Chapter 1- The Crusade Begins

"Mine liege, I shall guard thee against thine enemies!"

Brandishing her battleworn sword, the brave knight; Sir Lyra of Heartstrings quickly rushed to the side of Queen Twilight, intent on defending her from the fierce dragon in her path. Expertly she swung the sword at the mighty dragon using her horn's power of levitation. Her armor was battered and rusted, though her grace was unmatched. Deftly she thrust, parried and dodged the great beast. Unfortunately, her steps were not agile enough, and she received a stinging blow upon her gauntlet from the dragon's tail. "Arrrrgh, quick! Minuette take thine shot!"

Off to the side, about a hundred yards back, Minuette stood focusing, the magic from her horn pulling tautly her mighty oaken bow. Removing an arrow from her quiver she notched it and after a moment to aim, let her shot fly. Her arrow was true and straight and hit it's mark; the dragons soft underbelly. The dragon let out a fierce roar. "HA! Take that you scaly nuisance! Lemon Hearts! How is that bandage of her majesty coming?"

Twilight was holding her left foreleg still as the sorceress Lemon Hearts, slowly and methodically bandaged her bleeding limb. "Ugh, times like this i wish i knew healing magic! Mine queen how art thy faining?"

Her royal highness, Queen Twilight, winced and whimpered as she watched her friends do their best to defeat their most worthy of adversaries. "I'll be...fine my loyal... DINGDINGDING!

***

The sound of the school bell caught the attention of the four friends. "Awwww recess is over!"

Lyra lowered the stick she had been swinging to the ground where she had picked it up and glared at the "dragon" which was the playground teeter-totter. "Next time, scaly, you will fall."

Twilight stood up and shook off the leaves and vines Lemon Hearts had used to wrap up her leg, hugging her friend and gesturing at Minuette who had been pelting the teetertotter with little rocks. "Come on girls! Time for class!"

The three friends gathered around Twilight by the entrance and began asking questions as the playground guardian placed a bandage on Twilight's scraped foreleg. "Are you alright Twilight?"

Twilight smiled at them and put on a brave face as she whined dramatically. "My leg! That dragon must pay!"

All four of them looked at each other and burst out laughing. Today's adventure had begun when Twilight fell off the teeter-totter scraping her foreleg. It was quite common for these four. Their imagination knew no bounds, and their bond was comparable to that of cold iron forging; strong and solid. Even sitting in class was another test of their survival skills.

Today was the math test and poor Lyra hadn't studied. The teacher was a strict one; a stallion who had no tolerance for cheaters. Or rather, that's what the rest of the class saw. For these four however, something far more sinister appeared before their eyes. All four could see it.

***

The gate to the future was being blocked by a massive beast; the Guardian of the Gate. No amount of physical or magical prowess would prevail. No, this time they had to use their wits to solve this fiend's riddle lest the gate remained locked to them forever. The Queen and her loyal subjects had been scattered to the four corners of the arena. Torches lined the stone walls surrounding them. The trap had been sprung and there was but one way out; past the guardian.

Before each of them was a stone tablet that had materialized thanks to the guardians magic. On the tablet were some scribbles and a place to put an answer. The gaze of the unholy creature peered into their souls. They had one chance and only three of the answers could be missed before they were forever entombed there.

The brave knight, Lyra Heartstrings found herself in a bind. Sitting there in her trusty armor, she felt her imminent doom. Her specialty was fighting for her queen, not understanding the arcane spells and strange runes on the tablet before her. She knew her limitations though she always tried her best. After all this is more the queen’s area. I’m just not the shiniest apple in the strawberry patch. What do I do? Fierce and powerful, Lyra was justly proud of her physical stature. She was loyal and would give anything to protect her friends, she was just a bit slower at arcane subjects such as this encounter. Lyra hung her head, ready to admit defeat as she couldn’t make heads nor tails of the strange glowing tablet.

Yes,Lyra was ready to surrender but unbeknownst to her, the others had already begun their plan to save their companion. Though none of them were next to each other and though the creature was observing them, they had an ace. They had magic.

***

Lemon Hearts rose from her chair, shaking and standing with her legs clenched across one another. “Mr. Tweacher!”

The teacher who had his eyes on Lyra, looked over at the adorable form of the little yellow filly whining and whimpering with a tormented look on her face. “Yes, Miss Lemon Hearts?”

Putting on her best performance, while sending a secret wink to Twilight, Lemon Hearts whined. “I has to potty!”

The teacher, to his credit acted swiftly and quickly went to the young filly’s side, telling her to take the bathroom key on the wall and go take care of herself. He then called for the female teacher’s aide to help the filly to the restroom. While this was going on, Twilight cast a spell to allow Lyra to see what she did. Quickly Twilight showed Lyra all her answers and dropped the spell. Lyra swiftly filled out her pop quiz and smiled happily. She was safe. And if anyone had been watching, that is exactly what they would have seen, but for those four it was quite a different world.

***

As the brave knight Lyra Heartstrings hung her head in defeat, her shield hung limply by her side.The sorceress Lemon Hearts stared upon the fiendish guardian as he stared unblinkingly at Lyra. “Hey troll boy!”

The giant guardian turned to snarl at her, the drool dripping from the corners of his mouth. Lemon Hearts grinned. The fool had taken the bait. Now time to use that charisma, girl. Let’s really sell this. The sorceress was known for her sharp wit and even sharper tongue. Luckily, that just so happened to be the indomitable giant’s only weakness.”Your mother is so hideous, merely glancing her face would turn a gorgon to stone!”

The giant roared in anger and began to smash it’s way over to her. As it snarled at her, she began to dance within the cage, casting a direct hypnosis upon the beast. Swaying the beast fell for the charm and swiftly she grabbed and flung the key to Twilight’s cage behind her with a seductive wink to her queen. As the cage Lemon Hearts was in, was ripped open by the giant as an addon approached her, Twilight quickly bolted to Lyra’s side and whispered all the answers before deftly returning to her cage via a teleportation spell. Lyra began carving her answers into the strange runic tablet as the giant once more turned to glare at Lyra.

As the final answer, was carved into place the cages vanished and the brave knight Lyra Heartstrings, the cunning archer, Minuette and Arcane Queen; Twilight Sparkle, watched as the giant burst into flame as the tablets glowed brightly and a bolt of lightning smashed down through the giant’s skull. The gates of the future once more, swung open to give them the much desired freedom. Lemon Hearts was already waiting outside the gates for them with a cheeky grin. “Like how I toppled that troll?”

The brave knight Lyra Heartstrings dropped her shield and ran over to Lemon Hearts and gave her a hug. “Mine heroine!”

“Sorceress!”

Glancing up, Lemon Hearts winked seductively at Twilight. Relax mine queen, I promise as always, I am yours and yours alone.No need to be jealous.”

"Mine lady! Might I embrace thee, as well? Thee really help me in mine time of need."

Minuette just grinned.

***

The four friends walked through the front gates to the school, laughing. “Did you see that acting? I has to potty, Tweacher!”

Lemon Hearts laughed and making herself look helpless, she recreated the pitiful display she did earlier.

“That was amazing!”

“You saved my hay bacon,Lemon.”

“Hey! I want a hug; my spell gave you the answers!”

“Oh relax, Twilight, here’s one for you, too!"

"Yeah! Thanks for that!”

Minuette quietly smiled as she watched the scene.Tomorrow was a new day, and in Ponyrobics Class their next and possibly most fierce class awaited. Lyra raised her test paper on which was a bright 100, written in red. “Let’s play again tomorrow!”

***

The day was ending as the sun set over the adventurers. They took a quick breath of relief but then exchanged tense and serious looks. Tomorrow they would tackle the greatest raid of their lives, The Harpy Queen of the Track fields. Tomorrow, those fields would be painted red by their fury. The brave knight Lyra Heartstrings lifted up her new shield, freshly stitched from the thick hide of the newly slain giant. “Onward, for the queen! For Equestria!”

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