Elements of Unity: The Ram's Revenge

by Unnamedwriter

Chapter 3: Ancient Truths

Besides teaching grades 2nd through 5th at Canterlot Elementary on the ground floor of the highschool building, Cheerilee also headed the Parent Teachers association, along with the local Girls Scouts of Amareica chapter. With today being the last day of school before spring break, she thought it would be a perfect time to get all her scouts together for some nature lessons. Everfree Park, infamous though it was in local legend, was the perfect place for a short hike, some leaf collecting and pressing, an all around educational quiet afternoon.

Unfortunately, she had once again figured without including three preteen girls determined to outdo all the other scouts in merit badges, and she certainly hadn’t planned on them wandering off from the main group.

“Scootaloo,” Sweetie Belle called even as her friends wandered deeper into the park. “Shouldn’t we get back to the others? We didn’t even tell Ms. Cheerilee where we were going.”

“Of course we didn’t tell her,” The groups orange purple haired tomboy scoffed. “If we had told her she’d have said no.”

“Where are we going anyway?” Sweetie Belle asked.

“We’re going to the, uhh,” Scootaloo stopped for a moment then yelled up the trail ahead of them. “Hey Applebloom where are we going?” The farm girl was so far ahead of them, her friends could barely see her bright pink bow bobbing up the trail.

“Remember when Applejack had her friends sleep over last week? Well, Pinkie Pie told me all about this huuuuuge mine her family used to run, till they closed it down and gave it to the city and they turned it into a lake. And according to this map,” She said pulling a brochure she had picked up during their tour of the ranger’s office out of her back pocket. “We should be able to get there if we follow this trail.”

“And we’re going there why?”

“To get our naturalist badges of course,” Scootaloo said, now practically skipping up the path. “Just think of the look on Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon’s faces when we show Ms. Cheerilee all the samples and stuff we’re going to get from the lake!”

“An if we’re lucky,” Applebloom grinned excitedly, “We’ll catch a frog or salamander to take back too!”

The three friends continued up the trail until they emerged on the overgrown banks of the lake that had once been a massive strip-mine. It had been bare rock when the miners left, but now so many trees and plants had grown up around the edge you’d have never known it was ever anything but a lake. But appearances could be deceiving, and it was only when the sun caught the water’s surface right the lakes sheer depth became apparent.

“Come on!” Applebloom yelled, rushing down the slope toward the lakes rocky banks, Scootaloo right behind her. Sweetie Belle however stopped when a cold tickling wind brushed the back of her neck, and she looked back along the trail as something darted into the trees.

“Sweetie Belle come on!” Scootaloo cried, already scouring the shore for a hapless amphibian.

“But I thought I,” She started before remembering the sooner they got something to bring back to Ms. Cheerilee the sooner they could leave. “Coming.” She scrambled down the slope, reaching the bottom just as a form made of smoke slithered out of the trees.

‘Too close,’ Shadowfright hissed to himself, slithering through the air to peek over the bank at the trio. He hadn’t planned on an audience, but he was more than close enough for the job Tirek had in mind. He weaved himself through the underbrush, down into one of the tiny streams that fed the lake, and quickly vanished into the murky depths.

Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo continued searching for leaves and little animals to bring back, not noticing the bubbles slowly rising to the surface of the lake.

---

The last thing any of the Rainbooms had expected was for Vice-Principal Luna to walk in on them in the gym, but it quickly took second place.

"Ma'am," The ever polite Rarity asked as they followed the older woman down the halls toward the main offices.

"Patience Ms. Belle," She said for what felt like the hundredth time. "There are facts you must know that I'd rather not have to repeat." The six transformed girls exchanged concerned looks, none of them completely certain what the vice principal could have in store for them. When they arrived at her office, tucked behind her sister's and partly hidden behind a fake potted tree. Luna silently reached into her blouse and pulled out a necklace, from the end of which hung a plain silver key, the kind you would expect to use in a castle dungeon.

Sunset shimmer knew from memorized images of the schools floor plan Luna's office wasn't much bigger than a supply closet, or an interrogation room for that matter as Rainbow Dashs's memory served, but when she unlocked the door and opened it for them, that was not the case at all.

The room was comfortable and spacious, easily larger than the school's main atrium, with thick rugs on wood floors, and two sets of brass stairs leading to a second floor and wood brass railings that ran around the room's upper rim. At the opposite end of the room was a large stone fireplace, surrounded by plush velvet and leather chairs, around which were piles upon piles of books.

"Make yourselves comfortable," Luna said shrugging off her jacket and hanging it on a tall carved wood coat rack. "I'll be back shorty with the others." It took her leaving up the stairs and into the labyrinth of book shelves to snap the girls out of their shock.

"This," Rarity gasped looking around at the room, "This isn't possible." her prism headed friend gave her a flat look.

"UH, Rares, you grew hair down to your knees in probably five second flat, and you got pony ears sticking out of your head. This, is the impossible thing?"

"... Fair point." Fluttershy quietly made her way to the fireplace, wings still held tight around her shoulders, and Rainbow quickly joined her in hopes of soothing her best friend's anxiety.

"Dad-gum" Applejack remarked, looking around and whistling at the size of the room. "Who knew Ms. Luna was hiding all this in here huh?" Sunset's head was still whipping around, looking left, right, up and sideways for any sign of an illusion.

"But, this can't be real," she said, rushing back out the door and feeling along the wall to where it met a window not two feet from the frame. "It's, it's."

"Bigger on the inside?" The Rainbooms looked up to the second floor, where Canterlot High's most recommended physics teachers stood smiling at them. "In a way it is," he said happily, making his way to the stairs, "and in others it's exactly what you think it is Sunset; an illusion. Just not the kind you're thinking."

"Time Turner," Luna said emerging from the book cases on the second floor. "I hope you're not showing off in front of the students again. I'm not sure the school can handle another incident like that one with the painting."

"I said I was sorry," the nougat brown man sighed. "Not my fault the Baalek landed in the tennis courts."

"Anyway," Luna spoke up, "I think it's time we explain everything to our guests hm?" she gave a quick nod toward the girls, which earned an understand 'oh' from Time Turner.

"All right then," he said, british accent thick and cheery. "to really explain this we're gonna have to set the clocks back about." But Applejack's patience was wearing thin after a long day of surprise assignments, anthro transformations and super powers.

"Doc," Applejack groaned, using the shortened version of the name he asked all his students to call him. "If ya'll don't mind, could we just get the short and simple version?" Time Turner looked to Luna, who merely shrugged her shoulders.

"Fine. The six of you are magical elemental warriors destined to defeat an ancient evil bent on destroying all life as we know it and plunging two worlds into a never ending age of darkness and death."

Nobody said anything until Pinkie Pie's jaw literally hit the floor, after which she made a cranking motion beside her head to roll it back up again.

"Long version please?" she asked, fishing a note pad and pencil out of her hair. Time Turner smiled a victory smile and snappped his fingers toward the chairs by the fire. Once all six girls had taken a seat, except Rainbow Dash who perched herself on top of one of the taller chairs, Luna let out a deep breath.

"It began long ago," she started looking into the fireplace where a pile of embers still smoldered. "Long before the founding of our country, or any of the ones on today's map. A time academics have either written off as lost or clouded in myth." Sunset had her journal her journal out and started taking notes, hoping this was information Twilight and the other princesses back in Equestria could use.

"Funny thing about myths," Time Turner remarked, "Sometimes they're true. In those days, roughly of let’s say one, one and a half thousand years ago, much of what you know as the United States of Amareica was ruled over by two kingdoms; Gallopor, and Hayrule. Now keep in mind the world was a much different place back then, not nearly as dreary as it is now. Back then it was just as magical as your red and yellow haired friend’s native land." Fluttershy squeaked with a start and the others all sat a little straighter, none more so than Sunset who felt her heart had just skipped three beats.

"How do you know that?" The teacher cracked a cheeky grin, eyes twinkling with mischief as he took something out of his long overcoat; a silver pen like device with a blue jewel on the tip.

"You don't think you're the only one with a way between the worlds do you?" He smiled, as Luna huffed to get them back on track.

"When Earth was still filled with magic, Gallopor and Hayrule thrived on generations of mages and champions. Until one day, something came through the portal from Equestria, and with him a nearly unstoppable army."

"His name," Time Turner grunted fishing a thick dusty door out of a stack near the fireplace and placing it before the girls, "was Grogar, The Fallen One." The picture was heavily simplified but no less frightening, displaying a demonic dark blue figure with the torso of a man, the wings of a dragon, the legs of an eagle, and the head of a demonic ram. His horns were black, as was his armor, nearly as dark as the shapeless mass of dead bodies at his feet. It was the horns curving out from his head however that stirred Sunset's memory.

"He was from Tambelon," she said, drawing the attention of her friends and the teacher. "When I was a student in Equestria, at Princess Celestia's School, we had to learn all about the ancient empires of Equis. One of them was the Ramulan Empire of Tambelon, but I've never heard of any ram named Grogar."

"Not surprising," Time Turner sighed. "Groh'gar literally means Fallen One in Tambelin. It's what he called himself after a particularly nasty spell erased all memories and records of his real name from reality."

"Grogar wanted to control our whole world and it’s magic," Luna continued, "And he brought an army of equestrian war beasts and enslaved warriors with him for just that purpose. He conquered every kingdom he could find until only Gallopor and Hayrule remained. Together the two kingdoms greatest mages and sorcerers created six weapons they could use to defeat Grogar, each formed from concentrated elemental magic." Time Turner flipped through the book until the pages showed a stained glass like image of six crystals in a circle, each shaped and colored like the element it represented. There was fire, water, earth, wind, ice, and a sixth shaped like a leaf, which reminded Sunset of the tomes some Unicorns used to teach nature spells back in Equestria.

"These were the Elements of Unity, and when wielded by six chosen champions, gave them the edge needed to stop Grogar. Stop," she sighed as her shoulders sagged. "But not defeat."

"The stories get a little hazy at this point," Time Turner sighed, turning a new set of pages. "But most of them agree that it wasn't until a seventh warrior arrived from Equestria that Grogar was defeated, and sealed inside a crystal tomb; held tight by the combined energies of the heroes’ unity and elements."

The new pictures showed six figures in a half circle, each with one hand raised and shooting out a different color beam of light. The beams met at Grogar, now half encased in a jagged block of white rock, with a seventh figure, completely gray, appeared to be running at him with a long sword.

"Okay," Rainbow Dash said leaning forward from her perch. "This is great and all, but what does this have to do with us and our pony forms?" she wiggled her ears and splayed her wings for emphasis, despite five more examples sitting nearby. Luna bit her lip and stifled a laugh into a soft giggle.

"Your 'pony forms,'" she quoted with a straight face and some effort, "are a manifestation of your magic; Equestrian magic brought here when Princess Twilight Sparkle visited us."

"She was the first Equestrian to use the portal in centuries," Mr. Turner explained. "Well willingly at least. You see," his voice shifted to teacher mode as he ran into the bookshelves, and came back with two glasses of water. "It's like this.

Let’s say this glass is Equestria, where Sunset and Princess Twilight are from, and the other, is Earth, and the water," He said lifting the two glasses and pushing their ends together so none of the water escaped. "Is magic. For the longest time almost all of the magic has been going to Equestria." He tilted the glasses so the Equestria glass was lower, leaving no water in the other glass. "Now however something," he slowly tilted the glasses back level, more and more water flowing into the glass representing earth. "Is causing the flow to shift back even. Now, any theories as to why this is being this now, and not this as it was then?"

Rarity and Rainbow Dash had both had Time Turner's class before so they knew what to expect as far as nonsensical explanations, and they knew better than to raise their hand and give the doctor another crazy theory to jump on. Rainbow Dash however, was also Rainbow Dash.

"So using the portal is making magic come back?" Time Turner looked like he'd just had his happy bubble popped with Nightmare Moon's horn. Luna flashed a quick toothy smile, knowing the girl had just summed up the next twenty minutes of Turner's explanation.

"In basic yes," Luna said, taking the lead from the now despondent Doctor. "Your friends continued use of the portal in front of the school has in essence tipped the balance between the worlds. Now magic is flowing back into our world from Equestria like water running down a hill. The six of you just happen to have more than almost everyone else right off the bat.

Unfortunately," she sighed as her tone turned grim, "That also makes you targets for Grogar."

"Um, Mrs. Luna?" Fluttershy asked raising her hand politely. "Didn't you say Grogar was sealed away a long time ago?"

"Yeah," Rainbow said supporting her best friend. "What could horn-boy do trapped inside a hunk of rock?" Only Dash failed to notice the sudden look of pain that flashed across the vice-principal's face, but as fast as it appeared it was gone.

"When Grogar realized he couldn't defeat the Elements of Unity, he used a spell to drain earth of it's magic, thus weakening the Elements and their bearers. After he was imprisoned magic continued to drain, and it was that dearth of power that kept him dormant."

"Until now," Applejack finished, starting to realize their magic could be a double edged sword.

"Yes. With every bit of magic that comes back, Grogars power grows." She looked like she was about to continue, when Rarity raised her hand. "Yes Ms. Belle?"

"What does this have to do with us?" There was a bluntness to her voice that made her friends flinch. For a young woman so refined and cultured, Rarity's voice tone and face had started losing its carefully crafted courtesy the moment they walked into the room. Luna could also sense she was on thin ice.

"The Doctor and I are part of a secret society; one created to ensure that when Grogar and those who serve him do return he does not do so unopposed. Mr. Turner," she nodded toward the physics teacher.

"There is a prophecy, handed down through the leadership of our order that tells of a day when The Dark Lord returns to life, and when the Elements of Unity give their power to six new champions." Sunset and her friends all exchanged glances, looking for reassurance in each other’s faces. Ending Sunset's reign as school tyrant and beating the Dazzlings had been one thing, but this Grogar sounded like an entire other league.

"Are you sure?" Sunset asked, knowing her anxiety wasn't helping her friend's, but it was a question she needed answered. "That this prophecy is referring to all six of us or just ..." she sheepishly trailed off but Luna understood.

"Or just five of you," she finished, earning a nod from the yellow and red head. "Your past might not be a shining example of humble kindness, but if the Battle of the Bands proved anything, it's how far you've come since leaving Equestria Sunset Shimmer."

"But are you sure?" Nobody was expecting the forwardness of Rarity's question; one they were still talking to a school official, two Rarity was almost never confrontational. "Are you certain, beyond any doubt that we are the "Champions" mentioned in your prophecy?" Luna sensed something in the young woman's voice and frowning face, but it was lost on Time Turner.

"You six have had the most contact with magic of any human being in the last thousand years," he said matter-of-factly. "You even manage partial transformations just from singing together. Frankly there's really no one the Elements could choose but you." Rarity's frown warped to a scowl.

"You assumed," she dead panned standing from her chair and looking down at Luna. "You assumed that because we saved the school from three greedy attention seekers and showed a girl the error of her ways that means you can just send us after some mythical monster and God knows what else?" Her tone was near screeching now and her friends were starting to tense up, none more than Fluttershy.

"Rarity ..."

"Don't," the fashionista snapped, lunging at the yellow girl like a snake. "I have Had It with magic and insufferable nut jobs," she turned her glacial glare on Luna and Time Turner. "Who try to put saving the world off, ON CHILDREN!" She turned on her heel and stomped out, brushing against the chair Rainbow was perched on just enough to make the flier loose her balance.

"Hey Whoa," She yelped, falling on her side. "Rares wait!"

"Rarity," Applejack yelled as the purple haired girl slammed the door, and one by one their ears and extended hair collapsed into dim sparkles. "Well don't just sit there," she shouted at her friends, "come on!" Luna could only watch as the rest of the rainbooms ran out after their friend, with only Fluttershy looking back before following her band-mates out the door.

"Well," Time Turner frowned. "That could've gone worse."

"Not by much," Luna groaned slumping into her chair and closing her eyes before leaning forward and looking back to the second floor. "Are you sure they're the ones?" Another man emerged from the bookshelves of the second floor, balancing himself on the railing and looking at the door.

"Two of their spirit talents have already begun to manifest, and I sense the others will soon as well. They are the ones." He looked at Luna, now looking at the door to the school.

"That doesn't make Rarity any less right," she sighed, berating herself. "We had fifteen hundred years to prepare for this, and all we can do is throw the responsibility on six teenage girls."

"Six girls," The new man said descending the stairs, "Who came together to take down the Sirens in one night. Those witches were a thorn in our side for centuries." He looked at the school official, whose expression hadn't changed, though he hadn’t really expected it to.

“Fifteen hundred years and you’re still the same mothering princess you were when we met.” He knelt down beside her chair, plaid sweater vest still neatly as ever. “It’s not your fault that the Elements haven’t been recovered. No one could have predicted what was about to happen back then, and if they had, would we really have listened? Would any of us have?”

“Pah,” Time Turner scoffed. “Speak for ye self scaly. I warned you lot those cheeky buggers were up to something.”

“Doctor as much as I appreciate your Gallopfreyan humor, I really don’t. Now’s not the time to revisit past mistakes.”

“Oh your one to talk. Remind me again, how long were you asleep last time hibernation rolled around?”

“I may have sworn an oath of non-violence but you would do well to remember my true nature.”

“QUIET!” Luna boomed, causing the room’s brass and metal fittings to shake. “That’s quite enough from both of you,” she scolded, standing up and stomping over to the arguing men. “Whatever mistakes were made before today are no longer important. What is important is our mission today. Grogar is coming back, we’ve all felt it. It’s not a question of if anymore, but when. Book Worm is right.” Time Turner looked like he was about to protest with a flurry of accented expletives, but Luna’s glare silenced him in an instant.

“The best we can do, is make sure the new Elements have the skills and knowledge they’ll need for whatever lies ahead. We’ve known this for centuries.” Time Turner and Book Worm looked at one another, agreeing to silent forgiveness, when the English teachers snapped up and left toward the door.

“What?” The Doctor asked, putting himself between Worm and the spot his eyes were trained on. “Is someone trying to open the door again? I told you we should install a DNA scanner on that thing, this magic business is getting terribly unpredictable.” Luna ignored his ramblings and stood beside Book Worm, eyes following his.

“What is it?”

“A friend,” he said in flat dread. “Seems she's just woken up. And she’s angry. Very, very angry.” Luna bit her lip; the last thing they needed now was one of Book Worms “friends” waking up.

“Are you surprised,” Time Turner asked with a laugh. “You’re not exactly all sunshine and giggles after you wake up from hibernation either. Oh well, come on then where is she?”

“Everfree Park.”

“Oh bollocks.”

---

By the time Applejack and Dash caught up to Rarity the fashionista was in the parking lot, shoving her keytar into the back of her car. She climbed behind the wheel, only to find Rainbow Dash standing in front of the hood.

"Rainbow I don't have time for this, move!"

"Not happening sister," the soccer star barked, folding her arms and widening her stance as Sunset, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie caught up. "Now how about you get out of the car and we talk this over."

"Please Rarity?" Fluttershy begged, hands clasped. Rarity looked at her for a moment, then started the car, but Rainbow stayed where she was.

"I'm not moving Rarity."

"And I'm not getting out of this car," she snapped back, before Pink curls filled her rearview mirror.

"Then we'll just come in," Pinkie Pie smiled from the back seat, and before Rarity could lock the doors the others had all piled in, Sunset, Applejack and Pinkie Pie in the back while Fluttershy eased into the front passenger seat. Rainbow of course jumped on the car's roof and tapped her knuckles on the sun roof until Rarity opened it and turned the car off.

"Rarity," Fluttershy began in a much calmer voice than the others had expected. "Why did you talk to Vice Principal Luna like that?"

"Because she!" Rarity bit her tongue before it could run away with her brain. She looked back up and around at her friend's faces, five girls she'd been through so much with, and took a deep breath.

"Fluttershy darling," she said, voice reclaiming some of its charm and accent. "There's a piece of paper in the glove compartment. Could you take it out?" The girl yellow girl nodded slowly, opening the tiny compartment and fishing out a single yellow envelope folded around a pair of papers embossed with a raised gold emblem.

"Two weeks ago," Rarity confessed. "I was accepted to the Manehattan School of Art and Design." She looked down at her skirt in shame. "Full tuition scholarship."

"That's great!" Pinkie Pie cheered, reaching around the seat to hug her friend, choking her slightly.

"Sugarcube," Applejack said grasping the situation a tad better than the girl beside her. "Why didn't you tell us?"

"Yeah, we could've thrown you a congratulations party."

"Because it would have put a death notice on our friendship!," she near yelled, almost immediately trying to calm herself again. "With graduation coming up, I ... I was afraid you would think I was abandoning you." Sunset looked away from the mirror to her knees and Pinkie and Applejack both glanced at their respective doors. None of them could deny feeling a little betrayed that Rarity had made plans without telling them. Only one of them saw Rarity was avoiding the question.

"Why didn't you apply for a school closer to Canterlot?" Fluttershy asked in the calmest softest voice possible, one even Sunset at her worst couldn't have gotten angry towards. Rarity looked at the steering wheel, eyes distant and evasive.

"...Because I want to go there," she finally sighed, leaning back in her seat looking up out through the car door window. "For the longest time I've always been the one sacrificing. Whether it was a fashion expo the same night as one of Sweetie's chorus concerts, or staying home to baby sit while my parents went out or on a business trip. I know Princess Twilight said I'm supposed to be the Element of Generosity, but it's hard to be generous when everyone expects you to be. I am so tired of being put upon, I just wanted to do something that would be for me that would help me with my life.”

She sank a little further into her seat, so far it seemed she might pass through it.

“I thought that after I earned a degree, things might change. I could get an actual job at the Carousel Boutique instead of an internship, maybe even start my own fashion line.” She stopped when something wet dripped down her cheeks and she immediately whipped it away before she thought her friends could see her crying.

“I’m sorry girls, I guess I just thought after the Battle of the Bands, I thought we were done with magic and evil and.” She stopped when she felt a hand on her shoulder, and looked up to see Fluttershy smiling at her, hair pushed back behind her ears letting a wave of reassurance wash out from her teal eyes. The shy girl pulled her friend into a hug, and Rarity finally let one soft sob escape.

“It’s okay,” she whispered. “I don’t think any of us were expecting to find ourselves in this situation again. And while we might not be done with magic or,” a strand of hair fell back in front of her eyes as fear flashed across them. “Monsters yet, we aren’t done being friends either.”

“Yeah, Rainbow said leaning over to poke her prismatic head through the sunroof. “Who cares how tough this Crowbar guy is? Long as we’re together there’s nothing we can’t do!” Applejack couldn’t have agreed more.

“Sugarcube, I promise, no matter what comes out of the woodwork, or what you decide, we’ll be right behind ya fish on a line.”

“Yeah,” Pinkie cheered, pulling out a noise maker and tossing some confetti. “Now turn that frown around. It’s not like this could be any worse that finding out your sister used all the gold fabric on an art class project again right?”

“That is true,” Rarity smiled, before her eyes snapped open. “OMYGOSH SWEETIE BELLE!” She turned the key hard, the engine roared and she slammed it into reverse, causing a certain girl still on the roof to come tumbling into the car.

“Hey what’s the big idea?” Rainbow yelled from the front passenger floorboards, feet still sticking out the sunroof. As Fluttershy and the other girls in the back scrambled to buckle themselves in, Rarity was beginning to panic.

“I promised I would pick up Sweetie Belle and her friends up after school! They said they were going to the park to try and earn their merit badges!”

“Eeyuup,” Applejack groaned as Rarity nearly put the car on two wheels around a corner, squashing her between Sunset, Pinkie and the door. “Applebloom said someth’n about that too. Jesus Rares slow down!” She yelled and braced when another turn appeared in front of the frantic sister.

“Ohhh,” Pinkie Pie groaned, clutching her stomach and mouth. “Too much candy.” Sunset scooted closer to Applejack even as she protested for personal space. She stopped though when from underneath her Keytar case Rarity’s purse started to buzz. Sunset reached down and retrieved the fashionista’s vibrating phone.

“Rarity you have a text from Sweetie Belle,” she said just as another short line of worrying letters popped up. “It says,”

“TRAFFIC!!” Rarity slammed on the brakes, skidding to a stop inches from the bumper of the pickup truck in front of her.

“OH COME ON!” she yelled leaning out the window. “The light’s not even red you simpletons! MOVE IT!”

“Wait,” Sunset breathed, ears perking up. “You hear that?” The rainbooms all listened until the sound of a siren became louder and clearer, and Rainbow dash wriggled herself up right and back through the sunroof.

“Fire trucks!” she reported as two bright red and white ladder trucks roared past the intersection ahead of them. “And three police cars right behind them, all heading down Royal Boulevard. Toward Everfree Park.” Rarity and Applejack's blood ran ice cold.

"That's where the girls are!"

“Sunset darling,” Rarity swallowed dryly. “What did Sweetie’s text say?”

“Uh hold on, I think I dropped it.”

“And I got it,” Pinkie Pie chirped, holding up rarities phone. “Hmm, 5r @ part. Big angry frying Liz nerd. HA, and you girls think I’m crazy.” No one heard Pinkie Pie’s next joke over the screeching of tires and scraping of metal as Rarity forced her way through the traffic.

---

"You, you're real," Twilight stammered, numbly walking over to her computer desk and collapsing into a chair.

"Not in a scientific sense no," Grogar said off handedly looking around her lab. "Which judging by your abode is the only sense you've known until now."

Twilight's lab was in truth, a very spacious glorified basement. The walls were red brick, with ancient mortar spread unevenly between them creating a less than uniform surface. The room was littered with second hand equipment, including a computer with a high definition screen, the most expensive piece in the room, an antiquated mass spectrometer, a DNA scanner that had clearly seen better days, a tesla coil and a curious assortment of robotic parts piled off in one corner.

"So what you're telling me," Twilight said slowly, though for her or Grogar's benefit it was hard to tell, "I summoned you with some, "magic" spell, without even meaning too?"

"Many forms of basic magic rely on instinct," Grogar explained, examining the Tesla coil as the girl began type on her computer. "What you cast was a third tier guardian summons, quite impressive for someone who's never heard of magic until now."

"Okay then," she said in the tone of a sudden idea, though her eyes were fixed on the screen. "So if I summoned you then I can unsummon you as well?"

"Not, exactly," Grogar fibbed deftly. "What you cast was a Guardian summons, meaning I cannot leave you presence until your life is no longer in danger."

"What danger exactly?" she asked hesitantly, not knowing if she could handle any more revelations today. It was precisely that instability Grogar knew he could use.

"Ancient danger, though your people's memory of it has likely fallen into myth and legend. Many centuries ago I fought a great and powerful evil seeking to plunder your world."

"When you say your world, I take that to mean you're from another." Grogar was pleased to see the girl had an eye for detail, but also realized he'd have to be careful with his story.

"Keen ears you have. Yes, I am not of this world. I was sent here from my home to aid the champions of your world in combating the evil that threatened it, but the price of the final victory was great." Twilight's eyes darted back and forth behind her glasses, wheels and gears turning in her head where she sat at her computer.

"They turned you into a wraith," she theorized with some certainty.

"And condemned my soul to never know peace," Grogar sighed in despair. "Now however, Magic has returned to your world, and I fear the return of the evil I fought to protect it from is not long due."

“But what does any of this have to do with me?” Twilight asked as Spike hopped up into her lap, lifting her hand with his head for her to pet him. The display was so cute that Grogar was thankful he no longer had a stomach.

“Your magic,” Grogar explained. “When under attack, you cast a guardian summons and a force barrier, neither of which are easy even with years of study. The fact you performed these spells on instinct no less, shows you have incredible potential.” Twilight never once looked away from her computer monitor; she needed the safety the feeling doing research brought her just to process what the spirit was telling her.

“Magical potential? Me?” She almost laughed. "I'm sorry but I think you've got the wrong girl. I am a physicist, not a witch."

"The correct term is mage my dear, and unless there was some invisible un-sensible other in that alley with you and those ruffians, yes. You are. And who says you cannot be both?" Twilight stopped typing, then turned around in her chair to look towards the sound of his voice. "Are you familiar with the saying that humans only use ten percent of their brains?"

"Yes and it's wrong. The human brain is a network of electrical impulses. If we only used ten percent of it we'd only be ten percent as smart as we are."

"Good, now how do molecules heat up?"

"They vibrate," Twilight answered, a little annoyed at the game of questions.

"Everything you see is in a constant state of vibration, thus the near flawless illusion of solidity. Mages you see, are born with the ability to sense subtle shifts in the molecules around them, that's one reason your studies come so easily to you my dear." Twilight's head was still spinning, but now it was a familiar gyroscopic spin.

"But wait, if you're telling the truth then is what I did magic or science?"

"Both," He answered quickly. "Now to put it into practice. Step one, locate a target." Twilight rolled her eyes but stood up all the same, glancing around her lab before her eyes locked onto a pile of old college invites and information packets she had never gotten around to shredding.

"Step two," Grogar said, his spirit moving behind the young woman. "Clear your mind, and see the molecules. Step three, will the vibrations faster."

She still wasn't completely buying into the spirit's story, but scientific practice dictated she test whatever methods she could, so she cleared her mind. She imagined the molecular structures of the individual papers and pamphlets, then imagined them accelerating to the point of.

Fwoom!

"AH! NO!" Twilight jumped out of her chair, nearly tripping over her computer’s snake nest of cables as she grabbed for the fire extinguisher. She finally managed to reach it and put the fire out before the smoke could trigger the sprinklers. “Great,” she groaned looking at the pile of foam soaked scorched. “How am I going to explain this to my landlord?”

“I could teach you a blissful ignorance enchantment,” Grogar offered as the scientist plopped back into her chair, “Though I think that may be a tad advanced for you at the moment.”

“This can’t be happening,” Twilight groaned running her hands back through her hair as it fell onto her computer desk, when she heard her cell phone ring. “Spiiiikie,” she called. “Go fetch.”

“Bark!” Spike yipped excitedly, scampering off and returning with the still ringing phone in his mouth. Twilight had invested in a tough case a long time ago. Her sour mood instantly vanished when she saw the caller ID, and pressed the phone to her ear.

“Hi Cadance,” She smiled, no longer caring she had a formless spirit in the room with her. “What’s up?” Instead of her usual upbeat tone though, Cadance’s voice was sullen and nearly hollow.

“Twily, Shining called. Something happened at the dig.” Grogar took careful note of how the young woman’s face fell as her speech became frantic.

“What happened, was there an accident? Is He hurt?”

“No your brother’s fine,” Cadance breathed with less relief than she should have. “There was a cave in and some workers were killed. They’ve called off the dig.” Twilight couldn’t help but smile at the implications, the thought of Shining coming home early, but those hopes were dashed.

“And they’re redeploying Shining and his group.” Twilight’s smile evaporated, and she swallowed hard in a vain attempt to stop her voice from shaking.

“Di-did he say where?”

“No. Only that they’re going to make him serve out the rest of his tour somewhere on the border.”

“Oh, Okay,” she muttered coldly, slumping back into her chair.

“I’m having some of the girls over for a movie Friday night. You’re always welcome to join us.”

“Thanks Cadance, I’ll think about it.”

“If you ever need to talk Twilight my door is always.”

“Bye.” Twilight tapped the end call button and dropped the phone on her desk.

“Something the matter?” her so called guardian spirit asked, moving closer to her but still unseen.

“My brother,” Twilight sighed. “He’s in the army and was helping some archeologists with a dig up north but now it’s been cancelled. He’s being sent somewhere else until his term is up.” Grogar sensed the disappointment of crushed hope in her voice, but there was something else under it; resentment. Twilight was mad that her brother had called someone else before her, and worse still had given her a message through that someone, instead of calling her himself. His transparent visage twisted into a smile.

“I had truly hoped humanity had moved past armed conflict,” he sighed, putting on an invisible face of disappointment. “Such wasteful uncivilized conflicts. I can barely remember the time of Mages, when magic protected borders instead of weapons.” Twilight Sparkle only sat quietly for a moment more before her curiosity bested her.

“What kind of magic?” Grogar knew he had hooked his prey, and proceeded to entice her from the water.

“Powerful magic. Spells and incantations mages spend years mastering, but whose power can last for generations.” Twilight looked down at her hands, a faint but visible aura of pink energy spread up to her fingertips. After what for Twilight seemed an eternity she looked up toward the spirit’s voice, and she asked the question Grogar had waited for.

“Can you teach me?”

Author's Note:

I know I promised you lot action this chapter, but I felt one more build up chapter was in order to set the stage for next time, where we finally see what the Hu-mane six can do with their new abilities.

Till next time, and as always comment with any criticism or complements, or just hit like or dislike up above, because all too often I get the feeling I have no idea what I'm doing.

Comments

[MrAskAPirate]

Aaaaaand the Doctor is involved... that figures,

Rarity seems even more high-strung than usual (and that's saying something, ), but I really like the way you've got Grogar using Human Twilight's bond with Shining Armor to turn her to the dark side without her even realizing it; classic supervillain MO,

[Unnamedwriter]

6055566 Thanks. All the big MLP: FIM villains thus far, Discord, Nightmare Moon Tirek and the lot, have been masters of deception and manipulation. There's been so much antiticpation for a return to Grogar in the show, I refuse to do any less than my best when writing him.