The Nightwatcher Chronicles: Hunt Turned War

The Sirens collapsed in shock. They had pendants hanging around their necks that held their power. The pendants had broken.

The Sirens stood up and tried to sing but their voices were out of tune. People started to “boo” them. I could've sworn that a tomato was thrown. The Sirens ran off the stage, carrying the shattered remains of their pendants. I was surprised that Adagio didn’t have a “we’ll be back” speech. Probably because it would be to cliche.

Then, the crowd turned to us and began cheering. My group and the Rainbooms looked at each other, wondering what we were supposed to do. I guessed the crowd wanted an encore or something like it. I motioned for the group to follow me. However, I told Orange Bunny to stay behind.

We walked down the side of the hill until we reached the entrance. Then, we ran up on stage. The crowd went nuts. They were louder than before.

Flash Sentry jumped onto the stage. Then he ran and hugged Twilight saying we were awesome. We started to chuckle and the two released each other, blushing and embarrassed.

Then, the girl named Trixie Lulamoon stormed onto the stage. I could tell she was pretty mad.

“How could you do this to me? The victory was mine!” complained Trixie.

“You don’t deserve the victory since you cheated,” Brody replied.

“Cheated? I don’t know-”

“Save it. We know what you did,” I said. "You purposely caused the Rainbooms to not show up. We have a witness, as well."

“Cheaters risk everything but gain nothing,” Dalton said.

Trixie didn’t have a comeback. She threw something on the ground and some purple smoke came up. The old magician smoke bomb trick. Pinkie thought that Trixie had disappeared but she spotted her climbing the fence near the exit.

Principal Celestia and Vice Principal Luna walked on the stage. I thought they were going to chew my band out for hijacking the finals. They did the exact opposite. They praised us for helping save the school from magical freaks. It was almost impossible to not get big-headed but I made sure to stay humble.

Luna had a 16-inch tall trophy in her hand. On the base, it had “Best Band” written on it. Honestly, I thought they would give the trophy to the Rainbooms, but I was wrong.

“The winner of the Battle of the Bands is-” Principal Celestia paused to add suspense “- the Teens of Christ Band.”

My group was shocked. We only helped out because the dimension’s safety was at stake. We didn’t want to win the Battle of the Bands.

“What did we do to win?” Hannah asked.

“When the Rainbooms couldn’t play, you stepped up. Even if that meant going back on your band’s purpose. That is very honorable.” Principal Celestia replied.

“Plus, you saved the school. That is why we chose you,” Vice Principal Luna added.

Principal Celestia handed me the trophy and I raised it over my head. The crowd went nuts. They started chanting “TOCB” over and over. It felt good to win something and have it recognized.

“Hey, Sunset Shimmer. I heard you sing with us,” Hannah announced.

“I didn’t know you could sing,” I said.

“Sure, I can. I can play guitar, too,” Sunset Shimmer replied.

“Prove it,” Rainbow Dash requested, sounding skeptical.

Dylan handed Sunset Shimmer his guitar. She got adjusted to it and she began to shred. All of the guitarists in our band were impressed. The Rainbooms were amazed that she could play like that.

“Now I regret not asking to join our band,” Rainbow Dash announced. “Would you like to?”

“Heck, yeah,” Sunset Shimmer replied.

Principal Celestia announced it was time to pack and go home. She said she hoped that the next time would be better. People started to leave, but most of them came by to say “congrats” or “thank you for saving the school”.

I could tell our group wasn’t being told “thank you” for saving people. We all saved countries or cities without being thanked. The only “thank you” I usually got was a multi-thousand-dollar paycheck.

The Rainbooms invited us and Flash Sentry to join them for some victory pizza at a pizzeria. I spoke to the group and said we would go. We packed up the instruments in the van and drove our vehicles back to the pizzeria. As we drove off, I saw the Sirens standing behind a tree. Adagio glared at me as I drove past her. I had a feeling that wasn’t the last time we’d see each other.

We arrived at the pizzeria about five minutes later. It reminded me a lot of CiCi's, but it looked appetizing. As usual, I told Orange Bunny to stay behind, but with a promise of food later. I paid for everyone's meal, which the price had me wincing but I decided to worry about my cash later.

I piled my plate full of pizza. Cheese, pepperoni, supreme, spinach alfredo. You name it. And yes, I'm that weird guy that likes spinach alfredo. As I sat down, Twilight gave me this questioning look, like she wanted to know something. I automatically knew what she was about to ask. I decided to sit in front of her, so I didn't have to speak too loud.

"I believe you owe me an explanation about the talking rabbit," Twilight said.

"Umm...Eric. Do you mind if I...explain in a simplified fashion of what we and Orange Bunny are?" I asked as I turned my head toward Eric.

"Go ahead. It's not like she's going to tell anyone," Eric replied before taking a bite out of his pizza.

For the next fifteen minutes, I explained who, what we were, and what we were capable of. I told her about our powers and how we got them. Then, I explained why we were there. I explained that we were from a different dimension. With every sentence I said, Twilight's eyes grew wider and wider. When I got to the part about us being mutants, Twilight's facial expression turned from surprise to excitement. Of course, I explained the whole Orange Bunny bit.

"So basically what you're telling me is that you are mutated human beings that used your powers for the sole purpose of being government assassins?" Twilight asked.

"A bit oversimplified, but yes," I replied.

"So under the guise of the Nightwatcher, you broke into Pinkie's house, threatened to kill me, and injured Pinkie's dad?"

"Yep, and remember that it was Devin who kicked Mr. Pie."

"Thanks for throwing me under the bus," Devin grumbled.

"Wow. You guys are pretty hardcore assassins," Twilight said. "I guess your mutated abilities had something to do with it."

"I guess you could say that," I replied.

"Do you mind if I ran some tests on you guys?"

"Absolutely not," Levi, who was sitting on Twilight's left, hissed. A little too literally.

"Why not? I could understand how you operate."

"You wouldn't want to run tests on Leviticus Juan Rodriguez. You might get bit," Daniel said.

Twilight raised an eyebrow in confusion. Then, Levi did his snake-humanoid transformation.

His light-brown skin turned into shiny, black scales. His eyes turned yellow, and his pupils turned into snake-like slits. Levi's tongue became a snake's tongue. Lastly, his canines turned into four-inch-long fangs. He tapped on Twilight's shoulder. When she turned her head, Levi hissed in her face. She screamed and fell back against Flash Sentry.

My group laughed at Twilight. She panted heavily as Levi transformed into his human form.

"That was scary," she gasped.

"Try fighting him," Brody said.

The Rainbooms, Flash Sentry, and my group stayed at the pizzeria until closing time. My group went back to the apartment. I had to go grab Orange Bunny some food as promised. Eventually, I made it back to the apartment. I went through my nightly routines and finally went to bed. I gotta tell you, I slept well that night. Thank God, there weren't any ominous dreams that night.

The next morning, I was awakened by somebody knocking on the front door. Despite the comfort of my bed, I crawled out of my bed and went to go see who was at the door. Orange Bunny said something under her breath as the knocking continued. About the time I reached the door, everyone was awake. Most of them were groaning and complaining about the knocking.

I opened the door and I saw Sunset Shimmer standing there. She looked at me funny. Probably because I was shirtless and half-asleep.

“ Do you know what time it is?” I asked in a low voice.

“ Um...it is around eight,” she replied. "Wait, you have a tattoo?"

I looked down at my chest. On my left pec, was a black Japanese character. I had gotten it after eliminating a Yakuza leader, who was also the Prime Minister, in Yokohama, Japan.

“ Yeah, it means 'sacrifice'. Every assassin has to sacrifice a part of themselves to complete this mission."

"Mind if I ask what happened?"

"Umm...no. It's classified. And what is so important that you had to wake us early."

"Twilight and Spike are going back to their dimension. They wanted to know if you wanted to say ‘goodbye’,” Sunset Shimmer explained.

“Mateo, quién está en la puerta?”

(Spanish) “Hey, Matthew. Who’s at the door?” Levi asked as he rolled over.

“Sunset Shimmer,” I replied.

“What does she want?” Brody said, groggily.

“Twilight and Spike are leaving. They wanted to know if we wanted to say ‘bye’,” I said.“ How about it?” Levi asked.

To save the pointless dialogue, everyone agreed to say goodbye. I asked Sunset Shimmer where we are meeting. She said the statue in front of the school. I said we'd be there and closed the door.

I went to get dressed. Orange Bunny had no intention of getting out of bed. She tried to fight me, but she was too lazy. Finally, I convinced her to get up by buying her some root beer.

About ten minutes later, we left the apartment and went to say goodbye to Twilight and Spike.

The Rainbooms were standing near the statue like Sunset Shimmer had said they would. Some of them waved at us.

“Howdy, guys. Y'all look like you just rolled out of bed,” Applejack said.

“You can thank Sunset Shimmer for that,” Eric mumbled as he rubbed his eyes.

“I'm glad you guys came to see us off,” Twilight said.

“Sure...um. I want to apologize for interrogating you as I did,” I apologized.

“It’s okay. Just let me know next time you put a gun to my head,” Twilight teased

“Will do,” I chuckled.

“I want to thank you guys for helping us out. You guys and your God saved our school,” Rainbow Dash.

“No problem but we stopped them from helping someone take over this dimension,” Lance replied.

“Helping someone? They were helping someone?” Fluttershy asked.

“They were helping Headhunter take over this dimension by using the music,” Orange Bunny replied.

“I hope you catch him,” Spike said.

“It will take more than hope,” Eric stated.

“Well, thanks for everything. This won’t be ‘forever goodbye’. It’s just goodbye till next time,” Twilight said. “Until then, goodbye.”

We waved as Twilight Sparkle and Spike went to a portal that was IN the statue. I thought that was cool and also a “should-be protected” spot.

“That was an adventure,” I announced.

“As Papa used to say, ‘ Another adventure is another chapter in the story of your life,” Levi added.

“Your father is a wise man,” Fluttershy said.

“There is a reason why he is a pastor at the church in our local town.”

"What's a pastor?"

"I'll explain later."

“Let’s get off of the topic of Levi’s father and think about some fucking breakfast. I’m hungry as fuck,” Orange Bunny announced.

“That sounds good at the moment,” Dalton said.

Everyone else agreed. Then, we walked down the street towards Sugar Cube Corner.