The Adventures of the Elementals

by AutoKnight01

Settling In

The Adventures of the Elementals

Chapter 7: Settling In

It had been not even ten minutes since the explosion in Whitetail Woods transpired and the twelve ponies came teleporting in. Just when they thought they were going to be outcasts because six of them were Alamantian, it turns out the citizens of Ponyville were above all the racism they had heard and welcomed them. After that, the three little fillies Applebloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle went up to them and introduced themselves to the foreigners. Agua wasn’t too thrilled upon learning Rarity had a little sister. He thought he was gonna have enough trouble living with just her. He was however relieved when he found out Sweetie Belle only lived there when their mother and father were out of town.

But after the six foreigners and the three young ones got decently acquainted, they all headed out to move into their new homes. First up was Sweet Apple Acres because it was a long walk and they wanted to get it out of the way. Along the way, they chatted.

“So….you live on a farm?” Terra asked Applejack.

“Oh yeah.” Applejack answered. “It’s mostly an apple orchard though. Ah live there with my grandmother, my big brother, and you’ve already met Applebloom here.”

Applebloom waved at Terra slightly as she rode on Applejack’s back.

“Cool.” Terra muttered.

“What did you do back in your home?” Applejack asked.

“Well…pretty much nothing.” Terra then revealed something about her. “See….my father is the chief of my entire tribe. And being his daughter makes me heir to the throne.”

“Throne?” Applejack repeated.

“Yep. In Alamante, the chief of the tribe is royalty. So technically, I was and still am, Alamantian royalty. A princess to be exact.” Terra said.

This came as quite a shock to the Equestrian ponies present.

“But…how is that? If it’s just the chief of the tribe, how can that be considered royalty if it’s just one country?” Twilight asked.

“Alamante is a much bigger country then Equestria.” Cryo answered. “With the territory divided amongst six tribes who don’t really get along well anymore, each land gets their own king or queen. Or both in some tribes.”

“And my father is king of Geo tribe.” Terra went on. “My life was pretty easy. Big palace, big wardrobe full of the most gorgeous dresses, servants waiting on all four of my hooves…”

“It sounds so dreamy!” Rarity was bought at the word “palace”. “I would love to have living arrangements like that.”

“Well good for you because I don’t.” Terra said. “I hated it. I hated being a princess.”

“WHAT?” Rarity shouted and gasped at the same time. “Why would anyone HATE being a princess?”

“Because it wasn’t any fun.” Terra answered. “I wasn’t allowed to go anywhere without a stupid guard following my every step, my father and mother were extremely overprotective, it was a nightmare. Then Pyro came looking for the rest of us because Master Ma told him about the prophecy.”

Now things got interesting.

“See, the war had been going on for at least six months now and Pyro had left home to try and find us six symbol bearing ponies to bring us together. He went from tribe to tribe covertly searching so he wouldn’t be caught. When he came to the Geo territory, he had already found Cryo and Typhoon. I was fourth to be brought into the group.”

“At first she said no.” Cryo pointed out.

It was true. Back when Terra first met Pyro, Typhoon, and Cryo, and was asked to join them, she refused the offer.

“Why did you say no?” Rainbow asked. “Did you finally get used to being a princess?”

“Oh good gravel, no.” Terra said. “I didn’t want to fight anyone. But then…”

“I had to convince her that we were fighting for there to be peace in all of Alamante.” Pyro took that one. “THEN she agreed to come.”

Terra nodded confirming the story to be true.

“It still would have been nice to know you were the princess BEFORE we tried to leave.” Pyro stated.

“Oh come on. It wasn’t that bad.” Terra said back.

“Ze entire Geo tribe tried to keel us all because zey thought we were trying to keednap you!” Typhoon added. “One of ze spears zey threw at me nearly sliced off my wing!”

From there, the conversation went on. But the three Cutie Mark Crusaders had absolutely no idea what they were talking about. They certainly intended to find out.

After another ten minutes of walking, they arrived at Sweet Apple Acres. Once there, Terra took a look around the land surrounding the barn the Apple family lived in. It was quite lush with trees everywhere with bright red apples growing on every single one of them. Being the pony of earth, she fell in love with it as soon as she saw it.

“Applejack, this is so beautiful.” Terra said to her partner.

“Well thank ya, Terra. Ah hope you like stayin here.” Applejack said back. “Plus the apples are almost ripe and ready to taste test. Maybe you can taste the first one.”

She would indeed. By the looks of it, everyone thought a girl like Terra would like living on a place so in touch with the earth. But then two seconds later, Terra’s eyes caught the sight of another pony. A red colored stallion with a green cut apple for a cutie mark.

Upon seeing him, Terra stopped in her tracks with a gasp.

“Oh sweet mother boulder.” Terra nearly lost her voice. “Who is that?”

“Wha? Oh that’s mah brother, Big Macintosh.” Applejack told her. “Hey Big Mac! Come over here!”

The summoned family member walked in front of his sibling and her friends. But he noticed there were a few ponies there he had never met before.

“Big Mac, this here is Terra. She’s gonna be stayin with us for a while.” Applejack told us.

“She’s gonna stay with us?” Applebloom asked. “Why?”

“Uh…well…it’s very complicated, AB. But Terra needs a place to stay and she’s gonna stay in our house for a bit.”

Big Macintosh and Applebloom didn’t know why Applejack was okay with this. She was bringing a total stranger to their house and they had no idea why Applejack was so calm about it. They were a bit off.

“Well…we do have a spare room for her.” Big Mac said.

He then realized if Applejack was calm about this, than it couldn’t be that bad.

“Good. Applebloom, take Terra here and show her to the guestroom.” Applejack said.

“Terra.” Big Macintosh repeated her name so he would memorize it.

Then he smiled at her to welcome her properly.

“Well it sure is a pleasure, ma’am.” Macintosh said.

Terra smirked at him deviously and said,

“Play your cards right and it definitely could be.”

With that little line, she picked up her stuff and followed Applebloom to the barn. And that left everyone else there with varying looks on their faces.

Big Macintosh’s face was the most weirded out. He just got hit on. And in a very strange way.

“Um…what did she mean by that?” he asked hoping it wasn’t what he was thinking.

No one had the guts to give him a straight answer. Everyone that is except for Agua who approached him.

“Oh let’s just say she’ll be watching. I’ll leave it at that.” he said trying not to laugh.

And if that wasn’t bad enough, his next line didn’t help at all.

“Enjoy her, buddy. She’s YOUR problem now.” Agua said it almost like he was taunting him.

With that, Agua turned to leave and everyone else soon followed him after they said good bye to Applejack. When they caught up to the blue pony, they couldn’t help but ask questions.

“What do you mean she’s THEIR problem now?” Rainbow asked Agua referring to Terra.

“Oh you don’t know Terra like I do. Trust me. Applejack will soon see what she’s like.” Agua said that almost as if Terra was hiding something.

Well….she was hiding something actually but they didn’t know that except for her brothers and sisters.

“Just ignore him.” Cryo muttered to the rest of them. “You’ll learn in time to just drown him out.”

“Yeah. Whenever he starts to rant, my mind wanders and I can hear the ocean.” Pyro said with a smile.

“I wish I got the ocean.” Gem said with a frown. “All I get is this hellish buzzing sound.”

“Well I got the buzzing when I was younger like you are, Gem. But the beach is coming for you.” Pyro assured his little sister.

Gem nodded and when she looked back up, she saw a big house made out of clouds hovering above the ground.

“Welcome to your new home, Gem.” Rainbow Dash said before she found a small problem. “Uhh….how are you gonna get up there?”

“Oh I can walk on clouds.” Gem said. “When you told me you live on a cloud, Cryo cast the walk-on-cloud spell on me. So I’m good.”

“But the question is still there.” Twilight said. “How are you gonna get up there?”

“I can go get the balloon!” Pinkie suggested.

Everypony said no. That would have been too much of a hassle and everyone thought so. But all of them stopped their brainstorming session when Gem stepped out in front of them all without a word. She looked up at Rainbow’s house and then her right front hoof glowed with the purple plasma energy she represents. Then she threw it forward and the plasma blasted out of her hoof. The plasma then took the shape of an object rather than explode in the ground. The plasma made a small mechanical elevator and the rail it rode on extended up all the way to Rainbow’s house.

Gem grabbed her bag and then stepped inside the elevator. One second later, it rose upwards towards the house. Shocked, Rainbow slowly followed. When the two of them reached the top, Gem stepped out of her elevator and then the purple plasma energy that helped make it disappeared.

“Talk to you guys later!” the purple plasma unicorn called to them.

“Alright! Bye, leettle seester!” Typhoon shouted.

They all waved to her as she and Rainbow went inside the cloud house. The rest of them continued on their way.

“How did she do that?” Twilight asked. “Was that some sort of spell?”

“No way.” Cryo said. “Gem’s element, plasma, is very unique and different compared to the other elements of nature.”

“It’s raw energy that can be shaped into any form. And Gem has the power to make that happen. Into anything she can see in her mind.” Pyro finished.

“That’s awesome!” Scootaloo said.

Yeah. Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo were with them. They have been ever since they all teleported in.

“Where are you guys from again?” Sweetie Belle asked.

“A country called Alamante.” Cryo answered the filly. “It’s all the way across the ocean.”

“How did you get here?” Scootaloo asked.

Even though Rainbow Dash was gone, Scootaloo still was interested in these new foreign ponies. She wanted to know more about them. At least the basics.

“It’s a long story, kid.” Agua replied.

“Which place is next?” Twilight wondered.

“Sugarcube Corner.” Pinkie answered. “It’s right over there.”

Pinkie pointed over to the left where Cryo caught the sight of his new temporary home.

“You live in a bakery?” Cryo asked. “Awesome!”

“Glad you like it!” Pinkie liked Cryo’s attitude. “I hope you like it here. Mr. and Mrs. Cake are always welcome to having guests.”

One short walk down the street later, they arrived at the bakery that was Sugarcube Corner.

“Let’s all go inside!” Pinkie Pie cried. “We can all share a batch of cupcakes!”

Pinkie opened the door to see something a bit abnormal for her. The owners of the place, Mr. and Mrs. Cake were running around and panicking in out loud words. It looked like they were trying to break a world record or something.

“Um…maybe you should come by later.” Pinkie suggested.

“Uh…okay then.” Agua muttered.

“See ya later.” Twilight said to both of them.

“Bye.” Cryo and Pinkie both bid their goodbye.

With that, the rest of them walked away as Pinkie shut the door to the bakery as Cryo set down his bag. The Cakes kept running back and forth with those panicking looks on their faces.

“Does this happen often?” Cryo asked his new partner.

“No it doesn’t. Hang on a second.”

Pinkie went behind the counter and got in front of Mrs. Cake’s path.

“Mrs. Cake, what’s wrong?” Pinkie asked very concerned.

“It’s horrible!” Mrs. Cake shouted back. “We just got an order for three ice cream cakes to be made in just a few hours. But when I went to the freezer well….go see for yourself!”

She sounded like it was something out of a horror movie or something. But nonetheless, Pinkie Pie walked over to the freezer and Cryo stayed by her side and dropped his duffel bag behind the counter. Pinkie then opened up the freezer and gasped at the sight she saw.

Something had caused the freezer to break down. Because it wasn’t cold inside and everything that was supposed to be frozen wasn’t. The ice cream just looked liked multi colored soup when Pinkie opened up a tub to take a look.

This was definitely not good. The Cake’s were best known for their perfect timing. Never being late for anything no matter how big the order was.

“We don’t have enough time to go and buy more ice cream.” Mr. Cake said as he came out of the kitchen.

“This will tarnish our good name for sure!” Mrs. Cake was panicking now.

Pinkie was on the verge of panicking too. Then she saw her new white unicorn stallion friend step forward and take the ice cream container out of Pinkie’s hooves and put it back in the broken freezer using a magical grip. Then he shut the door.

“I got it covered.” He said cooly.

Mr. and Mrs. Cake stood there wondering what the heck he was talking about. They thought he was gonna cast a spell with his unicorn magic. But his horn didn’t glow anymore. All he did was take a big breath of air in.

Then he softly blew the air on the door of the freezer from the top to the bottom. That was about five seconds. After he finished, he smirked at Pinkie and gestured her to open the door back up.

When she did, she was both impressed and overjoyed. The entire inside of the freezer was cold and everything in there was once again frozen. And Pinkie could see her breath.

Mr. and Mrs. Cake were now relieved but also shocked that he did that without any unicorn magic.

“Look, Mrs. Cake! The ice cream isn’t melted anymore! You can use it!” Pinkie showed her by taking a random carton out and eating a big scoop of it from her hoof.

“Yes dearie that’s great.” Mrs. Cake observed as she and her husband approached Cryo. “But who are you?”

“Oh!” Pinkie forgot to introduce him. “Mr. and Mrs. Cake, this is my friend, Cryo. He’s REALLY good with ice. But he doesn’t have a house of his own. Is it okay if he stays here for a while?”

“Oh I remember now!” Mr. Cake figured it out. “You’re one of the Alamantians. I heard somepony talk about you a few minutes ago.”

“Um…yeah that’s me.” Cryo told them. “It’s nice to meet you. As Pinkie just said, my name is Cryo.”

“It’s nice to meet you too, Mr. Cryo.” Mrs. Cake warmly welcomed him. “And of course you can stay here. Our way of saying thank you for fixing our freezer.”

“You’re welcome.” Cryo said. “But I didn’t exactly fix it. I just froze the inside of it. I know freezers pretty well and it looks like you got a busted coil in the back. I’d recommend calling somepony and getting it replaced as soon as you can.”

“We’ll be sure to do that.” Mr. Cake said. “Pinkie, show him upstairs and then come down here. We’ll need your help if we’re gonna get these ice cream cakes made on time.”

“Is there anything I can do to help?” Cryo asked.

“Oh thank you, dearie. But we can do this on our own. After you get settled in, go on out and familiarize yourself with the town.” Mrs. Cake said.

“No problem. And thanks for letting me stay here. I promise I won’t be any trouble.” Cryo said to her.

With that, Pinkie led Cryo upstairs and the unicorn stallion regained the magical grip on his duffel bag and followed her upstairs. It was just as big upstairs as it was downstairs. And it was split into two separate rooms. Pinkie had occupied one and the other one was empty.

“I’d be more than happy to share my room with you if you like company.” Pinkie said.

“That’s okay Pinkie. I’ll take this one. I like to have some privacy.” Cryo opened the door and placed his bag inside. “No offense of course.”

“Oh none taken, Cryo! Just get settled in and I’ll get to work planning a big welcome party for you and the others! Just like I did for Twilight!”

With that, Pinkie rushed into her room and slammed the door behind her. Cryo looked at his bag and opened it up with the cyan magical glow of his.

“A party huh?”

Out of it, he pulled out a black vinyl record album and smiled at it.

“Oh well. As long as there’s a good rhythm to dance to, I’m in.”

That was something Pinkie would later learn about Cryo. His love for music. That was all he saved from all of his things. Countless records and a custom player. As he closed the door, he began to settle in.

Pyro, Twilight, Rarity, Fluttershy, Sweetie Belle, Rarity, and Agua now remained.

“So where to now?” Pyro asked.

“Actually I think this is where we part.” Rarity answered. “Twilight’s house is that way, mine is the other, and Fluttershy’s is near the Everfree Forest.”

“Near ze forest?” Typhoon repeated. “Don’t you live in ze clouds since you are a pegasus?”

“Actually, I don’t live in the sky like Rainbow does.” Fluttershy told the pink pegasus. “My cottage is over this way. And it has a spare room you can take.”

Typhoon shrugged. It wasn’t what she was expecting, but a nice cottage on the ground might be nice. Picking up her one and only remaining duffel bag in her mouth, both she and Fluttershy spread their wings and headed off to the cottage.

And that left Pyro, Twilight, and Spike to head for the library and Agua, Rarity, and Sweetie Belle to make their way to Carousel Boutique.

Once at the library, Pyro paused to take a look at the outside.

“Quaint.” He muttered.

That was all he needed to say. Twilight then proceeded to open up the door to the place and Pyro walked inside. He turned around a few times to get himself familiar with the place. But all he saw were books, books, and more books.

“That’s….a lot of books.” He noted.

“Tell me about it.” Spike agreed.

“Well this is a LIBRARY.” Twilight added. “What did you expect?”

Pyro instead of answering took a look at some of the books on the shelf. But there was one in particular that caught his eye. Using his magic, he pulled it out of the shelf and examined the cover and title.

Pyrokinesis For Less Than Average Unicorns.

“I’ve read it. Totally wrong on every level.” Pyro said as he put the book back.

“I haven’t yet.” Twilight said herself. “But I’ve been meaning to.”

“Do yourself a favor and don’t.” Pyro advised. “If you wanna learn how to make a simple fire, you ask me.”

Twilight shrugged. There was no argument there. If anyone knew fire, it was definitely this guy.

“Well alright. I don’t have a guest room but I can clear the basement for you.” Twilight said.

“That sounds reasonable.” Pyro agreed to it.

The three of them proceeded down to the basement to clear it out and make room for Pyro.

Meanwhile with Rarity, she, her sister, Agua, and Bobo the clam who was strapped to a cart attached to Agua, finally reached the boutique. Once inside, Agua immediately froze in fear at the sight. It was like he was stuck in a women’s clothing store. Which…technically he was.

“It’s…..nice.” He barely was able to get that out.

But inside his head, he said this.

“Oh holy tsunami. I think I’m gonna be physically ill!”

It was obviously gonna be torture for him.

“So he’s gonna stay with us?” Sweetie Belle asked. “Why?”

“It’s very complicated Sweetie Belle.” Rarity answered. “But Mr. Agua here is a special guest here in Ponyville and I’ve volunteered to take him in. Now how about we help him get settled?”

“REOOOOOW!”

That was a very loud and angry meow of a persian white cat.

“I almost forgot! There’s someone else here you need to share the place with.” Rarity told her partner.

Just then, the cat made herself completely visible.

“Agua, this is my pet cat, Opalescence.” Rarity said. “Opal, that’s Agua. You be a good kitty and be nice.”

Opal was not the kindest of pets in Ponyville. She just stuck up her tail and walked the other way wanting nothing to do with Agua.

“Wow. That cat’s a jerk.” Agua noted.

“Then I suppose you should get along fine with her.” Rarity commented.

“Hm….alright that was a good one. I’ll give you that.” Agua had to admit to that.

Nodding, Rarity was about to take hold of Agua’s bag so he could detach himself from the carriage Bobo’s tank was on.

“Wait a minute.” Sweetie Belle stopped them. “Where’s he gonna sleep?”

Rarity got hit with a dilemma. She hadn’t thought of where to put Agua. There were only two bedrooms in that house of hers and they were taken up by both her and Sweetie. All the other rooms were used for storage and other stuff.

So there was only one place to put him. And two out of the three ponies there weren’t gonna like it.

Later that night…

“This stinks.” Sweetie Belle said.

She rolled over in her bed and tried to get comfortable. And laying on the ground next to her bed, was Agua underneath a blanket.

Yes, Agua and Sweetie Belle were sharing a room. It was against Sweetie’s wishes. But Rarity had no other choice. Until her parents return, Sweetie Belle and Agua were gonna be in the same room. Bobo’s tank was up against the wall.

“Look, I’m not a fan of this either, alright? Let’s just try to get through tonight and we’ll figure something out tomorrow.” Agua growled.

Agua turned his head away from her. But the light from Bobo’s tank still shone in her eyes. And that really annoyed her. Not so much the light, but Bobo himself.

“Your clam is creeping me out.”

“He creeps me out too. But I love him more than anything in the world. So shut up.”

The rude words probably weren’t necessary. That’s just how Agua is. Sweetie Bell found it very strange that he loved that clam more than anything. But in short time, she would be proven wrong in what she found strange.

Over at Sweet Apple Acres, Applejack had worked hard to get Terra acquainted properly with everypony who loved there. Applebloom was fine and Granny Smith was asleep so she hadn’t met her yet. But it was Big Macintosh who felt very weary around her. Mostly because of the way she looks at him whenever he passes by.

It was time for everyone to hit the hay for the night. The only two who were still awake were Applejack and Terra. And the former was on her way to the now occupied guest room to check on her. However, when she knocked on the door, she heard a sound of as if the pony behind the door was trying to move fast.

“Hey Terra. Whatchya doin in there?” The farmgirl asked.

“Um…nothing!” The pony of earth lied.

That was enough for Applejack to open the door and she couldn’t believe what she saw. Terra had frozen in place and in her hooves was a set of materials needed to smoke an illegal green herb. A bong, a lighter in the form of a pedal to press with a hoof, and the weed itself. Needless to say, Applejack wasn’t the least bit happy. Not wanting anyone else to hear this, she closed the door.

“What in tarnation do you think you’re doin’?” she demanded.

Terra didn’t know what to say, but she just gave a groan and took her hoof off the glass pipe.

“I’m having a smoke. Alright? I do it all the time.” Terra told her the honest truth.

“But…that’s marijuana!” Applejack complained. “It’s illegal!”

“Not if the cops can’t find it.” Terra reasoned.

“They couldn’t find it before because you’ve been living in a rock.” Applejack argued. “Now listen, Terra. Ah know you’re supposed to protect me and all. But you’re living at MAH house now. And that means…NO. SMOKING. THE LEAF.”

Terra didn’t seem to like that one bit. So she had to put all her cards on the table if she wanted to keep her bong.

“Applejack, I understand, but please hear me out.” Terra started. “I’ve been doing this for probably a year and a half now. I know you probably don’t like the fact that there’s weed on your property, but you have to understand that I NEED this stuff.”

“That’s what every addict says.” Applejack snapped.

“Listen to me.” Terra wasn’t finished. “At the end of the day, it is just so stressing and I’m tired as hell. This is just my way of relaxing. I only take small doses so I don’t freak out or anything. But….I guess if it makes you feel more at ease, I’ll get rid of it.”

Applejack was about to tell her to throw it all out right now, but then she saw Terra’s face. She looked very depressed. But it was just the leaf. Was she that attached to it? She figured it wasn’t and this was about something else. Later on, she would find that to be right.

But the look on the yellow pony of Earth’s face was enough to buy Applejack over.

“Oh alright, you can keep the stash.” Applejack said. “But keep it well hidden. Ah don’t want nopony else finding it. Especially the authorities or mah little sister.”

“You my good mare, have got yourself a deal.”

Terra immediately turned around and put her hoof on the pedal. She pressed it down and a spark came into contact with a gas flow on the edge of the lighter. The stem of her bong got heated up and smoke filled the inner chamber as the water began to bubble.

Then the yellow pony of Earth put her mouth over the mouthpiece and slowly began to inhale through her mouth. The smoke went up into her throat and once it was all gone, Terra took her hoof off the pedal and stepped away from the bong.

After waiting a few seconds, she let her breath loose along with a big cloud of smoke.

“Ahhhhh yeah.” She pleasurably moaned.

With a groan herself, Applejack left Terra to be high. Inside she was torn. The pony who swore to protect her was high as a kite. How could she possibly protect them like that? Applejack stayed up thinking about that one.

In Rainbow Dash’s cloud home, things weren’t so complicated. Gem got settled in quite nicely. Rainbow’s house is gorgeous and the guestroom has plenty of space for all of her tesla coils. After putting each one in a certain spot, the rest of the hours were spent simply getting to know each other. From what Gem got about Rainbow, she concluded she was a brash but brave pony who isn’t afraid of anything. And what Rainbow saw in Gem was…well….Fluttershy. Not completely. But Gem is very quiet and softspoken just like her. The only differences are Gem is a unicorn who controls plasma, and she can fight. All the time Rainbow kept asking her if anything bothered her at all, Gem only responded with saying everything was perfectly fine. Though her tone didn’t sound very convincing.

Before they headed off to bed, they had one more short conversation.

“Gem, are you sure there isn’t anything else you need? Blankets or anything like that?” Rainbow asked her guest.

“No it’s fine, Rainbow. I’m just happy I get to sleep on a cloud. The bed I had back at the rock was….well a rock. Clouds are so comfortable.” Gem responded.

“If you say so.” Rainbow was about to make her way to her bed.

“Oh! I almost forgot.”

Gem made her way to the nearest window and Rainbow followed her. Then the purple unicorn stuck her head out of it.

“What are you doing?” Rainbow asked.

Gem didn’t answer. Instead, her horn glowed a bright electric purple and it then shot a small white beam out. That beam went out a few meters before it began to expand into some sort of wall and surround the whole house. When the whole house was covered in the giant sphere it created, the wall vanished. Or so it seemed.

“What did you do?” Rainbow asked as Gem’s horn stopped glowing.

“I put up a very strong shield spell.” Gem answered. “Nightmare Moon is strongest when there’s no sun. It’s better to be safe than sorry.”

The shield was still up. It was just invisible so nopony would see it and get freaked out. And with that, Gem and Rainbow went off to sleep for the night.

But Cryo saw the shield’s glow from Sugarcube Corner.

“Actually, that’s not a bad idea.”

He then proceeded to stick his head out his window and put up the same kind of shield up around the bakery. Pinkie Pie didn’t even notice because she entered Cryo’s room after he was finished.

“You need any extra blankets or anything?” Pinkie asked him.

“You’re asking a pony with ICE running through his body if he needs blankets?” Cryo asked her right back.

Pinkie now thought her question was silly.

“Oops. Should’ve known. Oh well. I guess I’ll see you in the morning then! Good night!”

“Hold up!”

Before Pinkie got all the way out of the room, she stopped when Cryo called her.

“Yes, Cryo?”

“This is very important. If you see anything or anyone suspicious in the night, I want you to come and wake me up and tell me about it. Got it?”

Pinkie knew he was being serious about this. After all, he was supposed to guard her with his life.

“Okie Dokie Lokie!” She responded. “Well then, good night, Cryo!”

“G’night, Pinkie.”

With that, Pinkie shut the door to his room and Cryo did one last trick for the day. He used his powers to create a small bed out of ice. It was hard and cold. Just the way he loves it. He laid down on it and closed his cyan eyes ready to dream.

Fluttershy was just locking up her doors as well. Everything was all set and all her animals were tended to. When she went to go check up on Typhoon, the yellow pegasus found her new pink psychic partner laying down on her bed reading one of her telepathy books.

“Is everything alright for you, Typhoon?” Fluttershy asked her guest and partner.

“Everything ees fine, Fluttershy.” Typhoon answered looking up from her book. “Ze bed ees actually surprisingly comfortable for not being a cloud.”

All of Typhoon’s furniture in her old room at the rock was all clouds. And with the explosion, they were all gone.

“Well that’s good. I’m going to bed now.” Fluttershy informed her. “Wake me if you need anything.”

“Ze same thing goes for you.” Typhoon said back. “I’m supposed to be protecting you. If you happen to wake up and see anything strange, you come and tell me. Got zat?”

“You got it.” Fluttershy was sure to do that. “Sleep well, Typhoon.”

“You too, Flutershy.”

And that was it for those two pegasi. The lights all turned off and Typhoon marked the page in her book so she could pick up where she left off tomorrow.

Finally there came the library where Pyro was at with Twilight and Spike. They had just finished clearing out the basement and turning it into a second bedroom for him. Well…almost a bedroom. It was still a basement filled with junk, they just did a good job putting it someplace else.

As Twilight prepared herself to go to bed, she found it a bit odd that Pyro wasn’t. Spike did as well.

“Aren’t you gonna go to bed, Pyro?” Spike asked his new roommate.

But the red unicorn shook his head and his mane waved.

“I don’t sleep.” He responded.

Twilight heard that from upstairs.

“You don’t sleep?” she repeated. “That’s impossible. I saw you fight today. You were energized. The only way you could be that energized is if you got a good night’s sleep.”

“Or I used a spell on myself to keep myself from falling asleep.”

That caught the interested attention of Twilight and Spike both. They had heard of a lot of uses of magic. But not that one.

“You cast a spell on YOURSELF?” Twilight didn’t seem very thrilled about it. ‘Do you have any idea how dangerous that is for us unicorns? I didn’t even think it was possible for anypony to have the audacity to try that!”

“Well it is possible.” Pyro corrected her. “And there was no danger with this spell.”

“Wel…what spell was it?” Spike asked.

Pyro used his magic to bring out the huge Alamantian spell book. Gem had left it with him before they parted ways. Then he opened it up and showed both Spike and Twilight the page.

“The insomnia spell.” Twilight read aloud. “Primarily used for boundary guards to keep themselves alert for intruders at night, this spell enables the affected pony to stay awake without any feelings of drowsiness, wear, or any need to sleep. Warning: The pony who casts the spell is also the only one who can remove it.”

“And THAT is why I cast it myself.” Pyro finished.

“But…why?” Twilight wanted to know.

Pyro looked away from her. He had reasons alright. But he was nowhere near comfortable enough to share them with her. Not yet at least.

“Let’s just say I have my reasons.” He told her.

“Would you care to share them?” Twilight dug in more.

But she was digging into a wall of metal.

“It’s been a long day, Twilight. You get some rest. I’ll just go walk around and…patrol.”

Before Twilight could even say anything else, Pyro walked out the door and closed it behind him leaving Twilight and Spike alone like normal.

“Something tells me he’s not telling us something.” Twilight pointed out.

“But he seems like a really nice pony. He looks like the most level-headed out off all of them.” Spike put in his opinion.

“What do you think about all this?” Twilight asked him. “How do you feel sharing the house with a pony we know nothing about?”

“I actually know quite a bit about him. We talked during dinner.” Spike said. “He comes from the Ember Tribe, he loves to surf on lava waves inside a volcano, he eats everything with the spiciest hot sauce ever known to exist, and once as a prank, he heated up Agua’s personal pool to scold him when he got in. Pyro laughed and Agua tried to kill him so he says.”

Twilight looked at her number one assistant oddly on that comment.

“Where was I during this conversation?” she wanted to know.

“You went out to get some more hot sauce. Remember?” Spike answered. “Pyro dumped all we had in his plate and swallowed it like it was nothing.”

Twilight remembered it with Spike’s reminder. Pyro used every ounce of hot sauce Twilight had in her cupboards to pour on his meal. Then he chowed it all down in seconds flat.

She was still a bit suspicious of him. He seemed level-headed like Spike said, but he still put a spell on himself to prevent him from sleeping? The question was…why? Was he afraid of the dark? Nightmares perhaps? It didn’t matter. All that does matter is that Twilight was very curious as to why Pyro would put such a spell on himself.

“There’s still something about him. I can’t put my hoof on it though.” Twilight spoke.

“Well I’m happy he’s here. I mean no offense, Twilight, I love you like a sister. But I’m just ecstatic to be around other guys for a change.”

Twilight had to understand that. Spike was the only guy in a group of seven. And six of them were girls. So him wanting to be around other males was to be expected.

“I just wonder…what’s going on his head?” Twilight muttered.

“Let’s figure it out tomorrow.” Spike said. “I’m tired. Plus I do kinda feel safer with him awake and alert.”

That was true. With Pyro awake, Twilight was protected all the time. All of Ponyville was. Using her magic, she turned off the light. But she left the front door open so Pyro could get back inside without having to wake her. Soon, she and Spike found their way into dreamland.

With everypony else asleep, that left Pyro alone until the sun came up. After he put up a barrier around the library identical to the ones Gem and Cryo made, he walked off. It was just him and the moon. With his thoughts, he slowly walked through the streets of Ponyville as the lights in all the windows went out for the night.

A few hours went by and it was already midnight. Pyro had gone a few laps around the whole town by now. And he was about to start his fifth until he heard a small sound.

It sounded like someone was humming something. He then put himself to work trying to find the pony that was making it the sound. He found himself passing by a flower shop. But the second he got near the shop, the noise stopped. Now a bit weary, Pyro slowly began to creep. But when he got near the corner of the shop…

*CLANG!*

…he got hit in the head with a very hard metal object.

The impact made Pyro yelp a little in pain and go to the ground rubbing the sore part of his head. As he did, he looked at the ground and the shadow of a pony holding a shovel in her hooves.

“You stay back! Or I’ll just hit you again!” she shouted.

“What are you talking about?” Pyro asked.

That’s when the head of the mare came from around the corner looking afraid. But then her face changed when she saw Pyro on the ground. She looked a bit more scared but in a different way. Like she was concerned.

“Oh my gosh! I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to hurt you! I thought there was a burglar or something.”

The mare then came out of the shadows and showed herself. She was cream in the coat and red in the mane and tail. Her cutie mark was a single half-bloomed rose. Her eyes were a pale green.

As Pyro rubbed his head, he got back on his hooves.

“No it’s okay. I was planning on having my skull caved in by a professional anyway.”

The mare dropped her shovel and got back on all four hooves. Then she approached Pyro and looked at his head which now had a big bump where the shovel hit.

“Sorry. I should have known better. Burglary is a very rare thing around here.” She told him.

“Oh it’s alright. I don’t blame you for thinking that.”

“No it’s not alright. I nearly cracked your skull. I….hey wait a minute.” The mare took a good look at him. “You’re one of those Alamantians. Aren’t you?”

So she was among those who saw them all teleport in this afternoon.

“Uh…yeah. I am.” He answered honestly.

“Well it’s nice to meet you.” She said. “My name is Roseluck. But everyone just calls me Rose for short.”

Pyro nodded once and smiled at her.

“I’m Pyro.” He gave her his name.

“Pyro.” Rose repeated. “If you don’t mind my asking, why are you up so late?”

“Oh I…just needed to clear my head. So I took a late night walk.” Pyro fibbed. “What about you?”

“I couldn’t sleep. I decided to give my flowers a midnight watering.” Rose answered.

“Interesting.” Pyro said. “Well, I guess I’ll leave you then.”

As Pyro began to walk away, Rose caught his shoulder.

“Wait. Do you even have a place to go?” she asked a bit worried about him.

“Yeah. I’m staying with Twilight Sparkle at the library.” Pyro answered.

Rose was about to let him go. But then she took another look at the bump on his head where the shovel hit. Seeing it made her feel guilty.

“Are you sure you’re okay? Can I get you a pain killer or anything?” Rose asked him.

“I assure you, I’m quite alright.” Pyro insisted. “There’s no need for you to apologize.”

“Yes there is. I hit you in the head with a freakin’ shovel.” Rose insisted. “How about this? As a way of saying welcome to Ponyville…and that I’m super sorry, let me buy you breakfast tomorrow.”

Now this caught Pyro off guard a bit. He had just got hit in the head with a full sized shovel, and now the same girl who hit him was trying to ask him out to breakfast.

“Umm…..sure. Why not?” he couldn’t think of a reason to say no.

“Great.” Rose seemed pleased by it. “Meet me at the café tomorrow morning. It’s just a short walk over there.”

Rose pointed over to the café she spoke of. It was just left of the flower shop.

“You have a deal.” Pyro said. “Well….good night, Rose.”

“Good night, Pyro.” Rose smiled at him just before going back into her house.

When she went back inside her house, Pyro continued walking but still felt the pain in his head throb a little every few minutes or so. He decided to make his way outside the borders of Ponyville where it was more open and lush.

It took him ten more minutes of walking after that for him to realize what he had done.

“Did I just agree to go on a date with a mare I’ve only known for five minutes?” he asked himself out loud.

He felt like something just went ninja on his brain. Because he got a date with a girl and he didn’t even realize he had done it when he did.

Then he just chuckled at the thought.

“Oh well. She is a bit cute I guess.”

“Has the brave and bold leader become smitten?”

He was then joined by another voice. The voice of someone not visible and was obviously trying to taunt him. Then Pyro looked up and saw something out of the ordinary.

It was a dark cloud of black. And then two catlike eyes appeared out of them in giant size and gazed upon Pyro. It was Nightmare. That much he knew off the bat. He stood on his hind legs and lit up his front ones in fire ready to fight.

“So eager to take a beating, ward of Hitashi?” Nightmare taunted.

Pyro growled at the mention of his master’s name.

“What have you done with him?” he demanded an answer.

“Your master will meet the same fate of countless ponies back in your home country.” Nightmare said to him. “I then shall make sure you and your friends will soon follow.”

She wasn’t here to fight. If she was, she would show her full self. Pyro turned off the fire and stood back down on all fours.

“What do you want, Nightmare?” once again, he asked demanding an answer right then and there.

“I come to warn you.” Nightmare Moon started. “Soon, at a time of my choosing, I will strike with full force. And I will obliterate your new town home along with your precious friends both old and new. Unless you accept this deal.”

“What deal?” Pyro asked knowing full well he couldn’t trust her on anything.

“My deal is this.” Nightmare said. “Take your Alamantain brothers and sisters and leave Equestria once and for all and return to Alamante. If you do, I will leave Ponyville, and all of Equestria unharmed. If you say you’re the student of Hitashi Ma, you should be smart enough to accept.”

Once again, there was no trusting her. There was no way he was gonna give up just like that. Nopony in the world was that stupid.

“I’m not going anywhere. And neither are my friends. Master Ma would never tell me to give up.”

Nightmare growled angrily.

“Very well then. This is your warning, young fool. I will return. With all of my fury.”

With that, the two eyes vanished and the night returned to being a peaceful one. Pyro looked back to the town of Ponyville. He couldn’t leave just like that. None of them could. They had a responsibility to find whoever started the war in Alamante. They had to protect the innocent. And now they had a responsibility to protect their new friends.

“Twilight….” He spoke out loud but quietly. “I’m not gonna leave so easily.”

Then he looked back to the sky.

“Bring it on, Nightmare. You can attack. But you can bet your flank that we’ll fight back with all we got.”

With the night sky looking clear from this point on, Pyro teleported back to Ponyville in a streaming ball of flames. He landed and retook his natural furry form perched on top of a roof. He had no idea what roof it was.

It was there he remained for the rest of the night. Alone with his thoughts. Alone to meditate like his master had taught him. His eyes closed and his mind began to focus very hard on calming himself. Slowly, his heart rate lowered to a stable rate and his mind became totally at piece.

“Master….I have found them. The special ones the prophecy speaks of. If you are somehow able to hear me, just know that I have become closer to solving the riddle of the quarrel on our homeland. I just pray you are alive to heed my voice, my master.”

Through the rest of the night, Pyro meditated just like he was taught. Today was a trying day for him and the rest of his friends. But this was only day one. Day two would begin shortly.

XXX

I only own the plot of this story and my OC’s.

Comments

[Blue Streak]

I shall wait egerly for the next chapter

[nightelf37]

Hold on. Aren't there any repercussions or any negative side effects for Pyro's insomnia spell? There has to be something.

[Luminous Grace]

“It’s raw energy that can be shaped into any form. And Gem has the power to make that happen. Into anything she can see in her mind.” Pyro finished.

Plasma is not energy. It is a state of matter.