“Listen buddy, I got to leave town for today and tomorrow. Until then, you're in charge in keeping the peace around here, alright?”
It began with that command from my partner. What followed was a day like no other.
My name is Springer. I was given that name from my partner, Flash Sentry. His friend Twilight Sparkle says I'm something called a jakhowl, though I don't really know what that means. All I know is that I'm Springer and my partner is leaving town for two days. He told me that him and his friends have to deliver a tree to some other town called App...uh...Appla...some town, and they're leaving later today. Even Spike is going with them, which is kinda depressing now that I think about it since me and him have guarded the town together.
Thankfully, Flash stayed with me for almost the rest of the day as we kept the peace in town. I even followed him to the train station, which only made me sadder when he left with his friends that afternoon. He left on a train, which I personally find fascinating when I rode one to Canter-something a while back. Seeing him leave, I sat there at the edge of the train station for a while before finally adjusting my bandanna and setting off to protect the town.
That first day was soon finished as I did a small patrol around town. Its harder being not able to fly on Flash's back, but I know most of the town now. Navigating it isn't hard as I walked down most of it's streets, looking for anything bad. After the final bit of my patrol, I was satisfied with finding nothing bad and went home. As I returned home, I was greeted by...nothing. Wow, I feel really lonely right now. Seeing this, I shoved off to bed, covering myself in some warm blankets as I curled up in my little bed. I let out a small whimper as I drifted off to sleep, already missing my partner.
The next day...
My eyes slowly open as I feel the rays of the shining ball of light in the sky hit my face. I find myself instantly alert as I jump out of my bed, shaking my head left and right. After looking around the room, I turn and look at Flash's bed is. Oh yeah...he's gone. He'll be back later today but...he's still gone. I let out a small sigh before leaving the room, quickly walking down a set of stairs before leaving the building.
As I walked out, I looked at the sky, the sun still barely showing. Time to do my patrol. Adjusting my bandanna one more time, I ran down the streets with a spring in my step. I had to get my mind off of being separated from my partner as I ran down the street, quickly going down the north section of town. Seeing as it was so early in the morning, almost no one was out. Noticing that the town was quiet, I decided to patrol another section of town.
A few hours in, things started to pick up. It started when I walked by what Flash called a 'candy store'. My nose picked up on several pleasing smells as I passed by. That is, till the one who owned the store walked up to me.
“Good morning Springer.” said the one called 'Bon-Bon'. At least, I think that's her name.
I bark in response, knowing that she can't understand me.
“Doing Flash's job while he's away I see.” I nod at this. “Well, good for you. Say, would you like a free sample of a new batch of candy I made? I need a taste tester and Lyra is helping Octavia with her new performance.” I nod again as she gives me a small dark ball. I can smell the sweet stuff inside as I quickly put it in my mouth. My mouth begins to water at the taste as I rub my cheeks in satisfaction, yipping in happiness. Bon-Bon just laughs at this. “Looks like somepony likes my new treat. If you're that happy, I better make a full batch to sell.”
I bark again and she waves goodbye as I leave her shop. I began to walk down another road as I see another sight. This time its a flying one like Flash, though this one is a girl. I've seen her before but I don't remember her name. All I know is that she's gray with blonde hair and has strange eyes. As for what she was doing, she was stuck in a 'mailbox' or at least I think that's what they're called. I blink at this as I notice she's bigger than the thing yet the middle part of her body is stuck in the 'mailbox'.
“I just don't know what went wrong.” she said as she tried to wiggle out of the thing. Blinking again, I walked up to her, causing her to speak up. “Oh, good morning Springer.”
I bark back.
“Yeah, I know. I'm stuck.” she says as her hair droops down, a big frown on her face. “I can't get out. I need to get my route done before noon and I can't get out!”
I sigh before grabbing her front legs. “Oh, are you going to help me?” I nod yes and then begin to pull. She begins to wiggle in response, also trying to get free. I keep pulling and pulling, but its no use. After a little bit, she yells, “Stop! That hurts!”
I fall over from the yell as I let go of her. She apologises for the surprise and then speaks up, “Um...could you do me a favour Springer?” I nod. “Could you go to Bon-Bon and ask for some butter? That usually helps me get out of this sort of thing.”
I bark questionably but then nod. I don't know what 'butter' is but I know Bon-Bon. It doesn't take me long to get Bon-Bon to come over and after a little bit, she miraculously gets the gray one out. She then thanks both me and Bon-Bon and takes off into the sky. As she flies away, Bon-Bon taps my shoulder. “Heh heh, always helping others huh? You're Flash's partner alright.” She then grabs her bag that she had on her and pulls out another treat. “Here, have this for your good deed.”
I bark happily as I eat the delectable bit and wave goodbye as she returns to her store. Seeing this, I go down another street, trying to start my patrol up again. As I walk down the musty streets, I blink several times as I see what's at the end of street. Its the building Flash calls a 'schoolhouse'. Seeing a few familiar faces playing outside of the building, I begin sprinting up to it. As I approach it, a voice calls out.
“Springer! Over here!” says an older voice, causing me to turn and see it's owner. It's the one called um...'Cheerilee' I think? I'm not sure if I remember her name. I walk up to her as she waves to me, calling me over. “Ah! Good morning Springer. I see your doing Flash's duty today, aren't you?” I nod as she continues. “That's nice. I'm glad Ponyville has somepony like you to help.”
“Hey Springer!” said another voice, causing us to turn our heads. Now this one I recognise, its Scootaloo. Flash looks after her every now and then. He told me that she's always lonely, so he wants to help her. She's currently on top of the fence surrounding the 'schoolhouse', her legs flailing around from being up there.
“Scootaloo! Don't do that to the fence!” Cheerilee yelled as Scootaloo hopped off the fence. “Recess is not the time to be bending school property!”
“Sorry Miss Cheerilee. I just wanted to say hi to Springer.”
Letting out a sigh, Cheerilee gave a small smile as she shook her head. “Its fine Scootaloo. Just ask next time, there's no need to climb up the fence.” She turns to me and her smile gets slightly bigger. “Say, would you like to play with the students for a little bit Springer?”
“Yeah Springer! Come play ball with us!”
I turn to Scootaloo and back to Cheerilee. Well, nothing bad has happened so far today and Flash always tells me to have fun when doing the job. I don't see why not. I nod to her before glancing at the fence. I get a small running start and pour pressure into my legs. As I charged at the obstacle ahead of me, I quickly leapt into the air, easily hopping over the thing.
“Whoa!” Scootaloo exclaims as she sees me land. “That was awesome!”
I let out a small bark as she then directs me over to her friends. I soon meet up with two others I'm very familiar with, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle. Apple Bloom gives me a wave while Sweetie Belle throws me the ball they were playing with it. I quickly grab it and throw it back, though my throw goes over her head and falls in front of another one. This one, I don't remember her name. Her fur is pink and she has double coloured hair. She also has a companion who is gray all over, even with her hair, though there is some white in it.
“Hey! What do you think you're doing blank flanks?! Trying to attack me when I'm not looking?!” she yells as the others give her immediate scowls. Surprised at that sudden anger, I quickly clap my paws together, closing my eyes as I scan the two with my aura. The gray is...I don't know. She isn't an enemy, but she obviously doesn't like the three I was about to play with. The pink one though, I sense a whole jumble of emotions. There's fear, anger, doubt, all sorts of things. I don't know what to think. She's not bad, but there's something holding her back. I reopen my eyes, only to see all five bickering at each other.
“Shut it blank flanks! Who said you could-”
“Oh stop it Diamond Tiara! You're just a-”
“Hey! You don't get to talk to Diamond like that, you little-”
“Be quiet Silver Spoon! Nopony wants to-”
My eyes keep going back and forth as I continue to watch the argument before me. I honestly don't even know who's talking about what at this point. Seeing this, I started to think one thing. What would Flash do in this situation? Well, if he was here, he'd probably break them up and talk to each of them.
But I can't do that. They don't understand me like he does. If that's the case, I'll have to try something else. I suck in a deep breath before letting out a loud piercing bark, grabbing their attention.
“Ow! My ears!” the pink yells as she grabs her ears. “What was that for?!”
“Whoa Springer, you've got some lungs.” Scootaloo replied with a slightly dropped jaw.
“Why did that weird blue dog do that?!” she yelled again. “Who do you think you are?!”
I can't exactly answer that, so I just give out a slight growl. Seeing this, she begins to backpedal. “Okay...” she glances at her companion. “Come on Silver, let's go. Let's leave the blank flanks and their weird dog.”
“Okay.” the gray one nods before following. I watch the two of them slowly walk away, a small bit of despair growing in my heart from the encounter. That is, till Scootaloo suddenly nudges me on the side.
“Wow! That was awesome Springer! You scared Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon away!”
“Yeah! Ah reckon you're a real force to be reckoned with, Springer!” Apple Bloom adds as she pats me on the head.
I didn't want to scare them though. But...I didn't know what else to do. They did look like they were going to cause a mess but...oh well. Guess I can't solve them all.
“Okay Springer. We were gonna play ball, remember?” Scootaloo speaks up, nudging me again. I turn to her and just nod. “Alright, let's-”
“Scootaloo!” says another voice. We all turn to see the voice's owner. Its a boy and he's like Apple Bloom in terms of no wings or thing in his head. Actually, he looks a mini Flash if he didn't have wings. His fur is a slightly darker shade of orange compared to Flash's and he has blue hair just like Flash! Wow...I wonder if Flash looked kinda like that when he was younger.
“First Base?” Scootaloo replies back while tilting her head. “What is it?”
First Base, at least I guessing that's his name since Scootaloo said that, responds back as he walks up to us, “Hey girls! We were wondering if you would help us with our baseball game. Featherweight and Lily Longsocks aren't here today and we're already short on players.”
The other three look at each other and then at me before talking back. “Um...but we were about to play with Springer.”
“Well, he can join us too!” First Base exclaims as he looks at me. “Right Springer?”
I have no idea what to do here. I just turn and bark at Scootaloo, attempting to say 'You choose what we should do'. I think she understand as she just gives me a nod and says to him, “Okay, we'll help you First Base.”
Seeing that they've come to an agreement, they led me to a different part of the field behind the 'schoolhouse'. This one has a bunch of lines that are shaped like some of jewels Spike finds and eats. (I tried one the other day and they're way too hard! I don't know how he does it.) At the edges of the lines are four white...bags? I'm not sure what those things are. I just blink at the sight before a few others walk up to us.
“Hey, why is Springer here?” asks one of them. I recognise this one. Its Button Mash, one of the ones I helped Flash save when I first met him. Beside him is Rumble, another one I helped save that day.
“Yeah, I thought you just getting the crusaders First Base.” says another. This one is light blue all over with slightly darker blue hair.
“I know Shady Daze, but he was playing with them and I thought, why not?” First Base responded back. So Shady Daze is his name. I also recognise the one by him. He's a bit smaller than the rest but I remember his name. His name is Pipsqueak. I remember him because me and Flash had to save him during what Flash calls 'The Renegade Farming Equipment Incident', which also involved Apple Bloom...and Sweetie Belle...and Scootaloo. In fact, I think that's the third incident we had to solve from those three...which is a lot.
“Alright...but does he know how to play?” asks another one. This one's a girl and I know her from when I first met Flash. She's Twist, and she's standing by...I think their names are 'Berry Pinch' and 'Tootsie Flute'?
“Good question.” First Base answers as he gets in front of me and asks, “Do you know what baseball is?”
I don't know, so I just let out a low toned confused bark.
“I think that's a no.” Twist says back. I just blink at them for second, trying to figure out what to do. I don't know what this 'baseball' is, but that doesn't mean I can't learn it. I let out another bark, getting their attention before pointing to my eyes.
“Huh? What's he doing?” Rumble asks. The others all give shrugs except Scootaloo.
“Hey! I think I know what he's trying to say!”
“You do?”
“Yeah! Flash told me that Springer catches on to things really quickly.” she says as she points to me and then to the field. “I bet if he watches us play, he'll understand how the game works.”
“Really?”
“Yeah.” Scootaloo nods, in which I then nod as well. Seeing that this is apparently enough, First Base has me sit just outside of the field of lines. After sitting down, I begin to watch them play. About a few minutes in, I think I got the gist of it. Apparently, the one in the center of the lines throws a small ball and another one hits it with a tough-looking wooden stick. Then, if they hit it, the others go and try to catch the ball. At least...I think that's it.
Right now, First Base is in the middle of the field while Scootaloo has the wooden stick. He puts the ball in his tail and cocks it back before throwing the ball at a very high speed, which Scootaloo swings at and misses. Sweetie Belle is behind her and catches the ball in a big...wool thing on her 'hoof'? Not sure what that is. They do this three times and then Scootaloo walks away with a frown on her face. Guess you only get three tries. I then feel a nudge on my shoulder, which I turn and see Berry Pinch.
“Think you got it Springer?” she asks, which I hop up and give a nod. “Okay!” she turns and yells, “Yo Scootaloo, come over here! Springer wants to try!”
Scootaloo walks up and gives me the wooden stick. I hold it in my paw for a second, looking it over before Scootaloo points to the bag in front of Sweetie Belle. Nodding, I walked up to the bag and put both paws over the stick and stared at First Base.
“Good luck Springer.” Sweetie Belle says to me as she puts the wool thing in front of her face. I bark in response as I clinch the stick. I look directly at First Base as he gives me a cocky grin.
“Here we go Springer!” he yells as he cocks his tail back again, the ball curled up in it. I tighten my grip on the stick, ready for the ball. First Base then fires the ball at high speed, faster than I remembered watching him throw. I can't even swing before the ball flies past me and into Sweetie Belle. I turn to Sweetie Belle, who is just shivering after catching the ball.
“That was fast...” she squeaks before throwing the ball back. I hear Scootaloo complaining on the sidelines that First Base is being unfair, but I'm not really paying attention.
Instead, I'm thinking about that throw. How did he throw it that fast? And he did it with his tail. I've never seen anything like it. It was like he threw...an aura blast with that ball. How did he do that? I blink a few times before I see that First Base is winding up again. This time, I close my eyes and concentrate, my aura flaring up. I reopen my eyes, only to see an aura surrounding First Base. I can't help but look surprised at his aura. It looks like he can almost put his own aura in the ball...but not completely.
My thoughts stop as I see First Base cock his tail back again. Seeing this, I let out a deep breath as I focus on the stick. I glare at First Base, narrowing my expression as I tighten my grip once more. This time I'll hit it.
“Go Springer! You can do it!” Scootaloo cheers behind me, my ears just picking up her voice. She's right, I can do it. First Base finishes his windup and flings the ball at me, the sphere spinning like a top. I pull back both paws and swing with all my might.
CRACK!
I wasn't sure what exactly happened next. All I know is that I hit that ball. That, and the stick I was using is now a broken, shattered mess. As for the ball, no one knew where it went after it went into the sky. Though I don't think that mattered since everyone's jaws were on the ground.
“What in tarnation?!” Apple Bloom exclaimed.
“Holy horsefeathers!” Scootaloo yelled as she just pointed to the sky. “Did you just see that?!”
“No way...” First Base gasped as he kept looking at me, the broken stick and the sky. “How'd you do that?”
I wanted to reply but I knew they couldn't understand me. I just let out a small confused bark, causing the others to just look at each other, their expressions still showing surprise. First Base then walked up to me, his face beaming, “That was amazing Springer! I've never seen anypony hit a baseball that hard! Have you ever-”
DING! DING! DING!
The sound of bell could suddenly be heard, causing everyone to turn and look at the 'schoolhouse'. In front of it was Cheerilee, yelling, “Alright everypony! Recess is over! Come on, time for class!”
“Awwww!” everyone moaned in unison. I could only blink as I realise I probably wouldn't like this 'class' they were talking about. Maybe I should ask Flash about it later. With this announcement that Cheerilee yelled, Scootaloo nudged my shoulder again.
“Looks like times up Springer. Thanks for joining us though.” she says while most of the others nod in agreement.
“Yeah. You should play with us again!” First Base continues as the others let out a bunch of 'yeahs' as well. “That and you gotta teach me how you did that!”
With that, I followed them to the 'schoolhouse', where Cheerilee thanked me for spending some time with them. I'm not sure why she's thanking me for that, but I accept the compliment with a cheerful bark. After patting me on the head, she lets me wave goodbye to all the others as they start their 'class'. Huh. I should try and ask Flash if I can do this again sometime.
After leaving the 'schoolhouse', I decide to do the last part of the patrol, the east side of Ponyville. I quickly run down the streets, greeting every passerby as I walk towards my destination. As I'm about to get to the town square, another voice calls out.
“Springer? What are you doing out here?” says the voice, to which I reply with a confused bark before turning to the voice's owner. I instantly recognise this one, her name is 'Mayor Mare'. At least, I think it is. She just tilts her head as she asks, “Are you doing Flash's patrol?”
I nod.
“I see. Well, if that's the case, please go check the north side of town. One of townponies said some weird pony nopony recognises was wandering around over there and I told them I'd get Flash to help. Unfortunately, I forgot at that moment that he isn't here today, is he?” I shake my head at this. “I know. So, could you do that for me?”
Giving another nod, I turn around and look to the north side of town. Blinking, I take a deep breath before fully closing my eyes, sensing the aura around me as I clap my paws together. As the aura begins to show everything around me, I feel a slight tinge of...something up north. I can just barely feel something wrong. I don't know what it is, but it definitely isn't nice.
With that, I begin my run towards the north part of town as Mayor Mare yells at me, “Thank you Springer! Keep up the good work!”
I bark in reply as I sprinted forward, my feet picking up the pace as I flew down the north street. My eyes shift constantly, trying to find this problem. As I reach my destination, I look around one more time. Nothing. I don't even feel the aura of the tinge from earlier. Did the thing leave? As I try to make one more round, another voice speaks up.
“Springer? What are you doing over here?”
I turn and see another one. This one is also gray but with dark hair and carrying a large wooden object. She has a small metal thing with paper on it in front of her and she's giving me the strangest look. If I remember right, her name is 'Octavia'. Since it seems she wants to talk to me, I let out a bark.
“Yes, good afternoon Springer.” Octavia nodded. Afternoon? I had no idea it was that late already. Oh well. I bark again, but in a more confused tone. She then responds in an accent I'm not really used to. “Say, could you help me for a second?”
She wants me to help her? She does know she can't understand me, right? Hmm...don't have a reason to say no though. I nod and she lets out a little giggle before turning to the big wooden object she had with her.
“I need another opinion on my latest work. Lyra said it was fine, but I swear that that mare is tone-deaf sometimes.” Octavia rambled in a low tone. I can feel a mix of annoyance and regret in her aura. She then turns to me and says, “Anyways, I need another set of ears to hear my new music. I saw you passing by and thought to myself, 'maybe a pony's ears isn't the only thing I could use to test my work'. So, will you listen to my newest score and see if you like it?”
She wants me to grade her music? Well, I guess I can. I give another nod and she then pulls out a long black stick thing. On it is something that looks like a bunch of strings, though much more than the few on the wooden object. She puts the black stick on the wooden object's strings and music begins to flow into my ears.
At first, I feel great. The music flows like a river with no obstructions, a flowing tune of peace and harmony. My senses also pick up a nice, soothing aura coming from her and the wooden object. Its like the aura flows into it, but just a little. However, the flow soon stops as she picks up speed. Then, a small screech happens as the black thing cuts sharply into the strings, causing me to clap my ears and let out a yelp.
“Eep! Oh dear! I'm so sorry Springer!” she exclaims as she stops the music. “I didn't-I mean, I was trying to follow the notes and-”
I release my ears and let out another bark. She sees this and complies with a slight nod. I'm not sure if she understands me, but I think she knows I'm trying to say: 'Its alright'.
“I see. Sorry about that. I had a feeling that part was off. Was it too high?” I at least understand this and give a nod. “I knew it, Lyra was wrong. Hmm...now what do I do? I have to figure this stanza out or-”
I bark again, only for her to glance at me. “Oh, sorry Springer. I need to rework this. Thank you for telling me where I was going wrong though.”
Huh. Guess I'm done. I bark again as she puts down the black thing and walks over to me. She scratches my chin, which feels so good! I love it!
“Thank you so much Springer. Now, I want to-”
“AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH! STOP!!!”
The sudden voice causes both of us to jump in place. The surprise gets the both of us as the voice begins yelling again.
“My bag! Stop you thief!” someone screams, causing me to turn around from the yell. Just a bit in the distance is Bon-Bon yelling at someone else as he grabs her bag. I see it and then turn to Octavia, who just gives me a nod. I dart my head at the thief and narrow my eyes, growling.
“Come back here!” Bon-Bon yells as the thief successfully gets her bag and starts to run away. I quickly charge into a sprint, trying to catch up with the criminal. The thief is someone like Flash, but can't fly or has that thing on his head like Twilight. My pace increases as I charge at the guy, trying to get closer and closer, noticing that he's wearing a large brown cloak.
As I began my chase, the thief darted down an alley to the right while I still followed. Here, the thief notices me and quickly stops. I however, continue my charge as he yells, “What the heck are you supposed to be?!”
I ignore him and jump into the air, charging my aura into my palm. I let out a loud bark as I ready myself to hit him with full power. As I'm about to hit him, my eyes widen as I see him suddenly turn around and hit me with his back legs. I feel pain surge through my entire body as I go flying from the blow, knocking me to the ground with a thud.
“HA! Take that you weird thing!” he exclaims before I hear the his footsteps. He's running away now. He's gonna get away while his blow shakes my entire body. I feel like a ragdoll as I laid there, I can't feel a thing. My eyes slowly close as I stop trying to move. It hurts. It really hurts.
As I close my eyes completely, I feel something new. I open them again, only to see a white void. I blink several times as I suddenly find myself completely able to get up now. In fact, my body feels like a feather as I get up, and as I look down, my injury from the thief has disappeared! I turn around, trying to find out why, only to see a familiar figure.
“Flash?” I say as he appeared before me, walking up to me with a small grin. “What is...what's going on?”
“Get up Springer.”
“Huh?”
“Get up Springer. You can't lose to one hit buddy.” he says in a calm kind tone. He then scratches my ear like he always does as he says again. “Get up Springer. I know you can beat him.”
“I don't-” before I can say another word, Flash disappears. In his place is something that looks kind of like me. Except...it isn't. It's taller and has a weird spike in it's chest and it's paws. It starts to speak up as well, but it's voice sounds just like Flash.
“Get up Springer. You can do it.”
“AAAAHHHH!” I yell as my eyes suddenly open, pain still flowing through me. What was that? I felt...so helpless there for a second. Shaking my head, I quickly got up and shook my body over. 'Get up', that's what he said. Right. I can beat him. I can beat that thief.
I close my eyes as I begin to concentrate. My aura begins to show as I feel around me. I have to find the thief, and only my aura can find him. As I begin to erase everything around me in my mind, I can feel my aura flowing. I can feel him. I slowly open my eyes and pierce my gaze. These buildings can't hide him from my aura. It doesn't take long till I see the thief, still running down alleyway after alleyway, avoiding everyone that he can.
I growl and look up, noticing a few windows above me. I take a deep breath and put all my strength into my legs. I then begin to jump, quickly tapping the wall with my feet and leaping off before my feet begin to stick. I grab the nearby window and hoist my body up, quickly hopping to another ledge. I continue to do this till I'm on the rooftops, my legs already feeling the burn of stone from climbing this way.
But it doesn't matter, I have a thief to catch! I spark my aura again, quickly seeing him just a few buildings over. I run over rooftop to rooftop, trying to get closer. As I finally catch up, I see the thief heading into another alleyway. Before he can enter, I hop down, ready to fight.
“What the-” he says I land in front of him. Before he can say another word, I quickly leap and kick in the face. He lets out a yell of pain as he backpedals from the blow before glaring at me, smoke blowing out of his nostrils. Others see us as he backpedalled all the way out into the main street.
“You stinking blue dog thing!” he yelled as he charged at me, throwing a quick left hook. I sidestep at the last second, my body feeling the air from his punch. He then tried to throw a right hook, causing me to guard with both of my paws. I feel the punch at it hits me, barely knocking me back. “Blast it! Leave me alone!”
He puts his leg in the cloak and pulls out a...not sure what that's called. Its like a tiny version of what Flash calls a 'sword'. Its smaller but I can tell its sharp. Spinning it once in his 'hoof' as Flash calls it, he charges again, swiping the weapon at me. I backpedal twice, just barely dodging the attack. As he swings it a third time, I bend my head back, missing the blow. Unfortunately, his other 'hoof' slams into my face, knocking me off my feet and onto my back. I let out a gasp of pain as he then jumps on top of me, the tiny 'sword' in his 'hoof'.
“I'm gonna carve you into nothing!” he yells as he lifts his weapon, ready to strike me again. I can feel my eyes widening as he prepares his attack, the tiny 'sword' in his 'hoof'. I have to move. I have to!
As the attack comes straight down, I close my eyes. It feels like time is stopping. But I can feel something else. My aura. I can feel my aura. That's all I feel in that moment.
“DIE! Die you little-huh?!” the thief yelps as I open my eyes at his sudden statement. As my eyes adjust, I stare at the new sight. I can't believe what I'm seeing. In my paws is a long blue bone like thing that looks like it's made out of my aura. Right above the bone is the thief's weapon, now broken. Its sharp parts are now in pieces around me. The 'bone' destroyed his weapon when he tried to hit me.
“What is...what the heck are you?!” he exclaims, his whole frame now shivering above me. Seeing this, I quickly raise both of my legs, smashing his stomach. The bone disappears as I concentrate a new bit of aura into my palm. I quickly release its strength into his face, knocking him off of me.
“AUGH!” he yells as he goes flying. I shake my head as I try to regain my focus, trying to get up from the previous blow. As I finally ascend, I notice him getting up as well. There are others on the street, yelling at the both of us, but I can't hear their words. All I can see and think about is fighting him. That's all.
“That's it,” he says as he cricks his neck. “You're finished!”
I let out another bark as he tries to punch again. However, this time I grab his 'hoof' with my left paw. Before he can react, I grab his neck with my other paw and turn around, my body already straining from what I'm about to do. I pour every last bit of my strength into myself as I lift him up and throw him, his body flipping over and slamming into the ground. He lets out a painful yell as his back kisses the ground.
“AUGH! Why you little-” he yells and then begins to scramble back up. I see him squirm as he tries to get on his feet, his face filled with anger. I'm the same as I clap my paws together and bend them, a loud growl escaping my mouth. I can feel all of my aura gather as I slowly lift my top paw up, my teeth gritting as I see my opponent fully get up.
This is it. I have one shot. My mind goes crazy as my aura continues to grow within my paws. The thief lets out a yell as he begins to charge at me with full force. I can feel the ground shake as he gets closer, his attack ready to strike me. As it gets closer and closer, I slowly close my eyes, just for a moment.
Then, I strike. My aura flies out of my paws, striking him with full force. The blast causes his eyes to widen as pain hits every part of his being. The thief goes flying down the street as my attack finishes the fight. I can feel the exhaustion creep up on me as the thief stops sliding down the road, his tongue sticking out as his eyes begin to spin in circles.
I did it. I won. I protected the town.
As I try to catch my breath, my ears stand straight up as a giant roar of applause and cheering suddenly happen. Everyone in the town quickly walk up to me, cheering at what I just did.
“Holy cow Springer!” “Way to go Springer!” “You showed him!” “Nice job!” they yell, causing me to blush as they continued to praise me. Then, Bon-Bon walks up and hugs me, thanking me over and over.
“Thank you so much Springer!” she says as she picks up her bag the thief stole. “Thank you!”
I bark happily before slumping over, my whole body now aching from exhaustion. The others see this and help me stay on my feet. Scootaloo soon walks up and offers to tie up the thief with some rope she was going to use later and I nod to her. Lyra then walks up and asks if she could help me home and I accept, allowing me to ride on her back. I slump over again as I begin to pant. I feel so tired.
And that was my day. Not long after beating the thief, Flash returned home with a big grin on his face. I was in my bed when he returned and I tried to get up and hug him right away, but I couldn't do it. I so wanted to show him how much I missed him, but my body said otherwise. Instead, he helped me up, put me on his back and proceeded down to the other part of the house. There, he showed me a dinner that he had brought home.
“These are apple pies Springer. I think you might like them.” he said as he put down on a chair. After catching my breath for a second, I tried one. The taste was incredible as the treat went down my gullet. I could feel every sweet bit savour itself in my mouth as I took another bite. “Looks like a certain jakhowl likes them.”
“Uh-huh.” is all I can say as I take another bite.
“So, I heard you had quite the day little buddy. Good job stopping that thief.”
“Thanks.” I say, blushing at the compliment. As I kept eating, I told him everything that happened to me today. I told him the encounter with Bon-Bon, the mailbox incident, the stuff with Scootaloo...everything. Even the whole fight with the thief. It was here that Flash's raised his eyebrow in confusion.
“A bone? And it was made out of your aura?” Flash asked as he took a sip of water. “Your aura can do that?”
“I...don't know.” I shrugged. “I'm not sure how I did it. I just thought that that thief was about to hit me and...it appeared.”
“Huh.” Flash replied while rubbing his chin. “Welp, if that's the case...” He then looked at me with a look I am all too familiar with. “We should figure out how to make you summon it again.”
“Really? How would we do that?”
He gives me a cheeky grin. “What do you think we should do?”
“I...” Oh. I know where he's going here. “Training, huh?”
“Yup.” Flash nodded. “I mean, I've noticed that you have better control over your aura ever since we started sparring sessions in our morning training. I'm pretty sure that means you can train hard enough to control your aura even more, right?”
“Well...” He's not wrong. That and I would like to know how to do it again. I scratch the back of my neck before replying. “Okay. I would like to figure out how to summon it again.”
“Sounds good to me.” Flash chuckled as he took another drink. “Though I gotta say, I still think you had a better day than I did.”
“What happened?”
“Oh, just the usual nonsense.” he grumbled as he reached over and patted my head. “Spike got kidnapped, we got attacked by a herd of tree-stealing buffalo, Pinkie dressed up in cowpony clothes and sang a song that didn't solve anything. You know, the usual.”
“Heh, sounds like fun.”
“Eh, I think you had more fun than I did. You got to fight something!” Flash shines a huge grin as he scratches my ear. His grin then disappears and he gives me a slightly serious stare. “But I do want to say Springer...thank you.” He gives me a salute before leaning down and hugging me. “Thanks for doing my job while I was gone. Thank you.”
“No problem. I'm your partner after all.”
Flash lets out a hearty laugh as he pats me on the back. “You got that right! Now, I got us some ice cream for dessert.” he says as he gets up and walks to the fridge to pull out a large container from it. He sets the container down on the table and shows me his usual cocky, fun-loving smile. “Let's dig in buddy!”
“YAY!”
My name is Springer. I'm the partner of Flash Sentry and a defender of the peace. I love my life and can't wait to see what happens next in my life with my best friend Flash.