The New Normal

I was making good time with the girls, Spike and Thoth both having stayed behind to guard the town and its surroundings in case of any predators from the everfree getting ideas. We had gone into the forest with relatively little going on so far, albeit there was minute interference from Nightmare Moon, but I could also feel Luna's magic mixed in with those interferences, making each trial and tribulation sent our way to reinforce the girls' friendship. Although, it was disconcerting to see the manticore so easily tamed by Fluttershy’s kindness.

Indeed, everyone was acting the part of their element perfectly, until we got to a ravine that seemed to have the ropes cut recently… something felt… off. “RD, blade at the ready, but can you reconnect the bridge? It feels like whatever corrupted Luna did the same to something here, and that worries me…”

"Good call, Uncle Rex," Twilight commented, "Dark magic is at play… necromancy if I had to guess, though I really hope I'm wrong."

"You got it, boss~" Rainbow replied with a cheeky grin and a mock salute before diving down for the hanging bridge.

As Rainbow Dash lifted up the bridge and began to tie the first rope, she suddenly perked up her ears and looked behind her. “You can come out now, I can hear you!”

As she said this, a magical mist rose up and blocked any sound from me and the girls from reaching her. I sighed and waited at the bridge, the girls looking on nervously. “How can you be so confident? Dashie is in danger!” Fluttershy asked incredulously.

"Ah wouldn't worry bout er'," Applejack spoke up, "Trainin' with those two is like watchin' a pony sprint a marathon."

I smirked. “And because if three opponents freshly formed from shadow magic are enough to stop any of my students, then I have failed as their sensei.”

RD POV

I was surrounded, the dark magic forms of the shadowbolts making the grass wilt beneath them. “Leave them, and you shall be rewarded, Rainbow Dash, with wealth and glory as our masters herald!”

I looked at the leader of this trio and smirked, barely hiding my anger at them even attempting this tactic. I then recalled Rex’s lessons on anger and how it makes a swordspony sloppy, and sighed, using the breathing techniques Rex showed me to keep my temper under control, I smirked. “And if I say no?”

The shadowbolts sneered, barely masking the pain behind their eyes. “Then we shall kill you, and raise you as our pawn!”

I stood there calmly, my anger at their threats soon replaced by a calm fury. “Tell me, do you have names?” I asked.

The shadowbolts scoffed. “What use is a name for a shadow? We are Shadowbolts, no more, no less.”

There, there it was, the last glint of who they were before, struggling against this dark magic. You could see it in their eyes… I have to free them from this… this pain. “I gotta say no, sorry about that...”

The shadowbolts grinned, their inner selves screaming and pounding against their prisons. “Then we shall sup on your flesh, and raise your shadow to serve instead! The honor of servitude is inescapable. None may flee their shadow!”

My smirk became strained as they sent what looked like black feathers after me, which I barely dodged by the skin of my teeth, the feathers lodging into the ground behind me and turning the ground a sickly grey color. I had to be careful, or else I might not walk out of this in one piece…

Time to get serious.

“Shadows give honor?” I asked as I dashed to the front-most enemy, slashing with my blade clean through their head before dazing another foe with a pommel strike, the third quickly taking to the air for an attack from above.

“Your sin is Grievous deceit!” I then exclaimed, dodging a kick from behind, using my blade to catch them in mid-air and slice off their right arm and wing, black ichor flowing from the wound in the place of blood, the liquid falling to the ground below and turning the grass a wispy black.

“Loyalty unsold!” I then took to the air myself, flying behind the two before stabbing downwards with all my might through the eye of the dazed shadowbolt, and through the heart of the crippled one.

As I saw them dissipate, I cleaned my partner with a quick gust of wind from my wings, then sheathed her in her scabbard. “May your souls find rest before the next venture.” I then sighed and went back to re-tie the ropes on the bridge.

Rex POV

I smiled as the bridge rose from the mists, becoming a sturdy means across once more. “See? Dashie did right by us, she ain't the kinda girl to leave her friends in the lurch.”

"WOO! GO DASHIE!!" Pinkie cheered as she practically bounced up and down and held a pair of pom poms.

"Of course, senseless violence," Rarity commented, "I'm sure a certain dragon we know would have lapped this… display up in its depraved entirety."

Flutershy, however, looked horrified, even as the other girls nodded in agreement. “H-how could you praise this? She MURDERED them!”

I then looked Shy in the eyes. “No, she freed them. They were trapped in dark magic copies of who they were, unable to even resist the dark magic making them into bloodthirsty abominations. RD likely saw that they were suffering, and strove to free them.” I sighed sadly before continuing. “Sometimes, the kindest thing we can do, is to let someone rest.”

Pinkie's hair had darkened and straightened out at some point after Shy's outburst, "He's right, actually… if a pony can't feel… or if all they feel is hurt… it's not really a life, is it?"

I then smiled at Pinkie, giving her a tickle to the ribs. “That’s why the world needs gals like you, Pinks. To make the hurt stop, and bring in the fun!”

Pinkie looked up with a bit of surprise at this, smiling softly as her cheeks seemed to burn red, "My gran gran… she was poisoned by a bite from an everfree shutter-snake one day. Living just… stopped being living for her."

Shy fell silent at that, seemingly understanding our words, but not liking the truth in them. She proceeded with the rest of the girls, a frown on her face as she was deep in thought.

It was not long before the pegasus in question flew back, her blade being spun rather playfully before it was sheathed with slow care, "And that takes care of that~"

"Rather brutal, wasn't it darling?" Rarity questioned with a raised brow, the rainbow-maned pony rolling her eyes.

"Aw shucks, don't y'all listen to her none," Applejack dismissed, "Ah've seen her do worse to old mannequins."

I chuckled knowingly. “Not to mention Old Earl, hmm? That old bot takes a helluva beating~!”

Several shouts and hollering ensued;

"Don't y'all bring up that varmint!"

"Hitting him doesn't even get him to shut up!"

"He insulted my sweets!"

"Happy place Twi, happy place!"

"There aren't enough sharpened gemstones in the world!”

"Why was he even made!?"

I snickered as Pinkie, even though a little miffed, was now less focused on the sad memories. “Because You needed someone you could beat senselessly to get a feel for your combat style. Rude or not, he definitely helped your combat skills, am I right?”

As we crossed the bridge, the girls all mumbled a hesitant agreement, and we made our way to the castle in relative silence.

"Uncle Rex? Any ideas on how to proceed?" Twilight asked with a serious and focused tone.

I nodded, looking to the shrine in the center of the room, the dormant Elements of Harmony sitting in their individual places of honor. Oddly enough this world gave each Element a statue instead of there just being one, and each statue depicted what were apparently the first wielders of these elements.

Vamponies, Lycans, Oni, Satyrs, Dryads, and even Kitsune, they all were the chosen wielders of these elements in times long past, their descendants and apostles making statues to honor them, along with their successors.

This was Harmony, so strong here that there was an almost holy aura to this place...

“Each of you, stand in front of a statue, and Twilight, focus on the feeling this place gives you, let it speak to you, through you even.”

Each of the girls took a spot in front of their respective element, and Twilight knelt, a few moments passed before a loud rumble shook the foundation of the old castle, Twilight's eyes beginning to glow with magical overflow. “Spirits of Harmony, we entreat thee, grant us thine blessing…”

The statue of the Oni was the first to move, looking down at Pinkie and smiling warmly. “Child of Laughter, thine goal to see the smiles of thy loved ones hath been reinforced, with a desire to protect the ability to do so. My blessing is given.”

The statue of the Lycan then looked down to RD with a feral grin. “Child of Loyalty. Your Blood burns with a Loyal flame for thine comrades. Your bonds to thine allies are thine strength, never let thy convictions fade. My blessing is given.”

Next was the Satyr, who wryly smirked at AJ “Child a Honesty, ye have the soul of an Honest worker, and an Honest heart, ye tell the truth even when it makes your life harder… My blessing is given.”

Then, the Vampony gave a Graceful smile, her fangs barely showing as she looked upon Rarity. “Child of Generosity, thy goal to give until all prosper is a noble one. My blessing is given.”

After that, the Dryad smiled warmly at Fluttershy. “Child of Kindness, thy bravery in defending your animal friends, and openness to learning of Rex after your first impression…It does this auld timberlings heart a good turn it does... My blessing is given.”

Finally, the Kitsune looked to Twilight with a motherly love apparent. “Child of Magic, thine study of the Arcane almost endangered thy connection to the beauty of working with others, but you overcame this hurdle, and many after, proving to be a true friend. My Blessing is Given.”

I thought this would be it, but instead, the statues all looked to me as they all began to glow. “Child of Man, take care of our descendents. We give you all our blessing, and may you protect the Harmony of these lands!” The statues burst, and glowing orbs flowed into the girls, each one partially taking on features of the statue behind them as Nightmare Moon appeared, a look of shock on her face.

“The Elements, they have fused with you all! Nevermind, I will just have to crush you all into dust along with the Elements!”

I drew a pistol from my side, firing a stun shot right at Nightmare moon, temporarily paralyzing her. “I don’t think so, these girls are my charges, and I won’t let you or anyone else hurt them!”

Nightmare Moon growled. “How is this possible, what sorcery is it that allows you to bind a goddess such as I?!”

I smiled. “Not magic, just some old fashioned technology.” I looked at the girls, them still charging up their Elements. Seems that I was still needed. “Well, let’s see how my magic works on ya, if you want it so bad!”

I then focused on Nightmare, readying several weakening spells to go off in unison with a binding curse chaser, using all of my magical energy in one huge blast of arcane spellwork. After initiating the set, Nightmare’s movements became even more strained. “Curse you, foalish warrior! I will make you bleed!”

I smirked as the girls finally finished charging the spell, the arcane energy surging past me as I chuckled. “Not likely.” And with that, Nightmare Moon was cleansed from Luna, and the darkness of night gave way to day.

Unlike in the show, the girls were all exhausted by the magic they used, them all sweating profusely, too tired to notice their clothes had changed for the time being, even as Celestia was freed from her imprisonment below the castle. “So, should we let the other nations know that we have newfound hybrids of their kind in need of lessons?”

Celestia smiled tiredly, the haunted look in her eyes quickly replaced with an overjoyed expression at seeing Luna free. “Later, now we let them rest, and I reunite with my dearest sister, who-” A fairly quick, but tiny fist connected with Celestia's chin.

"Blind fool!" Luna decried, fists shaking in anger, "I can't believe you didn't immediately smite Grogar where he stood! Ugh… you and your weakness to older stallions… what's with you and the elderly anyway?"

"They're just so cute and adorable with their crinkly little faces and squinty eyes~" Celestia whined.

"I can achieve the same thing in a prolonged bath!" Luna chided.

"What… is happening right now?" Rainbow asked.

"I… I don't know," Rarity murmured, "I am just as lost as you."

"Hey Rexxie?" Pinkie asked, "What did you mean by mixed ancestry?"

I smirked, gesturing to them. “Well, it seems some dormant ancestry has woken up in your bodies, welcome to the life of the multicultural, ladies!”

The group all blinked in unison before several and varied reactions left them

Pinkie was bouncing from corner to corner, cheering excitedly about her newfound ancestral family.

Applejack looked incredibly perplexed and paced in a circle as she tried to comprehend how her family tree went from a mythical beast to ponies.

Twilight, wide-eyed and excited, went a mile a minute as she spoke endlessly of unseen possibilities.

Fluttershy looked thoughtful, though hid a giddy giggle as she inadvertently achieved one of her dreams.

Rainbow looked down at her left hand, clenching and releasing the fist as conviction welled within her heart.

Rarity however… Rarity was sitting on the floor, eyes wide in shock as she held her head.

"Something wrong, sugarcube?" Applejack asked as she walked up to Rarity.

"Everything… it all makes sense now…" Rarity whispered as Applejack grew more worried by the second, "I… I… I. AM. FABULOUS!~" She practically declared as if a mighty warrior standing over a cliff side.

"That's ah… guess that's one take away from ah'll this," Applejack murmured as she backed away.

"As miffed as I am that I didn't get anything, Rarity's ears actually look kinda fluffy now," Spike spoke up, causing everyone to flinch.

"When did you get here!?" Rarity shouted before going pale, "AND WHAT IN HARMONIES NAME HAPPENED TO YOUR SUIT!?"

Spike looked sheepishly away, "I came in with Celestia, she called me telepathically and teleported me in… and I'd just like to say it wasn't my fault!"

All that truly remained of Spike's suit had been a tattered sleeve still attached to a buttoned collar and horribly shredded pants that now looked like shorts.

"Wasn't your, what did you do you mindless drake!?" Rarity questioned, "Throw yourself into a wheat grinder!?"

"Is Rarity always this… loud?" Celestia asked with worry.

"Just with Spike," Rainbow replied, "It's kinda funny how much they act like a married couple."

"Mind repeatin' that?" Applejack asked firmly, eyes squinting into a glare as Rainbow backed away.

I smirked, reviewing the records of the animals that had been observing ponyville, before breaking up the fight. “He’s telling the truth, Spike took a hit from a hydra, spat an acid blast straight for Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom. They were hiding together with that new girl Scootaloo, and the hydra found them. Spike beat it to near death, then the Hydra tried to flee and lobbed the acid to buy time. Spike leaped in the way and took it full on.”

"You did that for Sweetie?" Rarity asked softly, surprise in her eyes.

"Ah'm torn between huggin' ya tah death or just plain killin' ya," Applejack said in a mix of anger and worry, "On tha one hand, ya'll saved my sis. On the other…" She then promptly swung a fist down on his head, Spike's head shaking like a bell, "YA COULD HAVE DIED YA BRAINLESS NEWT!"

"Okay okay! I'm sorry!" Spike shouted as he rubbed his head, "Plus, it was no big deal. They were in danger and… and I survived."

"SPIKE!" Twilight shouted as she rushed the dragon, grabbing him by the shoulders and shaking him repeatedly, "Do you know how dangerous hydra acid is!? How did you even stop it without it melting off half of your body!? Where did it even go?"

After shaking away the vertigo, Spike looked at me and then back to Twilight before looking at me again.

I nodded sagely. “It’s time for them to know what happened when we unlocked your dragon magic.”

"Magic?" Twilight quickly asked as she pulled Spike down and sat on the floor with his head on her lap, "What's this about magic?"

"Uhh… I unlocked some power?" Spike asked more than said as Twilight started to open his eye lids, checked his teeth, ran a finger along his scales, reviewing his every detail for any minute change.

"Explain in detail," Twilight said calmly as she began to tap his spines.

I stepped in, saving Spike from having to talk magic theory with Twilight. “So, you know the fact that every creature in this reality needs magic to function, and that every living thing has a spiritual core of sorts that generates it for them as well as a secondary core for absorption of mana, known as the sun and moon principal due to how the two cores look when observed on the magical spectrum?”

Twilight nodded, looking at Spike's muscle structure. “Yes, what of it?”

I smiled sadly. “Spikes Sun core, the generator, was working at base speed, barely trucking along at what could be called five percent of his potential safe production. So I bumped it up. I gave him the mana that I produced in excess, via a self-made program used with my cyberware to amp up his mana production. I call it an awakening. His power went from five to fifty percent instantly. That’s when he had his growth spurt, two years ago, we have been training up his powers and his control since his actual percentage has gone down, not because his power has decreased, but because his control has doubled. He’s at about thirty five percent capacity at baseline now.”

"And you both failed to contact me about this beforehand because?" Twilight asked as she eyed me critically.

I frowned. “Because if I didn’t, he’d have died from mana deficiency at the age of twenty. Dragons are supposed to live for thousands of years, easy... Twilight, he wouldn’t even live to full adulthood if I didn’t step in… the thought of that happening to my nephew made me panic, you two are like kids to me, I don’t want you to miss out on life for any reason.”

Twilight looked at Spike with regret and worry, the dragon smiling awkwardly and shrugging, "So… what did the awakening do?" Twilight asked.

“Well,” I chuckled. “He became a beefcake for one, for two, he has the ability to absorb, incorporate, and learn techniques for various magical abilities native to creatures inherently, and three, he’s got a healing factor that lets him regenerate from nothing but crushed bones.” My face darkened. “Don’t worry, we made the Ettin that crushed him pay dearly.”

"Spike? Why didn't you ever tell me about this?" Twilight asked with a bit of hurt.

"I didn't want to worry you too much," Spike replied as he slowly rose, "Also, it's kind of hard to just up and say hey, mom. I have regenerative super powers now."

"Oh my gosh," Pinkie whispered before exploding, "SPIKE IS A SUPER HERO!"

I raised an eyebrow at Pinkie, observing her cores for a moment. It was at the same percentage as Spike, now, roughly the same darkness of the moon core as well… “Pinkie, do me a favor, hit a wall, gently. Just a playful slap.”

Pinkie gave a mock salute, tongue sticking out before high fiving the wall… the mass of stone exploding outwards in a sea of gray shrapnel. Looking down at her hand, her skin went pale as her hair straightened out, "I could have high fived somepony with that hand…"

I then looked at RD, and the rest of the girls. “You all have awoken to the blessings of your heritage, that means your faster, stronger, and more magically potent than you have ever been, not only by the margin that a normal genetic heritage activation would allow, but the elements also put you through an extremely improved awakening spell, putting you even with me and Spike after we awoke and trained for two years.”

The girls all looked at Pinkie and the hole that had just been a wall before going pale themselves.

"We need to learn proper control," Twilight spoke calmly.

"Control!? How do we control that!?" Rainbow argued.

"Now now darling, it shouldn't be impossible," Rarity urged.

"So wut? We all just walk on eggshells till then?" Applejack questioned.

I walked to the wall opposite pinkie, this wall made of much harder sturdier rock, as it was unworn by the elements due to its placement, gently clearing my throat to gain their attention. I then knocked a single knuckle against the wall, letting a brief pulse of my max power go to my finger as I did so. The resulting blast made even Celestia pale at the destruction; a few miles of forest flattened past the wall, the trees somehow already regrowing. “So what are we gonna do after the princesses go home? I have a feeling that some… training is in order? Don’t worry, no animals were harmed Fluttershy, I know for a fact. I scanned for the entire time that you were panicking. ”

The girls and dragon went absolutely pale at the mention of training.

"No," Spike whispered.

"You can't do this to us!" Twilight continued.

"Happy place, happy place," Rainbow murmured as she held herself.

"Anything but that! No no no!" Rarity shouted.

"Please don't let it be that, please don't let it be that," Fluttershy pleaded as she held onto Applejack, the farm girl staying quiet as she looked at Pinkie Pie rolling on the floor in a fetal position.

“That’s right, we are training with Old Earl!”

The collective yell of 'NOOOO!!' rocked the foundation of the castle as Celestia and Luna blinked.

"Who or what is an 'Old Earl?" Luna asked.

"This is also the first I heard of this," Celestia added.

I smirked. “Oh… You will learn quite well...After all, I had to offer to bring you along for Shuten Doji to allow us to use his secluded realm.”

Both the princesses went chalk white levels of pale… “Shuten Doji...y-you mean… the Oni creator god’s chosen, Shuten Doji?” I nodded, and the two promptly screamed before feinting, fear on their faces.