//------------------------------// // Legend of the Gems // Story: Accelerated Dash // by Wildcard25 //------------------------------// At Twilight's castle the very next morning, all five boys stepped out of their temporary bedrooms and rubbed the sleep out of their eyes. "Man that bed was comfy." Josh yawned. "I almost didn't wanna wake up." Tyler said, as he stretched. Damien on the other hand still looked tired, "I wished I didn't." "This ain't our world, Damien," Zeck reminded him, "We can't afford to sleep in when there's so much to see and learn." Damien couldn't help but nod in agreement. "So what're we gonna do today?" Derek asked the boys, who didn't have an answer. Twilight came over and gave them an answer, "Today you five have school." The five did a double take and spoke in confusion, "Eh?" "Come again?" Damien asked. "As long as you five are here you'll need education about our world. Unfortunately I have bigger responsibilities." Twilight explained. "What're you our mother now?" Tyler asked rhetorically. "No, but as long as you're here you'll be my responsibility." The Princess of Friendship said like a responsible adult. The boys thought in disappointment, 'So much for relaxing.' "Now get yourselves cleaned up." Twilight instructed. At the sound of the command, Derek called out, "Me first!" he ran to the nearest restroom. "Oh, no ya don't!" Tyler called, as they raced after him. Spike watched the boys race, "And I thought Rainbow was fast." Twilight giggled. Eventually they all got cleaned up, and Twilight was escorting them through Ponyville. Zeck spoke up, "I can't believe we're going to school in a different world." "Neither can I." Tyler replied. "We're taking classes with young ponies. No doubt it's gonna be awkward." Damien voiced his discomfort. "As long as we don't get anyone like Nora I'll be fine." Josh said. "Heaven help us." Derek shuddered at the idea. "This is it." Twilight said, as the boys saw the Ponyville school house. "They make school that still look so old school?" Damien asked. "I hope you informed someone here we would be attending?" Zeck asked Twilight. "Don't worry about it. Ms. Cherilee will help you guys with anything you need to know," Twilight explained, "And I asked a couple of the students to show you the ropes." "Who's that?" Zeck inquired. "Trust me, you'll know when you see them." she promised. Suddenly three fillies came out, "Cutie Mark Crusader Tour Guides at your service!" they declared loudly. "And we found them.' the boys thought. Twilight introduced them, "Guys, this is Applebloom, Applejack's sister. Sweetie Belle, Rarity's sister, and Scootaloo." "And we are..." Applebloom began, before all three announced together, "THE CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS!" "Cutie mark?" Tyler asked curiously. "Is that what those tattoos on the flank called?" Damien asked. Twilight nodded, "That's right. When a pony finds their special talent they earn a cutie mark which symbolizes that talent." "I see." Zeck said, thinking if humans had something like that finding a job would make things easier rather than constantly trying to find different calling cards right from left. "Maybe we should've gotten tattoos of microphones or something when we became a band." Derek said. "Derek, they'd never let us get tattoos," Josh replied, "Besides you have any idea how many diseases there are in the needles they use?" Derek shrugged his shoulders. "Ok, girls, I'll leave them to you. You boys have a good day." Twilight headed off. "Come on, guys. Class will be starting." Scootaloo said. "Well, let's go." Damien said, as they walked into the school house. Upon entering the classroom, they saw students were seated at little wooden desks with Cherilee up front. Tyler spoke, "I don't think we're gonna fit in those desk seats." "Push two together and make them bigger." Derek suggested. So they did so and sat in the far back behind the fillies and colts. Cherilee spoke up, "Now before we beging I'd like you all to welcome some new students who will be joining us. Boys, come on up," The five got up and went to the front, "Now then introduce yourselves to the class." "Hello, everyone. My name's Zeck Vangour." Zeck introduced himself. "Damien Lazuli." "Derek Cole." "Tyler Flynn." "And I'm Josh Gale." "Nice to meet you all." the said together. "They're the ones who put on that show yesterday." a unicorn filly spoke up. "Ah, you remember that, huh?" Tyler asked. "You guys were good." a colt said. Well, we have a reputation." Zeck admitted. "We are Accelerated Dash; coolest band in our land." Damien explained, as the boys smiled. "Thank you, boys. You may take your seats." Cherilee instructed. The boys went back to their seats, as Sweetie Belle whispered to them, "Good introductions." "Thanks." Josh replied with a smile. "Hope the rest of the day goes by fast." Damien said, as Cherilee started the lesson. So the boys listened in, despite it feeling like they were back in preschool they knew these lessons had to count. Each one of them noticed a few of the fillies would occasionally glance back at them just for the sake of looking at them. To the boys this was normal behavior having to deal with it from fans. When recess came, the kids were let outside with the boys coming out last. Josh stretched, "Well, that wasn't bad for a first few lessons." "Yeah, but now we got our break." Damien said, as they took the time to kick back by a tree. The CMC trotted up to them, as Applebloom spoke, "So what do ya think of class?" "It's good, actually," Zeck answered, "School for us back home isn't so bad either, although it can be a stretch balancing school and our career." "Yeah. Lucky we have some private tutors while we're on the road." Josh said. "So guys any of you feeling flustered by any of these fillies?" Derek asked curiously. "Flustered?" Tyler asked in outrage, "Derek, are you insane?!" "Just asking." he replied. "These are ponies, Derek. How does it look if we look like we like them in that kind of way?" Damien asked. "I don't know, maybe that kind of thing isn't a problem in this world." Derek retorted. "Even so, we shouldn't try to develop those kinds of emotional attachments to any of the ponies here." Zeck warned him. "Hey, you see how Spike looks at Rarity." Derek reminded him. "Never the less." Damien replied. "Come on, you guys. Let's go play." Sweetie Belle said, as the three fillies nudged them to join in their fun. After school was out, the students were leaving with the boys coming out last, "Well, boys, what should we do now?" Zeck asked. "Let's go grab a sundae at Sugarcube Corner." Damien suggested. They were about to go, until Applebloom approached, "Hey, fellas. Um before ya go. Ya think ya could give us all a performance like yesterday?" The five looked and saw most of the kids stuck around and giving them hopeful looks. Zeck spoke up, "Well, since you're all so interested. We can spare some time, right boys?" The group voiced their confirmation, as the kids gathered around, but made sure to give the boys enough space. So the five began to perform a song, and used one of their phones to play the music required for it. Just like yesterday the young ponies were clapping their hooves to the performance. Damien, Josh, and Tyler brought the CMC over to dance with them, as they taught the three dance steps. As the five performed they were once again unaware of their gems glowing and energy pooling from the ponies and into the gems. When the boys finished, the kids cheered. Josh smiled, "Even the ponies here enjoy our work." "Well, I think you were way off key." came a snobby voice. The boys gasped upon hearing the insult. Damien looked around, "All right who had the gall to say that?" he demanded, until they saw approaching was a tiara wearing filly accompanied by a gray filly wearing glasses. The boys recognized them from class, and recalled how they were taunting other students during recess and giving them the mean glare during classes. The five looked at the pink filly, as Damien spoke again, "Oh, you." "Take my advice boys, take better singing lessons." the tiara wearing pony smirked. The boys frowned at her insult. "Hey, back off, Diamond Tiara!" Scootaloo called her out. "We'll take your advice when you actually have adivce worth the taking." Tyler said. "Yeah. They were amazing." Sweetie Belle put in. "Yeah. Amazing for amateurs." Diamond continued, as she laughed. The five continued to get irritated by the smart mouthed filly, until they noticed Diamond's cutie mark. They smirked having already devised a way to out insult her. "Well what's so special about you?" Zeck asked, "Based on that cutie mark all I'm seeing is a talent for being stuck up." "You probably won't even be able to make it in the real world like that." Damien added, as various fillies started laughing. "Shut up!" Diamond ordered the ponies, and looked back at the boys, "And who asked you?" "Hey, nobody asked your opinion on us, so gotcha there." Derek countered. Zeck spoke up, "We have real talent that makes a difference in our world. Maybe more here." "And to make it this far we had to work hard to get this far and make sacrifices." Damien put in, feeling very affected by his own words. "So good luck in whatever you try to do in life." Tyler concluded, as Diamond backed off. "Come on, guys, we've associated with this riffraff long enough." Josh said, as they started walking until Damien looked back at Silver Spoon. "Hey, you with the spoon flank," Silver looked confused, "If I were you I'd start thinking very hard about what real friends are." Silver looked at Damien feeling moved by what he said. Damien have a final nod, before following his boys, as the CMC went with. Silver felt a blush coming on, but was snapped out of it by Diamond Tiara. Come on Silver Spoon." Diamond said, as Silver looked back at the band before following. As the two walked she looked back at the band and smiled. 'I thought they were good.' she thought. As the boys and the CMC walked to Sugarcube Corner, the boys were being greeted by various ponies that were passing by. "Wow, only a day here and you boys are already this popular." Sweetie Belle said. "Surprised us too." Josh admitted. "And nice to tell off Diamond Tiara like that." Scootaloo added with a smirk. "Hey, you can't take a step back from creeps like that," Damien replied, "Even a girl." "You said something about making sacrifices to get where you are. What do ya mean by that?" Applebloom wondered. "Well, we're on the road traveling in tours for months." Zeck began. "When you're dealing with something like that, one of the things ya don't get to see too much is family." Damien added. "Really?" Sweetie Belle asked. "Uh-huh." Josh nodded. "Which is why every opportunity we get when we can just go home, we take full advantage of it to be with our families." Derek said. "Good plan." Applebloom said, as they arrived at Sugarcube Corner. "Come on, I'm starving." Tyler said, as they went inside. They walked in, and took a table. Mr. Cake came by, "Well, good afternoon, girls and boys. What can I get for ya?" "Give us a line up of sundaes, this one's on me." Sweetie Belle said. "Really, Sweetie Belle?" Josh asked. "Hey, being the sister of the element of Generosity has rubbed off on me." the young unicorn answered. "Well, thanks." Damien said, as they placed their orders. Soon enough all eight of them were enjoying their sundaes, while talking about both their groups. Zeck asked, "You girls have tried so many different kinds of stuff to earn your cutie marks." "We know." Scootaloo replied. "But there's still so much we haven't done." Applebloom added. "But we're gonna keep trying until we earn our cutie marks." Sweetie Belle declared. "Well, you girls keep at it and you'll find your true purposes in life." Tyler said. "Thanks, Ty." Scootaloo said. Pinkie Pie bounced over, "All of you enjoying your sundaes?" "It's delicious." Derek said, as he took another spoonful of his. "Made them myself." Pinkie explained with a smile. "You did a fine job." Zeck added. "Thank you very much." Suddenly the doors opened and Twilight came in with Spike on her back, "Pinkie, have you seen... Oh, guys, you're here." "What's up, Twilight?" Josh asked. "Why're you out of breath?" Tyler asked. "I've been looking for you. The Princesses are back at the castle." Twilight began. "They said they found out something about those gems you're wearing." Spike added. "Really?" Zeck asked, as the rest of the boys were shocked. "Come on. Everypony's waiting for us back at the castle." Twilight instructed. The boys saw they each had a bit more ice cream left and downed them, before they followed Twilight, Pinkie, and Spike. They walked all the way back to the castle, and walked through the halls before reaching the library where the rest of the girls, Celestia, and Luna were waiting. "Afternoon, everyone." Zeck greeted the ponies. "And a good afternoon to you too, boys." Celestia greeted them. "Twilight told us yall attended class today." Applejack began. "Did you enjoy it?" Fluttershy asked. "It wasn't so bad." Damien admitted. "Actually, it was cool." Tyler added. Zeck spoke up changing the subject, "So, Princesses, you said you found something out about these gems?" he motioned to his gem around his neck. "What are they?" Tyler asked. "Something we should've recognized the moment we saw them." Luna answered, as Celestia levitated a book over, and opened it up to a page showing them surrounding an old unicorn. "They are the five power gems of Starswirl the Bearded." Celestia explained. "Starswirl the Bearded?" Josh asked, as the boys were confused. Twilight answered, "Starswirl was one of the greatest unicorns to have ever existed." Celestia turned to her pupil, "Twilight, you did read the chapter on how Starswirl defeated the three sirens and banished them to another world?" "That's right." She confirmed. "Well, there were more than just those three in Equestria." Luna said. "They were even more powerful than the other three. Not even Starswirl could banish them." Celestia added. "He couldn't?" Fluttershy and Josh asked. "I'm afraid not," Celestia continued, "But he found a way to combat them. He studied the magical properties of the gemstones embedded into them and created counter gems that could negate the hypnotic power of the sirens." "So did he use them?" Rainbow asked. Celestia shook her head, "He could not. For the gems themselves needed to choose ones to wield them." "By then the sirens had went into hiding for they themselves needed to plan as well," Luna added, "Nopony had heard of them since then." "And you think they're the reason we have these gems now?" Tyler inquired. "It must be, for multiple fights have broken out in various towns. The same way Twilight said how things were in the other world." Luna explained. "Well, now we know what we're up against." Twilight said recalling the three sirens. "Hold up!" Damien called, "This doesn't make a lick of sense." "Damien?" Zeck asked, as the rest were curious about his outburst. "How is it that five gems Starswirl created about a thousand years ago ended up in our world and personally delivered to us with our own names given to each gem?" the boy asked. Josh nodded, "I also find this very hard to grasp." Zeck answered, "I won't deny it's all too big coincidental, but if we really are the ones these gems have chosen then our reason for being here is more important than I thought." "So how can we use these gems to fight back against sirens?" Tyler asked, before realizing something, "I just said we're going to fight sirens." "Does the book say how their gems can stop the sirens?" Rarity asked Celestia. Celestia nodded, "Much like how the sirens use their voices to charm and divide the ponies, their gemstones assimilate the negative energies from them to get stronger. Starswirl however, created these five gems giving them the opposite power of sirens gems." "So the gems the boys wear can assimilate positive energy to grow stronger?" Twilight guessed. "Precisely." Luna answered. The boys stood their looking shocked, before Damien spoke up, "Yeah, I'm stepping out on this one." he tried to walk away, only for Zeck to pull him back. "Damien." he began. "Zeck, you can't honestly believe we can combat sirens with just our voices. We're just teens." "Believe me, I'm not so comfortable with the idea of us fighting mythological creatures with alluring voices, but what choice do we have?" Josh spoke up, "I'm with Zeck. We came here without even knowing what to expect, and now that we know it's not like we can just go home." Damien was shocked at their answers, before turning to Tyler and Derek, "Can you believe them, you guys?" "Actually, I do." Tyler admitted. "So do I." Derek added. "What?" Damien asked in disbelief. "Damien, you can't ignore this. It's obvious these ponies if not others are in potential danger from these sirens." Tyler said. "And if these gems we're wearing are the only things that stand a chance against these sirens, then they must be used." Derek added. "But they can only be used by us." Zeck reminded him. Damien looked back and forth between his friends seeing he was once again outweighed by the argument. He sighed, "I hate it when you're right." "So then are you with us?" Zeck asked, as he extended his hand to Damien. Damien looked at him and clasped his hand with his own, "It's our motto. Accelerated Dash never dashes on without the others." "Good motto." Pinkie said. Twilight suddenly realized something, "Wait a minute. If their gems feed on positive energy, then maybe they've already assimilated some of it." The boys hearing that thought back and remembered, "The performance we did yesterday in town." Zeck gasped. "And after school we did a little number for the fillies." Josh added. "You don't think..." Tyler began, but Twilight finished. "Your gems had started assimilating the energy from the positive reactions from the ponies." "So we got us power brewing in these things?" Derek asked, as he looked at his gemstone. "It would appear so." Luna confirmed. "And the more energy they assimilate the stronger your singing will be." Twilight added. "The problem is you've only sung twice while wearing those gems," Celestia began, "The sirens however will be much stronger since they've been at this for a long time." "So how can we juice their gems up fast enough to help face the sirens?" Rainbow asked. They pondered on it, until Zeck spoke up, "I got it!" they turned to him, "If it's singing that our gems power us up with, then singing is what we have to do in order to gain more power." "Zeck, are you thinking what we're thinking?" Tyler asked. "Oh, yes I do," Zeck answered, "We're gonna do an Equestrian concert tour!" he declared. "Ooh, a tour? Sounds like a wonderful idea!" Rarity beamed, "Oh, you'll need costumes of course. And I'm just your mare to do it." "I can draw up some flyers and forms and mail them to other parts of Equestria." Twilight offered. "And I can get some of the Pegasi in Cloudsdale to mail them as well." Rainbow added. Celestia smiled at the boys, "Starswirl's gems have chosen wisely." "Indeed." Luna agreed. Zeck turned to his boys, "Well, guys. Hope you're ready for an extension on our tour." "I was hoping to head back home afterward, but can't be helped can it?" Damien asked, the other three shook their heads. Zeck looked up to the ceiling, "Look out, sirens. Accelerated Dash is gonna out sing you!" he threw a punch into the air.