name?” Clarke asked abruptly in an attempt to take his mind off of his burning existential crisis. The stallion flinched a little from Clarke’s sudden question, but quickly recovered with a nervous smile.

“Oh, it’s Sham Shield.”

“Well Sham Shield, I just wanted to apologize. I shouldn’t have lashed out at you like that earlier, and I’m sorry.” Clarke admitted, the feeling of guilt within him slightly being lifted as a result.

“Oh,” The pony looked almost surprised that he’d apologized to him, but thankfully his confusion was quickly replaced with a smile. “That’s alright, I would have screamed my guts out too if I was in pain.” Clarke smiled from the accepted apology, and continued following his escort in silence as he led him through the beautiful castle. After what felt like an eternity of walking and idle chit chat, they finally traveled down a long hallway that ended in an ornate purple door with two guards standing outside of it.

"Here we are." The guard said with relief as they finally approached the door. With a silent nod from the other guards, they slowly opened up the room and allowed them both entry, before closing it softly behind them. Once inside, Clarke couldn’t help but smile at the consistently top-notch interior design.

There were several bookshelves along the walls to the right, as well as a fireplace on the left that was currently empty, and a large window with the curtains down across from the door. In the middle was a large empty chaise lounge couch surrounded by piles of pillows and blankets on the ground where a massive pony laid. She was much larger than any other Clarke had seen thus far, so much so that even sitting down she was still slightly taller than the guard next to him. She was a nice lavender color and her two-toned purple mane was flowing in a non-existent wind as she calmly read a book and sipped some tea that was just floating right in front of her. The only thing that drew more attention than her beautiful visage, was a large scar that traveled from her chin all the way up the left side of her face to her eyebrow. Clarke was certain there was a story behind a wound like that.

"Your highness, I’ve brought the… guest." The guard said as he bowed, his slight pause before saying guest making Clarke feel a little uncomfortable. The princess looked to them both and smiled warmly at them, but Clarke was ashamed to admit that he could not stop staring at the left side of her face.

"Thank you, Sham Shield. You can leave us alone now." She said happily as her book closed on its own and gently floated onto the ground next to her. The strange floating object finally managed to draw Clarke's attention away from her face, but all that accomplished was adding another question to the long list he had already begun to compile.

"But princess," He said with worry as he looked up at her calm smile then back towards Clarke's awed expression. "I...understand." He said with a quick nod before standing up and reluctantly leaving the room. It was now Clarke and the princess all on their own, and he’d be lying if he said he didn’t feel just the tiniest bit intimidated by the javelin horned equine before him.

"So… is this the part where you tell me I'm not a prisoner? Ya know… before you lock me up in the dungeons?" Clarke asked sadly as he rubbed his arm, doing his best to gauge the empathy of this princess. If there was one thing he remembered from history class, it was that most royalty only cared about one thing, themselves. The Princess simply smiled at him again and tilted her head in amusement. "I wouldn't be surprised, what with the way everyone's acting around me."

"Well, you're half right. I am telling you you're not a prisoner, but I'm certainly not gonna lock you up," She replied as the still floating cup of tea also gently landed on the ground next to her. She gave a few quick shimmy's against the pillows she was laying on until she was a good distance away from the empty sofa, before gesturing to it with her hoof. "Please, take a seat. You must be exhausted." She said with the same warm smile she'd had since he'd gotten there.

"Well...alright, but just letting you know that I fully expect the other foot to drop, or rather, hoof to drop." He said skeptically as he warily accepted the seat offer and provided his aching legs with some much-needed rest.

"I can't say I blame you," She said with a giggle as she looked away for a moment before an expression of deep thought overtook her. "I certainly know now more than ever to be extremely cautious of others." She donned a thousand-yard stare as she looked towards the wall.

"Do you though?" Clarke blurted out without thinking, causing the princess to shake her head and look at him in confusion.

"I'm sorry, did you say something?" She asked him without hesitation. Now the tone in her voice didn’t exactly make it clear whether she asked that as a question, or a threat, so Clarke decided to air on the side of caution and quickly move past it.

"Nothing! Nothing at all Princess… please continue?" He said with a smile.

"Sorry about that, I've found that I've become more...aloof lately. I just wanted to speak with you once we knew you were alright, as I'm sure you have a lot of questions." She said with a sincerity in her voice that Clarke had never experienced before, not even back on Earth. Still, despite the polite and obviously troubled soul in front of him, he needed to keep his guard up.

"Now why would you go and do that?" He asked with a raised eyebrow. She brought a hoof to her chin in feigned thought before answering him.

"I suppose I simply like to see the best in every creature, no matter what they look or sound like. I always do my best to approach others with kindness, especially when I spot possible misunderstandings. Besides," She lifted her left hoof, which had previously been curled inwards and hidden from view, to reveal a familiar-looking bracelet with a dark ocean blue gem on top of it. "It isn't the first time I've answered someone's questions about Equestria."

Clarke tensed up all of his sore muscles the moment he saw her bracelet, an action that caught the princess's attention when he had. He began to breathe heavier as the flashbacks of Todd and Fiddler's sadistic smiles and overwhelming power came back to him. Even if he was still recovering his body instinctively prepared to defend itself.

"Woah, Woah! It's okay, you're not in any danger." The princess said as she quickly lowered her hoof and picked herself up ever so slightly for emphasis. "L-let's start over okay, totally calm and normal. My name's Twilight Sparkle, the Princess of Equestria." She said before nervously gesturing towards Clarke with a wide and anxious smile. He slowly relaxed his body and winced as he did so before taking a few deep calming breaths.

"I'm… Clarke," He replied shakily as he continued trying to calm his heart rate back down. "Clarke Velasquez."

"Good," Princess Twilight said as she laid back down and sighed in relief. "I can already tell you've had a run-in with some other contestants. I can assure you though, that I mean you no harm." Clarke gulped down the lump in his throat and gave her a curious glance.

"Contestants?" He asked shakily.

"Yes… contestants in The Tourney of course," She looked at his baffled expression for a moment before finally realizing what this meant. "You...do know about The Tourney, right?" She replied just as confused as he was.

"Does it look like I know what you're talking about?" He responded with a constant expression of unease. Princess Twilight looked off to the side with a slightly somber expression and layered her hooves on top of one another.

"Oh dear. The Tourney is...a very dangerous thing," She looked at him nervously and switched her gaze between him and the door. "It really is a long explanation though, so I think it's best if we wait for our next guest before I explain it to you, she’ll be here soon." She continued with a smile.

“She? Do you mean… Fighter… Swan?” He asked curiously unsure of what answer he was expecting.

“Oh, no. It’s her mother, Sunny Day. I understand that you and the filly are partners, but I think it’s best if we refrain from informing her just yet.” The princess replied. Clarke mouthed out the word ‘partners’ in confusion, but quickly cast it aside for now as he ruminated on this ‘Tourney’ she spoke about. Whatever it was, it must have been pretty serious if the Princess was so shaken by just the mention of it.

"Okay, well in the meantime could you please tell me where I am?" He said with a hint of desperation in his tone.

"Oh! Well you're in Equestria." There was a long pause as they stared at each other, Clarke’s eyes beginning to twitch as a result, until the princess lifted her cup of tea and took a loud sip.

"Seriously? Why do you ponies keep answering like that? I have no clue what Equestria even is. Is that the planet? A country? Didn’t you say you’ve done this before?" He said with audible frustration in his voice.

"Oh! I’m sorry, I just assumed you knew of Equestria's existence already. That seems to be a trend with the humans I've met," Clarke felt a little off by the fact that she’d said the plural for humans, but it was rapidly quelled when she suddenly gasped, her eyes filling up with stars. "Does this mean you have zero knowledge of our history or society!?" She said as she sprung to her hooves in excitement.

"Uh...yes?" Clarke said warily, his answer causing her to step forward with a smile. "Uh...no?" He said, once again causing her to step forward and smile even wider. "Personal space!" He cried out as he raised his hands in defense and leaned back against the sofa. The Princess suddenly hopped backward and squealed in delight as several books from the shelves behind her flew into the air, some landing next to him while others landed near her.

"Oh boy, we have a lot to go over. Don't you worry though Mr. Velasquez, I'll teach you everything you need to know about our world, country, magic, the races, oh this'll be so much fun!" She said as a random blackboard appeared in a flash of purple light, causing Clarke to flinch.

"Clarke is fine, but…” Clarke stared wide-eyed at the demon objects all orbiting the princess while being covered in a deep purple glow. “What the hell!? Things are floating, and appearing out of nowhere!" He stammered in fear as he watched the Princess work happily.

"Don't worry, that's just my magic. You'll learn all about it in section thirty-seven of my lesson plan. It’s always fun to educate newcomers to this wonderful land, but sadly I haven’t had many chances to do so. Until now that is." She said happily as she ignored his confused sounds and questions. Clarke experimentally lifted the cover of one of the books and saw some strange scribbles on the inside, noting how it looked like a mix between pig Latin with words and symbols that sometimes flipped backward in no coherent fashion.

"So, are these books supposed to look like a coked-up third grader wrote them, or….” He asked curiously as he flipped through it. Suddenly the chalk floating before her slammed onto the board's holder before she turned to look at him.

"Wait, you're saying that you can't read Equestrian?"

"Uh...I think?" She shook her head and chuckled as a pair of cute glasses floated from one of the many nightstands and landed on her face. Clarke could only watch on with unfathomable dread weighing on his heart.

"Oh, we have a lot of work to do."

Author's Note

I tried my best to do Twilight justice, get off my back. :fluttershbad: She won't be here long anyway.

Interlude: A heart to heart

Clarke sat with his back against the empty living room wall and sighed into his hands, the silence eating away at him more than any parasite ever could. Shortly after bringing Fighter back to the new house, he was left to his own devices while the entire world slept around him. He just felt so… wrong here, like with each passing second he was inviting disaster into these ponies’ lives.

It didn't matter how much the princess yelled at him, he couldn't shake the feeling of guilt in his chest, the weight of the responsibility, and the sadness of keeping it all inside. It wasn't like there was anyone else to talk to regardless, and even if there was, the last thing he'd want to do is burden them with all of his petty feelings. The healthiest thing to do was to just hold onto it until he died, like a normal person.

He constantly looked at the door across the living room and contemplated walking through it, never to return, but that held too many consequences. What if they needed his help, but he wasn't here? Granted he hadn't been much of a help in his short stay, but that didn't change the fact that he'd try. There was also the possibility of those maniacs coming after Fighter and her mom since he knew for a fact that not many people would be as hesitant to dispose of her in pursuit of their selfish goals as Fiddler and Todd were.

These were the main reasons he decided to stay completely still in his spot on the carpet. The idea of his actions causing even more hardship, only for him to walk away felt disgusting to think about. Then there was the obvious course of action in ending it himself, effectively stopping any incentive one might have to find Fighter, but that….. He paused for a moment, the negative to such a heavy thought taking frighteningly too long to reach him.

Clarke looked down at the pink bracelet on his wrist, a quirk he had begun to develop in the past few hours, and scowled at it. He could practically still hear the purple princess yelling into his ears, about how he shouldn't do it, but what did she know? It wasn't like there'd be much anyone would miss… both in this world and his. He doubted if anyone back home besides the police even really cared that he’d disappeared in a flash of light.

Clarke continued to be consumed by his thoughts until he heard the sounds of soft pattering from across the house in the hallway that managed to snap him out of it. Despite it being pitch black, he could make out the distinct color of bright pink as Fighter Swan slowly crept out of the hall and stopped, looking directly at him as she did.

"Hey." She said quietly with a hint of nervousness. Unbeknownst to him, she’d been watching from the hall for quite some time, and the longer she did, the more she felt obligated to say something.

"Hey," He replied solemnly as he pushed himself further against the wall and sat upright. "Why are you up so early?"

"I… couldn't sleep," She said while looking to the side before stepping across the foyer and into the living room. "I guess I slept too much at the hospital." She slowly crept across the carpeted floor and sat next to Clarke, leaning her head against the wall just like him.

"Why are you up?" She asked curiously. Clarke let out a long sigh and forced a smile as he looked at her, her large yellow eyes looking up at him with adorable curiosity.

"Just been thinking about things. I can't get to sleep when my mind races like this, so I just have to try and deal with it." He replied honestly, feeling no need to hide such a quirk from her.

"Oh," Fighter looked down for a moment as she pondered what was on his mind. It must've been something pretty heavy if he was spending so long staring in multiple directions and sighing every five minutes. She understood that watching someone for as long as she watched Clarke was a little weird, but the look of guilt and sadness on his face was practically calling out for her to help.

"What kinds of things?" As soon as she asked she saw Clarke tense up, and suddenly she was pretty nervous about his answer. He remained silent as he looked away from her, his eyes filled with an intensity that began to worry her. “Are they… bad things?”

“Oh,” Clarke cleared his throat and shifted in place uncomfortably. “No, no, it’s just… a lot to think about you know. New world… new place…” He said using half-truths to maintain a natural tone of voice. “New powers.” He finished as he clenched his right hand and glared at his bracelet for a split second. Fighter watched him, clearly seeing it despite him trying to be subtle, and decided to attempt diffusing his anger.

“I get it… I’ll be honest, I thought you looked pretty weird when I saw you.” She told him with a smile, only for him to raise his eyebrow at her questioningly. She intentionally left a long pause afterward, cursing herself for not getting a cup of water to drink as he waited for her to finish.

“Is that it? Because you know, believe it or not, that’s a rude thing to say to most people.” He said with a smile, before looking off to the side as a sense of deja vu hit him. He could have sworn he’d had a similar conversational beat before.

“No, no, no, you didn’t let me finish,” She said with a little chuckle from his reaction, before looking down once more with a look of content. “I was gonna say that I get it. If I thought you looked strange when I saw you, then I can only imagine what it must be like for you, surrounded by ponies, in a whole new world. I’d have freaked out by now, so bad they’d have to throw me in a psycho room, you know the ones with all the pillows on the walls?” She explained sloppily as she made strange gestures with her hooves, an attempt that was left severely lacking without fingers. “Do you guys have those?”

“You mean padded cells? Yes, we do.” Clarke said with a smile on his face as he conversed with the filly.

“Well, all in all, I’d say you’re doing pretty well since you're not in one. You even got to talk with the princess right afterward!” She said with a proud hoof on her chest, before slowly realizing something. “Oh no, that must have been extra weird. The princess is, like, freakishly tall.” Fighter stopped her rambling when she felt his warm hand rest on top of her unbraided mane, causing her to look up at his smiling face.

“While that might be true, she was pretty nice overall,” She smiled when he said that, since she could hear the sad tone in his voice slightly lessening the more he spoke. “She told me a lot of things, most of which I didn’t understand, and in the end, we struck a nice deal that netted your mom this house.” She looked around in amazement, the truth of what happened making her head spin, and could tell that even in the dark this house was pretty nice.

“What did you talk-” She was about to pry even deeper about what they’d talked about since she was dying to know ever since the hospital, but something in her gut told her to hold off on it. No matter how much it pained her inside, she had to hold back the incessant urge to ask questions. Though she couldn’t be sure, there was a good chance that whatever they talked about was the reason he was so downtrodden, he was definitely keeping something secret either way.

“What was that?” Clarke asked curiously as she cut herself off mid-sentence.

“Nothing,” She said with a shake of her head that caused Clarke’s hand to finally drop from it. It was then that she got the wonderful idea to share her latest find with him. “Do you want to see something cool?” Clarke cocked his head back from the sudden change in subject, but considering the alternative was to stew in his thoughts some more he decided to roll with it. He watched her lift her green bracelet, and once he barely suppressed the urge to scowl at it he saw her tap on it three times. What happened next was a bright green screen, not unlike the holograms you’d see in sci-fi movies, popping out of the gem and illuminating both of their faces as they stared down at it.

“What is that?” Clarke said as he watched her swipe left and right on it like it was a smartphone. What he saw were various screens each time, the most notable of which were the status screen depicting a featureless version of him, and a long list titled ‘spells’.

“I’m… not sure really. What I do know is that it tells me all sorts of things,” She said as she tapped on the leg of his diagram and brought up a rotating image of his calf muscle that said ‘healthy’. “Looks like your leg’s all good. Just call me doctor Fighter Swan!” Clarke eventually tore his eyes away from the screen and looked at the smiling filly, a sense of pride welling up from inside as he did. This kid was truly something special, and was no doubt the smartest little thing he’d ever seen.

Not only was she able to fight by his side, she recovered in less than a day, and she was already experimenting with the artifact that he was too angry to even look at for more than a second. Maybe it was because she didn’t know about the gravity of the situation, he pondered, but deep down he could feel that even if she did know, she’d still be as happy go lucky as she was right now. Maybe… she could handle knowing more?

“What are you looking at? I got something on my nose?” Fighter asked as she made herself go crosseyed to look for anything out of place on her face.

"Nothing, nothing’s wrong. There’s actually something I think I need to tell you.” Clarke shifted in place so that he was facing her directly and sat cross-legged. Fighter looked at him curiously for a moment and nodded in understanding, maintaining her calm outward appearance. On the inside though, she was giddy at the thought of finally being shared a secret since it wasn’t something she’d normally get to do with other ponies. Mainly because one would need friends or trust to do such a thing, but that's beside the point.

"You have to promise me that you won't tell your mom I told you this, She specifically told me not to." He said as he looked around the house for any sign of her mother. She nodded furiously, eager to hear what he had in store since very few times was she ever clued into things her mom didn't want her to know.

“Understood,” She said with a little salute. “Mom’s always not telling me things, but that’s why when I find the things she’s not telling me, I not tell her of the things she doesn’t not, not tell me…” She stopped for a second as she looked at the ground and started rubbing her temples with her hooves. “My head hurts.”

“Okay, calm down there brainiac,” He said jokingly as he slowly lowered her hooves. Once he was sure that she was giving him her undivided attention, he took one last deep breath and began. "There’s a reason we have these bracelets, these powers, and why we were attacked the other day.”

“Gotta say, that was the second craziest birthday I’d ever had.” She interrupted with a comical, and very purposeful, shake of her head.

“What? How in the hell could you have possibly had a crazier birthday?” Clarke asked but immediately stopped and calmed himself down. “Not the point, not the point Clarke. No interruptions!” He said as he waved his finger in her face like she was a puppy. She gave him a deadpan stare in response, clearly recognizing that she was being treated like a misbehaving pet, and nodded in agreement.

"So Fiddler and Todd, those two psychos that nearly killed us, there was a reason they did it. That reason is because we are all a part of some massive fight called the ‘Tourney’ where the winners are granted a wish. The reason they needed to fight us is because of that.” He left a small pause before continuing to allow Fighter Swan to digest the information. She remained silent, as her eyes moved all around like a visual aid to the gears turning in her head until finally looking back up at him and nodding.

“Now we don’t know how or why this is happening, that’s something the princess is trying to figure out, so until then we decided to keep you as safe as possible. Because Fiddler and Todd are only the beginning. As far as we know there could be hundreds of humans and ponies all over the world fighting for that wish,” He took a moment to gauge her reactions, but when he saw no overwhelming emotion on her face, he decided to continue. “At any moment we could find ourselves in another fight, and that’s why despite your mother's wishes I’m telling you now. We need to make sure you’re prepared.” Finally, he placed a hand on her shoulder, ready for any questions or thoughts she might have.

"So what you’re saying is… we can get a wish?" She said as she put both of her hooves together and pointed at him, her lips pursed in a questioning fashion. Clarke had to stop and think for a second before answering her.

"That's… true, but not really what I wanted you to take away from this."

"No, I get it. This is dangerous and stuff, buuuuut… if we win that means we can get a wish?” Clarke cringed as she said that, knowing full well that it was much more complicated than that. He had to act fast if he wanted Fighter to drop that train of thought.

“That’s the reason everyone’s fighting, but for all we know that could be a lie. This whole thing could be one big ruse just to make everyone fight, a rumor started by some madman.” Fighter looked away with a sigh and nodded as he said this, presumably to consider what he’d just said.

“That could’ve happened, buuuuuut!” Clarke facepalmed, since he knew exactly where this was going. “If it IS true, then we get a wish?”

“Okay, yes, but if it’s not then we could be putting ourselves in danger for no reason. Wish or not there is just too much at stake here. These people will be out for blood, your life, nothing short of that will satisfy them!” He said, his fears and perceptions of the situation seeping into his pleas without him noticing.

“Sorry what? You lost me after yes,” Fighter said as she looked up from the screen on her bracelet, only to point her hoof at him accusingly. “Aha! So you admit it! We can get a wish. I knew it.” She said with a smug smile, and Clarke had the sudden urge to bang his head against the wall. Perhaps he spoke too soon about her being the smartest child he’d ever met, because right about now she was acting as stubborn as any other kid he’d babysat before.

“Just think about it, Clarke! Our wildest dreams coming true! Nothing in the way of us, and the greatest thing we could ever possibly imagine!” She said with childlike wonder welling up in her star-filled eyes. “What would you wish for?”

Clarke looked at her for a second, his more logical side wanting to just shut down any talk about wishes and focus on the gravity of it all, but the emotional side of him was too busy being overridden by the bundle of adorableness staring up at him expectantly.

“I don’t know Fighter… a billion dollars? My own theme music maybe?” He replied almost pleadingly, the idea of entertaining what he'd want in a wish making him feel extremely anxious for some reason.

"Yeah, I know what I’d wish for.” She said as she gazed at the ceiling vacantly. Clarke stopped for a moment and cocked his head to the side. Though she didn’t give him an answer, he could see the unmistakable look of hope on her face as she dreamed to herself. Whatever it was she wanted, it must have been pretty big.

“Yeah… wishes are pretty cool,” He said as he watched her slowly lean her head against his side and yawn. “We have to make sure we’re smart about it though. I guess if we want a wish, we need to be prepared for anything.” He said, hoping to reach a sort of middle ground with her. If letting her hope for something better in the idea of a wish meant that she’d follow his lead, then so be it.

“You’re right, we need a plan. We’ll make one… first thing… tomorrow.” She said as she slowly started to drift off to sleep beside him. Clarke sighed heavily as he wrapped his arm around her, and for a moment he was afraid that he’d be attacked by the same thoughts of doubt that had kept him up. Surprisingly though, they never came, and all he could feel was fatigue doing it’s absolute best to drag him back to sleep.

At least he knew that he had Fighter in the loop, and come tomorrow they’d be ready to make a plan and stick to it. They didn’t have to win, all they had to do was survive.

Chapter 5 - Grocery

Sunny Day quickly shuffled around her empty, featureless room stuffing everything she'd need for the day into her blue saddlebags. Not that there was much anyway, aside from the various demeaning hats the diner made all of its waitresses wear, but in all honesty, almost everything she needed for work was lost with the apartment. She wasn’t going to give up though, because if she did, then who’d be there to do it for her? There was a mouth to feed, two if she counted Clarke, and many new additions that needed to be made to the house.

That being said, since the moment she stepped into this place she realized just how barren everything was. She guessed that once the owners of the house realized what was happening to it they removed most of the amenities she had seen the last time she came here. It felt like only yesterday when she came in pretending like she would ever in a million years have enough bits to rent it, and now here she was standing in it. Amenities or no, she couldn't believe she could finally call herself Sunny Day, Homeowner.

As soon as Sunny Day stepped out of her room she was immediately graced with the sounds of echoing voices coming from down the hall, signifying that she wasn’t the only one who decided to wake up early today. As she followed them closer to the foyer, she turned to the right as they reverberated out of the dining room just beyond the small hallway of a kitchen beside it. The closer she got, the clearer the seemingly hushed voices became.

“How are we even supposed to fight, if we never fight? You said it yourself, it’s inevitable. So why not get out there and do it instead of hiding like a bunch of scared turtles?” She heard the voice of her daughter as she propositioned a plan of some kind, but Sunny couldn’t quite figure out what for.

“Well I say laying low is our best option. So long as we keep out of trouble, most of the tough people will just knock each other out. Less problems for us.” Clarke responded, and suddenly Sunny began to feel a growing pit in her stomach. If she didn’t know any better, she’d say they were talking about the Tourney.

“That’s stupid, you’re stupid.” Fighter said while pointing up at him childishly, causing Clarke to let out a sarcastic little chuckle as he placed his palms on the table and looked down at her.

“Well hey there pot, my name’s kettle, have we met?”

“Excuse me.” Sunny said as she rounded the corner into the dining room, the sounds of her hooves clacking against the tiled floor, and the light of the large window door next to them illuminating it in a soft morning glow. Both Fighter and Clarke jumped in surprise as they faced her, and suddenly all previous conversation had been dropped.

“Oh, miss Day. Good morning.” He said nervously as he gave her a wide smile.

“So, uh, what are you two talking about? Why are you up so early?” She asked as she squinted her eyes. Clarke and Fighter shared a quick look and nodded to each other in response.

“We were just figuring out the best way to spruce up the place, it’s so empty in here don’t you think?” Clarke answered smoothly, too smoothly, almost as if he had rehearsed that line. Before she could respond to what he said, though, Fighter immediately picked up the conversation.

“Yeah, I mean what’s the deal with that? You’d think the princess would at least give us some chairs, I’m standing on a box.” She added in a very calculated fashion, attempting to change the subject.

“Okay, back up. What was that nod about?” She said as she shifted her hoof from side to side, pointing at them both. Clarke and Fighter Swan looked at each other, then back to her before shaking their heads.

“No, no, we didn’t nod.”

“Yeah, what nod?” They both said so quickly that she couldn’t even tell whose voice was whose. She shook her head for a moment as she recovered from the verbal overload and glared at the two of them.

“Oh no, don’t you try to gaslight me, I know what I saw. What was that nod about? What are you two hiding?” She questioned, already having a good hunch as to what it was. She just couldn’t say it though, since on the off chance she was wrong, then she’d be the one having to explain the Tourney to Fighter Swan. There was another moment of silence as they scrambled to think of an answer, until Fighter Swan felt a lightbulb conjuring in her brain.

“Hey mom, isn’t it already seven twenty? You’re gonna be late!” She said as she leaned forward on the table with a sense of urgency.

“Nice try Fighter, but I know the time. Right now I want to kno-” She was cut off as her sore horn began to vibrate; her magical alarm beginning to remind her that it was time to go. With a growl of both pain and frustration, she ended the spell and gave one last look to the both of them, taking note of the smiles that both of them had. "This isn't over." She said to both of them before specifically pointing to Clarke and motioning for him to follow her. With a quick nod, he did just that until they were both in the foyer standing beside the front door of the house.

“Listen, I have to go to work, and that means leaving you two alone. Normally I’d have Fighter go to school, but after what happened over the weekend I’d rather she not. That means it’s up to you to watch her.” She said in a low voice, as she could already see Fighter watching them from across the house in an attempt to eavesdrop.

“Of course, I’ll make sure she stays safe,” Clarke replied with sincerity. Hopefully, with this news, he’d be able to convince Fighter that laying low was the best option. Sunny glanced up at him, the look in his eyes filling her with an intrinsic sense of trust in his words. She still remembered just how hard he fought to keep not only Fighter, but her and her brother safe the first day he arrived. Regardless, there was still a precedent she needed to set until she knew for a fact she could trust him.

“Well, you better make sure you do, because if I find out that anything happened to her, and you weren’t there to stop it, or Luna forbid you were the one who caused it, I will drag you down to Tartarus myself.” She leaned in as she threatened him, and despite their size difference forcing her to look up, and him to look down, Clarke could still feel the power of her words as she placed a hoof on his chest. All he could do was nod in response to her until he felt a heavy bag being placed in his hand. Looking down he saw that it was quite small, only barely filling his palm, but still managing to have noticeable heft to it.

“What’s this?” He asked as he lifted the bag and inspected it.

“Those are the last bits I have on me, around forty I think. I’ll have more after work, but for now, I need you to go out and get some groceries today. We can’t exactly survive with an empty fridge.” She said in reference to quite literally the only appliance left for them upon arrival. Clarke snapped his head to her in confusion and fear, the reality of the situation quickly setting in.

‘So much for laying low today.’ He thought as he once again smiled and nodded wordlessly. While Clarke remained in his frozen state, Sunny turned to her slowly approaching daughter and knelt to be on her level.

“Okay Fighter, I’m heading out now. Behave yourself, be smart, and don’t lie to Clarke about the things we need, versus the things you just want.” She said with a stern gaze that Fighter just shrugged off while blowing a raspberry.

“Come on, when have I ever done that?” She asked nonchalantly, only for her mother to raise an eyebrow condescendingly.

“Hearth's Warming Eve, last year, you and Uncle Lucky? Need I say more?” Fighter's ears splayed backward in embarrassment, and a quick shake of her head was all the confirmation her mother needed. “Okay, quick and easy, shouldn’t take more than an hour or two,” She said as she opened the door, before stopping one last time and turning towards Clarke. “And keep your eyes on her.”

With that Sunny left the two standing silently in the foyer, both wondering what they should do next. Clarke looked down at Fighter nervously as he clutched the bag he had been given, and suddenly he was feeling that same sense of dread from last night.

“So… grocery shopping. That sounds fun!” Fighter said as she trotted for the door, only for her to be scooped up and cradled underneath Clarke's arm unceremoniously.

“So long as we’re safe about it. We do this fast, and we head back home before anyone has the time to ambush us. It’s a dangerous world out there.” He said as he carried her into the living room.

“How would you know? You haven’t even seen it.” Clarke set her down on the carpet before she had any time to complain about being manhandled and went to open up the blinds of the window next to them, filling the living room with the same morning glow as the dining room.

“If there’s one thing I learned from the verbal diarrhea that the princess gave me, it’s that dragons, griffons, and horrible melt your face off magic are littering the place,” He said as he looped around her spot and sat down behind her. “If that ain’t a disaster waiting to happen, I don’t know what is. Not to mention the whole psycho humans problem we’ve got to deal with here. What we need now is a game plan for if things go south.” Fighter was about to question what he was doing until she felt his hands glide into her unbraided mane and begin separating it into smaller bunches between his fingers. The sensations were very calming, and soon he was braiding her hair slowly and methodically as they talked.

“Well… you’re not wrong,” She conceded, partially due to the state of comfort she was beginning to fall into. “But what are the chances any of that will happen? I think we just need to go with the flow, y’know?” She suggested, chuckling at her impromptu rhyme. Clarke hummed to himself in thought as he braided, the motions being more muscle memory than anything else after the multitude of times his sisters forced him to do it for them.

“You know, that idea might just be crazy enough…” Fighter was getting ready to let out a happy gasp the moment he agreed to her plan. “To get us both killed,” Instead she only let out an ‘aww’ of disappointment at his answer. “And you better knock on some wood when we’re finished here.” He said with a stern tone. Fighter pouted for a moment as she thought of a different approach until she clapped her hooves together with a smile.

“Well how about this for a plan? I stay near you as much as possible, and if we don’t run into any trouble then that’ll prove just how safe this place really is! Easy peasy!” Her idea was meant with more hums of contemplation, only this time they lasted much longer.

Clarke knew that he’d need her to find his way around town, as well as purchasing things correctly. If she was willing to stay by him at all times, then he guessed there was no harm in testing the waters. Besides, she may have had a point. What were the chances they’d find another duo so soon after the last?

“Okay, we’ll do it your way, but when I say stay close, I mean stay close, got it?” He said as he finally finished her hair, leaving it just as good, if not better, than how Fighters own mother would manage with magic. She caressed the braids happily for a moment as she admired the work he’d done with only his hands, before looking up at him and nodding happily.

She’d use this chance to show him how good the day could be when you focus on letting loose. If Clarke was here to stay then she wanted to show him all the things she loved to do, because that’s what friends do. She’d never really had a friend before, but she was sure she’d read that in a book somewhere.

“Deal!”

“Kiki,” The small blue unicorn colt asked as he followed the tall woman down the busy streets, her short bob haircut jostling ever so slightly as she walked with an anticipation filled gait. Looking to the streets, he followed her even closer than before as he saw the various ponies frantically hopping into public carriages and running in all directions during the morning work rush. “Why are we all the way here in…” He looked around for a moment before looking up and trying to whisper as if he were about to say a bad word. “...district five?”

“Come on, you heard the rumors right? Explosions, unexplained noises, royal guards up the wazoo. This has got to be another human, and I can feel them getting closer.” Kiki said with a smile as she shrugged her shoulders in excitement and looked down at the bracelet that seemed to be guiding her in some way. Soon that wish would be hers, and with another win under her belt, she’d only get stronger.

“W-well… my parents wouldn’t like me being in district five,” The colt looked all around to the seemingly normal buildings and modest housing for middle-class ponies. He could only imagine the horror that befell these streets when things got dark, and thanks to the stories his parents told him, it was all he could think about. “It’s filled with trouble here, I just know it.” Suddenly the colt flinched as his white-skinned partner crouched next to him and wrapped an arm around his neck, her naturally narrowed eyes making him feel a tad uncomfortable.

“Listen, Tovar,”

“It’s Tremor.” He interrupted nervously, only for her to continue talking with little regard for his correction.

“Listen, Trevor, if you want that wish you’ve gotta be willing to get your hands dirty. That means taking the fight to them!” She said with a wide smile before ruffling his mane and practically skipping along as if there were no reason at all to be anxious. She then turned around, her smile turning more devious instead of jovial, and looked down Tremor eerily. “Besides, you’d better get used to feeling uncomfortable, we’re heading to district eight.”

Tremor froze as his entire face seemed to melt into a cartoonish expression of pure terror. “D-d-d-d-d-district e-e-e-e-e-e-eight!?” He exclaimed while barely managing to get the words out. If district five was already a spawning ground for vagrants and criminals unable to afford actual livable conditions, then district eight was a place that meant instant death. A veritable Tartarus on Equis was all he could imagine when thinking of district eight.

“Yeah, is that a problem?” Kiki asked while looking down at him with a glare and a very demanding tone of voice.

“N-n-no, it’s just-” He was cut off mid-sentence as Kiki just scoffed and continued walking.

“Great, I thought we had a problem. Besides kid,” She let out a low chuckle as the following words she was about to say brought a sadistic kind of joy to her heart. “You should know how strong we are by now. The other team couldn’t stop us, and a measly district won’t either.” Tremor shivered in place for a moment, the memories of what they did… what they saw all flooding back at once. He had finally managed to push it all to the back of his mind a couple of days ago, but now it was as if everything had been reeled back into the light by a massive fishing net made of guilt and shame. With his mind too preoccupied with thoughts of violence, he silently followed after her and became much more agreeable.

Kiki was glad she’d found such an easy way to shut him up, and hopefully, he’d just get over it soon. They were going to need to go even farther if she wanted to become more powerful, and the kids' hang-ups were only going to slow her down. As of now, she could feel the strange pull from the bracelet tugging on her soul, guiding her down the road. Truth be told, they might not have even needed to go to district eight, as something told her they’d find their prey soon enough.

The sun hung high in the sky as they shouldered past the masses of ponies around them. The hunt had only begun, but she could already feel it coming to a very short close.

Clarke slowly approached the glass door of the building, his heart racing a million miles a minute as he slowly pushed open the tall entrance. He stuck his head inside and looked from left to right, the familiar sight of cash registers, aisles, and various products and advertisements adorning the walls hitting him with a sense of nostalgia. The only thing that didn't remind him of home were the multitude of ponies within all staring at him like he was high on something.

"Coast is clear, move up." He said as he motioned forward into the store with two fingers next to his head. Soon he crept into the store while hugging the wall beside the door, followed shortly after by an embarrassed Fighter Swan who tried her best to hide her face from the onlookers.

"Clarke, this is so embarrassing!" She whispered as she followed the ridiculous human deeper into the store an inch at a time.

"Embarrassing," he started before dropping onto the floor next to a pyramid of soft drinks and looking around the side for any suspicious activity. Upon confirmation that it was only a yellow mare slowly backing away fearfully, he continued. "But effective."

'He has to have some kind of disorder.' Fighter thought to herself as she continued to follow him closer towards the main aisles of the store. Finally, he stepped into one of the aisles normally and chuckled as he dusted off his jacket.

"I think it's safe to say we're in the clear. What's first on the list of goods Fighter?" He said with a wide smile that only made her puff out her cheeks in anger and embarrassment. "Awwww." He said as he placed a hand over his chest, the sight being far too cute for him to handle. She growled for a moment and almost let him have it, but quickly she felt the fire fade into a sigh as she saw his kind and gentle expression looking down at her.

"First thing is the hay." She said in a monotone voice as she stared straight ahead, her head hanging low to the ground. Clarke gestured for her to lead the way, and so they began their very short grocery adventure.

"You know, I always wondered how hay tastes." He commented from behind her.

"You don't eat hay?" She said as she turned out of the cans aisle and into the wheat goods aisle.

"Nope, but I've always wanted to try it." He said as he followed her to the wall of bagged hay and reached for the one closest to him.

"No! Not that one!" She complained, causing him to put it right back. She then got onto her hind legs and leaned against the shelves while pointing towards one near the top. "Get that, the cheapest ones are always higher up since it's harder to get to."

"Sure are discount savvy huh?" He said with a chuckle as he reached up, but only slightly thanks to the lower height of everything around him, and picked up her preferred option.

"Nah, that's just what mom always tells me when we go shopping," Fighter looked off to the side and recounted her mental grocery list, realizing that they could also knock out the bread and nuts while they were here. "Clarke, get some nuts too. I'll go get a cart."

"Hey, woah, we need to stick together remember?" He said anxiously as he watched her beginning to leave the aisle.

"I'll be quick, besides you said the coast was clear right?" She shot back, causing him to fall speechless for a moment.

"Well what kind?" He asked dejectedly as she smiled at him

"They're all mixed bags, just pick one." With that, she left the area with no protest and quickly made a beeline for the front entrance where the carts were. As she approached the large train of carts all pushed together, she tugged on the one closest to the door until she heard the familiar ring of the door opening and instinctively looked at the entering party.

It was a young light blue unicorn colt, probably the same age as her, with some light bruising around his left eye and what looked to be a seismograph machine as a cutie mark. She inhaled sharply when she saw how ragged he was and even let go of the cart, but when she did he then turned to look at her. His reaction seemed almost identical to hers, only he seemed far more terrified than concerned.

"Hey, are you okay?" She asked him, feeling worried for the colts safety as he began to shiver, but he gave no response to her question. Slowly she waved her hoof in front of his face, his eyes following it despite his frozen posture, yet he remained silent and still the entire time. "Okay… I'm gonna go now." She said slowly as she finally yanked a cart out of the train and walked back towards the wheat aisle while shooting one last glance back at him, his eyes still following her.

With that awkward experience finally behind her, she reentered the wheat aisle to see Clarke arguing with a black pegasus mare wearing the signature red apron store uniform. He was holding the bag of hay she’d picked out, as well as a bag of nuts on his shoulders. She slowed her approach as they argued, curious as to what the fuss was all about.

“Sir, I’m just trying to figure out why you’re here.” The mare said with a slightly condescending tone.

“Well golly gee, Sherlock, why would someone be in a grocery store holding grocery items? Truly a mystery for the ages.” He said with a bit of bite in his voice, and while Fighter didn’t exactly know what he was referencing, she still let out a small snicker.

“Listen, I know what you’re doing, so I’m asking you to please leave before I’m forced to involve the guards.” She said with a harsher, more demanding tone. Clarke however was not intimidated, and instead leaned closer towards her face with a look of disbelief.

“What did you just say to me?” Before things could get further out of hoof, Fighter approached them as loudly as possible and slammed the cart into Clarke’s legs, gently, of course, to draw their attention away from each other.

“Hey, I got the… cart.” She said with feigned ignorance as she looked between the mare and Clarke in confusion. “What’s… going on?” She asked childishly. Clarke, immediately picking up on her perfectly timed interruption, bit down a smile and rolled with it.

“Nothing sweetheart, thank you for getting the cart,” He said while plopping the bags into the cart, petting Fighter Swans head ever so gently, and shooting a glare at the mare who had already begun to back away nervously. “Listen, we only came here to do some shopping, not get harassed just because I’m different.”

“Sir, I am very sorry for the misunderstanding,” She said immediately backpedaling on her previous stance of him obviously being up to no good.

‘Misunderstanding my ass.’ Clarke thought as he continued to glare at the mare.

“Listen, I’m one of the cashiers here. So long as you don’t complain to my manager about this, I’ll make sure you get…” She looked around for a moment before getting closer and whispering to him. “Special treatment at register five.” She finished with a nervous gulp. Clarke looked down at Fighter and could tell that she was fighting even harder than he was to hide a smile, so he decided that now was as good a time as any to end it.

“You got a deal. Now can you leave us please?” He asked as he took hold of the cart, leaning forward a bit as he did due to its small size. She smiled and let out a nervous chuckle before lowering her head and backing away from them and out of the aisle. Once she was, Clarke let out a sigh while Fighter let out a very hard snicker of delight. “Thanks for the save Fighter.”

“What was that about anyway?” She asked curiously while still smiling from yet another successful deception.

“Oh, just grownup stuff,” Clarke replied dismissively, but one look at her unconvinced face reminded him that he should be giving her more credit.

“So being an adult means bothering others because they look weird? I’ll remember that.” She said with a grin that she quickly hid, but luckily Clarke already knew of her tricks and ignored her obvious bait while deciding to plant one of his own.

“Unfortunately it is, and I do not look weird, that’s subjective,” He said while pointing down at her. She hummed to herself in thought as she looked up to the ceiling as if she was contemplating the validity of his statement. “Fine, think what you want. I’ll just tell you now that that sounds like the tone of someone who DOESN’T want ice cream.” He threatened as he traveled down the aisle in search of the bread they’d need.

“Wait, ice cream?” She asked eagerly, only to see him walking away from her. “Wait… you know I was joking right!?” She called out desperately as she followed after him, only to stop when she felt a very familiar presence nearby. A set of eyes that felt like they were watching her intently. She spun around and caught a glimpse of something ducking behind a display near the entrance of the aisle. She stared for a moment, waiting until whoever was there would inevitably raise their head once more.

“Fighter?” Clarke's voice snapped her out of her statue-esque state as he called from the end of the aisle. “I know you don’t like following rules, but please at least try to stay near me?” He asked pleadingly as he nearly turned the corner without her.

“Right… coming.” She mumbled out as she gave one last glance to the display before turning around and joining him. As they walked off, Tremor slowly lifted his head to watch them from behind his hiding place until they left his line of sight.

They looked so nice, and as he continued to stare down the aisle, he couldn’t bring himself to justify a fight. Seeing them triggered memories of the last time, the ruthless nature of the team, their overwhelming acceptance of ending his and Kiki’s lives. To an extent, he knew they had no choice when faced with people like that, but that didn’t mean it didn’t crush him inside when they did. These two though, they seemed much different from every encounter he and Kiki had ever been in. They were just… shopping. Minding their own business, and laughing like there wasn’t a care in the world.

“Do… we have to?” He asked grimly as he felt the soft hand of his partner resting on his head.

“Oh Tremor, you know we do,” She said as she stepped beside him, the smile on her face betraying the somber tone she was talking with.

“Now we just need to set up an ambush.” She said as she motioned for him to follow. Tremor was about to wet himself, he was so scared, but still, he somehow managed to squeak out one last pathetic protest.

“W-wait!” He said while trying his best to remain silent and avoid being found by the others. Kiki turned to look at him, her face unamused, and quickly her neutral expression was growing angrier and angrier. “Maybe… w-w-w-w-we don-”

“We, we, we, we, we, we need to what kid, sit on our hands!?” She interrupted angrily as she walked closer to him and mocked his fear-driven stutter, her imposing height and expression making him feel helpless. “Listen here, and you listen well. There is one reason we’re here, and that’s for my wish. I’ll get it one way, or the other, and if you don’t help me then I’ll just make things even more miserable for you, got it!?” She said with a stern expression that did a poor job of hiding the rage under the surface. Tremor could only swallow down his sorrow and nod in agreement.

“Now follow me. We are going to set up an ambush, and we are going to be the only team leaving this store alive.” She said while not looking back, knowing full well that Tremor was going to follow her no matter how scared he was. She was so frustrated that even after going all the way last time, he was still so skittish and apprehensive. She hoped that this time he’d finally grow a taste for the hunt, but just to be on the safe side, she was gonna make sure that he was the one to finish them off this time.

Silently they made their way to the back of the store where the walls were lined with freezer and refrigerator doors. Kiki remembered overhearing something about ice cream, so she figured what better way to catch them off guard then when they try to get some. Without a single word needing to be shared between them, she nodded to Tremor and watched as he ran to the refrigerator back entrance and opened it for her. Once inside, they knocked out the worker stacking things within and waited for their unsuspecting prey to approach.

They must’ve waited for only around ten minutes as ponies of all kinds opened up the fridges and perused the contents, but for Tremor, it felt much longer. To him, an eternity passed before the moment of truth was finally upon them, and even then it seemed far too short of a wait when the doors were opened up by a brown human hand.

“You see Fighter, the trick with the milk is that you need to reach aaaaaaaall the way in the back.” The voice said as his hand grew closer to the end of the fridge. Kiki ordered him to make a move with a low whisper, and Tremor quickly grabbed the man's hand and pulled it all the way through, holding it as best as he could. He figured that the faster he did what she said, then the faster he could move on and pretend this didn’t happen just like last time.

“Clarke, everypony knows about that, that’s why you need to be one step ahead and get the ones upfront. Classic reverse psychology.“ The filly’s voice commented as she grabbed one of the cartons, but soon the grunts and groans of the man had grabbed her attention. “What are you doing?”

“My hand’s stuck. Some sorta icy hook must’ve latched onto my jacket.” He replied as the pulling from his arm grew stronger. It was only a matter of time before Tremor lost his hold, but that didn’t matter as soon as he saw Kiki approaching with a long metal pipe that she had found deep in the fridge.

“Hold it still.” She whispered with a small smirk growing on her lips. Tremor did his best to follow her orders, while simultaneously avoiding looking, but he was still preparing to hear the gut-wrenching noise of his bones breaking. The woman brought down the pipe directly on his wrist, but instead of the crack of bone and the screaming of pain, all they heard was the sound of the icy metal pipe shattering apart as it made contact with his skin.

“Gah, Jesus!” Clarke said as he yanked his freezing hand out of the fridge and rubbed his wrist. “Damn clamps.”

“You okay?” Fighter asked him with mild interest as she hopped onto the side of the cart and looked inside to tally up the cost of their haul.

“Yeah, just a bit of mishap,” Clarke turned to grab onto the cart, but when he did he thought he could hear the sound of hushed voices coming from the fridge door. “Hey, you hear that?” He asked, causing Fighter to turn her head to him. Clarke curiously opened up the fridge door yet again, but once he did the voices stopped. He stared into it for a moment as a sense of foreboding began to build in his gut, but just before he could warn Fighter Swan of any danger, it was too late.

“GARASEI!” A young voice shouted, shaking the very walls of the grocery store in the process. Then from behind the fridge shelves, he watched as a bright icy blue glow flared out to meet him in the form of a giant ice spike that penetrated the walls and carried him into one of the many aisles behind. His back slammed into the shelf, causing it to shake from side to side before falling over and causing a domino effect throughout the whole backline of the store.

Several ponies began to scream and run for the exits, and the ones unlucky enough to remain out of curiosity watched as a tall white-skinned creature and small blue colt stepped out of the newly made hole in the fridge shelf and onto the milk covered floor below. Fighter Swan immediately backed up as she felt a primal fear compelling her to move, but as soon as she did both of their heads turned to her.

She recognized the colt from before, only now he looked more broken than scared. Beside him was presumably his partner as she looked all around the store before settling her rage-filled eyes squarely on her. She was questioning why she hadn’t noticed a bracelet on the colt from before, and that’s when she realized that the frosted blue color of their gems blended well into his similarly colored coat. If only she’d paid more attention, then maybe they’d be in a more favorable position.

“I’m gonna tell you this once, little girl,” The woman said as the ice began to crawl up her sleeved arms, replacing the yellow fabric with sharp gloves of frost. Soon her legs underwent a similar treatment, replacing her black jeans with icy leggings ending in sharp boots, and finally, her head became enveloped in a masked crown of frost that made her eyes glow bright yellow. “Stay out of this unless you want the pain to last even longer.

“Tremor!” She said sternly while looking off to where Clarke had been launched. “Watch her closely, beat her up if she tries anything. I’ll holler if I need refueling.” The colt, now covered in similar hoof and mask ice as the woman, nodded silently and turned to her with an icy stare. Though somehow, Fighter could tell it wasn’t the magic that was making him do so.

“What in the hell are you doing!?” Clarke asked angrily as he rolled the massive ice spike off of him, the point of impact on his chest only feeling slightly sore after nearly being impaled.

“What am I doing? I’m trying to win a wish; what are you doing?” She asked as she pointed to herself and then to him, her massive claws of ice making her look more like a monster than a human.

“We were just shopping! If you want to move that into a fight I beg you to rethink your options.” He said as he looked around the store as some of the workers had already come by to see the commotion, before freezing in place at the sight of the woman.

She smirked at him as he stood up with absolutely no injuries before getting into a low fighting stance and pointing her claws at him. This guy was strong, there was no doubt about that, and she couldn’t wait for the power boost it was gonna give her.

“Why, afraid you’re gonna lose?” She said confidently.

“I don’t want to hurt you.” He replied instantly as he looked down at the ground. This caused her to pause for a moment, her raging need to fight beginning to quell as she did. His posture, his voice, it all reeked of sincerity.

“W-what? Are you trying to say that you’re better than me?” She asked angrily, dropping her stance as she did. He looked up at her with sad, yet determined, expression and suddenly she felt her legs shaking beneath her. She took a step back out of shock, maybe even fear, and quickly looked away from his piercing emerald eyes. The encouragement to fight, the need to win, and the want of her wish all seemed to fade away for a brief moment as she looked down at the claws on her hands. She could almost see the crimson that stained them, and suddenly she felt incredibly dizzy.

“We don’t need to do this, we can just walk away and carry on. A wish is nice, but that’s no reason to turn on each other.” Clarke continued as he took a step closer to her, hoping that she’d say yes. She took another step back as he came closer and violently shook her head while shrieking like she was a banshee.

All she was doing was wasting time on the spell, that was his game, wasn’t it? He just wanted her to lower her guard and use up the spell. She was already losing her stance for Christ's sake. Kiki quickly recovered from his mind games and lunged at him with her claws jutting out like miniature knives, but quickly Clarke rolled out of the way as she impaled the claws into the tilted wooden shelf.

“Damn…” He said as he stood up and balled his fist, the look of the hyperventilating and scowling woman making him feel a heavy sense of dread. “I guess we’re doing this.”

Chapter 6 - Freeze

Clarke watched as the ice witch woman lunged at him yet again, her claws reaching forward in a maniacal fashion, and sidestepped her just in the nick of time. Her claws drove into the plaster wall behind him, letting out a loud noise as they became stuck, and with his newfound opportunity, he began his counterattack. He sent a series of powerful blows to her head all while dodging her wild kicks from the side until a finishing uppercut pushed her back and out of the wall.

Kiki growled at him like an animal and dropped her hands low as her palms became filled with two orbs of icy magic. She threw the orbs into the air where they floated for a few seconds before sending out hundreds of sharp ice shards directly towards him. Clarke hopped backward and continued to narrowly dodge the shards as they landed behind him, but as he did Kiki practically slid across the floor on her icy boots to cut him off.

She thrusted her right hand forward like a spear directed at his chest, but once again Clarke was barely able to avoid it, instead deflecting it to the side. Using her momentum he pushed her in the directions of the shards and used her as a human shield, and even though the razor ice merely bounced off of her harmlessly, he was still safe from the attack as it quickly lost power.

Wasting no time after her failed attempt, Kiki spun around on the wet floor and sent the back of her hand flying towards him, and this time it was much faster than he was expecting. Clarke felt the claws scrape across his face, sending him flying through the air and into a pile of fruits several feet away. As soon as he made contact with the ground he rolled out of the way, predicting an attack from above, and narrowly dodged the powerful knee that Kiki smashed into the pile of bananas.

The moment he stood up she continued her assault, but this time he managed to catch her claws with his hands and hold his ground as they glared at each other. It seemed that they were evenly matched in strength, with neither gaining any distance on the other. Clarke could feel the drops of blood running down his cheek from the place he’d been struck, but based on the size and thickness of her claws he was glad he hadn’t been cut to ribbons in just one swipe.

“Clarke!” Fighter Swan called out as she watched him struggle against the woman, taking a step towards him out of fear until the blue colt cut her off instantly.

“Don’t.” He said robotically, the glowing eyes of his icy mask making him seem much more intimidating. Fighter took a step back as he stared at her, but in the corner of her eyes, she made sure to pay attention to Clarke’s struggle.

“Okay, okay… Tremor, right?” She asked, receiving a curt nod from the colt. “Okay, let’s just talk.” She started as she tried to look him in the eyes.

“It’ll be over soon. She’ll take him, and you’ll be out. After that, we can move on.” He replied with grim finality, and even with the mask on she could tell that he was trembling.

“Or, or, we could just… not?” She asked with a hopeful smile. The colt tilted his head in confusion, his mind taking a moment to process what she said, until a loud smack echoed all throughout the store and drew both of their gazes. What they saw was Kiki in a lowered down stance charging towards one of the tilted aisles with Clarke hanging on her shoulder. She slammed him back first into the wooden shelves and proceeded to swipe and claw at him with feral anger and loud grunts.

Clarke had his arms up, the claws quickly tearing through the sleeves of his jacket and bruising his arms, as he did his best to block her attacks. The pain was beginning to mount, and his impressive resilience was quickly fading away as a result of the onslaught. Fighter again tried to run to his aid, until the colt stepped in her path once more.

“I don’t wanna hurt you. Just go home and forget about it… please?” He asked slowly, his voice filled with sadness as he did.

“Well… why don’t you!?” She said as she finally stood up to him with much more confidence in her stance. Tremor’s cold expression seemed to falter for a moment as she said this, but as soon as she saw it, it was gone. “I don’t wanna fight, but my friend needs me!” Her heart began to burn with a fiery determination, and as expected, her gem quickly glowed a bright green hue.

“Don’t do it.” He said as he watched her with growing dread, but it was already too late to talk her out of it. She looked across the back of the store to where Clarke was, his brown arms already growing redder and redder as he defended against Kiki's attacks, and the two shared a look. They both knew what needed to be done, and that words weren’t going to be enough to do it. Well, except for maybe one word. With a quick nod between the both of them, the store began to be filled with absolutely blinding pink and green lights of power.

“KACHIN!” The moment the spell left Fighter's mouth she felt the familiar sensation of a thin and cold substance covering her from head to hoof, and as she looked down at her body, she smiled at the armor that would decide this fight.

A loud scraping sound echoed from the tossed shelves as Kiki's claws dragged across Clarke's metal arms and practically shattered on contact. Once they had broken, Clarke reached out and grabbed Kiki's arm and pulled her closer, where he then headbutted her so hard that she fell onto the ground in front of him. If they were evenly matched in strength while he was in his base form, then with Kachin he was practically untouchable. If there was any time to knock some sense into her, it would be now.

“Take this!” She yelled as she faced her palm towards Clarke, firing off another massive ice spike the size of a football directly towards him. Clarke simply stood there confidently as the spike shattered against his metal chest, causing no harm or movement to him in the slightest. He could practically feel the regret piling onto her shoulders as she watched him shrug off what must’ve been one of her more effective attacks.

Meanwhile, Tremor looked at Fighter Swan with pure terror as she stood before him in all of her metallic glory. Neither made a move while their humans fought, and Fighter could tell that there were mountains upon mountains of conflict happening in the boy's mind.

“Last chance Tremor…” She said cautiously as she tensed her muscles and steeled herself for a fight. Tremor began to hyperventilate as he looked at her, then at the ground, then at Kiki, and back to her in a matter of seconds.

“I…” He looked like he was finally about to run from it all until the massive ice-covered woman skated across the ground, stopping next to him and placing her hand on his back.

“What the hell are you doing Tremor!? Get them!” Suddenly, a switch had flipped in the colt's brain as he received his orders straight from the woman's mouth.

“GARASEI!” He repeated his spell, and the ice covering their bodies seemed to grow larger and stronger as he did. Fighter braced herself as he opened his mouth and let out a torrent of frosty air that made her metallic body grow stiff and slow as a result. She watched as Kiki jumped through the air in a blur directly towards her, her claws pointed out and looking ten times stronger than before. Time seemed to slow down as she grew closer, until Clarke managed to step in at the last second and block her attack with one palm effortlessly.

“No, you don’t!” He shouted as he pushed her back and rushed her down with a flurry of punches that hit every single one of their marks. Kiki continuously tried to swipe through his fists, but every time she was batted away and smacked instead. There was almost nothing she could do except grunt and flail angrily as he controlled her movements and momentum with practiced ease.

While Fighter was distracted with the spectacle that was Clarke’s speed and technique, she was blindsided by a tackle from the icy colt as he rammed into her head first and knocked her stiff body to the ground. He rushed towards her and prepared to stomp on her stomach, but before he could she rolled further onto her back and bucked upwards with her hind legs, shooting him straight into the ceiling so hard that he smashed the flimsy plaster and carried bits and pieces of it down on top of him.

Just as Tremor hit the ground, Kiki joined him in a similar state of pain as Clarke suplexed her into the tile, then sent her sliding towards the colt with a powerful kick to the groin. They took a moment to lie there in pain before stumbling back to their feet. The difference in power was apparent, and it seemed to them that the fight was already over.

“It’s over, end this. We’ve all caused enough damage as it is.” Clarke said as he slammed his fist into his open palm and rolled it around with a loud metallic clang. Both Tremor and Kiki looked at each other, with the former looking ready to pass out, and the latter panting like she’d lost a lung. However, to everyone's surprise, Kiki’s hard pants turned into hearty laughter.

“Ahahahahahaha! Oh no, we’re not even close to being done!” She said through clenched teeth as she placed a hand on Tremors back and squeezed, making the colt flinch. She looked down at him as the ice mask slowly began to shrink, and he could already tell what she wanted him to do. It was the very same thing that haunted him in his dreams, the spell that won them the last battle. She wanted him to use the fog.

“G-g-gaisau.” He whispered while shivering like a wet cat, his heart and spirit no longer guiding the spell as it did before. Regardless, his gem still glowed in response to his activation, and from deep within his stomach he felt a cold substance traveling up his throat.

Clarke and Fighter watched nervously as Tremor opened his mouth and let out a torrent of thick, icy blue fog that fell onto the ground and began to create a massive circle around all of them. This fog was much darker and colder than the ice he let out earlier, and in one swift motion, all of the fog shot upwards and created a thick mist surrounding both of them that obscured their sight.

“This is… not good.” Fighter said nervously as she stood on her hind legs and placed her back against Clarke’s, her head reaching about halfway up his body.

“Yep, very not good.” He agreed as they both looked around the deep fog surrounding them, unable to see anything further than elbow distance. Suddenly, Fighter gasped as she saw a pair of glowing yellow eyes in the distance that seemed to glare at her.

“Clarke, I think I see them!” She said as she tapped on his back in an attempt to get his attention.

“Yeah, me too!” He replied while not following her point. Curiously, she turned her head as much as she could to see what he meant, and what she saw were four glowing yellow eyes deep within the other end of the fog staring at them. The eyes quickly grew from four to six, to eight, to twelve, twenty-two, thirty-four, and soon it looked like they were surrounded by beady glowing eyes from all directions.

“What do we do?” Fighter asked nervously as she reached for Clarke’s hand in an attempt to find some comfort.

“Simple, we just need to run out of this dome,” He said as he watched the eyes surrounding them, each one getting steadily brighter with every passing second. The fog was unbearably cold, and despite their metallic bodies shielding their skin from pure hypothermia, he could feel his joints and muscles growing stiffer with the inactivity. “Stay close, Fighter. I mean it this time.” He gave her a determined glare that she returned with a nod of understanding.

Clarke dropped her hoof and ran directly into the fog as fast as he could, ignoring the eyes glaring at him from all directions. The cold seemed to grow worse the further he ran, but he pushed on no matter how much he felt his body tearing and scraping against itself. He looked back to make sure that Fighter was still with him, but as soon as he did he heard a loud laugh approaching from behind.

“Haha!” Kiki laughed as she ran past him while slashing into his back with her claws, tearing into his metal coat with ease due to the lowered temperature. Clarke growled and spun around to face her, but by the time he had done so, she was already gone. With the hit and run cut short, he turned to Fighter in order to scoop her up into an over the shoulder carry, but just as before there was another quick attack. This time, a massive wooden crate soared through the fog and smashed against Fighters forehead, causing her to stumble back into Clarke’s arms as he grabbed her.

From there, the attacks only spiraled out of control as a series of hard frozen fruits, and slashing claws berated them from beyond the fog. Clarke grabbed onto Fighter and curled around her as best as he could in order to take the full force of their attacks, and every time he thought he knew where they were coming from, a different pair of eyes came rushing forward to attack them.

With each passing second, the attacks became faster, and the cuts grew deeper, until finally, Kiki became too impatient. She charged at him from straight ahead and tried to cut straight through his throat, but with a fierce punch to her claws, he shattered the ice on her hand. Clarke thought that he’d stopped her for good, until he saw her smiling beneath the mask. She charged forward yet again and shoulder tackled him right in the jaw, causing him to fall down and lose his grip on Fighter. The filly was too shell shocked and freezing to make a move against her assailant, and in an instant she was tossed further into the fog, effectively separating them in the worst possible way.

“Fighter!” He yelled as he charged at Kiki, only for the woman to slink back into the fog with ease due to the newfound shift in power and speed. Despite their attacker disappearing, Clarke continued to charge deeper into the fog as fast as he could in the direction closest to where he last saw Fighter. He heard clashes and scraping off in the distance as some form of fighting continued, but every so often they’d find their way back to him and slow his search even more.

Eventually, he decided to just buckle down and fight them as soon as they came close, but that proved just as ineffective as the hardened grocery objects were used as distractions for Kiki to come closer and attack him. It felt like hours since they’d first started, and suddenly he felt a massive wave of fatigue washing over him as the metallic shell quickly faded away, leaving him completely exposed to the brunt of their attacks.

Finally, Kiki Charged in one last time and delivered a flurry of sharpened pinpoint blows to his abdomen, all the way up to his head before jumping up and drop kicking him in the chest. With that he slid across the frozen floor as the fog quickly faded away, his body aching, and his will to fight thoroughly tapped. Kiki walked over to him slowly and lifted him up to his knees, where she then grabbed onto his hair and kept him looking forward. What he saw was a massive pile of cans, frozen goods, and finally, a torn aisle shelf all piled on top of Fighter Swan, pinning her to the ground indefinitely. Beside her was Tremor, looking at Clarke sadly and doing his best to look anywhere but his eyes.

“I win,” Kiki said as she panted heavily from the exertion they had all just undergone. “Tremor, could you do the honors?” She said as she pointed to Clarke, and suddenly the colt had no problem looking up at them.

“W-wait, w-w-what?” He asked in disbelief as he stepped away from them.

“This is the only way to end it. You’ll have to do it eventually, so finish him off!” She demanded as she pulled on Clarke’s hair once again, lifting his head and exposing his bare neck. Tremor looked at them in horror, and suddenly the same gut-wrenching feeling he had been having all day resurfaced. The beaten looks on all of their faces screamed out at him to let it go. No matter who they were, or what had happened, there was no reason to take a life, and he wasn’t going to stand for this.

“No…” He whispered silently as he looked down at the ground, before slowly raising his head and glaring at her. “We don’t have to kill them. I won’t do it.”

“Tremor, that wasn’t a request. I said finish them off.” She replied angrily as she gripped harder into Clarke’s hair, causing him to wince in pain. As they continued to bicker about whether or not to kill him, Clarke was doing his best to summon any and all strength he had left. There wasn’t much, but there had to be something he could do to stop them. That’s when he met eyes with Fighter Swan once again, and saw her slowly raising her gemmed hoof into the air with a look of pain. She was planning something and only needed a few more seconds to do it, and while he wished he could help her stall for time, everything he had was gone. They could only hope for a miracle.

“I said no! I won’t do it!” Tremor said angrily as he stomped his hoof on the ground. That last act of defiance seemed to be the breaking point for Kiki, as she let go of Clarke’s hair and slowly walked towards Tremor menacingly. “Uh… well... what I meant was…” Tremor said in fear as he backpedaled away from her, but no amount of last-minute deals was going to save him.

In one swift motion, she reached down and grabbed Tremor by the mane and lifted him up to eye level. She then punched him in the gut as hard as she could, causing him to wheeze out every ounce of breath in his lungs. Clarke thought she was going to drop him, but he was so very wrong.

“You. Do. What. I. Say. You. Little. Bastard!” Each word was emphasized with a powerful gut punch, until the final one let out an audible crack as something within broke. Once she was finished, and Tremor was left barely conscious, she threw him against the wall like a balled-up piece of paper and ‘hmphed’ in disappointment.

“Remember this next time I tell you to do something.” She said before turning back to Clarke and preparing her claws one last time. No more words needed to be said, no more time wasted. All that was left to do was to finish them off and gain the power boost from it. To Kiki, it was all finally over, at least, that’s what she thought.

“Soul Rip!” Fighter shouted from beneath the pile of junk with as much energy as she could muster. Suddenly, she felt every single bit of power within her body being drained in an instant and transferred over to Clarke, who in turn felt like he’d been hit with a second wind. His eyes narrowed, time slowed, and his feet finally regained the strength to lift his body back up.

He felt calmer than he ever had before, almost like he knew exactly what to do in light of this new spell being cast on him. He extended his right arm as his gem began to swirl with a bright pink, and now green, hue. He felt warm energy flowing across his arm until it took the form of a brightly colored blade mimicking the colors of his and Fighters gems. Time was at a standstill, and no one even reacted to the newly made weapon as he slowly walked up to Kiki, and in one calculated motion, he stabbed the blade directly into her chest.

“Ahhhhhhh!” She screamed as all of her icy powers and stamina drained from her in an instant. The once kneeling Clarke seemingly teleporting in front of her with a massive blade that drove straight through her entire body. It only took one second for the spell to complete, but once it did both Fighter and Clarke felt an otherworldly essence filling their hearts and revitalizing their bodies with newfound strength.

Once Clarke withdrew the energy blade from her abdomen, he felt a massive sense of worry filling him as he watched her drop to the floor in an exhausted heap, gasping for air even harder than before. The worry quickly faded as he saw that she wasn’t bleeding profusely on the ground, telling him that whatever the spell had done, it wasn’t something meant to kill her.

“What… did… you… do?” She wheezed out between pants as she desperately tried to crawl away from him. Clarke was about to ask if she was alright, until he heard several grunts of pain coming from his right.

“Hey Clarke, a little help?” Fighter said with a gasp as she attempted to lift the pile of junk that was pinning her down.

“Oh my god,” He said as he ran to her side and lifted the massive pile just enough for her to crawl out of it. She uttered a thank you for his help and gasped for air as she laid down and stared at the ceiling. “Fighter! Are you hurt, are you okay?” He asked as he lifted her up gently and inspected her for any injuries.

“Mmf, hey I’m fine. Quit it.” She said in annoyance as she batted away his hands, but as she looked at his worried expression, her reluctance to being checked quickly slipped away. She silently nodded to him and lifted up her forehooves in a t-pose to allow him a better look, but after a quick once over he found that she was relatively no worse for wear.

“Thank god you’re alright.” He said as he wrapped her in a tight bear hug that made her feel extremely happy. She buried her face into the crook of his shoulder and closed her eyes as the warmth of his hug enveloped her, the sensations he gave being almost identical to her mother's hugs.

Their embrace was cut short as they heard a faint scraping noise slowly moving across the ground. Clarke looked up and saw Kiki dragging herself closer towards the wall where Tremor laid, and when their eyes met she only quickened her pace. Clarke slowly walked up to her, with Fighter Swan in tow, and in return, Kiki stumbled across the floor in a sad attempt to run away.

“That’s enough, you need to stop this,” Clarke told her as she finally slammed into the wall and used it to help her stand back up.

“No… I’m getting out of here. You’re crazy if you think I’ll let you kill me like a dog.” She said as she spit on the ground angrily.

“Are you serious!?” Fighter shouted angrily as she stomped on the ground, her tail swishing from side to side in frustration. “After what you did you should count yourself lucky you’re even conscious!” She said angrily, causing Kiki to scowl at her.

“Can it kid, you don’t know what I’ve got in me. You’re just plain stupid if you think this is the end!” She yelled before slowly crouching low to the ground. Fighter and Clarke assumed that she was just losing control of her legs, but instead, they saw as she grabbed onto Tremor and tossed his unconscious body towards them like a sack of rocks. Clarke quickly lunged forward and grabbed him, but as soon as he did he saw Kiki running for the front door of the building.

“She’s getting away!” Fighter said as she took a few steps in the direction she’d ran, but a quick whistle from Clarke brought her back around. “Huh?”

“It’s Tremor, he’s barely breathing,” He said as he raised the colt up to his ear and listened to his shallow and raspy breaths. “We need to get him to a hospital, now!” He said with urgency as he rushed for the emergency exit near the far back of the store. Fighter looked back towards the front where Kiki had left and shook her head in disappointment. That lady was going to be trouble for them if left alone, but they didn’t have any time to waste looking for her.

Fighter followed Clarke out of the back of the store and into the darker alleyway covered in the waning midday light. They must’ve spent half the day fighting in the store, it was almost hard to believe.

“Where’s the nearest hospital?” Clarke asked as he turned to her in a panic.

“I-I don’t know! I just got here too, Clarke!” She screamed nervously as she tapped a hoof against her head, desperate for any idea to come. “Maybe… maybe if we run around town as fast as we can, we can find it, or at least get some directions.”

“I don’t know Fighter, I’m fast but worn out. We might not have time for that.” He said as he looked at the pained expression on Tremor’s face. Fighter resumed her thinking, until a strange premonition told her to check the bracelet once again. She lifted it up and browsed the screens within, and noticed an exclamation point flashing on the spells list. As she pulled it up, her eyes widened.

“We might not have to run. Maybe we can skate!” She said triumphantly as she ran up to Clarke and jumped onto his side in order to show him the screen more clearly. He looked at her like she was speaking nonsense until he looked at the bracelet and gasped in surprise.

“Do it,” he said with determination as he cracked his neck eagerly. Fighter got low and took in a deep breath, doing her best to find the familiar sensation in her heart before attempting their brand new spell.

“GARASEI!” She shouted, causing the ground beneath them to briefly rumble as she did. What followed was a familiar transformation, only this time they were the ones feeling it as the ice slowly engulfed their legs and face. Fighter kicked her hooves across the ground like she was on skates and smiled as she felt herself glide along the pavement with ease. She did a small twirl in front of Clarke until she skidded to a halt and faced him confidently, motioning for him to follow with a nod of her head.

Clarke leaned down and kicked his feet just as if he would on ice skates, and thankfully all those times he’d taken the daycare kids to the ice skating rink had paid off as he glided across the ground just as Fighter did, albeit with slightly less grace. What followed was the two bursting out of the alleys surrounding the store and down the street at speeds neither could have ever hoped to reach on foot or hoof.

Fighter stopped every so often on the side of the street to ask if somepony knew where the nearest hospital was, and every time they took more than a second to answer, she quickly moved on to the next one. Sure she might have looked like a weird mix between a pony and a wendigo like this, but that was no reason to go brain dead when being asked a simple question. Eventually, they ran into a pony who wasn’t too busy eating paint chips that was able to give them ample directions to the hospital, and with their destination locked neither wasted any time in getting there.

As they traveled down the street, Fighter turned into one of the massive buildings on the left of the walkway. Clarke noticed that it was the same exact one he’d come to yesterday, and suddenly he felt extremely idiotic. He'd make an effort to remember the path, so that next time they needed it they wouldn't waste any time.

“Help! We need help here!” Fighter screamed abruptly as she skated into the main lobby of the hospital like a bat out of Tartarus. Several ponies waiting on the chairs by the walls, as well as the receptionist at the desk, gasped in fright as they looked at her, but the moment Clarke skated in a few seconds later with an unconscious colt in his arms they immediately jumped from startled, to screaming in terror.

“We need help, please!” As he spoke, the ice finally melted off, revealing the fearful expressions beneath the faceless glowing demon mask. The receptionist slowly peeked his head over the desk as Clarke rushed up to him with Tremor cradled in his arms. There was a moment of silence as the stallion looked at the colt before quickly pressing a button on his desk and speaking into it.

“On-call response team 2 report to the main lobby, I repeat team 2 report to the lobby.” His voice echoed throughout the hospital, and quickly he led them both to one of the automated doors beside his desk. Not two seconds after his announcement, the doors swung open as a group of four ponies wearing blue scrubs came in with a stretcher. They quickly took Tremor and placed him on top, then carted him in while bombarding Clarke with questions.

“What’s his name? What happened to him?” One of the nurses asked as she trotted at a brisk pace beside Clarke and the stretcher, a clipboard engulfed in yellow magic floating beside her as she did.

“His name is Tremor, he was attacked viciously by a... in the stomach until he lost all of his breath. He fell unconscious soon after and might have a few broken bones.” He said, trying his best to move past his Freudian slip. Luckily it seemed there were many other questions she had that were far more pressing like his blood type, allergies, guardian name. He did his best to give her any information he knew, with Fighter there to fill in any gaps she could, and as they did he could already see the team placing a breathing tool over Tremors mouth and pumping into it generously.

It seemed like they were going to be in this for the long haul, and all they could do was hope that they made it in time.

Kiki stumbled away from the scene of the battle and kept a hand on the wall as she limped into a dark alleyway and hid among the trash cans to rest. Everything was going just fine until Tremor had to screw everything up, and now here she was at the end of her rope. She felt like at any second she’d just keel over and die, but the thought of the ordeal still kept a fiery rage burning in her cold heart.

She didn’t need Tremor to get her wish, she was strong enough on her own to make it to the end. Those cowards at the store wouldn’t have the guts to take him out, so as long as they protected him she’d have nothing to worry about on her end. She was powerful, smart, cunning, and resistant to many of the elements thanks to her powers. As soon as she recovered, she’d find some easier prey to get her strength up, then she’d come back for those metal bastards at the store. She’d never forget those faces.

She looked down at her bruised palms and slowly flipped them over to look at the frosted blue gem on her wrist. She’d already unlocked so many secrets with it thus far, so who knew what else was in store. She could track other fighters with it, so maybe if she tried hard enough, she could cast the spells without that brats help. Even if she couldn’t, this was just a minor setback. Nothing was going to stand in her way of the perfect wish, even if she had to go it alone.

Suddenly, the sound of a rolling metal can drew her attention deeper into the alley, where the setting sun's light was unable to shine. She watched apprehensively as the can slowly rolled out of the darkness, and soon she could hear the menacing footsteps of someone approaching. They clacked against the stone slowly and methodically, like a metronome or a ticking clock. Her mouth grew dry as her nerves began to overwhelm her, but no matter how many steps she heard it was almost as if they never grew closer.

Her heart rate increased as she stared at the dark veil at the end of the alley, her imagination filling her with horrific scenarios, until the mysterious newcomer finally revealed himself. It was a pale white man with a dark suit, black dress shoes, a dark blue tie, slicked jet black hair, and a smile that would put even the most desperate of car salesmen to shame. The heels of his shoes let out the distinct clacks she’d been hearing thus far as he slowly walked closer to her, but the moment Kiki stood up to face him, he stopped.

“Who the hell are you?” She asked with as strong of a voice as she could muster as she felt the fatigue threatening to bring her back down to her knees.

“Well Ms. Bahod, my name is Olivier. We’ve been watching you for quite some time, and I must say you are prone to making quite a mess.” He said calmly as he placed both of his hands in front of his waist in a seemingly polite fashion, but just like with Clarke in the store, she could feel the overwhelming power radiating off of him.

“You’ve been… watching me?” She asked curiously as she took a very subtle step back. She wasn’t stupid, a fight with this guy would certainly mean curtains for her, so her only option was to run as fast as she could.

“Yes, we’re trying to keep tabs on all of the people here, and let’s just say that you were the easiest to spot in a crowd,” He said as he lifted his empty hand and stared into it like he was holding something. “Though I must thank you for introducing us to a very interesting duo.”

Kiki took the opportunity she was handed to take a large step back as his eyes were fixed on his hand. She attempted to turn tail and run, but she found herself stuck in the same position, staring at Olivier as he nonchalantly stared into his empty hand. Suddenly, a crackling noise filled her ears as a black unicorn with white frosted tips in her mane floated down from atop the building beside them and joined the man at his side.

“You… you didn’t even say anything.” Kiki said as she tried her best to move out of her frozen state, but the weight on her shoulder kept her there like she was a statue.

“My partner Nightingale here prefers to be… soft-spoken. We can accomplish with a whisper, what others can with all that shouting and flare,” He said as he stepped closer once more, only this time his smile began to fade. “I suppose I should tell you why we’re here.”

“To kill me?” She asked through clenched teeth, and suddenly the man stopped in his tracks.

“Heh, is it that obvious?” He asked with a sorrowful smile. “Trust me when I say that I take no pleasure in this, I’m simply doing what must be done. My wish will be used to bring prosperity to our world, and when I return to earth with everyone’s powers I will make sure you are all remembered for your sacrifice.” He jutted his arm out at an angle like he was preparing something big, and suddenly Kiki felt a strange sense of Deja Vu.

“Soul Rend.” The unicorn said calmly, almost in a whisper, that caused both her and Olivier’s gems to glow, hers a deep black, and his a bright white. Kiki couldn’t even follow what was happening before she let out a wheeze of breathless pain as she felt the sharp white blade of Olivier's hand tearing into her stomach just like before. This time it was different, however. It didn’t just feel like all of her stamina was being drained, it felt like everything about her was being sucked up through the gaping hole in her chest.

She continued to silently cry as her very soul was torn apart and sucked up by the man, and as she looked into his eyes, she could see the regret filling them. Finally, he pushed her off of his blade, letting it vanish from sight as the blue magic from her bracelet flooded into his until it was engulfed in the sea of white. She trembled helplessly as she hovered her hands over the gap in her chest, the pain within, and the damage it caused being far more permanent than Clarke’s.

“You will be remembered, Kiki. I promise.” He said as he knelt down beside her and placed a comforting hand on her head. Finally, as she closed her eyes for the final time, her entire body turned to dust and faded away. The last pieces of her very essence were torn apart and scattered, with it’s last remains going to the man beside her.

They watched as the frosted blue gem strapped to her wrist fell into the pile of ash. Once it touched the ground, a bright white ring circled around it and seemingly sucked it in like a black hole until there was nothing left of the magical artifact. Olivier and Nightingale looked at it disinterested, as it wasn't the first time they'd seen the mysterious disappearance of the gems, and quickly the man reached into his breast pocket and pulled out a small book. He flipped open to a page within, the left side filled with various names, and started at the very top of the next. With a long sigh, he wrote the name 'Kikilani Bahod' at the very top, before closing and stowing it away calmly.

"What do you even plan to do with all those names?" Nightingale asked as she already began walking deeper into the alley towards the shadows they'd emerged from.

"When I return to earth, I'll find their loved ones. I will offer my condolences and make sure I do everything in my power to gain their forgiveness." He mumbled with audible remorse in his words. Before every life he took, he remembered to find their names, and keep them safe by his heart.

“Hmm… admirable.” Nightingale said as they were finally shrouded in the darkness that covered their trek back to the hideout.

“Of course, as the future king of my world, I have every obligation to these people’s loved ones. They gave their lives on the field of battle, all in order to make sure I get my wish,” He said as he looked back at the pile of ash one last time. “This is the very least I can do in return for their sacrifice.”

Clarke and Fighter Swan sat in the dim candlelit dining room, with Fighter atop two boxes stacked on each other, and Clarke sitting on a broken radiator they found in the broom closet. Both of their heads were hanging low as they stared into their fancy stolen palace cups filled to the brim with water. The silence was deafening, yet it said so much about both of their thoughts, as they came to grips with the horrifying reality of today’s grocery shopping adventure.

After admitting Tremor into the hospital, answering their questions, and waiting for him for a few hours, they finally left for home. They were lucky to have done so at such an opportune time, because who knew what kinds of questions, or accusations, his parents may have had if they’d met. The doctors said that he was going to be fine… eventually. The beating he’d sustained, as well as untreated injuries from some time ago, made it difficult to time when he’d fully recover. All they could do now was offer him their best wishes, and pray that Kiki would leave him alone for good. Wherever she was.

“We almost died,” Fighter blurted out, her whisper sounding like a shout when piercing the veil of silence hanging over them. Clarke only craned his eyes upward to glance at the downtrodden filly, before looking down at his glass and nodding in agreement. For some reason, this fight was even more draining than the first, even after they’d used three spells in the span of an hour. He was still terribly sore, and he could only imagine how Fighter was feeling, but he was nowhere near the vegetable state he was on the second day he was here. So why? Why did his heart feel heavier than ever before?

“Clarke… why didn’t you tell me?” She asked in her most sincere voice. No pretenses, no tricks, no fake emotion, just the question waiting for an answer. Clarke slid his cup off to the side and laid his hands together before answering, his head and eyes still not raising for a minute or two.

“I just… wanted to spare you. I hoped that over time I could… ease you into the reality of it all. I didn’t want to crush your ambition with the truth about what we had to do,” He said before shaking his head and laying it against his palm as he chuckled. He ridiculed her mother for the very same thing last night, and here he was doing the same, only ten times worse. He guessed that today's episode of ‘the screwed up life of Clarke’ was sponsored by the word hypocrite. “But now I see that I was only protecting myself. I didn’t have the heart to tell you the whole truth, and I nearly got us killed today. I’m so sorry for that.” Fighter’s jaw dropped ever so slightly as she watched the man hold back his tears.

“Clarke, it’s okay. I sort of… already knew I guess.” She reached out and touched the hand still on the table, before sitting back down and waiting for him to look at her.

“You did?” He asked in shocked confusion, unsure of what to do.

“Well, kind of? It was just an idea really. After the way Fiddler and Todd acted, spouting off about killing and stuff, I had a hunch that they weren’t the only ones. It only grew when you told me about the Tourney, and today pretty much sealed it.” She explained before sipping from her cup. Clarke, however, was nothing short of stunned when she’d finished her explanation.

“You’re… something else Fighter,” She hummed in confusion as he said this, silently asking him to elaborate as she tilted her head. “Not in a bad way! I just mean… I’ve never met anypony as smart as you.”

“What?” She said as she slid her empty cup away as well. “Thanks, but I’m not that smart. There’s plenty of ponies smarter than me.” She said as she rubbed her hooves together and looked away in embarrassment, her pink cheeks somehow growing visibly darker from the blush. Clarke just leaned his head to the side and smiled at her.

“Well, I certainly wouldn’t’ve put the pieces together unless it was spelled out for me. That’s for sure.” She looked up at him nervously, but quickly looked away when she saw his smile. She wasn’t used to receiving compliments unless they were from her mom, or were about how cute she was. She quickly shook her head free of those thoughts and placed her hooves back on the table, an action that made Clarke let out an ‘oh’ of anticipation.

“At any rate, I accept the terms of defeat. I lost the bet, so from here on out I’ll follow your plans of staying inside and planning out every step we take. You were right.” She said as she lowered her head in defeat. Clarke was taken aback by her admission and coughed into his hand before extending an open palm to her.

“I appreciate it, Fighter, but honestly I’d say you were the one who’s right,” She looked up at him the same way he looked down at her, and now it was his turn to explain. “Today was scary and downright foolish, but it was a great learning experience. Now we know that pushing through with raw strength isn’t enough, and that our stamina isn’t infinite.”

“Yeah, but… we almost died.” She said as she shifted uncomfortably in her seat, the words feeling terrible every time she said them.

“And that isn’t your fault.” She looked up at him in surprise as she heard those words. It was like a weight she didn’t even know was there had been lifted. “We’re going to have to go out again, it’s inevitable, but until then we can prepare. We can train to use our powers and not lose stamina, as well as get used to the one we stole from Kiki.” Fighter looked down at the gem on her leg and smiled.

“Yes! Then the next time we go out there we can make sure we win. When we do…” She looked down at her hooves and nodded with determination. “...we can make sure that ponies like Tremor will never get hurt again. We can put an end to this, and make everyone see that we don’t need to fight!” She declared triumphantly, garnering a fist slam into the table by Clarke.

“Damn straight!” He said as he grabbed onto his cup and pointed it towards her in the universal gesture of revelry and companionship. “We’ll save the ones who don’t want to fight, and to the ones that do, we’ll beat some sense into them!” Fighter smiled and grabbed onto her cup…. with one hoof? Questions for later.

“Yeah! We’ll find a way to end this peacefully!” With that, they slammed their cups together and laughed triumphantly. It was true that neither of them knew how they were going to do it, but at the moment it hardly seemed to matter to them. All they knew was that today was a game-changer, and they were finally going to start playing. Only this time, they’d be playing by their own set of rules.

“I’m home!” Sunny shouted as the sounds of the front door opening and closing echoed through the empty house. She tiredly dragged her hooves across the floor until she stood at the doorway to the dining room, her eyes baggy, and her mane a mess as she leaned against the wall.

“Hey, mom! Good day at work?" Fighter asked with a smile as both her and Clarke looked over to her happily.

“Ha! Well, it certainly was… a day… that happened,” She said with a long sigh. She looked up to both of their smiling faces and could tell they were a bit bruised and frazzled, but that was no different for her daughter than white on rice. What was a strange sight was the absolutely massive, and seemingly genuine, smile on her face. A smile that Clarke seemed to be sharing. “So what’s got you all smiling and junk?” She asked with slightly more sass than she intended.

“Oh, nothing…” Clarke started as he lowered his empty cup and looked over to Fighter. “We just had a really strong bonding moment today.” Fighter looked over to him as well, and they both shared a respectful nod.

“Okay?” Sunny said, feeling a little awkward about the situation until the growl of her stomach thankfully brought in a change of subject. “Well, that’s good, cause I’m starving. Did you guys have enough to get what you needed at the grocery store?” As she asked the seemingly innocuous question, she quickly noticed the smiling faces of the duo dropping in an instant.

Their jaws dropped as they sat there, speechless and unable to move in the face of her bomb of a question. It seemed that in all of this time, they completely forgot the entire reason they left the house today, and they were going to need a very good explanation for her mother.

Sunny squinted at them as they shared nervous looks with each other, then chuckled to herself as she realized what this meant. “Let me start you guys off by saying that I know what you’re about to say is a lie, and that you have ten seconds to prepare.” She said with a raised hoof before dropping it to the ground and looking at them expectantly.

“Well, that’s more time than usual at least,” Fighter muttered before her and Clarke immediately leaned forward on the table and started scheming. If there was one other thing they learned today, it was that they were either too brave, or too stupid to give up.

It was probably the latter.

Chapter 7 - Trust

“This is so stupid!” Fighter complained as she jostled beneath the uncomfortable, and ugly, beige saddlebags on her back. “You know this is a bad idea, I know this is a bad idea, how could mom not!?” She walked in front of Clarke in an attempt to stop him, but all he did was lift her by her bags and spin her around so that she was facing the same direction on the street as him.

“I don't know, maybe if we hadn't lied about it she'd think twice," Clarke responded in exasperation, his limit for her whining coming to a head. “Besides, if I was your mom, I’d want you to get off your lazy butt and go to school too.” Fighter grumbled as she followed him, but that didn’t mean she wouldn’t drag her hooves across the ground in defiance the whole time.

"Come on, why would you say that? You were lying right there next to me!" She complained as she trudged along the ground

"Wrong! I was fully prepared to, but you had other plans." Fighter looked up at the sky as they walked and contemplated the events that happened that night. She didn’t remember things going THAT bad, so why was he acting so mean?

“It was Clarke!” Fighter blurted out without any warning as she pointed across the table towards the human in question.

“Clarke? What Clarke?” He replied in confusion as now both Fighter and her mother were looking at him cautiously.

“His… human… customs. They… don’t let him shop for groceries on… Monday!” She said with constant changes in her inflections and extremely obvious pauses for her to think. Fighters mom chuckled as she crossed her front hooves and leaned against the doorway with a smile. Meanwhile, Clarke was just staring at Fighter in disbelief as she, without hesitation, threw him under a bus, ran him over, then backed up for seconds.

“That’s really what you’re going with? Gotta say, I’m a bit disappointed Fighter. Are you tired or just losing your edge?” Her mom said with a smirk and a raised eyebrow.

“How do you know it’s a lie? You can’t know.” Fighter responded as she craned her head to the side and glared at her mom with one eye open. Sunny then rolled her eyes, conceding to the fact of that statement, and looked over to Clarke with a bored expression.

“Clarke… do your human customs prevent you from buying groceries on a Monday?”

“Uhh…” He stopped for a moment and glanced at Fighter, her nervous look putting added pressure on his answer. IF her mother found out how the day really played out, there’d be a ton of headaches tonight, as opposed to a ton of headaches later. He hated to admit it, but he was gonna have to bite the bullet on this one. “Yes… my… human teachings prevent me from… doing so.” He said with pursed lips as he looked at the ground, then slowly craned his head upwards towards Sunny. She looked at him, then to Fighter, then back to Clarke with a furrowed brow.

“Well, you got me there,” She replied with a sigh and a shrug. “Next time though, why don’t you tell me that before I give you all my money.” She said before turning tail and finally leaving the dining room with a loud yawn.

With that crisis narrowly averted, Clarke turned on his busted radiator and looked at Fighter sternly, her face already beginning to sweat from the pressure. She smiled as wide as she could as he stared before grabbing onto her empty cup and raising it ever so slightly.

“We did it. Yaaaaay.” She said with waning enthusiasm that Clarke was certainly not going to reciprocate.

“Come on Clarke, I said I was sorry. Besides, I didn’t see you coming up with any ideas, So in short… you’re welcome.” Fighter finished with a sly smirk at her own staggering wit. Clarke just looked at her in disbelief and smiled, as the gall of this little girl to tell him something like that was truly awe-inspiring. “What?” She asked, feeling a tad uncomfortable under his gaze.

“Nothing, nothing. I just really hope you enjoy your day at school.” He said happily, his smile still plastered on his face. Fighter groaned in frustration and kicked herself in the head for getting so prideful. She just antagonized the one guy who could’ve helped her get out of the school day, so now her only option was to suck it up and do it. She hated doing the responsible thing when there was an easier shortcut staring her in the face. She had no one to blame but herself though.

Clarke glanced at the various groups of students flanking them on both sides as they all walked closer to the school, and found it strange how so many of them were much older, or much younger, than Fighter. This school must’ve been quite different from the ones back on earth, and he was curious to see it up close.

Fighter on the other hand just gazed at the fancy shops surrounding them as they passed by, all of them preparing their doors for the deluge of student customers they'd get both before and after the school day. She would give anything to just spend the day perusing the shops here instead of wasting her time at school, but time was running short as she could already see the once distant building growing closer every second. If she wanted out then she needed to act quickly.

“Come on, nopony’ll know if we just do something else. *gasp* We can go window shopping! I know some really cool stores.” She said, abruptly breaking the silence in a final desperate bid to sway Clarke to her side.

“Fighter, stop complaining. There've been no signs of other teams, we’ve been cooped up all week, and it’s Friday. Just one measly day at school and you’ll have the whole weekend on your hands… er-hooves.” Clarke explained as they finally reached the gates of the school. It was a massive building that looked like a megastructure with six floors, and the length of a football field and a half. Much of the campus beyond the outer walls were filled with grassy areas, and Clarke could imagine that fields and other smaller buildings were being hidden behind the massive main school building in front of them. He couldn’t be sure, but it almost looked like a huge portion of the districts area was reserved just for this school.

“Say, what grade are you in again?” He asked as he tore his eyes from the school and looked down at Fighter who seemed to be keeping an eye on the crowd of ponies passing them.

“Uh, fifth…” She responded mechanically as she continued to scan the crowd without really paying any attention to him.

“Fighter? You alright?” He asked with concern, thinking that maybe she was getting nervous from all the eyes trained on them as they walked by. As he watched her though, he quickly realized that she wasn’t averting her eyes from the other students, she was looking for someone.

"Please… can't we just do something else?" She asked in a near whisper that was almost drowned out by the loud conversations of the ponies passing them. She turned around to him, her eyes large and watery in the cutest display he’d seen since his first day here. He felt like giving in to every little demand she had, on top of offering to get some ice cream, but somehow he found the strength to do the right thing.

"You'll be fine. I know you're a little nervous, especially after how crazy the week's been, but just remember that you've got what it takes," he said as he knelt to her level and rested his hand on her head, prompting her to look up at him with an adorable glint in her eyes. "I won't be far if you need help, alright? Just one more day, and we'll do whatever you want over the weekend.”

"Promise?" She asked as she leaned her head into his comforting hand.

"Promise." He replied with a nod. Fighter returned the gesture with a nod of her own and faced the gate beside them. Before she stepped inside though, she quickly reached into her bag and grabbed something she'd nearly forgotten. She pulled out the map of District five and handed it to Clarke, who accepted it gladly and gave her a quick head pat as thanks. As Fighter entered the school grounds Clarke opened up the small pamphlet and groaned when he remembered that he'd have to rely on the pictures to guide him until he got better at reading Equestrian.

Fighter entered through the gates of the school and took a deep breath to calm herself. The faces surrounding her were familiar, yet foreign and terrifying at the same time. She was on her own, and after spending so much time near someone she could finally trust, it suddenly felt much more daunting to be that way. Her heart started to beat faster, and her breathing much less steady. Maybe she couldn’t do this?

“Clarke!?” She called out as she spun around and ran back out the gate, but when she looked to where he was standing moments prior, he was gone. The reality of her situation started to bear down on her, and every one of her senses felt like they were about to shut down until she heard the familiar bell ringing over the loudspeakers. She shook herself out of her mini freak out and marched into the school with determination and just a hint of anger. The faster she got through today, the faster she’d be on her weekend.

The cacophony of chattering students accompanied her steadfast march through the school as she made her way to the third floor where grades five through eight were located. As she made it to her desired floor, she froze as the dreaded encounter with her ‘friends’ was all but inevitable. Standing in the path of the stairwell were three small fillies, the first one named Lacey Frill was a very bright turquoise with red hair, the second named Comet Trail was bright yellow with navy blue hair, and the third was Catty Quote who had a purple coat with light pink hair and a light blue bow on her long flowing mane.

“Anyway, that’s when I said…” The conversation the three had been having suddenly cut off as they turned towards Fighter. She glared at all three of them angrily, but to her surprise they seemed to almost relish her anger, even going so far as to smile at her like nothing was wrong.

“Hey.” Fighter said coldly, trying, and failing, to hide the contempt in her voice.

“Oh, hey!” Catty said with a smile as she waved to Fighter Swan. "We were wondering where you were." She said while tilting her head to the side and chuckling.

"Yeah," Comet started as she stepped to the side to allow room for Fighter to pass. "I was telling everypony how my dad got one of those T.V's from Ambitech! It's so cool you wouldn't even believe!" Comet looked down at the filly and slowly lost her smile when faced with Fighter's unending glare. Everypony fell into silence as the brooding filly just shut her eyes and trembled for a moment, unable to even look at them.

They all backed up a little as a feeling of dread overcame them, but in an effort to remedy this Lacey decided to speak up. "H-hey! I... like your bracelet. Green works with you." She said with a slight tremble in her voice.

"Yeah," Catty added in while nudging Lacey. "This dress head knows all about fashion too, so you know it's true." Fighter let out a loud breath and finally raised her head, seemingly devoid of her anger.

“Yeah, my uncle got it for me… you know… for my birthday?” She said with a deadpan expression and a piercing glare that made them all of them don confused looks.

"Oh, well happy...birthd-hey!" Comet was interrupted in trying to wish her a happy birthday as Fighter intentionally stepped through them and knocked her over. “OW!” She cried as she hit the ground with a loud slam, but Fighter didn’t even turn to look at her.

“Hey, what’s the big idea?” Lacey shouted at her as she walked away, drawing a few eyes to them as she did. Fighter made no moves to turn around, that is, until Lacey said one final thing that shook her to her very core. “The least you could do is say sorry!” Fighter stopped in her tracks and slowly craned her head back so that one eye stared into their souls, before turning and continuing towards her classroom without another word.

The gall of those ponies to demand she apologize. After what they did they were lucky she didn’t cover their hooves in ice and leave them standing there all day. How could they do something so heinous, then act like everything was just peachy? How could they even think she could see them as her so called 'friends' anymore? Fighter was positively fuming from that encounter, but she felt confident that they got the message. Friendship over, and now she didn’t need anypony else.

Her racing thoughts finally subsided as she entered into her classroom and took a seat by the wall closest to the door. There would be plenty of time to deal with her emotional stuff later, right now she had some important work to do.

“Miss Swan.” The teacher called from the front of the class, drawing all eyes to the pink filly who had her head resting against her hooves, and her tongue lolled out in a less than flattering position as she snoozed away.

“What?” She asked with a bit of a snort as her light snoring abruptly came to an end. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes as she looked around the room, each of her classmates' faces filled with smiles and snickers as they stared at her.

“Were you asleep in my class?” Miss Highdive asked with a raised eyebrow.

“What? Nooooo… I was just…” She let out a very long yawn and dropped her tired head onto her hoof once again. “Admiring how the inside of my eyelids look.” The class gave a chorus of giggles at her snarky response, and soon the teacher just rolled her eyes and continued writing on the board. As the magically manipulated chalk clacked against the board up front, Fighter took a moment to gaze up at the clock above and smile when she saw the time. It was nearly lunch, which meant half of the day had been napped away.

If she kept this pace for the rest of her time here, she’d be back home before she knew it. She lazily glanced across the room and out the large window across from her desk, her mind settling on watching the blue sky lazily as the seconds ticked by. As she stared though, she felt a faint sting on her right eye, causing her to follow the source of the irritation. Her heart dropped as she saw a bright yellow gem, whose surface reflected the sunlight directly into her eyes, strapped around the hoof of a young brown filly near the front of the class. However, the moment she blinked, the bracelet had disappeared.

“What?” She whispered to herself as she stared at the filly in disbelief. She was a dark brown earth pony, about a shade darker than her mother, and had a short curled mane about a shade of blonde brighter than her own. Her face had a few freckles, and her cutie mark was that of a magician's hat with sparkles of magic coming out of it. Eventually, the filly returned Fighters stare with one of her own, and just smiled at her warmly from afar.

No matter how many times Fighter rubbed her eyes or squinted, the yellow bracelet would not reappear around the filly’s hoof. Maybe she was just seeing things? Or maybe it was a new power she wasn’t aware of. Regardless, she needed to stay on her guard, and more importantly keep an eye on this girl.

The bell rang, releasing the students for lunch, and as the majority of her class crowded around the door as quickly as they could, she and the brown filly got up and slowly approached each other.

“Say, you’re new here right?” She asked with a raised brow as she pointed to the girl.

“Sure am! Name’s Seashore!” She said as she took Fighters outstretched hoof and shook it heartily. Fighter eventually wrestled it out of the abnormally strong filly's grasp and gave her an odd look, one befitting her odd personality.

“Seashore… cool…” She got the sneaking suspicion this girl wasn’t just ‘quirky’ for the sake of it. If her eyes weren’t deceiving her, and she knew they couldn’t, she was definitely hiding her gem somewhere. She decided to test the waters a bit and see if she could catch her in a slip-up. “Hey, you see my bracelet?” She said as she turned her left leg enough so that her shimmering green stone stared Seashore in the face.

“Wow! Your bracelet is so pretty!” Seashore said with a gasp, followed by wide glistening eyes as she gawked at Fighters source of power.

“Oh, it’s nothing special,” Fighter said as she shook her head bashfully and rubbed the gem with her free hoof. “It’s… not as pretty as yours.” She said with a smile as she faced Seashore. Seashore looked up from the gem and tilted her head, her warm smile faltering ever so slightly from the confusion of Fighters confident proclamation.

“My what?” She asked innocently. Fighter ‘ahhed’ silently in response, and realized that such a simple act of trickery wouldn’t be enough. This girl may have looked super happy go lucky, even a little ditzy, but she was ninety percent sure it was all a front. “Looks like the door’s clear,” She said as she pointed to the opened classroom door, the sounds of the hallway filling their ears as a result. “Wanna eat lunch together?” She asked happily.

“That sounds great.” Fighter replied after taking a moment to resituate herself. The two walked down the hall past several groups of chatting students, Fighter not once taking her eyes off of the girl. She knew what she saw, and she’d be damned if she was going to give up the search. She just needed to be ready for Seashore to blunder, and when she did she’d be ready for a fight. There wasn’t any time to focus on school when the Tourney was active, there were a lot of lives at stake.

“This school is really big,” Seashore commented as her head spun around the room, taking in all of the sights and sounds of the state of the art schoolhouse. “Is every school in Canterlot like this?”

“Huh? Well, I guess. I’ve only ever gone here. This school’s so big because kids from district five to eight go here.” Fighter explained as she recalled the information as best as she could. “Why? Are the schools where you come from not like this?”

“Oh yeah, I went to an itty bitty schoolhouse. It fit since I came from an itty bitty town,” She said proudly as they made their way down the stairs. “A little place called Rocky Road.”

“You made that name up, no way there’s a town called Rocky Road.” Fighter retorted almost immediately the idea of such an idiotic name not even registering as fact for her.

"Really!?" Seashore responded in genuine surprise as they finally reached the first floor of the schoolhouse. The many lockers and sparse rooms flanking them on either side as even more students ran off for their lunch. "Then where did I grow up?" She asked as she contemplated this conundrum.

"Haha, very funny." Fighter said with a roll of her eyes as she continued towards the exit of the school.

"What is?" Seashore again responded with an oblivious look as she trotted after her new friend. Fighter stopped for a moment and gave her an ‘are you serious’ look, but she quickly rectified that with a simple face hoof.

"Let's just… go to lunch." She said slowly as she finally looked away from Seashore and towards the exit door only a few feet in front of them. She reached out for the push mechanism, but before she could open it up for them, a familiar face slid in front of her and blocked the door. Fighter growled as one by one the three fillies from before stepped in front of her and slowly approached, the band-aid on Comets face making her roll her eyes.

“Oh!” Seashore said in surprise as they appeared. “Hello! Are you Fighters friends?”

“I don’t know, are we friends Fighter?” Lacey said with a bit of an attitude, one that Catty seemed to share. Strangely enough, though, Comet looked extremely hesitant in their presence, almost intentionally hiding herself behind them. “Last time I checked, friends don’t just trample each other to the ground for no reason.”-

“For no…!” Fighter caught herself as her anger began to surge once again. Were they really this stupid? Are they really trying to imply that she had no right to be mad? Sure, maybe pushing Comet over was unnecessary, but to even suggest that she had no reason to. “Hmm, hmm, hmm…” Fighter started chuckling slowly as her head drooped in anger, and soon the chuckle turned into a full-blown maniacal cackle. The fillies looked at each other nervously, and even Seashore stepped to the side a bit, as Fighter laughed like there was no tomorrow.

“You… you wanna know something funny?” She asked as her laughter slowly petered out, but none of them answered. “I’m not even mad at you for missing my birthday. I’m mad at myself… for even believing you would show up in the first place!” After saying that she resumed laughing, but this time she noticed a stark change in their expressions.

“Birthday?” Lacey said in shock as she and the others continued to back away from her.

“Yes!” Fighter pointed her bracelet clad hoof towards them, not noticing the massive green light that flooded out of her gem and illuminated their faces like a flashlight. “Friends don’t just ignore something so big! But like I said, that was my fault, haha!” Fighter felt more and more disconnected, her head a haze of emotions and thoughts that led nowhere. She felt a sudden urge to use one of her spells, but which one?

Maybe Garasei? Freeze their faces and slam them into the wall? Or maybe good ole’ Kachin? One solid punch with that and they would have trouble remembering much more than birthdays. Finally, what about Soul Rip? They saw what it did to other gem holders, so what about normal ponies.

“Okay, how about everypony calms down, yeah?” Seashore said as she jumped in between Fighter and her ‘friends’. Fighter Swan's dangerous thoughts were suddenly terminated as the source of her distress was blocked, and immediately the green light dimmed back down. “I… uh… have some nice cupcakes! My mom made them, and they’re good. Why don’t we share some?” Seashore dropped her saddlebags and tried to fish for her lunchbox, but as she looked up to where Fighter had previously been standing, she was gone.

Immediately after Seashore deescalated the situation, Fighter ran off as fast as she could through the school exit. Her body became a blur as she galloped across the lunch area behind the school, making her way to one of the gym equipment sheds. In a matter of seconds, she cleared the distance between, running behind the shed and slamming herself against the shaded wall as she let her heart rate slow down.

She sat there trembling, the only sound being her deep breaths, and shook her head in defiance. Why was she so affected by this? It was her fault, she needed to be mad at herself, not anypony else. So why? Why did she feel so angry when she saw them? So hurt when they dismissed her? It’s not like she ever really trusted them, she knew that she shouldn't trust anypony. So why…. why was she crying?

Fighter dropped her head as the tears freely fell from her eyes and rolled down her cheeks. She knew this was a bad idea, but stupid Clarke made her go anyway. They could’ve been doing literally anything else right now, but instead, she was sobbing like a newborn foal who didn’t get their dessert. These emotions were so stupid, and her best bet was to cut them off and try her best to seal them up. The only way to truly be a healthy individual was to look at things logically, and that meant cutting emotion out of the equation.

That was easier said than done however, as the tears just did not want to stop no matter how much she demanded they do. Maybe she had enough time to skip school before lunch was over? Then she could just wait at home for the weekend, instead of being stuck in this ring of Tartarus.

“Hey… Fighter?” Catty called out cautiously. Fighter lifted her head and flipped her bangs out of her way as she stared up at the three fillies plus Seashore. She sniffled for a moment and wiped away her tears as she looked away from them, uninterested in what they had to say. She’d listen, but this would be good practice for never letting her guard down.

“How’d you find me?” She asked in as steady a voice as she could manage. The trio all sat down across from her, with Comet looking over to Seashore.

“She chased after you almost immediately, she said she saw you come here,” She gave a weak smile and nodded towards Fighter nervously. “You run pretty fast.” She kept her head turned away, unwilling to receive such a surface level compliment from the likes of her.

“Listen, we came to say we're sorry,” Lacey said, and suddenly Fighter felt her heart's newly formed barrier beginning to crack. She grimaced for a second and squinted her eyes to not let the tears flow again, but she still kept her gaze off of the others. “We really had no idea it was your birthday.”

“What, did you not get the invite I sent almost a week in advance?” She said with slightly more bite than she was intending. She kicked herself in the head for getting emotional and continued trying her best to approach things calmly, this time by staring them straight in the eyes. This backfired however as she saw the remorse within all of them, something that made her eyes widen in realization.

Catty slowly took off her bow and pushed it closer to Fighter, her eyes being glued to the gesture in utter disbelief. On her left, Lacey set down a pretty silver lunchbox and pushed that closer, and on the right Comet set down a smooth rock that looked like it was covered in rainbows before pushing it over as well.

“W-what… what is…? I don’t…” She said in confusion as she frantically looked between the objects, and back up to her friends. Fighters breathing became unstable, her tears now returning even harder than before as she struggled to find the words to express the swirling emotions in her head.

“I know it’s not much, but I hope it’s a useful birthday present,” Lacey said while pointing to the lunchbox.

“I know it’s just a rock, but it’s a special prism stone that shines like a rainbow. I hope you like it as much as I do.” Comet said quietly, her face smiling warmly.

“You already know this is my favorite bow. I really like it…” Catty said as she finally let go of the bow. “But I like you better.” She slowly walked over to Fighter and scooped her in a hug, the other two following suit as they all repeated their apologies, asking if she’d forgive them. Fighter was sure that this had to be a dream, but a hug this warm coming from somepony other than her mother or Clarke couldn’t possibly have been faked.

“I-I-I… thank you!” She cried as she finally allowed herself to be embraced by her friends. “And I’m sorry. I’m sorry I hurt you, doubted you, I’m just… so sorry!” Fighter’s emotions couldn’t decide if they wanted to be happy, or sad, so she just let out some weird gasping noise that sounded like a dying walrus. For the first time though, Fighter trusted that nopony would judge her for it.

As the newly patched friends continued to hug things out, Seashore smiled at her handiwork. She wasn’t sure she wanted to know what Fighter would have done if she didn't intervene, but that was already water under the bridge. She turned to leave, believing her job to be done, until she was stopped by Fighters voice calling out for her.

“Seashore!” She cried, causing her to freeze and look back. “Get over here!” She said with a smile as she waved her over. The others who had opened up their hug did the same, waving their new friend over for her wonderful deed. Seashore did not need to be told twice.

“Oh yeah!” She screamed as she sprinted towards the group and joined in the hug. She couldn’t wait to tell Will that not only had she made some friends, but she made four in just one day. That would give him pause before he doubted her again.

“See ya!” Fighter shouted as she waved goodbye to her three friends as they walked towards the carriage pickup for district six. She let out a long sigh of content and felt a natural smile spring to her lips, something that she hadn’t even thought was possible anymore.

“Boop!” Seashore exclaimed as she jumped next to Fighter, wrapped an arm around her neck, and booped her on the nose. Fighter let out a giggle and reciprocated the boop to Seashore, before waiting patiently by the front gate of the school. The day had finally ended, and with it a relief that Fighter had been waiting for all day. Although, while she was glad that the weekend was on the horizon, she was even more sad that the day had to end.

She’d been dreading the fallout with her friends, but thanks to the help of the new filly in school she not only patched it up but got sweet gifts in the process. She looked over to Seashore happily as she gazed up at the late day clouds and once again glanced down to her hooves. There was no sign of the bracelet, and for the first time Fighter was willing to accept that… maybe she just had it wrong.

There was no way a contestant was this kind and contagiously happy, so she felt that it was finally time to set aside her suspicions. Maybe… there was a new pony she could trust now? She’d only just met Seashore, and already she couldn’t imagine what the day would’ve been without her. What she… would’ve done.

“I got something on me?” Seashore asked cutely as she started inspecting herself. “Is it a bug? I love bugs!” She exclaimed before spinning in place and searching her body for the bug she was certain had been there.

“No, no,” Fighter said with a chuckle as she stopped the girl. “I just wanted to say… thanks.” Seashore looked at her like she was crazy and patted her on the shoulder.

“You’re welcome, but I didn’t do much. I just reminded them that friends are supposed to care about each other's feelings.” Seashore said sagely as she raised a hoof and nodded towards her. Fighter thought about those words for a second and returned the nod. Soon though, Seashore too had to leave as she walked into the streets by herself to make her way home, but not before telling Fighter they should have a sleepover sometime. Fighter had never really been to a sleepover before, so as long as she was offering, she’d definitely give it a try.

Fighter waited for a few more minutes as the last one by the gate, wondering if Clarke had just forgotten to pick her up, but as soon as the thought passed she heard some thundering footsteps to her left.

“Hey!” Clarke yelled from a distance as he jogged towards her, his scarf flapping in the wind behind him. “Sorry… late… kid.” He said between pants as he leaned forward and rested his hands on his knees.

“That’s okay.” Fighter responded with a shake of her head, a sudden feeling of guilt overcoming her.

“What’s up? You look a little down.” He said as he finally caught his breath. Fighter sat down for a moment and looked up at Clarke, his eyes beginning to look around in confusion.

“Clarke… I learned something today. Having a friend is a two-way street, and sometimes admitting when you’re wrong is more important than protecting your pride,” She looked down at her gem, then back up to Clarke. He seemed taken aback from this sudden topic, but he remained silent as she talked. “I almost lost my mind today, and I would’ve if a new friend hadn’t set us all straight. It saved our friendship… and me.

“So I guess what I’m trying to say is…” She stood up, then realized something that made her pause. She pointed towards the ground, and after a moment Clarke realized that she wanted him to kneel. As soon as he did, she finally had enough leverage to reach up and hug him. “I’m sorry for lying to mom about you.” She could feel Clarke freeze for a moment, before a single hand reached behind and awkwardly patted her back.

“No… no problem kid.” He said slowly, and suddenly Fighter became extremely worried. She let go of Clarke and backed away, another action that seemed to startle the man, looking up at him in fear.

“Is it too late? Are you mad at me? Please, I promise not to do it again!!” She said, a frantic mess as her tears threatened to resurface.

“Hey, hey, hey! It’s okay, it’s okay, calm down.” He said with his palms outstretched in a calming manner. “I ain’t mad. It was just… unexpected is all.” She sniffled for a moment as he got closer, but the moment he smiled at her she felt a great sense of relief.

“You’re pretty smart aren’t you?” He said with a bit of a chuckle. Fighter let out a chuckle of her own for a moment as she wiped her eyes.

“I hope I am.” She could tell that he was being genuine with her, but even so she still needed to try and prove herself. He was the first one to show her affection when no one else could, the one who pushed her to give today a try. The last thing she wanted was to let a betrayal like this go unfixed.

“Hey, got a quick question,” He said abruptly as he fished for something behind him. Fighter watched curiously as he pulled out a small damp rag and presented it to her. “Does this smell like chloroform to you?”

“What’s Chloro- mmph!” Suddenly his smile widened as he pressed the rag to her face, covering her mouth and nose instantly in a strange suffocating smell. She began to go limp, as her consciousness quickly left. The last thing she saw was Clarke shaking his head and smiling as he looked down at her.

“Haha! I’ve always wanted to do that.”

Author's Note

Fun Fact: I wrote this chapter to completion three different times, each version having things I liked, and things I didn't. Half of the time since releasing the last chapter was just spent deciding which version to use in the seventh. Don't worry though, I'll regret my choice as always, like nearly every chapter I put out. Such is life. :twilightsmile:

Chapter 8 - The illusionists

Seashore opened up the door to the apartment and slowly trudged her way inside, the long walk from the school taking much more out of her than she expected. She figured that next time, it’d be better to just learn how the school carriage system works. She kicked the door shut behind her and looked off to the left, where the late day sun shone through the kitchen area window and out onto the small living area beyond. She gave a loud sigh of exasperation and dropped her saddlebags onto the ground as she walked over to the couch and hopped onto it face first.

She was content to just lay there and pass out, but she knew that at any second a certain someone was going to burst in and ruin it. She waited for a few minutes with her head raised and ears swiveling all around, but suddenly she felt a very strange sensation in her chest. Could it be? Was she feeling the elusive emotion hope once again? With a smile, Seashore slowly lowered her head against the soft cushions beneath, as the warm embrace of sleep finally surrou-

*Knock* *Knock* *Knock*

“Ahhhhhhhhh.” She let out a long and drawn-out groan of frustration as she slowly rolled herself off of the sofa and landed back first on the ground. With a loud sigh of exasperation, she picked herself up and made her way to the door to see who had so rudely interrupted her. As she walked, the once small brown filly began to glow a bright yellow hue as the silent and very powerful magic aided her. With every step, she grew taller, with every inch of height her mane and tail extended to their intended lengths, and once she returned to the fully grown teenage filly that she was, the bright yellow gem on her hoof returned to view.

She approached the door and peeked through the eyehole unenthusiastically, that is, until she saw a human standing outside with something large, and covered in a blue blanket, draped over his shoulder. He had dark skin, a green striped scarf, short brown hair, green eyes, and was looking all around before knocking on the door once again. The teenage filly squinted for a minute, unsure of how to proceed, before deciding to alter her voice. She focused her spells' energy on her throat, and felt the magic within changing her physiology once again.

“Please go away,” She said like a nervous little filly. “My mommy says not to let strangers inside.” She said as she gazed at the man suspiciously.

“Well pardon the intrusion little filly!” The man said with a very familiar inflection in his voice, even if the voice was much deeper than it normally was. “I wasn’t aware somepony of your height could see through the eyehole without moving a chair first! I’d assume that you can fly but I think we both know that’s false.” Rolling her eyes, the girl quickly undid the lock and opened the door for the man, letting out a grunt of disgust as he thanked her for her hospitality.

“Will, just say that you’re here next time instead of acting like a pretentious douchebag.” She said angrily as he laid his cargo on the mid-sized sofa, humming the entire time.

“Well, perhaps I would if you’d at least try a little harder to act in the way a little filly would!” He said as he pointed to himself with four fingers in a flamboyant fashion. “You, Hat Trick, bring shame to the actors and actresses of all the multiverse!” He said as he lifted a close fist towards the ceiling and spoke in as hearty a voice as he could muster. Hat Trick just rolled her eyes and walked towards the couch, but not before fake punching him along the way, causing him to yelp in fear as she stopped her hoof just in front of his crotch.

“How easy it is for Faust's gift to the stage to crumble under the slightest pressure.” She said with a smug grin.

“Uh… haha… you fool, I was merely pretending. Truly my acting skill is unmatched if such a simple performance fooled even your keen eye.” He said while once again posing triumphantly. Hat Trick groaned in annoyance and just ignored his incessant babbling to instead inspect the new piece of decor he’d brought back with him.

“So Will, what’s this?” She said, as she leaned over the obvious body covered in the blanket and reached for the edge to peel it back.

“That, my sweet, is our latest bag,” He responded with a confident smile as she slowly removed the cover. “I finally pulled the ole’ Chloroform bit, and oh it is just as satisfying as I thought it’d be.” He said as he looked up to the ceiling and sighed. Suddenly, he felt a hoof on his lower stomach as Seashore backed up, trembling as she stared at the sofa and the little pink filly resting atop it.

“What the fuck is this?” She said in a low whisper as her face dropped into a cold expression of terror.

“Hey, it was either this, or trying to finish off the guy I got this form from.” He said as he gestured to himself.

“Then what the fuck is this!?” She repeated with even more anger and desperation in her voice as she pointed to the filly with one hoof while looking up at him accusingly. “These two don’t even have the same colored gems! There’s no way they’re in the same team.”

“I thought the same thing, but trust me this is the right one. That karat, Clarke I think, was very descriptive,” His explanation fell on deaf ears as Hat Trick started to chew on her hooves nervously as she stared at the filly. “You know, you’re being very rude right now.” He said with crossed arms.

“Up yours!” She snapped back. “Why didn’t you just kill the bastard? Even if you, somehow, thought that this girl is his partner, why on Faust’s green earth would you kidnap a filly!?” She said with her hooves thrust into the air in anger and frustration.

“Believe me, I tried my absolute darndest to quell the flames of this behemoth of a man! I assure you however that there is a very valid reason for me kidnapping this child.” He said before spinning his yarn to the hyperventilating girl.

The day began like any other, on a crisp summer afternoon shortly after spotting this gentleman near the entrance of the school, as we did earlier this morning. After you were left to your own devices I quickly made my way to where I saw him last, that being the marketplace. I took the form of the burly brown cowpony from the hamlet of whence we came and approached him.

“Excuse me, strange sir,” I said in a manner befitting that of a rural cowpoke lost in the big city. “But do you happen to know where the salted goods are located within this market?” He looked around curiously and told me that he hadn’t the foggiest clue, but that’s when my perfectly concocted plan began.

I offered to help him find certain items he’d be interested in, in exchange for a shopping pal to accompany me. Thus I began building a rapport with the man, gaining his trust so that at the perfect moment I could finally-

“Shut up, shut up. Shut. Up,” Hat Trick said angrily, interrupting his long-winded story before dragging her hooves across her face and groaning in frustration. “Oh my Faust I don’t care. Just tell me why you kidnapped this girl, and stop acting like you’re writing a shitty novel.”

“Well I never,” He said while pointing to himself with four fingers once again. “Hmph! Very well, if you’re so eager to get on with it. In short, I attempted to use the chloroform, but he proved extremely resilient and proceeded to beat me down, roll me up, and toss me aside in about a minute. I nearly lost my life, not that you’d care if I had.” He said as he turned his back to her, the newly acquired scarf around his neck flipping around dramatically as he did. Hat Trick glared at him as he did this and growled as her anger levels continued to rise.

“Faron!” She shouted, causing both of their gems to light up and quickly dim back down as she forcibly ended the spell's effects. Will scowled as he was surrounded in a bright yellow light that quickly dissipated, revealing his true form beneath. He was a white-skinned, bald-headed man with brown eyes and a mustache goatee combo one would commonly see on a carnival showrunner or a common street salesman. His shirt was a light grey color, as well as tight-fitting, and his skinny jeans were a simple blue.

“Remember when I said you were being rude?” He asked before turning ever so slightly and pointing towards the ground angrily. “I take it back, THIS is being rude.”

“Will, I am this close to finishing what that one guy started, so do us both a favor and shut up while I think of something.” She said with both hooves raised to either side of her face as she took several deep and calming breaths. She looked down at Fighter Swan with a sense of dread, the bright green glow of her gem staring her in the face. She didn’t know the first thing that this girl was capable of, but she already knew that no matter what it was they would not be able to win.

“Okay, alright, okay. We can fix this… we can still fix this,” She said, mostly trying to convince herself than anything else. “Will, did her partner see you? I mean the real you?” She asked while looking back at the man, watching as he poured himself a cup of water in the small kitchen area nearby.

“Is that a rhetorical question or…” Hat Trick just gave him a deadpan stare, making him roll his eyes as he took a swig of water and joined her in the living room. “No, he didn’t.”

“Do you know any of their powers? Do you know if they can track each other?” She asked anxiously. Will simply shook his head no as he continued to rehydrate, giving Hat Trick some much-needed silence for her to think. She scrambled to get a set of working thoughts together as her anxiety constantly forced her brain to work overtime, and that’s when it hit her.

“By that look on your face, I’d say you’ve just hit a lightbulb,” Will said as he watched her gasp and nod to herself.

“Alright, here’s the plan. I turn back into Seashore, and you turn into my mom. We tell her that we just found her asleep on the road and took her with us. Problem solved, open and shut.” She explained with hope permeating her words. Will took another loud sip of water as he reached the end of the mug and smacked his lips before asking.

“Yes, and how do we convince her that she wasn’t forcibly knocked out by her partner in front of the school?” He asked with an eyebrow raised very condescendingly.

“She’s a kid, it won’t take much for us to just convince her that it was a weird dream, as long as we stick to our story.” She replied as she looked back at Fighter to make sure she was still knocked out on the sofa, nodding thankfully when she saw that she was.

“Well fine, if I absolutely must play the role of your mother can I make a few alterations to her character? I feel that humble country bumpkin act, what with her knack for embroidery, is far too played out by now. I suggest a struggling artist perusing the big city of Canterlot for her next muse!” He said as he closed his fist and stared at the wall in a permanent smolder expression for emphasis.

“My mom isn’t some… acting template that you can workshop. Mom is mom, and you’re playing her,” She said while poking him in the chest as a sign of finality, eliciting a groan of exasperation from her partner. “Now let’s get this show on the road, there’s no telling how long we have until she…” Hat Trick looked back at the couch and froze when she saw the filly no longer laying down peacefully on top of it. “Wakes up…”

“What’s captured your gaze?” Will asked as he walked closer to her, completely oblivious to the small sounds of pattering hooves behind him. “Wait… did you move her?” He asked as he looked at the empty blanket and couch. Before he could receive an answer though, he felt a crushing pain across his back as one of the wooden stools from the kitchen area was picked up and smashed into a million pieces directly on top of him. Will fell in pain while gripping his back, eventually rolling onto his side and flailing about.

Hat Trick spun around and saw Fighter standing beside her incapacitated partner with a piece of broken wood in her mouth. As their eyes met, the small pink filly bit down on the last piece, splintering it into wood chips with ease.

“Okay, now Fighter,” She didn’t get to finish the rest of her sentence before Fighter Swan hopped closer to her, spun around on her front hooves, and bucked Hat Trick directly in the chest. The teenage filly’s body lurched forward as she was hit with the force of a power hammer times infinity, sending her flying straight into the wall and onto the ground a wheezing mess.

“I am only going to ask this question once!” Fighter said in a commanding tone as she stood between both Will and Hat Trick. “Where am I? Who are you? And what are you doing?” There was a brief moment of silence, not including the gasps for air or writhing cries of pain, before they responded, but Fighter understood that she’d have to give it a moment.

“Technically,” Will wheezed out after his initial pain, gaining both Fighters and Hat Tricks attention, but for very different reasons. Fighter thought she was about to get an answer, but Hat Trick was just wishing she had enough air to groan at his poorly timed quirk. She knew that whenever he started a sentence with the word technically that everypony in a three mile radius would be overcome with an incessant need to punch him in the face. “That was three questions.” He finished, much to the dismay of Fighter Swan who merely glared at him fiercely after his little sarcastic quip.

“Funny.” She said with a deadpan expression as she walked closer to his prone body.

“Okay, in my defense…. You really set yourself up for that. ACKH!” He tried crawling away as the filly approached him, but it was no use as she was immediately on top of him and planting her hoof right on his neck, forcing him onto the ground even harder. “Okay! I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I was outta line!” He said while finally dropping his Haughty tone of voice and raising his hands in the universal sign for surrender.

“Fighter…” Hat Trick finally said, albeit a little weakly as her lungs and ribs ached. The filly looked over to her while keeping her hoof on Will's neck, making sure not to put too much pressure on him. “Just calm down a sec. Don’t hurt the idiot, and let me use my spell to show you something.”

“You think I’m stupid? I see that gem glow, and this guy gets it.” She said as confidently as she could, secretly hoping that the teenage pony wouldn’t call her bluff.

“I know you’re not, that's why I know that you won't do that.” She said warily as she took in a deep breath. Fighter cringed internally as she was quickly seen through by this girl, but fittingly enough, the only one who was unsure of that fact was Will.

"Why? Why don't you believe she'll do that? Don't you fucking do it!" Will pleaded desperately while still being pinned to the ground.

“Faron!” She said with a harsh tone, ignoring Wills protests and prompting her gem to flash yellow, sending a wave of magical light to surround her. She didn’t get very far though as Fighter immediately sprang into action, flinging Will across the room and getting her to dodge and interrupt the spell.

“Waaah!” Will screamed as he spun around in the air and eventually drilled into the drywall like a human corkscrew.

“Kachin!” Fighter shouted, covering herself from head to hoof in the overpowering chromatic metal she had begun to grow accustomed to. She stood still for a moment to gauge their reaction to her, but strangely enough, their first instinct was to instead face each other.

“Hey Hat Trick, next time someone crushing my windpipe tells you not to do something... Listen to them!” Will shouted with pure anger as he picked himself up and leaned against the wall for support.

"I'm sorry, I couldn't hear over the fact that you brought the one pony I didn't want to fight into our apartment!" She screamed back with just as much vitriol as him. "Not only that, but you left her completely unbound. I mean the least you could've done was tie her mouth shut you idiot!"

"Ahem!" Fighter said, interrupting their little spat due to how uncomfortable the situation was becoming. "I feel like we may have gone off topic."

"Yeah, maybe now's not the best time for this." Will said fearfully as he looked at the full metal filly.

"Agreed." Hat Trick said with a nervous crack in her voice, an action that caused Fighter Swan to smirk involuntarily.

Wasting no time Fighter charged at the two, ramming headfirst into Will’s gut and pinning him against the wall. He let out a loud groan of pain as he slowly slid down the wall onto his butt, the fight already seeming to be completely drained from him. She then turned her attention to Hat Trick and sucker punched her into the ground just as she tried to back up. What followed was a continuous onslaught of attacks as Fighter repeatedly knocked them around like they were ragdolls, punching them into the wall whenever they managed to stand, and kicking them while they were dazed on the ground.

The next few minutes consisted of kicks, uppercuts, tripping, and a whole lot of one-sided fighting as Fighter Swan made short work of the two. She made sure not to put her all into the attacks, since very quickly she realized they weren’t as resilient as she thought they were, but something about the act of pummeling them was calming to her, she couldn’t describe it as anything other than… well fun. Eventually, though, she reached a point where she felt that they’d had enough, so she casted Garasei, replaced her metal skin for an icy mask and boots, and released a torrent of freezing ice from her mouth. The ray of frost traveled towards them in an unwavering path, sticking them both to the wall with Will standing straight up, his feet barely off of the ground, and Hat Trick pinned and facing towards her upside down.

“Alright, had enough yet?” Fighter asked calmly as the two of them slowly groaned.

“We never asked for any… in the first place,” Will said in between grunts as his eyes squinted in pain.

“Then maybe you should have thought of that before you...” She stopped when she realized a very crucial point, that being the fact that she had no idea what was even going on. All she knew so far was that she’d woken up, heard them talking, and started kicking some flank. “Wait… what were you guys trying to do again?”

“It doesn’t even matter anymore, ow,” Hat Trick said with a pained expression before sighing and resting her head against the wall. “Just… let me show you something,” Fighter watched her curiously as she wiggled beneath the ice. “Faron!” She called out as loudly as she could.

Once she did, both her and Will were covered in a bright yellow light that started changing them before her eyes. Once the light had completely dissipated, Will now resembled Clarke once more, all the way down to the signature clothing and skin color, Whereas the filly…

“Seashore?!” Fighter cried in shock as she watched her newly made friend reappear in an instant, her short golden locks, her freckled face, only this time with a new cutie mark depicting a beach and the yellow gem that Fighter knew she saw the first moment they’d met.

“Surprise.” She said in a now higher pitched voice as she trembled and shut her eyes in pain. Fighter looked at Seashore, then to Will, and finally put all the pieces together.

“Oh my goodness,” Fighter said as she sat down and placed a hoof against her head. “So everything was a lie? Just some kind of… trick to kidnap me? Kill me!?” Fighter asked angrily as she held back the overwhelming urge to start blasting them with the coldest ice she could make.

“Wrong! Whole heaps of wrong!” Seashore called out nervously as she saw the newly created fumes of frost leaking out of Fighters nostrils.

“Well you’re half right,” Will said as he looked at her with a smug, yet still visibly harmed, smile; and immediately a massive spike of ice sank into the wall right next to his face, missing his skin by mere inches. After that, his smug look dropped into a pained frown as he squeezed his eyes shut and started sobbing while shaking his head from side to side. “Please don’t kill me!”

“Don’t hurt him, he says stupid things because he’s a complete retard!” Seashore shrieked as Fighter scowled at them.

“Yes! Yes! Total retard! Grade A, top shelf, call me Forrest Gump cause I’m a retard!” He shouted so hard that his voice began to give due to the lack of air, and to their total surprise, Fighter let out a small giggle. They looked at each other in confusion and slowly chuckled, albeit more nervously, along with her.

“Sorry, it’s just… funny to hear Clarke say that,” Fighter admitted sheepishly as she looked at Will. “Uh… where were we?” She asked, somehow feeling significantly calmer for some reason. There was a moment of silence, when suddenly Seashore reverted to her normal form and gulped down the fear in her throat.

“Alright, Where we were was explaining how all of this… was just a big misunderstanding?” Hat Trick said with a nervous laugh, feeling slightly more on edge due to Fighters sudden change in emotion and tone. Regardless she tried her best to keep her composure, as the ice spike she fired would probably be even worse if it hit its mark next time. “I just want to say that this wasn’t the plan. We never wanted to hurt you, heck we didn’t even know that… what’s-his-face was even your partner!”

“Then how did you know about him in the first place? You mean to tell me that this was all a big coincidence?” Fighter asked skeptically.

“Yes!” She said, with Will nodding furiously as well. “I didn’t even know he existed until Will came over and told me about it! I only knew about you! There was no way I could’ve planned this at all! Especially since, and this is a big one, we’ve only met today.”

“You could’ve stalked us before!” Fighter responded, still unconvinced and quickly losing her patience.

“I swear to Celestia it’s true. I meant what I said when I said we just moved out here. Honest!” Fighter continued glaring at them, obviously not believing a word they had to say, so Hat Trick decided to finally take one last sigh and speak with all the sincerity she could muster. She knew that it’d be the only way. “Listen… we’ve been in this Tourney for about a month, and in that time we’ve almost died more times than I can count. We came out here to get away from the onslaught of Karats we’d face because we have about the same offensive power as a pool noodle. I didn’t want you to find out like this, I wanted us to try and work together since we really can’t defend ourselves, as you can clearly see.” She said as she nodded towards the ice that was still keeping them there.

“We got off on the wrong hoof because my partner here went a little rogue, and in the process, we ended up pissing off the wrong pony. Believe what you want kid, but just know that even if we wanted to, we probably couldn’t kill you. If you’re willing to give us a chance though, I think we could make a good team?” She said hopefully. Fighter looked at them both for a moment and contemplated her words, as well as the events that had transpired earlier in the day. She saw first hand how they fought, or rather how they didn’t fight and was pretty confident that there was no way they’d get the drop on her again.

She also knew that what happened at school today wasn’t something somepony could just fake without being a total psycho. Either she was the best actor in existence, or maybe there was some truth to what she was saying. Of course, there was plenty of evidence pointing to them being full of nothing but lies, but she still couldn’t flip it either which way. There were just too many factors to consider, so maybe… she just needed to trust them?

“Alright, you may have a point,” Fighter said as she stood up and cracked her neck. “Just one more question though…” She started as she looked up at them. “How old are you? Cause you asked if we could have a sleepover and that’s… a little creepy.”

“Hehe, you what?” Will said with a chuckle as he looked down at Hat Trick who was either blushing so hard from the embarrassment or going red from the amount of blood rushing to her upside-down head.

“I-it was in the heat of the moment! I was a little kid, and that’s what a little kid would say. I’m not a creep!” She cried out desperately, only blushing harder when Fighter and Will both started laughing at her.

“Well, you’re right about one thing,” Fighter said as she walked over to them, the ice that was covering her now quickly melting away. “You two definitely aren’t much in the fighting department.” As the spell ended, the ice quickly began to melt off of the walls allowing them both to escape. Hat Trick fell flat on her face and rolled along the ground, as Will slowly touched down and fell due to the numbness in his legs.

“That’s gonna hurt in the morning.” He wheezed as he rolled onto his side and clutched his aching ribs.

“Geez Fighter, must’ve felt good venting your repressed rage onto us.” Hat Trick said as she too started clutching her, presumably broken, hoof.

“Yeah, sorry about that,” The filly said with remorse as she walked over to the sofa and quickly pushed it closer to them, giving them a place to sit and recover from the fight. “By the way, how did you know to turn into Clarke anyway? When you found me at the school?” She asked Will as he leaned back into the sofa.

“Well young one, that is quite the tale,” He said as a newfound smile graced his lips, as well as returning his grandiose articulation in a manner that seemingly washed away all the pain from before. “You see, the day began like any other, on a crisp summer afternoon shortly after-grrk!” His story was ended prematurely with a grunt of pain as Hat Trick reached over and smacked him across the face lightly, though the contact was still enough to make them both wince.

“Please, the last thing we need after all of this is for you to drone on for another three hours.” They both let out a long sigh and leaned into the soft cushions as they tried their best to ignore the pain.

“Boy, I… kind of went a little overboard huh?” She said, feeling a tad guilty for how much she really did put them through on assumption alone. Hat Trick just scoffed and made a ‘so-so’ gesture with her hoof while Will nodded in a very exaggerated manner.

“We’ll be fine. You think this is bad? You should’ve seen us after we stopped in hollow shades for a bit on our way here.” Hat Trick said confidently, trying her best to hide the pain.

“Well, I guess I better find Clarke then, and tell him what happened.” Fighter said as she stood back up. When she did though, she heard an audible snicker as Will bit back a laugh.

“I think you’re gonna have a little trouble with that, on account of how he’s probably arrested right now.” He said with a smile, and if there were a record playing nearby, it most definitely would have scratched at that very moment.

“Wh…. what?” Fighter asked with very understandable confusion, while Hat Trick was stunned into silence. Will remained silent and just looked up at the ceiling as he chuckled like a child holding some kind of secret.

“Will… what the hell happened?” Hat Trick finally said with audible frustration, but again there was more silence. “Will, what happened when you fought… that guy?”

“Clarke.” Fighter corrected quickly.

“Yeah, him.” Hat Trick finished as she turned towards Will.

“Oh, so now you’re interested in my story? If I recall correctly, you said that you didn’t care.” He said condescendingly as he raised an eyebrow. Hat Trick raised a trembling hoof, ready to punch him straight in the face, until Fighter slowly grabbed onto it and lowered it for her. Hat Trick took in a deep breath and sighed before glaring at Will and sitting back down.

“What happened… when you fought the guy?” Hat Trick asked through clenched teeth and with so much reluctance that she thought she was going to have an aneurism. Will simply smiled and leaned against the sofa as comfortably as he could, kicking out his legs and looking at the ceiling in the process.

“The day began like any other, on a crisp summer afternoon…”

“Please! You’ve gotta believe me!” Clarke pleaded as he grabbed onto the bars of the holding cell.

“Listen here, mister man, you expect us to believe that some weird monkey creature that looks a lot like you, transformed into a kid after trying to murder you. That’s why we walked into an alley where you were beating a little colt within an inch of his life?” The brown dragon said from his desk while pointing to Clarke for emphasis.

“Yes! That’s exactly it! Just contact the princess or something, and I swear she’ll tell you everything! She’ll vouch for me.” Clarke cried while jiggling the bars around ever so slightly. The dragon spun around in his chair and looked at the pony police officer who had exited an office beside their desks with a cup of coffee in his magical aura. They shared a look before nodding.

“Suuuuure buddy. We’ll just contact the princess… get this all sorted out.” The stallion said as he took a sip from his mug and walked towards the other side of the small and relatively empty police station.

Groaning in defeat, Clarke banged his head against the bar for a moment before turning around and sitting on the long bench within the empty cell. The thought had crossed his mind to mention Sunny Day in an attempt to get out of here faster, but he, unfortunately, took too long. The moment he did he started transforming into pure metal and being covered in an icy mask. Needless to say, they weren’t willing to listen to a word he said after that.

Now the only thing he could think about was Fighter Swan and whatever it was she must’ve been going through. She could’ve been hurt somewhere, desperate for help with none to be found. The only thing that kept him from assuming the worst was the fact that… well, he was still here. Now, ever since the spells wore off, he kept feeling these strange vibrations in his gem, each one staggered and making him feel very strange for some reason. He had no idea what it meant, but he had a feeling that it couldn’t have been something good.

Deciding to look up once again, he watched the dragon officer with mild interest. He still couldn’t get over the looks of his scales, the strange filament covering that his eyes seemed to have, and the majestic looking fins and horns he had sprouting out of him. If there was one thing that he could say was good about this day, it was that he finally got to see a dragon up close. He only wished he could take a picture of it.

Out of the corner of his eyes, Clarke watched as the police pony from before walked back into their section of the station, only this time he seemed… different. His eyes were shifty, looking around at anything and everything like he didn’t even recognize it, and his walking speed seemed much more frantic all of a sudden. Finally, for some reason, his once full cup of joe was now entirely missing.

Suddenly, their eyes met, and all of a sudden the police pony froze. Clarke looked behind himself curiously, before realizing that, yes, he was staring at him. With a nervous cough and a shake of his head, the police pony walked over to the desks near the cell and stopped at the dragon's desk.

“Hey there……” He held that last syllable for quite some time as he leaned around the desk and very obviously glanced at the nameplate. “Thresher!” He said abruptly, catching the dragon off guard.

“Thresher? Been a while since you used my full name. You feeling alright Leggy?” The reptilian asked as he gave a playful punch to the pony’s leg. Suddenly, the cop let out a loud wince and recoiled from the touch, causing the dragon to don a look of concern. “Whoa, hey there.” He said as he stood up and put out his hands cautiously.

“I’m fine, I’m fine. Just a little… sore from the exercises I did earlier.” He said as he rotated his upper left leg and chuckled.

“You? Working out?” The dragon said with a bit less worry and more suspicion in his voice, and suddenly Clarke was beginning to feel the same way. Just what happened to this guy?

“Hey, you want to see something really strange? I saw it just over here. It’s been making me feel… weird.” The guard said as he tried to lead his partner away from the cell for some reason.

“Uh, yeah sure, but later alright. We need to keep an eye on this cell.” The dragon said as he stepped out of the Pony’s grasp and walked back over to his desk. The stallion followed him with an even fiercer look of nervousness.

“Oh, pssshh! Come on, look at this guy. What did he even really do? Hit a kid?” He asked skeptically, and it was at this point that Clarke knew something was up as he heard faint whispers coming from nearby. The dragon tilted his head to the side before grabbing the dossier off of his desk and opening it up. Clarke had to visibly hide his face as he heard the charges a second time.

“Assault on a minor, multiple accounts of vandalization, attempted murder, property damage, unsolicited use of lethal magic, possession of dangerous artifacts, and many more,” He said as he closed the folder with a loud clack. “Do you need me to jog your memory every time? Cause frankly I’m getting tired of it.”

“Oh,” The stallion said as he stepped around the dragon.”Well regardless, he’s secured in there. Here’s his files, here's the… key?” He said questioningly as he lifted a yellow key from off of the desk, to which the dragon confirmed with a nod. “Yeah, the key. I just need you to see this for one second, I promise bro it’ll be super fast.” The dragon let out a harsh sigh through his nose, eliciting some soft flames to come out in the process, and eventually stood back up.

“This better fricken wow me, or else you’re buying the drinks tomorrow.” He said as he finally stood up and followed the stallion to the office room nearby.

“Trust me, this is super cool!” The stallion practically shouted, his voice carrying out of the office. Suddenly Clarke watched as the key and Dossier lifted off of the desk on their own and quickly floated over to him.

“What the hell?” He asked as he saw the key place itself in the door and twist, unlocking the cell for him.

“Rapid-fire answers to your questions. I am invisible, I am a friend, I’m here to break you out, and we have less than a minute before they’re out here and on us.” The young female voice said as the cell door opened and the dossier flew into his hands. The sounds of hoofsteps running away signaled to him that he should probably get a move on as well.

“Yeah, totally weird right?!” the cop shouted again.

“Dude, shut up already. I hope you have a spell that makes you crap money, cause that's what you'll be needing tomorrow night.” The dragon said as he started making his way out of the office, but thankfully Clarke managed to sprint out of the area and towards the exit before he could see. The scarce few eyes in the station were luckily too preoccupied to notice him running, or just plain didn’t care by the time he’d stepped out into the night sky.

“Hey!” He heard the girl calling for him to the right, and as he looked he saw a fairly tall brown pony waving him over. He followed her away from the station as fast as he could, running through several streets until they entered a small indented alley near a darkened office building. There the two caught their breath as the adrenaline of their escape quickly calmed down.

“Thanks… but why did you save me?” He asked as he bent forward and rested his hands on his knees.

“Well, let’s just say it was a show of good faith,” She said as she turned towards the rest of the small alleyway. “For a new friend.” Then, from out of the darkness came a very familiar pink filly.

“Fighter?” Clarke said in both shock and relief. She was about to make a mad dash for him, but before she could even move the young man was right on top of her and scooping her up into a big hug. “I’m so glad you’re okay!” He said while rocking her from side to side in his hug, his voice filled with relief and his eyes on the brink of tears. "How did you even find me?"

“I’m fine! I’m fine! Honest!” She said with a giggle as she feigned annoyance with the hug and ‘tried’ to pry herself away from him. "My new friend taught me a little trick, a kind of tracker in our gems to help find each other." She quickly explained as Clarke slowly released her from the hug. After their small reunion, Clarke set her back down on the ground and walked towards the filly that had busted him out, extending a hand gratefully. Hat Trick backed up for a second nervously before slowly extending her hoof and allowing him to shake it.

“I definitely owe you one. My name’s Clarke.” He said with a confident smile.

“Oh… uh, Hat Trick.” She said with a nod before the two broke their hand/hoof shake.

“So you can turn invisible, that seems like a pretty nifty power there. You mind telling me how you guys met?” Clarke asked innocuously as he looked between them. They shared a strange look between each other before Hat Trick responded.

“It’s a long story, but for now I have to go and make sure my partner got out alive. We’ll definitely keep in touch though.” She said with a smirk before completely vanishing in a flash of yellow light. Clarke looked down at Fighter in confusion, but the filly merely sighed in relief.

“Is it just me, or did that not answer anything?” He asked with an aggravated hand resting on his hip.

“I’ll fill you in, now pick me up and let's go. We still have to head home so mom can bite our heads off.” She said with an uncharacteristic sense of serenity in her voice.

“Oh… right… that.” Clarke said in realization as he crouched down and hoisted Fighter onto his shoulder, placing a hand on her back for stabilization like she was a boombox.

“Don’t worry, I won’t let you take all the blame this time,” Fighter said, garnering a pleasantly surprised look from Clarke. “We can split it, hows 60/40 sound?” She said with a totally serious smile on her face.

“Great, what is it they say? Baby steps?” Clarke said as he finally started heading down the street, the filly in one hand, and his criminal records in the other. He was going to need one heck of an explanation when they got back home.

Chapter 9 - The Chosen

Hunter fidgeted against the cramped wooden box he was hiding in and quickly brought his goggles down from his head and over his eyes. With a deep breath, he lifted the top of the crate and examined the train station area surrounding him. It had been a bumpy ride, to say the least, but he knew it was only a matter of time before the Chosen found him again. As far as he could see there were muscular ponies of all kinds manning the station, moving crates and shipments off of the train and towards the nearby storage units for pickup, but all of them were just ordinary workers. He hadn’t noticed anyone familiar as of yet, so with a quick inhale of courage he opened the crate and hopped out, just barely managing to avoid detection as he did.

He ran past the oblivious station workers and quickly hid behind a large stack of pallets near the barbed wire fences on the edge of the station, silently thanking the night sky for giving him the proper cover he needed. It was situations like these that truly made him feel blessed for being born with dark skin. As he sat against the pallets and made sure there were no other ponies around, he quickly took out his walkie-talkie and pressed the button on its side.

“Doctor! Are you there?” He whispered while peering around the side of the pallets. What he saw were several Ponies, Hippogriffs, and Griffons covered in blackened armor corralling the workers out of the area and tossing the crates and containers on their sides. They were officially out of time. “Doctor!”

“Yes, I’m here,” He replied, his older and gravelly voice filling Hunter with some much-needed relief. “I couldn’t speak until I was safely away from the Chosen. Listen, there’s a small guard shack near the entrance of the station. It’s small, has yellow walls, and a green roof. We’ll meet there.” The doctor explained.

Hunter looked back to the Chosen as they ruthlessly searched for him and nodded in affirmation. “Understood, I’ll meet you there.” With that, he powered down his walkie-talkie and sprinted away from the pallets as fast as he could. He approached the fence and looked across the long yard on the other side, eventually spotting the shack that the doctor was talking about shining beneath a street light. He looked around for any way he could pass over the fence without getting shredded in the barbed wire, but it didn’t take a genius to realize that it wasn’t worth the risk. This meant that he was left with only one option, the warehouse that was currently teaming with creatures hellbent on killing him.

Wasting no time dwelling on his situation, Hunter ran for the side of the warehouse that conveniently held one window not covered by the fence. He carefully made his way inside, stepping quietly against the wall and staying low behind many of the metal poles and wooden pallets that had been stacked around the area. He kept an eye on the mid lane where the goods from the shipment were being moved, and there he saw the majority of the armed gang members smashing open boxes and tearing apart packaging. With their focus being used up there, Hunter decided to pick up the pace.

“Quick, smash everything that could even remotely hold the bastard!” A gruff white hippogriff commanded, eliciting a round of cheers from the gang members as they tore apart the containers even harder.

He stealthily made his way past the groups of ponies and avians as they worked, and soon he had the exit in his sights. The only problem was that between his current position and the opened door, there was no cover to hide him. The moment he stepped around the metal barrel he was crouched behind he knew he’d be spotted, which meant he needed to create a distraction.

Hunter got as low as he possibly could and pulled out his Walkie-Talkie one last time while covering the mouthpiece to not generate any noise when activating it. “Doctor, don’t talk, just listen. I need you to use Fulgor or else I’m going to be found very soon.” The moment after his request felt like an eternity of waiting, but eventually, his wish had been granted. The gem on his right wrist suddenly lit up with a milky lavender color as the spell activated from afar.

Quickly Hunter reached into his back pocket and pulled out a thin piece of aluminum sheet metal that was no thicker than two inches. He gripped it in his hands as hard as he could, letting out a grunt as the small sparks of electricity spouted from his palm and stored themselves into the tool. “Please let this work.” He said as he slowly lifted his head over the barrel and looked for a nearby target.

His aim quickly centered on a station worker standing off to the side with his hard hat in his hoof and looking at the Chosen in fear, unsure of what he was supposed to do. Hunter didn’t want to nail this guy in the head with his newly made weapon, but considering his lack of throwing strength he knew he had no choice. He uttered a soft apology, then a prayer, and finally lobbed the makeshift weapon towards the undeserving target’s head. The moment it made contact he let out a shivering scream and fell onto his side in a fit of spasms, but by that point, Hunter had already started running.

As he made a beeline for the door he glanced back for just a moment to make sure no one had spotted him and smiled thankfully when he realized that he was home free. He spun his head around once more to find the path towards the shack, only to stop dead in his tracks as he came face to face with a wall of glowing maroon knives floating directly in his path. He skidded to a halt on his heels, stopping just before the tips of the bladed weapons, and looked down at the culprit.

Standing about a yard in front of him, coming in at only four feet tall, was an eight-year-old girl with short wavy brown hair, peach skin with rosy cheeks, and a wicked smile on her face. She was wearing a frilly maroon dress, as well as matching maroon dress shoes, and a bow on top of her head, all of them complementing the bright maroon gem around her wrist that she showed off while cutely putting her hands together in front of her.

“Going somewhere?” She asked innocently while staring at him, her blood-red eyes putting him on edge immediately. She smiled when she saw the fear in his eyes and took a playful step forward, simultaneously commanding the knives to move closer to Hunter at the same time. Hunter stepped back in fear until he felt the eyes of his pursuers burning into his back. He craned his head around slowly and saw the sneering faces of the gang as they all glared at him, weapons at the ready. Swords, Crossbows, a couple of hammers, and several unicorns preparing magic. Hunter was not in a good spot.

From behind the group of armored lackeys, an elderly grey coated unicorn stallion stepped out slowly and locked eyes with Hunter. He had a thick white beard, and a long white mane tied into a bun behind his head. His skin was slightly wrinkled and his eyes were slightly glazed, showing that his age was beginning to finally slow him down after years of persevering. "Well ain't this a surprise! Who'da thought we'd find you so quickly Hunter?" He said in an elderly southern accent and with a bright smile that seemed to liven up his face.

"Yeah, you got me," Hunter replied shakily as he turned his head back towards the knives in front of him. He looked down at the smiling girl, doing his best to not look her in the eyes, but despite his best efforts, she seemed determined to follow him wherever he looked. He couldn’t stand seeing the lack of emotion in them, well, lack of any emotion besides pure unadulterated rage.

The stallion let out a few tsks from behind him and took a step to the side. "Ya know, it's hard to have a conversation with a man who has his back turned. Mind facing me youngin?" He asked with a feigned kindness that greatly juxtaposed the sinister overtones of the situation. Hunter took in a sharp breath as he watched the girl smile even harder, but with no other options, he conceded to the old pony's wishes and turned around. "Good." He said simply as he approached Hunter.

"If you're planning on killing me then… well I understand, but I highly discourage it," Hunter said as the stallion looked up at him with a bright smile and angry eyes.

"Oh Hunter," he said while pinching his cheek with a red magical grip from his horn. "That all depends on whether or not I find it here," After saying that, he released the grip on his cheek and started ruffling through his cargo pant pockets with his magic. “Besides, I wouldn’t JUST kill YOU. I’d kill Doc too, as well as anypony, creature, insect, and plant you ever interacted with.”

"Well... talk about overkill.” He said anxiously as the stallion continued rifling through his pockets. “Listen, I-I don't have it, Doc does!" Hunter quickly said, hoping against all odds that it would get him to stop.

"Oh come on, you expect me to believe that?" he said while casually continuing his search. "Katie, do you believe that?" He asked the little girl who started marching around Hunter with her hands behind her back like she was playing soldier.

"Nope!" She said happily while bouncing her head left and right as if she were listening to music only she could hear, her maroon gem still glowing with energy. She hopped the last few paces around Hunter until she was just behind the older stallion, then twirled on her left foot and gave him a little curtsey.

Hunter nodded nervously towards her as he felt the tips of the knives touching his back. It was only a matter of time before they found it on him, and he had no idea how he was getting out of this one. Hunter stood as still as a statue while the stallion searched, but the moment he saw the dim grey bracelet and gem being lifted out of his pocket he gasped in fear.

"Well now, whadda we have here?" He said while gazing at the inactive gem. He looked up at Hunter condescendingly and gave a light chuckle as he jostled the bracelet in his magical grasp. "See now Hunter? The truth will set you free, but the lies will only drag you down." Katie gasped with delight as she heard this, stepping forward and grabbing onto the stallions fur while jumping up and down.

"Oh, oh! Can I kill him now? Pleeeeease?" She asked him with big pleading eyes. The stallion just turned to her and patted her head softly, lightly pushing her off of him as he did.

"Almost sweetie, he still has a lot to answer for. When we’re done, then you get to gut him like a fish." Katie gave a small squee of excitement and hopped in place as the stallion stepped closer to Hunter. "Where is The good doctor, if ya don’t mind me askin?"

“Well I’d say I do mind, but I get the distinct feeling that you won’t care.” Hunter started, receiving a polite nod of affirmation from the pony. Hunter struggled to find the right words to say next, but that all changed when a small metallic bolt fell from the sky and hit the little girl on her shoulder. Its three-arm clamps tightened on her like a claw from a prize machine, and before anyone could react to it another struck the stallion on the forehead. "Right there bitch." Hunter said smugly.

The moment he proclaimed this both of the claws lit up with electricity, paralyzing both the pony and girl and getting them both to drop their spells. As the kid shrieked in pain the ethereal knives finally vanished, allowing for Hunter to make his move. He quickly took the gem from the paralyzed stallion and sprinted away as fast as he could, the sounds of flapping wings and cocking weapons hot on his tail.

He felt the arrows flying past him, barely missing their mark by a few centimeters and even striking the ground on either side of his path. He heard a few more screams from up above and chanced a look back, catching glimpses of more bolts striking and electrocuting his pursuers. Looking up he saw his partner, Doctor Wizard, flying in the air with a long jury-rigged rifle in his hooves firing on the chosen as they gave chase.

The pegasus was a very light peach color with a short black mane that showed signs of graying and a small amount of noticeable stubble on his chin. He was wearing goggles that were very similar to Hunters, and flapping in the wind behind him was a long flowing lab coat that, while very cool and stylish, made him stick out like a sore thumb in the night sky.

The large horde of chasing creatures broke off into two groups, with six chasing Hunter and five taking to the sky after the doctor. Doctor Wizard tried shooting them down on their approach and even nailed one in the chest, but when the other four closed the distance he had no choice but to start evasive maneuvers.

As the doctor led the others on an aerial chase around large pallets and between storage houses within the large transport yard, Hunter continued on foot towards a large set of metal pipes and concrete cylinders under large tarps. He bolted for the darkened area and jumped over a large pile of metal rods kept under wraps. Once on the other side, he pushed them over with all of his might, doing his best to use the obstacles to slow the others down. He knew that four legs were better than two, and if he didn’t find some way to lose them soon then he’d definitely get caught.

He kept ducking and jumping over the pipes and equipment within the area, trying his best to break their sights on him, but the unicorns giving chase were determined to keep him in range. As he heard the unmistakable sound of magic being prepared to fire, he took a hard right out of the dark storage area and into a massive opened storage crate, barely dodging the burst as it hit the door and scorched it black. He ran through the crate to the other side and slammed the door shut, flipping the lock closed from his end before they could follow him through. He heard them grunt in frustration and run around the other side, determined to find another way into the new area he had locked himself into.

Hunter took a moment to prepare himself before continuing, taking out his walkie-talkie as he approached a set of pallets that created a convenient set of stairs for him to reach the next level of stacked crates. “Doc, you there?” He heard the sounds of rushing wind on the other end and hoped that he could at least hear what he was saying. “Listen, I’m on top of some huge storage containers, near the center of the yard. I need a pickup, and I need it fast.” Just as he said that, the edge of the platform he was standing on became singed as several bolts of pink magic pelted the side.

Hunter ran across the top of the container while dodging the attempts to hit him, and in the distance, he saw the same coated pegasus making his way closer with two griffons on his tail. Sprinting as hard as he could, Hunter jumped off of the edge and grabbed onto the doctor's hoof, successfully evading his own gang members and joining the aerial chase. Doc's speed began to decrease immediately after lifting the young man, so Hunter quickly tried pulling himself up and grabbing onto the rifle slung on the doctor's back.

“Easy!” The doctor yelled as he was pulled downwards due to Hunter’s impromptu gymnastics, his wings slapping against his arm painfully while Hunter tried to yank the rifle down. After a lot of tugging on the poor pegasus, Hunter finally unslung the rifle and brought it to bear against his right shoulder, but before he could take aim he was attacked by one of the griffons who managed to get in close. With a forceful grunt, Hunter swung the rifle like a club, clocking the griffon in the head and eliciting a squawk of surprise that only warded him off momentarily before he returned to the chase.

Once they got some more distance Hunter finally aimed the tool with one hand as best as he could, which wasn’t easy considering they created the rifle specifically to work with hooves in mind. Despite this he still found a reasonable angle to fire from and launched a couple of bolts at their pursuers, managing to knick one of the griffons in the shoulder and send him plummeting to the ground. The other one was much more nimble, dodging the bolts effortlessly until Hunter had only one left in the long chamber. “Doc! I’m out!” He screamed as loud as he possibly could. The griffon smiled and picked up the pace, nearly reaching both of them in a matter of seconds before Hunter quickly lifted the rifle again and fired the last bolt directly onto his forehead. “Gotcha dumbass!” He laughed as the final griffon giving chase fell like all the rest.

With their pursuers finally defeated, the doctor took a hard right towards a very large stack of metal storage crates and landed, placing them both behind the darkened cover beside the top. “Haha! That was some fancy flying doc!” Hunter said as he quickly leaned against the metal crate beside them and caught his breath.

The pegasus quickly sat down on the ground and tried to catch his as well, before looking back over to Hunter and sticking out his hoof. Hunter, understanding what he meant by that gesture, tossed the rifle over to the pony for him to sling. “You know, I planned on my flying days to be done ten years ago, and then you showed up, you lunatic. I’m not as spry as you’re expecting me to be kid.” He yelled at him between his heavy breaths.

Hunter walked over and sat next to him, playfully jabbing him in the arm as he did. “Nah, you did great for an old-timer,” He looked down and started digging through the tiny compact saddlebags strapped to his barrel beneath the lab coat, eventually pulling out a second rolled up lab coat and another makeshift rifle that seemed way too large to fit in the compact space within. “Yours is pretty nice, but I like mine better.” He said as he pulled down the lever of his personal bolt rifle and loaded it up.

Once he finished reloading his rifle and throwing on his own pristine white lab coat, Hunter lifted his goggles back to his forehead and tossed the inactive gem over to the doctor. Doctor Wizard caught the gem in his hooves and looked it over while raising his own goggles, giving both it and Hunter a quizzical look. “So, you still have it?” He asked while shifting himself into a sideways laying position like a large cat.

“Yeah, and I regret every second. Our experiments were great, but without our data or equipment the thing is useless,” He said while flicking his wrist towards it in frustration. “All that thing did was paint a target on our backs. Might as well just destroy it and get it over with.” He said while miming a crushing gesture with his fist.

Doctor Wizard held up one of his hooves for a moment as he stared at the gem, hatching a plan as he did. “Not so fast Hunter. If this gem got us into this mess, then it could possibly get us out.”

Hunter looked down in surprise as the Doctor cast a wistful gaze out onto the majority of the yard that they now had a clear bird's eye view of. It took a second of staring, but eventually, Hunter realized exactly where the doc was looking.

The boss couldn’t be in two places at once, so what better way to increase their chances of survival than splitting up his forces? Either follow them, or follow the gem. “So where do you want to send it?” Hunter asked the doctor, confident that he’d already deduced the plan.

The doctor let out a small hum of satisfaction as he stood back up and looked towards the next prepping train in the distance. “Where else? Let’s send it as far as possible, and to the place that’ll give him the most trouble. It ought to buy us enough time to set up a new lab to lay low,” The doctor looked down at the gem and sighed. He regretted giving up such a useful tool, but their survival came first, no matter what damages may come as a result of their decision. “You have served us well, old friend, but now we must part ways. Enjoy your trip to Canterlot.”

The Jade dragon reached up and accepted the large package that the burly brown earth pony atop the train had handed her. With a grunt, she accepted the package and took to the sky above the other station workers behind her, set to take the rest of the cargo from the large crates and pallets that had arrived in the new shipment.

The dragoness hooked a left and landed in a large clear section of the yard where several other creatures in her group were working, setting the items into the proper packaging and conveyors for the unicorn lifters to process. Setting the massive package down with a loud thud, the dragoness groaned as she heard something within jiggle around with a distinct glassy sound.

She lifted her head and looked over to one of her coworkers, a thestral, and waved him over. “I think we got another broken one Lucky.” She said with a sigh while covering her head from the sun momentarily.

As the thestral came up she shook the massive package around allowing the jingling sound within to repeat itself. “Eh, that’s another pocket transaction. Take it out back and see what you can get.” Lucky Day said with a shrug as he erased it’s code from his list and went back to check on the other packages.

With a sharp breath, the dragoness lifted the package again and flew off to the secluded portion of the yard filled with discarded packaging meant for the incinerator. She set down the box and rubbed her hands in anticipation before dragging a single sharp talon across the top and cutting it open effortlessly. Tipping it on its side, she saw a medium-sized leg rest fall out with one of its legs broken on the side.

She shook her head at the waste of time and kicked the furniture piece into the pile of trash, but just before she could do the same with the package she saw a small object fall out at the last second. She crouched down and picked up the bracelet, staring curiously into the deep grey gem on its middle. She felt strange when she watched it, almost like she could see clouds of energy within the jewel calling to her. Suddenly the gem flashed gold for a brief moment, making her heart stop as she gasped in surprise.

The bracelet started to coil around on its own, almost like it was alive, so obviously there was only one thing she could think to do. She reached over and strapped her new prize to her wrist.

Chapter 10 - Another Day

“Okay, first I throw the ball to you, then you throw it back. Super simple!” The pink filly called out from her seated position about twelve feet away from Clarke while rolling the ball in her hooves.

“Yeah, I know how to play catch Fighter!” Clarke said with a bit of aggravation in his voice. He leaned himself to one side snarkily and placed a hand on his hip as he stared at her.

Fighter pouted for a second and narrowed her eyes back at Clarke as she gripped the ball. “Well fine, if you know how to catch then catch!”

Clarke took a stance in retaliation and stuck his arms out like a football player while planting his feet firmly on the grassy dirt below. “I will!” He shouted back.

“Good!”

“Fine!”

They stared for an extra moment in complete silence, then with almost no preparation Fighter jumped off of the ground on her hind hooves and rocketed the oddly shaped ball towards Clarke. He laughed for a moment as he saw her pitiful attempt at a throw and lowered his stance, that is, until he realized it was still soaring straight to him at Mach 12. He didn’t even have time to react as the ball veered off the intended course, instead finding a path much lower than where his hands were.

Suddenly the ball smacked Clarke directly in his groin, causing him to let out a choked yelp of pain before clutching his family jewels. He lurched forward in silent agony, doing his best to stay completely still to avoid agitating the newly tenderized areas of his body.

Fighter froze for a moment as she watched him wheeze, and all of a sudden her desire to play catch with the man had vanished. “I guess uh… you aren’t as good at catching as you thought huh?” Fighter said with a nervous laugh, hoping to ease the tension she'd begun to feel, but all she got was a fiery glare from the depths of Clarke’s soul.

“Me!? What the hell kind of throw was that!?” He yelled as he tried pointing to her, before immediately cringing and swinging his hand back towards his groin.

“Hey!” Sunny yelled out from the wooden picnic table covered in shade just behind him. “Don’t yell at her like that.” She said with a stern tone and glare aimed directly at him.

“But I… she…” Sunny just narrowed her eyes even further forcing Clarke to sigh in defeat. No point in trying to reason with momma bear when they were right next to her ‘little angel’ of a child. “I think I’ll just… lay down for a bit. Round one, Fighter.” He said as he slowly crouched down and laid on his side, his hands still low on his body, and his mouth still hissing in pain.

Fighter Swan let out a slight giggle, then turned towards the familiar grey fountain not too far from their spot in the park. “I’ll go make some ice.” She said before trotting away. Sunny quietly watched their antics with a smile and sighed peacefully while looking up at the sunlight through the shade of the tree above. She stayed like that for a minute until she felt the table bend ever so slightly as Clarke took a seat beside her.

“Yup, I knew I shouldn't have got out of bed this morning.” He said while slowly shifting into a better sitting position. Sunny gave him a quizzical look as he twisted and turned until he finally leaned into the bench and sighed with relief. She looked up and noticed a slight smirk creeping onto his face, then followed his gaze over to Fighter as she continued circling the fountain and avoiding the various younger ponies that had begun to gather around the area.

She leaned over and poked him in the arm playfully, offering him a smile that he gratefully reciprocated. “Don’t be so dramatic,” She said to him while rolling her head to the side. “I haven’t seen her this happy in a long time. I can’t even remember the last time she asked me to take her to the park too.” They continued watching her as she stared at the water, muttering something under her breath, and suddenly Clarke let out a slight shiver.

His gem flashed for a brief moment then dimmed once more as his icy breath came and went in an instant. Thankfully the process was still pretty muted, and thanks to their experimentation they were able to realize that the magic of the bracelets only gave as much power as you put in. It helped when they wanted to use them in day to day activities. "Yeah, well if I had a magic bracelet that let me do crazy stuff like that when I was a kid, then I’d be pretty happy too.”

"Yeah." Sunny hummed in passive agreement with him, but on the inside, she knew it was something much more than that. She just wondered how long it would take for him to realize it too.

Suddenly, there was a familiar vibrating sound as Sunny’s horn began to light up and notify her. She winced as it went off and placed a hoof against it momentarily before groaning with frustration. “I can’t believe it’s already time.”

“What? Again? It’s a Sunday.” Clarke asked as he leaned back against the table and pointed towards her with an open palm.

“I know, I know, but I need the extra shifts. We’re barely scraping by as it is.” Clarke winced for a moment as she said that, but hoped that she’d write it off as part of his injury. She stretched her legs like a cat for a moment then looked at Fighter Swan one last time with regret building up in her eyes. “Just… keep an eye on her? Please?” Clarke nodded solemnly and watched the saddened mother trot towards the park exit.

Not long after she’d left, Fighter Swan returned with a freshly made chunk of ice that she was constantly balancing on top of her head. She kept looking up at it as she swerved from side to side with a smile on her face, then once she finally steadied herself she looked to Clarke. “Got the ice!” She said while bouncing joyfully. She looked around for a moment, and her smile slowly lowered into a look of confusion. “Hey, where’d mom go?”

Clarke looked to the side for a second before turning to her. “She… had something she needed to take care of,” He watched as her look of confusion dropped into a look of disappointment. “But it was just for a bit, she should be back very soon.”

Fighter looked down slightly and walked up to Clarke while presenting the chunk of ice. He was about to reach out and grab it, but instead, she just dropped the chunk into his lap unceremoniously. “Yeah, soon.” She mumbled as she ignored his pained wheezing and took a seat next to him.

Clarke took a few deep breaths and placed the ice chunk into a more comfortable position before looking down at the angry filly. “Listen,” He said while placing a hand on her shoulder. “Sometimes ponies need to work a little harder to keep paying for our way of living, and there’s no harder worker than your mom. I can tell that no matter how hard she has to work, she still loves you more than anything. That’s why she works so hard, to make sure you get to have food on your table, a roof over your head, and a bed to sleep in."

Fighters frustrated look dropped into a more contemplative one, then her eyes started moving from side to side as she connected the dots. “So… mom is working so hard because she doesn’t have enough money?” She pondered, receiving a nod from Clarke in response. “Okay! So all we have to do is get jobs, and she won’t have to work so hard! It’s so simple!"

“Uh, wait that’s not exactly what I was saying.” Clarke had started speaking, but the filly was already concocting her next plan.

“We’re going to need something simple, but effective. I am only ten soooo... maybe district eight?” She pondered while continuously ignoring Clarke’s attempts to gain her attention. She turned to Clarke with a thoughtful expression until she felt a stroke of genius. “Uncle Lucky! Nopony knows more about finding jobs than him!”

Clarke looked over to her and groaned as he rolled the ice block off of his lap. “Are we really doing this?” But once again the filly was lost in her own little world, opting to jump off of the bench and raise a hoof triumphantly as her answer.

"Haha!" She yelled dramatically before turning to Clarke. "Come, Clarke! Uncle Lucky awaits, and with him, a mountain of bits!" She started walking towards the exit with a new spring in her step, so with a heavy sigh, Clarke stood up and began following after her.

He stuffed his hands in his pockets and cracked his neck when following the filly until he was right next to her. "I guess this isn't the worst idea. I was gonna start looking for a job soon anyway. If this Lucky guy can help, then I'd say it's a good place to start."

“Uh-huh,” Fighter agreed as they exited the park and made their way onto the fairly empty street. “If I remember correctly it’s… thatta way!” With a confident point, the filly began leading their way through the streets towards the shipment yards of district eight, one of the only legitimate businesses within the shady part of the city.

The walk towards the train yard had taken quite some time, even with Fighter's instructions, and nothing more than idle chit chat graced them along the way. It didn’t take long however for a common travel argument between the two to burst forth yet again as they walked..

"Come on please!?" Fighter asked while frantically hopping in front of Clarke as they started entering the more industrial portion of the district, every step taking them further from the ice cream cart they had passed. "Come on, you'll be the coolest ever!"

Clarke just rolled his shoulders while making sure not to look her in the eyes, as the cuteness would have been enough to break any man's will. "I already said no. If we get ice cream then we won't have enough for a cab back to district five." He chuckled for a moment and playfully looked downwards. "Besides, I already know I'm the coolest ever."

"Oh come on! Ice cream!" She repeated the name of the confection, convinced that that was enough of an argument to warrant serious reconsideration.

"Yeah, that's the thing I'm saying no to." Clarke retorted as the streets started to widen out, the smaller buildings soon being replaced by the large warehouses of the storage yard, the view of a recently docked train in the distance making him grunt in appreciation. "Besides, we have ice cream at home."

Fighter groaned and looked away in a fit while mumbling to herself. "Ice cream at home sucks." They continued their approach to the yard as per Fighters instructions, and eventually, they made their way to a warehouse with a large green circle insignia with a snowflake in the middle of it directly above the massive shutter doors. Inside they could see ponies, griffins, and a few dragons moving items in a fast and efficient manner.

Fighter picked up the pace and started looking around for her uncle, but as soon as she stepped through the entrance a massive minotaur stepped in front of her and looked down. He was large and had a dark brown coat as well as two slightly curved horns facing forward from atop his head. He wore an ill-fitting hardhat that looked ready to fall off, an orange work vest around his torso, and had a large clipboard in his hand.

Fighter Swan lowered her ears in fright and backed up as the sight of this behemoth caught her completely off guard, but thankfully she bumped into a pair of familiar legs behind her. She quickly spun around and hid behind Clarke while watching the minotaur carefully as he raised his eyebrows and inspected them both.

He gave a hum of contemplation as he looked them over, then flipped through the pages on his clipboard. "I don't see you on the list. Which group are you with and why are you out of uniform?" He asked them, his booming voice sending a shiver down Clarke’s spine.

He was trying his best to look unfazed by the minotaur's presence, for Fighter's sake, but he couldn't deny that the sight of the creature made him want to curl into a ball. He was pretty sure that the guy could crush his skull with a flick of his wrist, even if he could tell by a glance that someone clearly skipped leg day.

"Uh… uhhh…" He stammered while nudging Fighter ever so slightly with his leg. When she didn't respond he decided to grit his teeth and give her a light kick to the side.

“Gah!” She yelped as she felt a slight pinch on her side, but quickly returned to the task at hand when she realized that she knew the answer. "Oh, uh… We're looking for Lucky Day with team-"

"Pah! Lucky Day? So you're with ole good luck shmuck huh? Now it's making sense that you're all ate up." He interrupted before giving a loud snap of his fingers to call some workers over. "Get these two some gear and tell Lucky to stop leaving his-" he glanced down at the two of them and held his tongue for a moment as he stared at Fighter. "...Workers lying around."

The next thing they saw was a swarm of workers crowding them like locusts and ushering them further into the warehouse as they outfitted the two with the mandatory gear. They could barely even keep track of their surroundings as they were spun around and pulled every which way, ending with them both wearing identical orange work vests and hard hats that were surprisingly well proportioned for a filly and a human. After getting them their gear the workers left without a word, leaving them in the middle of a high-speed lane filled with moving employees and equipment.

Once again they were caught off guard as workers of all kinds, from a dragon flying by with a massive pipe on his shoulders, to a team of unicorns lifting a large machine from one spot to another, ran past them at worrying speeds. They nimbly dodged out of the way of the obstacles, jumping over or ducking down when the need arose, but eventually, they both stumbled into a circle of packages and shouting just outside of the back entrance.

“Alright, I want pile 'A' finished yesterday, sort them into processing and move on,” A familiar thestral called out as he hovered closer to the pile, his eyes glued to his clipboard. “Come on everycreature, we aren't getting paid for no-Aaah!” Naturally, his lack of awareness led him straight into the bumbling duo, knocking them both down into a pile of empty packaging that had yet to be taken to the trash.

Lucky Day lifted his head from the pile and looked around. “Oh, hey Fighter. Why haven’t these boxes been-FIGHTER!?” He did a double-take and quickly scrambled to his hooves so he could help his niece. In the middle of doing so, he saw another tall figure emerge from the cocoon of packaging. “Oh… good, it’s… this guy!”

“Clarke.”

“Yeah, Clarke. I knew that.” He backed up and sighed for a moment. “What uh… brings you two here? Y’know… while I’m working?” He said with a stressed tone.

Clarke could see the twitch in the bat pony's eye, and immediately he took the hint. Fighter on the other hand either couldn't tell, or just didn't care. “Uncle Lucky, we need jobs. I figured who better to ask than you?” She started to follow him as he continued working, oblivious to his attempts to evade her.

“Me?” He asked as he looked at a slightly torn package that one of his workers was presenting him. “Why on earth would you think of me first?” He looked at yet another package and nodded. “That one’s good.”

Fighter grunted as she tried wading past the litter covered ground and avoiding the much larger ponies who seemed to ignore her presence, but all of a sudden she felt the ground fall beneath her as she was lifted by Clarke. She uttered a soft thank you to him and started ordering how he should move her in the air so she could have the greatest emphasis when talking. “You’re great at finding jobs. You were a waiter, then a delivery pony, then a MILK delivery pony, then two days later you had that security job, and then this.”

Lucky Day’s entire body shivered as she started listing them off out loud, and before any more of his workers could give him weird looks he ran up to her and clasped his hoof over her mouth. “Alright, alright!” He said with a frantic whisper that seemed to make the entire workstation fall silent. “What are you looking at? Back to work guys!” and just like that, the business resumed.

Lucky looked back to Fighter and slowly lowered his head while sighing in defeat. Clarke and Fighter shared a subtle smirk as the thestral cracked his neck. “I have some work that needs doing around here, and if you can do it then there's some bits in it for ya, okay?”

“Soooo like a job?” Clarke asked with a grin as he finally set the filly down.

“Like a temp, guy,” He said with a roll of his eyes. “I ain’t exactly in the best position for new hires on my team, but if you make me look good today then we can talk about it, alright?” Clarke and Fighter rendered simultaneous salutes, and immediately they could see the regret welling up in his eyes. “You’re just lucky one of my regulars quit recently. We need another tall one around here.”

Lucky led the two of them off to the side and explained how the rotations worked, as well as general rules for the workgroup. After getting the basics out of the way he pointed them both to their stations. “Clarke I need you to help the runners bring down the equipment from the docking area, anything too high for them is on you. Fighter, start cleaning the area of trash so we can actually walk around here. Day just started and lunch is in two hours.” He clapped his hooves and sent them off.

With a quick hoof/fist bump, Clarke and Fighter went their separate ways and got to work.

Fighter planted her face against the metal table, its surface still cool thanks to the cover of the eating patio above them, and groaned loudly. She looked across the way to the warehouse they’d been working for and quickly exhaled in exhaustion. When the thought of getting a job crossed her mind she had no idea it’d be so much work. Luckily lunch was finally underway, meaning a much-needed break for her tired little hooves.

“Alright,” quickly Fighter perked up when she heard Clarke sitting down beside her and placing two trays of food down. “Bon Appetit.”

FIghter Swan looked down in excitement, but her smile quickly faded when she saw the assortment of bland food before her. “What is this? Plain oats, salad with no tomatoes, and a slice of bread!?” She asked in disbelief while holding the aforementioned slice.

“It’s free food is what it is,” He said as he reached over and slowly lowered her hooves, and by extension her food, back onto the tray. “Honestly we’re lucky they even provide it for their workers. Sorry if it's not up to your standards, Princess Picky.” He said as he reached across her tray and opened up her milk carton, then placed a straw inside for her.

Fighter hummed with uncertainty as she sat there and stared at her food, then started lightly pushing a leaf of lettuce back and forth. "Food isn't for playing, it's for eating." Clarke said, this time with a much more stern voice.

"Yeah, yeah." Fighter said as she very slowly started nibbling on the bland salad. Happy that she'd decided to listen to reason, he finally got to work on his own tray.

Clarke dug his fork into some of the spinach and was about to take his first bite until he heard a high pitched whimper on his left. He looked over and immediately regretted it, as his one rule when interacting with the filly had been forgotten when it mattered most. He dropped his fork as he saw her big sad eyes, her golden irises growing smaller as her pupils grew to the size of dinner plates.

“Clarke… can I please have your pudding cup?” She asked with a bit of a tremble in her lips.

Clarke barely managed to tear his eyes away from her and silently cursed to himself while picking up his hard-earned pudding cup. “Fine… trade me your oats and it’s yours.”

Fighter gasped with excitement. “Really?” Clarke nodded while looking off to the side, allowing Fighter to happily dump her bland oats onto his tray. “Thank you.” She said with a smile.

"Whatever." He replied with an annoyed shake of his head.

They continued eating in silence, with Clarke still grumbling over his lost treat, but that silence made way to curiosity as Clarke noticed something off in the distance. From what he could see, a bright green dragon was creeping around and looking into the warehouse while trying her best to remain hidden. Soon after he'd seen her though, she spun around and froze as their eyes met. She quickly snapped out of her shock and looked around frantically like a cartoon character before taking off into the warehouse. Clarke looked around for a moment, baffled as to how no one else saw this, and continued staring at the last place he saw her at.

“Psst, hey,” He said before as he nudged Fighter with his elbow. The filly looked to him, the ridges of her mouth messily covered in pudding, and watched as he nodded towards the warehouse. She followed his gaze and was moments away from dismissing it until she saw a small green head peek out from the warehouse's entrance and dip back in like a meerkat. She looked around in disbelief at the other workers still chatting and eating their lunches and looked at Clarke with a raised eyebrow.

Fighter quickly swallowed and set down her now empty cup. "That's our queue." She nearly made her way off of the bench but was quickly stopped by Clarke grabbing her hoof. He pulled her close and quickly dragged a napkin over her face, much to her dismay, then let go of her when he was finished.

"Now we can go." Fighter blushed in embarrassment for a moment, then followed him out of the lunch area to investigate the warehouse. Sure it wasn't their job to do so, but considering the current world events, it had almost become second nature for them to become on-the-spot detectives. They approached the building and slowly began creeping inside while keeping their eyes and ears on a swivel.

They weaved between the aisles, shelves, and products left halfway processed while looking for any sign of the dragon. Fighter's ears started to twitch, and from beneath the silence, she could hear a faint scratching noise above them. She tapped Clarke on the leg, stopping him in his tracks, then pointed up to her ears. He gave her a nod and remained still, and that's when they heard the familiar click of a door opening in the distance, it's faint nature akin to that of someone trying to hide the sound.

'Where was it?' Clarke mouthed out silently. Fighter looked around the warehouse, her ears swinging from left to right like a beacon, and pointed off towards a set of stairs near the right side of the building leading up to the offices. Clarke waved her over, then quickly lifted her off of the ground so that her hooves wouldn't make any noise as while he hightailed it up the stairs as quietly as he could. Once at the top he slowly set Fighter down, then motioned for her to follow his lead.

He crouched down low and took deliberate steps towards the manager's office, the frosted glass door showing nothing more than vaguely colored silhouettes through the window. From their position they could hear the sound of shouting inside, so Clarke looked down at Fighter to see if she knew anything, but all he was met with was a shake of her head.

Clarke reached for the door, which was closer to his size for a change thanks to the manager being a minotaur, and slowly opened it up, allowing the muffled voices from within to filter out.

“What do you mean you can’t!? I’ve worked here for over a year and all you can say is one strike and I’m out?” They peered inside and watched as the same jade dragon they saw earlier yelled at the manager as he sat at his desk with an annoyed expression.

The minotaur took off his reading glasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose in aggravation before responding. “This is a tough environment, creatures come and go daily and you’re no exception. You decided to disappear for two days without warning, and for that, you have to deal with the consequences." He said with a very stern gaze trained on her.

The dragoness raised her hands in protest, then dropped them in despair. She was silent for a moment before smacking her fist against her open palm in sudden realization. "Lucky Day! I know he'll vouch for me! I was the best worker in his crew!" She said triumphantly, only to falter as the manager shook his head in disappointment.

"Sorry kid, but Lucky replaced you almost immediately. Didn't think he'd have the stones for it, but I guess he's finally showing that he has what it takes to be a team leader around here." The dragoness fell silent again, her shoulders and head falling in what looked to be a mix of sorrow and anger.

"So it's true," she said in a low whisper before slowly beginning to chuckle to herself. "What the gem showed me was true…" She started to chuckle even louder, and both Clarke and Fighter froze as they saw her turn ever so slightly and pull out a familiar-looking bracelet from seemingly nowhere. It was a dim grey gem set on top, but in an instant, she slapped it on her wrist and smiled as the room overflowed with a mystical golden light.

The minotaur jumped to his hooves and covered his eyes as a fierce wind blew all over the room, and in a flash of light, a third person had appeared next to the dragoness. Kneeling beside her was what seemed to be a young blonde-haired man wearing a long brown trench coat with fingerless gloves. He slowly stood up while not saying a word and quickly turned his head to the side, revealing one of his glowing golden eyes.

“W-what… I-I don’t…” The minotaur said as he began to tremble at the sight of them.

The dragoness looked down and chuckled in a sinister fashion before gasping and looking at the now fearful minotaur. "I'll deal with you in a moment, but first we need to take care of our visitors.” She said while slowly starting to turn around.

“Oh shit!” Clarke said as he quickly broke free of his trance and closed the door. He fell to the ground and wrapped Fighter in his arms, then turned his back to the door to shield her from the coming attack.

"ĪA!" She shouted behind them. Both Fighter and Clarke closed their eyes in preparation for the attack, but after a few moments of waiting they slowly reopened them.

Clarke looked around for a moment, then down to the filly in his arms. "Huh… To be honest, I-I was expecting an explosion or some-hrrk!" He suddenly recoiled as a dense object dug into the center of his back, knocking the wind from him and sending him down with the force of ten anvils. He released Fighter and focused all of his strength into his arms in an attempt to avoid crushing her, but it soon became harder than he thought as the shoddy metal floor beneath them started to groan.

"Gaaaaaah!" Fighter screamed as the metal floor broke apart, sending them down to the floor several feet below. She landed back first into the concrete, only wincing slightly thanks to her magical damage resistance, but quickly reopened her eyes after hearing nothing more than pained grunts from Clarke.

She let out a shocked gasp as she looked up and was met with the sight of Clarke sweating profusely as he locked his arms and legs in an attempt to keep something away from her. She shimmied out from underneath him and got back to her hooves, then turned her attention to the object on his back.

It was some sort of magical golden rod about five feet tall, and despite its thin nature it still looked incredibly dense. The air around it shifted and shuddered against its surface as it vibrated, almost like it was being forced down by some unseen entity determined to drive it through Clarke's body. Just as she finished her inspection, she heard Clarke yell as the speed of the rod increased, forcing him to fall to his knees and elbows.

"H...Help!" He screamed in fear as tears began to well up in his eyes. Fighter quickly backed up and looked at her surroundings for anything she could use, eventually spotting a dormant jackhammer lying on a pallet beside her. Biting down onto the large tool, she spun it around effortlessly and tossed it at the rod, shattering it into golden streams of light upon impact.

Clarke let out the biggest sigh of relief he'd ever had once the weight had been lifted, and fell to the ground in exhaustion. He wanted to cheer, or maybe thank Fighter for her help, but he suddenly felt too tired to even move.

Fighter Swan frantically ran over to him, inspecting his back for any injuries but only finding a strange black singe on his coat. "Clarke, are you okay?" She started patting him down as he continued laying on the ground unresponsive to her question. "Clarke!?" She asked again as she shook him around. She began to tremble a bit as his mouth lazily opened to let a small breath of air escape, but once again no words.

Suddenly he started curling his hands in pain and slowly lifted himself from the ground. "Y-yeah, I'm fine," he said in a raspy voice while tiredly resting a hand on her head. "I just feel… a little tired is all." He offered her a weak smile and did his best to hide just how tired he truly was. He felt like he was on the verge of sleep. She nodded her head and wiped the small droplets from the corners of her eyes as he shakily regained his footing. There was no time to rest, however, as the sounds of gagging and raspy breaths from up above quickly caught their attention.

They looked up through the newly torn hole in the metal floor above and saw the same dragon from before with her tail coiled around the minotaur, and the minotaur desperately clutching for air. "You," she pointed to the trench-coated man then down at them. "Deal with them, then meet me by the train." With that she walked back into the office with the manager in tow, leaving her partner to jump through the hole and face them.

Fighter and Clarke rolled out of the way as the man landed onto the concrete floor with a crash, his feet digging deeper into the floor like he was under ten times the normal gravity. He glared at them with fierce glowing eyes while a golden aura seeped from his gem and surrounded him like a magical fire.

"Listen, we don't need to do this," Clarke said as he quickly pushed Fighter behind him. The man gave no response and instead opened both of his palms in front of his shoulders, summoning several new golden rods like the ones before. They all floated above his head lazily until they aimed towards them with ferocity, all while the man continued to stare with a lack of emotion.

Despite being in a couple of fights before, something about this one seemed off to Fighter Swan. There was something about his dead eyes that screamed to her that this was going to be painful. She gulped down as much of her fear as she could and took a stance beside Clarke as he panted up a storm, trying her best to prepare for a fight.

"I have a really bad feeling about this."

Chapter 4 - The Beginning

Sunny stumbled through the pristine halls of the palace, the weight in her eyes growing heavier with every step she took. She continued following the guard as he escorted her further along their path towards the princess until the weight in her bags nearly caused her to trip and fall over her own hooves.

“Ma’am! Are you alright?” He asked with concern as he turned around and gave her a helping hoof for balance. Suddenly though, his look of concern turned into a look of curiosity as he continued helping her stand. “Hey… were your saddlebags always that big?” Quickly Sunny’s eyes shot open as she was flooded with an adrenaline rush. She needed to kick things into overdrive in order to get out of this one.

“Oh, yes it always was. I can’t believe it’s weighing me down now, of all times, but it’s just so hard to keep going. I have to though, I can’t rest until my family’s safe,” she looked up at the stallion as she heavily leaned into him and fluttered her magenta eyes. “Thank you so much for your help, I’ve always felt that you strong guards were never appreciated for the work that you do.” She said in a low voice as she shakily placed a hoof on his chest piece. It had been a long time since she’d attempted to use her feminine wiles on another pony, not since her husband had left, but luckily any rustiness she may have shown was superseded by this guard obviously not getting a lot of female attention.

“Just, lean on me if you need support ma’am, there’s no shame in it and I’d be happy to help!” The grey stallion exclaimed happily as she did just that, the unmistakable blush on his face telling her the performance was well received.

She leaned on him for the show as she continued to limp, but very quickly she realized that it was partially true. Things as simple as walking were starting to become more difficult, and her balance would definitely not have been as stable without the guard there for help. Still though, she persevered down the hall eventually hearing loud voices off in the distance.

"I mean is she crazy or something?! She must have a death wish to let that thing in here!" Cried the loud voice of a guard all the way at the end of the hall who seemed to be standing in a large group of ponies just outside of two massive doors.

"I know! After last time we should've just skewered it the moment we found it, but no, obviously we gotta give that thing room and board. The princess dun lost her mind!" Said another one who seemed to be just as angry as the first.

"Shhh! I can't hear a thing!" Said a third pegasus guard as he hovered next to the top of the door and pressed his ear against it.

"It's no use, totally soundproof," Said the first guard until he finally noticed Sunny and her escort approaching. "Hey, look alive you guys." As soon as he had said that, all of the guards that had previously been meandering around suddenly took off in different directions like mice with a light shined down on them, leaving only two to guard the door. Sunny could only look on in confusion at the strange occurrence that had just transpired.

“Here we are ma’am, are you sure you can take it from here?” The guard asked as he gently allowed her to stop leaning on him for support. She quickly shook herself free of the confusion and nodded to the stallion.

“I’m fine, thank you very much.” With a quick nod of approval the doors were opened for her entry, but the moment she stepped into the study she stopped. Before her was the human Clarke sitting on a sofa with a pencil and paper in his hand, and his head leaned back like he was sleeping. Across from him on the other side of the room was the princess in front of a blackboard babbling on about the origins of magic, though it sounded more like the introductory lesson unicorn children were given in preschool.

“So in summary, that’s what allows for the more hooves on manipulation of magic that unicorns are capable of, now pegasi and Earth ponies, that’s a different story…” She doodled a few more pictures on the board until her ears stood straight up and swiveled towards the door, shortly after being followed by her head.

“Uhh…” Sunny Day said in confusion as both her, and the guards outside, watched the two in the middle of their little study session.

“Oh Miss Day, you’re finally here. I suppose we can…” She was about to turn to Clarke and inform him that the lesson was concluded until he let out a loud snore. Calmly she picked up the chalk she was using to write and tossed it at his forehead, waking him up with a gasp.

“The-the square root of pi!" He looked all around in surprise from the rude awakening, eventually regaining his bearings as the door behind Sunny awkwardly closed.

“Uh… right, your highness.” She said with a bow once she recovered from her initial confusion.

“There’s no need for that Miss Day, please have a seat.” Sunny stood up with visible apprehension and quickly nodded her head. She needed to make sure that she didn’t make a fool of herself in front of the princess, but it was easier said than done when she found herself instinctively staring at the Princess’ scarred face.

If there was one thing she was not prepared to see it was that, and the sight of such a thing unsurprisingly stopped her in her tracks. It was as if a grand illusion of safety had been shattered the moment she saw her, the thought of the princess being harmed so visibly making a shiver travel up her spine. She didn’t fully recover until Princess Twilight looked off to the side, hiding her scar, and coughed into her hoof.

“Oh my goodness! I am so sorry princess! Please forgive me! I-I-I didn’t…. I mean I…” She collapsed into another bow and continued stammering until the princess raised her hoof calmly.

“It’s alright, I understand the confusion, there’s no need to apologize. Please have a seat, Miss Day." Princess Twilight responded calmly. Without another peep, Sunny Day hung her head low and walked further into the room before sitting on the same sofa as Clarke. She made sure to keep as much distance from him as she could, even setting her saddlebag down directly between them.

“Glad you came when you did, I don’t think I could have lasted much longer.” He said jokingly to the mare in an attempt to alleviate the obvious tension he could see in her movements. He never really guessed it until now, but gauging from Sunny's reaction he figured the scar on the Princess's face was a new addition. Sunny gave no verbal response, and instead just looked at him cautiously in the same way one would look at a tiger being kept in a rusty and vulnerable cage. “...Right, so Princess, you said you had something to share?” He said awkwardly in order to change the subject.

“Yes, I believe it’s time to inform you both of what’s happening here,” She said as she finally pushed the board away and faced them with a more serious expression. “As well as what may escalate over the coming weeks.” Sunny and Clarke shared a look of apprehension at her sudden tone shift.

"Wait, what's happening? If you don't mind me asking, that is." Sunny said meekly from her seat.

"The reason I requested your presence was because there is something very dangerous happening as we speak, and as the summons said, your daughter is at the forefront," The Princess said as she gave a sorrowful nod. Sunny placed a hoof on her chest in shock, the expression on the Princess' face draining the words from her mind. "Allow me to explain in more depth what this all means, and I will answer any and all questions you may have about The Tourney."

Suddenly the princess’ horn lit up with a deep purple glow as small orbs of magic manifested before her, dimming the lights of the room in the process. The orbs quickly took the form of small cartoon depictions of a pony, and a human respectively as they faced each other. The cartoons a pure black color in front of a magical white canvas as they moved.

“One pony, and one human, linked together by otherworldly artifacts unlike any other previously seen in Equestria,” The pony and human extended towards each other and shook hands, as they did a small white line representing the bracelets appeared on their wrists. “Together they become masters of the arcane arts, though the specific type and method of their powers differ greatly between each participant.” The human and pony took stances as if they were powering up, before jumping into the air and swirling around each other. Once they landed, the human extended his arm and levitated a small vase of flowers in front of him, while the pony stood on one leg and conjured several purple orbs of magic that orbited around her.

"The reason for this being that there are hundreds of ponies, and now humans, linked together and released upon our world. Their only purpose here it seems, is to fight in The Tourney, as it's known." The human and pony stood together and faced yet another human and pony duo across from them. They shook their fists and hooves at each other before charging and crashing into a large black mass that split into hundreds of pony and human cartoons all standing in a massive crowd.

"Out of the hundreds linked, only one team can be victorious," one by one, the duo's began to fade away into dust until only one pony and human were left standing. "At the end of it all, they will receive one wish of their own. A wish not bound by any laws of known limitation that can grant anything the heart desires." Finally the duo looked up as a small heart slowly descended onto them, before both finally dissolved into dust just like the ones before them. The lights slowly lit back up, followed by the princess finally powering down her horn. Clarke and Sunny were stunned into momentary silence as they processed this new information.

"I'm… afraid to ask, but how do they... whittle down the competition?" Clarke asked nervously. The Princess was silent for a moment as she looked away, and both Sunny and Clarke's eyes widened in sudden realization of what this meant.

A knot twisted in Clarke's gut as he felt the metaphorical target being placed on his back, and in the end all he could do was sit in silence as he came to grips with the situation. He gripped the sides of the sofa in anger and denial, closing his eyes and begging to wake up in his crappy bed at home, begging to be yelled at and fired for sleeping on the job, anything but this! It was too crazy to be true! There had to be an explanation, an explanation that didn’t involve entertaining the idea that he’d been roped into a battle to the death in a magical pony filled world! No matter how hard he wanted to forget it though, he could still feel the pain of the magic, and the soft cushions beneath him.

“You… you can’t be serious!?” Clarke shouted as he stood up from his chair, his emotions quickly getting the best of him. “Why? Why would something like this be happening to us!?” He asked, desperate for any kind of answer.

“I-I don’t know. Nothing like this has ever happened before in Equestria. It’s completely alien to any known laws or occurrences in recorded history.” The Princess responded sympathetically, but that did little to quell Clarke’s outburst.

“Then how do YOU know so much!? Who gave you this information? What gave you this information!?” He screamed accusingly.

“H-hey, calm down! Don't go shouting at the princess like that!” Sunny interjected angrily at the sight of the man screaming at her faithful ruler.

“That’s enough!” The Princess said with a loud and authoritative shout that quieted the others. “There have been several accounts of humans appearing all over Equestria, but only now have they been more and more frequent. They’re becoming reckless, none of them care if they're seen anymore, but in reality this whole tournament started almost 2 months ago.” She walked away from them and towards the window, where she looked out longingly to the garden in the distance.

“It was then that I first became exposed to this, and it was my partner who informed me of the Tourney’s existence. I failed to ask him how he knew before…” She trailed off and took a deep breath to calm herself. “The moment I knew it was true was when we were attacked by another team. The ferocity in which they did left lasting effects, as well as cleared any doubts I had.” Clarke watched as she caressed her scar and stepped back as he practically felt the emotion in her voice skewer his heart.

“Oh no.” He said as he placed a hand on his head while flopping back down onto the sofa in shock. Sunny looked at him in concern until a sudden flash of dread washed over her the moment she laid eyes on the pink gem strapped to his wrist.

“So...my daughter is…” She started as she looked away from Clarke and towards the slowly turning princess. “Marked? A member of some life or death game with no explanation as to why? She's just going to be hunted by these… these… maniacs!?” She asked in disbelief and anger. The princess was silent for much longer than either of them liked, but eventually she lifted her head with a look of determination.

“I understand that this is the last thing anyone ever wants to hear about their family’s future, but there’s a reason there are two of them,” She said while pointing to Clarke, who in turn pointed to himself in uncertainty. “They’re meant to keep each other safe, to be stronger when working together. So long as they do, and you stay within the safety of the city, no harm should ever come to them. Though I can’t lie… there are too many to count, and the battle is inevitable.”

Sunny and Clarke looked down in sadness, neither of them having the first thought of what to do next, and the room fell into an uncomfortable silence. Sunny felt her tired mind beginning to race until a certain idea popped into her head, stopping her in her tracks. Normally she’d never speak it aloud, but with her decreased judgment and foreign setting, she couldn’t stop herself from speaking her mind.

“But what if… there’s only one?” She asked, causing both Clarke and the princess to look up at her.

“I’m sure that…” The princess looked back at Clarke and slowly answered. “Only one needs to be ‘defeated’ as it were,” Sunny looked down for a moment, and Princess Twilight could practically see the gears turning in her head. “Though I can’t guarantee!” She hastily added.

“She’s right,” Surprisingly, Clarke actually spoke up instead, his face no longer downtrodden and more resigned. “I heard Fiddler and Todd when they took Fighter. They said that they only needed to kill one of us, and they certainly didn’t want her…” He looked down at his fist and clenched it in anger. “They wanted me.”

More silence followed his confession, and no one wanted to speak aloud what was being implied. To sacrifice one life for another seemed… horrid to think about, yet here they were discussing just that. Clarke let out a long sigh and shook his head before sitting up straight and grabbing their attention.

“Listen, I ain’t really good for much, but what I do know is that when lives are at stake sacrifices need to be made.” He felt his heart strain with every word he said, the fear of such an act making him want to run right then and there.

“Are you saying…” Sunny started, hoping that anypony else would finish the sentence for her. Clarke nodded softly, his voice getting quieter as he continued.

“I don’t want to, I don’t know who would, but I can’t see another way out of this.” He shut his eyes as he tried to cope with his new reality until a loud stomp snapped him out of his rut.

“Stop…” The princess said as her scowling face seemed to be shrouded in darkness. “STOP THAT RIGHT NOW!” She yelled fiercely with a voice that shook the entire room, and made Sunny fall to her haunches. “Do you have any idea what you’re saying?” She said as she pointed to Clarke with a fire in her eyes.

“Y-yes?” He replied nervously.

“No! Nopony deserves that! Nopony should ever think that the only way forward is to just give up!” Princess Twilight shook her head, as she seemed incapable of even fathoming such an idea. “I’m working on a way to stop this right now, with no bloodshed required. So there is going to be another way, do you understand me!?” She asked him, and when his answer wasn’t fast enough she pressed even harder. “DO YOU!?”

“Yes! Yes princess!” He shouted in fear as he saluted her. They looked at her in awe as she slowly calmed down, and suddenly both Sunny and Clarke were sitting side by side on the sofa awaiting further instructions.

“This will be a very trying time for everypony involved, but I will do everything I can to make sure nopony has to suffer, starting with this.” She pulled a few papers from the nightstand to her right and presented it to them. While Clarke still couldn’t understand the ramblings of the drunk Russian linguist who wrote it, Sunny could immediately tell and was floored by the proposition.

“Is this an official deed of ownership, meant for... me?” She asked as she grabbed the papers into her trembling hooves and looked at the princess on the verge of tears.

“Yes it is, although it is missing one more thing,” She levitated a quill towards them, and after a moment of staring at it Clarke decided to hold onto it. “Notice that the official address and district listing are blank, a decision I decided to leave for you.” Sunny gasped at the opportunity and sputtered her words as she tried to get a thank you out to the princess.

“I-I-I don’t… this is… AAAAAAGHH!” She squealed with delight as she hopped on the sofa and instinctively hugged the nearest thing to her, that being Clarke. She held him for a moment before realizing what she was doing and breaking the hug with a blush of embarrassment, something both she and him shared for once. “Do you… mind?” She asked Clarke sheepishly.

“What?” He looked down at her, then at the quill in his hand before quickly piecing two and two together. “Oh, right.” With a quick exchange she wrote out the new address for her new home, a place she had been eyeing up for quite a while. If this was indeed no joke, then it’d be a literal dream come true.

“I-if this is too much princess, I’ll gladly change it.” She said while looking like a nervous wreck as she presented the papers to her, allowing the Princess to pick them up and inspect them. There was a long pause as she looked it over, but the moment a tiny smirk appeared on her face Sunny felt elation beyond compare.

“I’ll send word through my channels of the changed ownership. You’ll be a brand new homeowner in district five by tonight, Miss Day.” Clarke watched on with a smile as an out of season Christmas miracle unfolded before his very eyes. It was a nice distraction for him, but eventually their voices became muffled and faded as his thoughts lingered back to the ball of dread in his chest. What the princess said to him was nice and all, but simple yelling wasn’t enough to clear away all of his doubts. He looked down at the bracelet on his wrist, taking notice for the first time just how heavy it felt.

“Clarke?”

“Huh?” He asked as he looked up and saw Sunny standing by the door and looking at him weirdly.

“I asked if you’re ready to go.” He looked around the room and saw no sign of the princess, and suddenly he wondered just how long he’d been stuck in his own mind. He decided that for now he could push those thoughts deep down in favor of more pressing matters. He nodded to her silently and followed out of the room, hoping desperately that more talks could be had along the way.

“Hnnngh!” Fighter grunted as she tossed and turned on her, not-so comfy anymore, bed.

“Stop it.” Her uncle said simply as he sat across the room from her and read from a cosmarepolitan magazine. Fighter huffed loudly and laid down on her right side with attitude, but not five seconds later she started to feel antsy and began shifting positions some more.

She laid on her other side, her stomach, and even kicked up her legs into various other positions and shapes. No matter how hard she tried though, she just couldn’t shake the uncomfortable feelings within her.

“Stop. It.” Her uncle said once more, this time looking up from his magazine with a stern glare.

“I just can’t help it uncle! I need to get out of this bed!” She said with frustration as she kicked off her covers and swung her hind legs off of the bed frame. That was as far as the filly got however as her uncle rushed over to the same side and quickly tossed her back over the edge.

“Oh no, you are not going anywhere. There’s no way you're fully rested yet! You’ve only been here a half a day!” He scolded with more authority than usual.

“Come on Uncle Lucky! You’re supposed to be the cool one!” She complained as she flashed her best puppy dog eyes.

“There’s a time for cool, and a time for drool...of boredom,” He said awkwardly as he rolled his hoof around in thought. “And right now, it’s drooling time.” She gave him a weird look due to the strange analogy, and even he realized that it was definitely an… unexpected sentence to come out of his mouth.

“Riiiiight,” She said with an unsure expression before sighing and flopping onto the bed lazily, much to the relief of her uncle. “I guess I’ll just wait here, even though I feel perfectly fine!”

“Yes you will, because that’s what you need right now.” He said as he patted her head comfortingly. “You’ll be fine, and I’m sure you can convince the doc that you’re ready to go when your mother gets back, but until then you just have to wait.” Uncle Lucky finally left her side and returned to his seat, but all Fighter could think about was how unfair this was. Her mother was able to excuse herself, yet she couldn’t? This was discrimination against young ponies, and she’d make sure to write a strongly worded letter to the parliament. Or she could just keep complaining, that sounded like a good plan too.

Feeling bored, she idly lifted her left hoof and gazed into the shimmering gem fused to her. She stared at it for a moment as she recalled the first time she saw it, the overwhelming sense of calm that washed over her. She also recalled the bright glow and rings it gave out every time those… powers were activated, by both her and Fiddler. There was no way that these things weren’t the cause of these strange occurrences, and that only made her wonder what other secrets it held.

“Hey Uncle Lucky,” she called out calmly, causing him to look up from his reading material yet again. “Where did you find this bracelet?” As she asked she idly dragged her hoof over it back and forth as it slowly let out more vibrations that were similar to the day prior.

“Oh… I uh, found it in a very upscale jewelry store, you don’t want to know about it here.” He answered sheepishly as he flipped his magazine back up.

“Really? But it’s so… weird.” She said as she stared into the gem, it’s smooth exterior seemingly staring right back at her.

“Well that’s the honest truth! I assure you that’s where I got it, nothing but the top of the line for my niece.” He said with a strange chuckle that Fighter couldn’t help but squint at. Ultimately she dropped her questioning and instead focused on the bracelet even harder, as she felt an overwhelming urge to continue fiddling with it.

As she placed her hoof on the surface of the gem she felt a warm feeling gracing her frog, and with it even faster vibrations than before. She lifted her hoof and watched the gem glow brighter and brighter with the same green light she had seen the night prior. She feared what may happen, since she didn’t want to suddenly become covered in metal once again, but without anywhere else to run from the bound gem she could only watch and hope for the best.

“AH!” She screamed as a strong burst of green magical light flew out towards her. She shielded her eyes fearfully, but after a few moments of nothing she slowly peeked over her leg and dropped her jaw at the sight. What she saw being projected out of the gem, and directly above her hoof, was a small screen made of green magic that looked like it came straight out of a science fiction comic. On it was a diagram of a bipedal creature, one that looked eerily like Clarke, with its arms and legs spread out, and directly beside it was a long list titled ‘spells’.

“Fighter? What happened?” Lucky asked cautiously, while still not getting out of his chair.

“The bracelet! The bracelet’s all weird, see?” She said as she jumped towards the foot of the bed and practically hanged her upper body off of it in order to show the screen to her uncle. He looked at her, then to her wrist, and back to her in silent confusion.

“Uhh, right. It’s… green?” He asked with a shrug.

“The screen, can’t you see it!?” She pleaded while pointing directly towards it. Lucky leaned forward and hummed as he squinted at the bracelet, making sure to place an inquisitive hoof on his chin just for good measure.

“Nope, now get some rest. You’re obviously seeing things.” He commented as he once again returned to the same magazine page he had been attempting to read for the past ten minutes. Fighter let out a groan and hung her head in disappointment before flopping back onto the bed fully, this time on her stomach and looking forward at the gem.

“Let’s see here.” She said silently as she touched the green screen experimentally, and unsurprisingly she found that it directly seemed to interact with her touch. With the first tap against the screen, specifically on the diagram, the human depiction grew until it took up the entirety of the image where directly above it read out ‘Clarke status’. Curiously, Fighter continued to tap on it, specifically on the different areas of the body that were labeled, and eventually found that she could hone in on the status of his limbs, torso, and head. Each time she did an in-depth diagram of its status, as well as veins and muscle groups, were laid out for her. She quickly backed out of the status page once she got a little too much information than she was prepared for.

As she returned to the initial menu on her screen, she refocused her attention on the long list on the right side taking up only about a third of the screen labeled ‘spells’. With a smile she tapped on it and expanded the list, noting that the very first spell listed on the top left was the very same one she had used last night, ‘Kachin’. The list was filled to the brim with what looked to be empty slots where spells were supposed to go, but only the first two on the left were filled in. The second spell in the list, titled ‘Soul rip’ caught her attention, as the name stood out as something very odd, almost sinister really.

She warily tapped onto it, in the hopes that it would explain the function as the status screen before it, but to her shock nothing happened. She did the same with ‘Kachin’ but once again there was no change or explanation for what the spells did. It dawned on her that the only way to know for sure was to… test it out, but she wasn’t sure if she ever really wanted to test out something called ‘Soul Rip’. Fighter shook her head clear of the haunting thoughts the name alone brought to her and closed out of the spell list, once again bringing her back to the main screen.

“Okay… uh, how do I close you?” She questioned as she looked for something that would indicate the closure of the screen, an x or a button of some kind. She rotated her hoof curiously and tapped on the gem several times, yet the screen just wouldn’t disappear no matter what she tried. Finally, out of desperation, she smacked the gem against the metal bed frame lightly, but almost immediately she wished that she never did as a searing pain gripped her heart. It was only a fleeting moment, so quick and quiet that her uncle hadn’t even noticed, but for her it felt like an eternity of frozen time as her heart stopped, leaving her in a state of panic and pain afterward.

She took continuous deep breaths as she clutched her racing heart, the beats pounding against her chest being a solid reminder that she was still alive, and slowly she laid down on her back. She looked at her bracelet with terror that she had never felt in her entire life, the very idea of what could happen to her if this little green trinket were cracked, or Luna forbid broken, making her shiver like a newborn foal. On the plus side however, at least the screen disappeared.

Deciding to take her uncle's advice, Fighter pulled the covers over her and got some much-needed rest after the little scare she had just put herself through. She drifted off almost immediately, and after a few more hours of sleep, she awoke once again, only this time it was due to the room being filled with voices that refused to quiet down. She slowly peeked through her eyelashes at the dark room, the darkness of the night sky from beyond the window being the main cause, and spotted several ponies as well as a familiar scarfed human.

“...It’s just unbelievable! I mean, why in Tartarus would any of this be happening?” The sound of her uncle's voice brought her further out of her sleep, causing her to yawn silently and begin rubbing her eyes.

“Like we said, we don’t know,” Clarke answered with a very serious tone, noting to Fighter Swan that whatever happened while they were gone must have been pretty serious.

“Yeah, and until the princess can stop it we can’t tell Fighter, alright?” Her mother said with worry in her voice.

“Can’t tell me what?” Fighter asked as she stretched her legs. She heard a chorus of surprised shuffles as they all stepped back and looked at her in shock. “You guys are super loud you know.” She commented as she finished her stretch and looked at all of them.

“Well kid, it’s complicated grown-up stuff. We just don’t want to bore you with the details is all. Heh, heh.” Clarke said with a chuckle as he tugged on his striped scarf. Fighter squinted at him, unconvinced of his answer, and immediately she could read the worry on his face.

“Okay sweetie, if you must know we were just informed by the princess that our living situation is going to be… dodgy for the next few weeks.” Her mother finally chimed in as she approached the bed.

“What's… that supposed to mean?” She asked with a yawn interrupting her sentence.

“It means that we’ll tell you more tomorrow... at our new home,” She said as she hoisted the filly out of the bed and onto Lucky’s back. “For now you go back to getting some shut-eye okay?” Fighter nodded in agreement, the grogginess making her a lot less inquisitive than usual, and leaned her head against Lucky's fur. Sadly, she found the positions there very uncomfortable.

“Can’t… sleep,” She said tiredly, the fear of complete consciousness growing within her as the perfect sleeping mood began to fade. Looking up she saw Clarke and her mother staring at her in confusion, so she quickly extended both of her hooves upwards. “Carry me?” She asked.

“Sure thing honey.” Her mother said in a babying tone as she approached, only to be cut off by her daughter shaking her head no and pointing her hooves to Clarke.

“Uhhh,” He said nervously as he looked over to her shocked mother. Clarke was no stranger to helping sleepy kids to their parents' car, or even onto the nap time mats, but it was always awkward whenever the kids at the daycare would ask for him to do something for them directly in front of their parents. Luckily Sunny looked away with a grumble and backed off, so with a heavy sigh, Clarke reapplied his smile and reached for the filly.

“Sure thing kiddo, but I thought you hated heights?” He asked as he scooped her up and cradled her in his arms. It was a tad awkward, since she was actually much larger than he initially thought, but nevertheless, she was still light enough for him to carry without much difficulty.

“Not… that scared.” She said tiredly as she grabbed the dangling bit of his scarf and tucked it behind her to act as a pillow. With a little bit of fidgeting, Fighter managed to find the perfect angle to sleep, and in a matter of moments she was dozing off in his arms. Clarke looked away from the snoozing filly and towards her family, immediately feeling the weight of their gazes on him as he cradled the girl.

“So…” He started with a nervous cough as he tried not to be crushed under the glare of her mother.

“Yeah, Imma head home now that all this is wrapped up,” Lucky said as he rotated his neck. “Just let me know if you need help with anything, alright Sunny?”

“Will do Lucky, and thanks." She walked over and shared a quick hug with him before he left, and as he stood by the door for a moment he looked back at Clarke with the most intense look he’d seen from the bat pony all night. It wasn’t one of anger, malice, or judgment, just one of understanding. Without another word the stallion left the room, as well as the others, in silence.

"I… suppose we should get going?" Clarke asked nervously, as he tried his best to keep the topic away from the current bundle of complications in his arms. Sunny gave him a sideways glance and let out a heavy breath through her nostrils before leading Clarke out of the room.

What followed had to have been one of the most awkward experiences of Clarke's life, as he walked beside the unicorn mother through the dimly lit streets while holding her daughter in his arms. Every time he looked down at the peaceful filly he couldn’t help but feel slight pangs of guilt for what had happened to her. One thing was for certain though, he knew that deep down he’d do anything to keep that smile squarely on her face, no matter what.

Loud footsteps rang out through the empty closed off street, its echoes melding in with the chirps of crickets that persisted through the night. The footsteps were followed by a chorus of hoofsteps as the man and pony stepped down the street turned crime scene. Though blocked off, the guards stood no chance of stopping them from getting a closer look.

The man, a caucasian male with slicked-back dark hair, as well as a deep black suit and dress shoes, walked up to the crumbled remains of the apartment complex that had barely managed to stay on its feet following the attack. There were large signs and tapes barring anyone from entry, not that he intended to enter the shoddy building, as well as piles of torn debris that looked like the aftermath of a hurricane. The man placed his hands in his pocket and donned a look of contemplation.

"Well, I guess the Tourney has finally come to Canterlot, huh?" He turned to the side and looked at the dark jet black unicorn mare that had joined him on the right side. She was almost entirely black, save for some white highlighted tips in her mane, bright blue eyes, and an image of a blue Phoenix as her cutie mark. She hummed in agreement as she vacantly stared at the crumbled building before them, the silence only being undercut by the sounds of wind passing by.

"So… should we switch cities? Canterlot might not be the safest place to lay low anymore." The man said with calm curiosity as he stared at the building.

"No." The mare replied simply, her short and sweet attitude making the man chuckle.

"You're right, it's inevitable that we'll be roped in again. No need to skip town yet again when things are ramping up so fast," He talked as he turned away from the building and walked down the street, his companion following him wordlessly as he did. "Besides, we won't be the ones looking for trouble. We'll just be the ones who end it if it comes our way." The mare gave another hum of agreement as they ventured down the dark street, their clothes and colors hiding them exceptionally well in the night.

The Tourney had truly begun, and they were confident in their assured victory. All they had to do was bide their time.