//------------------------------// // Setting the Field // Story: The Captain of Mining // by Raybony //------------------------------// Morning came, the rays of the sun slowly seeping through the cracks in the shade that stopped the sun from getting into the room. The sun slowly moved to hit the eyes of a certain human who was sleeping soundly, or at least tried to. “Uuugh, too early, go back to sleep sun,” Sparklez mumbled in his sleep as he turned his body around, escaping the glare of the sun from finding him. At least that is what he hoped. Another ray found its way into his eyes as it managed to fully wake him as he groggily opened his eyes. “Fine, fine. I’m up,” Sparklez said defeatedly as he slowly rose to sit on his bed which, surprisingly, was big enough to fit his whole body. “Well well, didn’t expect to see you up at this time,” came a voice that Sparklez couldn’t quite place yet in his sleepy mind. “Didn’t picture you as an early riser, but I shouldn’t judge.” Sparklez rubbed his eyes to get rid of any trace of tiredness that he still had, before looking at the owner of the voice. “Yeah, sometimes I get up early, sometimes I don’t wake up until ten in the morning,” Sparklez said as he addressed Flash Sentry, who seemed to be doing the equivalent of push-ups with his wings. “You don’t say. Makes me wonder how you handle a job where you are from,” Flash Sentry said as he continued doing his morning exercises, needing to keep in shape for his job requirements. “And a hundred,” he announced as he stood on his hooves and stretched a bit. “I’m actually more of a house worker. Think of it as Twilight’s job where she works in her own house as a librarian,” Sparklez said as he got off the bed, going towards a drawer where a few pieces of clothes from Rarity were stored for him to use. “Very well then,” Flash responded, having finished his stretching, then made his way towards the room’s exit to get some breakfast. “If you need me, I’ll be downstairs eating,” Flash announced as he left the room, leaving Sparklez all alone. Sparklez looked towards the door where Flash had exited before letting out a sigh, going to sit down on the bed again as he went to change clothes with his abilities. Sparklez saw the white fog surround his body as he remembered what had happened yesterday. On his arrival, quite a few individuals tensed in his presence, which made him feel more uncomfortable, and he still felt guilty for whatever he did; it also bothered him even more since he couldn’t remember anything. ‘Just when I thought I had things sorted out in here, I go and cause who knows what, and now everyone is scared of me. Getting around and trying to help is now gonna get harder,’ Sparklez thought to himself, still unable to believe his misfortune. This lead to him thinking about what would happen with any other ponies or individuals that got affected by this… thing. Would they be feared as well? This would not sit well with Rainbow and Spike, since they now had this predicament. Not letting it get to him, Sparklez rose from the bed and went to the door, going into the hallway that lead to other rooms and the stairs to the first floor. He was tempted to get Cinnamon up, but decided against it since he didn’t want to get on his bad side so early; he didn’t look like a morning pony. Getting to the first floor, Sparklez went into the dining area where a few ponies could be seen eating and quietly chatting with each other. At least until he got there. When his presence was known, most of the ponies stared at him; while not with a face of fear, it was still quite uncomfortable for Sparklez. Deciding to ignore them, he went to the table where he saw Flash and took a seat, the rest of the ponies turning away from him, but not idly chatting like before. “Don’t let it get to you. I’m sure whatever you did wasn’t too bad,” Flash said as he gave him a weird smile. Of course, this was a lie, since Flash saw the debriefing from Princess Luna, and what it said wasn’t nice, at least in property damage and the environment. Sparklez gave a small smile to Flash, glad that he was trying to make him feel better. His attention was soon taken away from him as a waitress came near their table, sporting a bright smile. “Good morning, how may I help you sir?” the mare asked with a friendly voice, addressing Sparklez. The man himself was initially confused at why she was acting like this, considering that the other ponies saw him as dangerous or close to it, but he took the friendliness either way. “Ah yes, can I get scrambled eggs with toasted mushrooms please?” Sparklez asked, since he knew that chances of them serving some form of meat were fairly low, and the last thing he wanted to do was upset or scare the one pony who was being open to him. “Certainly. Anything to drink?” “Coffee would be nice,” Sparklez said as the waitress nodded and walked away with the order. Sparklez noticed that some ponies gave the waitress a disapproving look before going back to what they were doing. “So tell me, what were you planning to do before this afternoon?” Flash asked as he hoped to start a conversation with the man to distract himself from all the awkward stares their table was receiving. “Well, I was thinking of visiting Twilight, and see if I can get her to tell me what happened last night when… you know,” Sparklez said with a worried look. “But I was also hoping to learn a bit more about the history of, Equis was it?” “No, that is another country south from here; we are in Equestria,” Flash informed him before looking to the side as if checking for something, before turning back to Sparklez. “Hey, not to be nosy, but have there been rumors going around here regarding the princess?” Sparklez raised an eyebrow, a bit confused at the question. “You mean Celestia? Only about how she is handling the whole situation with the monsters. Why? Something going on back at the castle?” “There has been a few concerns going on about that, but I was actually referring to Princess Twilight Sparkle,” Flash said as he turned his head, as if expecting someone to appear behind him. “Umm, is there anything in specific?” Sparklez wasn’t sure where this was going, but it was better than thinking about the fear that was around Ponyville. “Well, it’s just that back at the castle, in the barracks, a lot of the guards would start talking about some kind of relation that I have with the princess, which is totally untrue. It just bothers me. I know her because of the whole coronation and all, and from a few bumping incidents, but still, I was just wondering if something like that was happening here or not,” Flash Sentry explained as he really wanted to be sure it wasn’t some kind of joke being spread amongst the ranks. Sparklez pondered this for a moment. He had never heard the stallion’s name before, so he couldn’t be sure that it was some kind of rumor that circulated around here. Although Applejack and Rarity had whispered to each other something when Flash was talking to Twilight, and were laughing about it. “I have my suspicions, but can’t really be sure of what to tell you, sorry.” “That’s fine. I just wanted to take the chance to ask somepony from here about it,” Flash said as he turned to look to the side, spotting the waitress from before as she carried a tray on her back, perfectly balanced with their foods. “Here you go, eggs with mushrooms and toast, and some haycakes with maple syrup,” the mare said as she slid the plates off her back and onto the table, not spilling any of the food in the process, accompanied by a cup of coffee and a glass of water. Sparklez looked at the stallion’s choice of food with a bit of amusement, since it wasn’t something you would expect a guard to eat on his diet. “Thank you.” “My pleasure. And just to tell you,” the mare said as she gave a gentle smile, “I don’t think you're mean at all; you just tried to help.” She gently bowed and left the table, leaving a surprised Sparklez looking at her. “See, she doesn’t think of you badly, so don’t let this get to you,” Flash said as he dug into his food, enjoying the flavour of the haycakes. Sparklez just sat there, still surprised at the mare’s words, before a small smile spread across his face as he started to enjoy his breakfast as well. If one pony still trusted him, then he could win the trust of the other ponies back. Their moment of enjoyment was interrupted by the sound of magic and a chair being moved “Morning,” came the groggy voice of a certain brown stallion as he took seat on the table with the others. “Nice to see you up as well. Have a nice sleep?” Sparklez said with a small smirk, seeing the stallion trying to wake himself up as best he could. “Yeah yeah, fine, stop bothering me,” Cinn said as he looked to the side and saw the waitress from before approach their table with the same smile. “Hello sir, what can I get for you?” she said with the same friendliness as before. The stallion rubbed the last bit of sleep before he responded. “Yeah, do you serve eggs with bacon here?” As soon as those words came out, Flash starting coughing on a piece of haycake and Sparklez spit some of his coffee back into his cup, all as the mare now looked at the stallion with shock and a tiny bit of fear. “What?” was all that Cinn responded with as he looked at the whole table in confusion. “You eat MEAT!?” came the rather loud question from Flash, as he now wore his normal regulation armour that all guards had. “Hey, I already know it’s pretty weird for a pony to be omnivorous,” came the rather annoyed response from Cinn as he, Flash and Sparklez walked towards the Golden Oaks Library. “Weird? It’s downright unnatural and wrong!” sas Flash’s response to the rather calm answer. He was now looking at Cinn extra carefully, expecting the stallion to do something even weirder by now. “Look, I have a weird metabolism which requires more protein than normal, let’s leave it at that, okay?” Cinn was now having a difficult time ignoring the guard; he really wanted to just punch him in the face so he would shut up. “Okay guys, let’s chill out and just go about the rest of the day in peace. No need for violence now, right?” Sparklez said, since he served as a wall so the two stallions wouldn’t try to jump at each other in a blink. “That is kind of ironic for you to say, and we are gonna have to practice sparring in a few hours. Pretty sure that is classified as violent,” Cinn said, giving a grin towards the human. “Oh you know what I mean,” Sparklez said, rolling his eyes with a faint amused smile. “But why do you use three swords? Isn’t two enough?” “I have to agree. Having a unicorn use three weapons for combat is really risky and complicated. One of my rookies nearly stabbed himself while trying to use two daggers.” Flash Sentry added his own thoughts as he eyed the specially crafted blades. “No magic, all physical contact,” Cinn responded with an indifferent look, finding the info not special at all. “Physical? Well that is surprising,” Flash said as he looked at the stallion a bit intrigued, but decided not to find out more at the moment, unless he wanted to risk the stallion closing up on him, stopping him from giving him info related to his fighting style. Sparklez looked a bit confused at the exchange of words, but decided not to question it as it could be something magic related, something he still didn’t understand. “Question. Why are we visiting Twilight right now?” Cinn asked as they came closer to the tree library, and still wasn’t sure of the whole purpose for the visit. “Well, I wanted to find out what happened the other night, plus maybe learn something about this place,” Sparklez said as he went to the door of the library, knocking on the wooden door. “Why are you knocking?” Cinn asked with a bemused look. “This is the princess’ house, why wouldn’t we knock on her door to get invited in?” Flash said with a small glare directed towards the stallion. Returning the same expression, he looked to the guard stallion. “It’s a library.” Flash raised his hoof to respond to that, but stopped to analyse what the stallion had said. Bringing his hoof down, Flash looked to the door as he gave a small groan in annoyance. Before anything else could be said, the door to the library opened to reveal Twilight wearing a smile on her face. “Oh hello Sparklez, Mr. Sentry.” Twilight’s gaze soon fell on the brown stallion, her whole expression falling into a frown. “Oh, it’s you.” “Good to see you as well,” Cinn responded, not caring how the young princess was addressing him. Twilight brought a hoof to the side of her head, trying to get rid of the building headache she was bound to have from the rude stallion. “Would you like to come on in?” Twilight asked, trying to ignore the stallion as best as possible, but still trying to be hospitable with the others. Following her drift, Sparklez and the others came into the house/library of the young alicorn princess. Sparklez noticed that the place seemed a bit disheveled from what he had seen in the time he stayed here. “Please have a seat, I can get some tea brewing if you like,” Twilight offered as she walked to the kitchen, already going to make some of the hot beverage for herself, as she knew she would need it. “I’m fine, your highness,” Flash responded without a beat, falling into his normal guard role, as he had been taught how to behave when in the presence of royalty. This earned an eye roll from the brown stallion accompanying him. “I’m fine myself Twilight, but thanks for the offer,” Sparklez called out as he went to sit on the small sitting area that was offered for the ponies to read some piece of literature when they browsed the rows of books. Flash seemed content with staying at the door, guarding it as his job entitled. Cinnamon just seemed to go to a part of the room and decided to rest his back to the wall, seemingly taking a nap. Sparklez was about to just relax and wait for Twilight, when he heard a familiar voice coming from a shelf to his right. “Master. Good to see you fine.” Sparklez looked up a bit surprised, not expecting the owner of the voice to still be around. Turning his head, he looked to the shelf where the voice came from. “Knievel?” Sparklez asked, a bit surprised as he spotted the golem, or rather the head on a top shelf. Rising from his seat, Sparklez walked to the shelf and picked up the disembodied head, and held it to eye level. “How is this possible? You were… I mean… I… saw you… what?” Sparklez tried to form a coherent question, his joy and confusion not making it easy for him. Coming back from the kitchen, Twilight immediately spotted the human holding the golem head as he wore a confused and shocked look.“Oh, I was gonna show him to you over a chat, but I can see I didn’t need to,” Twilight said as she trotted over to the sitting area, taking a place for her to drink her tea calmly. “A talking head? You sure have a strange collection of trinkets, egghead,” Cinnamon said as he readjusted himself in his ‘nap’. Flash sentry giving him a dirty look at the sheer boldness he was displaying towards royalty. Ignoring what the stallion had said, Twilight addressed Sparklez again. “So, did you guys have a reason to come visit? Or are you here just for being here?” Twilight asked as she hoped to remove the irritating stallion from her mind by being positive about the situation. “Well, I came for something related to what happened to Knievel,” Sparklez said with a small grim tone. Twilight lowered her ears as she knew what he was referring to. “Twilight, what happened that night?” Twilight gave a small sigh, knowing that he was gonna ask about it, but decided to believe he wouldn’t. “I’m not even entirely sure, but…” She paused for a moment, using her magic to make one of the seats rest in front of her. “You may want to take a seat.” Sparklez complied as he walked to the small seat, carrying knievel with him as he took a seat and prepared for the mare’s retelling. “Right after Spike was fully infected, he…” If Sparklez felt scared before about what he did, now he felt terrified. Not because of what he had done, but rather what he ‘could’ have done. No wonder ponies were scared from seeing him going… he wasn’t even sure how to put what Twilight had described. It sounded like he had being taken over by something, smoke coming off him and even his eyes turning red? That sounded like some kind of monster. And to top it off, he had nearly killed the baby dragon with his own hands, if only just. Maybe that dream he had meant something afterall. It was like seeing an actual monster inside himself, and what Twilight described wasn’t far off. He was just glad nothing permanent and morbid had happened during that. “Sparklez?” The worried voice of the young alicorn brought the man out of his thinking, making him look to the worried face of Twilight. “Are you gonna be okay?” Sparklez let out a sigh as he let his worries slowly slip, but not fully. He needed to remain positive about his situation, not letting this news ruin him or the lives of those around him. “I will be. Just need to wrap my head around this, that’s all.” Meanwhile, Flash looked between the human and the brown stallion resting against the wall. He now had to worry about Sparklez going crazy or possessed. The debriefing had said that he was capable of great power, but it was still a mystery, and it was strong enough to withstand high ranking spells and to even beat one of its own kind it said. This was different. This sounded like a dormant demon living inside a host, waiting to be freed into the land at a moment’s notice. And if what he had heard yesterday about being able to break the bones of a dragon, let alone one that was like him, then he feared what his true strength may be. Now he wasn’t sure what was more dangerous. A stallion who, supposedly, comes from an alternate universe, and the fact he is nearly powerful enough to rival the princesses here, or a demonic monster that could rampage through the land at a moments notice, with nothing stopping it; only if they couldn’t contain it. He was now wishing that he had never been promoted to guard captain. Curse the majors and above been assigned to missions outside Equestria, he didn’t even care that he would have to fight a freaking dragon or an army of gryphons. But alas, he was here, and cowering from the task wouldn’t make the guard or himself look good. Not to mention the poor bastard who would have to take his place if he did, and he was certain he was the most nerve-hardened out of the active guards at Canterlot right now. He was stuck for the ride. “I think I need to distract myself for the moment, not thinking of this,” Sparklez said after a few seconds of silence, looking up and turning his head to the brown stallion. “You ready to practice some sparring?” Cinnamon gave a small grunt of amusement. “I like to call them friendly duels, but yeah, don’t want to laze about all day,” Cinnamon said as he stood up, trotting towards the door to the library. “I know of a good spot to practice, not too far away from he-” The door of the library opening cut his sentence short, smashing right into his muzzle. Pushing the door back, the stallion went to address the pony responsible for his mild pain. “Okay, who is the idiot that hit me with a-” Again, he was cut short as he looked at the one responsible. “I-I-I’m sorry, I didn’t know you were there. P-please, don’t hurt me,” came the meek response of the shy pegasus, Fluttershy, as she carried Kerry on her back, who looked at the stallion with an even stare. A deathly silence hung about the whole room, as the two ponies looked at each other. Only that Cinn looked more rigid and seemed to be sweating a bit as he looked at the shy pegasus. “Uh-uh, no, it was my fault, wasn’t looking where I was going,” Cinn said as he gave a small, awkward laugh. The rest of the three occupants looked at this with a bit of interest, seeing the stallion change demeanor so suddenly; it really surprised them. “Well I have to go anyways so see ya!” Cinn said quickly as he trotted out the door at a quick pace, everyone looking a bit confused at the display, Fluttershy included. Sparklez walked to the guard who still looked at the door, not fully believing what he saw. “So, should we follow him, or are you still processing that?” Sparklez asked, knowing that it was best if they followed the stallion, as he was supposed to train him on the basics of sword fighting, though it was hard to believe. “Yeah, I guess we should,” Flash said slowly as if he was in a mild trance. In his mind, he was trying to decipher the reason why the aggressive and bold stallion would behave differently in front of the Element of Kindness. Sparklez looked at the rest of the assembled ponies, not wanting to ignore their presence. “You guys want to come and watch me spar with Cinnamon?” Sparklez asked, wanting to at least have some company for his training sessions. “Hmm, I guess it could be a chance to study a new combat style for ponies to use, seeing as it hasn’t being recorded on any books related to it,” Twilight said as her scholarly mind went to work on making theories as to how the equine body was capable of adapting to a new centre of balance. “Umm, I don’t like when others fight, but… maybe to make sure nopony gets hurt?” Fluttershy asked the last part, not certain if she would make somepony sad at her not coming. Kerry simply gave a smile, which was enough for Sparklez to know she would like to. Knievel was okay with it, although he wished he could walk there by himself. Sparklez smiled a bit as he set out to find the brown stallion, wanting to see if this plan would work or not. After a few minutes of walking to find Cinn, and then another twenty to follow him, they soon arrived at a clearing, a few trees scattered through it, as well as a few rocks no higher than a pony sticking out the ground. “Well, it’s good that this place is like the one in my dimension,” Cinn said as he scanned the area around him, a small frown forming after he said that. “Geez, that is still weird to say, even after a month here.” “Uh huh?” Sparklez said awkwardly, still not grasping how the stallion was from another dimension, but not questioning it. “So, why here of all places?” Sparklez asked, feeling it was best to just continue the conversation. “The terrain is fairly even, and has some good structures to use for basic combat adaptability. Not to mention it’s a nice day to be outside instead of inside a gym or something like it,” Cinnamon responded, stretching a bit and loosening his joints a bit before the spar. Twilight looked at the sky to see it mostly clear, a few clouds remaining so they could be used as shades, as it was scheduled to be a mildly sunny day. “Well, it looks like Rainbow did her job then. I wonder if she finds it easier or harder to work with her new body?” Twilight pondered, as she had yet to ask the pegasus about how the changes had affected her line of work. “Yeah yeah, really nice,” Cinnamon said in a disinterested tone as he looked to the human. “So, seeing as we don’t exactly have some practice swords, I guess we can start by hoof to hand combat.” Cinn ignored the irritated look given to him from the lavender alicorn. “Umm, no actually,” Sparklez said, gaining a look of confusion from the brown stallion. “We have some wooden sword that we can use.” This gained a bemused look from Cinn. “Oh really?” The sarcasm could be felt, as he looked behind the man, faking as if he was checking for anything. “Then would you care to take them out?” Sparklez gave a small smirk, seeing that Cinn was thinking he was lying. “No problem,” Sparklez said as he put one of his hands into one of his pockets, soon taking it out as a wooden sword seemed to materialize out of thin air from within the pocket. Flash recoiled a bit, not expecting the display of what he expect to be magic. Cinnamon looked a bit surprised, but not very much affected. “Huh, nice spell you have there. Could be useful in actual combat,” Cinn said before getting serious again. “Okay, so sword sparring it is.” Sparklez smiled a bit, using his other hand to take out another wooden sword he had in his inventory, intending to give it to the stallion. “Yeah, this is how I will mainly fight against the monsters anyways.” “Please, don’t hurt each other too bad,” Fluttershy said in a small voice, still not feeling comfortable with the violence. “Oh don’t worry Shy, its just a game to see how they fight. That’s what sparring means,” Kerry explainedwith a smile on her face, although she was lying when she said this was a game; this was a test of skills. “Oh, well, I guess that’s ok,” Fluttershy mumbled as she looked back to the human and the strange stallion. Taking the wooden sword with a hoof, Cinn looked at the man with a serious look. “Okay then,” Cinn said as he finally stood up on his hind legs, not showing any problem at staying in that position. “Show me your fighting stance.” Sparklez looked a bit confused, but didn’t think much as he wasn’t used to fighting that much to be sure. Doing as he was told, he spread his legs apart and bent them a bit, then bringing his hands forward as he held his sword with both hands, holding the position as best he could. Cinn on his part, looked bemused as he saw the man. “‘That’s your fighting stance?” It wasn’t much of a question, but more of an insult as he saw the man. “What? Isn’t this good for fighting a monster?” Sparklez asked, a bit confused on how this was bad? Considering this was how he confronted the rest of the monsters that he had found, or at least that’s how he remembered. Cinn looked at the man with an even stare, before taking a few steps forward. “Yes, if you were a foal and imagined you were a knight. But for fighting,” Cinn explained briefly before swiping his wooden sword and smacking it against Spaklez’s, making the man let go as a stinging sensation shot through his hands. “Bad gripping.” Before Sparklez could say anything, he felt the tip of the wooden blade hit his chest, making him lose his footing a bit. “Poor balance,” continued Cinn as he evaluated the man. He then brought himself to the ground and kicked Sparklez’s legs from under him, making the man fall flat on his chest. “Easy to bring down.” Sparklez felt the pain on his back as he fell hard on it. Trying to stand up, he felt something poking his neck, making him look at the cause to see the wooden blade pressing against his neck. “And mostly, easy to kill,” was all Cin said before taking the blade away from the man. Before Sparklez tried to get up, he was surrounded by a crimson aura as he was brought to his feet quickly, his blade soon floating in front of him as well. “I don’t care if you fought monsters that come from nightmares,” Cinn said as he let the man off from his magic. “If you fight like that, you are only gonna rely on luck to win.” The rest of the group looked on in mild shock at what happened; well, except Twilight, as she took notes down on the new fighting style of the unicorn. Hopefully, she would be able to show it to her brother. “I-I don’t like this game,” Fluttershy said meekly as she hid behind her mane, not liking how the stallion was behaving. “Um, don’t worry, I’m sure that he won’t do anything too harsh,” Kerry said as she gave a sheepish smile to the shy pegasus. Cinn started tapping parts of Sparklez’s body, prompting the man to move them away from the wooden sword. “Keep those legs firm to the ground, but loose enough to react to an attack.” He then used his magic to make sure the man had a tighter grip on his weapon. “Use only one hand and a tight grip. That way you are nimble enough to attack but aren’t so easy to disarm.” Cinn then walked back to where he originally stood, looking back at the man with the same glare. “And never underestimate your enemy.” “Isn’t the rule never to look away from the enemy?” Sparklez said with a small sense of amusement, which promptly earned him a smack to the top of his head. “You trying to be funny? That isn’t gonna save you in battle.” Cinn then stood in a stance similar to Sparklez. “Now, let’s see how good you fight.” Sparklez looked at the stallion in the eye, and could feel that he wouldn’t beat him easier than any monster he would have ever found. In a way, he represented Taylor when he PvP’ed in minecraft. And he felt it would be the same. Just what did I get myself into? Sparklez wondered as he went to spar with the stallion, knowing that the faster he got through this, the faster he could start gathering resources to help him beat this stupid game. Rainbow Dash soared through the sky, feeling the wind of the warm day hit her face and blowing her mane back. She drifted to one side, coming to a halt on top of a cloud which was left in the sky to serve as some shade for some of the ponies below. She dropped to a sitting position meant for her new body, taking in the rays of the sun as she relax a bit. “Ah, nothing like a morning flight to start the day,” she said as she enjoyed the small moment of tranquility. “Says you. Ah can never get used to being outside in the day,” came the small voice of a certain bat, who was resting on top of rainbow’s mane, clinging to it with his small bat claws. “Just annoys mah eyes.” Rainbow gave a small chuckle, finding the bat’s whining a bit funny. “Yet you hung up with a guy that did most of his adventures during the day. One would say that’s enough time to get used to the daylight.” “Ah got used to the fact that ah was gonna be outside in the day a lot, not the fact that mah eyes sting a bit from being in the light,” Gary responded as he buried his tiny face inside Rainbow’s mane, hoping to reduced the light that got into his eyes. “Ah hate being a bat sometimes.” “Oh quit your whining, you had fun with Sparklez while doing it, right?” Rainbow said as she leaned her head to the side of the cloud, looking at the ground as she saw the small field where she could two individuals fighting… wait. “What the hay?” Rainbow adjusted herself to look at was happening down below better. She managed to see two individuals fighting on two legs, which made it easy for her to identify one of the individuals as Sparklez, which meant... “Oh no you don’t buddy. We are not having a repeat of Nightmare Night.” “What is it?” Gary asked as he looked out from Rainbow’s mane, managing to catch sight of the fight as well. “Sparklez? What is going on?” Gary asked, looking down in confusion, not recognising the other individual from where he was, but feeling he has seen it before. “Another fight, and this time I won’t hang back and let him get hurt,” Rainbow said as she summoned her pouch, the energy that made her element gem already forming on her hand, before changing into a red lightning bolt sword. Taking one powerful flap, Rainbow took off from the cloud, immediately diving down towards the mysterious attacker as she brought her arm back for a swing. “Take this you flankhole!” Rainbow shouted as she was about to reach the mysterious attacker. Big mistake, Rainbow. The attacker took notice of Rainbow and went to reach for some swords on his back, pulling them out as he went and intercepted Rainbow’s attack, a few sparks coming out as the two metals grinded against each other. Gary peeked out from Rainbow’s mane, wanting to see the attacker of Sparklez. Once he managed to have a good look, he felt a small chill run down his tiny bat spine. “Uh oh.” Rainbow was about to continue with her strike, but felt her blade start to get twisted on her wrist. The motion made her lose her grip on the handle of her sword, making it fall to her side and leaving her unarmed. Before she could even react to this, she felt herself getting bucked, or rather kicked, by the attacker, making her fall to her back with a bit of pain in her chest. Good thing that her wing healed last night, as bizarre as it still sounded to her. She was gonna get up to try anything to get back at the individual, when she felt the tip of a sword rest against her throat, making her stop all her motion and open her eyes to see who was at the other end of the blade. “And just who the hay are you?” asked the brown unicorn that was threatening her. She looked at him confused, mostly because she had never seen a pony being able to stand on two legs in such a way… apart from Pinkie. Which lead to the second bit; he wasn’t infected at all. “I should be the one asking that. And why were you attacking Sparklez?” Rainbow said as she gave the stallion a glare. “Rainbow, hold on!” The voice of Sparklez made the mare turn to him, making her glad that he was still okay. “He wasn’t doing anything. We were sparring each other.” Rainbow looked a bit confused, as she clearly saw the stallion was beating the living crap out of the man. She was gonna ask what was he talking about when she heard the voices of her friends coming over. “Rainbow, oh goodness, are you ok?” came the caring voice of Fluttershy as she went next to her friend, helping her stand up to check if anything was wrong with her. “Yeah, I’m fine,” she said before staring at the stallion again. “Just who is this jerk?” she asked as she gave the stallion a glare. A small shuffle in Rainbow’s mane brought her attention to the passenger with her, as she looked up to see the bat with a sort of sheepish smile. “Rainbow, you remember the knuckle head I told you about?” Rainbow nodded, having heard from Gary as he told the others about how he got here. “That’s him.” Rainbow raised an eyebrow as she looked at the stallion and back to Gary. “Really?” She looked back at the stallion and gave him a longer look. “I was expecting him to look cooler.” “What is that supposed to mean?” Cinn asked as he glared at Rainbow, feeling tempted to just kick the flank of the element bearer. “Oh nothing dude, just thinking to myself,” Rainbow said as she waved Cinn’s aggressiveness away, not wanting to deal with him. “Rainbow,” the voice of Twilight cut in, making the prismatic human pegasus look at her friend. “Just what were you thinking when you went and attacked Cinnamon? I know he can get out of line, but that doesn’t give you the right to just attack him.” “He was attacking Sparklez, or at least it looked like it from when I was in the clouds. You can’t expect me to turn my back on my friends and let them get hurt, right?” Rainbow said, defending her actions. Twilight was going to continue scolding Rainbow, when Sparklez intervened. “Guys, come on. Noone got hurt, and that’s what’s important here. Besides, I think I got the hang of fighting a bit,” Sparklez said as he twirled the wooden sword in his hand, only to lose his grip a bit as he nearly let it let go from his hand. “Well, at least a bit.” “If I’m allowed to share my two bits.” Flash Sentry joined the conversation as he stood next to Sparklez and Twilight. “I think you are rushing this a bit. Some of those moves were similar to minotaur's advanced combat moves, so if you are going to train like this regularly, I think you should cut the time that you do it, or practice only twice a week.” Sparklez took what sentry said, and was about to give an answer when Cinn butted in yet again. “Excuse me, just who is the one giving lessons here? You stay out of my business. Celestia told me that I needed to train this ape,” Cinn said as he glared at the guard. “Well get this, it is my business, both of you. So if I think I need to give advice on how Sparklez needs to train, then I very well can,” Sentry said as she returned the glare back at the stallion, not about to let his honor as guard get destroyed by Cinn again. Cinn was nearly enraged now. He could only take so much from ponies like Sentry, and his patience was running out. He was about to say something else, when his ears perked up, hearing a sound that was familiar to him. “Well? Aren’t you going to say anything stupid and insulting? Or have you actually realized I’m right?” Flash said as a small smirk appeared on his face, but it soon turned into a frown as he caught the sound that Cinn was hearing. “What is that noise?” “Get down!” Cinn shouted as he dashed forward through the small gathering and brought his katanas in front of him in a cross. Wub Wub, Wub-Wub-Wub-Wub-Wub-Wub, was the sound that came, as a beam of energy hit his katanas and pushed him back, nearly smashing against the others. Soon the blasts subsided as the stallion lowered his swords, letting him see who the attacker was. Sparklez and company looked around Cinn as they saw three bipedal figures standing at the top of a small hill, giving them a good look of who they were, at least for the residents of Ponyville. One was a grey earth pony mare, with a long black mane that was neatly brushed to have an elegant yet casual look. She had a black pair of sport pants that reached near to where her ankles would be, a sport top that hugged her figure nicely and was accompanied by a grey and pink waistband. She also wore a pink bowtie as well as some white wrist bands which went nicely with her coat color. She held a pair of cello bows, the musical tools having a small shine to them that didn’t seem natural. The next one was an alabaster unicorn mare with an electric blue mane styled to have the tips of her mane look like small spikes. She wore a pair of tight jeans that matched her hair colour, which was held by a white belt. She wore a white shirt top that had the linings at the base and her collar match her mane colour, and wore a pair of purple fingerless gloves as well as purple shades. She had in her hands a long sleek black rifle that shone with small blue neon lights. The front of the weapon was shining dimly as the speakers at the end seemed to power down a bit. And on her back, a similar black coloured sword was strapped, with a neon yellow glow emanating from it. The last of the group was a burgundy pegasus mare, although the only part that lacked the feminine aspect was her chest, as it was flat and showed no signs of her breasts. She had a light brown mane that seemed to barely be brushed, as it had a natural look to it, and she wore a plain white t-shirt that hung a bit loose to her body.She also wore a pair of jeans that hugged her legs but let her move freely. She was wearing, at the moment, strange gear that seemed connected to neon light tubes, red ones leading from somewhere on her back to some gloves that she wore, glowing with energy, and a similar set of tubes, but in green, as they connected from a piece on her chest that held a large emerald, giving a glow like the gloves, while her wings seemed to have strapped three speakers along them, with the green tubes connecting them. All of the individuals, apart from the one with the shades, had her eyes completely white, letting the others and Sparklez know what this meant. “Oh come on, I had them right where I wanted them!” said the unicorn as she looked annoyed at Cinn, lowering her rifle as she stared at the gathering of ponies and human. “I told you that using your rifle wasn’t gonna get them. We needed subtlety, not recklessness,” was the response from the grey mare, casting a disapproving look at the unicorn as she turned back to the group. “Makes it easier to take them head on.” The last member of the group gave a sigh, looking at Sparklez’s group with an even stare. “Well, not much we can do now, Octavia. Better if we get this over with then,” she said as she cracked her knuckles, a few waves of energy escaping from the gloves. “Agreed. The sooner we deal with them, the sooner we can spread the word of our master,” was the response of the one called Octavia, as she got her bows to the sides and got into a combat position. “I guess you can go as wild as you like Vinyl.” The alabaster mare chuckled as she charged her weapon, humming as the energy accumulated. “Yep, this is gonna be very entertaining,” Vinyl said as she aimed her rifle, going for the brown stallion that was still standing ready for battle. Sparklez looked at the trio of infected ponies as a feeling of worry filled him. He would have stayed like this, had it not been for Cinn speaking. “Well, I guess you are gonna have to put that training into practice.” Flash Sentry stepped forward as he got into a stance of his own. “If you think I’m gonna let you fight them alone, you are very wrong,” Flash said as he glanced to Cinn. “This doesn’t mean I like you or trust you.” “The feeling is mutual,” was Cinn’s reply as he cracked his neck. Sparklez looked at the two stallions a bit in surprise, before being brought back to reality as Rainbow nudged him. “Hey, don’t just stand there, we have a fight on our hooves… hands. Lets see who kicks more flank,” Rainbow said as she gave him a smirk, making him more confident. Looking to the rest, he even saw Twilight igniting her horn, ready for some battle. And not surprisingly, Fluttershy was hiding behind him as she was scared of what was happening. Sparklez smirked back at Rainbow as he held the only weapon in his possession. “You’re on.” As if in command, a high whining sound emanated from where Vinyl was, and the next second, wubs; a big beam of light that made the musical wubs that were dubstep. Sparklez only stared as the beam came closer, and all too familiar words that he uttered every once in a while. “Oh crap.”