< One week later >
Nero was walking through the town market getting anything she didn’t already have back home. That’s when Nero walked by a market stand with two stallions talking to each other. Nero heard them speaking about some new pony in town. But by the way their were describing said new comer, she knew they weren't talking about her.
“...apparently he has a daughter, but I’ve never seen him around another mare romantically before.” The first stallion said
“Maybe they’re divorced.” The other stallion said. “Then again, he doesn’t seem like the type of guy that could take a divorce well… plus, I’ve seen him with a picture of him, his daughter, and some mare that I assumed to be his wife, ‘cause why would somepony keep a picture of somepony they divorced. Who knows.” The two stallions both went back to work
‘A stallion with a daughter but no spouse? How, intreginning.’ Nero thought. After Nero walked away from the stall with the two stallions she went back home and put away her items she got at the market, and then she began to try and find this new pony. Nero walked to the outskirts of Ponyville, hoping to find this single parent stallion. As Jane had told her she would make new friends and Nero was kinda getting lonely here without others to talk to… other than Yin and Yang. Nero eventual came to a house with some boxes still outside, and a sign outside that had a big red sticker claiming this house was sold. Nero walked up to the front door, then stood there. “Okay, you can do this, it’s just some stallion, and he’s… older than you… and has a kid...oh boy...” Nero knocked on the door and waited. A few seconds later and the door opened to a dark grey unicorn stallion, with a black and red mane and tail, along with one red eye and one maroon eye.’Two different colored eyes? Weird.’
“Um, Hi do you need something?” Nero smiled
“Hi, my name is Nero, I just moved into town a week ago so I thought I would come by and say hi.”
“Okay, well hi. Anything else?” Nero sighed
“Look, I don’t know anypony in town or out, I had one friend where I grew up and… my life is really complicated right now so… I could really use somepony to talk to.” Nero smiled at the end of her sentence hoping the extra niceness would help. The stallion sighed
“Well,I mean… would you like to come in… I guess” Nero nodded and then the stallion let her in
“Steelix, my name is Steelix and...” Steelix paused his sentence as he walked into his living room with Nero. In his living room there was a light grey unicorn mare with a yellow mane and tail and yellow eyes to match, the young unicorns cutie mark was a bunch of gears together. On a chair near the unicorn was a racoon reading a newspaper “...this is my daughter Caroline and that’s Gram.” As Steelix said Caroline’s name she looked at the two and smiled. Caroline walked up to Nero and Greeted her
“Hiya!”
“Hey, my names Nero.”
“Well Nero...” Gram began “What brings you over to our humble abode?”
“Well I moved into town last week, because my… mom gave me a house she had bought here so I could live my life.” Gram just continued to read his newspaper
“Interesting, if you don’t mind me asking, how old are you?”
“I’m nineteen.” Nero said with a big smile.
“And you’re living alone already? Most kids normal get their own place when their either twenty or even twenty-five. You got lucky.” Nero smiled. Nero and Steelix chated a little while longer then Nero talked with Caroline, since they were both of a young age, Caroline was eight and Nero nineteen. Steelix was a single parent at the age of twenty-four. Caroline showed Nero some of the books she liked to read, which intrigued Nero. They had a lot of books about angels and demons, and Heaven and Hell. This brought up Nero’s curiosity so she decided to ask Steelix a question.
“Steelix?” Steelix put down the book he was reading and looked at Nero ”I noticed you have a lot of books, regarding Angels and Demons.”
“Yeah, and?”
“Well, I have a demon related question to ask you…” Steelix stared at Nero with a straight face. “Well… you see my life has been complicated because… ever since I can remember it has felt like something has been out to get me...” Steelix continued to stare at Nero “...and well Recently I have an idea of what it is that’s, hunting… me...” Steelix gave Nero a very serious look.
“Are you telling me… that demons… are after you?”Nero slowly nodded “And you wanted to come in my house!?”
“Well here’s the thing, they still think I’m with my adopted mother and they don’t know I’m here yet, but when they do… boy do I got a surprise for them.”
“Adopted?” Caroline said
“Nero, it doesn’t matter demons are hunting you, and right now you pose a threat for me, and my family. Get o-”
“Dad!” Caroline walked over to Nero and Steelix. Caroline gave her father a very angry stare, then looked at Nero. “You’re being hunt by demons?” Nero nodded “And, they think you’re with your adopted mother, what about your actual parents?” Nero just sat there and looked at the ground. Caroline and Steelix sat there waiting for nero to respond
“They… they died when I was five. It killed them and my adopted sister.” Steelix looked down at the ground for a quick second then looked back at Nero.
“I’m, sorry kid… I’m sorry about your parents and I’m sorry for snapping at you...” Nero smiled
“It’s fine Steelix you're concerned for yourself, your daughter, and your… pet racoon.” Steelix motioned for Nero to follow him.
“Nero, if any demon comes and tries to attack you...” Steelix walked up to a wall with a picture of an equestrian warzone and pulled it down. Behind the painting there were a set of pistols, a lever action shotgun, and two swords. Nero’s jaw dropped “You come to me.”
“But… weapons… banned… what!?”
“Perks of being in the military”
“You’re in the military?” Steelix nodded. “Wow, Steelix, thank you.. but...” Nero looked worried “Can I tell you something, that stays between me, you, Gram, and Caroline?” Steelix nodded. Nero pulled out her revolver and showed it to Steelix “Your offer is great and all, but I got myself covered.” Steelix stared in awe at the magnum revolver
“How in the hell does a nineteen year old mare like you get a gun?”
“When your parents know a lot about magic, they just don’t buy me my protection… the make it.” Steelix looked at Nero weirdly,then Nero pulled out a letter with her necklace magic, which when she did Steelix, Caroline, and Gram all jumped back a little. “This note from my father will explain the gun, however… my special necklace… you’ll just have to keep wondering...” Nero left Steelix’s home and went to her own. “Well three friends added to my friends list! ”
<<O>>
When Nero got home she walked about a few feet into her living room when she heard a knock on her door. Nero went to open her door to see Steelix standing there.
“Um… hi Steelix?”
“Hey, Nero I wanted to know if you wanted to go to this club my friend owns.”
“I’m ninete-”
“Equestria’s legal drinking age is eighteen” Nero satin silence
“Why the hell not?” Nero walked with Steelix to a place called Cold-Blood, One thing to note, Cold-Blood was not in Ponyville, Steelix called a taxi, carriage, thing that took then to Manehatten, the city where Nero was born “Cold-Blood?”
“It would make sense to you if you knew the owners closely… which lucky for you I do.” Steelix walked in and Nero followed. Inside the club was… empty.
“Steelix, is this place not opened today?” Steelix shook his head.
“It’s something the owners like to call ‘Down Time’. It’s where they relax and wait a little while before restarting the party.” Steelix walked to the back and Nero followed. In the back there was a door that had a sign that read ‘Stay The Fuck Out.’, Charming
“Subtle...” Nero commented about the sign. Steelix knocked on the door the sign was attached to and then a few seconds later nothing. Steelix knocked again, this time a little harder, again nothing. He knocked a third time and after the first three knocks of the third try a light blue aura, to be more exact of the color. The aura was a shade of blue known as Celeste. The door swung open and a light blue unicorn with a mane mixed with electric blue and sapphire blue. When the unicorn opened the door she seemed very angry.
“For fucks sake I heard you th-” She stopped when she saw Steelix “Oh, hey bitch. What do you want?” Steelix smiled
“Well, Bitch, I just wanted to stop by to tell you me and this mare are newcomers to Ponyville and… well she needs something to calm her down.” The unicorn looked at Nero
“How old are you?”
“Nineteen.” The unicorn slightly nodded her head over and over again like a bobble head
“Alright, come in, I got to get ready.” Steelix and Nero walked in the back room with the unicorn. The back room had a load of random object scattered throughout the room. magazines, books, and some music records and instruments. There was also a fairly large bed in the room with a dark blue stallion with a blue and red mane and tail. “Well, since there’s a new face in here. My name’s Frostbite, and over there is my lazy ass husband Damion.” Damion snored and nero giggled
“You three are definitely a lively bunch.”
“Oh yeah, trust me kid. You’ll get use to it.” Nero smiled
“Well Frostbite, I’m Nero. It’s a pleasure to meet you and… Damion.” Damion was sound asleep not paying attention to anypony. Frostbite nodded and then walked into another room. Steelix looked at Damion.
“He must’ve had a little too much last night, or something. He loves it when Frostbite throws a huge party, or a rave as it’s called in her line of work.” Nero just sat there waiting for Frostbite to get out.
‘Nero?’ Yin’s voice in Nero’s head didn’t make her jump. ‘These ponies are definitely friendly, but they all seem… older than you.’
‘Yeah, Steelix is only five years older than me,and I’m pretty sure that Frostbite is around the age of twenty which means Damion’s also around that age. Not that much of a difference.’
‘Yes, I supposed I shouldn’t complain, they are friends. What about this Steelix fellow, he seems… like he is hiding something from the world.’ Nero mentally nodded
‘I does seem like there is more than meets the eye with him.’
‘Another thing I wanted to add, I can feel something with these three, including Steelixs’ daughter, Caroline. Each of them have power inside of them. It’s not unlocked yet, but they have it.’ Before Nero could speak in her mind back to Yin, Frostbite came out and her mane was less messy, in fact it almost looked identical to Vinyl’s.
“Alright, who's ready to get buzzed?” Damion sat up and looked at Frostbite “Oh, go back to sleep I wasn’t talking to you.” Damino plopped back down into a laying position and went back to sleep. Frostbite, Steelix, and Nero all went out to the main lobby in the club and towards the bar. A single unicorn mare sat there cleaning glasses. When she saw Frostbite walking over with Steelix and Nero, she grabbed three clean glasses out and grabbed two bottles of some type of alcohol out. The bar mare poured a little of one bottle in one glass, and a little of the other in another glass. When Frostbite and Steelix were within distance, the bar mare gave the glasses filled with the beverages she just poured to Steelix and Frostbite. “Okay Nero, this here’s Crystal. She is the best damn bar mare I know. Just tell her what you want and she can make it.”
“Got any scotch?” Crystal nodded and grabbed a bottle of scotch from below the bar and poured it into the last remaining glass. “Thanks.” Nero grabbed the glass of Scotch with her necklace magic and Crystal and Frostbite stared at Nero. “I’ll explain it later...” Frostbite shrugged and Crystal just went back to cleaning glasses “Cheers.” Nero, Frostbite, and Steelix all made a toast to each other then all downed their drinks. When Nero downed her first alcoholic drink she coughed, and continued coughing. Steelix and Frostbite just laughed.
“I remember the time I had my first alcoholic drink.” Steelix sighed “Fun times.”
“Holy- *Cough* crap- *Cough* that’s strong.” Steelix and Frostbite continued to laugh. After they all got done with Nero’s first drink they were in the back room talking. Damion had finally woke up and Nero greeted him. Damion greeted her back and asked how her first drink was. She just told him, “Lots of coughing.” Then Nero explained her necklace to Steelix, Frostbite, and Damion. Damion didn’t understand what they were talking about until Nero use her necklace to pick levitate something. “...My parents somehow got a hold of this ancient crystal that could utilize unicorn magic, and well. I only found out about these powers last week, when I moved to Ponyville.” The three others were staring at Nero in silence, Steelix was the first to speak up
“So, do you you know how they got a hold of that crystal?” Nero shook her head.
“My parents are the only ponies I know that love magic more that Twilight Sparkle herself.” Steelix went silent then Frostbite spoke up.
“Well, hey at least you got something pretty cool to use that other earth pony and pegassi can’t use. So I would count that as a win.” Frostbite paused “Now, didn’t one of you say something about her life being complicated or something?”
“Yeah, I did. Why?” Frostbite looked at Steelix as he answered then at Nero.
“Well, I wanna know. If I’m gonna talk to somepony more, I gotta know what I’m dealing with.” Nero looked at the ground, Nero was very uncomfortable with talking about her life. It made her look vulnerable, weak, and in need of help. But she needed to at least give them something. She had to tell them something
“Well, my life is complicated. I don’t remember much from when I was little all I remember is my family died in a fire that destroyed my home town. As I grew up I had the feeling I was being hunted by something, recently I think I understand what’s following me. I believe I am being hunted by demons as now I realize that the fire that killed my family was not natural, something started it and wanted to end me and my family. They didn’t get me. So now they are hunting me.” Frostbite sat there.
“Damn, well as much as I would like to help demons are not my forte, that’s Steelix here, I can't really help you much,I’d probably only be a meat shield, and Damion here isn’t any different. You seem to be special though, maybe you’ll find a way to stop them.” Nero looked at the floor
“I hope. Anyway thank you for you time, thanks for the drink as well, I hope we meet again sometime.” Nero turned around and left the club. Before Steelix left Frostbite stopped him.
“Steelix, if what that kid just said is right then you know what that means.” Steelix nodded
“I just hope she can handle them, cause I believe in Nero but... ”
“They’re both just kids… but if what you told me is true then she can hold her own… I’ll catch you some other time.” Steelix nodded and left the building.
Nero laid down on her couch. She sighed and stared at the ceiling.
“What am I supposed to do, I’m just one mare. If demons do attack I can’t take them on my own.” Yin and Yang appeared “Tell me you two have something to help me?”
“Well, maybe you history book could tell you something, it is a old version, there is bound to be something in there.”
“What’s a history book going to tell me, it probably just has a bunch of old myths and… legends… wait! That’s it!” Nero got up and ran to her room and grabbed her history book Jane gave her. Nero began flipping through until she saw something she hadn't seen before. “If I’m correct if there is any old legends in here then they would have to be from when Equestria was always at war, so if it’s in here this book could give me a hint on what the legend is and I could probably awake the spirits!”
“Do you know how crazy that sounds?”
“It sounds insane but it’s all I got.” Nero got to the back of the book and saw a article on a legend she has never heard of before “The Guardians of Harmony?” Nero looked at Yin and Yang they both shrugged, and Nero read on “The Guardians of Harmony are a legend among legends in Equestria, they are a group of guards meant to protect the bearers of harmony as they were never combat oriented. The Guardians were to protect the Elements with their lives and they protected them through any means necessary. The Guardians each had their own unique weapons that are molded by their power.” Nero stopped and looked at Yin and Yang
“They sound powerful/” Nero nodded and continued reading
“The Guardians are not bond to a name like the elements, they are selected by the shards of the Guardians deep within the old ruins of the Everfree, these shards grant their bearers power beyond limit, it grants pegasi and Earth ponies the power to utilize unicorn magic and gives them the power to unleash their true power that makes them nearly unstoppable. However as they are granted this amazing power, they cannot control it, they must learn to control it, however as they learn to do so their power weakens. There is now way to tell who is a guardian,one must be called upon by the shards… The guardians however have not been around for over 500 years...” Nero finished reading “Wow...”
“Those shards sound a lot like your necklace, you don’t think these gems ponies once used were the shards of the guardians?”
“Well, there is only one way to find out, we need to find the shards of the guardians. Once we do that we can find out who else is a guardian and then Equestria will be safe again...”
<<O>>