//------------------------------// // S1 Ep8 Scaling Conflict part two // Story: The Heart family (an Mlp fanfiction) // by Letsduel2002 //------------------------------// Crystal's Pov Crystal stands in front of Cloud's house holding the poster in his hooves. He raises his arm to knock on the door but hesitates. "Should I bother him right now?! No, I shouldn't... hmmm but I want to go with him! But what if his parents find out?! Wait what am I thinking, Cloud's a stallion he should be able to go. " He thinks while pacing in front of Cloud's front door. He takes a deep breath and stops to knock " It's okay Crystal. If he says no. It's not a total loss... right? " He thinks to himself. *Knock knock* "Coming!" Cloud yelled. The door opens and Cloud sees Crystal. "Hey, Crystal," Cloud says smiling, he then notices that something is bothering Crystal. "What's wrong... did something happen?" He asks worried for his boyfriend's safety. Crystal shows him the poster and asks "You want to go? I can understand not wanting to but, I thought I could just ask." Cloud looks at the poster and contemplates. The air becomes a little awkward with the silence. He gives back the poster sweating a little. Crystal looks at the ground waiting for his answer. Cloud takes a deep breath and gives his answer "alright... I'll go." Crystal jerked his head up with a shocked expression on his face. "What?" He breathed. Cloud playfully rolled his eyes and responded with "I said I'll go. My parents live in Manehatten anyway, so if there's any time to tell them... it's then. When does it start?" Crystal looks at the poster to see when it starts "Monday at 3:00 pm." Cloud looks relieved. "*relieved sigh* That's good... it gives me time to mentally prepare myself, to tell my parents." He lets Crystal in and makes his way to the fridge. "You want some cider? I just got some yesterday." Cloud asks getting into the fridge. Crystal sat down at the table and responded "Yeah sure. Umm... why?" Cloud grabs a jug of cider and two glasses from the cupboard. "Why not. It wouldn't hurt to do something we promised to do. Remember? You said that "One day, I want to have some cider with my handsome boyfriend" he chuckled. "Oh, stop it," Crystal says flushing. Cloud puts the two glass cups on the table and pours the cider, foam forming at the top. "Thank you," Crystal said grabbing his glass. He took a sip of his apple cider as Cloud pours some for himself. He then puts the cider on the table and sits down at the table. Crystal could taste the alcohol in the cider. "Hmmmmmm cider. " He thinks smiling. Cloud then starts giggling. "Hehehehehehe." "What's so funny...... wait a minute. You can't hold your alcohol very much, can you?" Crystal asks. "Oh, whabdnis you talking bout?*burps*" Cloud burps out his mouth covered in foam. He then falls over and Crystal rushes to his side. Crystal stands over Cloud and asks if he's okay. "Hey... when did you get four heads? I want to kiss 'em." Cloud says pulling Crystal in to kiss him. Crystal could taste the cider on his breath when they kissed. He pulls himself away from his drunk boyfriend. Cloud rolled over on his belly and started crawling towards Crystal, with a drunken love face. "Come here my little Crystal bugs. I want all four of you. *hiccup*" He slurs out. Crystal moves forward, dodging Cloud's attempt to grab him, and picks him up from behind. He drags Cloud up to the bedroom as Cloud continues his drunken stupor. "I'm sooooooooo *burb* in love with my boyfriend! HEY EVERYPONY... COME SEE MY BOY......" Crystal stops him from yelling by putting his hoof on Cloud's mouth. Cloud then starts to suck on crystal hoof like a baby. Crystal's face then turns red from trying not to like it (Crystal... you into weird stuff boy. And I made you. And yes, I made Crystal be into some kinky stuff). "Stop it, please. This is not the time for kinks! " He thinks dragging the Pegasus to his room. He lays cloud on the bed still sucking on his hoof. "I would like my hoof back," Crystal says pulling away from Cloud. "Noooooo I want my little buuuuug aaaaa." Cloud says like a little colt. Crystal wasn't going to deal with this all day. "If you go to sleep now, we can play later. Okay?" He sternly says. Cloud has the dumbest but most adorable smile on his face and says "Okay." He plops down on the bed, completely falling asleep. "*sigh* we need to work on your alcohol tolerance. Not just your courage." Crystal whispers to himself exiting the room. He enters the kitchen to clean up after himself and Cloud. He drinks the rest of his cider and cleans the glass. He then grabs the cider jug and realizes that it's surprisingly light. He looks inside to see that it's almost empty. "He drank that much cider?! Man... he wanted to fulfill that promise we made when we were 15. " He thinks as he's putting the jug in the fridge. 5 mins later He leaves the house and starts walking home. When he gets home, he notices something's off. He didn't know what, but something was off. Crystal walks in the front door and nothing is there. He checks the kitchen, but nothing there. "Maybe I'm just paranoid right now. *sigh* I just like thunder right now. I mean we would have similarities... we're twins. " Crystal goes upstairs to Thunder's office to see if the notebook was safe. He hears a noise coming from Sky and Diamond's room. He slowly walks toward the room and opens the door...... nothing. He closes the door, then he gets a knife inches away from his neck. "Where are they?" The griffin said behind Crystal. Crystal holds back his fear to calmly say "I don't know what you're talking about." But the griffin isn't having it, he slams Crystal's face into the floor. "Where are your father's notes on soul magic?!!" The griffin demands holding Crystal down. "Is this where I die?" Crystal thinks letting a single tear out. "Arctic!!" A voice screams down the hallway. It came from an armored earth pony mare. She walks towards the two and scolds the griffin "The boss wants him alive." "Then what do you suggest getting the info out of him?" Arctic asks. "Don't worry about that. I have the exact solution for that." She says holding a picture of Diamond and Snow in school. Along with photos of Thunder, Sky, and Aukie captured. Crystal becomes enraged and tries to get up from the griffin's grasp. But he couldn't, he wasn't strong enough. "You stay away from them!!" He growls, and his whole body starts to burn with rage. He continues to struggle against the griffin to no avail. Arctic picks him up and pushes him to the office "Move!" Crystal enters the office with the two armored assailants behind him. "Why do you want these notes?!" Crystal asks. Arctic was going to smack him, but the mare stopped him. "That's confidential. Now... if you would please get those notes.... and your family won't get hurt." She says toying with Crystal. He pulls out the book that reveals the secret compartment. "Should I even do this? Is it even... no-no. I can't be thinking like that. I have to do this for the other's safety." He thinks grabbing the notes. The other two looked at each other and smiled through their helmets. They gave Crystal his Satchel and then lead him to the front door. They stopped and then looked at each other and grabbed Crystal. The mare pulled out a bottle and moved her mouthpiece. She then drank whatever was in that bottle and threw it in the trash. (*holds a ten-score card*) She then prepared a teleportation spell. They teleported to the mountains north of Woodsdale. The mare looks exhausted and told the griffin to go on without her. "I'm just going to rest here a bit." She says laying down on a rock. Arctic nodded and grabbed his bottle and drank it. He then grabbed Crystal again and flew with such force that they were high in the air in seconds. 1 hour later They have been flying for an hour and Arctic was getting tired. He flew closer to the ground and dropped Crystal on his head. Crystal rubbed his head and glared at the griffin "Do you have to be so rough?!" He shouts as Arctic was landing. "Shut up!" He retorted, panting. He then grabbed Crystal by the neck and dragged him. Crystal eventually got on his hooves and walked. He put his head down, watching the flora pass him. "At least diamond and snow are safe. I don't want them to be dragged into this." " LIEUTENANT ARCTIC!!" They heard a voice screaming from the west. Arctic looked at the direction the voice was coming from and chuckled. "Hehehe.... looks like somepony decided to ditch school and join us." He said with an evil smile. Crystal lifts his head, and his heart just sinks to the floor. More armored ponies show up (a unicorn and a Pegasus), but with Diamond and Snow tied up. Crystal's legs felt like they were going to crumble. He couldn't believe that they would capture the girls. This is what Crystal and Thunder never wanted... their siblings being dragged into this. Arctic went up to Crystal's ear and whispered apologetically "I'm sorry for dragging them into this. Boss's orders." He backed up and ordered everypony to move. "Move! Before things get messy." He growls. "He sounded different there... is he acting?" Crystal thought while following them. After a few minutes, Crystal looked at the girls and noticed some things. Snow had her hands tied behind her back; her snout was muzzled to keep her from spewing her flames. Diamond was wearing a spiked choker with a leash. Crystal wanted to beat the shit out of the pony who decided to put his little sister in a choker. But he had to remain calm to avoid putting her and snow in danger. "I better get an explanation for this." He thought while also thinking of ways to beat the ever-living shit out of the Pegasus. Diamond's Pov Diamond was staring at the moving ground, watching bugs that pass by. She was terrified on the inside. Today was supposed to be a normal day, but it wasn't. "It was going so well, then it all went down the drain." She thought, shedding a tear out of fear. She began to think about when she and Snow got captured. 2 Hours earlier Diamond exited the bathroom and went off to meet Snow and Opal for lunch. *CRASH* Diamond heard a noise coming from a closet. Her curiosity got the better of her and wanted to check it out. She opened the door to find two ponies tying snow up. She was struggling with a muzzle on her face. The ponies noticed Diamond and stare at her. Diamond was too scared to move or to scream. The unicorn lights up their horn and launches a spell at Diamond. It hits her in the face knocking her out. Diamond's vision began to fade as she fell to the ground. "Was that really necessary?" A voice Diamond heard, as she was starting to wake up. "I had to... she would have run away to tell the princess!" Another voice angrily whispered. Diamond slowly opened her eyes, adjusting to the light. One of the ponies was pacing back and forth. "Why couldn't they just be together?! I wouldn't have used magic to possibly alert somebody ......" "Calm down sweetie... everypony has to go at some point. Besides we could just learn her schedule... after all she is au......" "*angry whisper* I know what she has. *Sad whisper* I just... I don't want the boss to be angry again. Not after what happened before." Diamond's eyes fully adjusted and saw that she was in the forest surrounding the school of friendship. She lifted her head a little and looked around. She saw Snow tied up with the muzzle still on her face. "*clears throat* well well well... look who decides to wake up finally. I was getting tired of carrying you." The unicorn said in a bossy tone. "Who are you... and what do you want with me and Snow?" Diamond asks, her voice filled with fear. The unicorn did a forced laugh and said "Ha ha ha... it's not what we want. It's what the boss......" He was interrupted by his Pegasus buddy. "It's nothing to worry about." He says wrapping his arm around the unicorn. "We promise we won't hurt you at all. Okay?" The Pegasus says in a calming way. Diamond was relieved that no harm would come to her and snow. "Thank the stars for that. I mean it would be terrible if you would be the type of ponies that would hurt us. like in One Hoof where Rob Lucci betrays the straw hats at water 7..." she continues on her rambling while the other two and Snow stare at her. "And I thought he was going to join the straw hats. *pouts* thanks for spoiling it." The Pegasus pours crossing his arms. "What does a betrayal have to do with us not wanting to hurt you?!" The unicorn asks facepalming in irritation. Diamond stops her rambling and starts to feel sorry. She sits on the ground and starts to cry. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you upset. *sniff*" she says with a lump in her throat. The unicorn looks at his friend and walks over to Diamond. He sits next to her and pats her back. "Look I'm sorry. I'm not good with kids. *mumbles* even though we want them one day." He says apologetically. The Pegasus walks over and says, "We should bring these two to the boss." The unicorn agrees but realizes that they have no way of making Diamond look like a prisoner. "We don't have any more rope, we used all on the dragon." He says pointing at Snow, as she deadpans at him for finally remembering that she's here. The Pegasus scratches his chin for ideas. He got an idea; he pulled a choker out of somewhere and said, "We could use my choker." "Perfect. Now we just need to......" the unicorn paused before he looked at his friend. "Why do you have your choker?" He asks with concern. "................. reasons." The Pegasus responded with. The unicorn didn't know how to respond to that. He stared at the Pegasus for a few seconds before responding with "you really need to set your priorities straight." The Pegasus tilted his head. "But I'm not straight." He mumbled. Diamond had no idea what they were talking about. So, she moved her attention from one pony to the other. They stopped arguing and agreed. "Alright... let's just put the choker on and... hope the boss isn't mad at us for taking forever." The unicorn said like he was scared. They both looked at each other and nodded. The Pegasus then pulled out a small bottle from underneath their armor. He removed the tops and drank a little from the bottle. He put the bottles back underneath their armor. the Pegasus moved faster than Diamond could see. The choker was on her faster than you can say "holy speed". He then picked Diamond up and put her on her shoulders and grabbed his friend and Snow. "Hold on everypony. It's going to get a little ruff." He says before the unicorn put a shield around them. The Pegasus flew fast, the fastest Diamond had ever seen. "What was in that bottle?" She wondered as she saw the ground as a big blur. Present She checked on Snow behind her. Snow was not hiding her fear very well. Diamond wanted to help her. She signaled to Snow to look at her. Their eyes meet and Snow blushed and started to breathe heavily. Diamond gestured to Snow to breath in deep and release. She did just that for a while. They have arrived at a huge door that towered over them. "Why do they need that big of a door?" Diamond wondered. They stop at the door, and Arctic bangs on it in a sequence. The door opens with large rustic noises making Diamond cover her ears. The Pegasus looks at Diamond like he's confused. "It's not that loud." He muttered. Diamond uncovers her ears and sighs in relief. The Pegasus gently pulls Diamond along. The others follow suit. They feel a gentle warmth on their coats. The guards were all looking at them like they were expecting them. Diamond felt like all eyes were on her, but they were staring at Crystal. They were led to a crossroads, one leading to the prison cells and the other leading towards somewhere. "You!" Arctic says pointing at another griffin. "Take those two to the cell. I'll take the package to the boss." He takes Crystal down the hallway, while Diamond and Snow were taken down the other way. They reach the prison and see a guard in front of a cell holding Aukie. The unicorn and Pegasus lead them into the cell and put them next to the changeling. The unicorn grabs a chain and puts it on Snow's ankle. The Pegasus does the same with Diamond and takes his choker back. "Sorry about putting you in the choker...... guess we should have brought more rope huh." He said, casually joking. "My name is Hailstorm, and don't worry. The boss won't hurt them. He needs them and their magic." Diamond looked at him with confusion. "But Crystal doesn't have magic... he doesn't even have earth pony strength." She said tilting her head. Hailstorm walked away without giving Diamond an answer. "Why does their boss need Crystal... and what does he mean by them? Could it...... oh no! They have Thunder as well!!" She thinks while looking at Aukie. She begins to panic a little. She rocks back and forth repeating "nonononononono this can't be happening this can't be happening this can't be happening this can't be happening this can't be happening!" She gets attention from Snow and Aukie, who have scared looks on their faces. Snow reaches over to Diamond to comfort her. She hugs the panicked young filly, patting her head. Diamond hugs back, shedding tears. Aukie's Pov Aukie looked at the guards to see if they were paying attention to the panic attack. But they weren't... they were just standing there not moving. The guards that brought in Snow and Diamond have already left, leaving behind Aukie's new guards. A griffin and the Pegasus from before. She nervously looked at the Pegasus, who looked back. "I hope they don't find that angry hippogriff in the crate up ahead." She thinks sweaty a little. "Hey. Have you seen Lieutenant Twister?" The griffin asked the Pegasus. The Pegasus sweats a little, knowing that he's in the hallway in a crate. "I don't know... he said that he needed the bathroom." "Oh. *Annoyed tone* can you believe that Calico would demote him to guard duty? I mean he's a talented dude. Like he could take down a dragon on his own." "Don't believe what others tell you. He might be pulling stuff out of his rear for all you know." "Yeah, but still... he could take down Calico if he could." The griffin arrogantly says. "This was going to be like dealing with quantum on a smaller scale, isn't it?" Aukie thought while laying down to take a nap. The griffin continues to go on about Twister's deeds, while Diamond was still hugging Snow as they fall asleep due to being a little tired. Crystal Pov Crystal follows Arctic through some big doors being guarded by two hippogriffs. Arctic pushed him in and closed the doors. Crystal looked around the room to see if anypony was there. "Hello?" He called out. A sound came from behind a cloth sheet. The sheet moved revealing Thunder with a smile on his face. "Crystal!" Thunder said running towards his brother. They hugged, both happy to know that each other is unharmed. "Thank the stars you're safe. I never thought I would see you again." Thunder said grinning from ear to ear, seeing his brother again. "I could say the same thing," Crystal says breaking the hug. He looks over his brother's shoulder, he sees a cauldron with a boiling substance in it. "what's in the cauldron?" He asks his brother. Thunder brought Crystal over to the cauldron, smelling the awful stench. "Ugh that smells awful!" Crystal exclaims covering his nose. Thunder grabbed a mask off the table and gave it to Crystal. "Here *passes mask* It should help. I've already gotten used to the smell after trying to make this for three hours." He says sounding a little exhausted. They heard a door open on the other side of the cave revealing a dragon. "Have you completed the potion yet...... *grinning* well well well, Crystal heart I presume?" The dragon says with a huge grin. "Yeah. And let me just say that I don't appreciate your boss, threatening my family." Crystal said, groaning at the last part. Thunder nudged Crystal in the arm "he is the boss." Crystal felt like he was clobbered in the head after Thunder told him that. "My name is Calico. I'm an old friend of your father." Crystal was going to say something, but Thunder stopped him. Calico continued "You're going to help your brother make potions for me, and to enhance them." He looks at Crystal's Satchel and grabs it. "Hey!" He takes the notes out of the satchel and smiles. "Finally, after all these years. I CAN FINALLY..." He says holding up the notes. *Knock knock knock knock knock knock* "What is it!!" Calico roared. A unicorn entered the room looking beat up. "Sir *grunt* we have intruders... I last saw them nearby the prison." He croaks out before collapsing. Calico clenches his fist and growls "Find them. NOW!!!" He points at Arctic and another guard ordering them to find the intruders. They drag the unicorn guard and go off to find the intruders. Calico turns his attention to the two brothers. "Don't get your hopes up. Now make those potions before I give the changeling and griffin scars... just like how your father scarred me." He says walking out of the room. Crystal gets up and bolts to the door, but the door slams shut. Crystal tries to open the doors, but they were locked. He pounds on the door threatening calico "If you lay one claw on Sky or Aukie, I will kick your scaly ass!!!" He looks through the keyhole to see Calico looking back "You'd better those potions bottled up before I return... or else" Crystal slides down the door, moving his hooves through his mane. "How are we getting out of here." Crystal moans with a sudden shift in his emotions. He looked at his brother, who was getting to work. the caldron glowed a rainbow aura, mesmerizing Crystal. he walks over to his brother with concern. " Come on. let's just do it for our family's safety." Crystal reluctantly went to work thinking, "can we even be sure that Calico will keep his word?" Sky's Pov Sky was silently freaking out at the sight of his siblings being captured. "ohmystarsohmystarsohmystarsohmystarsohmystarsohmystars!!!" He thinks as he's biting his talons. He slumps down on the floor, his heart beating faster than lightning. The unicorn that is saving him is just staring at the trio as they are taken down the hallway they came from. "What are we going to do now? We have to save them." Sky whispers in a panic. "No!" The stallion whispers putting his hoof on Sky's beak. "We can't risk getting caught. I'm already risking it by being here, so we have to get you out of here." Sky stopped panicking and glared at the unicorn. "I'm not going anywhere... not without my family." He aggressively whispered. The unicorn looked all around the cave ignoring the griffin. But Sky wasn't yet ready to give up. "Did you hear me... I said I'm not leaving without..." The unicorn interrupted him "will just listen for once. Calico is a big deal, he's not playing around. He will kill you." His voice cracked. He puts his head down and a tear falls out of his helmet. He sniffs and goes back to looking for something. "Alright... if you want to help. We must get to the armory undetected." They think of a way to get to the armory on the other side of the base. Sky then notices a hole in the crates. He checks inside to see weapons and armor in there. The unicorn notices too and sits to think of something. "HEY! YOU!" A voice yelled. The unicorn looked over and saw a helmetless unicorn walking towards him. Her armor was different than the others. It was a little bulkier, had more details, and was purple. Her coat was a dark orange, and a yellow bun-style mane. "Yes ma'am!" He says saluting, while subtly signaling to Sky to stay hidden. Sky shrunk to the ground hoping he wouldn't get spotted. The unicorn stopped in front of the crates and glared at our unicorn friend. "What are you doing back there?!!" He asks. "Just taking a nap ma'am. I promise it won't happen again, ma'am." Our unicorn said. The other unicorn tossed a crowbar at our friend. "Open a crate up and take it to the armory. We're taking a shipment and sending it to our allies in the east. And make it snappy, I'd rather not get shouted at again." Our friend nods and begins to open a crate. The other unicorn leaves. As soon as our friend opens it up, Sky crawls in. A few minutes go by as the unicorn carries the crate with his magic while Sky is in it. They make it to the armory and luckily nopony was there. He puts the crate down and shuts the door. He then knocks to tell Sky it's okay to come out. Sky gets out and looks at his surroundings. "Okay... two questions. One: why did we need to go to an armory? Two: why was that crate locked up and empty?" The unicorn looked around trying to find something. "I'm going to answer those in reverse. One: they got it from a manticore, she had it for her litter. But when they got too old, she bolted it down and sold it to our little friends." "*raises an eyebrow* a manticore knew how to seal a crate up and sell it to a group for some cash?" Sky asks in disbelief, looking at a huge pile of weapons. "There's an ongoing study that manticores are smarter than their viscous appearance." The unicorn said still looking around and moving items. "Two: we are here to pick up a package that would aid ou... your family." "You mean this bag," Sky says holding a bag, with a snake symbol on it. The unicorn looked over and grabbed it with his magic. "Yes. That's it." He opens it and dumbs pieces on the floor. "..... he never said I had to assemble it." He says deadpan, staring at the parts on the floor. Sky then forms a smile on his face and says, "I could assemble it." The unicorn looked over, giving him a thought. "Yes, that could work. How long will it take?" He asks. Sky counted in his head and used his fingers. "About five minutes...... give or take," Sky says gathering all the pieces. He begins to build, humming a little time as he does. 5 minutes later Sky made a wrist-mounted crossbow, with a needle left. "Why do we need this needle?" Sky asks, examining the clear liquid inside. Our unicorn friend grabbed the needle with his magic and says "It's a narcotic. We plan on putting Calico to sleep and let all the ponies he blackmailed free." Sky then wondered how many of them did he blackmail. "Maybe that's why the mare that was with us shed a tear when she talked to Arctic." He gave the stallion the crossbow, but he just stared at it. "I can't put that on me... it's too small for my arms." He says. Sky then looked at the crossbow with fear. He'd never fired a crossbow before. He began to shake a little. "I can't do it! What if I miss... then what?!" He says, holding on to the crossbow. The unicorn came over to Sky and put his hoof on his shoulder. "It's okay... you can do this. I believe you can do this." He reassured Sky. Sky hugged him, his eyes filled with tears. "Thank you......" sky said before getting interrupted by a pony barging in the door. "We have interu .... dures...." He says before the unicorn knocks him out before the Sky could blink. "Can it be him." Sky thinks in awe at the unicorn's speed. They make a beeline towards the hallway to engage with Calico. Snow's Pov Snow woke up to Diamond shaking with fear, after her thoughts of her family getting hurt. "Please don't hurt them Please don't hurt them Please don't hurt them Please don't hurt them Please don't hurt them Please don't hurt them Please don't hurt them!!!!!!" She muttered to herself. Snow held the young unicorn in a soothing embrace. The warm feeling that she had for Diamond was firing at maximum temperature. But Snow didn't care, she only cared about keeping Diamond safe. She stroked the young filly's mane. The silky-smooth mane that reminds Snow of blueberries, her soft fur that looks like her own type of gem. "I promise." Snow whispered. Diamond stopped muttering and opened her eyes. "I promise, i will protect you like i promised my mother." Snow whispered. Diamond stopped muttering and lifted her head to look at her dragon protector. She then dug her head into Snow's chest. Snow was now blushing redder than a ruby. She hugged Diamond harder so she could at least be warmer from Snow's blush fire. "Why is she sooo cute? How can i still have these feelings when she probably won't feel the same. But at least we can be friends for life, if that's even possible." Snow then also starts to cry. "Oh, i wish i had the courage to tell her how i feel, or at least tell her she enjoys her company." Diamond's Pov "Her tears feeling like a warm shower dripping down on me. It's kind of feels like a small wet weighted blanket crawling down my shoulder." Diamond was calming down from the warm tears soothing the young filly. but she then realized that Snow isn't doing this because she's knowing Diamond likes this, but because she doesn't want her to be hurt. "Snow?" Diamond says. Snow opened her eyes and looked down at Diamond. "Yeah?" Diamond took a moment to think about what she was going to say. "Why are you crying? You know I'll be safe with you and the others around." The yellow unicorn says then moves away to see Snow's face more clearly. She giggles at the white dragon blushing like crazy. Diamond stops her giggling when the griffin guard falls to the floor. The other guard with them unlocks the door to their cell. "Its time we get you out of here." the pony said. Thunder's Pov Thunder and Crystal were bottling the potions that Calico wanted. "I hope this plan will work." He thinks as he's looking at the potion they still have to bottle. Crystal was wrapping the potions up, looking glum as he does it. Thunder looks at his brother, giving him another bottle. "It'll be fine." Thunder says with his hoof on Crystal's shoulder. Crystal looked away, not saying anything. "Come on. Where's my brother who always has something to be excited about? like that time, you got so excited to read Mrs. Crocodile's defeat... that we all thought you'd eaten a lot of sugar." Thunder giggled. Crystal smiled a little. "Yeah... I felt the adrenaline that day." he laughed. the brothers then began laughing at that memory. "And I remember on Hearts and Hooves Day you told Aukie that I had a crush on her, but I'm happy that she also had a crush on me." "That was the day I also confessed my feelings for Cloud. After half a year of being confused about this feeling that I had for him. But deep down at the time... I didn't know if he had the same feelings. But when I looked at the box of chocolate, he had...... it was for me. Hehe... it was right then I knew that we shared the same feelings for each other. It was also when we kissed for the first time. We both just felt the same urge to kiss each other right then and there. But then Aukie came into our secret hiding spot near the school. She was shocked when she saw us kissing." "And she kept this a secret all these years?" "Yep." "Huh...... I guess she's that loyal to her friends." Thunder said smiling. "You're really lucky to have a friend like her." Crystal smiled at that comment and nodded. They heard the doors unlock, and in comes Calico looking furious. He stomped his way to the brothers. "Are you two done yet?!! he growled. They nodded. Calico grinned stepping towards his office. He comes back out holding Black Heart's notebook in his hands. "Now we begin the real reason I brought you two here in the first place," he says handing it to Thunder. Thunder opens it up, but still doesn't know why Calico is after his family. He skims through the pages until he's at the end. ________________________________________________________________________________ Dear: Thunder Heart I know you're the only one who can read this but. I want you to know that no matter what. You can't let anyone use these notes for anything. It's too dangerous, lock them up for good so no one can use them for their own goals. And whatever you do, don't destroy the notebook or you could die. I can only hope you're not in a situation that forces you to make the potion. Please don't make it. my research was a mistake and I wish I'd never made it. I could have just moved on like everyone else, but no. I had to be the hero to protect the world. If you ever see Calico...... tell him, I'm sorry. I wish I could go back in time to fix everything. But...... we can only live in the present and plan for the future. So ill only say this once. Don't be like me. Don't be a hero. PS. Tell everypony that I love them. ________________________________________________________________________________ Thunder's heart sheds a signal tear. Calico looked at him with irritation. "Well... what does it say about his work?" he says. Thunder didn't want to say but he didn't want Sky and Aukie to be hurt. "it's a note...... he says he's sorry." "it's too late for an apology. Now if you don't make what I need, I will turn every one of you into ashes!!!!" Calico roars. "CALICO!!!" Calico turns around to see a unicorn guard standing next to Sky. Sky had a crossbow on his arm, shaking a little. "Betrayed by own guard, how quaint," he mumbles getting ready to attack. "Get out of my way! or suffer like how I'm going to make Black Heart suffer like how he made ME SUFFERED!!! cause of all the pathetic things he's done... breaking hearts is one of the most pathetic things he's ever done. It's no wonder he married that bitch of a unicorn, She couldn't even get the......" *Smash* A potion smashed over Calico's face. It was Crystal who threw it, his eyes glowing a rainbow tint, burning with rage. "Never call our mother a bitch." he growled. Calico stumbled backward from glass shards in his eye, blood crawling down his face. "SKY!!!" Diamond yelled from the hallway making Sky fire at Calico in his throat. Calico falls into the cauldron screaming from the burning pain. Crystal snapped out of his rage and was horrified at what he's done. "let's go!!" the unicorn said with urgency. They all followed him. Guards were blocking the way. They were surrounded. "STAY AWAY FROM THEM!!!" Snow yelled before blasting them with fire. Arctic and Ivy stopped them from reaching the exit. "Please move. we don't want to hurt you." Crystal pleaded. They looked at each other and moved out of the way. "Thank you," Crystal said. "We should be the ones thanking you," Ivy said before running out with the heart family. They make it out by huffing and puffing. "Are we safe Thunder?" Diamond asked panting. Thunder gives a smile and says "I don't know. but I know that calico won't be bothering us now." "Hey. where'd the unicorn that was with us go?" Sky asks looking around. He was right. The unicorn vanished and so had Arctic and Ivy. "We can't worry about him right now. let's just get home." They stopped by Starlight's village and got a ride home. 5 hours later They successfully made it home they all went to their rooms to rest. Thunder and Crystal were in their beds. but Thunder couldn't get the image of Crystal rainbow eyes out of his head. "Hey, Crystal?" "Yeah?" "You asleep?" "Nope. can't get that feeling out of my head. When I threw the bottle at Calico... I felt such a burning rage that I couldn't control it. It scares me. What if I attack you guys or Cloud. I couldn't live with myself if I did that." Thunder felt the same way. What if he went crazy and attacked his family? He pushed these feelings aside to get some rest. "Good night Crystal." "Good night Thunder." ?????? Pov The unicorn from before returned to Calico's base. Checking to see if Calico is truly dead or not. luckily nobody was there. He entered the potions room to see that the cauldron was still steaming. He examines the scene and concludes that Calico is dead. He takes off his armor and takes a deep breath. His coat was a dark grey with white gradience down his legs, his mane was long and bright pink, and his cutie mark was a monster inside a heart. He puts red glasses on and sighs. "*sigh* sayonara old friend." He says closing his eyes, not noticing that the ooze in the caldron is moving. The black ooze jumps onto the unicorn's snout. As he fights back the ooze absorbed into the pony's snout. He then heard a voice in his head."Awwwww, you're not saying goodbye to me, are you...... Black Heart?"