//------------------------------// // Ch. 16-Awakening pt.1 // Story: Equestria Girls-Manehattan University // by Burning_Heart //------------------------------// Everything is slowly starting to come together. With The Shadow Man slowly building his army, Sunset was able to get her new friends from college to help fight alongside the Crystal Guardians. She was even able to teach a new spell they can use to give them magic powers as well. But one small problem has occurred, with Burning Heart being the first one to receive a magical talisman, his doesn't know how to activate it. So until they can figure out how the talismans work, Sunset has told everyone to remain on standby until they find the answer. So the boys leave the Tempest Shadow house and head to their place. "Hey don't worry about it, Burning. I'm sure you can figure it out somehow," said Brownie. But Burning didn't hear him, for he was focusing on the ring his has in the palm of his hand. "Well, this sucks. We all want to help but still can't," said Flash. "All we can do is wait patiently, Mr. Sentry," said Ginger. "Well until that happens, I'll be focusing on my running," said Star. Soon, the boys have reached their boarding house, Panthera. They open the door and head inside, being met by the person in charge of their house, Capper. "How's it going my amigos, staying out late with your lady friends again I'm guessing," said Capper. "Yes, we were, Capper. I hope you don't mind," said Flash. "Hey don't worry about it boys. As long you all don't neglect your school work, it's all good," said Capper. But he notices that Burning is staring at a ring in his hand. "What's wrong with Burning, he's really spacing out." "O-oh he's just deep in thought. It's no big deal really," said Brownie. Capper looks concerned but then he just shrugs it off, "Well if you say so. I'm going to bed now so night boys." Capper goes up the stairs to head to his room and walks past Timber and Stygian as they head downstairs. "So you all finally made it back huh," asked Timber. "Were you all able to find out anything about fighting this Shadow Man," said Stygian. "Sorry, but we still haven't gotten there just yet," said Ginger. "Really, well if anything new happens, be sure to let us know," said Stygian. "Come on Styx, let's get back to studying. There still some stuff I don't understand," said Timber. Stygian nods in agreement and head back upstairs. "Welp, I think I'll go to bed. Need to wake up early tomorrow for some more training," said Star. "He's right, all that food has made me sleepy," said Brownie. So Star, Brownie, and Ginger decide to go to bed, leaving Burning and Allegretto by the doorway. Allegretto tries to get Burning's attention by tapping his head with one of his notebooks. It works. Burning looks over at Allegretto, "What's up, Al." Allegretto start to write something down and he shows it to Burning. "Come on, you can try to get it to work tomorrow." "Ya, your right, Al," said Burning. So the two head upstairs to their rooms. ____________________ The next day, Burning wasn't able to concentrate in any of his classes cause he was too focused on his new magical ring. After his last class ended, he goes to sit down on a nearby bench to think to himself. "What can I do to activate this ring." After think for a few minutes, someone sneaks behind him and gives him a light chop on his head taking him by surprise. He turns around to see who it is and he sees Sunset. "Hows it going, Burnie." "Haha, dang Sunny, nearly gave me a heart attack there," said Burning. "Sorry about that, just wanted to see if you wanted to go somewhere," said Sunset. "Of course. I always have time for you," said Burning. So Burning gets up and follows Sunset's lead, not knowing where she is taking him. They get onto a bus and head into the city and after traveling for a few minutes, the bus came to a stop and the couple step off and are in front of the mall. "You wanted to come to the mall, want to do some shopping," said Burning. "No, there's this store I want to show you. You're going to love it," said Sunset. "Alright then, let's go," said Burning. They enter the mall and are passing multiple stores until they reach their destination, a bookstore. They head inside and become surrounded by hundreds upon hundreds of books. "Follow me," said Sunset. Sunset leads Burning into a section of the store and enter a section with nothing but manga and light novels. Burning's eyes widen and they have a sparkle as to see so many of his favorite reading material. "Wow, there's so many titles here I've never seen before. Here the newest volume of Dragon Sphere Super, My Hero School, and Food Battle." Sunset looks on as Burning is acting like a kid in a candy store. After a few minutes have passed, Burning walks out of the store with a smile on face, buying around twenty books, "You sure did buy a lot there, Burnie," said Sunset. "It's fine. I still have enough money to last me for a while," said Burning. "Well if you say so. Want to head to the food court, I'm getting pretty hunger," said Sunset. "Sure, I could eat," said Burning. The two head on over to the food court with them each carrying a bag full of books. After arriving at the food court, they both go to order their food and they meet at a nearby table. Burning ordering a burrito with nachos and Sunset ordering a Japanese bento box. "Sunny, I didn't know you liked Japanese food," said Burning. "Well back in High School, I had a job at a Japanese restaurant at the mall. One day I decided to try something and I really liked it," said Sunset. The two start to eat and enjoy there food and Sunset sees a smile on Burning's face, she feels really happy. "Well, you seem to be feeling better there Burnie," said Sunset. "Huh? What do mean," asked Burning? "Well, last night you seemed kind of down that the spell didn't work. So I just thought that I would try to cheer you up," said Sunset. "Thanks, Sunny. Look, you did your part so now it's up to me to do mine. I will make the magic you gave me work," said Burning. The two look into each other's eyes, each thinking about how much they care for one another. But Burning saw that Sunset's eyes started to get wider and could see a look of terror on her face. He turns around to see what Sunset is seeing and it's a swirling shadow rising with someone stepping out of the shadow. "Well, well, well. Looks like that wound I gave you healed up quite nicely. I figured you'd be dead." Burning and Sunset jump out of their seat and away from the Shadow Man while at the same time, the people in the food court begin to freak out because of the person appearing out of the shadows and start running out of the mall. "What do want, Shadow Man," yelled Sunset. "Why to make my debut of course," said The Shadow Man. He then flies up in the air and using his magic, he blocks the exits with solid shadows. "Good people of Manehattan, allow me to introduce myself. I am the Shadow Man." While he is talking, people start to pull out their cellphones and start to record him. "My goal is to cover this world in darkness with an army of my own creation. Allow me to show you all a demo of my power." The Shadow Man then opens a portal from Equestria and from the portal comes a Cyclopes and a Chimera. "Go and play." The Cyclopes and Chimera chase after the people and everyone runs away from them. Sunset pulls Burning over to try and not be noticed and they hide out of sight. "Burnie, I'm going out there. If you can, try to get a hold of Twilight and the others." "Are you crazy, Sunny. You can't take on those things all by yourself." "Well, we don't have a choice right now. I'm the only one with magic to fight them right now. So do this for..." "I told you already, I'm helping and that's that." Burning runs off and grabs a chair in the food court. "HEY ONE EYE, OVER HERE!" The cyclopes look over at Burning's direction and Burning throws the chair at the cyclopes and it hits it in the eye, making the cyclopes fall to the ground in pain. "YA, take that ugly!" Suddenly, the chimera comes from behind Burning and swipes at him, sending him flying. He hits the ground and Sunset runs over where Burning landed, "Burning! Please, tell me your okay." Burning tried to stand up but is having trouble doing so. "Don't worry, Sunny this is..." he falls over, but Sunset catches him in time, "is nothing." Burning raises himself back up ready to go round two, but Sunset steps in front of him. She places her hand over her geode and transforms into a Crystal Guardian. The chimera leaps towards the two. Sunset push Burning to the side while she jumps the opposite direction, making the chimera miss both of them. The chimera starts to sniff around and its attention is focused on Sunset. "You smell like a pony," said the tiger head. "Really, that thing doesn't look like a pony," said the goat head. "Who caresssss, let'sssss eat it anyway," said the snake tail. Without further hesitation, the chimera leaps at and starts attacking Sunset. With her telepathy, Sunset is able to read the chimere's mind to dodge every attack that it throws at her. The chimera starts to get tired while not landing a single hit. "Shoot, I can't keep defending like this. I need to be on the offense," thought Sunset. The Chimera stops to catch its breath after so many failed attacks. "Good, it's slowed down. Now's my chance!" Sunset runs at the beast, grabbing two chairs along the way. The Chimera sees Sunset running towards them, it tries to bit down on Sunset. But with its tiger mouth wide open, Sunset shoves one of the chairs in it mouth causing it to get stuck. She then runs behind the beast and the snake tail lunges at her, but Sunset hits it with the other chair as hard as she could, knocking the snake out breaking the chair. She then jumps on the beast's back then jumps off the goat's head to left herself into the air. As she begins to fall, she focuses all her weight on a single target, the tiger's head. She lands on the tiger's head, cause it to force it's mouth shut, crushing the chair and leaving the tiger head in pain. Burning looks on at Sunset who was able to best the chimera with amazement. He gets up a walks over to Sunset, "That was great, Sunny." "Thanks, but it's not over yet. Not until we can find a way to send both of them back." "Ya, you're right. We need to..." but Burning look behind Sunset and sees the Cyclopes from before rising up. It looks over at the two of them and glairs. "What's wrong," said Sunset. She turns to see the cyclopes, as picks up a nearby booth and throws it at them. "LOOK OUT," yelled Burning. He grabs Sunset and leaps out of the way of the oncoming booth, barely dodging it with the booth crashing nearby. Burning start to get up and looks down at Sunset, who is under him as he tried to protect her, "Sunny, You okay?" His eyes widen as his look at Sunset as she looks to be in pain as she clutches her arm, with blood coming from her arm. He moves her hand to look at the injury and it looks like a piece a debris from the booth flew and hit Sunset in the arm. "Don't worry about it Burnie," said a wounded Sunset. But Burning didn't say anything. Instead, he rips his shirt off and tears it into strands and warps it around Sunset's wound. She looks up at him and sees a scar from when the Shadow Man impaled him not so long ago. "Sunny, let me take care of this." He stands up and faces the cyclopes and the chimera, who is standing back up. "Burnie, are you crazy. You don't have any kind of magic so you can't-" "SUNSET!" She stops talking, surprised that Burning yelled at her. He reaches into his pocket and pulls out the ring. "You hurt eye, I hurt you," said the cyclopes. "Then we can finally eat," said the chimera. The cyclopes and chimera rush at Sunset and Burning. "This time, I'm going to protect you," said Burning. The two beast lunge forward and Burning puts the ring on. Suddenly, a white and black light comes from Burning pushing the cyclopes and chimera are pushed back. ____________________ Burning finds himself in a void, not knowing where he's at. He looks around not able to see anything. "Hello, can anyone hear me." Nothing, the only thing that he can hear is the echo of his own voice. "Am I dead." "No, you're not dead." A voice speaks inside Burning's head, confusing him. "Who's there, where are you!" "Oh shut up, there's no reason to yell. We're right behind you." This time, a different voice speaks to him. Listening to what the voice said, he turns around and sees what looks like a golden lion and a silver wolf. "What the, what are you two." "We are the magic spirits that dwell inside of you," said the golden lion. "Okay, but what is this place?" "What are you dumb. Are you sure that's whats important right now," said the silver wolf. "What do you...On no, Sunny! I need to save her," yelled Burning. "Yes and to do so, you need our help," said the silver wolf. "What do you mean," asked Burning. "We are the magic that was granted to you recently. With our help, you will have the power to protect those you hold dear, Master Burning," said the golden lion. "So hurry up and call our names already," said the silver wolf. "But I don't know your names," said Burning. "Of course you do, just look inside yourself. You'll find the answer," said the golden lion. Burning closes his eyes and takes a deep breath to think, trying to find the answer. After a few moments, his eyes open and speaks. ____________________ The light that came from Burning starts to die down and fades away. The Shadow Man, who is flying up in the air, looks down at the fading light, "Well now, what do we have here?" Sunset looks over at where Burning is standing, with her eyes adjusting after the bright light, "Burnie, are you alright." With the light finally gone, she looks over and sees Burning and is shocked at what she sees. It's Burning, but he is wearing gold and silver armor look clothes and standing next to him is a golden lion and silver wolf. "Don't worry, Sunny we've got this. Let's go, Gilgamesh! Enkidu!" "Yes Master," said Gilgamesh (golden lion). "You got it," said Enkidu (silver wolf).