Chapter 12
I awoke to the sound of weapons being primed. Seems the others are awake. A few more minutes of sleep won’t hurt. Wait, weapons being primed? But only hands can do that. I flung myself out of my bed to find five humans holding our guns. Wait, they’re my friends. But how did they turn back into humans.
“Oh, morning,” Tony said, “You know you sleep like a rock.”
“Well, yeah,” I replied sheepishly.
“Anyway, we’re humans now.” Anala said.
“Quiet,” Tony warned, “Lyra could be nearby.”
Anala grumbled to herself and went back to checking her weapon. Why do cool things happen when I’m asleep?
“So, how did ya do it?” I asked.
“Oh, it was quite simple,” Sam said, “Just do what you did with the armour.”
Why didn’t I think of that? Damn, I’ve been off my game lately. Following his direction, I thought myself as a human, focusing on the aspect as much as I can. Soon I felt something flow in me before everything became unbearably bright. A buzzing noise took over my hearing and my body started contorting itself painlessly. The brightness subsided, revealing the basement once again. I looked around to find the room smaller than it used to be. My friends smiled at me and said something but I couldn’t hear them. The buzzing noise drowned them out. Slowly it began to fade, letting once again be able to hear.
“…come back soon,” Tim said.
“What’s coming back?” I asked.
“See, it’s back already,” Tim said to Cloe.
“What’s coming back,” I asked again.
“Your hearing,” Tim finally answered.
“Oh.”
I took a step only to stumble forward. I stopped for a moment to regain my balance. Recovering quickly, I walked over to my weapons and prepared them.
“So, what are we gonna do?” I ask.
“I say practice,” Sam says, “We just encountered a demon. I bet whatever it is causing the rifts is related to the demons.”
“I want to relax,” Cloe said, “I mean, we’re in Equestria, why not.”
“I’m going with Sam on this,” Tim said.
“Relax,” Tony voted.
“I don’t really care too much,” Anala said.
Alright, deciding vote time. “I’m going with practice.”
Cloe groaned, “Why can’t we relax today.”
“There are more than one type of demon. These things get far tougher and smarter than the simple foot soldier we encountered yesterday, I would rather us be competent with our weapons sooner rather than later.”
My speech did not improve her sour mood. “Why are you in charge anyway?”
“Cause you let me, now let’s turn back into ponies before we cause chaos.”
Everyone followed my advice and turned into ponies. A bright bubble of energy encompassed them before disappearing suddenly, revealing the pony forms of my friends. Focusing on the idea of being a pony, I once again felt the flow of energy within myself. The brightness returned as well as the buzzing. As the transformation finished, Twilight walked down the stairs.
“Good morning,” she said.
“Morning,” we responded collectively.
“So what do you plan on doing today?” she asked us.
“We would relax a bit but everyone wants to practice their skills before we do anything else,” Cloe complained.
“Hey,” Tony jumped in, “I don’t want to either, but I see their point of view.”
Frowning a bit, I turn to Twilight, ignoring the bickering behind me. “We’re planning on finding a secluded place where wandering eyes won’t look and check out these new powers we seemed to have gained,” I tell her.
The bickering behind me stopped. I turn to see why to find everyone staring at me. “What,” I say.
“Why didn’t you just say that before,” Cloe said.
“Say what.”
“That we were gonna test out our new powers.”
I blinked. “Well I thought that you knew what I meant.”
“I thought we were gonna end up watching Tim shoot everything.”
“Hey,” Tim chimed in, “I won’t shoot everything.”
“Sure you won’t,” Sam added.
And so the bickering resumed, the twin brothers arguing over what Tim would shoot. I turn back to Twilight, seeing an expression of confusion and worry on her face. She raised her hoof and pointed at my friends. “Are they always like this?” the inquisitive unicorn asked.
“It’s a human thing,” I told her, “We’re artistic by nature and almost always have conflicting ideas.”
“Oh.”
“Anyway, I must ask,” I began, “Do you know of such a place where we can practice out of sight?”
“Well there is one place…”
“Sweet,” I exclaim.
“But first, let’s get some breakfast.”
“Alright,” I cheered before turning my attention to the bickering group.
“…would just shoot trees for the hell of it,” Sam said.
“Guys,” I shout, gaining everyone’s attention. “Let’s get breakfast and argue about what to shoot later.”
*20 minutes, some breakfast and a little walk carrying several weapons later*
“…and that’s why mum never let us have toy guns,” Sam concluded.
“I know,” Tim replied, annoyed at his brother.
We were nearing the edge of the Everfree Forest on a path that looks like it has never been used in its life. Twilight walked ahead, leading us to some place right at the edge of the forest. The weapons on my back clunked together quietly as I walked alongside my friends.
“We’re almost there,” Twilight said to us.
“Thanks again for doing this for us,” I said, “You’ve been way too nice to us.”
“I’m only doing what anypony would do,” she replied.
“Wow,” Anala said, “This country is way too peaceful and friendly.”
“Well isn’t your home like this?” The unicorn asked.
“Noooooooooo,” I answered, “And before you ask, you don’t want to know.”
The unicorn sighed, probably at my evasive answers. “Well we’re here.”
We stop and scan the area. It was literally on the edge of the forest in a clearing of a sort. The trees were plentiful enough to obscure the clearing like space while still being outside of what I would call a forest. More like a tree bordered park if one were to ask me. Sweet Apple Acres, or what I think is it, is in view of the clearing. That will make getting home easier. A little orange spot was moving on the horizon, indicating that Applejack was working. I like this spot.
“Thanks again for this,” I once again thanked Twilight.
“Oh, it was nothing,” she said bashfully.
“Well it’s a lot to us,” I tell her before turning to the others. “Alright, let’s do this.”
As we turn into our natural human forms, Twilight watched the display in awe. I look at her, standing over her once again. It feels good to be human.
Twilight shook her head before looking up, “How did you do that?” she asked, “The spell I used turned you into a pony but you just reversed it.”
“Yeah…”
“I thought you said you don’t have magic,” she said accusingly.
“Well, Celestia said something about adding an extra to the spell,” I told her.
“Well…” Twilight went into thought, stopping herself from saying whatever she wanted to say. “It’s not exactly impossible…”
“Exactly,” I said, bringing my rifle to bear. “We need targets.”
“Sam,” Tim shouted.
“No,” Sam replied.
“Also Tony,” I began, “you need to find out how you force pushed that demon.”
“Ok, got it,” Tony replied before walking off in thought.
“Cloe,” I said, gaining her attention. “You need to find out how to do that fire stuff.”
“Yay,” she said before doing something with her hands. I don’t even understand.
“The rest of us,” I said, addressing the remainder of us, “Time to learn how to use these weapons.”
“YEAH!” Tim, Sam and I yelled out, slapping our hands together in a collective high five.
Putting my rifle away, I brandished my sword, readying to spar. “Who wants to start first?”
“Don’t worry, I got this,” Sam said, bringing to bear a 5 foot staff.
“Really, you chose the stick.”
“Hey, it’s an immense wooden rod.” Wow, he named it?
“Get on with it,” Tim shouted as he sat on the ground, “I wanna see this fight.”
We approached each other, stopping a few metres away before circling around. Our eyes stared at the other, waiting for a giveaway on the opponent’s actions.
“Wait, you’re not seriously gonna fight right?” Twilight asked us.
“Yeah we are,” I answer her.
“But someone could get hurt,” she shouted, concern and worry in her voice.
I stopped. “Oh yeah,” I say. “We better get our armour on.”
“Oh almost forgot about that.” The transition between armour less to steel clad was almost seamless, the plates and skin weaving their way over our bodies as the sensations of the outside world left us. The HUD activated, giving me a clear view of the world as if I was using my own eyes. I saw Sam clad in similar yet heavier looking suit, ready to spar.
“There we go, all set,” I say before lunging forward, sweeping my sword around to hit Sam’s shoulder. He deftly stopped my attack with his stick before bringing the bottom up, hitting me in the face. I stumbled back, forgot he did a martial arts thing. I quickly took a defensive pose as soon as I recovered, preparing for the onslaught. It never came.
“Sorry about that,” Sam apologised.
“Worry about that afterwards,” I tell him before charging him. I brought my sword forward, aiming for his midsection. He swept the blade away with one end of his stick, leaving him open for my plan. I continued running at him, throwing my weight at him. I collided with him, sending us both onto the ground, our weapons being left behind. I went to hit my opponent but was kicked off of him instead, flying to the side a few metres. I got to my feet and spun around only for my head to spin back around as it was struck by Sam’s stick. The armour does wonders in protection but even I felt this. I fell to the ground with a new headache.
“Oooooh,” I could hear from Tim and Anala. They obviously saw that.
“Uh, I think I used too much force,” Sam commented.
I slowly pushed myself up, dizziness kicking in. As soon as my feet were underneath me, I stood back up. “I’m ok,” I say, “I’m good.”
I stumbled over to where Tim was sitting, and sat next to him.
“How was it?” he asked.
“Head hurts something horrible but I’m good,” I answered.
He laughed. Sam stood in front of us, his stick in hand. “So who’s next?”
Tim stood up, armour folding out and covering his body as he pulled out a mace. “Your on,” I said confidently.
“Cool weapon bro,” I say.
Tim turned his head to me. “Thanks,” he said.
They both took position several metres away, focusing on each other. Soon Tim charged, swinging his mace in a wide arc. Sam deflected the attack before swinging one end of his stick around, aiming at his brothers head. Tim ducked underneath the stick and stepped back, his mace behind him. Sam spun, moving his weapon to repeat the last move he did. Tim didn’t aim to block the attack, instead pulling his mace upwards, slamming it into his brother’s gut.
Sam stumbled back, adopting a defensive stance as soon as he could. Tim advanced, bringing his mace down onto Sam which was stopped successfully. Sam in turn bought his stick down onto Tim’s head, knocking him down to the ground. He then put his foot on top of his brother’s chest, taking a triumphant pose.
“Alright, you made your point,” Tim said, trying to get up but being stopped by the human foot on his chest.
“Yeah,” Sam said, “I’m a boss.”
“Sure you are,” I shout sarcastically.
A burst of flames hitting me caught my attention. I grabbed the rifle on my back and spin around, ready to shoot the culprit. What I saw instead was a laughing Cloe. “Yes,” she yells excitedly.
“What was that about?” I shout.
“Hey, watch this,” She shouted back. She quickly flipped her hand out in front of herself. I jumped up as her hand caught fire. She slowly waved her hand around, demonstrating her new power. “How awesome is this?!”
Twilight walked up behind me. “So, she can use magic,” she said.
“This is new,” I reply.
Throwing another fireball, this time at Tim, she jumped giddily. This may become problematic. “Can you stop throwing fireballs around, please?” I ask.
She growled. “Aww, why not?” she whined.
“Because you’ll end up hitting something without armour,” I tell her.
Turning around, I saw Tony approach us. A soft force impacted against my back, setting off the shields and displaying warning indications. I turn around and look at Cloe through the helmet.
“No,” I say, “Just no.”
I spun back around, once again facing Tony. “So you figured it out,” I shout his way.
“Sure did,” came the reply.
“Care to demonstrate?” I ask, the distance between us closed.
“Sure.” He curled his hands back. I was thinking about what he was doing before he flung his hands out. The pulse of energy struck me, sending me flying back. I slid across the dirt on my back, stopping as my head hit a tree. My headache is now three times worse.
“Ow,” I yell out for no reason. I slowly got to my feet while holding my head. Damn that hurt. “Thanks for making my headache worse.”
“Oh, sorry about that,” Tony said apologetically.
“Don’t worry,” I say, stumbling forward. “I’ve had enough.”
“Says the one hit upside the head several times,” Anala says before approaching me. “Hold still, I’m gonna try something.”
She puts her hand an inch away from my head, one on either side. Wait, what is she doing? Her hands started glowing softly, doing some random magic related thing. Why does everyone else get magic powers?
Her hands stopped glowing, taking my pain with them. As her hands lowered back to her sides, my mind was blown. “Healing powers?!” I shout out.
“Well…”
“How come everyone else gets awesome powers?”
“I don’t…”
“Don’t answer, it’s a rhetorical question,” I say, shaking my head a little.
“So, you wanna spar again?” Sam asked.
“Noooooooooo,” I answer. I turn to Twilight to find a small crowd of ponies gathered. Applejack, Pinkie, Rarity and Rainbow sat by her side, grins on their faces. Well, Rarity wasn’t grinning.
“That sure was a good show ya put there, Mister,” Applejack said, maintaining the grin on her face.
“That was awesome!” Rainbow said to Cloe.
“That looks fun,” Pinkie said giddily, jumping on the spot.
“I simply don’t understand,” Rarity started, “Why do you senselessly fight each other so, what is the word I’m looking for.”
“Badassly,” I offer.
“Realistically,” Tim offers.
“Awesomely,” Cloe offers.
“Aggressively,” Tony offers.
“Bossly,” Sam offers.
“No, Sam,” Tim said.
“Don’t care,” Sam said back, a grin plastered on his face.
Rarity looked at us, probably confused at our random banter. “Savagely, you could hurt somepony like that.”
“Well, that’s the general point,” I say.
“Why in Equestria do you want to hurt ponies?” she asked.
“Who said we would be using these skills on ponies?” I answer her question with another.
“Well who are you going to be using them on?” The purple maned pony asked.
“Demons, what else.”
“Demons, Demons, Demons, Demons,” Tim sang.
I stared at Tim. “Yeah, Demons.”
I turn back to the ponies to find a look of understanding on their faces. “Anyway, pony time,” I shouted.
The transition was swift, the feel of four legs returning. My armour was missing however. I like that armour. The ponies went slack jawed, except Twilight who already saw this trick. Wish I could take a photo right now.
“Let’s head back to town,” I say, “I don’t feel like getting hit upside the head again.”
“B-but how…” Rarity trailed off.
“I have no idea,” I answer truthfully.