Vanitas looked outside the boundaries of the the town. Watching for anything that could come attack. It’s been two months since John has left and things have been going back to how they were before that battle. Funerals were held for those that were lost. About four dozen died from Heartless or Unversed and some died as a result of the battle from John and Core. Most were guards trying to defend the citizens. Thoses who died had their names etched onto a memorial. A statue was also built with the memorial to honor them and to not forget.
Van was also getting reports of some strange happenings. Some key bearers on patrol found random stuff like clouds made of cotton candy raining chocolate milk, or….giant Corn dancing out and about. Now that he mentions it he sees a few doing the conga out in the distance. Things have definitely got weirder since John left. Vanitas blames him for this. Twilight, Applejack, and the Princesses think it’s Discord who is doing this. The spirit of Chaos. If he becomes a threat Vanitas knows that he will be very tough to beat. Chaos magic is unpredictable. It’s user even more so.
While he was looking out he heard a noise nearby. Curious he went to see what it was. After a minute of searching he came to a clearing. He saw three fillies training together. He recognized them as Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle. They were practicing with their keyblades together. Scootaloo was the fastest on the ground so she was training her agility and stamina so she can make hit-and-run maneuvers to wear down the enemy. Sweetie was obviously better at magic so she was practicing her healing and support spells. She was still on beginner spells, but was getting better. Bloom was physically stronger than them do to her Earth Pony nature, but losing her eyes took a toll on her. So she has been practicing very hard for a while to be able to fight while blind. Vanitas believes she almost trains as hard as John did before he left, and he trains till near death, or till Rose and/or Gilda drag him back inside to rest.
As he mentioned before each had a keyblade. John ended up doing the ritual for them to help defend themselves. Scootaloo uses the Guardian Soul keyblade. Sweetie uses the Fairy Stars keyblade which for some reason reminds her of when her sister would tell her bedtime stories before bed. Apple bloom’s keyblade was the Mark of a Hero keyblade. Vanitas and the others have seen her train a lot with it. Like he said it's getting to the point where she almost trains as much as John did. Which wasn’t good for her health.
He watched as Scootaloo and Sweetie trotted around Bloom slowly with their keyblades ready. Bloom was very still in the center as they went around her. He noticed she was waiting for any signs of movement that will let her know when one or both of them striking. This went on for a full minute when Sweetie suddenly sent out a blast of fire with the Fire spell. One of Bloom’s ears perked up and she dodged the blast only for her ears to perk up again to let her know of a noise from Scootaloo. She blocked the strike and used blits to knock her back.Scoot recovered mid-air and used Sonic strike and sent Bloom back a few feet. Sweetie than sent some more spells at her that she either reflected with her Keyblade or dodged. Vanitas watched this for half an hour with them failing to notice him. Which he was slightly disappointed of. He needs to up their awareness training.
When a full hour went pass he figured it's best to make them stop before they go to far. He didn’t need Applejack or Twilight getting mad at him for not stopping them. “Ok you three. You trained enough. Everyone needs a break now and then. Even me and John.” Vanitas spoke out. Spooking the fillies cause they didn’t know he was there. They were so caught up training they didn’t know he was there. Which is pretty bad because it could have easily been an enemy that would have killed them.
Applebloom put her keyblade away. “ Hey Master Vanitas. Didn’t notice you over there. Sorry. I can’t stop training. I have to get past my blind eyes weakness, or I’ll just get in the way.” She said with a look on her face. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle looked at each other in worry. Van saw this and knew they wanted to take it easier on her, but Applebloom wasn’t having it.
Van sighed. “ Look Bloom. I can understand wanting to be stronger, but you can’t work yourself to death. If it wasn’t for Gilda and Roseluck John would have most likely done that a long time ago.” He chuckled a bit at the memory of Gilda once dragging an unconscious John back into the Castle because she knocked him out to get him to rest. “Don’t worry about your sight either. From what i can tell your already doing remarkable progress.”
“Ya Bloom. You’ll be able to fight just fine in no time. From what I’ve heard you have gotten so good at using your other senses that you’ll soon be able to do everyday stuff even without your sight. Sweetie Belle and I will be right besides you all the way,and of course so will your sister.” Scootaloo said.
Sweetie nodded her head. “So take it a little easier on this training. We don’t want you to hurt yourself even worse. We Cutie Mark Crusaders have to stick together.”
Applebloom nodded in her friends general direction with some tears in her eyes. Vanitas smiled underneath his helmet at the scene. Knowing that those three will be ok.
“CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS FUTURE KEYBLADE MASTERS YAA!!!!”
Now if only he had a spell to fix his hearing. He wonders if he can somehow weaponize that...then thought against it. The Heartless don’t deserve something that cruel. He chuckled to himself a little and left them. Knowing that as long as they stay together they’ll be alright. He looked back one last time to see them heading back to town. Bloom stopped for a sec and turned her blind eyes to him and smiled. She then hurried off after her friends. Vanitas smiled a little and continued onward. He still has to patrol the perimeters. He summoned his keyblade glider and hopped on it before continuing the search. As he does this he can’t help but wonder how John is doing. Hopefully whatever training he is getting is worth all the time it takes him. In the meantime it's up to Vanitas and the others to make sure he has a home when he gets back, and to show that they haven't done nothing the entire time he was gone.
Far away from the Everfree Village scouting for supplies was a group of guards. A pegasus, a unicorn, and an Earth pony. They were each keyblade users to each possessing a Starlight keyblade. Most of the ones to receive keyblades start out with this kind while very few started with others. Starlight was basically a starter keyblade for beginner keybladers. Eventually their keyblade will evolve into their true keyblade with enough training and experience. So for now they had to make do.
These three have been patrolling for a few days now and don’t have much to report besides some destroyed Heartless and Unversed. Just a few Shadows and Flood ones. Nothing they couldn't handle thanks to their training. They spotted a few high lvl Heartless and Unversed, but chose to stay away because they didn’t have a death wish. Any injuries they got was easily fixed with a Cure, some potions, and bandages. They have been careful as to not get seperated or into a fight they couldn’t win.
They also came across some things that most likely Discord created. Bunnies with feet the size of houses and plants growing out of their head, low gliding clouds made of cotton candy raining chocolate milk all the time, and worst was a new forest that was made of dark vines that seemed to radiat evil off of it. They made a note in capital BOLD letters to make a report of where this was and to keep it monitored. They didn’t want any innocents to wonder here by mistake and either get lost or worst. No one ever knows what the Spirit of Chaos itself will do.
After marking down the coordinates they continued.
An hour later they decided to head back when the pegasus spotted something in the distance. “Hey. What's that out there?” The pegasus asked.
The other two look where the other was looking and saw it as well. Curious they decided to check it out first. After a minute they arrived and saw a strange orb floating off the ground. They could sense a strong power behind it. Both light….and darkness. Their instincts were screaming at them to leave the area immediately. They decided to listen to them and try to leave. The pegasus marked down the area and turned to leave when he saw a huge figure in a cloak holding the other two by their throats.
He was about to summon his keyblade to help when the unicorn yelled at him to run before quickly using a teleportation spell to get the pegasus guard out of there. The figure growls in anger that one got away before turning to the two ponies in his hands. With a flick of his head the hood fell off his head showing who is was, and both were suddenly terrified.
Tirek. The Centaur that escaped Tartarus and has been missing since. From the looks of it he has been collecting magic and has got a good bit of his power. He still looks like his old man self but bigger. He gave both guards an angry look.
“Thanks to you two one got away and now they know I’m free. If they didn’t already. So it seems like you deserve some...punishment!” Tirek growled.
He opened his mouth and proceeded to suck our all their magic. They summoned their keyblades to try and fight back but it proved useless. When he drained them of his magic his form grew bigger as well as his horns and muscles. He noticed their keyblades and picked them up...and proceeded to suck out their magic as well. The effect on him was completely different. He quickly grew into his stronger young self and had noticed his power jump massively compared to draining the ponies. He grinned evilly before looking over at the guards.
He didn’t need them anymore, but had recently discovered a way to keep magic from just returning to its old owners if he was defeated. So he then pick up both weakened guards by their necks...and proceeded to snap their necks. Killing both guards. He threw both bodies and the ground and left. Now their magic truly was his even if he was somehow defeated again.
“But it's not enough. Against beings like the Blade i won’t stand a chance. Well. At least there is a lot of good meals here now thanks to him. HAHAHA!!” Tirek boasted at the end. With the Blade gone he was free to some easy magic meals. As long as he avoids the Princesses as well as the head of those keyblade users like the creature similar to the blade and Griffon he has now worry. Not even the Heartless and Unversed are a problem. He has small control over the Heartless thanks to his own dark heart and the Unversed just avoid him. As long as he stays patent and doesn’t get too greedy then nothing will stop him.
Vanitas was looking out the walls of the Village for anything. His patrol for the day was almost over. When it is he’ll get back to training to improve his skills. His ace in the hole still takes a toll on him so he has to master it soon. As he was about to leave he saw something in the distance. Looking again he saw one of the guards from patrol flying back. He was immediately on edge because of two things. 1. Evey patrol is always in groups of three or more. And 2. That pegasus was flying like if it stopped then something was going to kill him.
He waved the guard to him as it flew towards the village. The guard noticed and went to him landing quickly and skidding a bit. The guard to a few to get some air back into his lungs. Van waited before asking his question.
“Guard. Where is the rest of your squad? What happened?”
The guard looked at him and told him everything. From the regular patrol to the huge cloaked figure. Vanitas listened to all of it before answering. “ Go get some rest. You deserve it.”
The guard nodded his head. Still shackened from the encounter. He trotted off to rest at the bareks. Vanitas waited a bit before calling a guard to assemble the others. He just know something big is happening, and that those other two guards are most likely dead. He needs to tell the others what he just learned.
Soon Vanitas and the others in the council were at the war room ready for what he discovered from the guard. Celestia, Luna, Twilight, Cadence, Gilda, and Shining Armor were their as the council. Celestia and Luna has gotten use to their new limbs and have been training with their keyblades when they aren’t keeping the Village intact. Twilight has been managing both her training and her duties in the Archives really well. Her control of her magic is greater than when she had her horn and has learned new spells to help in combat. Cadence and her Husband Shining have doing great in the Crystal Empire. Keeping everything going and helping the refugees from the battle from a month ago. Gilda and Rose have been keeping up in their training as well. Although they have had some problems like tiring out faster than normal and stomach cramps along with weird cravings and vomiting. They both still did their best regardless.
Vanitas told them everything and waited for their response. The three princesses looked worried as well as the others. Shining was hoping his guards were alright, but if the figure was who he thought it was he doubted it.
“The figure. It must be Tirek.” Celestia suggested.
Luna nodded. “It has to be. If the size description was correct than he is regaining his power faster than we thought. He is growing stronger.”
Shining Armor let out a shaky breath. “ I’ll send out an order to call all patrols in. They don’t stand a chance against Tirek. Better to call them back now before they rind up prey for him.”
Vanitas nodded at that. The guards were basically canon fodder to Tirek as well as a power source. Besides when the real fight with him happens they need the guard to keep the citizens safe and away from the fight.
Twilight got a thoughtful look on her face. “I’ll look through the Archives to see if i can find something that might help. If Tirek is as dangerous as the Princess say then we’ll need all the help we can get. Especially since we don’t have the Elements of Harmony anymore.”
Cadence looked at her sister-in-law. “I’ll help you search for now. Me and Shining still need to head back to the Empire to defend it from Tirek incase he decides to attack there first.”
Gilda looked at the other and hid a smile on her beak. John would be proud to see this. She got up to find Rose so they can practice more when she got another cramp. The other noticed and suggested she see nurse Redheart. She decided to go because something was really getting in the way of her training time. As she headed there Roseluck was on the way to the same place as well. Both needed to get to the bottom of this.
Both Gilda and Roseluck waited on Redheart to get back with the results. She asked question of what they have been experiencing lately as well as did a few scans with a spell or two with another nurse who was a Unicorn. Gilda was a little nervous and was confused and what was wrong with her. Rose on the other hoove had a feeling she knows whats wrong. Because she went through this before.
Red Heart suddenly trots through the door with a clipboard in hoove with a smile on her face. “Ms. Gilda and Ms. Roseluck. I have some good new.”
Gilda raised an eyebrow. “What is it?”
“First off you don’t have to worry. None of you are sick or anything, but i should say congratulations!” Redheart said with a bigger smile.
Gilda tilted her head a little while Rose’s eyes widened a bit with a small tear in one eye as her suspicions have been confirmed. Gilda was about to ask what she meant when she told them and made her eyes widen in shock.
“Your both pregnant.” She said. And Gilda saw darkness soon after. Later when she wakes up both Redheart and Rose had to stop her from hitting herself for fainting like a, as she would put it, a wuss.