//------------------------------// // Chapter 4: No Time to Waste // Story: The first 6: Game Changers. // by frutineo //------------------------------// Chapter 4: No Time to Waste. A month from the incidents at the ‘Apple Family Farmstead’ A bipedal turtle; using a light blue breast plate, metal arm and leg guards jumped away from a flying magic shield that bounced and then disappeared. ‘I would like to have met the genius that said ‘Expect the Unexpected’, I bet even he wouldn’t have been prepared for what I have been living so far’ a round of lightning flew up to him but he caught it with his sword and bounced it off to where it came from. A young dark haired boy in a orange overall, white gloves, shoulder guards and a combination of mouth and neck plate that was forged to imitate the appearance of teeth appeared to bring the turtle support. ‘Having to take down powerful enemies is nothing new to me, but every time that happened I had my brothers at my side’ the young boy launched himself shoulder first at an amazing speed. Unfortunately he was intercepted by a teenager using what appeared to be a gleaming white and black suit with metal guards added on all the limbs, completed with a helmet and protective visor, helmet and gauntlets had orange flames that kept him hovering. ‘I have to make do with what I have though, as my father would have said; ‘Take life as it comes. Run when you have to; fight when you must, rest when you can’ at this pace, we will only be able to rest once we are dead… I hate to admit it but that thought has crossed my mind several times’ The flaming youth spun and kicked at what seemed to be the air, as soon as his leg outstretched a boy clad in a tight fitting plated armor with a red spider and webbings on the torso and magenta eye protectors appeared above the ankle, balancing on it with both hands dropping to an axe kick that the other boy intercepted with his forearms. ‘Being a warrior I always guessed death would take me or my brothers one day, but when the lives that hang in the balance are from either complete innocents or guys even younger than you… I can’t describe the feelings of abject horror that comes with thinking that you will be responsible whether innocents either live or die not because you couldn’t save them, but because as a leader, you couldn’t prepare them enough’ A short boy with curled hair, sporting a mainly violet light armor with, an emblazoned golden star at the sternum, Gauntlets with pink diamonds shaped like six pointed stars at the back of both hands and a pink sword in his right hand and a transparent shield in his left jumped from the shadows. Right by his side a dark skinned teenager using what appeared to be a tightly woven jacket that was dark blue with butter yellow trimmings on the outside, yellow with white trimmings on the inside; below that he was using a one pieced suit of mainly dark blue, yellow sides and boots and white gloves and light blue goggles, floating in what appeared to be a metal plate that was composed of seven smaller honeycomb plates. ‘In any other situation I would have never admitted that a month’s worth of training was anything but unacceptable… and I stand by that decision, they are not ready by any stretch of the word’ The electric teen used his energy to bring out a hooked blade attached to a chain which floated around him like a scorpion’s tail; the boy in the spider motif brought out a rope attached to a weighted, hard rubber ball; the boy with the orange overalls brought out two butterfly short swords, with incisions in the back of the blades allowing them to also function as sword breakers. ‘But all of us are heroes, we live for this and I don’t think for a second that any of us would back down from a challenge, these mares need help and we are glad to assist’ Six mares appeared, right next to each teenager; a pink and magenta mare next to the spider boy; a cerulean mare with rainbow hair floated above the turtle humanoid; a white mare of elegant royal purple hair walked forward from below the flaming youth; an orange mare with her hair tied with a band and using a Stetson walked to the wild haired youth with the faceguard; a butter yellow mare of pink mane and tail clung to the back of the dark skinned youth; finally the chubby boy jumped and landed above a lavender mare with a tri-colored mane and tail. The lavender mare stepped forward. “It’s time to test out the ability boost; once you are ready, think of your adoptive son/familiar, shout their name and the activation phrase” they all nodded and each shouted the names of each familiar. SPIDERMAN! STATIC SHOCK! LEONARDO! DEKU! TSUNA! STEVEN! “FULL SYNCHRO!” They all shouted. A flash of light enveloped all boys as they shone in the light of their respective adoptive mothers; when the light faded each boy had their own symbols pulsating with magic; Steven’s symbol; a violet six point star was encased in a runic circle and shone on his belly around his mother’s gem; Static’s symbol was on his back, two pink butterfly wings with cerulean veins, stretched and jagged at the edges with lightning bolts placed at the forewings. In Tsuna’s neck three unusually carved diamonds surrounded in an orange flame that waved and glistened gave him a very threatening look; Miles had two light blue and one yellow spider appeared above his own spider symbol, their legs all moved at an unheard rhythm. In Izuku’s right shoulder appeared a large red apple that sparked like a ruby and if one were to look closely it was made off several similarly colored apples almost like a piece of photographic mosaic; finally in Leonardo’s left shoulder appeared a peculiar looking sword, hilt made out of clouds and a blade made out of a lightning bolt that pulsated in the colors of the rainbow. ‘I have never been a religious being, either in this or my past life; but if there is someone out there listening, I beg of you… have mercy on all who crosses our paths!’ One month ago: Week one. The next day breakfast was separated by petition of the princess, Leonardo and the other familiars took breakfast inside Princess Celestia’s private dining room while the Elements had it at the main dining hall, there both sides had their respective talks about their current situations as adoptees and adoptive mothers. The teenagers were really upset about this particular development; for the exception of Steven and Leonardo (they both had similar opinions, the reasons behind the adoptions were for the greater good and both of them had never really gotten a mother figure in their lives) Midoriya saw the advantages of the system and agreed to play along, and even then, reluctantly so. Virgil was the most vociferous of the trio that was against it, clinging to the memory of his late mother, he was the one that needed more convincing and after breakfast he had decided to give the idea a chance, if only to help set a precedent in this world. Tsuna was more in a resigned tone which worried the rest; finally Spiderman had taken some consideration and while still having a mother, he decided that once this was all over, his mother had nothing to worry about. The mares on the other part were calmer for the exception of Rainbow Dash that was still sporting a sore ego from being essentially called a hindrance the day before and how easily she had been subdued by a turtle of all things; her friends could certainly understand that. The reminder of the day was met by having Leonardo look into the weaponry each of the familiars and the mares would be given; that is when Princess Celestia had to step in… “Impossible to do that Leonardo” the ruler said to all of them. “They are not allowed to use any kind of weaponry” All the familiars looked at her slack jawed; Leonardo most of all. “Princess, you seem like a reasonable ruler; I beg to differ… they need weapons! They need protection” “And that is why you are here for Leonardo, so you may teach some of them how to defend themselves, but weaponry is out of the question” “Why?” “Because good will ambassadors carry no weapons on their bodies, that is why there are bodyguards and escorts; I cannot allow them any and all type of weaponry, it would effectively defeat the purpose of their trip; I’m sorry but only physical and defensive training” The ninja turtle groaned loud enough to be heard. “I suppose that you have someone responsible to train the rest?” The princess shed her regalia with magic, the breast plate and crown were no more, her boots now were training mitts, and her barrel had a padded saddle. “First things first, this day we started late but come tomorrow, all of you shall start strength and conditioning exercises from 5 A.M. Sharp, followed by breakfast and then intensive battle training, by both Leonardo, Myself and a few others; this day however” her attire changed once more to her regalia. She stepped to a door and a let a group of 2 doctors and 16 nurses to the room. “First comes the medical checkups” at first the teens were nervous about undressing (except for Steven and Leonardo… the former because he was raised mainly by the gems and had little interaction with humanity giving him zero shame to show himself, the latter was a turtle that walked around naked all the time) once it was ascertained that nudity was of little consequence in this world the rest too enjoyed the breeze. After NOT giving blood samples (1) and having medical checkups, the teens started the physical tests which were met with mixed results; stamina wise they were above average to ponies, even the earth and wing variety. Strength wise Tsuna, Static and Leonardo were comparatively inferior by a significant margin; going to the Castle Pool the teens excelled in the swimming department, Leonardo wining by a wide margin, Tsuna being the slowest one of them all, though still faster and more resilient than a pony or several other species from Versel for that matter. Throughout the many tests that came, they endured until finally it was time for the clothing measurements; Rarity alongside a few other mares and a stallion entered the room and started the long process of measuring, each and every one of the boys. Taking their original clothes as reference it was a good two hours before any of them was allowed to sit down. The next thing they knew was that their clothes (washed) and food had arrived to make them feel better; the meal was pleasant and having their mares to make talk and meet them personally helped improve most of their moods… (Dash’s and Leonardo’s moods were not among those) After the pleasant meal Leo took the teens to the blacksmith the princess had prepared for them. A brief explanation of the weapons and a few instructions on how they were made, Ingot (the blacksmith) promised to have them done by the end of the week, with 4 days until the weaponry arrived they decided to go back to their rooms to rest, until it was decided (by Steven) to go see the castle; the rest were actually really tired but they had to admit one thing after a few minutes consideration… they managed to get lost on their way back so exploring the castle became a necessity rather than a leisure. Finally at dinnertime Spike appeared to save them as they went through their FIFTH turn to the palace gardens; there at dinner a few other things arose in their conversations, mainly the pills Tsuna had in his pocket, knowing how dangerous they were and the limited amount Tsuna had it was decided by the Princess to give one to her top teachers in her private school with the hope of replicating said pill. With the prospect of not having his pills handy against having them experimenting with the pills, he just gave one. “They are far more dangerous than you imagine princess. This is the only one you are going to have; I don’t want to be held responsible for anything you might do with them” “We already saw what would happen if ingested without care” the princess conceded. “Elemental Concoction is a responsible scientist and a pony of thrust; I know he will yield results with only one pill” she said reassuringly, as she wrote a note and with a whisk she made it disappear. That day it all ended peacefully, the teens got to their respective beds and by the end of the week they had acclimated to the gruesome training regime they had been imposed… it seemed that Tsuna and Steven had to be coaxed more than the rest but they ended up catching up to the rhythm. At the request of Applejack, Midoriya took private lessons with her brother on the control over his power and to pick up a potential fighting style; the first meeting opened Izuku’s eyes. “Name’s Big Macintosh, ‘m glad to meet you Midoriya” said the massive red stallion to the superhero in training. “I will be training yah for this next week, sis told me ‘bout your problem, glad to be helping you” Midoriya looked at the mass of muscles that towered him and most ponies he had met, taking into account that Applejack was easily 1.6 meters tall this guy could be 2 meters tall or more, threatening in his own way but with a calm aura, almost as if he was in a Zen mode just by standing there. “H-hi… thanks for your help… how? How are you supposed to help me? I mean, you do seem to be quite strong” The red stallion’s lip twitched forming a small smile. “Come” he stallion led the teen to the gardens where he had set up a row of apple trees and other assorted fruits. “What would you think it’s happen’ if ah kicked using my whole strength?” “I don’t know… break your legs?” said the boy confused by the whole set up. The stallion chuckled. And stepped to the three that was placed farthest from them, reared his legs and with what looked like to be a heavy effort he kicked the three that with almost no resistance broke in half and even flew for a good 30 meters away from the two. Midoriya was speechless, how was it possible to contain so much strength? “How come you didn’t break anything?” The stallion chuckled. “Always been strong, my Pa taught me how t’ control it and I’ll be teaching you the same tricks; follow me” once again the two travelled to an open area, there was a horseshoe game set up for them. “Watch me” The stallion took one of the horseshoes and Midoriya looked with attention at the hoof that held it as it was thrown and landed perfectly around the metal stake with a satisfying *clink* “Now it’s your turn” Izuku took one horseshoe and prepared to launch it, the post couldn’t have been more than 10 meters away from them, he took aim and launched the u shaped item, it swerved and landed 2 meters short of its intended goal; trying to do so two more times were met with similar results. “What is this supposed to teach me? That I have shitty aim? And how is this supposed to help my training?” Another chuckle left the stallions mouth. “I told you to watch me, you didn’t” “I watched you throw that thing!” Big Macintosh moved his head from side to side. “You were looking at the horseshoe when I told you to look at me; now pay attention” Izuku did just that he looked at his trainer and saw in amazement how he didn’t just moved his leg to throw the horseshoe, he swayed his entire body; from withers to hoofs and even his head it twisted as he calculated with years of experience the right amount of strength needed for such a goal. It landed perfectly. “I see” said the boy. “That is it right? To use just part of my power through my whole body; instead of using all my strength in one part of my body” A smile of satisfaction met both their mouths. “By the end of this week ah will be leaving so I shall teach you how to have control with your strength; AJ shall be taking care of you after that, she shall teach you the apple family traditional kick” he hugged the boy with one leg and gave the boy a noogie. “Besides, we still have to give yah a proper party tah welcome you to the family, nephew” Izuku smiled; maybe being adopted wouldn’t be so bad. In the afternoons Pinkie, Dash and Spiderman worked with Leonardo in ninjutsu while at the same time working tirelessly to make sure they learned how to blend in the shadows and meditation exercises; Pinkie and Miles were adept on the first two, meditation was Pinkie’s weakness, Dash took the fighting style seriously fast but could not meditate for the life of her, let alone sneaking around which in turn frustrated Leonardo to no end; he was proud that Miles was taking meditation so well. Tsuna and Steven were taken to a private trainer; a minotaur named Stone Fist that trained them in hand to hand combat techniques, Steven was having a good time training and Tsuna was making a good progress on the techniques as well, both boy’s strength and abilities impressed the half calf. Weapon day was a LOT different, Leonardo had his left sword (Ninjaken) re-forged while his right sword was a brand new Katana, both majestically engraved with a variety of runes that would help him hold his own against a wide variety of spells and when it was mentioned the possibility of pegasi action, they were given the ability of storing and reflecting a limited amount of thunder as well as a rubber handle to avoid direct contact with electricity. Static’s rope dart was actually a chain dart that allowed control and was immune to spells in general meaning that he was the only one that would be able to manipulate it; Midoriya was given two big butterfly daggers with incisions and carving on them; ‘With your great strength’ Leonardo said. ‘You will be able to break any blade coming your way and allows fast responses even in short range. Steven had his sword so he was trained by a Pegasus named Swift Edge in the fine art of swordsmanship, since Steven had been trained by Pearl before, he was one of the teens with the most progress in the group; Spiderman was the one with the most progress of them all as he had an unfair advantage over the rest since he had incredible reflexes so mastering the meteor hammer was a thing of days (knowing how much strength to use was crucial and Izuku taught him the strength exercises taught by Big Macintosh) Tsuna was given boots and arm guards, he seemed more adept at using his body than anything else, and any weapon heated too quickly in his hands for them to be useful at all. Week two was uneventful and they had been given permission to leave as long as they didn’t leave the sight of the guards so Spike and the mares took them to a nice donut place; Steven was ecstatic when he entered and the rest smiled at his antics, it seemed that the presence of royal guards deterred any press members to bother them all until… Steven sat beside his new mother and brother so was every other mare and teen, Leonardo was now on speaking terms with Rainbow Dash and they seemed to at least mutually respect each other; the rest was holding out far better than expected and that eased Steven’s mind, that and the sugary greasy threats that he was chewing ravenously. “Steven…” said Twilight in a soft scold. “The donuts are not going to develop legs and run away… today, so why don’t you eat them more calmly?” she took a napkin with her magic and cleaned the young boy’s face. After being cleaned the half gem smiled sheepishly at her. “Ok mom, don’t worry” he carried on with his donut until a couple of furry legs embraced him and he felt kisses all around his face making him blush and smile. “What’s going on?” he asked in between chuckles born out of joy at this level of attention. Twilight put his face between her hooves so he may look to her eyes that began gushing out tears of happiness. “You called me mom” she whispered to the boy and her mouth formed a smile big enough to split her head in two. Remembering what he did Steven’s blush deepened and he looked at her with his own watered irises. “I’ve wanted to say it to you for a while now… I hope you don’t mind” “Never Steven, so long as you don’t mind if I call you names… honey” Steven remembered how Garnet used to call him sometimes. “I prefer ‘cutie pie’ if you don’t mind” She embraced him once again. “Whatever you want me to call you, my son” he answered the hug with one of his own. A barrage of DAWW’S and OOOH’S couldn’t stop their moment and there was a little celebration there, the other teens were adamant but happy that one of them had gotten along so well with their legal guardian. Week three saw no alteration to their itinerary except for the sudden introduction of the boost the mares could give their respective familiars; the first try was… a complete failure and since they had been under a lot of stress it was decided that the mares would have more time for themselves so as to give Twilight time to investigate the spell further. Steven proposed to teach each of the boys how to play an instrument. “You can teach us?” asked Tsuna. “I have only seen you play the ukulele since we’ve been here” “My dad is a one man band; he taught me how to play the ukulele, the guitar, the bass, drums, harmonica, keyboard and keytar; apart from making lyrics and a little bit of art” The other boys were impressed, they decided to take the classes because it would help them to unwind and there was little to do at the city. Applejack wrote a few dozen letters to her family across the country and one to her immediate family telling them about the newest member of the family and wait for them to respond in kind… that was Monday Friday: Izuku (and everyone else but Pinkie Pie for that matter) stared slack-jawed at the immense congregation of apple themed ponies in the ballroom setting up what appeared to be a celebration of massive proportions. “And you only sent those letters on Monday?” asked Static to the equally shocked Applejack who answered with an unintelligible croak. A little filly the size with a red bow on her hair ran at full speed and launched herself at the orange mare with a speed so incredible that they bowled over and hit Steven and Spike behind them as if they were bowl pins “I’m good” said both of them as Twilight helped them up. The little filly hugged Applejack for dear life. “Settle down Bloom; it’s like you haven’t seen me in an eternity” the filly smiled wide and let go. “I’ve missed you so much Applejack; now where is he?” Applejack mock lied to her sister. “Where is who?” The filly squint her eyes. “My new nephew, don’t play dumb” It was then she was lifted onto the air by two soft limbs that immediately embraced her, looking up she saw a creature with a short muzzle and delicate factions. “Hey auntie” the creature said to her in a soft tone as he cradled her. She immediately jumped from his arms and latched to his neck which caused him to lose balance and swing around making the infant laugh of excitement. “Name’s Applebloom, what’s yours?” “Izuku Midoriya” “What a weird name” He chuckled “I suppose it is” “Applebloom don’t go bothering the poor boy now!” said an older voice that belonged to a wrinkling green mare. “Name’s Granny Smith, Big Macintosh already told me about yah… Nice to see my first great grandson” The boy chuckled and let the filly down with care. “Honor to meet you, sorry if you are not what you expected” “Nonsense boy” the elderly mare said in a chipper voice. “I always knew that filly was going to end up adopting” Izuku blushed a little at the openness of his new great grandmother. Applejack became flustered and bothered to no end. “GRANNY!” AJ yelled after hearing her grandmother. “Between you an’ me boy, I’ve never seen her with a stallion before” his blush intensified two tones. “That’s cause I always work at the farm, not cause I am a lesbian” “Never seen her with a mare either” before Izuku could pass out from blood rush Tsuna made the save and pulled him away from the little family meeting and introduced himself as well as the other familiars and the mares that had adopted them. Though his ordeal was not over, many other members of the apple family clan came to greet him as Applebloom had told them already who he was; the first two that met him were a muscular orange stallion a little shorter than Big Macintosh sporting a deep red mane and tail and a lean mare with pink fur and red mane and tail. “Seems that Granny got ahead of us; name’s blood orange” the boy gulped loudly and shook his hoof. “This is my wife; Pink lady, glad to meet our first grandson” Midoriya bowed to the mare and she chuckled. “Now let me say this boy, you don’t seem that strong” Big Macintosh chuckled a little. “I don’t know if you can old yer own in the farm” Izuku smiled. “Well if you want to know, Big Macintosh helped me to control my strength as you once taught him and Applejack taught me the apple family kick” he grinned. “If you want to I can show you just how strong I am” The patron of the apple family squint his eyes, measuring him, maybe asking to himself, how could a two legged… whatever be so confident about his strength? “Want me to show you sir?” the boy said full of confidence in the lessons given to him by his new adoptive family. “There” said the red stallion. “Let’s git yah started” The group advanced to the gardens where two distinct trees lay, one was a dead log easily 3 meters in height and half a meter wide; the other was an apple tree that had ripe fruit ready to be picked. “Well boy, start with the log” the patron of the apple family indicated. The teens started laughing at the stallion’s expense knowing full well what was going to happen; Izuku closed his arms around the log, his skin took on a reddish tint, and with ease he lifted the massive log, and then threw it up in the air a good 45 meters where it spun and finally landed upright in the young boy’s arms and he placed it down with the utmost care; he turned around. “Sorry, I didn’t wanted to launch it forward, I didn’t wanted to hit a poor bystander” he then walked to the apple tree leaving the stallion and every other pony nearby with eyes wide in shock. For him this was the trickiest part, for several days he had learned with Applejack the proper way of kicking a tree so it would bring down its fruits, he hoped he had learned well. In a short rush he stepped in the distance required to reach the massive plant and turning his hips in a spin not unlike that of a ballerina he reached the bark with the bottom of his right foot at the center of the tree. It shook and swiveled and the fruit came down, though since it had no buckets or barrel below, Twilight Sparkle summoned several shields which held the fruit until the buckets were placed below them; the Apple Family’s YEEHAW! Echoed in the city and mountains and finally the boy was accepted by the massive group as they held him up on their backs and entered the castle to start the celebration. The orange stallion smiled with pride. “Applejack… he is perfect” Pink Lady and the group of teens and mares behind him guffawed, some of them rolling on the ground laughing and trying to keep air in their lungs for dear life. “I know Pa… glad to make you proud” the orange mare said chuckling and she left to meet her adoptive son. That evening was what you’d call magic in many regards. Finally the fourth week had rolled over and the teen began training with their respective ‘mothers’ in case they had to fight back to back; that was the most difficult part of the whole month. Even though they had a mutual understanding, most of the teens were un-comfortable with the mares they ended up with, and likewise with a couple of the mares: Twilight and Steven had spent several days bonding and understanding each other they were by far the most ‘in synch’ couple in the group, their boost was a mutual exchange of magic techniques and Steven had a bigger magic reserve to fight or practice with and with the constant education given by Twilight after every meal Steven was advancing at a great pace in regards to basic education and magic. After the ‘Apple Family Reunion’ Applejack and Izuku got along a lot better than he initially thought; the family was as gentle as they were numerous and their first attempts (along those of Steven’s and Twilight’s) were the most stable boosts; it granted him a huge muscle resistance and now he didn’t even broke a finger using his ‘Delaware Smash’ Leonardo and Dash’s attempts were the ones that lacked the most as they were barely looking at each other’s eyes; Tsuna was not far behind with his lack luster attempts using the synchro without ‘Dying Will’ if he were to consume one of the pills then the synchronization was flawed but passable; Static was in complete disagreement with Fluttershy as she had taken a more active role as an overprotective mother figure and Virgil was having none of it; Miles was better but lacked a lot when doing the synchronization as well. That needed to change and FAST! The teenagers and mares all were rounded in a training room; Steven, Twilight, Applejack and Izuku looking at the remainder of their group disapprovingly; “What are you going to do?” asked Rainbow Dash impatiently. “The first thing we need to do” said Izuku as he crossed his arms. “Is address the situation you guys are in” “Us?” asked the rainbow haired mare. “I am certainly not dragging us back in here” Izuku lifted a foot crashed his foot against the damage resistant marble floor leaving a big crack in it; she became silent. “What you need to know right now” began Twilight. “Is that without all of you cooperating with each other the synching is useless and that goes to each and every one of you; you are all falling behind in what is supposed to be our preparation for when we set out onto the world 1020 million square kilometers, at the fastest speed we will get from our ships we will finish our routes in little less than a year and with your attitudes like that we will have to postpone it even more” Every one of them flinched at the immense amount of territory they had to travel. “It’s not like we can help it” said Virgil in a defensive tone. “Yes you can sugar cube; It’s just you don’t wanna” countered AJ. “I’ve seen yah guys in you’se trainings and you can work well with the other boys but you ain’t giving Fluttershy a chance” Said yellow mare began raising her hoof but Applejack cut her off. “I know you wanna take blame but so far all I’ve seen is you giving your all and he just pushing you away; I just need to know why” The black teen gritted his teeth and clenched his fists so much that Flutteshy was becoming afraid he would dig his fingernails in. “Because I can’t be like those two!” he shouted in anger. “I can’t just go and forget my mom ever existed, I will not give up her memory!” Everyone was silent for a moment, then two and Steven stood up from his chair. “I never had a mom to begin with” said the half gem. “Twilight is kind of like my first mom right now” Virgil looked at him in disbelief. “How can you say that? What about the Gems?” “They’ve never really been my mother if I am being honest…” The mares and boys gasped at the declaration. “Garnet: she is caring enough but she is also kind of cold and too serious at times, she is someone I look up to, who I want to become; Amethyst is like a sister to me, rash, funny but at the same time too irresponsible to be called anything else; and Pearl… she has always been there to protect me but even I can see that sometimes, she can’t look at me for who I am, she sometimes thinks that I am my mother and everything she does she does it to get her approval or consent, she is also too overprotective and that makes me believe she is more of a nurse or nanny” he stopped to look at Twilight and Spike who was sitting further away. Ever since I have been taking time with Twilight to study and bond with Spike… I have somewhat felt what it feels like to have a real mother, she cares, teaches me with patience, tucks me in… with her I have felt something that I have rarely felt with the Crystal Gems, and dad is dad and I know he does the best he can, that is why I wanted to do this as fast as possible; so I can go back home and greet them and tell them how much I care for them” “Twilight adopted me, but that doesn’t mean that she will replace my family… she will join it, she will become part of my universe a universe that I want to expand ever outwards” he got close to Virgil and extended his hand. “And for me to do that, you have to begin to understand one thing… they are not here to replace our families” Izuku stood up and extended his hand to grab the electric hero’s shoulder. “We decided to stay here not only because we were forced, but because they needed us, and look at you all, acting like children instead of trying to work things out, if we left that issue unresolved we will never be able to go back home.. Our families need us back” Virgil looked up with a single tear threatening to leave his eye and Izuku carried on. “The only thing you need right now is to get to know each other” Steven picked up the pace. “Will you give them a chance as well?” Virgil smiled and took Steven’s hand in his own. “*heh* you are wiser than you let out” Steven shrugged. “I was just telling the truth” the half gem replied as he took his hand away. “Will you want to be part of my universe as well?” Virgil smiled. “I will be honored” The rest of the teens concerns were more or less the same but Leonardo’s and Dash’s who were a little more reluctant than the rest but ended up working together in the end… Today: end of training. The boys had gotten out of the public bathhouse of the castle 2) after that they were directed to their rooms to change 3) it was peaceful and they were glad to have had a moment of peace; Steven had canceled band lessons for the day and was really excited to carry on with that day’s dinner. They were pleasantly surprised to know that their dinner was not going to be on castle grounds but on the tow they had emerged, Princess Celestia called it ‘Pony Ville’ to which they all laughed but they had no qualms but the suddenness of the change of scenery. After each of their new adoptive mothers gave each one a party attire to wear they had left once again via flying carriage to the town in question; Static had decided to fly using his new ‘honeycomb glider’ for a while and feel the air around him, Rainbow Dash decided to fly beside him; after 15 minutes he decided to get back to his carriage and rest until the arrival. Just as the sun was setting they arrived at the center of the quaint little town the teens and mares had received a gratifying surprise for there was another huge party ready for every one of them to enjoy; at the center of the plaza a big white banner read ‘Thank you for saving our heroes and congratulations on becoming mothers’ Laughing Steven partook in the festivities with Spike at his side and he began talking with Applebloom (he had made fast friends with her at the castle) and the other two Cutie Mark Crusaders before going off to meet the rest of the foals; Leonardo had surveyed the area from the air so he got himself to the table were a huge pizza was calling his name; Static took part in a few dances while Tsuna and Izuku went to eat and drink from the tables as they were all introduced by each of their respective mares. All in all… it was a month well spent.