> The Equestrian Wars: The Chronicles of the Legendary Six
>  by CrimsonBeatz
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Prologue
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Upon the land of Equestria, there lived six stallions, powerful as the eyes could ever see. They were faster than the speed of sound, strong as the Ursa Major’s strengths, and skilled in the ways of magic equal to StarSwirl the Bearded. They saved Ponyville, more importantly, they saved the land of Equestria from multiple disasters and now, are forever known as the Guardians of the Elements. They now protect the Mane Six and the rest of their loved ones from threats that dare come to face them in the eye of battle. These six heroes are named: Blitz Beatz the Alicorn, Daze the Pegasus, Eclipse the Unicorn, Phoenix the Unicorn, Cwolf the Pegasus, and Nocturne the Unicorn Zebra. They never gave up without a serious fight, even when the odds were against them, they always stood on top of the situation. They’ve also had their fun times as well, video games, challenges they dared one another to do, even pranks they pulled on each other when they least expect it. The things that any kind of friends would do, as long as it doesn’t go too far. These well known ponies came from different places of Equestria with stories, explaining what makes them who they are today. 
Beatz is an alicorn, though he is modest about being one, he hides his wings to not reveal the kind of pony he is, for he is afraid of being treated differently than how he is now, not to mention he can’t hide his horn. Originated from a kingdom outside from Equestria, but left with his family members to experience things outside of royalty. Yet, he only likes being noticed for his music: Remixes, Raps, Songs, and Instrumentals. When he was a little colt, he gained his galaxy shaped sixteenth-note cutie mark by making a whole song on his own in grade school for Vinyl. The reason for writing this song is that he discovered the depression Vinyl  had with bullies in school, so he wanted to cheer her up with the one thing she had in common with him. It made Vinyl very happy to hear that song, so she started to hang out with him all the time. In the present, he worked alongside Vinyl as DJ partners for years and finally had the guts to ask her to be his special somepony in the process. She had the same feelings for him after all of the things he did for her, so she happily agreed, which Beatz reacted with the most hilarious “WOOHOO” jump and yell ever. Embarrassing as hell. Even though he is just a music loving pony, he is never to be underestimated in combat. His father, Rhythm Crescendo, has trained him in the way of martial arts, and the great magics in all of Equestria for his own son to defend himself. Rhythm knew he wasn’t always going to be there for his son, so he took his chances of teaching him at a young age, but a discovery was made from the colt having dimensional powers. Meaning this foal could learn techniques and retrieve objects from different dimensions. As long as Beatz has his founded power, he will protect his loved ones.
Daze is a pegasus, a determined and powerful one in fact. Daze is the kind of pony to be defending and trustworthy, but when he is around his certain mare friend, he gets shy and only responds to her. He met Rainbow, Soarin, and Spitfire in flight school when they were young, being best friends now as full-grown ponies. Though, Daze trained himself to prove that he is the fastest pegasus in Equestria and to be worthy of Rainbow Dash’s interest. His training paid off in not only speed, but strength as well, gaining levels beyond Wonderbolt material. Gaining his cutie mark, he had to overcome his one and true fear that killed his parents. Surpassing the speed and the ability to dodge the electric voltage of a lightning bolt in a tornado, he gained the cutie mark of a black cloud with lightning.  Daze has had his hardships, but gained everything he wanted in his life. He has his beloved mare friend and best friends by his side, supporting him all the way.
Cwolf is a pegasus as well. A prankster at times and complains little about hardly anything, unless he is forced to do something he really doesn’t want to do. His cutie mark are three paw-prints with a yin-yang symbol inside of it, considering he had been raised by timber wolves as a young colt. The yin-yang part of his cutie mark represents...well, a balance between himself and his “beast” side. Cwolf lives at the farm with the apple family when he started to work with them on the first day he met Applejack, working his flank off to help them with their harvesting everyday until he dropped down tired. As he continued to help, he gained a strong relationship with Applejack and a great friendship with the rest of the family, which they took him in as an Apple family member.
Phoenix is a unicorn, a sweet craver and a really good cook for all kinds of sweets as well, with the talent of drawing. He makes a lot of drawings: successes, failures, discontinued sketches with improvements one after another until he came upon his perfected drawing of a phoenix as a young colt. This phoenix represented a lot of things to him: Passion, Inspiration, Progress, which added up to a “Burning Heart” to motivate him to draw this one thing he found as his greatest success. He concentrated on that one sketch of a phoenix, improving and becoming more detailed as he continued on with this one thing he could draw very well, which ended up in creating a flaming-tipped paintbrush cutie mark that represented his burning passion for his talent. He works at Sugarcube Corner with Pinkie Pie, helping her with cooking and trying out sweets here and there to see if they are just right. Due to her outgoing and fun personality, Phoenix liked her very much and Pinkie loved the company from him, even though there was some twist and turns to get her to be closer to him, which caused a lot of injuries to this grown stallion. Yet, in the end, they both started to date, loving each other for who they are and not regretting anything from their past that brings them together now.
Eclipse is a mysterious unicorn, the one to have anger issues with just the small touch of irritation and not to mention, he is the strongest of the group. This stallion is described to have a blue mane with a white coat, and to have an unusual past, dating back to Starswirl the Bearded’s time. Actually, he had been adopted, taught, and raised by Starswirl the Bearded when Eclipse had no pony else to turn to. Also, the unicorn is to be immortal, but that story is for another time. His cutie mark, a solar eclipse had been earned in this one, well, unusual way; considering he wanted to do something to show up against Princess Celestia, since he hated her, but not Princess Luna. One morning, Princess Celestia woke up to a black object over shadowing the sun with everypony staring at it with fear. She thought that Luna might have been the cause of this, but under no surprise, she wasn’t the one behind this. Princess Celestia then discovered Eclipse in the sky, controlling the moon with the magic he gained from Starswirl and continuously moving it over the sun. As he finished, the solar eclipse actually looked beautiful at first glimpse and Eclipse explained to everypony that Luna has been ignored for the magic of the moon. So every pony viewed Luna a bit more differently with the princess of the moon giving the colt some recognition.
Nocturne, a unicorn mixed with the characteristics of a zebra. His appearance is quite unusual, considering the fact he’s a mixed pony. Describing this guardian, he’s a green zebra with orange stripes with his cutie mark being an orange swirl, similar to Zecora’s cutie mark. Discovering his talent after performing a strange occurence of his newly found ability of voodoo magic, when using it against ponies who attempted to hurt Twilight during his days at The Academy of Gifted Unicorns. With this discovery, he goes to Zecora to teach him more about voodoo, which this was about the time Zecora wasn’t accepted by the Ponyville folk yet. Of course, when reaching his limits to gain power and learn more, he gained his cutie mark and became known as the Death Pony.
Though, over the years, after fulfilling their mission as the Guardians of the Elements, Beatz left his friends and loved ones to the Crystal Empire. He didn’t want to leave, but he had to, just to exceed his current magic capabilities with some ponies he never knew of and investigate about the event that has taken place over at his greatest historical siting; The Temple of the Ancients. Once, all were ponies, until something had been triggered in the temple, and transformed all ponies of Equestria, and the rest of the world to what they call now: Humanized Ponies. Beatz now has his investigations and career to take care of, but, now the team is reunited to face their greatest challenges of the greatest foes they might have ever encountered.
> Chapter 1: The Beat is Back in Town
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	It is morning, sunlight bathing over the land and a cool breeze blows through. It is like every average day crossing through the grasslands: tranquility, harmonious, and restful. Yet, walking through the peaceful grasslands, DJ Nucl3ar, also known as Beatz has his shoulder bag with a Vinyl Scratch theme on it, including his shrunken sound system, turntable, and series of instruments inside of it, thanks to his magic, while heading to Ponyville. He thought about what was so important to be called back over, that he had to stop his research, yet, he put his headphones on for some time, listening to his usual music. He danced to the song he is listening to while rapping with it at the same time.
After he was done, Beatz continued to go back into his deep thought. "Daze and the others better have called me over for a good reason. I might’ve finished my training, but I’m still in the middle of my investigation." Beatz complained. “Yet, on the bright side of it, I’ll at least see them again. Remembering all the years with those guys were one hell of a blast.” Beatz thought in his head as he started to chuckle. “And I’ll also get to see my sweet Vinyl again… I’ve missed her so much. I wish I hadn’t left.” Beatz blushed as he thought more and more of his beloved mare friend. “Unfortunately, I had to.” He sighed. On his way, he walked toward the Everfree forest. "Well this is just great, it’s this damn forest. Ugh..." Beatz sighed with his palm against his face. He looked around the border of the forest and saw no other way pass it. With no choice, he walked in, lifting branches and cutting through weeds “Can’t believe I have to go through this cursed forest to make it to Ponyville, I can hardly see through this fog of nature!” He complained. After an hour with a few scrapes, he made it through. “Well finally, I’d hate to get lost in there…” He dusted himself off and continues on his way. Down the path, he finds Ponyville over the hill. "Finally here, if I'm correct, everypony should be waiting at Sugarcube Corner. Hopefully, I won't be bear hugged by the Mane 6, they got a pretty tight grip when it comes to hugs." He thought as he shivered. He walked down through town, waving to everypony he hasn’t seen since he left. Cloud Chaser, Lyra, Bon Bon, Roseluck, Lily, Daisy, Berry Punch, heck, he even missed Derpy so much, he stopped for a few minutes to eat a muffin with her and Doctor Whooves. Beatz then continued on his way and arrived at Sugarcube Corner shortly after his little break. Opening the door, he saw Daze, Cwolf, Eclipse, Phoenix, and Nocturne with the Mane 6, sitting at the tables talking. They all looked at him and jumped right up.
"Hey Beatz!" They all yelled. Except for Eclipse. He never is the go-happy guy, unless it is involved with Fluttershy, which Beatz can respect. Rainbow and Pinkie ran toward Beatz in great haste, not wasting any time.
"Oh no. Not a bear hug. Not a bear hug. NOT A BEAR HUG!!!" Beatz panicked while backing up. Attempting to run, it was too late until he got pounced and hugged by the two of them at the same time. Twilight, Rarity, AJ and Fluttershy also ran toward him, asking him questions. He sighs in pain as both Pinkie and Rainbow hugged so tight, you could almost hear his spine break.
"It's awesome to see you again." Rainbow Dash said.
"Yeah, how long has it been since ya been gone." Applejack continued.
"We all missed you!" Pinkie Pie yelled with a smile.
"Where have you been?" Twilight asked.
"What have you been doing?" Fluttershy asked as well.
"Have you met any new ponies darling?" Rarity continued on.
"You too, and it's been only a year, and I missed you all too. I've been at the Crystal Empire, DJ business with some research, and yeah, I've met a couple of new ponies..." Beatz answered with hardly any air and the sound of one of his bones crunching. "Please put me down now." Both of them let go and he landed down on one of his knees, starting to catch his breath with his hand over his chest. “Geez, I’ll never get used to hugs like that…” Beatz said under his breath. Daze, Cwolf, Phoenix, Eclipse, and Nocturne approached Beatz and Daze put out his hand. Beatz looked at them as they stared back and all of them smiled.
"Good to see you bro." Daze said. Beatz started to chuckle a little, seeing his old friends again, he felt nostalgic. Remembering all the good years he spent with them.
"You guys too." Beatz replied as he grabbed Daze's hand and got up, shaking his hand afterwards. "So, not to be rude as to jump to the point, but what did you guys call me here for?"
"Princess pain in the ass asked you here for a very important assignment. She didn’t explain it to us, because you had to be here." Eclipse said with his arms crossed.
"I see you haven't changed Eclipse. Still the overpowering unicorn we all know to be." Beatz responded.
"I see you still haven’t gotten to be less irritating Beatz. I would’ve said it was nice to see you in my most sarcastic voice possible, but you just get more annoying when you start replying." Eclipse replied.
“Heh, yeah… Good to see you too…” Beatz said feeling a little neglected.
"Continuing, the reason you’re called back here is because your tech skills seem to provide a great assist to us. You build everything that was back on Earth, when we first traveled there, so we need every piece of technology you have for this mission." Cwolf explained.
“Every piece of tech huh? Well, I got the best tech around, from cyberpunk to the moderns.” Beatz replied. “When do we get to it?” He asked.
"Exactly what we need. That could serve us very well,, but you better wait until tomorrow, you had a long journey from the Crystal Empire and well, you know it takes days now to reach from there to here. All of us are leaving to Canterlot early in the morning." Phoenix said.
"This is where your staying." Nocturne said, handing Beatz a paper with an address on there. “The princess thought you could use your own place.”
"250 Drake Way. Huh, never saw a house in that part of town before.” Beatz said as he placed the paper in his pocket. “Well, alright, I'll see you guys tomorrow. I’m gonna go drop by Vinyl’s for a visit." Beatz said as he turned and started walking towards the door slowly. He made his few steps short as every time, always eager to leave some place.
"Wait!" Pinkie said as she blocked the door in great speed. Beatz stared at her and tilts his head confused, considering Pinkie never does this unless it is important. "Aren't you gonna stay for your Welcome Back party?" She asked holding out a cake saying, "Welcome Back Beatz." Beatz smiled and patted Pinkie on the head, appreciating what they’ve done for him.
"Heh, to be honest, I missed your parties Pinky." Beatz admitted. Pinkie smiled back. "It is sometimes quiet at the empire, it never brings that much excitement to the heart..." Beatz said. “And also…” Beatz continued. Pinkie knew what he was about to say also and prepared herself to say it the same time he did.
"There's nothing like a PINKIE PIE PARTY!" Both of them said simultaneously. All of them laughed and party horns started to pop all over the place. His welcome back party went from fun to hilariously daring as soon as hours passed and the sun slowly slept into the horizon. There were games they explained about, such as ‘Truth or Dare’, ‘Two Truths and a Lie’, ‘I Am’, and ‘The Hunter.’ Of course, in Truth or Dare, Daze got a seven minutes in Heaven dare from and with Rainbow Dash, which was lucky him. Applejack got a dare from Rarity where she had to give her lover, Cwolf, a lap dance, Beatz looked away as he laughed the whole time. Eclipse didn’t care what he had to do, but apparently, he got a dare from Nocturne that he had to swap clothes with Fluttershy for half an hour, he wasn’t happy about that. Eclipse eventually got payback by daring Nocturne to rip Twilight’s bra off and tell her to go outside and get it without covering her chest, Nocturne felt very embarrassed and ashamed of it in the process. After Twilight got back, she slapped Nocturne straight across the face, that he fell flat on the floor. Eclipse laughed at the outcome, of course. He loved making others suffered by having some harmless and embarrassing jokes played on them, except he never does that to Fluttershy since she is his mare friend. We moved on to Phoenix’s dare which is, luckily, from Pinkie Pie. He read it aloud.
“You have to remain perfectly still for one minute. Meanwhile the one who volunteers for this dare is going to attempt to get you to move by whatever means he/she can think of. If you can remain still, you’ll get to do whatever you want to that pony.” Phoenix said his dare aloud. “Wait, what? Who’s the player who’s going to try that?” As the question was asked, Pinkie raised her hand immediately and smiled.
“Don’t worry, this won’t last very long.” Pinkie said. Phoenix blushed and then started to stand very still, determined to win this dare.
“Alright, I’m ready.” Phoenix said as he prepared himself. Pinkie started to walk around Phoenix, thinking of the many ideas she had in her head to make him move. She first started by tickling Phoenix in his most sensitive spots, he hardly stood against it that he felt the urge to twitch and laugh, but he still stood his ground. Pinkie then began to press her body against Phoenix’s, she licked his chest and kissed his neck to still get him to move, but he kept on holding his own against her.
“I will… win this… dare!” Phoenix said as he kept holding still for the longest time. 
“Oh really?” Pinkie then smiled and poked him in his pants where he got, well, excited. He then jumped in the air and fell flat on his back, not expecting that kind of attempt to happen. “Darn it! I lost the dare.”
“Better luck next time, sweetie.” Pinkie said as she kissed Phoenix on the cheek. Even though he lost, Phoenix smiled and got back up, sitting on the chair awaiting the next pony to be dared. The next victim was Beatz, he got a truth, the first one out of everypony. The truth question was anonymous, no one’s name was on it.
“Who do you love in your love life?” Beatz read aloud. He smirked as he looked at this question and chuckled a little. He then answered. “You guys already know who it is, and it’s Vinyl.” Beatz then blushed and threw the paper away, considering he isn’t the type of person to admit his feelings. “By the way, where is Vinyl?” Beatz asked to everypony.
“She’s in Canterlot with Octavia, music business as usual.” Phoenix answered. “She said they’d be back by later tonight.”
“Oh, ok.” Beatz replied. He felt impatient about waiting for Vinyl, too eager in fact to at least hear the sound of her voice. Still going through the game, Daze got the next dare which is from Eclipse, he didn’t like it because every time, Daze always suffers from Eclipse. Yet, he read it anyway.
“Go outside and run around the neighborhood half-naked, yelling, ‘I’m a dick and everypony knows it!' until the other players tell you to come back.” Daze read. His eye started to twitch and dropped his head, looking at Eclipse with irritation. “You’ve got to be kidding. Eclipse, why must you do this?” Daze asked.
“Because you gotta suffer.” Eclipse chuckled. “Now get out there and do your dare.” Daze sighed and stripped himself down to his boxers. Rainbow Dash stared at him, blushing very red and having her wings perked up. Daze blushed as well, he didn’t mind Rainbow Dash looking at his current state, but the rest of the dare is what he had a problem with. 
“Do I have to do this?” Daze started to protest.
“If you don’t, I get to do whatever I want to Rainbow Dash.” Eclipse replied as he smiled and looked at her. Daze didn’t like that. Knowing how sex crazed Eclipse is, he didn’t want to take that chance. So he breathed in, swallowing his pride and ran outside all over the neighborhood, yelling without hesitation.
“I’m a dick and everypony knows it!” Daze yelled loudly. Everypony looked through their windows looking at Daze, wondering why he is running and yelling around like that. A half hour has passed and Eclipse called Daze back in. Never in Daze’s life, has he ever felt so embarrassed, he shivered in  He put his clothes back on and sat on the couch with Rainbow Dash.
“Ok, moving on, we have ‘The Hunter’ as our next game. One player has to be the hunter, while he tries to catch all the players here. The goal for the hunted is to reach the front door of this house. Using of magic, and hiding outside of the house is prohibited.” Phoenix explained. “Now to select the hunter.” Phoenix spinned a bottle on the ground with everypony in a circle. The bottle pointed toward Nocturne. “So Nocturne is our hunter. Everypony has to hide while Nocturne covers his eyes for 30 seconds.” Phoenix continued. Nocturne then covered his eyes.
“Well, this probably will turn out well.” Nocturne said.
“Ok, everypony, GO!” Phoenix shouted. Everypony hid all over Sugarcube Corner and after 30 seconds passed, Nocturne uncovered his eyes and started looking. He checked in the basement, and started to check carefully, looking under every object and then he smelled something.
“Hm, I smell… the scent of cake and confetti, with a little bit of… perfume.” Nocturne whispered as he turned around and saw Pinkie and Rarity trying to sneak away from their old hiding spot. “Got you!” He ran towards them with Pinkie and Rarity screamed, trying to run to the stairs, but Nocturne then caught them.
“Aw, pickled peppers.” Pinkie Pie grouched.
“Well, it was a good try.” Rarity said.
“Two down, nine more to go.” Nocturne said as he put Pinkie and Rarity down. He continued to walk through the house, he then got back to where he came from and saw Twilight and Phoenix coming down the stairs quietly. Nocturne then ducked and snuck on the side of the stairs, trying to get the drop on them. As Twilight and Phoenix almost reached the front door. Nocturne caught both of them as well, grabbing the two by their shirts with a slightly tight grip. The two sighed.
“We were almost out.” Twilight said.
“Yeah, until it backfired quickly…” Phoenix mumbled. Nocturne then put them down 
“Heh, you guys got to do better than that.” He then walked upstairs and started to look in the Baby Cakes room. Looking thoroughly, he searched every hiding spot in the room, even checked in their toy trunk which somepony could fit into. After, he started to leave until he heard rumbling in the closet. Nocturne faced his vision on the location of the sound and grinned, carefully sneaking to the closet. He then placed his hand on the handle and opened it quickly. Nocturne looked at the bottom of the closet and found Fluttershy in there, kneeling with a couple of stuffed animals on the top of her head.
“H-Hi there.” Fluttershy said nervously.
“Sorry Fluttershy, but you’re out.” Nocturne said as he tapped her on the head lightly and left the room. “I wonder where Eclipse is…” Nocturne thought as he looked through another room down the hall from the Baby Cakes’ room. It is Mr. and Mrs. Cakes room, he scanned the room carefully and listened keenly to any sounds. He heard noises under the bed and in the closet, rustling noises in fact with faint whispers. He walked over and looked under the bed first, finding Applejack and Cwolf. Next, he pulled the closet opened quickly and found Rainbow Dash and Daze cramped together with clothes ruffled over their heads. “Well all of you are out now. I find this pretty easy now.” Nocturne said. “All that’s left is Beatz and Eclipse, then I could just say that this is the easiest thing I’ve played all day, beside the video games at my house.”
“Well this is retarded, those two should’ve already been caught before us.” Cwolf said. “They got to be cheating, this just ain’t natural.” Cwolf stomped with ill-temper.
“Well Beatz is a good hider, it isn’t difficult for him to blend in with his surroundings, even without magic.” Applejack added.
“But Eclipse should’ve been caught by now. Without his magic, there is no way he couldn’t have lasted this long.” Daze pointed out.
“Maybe he’s better than we thought. He’s sometimes fast on his feet and very vigilant. Not to mention, he’s very determined to win anything.” Rainbow Dash continued. A whistle came from outside, and they all walked and looked out through the window. Beatz and Eclipse were outside waiting.
“Game over Nocturne. You lose.” Beatz called out as he gave a thumbs down. 
“Not like you could’ve won in the first place.” Eclipse called out as well. Nocturne sighed and everyone returned to the front room. It was getting late, and everypony went home, except for Beatz, he stayed a bit longer to help Phoenix and Pinkie Pie clean up, considering the mess all of them left behind: plastic cups, plates, wrappers, etc. It took a little longer than expected, but they got it done.
"Thanks for the help Beatz." Phoenix said.
"It's not a problem, I should get going, it's midnight and I have to be up early." Beatz replied.
"Alright. See you later." Phoenix farewells.
"Bye!" Pinkie said waving. Beatz waved back and went on his way. He walked with his horn glowing, lighting his path through the dimness of the dark.
"Just two more streets and I'll be there." Beatz sighed. He kept walking through the dark with his headphones wrapped around his neck and phone shuffling through his hands. His ears then perked up and stopped his movement. He heard rattling in the background and shifted to look behind him, shining his light. “Who’s there?!” He shouted as he shined his horn’s glow everywhere. He didn’t find a single living thing that could have been making that noise, he then became less aware of it and sighed. “Tsk, must’ve been my imagination.” Beatz assumed as he turned back around and continued on his way to his house. Something then snuck behind him after Beatz walked a few feet and grabbed him by the shoulders. “What in the--?!” He panicked and flew up in the air to get away from it and into a cloud.
“Woah Beatz, calm down. It’s only me.” A voice said from the surface. The voice sounded familiar and feminine, it seemed like deja vu all over again. Beatz retreated from the cloud, flying back down slowly and not pleased with this prank that this certain pony has pulled.
“Vinyl, why did you have to go and do that?” Beatz said as Vinyl came into his horn’s light. She stuck her tongue out and giggled.
“Because it’s fun, and you were always easy to sneak up on.” Vinyl replied.
“Haha, very funny.” Beatz sarcastically replied. “So how was Canterlot? Anything new up there?
“Nah, doing the same thing as always. Besides the fact there had been a few tweaks of your tech up there.” Vinyl said. “Besides that, I had to go to some of Octi’s concerts with a lot of gigs to be at.” She explained.
“A lot? How many?” Beatz asked.
“Like about… 40 gigs and 20 concerts.” Vinyl said rubbing the back of her head. “I got pretty lonely without you here. What’s the big deal about leaving your mare friend here in Ponyville while you go off somewhere else?” Vinyl pouted.
“I’m sorry Vinyl. I just had to take care of things in the Crystal Empire.” Beatz replied as he kissed Vinyl on the forehead. She blushed and calmed down a little. “I didn’t want to leave, but I had to. Don’t worry about it, I won’t leave you again, I swear. You know you’re the first to come in my life.” He promised.
“You better not!” Vinyl said as she lightly punched him in the arm playfully. “But um… Oh yeah, I forgot to ask. Well, how do I explain this…” Vinyl stuttered as she brushed some of her hair back. “So, you see, we lost our home due to a little rent problem we had a few days ago, so we’re kinda homeless now.” She explained with an embarrassed look on her face. “I know it’s ridiculous, since we make a lot of bits with our jobs, yet, there was other stuff that we had to pay for. Can we stay with you?”
“Wait, we? Where’s Octavia then?” Beatz asked.
“Over there.” Vinyl pointed behind her with Octavia standing next to numerous boxes on a wagon. All the boxes were stacked on top of each other, almost as if it is some kind of mini skyscraper.
“So, can we stay with you or not? We would’ve asked your brother, but he isn’t here.” Octavia asked. Beatz rubbed the back of his head and nodded.
“Yeah, you can. Since you let me stay in your home, hey, why not let that favor be repaid? Besides, you two helped me when I needed it.” Beatz said as he smiled.
“Awesome! I knew we could count on you!” Vinyl said as she hugged him back. Octavia sighed and grabbed the handle of the wagon, starting to pull until Beatz walked towards her and generously made his gesture.
“Please Octavia, allow me.” Beatz said as he raised the wagon with his magic’s aura surrounding the bottom of it.
“Oh, well, um… Thank you, Beatz. Just please don’t drop anything.” Octavia informed.
“Don’t worry, I won’t.” Beatz replied. They all walked to the house together and after a half-an-hour later, they finally made it. Yet, they found the house on a steep hill, with a stairway leading up to it, and the height of the house being two-stories high and very expansive.. As the three of them entered inside their new home, Beatz dropped all the boxes one by one, stacked by the stairs in a pyramid. “Alright, let’s check this piece of paper. I saw some info on the bottom of it...” He took out the paper and read the features of the house. “So, there is whole bunch of rooms upstairs, a kitchen, three bathrooms, a music room, and there seems to be a video game room too. There is many more, but I’m too lazy to list them all? Signed… Phoenix… Of course.” Beatz sighed. He crumpled up the paper and threw it in the trash. 
“Well, at least we got this awesome place to live in. I can hardly believe we’re even standing in here. It even takes a few minutes to reach the backyard when you’re running.” Vinyl said.
“Ok, well, you two have fun. I’m gonna go upstairs to sleep. Goodnight.” Octavia said as she went upstairs and entered into her bedroom. Vinyl then leaned on Beatz and whispered in his ear.
“Now we’re alone.” Vinyl tempted. 
Beatz blushed and looked at her. “Heh, yeah, we are.” Beatz smiled and kissed her on the horn. Vinyl’s horn then glew with happiness and she smiled back at him.
“So what do you want to do before going to bed?” Vinyl asked. “We do have some catching up to do.” She said.
“Well, how about we tell each other what has happened over the year?” Beatz suggested.
“Alright. I’d love to hear what you’ve been doing over at the Crystal Empire.” Vinyl replied. They both sat on the couch and Beatz feeling a bit parched, he retrieved two glasses of apple cider with his magic in the fridge, not moving from the couch. Surprisingly, it was the finest known in Ponyville, rarely found here. Grabbing the bottle with his magic, it had a note on it that said, “Gift from Applejack. Enjoy!”
“Thank you Applejack.” Beatz said as he passed the other glass to Vinyl. “Hopefully, I won’t get drunk from this…” He thought. Vinyl giggled as they tap their glasses together and drank it down. After that, they started to talk about what they’ve been doing when they went off for a year.
“So yeah, I haven’t been doing that much. Just a lot of concerts I had to be at, only been with Octavia for the past year, and been thinking about how you’ve been doing.” Vinyl explained. “Though, that’s been explained since you’ve been writing letters to me about what you’ve been up to.” She continued.
“Yeah, though those letters haven’t been completely explaining everything.” Beatz replied. “Originally, I’ve went to the Crystal Empire to train in the greatest magic ways, under Princess Celestia’s orders for some reason…” Beatz said as he wondered why Celestia would send him there in the first place. Beatz never had the intention of becoming stronger, the only thing he could ever want is to spend his life with Vinyl and his friends.
“Beatz?” Vinyl said to snap him out of his daze.
“O-oh. Sorry Vinyl.” Beatz apologized as he scratched the back of his head.
“So… who exactly had to teach you at the Crystal Empire.” Vinyl asked curiously as she scooted over closer to him.
“Well, they were alicorn relatives I never knew about… Apparently, my family left a secret library chamber below the crystal heart. Only ponies of my blood are allowed in.” Beatz explained.
“Wow, that sounds really cool. What did you learn?” Vinyl asked once more.
“I learned a lot of spells actually. Powerful ones that shouldn’t even exist… Somehow, there is also a spell that can give you the same magic as Discord…” Beatz said but with a little stutter.
“That seems awesome.” Vinyl commented with a bit of a smile.
“Except it gives away your mind to insanity and makes you lose control for… who knows how long…” Beatz replied.
“Oh…” Vinyl said as she lost her smile.
“But don’t worry, I won’t ever use a spell like that.” Beatz assured. “There’s actually a lot more I learned, but it didn’t just include magic.” He included.
“Not just magic? What else could there be?” Vinyl questioned.
“Well there are maps to secret locations that explain their purpose.” Beatz explained. “Most of them involve physical training. So I’ve been training myself to my limits to follow where these books and scrolls are leading me to. Eventually, it got me to perfecting all the spells in the library with the massive increase of strength, speed, and accuracy.” Beatz explained.
“That’s a lot to work with.” Vinyl said. She placed her hand on his chest and leaned against him. “How is it that were you able to pull all this off in just a year?” Vinyl asked.
“I really don’t know… I’m not determined to be powerful, but I was determined to complete this assignment to see all of you as soon as possible. Since... well. all of you are my best friends, and you're my mare friend Vinyl. I don't want to keep you worried.” Beatz said with a smile towards Vinyl. She just smiled back at him and hugged Beatz tightly.
“You know you’re so mushy right?” Vinyl questioned.
“I know Vinyl.” Beatz said with a little chuckle.
“C’mon, let’s go to bed. We’re leaving early in the morning.” Vinyl said. Beatz just nodded in agreement and walked upstairs to their bedroom to sleep until dawn.
> Chapter 2: The Tech Pony and Test of Strength
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	The next morning, Beatz awoken from his relaxing slumber with a yawn and slightly opened eyes.. He started out his morning by stretching out his arms and legs, releasing some frigid cold from his skin. “Wow, the longest time I’ve ever had that kind of sleep. The best kind too.” He thought as he looked at Vinyl, sleeping like a filly pegasus on a cloud. He cracked a smile and kissed Vinyl on her nose, which caused her to slightly wake up from her sleep.
“Hum…?” She let out a yawn and stretched her arms up, sitting up from the softness of her pillow.
“Oh, sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you up.” Beatz apologized as he petted her. She blinked a few times and fully opened her eyes, looking at Beatz with a shining smile.
“It’s ok.” Vinyl replied as she shook her head from some fatigue, still feeling tired. “Shall we continue our daily routines, like old times?” Vinyl asked, being nostalgic.
“Heh, yeah, alright.” Beatz answered. “Let’s head to the stereo set downstairs.” Beatz said as he put on his clothes: Black jeans, white shirt, black jacket with his and Vinyl’s cutie mark on the back of it, and lastly, black and white shoes. Vinyl got up and wore her black jeans, which had a few cuts on them with a shirt that is the same as Beatz’s jacket.
“Race you there! Loser cooks breakfast!” Vinyl said as she quickly sprinted out of the room, with the sound of her laughing.
“Hey! That’s so not fair!” Beatz shouted as he sprinted out as well, determined to beat Vinyl. He reached the staircase and saw that Vinyl already reached the bottom. “It’ll take too long if I take the stairs.” Beatz thought. Yet, at the moment where he needed to catch up, he smirked as he had a solution to this contest. Vinyl laughed on her way to the music room. Making her next turn, she dashed faster and grabbed the side of the doorway, shifting her to the front of the door and opening it quickly.
“I win!” Vinyl said as she walked inside the room, claiming her victory by jumping up in the air with her eyes closed. In this case, as she opened her eyes, Vinyl saw Beatz, sitting next to the stereo set while drinking a cup of orange juice. “W-what?”
“I have my teleportation spell remember?” Beatz pointed out as he placed his cup on the set and walked up to Vinyl. “You didn’t expect it to be that easy, did you?”
“That’s not fair! Magic is not allowed!” Vinyl stated.
“You should’ve said that before you sprinted out the door.” Beatz replied. Vinyl pouted and crossed her arms, remembering that Beatz isn’t the kind of colt to follow rules, even when they’re stated or not.
“Fine, you win.” Vinyl admitted as she let it go.
“Heh, don’t worry, I’ll still cook breakfast.” Beatz said as he put his arm around her. “I know how much you love when I cook blueberry pancakes.” Beatz continued. Vinyl’s ears then flopped straight up and she gave off a big smile, hearing that, she became very happy.
“Yes! I love it when you make those! Sweet Celestia, you have no idea how much I’ve been craving them!” Vinyl said excitedly as she hugged Beatz tightly. Beatz chuckled and hugged Vinyl back.
“Alright, alright. Let’s first get the stereo set to do its job as it usually does.” Beatz replied.
“Ok!” Vinyl replied back in an over excited tone. The both of them sat on chairs in front of the stereo set, slouching back to relax themselves. Beatz had a remote and aimed it at the set and prepares to turn it on. Vinyl and Beatz then pulled down their glasses to brace themselves.
“Now let’s hear them wubs!” Beatz yelled as he pressed the power button on the remote.
Upstairs, Octavia was still asleep, swaying around the bed while dreaming. “Oh, yes, of course I’d love to play a private concert for you Chord…” Octavia whispered in her sleep, while blushing. She hummed a song that she is supposedly playing in her dream. During that, a loud rhythm started playing downstairs, waking up Octavia and causing her to fall off her bed. “Vinyl…! Beatz…!” Octavia groaned.
Relaxed in their chairs as the music is playing, Vinyl and Beatz had their manes being blown back by the music’s volume level, enjoying the wubs without the worry of it being thundering. Octavia then started to make her way downstairs, trying to get to the stereo set to turn off this ear-piercing music. As she opened the door to the music room, the music started to blow her back gradually from where she stood, but she started to walk towards the source slowly. It took a few minutes, but she at least made it pass from where Vinyl and Beatz were sitting and almost to the stereo, reaching for the power button. “Al...most there…!” Octavia said as her hand is just a few inches from the button. As she was close to making contact to the power button, the music shutted off and caused Octavia to fall face-front on the floor. “Ugh, you’ve got to be joking…” Octavia muffled on the floor.
“Well, that was some awesome music to start off the day.” Beatz said as he lifted his glasses up above his horn.
“It’s my bass cannon. What do you expect?” Vinyl replied with a grin. They looked at the ground where Octavia is at, and they both shrugged at each other. “That’s Tavi for you, she always wants to shut down the wubs when they’re going on.” Vinyl stated. Beatz walked over to Octavia and poked her on the head repeatedly, while saying her name.
“Hello? Octavia? Octavia, you there? Octaviiiaaaa? Octavia? Tavi, Tavi, Tavi? Yo Octi?” Beatz repeated over and over as he continued to poke her. Octavia got more irritated as it continued, fueling up her anger with her hand gripping tightly. She then bursted out by jumping into the air, flailing her arms out of control with Beatz backing up quickly as she released her anger. She groaned as she got back up on her feet, but started to calm herself by breathing in and out.
“I’m sorry… But please you two, keep your music down to an appropriate level. I need my sleep.” Octavia said to the two DJs.
“Ok Octavia, all you needed to do was tell us.” Beatz chuckled a little. “You didn’t have to walk to the stereo like that to turn it off.” Beatz then patted Octavia on the head, with her still a little upset and frowning. “Well, it’s time for breakfast. Time for me to start cooking blueberry pancakes.” He said.
“Yeah! Blueberry pancakes!” Vinyl yelled excitedly. Octavia cracked a smile from her anger, seeing as though she loved eating Beatz’s delicious homemade pancakes.
“The sound of pancakes does sound good. I’m quite famished.” Octavia said as well. The three of them walked out of the room, making their way to the kitchen. As they reached the kitchen, Vinyl and Octavia sat at the table, while Beatz then put on his apron that Vinyl gave him with it saying, “Wub the Cook.”
“Alright, let’s start cooking.” Beatz said as he setted up frying pans in all four stove spots and gathered ingredients from the fridge. He mixed the eggs and milk, and after, he added the flour mix into it and started to stir again. To make his pancakes what they are, he also threw in the blueberries and stirred it all up once more. Once he was done, he poured the pancake batter into the frying pans. As they started to cook, Beatz flipped all four of the frying fans with his magic once they needed to be flipped. After some time passed, he already got 24 pancakes, splitted up equally on 3 plates. “Alright. eight blueberry pancakes for each of us.” Beatz said as he carried the three plates over to the table with his magic. Vinyl’s mouth started to water a little, waiting for the delectable taste of the cooked pancakes; even the scent of them tempted her. Octavia smiled to the scent, as she is pleased by it and awaiting to taste them as well. Beatz placed the plates in front of them. He picked up the maple syrup bottle and poured it all over the flapjacks. “Enjoy you two.”
“Thank you Beatz!” Vinyl said as she kissed him on the cheek.
“Yes, thank you very much.” Octavia said as well as she bowed her head. They all eaten for about ten minutes, and after they were done, the three of them were stuffed.
“Alright, now that we had a good meal, let’s go meet with the others. Probably waiting for us already.” Beatz said.
“Ok, bet their grumpy as heck right now.”  Vinyl predicted.
“When were we supposed to meet them?” Octavia asked.
“About an hour ago, I think.” Beatz replied. “Which means we should get a move on.” He continued as he grabbed his bag and opened the door. “C’mon, we’re wasting time.” Vinyl and Octavia then got up and got their bags as well, with the three of them leaving the house.
At Sugarcube Corner, the Mane 6 with Daze, Cwolf, Nocturne, Phoenix, and Eclipse were waiting impatiently, wondering why Beatz is running late. "Where the hell is he?!" Eclipse shouted. "We were supposed to leave an hour ago, and we missed the train!"
"Just calm down Eclipse, he'll be here, hopefully." Daze said.
"I'm pissed, you should all know how I get pissed these days. Tell me to calm down again, and I'll kill you." Eclipse threatened. Daze sighed and checked on his phone that Beatz built for him.
"He's not responding to any of my texts. Must be still asleep." Daze claimed.
"He knows better than that." Rainbow Dash said. "Probably, he's just taking his time like every time."
"If he is, then he’s some bitch for making us wait like this." Cwolf said.
"Beg your pardon jackass?" Beatz said behind the group, in an almost angered tone. They all turned around to see him with Vinyl and Octavia standing beside him.
"You heard nothing? Must be deaf." Cwolf said as he smiled. Beatz smiled back and planned something. “Applejack went naked.” Beatz whispered in his ear
“Where?!” Cwolf exaggerated as he looked behind him. Beatz nailed him with a magically formed hammer straight to the head. With that, Cwolf shouted in pain while Applejack tended to his injury.
“Oww! What the fuck was that for?!” Cwolf yelled at Beatz.
“Beatz, that was uncalled for!” Applejack supported.
“Oh nothing, he just needed a lesson or two to behave himself.” Beatz answered.
"Wow Cwolf, can’t believe you didn’t see that coming." Nocturne said.
“How do you think Applejack gets to him that fast to have intercourse?” Daze pointed out.
“Shut up Daze, no one was talking to you!” Cwolf replied.
“Just saying. Anyway, moving away from that topic.” Daze said as he tried to think of a different topic, but Phoenix just spoke a new one instead. 
“I see Vinyl and Octavia came back from Canterlot and found you." Phoenix asked.
“Thanks for pointing out the obvious idiot.” Eclipse commented. Phoenix gave Eclipse a disgusted face.
“Fuck you too.” Phoenix replied. Eclipse reacted with a punch straight through the back of his head, knocking him down with a whole lot of pain. As that happened, Vinyl waved to everypony.
"Good to see all of you again." Vinyl said cheerfully. Pinkie hugged Vinyl, after not seeing her for an entire year also.
“Yes, it is good to see all of you once more.” Octavia repeated what Vinyl said.
"Hey Vinyl! Long time no see!" Pinkie said joyfully.
"Hey Pinkie, it's awesome to see you again." Vinyl replied.
"Yeah, they did. With their, ahem, money problem, they couldn’t keep their house any longer. So they actually needed a place to stay, so they stayed at my house." Beatz started to cover his face from blushing.
"Really? They should've come by my place to give them the best time of their life, if you know what I mean." Eclipse grinned. Beatz then shot a glare at Eclipse and sped up to him, aiming a DG-X pistol to his head at point-blank range that digitally formed out of thin air.
"Say that again, and you're dead." Beatz threatened. He threw the pistol into the air that then disassembled into code. Stunned, Eclipse never expected Beatz to move at that speed, also with the summoning of his pistol, leaving him curious of his new abilities. Everypony then had that awkward moment about that kind of event, too nervous and quiet to respond to what just happened. Knowing Beatz, he’s always dedicated to Vinyl and Octavia to protecting them. Nocturne walked up and poked Beatz to get his attention.
"Well... Um... We missed the train Beatz. How do we get to Canterlot now?" Nocturne asked. Beatz looked at him and sighed.
"Got it taken care of." Beatz reached inside his bag and took out a silver cube with his name on it and a button on top. He pressed the button and threw it on the ground, and so it started to build up, forming platforms side by side until it completely created an airship. Everypony began to be astonished at what they saw, as if the expression of their jaws dropping down all the way to the ground actually happened.
"This is... insane." Phoenix said. "We knew you were able to build mechs and techs like guns, phones, and robots, but this is just unbelievable!”
“Well, you guys wanted a ride to Canterlot, here it is... It's not even that good” Beatz said. “Now come on, we’re wasting time.” Beatz opened the hatch and the platform to the ship landed on the ground, then he began to walk inside while everypony followed slowly behind him. Though, Vinyl stayed close to Beatz. They walked through the halls of the ship with various doors leading to different rooms. Daze and Cwolf opened a few doors, some had weaponry, such as RPGs, assault rifles, SMGs, LMGs, snipers, knives, and swords. A few had explosives, nukes, missiles, and robotics. 
"Impressive." Daze said as he looked around every room. Cwolf, curiously, pressed another button that he thought opened another door, but instead dropped a laser cannon turret that aimed directly at him.
“Cwolf, what did you just press sugarcube?” Applejack said to him with a frown.
"Unidentified personal, eliminating intruders." The security system prepared  its turrets that suddenly surrounded the group.
"Well, we're screwed. I hate you Cwolf." Daze said angrily. 
"Well ain't the feeling mutual." Cwolf replied. "I have no regrets if you died." The turrets were at the point of firing. Igniting a glow that grew brighter and , until they were shutted down.
"Be more careful." Beatz said as he held a remote. He opened a scanner out of the wall and placed his hand it. “I do not want to clean up after your messes so don’t expect this to be a joyride.”
"Scan complete, confirmed ID: Blitz Beatz. Enter allowed personals' identification." The AI said as it opened another scanner on the side of Cwolf. "Scan and speak your name."
"Move." Eclipse pushed Cwolf away and placed his hand on the scanner. "Eclipse."
"Registration complete. Welcome Eclipse." The AI said. Everypony else registered into the airship's database as Beatz checked if every single one of them had been accounted to the ship’s security access. Seeing everything is in order, he dismissed the security weapons and scanners.
“Ok, we’re all done here.” Beatz said. He placed his hand on his ear and spoke into his coms while everypony else waited around. “Dude, get over here. It’s almost time to leave.”
“Got it, on my way.” A voice replied through his coms.
“Ok, we’re all moving to the bridge. Everypony follow me.” Beatz walked through the next door as everypony else followed.
“You better not press anything else Cwolf or you’ll be walking through hell again.” Eclipse threatened.
“I’ll keep that in mind.” Cwolf said sarcastically with his eyes rolling. After opening the next door, they reached the bridge. Beatz stepped onto the Central Command terminal and worked through the control panel. He opened the sky light of the ship and an orange pegasus with black hair flew down inside, having goggles over his eyes, a star-covered bandana wrapped around his neck, and a white shirt with his lightning-streaked shooting star cutie mark on his shirt and the side of his jeans.
“Hey everypony.” The orange pegasus greeted while taking off his goggles.
“Hello.” Everypony greeted back.
“Ok everypony, this is my friend Vincent. Fluttershy already knows him since, well, she’s been taking flying lessons from him. He’s a great flier and around the same level as the Wonderbolts.” Beatz explained. Fluttershy smiled and both Vincent and her ran to each other and high fived.
“Hey Flutter! How’s your flying practice going?” Vincent asked.
“It’s been good, I’ve been using all the lessons you’ve taught me so far.” Fluttershy answered gladly.
“Awesome! Keep it up, and you’ll be at the Wonderbolts’ level!” Vincent informed.
“Hold on one second.” Eclipse stopped. “How come I haven’t heard of these flying lessons you’ve been taking?” He asked with his arms crossed.
“Well, um, because, if I told you, you would get jealous, even though Vincent and I don’t have that kind of relationship.” Fluttershy implied.
“That is ridiculous, I would never get jealous if you were just taking lessons.” Eclipse claimed. Fluttershy gave him the stare and it started to weaken Eclipse defense to admit it. “Ok, maybe I would get a little jealous, but that’s because I wouldn’t know what else you would be doing with a certain pony.”
“You can trust me enough to leave me on my own with somepony else Eclipse. You don’t need to worry.” Fluttershy said. Eclipse sighed and rubbed the back of his neck, seeing as though that he doesn’t want to get into an argument with his mare friend.
“You’re right...” Eclipse said. “That was a lie.” Eclipse thought to himself. Vincent, who felt awkward enough to stay out of it, was just standing there the whole time listening.
“Well, moving on then, as you guys can see, for me being here, I will join you on your mission, and be your pilot of this ship.” Vincent explained. “Other ponies will also be joining us when we reach Canterlot. Beatz and I will be your commanders for this and future missions. Beatz will show you to your rooms, two people per room.” He continued. Beatz walked to the door and lead everypony down the hall. He then opened a door on the side that is labeled, “Dorms” and continued to lead the others down the hall until he stopped in front of the rooms.
“Ok, the first room here is for Daze and Rainbow Dash. The second room is for Eclipse and Fluttershy. The third is for Phoenix and Pinkie. The fourth is for Cwolf and Applejack. The fifth is for Twilight and Nocturne. The sixth is Rarity and Octavia, with the last one being mine and Vinyl’s. Flight to Canterlot will commence shortly. So, stay in your dorms until the ship starts to reach it’s necessary altitude.” Beatz said.
“Why do we need to stay inside for that? I shouldn’t even be taking orders from you dumbass.” Eclipse said.
“Would you rather get knocked around during ship flight in the halls? Vincent is a an average pilot, so it could be swingy from here to there.” Beatz replied. Eclipse opened his mouth but then started to think about his point. “Yeah, exactly. You don’t want to have your head split open.”
“Ugh, fine, but I’m still not taking orders from a prick like you, and it will stay that way until, well, depends where I die, which is never.” Eclipse said. Beatz rolled his eyes as they all walked inside their dorms and he spoke into his coms.
“Vincent, commence flight to Canterlot.” Beatz said. 
“You got it.” Vincent replied. He inserted flight codes into the control panel and started to lock every entrance into the ship. “All entrances closed, engines are ready, everypony accounted for. Ok, it looks like we’re good to go.” Vincent brought out a mic to all the ship’s speakers, clearing his voice first, he started to announce. “Ahem! Attention everypony, we’re about to commence launch. Hang on.” The ship’s engines started and it began to float off the ground gradually. Until it finally rose to it’s mandatory altitude, it headed out to its course to Canterlot. As the flight began, Beatz came out of his dorm and knocked on each door.
“Ok, it’s safe to come out now.” Beatz said. Everypony then came out of their dorms and stood in the hall, waiting for what to do next. “Ok everypony. You’re welcome to move freely about the ship. First, I plan on doing a tournament as some training to start us off again, for old times sake.” Beatz said.
“Ooh, I’m gonna enjoy this.” Eclipse smirked. Every other stallion had their confidence dropped by Eclipse’s smirk, meaning that they were about to get their asses kicked. Beatz liked his style of fighting spirit, he only looked forward how everypony improved in their fighting styles.
“If you guys are gonna act like weaklings, then that means you’ve been doing nothing to help improve yourselves for the past year.” Beatz concluded. “For me, I’m actually looking forward to a challenge.” Beatz implied. Eclipse looked at him with an eyebrow raised.
“A little cocky, aren’t we?” Eclipse inquired. Beatz shook his head.
“Nope, just want to see some results.” Beatz smirked. “Now just follow me.” Beatz walked and led everypony down the hall from the dorm rooms, leading to a large steel door labeled, “The Training Simulator.” He opened the door and inside, the whole room is nothing but white with a whole window view extending from one side to the opposite side. Looking at it, it seemed to be about 50 yards long, and 40 yards wide.
“Pretty impressive.” Eclipse complimented. “Perfect enough to be your grave sites.” He continued.
“That’s it, we’re screwed.” Cwolf commented. He tried to run out the door, but it closed, and he slammed against it.
“Pathetic.” Daze said as he shook his head toward him.
“Alright, here is how it’s gonna go. First off, this is a tag team match, you’re welcome to go at this on your own, but it’s best to keep a partner to help back you up.” Beatz started. “The rules are simple, you can use whatever weapon you have in your possession with also your magic and flight abilities. Losing a partner could also leave you to fight alone in the forwarded matches. Any questions?” Beatz asked. No hand had been raised in the process. “Ok then, I’m fighting alone. So pick your battle partners immediately. Matches will begin shortly.” Beatz said. He looked at Vinyl and kissed her forehead. “I want you to be safe for now, ok? I’m still teaching you a lot of things.” Beatz requested.
“Alright. I’ll sit this one out. Just kick some flank out there.” Vinyl replied as she kissed Beatz on the nose. He nodded and looked at the others to make their selections as Vinyl walked up the stands .
“I planned on going myself, but Rainbow Dash wants to partner up with me.” Daze said.
“Daze and I want to test out our new team attack.” Rainbow Dash continued.
“I’m actually gonna go on my own.” Cwolf also called.
“Yeah, me as well.” Nocturne said.
“So am I.” Phoenix said as well.
“I’m going to go at this alone as well.” Eclipse suggested.
“Ok, now that you’ve decided. The match-ups begin. Everypony who isn’t participating, please, go to the stands.” Beatz explained as a computer screen then appeared above the door behind them, randomizing their opponents. It selected all of its match-ups and announced.
“Rainbow Dash & Daze vs. Beatz. Next is Cwolf vs. Eclipse, the last matchup is Phoenix vs. Nocturne” The computer announcer said. “The matches will go in the order as presented. First match will commence shortly. Battlers, step forth.” Rainbow Dash and Daze stepped into the middle of the arena, as well as Vinyl and Beatz just across from them.
“Let’s have a good match Rainbow and Daze.” Beatz said.
“Oh, you can count on it.” Daze replied.
“We haven’t just been sitting around doing nothing you know.” Rainbow continued.
“Then show me what you got.” Beatz implied. The countdown on the computer screen started to count down.
“3…” The announcer counted down. Beatz stood there with his two fists raised up to his face. “2…” Rainbow Dash and Daze prepared to charge right at him. “1…” Beatz straightened his footing and rooted himself to the ground. “Goooo!” Rainbow Dash and Daze charged at Beatz at top speed and simultaneously punched him. Unfortunately, both their strikes were blocked on contact with Beatz having his arms up.
“Improved on speed, but not so much on power and awareness.” Beatz commented as he threw Rainbow Dash into the air while grabbing onto Daze’s arm. Daze got tossed around against the ground multiple times, making cracks on the spots where he had been struck against, and thrown at Rainbow Dash also, causing them to crash into the ceiling. “Surely, this isn’t the power from the two greatest fliers of Equestria.” Beatz said. Through the breakout of the smoke on the crash site, a blade is thrown through at Beatz. He dodged it in time as soon as it struck the ground. Beatz then smirked. “So you already resorted to your Guardian Blade Daze?” Beatz asked as he looked above. Daze came out of the smoke with Rainbow Dash by his side.
“Seems as though, but we haven’t begun to go that far just yet.” Daze implied. Rainbow Dash then clenched her fists and struck them together to create a thundering boom. The force blew fiercely at Beatz, but only moved him a few inches. “You see, Rainbow Dash has improved her strength by ten fold. For me you might wonder.” He retracted his sword back to his hand by having it fly back towards him. “I’ve improved with a lot of these attacks from my sword. For example, Dark Pulsar Blast!” Daze created a dark, circular, symbol that launched multiple large, seeker orbs towards Beatz in the matter of seconds. Beatz dodged back, avoiding the orbs as best as he could, but then struck at the leg by one, causing him to fall.
“Pretty good. I never expected you to perfect a pulsar blast like that.” Beatz complimented as he stood up. He looked at Daze and saw that he is pointing up, forwarding him about something. Beatz looked above him and saw that Rainbow Dash is heading towards him from a high altitude with her improved strength attack. “Good tactic, but apparently, not good enough.” Beatz attempted to teleport, but is stopped by one thing. “What the..?” He looked on the ground and saw that the pulsar orb restrained him to stay where he is by the leg. “Oh god dammit.”
“Say goodnight Beatz!” Rainbow Dash yelled as she struck at him directly. The punch landed on his head, punching him straight down, face-flat to the ground. The impact caused a great cloud of smoke to be spreaded across the stage, and Vinyl got up and close to the window.
“Beatz!” Vinyl yelled through the window. Through the smoke, Rainbow Dash jumped out and flew next to Daze while Vinyl looked directly at the spot Beatz had been struck down to, nothing to be seen through the thickness. The smoke then started to clear up, and Beatz is down on his hands with blood on his face and down through his mouth, yet, he is smiling.
“Excellent performance.” Beatz complimented as he stood up straight. “You two make a great team. Making good damage to your foes with good teamwork is a great advantage, but never misjudge your opponent when they may seem this weak.” Forming a hand sign and having his eyes closed, his hair levitated with a green glow shining below him. With that, his whole entire body started to heal itself rapidly, but Rainbow Dash charged at him with Daze sending out another Pulsar Blast.
“No you don’t!” Rainbow Dash yelled as she went in for another attack.
“We won’t let you!” Daze shouted as he shot a barrage of large seeker orbs once more. All of the attacks headed straight for Beatz, with him just standing there, and after they all made contact, a shocking conclusion astonished them. All of their attacks only made contact to a barrier that surrounded Beatz as he healed himself. “What in the…?!” Daze exclaimed. With Rainbow Dash making physical contact to the barrier, it blows her away like a bullet and makes her head towards a wall, until Daze grabbed her and took the damaging impact for her. “D-Dashie, you o-ok?” Daze asked as he is badly damaged.
“I’m fine,” Rainbow Dash replied as she got off of him. She looked at Daze and scanned through all of his injuries. “but you’re hurt badly, you can’t continue like this.”
“I-It’s ok… I got that covered…” Daze said. His sword glew brightly and started to take the magic energy that came from it and started to recover the injury he took from the impact. Beatz then dropped his hands and finished healing himself, looking at him, all of his injuries were gone, then he began to crack his neck.
“Ok, well, I’m done.” Beatz said. He looked up and saw that Daze is healing himself while Dash watched him. “Hey Dash!” Beatz called out. Rainbow Dash looked at Beatz and went into her fighting stance, preparing herself for any upcoming attacks. “Since Daze is healing himself, I’ll give him a head start. How about you try your go at me by yourself?” Beatz implied.
“You’re really asking for it, huh? Alright, here I go!” Rainbow Dash shouted to him as she charged at him once more, but this time, she started to zig-zag quickly to throw him off. Beatz smiled and placed one foot back, as his other is rooted to the front with both of his hands behind him. She appeared in front of him with a punch, coming in at him to the face.
“Gotcha…” Beatz whispered. He stopped her attack with an open palm block, causing a force to crack the floor deeply, then Beatz struck at her pressure points with his other hand, and blows her back with a double-palm force attack. Landing on the ground, she couldn’t move at all, she had been paralyzed by the pressure attack Beatz had performed on her.
“W-what did you do to me?” Rainbow Dash questioned as she tried to move.
“A rapid combo of my special new technique, Puncture Arrows. Capable of subduing any kind of opponent.” Beatz answered. “The effects of this last about half-an-hour, so you’ll be fine.” Beatz laughed a little, but then Daze flew and punched Beatz in the face, causing him to fly a short distance away, but landing back on his feet. “Element of Surprise huh? Great use of that advantage Daze.” Beatz complimented once more.
“You’re gonna pay for that, B.” Daze threatened.
“If you actually listened, this is a test of your skill, so no reason to be mad. I can see you’re mad about the paralyzation, but don’t be stupid.” Beatz reminded.
“You’re still gonna pay for that!” Daze charged at Beatz with his sword, then started to slash furiously at him, but Beatz unsheathed his specialized sword of his own and splits it into dual swords, blocking every one of Daze’s attacks. It also causes a blade lock when both of their swords clashed with one another, both pushing against each other to overpower their opponent. “The hell, you weren’t this strong when you left. What were you doing in the Crystal Empire?” Daze asked as he tried to fight back fiercely.
“A lot of magic research, you didn’t think I was just there for relaxation did you?” Beatz answered as he slashed Daze back. Daze jumped into the air to gain some distance from Beatz, at last, he had enough to concentrate. He let go of his sword, and right there, it floated in mid-air as Daze formed into a meditation state, focusing all of his energy into his hands.
“If that’s how it’s gonna be. Then I have no choice but to use this attack.” Daze said as his sword started to spin around clockwise. The spinning speed started to increase faster and faster, until he finally grabbed it and called out his technique. “OverShadow Destruction!” His sword then directly spreads a dark aura around Daze, giving him status improvements. With that, Daze dashes forth and delivers a barrage of immediate and swift blows with no sense of mercy. Not finished yet, Daze chops him to the ground, with a kick back up to the air while chasing his opponent. “Shadow Cross Slash!” Daze then slashed diagonally at Beatz, with another slash from the opposite side, forming an X, and shooting Beatz to the ground. He crashed and bounced back up from the impact, but landed straight on one his feet and knees.
“That was an excellent combo Daze, actually pierced me.” Beatz said as he looked at the X on his chest and blood started to run down from it. “Still not enough to finish me off though, and here I thought, you’d be half the challenge as Eclipse.” Beatz sighed as he completely recovers himself in only a few seconds. “Guess I was wrong, but it’s time to finish this.” Beatz then pounded his fist to his open palm and it formed a rainbow light between both of them with a pair of strangely formed gloves. “Heaven’s Fist…” Beatz whispered as he disappeared and appeared in front of Daze, delivering an explosive number combo. The punches were flailing everywhere around Daze, causing numerous bones to break in his body. The combo is followed with a blow to his stomach, launching him further into the air with his fist shooting a beam of the rainbow light at Daze. The beam landed Daze against the wall, damaging him continuously until it died out, with him up against a crater. Beat landed back on his feet and dusted himself off.
“The match is over! Beatz is the winner!” The computer announcer said.
“That’s that.” Beatz said as he got Daze and Rainbow Dash,  seeing as though they both couldn’t move. He walked out of the arena while carrying both of them and placed them on the stands. “Vinyl, help me heal them with that spell I’ve taught you before.” Beatz requested.
“Alright.” Vinyl replied as she started to use her magic to heal Rainbow Dash from the pressure lock effects with Beatz healing Daze from his own attack. Eclipse studied Beatz closely, seeing how he just got this stronger in only a year.
“This is just confusing… There is no way he could’ve gotten that strong in just one year…” Eclipse thought as the computer announced the next match.
“The next match is Cwolf vs. Eclipse!” The computer announced. “Participants, take your positions!” Cwolf walked to one side of the arena with Eclipse opposing him from the other side. 
“C’mon Cwolf! You can beat him sugarcube!” Applejack yelled from the stands. Eclipse gave his threatening stare to Cwolf as he only raised one hand in a martials arts stance. Cwolf raised his fists up, but is a little shaky though.
“What’s the matter Cwolf? Scared?” Eclipse taunted.
“You wish I was scared.” Cwolf said as he shook his head to snap himself out of his distraction. “Let’s just get this over with!” He yelled.
“Hmph…” Eclipse scoffed.
“The match begins in 3… 2… 1… Begin!” The computer announced. Eclipse began with a teleport and appeared in front of Cwolf. He had been stunned from Eclipse’s teleportation and didn’t move at all to escape.
“Too slow…” Eclipse said as he punched Cwolf in the stomach and launching him into the air. As Cwolf was landing down back to the ground, Eclipse teleported to his landing spot and kneed him in the stomach, followed by an elbow strike to his back, breaking Cwolf’s spine.
“Ahhhhh!” Cwolf screamed in pain from his bones cracking. Eclipse then grabbed Cwolf and front-flipped to throw him down to the ground with him landing back on his feet. Cwolf gritted his teeth for he couldn’t move at all and Eclipse walked towards him slowly. 
“If that’s all you got Cwolf, then I’m sorely disappointed in you. I took you out with just one combo in the matter of seconds, and you’re telling me that’s all you can take. How pathetic.” Eclipse sighed as he crossed his arms. Cwolf clenched his fist and struck at Eclipse with an uppercut, recovering from his injury. Eclipse then slid back a few feet with minor damage and then cracked his neck a little. “Very weak… if you’re gonna fight me like that, then you’re not worth the time.” Eclipse insulted with his fist raised toward Cwolf.
“You’re gonna regret those words…” Cwolf growled as he unsheathed his sword. He charged at Eclipse at full speed and slashed at him quickly. Yet, Eclipse teleported away and reappeared behind Cwolf.
“I’m over here stupid.” Eclipse insulted once more. Cwolf growled again in irritation.
“Why you--!” Cwolf shouted as he turned and slashed at Eclipse over again, but Eclipse teleported away from his attack again and reappearing on his right side.
“What are you aiming at? Are you really that retarded on not getting me?” Eclipse taunted.
“Shut up!” Cwolf yelled as he repeatedly slashed at Eclipse, but every time he attempted to attack the unicorn, Eclipse would teleport to different spots around Cwolf to irritate him and tire him out. “Enough!” Cwolf shouted as he stabbed the ground and caused an icicle outburst of spikes around him. Eclipse was about to be struck by one of the spikes until he used the trajectory of the icicle by landing his foot on it and jumping back. Cwolf’s ice started to spread around the area and closer to Eclipse at a high rate, freezing his legs to the ground.
“Shit!” Eclipse said as he struggled out of his imprisonment of the ice.
“Now suffer!” Cwolf shouted as he struck his fist to the ground, creating a path of ice spikes heading towards the white unicorn. Eclipse struggled more and more, but it had been no use. The attack struck at Eclipse and encased him in a larger spike of ice, freezing him to the core. “You thought I was weak… Never underestimate me…” Cwolf growled as he started to walk away. Though, it did not take long to hear a crack of ice, which Cwolf reacted with raised ears and him turning around. “No way…” Cwolf whispered as Eclipse quickly broke out of his prison and punched Cwolf in the face in a split second. Forming a combination of attacks, Eclipse roundhouse kicked his opponent four times in the stomach with a barrage of punches, following by an upper kick to the chin to make him fly off the ground, and ending it with a teleportation above him with a dropkick to the head.
“You can’t beat me!” Eclipse shouted as he dove down after the dropkick and hitting Cwolf with an intense lightning punch to the back as the grey pegasus crashed against the ground, completely knocking Cwolf out.
“Holy shit…” Phoenix commented with wide eyes. “I hope I don’t face him in the next round.” Phoenix said to Beatz.
“You’ll just have to wait and see.” Beatz replied with a straight face to Eclipse’s fighting power.
“The match is over! The winner is Eclipse!” The computer announcer said as Eclipse just scoffed and dragged Cwolf back up to the stands.
“Not that there was any doubt I would lose…” Eclipse said as he threw Cwolf onto one of the stands. Applejack just attended to his side as he was in bad condition.
“Twilight, can you help heal him?” Applejack asked her friend.
“I’ll be right on it.” Twilight replied with a nod. She started healing Cwolf as best as she can while the others looked at Eclipse. Beatz and Vinyl were done healing Daze and Rainbow Dash, but set them off in a furious mood that they got their flanks handled.
“That is bullshit! We do not lose!” Daze shouted at Beatz.
“We never lose! Ever!” Rainbow Dash followed at Daze’s statement.
“Save it for later you two…” Beatz said with a grimace look. “The next match is about to begin. Nocturne, Phoenix! You’re up!” Beatz called to them. Both of them shrugged their shoulders as they walked down the stands. The two took their fighting positions as they faced each other in the center of the stadium.
“The match of Phoenix and Nocturne shall now begin! In 3… 2… 1…!” The computer announcer counted down. The two stallions glared at each other intently as they were on the brink of rushing. “Go!” The timer struck down and they clashed at each other quickly with punches both in their faces. Ridiculously, right at the start of the match… The both of them were knocked out by a single blow.
“Seriously? A double instant K.O. right at the start?” Daze said with his hand gestured out at how pathetic this was.
“Maybe they are more tied in strength than we thought…” Fluttershy said. Eclipse had his hand on his forehead, hardly seeing what just happened right in front of him.
“You’ve got to be kidding me… I’m stuck in this group with two weaklings!” Eclipse shouted as he left out the door. “I’ve seen enough…” The door shut as everypony just sighed.
“Well, that was…” Beatz starting off with him scratching the back of his head.
“Ludicrous?” Daze finished his sentence.
“Pitiful?” Rainbow Dash followed.
“Idiotic?” Vinyl commented as well. Beatz thought about making a good thing was out of that fight, but he just sighed.
“Yeah, pretty much.” Beatz agreed. Getting them out of the arena and retreating back into their barracks, they rested for about an hour. Cwolf, Phoenix, and Nocturne recovered from they're battles, then an announcement was made by Vincent.
“Attention everypony! We have now arrived in Canterlot!” Vincent announced clearly with a little bit of him clearing his throat. “We’re going to land shortly!” He finished. Everypony got up and got themselves ready, preparing themselves for what they’re about to hear from the princess. Beatz just thought to himself about the mission, wondering in deep thought.
“Can we handle this?” Beatz thought to himself.