The Adventures of the Elementals

by AutoKnight01

Nature in Canterlot (Part 3)

OC's and plot are all I own.

A few hours, maybe three at the most have gone by since the five Alamantians and their Equestrian partners stepped off the train into Canterlot. The black sky was clear with a near full moon and thousands of shining stars. Princess Luna was still out touching up on a few things to make it look perfect.

Down in a beauty spa, Rarity was getting a hoofacure on all four of her hooves which were looking simply divine. As she looked up from her seat where she was, she saw her partner walk out of the hallway that led to the sauna room with Fleur right next to him. Fleur had a towel in her head and a bathrobe covering the rest of her body. Agua was wearing nothing at all. His mane was wet and one of his eyes was covered. Then again, his hair ALWAYS looks wet. Just his natural look.

When Agua looked over and saw Rarity, the unicorn waved her hoof signaling him to come over. Agua groaned already knowing she saw him walk in wit Fleur. Grumbling, he walked over to her and stood before her.

“Where have you been?” Rarity demanded to know.

Agua told her not honestly but he gave the silvery unicorn mare an answer nonetheless.

“Fleur and I were just getting acquainted with each other. That’s all.” He said.

“Really?” Rarity asked suspicious. “That’s all that happened? You seemed pretty intent on asking her out on a date.”

“Asking her out? She really thought that’s all I wanted to do with her? Man even Terra is sharper than that. And she smokes weed for Poseidon’s sake.”

That was what Agua was thinking. This is what he actually said.

“Well it never came to that.” At least that part was honest. “Things were said and I ended up changing my mind about asking her out. But we did enjoy a nice sauna session together.”

That part was true too. To a degree. As long as Rarity didn’t ask what happened in that sauna he was in the clear. He just had to keep a straight face. Which he did rather well.

“Well alright.” Rarity took it hook line and sinker.

“Ah, Rarity! I thought that was you!”

Rarity recognized the voice as soon as she heard it say her name. She and Agua looked to the right and saw Fleur approach with another white unicorn. This one a stallion. His mane and tail were well groomed and light azure blue along with his mustache and hooves.

By the looks of him it was a good guess this guy was at least a solid ten years older than Fleur if not one or two more.

“Fancypants. How nice to see you again.” Rarity greeted.

Rarity knew Fleur was a fan of spas but she had no idea Fancypants enjoyed the treatment too.

“Oh I know you’re confused to see me here.” Fancypants explained. “But they offer great manecuts here. Oh I’m sorry who is your friend?”

He took notice of the blue stallion standing next to Rarity. She immediately introduced him.

“Fancypants this is Agua. Agua, Fancypants.”

“Sup?” Agua greeted.

Fancypants chuckled a bit hearing him say hello like that. Then he took notice of his cutie mark. Being a business pony, Fancypants had seen a lot of things shipped from different places. There was only one place where he saw a symbol like that. So he now knew what Agua was. It was in his name.

“You’re Alamantian. A water mover.” He said it almost as if he were accusing Agua of something.

Agua didn’t like it.

“Yeah. What’s it to you?” he snapped back.

“Oh its nothing to me.” Fancypants said in defense. “I just think Alamantians are fascinating, that’s all. The things they are able to do are truly a sight.”

“What does guy think I am? A carnival sideshow?”

Agua’s hard head and boiling temper can sometimes make him feel offended by even the most harmless of words. That was no secret to anyone. Especially not Rarity. Lucky for her, he was keeping that all bottled up for her sake and her sake only.

“Anywho, Rarity, my wife and I would be delighted if you and Agua here would join us for a soak in the tub.” Fancypants said.

Agua was shocked when he saw Fancypants put a hoof around Fleur. He knew she was married he just didn’t know it was to this guy.

“That would be most lovely, Fancypants.” Rarity answered with a nod.

Nodding himself, Fancypants and Fleur went off to get in the tub and soak. Rarity had gotten up out of her chair to go and join then but Agua caught her arm holding her back.

“Hold on a second. THAT is her husband?”

“Yes. So what?” Rarity asked taking note of the shocked tone Agua used.

“Nothing.” Agua lied. “Just…didn’t expect him to be so…up there.”

“Well if you mean in class, then yes. Fancypants is the most import business pony in Canterlot and he has been throwing a lot of work my way.” Rarity informed him. “So I would appreciate if you kept your interest in his wife to yourself.”

He didn’t mean that when he said “up there.” He was talking about the guy’s age. Lucky for him Rarity didn’t know that.

“Are you coming or not?” Rarity asked her partner as she made her way to the giant tub.

“You go on ahead. I gotta use the bathroom.” Agua answered.

With that said, she turned away from him and joined her two friends in the tub leaving Agua to think.

“Son of a bitch. She’s a trophy wife.” He muttered.

After he used the bathroom he was quick to join the other three unicorns on the tub for a soak. It was an above ground tub like the one in Ponyville. Not too long after that, one of the spa’s employees, a unicorn mare, who Agua thought was really cute, came to them and asked if they would like any drinks. Agua and Rarity were both taken aback by that. Rarity even more so. She had been a regular customer to the Ponyville spa for years. And never once was she offered to have a beverage while getting pampered.

She was the first to order. She ordered a cup of tea and so did her partner and Fleur. Fancypants asked if they had any cider and the spa employee said yes. She then left to go get them their drinks.

As they waited, they all got into telling stories from their pasts to share memories. Agua’s taught Rarity a bit more about him. Before the war came around, it turns out Agua was once an instructor for teaching water moving to young colts and fillies. Right now he was telling a tale of when one of his students got out of hoof.

“So the next thing I know, I’m swept up by this huge wave that came out of nowhere. Turns out that kid got cocky enough to think he was better than me and tried to form a tidal wave to prove it. Well he succeeded. But he easily lost control over it and nearly wiped out a whole column of huts and my favorite tea shop. Needless to say his mother and father were NOT very happy. Neither was I. So as punishment I made the kid scrape and clean the tide pools near the ocean. From that day on, no other student of mine ever tried to show me up. Because I am the king.”

A few chuckles from Fancypants and Fleur came out of their mouths amused by Agua’s story. Rarity faked a few laughs for her own sake to seem like she was thinking the same. She was a bit, but more than half of her didn’t really think the tale to be that funny. She had no idea why Fancypants or Fleur thought it was. And why were Agua and Fleur shooting smiles at each other when Fancypants wasn’t looking?

“Agua, you are a delight.” Fancypants said happily. “Rarity, where have you been hiding this fellow?”

“Oh I haven’t been hiding him.” Rarity answered. “Agua and I actually met each other quite recently.”

“Really? Well I must say, Agua. You are without a doubt a charming young stallion.”

It took almost every ounce of willpower Rarity had not to say something objecting that. Sure Agua was being a charming and friendly gentlecolt now. But Fancypants and Fleur were obviously clueless about his other side. The side that is more him than anything.

“So are you and Rarity here involved romantically, Agua?” Fancypants asked.

Both named ponies were quick to answer that one.

“Good heavens, no!”

“No freakin way!”

Fancypants was quite surprised with this revelation.

“Oh.” He muttered. “So you two are…”

“Friends.” Rarity answered. “He and I are just friends and nothing more.”

“And we intend to keep it that way.” Agua added.

“Oh well…alright then.” Fancypants said.

As the business mogul talked, Agua was able to catch a few signs that evidenced more to Fleur being a trophy wife. She never said a word about anything. Not even a comment here and there while Fancypants told stories. Also, she was about two feet away from him not even caring what he was doing. She was just swishing her hair back in her hooves as if she were styling it while sitting in a tub of water. Before he could analyze further, that same cute employee from before came back with a tray of cups in her magical grip.

“Your drinks.”

“Oh why thank you.” Fancypants used his magic to levitate one of the glasses off the tray.

Rarity and Fleur also used their magic to levitate their drinks to their mouths. Agua used his hydrokinesis to make a hand and arm form from the pool water and grab hold of his cup.

“Alamantians. So fascinating.”

Nodding, Agua made the water hand tilt his cup into his mouth.

“What fascinates me is that there exists a spa where you can order drinks.”

“Is there anything else you would like?” the attendant asked.

“Oh no we’re fine. Thank you.” Fancypants told her.

Agua turned to look at her again. The way the light bounced off her at this angle made her look stunning. All the way from her head to her hooves.

When he got to the hooves he noticed something odd. Not on the hooves themselves but what was below them. Correction. There was supposed to be something there below her that was not.

A shadow.

There was no shadow. The light was pointed right at this spa employee. And there was no shadow beneath her. He had seen that before. The last time he did…was at a party. That only meant one thing. He dropped the cup into the pool.

With a quick motion of his body, Agua raised up above the water so it appeared like he was standing on it. Then he made a fast spin and threw a large stream of water right at the spa girl. The mare was thrown off her hooves and also off the pool’s deck to the ground.

“Agua! What in Celestia’s name are you doing?!” Rarity shrieked totally frightened of a repeat performance of the Ponyville spa incident.

“That was uncalled for!” Fancypants shouted.

“Oh yeah?” Agua pointed to the downed spa employee. “Look.”

Clearly he thought something of that mare the other three didn’t. So the said three paused themselves through the water of the pool to look over the edge and see what Agua was referring to.

Not even a second went by before their eyes went wide.

That spa employee was not hurt. In fact, it wasn’t even a spa employee at all. Spa ponies do not have the power to turn themselves into black furred ponies with sharp teeth and animal-like screeches.

“Oh no. Not here. Not now.” Rarity fearfully mumbled.

The Shadowmare had already recovered from Agua’s attack. And it was ready to dish out some payback.

“Out of the water! NOW!” Agua shouted to the three unicorns.

As fast as they could, the trio of unicorns got out of the water and took cover, leaving Agua to deal with the Shadowmare. It blasted a shot at him and it was quickly blocked by a substantial amount of water. Then he threw a rapid series of punching motions and several small shots of water blasted right for his target. A few of them hit but some didn’t allowing the Shadowmare to move away.

Agua followed it running alongside it on the pool water. When he was just a bit ahead, he jumped off and lunged for the Shadowmare. He tackled it and they rolled around for a bit until the Shadowmare bucked Agua into the wall cranking it. Then Agua felt his stomach throb in pain when he got punched there. All of this, Rarity was seeing from behind the couch where she was hiding nearby. Seeing her partner get punched a couple times and smash into the wall made her cringe. Before the Shadowmare could get full on into another punch Agua moved to the side and made its hoof put a hole on the wall. Quickly it then shot a few blasts at him but they were evaded.

The Shadowmare shot another blast and Agua dodged it again. A hole was created in the side of the pool and water began to flow out draining the pool. Immediately Agua used it to his advantage. He reached out a hoof and grabbed a hydrokinetic hold of the water gushing out of the hole. With a few swaying motions it began to move. A few threads of water began to go upwards in a helix form. At the front they formed a sharp tip. With an underhoof motion, the water began spinning faster and faster as it was redirected right for the Shadowmare’s head. It drilled right through the skull and it dissolved quickly.

Just as he thought the danger had subsided, the water mover heard Rarity and Fleur shriek. Agua began to move quickly to where they were. He saw another Shadowmare growling and slowly approaching the couch his partner and friends were hiding behind. Rarity and Fleur had peaked out their heads to see if it was clear and ended up seeing a Shadowmare lock eyes with them.

The inside of the Shadowmare’s mouth was beginning to let loose a fair bit of excess dark energy that had been charging up. Mere seconds before release, it found itself violently pushed over and was now wet in a puddle. A few moments later and the Shadowmare then found itself in a headlock courtesy of Agua.

“How many more?” he growled.

The Shadowmare talked.

“Too many for your friends to handle, water mover.”

“I’ll be the judge of that.”

All it took was one more abrupt move to put it to an end. Quickly and violently, Agua twisted the Shadowmare’s neck and a loud cracking sound was heard. The dark pony screeched one last time before evaporating into its basic component of black smoke.

Standing back down on four hooves, he then walked over to the couch the trio of unicorns was using as shelter. Seeing his blue fur made them all come out from hiding.

“Where are those strange ponies?” Fancypants asked him.

“Gone.” Was all Agua answered with before looking at his silvery white partner. “Come on. We gotta get outta here.”

“Agua what’s happening?” Rarity asked scared.

“I’m not sure. But if those Shadowmares are any indication, it’s nothing good. Now c’mon!”

Fancypants and Fleur were able to tell by his tone alone that he knew exactly what was going on. However, since this seemed to be a bit dangerous, they thought it best to not question him and just get the hell to safety.

Once they burst out the door, confusion rose up about their plan.

“What should we do?” Fancypants asked.

Agua gave him immediate instructions.

“Alright listen to me. Take Fleur and get to somewhere safe. The safest place you know of. And then stay there.”

Taking his word, Fancypants led his wife away from there as more Shadowmare started to pop up and close in on Agua and Rarity.

“Are you sure it was a good idea to let them go off alone?” Rarity asked.

“They’ll be fine. Right now we gotta let the princess know what’s going on.” Agua said.

Rarity was on board with that plan. She turned around to head for the castle but froze.

“Um…A-A-Agua?” She shakily rose up a hoof.

“What?”

One turn around and Agua took a step back not expecting to view what was there. A small army of Shadowmares ready to kill.

“Rarity, have you ever been in a fight before?”

“Well..yes. A few times actually. Why?”

In front of Agua, a semi circle of water appeared on the ground. Then the blue stallion controlling the water raised his hooves up and made a few tentacles rose up made of the H2O.

“Because as much as I hate to admit it, I think I’m gonna need some help here.”

A few miles away from the city, a late night train was on the rails currently inbound for the capital city. The only passengers were Applejack and Terra, leaving the entire train to themselves.

For the past minutes of the trip, the two had been talking about many things. Starting with Applejack answering Terra’s question of what a Pinkie Promise is. Terra gained a bit of fear for Pinkie Pie after hearing her partner tell her about what happened when she ‘technically’ broke her Pinkie Promise during the whole Dodge Junction incident. Had Applejack not been able to talk her way out of it using a loophole, she shuddered to think of what might have happened. Terra just sat there frozen shocked to hear someone as playful as Pinkie going so crazy. Even though the story came from the mare of honesty, she found it hard to believe.

After a while longer, Applejack moved on to another story about a couple of cocky business stallions who invaded Ponyville to try and kick Applejack and her family out.

“So then Flim and Flam packed up their machine and got the hay outta Ponyville. Haven’t seen em’ since.” Applejack laughed as she recalled that memory.

“Those two guys sound like a couple of assholes to me. If I see em’ I’ll drop a boulder on top of their precious cider machine.” Terra offered.

“Oh girl, believe me. Ah wanted to give those two a good hard buck right to their smug little faces. But Ah couldn’t cause there were children present.”

“Commendations for that.” Terra nodded. “I still think you shoulda knocked them around. I mean they threatened your farm. Your orchard. Your family! I think that’s a good reason to break some of your own rules and morals.”

Applejack could see where Terra was coming from. Family was indeed a high priority to the farm girl. If ever there was to be any threat made against Applejack herself and her family, then she would make it her job to make sure nothing happens to them. She just always tried to find a solution that didn’t resort to violence. Although Terra did have somewhat of a point. Protecting your family can sometimes mean you gotta get your hooves dirty.

“Perhaps you’re right, Terra. But what’s done is done.” She said as she adjusted her Stetson. “Flim and Flam are gone and with any amount of luck, Ah won’t ever have to see em’ again.”

“But if you do, just give me a holler. If you won’t get violent, Jackie, I’ll gladly do it for you.”

“Much obliged, Terra.” Applejack nodded as hers and Terra’s body moved forward a bit thanks to the decrease in speed. “Oh look we’re here.”

The train finally pulled into the Canterlot station. When it came to a stop, the doors opened up and the two ponies on board got off while talking.

“Never been on a train before.” Terra commented. “Not bad if I do say so myself.”

“Well that’s why trains were made in the first place. To make travelin’ easier.” Applejack said. “Ah’m sure in time you’ll come to like some of the other things that Equestrians made. Like….uh…”

She didn’t stall because she couldn’t think of anything to use as an example for Terra. No way. Applejack stuttered because she had finally turned her head away from Terra to look forward and took notice of something.

The entire platform the two of them were standing on was crawling with Shadowmares. They were blocked from getting through to the city and it seemed like there was nowhere for them to go. Nervous, Terra waved a hoof at them.

“Uhhh….hi guys. There a party?” she muttered.

Her answer was every single one of them blasting at her and Applejack with dark energy. Bipedal the yellow pony went. And with a quick stomp of her hind hoof and raising up her front ones to the sky, she made the ground in front of her and AJ raise up in the form of a giant wall of rock. The blasts made contact with the rock and fizzled away into nothing. When the wall lowered, the pony who summoned it was gone along with her orange partner.

Outside the train station, a hole burst open in the ground and Applejack and Terra rose out of it, the latter having a grip on the former. Looking back, they saw they were now quite a ways away from the train station. Far enough to where the Shadowmares couldn’t see them.

Terra was furious. She didn’t like being shot at. She NEVER likes being shot at. She began to walk straight back to the train station with full intent to lay down the law Geo Tribe style. That walk lasted only a few steps before Applejack bit her tail forcing her to a halt. After spitting it out, she spoke.

“There’s too many of ‘em, Terra. And if there’s that many at the train station alone…”

“Then there are probably more of them in the city.” Terra finished realizing she now had to do something else. “We gotta get to the castle and fast.”

With every bit of speed they had, the two mares began to sprint straight for the castle.

Meanwhile back inside the city, the mares of kindness, wind, and laughter, accompanied by the stallion of ice, had made their way in and out almost every antique shop in the entire city. Pinkie and Fluttershy were nice enough to spring a few bits for some of the things Cryo and Typhoon had their eyes set on. They also sprang for some stuff they thought was pretty. Fluttershy bought a very nice set of teacups she thought would do well to replace her old set which had started to crack recently. She also paid for a few hair mane accessories Typhoon had interested in. Pinkie Pie had gotten a few nice wall decorations she thought would go well in Sugarcube Corner. As for her icy partner, he didn’t really see anything he wanted. He instead asked for a thing for someone else. A pair of light blue and gray ceramic hoop earrings for Gem. Gem had her ears pierced when she was just a child. It’s custom for all members of the Eneoji tribe to get their ears pierced. But when she came to Equestria they were removed. And Cryo wanted to give them back to her in a way.

After they had finished looking around, they walked out of the store into the Canterlot night life. Carriages carrying ponies to and from destinations like fancy get-togethers and what not, bars filled up with guests for a late night drink, the city truly deserved to be known as the Capital of all Equestria. The customs alone uphold the reputation of the fine establishment.

Through the streets the four ponies walked getting closer to the castle with each drop of their hooves. A couple of them had grown tired and wanted to be shown to their rooms for the night.

“By Aeolus, I’ve always wanted to stay at ze castle.” Typhoon saw one of the castle towers through one of the gaps in between of couple of buildings. “I’ve heard some of ze chambers are as extravagant on the inside as ze whole castle ees on ze outside.”

“Oh it’s true!” Pinkie said with a happy bounce. “Rarity stayed there a couple times when she went on business trips for supplies like cloth and needles and thread and stuff like that. The princess allowed her to stay there since she’s friends with Twilight.”

“I’m alright with Sugarcube Corner.” Cryo voiced his opinion. “Compared to the life I had back home in the Frost tribe, that bakery is already a castle to me.”

This wasn’t the first time Cryo had made a reference like that to his homeland. Pinkie had noticed he had talked like that quite often.

(Sugarcube Corner; A week ago)

Mr. and Mrs. Cake, Pinkie Pie, and Cryo had all sat down together for dinner. Before so, Mrs. Cake, with help from Cryo’s unicorn magic, had set the table with plates, silverware, and whatnot while Mr. Cake and Pinkie put Pound and Pumpkin Cake in their respective high chairs.

Cryo and his partner sat next to each other while Mr. Cake brought over a steaming hot plate over to the table from the kitchen. A stainless steel dome lid had the plate entirely covered. Mr. Cake placed it in the center of the table and smiled proudly.

“Cryo, would you do the honors please?” Mr. Cake asked.

The white unicorn nodded and focuses his eyes and his horn on the lid of the plate. Now encased with a cyan magical aura, the lid lifted up off the plate revealing what was concealed underneath. Immediately Cryo and Pinkie began to drool a bit.

Mr. Cake and Mrs. Cake had teamed up to form this meal. It was a scrumptious looking pasta casserole with sauce along with a few side dishes. Everypony soon began to serve themselves and Mrs. Cake fed her babies.

“Cryo, are you sure you don’t want any more?”Mrs. Cake asked noticing the share Cryo served himself was quite small.

“It’s alright, Mrs. Cake.” Cryo insisted. “Really it is.”

“There’s plenty to go around, son.” Mr. Cake had grown especially close to Cryo since he had been there due to his kindness and assistance. So the ice maker didn’t mind being called that. “By all means, take more so you won’t get skinny.”

“The last thing we want is for you to starve.” Mrs. Cake added.

Cryo chuckled after Mrs. Cake got done saying that.

“Me? Starve? Mr. and Mrs. Cake, compared to what I used to eat back home, this is a feast for me.”

The cakes didn’t push it any farther than that. By the look of his face alone, they could tell it was something he didn’t want to bring into conversation. Pinkie noticed it too after a bit more time but she didn’t let go as easy as Mr. and Mrs. Cake did. Cleary there was something about her partner she didn’t know.

That was the first time Pinkie had heard Cryo compare his life in Equestria to his life back home in Alamante. It came up a few more times in different scenarios other then food shares. She wanted so badly to ask him about it but she like the Cakes respected his privacy too much to do that. She had thought about asking Typhoon but then that would be going behind his back. The bubbly pink pony was torn on what she should do. She wanted to know what was wrong with him so she could help, but on the other hoof, she didn’t want to betray his friendship and trust. She had been straining herself to think of a loophole ever since.

“You must miss it there.” Fluttershy muttered to him in her sweet little voice.

Cryo nodded in a wordless response. Soon the four of them started to approach a fork in the road. The right path led to the castle and the left path went back into the downtown area where they started a few hours ago. Before actually reaching the fork, three out of the four of them already had eyes for the right path.

But there was still one thing that Typhoon couldn’t get out of her mind. Instead of heading to the castle, she turned left and started to make her way back to the first store they entered a few hours ago.

Groaning, Cryo began to follow her with Fluttershy walking at his side and Pinkie bouncing on his other.

“Why is she going back?” Fluttershy wondered.

“Oh I have a guess.” Cryo muttered.

Without anymore words, Cryo took off after his sister with his partner and Fluttershy in tow. When they walked through the door they were immediately met by the shopkeeper like before.

“Well welcome back, my friends.” He greeted. “Come back to actually buy something this time?”

“We’ll see.” Cryo muttered.

“Oh and uh…one more thing.” The shopkeeper then wrapped a hood around Cryo’s neck like he was on old buddy or something. Then he pointed over to where Typhoon was.

“Your friend over there. Is she single?”

That was the wrong question to ask and the wrong pony to ask it to. With a glare, Cryo shoved the shopkeeper off him and stared directly at his eyes through his sunglasses.

“Alright. Listen up, creep-ass.” Cryo’s tone turned into a stern one. One that Pinkie hadn’t heard before. “I’m only gonna say this once. If you make a single move on my sister over there, or any of these two mares next to me, I will beat the everloving crap out of you. Do I make myself clear?”

The shopkeeper began to slowly back away from Cryo with the white rims of his eyes going so side they could be seen past the edges of his dark shades. Pinkie and Cryo shared similar looks but they stayed right next to him not moving an inch.

“Whoa, take it easy man.” The shopkeeper timidly said. “I…I didn’t know she was your sister. I’m sorry. Look I’m getting away from her. Okay?”

“Good.” Cryo growled.

With that, the shopkeeper went back behind the counter and Cryo went over to stand by Typhoon’s side. Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie looked at each other still stunned by Cryo’s tone.

“Has he ever…um…spoken like that before?” Fluttershy asked Pinkie.

“No no no.” Pinkie answered. “I’ve never heard him talk like that. I wonder why.”

“I think he just wants Typhoon to be safe.” Fluttershy assumed.

Pinkie nodded not wanting to think of it anymore as she turned to view the store once more.

“We never did buy anything from this place.” She recalled.

So she and Fluttershy went around the store again to see if there would be anything in there to catch their interest. While they went off alone, their two partners stood still gazing up at the wall that held the prize Typhoon eagerly wanted to hold; The Alamantian Aero Tribe staff.

“Ty, I’m begging you. For the love of Skaldi, just let it go. It’s just one staff.” Cryo pleaded with his sister.

“Cryo, how would you feel eef you saw a treasured item of ze Frost Tribe hanging on zat wall?” Typhoon argued.

Cryo sighed not knowing what to do. He just wanted to end her obsession.

“If you want it so much then just ask Fluttershy to buy it for you. I’m sure she will. Element if kindness and all.”

“No. Absolument pas.” She snapped with her accent gone full. “I will not give zat slimeball shopkeeper ze satisfaction of anyone paying for something zat he stole.”

“I know it makes you mad but can’t you just let…”

“Ah!”

Typhoon let out a small yelp rubbing her hoof to her head, interrupted Cryo in mid-speech.

“Ty, what’s wrong?” he asked.

“Something ees here.” She said like a warning. “My telepathy ees picking up something.”

“Picking up what?”

He was cut off by a shriek. A loud shriek. Had it been any louder the windows might have obliterated into a million tiny pieces. Within less than a second after the sound reached their ears, Typhoon’s and Cryo’s heads shot in the direction from which it came.

“I zink eet may be zat.” Typhoon said.

The other ponies in the store rushed out except for a few of them and the shopkeeper. Two of that few happened to be Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy. They were both on the ground holding each other in their hooves as two black ponies with white spots and purple and black manes approached them one of them carrying a blade glowing with a dark black aura.

“Laughter and kindness. What wamby pamby elements.” One of them joked.

As the other one raised up its blade to strike them down, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie embraced each other thinking this was it. But it wasn’t.

Before anything else could happen, the two Shadowmares froze up. Literally. Their bodies went from dark black to a frosty cyan with icicles hanging down from their limbs. Then they both obliterated. The left one went to pieces when a familiar white and cyan hoof punched its way through the chest. And the right one broke when the bottom end of a staff jabbed straight through the stomach. When they were clear to view, Cryo and Typhoon were seen, the latter holding the staff from the wall in the grip of her hooves.

“You zink zey’re wamby pamby? Zen try us on for size.” Typhoon spat on the ice as black smoke rose from it indicated the Shadowmares were dead.

But not all of them were dealt with. Another scream alerted Typhoon and Cryo of the other pair that were right behind them. Cryo had his turn with his ice. Now it was Typhoon’s turn to use her element. Twirling the staff in her hooves, she was able to channel her power through it and use it as an extension of herself. As the wooden staff spun, air moved around Typhoon’s body in sync with the staff’s spinning speed. Then she swung the staff vertically down and let loose a huge blast of wind right for the Shadowmares. The two dark flunkies were sent right through the door and out skidding in the street.

Shortly after, Typhoon and Cryo followed them out with the remaining customers, their partners and the shopkeeper all on their tail. Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie stayed behind their respective partners as the others ran away. The Shadowmares blasted big shots of dark energy at their targets. The four ponies jumped clear out of the way and the store behind them was blown up in a big explosion. Typhoon twirled the staff quite nicely to use the air nearby to extinguish the fire.

“You and that staff. I swear to Skaldi, Typhoon.” Cryo groaned realizing she took it.

“Eet’s not stealing. Eet’s liberating.” Typhoon argued. “Plus, I zink ze shopkeeper has beeger problems zen a meesing staff.”

Cryo looked back at the store they were just in and saw how much damage the Shadowmares did to it.

“Good point.”

So far this trip to Canterlot was turning into a brawl. Over in the arena however, two mares were having a hoot.

Smoke trails filled the night sky as the six ponies creating them flawlessly execute the most difficult of aerial techniques as a team. The Wonderbolts show was sold out just as always. Hundreds if not thousands of ponies showed up to cheer on the squad. But no cheering could ever match that of their number one fan, Rainbow Dash. Tonight she also had a bit of assistance from Gem.

The two mares cheered every tome the Wonderbolts flew over their head and filled their ears with rumbling. To Rainbow Dash, it was music to her eardrums.

“WOOOOOOOOOO!” She gave a rowdy cheer for her heroes.

Gem chuckled at her friend’s enthusiasm as she continued to observe the Wonderbolts in motion. She witnessed them all diving straight down together then pulling up in their own directions sharply. Her eyes caught their movements and her brain began to calculate.

“You know, I bet they would be able to get into the formation pattern more easily after that move if they slowed down at least 7.2854 miles per hour. At the speed they were going, pulling up had to be a bit straining on their backs.”

Rainbow Dash saw a good bit if Twilight’s eggheaded tone in this girl. But nevertheless she was baffled by what she said.

“How do you know that?” she asked.

“I have a very scientific eye, Rainbow. Sometimes it’s a blessing other times it’s a curse. And I’m telling you, if they could pull up at a slower speed after that last move, getting back into formation would be a breeze.”

Rainbow had forgotten that little detail about her partner. Typhoon herself explained that Gem is a scientific genius. And if she was able to get a conclusion like that from watching the Wonderbolts from a distance…

…imagine what kind of pointers and tips Rainbow could get from an up close study from the young unicorn.

“Next time I got out practicing, Gem, I want you there watching every little bit.” She told her partner. “With your powers of observation, I can perfect my tricks in no time! The Wonderbolts will HAVE to accept be by the time tryouts roll around!”

Gem giggled at her friend’s obsession. For all the time she’s been staying with her, most of the time all the pegasus talked about was joining the Wonderbolts. She said it was her lifelong dream.

With their heads up to the sky again, they continues to view the show. But then there came a disturbance in the form of six other ponies flying in out of nowhere in similar outfits the Wonderbolts had.

“What the hay? Who are those guys, Rainbow?” Gem asked.

“I don’t know.” Rainbow Dash answered. “They look kinda like Wonderbolts but everypony knows there’s not that many.”

“Weird. Hold on.” Gem said as her horn shined electric purple.

Gem kept her eyesight on the unknown flyers as she levitated her binoculars up to her eyes. Rainbow brought up her own binoculars with her hooves and followed her partner’s line of sight. Soon they got view of the new fliers. They were wearing outfits similar to the Wonderbolts. But there were noticeable differences. They were purple and black with yellow zig-zag trim and yellow eyes. Their cutie marks looked like skulls with wings coming out of the back. Gem had never seen nor heard of this team before.

“Hey wait a minute.” Rainbow Dash’s memory had recalled them. “Those look like the Shadowbolts. I remember Nightmare Moon tested my loyalty to my friends in the Everfree Forest with them.

“Wait….Shadowbolts? Then that can only mean…”

With a small gasp, Rainbow and her younger partner looked at each other quickly, then back at the sky. The Shadowbolts began to go into a nosedive aimed straight for them.

“SHADOWMARES WITH WINGS!”

Their guess was correct. The Wonderbolts had screeched their show to an abrupt halt upon seeing these intruders. They had intended to fly down next to them and ask them what they were doing, but a few moments later they decided against it. From the mouths of all six Shadowbolts, energy began to charge up. Then they released their blasts right for Rainbow Dash and Gem. The audience began to shriek and panic.

The blasts neared but Gem was quick. Her hooves glowing purple, she swirled in a perfect circle. As she did, a circle line of her plasma element was drawn around her, Rainbow Dash, and a few other audience members who were too scared to move. When her circle was complete, Gem raised her hooves straight up into the air almost like a ballerina. That movement made her drawn circle raise up and curve into a dome plasma force field.

When the dark shots collided with her shield, the young unicorn cringed. Every impact upon her shield, she felt with her own body. Some of the plasma even backfired on her. When the last shot hit her force field, a small bolt of plasma shot back at its master and hit her on her rib cage area. Gem yelped a bit and Rainbow looked up at her concerned now seeing a bruise caused by the girl’s own element. As softspoken and closed off as she was, Gem wasn’t going to let a single bruise be enough to slow her down.

The dome began to vanish as Gem’s hooves began to glow with the same energy substance that made up her shield. Throwing out her hooves like punches, she launched a few shots of plasma right for the oncoming Shadowbolts. The airshow wannabees evaded the attack but pulled up to turn around and try again. But Gem was ahead of them. Rainbow hadn’t forgotten that Gem could use her element to form any object she saw in her mind. The young unicorn of plasma was doing just that right as the Shadowbolts launched another wave of black shots.

Gem smacked her front hooves to the ground and quickly raised them to the sky. Rising up as well was her plasma forming the shape of the object Gem was picturing in her head. A few seconds later, the purple glowing element finished forming a full size medieval catapult. The dark shots blasted at them made their way into the bucket of the machine and made it swing all the way back. Then it launched forward sending the blasts back at their shooters, hitting them and making them vaporize.

Work done, Gem powered down and looked around. Lucky for her, not many ponies seemed to care what she had just done. The audience got scared right after the Shadowbolts shot their attacks first. So the evacuation was moving quickly.

“And to think I dressed up as one of those guys for Nightmare Night!” Rainbow shouted disgusted at the thought.

“Forget about that right now, Rainbow! We should find the others!” Gem cried.

Before she responded, Rainbow Dash turned back around to see if she could spot the Wonderbolts but no such luck. The skies were clear. They must have flown away after they saw Gem’s plasma shield block the first wave of shots. As much as she wanted to know if they were okay, Rainbow knew she had more important matters to worry about. Like making sure her best friends were alright.

“Okay let’s get out of here!” she flapped her wings and she took off airborne.

Gem was still ground bound but she had other ways of getting around other than her hooves. Using her plasma power, she waved her hoof and created a large hollow wheel of her purple glowing element. She stepped inside the wheel and stood in a sideways bipedal position as if she were surfing. The wheel began to move forward and Gem made her way out of the arena and into the streets of Canterlot with Rainbow Dash right above her.

Over in the castle, everyone inside was completely oblivious to the events happening outside the walls. They were all too busy talking to each other. The word “all” refers to Twilight, Spike, Princess Celestia, Princess Cadence, Pyro, and Shining Armor. They were all inside Celestia’s and Luna’s throne room chatting to pass by the time. All the while, Cadence kept shooting looks at Pyro. And the stallion was easily able to take notice of it. It made him uncomfortable.

Shining Armor and him though were getting along like they were long lost brothers or something. That’s how Twilight saw it at least. Even though she was happy her brother getting along with her new friend, the flat expression on her face wasn’t showing it.

“Twilight? Is something wrong?” Celestia was easily able to notice it.

Never being one to lie to her mentor, Twilight gave her honest words.

“In your letter, you said it was urgent that we come.” Twilight began. “But I don’t see how something as little as a status report qualifies as urgent.”

Hearing her explain that made Spike and Pyro remember the letter too.

“Hey yeah.” Spike added. “She worded it like it was some sort of emergency.”

The fire red stallion was now a bit suspicious.

“Princess…is there something you’re not telling us as to why we’re here?” Pyro wondered.

Shining Armor and Cadence were clueless. Celestia on the other hoof was nervous. Twilight could tell. She knew the princess long enough to tell the signs for when she is nervous. Right now she was showing them. She was looking at nopony in particular. She had a steady breathing pattern. And the rest of her body wasn’t moving as if she were frozen. Not even a blink of her eyes. Finally she spoke.

“What you must understand is…”

Before she could complete her sentence, Celestia was cut off when the door to the throne room was rapidly opened and a grey unicorn guard made his way through it.

“Princess, you’re needed outside. It’s an emergency!” The guard said.

“What’s going on, soldier?” Shining Armor asked his comrade.

“Something bad, captain!” the guard cried. “Please! Hurry!”

Not knowing what else to do, the Princess got up with everyone else in the throne room behind her. The guards who were already stationed inside the room to begin with also followed. Once they were outside and back in the waiting area, the doors to the throne room closed. But as everyone looked around, they saw absolutely nothing wrong. Everything looked fine.

“Soldier, where is this emergency you spoke of?” Shining Armor ordered his comrade to explain.

The same guard who burst through the door looked back at them with a new evil facial expression. Then it spoke with a new voice.

“Right here.”

In a puff of black, the guard vanished and its place was taken by a Shadowmare. The rest of the guards nearby then followed suit, making that ten Shadowmares in total.

Cadence shrieked while Shining Armor stood in front of her to protect her. Pyro did the same for Twilight and Spike. Celestia stood her ground horn glowing and ready to attack if necessary.

Shining Armor could tell they were a threat. Immediately hey began to shoot blasts of magic at them. The Shadowmares easily blocked them and charged him. He was tackled to the ground and pinned while Cadence was backed into a corner. One of them charged for Celestia but it soon found its path blocked by a red unicorn.

“You just made a very bad move.” He growled.

The Shadowmare tried to punch Pyro’s face. It was unsuccessful. He easily blocked it and gave the dark pony a good sock to its own face. Then a few more tried to gang up on him. Three to be exact. One came from the left, another came from the right. Thinking simply, Pyro merely stepped out of the way at the right time and made the two on coming black ponies punch each other. Then the third one was easily beaten with another dodge of a punch and a good sidekick to the center.

“Seriously? Is that it?” Pyro asked a bit disappointed in their efforts.

Suddenly the red unicorn let out a sharp cry of pain. And then he grunted as his head roughly jerked forward and he was knocked off balance and onto his belly. Looking down Twilight saw a bruise on his back similar to the one Gem got from that party.

“Pyro!” Twilight cried afraid.

Before she could get a chance to help him, another Shadowmare got in front of her. It was the one that had shot Pyro. It was a Shadowmare, but it was somewhat different. It was smaller than the others, about the size of Pyro. It had no white spots on its coat unlike all the rest. It’s mane and tail was longer and tied into tails. The eyes remained the same. But the most noticeable difference, was that this one had a horn on its head.

With its front hooves energized, the unicorn Shadowmare stood bipedal and backed Twilight up against the wall while more ordinary dark ponies appeared and piled on top of Pyro as he began to get up. Try as he might he couldn’t overpower the weight of all those Shadowmares on top of him. A few of them copied themselves and those new Shadowmares surrounded Celestia threatening to kill Twilight if she moved.

The unicorn Shadowmare had its eye on Twilight and her alone. Twilight tried shooting a shot of magical energy at it. With ease the Shadowmare deflected it back at her. Twilight thudded to the floor after being hit by her own spell. When she looked back up, she saw the dark unicorn standing above her now carrying a large blade in its hooves made out of dark energy.

“Your time as her student has come to an end.”

It raised the blade to strike and Twilight closed her eyes. But over at the Shadowmare pile, Pyro’s eyes opened back up. Through a small gap, he saw his partner on the ground and a Shadowmare about to kill her.

“NOOOOOOOO!”

The unicorn Shadowmare was interrupted in its assault. It looked back at the pile of other Shadowmares and saw a dim orange glow coming from within. One second later, the top of the pile burst with a blast of flame.

He was free. And he wasn’t happy. Standing bipedal, he spun around while creating a flaming whip from his hoof that made every Shadowmare that came into contact with it dissolve into the black smoke that built them. When it was clear, he stood alone whip still dangling from his hoof.

The unicorn Shadowmare decided to make it quick and rose its hoof to strike Twilight down again. It’s hoof halted and began to heat up. It looked and saw a line of fire wrapped around the hoof and gripped tightly. It led all the way back to Pyro who still had a grip on his flame whip.

He was not happy with what he was looking at. His partner, his friend in danger, and a unicorn Shadowmare about to kill her.

“Get the hell away from her.” He growled.

Before the horned Shadowmare could even react, Pyro gave a hard yank on his fire whip. He spun around a few times then made the whip vanished releasing his grip on the dark pony. The unicorn went flying into a wall and fell to the ground dazed.

The remaining normal Shadowmares began to all advance on Pyro. But he was ready for them. The five Shadowmares launched simultaneous blasts of dark energy at him. Hearing the blasts shot, Pyro countered with his own technique.

With a spin, he swung his hoof releasing a slice of flames. The slice vaporized the dark blasts. Then he threw another punch releasing five balls of fire just a bit bigger than his head. All five hit their targets directly and made them also vaporize.

He then turned around to view the last Shadowmare left to defeat. The unicorn.

Now free, the Princesses, Spike, and Twilight all thought it would be best to take cover while the fiery stallion finishes the last one. Shining Armor was about to run in to try and help, but he was caught by the tail thanks to Twilight’s magic.

“Twilight, let me go!” Shining Armor demanded.

“Shiny, trust me. We want to stay away from this.”

“But Twilight…”

“Shining Armor, please. Don’t question me on this. Just come on!”

Wasting no more time, Twilight picked up Shining Armor’s entire body with magic and carried him away with her back into the throne room. Twilight put her brother down and then she, Princess Celestia, Spike, Cadence, and Shining Armor all poked their heads out wanting to view what was happening.

There was only Pyro and the unicorn Shadowmare. Right now, the waiting area outside the Princess’s chambers was being used as an arena for this fight. For about a minute or so, all they did was stare each other down before the evil unicorn finally spoke first.

“You’re pretty calm minded for a hot blooded pony.” It’s distorted and strange voice came.

“You’re pretty durable for a Shadowmare.” Pyro snapped back.

The unicorn shadow pony chuckled.

“My queen put a little bit more power into making me. A bit more effort to make sure I was powerful enough to stand up to you, fire mover.”

Shining Armor was still confused. Nopony was giving him an answer and it was starting to make him ticked.

“Fire mover? What is that thing talking about?” he demanded to know.

He was a bit annoyed when he received no answer. Everypony else seemed too focused on watching the two fighters banter. As the Shadowmare stood up in a biped pose, the flame red stallion slowly did the same.

“You speak as if you have a mind of your own. Like you actually have sentience. But I know you don’t. You’re just another extension of her.”

“Is that so, hot head? Well…let’s see how hot you are. EAT THIS!”

The black unicorn had enough of chatting. Its hooves glowing with darkness, it motioned forward and released that dark energy right for the red stallion in the form of a black beam.

Pyro reacted defensively and energized not only his hooves but his horn too. Using his magic, he created an orange glowing protective force field around himself while his flames gave the shield a bit more power. The black beam collided with the force field and Pyro felt his body strain. The power this Shadowmare was giving off was indeed a bit stronger than the other ones. That still didn’t stop him.

When the beam stopped, Pyro depowered his shield not even the least bit worn.

“Sorry. But I’m not hungry.” He growled.

Skillfully moving his body, Pyro executed his offensive attack. With one forward punch with his arm, two fireballs larger than his own body blasted out and began twisting in the form of a helix. The Shadowmare was a bit frightened at his strength but jumped out of the way to dodge and counter. The flames blasted at him impacted into the wall and dissolved. There was only a tiny scorch mark left on the wall due to it being so strong.

After regaining itself the dark unicorn blasted a few small shots back. Pyro skillfully evaded and showed off some of his defensive martial arts with his twisting motions. Then his hooves lit up again and he timed his punches correctly so he made impact with the other shots.

Angry, the unicorn Shadowmares released a large wave of dark energy and made a circular wall around it and the red stallion. The spinning circle wall began to close in. As much fun as it was to see a Shadowmare with the least bit of conscious, it grew boring quickly.

With a quick movement of his hoof, Pyro blasted a stream of fire at the wall and made the dark energy creating it puff away.

The Shadowmare snarled then charged for Pyro with its hooves powered up. The red unicorn kept his hooves lit up as well prepared for close combat. When it was in range, the Shadowmare threw a punch but it was merely blocked. As were a few others it threw. After blocking one more, he threw his right fiery hoof into the stomach of the unicorn. It doubled over and that allowed Pyro to throw a hard uppercut into its face. The force of that one sent the dark pony off its hooves and on its back.

Immediately though it bounced back up, which caught the stallion of fire off guard. With it’s back hooves now powered up as well, the unicorn Shadowmare jumped and lunged its back leg into Pyro. He was sent careening into a wall cracking it a bet near a window, causing Twilight and the other to cringe. As he slid back to the ground, his yellow eyes opened up to see it get closer. Then his eyes viewed the same Shadowmare getting hit from the side with a large blast of magenta magic. He didn’t even have to look to know who it was. He looked anyway and saw exactly what he though. Twilight was out there with her horn glowing brght.

“Twilight! What are you doing?” he shouted.

“You’re just as much my partner as I am yours!” Twilight answered.

Then she lowered her head down and launched another shot from her horn. Pyro mixed it up by shooting a fireball in there with her shot. The magical energy and his fire began to fuse together. Together they impacted into the unicorn Shadowmare and sent it flying back into the wall. Quickly, Pyro moved forward and pinned the Shadowmare against the wall.

“She will purge the world of the Alamantian plague. Just you wait.”

“She can try all she wants. She’ll fail. Just like you.”

He had had enough. And so did Twilight. With a gesture from Pyro, Twilight was given the okay to take this one. Her horn shone magenta and with a few more seconds, she released a charged shot of energy right at the head of the Shadowmare. Her aim was as sharp as her brilliant mind. The shot went right through the head of it and all it took was five more seconds for it to vaporize.

She then turned around and gave the all clear to the others. Shining Armor, Spike, Celestia, and Cadence came out from behind the doors and closed them. Celestia looked down at the two and smiled at them.

“Hitashi always spoke highly of you. Now I can see why. You are indeed as strong as he said you are.”

Pyro smiled and nodded to that. Then the princess looked down at the lavender mare.

“I see you and him are getting along famously. I’m quite impressed with you, Twilight. The two of you seem to make a good team.”

Both unicorns nodded with small smiles at the princess. Then Twilight remembered what had happened when she saw the wound on her partner.

“Pyro…your back.” She said a bit worried.

“It’s just a bruise. Don’t worry about it.” He insisted.

The sound of her older brother and his wife approaching was enough to make her do that. The former had his eyes locked on the red unicorn with his jaw half dropped.

“Who…who are you?” Shining Armor was barely able to find his voice.

There was no use hiding it now. The fire hot stallion turned around and told Shining Armor the truth.

“My name is Pyro of the Ember Tribe. I have been assigned by Princess Celestia to be Twilight Sparkle’s partner and bodyguard.”

“Ember Tribe?” Cadence repeated.

“Bodyguard?” That was the part that got to Shining Armor. “Is Twilight in some sort of trouble?”

There was a bit of a pause. Twilight and Pyro began to strain their brains thinking of what to do here.

“Well…yeah. Kinda.” Pyro answered.

“Kinda?” Shining Armor wasn’t pleased. “That’s not very enlightening.”

Twilight sighed. She was hoping to avoid this with her brother but that ship had sailed. She looked at her partner to see if he was okay with. He wasn’t. He could tell by the look on her face she wanted to spill. He shook his head in defiance.

“Pyro, he’s seen too much. Let’s just tell him.”

“Tell me what?! Will someone please explain to me what the hell is going on?!”

“Calm down, Shining Armor. Twilight tried to calm her brother. “Okay. Here’s the truth.”

“Twilight..” Pyro tried to stop her.

“He’s gonna find out sooner or later, Pyro. There’s no reason in hiding it now.”

Pyro sighed. His partner was right. If that little Shadowmare attack wasn’t an indicator that something was wrong, then what was? With a sigh, he gave in.

“Very well.”

Shining Armor and Princess Cadence sat in silence as Twilight and Pyro explained the situation to them with a little bit of help from Spike. It took a few minutes to explain the basics. Those being the prophecy, finding each other, and their current living situation. Finally they got to here.

“So that’s basically it. We’re working together to try and find out how to combine our elements so we can stop Nightmare Moon.” Twilight finished the story.

“But I thought you and your friends already defeated Nightmare back when you first used the Elements of Harmony.” Shining Armor stated.

“We thought the same too.” Spike corrected. “Princess Luna pretty much explained why that happened. But it still confuses me.”

“Wait a second.” Cadence stood up and approached them.

More specifically, she approached Pyro. He AND Shining Armor were getting tired of that. She had been staring at him funny all night and they didn’t have the slightest clue as to why.

“How could I have not seen it?” Cadence took a good look at the red unicorn. “I know you. You’re Hitashi Ma’s star student. You’re a fire mover!”

Pyro nodded confirming it all to be true.

“Alamantian?” Shining Armor mumbled. “You’re Alamantian?”

While they were storytelling, Pyro and Twilight somehow forgot to mention the country of where the six masters of nature were from.

“Born and raised in the ways of the flames.” He responded.

“All that stuff you said to me when we met…you lied to me!”

“No, Shining Armor. Not one word I said to you was false.”

“But you said…”

“What I said was that I’m visiting from the east, I’m Twilight’s friend, and I work with fire. Nothing more. I’m from Alamante which is east of here. I am indeed a friend of your sister. And as you can now plainly see, fire kinda runs through my veins.”

Arguing back was something that could not be achieved at this point. Pyro had a point. No lies were spoken. He just wasn’t really upfront with the captain as much as he probably should have been.

“I KNEW IT!”

Cadence was the one sho shouted that at an unnecessarily loud volume.

“I’ve seen you a lot of times before. I used to travel to your country frequently before the war broke out. Don’t you recognize me? My name is Cadence. I know who you are.”

“Look, I know you keep saying that but I honestly have no idea who YOU are.” Pyro once again said to her.

Cadence rubbed her chin trying to think of a way to jog this guy’s memories. She could only think of one way. It was relatively simple, but it was all she had to try.

“My full name is Princess Mi Amore Cadenza. Does that ring any bells?”

Sighing, Pyro thought about the name in an attempt to humor her.

“Mi Amore Cadenza. Mi Amore Cadenza.” He mumbled.

Then something in his brain clicked. Memories from years ago came flashing back to him. In Alamante back when he was a little colt still in fire moving school, he recalled memories of a common visitor. A pink alicorn with a bow in her hair at the time and in her teenage years at least.

He then looked at Cadence knowing full on who she was.

“I do remember you.” He muttered. “You used to visit the Ember Tribe like all the time. I remember putting on solo fire moving shows for you whenever you visited.”

“That was you on the stage. I always thought it was a whole group of ponies doing that. I was quite surprised to find out it was just one mover.”

“I had a great teacher.” He said sadly still missing his master.

“Hold on.” Shining Armor talked to his wife. “You and him know each other?”

“It turns out we’re old friends.” Cadence confirmed it.

“You used to buy flowers from my mother’s hut.” It was all starting to come back to him.

“Yes.” Cadence confirmed. “Your mother’s floral knowledge knew no bounds. How is she?”

He froze hearing the question.

“Um…uh…well see the thing is…”

Lucky for him, his partner interrupted him.

“Um…Pyro? Not to intrude on you catching up with an old friend and all but…don’t you think we should find the others?” Twilight suggested.

“Wait a second. There’s more of you?” Shining Armor asked. “How many more?”

“Six. One for each element of nature.” Twilight answered her brother.

“Six.” Shining Armor’s tone was slowly beginning to change in hearing that. “There’s six Alamantians here. Just…dandy. Just what we need. More freaks running around.”

Faces dropped. Not one. But all of them in range of hearing those words.

“Um…excuse me?” Pyro felt need to ask.

Looking him dead in his gold yellow eyes, Shining Armor gave Pyro his real opinion of him.

“You heard me. You’re a freakshow. A circus act. You don’t belong here in this country. So why don’t go back to wherever it is you came from?”

Twilight and Cadence gasped slightly as they heard the white and blue stallion turn against Pyro just like that.

“I just saved your life, asshole!” Pyro raised his voice. “Let me get this straight. Because you now know I’m Alamantian, NOW you have a problem with me?”

“Shining Armor, that’s not fair!” Twilight wasn’t for it either. “Just a few minutes ago, you and him were laughing it up fine like you were old buddies!”

“That was before I knew what he REALLY was.” Shining Armor growled.

He didn’t seem to care that he was saying this in front of his wife and the ruler of Equestria. Then he remembered something else as he glared at his little sister.

“And you’re LIVING with him?” he snarled. “No way. I will NOT have it! Twilight, how could you?! I thought you were my sister!”

“Shining Armor, stop this!” Cadence shouted.

“No! I refuse to let my sister live anywhere near this fire hazard!” Angrily he pointed at Pyro. “You stay away from my sister you freak!”

He was indeed hurt. He thought he was making friends with Shining Armor. To hear him yell like that was painful. As much as he wanted to punch him in the face, set his mane on fire, beat the crap out of him in front of his own wife, he knew he couldn’t. If he did, it would only just make Shining Armor hate him even more. So he wisely chose to counteract with only words.

“You’re right. I’m a pyrokinetic freak. Compared to everypony here in this country, I’m just a walking circus act. But you know what? I don’t give a damn. I am what I am. I was born and raised Alamantian and I’m damn proud of it. You can hate me all you want. But you DON’T have to be mad at Twilight. She’s done nothing wrong.”

“And neither have you.” Celestia herself said to Pyro before directing her voice to Shining Armor. “I expected a more tolerant attitude from the captain of the entire royal guard. Pyro is living with Twilight upon my orders. While he is here, you will be respectful. Understood?”

Shining Armor looked away from Celestia in disbelief and shame. To hear the princess herself arranged for Twilight to be living with Pyro was hard on him. He was forced to say it now.

“Yes, your majesty. I understand.” He said sorely.

Twilight, Cadence, and Pyro could tell he wasn’t sincere. His snarl was still there. Twilight and Cadence were appalled by his behavior. Never had either of them known him to be prejudice in any way towards anything. To hear him object Pyro’s heritage in such a rude way, it was like they were looking at a completely different stallion. It was scary.

“Pyro! PYRO!”

His ear twitched upon hearing his name. Looking in the direction the sound came from, he saw a window. He walked over, looked down, and saw two of his friends running for the castle. They stopped in front of where Pyro was and looked up at him as Twilight poked her head out to see as well.

“Terra! Applejack! What’s wrong?” Twilight called.

Applejack braced herself as Terra prepared to make something happened. With a single stomp of a yellow hoof, the ground the two earth ponies stood on rose up on the form of a rocky pillar. It rose up enough to where Applejack and Terra could jump through the window of the castle. Which they did as soon as Terra stopped the pillar.

Twilight and Pyro were unfazed by the action performed. Celestia was in between. Cadence and Shining Armor were merely shocked.

“Wow.” Cadence was shocked in a good way though.

She smiled at Terra.

“An earth mover. An honor to meet you.”

Terra smiled back at Cadence then she looked at her brother.

“I like her.”

“Yeah she’s cool.” Pyro agreed. “So what’s up, Terra?”

“Trouble is what’s up. There’s…”

“Terra?”

Cadence interrupted Terra in mid sentence. Being a lover of Alamante and a frequent visitor, Cadence was more inclined with the country than a lot of other Equestrians were.

“Terra? As in…Princess Terra of the Geo Tribe?”

Terra groaned in being called princess again.

“Ugh. Yes that’s me. Well….used to be.”

Celestia was quite shocked to hear that as much as Cadence was. She already knew Terra was a powerful geokinetic but she felt so foolish to not recognize her name as Alamantian royalty.

“Chief Tamaishi is your father?” Celestia asked.

“That’s him.” Terra again groaned.

“But…does he even know you’re alive?” Cadence asked.

“Who cares about my father? He never gave a damn about me so I don’t give a damn about him.”

“Alright, enough!” Pyro raised his voice a bit to get his sister’s attention. “We’ll all get better acquainted with each other later. Now Terra, what’s going on?”

Terra and Applejack right there realized why they had run all the way to the castle in the first place.

“Shadowmares in the city. And a whole lot of em’.” Applejack answered. “There were about a hundred or so of em’ at the train station.”

“There are more of those things?” Cadence became horrified. “How many more?”

Before anyone could answer her, an explosion far away caught all of their ears. As a group, they all walked out to a nearby balcony that overlooked the whole city from a distance. There was smoke bellowing into the sky and the streets were filled with ponies running from their lives and black ponies near them.

“Sweet Agni fireballs.” Pyro muttered.

Celestia couldn’t help but feel a bit shocked that her city was again under attack like it was during the royal wedding. Shining Armor glared back at Pyro. Furious, he rushed at the red pony, forced him up against the wall, and pressed a hoof to his neck allowing no air to get in.

“What have you brought here?!” the white and blue stallion yelled right into his face.

“I…I didn’t bring…ACK!” Pyro wanted to answer but his current lack of oxygen was preventing him from doing so.

“Hey let him go, you jerk!” Terra shouted.

“Back off, dirtbag. Or you’re next.” Shining Armor threatened.

That was it. Insults were not necessary and that last one pushed Terra over the edge. While Twilight, Spike, Cadence, Celestia, and Applejack viewed the scene with shock, Terra kept her eye sight on Shining Armor.

Some unknown force yanked hard on Shining Armor and pulled him clear away from Pyro. As the red unicorn took some raspy deep breaths to get oxygen back into his lungs, Terra was busy doing something else.

She was standing bipedal and had her hooves pointed right at Shining Armor. With a few more motions, the armor he wore ripped off of his body, wrapped around his four hooves, and tied them all together into one big knot. Then a strip of metal that USED to be his helmet came over and wrapped around his horn making sure he could use no magic to get himself out.

Straining to move, Shining Armor squirmed on the ground failing to do so.

“Hey! Let me go!” Shining Armor shouted.

“Kiss my flank, asshole.” Was all Terra had to say to that.

“Terra! That’s my brother!” Twilight cried.

“Well your brother was strangling mine, Twilight.” Terra snapped. “I didn’t really see any other way that didn’t involve hurting him.”

“How the hay did you even do that? His armor is metal!” Twilight asked.

“I’ll explain later. Right now we have trouble.” Terra answered.

“She’s right.” Pyro was back up on his hooves. “Did you run in to any of the others on your way here?”

“No.” Applejack answered. “Terra and Ah just stepped off the train and there was a whole army of em’ waitin for us.”

“After we got away, we high tailed here to warn Princess Celestia. But apparently that’s no longer necessary.” Terra said.

“Oh what are we going to do? The others are still out in the city.” Twilight said very worried. “Not to mention every other pony living in Canterlot.”

“And seeing as how these Shadowmares can make copies of themselves, this may be a big problem.” Applejack added.

“Perhaps not.” Celestia lent her voice to share her opinion. “Something tells me if the Shadowmares wanted to destroy everything so mindlessly, they would be doing so. But from here, it looks more as if they are looking for something.”

“Us.” Twilight was quick to figure it out. “They’re looking for the elements.”

Celestia nodded confirming her student’s suspicions.

“That’s good. That’s very good.” Twilight went on.

“Say what now?” Applejack muttered. “How is ANY of that good? There’s a whole hoard of evil ponies out there and they’re comin’ for us and us alone.”

“Exactly, Applejack. Which means they’ll leave every other innocent pony in Canterlot alone. Unlike them, WE can actually fight them off.”

Applejack’s perspective changed. Twilight had a point. And she was thinking about everypony not just themselves. All in all it made sense.

“You think maybe Princess Luna can help us?” Terra asked. “She does seem to be the expert on these things.”

“Luna is out still bringing the full night to Equestria.” Celestia informed the former princess. “I estimate she won’t be back for a while.”

Celestia was hoping it would take Luna a bit more time than usual to finish the night. Being away from Canterlot was a lot safer right now.

“Well then I guess that plan is scratched.” Pyro said. “I’ll go on ahead and help get Fluttershy, Rainbow, Rarity, and Pinkie back here to the castle. Once they’re all inside the walls, they’ll be safe and we can really start doing our thing.”

“Twi and Ah will stay here and help Terra hold em off.” Applejack insisted.

“Actually I think you and Twilight should…”

“No way.” Applejack cut him off. “We’re just as much involved in this as you are. We’re fightin’ alongside y’all whether ya like it or not.”

Her tone was dead serious. Strong and firm. Seeing as how he didn’t really have time to argue, Pyro shrugged.

“Fine. But be careful.”

Twilight and Applejack nodded as Pyro said one last thing to his sister.

“Hold the fort, Terra. I’ll be back soon.”

With that, Pyro rushed for the balcony.

“W-w-w-w-wait! Pyro what the hay are ya doin?!” Applejack cried.

She didn’t know but she was about to learn. Because without looking back, Pyro leapt over the balcony and started to dive straight for the ground. About halfway before he hit the surface, all four of his hooves lit up on fire and he began to make an excessive amount gush out from his rear ones. He then began to head for the ground even faster. Before he collided, he pulled his body upwards and he began to ascend to a higher altitude.

Shining Armor and Applejack couldn’t believe what they were seeing. In a streak of fire, Pyro flew deeper into the City of Canterlot.

“Uhhhh….” Applejack was at a loss for words.

“Yeah he can fly.”

“Somethin’ tells me Rainbow Dash ain’t gonna like that.”