Episode 8: A Glimpse of Truth

Moonshine awoke with his own scream, sweet littering his body and tears dropping from his eyes. By his side on a stool his sword stood, glowing in a soft blue light.

Slowly Moonshine rose from his bed, took his sword sheathing it and exited his room. As he was leaving, his mind drifted to when his surrogate mother told him about what happened to his true mother, and even now her words echoed in his mind.

*...you are family, you are one of us. And an apple will never be alone*

Moonshine smirked at the memory, how could he ask for anything more than what they had given to him?

No... he needed to bear this curse his mother let to him.

They have given him a home, a family when he had none. They gave him hope when there was only despair. Apple Bloom, Big Macintosh and Apple Jack. They were everything he had, and he would do anything to pay them back, no matter what.

But right now, he would get some food. So Moonshine walked across the hall of the house and down a set of stairs, and quickly he found himself in the kitchen.

There a big table stood at the center, above it was a beautiful slice of pie with a note attached.

To Moonshine

Moonshine just smiled, even after his horrible nightmare, he couldn't be happier for having Apple Jack in his life.

Flash sentry was content, it had been many years since he had spoken with Sunset and, even now, it felt as if no time had passed.

She was a good girl, and he had no clue about what she was going through, but he knew deep inside she deserved to be happy; maybe she could even join the settlement and be part of the group. Even so, Flash sentry felt as if something was wrong, but he couldn't put his finger on what was it.

"Hey, Flash, are you there?"

Rumble voice came and brought Flash to the present, almost making him cut himself with the tip of his spear.

"Yeah, just preparing my gear." - Flash Replied while taking his shield - "By the way, why are you going with us?"

"Hum... Dunno." Rumble answered honestly

"What?" - Rumble answer made Flash turn to face the young man who tried to look the most innocent possible.

"Auntie Pinkie just told me to go with the party to make sure we catch our prey" - Rumble shrugged - "So I'm here."

"Let me see if I understand" - Flash took deep breaths and started to speak to himself in an effort to calm down- "I am going to hunt something that needs two awaken ones to take down. Is this true?"

"Yes, it looks like it."

Flash just facepalm, what that crazy woman was planning was beyond his mind, but if she planned this hunt with a goal in mind, this goal would be big.

"Say, Rumble, do you know we will go after?"

"No... she didn't tell me..."

"But she told me" - Came a feminine and heavy-accented voice, the newcomer approached the duo while wearing her sister's stetson hat.

"So Apple Bloom, what is it?"

"We were going after the Ace of Everfree" - Apple Bloom spoke with a smile - "And I and Rumble are not the only awakened ones on this hunt, Bluebood will be coming too."

"The Ace of Everfree... Wait, aren't this one the giant boar?"

"Yes!" Replied Apple Bloom

"And Blueblood is coming with us..."

"Yes..."Apple Bloom replied again, but a little more hesitant.

"I have a really bad feeling about this..." - Flash sentry muttered under his breath - "You all, prepare yourself for the worse, i will do the same... we can't let our guard down when next to that guy."

"You might be right... he is an ass." - Rumble spoke firmly and Apple Bloom nodded.

Sunset Shimmer entered the gates of the school carefully, even so she was curious about what the school had become. As soon as she stepped in the halls, she could feel the difference.

Corridors that were full of color and life now were relegated to the most basic shades of gray. The once young crowd that walked in the halls was now a few, the majority of them, by their clothes, were guards.

But even in this cold place, Sunset saw some cards and posters on the walls with positive phrases and a beautiful drawing of happy rainbows, clouds and a smiling sun—and it was obvious to her who the creator of these messages was. It was Pink-

"SUNSEEEEEETTTTTT"

Sunset almost jumped in surprise when she heard her name, and all she could do was look in the voice direction to see a pink blur grab her in a tight hug.

"OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD!" - The embrace was strong and sunset almost lost her breath, but the happy feeling inside her made her withstand the wish to break the contact - "SUNSET, HOW ARE YOU? ARE YOU FED? ARE YOU HAPPY? DO YOU LIKE OUR HOME? OHSUNSETIAMSOHAPPYTOSEEYOUAGAIN!"

"Pinkie, I am happy too." - Sunset spoke low, remembering how Rainbow treated her earlier. As pinkie released her friend from her grip, she made a thinking face.

"I want to catch up with you, but there is the reunion and..." - Pinkie opened a big smile and grabbed Sunset's hand, dragging her along the halls - "I know! First, we will test you, then we can eat a cake till the reunion. It will be our little reunion party before the party!"

Sunset thought about telling her to stop, that she was nervous with the meeting and that she would like to wait till time, but she didn't have the heart to do it and, besides that, it was Pinkie; it would never work.

Pinkie dragged Sunset through the halls of Canterlot High with the energy she always had, all while she spoke incessantly about many things at a speed that sunset simply couldn't follow.

Even so, Sunset knew Pinkie had some place in mind and not long after, she started to hear a posh male voice coming from a room ahead.

"Do you know who I am?" - spoke the male voice – "I deserve this rock more than anyone here!"

"No, you don't." answered a monotone female voice - "This is for someone else."

Both sunset and Pinkie were curious and peeked into the room, finding an office in prime condition. In the center a desk stood with some papers and a small rock, and sitting there was an expressionless woman; a stark contrast to the man standing next to her, a blond man that, by his posture, saw himself as the center of the word.

"Do you know who my aunt was?" - asked the man - "I'm the last member of her family, I deserve this rock, now give it to me or..."

"OR WHAT?" - Pinkie Pie entered the office, and her sister almost showed some emotion - "YOU ARE NOT SPECIAL, BLUEBLOOD, AND YOU ARE NOT THE LAST MEMBER OF CELESTIA FAMILY!"

Blueood turned to see pinkie, rage was clear on his face, and Sunset didn't know how to proceed in this situation, so she just stayed by the door.

"Oh, you mean that sorry excuse of a cousin? Moonshine is more like the dirty people who raised him than family and..."

"WASH YOUR MOUTH BEFORE SPEAKING ABOUT HIM, YOUR POSH BASTARD!" - Pinkie pie was furious, Sunset had never seen her like this; now she was starting to understand how deep the changes in the world were - "WHEN LUNA DIE, YOU DID NOTHING TO HELP, IT WAS ME AND APPLE JACK WHO HELPED HIM! YOU ARE JUST A...."

"Enough!" - Maud declared, her magic starting to fill the entire room, even making it hard to breathe. "Blueblood, you will not get the rock, so get out. Now."

Facing Maud ultimatum, Blueblood left, spiting on the ground next to Pinkie's feet while leaving, his gaze fixed on the party girl.

"Your lucky your sister is here, you stupid pawn." - and turning to Maud he complemented - "You can have this stupid rock anyway, I will get the core of an Ace for myself."

Sunset was disturbed, this version of Bluebood was even worse than the one in Equestria.

"Pinkie, are you okay?" - Maud asked, her concern sipping in her monotone voice.

Pinkie in response took a deep breath and closed her eyes and, after a second, she reopened her signature smile.

"Yes, I am... I don't know, he is the only one who can get in my nerves!"

"Don't worry Pinkie, I'm furious too"– Spoke Maud in her monotone voice. Sunset couldn't see the difference in her semblance. - "But, how can I help you?"

"Oh, Maud, do you remember Sunset?" Pinkie pointed to Sunset by the door - "She wanted to do the test."

Maud simply nodded, opening a drawer and grabbing what looked like a small crystal ball, putting it over the desk.

"Eh, Pinkie, sorry, but I don't know what is going on..." - Sunset waved her hands, trying to convey her confusion - "What is going on? Test? And what was that thing that guy spoke about you?"

Maud just looked at Pinkie, a brow raised.

"You didn't explain to her, right?"

"Maybe I have forgotten?"

Maud sighed and focused all her attention on Sunset, almost to an unnerving degree.

"It seems I will have to do it, so you will need to pay attention..." - Maud cleared her throat and started, as Pinkie was sitting on the ground - "By what the reports told me, you already know we have magic here. But it is not so simple. Not everyone can use it, the ones who can are called the"awaken ones"and they can use and produce magic within their bodies, but the manifestation of these magic can vary greatly from person to person, but all of them have a base line for their ability."

"" What do you mean?"

"Shush, let her finish the lecture."

"Thanks Pinkie, but I will answer the question. The base line are the three "classes" that a person can be put in. They are the Knight, The Tower and the Bishop"

"Ah, just like chess pieces."

"Yes, each one of these classes has a specialty; Knights are stronger and physical; Bishops have more magic and can use cast spells, and Towers have a bit of both."

"Wait... If I remember correctly, that guy called Pinkie a Pawn, what does that mean?"

"These are a term some awaken ones used to describe normal people, it is a horrible way of doing it."

"Oh...so, Pinkie..."- Sunset was without word - "Sorry..."

"Hey, Sunset, don't worry, just because some of us can't use magic as the awaken ones, doesn't mean we are weak."Pinkie raised her arm, flexing her muscle— "We can use magic items and can even fight the monster, just look at Flash sentry, he is REALLY strong!"

"So Flash isn't a awaken?"- Sunset asked,

"No, but he is known as one of the strongest people here."Pinkie declared

"Maud, so the things you use to make these magical items are rocks like this one, right?"- Sunset appointed to the rock Blueblood wanted.

"Yes, but this is not a rock, it is a monster core. The stronger the monster, the stronger their core; some monsters can even absolve other monster's core to grow stronger. The biggest and meanest of the bunch are known as royals but I will explain later about it later"

"okay"

"So, as I was saying, when someone new comes to our settlement, they need to take a test to see if they are an "awaken one", this is what Pinkie meant with you taking a test."

"okay, I'm ready." Sunset spoke, uncertain of her words.

Maud opened a drawer on her desk, taking what looked like a crystal ball.

"Please, put your hand on the crystal."

Sunset did as instructed and when her hand touched the cold surface of the crystal, she felt as if a shock had crossed her entire body. Soon after, the crystal shone with a yellow light.

"It seems you are a awaken one. Congratulations."

"What?"- Once again, Sunset was confused -"Just this?"

"Yes."Maud answered "When you touched the crystal, it scanned you. If you were a normal person, it would lit a white light; but you are an awaken one. So he lit the yellow light to announce you as a tower; it would be blue if you were a bishop or red if you were a knight."

"This is surreal... I can't..."- Sunset was about to explain the truth about her mission when Pinkie Pie tackled her in another tight hug.

"CONGRATULATION! CONGRATULATION! CONGRATULATION!"

As the hug threatened to burst her ribs, Sunset noticed Maud making some notes and the light starting to fade outside the building. It was almost time to talk with Twilight.

And Sunset feared their reaction to what she had to say.

Author's Note

I tried to write Apple Bloom accent but is harder than it looks... next chapter i will do better.