//------------------------------// // Star Rise. // Story: Equestrian Eeveelution. // by Symphonicdysonince //------------------------------// I finally tore my gaze from the tree. My dumbfounded look drifted back to Zann, briefly making eye contact before looking around the clearing. "... I..." Pieces of the once mighty oak had been embedded into the smaller trees on the right side of the clearing. "I don'..." I could see where a large chunk of bark had smashed itself against a corner of the wardrobe, fragments shredding the bushes around it. "Wha...?" Tree sap lay in burnt grass, cooked solid from the blast. It almost seemed normal. "I don't know." I finally admitted. "What do you mean?" Zann asked. "I don't know." I turned back to the tree. Zann grew nervous. "Uh-huh. It didn't come to you when you learned it?" "I don't know." I repeated monotonously, transfixed by the power I had just unleashed. "We've always just known what the moves were," the Flareon latched his metal paw onto me, "how could you not know?!" He began to vigorously shake me, snapping me from my stupor. "I don't know!" I shouted back. "I just wanted to see what would happen if I tried aiming a Sunny Day at something!" Zann dropped me, sweeping his real paw back at the oak. "That's from a Sunny Day?" My ears drooped. I looked away, tail tucking itself under me. Zann stared at me, his look of shook changing into a glare. "Leo...?" I remained silent, forcing myself lower. "Don't make me get Yomega, Leo." "No..." I whined out. "What did you do." It wasn't a question. It was a demand for answers. I wilted. "Remember Winter Wrap Up, and how I started it with a charged Sunny Day?" He nodded. "Good news is that that wasn't a four hour long charged one." I tried to smile. I lost my smile as Zann continued to glower. He began to talk, his voice growing louder with each word. "That tore a chunk out of our target tree. The tree that has withstood years of mundane lightning before we started throwing Cy head fist into it. The tree that has withstood my firestorms and Metal Claws." His glowing prosthetic forced me up on tiptoe to look him in his gimlet eyes. "The tree that withstood the attack far better than my fucking head would've!" I stopped seeing Zann, my eyes focused on his claw. Unbeknownst to us, I had begun whispering far too low for us to hear "Please don't hurt me, please don't hurt me, please don't hurt me..." Zann missed the the terror in my eyes. "You're damned lucky that I saw it in time to duck!" He snarled in my face. "What were you thinking, launching an unknown move here?! What if you missed?! What if you hurled that into the farm?!" He shifted his Claw so that he was holding me up, and gave me a rough shake. "What if you had killed somepony?!" With a scream of fear, I headbutted Zann, causing me to drop. Leveraging all of my speed, I raced away into the trees, trusting my instincts to keep me safe. In a panic, I tore through bushes and weaved through the darkening woods, my mind solely on The Claw that haunts me. I ran until my legs burned and my breath came in ragged gasps. I stumbled, and felt talons dig into my back. I screamed, Flailing against whatever held me. It quickly let me go, allowing me to return to my flight. Several more times, minions of The Claw tried to grab at me, but my thrashing let me free myself. After what felt like hours, I collapsed into a sobbing wreck, my mind slowly returning to me. I found myself curled up under a bush, tears staining the dirt beneath me. I stared at nothing, trying to regather my wits, now that my mind was my own. A rustle drew my gaze. I jumped to my paws as I came muzzle to muzzle with a Timberwolf. It growled as I started to back away. I slowly gathered my power to do whatever I'd need to to get away. Our eyes hardened... ... And we struck. [Third] Two hours earlier, Twilight and Moon Dancer were enjoying one of the few moments they didn't take in their academic pursuits. Spike lay reading a comic book, while Yomega lay sleeping on his back. Abes was dead to the world in his closet. Everything was peaceful in the library. Yomega jolted awake, staring at one of the walls. <> He murmured. Spike glanced at the canine on his back. "What's wrong?" Moon Dancer and Twilight both flinched, staring at the same wall Yomega did. "Did you feel that?" Moon Dancer asked. "Yeah." Twilight nodded. "That felt like a magic surge." "Or a Summon using a powerful ability." Moon Dancer looked over at Twilight. "I've felt a few of those up in the university..." Both mares reached the same conclusion and bolted to the door. "Sweetie!" Rushing out into the streets, both mares galloped towards Carousel Boutique, Spike and Yomega hot on their heels. Many unicorns were out and about, trying to figure out what they had felt. They ran into Rarity outside the Boutique. "Twilight! Thank goodness." She sighed. "Do you know what's going on?" "Yes, is Sweetie okay?" Twilight tried to look into the Boutique around the marshmallow mare. "Sweetie's over at the Fluttershy's with Scootaloo and Apple Bloom." Rarity frowned, studying her friend's face. "You think that was her?" "But that's not where we felt the surge coming from." Moon Dancer mused. "Unless they left Fluttershy's for some reason..." Twilight's horn started to glow. "Everyone stay close, I'll teleport us there." With that little warning, the group vanished in a flash of light. At the same time, they appeared outside the cottage in another flash. Spike ran up to the door, rapping his knuckles against it until he got an answer. "Hello?" Sweetie asked after cracking the door open. "Oh, Sweetie, you're safe!" Rarity cried. "I am?" Twilight nodded. "After we felt your surge, we rushed over check up on you." "My what?" "Have you been here all day?" Moon Dancer asked. Sweetie looked at everyone with a confused look. "Yes?" "Twilight." Moon Dancer drew out. "If she's been here, what caused the surge at the farm?" Everyone grew silent at that. Fluttershy came around the side of the cottage with Scootaloo and Apple Bloom. She looked at the group gathered around her door. "Um... Would you like to come in?" "There you guys are!" Everyone looked up at Rainbow. "Twilight, Applejack sent me to find you! There was an explosion of some sort at the farm!" "Group up!" Twilight ordered. "We're teleporting!" <> Yomega added. Another twinned flash of light, and the group found themselves outside the Apple's farmhouse. "This way." Rainbow groaned out, leading the others through the farm. They trotted past the barns and met up with Applejack by the rodeo track. Applejack, in turn, lead them into a section of the farm the other mares hadn't been into before. They came across small divots scarring the earth between some of the trees. Out of curiosity, Twilight used her magic to pull whatever had caused them out of one of divots. She hummed in thought as she examined a small piece of bark. Soon after, they found Zann's wardrobe, with Moon Dancer noting the scuff marks on one of the corners. Everypony else's attention had been grabbed by the large oak tree standing at one end of the clearing. Rarity and Fluttershy, who had never been here before, paused to take in all of the electric scarring covering the tree, although they had trouble looking past the large chunk missing from one side. "What happened here?" Twilight breathed. <> Everyone jumped, spinning to face the morose looking Flareon they had missed. <> <> Yomega asked, Fluttershy translating for the rest of the group. <> The ponies mostly looked concerned at that. <> He gestured at the oak. Everypony grew concerned at that. <> "What does Leo have to do with that?" Rainbow asked. <> "Leo did that!?" Moon Dancer and Twilight exclaimed. Further conversation was cut off as an explosion of light erupted from the Everfree Forest. [Leo] Fuckfuckfuckfuck! I cursed as I nursed another ball in my mouth. How fucking many of these fucking fucks are fucking here!! I jumped over another wolf, releasing my attack as I did so. I used the recoil, then the small pressure wave my ball created, to reach the branches above me. I knew I needed the distance, as I learned that taking damage breaks my concentration which causes me to lose the energy I had. I took a moment to catch my breath. I glared at the ground, watching the wolves circling under my tree. With a growl, I began charging another attack. My ears twitched as I heard Rainbow's faint voice calling out for me. With another guttural growl, I arched my head back. "Solar..." I knew Rainbow would need a sign. Our Soul Bond can only give her vague directions, and her Loyalty Radar will only tell her 'up a tree in the Everfree'. So I'll give her one. "... Flare!" I launched the ball straight down. The explosion blasted the wolves apart while tearing a large hole in both the tree and the ground beneath me. The tree shook, before beginning to topple over. "Shitshitshit!" I bolted further up the tree, feeling Rainbow getting closer. I reached the top of the falling tree, and jumped.