The Ace of Spades & Diamonds
Chapter 1: An Assignment in the Woods
“Alright everyone, your assignment over the weekend is to list at least four things from Sanigar Forest; a rock, tree, flower and an animal” An elementary school teacher explained and then added. “Oh and just be careful not to anger it’s guardian or any other forest spirits. Also, this will be a partner project so the person sitting next to you will be your partner.”
“Sanigar Forest? I wonder wha-” A thirteen year-old Twilight Sparkle started to think when she was cut off by her classmate and childhood friend, Spruce Carver. “I guess we’re partners then.”
Spruce Carver is also thirteen years old, however he has short, straight midnight-blue to black hair, emerald eyes; he was currently wearing a reddish-orange t-shirt with a TV-show decal on it, navy-blue jeans and red, black shoes.
Twilight on the other hand had shoulder length dark-purple hair with a purple, magenta stripes on the left side of her hair, magenta eyes; she was currently wearing a snow-white sundress and black shoes.
“Good b-but um I don’t really know much about Sanigar Forest...” Twilight admitted to her friend. “And to be honest it seems a bit scary...”
“Don’t worry, my dad takes me there all the time to help me pick out fallen logs, so I pretty much know my way around that forest!” Spruce Carver confidently exclaimed.
“O-okay, then does meeting up at my house on Saturday at eleven-thirty work?” Twilight asked.
“Yeah that’ll work!” Spruce replied before the bell rang.
“Alright everyone, have a great weekend and be careful when doing your assignment!” The teacher exclaimed as students started to leave the school.
“So um what kind of creatures should we expect to see tomorrow?” Twilight asked Spruce as they walked home together as their houses despite being in opposite directions of each other’s both merged on one intersection.
“Well there’s quite a few Jackalopes this time of year, we might see some dear but the main creatures I’m worried about besides the forest’s guardian are dryads, Shug Monkeys and earth drakes” Spruce explained.
“There are Shug Monkeys and earth drakes in Sanigar Forest?” Twilight asked as she now felt a bit of fear form.
“Yea though they’re rarer than a bear so we probably won’t encounter any of them, but if we do I’ll protect you! I promise” Spruce replied as the two reached the intersection where they split. “Oh and you might want to wear some hiking clothes; if you don’t have any then some shorts, tennis shoes, a hat and a t-shirt will work.”
“Okay, see you tomorrow!” Twilight replied before the two split up to go their individual homes.
“Thanks again for driving us to Sanigar Forest Shining” Twilight said to her brother as he was driving both her and Spruce to Sanigar Forest.
“It’s no problem!” Shining Armor Replied before mumbling. “Even though she's sick I’d rather be hanging out with Cadence right now...”
Shining Armour was wearing a crimson-colored hoodie over a light stone-gray t-shirt, navy-blue jeans, white, black and gray sneakers.
“What was that?” Twilight asked as she had heard her brother say something under his breath.
“I-I was just talking to myself...look, Sanigar Forest is in sight!” Shining Armour exclaimed as he tried to distract his sister from his comment.
“Okay, and will you be coming with us Shining?” Twilight asked as she started to feel a pit in her stomach form.
“No, but along as you don’t stray to far from the path you should be okay. Oh and if you encounter anything dangerous give me a call!” Shining Armour replied as drove into the parking lot of Sanigar Forest.
“But mom told you to join us!” Twilight responded before huffing.
“Fine, I guess I’ll join you” Shining Armour replied after sighing in defeat.
“Good! Now then, lets go Spruce!” Twilight exclaimed as the three of them unbuckled their seat belts.
“Okay” Spruce replied as he exited the car.
“Now then Spruce since you’ve been here the most would you mind guiding us?” Twilight asked her friend after she to had exited the car.
“Yea, that’d really help” Shining Armour added as he handed his sister and Spruce their backpacks.
“I don’t mind so follow me!” Spruce replied as the trio headed into the forest.
“Lets see we got a tree, so now we need a flower, rock and an animal...got any ideas where we could find some rocks or flowers Spruce?” Twilight asked as she checked off an item.
“Well there is this one river that’s about an eighth of a mile away, it has tons of rocks, plus it isn’t uncommon to see animals there so we might be able to check two things off the list!” Spruce Carver suggested.
“And if we’re lucky you might even be able to cross all three off the list at once!” Shining Armour replied while thinking. “Not to mention the sooner you two get done the sooner I can be with Cadence”
“Good point, let’s go” Twilight responded as she pulled on her backpack.
“Alright, it’s a little of the trail so be careful you two” Spruce warned as he started walking to the right of the trail with Twilight following him and Shining Armour following behind.
“So...what type of animal are you two hoping to find?” Shining Armour asked as the trio made their way through some bushes.
“W-well I’m hoping to see a squirrel, what about you Spruce?” Twilight asked as she tried her best to not have her glasses knocked off due to any loose hanging branches.
“Hmm I don’t know maybe a deer or something” Spruce replied as the trio reached the top of the riverbank.
Much to Shining Armour’s disappointment however there was no flowers or animals, causing him to sigh.
“Hey how about that boulder?” Twilight suggested as she spotted a boulder nearby.
“Yea, that’ll do and since it’s mostly flat we can use it to have lunch on, how does that sound? Spruce asked Twilight and her brother.
“Perfect, then we can head back to the trail and continue searching for the last two items!” Twilight replied as she took off her backpack to grab some measuring equipment.
Once Twilight was done measuring she allowed Spruce to make a sketch of the rock as it was required to have a picture of the items needed.
“Wow, I didn’t realize you were so good at drawing” Shining Armour exclaimed as he saw Spruce’s sketch.
“Thanks, but it’s only because it helps me for when I want to make a detailed wood carving” Spruce replied as he finished up and brought out the picnic blanket along with their lunches.
“So what did your mom make?” Shining Armour asked as Spruce brought out a brown bag from his backpack.
“Ham and cheese sandwiches with one cookie for each of us” Spruce replied as he handed out three smaller bags that had the sandwiches and cookies in them.
“Thanks, so after lunch we have to find a flower and an animal” Twilight explained as she grabbed her sandwich to eat. “Though I thought we would of at least seen a jackrabbit by now.”
“Yea and how come we haven’t seen any birds by now?” Spruce added before finishing his sandwich and began eating his cookie.
“Well it’s not like they’re just gonna walk in front of us and stand around” Shining Armour pointed out before starting on his cookie as well.
“Eh good point” Twilight replied after finishing her cookie and wiping off her face.
Spruce, Shining Armour soon did the same and after they cleaned up the trio were back on the trail looking for an animal and a flower.
“Why hasn’t there been any flowers?!” Shining Armour exclaimed in frustration.
“That’s because there probably isn’t enough sunlight reaching through the trees for flowers to grow” Twilight explained. “After Sanigar Forest is a deciduous forest, meaning there isn’t a whole lot of sunlight for bushes, flowers and shrubs to grow so they end up growing near clearings.
“Oh...” Shining Armour replied before sighing.
“Hey I think I see some flowers in a clearing up ahead!” Spruce exclaimed.
“Great, come on you two-ow!” Twilight started before tripping over what looked to be a fallen tree branch.
“Twi are you okay? You okay?” Shining Armour and Spruce asked as Shining Armour helped Twilight up while Spruce picked up her glasses.
“Yea, I am thanks” Twilight replied after putting her glasses back on and brushing herself off.
“Good, just be more careful next time okay?” Spruce replied.
“I will, thanks” Twilight responded. “Now then, let’s head to that clearing.”
As the trio entered the clearing Twilight spotted a rose bush nearby and brought Spruce along while Shining Armour decided to not only take a picture of the clearing but also pick some flowers for Cadence.
However, what the trio didn’t notice was that the “fallen tree branch” Twilight had tripped over had started moving.
“Hey Spruce, are you done with your sketch yet, because I’m done with calculating the age and species?” Twilight asked as she started putting her things away.
“Yea, just about...” Spruce started but suddenly stopped when he realized that there was no longer any sounds but the wind and water.
“Spruce, what’s wrong?” Twilight as her friend had suddenly grown quiet.
“We need to-” Spruce started before him and Twilight were tackled to the ground my Shining Armour followed by the wind of something massive flying pass them.
“Shining, what’s going on?” Twilight asked as it felt like whatever that cause the wind went away.
“We’re being attacked by an earth drake” Shining Armour explained as he let the two up before a bright blue light shined from his hands in the form of a pearl-white and gold spear.
When Spruce and Twilight looked up they saw a massive serpentine creature that was about a half a mile long, an eighth of a mile wide except for the tip of the tail which looked like it was about two inches thick, it looked like a mixture of wood, moss covered scales, two wood birch colored antlers, a stone textured underbelly, orange eyes and stone gray colored teeth.
“You two, get to the car now! I’ll-” Shining Armour started to say when the Earth Drake knocked him out of the way, causing him to land against a tree.
The pain from landing against a tree cause Shining Armour to let out a pain grunt which led to him being knocked out as well as leading his magi-tech spear to disperse.
“Shinning!” Twilight cried as the Earth Drake let out an ear shattering roar that sounded like a mix between a Komodo dragon, alligator and a bison.
