//------------------------------// // Phase Two // Story: Vanguard Of Harmony // by Enfield //------------------------------// Lauren sat outside on the picnic table that only two hours ago held an entire banquet of food. She smiled as she though back to the memory that now seemed distant. Lauren had only been in Equestria for a day and she was already loving it, an entire world created in her imagination was actually real. But her first day in Ponyville was slowly coming to a close, day had turned to dusk and the heat from earlier had now settled to a comfortable warm summer breeze that rustled the leaves on the Library. The sound of the door opening caught Lauren's attention, she looked back and saw Twilight walking over to her. "How is he?" Lauren asked. "Scott? He's okay, Great Creator," Twilight said as she sat down next to Lauren. "Call me Lauren, or at least Miss Faust," Lauren said with a sigh, "I know that you want to show me respect but I prefer to have casual conversations." Twilight nodded and smiled. "Sure thing Creator, I mean, Lauren." Lauren allowed a chuckle to escape before staring out towards the setting sun. The two sat in silence for a while until Twilight cleared her throat and spoke. "It was really nice of Pinkie to give Trixie both a job and a place to stay." "She needed it," Lauren said, "Didn't Scott used to work for the Cakes?" "Yes, but only for a few days. The Element of Chaos actually helped him out with the job." "Oh, how?" Twilight sighed and leaned back in her seat. "Well it's strange how it worked, the Element of Chaos altered out perception and minds forcing us what Scott wants us to see but the thing is that Scott claimed that he saw what we saw which was a perfect cake. But during Princess Luna's birthday party something happened after Princess Luna kissed Scott, the powers of the Element stopped working for a split second just as everypony was eating the cake that Scott made, turned out to be a horrible tasting mess. After that Scott was about to be arrested but he shouted something and a bright white flash blinded us so he could escape." "Interesting," Lauren said as she leaned her head on her fist, "Do tell me more." Twilight cringed but relaxed and retold Scott's story of how Fluttershy found him out near the Everfree forest, when he went crazy and almost attacked Pinkie. Twilight didn't miss out a single detail between the day after he recovered to the trail and banishment of Scott to the moon. Lauren almost shed a tear when Twilight told her about the little filly that spoke up for Scott because he helped her when she was inside the dungeons. She then went on to tell Lauren that Scott had visited her in her dreams the night after he was banished saying that he was going to return one day as Luna told him. After this Lauren sighed and shuffled closer to Twilight. "Do you still think of him as a friend even though he is truly human?" she asked. "He saved my life," Twilight said quietly, "It's going to take a lot more than him being a former human for me to hate him along with his entire race. "What about me though?" "You're the Creator, I don't want to do anything because I know that you'll erase me if I do anything to harm you, not to mention that Scott'll kill me first." Lauren and Twilight chuckled a little. Lauren stood up and stretched the stiffness from her back before following Twilight into the library. Twilight led Lauren upstairs and past a seprate room that cointained a bed with Scott sleeping in it. "So where am I staying for the night?" Lauren asked as she watched Scott grunt and roll over under the covers. "Oh, I've got another room for you to stay in. I've prepared it just for you, Lauren," Twilight said as she opened up a door at the end of the hall. Lauren entered after Twilight stood aside, she looked around inside. It seemed as if it was once never used but now it was spotless and very tidy. Lauren nodded in approval and face Twilight, who was grinning widely. "You've pleased the Creator. I thank you." Twilight stood aghast but looked incredibly pleased. She took a deep breath and bowed respectfully. "Thank you Miss Faust. Sleep well." Lauren stood in front of her door as she watch Twilight happily skip down the hall to her room. Lauren retreated to her bed for the night, Twilight heard the door shut and she smiled happy with the fact that she was housing the Creator and that she had pleased her. Twilight trotted over to the bed and saw the empty basket by the side of her bed that once would've held a sleeping dragon, a tear formed in her eye and slowly fell off her cheek. Twilight wiped it away as she climbed into her bed. She sighed and stared at the ceiling for a few minutes before rolling over and looking out the window, Twilight once again let out a baited breath and remembered who else was staying in her house. She nodded at the thought in her head and curled up under the blankets. "Scott'll get Spike back," she thought, "He'll do whatever it takes to make everything all better." Twilight then relaxed and let sleep take over her tired body and happy mind. Scott rolled over in his bed and felt the sun shine through his eyelids, he groaned and sat up knowing that he couldn't block them out. He had to get up eventually and now seemed like a good time, his instincts told him that it was about nine thirty, a perfect time to get up. He slid out of the bed and coughed up some black mucus, Scott ran over to the window and spat it out into the tree. He guessed that the mucus was from last nights practice run with the new and improved Element of Chaos, Scott tapped the disc on his chest and smiled as he trotted out of the room. So far with these new powers taken from the Alicorn Amulet Scott was now able to produce more complex and large objects from thin air and better still, it didn't drain his Life Energy as fast. He did push himself to the limit to see how much he could do before he passed out or died and now that he knew his limits he decided to not go too far unless he needed to. Scott walked around the library and was a little confused when he didn't find Lauren or Twilight until he went outside, the two were out there along with Pinkie, Rarity, Applejack, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash. Trixie was absent from the scene which did surprise Scott a little. Pinkie was the first to see Scott emerge into the daylight. "Morning Scott," she said in her usual cheerful mood, "Hungry?" "Good morning to the rest of you as well," Scott said with a smile. "Sleep well?" Twilight asked. Scott's smile grew wider as he sat between Twilight and Lauren. "You have no idea." The others laughed and pushed some food towards Scott, as they ate Lauren spoke up. "So where's Trixie?" "She's still at Sugarcube corner," Pinkie said as she swallowed a mouthful of cake and apple juice, "She's looking after the shop in return for offering her a job and a place to stay." "Have a feeling of Deja Vu yet?" Scott said jokingly. "Yep," Pinkie giggled. Applejack shifted nervously in her seat and looked over her shoulder towards the bakery. "Pinkie, ah hope ya'll don't mind me sayin' this but can we trust her in the shop? What if she tries to do something to the place." "Don't you worry Applejack, me and Trixie had an agreement. She promises to behave and be good if Lauren helps her out and we become her friends," Twilight said. "Sounds good to me," Scott said as he started to eat his breakfast. Just as he was about to bite down on a small bun a puff of flame and smoke appeared over Twilight, the flame and smoke then dropped a letter on top of Twilight's plate where she stared at it for a few minutes before picking it up and unrolling it, everyone at the table leaned closer as Twilight scanned the letter. "Who's it from?" Rainbow Dash asked. "Princess Celestia," Twilight said in a hushed whisper, "It's from Princess Celestia." Everyone stared at Twilight in amazement except for Scott, who was too focused on using the Element of Chaos to levitate a bottle of apple juice up to his mouth so he could drink it. "Wh-what?" Rarity stammered. "Princess Celestia sent you a letter?" Applejack asked, "But ya'll haven't talked to each other for over a year." "I know, but it's not that. The Princess knows that Lauren is here," Twilight said, the ponies looked at each other, Lauren then back to Twilight. "I didn't even send her a letter about her arrival yesterday." "Yeah, I think I did that," Scott said. "What do you mean?" Fluttershy asked. "Well, when I crossed the portal to get here I ended up in some clouds and panicked a little, I'm sure Miss Faust remembered that." "Yes I do," Lauren said. "Well when I ended up in the clouds I pushed the MiG's throttle to max and shot out of the cloud as fast as I could, but there was a side effect of the speed." "Which was what?" Pinkie asked. "I broke the sound barrier." "So that's what the loud boom was I heard yesterday morning," Rainbow Dash said. "Yeah, also I flew over Canterlot when I broke the barrier. That might have something to do with it." "How?" Twilight asked Scott. "Well a big silver machine flying over the capital of Equestria that produces a loud noise might attract some attention." "Scott, can I ask something?" Pinkie said. "Fire away," Scott said as he cleaned the Element of Chaos of some juice that spilled on it. "What's a MiG?" Scott slammed his head against the table and looked up, a few crumbs of cake stuck to his face. He sighed and wiped them off. "You want to see it?" Scott asked. The ponies nodded eagerly, they clearly wanted to see what Scott had brought with him. "Come one you lot, it's just over this hill," Scott said as he led the group. He at first didn't want to show the MiG but then remembered the party with his old Interceptor. He'd made an amazing entrance with that and now that he had an old fighter jet he was anticipating using it to make an even greater appearance. Scott giggled to himself as he thought about it, the only problem this time was that when they transported the Interceptor, they used the train, this time Scott may have to fly to Canterlot. "Is that it?" Twilight asked as she pointed out a glint of silver. Scott looked to where she was pointing and saw the nose of his MiG poking out from between the trees. "There she is," he whispered. He walked over to it as the others stood back, they watched him go behind the bushes and saw him walk around the jet, he suddenly stopped near the nose and stared aghast at the side. "Okay, who the hell defaced my jet?" The group looked at each other and went over to Scott. He was standing by the side of the jet where he was was biting his lower lip in rage. Lauren looked at what Scott was pointing at with a shaking hoof. She saw something spray painted on the side of the plane, it appeared to be a dark green Celtic knot sprayed on an angle. "What is that?" Lauren asked. "I don't care!" Scott bellowed as he leapt at the graffiti and tried to scrape it off. Lauren shook her head and looked behind her and saw the six ponies cowering behind a bush. "Something wrong?" "T-t-t-t-that's the symbol of Douglas," Twilight stammered in fear. "What?" "That's the symbol that's been popping up around the town for the past year," Applejack said, "When ponies see that we think that it means that Douglas is going to attack the town. It hasn't happened yet but more of those keep popping up and we're getting scared." "Why bother is nothing's happening?" Scott asked as he scraped off the last of the paint. "Because of what he did to us," Pinkie said, her voice cracking somewhat. Scott stopped and turned around to see the fearful ponies. His mood darkened when he saw the ponies huddled up around each other, he noticed that each of them were shaking and on the verge of crying. Scott walked over to the six and sat down next to Fluttershy. "What did he do?" Scott whispered gently. "He captured us when Queen Chrysalis was in control of Ponyville, he had us stuck in cocoons and tormented us." Scott took hold of Fluttershy's hooves and hugged her. "Don't you worry, I'll make him pay for what he did to you." Scott let go of Fluttershy and then decided to lead them back to the town, he wasn't one for superstition but if a symbol could cause so much fear in his friends, he had to get them away in case Douglas did show up. Scott knew that he could fight him but he didn't want to have any of his friends get hurt and especially not Lauren. Scott coaxed the six to leave but not before materializing several ropes and yokes. He tossed them to the six and opened up the cockpit, he tied the ropes to the top of the jet and looked around. "Scott, what are these?" Twilight asked. "Just put them on and pull the jet out of the trees," Scott said as he reached down into the cockpit. "Why?" Rainbow Dash asked irritably. "Just do it!" Scott yelled as he pulled a machine gun out of the cockpit, "Miss Faust, get in the back and keep your head down." Something in Scott's voice made the six ponies ignore the yokes and run to the back of the jet and start pushing, Scott was about to protest but he stopped when he saw something move in the bushes. He span around and aimed the weapon towards the quivering branches, his steady aim was interrupted when he felt Lauren jump into the back seat of the jet. "What is it?" she asked. "Nothing good," Scott muttered. The six managed to push the jet out int the clearing where Scott told them to run to the safety of the town. As they did Scott pulled the canopy shut and started the jet's engine, he then released the brakes and let the jet roll forwards, Scott looked behind him and pushed the throttle to max and then steered the plane so that all the bushes and trees were blasted apart by the slipstream of the engine. He relaxed when he saw nothing but woodland creatures scatter from the vegetation. "Did you think that Douglas was there?" Lauren asked. "No, I knew that he was there, watching us. Good thing he had the idea to run." "Do you think he'll attack?" "No, he's a sly one. He could've easily taken us out if I was distracted, but he didn't. That leads me to believe that he's just going to watch us." "I heard what happened to him," Lauren said as she shuddered, "I created this place and it broke him, I feel so awful." "It's not your fault," Scott said comfortingly, "It was his fault that he didn't trust Twilight. But then again he didn't know the consequences of abstaining from her help." "But I still can't shake the feeling of guilt." "It's okay, if we can get him alive I'll try to get his mind fixed so that he can go home to his family." "You promise?" Lauren said as she leaned forward. "Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye," Scott said with a smile. Lauren laughed and hugged Scott around the neck. "So what do we do now?" "Well if I had to guess, we're gonna go to Canterlot. I hope that you're ready to meet the rulers of Equestria, because they'll be ready for you."