~Legacy of Power (1/3)~

Before her was a twisted version of the place she now called home. Green skies full of chocolate-raining cotton candy clouds with checkerboard floor covering the whole land. Mayor buildings like Ponyville’s Town Hall were now floating upside-down in the air and herds of long-legged rabbits and dancing buffalos running free through the streets and causing...

The lavender unicorn spun in place after hearing the mockingly amused voice, and now she was seeing the chimerical manifestation of chaos and disharmony himself. Discord was seated on his throne, holding a glass of chocolate milk with his eagle claw, while a malevolent grin crossed on his lips. The fear Twilight was feeling wasn’t enough to make the young pony run away, she stood as straight as possible and gave the draconequus a defying glare “How did you managed to escape again?” It was the only thing she could think of.

The master of chaos’ smile grew wider “Oh, I thought you'd never ask” Snapped one of his fingers and disappeared in a flash of light, only to reappear behind his acquaintance. “You see, it wasn’t really easy. I even doubted that I would escape anytime soon. But let's just say that I got some help from certain five ponies.” Snapped again his fingers and in front of them appeared five grey figures; Twilight’s heart broke at the sight, right in front of her were all of her best friends, all of them looking like they were when Discord corrupted them back a few months, only this time, they all had yellow eyes with red irises and all of them were giving her a mean leer and laughing at her.

“No!” Cried the little pony as she started to run to her right; but before she could reach further, a humongous purple and scaled tail fell right on the way, she looked up to see the creature, but it became difficult since the sky turned completely dark, as the moon changed its course to cover the sun all of a sudden. A lightning bolt struck down illuminating the gigantic purple and green dragon. “Spike?” The dragon only gave an angry roar as a blue cloud of stardust appeared over him. <<It’s not possible! How could this be happening?.>> Now over her former friend and assistant was the queen of darkness herself: Nightmare Moon.

“Remember this day, my little pony, ‘cuz it will be your last” Twilight thought she would throw up in any moment “Because after today, night will last FOREVER!”

Twilight started to cry heavily, turned to her friends looking for a hint of consort, but they only continued laughing at her, now joined by Discord and Nightmare Moon. “How could you all let this happen!? What about being the Spirits of the Elements of Harmony?! What about our friendship?”

“‘Friendship’?” said another twisted voice, and across the dragon and the mistress of night a green burst of fire lit up revealing the Queen of the Changelings. “What a pathetic, little sentiment!” said with a disgusted, yet amused tone, while joined to the evil laughter of everypony present and walking toward her.

“No, no no no NO!” She didn’t know what to do; the three major threats of all Equestrian history were now surrounding her, and have also taken control of all of her friends. She could do nothing. She curled herself in the floor, unable to do anything else but cry. The laughs were now stronger and crueler. She heard a snap of fingers and the last thing she could notice is that she was falling down a crystal cave. She could not scream, however, as the unicorn saw right to her own reflection the image of a creature she didn’t remember to have seen, but that spoke with the voice of one of the royal princesses “Take the envelope and come to the ancient castle of the Everfree. There is no time to waste”. The reflection of what Twilight thought was princess Luna disappeared. <<What does that mean? And how am I supposed to get to the Everfree Forest now?.>>.

“Ow.” Twilight had fell of her bed and landed right on her face. She managed to get out of bed and to sit up. in front of her was the small basket that her baby dragon use to sleep, a quiet snore from under the blankets confirmed to her that Spike wasn’t a greedy-giant monster. With some relief, the student crawled to the window in order to confirm that Ponyville, now bathed with the first lights of the dawn, was not a chaos destroyed land, shrouded in darkness and infested with insect ponies. “It was a dream” she said, brushing her hand on her forehead to sweep the cold sweat on her face, when she realized something else.

<<Where is my horn? Or Where is my hoof?!.>> She noticed now that at the end of each of her limbs she had hands and feet similar to those of her reptilian friend and most primates. Her coat was shorter, revealing a bare, sand-colored skin, except for a small section of her shoulders where she recognized her Cutie Mark. She was wearing a pink sleeveless pajama, and her purple hair was falling lightly on her back. Panicking, she jumped on her feet rather easily and walked to the full body mirror on the corner of her room to take a better look of herself now.

She now could stand straight with no problem, her build was more esthetic, the middle part of her torso was slightly thinner than the rest of it, on front of her chest were a pair of... <<What are these things, and where the hay is my tail?.>> In effect, in her rear was now missing a tail and her rumps were now more round and defined; her four limbs were also thinner and longer, also her ears were much shorter and were on the sides of her head, not the top. The only things that did not changed were the colors of her hair and eyes. For the rest, Twilight Sparkle was now sure that she was no longer a pony, but...

~~~~~

“It wasn’t nothing, Rarity” Behind the dragon knight laid a defeated army of monsters from all kinds, from fierce, wild griffons to greedy diamond dogs. And now he was in front who he had fought through waves and waves of enemies, a pure white coat, a curled and elegant mane, and a pair of deep, blue, beautiful eyes, fluttering at the sight of their savior. “For you, milady, would fight dozens of monsters who dared to keep you imprisoned.”

“My, you are truly a valiant warrior! And a handsome hero too!” Her glance turned to an even more flirtatious one “May I reward you for your heroic feat?” Right after that, the white unicorn puckered her lips toward her prospect.

He waggled his scaly eyebrows before mirroring the motion. <<Oh man! If this is a dream, nopony wakes me up.>>. Unfortunately, his mental plead would go unheard.

“Whoa!” He jumped out of his slumber half surprised, half annoyed. He quickly reached for the night clock like he usually does whenever his roommate has to wake him up, whether it was intentionally or not. Spike watched the time, and then took a glance to the window to confirm that once again, it was to early in the morning. “3 a.m., Twilight. Why did you...” He glanced at her for the first time, that didn’t look like a pony at all. “Twilight? Is that you?”

“Yes, it’s me Spike. Before you ask, I have no idea of what the hoof is happening or why we are both humans, or why do I know what a human is.” The former unicorn was speaking too fast for the yet sleepy youngling, but he could make two pieces of that rant.

“Hold it, what do you mean with ‘human’ and ‘both’?” As if expecting that question, the young woman got him out of his basket and put him in front of the looking glass. As the small boy studied his reflection, a feeling of panic started to brew on the mouth of his stomach; scales, spines, claws and tail were all gone, and now he was looking like the same creature as the student who had raised him since he hatched, only wearing purple boxers and less curvy. He had a lighter tone of skin than Twilight’s; he was also smaller, about half the height of her; instead of the line of spines that grew on his head, he had now short, scruffy green hair “This isn’t right, dragons don’t have hair, nor ears” he said after noticing the pointed appendages on both sides of his head “What in Tartarus happened?”

“I told you already, I don’t know how we became humans, nor how do I know what is a human, but I’m just sure that that’s what we are now.” She paused, taking a better look at her number one assistant “But you kinda still look like a dragon.” said with a complicit smile. Spike looked again on his reflection and effectively he still had green, reptilian eyes, small fangs protruding from his mouth, inside of which was a bifid tongue.

But the draconic trait that he didn’t expect still retained was his ability of “fire delivery”, as a ball of green fire shot from his throat, propelling him across the room. Twilight watched as the silver smoke spanned in place “The Princess sent a letter! It’ll surely have an explanation of what is happening.” said, ignoring the fact that a small human was able of burp fire, nor that said “dragon-boy” was knocked down in the other side of the bedroom.

However, instead of the traditional scroll containing the letter from her mentor, the content of the delivery was a red envelope with a simple blue seal on its rear. Confused, Twilight tried to reach the mail, and for her surprise, a strange wand appeared on her hand and started to glow with a fuchsia aura at the same time as the envelope; after that, the piece of paper drifted slowly to her other hand as she lowered the wand, which she was now studying. It was made of a purple material she couldn’t recognize, in the handle was craved a six pointed star and the rest of the stick had a spiraling pattern that looked almost familiar. <<It’s my horn. Whew, for a moment I thought I've lost my magic.>>. She now looked to the other object she had obtained, took a view of the seal, then turned it to find something written on it:

COME TO EVERFREE AT ONCE.

DO NOT OPEN UNTIL YOU ARE WITH THE OTHERS BEARERS.

EVERYTHING SHALL BE EXPLAINED.

“Everfree? But why would Princess Celestia want me to...” The dream! She had a vision of Princess Luna making her the same request before waking. She knew that the princess of the moon has the ability to enter the dreams of those she wants to, but never heard of a situation where it was necessary. It was obvious that both princesses wanted her and her friends to meet with them right now, given that Luna had also visited them in their dreams.

<<I wonder how Pinkie’s dreamscape would look like.>>. A sudden shiver ran through her spine. <<Better not to go and try and understand a “Pinkie Dream”.>>.

And if they were summoned as well, then they would also have become humans. <<Sure hope pegasi can still fly, Rainbow Dash wouldn’t be too happy.>>. “Spike, please take care of the library. I’ll be back after discovering what’s going on.”

As she disappeared down the stairs, Spike gave an unamused look, turned to open the closet in the room and, not much for his surprise, Twilight’s wardrobe was now bigger and that every piece of clothing was organized for events and/or purpose. <<Geez, even reality knows Twilight has a problem.>>. He simply took the ones labeled as “Sunday” and “Everfree Forest” and returned to the stairs as the student, ex-unicorn walked back to her room with a sheepish smile “Right! Would you excuse me while I change?”

“There’s the restroom. I’ll go back to sleep.” He then returned into bed and fell asleep almost instantly. <<Now, where did I left?.>>

~~~~~

After putting more appropriate clothes, namely a white t-shirt, a purple vest, purple sneakers and lavender pants, she started her way to the outskirts of Ponyville, making a scale at the Carousel Boutique where she found Rarity, also a human, just a slightly bigger than her, a light tone of skin, and a lot more provided in her figure, admiring every new piece of her now bigger wardrobe. She tried to talking her out of it, but Rarity seemed just too dazzled by each ensemble that Twilight’s words went unheard.

Knowing that the fashionista was going to take hours putting on all of the clothes, Twilight brought her wand and practically dragged her using telekinesis with what she was wearing at the moment: black jeans and a white shirt, and lead her to where they were supposed to go. “Honestly dear, that was rather rude coming from you!” Said Twilight’s friend, while trying to keep her pace “If this is really as urgent as it sounds, you could have just asked me to hurry. This is not exactly the best attire to explore a forest” Said, clearly referring to the heels she was wearing.

“I’m sorry Rares, but that’s what I tried before. Besides, we both know that you would take days to choose the best assemble” She said jokingly, to what Rarity just frowned before smiling in agreement. They had passed Sugarcube Corner when the student broke the silence “I suppose you also received a message from Princess Luna, don’t you?”.

“Why yes. Right at the end of what, I must say, was the worst nightmare I ever dreamed”

“It was horrible!” popped a bubbly voice out of nowhere, making Rarity jump to the arms of Twilight. Now alongside them was a girl with pale, pink skin, who was smaller than both of them; she was wearing a pink tube top, with a puffy, pink skirt, a dark blue jacket, striped knee-socks and a pair of light blue sneakers. The other two could tell that it was Pinkie Pie for her curly, bright pink hair and because of her deep blue eyes, which one could mistake for those of a foal, or child, or whatever.

“First, I was in the middle of Ponyville, but it wasn’t Ponyville, but all messed up. Then that big-old meanie Discord appeared, then eenie-meanie pony versions of all of you appeared with him; then a giant Spike with Nightmare Moon; Then that old Changeling Queen appeared too, all of them were saying old phrases they said before, that was odd; then I got really really sad, because all of them have taken over Equestria and there was nothing we could do, then started to fall and fall through a big hole and then the Princess Luna told me to go to the Everfree Forest. Woke up, dressed up, showed up and now... here we are.” She concluded with a big, goofy smile.

The other two friends were looking astonished at the always happy party-planner, before realizing that Twilight was still holding Rarity in both arms. The two separated, and the magician decided to avoid the awkward silence “Good thing to see you Pinkie. But the odd thing is that I had the same dream. Those three villains at the same time, the falling and the message from the princess. I believe your dream was also the same, right Rarity?”

“Yes it was! This is very upsetting: The tree of us, the others might as well, had the exact same dream at the very same time, then we all woke up to discover that everypo- I mean, everybody is now a human. What could that mean”.

“Isn’t it obvious? ‘Spirits of Harmony’. Duh! We are very important somebodies.”

“That’s a plausible theory Pinkie to explain the shared dream, but we should still be on our way to meet with the others. Applejack and Rainbow Dash must be already at Fluttershy’s. It is the best spot to enter the forest, and we need to reach them right away.”

She reached for her pocket and brought to sight the envelope for the two others girls. “Because of this. If this says that must be opened with the six of us present, then we should hurry to meet with the rest. Whatever its content is, it may help us in some way. Now, let’s hurry.” The three then started to run, at least the former unicorns, as Pinkie Pie just pranced alongside them waving her arms back and forward.

After Applejack fell from her bed and realized that she was no longer a pony, almost felt that she was going to pass out, but she wasn’t one of those who faint in a situation like this. “Ok sugarcube. Ya’ll just having a bad dream, that’s all” <<But you just woke up from a bad dream!>> “What in tarnation is going on?” She was more like those who start panicking.

“Ugh. What’s all the racket all about sis?” The apple farmer turned around to see a small girl with a messy red hair on her head, and bright, sleepy orange eyes were looking straight to the blond young woman. “Why are you awake so early? The rooster hasn't sung yet!”

“Applebloom!” she kneeled to her small sister once she recognized her “Are you alright? Are you hurt?” She asked a lot more of questions while checking that the youngest Apple family member was completely okay, besides the fact that she wasn’t a pony anymore.

“I’m ok, AJ! Did you have a nightmare or something?” said while trying to put distance between her and Applejack, who was acting way too weird this morning.

“Not sure if I had one or if I’m still dreaming!” She stopped after noticing how stupid that sounded “Scratch that. I mean, haven’t you notice’ that you and I are no longer ponies?” Now Applebloom was giving her sister a confused look. She moved her eyes to the pile of blankets that lay on the floor next to the bed, and then her face changed to an unamused one.

“You fell from bed and hurt on your head, don't you?” Applejack though for a second to correct her sister, but she didn’t as she realized that Applebloom truly didn’t remember being a pony before and that she wouldn’t. Then she remembered the last part of that dream and the request from the princess. <<Everfree, uh?>> “Don’t worry sis, I won’t tell anybody” crossed her heart with a finger and placed her hand over one eye.

“Thanks sis. Shucks, I guess you’re right.” she lied, taking the excuse her little sister gave her, while trying with all her might to keep a natural expression “Say? I think I’m going to take a morning walk. Care telling granny and Big Mac?” Beads of sweat started to form on her forehead.

“Sure, I guess” Said the little redheaded girl while rubbing her eye and drowning a big yawn, and noticing the shining sweat on Applejack’s forehead. “You know that they won’t be very happy with you skipping chores, right?” now Applebloom had a playful look on her eyes “Maybe I could help you with that with the right incentive.”

<<Shoot! You blackmailing stack of...’>> “Okay, cover me up in this one and I’ll get you a box of jelly donuts.” she offered to her sister.

The small youngster simply nodded and got back to her own room. Applejack then looked for something to wear in order to go out, since it didn’t look like a good idea to enter the Everfree forest with only a white t-shirt and some underwear. She put on a pair of jeans, boots, leather gloves and a orange shirt, tied her blond hair on her usual ponytail and went down the stairs, grabbed her Stetson hat from the perch and got out from the house.

After a while, Applejack managed to reach Fluttershy’s cottage, where she found her friend waiting in the garden already, also turned into a slightly pale human girl. She was wearing a small yellow, long sleeved sweater, a pair of jeans and a pair of boots (not too worn like Applejack’s); but what revealed that it was Fluttershy for her long, pink hair and the rather worried look that she always seems to have.

However, her face showed up a gentle smile when she perceived her friend. “Applejack!” Right in that instant, a small flash lit up in the back of the young teenager and she hovered to their encounter with a pair of yellow, translucent wings, hovering at just inches from her shoulder plates and about the same length as her arms. “Oh, I’m so glad to see you. I just went out a few hours ago and... Oh I was so worry that nobody would show up. Are you okay?” Her aquamarine eyes opened almost pleading for the answer as she landed in front of the farmer and her wing disappeared.

“I’m okay, sugarcube. I was also worrying about ya’ll. I’m guessing you also received that message” Asked, now in a more serious tone.

The face of the shy ex-pegasus, who was a lot smaller than Applejack, became even more concerned “Oh, yes. I mean, it sure was some kind message... but, um, you see, I also had a very bad dream, and when I woke up I was so scared that I didn’t know what to think!” said while starting to hyperventilate, so she stopped before losing herself.

“You said a nightmare?” The animal keeper nodded slowly “One with all the three bad guys we faced in the last two year and that ended with falling through a bottomless pit?” Now Fluttershy face revealed surprise on her look.

“Then we all had the same dream.” Said a third voice, as a figure with blue wings landed near the two of them, making the pink haired girl give a small “Eep!” in surprise. Taking a better look at the newcomer, Applejack found it was another girl, just a little taller than the animal lover and with the same tanned skin as hers, wearing what seems to be a light blue t-shirt under a navy blue jacket, short jeans, red sneakers and multicolored socks. The rainbow-haired teen walked to the other two with a smug smile on her face. “How do you guys doing? Did you like my entrance?” The smile grew to a smirk on her lips.

“Rainbow, I’m very glad to see you. But don’t ever appear out of nowhere like that! You almost caused Fluttershy here a heart attack” Said motioning to the other flier, who was trembling behind her.

“Whoops! Yeah, sorry for that” She gave a sheepish smile while her oldest friend returned an apologizing one. “So, we all had exactly the same bad dream the exact same night and woke up to find out we’re some kind of tall monkeys.” she said while stretched her wings to both sides. “Though I’m happy these babies didn’t go anywhere.” Said the athlete before making her flying attributes disappear.

“Not just that. I bumped to Applebloom this morning, and she doesn’t seem to notice the change. Only I could remember we were ponies just yesterday, so I would bet Twilight and the others do too.”

“So, you think that this... I mean... us noticing all of this and remember being ponies... Could have something to do with the elements?”

“That just what I said!” Came out no other than Pinkie Pie, startling once again Fluttershy, who was next to the bush where the party planner popped up. Soon enough, the other two friends also arrived to the cottage. Rarity, now tired of walking with heels, summoned her own wand, white with a diamond pattern on its handle, and managed to transfigure her clothes into a black running pants, sandals, and a white, sleeveless shirt

“Ha, much better, and still looks very fashionable.” said Rarity while examining her new outfit. Somewhere in the group, a pair of green eyes rolled.

“I’m so glad you three are already here.” started Twilight. “We need to hurry now, whatever is happening, it has affected all of Equestria. Or at least I still believe it is called Equestria. Anyway, all of us had a nightmare with the three greatest threats in pony history: Discord, Nightmare Moon and the Changeling Queen. Am I right?” Twilight waited until all nodded. “Then, we all had this ‘vision’ of Princess Luna asking us to come to the Castle of the Ancient Sisters.” After another round of nods was given, she took the red envelope from her pocket “Good! Princess Celestia also told me particularly to take this; it says to open it only with the six of us present.”

Twilight hesitated for a moment, but decided not to waste more time. After all of them got closer to the magician, she grabbed the envelope and broke the seal. Instantly, the paper burnt down as a bright light poured from it, bathing each of them with it. But as sudden as it started, soon it faded away, leaving six confused expressions, specially the student. <<I don’t get it.>> thought Twilight. <<what was all that about?>>

“Well, although it was rather entertaining, I don’t see its point. Why would Princess Celestia send you that light show?”

“Wait, hold it there! Celestia was the one sending that magic thingy? Then why did Princess Luna Talked to all of us in our dream? And why they want us to go to their old palace? Isn’t it better back in Canterlot?”

Wow! That’s a lot of questions. “Okay, in that order; Rarity, I’m not sure; Dash, yes, because she is the one that owns a fire delivering creature: Philomena; as for the ‘dream visit’, it is the quickest way to call all of us, and Princess Luna is the one who can enter dreams; and finally, Equestria is facing a problem that changed all reality, if our presence is needed urgently, they’ll want us to go to the nearest place all six could go at the same time.” she finished her explanation, quickly forgetting her previous doubts.

“Okay.” Said the speedster with a stern look “But why the ancient castle? In the middle of the Everfree?”

Twilight was about to give an answer, when she realized. “I don’t know. Actually, I was wondering the same. If the princesses have not problem to go to their old castle, then why don’t they just tell us to meet at a nearer place like the town hall or the library?”

“Um... maybe it’s because... well, I’m not sure, but because it’s the nearest and most private place they could think about to meet with us.” The other five turned to Fluttershy. “I mean... if they don’t want anybody else to get involved, but the six of us... then they would go to a place anybody else knows about... well, that’s what I think”

“Welp, guess that makes sense.” said Applejack after a short silence. “What’cha think Twi?”

“I agree, but I still would like to hear the answer from Princess Celestia herself. No offense Fluttershy.” Her friend just gave her a reassuring smile. “Okay everybody, let’s keep moving, we already wasted too much time.” Then lead all the group to the forest entrance, Twilight didn’t know about the others, but she was very worried of the whole situation. <<Why did everypony turned into humans? This was malign doing? I have to know>>.

The first time Twilight and her friends explored the Everfree Forest, they walked through a long road and faced many obstacles that none of them could have passed alone, without each of them, in order to reach the abandoned palace where the Elements of Harmony were left a thousand years ago. This time, however, they were walking on the same road without the menace of death, finally reaching a familiar cliff that Nightmare Moon made crumble under their hooves the last time they went through that road almost two year ago.

Twilight started making her way down the leaned terrain; the rest followed her as cautious as they could, but none of them counted on Fluttershy, who waited last to start descending and slipped over her feet and knocked the rest of them down the hill, except of course of Rainbow, who flew down the obstacle rather than “walk” it, and now was disputing whether to facepalm at her friend clumsiness or crack up at the pile of limbs and heads that was now on the floor in front of her.

“Yeah, sugar! It’s not the first time, it won’t be the last. Besides, I reckon we saved some minutes there.”

“Maybe that’s true, but it surely was unnecessary. Clothes are not so easy to clean as coat, you know?”

“You can worry about that later, Rarity.” Cuted Twilight. “We need to focus on getting to the Castle. The sooner we get, the sooner we can get our hoo- hands on the problem.” After that, she continued walking the path, with the other five following close behind. They walked right past a cave where a Manticore was seen sleeping. It registered the sound of their steps and opened its eyes for a second, before yawning and turning over so they wouldn’t disrupt its sleep.

“So, how many other animals did change? I mean, I’ve only seen ponies turned into humans so far, and you said Spike transformed too, right?”

“I see your point Rainbow, I think that this thing, whatever it is, only affected sentient animals.”

“Animals that can speak.” translated Applejack, before looking back to Twilight. “But I’ve seen Daisy Jo’s herd while coming to Fluttershy’s place, and they’re still cows.”

“Yes, maybe it is because only few cows can talk and because they have not created or adopted a culture like ponies, donkeys, zebras or even buffalos.” Twilight stopped as she realized that she was entering to another of her rants, which soon enough drew confused faces on all of her friends. “Sorry. What I mean is that they tend to act as most animals.”

“Well, that makes sense... I guess. But what about Spike then?” Fluttershy’s voice lowered as she spoke. “You said that he still looks like a dragon... kinda... and dragons usually act like other animals... so why did he change?”

“Maybe because he was raised by an egghead unicorn since the day he hatched.” Joked Rainbow Dash, thought Twilight knew it was light hearted. It is true that Spike looked like a human, but he also looked still like a dragon, and he even can breathe fire. <<Perhaps it is because he wore once the Element of Loyalty, so that whatever happened also had its effects on him in some way, though it’s better not to remember that to Rainbow. I know Pinkie would know not to say that.>> Then she realized that something weird was going on, something unusual. She turned in place and looked to the only one who hadn’t said a word since they entered the forest.

“Are you okay, Pinkie? You’ve been really quiet since we entered the forest. Way to quiet!” Now the other four looked at the pink dressed girl. She kept quiet for a few seconds, directing unnaturally serious glances at each of the presents, until finally she spoke.

“Well, since I believe all of you are yourselves, I guess I can tell you.” She took a quick glance to her back, and motioned her friends to come closer. They all did, with genuine curiosity of what Pinkie has to say. After an unsettling silence, she finally revealed, on a very low whisper barely audible for all the presents. “My ears are buzzing.”

Twilight glanced again at Pinkie while rubbing her left temple, something she always did whenever she is about to hear the explanation of one of the inexplicable body twitches of the “Pinkie sense”. Pinkie took a deep and rather noisy breath before starting to speak at lightning speed.

“As you all know, I can know what is going to happen before it happens through many different signals and twitches o my body, that's my Pinkie sense. It goes from a itch on my hoo- er, hand, to a twitchy tail, and it sometimes comes in combos, giving almost infinites meanings for whatever is going to happen, going from something falling or a big, nasty doozy. Now, I wonder how would I know if something’s going to fall now that I have these still-don’t-know-what-for-a-tail.” suddenly, the forelock of her hair started to shake and a branch fell right on her head. “Ouch, mystery solved. Well, right now, my ears are buzzing, and the last time that happened was in Canterlot a few months ago...”

“... Yeah! Right when we were like ‘Team super-duper awesome!’, fighting changelings and stuff. But before that, my ears buzzed while near Princess Cadence. Well, not Cadence, but that fake Cadence who turned out to be that ugly-looking Changeling Queen. In the end, after all those bugs got expelled from the city with that magic ‘power-of-love’ spell from Shining and Cadence, my ears stopped buzzing and realized it was a new Pinkie sense that meant ‘Changeling-approaching’. My ears started to buzz again shortly after I saw you and Rarity, and I thought one of you was a changeling, so I hid because didn’t know if one of you or both were a changeling, then waited ‘till I was sure none of you were an impostor. But the buzzing didn’t stop, so I kept the secret until I was super-extra-hundred percent sure all of you were acting like yourselves, because changelings do a terrible job mimicking other ponies…” Facepalm. “…other people. Then you asked me if I was okay, then I told you all of this and... Here we are!” she finished with a big, goofy smile.

The other five girls stared each other in silence as tried to sink in half of what the frizzled haired girl just said. The word “Changeling” was what caught everybody’s attention, and the circumstances of the context was enough to alarm all of the present, though Pinkie seemed oblivious of that since she was still smiling. Finally, Twilight spoke up. “Pinkie, if what you are saying is true, and your ‘Changeling-approaching Pinkie-sense’ is tingling right now, then that means...”

She couldn’t finish that sentence because Fluttershy gave a loud scream as a ball of green fire burst in the middle of the road in front of them. After the fire faded, a tall humanoid creature stood on the same place. It had a black, segmented body. It walked in two, hoof-like appendages, filled with many holes, while its left arm had a functional, clawed hand, still filled with holes, and its left arm seemed to end on some sort of blade. The creature’s face was almost flat, except for two bluish-green eyes, two small horns on top of its head, and a small mouth filled with four fangs. Another flame burst next to the first changeling, and another, and another; soon, they were surrounded by a whole troop of changelings.

The six teenagers gave their back at each other while keeping an eye to their attackers. “It’s a trap!”

“It is not the propitious time for being sarcastic, Rainbow.” Cuted Rarity, glancing at all the assailants. “But now, I think we should come up with something to pass through this predicament. Any ideas?”

“Pinkie, I think she meant that we should... fight them back... right?” asked Fluttershy, with just a small tremor in her voice.

Twilight looked back at her shy friend.”Are you okay with that? You usually disapprove violence.” Azure eyes met with the violet ones, with a decided look.

“Well, yes... I mean... It's not like I would hide while all of you fight all by your own!”

“Not to mention we are talking about Changelings. Just imagine they are a bunch of bears with back-aches and we’ll be fine.” reassured Dash, unknowingly clearing up an unsettling scene Twilight witnessed some time ago. With nothing else to be said, the group broke formation and started defending themselves from the ambush.

Applejack was the first to engage battle, trying to connect various hooks and kicks to her adversary, which it easily dodged or blocked. It then leapt a few meters backwards, thrusted its thorn-hand forward and shot a beam of green magic from it. Applejack quickly ducked herself as the beam flew straight where her face was just seconds ago. “What in tarnation? These guys can shoot magic now!”

“I’ve noticed!” Answered Twilight as she counter the beams with her own magic, then tried to land a few hits, but to no avail. The changeling blocked a kick directed to its chest and took grip of her feet and thrown it upwards, making Twilight to spin in the air. She managed to land on her feet and made a few back flips while evading an attack from other changeling. “They’re stronger also!”

“How inconvenient! Last time we barely handled a small number of them...” Rarity dodged various attacks from the enemy in front of her, while trying to land a spinning kick. “... and now we won’t be able to harm them!”

“That’s easy, try to wear them off first...” said Pinkie before evading a fast combo from a changeling, charged at it, slipped between its legs, stood up and kicked in its back. “... and knock them out!” She turned to face another foe, did a similar process, and thrown a fist to the monster’s chest. The creature fell down, but Pinkie’s fist got suddenly bigger and red, big tears appeared in the corners of her eyes, before she started jumping in place holding her injured hand. “Another tip: Aim for the weak spots!”

Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash were now back to back, ducking shots and hits as fast as they could while keeping their adversaries at bay. Both had called in their wings and were using them as an extra set of arms, blocking and landing attacks as they could. Surprisingly, the pink haired one was fighting quite well, being almost a mirror reflection of her multi-hued haired friend. “If the Changelings set up an ambush for us right here and now...” started Rainbow, before switching places with Fluttershy, who finished the statement. “...Then they must be behind this!”

“Well...” started Applejack before jumping out of reach from her contrary. “For what I’ve seen, that ugly ol’ Changeling Queen is taking great pains to take us out!”

“I agree AJ, she definitely doesn’t want us to interfere! We need to get out of this! We can’t let them outmatch us” Said the magician before fending a magic shot and teleporting near the group of young women, whom were fended away from their respective adversary; Pinkie however was thrown by the changeling she was assaulting, falling in the center of the meadow with a hard thud.

“Normally, I would say ‘no’, but I can tell when the things looks rough ahead. It has been an honor to work with ya’ll ladies.”

“Now, just wait a small fraction of second! I won’t give in against the lowest and most cowards and deceiving of the scum that stands in my way trying to take the best of me...” In that instant, Twilight started to feel a strange energy emanating from Applejack. “And less when the whole Equestria need us the most in this same instant. So I’ll keep fighting, even if they beat the apples off my name.” She then shot toward the enemies in front of her; the powerful aura Twilight felt swelling in size. The cowgirl then leapt upwards, spun in the air and prepared a descending kick, which connected on top of the nearest Changeling.

The changeling was literally nailed on the floor, while the shockwave sent flying the other enemies next to it. Applejack backed away with a shocked face, while looking at the hole on the floor she herself made with her newfound strength. “Wha- what in...?”

“Applejack, that was awesome!” cheered Rainbow Dash, hovering next to the apple farmer. “Why didn’t do that before?”

“She is right, Rainbow!” Twilight joined them. “Applejack, that strength is not your own! You are irradiating some kind of magic; it is powered by your resolution. I’ve never seen something like that before! In fact, now that I’ve noticed, all of us have the same magic signature!”

“If may I, darling; I suggest we end this conversation later.” The six readied again. “We are not out of danger yet!”

“Applejack, what were you thinking? If we all focus on the same thing, we may be able to trigger the magic.”

“Just focus on not giving up Twi. That’s the only thing that matters to me right now!”

Battle engaged again, Applejack jumped into a big group of changelings, seconds after, they were flying on every direction as she landed each hit without breaking a sweat. Right punch, left punch, uppercut, a roundhouse kick, and four more changelings were disposed. “Oh golly! I’m kicking flanks just like Buck Morris!” she smiled as she continued to knock out more changelings.

Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash was rushing to a single foe, stood right in front of it, concentrating on not to lose, and waited until the creature launched a claw swipe to where she was; a blur replaced her as the hit almost connected and now she was to the left of the changeling. another attack, blur, and she appeared somewhere else, this happened another two times before she disappeared completely, and then a shower of fists and kicks from every direction beat up the confused creature, before falling on the ground as Rainbow appeared again to its back, with a victorious smile. “Too slow.” she simply said before proceeding.

Rarity was back flipping, in a graceful demonstration of acrobatics and agility, while avoiding enemies’ attacks and putting some distance between her and them. Once she stopped, her eyes dashed to every centimeter of her surroundings, almost for its own, looking for any object to use on her advantage. A little gleam pointed her to notice a small rock next to her feet, the five enemies standing in front of her and several old tree branches right above them. Without more thinking, she stomped on the rock, lifting it to the air, she spinned in place and projected her impromptu projectile with her palm. The pebble ricocheted to three changeling heads before shooting itself upwards, breaking the highest branch, which broke the others, which then fell over the insect-like enemies. She watched amazed at her feat and then gave a mischievous look at other group beside her. “Anyone else wants a piece of me!?” yelled to the changelings, who ran away at the maddened scream. “I thought so.” Said while regaining her composure and facing another group she didn’t scared.

Fluttershy, on the other hand, was having problems landing a single attack, while she was perfectly able to dodge all the incoming assaults. She leapt to the air and hovered all the way back until she bumped into a tree. Right there, Rainbow appeared in a blur of speed, slightly startling her friend.

“Oh yeah! Did you see that? I’m fast! I was fast before, but now I’m faster than ever! Awe-Some!” On her enthusiasm, Rainbow didn’t notice the changeling preparing a magic attack behind her. But Fluttershy did, and by pure instinct, reached her hands to her friend and rotate them both, putting herself between her friend and the magic beam. She readied herself for the sting of pain, but when she heard the blast, she didn’t hurt, looked to her back to see the changeling knocked on the floor with smoke coming from its chest. Then she looked to Dash.

“Fluttershy!” started Rainbow Dash in total shock. “That beam... You deflected it!”

“I- I did?” She then saw another changeling launching at them from her right. “Watch it!” This time, however, she just extended her arm to its full length, opened her palm toward the attacker and a prismatic wall appeared between them. The changeling bumped with it and instantly got repelled away, sending it crashing against more enemies. Fluttershy was surprised, but not shocked, she just disposed five changelings by herself, and confidence began to invade her body. She looked again at Dash, who was giving her a proud smile.

The shyest girl of the group simply blushed before giving a decided look at the changelings that surrounded the two friends, as they tagged along against the threat. On the other side of the meadow, Twilight was holding a changeling with telekinesis as another one attempted to strike a sneak attack, but instead of being run over by the attacker, it simply passed through her, like if she wasn’t actually there or like if she was made of mist. She noticed the confused Changeling that just missed her and delivered a swift kick at it before sending the one on her telekinetic hold toward the former, making them collide.

Another Changeling neared Twilight from the left, but instead of escaping, she rushed toward it. She jumped to its chest and phased through its body before turning around and kicking it on the back, knocking it on the floor. They reduced the number of enemies from the ambush, and were even ready for more. “Alright girls, just ten left!” yelled the magician, then the group gathered again at the center of the clear, facing the remaining enemies.

Suddenly, a big, frightening growl came out of nowhere, startling everybody present, and one of the changelings bent down for no apparent reason, cringing in pain while holding its stomach, then its feets were swept from the ground and the injured foe fell backwards, and was immediately pushed further on the floor when it tried to stand up. The others looked confused at their fallen comrade, before the face of one of the started turning left and right, and left and right, and left and right, and left and driven into its own body, before falling down. The one next to it simply cringed as it was lifted a few inches from the ground and passed out while placing its hands to its groin area. Then a low, menacing, almost unnatural voice sounded between both groups. Fluttershy was now shrinking in fear.

“I’AM EVERFREE ITSELF! LEAVE MY DOMAINS, OR YOU’LL FACE MY FURY! NOW!” With that said, the changelings remaining disappeared in a burst of fire, as well the ones that laid down on the clear, leaving only five astonished girls in the middle of it. “That was fun!” Came a familiar, bubbly voice in front of them, the area in front of them shifted as if being seen through water, and right before Pinkie Pie reappeared in the spot, sporting a big smile on her always happy semblant and starting to jump in place again.

“Did-ya-see-me? Huh, huh? Wait! Dumb question. You couldn’t see me ‘cuz I was invisible! Isn’t it like the best superpower ever? I can do now super-secret-surprise parties and be super-sneaky without anybody noticing! Did you see the look on their faces? You sure should see the look on yours now! Anyway, that was incredibly-super awesome! All of us are now super powerful! We’re like the super-mega-ultra Mane Six now! Applejack is super strong; Dashie is super-duper fast; Rarity is super lucky; ‘Shy here makes force shields; I can turn invisible and Twilight is kinda like a ghost! But a friendly ghost!” She kept hopping in place cheering while the others shook heads and did their best to focus again on the matter at hand.

“Well, ‘super lucky’ is not the term that I would use. It was more like I knew just what to do, how and when, like if I was being hinted or something, but ‘luck’ is quite accurate in this case.”

“I’m also pleased of all of this, no complaining.” said the blond girl while checking her wrist. “But how in tarnation did we get that kind of magic?”

Twilight scratched the back of her head, looking for an answer. “That’s a good question.” <<How did we get it? When? Where? Unless>>. “The envelope, that’s it! That is what was inside the envelope! Princess Celestia knew that, if the Changelings are behind this problem, then they would attempt to take us out of the picture so the Elements of Harmony wouldn’t have any wielders.” She smiled; some things were finally starting to make sense. “The envelope contained these six powers within it, so that when I opened it, they went straight to each of us. If I had opened it before we gathered, some would probably went lost or into the wrong vessel!” She concentrated her thoughts to all of her friends, still feeling that magical aura. “And for what I can see, we still have them!”

“Sweet! So now I’m definitely the fastest flier of all Equestria. No, the fastest in the entire World!” Her face lit up of excitement, she readied herself as if about to start a race. Disappeared in a blur, with a rainbow trail running out of the forest, only to come back a second after, holding a bag of chips, which she was munching already. “What?” she muffled at the looks of her friends. “I got hungry, okay? Want some?”

But before anyone could reply, a cooing sound came from the road ahead. When they all looked, they found flying to them a strange bird. It had the same general form and size of a phoenix, except for a shorter tail and straight beak, but the most interesting trait about the bird was its blue and silver plumage, that reflected the sunlight that filtered through the branches like snow in the morning. None of the girls knew what bird it was. None except the one who had access to the library with the most ancient records in all of Equestria. "A Roc bird? But I thought they were extinct." It flew once around the girls, then gently pulled from Twilight’s hair before flying back to where it came.

“‘She’, Twilight” Corrected Fluttershy, but started to run with the group as soon as they started to follow the blue phoenix. The relieve Twilight felt minutes ago faded as she realized that things weren’t solved yet, and that she still had questions without an answer, and now she was following a bird she has never seen in her life. Fortunately, the bird was leading them to the place they meant to reach; soon she’ll have her answers.

Power Rangers: Guardians of Harmony

by Hidden Scorpius XI

Legacy of Power (1/3)