Sweet Pink Sunset

by Annon56

Rating: teen
Tags: Other, Romance, Pinkie Pie, Tragedy, Adventure, Sad, Main 6, Original Character, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Length: 55507

Forest Thundertred's past comes back to challenge him after years of training and trying to move on

After a civil town war which brought his home town to it's own demise, Forest Thundertred was left as the lone survivor after witnessing the unforgettable death of his parents. Holding on to a single promise which kept him from sinking into darkness, he swore an oath to his parents not to be guided by rage or vengeance and to carry on his dream to become a protctor, a guardian.

As years have past, he had grown up to become the stallion that he, and his parents, had hoped he would have developed to be. With his childhood cut short and a past which was quite overwhelming to bare it was predicted that one thing would never leave his mind.
"Why did it all happen?"

Having this unknown cause for profound sadness in his life, a hole grew deep in his heart which caused him so much pain and anger. Once he had found a new home in Ponyville, met the mare of his dreams, and made the most valuable of friends in his life, he was about to be relieved of those harsh negative sensations until a major part of his past comes back to throw an overwhelming challenge at him, his friends and even the main six!

Forest Thundertred will now do whatever it takes to protect his new family, even if it costs him his life.

Published 2012-08-17 01:14:03 UTC
Last updated 2012-09-04 17:39:16 UTC

Costumes

Forest stared at the mane of his beloved pink lover, slowly edging closer to her side of the bed with small movements to avoid waking her from her peaceful slumber.

When he got close enough, he inhaled briefly through his nose collecting the scent of Pinkie Pie's mane.

'Red velvet cupcakes,' he thought while giving a joyful grin, 'she even smells sweet, not to mention it s my favourite type... this mare-'

His thoughts were interrupted as Pinkamena turned to his side slowly like a cat lounging to one side of a rug and then to the other. That moment, Forest felt at complete ease to see the still face of his lover in her slumber.

'She even smiles in her sleep, she looks so peaceful.'

The pink mare had a small cute smile with her eyes softly shut, then she slowly fluttered her eyes open, the two ponies' eyes met, each reflecting the colour of dark-aqua blue. Forest felt so amazed to see her smile was still in perfect shape, with this his cheeks slightly radiated a sweet red-apple blush. Pinkie pie's cheeks mimicked Forest's.

"Mornin' sunset," she whispered to him the nickname she would call him only when they're alone, complementing the colour of his vivid orange coat.

At first he thought the name was quite odd, but as they built their relationship he began not to mind at all, he would always think about the line 'sweet pink sunset' whenever she called him that.

"Good morning, sweetie pie," he replied.

With their morning greetings complete, Forest and Pinkie sat up, placing their opposite front hooves behind each other and have their lips meet for a chaste kiss. They sank into the bed and cuddled, Pinkie Pie placing her head right under Forest's chin and resting against his chest.

"Mmm...Forest?" she intoned.

"Yeah?"

"What time is it right now?"

Forest, cast a glance over her head to see the time on the alarm clock, wincing to get the gleaming sunlight out of his eyes.

"Its seven-thirty," Forest muttered as he rested his head back down.

Pinkamena then suddenly jumped up letting out a huge gasp.

"Woah! Pinkie what s wrong?" Forest asked.

"Omigosh, it's today and I only have thirty minutes!"

"Thirty minutes? for what?"

"Today's the super duper extra wonderful anniversary celebration of the grand opening of the Sugarcube Corner, and I have to be there early to make all the most yummiest cupcakes and the best part is that it's also the yearly festival of Ponyville s historical beginning! Everyone is going to be all over town, party ponies and funny costumes left and right!"

Pinkie Pie got closer and closer as she went through her explanation until all Forest could see where her big eyes when she finished.
"Ooooooh, that s why I've got the day off!" Forest blurted while directing his eye to look at his nose.

Pinkie Pie tried to hold in her laughter but it was too sudden to keep in, so she snapped back and threw her head in a little chuckle.
"Of course silly, didn't you notice the costume I left in the bathroom yesterday?" she asked.

"That vintage baker costume? Oh, right... that makes sense."

"Exactly, oh, you don't happen to have a costume then do you?"

"Aah.. So I guess everyone s gonna be dressed up except for me, well that s no fun."

"Consider yourself lucky!"

Forest looked up at Pinkie Pie with his eyes widening, "You have one? really?"

"Mmhmm!" she replied, "I don't know if you re gonna like it, but Rarity and I were deciding what would be a good costume for you so we picked out this one!"

Pinkie Pie opened the cupboard parallel to the bed and then went to open the curtains revealing a vintage jester costume, she looked back at Forest.

"Tada! we first thought of giving you a duke or king costume but Spike's already going as a king, and Fluttershy convinced me that Gummy would look ridiculously cute in the duke costume, sooooo waddaya think?"

Forest leaped off the bed to the cupboard like an athletic long jumper and analysed the purple and yellow polka dotted jester outfit, it had the classic white neck crown with a matching purple and yellow head piece. The hat looked like purple and yellow bananas with bells attached to each end, perfect for any fool. Forest, looking unsatisfied to Pinkie Pie then motioned his head towards her and made soild eye contact.

"Pinkamena..." the only time Forest would say her first name is when they were in times of profound emotion, although sometimes it could mean trouble.

"Are you telling me, that I lost to a baby dragon and a toothless baby alligator in outfits of class?" He continued to say.

"Oh... you don't like it? I thought that-"

"Like it? Pinkie Pie, I love it!"

"Really?"

"Of course, I mean look at it! It's perfect in every way, this is enough to make anypony think I came from the past, besides I think clowns are awesome anyways."

"WOOO!" Pinkie Pie cheered as if she had scored the winning goal for the Ponyville national football team. "We're gonna have so much fun I just know it! It's gonna be one great big party and the whole town's invited," she exclaimed.

"Aww man! I'm already so excited Pinks, I bet there s going to be so many- wait a minute," Forest paused and looked back at the alarm clock noticing that fifteen minutes have passed. "Uh, honey... we only have fifteen minutes left."

Pinkie Pie jumped up in the air and gasped again, this time more dramatically. As she landed she grabbed Forest by the hoof.

"Come on, hurryyyy!" she pulled him into the bathroom, they took their toothbrushes, washed them and manically squirted on some tooth paste.

At the same time they look at each other and said 'ready? one, two, three!' and began to brush their teeth. Forest did not know if they were racing or just trying to be fast, they brushed every angle to ensure they are in the best shape to consume as many delicious sweets and candy that their heart's content. If they had brushed any faster, the grip on the brush would most probably begin to melt.

With the final stroke, they washed their toothbrushes, gargled their mouths and spat.

"To the costumes!" Forest exclaimed. They rushed back to the bedroom and slipped into their silly little outfits. They looked down to find a purple eyed green Gummy, who strangely enough, seemed to already have his costume on. Pinkie Pie and Forest looked at each other and just shrugged.

With ten minutes to spare, Pinkie Pie grabbed Gummy and put him under her chef hat and went outside as Forest followed.

Flour Pyramid

Pinkie Pie and Forest stepped out the door to find a carriage stacked up with a ridiculously large amount of flour bags. They were stacked up together in a neat pile forming a large pyramid. Forest's jaw dropped as he shifted his head to look up higher.

"Pinkie Pie... what in Equestria are you- were you planning to push this all by yourself?" Forest asked.

"Oh noooo! It's way too heavy to push to the Sugarcube Corner quickly enough, we'll never get there on time!"

"What in Equestria is going on?" A voice disclosed from behind the pyramid of flour.

Forest and Pinkie Pie looked behind it to find Twilight Sparkle looking up at the stack having the same expression as Forest did moments ago. Having gotten the attention, almost everypony from outside the house were staring at the tower of flour.

"Twilight, perfect timing!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed.

"Huh? What do you mean? I'm supposed to be on my way to the boutique where-" Twilight was then interrupted by Spike as he jumped out from behind her.

"Where Rarity is waiting for us so she can hand us the costumes she offered to make for us, until we saw that flour tower you guys got over here but anyway we can t keep a lady waiting. Nice costumes by the way," Spike stated.

Forest looked down to Spike and bowed. "Thank you, your majesty," he said. Spike's eyes widened as he looked up at Forest and began to laugh.

"Hahaha, that s perfect! if only I had my costume on right now."

"Five minutes left!" Pinkie Pie shouted.

"What? Already?" Forest added.

Pinkie Pie then grabbed Twilight, "Twilight! I know this is really sudden but we really need your help. Thing is I'm supposed to be at the Sugarcube Corner with all this flour so Mr and Mrs Cakes and I can start making all the deliciously yummy treats for the festival and anniversary of the Sugarcube Corner itself but we can't push the carriage to get there on time so it would be really super spectacular if you could please, please, please, use your wonderfully wonderful magic to teleport us there so I won t be late... please?"

Forest and Spike cocked an eyebrow with their mouths slightly open as Pinkie Pie completed her request to Twilight in lightning speed.

Spike then turned his head to Forest, "does she even need to breathe?"

"I think those two gasps she gave in back in the house is all she needs," Forest replied.

Twilight met the glare of Pinkie Pie's puppy dog eyes; she sighed at the request and nodded.

"Alright Pinkie don't worry, I'll help you guys out, Spike, grab the carriage and Forest's tail, Pinkie Pie, grab my left hoof, and Forest you grab my right one."

"YES! Oh, thank you Twilight, thank you, thank you, thank you!" Pinkie Pie cheered as she grabbed Twilights hoof.

"Uh, Twilight, are you sure about this? you haven't practiced teleporting with multiple objects yet," Spike said worryingly as he placed his hand on the carriage and firmly gripping the end of Forest's semi-long brown tail with his other hand.

"Not really being left much of a choice here, Spike, now if I can just focus and the get spell streaming through all of us..."

The four flour deliverers each closed their eyes, feeling the trickle of the magic spell flowing through their bodies. The trickling began to feel more forceful, the spell was about to be casted. The four suddenly felt a powerful rush of wind blowing against them in every direction, none of them daring to open their eyes, the force came to a sudden stop. They opened their eyes to find themselves directly in front of the Sugarcube Corner.

"I think I'm... gonna throw up," Spike mumbled as he sat down holding his belly.

"Ugh... m-my head.." Forest said while trying to keep balance as he held his hoof against his temple.

Pinkie Pie was trying to make her way to the entrance, "I'm so d-dizzy, th-this is kinda fun, haha...woah..."

She was about to trip over onto the door until Mrs Cakes barged outside and caught Pinkie Pie saving her from falling over.

"Goodness, Pinkamena! Sweetie, are you ok? I was beginning to think that something might have happened, I was so worried."

"I feel wonderful! We made it just in time and we have all the flour!" Pinkie Pie replied.

"Oh, thank Celestia..." Mrs Cakes said while sighing in relief. "Well then let's get bakin', Forest could you be a dear and unload the carriage into the bakery?"

"Way ahead of you ma' lady," Forest had already brought in a few blocks of flour as Mrs Cakes finished her request.

"Thank you sweet heart, your always giving us a hand."

"Never a problem madam," Forest added giving Mrs Cakes a grin.

Twilight kneeled down as Spike picked himself up from the floor to get on her back, "sorry for the impact guys are you all feeling better?" Twilight asked.

"I'm good now," Spike said.

"I'm fine," Forest followed.

"Everything's okey dokey lokey, Twilight!" Pinkie Pie answered.

Pinkie Pie, Mrs Cakes, and Forest then entered the Sugarcube Corner leaving Twilight and Spike outside.

"I'm sure there s something they forgot to tell me," Twilight stated in annoyance.

Forest and Pinkamena then peeked over the side of the door and thanked her generously, Twilight then smiled at them and nodded, "your welcome."

"Alright, no more delays Twilight, we gotta hurry to the boutique."

"I know, Spike. I'm not sure what you re excited about the most, getting the costumes or seeing Rarity."

"What? Well uh, I mean... Both! I just don't wanna keep a lady such as Miss Rarity waiting."

"Whatever you say lover boy." Twilight giggled as she began to trot to the Carousel Boutique. "See you guys later."

"Bye!" Forest replied as he went out to bring in more sacks of flour.

Forest looked up at the sky as he noticed a white pegasus from a distance was about to land near him. 'I'd recognise that mane anywhere,' Forest thought as the stallion got closer and landed next to the carriage. The pegasus had a light green mane that looked like the head of a scythe slicked back as though wind was constantly brushing it back and so was his tail. His mint green eyes did a once-over at the pyramid of flour but he thought nothing of it.

"Hello, Forest, nice costume..." the pegasus turned his head to the unicorn as he greeted him.

"Arrow Distorton, I had a feeling you'd be wearing something related to art, it suits you," Forest complimented Arrow's choice of outfit, a medieval royal artist.

"So what's up Row?"

"Forest, I received orders to gather the other three defenders so we can meet up at the outskirts watch point. I just need to reshape the area to make sure we have provided secure protection for the day, then we can enjoy the festival. I just need you, Boa, and Jokey to guide me along the flight so we can cover up the area properly." Arrow explained.

"Oh, I was just bringing all this flour for Mr and Mrs Cakes let me just-"

"No worries Forest, you go on ahead and fulfil your duties, I'll take it from here", Mr Cakes walked out of the Sugarcube Corner and picked up some flour sacks.

"Thanks Mr Cakes, I'll try to come back as soon as possible," Forest then turned to Arrow, "are Boa and Jokey already there?" he asked him.

"Yes, they're waiting for us as we speak." Arrow replied.

"Go on ahead, I'll follow you."

"Sure thing." The stallion then took off, flying to the watch point.

Pinkie Pie then went outside the bakery, "Forest, hold on a sec!"

"Oh, did Mr Cakes already tell you?"

"Mmhm, I packed this for you just in case you need to be there a bit longer" She handed him a little white paper bag that contained a red velvet cupcake and pecked him on his cheek. "Ciao, oh and by the way, the zipper on your flank is undone," Pinkie Pie hopped her way back into the Sugarcube Corner.

"Oh, right, thanks Pinkie," Forest turned to zip up the zipper of the jester outfit but paused for a few seconds to look at his cutie mark, a blue shield.
He then zipped up the outfit and the wondered why the costume had a zipper there anyway. 'Whatever,' he thought, and so he put the treat that Pinkie Pie gave him into his backpack, turned away from the bakery and made haste to the watch point on the outskirts of Ponyville.

Back in the Sugarcube Corner, Mrs Cakes had just finished making the first few dozen cupcakes. "Did Forest leave? so soon? I thought he had the day off for the festival."

"Mmhm, he went for a final check-up so he'll be back sooner or later," Pinkamena replied.

"Well I sure do hope it's sooner, all the flour sacks are starting to put a krick in my back," Mr Cakes chuckled.

"Mr Carrot Cakes, honestly now, one sack at a time is sufficient you know?" Mrs Cakes remarked to him.

Pinkie Pie brought out four metal trays for the next batch of cupcakes, she suddenly dropped them all onto the floor as her body began shaking uncontrollably. The clang of the trays against the floor got Mr and Mrs Cakes attention as they turned to Pinkamena in shock. The shaking then stopped, Pinkamena then placed her hoof in front of her mouth.

"Oh no..." she muttered with a worrying expression on her face.

"Pinkamena, sweetie, please tell me you have a case of the shivers," Mrs Cakes asked as Mr Cakes and herself got closer to her.

Pinkie Pie shook her head at the question.

"Pinkie Pie, is it what I think it is?" Mr Cakes asked her.

Pinkie Pie nodded, "It's a-a real doozy."

"Sweetie, what is it? What's going to happen?" Mrs Cakes asked, sounding very worried.

"I-I don t know, but whatever it is, it's going to happen at the watch point...wait- the watch point? Forest!" Pinkie Pie went out of the Sugarcube Corner and called out for Forest, but she was too late. Forest had already gone out of sight and reached the outskirts of Ponyville.

The Doozy

Arrow Distorton has a unique ability as a pegasus. At his full speed, he is able to distort or reshape terrain to his liking. It proved to be a very useful skill when it came to being a defender. Being able to constantly change the layout of a site would make it hard for any possible threats to recognise the area properly therefore allowing the defenders to plan good strategies for every encounter. He achieved this ability in his days as a colt, and so he developed a great passion for it and got his cutie mark. A shockwave with a distorting arrow coming out of it.

Nothing made him feel freer than having the will to reshape whatever he liked without having to destroy it. To him, it was a whole new form of art.

Boa, Jokey, and Forest watched the pegasus reshaping the terrain to create a wide grass hill stretching out, to the left of the new hill would be the Everfree forest, all the way to the far right would be a dirt road that leads to Canterlot. The hill was formed at least three hundred meters away from the watch point. There are some trees in front of the watch point and behind the new hill. It was perfect security for the day.

"Is there anything else that I missed out on!" Arrow shouted from the new hill while hovering in the air.

"You missed a little bump on the edge of the hill!" Boa exclaimed.

"I'm sorry, can you please repeat that!"

Jokey stood on his hind legs placing his front hooves around his mouth, "she said you need to do a tripple backflip into the hill!"

"Jokey..." Boa tutted angrily as she shoved him when he got back on all fours.

The pegasus squinted his eyes at the two looking as confused as an earth pony in Cloudsdale, he flew back to the watch point landing in front of them.

"I do not understand, what is it that you want me to do, Boa?" He asked the earth pony as she waved her long red hair out of her light fiery red eyes.

"I was just going to say that there s a bit on the edge of the left side of the hill, but Jokey here decided to make things complicated," the mare said as she jerked her head to Jokey.

The slightly pale yellow unicorn shook his head as he directed his purple eyes to look up while cocking an eyebrow. "Lighten up, Boa, I tried to give Row here some stylish directions that s all. Besides, everypony knows that mares aren't very good with directions anyway, heh."

"Oh really?"

"Uh, yah." Jokey replied, sounding cocky.

"'Cause this mare is about to direct some pain onto your ass," Boa threatened Jokey as she narrowed her eyes at him.

"Now what did my mule ever do to you?"

"Oh, you have a mule? I never noticed the difference."

"Pff!" Forest quickly placed his hoof on his mouth to stop himself from chuckling out loud; whereas Arrow stared at Boa and Jokey almost expressionless.

"Seriously Boa? I thought you only had trouble with directions but what school did you go to?" Jokey made his comeback and smirked at Boa as he spinned his purple curly tail around.

"Okay, that s it!" the ebony coated mare was just about ready to give Jokey a black eye as she raised her hoof but Forest got between them and stopped her from landing the hit.

"Woah there, brave knight" Forest said, referring to her costume, a medieval knight, as he held her hoof and slowly let her rest it again.

"Guys, come on, we got the day off and it's a festival for crying out loud, let's just relax and have fun alright?" Forest asserted.

"I agree with Forest," Arrow added.

"Whatever." Boa said.

"I'm cool with that." Jokey complied as he adjusted the hat for his caroller outfit fixing in the hair of his orangey-brown mane around his horn.

"Let us head back to town, I am sure the festival is about to begin." Arrow stated, the four turned around to head back to town.

A loud bang suddenly sounded from behind them stopping them dead in their tracks, the loudness was a shock, rubble began falling onto them, as it stopped the four quickly turned around. Their eyes widened, horrified at the cause of the bang as the monstrosity that stood before them let out a great roar.
There stood three hundred meters away that trampled through a part of the grass hill before them, a gigantic purple beast which was slightly transparent covered with what seemed like stars, having an expression of utter rage. An Ursa Major.

"M-mother of Luna..." Jokey mumbled under his breath.

The gigantic purple bear opened its mouth inhaling deeply and started to gather up magic particles in it, the Ursa was ready to attack.

"Look out! It is going to fire something at us!" Arrow exclaimed, the Ursa Major then fired a large white fiery ball which closely resembled a shooting star.

"Jokey, pressure ball, now!" Forest blurted.

"You got it!" The two unicorns focused their magic and started pressurising wind particles around the tip of their horns; they each launched a pressure ball at the large shooting star, which does not destroy it, but instead immensely decreases it's speed and causes it to drop down at least seventy-five meters in front of the defenders.

Meanwhile in Ponyville, Pinkie Pie was sprinting by about to go behind the library where the exit to the outskirts would meet her path, Applejack jumped into her way.

"Woah there partner! Where are you goin' in such a rush? It ain't like Pinkie Pie to miss out on the beginnin' of a festival."

"Eeyup" Big Macintosh added as he walked up from behind Applejack.

"Applejack, Big Mac, we have to hurry! Something really crazy is about to-" Pinkamena's explanation was interrupted as the sound of a loud explosion just echoed it's way past them. Pinkie Pie gasped.

"What in tarnation s?" Applejack said as she was startled from the sudden bang.

"Holy..." Big Macintosh said as he turned his head back. A giant turquoise crystal bubble formed on top of them covering all of Ponyville, three royal guards above the bubble flew past making their way to the outskirts, a royal guard galloped to Pinkie Pie, Applejack, and Big Macintosh.

"You three, fellow earth ponies, her highness Princess Celestia has formed this shield around Ponyville and requests that all ponies must go to the centre of town, this is an emergency." The royal guard turned away to get back to the centre.

"Applebloom and Grandma Smith should be there by now, come on, let's get going." Big Macintosh stated.

Applejack nodded at him in agreement, "come on now sugarcube, we best getta move on" she said to Pinkie Pie as Big Macintosh and herself made haste to the centre. Pinkamena looked back as she followed them. 'Please be safe, Sunset' she thought to herself.

Back at the watch point, the defenders took position to prepare for the offense.

'Our pressure blasts weren't enough to cancel out that white fire ball... we're gonna have to use a lot more power' Forest pondered.

Boa looked at Arrow and nodded, "do it," she said.

Arrow nodded back to her and took off, flying at his full speed towards the Ursa Major. He then turned to the left as the Ursa tried to slash him down with it's paw, he quickly dodged the attack, Arrow then reshaped a part of the hill whizzing around the Ursa's arm. He then flew to the right side distorting a part of the hill flying all the way around the Ursa's neck, chaining it, preventing the beast from moving.

"We now have the chance!" Arrow shouted to the other three defenders as he flew back to them.

"Here it goes, boulder raiser!" Boa lifted her front left leg and stomped it against the ground, a large boulder popped out of the ground in front of her.

"Alright Forest, time for an encore!" Jokey yelled to him.

"Right!" Forest replied.

"High pressure blast!" The two exclaimed as they sent a hasty and dense wave of air to collide against the boulder. The boulder soared across the air over the field at an alarmingly fast rate and slammed the purple beast in the face, causing it to roar and sway side to side, breaking out of the grass chains.

Three royal pegasi guards then flew in to hover near the defenders, they witnessed the Ursa shaking, balancing itself again. One of the guards turned to the defenders.

"We were sent by Princess Celestia to help you fend off the opponent!" the guard stated, trying to overtake the roaring of the Ursa Major.

"That things got wicked attacks, man! Whatever you do, don't rush in, it could go-" Jokey was interrupted as the Ursa roared again and began to charge up another attack from its mouth.

"The beast is about to attack, quick we must distract it!" Two of the royal guards started flying straight to the Ursa hoping to grab it's attention.

"Are you guys freakin' nuts!" Jokey shouted at the two guards as they flew away.

"W-wait! He just said not to rush in!" the last guard that was left behind exclaimed, he then quickly sped off to his comrades, adrenaline rushing through his veins as he tried to catch up to them. The Ursa unleashed a large beam speeding across the field, the two guards stopped in fear as the last guard swooped them out of the way by trying to fly over the beam, he successfully pushes them out of the way, but the top of the beam brushed against his left wing, then a forceful shockwave formed by the pressure of the beam blew the guards all the way back to the watch point.

"HEADS UP!" Boa shouted.

The defenders then just barely managed to dodge the beam, the shockwave that hit the guards then reached the defenders, blowing them away. Jokey and Forest slammed into the right side of the cliff they were under, as Boa and Arrow hit a large tree on the left side that bordered the Everfree forest.
The beam carved its way past the ground, impacting directly into the shield that was formed around Ponyville. The impact caused the shield to ripple like a stone falling into a lake. The sound of the impact caused everypony in the centre to gasp, shout, and scream in worry, but the shield remained stable due to Celestia's power.

Twilight Sparkle made her way to Celestia past the crowd.

"Princess Celestia... What's happening?"

Celestia looked down at her faithful student to find a frightened expression on her face.

"Twilight... something has gone terribly out of place, an Ursa Major is at the outskirts as we speak, I cannot fight it right now, if I happen to miss out an attack then it could wipe out Ponyville, Luna is making her way to the outskirts this very minute."

"Princess Luna? but the journey from moon to Equestria is not a fast process! what if she can t make it in time!"

"Calm down Twilight Sparkle, have faith in the defenders. Luna will make it in time." Celestia stated as she wrapped her hoof around Twilight.

Twilight's eyes widened at Celestia, she nodded in agreement and closed her eyes giving a small frown.

The defenders tried to move back to their previous positions; they limped and decided to ignore the pain as much as possible in order to walk properly. Arrow looked at Forest as he stared back at him. They were both thinking the same thing.

"So you noticed to right?" Arrow asked.

Forest nodded, "It could charge at us in any minute, but instead it's just standing there waiting... it's almost like it's...it's..."

'Being controlled' Boa and Jokey completed Forest's sentence.

The Ursa Major then stood up on its back legs, staring down at the defenders. The blue star mark on its head began to glow vividly, letting out an aura of the colour. The defenders took notice and quickly made a formation.

"My friends, I have read about this attack before! It is very powerful! We must interrupt it by firing an ultra tri-charged flare beam at its marking! The intensity of the flare can cause the magic build up within it to short circuit!" Arrow exclaimed.

'Right!' Boa, Jokey and Forest complied.

Arrow spread his wings and began to spin rapidly in front of them forming a stable shockwave held in one place, angled to point at the Ursa Major's head. Boa then began to build up what seemed like red energy from underneath her hooves and directed a constant stream to the shockwave. The transparent shockwave then gained a colour of pale red. Jokey streamed a constant heat ray from his horn around the shockwave, immensely pressurising it and holding it in its place, Arrow flew out of the shockwave which he generated to allow Forest to deliver the final process. Forest walked past Jokey and Boa who were still charging up the shockwave, aimed his horn precisely to the centre of it, began to generate a fiery yellow flare from his horn and then launched out a beam.

The beam went through the centre of the shockwave absorbing it all causing the beam to enlarge and dramatically pace its way to the Ursa, impaling it on it's left eye. The mark on the Ursa's head stopped glowing, the Ursa then shook it's head from side to side, grunting in pain as a trail of firey sparks was falling out it's eye. It stomped against the ground sending small quakes around bringing down some trees and roared fiercely again. The Ursa bent its head down and brushed it's eye with its paw. The defenders stood up keeping their eyes on the Ursa as they tried to catch up with their breaths; the Ursa placed its paw back down and stared at the four with one eye closed. The expression of rage then left the Ursa's face, now it seemed confused as it looked around wondering where it was. The purple beast then groaned as it turned around and left the field.

The four defenders waited until it was out of site, they all sighed in great relief, finally allowing themselves to rest. Princess Luna then finally began descending from the sky towards them.

Old Acquaintance

Old Acquaintance

"What in Equestria just happened!" Boa exclaimed.

"That was not normal Ursa behaviour." Arrow said while shaking his head.

"That Ursa was definitely under the influence of a spell." Forest added.

"Exactly, and the last time I have checked, the Ursa do not go far away from their caves in the daylight either." Arrow complied.

Jokey stood on his hind legs and began dusting off his shirt, "Now you see, Arrow, if you had done that triple backflip like I said then none of this would have happened," he pointed to the negligible 'bump' of the hill that Arrow formed and got back on all fours. "Now we got ourselves a mess," he added.

Boa shot him a glare, "you seriously have the guts to joke around about what just happened? Haven t your parents ever taught you what it means to be responsible and when to take things seriously?"

"Boa, babe, listen, to be honest I'm as freaked out here as the next pony but there s always a time for jokes," he proudly stated.

"What did you just call me? I have half a mind to just-"

Boa suddenly went silent, her eyes widened just as Forest's and Arrow's eyes did and they all bowed down.

Jokey snickered to himself and gave a toothy grin, "alright! Finally you guys realise my brilliance, but seriously you flatter me too much now, simple words are enough-"

"Bow down you foal!" Boa hissed at him while keeping her head down.

"Huh? What was that, Bo?" Jokey's grin faded as he turned around, his eyes widened as he saw that Princess Luna was standing behind him to his left.

"Holy mother of Luna! I-I mean wait, you are Luna so uh, what I-I meant was- I mean-" Jokey whimpered and gave up on finding a proper term and bowed down to the holy presence that stood before him. Luna gazed at the odd unicorn then giggled silently.

"Arise courageous ones, although I owe you all an apology, my arrival to your aid should have been earlier," Luna stated as the defenders stood up again.

"No worries your highness, we managed to fend off the Ursa... but at such a high cost to the land." The defenders looked out at the field, the hill had been severely torn apart as most trees across the field have been wiped out. They then looked back viewing the crater on the short cliff that made a path all the way to the entrance between the outskirts and Ponyville that was caused by the beam.

The two royal pegasi guards came from around the other side of the cliff holding up the third guard. "We have an injured!" One of the guards yelled out as they carefully rushed to Luna.

"Agh! My wing!" the injured pegasus groaned. Blood seemed to have been dripping down from where his wing used supposed to be, but it did not match the amount of blood that covered his side going down to his stomach. Luna and the defenders could tell he had already lost a lot of blood. The burn mark surrounding the wing area was pitch black and showed strange markings, could it have been star dust?

The defenders rushed in to help the limping guards and the one winged pegasus. Luna calmly followed them.

"One of you must alert my sister that the catastrophe hath ended," Luna commanded as she looked at the two fully winged guards.

"I shall go on ahead your highness, but what about our companion?" one of the guards asked.

"I ask thee not to worry, I shall cast a miracle healing spell on the warrior," she returned to the guard. He nodded and took off making haste to the top of the shield.

"Come forth royal guard, I shall heal thee," the royal guard gently shook himself off the grip of the others and made a contemptuously woeful attempt to get to her. Luna brought herself closer to him, she could see he felt shame as he looked down, she smiled and told him to ease himself.

Luna's horn began to glow a vivid neon green colour, the aura formed a trail to the burn mark on the pegasus. The pitch black stain slowly began to dissolve, the blood on his coat was also fading away. The wing bone began to rebuild itself out of thin air, part by part, then a blood flow was generated across the wing of bone, flesh began to build on top of the bone, layering perfectly into shape, skin formed on top of the flesh and finally the fur and feathers surrounded the skin. The pegasus was fully winged again.

The guard could not believe what he had just seen, his comrade looked as shocked as him, the defenders tried to analyse what they have just witnessed.

'Miracle healing spell, huh? Words can't describe...' Forest thought to himself.

'His wing is back... There s no scar or burn or anything... he's one hundred per cent okay again...' Boa mused.

"Thank you Princess Luna, you have saved my life and my career, I am forever in you debt," the healed pegasus stated, as he almost lost balance.

"Thou hath risked his trying to save his comrades, you are worthy of holding thy title as a royal guard. Be sure to rest, you still have some blood to recover. Now do any of thee require healing?" Luna asked as she turned her head to the defenders. It was that moment they realised that their costumes were in bad condition. Boa's knight costume had cracks and scratches all over it, Jokey, Arrow and Forest's costumes were ripped and stretched out, Forest realised his hat was missing. He looked around but there was no sign of the jester hat anywhere.

"I'm feeling fine, just some bruises that s all," Jokey replied.

"I am also in that state, I do not require healing either, thank you for your kind offer Princess," Arrow replied.

"I'm okay," Boa added.

Forest made a thorough check by wiggling and shaking his head, "yeh, just some minor pains, I'll live."

A pulsating sound was heard from behind them, they turned around and saw that the shield slowly began to disappear.

"Let us tread to the town centre, my sister and I have an important message for all the residents of Ponyville," Luna stated, and so, the group made their way up the small cliff and began galloping to Ponyville's town centre.

x

Up in the sky, a long flat cloud floated still, just about a hundred and fifty meters away from the watch point and directly above the trees bordering the Everfree forest.

"I'm going to uncloak us now, Kanthon," a grim yet omnipotent voice stated.

"Right..." another sharp and shady voice replied.

The two hosts of the voices began to uncloak on the cloud, a slightly elderly stallion unicorn and a male zebra were revealed in the open sky on the cloud as they looked down at the Luna and the group hasting towards the town centre.

"I still think the Ursa was tad bit too much," the unicorn pointed out while directing his dark blue eyes with dagger like pupils at the zebra.

"Come now Surgio, they managed to rub off the spell on it, at least we got a good taste of what they can do." The zebra called Kanthon remarked.

"That mare, the red haired one, she seems to have a unique ability as an earth pony, looks like the half-blood means something after all... seeing as though your mother was an earth pony as well." Surgio said, as he looked at the zebra.

"Although our abilities are different, they are both uniquely linked to the earth; I should keep a closer eye on her, and that stallion too, the one who can reshape terrain..." Kanthon replied as he looked at Surgio with his olive green pupil-less eyes.

"Indeed, we didn't get to see as much as we hoped from Forest though, but I could sense a lot of potential from him, he has grown well."

"Yes, and that odd one with the mismatching tail and mane, well he showed just about as much as Forest did if you ask me."

"Now, now, Kanthon, do not underestimate our opponents so soon."

"Whatever you say, Surgio" Kanthon paused and looked down at his hooves, "I can feel the cloud spell fading."

"No worries my friend, I'll levitate us to the ground." Surgio gathered up a slightly transparent yellow magical aura around his horn and formed a bubble of the same colour around Kanthon and himself. The bubble sank through the cloud taking them down to the Everfree forest. As they landed, the bubble disappeared and they made their way into an empty dark cave.

"What exactly are we going to do in here, Surgio?" The zebra questioned the stallion who seemed to be the leader.

"I'm going to use the hologram transmission spell so we can pay Ponyville a little visit of course, it is part of the plan after all." Surgio replied in a boastful manner.

"You were serious about that?"

"Of course, we need to give them all the reason we can for them to advance their skills even further. You know what we must do."

"Right, whatever, let's just get this over with." the zebra said, sounding unwilling and annoyed to go with the idea.

The unicorn shook his head while cocking and eye brow with his eyes closed. They both sat down, closing their eyes as Surgio began to gather up magical particles to surround them both in a vivid colour of tropic purple.

Luna and the group finally got to the centre of town, it was quite chaotic, everypony was freaking out, asking questions to each other that they could not answer or were just afraid to ask Celestia herself, it was a cocktail of worried voices. Forest looked around trying to spot a pink chef until a voice uttered his name from behind him.

"Forest!" Pinkamena shouted in relief, he turned around to receive what was almost a glomp, but he managed to catch her as he stood on his hind legs.

"Are you okay! Your costume is all torn up and I thought something might have happened after that loud boom! I mean did you hear it 'cause I did and man was it loud! Everypony and I mean everypony went nuts and..."

Forest hugged Pinkie Pie tightly and pecked her on her cheek, "I'm fine, I'm just glad you re okay as well," Pinkie Pie closed her eyes and wrapped herself around him.

Luna walked up to Celestia giving her a nod confirming that everyone is in the area, Celestia nodded back, "Residents of Ponyville, I ask you all to remain calm and hear us out, for what we are about to tell you may be disturbing news to most of you."

Everypony went silent and directed their attention to the two Princesses, tension was rising.

"My sister Luna, has detected an imbalance with a certain creature of the night, an Ursa Major," the ponies began whispering amongst each other in urgency.

"Please remain calm," said Luna, the ponies went silent again, "due to this unlikely event, thy gracious festival must be cancelled, as preparations for security are required."

"What! Cancelled!" Pinkamena exclaimed, everypony began to feel dispirited, until a sudden static noise which was caused by some strangely looking particles that were vividly vibrating and soon absorbed each other forming one big purple ball. It divided itself into two parts and with that done, formed two bodies, slowly taking shape and changing colour to match the users. Surgio and Kanthon had successfully transfered their holograms directly in front of everyone in the town centre. It was shockingly silent; everypony was staring at the transitioning holograms of Surgio and Kanthon.

"Hello Ponyville!" Surgio gave a sudden outburst startling most of the ponies, "we are terribly sorry for causing such a fuss but allow me to ease the tension by letting you know the cause of the attack, you see, we summoned the Ursa Major to simply test out what we were going up against." He continued.

"It was you who dared to put so many lives in danger? What did you hope to achieve in this reckless act?" Celestia questioned the dark maroon unicorn in anger.

Surgio glanced over at the princess, "To show you we are serious of course, what else?" he said as he proudly stuck his head up.

"Doth thou not realise the hologram spell that thy hath casted seems to be a cowardly step if you had wished to show us how serious you were." Luna added.

"You expect us to step into Ponyville and have our plans crushed before us?" he chuckled darkly, "oh princess, where would my wits be if I had taken a silly step like that? I mean, we would never think of going head-on against one of the two most powerful beings on this world, beings who are just over a thousand years ahead of us in magic. The very idea would be so foolish," he stated as he walked up to Forest, "isn't that right Forest?" Surgio asked him as he narrowed his eyes at him while giving a side smile.

Forest squinted his eyes at the nefarious looking stallion, "you seem vaguely familiar... have we met?"

"Indeed we have, or at least a long time ago, quite long actually, but of course I didn't expect you to remember me anyway, you were awfully young at that time." Surgio stated, Forest looked back to find that all his friends were looking him, they seemed surprised as they saw a strange resemblance between Forest and Surgio, their mane's almost matched, except Surgio's mane was dark brownish-red with grey lining.

The pupil-less zebra made eye contact with Jokey, the two were staring at each other looking, quite irritated about the subject. Jokey examined Kanthon's slicked back light green mane and light green tail which looked like a shrub, as Kanthon examined the mismatching and strangely colour co-ordinated unicorn. It was a staring contest of the odd looking stallions.

'Why is he looking at me like that? That s just really annoying.' Jokey pondered, as they both gave a nasty frown to each other.

"What are you looking at, freak?" Kanthon rudely said to Jokey.

"Freak? I was about to ask you the same thing, olive eyes." Jokey replied.

"What was that?"

"So you re not blind, but your deaf now, huh?" Jokey said while giving the zebra a victorious grin.

"You little foal, if I were really here you wouldn t have the guts to-" Kanthon was interrupted as Surgio overtook his voice.

"Well then, let s get directly to the point shall we? You see Forest, you have something I need, something that belongs to the Thundertred family to be exact."

Forest turned to Surgio with and angered expression on his face, "I don't know what you re talking about, now how do you know my name? And what exactly do you know of my family?"

"Plenty, my dear boy, but why don't you ask the princesses right next to you. You'll find that what they know can be quite... shocking."

Forest looked back at Princess Celestia and Princess Luna in a confused manner, they did not make any eye contact with him whatsoever but just kept watching Surgio, 'They know something about my family?' he thought, and then turned back to Surgio.

"And who is this charming young chef you so proudly stand next to?" Surgio turned his head, while smiling, at Pinkie Pie. Gummy burst out of her chef s hat making an attempt to attack the hologram, and of course, went right through him almost face planted against the ground, he crawled back to Pinkamena and climbed up on to her back. Surgio stepped up a bit closer to her, but was stopped in his tracks as Forest came in between them; he was giving Surgio quite an unwelcoming look.

"My, my, I see...Goodness, you really have grown into a fine stallion haven't you? You have your fathers coat and your mothers eyes, they would have been so proud of you." Forest's eyes widened at Surgio's remark.

Forest felt rage building up within him at what he had just heard, "wait a minute, what do you know about my parents! Who the hell are you!" he exclaimed.

Surgio then turned around walking away from Forest, "well I'd would love to stay and chat but we have matters to attend to," Surgio stated he looked back at them, his red cloak wavering away from his face revealing his black suit as well, similar to the one Kanthon was wearing, "Expect us." he said hissingly as he gave an evil grin.

"Wait!" Forest ran up to the holograms, but they vanished into thin air. Their visit was over, for now.

Forest skidded against the ground, he looked down and breathed heavily. "Damn it!" he shouted out as he stomped the ground with his front hoof and looked back down again. He could hear the silent gossips of some of the ponies behind him, it bothered him to think they would have suspicions towards him. 'They know better than that... right?' he thought to himself, but was also relieved that his friends and lover did not judge him as he turned back and saw that they were already walking towards him. Pinkamena, Twilight, Big Macintosh and his sister Applejack.

"Well, that was...unexpected." Applejack began.

"Eeyup." Big Macintosh added.

"Are you ok, Forest?" Twilight asked. Twilight and Pinkie Pie both know how Forest felt about strangers asking about his parents the most, especially when it had been done the way Surgio did it.

Forest removed his low spirited expression and immediately sprang out with a cheerful smile, "yeah sure, everything s ok." he stated, Pinkamena's worrying expression faded into a small smile as she made eye contact with Forest.

"You sure about that, Orange? Whoever that unicorn was, he sure had a lot of nerve to bring up your old folks like that." Big Macintosh complied.

"He said he's fine, Macintosh, no need to pry the situation now..." Applejack remarked to her bulky brother.

"All I'm sayin' is that if you wanna talk about it, we're here for you," Macintosh added as he gave him a neighbourly grin.

Forest nodded to Macintosh. Arrow came up from behind Applejack, "I am sorry to interrupt your conversation, but Princess Celestia has summoned us to speak with her in private," he said as he looked at Forest, "The rest of you must go to Princess Luna as she's gathering the required ponies to begin making preparations."

"So it looks like we've got something crazy happening," Twilight said and then heaved a sigh, "looks like there are other twisted minds out there like Discord. Well I guess we should get going."

"Eeyup," Big Macintosh said. Applejack, Twilight and himself then turned back to meet Luna's orders. "See you later, Orange." He said to Forest as they walked away.

"Sure thing." He replied. Pinkamena went up to him and pecked him on his cheek, they smiled at each other and she then turned to follow the others, but Forest noticed that something was bothering her, that she seemed down about something and he knew what it was.

"Forest, shall we move on?" Arrow uttered, bringing Forest away from his thoughts.

"Right." The two made way to Celestia, Jokey and Boa were already with her, watching the two as they got them.

"I would first like to congratulate you all with fending off the Ursa Major, it was indeed unexpected and unfortunate but you have proved you are worthy of being the defenders of Ponyville, now, do any of you know of a place where we can speak in private?" Celestia asked the four defenders.

"There s a training field that we often go to due south-east from here." Forest replied immediately looking very serious, whatever it is Celestia knew about his family, he wanted to know every detail and was not going to let this moment slip by.

"Very well, let us go there, lead the way." Celestia returned to the defenders.

The defenders went ahead with Princess Celestia following them as two royal guards accompanied her.

New Duties

To the south-east of Ponyville, way behind the Carousel Boutique and over some hills, was a wide training field bordered by a large steel fence. It formed a large square big enough for at least twenty-five ponies to train magic, flight, or earthly powers without interrupting each other. Targets were located to the far end of the field perched on the fence and some mid-air. Strangely shaped obstacles were spread around on some parts of the field and in the air: the agility sections of the course.

There were some catapults that launched objects vertically upwards; They would either launch training dummies (practice on saving ponies who happen to be falling from a height) or rubber spheres, each a different colour, to catch an individual s focus to one or multiple prime targets.

Princess Celestia, while being accompanied by her golden-armoured unicorn guards, was guided into the training field by the defenders. She looked around and observed the setup. The guards turned back to face the entrance to keep out unauthorised ponies. The fact that they were only at the entrance emphasised how outstretched and expansive the training field was.

"Perfect." Celestia said, as she turned her head to four confused defenders.

"I know, I built it myself," Jokey added as he gave a sheepish grin. The Princess bluntly stared at the odd stallion immediately picking up on the unintentional lie. An awkward silence broke in as the other three defenders felt embarrassed. Boa shook her head in annoyance.

"I know, I know, not the time... Uh, sorry..." Jokey remarked as he bent down his neck, squinting his eyes and looked away while showing an unsatisfied frown.

"My faithful subjects, due to this unexpected event I will begin to say that it is very vital that from now on you must train to advance your skills even further than now. We have seen that this new foe is able to control powerful creatures, and so we are not certain if this new foe has followers of some sort so I shall call in soldiers from Canterlot to aid Ponyville for future struggles, heaven forbid there will be any." Celestia stated.

"Well we train almost every day so doing more than that doesn't seem so hard," Jokey complied as he turned to Forest, "Hey Fo, what s more than almost every day?"

"Every day?" Forest replied.

"We have a winner."

"Excuse me princess, but that is not all you wish to tell us, is it?" Arrow asked curiously.

"There is more to be heard, but first, please familiarise me with your names."

"Of course... I am Arrow Distorton, the first defender of Ponyville."

"I'm the one and only, Jokey Bizarre, the second defender of Ponyville."

"My name is Boa Quakes, the third defender of Ponyville."

"I'm Forest Thundertred, the fourth defender of Ponyville."

"I am pleased to be acquainted with all of you. Defenders, four groups of several guards are being called in today, I am assigning a group to each of you in order to guide them around Ponyville so that they become familiar with their surroundings. You will meet them at the town centre in about one hour from now. They will be available for night watch while you rest after training, it is also crucial that you give them advice and try to teach them anything that may be useful to them as they are going to share this training field with you by tomorrow. As more soldiers arrive, the guards will notify them of everything you will tell them. Is this clear?" Celestia announced.

"Yes, your majesty!" the four defenders replied as they bowed their heads down in confirmation.

"Excellent, you are dismissed." Jokey, Arrow, and Boa made their way to the exit going past the guards to make their way to the town centre. Celestia called the guards to her. Forest stayed back but Celestia did not take notice as she was explaining something to the guards, but Forest did not let that stop him. It was time that he was to be told something about his family. He walked up to Celestia from behind as she told the guards that they may leave.

"Um, your highness?" Forest said hesitantly, as Celestia turned around to face him. His heart began beating faster.

"Oh, Forest was it? I'm sorry but I have matters to attend to, is it important?"

'So she's trying to politely avoid the situation, or maybe she isn't... We are in a tight schedule so this'll make me seem a little selfish, but if she knows someting then I've gotta find out right now.' Forest thought to himself, he straightened himself up and let out a sigh, 'alright, here it goes.'

"It is your highness, well, to me at least... that unicorn who spoke to me by hologram said that you knew something about my family, please excuse my rudeness but if you have any information I would really like to know. I'm the only Thundertred left and I lost my parents when I was just a colt so I really don't know much."

The princess frowned and closed her eyes as she briefly exhaled through her nose.

"Thundertred... and we thought they all withered away after that war. Yes Forest, I do have knowledge of your family, or should I say the origin of your family." Forest's eyes widened at Princess Celestia, he had finally gotten the moment to hear something that had ached his mind since that cruel night of the war.

"O-origin of my family?" Forest muttered.

Celestia nodded at his response, "do you know the story of Electro, the god alicorn of lighting and weather?"

Forest shook his head at the question, 'god alicorn?' he thought, 'no way...'

"Very well then," Celestia continued, "countless years ago, when my sister and I founded the very first generation of ponies to his world, Electro himself visited this planet and was able to bestow weather upon it in order to keep proper balance for the seasons, he explained how pegasus were required to arrange the weather in certain areas. During his stay, he met a regular unicorn whom he decided to settle down with. Her name was Peach Thundertred, and thus began the family tree of the Thundertreds."

"Wait, why didn't Electro have his last name used as the family name?" Forest pondered.

"Well, it's simply because he didn't have one, either that or he never told us. But I believe the main reason was due to the fact that his mate, Peach, was mortal. He actually gave up his immortality by separating his spirit into two parts, the half with immortality was used to spread around the universe so that weather could maintain itself without his presence, so then he was able to grow old with Peach."

'He gave up his immortality for her... for a simple unicorn... she must have been pretty amazing for him to love her that much.' Forest thought.

"Soon after she passed away, he wrote two books that were to be passed down every generation for the Thundertred family and soon followed her to the spirit world. The first was about the history of Peach and himself, the second one was about unique spells that only he and the unicorn bound Thundertred family could perform."

'That s what that shady stallion was talking about... he knows I have the second book... but why would he want it? Every unicorn develops a different type of magic along with the common spells of combat or whatever, the Thundertred magic is accessible only to my family. There s no way we can be related, they all died back then and he looks nothing like my dad... but he knew both my parents?' Forest began to space out in this thought process, Celestia gazed suspiciously at the stallion, she could see by his troubled expression that he knew something.

The princess brought Forest back to reality as she continued her sentence, "The first book was never exactly heard of after his claims of writing it, although last I've heard of the second book, it was successfully passed down to every generation that carried on the family name. Forest, is there something you wish to tell me?"

Forest's eyes widened as he looked up at the goddess, he felt a tickle in his throat and swallowed. "No, your highness... I don't." He said, with a slightly nervous tone in his voice.

The princess, looking slightly disappointed, nodded to him in understanding, "Very well, we should make haste to the town centre, you have a group of guards waiting for your guidance, you will be leading the north side group."

"Understood your majesty." Forest replied, and with that, they left the training field to take on their duties for the day.

x

"Woah, hey, Pinkie Pie! Will you just calm down already?" Twilight Sparkle asserted to Pinkamena as Spike dodged an incoming egg beater.

"Calm down? Twilight, I can't just calm down, not after all the planning we had to do just for this extra special day! I didn't think everything was gonna fall apart like this, I mean just look at how excited everypony was, how happy you all were an-and... ugh!" Pinkie Pie responded as she fit a large tray of muffins into a fridge and pulled out a check-list of what seemed to be required orders for the day, "Cancel this, cancel that... All of it!"

"Alright, sugarcube! That s enough!" Applejack exclaimed as she got a hold of Pinkie Pie and stopped her from moving around, "now I know yer upset about all this but yer not the only one who had some great big fancy plannin' goin' on fer this here festival ya' hear?"

"That s right, I mean think about how Rarity feels, she-" Twilight was interrupted as Spike cut her off yet again.

"She spent alotta time trying to make costumes for everypony, some of us didn't even get ours and on top of all that, she's gotta come up with some new specs or some mumbo jumbo like that, for new battle suit things cause we don't know if those creepy hologram dudes got some sort of army following them. Now one things for sure is that Miss Rarity is no scientist, so I've got to help her with those specs!" Spike explained, failing to notice the glare Twilight was giving him.

"Oh, Really? And just what do you know about science Spike? Hmm?" Twilight asked, sounding annoyed.

"Huh! More than you think," Spike replied sounding cocky as he pulled out a book of basic science. "I do in fact read all the books you ask me to, Twilight... well uh, most of em' at least," and with that, he rushed out of the Sugarcube Corner making his way to the boutique.

"Ugh! what a hassle!" Twilight asserted in a whiney tone. "Look, I gotta make sure lover boy over there doesn't make a fool of himself, try to keep yourself together Pinkie Pie. It's all going to be ok. Well, see you guys later!" Twilight bid her goodbyes for the day and sped off following Spike's trail.

Applejack let go of Pinkie Pie and walked to the door poking her head out to witness the citizens of Ponyville running aimlessly, trying to organise themselves and went back in to face her. "Well, everypony still seems to be shaken up about this whole situation we got here... listen sugarcube, I gotta head back to the farm, family's waitin' fer me cuz we gotta get provisions or sumthin' ready for tonight. Try to cheer up a bit, everythin's gonna turn out fine, I hope so anyway."

"Okey... dokey... lokey..." Pinkie Pie replied, absentmindedly.

Applejack picked up her hat from the counter next to her and adjusted it over her head, rolling out the back of her mane perfectly and left the Sugarcube Corner.

Pinkamena took off her chef hat and placed on the counter where Applejack's hat was moments ago, she sat down against the counter looking down at the floor. She was getting close to that mood again, she could feel the depression rising up, bringing down her spirits. Mr and Mrs Cake barged out of the other side of the counter heading next to the front door, they were holding a few bags and boxes of extra appliances that seemed to need returning. They turned around to see Pinkie Pie starting to look up at them.

"Pinkie, sweetie, Carrot and I need to go attend a few matters now okay? just watch the store until we get back okay, honey?" Mrs Cup Cake requested.

"Yeah... okay..." Pinkie Pie replied gloomily.

Mr and Mrs Cake wanted to cheer her up, try to get her spirits up once again, but they had to hurry and only managed to give her a warm hug.

Mr Cake left the store as Mrs Cake followed, "We'll try to be back as soon as we can sweetie." she said, turning her head to Pinkamena and then left.

Pinkie Pie slowly looked up out the door, feeling quite down now with no one else to keep her company except for Gummy, who was fast asleep next to her, "B-but I don't to be alone again..." her hair then lost its puffiness and fell straight, she was now in the mood she disliked the most. Sadness.
She simply could not avoid it in this situation; she looked out the door and saw Jokey from a distance, saying something to a group of guards. The guards began to laugh as he put on a proud grin.

Pinkamena's eye caught a little stone whizzing past the other side of the door and witnessed it impacting against Jokey's head. Gummy's tail hit the side of the wooden counter, causing a thud the moment the stone hit Jokey's head.

"Ow! What the hay!" Jokey exclaimed directing his head to the source.

"Will you stop fooling around already! For goodness sake!" A voice returned to Jokey as he rubbed his head, angrily looking at Boa, who could not be seen out the door, Pinkamena did not chuckle though, the thought of everyone being too busy just stuck to her mind.

She looked up at a clock, its case made it look like a strawberry short cake, with blue candles as a second hand and hour hand. It read two o'clock pm.
She looked back down, wondering how long she had to wait, how long she would have to bare the feeling of being alone.

-

A/N: Forest is not going to be a god like character. Electro gave up most of his powers along with immortality before dying so he started from scratch like every other pony. Thanks for reading!

Repetitive Dreams and Emotions

"-ook to the clo-... descenda-... the pages... -cret of the bo-... -oth are one," Strident voices echoed from every direction, faintly fading in and out, "wake yourself."

The last command caused Forest to wake up, sending him away from the dream world. He sat up quickly as his heart raced for it was not the first time he had heard those voices in his dreams; the voices themselves sounded quite creepy to him and the fact that he would wake up on their whim boggled his mind. What exactly are they trying to tell him? whoever they are...

He looked to the alarm clock which read six fifty-nine am, exactly one minute before it should have rung to wake him up. He took the alarm clock and re-set it to ring at eight-thrity, the time at which Pinkie Pie asked him to set it to for her. As he placed the alarm clock back on the dresser he glanced over at Pinkie Pie, the cover was off her body, her back turned to him and her legs curled in.

'She looks cold...' he thought as he placed his hoof on her mane gently brushing it across the side of her body and rested it on her flank, he then bent over to kiss her right above her ear as he warmed the bed cover with a bit of magic and placed it on her.

After using the lavatory and brushing his teeth, he silently made his way to a long cupboard parallel to the dresser. He opened it up quickly and swiftly to avoid causing creeks or any noises that would wake Pinkie Pie and Gummy from their slumber.

He observed the two outfits being held within the cupboard, a metal silver plated armour set with a short sleeved blue full body polyester undergarment that had a rounded neck piece, with four bracer's on a shelf directly on top of it, his defender outfit. The other, a fine dark grey jacket with pants to match that had a dark blue under shirt with belt openings across it to place a single strapped dark brown backpack that would act as a belt to the jacket, keeping it from waving around to much. It came with a dark blue scarf, complementing the under shirt. The suit he wore back in his days of adventuring Equestria.

'I'll be moving around allot today, so I guess I'll take my adventure suit', He thought as he reached in for it.

'Haven't worn this in a while...' He slipped into the pants, still fitting him perfectly, he then stood on his hind legs and put on the under shirt, tucking it into the pants before sealing the zipper and doing the belt. He then put on his jacket and wrapped the backpack around it, re-doing the buckle at the end of the strap. At last, he wrapped the scarf around his neck and got back down on all fours.

He made his way downstairs into the kitchen and took out a can of pet food, he poured the contents of the can into a little round purple bowl that had Gummy's name on it.

He threw the can into a waste basket as he made his way out of the kitchen, Forest stopped next to the front door and turned his head to the right where a bookshelf was standing. He walked up to it and levitated out a book from on top of the bookshelf; he observed the greyish blue book, it's sides crested with silver even along the spine, it's design from the looks of it was indeed quite old, something pre-dating many generations, the front of the book read: 'The Thundertred Bloodline Book of Spells'.

Forest did not know what felt worse when he reminded himself of when he indirectly lied to Celestia, the fact that she knew he was lying, or the possibility that he may be seen as a threat for having it with him, all he knew is that he didn't want the last remnant he possessed of his family to end up in Celestia's personal library if that ever be the case.

'It's about time I master all the spells in this book, whoever that stallion is, he won't get his hoofs on it.' He concluded as he undid the zipper of the backpack and placed the book inside before resealing it. As Forest left the house and trotted away to the location of the training field, he mused of the fact that this very book he had with him was hoof written by Electro himself. He thought that there must be more to the book than just spells, if the first book was never really seen then where could it possibly be? where does he have to go and what must he look for?

x

"Goodness, your highness! It is rather sudden for you to ask me this... I've never worked on this type of project before," Rarity said to Princess Luna as she folded up paper of what seemed to be battle suit designs.

"I do not expect thee to gather thy material, that task is for the guards, I only ask of you to make the suits compatible with proper movement." Luna replied.

"Rarity, Doctor Whooves will be creating more blue prints for battle suits but your help is required to make the wear comfortable and easy to move in. That is all." Arrow affirmed to Rarity trying to ease the tension.

"Oh, I see... well if that is the case then there shall be no problems, as long as I have a helping hoof then things will be done quite nicely." Rarity replied in relief.

"Good. Blacksmiths will be called in today to prepare thy material." Luna added.

"What! Here in the Carousel Boutique! Oh no, no, no, princess that just wont do, the heavy material is going to ruin the carpets and they'll smudge my curtains with filth, I have to many delicate material in here-" Rarity was then interrupted by Arrow.

"It is okay Rarity, the blacksmiths will be working outside the boutique to avoid complications, there is no need to worry."

"Oh, well that is indeed a great relief" She replied as she brushed her hoof against her forehead and gave a smile to Arrow.

As Luna turned to the two guards accompanying her, a unicorn and pegasi, she told the unicorn guard to make way to the Sugarcube Corner to discuss energizing products for the soldiers. Fluttershy came out of a door leading to Rarity's room and hovered to Rarity herself.

"Oh, Fluttershy, is anything the matter with my dear Opalescence?" Rarity asked in worry.

"Oh, Um, she just has a minor sickness that's common with cats, poor, poor thing... just slip this into her milk next time she's thirsty," Fluttershy handed a small pod to Rarity which contained a powder like substance, "this medicine will help her, it's like trying to make powder milk except, um, well the milk would be the water and the medicine the powder, if you know what I mean..."

"Of course, darling, thank you ever so much, oh my poor Opal, your in good hoofs now."

"Your very welcome, and if you need anything else just let me know." Fluttershy uttered while grinning.

"Is there anything else I can help you with, Rarity?" Arrow asked generously as he walked up to the white mare.

"Oh, no, thank you dear, you've done quite enough already." She replied graciously.

"Very well, I will leave you to it then, I need to go to the training field. Have a nice day the both of you." He said as he nodded a goodbye to the two mares and then turned away to inform Luna that he was leaving; he bowed to her and then made his way to the exit.

Fluttershy noticed how helpful Arrow was being towards Rarity, how he had offered to help her move model dummies out of the way and clear some tables and even help her with fetching certain material for her dresses. With that she remembered a conversation she once had with him.

Some time ago during the winter wrap up, Arrow Distorton had stopped to rest after helping to clear clouds to bring in sunlight for spring. He sat down next to a tree where a squirrel family had just woken up and frolicked up the branches, dancing in the sunlight.

Arrow looked up as the sunlight was eclipsed by another pegasus hovering in front of him, he narrowed his eyes allowing them to adjust and saw that Fluttershy was in front of him.

"Oh, um, sorry to bother you while your trying to rest and all, but, um, my friend Rarity brought some nests that need to be put up on the trees for the returning birds and-" Fluttershy's explanation was interrupted as Arrow stood up, whilst having no change in his facial expression gave Fluttershy the impression he was annoyed.

She then landed softly, tilting her head to look down, "I-I'm sorry, w- we just need to-"

"Oh, Fluttershy," Arrow said as he eased his eyes, "Yes, there is no need to worry, I understand."

"Oh, that's wonderful then, I-I thought I may have brought you to a bad mood for a second... I'm sorry but, have we met?" she replied.

"My apologies... we used to go to school together in Cloudsdale but we never actually spoke to each other that much, I just remember your name.. that is not strange is it?"

"Oh, of course not, why would you think so?"

"Well, it is just that my reactions to some things may seem a little off, I have a little difficulty with showing the correct emotions... most of the times I don't really know how to react to certain things... I unintentionally cause misunderstanding..." Arrow complied.

"Oh my, th- that must not be very pleasant for you..." Fluttershy replied showing sympathy to the stallion.

"It is all right, things are starting to look up now that I have..." Arrow was suddenly struck dumb as he noticed a mare walking to his direction from behind Fluttershy; she shared the same white coat as he did, her silky purple hair styled to curve to the right, flowing perfectly and lacking split ends, her azure eyes glimmered with the sunlight.

"Fluttershy, Darling! there you are," Rarity said as she walked up to them, "I've been looking all over for you- oh, hello there. Arrow was it?"

"It is a pleasure bumping into you Miss Rarity." He replied giving a small smile.

"Do you both know each other?" Fluttershy asked.

"Yes, I often make deliveries for Rarity to and from Canterlot with clothing material," Arrow stated, "how are you feeling today, Miss Rarity?"

"I'm feeling wonderful and active, and yourself?" she replied gleefully.

"Quite fine, thank you."

"Your very welcome," she said, returning a smile, "Shall we get started then?"

Fluttershy dazed away before replying as she noticed something from Arrows faint expressions, even with the slightest detail she saw something in him, "O- of course, sorry u- um, this tree has a squirrel family living on it, we should find other trees that aren't reserved."

"Not a problem, I'll just go on ahead and set-up the nests. ta-ta for now!" Rarity trotted away levitating a hefty amount of hoof made nests from a large sack.

Arrow slowly shifted his head keeping his eyes on her as she trotted away, "I am afraid that I will not be seeing her as much as before," he stated as he turned his head to Fluttershy.

"Oh, whys that? are there any problems?"

"Not at all, it is just that a new opportunity is going to open for me soon, my job as a delivery stallion will soon be dismissed... to something... new..."

"Oh, I see." Fluttershy replied.

"I am not trying to avoid her at all, to be quite honest, I think she is the most beautiful mare I have ever met..." Arrow affirmed.

"R-really? you mean that you love her?" Fluttershy said bringing her voice to a more lively level and giving Arrow an excited grin.

"Yes, I believe I do... although we have only spoken a few times, I got to see such an astonishing side to her... she is so generous and has such a wide sense of art... and I feel as though she can understand me if we just get to know each other a little more... there is nothing wrong with that, is there?

"Oh, not at all, actually that's so wonderfully pleasant to hear." She complied, still showing a comforting smile.

"R-really? I am glad you think so..." He replied with as he lowered his head and averted his eyes, he began to blush.

Fluttershy was surprised to witness these signs from the stallion who stood in front of her, for somepony who seemed so blunt had feelings like this. It showed her how she should not judge a book by it's cover as they got to know more about each other, why Fluttershy moved away from Cloudsdale, why Arrow moved away from Cloudsdale and primarily Arrow's new opportunity; becoming the first defender in Ponyville's newly organised civil defence.

"Fluttershy? Is anything the matter dear?" Rarity asked curiously as she brought Fluttershy back to reality.

"Hmm? Oh, no, no it's just that, well, you know Arrow right?" She asked absent mindedly.

"Um, yes... the stallion who just left..." Rarity replied cocking an eyebrow, "Is there something wrong?"

"Oh, no, not at all, it's just that, um, well you see, I was wondering what you think of him..."

"Arrow? Well I must say he is indeed a gentlecolt, a stallion of great manners as a matter of fact," she complied.

"But?" Fluttershy pried Rarity, feeling as though she had picked up something negative.

"but what? what are you implying dear?"

"W- well, he seems to help you an awful lot... do you happen to, oh I don't know, perhaps have feelings for him?"

"O- oh! heavens Fluttershy, is that what it looks like?" Rarity said with relief as though she thought Fluttershy was about to bring up somewhat unpleasant opinion on him, "Well it's not that I don't like him, don't get me wrong or anything, he's a good and helpful friend and all but he lacks... style and well... liveliness, It makes him look like he isn't interested in me to say the least. I just don't think that our boundaries would meet with one another."

'Oh, Rarity... but your wrong... he does have life and style within him... what should I say now? she could be expecting something and I cant just tell her about how he feels, she may not feel comfortable around him and besides I would need his permission first... poor Arrow, she has to give him a chance... but how?' Fluttershy began to feel guilty at the thought of it all, but for now she had to end the topic.

"I- I see, well I was just wondering that's all... Um, anyway, I have to head back home now, Angel is probably wondering where I am since he was asleep

when I left, he's such a good bunny... please let me know if Opal needs anything else." Fluttershy secured the moment with her alibi.

"Well of course darling, we all have allot to do because of that recent incident, anyway, thank you once again." Rarity hugged her light yellow coated friend before attending her duties.

Fluttershy left the boutique and spread her wings, flying away to the Sweet Apple Acres to visit a certain hard working stallion at the farm.

x

Arrow had arrived to the training field to finally meet up with Twilight, Doctor Whooves and the other defenders.

"Row, finally man, your late! we were beginning to think you were slackin' off again..." Jokey stated as Arrow made his way to the group.

"Slacking? I do not think I have done that before... I do not understand how I am late either... I believe seven forty-five was the designated time that was arranged for all of us." Arrow complied.

"Three seconds bro, not impressive," Jokey replied while shaking his head. Arrow obtusely stared at his friend, failing to understand Jokey's intention of foolery, "Heh, relax Row, I'm just messing with ya," he added as he turned to Forest who was right next to him, "I love doing that to him, it's priceless."

Forest let out breaths of laughter through his nose as Boa shook her head while looking up, "Still at it... Unbelievable," she added.

Twilight and the Doctor shared a glance and nodded, "Right then, shall we get started?"Doctor Whooves suggested.

"Yes," Boa said confidently.

"I am ready," Arrow affirmed.

"Lets set the stage on fire!" Jokey and Forest asserted with great enthusiasm, while high hoofing, and so they commenced training to further develop their skills.

Training and Awareness

A few hours have already passed into training, Doctor Whooves scribbled some notes and calculations on a piece of paper, "Right, the rubber material should be a good stabilizer," he mumbled to himself as he jotted down more notes. "Okay, three... two... one... get ready!" He pulled a lever to a catapult that launched three dark purple rubber spheres in the air.

'Right before they start to fall, that s going to determine the range... If this works then it should surge through all of them, come on Forest, focus... focus,' Forest thought to himself while gather magical energy to his horn; it glowed a colour of yellow as he took aim at the spheres that were just about to start landing from afar.

"Chain lightning!" A flash of yellow lightning shot out of his horn and impacted against the middle sphere sending streams of electricity surging through all of them.

"Hold it, Forest, keep it together!" The Doctor asserted in excitement.

Forest maintained the glow around his horn, he kept the flow of electricity connected on the spheres which kept them from falling due to the magical energy, but it was not long until he began to struggle; sparks began flying out uncontrollably from his horn and becoming more unstable, the buzzing of the electrical flow began to change, loud then silent, constantly which then soon came to a halt as it eneded with a pop that caused Forest to jump back a bit. The spheres began falling to the ground after the electricity that surrounded them moments ago quickly vanished.

"Six point three seconds in total, with the start of the spell of course," Whooves complied as he showed Forest the reading on a stopwatch.

"So thats around five seconds of holding em' together... rubber is such a hassle to deal with." Forest added.

"Well you covered a good distance to say the least."

"Yeah, at least it's improving... thanks Doc, I'll just go on ahead and keep practising," Forest assured to Whooves who replied with a nod and then trotted his way to Arrow and Boa.

They were training on speed and endurance, Boa used her boulder raiser technique to pop boulders out of the ground; they flew up pretty high, whereas Arrow would fly around the boulders quickly reshaping them and slowly bring them back down to the ground to fit safely and perfectly back in their craters.

"You have been continuously adding more power each time you have raised a boulder, that is quite impressive." Arrow complimented Boa's efforts.

"Thanks but you've been speeding off and reshaping them before they even land, your not even tired yet are you?" Boa complied.

"Training has become more of a daily routine to us by now."

"I'll agree to that."

"So everything s okay with you two over here?" Whooves said as he walked up to them, they nodded to him in confirmation, "right, just checking up, keep up the good work." He then walked past them to check on Twilight and Jokey.

'I wonder how Jokey's doing...' Boa thought as she look over to his direction, he was standing next to Twilight at a good distance from Arrow and herself, he then a stance and launched a relatively large fireball at one of the floating targets; the target burst into many flaming pieces upon impact, and soon afterwards the pieces recollected themselves, bit by bit, the target was rebuilding itself. Each target in the training field was put together with a bit of magic so that material would not be wasted, and so, led to an unlimited use of target practice.

'Good to know he's being serious,' Boa thought as she nodded affirmatively to herself and looked away, bringing herself back to her own training.

"Oh yeah, and that Twilight, is why I'm hot." Jokey said while giving her a side grin.

Twilight giggled and slightly shook her head, "all right hot shot, try to launch two now."

"Two? Hah! not a problem," Jokey repositioned himself to the offensive stance he was in before, his horn surrounded itself with an aura of fire, "get your cameras ready folks, Jokey's gonna set the stage a blaze," he remarked to himself while lowering his eyebrows and smiling confidently. He scouted out which two aerial targets to destroy, after making his pick, he launched two fire balls simultaneously; the first one was a little bit smaller than the one he had launched previously, the second was considered smaller than the average. The first targets resultant state came to be as the previous, although the second target was only wiped out halfway.

Jokey shook his head as he felt slightly dazed, "eh... not what I expected..."

"Looks like the others are resting up, you should take a break as well, you've all been at it for a while now," Twilight complied.

"Yeah, sounds good to me," Jokey sat down against one of the field obstacles behind him as he saw Whooves walking up to them, "hey Doc."

"Hi, just resting up?" Whooves asked.

"Yeah," Jokey replied as he yawned, "just gonna switch off the lights for a bit," Jokey then fell asleep, his head sank into the popped up collar of his dark purple shirt as he placed one hoof over his stomach and slightly loosened the belt around his matching pants with a bit of magic.

"He's been pushing himself for a while now," Twilight added.

"I can see that, he's been putting on quite the show, haha." Whooves said in agreement.

"How are the designs for the suits coming along?" Twilight asked curiously as she noticed the stacks of scrolls poking out of his backpack on both sides.

"Well, I'm just about finished, I'll be heading over to the boutique soon where Princess Luna will be waiting... wow, I have to say I am rather nervous, I never spoke to any of the princesses before." Whooves anxiously brushed his left hoof against his right.

"There s no need to worry, Princess Luna is all well meaning," Twilight remarked to Whooves positively, "The worst she'll do is use her royal Canterlot voice," she added with a giggle bringing back the memory of when Fluttershy had tried to teach Luna to control her voice in Nightmare night, or more like Twilight herself made Fluttershy teach her.

As Twilight and the Doctor were discussing magical enhancements that can be made to the suits, Forest was flipping through the pages of the Thundertred spell book.

'Chain lightning spell... no incantation required, yeah I got that already... direct focus to bloodline nerve linked to magical energy flow and horn, yadda, yadda, yadda, already know about that... material affects, there we go!' Forest mentally read through the spells effects and conditions, 'the flow of electricity shall become more difficult to maintain as the material that you are striking possesses properties which are indicated to be an insulator more than a conductor, practising on such materials can greatly strengthen the attack but be weary not to over cast if spell consists to end early, too much power being put into the spell can lead to great loss of energy and will bring the users vitality down to a dangerous level,' at that point he had realised how tired he was, he had cast that spell a few times before. He continued to read through information of the spell.

'Right, so the spell isn't necessarily weak... hey what s this? Cloud version? Requires incantation and clouds in the sky, lighting will be more effective depending on the clouds state, saves more magical energy but electrical flow cannot be maintained in return,' Forest looked up to find no cloud in sight, 'looks like we're scheduled for clear skies today... wha- what am I thinking? I'm not gonna try that in front of my friends... but I don't wanna lie to them either... what should I say to them? I have to think of a way to tell them about this book.'

Forest then flipped all the way to the last page of the book where a single certain spell was written, plane and simple with brief instructions and explanation; the magic reveal spell; reveals anything that has been altered from its true form due to the use of magic. Although this was seen as a mistake to Forest for that spell was cast-able by anypony, it had no strict link to the family magic, and with his previous efforts, he once again tried to cast the spell.

A small crystal blue orb shined at the tip of his horn, it glowed brightly as he waved his horn across the book. No effect, same as before, the book remained unchanged. Forest sighed at his spiteful attempt for he had already known what the result would be, he closed up the book and gazed upon the back cover; the neatly silver crested sides of the book were shaped like lighting bolts that stretched out to the centre forming a spiral shape leading to a yellow gem that was perfectly carved to fit a hole in the book, 'well, Electro, you've got style, I'll give you that.'

Forest noticed a purple unicorn and greyish amber earth pony walking up to him for a distance not to far, he paused and quickly opened up his backpack and casually put the book away, it's front cover facing Twilight and Whooves with his hoof covering the title, trying his best to show he wasn t trying to hide anything.

"Yo, guys," Forest said to them heartily as they approached him.

"How goes the training? Learned anything new?" Twilight asked him as she returned a smile.

"Yeah, you can say that, just expanding my knowledge on some spells," he replied.

"Talk about learning, I was wondering, how did you get a hold on those lighting spells?" Whooves asked him eccentrically.

There it goes, the question he wasn't ready to cover up entirely, but he saw it coming as recent events led his friends to certain suspicions. He recalled the thought of what Surgio had told him, something that belongs to the Thundertred family. Forest knows Twilight well and he knows what she was thinking, and her hunch was right. It's that book.

Twilight's smile disappeared and her expression changed to a look of concern, she immediately picked up on what was going on and there was no point for Forest to try and hide it, they are indeed close friends and Forest specifically remembered showing her the book in the early days of his arrival to Ponyville, before Pinkie Pie and himself even got together. All his friends, they know about his past, but only Pinkie Pie and Twilight know about that book.

Forest sighed as he was about to reach into his backpack again, "Okay, there s something I need to tell you-" A voice from above interrupted him, the three looked up to find Rainbow Dash at an airspace. She was wearing a tight black and white jogging suit.

"What s the deal you guys? come on!" Rainbow Dash shouted as four pegasi guards soon followed up to her and hovered next to her, panting and in need of a break, "look at you guys, your barely keeping up." Rainbow added.

"Sorry ma'am... but your really fast." One of the guards said in a struggle of breath.

"Look, I know I'm really amazing and all, but seriously, is that gonna be your excuse the next time you might be fighting some monster from who knows where?"

"Well, no... but-"

"No buts, your royal guards for cryin' out loud, you need to step up your game!" She stated as she then looked down to spot Arrow who was next to Boa, both looking up at her.

"Hey, Arrow!" Rainbow Dash shouted to him.

Arrow stood up in response to her call, "Yes Rainbow! Is anything the matter!" He replied so casually.

"Pretty much, your squad here could use some more pointers, looks like mine are a bit to advanced so gimme a helping hoof here why don't ya!"

"Excuse me, Boa, It looks like I am needed." Arrow remarked as he spread out his wings.

"Go on, looking after the squads is part our training after all," she replied as she brushed a bit of hair out of the collar of her green training outfit, and with that, Arrow took off and flew up to Rainbow Dash and the squad of four and began hovering next to them.

"Right, is this South Bravo?" Arrow asked openly.

"Yes sir!" The four guards confirmed to him.

Rainbow Dash nodded as she crossed her front legs, "I was asked to train each pegasus group in advanced flight."

"Understood, let us continue along the way to Cloudsdale, there are some clouds we can use to help us in this session," Arrow stated.

"Right, took the words outta my mouth." Rainbow Dash grinned, she looked down and waved to the others, "Hey guys!" She greeted them heartily, they all waved and greeted her back except for Jokey who was still fast asleep.

The group of pegasi then took off to continue their training session as the rest would soon have to get back to theirs. Ditzy and Dinky Doo then made their way into the entrance to the training field walking up to Whooves, Forest, and Twilight.

"Papa!" Dinky exclaimed as she ran up to Whooves, he quickly turned around in response.

"Hey there, little muffin!" He replied happily, Dinky jumped up to him as he got up on his hind legs to catch her, she began to laugh and giggle as he held her and tickled her, making silly fatherly grunts. He then put her down and kissed her on her forehead.

"Hello, honey," He said softly as Ditzy walked up to him, smiling back, "You look stunning today," he added after they quickly kissed.

"Thank you, Whoovy," she intoned, "Hello everypony," she added waving to Forest and Twilight with Boa walking up to them from behind, they exchanged smiles as they greeted Ditzy and her daughter Dinky.

"Go on my little muffin, say hello to the nice ponies," Ditzy said as she bent her neck down and gently rubbed the side of her chin against the filly's head, Dinky mumbled as she turned around and hid behind her mothers front leg.

"Aww, she's shy," Whooves complied, "It's okay sweetie, these are our friends, they wont bite."

"It's okay Dinky, you remember me right? I was keeping you company when mommy and daddy went out last week," Twilight added with a comforting grin.

"Mhmm..." Dinky mumbled, as she slowly went in front of her mothers leg again, "h-hi..." she said timidly.

Boa, Twilight, and Forest then smiled in awe at the adorable sight as Dinky came out of her shadow, they playfully greeted her making her feel comfortable around them, Ditzy and the Doctor smiled as they watched their friends entertaining their daughter, in the required childish manner.

"Oh, Whoovy told me you were all going to be working really hard today, so I made some muffins for all of you," Ditzy stated as she uncovered a basket she was holding that revealed many blueberry muffins, their freshly baked aura gave off a luscious scent of ever so soft pastry and sweet blue berry. Forest could feel his mouth water at the sight.

"Aw, no way! Thank you so much! these look so great!" Forest exclaimed joyfully as he snatched a muffin from the basket and quickly devoured it, "hoowee! that hit the spot..." Forest noticed everyone staring at him being completely speechless, except for Dinky who giggled at the sight of his action. One of the biggest things that Forest and Pinkie Pie have in common is their love for baked and sweet things, he was not embarrassed at all by what he had just done, it's in his nature.

"Best muffins since ever, masterpiece," he complimented Ditzy's work, who grinned in delight.

"I'm glad you liked it." Ditzy replied

Boa giggled lightly as she shook her head, "what did I expect from Pinkie Pie's boyfriend?" Twilight nodded in agreement while smirking.

'Looks like I'm safe for now.' Forest thought in relief.

Jokey soon received a wake up call from Boa who alerted him of the muffins, as the others helped themselves to baskets contents and thanked Ditzy dearly, Whooves knelled down to pick up a scroll that fell out of his backpack, Dinky saw her chance to jump on to his back and then held on to his mane. It was their occasional play time; Whooves then smiled as he started to bounce around and spin, slowly and carefully, Dinky began screaming and laughing while Ditzy watched them as a touching warmth lit her heart.

"You know, I remember the first time Dinky called him papa... " Ditzy said to the others while watching them, "I began to tear up, it made me so happy that Dinky could have a daddy again."

"It's great to know the marriage is working out." Twilight complied.

"We're all very happy for you," Boa added.

"Mm, it really is... and thank you." Ditzy added, she then joined her daughter and her husband, the three had shown such a deep perspective of what a family is.

At that moment Forest thought about his parents, how they would have those moments, moments that were cut short, he then thought about Pinkie Pie, 'one day we can have that, Pinkamena.'

x

As time passed, the Whooves family left the training area, Doctor Whooves himself accompanied his family home before he had gone over to the boutique where Princess Luna and Rarity were waiting for his arrival. They soon discussed the plans and designs for the new battle suits for advance preparations, some blacksmith ponies had arrived sometime in the afternoon and set up an open workshop outside and have already produced some samples of the armour, armour types for earth, unicorn, and pegasus ponies.

After a few good hours of discussions and planning, the sun was brought down and the moon was raised for the night to begin.

"Okay, great, we can get to work with some of these samples as soon as tomorrow." Whooves started as be began to pack up the scrolls and papers holding the altered designs.

"Goodness, all this work today has deprived so much energy, I wouldn't mind stopping by the spa tomorrow," Rarity stated.

"Be sure thy gets plenty of rest, for the next day holds a more burdening task," Luna stated as she turned to the pegasi guard who was still accompanying her through out the whole day and dismissed him for the night.

'Must I really be reminded?' Rarity complained to herself in annoyance, 'Ugh, my hoofs are aching from all the rearrangements.'

"Rest well, and I bid a goodnight to all." Luna added, Whooves, Rarity, and the guard bowed to her, she then turned to the exit as Whooves and the guard followed. Once Luna teleported to Canterlot, the guard quickly hid behind a bush from outside the boutique and waited for Doctor Whooves to make his way out.

"Wow, they took off already? Oh well, see you tomorrow, Rarity." Whooves remarked as he waved a goodnight to Rarity.

"Yes, of course, goodnight." Rarity closed and locked the door, she soon retired to her bedroom of organised chaos for the night.

The guard waited until Whooves was out of sight, he then spread his wings and lunged out of the bush flying high up into the night sky, to a distance where he could not be seen. The guard flew over Ponyville and began descending once he was deep into the Everfree forest. He landed near a marshy lake that was surrounded by vine tangled trees, the night sky and moonshine made everything seem pitch black, the silence was deafening, all the guard could hear and feel was the thumping of his heartbeat. His coat the slowly began to change from white to dark grey, the blue eyes turned into sharp brownish-red, the armour was no longer a shade of gold but a shade of dark copper with red streaks across. The shape of the helmet was no longer Roman, but Spartan.

The mysterious guard traversed past the lake and manoeuvred over the vines until he came up to a large bolder, he stomped his hoof against the floor three times, leaving a time of at least two seconds in between each stomp. The bolder began to shift as it revealed an opening, a yellow light shined out, as he entered the hideout the bolder sealed shut behind him once again.

He walked up to a stallion who had a sharp ended horn, the unicorn was wearing a long black hooded cloak with a red symbol, a sphere with an arrow head pointing down and a dash on each side, he was sharpening a battle axe before he switched the sharpening tool off and gazed upon the reflective razor edged blade.

"You have gathered some useful information I hope?" The unicorn said stridently in a slightly hissing tone as he shined the blade.

"Yes, Sargent Razorsharp, the enemy is planning to manufacture new battle suits, pony type specific to be exact." The guard replied.

"Go on." The Sargent said as he put down the axe and turned to the guard while pulling down the hood; His mane were three separate mohawks, the middle one being tallest and crimson in colour, the side ones black. he wore an eye-patch covering his right eye, his left eye was like a target; black pupil surrounded by a white outer ring followed by a black outer ring. His coat was a pale brown colour.

"They discussed shapes that would bring an advantage and that would be easy to move in, they also mentioned magical enhancements... like less air resistance for example."

"Air resistance? that just pokes my funny bone..."

"I also have access to the designs... little do they know there was one more guard than there used to be."

"Looks like our enemy aren't as sharp as we thought." Sargent Razorsharp chuckled menacingly.

"I also know the one designing the suits, she is quite the crafty one when it comes to attire, she has a younger sibling to," the guard complied.

"Excellent... we'll capture them both and pinch the designer where it hurts... I can see it all coming together right now..."

"Shall I continue to spy on them, Sargent?"

"Return to Ponyville in a few hours," Razorsharp said as he levitated the axe, "let us regroup for a moment, I will soon send Kanthon a report of our progress... once he receives it, we shall wait for his arrival and take action when necessary."

He turned around to where a large bolder was located across the room, he then quickly threw the axe across the room, it impaled against the bolder slicing it in half and penetrating deep into the wall, "I can hardly wait."

To Take a Risk

Four days have gone by, four days of intense training and as it so happens to be, a day that Fluttershy had to make another rare delivery to Froggy Bottom Bog. Another case of an overpopulation of frogs somewhere near Ponyville's wildlife.

"Thank you for coming with me while everyone else was busy." Fluttershy pecked the strong red stallion on the cheek as he pulled a carriage of frogs for her.

"After what happened last time, I'd never let you go off on your own that close to the Everfree." Big Macintosh replied with a comforting grin.

"I m just sorry for taking you away from the farm like this, well, I mean, you also have things to do and-"

"And bein' with you is one of em'," Big Macintosh cut in mid speech and gave the light yellow pegasus a kiss causing her to blush radiantly and giggle lightly.

Fluttershy and Big Macintosh continued to walk down a narrow dirt pathway, the greenery began to darken, the light brown dirt pathway was slowly fading into a colour of dark brownish-green resembling semi-dried moss until finally they have reached their destination. The couple walked past a tree and entered the swampy land of Froggy Bottom Bog, the swamp water still brown and murky and bubbling, the swamp trees still standing on their roots silently guarding the area.

"Here we are... wow, i- it's unusually quiet here..." Fluttershy muttered in discomfort.

"Now that you mention it, I don't hear any insects either... swamps are usually crawlin' with em'," Big Macintosh complied.

They looked around for any other sights of living organisms until a multi-purple shaded dragonfly buzzed past them and drew their attention to a far end of the swamp on their side where other frogs were seen hopping on to the land from the lilly pads on the swamp water.

"Oh, there they are," Fluttershy said with glee, "they must have been expecting us."

"Eeyup," Big Macintosh added and smiled as he followed Fluttershy's lead, 'well, it's good ta know there s no Hydra around for now, took a while for Ponyville to calm down.'

The frogs leaped out of the carriage as the two ponies got closer to the other side, the frogs jumped around repeatedly, exploring the new area they were let into and joined a new family, a new home and a job well done.

Fluttershy giggled as some of the frogs jumped on top of her and jumped off again, "Aw, I think they like it here already, they look sooo cute and happy."

Big Macintosh chuckled at the adorable sight. "Eeyup."

The newly formed frog pack leaped away and left the couple to their own duties, the mare and the stallion exchanged caring smiles to the success of their task until voices from afar were heard. Big Macintosh and Fluttershy directed their heads to the source, but all they saw were some trees, but the voices were heard once again, somepony was shouting out what sounded like commands and other voices soon responded, the could not make out what was being said exactly.

"Sounds like someponies in trouble, think we should help em'?" Big Macintosh asked.

"Um, n-no, I mean, that leading voice sounds fimiliar... like a... a-" Fluttershy was interrupted as an unexpected view was bestowed upon them; the four heads of a Hydra roared as they sprang over trees bordering two parts of the swamp. The Hydra roared again loudly as a green mane zebra struggled to keep balance as he stood on top of one of the middle heads.

"Easy! Easy!" The zebra yelled, and soon the Hydra lowered itself to a calm state going beneath the trees once again.

"A HYDRAAAA!" Fluttershy yelled as she tried to fly away in utter worry whilst holding on to Big Macintosh, unable to move him.

"Woah, stay calm! hold on a sec-" He was interrupted as the voices of other ponies got louder.

"The scream came from behind the trees, let's check it out," an unknown voice said.

"Right!" another voice affirmed.

Big Macintosh realised what was going on, he recognised the zebra and so did Fluttershy, It was the enemy forces. He quickly grabbed the light yellow pegasus and hid behind a large bush that was close to the dirt pathway.

"Listen sugarcube, we don't have time to run cuz they will see us," Big Macintosh whispered to her, "please do this for me... fly back to town and go to the training field, our friends are there, they can help."

"B-but what about you?" She replied in worry.

"I'm gonna stay here and buy us some time."

"N-no, I can't just leave you here! what if they-" her response was interrupted as Big Macintosh brought his lips to hers and smoothly kissed her with such ease, making the moment last with haste.

"I love you..." He added, Fluttershy nodded as her eyes became misty.

"I-I love you to..." she dolefully replied and kissed him on his cheek before taking off, she flew just above the trees to keep herself unseen.

Big Macintosh narrowed his eyes as he ruffled some leaves and tried to see if anyone was close, that was when he had witnessed two dark grey earth pony stallions in dark copper armour and a red symbol on it, a sphere with an arrow head pointing down and a dash on each side, 'they look like guards or something,' he thought to himself.

"What s that carriage doing here?" one guard said to the other.

"I don't know, it wasn t there before," the other guard replied

"Hey, look at this, hoof prints... they lead to the pathway."

"Let's check it out..." the two guards followed the hoof prints that Big Macintosh left behind, he could feel sweat forming on his forehead as they got closer, both of the guards had spears on their backs and Celestia knows how well they can use them, he could not risk them seeing Fluttershy as she tried to fly away, and so he had to risk his own life.

"It's okay, It's just me..." Big Macintosh said, alerting the two guards causing them to turn to the bush and walk closer up to him.

"Just who?" one guard asserted, "identify yourself, what squad number are you?"

"Squad number three," Big Macintosh replied, biting his lower lip.

"Squad three? Aren't you supposed to be on the other side of the terrain?" the other guard asked.

"I was asked to keep watch on this side in-case of unexpected visitors," he replied.

"Really? well would you care to explain why your hiding in a bush?" the guard asked curiously.

"Maintaining camouflage..." they went silent for a moment as Big Macintosh saw one guard whispering to the other, he managed to pick up the words 'let's just kill him now, squad three is not a camouflage unit'.

"Camouflage, huh?" one guard said as they both slowly grabbed their spears.

"Eeyup." he replied calmly.

"Squad member, are you sure?" one guard asked as they both took an offensive stance, ready to stab the red stallion.

"Nnope," Big Macintosh complied, and the next thing one of the guards saw was two hoofs heading towards his face, Big Macintosh had launched away one of the guards by kicking him with his hind legs, the guard landed on the other side of the swamp water hitting the edge before going inside.

"Woah!" The other guard shouted in surprise, he then lunged his spear into the bush, but Big Macintosh had jumped out before the spear had gone all the way in, the red stallion stood on his hind legs as he grabbed the guard, who was trying to pull out the spear which was stuck. Macintosh then lifted him up, causing him to let go of the spear and kick his back legs frantically.

"Let go of me!" the guard demanded as he grabbed Macintosh by the hooves.

Big Macintosh then used one hoof to hold the shorter stallion as he prepared his other to land a punch, "years of kicking trees and pushing farming carts only gets you so far," he added as he grinned in victoriously.

"No way... your a farmer!" the guard exclaimed in outrage.

"Eeyup," he affirmed as he then forcefully punched the guard, sending him to join his comrade in the swamp water.

x

"We've been waiting for almost an hour now, is she even in the boutique?" Twilight started as she turned to Doctor Whooves who was standing next to Arrow.

"Well the black smiths said the prototype for the pegasus battle suit would be ready today, well thats what Rarity told me yesterday." Whooves replied.

"The curtains are still closed, perhaps there is something wrong..." Arrow added as they all looked at the Carousel Boutique from the outside.

The three ponies walked to the entrance of the boutique, Twilight knocked on the door as she called for Rarity and asked is everything was okay, Arrow had realised that the door was quite shaky as Twilight knocked on it, "excuse me Twilight, may I just have a look please?" he asked her, and in response she moved aside to let Arrow get to the door.

Arrow placed his hoof on the door nob and slowly pulled down until a click was heard, he pushed open the door to reveal that the boutique had no one inside, the lights were off and the door to Rarity's room was wide open. Twilight flicked the light switch on, the buzzing of the bulbs were a bit loud but soon became silent as the flashes of the light bulbs had fixed themselves to shine constantly, that was when they could see what was inside clearly; a rug on the floor was torn from the side, some of the model dummy s had been knocked over and broken up, Twilight and Whooves were shocked, Arrow dashed off to Rarity's bedroom to find an empty room once again and saw that her door was not just wide open, but was actually separated from it's top henge.

"Rarity has been abducted!" Arrow exclaimed as galloped back to Twilight and Whooves.

"Oh no." Whooves replied feeling anxiety building up.

"What! when was the last time you saw her doctor?" Twilight started as she went up to him.

"W- what, I-I don't know, I mean-"

"What do you mean you don't? you were with her yesterday weren't you?" Twilight was getting to close to Whooves, making him more anxious and worried.

"Woah, Twilight, I can't think when your pressuring me like this I-I-"

"Pressure! My friend is missing!"

"Twilight, he does not know what happened, stop treating him like he is an inmate." Arrow said calmly yet angrily at the same time.

Twilight realised she was about to traumatize the easily overwhelmed stallion, she then recollected herself, allowing herself to think properly, "we need to look for clues," she stated as she looked around the main hall of the boutique. The rug was torn half way with a pair of scissors, Twilight concluded that Rarity tried to escape at this point, Whooves figured she also tossed the dummy s around using magic in hope that she would strike her abductor.

"Twilight, what is this?" Arrow questioned as he looked at Twilight while holding a hoof-full of strange sparkling sandy yellow powder.

Twilight inspected the strange substance as she narrowed her eyes while getting closer to it, she suddenly felt drowsy and quickly jumped back in reaction and shaking her head, "that s sleeping powder, the abductor put her to sleep while she was trying to escape... I read about it in the book of Super-naturals, most of its ingredients are found in the Everfree... Zecora knows how to make these things."

"Are you saying that Zecora took Rarity?" Arrow questioned immediately.

"What? of course not, Zecora would never do something like that... but we should go see her because she just might be able to help us."

The three then rushed out of the boutique only to bump into the other defenders.

"Wow there you guys, what s the rush? Row, dude, we've been waiting for a whi-" Jokey's sentence was held as Arrow overtook his voice.

"Rarity has been taken! we must hurry!"

"What!" the other three defenders replied in shock at the sudden event, but before they could question anything, the voices of two young fillies greeted them ecstatically.

Scootaloo had arrived along with Apple Bloom as her passenger on the scooter; Scootaloo brought the scooter to a sudden halt in font of the group, the two fillies then jumped out in excitement.

"Hey everypony!" Apple Bloom exclaimed joyfully, "have any of you seen Sweetie Belle?"

"Sweetie Belle? You mean she's not with you?" Twilight asked.

"We've been looking for her all day, and today s the day we each try to earn our cutie marks in..." the fillies then held a sealed box together,
"Fireworks making!" they asserted in more excitement.

"That doesn't sound very safe," Jokey added.

"Hold on a second, you can't find Sweetie Belle... and Rarity has been..." Boa mused in realisation to the situation.

"W- what's wrong with Rarity?" Apple Bloom asked, the smile fading from both the fillies faces.

"Captain Thundertred!" A group of guards shouted out as they made their way to the defenders.

"North Charlie? What s wrong?" Forest responded.

"We have a problem, one from our group has gone missing." One of the guards replied.

"Wait a minute, there s four of you here, you guys are a full squad, each squad is made of four guards." Boa stated.

"Wait, is there supposed to be five of you? Princess Luna herself stated that the maximum number is four guards per squad." Jokey added.

That was when Forest had realised that the fifth guard was not supposed to be there from the very beginning

"The fifth guard is not one of ours, he's the one that took Rarity." Forest complied.

A loud cry for help was heard from above, the ponies looked up to find a troubled frightened Fluttershy who was trying to fly as quickly as possible, a speed which she was not used to and so led her to lose control on herself which was going to lead to an unsafe landing. As she was about to land the others could tell it was not going to end well.

"Fluttershy!" Twilight called out in worry.

"Heeeelp!" Fluttershy exclaimed as she soon flew past them and was about to crash, Forest stood on his hind legs and dashed ahead of her in a line of blue lightning, he quickly reformed as he was directly in front of the crashing Fluttershy and caught her in the nick of time, the impact of the catch made Forest slide back a bit but he managed to keep his balance. He safely put down the tired light yellow mare, she was exhausted not only from pushing herself past her limits but through mental stress as well, the mare was taking deep breaths trying to calm down as best as she could.

The others stared at Forest wide eyed except for the other defenders, it was the first time they had seen a pony rush in lightning speed or in the form of lightning itself to that matter.

"Oh thank Celestia... your all here..." Fluttershy said while panting.

"Another spell that comes naturally?" Twilight uttered under her breath to Forest in a sarcastic tone as she walked up to him and Fluttershy.

"I already knew that from before, honest, we'll talk about it later," Forest replied to her remark, the excuse he was using the past four days in his training.

Twilight then patted Fluttershy on her back, "It's okay, stay calm Fluttershy, now, what happ-"

"Froggy Bottom Bog!" Fluttershy exclaimed, "Big Macintosh is at Froggy Bottom Bog with the enemy!"

"Enemy?" Forest uttered.

"The strange green haired zebra th- that hologrammed himself to Ponyville with that other strange stallion... he was at Froggy Bottom Bog trying to capture a Hydra and he has other ponies with him! A- and Macintosh tried to buy me some time and he's there fighting them all alone now! We need to hurry!" Fluttershy continued.

"North Charlie, prepare yourself, we're heading to Forggy Bottom Bog," Forest commanded his squad, they confirmed a 'yes sir' to him, "Jokey, Arrow, Boa, it's time to help our friend!"

"Right!" The other three defenders confirmed to Forest.

"Twilight, what will you do from here?" Arrow asked before leaving.

"We're gonna stay behind and take care of Fluttershy and the girls, we'll visit Zecora once you get back."

The guards and the defenders nodded to Twilight and took off, "and be careful!" she added as they left.

x

Kanthon looked around as he found several guards of his squad knocked out and some simply unable to get up, he then looked in front of him where Big Macintosh was bound as two guards were pointing the tips of their spears at his neck, one on the left, the other on the right.

"Well I must say, that was quite an impressive last stand you put up, it's been a while since I've seen an earth pony do something like this alone," Kanthon remarked to the eldest Apple sibling, who looked up at the zebra angrily and saw the four headed Hydra standing calmly at least three meters behind him.

"Why don't you join the legion?" Kanthon continued, "we could use somepony like you, not to mention you will be paid quite handsomely, a farmer won't always be at profitable standard you know..."

Big Macintosh's expression changed to one of disgust, he felt insulted that the green haired zebra would even stoop down to a level which he considered so low, "go chew on a horse shoe, olive eyes..."

"Pff, so be it," the zebra pulled out the scythe which was sheathed at the back of his black full body suite with the red symbol on both sides, he placed the handle above the blade next to Big Macintosh's neck as the guards holstered their weapons, the zebra then swayed the scythe back and forth like a golfer taking aim to a golf ball, he then swiftly pulled back the blade and was ready to make a fatal swing.

A flash of blue lightning appeared in front of the zebra as he swang the scythe, Forest Thundertred had blocked the blade with a metal staff with green metal tips, Jokey Bizzare appeared from a burst of flames and kicked the right guard to the face, sending him back at least a meter and a half, the ground rumbled under the left guard and a perfect cylinder erupted from the ground which sent the guard away over the trees, Boa Quakes soon jumped in taking the guards place, the royal guards of North Charlie then fell into formation around the three defenders.

"Orange!" Big Macintosh cheered in relief.

"Sorry we're late, buddy..." Forest replied.

Forest and Kanthon narrowed their eyes as they stared at each other, their weapons shaking from from the opposing forces.

"Thundertred..." Kanthon uttered.

"Stranger..." Forest replied.

The zebra jumped back to the Hydra and placed the scythe on his back again as his troops fell into formation, "It begins."

Reshaping and Entering

The Hydra placed one of its middle heads near the ground allowing Kanthon to climb on to it, it rose back up granting Kanthon a dominant view of Froggy Bottom Bog.

"Where is the white pegasus of your group? The one with the green mane... I see he hasn't joined you?" Kanthon started while looking around and back down to Forest.

"He's got a lead on your friends," Forest replied.

"He's gonna bust their heads in for taking Rarity, you know." Jokey added, as cocky as usual.

Flashback

On their way to Froggy Bottom Bog, Arrow had noticed a shining string of some sort and as he got closer to observe it, he brought the group to a halt and alerted them of what he had just found.

"Everypony, I know where Rarity is!" Arrow exclaimed.

"What? Are you sure?" Boa questioned as they all turned back to the pegasus.

"Positive, I think this is a bit of hair from her mane, there is a faint trail but I think she has done it on purpose in hope for us to find her... please carry on without me!"

"Al right, but you gotta make sure you find her and get back to us, buddy!" Forest asserted, "let's go!"

"I see, well, if your friend is alone, then I assure you he will find things quite difficult to handle," The zebra uttered in a strident tone.

"Don't be so quick to underestimate a defender, you have no idea what we're capable of," Boa said in gleaming confidence.

"Heck yeah!" Forest and Jokey added in unison.

"And you shouldn't be so quick to underestimate the highest ranks of the Metamor Legion," Kanthon smiled malevolently.

"Whatcha smilin' for, olive eyes?" Jokey began, "I didn't make a joke yet."

Kanthon's smile left his expression as he cocked an eyebrow while looking down at the yellow stallion, "Oh, it's you... I find your hideously mismatching colours funny... freak."

"Freak?" Jokey chuckled, "this coming from a deaf green haired zebra."

"I'm a half-breed, you foal."

"All the more reason, then." Jokey smiled victoriously, prying the slowly raising anger to the zebra's heart.

Forest snickered at Jokey's quick comeback, "Nice."

Boa shook her head, "honestly, you two?"

"Enough! Your outnumbered. There are only eight of you."

Big Macintosh had fallen into formation with the royal guards as he had counted the amount of enemy troops still standing, excluding Kanthon and the Hydra, "sixteen of 'em left, Orange..." he mentioned with a confident expression.

"Outnumbered? With Big Mac over there fighting along side the royal guards your guys don't stand a chance."

"Oh but Forest, I wasn't only talking about my troops..." Kanthon stated while grinning, he then began to speak words of his mother tongue, similar to the language of Zecora herself, a loud caw was heard from above which was soon followed by a blockage of sunlight on top of Boa, she looked up to find a black bird-like shape circling the sky above them.

"Is that a crow?" She uttered, the crow then dived down at an alarming speed towards her, she jumped out of the way just as the crow swept by landing next to the Hydra; the crow was large, about thrice the size of a pony.

On the opposite side, a giant yellow and green salamander had uncloaked, having a large saddle on its back and bits of armour around the joints of it's legs and it's tail.

"What. Are. Those. Things?" Forest uttered, seeming astounded at the sizes of the beasts.

Kanthon grinned once more, "to my right, is the giant cloaking salamander of the north forests," he explained as two unicorn soldiers mounted the beast, "to my left is an overgrown steel winged crow, consider yourselves slightly lucky your wearing armour and not those silly outfits as before."

Boa observed the the steel edges of the crow, they stuck out of its back in a thorn like manner, the edges of its wings were decorated with sharp steel, but it seemed as though the steel was part of the crows body and not even armoured. The crow was staring directly at her.

"Attack, my pets," Kanthon stated wickedly.

x

Arrow found himself in an array of trees, the trail of Rarity's hair was short and had left him going a straight path. He noticed a large boulder ahead of him, it seemed to be blocking a cave, the only part that was pony-made in the area, he had figured that Rarity was in there.

'How am I going to get in?' he thought as he observed the tight terrain, 'I am going to have to fly up very high for this... but how can I distort the boulder with all of these vines and trees in the way? Okay then, I will have to put my training to the test, the technique adds a lot of pressure to my wings, but if I angle them correctly, then the wave will be shot out swiftly.'

Arrow leaped upwards and took off, he rose up above the clouds as quickly as he could whilst streaming inner energy through his body, as he got high enough he turned round and started to fly downwards, acting with gravity at intense speed. He then kept his wings spread out collecting energy around them, that was when his wings began to feel very heavy.

Within no time, he was below the clouds again, and soon, would fall beneath the trees, but his aim was to be above them. He then gave out a controlled burst of energy through his wings causing a shock wave around him, this sudden mid-air stop unleashed a spear of dense shock wave particles which generated a high pitched screeching pulsating sound. The spear went past the trees distorting them out of the way and finally impaled the bolder to nothing but a large flat rock, the impact opened the path to the inside of the cave, but created a large crater from the outside as well.

The pegasus hovered down to the floor, breathing heavily through his nose. He was soon greeted by two unknown soldiers.

"He's the cause of all this, get 'em!" One guard exclaimed, as they both galloped around the crater to reach Arrow who took an offensive stance, ready to fight.

x

"They did what and went where!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed as Twilight explained the situation.

"Did you not get anything I just said, Pinkie?"

"I do get what your saying Twilight, but we can't just sit around! we gotta go help them! And besides, I spent three days at the Sugarcube Corner trying to create an energy bar with Mister and Misses Cake, and finally, it's done!"

"Pinkie! Fluttershy is having herself a little bit of a panic attack here, not to mention Scootaloo and Apple Bloom are worried sick about Sweetiebelle."

"And Big Macintosh too..." Apple Bloom uttered gloomily.

"Exactly, we need to stay here until they get back, we can't have the girls attempt something they'll regret."

"Um, Twilight, you know we can hear you right?" Scootaloo uttered.

"I'm sorry girls... but we can't risk anyone getting hurt." Twilight added, trying to comfort the fillies.

"The least you could do is help us, sugarcube... don't get selfish over a candy bar now..." Applejack remarked.

"Ah! Selfish! I am not being selfish, and this is not just a candy bar, do you have any idea how much this can hel-"

"Pinkie Pie!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed, interrupting the pink earth pony, "stop being such a baby and stay put, al right!"

"A baby! I am not- and you- they- b- but- ENNN!" Pinkie Pie marched away, feeling angry and insulted.

"Wait, Pinkie Pie, I didn't mean it like that! Oh for the love of..." Rainbow Dash sat down placing her hoof on her forehead.

Applejack watched Pinkie Pie leave, she sighed as she turned back to Twilight and the fillies, "She ain't gonna go off by herself will she?"

"Of course not, I'm sure that even Pinkie Pie knows better than that." But Twilight was wrong, Pinkie Pie only walked away in such a manner to make herself seem like she was not going, as her intentions differed, she galloped away to Froggy Bottom Bog once she was out of sight.

x

"Now maybe you two can stay down there until I get back," Arrow had fought out the two guards pushing them into the crater, one of the guards mumbled in pain as he placed his hoofs around his head, the other was simply knocked out, Arrow was now ready to enter the hideout.

Within the depths of the hideout, Rarity groaned as she woke up, the heaviest feeling of dizziness had struck her as her eyelids rubbed against a piece of cloth. she was blindfolded and on the floor, as she attempted to pick herself up she heard the rattling of a chain echo across the silent room, she motioned her front leg and felt something burdening around her ankle, as she pulled back, a restraining force had stopped her from moving. She was bound to a chain.

"I see our little tailor has woken up from her slumber," A strident voice had announced, causing Rarity to panic.

"Wh- who s there! Where am I!" She exclaimed in worry, her blindfold was then removed, no longer blocking her vision. Her eyes quickly adjusted to the brightness of the lit lanterns of the cave, she looked up at the stallion who had removed the blindfold; a stallion wearing a cloak with its hood down revealing his three separate mohawks.

"How dare you! Let me go you fiend!"

"Fiend? Please madam, I prefer Razorsharp, and might I say you are in no place to give orders. You see, we have taken acknowledgement to your abilities and from now on you shall be doing as I command. And the first thing you shall do is create replicas of this prototype outfit for my troops." Sargent Razorsharp had pointed his hoof at the armoured outfit design intended for pegasi which Rarity and Doctor Whooves had designed together.

"And you expect me to follow such a outrageous command? I will not bend to the rules of ruffians such as yourself, nor will I betray my town and my friends by doing so, and you honestly can't expect me to take orders from somepony with a mane like yours, its simply atrocious!" Rarity lifted her chin, shunning the words of the Sargent.

Razorsharp chuckled manically, "My, my, aren't we the gutsy type... well, I can fix that, gentlecolts!" two of the Sargent s soldier had removed a large piece of white cloth over a little filly.

"Rarity!" Sweetiebelle cried out, frightened by the unknown faces and location.

"S- Sweetiebelle!"

"Don't listen to them Rarity they're just a bunch of-" Sweetiebelle began to squeal in pain as Sargent Razorsharp used magical force to tightened the chain around her ankle, as he stopped, she began to tear up and whimper as she put her head down to prevent anyone to see that she was crying.

"Sweetiebelle! You scoundrel mutt! I'm-" Razorsharp had placed his hoof on her lips and tutted.

"Now, now, I wouldn't go any further if I were you, unless you want the joint of your precious little sisters ankle to go snap, then I suggest you do as I say... get the point?"

Razorsharp removed his hoof from her lips, Rarity looked down and nodded silently while frowning, 'I can't believe this... I'm just a puppet to the enemy now... and worst of all is that they have my little sister... Sweetiebelle is going to be so traumatized...' she thought in absolute woe.

"Good, I'm glad we came to an understanding, now, we-"

"The only thing that you will come to is regret!" A voice had asserted, the five soldiers, Razorsharp, and both Rairty and Sweetiebelle looked over to the exit, where Arrow had stood strongly and courageously. His eyebrows lowered with vengeance as he stared at Razorsharp.

"Baahahaha! me? regret? your the one who's here all alone!" Razorsharp began.

"Perhaps, but your lack of guards within the depths of this cave shows that you are unprepared, hence, making things easier for me." Arrow countered the Sargent s claim.

"I told you foals to remain spread out within the caves... no matter, seize him!" Razorsharp exclaimed, the guards then galloped in a group towards Arrow.

"Big mistake," Arrow stated, he spread out his wings and dashed around the guards quickly reshaping the ground to trap them in a large earthy cocoon, their heads poked out like shrubs.

"Arrow!" Rarity cheered with joy as Sweetiebelle giggled at the sight of the guards.

"What." The Sargent blurted bluntly.

Arrow then galloped toward Razorsharp, but soon stopped dead in his tracks as the Sargent levitated a battle axe next to Rarity, the tip of its blade just millimetres from her neck.

"Oh I wouldn t do that If I were you... now step back nice and slowly..." Arrow narrowed his eyes at the Sargent and stepped back.

"Slice 'em up, Sargent!" One guard exclaimed, the rest then agreed assertively.

"I intend to peel the flesh from his very bones... now take this!" Razorsharp had tosses a few swords and daggers to Arrow with magical levitation, Arrow dodged all the attacks vigorously, but Razorsharp had constantly kept the sharp tools flying towards him.

"Dodgy... I don't like that..." Razorsharp remarked.

'This is not good, I can not keep on jumping around like this... how can he keep so much control over so many different weapons? If I try to send shock waves at him then the diffraction of the waves due to the walls of the cave will also harm Rarity and Sweetiebelle... I am getting tired too quickly... If he could just stop...' Arrow tried to come up with a strategy with the little time he was given to think, what could he do when a horde of razor edged tools were flying towards him at such an alarming rate?

Razorsharp had finally brought the blades to a halt, "Well, obviously this isn't working," he began to rant, Arrow took this chance as he gazed at the exit, he walked near the pathway leading to the exit and planned his next step.

'I have already observed his characteristics... it seems as though he has a low tolerance to his own failures, so he should be easy to provoke... If I anger him well enough then I could dispose of most of his weapons.' Arrow concluded.

"So why don't you just come over here and we'll-" Arrow interrupted Razorsharp.

"And what? Give you the chance to stab my back? you are indeed quite the naive one... not only are you keeping me at a distance but you are also trying to jive me... like a true coward."

"Coward! Now see here-"

"That is what I said, not to mention your swordsman skills are quite poor, you can not even hit one pony."

"Hah! You shouldn't even be a Sargent!" Rarity complied.

"Shut up you little foal!" Razorsharp tightened her chain in anger causing her to grunt in pain, Arrow felt the heat of anger build up within him, but stuck to his original plan.

"And now you cause harm to a defenceless hostage? You are not worthy of being a unicorn or anything else!" Arrow stated the final line of hope to his plan.

"Oh the nerve! I'll show you! You think your so great! huh! Well eat steel you peasant!" The Sargent then tossed all of the weapons to Arrow at once, including the battle axe that was held up to Rarity's neck.

Arrow then dodged for his life, the tip of a blade just managed to cause him a minor cut to his right hind leg, but he was able to ignore the pain as the deadly instruments flew out to the exit, he quickly spread his wings and rapidly circled around the exit, sealing it shut.

"You annoying pest... well I guess you think you've got the upper-hoof now don't you? Well your wrong, I'll show you just why I bare the title of Sargent..."

Razorsharp placed his hoof on to his eye patch, as he was about to remove it a hologram had appeared behind him and called out his name. He quickly brought his hoof back down and turned around.

"Leader? What is it?"

Arrow observed the hologram and recognized the pony, 'It's that stallion from before, the one who knows Forest!'

"Razorsharp," Surgio began, "we have collected all we need for now, abandon this current hideout and return to the main base."

"What about the hostage?"

"Leave her there to rot if you wish, we have what we need for the new battle suits, but I need you here immediately."

"As you wish, Leader," The hologram ended as Razorsharp agreed to the command, as he turned around to face Arrow, he jumped back in surprise to see that the pegasus had rushed up to him, Arrow stood next to Rarity, keeping his wings out to keep her protected.

"Consider yourself extremely lucky, pegasus... you can keep your precious tailor but I do hope you prepare yourself for round two... until we meet again." Razorsharp then pulled out a blue orb that began to glow as he held it up high, a stream of blue energy then zapped to the bound guards and himself, teleporting them out of the hideout leaving Arrow with Rarity and Sweetiebelle.

"Hold still, Rarity, I am going to free you..." Arrow held her hoof up so gently trying to find a way to open the cuff of the chain, Razorshap had left with the keys.

"Thank you so much darling," she said with great relief as she sniffed and rubbed her nose, her eyes became misty, "let me handle this, dear..." she levitated out a sewing needle which was pinned at the back of her main and picked the lock with it. Rarity met eyes with Arrow while in the process of undoing the lock, he smiled in a way she had not seen him smile before; it was warm and comforting, a rare moment for even Arrow himself, but it was done with such affection, Rarity began to see something within him and doubted her previous opinions on him, she saw his liveliness, she could see that he cared.

The sudden click and release of the cuff broke their stares, "your hoof is injured, please allow me to carry you to prevent any further damage," Arrow suggested her in an orderly manner, she nodded silently; he stood on his hind legs gently picking her up, he then hovered over to Sweetiebelle who has lost consciousness and made Rarity feel utterly heart broken, "I am so sorry that I let him treat you both this way, it is absolutely no way to treat mares..." Arrow remarked as Rarity unlocked the cuff around Sweetiebelle's ankle, revealing quite a bad bruise.

"Oh, Sweetiebelle..." Rarity muttered while shedding tears.

"I promise he will regret his actions, Rarity... I promise," Arrow picked up Sweetiebelle, placing her on to Rarity's grasp.

He held both of them as he hovered to the sealed exit, he knelled on one leg and asked Rarity to hold on tightly, he spread his wings and focused a constant stream of energy and then flapped them, sending waves of distortion to re-open the exit.

He flew them out of the hideout and noticed that the weapons and guards that were in the crater had left the area as well, it seems as though they were al embedded to the teleportation spell of the orb. Arrow had flown out on top of the trees, Rarity had never been so happy to see the sunlight again, hear heart had filled with overwhelming bliss, she looked up at Arrow as he looked around making sure nothing was in harms way, she blushed as she had thought that he just might be the prince charming she was looking for.

"How did you find me?" she asked under her breath, Arrow looked down at her and smiled.

"I noticed the pieces of hair from your beautiful mane that made a short path... I knew I would find you and I would not give up until I did... and here we are..."

With that said, she now saw Arrow under a new light, 'he thinks I'm... beautiful...' she thought. Arrow was no longer the shallow and blank stallion she thought he was, instead, he was a stallion of style, grace, and passion. He was indeed a true gentlecolt.

Arrow brought Rarity and Sweetiebelle to the town centre of Ponyville where they could receive instant medical care from medical ponies that had arrived from Canterlot and some from the residence of Ponyville as well.

"The filly, your younger sister, suffered from a shock of fear, but she'll be fine, she's wide awake and well," one of the medical ponies informed Rarity while jotting down notes.

"Thank you for the information, I'd like to go see her now." Rarity replied.

"Of course, follow me."

Rarity turned to Arrow before leaving to see Sweetiebelle, "Thank you again, Arrow, you really saved us back there..."

"I am only glad to know that you are both okay... and your very welcome."

They exchanged smiles and a moment of silence broke in, neither of them knowing what else to say.

"I- I must go back to the boutique, Twilight needs to know that your both okay," Arrow uttered, which withered the silence away.

"Oh, o- of course... I'll see you later then..."

"Y- yes, of course, see you later..."

Rarity turned back and followed the medic as Arrow took off to the boutique to meet up with the others.

x

"You know what, I say we go help 'em out, I mean come on, what are we afraid of?" Rainbow Dash blurted whilst hovering above the others.

"Well, number one, Rainbow, is that we ain't really experienced in this whole fightin' business," Applejack replied, "besides, we need to look after Fluttershy and the girls until we get a word from the others."

"Um, I'm feeling a b- bit better now..." Fluttershy mumbled, "I just hope Big Macintosh and Rarity will be safe and, well, that the others come back..."

Twilight had put away a spell book and mused to the matter "Maybe we shouldn't be sitting around here like this after all, now that I think about it-"

"Everypony, I have good news," Arrow stated as he landed near them. Scootaloo and Apple Bloom rushed to him asking if Sweetiebelle and Rarity are okay, Twilight and Rainbow Dash also ran up to him.

"Yes, yes I found Rarity and Sweetiebelle, they are receiving medical care as we speak, they will be fine." Arrow complied.

"Um, excuse me Arrow, y- you didn't happen to see Pinkie Pie on your way here did you?" Fluttershy asked him, seeming a bit worried.

"Pinkie Pie? Oh, I do not believe I bumped into her at all, is there something you need from here?"

Twilight face-hoofed at the thought of where Pinkie Pie might be, "she didn't..."

"She did," Rainbow Dash remarked, crossing her front legs as she hovered above them.

Froggy Bottom Brawl

The Overgrown Steel Winged Crow dashed to Boa, having her dodge aimlessly left and right until it strafed sideways ahead her, resting on the ground once more. It stared at her without having any slight hint of movement, analysing her every move.

'What is up with this bird?' Boa thought, 'It's acting like its got the mind of a pony...' She shifted her head to look over the Crow and saw the royal guards commencing battle with the enemy troops; Big Macintosh alone pretty much balanced out the odd number on their side, he was helping the guards fend off the enemy troops and was doing a pretty good job at it.

'There s no way he's just a farmer... right?' she mused.

The Crow shot up its wings immediately grabbing Boa's attention, it began to flap them back and forth in an incredibly fast motion generating a powerful airflow towards Boa. She bent down in an effort to keep balance but was soon being pushed back by the force of the air; her hooves skidded against the ground leaving a trail of dust as she slid back.

'At this rate I'll be blown away!' Boa quickly focused energy around her hooves which emerged a large chunk of gravel and soil behind her, she held herself against it whilst standing on her hind legs, "erupting stairway!" she yelled as she stomped the floor with her left hoof, a thick earthy stairway rapidly began to form its way to the Crow, each step higher than the previous one. Boa galloped up the stairway and unsheathed the sword wrapped was around her waist with her mouth, as she reached the last step she leaped down gripping the sword with her front hooves, the Crow flew upwards at an angle dodging Boa's attack causing her to impale the sword against the solid ground.

Boa observed the movements of the Crow, it was circling her high above the skies again, "that birds planning something, I just know it," she uttered to herself under her breath.

"You okay back there, Boa!" Forest yelled as he pointed the staff at the Giant Salamander as an ocean blue aura matching the colour of his eyes surrounded his horn, he slowly stepped forward inch by inch which made the Salamander back away at his pace, the two soldiers riding the beast were pointing their spears at him, connecting the aura of their magic to the spears.

"Yeah, I'm fine, don't lose focus on your opponents now!" She replied.

"Heh, focus is his middle name!" Jokey added.

"Well, actually, it's Season, but whatever!" Forest remarked back to them.

Boa shook her head and gave a grin, 'those two...' she thought in amenity, her fiery red eyes still locked on to the Crow.

Jokey leaped back several times in response to the Hydra attempts of attacking him, the Hydra lunged each head down to him, trying to bite him and gobble him up, "If you guys don't mind, I could use a helping hoof with this Hydra!"

Forest deflected two incoming beam attacks with the ends of the staff from the soldiers,"trying my best to find the moment, bro!"

"Hold on, Jokey! I'm on my way!" as soon as Boa tried to respond to Jokey's need of aid, the Crow unleashed a deadly shower of steel needles, she stopped with a short gasp and quickly shielded herself with a semicircle of rock which sprang out from the ground. Boa had waited until the continuous sound of metal jabbing rough surface had ended, she jumped out of the rocky shield and exchanged glares with the Crow once more as it landed in front of her; from the spots of which the steel needles had been launched down to her, new ones quickly grew out.

"Sorry, Jokey! but it looks like I'm a little occupied too!" she added as she shot a mean look to the Overgrown Crow.

The Hydra spun around lashing around its tail in an attempt to strike Jokey.

"Woah!" Jokey leaped back as the Hydra's tail slammed against the ground, Kanthon had turned around to face Jokey.

'Now's my chance!' Forest thought as he saw the opportunity to help Jokey by striking Kanthon as his back was turned to him.

"Force wave!" Forest yelled, a short transparent wave of what was considered 'absolute force' paved into the ground, causing rubble and dust to blind the vision of the mounted Salamander, Forest dashed up to Kanthon in the form of lighting once again, he pulled back the staff preparing to strike the zebra.
Kanthon turned his head back to Forest with a divine grin, "bingo." Kanthon remarked, foreseeing the step he had planned.

Forest's expression changed from a sure shot to look of misconception, Forest disappeared with an unappealing sound of a heavy gulp.

"What the hay? Did the air just swallow Forest!" Jokey could not believe what he had just witnessed.

Kanthon laughed at the yellow unicorns misunderstanding, "have you already forgotten? It was the Giant Cloaking Salamander... the two soldiers that are riding it are deeply skilled with teleportation. You see, the Salamander will cloak itself as well as whatever touches its skin, the best thing about this creature is that it decides which object it's touching to cloak, truly a marvellous creature."

"Forest! Come on bro, get yourself out of there!" Jokey shouted with worry.

"It's no use... the stomach of that amphibian is like a prison with no locks, just bars surrounding the victim," Kanthon replied unhesitatingly.

A loud ruffle of leaves and tree branches roared from behind Boa, she looked back in surprise, but found nothing.

Kanthon smiled nefariously, "It seems as though the Salamander has left the area to digest your friend."

"Look out, Boa!" Big Macintosh yelled out as he tossed an enemy guard over his shoulder. The Crow dashed to Boa headbuttig her strongly, she flew into a tree behind her and let out a grunt of pain upon impact.

"Boa!" Jokey asserted in anguish to the sight of what had happened to her.

Boa picked herself up while shaking, she glared angrily at the Crow that was just about ready to headbutt her once more, 'not as smart as I thought you were' she thought. Boa then quickly erupted a large earthy pillar below her, lifting her upwards. The Crow bashed its head against the the rocky pillar, it cawed loudly and covers its head with its wings, it seemed to be whimpering silently.

"Looks like I found the weak point of that feather brained bird of yours," Boa stated as she gave a victorious grin.

"Nice one!" Jokey added with a chuckle, "Cuase it's a bird and its got feathers! Brilliant!"

"And don't think Forest is gonna give up so easily, as long as he's got some grease he'll slip through those bars!"

"Yeah!" Jokey complied with a praise.

"Don't get full of yourself so easily, mare!" Kanthon began to rant angrily. Jokey smiled as he saw his chance to use the technique he had mastered within the past four days of training.

"Dang, zebra... you got to much heat buildin' up in that brain of yours... wouldn't wanna overload now would ya'? Please, allow me." Jokey whispered to himself confidently, his horn generated an aura of fire as he took an offensive stance.

"Double grand fireball!" Jokey simultaneously launched two large fireballs at least double his size in radius; the fireballs burst upon impact against the back of the Hydra.

x

Pinkie Pie galloped through natural obstacles of the forest, 'gotta be quick!' she thought as she jumped over a sprouting root of a tree.

She galloped until the solid bump of her hooves hit something sonorous causing her to trip over, "Ugh, what kinda pony wants to take a nap in a forest? Ever thought about a bed, smarty pants?"

The stallion that she tripped over picked himself up and glared at her furiously, it was the same guard that Boa had launched away.

"Uh- oh... uh I mean yeah sure! It's perfectly fine if you wanna sleep in a forest, haha!" she added as she lowered her ears, backing away from the guard as a look of fear struck her face.

The guard tossed his spear at her which cut through the top half of the joint of a tree branch that was just above Pinkie Pie, she jumped back in surprise, the guard then walked up to her as she kept backing away, "come 'ere cupcake," the guard said as he soon walked underneath the weakened branch.

Pinkie Pie came to a sudden stop as she felt her tail twitching, "twitchy twitcha- twitch?" she blurted with a gasp, "Quick! Find cover! Some thing s gonna fall!" Pinkie Pie dove into a space behind a rock behind her and got on the ground covering her head with her hooves.

The guard laughed in amusement, "such a foal! What a stupid attempt to-" The tree branch that the guard tossed his spear at fell loose from the tree and landed on his head, "hog... wash..." he muttered while losing consciousness, he fell flat on to the ground.

Pinkie Pie looked over the rock and with and shrugged, "can't say I didn't warn ya, silly," she added, "oh yeah, better hurry!" she continued down the path to Froggy Bottom Bog.

x

"Agh! This sucks!" Forest exclaimed in annoyance as he tried to budging his way within the Salamanders stomach, the muscles began contracting, squeezing on to Forest giving him no space for movement, the upper and lower surfaces pressed against his cheeks.

"I can barely move! this thing is seriously gonna try to digest me alive!" he spoke with clenched teeth and squinted eyes as slimy muck went down the back of his mane, "Al right buddy, you wanna play rough? Well fine, eat this! Forcefield blast!"

The Giant Salamander croaked loudly as a large circular bulge formed around its stomach and quickly vanished.

"What in the- was that him?" one of the guards questioned as they tried to maintain balance on the shaking Salamander.

"He's gonna cause some trouble, let's stab him," the other guard replied.

"Are you nuts? You'll kill the Salamander you idiot."

"Woah!" the guards shouted in unison as a second bulge occurred, making the Salamander shake violently. As it came to rest once more, it began to groan heavily losing balance on its own legs, it coughed multiple times until it finally spat out the deep orange stallion.

"Uugh... dude, this is just nasty," Forest remarked to himself as he stood up on his hind legs, brushing the slime off himself, he shook his head vigorously from side to side cleansing his mane from the slime.

"No way, nopony's ever gotten out of the Salamanders stomach before!" one of the guards exclaimed furiously.

"Force magic," Forest began, "a little something I picked on long ago, whenever unicorns practice basic magic they intend to develop another type of their own, I take you two must have something else up your sleeves other that just basic magic beams.

Forest placed a hoof over his chest, his hoof clanged against his armor as he felt a sudden wave of slight exhaustion, "What the... hay?"

The guards chuckled darkly, "you know what s so special about this creature? other than turning invisible its got the ability to spit out slime that chews up vitality, and all that slime is generated in its stomach... basically, you were in a cesspool of life sucking slime."

'And the force magic doesn't help,' Forest thought to himself, 'although force magic is powerful, the density and pressure of the spells take a hefty amount of power... this is not good.'

The Salamander suddenly cloaked itself along with the guards, leaving Forest on high alert; Forest took a defensive stance as he reached for the staff on his back, unfortunately for him, it was not there. 'Damn! Must have dropped it when that thing swallowed me!'

A ruffle in the grass caused Forest to turn around with great caution, the armoured tail of the Salamander swung upwards in an attempt to strike Forest, he blocked off the steel tipped tail with his bracer s, but it got past his control and struck him just above his stomach, leaving a scratch on his armour.

"Oof!" Forest grunted as he was launched up into the air, the guards teleported themselves and the Salamander away from his sight, Forest looked around in mid-air trying to spot where they had gone, he then looked up and saw the giant amphibian landing towards him, mouth wide open.

"Not this time! Lightning bolt!" Forest shot out an instant bolt of blue lightning which surged through the Salamander and the guards, one of the guards being more resistive was able to teleport himself, his companion, and the beast back to the ground. Forest fell to a hard landing but managed to avoid injury.

"Come on! Why wont you cloak!" one guard yelled in worry.

"The electricity must have messed with its nerves, we're gonna have to do this without the Salamander... besides, our friend over there isn't looking so healthy." The guards jumped off the temporarily handicapped Salamander and upholstered their spears.

'Come on Forest, they're just guards... you can handle them, but damn, I haven't felt this bad in a-' Forest's thoughts were cut off as he felt something jump on to his back.

"Forest! I found you first! Great!" Pinkie Pie had leaped on to his back whilst he stood his hind legs.

"Pinkie? What are you doing here?" Forest replied in surprise to her appearance.

"You won't believe what I just went through! I bumped in to some weirdo who was taking a nap in the middle of the forest on my way here and boy did he look grumpy, but anyway he actually tried to attack me and then a tree branch fell on his head and he was all like 'Oough' and he fell to the ground even after I warned him I mean can you believe it? seriously how dumb can a pony get?" Pinkie Pie told her reasons of appearance to Forest once again in fast forward, but he did not find it strange, he understood her from start to finish.

"So you made this super candy bar thing that-" Forest was interrupted by a loud hey from one of the guards.

"Did you forget about us already? Come on, get your spear ready, lets give 'em both the descending steel slash," the guard uttered to his companion.

"Right, pink ones mine..." the other guard added.

The guards teleported out of sight, leaving the Salamander behind, Forest and Pinkie Pie looked around and found that the guards were no where in sight.

"Now your just being predictable..." Forest said to himself as he looked up and found the two guards were falling to them at high speed from the sky, an aura of brownish-red surrounded them and the spears they were pointing to both Forest and Pinkie Pie.

"Hold on to me tightly, Sweetie Pie, I have to time this just right," Pinkie Pie got down from his back and stood on her hind legs as he did, they hugged each other tightly, Forest looked up and waited until they guards were close enough.

"Force..." Forest's horn began to give a strange transparent aura, the guards accelerated down to them as the aura they produced overtook their bodies, surrounding them with a deep red aura shaped like the head of a spear.

"Field..." a very faint white aura covered both Forest and Pinkamena, tiny pebbles bounced around their hooves, the descending guards were now only inches away from them.

"Blast!" with just a few millimetres to spare, the forcefield surrounded both Forest and Pinkie Pie, the forcefield is a quick technique, a temporary forceful shield that only lasts about two seconds but the auric spear fell into it much faster than that time span. The aura spear shattered as it paved itself into the surface of the forcefield, the guards continued landing at the same speed; BAM! directly into the forcefield, the guards soared through the air and landed on the ground just next to the Salamander.

The Salamander picked up the half dead guards with its tale and placed them on to the saddle, the beast emitted green glowing particles from its back that were soon absorbed by the guards, the Giant Salamander gave them the vitality it had absorbed from Forest. The guards regained consciousness.

"You ve gotta be kidding me..." Forest uttered as he fell to the floor, supporting himself with his front hooves, "I... used... to much power..."

"Forest!" Pinkie Pie went down to him, trying to support him as she placed his hoof over her shoulder.

"Pinkie..." Forest addressed her with a shaky huff, "you didn't test the candy bar yet, did you?"

"N- no..." she replied with a feeling of burden and realising her mistake, an untested magically enhanced energy bar that is meant to rehydrate and revitalise could have a dangerous side effect, but what chances did they have?

"It's okay," Forest comforted her with a smile, the kind that told her everything is going to be okay, the effect he has when he smiles. He lifted up his other hoof and gently took the candy bar from her. Forest bit into the plain white wrapper and tore it off revealing a bumpy chocolate coloured bar, without hesitation, he bit the bar and chewed it all up. "I'll stop at nothing to protect you, Pinkamena."

"Hu-" Forest placed his hooves against his stomach, a sharp pain had struck him and then quickly left, he could feel himself becoming energized again.

Pinkie Pie edged closer to him, "S- Sunset? are you-"

"This... candy... IS SO GOOD, BABY!", Forest yelled out in extreme excitement. Devouring the whole bar at once leads to ridiculous hyper activity, side effect acknowledged, "lightnin' dash!"

"Uh- oh..." the guards blurted in unison, Forest then dashed to them in the form of lightning, landing between them on the Salamander.

"Pow!" Forest annotated the sound effect as he gave an uppercut to one guard, "feel the love of the drop kick!" he exclaimed with great enthusiasm as he drop kicked the other guard off the Salamander, he then lightning dashed up to mid-air.

"Yeah, Forest! Woohooo! Show 'em how it's done!" Pinkie Pie cheered frantically.

"Prepare to be unified with the crazy bonds of chain lightning!" Forest's horn began to glow vividly with an aura of yellow electricity, "lemme give you an encore folks! Chain Lightning!" the yellow lighting struck the Salamander and the flow of electricity connected to the guards, Forest held the flow for the necessary length on to have them knocked out. As the he ended the flow ended, the guards and the Salamander fell to the ground unconscious.

"Holy smokes!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed as her jaw dropped with a grin. Forest rushed to her and picked her up, twirling her around as they cheered at their success, Pinkie Pie giggled uncontrollably as he threw her up into the air and caught her multiple times, he then held her with ease and had their lips connect for a long kiss of victory.

"Your the best Pinks! I mean did you see that? I was all like pow! And then the drop kick and they didn't even see it coming!" Forest started.

"Did I? I can never miss something that great! I mean did you see the looks on their faces when they saw you all pumped up like that? They were all like bluuuh, Hilarious!" Pinkie Pie complied with equally high enthusiasm. Forest is an excitable pony, so he does natural intend to get hyper. Forest and Pinkie Pie entertained each other that way.

x

The Hydra stood in the swamp water with Kanthon still on top of its left middle head, putting Kanthon at an advantage against the fire based stallion, Jokey Bizarre.

"Haha! Did you hear that? I told you my main man Forest would be al right!" Jokey exclaimed cheerfully as he pointed at Kanthon who remained silent.

"Did he say something about candy?" Boa mused.

"Eeyup." Big Macintosh complied, still fighting off the enemy troops with the royal guards of North Charlie.

Kanthon's anger was rising once more, "don't get your hopes up defenders... this battle isn't over just yet." The zebra began to shout commands in his mother tongue once more, The Hydra roared furiously in response, all heads staring at Jokey with green glowing eyes, the Overgrown Steel winged Crow gave a loud raging caw, additional steel spikes poked out of its back, round its neck around its wings.

Kanthon grinned malevolently, "Let's see how well you perform when the rage of the beast is unleashed."

Ability and Identity

Boa struggled to catch her breath as the Crow stood on top of and erupted piece of earth above her, some trees behind her have been sliced and severely cut up, she had dodged the crows combos of steel wing attacks.

'Its wings can cut down trees... what s up with this burst of power?' Boa mused as she entered another staring contest with the Crow.

Jokey breathed heavily as he backed away a small distance from the Hydra, still being controlled by Kanthon.

"Okay buddy, what's the deal here? I understand you having the time to tame that messed up crow over there, but you just got that Hydra of yours... how come it's so easy going with you?" Jokey began.

"Humph, so you haven't figured it out yet have you? Well, not like I expected more from you anyway," Kanthon replied with a smirk, "You see, because of the earth pony blood which runs through my veins, I have the ability to control earth based creatures... it's my own unique power. The grass on the ground would have been painted with your blood if I had had the time to tame this Hydra properly."

"Well if that s so true, how come you can control this Crow?" Boa questioned, recollecting some knowledge of wild creatures, "Overgrown Crows are considered mountain type creatures..."

Kanthon cocked an eyebrow with a slightly pleased smile, "a wise observation, yes, although mountains are large emerged pieces of earth, the category of creature type is quite strict to my abilities. Seeing as though you've failed to notice, there is no such thing as an Overgrown Steel Winged Crow, the steel counts as a ground type element, one of my companions has the ability to genetically fuse things into other beings. Through absorption. Basically, the steel acts as a ground type attribute for the Crow, granting me control over it."

x

"Did you hear that?" Pinkie Pie questioned openly while looking around, "sounded like a Hydra!" she added as she stood up straight placing her hooves close together in one spot.

"Oh right, the Hydra! Boa, Jokey, and Big Mac are still dukin' it out with that zebra dude," Forest complied as he turned around to face Pinkie Pie, "Okay!" he blurted as he stood on his hind legs and pointed his hoof to a border of trees, "let's set out to help them!"

Silence overthrew the terrain as the chirping of a cricket emphasized the emptiness of the situation.

"Ehh... which part of Froggy Bottom Bog are we in again, Pinkie?" Forest turned to Pinkie Pie in confusion with a cheesy grin.

"Beats me," she shrugged happily, "shouldn't you know how you got here yourself?"

"Wha- no, that thing swallowed me whole and brought me here, I had no idea where it was taking me," Forest pointed at the unconscious Giant Salamander.

"Oh! that's why you smell kinda funky!"

"Uh... yeah, hehe, anyway, how did you get here?"

"Well, I used the same path I did last time I was in Froggy Bottom Bog, but that was a while ago and so there was this fork in the road and I pretty much guessed which way to go and by pure luck, poof, we're here."

"Guessed they way? Pinkie, we're in the Everfree, you could have ended up near giant snakes!"

"As long as I've got my Pinkie sense we'll be fine, do I really have to tell you about the branch that fell on the guards head again?"

"That was... mainly his fault... whatever, we're here now! Ellllet's get a move on!" Forest beckoned with enthusiasm as he turned around facing the trees once more.

"Woohoo! Adventure mode engaged!" Pinkie Pie jumped on to Forest with three legs on his back and her right front leg pointing out to the trees, "cotton candy!"

"Orange sherbet!" Forest added.

"And together we are... the Sugar Dynamo!" they exclaimed in unison, and soon enough, galloped into to the forest to find their companions.

x

The enemy troops backed away as Big Macintosh stepped forward, the guards of North Charlie moved with him at his pace, both sides bruised and cut, but Big Macintosh had the least injuries. The odds have now been lowered leaving the four guards and Big Macintosh eleven more enemy troops to fight off.

The Hydra attempted to tail whip Jokey once more; Jokey jumped up and landed on the beasts tail, he quickly ran up its back jumped on to one of the Hydra's heads that tried to bite him off, it lifted him up bringing him close to Kanthon, Jokey leaped to the head which Kanthon occupied who stood up on his hind legs in reaction.

'If I can get him off the Hydra, then he won't be able to control it!' Jokey thought in a rush. The zebra and the unicorn placed their front hooves against each other trying to push one another of the Hydra, their eyes narrowed at each other, Jokey began to push harder making Kanthon shift to the edge of the Hydra's second middle head.

"You've really gotten on my nerves lately, but your luck ends here!" Kanthon stated, ending with a grunt as he dropped down on his back, causing Jokey to fall over. Kanthon kicked Jokey off with his hind legs and immediately got back up, the splash of the swamp water alerted the Hydra having it look down to find Jokey at the surface.

"And so the story ends! Die!" Kanthon exclaimed as the Hydra rose a leg above Jokey and stomped on him, submerging him into the swamp water, Boa screamed out his name in anguish. Jokey was pushed into a trench in the water where he grabbed a root to keep himself from floating upwards. The Hydra's foot blocked any escape.

Jokey's heartbeat raced, the moment where his life could have ended in an instant was avoided due to a hole within the bottom of the swamp water. Pure luck.

'This is bad,' Jokey thought as he began to feel a blockage pain his ears due to the pressurised water particles around him, 'if I stay in too long I'm gonna run out of air... If I try to climb out, the Hydra will feel it and will most probably try to squash me again...' Jokey was running out of breath, he could feel his lungs and his throat contracting as a drowning sensation rose up, 'not much time left... I'm gonna have to use that.'

Kanthon grinned with the taste of victory, "Perhaps if he hadn't been so full of himself he would not have died a foal."

Boa's anger shot up, "don't you dare... take us lightly... you bastard!"

"Your still alive?" Kanthon uttered to himself, he calmly spoke in his mother tounge, without even shedding a glimpse to Boa, "finish her off."

The Overgrown Crow then flew to Boa at amazing speed once more, she erupted another earthy cylinder beneath her, propelling her upwards at an alarming rate, the Crow saw past this trick and flew upwards as it got close to the erupted piece of land, but only to be deceived once more. Boa looked down past the edge to see how close the Crow was, and by the time it got to the required distance, she jumped off which left the Crow to be between her and the emerged piece of land.

"Take this!" Boa exclaimed as she then gave a brave shout while kicking the centre of the Crow's head with her hind legs with all her strength.

The Crow stopped dead in its tracks in mid-air, its eyes went clear white from shock and began falling to the ground, Boa held on to the steel spikes around its neck with her front hooves and lied down against the Crows back to make a safe landing.

Kanthon took notice to Boa as she got off the unconscious giant bird, "So you've managed to handle the Steel Winged Crow, but look at you, your a mess... give up now and I'll spare your life, unless you want to end up like-"

The swamp water began to bubble and boil frantically, steam quickly gushed out of the bursting bubbles, the Hydra whimpered and roared in pain as it struggled to climb out of the swamp water, Kanthon had almost lost balance and fallen off, but as the Hydra stood on solid ground once more he maintained balance. The skin around the Hydra's legs was badly burned with a nasty crimson colour, Jokey soon crawled out of the swamp water on the other side next to Boa; Jokey went out with his entire body resembling red-hot metal, he was glowing radiantly with heat, the grass around his hooves slowly changed from light green to deep brown and then burned away. The glow of Jokey's new aura slowly began to dim, and soon enough, reverted back to his normal form.

Kanthon looked down at the two in anger, 'you little foals... looks like I've underestimated you, unicorn...'

"Jokey, thank Celestia your okay..." Boa began.

Jokey coughed as Boa and himself made eye contact, "Uh... y- yeah, I am..." he uttered. They exchanged smiles as the looked into each others eyes, Jokey quickly looked away as he began to blush, "You handled the crow... knew you could do it."

"Y- yeah, th- thanks..." she replied, her smile fading away as both their expressions changed to fit the situation.

Boa and Jokey eyed Kanthon as he stood on top of the Hydra. Jokey and Kanthon once again giving each other hateful looks.

"What's with the long face olives eyes... the fun has just begun, your quick to underestimate your opponents aren't you?" Jokey stated.

Kanthon grunted silently, "looks like you've got some fight in you after all."

The tension broke as a hologram formed in the air space next to Kanthon; the unknown unicorn Surgio, wearing a black full body suit stood proudly, the same red symbol on the side as Kanthon had.

Big Macintosh and the troops from both sides immediately halted combat as soon as he appeared, everypony now turned their attention to Surgio.

"Leader?" Kanthon started, "what's the problem?"

"It is time to end the scavenge party. I need you to take what you have and return to the main base, we have gathered what we need so far."

Kanthon nodded, "Very well."

"Here we come!" a light pitched and slightly squeaky voice exclaimed from over the trees, Pinkie Pie and Forest jumped back to the ring of action.

"Sorry we're late guys! We-" Forest looked up as he took notice to the hologram which stood near Kanthon, "you..."

Surgio gave a grin as he made eye contact with Forest, "Forest... we meet again... tell me, how was your training so far?"

"Wha?" Forest muttered under his breath in surprise.

"How many things have you learned now?" Surgio continued.

Forest's narrowed his eyes at the unicorn, taking notice to the scar on his right eye, "maybe I'll show you when your actually in front of me next time," he replied in all seriousness.

"Hah, soon young Thundertred... soon." The hologram transmission ended.

Kanthon pulled out a blue orb similar to the one Sargent Razorsharp used to teleport away, it began to glow vividly, linking to all his troops, the Overgrown Steel Winged Crow and even the Giant Cloaking Salamander all the way in the outskirts.

"Hey, you.. zebra," Jokey said, grabbing Kanthon's attention, "my name is Jokey Bizarre... the second defender of Ponyville."

"Why are you telling me your name, Jokey?" Kanthon replied malevolently.

"Well, I got a feeling you and I are gonna be meeting again soon... and you should at least know the name of the one that defeats you."

Kanthon grinned at Jokey's remark, "my name is Kanthon, Kanthon Cave. I look forward to crushing you to dust."

Jokey smiled confidently, his eyebrows lowered at the zebra, "the stage light won't be shinnin' on ya buddy."

"We shall see about that Jokey, we shall see about that." And with that, the orb zapped its blue magical particles to all of Kanthon's troops, the Hydra, and his creatures, teleporting them all out of sight and leaving the fighters of Ponyville behind.

They all went silent, no sound but the flow of the wind against the leaves of the trees and the swift compilation of insects chirping.

"Hey guys! I found her! And the rest of 'em to." A familiar voice from above stated, grabbing the attention of all guards, Big Macintosh and the three defenders. Rainbow Dash flew down from the sky as Arrow soon followed her lead, Applejack soon joined them as she arrived through the dirt pathway.

Applejack hugged her brother after the relief of seeing him in one piece, "Ya' look like a bruised apple, Macintosh."

"I'll shake it off," Big Macintosh replied, giving her a smile.

"You all look like bruised apples if you ask me!" Rainbow Dash started, then glared at Pinkie Pie, "do you have any idea, just the slightest hint of what you've done?"

"She saved my life," Forest answered Rainbow's rhetorical question, Pinkie Pie smiled widely and bopped her eyebrows at Rainbow Dash.

"Well, didn't I say I could help?" Pinkie Pie added.

"How did she save your life?" Rainbow Dash asked Forest in a tone of annoyance, ignoring Pinkie Pie.

Forest looked over at the Pink mare as they held hooves, "That candy bar..." he intoned.

Rainbow Dash lowered her eyelids in annoyance once again, "Whatever! Twilight's better at talking sense into you guys than I am, I'll let her handle this when we get back."

"Well at least we're all safe... we managed to hold back the enemy, they retreated via teleportation... with an orb of some sort," Boa added openly.

"So they have used the same technique?" Arrow questioned, remembering his short battle with Razorsharp, "the enemy I had fought had done the very same thing, I have managed to save Rarity and Sweetie Belle to."

"Haha! I knew you could do it!" Forest exclaimed happily as he placed his hoof around Arrow, giving him a friendly nudge.

"Well, we got names now," Jokey remarked, "turns out that zebra guy is half earth pony, his name is Kanthon Cave and he can control land creatures..."

"I also have a name, the stallion I fought was a unicorn, he seemed quite amused by sharp objects and happens to be a Sargent... his name is Razorsharp." Arrow complied.

"That unicorn with the scar on his right eye, he seems to be the leader... that's how Kanthon addressed him anyway." Boa added.

"You mean the one who knows me?" Forest asked Boa who nodded him to certify her comment.

"Oh yeah," Jokey recalled another fact, "It looks like they're called The Metamor Legion..."

"Eeyup," Big Macintosh added.

"Metamor Legion?" Forest pondered upon the title, he turned to his squad North Charlie, "are any of you familiar with this name? Have you heard anything of it while you were in Canterlot?"

The guards shook their heads, some shrugged, "no sir."

"Well, we best be headin' back to town," Applejack stated.

"Fluttershy!" Big Macintosh exclaimed, he galloped away back to Ponyville not bothering to move with the others, his lover was worried sick and he needs to let her know he's okay.

"Don't you just run off like that, Big Macintosh!" Applejack followed him immediately after he left the area, giving everypony else no choice but to do the same.

Gathering The Required

"Lock it up in the lower hydro cell, get some healer to treat it's injuries and turn on the water pump for it! And feed it so the thing survives! I want it in proper condition for training." Kanthon commanded his troops as the rallied around the Hydra, guiding it to its cell in the lower areas of the base.

The base was another underground hideout in an area quite unknown; the concrete walls were a colour of dark grey, the zebra was in the expansive zone of the base where many troops were organising themselves, moving to different segments of the base for training.

Kanthon made his way to the end of the room, he walked up a short stairway leading to a wide room with a large circular table in the middle where paperwork and planning sheets lied down scattered, a large map of Equestria was hung at the end of the room. Each corner had torch lights which kept them room well lit. The zebra pulled out one of the chairs which were pushed under the table and sat down, calmly waiting for his companions to arrive.

'He calls us all in for an urgent meeting and I'm the first in the room... that's just like you, Surgio.' Kanthon thought, slightly annoyed, and with the timing of his thoughts, Surgio had entered the room with Razorsharp.

"Excellent work with the Hydra, Kanthon," Surgio began as Razorsharp and himself took their seats, "have you managed to capture any others?"

"No, due to my little event at Froggy Bottom Bog, my run in with the so called Defenders had me at lag time... they managed to defeat the crow and the salamander... but I have them fully healed and hardened for next time."

"Defenders you say?" Razorsharp remarked, "I believe I faced the pegasus of the group... his name is Arrow, and he is indeed an interesting one."

"I exchanged names with the other unicorn, he is known as Jokey... Jokey Bizarre."

"Is it really a good idea to be exchanging names so soon?" A voice questioned from across the room, a mare with eyes of brilliant amber, a mane and tail having the colours of both brownish-gold and light amber and a coat of a brilliant crimson took her seat, wearing the same full black suit as the Kanthon, Razorsharp and Surgio, "I thought we were meant to be a secret to society." She continued.

"No worries, Phoenix Blossom," Surgio complied, "we are a secret organisation with an outstanding force which nopony knows anything about, giving our enemies our names will do no harm whatsoever."

The pegasus rested the side of her chin against her hoof as she fiddled with a compass on the table with her other hoof, "Sorry I'm late, but Kanthon's squad needed some more toughening up to do."

Kanthon shot an angered look to Phoenix, "meaning?"

"They seemed a little out of tune today, I simply gave the a bit of a fiery course to go through."

"Dammit, Phoenix, your supposed to give them better guidance not burn them to a crisp!"

"Don't get you mane all tangled up, they just have a few third degree burns, nothing our healers can't handle."

"Third degree?" Kanthon replied in outrage, "are you insane! You could have killed them!"

"Well, they aren t dead now, are they?" Razorsharp added, "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger."

Kanthon glared at the unicorn, "shut your mouth Razorsharp, you wouldn't be so easy going if she had done that to your personal squad."

"As If I would care," Razorsharp added, "the foals could use some buffing up anyway, nothing wrong with making them sharper combatants." Razorsharp glanced over at the mare and gave her a wink. She narrowed her eyes at him and gave him quite a suggestive grin. Kanthon began to argue with the two of them.

Surgio banged his hoof against the table, "Silence! Phoenix Blossom, I understand your concerns as commander of squadrons but I will not tolerate any unnecessary actions, am I clear?"

"Crystal..." she replied O so casually almost as if she didn't care, but still a little intimidated by Surgio.

"Good, and now that I have all of your attention, we shall proceed to the relevant matters," Surgio pulled out a scroll from his satchel and rolled it out across the table, "Razorsharp has two spies working undercover in the Great North Keep which is located over the outskirts of Mount Dragonshy, it is guarded by both royal guards of Celestia and Luna, what you see before you are the specs and designs of the entire battlefront."

"And what is it that is so important there?" Kanthon asked openly.

"Allow me, Surgio," Razorsharp took lead of the conference, "you see, this keep holds a gem deep within it, it pre dates back to when Princess Celestia and Princess Luna had just begun their rule over Equestria... It is known as the Gem of Almighty Defence."

"Precisely," Surgio remarked "The two immortal sister found out that the gem had the ability to provide an unbreakable shielding barricade as noted in our modern history books-"

"The books have explained that the gem was destroyed many years ago," Phoenix interrupted Surgio only to have him explain further.

"Which is what Celestia has written only to keep it a secret from ponies like us, the spies have informed us of the gems location within the keep, it is intact and functioning very well," Surgio complied.

Kanthon laughed silently and darkly, "It is also said that the four main Keeps are recognised as nothing but borders around Equestria, what a clever cover up."

Surgio took lead once more, "the spy in Ponyville has informed us of the progression of the Defenders... it seems they are advancing in their skills quite well."

"Remind me why we are letting them do so again?" Razorsharp commented with a huff.

"Kanthon, do you remember that mark around Forest's horn?"

Kanthon nodded to Surgio in response.

Surgio continued, "long before when we had formed this region, when Coltenhagen was still a standing city, the book of Thundertred family magic was still in my possession. It was noted that a Thundertred born with this marking is indicated as a direct descendant, Forest is the first to ever be born with it. The god alicorn Electro himself chooses when to grant this blessing and has finally chosen to start it with Forest's generation. Now the book holds many secrets which can only be revealed to the Thundertred bloodline, I'm assuming he hasn't unlocked the secret pages yet."

"Ah, you told me about this before..." Kanthon stated, "according to the book, Forest will be able to cast spells that only the descendant will be able to cast, going on to the more advanced weather control and whatnot."

"Exactly, and the more Forest and his friends train, the greater the outcome will be when I absorp his power and retrieve the book... then I will be able to cast all the spells, reveal all the secrets and share this power with the three of you."

"Hold on a second," Phoenix Blossom stood on her hind legs pushing her chair back in realisation, "Your related to Forest aren't you?"

Surgio nodded with a grin, Phoenix threw her head back and began to laugh, "this is golden! Such suspense!"

"How close is the blood bond between the two of you?" Razorsharp asked excitedly.

"Close enough," Kanthon added, Razorsharp then joined Phoenix in laughter.

"Did I miss out on a funny joke?" Surgio blurted slightly annoyed, Razorsharp and Phoenix halted their laughter.

"No, no... the plan is perfect!" Razorsharp replied, still excited, "what's next, leader?"

"We are going to attack the North Keep as of right now," Surgio announced as he banged his hoof against the table in excitement, "Kanthon, use the dragons for this, Razorsharp and Phoenix, your both going to help Kanthon with this attack and retrieve the Gem of Almighty Defence. I want everything to go by as quickly and as swiftly as possible."

"Yes sir!" Kanthon and Phoenix replied in unison and left the room to gather up the troops for the attack. Razorsharp remained in the room alone with Surgio.

"Is there a problem, Sargent?" Surgio began.

"You mentioned something about Discord... I've recalled to this discussion we had a while ago..."

Surgio chuckled malevolently, "yes... it will require much more planning since the the statue has been locked up deep with the castle of Canterlot and under the highest rate of security... the presence of Celestia makes it a whole lot more dangerous for us as well... but that s why we have two undercover spies there."

Razorsharp's eyes widened in surprise, "What? Since when?"

"Since the beginning... I had them register as royal guards immediately as the legion was put together... Celestia won't expect a thing."

Razorsharp grinned nefariously, "Surgio Thundertred... you truly are a genius."

"Why, thank you, my indomitable comrade," Surgio replied as he turned to him, "now I assume you have the exact whereabouts marked on the map in order to carry on this attack?"

"Indeed I do," Razorsharp levitated the map of the keep to him, "allow me to pin point their location..."

x

"At first I didn't know if we were ready, but now I got myself thinkin' twice," Applejack stated as she walked around in front of Princess Luna anxiously, "I'm agreein' with Rainbow Dash on this one... we need our elements again."

"Exactly, I mean we fought Discord! The god of Chaos! I'm sure if we each get our elements we'll be able to sort this whole mess out in jiffy, right Fluttershy?" Rainbow Dash began.

Fluttershy's eyes widened as she looked away from the others, "Oh um, well... I mean... I'm not r-really one to say-"

"Enough," Luna stated, startling Fluttershy in the process, "dare not precieve that the Elements of Harmony are of innocuous significance, and to be utilized for such weak conviction!"

Applejack obtusely stared at Luna, "Say what now?"

"But the bad guys controlled an Ursa Major!" Rainbow Dash added.

"And they just took a Hydra from Froggy Bottom Bog!" Applejack complied, now getting the picture.

Luna maintained her point to the matter, "I hath heard it all from Ponyvillle's Defenders, thine thoughts are understood, but thy proper extent hath not been reached, dost thou not understand?"

The defenders huddled in a group behind Luna and the others gathering and sharing their thoughts on the situation.

"Should we encourage the idea?" Boa started.

"It is not necessary to jump to conclusions, perhaps we should wait and see if any other events will show us otherwise," Arrow added.

"Well it is gonna make the job a whole lot easier if ya ask me," Jokey complied as he nudged Forest.

"I dunno you guys... I'm not up for the whole idea of putting our friends in danger..." Forest said.

Arrow nodded at his remark, "I agree, I do not wish to see our friends in the grasp of injury once more..."

But what was really on Arrow's mind was that Rarity had just gotten out of the hospital along with her sister Sweetiebelle, of course he would be totally against the idea of having her in the battlefield. Forest's mind was mainly set on Pinkie Pie, not only would friends be in harms way but his lover to. Something he would not tolerate at all.

From a distance, a royal pegasus guard of Luna's affiliation came flying down, looking very pale and exhausted.

"Your majesty!" the guard called out as he brought himself to a hard landing near Luna, he knelled in her presence before continuing, "Princess Luna, I have come from the Great North Keep... a- a disaster has just occurred... dragons everywhere, left and right... we- we-"

"Calm thyself down," Luna uttered slightly worried as she placed her hoof on the guards back, "now what happened in the keep?"

"Your highness... the keep was attacked by an unknown group, they were controlling dragons, they wiped out the keep in a matter of minutes... and they took the gem... and... I am the only survivor and I've already sent a letter to the squads located here in Ponyville."

'The gem has been stolen?' Luna thought in shock.

Forest overheard the the conversation and immediately jumped in, "Your the only one left? then that means..."

A guard from a small distance away from the lot was trying his best to calm down a mare earth pony residential of Ponyville who was with her child, a little colt.

"What do you mean? My husband left to that keep just yesterday!" The mare exclaimed in woe and shock.

"I'm sorry madam, " the guard replied, "according to the information we have received, it was all too sudden... this is hard for me to tell you, but I'm afraid your husband has fallen protecting the keep..."

The mare placed her hoof in front of her mouth and began tearing, "no... no that can't be, you told me it was just a recruitment session..."

The guard looked down feeling burdened and guilty, "It was but... we didn't expect-"

"Mommy?" The colt interrupted the guard as he looked up at his mother, who was holding his hoof as she sat on the floor, "what's going on? Is daddy coming back?"

The mare hugged her child and began to cry, "everything is going to be okay sweet heart... everything is..." she began to sob deeply, the colt now very worried asked his mother if he would ever see his father again, she just apologized and continued crying, it was not long that the little colt understood the situation and joined his mother in emotional agony.

Forest began to clench his teeth at the sight, his anger rising slowly, Jokey took notice to his expression.

"Hey Forest, buddy... calm down now..." Jokey uttered, but Forest shunned his words as he was reminded of the past. The feeling he had when his parents were lying dead before him, he recalled the pain, the loss, the loneliness... the rage.

Forest was shaking violently until he could not bare the feeling any more and glared angrily at Luna, "this is their idea of protection? What the hay is going on here!"

Boa edged closer to her team mate, "N- now Forest, just calm down for a sec and-"

"NO!" Forest disclosed, alerting everypony in Ponyville's centre, "We... were made the defenders for a reason... to prevent things like this from happening, you think I can just calm down knowing that ponies are losing their loved ones? Just how many families do you think were severed today? Huh! This is not something that we should take lightly whatsoever!"

"Forest Thundertred!" Luna exclaimed, "that is enough! Many are already in sorrow, don't make the situation bigger than it already is!"

Forest looked down as he grunted in anger and stomped his hoof against the floor.

"We understand where you are coming from Forest," Arrow added, trying to comfort his comrade.

"Do you?" Forest replied with an attitude as he sat down.

"Yeah, we do!" Boa stated, "look, we can't be there for everypony... but maybe if we had the others..."

"That's where we come in." Rainbow Dash turned to Luna.

"I think our points been proven here, yer majesty..." Applejack added.

Luna looked down and gave thought to all her surroundings, 'the North Keep... the most strongest and most fortified stronghold... destroyed in a matter of minutes...'

After a few seconds of silence, Luna came to her decision, "Gather the other wielders of the elements... we shall traverse in to Caterlot to seek an audience with my sister."

Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy and Applejack went to fetch Twilight Sparkle, Rarity and Pinkie Pie, and soon enough met up with Luna in Ponyville's centre where the entire matter was explained. The mares had all agreed with no question that they must go forth to wield their elements once again. It was only Fluttershy who was unsure of fighting, for one who is so devoted to the well being and good health of other creatures would it be so blasphemes to harm any living creature in her nature, Big Macintosh had accompanied her through out this whole process, trying his best to keep her at ease and comforted.

Advancing Our Strategies

"So... how are you all gonna get to Canterlot?" Forest asked the mares, whilst hiding the unrelenting worry in his mind.

"Teleportation," Luna answered the stallion, detecting his growth of doubt, "quick, easy and safe."

"Right, right, of course... teleportation."

Pinkie Pie could read his emotions as he walked around and placed his hoof under his lip while the others were performing last minute check ups with each other, Rarity had thanked Arrow once again for his efforts in saving her and told him Sweetiebelle joined Scootaloo and Applebloom for the day once she had been fully healed. They spoke silently to each other, eyeing each other and exchanging frequent smiles. Big Macintosh and Fluttershy were hugging each other for a stretched amount of time, their concerns for each other still had them a bit shaken from the experience at Froggy Bottom Bog, but relieved nonetheless as they were together once again.

"Hey." Pinkie Pie began as approached Forest.

"H-hey... hi... everything al right?" he responded semi-anxiously.

"I was just about to ask you the same thing, you look worried."

"Yeah well, I'm thinking a lot right now... that colt... his father died at the Keep."

"Y- yeah... I heard..."

"It reminded me of the past so much, the look on his face... on his mother's face... their tears... I swore I'd try my best to never let that happen to anypony... no one deserves to go through that pain... looks like I'm failing alrea-" Forest halted his response as he felt the soft connection of Pinkie Pie's lips on to his cheek.

"You've never failed, Forest... you didn't know it was going to happen, nopony did... And besides!" her tone changed to being cheery, "we're gonna get our elements back! Isn't that great? So next time we can show those meanies they can't hurt nopony any more!"

"That's the other thing I'm worried about, Pinkie... you're going to be fighting on the front line, how do you think I feel about that?" he calmly continued.

"Don't worry, silly! Remember how my friends and I took care of Discord and Nightmare Moon?"

"Yes, I remember what you told me... but they both greatly underestimated you guys. These ponies, The Metamor Legion, have dragons and ursas and apparently an entire army!" he replied while waving his hooves in a circular motion, "they are planning their steps every bit of the way and they won't underestimate anypony."

"Here he is, Captain Thundertred!" a rough voice called out, Forest and the whole group had turned around to meet the wielder of the voice, two royal guards from Forest's squad, a unicorn and a pegasus were dragging a soldier from the Metamor Legion.

"He was the spy that had the guts to come back thinking we wouldn't have noticed," The other guard added as they threw the soldier to the ground, pointing their blades at him to restrain him from movement.

"Well you seriously made a bad decision," Forest began as he walked up the the bound spy, immediately holding anger against him as he knew the spy was part of the chaos which took place at the Great North Keep, but not showing it through emotions.

"We found this as well," the royal guards tossed a backpack to the ground which its contents came rolling out, a few letters and writing material.

"So that's how they got a hold of Rarity... They had information on us all along!" Twilight Sparkle complied, "but how did you find out he was the spy?"

The unicorn guard stepped forth to answer Twilight's question, "as all the squads regrouped we found that there was one more guard than there used to be, and of course recalling to our previous events, we held this enemy down and I used a magic reveal spell to remove his disguise... the unicorn that cast the disguise spell on him had forgotten to focus the spell at one point of his body, and so the reveal spell could easily be used to remove the magical alterations."

'Wait a minute,' Forest's expression went to one of shock as he began to ponder, 'the magic reveal spell needs to be used at the concentration point! Then that must mean that Electro chose to alter the book with one great concentration point and not all over the thing! Looks like I'm on to something.'

"Alert all the bases and keeps and have them search for spies! This one is coming with us." Princess Luna commanded the guards as she pointed at the spy.

Jokey levitated one of the notes that fell out of the bag and brought it to him, he rushed the letter open and quickly read through the note, he noticed Boa trying to read the note and quickly shared the glimpse with her.

"This is..." Jokey eyes widened to what he had just read.

"They are planning to attack the South Keep as well!" Boa exclaimed, causing everypony to break into discussion, ceasing notice to the spy and a vermilion orb which had just rolled out of the backpack, the spy broke out of the guards grasp and jumped on to the orb.

"The Metamor Legion will not fall!" The spy exclaimed with pride, the orb began to glow a heavy vermilion colour, and soon enough, the spy burst into vermilion flames, he tried to dive on to the bag in order to destroy all the other letters, but Forest had reacted at the speed of light, grabbed the bag and used a force wave to aggressively throw back the spy, leaving him to burn to ashes. Very soon after, there was nothing left of the spy but ashes and a black mark on the ground.

"Woah," Jokey uttered, "looks like he always wanted to go out in a bang, ey?"

"Jokey!" Boa hissed to him.

"I'm just saying..."

"Sweet Celestia!" Rarity stated in horror, "he just killed himself and didn't stop to think twice!"

"So it seems that even those of the dark path will have a sense of honour," Arrow added undoubtedly, "but the real question is that is it all worth dying for when walking such a path?"

Fluttershy held her chest with her front hooves, terrified with what she had just witnessed, "O- oh my... that is just... horrible..."

"E- eeyup." Big Mactintosh added with hesitation.

Forest who just stood there almost lifelessly, went into another phase of profound thought as everypony else broke into worried discussion. 'This stallion, the leader of the Metamor Legion... if he's managed to train his soldiers to be this proud then he's most probably a charismatic guy... so now there s no doubt if he has the ability to influence an army... but why, why am I beginning to think I've seen him before... there's something about his mane... the colour resembles dad's but his coat is different... and those eyes have been consumed with evil... worst part is that he knows about the book, I mean is it possible that we're both related?'

Rainbow Dash took notice to Forest's statue like act. She stood in front of him waving her hooves in front of his face, he didn't even take notice to the faces she was pulling at him, faces almost similar to the time when she had tried to get one of Celestia's royal guards to laugh at the time Fluttershy had taken Philomeena for care, what a surprise it came to be when Philomeena turned out to be a Phoenix.

"Hey! Earth to Forest!" Rainbow Dash shook him frantically trying to get his attention, Pinkie Pie fell over in laughter as reaction to Rainbow Dash's efforts, "Oh your good," Rainbow added, she then flew up to a cloud as she came across an idea, she dug her hoof into the surface of the cloud and pulled out a snow ball.

Rainbow Dash then flew down and landed two meters in front of Forest, she took aim at the deep orange stallion, "she shoots... and," Rainbow tossed the snow ball at Forest, upon impact, bringing him back to reality. "She scores!"

Forest spat out snow which got into his mouth and began rubbing his face, "What did you do that for, Rainbow?"

Rainbow Dash plainly pointed to Princess Luna behind him, Forest turned around to her to find her staring at him with a cocked eyebrow, it seemed as though she had called his name multiple times and that the group had closed the discussion, ready for the next step.

"The bag, if you please." Luna directed as she pointed at the backpack.

"Oh, right... here you go." Forest magically levitated the backpack to Luna, who then used her magic to levitate it from him as it got close to her, not even stopping to ask why, although he would have known if he didn't phase out as he did, Luna is going to review the plans with them and discuss what had happened to the North Keep with her sister, Princess Celestia. Now they were all good to go.

"We shall be back with the next few minutes or so, whatever time this meeting needs will be necessary," Luna stated, the defenders affirmed a nod to her, and so, Luna began to focus her magic; magical particles began to surround Luna, Twilight, Fluttershy, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie and Rarity. The magic had formed a large dark blue swirling aura, and finally, they left Ponyville through the process of teleportation.

x

Princess Celestia bit her lower lip as she read through a letter she had recently received in her personal room within the Castle of Canterlot.

'Sighting of dragons flying over Oatland? Then that means they would gone past Coltenhagen... could this be?'

A moderately alerting knock on the door drove Celestia away from her thoughts. She quickly stood up and put the letter away on a study desk.

"You may enter," Celestia stated unhesitatingly.

A royal guard opened the door to a slit wide enough for him to just poke his head inside the room, "pardon me, your highness, but your sister Princess Luna and the Elements of Harmony are here to see you."

"Oh, well by all means," Celestia replied, affirming a grin to the guard.

The guard replied with a nod as he opened the door and stood back, allowing Luna and the others to enter.

Celestia welcomed them with a warm smile, "My beloved sister, my faithful student and her loyal friends, what a pleasant surprise to see all of you here."

Twilight Sparkle and her friends bowed down as Celestia greeted them and caught up with Luna as she continued walking up to Celestia.

Celestia's smile faded as she read their expression, "You are all being awfully silent... is something wrong?"

"Princess Celestia," Twilight began in polite student manner before Luna could utter any word, "usually I'd write to you if there are any problems but this is a major one and we all need to be here,as you may know-"

Rainbow Dash interrupted Twilight, "things got really crazy so we need our elements!"

"B- but only if you want to give them to us... it really is your choice if we receive them or not," Fluttershy added.

"But it's super duper important that we do!" Pinkie Pie added.

Rarity then complied, "Although we may get ourselves into unmannerly business, we are in dire times-"

"So we need 'um as soon as possible," Applejack blurted.

"Not that we're demanding or anything," Fluttershy stated timidly, "it's, um, entirely up to y- you of course..."

The main six all began to speak at once, seemingly arguing instead of explaining, Luna gazed upon them with widened eyes and unsure when to cut in to bring back proper control.

"Girls, girls, please, one at a time," Celestia began, bringing them all to complete halt, "your message is quite vague at the moment."

"Sister, please," Luna took over for the explanation, "allow me to inform you of what has happened."

Princess Luna gave Princess Celestia every bit of detail of what had happened at Froggy Bottom Bog as reported to her by the defenders and what had happened to the Great North Keep, each of the main six calmly adding their own findings to the matter as well, keeping everything brief and manageable.

Celestia began to show proper understanding, "I seem but there is a risk. You are not all one hundred percent familiar with how the elements work and-"

Luna had interrupted Celestia, "Sister, training sessions can be arranged for them... also, we have already lost the north keep... all of our guards there were killed, there hath been but only one survivor."

Celestia, being shocked with this news, was then informed by Luna that there are possibly spies in each keep, the spies being the reason that the enemy were able to penetrate into the north keep to start off with. Being left with little options, Celestia agreed to lending the Elements of Harmony to them.

"Follow me," Celestia stated as she left her room, the others following her, she led them down to her personal archives where she hid the elements for greater safe keeping, as they walked into the archives, Twilight noticed another room far across the hallway which was heavily guarded by a large bolted metal door, a symbol of a yellow gem was placed above the door, something about it which seemed familiar. It was where the statue of Discord was locked up.

"I am going to fully entrust the elements to your care, do your best to perfect all the tricks and skills as quickly and as sufficiently as possible," Celestia levitated the elements out of a wall, an illusionary part of a wall which was simply used to trick anypony who was not supposed to be in the personal archives, for the soul purpose of hiding the elements successfully. Celestia also gave each of the main six a book which holds very detailed information on their elements, such as spells that can be casted with them and how to precisely link to them.

As they wore their elements, the affirmed a "Yes, your highness!" and bowed to both Celestia and Luna.

Pinkie Pie jumped out excitedly, startling Fluttershy in the process, "Okey dokey lokey! You can count on us!" She added as she then began to state their titles, "Magic, Generosity, Loyalty, Kindness, Honesty and Laughter! Together we are, The Harmony Heroins!"

Rainbow Dash cocked an eyebrow at her, "Pinkie Pie... you are so random... but I'm diggin' that name!"

Twilight Sparkle quickly flipped through the pages of her book, "Al-right you guys, no more fooling around, we better head back to Ponyville, thank you so much for taking you time with us, Princess Celestia, and thank you, Princess Luna for aiding us so far."

"That's right, we're all mighty thankful fer what ya'll been doin' fer us lately," Applejack complied, and with the others agreeing completely, Luna then takes them back to Ponyville, as there is still business to attend to.

Information From Beyond

"Secrets of the book" Two voices kept stating repeatedly, their voices getting louder and echoing longer each time within the dream world of Forest.

Forest could not move as he was in his sleep, the vision is his dream was nothing but darkness, a state of an empty dream.

"For goodness sake! Secrets of the book! How hard could it be?" The voice of a mare burst out in anger.

"Calm yourself, Volta!" Another voice replied to her, this time of a stallion.

"Calm myself? Ampero, this has got to be the one fiftieth time or so that we tried talking to this let down of a Thundertred."

"There's no need to be foul towards the boy, he's the Direct Descendant."

"He's an adult and still hasn't cracked the secrets." Volta stated, calming down.

"Well, you know of his past, plus, the spirit and living world communication spell is extremely difficult to perform... perhaps he can't hear us well enough because we might have done something wrong." Ampero uttered as he drifted off in thought.

Forest suddenly felt the ability of freedom within his dream, 'hold on,' he thought, 'all of a sudden this feels normal, am I still dreaming?'

"Well," Volta began, "I doubt it has anything to do with us, you and I were both noted down as successors in the book... maybe Forest's magic potential is too weak to receive our-"

At that moment, Forest snapped. This mare who went by the name 'Volta' had pulled the last string as she let out her last insult.

"Hey!" Forest exclaimed, interrupting Volta, "Shut up! Don't go off calling me weak and a let down! Those who are full of themselves are the first to go down on the field!"

"What." Ampero, Volta, and Forest blurted one after the other.

"H- hello?" Forest uttered, waiting for a response, "hellooooo... echo! woop woop! Hey this is kinda fun!" Forest added, sounding cheerful, "All you have to do is take a cup of flower, add it to the mix!"

"Stop! Just stop it already!" Volta shouted out as Ampero chuckled heartily, "why are you laughing?" Volta continued, "we just finally made contact with him, we should be serious about this."

"I'm sorry but, Forest already seems like the delightful chap if you ask me," Ampero warmly added, "please excuse her Forest, Volta isn't like this at all."

"Umm.. It's okay... I guess?" Forest replied.

"Yes, I'm sorry about that, Forest. I just say things I don't mean when I get too frustrated." Volta said, sounding calm and collective this time.

"No, no, really, don't worry about it... but... who are you guys anyway?"

"Oh, please excuse us, I am Ampero Thundertred, Electro and Peach's first born and first successor of the Thundertred family."

"And I am Volta Thundertred, Once the general of the Equestrian army in the victorian era and the second successor of the Thundertred family."

"You're both... part of my family... but your time lines are... are you-"

"We're in the spirit world, we passed away long before your time to put things softly." Volta stated, finalising the formalities.

Forest felt a rise of joy, sympathy and deep concern all at once as the golden thought popped into his head, "My... my parents..." Forest began with slight hesitation, "are they there with you guys as well? Are my parents in the spirit world?"

"All of the deceased, All Thundertred's and those who have stepped into the family through the act of eternal love are here, so yes, they are here with us." Ampero responded holding back nothing from Forest. At that moment, he could feel his heartbeat rising quickly, he was filled with excitement of types positive and negative.

"May I... would it be okay if I can just talk to them?"

"Sorry, but that's a no," Volta replied almost immediately, "Ampero and myself are here to deliver a message to you and it is essential that we keep ourselves away from any distractions. This spell will only work once after a successful connection."

"Did Electro tell you to do so?" Forest asked, sounding quite serious this time.

"Well, well, well..." Ampero began, "smart lad. It seems like you know of our god creator."

"I don't see why it should be some sort of secret..."

Volta cleared her throat in an attempt to take lead, "It was never intended to be, you see, the book holds history of our family, once you have used the magic reveal spell to-"

"Now hold it right there soul sister," Forest stated in absolute sureness, "needless to say I've almost learned all the spells the book has to offer, and I've used the reveal spell countless times across every page and at the back of the book where the gem is-"

"Did you keep your hooves on the book after doing so?"

"Umm... n- no the gem took all my focus-"

"Well there you go, soul brother," Volta replied in sarcasm, "after using the magic reveal spell in the hole where the gem was, keep your hooves on the book, it will begin to stream a magical aura across your body. This is a magical scan to see weather or not the user who has cast the spell is a Thundertred."

"Indeed," Ampero added and took lead, "so if somepony who does not belong to the family steals the book and tries to reveal its secrets, it simply won't work. As the Direct Descendant, you get to do much more."

"Far out!" Forest exclaimed as excitement rose up within him once more, "But hold on a second, you've said that twice now... what does that mean?"

"You were never told?" Volta questioned in surprise, "I thought your parents would have told you about this before..."

"Well, they might have... I mean, I don't exactly remember very well... my memory's a bit scrambled..."

Silence took over the conversation for a few seconds as the three Thundertreds were trying to process what would be said next. Forest wanted to try and avoid side tracking the meaning of this connection but his thoughts were flooded with the image of his parents and the night of the war. Ampero and Volta were both very tempted to try and sympathize with him at this point. Sure their time lines stretched miles away from each other but they were family nonetheless.

"The spell is fading," Volta stated and thus finally ending the silence, "Forest, I hope you understand that this is the first and last time we can speak to you. Having this established, it is very vital we tell you everything you need to know-"

"It's no good, Volta," Ampero began, "We are already losing connection to him. Forest do you think you can handle the rest?"

"Hey, my ancestors were successors of the family, I'm sure I can manage." Forest said comfortingly and confidently.

"That's the spirit," Volta complied, "Forest, is there anything you would say before we leave?"

'Wow, these two are being surprisingly forward about all this,' "Yeah, go ahead and tell Electro it wouldn't hurt to leave a note or something..."

Ampero chuckled heartily once more, "Father has always been the type that enjoyed puzzles."

"Oh and... please... tell my parents that I miss them... and that I love them... oh, and that I'm sticking to the promise no matter what."

"Consider it done." Volta replied soothingly.

"Thank you... for this and for... well, everything..."

Soon enough, their voices echoed away and the darkness turned to white. Forest found himself wide awake, still in bed, still next to Pinkie Pie. He looked over at the alarm clock which read three-fifteen am. All this time his ancestors were trying to reach him for an event that seemed almost pointless. Having accumulated little but otherwise helpful information, Forest was now certain for his next step in unravelling the secrets the book had to offer him. As eager as he was to touch the damn thing, he let his patience dominate the moment. There will be plenty of time to find out what to do tomorrow, or pretty much today.

'The Direct Descendant, huh?' Forest thought to himself before going back to sleep, 'I wonder what Ampero meant by that... does it have anything to do with the mark around my horn? Aw man! This is so not cool! You can't just leave in the middle of something like that!'

With a huff, Forest ended his thoughts and went back to sleep.

x

"So we got a big day ahead of us!" Jokey said in a jumpy tone while walking with Boa and Arrow in the streets of Ponyville, "Lot's of teaching to do."

"I'm not sure if you really mean that," Boa replied casually, "I just hope you're serious about all this."

"Come on, Boa, I don't joke around about everything... well yeah I do, but hey, I know when to get cracking for real."

"I sure hope so, you seem to like to crack jokes in the middle of a battle. Not exactly sure how real you can get."

"Babe, you just wait and see. I'll be such a great trainer they'll be awarding a masters degree or something."

Boa growled at Jokey as she shot him a glare.

"What?" Jokey replied, "Al-right I'm sorry, jeeze, I won't call you babe."

"Why do you call me babe? Huh?" Boa asked in a slightly harsh tone.

"Well, you've got a nice flank, I'm not saying I check you out or anything... well, actually yeah I do!" Jokey laughed as he witnessed Boa's growing anger, she then slapped him across the face. "Hey, what was that for?"

"You are such a perv!" Boa looked away from him as she raised her chin, she was clearly upset with Jokey.

"Come on babe, it's a compliment. I'm saying you've got a great body, that's all," Jokey smiled devilishly as Boa made eye contact with him once more. She was just about ready to wipe the grin of his face until Arrow brought their attention to a regular sighting.

"It seems like Forest is on his roof again," The three stopped to look at the top of Forest's home as they passed by.

"Goooood morning Ponyvile!" Forest blurted loudly and proudly.

"It's the game show host voice! I love it when he does that." Jokey added with a small chuckle.

"That's right ponies! Forest Thundertred your public alarm clock, here to tell you the latest morning news! The news you ask? It's morning!"

"Oh brother... that must be annoying to the neighbours..." Boa uttered in slight disappointment.

Forest struck a strange pose, he stood on his hind legs bent down, his left front leg pointing upward as his other front leg pointing out to the town, "That's right, the birds are singing, the sky is blue, get all your true facts from yours truly!"

Berry Punch, who just so happened to live in the house across the street slammed her windows open, she glared at Forest with red morning eyes, "are you out of your mind?" she exclaimed in anger, "it's six fourty-five am! Some ponies are still trying to sleep! Who died and made you the public alarm clock anyway?"

"What? You mean you don't remember?" Forest replied maintaining his grin. To his advantage, Berry Punch was in the stage of a hangover.

"What are you talking about?"

"Oh yeah, that's right! You were drunk with the others yesterday so you don't remember."

"The- the others? What- I- I..." Berry Punch's expression changed to one of shock as her eyes widened, she immediately rushed back in closing the window which emitted a loud slam.

"Wait, Berry, I was only kidding! Oh, man, I'll have to apologize to her later," Forest chuckled feeling a little embarrassed with his actions. He looked down at the other three defenders, his smile returned and leaped off the roof performing a double front flip and rolled as he landed on the ground. "Al-right friendo's," He continued as he placed his hooves around them, "I'm not sure about you guys but I am pumped for today!"

"You're always pumped," said Jokey, his friendly smile unchanged.

"Hi!" Pinkie Pie blurted popping out from behind them out of nowhere.

"You're both still up to your shenanigans I see." Said Boa casually, her expectations being accurate.

"Shall we?" Arrow began, "I am sure that the others are probably waiting for us.

"We shall!" Pinkie Pie and Forest replied excitedly in unison.

x

"Well, this is unfortunate news," Razorsharp started as he entered the meeting room of the Metamor Legion's base, "It seems like we have lost contact with our spies in, well, all the areas we have sent them to."

"All except for the two remaining spies in the Castle of Canterlot." Surgio said immediately afterwards, "All the spies have activated their martyr orbs, we received the transmission signal to the main orb notifying us of this."

"Is it safe to assume that the enemy has gained no knowledge of us?" Kanthon asked.

"For the most part, yes. Our spies were trained to memorise whatever is sent to them and then immediately destroy the evidence. I'm sure they have kept that in mind."

"Speaking of Canterlot, we were just messaged a note from our spies there, they claimed to have witnessed those mares retrieving the Elements of Harmony," Phoenix Blossom stated.

"Well then," Surgio began, "It seems like we are going to have to take this step sooner that I thought." He stepped out of the meeting room and gazed to the end of the expansive rally hall where a mimic sculpture of the statue of Discord was being built, "how goes the artwork, my loyal followers?" Surgio asked, his voiced echoed clearly across the hall.

"Almost finished, my lord!" A soldier replied as he looked back at Surgio, "Just need to get the details around the face!"

"Excellent! Make sure it's all picture perfect! Understood?"

"Yes Sir!" Several guards affirmed to Surgio in unison. He marched back into the meeting room soon after.

"We're going to carry forth the plan to steal and free Discord, Phoenix,"

"Yes, Surgio?"

"Bring the scrolls required to plan the transport spell, and Kanthon,"

"Yes, leader?"

"Begin the conjurations for the required material."

"Understood," Phoenix and Kanthon replied, they then went of to ready their plans.

"Oh, and Razorsharp."

"Yes, Surgio?"

"Congratulations, you are now General Razorsharp of the Metamor Legion."

"Was there ever any doubt?" Razorsharp chuckled malevolently.

"I do apologize for having the title held this long," Surgio replied as he joined his comrade in laughter, "after we realised it would take a while to find more skilled allies, it would be most sensible to award you the rank. Not that you weren't going to receive or anything, you were made for this leading position."

"Oh you flatter me, my leader."

The two laughed and then sat silently for a few more seconds, they both then held serious expressions on their faces.

"What's on your mind, my leader?" General Razorsharp asked in a concerned manner.

"You know, if the elements of harmony are going to join the battle field, then it is likely you might just run into-" Surgio was interrupted as Razorsharp caught on to what he was trying to present.

"Him? Yes... it seems we are on the same wavelength, it is likely he will come to the aid of his sibling."

"Don't you let the past get ahead of you, General."

"You won't have to worry about that, my leader," Razorsharp affirmed to Surgio as he picked up his battleaxe, he smiled nefariously as he met his reflection on the blade, "In all honesty, I'm actually rather excited."

His Return

They gathered round the training field. The Elements of Harmony, the Defenders, and to Applejack's surprise, Big Macintosh.

"Big Macintosh!" Applejack began, "what are you doin' here?"

"Decided I'm goin' to help out and train with you all." He replied forwardly.

"And who's gonna be on the farm? Don't tell me ya' think Granny 'n' Applebloom are gonna be okay on their own."

"Nnope, I called some of the family to help us out on the farm for the mean time."

Applejack and Big Macintosh began to argue in a typical sibling like manner. Applejack would not want to have any of the family members outside of Ponyville to carry the burden of looking after the farm when it was in fact her job to do so, as well as Big Macintosh's of course. The stallion could not stand idle when knowing that his lover, Fluttershy, and his younger sister would be outside on the battlefield facing danger. Big Macintosh soon provided enough valid points to win the argument.

"Fair enough," Applejack added, finally agreeing with her brother, "I hope you've got a special thank you planned for the ones workin' on the farm."

"Eeyup."

"Well, now that that's out of the way, we can get started," Boa said, she then began to walk to the right end of the training field, "Big Macintosh, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, we're going to occupy this side of the field, come on now."

"Okey dokey lokey!" Pinkie Pie replied, hopping as she followed them.

The earth ponies took their side, Jokey and Forest kept Twilight and Rarity in the centre as Arrow guided Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy to the left.

"Okay, first thing's first," Boa began, immediately drawing attention, she pulled out a light green hand book with an unmarked brown label in front of it. The book was in midst condition.

"A story?" Pinkie Pie said blatantly, "I don't think we have time for those right now, was this Twilight's idea?"

Boa rolled her eyes and sighed lightly, "This isn't a story book Pinkie Pie, this is the book that's going to teach the three of you how to use your earth pony powers."

Boa opened the book to the very first page, "when I was just a filly this book was given to me by a mysterious genius... the stallion that wrote this book was one of the first earth ponies to harness powers as an earth pony. Listen carefully," Boa then began to read out the passage in the book, "Greetings, my fellow earth ponies. If you have been given this book then it was of my intended duty to share the new discovery of ones abilities as an earth pony. Let it be known that earth ponies can only manipulate powers that are strictly related to the surface we stand on, otherwise known as the earth. It is possible to have the same type of earth manipulation, although this can be highly uncommon, for each individuals power depends on what they have grown around and how they grown with it."

"So, lemme get this straight," Applejack asked as soon as Boa completed the paragraph, "we can control earth related things dependin' on what we grew around?"

"Precisely."

"Oh boy!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed ecstatically as she began hopping in one spot, "I can hardly wait to find out what I can do! Oh, will I be able to create huge dandelions that have gum drops instead of seeds? Or maybe trees with cotton candy instead of leaves? Oh, oh! How about-"

"Strictly earth related." Boa repeated with her eyes narrowed in a dull manner, "no candy. Just earth stuff..."

"Booooring"

"You'll say that now, but trust me, once you get a hold of your powers, you're gonna love what comes next. Now the first step to being able to feel the natural energy inside of you, which concerns earthly powers, is to meditate. So Pinkie Pie, stop hopping and calm down."

"Okey Dokey Lokey." Pinkie Pie brought her hopping to a halt and then stood still, her smile unaltered.

'Teaching three ponies is one thing, but keeping you calm is going to be a real challenge, Pinkie Pie.' Boa thought as she gave a weak grin.

x

"Now as pegasi, our source of power comes from our wings," Arrow stated bluntly, "Rainbow Dash, you are already entirely familiar with this. Needless to say this training session will be somewhat easy for you. You just need to focus your tricks as attacks and you will soon be able to acquire your magical wing abilities."

"Aww yeah!" Rainbow Dash said confidently as her wings shot up, "these babies are ready for anything!"

"Umm, excuse me..." Fluttershy uttered, "I- I'm not exactly strong at flying..."

"I am aware of that, Rainbow Dash has informed me of you abilities," Arrow replied.

"R- Rainbow..." Fluttershy blushed in embarrassment, feeling down and burdening.

"It is all-right, Fluttershy. Your primary focus will go to the use of your element. I am sure that with it you will be able to enhance your own abilities. I will also try my best to help you become stronger. You have my word." Arrow gave a comforting grin, Fluttershy returned a smile as she now felt more confident with herself.

Rainbow Dash noticed Rarity and Arrow eyeing each other and smiling in a way considered more than friendly.

"Hey, wait a second," Rainbow Dash said flashing a cocky grin, "what's going on between you two? Did something happen last night?"

Arrow blushed intensely as Rainbow Dash brought up the topic, Fluttershy then immediately looked at Arrow and smiled heartily, Arrow then covered his cheeks with his wings in an attempt to hide the crimson blush, but it only made it more obvious. His blush then disappeared as soon as he cleared his throat.

"Let us begin," Arrow blurted in a serious tone.

x

Deep within the unknown location of the Metamor Legion's main base, countless amount of soldiers stood together in clean staright rows with their leader, Surgio, and the three top ranks, Kanthon, Razorsharp and Phoenix in front of them. Four scrolls surrounded the replacement statue in a square pattern, strange mystical writing on the scrolls were glowing and so was a magical pattern underneath the statue itself. The portal on this side was ready.

"Everything is ready, my leader," Razorsharp said, breaking the momentary silence, "all we need to do is send this letter to the spies to initiate the plan."

"Excellent," replied Surgio, "did you remember to include the bit on how the scrolls should be placed in reverse order on their side?"

"Yes, with the same layout of orbs of course."

"Right then. Go ahead."

x

Deep in a secure area within the depths of the castle of Canterlot, a fleet of stairs led deep down to a large circular chamber, two spies were keeping fake watch over Discord in his imprisoned stone shell.

"Oh man... I don't know about this," the unicorn spy uttered anxiously, "just being near this thing creeps me out."

"For goodness sake," the pegasus spy huffed as she rolled her eyes, "we've been GUARDING this guys for a while now, just keep your pants on."

"B- but I'm not wearing any pants, I'm wearing armor."

"It's a figure of speech you moron, unless you actually plan on taking your armor off, jeeze, don't wet yourself."

"Hey, buck you! Princess Celestia could waltz in here any second while we prepare this thing, and if we get caught it's game over!"

"Well we won't get caught, so stop cowering in your own thoughts... you can be such a child sometimes."

The unicorn glared aggressively at his comrade, "so you're telling me that you're not nervous at all?"

"Keep your voice down!" The pegasus replied, she sighed immediately afterwards, "look, all I'm saying is-"

The spies went silent as the their backpacks gained a heavier load, they searched their bags to find that each of them have received two blue orbs and two long scrolls, the unicorn had recieved the initiation letter. As they thoroughly read through the instructions, the looked at each other and with a nod, quickly began setting up the portal.

"All-right, so the scrolls are in reverse order?" the pegasus spy asked as she checked the layout and the instructions.

"Affirmative, and the orbs are glowing properly. Now we just need to-" A loud menacing laugh echoed from beyond, they two spies looked around in fear, completely taken by surprise.

"Sweet Celestia, was that him?"

"What the hay?" The unicorn jumped back, "aw man, we are dead, we are so dead! I bet the whole castle heard that!"

"Just chill out," she uttered nervously as she began to sweat, hoof steps were soon heard going down the fleet of stairs, and as fate had it, a mixture of blue, purple and harsh violet magic rays began to surround Discord, it zapped and flickered quickly and vividly, the statue was soon sent away leaving a short time interval of merely three seconds for the replacement statue to make its way to the chamber. The transport process was complete.

In their panic, the spies quickly collected up the scrolls and orbs packing them in their bags with haste and closing up the zippers.

'Wait, we've caused some racket,' the pegasus thought as she stared at the exit , 'Celestia is bound to have heard that and it's definitely going to bring up immediate suspicion,' she then directed her eyes to her unicorn comrade, and taking notice, he made eye contact with her.

"This going to be really sudden but just go with it," she stated calmly.

"W- wha-" the unicorn's eyes widened in shock as he fell on to the ground from the impact of his companion jumping on to him. She placed her hooves behind his neck as they hit the ground and began to aggressively make out with him.

"It's okay, just go with it," she managed to squeeze out the phrase finally allowing him to get the picture. Their tongues wrestled as he placed his hooves around her back. Celestia had just walked in on them witnessing the unicorns hooves flowing down to the pegasi's flank, feeling her softly as their mouths kept vigorous contact.

"Sunshine, Moon Rush, What are you two doing?" Celestia asked in a slightly hesitant tone, her face held an expression of complete surprise.

"Oh! Princess!" Sunshine the pegasus jumped off of Moon Rush with a gasp, "I'm so sorry," she continued with a blush.

"I- it's just that we really like each other!" Moonrush the unicorn added as they stood up still.

"Well yes I can see that," Celestia remarked, still surprised with their actions, "if I had not known better I'd say you two were about to-" Celestia shook her head as she quickly chose her next words, "never mind, I've never dealt with a case like this before but, please, attend to your personal needs when you are off duty... he can still see you." Celestia jerked her head to the statue which stood behind them, completely unaware of the farce obstacle.

"Yes, of course, we are truly sorry your highness!" Sunshine exclaimed, both Moon Rush and herself bowed down in apology to their acted out actions.

"It won't happen again!" Moon Rush added.

"Very well," Celestia turned away, making her way out of the chamber again, "back to your posts then."

"I wonder..." Moon Rush uttered as Celestia left, he narrowed his eyes angrily and held an upset expression.

"wonder about what?" Sunshine asked as she directed her eyes to him.

"If the case is really about liking somepony or not."

"I'm... I'm sorry..."

"It's okay, we can fix it,"

"You're asking me out?"

"I'll let you decide that," He replied in an teasing tone.

"Dummy..." she intoned as she blushed, "whatever..."

Celestia frowned as she began to walk up the fleet of stairs, feeling the grief of guilt on her conscience, 'am I the only one who hears him theses days?' she thought to herself, greeting the past. 'I should not fear for the worst, but something just is not right these days.'

x

"It's here... it's actually here," Phoenix Blossom said with a semi manic smile, the feeling of dominance struck her at their success.

The Metamor Legion gazed upon the real statue of Discord, all completely silent and awaiting for Surgio's command.

"Leader, are you completely sure that this plan is going to work?" said Kanthon, only directing his eyes to Surgio.

-Flashback-

The sun was setting across the wondrously blossomed city of Coltenhagen, Surgio and his brother Season were in the gardens of their home which provided such a glorious view of the rest of the city.

It was a time back in Surgio's foalhood, two young stallions were being themselves after hearing an awe inspiring story from their father.

"Hey, Season," Surgio began as he kicked a pebble across the garden.

"Yeah?" He answered, joining his brother in pebble punting.

"Remember that lady that dad was talking about? The one who was the commander of the Equestrian army way, way, back?"

"Volta Thundertred? What about her?"

"Well, I was thinking, dad said that she had to cut two tornados in half with lightning... and that there was this crazy war between ponies and griffons... well, do you think it all might happen again?"

"The tornados and griffins? Well, ponies and griffons are at peace now, but weather is something else," Season chuckled lightly as he carried on through the garden.

"No, no, what I meant was do you think that Coltenhagen... and well... Equestria will be at some sort of threat again?"

"I- I dunno... but it's kind of a scary thought."

Surgio sat down and sighed, "you know, I'd hate to see the ponies and griffons here get hurt, Coltenhagen is so peaceful and amazing... everypony is just so happy here."

"Hey, don't forget!" Season exclaimed cheerfully as he sat down next to his blood brother, "we're gonna be going into magic school soon and we're gonna learn all about leadership and all that political junk that dad was talking about!"

"You mean you really wanna do it?" Surgio looked at his brother with a grin of hope.

"Definitely, we promised each other that we're gonna grow up to make Coltenhagen the most peaceful and beautiful land ever! And after that, the whole of Equestria!" Season put out his front hoof, "Thundertred brothers till the end, right?"

"Right!" Surgio complied, his grin widened as they bumped hooves, "till the end!"

-End-

Silence claimed the area once more as Surgio stared at his hoof, his frown soon left his expression as he looked up, "Yes. I'm sure," Surgio's horn began to glow in a blue aura, "General, if you could please assist me."

"Of course my leader," Razorsharp replied as his horn glowed in a crimson aura.

The two then shot continuous rays at the statue, the magical particles soon coated the stone prison in a spiraling motion of ocean blue and crimson. Pieces of the statue began to crumble where in their places would be the surface of Discrons skin and fur starting from the tip of his hands, quickly but smoothly the lower part of his body began to reveal itself as the stone coating toppled off, as the process complete by the last piece of rubble bursting off the tip of his nose, a blinding white light flashed instantly, and Discord groaned loudly and violently yet it was a groan of relief for he was finally free once more.

Discord shifted his eyes from side to side, he grinned evilly as he saw the fear on some of the soldiers faces but it soon faded as he met the stare of the Surgio.

"Who are you?" Discord asked as he crossed his arms while maintaining his midair state.

At the brink of his first words, the entire Metamor Legion kneeled down to Discord.

"Greetings, O omnipotent and mighty god of chaos," Surgio began, holding nothing back, "this is the Metamor Legion, and I am their leader."

"Well, I suppose it's safe to say that I owe my revival to you?" Discord said as his nefarious grin returned, "you have my thanks but don't expect any of my praise, you see I'm actually quite angry and I've got a little score to settle with-"

"The princess' and the elements of harmony?" Surgio said, sharing the same grin, "we are indeed very aware of what it is you're after, and I can offer you the fastest route to success."

"Well I'm sorry to burst your little bubble, but incase you didn't know, I'm the god of chaos and I don't play well with others," Discord flew upwards and mysteriously ended up crawling up behind Surgio, he placed his arm around his shoulder, "haven't you given any thought of what might happen to you if you were to revive me in a place which seems so unknown in front of many unfamiliar faces? Has your mind not pondered on just how much I'd be aching for revenge? And you have the nerve to think I'd be so thankful that you would forever have my loyalty? That you would be able to lead a god?"

Surgio chuckled heartily at Discord's so called misunderstanding, "oh my lord, excuse my rudeness for leading you to such a false direction. It was never of my intention to try and control you, parish the thought. You see, all these ponies here including myself, actually enjoyed your way of ruling, I mean, who is Princess Celestia to say that we cannot have clouds of cotton candy which pour chocolate milk?"

"What's your point? Are you saying you're going to support me in stepping up as ruler of Equestria?"

"That is exactly what I'm saying. Think about it Discord, the princess' are gaining knowledge and power each day and even as we speak the elements of harmony are familiarizing themselves with their elements, pushing themselves to become stronger. Don't get me wrong my lord, I am not saying that you can't possibly stand up against them, but what I do know is that it's going to be one heck of a kerfuffle and there's a great possibility that their strategy will be to gang up on you and turn you to stone once more, and there may not be a second wind after that."

"You have my undivided attention." Discord placed his hands together as Surgio carried on his explanation.

"I too have a grudge against Celestia. My home, Coltenhagen, was completely annihilated and that hack of a princess didn't even bother to take action. I, we all would much rather have someone else take over her place, somepony like you. And seeing as though power is everything, in this case yours surpasses Celestia's I am sure of it, then we wouldn t have to worry about cowardly and corrupt futures when all you want to do is simply have fun. We will ward off the elements of harmony while you deal with the princess', we'll even keep the elements of harmony alive just so you can have your way with them."

"Did you say... Coltenhagen?" Discord disclosed, Surgio nodded in response.

"My name is Surgio Thundertred, this is the Metamor Legion, and we are dedicated to your success. We are your army, you are our leader."

Discord glanced over the countless amounts of soldiers, his grin widened as he darted his eyes back to Surgio, "Thundertred you say? Yes of course, the shape of your ears and the way your mane bends is so much of a resemblance of his own..."

'Oh this is just too perfect,' Discord thought as he his veins pumped ecstatic dominance around his body, 'my very own army and I've already got the upper plans! And this pony... Surgio Thundertred is the perfect relic of revenge to Celestia, Luna, and... him.'

"Allright, you've convinced me!" Discord blurted in exciteful bliss, "but I must warn you, I can feel the level of all your abilities, and if you dare cross me, then I'll destroy you all."

"Oh my lord, I wouldn't dream of such a thing," Surgio quickly turned around to the rest of the army, his cape brushed against the wind as he did so, "all hail our new leader! Discord! The god of chaos!"

They all cheered loudly and proudly as though a world changing victory had been achieved and Discord loved every second of it. He laughed with such a tone of darkness, his heart filled with glee.

A few seconds later, once everyone had calmed down, Surgio walked up to the god which stood before him, "tell me my leader, what is it you would like us to do?"

Discord hummed out his laughter as he met eyes with Surgio once more, "share with me all your plans, let's go start some chaos."

"Gladly," Surgio replied with full dedication, 'all according to plan.'

Moments of Joy

Forest spectated the main six as they kept pushing through their training whilst attending his own, 'It's as I expected, Twilight and Rainbow Dash are moving along quickly and are easily adjusting to their powers. Twilight was ridiculously fast in this, already using her cosmic affiliated magic in terms of combat. Rainbow Dash's wings and energy produce the power of light in the form of rainbows which also bring along shock waves. A little bit similar to Arrow's except for the distorting effect.'

"Well," Boa began as she observed the results of her fellow earth ponies, "looks like you have the ability to sprout trees, Applejack."

Applejack gazed down at her hooves and noticed little plants and newly sprouted trees around them, "Well how about that?" Applejack said with an excited grin, "it works after all!"

"Big Macintosh," Boa continued, "you're able to merge yourself with solid ground."

Big Macintosh slowly pulled his front hoof out of the ground which then materialized back to normal skin and fur, "eeyup..." he uttered in surprise.

Pinkie Pie huffed in frustration as she tried her best to sit still, her eyes were closed but was much too impatient with meditating at the moment.

"Pinkamena," Boa placed her hoof on Pinkie's shoulder, causing her to snap out of her meditative position.

"This is never gonna work!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed as she shook Boa back and forth, Boa then placed her hooves on top of Pinkie Pie's, stopping her immediately. "How can you sit down and do absolutely nothing for so long? I mean it has got to be the most boring thing I have ever tried and," Pinkie Pie continued to rant on as Boa soon cut her off.

"Meditation is not doing nothing at all, it's the process of clearing your mind to find your inner connection to your spirit and inner peace. It stimulates the rising balance of energy within you. Once you find out what your power is you won't need to meditate any more... it kinda comes to you as second nature."

'That is right,' Arrow thought to himself, 'It seems like Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy are advancing quite slowly while the rest are at moderate speed. Although Fluttershy is getting very familiar with her element, so at least there is still a sign of progress.'

'So, the good ol' elements of harmony,' Jokey pondered as he observed the others, 'it's amazing enough that these mares hold the most powerful tools ever, but each element gives them all a magical boost, and as Twilight Sparkle read, depending on their personalities it grants extra special power types. Looks like Rarity has found her second form of magic as well.'

"How marvellous!" Rarity exclaimed happily, "I can create the magnificent images of rare gems, emeralds and etcetera and use them as sharp projectiles!"

"Is that what you're really excited about?" Twilight added as she cocked an eyebrow.

Rarity turned to her with a smile, there was a necklace made of rubies around her neck, "tell me, dear, doesn't this look just fabulous?"

"It's gonna disappear once you stop focusing magic. Boom, bubble bursted." Jokey said with a wide grin. And with a pop, Rarity's magic necklace had left existence.

"Oh poo."

"Hey, Forest!" yelled Boa as she made her way to him with Pinkie Pie at her side, "I need you to help me out with Pinkamena here."

"What's the problem?" He asked, completely willing to help out.

"She needs to be in a relaxed state, either I can't get her to focus or I'm just using all the wrong methods."

"Probably the second one because you're such a bad teacher!" Jokey remarked loudly, he snickered as she turned to glare at him.

"You are so annoying!" Boa aggressively marched towards him, and in response, Jokey immediately got up and began to run away as she tried to chase him down.

"Those two are so silly," Pinkie Pie said she watched them, "watching those two fight is better than stand up comedy!" she continued and began to giggle.

"I'll say, sometimes Boa can go overboard though... or maybe it's Jokey that goes overboard..." Forest tapped his chin in thought and soon shook off the matter, "anyway, what's the problem?"

"Boa said that I need to be calm and try to connect to my inner spirit or something like that." Replied Pinkie Pie.

"Something like that... well, why not just think of a calm moment or something?"

"I try to think about but nothing is really coming to mind," she shrugged as she sat down, "why don't you help me remember one?"

"Alright, sure!" Forest happily sat down next to her in the same meditative form, "now let me think... oh yeah! Remember a few months back we all had that afternoon out together just a few days after you and your friends went to the grand galloping gala?"

"When we all watched a the sun setting? Of course I remember! We were so tired by the late afternoon."

"Great! Well let's remember what we talked about... how we felt when you and I were sitting down together looking at the sunset, the conversation we had..."

Pinkie Pie was quickly and sufficiently able to pick up that fragment of her memory, for it was a late afternoon so vivid, so peaceful. It was a day Pinkie Pie had convinced Forest to have his friends meet her friends for an enjoyable day of activities, and it turned out pretty well. A moment very special between the two of them, it was something that deepened their relationship. With all the memories rushing back to her Pinkie Pie felt that flow of ease in her head. As the type of mare who was happy to laugh and be with her friends, this particular day shined it's special affection towards the two of them.

-Flashback-

"Wow! I'm poofed!" Pinkie Pie stated as Forest and herself sat down with their backs to a tree.

"Same here, we did so many things... I've never had this much fun before!" Replied Forest.

"I'm so glad our friends got to know each other, I knew RD and Jokey would get along quickly."

"Yeah, and I always had this feeling in my gut that Boa and Applejack would become friends straight away."

They took turns rambling on about how the day had gone by so pleasantly for both of them, the others had said their goodbyes for the day and left home except for Jokey and Rainbow Dash who watched Pinkie Pie and Forest from a distance.

"Those two go really well together, don't ya think?" Jokey began as Rainbow Dash and himself glanced over at them.

"I'll say," Rainbow complied, "I didn't think there would be anyone who could match Pinkie Pie's silliness."

"For real, they both have those habits of antics, the really heart warming kind."

They continued to watch them. At that moment, Forest lowered a tree branch over his head giving himself an afro of leaves and posed in a parodic style of a model which made Pinkie Pie blurt out in laughter, Jokey and Rainbow chuckled lightly at the sight, they shook their heads in a pleased manner as Forest stood on his hind legs supporting Pinkie Pie by having her handstand on his front hooves. He was basically helping get up the tree in a much more agile manner, but they had fun doing it nonetheless.

"I'm just happy that Pinkie Pie found a guy like him, she's like my closest friend and it's good to know he's treating her right," Rainbow Dash continued, "so what about Forest and yourself? You two close?"

Jokey met eyes with Rainbow Dash for a few seconds, looked away with a grin and then back at her, "Him, Boa, and Arrow. Those ponies are my closest friends... hay, these past few months with them has been a real blast... I'd even go as far as to call Forest and Arrow my siblings, I've never really felt such a bond like that before."

"What about Boa? You didn't include her."

"Boa? Heh, she's a bit more special to me than that... I've really got the hots for her."

"Oh, really now?" Rainbow Dash replied in a sly tone, grinning widely at the stallion next to her, "she the mare of your dreams as well?"

"Hah, I ain't got nothing to hide."

"Dude, you should totally ask her out! I wanna know how all this goes!"

"Not right now, RD... I just need a little more time."

Pinkie Pie jumped down from the tree and landed in Forest's grip, the shared a tender moement of laughter and love as they looked into each others eyes, they sat down again looking at the sunset. Pinkie Pie frowned as a thought crossed her mind.

"What's wrong, babe?" Forest asked, his grin left his expression to make room for his concern.

"Forest, you know how I know like, everypony in Ponyville, right?"

"Yeah, I'm still amazed of how you keep track of that."

"Well, I've been wondering, now that we've been together for a while now, I remember how I've seen other ponies get together and then sometimes go
apart..."

Forest shared her frown as he knew what she was leading to.

"I know... I've thought of that before..." Forest replied as he gazed back into the sunset.

"It scares me to think that that might happen to us, we've had so much fun together I-"

"Look at this sunset, Pinkie Pie," Forest said, interrupting her, "I remember my parents telling me that I was born on a day like this, apparently it happened in Coltenhagen much more often than it would happen here, and they told me how much it reminded them about how happy they were together, how a beautiful moment like this reminded them of our joy as a family..."

Pinkie Pie's eyes widened at him, they seemed to shine across the reflection of light as he continued his speech, she joined him in gazing at the sunset as well, the sun was a deep tropic orange, it settled so expansively across the land and practically matched the colour of Forest's coat, the sunlight made the sky and clouds blend into the sweetest colour of pink which matched her coat as well.

"Let's say that the sun right now is me and that the clouds and sky are you. As long as two things can come together to make something beautiful, no matter what shape or form it is, and if it has the power to spread it's nature to make anypony feel at ease, then you and I can always have moments like this... and as long as we keep on believing in each other then I know for a fact that our love will keep growing... because you are that huge part of my happiness that I lost long ago, the way you smile, the way you laugh and the pony you are will always drive me to do whatever I can no matter what it takes to make you happy and to keep you safe... because I love you, Pinkamena Diane Pie. I love you for who you are."

Forest turned to her after his speech just wanting to say one more thing, but was stopped as her lips met his, for his truthful words spoken from his heart ignited a larger flame between them. This certain kiss signified a deep understanding in their relationship, something that refuses to be undone. Why? For Forest to lose his childhood so quickly was something that destroyed so much bliss that never got to happen.

His undying will to never give up immensely shined out his positive side, it easily made him an all around playful and enthusiastic pony, playfulness which he never got to have as a foal, it was a grip on his personality, what made him who he was. No matter where he'd be or what he'd do, Forest would always admire those who were not afraid to be themselves, and Pinkie Pie had that complimentary personality to his. Her giddy and excitable ways were like a magnetic attraction to his enthusiasm, Pinkie Pie is that essence of somewhat childlike, blissful nature that filled the hole in his heart.

Their playful attitudes were a wonderful match.

-End-

x

"Your majesty!" A royal guard exclaimed in panic as he barged into Luna's room which startled the princess, "a thousand pardons to disturb you in your personal chambers, but something has just come up!"

Luna gently placed her hooves on the guards shoulders,"try to remain tranquil, loyal one. What troubling news dost thou bare?"

"Princess Luna, I have just been informed that the victims of the north keep incident have reappered! We are not sure what is going on but they seem to be
in an almost mindless state..."

Luna recalled to what the lone survivor had told her just after she had transported the heroines of harmony to retrieve their elements.

"Your majesty... I was trapped under chunks of stone from the collapsed walls, I could only see the faintest sight of dragons and heard the devastated screams of my comrades... just as I had managed to get out of the stone prison everything was burned and destroyed but I didn't see any other guards... I don't know if they were either burned to dust or abducted."

After dismissing the guard, Luna had teleported to the north keep where Celestia was already attending the matter with two other guards.

"Sister? Luna spoke out as she approached Celestia, she noticed the guards wandering around aimlessly across the destroyed keep. The two sane guards next to them were completely silent. Their frowns had spoken for them.

"This is just... unacceptable," Celestia began as she turned to Luna, she was deeply saddened with the situation, "all these guards have kind and pure souls, the enemy has relieved them of their memory, completely brainwashing them."

"By the heavens..." Luna uttered.

One of the wandering guards managed to strafe close enough to the Princess', Luna slowly grabbed him by the hoof, leading him to face them for proper communication.

"Speak to us, please, show us a sign that you still have your wits," Celestia added desperately.

The guard slowly looked up at the two goddesses, his face held no expression making him seem completely emotionless. The damp and pale colour of his eyes suggested he was about to lose consciousness, but it was only the traumatic effect of the spell used on him to remove his memory.

Luna and Celestia only continued to keep eye contact with the stallion until he finally spoke the words to break the silence.

"Luna, Celestia?" he uttered under his breath.

"Thank goodness," Luna said in relief, "what actions hath arisen during your-"

"Where... where were you?" The pale looking guard muttered, preventing the immortal sisters from any inquiry, "where were you when we needed you? One minute I was marching around the keep, just performing my regular guarding routine... and then everything is in ruin... I- I don't remember anything..." The guard looked down and collapsed in depression.

Celestia and her sister Luna had taken the soldiers back to Canterlot where their trauma would be aided by medical ponies, for the sisters had to discuss yet another matter on how to advance.

"Luna, before we take any other actions, I have something to ask you."

"What is it, Celestia?"

Celestia hesitated to continue as a thought disturbing to her crossed her mind, "you didn't happen to pick up the faintest scent of cotton candy outside our quarters, did you?"

"What a strange acquisition... no, I hath not."

"Hmm, probably just my imagination... I suppose."

x

"Are you sure it was a good idea to send the prisoners back to the keep instead of finishing them off?" Phoenix Blossom asked as she accompanied Surgio alongside her other companions in a throne room which was pre-built for Discord.

"But of course, Phoenix," he replied with such sureness and ease, "remember, we're not a bunch of ruthless killers. We have reason. And besides, it's a good step to tamper with the minds of our enemy, perfect for keeping them occupied with other things and jumbling their thoughts."

"Poking them with a stick and making them look like confused innocent bunnies. I like the way you think, Surgio." Discord snapped his finger to have a glass of chocolate milk appear in his other hand.

"How many of those are you going to have?" Kanthon asked as he tucked away some potions into his bag.

"Oh, where are my manners?" Discord snapped his fingers once more. Kanthon, Surgio, Phoenix, and Razorsharp each had their own glass of chocolate milk to enjoy.

"Eh, I'm not really a fan of chocolate milk..." Razorsharp remarked as he shook the glass with an unstatisfied expression.

Discord gave a weak gasp, "bite your tongue!" he proceeded to finish his drink, but ended up drinking the glass instead and began to spin the milk on the tip of his finger as though it had taken the form of a solid state.

"Anyway," Surgio began, taking lead of the conversation, "in precisely six more days, we shall commence the attack on the south keep to obtain another quarter of the ultimate shielding gem."

"How troublesome... why did Princess Celestia have to split the gem into four pieces?" Phoenix Blossom added with an annoyed huff.

"Why make it too easy? I like a good challenge," Razorsharp remarked, "if you can call their forces a challenge anyway." Phoenix and himself made eye contact and began laughing darkly.

"Oh something tells me I'm going to have a lot of fun with the four of you," Discord smiled nefariously, "so tell me, Surgio, what exactly must be done?"

"Well, accurately predicting what the Princess' will do. It is probable that they try to assist in defending the keep in order to protect the gem. That is where you come in, my lord."

"Say no more!" Discord jumped out of his throne in utter excitement, "I'm going to keep the Princess' busy!"

"On the spot, my lord!"

"Oh this is simply too juicy! I can't wait to see the looks on their faces when I appear! I'm going to need to plan my entrance! If you'll excuse me, I've got some organised chaos to attend."

Discord left the room to a lower personal chamber which was also pre-built for him.

"It's like he's one big destructive child." Phoenix commented as she grinned at her comrades.

"And a very useful one he is." Said Surgio.

x

"Well, I don't know how you managed to do it, but it worked!" Boa said, as she sat down next to Jokey, Forest, and Arrow, taking a break from training as the main six were trying out a sparring match with minimal contact just to get the hang of things. "You've gotten Pinkamena to channel her inner energy."

"So she can sprout and gather rocks... I didn't expect that to be Pinkie's power." Jokey added.

"She must have spent much time around rocks in her past."

"Rock farm." Forest remarked.

"Really?" Arrow replied sounding a bit surprised, "that seems very out of place when you look at her personality."

"Yeah, this coming from a blank piece of paper." Jokey added.

"Hey, Jokey!" Boa scoffed in a scolding manner, "that wasn’t very nice!"

"Boa, come one, I'm just messing with him. He knows I don't mean it." Jokey placed his hoof around Arrow's shoulder, "ain't that right buddy?"

Arrow nodded with a smile, "It is as Boa said, Jokey's words should not be taken seriously at all."

Jokey raised an eyebrow and frowned feeling a tad bit insulted, "hmph, I think I take back what I said."

"W- what is wrong? I do not understand, was it something I said?"

Boa and Forest chuckled heartily at the matter, "Oh come on Jokey, you said so yourself that there's always time for jokes," Boa added with a smile.

"Yeah, whatever."

Boa grabbed her backpack and undid the zipper, "Anyway, look at what I finished knitting for all of us last night!" she smiled heartily and took out four identical cloths that had their cutie marks on them, all in a straight line starting from Arrow's, her own, Jokey's and then Forest's.

"Aww, Boa that's so sweet of you." Forest took claimed his with a wide smile on his face.

"That is very kind of you, Boa." Arrow said as he took his.

"Man... that is so cheesy..." Jokey added as he took his.

Boa frowned as Jokey made his remark, "T- there's nothing cheesy about it... it's just my way of saying I appreciate you guys and trust you all with my life... you three are the closest that anypony has ever been to me."

"D'aw... group hug for Boa!" Jokey blurted, and so, he, Forest, and Arrow, hugged her.

"I know what you mean, sis. You guys are like... my real time siblings!" Forest exclaimed happily.

"I agree entirely," replied Arrow, "I feel like we all have a deep understanding for each other."

"Well why don't we all get married then?" Jokey said, making them burst into laughter.

Jokey took another gander at the cloth and noticed that his cuite mark, and Boa's were next to each other, and just at the furthest end of his vision, he noticed Boa looking at it and back at him. He slowly lifted his head to make eye contact, and what would normally break quickly in the past lasted much longer as they stared into each others eyes. Did she do that on purpose?

They exchanged smiles which soothed them on the inside, smiles which were the cut off as a sudden gust of wind snatched Boa's cloth from her and left the cloth caught at the top of the fence.

Boa rushed next to the fence to try and retrieve her piece, "ugh, that's too high up. Hey, Jokey, Get over here and give me a boost!"

"What?! So your big flank can crush my spine?! Forget it!"

"Get over here and help me, dammit!"

"Jeeze, talk about taking a joke... alright don't get your panties in a twist I'm coming!"

"Panties... in a twist?" Arrow uttered as he tapped his hoof against his chin, "why would she do that to her panties?"

Forest chuckled lightly at Arrow's comment, "figure of speech, it means don't get so worked up, you know?"

"Oh." Arrow replied, "panties in a twist... huh."

Jokey galloped over to Boa, she then hopped on to his back.

"Not high enough," She uttered as she tried to reach for the cloth.

"Hey Arrow! Get over here!" Jokey yelled to him.

Arrow then flew over to them and looked up at the cloth, "Umm I suppose I could just fly to it-"

"Arrow, lend your wing down," Jokey said, cutting him off mid speech. Arrow then nodded and lowered his wing to the ground allowing Jokey to climb on to his back with Boa on his.

"Great, nearly there... if I could just... reach for it..." Boa stood on her hind legs and edged much closed to the cloth.

Forest, creeping up behind them, shook his head, "leaving me out of a pony pyramid? Huh! The nerve!" Forest then went under Arrow and scooped him up on his back, Arrow quickly balanced his hooves on Forest's back.

"Woah!" Boa, Jokey, and Arrow blurted in unison. The pony tower shook from side to side, Boa managed to finally snatch the cloth and then angrily looked down at Forest, "what the hay are you doing?!"

"Aw man.... you guys are r- really heavy." Forest muttered.

"Agh, you hear that, Boa? Forest thinks you need to lose some weight, fatty!" Jokey then chuckled but soon received hard tap on his head, "ow!"

The main six stared at the defenders from their side of the training field, all of them quite confused with what they were doing.

"Is that... part of their training?" Twilight began as she raised an eyebrow.

"What in tarnation are those four up to..." said Applejack.

"That looks fun! Hey, here's an idea! We should try that right now!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed as she hopped in one spot excitedly.

"Absolutely not! That can be very dangerous darling. Although it does look like it could be rather thrilling." Said Rarity.

"Looks daring! I actually wanna try that!" Rainbow Dash said, siding with Pinkie Pie this time.

"O -oh my, I hope they don't fall down and get hurt," and just as Fluttershy had uttered those words, the defenders had toppled down on each other, "eep!"

The main six rushed to the aid of the defenders, and upon arrival, they sighed in relief as the defenders returned a smile to them and began laughing, and so, they joined them. Even in a state of tension and stress, individuals can always manage to find a moment of joy.

Prologue

Title: Sweet Pink Sunset

Chapter 0: Prologue

A/N: Yes, this is my first fanfic and yes the start is just a little slow but action rolls in pretty soon. The main six have a large role to play in this fanfic and is based on a certain timeline within season 1 and season 2 of FIM.

Originally uploaded on fanfiction.net. After being convinced, I decided to upload it here as well, so my previous status updates will not show here. My next status updates however, will.

If you would like to view the artwork of my oc's, there's a link to my deviantart page in my bio :)

-

"Hey, Twilight!" a voice called from behind.

Twilight Sparkle turned to greet the voice she knew well and found that Forest Thundertred was running up the dirt road with his unkempt brown mane curving back in one spikey row.

"Hi Forest, what's up?" asked Twilight.

"I just finished up with helping Mr Cake at the sugarcube corner for today, Pinkie Pie told me that his wife is feeling kind of ill so I offered to do them a favour for today." He said while brushing his hoof against his goatee.

"Anyway I just wanted to ask, are you on your way to the library? I was wondering if you have a book of moral boosting spells, you know, like ability boosts and stuff like that," he continued to say.

"Of course, you're welcome to check out anything you like. I'm sure that I've got a book like that in the library," Twilight replied while giving the stallion a grin.

"Thanks a bunch, I'll walk with you then," Forest said, gleefully.

"You're welcome."

As they turned and walked down to the library, Twilight noticed a marking around Forest's horn which resembled three quarters of a ring. 'I don't think I ever asked him about that before and I'm kind of curious, I wonder if it means anything' she thought to herself.

"Hey Forest, I've been wondering for a while now about that marking around your horn, does it signify anything special or does it have a meaning of some sort? You don t have to tell me if you don't want to, I haven t really seen something like it on a pony before," she asked, seeming a bit peckish about it.

Forest stopped dead in his tracks when Twilight completed her inquiry, although not looking nervous, but it seemed as though he was staring into space. Twilight thought she had brought up something personal but Forest quickly came back to his senses and smiled. "Oh, heh, this old thing?" he said while directing his ocean blue eyes to look up at his horn.

"Well, you see, this mark actually has something to do with my family but... I'm not really sure how to say this. I sometimes feel magical properties from it but I haven t really uncovered any hidden potential from it yet. You know what I mean?"

"Oh, umm, I guess..." Twilight replied while looking a little unsatisfied with his response. 'Magical potential, maybe that's something I can look into' she thought to herself.

"They weren't around long enough to tell me about it, Twi." Forest added while looking down and softly kicking the ground with his left hoof.

"Oh, right yes, sorry I didn't mean to bring them up like that I should have-"

"No, no, don't worry about it, you didn't know anyway and besides, I don't mind talking about it." Forest told her as he smiled.

Twilight smiled back and nodded.

The day was getting late as the sunset gave out an intense shine of deep orange, blending with Forest's coat. 'It's almost like he's being camouflaged by the sun' Twilight mused. The stallion noticed the shine and turned his head halfway away from the mare so that his eye could just catch a glimpse of the sight.

"Sunset already, huh?" Forest said, and with that he was reminded of the past.

Before Forest had decided to take residence in Ponyville, he used to travel all across Equestria helping villages and towns that had trouble with 'outsiders'.

When Forest was just a colt his parents were killed in a civil town war. His mother and father who were two mighty users of combat magic, took down twelve other ponies before they died, all in an effort to protect him.

The sky was grey and cloudy with an unusual type of darkness surrounding the town, on the ground lay the parents of a young colt named Forest Thundertred. The little colt sobbed and could not believe the madness he had to witness. What was this war about? Why were friends becoming enemies?

Forest's mother and father then looked at him to use their last few breaths to give him the final words of wisdom he would receive from them.

"Be strong my son," Forest looked up with misty eyes as he heard his father s voice.

"You must move on, I'm sorry your mother and I cannot be with you any longer. We had so much to teach you."

Forest's mother then began to speak. "We love you so much my strong little stallion, we will always be proud of you no matter what and we will always be with you in your mind and heart."

"Son, promise us you will not fill yourself with rage and darkness, these things happen for many reasons even when we don't want them to." His father stated.

"I... I promise" said Forest as he released a shaky sigh.

His parents smiled, looking paler than before, Forest could tell they didn't have much time left.

"Promise us you will stick to your dreams even now and try your best to find love and friends in the future." His mother intoned.

"I promise" he said, this time while sobbing.

It was a rainy night as well, he could not remember everything clearly due to the weather, all he knew is that it was raining, cloudy, dark, and his parents were on the ground slowly losing their grip on life. The fact that he could not do anything made him feel like a burden to his parents, but he stood by the promise he made them. They nodded at him and at the exact same time they told him:

"We love you our son, Forest Thundertred, our joy, our light. Be strong."

Their eyes slowly began to seal, and he cried into the night, his plea for help lost in the pitter-patter of rain.

He stayed next to them that whole night until the next day when he was found fast asleep by town rescuers. He woke up in a foster home a few hours after being collected. Forest remembered the feeling he had back then; hoping he had woken up from a nightmare, but alas the grim fable was reality.

Forest did not have many friends whilst being educated in the foster home, there were a few colts and fillies who had also lost their parents due to the civil war and they decided that 'every pony for himself' was the best way to go. With this, he decided to excel in combat magic, learning from a book which had belonged to his father that was also the only item he had left with from his home. That and a family picture of him and his parents. He practiced everything he could from basic to advanced, from defending himself to defending multiple allies, from attacking one opponent to striking multiple opponents.

Once he was old enough to leave the foster home, he set out to explore Equestria. After a few good years he decided to carry on a career as a 'defender' in Ponyville. After the numerous amount of stories he heard about the current three, he found out they needed one more.

With this information bestowed upon him, he began writing letters to the mayor of Ponyville informing her of his existence and interest in becoming the fourth defender. With acceptance he moved into Ponyville so his skills could be tested to prove that he was the real deal. He was then arranged to be toured around the town by Twilight Sparkle. The mayor picked Twilight due to her outstanding organisational skills, and so they befriended each other. Twilight soon decided to introduce Forest to her friends, having him well acquainted with them. He then met up with the other three defenders, Jokey Bizarre, Boa Quakes, and Arrow Distorton. Three ponies that he had such a powerful bond with that he was not hesitant to call them his siblings.

It was then that Forest had finally met the ponies that were truly important to him, his loved ones, his friends. Because of their acknowledgement he was able to carry on his dream to become a protector, a defender of Ponyville.

Although it was Pinkie Pie herself that was able to shed the most joy to Forest. The two had much in common, the ability to just be happy. He was always able to make her laugh and smile as she would do the same for him. After they had learned so much about each other they soon fell in love with each other. Forest was with the mare of his dreams, he believed he had the greatest friends anyone could ever ask for and was also able to become the stallion he had always hoped to become. A protector.

He will always be there to protect his loved ones no matter what and help them in any way he can. He was determined to make sure no other pony would have to go through what he did.

"Um, Forest? Are you ok?" Twilight asked.

Forest quickly came back to his senses from the memory. "Yeah I m fine. It's getting late, Spike's probably wondering where you are right now."

"Oh right, well let's go then."

Forest and Twilight then continued to the path of the library so that Forest could pick up on the book he asked about so he can finally call it a day and go back to his residence with Pinkie Pie. And one day, life threw an overwhelming challenge at him.

-

A/N: please tell me what you think, critiques are highly welcome, so please review... please? this is my first fic, and i hope you guys will enjoy it. i've got something pretty special planned. If you do not like the idea of OC/Canon shipping then I don't think you would like to continue, but I am working hard to make this story as entertaining as possible.

Always There For You

"And this is the northern park, a bit past the river ahead of us will be the outskirts watch point where the other defenders and I are located most of the time. So having a good number of you here will be a great backup," Forest motioned his hoof to the direction where the guards should preferably be standing, "Any way, I'll leave the rest to you. North Alpha, you guys will be assigned to this area, North Bravo and North Charlie, you know your locations."

"Affirmative!" the group confirmed as they spread out to their designated watch points.

One of the guards from the North Alpha group walked up to Forest, "Excuse me sir, but we still have fifteen minutes before night watch starts, is there anything else we need to know?" He asked, boldly.

"At the moment? not really, we've already done allot of work today. Just stick with the basics for tonight and I'll give you all further instructions tomorrow during your training session. You don't have to call me sir by the way, Forest is fine." He explained.

"As you wish then." The guard replied, with a strange look on his face as he turned around to join his group again. Forest had caught them glancing at him a few times, trying to stealthily gossip to one another, it was then Forest realised that he was still in his ripped up costume.

'For the love of Celestia,' he thought, simply annoyed at the situation. "Hey, you try fighting an Ursa, okay buddy? Not an easy task!" he said angrily as he turned around walking off and being reminded how people would always talk about him in the past. The Thundertred kid was what they used to call him in the past back in his old town, Coltenhagen. His family name gained a bad reputation after the war, he did not know why though, no choice but to be burdened with the thought.

He brushed off the memory as he took notice to the night. There was a full moon in the sky, and it was quite late.

'Aw man, Pinkie Pie! I better hurry!' He began galloping south as the thought sprang into his mind, away from the park to make his way to the Sugarcube Corner. He knew something was on her mind before he left to the training field to speak with the princess, he whizzed past a small neighbourhood, taking turns left and right across alley ways, jumping over dumpsters that blocked his path and dodging street lights that were in the way until he could finally see the logo of the building. He slowed down and came to a halt in front of the entrance and extended his front hoof to knock on the door.

The door slowly creaked open until a small slit of light shined out of it. Forest saw an eye looking at him through the door.

"Oh, Forest! Your here!" Mr Carrot Cake opened the door quickly after realising it was him, "Well your a sight for sore eyes, but I don't think my eyes should be looking at you right now, Pinkie Pie left an hour ago looking really upset... actually, her hair was... well, you know."

"Oh, no... I have to hurry, what time is it?" Forest replied, sounding worried.

"It's almost eight o'clock."

"I've been away that long! Aw, hogwash man!" Forest face hoofed himself as he felt guilt rising, "do you know how long she was like that?"

"Well she was definitely sad when we left, and that was around two o'clock... We tried to get on her good side but she left as soon as we arrived. Good luck sport."

"Thank you, sir. I'll be on my way and sorry I bothered you at this time. Have a good night, tell the missus I said hello."

"Sure thing, sport, and don't worry about it-" Mr Cake was interrupted as his wife popped out from the side.

"If its Pinkie Pie's stallion were dealing with then your always welcome, dear." Mrs Cake gladly affirmed to Forest, giving him a wink as Mr Cake placed his hoof around hers. They both showed Forest a smile, a smile that is only seen on proud parents. A warmth grew in his heart, a pleasant warmth that reminded him of when his parents used to tuck him into to bed as a colt, how they smiled at the little things he did back then. Along with all of his friends and his lover, this had told him he found a new family. A family that he could always love no matter what.

Forest went between the two Cakes and hugged them tightly, "thank you again, for everything..."

Forest slowly let go and returned a smile to the couple, he then turned back and galloped away, making haste to the house Pinkie Pie moved into with him after she left her rented floor in the Sugarcube Corner.

"You know what, Carrot? I think I know exactly what it means to have a daughter... he loves Pinkamena so much, its like he's our son in law..." Mrs Cake muttered as her eyes began tearing a little.

"Well, not just yet, but I sure do hope its soon... there's something about that stallion, something that tells ponies that everything is gonna be just swell." Carrot Cake replied as they watched Forest fade away with the night.

"When I see them together, it makes me so happy..." Mrs Cup Cake let out a sniff and rubbed her eyes with her hoof.

x

Forest placed his hoof on the doorknob, about to enter his house as he noticed a dim light from the window next to him, the curtains were closed and the dimness of the light suggested that Pinkamena was in the living room area. He opened up his backpack to take out the keys in case Pinkie Pie locked the door already. His hoof rubbed against a paper material, he pulled it out and found a scrunched up paper bag that contained the cupcake Pinkie Pie gave him before he went to the watch point.

He opened up the bag to find a crumbled up and completely flattened cupcake, 'Great... didn't even get a chance to enjoy that... stupid Ursa.' he thought while curling in his lower lip and biting it. He placed the bag into his backpack again instead of throwing it away, the dumpster was far behind him and his priority right now was Pinkamena. He turned the doorknob and heard a click; the door was still unlocked.

'Good, she's still awake,' He thought in relief. Forest opened the door to find Pinkamena sitting on a couch, the side of the couch facing him and the front facing a unlit fireplace, a lamp illuminated a dim light as it stood on a small square table next to the couch Pinkie Pie was sitting on. Pinkamena was looking down frowning at her chef hat as she was folding and unfolding it continuously, Forest quickly stepped in and closed the door.

"Hey, Sweetie Pie... are you okay? hey, hey what's wrong?" He said with concern as he sat down next to her wrapping his hoof around her and hugging her.

"Weeks of planning... all that flour... all the preparation... for nothing," She replied as she rested her head against his, her temple against his cheek, "everyone was so happy and excited, we were all going to have fun and now theres some sort of war going on thats worrying everpony. Everyones busy and scared... things wont be normal until this whole mess is over which means we wont be seeing each other as much either, and thats the last thing I would want... you probably have to go to sleep early for tomorrow, and... and... oooh..." Pinkie Pie expressed what stalked her mind, slowly and wistfully.

"No I don't," Forest replied heartily, Pinkie Pie made eye contact with him, her slightly tearing sapphire blue eyes shined with hope as he smiled at her, "Pinkamena Diane Pie... I know how hard you worked on all the preparations so I know how you feel, I'm always going to be there for you... I'm always going to try my best to make time for the most beautiful mare and party master in all Equestria, I love you Sweetie Pie, so don't think for a second your gonna be alone when I'm around."

Pinkie Pie began to smile now that Forest shed light to her, she placed both her hoofs behind hiss neck as he placed his around her back. They connected their lips and closed their eyes, letting the moment last as their cheeks radiated a blush of red apple, the same type of blush they had this morning. As they continued to cuddle.

"I love you too, Sunset..." Pinkie Pie intoned.

Forest realised her hair was not as straight as before, the lower ends of her hair became a bit more curly.

"Hey, you know what? Your still in your costume and I'm still in mine... or at least what's left of mine," Pinkie Pie giggled at his comment, "I think we're still in the proper condition to party before we get ready for tomorrow!" He continued.

Pinkie Pie grinned cheerfully as Forest brought up the suggestion, "Sure, let's do it!" Her mane and tail suddenly sprang up to be puffy once again, the party animal was revived once again.

She hopped off the couch and turned to Forest as he got off of it, "What should we do first?" She asked excitedly

"Oh, you know that triple layer lemon strawberry sweet sherbet cake you told me about last week? The one your trying to bring up at the Sugarcube Corner?"

"What? No way! You wanna try and make it right now? I mean, if your serious then that would be so wonderfully super!"

"When it comes to bakin' I'm always serious!"

"Wohoo! I'll turn on the radio and get the bowls!" Pinkie Pie hopped her way into the kitchen across the other side of the couch, turning on the kitchen lights and flicking the switch of a radio on a counter next to the entrance, it was already set to the appropriate station.

"I'll get the flour and the fruit," he returned in equal cheerfulness as he followed Pinkie Pie into the kitchen, he had always thought about the main kitchen of the Sugarcube Corner every time he walked in. The tile of the walls were a colour of cyan blue, the counters aligned perfectly with a dish washer and furnace-oven set in a nice lengthy row, they were a clear clean colour of white with pink lined edges that co-ordinate well with the walls. There were even some multi-coloured balloons hung up next to the fridge.

He opened the fridge and took out two bowls of many strawberry's and lemons, placing them on one of the counters, he opened a drawer that contained flour sacks and pulled one out.

As they challenged themselves to bake this new treat, they swayed and danced in the process, singing songs they both knew and even sang Pinkie Pie's cupcake song as they also made a dozen cupcakes to place around the cake itself.

The triple layered cake was finally complete, whilst being complemented by vanilla iced cupcakes around it.

"Perfect, it looks sooooo sweet!" Pinkie Pie said joyfully, celebrating their victory over the challenge.

"Would you look at that colour..." Forest added, his mouth watering at the vision.

Gummy, out of nowhere, jumped on to the top layer of the vivid yellowish-pink cake, it began to sway side to side as both Pinkie Pie and Forest stood on their hind legs trying to keep the cake balanced, panicking as they thought Gummy was going to go down with it. Gummy then jumped off making a safe landing on the counter next to the cake, the jump caught their attention and they failed to notice the top layer sliding off, it fell down landing on their heads; the chunks, filling, and icing smeared their faces.

At this point, the two would differ from normal reactions, they began laughing at the event as they wiped the chunks from their eyes, licking their lips to sample the taste.

"So sweet! I love it!" Forest exclaimed as he wiped some icing off his goatee.

"Here, let me help you," Pinkie Pie complied as she rubbed a bit of icing off her cheek and transferred it to Forest's goatee, she fell back and chuckled at his expression letting out a few snorts, and Forest absolutely loves it when she snorts. He thinks its just down right adorable.

As Pinkie Pie fell back, a piece of cake on the floor stuck to her neck, "Agh, my neck! Hahahaha!"

"Here, lemme help!" Forest returned, putting on an excited evil accent and giving her a toothy grin, he leaped on top of her and moved in closer to her neck.

"Oh wait-no, no! Ah!" she blurted in laughter as she knew what was coming next. Forest licked off some of the cake and nibbled on her neck as he tickled her with his hooves around her belly. She began to laugh uncontrollably holding Forest around his neck as she shifted her body side to side trying to escape the blissful punishment as she could feel goosebumps forming all over her. As he halted his actions and allowed her to rest, he lied down next to her exchanging giggles, Pinkie Pie then placed her hoof around his head and nibbled on his ear.

"Woa- he- hey, that tickles-chh," he snickered as he kept his breath in at the pleasurable irritation and held her as she did it, goosebumps formed around him. She then gave him a lasting kiss on his cheek and rested next to him. They both stared at each other, their eyes glistened with joy and their mouths formed tender smiles to one another.

Soon after, they put away their dirty costumes into the laundry, cleaned up the kitchen and themselves. Good thing they have two fridges, the last two layers of the cake was put into their secondary one, which basically had all the baked goods in it. The time was then ten-thirty, the night was coming closer to an end as they both had duties to fulfil for the next day. They spent one hour playing board games like monopony and also spin the bottle with Gummy as the third player. It was strange how Gummy had a spree of being the one to dare them all the time, but because he could not speak, they watched his slightest moves and exaggerated it to something crazy. Pinkie Pie had to try to lick her eye, Forest had to curl up into a ball and roll around, which of course neither of them could do.

At eleven-thirty, they lit the fire place and sat on the couch, Pinkie Pie took out a photo album of her family.

"And this is my part of the family, see? Those two are my sisters, Maggie and Bellamina. But we call Bellamina 'Blinkie' for short."

Forest observed the pictures of her sisters in the album, a picture of them as filly's and two other pictures as mares, "wow, they look allot like you, except... greyer."

"Well duh, they are my sisters, silly." Pinkie Pie stated, as she flipped to the next page, "Those two are my parents! Mama Roxy and Papa Clyde."

The expression on her fathers face was very blunt and grumpy, "Wow... your dad isn't always like that is he?"

"This is before, this is after." Pinkie Pie moved her hoof away from the other page to reveal two other pictures of her parents; they were smiling and just plane happy.

"Oh, this is was after the sonic rainboom, right?" Forest complied.

"Mmhmm! Hey come to think of it, you never met my family did you?"

"No, now that you mention it, they already heard of me from letters."

"We should totally write them a letter saying we're gonna visit! then my sisters will be there too and you can meet the whole family! won't that be great? I mean I'm sure they're going to like you!" Pinkie Pie suggested as she closed the album and turned to Forest.

Forest brushed his beard and returned a grin, "yeah that would be great, I wonder why we didn't think of this earlier though..."

"Well, maybe if we manage to get some free time during this whole war thing, we could write to them about it then." Pinkie Pie complied.

"Maybe, it depends how things go." Forest replied.

They stayed silent for a while as they cuddled, the thought of Ponyvilles current situation went through their mind. The two mysterious stallions had really stirred up a mess and tomorrow would be the start of serious business. They had no leads, no hints as to when the next mishap would occur, no choice but to stay aware.

"It's twelve o'clock... we should probably get some sleep." Forest stated.

"Yeah, we should..." Pinkie Pie added.

They got off the couch, Pinkie Pie picked up Gummy and took him upstairs as Forest put out the fire and followed her up. Pinkie Pie tucked the sleeping alligator into his little round basket bed next to them in their bedroom, Forest and herself walked into the bathroom and brushed their teeth, smiling as they did it, remembering the race they had in the morning. They finally go into the light purple sheeted bed, Forest took the alarm clock and set it to seven o'clock am and placed it on a dresser next to him on his side of the bed.

"Hey, Sunset?" Pinkie Pie intoned.

"Yes, Sweetie Pie?" Forest replied softly.

"Thank you... for keeping me happy..."

"As always, my love..."

They said their goodnight's and tenderly smooched before sealing their eyes and calling it a day.

The Contents of the Book is What Matters

"So that's it then," Jokey Bizarre commented blatantly as he tossed his hooves behind his head, "starting tomorrow morning the six of you will be training under our care."

"That is in fact what Princess Luna told us," Rarity added, seemingly annoyed that she now has to get herself into physical and unclean practice.

After a semi long talk with Luna and the main six shortly after their arrival back to Ponyville, it was discussed and agreed that starting the very next day, the Defenders will help the wielders of the elements in their training of combat. The easy going jokester Jokey Bizarre will train Rarity and Twilight, the misleading and somewhat blank pegasus Arrow Distorton will train Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy, and the hot tempered all-serious Boa Quakes will train Applejack and Pinkie Pie. Unicorn with unicorn, pegasi with pegasi, and earth with earth.

And what was Forest to do? He walked back to the group whilst thinking of the short meeting which he had just had with Luna.

-Flashback-

"Forest," Luna began in a pleasant tone, "thou hast shown great care for the protection of thy town and loved ones, but do not blind thine self with raging emotions... I want you to focus on your own training until you are capable to help the others."

"Yes, your highness, I understand." Forest replied respectfully, showing complete understanding, but his thoughts differed.

'What, she thinks I'm too enraged to function? I don't have problems with anger and I'm pretty stable, I'll tackle things the way I want to thank you very much, and it will work out... like it always has when I was alone in the past... heck, I got to Ponyville going my way, right?'

Of course Luna meant no ill will towards Forest, but who was wrong and who was right in this situation? Luna has lived longer and was wise enough to give proper formidable advise, then again, does she really know Forest? Or on the another side, does Forest really know himself?

At that moment, Luna had received a note from royal guards of the other keeps, holding information that they have found spies and gathered knowledge on when the attack would on the South Keep would happen. She passed on the information to Forest who would pass it on to the others.

-End-

"One week," said Forest, gathering the groups attention.

"Um, one week until?" Twilight Sparkle asked, with everyone else looking as equally confused on what the deep orange unicorn was on about.

"Until the south keep will be attacked by the so called Metamor Legion, that's all the time we have to get the six of you familiarised with combat."

"Wha- one week?" Rainbow Dash exclaimed in worry, "it took me my whole life to just a get noticed by the wonderbolts!"

"And it took me my whole life to get to where I am with magic now..." Rarity added, "and it's tailoring magic..."

"And it took me my whole life to become such a great baker!" Pinkie Pie blurted, the mares gave a disgruntled glance to Pinkie Pie, "well it did!"

"I- I'm not even sure i- if I can really get into this type of stuff," Fluttershy uttered, her confidence dropping.

Everypony broke into discussion of what to do, unsure if they can really get passed the week with enough time to actually catch up to the skill they really need. The sight of absolute doubt and anguish is something that Forest did not like, not one bit. For one who was quite confident and also an enthusiast, standing by and watching is against his characteristics.

"Hey!" Forest exclaimed, immediately infecting the atmosphere with silence, gathering everyponies attention, "yeah sure, you can go ahead and start doubting yourselves when danger is right around the corner, or you can get rid of all that doubt and start believing."

"Dude, I hear ya on this," Jokey complied, "but how exactly can we get them to our level in just a week?"

"Well sitting around a moping about it isn't gonna get us anywhere. By doing this, we're just gonna remain at level zero, but if we set our minds straight and just advance by even one step on a fleet of stairs, then it's progress! Don't you see? Now we're ten ponies who each hold amazing power, so what if you can't manage to use your own natural energy to harness all your powers within the week? You've got the elements of harmony to help boost that for you! The most powerful source of magic in all Equestria! I'm sure that if we start immediately by tomorrow there's absolutely no doubt that we'll be able to get passed this obstacle!"

Everyone's confidence began to build up as Forest spoke out his motivational speech.

"Fluttershy!" Forest blurted, startling the pegasus, "you just so happen to have the ability to confront a fully grown dragon and even make it cry! Yeah, that's right, we all heard about it!"

"W- well, yes I do!" Fluttershy responded with a wide smile as she began to hover a tiny distance above the ground.

"And Rainbow Dash! You were in fact just a filly when you made your first sonic rainboom, and then you did it again at the young flyers competition and got recognised by the wonderbolts! You've also got the wing power to top it off!"

"Heck yeah! that's right!" Rainbow Dash shot up in gleaming confidence.

"Rarity, you've got the courage to go way out of your way to help someone, you proved that your quite the gutsy type and can still be one heck of a lady! I'd say your definitely suitable to pass this!"

"Oh! well I supposed that's true! I did in fact survive against those filthy and grotesque diamond dogs!" Rarity giggled as she recalled the event.

"Applejack, you've got the strength to stop avalanching high-speed carriages! And the amount of Round-ups you've won is a crazy achievement! I'm talking about the most dependable of ponies aren't I?"

"Why, shoot," Applejack grinned with a faint pink blush, "I reckon that's one of the titles I'm known by!"

"Twilight, Princess Celestia herself told you that she had never seen such raw magical power from a pony for a thousand years when you were just a filly! And with your amazing talent in magic you should be able to grasp the tricks of combat magic with no problems! You levitated an Ersa Minor all the way back to it's cave and can teleport like crazy."

Twilight's eyes shined as she grinned widely at Forest's statement, "He's right!"

"And Pinkie Pie, in the night of Nightmare Moon, you where the essence that built up the bravery to continue past the scares ahead! Giggle at the ghosties, am I right? No to mention you also saved Ponyville from an entire horde of Parasprites! If it wasn't for you, Ponyville would've looked like Swiss cheese for months!"

Pinkie Pie jumped up in the air with excitement, "I did do that! Forest is right! If we managed to get big things like that done in one day then there's no doubt we'll get as much or even more done in a week!"

"Yeah! That's what I'm talkin' about!" Forest turned to look at the other defenders, "hey, if we managed to fend off an Ursa Major, then I say we got no problem in helping out our friends with their skills!"

"Haha! Yeah, for sure!" Jokey added.

Everypony began to cheer and pump their hooves up in the air, the support and addition of confidence was an overwhelming state, proving them more than ready to tackle their task properly.

"Let's get it on!" They all shouted in unison, high-hoofing each other at once.

"YEAH!" A rough and manly voice exclaimed from behind the group, they turned around to find a large white pegasus who was crazily muscular, he returned a toothy grin to them and flew away.

Rainbow Dash, looking confused turned back to the group, "you know, I didn't really mind before, but, who is that guy?"

x

The night time sky rose up to take over for the remaining hours of the day, and for the night, Luna had decided to show only a crescent moon and not a full moon. It was indeed a bright night as many stars gathered round the sky in order to make up for the absence of a full moon, during a crescent moon the stars seemed to shine dazzlingly as if they were gems in the sky instead. The trickling of shooting stars soon dashed across the sky with every few minutes.

"Captain Distorton," the voice of a royal guard called out dragging Arrow's attention away from the sky.

"Yes, is anything the matter?" Arrow replied.

"No, sir, our night shift is about to start, are you sure you want to stay up late?"

"Please do not worry about me, I will be fine."

The guard replied with a nod and turned back to continue his shift.

Arrow looked back up into the sky and pondered over Luna's decoration, 'Princess Luna... I wonder if this is how you try to tell us that everything will turn out for the best... that there is always hope at dark times, for it is truly a wonderful sight. A peaceful start to a peaceful evening... or at least I hope it will be peaceful.'

"Oh, Arrow, there you are!" the elegant voice of a mare called out, once again rendering Arrow from his thoughts. He turned around and what came to him was a surprise as he saw Rarity looking up at him with warm smile. He immediately flew down to her, landing softly to avoid startling her.

"Hello, Rarity," he began, popping a small grin to her, "how are you this fine evening?"

"Well I'm feeling splendid now, and I have you to thank for it after all, if you hadn't saved Sweetiebelle and myself then only Celestia knows what could have happened!"

"Oh, you are most welcome, it was my pleasure to bring you to safety," Arrow said delightfully, he then quickly looked down and placed his hoof over his lips and hid what seemed to be a very faint blush.

Rarity smiled heartily at the stallion as placed her hoof on top of his, bringing it back to rest on the floor.

"Arrow," she intoned to him, "would you like to accompany me to home? We could take this opportunity to get to know each other over some hot chocolate perhaps?"

The question took Arrow by surprise as his wings shot up, an overwhelming joy lit up in his heart, 'she has invited me to her residence?'

"I- I would love to... but..." Arrow uttered, causing Rarity's smile to fade, "you see, I feel as though I need to keep watch... and-"

"Oh, nonsense darling! That is why the royal guards are here is it not? And besides, I'm sure if something were to happen they would make their best efforts to alert you immediately. Don't you think so?"

"Well, yes, I suppose that does make sense."

"Marvellous, I'm sure after today you require some sort of repose."

"Well that is true, we do have a big day to go through tomorrow... yes, Rarity, yes, I would much rather like to spend the rest of the night with you." Arrow replied comfortingly setting an atmosphere of glee for Rarity once more.

x

Arrow held the door open as both Rarity and himself entered the boutique; Arrow was once again greeted with surprise as he saw the door across the main hall which led to Rarity's room was already repaired. That and the wooden models.

"It seems that the boutique is all in one piece again," Arrow said in his usual unmoved tone.

"It's simply lovely again, isn't it?" Rarity replied, "that friend of yours is quite the craftsman."

"Who? Forest? Oh, yes that is right, he used to work as a carpenter during his adventuring times around Equestria."

"And because of that, I'm able to display my latest dresses again! Tell me, what do you think about this one?" Rarity asked the stallion as she levitated one of the wooden models to them. Arrow felt the material and analysed the dress thoroughly leaving a few long seconds of silence which made Rarity feel slightly awkward.

"A cascading silk dress that trails," Arrow began, " studded with the finest blue-purple rhinestone that gives a shimmering and sparkling effect when the cream coloured silk moves. The dress elegantly comes up to the neck in a turtle neck with a diamond shaped gap on the chest area... having the top buttoned with with a circular cut clear blueish gem and a royal purple sash along the waist compliments the whole dress itself... the shoes are simple but have rhinestones lined into them to match the dress..."

Rarity was shocked to see that Arrow was able to pick up on the scheme of the design, most stallions would give a simple phrase such as, 'it looks great.'

Arrow continued, "To sum it all up, it is absolutely astounding. Not only is the dress magnificent but the colour co-ordination makes it suitable for a mare of any coat colour."

"Why, y- yes! Precisely!" Rarity replied in delight to his understanding, "the main idea for this dress was to be coat colour friendly, and you noticed that straight away!"

"Well... actually, I paint as a hobby so I am quite familiar with the use of colour and their backgrounds."

"Really? Well, that sounds just lovely. You should show me your paintings sometime, I would be more than happy to take a gander at them."

'So he does have an artistic side, 'Rarity pondered as they walked into the kitchen, 'this just might be the start of something grand.'

After nearly two hours of chatting and connecting over a cup of hot chocolate, Rarity and Arrow felt closer to each other. It was their interests in art and its many forms which had them showing understanding to each other. Arrow, who seemed so blank and emotionless turned out to be quite a profound stallion, Rarity had seen this the moment he had saved Sweetiebelle and herself from the clutches of the enemy. Her opinion on him was now only enhanced further, although, something was on her mind. Why is it that Arrow is like that? Why is it that he seemed so emotionally blank yet his personality stretched beyond his social attitude?

"So your horn just took you to a large rock filled with jewels?" Arrow's eyes widened as he asked Rarity.

"Indeed, quite the unusual story, is it not?" Rarity complied with a grin.

"Quite. I had no idea magic worked in these types of levels... it is as if it was your destiny to fabulous."

"Oh, come now," Rarity smiled softly with a faint blush, "I'm really not that fabulous-"

"Gorgeous?"

"O- oh, my..." Rarity began to blush deeply as she attempted to hide flattered smile.

'This is great!' Arrow thought to himself, 'We seem to be getting along quite well and I am managing to make her smile! I think this is going to be a wonderful night... I know! I will take her to that area. It is the perfect night for it after all.'

"Rarity, there is a place here in Ponyville that I believe you would enjoy wisiting... actually, I sort of made the place myself. Would you like to go?"

"Oh dear, right now? Well I'd love to, but-" the creek of the kitchen door followed by a loud thud guided Rarity and Arrow's eyes to the source. On the floor were three cutie mark crusaders who happened to be listening in, "Well... there's your answer," Rarity continued.

"Cutie marks in eavesdropping, huh?" said Sweetiebelle, both Apple Bloom and herself looking at Scootaloo, who just shrugged in reply.

"Now that I think about... it does sound pretty lame," Apple Bloom added.

Rarity had allowed Sweetiebelle to invite her friends for a sleepover earlier today in order to help cheer her up from what had happened earlier today, just managing to escape from the Metamor Legion. If Arrow had not noticed the string of Rarity's hair, there's no telling where they could have ended up.

"Girls," Rarity started, in a calm and surprisingly cheerful manner, "it's quite late, why aren't you three in bed?"

"We were tryin' ta sleep Rarity, honest!" Apple Bloom began.

"Yeah, but we were just too excited," Scootaloo stated immediately afterwards.

"I guess having candy before bed was a bad idea?" Sweetiebelle uttered, giving a toothy grin, "your not mad, are you Rarity?"

"What? Of course not, Sweetiebelle!" how could she be mad at them? After what happened, Rarity wanted her sister to feel as much ease as possible.
"Although," she continued, "the three of you should really be in bed by now."

"But we're feeling too active..." the three little filly's said with a sigh.

"Well, this gives me an idea," Arrow stated, "Rarity, why not let them come along?"

The girls immediately looked up at the two adults with joy in their eyes. "I wanna go to the place Mister Arrow was talkin' about!" Apple Bloom blurted.

"Me too!" Scootaloo added.

"And me three!" Sweetiebelle complied.

Arrow edged closer to Rarity, "I know it is late, Rarity, but it is a weekend for them tomorrow, and if it makes a difference we will only be there for at least forty-five minutes maximum."

"Well, I suppose there's no harm then." Rarity answered with a warm smile.

Rarity had locked the entrance to the Carousel Boutique before their department and had stopped to ponder on how they were going to reach this strange area that Arrow had mentioned.

"Pardon me, Arrow, but where exactly is this place?"

"It is on a large hill side near the stargazing hill, I am going to fly us there in order to savour the time we have left."

"What? Fly us there? Heavens darling! Are you sure you can support all that weight?"

"Woah!" The cutie mark crusaders blurted in surprise as Arrow held them with his front hooves, he turned his back to Rarity and then spread his wings out.

"Just place your hooves around my neck and hold on to my back," He said as he turned his head to look at Rarity, his smile comforting and reassuring that he has the situation handled. With little persuasion needed, Rarity trusted the white pegasus and had done as he had asked her; as she got on to his back, she picked up the distinct scent of his mane which was slightly robust in a sweet way, a popular calone amongst gentlecolts of Canterlot which gave her nostrils a pleasurable greeting.

Arrow began to flap his wings slowly ascending into the air and began flying to the secret location past the stargazing hill, thankfully it was not too far from the boutique.

He flew them up a large and unnaturally curved but safe hill landing on lower level just below the top. The area was quite wide for a hill side; there was a tree that had moon flowers sprouting out from the top of its leaves, they reflected the moonlight in such a way that it made the flowers themselves look like the were glowing, fireflies hovered around the tree only emphasising its beauty. A river at the center had a gentle stream flow that went to the edge of the hillside creating a silent and small waterfall.

There were several thorn-less rose beds located on the other side of the river, the grass was very smooth and was almost equivalently as soft as the finest mattresses. The three little fillies looked around in admiration and awe, they frolicked around the area and explored the new terrain, to the rose beds across the river and to the fireflies around the tree. Shooting stars fell once more across the cresent moon sky.

"My goodness..." Rarity uttered under her breath, "You made this?"

Arrow nodded after clearing his throat, "Remember when I told you that I am able to reshape terrain? Well, there was this giant purple dragon that attacked Ponyville not so far back and it trampled over this hillside and I sort of rebuilt it after it left."

"That's... simply wonderful," Rarity replied whilst looking around once more, 'I guess he does not know that dragon was Spike,' Rarity giggled after the thought.

Rarity placed her hoof around Arrow's, "Thank you for bringing me here," she then placed her hoof to the side of his chin, gently beckoning him to lower his head. As he had done so, their lips had connected for a short and tender kiss.

x

Back in the home of Pinkie Pie and Forest, the two were just about ready to go to bed.

"Well, we had a long day today," Forest began, "and tomorrow's gonna be even longer."

"Personally, I'm really excited!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed as they hopped into the bed, "I wanna know what it's like to be out there in the zone like you are all the time! Ya think I'll be able to do all those flashy super duper power moves thingy like Boa? With all the bang and the pow and bif!"

"You forgot boom!"

"Boom!" she added.

Forest Chuckled lightly, "Boa's powers are related to the seismic plates, and since your also an earth pony then you just might have the same thing. Or, it could be something different, earth related of course."

"I can't wait to know what it is!"

"yeah, I'm eager to know as well... Oh! I almost forgot!" Forest pulled out the Thundertred Book of Magic from underneath the bed, "check it out, I think I've finally figured out the secret to this book! That guard said something about a concentration point and I'm almost certain it's gotta be the gem at the back of the book... here!" Forest turned the book to the back and pointed at the yellow gem.

"Finally! Well, what are you waiting for? Let's solve this case!"

"Al-right, here it goes!" Forest prepared the magic reveal spell, the light emitted from the tip of his horn once more, he then tapped it against the gem, it began to glow a faint yellow aura which streamed across the silver crest design on the book. Forest's and Pinkie Pie's eyes widened as the book began to glow vividly. The magical aura then immediately came to a halt and the gem popped out, Pinkie Pie caught it before it leaped away from them.

"That's it?" she asked in a confused manner as they both stared at the gem.

Forest opened the book and quickly flipped through the pages, "No change... nothing..." he then threw himself back and groaned in annoyance at the pointless result. "I'll never figure out the secret to this thing..." he continued.

"Well, maybe there's something else you gotta do," Pinkie Pie complied as she placed the gem and the book on the shelf of the dresser next to the bed, "I'm sure there's more to it than just that."

She turned around to find a floating Gummy who s lips were in sync with Forest's voice, "Now what makes you say that?"

Pinkie Pie laughed heartily at the event as she threw herself down on the bed.

"Boo." Forest uttered in a silly tone, Pinkie Pie then turned around, now lying on her belly, and looked down from the edge of the bed to find Forest poking out from underneath.

"When did you?" she asked, still giggling and smiling widely.

"When you weren't looking."

As she calmed down, she began to gently rub the side of his ear with her hoof, "Anyway, I', sure we'll figure out something, besides, we've got our friends to help us too."

"Yeah... we do..." he replied, his smile quickly fading afterwards.

"You didn't tell them about the book yet, did you?"

Forest shook his head, "I didn't get the proper chance to..."

Pinkie Pie then swooped away and appeared next to him under the bed, "you should tell them tomorrow," she said in a soft tone, "it's been making you sad lately, you know I don't want you to be sad, right?" she continued as they placed their heads together.

"I know... I'm sorry, I'll tell them all about it tomorrow, I plan to do that anyway," Forest smiled comfortingly at her, she smiled back and gently brushed the edge of her nose against his. Finally, it was time to go to sleep.