> Solid Hartz > by VirgeDante > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Intro: Meet the Children > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Epic Intro Theme The sun was rising in the distance as a young dragon prepared breakfast for him and his friend. He was purple with green spine scales. "It's almost ready Twilight!" he called. He flipped the pancakes over, catching them in the pan perfectly. Then his friend walked in, she was a purple pony with a darker purple mane and tail witch each had a lighter purple streak through them, and she had both a horn and wings, also purple. "That's great Spike, i can't wait to eat, i was up all night studying." Her stomach growled. "Again?" the dragon asked. "That's the third time this week, what are you even studying?" "Celestia told me about some really powerful spells, and i was trying to learn them...ever since those strange monsters appeared in Equestria, I've had to learn a few strong attack spells..." She walked over to look out the window. "At least there aren't any out right now." she said with a small smile. Just then, spike turned around and breathed a small fire ball, witch poofed into a scroll. "Oh good! another letter prom the princess!" she exclaimed. She began to read it. Then her eyes lit up with excitement. "Whats up twilight?" Spike was setting the pancakes on the table. "The princess is expecting some visitors from Earth to help us with the monsters! we're supposed to welcome them when they arrive!" she beamed at this. "Oh really? I bet Toby will be happy to hear someone from his home is going to come here." he and twilight sat down. "I hope so... Oh, ill have to ask my friends to help me prepare for their arrival! i'm sure everypony will be glad to help." "I bet pinkie will have everything set up by herself, knowing her." spike smirked. "hehe, yeah." she quickly ate her pancakes before heading to the door. "I'm going to go start preparing for their arrival, you stay here and finish your chores, okay spike?" "sure, whatever." he said as he happily ate his pancakes. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Elsewhere ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A man in a white suit searches through his documents. "Ah ha! here they are.' he exclaims, "I've been searching for 20 minutes! now lets see here... ah yes the new recruits... god knows why THEY are being chosen for this...their only children." He checks over the papers to see the reports on the new recruits. ______________________________________________________________________________ Team name: Star Children Status: In-training Members: 4 Skill ranking: C+ class Team leader: Natalie Mayrsaifer ______________________________________________________________________________ "oh great, not just that... they are only upper C class...oh?" his eyes widened slightly. "Ah! Natalie is leading them, well that takes away some of the worry, but putting her in charge of an operation as important as this... a counsel of 12 and none of them thought putting a team of only children was irresponsible?" He continues to search through the recruit files. "Ah... mister Maxwell Rhinestone... hmmm, i suppose this is adequate." the man looks pleased as he puts the sheet aside. "I wish they would send them in now rather than make me go through the official documents... surely its simpler to just meet them directly." the man scratched his short silver hair in confusion. "still... why children to begin with? they haven't even completed their training yet.... even with Natalie..." Natalie has proven on some accounts to be dependable, but surely not enough for something as important as this..." His eyes glare at the next one. "Hmmmm..." The man looked amused. "A flash step user? he may come in handy... i guess he will make this worth while." he continued to search the Star Children member profiles. "Hmhmhm, ah Natalie, good record as usual... i do hope she passes the B- class advancement exam next month..." He moved the paper out of the way to read the final member report, and was shocked by it. "Lower C class!? he's only in training! I guess he might be able to pull his weight..." The man keeps reading. "..." The man is dumbfounded. "He carries around a fake lollipop?" the man was completely confused as to why a child would choose his weapons to made of candy. even if he IS a child he surely couldn't think a lollipop could defeat a Myth? even if it WAS a hidden blade. still, he continued on. After reading the end of the report, the man face palms and shakes his head. "Good lord what are they thinking? this kind of team could do more harm than good... hopefully Natalie can handle the candy kid..." once again he resumes the examination of the report. "Phew...that's all of them" then the man noticed something. "hmm?" he reached for another paper that seemed to be stuck to Sugar Cane's. "i thought there were only 4 members?" he checked the paper. ________________________________________________________________________________ Subject # Birth name: Toby Mason Age:9 Code name: Unassigned Class: Musician of Harmony Weapon of choice: Guitar Keyboard MythBuster Clearance level: Unassigned Appearance:Brown hair, sweatshirt and sweatpants,color varies, casual glasses sneakers, again color and design varies.Special locket from his mother is on him at all times. Special talent: Very kind, easily makes allies out of pretty much anyone he meets, can call on support from various allies around him, be they animals or people. Solid heart activation: Unknown Description: none _____________________________________________________________________________ "...What the...?" before the Man could think of an explanation for this outrageous report, his secretary knocked on the door. "Sir Geoffrey?" "Yes?" he asked "the new recruits being sent to equestria are here to see you." "Ah, very well, let them in Lianna." She moved out of the way to let the four of them enter. "Hello sir." Natalie said this with a very professional tone. She had bright scarlet hair, a small red jacket, the kind that only goes halfway down the torso, a blackT shirt with a sparkling pink star on it, a red skirt down to her knees and black boots. Topping it off with dazzling crimson eyes on a soft flawless face. "Good afternoon, Natalie." He enjoyed seeing her, being her uncle, he enjoyed watching her progress as a MythBuster. He got up and walked to the front of his desk to put a hand on her shoulder."you don't have to call me sir like that, were in a friendly environment aren't we?" he smirked as he said this. "Yes, sir, but we are here for a job that will get us in the books with the men upstairs, so i would prefer to keep this as professional as possible." "Oh comon Nat! lighten up, thing kind of mission is done all the time, it's nothing special." Kepher said. He had bright orange hair, a white long sleeve shirt, blue Jean overalls and black sports shoes. His most defining feature being the lollipop that he always has in his mouth, complimenting his emerald eyes. Natalie smiled," Well you have to be a little serious at least, other wise how are you gunna beat the big bad monsters?" she giggled and lightly pinched his cheek. "heeeey, don't do that! im not a rag doll..." he tried to act upset, but he was cracking a smile, and Maxwell found it would be fun to point it out. "oh, ya don't like that do ya? weeell then i bet you'll hate THIS!" he proceeded to grab Kepher and tossed him to the ground, then started tickling him. "hahaha! stop it!" Zack was beginning to get annoyed. "alright Maxwell, grow up will you? your making us look bad." Maxwell stopped tickling Kepher and looked Zack in the eye, "don't gimme that i saw you laugh over here." Although Zack tried to act tough for the sake of his brother, he couldn't help but crack a smile. "There ya go, i little smile goes a long way buddy." Max had a mask that covered his face, it was silver with anal slants on the cheeks, presumably for breathing purposes. He wears a black hoodie that covers his whole upper body, however sometimes, a bit of dark brown hair can be seen. His pants appear to be silk and they are a dark shade of black. His shoes were white custom shoes with special designs on them, the same is said with the gloves he wears. Maxwell beamed at his success at getting his brother to lighten up. Zack had Dark brown hair as well, it was slicked back to keep out of the way of the visor he wore, he wore a trenchcoat that was a blood red color, a black dress shirt, black dress pants, and a red belt with a gold buckle. His shoes were black as well. "alright, alright, enough of that, if you could all pay attention now..." they all looked towards there commander. "As you know, the Myths have begun to cross the thresholds into other worlds besides our own, and we have been sending teams out there to start MythBuster organizations all over to combat them." they all nodded, "well, the reason your here now..." he dramatically gave them a solute," Is to create a compound of your own in the land of ponies, equestria!" he clapped in approval for them. They had confused looks on there faces. "um..." Maxwell began, "what was that? a land of ponies?" needless to say he was less than optimistic, Kepher on the other hand... "OH REALLY!?" he began jumping up and down wildly, "oh!oh!oh! that is soooo great! i bet itll be sooooo much fun wont it nat!?" he was clearly ecstatic about the idea. Natalie got her thinking face on, "well a change of scenery would be nice..." It was Zack's turn to speak, "as long as were getting rid of those Myth pests, i'm alright with it." he gave a wicked grin. " Zack, stop being crazy, that smile is reeeaally creepy, just stick to a jolly laugh and run outside swinging your sword everywhere alright?" Maxwell was proud of his snarky comment until his brother chimed back, "Really? i thought you were the jolly one... guess you shouldn't be the one to lead the team if your going to be like that..." Natalie laughed. "We all know i'm the leader, don't go giving him ideas." she said. Maxwell crossed his arms."pffft, I don't care, i'll be working on my own anyway." Zack smirked, "good luck with that." "gentleman? if you would please pay attention?" Geoffrey was also having a good time, but alas, the task at hand needed to be dealt with."like i said, you will be sent to equestria to start the MythBusters in the world, this is EXTREMELY important, do you understand?" "SIR, YES SIR!" they chimed "very well you will be sent to equestria in one hour, you have untill then to prepare, DISMISSED!" ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- *30 minutes later, in Maxwell and Zacks dorm* ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "um... bro?" Maxwell asked. "What?" "...Do you even know how to get the new section started?" "aw hell... you slept through it too?" "it was boring as hell, of coarse i slept through it!" Just then, Natalie walked by and knocked. "Guys! you almost ready?" she called. they had just finished packing everything they needed in their dimension cubes, they were basically tiny glass boxes that can store alot of things in them, and they fit in your pocket. "yup!" they answered. "good, and don't worry i know the whole set up, so while i'm getting the MythBusters of equestria started, you guys can just sit and look pretty." she giggled at this. "ha ha, your a freaking genius." Maxwell rolled his eyes. Natalie got a smug look on her face, "Yea i know, then again, anyone looks smart when they stand beside you." "WHAT!?" he ran out to find she had already left. Maxwell turned to see his brother having a laughing fit on his bed. "SHUT UP!" Max was freaking out. "woah woah woah, calm down she was just joking,and you tell me to lighten up." Maxwell settled down, "*sigh* i know, just because she was joking doesn't mean i cant get annoyed." Zack shrugged and proceeded to rush out the door. "Last one to the rift room has to do the winners chores for 2 weeks!" "HEY!" Maxwell grabbed his dimension cube and a few things from the mini fridge to put in it, and ran out of the door. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Meanwhile ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Back in Ponyville, twilight was getting everything prepared for the arrival of the visitors that were going to help them get rid of those horrible monsters that had been attacking for the last few weeks. "Alright this should do." she said as she smiled happily. She had single handedly...or hoofedly? built a small house for the visitors, the princess's letter said there would be four of them, so she did her best to make the house spacious. "Oh...I hope they like it." She couldn't help but giggle with glee knowing there would be more humans in Equestria. Toby would finally have some friends of his own kind, and they were heroes! "Now all that's left to do is wait for them to arrive." she happily trotted back down the path to her library. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Back in the Rift Room ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Okay, is everyone ready?" Natalie asked. "Yuppy yup!" Kepher sang "Sure" Zack was checking his dimension orb to make sure he had everything. "I still think its stupid that were going to a magical pony land." he crossed his arms. Natalie laughed. "Don't be a baby about it lets just go." She waved to the person behind the control desk who operated the rifts. "Alright, i found the dimension, and the location of drop off, opening rift...now!" as he said this, a large metal door in the wall opened to reveal a beautiful rainbow colored portal witch slowly altered into a picture of some sort of farm. "Alright this is it! LETS GO!" Natalie charged through the portal. "Yaaaaay!" Kepher jumped in after her. "Here goes everything!" Zack smiled as he ran through the portal. "i just know this is gunna suck for me..." Maxwell walked slowly and reluctantly into the portal, when he emerged on the other side, his jaw dropped. he stepped beside his friends and with them looked into the sight of a barn with many trees in the distance. "Wow this is pretty nice" Zack said while walking in circles taking in the view. just then they heard an adorable little voice from beside them. "Hiya! welcome ta sweet apple acres!" they all turned to the voice and saw a pony, she was yellow with a bright red mane and tale and had a pink bow in her hair. "Mah names applebloom!" she spoke with a cute southern accent. "OHMYGOSHITSSOCUTEIWANNAPETIT!" Kepher was ecstatic and speaking way too fast for anyone to understand as he ran over and started hugging Applebloom, she was slightly shorter than Max and Zack but i little taller than Kepher, and was about half the size of Natalie. "Well...this looks like it'll be LOADS of fun..." Maxwell said as he began to rub his forehead in frustration. > Chapter 1: Getting Aquanted > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Um... Sugar cane?" Maxwell asked, remembering to use their code names while outside the compound. "mmmmm..." Kepher was oblivious to Max at the moment, he was too busy cuddling Applebloom. "Relax Regret, he's just exited, give him a minute." Zack wasn't exactly happy his squadmate was acting that way, but he knew it was pointless to speak to Kepher at the moment. "Okay Psy, what now?" he asked. Natalie rested her head in her hand for a moment. "Hmm... well i guess we should take a look around and get used to the enviroment... oh right, hey are you okay little filly?" she asked applebloom with a worried look, Kepher might be bothering her, and that would not help them with their first impressions. "Oh yea, ahm fine, he's kinda cute." She smiled and hugged him back. Maxwell crossed his arms. "Great not even here five minutes and he's hitting on the wild life..." "Regret!" Natalie shouted. Maxwell turned away. "Sorry...i'll just go scout around, see what there is to see... i'll meet back up with you later." With that, he held a finger to his forehead, then the rims of his shoes began to glow, and he rose into the air, he saluted them, and took his leave. "Whats got him so upset? Maybe i should give em some chocolate, would that make him feel better?" Kepher said, finally snapped out of his trance. He took a small chocolate bar out of his pocket. Zackery shook his head, "No need to worry, he's just upset because he doesn't like moving to new places, took him a year before he stopped complaining about leaving our home to live at the compound... then again, our old house was destroyed in a Myth raid... so i guess knowing he still has a home and going somewhere else anyway got him riled up, he'll be fine in a day or two, i'll make sure of it, we don't need him embarrassing us." He walked over to Applebloom. "Applebloom, was it? you said this place was called sweet apple acres correct?" he tried to talk all proper and mighty, it didn't really suit him though. "Yup!" she said. "We grow apple trees and come the harvest, we make tasty treats an' sell em!" she smiled happily, it almost made Zack's heart melt, but of coarse, being the "serious enforcer" he managed to hold a straight face... for about ten seconds. "Ok, your cute, stop smiling, your gunna give someone a heart attack." She looked down with a sad smile. "Sorry..." Zack started looking in all other directions, "that's okay... Psy you do this... i'm out." then he Proceeded to crouch and made a jumping motion, however instead of rising up, he simply vanished. Applebloom looked at Natalie with confusion. "Why did they leave?" "Well... they're boys, they can't handle cute without fearing for their image, haha." She walked towards the filly and patted her on the head. "Is there someone older around here we can talk to? we're here to get rid of the Myths for you guys, and we want to get to know everyone and make sure we know what to expect." she gave a warm smile. The filly began jumping up and down. "Oh! twilight told us you'd be comin! she said to take you to her library so she could meet ya'll when ya arrived! Applejack was supposed to, but she's out back helpin big Mac, so if you want, ah could take ya!" Once she said this, Kepher grabbed her hoof and held it to his heart. "comon, Psylocke! pleeeeaaase?" he pleaded. She chuckled a bit. "Alright, lead the way Applebloom." She began walking down the dirt path behind Applebloom and Kepher. "Bah the way... what about your two other friends? are they gunna show up?" Applebloom asked. "Yes, they'll show up when they're ready to." she reached down and patted the filly on the head. "The grumpy one was kinda scary, that mask was real creepy..." she shuddered a bit. Kepher laughed, "Haha, he just wears that because he thinks he looks mysterious and cool, same with the other one, Vice, that visor on his eyes is no different from a pair of glasses...except that it can scan a Myth for its class, but that's about it." She looked at him with a blank expression, "why would he scan a story?" Natalie laughed, "Oh, no, a Myth is what those monsters that appear are called, you know, the ones like... that one..." Applebloom and Kepher looked over to see what Natalie was looking at. over in the park, a wolf with dark black fur and blue tint over the gleaming body was tearing up a flower bed. "Well well well, just got here and already time to kick some butt, wait here you two." she began running towards the wolf. Kepher whined, "No fair Psylocke! i wanna do it." "You can have the next one!" she called back. The wolf heard footsteps approaching quickly, and turned its head to see a girl running towards it with a glowing book in her right hand. The wolf faced its attacker with a charge, Natalie however, had plenty of experience fighting E class wolves and easily out maneuvered it, slipping in behind it and casting a basic fire rune, creating a bright red ring around her hand and forging a small fire ball in her palm, witch she then fired into the wolf's back. The wolf got back up after being smashed to the ground, and turned to face its opponent once more, only to find she had disappeared again, she then came at it with a rush from the side, with an ice rune in her palm. once she was close enough, she kicked the wolf into the air and fire the ice spear she had been forming straight through it, the black wolf seemed to evaporate as the only thing remaining was a cracked jewel, witch then shattered and disappeared. She waved to them while walking back, "Remember! they regenerate so you have to smash the soul gem to finish it!" Kepher pouted, "Pffft I knew that before I even started training..." Natalie laughed, "Hey don't get all pouty, that's Regret's thing, and we don't need another one of him, we need Sugar cane the happy fun kid, alright?" She gave him a soft smile as she ruffled his hair and he smiled. Applebloom looked at Natalie with astonishment. "That was so cool! how'd ya do that!?" Natalie chuckled and raised her book so Applebloom could see. "This is a chronicle, it's basically a spell book that gives me all kinds of magic." a huge smile came across Applebloom's face. "wowee, ah bet Toby would LOVE to see that." It was Natalie's turn to give a confused look. "Who's Toby?" she asked. The little filly clapped her hooves together. "He's mah friend, and he's a human like all a ya'll!" Natalie's eyes widened slightly. "Huh... so there are humans in equestria?" she crossed her left arm across her mid section and placed her right arm on it like a platform and held up her head with her fist to show curiosity. "Toby's the only human in equestria... Princess Luna brought him here cuz he had a mean daddy that wasn't right to take care a him..." She started to tear up a little. Kepher looked at her and placed his arms around her for a hug. "Psy, why'd you make her cry?" he started to tear up too. Natalie began to shake her arms in protest, "I-I didn't mean to! Oh don't you start crying too..." Applebloom looked up. "It's alright, i just got a lil emotional, let's getcha over to Twilight's library." "yaaaay!" Kepher was already back to full energy dashing down the road. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Meanwhile not too far away -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A dark figure stands on the tip of a tall tree looking over ponyville, and spots the three walking down the path. "Hmmph..." He turns...and vanishes. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Back in Ponyville -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- We find a house that appears to be made out of candy, the usual types, giant lollipops and candy canes, chocolate bar roof, the works, and inside we find Twilight eagerly pacing back and forth, waiting for their guests to arrive. "Oh they'll be here any minute! I hope they like it here... without them, there's no telling what kind of damage will be done to equestria! Oh, this is nerve wrecking!" She turned to see her friends, Pinkie pie, a pink earth pony with darker pink mane and tail that were really poofy, Rarity, a beautiful white unicorn with a stylishly twirled purple mane and tail, and Rainbow Dash, a cyan pegasus with tomboyish rainbow colored mane and tail. Rarity spoke first, "Please calm down darling, you're going to wear yourself out..." she placed a hoof on Twilight's shoulder, "just stay focused, they will surely like their time here, now try to relax." Twilight let out a sigh. "Yeah, you're right... i just need to keep positive." Next, Rainbow Dash had her say. "Even if they don't stay, we'll be fine! you got me after all, and i took two of those stupid monsters down last week." "Sorry Rainbow, but that doesn't exactly make me feel better." twilight looked down. "Oh don't worry, they'll love,love,love it here! im gunna throw them an amazing party and they'll definitely wanna stay!" Pinkie pie gave a huge smile to Twilight to cheer her up."*sigh* Alright... they should be here soon, lets go out to meet them, coming here to get pinkie may have made us late." They all left and headed towards the Golden Oaks Library. > Chapter 2: Behind the Scenes > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Deep in the everfree forest, a 10 year old boy wanders aimlessly. "OW, stupid branch...how'd it get directly through my masks eye hole!?" Clearly things are going just fine for him. He continues searching hoping to find something interesting to occupy his time. "Normally, forests are supposed to have all kinds of animals...but this place is empty! there should at least be some Myths around..." Just then he finds himself unable to continue walking. "whoa...what the...?" in his confusion, he notices a pink line from beyond the trees has attached to his right arm. It pulls him in. "AAAAAAAH!" he screams. In seconds he finds himself standing at a lakeside, with his right forearm elbow deep in a frog Myth, about half his size. Fortunately, he is not helpless, as he quickly and skillfully, places his left hand on his forehead, places his right foot under the frog, and uses his left foot to push up while activating his flight shoes, allowing him to flip backwards, performing a suplex type move, smashing the frog on the floor. The boy tries to remove his arm from the frogs mouth, but to no avail, The frogs grip is sealed on his arm, he feels the acid start to burn away his gloves and sleeve. "AH!nononono!" He panics. Just then, a long sword flies down piercing the frog, causing it to howl in pain, releasing the boys arm. He then reaches into his pockets for his trusty jackels, dual handguns with extended barrels and much stronger than any standard military sidearm. He takes aim and fires repeatedly at the frog, but the regeneration is too quick, he cant get a decent shot of the soul orb. The frog spits an acid ball at the boy, who luckily dodges to the side just in time, and takes aim at the frogs eye, fireing and causing half of the creatures head to dissolve, as the boys mystery helper drops from the tree top to fall directly onto the frogs soul orb, shattering it and destroying the Myth. He takes his sword back and sheaths it before placing back into the secret pocket of his cloak. "Can't i leave you alone for ten minutes without you getting yourself almost killed Max?" he frowns at his brother. "come on, Zack, i'm not THAT accident prone..." just after he says this, he turns to walk away, only to trip from stepping into the small crater he made from his suplex flip kick earlier. Zack smirked, "yeah...sure." "Alright well this forest is boring... wanna head back to town and check on Nat?" he shook his arms to try to get feeling back. Zack turned and began walking towards ponyville, "That would be smart, I can't babysit you forever." "And I don't need you to babysit me! I'm fine without you! you'll see." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Back in ponyville -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Here we are!" Applebloom trotted up to the door of the library just in time to see Twilight and her friends walking towards them. "Oh, Twilight hai, ah thought you were already here?" Twilight blushed." Well i had to get the girls, we can't meet our new friends if we're not there can we?" "What about Fluttershy? ah know applejack is back on tha farm, we can go back fer her later..." Twilight looked around a bit. "Well she said she would be here, i guess she had something to do with Toby..." Just then they heard a young boys voice. "Hi auntie Twilight!" They all looked up to see Fluttershy flying over with Toby. "Sorry we're late, I won't go into detail, but angel wasn't very cooperative this morning..." She looked down shyly. She knelt down on her forelegs so that Toby could climb off, as he did, he looked up to see Kepher standing right in front of his face. "Hi!" he chirped. Toby jumped back a bit, startled. "Um...hi..." Toby was still a little shaken, having almost had a heart attack. This kid gave him a pinkie surprise right there. "Oh my gosh, I am so sorry about that, Sugar cane? what did i tell you about personal space?" she said with a scolding mother voice. "Let other people have theirs?" Natalie nodded. Toby looked at them with curiosity, then turned to Twilight. "Um... auntie Twilight? who are they?" Twilight motioned her hoof to them. "They're here to help us with our monster problem, right?" Kepher and Natalie nodded "Oh wow! that's great, momma has been too scared to leave her cottage after lunch because those monsters like to come out around then... and our home being so close to the everfree, there are lots of them, they always scare all the animals away..." Toby looked very sad as he remembered the terrified looks on all his animal friends faces. Natalie walked over to him and put a hand on his shoulder. "Well guess what? We're gunna take em all down for you! That's our job after all, We're MythBusters! we live to fight those viscous beasts. Just leave everything to us!" Toby smiled happily at her. "You really think you could do that?" She stood up and gave him a solute. "I swear on my heart and life blood, i will protect all who are in harms way." He looked up at her with a happy smile. "wow, that was cool!like some kind of super hero." Toby was beaming at her. Kepher found it was his time to chime in. "You think she sounds cool from just talking like that? you should see her fight, it's wicked!" he giggled as he said that. Rainbow dash had enough of listening in, she decided to join in the fun."Oh really? now i'm interested." she flew just a few feet up and ahead of Natalie. Just then two familiar figures teleported in, startling the ponies and Toby, Natalie and Kepher however, were unphased. "Woah!" Rainbow shouted. "Where did you guys come from?" Pinkie pie joined in. "They came from the everfree forest silly! I saw them walk in a little bit ago." "Greeeaaat, more ponies..." Maxwell rolled his eyes Rarity gave a small gasp." I beg your pardon?" Maxwell looked at her and realized what he said sounded like an insult. "Oh! sorry i didn't mean it to be offensive... just not enthusiastic... i'll be straight forward, i'm the type to wait a while before i get comfy with new surroundings, sorry." Rainbow eyed him. "Yeah, you better be, I don't take it lightly when somepony insults my friends." Maxwell raised his hands in surrender. "I got it, don't worry." Vice then stepped in."If i may say something, i think we should learn each others names before we get too chummy, wouldn't you agree?" They all looked at each other and nodded. First was the Cyan pony. "I'm Rainbow dash! Best flyer in all of equestria!" her friends rolled their eyes, Fluttershy and Toby just giggled at her boasting. Next was the pink pony, "I'm pinkie pie! party mare extraordinaire!" she did some cartwheels around the group, witch Kepher happily joined in on. "I'm Sugar cane! and i'm a Party animal! wooooooo!" Pinkie jumped up and hugged him. "Oh, that's such a sweet name! I can tell we're gonna be reeeaaal good friends!" Rarity spoke next. "I am Rarity, Aspiring fashionista, pleasure to make your acquaintance." she gave a light bow to their new friends. "It's a pleasure to meet you Rarity." Natalie said. "My name is Psylocke, my friends call me Psy." She gave them a smile, witch they returned. Next is the grumpy one. "I'm Regret..." the ponies and Toby got a slightly sad expression. Twilight spoke up. "Regret? that's kind of sad... " Maxwell gave a small chuckle. "Well maybe someone didn't like me...besides whenever i do something, i usually regret doing it pretty quick...so it fits." They all looked at him with concern in their eyes, untill Zack tried to ease the tension. "I'm Vice...Regret's brother, i am happy to meet all of you." he gave them all the most sincere, happy smile he could muster. Twilight spoke next. "I am princess Twilight sparkle, and i'm glad to have you all here, i'm hoping you enjoy it." she gave a slight bow of respect, witch the MythBusters returned.Toby spoke up for himself and Fluttershy. "I'm Toby and this is my momma Fluttershy." He gave her a big hug. "I love her alot, and don't make fun of us just because she's a pony and i'm not!" Fluttershy smiled and kissed him on the head. "Aw, i love you too sweetie." Luckily Maxwell was wearing his mask because the facial expressions he was making would have easily angered everyone there. "Hmmm, it's getting late, we should all go back home for some rest, Regret, Vice. Psy and Sugar cane, i'll take you to the house i made you, it's small right now, but it can be built onto." Twilight gave them a sincere smile. "Okay! i'm beat..." regret said while yawning. Kepher was irritated. " I'm not tired at all, i'm not going to bed!" Natalie looked at him with piercing eyes. "You don't wanna fall asleep in the middle of a fight and get eaten do you?" she smiled evilly. His eyes widened. "n-n-no..." Natalie laughed."Well then get to bed before it gets too late." He gave her a salute. "YES MA'AM!" Zack grinned. "Well... looks like the first day is over... so much happened in only a few short hours...hehe, things are gonna get interesting..." --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Meanwhile, somewhere far away --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A young boy lies asleep...remembering a part of his past that has since become a living nightmare... *5 years ago* *Click here to play atmoshperic music*(open in new tab) Lying in bed, in a cold pure white room with nothing but a bed and a small bathroom stall and tiny desk, the boy hears footsteps down the hall outside, his eyes widen in terror, he knows what happens to those who are picked for "testing" in the underground Myth research facilities. To his dismay, the door to his cell is the one that is opened...he cowers in the corner...begging..."please! no! not me...*sob*" the two guards enter grabbing him by the arms... "Just shut up kid, the sooner your done there the sooner the rest of us get our days of piece, deal with it, we all have to." He cries, frantically searching for an escape...but finding none. Soon he is brought to the dreaded testing room...Room V...the virus care center... he is brought in and placed on the table, flailing with all his might to escape, but they hold him down and strap him to the table. "please...*sob*...let me go...*sob*" the nurse places a gas mask over his mouth. "Sorry, but this is very important...trust me, you'll feel a lot better once it's over..." She turns a valve on the gas tank next to the table. The boy feels his senses slipping... his mind goes numb... he sees the surgeon and his scalpel... "Alright kid, i'm gonna explain something to you... If we used the sleep gas on you, the Myth will be able to kill you from the inside out, so to prevent that, we're going to operate while your still conscious." the boy couldn't even react, his mind was stunned by the strange drug they exposed him to..."We will start the procedure now..." the nurse let go of him and grabbed her own scalpel... and began the "test"...for the next 3 hours... the horrifying sound of a child's screams could be heard throughout the entire facility... ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "..." "..." "..." "boy..." "..." "..." "Child! awaken!" The boy rises from the table... his eyes emotionless... his body stiff... "Have we done it? have we finally managed to fuse a soul gem into the human body!? OH this is too good to be true! after years of testing, after so many test subjects expended... we finally have our SUCCESS!" all the scientists and surgeons in the room cheered."Just to be sure...boy... what is it you want most?" The boy turns his head slowly to the doctor. "To suppress the darkness...and destroy those who would stand in the way... of the moontouched..." The doctor chuckled with glee."Perfect! now boy...we have assigned you a project name...do you know the name you will be answering to?" The boy spoke in a weak whisper... "...I.....am......Zero........." ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Back to present day ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- NEW SUBJECT _________________________________________________________________________________ Subject #0 Birth name: Jack Shackle Age:9 Code name: Zero Class: Seeker Weapon of choice: Shackles MythBuster Clearance level: S Class Appearance: Dirty blond hair that reaches down over his eyes, tattered and worn plain grey shirt, torn black dress pants, bandages on his feet covered by plain black dress shoes, silver eyes, silver shackles that are never removed from his wrists, has a myths soul gem embedded into his heart. Special talent: Pre-weaponizing- was a very talented piano player, seemed to have a love for music in general and enjoyed spending time in the woods, camping and learning survival methods. Also appeared to love baking. Post-weaponizing- Ability to control his blood at will, if he is cut he can mentaly force his blood out and mold it into various shapes, and can use ancient destruction magic. Also kept his love of sweets. Solid heart activation ability: Branch of Sin (Blood control). Description: Classified > Chapter 3: A New Home (eh?, eh?) > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Mythbusters and the elements of harmony (minus Applejack) arrived at the site where Twilight had tried to construct a house for them. "It was last minute so i didn't get to hire anypony to build it yet, but i assure you, i'll get somepony to make it more like a home, for now, this is the best i could do for you." she said. Natalie gasped at it. "Are you kidding!? this place is beautiful!" she jumped up and down. Maxwell grinned. "Careful, your childhood is showing." Natalie slapped him behind the head. "You don't get to tell anyone else to grow up, you have to grow up yourself first." Zack was busy searching through the house with his flash step, it was a two story house, made of wood, it pretty much looked like a large cabin, there were 5 bedrooms, 4 for the Mythbusters, and a guest room, a bathroom, and a basic kitchen. Twilight was quite proud of herself. "It took some time to figure out how to set up the kitchen and bathroom, but i think i did pretty well, also, the main bedrooms are upstairs and the guest room is in the back of the first floor." Kepher ran right in. "OHMYGOSHTHISISSOCOOLTHANKYOUTWILIGHT!" he ran right upstairs to pick out which room he wanted. "Wait for me! I wanna see it too!" Pinkie called, and ran in after him. "Lets go inside too momma!" Toby ran in behind them. "Oh...be careful Toby, you might trip..." she followed him in. Maxwell started to wander off, when Natalie called to him. "Where do you think your going?" she asked "I wanna walk around town to see where we're gonna be hanging out for the next few years, that alright with you?" he said. Twilights ears popped up. "what? your staying for a few years?" she hadn't known that part, just that they were staying for a while. "Well yeah... ridding a world of Myths isn't exactly an overnight thing..." Maxwell began to walk away."See ya in a bit." Twilight gave a small frown. "Does he ever stay for long?" Natalie patted twilight on the head, which was funny because Twilight and Natalie were around the same height. "Don't think anything of it, he just likes to wander around, he'll be back." Rainbow flew overhead to get a better look at the house. "I gotta say Twi, you did really good on this..." She was circling the house checking all corners. "Thanks Rainbow dash, i worked for three hours on it." Natalie's jaw dropped. "Only three hours!? wow..." Twilight smiled. "Well it wasn't too hard with my magic." That's when Natalie's eyes began to sparkle. "*gasp* You use magic too!?" she hugged Twilight. Twilight blushed. "Well yeah...wait, what do you mean too?" Natalie took out her chronicle and it began to glow, she held out her hand and created a small ball of light in her palm. It was Twilights turn to drop her jaw in shock. "Wha...? I thought humans couldn't use magic? toby tried a few times, but couldn't do it... how did you?" Natalie smiled. "I use runes, they are basically magical symbols that summon the power of the elements, it took me years to master them... actually i'm still not a master...but i'm better than most! there are very few rune casters on earth." Twilight gave her a big smile. "That's great! we're very lucky to have you all here." Rarity finally decided to join in on the conversation. "dear, if i may ask... do you have any clothes besides the ones you're wearing?" Natalie looked down. She still had her normal gear, Black jacket, pink shirt, red jeans..."Hmmm...I do have some in my storage, but i just brought them because they are necessary, i don't really like them that much...i need to get some new ones." Rarity's eyes lit up. "Oh darling, i'll make you some new clothes if you wish." Natalie giggled."Oh, really? that would be so generous of you!" Rarity beamed. "Well i'm not the element of generosity for nothing!"Natalie had no idea what she meant by that, but she didn't have time to ask, because just then Zack came running over, and he unsheathed his blade. "Psy! we have company!." as he said this, a large bear came running at them from down the path, it was at least twice as tall as Natalie and was black with red tint on its fur. Natalie gasped. "Thats a Lower C class Ursa Crimson! it's alot stronger than the Canus Sapphire i fought earlier..." Behind it, an orange pony with a blonde main and tail and a cowboy hat ran up to them, the bear ran right past and began to claw around the ground of the yard. The new pony spoke. "Twahlight! that monster came and attacked the farm! and just after it smashed some of tha trees, it ran off! ya gotta help me catch it!" Twilight nodded. "Don't worry we're on it!" Just then, Rainbow dash attempted to charge the beast, only to be knocked away with one swipe of the paw. "Aaaaaaah!" she screamed. "That thing hits really hard..." she said, holding her side. Natalie ran to her aid. "Don't worry, i'll help you." Once more, her chronicle glowed, a green aura surrounded her hand as she placed her hand on Rainbow's side. Within seconds, Rainbow stood back up and looked at Natalie in amazement. "Whoa...thanks!" she wiggled a bit to see if the spell really worked, sure enough, she was back to full health. Natalie grabbed her hoof. "No problem, but we have to get back to the front of the house." Then Rainbow gave her a confused look. "Why?" she asked. She got her answer, from the second floor of the house, Kepher opened a window, jumped out, fell at least 25 feet and landed perfectly fine. Pinkie pie followed suit. "Watcha gonna do buddy?" she asked him. All eyes, pony and human, were on him at this moment. "Taking my turn! remember Psy, you promised!" She smiled and said, "I know, i know, just don't be reckless okay?" He pulled a chocolate bar out from his pocket. "No problem...this is gunna be sweet!" --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Meanwhile, at the Moontouched base --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A woman walks down the hall, her long brown hair tied into a pony tail, she wears a black shirt under a white lab coat, and dark green pants with midnight black dress shoes. She approaches the room on the top floor of the building, located at the far back to the right. She knocks. "Zero...?" "..." "Zero...answer." "...yes?" a low voice, almost a whisper comes from beyond the door. "Zero, it's time for your daily training, come along." She steps back as the door slides open sideways. "...okay..." he steps out, dragging his feet as he walks, his dirty blonde hair leaving a shadowy veil across his eyes. *Wow, he looks bad today...i hope he's alright.* She thought.They get in the elevator and head towards the basement, where the training room is located, upon arrival, he steps into the room and she remains at the control panel, ready to begin the simulation. "Are you ready Zero?" she asks. He looks at her weakly. "...yes...miss...Varen..." --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- NEW SUBJECT _______________________________________________________________________________ Subject # 2M Birth name: Kristie Varen Age: 26 Code name: Mindbreaker Class: Illusionist Weapon of choice: Hypnotist ring MythBuster Clearance level: A- Class Appearance:Brown hair, ending just past the neck, usually tied into a pony tail, light cotton shirt with very light armor hidden inside the fabric, normally black, known to switch with a blue one, White lab cloak, also armored, not through regular means, but through protective runes cast across its surface, wears light cotton fiber pants, usually dark green, sometimes brown or purple, while on duty, wears black dress shoes with knives located in the soles just below the front of the foot. Special talent: Can create illusions so realistic that they trick the mind into believing them to be reality, such as, one of her illusionary fires could cause the brain to think the target really is being burned, causing the body to burn anyway, regardless of weather the fire is real or not, this works with all of her illusions, as long as the target is not strong enough to see through the illusions. Despite not being suited to close combat, she has some knowledge of tae kwon doe. Solid heart activation ability: Broken mind- Causes the victim to be sent to a pocket dimension within their own mind, where their worst nightmares will come to haunt them, the effects of the dream appear to take affect on the physical form of the body as well, for example, If they are cut in their dream, a cut will appear on the real body. Description: Second in command of the Moontouched, like the Doctor, she sees the Myths as a possible scientific achievement waiting to be found. Rather than destroy them, she prefers to use her illusions to trap and study them, hoping to make them just another normal species on earth... this research however, is constantly interrupted by the Mythbuster organizations across the earth and nearby worlds. ________________________________________________________________________________ She holds her hand onto the scanners of the computer, as it was designed to amplify illusionary powers to provide specific training to individual recruits. She creates 100 B class werewolves in the training room..."Begin!" she calls *Begin Fight Music* The second she says this, Zero begins to run straight towards the beasts, jumping overhead, he performs an axel kick, crushing the skull of one of them, crashing it into the floor, creating a small crater, he then proceeds to do a headspin, kicking all that surround him, getting back up and being careful to dodge the incoming blow, catches the claw as it passes by his head, tearing it off of its former owner, and stabbing the myth through the heart with its own claw. twenty myths attack at once, he makes a swift kick to the chest of one sending it flying, and proceeds to jump up and over another, catching his shackles around its neck, he twists mid-air to get a cross chain on it, he spread his hands apart, causing the chains to tighten, snapping the myths neck, he then spins around, smashing all myths around him, then sparta kicks the one in his shackles, shattering the soul stone. a stray werewolf happens to catch him off gaurd, although he attempted a dodge, it grazed his arm. This only seemed to make Zero happy, as he simply reached his hand up... and grabbed his blood as it solidified into a handle. He withdrew the handle as well as a stream of blood that followed up behind it, solidifying into a blade, he continued cutting down the myths, shattering soul gems left and right. "Alright...lets see how you do with this..." Kristie said as she proceeded to summon another 100 werewolves, these ones changed in color, as they were now A class. Zero simply made his blood liquefy again and used it as a whip, slaughtering all that stood in his way. More were summoned. He jumps up, and aims his hand below, and begins firing drops of blood as bullets. "...Blood...rain..." he says, as all below are torn apart by the blood shots. One took him by surprise, as it was not a werewolf, but a harpy, attacking in mid air, it was a shadowy black like the rest, with yellow tint, the color of A class Myths. he used the force of his blood shot from his body to fly towards the harpy, grabbing it and tearing its wings off, then smashing its soul gem. below him, the wolves were growing impatient. "...eager to die...?" he asked.He dropped down, punching one in the head, again shattering it like glass and the shockwave destroying all around... "Alright...that's enough Zero." Kristie got up from the monitor. "I'll take you to the doctor now for your health examination... you look like you've exhausted alot of energy...then again, you did just fire half of your blood across the room..." she looked around and then faced Zero with concern. "Could you be a little more careful next time? waste less blood, alright?" He nodded."Alright...lets go." she said. As they got on the elevator, he couldn't help but feel obligated to ask. "...Miss Varen..." She looked at him. "yes?" "...Why don't I...feel pain?" he asked She smiled reassuringly at him. "it's the solid heart." "...What...do you mean...?" "You see... the solid heart is what we call the process which a human heart temporarily gains the runic crystal essence of a Myth's... During the solid heart, the persons powers are amplified greatly, and gain new powers beyond their wildest dreams, but with that there is a downside, they lose important emotions, such as love, happiness, even sadness and anger are forgotten...they become merciless in battle... and lose the ability to sense pain...Zero...after the events five years ago... the soul gem that was given to you gave you permanent solid heart state..." He looked down. "...Okay...thank you...for the information...It was never explained...before now..." "Don't worry about it, all that should matter to you now is you condition, you need to be prepared." "...I know..." he said > Chapter 4: Finally, Some Emotions! > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The fight begins as the Ursa rushes towards Kepher, but he quickly jumps over it, grabbing its fur and clinging to its back. The Ursa roars and shakes violently, realizing that shaking won't do any good, it crouches and growls as the fur on its back grows into spikes, Kepher jumps off as the spikes just barely miss him. "Woah!" he cries, "well there goes my idea of stabbing it in the back..." The ponies watching are terrified. "Why aren't you two helping him!?" Twilight shouted. Natalie turned to her with a serious expression. "He asked me to let him take on the next myth we fought, and I promised him he could, what kind of friend would I be if I broke a simple promise like that?" Twilight tried to protest. "I'm glad you want to keep a promise, but he could be killed!" Zack tried to calm her down. "Don't worry, he's fine, he's taken down a lower C class before..." Rainbow snuck her way into the conversation. "Whats so special about Upper and lower classes?" she asked. "Well, there are seven classes, S,A,B,C,D,E, and F. each has three divisions, lower,middle, and upper, you can tell witch class a myth belongs to by the color and brightness of the aura around it, for example, that Ursa is a crimson red, which means it's a C class, and the aura is dim, so its a lower power, the stronger it is, the brighter the aura." Zack felt so smart telling the ponies this, it made him feel like the teacher of a class, like the ones he and his brother went through to learn these things in the first place. Twilight seemed to have calmed down. "Well he doesn't look like he's having too much trouble..." Kepher had successfully caused much damage to the Ursa while trying to find the soul gem, it was missing its left paw and its sides were torn open. The Ursa swung its good paw at Kepher, which he dodged, grabbing the arm and pulling himself up and over. The Ursa then turned around and tried to bite him, however, Kepher jumped around it and roundhouse kicked its side, causing the beast to topple over. "I know i asked to fight alone... but if you could tell me were its soul gem is, that would be great!" he called. Natalie called back to him. "Don't worry Sugar cane, i'm on it!" She took out her chronicle and it began to glow. She held the book in her right hand while holding out her left towards the Ursa, and concentrated. "It's just below the neck!" she hollered. "Got it!" Kepher answered. He jumped up and for a brief second, his chocolate bar seemed to grow. He swung it and the Ursa's neck was slashed. Kepher landed and placed the chocolate bar back into his pocket as the Ursa evaporated. "Well that was fun." he said. Applejack was the first to congradulate him."Wow li'l fella, your pretty tough fer somepony so young. how old are ya?" she asked "I'm 8! and thanks, i work out, haha." he proceeded to run over to Pinkie pie, as he seemed to had become good friends with her already. Applejack stood for a moment, processing what she just heard "He's even younger than Toby!" she thought. While she tried to comprehend the fact that a mere child just destroyed a super powered bear, he was having his own little conversation with Pinkie."That was a really neat trick you did with that chocolate bar! you think i could try it?" she questioned. He held his head in his chin for a moment, pondering, then he got an idea."Well, i can't give you mine, but if you can do it with one of your own, that's fine." She happily jumped around a bit, clapping her hooves. "Oh, yay! I bet if i could make chocolate bars grow, I would have soooooo much chocolate, I wouldn't know what to do with it all!" Just then, Toby and Fluttershy exited from the house. Fluttershy spoke first. "Um...is everypony okay? Is that monster gone?" she asked. "Oh, dear you should have seen it!" Rarity chimed. "That young colt Sugar cane," she motioned her hoof to Kepher, "defeated that brute with barely any effort! I can assure you, everything is just fine." "It's a good thing too." They turned to see Maxwell finally returned. "Myths gain power at night, the lunar rays enhance their aura and they get real nasty." Applejack turned to him. "Howdy there! ahm Applejack, Ah don't think we've met before." she held out her hoof for a shake. "I'm Regret." he said, and shook her hoof. "Oh... finally opening up are we?" Natalie teased him. "Oh, shut up, i'm just being polite." he shot back. She held up her hands in surrender. "Someone's cranky..." she whispered to Zack. He laughed. "Whats got you so ticked off all of a sudden?" he was being more serious now, as he could sense something wrong with his brother."Nothing's wrong...i'm just tired, i'm turning in for the night, it was nice to meet all of you ponies...good night." He walked into the house and upstairs. Natalie turned to Zack with a worried expression. "Um, Zack...?" "He'll tell us when he's ready, just let it go for tonight... we should turn in too, it's been a long day..." He walked towards the house as well. Natalie turned to Kepher. "Sugar cane! we're going in now, okay?" she called, he and Pinkie had wandered quite a bit away from the group. "Okay! be right there!" he called back, and he ran up to them...very fast. "Woah." Rainbow dash was impressed. "That was pretty quick kid, how about we race sometime?" He nodded."That would be super fun!" Natalie took him by the hand. "Well, we should be getting to bed, tomorrow is our first official day on the job. we have to be ready... also, Twilight, if you could inform princess Celestia of our arrival, that would be great." Twilight gave a small look of surprise."Huh? didn't you already meet her?" "No, our boss did, he found out about the rift bringing myths here and came through to talk to Celestia about it, they decided that until you ponies are up to date with the myth attacks and can fight back effectively, we have to stand by and protect you, we're in charge of protecting ponyville, there are other groups stationed in other cities..." she yawned. "Well, i think i'm done for the night, it was nice meeting you all, we'll see you tomorrow i guess, good night." The ponies gathered up. "Good night!" they said together, and they headed back to their own homes. Inside the house, Natalie looked towards Kepher and realized he wasn't as hyper as he was just a few moments ago, he was wobbling a bit and looked drowsy. "C'mon, i'll take you up myself." He reached his arms up and she picked him up, carrying him upstairs to his room. upon walking in, she found Toby and Fluttershy had been helping him unpack his things while they were in there. He had his red dresser with the large mirror on it in ther corner, his maple wood bed in the opposite corner with his candy decorated bedsheets and pillow case, another dresser, taller than the first and without a mirror, just beside the doorway, and beside that was his closet. the room was made purely from wood and had a rug sprawled across the center. She pulled back the sheets on the bed and placed Kepher on it, then tucked him in. He turned his head up to look at her. "Nat?" he asked, his voice soft and almost a whisper. "Yes, Keph?" "You think we're gunna fight alot of myths tomorrow?" "I dunno...maybe. why?" "Well, Pinkie asked me if i wanted to come bake something with her and Toby tomorrow... and i really want to." Natalie smiled happily at the child."Don't worry, you can go with them, me,Max, and Zack will take care of any myths that show up, you go have fun with your new friend." He closed his eyes."Thanks Nat... i really like Pinkie, she's really fun, and Toby is the only person I've met in a long time that's around my age... I know Max is only two years older, but with the way he acts, it's not the same." Natalie smiled and stroked his hair. "Well, i'm sure Toby is glad he met you too, now try to sleep, tomorrows a big day for you, i'm sure." She kissed him on the forehead, and walked out of the room, closing the lights, and slowly shutting the door. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Elsewhere -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A boy lies in a glass containment capsule in a medical room, his tattered clothes being washed in a machine lying a few feet away, and his wounds being slowly healed by the nanobots in the capsule. "Doctor...I don't think he is too far off...the myth still seems to have hold on him, he can barely speak, but he has been making progress." The doctor smiles softly. "Yes...his heart is showing more now than before... maybe he will finally have both emotion and power..." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- NEW SUBJECT ________________________________________________________________________________ Subject: Overseer Birth name: Richard Wyress Age: 34 Code name: Sovereign Class: None Weapon of choice: None in particular Mythbuster Clearance Level: Overseer- Non-combatant Appearance: Tall and lean, has short black combed back hair, wears a black tux with leather armor underneath. Black dress shoes, and glasses. Special talents: Very good at planning ahead, has very good judgement when making choices, has exelent negotiation skills. Solid heart activation: None Description: The current leader of the Moontouched, he believes the myths are not just a nuisance, or monsters trying to destroy all, but as a valuable scientific advancement waiting to be achieved. He was the one who ordered for the testing of linking soul gems to the human body in order to increase body performance. Although he knows what he does hurts many, he believes the end justifies the means. Despite being the cause of Zero's childhood distortion, he likes to think of the boy as his own son. _______________________________________________________________________________ "All he needs is a push in the right direction, and he will have full control again... once he goes against the negative influences of the soul gem, nothing will be able to stop him." The doctor had hopeful determination in his eyes. "The stasis cure capsule has almost replenished his blood, what should I do once he awakens?" His assistant asks. "Simple... there have been many tears in the walls between dimensions lately, dimensional shifting is fairly easy now, which means more myths, and that means...?" He waited for Kristie to fill in the blank. "The new soul gems will copy the body structure of that worlds creatures, creating new myth species." she answers. "Correct, and who better to obtain the new specimens than my very own son?" "Where should i send him?" "Send him to the nearest world, we need new specimens fast, and the closer he is to us, the better." Kristie wrote in the code on the capsule containing Zero to release him. "I will ask someone to prepare some supplies for him to take in his dimension cube, and i'll use the currency converter to change his allowance into that worlds currency, that should keep him going for a while..." The doctor chuckled. "He'd be fine if you sent him with nothing but the clothes he wears, the boy is a weapon of immeasurable power, he could just take anything he desired. just make sure you give him the exact details of the mission alright? we don't need him messing around like his brother Saint..." he frowned at mentioning Saint's name. "Very well sir..." Kristie bows. The capsule beside her opens, and steam flies in all directions as the boy gets up. Kristie takes his hand. "Alright Zero, I need to explain something to you, alright? you have an important mission to accomplish." Zero nods. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- One hour later ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Zero stands in the center of a large circle, with rune symbols on the outside of the edge, with an X across the interior of the circle, with more runes in the spaces.his dimension cube in the pocket of his torn pants, ready for his leave. "...How does this work...miss Varen...?" "Well, because we don't have access to any fancy dimensional warp sygils, we have to use powerful runic incantations." she explains. "These runes call on the power of different elements from across different dimensions, opening the door between the worlds, then the runes in the center work to expand the doorway, allowing us to travel to another wold." "...Why am i...going away...?" "I've already explained it to you, you need to hunt down the new myths, and do not kill them, just destroy the physical body and contain the soul gems, alright?" He nods."Also, if anyone gets in your way, try not to get too violent, we don't need and unwanted attention brought to us." Once more, he nods. "Alright then, prepare for transport." The runes on the ground begin to glow brightly, the circle raises slowly enveloping him, he can no longer see his legs, but can feel a breeze on them, the circle reaches his stomach, he can feel the cold air... the circle reaches his head and he closes his eyes. Once he opens them, he finds himself in a forest of some sort. He jumps to the top of a tree to get a better view, in the distance he sees three figures walking down a path, two human, one pony, his curiosity picks at him, so he moves closer, jumping to a tree close to them, once he senses their power however, he is quickly disappointed. "Hmmph..." He turns and leaves to go find the myths that are his objective. > Chapter 5: Crossing Paths > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The next day, the mythbusters decided to have a day on the town, with this being their first official day of work, they decide some sightseeing would be beneficial. That and they wanted to have some fun before disaster struck. Kepher is at Sugar cube corner with Pinkie pie and Toby, baking a cake with them. "Okay!" Pinkie said, "we have all our ingredients right?" she asked. The boys looked on the counter, checking over all the ingredients. Sugar and butter, eggs,vanilla, flour and baking powder, and milk. "We thought we should just make a simple cake for your first time here." Toby told Kepher. "Okay, this is gunna be fun, vanilla is my fav!" he clapped his hands. Toby smiled at him. "Hehe, i dunno what i like anymore... i used to like chocolate, but lately i've had a craving for strawberry flavored snacks." Kepher gave a thoughtful look."Huh... fruit snacks are pretty good... I guess i'm at a loss as to weather i like vanilla or blackberry more." Toby laughed. "You like blackberries? i've never had a pastry made with them before... is it good?" Kepher put his hand on Toby's shoulder." If you ate something with blackberries, your heart would stop from shock at how awsome it was." Toby laughed. "Okay cutie wutie Toby and sweet wittle Sugar cane, lets get started, we have to mix together the sugar and butter to make a cream." Pinkie instructed. Kepher took a small bowl, butting in some sugar and butter, and handed a spoon to Toby to stir. "Okay, next we put in the eggs, and a pinch of vanilla." They did as they were instructed, Toby cracking the eggs, and Kepher pouring the vanilla. "Next, add the flour and baking powder, then stir." They did so, Toby putting the ingredients in as Kepher stirred. "And last, the milk." Pinkie poured the milk in herself."Now all we have to do is put it in the oven!" She placed the cake tray into the oven and turned it on. Toby jumped exitedly." That was fun! we should do that again sometime Sugar cane." Kepher nodded, agreeing wholeheartedly. *Jingle* "Oh! a customer! i gotta do this, the cakes are busy with the twins right now, so I have to run the shop, you two stay and watch the cake." she said as she ran out to meet the customer. Theme Music Toby looked out to see who it was...and his eyes went wide with shock. Kepher turned to him. "What's wrong?" Kepher looked over to see what Toby was staring at. "Oh my god..." he said. The one who had entered the bakery wasn't a pony, and he definitely wasn't one of the mythbusters. Toby and Kepher could only stare in curiosity as the tattered and seemingly depressed boy, his hair covering his face, walked up to the payment counter. "...Hello..." he said, his voice barely audible. Pinkie was shocked to see the state this colt was in, he looked so hurt, and his eyes showed through his hair a bit, they made Pinkie sad to look at them. He spoke. "...I was passing through... and i smelled these..." he picked up a small cake. "...alot of work...was put into these...wasn't there?" Pinkie nodded. "...I love pastries...they add so much...happiness." He placed a few bits on the counter. "I can tell...these are top notch...you must be proud of this place..." "Y-y-yeah, I am...thanks for the compliment..." Pinkie couldn't keep her happy demeanor with this colt... the look in his eyes was that of someone that has had there heart crushed and their hopes broken down. She took the bits and placed them in the cash register. The boy gave a weak smile. "...Thank you..." He turned and walked out. Pinkie pie let out a breath she had been holding in. "Oh my gosh, that was nerve wrecking...poor colt..." Toby and Kepher ran out to see her. Toby spoke first. "That guy was creepy... and those shackles on his wrists... do you think he was a prisoner?" Kepher shook his head. "Naw, i could see runes on those shackles and he had a noh aura, which is like a Myths aura, but it's for humans who have spent long periods of time around myths... maybe he's a refugee from the moontouched?" Toby gave a confused look. "moontouched?" Kepher nodded. "Yea, that's what we call humans with noh aura, the moonlight strengthens the aura, increasing their power like it would a myth, so those people are called the moontouched." "Oh... i hope he's okay...should we try to follow him and see if he needs help?" Toby asked "No...I think it would be best to leave that guy alone... he seemed kinda depressed, and people like that can usually get violent if you bug them." Toby nodded in understanding. Pinkie finally seemed to snap out of her funk, so Kepher decided it was time to leave. "Well I really had a lot of fun, thank you for inviting me, but I need to get back to work protecting ponyville, I'll see ya later, M'kay?" They both nodded and waved goodbye as he walked out the door. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Meanwhile, at Golden Oaks Library ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Natalie had decided to stop by to say hello to twilight during her patrol around town, seeing as they seemed to have some common interests, it would be a good idea to try to make at least one close friend in equestria. She walked up to the library and knocked. The door opened and she saw a small purple dragon standing there. "Oh, you must be Psylocke, right?" it said. Natalie nodded. "Okay, i'll go tell Twilight your here, come on in!" she walked in and sat down on one of the pillows by the back of the room. As the dragon walked upstairs to fetch Twilight, he called down to her. "Oh, by the way, my name's Spike." Natalie smiled at him. "It's nice to meet you Spike." He smiled back and continued up the stairs. Natalie took the moment to look around the room, it was round and had shelves full of books, being a library, that should be expected, to her left was the staircase that led upstairs, and to her right were two doors, one leading to a kitchen, and another next to it with a staircase leading downwards, towards the basement. "pretty good, considering it's a tree" she thought. Right then, Twilight came trotting down the stairs. "Hi Psy!" she said, her smile was big, and made her look adorable, Natalie just wanted to hug her. Twilight continued her cheerful welcome. "I'm so glad you came! I have so many questions about human magic!" Natalie chuckled a bit and took out her chronicle. she held it up for Twilight to see. "What do you want to know? i'll answer as best I can. "Well for starters, what are those rune things you talk about?" Twilight began. "Well, runes are basically symbols that act as doors to the elemental planes of each world, the shape of the rune and the way you draw it changes the spell, this book i'm holding is called a mystic chronicle, every time i learn a new lineup of runes, or discover a new symbol altogether, I write it down in this book, so that i can turn to the page and activate them without having to rewrite them somewhere else, and the chronicle itself has the energy to activate them, so there is no need for an outside source." Twilight beamed and bounced with excitement at this new found knowledge. "Oh wow, I'll have to write a letter to Celestia telling her about this, I'm sure she would love to know about those runes of yours!"Spike came over with a quill and scroll. "I'll write down all the new things we learn, okay psylocke?" he said. "Alright, no problem, what else do you want to know?" "Hmm... how does being a mythbuster work?" Twilight asked. "Well... we pretty much just go around protecting people, or in this case ponies, from the myths, we usually help with things other than myths as well, we're like a second law enforcement group." Twilight was enjoying the conversation greatly. "Okay, well...you and your friends are all so young... how do you fight so well? I've only seen Sugar cane fight so far, but I'm sure your just as strong, right?" "We trained since a very early age, I practiced runes since i first learned to read, and even before i could read, I had learned to use my mind to move objects, i also learned a few skills, like paralyze and such, but I use runes for even small things like that, and my partners are all weaker than me. I am an upper C class buster, while Regret,Vice, and Sugar cane, are lower D, upper D, and lower C, in that order. Don't let that fool you though, Regrets just lazy, but he could pull an upper D move once in a while. Speaking of which, don't think too badly of him, okay? he's actually really nice, he just gets a little bit rude once in a while, he's used to having insult wars with Vice... the point is, he's just not the best when it comes to getting others to like him." Natalie frowned a little. Twilight tried to cheer her up. "Don't worry, I don't think badly of him, I can tell he's a lot nicer than he lets on, and I'm sure the rest of my friends think the same thing." That seemed to bring a smile back to Natalie's face. "Thanks for understanding, I think of all of them as my little brothers, I've been with each of them since the first days they arrived..." Twilight gave her a warm smile. "Hehe, I think of spike the same way, I guess that's another thing we have in common besides magic." Natalie giggled. "Yeah, I guess so, by the way, would you mind if I borrowed some books? I just love reading." Twilight jumped up. "Me too! wow, this just gets better and better!" Natalie stood up. "Hehe, I bet we'll get to learn more about each other later, but for now, I need to get back to hunting around, never know when a myth will pop up...or twenty." She took two books she found interesting, "Mystical illnesses and cures" and "fouls' tales". "I like a little fairy tail once in a while." she said with a smile as she waved goodbye and left. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- At The Carousel Boutique ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rarity was busy making clothes for her new line as the bell on the door rang. "I'll be there in a second darling!" she called. She quickly finished stitching the last few seams on the dress she was making and got up to go greet the customer. "Okay dear, what can i do for..." she cut short as she saw the colt in front of her, tattered and emotionless. "...Hello...I heard you made...really nice clothes..." he said. "Why, I would hope so, it is my favorite thing to do, and my job." She tried to sound calm, but she was horrified at the condition of the colt. His clothes were ruined and his expression was unnerving. "I was hoping...you could fix my clothes for me...?" He gestured towards himself. Only then did Rarity realize that the colt had shackles on his wrists. She looked at him worriedly. "Of coarse dear, just go into the changing room and remove them, ill take care of the rest." He nodded and followed her to the dressing room. He removed his shirt and pants and handed them to her, she used her magic to levitate them with her to her workroom while the colt waited in the changing room. "what did he do to get torn up like this?" she thought. She not only fixed his clothes, but completely changed them. She brought the new clothes to him and he tried them on, once he stepped out into the room, Rarity smiled. "Oh' you look a lot better now darling! those clothes suit you so well!" she said. She had changed his solid grey T-shirt into a white shirt with grey sleeves that reached down to his wrists, where he still wore the silver shackles. His black pants remained as they were, only without holes, obviously. she had even gone out of her way to make him some shoes. It wasn't too hard to make clothes for him, as he appeared to be the same size as Toby. The shoes were white with grey soles and black laces. "...Thank you very much... how much do i owe...?" She shook her head. "Oh, these clothes are free darling, with the state you were in before, this was the right thing for me to do, think of it as a favor." "...You are very generous..." She smiled warmly at the compliment. "...If that's all...I will leave..." and with that, he was gone. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- At Fluttershy's Home ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Toby had gotten home from baking with Pinkie and Sugar cane, and was surprised to find Fluttershy had a special guest visiting. "Oh." Toby said. "Hi Vice..." Vice got up from feeding some gophers and turned towards Toby. "Hey there, I was just helping your mom with the animals." He walked up and ruffled Toby's hair. "You wanna feed the animals with me?" "Sure." Toby answered. He liked Vice, the way he was so serious but fun to talk to, and he was really nice. They spent some time feeding the animals until Fluttershy walked in. "Oh, welcome home Toby." she said. "Thank you mamma." he answered back. "Me and Vice just finished feeding the animals." he smiled proudly. "That's very nice dear." she looked to Vice. "Thanks you again for helping out, Vice." "No problem, I like animals, feeding them is fun." he said. He looked at Toby, who appeared to be frozen in shock. "What's up with you?" Vice turned around to see a boy walking up the path. He was wearing very nice clothes, and had his hair covering his eyes, and strangely, he had shackles on his wrists. "Oh, hi there." Vice walked up to the boy. The boy looked up a little and answered him. "...Hello..." "Are you okay buddy? you sound like your losing your voice..." "...I am fine..." Vice scratched his head. "Um... okay then..." Then Fluttershy flew up next to the boy. "Oh dear, are you alright? you look hurt..." she said worriedly. "...Don't worry...I am alright...thank you for you concern...I must be going..." He continued straight into the Everfree forest. Vice gave a confused look. "Wow... he looked like he was around your age Toby, that's pretty cool... strange to see someone not a mythbuster here though... and i should probably get my mask repaired... it said he was an S class myth... seriously...that's overkill even for a malfunction." He tapped his visor. Toby laughed nervously. "Hehe, yeah, like a kid could be a myth..." He remembered what Sugar cane had said about the moontouched, but chose to ignore his fears. "He's just a kid like you toby, and he doesn't seem to be mean, just ignore it..." He thought to himself. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Deep In The Everfree Forest ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Maxwell strolled through the forest, looking for myths that might wander too close to the town. "Ugh... I told you, this place is dangerous! even more so than you're used to! myths can kill you in a second!" He turned around to see the three fillies that followed him into the forest. Applebloom, and her friends Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo. "Mah sister said you an' yer friends were real strong, so as long as we're close to ya, we're fine." Applebloom said. "Thanks alot Applejack..." he thought to himself. "Alright... just don't wander off, and if a myth shows up, Stay behind me and don't interfere." They all nodded and smiled. Applebloom looked at him happily. "Do ya think that if I worked hard enough, I could fight myths too?" she asked. "Maybe... but don't get any bright ideas, it would take a lot of training just to be able to fight anything above an E class." Scootaloo looked to Applebloom with a grin. "Hey, maybe you'll get your cutie mark for hunting myths." Maxwell noticed the look in Appleblooms eyes and quickly spoke against it. "Don't even think about it, if you got hurt, I don't even wanna think about what Applejack would do..." They looked at him sadly. Then Sweetie Belle tried to reason with him. "But if you're with her, then she doesn't have to worry! right?" they looked at him with pleading eyes. "No! I'm not risking it." he shouted. "You're lucky I haven't turned around to bring you back to ponyville yet." "Aaaaaw..." they all said at once. Scootaloo decided to ask Maxwell something she had wanted to say earlier, but didn't know how to. "Um...Regret?" she asked "Yeah?" "Why do you always wear that mask? It's kinda creepy..." She had originally been scared of him, before Applebloom explained who he was. "It's not important... it just makes me look cool and mysterious." he said Then Sweetie Belle screamed. "Aaaaaah! there's one!" Maxwell turned to where she was facing and saw a blue tinted bear. "Oh..." he said. "Only an E class... too bad, I wanted to face a C class like Sugar cane did. oh well, can't choose what you get..." Then he rushed towards the beast. "Watch this, i'll beat it without using my weapons at all!" he tried to impress the fillies, it seemed to work because they were standing tall and leaning forward with excitement. Scootaloo spoke up. "Oh, this is gonna be so cool! maybe not as cool as Rainbow Dash, but hopefully close enough!" the other two nodded. Maxwell rushed towards the bear, only to be knocked away. "Ow!" he yelled. The fillies cringed at seeing him hit. "Um... are ya'll gonna be okay?" Applebloom asked. "Yeah, I just had a rough start is all. i'm gonna take this thing down in one move!" he said. They all got excited again. "Oh, really? that would be neat!" Sweetie Belle called. Maxwell got back up and darted into the trees. They were confused as to why he would do that, until he came flying from the treetops with his right fist drawn back. As he fell he threw his punch, the force of his weight, strength, gravity, and the runes engraved into the backs of his gloves, the punch destroyed half of the bear, leaving the soul gem shattered, and the myth defeated. "So... still rethinking your thoughts about me?" he smirked. "No way! that was awesome!" Scootaloo cheered. Sweetie Belle giggled. "At least we know we can trust you to keep ponyville safe, thanks a lot!" Applebloom was still in shock from seeing a huge bear destroyed in one punch. "Wooooaaaa..." was all she could manage to say. Just then, a figure stepped into the clearing, dirty blonde hair covering his eyes, and a nice long sleeve shirt with dress pants and nice sports shoes. He walked up to Maxwell and spoke. "...I saw you defeat that myth..." "Yeah...what about it?" Maxwell asked. "...Normally...a myth can't be shattered like that...from just any attack..." "Your point?" "...How strong are you...?" Maxwell was a little surprised at the question, it being out of the blue, but then again, so was this kid. "Well, i'm told i'm only a lower D class fighter, but I know it's bull, they just can't handle me." He bragged, admittedly, his low rank was most likely from being so lazy during the advancement exams. "Speaking of strength, those shackles your wearing have sealing runes on them, there a reason for that?" "...maybe the same reason you wear that mask..." "What, you have a monster in you too?" He joked. The boy's eyes widened a little. "...you too...?" Maxwell was a little surprised by that. "Wait...he actually has one?" he thought. "Well, yeah..." That was mostly true, Maxwell did his best to suppress his anger and sorrow in the back of his mind, but after a while, the stress would try to take over, becoming a beast within his mind. More than once it got through and made him lash out on the ones around him. He wore his mask to hide the emotions from everyone around him, concealing the monster within him even more so. The other boy spoke once more. "...What's your name...?" he asked. "I'm Regret." "...I am...Zero..." He turned to leave. "...Nice meeting you...Regret..." and took his leave. "Well that was wierd..." Scootaloo said. Applebloom looked at Maxwell with a worried expression. "What did ya mean when you said you had a monster in ya?" "Nothing..." he said. "It's a...human thing...yeah, that's it..." He began to walk back to ponyville."Well, I guess we should head back... comon girls." And they left to return home. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Through The Eyes Of The Strange Boy ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Zero had spent the morning hunting down new species of myths, he had gotten an E class manticore, a lower C class timberwolf, and had encountered an A class cockatrice, the cockatrice wasn't much of a challange for an A class, he simply looked into its eyes with his own and it dissipated, leaving only the soul gem. He had put all the soul gems into his pocket and left the forest. He decided to walk through ponyville to see what he could find, and sure enough, he found something he enjoyed right away. Zero's heart skipped a beat as he realized what it was. He could smell wonderful pastries from a shop to his right. He walked in and looked around, it was a nice little shop... He noticed a pink pony rush out to the counter to greet him. He approached her, and as he did, she seemed to lose some of the cheer she had shown just a few seconds prier. "...Hello..." he said, his throat hurt whenever he spoke, and he could feel the dark aura around him pull on his heart every time he opened his mouth. "...I was passing through...when i smelled these..." He picked up one of the cupcakes that were on display, and noticed an aura around it, a happy white aura that showed happiness and love. "...alot of work...was put into these...wasn't there...?" he said. The pink pony nodded, still with a small frown on her face. "...I love pastries...they add so much...happiness." He remembered how miss Varen would bring him a small cake every day after training to help him feel better when he was a lot weaker, and got hurt more during the training sessions. He reached into his pocket for his dimension cube and extracted some bits to place on the counter. "I can tell...these are top notch...you must be proud of this place..." he said. The pink pony seemed a little down. "Y-y-yeah, I am...thanks for the compliment..." she said. Zero gave her a small smile. "...Thank you..." he said, and he left. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Later ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- After a while of wandering, he found himself walking in front of a large tree, which had been made into a house, as he was passing it, a girl, seemingly older than him, walked out with two books in her arms and one on a strap on the right of her belt. Zero was surprised at this, he hadn't seen another human since he arrived. She turned to him and waved. "Hi there!" she said. "I thought me and my friends were the only humans in equestria... what are you doing here?" "...I was... teleported here... I'm just... wandering around...looking for something...to amuse me..." He replied. "Well, I hope you find something of help... by the way, you should get some new clothes, the ones you're wearing are pretty messed up..." she said Zero looked down and noticed she was right, his clothes were badly damaged from all his training, he barely ever noticed before. The girl spoke again. "I know! I have a friend named Rarity, she lives at the carousel boutique down the road. It's a store that sells lots of beautiful clothes, you could go there, if you've got some bits." She gave Zero a warm smile. "...Thank you...for the information..." he said. she nodded and waved goodbye before leaving. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- More Later ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Zero had thought about it and he decided some new clothes would be a good idea, all of the ponies he passed had looked at him with strange expressions since he arrived, and if he were to fit in better, he would need to look much more decent than he did now. Once he had arrived at the house the girl had told him about, he walked in to see a dresser with a mirror to the right, a changing wall slide to his left with a small stage-like platform beside it, a door to a kitchen and stairs leading to the upper floor. Nothing else in particular seemed interesting, a notable fact would be there was fabric laying all over the place. He heard a voice from upstairs."Okay dear, what can i do for..." she stopped as she got to the bottom and looked at him. He could tell she was shocked, so he tried to break the awkward silence. "...Hello...I heard you made...really nice clothes..." he said. "Why, I would hope so, it is my favorite thing to do, and my job." she sounded slightly nervous. Zero decided it would be best to get to the point."I was hoping...you could fix my clothes for me...?" She looked at him with a strange expression he normally only saw from miss Varen after his training or when he asked her about his powers."Of coarse dear, just go into the changing room and remove them, ill take care of the rest." she said. He nodded and followed her to the dressing room. (It was really just a sliding door in the middle of the room, but he didn't argue) He stood behind said door, and removed his shirt and pants, handing them to the unicorn. the clothes levitated out of his hands to her, and she walked upstairs.HE began contemplating. "where should i go? I have nowhere to call home here... I don't really know anyone...and I can't just stay out in the open space... " He thought about these things for a good while, until The white unicorn finally returned. She gave him the new clothes and he tried them on.HE stepped out and was greeted with a smile. "Oh' you look a lot better now darling! those clothes suit you so well!" she said. She had changed his solid grey T-shirt into a white shirt with grey sleeves that reached down to his wrists. His black pants had all the holes patched up, and she had even gone out of her way to make him some shoes. The shoes were white with grey soles and black laces. "...Thank you very much... how much do i owe...?" he asked her. She shook her head. "Oh, these clothes are free darling, with the state you were in before, this was the right thing for me to do, think of it as a favor." "...You are very generous..." he said. She smiled warmly at the compliment. "...If that's all...I will leave..." He turned and left, sensing that she was uneasy around him still. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Even More Later -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Zero had been walking for at least twenty minutes by the time he arrived at a small cottage beside the forest. He saw two boys and a pegasus standing there, feeding the animals. One of the two boys called to him. "Oh, hi there." The slightly taller boy with the mask walked up to Zero. He looked at the boy in front of him and answered. "...Hello..." "Are you okay buddy? you sound like your losing your voice..." "...I am fine..." Zero said. The other boy scratched his head. "Um... okay then..." Then the yellow mare with the pink mane flew up next to Zero. "Oh dear, are you alright? you look hurt..." she said worriedly. "...Don't worry...I am alright...thank you for you concern...I must be going..." He continued straight into the forest. He didn't want too much attention, unfortunately, he wasn't doing a very good job at it. Just having the bare minimum of contact was already messing him up. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Even Later Than That --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- While wandering the forest, looking for shelter Zero heard the sound of combat from nearby, so, curiously, he left to investigate. He was surprised to find a boy around his age, falling from high in the air, annihilating a bear myth, he didn't get to see what level it was, as it was destroyed too quickly. He decided he would like to speak with this fighter. Zero walked out into the clearing and approached the boy. "...I saw you defeat that myth..." Zero said, getting to the point. "Yeah...what about it?" the boy asked. He seemed rather confident, that sparked Zero's interest. "...Normally...a myth can't be shattered like that...from just any attack..." he stated. The boy seemed eager to get on with the conversation. "Your point?" Zero did not wait any longer to move it along."...How strong are you...?" "Well, i'm told i'm only a lower D class fighter, but I know it's bull, they just can't handle me." He said. this got Zero curious. "He's strong enough that they lie about his power?" he thought. What the boy said next caught Zero off gaurd. "Speaking of strength, those shackles your wearing have sealing runes on them, there a reason for that?" Zero decided to make a blind shot at the feint runic energy he felt. "...maybe the same reason you wear that mask..." "What, you have a monster in you too?" The boy said. Zero was absolutely shocked, but the myth inside his heart refused to let him express it. "...you too...?" he asked. The boy gabe a small "hmm?" then continued. "Well, yeah..." This was the clicker for Zero, finally, someone else like him. Someone else with a beast trying to hold back their heart. Unfortunately, Zero still had to keep himself under the radar for a little longer, until he could get his operation set up properly, but that didn't mean he couldn't know the name of his "noh" brethren. Zero spoke once more. "...What's your name...?" he asked. "I'm Regret." the boy said. Regret...powerful name." Zero thought. "...I am...Zero..." He turned to leave. "...Nice meeting you...Regret..." and took his leave. > Chapter 6: Dimensional Travel Sucks > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- It had been a week since the mythbusters arrived, and they were fitting in quite well. Natalie had taken to visiting Twilight for lunch, Zack had helped out Fluttershy when he wasn't patrolling, and the cutie mark crusaders enjoyed following Maxwell into the everfree forest to watch him hunt myths, much to his frustration. Normally, Toby would play with Kepher for the majority of the day, but today, Kepher was off to who knows where and he didn't know why. Toby sat in his room, wondering what he would do that day. "Psylocke is usually at auntie Twilight's house about now...maybe i'll go see what they're up too..." he thought. He got up and went downstairs to find Fluttershy had left a note for him on the dining table. ___________________________________________________________________________ Dear Toby, I've gone to Rarity's for tea, if you need anything, come find me. Love, Fluttershy. ___________________________________________________________________________ Toby put the note down and decided to head out right away, he left and started down the path to Twilight's house. On his way, Rainbow dash flew beside him. "Hey little buddy? watcha up to?" she asked. "Hi auntie Rainbow, i'm just going to auntie Twilight's for a bit." he said. "Okay cool. I'm gonna get back to training, I wanna be at my best when I race Sugar cane later today, the kids off training on his own, and i'm not letting him get ahead of me!" Toby smiled. "So that's where he's disappeared to..." Rainbow dash nodded. "Yeah, well see ya later." and she flew off. A little later, he finally reached Twilight's library. He knocked and heard a familiar voice answer. "Coming!" The door opened and there stood Spike. "Oh, hey Toby." he said. Toby smiled softly. "Hey spike, I was wondering if I could chat with auntie Twilight and Psylocke for a bit." "Oh sure, they're over there." Spike pointed to the two girls sitting beside eachother. Natalie was using some sort of cell phone. "Hi Psy, what's that thing?" he asked. She looked at him with a grin. "Hey Squirt. it's nothing much, just a dimensional rift phone, it's a lot stronger than a normal phone, strong enough to be able to call into other worlds. I was just sending a weekly report to my boss to tell him how things are going." She continued typing away at the small keyboard that had runes instead of letters. Twilight had been staring at the device, fascinated deeply, but she snapped back into focus at the mention of a boss. "I send weekly letters to princess Celestia! Wow, what else could we have in common?" she beamed. Natalie looked back to Twilight. "Well...my boss is my uncle, and he isn't the big boss, just higher up than me. The real bosses are called the counsel of noh." Toby stiffened a little at hearing the word. "Noh? that's what Sugar cane said was dark energy or something..." Natalie shot a serious look at him. "Not exactly... noh is the name for the aura around the body of every living thing. The color represents the amount of energy in the being, thus gauging its power. Those who would spend long periods of time around myths however, do tend to develop negative energy in their noh aura, the counsel have the strongest noh of anyone else, they lead the mythbusters." Toby held his hand to his chin in a thinking manor. "Hmmm so that kid did have contact with myths..." Natalie looked puzzled. "What kid?" she asked. "Some kid that walked in on me and Sugar cane while we were baking at auntie Pinkie's. He had shackles on...Sugar cane said the boy had a dark noh aura." Natalie looked up from her phone. "Oh, you saw that kid too? his clothes were all torn up, so i told him to try going to Rarity's." "Well that explains why he was so fancy when I saw him at home... he wandered off into the everfree." he replied. She looked back down. "Well, Regret is out there, so we don't have to worry." Twilight smiled. "Speaking of which, Applebloom and her friends still follow him everywhere. they seem to really like him, I've seen them pretending to fight myths in the park trying to imitate him." She giggled at the memory. "I don't think Regret is someone they should be imitating." Natalie said, laughing. She finally finished with her report and looked to Toby. "Hey, kid." He looked at her curiously. "You wanna check out my phone?" He jumped. "Really?" he asked. "Sure,who knows, maybe I can get you one if you want." "Woah, that would be awesome!" He sat down beside her. "Alright," she said, "this phone doesn't only let me communicate through dimensions, but with enough energy, it can transport me to another world, that's only for emergencies though, as the recharge time is fifteen hours, along with trying to get more energy to activate it again." Toby tilted his head to the side. "What kind of emergency would need you to go to another world?" Natalie got serious for a second. "Well, what if I'm here on my mission, and randomly, a two hundred foot tall myth with godlike power smashes through earth? I have to go there and help, don't I?" Toby nodded. Then Twilight spoke again. "Wow, traveling through worlds... the only one i can think of that can do that is Discord..." Twilight was looking at the phone with new curiosity, after all, if it could do that, it must have many other features worthy of study. Natalie gave her a grim frown. "It doesn't work perfectly, not anymore at least. Since myths are constantly breaking the barriers between worlds, dimensional travel by these phones becomes slowly less predictable, sometimes sending us to a world far from our destination." Toby tensed up. "Breaking the barriers...isn't going to do anything insane, is it?" he asked, scared of the answer. "No...the barriers repair themselves, they just get less respondent to the phone's dimension traveling functions until they are fully restored." Toby let out a sigh of relief. Then, Natalie had an idea. "Hey... how about we go back to earth? just you and me? I could show you around headquarters. It's alright, seeing as your from a land of magical talking ponies, i doubt anyone would second guess you, and we would only be gone a couple of hours." Toby thought for a moment. "I'll have to ask mamma, I trust you Psy, but I don't think mamma would be happy if the warp went wrong and we ended up in the frozen tundra or something..." Natalie nodded. "Well, you go ask her, I need to go back to headquarters anyway to request some extra supplies, I think we're a little unprepared here...with ponies apparently not being able to fight anything above E level...so i'll wait for you for about a half hour, then if your not here, I'm going alone." Toby nodded and ran out the door. He really wanted to go see the mythbuster's home. Just how different from his was it? He remembered seeing some weird shadowy creatures over the coarse of his life on earth, but he just overlooked it as shading of normal animals, but now, he had a whole new perspective. Twilight looked at Natalie with concern. "Are you serious?" she asks. Natalie smiles warmly. "Yeah, it could be lots of fun to show him around, maybe they'll make him an honorary mythbuster, so he has access to a dimensional phone, and other equipment, plus he wants to help us out, so why not let him?" Twilight gave her an intense stare. "You have no idea what he went through on earth..." "No, but i guess if he's uncomfortable, I can just ask about it." Twilight shook her head. "He might get upset at the memories if he talks about it,so if you do ask him...make it really gentle." Natalie looked her in the eye. "I am nothing but gentle when it comes to someones past, and trust me, whatever his tragedy is, me and the others can feel his pain, you might not know it," she looked to the ground, a tear forming in her eye, however she had a forced smile barely visible."but me and the others have some pretty grim stories too..." She gave a feint giggle. Twilight looked at her with a saddened expression. Natalie noticed the look and shook her head to get rid of the bad thoughts."Nevermind, it's not important." ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Meanwhile At The Carousel Boutique ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "I'm really enjoying our time together, Rarity." Fluttershy said as she sat across from her friend at a small table. "Oh, darling, the feeling is mutual. I can't remember the last time I've had a peaceful day as this, with no monsters to ruin it." Just then, They heard the bell ring. "Oh, who could that be?" Rarity got up and walked towards the entrance. "Hello auntie Rarity." Toby said as he walked up and gave her a hug. "Hello sweetie, do you need something?" she asked. "Actually, I need to speak with mamma real quick." "Alright then, she is just over there." She led him over to where Fluttershy was sitting. "Hello mamma, I was wondering... If i could go with Psylocke to her home? she offered to give me a tour of the mythbuster base." he smiled at her with pleading eyes. Both Fluttershy and Rarity were speechless. He spoke again. "It would only be for a day!" Fluttershy spoke up. "Well... If you're going with Psylocke, then i guess it's okay...but it's only for a day, right?" "Yes mamma, I promise." he said, holding his hand above his heart. "Alright then..." she said, still a little bit worried, but she was reassured knowing that Psylocke would protect him. Rarity smiled at Toby brightly. "Well, if he's going to the mythbuster base, he had better stay away from any dangerous weapons. We've seen what power they have in those tiny things." Toby nodded. "I'll be very careful auntie." He jumped with joy as he rushed out back to the library. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Once Again At The Library ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- At least twenty minutes had passed and Twilight couldn't get what Psylocke had said out of her head. "So... you said you guys had grim pasts...is that why Regret is so grouchy?" she asked. Natalie looked up at her. "I don't know, he seems to switch between being annoyingly cheerful and being miserable. we have no idea what his problem is, he doesn't appear to have multiple personality disorder or anything..." just then Toby came in through the door. "Mamma said yes!" he cheered. Natalie shot out of her daze as she looked at him. "Great! we can leave right after we go over a few rules." she said. Toby nodded. "First, you have to wear this at all times." she handed him a digital watch with many buttons on the sides." It's a communicator. it has other functions too, but that is the only one you should pay attention to." He put it on. It was very comfortable. "Wow, i'm so exited!" He cheered.Natalie started to push buttons on her phone. Then a light shined from the camera lens and fire across the room onto the wall, spreading into a portal. "Well, there we go, the portal to the mythbuster base." Toby looked through the portal to see an extremely large building surrounded by a field with trees scattered around, it was at the center of a large city. the building was rectangular with a glass dome at the center of the roof, and the whole building was a chrome silver color. Toby was speechless. He slowly walked towards the portal in awe, only to realize too late, that he had just crossed over. Natalie laughed a bit. "Don't worry Twi, I'll make sure he stays out of trouble." she said. "Alright. but don't stay gone too long, you never know when Fluttershy will freak out with worry." Natalie then followed Toby through the portal. "Alright kid," she said. "stay close to me, okay?" she held out her hand. "Alright." he replied, and took hold of her hand. They walked into the front door of the large compound and head to the receptionist. Natalie signed a paper on the desk. "This is Toby, he's my guest here today, could i have a guest pass for him?" The woman behind the counter handed her a tag with Toby's name already on it. "There you go." They walked around for a while, Natalie showing Toby the break room, the weight room, the classrooms, the locker rooms, and the training simulators, all had chrome based shining bright colors, however the room design looked like ordinary school rooms with some office building features thrown in. After two hours had passed site-seeing, they began to walk towards the break room for lunch. they where about to enter when Natalie looked to her right to see a boy similar to Toby walking towards them. "Oh shit!" she said, realization striking her. She pushed Toby into the break room and followed suite, closing the door behind them. "What's wrong?" he asked. "Nothing, nothing at all...i'm just hungry..." she lied. *Crap, i totally forgot this compound was the one with the time machine...* she thought. *we never see the thing anyway...why didn't i recognize Toby the second i saw him!? The Toby we know has been with us for years!* She seated Toby nearby and went for the food, she returned with trays of food for each of them, but stopped in her tracks. The two Tobys were in a conversation. *Oh no...* she panicked in her mind. she walked over and gave Toby his tray, and trying to keep calm, she sat down next to the second Toby. "Hey Psy, this guys name is Tobi, with an i, though i guess it'll still be hard to tell us apart without addressing us through writing, haha." They both chuckled a bit. Natalie nudged Tobi. "What are you doing? messing with an alternate version of yourself could mess him up, how would he react if he knew you were him!?" Tobi just leaned back and whispered his reply. "c'mon, there are only, like, four timelines that connect to each other, its not a big deal, besides, he doesn't know, and I don't plan on telling him...unless i have a reason to." He looked to the door and his eyes widened a little. "Gotta go..." he said as he dashed away. Toby laughed. "What got him so jumpy?" Just then three large men with futuristic battle suits walked up to Toby. "Tobi Mason?" the one in front asked. "Yes..." "You missed training this morning, you're required to go through the procedure or you won't be allowed to go on any missions untill the next evaluation." Toby gave a confused look. "Wha..." "Come with us please." they grabbed him and took him away. Natalie shook her head. "This won't end well..." Music once again! Before he knew it, Toby was inside a large gymnasium of sorts. They led him to a garage door in the wall which opened to reveal a weapon storage room. "Here is your usual." The man tossed Toby a guitar with a small piano under the strings. He was still incredibly confused as to what was going on. Toby was pushed into the Gym as all doors closed around him and the humming of various vents could be heard around him. "We know you've been off duty the last few weeks, so we'll start small to get you back up to speed, we're starting with E class." Toby froze in fear as realization finally struck him. He wanted to shout at them, he wanted to tell them they had the wrong boy, but it had already begun. Five myths, wolves, ran towards him. He instinctively jumped out of the way and performed a roll, getting back to his feet. he hoped with all his heart that what he was about to do would work. He flipped the switch on his guitar, and magically, runes began to glow on the keys and around the strings. He played some music with the piano half which caused the tip to glow. He held the guitar like a rifle and aimed the head at a wolf, and with pure will, he was able to make the guitar fire a magical bullet at the target, destroying it. "Whoa, that was cool..." he said to himself. Another wolf jumped at him, but he stood his ground and swung his guitar like a bat, smashing the wolf square in the head and defeating it. Normally, he would have been scared stiff, trembling and calling for help, but for some reason, he felt so much braver, so much stronger, when he held this strange guitar. He ran towards the last 3 wolves who had stuck together waiting for a chance to strike. Toby jumped up bringing his guitar crashing down on the one to the left, immediately after the impact he swung again, smashing the middle wolf, after that, he flipped the guitar back to gun position and fired his musical missiles at the last one. He then heard a voice from the intercom. "Okay, that's enough, you passed today's evaluation." The door opened and Toby walked back to the break room to find Psylocke. Luckily for him, he passed her on the way. "Hey Toby! you okay?" she called to him. she was sitting on a bench in the lobby, next to Tobi, who had apparently been talking with her for a while. He walked up to them slowly, a dark and angry look in his eye. "Perfect!" he jumped up and smiled largely. "I beat up some myths with a guitar! and look, they let me keep it!" he took it off of his back and showed it to them.Natalie smiled at him. "Oh, lucky you! it suits you perfectly! I don't think they'll let you keep it once they find out your not actually one of us though..." Toby frowned at this. Tobi took out a piece of paper and handed it to Toby. his eyes widened. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- NEW SUBJECT _________________________________________________________________________ Subject #5 Birth Name: Toby Mason Age: 9 Code Name: Crescendo Class: Musician of Harmony Weapon of choice: Guitar Keyboard with runes engraved into the keys, in standard mode, works as and ordinary instrument, in weapon mode, pressing keys activates different attack modes. MythBuster Clearance level: D- Appearance: Short brown hair, normally wears a bright right tailcoat and dress pants, both have a velvety texture, yet are tough as iron. wears glasses and dress shoes with rune jets in the heels.Special locket from his mother is on him at all times. Special talent: Very kind, easily makes allies out of pretty much anyone he meets, can call on support from various allies around him, be they animals or people. Solid Heart Activation: Sonic Catyclism - Creates various effects which differ depending on the mood of the user, ranging from a small fireball to summoning an army of demons. Description: Joined at the age of seven, claims to have made a wish to have a new home, and a few hours after, a myth attacked his home, and was defeated by a mythbuster who was passing by. The boy showed interest in keeping the innocent safe and was asked to go through a test of willpower and passed with flying colors. He was taken into the care of Captain Theodore Gevrenn, the subject who had saved him that night, when the boys father was deemed unfit to care for him. ________________________________________________________________________ Toby looked at his counterpart with surprise and confusion. Tobi spoke up. "Don't worry, it's my old one, the idiots messed up the data, the age is current, but the info is old, my current one is way different, so they shouldn't be able to tell. Also, here." He took out a dimension cube and materialized some clothes into Toby's arms, they were the same as the ones described in the report. "Your welcome." He turned and left swiftly. Natalie, eager to forget what just happened, stood up and took Toby's hand. "Alright... We should be heading back now..." They where at the teleporter in a matter of minutes. Toby looked at her. "How am i supposed to explain all this stuff i'm bringing back?" thoughts of his promise to Fluttershy flooded his mind. "We'll figure something out, i'm sure..." Natalie rubbed his hair and they went back through the portal to Equestria. > Chapter 7: Don't Fear The Reaper > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- A few hours after returning home, we find toby lying on his bed staring at the ceiling, playing his guitar. When there is a knock at the window. A feint "Yo!" could be heard as toby sat up and looked towards the window, he already knew who it was. "Hey Regret, you okay?" The masked boy opens the window and looks around frantically. "No! those girls are driving me nuts! they're with me twenty-four freaking seven!" "Hehe, that's what you get for showing off, you got some fangirls." "It's not funny! it's seriously cramping my style, i'm supposed to be the dark lone wolf, slashing out myths without problem and going solo into danger! I can't have a bunch of little girls following me around all the time!" "Really? You're actually trying to be that guy? *sigh* I'd love to help you, but i'm grounded for fighting..." Regret tilted his head in confusion. "What?" "*sigh* I was thrown into a simulation and had to fight some myths, i got cut on my arm and didn't notice it until i got back and mom saw it. Luckily she didn't notice my guitar because I had put it in my dimension cube, and she wasn't mad at Psy." By now, Regret had climbed in and hid in the corner. "So, was it as exiting as you had hoped?" "I was terrified! I never wanna do that again! It was traumatizing." "Heh, the first one always is." "How do you do it? you fight those things all the time and think nothing of it, the only reason I lived was because of the adrenaline rush I got when i realized I might die." "I can't tell you how I do it, everyone has their own thing they do, you need to find what works for you." "Okay...Hey, Regret?" "Yeah?" "It's...um..." "It's about the weapon isn't it?" Toby nods nervously. "It won't make myths attack me more than normal or anything?" Regret takes hold of the guitar and rubs his hands over the rune carvings. "No, they're too stupid to tell the difference between a normal opponent and someone who can use runes." "Oh... Well thanks for telling me, it's been grating on my mind for a while." "No problem, if you need to learn anything else... ask Psylocke, because i hate explaining things." Toby smiled at the gesture of Regret finally having a normal conversation. He then noticed a slight shimmer in Regrets mask and notices that he has eyes of a strange color. "That's cool, don't see many with gold eyes. does Vice have them too?" "Yeah, but his are brighter, mine are dull, kinda sucks for me, I'd like heroic sparkling eyes too." Toby got up and sat down across from his friend."Oh, I've been meaning to ask you some more things about myths and stuff too..." "Like?" "Why are they called that anyway?" "Well they began just copying old folklore like gryphons and unicorns, which i guess aren't just stories anymore... they copied manticores, dragons, and we even saw a cyclops or two, so we called them Myths, and because the first MythBusters were a group of teenagers with no imagination, we got our organization. I wanna be called something cool like 'The Universal Defense Corpse' but nooooo...We're the freaking whimsical 'Mythbusters' maybe we should start carrying vacuum cleaners everywhere, maybe it would fit the name better." Toby laughed and fell over. Regret holds his hands up. "Okay, calm down, not that funny." "I'm not laughing at the joke, I'm laughing because i pictured you walking around trying to fight things like that." Regret shivers. "That would be a sad attempt at victory..." Regret got an idea a few moments later. "Hey, i just realized that guitar is Tobi's right? like, the other one?" Toby regained his posture trying to ease his sore lungs. "Hehehe... Yeah, he gave it to me." Regret gave Toby an incredibly evil smile that was hidden by the mask. "How about I train you to use it?" The question caught Toby off guard. "What? why would you want to?" "It's the whole reason we're here! we were supposed to gather some ponies to make a whole new branch of mythbusters here, but the ponies can't harm them at all!" "Oh yeah...auntie twilights magic worked, kinda... but they started shrugging it off after a while." "Okay then, let's go." "Where?" "To the everfree, to train!" "I can't! I'm grounded!" Regret grabs Toby by the collar and jumps out the window, landing perfectly. Regret grins evilly once more, and once again, Toby is oblivious to it. "There we go, doesn't that feel much better than being locked up?" Toby paniced. "No! Mom's really nice, so she only put me in there for an hour, if she finds out i'm out, i'll get in worse trouble!" Regret chuckled. "Don't worry, I've got this." He pulled out a small pill and held it in front of Toby, he then smacked him behind the head, knocking some spit from his mouth onto the pill. Toby held his head. "OW! What was that for!?" Regret tossed the pill onto Toby's bed, and within seconds, it become a copy of Toby sleeping on top of the covers." The boys eyes widened. "How'd you do that!?" Toby gasped out. Regret gave him a wink. "We may be nearly the same age, but I have much more experience with being a ninja than you do." "You're a ninja?" Toby asks. "The student does not question the teacher..." "But the teachers job is to answer students questions in order to teach them..." "Would you let me have my moment!?" Regret shouts before regaining his posture. "Oh, and take this." He handed Toby a dimension cube. "It's got basic gear, like a notebook on runes and some first aid stuff, and a couple of other things." Toby smiled brightly. "Thanks!" "Don't mention it." Regret smiles as he and Toby head into the woods. A little while later, Toby and Regret stand in a clearing deep in the everfree, beside a lake and waterfall. "This area is usually myth and monster free, so it's a suitable sparring zone." Regret places his arms behind his head. Toby's eyes widen. "W-wait...sparring? I have to fight you!?" he backs away a little. "The best way to learn is by doing it yourself, combat is easy once you do it enough, trust me." Regret places his left hand on his right glove and jiggles the metal plate on the back hand, making a small clicking sound. The glove lights up with runes on the plate. He repeats the process with the other glove. Toby shacks his head. "Trusting you is what got me out here, I don't want to fight!" Regret rolls his eyes, still blocked by the mask. "Look, I know you're probably scared because i have more experience or whatever, but like I said, you'll get used to it." Toby folds his arms. "What if I don't want to get used to it?" "Well, that's too damn bad." Regret's shoes glow and a loud crackling of fire can be heard as flames shoot out of the heels and he rockets towards Toby. "AAAAAAAH!" The boy screams and shuts his eyes. When he opens them, he finds Regret holding his fist just an inch from his face. Regret stands at ease. "You need to stop freaking out, seriously..." He says. "You flew at me at, like, mach three! A little warning would've been nice..." Regret smiles evilly once more. "Well the myths don't care if you ready or not, speaking of which..." He says as he gives Toby a swift side kick to the gut, sending him flying at least fifteen feet, landing on the grass. "Ow!owowowow!" Toby whines, holding his stomach. Toby then removes his guitar from his back and activates it. He fires three shots at Regret, which are easily avoided. "C'mon, that all? I was hoping you where as tough as your twin back at HQ, haha, that dude can punch right through a concrete wall." Toby rushes in swinging the guitar, the bladed edge nearly hitting it's target, but not quite. "Hahaha! you can do better!" Regret kicks Toby away once more. He gets up again, and this time coughs up a little bit of blood. Regret quickly returns to his serious side. "Alright, lets head back." he turns away. Toby yells out. "What!? we just started!" Regret turns his head to see the weary child. "If you're coughing up blood when I haven't even done anything serious, then your not worth training. stick to helping out your mom and aunts around ponyville. They would die if you were their protector, so leave the fighting to the real heroes, I can find someone else to train." "I can fight just fine!" "You were cowering just a moment ago, and when i start the sparring session, your on the ground in seconds, how am I supposed to train you to protect others when you can't protect yourself? You have heart, I'll give you that, but that won't help you when it's pierced by a blade." Toby activates all the runes on his guitar and extends the blade on the edge. He reaches into his pocket, taking his dimension cube. In seconds, he's put on the fingerless gloves, the red trench coat, and the sunvisor attachments for his glasses. "I'll show you!" He shouts, finally regaining his will to fight that he had gotten in the training room, and with his newfound determination, rushes towards his teacher. Regret smiles and gets into a combat stance. "We'll see." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Elsewhere ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A blonde boy walks through a brightly lit hall, searching for something. "Oh, c'mon, where is it...?" he mutters to himself. "Serge?" he hears his name and turns. "Oh, Zero, what's up?" He asks. "...We were... called to the main office...important...business." "Alright, I'll be there in a minute, I just need to find my ball. the stupid thing keeps disappearing." Zero looks around him and shuts his eyes. "I...will aid you..." He begins walking slowly, heading towards a door to their left. "...It is right..." He opens the door, leading to a storage room. "...here..." he says, grabbing a glowing ball with slight electric pulses coming from it, out of a box. Serge happily scoops it up. "Thanks buddy. I just can't understand how this thing does that... good thing you have your second sight, huh?" Zero simply nods. The two boys headed for the main office to see what they were called for. As they walked, they felt a presence behind them but ignored it. Zero entered the room first, with Serge following directly after, however the doors closed before he could get through, causing him to walk into the doors. "OW! WHAT THE HELL!?" he shouts. Faint laughter can be heard all around him. "shut the hell up! it's not funny!" he yells at the laughing voice. As they stand in the room, Ms. Varren sits behind the large desk in front of them, it is plain dark oak color, various papers and office equipment scattered on top. The rest of the room is unappealing, with only a small coffee table and a small couch on their right, and on the left there are various bookcases and desks. "Welcome boys." She says. Zero and Serge sit on the couch while waiting for instruction. There have been a few minor incidents with the gate closing procedures, as more energy has been pouring through the gates it is taking longer to close them, all I need is for you two to go remove the energy fields that have appeared, there is one in ponyville and one in the desert to the west of there. that is the best direction i can give you at the moment." After being dismissed the two boys leave to head to the desert as the third member of their squad appears beside Varren. "I'm sure you heard everything?" she says. "Of coarse..." comes a boy who seems to have appeared out of thin air. Varren sighs. "You still haven't had a bio file created by the way." "I don't want one, Zero just let you because he's a puppet, i don't need my info in your systems so you can blackmail me." He gives a sinister smile. "But that doesn't mean I'm not on your team, I'd be happy to take the ponyville case..." "Very well," Varren says. "But make sure you don't do anything drastic, we don't want attention drawn to us, do you hear me Saint?" "Crystal clear boss." he says, fading into a shadowy vortex. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ponyville 20 Minutes Later ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Pinkie Pie dances around her kitchen singing various tunes to fit her mood, which is, as usual, all smiles. "I can't believe they've been here for weeks and I forgot to throw them a welcome party! that's so unlike me... I'll just have to make this one an ultra fantastic deluxe super party!" She says to herself as she bakes the cake she is going to surprise them with when they come for their daily break. Unbeknownst to her, someone made an unexpected visit... She hears the front door bell's jingle, telling her a customer has come in. "I'll be right there!" she calls. Why did the cakes have to make a delivery today of all days? As she steps out to the front counter, she is shocked by the sight before her. Another human! This one with black hair slicked back in a dignified manor, but his eyes were wide as if in shock, and his smile...that smile was one from her nightmares, but of coarse she had learned to never judge on appearance alone. He wore a black shirt with the sleeves torn off and a picture cracked skull with a scythe stuck in its left eye socket in the center of the chest, bright brown pants with a belt around the waist and a chain hanging from his right hip, apparently clipped to the belt, on the bottom of the loop in the chain was a small cube, it was purple with misty patterns. His shoes seemed to be thick and were pure black, most likely steel toe, although Pinkie had no idea how she knew what "steel toe" was. As she was processing this boy, he spoke to her with a seemingly restless manor. "Hi there little pony, how's it goin?" his "h's" were dragged on a little and he tilted his head a little as he spoke, Pinkie immediately knew something was up. "Um, can I help you in some way?" she says nervously."I'm a bit busy setting a party up for my friends, so i wanna get back to that as quickly as possible, i'll try my best to get what you need first though." she was saying anything in an attempt to move things along at this point, the boy didn't seem to mind. He lifted his hand and pointed to the kitchen. "There aren't any other ponies here at the moment, maybe I can help you out? I love parties..." he says, adding a giggle at the end. This immediately perks her up and she leads him into the kitchen. "Here we are! thanks for offering to help. for a moment I thought you were really creepy, but you seem nice enough." He gives her a smile. "Things aren't always what they seem, sometimes the cover of the book explains it all." "What does that mean?" "Tell me...what is your favorite type of party?" "Oh! that's a toughie... I love all parties, It's so hard to choose..." "I'll make it a little easier by telling you my favorite then..." The boy then reaches for the cube and magically summons a scythe to his hand."My favorite party is..." He pounds the handle to the ground. "A CORPSE PARTY!!!" As he yells, the floorboards began to shack and crack, pushing up as whatever was underneath clawed their way out. Pinkie Pie tried her best to escape, but all exits were locked, the front door and all the windows were sealed by a magical force she could not overcome. "Why are you doing this!?" she screamed, on the verge of tears. "Fear of death is what makes you enjoy life all the more...we fear it, hate it, and avoid it, but it is what every life comes to in the end." He said with a sinister smile that could only belong to that of a demon. Pinkie froze when the floorboards cracked and finally, the creatures emerged. She could only cower in fear as skeletons of ponies rose from the ground and began to walk near her, bones creaking and chattering, closer and closer they got. The boy simply sat down, and with a voice smooth as silk, said, "Watching a peaceful death of a living being reminds us of a falling star; one of a million lights in a vast sky that flares up for a brief moment only to disappear into the endless night forever.If you spend all your time worrying about dying, living isn't going to be much fun.Some are so afraid to die that they never begin to live.