Of Myrs, Fire And Mind

“I can’t believe I let Dion drag me into this…” Katarina said as she got up. To say she didn’t get any sleep would be an understatement, as the whole night her mind was filled with memories of Valoran. “But to be fair, Dion is my friend and he needs all the help he can get.”

She descended the stairs and found both Dion and Rythian. “Hey Kat. How you doin’?” Dion asked, munching on a toast.

“Couldn’t get any sleep.” She groggily answered.

“Don’t worry, first time I planeswalked, I was like that too. Ya’ know, memories of home, don’t let you sleep very well.” Rythian reassured, sipping on a cup of tea.

“Hopefully I’ll get used to it before any big battle.” She said fetching some food. “By the way, where are the others?” She asked.

“I think Malik is teaching Twilight about artifacts, Chandra said that she needed to burn something, so she is helping the town by clearing part of a forest, which will be used for a building. As for Jace, he’s deep in whatever book he is reading now at the library.” Rythian answered.

“That reminds me, any thoughts on what we can do for the day?” Dion asked.

“Well, from my point of view we could either explore the town or train. Your call.” Kat said.

“It would be for the best if we explored town. Besides, the champs are all wanting to go to Ponyville.” Dion said.

“I’ve been meaning to ask you this last night, but I forgot. What’s my power level?” Rythian said with a smile.

“It’s over nine thousand, but there’s no way I’m smashing this.” Dion replied.

“Is this another inside joke for the survivors?” Katarina deadpanned.

“Yup” both planeswalkers replied in unison.

<…>

“So we got the myr’s body setup, but for the actual machinery we’ll need to be more tactical. Now, which of these is more practical: a Mana, a Mizzium, Aether or a Blistercoil generator?” Malik asked.

“The Mana generator would be pratical due to its power source being everywhere but an Aether generator would generate more power, with the sheer energy of, as you call it, the Blind Eternities. This could backfire, however, causing an overload and making the myr dissipate from existence.” Twilight said.

“Very well done! You’re a very fast learner Twilight, for it is, indeed, the Mana generator which would be more practical.” Malik complimented.

“Thanks…” Twilight said with a slight blush.

“But I guess we’ve been here for a bit too long. What do you say to catching some fresh air?” Malik asked.

“Sure, let’s go.” Twilight said, walking out of the basement. As Twilight left Malik was left with his thoughts.

‘Where are you Flynt? And what are you planning? Well, whatever you do I am not letting you hurt any of these ponies. No one should have to go through what I, Rythian and Dion went through.’ He thought.

“Are you coming or not?” He heard Twilight ask from upstairs.

“I’m going!” He replied, running up the stairs and closing the door behind him, plunging the basement in darkness.

<…>

“This was not supposed to happen…” Chandra said looking at the forest fire, she caused. “… But it’s still pretty awesome!” She completed earning glares from the nearby ponies.

“You surprise me almost every day. Your need to burn things is stronger than I expected.” Jace said. “Don’t worry, I got this.” He told the ponies. With a wave of his hand a torrent of water appeared, materializing from the blue mana, and put out the fire.

“You never let me have fun.” Chandra said, with an annoyed look on her face.

“When we’re in battle, you can burn as many things as you want, but while we’re in this town you must control yourself, understood?” Jace asked.

“Yeah, yeah. Oh, by the way, how have things been between you and Emmara?” She asked.

“We’re doing fine. Speaking of, I should go back to Ravnica to check up on both her and the maze situation.” Jace said.

“No attacks today it seems…” Chandra started. “…This is gonna be boring as hell.”

“It’s good to have a little break from fighting. And I almost forgot why I came here in the first place. I figured out how to planeswalk from this plane.” Jace said.

“That’s cool. But the question is… do we want to leave just yet?” Chandra asked.

“What do you mean?” Jace replied.

“We have a lot of friends here, and Malik is gonna need more than those survivors to defeat whatever they’re facing. I just wouldn’t feel right leaving a friend behind. Besides, I can’t just let whatever-his-name-is hurt Rainbow or Pinkie.” She answered.

“Already developing great friendships I see.” Jace said with a smile. “But, returning to the topic, I agree with you. And I’m gonna stay, to help you all. Let’s just hope we’re strong enough.”

“We’re gonna kick his ass, you’ll see Jace!” Chandra replied with excitement. “Now let’s hit the town, this clearing is getting boring.” She said walking away.

<…>

“Two new survivors… Can’t believe I hadn’t noticed that yet. They’re not going to be that much of a problem either way.” Flynt muttered as he turned towards the paper creature. “Pages, what is the current progress on the army?” He asked.

“Army should be built and ready by tomorrow at exactly three hours, forty minutes and fifteen seconds PM. Kalistrat will be sent first, followed by the tanks, which are carrying the strikers and archers to the battlefield. The ‘iceberg’ myr will go right behind the tanks, along with the ‘inferno’ and ‘rift’ myrs, all equipped with their designated weapons.” Pages responded in an almost mechanical voice. “There’s an eighty percent chance we will come out victorious.”

“I like those odds, but we can do better… Send out the Cleavers we picked up at the alternate Earth too.” Flynt said.

“Acknowledged, sending command now.” Pages replied. Flynt stepped into the light his artifact created while charging, showing his grey robes and white hair. The small stone with arcane inscriptions sat in front of him, strands of all possible colors floating around.

“Just a few more weeks…” He muttered. During his years he learned to be a very patient man, so a few weeks didn’t bother him, after all it takes a long time to charge a doomsday artifact.

A man appeared behind Flynt, his face obscured by the black visor of his white helmet and his body covered by a long brown trench coat, attached to his back there was a scythe, slowly releasing a pink smoke. The man spoke not a word as Flynt gave him a command. “You and the other Cleavers are going to go on an assault to Ponyville tomorrow, understood?” The man simply nodded and walked away.

“For how long do you plan on being in this cave master?” Pages asked.

“Until it is the time to reveal ourselves.” Flynt replied.

<…>

“So… where to now?” Rythian asked. They had spent a lot of the day going around town, meeting ponies and helping them if they could.

“A great majority of the champs is pretty much begging us to go to Sugarcube corner, the place where Pinkie Pie works. Guess they want to see either her or the building.” Dion said, looking over the comments on his afterlife lens.

“She’s a baker, isn’t she? ‘Cos it’s past lunch time.” Rythian said.

“If she’s even half as good at baking as Morg I think we’re gonna get along just fine. Let’s go!” Kat said walking towards the candy building. But she was stopped as she noticed the storm clouds above her. “Huh…?”

“Sorry but we have a storm scheduled for today. You have about ten minutes to get to cover.” Rainbow said from the clouds.

“Ah, ya’ fuckin’ wanka’!” Pbat muttered with a British accent, just like he used to in his streams. “Guess we’ll have to go back…” He said walking in the direction of the metal boxes, where he lived now, followed by Kat.

“How long will the storm last?” Rythian asked.

“All night. It’s to make up for the past few days without rain.” Rainbow replied.

“Well that sucks. See you tomorrow I guess.” Rythian said as he jogged to catch up with Dion and Katarina.

<…>

Malik was returning to the library with Twilight. “Twilight?” He asked looking up.

“What is it?” She asked.

“Was there supposed to be a storm today?” He replied.

“Oh my! I completely forgot! We have to get under a roof quickly!” She exclaimed grabbing Malik’s hand and dragging him to the library.

<…>

Meanwhile, the planeswalkers and Katarina were sitting in a room of the metal box.

“You guys are asses, you know that?” Chandra asked, annoyed about the fact that Rythian and Dion were gathered around her flaming hair for warmth.

“Yup. By the way has anyone seen Malik?” Dion asked.

“I assume he’s in the library with Twilight.” Jace said, no taking his eyes away from the book he was reading.

“Makes sense. They must’ve been having one of their classes when storm began.” Rythian said.

“Are you really that oblivious?” Jace asked looking at the others.

“What do you mean?” Kat replied, causing Jace to chuckle.

“Have you not noticed how they reacted towards each other? Their body language as well as the way they speak when around each other? Malik can be very good at hiding his emotions when he wants to but I always catch those small details in his attitude. Ever since the ‘zerg incident’ he has been developing feelings at an astonishing pace for Twilight, as she was the only one, me excluded, that was beside him.”

“So that means…” Chandra started.

“I’m not over yet.” Jace interrupted. “The same applies with Twilight. Since the moment Malik saved her life during the battle, in which Rythian appeared, she also began to have feelings for him. Basically, this is perfect for them. I suspect that, right now, they’re having some sort of conversation and that, by the end of this day, they will start dating.” He said with a smug smile.

<…>

“So where’s Spike?” Malik asked as he and Twilight walked into the library.

“He mentioned something about digging up gems with Rarity so he’s probably at the boutique.” Twilight answered. “Wanna go downstairs and finish the myr?”

“Sure, let’s go.” Malik started descending the stairs, followed by Twilight.

As soon as they reached the basement Twilight hopped onto the work table. Malik then started teaching her on how to build myrs but, for what possibly was the first time on her life, she didn’t care. She was distracted, her mind focused on Malik. Her reverie was broken as Malik spoke. “Are you alright? You seem distracted.” He said.

“Oh it’s nothing really.” Twilight replied. Malik stared straight in her eyes.

“I can tell that you’re lying, just tell me what’s wrong Twilight. I may be able to help you.” He said. Without a moment to prepare she lunged forward, causing their lips to connect. After a few seconds into the kiss Twilight backed away.

“I’m so sorry! I don’t know what got over me! I just-” Twilight was stopped as Malik put a finger over her mouth.

“Why didn’t you just tell me?” Malik asked.

“I don’t’ really know. Fear of rejection I guess…” Twilight slowly said with a saddened look.

“Well that’s funny because… The very same thing happened to me. I was afraid that you would turn me down, and I would be left broken hearted. So many things happened to me that I grew kinda scared of getting hurt again. I lost my friends, my family and even my world. I didn’t want to risk our friendship.” Malik said, almost in tears. He was caught by surprise as he felt a pair of hooves wrapping around him in a tight embrace.

“It’s alright now.” Twilight said as Malik hugged her back.

A few seconds later they backed away. “I have a spare bed you can use if you want to.” She said with a warm smile.

“Thank you Twilight.” Malik replied.