Equestria World, Book 1: Surviving Canterlot High

by Gear Works

Ch. 24 - Samurai and Demon (Part 5) - Forgiveness

So far, this week has been crazy. I’ve fallen in love with two girls, and have a third girl have interest in me. And with the big game coming up, and my encounter with a few Crystal Prep students last week, I’m starting to feel like the target on my back is getting bigger than I have hoped for. I went to Celestia and explained all that has happened so far, hoping for her advice.

“I can understand why she’s angry with you, Jack. Even I didn’t expect for you to fall for Sunset, not to mention Applejack. And with Fleur wanting you as well, it’s dividing the group than bring them together.”

“I’m starting to think that this was a waste of my time to begin with. I wanted to understand my gift more, but dealing with all that comes my way that I don’t know how to handle was something I wasn’t expecting,” I said.

“I didn’t want to do this too soon, but with time running out, I’m going to have to tell Twilight about your gift. I’m hoping that she can understand why I wanted you to do this,” Celestia said.

“And hope that she doesn’t think that either of us are crazy. I don’t think anyone would believe that I have these mysterious powers. Well, expect for Coco, Chrysalis, and Moon Dancer.”

“Well, at least you believe that Crystal Prep’s top QB might be bearing the gift. If this is true, then maybe we can find a way to expose the school for what it truly is.”

“That’s just one student,” I said. “We need a lot more before we can expose them.”

“And we need a lot of help to make it happen. Students that we can trust,” Celestia requested. “For now, let me focus on Twilight. I’ll tell her about all this tomorrow, once she’s cooled off. Let’s just hope that this doesn’t go downhill fast.”

---

After coming home from practice, I needed time to myself to clear my head. I opened the window and sat on the rooftop, looking at the downtown area from afar. As I sat and watched, my cell buzzed. It was a text from Fleur.

Busy tonight, but wanted to see
if we can meet somewhere tomorrow.

Fleur

I sent a text back to her.

Not sure about tomorrow night.
But I’ll call you if I’m free at some point.

I knew I wouldn’t be able to talk to her tonight, which is somewhat of a relief for me. I felt like I have a lot on my plate that I couldn’t handle. I just hope that Celestia can resolve all this so that we can get back on track. I was starting to hate having to keep my gift a secret. But Coco was right in the first place about doing this, there were others who would like to have my talents for their own gain, and Crystal Prep would be one of them.

---

I was able to get a good night’s sleep before getting up and doing my usual morning routine. When I went back to my room and looked at my cell, I noticed a text sent to me just minutes ago.

Jack, bring Chrysalis ASAP
We have a problem.

Luna

This was the first time I’ve received an emergency text from her, and I knew it wasn’t good. I went down to the guest bathroom to get Chrysalis’ attention. When she cracked the door, I showed her Luna’s text. Both of us rushed to get dressed and hastily make our way to the school. When we arrived, we saw Coco waiting for us.

“We got Luna’s text. What happened?” I asked Coco.

“It’s the gym. It looks like a tornado went through the area. And there’s a fabric sign with the ‘Fire Demon’ on it.”

“I don’t like the sound of this, Jack,” Chrysalis said.

“Me either. Last thing I need is for all our hard work to go downhill fast,” I said.

We saw Luna running towards us in a panic. “We got a bigger problem. Twilight and Applejack just saw the damage and found Sunset and took her to my sister’s office. And I don’t think anyone is happy about it.”

“Does Moon Dancer know about this?” I asked.

“I don’t think so,” Coco said. “She might have gone to the science lab to look over some things before school starts, like she usually does.”

“Chrysalis, Coco, head to the gym and try to survey the damage,” Luna said. “I’ll take Jack to Celestia and see if we can stop this before it gets worse.”

Luna and me made our way to Celestia’s office, hoping that Twilight isn’t making a terrible mistake. Once we made our way into the main office, Sunset burst out of Celestia’s office in tears, bumping into me. That’s when I heard it.

“Forgive Me.”

It was as if her wall finally came down in defeat and spoke to me.

Twilight walked out and yelled, “You better run, because you’re not coming back here again.” She turned back to me and said, “Jack, come with me. It’s time you see the truth about her for once.” She grabbed my hand and dragged me to the gym, with Applejack following along. When we arrived at the gym, it was a mess. Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and Trixie were with Chrysalis and Coco, looking over the room. Everything that we worked on was destroyed.

“You tell me she’s not capable of doing this,” Twilight yelled at me.

“All of our hard work, gone. This is a disaster,” Rarity said as she placed her arm on her forehead, wanting to faint.

“Trixie knew that she would do this at some point. And that sign proves it.” She pointed to a sign that said, “Good luck with homecoming, losers. Fire Demon.”

“Anyone can make that sign and make sure that Sunset took the blame,” I said. “What makes you think she would do all this?”

Twilight started to get angry. “What makes me think? YOU SHOULD KNOW WHAT THIS MAKES ME THINK!!! SHE WANTED TO DO THIS IN THE FIRST PLACE!!!”

I wanted to vent out to Twilight about making these claims. But that stopped when Moon Dancer and Tree Hugger ran in.

“Fluttershy, it’s Angel. He’s missing from his cage,” Tree Hugger said.

“We found an envelope next to the cage,” Moon Dancer said as she held up the envelope.

“Let me see it,” Fluttershy said in a panic. She went to take the envelope from Moon Dancer, but she pull back from Fluttershy.

“Hold on there, Fluttershy.” Moon Dancer went up to me and said, “I need to talk to you, NOW.”

We went away from the rest of the group. Moon Dancer said, “It’s not open, so there’s a chance that a fragment of the person’s soul could be in here. I need you to stay clam and focus on what you sense.”

I took the envelope and opened it, taking out the note. That’s when I started to sense it. A blurred image of a blue-green person with orange like hair, filled with vengeance. The image faded before I could sense more of it.

Twilight stomped up to me and took the note from my hand to read it. “If you want to see your lucky bunny again, forfeit Friday night’s game. Signed, The Fire Demon.” She crumpled up the note and said, “I knew it. She just had to go this far to make a point. If she wants to be expelled, then I’ll be happy to toss her out MYSELF!!!”

My anger started to came back to me. I looked at Twilight and yelled, “That’s all you ever think of, just wanting the get rid of Sunset so you can enjoy your own life in peace.”

“Don’t get me started, Jack. This is who she is and what she does. There’s no way you or anyone can change her.”

“Really? The only person you care about is yourself. You don’t even care about your friends in the first place.”

“Don’t you DARE bring them into all this. I care about them more than anyone.”

“Then why do you even want to prove you’re the best in this school? Better than anyone else around?”

“You’re really pushing it, Jack. I don’t even know why I became your friend in the first place. You’re just as stubborn as ever.”

“Stubborn? You want to see stubborn? How about I just knock you out, RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW!!!”

“TRY IT!!! I DARE YOU!!!”

“STOP IT!!!!!!!!!!!!” Everyone looked a Coco, as she was furious about what was going on. “The both of you are acting like babies, fighting over something pointless.”

“Pointless? You think Sunset is pointless? Try telling that to…”

“SHUT UP, TWILIGHT!!!” Coco yelled to her, causing her to go into shock. “I don’t even want to hear it.” Coco went up to me and said, “Jack, this isn’t like you. I know you never lose your temper about anything that happens with you.”

“Well, it looks like he just lost it completely,” Twilight said, looking away with her arms crossed.

Coco started to stare at her before someone else spoke.

“Twilight!” She looked over to who was calling her, only to get a slap in the face.

“Moon Dancer? What is wrong with you?” Twilight asked her.

“What do you think?” Moon Dancer replied. “It’s because you still hold a grudge with Sunset.”

“I do NOT hold a grudge with her,” Twilight responded. “He just wants to protect his new-found love, that’s all.” This shocked everyone in the room. “That’s right. He cares about her so much that he loves her.”

“That’s not true,” Coco responded in my defense.

“Then prove it,” Twilight said, challenging Coco.

Coco looked down and said, “Jack, I’m sorry, but I can’t keep our promise about you any longer.” She looked up as said, “Remember the story about how I met Jack? There’s one more part that I have yet to tell you; something that I promised to keep a secret for his safety. The reason we were able to meet and help each other was because of his special gift, the power to sense people’s emotions. He can sense when someone is sad or in pain. He can sense when someone wants to cause trouble. It’s that gift that makes him special.”

“Coco, I hate to tell you this, but that’s hard for anyone to believe,” Rarity said.

Twilight added, “She’s right. No one can sense anything like that. It’s impossible.”

“Actually, it is possible. And I’ll be happy to prove it.” Moon Dancer went up to Twilight and grabbed her cell from her pocket. “Maybe this will make you believe. Jack, fetch.”

She threw Twilight’s cell far away from us, trying to break it. When I saw it, something in me just snapped, and told me what to do. And that’s when it happened. I braced myself to rush and grab her cell and commanded:

“SOUL ART #1: SHADOW STRIKE!”

From that point, I shifted myself all the way to the other side, grabbed her cell, and planted my feet on the wall before landing on the floor. Everyone was stunned at what they saw and noticed that I was holding Twilight’s cell in my hand, undamaged.

“What the hay did we just saw?” Applejack asked.

“A soul shift,” Chrysalis said, “but not the one I saw over a week ago.”

“Say what?” Applejack said with a raised eyebrow.

Chrysalis looked at Moon Dancer, asking for her to explain.

“What Jack has is the power of Soul Resonance,” Moon Dancer said. “It’s the power to sense a person’s soul, their feelings and actions. It’s how he was able to help Chrysalis with what she was going through in her life. It also allows their own soul to do things that no human can even do, like how he was able to help the football team make those wins that created headlines in the paper.”

“Moon Dancer, how do you know this?” Twilight asked.

“Because it’s something that Celestia and Luna have known for a long time.” We saw that it was Coach Spitfire who spoke from the doorway. “If you going to come out, I might as well do the same.”

I looked at her and said, “You’ve been watching me this whole time, haven’t you.”

“That’s right,” Spitfire said. “Luna got me up to date days after coming here. Wanted me to keep an eye on you so that nothing bad would happen to you. And Twilight, the gift that he carries comes from a book that was written by Professor Star Swirl, who studied it from Master Blades, Luna’s mentor, and a good friend of ours. What I’m surprised is that you, Jack, would know the first Soul Art without looking at Master Blades’ scrolls.”

I handed the cell back to Twilight and said, “Somehow, I heard a voice, telling me what to do, and did it. I think it has to involve the Soul Shift ability.”

“That could only mean that your powers are growing better that expected since coming here,” Spitfire said.

“Forgive me for asking this, coach, but who would want powers like his for?” Rainbow Dash said. “I mean, they look cool, but who would believe that they even exist?”

“Someone who wants an edge against anyone else,” Coco said. “Manehattan does have its dark side, and having someone with powers like his could give them what they need to take over a city, maybe a nation. That’s why we promised to keep it a secret from everyone.”

“But we’re in Ponyville. Who would want something like that?” Dash asked again.

“Someone like…Crystal Prep,” Twilight said. “They’ve been known to be perfect. Wouldn’t having a student like that give them a bigger edge in almost everything?”

“We think they already have that edge in the first place,” Spitfire said. “The problem is that we’ve been having a hard time proving it.”

And that’s when it hit me. “Guys, I just thought of something. When I touched the note, my Soul Reading went off, showing me a blurred image of a blue-green person with orange like hair, filled with vengeance. And someone wanted to point the finger to the ‘Flame Demon’. Anyone from Crystal Prep fits that description?”

Chrysalis snapped her fingers and said, “Lightning Dust. Since we confronted them last week, it’s possible that she wanted to get back at Sunset for getting in the way. And we have yet to see a prank being pulled on our school. They must have pulled their prank and decided to get back at her at the same time.”

“But doing damage like this and stealing a rabbit is just criminal,” Applejack said. “No one in their rightful minds would dare to do something like that.”

“And the doors are locked at night. How would they find a way to get in?” Twilight asked.

“What about this opened window with a piece of fabric on it,” Pinkie Pie said as she pointed to the open window up high.

Twilight asked, “How did you…?”

“There was a draft coming towards me, so I looked and saw that it was open,” Pinkie answered.

Everyone looked at the open window to see a small piece of fabric snagged on the edge of the window.

Spitfire said, “Someone bring a ladder over here. Twilight, I need you to take a picture of it before you bring it down.”

Applejack was able to bring a ladder from the supply room and placed it below the open window. Twilight went up and used her cell to take a picture of the fabric on the window before taking it and coming back down. She handed it to Spitfire for a better examination of the fabric. The color of the fabric was maroon, one of Crystal Prep’s school colors. And from the texture of the fabric, it would have come from a track suit, which if it came from the football team, it would have to be one of the equipment workers on the team.

“Well, we now know that it was Crystal Prep that did this,” Rainbow Dash said, “but how were they able to pull it off? A football player couldn’t fit through the window. You have to be thin to make it through.”

“There’s a door next to the back of the stage that leads outside. Someone could have let the others in through there,” Trixie said.

Just then, my sensory powers went off the wall. “Guys, would most of the students be arriving at this time?”

Twilight look at the time on her cell and said, “About so. Why do you ask?”

“Because I just sense a ton of negativity around the school,” I said.

Rarity, Trixie, and Pinkie Pie took out their cells and looked up on some of the social media sites.

“Oh my. This is not good,” Rarity said. “Everyone’s talking about how someone broke in and trashed the gym.”

“But we’re the only ones that have been in here,” Applejack said. “How would anyone else know about it?”

“Trixie might have found the source…well, kind of.” She showed us a picture of the gym in a mess, with the fire demon sign shown.

“Hey, look at that. It was taken at night,” Pinkie said as she pointed to the windows in view.

“Crystal Prep must have stayed one step ahead of us, just to be sure,” I said. “And if Lightning Dust is the one planning this, she really wanted to get back at Sunset for what happened.”

“Then all of you have a lot to do in little time,” Spitfire said.

Twilight asked, “What do you want us to do?”

“Twilight, take AJ and Jack with you and find Sunset. You’re going to have to make sure she understands that what you did was a mistake,” Spitfire said. “Everyone else, rumor control. Make sure everyone knows that Crystal Prep did all this. I’ll make sure no one enters the gym until later on, see if I can get rid of the false claims around here.”

“But what about Angel?” Fluttershy said. “Crystal Prep has him, right?”

“Look, we’ll find a way to rescue Angel, Fluttershy. They just need him, unharmed, to make sure we lose the game. That’s enough time for us to think up of something to rescue him,” I said.

“What about homecoming?” Rarity said. “Wouldn’t have to be canceled with all this damage?”

I thought for a moment and said, “Twilight, do you think we can get the entire school to help in cleaning up and trying to get homecoming back on track?”

“If we can get everyone to believe that Crystal Prep did this, then it might be possible,” Twilight said.

“If you can do that by free study, I can open up the gym for homecoming repairs,” Spitfire said.

“Then what are we waiting for?” Applejack said. “We got work to do.”

“Wait, how do you plan to find Sunset in a sea of negative emotions?” Chrysalis said. “So far, she might still have that wall still up?”

Almost everyone was confused as to what she meant before I answered. “Not anymore. When she ran out of Celestia’s office and bumped into me, I heard two words from within her: Forgive Me. I think when Twilight pushed Sunset to her breaking point, that’s when it came down.”

Twilight asked, “What do you mean about this wall and her asking to be forgiven?”

“Twilight, I better explain it to ya as we look for her,” Applejack said.

As everyone went off handle rumor control, the three of us went to look for Sunset. Applejack told Twilight about Sunset’s past. Twilight started to understand why Sunset acted the way she did from the very beginning. But we were having a hard time finding Sunset anywhere. And sensing the sadness that she started to display was becoming hard in a sea of anger.

“You sure your gift isn’t broken?” Applejack asked me.

“No it’s not. It might be hard to detect sadness over anger.”

“But we looked everywhere inside the school.” Twilight said.

“Maybe she’s not inside,” Applejack said. “Jack, if she was outside in the sports field area, you think you have a better chance to sense her?”

“It’s worth a shot.” We made our way outside and came up to the practice track where we first got together to talk about Sunset on the first day. That’s when I was able to pick up her location behind the bleachers.

“Sunset, what are you doing out here?” Twilight asked.

“Why should you care? You just want me gone from here, don’t you,” Sunset said crying.

“Look, I was wrong to accuse you of what you did,” Twilight said. “I rushed to judgment before looking at the big picture. I wish you told me about your past with your father. I can understand you were scared in telling anyone, and you were just trying to cover it up. And I’m sorry that I didn’t see the signs in the first place. I should have started to ask why you were doing all those bad things instead of just trying to take you down. I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.”

“How…how did you know…?”

Applejack answered Sunset. “Jack told me about it first a week ago. We figure on waiting til all the problems were resolved before doing so. But after this morning, I had to tell her.”

Sunset looked up and asked, “If it wasn’t me, then who did this to me?”

“Crystal Prep,” I answered. “Mainly, we believe it was Lightning Dust.”

Sunset started to get up and said with a tougher tone, “So, that bitch was the one who wanted to do this to me. She’s going to pay for this.”

“We’ll worry about that later. Right now, we need to make sure everyone believes that you didn’t do this,” Twilight said.

“Social media’s going crazy about it,” Applejack added.

“Twilight, Applejack, go check on the others and see what progress they have made on the issue,” I said. “I need to talk to Sunset for a moment.”

Both of them started to make their way inside, leaving me with Sunset.

“I guess you’re still trying to keep your promise you made to me,” Sunset said.

“Don’t I always,” I said with a smile. “Besides, there’s more you need to know about me.”

“Like what?” she asked.

“It’s kind of a long story. Make you a deal. You stay with me through this, and I’ll tell you after science class.”

She nodded, and we started to make our way to our first class. Twilight and her friends ran up to us with some bad news. Everyone still believed that Sunset was responsible for the damage in the gym. We needed a way to make them believe that it was Crystal Prep who did this. That’s when Rarity had an idea and asked Sunset to go in by herself to her seat, knowing that she was going to get mean stares at her. It was going to be up to us to talk about Crystal Prep’s prank war in our gym to get them to understand as we walked in.

“Seriously, why would Crystal Prep decide to destroy the work that we have done this week?” Rarity said.

“If you tell me, this must be the lowest prank they pulled on us,” Applejack added.

“Yea. Dressing the horse statue into a clown might be funny, but destroying the displays in the gym isn’t,” Pinkie pie said.

“Jack, do you think we can fix all the damage that Crystal Prep did?” Twilight asked me.

“Well, I can ask my dad for replacement supplies, once we know what needs to be replaced. But getting it done in under two days will be a challenge,” I said. “I know my friends in Manehattan pulled it off two years ago, but this will be a challenge, with it being a theme as well.”

“Hey, we’ve been through worse before and came out on top. I know we can do this,” Rainbow Dash said.

“That’s right. I mean, we can’t let Crystal Prep bring us down…unless that’s what they wanted us to do,” Fluttershy added.

“Then I say we give it our all and make it happen,” I replied. “I think it’s been a while since I’ve done a challenge like this.”

Soon then, everyone in class started to talk about Crystal Prep’s prank, remembering that we face them tomorrow night. It wouldn’t take long before social media started to spread word about it and requested that they go to the gym to clean up the mess that was made.

By the time we were done with 4th period, Twilight decided to lead the group in getting the gym cleaned up and finding out what we need to replace. I told her that I needed to talk to Sunset in private and ask that she tell Applejack to explain about Sunset’s past so that our friends would understand as well. I took Sunset to one of the rooms in the library and started explaining about my gift and why I was trying to find out what she was hiding with its power. She couldn’t believe it at first, but when I pointed out what I saw when I touched her arm where she kept rubbing on, she started to understand it better.

I received a text from Twilight saying that they have a list and that Chrysalis was going to explain it to my father at work. She also said that Applejack, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash were coming to see me about rescuing Fluttershy’s bunny, Angel. I was able to guide them to the room that I was in with Sunset.

“So, any ideas where we can find Angel?” I asked.

“We might have some ideas, but we wanted to get some info from you before going forward,” Applejack said.

“And part of it has to deal with Fleur,” Rarity added. “She wanted to meet you somewhere this weekend, and you told her about homecoming Saturday.”

“I was thinking about that as well,” I said. “She sent me a text last night saying that she was busy, but wanted to meet somewhere tonight.”

“Then we can guess who planned all this from the start,” Sunset said.

“If you mean Fleur, I doubt that’s the case,” Rarity said. “She might have her intentions with Jack. But with you, Sunset, I just don’t think so.”

“I have to agree with Rarity on this,” Dash said. “If she did plan this, she would have made sure that Chrysalis would have to share the blame, since she was known as the witch.”

“Plus Chrysalis was in charge of homecoming, which I doubt they knew in the first place,” I added. “And when I sense the brief soul presence in the note when I held it. It looked like Dust, and there was anger and revenge. And if you recall, Dust yelled back at you as the fire demon, wanted to get back at you, if that’s what she meant before running off.”

“So Fleur was more of a distraction in the group?” Sunset asked.

“Maybe. But we’re not sure,” Rarity said.

“Well, we can guess that Dust and Fleur are a part of the group,” Applejack recommended. “Suri and Brick Wall would be two others, plus we have an equipment worker who help get in through the window. No telling who else from that school would be a part of this.”

“If you tell me, Lightning Dust would be the one in charge. If there was anyone out there would break the rules to get what she wants, it’s her,” Dash said.

“That still leaves us with where Angel could be held.” Sunset said.

“Well, the school would be one option, but Angel would make enough noise to get anyone’s attention who wasn’t a part of the group,” Dash said.

“And they can’t take Angel to one of their houses, because it will be the same problems at school, but with their parents,” Applejack added.

“But Fleur lives by herself, thanks to her mother. So that would be the best place to keep Angel until after the game,” Rarity said.

“So, let’s break in to her place, grab the bunny, and get out,” Sunset recommended.

“Oh no. We can’t do that. Her place would have burglar alarms and other security plans. Mr. And Mrs. Rich have that in place at their house, so Fleur would have the same,” Rarity said.

“We don’t have to,” I said. “She wants me to meet her somewhere tonight, if I had time. So why not plan to meet her late in the night at her place.”

“Do that and she’ll just try to refuse or work on hiding Angel until after you leave,” Dash recommended.

“Unless you hide Angel back at school…at night,” Sunset said.

“Exactly,” I replied. “The school would be empty, so they could hide Angel for the night somewhere in there, and get him out in the morning. They only need one night to do so.”

“But how do we know where in the school Angel would be? We don’t know much of the inside of the school, unless Jack can sense Angel when we’re in there,” Applejack said.

“My soul powers don’t work on animals,” I said. “That’s one of the drawbacks that I learned while I was in Manehattan. So there’s has to be another way.”

“I have an idea,” Dash said. “Coach Fleetfoot. She’s been a coach who believes in fair play. And Coach Spitfire can help talk to her about all this. Both of them have been good friends before. And I already gave Fleetfoot’s number to Spitfire so they could reconnect. We can at start from there.”

“We still have the issue of making sure that Angel is at Fleur’s place,” Applejack said.

“I might have an idea.” Rarity brought out her cell and made a call. “Pinkie, it’s Rarity…Question. Do you still have that spy dish with you…Vinyl has it…hang on. Vinyl has some of Pinkie’s spy gear, we might have to bring her in on this.”

“Maybe more than just her,” Applejack said. “Let me see your cell.” Rarity gave Applejack her cell to speak. “Pinkie, this is AJ. Is Twilight around…Twilight, we might have a plan, but we need the entire gang to help like before…I’ll explain later, just make sure Coach Spitfire is there as well…Alright, bye.” After handing Rarity back her phone, she said, “Well, it looks like we’re getting the gang together again to deal with this.”

“Think they can keep my gift a secret, if possible?” I asked.

“As long as Coco and Chrysalis are there, shouldn’t be a problem,” Applejack answered.

“If it’s the same group of people that helped in stopping me last school year, then count me in,” Sunset requested.

“Hold on, sugarcube. I know you’re not to blame for this, but I can’t drag you into this with what happened back then.”

“Screw it. Maybe what I did was wrong before, but I’m not letting someone use my past for her advantage. Plus, you need someone who can pick a lock.” The girls started to stare at her. “I know it’s the wrong thing to do, but…”

Applejack raised her hand and said, “You’re in. If Angel’s in one of the lockers, then we might need your pick lock skills to help out.”

“Then let’s see Twilight and get her up to date on our plans,” I said.

So we went to see Twilight and Coach Spitfire and explained everything that we discussed. Spitfire knew what she needed to do and asked that the most of the group should meet back at the gym after school, expect for the guys on the football team. Spitfire can get Twilight, Moon Dancer, and Rainbow Dash away from their roles on the team, but Soarin would have to stay with us for now. After practice, the guys walked back with me, where we met up with Cadence, Roseluck, and Miss Luna.

“So I’m guessing that you’re going to help us out in some way?” I asked Luna.

“With the planning at least. Shining, Flash, Thunderlane, and Soarin, you’ll go with Cadence and Roseluck and help Chrysalis with some of the repairs in the gym. I can’t afford to put members of the team at risk, expect for Jack. I know he has what it takes to get through this.”

“Beside, Mr. Spades just brought the materials we need to make the repairs and replacements. And we could use some help with the hard work in there,” Cadence said.

“Good enough,” Shining Armor replied. “Jack, you make sure you keep my sis safe, OK?”

“No problem,” I replied, before they went off to the gym. “So what’s my role, Luna?”

“You’re going to be the key player in this mission. I already talked to your father and asked that you spend some time with me for some ‘mental training’ before the game. You’ll going to need your blades, should they be needed. Spitfire told me about how you pulled off a Soul Art earlier.”

“I was surprised myself,” I said.

“Well, if you plan to invade Crystal Prep, it’s going to be entering the hornets’ nest, and you need to be ready for anything. You might want to read this later on.” Luna handed me an opened envelope. “Just came in the mail yesterday from Master Blades’ place. The letter will explain it all. For now, let’s fill you in on the rest of our plan. Moon Dancer is in charge of the spy team at Fleur’s place. Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Vinyl, And Octavia have gone with her, along with some of Pinkie’s spy gear. They plan to see if Angel, and maybe Dust and company, would be there. Twilight is in charge of the recon team at Crystal Prep. Trixie, Fluttershy, Tree Hugger, and Coco are with her. They plan to meet up with Fleetfoot and give them some info on the place.”

“So Coach Fleetfoot believes that some students don’t like to play fair and wants to fix it?” I asked.

“Besides that, she’s been our inside source on what we have been trying to discover from Crystal Prep.”

“Finding out who could carry the gift that I have.”

“She’s still trying to figure out what’s going on, but it hasn’t been easy. But for now, she’s helping out with rescuing Angel.”

“And I’m supposed to go in alone if I have to?”

“Well, not alone. These girls are going to help you out.” Luna pointed to five girls in front of me: Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Lyra, Sweetie Drops, and Sunset.

“We’re not going to let our hero of the school do this alone, now will we,” Applejack said.

“Guess not,” I replied. “Lyra, Sweetie Drops, think you can handle what we’re about to do?”

“Oh, we’ve done similar stuff when we have to deal with…another problem before,” Sweetie Drops said, causing Sunset to look away in shame. “But with Sunset’s help, we know we can pull it off.” This made Sunset feel relieved.

Coach Spitfire came out of the school to join us. “Just got the info that Fleetfoot sent me by e-mail. Looks like the one issue that we have at the school is the security there. They have most of the school locked up after 7PM, and only one security guard and lots of cameras at that time.”

“Standard security issues. They want to make sure no damage happens there at night,” Luna said. “And if I remember correctly, anyone who has a valid school ID can get in there at night to get something, as long as the guard is with them.”

“Fleetfoot is going to help Twilight in hacking into the camera system, get some eyes in the building,” Spitfire said. “Until then, we’re running blind.”

“Sunset, go with Jack back to his place and pick up both blades before checking in. It’s unclear where you need to go to first, and I don’t want to take any chances on this mission,” Luna said. “The rest of you, head on to the school and wait until they join up. I have to stay with my sister tonight. If she found out what we’re doing, she’ll freak. I want to keep this under the radar until it’s complete.”

As the rest of the group made their way to Crystal Prep to meet up with Twilight’s group, I let Sunset drive my truck while I looked over the letter that Luna gave me.

Dear Luna,

If you are reading this, it means I have passed on. After talking to you on the phone, I needed to make sure this was made and ready if you don’t reach me in person. I have enclosed a translated copy of the first three soul arts for your gifted friend. If he knows how to soul shift, then he is ready to be trained once you have received my remaining gear and teachings. I’m sure by now that Star Swirl has passed on. When, I don’t know. Whoever took him will come for your friend. He must be ready to face whatever threat is out there. I have faith that you will do what is right and prepare him for this. You were once a student to me. Now you need to be a teacher to your friend.

Your Loyal Sensei
Master Blades

I was able to look over the second piece of paper, which explain the three Soul Arts mention.

Soul Art #1 Shadow Strike
Focus and shift your soul straight to the target.
Soul Art #2 Shadow Slash
Focus and shift your soul, striking each target in the path.
Soul Art #3 Blade Cutter
Focus your soul into the blade to strike through the target.

I can understand how I pulled off the first soul art, so the second art should be similar. But I have a feeling that the third art will be key to this mission if no threats are around.

“I know I can’t learn these soul arts, but with what we went through with our blood pact with the blades, do you think I will have to go through training with Miss Luna?” Sunset said.

“The soul arts are meant for me alone at this time,” I said. “But both of us will have to go through basic training as part of the samurai club. And that includes in how to wield a katana. Applejack will have to go through this training as well.”

“Speaking of Applejack, is it true that you have feelings for her?” she asked.

“What are you saying?”

Sunset took a deep breath before she spoke. “Twilight was asking me if I had feelings for you, which I said I did. I wanted to know why she asked me that, and she said that Applejack also had feelings for you too.”

“I don’t know why she’s still getting into this after yesterday. Did she tell you anything else?”

“That was it. She didn’t tell me anything else. I just want to know if you have feelings for AJ?”

As we pulled up the driveway to my house, I said, “Can we talk about this later?” and went out to collect my blades.

When I got back to my truck, we pulled out of the driveway and made our way to the entrance of the subdivision. She put it in park and asked, “I want you to answer the question. Do you have feeling for me or AJ?”

“Do we have to go through this now?” I said.

“YES!!! I need to know…right now.”

“I don’t know how to explain it, but…”

“Look, I know that homecoming is days away. If you’re trying to decide, then let me make it easy for you. Go and ask Applejack out to homecoming. Forget about me, OK? I know I’ve done bad things in the past, and AJ has been good to everyone that’s around her. She’s more of the girl you should be spending your time with, not me. All I’ll do is ruin your life in front of everyone that knows me.”

“Sunset, you have started to show signs of change. You can’t just give up right…”

She placed her lips onto mine, cutting me off. Her kiss was more passionate than I have even felt. When she broke away from our kiss, she looked me straight in the eye and said, “Jack, you’re like the samurai to everyone. I’m just a demon. It’s not going to work out. I don’t have a problem being your friend and helping me with my problems, but I don’t want to take it any further and risk all that you have earned from the school. Everyone sees who you are and what you can do. All I’ll do is make you lose it all. Please, just go with AJ, for my sake.”

My cell started to go off. I saw that it was Rarity calling. “We’ll talk about this later.”

I answered my cell on speaker. “What is it, Rarity?”

“Jack, where are you?”

“Just leaving my house.”

“Good. Make your way to Fleur’s place. We’ve located Angel…and Lightning Dust. We might need your help.”

“I know how to find her home, so send me a location where I should meet you.”

“Will do. Be on the lookout for Tavi. She’ll help you get to us. Rarity out.”

“Better let me drive, Sunset. Let’s focus on what we have to do now, and talk about you, me, and AJ later.”

Author's Note:

The secret's now out. How all this will play out will happen in the last part of the Samurai and Demon saga.