It turned out that the smoke was coming from the market district. Everything was destroyed. People were screaming and running away from the site. And then I saw it. It had four giant arms and moved like a gorilla. When it roared, its whole face opened to reveal a gaping hole with tiny little blades on the inner walls, which I assumed was the mouth. The thing that caught my eye though was the person it was holding in its hand. She had pink hair, a green skirt, and was screaming for help. The monster opened its face and started to lower the girl into it.
"Is that-" Before I could finish, Twilight cut me off.
"Oh no, Fluttershy!!" Twilight yelled in fear.
That's who I was afraid it was. Suddenly, my hand started to burn. I looked at the symbol and time felt like it stopped. A voice echoed in my head.
"It is time to release the power locked within yourself." The voice said. "Rise, Nick. Realize your destiny!" Then, the voice vanished. I started to feel... like I could do anything. I felt like my abilities were limitless. And in my right hand, was a black-bladed double-edged sword wrapped in a dark red aura. The hilt was smooth and easy to hold and the whole sword felt almost weightless is my hand. I knew what I needed to do.
Time went back to normal. Without thinking, I dashed forward and ran as fast as I could with my sword leaving a red trail of light behind me.
"Nick, what are you doing!?" Twilight yelled after me.
"What needs to be done!" I shouted back.
I sped up and jumped right before she was about to be eaten. I held the sword in both hands and sliced right through the monster's arm, catching Fluttershy on the way down. The monster started wailing in pain. I set her down behind me. She was shaking in fear.
"Fluttershy, listen carefully." I went on. "Twilight and Rarity are over there." I said as I pointed to them. "I need you to run to them as fast as you can, can you do that?" She gave a very hesitant nod. "Good. I'll take care of whatever this thing is." As Fluttershy ran to her friends, I turned around to face the beast. It looked at me with extreme anger in his eyes.
"My arm!!" Shouted the monster.
"Oh look, it knows the trick 'speak'. That's a good boy!" I said, as if I was talking to a dog, trying to get a rise out of him.
"How DARE you mock me!" It said, swinging one of its arms at me.
"How dare I? How dare YOU terrorize these innocent people!" I shouted back, dodging out of the way of its attack and hitting it with a barrage of slashes.
"ARRGHH!!" The monster cried in agony. "I'LL CRUSH YOU!!!!" It screeched and raised up the three arms that it had left.
"That seems very unlikely!" I replied. I jumped right before it brought its arms down and landed on its head. Without thinking twice, I drove the tip of my sword into the monster's skull. As soon as I did, it stopped moving. All life seemed like it just drained from its body and it hit the ground with a loud THUMP. I pulled the sword out of its head and hopped off of the lifeless corpse.
"Finally, some peace and quiet." I said. I started walking towards Twilight and the others until I heard a voice behind me. The monster's eyes lit up a bright white. The voice that I heard was different from what the monster sounded like.
"You have walked right into our trap, Nicholas." The eerie voice said. "That mark on your hand has sealed your fate."
"What the hell are you talking about?" I replied. "And how do you know my name?"
"All will be revealed in time." The voice let out a sinister chuckle. "Goodbye for now. Oh, and happy birthday."
The corpse turned into mist and was swept away with the wind. I loosened my grip on the sword and it fused back into the symbol on my hand. Sighing, realizing I turned 17 today, I headed back to Twilight and Rarity. They both stood there with their mouths open. Fluttershy peeked her head out from behind them.
"Is...Is the monster gone?" Asked Fluttershy, in a shaky voice.
Twilight and Rarity looked like they were still trying to comprehend what happened, so I answered Fluttershy's question.
"Yeah. He's gone for good." I answered. She fully stepped out from behind them.
"A-Are you sure?" She asked, still shaking from what just happened.
"Don't worry, Fluttershy. He won't be coming back." I said, smiling.
She stood there for a couple seconds and before I knew what happened, she ran at me and hugged me. The sheer force of the hug knocked me back a couple steps.
"Thank you! Thank you so much, I was so scared!" She said, teary-eyed.
It surprised me at first, but I hugged her back. I felt a wave of warmth flow through my body. It was then that I saw that Fluttershy had wings. 'So wings exist here too, huh?' I thought to myself. I pulled back from the hug and gave her a friendly smile.
"You alright, Fluttershy?" I asked just to make sure she wasn't injured.
"Y-yes." She said, nodding.
"Nick, we need to hurry up and get Applejack's car." Twilight said. "Whatever's going on here is far more serious than we thought, and I have a feeling that this is all connected to the symbol on your hand."
Suddenly remembering what we were supposed to be doing before that monster showed up, I nodded at Twilight and she lead us to Applejack's farm.