//------------------------------// // Catching Up In More Ways Than One - Part 1 // Story: Magical Hearts // by KukriRyuTsukino //------------------------------// Alfea College for Fairies - Flora POV Flora cocked her head, watching the stumbling young man. His power seemed primal, linked to more than just nature, but life itself. It was obvious to her he was exhausted as he stumbled along before he coughed a bit as she saw red trickle from the corners of his mouth. “Darkar… he’s strong… but I have little doubt he’ll think twice about attacking anyone else… ugh… but damn if his magic doesn’t feel like ice when it hits ya…” he muttered under his breath. He didn’t say much else after that, letting them lead him towards the infirmary. He inhaled slowly and carefully, his eyes drifting half-lidded as he didn’t notice the sunburst pin falling from his belt as if a golden flame were contained within the gemstone within its heart. Stella, however, did. She scooped up the pin, getting the feeling it was important. She had no idea said pin marked him as one of Princess Celestia of Ungula’s personal students. She didn’t realize that both Princess Luna and Princess Celestia as well as a few others, including Headmistress Griffin of Cloud Tower, Headmaster Saladin of Red Fountain, and Headmistress Faragonda of the very college they were in were part of an old group they would soon learn of --- The Company of Light. — Mìsos POV    He exhaled softly, his gaze half-lidded as he let the fairies assist him as he let his feet drag a bit as he knew his clothes were nearly shredded and tattered from the brawl with Ethan and Darkar as well as bloody in places and dirt stained from both the race with Sunset and Twilight as well as the fight. His eyes narrowed fractionally as he rolled his shoulders. He took a slow breath as he winced, not noticing the back of his shirt as well as his skin and slightly the muscle was heavily burned where his wings had flared out. His skin had light to moderate second degree burns whilst his other injuries were minor comparatively. He inhaled slowly as he let the girls assist him. “Not sure how old you girls are to me… but it’s kinda clear that your magic accentuates your bodies in the best ways,” he mutters, not seeing the Winx girls blush at his comment. Meanwhile, on Ungula - Sunset frowned as the dimensional rift sealed as she skidded around the corner almost too fast to actually stop… unfortunately tumbling herself several yards on the dusty ground. “Ugh… damn it!” she cursed under her breath as she sprawled on the ground before she heard the distinctive whining thrum of Twilight’s board. She saw Twilight’s eyes widen as she spotted Sunset sitting up with a wince, covered in dust and dirt though she wore dark red pants tucked into dark golden amber boots as well as a scarlet vest. She wore a pale peach belt with several sets of dark purplish red throwing knives in sets of four for easy access. The ground feet from her was visibly steaming as she cocked her head, noticing a residual magical energy she didn’t recognize the signature of. She saw Twilight frown as she shifted, her booted foot touching the dusty ground. Twilight frowned at the foreign magical signature, her hand swiping and gaining an imprint of the foreign energy within her aura, focusing an imprint through a mana bubble like a mirror before she glanced at Sunset as she stood, knowing what they both were going to do: contact the Solar Princess.  — Artemis continued to sit on the stairs of Alfea with Bloom as she was crying. She'd calmed down enough that it was just the occasional hiccup and silent tears, but she was calming down as she was listening to Artemis's heartbeat. Artemis conjured a glass of water with his Equestrian magic and handed it to Bloom, smiling as he said, "Here. Drink this. It'll help you with the hiccups." Bloom rolled her eyes, hiccuping. "I guess," she mumbled.  "Though you'd better not have slipped anything in it," she pouted. "Irma did that once… slipped ground Xiàojùn into a glass of water… that particular mushroom has a tendency to cause uncontrollable laughter," she mumbled.  "I follow a strict code of honor because of my mentor." Artemis said, smiling. "I give you my word on my honor that there is nothing in this beyond H2O. See?" Artemis takes a quick drink of the water. "Just water." "You may want to…" Bloom started before a rather noticeable wet flatulence sound erupted behind him. She cringed slightly at the juvenile humor. She knew exactly how Tecna did it ‐ some wet cornstarch in a whoopee cushion. "Tecna, don't make me call your mom, Jūhachi, and tell her you're still acting like a little kid with such juvenile jokes." Artemis said, his eyes flashing briefly blood-red like Megatron. "You just ruined a perfectly good moment between me and your sister." The small golf ball sized drone tilted as it dipped. A very slight huffing whine was the only sound. "That implies that I'm not busy with this young man, thus why would I prank you?" she drawls analytically. "Cut the crap, Tecna. I know you are just being analytical just to get a rise out of me. But it isn't going to work. Or do you want to see something else I can do that you probably only heard of from your mother?" Artemis said, smirking knowingly at her. Tecna’s eyes narrowed slightly, a slight gleam from one eye the only outward sign of her internal bio-cybernetics. “You wouldn’t dare,” she hissed under her breath, well aware her subharmonic speaker picked it up through the drone. — Mìsos’ ears twitched at hearing Tecna’s hissed voice, but not focused enough to quite tell what she said in detail. His head tilted as he inhaled slowly, exhaling a slow gust of icy air, not noticing the frost forming on the marble floor. — "Oh, so you know about my 'magic words'?" Artemis asked, smirking. "No, I'm not going to use those. I'm referring to a certain 'power-up' that you might have heard of from your mother that two certain Saiyans could do." Artemis stood up and walked out to the middle of the courtyard, standing in a horseback stance with his arms clenched to his sides right as the ground began to tremble and the sky grew dark again, with lightning striking around the outside of the school. "HaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA" Artemis screamed, the dust blowing all over the place after a blast of golden light surrounded the courtyard. When the dust settled, they all saw Artemis, standing tall. His hair was spiked up and blonde, as well as his eyes having changed from hazel to cyan blue. He looked at Tecna and Bloom. Tecna's jaw was slack in surprise and shock as Artemis smirked. "I bet you only heard of this form from your mother, didn't you, Tecna?" Artemis said while smirking. Tecna’s eyebrows rose slightly, her eyes narrowing fractionally. “Vaguely.” she muttered cautiously. She paused, not realizing that she lost connection to the drone, which fell with a soft thud as her feet shot out from underneath her from the frosted marble before the back of her head hit Stella squarely in the abdomen, drawing a sharp huff of air from the Solarian Princess and fashionista. "I'd watch where you're going." Artemis said, snickering. "It seems my dragonkin friend accidentally 'iced' the floor, all pun intended on Icy, because she's one cold-hearted bitch instead of being a witch." “Obviously, Icy hasn’t gotten laid from being such a cold-hearted bitch. She probably prefers the frozen dildo she’s got shoved up her ass,” Bloom mumbled as they started inside the college. Mìsos tilted his head as he heard the thuds before he turned his head, noticing that Tecna and Stella were sprawled on the floor before he blinked, seeing that the ground had a thin layer of frost. “Should we break out the ice skates?” he quipped tiredly. He heard Musa snort a soft laugh at that. "I don't know, should we? Besides, I don't know about you, but I'm getting the distinct smell of spicy cinnamon." Artemis teases right back, not knowing that he was smelling Bloom's unintentional arousal at him turning Super Saiyan earlier. He didn't realize that he was unintentionally enjoying the view that Stella and Tecna were giving him before he realized that he was looking at Stella in that way and turned his head away. He was not someone who took another guy's girlfriend. It was minutes later that a surge of golden light flares before revealing a sealed scroll with an amber carved sigil of a sunburst, that of the planet Solaria. Stella blinked, cocking her head as she knew what it was for - the annual ball held in Solaria. She looked over the words within the scroll as she scrambled to her feet before her eyebrows shot up.  — "Bloom?" Artemis said, getting her attention with a slight jump in surprise. "Answer me honestly, but are you… horny just from seeing me transform into a Super Saiyan earlier?" Bloom blushed, but shook her head in denial, not wanting to admit it. "Bloom, it's okay. Just be honest with me." Artemis said, taking her hand and holding it in his own gently while smiling with a compassionate smile. "I know you are still upset about what happened. But know that I am here for you. I will always treat you with all the love and happiness that you deserve. I made a promise when I was tasked with keeping you safe. But we can take it easy, if you want. Just know that you can be honest with me if you're attracted to me already." Bloom sighed, rolling her eyes. “I guess,” she muttered before she blinked as she saw Layla grumbling about ice skating lessons. She couldn’t quite tell what she said, however. “Well then.” Artemis said with a compassionate smile as he snapped his fingers and both he and Bloom appeared in what seemed to be a bedroom in a farm house, surrounded by acres of apple trees. “Welcome to my personal pocket dimension. It was crafted out of my dreamscape years ago, and is completely livable. Now, I can help you relieve that itch I unintentionally gave you… only if you want me to, that is.” Artemis said as he was blushing more red like an apple and a tomato had a baby. Bloom’s eyes widened slightly in surprise, cocking her head as she glanced around. “This is too detailed to be a ‘mere accident’ so it’s gotta be based on a location… but where?” she muttered under her breath. "An alternate universe of Ungula that had been frozen in time." Artemis said, looking around at the orchard with her until they both heard a 'yeehaw' and a 'thud' just to their left. "Speaking of whom. AJ! We have a guest." An anthropomorphic former Earth Pony-turned-Alicorn mare wearing boots stretched, shaking out one leg while she was leaning against an apple tree with one hand. She was wearing a stetson and had a red short sleeve flannel shirt tied up just above her navel and had a pair of what could only be described as 'Daisy Dukes' shorts on. She also had a pair of wings on her back and a horn on her forehead. "AJ, come on over, my southern belle. I want you to say hi to someone new to the pocket dimension." Artemis said, waving over at the anthropomorphic farm mare. The mare walked over, cocking an eyebrow. “So that’s that girl ya mentioned, hmm?” she drawled, sounding curious yet amused. “Y’all would go after a Fairy,” she teased. “AJ…” Artemis groaned, leaning over to her and whispering in her ear. “Remember, it hasn’t happened for her yet despite the fact she and the others were with me on Earth Prime all those years ago. So I’m trying to keep it to a minimum so as not to scare her until the time is right.” AJ cocked an eyebrow, rolling her eyes. “As Whooves would put it, ‘timey wimey bullshit’, hmm?” she drawled quietly. "Depends which version of him you ask. Human-looking… or pony." Artemis said with a chuckle. She rolled her eyes again before she looked over the orchard. “Pretty sure that both are fragments of a bigger whole,” she muttered under her breath. Her eyes narrowed slightly. "Are you referring to me stuffing both of your 'holes' like a thanksgiving turkey on Hearth's Warming Eve last year?" Artemis whispered in her ear with a smirk before he swatted her ass right on her Cutie Mark, making her squeak in surprise. AJ snorted a little laugh. “No, sugarcube, Ah’m not. Seems yer firebrand heard ya, from the way she’s blushin' worse’n Rainbow when she hits the cider too hard… or Twilight with her ‘special books’,” she drawled, rolling her eyes. “Uhhh…” Artemis said, turning around slowly while blushing more red like an apple and a tomato had a baby. And his sight is filled with Bloom’s face which was more crimson than her hair. Her legs were also squirming to indicate what was going on between them. “You weren’t supposed to hear that, Bloom.” "Ugh… then why the hell are you talking about it? I mean, there's next to no sound in here at the moment, so any sound is going to seem loud… unless… it's entirely possible my senses could be sharper, but I have no idea," she muttered, facepalming. "Well then…" Artemis said, still blushing more red like an apple and a tomato had a baby while smiling a loving smile at her. "What do you say that I help you relieve your itch… maybe with some company?" Artemis said, looking towards Applejack. AJ rolled her eyes. "Geez. The only one more horny than you when you get going is a certain former Pegasus-turned-Alicorn mare with multiple colors," she drawled dryly. "Fuck you too, AJ!" a slightly raspy voice yelled from a cloud several hundred feet off the ground. "I'm not hearing a 'no' from you, my sexy Alicorn tomcolt." Artemis yelled up to the cloud. A blue furred hand flipped a one finger salute from the cloud’s edge. "Yo, Artemis!" Another female voice said, this one showing herself as a certain part-Saiyan, part-human hybrid. She came flying into view and came to a stop above them, scaring the crapbaskets out of Rainbow Dash while lowering herself to the ground slowly. She then ran up to Artemis and threw herself around him in a bear hug. "It's good to see you again, babe." "You too, Pan. How is Tadhg doing?" Artemis said with a smile as he hugged her back. "He's sleeping, since it's his nap time." Pan said, pulling back with a smile on her face before she kissed Artemis on the lips. She then glanced at Bloom, then back at Artemis and asked, "Is that her?" "I don't know, is it? What do you think?" Artemis said with a knowing smirk. Pan rolled her eyes before she absently dragged one particular finger along her eyebrow. AJ cleared her throat, an eyebrow rising as she stared at the quarter Saiyan unblinking. It was a look most ponies shivered at as it rivaled another Ascended mare's Stare. "Uhhh…" was all that Pan could say when she locked eyes with AJ. "Don't ask me, Pan. You must've done fucked up." Artemis said, putting his hands up in defense and shaking his head. — Outside the dimension…    Mìsos groaned softly as he felt the girls settle him on the bed within the infirmary. His eyes fluttered open as he shivered a bit. "Ugh… my head's pounding," he mumbles shyly before he noticed the girls looking his way before he felt a gentle, light touch on his forehead before he saw honey-copper hair and soft emerald eyes, not recognizing her as Flora, the princess of Linphea.   His gaze slid from her to the violet haired, emerald eyed technopath. He cocked his head. True, he didn't recognize any of them, nor did he realize who they were. He shivers as he feels a gentle touch near his mouth, unaware Flora was using a soft damp cloth to clean his face. He sees the honey haired woman pass something before he saw one of the other girls add something to it, unaware it was lavender scented facial wash as the honey haired woman rubbed the cloth between her hands with a small shy smile.