Equestria Guardians

by Jacoboby1


Chapter 31 "Friendship Games Part 3"

Chapter 31

Friendship Games Part 3

Or

“Both sides of the Fence meet”

Any attempt to find Spera after the opening ceremony proved to be an utterly lost cause. The Crystal Prep students were holed up in a rather fancy hotel not too far from the school. It was less for luxury’s sake and more for the heightened security. Cinch was not about to take any chances with her students. There was security officers wandering around, apparently hired privately, and cameras at every hallway. In other words there was no way any of the guardians were getting in.

This frustration was made manifest by Rainbow punching the wall in frustration as the others gathered in the band room.

“This stinks! We spend almost the entire yesterday finding the guy and now that we know who he is we can’t bust him!” Rainbow groaned, throwing up her hands in the air. “I still say we should’ve busted in or something!”

“Yeah, and get yerself knocked on the pavement by them security folks.” Aj snipped. “Ah’d pay tah see that.”

“Never mind possibly having the police called on you, and being disqualified from the games because Cinch found out you were here,” Twilight added. “Knowing Cinch, she’d totally do that.”

“And Celestia is so busy with the games we haven’t had time to ask her about his Equestria Counterpart,” Rarity said, filing her nails as she sat down. She looked over as Sunset was pouring over Equestrian texts. “Any luck darling?”

“I did manage to find something on his beast,” Sunset said, looking up from her work. “Private described it and Leo is a beast that used to protect kings of Equestria. At least, that’s what these old texts say.”

“Some kinda royalty then? Outside of Celestia and Luna’s family?” Fluttershy suggested.

“More like a guy with delusions of grandeur…” Private said, looking out the window and watching the Crystal Prep students filing in. He narrowed his eyes as he saw Spera among the crowd, surrounded by the girls he was with earlier.

“HEY!” yelled the one girl with indigo hair, glaring at him. “You a Dundercolt? You wanna try and throw Spera off his game? Gotta get past me, pal! Don’t try anything, or you’ll get it!” Before Private could retort she dashed off back to the pack.

“Geez, rude much?” Rainbow said, rolling her eyes.

“Yeah, she kinda reminds me of someone...don’tcha think Rares?” Aj said coyly.

“Why I certainly have someone in mind darling,” Rarity said with a wink as Rainbow looked on densely.

Suddenly, the door burst open and Pinkie was standing there, half in a lab coat and half in an...apron..

“What are you people still doing here!? The first event is about to start right now! I gotta remember my Mona Lisa cake in case there’s a home ec event! Let’s move people!!” Pinkie shouted, literally picking up everybody in the room and carrying them off…

To this day nobody has quite figured that part out.
__________________________________________________

Vice Principal Luna introduced the first event and as many suspected it was academic decathlon. A series of events of different subjects with teachers from both schools serving as judges. The first event was in chemistry, things were going swell until Ditzy accidentally mixed up the labels on a couple of reagents. That got her disqualified, but only her, so far. The second event was Home Ec. A pair of girls from Crystal Prep made a rather large and elaborately decorated cake, making sure to offer pieces to the judges. Then Pinkie finished decorating her cake. And sliced it in just the right way, revealing DaVinci’s Mona Lisa in cake form, causing all judges to gasp in amazement. Safe to say the Wondercolts took that round.

The next event was wood shop. Teams of two were tasked with building a simple bird house. All did fairly well, with the exception of the oddest pairing there. Sandalwood and Micro Chips didn’t make the most stable avian habitat. They lost royally to Sugarcoat and Indigo, but by all accounts, the pair weren’t too shaken up about it. Even when Indigo got petty and shoved them aside, they had Fluttershy and Aj to provide encouragement.

The second to last event that would eliminate everybody except for the two that would go into the academic showdown was the spelling bee. Rainbow, somehow, got lucky in spelling hippopotamus. Lemon Zest, Applejack, and Sugarcoat were eliminated in short order. The next elimination was Sunny Flair, then Fluttershy, Indigo, and Rainbow until only two remained. The remaining two were Sunset Shimmer and Spera.

It culminated in a straight up battle between Spera and Sunset. The pair were each given a chalk board, and a problem to solve within the time limit. Spera nervously walked up the steps of the stage, his eyes looking over the unfeeling crowd that was his fellow students. He knew he was being judged by them, he gulped when he saw his stepfather in the crowd of adults that were spectating, his look was the most judgemental of all...Spera then shook his head and tried to focus. He took up the chalk and began doing what he was brought on to do, use his mind.

Sunset took a deep breath, and focused on the problem, and began to work on solving it. It was one of the more complicated problems she’d ever seen. She looked behind herself, noticing her friends back there cheering her on. She then looked back at the problem.

“Twilight should be here,” Sunset murmured quietly to herself, as she worked on the problem. But she shook off the thoughts of self doubt and poured herself into the problem.

For an utterly tense ten minutes the whole of the school was silent, looking on as these two solved this problem. Pinkie had resorted to nibbling at a ribbon she pulled out of her hair to calm her nerves. But everybody else just watched the two.

As those tense moments passed, Spera and Sunset did cast glances at one another. Sunset was determined to win, to prove that the Wondercolts had a fighting chance...Spera however was watching her technique.

“She’s not using traditional formulae,” He thought to himself before diving back into the equation. “Does Canterlot High teach that to all their students? She’s just doing some random tricks to get strange sets of numbers. Why exactly was Cinch worried again?”

Sunset had no such thoughts, just kept doing the equation as best she could. She knew it was a roundabout way, but it had to work. It just had to…

“Times up!” Celestia said suddenly, and everybody let out a breath, it was finally over but the results were being anticipated all the more.

Cranky Doodle Donkey, the math teacher at Canterlot High looked over the equations along with Crystal Prep’s teacher. They both looked over the problems, and finally, Cranky turned and pointed to Spera. “Neither got to the answer, but this kid got more of the problem done within the time limit.”

The Guardians cheered, running up to hug Sunset, who was looking rather puzzled. But she was no less happy at the reception of her loss. Sure it stung to lose, but at least she had friends to fall back on.

Spera on the other hand received no such love for his victory. He saw his fellow students looking on him, seeing him as more of a threat than ever for solving the problem. As Sunset was being left off the stage however, Spera chanced a look at her chalkboard.

He blinked at what he saw, Sunset wasn’t using the techniques he was taught at Crystal Prep. In fact, her way of solving the equation seemed almost roundabout. He thought for a moment, and then...things started clicking.

“There was a tricky part in the equation I was leading up to before the time limit hit. A part of the problem that takes really long under the traditional method. But, neither of us hit that point because of the time limit. If it wasn’t an issue…” He blinked and his eyes grew wide. “If there was no time limit, she would’ve reached that point, and then have been able to skip several steps in the process. She was taking a long route around the forest while I was trudging through it…”

It dawned on Spera a horrible thought, a thought no Crystal Prepper had had in a long while…

A Wondercolt nearly beat him.
______________________________________________________________
Things quieted down after the decathlon, students were given time to meet and greet before the next event. But with hostilities more hotter than ever, few took advantage of this time. The next event was announced over the speakers, the Triathlon, a classic event of the games. Rainbow had just finished her job helping to set up the course and was heading back to the school, when the door opened and suddenly...she was face to face with Indigo Zap.

“Well well, if it isn’t the so called ‘best athlete’ at Crystal Prep.” Rainbow mocked, crossing her arms.

“And you’re supposed to be so hot?” Indigo asked with a smirk. “You’re looking at somebody who’s the best athlete at pretty much any sport they have a name for.”

“Yeah, well you’re looking at the girl who’s the CAPTAIN of pretty much all the sports teams here!” Rainbow fired back.

“Oh yeah? I’m training to become a part of the best soccer team in the country!” Indigo retorted with a smirk.

“Oh yeah? Well I’m betting they aren’t as good as the one I’m training for!”

“Oh yeah?” Indigo fired.

“Yeah!” Rainbow yelled.

Both girls got within inches of one another and said at the same time, “THERE’S NO WAY YOUR TEAM CAN BEAT THE WONDERBOLTS!!”

Both stopped, and blinked for a moment...and a slow realization came to both girls.

“Dude! You like the Wonderbolts?!” Rainbow yelled.

“Hell yeah I like the Wonderbolts!” Indigo yelled back.

“I’ve been to all their games!”

“So have I!”

“I once touched an out of bounds ball kicked by Spitfire when I was five!”

“Dude that’s so awesome! I have her autographed poster!”

“She’s so cool!”

“Yeah she is! So’s the rest of the team!”

Both girls stopped for a moment, and Rainbow smiled, “We should totally be best friends.”

“Screw that!” Indigo yelled back. “Let’s be Ultimate friends! That shiz is forever!”

And...two of the greatest rivals between the schools went to being friends after one conversation...go fig.

On the other side of the field, a certain party pony was zooming between students.

“Hi there! How you doing? I’m Pinkie let’s be friends! Give me your contact info and I’ll give you a free Pinkie Party on the house!” Pinkie said, and repeated as she zoomed between students at breakneck speed. As she did however, she spotted Lemon Zest standing behind the bleachers, a cell phone in her hand.

“You want to what? Oh come ON! I don’t need that Dad! Ugh! I don’t need it! I don’t want it! And I know for a fact you’re doing this just to get back at Mom!” Lemon yelled into the phone. “So just forget it! I’m tired of you and Mom using me to snipe at each other!”

Pinkie stopped in her rush to watch Lemon chuck her phone into a nearby trash can. Lemon sighed, and sank down to the ground, hugging her legs.

Pinkie suddenly appeared beside her, smiling kindly at Lemon. “It isn’t good when parents don’t like each other anymore huh?” Pinkie said sympathetically.

“No. It’s not,” Lemon said quietly, then looked up, and did a double-take. “Wait… We just, like, kicked your ass, and you’re being nice to me?”

“Well you look sad, so I figure I gotta make ya feel better.” Pinkie said, and then turned, and suddenly came back making a funny face at Lemon. Lemon gave off a few giggles which caused Pinkie to smile. “See, doesn’t a Pinkie brand funny face feel good?”

“Heh. Yeah. Hey, I’m Lemon Zest,” Lemon said, offering a hand.

“Pinkie Pie,” Pinkie said, giving Lemon’s hand a vigorous shake.

“So… why are you running around over here, anyway? I’d think the other guys from my school would be thinking you’re, like, weird, or something,” Lemon asked.

“Well I’m mostly doing what I just did, making people happy.” Pinkie explained. “A very important person once told me that if you can make just one person feel better the whole world will feel better. So I make as many friends as I can, even Crystal Prep people don’t deserve to feel bad.” She then sat beside Lemon and smiled, “Whaddya say we toss aside the competition for a while and try and be friends?”

“After all that, I dunno,” Lemon said, about to pick her headphones out of her bag...before Pinkie grabbed her hand.

Pinkie shook her head. “Trust me, been there, it isn’t good to just pretend your problems don’t exist,” She said, with a strange, Pinkie-like wisdom.

“It hurts to think about,” Lemon said quietly. “My parents are using me to hurt each other before they finally call it quits… And I’m stuck in the middle.”

An arm was slid around her shoulders, and Lemon looked to Pinkie, who was the one doing it. Pinkie just smiled, “Ya don’t have to be stuck alone silly.”

Lemon looked at Pinkie, then smiled. “Hey… Thanks.” The pair would sit there for a while, finding an odd friendship being formed.

Meanwhile, Rarity was looking over the banners for the arena, her careful eye making sure that everything was picture perfect. As she did however, she noticed Sunny Flair sitting by herself on the bleachers. Rarity huffed, “That rather rude one, I ought to show her a little thing called ta-” She stopped when she got closer and began overhearing Sunny talking as the girl was looking down at a large binder.

“Why can’t I just talk to him about how I feel? It’s like I just… freeze when I approach that subject… that or we’re conveniently interrupted,” Sunny uttered with a huff.

Rarity couldn’t help but let a little smile dawn on her lips, she had always been a romantic at heart after all. She came over towards Sunny Flair and said “Excuse me, darling?”

“What? Oh. You again… What… what do you need?” Sunny asked, sounding cautious.

“Do forgive me for eavesdropping darling, but I could not help but notice you seem to have problems with the, how do we say, romance department?” Rarity said, smirking a little as Sunny’s cheeks reddened.

“I… I… Why do you want to know?!” Sunny said defensively. “It’s… not your business…”

“Well you seemed to be struggling with it, and I’m not about to leave a poor dear in distress.” Rarity said, coming to sit by Sunny. “So, do tell me about your heart troubles and maybe I can aid you.”

“That’s… surprisingly nice of you… Most people in my school would be holding a grudge because they lost, but instead you want to help…” Sunny said then heaved a huge sigh. “Okay. There’s this guy. His name’s Spera… I’ve known him, like, forever, but… He’s cute, and nice, and helpful, and… I thought it would work if I approached it in a business-like manner, and his father would be all for the match, but I can never get the words out about how I feel when I’m face-to-face.”

“A business manner?” Rarity said, getting a little nervous at hearing the name ‘Spera’. “Would it have something to do with that?” She pointed to Sunny’s portfolio.

“Well… yes… I kind of planned everything… How our dating would be good for both of our futures, how our being together would benefit our companies… H-how many kids we’d eventually have…” Sunny admitted, cheeks going rosy. She nervously showed Rarity the portfolio, and sure enough it was incredibly detailed. “I can save a company from bankruptcy before breakfast, but I can’t just talk to the boy I like…”

Rarity smiled gently at Sunny, “Perhaps you are simply over thinking this darling. I don’t think you simply want Spera to be yours because it would be a good business benefit. I have a strong feeling you care deeply for him as a person.”

“Well… Yes I do… I like him a lot… I just wanted to make it a bit less personal… It could make it easier for his Father to accept the match.”

Rarity thought for a moment, then said, “Darling here’s my advice, although it would be nice if you both benefited financially from a relationship, don’t use that as the basis. If you truly cared for him, and he truly cared for you, he’d want to be with you even if you both were penniless.”

“That… Makes a lot of sense… Do you, like, have a boyfriend?” Sunny asked.

Rarity just smiled, “Yes I do darling, and let me tell you I spent far too long worrying about how people would see me dating him. You have nothing to prove to anybody if you want to be with your friend. Remember you’re trying to woo Spera, not his father. If you find a moment, speak to him as just yourself...he may need you very soon.”

Rarity couldn’t help but smile internally, she had found a way to truly help Spera from falling. Good luck trying to think of dark magic when a girl is professing her love to you!

Sunny nodded. “Thanks… Uhm… I’m Sunny Flair, by the way.”

“Rarity Belle, always happy to be of service.” Rarity replied.

“So… I should talk to him, as soon as possible,” Sunny said, getting up. “Well, maybe after the triathlon actually, I gotta practice anyways.”

“Oh yes, and may the best Colt or Bolt win.” Rarity said, smiling as Sunny ran off. Rarity felt happy that she hopefully managed to find a solution to their Spera problem…

As this was going on, Fluttershy was busy helping set up the archery targets. She knew she had to be very careful, and not just in the setup. Due to Crystal Prep’s insistence one of the events had to be Archery. Fluttershy always used a bow during guardian fights so she could potentially hit bullseyes in her sleep. That however would get a lot of weird questions both from students and teachers of how the normally quiet and shy girl learned to shoot like a dead eye. But Fluttershy was no good at roller skating, and she wasn’t allowed at the helm of any vehicle faster than a moped so Motorcross was out.

She’d rather she didn’t fall flat on her face or delve into the...rather unpleasant amount of road rage she got when given a motor vehicle. The Luigi Circuit Massacre convinced her friends to not let her behind the wheel (or handlebars) of any vehicle, real or otherwise.

When she finished setting up a target, an arrow shot and hit it. Fluttershy turned and saw Soursweet standing there, and then smiled. “Oh, look at that, a perfect shot.” She then frowned, “Too bad you’re gonna lose to one like that tomorrow.”

Fluttershy stood and looked on the crystal prep girl. She didn’t want a confrontation with any of them. “Yes I’m sure it was a very good shot. Thank you for making sure the target worked alright.” Fluttershy said, smiling with complete sincerity.

Soursweet blinked at this in pure surprise. “What...I...but I just shot at you!” Her dual personalities faltering from that.

“Oh but you didn’t hit me, that’s so nice of you.” Fluttershy said, still in complete sincerity.

“I...wha...is something wrong with you!?” Soursweet yelled.

“What do you mean?” Fluttershy asked, tilting her head.

“I shot at you. I’m trying to get you pissed off at me, or yelling at me for being, oh I don’t know, careless! And… You’re being… nice to me?” Soursweet uttered, sounding perplexed. “Why… why are you being nice to me, when I tried to shoot you, or scare you or something?”

“Oh… Uhm… Well I just think that everybody deserves a little kindness,” Fluttershy replied.

Soursweet managed to get a hold of herself, going back to the sweet side. “Oh I’m sure that works in your lovely little fantasy land where unicorns fart rainbows but…” She switched to Sour and got in Fluttershy’s face. “The real world is not so kind you big breasted bimbo!”

“That’s why I try to be kind, whenever I can. I know the ‘real world’ isn’t nice,” Fluttershy said with a smile. “But just because the real world isn’t kind doesn’t mean we shouldn’t show kindness when it’s needed.”

“I...I…” Soursweet said, shaking her head. “Just listen here Wondercolt! You are going down tomorrow. I’ve been a championship Archer at Crystal Prep for all three years of my time there. I’m not going to let some amateur wreck that for me. Though I still can’t believe Cinch dumped Spera on my section…”

“Oh? Is he not a very good archer?” Fluttershy asked curiously.

“He suuuucks!” Soursweet moaned. “I mean come on! They could’ve at least dumped him with Indigo on the motocross track. But Noooo, they had to dump his skinny cute butt with me.” She humphed.

“So… why don’t you show him a little kindness, and help him with his archery? It would be a chance for you to… uhm… get a little closer to him, too,” Fluttershy suggested. “You… sound like you kind of like him. So why not help him, and… take the opportunity to have some time with him, too?”

“Uggh, you’re hopeless, I gotta practice some more.” Soursweet said, about to walk off.

“Oh and one more thing?” Fluttershy said. “You shouldn’t draw so hard, it causes your hand to shake a little when you aim. That’s why you missed the bullseye.”

Soursweet’s incredulous look was met with Fluttershy simply going back to work, humming sweetly.

Aj was busy helping lay out the motocross track. Using a bunch of soil from the farm to help make the course. “Ah still say this is an insurance nightmare. How in the hollerin hootin hay did Celestia and Cinch convince the school board to let this one fly?” Aj mused to herself as she ran a rake over the dirt to smooth it out.

“I have a better question. Why did you and your friends cheer for that Sunset girl, when she lost?” came a monotoned voice from behind her.

Aj turned and saw Sugarcoat standing on the grass lining the track. Aj smiled friendly like, despite her personal misgivings against Crystal Prep she wasn’t about to forgo manners. “Hey, yer that girl who won that shop contest. Loved tha birdhouse.”

“You didn’t answer my question.” Sugarcoat bluntly stated.

“Okay, yeah that’s mah fault. Ah cheered for Sunset because she’s mah friend.” Aj said simply. “Now what was yer name?”

“Sugarcoat. As for the birdhouse, it was the best that Indigo and I could do given the short time-span. I am sure yours could have been better if you had a better plan. Your design was too simplistic for that particular contest,” Sugarcoat said, still very blunt.

“Sugarcoat, ironic name much?” Aj said flatly.

“I get that a lot., Sugarcoat replied with a nod.

“Okay since we’re gettin tah know one another.” Aj said, leaning on the rake. “Let me turn tha question round on ya, why didn’tcha cheer for yer fellow student when he won?”

“We’re not encouraged to, because Crystal Prep is all about individual achievement,” Sugarcoat said with a shrug. “Also I don’t cheer. Ever.”

“Still would’ve done him some good,” Aj said, “Ah’ve seen ya hang around the guy, so ya must at least care about him a little.”

“Sort of. I have a plan, of sorts…” Sugarcoat replied thoughtfully. “I’m not going to share, however. You seem rather down-home, and have some old-fashioned morals. My plan is… interesting. I will stop with that.”

“Whatever ya say,” Aj said with a shrug. “Still am sayin individual achievement goes over a lot better when ya have friends ta appreciate it.”

“Hm… You may have a point. I am not sure, though… About the motocross, I think one of Principal Cinch’s main supporters was able to persuade, or bribe, the school board to let this slide,” Sugarcoat said gesturing to the hillocks. “Thankfully I do have a motorcycle license.”

“Huh, Ah would’ve pegged ya as the more bookish type.” Aj said, tilting her head.

“My parents are lawyers, and Crystal Prep has a dress code.” Sugarcoat replied, before walking away.

Aj shook her head, “Guess everybody’s gotta have some way to let off steam.”

______________________________________________________________

That evening most of the Crystal prep students packed up and headed back to the hotel. It was one of the higher-end hotels, with a fancy red-brick exterior, with lovely wrought iron scrollwork and artistically planted vines.

Said vines were helping young Spera Imperictus sneak out of the hotel. He climbed down from his window and landed on the sidewalk. He sighed, “This could so get me busted but...I have to know what’s going o-” He was about to turn and walk away when a window next to him opened.

“Spera? What are you doing?” Sunny Flair asked looking at him about to walk away from the building. “Are you trying to get yourself caught or something?”

“Sunny!” He turned and looked on his...well he’d like to think of her as a friend..maybe..he shook his head and said, “I’m sorry to have woken you up.”

“Sugarcoat and I were about to head to bed anyways.” Sunny said, leaning on the sill. “But that’s not important, what are you doing out here?”

Spera opened his mouth then, closed it, thought for a moment and said. “Sunny...I wish I could tell you but, not even I have all the answers yet. I just have to leave for a little bit. Please don’t tell your Aunt…”

“... Okay… Just… be careful, alright?” Sunny asked. “Please?”

Spera let out a sigh of relief. “I will Sunny, thank you. I always felt I could trust you.”

Sunny smiled, her eyes going a bit shiny as she gazed at him. “Thank you… Just… come back as soon as you can, please?”

Spera smiled, “I will, thank you again Sunny.” He then took off into the night.

Sunny got even more starry eyed at the whole affair. “Oh Spera, he trusts me!”

“Yeah, but ‘I trust you’ is on the same level of romance as ‘I trust you to take care of my cat’.” Sugarcoat added when she came over.
“I don’t care,” Sunny said, sighing. “I’m just happy I’m earning his trust...and hopefully soon, the other thing.”

“Well, I’m going to head off to bed,” Sugarcoat said, stretching.

“Yeah me too,” Sunny said, sighing happily. “I’m going to have some emotionally confusing dreams tonight.”

“Like one about you and Spera having the idyllic and financially stable family of four. Only to cut to you, me and Spera in a dungeon with lots of black leather and baby oil?” At Sunny’s horrified expression Sugarcoat stopped. “What? Just me?”

____________________________________________________

Canterlot High School looked a bit spooky in the dark. The buildings were in shadow, the windows dark, and gleaming in the street lights. The bushes were indistinct shapes, with who-knows-what lurking in them. Over it all loomed the Wondercolt statue, looking almost feral in the darkness of the night.

Spera looked at the empty building, and then towards the Wondercolt statue. “You’re hiding something here...and I’m going to find out what…” He said, and walked towards the statue, his backpack containing his tome started to glow a little as he approached it…

“Oh my goodness!” A voice said, causing Spera to run and hide in some bushes. Fluttershy was kneeling down, tending to the wing of a little brown bat. “You poor thing. You should be more careful when flying around.” She picked up the little creature, and carefully carried it to the building.

Spera sighed in relief, and was about to head off the other direction when…

BONG! BONG! BONG!!

As usual, with these things, time stopped. It should be obvious to anybody who’s been reading this series that everything that isn’t a guardian or a monster freezes in place. Cars stopping in the road as the spell came over the area around the school. Fluttershy’s bat phased through her hands, apparently animals were safe during the hour too.

She then watched as a large creature with russet brown fur and massive claws stood before her...but it’s head was different, it had feathers, a beak, and massive yellow eyes that just seemed to want to swallow Fluttershy when it looked on her. It screeched and raised one of its massive paws to try and swipe at her.

Fluttershy eeped, dodging out of the owlbear’s reach, scrambling to get to safety so she could summon her weapon. She turned and fired one of her arrows into the creature, but thanks to its massive mass of fur and muscle the owlbear barely felt the impact . That only made the creature mad and it turned and began swiping at Fluttershy, angrily trying to bite on the young guardian with its wickedly sharp beak.

Fluttershy turned and ran a little, picking up her phone and typing the emergency text quickly and sending it to her friends. She ran into the street to get it away from the school, and watched as the creature dented cars on its way to snag Fluttershy. She aimed and shot an arrow, hitting the creature in its shoulder. It just screeched and batted Fluttershy, causing her to go flying into a car’s hood.

Fluttershy wiped blood from her forehead and watched as the creature lurched towards her. She looked up defiantly. “I’m sorry, but you’re not getting any of these people! Just wait until my friends get here! In fact, let’s meet one now!” She stood, drew another arrow and aimed for the sky. Her body glowed with magic as every part of her wanted to keep this creature from hurting people. She would stop this creature, and save everybody!

As pony ears started forming, she shouted “Guardian Bea-”

She yelled as pain fell over her body, like something was being drained out of her. She fell down onto the pavement of the street, as Spera stood over her...his hand aglow with dark magic.

“I’m sorry...you were just...radiating that energy..” Spera said, looking at his hand.

The Owlbear looked confused for a moment, then began lumbering towards Spera.

“GET BACK!” Spera yelled, and his hand shot forward, a blast of acid green energy hit the creature, causing it to fly back into a fire hydrant.
Spera looked at his hand as it just, glowed with power. This...this was amazing. He never felt like this before. It felt, right, like he could do anything he wanted! This...creature was going to hurt other people! It needed to suffer! It needed to know just who it was messing with!
Spera let out a cruel laugh, and unleashed the magic on the creature, it contorted in pain, letting out a terrified screech. Spera revealed in it, it was suffering, it was being hurt! It was getting what it deserved!

The owlbear twisted and writhed under the dark magic, feeling terrible pain unlike anything it felt before. It’s screeches turned from defiant to pitiful…

But Spera was not in a merciful mood…

His hands glowed bright green, brighter than ever. “DIE!” He yelled, bending down and slamming his hands into the pavement. A wave of black crystal shot from the hands, sticking out of the pavement and moving towards the owlbear…

The owlbear’s screeches died when it was impaled by a newly formed clutch of black crystals…

_____________________________________________________

It took a bit longer for the others to get there, granted some of them were asleep by the time they arrived. Private was the first to respond, and was standing there in pajamas as the other guardians arrived, and saw the mess…

“Fluttershy!” Rainbow yelled, running towards her friend. She bent down and shook the unconscious guardian. “C’mon Flutters! Speak to me!”

“Rainbow…?” Fluttershy said tiredly, looking at her friend.

Twilight knelt by Fluttershy, using her magic to try and heal her. “What happened here?”

“S..Spera…” Fluttershy said weakly.

“Don’t push yerself too much, sug…” Aj said gently.

“My word…” Rarity said, looking on the newly created sculpture of crystal and owlbear. “Did Spera do this?”

“He had to have…” Private said, coming forward. “Though I don’t know what’s the deal with the crystal.”

“Isn’t that the same crystal that Celestia used to make that fear door?” Sunset said thoughtfully.

“I think the bigger question is…” Pinkie said, and ominously pointed. “Why hasn’t Mr. Owlbear turned to dust yet…?”

Private came over to the beast, it was perfectly still otherwise, hanging on that crystal. Private put his ear to it’s beak. He looked to the others. “It hasn’t turned to dust because it’s still alive…”

“My goodness,” Twilight gasped, staring at the owlbear. “That’s… that’s horrible! That poor creature is probably in such pain…”

“Spera did… that?” Rarity uttered sounding horrified. “What kind of person tortures a creature?”

Rainbow let Fluttershy lean on Aj for a minute, and went to pick up Fluttershy’s bow. She walked over to the creature, drew an arrow, and aimed it right at the owlbear’s head. “Sorry big guy…” Was all she said, before firing it, and causing the creature to be released. The Owlbear finally fell completely limp, happy to be free from the torture...and then turned to dust...

“We need to clean up this stuff,” Twilight said shaking her head.

Private simply looked on the display as the others divided their attention between cleanup and taking care of Fluttershy. Rainbow offered to take Fluttershy home, Twilight’s healing taking care of all the external injuries her parents might ask about. As he watched all of this, Private had a sick feeling in his gut that this was far from the last display he would ever see...