//------------------------------// // Arc XII Episode VIII: Equestrian Assembly // Story: Family Begins With You // by Jmaster49 //------------------------------// Meanwhile, at Canterlot High… In the middle of her science class, Twilight’s tablet device started to go off from within her backpack with a light buzzing noise. “Hm?” She pulled it out and placed it on her desk. Once there, she tapped upon it, and expanded the map of the city, only to come to the realization… “Oh no…” A big red dot with a pentagram was shining brightly upon her old school. But not only that, there were more of them blinking all over the coastline. “Looks like we’ll have to split up again…the attacks are becoming more and more frequent. There’s no time…” She quickly scribbled down a note on a piece of paper to inform her teacher of where she was about to go, and quickly left the classroom. Once outside, she sent a text message to all of her friends: ‘Everyone. Meet me in the hallway. We’re under attack by a pachydemon.’ Meanwhile, in the sophomore’s English classroom… Keiji was busy taking notes in one of his notebooks, but from the corner of his eye, he could feel someone else’s eyes boring holes into the side of his head from how intense they were staring. “...?” He raised a brow, and turned his head slightly right… Only to find that his suspicions were correct. It had been Silver Spoon glaring at him with narrowed eyes from her seat. She then made the classic, ‘I’m watching you’ gesture by pointing two fingers at her eyes, and then at him. The puzzled look on his face said it all. The boy was utterly confused by this and didn’t know how to respond. But before he could… Their teacher, Mrs. Cheerilee spoke up to everyone as she pushed a TV monitor on wheels into the room. “Class? We have an interesting development going on outside that I think you all should take a look at.” She turned it on, and quickly changed it to the news where a reporter named Sunburst was performing a broadcast…in front of Crystal Prep. “I’m standing here in front of Crystal Prep Academy where chaos seems to be unfolding right in front of me!” he said, as students started to run out of the school en masse, screaming at the top of their lungs about some sort of elephant monster. “Apparently some of the students reported seeing some sort of strange, supernatural being that took control of one of their peers and is currently causing destruction--” BLAM! An explosion was heard that blew out all of the windows, sending hundreds of shards of glass as far as the street corner! The loud noise followed by the dangerous projectiles even caused Sunburst to panic. “Agh! Cut to commercial--cut to commercial!!” “What the…?” “Woah…” “How…?” The students in the classroom all began to mutter and discuss the situation among themselves. But then… With a loud slam!, the door to the classroom was forcibly pushed open. By who? Sunset. “Keiji! We need your help!” she then looked at his teacher and asked, “Mrs. Cheerilee, mind if I borrow him for a bit?” “Him?” Cheerilee looked at the boy with the overbite with a confused expression on her face. Keiji had his arms folded and his eyes shut, as if he was stuck in a state of deep thought for a moment. A few of the students started to mutter in awe when Sunset requested his help. “If anyone can do it, he can!” Rumble shouted. Diamond Tiara would then voice her opinion next. “Totally. He’s unbeatable--I know, I saw him kill a giant grody spider-thingy,” she said while haughtily flipping her hair, “You know you can trust my word, everyone.” “Hmph,” Silver Spoon scoffed at the idea of Keiji being a hero. “Yeah right. Probably trying to seduce you all.” But her negativity was drowned out by other voices. Mainly Cheerilee’s recollection of the events she witnessed on the news sometime ago. “Oh. That was you? By all means, if you’re capable, please do what you can, Keiji.” Keiji shrugged and got up from his seat. “Got nothing better to do anyway. This class was boring the heck out of me.” “Really?” Cheerilee questioned him, “I thought the poem you wrote on cherry blossoms was rather moving.” His cheeks turned rosy and he forced a cough. “...You know what, I’m gonna go now,” the boy hurried up and walked out of the room, much to the support of the others. “Go get ‘em vamp-champ!” Applebloom called out. “You got this, bro!” Rumble added. “If they hurt you, I’ll sue their pants off!” Tiara cheered. Sunset looked at him with a smug expression as they left. “Admit it. You like the emotional backing, don’t you?” “Shut it, wench--” he hissed at her as they jogged through the halls, “Now what the hell are we doing?” “You saw what was on the news, right? We need to hurry up and get over to Crystal Prep as fast as possible. Applejack is leading the others to the coast to fight some sort of tiger creature that’s appeared near the beach.” “Yeah. Good thing I’m not headed that way,” Keiji thought to himself. The beach was easily one of his least favorite locations so he was grateful not to go there. “So I assume you want my help to deal with the shit happening at the Preppie School.” Sunset slid to a stop on her heels in front of a certain math classroom and peeked inside. “Right--but, we’re gonna need some more help. Help from Native Equestrians like you and me. According to Twilight's notes, this thing is so powerful that only magic from that world can pierce its defenses.” “Oh yeah, lemme guess--the mermaid heifers, huh?” Keiji casually referred to the sirens as such, “It’ll be great to see them again.” “Not just them,” Sunset replied. “Dammit--the room’s empty. Let’s check the teacher’s lounge.” “Who else are we after?” Then it came to him. “Oh…the guy with the dark magic, yeah?” “Yup! He’s here!” Sunset called out from a few doors down where the teacher’s lounge was located. She knocked, and proceeded to open the door. “Professor Aidon! We need your help!” The shadowpony-man was busy sipping from a cup of coffee, watching the events play out on the lounge’s own television as he was currently on break. “Hrm…are you sure you want my help? You know my power is…unstable.” “Be that as it may, only beings from Equestria can match the power of this thing,” Sunset explained as she approached the table, “They need you…we need you.” “Hey, don’t force him,” Keiji commented from nearby, leaning against the doorway, “If he doesn’t feel comfortable, then--” But just then, Twilight appeared in the doorway, and spoke up to the group. “...Professor…please help me.”