Blue Moon’s Symphony

Chapters

Prologue
Chapter 2: The New Maiden (Part 2/2)
Chapter 3: Hot Springs Chapter
Chapter 4: Deals with Devils
Chapter 5: Sweet Dreams (clop)
Chapter 1: The New Maiden (Part 1/2)

Prologue

Blue Moons are truly a sight to behold, so rare that generations would pass before one would even occur. Thanks to a combination of atmospheric conditions and smoke particles, the light shining from the moon turns blue. Granted the moon itself doesn’t turn blue, it's more like a part of the sky is covered in a blue lens that when the moon’s rays shine through it gives off a blue hue to everything. While it is a rare and bespectacled sight to behold, it also has magical properties that can affect all living things. Much like how some monsters in Equestria become either more violent or docile when in the presence of a blood moon’s rays or how strange phenomena occur during an eclipse such as gravity being distorted or holes in space-time occurring, the blue moon affected monsters in a very unique way. The blue rays didn’t make the monsters stronger or weaker, but it gave them a special ability that is very rare. With the right methods and magical power, monsters could transform humans into monsters. The Order of the Sleeping Sun, an organization that is tasked with protecting humanity, was unsure as to what exactly the Blue Moon would do to the monsters, as the last Blue Moon was over 1000 years ago. Nevertheless, despite how little was known about the effects of the Blue Moon, the Order did not want to take any chances. As an extra precaution, they had placed more wards on houses and the castle within Canterlot and brought in people from neighboring villages and towns until the night ended. This would end up being a grave mistake and the end of Canterlot.

Flash Sentry, a Winged Human, thought back to his lessons on the moon’s supernatural abilities it had on monsters, or Night Creatures as the Sleeping Sun had labeled them. He knew that it affected them, but never did he think he would be where he is now, fighting Night Creatures in Canterlot, the very heart of the Sleeping Sun. Not only that, he was fighting one of his comrades.

Or rather, she used to be his comrade, her name is Redheart, a human with skin as soft as silk, kind and gentle baby blue eyes, and long pink hair that draped past her shoulders. She was a medic that helped many injured soldiers, Flash was one of them, he recalled a time when he almost lost his life if Redheart hadn’t donated some of her blood to keep him from dying from blood loss after his battle with a Wendigo.

Seems now that she wanted that blood back, as Redheart snapped aimlessly at Flash, desperately trying to bite down on his neck. Her once blue eyes that were soft and caring now replaced into a bloody crimson full of hunger and violence. Flash knew what he had to do, he had the means to end her right here, his steel spear tip laced with silver and Blessed Water that could kill a vampire if pierced through their heart. Nevertheless, Flash couldn’t bring himself to commit the justified deed, forcing him to do nothing but parry and defend. Flash’s mind scanned the room, while still keeping an eye on his friend-now-turned-foe, looking for a means of restraining her or knocking her out in a painless way.

His eyes fell on the two, now dead, soldiers lying on the hospital beds, a pool of fresh blood dripping out from several bite marks on their necks, their eyes wide open and their faces contorted in a lock of shock, betrayal, and fear. The multiple holes on their necks indicated that Redheart had bitten them several times, parts of their flesh were missing too, Flash noticed after another glance. He looked to an empty bed in the back of the Med Bay, where the beds were attached with chains and straps to keep patients locked. He devised a plan to push Redheart into the room, knock her out, strap her to the bed, and then figure out what in the name of the Divine was happening.

Unfortunately for the winged male, he took his eyes off of Redheart for too long, because when he looked back she had lunged at him with her jaw unhinged. Her teeth were sharp and pointy, her front teeth resembling something akin to fangs. He raised his spear to defend but it was knocked away by Redheart, the spear slid against the floor and bounced off the door behind Flash, who had just now been tackled and pinned to the ground.

His instincts kicking in, he wrestled against the female doctor, pushing against her face and shoulder to keep her fangs from reaching his neck. Redheart leered back, shaking Flash’s grip, he reflexively rebound his arms to stop her from her assault, only in his quick action did his right hand grab her temple and his left accidentally groped Redheart’s breast.

The doctor let out a soft “eep” at the sudden touch, pulling back in surprise and what could be mistaken for embarrassment. However it was nothing compared to the beet red and flustered Flash, words of apology and excuses spewed profusely from his tongue. However, his apology fell on deaf ears as Redheart recovered, grabbing Flash’s hands and forcing his arms to the ground. Flash’s struggle was in vain as Redheart had him pinned, her waist pressed against his, and held him down, Flash’s arms were extended in a “T” pose and held down by Redheart’s superior strength.

Redheart appeared to revel in Flash’s struggle, slowly lowering and opening her mouth down onto Flash’s neck, who was now breathing heavily and tightly shut eyes in fear of becoming a meal for the doctor. Flash’s life flashed before his eyes, him joining the order, going through testing with Applejack, meeting Rarity and Fluttershy, the sparring match behind him and Soarin, saving Cheese from that Necromancer, and meeting Twilight. The thought of that beautiful mage filled the Avian with regret, silently wishing he could see her one last time, or that someone would protect her from what was happening.

His prayers would be answered by the sound of a loud bang, blood splashing across his space, and Redheart lurched backward screaming in pain and anguish, releasing Flash from her hold to cover the newly made golfball-sized hole that had burrowed through her head. She growled at her assailant now standing in the open doorway.

Looking up, Flash saw his comrade, Cheese Sandwich, standing in the doorway. Adorned in gold armor, missing his helmet allowed his poofy chocolate brown hair to be exposed. In his two hands, he had a heavy break-action revolver aimed at Redheart. Cheese looked down at Flash with his usual trademark smile, but this time Flash knew it was being forced.

"There, now we're even." Cheese declared triumphantly, but his moment of pride quickly diminished as the cavity in Redheart's skull began reforming, quite rapidly too. Shocked by the ineffectiveness of his firearm, he shoved it into its holster and dashed for Flash's spear.

With steel in hand, Cheese lined the spear up with the doctor's heart and drove it clean through. Redheart jerked back as Cheese drove her off of Flash and rammed her against the wall, the spear nailing her to the wall like a post-it note. More annoyed than in pain, she growled at Cheese and grabbed the spear, using her strength to pull it out of her, despite Cheese's resistance.

"Oh, come on!" Cheese groaned. "Does anything work anymore?!"

Flash just stood in shock and horror, not only had this vampire managed to heal her wounds from a bullet specifically designed to keep her from regenerating, now she was able to keep herself alive despite a blessed blade having pierced her heart. She should be nothing more than ash after that kind of strike, yet here she was defiantly fighting Cheese. Flash pushed his fears to the back of his mind, focusing on his friend struggling with the snapping vampire. He would figure out why the vampire could resist the blessed artifacts later, right now he knew of only one way to keep the vampire down.

Flash pulled himself up and ran into the next room, running past Cheese, who shot Flash a betrayed look as he ran past the human struggling to hold off the vicious vampire. Flash scanned the room until his eyes landed on his target, a sealed box hanging from the wall that had a toxic symbol on it. He unlatched the box and searched the contents within, he scanned several syringes looking for his target until he came across it. Grabbing the shot with a "z-z-z" symbol on it, unsealing it, and double-checking to ensure that he had the right shot, he made his way back to Cheese and Redheart.

Before doubling back and grabbing three more knockout shots, just to be safe.

Back in the main room, this time without hesitation, Flash made his move and injected Redheart with three syringes into her neck, pushing the purple liquid into her bloodstream. Within moments, her movements started becoming more sluggish and weaker, struggling to keep her eyes open, until she went limp drifted into unconsciousness.

Flash and Cheese waited with cautious stances and held breath, once they confirmed that Redheart was knocked out for good, the two let out a sigh of relief and heavy breathing. Flash slumped against a cabinet and Cheese sat on a bed, quickly sitting up when he realized it was already occupied by a corpse.

Flash's ears perked up at the sound of quick footsteps down the hall, both he and Cheese readied themselves for another battle but their stances softened when it wasn't another monster that entered the room, but was thankfully their teammates.

Entering the room was Soarin, an avian human with sharp emerald eyes and spikey navy blue hair, followed by Fluttershy, a timid avian human who looked at the two deceased humans with shock and sadness, muttering a quick prayer under her breath. Next was Rarity, a human mage who quickly began to examine Flash and Cheese to ensure they were fine and unharmed. Lastly was Applejack, a straightforward and honest terra farm-gal who was watching the doorway to make sure no other monsters would be entering the room.

Soarin moved up to Redheart, noticing that she was motionless and had a spear sticking her to the wall he made the association that she had been killed by the spear.

“Did you-“ Soarin began, only to be caught off by Cheese.

“Nope,” he shook his head, “the spear didn’t do jack to her, neither did my revolver. She’s not dead just knocked out from the potions Flash injected her with.” He looked to the still Redheart as Rarity inspected his neck. “We gave her six times the normal dose, don’t know how long that’s gonna keep her knocked out so we better keep moving.”

“Wait,” Flash blurted, causing everyone to freeze for the moment, “we need to find Twilight.”

The group paused, before Soarin spoke up, “She’s with the Sentinels, she’ll be safe with them.”

“None of our equipment is working,” Flash stated, grabbing his spear, he removed it from Redheart who fell to the floor, her wound already closing, “case in point.” Flash pointed out to the vampire’s rapid healing. “The sentinels are walking murder machines, but if their blessing and enchantments aren’t working then we need to help.”

Cheese rolled his eyes, “sure buddy, we all know you just wanna save Twilight cause you have a weak spot for librarians.” He smirked, and everyone chuckled at the blushing avian who opened his mouth to protest but was silenced by Cheese bringing a finger to his lips. “However, while your reasons are both thirsty and desperate, you are right. The Sentinels are magical machines, with everything that has happened so far there’s a good chance that they’ll be malfunctioning or their equipment is nullified. Also, there’s a good chance we’re the only soldiers still in Tintagel, meaning Twilight only has her magic to defend her and if she gets turned…” Cheese shook his head, removing that kind of thought, "the Maiden is too important to take any kind of risk.”

Soarin held his chin for a moment, contemplating their next action. “Alright, Twilight must still be in the Sanctuary so we’ll head there first to ensure she's safe. On the way, we’ll grab Spike and high-tail to the school.”

With those orders, the team collected themselves and ran to their destination. Heading down hallway after hallway, eventually making their way outside as they began crossing one of the walls, Flash had a moment to witness the terrifying tragedy of Canterlot. The once prosperous and beautiful city was filled with spots of illuminating fires, some from the lanterns of pockets of humans huddled together to comfort one another, others were from roaring fires of either house's set ablaze or controlled walls of fire created to serve as protection for the innocent. This heartbreaking sight was even more painful when the blood-curdling screams met the avian’s ears.

Overwhelmed by the violence being imprinted upon the home he held dear, Flash looked up to the blue moon looking down on the world. Either he was captivated by its beauty or gazing at it to distract himself from the ongoing slaughter, he didn’t know. The moon was a deep shade of blue, shining like a sapphire in the inky black sky, the moon was in its new phase meaning that it was at its closest point to the earth and massive, being so large that it was almost impossible to not notice it.

Flash had wondered how something so beautiful and wondrous could be the cause of such chaos and violence. His mind wandered back to three days prior before the slaughter had begun.

Author's Note

Information Available for Public Disclosure

Night Creatures

A label for any non-human creature that preys on, feeds off of, harms, intends to harm, controls, and/or manipulates. This umbrella term is used for a variety of species varying from ones that appear like humans to spirits that take on abstract shapes and forms. Despite their appearance, they pose a threat to humans and therefore must be killed without hesitation.

Chapter 2: The New Maiden (Part 2/2)

Twilight had a list of places she wanted to visit: they were the barracks, the medical ward, the mailroom, the smithy, the sanctuary, and finally the training school. Flash wasn’t sure why she was interested in the barracks and mailroom of all places but he brought her there nonetheless. The barracks were adjacent to the castle courtyard, which had been fitted into training grounds. As Flash and Twilight made their way to the barracks, they noticed that a group of soldiers had gathered around the training ground and were cheering, Twilight didn’t know what it meant, but Flash knew all too well what a large crowd and excited soldiers meant.

There was a challenge going down.

“What’s going on?” Twilight asked Flash as they got closer to their destination.

“It must be a challenge,” Flash began explaining, “in the rules of conduct, disputes are to be settled in a friendly game of king of the hill.”

“Oh, I see,” Twilight said, a hint of interest in her voice. “So who’s fighting today?”

“Don’t know, I can’t get a good look from this crowd,” Flash said, trying to look over the mob of soldiers, he also couldn’t hear too well as there was a bunch of soldiers gathered at a quickly made booth shouting at Soarin who was taking bets for the fight, adorned in full armor and wearing a helmet. “Hold on, I’ll be right back,” Flash promised, opening his wings he flew past all of the soldiers and hovered above the grounds to see who was fighting. When he saw the two contestants, he couldn’t help but facepalm, “I should’ve known better.” He muttered.

Standing in the sandy grounds was none other than the specialist, Applejack, and her opponent was a mage with pearly white hair and pink eyes that was known to everyone as Trixie, another specialist like Applejack. Once again, Trixie must’ve challenged Applejack to a duel to settle another one of their disputes.

Flash flew back down to meet up with Twilight, only to see that she had taken a front-row seat to the duel. Flash landed next to her, “I didn’t take you for someone who’d be interested in a fight.”

“Normally, no,” Twilight admitted, “but I am curious to see how duels are handled here. Also, which one of the two is Applejack?”

“The terra woman with the cowgirl hat,” Flash answered, suspicious as to how she knew AJ’s name. “Why do you ask?

“Oh, no reason.” Twilight shrugged. Flash could’ve sworn he saw a bidding ticket on her for Applejack.

Soarin hovered above the two contestants, acting as the referee, “Alright, the rules of the duel are simple, you each have 15 minutes to make your opponent surrender. The only tools you can use are the training weapons, all magic is allowed so long as it’s non-lethal. Begin!”

With that declaration, a bell was rung, causing a flip-board timer to start counting down. Applejack wore light leather armor and was equipped with two hatchets that had rubber blades. Trixie wore a magician's outfit with a starry cape and matching starry witches hat and was equipped with a training wand that had limited use of spells.

Trixie waved her wand and in an instant, about twenty clones of herself appeared, Trixie was a specialist that had the special ability to create illusions of just about anything. However, Applejack was also a specialist who possessed the ability to see the truth of all things, which allowed her to see right through Trixie’s illusion.

“Ya never learn, do ya girl,” AJ stated as her eyes scanned the illusions, who were beginning to start moving around randomly when her gaze fell on the real Trixie. She rushed towards the real mage, only to be struck by a magic missile right to her back by one of the clones. Applejack quickly recovered from her fall, rolling back to her feet and taking a defensive stance.

“Ha ha ha ha!” All of the Trixie’s laughed mockingly. “What’s the matter, farmer? I’m right over here.”

It didn’t take long for AJ to realize what had happened, Trixie had mixed some clones of herself in with the illusions, making it harder to reach the real Trixie. She could see where the real Trixie was, but the clones blended in the illusions in a way her eyes couldn’t tell the difference. But, being the driven and headstrong woman she is, AJ continued to charge forward at the real Trixie.

Each time she got close to Trixie a clone would shoot her back with her magic. This happened a couple of times, although some bruises were on her body, her leather armor was torn up, and her body heaved from signs of exhaustion.

“Ha ha ha!” All of the Trixies gave off a haughty laugh. “Now you’ll see that no one is a match for the great and powerful-“

Trixie was caught off by Applejack throwing her two hatchets into the sand, grabbing her leather chest armor and ripping it off of her body. Now revealing her fit and toned body, her six-pack glistening from the sweat and her rather busty chest held up by a black sports bra. She then tore off her leather pants, showing off her tight and bulky thighs. The entire crowd around her erupted into cheers and wolf-calls, to Twilight’s surprise even Flash was joining in on the cheering,

“Yeah AJ! Show em what you got!” He hollered, his cheering being more supportive than flirtatious.

AJ only had a small smile from the cheering, pulling out an elastic band she tied her hair into a ponytail. Trixie couldn’t help but avert her eyes from, a small blush forming on her cheeks from a mixture of jealousy and arousal. “Stupid, sexy, farm-girl.” She grumbled.

Applejack let a sigh of relief, feeling the cooler thanks to the absence of her stuffy armor. “Now then.” Applejack grabbed her two hatchets and dashed one of the clones of Trixie. Applejack didn’t take those hits for no reason, she was watching and observing which of the Trixies were her clones and which ones were illusions. Once she was certain which of the Trixie’s were the 3 clones, she rushed towards the first one and, after dodging her attacks, struck her with the rubber hatchet. With the blow, the Trixie clone erupted into a cloud of smoke with a loud “poof!”. AJ knew the spell Trixie was using, the clones had the same magical powers as the caster but had a terrible defense, one hit and they dissolved. Applejack made her way through the illusions, striking down the next clone effortlessly. When her gaze landed on the last clone, who was sneaking up on her, she swung her hatchet and chucked it right at her. The last clone disappeared once the rubber hatchet smacked against her forehead. With no remaining defense, Applejack closed the distance between her and Trixie, with no remaining obstacles the terra human smacked Trixie across the face, sending the mage flying backward and knocking her out.

The bell rang out three times as the illusions vanished, singling that Trixie had been knocked out and the winner was Applejack. There was a mixture of cheers and groans from the crowd, cheers from those who bet on Applejack, and groans from those who bet on the latter. Applejack picked up the unconscious mage and draped her over her shoulder, making her way towards the stands she saw Flash and Twilight.

“Heya Flash!” Applejack waved, approaching the two. “Didn’t expect to see you here of all places.”

Flash gestured to Twilight, “AJ, this is Twilight, the new Maiden here at Tintagel. Twilight, this is Applejack, she’s the specialist of my team.”

“Pleasure ta meet ya, your holiness.” Applejack extended her left arm for a shake, as her right was too busy holding the unconscious Trixie.

“Just Twilight is fine.” The Maiden returned Applejack’s gesture, shaking her firm hand.

“I take it you’re gonna be taking Trixie to the medical ward now?” Flash guessed, putting a hand on his hip.

“You betcha.” Applejack beamed.

“Mind if we join you, the medical ward is the next place I’m showing Twilight,” Flash asked.

“Heh, feel free, the more the merrier.” Applejack grinned, as the three of them made their way to the medical ward.

As the three walked towards the medical ward, Twilight began asking Applejack some questions.

“Tell me, Applejack, you’re a specialist right?” Twilight asked.

“Sure am!” The terra human boasted. “I’m a berserker to be specific, which means I use my terra magic for a boost to strength.”

“How did you become a specialist? I’ve read about the trials to become the other soldier types, like Defender, Warrior, Ranger, Healer, and Caster.” Twilight inquired.

“A specialist is someone who holds two classes,” Applejack began to explain, “Flash here is a Defender, which means he’s trained to defend and protect the team, so he wouldn’t be too useful if we put him in the field like a Ranger. Likewise, our leader Soarin is a Warrior, which means he’s trained in pursuing the enemy and being offensive, so he wouldn’t be useful if he was assigned to heal people. Specialists are those who wield two positions, as for me, I am both a Warrior and a Healer.” Applejack held up her left arm, showing that most of her bruises had already begun to fade. “My specialist powers give me incredible strength and the ability to heal myself and others in case of emergency.”

“Fascinating,” Twilight stated, inspecting Applejack’s arm with curious intent. “Is your magic also enhanced when you remove clothing?” The Maiden asked bluntly, causing Flash to be taken aback and Applejack to laugh.

“You’re a funny one, ain’t ya!” She hollered. “And no, my powers don’t increase when I take off my garments. I just did that because the armor was so beaten up that it wouldn’t defend me anymore. That and…I kinda like to show off my body.” Applejack admitted.

“Really?” Twilight asked, cocking her head.

“See, here’s the thing.” Applejack began to tell her story. “I used to be very…chubby, thanks to my terra heritage my family can gain weight very easily, it’s helpful for the men in our family like ma brother Big Mac, but for women…not so much. If the food we eat isn’t used our bodies store it as fat, and I quickly became overweight thanks to the extra nutritious meals they serve to soldiers. But thanks to a strict diet, plenty of exercises, and a whole lot of patience.” Applejack flexed her muscles to show off her years of hard work and determination. “I was able to give myself the body you see before you. I don’t mind the whole cat-calls some of the men and women give me, I know just about everyone here and they’re all very supportive of me. I like showing off what I got because…well…it makes me feel attractable in a way.” The terra mare admitted, blushing slightly.

Flash was amazed at how honest Applejack was being, it had taken him months of getting to know Applejack before she told him this, yet it only took Twilight a few seconds for the terra to warm up to her. He sensed a similar feeling he had when Shining Armor had talked with him but convinced himself it was because Twilight was a Maiden.

“So, you don’t mind the looks and cat-calls from your fellow soldiers?” Twilight asked.

Applejack chuckled, “They don’t mean anything by it. Besides, if any tries to get frisky with lil-ol’-me…well, let’s just say that they’ll have to find some other way ta communicate with people.” Applejack grinned maliciously, remembering a time when Fluttershy’s brother had groped Applejack’s rear and ended up with a broken jaw.

“Here we are,” Flash spoke up, hoping to end the conversation as the trio arrived at the medical ward.

The medical ward was a long rectangular room with beds aligned at the sides of the room, curtains separating each of the beds. Thankfully, most were empty, but some housed soldiers, and they were being tended to. The soldiers had all manners of injuries, some had minor injuries like weak poison, scrapes, and bruises, while others had more extreme injuries like 3rd-degree burns and curses. Tending to the wounds of these fallen soldiers were several nurses, among them was a familiar face; Rarity.

“Heya, Rarity,” Applejack greeted, approaching the mage, “got a new patient for ya.”

Rarity looked to Applejack with an annoyed expression, she handed the care of her patient to the nurse on standby as she went to the trio. “Honestly, Applejack darling, you need to stop these kinds of fights. I swear you’re doing more damage to our soldiers than the Night Creatures.” Rarity exclaimed, using her magic she levitated Trixie into an empty bed and then began diagnosing her.

At the end of the room was the emergency section of the ward, where those who bore more extreme injuries were kept. Exiting the emergency room was one doctor Redheart, covered in splotches of blood, she let out a sigh of relief before pulling out a package of what one could mistake to be cigarettes. In actuality, they were health suckers known as Calming Canes, which reduced stress and anxiety when sucked on. She pulled one of the stripped red sticks from the box and stuck it in her mouth, holding it with her teeth as one would do with a cigarette. Her gaze landed on Flash and Applejack, “Hey, Flash and AJ, can you come over here for a second.” The doctor requested, and the two complied, leaving Twilight with Rarity, “I need you two to help me with one of my patients, he dealt with a nest of Xenomorphs and a face-hugger got the jump on him. I need to surgically remove the egg before it hatches, AJ I need you to be ready to kill the spawn if it’s still alive and Flash, I’ll need you to keep the patient sedated.” Redheart explained as she led the two into the emergency room. “Flash, grab some of those sleeper shots from the cabinet over there, just one should be enough to knock him out.”

Twilight tried to follow the three into the emergency room but was stopped by Redheart. “Sorry miss, authorized personnel only, I’m afraid I can’t have you in here.” She stated, closing the door on her.

Twilight let out a small whimper, disappointed she wouldn’t be able to see the surgery. “Don’t take it too hard, Darling.” Rarity consoled the Maiden, “it’s not all that interesting anyway, miss…” She trailed off, waiting for Twilight to give her name.

“Twilight Sparkle, the new Maiden,” Twilight answered.

“Rarity, I’m the castor for my team.” Rarity responded in kind with her own identity. “Tell me, what brings you to our lovely little clinic?”

“I was interested to see how the Sleeping Sun heals its wounded,” Twilight answered, looking at all of the soldiers and caring nurses, “I must say, I’m impressed. How do you manage all of this?”

“Well, medics like us can’t take all of the credit,” Rarity began, “most of the hard work comes from the scouts and rangers who gather the supplies needed to create our remedies. Our job is to identify the source of their injury and then treat it.”

“What kind of injuries do you usually get?” Twilight asked.

“Thankfully, most of the patients that enter only have medium injuries that can’t be healed by the hot springs, but we do get some soldiers that suffered more…gruesome ailments.” Rarity cringed, as she heard the cries of the newly hatched Xenomorph from the emergency room.

“You said you were a castor, right? Why are you here in the clinic if you’re not a healer?” Twilight asked, trying to distract the woman from the surgery occurring nearby.

“I’m currently training to become a specialist,” Rarity beamed, “I’m working with the medical staff here to learn how to apply some of this to the field. After all, many of the injuries we can’t remedy are due to letting them go untreated for too long. Which is why I’ve been working on a side project of mine for a while.” Rarity said, reaching into her purse, she pulled out three crystals, “Gems and Crystals have a unique ability to hold and contain magic, so I’ve been working to create spells that can heal wounds in the middle of a battle.” Rarity walked over to one of the wounded soldiers and held the blue crystal over the burn marks on the soldier’s arm. A light blue glow emanated from the crystal, causing the burn marks to slowly fade.

“Fascinating, I take it you took the idea from Mistmane who used a similar method by channeling her magic into crystals and used them as batteries.” Twilight guessed.

“Yes, I’m glad you noticed,” Rarity said with glee, excited that there was someone else that knew her idol, “although, I want the crystals to contain a spell instead of fueling my life force. Sadly, I haven’t found a way around the Magical Decay Theory.” Rarity sighed.

The Magical Decay Theory was the idea that magic cannot remain in an object forever. The theory was written by scholar Starswirl the Bearded, who discovered that a newly made amulet held more magic than a re-enchanted amulet. Starswirl realized that items that contain magic lose the ability to hold on to that magic over time, eventually, an item would lose any ability to contain magic at all. He worded it in terms of percentages, if an amulet was able to hold 100% of magic once it’s created, over time the amulet would only be able to hold 80% of magic. Thankfully, a blacksmith by the name of Rockhoof found a way to reforge blessed items to restore their ability to contain magic. This was done by depleting an item of all magic it contained down to 0%, then breaking apart the item and recycling it into a new item. An example of this is if a blacksmith took an enchanted sword, removed all magic it contained, melted it down into its liquid form, then created a new sword from the recycled materials, replacing any damaged parts wherever needed. While this process works for items used by soldiers, such as armor, tools, weapons, equipment, etc, it cannot work for items such as gems and crystals which form naturally. And artificially grown crystals and gems have proven to possess no ability to contain any kind of magic. Although they still retain their chemical properties, making them useful in constructing healing tubs, potions, and other medicines.

“I’m hoping that I can find some way to reforge the crystals or prevent them from decaying by the magic. Sadly, I’ve had no such luck,” Rarity sighed.

“Also, the act of infusing magic into objects by someone other than a Maiden is forbidden,” Twilight added.

Rarity perked up at that, realizing that what Twilight had said was very true. Magic was an unruly force in the world that existed in two states; Chaos and Divine. Chaos magic was powerful but destructive whereas its counterpart, the Divine, was restorative and peaceful. There was of course a neutral state of magic that mages had access to, but those more attuned to magic wielded either Chaos or Divine. Chaos magic was forbidden as it was shown to be uncontrollable and corrupting, whereas Divine magic could only be wielded by those worth. Those who would wield the Divine were known as Maidens and Dominions, the only difference between the two were their requirements and the presence of Yin and Yang energy. Yin aura is required for Maidens and Yang aura is required for Dominions. Nevertheless, Rarity’s project was technically forbidden, which made her wonder, why did she share it with a Maiden.

“Don’t worry,” Twilight said calmly, “I won’t tell anyone. Your project seems like a very good idea that can save many lives if done right.”

Rarity felt a wave of relief after Twilight what Twilight had said, “Thank you, your grace.”

“Please, call me Twilight.” The Maiden smiled.

“Rarity!” The yell from Redheart broke up the interaction between the two women, “Get in here, I need your help keeping this guy alive!”

“Coming!” Rarity yelled back, but not before giving one of her crystals to Twilight. “Here, you can have this. If you’re interested in my project don’t hesitate to give me any pointers.” With that, Rarity dashed into the emergency room, nearly knocking over a distressed Flash who was holding a bag in outstretched arms. One of the nurses took the bag from the poor man, who let out a sigh of relief and took a moment to breathe.

“You look like you had fun.” Twilight joked.

“Yeah…the miracle of childbirth has never been more fun.” Flash joked back, returning to his normal composure. “So…are you ready for the next location on our magical tour?”

“Lead the way, my guard.”

The next stop on the tour was the message room, a section of the keep that housed many of the dragons. Of course, these weren’t fully grown dragons, but small dragons that were about the same size as humans, some were smaller. The history between Humans and Dragons is a difficult one to understand, in the past, both humans and dragons fought one another like hate-filled enemies, but today both the Humans and Dragons coexist with a peace treaty kept between Dragon Lord Ember and all of humankind. This treaty allowed Humans to claim the abandoned eggs of dragons and raise them as their own. Dragons could live for hundreds of years and they aged slowly. Dragons have a unique tie to chaos magic that many of the Order exploit, specifically the ability for dragons to teleport letters between other dragons. Thanks to the Dragonion Messages or DM as some abbreviated, all of the kingdoms within Equestria were able to communicate with one another. Of course, Flash and Twilight couldn’t talk with any of the dragons due to them being hard at work. Except for one dragon in particular.

“Hey Spike, got a sec?” Flash asked as the two approached the purple and green drake.

“Sure!” Spike smiled, “anything to get me a break. What can I do for you two?”

“Nothing much, just a couple of questions for a curious woman,” Twilight answered.

“Well…I’ll try my best to answer them, but don’t expect too much.” Spike chuckled nervously.

“For starters,” Twilight jumped right into the questions, “how does your job work? Like, how do you teleport letters from others?”

“Like this,” Spike answered, picking up a sealed letter he blew green fire on it and it evaporated into ashes, “that one just got sent to Manehatten.”

“Fascinating…how do you know where to send them too?” Twilight asked.

“Easy, I just look at the address on the letter and then picture the location in my head before sending it there,” Spike answered.

“So then, would you say your job is very fun?”

“Well…fun isn’t exactly how I’d put it.” Spike scratched the back of his head, “but it’s certainly easy. All we have to do is sit at this here desk for hours sending letters to other dragons and receiving letters. We get 3 meals a day in gems and even have a weekly wage.”

“Nice to see they’re compensating you.” Twilight nodded.

Spike burped and a letter appeared in the green flames, he took it and looked at the address before sending it into a pipe system where it shot off to another part in the castle. “Yeah, it’s honest work. But the real action is whenever we have to go out during a raid.” Spike cheered.

“Raid?” Twilight asked the question aimed more so at Flash than the dragon.

“A raid is a whenever multiple teams need to work together to deal with a nest, infestation, or a high-level monster. Dragons are taken with other teams to ensure that communication between all the groups is kept.” Flash explained.

“Fascinating…” Twilight trailed off, “But wouldn’t Commune Crystals be better?”

Spike shook his head, “They’re not as reliable, thanks to the decay of them, they loose their range for connection.”

Twilight nodded, “Makes sense. Although, wouldn’t that put you at risk then during a mission?”

“Dragons that go into the field are required to have some training in self defense,” Flash answered.

“Can dragons become soldiers?” Twilight asked.

Both Spike and Flash hesitated to answer, thinking of the best way to formulate an appropriate response. Spike decided to answer, “It’s…complicated. Dragons are kinda like hammers whereas Soldiers are scalpels. When it comes to fighting Night Creatures, dragons could do more damage than the monsters if we’re not careful.” Spike cringed, memories of his accidental growth transformation during his first mission crept into his mind.

“But they are more than just messengers,” Flash put a hand on Spike’s shoulder, “remember that mission we brought you on where you realized that we were fighting a banshee instead of a succubus? Rarity and I would’ve been goners if you didn’t pick up on the difference.”

Spike crossed his arms with a triumphant look, “Yeah, I am pretty useful.”

“Okay, I think I’ve got what I needed,” Twilight said.

After she had received enough information, Twilight and Flash made their way to their next location; The Sanctuary. The Sanctuary was a mixture of two wards; the Sealed Ward and the Smithy Ward. The Sealed Ward was an outdoor garden full of statues of spirits that had been sealed away. The Smithy Ward was connected to the garden and was full of furnaces, anvils, and tools for turning clumps of metal into pristine armor and deadly tools. The reason for the two wards being connected had to do with a combined need, the crafted tools needed to be blessed by Maidens and Dominions, or their lesser counterparts, and they were also needed for the ritualistic sealing ceremony that some of the spirits needed to keep their currently stoned state permanent.

Upon entering the Smithy Ward, Flash and Twilight were met with two familiar faces they had seen only moments ago; Sunburst and Starlight Glimmer.

“Well, fancy running into you two again,” Twilight smirked, noticing that Starlight was rather close to the magus.

“Oh, hello again your grace.” Sunburst bowed slightly.

“Please Sunburst, you’re a Dominion yourself, there’s no need for you to bow to me.” Twilight scoffed.

“Well, actually I am a Dominus, a lesser-dominion.” Sunburst corrected. “Anyways, what brings you here today?” He asked.

“Twilight wants to see how our tools are made, as well as how they enchanted,” Flash answered.

“Specifically how they are blessed and enchanted.” Twilight corrected.

“Certainly,” Sunburst said, moving over the forge, where a minotaur was hammering a newly made sword, “may I?” Sunburst asked, holding out his hand.

The Minotaur understood and placed the newly forged blade in Sunburst’s hand. Sunburst then raised his finger, causing the tip of it to glow with a white aura, then he wrote several runes on the blade. The runes pulsated with a small hum before fading into the blade.

“Interesting, what runes did you place?” Twilight asked.

“Oh, just the standard ones.” Sunburst answered, “like ones that enhance the blade, making it stronger, and ones that are designed against the undead. Although more runes could be applied if I poured more Divine into-“

Sunburst was cut off as Twilight clapped her hands together, her eyes glowed white, and transparent white wings appeared behind her. The clumps of metal on the Minotaur’s table were levitated into the air and moved towards Twilight, then they began to circle her like a constantly moving ring. She moved her hands with grace-like motions, the metal began taking shape, becoming fine and thin before taking the form of a sword. She then drew runes in mid-air, those same runes appearing on all of the swords. Once her word was complete, the blades floated back onto the table, now twenty-five blades had been forged.

Sunburst couldn’t help but blink in astonishment, he knew that the Maidens had a stronger connection to the Divine than lesser Maidens and Dominions (Maidous and Dominous) but her demonstration could only be described as God-like. She had just produced several blades that would’ve taken weeks to make in a matter of minutes.

“Hmmm,” Twilight hummed, inspecting her handiwork, “it could be better…how about…” Twilight wrote some more runes on the blade in hand, instantly the blade’s edges changed from steel to silver and a soft glow radiated from it. “There we go, excuse me Mr…” Twilight trailed off, waiting for a response from the Minotaur

“Ironfoot.” The Minotaur answered.

“Mr. Ironfoot, could you pick up one of the swords I just made, please?” Twilight requested and Ironfoot did so. He held the blade up in a defensive stance, and in a blur of motions, Twilight swung her new blade at the sword Ironfoot held, shattering his blade into three pieces. “Huh, not as strong as I’d like it to be.” Twilight sighed with a tinge of disappointment, while Ironfoot remained standing with eyes as wide as dinner plates staring down at his now broken sword. “Thank you Ironfoot, that should be all,” Twilight said, levitating her newly made sword over to the others.

“Wow…I knew Maidens were powerful but…I’ve never seen anyone do that.” Flash stated, absolutely gobsmacked.

“Surely your previous Maiden did the same thing?” Twilight assumed.

Indeed, Granny Smith, the previous Maiden at Tintagel and currently the record holder for oldest known Maiden, was very powerful. As a Maiden, she had mastery over the Divine and could manipulate matter as though it was nothing, although that was mostly due to the fact she had Terra magic enhanced by the Divine. She could produce the same amount of tools Twilight just demonstrated but it would’ve taken her the entire day to do so.

“Granny Smith could never do something like that,” Flash stated.

“Mistress,” Starlight soon found his voice, receiving a scolding look from Twilight for hearing her royal title, “I mean…Twilight, would you like to see the other kinds of tools that are at your disposal?”

Twilight clapped with glee, “What a wonderful idea! I’d love to see everything you have available.”

Ironfoot looked to Sunburst, who gave him a nod in approval to which Ironfoot left to go retrieve some tools from the storage. He would return moments later with a large backpack full of all kinds of items. He delicately placed the backpack on a long wooden table and began displaying its contents, taking care to handle the items gently as one would handle their child. Finally, all items were available for Twilight to see what she had to work with.

To start were 3 variations of swords, a roman style short-sword with no guard on it, a European longsword with a standard guard, and a katana-style sword. Following the swords were 3 types of spears, a regular spear with a light metal pole and heavy metal tip, then there was a lance spear, and lastly, there was a glaive. Following the spears were 3 variants of axes, a one-handed ax, a two-handed and double-bladed ax, and then a hatchet. Moving on were the 3 types of tools for castors, a wand, a staff, and a gauntlet. Lastly, there were 2 types of firearms on the table, a revolver and a musket.

On the other side were items designed for protection and defense, starting with types of armor, there were metal armor plates with runes and symbols carved on the inside of their metal, then there was a lighter armor made from leather and hides that had been blessed, and lastly were cloaks designed for more stealthy operations. Moving on from the armor were other items that soldiers wore, such as amulets, rings, braces, necklaces, etc.

“Wow, this is all marvelous! I’d love to spend time modifying all of these,” Twilight said, admiring one of the amulets before setting it back down, “but, that’ll have to wait till tomorrow. For now, I’d like to visit the Sanctuary.”

The Sanctuary was a place of zen and harmony, luscious patches of flowers sprouted from all over, a small stream from an artificial waterfall softly trickled its way through the garden, small wooden bridges connected the two divided parts. Randomly placed around the garden were several large statues of various creatures, each one was placed in a circular patch of white sand with ripple patterns raked into it. Ordainments and candles decorated the base of all statues, providing an easy access point for Divine magic.

The statues in the sanctuary were not carved from marble or stone but were, in fact, the symbol of imprisonment for spirits of Chaos. Many of the statues were spirits that wielded godlike powers and tormented mankind for centuries. Thankfully, the sealing on these spirits couldn’t be undone, but a routine sealing needed to be performed to keep their magic from seeping through the cracks. This ritual was to be performed by a Maidous as they possessed a connection to the Divine, a weaker connection compared to Maidens, but a connection nonetheless. Upon setting foot in the Sanctuary, Twilight winced in pain, clutching her forehead as a sudden wave of pain pierced her.

“Twilight, are you alright.” Flash inquired, quickly springing into action.

“I’m fine.” Twilight said, slowly regaining her composure, “guess I’ve taken in more information than I thought.

“We can take a break and resume tomorrow if you’d like,” Flash suggested.

“No, it’s my duty to see this through.” Twilight resolved, moving forward into the garden.

The two made their way across the bridge, Twilight was searching for someone to talk to but couldn’t find anyone nearby. Whenever they did see someone, Flash would stop her and point out that they were in the middle of a sealing ritual, which was to be uninterrupted. Twilight thought that she wouldn’t be able to talk with anyone until she saw a woman sitting on a bench away from a statue who appeared to be having a conversation with a rabbit. Twilight looked to Flash, waiting to see if he would stop her, to which Flash confirmed that she could go talk with her, but gave one friendly piece of advice first.

“Hello.” Twilight greeted softly, almost whispering.

The woman looked to Twilight, revealing that it was, in fact, Fluttershy, who was anxious at seeing someone new, but relaxed when she saw Flash with the mage.

“Hi there.” Fluttershy softly whispered back.

“Mind if we have a seat with you?” Twilight asked, still whispering.

“Not at all.”

Fluttershy scooted down to make room for Twilight and Flash, the three sat on the bench for a moment in blissful silence before Twilight broke it.

“I’m Twilight Sparkle, the new Maiden, what’s your name?” She asked the timid woman.

“Fluttershy, I’m the cleric of my team,” Fluttershy answered.

“Interesting, but you’re also a Maidous?” Twilight asked.

Fluttershy nodded. “I have some knowledge of this spirit, so I’m in charge of his sealing,” Fluttershy said, indicating to the statue of a creature with mismatched body parts that was known as a draconequus.

“Really, would you mind telling me more about it?” Twilight asked, giving her best-winning smile.’’

“Oh…I’d really like to but…” The avian shifted uncomfortably, “I’m afraid I really can’ talk about him.”

Twilight wanted to press further, but Flash gave her a look that suggested it was better that she didn’t. Chaos spirits were a delicate matter within the Sleeping Sun, even talking about some spirits could cause their magic to run loose if the proper precautions weren’t taken.

“Fluttershy, do you think you could show us how the sealing process works?” Flash asked, hoping to brighten the Maiden’s mood, “if that’s okay with you, of course.”

“Um…” Fluttershy thought for a moment, the bunny within her lap seemed to be giving her words of encouragement, “sure, I don’t see why not.” Fluttershy took the rabbit and let him hop away, she stood up and made her way over to the statue, approaching it with soft steps as her bare feet made contact with the cool white sand. Taking care to not disturb the lines in the sand, Fluttershy made her way to the base of the statue and knelt before it, her hands closed in prayer. There was a moment of silence before Fluttershy chanted an incantation softly, Flash couldn’t hear it but Twilight was able to understand it. After she began her incantation, wisps of chaotic magic began to fume from the statue, wafting their way down and onto Fluttershy. The magic settled around Fluttershy before slowly entering her body through her skin, this happened for about a minute before the magic stopped. Fluttershy let out a sigh of relief once the ritual was complete.

Fluttershy stood up again and made her way to the bench, where she took her seat next to Twilight and Flash. Flash had never actually seen Fluttershy’s ritual before, due to her private nature she often kept quiet about her work and the means of doing it. Yet she just performed her ritual right in front of Twilight without any resistance. Once again, Flash was amazed by how open everyone became when they were around Twilight.

“Are you alright-“ Twilight attempted to place a shoulder on Fluttershy, only for a spark of chaos magic to snap at her hand, giving her a harsh shock. “Ouch!” She winced.

“Ooh, sorry,” Fluttershy apologized instinctively, “it’s never done that before. And yes, I am fine, it’ll take a few hours for the chaos magic to disperse within me.”

“Is it painful?” Twilight asked, rubbing her hand to soothe the pain.

Fluttershy tapped her chin in thought, “Painful isn’t the right word…it does feel awkward at first but after a while, it gives me a sense of…fullness, kinda like after eating more than you intended to after dinner.”

“Fascinating, can you tell me more about this ritual of yours? Why don’t the other Maidous’ help out?” Twilight asked.

“Sealing can only be performed by chosen Maidous’,” The timid avian said, “this spirit’s magic is compatible with my own, which allows me to perform the ritual.”

Flash, seeing how open about herself Fluttershy was being, decided to ask a question that’d been bothering him for some time now, “Hey Fluttershy, how come there aren’t any Dominous performing the ritual?” He asked.

“Oh…” Fluttershy shuffled uncomfortably.

Twilight came to rescue with an answer, “Maidouses possess yin energy, they receive and produce life, which is why they’re the only ones who can perform the sealing ritual. They take the magic into themselves and slowly transform it into Divine magic, which they then dispel.” Twilight explained. “It can be quite sensitive for Maidous’ since it is so similar to intercourse and childbirth.”

Fluttershy nodded in confirmation, hiding her face behind her long silky hair. Flash awkwardly shuffled in his seat, feeling bad for putting Fluttershy in an uncomfortable position. The bunny in Fluttershy’s lap nuzzled against her, putting her at ease.

“Fluttershy, you seem to have a strong tie to animals,” Twilight pointed out, “can you communicate with them by any chance?”

“Yes…I’ve always been able to.” Fluttershy answered.

“Then you must have a very strong connection to the Divine or at least one that’s stronger than the ones I’ve seen, yet you’re still a Maidous? Is there a reason you didn’t want to become a Maiden?” Twilight asked.

“Um…actually…” Fluttershy hid behind her hair again, unable to get the words out.

“That’s a rather…sensitive subject,” Flash spoke up in Fluttershy’s defense.

Twilight could see Fluttershy was shaking, “I’m sorry, I’ve clearly overstepped my bounds. Please excuse us.” Twilight said, standing up she began to walk away. Flash made sure the Fluttershy was okay first, and after she confirmed that she was okay, he ran to catch up with Twilight.

“I hope I didn’t come off as too forward with Fluttershy,” Twilight said as she and Flash made their way to the school. “She seemed so shaken by what I had said.”

“It’s not you,” Flash said, trying to console the mage, “Fluttershy had…something happen to her that jeopardized her Maidenhood,” Flash said, being vague on the subject as he felt it wasn’t his place to comment on the matter. “You shouldn’t worry about it, Fluttershy isn’t bothered by it, she just doesn’t like bringing it up.”

“If you say so.” Twilight chewed her fingernail.

The two continued their walk until they came to the connected district which was the school. Unlike the other locations, the school was adjacent to Tintagel and not a part of it. The school building was a renovated church that had been outfitted with tables for kids to sit at, training courts with obstacle courses, and of course a playground for recess. The bell atop the building rang several times, indicating that school was over, causing several kids ranging between the ages of 10 and 18 to file out of the building. The two entered the now empty classroom, where at the back of the room was one Cheese Sandwich who was sitting at the teacher’s desk with three girls sitting at a table finishing up some homework.

“Hi Cheese, got a moment?” Flash asked the goofy terra.

Cheese was dressed in a suit and tie, his once poofy and curly hair had been tied back into a man-bun, and a pair of reading glasses rested on the bridge of his nose. He pulled out a rubber chicken and placed it on the desk, “Boneless 2, you’re in charge while I’m gone.” He said to the toy rubber chicken as he walked up to Flash and Twilight with a warm smile. “Howdy! Name’s Cheese Sandwich, Ranger by night, and school faculty by day.”

“Hello Cheese Sandwich,” Twilight returned Cheese’s smile with one of her own, “my name is Twilight Sparkle, I’m the new Maiden here.”

“Well I’ll be,” Cheese said, getting a close look at Twilight, “aren’t you a little young to be a religious Demi-goddess that wields the all-powerful Divine?”

“Yes, yes I am,” Twilight answered simply.

“Good enough for me,” Cheese said, folding up his glasses and putting them away, “so what can I do for you today?”

“I’m touring the grounds, this school is the last place I wanted to see,” Twilight answered.

“Ah, I see you saved the best for last,” Cheese grinned, “what would you like to know about?”

“Well for starters, what do you teach the students here? Like what courses do you teach and how do you organize and lead everything?” The Maiden inquired.

“We teach the basic courses necessary for the kids here, reading and writing, math, physics, history, and physical education.” Cheese answered, “we use a different method for learning than most other schools, we give a lecture on a subject and then let the students complete their assignments in class.”

“And do you teach all of the courses here?”

Cheese chuckled, “No, even I don’t have that kind of mental capacity. I just teach reading and writing, as well as math. Flash here teaches history, Soarin teaches physical education, and Ms.Cheerliee teaches the rest.”

Twilight looked to Flash, “You didn’t tell me that you taught the kids here.”

“Well, my mentor was a lover of history and would read me stories and history books after our training.” Flash smiled as he reminisced, “So I figured that it was only fair that I follow in his lead and teach some history myself.”

“Hmmm, so full of mysteries aren’t you, Mr. Flash.” Twilight hummed with a sly smile, before turning her attention back to Cheese. “Why does the Sleeping Sun have a school? Surely the city has public schools available for its citizens.”

Cheese’s smile faltered for a moment, “Yeah…see, all the kids here are younglings actually; orphans left to the Sleeping Sun.” Cheese leaned against the desk behind him with his arms crossed, “It’s a tale as old as humanity itself, guy meets girl, they flirt, hold hands and then *pop* a baby is born. But the guy and girl don’t have the resources to take care of the kid, nor do they have the heart to abort it, so they do the next best thing and orphan it. The Sleeping Sun then scoops up the orphans and starts training them to become soldiers, teaching them basic education and the history of Night Creatures.”

“That’s…terrible,” Twilight shuddered, “you mean all of the children here are forced against their will to fight Night Creatures?!”

“Huh, oh, no they’re not. Let me clarify,” Cheese began to clarify, “the kids here after they graduate, are free to go and do whatever they want. They can become farmers, merchants, mercenaries, heck, I know some students that work at the Civilizer of Men, of all places, and make more bits than even some royals.” Cheese wiped away a tear, “I’m so proud of them. But, admittedly, a majority of students do go on to become soldiers because they feel a sense of debt with everything the Sleeping Sun has given them.”

“But if they have a choice, why not teach them what they’re interested in pursuing? Like agriculture, chemistry, arts, all of the sciences that could help them?” Twilight asked.

“You’re preaching to the choir, sister. I’d love nothing more than to have teachers educate kids about everything you said and more…but there isn’t enough to go around,” Cheese sighed, “some of the people that go out of these walls end up never returning, either their village can’t sustain itself or they have no way to fend off Night Creatures. Do you know the most dangerous thing humanity is facing right now?”

“A lack of information,” Flash answered, as he and Cheese had this same discussion long ago when they were drinking after celebrating their class’s graduation.

“Gold star for you,” Cheese jests, pulling out a glittery gold sticker and smacking it on his armor, “but he’s right, there’s so much we don’t know about our world and there’s even less we know about Night Creatures. They’ve been around for as long as humanity and everything we know about them can fit in a 25 paged book, and that book would only contain 100 years worth of information.”

“But information is more accessible now, thanks to the DMs, right?” Twilight asked.

“Yep, communication has never been stronger thanks to the dragons,” Cheese confirmed, “knowledge is more accessible today than it has ever been. The only problem is that there is so much information and data that a lot of it conflicts with each other. One researcher would say that garlic weakens vampires and others would say that carrying around garlic is a lie told by vampires so that their walking meals would come with seasonings.” Cheese sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose. “There’s a lot of information that all of the higher-ups are trying to sort through and get the facts straight, in the meantime all we can do is our best to ensure the kids know how to survive in this world.”

“Professor Cheese?” The three girls from before walked up to the teacher and each handed them the paper they were working on. “We finished.” The human mage with green eyes and pink hair said. Cheese took the papers and began grading them.

He handed the papers back with a smile on his face, talking to them all one by one, “Good job, Scootaloo,” Cheese ruffled the hair of the avian girl, “you’ve improved a lot with your formulas.” He moved to the mage with dark pink hair, “Sweetie Bell, your punctuation is spot on as always, keep up the good work.” Lastly was the terra human with red hair that had a bow in it, “Applebloom, you followed my advice and fixed all of your mistakes, great job. You three are free to go,” Cheese pulled out some bits and flipped them into the three kids' hands, “now go treat yourself to some ice cream, my treat for your hard work.” The three girls cheered, thanking their teacher before running off. Twilight saw the grades Cheese had given the papers, in normal circumstances their grades wouldn’t even be considered passing in academic standards, yet Cheese gave them a pass.

“This world sucks,” Cheese stated, preventing Twilight from commenting on the student’s grades, “but just because the world is sad doesn’t mean we can’t see the improvement in people. Sure their grades aren’t stellar yet, but they are improving and that’s what matters.” Cheese said as he walked back to his desk, opening a drawer filled with other poorly graded assignments that Cheese had passed. “The students are still kids, kids that never got the chance to have a home or family to live with. The least we can do for them is let them have a day where they can smile.” Cheese smiled warmly.

“As well as make sure they are prepared, even a little bit for this world.” Flash joined in. “There are still countries that have no knowledge or information whatsoever on Night Creatures. Not to mention the wars and crusades between all nations causes everyone to not share information at all.”

“Do you mind if I help out?” Twilight asked. “I can teach some subjects here and I can donate some of my books.”

“We’d be more than happy to accept the books and feel free to stop by and say hi to the kids whenever you want.” Cheese said, “Whenever Granny Smith came to the school, the kids were always so excited. Everyone enjoys the company of a Maiden.”

As the sun began to set and the moon started its ascent, Flash walked Twilight back to her room. Twilight was very pleased with her tour, she had seen and learned so much in just a short amount of time. Flash couldn’t help but stare at the Maiden, everything about her today showed how wonderful she was. Everyone she interacted with was so willing to confess with her, and she took the time to listen to people’s stories and offer not only advice but also a solution.

“You’re amazing, Twilight,” Flash blurted out of nowhere.

“I know, I’m just glad people are realizing it.” Twilight joked, slightly bumping Flash, the two giggled. “In all seriousness though, thank you Flash. This tour was genuinely fun and you made it very enjoyable.”

“I’m glad I was able to help.” Flash smiled. “What do you think was your favorite part?” He asked, trying to keep the conversation alive.

“Oh don’t make me choose!” Twilight teased, putting a finger to her chin she gave it some consideration, leaning back against the doorframe, “Well…I guess I’d have to choose the library.”

“Really?” Flash crossed his arms.

“Yeah…I got to see so many wondrous things and it all started there with you.” Twilight said, grinning at the small blush forming on Flash’s cheeks. “I look forward to working with you, Flash. You, and everyone else here.”

“The feeling is mutual, your grace.” Flash bowed dramatically, causing a playful eye-roll from the Maiden. “If you need anything, the barracks is just down this hallway,” Flash said, as he was about to take his leave the Maiden’s hand shot out and grabbed his hand.

“Hold on, we never did get a chance to see the barracks fully, did we?” Twilight announced.

Flash realized that they hadn’t actually seen the rooms within the barracks, they were too caught up in the duel between Applejack and Trixie to see the rest of the living quarters. “Oh shoot, and since it’s so late everyone is gonna be winding down for the night. I don’t know if we’ll be able to tour any of the rooms tonight?”

“What about your room?” Twilight suggested.

Flash was hesitant at first, but when he looked into Twilight’s big beautiful eyes he lost all logical reasons to say no. “Yeah…we can go to my room.” He decided, and the two made their way there.

Room 241 was the living quarters for Flash’s team, upon arrival, Flash unlocked his front door and entered. The two were greeted with the mudroom, armor stands were decorated with his teammate's armor, along with other clothing items like jackets and boots. Flash, feeling comfortable in his own living space, took off his armor and put it on his designated stand. While he did so, Twilight took the liberty of having a look at the connected rooms. Two steps lead to a sunken living room with a horseshoe-shaped couch facing a fireplace, a square coffee table in the center. On the side of the wall were two doors and one smaller shaped door, name tags with some decorations on them were placed on both doors, indicating whose room was who’s. Twilight assumed that the smaller door was for Spike. On another wall were 3 doors that lead to bathrooms and one door, in particular, that was all by itself on the final wall tempted Twilight to see what lay behind it. She looked back to Flash, who was struggling to take off his boots, and said, “Mind if take a look what’s in here?”

“Huh, oh that’s the bathing room,” Flash answered, setting his boots at the base of his armor stand.

“All seven of you share one bathing room?” Twilight raised a brow.

“Well…it’s a little bit complicated.” Flash rubbed the back of his head.

“Let’s see,” Twilight stated, curiosity taking hold of her as she grabbed the door handle to the bathing room and opened it.

Upon entering the bathroom she was met with white marble floors, walls, and ceiling, as well as a thick cloud of hot steam that exited the room. Lockers were the first thing the Maiden saw, there were six of them and one smaller one which she assumed was for Spike. However, what was most shocking to the Maiden was the large tub filled with semi-clear water with floating herbs in it, and the fact that the five people and one dragon she had met today were all collectively bathing in the said tub,

And all of them were completely, totally, stark naked.

Author's Note

Knowledge Available for Public Disclosure

Maidens and Dominions

Those who are Maidens and Dominions are Humans that possess all 3 magics of the humans; Terran, Avian, and Mage. Along with wielding all 3 forms, they also have a tie to the Divine, the most pure form of magic. This allows them to bless and change objects in the world. The exact limits and powers of the Divine are still not exactly known, however only a Maiden, Maidous (a woman who has access to the Divine, but not the other 3 forms of human magic), Dominion, Dominous (A man who has access to the Divine, but not the other 3 forms of human magic), may bless tools and equipment for the order.

Maidens and Dominions are known for possessing an aura that makes people calm and comfortable around them, this has to do with the nature of the Divine. Along with this, it is also known that people develop an irresistible sexual attraction towards Maidens and Dominions. The exact reason as to why is still unknown, but many scholars have chalked it up to “Power is sexy"

Chapter 3: Hot Springs Chapter

In the eastern land of Neippon, a land renowned for tradition and honor, there exists a form of art known as Manga, which is a kind of graphic novel. After an alliance between the Sleeping Sun and the Knowing Kami, a multitude of art and goods was traded between the two, several completed manga’s being disturbed to the people within the Sleeping Sun. Much like with regular graphic novels, manga’s all depicted beautiful women and various situations in the plot to make these women dress in various clothing and appear in provocative situations given the most ridiculous of circumstances. These tropes became well known, such as “the beach episode”, “the transfer student”, “the class trip”, etc. However, there was one episode that was both famous yet classic among all manga and that episode was the hot springs episode, a chapter in which all characters bathe with one another without clothes, it is a timeless chapter that all readers can enjoy for numerous reasons.

Twilight couldn’t help but be reminded of this fact as she took in the naked appearances of all five of the people she met, Spike was the exception since dragons didn’t wear clothes. Her gaze fell on Fluttershy first, when she had first met the timid avian, she couldn’t see much of her before due to her concealing robe, to say she was curvy was an understatement, her bust and hips were voluptuous yet her waist remained thin, giving her an hourglass figure any woman would kill for. Her long legs dipped into the water while she sat on the edge of the sunken tub, her wings fully extended and her shampoo-slicked hands ran through her hair.

Behind Fluttershy was Soarin, who was tenderly massaging and cleaning Fluttershy’s wings, his toned muscles spoke volumes for his strength yet his care and attention to his massage showed that he was more skilled than forceful. His sharp emerald eyes were focused on his work, so much so that he didn’t even register that Twilight was there. Her gaze trailed down his body, tight chest, abs you could’ve ground meat on, and toned legs. Her eyes didn’t stay on his exposed package for too long, as it was limp.

She then looked to Rarity, her silky hair damp from the water, her skin looked so smooth. Her body resembled that of a model, with thick legs and curvy hips that paired beautifully with her rounded rear. She had Spike scrubbing her back gently scratching and kneading at her backside. With all of her makeup and accessories removed, Twilight felt like she got to see a truer side to Rarity.

Next was Applejack, who at first, Twilight thought nothing of because she had seen her half-naked before just hours ago, but boy was she wrong. Applejack’s now naked form showed off her tight muscles, not too bulky to seem fat but just big enough to display their might. There was something sexy about how Applejack appeared without clothes, her exposed perky breasts showed off her strong shoulders and lead down to her toned belly.

Finally was Cheese Sandwich, who was sitting in the tub, and thanks to the murky water, Twilight couldn’t see anything below his belly. Cheese wasn’t as ripped as Soarin and Flash, but he wasn’t skinny either, his shoulders were broad and his chest defined. His once curly brown hair was now tied back with a hairband to keep it out of his eyes. The man in question looked to Twilight with a warm smile as though nothing was out of the ordinary.

“Hiya, Twilight,” The goofy Terran gleamed, “didn’t expect to see you here of all places.”

“Did ya get lost or somethin’?” Applejack asked, soaking her arms in shampoo.

“Oh, I do wish you would’ve told me you were coming soon darling,” Rarity spoke up, “I would’ve made preparations for a welcome basket.”

Twilight just stood there with a curious look on her face, how did none of them seem the least bit disturbed by her presence. Furthermore, how come none of them were having any reaction to being naked around each other? She knew that teams were close with one another like family, but what was happening before her eyes went beyond anything normal. Even if this was normal for all of them to bathe together, surely they would’ve tried to cover themselves at the sight of a stranger. If this were a manga, they’d all be screaming at Twilight in high-pitched voices, calling her a pervert and throwing the closest object to make her leave.

“GAH! What do you guys think you're doing?!”

Flash Sentry acted as Twilight’s return of normalcy, now wearing a tight black t-shirt and a pair of loose-fit pants, he entered the bathroom with a beet-red face, doing his best not to let his eyes wander.

“Bathing, duh.” Cheese answered obnoxiously.

“We’ve talked about this, if you’re gonna take a bath then you need to hang the sign up on the door.” Flash glared at Cheese, doing his best to not look down.

“I don’t see what the big deal is.” Soarin chimed in, moving on to wash Fluttershy’s other wing after he finished scrubbing the first one.

“It’s a massive deal!” Flash shouted at Soarin, averting his gaze Fluttershy was in-between the two.

“I’m sorry,” Twilight joined in, her curiosity getting the best of her. She had so many questions and knew she’d get nowhere if she left all of the talking to Flash, “If you don’t mind, how are all of you so calm about this? Is it usual for teammates to bathe with one another?”

“You betcha,” Applejack answered, lowering herself into the tub and letting out a soft sigh of relief as she entered the hot waters, “there’s only so many tubs one can make over the natural hot springs, so we gotta share it.”

“Fascinating,” Twilight mused, “and you’re all comfortable with each other being naked?”

“Oh heavens no, I don’t think any of us would do that.” Rarity answered, to which everyone nodded in agreement.

Twilight looked at the team now more confused than ever, everyone wasn’t comfortable being naked with each other, and yet here they were bathing together like it was perfectly normal. Soarin was even cleaning Fluttershy’s wings, something that should be sending the timid woman over the edge with pleasure yet here she was as calm as could be. Flash quickly caught on and realized why Twilight was confused.

“Twilight,” He spoke, grabbing her shoulder, “by any chance, do you know what Ace-pops are?”

Twilight blinked at the avian, the word he had said didn’t bring up any memories, “I…don’t believe I do.”

“Ohhhhh, that would explain it.” Cheese said.

Flash took a step back and indicated to a gumball machine that was full of gumballs that were colored with the stripes black, grey, white, and purple in that order from top to bottom, resembling the asexual flag. “Those are Ace-pops, they’re a candy designed to help soldiers when dealing with sexual Night Creatures, such as Succubi, Popobawa, Lidercs, etc. They nullify libido and sexual senses for a couple of hours, and since they’re easy to make and mass-produced there’s enough for us to use in our daily lives.” Flash continued, transitioning into the history of the candy, “See, teams need to consist of an equal number of men and women, and since teams need to live together to establish trust and a family bond they have to share things as such. However, this lead to the tendency that the teammates would sleep with each other due to their constant amount of time spent together.”

“How is that a bad thing?” Twilight asked.

“You ever had a work party that you went to and got super drunk at, then wake up in a hotel room and realize you slept with one of your coworkers?” Cheese asked rhetorically. “Always leads to awkward situations, and those can become life costing for us soldiers.”

“Not to mention how costly it can get to give each soldier their private resources,” Flash continued, “so when special herbs were found to temporarily curb sexual emotions, with no side effects, the Sleeping Sun found it to be easier to just make soldiers take an Ace-pop when bathing with each other and before we sleep to avoid any…sexual frustrations with one another.”

Twilight looked to the Ace-pops with morbid fascination, “Why not take them every day? Since sexual desire seems to be the root cause of most issues within the Sleeping Sun.”

“Not exactly,” Flash began to answer, “the effects are temporary with a normal dose but overdosing on it can remove sexual desires for…well, an indefinite amount of time. So they’re to be used with moderation and care.”

“Not to mention that no one is in a hurry to get rid of their libido.” Cheese grinned.

“If it’s alright with all of you,” Twilight turned back to the team in the tub, “I’d like to join you in the bath, after taking an Ace-pop of course.”

The team had no objections to the proposal, after spending time with Twilight they believed that she was trustworthy. Twilight used her magic and grabbed two Ace-pops from the machine, levitating them into her hand. She popped one into her mouth, crushing it between her teeth it had a taste similar to vanilla and black licorice. She offered the second Ace-pop to Flash, who held up his opened hands to signal his opposition.

“I think I’ll just sit this one out, I’ll wait outside the door until you’re ready to turn in.” He stated.

“Awwww, come on,” Twilight teased, “you can’t make it this far only to turn back now. Surely it wouldn’t hurt to join in.”

A soft pressure resonated through Flash’s head, like a small voice was telling him to follow Twilight. Yet he was still hesitant, a voice of reason opposing the pressure.

“Flash darling,” Rarity spoke up, getting his attention, “I have your bath-ware in your locker.”

Rarity, aware of Flash’s hesitation, understood his reasons and possessed the means to solve them. Now, with no logical reason to not go along with everyone, said “Alright, I’ll join you.”

Twilight smiled, pleased in getting her way, “I’m happy to hear it.” She extended the Ace-pop to Flash, only for him to push it back.

“Um…actually those don’t work on me,” Flash stated as he made his way to his locker.

“Really?” Twilight looked at Flash with astonishment.

“Yeah…I possess some kind of natural immunity to charms and sexual magic, in return, for some reason, Ace-pops don’t take away my desires.” Flash explained.

Twilight looked to everyone else in the tub, wondering their thoughts on the matter.

“We know, and we don’t mind.” Applejack answered before Twilight could even ask, “It’s Flash, he won’t do anything.”

Twilight agreed on that part, although she had only met him for a day, Twilight could already tell that Flash wasn’t the kind of person to take advantage of others in that way. It had only been moments after consuming the Ace-pop and Twilight could already feel the changes on her body. She felt lighter and more comfortable with her body, like all notions of shame and desire ceased to be.

“Well don’t just stand there, take off ya britches and hop on in while the water’s still piping hot!” Applejack said.

Seeing no reason not to, and with all shame and sexual desire gone, Twilight began to strip her clothing, staring by unbuttoning her skirt she let it slide down her legs and fall to the floor, then she pulled her red turtleneck over her head, throwing her head back to keep her hair in place. She then moved to her boots and high socks, leaning against a nearby locker for support. All that remained were her underwear, a dark red bra and panties, which Twilight took off with ease. Now she stood before the team fully naked, with no sense of shame or discomfort in her vulnerable state.

“Is there someone I can set my clothes?” Twilight asked, using her magic to collect her belongings and have them folded neatly in her arms.

Fluttershy pointed to a nearby small table, which Twilight used her magic to levitate the folded clothes onto. Twilight stretched, showing off more of her body, she felt free and unhindered, a feeling she would’ve never felt under normal circumstances. The door leading to the bathroom opened and closed, signaling that Flash had returned after he exited the bathroom. Twilight looked back, a hint of anticipation to see the winged guard in his naked state, only to have her hopes dashed once her eyes landed on the protector. He wore a pair of white swim trunks and a loose-fitted white swim shirt, not leaving much to the imagination. What Twilight found most provocative was the fact that Flash had a black blindfold tied around his eyes, preventing any kind of sight. He made his way towards the tub slowly, using the nearby lockers for support. As he got more confident in his movements, Flash spend up his pace from a crawl to a normal walk, however, due to his lack of vision, he didn’t notice Twilight right in his path and knocked into her. Twilight fell, grabbing Flash in an attempt to prevent her tumbledown but succeeded in dragging Flash down with her. Twilight landed on her rear first, her hands shot back to land on the floor only to be pushed down by Flash who landed on top of her.

Once again, Twilight thought back to how much this situation was like a manga, the protagonist runs into the wrong bathhouse, slips, falls onto a girl, and just so happens to grab her breasts while she’s down. Just like that situation, Twilight found herself on the receiving end of the event, lying on the floor face up, Flash’s left hand on one of her breasts and his right arm next to her face. His body was dangerously close to hers, only a thin fabric separated the connection between their naked flesh. A normal girl would cry out in panic, but Twilight wasn’t a normal girl and took advantage of an opportunity the moment it arose.

“You know, we need to stop meeting like this.” She grinned mischievously, watching Flash’s expression change like a slideshow from calm to shock to panic.

Flash quickly withdrew from Twilight, a flurry of words of apology spewed from his mouth as he jumped back. He moved so fast that he slammed himself into the locker behind him, smacking the back of his head hard against the metal sheet. He cursed, clutching the back of his head to nurse the pulsating pain. Everyone laughed at the cliche, Twilight couldn’t help but join in with a giggle of her own. Standing up, she approached Flash and extended a hand to him, offering to guide him to the tub. Flash apologized again as he took her hand, the two made their way down the steps into the tub.

Twilight felt amazing once her feet touched the water, a wave of warmth and euphoria caressed her leg as it slowly submerged itself below. She lowered herself more into the welcoming embrace of the liquid, walking to one of the built-in submerged benches on the edge of the tub, with Flash sitting on her left and Fluttershy sitting on her right. Her thoughts returned to the water, there was a smell wafting from it that soothed her mind and healed her body. The pain from her fall just earlier was already vanishing like it never happened, she looked over to see Flash cupping some of the water in his hands and applying it to the back of his head.

“Tell me,” Twilight spoke to Fluttershy, as she was the closest, “does this hot spring have any healing properties?”

Fluttershy nodded as she began to explain, pointing to the walls of the tub itself, “The bathtub is made from a mixture of marble, quartz, and iron, which gives the water a regenerative ability, allowing for cell repair and growth.” She pointed over to Soarin, who was chatting with Flash, specifically to his hair which had several spots of hair that was shorter than the rest.

“What about the water itself? It smells like you’ve mixed something in,” Twilight asked.

“Oh yes, the water comes from natural hot springs so it contains a lot of silica which is helpful for the skin, and there are herbs and plants mixed in by Terrans to give people a boost in energy.” Fluttershy beamed.

“Amazing, please give my regards to whoever came up with these.” Twilight sighed in bliss as she slid further into the water, letting her whole body experience the warmth.

“I’ll be sure to tell Lotus and Aloe.” Fluttershy giggled.

Twilight sat back up, facing Fluttershy. She didn’t know what it was, but she seemed more confident and grounded compared to when she had first met her.

“Fluttershy,” Twilight began, leaning in on the woman, “I wanted to apologize if I made you uncomfortable today. I should’ve realized that you had wounds you weren’t comfortable with sharing.”

“Oh…” Fluttershy blushed, unprepared for Twilight’s confession, “actually…I was just in shock by you…when I saw you were a Maiden, it made me nervous because of how beautiful you looked.”

Twilight hugged Fluttershy, “Well you don’t need to feel that way around me, I may be a Maiden but I’m still a person just like you. Sure I can cast spells and you can fly, but we’re both women here and I want you to know that you have a friend in me.”

That statement made Fluttershy smile widely, turning away from Twilight to hide her embarrassment. “Thank you for that, your grace.”

“None of that,” Twilight booped Fluttershy on the nose, “we’re friends now, you can call me Twilight.”

“Okay…Twilight,” Fluttershy smiled, “you really are everything I wanted to be as a Maiden.”

Twilight cocked her head in wonder, “You wanted to become a Maiden? You’re a Maidous so you can easily apply.”

“Oh…” Fluttershy’s once cheerful tone turned somber, “I’m afraid that I’m no longer applicable. Not after…”

Fluttershy was shaking again, Twilight grabbed her hand to comfort her, “You don’t have to tell me just yet, just know that I’m always willing to listen.”

“Oh, is this about why Fluttershy thinks she can’t become a Maiden?” Cheese chimed in, having eavesdropped on the conversation. “You’ve got to tell her the story of your first night here.”

“Please don’t.” Fluttershy pleaded with the goofy Terran but her pleas fell on deaf ears as his merciless teasing began.

“I’m wounded Fluttershy,” Cheese cried over-dramatically, “not only do you deny what you did to us that night, now you’re preventing us from speaking up!”

“I said I was sorry!” Fluttershy was beet red with embarrassment.

Cheese gasped, “Did it mean nothing to you? Am I just a one-night stand to you Flutters, I thought we were better than that? Or perhaps you just preferred Flash-“ Cheese’s teasing was cut short as Fluttershy lunged at him and held his head under the water.

“Please stop! Twilight is gonna take that out of context!” Fluttershy squeaked as Cheese thrashed to get his head back above water.

“Oh let him go Shy, you know he’s only teasing.” Applejack chuckled.

Fluttershy released Cheese, who came back up from the water with a triumphant grin. When he opened his mouth, a stream of water flowed from it like it would from a facet. He leaned to the side and the water then started to drain from his ears and so on until every orifice was clear of water blockage. Fluttershy gave the grinning Terran a playful punch in the arm, a small smile returning to her face as she couldn’t bring herself to hate the goofy person.

“Well, now I have to know,” Twilight said, desperate for context to their teasing.

Cheese gave the spotlight to Fluttershy, who began to tell her story after she determined that she was in a safe place. Whether it was the Ace-pop, the calming waters, the presence of the Maiden, or a mixture of all three, she didn’t know, but she felt comfortable enough to open up.

“As you know, I am a Maidous, a lesser-maiden, I had requested to be the caretaker of the chaos spirit in the Sanctuary. My predecessor taught me everything so that I was prepared to take his chaos magic and seal him, however…” Fluttershy trailed off, shifting nervously she continued, “I was undisciplined and wasn’t prepared for how…erotic his magic could be. When I took it within myself, his magic overcame me and it…changed me.”

Fluttershy paused, “What happened next?” Twilight asked, the anticipation weighing heavily on her.

Fluttershy looked to Cheese leaving him to tell the rest of the story, “Just…please don’t be too explicit with it.”

“Why do you think so little of me, I’m not going to be explicit,” Cheese flashed a toothy grin, before being as explicit with it as possible, “So, Fluttershy gang-banged every guy in Tintagel on her first week here so hard that everyone couldn’t walk. She did every kind of sexual position you could think of like-ow, ow, ow, ow!” Cheese’s storytime was interrupted with his playful sounds of pain as Fluttershy started bonking him with a nearby wooden bath brush.

“Come on, Cheese,” Rarity sighed, “tell the story how it actually happened.”

“Okay, okay,” The mischievous Terran complied, grabbing the wooden brush from the agitated Fluttershy, “like she said, the chaos magic she absorbed changed her into some kind of hybrid between what we can only assume to be a mix of a vampire and succubus. She flew all over Tintagel, snatching up any male soldier she could get her claws on and plowing 'em like a lobster in heat.” Fluttershy was about to hit Cheese again for his vulgar language, causing him to change up his dialogue, “which they all gave consent to. Point is, she had only transformed for about an hour and that was all the time she needed to put over a hundred highly-trained soldiers out of commission for a few days.”

“The soldiers gave consent?” Twilight cocked her head in bewilderment.

“Technically it was sexual coercion which is the grey line between rape and consent, but none of the soldiers were opposed to the sexual act after it happened to them so…” Cheese shrugged, holding up both arms in an ‘I dunno’ expression. “And in case you were wondering, no, there were no charms or sexual spells cast on the soldiers during the devious act. They agreed to it for two reasons; reason 1,” Cheese indicated to Fluttershy’s bust, “and reason 2.” He then pointed to Fluttershy’s rear.

“So she transformed…does that usually happen?” Twilight asked.

“Not in the case of being turned into a lemon-colored sex-bat, no. But there have been a couple of cases in which Maidous’ get corrupted.” Cheese stated.

“So how did you stop her, clearly you must’ve found a way to, or else we wouldn’t be having this conversation,” Twilight asked.

Cheese snapped his fingers with a triumphant smile plastered on his face, “That’s the neat part, we didn’t.”

“Huh?” Twilight blinked.

“Yeah, not our proudest moment, but she overpowered all of the other soldiers so no one could get a clear hit on her, not to mention she had none of the weaknesses of the Night Creature we thought she was. She wasn’t killing anyone either so the only thing we did was just let her have her way until she tired herself out.” Cheese shrugged, “Which she did, after Flash and Soarin tried to subdue her she had her way with both of them before returning to her normal state.”

“Oh really,” Twilight smirked, looking at Flash who was sitting crosslegged during the story, memories of that night flooding into his brain.

“Yep, and that’s how we met our good teammate Flutters!” Cheese declared, embracing the naked woman in question with a bear hug.

“No offense,” Twilight interrupted, “but why did she stay as a Maidous? Surely falling to the Chaos must’ve gotten her banished.”

All eyes looked to Flash, as he knew the answer, “While it’s true that Fluttershy did get corrupted by the Chaos, her rampage was more…disorienting than destructive, she didn’t kill or harm anyone, physically, and she also was able to overpower the Chaos possessing her. Which is very important.”

Maidous’ were hard to come by, due to the devious nature of Chaos there was a fair share of women that fell into corruption by its magic. Many could avoid its temptation but the truly rare and exceptional were the ones that could control it, which Fluttershy succeeded in.

“So you see…that’s why I can’t become a Maiden like you.” Fluttershy’s tone turned somber as she took her seat next to Twilight. “I lost my virginity and took it from several other soldiers, I’m still grateful to even have a sliver of connection to the Divine.”

“Hold on,” Twilight interrupted, “do you think you can’t take the trial for Maidenhood because you’re no longer a virgin?”

“…Yes,” Fluttershy answered cautiously, unsure where Twilight was going with her point.

“Fluttershy, virginity isn’t a requirement for being a Maiden,” Twilight stated, as though that fact was common knowledge. Upon hearing that, everyone froze in shock, all eyes, except for Flash’s, was on Twilight. “Did…none of you know that?”

“Hold on a minute there missy,” Applejack spoke, “my granny told me that virginity was the most important requirement for becoming a Maiden. You tellin’ me that my granny was lying?”

“No, it was a requirement for Maidens decades ago,” Twilight began to explain, “but research has shown that Maidens and Maidous’ who lose their virginity don’t lose their connection to the Divine, it is weakened but not significantly enough to disqualify you.”

“You mean that…I can still become a Maiden?” Fluttershy asked, hope filling the young woman.

“Well, I can’t say you’ll become one, you’ll still have to pass the test, but basically yes, you can still become a Maiden,” Twilight answered.

Fluttershy tightly embraced Twilight, tears in her eyes from happiness brimming from the bottom of her heart. Afterward, the conversations between all of them began to die down, she listened in on the conversations between everyone else. Rarity asked Spike for his opinion on some of the gems she had recently purchased, which Spike inspected meticulously, Soarin and Applejack were talking about their plans for tomorrow, agreeing that they’d spar with each other to improve their training, Cheese and Fluttershy were poking fun at each other, which left her and Flash. Her gaze looked Flash up and down, his soaked swim-shirt clung tightly to his body, showing off his tight upper body which she took an eyeful of. Sadly, she still couldn’t see anything below his chest under the murky waters. A thought popped into the Maiden’s brain, going back to manga.

“Flash,” She spoke, getting his attention, “why are you wearing a swimsuit? Aren’t those forbidden in baths?”

When travelers entered the land of Neippon, they were unprepared for the differences in culture and traditions. Specifically bathing, as it was standard for the western countries of Equestria to take showers privately and keep oneself clothed at all times. In Neippon, nakedness was something standard for their people, bathing with one another in complete nakedness was a sign of trust and vulnerability. Swimwear, clothing one would wear when engaging in aquatics, was forbidden in baths, not because of cultural requirements, but because of contamination. People that wore swimwear into baths would contaminate the waters with the materials of the clothing and nullify the healing factors of the water, as well as defeat the entire purpose of bathing entirely.

Flash understood this and had an explanation for his actions, “These aren’t normal swimwear, they’re specially designed by Rarity with materials that won’t contaminate the waters.”

“Really now,” Twilight hummed, turning to the mage in question, “what did you make it out of?”

“I’m glad you asked,” Rarity beamed at the opportunity to show off her work, “I like to make clothes as a hobby for the people of Canterlot, and when Flash had commissioned me to make him a swimsuit that he could bathe with I happily took on the challenge. I couldn’t make it with any standard fabrics like polyester and nylon, so I went to my all-time favorite fabric to use; cotton. More specifically, a hybrid of cotton that has some minerals in it that bond with water and keep it contained to avoid any leakage.”

“Hmmm, quite ingenious, have you worked on the forges by any chance?”

“Oh, I’m afraid not, darling,” Rarity waived, “the heavy tools and hard labor isn’t really my thing.”

“Fair enough,” Twilight said, she wanted to continue the conversation longer, mostly wanting to tease and play with Flash more, but a magical signal went off in her head. Arriving at Canterlot, Twilight had set up magical barriers and wards to keep her room safe in the event of anyone getting too nosey with her items. Specifically, the array of items she had hidden under her bed, and the alarm for her bed was being tripped at the very moment. Silently cursing to herself, she got up from the tub she made her way up the stairs, “you’ve all been so welcoming and generous for letting me spend time with you. But sadly, I must turn in for tonight.”

“Oh, before you go!” Rarity spoke up, quickly rushing after Twilight she ran to her locker and rummaged through it before pulling out a silky black bathrobe. “Here, you looked wonderful in black and I couldn’t sleep right if I didn’t see you wear this.”

“I couldn’t,” Twilight protested at first.

“I insist, I have countless robes like this one and I just know you’ll look ravishing in it.”

Without protest, Twilight used her magic to make the robe surround her body, a warmth emanating from the robe. With her present from the Mage, Twilight teleported away after saying one last goodbye.

As the night wound down, Twilight teleported to her bedroom wearing a silky bathrobe that Rarity had generously given her. The robe clung tightly to her damp body, her clean clothes levitated and sorted into the dresser with her magic. She saw something rustle under the covers of her bed. She approached it cautiously, an attack spell ready in the unlikely event that it was an intruder. However, as she made her way to the master bed, she was not at all surprised to see Starlight Glimmer wriggling under her sheets, a giddy smile plastered on her face as she smothered a pillow.

“Oh mistress,” She moaned, “not there, I haven’t even explored that hole myself.”

“Enjoying yourself?” Twilight smirked as Starlight jerked back in surprise at the sudden arrival of Twilight, causing her to fall off the bed, taking the sheets down with her.

“M-mistress, you’re b-back early.” Starlight stammered, trying to regain her composure.

“I had a lovely tour with my guard and a bath with his teammates,” Twilight explained, “which was rudely interrupted by you triggering the alarms.” Twilight glared but still kept a smile on her face at the many ways in which she would punish Starlight later. “How did your mission go? Did you do as I asked?”

Starlight shuddered under Twilight’s gaze, but she nodded, “Yes, mistress, the Dominous Sunburst was more than helpful in providing me with the information on the castle’s runes and wards, among other things…” A small grin grew on Starlight’s face, which had a far-off look as she thought back to the wizard.

“Can you invert them?” Twilight asked, snapping Starlight back to reality.

“Um…not with all of them,” Starlight admitted, to which Twilight appeared disappointed. Desperate to please the Maiden, Starlight quickly corrected herself, “B-but I can nullify the ones that can’t be inverted.”

“Wonderful,” Twilight cooed, her hand petted Starlight’s head which she gave approval of, “I have another mission for you while you work on the wards, succeed and I’ll give you a reward.”

There was a gleam of excitement and desperation in Starlight’s eyes at the mention of a reward, “YES! Of course, my mistress.”

Twilight reached into her robe and pulled out the Ace-pop she had offered to Flash, rolling it across her fingers as one would do with a coin. “This here is one of their candies that the soldiers use both recreationally and for dealing with their enemies. They call them ‘Ace-pops’, a candy that can turn its consumer asexual for a few hours,” She said as she handed the candy to Starlight, who immediately began an inspection of the drug, “I want you to reverse engineer it and then find something that can override its effects.”

“Right away, mistress. Although I may need some assistance if Terran magic is involved,” Starlight stood up and raced towards the door, intending to head to the Canterlot laboratory that Sunburst had shown her.

“One more thing,” Twilight added, causing Starlight to freeze, “while you’re at it, I want you to make a batch of your Hush Puppies, enough to feed everyone in Tintagel.”

“Of course, mistress, as you command,” Starlight bowed before following out her orders.

All alone in her room, Twilight used her magic to straighten out her bed before lying down on it. She had had a long day exploring the keep, she met so many new faces and was so excited at what was going to happen. Their innocent faces twisted and warped suddenly flashed in her mind, especially that of her protector, which caused her hands to snake down to her nether region, not out of desire but out of habit. Her fingers rubbed the entrance to her lower regions in an attempt to stimulate her sexual desire.

Only to feel nothing. No pleasure, no electric stimulation, she felt as dry as a desert, and it was frustrating. She tried to force her libido into action, her thoughts wandered to many sexual fantasies she was accustomed to when pleasing herself, letting her fingers slip deeper inwards. When she still felt nothing she let her fantasies grow darker, thoughts of controlling her lovers, stealing faithful husbands from their wives, the list went on. When she still felt nothing, she thought of different fantasies, experiments that she had considered trying but only when she was either bored or ran out of options. None of them sparked anything, except she felt a small twinge when she had thought of being dominated by her protector. The feeling didn’t last, as when Twilight tried to continue the fantasy the emotions died down.

A frustrated sigh escaped her lips as she removed her fingers and slammed them onto the bed, to think that a simple candy was enough to affect her of all people. She reached down under her bed and pulled out a large briefcase which she laid on the bed. Opening it revealed several vials and potions she had in her possession, a concoction of ingredients could make her a potion to stimulate her lust. However, Twilight decided against it when she understood that it was best not to take any drugs when you have an unknown drug in your system. Twilight knew that the candy was no laughing matter, if her plan was to succeed then she needed a way to neutralize the narcotic.

With a desire to explore still gnawing at the back of her brain, in replace of her frustration, she got up from the bed and made her way to the balcony. Pushing open the double glass doors a gentle breeze blew entered the room, lifting the curtains into a waft next to the doors. She made her way to the railing and gazed at her view of the city of Canterlot, the wondrous city was lit with a soft glow from different houses, as though the city was a lantern to shine the darkness away. She used a spell of clairvoyance, seeing the places she had already been, observing the guards and their routes. The night watch mostly consisted of Sentinels, though she knew that would change in three days. Her vision transferred from room to room until it fell on the room of the team she had visited. Everyone was asleep in their respective beds, Spike asleep in his own personal one, except one bed was empty; Flash’s.

Curious as to his location, Twilight honed in on the guard until she found him leaning against the wall next to the gates leading into Canterlot. He was wearing a cloak to cover himself and Twilight could tell that he was waiting for someone, but for who? Twilight waited tentatively until the person Flash was expecting arrived, another cloaked figure approached Flash, a duffle bag in her arm. Twilight got a closer look and saw the arrival was the doctor she had seen in the medical ward, Doctor Redheart she believed her name was. She handed Flash the duffle bag, the two talked back and forth for a moment but Twilight couldn’t make out what they were saying as Twilight couldn’t read their lips. The two parted after a moment, Redheart heading back into the keep and Flash taking off towards the city.

“Well now,” Twilight mused, using her magic to clothe herself in her previous outfit, “you’re full of so many mysteries aren’t you, Mr. Flash.”

With a blink of magic, Twilight teleported after Flash into the city of Canterlot.

Author's Note

Knowledge Available for Public Disclosure

Men and Women

Biologically, mentally, and spiritually, men and women are different. However, while men and women are not equitable they are equal in regards to worth and opportunity. Men, those who possess masculine Yang energy, and Women, those who possess feminine Yin energy, both recognize that there are no barriers that can stop them from achieving what they want. A woman can become stronger than a man and a man can become smarter than a woman, granted that adequate training and learning is performed.

In Equestria, the roles of men and women are loosely defined nor explained upon. However, it is a general concept that women have a more “authoritative” role when in a relationship. This is due to the nature of women being able to take in life and produce it through sexual intercourse. Additionally, sex between a man and a woman is generally seen as a woman leading, as it is through women, and women alone, that men are civilized.

Chapter 4: Deals with Devils

Author's Note

Knowledge Available for Public Disclosure

Yin and Yang Energy

There exists two auras, one of masculine and one of feminine, the presence of these auras define whether someone is labeled as a man or a woman (with the exception of those who wish to identify as otherwise). Yang energy is masculine, meaning that it is life-giving, as it is the nature of men to spread their seed. Yin energy is life-receiving and producing, as it through women that life is nurtured and produced. While all life forms are born with Yin and Yang auras, there are those who can undergo a transformation from man to woman and vise versa, should they desire. There are also numerous night creatures that possess both Yin and Yang auras.

Chapter 4: Deals with Devils

Adorned in his light armor concealed by a cloak, Flash tapped his foot impatiently as he waited for his expected contact. He double-checked the nearby clocktower to ensure that he didn’t get the time wrong; he was on time, his guest was late. After a while, he caught sight of the woman in question as a female cloaked figure approached him, a brown duffle bag by her side.

“You’re late.” Flash crossed his arms.

“Hey, you try sneaking out of the medical ward with four blood bags.” The voice of Redheart hissed at Flash as she gave him the duffel bag.

Flash set the duffle bag down and unzipped it, then he stuffed his damp swim trunks and swim shirt into the bag before zipping it back up.

“Not to make you feel inadequate, Flashy,” Redheart began, putting another one of her calming canes in-between her teeth, “but Shining and Sunburst already questioned the prisoners in Azkaban, and they didn’t know anything about the Blue Moon. Or, they were not being generous with their information.”

“No offense to Captian Armor,” Flash said, slinging the duffle bag strap on his shoulder, “but I know the residents of Azkaban, they respond better to a carrot over a stick. Specifically, the one who was probably around thousands of years ago.”

“Reeeeeeally?” Redheart smirked, “This has nothing to do with seeing that Minx I bet, huh?”

Flash rolled his eyes, “It’s for business and you know that.”

“Whatever you say, furry.” Redheart chuckled.

Flash didn’t give Redheart the satisfaction of a response, spreading his wings he took flight off into the city.

Redheart let out a sigh as she walked back towards the castle, “That kid’s gonna get me killed someday,” She muttered as she started gnawing on her calming cane.

The city of Canterlot was the most advanced human city in the world, apart from the Crystal Empire. Buildings were made out of solid concrete bricks and, on average, towered to be around five stories tall. However, the further buildings from Tintagel Keep were more rustic and cheaply build, with elements of wood and bricks. Flash flew down a paved road, street lights illuminating his path, making sure that he didn’t fly over the speed limit. Even though the flight roads were typically empty at night, one could never be too careful. Flash flew for a couple of minutes before descending to his location, a square building with a lit-up sign that read “Civilizer of Men”.

Even though scarlet red curtains blocked the windows, Flash could still make out silhouettes of fine bodies mingling around, giggles and laughs matching their cheerful movements. In between these windows was the heavily bolted door that lead into the building, a man and a woman dressed in all black and wearing black sunglasses stood guard at the door. Why they wore sunglasses at night, no one would ever know nor understand. Flash readied himself before walking up to the two bouncers, it wasn’t the first time he had been to the place and he knew by heart what they needed from him.

“Password?” The female bouncer asked.

“Shamhat,” Flash answered. Shamhat was a prostitute who wielded the Divine unknowingly, every man that Shamhat slept with was calmed and made civil through her sex. Some scholars claim that she prevented countless wars through her orgies alone.

“And is she with you?” The male bouncer questioned.

Flash raised an eyebrow, confused as to what he meant. The bouncer pointed to someone behind Flash, who turned around and froze in fear when his bug-eyed gaze fell on Twilight Sparkle. Twilight flashed him her best-selling grin at the sight of the horrified Avian. Collecting his thoughts, Flash snapped back to reality and rushed up to Twilight, grabbing her arm and pulling her to the side.

“Hmm, didn’t take you for the type to enjoy these kinds of places.” Twilight teased, enjoying how much Flash’s face started to resemble a strawberry.

“T-T-Twilight! What are you doing here.” The flustered man hissed, doing everything in his power to keep his tone down.

“I was bored,” Twilight answered, “went over to my balcony, saw you and that doctor talking, then teleported to you at this here brothel.”

Flash glanced at the club and then back to Twilight, “I can explain.”

“I would love to see you try.”

“It’s not what it looks like.”

“Then what does it look like?”

Flash opened and closed his mouth, preventing himself from revealing the answer, as well as shifting the duffel bag to try to hide it behind his back. His mind raced as he tried to come up with a convincing lie to tell Twilight, but alas his brain failed him.

“Flaaaash~” Twilight teased, “You better tell me the truth now, I will know if you’re lying.”

“I…I’m here to visit a friend.” Flash answered, which wasn’t a lie.

“In a brothel,” Twilight mused.

“…It’s complicated.”

Twilight let out a hum, swinging her arms behind her back, “Well then, I think I’ll tag along to meet this, ‘friend’ of yours.”

Flash was about to protest, but then remembered the hierarchy between the two of them, releasing a defeated sigh, “There’s no way of stopping you, is there?”

“Nope,” Twilight answered.

“Okay…just, stay close to me please…and don’t touch anyone,” Flash stated, bringing emphasis to that last part. The two made their way back to the bouncers, who stopped them in their tracts.

“Password,” They requested.

“I literally just told it to you less than two minutes ago,” Flash said with irritation. Yet the bouncers refused to budge until he gave them what they wanted. “Shamhat,” Flash sighed, which satisfied the bouncers, the male one unlocking and opening the bolted door.

Twilight looked over to Flash with a curious look upon hearing his answer, “The Holy Whore?” She asked, knowing the history of Shamhat, Civilizer of Kings.

“Well, this placed was named after her,” Flash indicated to the Club’s name.

The two entered the establishment, being greeted with dance music being played by a local band on stage, the lead performer playing the saxophone. The music traveled throughout the entire building thanks to magical speakers containing sound crystals. Colored lights painted everything in a deep violet tint, giving the club an arousing atmosphere. The most arousing thing though was the topless dancer swinging around a pole on a separate stage, surrounded by cheering men and women throwing money into the air.

Far across from the stage were multiple semicircle booths filled with customers wearing masks to cover everything above their lips. One could identify the workers of the establishment based on their lack of clothing and an absence of a mask. The male workers would wear tight-fitting shorts and a bowtie around their neck while the female workers wore thinly dressed undergarments. Another and more important indicator of the workers were their attentive looks and bright smiles, showing that they were thoroughly enjoying their work. Twilight took in all the eye candy, receiving a couple of winks and whistles from a mix of both strippers and customers.

A woman approached Flash and Twilight with a steady saunter, her black stilettos clicking with each step. However, she took one wrong step and tripped on her own feet, falling forward. Flash reacted quickly, reaching out to grab the extended arms of the woman, who smiled cutely at Flash.

“Thanks, Flash,” The woman said.

Upon closer inspection, Twilight noticed that the woman had golden eyes that were not in the right orientation, her left eye looked forward while her right eye looked in another direction, akin to Brown’s Syndrome.

“Anytime, Ditzy,” Flash helped the woman back up to her feet, “is she here?”

The avian woman now known as Ditzy wobbled back to her feet, “Yep, she’s waiting for you in the back. Although,” She paused, glancing over to both Twilight and incidentally Flash, “she wasn’t expecting you to have company. Can she…”

“She’s fine,” Flash assured, “her brother knows about Azkaban and she has higher authority than him.”

“Ah, gotcha,” Ditzy swung around gracefully, “follow me then, I’ll take you to the Madam.”

Twilight and Flash followed Ditzy, taking them down a guarded hallway only available to VIPS. As they traversed down the hallway, they passed by open rooms where highly influential people were interacting with scantily dressed employees. Twilight took an interesting glance at who she recognized was Mayor Mare of Canterlot and was chasing around a topless man with a bra covering his face, Twilight make the association that the bra belonged to the smiling and nude Mayor Mare. In another room was a general of Tintagel’s military known as Spitfire, who was having a provocative discussion with two naked women. Another room housed one of the high merchants known as Filthy Rich who was receiving a massage from a shirtless man while another man wearing only briefs was feeding him grapes. Needless to say, it was certainly an eyeful.

“Hmmm,” Twilight hummed, turning to Flash who was unaffected by the high levels of nudity around him, “you have nice tastes, Flash.”

The Protector’s blush quickly returned. “I…this isn’t…I’m not…” Flash stuttered, quickly stopping when he saw the smug smile on Twilight. “You need to stop that, your grace,” Flash groaned.

Upon reaching the end of the hallway, Ditzy opened a door which Flash and Twilight entered. The room’s floor, walls, and ceiling were scarlet red. The back wall was completely covered by a large bookcase, several trinkets and gadgets lay atop the assorted tables, with a round table in the center of the room that had a crystal ball in the middle.

“Make yourselves comfortable, the Madam will be with you momentarily,” Ditzy bowed, quickly making her way back to her designated booth, “Ooooh, I hope I didn’t make Turner wait too long,” She muttered before the door closed shut.

Twilight and Flash took a seat at the round table in the center of the room, Twilight kept an eye on the doorway they entered as it was the only means of entry for the room. However, she would be proven wrong as the sound of a mechanical system of gears and pulleys came from the bookshelf. There was a loud clank, and then the middle section of the bookshelf swung open like a door. A tall, voluptuous, woman emerged from the doorway, hips swaying seductively with each step, followed by a click from her black leather boot heels. Speaking of which, Twilight was intrigued to see that all this woman wore was those heels and black leather gloves which fit nicely around her thin fingers. Her eyes burned like aquamarine, her silky milk chocolate hair tied in a ponytail with not a strand out of place, and a smile that could charm the pants off of any man if she asked in just the right way.

“You’re bringing women here now, Flashy?” She asked teasingly, as she took a seat across from the two.

Flash opened his mouth to answer, but Twilight beat him to it, “I actually forced him to bring me along, Miss…”

“Cream Heart,” The woman answered, folding her arms under her rather large breasts, “fortune teller, Madam, and owner of this divine establishment, at your service.”

Twilight raised a brow, “Fortune telling?”

“Yes,” Cream Heart grinned, palming at the crystal ball on the table it began to glow softly, “first fortune’s are always free.”

Flash cleared his throat, getting the conversation back on topic, “I’m here to request a lift to Azkaban,” He requested.

“Do you have payment?” Cream Heart asked, moving her hand away from the crystal ball.

Flash dove into the duffel bag, rummaging around in it before pulling out a small black pouch which he tossed to Cream Heart. Upon catching it, she opened it up to inspect its contents, a satisfied smile growing on her face. “Do we have an accord?” Flash asked.

Cream Heart looked up from the back and back to Flash, letting out a sigh as she set the back aside and leaned in, “I’m not sure what you hope to gain down there. Shining and the cutie Sunburst already questioned the residents of Azkaban about the Blue Moon.”

“I’m aware, but I also know them both…chances are they weren’t asking the right questions.” Flash stated, “So do we have an accord, yes or no?”

Cream Heart got up from her seat and walked over to the bookcase, pulling down on a book it triggered the same mechanical sounds from before and the bookcase swung open like a door. “Follow me,” Cream Heart instructed. The three of them made their way down another hallway until they came to an elevator shaft, all three of them squeezed in and took the lift all the way down until they came to the bottom.

They were greeted to a lobby that one would see in a grand hotel, with a large desk where a young boy was playing on a small device in his swivel chair. “Button will show you to the rooms you want to visit,” Cream Heart said as she made her way towards one of the doors on the wall, “just don’t enter this one. Unless of course, you’d be invested in joining,” She winked at Twilight, who smiled in appreciation of the gesture. Flash approached the large desk, “Hey Button Mash,” He greeted the young kid.

“Hey Flash,” Button greeted back, not looking away from his handheld, “who ya here for?”

“Fancy Pants and Sunset Shimmer, please.” Flash requested.

Button, still not looking away from his handheld, pulled out two keys from the desk and gave them to Flash, “I put a hex on those keys, they’ll take you right to their doors.”

“Thank you,” Flash thanked, dropping in a couple of gold bits in the tip jar.

Flash and Twilight made their way up the stairs to the second floor, where one of the keys began glowing the closer they got to their destination. Upon arrival, Flash spun around to face Twilight, “Um…maybe it would be better if you waited outside?” He asked, almost pleadingly.

“Hmmm,” Twilight thought about it, “No,” She answered.

“Yeah…thought not,” Flash sighed in defeat, knocking on the door, “Just…don’t panic when you see him.”

“Come in!” A voice on the other side of the door responded, upon which both Flash and Twilight entered.

Flash opened the door and the two entered into a bedroom, the walls were painted a deep navy blue, a circular rug lay in the center of the room, and across from the bed was an assortment of cushioned chairs beside a lit fireplace. Sitting in one of the chairs was a dashing gentleman with a protruding chest, wavy navy blue gelled back hair, with a monocle resting on his left eye. He wore black dress pants, a collared shirt with a waistcoat over it, with his suit folded over the back of his chair. The gentleman gave a warm smile to Flash and Twilight, putting a bookmark in his novel before setting it aside, being careful to hide his wrists from the two guests.

“Ah, Flash Sentry,” The man spoke with an upper-class posh accent his gaze lingered on Twilight for a moment before returning to Flash, “to what do I owe the pleasure?”

“Greetings, FancyPants,” Flash waved, “sorry to drop in unannounced, we just needed to…” Flash trailed off when he noticed Fancy shuffling with his shirt’s cuffs. Flash stormed up to Fancy before he could protest, pulling back the sleeves he revealed several newly formed scars on Fancy’s arm. “Fancy…” Flash gasped in horror, to which FancyPants put a finger to Flash’s mouth.

“It’s not as bad as it looks,” Fancy chuckled, pulling his sleeve back down, “may I interest you two in some tea?” Fancy offered, indicating to the teapot and teacups sitting on the tray next to him.

Twilight got closer to FancyPants and upon closer inspection, she realized why Flash had told her not to overreact when she met Fancy. Getting a good look at him, Twilight now sees his crimson red eyes and sharp fangs behind his gentle smile. It didn’t take a genius to put two and two together and realize that Fancy wasn’t human.

“You’re a…a vampire,” Twilight said with astonishment.

Fancy looked to the Maiden with tired eyes, “Indeed I am, though you have nothing to worry about my dear, my days of being a bloodthirsty beast are long behind me.”

Flash dropped his duffel bag, opening it up he took out one of the blood bags and handed it to Fancy, “Here,” Flash offered.

“I couldn’t-“ Fancy protested at first.

“Please,” Flash pleaded, “she gave it to you so that you could stay healthy. Or would you like me to tell Rarity you’ve been refusing her donations?”

FancyPants let out a sigh in defeat as he took the blood bag and consumed its contents, leaving a dried-up plastic bag as the remains. His eyes glowed for a moment and his body thrummed as the scars on his arms sank into his body, making them appear good as new. “As always, her generosity is greatly appreciated.” FancyPants smiled warmly, “Though, she does need to stop donating so much,” He pointed to the other three blood bags in the duffel bag.

“Believe me, you are more than welcome to tell her that yourself.” Flash chuckled, now relaxed that Fancy had healed up, he took a seat in one of the chairs, Twilight did the same. “I know that this is short notice, but I was hoping that you could give me some info on the Blue Moon. Vampires and Lycans have always been night creatures that have had a strong tie to the moon, surely you must know something.”

FancyPants sighed, “Flash my boy, I wish there was more I could tell you. Alas, everything I know I already told to your captain and his Dominus when they visited. Those scars were to make sure I wasn’t withholding anything.”

“I’m sorry for how Shining treated you,” Twilight spoke up.

“No need,” FancyPants raised an arm in protest, “I know how dire the situation is, Captain Armor needed to ensure that he had all the facts.”

“Speaking of,” Flash said, “what can you tell us about the Blue Moon?”

“As you know,” FancyPants began, “I am currently two-hundred and fifty-nine years old, but us Vampires had stories told to us when we hibernated. One of them was a lullaby about the Sapphire Moon.” Fancy then began to tell the lullaby, as he knew it by heart.

“There were two, Terra and Luna
Separate forever until one Fortuna.
The two were never meant to be
As one was enslaved while the other was free.

But on one night they became one
Under new light not from the sun
They bathed in rays of sapphire glow
Between the two their numbers did grow

What was once enslaved was then free
What was once not now came to be
As Terra became Luna, new life came to be
And all danced with joy, under his symphony.”

All three were quiet, processing the meaning behind the poem, “Well…I suppose that already supports what we already know about the Blue Moon.” Flash sighed, understanding that the Blue Moon was means of fertility for Night Creatures and would make them aggressive. Still, he couldn’t shake the nagging feeling that there was more to it than that. Then Flash realized something about the pronouns used in the poem.

“It’s a lovely poem,” Twilight said.

“Fancy,” Flash began his questioning, “why did the poem call Luna-”

Before he could finish his sentence, Flash vanished in a flash. One second he was there and the next he was gone, all that remained was his armor which hung in midair in Flash’s shape before clattering to the floor, which both FancyPants and Twilight jumped at. The duffel bag that Flash had brought also vanished.

“Oh dear,” FancyPants sighed after collecting his thoughts, “she knows he’s here.”

Twilight turned to Fancy with newfound interest, “Who does?”

“Flash’s nemesis, Sunset Shimmer,” FancyPants answered, picking up the tea kettle he poured himself another cup, which he offered to Twilight, “Tea, Twilight?”

Flash fell onto his rear, where he had now been teleported to, he didn’t recognize because of how dimly lit everything was. He gave his eyes a moment to adjust, when they did he was in a similar room to that of FancyPants, but this time the colors were different, with a mixture of orange and white in a manner that resembled a fox. Flash’s skin went cold when he realized where he had landed, and made a mental note to inform Cream Heart that Sunset had bypassed her anti-magic wards.

“Oh, Flash,” A soft voice moaned the young man’s name, “you give me the best presents.”

Flash turned to the source of the voice, his gaze falling on the bed where Sunset Shimmer lay dressed in only a loose-fitted blue yukata. Her red hair with yellow stripes splayed out on the mattress, four of her fox tails were swishing around with excitement as she held Flash’s swimwear over her face, breathing in the masculine aura it produced.

“Not only does it have your Yang,” She took another whiff, “But those four male teammates of yours too.”

As Sunset was enjoying her meal, blue energy wafted from trunks and into Sunset’s mouth as she happily devoured the masculine aura. Her body twitched with glee as it was nourished by the life-giving force. Flash slowly got up, checking his surroundings to see if there was anything he could use as an improvised tool while also keeping a close eye on Sunset.

Only to look away for a split second and have Sunset vanish completely. Before Flash could understand where she went, he felt a prominent pressure on his back. His wings fully extended in response, Flash bit his lip to stifle a moan from the sudden touch of a very sensitive area. Flash jumped and turned to face his assailant, his wings twitching softly and refusing to go down.

“Still ticklish right between your plates, hmmm?” Sunset bemused, a fifth tail now appearing behind her.

Flash eyed Sunset up and down to prepare himself for another attack, quickly regretting it as all he did was check out Sunset’s alluring body.

’ Why does every cute girl I meet do nothing but toy with me?’ He mentally groaned.

“Awww, you think I’m cute.” Sunset closed the distance between her and Flash, being so close their noses were practically touching. Sunset deeply inhaled, hoping to enrich herself with more of the masculine aura, only to go bug-eyed and reeled back in disgust.

“Gak!” She retched, “Ugh! That is a dirty move!” Sunset glared through slitted eyes brimming with tears while pinching her nose shut.

The smell Sunset was referring to was that of the special shirt Rarity had knitted Flash. Rarity had made it using dog fur, which was extremely helpful with repelling Huli Jing. It was a much preferable alternative to previous methods of repelling Huli Jing, which in the past was covering oneself in dog urine. Thankfully, Flash’s shirt didn’t reek of a dog and make his smell terrible, but when someone with super sinuses got close they would get a big whiff of dog odor.

“Serves you right,” Flash crossed his arms, “I was in the middle of a very important discussion with FancyPants.”

Flash tried to get back his lost train of thought, it had something to do with the pronoun for the moon, or was it the part about the joining of Terra and Luna. Alas, Flash couldn’t retrieve his train of thought as Sunset kept interrupting it.

“You honestly think that blood-sucker will tell you about the Blue Moon?” Sunset raised a brow, keeping her distance from Flash.

“He’d be more helpful than you,” Flash answered, stealing glances at the entryway in case he need a quick getaway.

“That hurts, Flashy,” Sunset cooed, taking a seat by the fireplace, she used her magic to move a chair across from her, “I’d be more than willing to give you what you want. Just ask and I’ll speak,” Sunset offered to the seat across from her.

Flash eyed the chair with caution, being careful of whatever tricks the conniving fox-girl was playing, as he took a seat next to it. The warmth of the fireplace grew as Sunset levitated another log onto the gentle fire. Flash and Sunset were having a staring contest, Sunset smirked at Flash with eyes that glared at prey while Flash analyzed every inch of Sunset to see what she was planning.

“What do you know about the Blue Moon?” Flash asked, “what does it do to Night Creatures?” He specified.

“Hmmm, while I can’t speak for all Night Creatures,” Sunset began, taking the steel poker to the fire to stoke the flames, “I do know that the Blue Moon has an…interesting ability on Huli Jing.”

“Interesting?” Flash echoed.

Sunset clapped her hands, “Let’s play a game, you ask me twenty questions and I’ll answer them with either a ‘yes’ or a ‘no’.”

“I don’t have time for games, Sunset,” Flash growled.

“Oh, come on!” Sunset groaned, “Shining and Sunburst didn’t want to play either and I get ever so lonely down here,” She shot Flash a threatening grin, “you wouldn’t want me to leave my cage again, Flashy, would you?”

Flash tightened his grip on his chair, he had no armor, weapons, tools, and there was no telling if Twilight was going to get him anytime soon. He had already accepted the risks of meeting with Sunset, there was no going back now. Like it or not, Flash had to play by Sunset’s rules if he was to get anything useful from her.

“Fine,” Flash begrudgingly complied, “what are the rules to your game?”

Sunset’s smile grew as she explained, “Rule 1: you have to ask questions that can only be answered with either a ‘yes’ or a ‘no’. Rule 2: your questions have to be 1 sentence, if they’re any longer then they won’t count. Lastly, rule 3: you only have 10 questions.”

Flash thought about his first question carefully, knowing the tricks that Sunset was keen on playing, she would find ways to deceive Flash. The best course of action would be to get the important information out of the way first and build off of the information given.

“First question,” Flash began, “Do you only know what the Blue Moon does to Huli Jings?”

“Yes,” Sunset answered.

“Second, does the Blue Moon make Huli Jings more violent?”

“No.”

“Third, have you personally experienced the Blue Moon?”

“No.”

“Fourth, did you receive knowledge of the Blue Moon from a relative?”

“Yes.”

“Fifth, does the Blue Moon make Huli Jing more powerful”

“No.”

Flash took a moment to assess his information, the Blue Moon doesn’t make Huli Jings more violent nor does it make them stronger. The knowledge Sunset received about it was from a relative of her, which makes sense since the last Blue Moon was a thousand years ago. He still had five questions left, but due to the nature of the game, he wasn’t sure what other questions to ask. Then there two main questions that occurred to Flash,

“Sixth…, does the Blue Moon have an effect on magic, either Divine or Chaos?”

“No.”

“Seventh…, does the Blue Moon affect humans?”

“Yes.”

That caught Flash off guard, “What- how?!”

“Sorry, only ‘yes’ or ‘no’ type questions, you just lost your eighth and ninth question,” Sunset leaned forward, poking at the fireplace again.

Flash adjusted his shirt, a sudden heat was growing around his chest. The moon had always been tied to Chaos magic and therefore had a connection to Night Creatures, while the sun had a strong connection to the Divine and therefore was tied to humans. Since the Blue Moon was going to affect humans, that troubled Flash and caused him to act irrationally, now he only had one question left. He needed to be wise about it, but only one question popped into his mind.

“Are the people of Canterlot in danger?”

Sunset’s wicked smile only grew as she gave her answer, “No.”

Sunset’s gaze looked to Flash, specifically to his chest, Flash had a moment of weakness and looked down to the same area. His eyes went wide as the reason why he had felt a sudden heat around his chest was because the center of his shirt was on fire. He quickly swatted the small flame in an attempt to put it out, but that somehow only caused the flame to spread. He took to the floor, stopped, dropped, and rolled to try and extinguish the fire but it was to no avail. With no other option, Flash reached for the collar of his shirt and ripped it off of him, throwing it to the side where it burst into flames.

Flash breathed a sigh of relief, leaning against the end of the bed to catch his breath, leaning on his knees. When he looked back up, he was met with the triumphant smirk of Sunset who was very much in Flash’s personal space, seven tails swishing behind her.

It didn’t take a genius to put the pieces together, Sunset had played Flash from the moment he sat down. Being close to the fireplace, Sunset easily flicked some embers onto Flash’s shirt and must’ve used her magic to make them grow into full-fledged fires. Now, without a means of repelling the Huli Jing, Flash was at the mercy of the fox spirit.

Putting a leg in-between Flash’s and a hand on his chest, Sunset pushed Flash onto the bed and pressed her body against his. Her, now, nine tails swayed as one like the waves of an ocean, brushing themselves against Flash’s feet. Her tails danced playfully against his feet, causing Flash to squirm from the tickle.

“*Ha-ha*, S-Sunset!…s-stop, *he-he*, p-pleas-*Ha-Ha*!” Flash giggled, his body betraying him as he smiled and laughed.

Sunset slowly lowered her head down onto Flash’s chest, keeping pressure on him with a mixture of her enhanced strength and magic to keep him still. Just to be sure, Sunset took another whiff of Flash’s sent and was pleased that he no longer smelled of dog. Having a beautiful woman such as Sunset atop Flash was causing Yang energy to surface onto the avian’s body.

“C-c-come ooooon *he-he-he*, ple-please just *gasp*!” The wind knocked right out of him as a new, wet, sensation met his chest.

Sunset closed her eyes and ran her tongue along Flash’s chest, her smooth tongue greedily lapping up the Yang aura oozing from Flash. As Sunset was enjoying her meal, she was equally enjoying the audible moans and cries from Flash. She worked her way upward, slowly crawling up Flash until she was perfectly level with him, her tails moving away from his feet. Flash’s giggle died down, breathing heavily, like he had just run a mile. Sunset craned her head and began nibbling on Flash’s ear, her other arm snaked under Flash and pressed that same spot she did before.

Flash’s eyes shot open as his wings unfurled, splaying out in all their glory. Sunset glided her free hand over his feathers, petting and stroking them caused shivers to tingle down Flash’s spine. Flash did his best to keep his head straight, but as his vitality was being drained his vision was starting to blur. He tried to find a way to move Sunset off of him. He searched around for something, anything, to help him with his dilemma. He scanned the room, looking to the assorted bookshelf, the nearby nightstands, the currently wrinkled sheets beneath him, alas it presented nothing to help.

Then he looked over to his left and, in his delusional state, could’ve sworn that he saw Twilight standing at the doorway. There was a sound of someone clearing their throat, which caused Sunset to freeze, pointy ears perked up and her tails curled as she glared to the doorway. As Flash’s vision started to clear, he saw that it was indeed Twilight that stood in front of the doorway, a confident smile on her face.

“Sorry to interrupt,” She spoke, “but I’ll be taking that back now.” With a snap of her fingers, Flash vanished from underneath Sunset and reappeared in a flash right beside Twilight, who helped him stand up.

Sunset, not happy with having her prey stolen, hopped off the bed and strode towards the two. Only to bounce off an invisible wall halfway there, a shimmer of runes appeared and vanished for a split second.

“You alright?” Twilight asked her protector once she was sure that the shield would hold the Huli Jing.

“Yeah…” Flash wheezed, slowly catching his breath. “Just…give me…a moment.”

Twilight looked over to the cross Huli Jing, who was eying Twilight up and down, “Like what you see?” She shot the woman a foxy grin.

Sunset held a finger to her chin, unable to help but admit that Twilight did in fact look quite tantalizing, “Say…why don’t you be a lamb and take this barrier down?” Sunset suggested, her eyes changed from teal to a dark yellow, “I bet we can have a lot of fun, just the three of us.”

“Hmmm,” Twilight hummed as she approached the barrier, tracing her finger along its surface, causing it to shimmer where she touched it, “tempting…but nice try, much like my protector here,” Twilight indicated to the Avian who had recovered, “I’m afraid your charms and spells aren’t enough to sway someone like me.”

Sunset accepted the challenge, “Oh really.” She sneered, her eyes glowed brighter, orange magic wisped from the edges of her eyes. “Look at me, surely a mage as powerful as yourself would be more than capable of handling someone as meek as me. Why not take down the barrier and let me prove it to you.”

Twilight’s eyes mirrored Sunset’s color…for about a second before returning to their normal purple shade. “Ooh!” Twilight exclaimed, clapping her hands with a giddy smile, “I actually felt that! I’m a big enough woman to admit when I’ve made a mistake,” Twilight said calmly, yet there was an undertone of anger. “You’re certainly stronger than I first assumed, I apologize for that,” She placed her open hand on the barrier. In one swift movement, her eyes changed, her sclera now a pale teal color akin to oxidized copper, with her irises changing from a deep velvet to a light purple, black magic wafted from the corners of her eyes. Sunset dropped to her knees as an immense force pushed her down, as though a boulder just dropped on her. “Now,” Twilight began, crouching down to be at eye level with Sunset, waving her finger at Sunset, “Don’t let this make you feel discouraged, it’s not that you’re weak, it’s just that I’m far stronger than you.” She said, a wicked grin growing on her triumphant face, her corkscrew horn began manifesting on her forehead.

“Twilight, wait!” Flash cried out, causing the Maiden to return to her normal state, the crushing weight on Sunset lifted, “I know she seems dangerous, but she still has useful information.”

Twilight kept her towering gaze on the fox spirit, “What exactly did she tell you?”

Flash began recalling everything Sunset had already told him, “In terms of Night Creatures, not too much, but she did say that the Blue Moon has an effect on humans.”

That statement caused Twilight to turn towards Flash with a surprised expression, “What…did she say anything else?”

“Erm…no,” Flash rubbed the back of his head, a hint of embarrassment in his tone at how ridiculous he must’ve looked to Twilight, “but…” He moved his gaze upward to meet Twilight’s concerned eyes, “I think she knows something important…if I can just ask her a bit more- “

Flash,” Twilight spoke with a soothing voice like silk, closing the distance between the two of them, “Think about this for a minute, she’s a Huli Jing, a trickster, she wasn’t giving you information, she was using you.”

There was that same throb in Flash’s head, but it dissipated as Flash walked through what Twilight had said. It wasn’t the first time he gave Sunset the benefit of the doubt only for her to trick him. It made sense in his mind that Sunset wasn’t giving him useful information and was instead just telling him what he wanted to keep him in place so that she could remove his last form of protection. Still, there were those nagging doubts he couldn’t quite shake.

“I…” Flash began in an attempt to protest, but when looked back in Twilight’s eyes all those doubts washed away, replaced with embarrassment and shame, “you’re right…” He admitted, “Goddess, I can’t believe that I did that.” He scolded himself.

“Hey now,” Twilight cooed, cupping Flash’s cheek in her open palm, “you meant well, and there’s no shame in that. Why don’t you and I go back to Tintagel? We can see if there is anything we can get from FancyPants’ poem.”

There was that throb again, but it was weaker this time, “Yeah…that’s a good idea.”

Just like that, Twilight snapped her fingers, and both she and Flash teleported out of the room. Leaving a frustrated Sunset behind.

Chapter 5: Sweet Dreams (clop)

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Chapter 1: The New Maiden (Part 1/2)

Many claimed that Humanity was the ruling species of the world, with the use of tools, super strength for some, flight for others, and adept control over magic for a few, humanity crawled its way to the top of the hierarchy of the food chain. As civilization and technology advanced, so too did the means of producing and wielding those tools.

Canterlot, the symbol of Humanity’s perseverance is the most populated city in all of Equestria, with the castle of Tintagel being the headquarters of the Order of the Sleeping Sun. A divine order consisting of soldiers, mages, doctors, and Maidens. The soldiers were the main army of the Order, adorned in enchanted golden armor that protected them from not only from strong opponents but also from spells that could charm or control them. Blessed equipment was also given to them in the form of weapons and tools such as spears, swords, axes, maces, and the occasional firearm. Mages were special humans that could wield magic, cast spells, and create wards. Most mages focused on being the support of their groups, casting healing spells or empowering cantrips, while other mages were on the more offensive side, casting illusions on the enemy or weakening them with spells designed to impair opponents. Doctors were the more physical form of mages, tending to wounded soldiers with potions or magical remedies. Lastly, and most importantly, were the Maidens, who were a special kind of human mage. Maidens were humans that possessed a great power of magic that could only be described as “divine”, the exact requirements for a Maiden are unknown but it is speculated that they must be “pure” in mind, body, and soul. Maidens were special because they were the ones that created the blessings and enchantments on weapons, armor, and other accessories that were designed to combat the Creatures of the Night.

The Order had teams consisting of a mix of Soldiers, mages, and doctors, it was in one such team that we find our group. In the large dining hall of Tintagel Castle, the team of Flash, Cheese, Rarity, Fluttershy, Applejack, and a baby dragon, who was currently eating gems, named Spike. They were missing their leader, Soarin, who was off on a mission. The group was engaging in small talk, conversations about each other’s wellbeing, and talk of each other’s nemesis (which were monsters that they targeted and hunted).

Practically everyone at the table had their own nemesis, Cheese’s was a wild human that went by the name of Pinkie Pie the Defiler; a necromancer that was known for ransacking graveyards and constructing armies of the dead. Applejack used to have one that went by the name of Tenderhoof, a Wendigo that fed off of negative emotions, he developed an interest in Applejack, which allowed her to kill him very easily. Fluttershy’s nemesis was an interesting case, she was charged with tending to a petrified Draconequus by performing a ritual prayer to keep him sealed. Then there was Flash’s nemesis, whom he was made fun of a lot for, was…

“A mischievous, sex-crazed furry.” Cheese stated bluntly, causing Flash to choke on his bread by his friend’s sudden use of vulgar description.

“Cheese!…you can’t…just say things…like that!” Flash snapped in between coughs, Fluttershy patted him on the back to help dislodge the pieces in his throat.

Flash’s nemesis was a Huli Jing, a relatively neutral Night Creature that was a fox spirit that could take the form of a human. This particular Huli Jing is named Sunset Shimmer, she had been known for causing trouble in towns either by small misfortunes that could be seen as harmless pranks or full-on debaucherous acts. Safe to say, a Huli Jing is usually easy to deal with once their identity is discovered, however, Flash has yet to succeed in any ground at stopping the fox spirit.

Applejack gave Cheese a friendly punch, “Come on now, Cheese. We’re in the mess hall, have some decency.” The farm girl scolded Cheese, who was sporting a smile grin.

“I’m just saying, some of us have to deal with rotting corpses and necrosis, whereas others get to deal with sexy fox girls.” Cheese joked.

Flash glared at Cheese, “For your information, a Huli Jing is no laughing matter, they’re just as dangerous as any other Night Creature.” Flash stated, desperately trying to defend himself.

Cheese raised an eyebrow, “The worst thing that Huli Jing has done is slept around and caused tensions in marriages, the worst thing Pinkie Pie, you know, the necromancer, has done is raised a graveyard of orphans which burned down a town. We are not the same.”

Flash opened his mouth to protest but couldn’t find anything to rebuke Cheese, as he knew that a necromancer was by far a more dangerous threat than his nemesis. “Okay…fair enough.” Flash sighed, hanging his head in defeat.

“In Flash’s defense,” Rarity spoke up, “he’s succeeded in driving that Huli Jing away numerous times, whereas you, “she pointed to Cheese, “haven’t even once been able to stop Pinkie.”

Cheese chuckled at that, “okay, okay, I’ll admit that I’ve pretty much only been on cleanup duty whenever I find Pinkie, but I’ll take pride knowing I’m in charge of dealing with a high-level monster all by myself.”

Before anyone could add to the conversation, the large doors to the mess hall swung open and a very messy Soarin stomped in. Parts of his body had swelled up lumps along his arms, legs, and face, but what was the most alarming, and hilarious, was the fact he had a couple of bald spots in his long hair. He grabbed himself a tray of food before walking to the table where his team was and sat down.

“Don’t ask.” He huffed, clearly indicating his foul mood.

Everyone shared a look with one another for a brief moment before they all looked to Soarin and collectively asked, “What happened?”

Soarin sighed in annoyance, realizing there was no escaping his team’s persistent pestering. He began to explain his story, “So I went to Appleloosa, to investigate a lot of livestock disappearing. Once I was there, I asked around, and gathered that all the signs had pointed to a Chupacabra; Livestock missing in the night only to be found the next day to be completely drained of blood.” Soarin’s tone turned to annoyance. “Apparently, turns out that the livestock wasn’t drained but in fact killed and then eaten by, you guessed it, werewolves.”

Cheese, Flash, and Rarity wore a knowing smirk, understanding exactly who Soarin was referring to.

“Wipe those grins off your face.” Soarin glared. “Yes, it was Rainbow Dash’s pack, and yes I did engage them, and yes…she got away.”

“Again.” Cheese added.

“For what is now…” Flash trailed off, counting his fingers mockingly, “the forty-eighth time.”

Soarin just rolled his eyes at his two teammates.

“But how did that happen?!” Rarity demanded, suddenly concerned for Soarin.

Soarin was taken aback by Rarity’s sudden concern for his wellbeing. “Oh, this?” He indicated to the puffed up parts on his body, “it’s nothing, just got knocked into a nest of black ants by Rainbow, it should go down with some ointment-“

“Not that, you feather-brain.” Rarity cut him off, walking over to Soarin she grabbed his head and pointed to his hair that had a bunch of bald spots. “This! What did she do to your hair?!”

“Oh, that,” Soarin said dryly. “Rainbow decided to use my blade to scalp parts of my hair when she knocked me out. Her way of getting back at me for exposing her pack, I guess.”

“But it’s…I don’t…why would she…!” Rarity was at a loss for words, the longer she looked at the horrible haircut Soarin received, the angrier she became.

“Welp,” Applejack stood up this time, unseating her hip knife as she walked over to Soarin, “guess we’ll have to shave you bald.”

Soarin reared back in fear, eyes wide and hands covering the top of his head to protect it, “Woah, Woah, Woah! It’s not that bad, you don’t need to scalp me!”

“Soarin darling, AJ is right.” Rarity said calmly, doing her best to avoid direct eye contact with Soarin’s hair. “It would be better if you just shaved it all. For the greater good.”

“Yeah Soarin,” Spike decided to join in on the teasing, “maybe AJ should give you a mohawk.”

Soarin paled as his teammates started listing off horrible ideas to cut his hair, but before anyone could act, the entire mess hall went silent as someone entered the room. A tall and handsome man with long blue hair, dressed in a military outfit with several badges hanging from the left side of his chest, walked in and stood at the far end of the room. Following him was nervous the wizard Sunburst, who wore a starry cloak and adjusted his circular spectacles as he walked.

”ATTENTION!" He boomed, causing everyone in the room to stand and salute the human mage. His name was Shining Armor, the general of Tintagel and protector of Canterlot. “I’d like to start by thanking all of you for returning on such short notice and I’m grateful that you’ve all returned in one piece. With that said, I’ll get straight to the point about why I summoned you all here.” He cleared his throat before beginning. “As I’m sure you’re all aware, the moon has a unique…presence over all kinds Night Creatures, and specific variations of the moon can cause specific phenomena. For example, a blood moon will cause vampires to go into a frenzy, and warlocks are known to have more magical powers during an eclipse. However, there is one variation of the moon we know very little about…the Blue Moon.”

The room remained silent, looks of confusion and concern were the main emotion everyone was feeling. Slight murmuring could be heard from each table.

“The last Blue Moon,” Shining continued, “was 1000 years ago-“

“Um, 1318 years ago, to be precise.” Sunburst corrected, receiving a frown from Shining, causing him to step back and meekly stand in the corner.

Shining turned back to face the crowd, “The last Blue Moon, was a really fucking long time ago, so long ago that we have no idea what it’ll do to the Night Creatures. All we know is that it isn’t good, which is why I’ve called you all back to Canterlot. During the Blue Moon, I need everyone on high alert to ensure that nothing happens to Canterlot. The Blue Moon will be arriving in the next three days, I’m ordering you to spend that time going out to the local settlements and bringing them into the city. Any questions?” Shining asked, and a hand shot up. “Yes, First Lieutenant Flash Sentry?”

Flash stood up and asked, “Do you have a general idea of what this moon will do Night Creatures? The last one may have been very long ago but there must be some documents or tales about it.”

Shining took a step to the side and let Sunburst step forward to answer the soldier's question. “Um…while I can’t say for certain what it will exactly do to Night Creatures, I can certainly say it will make them more aggressive and potentially more…um…” Sunburst was beet red as he tried to get his point across, which Shining spoke up.

“Horny,” he stated flatly, causing several humans to snort and giggle. Only to immediately fall silent when Shining stomped his foot, “this is no laughing matter, according to all pieces of evidence the Blue Moon was responsible for wiping out several small kingdoms. Millions died within the span of a single night, and it will happen again if you underestimate this.”

The crowd fell silent, the gravity of Shining’s words sinking in.

“Are there any more questions?” Shining asked one more time, to which a hand belonging to Cheese Sandwich shot up, “…Yes, Cheese?”

“So,” Cheese grinned from ear to ear, “would you say that Night Creatures get a bit ‘quirky’ at night?”

Shining just sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose, “I’m not gonna dignify that with a response,” He looked up and scanned the crowd, “anyone else have any more questions? Actually serious questions?” No one moved or budged, “Good, then you’re all dismissed.”

As everyone went back to what they were doing, Shining walked up to Flash and grabbed him on the shoulder. “Sentry, once you’re finished eating I want you to report to my office. I have an important task for you.”

Shining Armor sat at his desk with his hands holding his chin, staring at the documents he held in his other hand, contemplating his next move. There was a knock on his door, Shining put aside the documents before saying that could enter.

“You wanted to see me, sir?” Flash Sentry asked as he entered, standing firm at the set of chairs facing Shining.

“Take a seat, Sentry.” Shining gestured to the seats, which Flash sat in. “You transferred from the Crystal Keep, is that correct?”

“Yes sir, with High Maiden Cadence’s recommendation,” Flash said.

“That’s right,” Shining said, remembering that it was his wife who had recommended the Avian. Shining grabbed the folder from his desk, which was the portfolio of Flash Sentry. Opening it up, he began reading off the information recorded on it. “First-Lieutenant Flash Sentry, 22 years old, Avian, Male, Heterosexual and Bi-romantic.” Shining raised a brow at that fact, which Flash quickly spoke up to make sense of the labeling.

“I had a relationship with a man when I was young, however, I have not and still do not possess any sexual interest in men,” Flash stated firmly, hands shuffling together as a sign of uneasiness.

“Hmm.” Shining hummed with interest as he continued to read off the list, “Proficient in hand to hand combat, polearm weaponry, swordsmanship, firearms, and even limited use of cantrips. Positions available, Protector and Support. Noticeable achievements are as follows; savior of over 200 soldiers, aided in the rebuilding of settlements and towns, hosted and lead several group therapy sessions for P.O.M.s (Prisoners Of Monsters), and the list goes on. However,” Shining sets the folder down, leaning forward he rested his arms on the desk, holding his chin on his interlocked hands, “in your entire 18 years of service, you have never killed a single Night Creature.”

Shining’s gaze was unyielding and bored right into Flash’s eyes, making his body tense up as a reflex.

“Now, that’s not to say that you haven’t done your job as a soldier,” Shining said, not removing his gaze. “You’ve protected the people, you’ve aided in repairs and recovery, you’ve also dealt with your fair share of Night Creatures. However, you’ve only gone so far as to drive them off or capture them and imprison them in Azkaban. Now, having no kills when you’re young isn’t uncommon, but you’ve gone 18 years without dealing the final blow to our sworn enemies, care to explain why that is?”

Flash didn’t respond right away, he knew that this was a test, as to what his general was testing him for he didn’t know, but nonetheless, he answered honestly. “I don’t see the need to kill them.” Flash began. “I mean…I know that there were many Night Creatures that needed to be put down, they’ve killed more innocent people than anything ever will, but still…they’re living beings just like us. I’m not opposed to killing them, but I think that capture and imprisonment should be the first thing we do, and killing them must be our last resort.”

“And what if you’re not strong enough to imprison them?” Shining asked. “Could you live with yourself knowing you failed to save the people you swore to protect?”

“No sir, that’s why I train myself to ensure that I am strong enough,” Flash answered.

Shining continued to stare at Flash in silence for a while longer, Flash no longer feeling uncomfortable from his gaze. With that, Shining Armor got up from his desk and walked to the nearby window, looking down at the barracks where he saw several soldiers training, a smile spread across his face seeing how much the soldiers had improved from the first time he had seen them. It brought the general a little solace knowing that, given what he was about to do.

“Sentry, do you know what the most dangerous type of Night Creature is?” Shining asked, still looking at the barracks.

“That would have to be any monster that could pass as a human, sure we have tests to determine whether or not they’re human but not every citizen has access to those kinds of tests,” Flash answered. “Such as Vampires, or Succubi, or even-“

“Changelings.” Shining cut Flash off, walking back to his desk he took his seat. Pulling out a drawer he grabbed an opened letter and showed it to Flash. “This is a letter from one of the Major’s at the Crystal Empire, a scouting regiment had discovered a deliverer was ordered to give us the letter.”

Flash blinked in confusion, “They sent a deliverer instead of sending it via dragon-mail?” He asked.

Dragon-mail was the best way for information to be distributed amongst kingdoms, as dragons had a spell that allowed them to send anything they burned with their fire to be sent another dragon, no matter how great the distance between the two. It made communication very efficient, allowing multiple Keeps to stay in touch with one another about any possible Night Creature sightings or information they possess that other Keeps could utilize.

“Indeed,” Shining nodded, expressing his concern, “apparently, they have been sending us numerous letters about reports of disguised changelings living as humans in neighboring settlements. This letter, “Shinning tapped the letter in his hand to indicate its importance, “reports details that there have been changelings within the ranks of the Keep. There is…evidence…that High Maiden Cadence has been replaced with a changeling.”

Flash’s eyes went wide upon hearing that, as he and Cadence were somewhat friends. He rose from his seat and slammed his hands on the desk. “We have to do something!”

“Sit down, Sentry,” Shining ordered, a hint of anger dripping from his tone. Flash sat back down and Shining let out a sigh, shutting his eyes and rubbing the bridge of his nose. “Sorry. Believe me, no one is more concerned for Cadence’s safety right now than me. While this is merely speculation, I can’t afford to rule it out. Which is why I will be leaving for the Crystal Empire today and taking some specialists with me.”

Flash realized then why Shining had given the orders to have everyone lock down the city, “Sir, I’m positive that you have nothing to worry about. The Captains here are more than qualified to keep everything running smoothly in your absence.”

“I’m not questioning their ability.” Shining corrected Flash, “My main concern is with the new Maiden. As I’m sure you’re aware, our previous Maiden, Granny Smith, passed away a few weeks ago.”

Flash nodded, remembering Granny Smith from his days as an early recruit. Those days she would always scold Applejack, that one time when she reattached Cheese’s severed arm from his run-in with a Chupacabra, and especially when she subdued Fluttershy after she got transformed into a succubus by chaos magic. It was a sad day when Granny Smith passed away in her sleep, he took some solace that she passed peacefully.

“The new Maiden is my sister, Twilight Sparkle.” Shining continued explaining, shaking Flash out from his thoughts. “She is by far the best Maiden the church has ever trained, but this whole Blue Moon situation has me worried about her safety. This is why I am placing you as her guardian while I’m away."

Flash took a minute to process the order he had just heard. “Um…why?” That was all Flash could manage to say.

Shining raised a brow, “Why? Why not?”

“It’s just that…there are specialists that would be far more qualified than me to protect someone as important as a Maiden,” Flash stated.

“Specialists are designed to handle specific Night Creatures, I don’t need a Specialist, I need a Defender, someone who I know can keep Twily-,” Shining coughed, “Twilight Sparkle safe, no matter what.” He pulled out Flash’s portfolio again, “I’ve read your file, you may have never killed a single Night Creature, but every mission you’ve gone on has always resulted in zero casualties, that’s something no one, not even any of the Dominions, have succeeded in achieving. Flash, can I trust you to keep Twilight safe, while I’m away?” Shining extended his open hand to Flash.

Flash thought about the order, protecting the Maiden would be no easy feat, but he had been told numerous times he was one of the best Defenders of all time. Plus, there was something about the way Shining spoke that made Flash want to comply with him, he couldn’t quite put his finger on it, nor did he see any reason to question it. With that, Flash stood up, took Shining’s hand, and firmly shook it, indicating his agreement.

“Yes sir,” Flash said, to which Shining shot Flash a toothy grin that looked sinister for a moment before returning to its normal glow.

“Thank you, I knew you’d agree,” Shining said, walking over to his dresser where he pulled out his coat and several pieces of equipment. “You’ll find Twilight in the library, I would suggest you spend the rest of today showing her around Tintagel so she can get familiar with the Keep.” He said, removing his shirt to reveal his upper body, firm shoulders, and a strong back faced towards Flash.

“Yes sir,” Flash said, still standing in place as he found himself staring at Shining’s backside.

“Preferably now, Sentry.” Shining grinned, as he draped his protective coat over his upper body.

“Uh, yes sir.” Flash stammered, spinning around so quickly that he tripped on his own two feet before quickly recovering and making his way out the door.

Once Flash had left, Shining let out a small chuckle as he adjusted his collar in the mirror hanging from the opened dresser door, a blissful sigh escaping his lips. “Ah…Twilly is gonna have a field day with him.” Shining chuckled, his eyes flashed a deep green and purple for only a moment before returning to their normal color.

Flash Sentry walked down the halls heading towards the Library, rubbing the side of his head to ease the pressure his mind felt after leaving Shining’s office. His thoughts wandered to what Twilight Sparkle would look like, he then realized he hadn’t received an appropriate description of Twilight from Shining as his mind had been occupied with…other things. He shook away those thoughts and focused on the task at hand. Assuming that she was Shining’s sister, that meant she was probably a mage, but as to what she looked like he was still unsure. He remembered hearing rumors about how Shining looked nearly identical to his father, which meant that Twilight may have some similarities to him.

Flash eventually came to the large metal doors, where two Sentinels were positioned. The Sentinel’s were large, bulky, fully encased armor that had runes and wards engraved on the inside of their plate metal to make them move and act. They were nine feet tall, with their hands big enough to cover Flash’s entire head, large shoulder plates, and knee plates to reinforce the joints. While the Sentinels were basically walking tanks, they had a battery of magic that didn’t last long without a recharge and they were slow. But their unbridled power more than made up for their sluggish speed, if you got caught by a Sentinel it was safe to say that you would not be surviving. Flash stood calmly and patiently as the two Sentinel’s inspected him with their hollow eyes, a heavy hum thrummed from their helmets, signaling that Flash was still human and clear to enter.

Flash entered the library, the entire tower connected to the Keep was in the shape of a circle with five floors, two above him and two below him. The center of all floors was empty space, making all five of the floors more like rings than circles. Dangling from the roof of the entire building was a large contraption that consisted of several mirrors and crystals, from which light from the outside shined in and was reflected across carefully placed mirrors around the rooms, illuminating the entire building nicely. Lanterns were strictly forbidden in the library, as even so much as a single spark could set the whole building ablaze, and thousands of years worth of human knowledge and stories would be lost. He made his way other to the center of the room, marveling at the illuminating machinery.

As he walked, he was so busy in his thoughts that he didn’t notice the young woman who also wasn’t looking where she was going and slammed into him, knocking her down.

“Oh!” Flash exclaimed loudly before quickly lowering his voice as he remembered where he was. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t…see you…there.” Flash trailed off as his eyes gazed at who he thought was the most beautiful woman in all of existence.

Before him, was a young woman with gorgeous purple hair that draped past her shoulders, bangs covering her forehead. Her body was a gorgeous hourglass figure, with alluring hips, and legs that any woman would kill to have. She wore something similar to what steampunks wore, which was a long black skirt that stopped just shy of her knees and a tight, deep red, turtle neck shirt with a black waistcoat worn over it, that made her bosom appear perky. But what had Flash mesmerized and standing there slack-jawed were eyes, a beautiful shade of deep and dark violet that somehow shined and captivated any who stared into them.

“No, no, it was my fault.” The woman said calmly, beginning to help herself back up.

The woman’s voice was enough to snap Flash out of his trance, he instantly rushed to help her to her feet. “I’m sorry again, I wasn’t looking where I was going.”

The woman chuckled as Flash was stumbling on his apology. “Let me guess, you were distracted by the astrolabe too huh?” She said, looking back to the large device hanging from the ceiling.

“Yeah,” Flash admitted, more focused on the woman before him than the marvel of science and technology.

The woman looked back to Flash, extending a hand, “Name’s Twilight Sparkle, I’m the new Maiden here at Tintagel, a pleasure to meet ya.”

Shining Armor’s orders suddenly appeared in Flash’s mind, making him quickly act. “What are the odds, my name is Flash Sentry. You’re just the woman I’ve been looking for.”

Flash explained the situation to the young mage, about how Shining had left for the Crystal Empire, leaving out the details of a supposed Changeling attack, and how he was to be protecting Twilight for the time being.

“So, you’re the best Defender the Sleeping Son has to offer?” Twilight cocked an eyebrow, crossing her arms and smirking as she sized the avian up.

“I wouldn’t go so far as to say, ‘I’m the best in all of the Sleeping Sun’.” Flash chuckled while rubbing the back of his head, memories of his sparing matches between him and Timber Spruce came to mind. Only to be pushed away when they involved that Dominion. “But I can absolutely say that your safety is all but assured with me, your grace.” Flash was about to take a knee, only for Twilight to stop him.

“Since you’re going to be protecting me, I’d prefer it if you didn’t refer to me as ‘your grace’.” Twilight sighed, this time she was the one to help Flash back up to his feet. “Also, no bowing, I’m not a big fan of it. Just call me Twilight, I may be a Maiden but that doesn’t mean you have to treat me like a goddess.”

’ But you are a Goddess.’ Flash shook his head to concentrate. “As you wish then, Twilight. Is there anywhere you would like to see first?”

Hearing that, Twilight beamed, “Oh yes! Don’t get me wrong, I’d love nothing more than spend all night in this library, but I’ve been stuck in here all morning and everything I’ve looked at I’ve already read. Just give me one moment, “ Twilight paused, turning away from Flash she called out to someone, “Starlight, can you come here please?” Moments later, a young woman with multicolored hair of purple and teal ran up to Twilight, a purse hanging from her shoulder.

“Yes, mistres-i mean, Twilight?” The mage now known as Starlight asked.

“I just need my purse, you can spend the rest of the day as you wish while Mr. Sentry here takes me on a tour,” Twilight said, Starlight handing her the purse. “Perhaps you can spend some time to get to know that Magus…Sunburst I think his name was.”

Starlight looked at Twilight questionably for a moment before realizing what she meant, “Oh, yes…yeah I could do that, we were having a chat before you called me over.” With that, Starlight walked back to where she had come from.

Twilight then reached into her purse, having it perfectly organized she was able to locate her object of interest with ease. Pulling out a folded piece of paper of the locations she was interested in touring, “Now then, Mr. Sentry-“

“It’s Flash.” Flash corrected the mage. “If you want me to call you Twilight, then it seems only fair that you should have to call me Flash.”

Twilight shot Flash a small grin. “Alright then, Flash, here’s where I want you to take me first.”

Author's Note

Information Available for Public Disclosure

Humans

Humans come in three variations, each distinguishable by a form of neutral magic that their race possesses. These three variations are known as Terran, Avian, and Mage.

Mages are a form of human that has a strong tie to etherial magic, being able to cast spells and cantrips with ease. When a more complex spell is cast by a mage, in this case a spell that requires a large amount of magic, then their horns will appear. Mages horns have different appearances, sometimes they have one or two (the number of horns does not change the amount of magic a mage can channel). These horns can appear as straight, curved, hooked, or even branched like antlers.

Avians are a form of human that has a tie to sky magic, allowing them to have wings appear giving them flight (wings vary depending on a persons manifestation, they can appear as feathered, bat-like wings, and even scaled). Avians are also able to control elements of the sky, this includes weather and the atmosphere. An example in this case is that Avians can channel magic to give clouds physical shape, allowing them to be used as a means of structure.

Terrans are a form of human that have a very strong tie to natural magic, along with super strength. Terrans have a tie to the world, allowing them a unique (yet limited) communication/control with both fauna and flora. Along with that, Terran magic is most commonly used in the creation of mixes, herbs, foods, and various other consumable products.