The Halcyon Days

by Ivo

Episode 6 - Destiny and Violence

It was a sunny Saturday afternoon.

Golden rays emanated from Celestia´s shining orb and enlightened the streets of Canterlot. Ponies busily walked around, getting to or coming from work or buying little presents for their sweethearts for nearing Hearts and Hooves Day. Or they relaxed at the Canterlot City Park. Little fillies and colts laughed and played at the big playground in its middle, their voices of joy sounding throughout the park.

But there was one single spot, one single clearing near the park´s other side where the voices didn´t reach. Only a small lake lay there silently. Birds sang their song in the trees and set everypony at ease that could hear this melody. The grass was rustling in the slight breeze that stroke through his mane and coat, tickling him. His eyes were shut. Trying to concentrate at every single sound and scent, he stood there on his hind legs and waited.

And then, suddenly, the peaceful freeze got some motion.
Rapidly, his horn began to glow and two short thick wooden branches levitated from the ground into his hooves. Within the next second he turned around and swept the limb that was shot at him aside with the branch in his right hoof. As soon as this danger was averted, he turned to the side, avoiding a second limb which missed him very close to his tummy. He jumped over the third limb, rolled when he landed on the meadow, avoiding a fourth limb, missing him close above his head, rose to his hooves in one motion and loosened a magical pulse right ahead and blocked another two limbs this way.
The motions repeated in various combinations and at a fast rate. Not one of the limbs hit him. Graceful and like in one flowing motion he avoided each one of them with his magic, his improvised weapons or his elegance.

With one final try to hit him his assailants threw eight branches at once at him, each from another angle. He smirked and concentrated, fixating on the limbs. He canalized the energies and the magic of his red-pulsing aura through the weapons in his hand. And with one final motion, he stretched his weapons to the side, loosening the energies inside the two branches to create a big three-hundred-sixty degrees magical shield around him. But instead of ricocheting from the shield, the branches entered it and slowed down, coming to a rest right in front of him. He let the shield go, turned around, collected the branches with his magic, levitating them in front of him, and with a strong pulse of his magic he shot them all straight ahead into the lake, spearing eight separate water lilies with them.

Satisfied with his performance, he took up a more relaxed stance.

“Simply awesome!” a voice behind him cheered.
“That was way more than awesome! That was super-awesome!” a second meant.
Bleach smiled and turned around to his friends, sitting down on the meadow. “Do you really think so?” he asked them.
They nodded vigorously. “Absolutely!” Silverleaf meant.
“You are in peak form! Hundred percent fit!” Twilight added. “With that, you are ready for your entry exam!”
The young Auraknight beamed about the encouragement. “Yeah! Just wait for it! Tomorrow, I will be a real Auraknight! Very official!” the white colt meant determined.

“I´m still curious who would be the one you have to fight against.” Twilight puzzled while the trio began to trot back to the playground.
“Oh, I forgot to tell: My father told me the name of the colt I have to fight against this morning. The Captain of the Royal Guard told him yesterday.” he frowned. “He should be one of the best young recruits in history…”
Twilight nuzzled him encouraging. “You will do it, there I´m sure! And by the way: It´s not important if you win or lose, it´s important that you earn your cutie mark during this fight, or am I wrong there?”
“No, but…I wouldn´t feel worthy to be an Auraknight if I lose this battle. After all, I´m going to be a personal lifeguard of Celestia herself! A lost battle there maybe means the loss of her life! She should be able to have confidence in me! And who trusts a lifeguard who can´t defeat one single recruit of the Royal Guard?”
“You are worrying way too much again! I know Celestia. She won´t lose the trust in you if you lose only one single battle. Otherwise, she would have given up me ages ago! My spells also don´t work the first time. It´s annoying, but you have to try it again and again. And one day, you´ll be better than every other pony at it!” She narrowed her eyes. “Except you have a Bleach Auraknight as your eternal rival who can handle magic as well as yourself because of his natural gift…”
He giggled. “I´m sorry…”
Twilight shook her head. “Nah, nothing to be sorry for. One day, I am the better of us at magic, you will see…”

They continued their walk through the park, Silverleaf occasionally stopping and picking up some daisies, twining them humming to a small chaplet and letting her two friends chat.
“And? Who is your opponent?” the purple filly asked after a while. “I know some of the recruits´ names.”
Bleach cooked an eyebrow. “Really? How do you know them?”
“My big brother is a recruit of the Royal Guard, too. He often talks about them when he´s at home.”
“Ou, it must be great to have a big brother! I wish I had one, too.”
“Yep, it is great!” she beamed. “But now: Who is it? Is it Steel Hoof?”
Bleach shook his head.
“Or Blade Wing?”
“Nope.”
“Wait, wait, don´t tell me, I have one last try…Is it Thunderstorm?”
“Still wrong.”
She moaned annoyed and disappointed. “Okay…who is it?”

The answer, however, was as simple as fateful.

“His name is ‘Shining Armor’…”

A few hours later, it was early evening now, a door smashed very vociferous against the wall.

Frantically, a young and surprised couple parted their lips and their gazes wandered to the opened door and the one standing in its threshold. Curiousness and annoyance because of the sudden interruption of their romantic kissing flooded the world of the couple´s feelings.

The two eyes from the threshold fixated on the colt of the couple.
“HOW - Oh, hello Cadence!” the filly greeted her former foalsitter, interrupting herself in her fury to wave at her smiling, and instantly focused back at the stallion after the pink mare waved back at her with an awkward smile and chuckle. “HOW DARE YOU!”

“Twily!” Shining Armor greeted his furious little sister and chuckled uncertain. “E-he…uhm…didn´t our parents told you to knock before setting hoof in the rooms of big ponies?”
Twilight, however, didn´t care very much about the privacy-topic at the moment and came closer, still starring menacingly at her big brother.
“Don´t try to distract me!” she shouted at him. “How dare you! And I thought you would be my BBBFF!”
“BBBFF?” Cadence cooked an eyebrow with an asking look at the young stallion next to her.
“Big Brother Best Friend Forever.” Shining explained.
“Oooooooh…”

“Withdraw the ‘Best Friend’!” Twilight shouted, still coming closer and forcing her big brother to retreat, until he felt the wall behind him. “How DARE you!” the filly repeated.
“What da-haaaaare-uff” Twilight didn´t let him finish. Ignoring the effort and concentration the spell usually would cost at a weight like this, she levitated her brother in the air and forced him to ground on his back, jumped on his tummy, making him gasp when she landed, and stared direct into his blue eyes.
One more time, she repeated forceful: “How! Dare! You!”

Shining Armor, confused and, granted, slightly intimidated by his sister´s stare, he could only ask: “What dare I?”
“Don´t come the innocent with me! You know exactly what I´m talking about!” the purple filly meant.
The white stallion beneath the filly´s hooves puzzled, but couldn´t find a reason why his sister would act like that. So he questioned: “Aaaaaand…that would be…?”
“Don´t try to play the ignoramus!”
“But I really don´t…”
“Don´t lie at me, you liar!”

Cadence, watching the scene with curiousness and slight amusement, could only giggle low at the sight. The strong and firm colt she loved and who was, in addition, an outstanding recruit of the Royal Guard overpowered by his little sister was a priceless sight!
But finally, she tried to help her love; realizing that the young filly wouldn´t tell them what angered her that much.
“Twilight, calm down. Please. Come here…” she said in a soothing tone and opened her hooves for an embrace.
The little filly, broken in her rage, looked a little bit irritated at her former foalsitter. In the end, she decided to accept the pink mare´s offer and hugged her, still staring at her brother with a murderous look.
“Good. And now: Tell me what your big bad brother has done to upset you that much.” she pleaded the young filly in her arms, striking comforting through her mane.

Twilight pointed reproachful at her brother, who was rising back to his hooves at the moment. “That colt wants to fight against one of my best friends!” she snitched.
Cadence cooked doubtful an eyebrow and looked at her love. “Really? I can´t believe your brother would do such a horrible thing! He´s such a nice colt, there has to be a misunderstanding.”
“Yeah, I never would bandy with your friends!” Shining meant unswervingly.
“Oh, really? But there is no misunderstanding! You fight against my best friend! Tomorrow afternoon! In front of Celestia and the high generals of the Royal Guard!” the filly shouted.
Cadence´s eyes widened with surprise and realization. “Wait…you mean…the ceremony to prove the young Auraknight?”

“I remember, too.” Shining now meant and trotted next to them, looking at his sister with an excusing look. “Captain Stormcloud meant it would be a great honor to test the young Auraknight. I didn´t know that he´s your friend. If I had known, I wouldn´t have accepted.”
“I always told you!” Twilight asserted.
“You told me about a colt called ‘Bleach’ who is sitting next to you at school and moves like a gracious dancer. But you never told me that he is an Auraknight-to-be. Neither told me anypony the name of the pony I´m going to fight against.” he defended himself.
“So…are you going to declare off from the battle?” the filly asked hopeful.
Shining only sighed. “I´m sorry, but I can´t. Captain Stormcloud would sentence me to shell potatoes forevermore!”
“But…”
“Look, Twilight…” Cadence interposed “…I will be there, too. I will watch and ensure that your brother won´t harm your friend in any way, okay?”
“Okay…But…Can´t I come with you and watch, too?” she asked.
“I´m sorry, but nopony except the Auraknight´s family, the princesses and the generals of the Royal Guard are allowed to watch. I´m really truly sorry…” Cadence meant.

Disappointed, Twilight looked to the ground. “Okay…” she sighed.
“Are you still bad with me?” her brother asked careful.
She shook her head and released herself from her foalsitter´s embrace. “No…”
“Don´t think too much about it. You´ll see, tomorrow after the battle, everything will be okay. Okay?”
“Okay…” Twilight sighed again and trotted towards the door.

At the threshold, she turned around one last time, defiance in her eyes.
“But I will still tell Bleach to kick up your backside!”

“That´s it! I found it! This is just perfect…I told you I just have to research a few annuals!”
”Are you serious?” a female voice whispered in his head.
“But of course!” he answered and levitated the item of their attention out of the book and on a nearby desk. “It´s may a little bit old, but this should do it.”
”A LITTLE BIT old? He´s nearly a foal on this picture!”

Shadow Star moaned and rolled his eyes.
It was nearly midnight and he was at the school´s library. He had snuck away from his room after his parents had gone to bed. The book, source and prison of the six souls inside, lay on a table next to the young soul-poisoned unicorn.
“It isn´t important either how old the picture is! For the spell, it´s just important that it is him! I could use a photo of him with a filled diaper and it would work!” the black colt explained to the mare in his head - the same mare he had seen first of them all and that had nudged the stone to cause the avalanche which had locked his true being behind the shadows of a dark veil of cravings and needs.

And these cravings consisted only of one thing, one destination:
Eliminating Bleach and winning Twilight´s heart!
But to fulfill this craving, he needed the dark souls of the book! And they happily obliged to help him. They imposed just one condition, the thing they craved most out of everything in the world - a body.

“And you really demand one of us to take over this body?” the mare complained.
“Why not? He´s perfect! Young, strong and athletic!” Shadow argued.
”But he is soooo unattractive!” she meant stubborn
The colt cooked an eyebrow. “He seems to be handsome enough to be loved by the young princess.”
”Ugh! Princesses must have VERY low standards these days!”
“Anyway, did I say it is you I have in mind for this body?”

As soon as he mentioned it, five other voices sounded in his head, asking who should be the one to take over the colt on the photo.
He hushed them angrily. The thought to soon have one of the voices out of his head was one thing Shadow was looking forward to with glee! Taking a deep breath, he collected his thoughts.
“Viola, you are the one I have in mind for him!” the colt then proclaimed.
A loud female shout of joy sounded throughout his being.
"Hooray! A perfect choice, master! In contrast to my thankless sister, I think this shape will fit me perfect! Okay, it´s a colt after all, but this shape surely can wreak some pain and chaos and destruction if you use it right!" the mare cheered in his head.

“Yeah…there´s just one request I have.” he restrained her delight.
”No problem.” Viola answered instantly. ”You are making me a great gift after all. What is it?”
Now, a sinister grin spread on the black colt´s lips.
“I researched a little bit. Tomorrow, there is an important ceremony for Bleach. And as chance would have it he and the colt you are taking over have to fight against each other at this ceremony…”

He could feel her grinning sinister, too.
”I will exterminate his being from history, master…”

That was all he needed to hear before he began to work his spell…

Shadow Star´s spell was rather easy to understand.

First off: It worked only if the target was asleep and dreaming, that was why he was still awake.
Second: With his magic, he transferred the mare´s soul to its destination: The dreams of the target, in this case Shining Armor, the elder brother of his loved filly.
Third: The photo was needed to lead the soul its way. She needed a picture of its target, otherwise she wouldn´t find the colt´s dreams. And it served as some kind of buffer. It pretended to transfer all her powers into the target´s body at once, which may were able to destroy it otherwise. As long as the transmission wasn´t complete, the soul was connected to the photo. Only if every last drop of energy arrived at the target´s body, she would control it complete and ultimate.
Fourth: Before everything, the mare has to wrestle the opposite soul down in its dreams, but Shadow didn´t doubt about her victory…

Like an assassin Viola, a livid-coated alicorn-mare with a blazing red wild mane and tail, her eyes incandescing devilish in the same color, entered Shining Armor´s dreams, unseen and unrecognized, focusing on her target.

The colt´s dream consisted of a small clearing, birds singing from everywhere and a golden sun was shining down on it. He was sitting on a red-white-checkered picnic rug, a small basket with food standing on it. Everything was hazy and blurred.
The only perfectly detailed thing was the one pony sitting on the rug next to the dreamer - a pink mare with a three-colored white, pink and purple mane and tail, two sky-blue bows tied up in them.
Embracing each other tenderly, they just sat there and stared lovingly into each other’s eyes.

Slowly, their heads came closer, nuzzling their partner softly and smiling wide with reddened cheeks.
“I love you, Cadence…” the white colt breathed before softly locking his lips with hers. “…more than anything…” he added after the kiss broke.

The dark mare, watching the dreamer from her stash behind some of the dream-trees, felt like vomiting. That was way too much love for an alicorn that knew only three things: Chaos, pain and destruction!
She smirked and her horn began to glow in a dark light shortly after the dream-Cadence whispered an ‘I love you too…’ and sank her head against her lover´s chest. Time to take over…

The eyes of the imagined Cadence shone in the same dark light for a short moment, unnoticed by the lovelorn colt, and Viola began to use the phantasm like a ventriloquist´s dummy, speaking each of her words through the dream-Cadence and leading her movements.
The phantasm leaned closer to Shining´s soul and kissed his cheek, whispering into his ear.
“…but there is one thing you have to do, before we truly can be with one another…”
“Anything for you, my love…” he whispered back.
Viola smirked.
The false Cadence brought their heads together and locked her eyes with the soul.
“The battle tomorrow. Against the young Auraknight…” her look became serious, her voice reedy, catching the soul´s full attention. “Don´t! Lose! It!”

He frowned and leaned back, still looking into her purple orbs. “What do you mean?” he asked.
Viola´s puppet moaned and rolled her eyes, parting from the embrace and looking the stallion over. “Look, I am a princess.” the puppet told him. “And as a princess I cannot risk to be together with a weakling who can´t stand and win a battle against a silly little foal!”
“Cadence?” the colt frowned even more and narrowed his eyes. “Is that really you? Since when are you so…”
“What?” she snapped. “Is it too much for you to do me this little favor?”
“No, but…it isn´t important who-“
“It isn´t important?” she laughed joyless. “It isn´t important who wins the battle! It isn´t important if I am with a colt who´s pushed around by little babies! It isn´t important if whole Equestria will laugh at us!”
Shining snorted. “Aren´t you a little bit overreacting?”
“Let me tell you one thing…” The phantasm came closer and leaned over to his ear, whispering: “…if you lose the battle tomorrow, our relationship will be official over!” She leaned back and caught his shocked wide-opened eyes. “You got that?”
“Y-y-yeah, but…” he stammered.
“Good!”
And with that, the pink mare turned around, whipped her tail near his face and walked away.

“W-wait! You can´t…”
But she already had vanished and Shining Armor´s soul was left alone. He sighed. The romantic clearing around him vanished and nothing but black emptiness remained. Her words were clear. He had to win the battle or he would lose what he loved. But Bleach as him was told was a fit young fighter with both, a passionate fighting style and clinical analytic skills. A tough nut to crack…
“You have a knack for mares…” Viola meant ironically behind him.

The colt jolted and turned around, facing the livid mare hovering in the air in front of him, her wings beating in a slow steady rhythm.
“Who are you?” he asked surprised and confused.
“You can call me Viola.” she introduced herself and a smirk spread on her lips. “And your salvation…”
Shining frowned. “My salvation?”
“Uh-huh.” her smirk grew wider and crossed her forelegs. “I can´t stand here and watch how your beautiful loved mare would trash you like this! I can help you! I will lead you to victory! Together, we´ll defeat that Bleach!” Viola´s eyes sparkled when she imagined the mess she was going to wreak and she stretched her hoof for him to accept.
“But…isn´t that cheating?” he meant.
Viola moaned and retracted her hoof. “Oh, come on! What´s more important to you? Winning your love´s heart or fair play?”
“Well…”
“It would be way easier anyway if you wouldn´t be such a softy!” she teased him. “If you would be just a little bit more aggressive! Let the fire inside yourself burn! Let it sear your enemies! Be wild! Beat that colt until he lies in front of you unconscious!”

Viola´s radical words intruded his mind, flooded it like a storm surge. Was she right? Was he too soft? Had he to be more aggressive? More wild?
“Well?” the alicorn asked eager and expectantly.
Shining came to a point.
“Well…I guess you maybe are ri-”

She didn´t let him finish. Her gaze turned wild from one second to the next.
“That suffices!” she shouted feral and pounced at the stallion like a tiger at his prey.

Shining´s soul only managed one last loud cry, until it was rolled over by pure and unbridled violence…

Sunday.

Three hours were left until he would have found his destiny in life - or not.
Twilight had told him that Shining Armor - her brother - was one of the best defenders in the world. And that he was one of the most promising stallions to become a Royal Guard´s Captain one day.
But the thing that damaged his self-trust most was the fact of him being Twilight´s brother, the brother of the filly with the greatest magical stock in all Equestria!

“You are nervous, aren´t you?” somepony analyzed and Bleach snapped out of his deep thoughts, returning to reality and becoming aware of his surroundings.
They were at the park´s playground, laughing little foals playing everywhere around them. He was the only one who didn´t smile.

Twilight looked down at the white colt from the monkey bars. How she wished she could take all his worries away.
“Where do you know?” he asked her and got a wry smile in response.
“You are sitting at that swing since half an hour now and didn´t start swinging yet.”
“Oh!...He, guess you´re right…”

The filly climbed down the bars and trotted next to the colt with an encouraging smile.
“Hey…”
The young Auraknight-to-be looked at her with worried ocean-blue eyes.
“You worry too much…”
He answered with a soft smile.
“You maybe are right…” he looked to the ground and the smile vanished. “…but this isn´t only about me, you know? My father invested so much time in training me, I just don´t want to shame him. He would never show, but I know he would be disappointed if I won´t pass the test and follow in his hoofsteps…And, in addition, your brother doesn´t seem to be the easiest opponent I could have…”

She scrutinized the white colt in front of her.
He was right, Shining Armor wasn´t easy to defeat. Twilight frowned, thinking at him. He acted very curious this morning. He even had shouted at their mommy and denied every kiss and hug from her. Her daddy had explained her, that he may was going through a difficult phase called ‘puberty’. Not knowing what that should be she had taken an inner note to research some books about that word.
Anyhow, she guessed it were only nerves. Shining was also just as nervous as Bleach. The tension inside him could have caused his strange acting. He seemed testier and - what worried her most - more violent.

“I wish Silverleaf and I could be there to support you…” Twilight sighed in the end.
“Where is she anyway?” Bleach frowned. “I thought we wanted to meet here one last time until I have to go.”
“I don´t know…I hope nothing happened to her. She´s now past-due exactly twenty-three minutes and fifty-seven seconds…”
The colt cooked an eyebrow. “You even count the seconds?”
“Yep!” she beamed. “You know I hate being tardy. For me, every second counts!”

“Well…” he jumped from the swing and looked at her. “…if I don´t want to be late, I have to go now. My father is waiting. I want to warm-up with him before things get started.”
Twilight nodded wise. “Okay. I wish you the best of luck! And take care.”
He smiled and nodded in response. “I will. Thank you.”
Bleach steadied himself one last time until he turned around and wanted to leave.

Twilight bit her lower lip. Did she encourage him enough? Did she destroy some of his worries? Oh how she wished she could be there and watch him! He needed encouragement from his friends so desperately!
Suddenly, she came to a point.
“Bleach, wait!” she called and stopped him in his tracks. With an asking look, he turned his head towards her.
“What is it?”
“Well…” she stepped in front of him. “…I just wanted to say you, that even if Silverleaf and I can´t be there, we´ll though always be at your side!”
He smiled. “Thank you. That means very much to me.”
“Oh, and one last thing…” Twilight meant. “Close your eyes!”

With a curious ‘Okay…’ he did so.
The filly´s gaze darted left, then right and behind her. No silver coat, no green mane - Silverleaf was still absent. Good!
And then, she turned back to the colt in front of her, leaned over to him and fluttered a kiss on his cheek, whispering ‘Good luck!’ in his ears.

The brief contact of her lips sent a strange tingling through his body, he couldn´t identify. It just felt…warm. And secure. Completely different from Silverleaf´s peck a few months ago.
Surprised and confused he opened his eyes, looking at the filly with more curiousness than before. Bleach smiled soft, noticing her blushing and doing so as well.
“Thank you…” he said whole-hearted.
Twilight just managed to smile and looked into his deep dark ocean-orbs.
“Kick up his backside!” she breathed to him.

He nodded beaming, turned around and finally left, feeling on top of the world…

A few meters behind the left Twilight, a pony had arrived almost in time to watch the whole scene, unseen and covered by the other playing foals on the monkey bars.
So you have no feelings for him, huh? the silver filly with the green mane and tail asked for herself wide grinning. Don´t worry, your secret is safe by me.
She smirked even more.

But that doesn´t mean that I´ll stop playing your very own and never-resting Cupid…

Twilight swung absently, her thoughts roaming, primary to the colt she had kissed only moments ago.
She blushed and smiled at the thought.

She hadn´t done it on purpose, but something had told her that this was the right thing. And it felt good! Amazingly good! There was always a small tingling inside her stomach when she saw him, talked to him or simply thought at him. But when she had kissed him, the feeling had intensified a hundred times. Like a swarm of thousands of butterflies! And yes, she remembered the idiom of ‘having butterflies in the stomach’.
But…why her? And why him? Why she had these feelings for him?
Of course, he was her friend and he always cared for her, but he always cared for Silverleaf as well! Thus, shouldn´t she have the same feelings for him? But she didn´t seem to like him as much as she did.
Was it simply because he was the most handsome colt in the world? Why did she think that about him anyway? Why was she so fascinated by his shining white coat, his straight black mane and these incredibly sweet dark blue ocean-eyes?
Was it because blue was her favorite color?
Why, why, why did she like him that much? Why she just wanted to watch him every single second possible? Her feelings were absurd! Illogical! Irrational! There was no scientific explanation for her feelings, so why…

“Phew, and I thought the park would be on fire!” somepony next to her sighed suddenly relieved.
Twilight startled and fell from her swing, landing in the soft sand beneath.
“But it was only you, thinking…very hard considering the amount of smoke steaming out of your ears.” the pony commented bold whilst the purple filly rose back to her hooves, spitting the sand out of her mouth.
“SILVERLEAF! Do you always creep up on ponies like that?” Twilight asked the silver filly in front of her annoyed.

She stuck for the answer and looked left and right.
“Is Bleach already gone?” she questioned.
“Yes! You missed him! Why are you that late anyway! We wanted to meet thirty-five minutes and sixteen seconds ago!” the princess´ student scolded.
Silverleaf frowned. “You even count the seconds?”
“UUUUGH! Yes, I do! Because for me, every second counts!”
The filly only giggled. “Relax, Twi! I think you encouraged him more than I could ever do.”
Twilight furrowed her brow. “How should you know?”
Her friend pointed at her golden eyes with a cloak-and-dagger-look. “Clairvoyance!” She smirked and leaned over to her ears, adding whispering: “His cheek tasted good, didn´t it? You at least seemed to like it…”

Twilight pulled away and looked at her shocked. “You…you wa-“
“Anyway…” Silverleaf cut in, still smirking. “…I think I found a way to let you watch and encourage our Bleachie during his test!”
“Really?” she asked doubtful. “But there will be Guards on every entrance! How should I sneak past them unrecognized?”
Silverleaf´s answer was her unbroken smirk. “Oh, trust me, we´ll only need you, a rose…”

She lit her horn and levitated a small vial out of her saddlebag.

“…and that elixir a unicorn-friend of my elder sister gave to me…”

The playing field of the school - a wide fenced area with a huge maroon oval running track with a big meadow in its center - that was the place where Bleach´s battle against him would take place.
Every entry, which all led to the halls with the changing rooms and toilets below the orange-colored grand stand, was protected by a pair of Royal Guards.
From the grand stand for itself, which led all around the playing field and created the image of a small arena, everypony should be able to see the battle - and the inevitable loss of the young Auraknight!

Viola, still a little bit uneasy, but not altogether averse to her new body, was walking up and down in the hallway that led to the fields, waiting. She wasn´t nervous, just champing at the bit. She finally wanted to use this body, wanted to wreak pain with its muscles, use the sharpened sword in the sheath on its hips! Normally, the old Shining Armor fought with a pike, but she hated that weapon, so she took one she was used to. The weapon she used back when she had her origin body.

The wide grin on her…his lips announced everypony around - if there would be anypony around - that he was ready to go and get over with his tasks.

Anticipating, he absently began to hum. The melody was old, as old as Viola herself, and grim. It remembered her at her origins, the violence she was born with and which she was named after.
Shining hummed a little bit louder when he was sure that there was nopony around at the moment.
And finally, his melody got words…

“Now soon they will see
The pain I can wreak
The unprettified destroying agonyyy!

And he will bleed!
Yeah, that´s my Exceed!
Oh, my sweetest treat!
And the flames it will feed!
Of his torture and endless griiieeef!

You will experience my might!
The power that takes life!
No, young knight this is no liiie!

See my hooves, there they lie
The ruins of your life!
And soon you realize:
Oh, young knight you´re running out of tiiime!

So here is my advice:
What you love, say ‘Good Bye’!
Yes, young knight you are going to-“

“Shine?”

He snapped out of his chant and turned around, facing the pink mare which was the fillyfriend of the body´s proper soul. Had she heard him singing?
Disguise, Viola! the invading soul reminded herself. Bringing to light your real face could ruin your plans very abruptly! And the master wouldn´t be very pleased with that! In the end he´ll may take you the body away!

He cleared his throat and turned around to the mare.
“Yes, sweetheart?”
Seeing her worried face, Viola decided to frown and ask: “Is everything all right?”
Cadence sighed. “I don´t know…”
“Hey…” he brought his hoof to her chin and forced her softly to look into his eyes. “What´s eating you?”
The young princess couldn´t tell, but her lover´s eyes seemed less sparkling than usual this day. “It´s just…I´m worrying about you!” she revealed.
Instead of laughing out loud like Viola wanted to, she let the body only chuckle low. “Oh, don´t worry my love…” unwillingly, the intruding soul leaned over to the mare and pecked the tip of her nose. “…I won´t get hurt.”
“That´s not it…” she sighed again. “It´s your behavior…”

Now, his worried frown wasn´t played anymore.
“My…behavior?” he asked whilst Viola feared she would have been discovered. Had she done something wrong?
Cadence nodded. “You…seem more aggressive today! That´s really unlike you! You even shouted at your parents this morning! You usually wouldn´t even dare thinking such things! They had asked me if we had some kind of arguing, but I said ‘no’ and that I also don´t know what´s up with you.”
Ugh, you lose control only for one minute and it instantly has repercussions! It´s just hard for me to cope with authority! Especially parental!
But of course, Viola couldn´t speak that out loud, so she searched for an excuse.
“Oh…well…I think I just got a little bit nervous. After all, this is a good chance to make a good impression to Celestia and the Captain! This is a very big chance for me to show them my skills!” he meant.

Cadence only nodded wise. “I comprehend…” she said smiling and nuzzled him. “And I guessed as much. But still…” she looked at him with an appealing look. “…remember that Bleach is one of Twilight´s best friends! You saw her for yourself yesterday, so please don´t go too hard at him!”

Before he could answer the doors opened behind him and revealed three ponies: Celestia, the great princess of Equestria, flanked by two stallions, one white-coated with a short blue mane and the second dark gray-coated with a military short white mane.

Shining noticed the three ponies and looked back at Cadence with a smile on his lips. “Well, seems like it´s time to go…” …and don´t worry, in the best case, I´ll make his death quick and easy… Viola added mentally.
The pink mare only smiled and nodded. “I wish you the best of luck, my knight in shining armor…” she turned around “…and you too, young guardian!”

Bleach, watching the scene in front of him since a while, just nodded absently. His purple eyes were fixed on the stallion he was going to fight against…

…and the veil of black magic surrounding him…

Bleach was strung up, but ready.

Everything was quiet when the three ponies led them to the battlefield on the central meadow of the playing field. On the grand stand, he could see the faces of the young Princess Cadence, sitting on a separate seat a few rows behind the high generals of the Royal Guard, stallions of different ages and every one of them scrutinizing him. In the first row,he saw his mother,the pale pink mare his straight black mane were inherited from.
But even her encouraging smile was not enough to make his worries vanish.
He sighed mentally. Secretly, he had wished Twilight and Silverleaf would have found a way to be there and support him with their presence, but that seemed to remain just a dream.

Slowly, he and Shining Armor took up their positions, facing each other.
The young Auraknight didn´t know what it was, but he was sure that the veil of black magic he had seen around the stallion moments before wasn´t natural. Either he had taken a special drug, what Bleach won´t really believe, or the stallion in front of him obeyed some kind of dark force or it was just a natural phenomenon. But whatever it was, he and his father were the only ones who could see it…

“Bleach Auraknight…” the goddess of the sun suddenly began to speak and his eyes wandered to her. Today, he saw her the first time, but she was like he always had imagined: graceful with a shining white coat, whiter than his, and a colorful elegant waving red-blue-green mane and tail.
“…we met today to prove if you are allowed to become a real Auraknight and to follow your father in his hoofsteps.”
“To convince ourselves of your qualification for this great honor…” his father, the white stallion with the blue mane, took over “…you will fight against Shining Armor, the most outstanding recruit of the Royal Guard! The battle will last exactly twenty minutes if nopony of you gives up or you fulfilled the condition of the test. This condition is the receipt of your cutie mark!”
“If the battle ends and there is no cutie mark on your flank, you will be prohibited from becoming an Auraknight for the rest of your days!” the dark grey stallion with the white mane - Captain Stormcloud of the Royal Guard - finished.

“Shining Armor…” Celestia then spoke to Twilight´s possessed brother “…you are fighting for nothing more than pure kudos!”
That´s just what you think, little princess… Viola thought snide.
“We demand nothing more than your best performance! Always look back at this day with pride so that you´ll never forget it!”

He nodded.
Don´t worry, I never forget a victim… Viola smirked in her thoughts.

Now, Celestia and the two ponies at her sides withdrew slowly.
“Well then…get ready!”
Shining´s horn glowed and he levitated the sword around his hips out of its sheath and took its hilt into his mouth.
Bleach only took a deep breath and rose to his hind legs, leaving his daggers in their sheaths around his hips. And so, the band begins to play…
Both nodded, announcing they are ready to go.

Bleach´s father sat down next to his wife and consulted his watch. Fifteen seconds till five. He raised the other hoof high in the air, the sign for the two fighters to use the last left seconds for their last mental preparations.
Whatever that dark magic is…
Ten seconds left…
…please be careful, you wouldn´t be the first in history who accidentally died…
Five seconds left…
…I wish you the best of luck my dearest son…
Two seconds…
…and take care…
After that last thought his hoof instantly lowered to the ground, announcing the battle´s begin.

And so, Shining Armor, conquered by the pure violence of the foreign soul, rushed forward, raised his sword and brandished it.

Bleach only watched the sharp blade´s edge nearing his face and concentrated…

“And you are sure this will work?” Twilight asked unsure and watched the two Guards that protected the entrance of the playing field.
“Absolutely!” Silverleaf assured her.
The purple filly frowned and levitated a beautiful red rose they had picked on the way here in front of her. “But…what is with the flower? What´s her function?”
Her silver friend grinned. “Oh, she has no function. You just hold her. Believe me, if he sees you with a rose in your mouth, he´ll get that much courage that he could beat an army!”
“Aha…” she just answered.

“And what is about you?” Twilight then questioned.
“Oh, I´ll just help you getting in.” the silver filly replied, levitating the vial from before out of her bag, opening it and giving it to her friend.
“Remember, the elixir of invisibility lasts only five minutes! Which means, after you took it, he can´t see you for exactly that time.” Silverleaf then explained.
“And the rose? Would be a little bit obvious if one single rose wanders past the Guards levitating, don´t you think so? And the doors? I can´t open them without being recognized!”
“Leave this to me.” The filly smirked, took the rose and dipped its stalk into the elixir. Slowly, she began to get invisible, starting from the stalk to its leaves and the blossom.

Twilight whistled appreciative and Silverleaf only smiled.
“Plants always take the water from their roots and lead it up through the stalk into the leaves and blossoms. The same works with every other liquid.”
“Simple, indeed.” Twilight grinned and took the vial.
“Now: Let´s go!”
And with that, she emptied the vial chugging.

In the next few seconds, her body slowly became sheer and finally vanished completely.

Twilight took the rose into her mouth after some fumbling to find its stem and together with Silverleaf they approached the two Guards.
Now, the scholar was very curious how her friend would manage to open the door and let her slip in.

“Hold!” One of the two gray pegasi commanded.
“Who goes there!” the other wanted to know.
Twilight remained silent.
Silverleaf looked at the two stallions with big pleading eyes.
“Hello…Can you…pleeeeaaase let me in for a few seconds?”
“I´m sorry, but you can´t at the moment! No one is allowed to enter! Come again later!” the right stallion waved her away.
“But I…” she now was shifting from one hoof to the other. She doubled her efforts and looked as cute and innocent as possible - not the biggest challenge for a filly at her age - blushing slightly. “…I…most urgently need to tinkle…”

That caught the two Guards off-guard and Twilight had a hard time to stifle her giggles.
“Uhm…well…the school´s right over there!” The left stallion meant, awkwardly pointing into the direction of the palatial building.
“I think I won´t make it till there!” she replied, her voice more pressing now.
“But…”
“Pleeeeeaaaaase! I really won´t hold it very long…”

The stallions surrendered. “Okay…But I´ll go with you!”
“Oh thank you!”
Did it! she sang mentally. A Silverleaf-plan works ALWAYS!

The door opened and quickly they entered the playing field, first Silverleaf followed by the stallion who was on the other hoof followed by the invisible Twilight.

Twilight quietly parted from the two, thanked Silverleaf mentally for this brilliant idea and headed for the doors that led to the grand stands…

The, before then, peaceful setting was suddenly disrupted by a loud thump.

After that, silence fell over the field again. The fresh breeze stroked gently along the meadow, tickling the flowers and the coats of the ponies around.
The eyes of the watchers were primary curious, two pairs were worried and one was surprised by the tempestuous first attack against the young Auraknight.

Bleach after his quarter turn faced a long shining blade only a few inches in front of him and its bearer who had barely registered the failure of his attack. He blinked and switched into his special color spectrum. Everything now was hued in a dark blue, only the magical energies of the ponies and their aura shone brightly.
The time, he confronted the black magical veil around the stallion in front of him at close range. Not only it was flowing around him but streamed through and into his body, leading him. Thinking that the possession-conclusion may wasn´t that absurd, he became aware of his situation.

Thinking fast, his horn began glowing and he took a small part of the silver aura, surrounding him like a translucent veil, and loosened it at his opponent.
And these were the first four seconds of a very long fight.

Shining looked up just to be thrown back by the magic of the white colt. He landed with a low gasp and rose back to his hooves instantly, brining up his sword just in time to block the pursued attack of his adversary. Steel met steel and Shining broke the contact, lunged and waved his sword, just to be met by the second dagger in Bleach´s hooves.
The young knight, blocking the sword with his left hoof backhanded, found a breach and the dagger in his right hoof darted at the elder stallion. But he could only watch his magic gathering and forming a dark pink shield.
Sending out some magical sparks, Bleach´s dagger slid along the shield without effect.

Oh…and Twilight had warned me that defense is his strong point…what was his name? Shining Armor? Eeyup, I´m dumb!

In the next moment, he watched the black magic around the stallion gather and flinging at him. The next thing he felt was a sharp pain in his stomach and his hooves leaving ground. The white colt flew backwards until he landed hard on his back, his daggers pried out of his hooves.

His mother on the grand stand gasped, covering her mouth with her hooves and his father only shook his head.
Still way too stormy…

Groaning, Bleach wanted to rise back to his hooves…only to roll to the side when he noticed a black magical crescent-blade zooming in his direction.
It missed him way too closely and two single hairs of his black mane, cut by the blade, soared to the ground.
The blade left an ugly brown furrow in the meadow.
Two more magical blades emitted from his foe, the young stallion Twilight described as the most gentle and caring stallion she would know. In that case, he didn´t want to meet the others!
Avoiding the other two rolling and managing to rise back to his hooves with the last roll, Bleach found himself flying backwards only one second later when a new pulse of dark magic hit him.
Not so fast little knight! Viola grinned mentally. Your torment has just begun!
Managing to land on his hooves, he levitated his daggers back to him and instantly did something he should have done at the fight´s beginning: compressing his aura and forming a shield around him.
Just in time another pulse of black magic hit the shield like a hammer. The colt flinched and panted after that.

On the grand stand, the ponies watched the scene scowling.
Bleach´s father was shifting in his seat.
“Hmm…he´s even better than I thought…” the Royal Guard´s Captain whispered next to him.
“He´s going to kill my son!” the elder Auraknight whispered back angrily, trying hard to not shout.
“Nah…” the Captain waved his hoof “…he just plays for keeps. You shouldn´t worry that much!”
“If you could see what I can see, believe me dear colleague you would worry, too! And, in addition, I know how a murder looks like!” he meant, watching the scene with his own Auravision.
“How would y-“
“Lifeguard of the princess and the one who detected and arrested a trio of assassins at the last Grand Galloping Gala.” he explained frigid. “It´s my primal job!”
“Can´t you do something?” his wife next to him asked worried sick.
“Not without breaking the battle and ruining his dream…”

Bleach was still panting when he tried to attack Shining Armor again.
There was a short series of brazen sounds. Bleach used his gracious and fast movements to assault the stallion and avoid his attacks. He also inspected Shining´s spell but couldn´t find a gap in it. He tried to break through the shield by doing his daggers flood with his own magical energy, but, except some sparks, the shield showed no weakness.
Viola in Shining´s body only laughed at his pathetic attempt of breaking through and savored to play with the panting colt for a few more minutes.

With time the possessed stallion grew tired of the game and flung Bleach back with another black pulse of magic, breaking easily through his aura-shield.
Panting and groaning, Bleach just lay there exhausted. His body consisted only of pains and bruises at the moment.
”What´s up with you, great young Auraknight?” a female voice suddenly mocked in his head. ”I thought you´d be a tougher nut to crack…”
Bleach didn´t know where the voice came from, nor he knew who its owner was, but he still knew who was talking to him.

“What have you done to Shining Armor? Who are you?” he whispered exhausted but firm.
She giggled. ”You are smart, my respect! I indeed am the intruder who took over his body. It´ll be my new home!”
“But…why?”
”Oh, cute little knight, you are too young to understand this…” Viola meant and Shining´s body appeared in his gaze. ”It isn´t important for you anymore anyway!”
Bleach looked at the stallion with the sword in his mouth slowly rising, pressing one hoof onto his stomach to hold him in place.
There must be something I can do, come on Bleach, think, think, think! he thought desperately, looking around. Viola ignored his struggling beneath her and continued.
”Because, my plans don´t involve you anymore! But don´t worry, I promise it won´t hurt too much…”
He stopped struggling. He won´t escape the possessed stallion´s grip. He looked to the grand stand and pleaded his father, his mother, anypony to help him!

And that´s when he saw her!
And suddenly, out of nowhere, he scolded himself for being so dumb!
He had found a solution!

“Now, young knight, it´s time to sleep…

…FOREVERMORE!”

Finally, Twilight had reached the grand stand! Trotting out of the door that led outside, she searched for a good place to watch the battle and where Bleach on the other hoof could see her very well.
She was still invisible, so she trotted along the stands without being recognized.
Where could he see her best?
She looked at the two stallions on the meadow, having a small skirmish with their weapons at the moment. An occasional brazen sound found its way to her ears.
She frowned. Bleach didn´t seem to look very good, he was exhausted and panting. And Shining, her brother who promised her to not go too hard on him, was everything other than keeping his promise! Instead, he seemed to go extra-hard at her friend!

The purple filly was worrying. She could see that he needed encouragement, but she was still invisible for about two minutes…
Slowly, her eyes continuous watching the scene, she approached the row where Cadence sat and who watched the scene with unbelieving big eyes.
“What just happened to you Shiny…” she murmured in disbelief.
Twilight frowned even more when she took place next to her. Something was wrong, she could tell. Everypony looked tensed up; even her teacher´s look was black!
What the hay was going on here?

She watched the fight for another minute and then, suddenly, Bleach was flung through the air and landed hard on the ground. His painful groan sounded to her ears and made her heart skip a beat.
“BLEACH!” she shouted.
And suddenly, several heads turned around to the filly. The elixir´s effect had stopped during the last minute and now, she was visible again for everypony, leaning over the standing and holding the red rose in her mouth.
“Twilight?” Cadence asked shocked and surprised. “What…How do you…”
But Twilight didn´t answer.

Everypony´s attention rested on Shining Armor, who now slowly approached the defenseless colt, laying a hoof on his tummy and raising his sword close in for the kill! Instantly, Bleach´s father, Celestia, Captain Stormcloud and the generals rose from their seats, the horns of the princess and the white stallion beginning to glow. Cadance and Bleach´s mother could only gasp and cover their mouths with their hooves in shock.

Why? Would he really kill him? Why should he kill him? Shine, what´s wrong with you? Cadance thought for herself, unable to understand the events on the battlefield.

“BLEEEAAACH!” Twilight only shouted in fear for her best friend.
In that second, their gazes met…
…and the sword brandished…

…and something unexpected happened…

Twilight?, Bleach thought when he saw her , or to be more exact, her bright shining energy. Wanting to see his best friend one last time without his special spectrum he blinked and his eyes became dark blue again.
He smiled when he saw her. She really made it! She was here! His body was on fire, exhausted and bruised, but seeing his friend with the red rose for him in her mouth made him forget the pain. He didn´t know how she managed to get here, but the only important thing was that she was here, the filly with the greatest magical stock and most powerful aura he knew! The filly he liked most in this world!

And then, suddenly and out of nowhere, the scales fell from his eyes.

He changed back to his Auravision and instantly saw the energies of the different ponies and the auras surrounding them again…and realized that he had totally forgotten that he could use them! He could manipulate them! It was the gift nature had given to him! How could he forget that gift? How could he ignore and deny the possibilities it gave to him!
He hadn´t only his limited magical energy but every one of the present ponies:
Celestia´s powerful shining golden aura!
His parent´s auras of love, caring and warm-heartedness!
Twilight´s incredible bright purple aura!
Cadence´s pink aura of sympathy and love!
And, of course, the auras of the Royal Guard´s generals and their captain!

Smirking, Bleach instantly closed his eyes and concentrated, his horn alighting. There was still a way out of this! And he finally had found it! He had found a way to may defeat Shining Armor and protect him and his friends from the black power that invaded his body!
“Now, young knight, it´s time to sleep…FOREVERMORE!” Viola then shouted in his head and the blade brandished.

But it didn´t get very far.

Bleach had already brought the magical auras of all the ponies on the grand stand under his control. He gathered some energy in his rear hooves and bucked into the air, loosening it. And like a dragon´s fist, a bright golden pulse of Celestia´s aura hit the stallion above and sent him severe meters back through the air with a cry of surprise and pain.
Before he hit the ground, the young knight performed a second trick. He felt an incredible soothing from the pale pink auras of his mother´s care and the strong love of Princess Cadence´s. Bringing the two auras close to his body he combined and interweaved them to a new spell. The alleviation of the combination was enough to let the pain in his body fade away and the bruises heal within seconds.

Twilight´s brother hit the ground hard and gasped. Bleach, recovered and fit again, thanks to the spell, rolled back to his hooves and reared on his hind legs into fighting position with his usual fleet of foot.
Everywhere on the grand stands were surprised faces and sighs of relief. But the fight still wasn´t over. Shining reluctant rose back to his hooves, picking up his sword and faced him with an angry look.
Three minutes of the fight were still left.

”How dare you to escape your predetermined death!” Viola fulminated in his head.
Bleach with his newfound self-confidence and trust lazily levitated his daggers back into his hooves.
“Seems like you underestimated me.” he answered low enough to let only her hear and canalized the energies new, leading some of them into his daggers.
“I think it´s time to show you the real potency of an Auraknight!”
With that, he dashed at his enemy.

Instantly, Shining also canalized his dark energies and sent a wave of black magic at the young knight. Bleach, predicting the attack, halted and stretched his daggers in front of him, loosening Twilight´s strong energy within them and creating a bright shining protective wall which neutralized the black energies effortless.
Gasping shocked and unbelieving, Viola created several of the crescent black blades with Shining´s body and flung them at the colt. After that, she let her body attack the shield with the sword in its mouth with all his strength in her access of fury.
The dark blades hit the wall ineffectually, causing its summoner only to flinch slightly with some effort of keeping the barrier up.

The strokes with the real blade had no effect at all and so, Bleach loosened the energies of the shield at his foe and caused him to fly through the air again.
Not only Shining, but also Viola now panted.
”How…How is it possible that you are that strong so suddenly?” she asked with disbelief.
He smiled and the last minute of the battle started to count down. The ponies at the grand stand, his parents, the princesses, the Royal Guards and Twilight just watched the scene with increasing excitement about the final strike.

“I realized something…” Bleach began “…This is not about me. It is no longer important to me to get my cutie mark and pass this stupid test. This is only about you and my friends! And if I let you do as you like, my friends and every other pony would be in great danger because of you, whoever you are and whatever you plan. Definitely nothing good! So it is up to me to defeat you and give Twilight´s brother back his body! If I won´t do, you may would hurt her!”
"Tse, she´s not you! Why would you risk your life for her?"
“Because…” he meant determined “…she is my best friend! And I won´t let you or anypony else in this world ever hurt her or one of my other friends! I live to defend them!”
His horn began to glow again, gathering new energy from his watcher´s auras and canalized them through his daggers.
“I live to protect them!”
More energy gathered, flowing around him like liquid light.
“And nopony in this world, not even you, will ever stop me to do so!”

The energies came to a rest in the tip of his daggers. “And now…”
He instantly pushed forward and loosened them all at once. “…BACK OFF!”
Like a giant arrow of light, a bright shining mix of Twilight´s, Celestia´s and Cadence´s auras shot at the stallion.
With no possibility to avoid, Viola frantically created a shield around him, but it shattered in the second the energies touched it.
”NOOOOOOOO!”
They hit the stallion straight at the center of the black magic inside him, right at his heart.

With a horrible acute shriek of searing pain, a small blinding explosion of light ripped the dark mare out of the stallion´s body and left it unconsciously.

At another place, a young black colt was interrupted in his studies by the same awful shriek in his head, freezing his blood and making him protect his ears with his hooves, just to realize that the scream was inevitable right in his head.
The photo of Shining Armor lying next to the book he had read vanished in a small burst of black flames.

“What happened?” Shadow Star wanted to know but Viola only whimpered in his head, flooded with painful light which her siblings instantly tried to dispel and ease their sister´s agony.

Shadow only angrily bucked the chair he had been sitting on, sending it on a journey through his chamber.
“Damn you, Bleach!”

Bleach only sighed relieved and slumped to the ground, dropping his daggers.
He was totally spent! His coat and mane were drenched with perspiration and he panted slightly in exhaustion.
It was over!
He won…

There was only silence left.
Silence to take breath.
Silence to ease down the events of the last twenty minutes.

With time, relieved smiles grew on the faces of the ponies, the ones of Bleach´s parents, especially his father, were the biggest ones.
Slowly, the young knight sat up and turned around, facing all the witnesses of his fight. No one of them really knew how to proceed and what to say.
Finally, Celestia decided to take the formal way and cleared her throat.

Smiling softly at him, she announced ceremonial:
“Bleach Auraknight! Your test is official finished!
Though it was a very hard fight for you and more than one time we thought it would be over, you never gave up! You fought till the end and showed us, that you are made of stern stuff! You showed us, that you are truly a fighter with heart and soul! You showed us the deep burning flame within you, your passion and zeal!
And I am looking forward to have you at my side as my personal lifeguard once your training has finished…”

The young colt was only slow on the up-take while there were suddenly thousands of hooves around him, hugging him or wanting to congratulate him. Everything seemed to be one single blur.
He was already embraced by Twilight, the red rose still in her mouth, when he looked down at his flank to see what there had to be, considering the reactions of the others and Celestia´s words.

And what he saw made him smile wide:
In front of a pair of crossed daggers, looking like the same pair he had fought with the last minutes, was an exact copy of the rose the purple filly in his arms held in her muzzle.
He chuckled and looked her in the eyes.
“I think we have to celebrate something…”
She chuckled too and nodded.
“Definitely!”

Behind them, Shining Armor slowly awoke from his unconsciousness and was greeted by a deep hug and tender kiss from his fillyfriend.
Confused, he looked around.

“Where…am I? And…what happened?...”

“…and that´s all what happened since we parted.” Twilight finished her recap of the last day´s events.
“So it definitely was the right thing to smuggle you in!” meant Silverleaf wide-smiling.
Twilight beamed too. “Yep! And I have to thank you for it!”
“I too have to thank you!” Bleach added.

It was morning and the trio was at school one more time.
At the moment, they were in the cantina, sitting at one of the many white tables and a piece of apple pie Bleach had bought standing in front of them.

“Seeing Twilight on the grand stand was such a great feeling! And with that rose you looked just soooo cute!” the young knight continued beaming.
Twilight blushed, stuttering a shy “Really?” which was answered by a firm wide-smiling nod and caused her to redden even more.
“Anyway…” Bleach then continued “…the rose was a very good idea, Silv! So inspiring! So…romantic!”
She beamed. “Thank you! But where do you know it was my idea?”
“Oh, come on! We both know that our Twily isn´t that romantically minded.”
“Hey! That´s not nice!” she complained and added: “And it´s a lie! You remember yesterday before the battle?”
Automatically, the colt´s hoof wandered to his cheek. “No…of course not…” he blushed slightly.

Silverleaf didn´t care very much about the duo´s small lovey-dovey and inspected the cutie mark of the colt sitting next to her with curiosity.
“Hey! I knew the rose of your cutie mark is related to the rose I gave Twilight, but I didn´t expect it to be exactly the same!
He furrowed. “The same? Where do you know that it´s the same rose like the one Twi had?”
“UGH…” she moaned and tapped the blossom of the rose on his flank. “Look! Do you see the blossom? The six big petals that are curved inwards? And the five big petals at the edge of the blossom that are curved outwards and are looking like a star?”
The colt looked over his withers at his cutie mark and the point where the filly´s silver hoof touched it. He now also noticed the details she mentioned.
“You´re right! Now I can see it, too.” he frowned and looked at her. “You notice and remember such small details? That´s awesome!”
She grinned. “Every flower is unique and has attitudes that make her standing out of the others!” continuing explaining to him, she moved her hoof along the rose to its stem. “You see the leaves and their color pattern? Everypony only sees green, but there is, out of the whole dark green leaf, a small light green fleck right above the leafstalk. And then, there is the stem for itself…” still explaining, her hoof moved on along the stem, until it was batted away by Bleach´s own hoof.
“Okay, I got it. Now, would you please stop touching my backside? That´s privacy after all!”
“Oh, sorry…”

For a while, they just sat there and ate their cake. Occasional glances were thrown at Bleach by the other students in the cantina. The fact, that nopony had known about his true being as an Auraknight, made them very curious.
But also, it shied them.
Nopony after all knew what to expect of a pony which had a pair of daggers on its flank…

Silverleaf only giggled.
“What´s so funny?” Twilight asked her.
“Oh, it is just funny to see everypony look at Bleach as he would be a god or something like that. It´s so drolly, don´t you think so?”
The young knight looked around and found a duo of colts looking at him and whispering. As soon as their gazes met, they frantically looked away and left.
“Yeah…I could live without that…”
“Oh, come on! Why do you always have to be so pessimistic! It sure has also positive sides!” the silver filly meant. “Ouh, you know what: You should let them build a shrine to worship you and offer you sacrifices! Doesn´t that sound like a good idea?”
He just laughed. “You and your crazy ideas! Silverleaf, you are simply unique!”
“Thank you!”

“Anyway…” Bleach then changed the topic “…how is your brother doing, Twi? I hope I didn´t hurt him…”
“Oh, he´s doing great! Just…well…he can´t remember anything…”
“He can´t remember anything? You mean…total amnesia?”
“Oh, no…” she waved her hoof reassuringly and shook her head“…he just can´t remember about anything of the battle or the whole day. The last thing he remembered was that he had a weird dream of Cadence demanding him to defeat you and to don´t look like a weakling. But in the end, he said, he knows that she would never demand something like that!”
“Strange…” the colt murmured musing.

“However, I want to thank you for saving him from that strange mare.” Twilight then said.
“Whoever she was…I hope I won´t see a creature like her again so fast! A creature that takes over your soul and body…” he shuddered and so did the fillies.

“Well, but what if she strikes again? Or what if she had friends?” Silverleaf asked concerned. “We definitely should watch out for other creatures like her and be careful! After all, we know they dare to kill! And that makes her and her whole kind dangerous!” Silverleaf meant and Twilight nodded agreeing
“Yeah, we really should watch out! Maybe my books or the books at the library know something about ponies that take over souls…What do you think Bleach?”

Truth told Bleach wasn´t as excited as his friends. He didn´t want them to fight against such creepy things. He didn´t want them to get their selves into danger. And after all, he was the only pony of them who could see these creatures!
Still he answered with a shrug: “I don´t know when we became ghostbusters, but…I am with you! If there are more creatures of them, we will find them and kick their backsides!”

“Yeah, that´s what we will do! No creepy monster is safe from us!” Silverleaf announced and rose from her seat, stretching her hoof ready for their hoofshake.
Bleach and Twilight quickly joined her, determination in their eyes.

“For our hearts!”
“For our souls!”
“For our friendship!”

“From the ground…
…our souls fly high!
Together they´ll reach the sky!”