Late in the afternoon on that same day, Quatre, Heero, Wufei and Trowa were relaxing on their couches in the living room of their home. Quatre was sipping tea from a fancy little white teacup; he had just bought a new set that day. Trowa was sitting right next to him, staring blankly at Heero and Wufei on the opposite couch. The blue and green pegasi were having a staring contest and were on round ten. Currently, Heero had the most amount of wins. If this didn’t entertain him, sometimes Trowa would blow at the hair in front of his eyes if he got even more bored. He really had nothing else to do, for the entire gang was waiting patiently for Duo to come home. They were going to discuss their findings after a long day of researching.
Wufei’s eyelids were twitching as Heero continued to look at him blankly with no hesitation to blink. As his eyes began to water, Wufei finally blinked and grunted. He rubbed his eyes and Heero gave off a very satisfying smile.
“That’s eight wins for me, Wufei.” said Heero. “We should probably stop.”
“No!” cried Wufei, as his eyes literally gave off tears. He removed his hooves from his face and glared at Heero with red eyes. “I demand another round!”
“Are you really sure about that?”
“Yes! I must reclaim my pride and honor!”
Quatre finished his cup and calmly put it on the table. “Wufei, I think if you continue, you’re really going to hurt your eyes.”
The fight over Wufei’s “pride and honor” going into another round continued; Trowa gave blowing his hair up into the air another go. The door to the house then burst open and Duo came trotting in, covered in a rainbow of frosting. His hooves were tracking the material in as well, noted by the prints he was leaving as he came hopping up to his friends. In his mouth, he was carrying yet another glistening tray of chocolate cupcakes. The fighting ceased as Duo happily put the tray down on the table. He jumped on to the couch Heero and Wufei were sitting on, and landed right next to the green one.
“Hey everyone, what’s up?” said Duo, waving at all of them.
“Wufei’s eyes were going to pop out of his skull.” replied Trowa.
Duo leaned over Heero’s body and looked at Wufei. “Really? Why were they gonna do that?”
“They were not going to pop out of my eyes, Trowa,” said Wufei. He crossed his arms and looked at the ceiling. “Your eyes don’t just pop out of your head during a staring contest.”
With Duo’s brown hair right under Heero’s nose, he was able to detect the scent of baked goods. There were also specks of sprinkles nestled in his tight braid. Now that Duo’s body was touching his, frosting was being rubbed all over his front. With a single arm, Heero was able to push Duo out of his face and positioned him so that his back was against the couch.
“Why do you smell like sugar and happiness?” asked Heero. He pointed at the cupcakes. “And where did those cupcakes come from?”
Duo put his hoof up to his mouth and laughed with such a grin, Quatre almost let his mouth drop to the floor. The motion had shocked the other pilots as well---except for Heero, who was a little more concerned over the fact that he now had frosting on his body. It wasn’t as if Duo never laughed; he laughed almost whenever he had the chance. But this was a different kind of laughter. His usual laughs were always weighed down with negativity, such as stress, fear, or nervousness. This laugh that he had emitted from his mouth was one that was practically weightless and full of the airiness that was life itself.
“I made them with Pinkie Pie!” answered the God of Death himself. “We were baking at Sugarcube Corner and got a little out of hand!” He brushed some sprinkles out of his bangs with his hoof. “We had a frosting shooting contest, and I’d say I won!”
“You baked cupcakes…with a pink pony?” asked Wufei.
“Uh-huh! We had so much fun! She’s a blast to hang with!”
Suddenly, Duo was picked up by Heero and was tossed over the couch. Duo tried his best to grab on to the couch’s headrest before he fell, but his reflexes just weren’t quick enough. He hit the ground with a loud thud. Heero looked over the couch with his front legs supporting his weight as Duo lay there rubbing his head.
“You got frosting all over me,” said Heero. “Go right into the washroom and get yourself cleaned up. And make it fast, because I’ve got to clean myself up too.” He motioned to the majority of the living room floor and even the couch, which also had frosting on it. “Then after you’re done, clean up your mess.”
The house was filled with Heero’s anger as Duo got himself on to his legs. He looked at Heero, who was still glaring down at him, and grunted. Walking to the hallway that led to the washroom, he was swishing his tail, as if to somehow annoy his enemy. Then he turned around and had his usual smirk on his face.
“Before I go in, I’ve got a question for you, Heero,” said Duo.
Heero sat back down on the couch, not even looking in Duo’s general direction. “What is it?”
“Would you rather me lick the frosting off of you, or pull that stick of yours out of your ass?”
With that, Duo ran right into the washroom and slammed the door. The locking mechanism to its door was heard and the water to the tub started pouring. The look on Heero’s face was priceless. The poor pony’s eyes were mostly white, for they had widen due to the comment that was said to him. Quatre and Wufei did their best to stifle their laughs at Heero’s lost expression. Trowa looked at all three of them, just as lost.
“I had no idea Heero had a stick in his rectum,” he said.
Quatre and Wufei lost it at that and clutched at their sides as Heero started smacking his forehead with a hoof. Quatre grabbed on to Trowa’s stiff body and shoved his face into his shoulder to try and give him support. His body was becoming weaker because of his lack of air. Wufei started poking Heero in the side with such force he almost had him topple over on to his side at one point.
“Well, Heero, what’s it going to be?!” asked Wufei. He started clapping his hooves viciously. “I have been re-honored due to your humiliation!”
“I hate all of you,” mumbled Heero, as he now was rubbing his hoof into his forehead. “I hate every single one of you.”
After a few minutes, a clean Duo announced his return to the living room by banging a metallic object. In his mouth he was carrying a silver bucket with a dry rag hanging over its edge. It kept on hitting Duo’s upper legs. The bucket was as big as his head, and it was weighed down by the water he was carrying inside it. The pegasus carefully lowered the bucket to the ground by the doorway so that he could begin his cleaning.
“I left the water in the tub for you, Heero,” said Duo. With his teeth, he moved the rag into the water to begin soaking. “You’d better go in now, or else it’s going to get cold.”
Without even an answer, Heero climbed off the couch and made his way to the washroom. Duo picked the new wet rag out of the bucket and let it plop on the floor. He sighed and shook his head. If he were a human, this wouldn’t be such a big deal. He could get on his hands and knees and get this place cleaned up in no time. But since he really didn’t have any hands, this was going to be tough. Suddenly, the rag was highlighted with blue magic and it began washing the floor all on its own. Quatre walked up to him and smiled.
“I can’t just let you do this on your own,” he said. “I know it was an accident.”
Duo smiled, and before he knew it, he was nuzzling Quatre’s head with his own. “Thanks, buddy.”
As the rag moved its way from the floor to the couch, Trowa cleared his throat.
“I say we go over what we found in town today,” he said. “Does anyone have anything to say concerning findings?”
“I can vouch for me and Heero that we found nothing,” said Wufei, raising his arm. “We both had the same idea and found each other at town hall. We intended to find out if other new ponies, specifically unicorns, had moved into the area recently. The clerk wasn’t very helpful at all, and no matter how many times we demanded it, she wouldn’t release us those files.” Wufei snorted. “If we were back in our world, Heero would have had those files on his computer instantly.”
“I kind of had the same idea, only I went about that one differently,” explained Quatre. The rag had successfully cleaned the couch and flew right back into the bucket of water. “I went to Twilight’s house and asked her if there were any other ponies that were new around here, because we all wanted to find others like us.” He sighed, as he levitated the bucket into the kitchen area. “Unfortunately, she said we were the only new ponies that had moved here in months.”
“That really doesn’t tell us much, except that we are the only new ponies in this town,” said Trowa. He scratched at his chin and looked up at the ceiling. “This unicorn could have lived here for years and only just started trying to open the Abyss. Maybe this unicorn doesn’t even live in town at all. There are surrounding pieces of land one can live on around Ponyville. But at least this tells us that a newcomer isn’t the cause of all of this.” He shook his head in disappointment. “You have all had better luck than me. I wasn’t able to find out anything at all.”
Quatre looked at Duo, who was eyeing the cupcakes. “And did you find anything today, Duo?”
The black pegasus grinned and nodded. He then proceeded right out the door, but was only out there for a moment. Duo’s shadow was let into the house by the setting sun. He walked right back in with the shiny black rock he had found earlier that day, carrying it in his mouth. He dropped that to the ground next to Quatre’s leg.
“I found a rock!” announced Duo with pride.
It was at that moment Quatre’s stomach lurched. It was as if something had hooked his insides. Just then, his horn started sending off black sparks violently, making Duo jump right on over to the other side of the room. This had quickly gotten the attention of the other pilots in the room, as Trowa flew off the couch to Quatre’s side. He proceeded to try and touch the horn with his hoof, but Quatre smacked it away.
“Don’t touch it!” he yelled.
“Quatre, what’s going on?” asked Wufei, positioning himself on the couch so that he could see well enough.
The alicorn himself didn’t quite know how to answer that. It was because he was sensing the evil forces of the Abyss. He just didn’t know where the signal was coming from. It wasn’t even night out, when these things were supposed to happen. Quatre looked around the room for answers, when suddenly it hit him like a bag of sand. He looked down at the black rock before him and saw that, right underneath that object, was a dark, swirling opening filled with nothingness. It was about the size of his hoof.
Quatre leaned his head down to examine it when he heard a cynical laugh that was all too familiar to him. It was his own laugh, but it certainly wasn’t coming out of his mouth. An image of his counter-self, with black, empty eye sockets flashed through his mind. Quatre whinnied and kicked himself right on to his back legs, flailing his front ones in front of him. Suddenly, a black cloud shot right out of the Abyss, and the opening closed up. The cloud darted right down the hallway where the washroom was.
“Quatre, what the hell is going on?” asked Duo, as he slowly walked right back up to him and the rock.
At first, Quatre was silent. He was shaking so hard, he couldn’t even stand straight. But why was he scared? Had he not faced his “other self” just before on his own? Now in the presence of his friends, he couldn’t even summon up any courage to refute the feeling of helplessness. Trowa tried to balance him out, and comfort him at the same time, by putting a hoof on his back. Wufei decided it was time to get himself involved and got off the couch. He picked up the black rock, and without any care, brought it close to Quatre’s face. This made the pony quiver even more.
“You lost control when you saw this,” said Wufei. “What is so bad about this rock?”
Somehow, out of all of this, Quatre was able to give out an answer.
“The Abyss…came out from the rock.”
“What?” whispered Trowa. “How could you see that? I didn’t even see that, and I was standing right next to you.”
Quatre’s eyes began to tear as he remembered everything from the previous night. “I went out with Princess Luna last night, and I got my own connection with the evil forces by having one possess me. Now I’m able to see, sense and fight them.” His muscles instantly tightened and his eyes were filled with fear. “Something came out of the Abyss just now and went down the hallway.”
“Isn’t Heero in the washroom down there?” asked Wufei.
Not even thinking about it, the group ran to the washroom, right before the door was kicked out into the hallway. Heero momentarily flew out, by then was grabbed by something Quatre couldn’t even believe. The group had seen a monstrous claw made out of water catch Heero and pull him back into the washroom. The pilots ran into the bathroom to see exactly where that claw had come from.
Spiraling into the air from the tub, water had formed into what resembled an Asian dragon, its body taking up most of the free space of the room. The group stood there in horror at the colossal creature. Heero was struggling in the water dragon’s hand for freedom, trying to wiggle himself out. When this didn’t work, he chopped the hand right off by the wrist with the brute strength of his free front leg. The hand disappeared and turned right back into water, hitting the bathroom floor with a splash. The dragon cried in agony, until it was silenced by the formation of a new hand. Heero flew to the sink and was balancing himself out on its edges with his spread wings.
“How is this even happening?” asked Quatre in wonder, as the water dragon growled, licking its lips. “The forces…can possess inanimate objects?”
The water dragon made another go for Heero and launched an arm in his direction. The pilot made his move just in time, as he darted into the air, missing the attack. The water dragon’s hand smashed the sink and mirror to pieces with pure water force, creating a huge hole in the wall.
“We have to do something!” cried Duo. He got into a pouncing position. “I’m going to help!”
“No, Duo, stop!” yelled Quatre.
But it was too late, as Duo flew into the air passed Heero, straight at the water dragon. He got right up to its face, and with the momentum of his flight behind him, punched it right in its snout. Like before, the attacked area of the dragon turned into a puddle of water on the ground; and just like before, it quickly regained its physical appearance. Without warning, it opened its mouth and wrapped its long tongue around Duo’s stomach.
“Hey, what the hell is this?!” cried Duo.
His reaction time was once again too slow to do anything, and his body was rolled up into the water dragon’s mouth. Duo was swallowed whole, and he could be seen being pushed down its throat into the dragon’s stomach. He was banging on the stomach’s walls, yelling something, but nothing could be heard. Only air bubbles came out of his mouth, and it soon came to his attention that he couldn’t breathe. He brought his hooves up to his neck and was coughing, choking on water. The water dragon was now eyeing the small group that was staring at it on the floor.
“Quatre, do something!” yelled Wufei.
With a great amount of hesitation, Quatre nodded. “Wufei, Trowa, get behind me!”
The two other ponies did as they were told as Quatre’s horn started to glow white. The beam that was building up wasn’t as strong as last time. He could feel it already. The water dragon roared and Quatre released the white beam. It hit the enemy right in the chin, shooting water at the ceiling. The water dragon reeled in pain as it gripped the wounded area. In a rage, it swiped its claws right at Quatre, but its attack was stopped as Heero dive-kicked its arm, destroying yet another hand.
Heero got on all fours now on the floor next to Quatre, ready to leap at any second. He looked at Quatre, who was trying to charge up another Spell of the Heart attack. Try as best as he could, this beam was taking longer because of the negative commentary behind him being so distracting.
“Quatre, take a better hit this time!” yelled Wufei. “What kind of attack was that?!”
“Wufei, please stop yelling at him!” shouted Trowa, as he got into a pouncing position. He was preparing himself for anything at this point.
“No, I will not stop yelling at him!” Wufei continued. “Duo is dying in there, and he sends out a lousy attack!”
“Wufei, shut the hell up.” said Heero, as he had turned his attention back to the dragon.
The water dragon had regained its hand once more and had recovered from Quatre’s previous attack. It was snarling at the group now, eyeing Quatre’s horn tentatively. In his head, the arguments of his friends continued, from the ones overheard now to the ones earlier. He barely felt any power in his horn at all. The water dragon launched itself at the group and Quatre closed his eyes, sending his beam of magic at his enemy.
Suddenly, there was something of a liquid-like explosion and he was soaked with water, head to hoof, as an ear piercing screech was heard. Quatre opened his eyes to see that the entire washroom was now covered in water and that the dragon was gone. Heero sighed, returning to a normal standing position, along with Trowa. Coughing was heard coming from inside the tub, and the pilots rushed on over. Duo was laying there on his side, eyes closed, coughing up water.
“Duo!” cried Quatre. He rubbed his hoof on Duo’s back. “Duo, are you going to be alright?”
Duo opened his eyes and coughed up one last bout of water. “The God of Death had a close one just now, and that’s saying something.”
“Well, I’m glad that dragon was defeated.” said Trowa.
“Yeah, I’m glad Quatre finally used something that was powerful,” sneered Wufei.
“That was not Quatre.”
The four pilots on the ground turned around to see Luna standing where the door used to be. Her expression was nothing less than displeasure as she walked through puddles up to the pilots, smashing glass chips along the way. Her body was stoic, making even Wufei impressed by her presence. Duo gathered enough strength to hoist half of his body out of the tub to see the princess.
“It was I who used the Spell of the Heart on the water dragon,” said Luna, as she stopped in front of Quatre. “You are lucky that the evil force had decided to possess the water instead of one of you. At least those who have no connection to the evil were able to see it because of that. If I hadn’t planned to come here to summon you all for a mission around the town this evening, you would have all been dead.”
Quatre lowered his head in disappointment. Duo, who was right behind him, didn’t know what else to do but rub his friend’s back.
“It’s ok, buddy, you tried,” he said.
“It is not his fault that his spell failed!” shouted Luna. Her voiced echoed across the whole house, sending shivers up everyone’s spines. “It is everypony else’s fault that it had failed!”
“What do you mean by that?” asked Heero.
“The Spell of the Heart is only as strong as the wielder’s heart,” Luna explained strongly. She eyed every single pilot as she began her next sentence. “It is your bickering and fighting and lack of care for any other living being that has caused this spell to fail this evening! This young pony was able to pull this spell off just last night when remembering a fond memory of a friend, yet he wasn’t able to do the same just now while actually being with his friends! Your weak friendship is corrupting Quatre’s heart, thus weakening the very spell that is meant to protect you all, himself, and everypony else!”
Nothing could be said to Luna’s lesson. As Quatre began to cry, everyone else looked at each other with guilt-ridden faces. Luna turned her back to them and ruffled her wings.
“You all will not be coming with me tonight. I hereby declare that any future nightly missions be cancelled. You all can’t even allow Quatre to protect you, thus becoming nothing but mere nuisances to me, while I am still allowed to linger Ponyville in the night.”
She brought her wings back in and continued walking into the hallway, leaving them all silently behind. As her hooves walked out the door, Quatre dropped to the floor in tears. His friends huddled close around him and joined him on the floor, minus Duo, who didn’t have the energy to do so. Heero, being the closest, propped Quatre’s head on to his arm and slid his hoof through his hair in an effort to calm the pony down. But it was of no use. Quatre continued to sob into Heero’s neck, feeling helpless as ever, as they all sat there in the wreckage that once used to be their washroom.