Glint Stones: Visit

by Middle Ground

Chapter 6 - Trouble

A few days have gone by since the Spellbind Brothers' first day in Ponyville and it was quite peaceful. Surprisingly, the brothers have been too busy with the school work Twilight has presented with them for the last few days. Twilight Sparkle had extra rooms for each of them in her large castle for their visit. To Pinkie Pie's relief, nothing crazy has happened and the brothers have been behaving themselves. Pinkie Pie was working in Sugar Cube Corner and had just finished writing her letter for her family to read, and then heard the sound of the front door open.

"UUGH...I hate school." Sparx came inside the room and placed his head on one of them tables to rest. He looked like he ran fifty miles instead of schooling.

"Hi Sparky...! How was school today?" Pinkie got a plate of cookies and a glass of milk ready for the tired Sparx and placed them on the table.

Sparx gave an exhausted groan, "I failed another lesson...! That Twilight is killing me with this school crap!" He cried as he ate his cookies and drank his milk.

"Really...? You look fine to me. Doesn't this make 32 failures today?" Pinkie went back to her baking.

"I don't even care anymore...! I'd rather fight monsters all day than do this!" Sparx was feeling both inadequate and depressed. Pinkie had gotten used to this happening in the last few days. The door then flew open again with Rainbow Dash walking through the door this time.

"Pinkie, I need a cup of chocolate...." Rainbow Dash looked about as tired as Sparx was when he walked through the door. She placed her head on top of the front counter in exhaustion.

"Another tough day at the Weather Factory today...?" Pinkie got Rainbow Dash her cup of chocolate milk ready.

"Those guys at the factory are all going crazy...! The blanket of clouds has covered every part of Equestria and nopony knows what's causing it! I've been working even more and it's getting in the way of my Wonderbolts job!" Rainbow Dash finished her cup of milk in two gulps. The door opened again, and this time Twilight and the rest of the brothers came inside.

"I thought you would be here, Sparx." Twilight sat next to Rainbow Dash at the front counter.

"Leave me alone...! I hate school!" Sparx had just finished his cookies and milk.

"Seriously Sparx, you literally ran out cursing a storm. Twilight and I had to magically remove the storm...." Chilly, Gust, and Ashes sat with Sparx at his table.

"Shut up...! I'll curse up a storm if I wanna!"

"It's alright, bro. Maybe the 33rd times the charm."

"I know how you feel, bro. I hate Math too." They tried to comfort Sparx for his failure.

"The subject today was English and he failed that too...." Twilight was quite disappointed with Sparx.

"You know what?! How about you go fu-MMPH?!" Pinkie Pie then quickly placed something inside his mouth and silenced him.

"Here Sparky, eat this. It's sweet and chewy. Just the way you like it." Sparxy began to do so. He enjoyed it for a minute, but then he realized he couldn't stop chewing.

"Pinkie, what did you give to Sparx...?" Chilly and the brothers began to worry.

"Don't worry, Chilly. That was just taffy. It will keep Sparx from cursing again." Sparx was having a hard time trying to chew the taffy down, despite enjoying it.

"Thank you, Pinkie. I needed that.... He leaves the castle screaming every time he fails a lesson. I don't get it. He should be good at something. He's even failed Art class. Art class of all lessons!" Twilight was at her wits end.

"Wow...you're pretty dumb, are you Sparx?" Rainbow Dash laughed. Sparx's horn began radiating out of anger.

"It doesn't make sense either. Chilly is great in English, Science, and Math, Ashes is good at cooking and building, and Gust likes to write and draw. How can Sparx be bad at every subject?!" Twilight gave a tired sigh. Sparx then jumped out his seat and started grunting at them out of anger. The taffy was keeping his mouth shut. He then left the bakery slamming the door.

"Ah...brother! Wait!" Gust chased after Sparx out of worry.

"Jokes aside, that was not cool...."

"Yeah, you big jerks!" They both ran out of Sugar Cube Corner after Sparx. Pinkie, Twilight, and Rainbow Dash felt pretty bad for treating Sparx badly.

"Maybe he can try something else...? Like different kind subject?"

"Pinkie, I've tried teaching Sparx all the standard subjects and the only one he excels in is just Magic. And that is not nearly enough to even pass kindergarten." Twilight then levitated a cupcake towards herself from a nearby tray and began eating it.

"Gust has been asking me about the Weather Factory lately and I keep telling him that we're not looking for new workers right now. Not until those stupid clouds are gone. It's getting annoying...."

"That's what I've been trying to figure out too. Those clouds are definitely not normal. Any Pegasus should be able to just fly up there and kick them away easily. And not even a Pegasus as big as Gust could get rid of them. Applejack has been concerned for her apple orchard since they're not getting any sunlight. We need to figure this out somehow." They all agreed with Twilight. All these clouds covering Equestria would only prove harmful to the population. Meanwhile, the brothers were doing their best to comfort Sparx for his failure.

"C'mon bro, it'll be fine. You're still awesome...."

"Yeah, you need to cool it."

"Chill, cut the jokes already!" Sparx was still depressed from his failures. And his mouth was still full of taffy.

"Hey Sparx...! Glint Sparx!" Starlight Glimmer came running towards Sparx with Spike.

"Hey guys.... What's up?"

"Sparx is having a bad day right now...."

"Hey guys, I'm here to ask Sparx to a different kind of activity."

"She wants a magic contest...!" Sparx then jumped from hearing Spike's words.

"A magic contest...? What for?"

"I've been curious about your powers over the elements, so I want to see just how powerful you all are. And Sparx is the first one to be tested." Sparx made happy grunts since he was still having a hard time with the taffy.

"I think Sparx accepts. But first...Sparx, spit that taffy out. That can't be good for your mouth." Sparx nodded and ran over to a nearby trash can to spit out the taffy.

"Uh...taffy?" Starlight and Spike were both confused. Afterwards, they made their way to the outskirts of Ponyville next to a nearby pond to test out their powers without causing any destruction by mistake.

"Alright Sparx, I want you to hold nothing back. Do whatever kind of spell you know. Think you can do that?" Starlight and Spike kept their distance while they were ready to take notes.

"HELL YEAH!!!" Sparx then explodes in lightning and began bouncing off the ground and into the clouds. Thunder echoed and lightning flashed in Sparx's stress relief. Starlight and Spike were both amazed and scared of what they were witnessing.

"So Starlight, you want Sparx to continue...?" Chilly, Gust, and Ashes sat by to watch the lightning fly. As the watched Sparx's display of magical prowess, they began to notice a strange cloud of dust in the air.

"Hey Starlight, what is Sparx doing? Is that dirt?"

"I don't think that's dirt, Spike. I think that's...iron. Sparx must be charging up the area and the iron is being magnetized. Incredible...!" Starlight quickly wrote this down.

"Uh...you might want to keep watching." Chilly pointed and the iron began to form into spikes and clumps. Sparx was having lots and lots of fun in his display.

"Dude, that is so cool...!"

"You're doing great, bro...!" Sparx kept it up for a couple of hours until he finally used up his magic. He left the area feeling quite relieved and the area full of iron spikes.

"Phew...I needed that. I feel so much better now." Sparx worked up a good sweat after that workout. He then noticed a lot of ponies watching him without him noticing. They cheered from the amazing display.

"Sparx, aren't you forgetting something...?" Chilly pointed at all the iron Sparx left above the ground.

"Ugh...fine." Sparx then began returning the iron back into the earth.

"So...who is next?" Spike was quite amazed with Sparx's performance and was curious to see more.

"Ashes, you're next!"

"YEAH!!!" Ashes rushed passed Sparx and Chilly all covered in flames. He then began spewing fire into the air from his mouth similar to Spike.

"Wow...! He can spit fire just like you, Spike!" Starlight, Spike, and the audience were all amazed at the sight. As this went on, the iron that was above the ground began to melt at a rapid pace. The air began to bend in the heat and the ground began to blacken. Ashes was setting everything around him on fire.

"This is getting out of hoof, Starlight...." Chilly had conjured up a frozen wall in between Ashes and all the ponies.

"You might be right, Chilly. Hey Ash...! You can stop now! It's Chilly's turn!" Ashes kept going. He was having too much fun to even hear Starlight's call.

"I got this...." Chilly then jumped into the air and then breathed a blizzard from his mouth and extinguished the flames in an instant.

"HEY...! WHAT'S THE BIG IDEA, CHILLY?! I'M HAVING FUN HERE!" Ashes burned in anger at Chilly's interruption.

Chilly landed, "Sorry Ash, but you're turn is through. Take a chill pill...." He made quick work of the flames. But suddenly, the flames came back.

"SCREW YOU, CHILL!!!" Ashes began to burn in anger.

"Knock it off, Ash...." Chilly then began to clash his ice with the flames. The ponies were beginning to panic at the dangerous sight.

"Fight! Fight! Fight!" Sparx was encouraging it.

"No fighting...!" Starlight was beginning to regret making them use their powers freely.

"Guys...! Stop fighting!" Gust then flapped his great wings and send them both into the small pond. When they splashed, the entire pond froze and then became vapor in an instant. Chilly and Ashes stopped their fighting after their heads cooled down.

"Guys, what were you thinking?! We could've gotten in trouble! And those ponies could've gotten hurt!" Gust flew over to them to scold them.

"Oops...."

"He started it!" The ponies all began to make their way back to their homes, with their excitement turned into fear and caution.

"Guys, are you alright?!" Starlight and Spike ran over to Ashes and Chilly out of worry.

"I'm fine.... I was trying to keep Ashes from being a hot head, but I guess Gust did that for me." Chilly began brushing the water off his hood.

"Shut up, head cold...! It was still my turn and you ruined it!" Ashes' hood steamed from the flames.

"Guys, you need to stop fighting! You're scaring the other ponies!" All the ponies that were watching have already left. The Spellbind Brothers didn't really feel too good about what happened.

"Heh...they just couldn't stand up to my high levels of awesome-ness!" Sparx then gave an arrogant laugh. He felt like he was on top of the world again.

"Sparky...!"

"Starlight...! Spike...!" Twilight and the rest of the Mane 6 came running over to them to check on the commotion.

"Uh-oh.... I think we're in trouble." Chilly and the brothers were all definitely in trouble.

"Pfft...who cares. I'm still awesome."

"Sparx, shut up...." Chilly then whacked Sparx with a icy hammer.

"Spike, are you and Starlight alright?! Are you hurt anywhere?!" Twilight quickly began looking through Spike and Starlight for any wounds.

"Twilight, we're alright...! No pony got hurt!"

"Yeah, we're just fine!" Starlight and Spike were indeed unharmed.

"Spikey-Wikey, I am so relieved...! Who knows what those ruffians could have done to you!" Rarity began squeezing Spike tightly out of worry.

"What the hells a ruffian...?" Sparx and Ashes were both confused.

"Oh dear...! Look at the flowers! They've all been burned! And I can't hear any animals at all!" Fluttershy could only hear silence. Not even the birds were chirping.

"Not just that, sugarcube, but they made a mess of this place! What the hay were you doing out here?!" They all wanted answers for such a disturbance.

"I'm sorry everyone. I asked them to demonstrate their powers at their full capacity and it nearly got out of control.... They almost got into a fight too."

"Starlight, have you gone crazy?! What if some ponies got hurt or worse?! You know that these guys are dangerous! So why did you just let them go all out like that?!" Twilight was quite upset with them. Spike got behind Starlight out of fright.

Twilight then glared at the Spellbind Brothers, "And you four should know better! What would you do if some ponies got hurt because of your powers?! What would you do if other ponies got hurt because you guys got into a fight?! Well?!" The Spellbind Brothers looked down feeling guilty without saying a word.

"Yeah, that is not my problem." Sparx then made his way back into a town.

"What?!" Twilight was beginning to lose her temper.

"Listen up, I may have made a promise not to cause trouble, but I didn't make any promises to never use my powers. If I want to use my powers for anything, I'll use them with or without your permission. Got that? Get used to it." Sparx then left them without another word. Twilight and the others were beginning to lose their patience with Sparx.

"Sparx, that's going too far...!" Chilly ran over to stop Sparx.

"Sarky, wait a minute...!" Pinkie ran beside him.

"Fine...! Be that way! I'm done with you, you failure!" Twilight's outburst echoed throughout the area and Sparx then stopped in his tracks. Those words echoed inside his ears and for some reason he had no idea what was going on.

"Hey Sparx, what's up...?"

"Sparky...?" They noticed Sparx stopping so suddenly and his rather shocked expression. Sparx's heartbeat began to increase and his head began to heat up.

"What the hell...? What is-" Suddenly, dark images began to appear in his mind. A dark figure began to appear visible. His head then began to feel like it was splitting open from the inside. His breathing became heavy as his legs began losing strength.

"Hey bro, what's wrong?!"

"Dude, what's up?!" Gust and Ashes ran over to check up on Sparx as he fell on his rear legs.

"Tch...who cares? That jerk probably knows he-" They all then see Sparx collapse and pass out.

"SPARX!!!" They all ran over to see what was wrong out of shock.

"What the-?!" Twilight and the Mane 6 then ran over to Sparx. As he stayed on the ground, everything went dark. He could hear voices echo in his mind, then they went silent. The dark figure in his mind seemed...familiar to him. Suddenly, he woke up in his bed. It was night time when he woke up.

"BRO!!!" Gust then leapt onto him and hugged him tight. Tears started streaming ot of his eyes from relief.

"DUDE, YOU'RE ALRIGHT!!!" Ashes joined in on the hug.

"Dammit, Sparx.... Don't scare us like that." Chilly was also there. They were all in Sparx's room when he woke up.

"What the hell...? What happened? What time is it?" Sparx was very confused.

"It's 10:42 pm. You've been out cold all day...."

"I THOUGHT YOU WERE GOING TO DIE!"

"DUDE, I WAS SO SCARED!" Gust and Ashes were crying rivers out of joy.

"Ah...He's awake! Spike, get him some water!" Twilight and Starlight walk inside the room feeling relieved. Suddenly, a pink object came flying into the room and clamped onto Sparx alongside Gust and Ashes.

"SPARKY!!! I'M SO GLAD YOU'RE ALRIGHT!!!" Pinkie Pie was also crying rivers when she heard then news.

"Agh...what the hell, guys?! I'm fine! Enough with the hugs already!" Sparx then began pulling Pinkie, Gust, and Ashes off of him.

"Here, have some water...!"Spie brought the water as directed by Twilight. Sparx levitated the glass of water towards him and drank it whole.

"Sparx, are you alright...?" Twilight was quite concerned for Sparx's health.

"I'm fine.... Tired, but fine." Sparx gave a deep sigh since he was still warm in the head.

"Sparx, what happened to you...? You just collapsed for no reason and scared the life out f us."

"No idea, Starlight. First my head was hurting like hell, then some dark thing showed up, now I'm in bed. That's all." Sparx was quite confused.

"A dark thing...? What does that mean? Can you describe it?"

"Nah...I can't. My head's all fuzzy now." This was all very strange to them. Twilight then became guilty for what had happened. She felt that she might have had said something to have caused this to happened.

"I'm so glad you're alright, Sparky...!" Pinkie continued to hug Sparx.

"Sigh...I'm fine, pink pony. You can stop hugging me now."

"Uh...Sparx?" Twilight walked up to Sparx with her head down in guilt.

"What?"

"I'm sorry for what I said. I should never have been angry at you. You all still need help and I promised to help you all. And now you-"

Hey Twilight, forget about it. Today was just a bad day. There's always tomorrow, right? Besides, I'm too awesome to die." Sparx was still as arrogant as always.

Twilight gave an annoyed sigh, "Of course you are.... Starlight, Spike, let's go. It's late." She began to leave the room for the night.

"Good night, guys!"

"G'night!" Starlight and Spike followed Twilight out of the room.

"I think we should all go to bed too. Are you gonna be alright, Spark...?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine. And can you take this crazy pony with you?" Sparx was still being squeezed by Pinkie Pie.

"Nooo...!" Pinkie held on tight to Spike.

"C'mon everypony, we're leaving. It's time for bed." Chilly magically removed Pinkie from Sparx and made their way out.

"See you tomorrow, bro."

"Later." They all left the room. Sparx was alone and was still in a daze from earlier. He tried to get is head back in order and try to figure out what happened to him. So far, he was still unsure what had happened.

"What the hell was all that...? I can't remember anything at all. And what was that dark thing...? Ugh...my head hurts. I'll just sleep it off." Sparx then went back to sleep, hoping tomorrow will be better.