> The Knights of Luna: Turtle Power > by Swift Heart > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Of Ponies and Turtles > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Of Ponies and Turtles. Chapter 1 Eleven years before series. Aquamarine colored eyes flashed brightly as the sun began to set over the city of New York, a metropolis that casts a veil of quiet and calm within its stone frozen streets and vertical structures. The owner of these eyes stepped forth from the shadows to reveal its slender feminine form. A round face with a slightly protruding muzzle, she stood on hind equine hooves, her upper torso and arms were mostly human in appearance while the whole of her body was covered in bluish fur and feathered wings of the same color sprouted from her back. She had a mane and tail decorated with the celestial night sky that flowed about her with a nonexistent wind, protruding from the top of her head was a single spiraling horn, the tip was gently glowing and on her flank shone a crescent moon. Pony ears held alert, twitching ever so often. She walked to the edge of the building she stood on and looked over the side "Princess Luna," a timid voice called out from behind the majestic alicorn, causing the mare to look behind her as several other figures stepped from the shadows. Two mares, two young fillies, and what appeared to be a lizard child stood before the alicorn, looking worse for wear with tired looks on the faces and ragged stances. The two mares were clutching the younger ones an attempt to assure themselves that the three were alive. "Please your highness," one of the mares spoke, her mint green fur matted with dirt and grime, "were are we? What become of Equestria?" She asked looking toward the alicorn Luna looked at the five that stood before her and sighed “I will be honest… Equestria… is lost. We were attacked by a terrible enemy,” Luna’s ears flopped down in sorrow. “The Elements of Harmony were no match for them, and, in an act of desperation, my elder sister and I used our magic to transport the population of our world to various worlds. Where they ended up…I do not know, just as I do not know how I ended up here with the five of you…perhaps destiny, perhaps luck…but, for whatever reason, we are alive and we shall survive” She glanced at the three little ones “Two fillies and a young dragon…the laws of this world have shifted our forms to appear this way…and the creatures of this world will never except us; they will fear us…they might even try to harm us” Luna stepped forward and, getting down on her knees, looked at the three children of various ages “What are your names, my little ones?” She asked softly. The oldest was the dragon child; the tip her chin to underside of her short tail was covered with yellow scales while the rest of her body was covered in dark forest green scales. Her head was covered with thick, dark brown hair, and fin-like ears poked out on each side of her head. Her eyes were bright red and brimming with sorrow and unshed tears. Yellow spikes ran down her back from the middle of her shoulder blades to the tip of her tail she looked to be around eight years of age, “M… my name is.. Mona Lisa…” She mumbled curling her tail around her tiny body. The second oldest appeared to be six years of age with a coat of pale purple, a blonde mane, and yellow eyes. A tiny horn poked out of her messy mane, “I’m Dinky Doo. Where is my Mommy?” She sniffled sadly not quite believing she had been separated from her beloved mother. Luna reached out and gently brushed the young fillies’ mane, “I’m sorry little one… I… I don’t know but I promise you, I will find a way to reunite you with her… it’s a Princess Promise” Luna smiled gently “That means it can’t be broken and I will keep to my word no matter what,” Dinky seemed to have brightened up and smiled at the Princess of the Night. The Princess turned to the youngest, a sad, young pegasus who looked up to meet Luna’s gaze. Her eyes were a bright baby blue that held a look of determination within them, “My name is Swift Heart, I’m an orphan so you don’t have to make any special promises to me.” She said with agitated voice. The filly’s fur was magenta colored, and her mane was two toned honey brown with a streak of lighter strawberry blond on the left side of her face. The little filly appeared to be only four years old, but her demeanor was different from the other two children. Luna stood up and looked at the two mares “And what are your names?” She inquired, looking at the mint colored unicorn and her companion, a cream colored earth pony. The mint colored pony had a lyre cutie mark on her flank while the other mare had three blue and pink bonbons as her cutie mark. “I’m Lyra Heartstring and this is my wife Bonbon.” The mint colored unicorn said. Introducing the both of them. Bonbon looked up at the princess “Your highness…what are we to do? You said it yourself, the creatures of this world won’t accept us, and we have to protect the little ones…” the cream colored mare said with urgency. Luna turned back to the view of the city, “I will not allow them to be harmed, nor you… I will train these three in the way of the knight; I will train them to protect themselves and others… and to do so… we shall retreat underground.” ############################################################################################################### A month later… Luna looked over her new home, an older part of the city that had been buried and built over by the governing powers of the city. Old building, lifeless land, a clean water supply, and, most importantly, secluded. The princess of the night had begun training her new protégés in the way of the knight, and was pleased to see the potential they all had. Mona Lisa had a streak of mischief in her; the young vibria went from a shy little thing to an all-out prankster! Luna couldn’t help but chuckle, the dragoness reminded Luna so much of Tia at that age. As she thought about her sister, a frown crossed her delicate face “Tia… my search for you has been fruitless. Dear sister of mine, I miss you so much.” She whispered before returning to her private thoughts. The eight year old showed great promise, ambidextrous, a rare trait for a knight to have, she picked two weapons to train with: the war hammer, which she now kept strapped to her back, and strapped around her waist above where her tail met the swell of her back was machete. Mona was pure strength even at her young age. Mona, aside her pranking, showed to be quite creative as well; designing clothes for the group to wear, aside from Luna, who created her own armor outfit to wear. The vibria wore a simple pink tank top that hung loosely on her body, pulled her thick brown mane into a pony tail, and wore specially modified black shorts that she made to fit around her tail. The Princess glanced at her own coverings. In Equestria clothing had been optional; however, in this world, clothing couldn’t be optional, the environment was too harsh and the shape of their bodies demanded cloth coverings. Luna now wore a long light blue off the shoulders dress with slits on both sides to allow full range of movement of her legs, on her arms she wore armor wristbands. Over that she wore a silver heart shaped breast plate that curved in the back to allow her wings free movement, her cute mark embodied on the center. Cuisses were attached to her hips for protection, and on her hind legs she wore bracers from the large curve of her leg to her hoof. Luna’s thoughts then turned to the second oldest of her pupils, Dinky, the little unicorn was so serious about her new studies as a knight. Mona had dressed Dinky in a white midriff shirt, embroidered with her newly earned cutie mark, a three prong trident with swirls of magic around it, and wore a navy blue skirt. Luna chuckled to herself; Dinky was proving herself to be a natural with weapon magic, the unicorn seemed to also have an affinity towards water magic, it had struck Luna as odd at first, before she truly thought of it. Dinky proved to be calm and collected throughout the current circumstances, like water. She tried to move with flow and over the rocks, Dinky was somepony Luna hoped to eventually make leader of this little group. The last filly, Luna sighed softly as she thought about Swift Heart, Swifty’s mind would have been veined for by many universities in Equestria. The magenta colored foal loved facing problems head on, and seemed to hate any idea of quitting or giving up on a project. She quickly learned how to understand this world vastly advanced technology. Luna felt almost embarrassed when Swifty casually mentioned how the most advanced thing Equestria had was the steam engine. Any book the filly got her hands on was digested within hours of reading. She was always taking things apart and reassembling them, creating new things from scraps of junk. Swifty was dressed rather cutely, black shorttalls and a simple, powder blue tank top that allowed her wings to have plenty of movement. She didn’t have her cutie mark yet, but Luna had an idea as to what her talent might be. Swifty’s weapon of choice was prance saber and her mode of defense was a short shield. “Your highness!” A voice called out, bringing Luna out of reverie, “Princess Luna, Swifty took apart another toaster! I love her, I really do, but I can’t live without toast!” Lyra complained, exasperated. The mint-colored unicorn wore a white tank top and brown shorts. It was strange how eager she had been to wear clothes, “I can’t keep using a glamor spell to sneak to the surface to hunt down toasters anymore! I need my morning toast with peanut butter and jelly!” She shouted at the princess, her left eye twitching slightly. Luna chuckled “I will speak to her and politely ask her to put her latest victim back together.” The Lunar Princess got up from her chair and walked past the fuming Lyra. Dinky twirled, spun, jabbed, and parried, the pale purple filly was breathing hard, sweat was dripping from her body, and her horn was lit, armed with a spell as she went into the next set of combo moves. Moving slowly she summoned a water dome around her, and held her trident out in front of her. She screamed, releasing the dome outward and watching as it flooded the area. Dinky’s eyes were focused on mastering the current task, it was now her mission, become a knight and find Mommy! She knew Princess Luna was doing her best, but if she didn’t pull her weight the princess wouldn’t be able to focus on finding her mommy, she needed to be stronger! Her horn lit up again as she set to cast another spell “Mommy… I’ll help find you… just wait a little longer” she said softly. Mona was humming softly to herself as she sat in her room; she was really falling in love with this dimension! The fashion was awesome! Bonnie managed to find her fashion mags which only furthered to inspire her inner fashionista! Fashion was her treasure horde! Mona chuckled as she held up her drawing pad. “Oh so many ideas” she said smirking almost evilly, Dinky and Swifty were just soo cute! She couldn’t wait to force them into being her models! “Mona, shouldn’t you be practicing?” Bonbon asked poking her head into the young dragon’s room. Mona cringed and turned to the cream colored mare with a sigh, “Come on Bonnie! Practice isn’t until this afternoon!” Mona moaned with a pout, “It’s either I design fashion or I prank the others till practice.” Bonbon groaned, she figured the young vibria would be similar to Spike from Ponyville…young, eager to help others, and sweet. Mona was rash, sarcastic, and somewhat arrogant. Smoothing out her orange sundress Bonbon took a deep breath and looked at Mona “If you want to eat dinner tonight and NOT be grounded, you won’t pull a single prank for the rest of the day.” She scolded the young dragoness. Mona squeaked loudly in shock “Y- yes ma’am! I’d best practice!” Mona quickly put down her drawing pad and picked up her war hammer and machete. Strapping her weapons onto her back, she raced off to the practice arena. “Swift Heart!” Luna called out as she entered the young pegasus’ lab, the lunar princess was always impressed whenever she entered the secluded little area. “Yes, your highness?” A young voice answered back among the piles of scrap and machine parts. Luna made her way further into the lab before coming upon the young inventor. Already, she seemed to be at work “I already know what your here about, and I’ve already put the toaster back together.” Swifty said pointing to a perfectly good looking toaster “Swifty…if you knew taking the toaster apart in the first place was bad, then why did you do it?” Luna asked kneeling beside the young foal. Swift Heart’s ears dropped as she looked away. “I can’t quite explain it; often I just feel the need to do things, like I’m compelled to learn about everything around me. I dislike simply sitting around and doing nothing.” She answered simply. The way Swifty spoke was abnormally articulate for her age; Luna hoped she would grow out of it and try speaking more informally around her peers. Luna pulled the child into her arms. “Swift Heart, I can tell you’re a very bright child and you have your whole life ahead of you, when next you feel the need to take something apart, I want you to go to arena and try and work out your anxieties there. I bet physical activity will make you feel better.” Luna said, smiling at the foal, warmly picking her up and carrying her off. “It’s time for afternoon lessons and we’ll let Lyra make all the toasted peanut butter and jelly sammies she wants.” She nuzzled the foal managing to get a tiny giggle out of her as she walked off. ############################################################################################################### Seven years later….4 years before series “Mona?” Swifty knocked on the vibria’s door poking her head in, without waiting for an answer. Mona looked up and smiled. “Hey, Bright Light, what’s up?” The teenage dragon asked motioning for the eleven year old filly to enter. Swifty moved into the room and walked over to Mona. “Today Luna is going to officially make you a knight! It’s so exciting! Um, I truly hate to ask this, but I wanted to look nice for your ceremony…” She held up a manga book. “Can you make my mane look like this, please?” Mona looked at the book and giggled. Over the years, Swifty had loosened up on her formal way of speaking. She still used some words the other couldn’t understand but it was a start at least. The dragon looked at the picture being shown to her and looked back at the young foal and nodded. “Okay! You, my dear, came to the right place!” She stated proudly as she used her tail to grab her special hair care kit. Mona turned Swifty away from her and began brushing her soft mane, “Those sunlights you made have done wonders for this underground city, you should be proud of yourself Swift” She commented offhandedly as she began separating the hair into two parts and pinned one side up using a clip. Swifty’s ears folded back against her head in slight embarrassment “Well, we needed some way to grow our own food down here. I merely took the concept of a greenhouse lighting system and changed the concept to install a modified light that would give both light and warmth by attaching it to the top of the cavern so the whole of the area would be covered in light.” The filly explained, trying to brush off the complement. Mona chuckled shaking her head as she grabbed a blue colored ribbon and, taking the unpinned hair, tied a pretty bow around the bundle. She then took the ribbon tails and, separating the hair again, began braiding the hair, incorporating the ribbon into it. “You have never been good at taking compliments, Bright Light” Mona chuckled, taking the clip from Swifty’s hair as she continued braiding until the crown was complete and two big matching blue bows sat on both sides of her head “There! One braided crown! So cute!” Mona cooed hugging the filly. Tentatively, Swifty hugged the dragoness back and smiled. “Are you going to tie ribbons to your horns again?” She said looking at thin short horns that had grown on Mona’s head a few years back. Mona shook her head “Not today, sweetness, maybe some other time. For now, we have to get going! Princess Luna forged armor just for me and today I’ll be receiving it!” Mona said, getting up and taking Swifty’s hand, then lead her out of the room. “Come on Bonnie don’t cry” Lyra said, consoling her wife with a gentle smile. “But Lyra, it feels like she all grown up now! She’s all grown up and doesn’t need us anymore!” Bonbon cried, fat tears streaming down her face. She had come to see the three children as her own foals. “Mona’s grown up so much! Now she’s a full-fledged Knight!” Bonbon choked out “I’m just so happy!” Lyra chuckled shaking her head softly “Come on dear we don’t want to miss the ceremony Luna has planned,” the mint colored unicorn said, taking Bonbon’s hand and leading her towards the practice arena. “Seven years and so much has changed. With Luna finding more survivors, and this place becoming a perfect little village, just like Ponyville was, but even better.” Lyra said nuzzling Bonbon’s neck and gently kissing her cheek. It was true; four years ago Princess Luna managed to locate a small group of Equestrians in another dimension being treated as nothing more than slaves. Luna had gone to liberate the ponies and bring them to their current location. Sadly, Derpy was not found, much to Dinky’s dismay. They called their new home Settlement Town, they really had no other name for it; it had become home since losing Equis, their home world, to an unknown enemy. However, no pony left to investigate the surface world though many were curious about the humans that lived in this world. Lyra more so then others, having been a human fanatic and a studious anthropologist, the unicorn was quite enthusiastic about learning everything she could about humans, much to annoyance of Bonbon. “HEEEY! Don’t be sad! I’m going to throw an amazing ‘Yay! You’re a knight Party’ for Mona! This is like a SUPER DUPER HAPPY DAY!!!” The two mares turned and smiled at their old friend, they had been lucky to find her. “Pinkie we are happy for Mona, but it hard to see her growing up so fast!” Lyra said as the bubbly pink mare hugged the other two, giggling “But she’s growing up ‘cause she has the best mommies in the universe! Okay, so you’re not technically her mommies, but you two love and care for her like mommies need to, so that still counts, as you two will be her temporary mommies until we find her REAL mommy! Unless, of course, she doesn’t have a mommy, but instead she has a daddy…or two daddies! Then you two could totally be her mommies!” Pinkie rambled, much to the poor married couple’s annoyance. Dinky stood on the left of Luna while Swifty stood on the right; both of their heads were bowed down. Dinky glanced around her, the practice arena was a refurbished stadium of some sorts, the unicorn didn’t know must about it, but the arena seats were filled with the town’s new residents, all eagerly awaiting to Luna’s oldest protégé receive the title of knight, the first dragon to become a knight. As happy as Dinky was that more ponies had been found, she still felt sad her mother hadn’t been found yet, but she still had hope that one day she would be reunited with her family. Until then, she continued to push herself with her knight training and, in two years, she’ll be the next to obtain the title of knight! Keeping her head bowed, Swift Heart felt nervous, her mind seemed to be everywhere else but where it should be. She had recently obtained her cutie mark and Mona had embroidered it on her shirt. Her hand ran over the fine stitch work as she smiled at the pink heart that had a rim of darker pink outlining it with wings set on top of the heart. She had a cutie mark, she knew what her path was now. It was the mark of the undeterred heart, a symbol of determination, to keep moving forward and never look back, Swift Heart’s talent was to never give up, to push forward, and, if something got in her way, to find a solution to solve it. The young filly folded her hand in front of her as the ceremonial music began. Taking a deep breath and, readjusting the outfit that would be worn under her new armor, Mona looked up from her spot, awaiting her cue to enter the arena. She glanced down again at her outfit and smiled. It was a brand-new black, short sleeve chain mail body suit with the legs stopping short of her knees and showed off the curves of her body, she was rather pleased with this body, well-toned from all the training and powerful. Her thick brown hair was hanging loosely about her shoulders as per Luna’s request. As the music started, her fin-like ears perked up and Mona walked forward, entering the arena where Princess Luna stood before her, beside Luna stood the two ponies the young vibria considered as younger siblings. She couldn’t wait till the other two were full-fledged knights! The three promised to go above ground once they were all knighted, it was going to be the best adventure ever! Luna felt a surge of pride as Mona walked proudly towards her, glancing to both sides of her, the moon princess felt an almost maternal joy at how strong her girls were becoming. Focusing her eyes back on Mona, Luna watched as the teen kneeled before her. “We gather today in this arena to celebrate! Today Mona Lisa becomes a knight! She has trained hard and passed all her tests, I’ve watched with pride as this young dragon has grown over the past seven years and has learned many skills from me; however, the path of a knight never stops! She will continue to learn and grow. Though the path is long, I know she has the strength to protect those whom are closest to her!” Luna shouted so all could hear her. The alicorn held out her hand over Mona. Her horn began to glow bright blue and her eyes light up pure white. Ribbons of pink magic began wrapping around Mona’s body, starting at her head, the ribbon encircled her hair and forehead flashing brightly upon contact with her skin and forming a gold and silver circlet on her head while her hair pulled into a ponytail, held by a golden clip with silver tassels decorating her hair. A ribbon wrapped around her neck, flashed, again and formed a long, pink scarf that cascaded down her back, the rest of the ribbons followed suit, forming a breast plate that wrapped around her upper chest, shoulder protectors, wrist gauntlets, an armor belt that had chains looping around it, greaves on her lower legs, and specially designed sollerets appeared on her three clawed feet. On her back a newly forged war hammer appeared as did a new machete, they were a slightly heavier weight than the training weapons Mona was used to, but she knew the extra weight would only make her stronger. “Rise, Lady Knight, Mona Lisa” Luna said once the magical ribbons faded. Doing as she was told, Mona rose and turned to the crowd “I hereby swear my hammer to up hold the ideas of a knight. To protect, serve, and honor those whom are important to me!” Mona said her practice lines as the ponies cheered in joy for her. Mona turned and hugged Luna, much to the alicorn’s shock, but soon, she hugged Mona back “I truly am proud of you, Mona” Luna said patting her on the back and pulling away. Dinky and Swifty practically jumped on Mona with their hugs “You did it!” “Congratulations!” They both cheered “Alright! We’ve got a party to get to! Let’s celebrate today!” The three girls ran off to the party Pinkie Pie had planned for the dragon. ############################################################################################################### Two Years later- Two years before series It was Dinky’s turn to walk into the arena and receive armor. The under armor Dinky was given was different than Mona’s. The young unicorn was wearing a black halter top, a midriff shirt, and short spandex shorts that went a little higher up on her legs then Mona’s knee length style. “Mother, I know you’d be proud of me… even if you can’t witness this day,” Dinky said softly, “I’m sorry to say that I- I almost gave up on finding you, but, luckily for me, I have a stubborn friend who won’t let me give up hope. When I find you Mom… and I know I’ll find you. I’ll make you proud of me.” She said gently as she looked up. Only two more years, then Swifty would become a knight, and on that day, the three of them would depart to the surface! “Swifty! Are you almost ready?!” Bonbon shouted as she entered the magenta fillies’ room. Swifty was looking at herself in the mirror, more specifically, her chest “Mona has a big chest, a D cup, and so does Dinky, a B cup. I’m practically a pancake, an A cup… an A cup!” She said as her ears dropped downward “I hardly even look like a preteen! I look like I’m still a ten year old!” She wept. Bonbon sighed and walked over to the young filly “It’s not bad Swifty! I mean, think about it! When you fly, you won’t have big globs of flesh dragging you down, or getting in the way of your fighting!” Bonbon struggled to find positives for the young fillies ‘situation’ sweating bullets as she tried to think of something to say “Well, it just means you’re… a super genius! Yeah! Girls with smaller chests simply have bigger brains! Lyra was telling me that the other day from… from her… online school studies!” Bonbon said hoping her lie wasn’t too blatant “Scientifically proven!” Sadly it was, Swifty gave Bonbon a blank stare that seemed to say “are you even serious? » on her face. Bonbon sighed and taking the preteen by the shoulders “Come on, Dinky’s about to receive her armor.” She said pushing the pegasus out the door. “Fluttershy! Ms. Fluttershy?” Mona looked around the cozy little cottage that had been recently built for a very shy butter-yellow pony. Fluttershy had been found a few months ago, along with a small group of survivors in a rather poor and barren land, just barely surviving. Said pegasus appeared a few moments after being called “Oh, Mona! How nice to see you!” She said in a voice as sweet as honey. Mona looked her over, Fluttershy was doing better then she had when she was first brought to Settlement Town, you couldn’t see her ribs anymore she had put on a healthy amount of weight, “Same to you Ms. Fluttershy! I was just stopping by before Dinky’s ceremony! I wanted to see if you were doing alright” Cerulean colored eyes focused on the young dragon and smiled gently “I’m fine, really, thanks to Pinkie Pie. I have to admit, at first, everything was even scarier here, with all this advanced technology, but Pinkie helped me adjust. I just wish my other friends were here. I can’t stop worrying about Applejack, Rainbow, Rarity, and Twilight…but I know we’ll see each other soon.” She said walking over to Mona. “You and Rarity would have so much fun together! I bet you both would be really good friends! I really like this outfit you made for me” She spun around a bit showing off her ankle long yellow dress with a delicate white shawl hanging off her shoulders. Her wings were folded down under the shawl and her elegant tail reached the floor “It’s a perfect outfit, I’m sure even Rarity would agree! I bet she’d encourage you to keep designing as well!” Mona smiled and turned away “Hey Fluttershy…w- what do you think happened to the Elements of Harmony?” she asked tentatively. Fluttershy looked away folding her ears back “I… I’m not sure… I know the Elements are supposed to be inside of us… but… with Equis gone…I still believe in them…that they exist inside of us, but without the others they’re dormant. The Elements are waiting to reawaken, but…I just… I don’t understand why the rainbow failed to protect Equis against those horrible monsters!” The pure sorrow in her voice was enough to make someone cry. “And Discord…” Fluttershy wrapped her arms around herself, “he helped with opening the portals, he helped save all the citizens of Equis, but not even he could have foreseen were every pony would have ended up! I believe in my deepest heart he is also looking for us… and me.” A single tear slid down her muzzle. “Discord was your mate…I can only imagine how painful it must be, being separated from your soul mate,” Mona said, blinking away her tears. “I…I believe it too. I believe in the Elements of Harmony still existing and about Discord searching for ya, after all, he did reshape the stars just to ask for your hoof in marriage!” Mona tilted her head to glance at Fluttershy before leaving. “I’ll see ya at Dinky’s party!” Mona said leaving the butter-colored pony. As before, with Mona, music played, and Dinky walked proudly into the arena, the cheers of many ponies rang in her ears. The unicorn mare smiled at the trio before her: Mona wearing her armor proudly, Swifty wearing a new outfit Mona had made for her, a Japanese school uniform, with her wings fluttering softly and her tail wagging happily behind her. Dinky would have to tease the younger filly once the ceremony was over, but, for now, this was her moment to shine. Luna stood before the large crowd one again, feeling nothing but pride as the pale purple unicorn kneeled before her, “Ponies of Settlement Town, I’m pleased to present Dinky Doo! Daughter of Derpy Brighteyes Hooves! Like Mona Lisa before her, Dinky has passed many trials to reach this point. It also my pleasure to say this: though she is young, I hereby announce that, along with the title of Knight, she is to be named captain of Mona and, eventually, Swift Heart. Dinky Doo, not only have you proven to be wise beyond your years, you've demonstrated the leadership and patience needed to be a good leader.” Luna closed her eyes, held up her hands, and summoned her magic. Yellow ribbons of magic encircled Dinky’s body, the ribbons wrapped around her horn, forehead, and mane flashing brightly, forming a half helm with face side guards and a yellow bow bounding her mane in a low ponytail in the back. Ribbons wrapped around her neck, shoulders, and upper chest were here ribs stopped and formed mid-gaurd chest plate with protective shoulder guards and a long yellow scarf wrapped around her neck flowing down her back. Wrist guards covered the top of her hands and forearms, around her waist fitted leg armor formed around her hind legs and hooves. The final touch was her new weapon which appeared and strapped to her back, a blue steel three prong trident with her cutie marked engraved on it. “Rise, Lady Knight, Captain Dinky Doo,” Luna said, motioning for her to raise. Dinky stood, drew her weapon and pointed it upward, “I, Captain Dinky Doo, daughter of Derpy Brighteyes Hooves, vow to keep the ideals of the knighthood deep within my heart! To lead my team, my sisters at arms, through any battle and ensure they come home safe! I vow to be loyal, kind, and generous to all I meet!” Dinky smiled as the crowd rejoiced at her words. Closing her eyes Dinky drank it all in. She was aware of Luna congratulating her, of Swifty and Mona hugging her, and the shouts from Pinkie Pie announcing her celebration party, it was a good day. ############################################################################################################### Present Day - set after Pizza Face Swift Heart was sitting at her vanity mirror, brushing her hair and taking deep breaths. She was nervous, it was finally her turn to become a knight. All the hours of training, the extra flight training, the long hours of studying, and endless hours in her lab creating new things to help benefit the ponies that lived below the ground had paid off. All she wanted was to be needed, be useful, “I found it, I found my place, I know my path. I just need to keep walking it, I can’t be hurt by the monsters anymore.” She said to her reflection, trying to calm her beating heart. “I’m strong, and I’m smart, and I’m special.” She stood and walked to the door that leads out of her room. Taking another deep breath, she pushed open the door and walked out. “Bonnie! I passed all my online courses! I’m officially a high school history teacher!” Lyra shouted happily, holding up her degree to her wife. “I even got a job! I got hired at Roosevelt High School! Luna gave me an enchanted necklace to wear that’ll make me look human!” Lyra said with much enthusiasm. Bonbon wiped a tear from her eye “I’m so proud of you Lyra! We’ll actually be able to buy Hearth Warming Eve’s gift for the children!” Bonbon hugged Lyra “We’ll be able to buy them new things instead of rummaging through a dumpster! Ah! Maybe we can get Swifty that processor thing she been rambling on about!” Lyra wrapped her arms around Bonbon and kissed the top of her head livingly. “That’s my Bonnie, ever the perfect mommy. I wish we could have given them better gifts over the years, and now we can.” Lyra whispered nuzzling Bonbon softly. “But let’s not tell Pinkie Pie, I’m really not interesting in celebrating this, not right now. It’s Swifty’s time to shine.” Bonbon nodded an agreement with Lyra. “So much has happened, sometimes I wonder if I’ll wake up only to find everything was just a dream, regardless of losing our home, I feel like I’ve gained so much more, our family has grown so much. Luna has become one of my dearest friends, I acted as mother to three wonderful little girls, and today, I’m going to witness my youngest become a knight, I feel content with my life.” Bonbon said kissing Lyra’s neck and cheek as Lyra nuzzled back. ############################################################################################################### “And all three of you talked about this?” Luna said, looking at Mona and Dinky who nodded in response. “You trained us to work as a team, but we… we want to see the surface, maybe even leave the city someday, for all we know there may be other Equins out there waiting to be found,” Dinky said, “maybe even my mother is out there, it’s a long shot, but it’s one I’d like to take.” Mona stepped forward, “Luna, we are your knights, trained by the Sword of Equestria herself. Come what may, I think we’re ready to spread our wings, well, in Swift’s case, quite literally, but we all talked about and waited for this day. We want to go topside!” Luna looked at them, a small peg of pain piercing her heart “I knew this would happen one day, little ones always grow up, and with that growth comes, so does the desire to find your path in life. Leaving the nest was bound to happen, yet my heart still feels unprepared for this. I will allow you to go topside; however, you’re still far too young to leave the city, if you still choose to do so in the future, when you’re adults, I will not stop you.” The moon princess said softly from her seat. She watched the two high five with a smile on their faces, the immortal princess knew they would eventually leave her, but she never counted how deeply she would come to care for them. She wanted to keep them protected from all the forces of the universe, but knew that wasn’t possible, all little birds must leave the nest after all, she only hoped she had trained them to be strong enough for this strange world. ############################################################################################################### Swifty was pulling on the outfit she would wear under her armor; she had no clue what Princess Luna had in mind for her to wear. She worried about how heavy the armor would be, she needed as lightweight as possible in order to fly at her fastest. She currently wore a simple spandex body suit with a sleeveless top with thigh length shorts. She looked at her chest and twitched. “Too big for an A cup, too small for a B cup….” She pouted. “My boy magnets are too small!” She said, folding her ears back and frowned, displeased. Dinky and Mona had awesome bodies! Why did she get the short end of the body type stick!? Sighing softly she ran her fingers through her newly cut mane, she decided to go with a short boyish cut, luckily her mane was naturally fluffy so that made it easier to care for her new style without much work, her honey brown mane with the strawberry blond streak hadn’t changed much over the years, her tail was a solid brown without the natural highlight running through it, she had decided not to cut her tail short, instead she had her tail braided and tied off with a light blue bow. The young pegasus sighed and prepared mentally herself to walk into the practice arena where her older sisters waited. Like the two times before, Swift Heart heard the music playing for her entrance; however, this time it was for her. The music was playing for her! The young pegasus entered the practice arena like she had dozens of times before now. Mona and Dinky were there, looking at her with pride, Luna held the same look as well! Never in a million lifetimes could Swifty imagine a princess being proud of her! She never imagined anypony being proud of her! She took the final stepk now standing before Luna and looking up at her slightly. Kneeling before the princess, Swifty stretched her wings out behind her she could hardly hear what Luna was saying over the pounding of her own heart, but she knew the words having heard them twice before. “Swift Heart has used her brilliant mind countless times to aid in our continued survival here in this forgotten underground city that we’ve happily made our home, if Equis hadn’t fallen I could only imagine how many universities would fight to have her grace their campuses, but fate was kind enough to bring her to us, and for that, we are thankful.” Luna said addressing the crowd of ponies that had come to Knighting ceremony, the Princess could have sworn everypony in Settlement Town was in attendance today. Swift Heart made a huge effort to help the community around her, “It pleases me to say she’ll be a fantastic strategist and it is my hope she continues to grow into an even more brilliant mare!” Luna concluded and held out her hands as her horn began to glow brightly. Ribbons and light blue encircled the young filly; a metal headband appeared on her head, a light blue scarf formed around her neck. Unlike Mona and Dinky, the armor Swifty received was a thick but tough leather dark brown dress with a sleeveless sweetheart neckline the scooped low in the back under her wings, on her right shoulder was a shoulder guard, on her right wrist was a leather guard with a steel gauntlet over her hand, on her left arm was a newly crafted round shield with her cutie mark engraved on it, on her hind legs, below her knees were leather guards, on her hips steel cuisses were attached, as well as her new saber. “Rise, Lady Knight, Swift Heart.” Swift Heart snapped to attention at Luna’s command and slowly stood up and turned to the crowd, her breath hitching in her throat. She hadn’t expected so many to turn up for her, Mona, yes, many ponies depended on her strength, Dinky, definitely, she was a natural born leader and often took charge of many community projects, but her? She always felt she never did enough but… here they were, the ponies that liked her! “I, Swift Heart, a child of no pony, taken in by the kindness of those around her, hereby vow on this momentous occasion to continue moving forward upon the path set before me! I swear to never surrender! I will always find inspiration in those who around me to solve the problems that block the way.” Swift Heart shouted to the crowd and received a cheer in response. Mona and Dinky stepped forward and each took one of Swifty’s hands before giving her a big hug. “Bright light ya ready for our surface adventure?” Mona asked parting. “We got permission from Luna!” Dinky said leading them away from the arena. Swifty looked up at them, Mona stood taller than even Luna, and Dinky stood about the same height as Luna while Swifty stood at about five feet. Too short. After clearing her throat, she spoke. “I believe I am prepared for such an excursion! However, I will ensure that nothing is lost to chance, if you would be so kind as to meet me by the village entrance I will make haste and collect a few necessities from my room.” “No!” Both girls shouted and proceeded to drag the little pegasus off. “If you get caught by Pinkie Pie, you’ll be dragged off to the party and then it’ll be hours before we can surface!” Mona said sternly, pulling the shocked pegasus along. “Yeah Swifty! I know you like trying to be ready for…EVERYTHING but once in a while you have to simply dive in head first” Dinky said quirking an eyebrow. Swifty’s ears drooped down “Very well, I will make no further argument.” She said softly as the two let her go and the trio made their way topside. ############################################################################################################### Meanwhile, the streets of New York were anything but calm and quiet as a single orange-banded turtle was screaming as he ran away “Why! Am! I! Always! Bait!” Mickey shouted as he slid turning a corner, hoping to not lose his tail to the newest mutant on the block “Nice boy! Good boy! Don’t eat me Doubledog!” He shouted, barely missing the mashing jaws of double doom. What chased him was a XX-large dog with two heads; the plan was for Mickey to lead Doubledog into a planned trap for capture. Sadly, it was Mickey that was bait and no plan ever survives, even with the best of intentions, the fun loving ninja turtle tripped. “MICKEY!” Three voices cried out as they watched in horror as their baby brother was about to be made into a giant chew toy. Raph was about to spring into action, he wasn’t about to let his baby brother be made into dog chow. He knew Leo’s plan was stupid! They had used Michelangelo one too many times as bait, the red banded turtle always wondered when the younger turtle’s luck would run out. However, his actions were stopped when a figure appeared out of nowhere with a giant mallet, like something out of Super Robo Mecha Force Five, the figure swung the mallet slammed it into the Doubledog sending the mutt flying back. What happened next was a shock to Leonardo aside from the newcomer smacking Doubledog like a rag doll, in a flash of light another figure appeared “A… a teleporter?” Leo heard Donatello question, in shock. Leonardo watched, stunned, as something on the mysterious figure’s head lit up and a shield formed around Doubledog just the large canine tried to attack. The final kicker was a third figure with wings, swooping down and quickly circling around the large dog before perching on its back, as the three turtles managed to reach Mikey. The orange masked turtle watched in awe as the third figure reached a hand around to Doubledog twin necks and suddenly started scratching his twin heads! The mutant dog stopped growling and snarling and fell to the ground, painting and whining happily. To say the least, the turtle boys were wide eyed with shock “The what the shell just happened?” Leo asked as the third figure kept scratching the dog as it rolled on its back, exposing it belly to a tummy rub. “Girls happened” Raph said in both annoyance and anger as the shape of the figures became clear; however, any further details were obscured by the lack of light, and the only light was the street lamp the boys were under. “Sister may I inquire the acquisition of this dog? I would be most joyous to have a pet.” The figure with wings spoke in a gentle tone laced with formal vocabulary. Said figure was still scratching the deliriously happy, two headed dog. The tallest hammer wielder turned to the small winged one, “I guess we could ask Luna… but… um Sis… ya might need to ask these boys first, I think the dog might already have an owner.” This one’s voice was more casual and easy going. The last one then spoke, “Honestly, I don’t these boys own him. I think they might have just been baiting him, poor fella.” This figure had a tiny little horn on her head. “Luna will most assuredly say yes, to fathom otherwise would be a jest! I shall give him a name in which a bond can form between master and pet, Sir Otis Cornwell Fluffy Paws is what he will be!” The winged figure giggled as the large dog began happily licking her, apparently he liked the name. Mickey, however, didn’t The young turtle stood up, angry that someone dared change the name of a creature he had already named! Doubledog was an awesome name! “Hey! You can’t just rename something I already named! His name is Doubledog ‘cause he’s got two dog heads so the dog has been doubled!” He shouted angrily at the girl. The three girls turned towards the turtles causing Mikey to gulp, wondering if his “saviors” were now his new enemies. The girl with wings stepped towards them “A most preposterous name for one whose soul is a gentle and kind, so here, I say again, his name shall be Sir Otis Cornwell Fluffy Paws!” She stepped into the light revealing herself. Mickey stared for a second, those eyes, baby blue and showing annoyance, those pouty lips, so perfectly formed into a unhappy frown “Uuuhh…um… I have no clue what you said.” He blanked out staring at the girl before him going silent. Donnie blinked, “She said that name is ridiculous and she calling him what she wants to call him.” The purple turtle honestly didn’t want to repeat that equally, if not more, absurd name the girl had given Doubledog…err..Otis…rather. What happened next shocked Donnie and perhaps equally shocked his brothers “Sir Otis Cornwell Fluffy Paws is totally the perfect name! Duh! Why did I totally not think of that myself?” Mickey exclaimed suddenly causing the other three turtles to gasp in shock, “And you know, he isn’t our dog, so if you want him, Otis is totally yours!” The younger turtle said quickly before Leo, or anyone else, could say anything. “Did Mickey just blow a brain cell or something? ‘Cause he just let someone name something” Raph said, walking over to the orange turtle, who seemed to be in some sort of stupor. Leonardo looked at Donatello and whispered “So… are we dealing with new mutants?” He asked looking curiously at the girls, he still couldn’t see the other two, but he was worried….very worried. He didn’t know which side these girls were on, and what level of strength they might have. “I believe so…however that shade of pink is rather unique to find in nature.” Donnie stated putting a hand under his chin and he looked downward. “Donnie, seriously, don’t flamingos have pink feathers?” Leo questioned Donnie looked up, slightly annoyed, “Actually, young flamingos hatch with greyish-reddish plumage, but adults range from light pink to bright red due to aqueous bacteria and beta-Carotene obtained from their food supply. A well-fed, healthy flamingo is--” Sadly, before he could further explain he was interrupted. “I am not pink! I am magenta! There is a very distinct color difference between pink and magenta. Magenta is a purplish red color and one of the three primary colors of the subtractive CMYK color model. On color wheels of the RGB additive and CMYK subtractive color models, it is located midway between red and purple. It is the complementary color of green!” She said crossing her arms and flaring out her slightly ruffled wings. Suddenly the tallest figure began laughing so hard she actually stumbled towards the winged girl and wrapped her arms around her, laughing. “Ah, Bright Light, you’re cracking me up here! Face it; you’re almost on the spectrum of pink, honey. Just get over it and stop being so color sensitive all the time!” She said still chuckling as she hugged the smaller one from behind, she definitely looked like a “normal” mutant, if there was such a thing. The finally one also stepped into the light. This one had purple fur and a tiny horn sprouting from the middle of her head! “Seriously Mona, you get angry if someone brings you the wrong shade of blue! ‘Oh no, that isn’t blue, it’s azure! That’s not blue either, that’s cerulean!’” She mocked the tall lizard girl laughing. The lizard girl, now identified as Mona shrugged, nonchalantly “True enough, but only when I’m working on a project and I want just the right shade,” she said, putting her hands on her hips, looking at the young horned girl happily. “Alright, enough playing around! Who are you girls, and you better give us answers now!” Raph said, getting fully annoyed by these weird mutants and their overly girlish-ness. ‘Bright Light’ gasped and turned to Raphael, “How ill-mannered you are to question for our names without first giving your own! Were you not taught proper etiquette when addressing a maiden?” She questioned, clearly offended by Raph’s rude behavior. Mona slapped a hand to forehead with an exasperated sigh, “Ehh…sorry about her. My little sister has always had an extremely formal way of speaking, been like that since she was four. Anyway short stack, I’m Mona Lisa.” She said walking over to Raph. The red turtle twitched; however, when she approached it was painfully easy to see she towered over even Donnie in terms of height. “What the shell!? You’re some kind of Amazon Lizard woman! And who are you calling ‘short stack?’” Raph snarled at her, gripping his sais in anger. “Oh, I’m sorry, do I need to speak louder so you can hear down there, tiny?” Mona teased, smirking coyly, while the others were chuckling at Mona’s comeback. Raph charged at her pulling his sais out, ready to strike, but the girl dodged easily. “Ooh temper, temper, little guy” She chuckled, quickly turning on her heel as Raph passed by her. Taking a shallow breath, she huffed out a tiny spark of fire, lighting his mask tails on fire Raphael blinked, sniffed the air “Hey, anyone else smell something burning?” He asked turning to his brother. “Dude you’re on fire!” Mikey shouted in shock. The red banded turtle held up his mask tails and screamed as he tore off his mask to put out the flames. “Mona why do you feel the need to instigate the situation, I implore you, most beseechingly, to cease this nonsensical banter and violent tendencies, we must make haste, for the hour is nigh till the clock strikes the time of moons highest peak.” The girl with wings spoke walking over to Mona. Everyone but Donatello blinked in confusion. “Uh, Donnie I didn’t get a word of that.” Mikey said clearly confused, the purple turtle slapped his forehead “She means it’s almost midnight and to stop making the situation worse than it is,” his explanation was followed by an echo of ‘ah’ by his brothers. Donatello had to admit, it was rather refreshing to hear someone speak with such elegance, but it felt… forced… it felt unnatural coming from her. “Well why didn’t she just say so?” Mikey asked. The purple furred girl, who hadn’t done a lot of talk, sighed and looked at the sky, “Yeah, Swift is right, we can’t spend any more time up here, time to head home, we did make a promise to Luna after all, and as Captain I order both of you to follow me home without complaint or window shopping, is that clear?” She said confidently with a slight glare in her eyes. While she had been amused by the events, it was clear she took this encounter seriously. “Alright, as you wish Dinky!” The other two chorused together. The three turned and began leaving the turtle boys, Swift guiding Otis away with them. “Can’t we do just a little window shopping? I really wanna look at that cute blouse on 5th avenue!” Mona whined as they left the poorly lit area. “Mona for the last time, NO!” Dinky said, her horn lighting up and in a flash of light, they were gone. ############################################################################################################### The boys entered the lair. “We’re back Master Splinter,” Leo said, rubbing his head, trying to piece together the events that just occurred above the surface, it was all confusing to him. The strange girls were on his mind, he was worried they might be new enemies, and he feared what abilities they might have had. One could breathe fire and another could apparently teleport, but he was clueless as to the last one’s abilities aside from flying. “My sons, was your mission in the capture of Doubledog successful?” The old rat asked, stepping into the room and looking at his four sons. “His name is Sir Otis Cornwell Fluffy Paws apparently.” Raph said, irritated “And, no, we did capture him, but Mikey here give the mangy mutt to a pair of big blue eyes!” Raph slapped the back of Mikey’s head. “Ow! It’s wasn’t a pair of big blue eyes! It was a pair of big BABY blue eyes! With an adorably pair of cute pouty lips!” Mikey argued back. Splinter’s ears perked up as his sons groaned at Mikey’s response. “What has happened and what this talk of baby blue eyes?” he inquired, looking at Michelangelo in particular, who started jumping in place “Oh! I can totally tell you! Ya see, Leo was using me as bait ‘cause that’s what he always does, so, there I was running from Otis, leading him into the trap Leo set up, when I tripped! Otis was seconds from turning me into a chew toy when this girl came out of nowhere and slammed a hammer in Otis’ face, but that isn’t important, and neither is the other girl that like made a force field with her mind. What is important is Swift! She flew in, landed on Otis’ back, gave his head a scratch and BAM! Otis was rolling on his back and panting like a puppy! We started talking… though… I don’t remember half of what was said, but she was cute when sayin’ it!” Mikey rambled almost incoherently. “And she magenta not pink” Splinter blinked and turned to Leonardo. “Can you explain what happened?” Leonardo sighed softly; looking up to his father “Well…” he began explaining the oddity of the evening encounter to Splinter. The ninjutsu master frowned deeply, he certainly wasn’t expecting anything like this, frankly, he didn’t know how to explain this himself. “My sons, until we have further information on these girls, avoid them at all costs. We do not know if they are friend or foe,” he said sternly. “NOOO!” Mikey cried out “Can’t we just like…I dunno, talk to them! They totally can’t be evil!” The orange turtle seemed to be panicking and highly distraught. “Michelangelo what’s the matter, my son?” Splinter assumed it would have something to do with pizza. “I gotta see her again, that’s what! She was the cutest girl in the world!!” This answer surprised the rat and his other sons. “Mikey… do you… maybe… sort of have a… crush on one these girls?” Donnatello asked nervously, walking close to his younger brother and putting a hand on the back of his shell. He honestly hoped this wouldn’t be another Karai incident, Mikey getting hurt in any shape or form was the last thing any of the brothers wanted. “Crush? No. Hopelessly in love…definitely! Did you see those large expressive eyes? That fluffy hair? Those floppy pony ears?” Mikey sighed as his mind drifted off into daydream land. Raph sweat dropped, “Hate to bust your bubble Mikey, but that girl is soooo not your type. As weird as she talks, she actually has a brain, whereas you are a brainless moron,” he said in his normal straight forward manner. He got no reaction. “Oh shell, he’s even more brainless than normal!” Leonardo grabbed a slice of pizza and held it out in front of the somewhat comatose Mikey and blinked “Donnie, we need something now! I’m not getting a reaction here!” Mikey was even ignoring the pizza! It even had jelly beans and chocolate on it! Donnie shook his head “Sadly, there is no medical means of deal with lovesickness. We’ll have to double on keeping him safe until he snaps out of this or until we find out she has a boyfriend and watch as Mikey falls into utter despair and depression while wallowing in self-pity with a pint of Ben and Jerry ice cream.” The three simply stared at Donnie with critical eyes. “Not that I know from experience!” Donatello blushed and looked away from the prying eyes of his brothers and father. “Maybe we should call in some back up, like April or something. She might be able to talk Mikey out of this.” Raphael said, scratching the back of his head. Donnie said nothing and pulled out his phone “Hey April, can you come and help us? Mikey claims to have fallen in love with a girl. No… I don’t know! We just met them. Yes them…. Ran into them…. Doubledog, well, Otis…I’ll explain later, just see if you can snap Mikey out of this, please! He won’t even eat pizza!” Donnie said into the phone “Thanks April, see ya later” He hung up. “Now, we wait.” ############################################################################################################### “You may keep him Swift Heart, but remember this puppy is YOUR responsibility and he better not make a mess in the house, and you will visit Fluttershy to learn how to train him and to be a good pet owner.” Luna said, looking at Swifty from her desk. Swifty gave a bright smile. “Such a gratuitous answer! I swear to follow all you have said to the latter! Sir Otis will be the picture of obedience!” The little pegasus said, her wings fluttering happily, until a familiar trickling sound was heard. “Starting… now! Come Otis, outside!” She quickly hauled the giant dog outside. Luna sighed and looked at the new mess in her office. “Maid! I need the carpet cleaned!” She shouted as a maid entered the room bowing and got to work on the stain, Luna only sighed. “I remember when I was her age, I used to hide pets in the closet” To be continued…. > Chapter 2: Magic is Real > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 2 Magic is real. It had been three days and so far everything seemed to only be getting worse. The youngest turtle was still walking around on cloud nine, dreaming about his so-called “soul-mate:” the mysterious pony girl with wings. The young ninjas were clueless how to snap Mikey from this thing he was going through. April was of little help to Mikey as soon as he spoke of a girl. The red head was more excited about the prospect of hearing about teenage love interests, even going as far to get a dreamy look in her eyes. Donatello couldn’t help but admire how cute April looked when she was gossiping with Mikey about first crushes, but the genius turtle worried about the expected outcome, a broken hearted little freckle turtle. Mikey sighed for the umpteenth time that day, nibbling on his fourth slice of pizza, his brothers managed to get him eating and pretending he could see those eyes again. If this was how Donnie felt whenever he was with April he’d have to be easier on his bro! He never knew how awesome it was to like someone so much! He kept asking questions, mostly to himself, about the mysterious girl…what were her likes? Her dislikes? Why she hated pizza!? That might put a crimp in their nonexistent relationship! Well, he was totally sure he could convert her to a pizza lover! After all, who could hate pizza!? It was silly to think otherwise, man! He wondered if she named all her toe… wait… she didn’t have toes! She had hooves! Dude, how insensitive could he be to think that?! It must suck to not have toes! Well, maybe she named her hooves! That would be soooo cute! Raph growled and stood up. “I’m heading up, I can’t stand sitting still!” He declared, stomping towards the exit. He needed some air, and possibly to kick some butt, to work out this frustration. The red-wearing turtle wasn’t in the mood to deal with his brother’s personalities or their “issue’s” at the moment. If there was always one thing Raph was sure of, it was love and how he and his brother were never EVER going to find love with anyone. Donnie was a fool to believe otherwise, so was Mikey! These girls were never going to love those idiots! Even if the “pink” one was a fellow mutant it was still impossible! In his anger, Raph punched the nearby wall. He honestly wished he could believe otherwise, he knew his brothers were going to get hurt badly. The thought of Mikey’s broken heart and his vanishing smile was almost unbearable! But Raphael knew there was nothing he honestly could do to stop it either. Some big brother he was; he couldn’t even protect the youngest from a simple crush. Splinter gazed at the exit where his hotheaded child departed and sighed. He truly believed that love was possible for all his children, love was a powerful force that could bring down any foe and light the way through any darkness. Raphael would have to learn this lesson on his own; all he could do was guide him and pray for a happy ending. Splinter stood up and headed for his meditation room, he truly needed to think of this situation with these strangers and how to deal with them. The lair fell into silence… ################################TMNT/MLP:FiM############################### Raphael leaped from roof to roof, making his way across the city, the chilled air hitting his skin, the smells of the city invading his nose, it at least smelled better than the sewers. The emerald-eyed turtle skidded to a halt and growled slightly. His eyes narrowed as he spotted the very reason he had left the lair, over on the next roof were those three girls. It seemed they were talking to his old pet, Spike, or as he preferred to be called now, Slash. Raph wanted to get closer to hear what they were talking about, if these girls were teaming up with Slash, he could use that information to prove they were not allies! It could snap Mikey out of his stupor, though he doubted it. Moving with ninja stealth, Raphael quietly jumped onto the roof where his prey lay in wait. Ducking behind an air conditioning unit, he crouched down low, not even taking a chance to peak out from behind his hiding place as his ears picked up the conversation between the mutants. Slash was eyeing the lizard girl with much appreciation, “Come on doll face, you and me could make some pretty good memories.” He purred and a look of disgust crossed the girl’s face. “I told you no, so back off jerk!” Mona shouted at Slash, getting annoyed. “I didn’t come here to get picked up by some punk!” She turned her back to Slash, her tail shifting back and forth in an agitated motion. Even the spines on her back were showing signs of agitation. She and the girls had been on a night time run, still fascinated by the city sights around them, when this punk jerk dropped in and started hitting on the dragon girl. He was still coming unto her! Sparks started forming around her beak as she glanced at the turtle with rage in her eyes. Slash envisioned himself being a suave type when it came to the opposite gender; he was certainly able to admire a fine backside when he saw one. All he had to do was get the washboard and the stick in the mud to leave so he could have some alone time with the main dish, “How about the kiddies take a hike and you and me get to know each other, ya might find I’m an alright fellow.” Slash said, moving an arm around Mona’s waist. In the shadows, Raph was in shock! Spike was hitting on a girl! What was wrong with the world? All of a sudden, some mutant girls show up and everyone starts going gaga over them?! Worse, he was hitting on that amazon of a mutant woman! He looked at the other two and saw the tiny one with wings reach behind her and pull out a bag of marshmallows and a stick. “What…is she doing?” Raph asked, watching as the pink pony began putting marshmallows on the stick and then holding it out near Mona’s head. Dinky put a hand on her forehead; this was going to end in someone getting VERY badly hurt! Mona wasn’t usually the short temper type, but push her buttons enough and fireworks became possible. She watched as Mona kept getting only more enraged by this guy “Mona let’s just walk away, he isn’t worth it. Remember what Princess Luna said: ‘The best battle is one not fought.’” She pushed, or rather, tried to push, Slash’s hand from Mona. What would Captain Ryan do at a time like this? Well, he’d slap his poor sidekick first and then come up with a bold and daring plan! “Mona as your captain I insist you simply walk away and ignore this guy!” Dinky said putting a hand on her hip, sticking out her chest and holding one hand up with a finger pointed upward much like how Captain Ryan stood when talking about his plans. “Speaking like that certainly won’t work, Mona’s level of irritation is reaching critical mass.” Swifty said as she finished putting the final marshmallow treat on her stick and held it up to Mona. She was so hungry! She hadn’t eaten since leaving Settlement Town thirty minutes ago! That was a long time! And this moment was a prime opportunity to get a toasty snack! A tiny smile graced her muzzle as Mona used her tail to knock the giant turtle off his feet. Mona growled loudly when Slash dared to even attempt to put a hand on her! She swung her tail knocking Slash off his feet and quickly turned to face him. She took in a deep breath and exhaled a powerful stream of fire onto Slash. Swifty got her toasty snack in the process as Slash managed to roll backwards avoiding the flames. Raph’s eyes nearly popped out of his skull as he watched his former pet nearly get roasted by the crazy, fire-breathing chick. Half of him wanted to go out and protect Spike; however, going out could mean being out numbered, for once he was actually thinking about his actions before taking them. He needed more information before he could move and this was his chance! Once the fire died down, Swift Heart stepped forward towards Slash, munching on her roasted marshmallows “Perhaps it would be best if you cease your incessant pursuit in ascertaining my sister’s affections. She is clearly not interested in forming a relationship-” whatever she was going to say next was cut off by Slash punching the small pony in the gut and shoving her away. Swifty gasped at the sudden attack and stumbled back towards the other two girls. Mona growled even louder. “What was that for!” Mona shouted as she pulled her weapon from her back. “If there is one thing you NEVER do, it’s hurt someone close to me!” She roared, jumping high into the air, wielding her war hammer and bring it down upon the mutant turtle. Pulling out her trident, Dinky charged forward as well “Enough!” She shouted, her horn lighting up, putting up a force field between her and Slash while her Trident stopped Mona’s war hammer in place. “We’re not here to fight, so back off big guy, we’re just a couple of girls walking around town and we don’t want any trouble.” Dinky said, using her magic to push Slash away, sweat dripping down her neck. This guy was really big! Even with her training, moving mountains would be easier then moving this guy! Swifty stepped forward “I am unharmed sister, there is no need for violent retaliation on my behalf, or, as Luna would say, he isn’t worth it” she said, her feathers were ruffled a bit, possibly from irritation. She stood a little bit more cautious than beforehand, her weapon and her shield held up in front of her. “Let’s walk away, please,” she said softly. “Fine, we’ll walk away,” Mona pulled her weapon away and glared at Slash. “Don’t come near me again unless you want to be spayed!” she shouted. Swifty sweatdropped and slapped her forehead. “Only females can be spayed, males are neutered,” she said. “You see, females have their ovaries removed while males have… um…” Swift Heart’s face suddenly turned bright red and her voice became very soft, “th- their…um..” you could see the steam pouring off her, “their testes removed”. Raph, still hidden, inwardly groaned; yeah Mikey didn’t have chance with this girl, if anything she was more Donnie’s type. He watched the tension between the two groups. He was slightly glad they weren’t fighting. He honestly didn’t want Slash to get hurt, that was still his pet turtle, even if he was a mutated monster at the moment. “You’re one hot little pepper ain’t ya girly? Mona was it?” Slash said with a sinister chuckle. “I’ll walk away, for now, but you can count on seeing me again, doll face.” With that, Slash took off in the opposite direction. Mona suddenly grabbed the smallest of the group. “Come here you! Did you really have to correct me!? Seriously!? I knew the difference! I was trying to insult him!” She gave the little magenta furred pony a hard noogie. “Owowow! I’m sorry! I was simply being accurate!” Swifty cried trying to pull away from the dragon with little luck. Mona let her go after a little hair messing. “I dislike it when you do that!” she said, trying to fix her messy mane. Dinky slapped her forehead and sighed. “Well, not much we can do, Princess Luna wouldn’t want us to fight without a real cause, maybe we should head home?” She stated more then asked. Dinky looked at the two girls, it was only their second time up on the surface, but it seemed there might be more trouble than they could handle. “Something is going on, something big, maybe too big for us to handle. First those boys, they were turtles, and now, tonight, another turtle? Only this one was grande size. Something doesn’t make sense, these turtles can’t be natural. Swift, any input?” She asked the younger pony. “Strictly speaking, we aren’t natural on this planet either, however, I see your point, those boys, especially the cute one with the gap tooth, seem out of place, as does Slash, but without further input I can only speculate on the subject.” Swift Heart looked at the ground with a slight blush on her cheeks and her ears folded downward, her eyes glanced at the other two girls as she continued to speak, “I can, however, hypothesize that those boys could possibly derive from the diamond-back turtle due to the fact their shells are wider at the back than in the front, and from above it appears wedge-shaped, as well as the unique patterns of wiggly, black markings or spots on their body and head, to the fact that sea turtles possess flippers not legs and feet.” Raph let out a tiny groan, could she please talk less like Donnie? It was so annoying! He blinked wait…gap tooth?! A wicked grin crossed his face, this was too rich! She had a crush on Donnie, Mikey had a crush on her, and Donnie had a crush on April! Oh, the irony of the situation almost had him laughing. “You really think gap tooth was cute? I kinda thought the short green eyed guy was cuter.” Dinky thought a moment. “And red is my favorite color, but, anyway, let’s head home before anything else happens, okay?” Dinky turned and jumped down from the roof. Mona rolled her eyes “You’re both crazy, the guy with the twin swords was hot!” She said, following Dinky off the roof. Swifty folded her ears back and turned her head towards the sky “I… I don’t want to go back yet.” She lingered a bit, her wings quivering as if begging to simply open wide and take to the sky, but the little pegasus only sighed and followed the older girl, jumping off the roof. “Okay, I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear some of that.” Raphael said, leaving his hiding place and heading towards the edge of the roof to see where those girls were going, if he could find their home base, they’d have the advantage. He smirked as he watched them open the sewer hole. “So you live in the neighborhood, huh?” He chuckled slightly as they jumped into the sewer. The green eyed turtle waited a few minutes before jumping off the roof and lifting the manhole cover with ease. He climbed the leader into the sewer and grinned as he watched the three shadows of his quarry turning down a tunnel. Seems they were heading the opposite way of the lair, that was good for him. ################################TMNT/MLP:FiM############################### Since Raphael’s departure, the lair had been very quiet, Leo normally would have loved the peace and quiet, but it felt unnatural without Mikey’s loud and boisterous pranks and laughter. He turned towards the orange-wearing turtle who still seemed to be in dream land. Sighing, he stood up. “Hey Mikey, wanna play a video game, read a comic, or skate board somewhere?” He asked, trying to get a reaction out of him. Shell, he’d even take a water balloon to the face if it meant Mikey would be normal again! “Nah, not in the mood,” Mikey replied. “Hey, maybe we could train! Girls like buff dudes right?! So I should totally get into better shape!” He said excitedly, standing up and walking over to Leonardo. “Please Leo!? I really like this girl! Help me impress her! Onegai shi ani” He said, slipping a little Japanese into his plea. Leonardo blinked for a moment. Okay, he could admit, he really would have liked to get Mikey more interested in training; however, doing so for a girl he knew nothing about… he didn’t know how to feel about that. Well, at least he would be doing something other than walking around like a zombie! “Alright, little brother I’ll help you train but there is no guarantee this girl will like you back, just be clear on that” Leo put an arm over Michelangelo’s shoulder and lead him to the dojo. Donnie was sitting in his lab when his t-phone went off. Quickly picking it up, he noticed it was Raph calling, this was unusual. “Raphael what’s wrong?” Were the first words to leave his mouth. “Donnie! I found where those girls live! Use my t-phone to get a signal because you won’t believe what I’m seeing! It’s a whole city under here!” Raphael said over the phone. The purple terrapin sighed and did as he was asked, using his computer to pinpoint Raph’s exact position, partially expecting it to be a joke of some short. However, what came up on the screen was a different story. “Wha…..t?” He blinked before double-checking his scans. He picked up the phone again. “How…are you down THAT deep!?” He demanded looking at the computer as he began typing away to get exact coordinates. “It looks like…well… I don’t know how to describe what I’m seeing. It looks like a part of the city that sank under the ground…and then someone came in and and started making everything look new…and old at the same time,” Raph said, sounding confused. “It looks like a settlement, actually.” Donnie blinked. “I’m going to tell the others, we’ll meet you there.” He replied, ending the call He then got up and heading out of his lab. “Guys, we’re going girl hunting.” The remaining two turtles looked at him weirdly for a moment. “…I mean…I..er…Raphael found out where those girls’ home base is!” Donnie shouted, blushing bright red once he realized what he previously said. Mikey all but barreled into Donnie. “You found the home of my sweet princess?! Dude, I just sounded like you… wow… I need to lay off you.” He said, backing up a little, looking almost shaken. “I can’t believe I just acted like you bro…crazy” Leonardo tried his best to resist laughing. “I’m just going to tell Splinter we’re leaving.” He let out a snort as he entered their father’s mediation room and walked over to the mutant rat; Splinter’s back was to him as Leo spoke. “Master Splinter, Raphael managed to find out where those girls live, we’re going to investigate them. If they are enemies, we’ll have the advantage of knowing where they live,” he said and waited for Splinter to speak. “Do not go expecting an enemy, but go with great caution. Just because we know nothing, it doesn’t mean we should always expect the worse. And keep Michelangelo out of trouble.” Splinter said, glancing at his oldest son. He sincerely hoped no harm either physically or emotionally befall his sons, but not even a father can shield them from all the evils of the world only prepare them for it. ################################TMNT/MLP:FiM############################### Raphael kept a visual on the little mix-and-match town, he stood on a cliff-like ridge that overlooked the whole of the little town. He could see decrepit building that were being torn down, and tiny little cottages and homes that looked new. Grass was growing, and any concrete that may have once been there was stripped away to allow the ground to breathe. Green trees were growing sporadically around the area and the air smelled fresh with flowers and dew; Raph had to rub his eyes to make sure he wasn’t imagining the scene of a peaceful village before him. It was like seeing a historically recreated village from the Middle Ages, the only thing detracting from the authenticity of this little place was the fact that high above were giant lamp-things attached to the cavern ceiling. Raph had a feeling Donnie would know more about those than he did, glancing up at them, he noticed that, as it drew closer to morning, the lamp things were turning on, allowing it to get brighter and shedding light upon the small hamlet. He assumed it was about it was getting close to five seeing that the lights were as bright as a mid-morning day. Raphael felt somewhat at peace watching as doors began to open down below and other pony-like creatures began moving about, setting up a market while others seemed to be farming over in a pasture by a river…how was that even possible? “Raph” The emerald eyed turtle turned at the sound of his name and spotted his three brothers near the entrance. Leo, being the one that spoke, stepped forward “This… this is incredible….” he sputtered in shock at the peaceful sight before him. Donatello looked around “Amazing they seemed to have utilized the concept of greenhouse lighting in order to have a viable light and heat source! And that river they must have some short of purification system for it to be that clean looking! If I had to guess the water must be from…” Before Donnie could continue speaking Raph promptly put a hand over the brilliant turtle’s mouth. “If I have to hear ONE more lecture from another brainiac I will hurt someone!” Raphael said seething “The whole time I was following those girls, the pink one wouldn’t stop talking! Talking science this or theory that! It was like listening to a girly version of you!” he pulled his hand away and twitched, glaring at his brother as if daring him to speak another word. Mikey blinked “What…you mean she like super smart and stuff like Donnie? Dude! How am I gonna get her to like me if she’s like Donnie? Ignoring the ‘girly version of Donnie’ part because Donnie would never make a cute girl…he’d be a very ugly girl…” He rambled a bit as he thought of Donnie as a girl and shuttered. “I so need to bleach my brain…” Leonardo looked down at all that was going on. “There are so many of them…this can’t be the work of the mutagen… I mean, are there even enough horses in New York to mutate this many!?” He asked, looking at Donnie for answers. “Even if the entire mounted police force’s squad of horses had been mutated not only would it be on the news, but this many aren’t even in the force” Donnie said, walking to the edge of the cliff and kneeling down to observe everything. “Amazing, they are actually using the river as an irrigation system for the fields! Hahaha it like watching a live action documentary of early life! Minus the plague… and the religious executions… and… a bunch of other nasty things…” Donnie rambled in excitement. “And notice how most of the homes and cottages circle the middle building, which looks the most regal from the looks of it.” He squinted. “It is possibly a building they refurbished and remodeled from an old library… I would have to guess their leader would be living in that building!” He said, sounding excited about this investigation. Leonardo blinked and focused on the building Donnie had pointed out. “Okay, then that is where we’ll start!” He said, standing tall with his chest out and pointing a finger towards the building. “Let’s invade the castle!” “Wait!” Mikey shouted. “We can just go in there! What kind of neighbors are we? We should totally bring them a pizza!” He said, smiling happily, only to get slapped upside the head by Raph. “Ouch!” He rubbed his head and glared at Raph. “What was that for!?” “We’re not here to be friendly!” Raph shouted, balling his fist and shoving it in Mikey’s face. “We’re here to let these girls know we aren’t taking any crap from them!” He pulled away, cracking his knuckles as he turned to Leo. “Well, are we going or what?!” he growled. ################################TMNT/MLP:FiM############################### Down in Settlement town, everypony was starting their day with the ‘sunrise.’ Earth ponies tended to the fields of crops they had planted, pegasi purified the water for drinking and watering the crops, and unicorns went about their business and assisted where they were needed. It was a relatively peaceful morning. The castle was another matter however. “AAAHHHHHH!” Bonbon screamed, holding up her hand that comically had a little pegasus attached to it. “Swifty, how many times do I have to tell you, let me put the food on the table BEFORE you try to eat!” Bonbon scolded as the magenta filly let go of her hand and chewed her food with a guilty look on her face. Swifty looked up at Bonbon “I’m terribly sorry, I smelled nanas you certainly can’t expect me to resist not when I’m so hungry.” Swift Heart dramatically drooped her ears, put her wrist to her forehead and stretched out her other arm, her back arched backwards, and her wings folded downward, “I was so hungry you could see my ribs through my fur!” “That only happened once and that was when we tried to put you on a diet without realizing you had a hyper metabolism,” Mona Lisa said, twitching, “and did you have to eat ALL the banana nut muffins in one gulp!?” Dinky sighed. “Mona you know how she gets around bananas, she’s like one of those minions from the movie we all like, she nana nuts!” The purple unicorn stated, picking up a blueberry muffin and nibbling on it “We only put her on that diet because of you, Mona, you kept complaining she was eating too much” She scolded, using her magic to levitate a glass of milk over to her mouth and drinking from the glass. “Well, how was I supposed to know?! I was worried she’d get fat! And then she wouldn’t fit into the awesome outfits I made for her!” Mona snapped, munching on a few rubies and taking a large gulp of water. The vibria snorted, running her claws through her hair “And the fact she ate all my zap apple jam….” she pouted, stuffing another gem into her mouth. Swifty twitched. “It’s your own fault, you left it out in the open for anyone to eat I just happened upon it first.” She stated, stuffing a piece of toast into her mouth and taking a gulp of milk. Bonbon sighed, just another typical morning in the family. “Girls! Enough! Luna will be here soon to join us and she has something she wishes to talk to you about!” She scolded, sitting down herself “Lyra is at her new job right now and will be home late in the evening!” She rubbed her forehead gently. She really hoped Lyra’s first day as a teacher went well, but that meant she’d be taking care of the kids alone today… oh the headache… Speaking of Luna, said princess entered the room, looking elegant as ever. The princess of the night moved so effortlessly, she seemed to float over to her chair. “My little ones, last night I detected the presence of other Equestrians. I will be departing this morning to investigate the dimension I scanned with my magic last night…” she focused her eyes on the three children before her. Luna could see the worry in their collective eyes and smiled gently at them “Now don’t worry little ones, I’ll return posthaste. In the meantime, if it’s in my power, are there any gifts you would like to receive?” “May I have a new book? I’ve read the books in the library twice over” Swifty raised her hand and spoke in a tiny voice, as if she were actually scared to ask for something. Her ears were flat against her head and her wings pressed firmly into her back. Mona giggled “I’d like a new dress or a bolt of fabric!” She said excitedly with a bold smile on her face and her tail wagging happily behind her. The young dragon was already picturing new outfits to design in her head. Dinky thought carefully, eyes closed and chin resting on her hand before speaking. “I’d like some new flowers for my green house!” She declared. “That way we’d have more items for Swifty to brew potions with and I can get some new stuff to care for!” Luna nodded and laughed. “I will try my best to bring each of you a gift” She said, standing and walking over to each girl. She stopped at Mona first “Remember the rules, no going above ground.” She said, kissing the top of Mona’s head as the dragon giggled. Luna moved over to Dinky. “Don’t watch Space Heroes all day and remember to train.” She kissed the second girl on the head getting a slight whine in response. “Luna, do we really need to be told the rules again?” Dinky asked, sounding almost exasperated as she spoke waving her arms about. “And I promise I’ll only watch a few hours of space heroes and get the team training around noon, same time as always.” She rolled her eyes with a smile as Luna walked to Swifty. Luna stopped next to Swift Heart. “And you, young filly, I know it’s churro Tuesday, but please go easy on the churros, don’t eat Mona’s remaining zap apple jam, don’t gorge on sweets, don’t spend all day in the lab, don’t make any dangerous potions, don’t be late for training, remember to eat something healthy, and finally, make sure to listen to your older sisters, Lyra, and Bonbon, they are in charge.” Luna pulled the youngest into her arms, gently kissed her head and, rubbed her back gently as she felt the little filly relax. “Why is it only I that have so many guidelines?” Swift Heart said flatly, twitching slightly and looking away from Luna. Really, why did she get so many rules? She was fifteen! Swifty felt more than capable of being responsible! Luna laughed slightly. “Because I care. We make rules to protect and help those we care about.” She said simply enough. As smart as the little filly was, there was a lack of emotional growth in her. She often acted out as if she were still a child; Luna prayed this would pass given enough time and love. Pulling away from the filly, Luna turned to the door and left the room, her long flowing hair trailing behind her as her tail swayed elegantly from side to side. Closing her eyes she whispered “be safe…” With that she closed the doors to the dining room and left the four in silence. Bonbon looked at her girls with a smile, they were all so attached to Luna they all hated it whenever she left. “Now, girls, she’ll be home before you know it! How about you take today off! No training, just girly fun!” She said happily but only got sad faces from around the table. ################################TMNT/MLP:FiM############################### The turtles were trying to keep to the shadows, or what little shadows actually existed, as they watched the village come to life. Little fillies and colts ran around, some with wings, some with horns, and others with neither. Equines of all shapes, sizes, and color were walking about and the clip-clop of hooves could be heard as well as idle conversations of the mundane. A bell sounded in the distance, resulting in the stampede of young children running on their way to school. “Whoa… they even have school house! This place is awesome! Can we move here?!” Mikey asked, only to be slapped by Raph. Raph glared at Mikey. “Your house warming gift when you move out,” he stated twitching a pulsing vain throbbing on his head. “These guys could be evil and you wanna make nice with them! Get it through your thick skull, idiot, we’re ninja! We live in the shadows and we belong nowhere!” He hissed. “Speaking of being ninja be quiet! Ninjas are masters of stealth!” Leo whispered, hoping no one heard them. He glared at his younger brothers once more before turning his attention back on the crowds. “We have to get closer to the main structure…” “Then why not walk there, silly willy! All this hiding and stuff it’ll take ya FOREVER just to walk a few steps!” A new, loud, and high pitched voice came from behind the turtles, who turned, gasping in shock and fear of being discovered. They came face to face with a very pink plump pony with very fluffy pink hair. “I mean, really, all ya gotta do is walk there, its only like, what? A few minutes?!” The pink pony giggled before gasping loudly. “Oh my gosh! You’re new here?! What are your names, what’s your favorite color! Oh wait! You’re wearing them aren’t you? That is soooooooooo cool! Hey, why are ya wearing masks?! Are you like some super-skilled ninjas? Ninjas are really cool! Oh! I never told you my name! I’m Pinkie Pie! I’m so excited to make new friends!” The pony now known as Pinkie Pie rambled happily before gasping again “You’re new! I have to go plan your surprise welcome party!” Without so much of a warning, she vanished in a puff of smoke. Donnie was the first to speak. “What just happened?” He squeaked slightly, looking at the spot the pink pony had just vanished from. “I think we were spotted? And she let us go?” Leonardo turned to Donnie with a look of confusion on his face. Mikey blinked. “Or she’s a master ninja ‘cause that was one awesome ninja vanish!” He stated simply. Collectively shaking their heads, they turned back to the crowds; so far, no one had shown up to arrest them…yet. Equines were setting up shops and somewhere pulling carts ready to sell wares, and smells began invading their noses. Sweet smells of fresh baked goods, along with the gentle scent of apples and cinnamon dancing with tender smell of fresh flowers beckoned them to relax and enjoy the world. These were smells and sounds the Turtles weren’t accustom too. “It’s them!” Mikey suddenly said, pointing out into the crowd. The teens turned to where the youngest pointed and, sure enough, it was the three girls that plagued them since their first meeting. Dinky, Mona, and Swifty were out of their armor and dressed in civilian clothes. Mona wore a white midriff tank top and black short-shorts; she had a bright smile on her face as she walked with the younger girls. “When Luna’s away the girls shall play! I say we do our own thing ‘till noon and then meet up for training!” She exclaimed. Dinky turned to the older girl “I kind of like that idea, and as your captain I whole heartily approve this down time.” The purple filly was currently sporting an orange shirt with blue trimmings on the neck and sleeves and brown shorts. Her mane was loose and her tail wagging happily. “But remember, it our duty to ensure the citizens of Settlement Town are well taken care of! As knights, it is our duty to uphold justice in every sense of the word!” Dinky attempted to strike a cool pose, putting a hand on her hip and pointing a finger upward with her leg spread wide. “No matter what evil befalls us, we shall stand as one and fight the forces of evil!” She declared. Leo blinked “Wow… that was so cool” He whispered, staring at Dinky intensely, she was obviously the leader, which meant he needed to keep a close eye on her. After all, everyone knows it’s always the leaders that face during any big battle, which meant she was his rival, so it only made sense that he needed to learn everything about her. “Wow, Swift Heart, can you block the channel that shows Space Heroes? I think Dinky’s brain is rotted from overexposure to that stupid cartoon.” Mona slapped her forehead, feeling embarrassed. Raph blinked. “Is that possible, ya know, blocking that channel?” Raph whispered to Donnie. “Yes, but I’m not going to because my favorite show is also on that channel: ‘Unconventional Science,’ and I don’t plan on missing it!” Donnie snapped back. Swifty sighed. “If I did that then I would miss my favorite show, ‘Unconventional Science,’ also I don’t feel inclined to do you such kind favors,” she said, glaring at the outfit Mona wrestled her into: a denim jumper with a white tank top under it, a giant blue bow in her hair, and her braided tail also topped with a giant blue bow. “I’m trying to look my age and yet you seem to insist upon dressing me in such juvenile outfits.” She complained, lifting up the skirt of the jumper a little. Mikey twitched. “Will you stop having stuff in common with my dream girl, man?” The youngest turtle looked at Donatello. He turned back to look at Swift Heart with hearts in his eyes and more floating about his head as he sighed. “She’s like a dream, .and it doesn’t even need pizza to make it perfect.” The three older brothers shook their heads and felt sweat drip down their collective heads. “Well, Swifty, you don’t have the right body type for mature outfits, try growing some boobs, then we’ll talk about looking your age.” Mona smirked as she got a tiny rise out of Swifty. Dinky elbowed Mona and gave her a glare. “Swifty, come on, chest size doesn’t matter, I mean, ya know you’re a pegasus and you can wear whatever you want! Ignore Mona, she’s just a fashion snob!” Dinky sighed. Why did Mona do this? Really?! She knew how sensitive Swfty could be about her body! “Let’s just split up till noon.” The girls agreed and went their own way. “I’m following Swifty!” Mikey declared, rushing off before anyone could tell him otherwise. Donnie sighed. “Don’t tell me, I know. I get stuck with Mikey…again.” He said begrudgingly and went off following the love struck idiot. Leonardo sighed and looked at Raph. “You follow the lizard girl, I’m trailing the leader.” He ordered and took off after Dinky. “Great. I get stuck following the amazon.” Raph cursed under his breath and followed after the lizard as he was told, for once. Raphael growled softly, why did he have to get stuck following Mona?! Why?! All she was doing was buying fabrics…LOTS of fabrics… and accessories… and perfume. How much girly stuff did she need?! ################################TMNT/MLP:FiM############################### Mona raced through the market, when all the new ponies began settling in, they brought their talents. Talents Mona liked! Fabric weaver, clothing spinner, yarn, thread, and ribbons! She loved browsing through all the selections that everypony had to offer! And today she made out like a bandit! Thank Luna, literally in fact, that she was given an allowance…from Luna. They had readapted the system of using bits, making the bits was done by one unicorn in particular that Luna handpicked, starting an economy in a practically brand new society certainly wasn’t easy, but that’s a story for another day. Where her adoptive sister preferred isolated areas, Mona’s sanctuary was more centrally located, and brought in a bit of personal income. The young dragoness entered her shop and personal studio called ‘Dragon Scale’ and made her way to the very back of the store where her fashion studio was well hidden. Unaware that, like her sisters, she was being trailed. Mona didn’t bother shutting the studio door behind her as she dropped her supplies on the left side of the door and began spreading it out messily, a smile on her face. “Let’s see, what creation can I make today?” She picked up a few things, only to put them back down. “First I need some background noise…” She walked over to a nice medium size TV and turned it on. “Let’s see if we can find something cool…” She flipped through the channels, poking her tongue out as she searched for something. “Aha!” She declared, stopping on a boxing match. “Yeah! Now we’re talking! Give him a left hook Smasher! HAHA!” She laughed loudly, cheering on her favorite boxer. Raph blinked but said nothing, he was simply going to watch and maybe watch the match a bit, his eyes shifted to the TV a few times as Mona started working on some pattern thing… meh… girly fashion stuff. Didn’t really make all that much sense to him, he mainly focused on the boxing match. Mona focused on her work, it was times like these when she focused on something other than training that her mind wandered, a deep frown formed on her lips and a tender sorrow in her eyes. Fashion was her horde, her treasure, but not her main treasure, no; her main treasure was her new family. When she thought of her adoptive family she thought of her birth family. Was her mother still alive? Was she raiding some castle of library for new books and scrolls to collect? Was her father still alive? The sea serpent of the Northern Sea king of the icy cove that could cause the wildest storm with a mere flick of his tail, was he alive? And if he was… was he with Mom? Those two loved each other so deeply. They treasured each other as they treasured their massive hordes, jewels and scrolls meant nothing if they were apart. The young dragon thought about the cave that was once her home…a cavern that connected both the land and sea so both the land dragon and the sea serpent could spent their days together…Mona sighed softly as the memory of that day replayed in her mind… A bright sunny day, the cool ocean water, the smell of salt and sand wafting her nose, how she remembered that day so long ago, she had swam further than normal to the biggest rock in their territory. The breeze she felt standing upon that rock from the northern winds dusting her mane, yes, she had a mane, she inherited the fur gene from her sea serpent father, her long neck, did she miss her original body? No, she loved this body, adored it, but did she miss her family? Yes. Mona remember the sky that day most of all, the swirl of the blue and grays of a storming sea, colors that calmed her so, suddenly changed to an unnatural red and pink and then the flash of blinding light that lifted her into the air, the sound of her own voice crying out for her mother and father and the final thing she saw… that monster face that was neither dragon nor sea serpent, or even pony. The sound of a bell from her boxing match snapped her back to reality. “Huh?!” She gasped, looking around the studio, her heart pounding intensely “Memories…” She looked at what she was doing and touched the blouse she had been working on… blue and gray storming sky. Raphael glanced at the lizard girl, he didn’t know why she looked so confused and lost, frankly he didn’t care! She had been working on that stupid shirt for hours, well, it felt like hours, at least the boxing match had been fun. This girl had a crush on his brother and Leo was about as gullible for a pretty face as he was for Space Heroes. It was up to him to protect that clueless idiot, the same went for Mikey, really; falling so easily for a girl was so stupid! Was he the only sane member of the family that didn’t go bat-crazy over a pair of fluttery eyes?! He watched as Mona began working on a skirt to go with the blouse she just made, it was boring, very boring. He wondered if Leo was having this much ‘fun’! ################################TMNT/MLP:FiM############################### Dinky Doo sighed as she peacefully trotted through town, the young filly couldn’t help but feel a tender warmth inside of her. Settlement Town was so close to Ponyville with its tight-knit community, she loved it here! Sure, she still missed her mother, but this was home. Every inch of this place was home. She was heading towards a more secluded area of the town nearest to the southeast end, where very few ponies lived. Before her was a large dome-like greenhouse, Dinky’s paradise when she needed some alone time. Smiling to herself, Dinky walked up to the front door and with a gentle twist of the knob pulled it open. A breeze of humid air rushed past her as Dinky entered the greenhouse. Leonardo swiftly moved, catching the door before it could close and sliding in. He bit his tongue trying to hold back a gasp of awe at the sight before him, it was the jungle. Ducking quickly behind some fauna, he kept his target in sight. The pale purple unicorn, unaware of her stalker, walked over to a workstation she had set up and pulled out a music box. Dinky smiled as she began turning the key. She used her magic to pick up trimmers, and a basket. Once the music box was wound up she let it go, and the soft music drifted through the green house. Dinky swayed and turned in time, waltzing to the gentle tone of her precious box. All the while imaging a handsome prince to join her, magic pulling water from the air itself and swirling it around her body. Droplets of water splashed everywhere as she danced through the garden, the water creating rainbows that seemed to dance with her. The turtle boy watched mesmerized, Dinky’s hair caressed her face as she twirled on her hoof so elegantly, the way the droplets of water never even touched her but flowed with her, and how each movement was perfectly practiced. She was a master in her element. The unicorn brought her hands up and the water follower collected above her head before flying out in all directions, watering the whole of the garden. Dinky continued her dance as she moved towards a section dedicated to herbs; she began singing “In your dreams, magical thoughts.” Using her magic she began trimming some of the herbs, many of them Leo didn’t recognize at all. “All things are real unless you dream they're not,” she levitated the gathered herbs in her basket. “In your dreams, love is the plot carried on wings of hope!” She spun quickly towards some large potted shrubs, the ones where Leo was hiding behind! Leo froze when he saw her approach his hiding spot, he watched as she kneeled before the flowers growing on the shrubs he hid behind. Now, in the greenhouse lights, he had a very clear view of her. He gulped when did his throat get so dry and tight? Was a greenhouse supposed to be this warm? The blissful unicorn was unaware of her audience as she continued singing. “Each of our souls intertwine, when we do,” she began pruning the flowers gently. “Instantly we see it the time to grow and be it when everything is pinned on a hope!” Dinky stood, putting the flowers in the same basket as her herbs. “Let rise the dreams of your heart, that innocent youth careless and kind,” she threw out her arms and spun around. “Free to roam the breeze in love only when two brilliantly shine as one!” She sang out as the music box faded in the background. Leo let out the breath he didn’t know he was holding. “If Mikey thought Swifty was a princess then Dinky must be a fairy, gentle and graceful” he thought, wondering if he caught some sort of insanity virus from Mikey. He seriously hoped he wouldn’t have to fight her. ################################TMNT/MLP:FiM############################### “All she has done thus far is eat! How is this even possible?! A dozen churros, a huge ice cream sundae, two apple dumplings, and now she’s eating roses!?” Donnie nearly shouted in irritation slapping his forehead. He didn’t understand how someone so little could keep packing away all that food! Mikey just chuckled. “She’s just a hearty girl dude, besides it’s better than her being one of those girls that are always on a diet! She’s cool with who she is, man, deal with it,” he said, smiling as he continued to watch Swifty as she traveled to the northwestern side of the village. Man, he wished he had his aviator glasses when he said that line! It would have been so cool! Swift Heart made and ate her way through the village towards her lab. She enjoyed peaceful days like this, when it felt like nothing could go wrong. Her wings twitched and, with a mighty flap, she took to the air, figuring why walk when you can fly? As much as she loved it, Swifty couldn’t fly as often as she wanted to, which was the downside of the greenhouse lights, they were far too hot, feather scorching hot. She had warned other pegasi of this and one didn’t head her warning. She still felt guilty for the pain of that poor stallion, his wings took so long to recover. It was her fault, she hadn’t tried harder to enforce her warning… her fault. Snapping from her thoughts, she angled down landing before the steel structure of her lab and pushed opened the door not even bothering to close it, to her, the door was always open. Mikey and Donnie crept in. “That was too easy. Keep your eyes everywhere.” Donatello instructed. All around them, the lab was dimly lit with a soft glowing blue aura. Giant teddy bears lined the walls, toys littered the walls, machines of all shapes and sizes were scattered everywhere. Bubbles were floating about, produced by bubble makers programed to never stop, a bubbling cauldron stood in the center of the room, bottles of all colors and various dried flowers and herbs sat on a shelving unit nearby. On the far side of the room was a computer console that seemed to be running various programs. The little pony took her seat in front of the computer. “Let’s see… has anything turned up?” She began typing various codes and mathematical numbers. Donatello watched the screen intently, he could easily understand the numbers and equations. “She seemed to be running some sort of dimensional parameter diagnostics analytical program. Hmm, quite impressive, actually, she seems to be trying to find something and some of those numbers don’t match the diameters of this dimension. Yeah, she’s analyzing data from a different dimension.” He looked at the data as carefully as he could from the distance he was at with Mikey. “I have no clue what you said.” Mikey looked at Donnie confused. “Sooo…how come your lab isn’t half this cool?” He asked, raising an eyebrow at his older brother. Donnie shook his head with a blank look on his face. “Because I’m not into the whole ‘Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium’ look nor do I have such an… eccentric personality.” He retorted rubbing his forehead. “Really it’s like a child designed this lab.” he muttered “Shh! She’s doing something!” Mikey whispered turning his attention to her. Swifty stared at the screen. “Equis… it’s trying so hard, but what’s stopping it?” She looked away from the screen. “It wants to heal, the lay lines still show activities, they still flow with power but something is blocking the lay line’s energy, which is why Equis isn’t healing.” She spun in her chair a sad look on her face. “But if Equis were to heal, then what? I don’t wish to tell Luna what I know, I don’t want things to change, I like the way things are.” She stopped spinning, her ears dropped downward. “I’m selfish, that’s really the problem.” Swifty stood up and walked over to the nearest teddy bear. “I can’t tell anyone of these horrible feelings, to be so selfish is wrong, but doesn’t this prove that the nature of creatures is self-importance? Or mayhap it’s only I who feels this way?” She turned from the bear and ripped off the bow from her head and tail like a child throwing a tantrum. She marched over to the cauldron and seemed to glare into it. She began grabbing things off the self, looking at them carefully before pouring a little or a lot into the black pot. Most of it was instinct by now, but she always watched what she was doing and measured everything before pouring. The liquid kept changing colors and smoke wafted from it bubbling contents. “Almost done, almost done,” she murmured, adding a few more things before the cauldron released a mushroom cloud signaling it was ready. “W- what is that?” Mikey asked, turning to Donnie, a worried look on his face, he had a bad feeling about this stuff Donnie tried to lean in further to get a better look from their hiding spot but he didn’t have an answer. He only looked at Michelangelo and shook his head sadly, not knowing what to say. “I don’t know, but this is getting weirder by the second,” he didn’t like not knowing. Swifty began filling small bottles of the strange blue-colored liquid into bottles and labeling them with a marker and putting them on a nearby self. She did this until the pot was empty “There, done…” she muttered, closing her eyes, the last bottle still clutched in her hands. She turned towards another bear, this one laying down and covered in blankets. She walked over to the bear and crawled under the blankets. The young mare brought the bottle to her lips and drank the contents…she let out a gasp and a choking nose before falling forward hitting the pillow that was there and dropping the bottle unto the floor… The two turtles nearly screamed in shock and rushed over to the winged girl. Donnie checked for a pulse and breathing signs. Mikey was looking franticly over the girl he had fallen hopelessly in love with, praying she hadn’t killed herself. “She alive, just sleeping… very deeply. Whatever was in that stuff knocked her out, and frankly I don’t think it’s healthy.” Donnie sighed in relief, placing her hands over her chest. She looked so young, something bothered him about her. He looked around the lab she had created, yes, he could see a genius, but something else he couldn’t quite put his finger on. Donnie looked back at Swifty. “Whatever she took forced her pulse to slow down at an alertly fast rate, but this does present a good opportunity.” He pulled out a syringe from his belt. “I can take a blood sample to figure out more about these people.” He kneeled by the bed. “Dude, I know we’re ninja, but doesn’t it seem wrong to just stab someone with a needle while they’re sleeping?” He asked, placing a hand on the side of Swifty’s face and sighed. “Wow, her fur is so soft “Oh, yes, and sexual harassment isn’t? Stop touching her it’s creepy!” Donnie snapped at him, using an alcohol swab to clean an area before inserting the needle and drawing blood. “Well, that’s not normal…” he glared at the vile, now filled with a deep golden colored liquid. “That’s extremely unusual!” He placed the vile in his protective belt and went over to the computer. Mikey sighed as he looked down at the sleeping beauty, his thumb tracing patterns on her face “Swift Heart. It’s a good name…” he mumbled, content with watching her. He looked around the lab and saw so many wonders. Mikey couldn’t help but think of what drove her to create such a magical looking place, yes, she was smart like Donnie, but her spirit was different, he didn’t really understand it but something about her… he leaned down and gently kissed her forehead. Swift Heart didn’t wake nor stir, only slept on with a gentle sigh and a tender smile gracing her face. Mikey smiled and tucked her into bed before backing away from her “Donnie…I am soooo in love right now!” He sang out spinning around. “Will you be quiet? I’m trying to hack her computer… shell! She’s got some firewalls up here, good ones, and even guard dog programs! She really wants to keep stuff secret on this console.” Donnie said, typing away. He was sweating bullets, he didn’t know how long the girl would be asleep which is why he needed to work as fast as he could… a few more clicks. An alarm went off and lasers suddenly surrounded them, a laser cage. “ARE YOU KIDDING ME!?” Donnie shouted, looking at the cage “I mean, really, how cliché, and yet, very effective. Normally to get out of one of these you’d need to use a mirror to reflect the lasers however… I forgot to bring… a mirror…” he frowned. Mikey blinked. “So…we’re stuck here?” “We’re stuck here.” Donnie confirmed, slapping his palm to his forehead. “Until she wakes up, anyway.” “At least the view is nice,” Mikey sighed, looking over at his sleeping beauty, little hearts in his eyes. “Now I totally understand why you act the way you do around April.” Suddenly the door to the lab slammed opened “The GREAT and Caring Trixie has arrived!” A loud, obnoxious voice rang out and the sound of hooves echoed as she walked. The turtles panicked, having no way to hide. A blue mare with lighter blue mane walked in, she wore a nurse’s outfit and a purple magician’s cape with stars and moons on it, as well as a matching magician’s hat. The mare known as Trixie walked in and saw the scene before her. “What is going on here!? Trixie came in to collect the medicines she requested and what does she see?! Two perverts trying to invade a young filly’s personal space!” She stated loudly glancing at Swifty and pulled out a vial from her pocket. “Swift Heart thinks she can just use a sleep potion whenever she wants and not lock her door? Foolish child!” Trixie knew by now that the young genius had an addiction to sleeping potions, Trixie walked over to Swifty and uncorked the vial, while Trixie was phenomenal at magic she had no talent for potion making, something she was quite bitter about. Brining the vial to Swifty’s lips, Trixie poured the revival potion she had gotten from Luna for just an emergency like this into Swifty’s mouth. Swift Heart’s eyes fluttered opened. “To be woken by such an unpleasant mare, not even a prince.” She muttered, sitting up and looking at the turtles with mild surprise. “I was not expecting guests, save for Trixie, the great and annoying.” She stood and walked over to them, walking right through the lasers, not even getting hurt. She cocked her head to the side as she observed the cute one’s shocked face. “You’re not very observant are you? These are merely pointers, however I could assume by the way you stand immobile, you assumed otherwise, and more than likely thought they were actual lasers.” Donatello gaped at her. “You- you mean to tell me these are toys?!” He sputtered in shock, how the shell could not figure that out?! Humiliation washed over him, followed shortly by shame, he was caught by laser pointers. A hand suddenly touched his plastron. “GAH!” he shouted in shock. Mikey glared, Swifty seemed more intent and focused on Donnie. “So… uh, I never told ya my name! I’m Michelangelo but, uh…my brothers call me Mikey! And the turtle you’re touching is Donatello!” He said, hoping to catch her attention… Swifty blinked. “You’re both named after Renascence painters? Personally I enjoy the works of Leonardo Da Vinci, a man who not only went against the ruling powers in pursuit of knowledge, he was the brightest mind of his era.” She said as continued to investigate Donnie’s shell, moving her hands up and down his plastron and following around to the back of his shell. “Normal turtles can feel through their shells, are you able to?” She asked in a curious tone, her hands gently tracing the patterns on Donnie’s shell… “Gah! Yes, I can feel through my shell! I’d appreciate it if you’d stop touch me please!” Donatello said, moving away. Thankfully she didn’t try to follow; however, she got her hands on the vial of her blood. Trixie blinked and gasped. “How rude! Did you try to take her blood without consent! You are truly a pervert!” She shouted, walking up to the purple banded turtle and poking him in the chest with a glare. Swifty gave Trixie a blank stare. “Trixie the medicine I prepared is in the fourth cabinet, now gather it and make haste, your personality annoys me.” She said bluntly before turning to Donatello. “It’s obvious he is unaware of the infringed crime he has committed, I shall instruct him and forgive his ignorance of our society.” She handed him the vial of her blood. Donnie blinked and took back the vial; he was surprised she had pilfered it in the first place and more so when she forgave him. He looked at her curiously. “Sooo…what’s the deal?” He inquired. “It’s an archaic tradition that many equestrians are venturing away from, however, in days long past, the act of giving ones significant other a vial of blood was considered a vow of marriage” Swifty said cocking her head to the side. “While I have no qualms with such a tradition, the least you could do is ask me out for dinner first” Mikey snapped. “DONNIE!” He shouted, now glaring at Donatello, very peeved and suddenly wrapped his arms about the taller turtle’s neck and whispered. “Not cool dude! Not cool! You can’t marry the girl I love!” He said in Donnie’s ears. “Marriage?! Now listen! I have no intention of marrying anyone! I simply took this sample in order to study it! I swear!” Donnie shouted, looking back and forth between Mikey and Swifty. Swift Heart blinked. “I’m quite aware of this.” She said, bluntly. “That’s why I gave it back, so you may study it, I hold you to no obligation for a tradition you are clueless to.” She crossed her arms, finding their antics amusing. Donnie pushed Mikey off of him and sighed in relief. “Oh…I- I see, that’s a relief.” He thought about April for a moment, he knew it would never happen, but he wanted to imagine her being devastated over him being in a forced engagement… never going to happen, her wanting him. Mikey sighed in relief as well, but for different reasons, of course, he then got an idea and stepped forward. “Hey, why don’t you take vial of my blood! Ya know, for, like, research reasons!” He offered excitedly, looking at her. The young filly backed up a little when Michelangelo rushed at her and blinked. “Hmm…very well, I’m just curious about you as you are more than likely curious about me.” She said, walking over to her desk and picked up a syringe. She turned back to her guests and made her way back to the turtle in question and, with a quick stab in his arm, drew some blood. “Red… how unusual.” She commented offhandedly, looking at the vial she now had. “Red is normal… gold, now that’s weird.” Mikey said, chuckling as he rubbed his arm slightly from the needle pinch, he felt happy about giving her his blood; maybe he could wrestle the vial of her blood from Donnie at some point. Swifty sighed. “Trixie, why are you still here? As the only volunteer nurse, shouldn’t you be assisting those in need of your Great and Caring touch?” She asked, looking at the blue mare with an unpleasant look on her face. “And put back my Cupio herb, Dinky can only harvest that every four months, it’s nearly impossible to get!” She said, walking over and grabbing a strange yellow flower with red tips and purple leaves. “Also,” she reached into the older mare’s pocket and pulled out a bag of banana chips. “Never steal my snacks! You have what you came for, now leave!” Swifty glared at the older mare, her lips pouting in displeasure as she watched Trixie leave with her box of medicine. Trixie had a scowl on her face, how dare such a small child order the Great and Caring Trixie like that! So what if she was training by Princess Luna! Trixie was far more powerful and great than a bunch of children! “Where are you brothers, I assume they are with you, not that it’ll matter if you tell me or not.” Swifty said, holding up Mikey’s and Donnie’s t-phones which were calling Raph and Leo. The turtles blinked. “Man she’s good!” Mikey exclaimed. “Y- you took our phones the moment you were able to get close to us!” Donatello said, though he shouldn’t have been surprised since it was clear she was able to snatch the vial of blood he had taken. Mikey gulped, Raph and Leo were going to be pissed off when they met up again. At least it wasn’t his fault this time. Mikey watched as Swifty reached into a pouch hanging off her belt and pull out a blue colored powder and with a quick puff of air blue powder was everywhere, followed by black. ################################TMNT/MLP:FiM############################### Raphael growled as he looked up at Mona Lisa, after his t-phone had gone off, Mona wasted no time in subduing him. Now he was laying hog tied on the floor, hog tied by red ribbons, of all things! Why the shell had Donnie called him now! His eyes widened, what if it hadn’t been Donnie?! He now looked worried for his little brothers, what if they had gotten captured as well? Mona suddenly pulled on his bindings. “So, shorty, got a name to go with those pretty eyes?” She flirted, playfully running her free hand along the back of his shell. “I don’t have to tell you nothing, thunder thighs!” Raph he spat at her. If looks could kill, Raphael would be twenty feet under “Th- th- thunder thighs!?” Mona stammered, giving the ribbon a rather hard squeeze, cutting off the circulation in Raphael’s tied limps “GAH!!!!” He shouted, trying to escape but only succeeding in making the bidding tighter. “Let’s go say hello to my sisters, knowing them, we’ll all meet at the practice arena.” Mona said, dragging him off. ################################TMNT/MLP:FiM############################### Dinky couldn’t help but laugh as Leonardo tried to escape her bubble-shaped force field “You look like a hamster in a hamster ball!” She laughed happily as Leonardo rolled about in the ball. “Well, best get you over to the practice arena, I’m sure the others will meet up there!” She said happily, using her magic to roll Leonardo out of her greenhouse and back towards town. “So, um, your name is Dinky, right?” Leonardo asked, rubbing the back of his head nervously “I’m called Leonardo, but you can, ya know, ah, call me Leo.” Man, he was nervous! Dinky giggled. “My name is Dinky Doo, I wish we’re were meeting under better circumstances but spying and breaking and entering are considered illegal here!” She said, cheerfully. Leonardo blnked. “I… see… so… you like Space Heroes?” “I LOVE Space Heroes, but I’m not going to talk about it until things are figured out and I know for certain whether or not you’re a bad guy, and don’t tell me you’re a good guy because villains say that line ALL the time and then betray the good guys!” Dinky said, smiling at him “So you won’t be tricking me any time soon!” To be continued > Chapter 3: Are unicorns drawn to virgins? > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 3: Are unicorns drawn to virgins? Lyra smiled as she wrote her name on the white board. “Lyra Heartstring,” she said with a giggle, the amulet that Luna made for her had turned her completely human! Or, at least, disguised her as human with soft brown hair, medium-tan skin, and no horn! She looked so human! The mint-colored unicorn began setting up her desk as she looked over the empty desk before her. Lyra was just so excited about this! She was going to be teaching human children! She had to hold in her gleeful joy. Taking in a deep breath she looked at the clock, ten minutes! Ten minutes ‘till her first history class came walking through the door! Lyra took a deep breath to calm herself down, she needed to act normal, human normal. The sound of the door opening caught her attention, looking towards the entrance and smiling Lyra greeted her first student. “Good Morning!” She said happily, looking at the person that entered, a young redhead with freckles wearing a yellow t-shirt, shorts and black leggings. She blinked and looked at Lyra. “Um… hi?” She said, sounding uncertain. “I’ll be filling in for your previous history teacher, she took maternity leave for the rest of the year; I’m Ms. Lyra Heartstring,” she introduced herself to the young lady, “and who are you, dear?” “April O’Neil,” the girl replied, smiling at the kind new teacher and taking her seat in the front. April had to admit, she wasn’t surprised to see a new teacher, Ms. Conner did mention she was going to have a baby. The redhead looked at this new teacher, Ms. Heartstring, she had a calming feel around about her. Lyra pulled out her lyre, much to April’s curiosity, and began playing a soft and sweet melody on said instrument as she waited for other students to file in. April watched the sub play the instrument and sighed in contentment as she simply listened to the sound. Students began filing in, some of them looked at Lyra in curiosity and others looked bewildered at the new teacher. April noticed one of her classmates, Casey, making his way to the back of the room, a sinister smirk on his face and a hockey puck in his hands. The bell chimed and Lyra looked up at her students. “Hello class! I’m Ms. Lyra Heartstring! Ms. Conner is on maternity leave for the rest of the year and I’ll be filling in for her!” She said, putting down the lyre. “Since your last lesson was in Greek History we’ll continue from there!” She said joyfully. As she turned to the whiteboard and began writing the lesson on the bored, a nighty student that liked to mess with substitute teachers was about to cause mischief. Lyra turned back to address the class and a hockey puck flew through the air. Lrya’s eyes widened in shock and, out of pure instinct, used her magic to halt the puck in mid-air; she blinked, catching herself at the last moment, and used her magic to fling it at herself. The puck hit her forehead hard enough to leave a bruise. “Ow! Oh my! Now which of you little rapscallions threw that? Well, I’m waiting.” She rubbed her forehead and smiled pleasantly. April stared at Lyra, she saw what happened; somehow Ms. Heartstring stopped that puck. April had seen a golden colored aura stop that puck in midair, she glanced at Casey. Casey turned to April, hoping she had seen the same thing he just saw, something was up with this new teacher. Now, don’t get him wrong, Casey always messed with new subs on their first day just to see how they react and get a feel for their personality, but Ms. Heartstring was something different. Lyra hoped no one noticed that minor slip up of hers! She really couldn’t believe she used magic here of all places! Bonnie was soooo going to berate her for this mistake! xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxLyrachapter!xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx “Tell me I wasn’t the only one that saw that!” April caught Casey after class. “I don’t get a bad feeling around her, but that was not normal” She rubbed her arms as her gaze shifted to the ground. Casey shrugged. “Well, maybe she ain’t evil; and this is me talking about a teacher!” He looked at April. “I mean, she’s kind of spacey, but doesn’t give that evil vibe.” Casey scratched the back of his head as he thought about the strange teacher. The two teens walked through the hallway to their next class, both having thoughts about the new teacher. Casey had come up with ideas on how to learn more about Ms. Heartstring. “Well, she used… whatever she used once, there’s a chance she could use it again, right? All we have to do is get her to use it again and catch her in the act!” He explained with a smug look on his face as April blinked. “That… actually is a pretty good idea… for you.” April said, somewhat shocked as she looked at him. “But our class with her is over and I’m not missing my other classes, I don’t know how you plan on carrying this out, but it’ll have to be done later” She said, turning down the opposite hallway from Casey. Casey, however, made a U-turn and headed back towards the classroom, an evil smirk on his face. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxLyrachapter!xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx “Why me?! Why?!” Lyra whined softly laying her head on her desk, her hands over her head with tears running down her face. Throughout the whole day horrible things kept happening to her! Second period she was attacked by a horde of spit balls! Third period she was hit several times by basketballs, fourth period followed with paint balls, fifth had an encore of paper planes crashing into her, and now sixth period she was covered in oil of all things! Lyra got up and walked out the door, it was a free period so no class right now. She made her way to the gym teacher who had contacted her earlier telling if she needed any help to come to him. “Mr. Corbin…” She said meekly as she knocked on the door. The gym teacher looked up and gasped “What in high heavens happened to you?!” He demanded, looking over the poor woman. He had never seen sub-pranking this bad in his life! “I have a spare woman’s jogging outfit and you can use the private shower,” he said, quickly grabbing his key and opening a cabinet to his left. The mint unicorn watched as the kind human pulled out some spare clothes for her and happily handed them to her. She was shown to the shower and thankfully left alone. “Worst first day…ever…” she muttered softly. If Casey Jones ever felt like a huge jerk it was now; he had thrown everything he could at Ms. Heartstring and got nothing in return except for feeling horrible about the way he had treated her. He wasn’t the kind of guy that made women cry and the tears were tugging at his heart, after this he was simply going to leave her alone. He glanced into the teacher’s private shower, he wasn’t above peeping though, he watched as Ms. Heartstring removed her necklace and like that the human vanished replaced by an equine hybrid with a horn on her head. Casey ducked behind the wall. “Oh man…it’s My Magical Mares crossed over with a triple X film!” He said, a bright blush on his face as he ran off to talk to April. Lyra quickly washed off the oil and dried off. “I can’t believe this all happened in one day!” She bemoaned loudly as she quickly dressed in the jogging outfit, dried her hair, and quickly placed her amulet back on and the image of a human returned. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxLyrachapter!xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx The last bell rang and April was on her way to the lair, a smile on her face, she couldn’t wait to see her secret friends. “April!” Casey said in a panic, grabbing her shoulders and breathing heavily. “Ms. Heartstring ain’t human! She’s a… she’s a… My Magical Mare! She took off her necklace thing in the shower and poof! Human Ms. Heartstring vanished and hello MMM Ms. Heartstring!” He said, staring at her. April blinked. “You peeped on her… in the shower! Casey, that’s horrible!” She scolded, pushing his hand off her in disgust. “Even if she isn’t she human, she still deserves some privacy! What have you been doing all day to the poor woman!” She demanded, looking at a guilty Casey. “Let’s talk about that later… and let’s also say… it involved oil,” Casey said receiving a glare from April who turned and walked away. Casey slumped and followed close behind her but kept his distance from the angry redhead. April suddenly stopped short, causing Casey to bump into her. “Look, it’s Ms. Heartstring” She said softly, pointing to the mare in human skin, so to speak, and she was standing with a fellow student looking shocked. Both Casey and April moved closer in order to hear what was going on. April didn’t think Ms. Heartstring was going to hurt the kid, but she couldn’t be sure, after all, you couldn’t always tell if someone was evil or not. “Ms. Heartstring… I- I really like you! Even though I’m a student, please, be my girl!” The boy shouted shocking the mare… Lyra blinked, well this was… weird… but kind of cool… but… she bowed her head. “Sorry, not only are you a student but I’m happily married to my lovely wife!” She giggled softly before frowning at the boy’s shocked, embarrassed, and heartbroken face. “Listen, you’re a good kid, I can tell you’ll find your special someone, but that person can’t be me, little one.” She said, petting the boy on the head and turning away. The boy ran off, red-faced with new fantasies dancing in his head for his new favorite teacher.. Her phone suddenly went off and Lyra answered it. “Hello? Oh, baby girl, what can mama get her little baby birdie? Hey I helped raise you for eleven years, if I wanna refer to myself as mama and you as my little birdie then I will!” She huffed over the phone with a pout on her face. She blinked “Okay, you want me to go to little China Town for fried plantains, Mona wants the new fashion magazines, and Dinky wants the newest gardening magazine! Got it! Tell Mom that Mama will be running late, sweetie! I love you all so much! Kiss, kiss!” She said and hung up the phone. “Ah, the joys of children! Hahaha!” Casey and April stared in shock and looked at each other before looking back at Ms. Heartstring’s retreating form. “Wow, wasn’t expecting that!” April said, looking at Casey. “Let’s go talk to Master Splinter!” She grabbed his arm and dragged him off to the sewer. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxSpinterchapter!xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Splinter sighed, it had been several hours since his sons had left, he was beginning to worry about them. Normally they would have checked in by now. There was a great fear in his heart. So many what-ifs ran through his head, visions of his precious children dead in his mind. He opened his eyes and looked around his mediation room… photos on the wall of his precious family adorned them. “My sons, where are you?” Suddenly as if hearing his thoughts the cheese phone rang out, with quick reflexes Splinter answered it “Moshi, moshi?” He answered the voice the spoke back surprised him. “Oh Japanese! Cool! Anyway I’m gonna assume you’re the father of these naughty little turtles who were spyin’ on innocent little girls. So, here’s the deal: we’re going to hold onto em’ for a while until you come and pick them up and I’m-” the girl who was speaking was cut off by a different female voice. “I would like to humbly ask you to come and retrieve these young adolescent turtles and to speak with you about terms of punishment for the disgraceful misconduct of your charges.” This voice sounded very young and intelligent and then the voice changed once again. “Will you give me that! I’m the captain so I should be talking!” The new voice said and cleared her throat. “Your sons were caught spying like low-life thugs and this is an act frowned upon in Equestrian society! As Knights it is our scared duty to…um…eh…stop such…behavior…” Splinter had to resist the urge to chuckle at the young lady’s attempt to sound authoritarian it was like listening to Leonardo when he was trying too hard to be a good leader. “I would be more than happy to retrieve my sons, I shall be there shortly.” Splinter knew where his sons had gone, having been told by Leonardo prior to their departure. He was disappointed his sons were captured but also relieved that these mutants didn’t wish to bring them harm. “Oh! Uh…” The voice sounded unsure; she had probably expected more resistance from him. In the background, a muffled argument could be heard. Splinter instantly recognized the voices as Raphael and Leonardo. He wondered what happened to Donatello and Michelangelo, they were very quiet…he hoped they were alright. “Well yes!” The voice drowned out any background dialogue. “We will be expecting you! So…um good bye?” “Yes good bye” Splinter replied and hung up the phone and let a chuckle out as he stood up. He needed to prepare to meet these silly girls, and it wasn’t going to be for battle. He chuckled again. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxSpinterchapter!xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx April and Casey entered the lair and saw Splinter preparing for something. He was gathering little things in a bag with an unusual smile on his face. “Master Splinter? Where are the guys?” April asked, cocking her head to the side with a frown on her face. Donnie wouldn’t leave without at least calling her to let her know where he was going to be, but the lair was empty. Casey was also looking for the turtles. “I got something super important to tell the guys!” He said, walking up to Splinter. “Our new sub is a mutant! She was totally a unicorn! A My Magical Mare crossed-” His words were cut off when April slapped the back of his head. “Don’t you dare say another word, Casey Jones! I’m still furious with you, and we’ll talk about this later!” April glared at the teenage boy. Splinter turned to the two teens. “They were captured. I got contacted their captors and they say they wish to speak with me, I will return with them shortly. I will be going alone I don’t wish to alarm them, I do not believe they will harm them without reason.” “So were just supposed to wait here?! Donnie… and the guys could be in serious trouble! I’m going!” April shouted putting her hands on her hips “If what you say is true then a few extra people won’t matter!” Casey stepped forward “Yeah what she said! The guys are also my best friends!” He snapped, already pulling on his mask “If somebody hurts my buddy they gotta pay for it!” Splinter sighed, “I suppose I can’t stop you from coming, you’d more than likely try to follow me anyway. You may come, but you will follow all my instructions for both your and their safety!” He said sternly to the two teens. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxSpinterchapter!xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Back down in Settlement Town Raphael and Leonardo was grumbling at their predicament, Leo still stuck in a bubble shield while Raph was still tied up and while Donnie and Mikey were… sleeping… they were sleeping in a wheeled cart. The girls were tormenting them to no end! Mona was beyond evil! She dressed Donnie and Mikey up in fluffy lolita dresses, complete with bloomers, a corset, an underskirt, knee high socks, and even Mary Jane shoes. Their masks were replaced with masks that completely covered their heads. Mikey had giant twin bows on each side of his head, while Donnie had a single giant bow tied in back of his head. Donnie was wearing purple and Mikey was wearing orange, they were covered in bows and billowed skirts, and they were propped up against each other’s backs and the girls were taking pictures and giggling. “If those other boys were asleep I’d totally be given them make overs, they’d look so cute in dresses!” Mona cooed, tickling Raph’s chin, who attempted to bite her finger. Swifty was munching on some chocolate cookies. “Hmm, I feel as though we have violated the Geneva Convention… but… Donatello looks rather cute dress like this…” She snapped a few more photos with her own custom-made phone, which was shaped like a bear. “Plus, it’s great blackmail material for later! And inspiration for future outfits! Ahh! I’d love to see Swifty dressed like this!” Mona cried out suddenly, hugging the smallest of the group. Dinky sighed, she was the only one watching the sleeping turtles. “Girls, please! We shouldn’t let our guard down! This is how we allowed them to spy on us in the first place! We were careless!” Dinky crossed her arms. Her horn still lit up aglow as she kept her shield up around the blue turtle. “Let me out of here!” Leonardo demanded, pounding on the bubble, he noticed the purple unicorn wince a bit and kept pounding on the shield. He had a feeling her mental ability was tied into this bubble, he just needed to keep putting stress on her. “Mona, you have a little sister fetish.” Swifty said bluntly, glaring at Mona, who had scooped her up in a hug and was nuzzling her hair. “How can I not? I have such adorb little sisters! I just wanna dress you both up! Maybe I’ll dress you up in a sweet little Japanese school outfits? Or a ballerina! Ooh maybe even a princess! With a tiara and everything!” She giggled. Raph twitched. “You… are so weird,” he commented offhandedly. “If your idea of fun is turning your sister into your personal doll you’ve got to be one twisted lizard.” The dragon rolled her eyes. “I’m not a lizard, I’m a dragon.” She commented, still nuzzling a very angry looking Swifty. “And as for Swifty being my personal dress-up doll, well, we have a deal: I dress her up in exchange for anything she wishes to eat!” She cheered, tail wagging happily with her ears twitching cutely. “I want… zap apple jam…” Swift Heart said with a glare, her tail swatted Mona’s face as she pulled away and rubbed her ears. “But you refused to hand over your last one so… deal off.” Mona put on a face of mock hurt. “Oh Swifty you wound me… buuuut not giving ya my last jar! You’ll just have to wait till next zap apple harvest, whenever that is! Besides, you already pre-ordered 40 jars for next harvest!” Dinky was sweating, Leonardo was still pounding on her shield and she was losing her focus “Haahaa…” She huffed quietly. “GIRLS!” She shouted and looked at the two. Both Mona and Swifty stopped speaking and looked at Dinky. “Leonardo… is wearing me down… I don’t think I can keep up the field…” She closed her eyes, flattening her ears against her head. Swifty moved over to Dinky and placed a hand on the older mare’s shoulder. “If…if I had known I would have brought some energy potions with me…but I was hurried.” She said softly, a saddened look in her eyes. The dragon sighed and looked away “Leo won’t be doing anything.” She moved over to Raph and sat down on him. “After all, escape means leaving his little brothers behind,” she chuckled, firmly sat upon Raph’s shell, tightening the ribbons keeping him tied down. Raph gasped as he felt the ribbons tighten around him, and now he was being used as a chair! “Get your thunder thighs and big butt off me!” He shouted. Mona’s eyes flashed with anger. “You’re lucky I’m kind, otherwise I’d be grilling your turtle hid!” She shouted firing into the air. She was growling, clearly enraged by the guy she was currently sitting on. She took a deep breath and calmed herself down. “So… you guys got any girlfriends?” She quickly changed the subject. ‘“Does Donatello have someone special?” Swifty asked, suddenly very interested in the conversation. Raphael smirked. “Actually, Donnie boy here has a crush someone, a girl with an actual figure and not a washboard,” he said snidely. Swift Heart twitched and started feeling up her chest with tears in her eyes. “W- washboard?” And image of a washboard appeared in her head. She opened her wings and took off towards one of the stadium seats, opened a secret compartment, and pulled out a jar of rainbow colored goop, then flew back towards the group. Once she sat back down she pulled the jar out from behind her, pulled out a spoon, and began eating the rainbow goop with tears pouring down her face. “Hey! You had one more jar left and you were trying to take mine! You adorable brat!” Mona shouted before hitting Raph with the side of her leg. “And you! That was horrible to say!” She shouted and crossed her arms over her ample chest. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxLyrachapter!xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx “Wow… I can’t believe this was under us the whole time! It’s like visiting the Renaissance Festival!” April exclaimed, stunned at the view before her. Casey just stared, “It’s just like Maresville from My Magical Mares!” He squeaked out in almost a fanboy fashion. Splinter and April stared at him and the teenage boy blinked. “My… my little sister makes me watch it! I’m not a Marey!” He shouted, blushing as he looked away from their prying eyes. The three walked towards the village in silence. Lyra exited the tunnel she had traveled through from the surface and looked down at her beloved home, her treats and present held tightly in her hands as she made her way down to the castle she oddly enough called home. “I got Swifty’s treats, Dinky’s gardening mag plus a new bonsai, and Mona’s dozen or so fashion mags!” She said happily as she marched towards home… xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxLyrachapter!xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Swifty was smirking evilly as she used her portable potion making kit to make a most insidious potion for a rather rude turtle. She brewed some strange herbs over a tiny bubbling cauldron “A little Novo, a pinch Vox Vocis, and a pegasus feather for lightness!” She plucked a feather and dropped it into the mini pot. She watched it dissolve in the liquid, which turned to a lovely shade of pink. “Perfect,” she said, using a ladle to scoop some into a cup. Raphael smirked. “Please, potions? How stupid can you be? Like that junk will actually work!” He taunted with a smirk on his face. “Raphael, you’re digging your own grave, I’d stop.” Mona warned, rolling her eyes and putting a hand on her forehead. “Please, I will not be held responsible for what she does.” She really wasn’t pleading all that hard; frankly Raph was getting on her nerves. Leonardo was looking worried. “C- come on! Raph didn’t mean to say all those mean things to you! He’s really a nice guy!” What if whatever she was making seriously hurt Raph?! Maybe it was poison! Oh shell! He had to get out of this bubble! He began pounding again, but Dinky’s magic remained unyielding. Swifty walked over to Raph. “Now, forcing your mouth open will be rather tedious, so I shall take a lesson from Luna” She smirked and poured the potion into her mouth. She kneeled down to Raph’s eye level. “Yeah right, like I’m drinkin’ anything you made you little…!” Whatever Raph was going to say was cut off by a pair of lips. The shock of it made Raphael jump in shock, his mouth opened inadvertently and the potion sloshed into his mouth, Raph tried not to drink, but a finger pressed to this throat forced him to gulp it down. Mona pulled out her ruby-shaped phone, which Swifty had custom made for her, and began taking pictures. “Awa! My little sister’s first kiss!” She cried, still taking pictures of Swifty kissing Raph as she forced the potion down his throat, a dribble of potion slid down both their faces. Swifty pulled away, wiped her mouth, and chuckled. “My first kiss may have been wasted, but all for the good of your punishment!” She moved back to her seat, near the unconscious turtles. Leonardo watched in fear, waiting for anything unusual to happen to his stupid, hot-tempered brother. Raph looked up and smirked, he felt perfectly fine. “Ha! Told ya your… stupid... potion… AAAAHHHH!” He screamed when he realized something had indeed happened. His perfectly manly voice was a few octaves higher than normal. “I sound- I- I sound like a girl! What did you do to my man voice?” Leonardo covered his mouth, his cheeks puffed out as he tried so very hard not to laugh, but the more Raph threatened and shouted, the harder it became. The girls weren’t holding back as they laughed even Dinky was laughing, which probably wasn’t such a good idea. Leo dropped to the ground as Dinky fell down laughing, clutching her stomach. Dinky soon realized what happened as a sword was pointed to her throat. “Huh…” She blinked, looking up and seeing Leo standing over her. The unicorn frowned, “Ah Celestia’s mane…” She grumbled as her two sisters looked up. “Perhaps… laughing was a bad idea…” Swift Heart said, frowning, pulling out her own weapons, a guilty look in her eyes. This was her fault, she messed up; making that potion in foolish retaliation to get back at Raphael caused this mess. They were going to hate her now, Dinky and Mona were going to despise her for this mess up! xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxSplinterchapter!xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Whatever scene Splinter was expecting, it wasn’t this. Leonardo pointing his sword at a young girl’s throat, his second oldest hog-tied with red ribbons and being unnaturally quiet, and his other two sons… sleeping… in drag… they looked… rather cute. Splinter let out a chuckle at the sight of them. “YAME!” Splinter shouted as he approached them. Leonardo had a shocked look upon his face, he also looked a little guilty. “My son, stand down, we shall speak peacefully,” he said as Leonardo moved away from Dinky. Splinter offered the young filly a hand to help her up, Dinky grabbed it and he lifted the small filly up to her hooves. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, now, will you so kindly untie my other son?” He said, walking past her to approach Donatello and Michelangelo. He gently tried waking them. “My sons… time to get up… Donatello, Michelangelo….” he shook them gently but to no use. A concerned look formed in his eyes. “Why will they not waken?” He asked. The smallest girl walked over to him, she seemed nervous about him. “I have placed them under sleep powder, I shall revive them with the utmost haste; however, I will not be curing Raphael! His curse shall last till this time tomorrow!” She pulled out a yellow-colored powder and blew it onto Donatello and Michelangelo. April and Casey had followed behind Splinter watching everything that was happened. April, not wanting to miss such an opportunity, pulled out her t-phone and began taking various pictures of Donnie and Mikey in their cute get-up. Casey was trying hard not to laugh, but with little success. The yellow powder fell upon the sleeping turtles and, almost instantly, both turtles began yawning and stretching. They rubbed the sleep out of their eyes and looked up to see everything, they both looked at each other and then themselves. “AAAHHH! What am I wearing!? Who did this?!” Donnie shouted, pulling at his outfit. “Who put a bow on my tail?!” He screamed, looking back at his tail. He then heard the familiar angelic laugh of his precious April… his face turned blue in horror as he realized that the girl he was crushing on had seen him and was taking photos of him in a dress! “Well, at least I’m the prettiest girl in the room!” Mikey said striking a pose and shaking his hips to make the skirt swivel about. A cute giggle caught his attention, he glanced at the source and saw Swifty, trying to hide the fact that she had giggled, and he smiled. Mona untied Raphael, smirking. “Don’t you have something to say, short stack?” She prodded him lightly only to get silence. Casey blinked in confusion “Raph? Is everything alright buddy?” He said walking over to him and putting a hand on the short turtle’s shoulder. The hot-headed turtle he knew was never this quiet! Raph just turned his head as if embarrassed by something he didn’t wish to say. “I don’t wanna talk about it.” Raph said in a soft tone, never had he felt so humiliated! He couldn’t bear to even look at his friends and family at the moment, but he heard them trying hard not to snicker or laugh, well except Mikey who was laughing the loudest, as did Casey. “What is going on here?!” A loud female voice resounded, and many heads turned to see a mint-green mare. “Wait a minute… aren’t you Casey and April?” Casey recognized the mint mare. “You’re…Ms. Heartstring!” He proclaimed, pointing at the mare. A blush crept up his face as he remembered seeing her while showering and he looked away. Lyra blinked/ “H- how did you know?” She questioned, putting her bags down. “Will somepony explain what is going on here?! Mona Lisa! Dinky Doo! Swift Heart! I want an explanation now or you three are grounded!” “I, too, would like to know what has occurred here, why are my girls consorting with strange young colts?” A new voice spoke from above. The group as a whole looked up as an elegant dark figure landed. Luna, Princess of the night, had just returned from another alternate dimension, it was a successful mission that would help expand the products brought into Settlement Town with new trades and goods but this! She wasn’t expecting her three little girls to be partying with boys! “I am Princess Luna, former co-ruler of Equestria… Princess of the night.” She spoke. “And you three young ones, are grounded.” She said sternly. The three girls moaned in unison, clearly not happy about their resigned fate. They all voiced their discontent with various complaints and several pleads for negotiations but all fell on deaf ears as the princess walked forward glancing at all those currently present. Splinter respectfully bowed. “I deeply apologize for this incident, I and my four sons have lived underground for fifteen years. The discovery of your presence was the cause for curiosity; my sons are trained in the way of ninjutsu and, using their skills, attempted to spy on your students. However, they were caught.” Splinter chuckled, turning towards his sons. “It seems I will have to increase their training.” Luna stared at the rat creature. “Ninjutsu… I have never heard of this fighting style before, there is much of this world I know so little about.” She walked past Splinter and over to the four turtles, looking them over. “I suspect Mona Lisa had a claw in this.” She said, looking over Mikey and Donnie. She closed her eyes for a moment and took a deep breath. “We do not wish for conflict,” she turned back to Splinter. “Perhaps we may speak over tea? I have just returned from a mission and desire both tea and cake.” “Princess Luna! It’s almost dinner! No snacks before dinner! It’s bad enough Swift Heart is natural bottomless pit but you should know better!” A new voice called out in a scolding tone “You need to watch your blood pressure as well!” A cream-colored mare scolded, walking over to the group. “Bonbon! How dare you talk to your princess in such a tone!” Luna said indigently, but Bonbon continued to glare at the ancient princess. “But, I do suppose you are correct. A princess must set a good example for her young wards!” She said, looking away. “Ah, come on Bonnie, honey, Luna’s an old mare let her have some fun! Beside I got Swifty her favorite snack! Fried Bananas!” Lyra said, holding up her bags of goodies. “I also have gardening mags for Dinky, and all the new fashion mags for Mona!” She cheered happily. “You’ll have to give those gifts to them later, as will I.” Luna turned to her young wards. “I had brought you presents from my trip; however, I feel as though you don’t deserve them right now.” She walked over to them and placed a hand on Dinky’s head and her other hand on Swifty’s shoulder. “You were unguarded, you allowed strangers to spy on you, what if they had been enemies!? What if they had ill intentions towards you? You all could have been killed, worse, the village could have been in danger! The lives of all the citizens, and yes, Swift Heart, that includes Trixie, depend on you! You, who I have trained in the way of Equestrian Knighthood. I’m very disappointed in all of you.” She said, closing her eyes and looking down. The three girls looked forlorn by Luna’s words and bowed their heads. Dinky spoke softly “We’re sorry Luna. I… we… failed you.” She said, folding her ears down and digging her left hoof in the dirt. “I didn’t even think something like this could happen.” Luna turned to the rat and his family. “Young one, what is your name?” She said, looking at Splinter. The calm expression on her face could put many at ease but her choice of words seemed rather strange. “Young one? Ma’am no offense but, you don’t look old enough to call Master Splinter young one.” Donnie commented, still trying to remove his outfit, he found it quite complicated to actually remove. “How the hack do you get one of these off?!” He said, struggling, tears in his eyes as he struggled further. “I am called Splinter and my four sons are called Leonardo,” The rat motioned towards said turtle and did the same as he introduced each of his sons. “Raphael, Donatello, and Michelangelo.” The old rat master simply ignored Luna’s comment. He could tell, despite her youthful appearance, there was an ancient soul, her eyes were terribly old. Luna sighed. “Splinter, your sons are very strong, I don’t want my girls facing them, they aren’t ready to fight such strong opponents, the fact they were captured was pure luck, will you discuss terms of peace with us?” She asked, focusing on the young colts, she didn’t want to make enemies in a strange world, especially when fighting could easily be avoided. Raph was glaring at Swifty, he was livid! Whatever that punk kid did to his voice she was going to pay for it! He sounded like a skittish weak little girl! Now Father was talking to this so-called ‘Princess’ about peace?! This was only going to make things worse than they already were! “Let me help you with that Donatello.” Mona said, approaching the gap-toothed turtle with a smile of amusement on her face. She turned him around and began untying several bows, letting the corset fall to the ground, followed by the apron he was wearing, and finally the dress pooled around his feet. Donatello sighed in relief. “I can finally breathe! Why would you make anyone wear something like that?!” He then looked down. “Are you kidding me!?” He shouted, looking at frilly bloomers, and everything he still had on. He grumbled as he removed the rest of the stupid outfit. “Really, who puts a guy in these kind of clothes?!?” Swifty pulled out her phone and took a few pictures of Donatello pretty much stripping; April was stealing glances at Donnie, she then looked at Swifty. “What are you doing?” She asked, almost angrily looking at the smaller girl. “Taking pictures, I find myself quite attracted to Donatello, I may post them to the wall later.” Swifty said bluntly, which shocked Donnie, Mikey, and April. “We appear to also be intellectual equals, something I am quite drawn to, and his physical appearance is rather charming.” “You’re gonna post these on the internet!? Are you mad!?” Donatello shouted, turning bright red. Swifty cocked her head to the side with a blank look on her face “What’s the internet? I was going to post these on Pinkie’s wall at Party Corner,” she answered. April twitched slightly. “R- really? That’s… cool.” She forced a smile, looking at the winged girl, “Anyway… I’m April!” She introduced herself to the girl that Mikey had a crush on; who had a crush… on Donnie… she had a crush on Donnie… why did this bother April so much? Mikey glared at Donnie, how could his bro do this to him? Steal the love of his life before he even had a chance!? NO! Michelangelo Hamato doesn’t give up! He just would have to work extra hard. She seemed to like brains, so all he had to do was get smart! Mikey smiled as he reached behind him and began untying the bows and corset he was wearing. Donnie quickly removed the rest of the embarrassing outfit; he wanted to duck inside his shell so very badly right now it wasn’t even funny. The girl Mikey had a crush on had a crush on him! And took pictures of him stripping off girl clothes! His head slowly began sinking into his shell. Why him? Luna felt sweat drip down her back. “Please forgive Swift Heart’s behavior; I will make no excuse for her.” She said, taking a deep breath. “I would be honored if you and your sons would join us for dinner. That way we may relax and all talk peacefully over a decent meal.” “We humbly accept your invitation,” Splinter bowed to her, smiling slightly, as he stood upright he turned to his sons. “My sons, I expect you to all be on your best behavior.” He instructed them. He watched as they bowed and agreed. Luna turned to her students. “Girls, show the boys were they can wash up,” she instructed them, “Bonbon, Lyra, show Splinter where he may rest untill dinner, I will be in my office. There are a few things I must take care of, I’ll explain at dinner” with that said she walked away. “Also, I would like you girls washed up as well and dressed for evening training.” With a flap of her wings she took to the air and flew off to the castle. Lyra and Bonbon both sighed heavily. “Princess Luna must have something important on her mind,” Lyra said and walked up to the rat man with a smile. “Anyway, my wife, Bonbon, and I will show were you can rest till dinner and our lovely girls will take the other children we’re they can clean up.” She said, smiling happily, unaware of the shocked looks on the turtle’s faces. Bonbon turned to the three girls. “Now remember, dinner will be ready in about two hours, Swifty, please, no snacking before dinner, Mona be polite, and Dinky make sure to wash behind your ears they’re filthy!” She scolded lightly. The youths watched as the grown-ups walked away leaving them all alone. “Well, we have our marching orders let’s go.” Dinky said motioning for everyone to follow her. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxTMNT/MLPxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx “So you’re actual humans?” Swift Heart questioned Casey and April, observing them. “I’ve never seen a human up close before.” She looked at them as if she were studying a new species of plant. One of her ears was cocked to the side as she approached the only two humans with caution that almost seemed a cross between a frightened animal and a curious child. Mona rolled her eyes. “Bright Light, they ain’t gonna hurt ya,” she assured the tiny pegasus with a smile. “What I wanna know is… which team? I’m more of an Ottawa Senator, and I’m tellin’ ya right now Canada is taking back the cup!” She smirked at the human boy. “What?! Listen Godzilla, the USA is keepin’ the cup, those Cunuks don’t stand a chance against the Falcons this year! They’re training up big time!” Casey argued, fist bumping Mona and laughing. “Godzilla? Please! I’m the monster Godzilla runs away from! I’m Monzilla!” She joked, letting out a roar and sending a blaze of fire into the sky. Mona smirked as Casey laughed at her joke and actions; the dragon could easily tell these humans were the good sort. It didn’t take long for the two hockey fans to start debating teams. April was also laughing at her friends antics, she was glad the guys could make other friends now. Also, from what she was seeing, this whole village would open a new door for them, a chance to feel normal. The folks they walked past waved and greeted them like normal people and everything seemed… really peaceful. Something about this place, these people, just made her feel so at ease. Dinky glanced at Raphael and sighed. “Listen, I’m really sorry about what my little sister did to your voice, she’s a- a… it’s complicated. But I really am sorry for her behavior,” she said, nervously moving closer to the hotheaded turtle. “Soooo…any hobbies?” She asked. Raph looked at the purple girl, he already knew this girl had a thing for him and smirked. From the way things looked, Leo might have a tiny thing for her, but it was strongly apparent he was still mad about Karai, still, maybe he could have a little fun playing around with this. He looked at Dinky, flashing his smirk at her. He was rewarded with a blush from the girl. “Meh, I like a few things, training mostly.” He said moving over to her. Dinky blushed slightly, her ears folded back a bit. “I guess that explains the extra muscles you’re packing” She tried hard to not sound like a silly, giggling filly. Her eyes glanced off to the side as she kept reminding herself to act cool and not like a loser, geek, nerd pony! Leonardo blinked at Raphael’s actions. It was so… uncharacteristic for him to act like this! He also noticed how Dinky reacted and twitched slightly, at least everyone seemed to be getting along. “So, um, where are we going?” He asked, trying not to pay attention to how Raph was acting, or laugh at his voice “We’re heading to Lotus Blossom and Aloe, they run the local spa and bath house,” Swift answered simply. “We… used to have working plumping in the castle, but someone, who I shan't name, destroyed the pluming with fire and I’m having trouble fixing it all, I got the toilet working, anything else, nada.” Swift Heart said, shrugging with slight annoyance. Mona twitched. “Hey! I was only tryin’ to turn the pilot light back on how was I to know ‘too’ much fire would make the whole thing blow up?” She snapped, whipping her tail around and slapping the back of Swift Heart butt. She snickered when the little pegasus yelped, grabbing her rump indigently. “Don’t disrespect your elder sister,” she chuckled. Swifty glared at Mona a vein pulsing in her neck. Mikey chuckled and scooted over to her. “Sooo…uh…what’s your sign?” He asked and received an odd look from her. “Hehe, uh, what are yer hobbies?” Donnie almost felt sorry for the poor little turtle as he watched Mikey attempt to talk to Swifty and fail horribly, it was almost painful, but he knew how Mikey felt and as his big brother he should help Mikey, especially since the strange girl had a unwanted crush on him, but what qualities could he mention about Mikey?! “My sign? I don’t believe we have a system of horoscopes but if I were to say I was born in the spring time, which would mean I could have been born under Aries, Taurus, or Gemini.” She looked away from Mikey. “As for hobbies, I enjoy reading, potion making, studying, and creating things,” she said, folding her ears back. “I don’t do anything special.” She started walking a little faster as if trying to get away from the group. Mikey blinked looking confused, well, at least she talked to him, it was a start! All he had to do was keep at it! She’d totally be falling for him in no time! He smiled and moved to try and keep up with her. Dinky sighed and then stopped “Here we are!” She said, pointing to a nicely decorated building “The Settlement Town spa! After we’re done here we’ll have an hour to kill before dinner so we’ll show you guys around. I’m sure Luna will be pleased by that!” She said smiling making her way into the building. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxTMNT/MLPxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Once they had made their way into the spa, the group was met by two ponies that could have been mistaken for twins. One was pink with blue hair while the other was color swapped and they both had matching blue eyes and wore white dresses with big smiles on their faces. “Welcome to Settlement Town Spa!” They said in unison and posing with outstretched arms in a dramatic flair. They both walked over to the group, the pink with blue hair spoke first “Ah, girls, here for your daily treatments?” She spoke happily. “Yeah, Aloe, and we have some guest joining us for dinner.” Dinky said gesturing to the boys with a smile, “Luna wants them washed up.” she giggled. The other pony, presumably Lotus Blossom, stepped forward. “Aww, aren’t they simply adorable? I just adore these cute little freckles!” She said. pinching Mikey’s cheeks and cooing. “But, oh my, look at those shells! They will need a serious polishing! Sister! Let’s get to work!” The two sisters ushered them off. The turtles and Casey protested as they were pushed towards the stallion side of the spa. Mona sighed. “Well, let’s also get cleaned up while the boys are dealt with.” She said, guiding April towards the girl side, were two more spa ponies were waiting for them. “I want the lavender wing scrub!” Swifty said, disappearing behind the curtain with Dinky, laughing as she followed close behind. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxTMNT/MLPxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx “I feel so violated…” Donnie said after having every inch of his body scrubbed down and his shell polished till it shined, even his plastron was buffed and polished. Mikey chuckled. “Donnie, dude, what are you talking about? That was awesome! My shell has never felt better after that buff and polish!” He said, running a hand over his smooth shell with a smile on his face. “Why did I have to get bathed as well? Normally when someone says wash up it means clean your face and hands, not throw someone into a tub full of other dudes!” Casey was less than thrilled about being bathed and having tons of girly-smelling soap dumped on him, even his normal clothes were now squeaky clean. “I smell like a perfume shop!” He frowned. “At least ya still sound like a dude and not like a girl,” Raphael said as Lotus Blossom finished polishing his shell. “This has to be the most embarrassing moment of my life!” Leonardo started laughing. “Oh man. Raph. just stop talking! You’re killing me! Your voice, it’s just too much!” He laughed so hard he almost fell to the floor. “You really had to say that! You sound like one of those girls on TV, it’s hilarious!” The others started laughing as well, it was irritating Raph to no end. He turned his head away, seething with anger. He was going to make that little brat pay for this! “So, why did this happen to Raph anyway?” Mikey asked, cocking his head to the side as he pulled on his training gear, thankfully his normal mask was returned to him. “And how did she even get you to drink a potion anyway?” He asked curiously. Leo stiffened. “Well Raph was, um, being kind of mean to Swifty, and how she got him… to drink the potion was… eh…” he gulped, how could he say his without destroying Mikey? He wanted to think of something quick without making it sound unbelievable. “She got thunder thighs to force open my mouth.” Raphael said quickly, messing with Leo was one thing, hurting Mikey was another thing. He looked away and sighed. “I guess I pushed her a bit too far.” He said, calming down a bit. Yeah, maybe he did push her buttons a bit too much. Leo sighed in relief as Mikey bought the lie with a joyful laugh. “Let’s go, I’m sure the girls are waiting for us.” He said smiling The boys agreed and left the spa area, Donnie looked up at April who he noticed was wearing a rather appealing outfit, very appealing, his mouth dropped at the sight of her. “Thanks for the outfit Mona, it’s awesome!” April said, glancing down at herself, the new outfit was rather sleek, a black tube top with a white ruffles on the top and bottom, a sleeveless yellow coat that conformed to her body, with a long black sash wrapped around her waist, a black mini skirt with matching spandex shorts, yellow flared sleeves that hugged her upper arms and black leather fingerless gloves covered her hands. She saw the guys enter the main entrance “Hey, can you believe Mona made this outfit?” She twirled around, showing off the outfit. April noticed how Donnie was staring at her, normally she’d brush it off but now she was really appreciating how the tall turtle was looking at her. Mona puffed out her chest proudly. “I totally have an eye for dressing up folks, fashion is my horde,” she sighed happily and moved about April, pulling out a needle and thread. “One last detail.” She bent down and grabbed a small portion of her skirt and quickly began doing something. “I’m hungry…” Swifty said simply, folding her ears down and pulling out a cookie one of her random pockets, which she began munching on. “Do you do anything other than eat?” Donatello snapped his attention from April looking at the little pegasus with some annoyance. Swift Heart’s feathers ruffled a little. “I- I can’t help it! I’m a compulsive eater.” She looked away, stuffing the rest of the cookie in her mouth. She didn’t need to explain anything to them! It was her problem that she’d have to deal with after all. Donnie put a hand under his chin and raised an eyebrow. “So there is something mentally wrong with you?” He asked, only to be punched in the arm by Mikey, who looked rather cross with him. “There is nothing wrong with her! If she likes to eat then she likes to eat, dude, I can’t believe you’d say something so rude!” Mikey snapped, glaring at Donnie as he defended Swifty. He glanced at Swifty, he had noticed how uncomfortable she had become when Donnie mentioned her eating habits. Swifty blinked and looked at Michelangelo curiously, wondering why he had come to her defense. “Th- thanks” She mumbled folding ears back. Casey chuckled. “Lookin’ good, April!” He said, smirking at her, “Mona’s got good taste,” he eyed her up and down but noticed she was paying more attention to Donnie and flinched, he was simply going to let this play out, after all he was human and Donnie… well Donnie wasn’t. April would figure it out soon enough. “Done!” Mona declared, pulling away, revealing she had sewn a familiar symbol into the skirt. “I saw the symbol on your weapon and thought I’d embroider it on your new skirt,” she said, sounding rather pleased as she allowed the whole group to see it. “Wow! It’s beautiful!” April said, admiring the new stitch on the skirt. “You’re amazing Mona!” She put her hands on her hips, admiring the Hamato Family crest on her new favorite outfit. Dinky shook her head with a smile. “Mona is one of the best fashion designers in town, and the only one of us with an actual job.” She chuckled sheepishly, scratching the back of her head.
 Leonardo blinked. “But what about all those plants you were growing?” He inquired as Dinky began walking towards the door. “Oh, those, that’s just a hobby, and Swifty uses a lot of the things I grow to make medicines, herbal teas, and various magical potions like the one she used on your brother Raphael, sorry about that again,” Dinky said as she pushed opened the door and guided everyone out. “And ones like this!” Swift Heart said, pulling out a vial and handing it to Casey. “For you,” She said simply as Casey took it with varying degrees of caution and an unsure look on his face. Casey glanced at the vial, it was dark pink, he heard Raph protesting, but he was curious. “Well, bottoms up.” He uncorked the bottle and downed it in one gulp. “Casey, no!” Raphael shouted in horror as his friend drank it down, why, oh why did he do that! He watched Casey for any sign of well, anything bad happening. “My mouth feels funny.” Casey commented as he used his tongue to feel around his mouth, moreover, his gums where his teeth were supposed to be missing! “Hey! My teeth are back!” He smiled, showing off his new chompers to the group. Everyone but the three knights were in shock. Donnie rolled his eyes “Impossible! Magic isn’t real! In fact, I believe that was a regenerative serum, same with Dinky’s ability, it’s all physic kinetic energy that she is able to mentally generate and her horn in simply the outlet in which she focuses those ener… why do I suddenly not feel ground under my feet?” He said, taking a glance at the ground and screamed as he noticed he was floating several feet off the ground. “Don’t talk about my abilities before you know them, I can do more than shields.” Dinky said, smirking as she began spinning him around. “Levitation, teleportation, transmutations, and other cool things” She chuckled, lowing the dizzy Donnie back to the ground. Swifty sighed. “Must you play around like that ‘captain’? You can’t expect someone raised in a world of science to simply start believing in magic when it doesn’t exist in this world like it did ours,” she lectured with a blank stare on her face. The group went quiet as the three girls took the lead and began pointing things out along the way. It was rather lively but still there was a great deal of tension between the two groups, and many questions that were still unanswered. “You keep mentioning ’your world.’ What do you mean by that?” Leonardo asked, narrowing his eyes. He was itching to know more about these people and why they were here, as peaceful as they seemed, he sincerely hoped they were as they seemed, another enemy was the last thing he and his brothers needed. Dinky looked at Leo. “We’ll talk about that later, I’m sure Princess Luna will explain that at dinner. I don’t really wanna talk about it.” She said, flattening her ears down as she glanced at the ground. They all seemed melancholy at the mention of Leo’s question. Each girl remembering something different but equally sad. Dinky forced a smile and looked at the ninjas. “Anyway, let’s head off. Dinner should be soon!” She said, pointing the direction they needed to go. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxTMNT/MLPxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Splinter sat across from the two mares that brought him into the castle, they were trying hard to play good hostesses, but Splinter could tell they were nervous, and not because they were hiding anything, but simply nervous about the tense situation. “Sooo, you’re a rat? Are you a native to earth?” Lyra asked suddenly, only to get elbowed by Bonbon whom looked rather displeased by her wife’s question. Bonbon smiled tentatively at Splinter. “I’m so sorry about my wife; she can be a bit of an airhead!” She said quickly. “I hope she didn’t offend you!” She bowed her head. “Do not fret, I have not been offended in any way, I am indeed native to Earth.” Splinter said, smiling as he sipped his tea. “Please, there is no need to be so nervous, we all wish for peace,” he said, looking at the two as they sighed. “How come your sons are turtles? Was your wife a turtle?” Lyra asked, causing Bonbon groaned again. “Lyra! Mr. Splinter! I am so sorry! Urg….” Bonbon almost wished to commit an act of domestic violence, she took a deep breath. “Lyra lacks many social graces, please don’t be offended by her.” Splinter chuckled. “I’m not,” he said simply as he smiled warmly. “I will tell my story later,” he looked away, his wife was human as he had been once, as was his daughter. Miwa is human. The adults all sat in silence. the air was thick with tension and the smell of juniper berry tea. Splinter was one who welcomed the silence. finding it easier to think about his current situation and the hopeful outcome. He couldn’t bear putting the turtles in further danger, he may have taught them to fight, but it was solely for self-defense, to protect themselves from the upper world. Never did he imagine that the skills he taught them might also be needed to protect them from underground dwellers. “My youngest, Michelangelo is quite… infatuated with your youngest daughter.” Splinter decided to comment offhandedly, he watched with amusement as the two mares blinked and glanced at each other. Lyra scratched her head for a moment to think. “I wish him the best of luck, Swifty isn’t the easiest filly to connect with. Luna always seemed to have the magic touch when concerned with her.” She said, looking worried. “But once you reach her she is the sweetest, most loving filly you could ever hope for,” Bonbon added, looking sad. “I just wish I could understand her better, she never tells us anything, I believe Luna knows more than us” Bonbon sighed as her ears folded down. “What of your other daughters then?” Splinter asked, trying to get as much information as he could on these girls. These mares were nice enough to tell him, as a father it was important to know what short of girls his boys were hang around with. “Oh, I adore Dinky! She actually has been looking for her birth mother, Derpy, she is a good friend of ours and we were more than happy to look after Dinky in her absence.” Lyra said, smiling happily. “She’s such a doll! She’s obsessed with this old earth cartoon called Space Heroes! It’s so cute when she starts quoting that Captain Ryan character!” Bonbon laughed. “And Mona always gives her such a hard time about it!” She smiled cheerfully. “Mona, on the other hand is a spectacular fashion designer! At least twenty percent of Settlement Town wears her designs! I remember when she was younger; I’d threaten to take away her sewing machine if she didn’t get to practice on time!” They both laughed at the memory. “I still remember the first time Mona got her hands on that sewing machine, Swifty had salvaged it from the junk yard and fixed it all up! It was the best Hearth’s Warming Eve for Mona!” Lyra said, giggling. “Though I admit, Swifty and I didn’t start off on the right hoof.” “You’re only saying that because she kept taking apart all the toasters you found,” Bonbon said, raising an eyebrow while elbowing her with a chuckle. Splinter now chuckled. “Donatello used to do the very same thing when he was young, I remember how often I would have to go to the surface just to find a new one each time,” he said fondly, remember his brilliant child’s love of discovery. And like that the tension melted away as parents shared stories of their children and fond memories. A maid entered the room and bowed. “Dinner is being served and the children have arrived,” she said before leaving. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxTMNT/MLPxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Splinter was sitting on one side of the long table with his sons, April, and Casey, while the ponies were seated on the opposite side. Dinky was levitating a glass of water to her lips and drinking quietly as Mona was sketching something in her notebook, Swifty was reading a book, Lyra was scratching her head and smiling while Bonbon was telling the girls to behave themselves. Luna entered the room. “Girls, we have guests, we do not read or sketch at the table,” she said, using her magic to levitate the items away and set them to the side. The ponies went silent as the Moon Princess took her seat at the head of the table. “I believe you’ve all waited long enough, now I will tell you our tale.” Luna began, she glanced around the table. “It all started eleven years-” an obnoxious crunching sound interrupted her, Luna cringed as another loud crunch soon followed. The table all stared at Swifty, who was crunching down on a rather large red apple. “Swifty!” Swifty blinked. “But I’m hungry,” she said, almost childishly, and cried out as Luna used her magic to throw the apple out the window. “Aww! My apple!” She whined her ears dropping down sadly. “Now, as I was saying, our story begins eleven years ago,” Luna glanced warningly at Swift Heart, who had somehow gotten her hands on another apple, the filly sheepishly put the apple down. The Princess smiled and continued to speak “We came from another dimension…a planet not so much unlike earth, we called it Equis.” The Princess sighed, her eyes slid closed as the memories washed over her. “We rarely had wars, we got along with the neighboring countries, and trade was fairly good, our technology-” She was interrupted by Swifty. “The most advanced thing we had was a steam engine!” She said, earning another warning glare from Luna. Donnie snorted, earning a glare from Splinter. “If somepony doesn’t wish for extra training tonight they best be silent.” Luna warned her left eyebrow twitching slightly. “But, yes, our technology levels were far below earth, however, we made up for it in magic. Yes, magic. We came from a world where science and magic existed side by side,” she said, clamping her hands together. “In this world myths and legendary monsters roamed the world: manticores, griffons, dragons, and anything you could imagine existed there.” Sighing Luna continued “When we first arrived it was only the six of us: three little girls and three grown mares. I knew this world would never except us, so I took the little ones under my wings and trained them in the ways of knighthood so that they may be able to protect themselves.” Luna opened her eyes, the pain and sorrow shining brightly in those aquamarine depths; she then stood up for a moment and began pointing to each girl. “My oldest student, at the age of nineteen, is Mona Lisa, her strength to wield the mighty war hammer is surpassed by none before her. Her fire can melt even the strongest steal. Dinky Doo, daughter of Derpy Brighteyes Hooves, is the second oldest at age seventeen, calm like the ever-flowing river, she is a master of the three prong trident and a water mage, I appointed her captain of the group. And the youngest, at fifteen, is Swift Heart, creative and cunning, she wields the sword and shield, a master potion maker. Together, I believe they will one day be a powerful force to protect this village.” She sat back down and continued her tale. “Eleven years ago, we were attacked by an unknown enemy, not even our most mightiest magical force could stop it. Equis was lost, the sky turned a poisonous hue and our water turned to acid, my elder sister and I used our combined magic in a desperate act to save the population, we didn’t have time to think, only act.” Luna’s horn lit up as energy gathered around her. In the center of the table a swirling vortex slowly began to appear, the turtles and humans gasped in shock at what was happening. The vortex opened as dead looking world appeared before them. “I- I don’t believe it! You actually opened a dimensional portal! With your mind!” Donatello exclaimed, wishing he could examine the portal, already his mind was reeling in shock. “This is, or was, Equis.” Luna said a single tear slide down her face. “My sister and I opened many doors like this one and teleported the populous of our world across the various universes, I was separated from her during the confusion, I don’t know how many survived but every day I search for other survivors and over the course of the years we’ve been here, our little group of six soon became a village. We are refugees on a strange world, we must hide ourselves.” The table sat in silence for a moment before Luna spoke again. “That is our story, and this is our home, we only want to be left alone” Splinter nodded. “I understand,” he said simply, looking at the Equestrians around the table, he saw other Equines that worked as staff for the princess, they were all trying to live a normal life down here, just as he and his family were in the sewers. “Allow me now to share our tale,” and with that a new story was told, one that was familiar to some and new to others. Some things were left out about the turtle’s life, such as enemies and what dangers they were currently diving into. “So you were once human and they were ordinary turtles? Fascinating, I would have loved to study this ooze that you came into connect with,” Swifty said, looking amazed as she scratched her head. “It reminds me of Griselda the Wise’s runic art of transfiguration. A common runic art used during the first Griffon war with Equestria, the Griffonians would use this art to disguise themselves and install their spies among the ranks of Equin armadas, of course this took place long before the rule of-” Swift Heart’s history lesson was cut short by Dinky using her magic to stuff a large peach in her mouth. Swift simply smiled. “Mmmmm,” she began eating the peach, her lecture clearly forgotten in favor of food. Dinky giggled. “And that is how you get out a of Swift Heart educational lecture!” She levitated a bunch of plates towards herself and began putting small portions of food onto her plate. “Hey, Dink! Pass the salad!” Mona said as a bowl of greens was brought her way. The Dragoness took a hefty portion and piled various fruits onto her plate, as well as some oats and hay. Bonbon chuckled as the daisies and tulips were passed around. “May I please have some grass and mint leaves?” She asked politely as Lyra happily levitated the dishes over to her wife. The turtles gulped and looked at what their hosts considered ‘food’ and their natural green skin seemed to darken as they watched grass and flowers be consumed by the minute. Some hamburger things were being passed around, the guys nabbed those quickly, April and Casey were looking at the burgers curiously as they took mostly fruit and vegetables they recognized. Mikey took a bite of the burger only to discover that the burger wasn’t a “burger.” Reacting like any four year old, he spit it out and wiped off his tongue with both hands. His brothers had a similar reaction of disgust of what they had just ingested. “What are these things?!” Mikey asked, holding up the not-burger. “That’s just a hay burger, it’s made from tofu and hay. It’s Princess Luna’s favorite food,” Dinky said, smiling as she bit into her own hay burger happily. “Is something wrong with it?” She asked cocking her head to the side. Luna looked at her guests, “Please tell me if there is something I can offer you.” She smiled kindly. “Try the hay fries, they’re delicious!” Dinky exclaimed, popping a few in her mouth and passing them over to the boys, who looked even greener than before. “Um…we don’t eat hay,” Donnie said tentatively, glancing at Splinter who had no trouble eating the cheese that, thankfully, had been placed on the table as well as the fruits. Donatello sighed reluctantly and took some the healthy food. He had no problem eating the fruits and veggies, but this was an excessive amount of health junk. A server brought in a large bowl and placed it by Mona. The dragon glanced at the bowl. “Sweet! Desert!” She reached into the bowl and pulled out a few emeralds, shining brightly. The turtle gang gasped in both shock and horror as Mona threw them into her mouth and loudly crunched down on them. “I think every dentist in the area just had a heart attack.” Raphael looked at Mona. “Did… you really just eat emeralds?!” He questioned with shock. Mona swallowed her mouthful of precious gems before looking at Raph. “Yup, gems are like candy to a dragon,” she explained, and ate a few more before offering some to the gang. Mikey looked rather ill. “I’ve heard of rock candy but that’s ridiculous!” He whispered to Leo, who nodded, somewhat disturbed by everything that was going on. Luna looked at her guests before coming to a realization. “Ah, I see you’re omnivores.” She stated as the other ponies, save for the dragon looked up at the princess. “I hope you’ll forgive us, we’re herbivorous by nature.” “Not me! I’m an omnivore as well!” Mona added, looking at the turtles with a smile. “If you’d like, I’m sure I could find some fish or something!” “That will not be necessary, my sons need to eat more healthier foods.” Splinter said, looking, in particular, at Michelangelo, who was poking at the food on his plate before quickly eating up when he knew Splinter was looking at him. The rat watched as his youngest tried to not gag on the food and sighed, almost embarrassed. Dinky wanted to speak; she really wanted everyone to get along, for the sake of all the ponies that lived in this settlement. She couldn’t think of which subject to breach in hopes of breaking the wall of ice she felt that was standing between all of them. Everyone was tense for one reason or another she understood this well enough. Master Splinter didn’t want his boys making enemies and the equines also didn’t want any enemies, even if it were only four turtles; however, history proved that the size of the army didn’t matter, four turtles could easily prove deadly, but Luna was always saying never overestimate an enemy, she also said never underestimate an enemy. She felt a headache coming on as she further remembered Luna also saying to never underestimate yourself nor overestimate your own abilities, her head hurt. The maids and servers suddenly began clearing the table and Dinky realized dinner was over she sighed wishing she had actually said something. “Girls, we shall now go to the practice arena for evening practice.” Luna stood up and began walking towards the door. “I welcome you and your boys to come and watch” She said softly leaving the room. Dinky let loose a breath she didn’t know she was holding. “I’ll show you guys the way!” She said happily, following Luna along with the two other girls. To be continued….. > Chapter 4: Trending Waters > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 4: Trending Waters The arena they once had been kept prisoners in they now sat in as spectators in the stands and the three girls where stretching out in preparation for training. Luna walked over to a large canvas covered thing and revealed it…it looked like the tilt-a-whirl from fun land…however Swifty looked apprehensive upon it unveiling… “Swift Heart we shall start with dizz-a-tron” Luna stated rather calmly “And we shall put the setting on the highest levels this time as punishment for using a potion without a good reason and don’t give me the excuse ‘he was being mean’ it doesn’t matter!” She scolded “C…can’t we talk about this” Swifty said sulking as she was dragged by Luna’s magical aura over to the device and slide into the small belted area where she was automatically locked in. Swift Heart’s ears flattened against her head as she bit her bottom lip… Luna smirked almost evilly “Nope” She pulled the level as the machine began spinning the filly in a circle at an alarming speed…Luna kept her grip on the lever… “Dude…why can’t our training be that fun…” Mikey complained as he watched the tilt-a-whirl in action, he chuckled as he watched Swifty spin around and around… Raphael grumbled “I don’t think this is for fun” He said growling as the soft female voice left his mouth…whatever happened to that brat he was going to cheer happily… “Release!” Luna shouted sending the filly hurling into the air around and around till her wings spread wide opened eyes wide and determined as she fell straight down before straightening herself out and soaring towards Luna at high speed making a full stop in front of the Princess. “0.04 second….we need to get that timing better on the medium level your time is 0.02 seconds…” Luna commented offhandedly “Your landed was sloppy you came to skidding to halt instead of a full stop…very sloppy today but I know you’ll do better” Luna said turning to the other two girls. Swift Heart’s gaze turned to the ground “I’m sorry…” she said as her wings drooped slightly and her ears folded back sadly “I’ll perfect it next time your highness” Well that was harsh, Raph blinked as he watch Luna comment on Swifty’s landing….that was harsh…she looked like a beaten dog without anymore fight left in her… “YOU WERE AWESOME SWIFTY!!! WHOOHOO!” Raph jumped suddenly as Mikey began shouting and cheering for her “I BEST LANDING EVER!” Mikey shouted again smiling brightly Swifty blinked and looked at the stand, how could he cheer like that? She had failed! She messed up! She made Luna disappointed! However a tiny smile formed on her face, it was…nice having someone cheer like that…even if it was her being cheered for… Luna secretly smirked this was such good material for her next teen romance novel, she chuckled almost evilly as she turned her gaze to Mona Lisa “Mona…as of late..you’ve been lacking in tact…don’t think for a moment Dinky didn’t explain to me your previous encounter with the turtle known as Slash…you allowed your anger to get the best of you…” She folded her hands behind her back “Also it has come to my attention…you lack a sense of mortality lately…you seem to believe yourself indestructible” Their was a crossness in her voice. “Well Luna…I am a dragon, my scales are thicker then the strongest steel, I think I’m pretty invincible…” Mona said smirking confidently pulling out her war hammer proudly twirling it like it was a baton. Luna’s evil smirk became wider as her horn lit up and the arena became a little darker “Then let us spare in a different environment shall we?” Confused the spectators looked up and gasped as dark clouds began forming over head and rain fell unto them. The Hamato clan plus Casey and April were now soaking wet and quite unhappy. “Duude! I already had a bath!” Casey complained looked rather unhappy as he grumbled Donnie on the other hand was looking confused “This…is not….possible! You…you can’t just make it rain!? Where did the clouds come from!? Their shouldn’t even be enough moisture in the air to make a rain storm this powerful!” he shouted “Um..Donnie maybe we should start believing in magic…I think we’ve seen enough proof” Leonardo said blinking in shock. He may not be a genus like his brother but he always believed he was opened minded enough to believe in the impossible… “Leo shut up…” Donatello grumbled looking miserable all wet…he cast a glance over to April and blushed…her shirt was clinging to her body….he gulped staring…something smacked the back of his head “ow!” He looked behind him and saw Master Splinter looking at him with disapproval in his eyes. Mona Lisa cringed as it began to rain…it was hard to blow fire in rain! She growled “I can take this!” she said confidently and charged at Luna. Luna sidestepped the charging dragon, grabbing her tail as she soared passed the Princess of the Night. In one fluid motion Luna gripped the dragon’s tail tightly and flipped Mona over on her back as she released Mona’s tail. “Again!” She commanded as Mona rose to her feet and swung her hammer at the Princess. “I don’t get why Princess Luna made it rain…” Mikey said confused cocking his head to the side as he scratched his chin “Not that I mind the extra shower” He commented but the confused look on his face spoke volumes. Casey smirked “Dude it’s soooo full metal alchemist! Roy Mustang is like the fire Alchemist and he’s totally bad ass but he can’t use fire in the rain so it totally like this. Mona can’t use fire in the rain” He crossed his arms after he finished explain “By the way the subbed was way better then the dubbed” The turtles collectively groaned throwing Casey dirty looks. Mona swung her hammer crosswise downward towards Luna. The Princess only smirked “Predictable my dear” She didn’t even bother casting a spell as she flapped her wings propelling upwards and flipping forwards as she landed behind Mona as the dragon swung back round in hopes to catch Luna off guard; however, the Princess only ducked under the swinging hammer while using her left wing outstretched to kicking Mona off her feet. The Princess the pulled out her sword and pointed it at Mona’s throat “If I had been an enemy you would not be alive. The war hammer requires one to respect it’s wielder vulnerability it is a weapon meant to protect the ones who stand behind it. You are the frontline that protects your sisters.” Luna lectured letting the dragoness up. She used to magic to dissipate the rain. Swift Heart grumbled and shook off all the water, her feathers, hair, and fur poof up making her look like a fluffy poodle. She frowned as she tried to brush down her fur and feathers “I just had my wings preened…they’ll lose their finish!” “Well…I guess it’s my turn?” Dinky said stepping forward dropping her shield, she had been the only one to not get wet. She stepped forward looking somewhat nervous as she pulled out her weapon “Okay…now Princess Luna always waits for others to attack…however waiting for her to make a move will be equally difficult…on the other hoof…” Dinky’s thoughts were scattered as she thought about her attack plan or there lack of…She took a defensive stance narrowing her eyes as she was torn between attacking or defending…. Luna sighed “Still Dinky you act with such indecision…a leader must take risks in order to protect those who follow them…if you don’t act quickly you may lose a member of your team…you may lose a sister. You need to start acting like a leader your lucky Swifty and Mona listen to you because if any pony else was serving under you…they would undermine your leadership!” Luna said sternly “You can’t predict everything only hope for the best” Biting her bottom lip Dinky took a deep breath and summoned her shield before charging, Luna stood her ground smirking. Dinky stopped short and jumped away from Luna holding her trident tightly “Okay…that smirk is a tell tale sign she is plotting something…..” She mumbled to herself… Leonardo’s eyes narrowed as he watched this pitiful fight…she was thinking to hard and not acting enough…if Dinky was the captain she should be ordering Mona and Swifty to flank Luna’s sides and distract the princess while she would take a direct root…it was painfully obvious that all the girls were out classed however this was a training exercise she should take advantage that her advisory wasn’t going to kill her….he rubbed a hand under his chin as he continued to watch… Splinter also watched, he understood why Luna wanted his sons to see this…she was trusting them…by showing their weaknesses…these girls have never seen real combat…Mona was overconfident with a strong sense of invulnerability….Dinky was indecisive…Swifty..he assumed he’d watch her fight next… Dinky was sent flying back skidding in the dirt “Oh Celestia’s mane!” She said twitching as she rubbed her sore cheek. She had tried dodging left only to make a last minute change and attempted to go right only to be smacked in the face with Luna’s wing…. Luna sighed “Dinky you have a brilliant mind, your loyal, and courageous…but you need to get your head in the game…learn to make a decision” She scolded lightly and turned to the last girl… “I waited until I knew you were no longer dizzy from the dizz-a-whirl” Luna stepped towards Swift Heart. “I decided not to give you any further hand capes then you already have” She took a fighting stance. Swifty nodded and closed her eyes, the little pegasus already knew she didn’t have a chance but she knew she could last a tiny bit longer then Mona and Dinky…she pulled out her saber and slid her shield unto her right forearm…her pouches fill with various powders and potions… Luna frowned, Swifty lacked self-confidence and self-importance…it was easy to throw her off the princess hated to do this but it was needed “Let’s see if you can do better with this practice then your first one…I’m very disappointed” and there it was the look that made Luna feel she had just kicked the foal’s puppy…. “I feel you’ve made no improvements in any of your specialized areas as well” Swifty was shaking now… Swift Heart was indeed shaking…Luna was right…how could she not be…Swifty hadn’t even conducted her regular maintenance on the lighting system…maybe something was wrong with it and that was why Luna was upset! It seemed to be working fine…maybe it was because Swifty couldn’t recreate a cloud machine? The Princess did say she wanted some clouds floating around…but without seeing a blue print…or even the machines of a weather machine…she was lost…what good was she? Luna sighed knowing the youngest was wondering what she had done so wrong now…The princess watched as the little filly gripped her sword as she attempted to get her head in the game…Luna closed her eyes for a moment “Swift Heart…” she murmured softly “How can I advance your training if you cannot pass your own mental barricades…” She walked over to Swift Heart and lightly tapped her shoulder “Your out” Swifty looked away with frowned as she was tapped out, she wouldn’t cry…crying was bad…no matter how much it hurt…never cry…the little filly took her place besides her sisters. The three girls stood before Luna in order of hight as they looked at the Princess. Their heads bowed and their facial expressions varied between them, Mona looking frustrated and angry, Dinky looking disappointed, and Swifty looking broken…. “Training is over…” Luna said simply with a frown, her horn lit up and a satchel appeared in a flash, “I maybe harsh with you…but you also need to remember…I only act as I do because I care…I pray one day you will each find the strength you need to carry on without me” she approached Mona and from the satchel pulled out a small bolt of purple fabric with lovely silver floral pattern on it “I have presents for each of you from my latest journey” She said handing Mona her gift with a tender smile. “Mona this silk is very delicate, however I know in the claws you wield only a masterpiece can be forged. Your passion shows in ever stitch of your needle, and the way you fight…never lose sight of those you love” Luna said petting Mona on the head. Luna turned to Dinky and pulled out a strange looking plant it was bright orange with blue leaves “Dinky I found this unusual plant during my trip you will plant it and learn everything about it before letting Swifty use any of it in her potion making.” She handed the plant to the young unicorn “Remember each flower blooms in each own time, and each one needs a different touch, some require tender soil while others thrive in rocky terrain…help this flower grow as you would your sisters” The Princess then turned to the youngest and pulled out an old book “It was a fortuitous bout of luck that I came across this book” She handed Swift Heart the book and watched as the young filly hugged it to her body, “This book is a survivor of the Crystal Empire…this a book of potions developed by the crystal ponies…potions that have been lost long ago during the Empire’s disappearance…Princess Cadance gives this book to you with her regards, learn well from it and revive these ancient potions to there former glory” The girls blinked for a moment before Dinky stepped forward “Wait a minute did you say….Princess Cadance?! The Princess Cadance!?” She asked excitedly her tail wagging as she smiled brightly at Luna. Luna nodded “The colony I happened upon was the remains of the Crystal Empire…the crystal heart survived and they are thriving…we came to a trade agreement as well so be prepared to start seeing new wares in the market my young wards” Mona squealed with joy “I totally can’t wait! Just imagine all the new stuff I can buy!” She was practically jumping “And just imagine all the money I can make! Selling my fabulous outfits and accessories!” she giggled and hugged Swift Heart and Dinky “And of course I’ll have my two favorite models to show off my best stuff” “Oh joy…being treated like a doll…the thing I love the most…Mona your going to have to get another model I quite” Dinky said glaring at the dragon with a frown and her ears folded back in irritation. Swifty looked at Mona with a pout “I’ll take payment in Apple Bloom’s famous apple fritters, cinnamon buns, Banana nut muffins, and I want a Mint vanilla smoothie with extra oats” She said bluntly glaring at Mona “Deal” Mona Lisa said patting Swifty’s head happily with chuckle “At least one of my little sisters wants to see me succeed” She stuck her tongue out at Dinky playfully. The spectators had left their seats to join the knights in the arena, “Whose Princess Cadance?” Leonardo asked scratching his head curiously. All this talk of knights and princesses got him slightly excited it was like their dungeons and mutants LARP game…only more real… “Princess Mi Amore Cadanza, other wise known as Princess Cadance ruled the Crystal Empire along with her Husband Prince Shinning Armor…” Swift Heart began her cheeks took on a reddish hue “She is known as the Princess of Love, protector of the Crystal Empire…” Mona then spoke up “I heard that during her wedding she used the power of her love to send the evil invading Canterlot flying away!” “It was evil changelings that invaded Canterlot…I should know I was there! Princess Cadance used her love to give Shinning Armor the power to repel them out of Canterlot!” Dinky said excitedly with a smile “And not to mention how gorgeous she is!” Mona giggled “Or how hot Shinning Armor is!” “It’s really romantic…the Captain of the guards and the Princess of love” Swifty said dreamily with starry eyes Splinter chuckled he couldn’t help but wonder if Miwa hadn’t been raised by Shredder…if she could have turned out like these girls…or even like April…with a sigh he spoke “It is late…my sons, April, Casey it is time we leave…however we shall return tomorrow it would be nice for my sons to train with others warriors” Mikey’s eyes lit up “Were coming back tomorrow! Awesome! Hey Swifty maybe you and I can spare together” He said attempting to wiggle an eyebrow with a smirk on his face as he tried to sound cool. Swift Heart blinked “Are you…always this excited about training?” She questioned raising an eyebrow at the strange behavior the turtle presented towards her… Donnie felt like slapping his forehead, he reached over and grabbed Mikey and started dragging him away “Don’t speak…just keep walking little brother” he said rolling his eyes “Trust me…” xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxMLP/TMNTxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx A few days had passed since then, the two groups were still testing the waters and learning more about each other. Today the boys were heading down to small hamlet as part of their new routine and training exercise it added a new dynamic their training. The boys exited the tunnel that lead to Settlement Town, Michelangelo was the most excited of his brothers to be down here “Hey guys…is it just me…or is there a breeze?” Mikey blinked cocking his head to the side as he felt a tiny breeze blowing through the air. Donatello blinked as he stood next to his brother “Yeah…I feel it too…there is a breeze” he looked confused “But the question is why? Why make a breeze?” these ponies were strange in his opinion… Leonardo shrugged “I dunno…maybe they just thought it was relaxing? I mean think about it…they already have a sun…or something sun-like so why not throw in a breeze?” He suggested scratching his head as he scanned the small village “It does feel nice” he commented offhandedly. Raphael growled “Can we just get this over with, the sooner we’re done with this training stuff we can hit the surface” The emerald eyed turtle was still had not come to fully trust the girls or the ponies in generally he thought they were all too cuties cute…and weak…sure he liked annoying most of them…but he still wasn’t too keen on trusting them… The turtles made their way down to the village, as they approached the Equins seemed to be preparing for something they were rushing about and…they seemed to be trying to keep as quite as mice…The boys noticed a small group of pagasi near a glowing portal softly flapping their wings creating the gentle breeze. The lead pegasus was one they knew personally…. “So…their making wind?” Mikey asked blinked as he slowly drifted over to where his beloved Swifty was… Raph smirked “At least their not break wind” He chuckled as did his remaining two brothers “Might as well find out what’s up” he started heading over three breeze making ponies. Mikey was the first over smiling brightly and ready to speak to the magenta colored filly “Hey Swifty! Are we training today? I totally can be your sparing partner” He said winking at her Said filly looked at the boys as she calmly flapped her wings “Sorry we can’t train today…Princess Luna discovered another survivor of Equis and they are moving here….she found the Breezies!” She said in a hushed tone. “The Freezies? OH! Are they like slushies makers or something?! Frozen treats are awesome!” Mikey exclaimed happily his little turtle tale practically wagging in anticipation. Swift Heart’s flapping suddenly became very erect and the breeze was starting to pick up “S…sluushisheS?! The breezies…as slushies?!” She began to panic, worry filling her eyes “I…I…I” She began to hyper ventilate “I can’t do this! I’m going to mess up and end up hurting them! I’ll ruin everything!” sweat dripped from her forehead… Donnie sighed slapping his hand to his forehead “Great…she doing that needless panicking thing again…” He pulled out a small toy hammer and twisted unto the end of his boa staff…something he added a few days ago. He then used said attachment to promptly hit Swifty on the head… “Ow! Why do you keep doing that?!” Swift Heart whined slightly rubbing her head looking rather hurt. “Because it seems the quickest way to calm you down” Donatello shot back with a slight glare, it amazed him…when she was mentally collected she could be a force to recon with; however, once she loses her calm and started doubting and panicking…she was a hot mess and easily defeated… Leonardo sighed rolling his eyes, Donnie while he didn’t share Swifty obvious crush on him, the purple terrapin had found a companion in which he could talk science stuff with and understand what he was actually talking about….they had a tentative friendship…at least that was what Leo called it, “Swifty what are Breezies?” He asked figuring she was calm enough to answer… “Breezies are the smallest cutest littles things you could ever lay your eyes! They are also very delicate and need a pony created breeze in order to use their magic” A new voice…a voice that sounded like Raph’s when he had been under that potion…The turtles turned and looked at Raph Raph blinked and looked back at his brothers holding up his hands “Hey that potion wore off! That totally wasn’t me this time!” He shouted his left eye twitching in annoyance as he spoke as he turned to the right direction of the new voice. Raphael’s eyes widen as his jaw dropped in shock at the vision of beauty standing before him “Uh….hi” He managed to get out. The other turtles turned as well blinking at this new pony, “You must be the turtles the girls have been telling me all about, I’m so happy to meet you” She greeted them. Her yellow fur and soft pink mane and tail that trailed behind her, shinning bright blue eyes, and a captivating shy smile “I’m Fluttershy” Mikey spoke “So…they don’t make frozen treats?” He asked blinking unaware of the now furious look of murder Raph was sending him. The mare giggled “Oh heavens no! Breezies…I suppose the best way to describe them would be similar to another creature from this world's mythology…there very similar to fairies” she briefly explained a small bit about the Breezies. Raphael stared at her, hung onto her every word…he heard of the hourglass figure…this was the first time he saw it…his heart he swore was pounding in his ears as the venus de milo talked about what ever these breezie things were…even her voice was perfect…who knew angels were real… “And so Dinky helped me create a small little place for them to live, oh it just so perfect! I just need one little thing left to make it perfect…but…I can’t find any pony to help me lift it” Fluttershy said frowning Raph nearly choked “I’ll help ya!” He said far too quickly, his brothers blinked in shock and looked at their normally hotheaded turtle “I can move whatever it is ya want…ya know thing to help the breezies” oh shell he sounded like a dork…he totally sounded like a dork….he was never going to live this down! Fluttershy smiled “REALLY?! Oh that’s so kind of you! There is this fallen moss covered log I want to move over to the new Breezie village,” She explained taking Raph’s hand and leading him away. Leo blinked “What just happened?” He was honestly confused, as he watched Raphael following the yellow pegasus away. “I think….Raph just developed his first crush” Donatello exclaimed “The flushed look on his face, the eagerness to help, the sudden drop in attitude…it’s a crush” the purple turtle confirmed in shock…. Mikey blinked “Dude…she is like old enough to be our mom…ain’t never gonna happen” he commented “She also married” Swift Heart said softly but no one seemed to hear her as they talked among themselves. She sweat dropped slightly as she continued to watch them discuss the issues of Raphie’s new crush….now she knew how Fluttershy felt when she was trying to say something important and no one was listening to her….oh well “Hey Turtles!” Dinky shouted as she ran over to them “I’m so excited about the Breezies! I saw them once before when I was living in Ponyvile! They were so cute and tiny!” She said smiling brightly Leonardo smiled brightly “Hey Dinky! So Fluttershy was telling us how you created a place for the Breezies, can I see it?” He asked curious as to what Dinky had created. He had seen her greenhouse so he was interested in how she would make a tiny village out of flowers and mushrooms or whatever she used… “Sure Leo! But you’ll have to wait the Breezies will be coming soon, and Fluttershy want me here to help her guide the Breezies to their new home.” Dinky smiled feeling pride in her work. She really was pleased with how the new Breezie village turned out. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxMLP/TMNTxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Raphael heaved a heavy log unto his shell grunting slightly as he tried to steady it unto his back “Soo…this log is for…the Breezies to play with?” He question raising an eye as he followed Fluttershy. The yellow pony smiled “Yes! I figured the Breezies would enjoy playing with this and it’ll look just perfect in their new home” She gushed slightly with a tiny giggle that made Raph blush a deep crimson shade. “My home isn’t too far from here, I really appreciate your help Raphael.” She motioned for him to follow her. The hot tempered turtle followed the shy mare, his eyes focused more on her swaying tail…trailing up her back…he gulped. Raph quickly made his eyes focus on her head but all he was hearing was ‘blah, blah, blah, proper name place, blah, blah, plot device, more info’ “You can put the log down here” Fluttershy said pointing to a lovely little flower and fern looking village. The mare smiled as she looked at Dinky’s work, the young filly had taken a lot of inspiration from fairy tales to create this wonderful little place….it looked so peaceful she almost wished she could live their with the Breezies… Raph huffed as he heaved the stupid log over his shoulder and placed the log down where Fluttershy instructed him “So…uh….” damn it he was tongue tied! He needed to calm down, be cool, he wasn’t like Mikey and Donnie! He knew how to be smooth around a girl. Flashing his famous smirk at her “Anything else I can help you with Ms. Shy?” He asked feeling confident or at least attempting to make it seem he was… “Oh no! Thank you so much for your help” Fluttershy said softly “Wait here I just want to get something from my cottage” She said pointing to the small home that was a few feet away from the Breezie village. The mare had some cookies and thought the young teen would enjoy them as a reward for helping her. Without waiting for a reply Fluttershy quickly went inside her tiny home and quickly grabbed a cloth bag she had and filled it with the homemade cookies she had on hoof. Raph blinked, well this was unusual being thanked for doing a good job…he liked it…alot…especially since it made the pretty mare smile…he watched as she quickly went into the tiny cottage. Raphael took this chance to look around the area. The cottage was quint, lots of flowers, trees, and lots and lots of animals…he briefly wondered if Fluttershy was some short of animal hoarder…but she was far too caring and nice to be a hoarder…in fact Raph noticed many of these animals had been given medical attention…many of these critters had treated wounds…others showed obvious signs of abuse…Raph felt his stomach churn as he spotted a puppy with burn marks…what happened? Fluttershy came out holding the cookie bag she made, the mare’s smile dropped when she noticed Raph’s. “It’s horrible…I’ve never seen any creature willing to hurt something so innocent” Fluttershy said sadly handing the cookies to Raph before walking over to the puppy with burn marks. “When I first came to this dimension…I didn’t know what to do with myself…my special talent was caring for animals…it turned out even before I came to live here…Lyra, Bonbon, and Luna would occasionally bring these poor animals down here to take care of them…” Fluttershy scratched the puppy’s chin and giggled softly when it licked her face. “I couldn’t believe humans would hurt animals like this…it’s..unforgivable!” She said sounding very upset as she once again stood up turning to Raph “Why do humans hurt such innocent animals….I’ve never seen so many injured and sick animals in my life…” The way she spoke it almost sounded as if they had abused her directly and not the animals. “I couldn’t tell you…I had a pet once…a turtle…heh…ironic right? He was flushed down the sewer…” Raph said solemnly remember the night Slash left him…his pet…his best friend gone…a hand gently touched his shoulder making him jump in surprise. He looked at Fluttershy blushing “I can tell your a really kind person Raphael” She said smiling brightly at him, “The Breezies will be coming soon” xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxMLP/TMNTxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Mikey’s eyes widen in wonder as tiny creatures even smaller then his own thumb began flying through the portal “wow….” He whispered softly as he the breezes fluttering in the pegasus made breeze. “Now be very careful…even the most errant of drafts could send them careening into danger” Swift Heart said softly flapping her wings gently as possible as she watched the Breezies fly by her. Dinky stepped forward “I’ll take you to your new home” She whispered to the Breezies only to receive a squeaky reply that only made the unicorn giggle before turning and leading the Breezies away. Donnie blinked “They were amazing, it was like something out of Gulliver’s Travels! Tiny people!” He said in a hushed but excited voice as he followed Dinky and Breezies simply fascinated by their seer tiny size. Swift Heart watched as he walked away and frowned softly, Donatello didn’t seem to reciprocate her feels or any form of affection. It seemed to her logical mind he didn’t even desire an acquaintanceship with her, the use of physical abuse upon her person would indicate he rather despised her in fact. She let out a gentle sigh as her wings continued to create the gentle breeze until the OK was sounded. The whole event was both teeming with excitement and tension in the air as everyone watched the breezies fly towards their new colony in Fluttershy’s backyard. Everyone was amazed by Dinky’s design and floral architect of the new Breezie home and many whispered as the the tiny fairies like creatures began landing and claiming the tiny mushroom homes that had been grown in as their new homes. Tiny cheers could be heard from within the tiny compound and many ponies and even a few turtles smiled at the sight. Dinky looked at Leo “I wanted to make this as close to their original home as possible, flowers and mushroom houses….I had to use quick growing potions to make this in time…but it was fun to make…the Breezies will responsible for expanding their own place from now on…” Dinky felt some pride swell in side of her. She had made this and everyone was enjoying it, she hoped this feeling could stay with her for a while… “It’s awesome Dinky, you did a good job” Leo sad smiling at her as he turned back to the Breezie home, to him it looked like a cross between a tiny mountain made of mushrooms and a mystic forest from a some vaguely familiar video game…miniture bamboo forest, miniature sakura trees….he blinked “How..did you make those tiny Sakura trees? And Bamboo forest…in fact…why does it look so….er…Japanese?” Dinky blushed and giggled nervously “Okay I admit…I used some magic to make a lot of the elements…I was kind of inspired by Ookami and Japanese gardening…I really like bonsai trees I even used a bonsai within the design…” Dinky explained her ears folded back against her head feeling slightly embarrassed by her confession “the mini bamboo forest and Sakura tree I used a shrinking spell…it’s still growing normally but…it’ll be…tiny, and the mushroom houses…they live in mushroom and well in the game their was a village of tiny people so..I took inspiration from that” The blue banded turtle stifled a laugh as he looked at the pale purple unicorn “I like it…never played Ookami…games are more Raph and Mikey’s thing…but I like the Japanese influence…it’s well pretty” He said scratching his chin as Dinky giggled and smiled happily. Raphael looked at the cookies Fluttershy had given him a blush dusting his face as he nibbled on one tasting the love and care that went into the sweet treat…cinnamon and sugar…a ginger snap. Raph normally wasn’t a turtle that liked sweets. Mikey was the family cook, sure sometimes he made horrible things but he also made some really damn good things! Like that one sweet treat that Raph really liked, the bitter sweet chocolate fudge brownies…Raph loved those…he’d gobble them up in a less then an hour…but now he had a new favorite…ginger snap cookies…made by Fluttershy…he savored another tender morsel of his new found favorite cookie… Mona smirked as she wavered through the crowd and spotted the hot head seemingly in a daze nibbling on cookies. The breezes were awesome and all but it was the after party she was looking forward too! She managed to get close to Raph, “damn, he must be in deep thought” she thought with a spark of mischief glowing in her eyes as she lifted her tail up and readied her hand. Raphael felt someone tap his shoulder, looking over his shoulder the turtle was sacked by a familiar tail and his ginger snaps were quickly removed from his hands “Hey! Grrrr!” he seethed glaring at the dragon that now had the cookies Fluttershy gave him “Give those back” he said sternly “So protective over cookie Raph? Did a girl give them to ya?” Mona teased weaving the bag around as Raph tried to grab it, damn it was good to be taller then everyone else! Damn it! It sucked to be so short! “What is your deal Godzilla!?” He shouted jumping up to grab his cookies. He thought about trying a flip and grab but she was so stinking tall he didn’t even know if he could jump over her head without a decent head start! “Cookies are for kids come on short stack we’re going to the after party!” Mona said keeping the cookies away from Raph as she threw an arm over his shoulder and dragged him off. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxMLP/TMNTxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx The ‘after party’ all the turtles had been dragged to was of all places that could have been built their was a bar owned and ran by a surly old stallion with a nasty looking over bit and a creepy looking eye patch over his left eye. “You realize were fifteen right?” Donnie asked looking at the girl wondering why the shell they were even there in the first place. Swifty blinked for a moment “We’re legal…Equestrian law is implemented down here and fifteen is legal to drink…” The little pegasus turned to the bar keeper “Salty I want the usual Equine Guard Whiskey, and it better not be that American garbage you tried to pass me off like last time!” she hissed with her wings flared and feathers ruffled and a glare in her eyes. Mona spoke next “I’ll take a keg of that German beer you had me try last month” A smile on her face “And one for the shorty over here…unless he ain’t ready for the grown up stuff” she teased The red banded turtle growled “I can handle anything you throw my way! I’ll have what she’s having” He snapped twitching “Raph…I REALLY think this is a BAD I idea Master Splinter is gonna kill us if he finds out!” Leo said internally panicking about this whole situation and looking like a cornered mouse. He looked to Donnie for help, but the smartest turtle also looked like a cornered mouse… “What Master Splinter doesn’t know won’t get us punished beside dudes we’re doing exactly what he told us to do! Embracing another culture!” Mikey said with a smile, he totally didn’t want to look like a looser in front of Swfty! Gulping slightly he turned to the owner only known as Salty “Soo…uh…I’ll have what Swifty’s having” He said nervously Donatello was unsure, he had been curious about alcoholic beverages read up the side effects of too much consumption, but also the positives of certain beverages…. “I’ll take a glass of 1986 Sauvignin Blanc Lanzur with your famous cheese and herb soufflé as an entree” Dinky said simply before turning to Donnie “I don’t know why Mona is pressuring you guys to drink but you don’t have to it’s your choice. Would you like some water? This place has soda too” She offered trying to be kind Donnie blinked and glanced at Leo, both brothers seemed unsure even after Dinky’s encouraging words. Leo glanced at Dinky as Salty poured her a glass of red wine and gulped as his eyes turned to Mona and Raph whom both had there drinks, his eyes drifted to Mikey and Swifty….Mikey was looking at his glass curiously as Swifty drowned her glass. “Um do you have anything Japanese?” Leo asked curiously, he watched as Salty nodded and pulled out a bottle from behind him and poured a glass of clear liquid. Leo took the glass as he heard saki being mumbled from the barkeep. The last turtle to fall was Donnie “I’ll…have what my brother is having” he said pointing to Leo as Salty poured another glass of saki for the purple banded turtle. Mikey really hoped this tasted good! Spitting out a drink would only make him look stupid! He glanced at Swifty…damn she was downing that glass! He brought his own glass of whiskey to his lips and tilted his head back a bit…the burn hit him…it was drinking fire! His insides burned as the liquid flowed down his throat to his belly…he choked hard. His body was shaking from the sudden heat “I..it burns” He muttered “Ahhh” Swift Heart putting her half empty glass down on the bar, her cheeks were slightly red from the burning liquid “That’s the good stuff” She said…her voice sounded…different…. Mona cheered “Yay! Half pint and she dropped the southern accent!” She and Dinky high-fived each other smiling and laughing. Mona took a swig from her keg and looked at the turtles each with a confused look on their face. “Swifty speaks with a southern equestrian accent but she is actually from the north and has a northern equestrian accent” Dinky explained chuckling slightly “She only dropped the accent when she get tipsy, she hasn’t learned how to hold her liqueur yet” she smiled at the boys Swifty’s ears perked up as she turned to Dinky “Oy! I can a hold my liquor jus fine, jus cause I ain’t no dragon donna mean nuthin!” She shouted ears folded back and her eyes unfocused as she drowned the rest of her drink “Another round Salty!” She shouted “She’s Scottish! She’s a Scottish pony!” Mikey giggled all excitedly as he took another sip of his own whiskey “Ya…know once you get pass the burn…this stuff is awesome!” He shouted giggling even more as his world began spinning. Donnie slowly drank his saki “I feel…calm…” He muttered also feeling a slight tingle going down his esophagus…his mind felt slightly unfocused but it did have a good taste. Raphael drank down his own pint of beer, it burned! It burned so good! He liked the burning feel “That…is a good burn” He huffed shaking his head quickly and sighing softly…he suddenly felt really sad…like the world around him was finally closing in… Leonardo simply drank his saki as he kept an eye on his brother’s their reactions. He felt almost hyperaware all of a sudden…sitting there he kept perfectly still not moving a single muscle… Dinky sipped her wine and picked pieces off her soufflé to nibble on, she held an air of elegance as she glanced at her drinking buddies. Her eyes fluttered towards Raph admiring his muscular physic without a care, the unicorn bit her bottom lip slightly as her eyes swept over the red turtles body. Raph shuddered as he took a swig of the beer, he glanced at Dinky and blinked…for some reason the look in her eyes was freaking him out. He glanced away, he felt rather exposed all of a sudden…he swallowed his beer finding the bitter taste of hops to his liking. The night carried on from there, the turtles felt there visions swirling in a mass of colors and shapes. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxMLP/TMNTxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx “A…and I’m sorry…so…so sorry” Raphael cried tears pour out his eyes as he leaned on Mona’s shoulder. He hiccuped and cried even harder “I’m…a…a terrible brother….” His words were slurred and muffled as he poured his drunken soul… Mona smirked as she wrote everything down “Two beers and your like a truth tap,” She smiled at her little black book of blackmail materials she would more then likely use later “Beer…the best truth serum ever” she chuckled taking another swig of her keg. “Wah…time is it?” Donatello asked trying to get up from his seat, he was the lest drunk of his brothers but he still stumbled about and fell to the ground. His vision was some what blurred and suddenly he couldn’t help himself as he started laughing randomly. Leonardo didn’t know who he was holding much less making out with but he was kissing someone and gropping their butt. He mind was a total blank and he was running on pure instinct as his hand traveled up the mystery girl’s back earning a groan from his current partner…and suddenly he was laying on the floor the taste of blood in his mouth along with the tell tale signs of being punched hard in the face…all he could do was get up spit out the blood in his mouth and stagger about trying to figure out what happened to him… Dinky blinked unsure what had just happened…one moment she was making out with Leo and enjoying it the next thing…she was angry and punched the jerk for trying to take advantage of her. The unicorn staggered out of the bar without a word… Swifty laughed loudly letting out a snort as she slapped Mikey on the shoulder. “Y…ya a funny one ain’t ya!” She shouted as her forehead touched his shoulder “Wanna try the reaaaallly good stuff Mikey-boy?” She giggled as she pulled out a black colored bottle “From Princess Luna’s private stash….7 moonrise moonshine” She reached over the bar and grabbed some shot glasses. “Leeeeeets doooo this babe!” Mikey cheered waving his arms in the air and laughed as Swifty put down the glass and poured him a shot. “Oooohhh look at that…..” He giggled as he stared at the drink, it was a clear liquid with silver sparkles as if it was the beams of the moon itself….he took the shot in one gulp “Oooohhh yeah mama!” He laughed along with Swifty Swift Heart drowned her own shoot and let loose a laugh “That’s the way ta drink a shoot” She cheered clapping her hands in praise. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxMLP/TMNTxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx The morning came and Splinter blinked as he noticed the dojo was empty….not even Leonardo was here…the rat was concerned…he decided to go check on them hoping they were simply in their rooms. However concerned quickly turned to anger as he spotted his sons sprawled out in the common room of their lair sleeping soundly. Splinter turned on the light and shouted “Wake up!” His voice was stern and angry as his sons groggily began moaning and sitting up… Raph glared hard the light hurting his eyes “Aww man…when did the lair lights become so bright” He covered his eyes it was annoying him how bad his head hurt. “I don’t feel so good…” Mikey moaned as he quickly got up and stumbled to the bathroom as fast as his hangover legs could take him. The sound of retching caused Splinter some concern, maybe his sons were indeed sick? Leonardo blinked “Why do I have…bruises on my shoulder?” “Leo…I think those are…hickies!” Donnie exclaimed rubbing his head as he squinted his eyes painfully “Aw shell my head is killing me..” Splinter stepped forward and his nose got a whiff of something that he honestly never expected to smell, and his anger once again stormed back in “Leonardo, Raphael, Donatello, Michelangelo!” He shouted cause the turtles to wince in pain at the loud sound “You were drinking! Your fifteen! How did you even get your hands on alcohol?!” He demanded Donnie spoke up knowing they were busted “Apparently Equis law says fifteen is legal…the girls invited us to drink….” He looked away feeling ashamed of himself “Swifty has a cute Scottish accent….and a taste for whiskey…” Mikey moaned covering his eyes to block out the light as he hobbled back into the main room. Raph looked away looking guilty as well, he let Mona pressure him “It’s Mona’s fault she started it all!” he shouted causing his brother to groan in pain… Splinter sighed “Rest my sons, I believe your first hangover is punishment enough and it seems I will be speaking with Luna about this” He said turning the light off to allow some relief to his sons. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxMLP/TMNTxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Mona stretched as she woke that morning “Ahhh what a good night!” She said happily with a chuckle as she got out of bed and head over to the water basin in her room. She poured water from a pitcher into the basin and lathered up some soap and washed her face, neck and claws “I’ll have to get my mane washed later…Swifty still hasn’t fixed the plumbing” She said with a frown on her face as she bit her bottom lip. Oh was she going to have fun today! She giggled happily as she picked up her brush and began combing her mane… “Your ladyship breakfast will be served soon, I have also been informed their shall be a guest joining you” A servant said bowing before he left Mona blinked a guest? Who was here? Oh well probably some noble from another pony settlement that was here to discuss something boring…more then likely was dressed in last years fashion….eeeww Dinky made her way to the dinning hall, even after all these years it was still weird to live in such luxury. The unicorn hardily remembered when servants and maid suddenly seemed to appear in the castle…or when the the old run down library they used to live in even became a castle…but after some more refugees settled down with their own homes, they suddenly began working on the architecture of the library and transforming it into what it was today….and some ponies with cleaning and cooking special talents came here to work… Even stranger was how they treated her! Like she was some pony important! Dinky reached the dinning hall and the two maids waiting there opened the door for her and bow….Dinky blushed and nodded her head to them as she entered the dinning hall… Swift Heart rubbed her eyes as she waited for the other two to show up “I’m hungry…please feed me” She pouted looking at Luna with puppy dog eyes. “We have a guest Swift Heart, we will wait for your sisters to show up before any further business” Luna said sitting at the head of the table, to her left was none other then Master Splinter looking rather stern. Folding her ears back as she glanced at Splinter wondering why he was even here in the first place, and more importantly why he was interrupting the morning meal….she glanced at the granola and berries on the table and felt her stomach growl in protest of waiting for food. Luna eyed her youngest with a sigh before shifting her glance towards the door, the other two would be showing up very soon…. On cue both Dinky and Mona entered the dinning hall, dressed in their armor and ready for anything the day to bring on. “Good Mornin’ Settlement Town! The Knights of Luna are up and filled with prep!” Mona shouted spreading her arms wide opened and smiling “What’s up Master Splinter didn’t expect to see you down this early in the morning” The dragon said flashing a smile at the rat. Dinky blinked suddenly the feeling a sense of impending doom upon them, the unicorn glanced at both Mona and Swifty “Um…Mona…I think we’re in trouble…” she said folding her ears back. The dragon looked confused, her ears perking up as she cocked her head to the side wondering why in the world she’d be in trouble. Mona couldn’t think of anything she done wrong recently “Why do ya say that?” she asked scratching her head. Dinky sighed rubbing her forehead shaking her head, “Sometimes I wonder about your mind Mona” she said simply The two older teens took their seats by Swifty and looked at Splinter and Luna while waiting for permission to eat. Swift Heart however didn’t bother waiting before diving into the fruit bowl and stuffing a whole orange into her mouth and swallowing it happily. “SWIFTY!” Dinky shouted glaring “Your supposed to wait until Princess Luna says it’s okay to eat!” She scolded the younger mare whom just shrugged. Swift Heart rolled her eyes and continued to eat, after all Luna said to wait for everyone to show up and now everyone was here…what did it matter anyhow? She stuffed a handful of berries into her mouth licking up the juices over her muzzle. Luna sighed messaging the temples on her forehead with distress, “Girls…” She said softly before looking up at them “You are indeed in trouble” She said sternly. She quickly used her magic to clean Swifty’s face and placed the food far enough away in order to keep all three girl’s attention “Splinter has informed you three went drinking last night…which explains the lost of my moonshine….” She cleared her throat quickly before continuing. “While in Equestria it is legal for those of your age to drink, that doesn’t mean you should encourage other to join in!” She scolded glaring at the three, “Splinter is quit cross with you for potentially endangering his sons…and thus as punishment you three will be handling the boys choirs and tending to them while they suffer their hangovers” Luna said sternly Swifty looked at Mona and glared, Dinky also glared at Mona both girls knew it was the dragon’s fault. Mona glanced at both girl and smiled shyly ducking her head down a bit while chuckling nervously “How was I suppose to know they couldn’t drink?” she tried to defend herself only to get an apple thrown at her head thanks to Dinky’s magic. “Do not try and shift blame! I believe it was your taunting manner that encouraged them, you’ve demonstrated the art of peer pressure!” Swifty snapped wings flared, ears folded back clearly not happy about her day being taken over by extra choirs. Dinky snarled “I tried to discourage them! This is so not fair! Once again we’re in trouble thanks to you Mona!” using her magic she hurled several more items at the dragon. “Owowow! Dinky seriously! I was teasing them!” Mona Lisa said trying to defend herself “Besides I pour it down their freaking throats! That was Berry Punch once she got involved!” the dragon snarled using her tail to knock a few free flying items that came her way. “ENOUGH!” Luna shouted using the royal canterlot voice and causing the room to shake with her very power. The princess of the night glared at her charges as they scrambled to their seats “I don’t care whose fault it was the point being their father didn’t approve of any alcoholic consumption and thus I will hold all three of you responsible!” She decreed Splinter cleared his throat “I expect you three in one hour at my home to being the boy’s choirs” He said simply as he excused himself. Splinter had to admit though….he really wished he could shout like Princess Luna, he chuckled imaging the terrified looks on his precious sons’ faces when using such a dramatic voice. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxMLP/TMNTxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx As they were told, the girls now stood in the lair of the turtle boys. All three glancing around the place it was actually the first time they had visited the turtles even though they had been told were their home was prior to this visit. “Yup…definitely needs a mare’s touch” Mona commented glancing around frowning upon the decor, truly this was a bachelor pad…no colors, no style, and no taste it stunk of sweat and something greasy….really bad grease…. Swify sighed face palming as Mona spoke “Sister please refrain from redecorating, it isn’t our home and thus not your place to…make changes” she scolded already feeling a headache coming on from the predicted designing rant Mona was sure to give…She prayed for a distraction from this torment. “Don’t get us in more trouble Mona! Let’s just get these choirs over with because we still have our choirs and training later on” Dinky said still seething. Splinter entered the room “Oh good your here” He walked over to them and handed each of them a short list “These will be your choirs for the day” with that he walked back to the dojo to meditate for the day. The three girls looked at their list then at each other before sighing and heading off in separate directions. Swift Heart was stuck with dusting, Dinky cleaning the floors, and Mona was stuck cleaning the kitchen. Swifty was flapping her wings in order to reach the hard to reach places, she was even dusting the ceiling, a sound caught her attention. With a twitch of her ears she heard something strange, blinking she touched the floor and made her way towards the strange sound. Mona was scrubbing pots and pans clearly not happy about being anywhere near a kitchen, much less cleaning one! She was suppose to mop the floor and clean the sinks and table surfaces. Dinky Doo was sweeping the floor, afterwards she was suppose to mop the whole area and then clean furniture in the living area. For a sewer it was already pretty clean…but daily cleaning was always needed, she glanced at her list and cringed…she also had to clean the bathroom…clean a bathroom primarily dominated by males didn’t appeal to her at all… The little pegasus followed the sound into what looked like a lab, it was more bleak and dark compared to her personal lab…but highly impressive…very impressive in fact she could never imagine such wonders or creating such things like these…was that condenser cell? Snapping from her thought Swifty looked around for the source of the sound… A white orb flashing fuchsia turned out to be the source, Swifty approached with caution…what was this thing? What was it doing? A computer screen flashing caught her eye, taking a seat by the computer. She followed the words on the screen “Krang? Whom might this Krang be?” She began decoding the message as best she could…her eyes widen and her heart stopped… “That which is called The Tree of Harmony…but is not an actual tree has been brought to Krang from Krang for the experiment in which Krang will discover the power source of the tree which is called Harmony…” She read silently and began typing furiously trying to find a location…how would this krang know about the Tree of Harmony…a bigger question however is why would he…they? Have the tree? No…it didn’t matter why…what mattered was getting the tree back…she looked got the location and printed it out… Mona was busy mopping the kitchen floor, while Dinky had moved unto the bathroom with much disdain when Swifty ran out of the lab she was in “Girls…stop what your doing…I have information..” She said sternly The older girls blinked and looked at Swifty looking worried, “What’s wrong Bright Light…you look upset” Mona commented putting her mop down and walking over to the little pegasus… Dinky followed curious as to what Swifty had to say, “If you were snooping in Donnie’s things he isn’t going to be happy you know…” “I don’t know…who these Krang are…but…they have it…” Swifty said bowing her head, anger rushing in her veins “They have the Tree of Harmony, and there bring to the old warehouse on the hudson bay number 47” She showed them the message she had retrieved from the computer… Mona snarled “The Tree of Harmony? If they have it…who ever they are…” she didn’t want to finish that sentence but the other two seemed to know what she was thinking “It’s possible…this Krang…is the one responsible for Equis destruction” Dinky looked at her adopted sisters, she knew what she was about to do was wrong…but she needed to know…they all did “Girls…let’s go” she used her magic to summon their weapons. Dinky strapped her trident unto her back and nodded to Mona and Swifty, before turning towards the entrance and heading out Swifty took her saber and shield and strapped them unto her person “We must make haste…if we stall too long Splinter may catch wind of our departure” she followed Dinky quickly ready to learn the truth “Let’s kick some butt girls…we have a world to avenge” Mona said strapping both her weapons on and creaking her knuckles as she followed behind the two. This wasn’t going to be some training exercise…they were potentially walking into something very dangerous… Neither of the girls noticed that Swifty had left the Krang message behind… xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxMLP/TMNTxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Splinter noticed it was rather quite, too quite for three squabbling teenage girls forced to clean…perking his ears up he decided to check on them. Standing up he took hold of his walking stick and left his dojo. The old rat blinked when he saw half done choirs and sighed…he’ll have to speak with Luna about those girls…he walked over to the table where he spotted a piece of paper thinking perhaps they left a note… What he read turned his blood cold, he didn’t understand the message but perhaps the girls had…they were going to face the Krang…turned towards the living room he shouted “BOYS!” He shouted loudly, he only hoped his sons would get their in time… To be continued… > Chapter 5: Trees and Tiger Tails > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- This Chapter is unbeta read, still looking for a beta reader. Chapter 5: Trees and Tiger Tails Donnie was in deep thought after Master Splinter spoke, “I will admit…I hadn’t put much thought to previous messages concerning this ‘tree of harmony’ it’s been brought up in several Krang conversation but I never could get much information on it…” he rubbed his chin contemplating his next words, “Then again they call it a tree of harmony not something that sounds very krang-ish dangerous….or even mildly threatening for that matter” “But it obviously means something to the Equins…otherwise they wouldn’t have even cared…um right?” Leonardo said scratching the back of his head not entirely sure if he was even on the right track. Mikey twitched “Dudes who cares the reason we gotta go save Swifty! And those other two girls…” He muttered as his older brothers glared at him. He blinked “What…” Mikey cocked his head to the side as he envisioned himself saving Swift Heart all daring and cool looking… Slapping the younger turtle’s head “Knock it off Mikey your starting to turn into a even worse version of Donnie” Raphael said sweating from embarrassment, “Your probably picturing sweeping her up in your arms after busting up some krang droids” he smirked cockily knowing that was the very picture his little brother imagined. Mikey’s thought bubble with that exact picture suddenly popped, “No! Totally not!” He pouted and looked away blushing. Leonardo sighed “Can we focus? If they really went after the Krang we need to get to them before they get hurt or worse!” he shouted glaring at them all “Master Splinter is going to inform Princess Luna of the situation while we need to get our act together and search for those girl!” With those final words the turtles ran out the lair…. A few moments later April walked in “Hey…your…not here..” She blinked and looked around “Where is everyone?” She scratched her head before taking a seat on the sofa. The red head had been doing some thinking lately, those thoughts mostly focused on why she was so shaken by the younger girl’s proclamation of her feels for Donnie…April closed her eyes “Where did you go Donnie?” She asked sighing softly. Normally when she came into the lair Donnie would come running up to her smiling that adorable gap tooth showing proudly….he’d greet her, start talking about whatever it was he was doing…and she’d listen…enraptured by his intelligent mind…she once more opened her eyes and looked away. He was a turtle…a different species…not human…sure she wasn’t entirely human either; however, she was able to blend into society! Winching at her own thoughts she wondered when she became so shallow? Donnie was about a thousand times better then most human boys anyway. He was kind, generous, sweet, smart, cute, and gentle. “I need to stop thinking about this…” she shook her head and went to the dojo to wait for Master Splinter… xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxTMNT/MLPxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Two figures raced through the shadows that were squandered by the sun’s light, it was a risk to leave during the day; however, if it really was the tree of Harmony…they needed to take the risk. The only one that was really safe was the one that was able to cloud walk. Swift Heart had ducked into a puffy white cloud and was taking the direct root towards their destination. She was gently flapping her wings and moving the cloud towards the warehouse… there was a small part of her wondering if this was a good idea, they were practically walking into a dangerous situation with unknown factors… Mona dug her claws into the side of the building and began climbing the walls with ease, the weight of her war hammer seemed to have doubled today. Perhaps it knew the burden it would be taking on today? They were heading into enemy territory, if this Krang really had the Tree of Harmony…they were the enemy…an unknown enemy…she growled as she continued crawling to the top of the building and running across the roof and back down the other side always sticking to the shadows. “Is this the right thing to do? Going off without telling Princess Luna?” Dinky was having second thoughts about this, she telliported three roof tops away from Mona and Swifty. The bright sun warming her head, how long had it been since she had seen the real sun like this? Dinky was worried, what if Mona or Swifty got hurt? What if she failed as a captain? She never lead them into battle before today. A shiver ran through her as images of various failures invaded her mind…She looked towards the furthest roof as her horn lit up and flashed transporting her to that roof. Dinky glanced back, “Maybe we should turn around? No…the girls would never forgive me…I’d never forgive myself…” She said hoping this decision wasn’t a big mistake. The unicorn felt her heart pounding so hard she feared it would fly from her chest, this was fear that clutched unto her. She looked up and saw Swifty glancing down at her from the tiny cloud the pegasus had latched unto, “Swifty…” She murmured frowning softly as a clawed hand rested unto her shoulder. Looking up Dinky saw Mona’s worried look “Mona…” she looked away and took a deep breath “I’m leading you both into a possible fight…our very first battle. For years we’ve trained as individuals and as a team…let’s put all our efforts to good use! If this Krang fellow does have the Tree of Harmony it’s our duty to get it back!” She said holding up a fist to her chest and taking a dramatic stance as the wind began blowing. “Swift Heart I don’t need a dramatic wind blow” Dinky said plainly Swifty blinked and blushed as she stopped flapping her wings “Sorry it just looked like a good moment for a dramatic wind” She looked away. Scratching the back of her head she guided the cloud she was sitting on towards the roof, “I’m not frightened…I’ve already accepted the possibility of a fight, I refuse to run away…” With a nod Dinky once more turned towards their destination “Let go then…it’ll be night fall soon” xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxTMNT/MLPxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx The sun was beginning to set, the turtles were rushing as fast as they could towards the docks by the Hudson River, they knew the girls had a rather hefty head start but they still could only hope to reach them in time. Mikey seemed rather tense tonight, he knew how bad the krang could be. Memories of last year failed invasion popped into his mind, almost losing Leo…now Swift Heart and her sisters were putting themselves in that same danger…it didn’t matter the reason why…only that they could get seriously thrashed…if they were lucky. Raphael wasn’t sure what to think, a part of him actually cared about what happened to these girls…Mona wasn’t too bad…neither was Swifty….Dinky was a good person…a bit too much like Leo sometimes…but then their was Fluttershy…she was very fond of the three teen girls. If something happened to them Fluttershy would be upset… “Guys no matter what we have to protect those girls even if their being stupid Raph” Leo said shooting the red banded turtle a look before he could make a rude comment “More then likely they went in without a plan, so the key to getting them out is…well using a plan” He explained somewhat awkwardly. Donnie rolled his eyes “Brillant deduction Leo, so pray tell what might this plan be?” He said sarcastically with a sigh. Really what were those girls thinking? Then again they never really talked about the real dangers in this city…they knew nothing about the foot or the Krang….maybe this was somewhat their fault for leaving them ignorant about this situation. The teens skidded to a halt upon reaching the last building nearest to the Hudson Bay docks. They scanned the area each making their own observation of the terrain. A line of warehouses were situated along the river’s boarder next to a long wooden dock, the moon was high and the sky filled with clouds and the air itself was sour with the pollution of the Hudson River. “Donnie can you track their cell phones? We need their location now” Leonardo said looking ready to pull his katanas from their sheaths and charge in. This situation felt similar to Timmy’s…or rather mutagen man’s situation…rushing head first into something he had no real clue about…trying far too hard to be a hero…these girls were their friends, they were far to inexperienced! What if they came into contact with mutagen!? His eyes narrowed as he thought silently to himself “I won’t let that happen…” “Got the location” Donatello said holding up his shell cell with a smirk, “Their not too far from here I think about a quarter mile away over in the fourth warehouse” He said confidently. With a nod Leo took off with his brothers following behind… xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxTMNT/MLPxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Swift Heart gasped for air, they had managed to find their way into the secret base hidden under the warehouse and for the first few areas they had snuck into went without a hitch. However like murphy’s law something always goes wrong, Mona had tripped an alarm with her tail by accident and now they were in a rather tight spot. Sweat drenched fur and adrenaline pumping through her was making the magenta filly dizzy. She never expected fighting, real fighting, to be this tough! Standing on her hooves her shield at the ready, her sword posed for attack. What matter of creatures were these things?! Brains things inside robotic androids…Swifty didn’t know what to make of this situation. Striking at the next droid to come near her and basing her shield into the one that followed she let her eyes quickly scan the area before mentally making several calculations as she flung the shield, hurling it into the wall and watching it ricochet off the wall, the shield hit serval droids bouncing off each one of them. Swifty caught the shield as it ricocheted back to her after following the path she calculated…. Swing her war hammer Mona was smashing her way through the hoard of brainy creature things in metal containers, not only were they gross…they were ugly gross! Mona swung her hammer around hitting both Dinky and Swifty in the process, Mona gasped in shock “S…sorry girls!” She yelped as the pegasus gave her a glare of disapproval. She had no clue what to do! Why wasn’t Dinky giving orders!? Dinky was breathing hard, she could taste her own tears as they poured down her face. She had let her sister down…she couldn’t think straight! She couldn’t make orders to get them out of there or even move forward towards the Tree of Harmony…She wildly swung her trident about, Dinky couldn’t even concentrate long enough to form a spell! Her shield spell was useless! She was useless! She closed her eyes for only a moment, the leaser weapons the krang had fired at her….the trident was knocked from her hands and something behind her hit the back of Dinky’s head knocking her to the ground “Ah!” She held up her arms to defend herself… A clang was herd above her and a three fingered hand gripped her upper arm pulling her to her hooves and face to beak with Leonardo…a rather angry Leonardo… “We are going to talk later” Leo said sternly looking away from her “Mona, Raph you two on point charge in and clear a path to that door! Donnie, Swifty you figure how to open said door! Mikey, Dinky, and I will guard you!” He shouted his orders. To Dinky it was as if she was watching a powerful unicorn perform a high ranking spell…Mona and Raph did indeed clear the way their combined strength knocked out the krang droids in their way and Swifty and Donnie set to work getting the door opened…Mikey was fighting off the droids that were still coming at them and Dinky after retrieving her weapon found herself following Leo’s orders… “Donatello I’ve accessed the doors perimeters and hacked into the central matrix core on the main console!” Swift Heart shouted and began quickly typing on the access keys. Donatello nodded “Good! I’ve almost deactivated the security weapons on the other side! Whatever is in there they want it kept safe!” He shouted over the firing. Folding her ears back Swifty spoke “More then likely it’s the tree of Harmony! At least that is my theory!” a whooshing sound from the door along with the victorious shouted from Donnie “Weapons deactivated! Leo we need to move now!” He shouted The teens fled into the next room as Donnie and Swifty quickly set-up a new set of protocol to keep the doors shut behind them…The turtles were glaring at the girls once the madness seemed to settle…Raph was the first to speak “Why don’t you explain what the shell you were doing!?” Raphael shouted putting his hands on his hips as he waited for the girls to talk…only to be met with silence… The girls were wide-eyed and looking at something behind them…the four boys turned around out of curiosity. Collectively their jaws dropped at the sight before them, a tall crystal tree with diamonds hanging from strings of silver on it’s brightly shinning branches. Embedded in the heart of the tree was a purple star, and around the tree on what looked like crystal plaques were five brightly colored gems, the tree was emitting a soothing light. Dinky moved past the turtles “It really is the tree of harmony” the young unicorn had never really seen the tree but she had heard of it from Luna plenty of times, but to see it in all its beauty was a breathtaking… “Okay…this doesn’t look at all like a normal krang thing” Donnie said stepping forward and gently touching the tree. The tree was warm, it felt alive! Donnie swore he could feel some sort of positive energy flowing out of it “Wow…Its feels…so gentle” Donnie said sighing contently letting a smile grace his face. Swifty stepped forward and stood next to Donnie, “The tree of harmony is mysterious…no pony even knows the true nature of it…but what is known is from the tree of harmony came the elements of harmony and Equis’ greatest magic…” there was some sorrow in her voice as she reached out a hand and touched the tree as well “What your feeling is the magic of harmony…” Mikey’s cheeks puffed out as he watched Swifty stand next to Donnie, their hands were almost touching! He stomped up to them glaring at Donnie. He needed to say something! Anything! He put his own hand on the tree “So…what’s equis’ greatest magic anyway?” He asked trying to get Swifty to talk to him. “Friendship…the magic of friendship” Dinky said now stepping with Leo besides the other three. The young unicorn looked at Leo “I’m sorry we came here, but getting this tree back was important…your a…really good leader Leo…” Dinky couldn’t resist touching the tree as her sister had. She had lived so close to the Everfree Forest this tree had only been a mile away from her home town…and now she was seeing it….feeling it…Dinky was in a state of awe… Raphael was trying not to laugh “Magic of Friendship?! That was your ultimate magic?!” He broke out laughing “No wonder you guys lost!” He continued laughing till Mona hit him on the back of his head. “Just so you know…Ms. Fluttershy is directly connected to this tree and the magic of friendship” Mona scolded him with a glare. The dragoness walked up to the tree “Those stones are the elements of Harmony. They form the elements of harmony” Mona said placing her own hand on the tree. “F…Fluttershy…is connected…h..how?!” Raph asked with a blush on his face as he scrambled towards the tree wanting to touch it as well. How was his dream girl connected to this thing? Swifty sighed, Raph was going to be so sad when Discord was found…shaking her head she looked at Raph “Those gem stones embedded into the tree are the elements of harmony…they represent Honesty, Loyalty, Generosity, Laughter, Kindness, and Magic” The pegasus was interrupted by Dinky “Fluttershy is one of the elements of harmony, she the bearer of kindness” She said smiling. Leo blinked “A balloon? Why does that look familiar?” He asked, the blue terrapin was gazing at the tree. He didn’t know why, but he felt compelled to touch the tree as well…he knew they should be hurrying things along. The Krang could come through that door any moment but it felt like he was being pulled towards the tree….Leo reached out, his finger brushing against the tree… The tree of Harmony began glowing, the teens reacted trying to pull their collective hands away only to discover they were stuck. Panic began to take hold as their various shouts began filling the room. The tree only glowed brighter by the moment before bursting into a thousand rainbow lights and dispersing through the air… Swift Heart could only blink “It’s…gone?” the shock was evident on her face “B…but I can’t comprehend why…” “I…I…don’t understand what just happened?! The elements of Harmony are gone…again” Mona looked ready to cry, the tears threatening to spill from her eyes at any moment “What…what about Fluttershy? What will this mean for her? And Pinkie Pie?!” There was fear evident in the dragon’s voice. Dinky looked as though her very heart had shattered “We…failed…all trouble…and we failed” she uttered disheartened. Raphael heard the whoosh of the doors and turned to see the Krang had managed to open the door “Okay all men and girls time to go!” He shouted jumping towards the window and smashing it opened. “Let’s go! Everyone move it! We’re leaving now!” Leonardo shouted pushing each teen towards the broken window. He made sure they were all clear before leaving. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxTMNT/MLPxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx The group battle worn and weary entered the lair. Standing and waiting for the return was two adults one looking ready to either kill or hug three members of the group while the other stood looking quite content and pleased that they had returned safely. “My daughters…it seems you’ve had your first taste of real combat, I had prayed such a thing would never be necessary…” Luna said solemnly with a frown on her face, “I must know…did you find the tree?” she questioned Dinky taking a deep breath stepped forward “Princess Luna, we…I failed…I couldn’t lead my own sister in battle…if not for Leonardo..I don’t even want to think about what could have happened…Leonardo lead us to our goal…” She looked up at Luna “We saw the tree of Harmony…but..” before she could continue Swifty put a hand on her shoulder taking a few steps forward. “We have all failed you this night…the tree..vanished before our very eyes” Swift Heart said frowning as she shook her head “We all had our hands on it…when it started pulsating…then glowing before bursting into rays of light” The pegasus looked away not wanting to see the look of disappointment in Luna’s eyes… Luna was silent for a moment “So…it seems we now know that Equis’ destruction was caused by these Krang…if they had the tree they are the enemy…my knights, Splinter has suggest you start going on nightly patrol with the boys and I have agreed…if we are to avenge our world you will need to learn more about the upper world and about combat…knowledge that can only come from experience….” Mona looked at Luna “We’re going to war aren’t we?” She asked looking at her younger sisters. She hit them, by accident, but she still hit them…the weapon she was suppose to use to help protect them was used to hurt them. Mona directed her eyes to the ground. “We are…the Krang had in their possession the Tree Of Harmony, and considering all that I have learned from Splinter…these Krang are inter-dimensional conquerors, it is my reason to believe they are responsible for what befell Equis” Luna paused for a moment, she didn’t want this, she didn’t want to send her precious students out into battle “…my young knights, a great burden has fallen on your shoulders…you must now fight for Equins everywhere, this world is our home now…if the Krang win…we will lose everything all over again” Luna said her voice evident with hurt. The immortal Alicorn didn’t know what else to say. The royal guards were nonexistence anymore, these girls were the last line of defense, “It’s time to go home” She walked past them “Say goodbye tomorrow training intensifies” she walked out of the lair The three girls said nothing as they looked at the boys and quietly. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxTMNT/MLPxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx This day would mark the first time the turtles would go to Murokami’s Noodle House. If anything Mikey was the most enthusiastic about bring the girls to their favorite place to eat. Currently the boys seemed to have sort of competition going on… “Really?” Mona said raising an eyebrow as she watched the boys fight over a piece of Pizza Gyoza, though she had to admit watching them was rather entertaining “Is this really training?” Swifty blinked “I do believe this is what most call…boys being boys as the case were” She said taking a drink of her water as she watched the gyoza fly through the air. She calculated the end result “Mikey is going to get it” she whispered “Nah, Leonardo is” Dinky said smirking playfully, she saw the look in the leader’s eyes and sure enough using the flat of his blade Leonardo took victory. Dinky held out her hand as Swifty placed a few bits in the purple palm and grumbled unhappily. “Swifty bet on me! Booykasha!” The orange banded turtle said taking a seat next to her. He attempted to give his best suave smirk “Soooo, ya like?” He asked wiggling an eye ridge, “Cause you know I helped save the head chef here” Swifty blinked and opened her mouth for a moment before thinking about what she wanted to say “Michelangelo…I don’t mean to….correct you…it is certainly your story, but wasn’t it a team effort that liberated Murokami-san from the mist of peril?” She asked cocking her head to the side as her ears folded downward. Murokami couldn’t help but laugh as he spoke “Ah it was a team effort but Michelangelo-san was the turtle-san that caught me before I could fall to my, hahaha, peril” ah how he remembered being so young and wooing his own wife. The blind cook placed some more pizza gyoza on the counter with a smile on his face as he turned away and started cleaning up a bit. The turtles happily ate their pizza gyoza while the girls watched before glancing at their own plates filled with gyoza. Tentatively they each took a gyoza and bit popped them into their mouths, each girl had a similar reaction of their mind being blown by the awesome flavor of the most delectable treat. “Such a finally crafted pastry with a succulently flavored filling! I fully admit that this is truly a delectable treat!” Swifty said popping another gyoza in her mouth and humming with appreciation for the food as her tail wagged happily behind her and her ears wiggled with joy. Mikey stared in awe for a moment before snapping a picture, little heart floating around his head as he watched Swifty eat. He let out a sigh, was this really what Donnie went through with April? How could he wow her? What was the key to her heart? “Murokami! These are awesome!” Mona said boastfully as she swiped a gyoza from Raphael’s receiving an indignant glare from the green eyed turtle. Mona only smirked at him as she teasingly showed off a little black book from her pocket. Raph twitched and looked away, on the night he got drunk Mona pumped him for information that he gave freely. In his drunken state he revealed some pretty dark secrets and they were now in the clutches of that evil dragon…Why did she feel the need to mess with him of all turtles? “I hope you plan on sharing those bits since I did help you win them” Leo teased sitting next to Dinky with a smirk on his face. He watched as the unicorn laughed after finishing her gyoza. Dinky scratched behind her ear “Well I suppose I could share, but what do you need bits for?” she asked curiously leaning her head into her opened hand. “Well…um..” Leo blinked for a moment “I have no clue, but I’ve never been able to actually get near a market…” He scratched the back of his neck trying to find the right words to say. Dinky blinked for a moment before smiling “I get it,” She said folding her ears back and handing over the bits she won from Swifty “For the first time in your life you can go shopping like some pony normal…” She closed her eyes for a moment “Take a shopping trip on Swifty” Dinky giggled. The blue banded turtle blinked as he looked at the bits Dinky had handed to him. Originally he only meant it as a joke…but he really was excited now, he could go shopping…at a real market…with real money! The first thing he thought about was buying Splinter something. Splinter had always done everything he could to bring them up, never asking for anything in return…he and his little brother had always wanted to give something back…he smiled gently “I’m going to buy Splinter something…” “A father gift” Dinky said, giggling “That’s really sweet!” She gushed slightly before frowning as she thought about her mom, “Every Mother’s Day…I always buy my Mom…my birth Mom…a gift…for the past 13 years I gotten her a gift…when I find her I’m going to let her know how much I missed her and how much I love her” She put a hand on Leo’s shoulder, “But remember a gift’s true meaning is one that comes from the heart” Leonardo looked at Dinky staring into her yellow eyes “I’ll keep that in mind” He said putting the bits away. Donnie looked at his watch “Well we should start heading out, Master Splinter and Luna said they wanted us back around this time” he said Begrudgingly the teens sighed but left without a problem, Mikey forgetting his doggie bag as they left Murokami’s place. Swifty paused as the boys got their skate boards and helmets on. Her gazed lingering on the sky she couldn’t see the stars, more then likely due to the city lights…her wings twitched slightly before she forced her thoughts to focus on getting back underground. “You know…I won’t tell her” Mikey said suddenly putting a hand on Swifty’s shoulder causing her to jump a bit. The pegasus looked rather confused “W…whatever do you mean?” She stuttered slightly turning away from him. Mikey blinked and looked at the ground “It’s just you look at the sky and your twitch, a lot…so I mean it like ya cool that you have wings and you should total just take off.” He smiled at her, “I know Luna has that ‘don’t fly higher then the buildings’ rule…but I can totally keep a secret” he said trying to get her to look at him. Swifty shook her head “I best not…Princess Luna makes rules for a reason…it’s our responsibility to follow them…” She walked past him calmly; however, Mikey grabbed her wrist gently. “She makes the rules but that doesn’t mean there right!” Mikey said looking cross, “She doesn’t see how much flying means to you and how it like hurts you not to fly…” Mikey felt his heart pounding on his chest as he held her wrist before letting her go. He put on his helmet and pushed off on his skateboard, his face bright red “I held her hand!” He thought enthusiastically. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxTMNT/MLPxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx April tried to focus on the movie, it was suppose to be a good movie…one of those Zombie movies or something. The red head sighed as she thought about her other friends, a few weeks ago she found out those girls they had met had gotten into trouble…aside from getting the boys drunk in which Casey admitted he was jealous of…they had all gone on a dangerous mission…for some reason bringing these new girls into the dynamics bothered her. Or rather bringing Swifty in bothered her…April kept thinking on all the things she knew about Swift Heart so far…she was a genius like Donnie, liked fiddling with technology like Donnie, had a lab like Donnie, the only real big difference between her and Donnie was her ‘degree’ in potion making…and even that fascinated Donatello…an added possibility to increase their arsenal…Swifty was already talking about making a blinding smoke bomb… April felt like a third wheel yesterday when the two were talking in technical terms that blew over her head, yet they could talk without stopping to explain things in layman's terms…they just understood the tech talk… Shouldn’t she be happy? Happy that a girl was interested in her best none human friend in the whole world? Happy that Donnie found a companion? Yet she couldn’t help but feel conflicted…it could mean the end of the Casey/Donnie rivalry once and for all….Donnie could be with a girl…that….that didn’t care about being normal… April glanced at Casey, shouldn’t she be concentrating on this boy? A normal…somewhat normal human boy? Now that he had all his teeth back he did have a charming smile…but Donnie’s gap tooth was cuter….damn it!!! The credits started rolling, April twitched internally as the credits rolled across the screen. She had been thinking so hard about Donnie she hardly paid attention to the movie! She cringed when she heard Casey and Irma get up…she’ll have to wing it at this point and make pretend that she was watching…. April stood up and began rapidly talking, hoping she was talking so animatedly they wouldn’t be able to tell she hadn’t paid attention to anything… “Who said this was a da…ah” April stopped mid-sentence as a spike of pain shot in her head “We’re being followed” xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxTMNT/MLPxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx “Okay we’ll split like this Dinky, Swift Heart, Donnie and I will look for April. Mona, Raph, and Mikey look for Casey” Leonardo ordered frowning when Mikey raised a hand in the air looking upset, “Yes Mikey?” He asked rubbing his face with his hand. Mikey snorted “Why does Swifty get to go with you guys?” He asked only to get smacked upside the head by Raphael as said turtle grabbed his shell and dragged him off. Raph rolled his eyes as he and Mona walked off to the ice rink, he was sure Casey was there practicing for his next game. Leonardo felt bad about Mikey but he also knew that sending Swifty on his team would only further to distract the already ADHD turtle from the problem at hand. Murakami was attacked by Karai and Tiger Claw whom were now out there ready to hurt both Casey and April. He also worried about Dinky, after her failed first run as a leader he honestly wanted to be a good role model for her…he hoped Dinky could learn from him. Leo glanced at Dinky, he had talked to Splinter and Luna about the situation from the last fight with the Krang and proposed the idea of maybe making Dinky his temporary 2nd in command until she built the confidence to lead her team without him…both adults were still discussing the situation…he only hoped Dinky didn’t second guess herself again once they were in battle again. “Swifty take to the sky see if you can catch sight of April” Leo said turning to the only member with wings in the group. The pegasus blinked “B…but I’m not allowed to fly higher then the buildings….” She said in almost a skittish way her eyes casting downward. Donnie growled and roughly grabbed Swifty by the shoulder “Well today your listening to Leo! April’s life is on the line! So get your feathers up there and find her!” He shouted at Swifty. He was seriously done with Swifty’s submissive personality when it came to just about anything. Swift Heart went stiff as Donnie hurt her shoulder and her heart began beating faster when he yelled at her. Her blue eyes dilated as she stared at him pulling away in almost a frightened manner, with a flap of her wings took to the air. Dinky blinked she had seen Swifty never acted like that “Was that really necessary? Did you even see how she acted when you did that?” She snapped glaring at Donnie “I have never seen her act like a frightened rabbit!” “We’ll talk about it later!” Leonardo snapped stepping between that two with a displeased look on his face “Donnie you will apologize to Swifty later” he wasn’t trying to be heartless, he had seen the young mare’s fearful reaction as well but he couldn’t deal with it now…Karai was out there so was Tiger Claw…and both were on the hunt for their friends… Swifty landed besides Leo “I spotted her. April is on a rooftop with Karai about ten rooftops away” She said keeping her eyes downward as she turned and began flying off towards the red head’s location. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxTMNT/MLPxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx “APRIL!!!” April looked behind her and smiled as Donnie came running towards her. He always came when she was in trouble…her gaze shifted as she noticed Swifty, Dinky, and Leo weren’t far behind. “Get away from her!” Donnie sneered taking a protective stance before April as he glared at Karai. April felt a tender warmth flood her when Donnie spoke; however, she quickly shook it off and stepped forward “It’s okay guys!” she said smiling gently as she began explaining the situation to the four teens. Dinky watched the interaction between the group, she wasn’t sure what to make of Karai except for the fact she liked her make-up. Leo trusted her and so did Donnie, what right did she have to argue with them? Dinky felt somewhat out of place and something about this didn’t seem right, she wanted to voice her own opinion…she didn’t want to lead Karai to the lair without further questioning the ninja herself…but what right did she really have? Dinky glanced at the ground and sighed sadly…she didn’t trust the Karai…something in her eyes… “I don’t trust her” Swift said suddenly finding her tongue, yes Donatello’s sudden abusive actions towards her person had shocked her and brought her to the final realization that Donnie wasn’t her friend or anything more then some turtle she needed to avoid. Her eyes hardened as she looked at the turtles “Donatello you claim to be a turtle of science and yet you allow your own foolish emotions to blind you to the facts” She folded her ears back glaring at the turtle. She pointed a finger at the purple banded turtle “You are guilty of the same thing this girl is…willing to say anything to gain what you desire” Swifty struck down her truth before the group, “On what grounds do you have valid proof that this girl does indeed believe you? Her word?” Swift challenged her fathers ruffling in anger, as she stepped towards Karai “Words are the weapons that leave the deepest scares that no one can see, they can be twisted and forged into lies that your ears desire to hear” she crossed her arms over her chest and glared Donnie blinked at this sudden outburst and glared back “I’ll have you know April’s intuition is infallible!” he defended the love of his life. The turtle wasn’t used to this side of Swift Heart…normally she was quite passive when it came to…well…anything… “I trust April with my life, and if she believes Karai then so do I!” “And that blind trust without grounds of proof will get you killed!” Swift Heart’s muzzle wrinkled up a bit as she stepped forward “Donatello do not be a fool about this!” She snapped and turned to Leo “As leader you should be more level then the rest of us…your testosterones are currently in charge due to your attraction to this girl as is your desire to be your father’s favorite. Your desire to bring Karai to her birth father blinds you to the truth of her nature” Leonardo blinked rapidly and with an indignant tone in his voice “I don’t desire to be Splinter’s favorite! And I just want Sensei to be happy that’s all!” He looked away “And I don’t need to be contradicted by someone that doesn’t understand the whole situation!” “Oh that’s rich coming from you Leo! You don’t need to try and be Splinter’s favorite everyone already knows he likes you best! It’s the reason he made you leader” Donnie shouted at Leo glaring “You’ve always kissed up to him and molded yourself into the perfect son!” Dinky stepped forward “Enough! Swift Heart! We are going to talk later! Right now I’m going to put my faith in Leonardo and we are going to take Ms. Karai to her father” Dinky shouted looking at the group “Swifty you’ve cause unnecessary friction in the group, your grounded” Karai blinked and looked at the two girls “Who are they?” She asked looking to Leo for answers, she was lucky the girl with the horn stopped the fighting…if she hadn’t Karai was worried her cover would be blown….the pink girl was intelligent….and unlike Donatello…not easily moved by simple words…but everything was back on track now…she smirked Swifty went silent it was obvious Donatello couldn’t be trusted, his foolish affections for the human girl blinded him. It’s better for her to forget any physical attraction she had and move on. She followed the group “Your all insane” xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxTMNT/MLPxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx The other group wasn’t having much luck as they came upon Casey’s beaten form. The teen was once again missing teeth which made Mona winch at the sight…. “He looks bad…really bad” Mona said pulling out a vile fill with a green liquid “Help me prop him up, Swifty makes us all carry these healing potions it’s not much but it’ll at least alleviate some of the pain he’s feeling” The dragon said as Raph quickly came over and did as Mona request. The red banded turtle propped up his friend and watched Mona carefully give him the potion, he watched as some of the bruises went away and Casey started breathing a little easier. Raph smiled a bit and watched as Mona picked the teen up “Let’s get him back to the lair” he said Mikey blinked “So….Swifty made that?” He asked looking at the now empty vile curiously, “What kind of things does she like anyway?” Mona blinked as she looked at Mikey and sighed, he had been bugging her with Swift Heart questions since the group split, it started out as cute now it was just annoying! “Mikey…ASK HER YOURSELF!” she shouted with a twitch in her eyes as she rubbedd her forehead. Raph chuckled “For once I actually agree with thunder thighs” He said walking besides his little brother “If ya wanna get to know a girl ya gotta talk to her yourself baby brother, even though you have no chance of ever getting with her” He laughed loudly “I mean she a egghead like Donnie she’d have to be crazy to date you” he teased Mikey glared “I’m not all that smart so what! I bet once she gets to know me…!” he was cut off by Raphael “She’ll run for the mountains” Raph finished the sentence with a boisterous laugh. Mona now let out a growl “I think Mikey has a perfect chance!” she shouted turning around quickly Casey’s head hitting a lamp pole as she did “OH! I’m sorry Casey!!!!” she squeaked out quickly before turning to Mikey “On my honor as a dragon I’m going to help you win Swifty!” “Love is one of the most powerful magics in all of Equis! It comes in all forms, in ever species! It’s not about one being smarter then the other its all about feelings!” Mona belted out proudly “And I, Mona Lisa the dragon swear to ensure you win the heart of Swift Heart proving that true love conquers all!!” She shouted turning away, smashing Casey’s head once more into the phone poll…. “Casey is going to have one heck of a headache when he wakes up and more then likely….your too much a hopeless cause to actually succeed in…well anything” Raph said following behind. “Funny….I’d think my own brother would believe in me more then an outsider” Mikey huffed storming away… xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxTMNT/MLPxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx It hadn’t taken the trio long to reach the lair, Mona quickly laid Casey on the beaten up sofa “He should be okay….might wanna check for a concussion….” she commented nervously looking at Raph. “Well if you hadn’t slammed his head into a phone poll that wouldn’t have been necessary” Raphael snapped at her. He glanced at the Dojo wandering what Master Splinter was currently doing. His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of someone coming in. Mikey happily turned towards the door “Swifty your back!” He said all excitedly little hearts floating around his head… “What she doing here?” Raphael sneered as he spotted Karai “What is the Princess of the Foot Clan doing in our home!” Swift Heart snorted “Misleading and lying in order to obtain her goal your ultimate demised…I want it on record I was against this” she looked away “Raph she believes us!” Leonardo shouted at Raph, why was everyone trying to argue with him today!? Dinky watched as Leo and Raph argued, she didn’t like seeing family fight…she glanced at Swifty knowing her own little sister was angry at her for being indecisive and not speaking up for her….Dinky’s ears flattened against her head as she glanced at the ground.. “What is going on here?!” All the teens looked up at Splinter, the old rat looked at the children before him with an angry look in his black eyes; however, upon looking upon his long lost daughter those hard eyes “M…Miwa..” He turned away “Come” he ordered and motioned for her to follow him… Raph turned to Leo “This has to be the stupidest thing you EVER done!” he shouted “Male hormones got in the way apparently overshadowing any form of level headed thought or concern for the safety of his own family and allies” Swift Heart stated coldly Leonardo twitched in anger “Will you both shut up! Both of you don’t know Karai like I do! She is Splinter’s daughter theres good in her!” Swifty felt like sneering “Blood is meaningless, by simply assuming that by blood Karai is good does not make it so…blood ties do not make a family what it is” a look of pain crossed her face. Raphael actually walked over to Swift “I’m actually agreeing with her! That’s how stupid this whole idea of yours is! Your putting our family at risk for your stupid crush!” Leo snarled and stormed passed them determined to prove them wrong, he was going to talk to Karai himself! xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxTMNT/MLPxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Karai looked at the photo wide eyed, her heart was beating so loud Karai swore she heard drums in her ears. Splinter, Hamato Yoshi, the man, the rat, her father’s rival and the fiend that supposedly killed her mother….was her real father….like a bucket of ice falling on her the chill of reality splashed upon Karai “I don’t believe it…” She gasped out and turned to see the look of devastation of Leonardo’s face…Leonardo…an ache began to form in her chest seeing the hurt look on his face…. “B…but you said you did believe us…” Leo looked pleadingly at Karai, wanting so hard for Raph and Swifty to be wrong…he wanted so badly to be right about Karai… “Tiger Claw has a tracking device…he’ll find us…” Karai turned to Splinter “You…you knew…” the ache began to grow…. “I told you! I told you Leo!” Raph shouted glaring at Karai “She the foot!” Karai was panicking “We don’t have time for this! Tiger Claw is going to be here unless we lead him away!” She shouted Without a word the teens fled the lair and were surprised with Mikey announcing he had a plan… “I’m scared” Donnie whimpered looking terrified Swifty blinked “intriguing, please elaborate” Mikey early smirked… xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxTMNT/MLPxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Luna entered the lair, she sensed a heavy feeling in the air “What has happened?” She asked looking to the rat… “Miwa…my daughter learned the truth, but our union was short lived…there all out there…fighting Tiger Claw…” The pure sorrow in his voice could drive a knife into someone heart, “Why must all my children suffer because of me…” He was holding the picture of his human family not even looking at Luna… “Pain…is part of growing up, it’s a part of all of us…most of the time we inflict pain on others without conscious thought” Luna walked confidently towards Splinter, “In my life I’ve cause much pain to those closest to me, I see much of myself in the Shredder…I too was driving to great jealousy once…I too gave into the darkness of my heart…I caused great pain to both my subjects the very ponies whose love I desired more then anything…but worse of all…I caused pain to my elder sister…Celestia…” Luna gently placed a hand on Splinter’s shoulder, “I was brought back to the light by six friend…I doubt Shredder will ever have the chance of redemption as I did…not everyone can be redeemed…what is happening is not your fault the Shredder is blinded by he darkness…all you…all we can do…is prepare them enough to survive…and perhaps…one day…win” Splinter cracked a smile and sighed “Thank you, your words bring me much comfort….it has been a long time since I’ve had a good friend…I’m glad to count you among them” “I’ve been thinking about what Leonardo suggested…I believe it would be in Dinky’s best interest to study under a leader with more experience then she…I believe in her…but as long as she keep holding herself back…she will never become the leader I know she is capable of” Luna said sternly looking at Splinter. The rat nodded his head “Very well, Dinky will act as second in command, I believe she may help Leonardo with his burden…have two to carry such a heavy weight may be just what they both need” Splinter commented folding his hands together as he glanced at Casey snoring away….the boy would be fine…. April walked into the room carrying an ice pack “I hope they come back soon” She said softly walking over to Casey and placing the ice on his swollen head “Tiger Claw did a number on him…this bump on his head is terrible!” she commented looking at Luna and Splinter. The two adults said nothing…. The silence was broken when shouting from the turnstile, all those present in the pit area turned to see the teens rushing through the entrance Mikey and Swifty were being carried in…they looked in really bad shape… “Lay them down!” Donnie shouted as he rushed to his lab to get his med kit Raphael as gently as he could placed Mikey down on the sofa propping his head up on a pillow, while Mona was laying Swift Heart on the opposite sofa being extra careful with her oddly bent wing… Donnie reentered the pit and began tending to his little brother first knowing how to take care of him quicker then Swifty, he looked to his father and Princess Luna “Mikey’s shell was knocked loose…and…I…I don’t know about Equin physiology….but I’ll do my best…” He had a concerned look on his face as he quickly tended to Mikey forcing his shell back into place with a sickening crack, he didn’t even flinch… Luna watched with fascination as Donatello tended to the injured turtle, she had seen the intelligence in him before hand, but to see this collected youth preforming a difficult looking procedure without so much as break down….She stepped forward “I’ll instruct you how to tend Swift Heart” She said calmly The purple banded turtle nodded as he finished up with Mikey and moved over to Swifty, “What do I do?” he asked. Luna gracefully moved over to Donatello, “You’ll have to be gentle her wing is severely broken, you’ll have to re-break it back into place; however, wing bones are are extremely tough…especially Swift Heart’s in particular you’ll need to put enough strength to move the bones back into place…but too much you’ll break the wing even further” Donnie nodded gently taking the broken wing into his large hands, he blinked feeling the wing. It was covered in both fur and feathers…they felt rather soft…almost like satin…really, really soft satin…he felt up to were the bone was snapped and gripping it tightly he pushed the bone back into place. “The shock of the break was what probably knocked her out, a pagasi’ wings are very sensitive” Luna further explained putting a hand under her chin “Nothing else seems to be wrong with her…a few minor scratches…” A sigh of relief was let out “I’m glad….” Donnie said looking at Swift Heart, he couldn’t help but wonder…had Swifty been right about him? Had he allowed his emotions to blind him to the truth about Karai…had he truly just followed April simply in the futile attempt to gain her affections? Because he refused to look at the facts and didn’t question the change in heart both Mikey and Swifty had been hurt… Leo sighed and looked at Dinky, then he glanced at Master Splinter and Princess Luna. He narrowed his eyes “We lost Karai to Tirger Claw…I’m sorry Master Splinter…I…we failed you” He said looking to the ground… Splinter’s ears perked up as he turned to his oldest “You came home safely, you haven’t failed me, my son” He said tenderly, yes he wanted his daughter back but not at the cost of his sons…they were his even if they didn’t carry his blood…they were his precious family…he couldn’t bare loosing any of them…Closing his eyes “Things will work themselves out” “Don’t worry too much about Karai, she was raised by Shredder. He’s probably embracing her in his arms as we speak” Raph said assuredly with his trademark smirk and his arms folded over his plastron. Mona rolled her eyes and slapped Raph upside the back of his head “You really are a moron, guys like the Shredder don’t tolerate failure and now that Karai knows the truth, the real truth…their is no way things back at Foot HQ will stay the same….” The dragon looked on edge as she looked away “Sometimes when the truth comes out…walls fall….and even after they get fixed…you’ll always see the cracks…” she closed her eyes as she moved over to Dinky… Dinky looked at Mikey and Swifty “What’s happening their doesn’t matter, what matters is our next step…I’m not going to hesitate anymore! I could have done more tonight! Next time I will do more!” She said with determination and a fire burning in her eyes. Luna nodded smiling gently “Then perhaps now will be a good time to tell of Splinter’s and I decision…if you are to be working together Leonardo came up with the idea and we agree…Dinky you will act as Leonardo’s second in command…learn from him and learn with him” She said sternly Donnie was wrapping up Swift Heart’s wing and putting a make-shift brace on it “April is Casey alright?” He asked looking at his crush still tending to the punk brat…. “He’s fine…” April said locking eye with Donnie, she couldn’t help but wonder if he was mad at her…he had trusted her judgement and thanks to that almost got the lair exposed, Mikey could have died…she exposed the girls the girls to the foot…the Foot Clan now knew the turtles had allies…they weren’t ready to face the foot! They were just as dangerous as the Krang! Why did she keep putting those close to her in danger?! The guilt chewed at her heart as she stewed in her own self-pity. Dinky bowed to her teacher and Master Splinter “Thank you for this opportunity…I swear..I’m not going to let either of you down!” Dinky stood straight again and looked at Leo “Thank you…I won’t fail to be a good second, but…I am going to start speaking up from now on…if I had just come up with an alternate plan…or suggestion maybe some of tonight could have been avoided” Leonardo smiled and placed a hand on top of Dinky’s head “Hey it’s alright…I think I need someone questioning me once in a while…leadership is a heavy burden…and I’m sharing that with you…it’s going to be both of our duty to protect our family” He said ruffling her mane a little…he had to admit it was kind of fun being able to ruffle someone’s hair and the irate look on her face was too cute…he chuckled Luna bent down and scooped Swift Heart up into her arms being careful of her broken wing “Girls let us be off, it’s best we return home and let Michelangelo and Swift Heart rest…I’m sure Swift Heart will be quite hungry when she wakes” she said with a motherly smile crossing her face. Mona and Dinky nodded and stood close to Luna. The Hamato family covered their eyes as the Princess used a teleportation spell to vanish from the lair… “Mikey would probably like to wake up in his own bed” Donnie commented moving over to his little brother and check to make sure he didn’t suffer any other injuries… Raph walked over to his little brother and being as gentle as possible picked up Mikey and carried him to his room, “Take it easy little brother, you did good tonight” He whispered to Mikey kicking open the door to Mikey’s room and walking over to the bed. Once he placed Mikey on the bed, Raph proceeded to tuck the younger turtle under the covers like Splinter used to do when they were tots….a frown crossed the red banded turtle’s face. He looked at Mikey…why did Splinter’s troubled past have to drag all of them into this mess…he didn’t like these thought…but he couldn’t help it….Splinter’s past was getting them further into trouble…wasn’t the Krang enough? Why did it fall unto them to fix Splinter’s problems? Raphael sighed rubbing his head before quickly leaning over and placing a quick kiss on Mikey’s forehead “Sleep tight little brother” he said getting up and leaving… xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxTMNT/MLPxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Luna laid Swift Heart into her bed and gently brushed her bang from her forehead and kissed her temple “I know I’m forcing this burden on all of you…” she said softly “No…if we’re going to fight the Krang together we can’t turn a blind eye to the Foot!” Dinky said narrowing her eyes, “If we’re allies with them then their enemies are our as well” Mona snorted a small ring of smoke puffing out from her nostrils “Yeah! And ain’t you always tellin’ us to help a friend out? I call this helping out” She said smirking, “Besides I got score to settle with Tiger Claw…” She didn’t like someone being stronger then her….Tiger Claw swatted her away like a pathetic fly…she wasn’t going to let that happen ever again! Swifty stirred and opened her eyes “Luna?” She asked meekly glancing up at the Princess of the Night “My wing…I suppose I won’t be flying for a quite a while” She said frowning as she glanced at the brace, “I suppose I will be confided to the village until my wing has made a complete recover?” Luna nodded “Yes, I can’t risk sending you above ground until your wing is fully recovered” she said sternly “What of Mikey? I recall seeing him injured in the battle” Swift Heart asked sounding worried “Will I need to prepare a potion?” she asked sitting up as best she could. Dinky however pushed the filly back unto the bed “He’ll be fine, Donnie’s taking care of him” She offered a smile. Swifty frowned “Are you sure Donatello is even capable?” She questioned looking displeased, “I cannot trust his judgement” she looked away Mona blinked raising an eyebrow, perhaps hooking Mikey and Swifty up wasn’t going to be as difficult as she thought….well…moderately difficult…and what was with the ice queen attitude? Hadn’t Swifty been crusin’ on Donnie a few days ago? Donnie probably done something stupid….males…no matter the spices they were all morons…but at least a few of them were adorable enough to over look the moron gene…. “Enough talk…” Luna said gently “Get some sleep little one” Her horn lit up casting a small sleep spell on the tiny magenta filly and putting her into a gentle and warm dream filled sleep. She then ushered the other two out… Lyra and Bonbon were waiting outside Swifty’s room both looking equally worried when Lyra sensed Luna teleporting in…the two mares were holding each other tightly waiting for the appearance of their family to emerge from Swifty’s room… Luna looked at the two mares “Swift Heart’s wing was broken, she’s currently sleeping…” Bonbon nodded looking uneasy, she didn’t like the idea of the girl having to fight…but knew she couldn’t stop them even if she tried…instead she released Lyra and latched unto Mona and Dinky planting kisses unto their foreheads and hugging them tightly. Lyra smiled “If I know Swifty she’ll get past this and soar even higher then before…speaking of which…Luna you need to revoke the rule…” She said stepping towards the Princess, “There are going to be times when she NEEDS to fly higher then a freaking building top! She tries her best to follow your rules…she’ll follow them to the T just to make ya happy, but in a fight she’s going to need the air” the mint colored mare said folding her arms over her chest “You maybe correct…in the heat of battle a knight must have no restrictions…for the most part" She gave Mona a warning glance "…I’ll talk to her when she is healed” Luna said walking past them “I will be continuing my search for my sister and other Equins for the time being” with that said she vanished in a flash of light… To Be Continued > Chapter 6: Myself, yourself, and Witchweed > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 6 Myself, yourself, and Witchweed Dinky finished watering some of her plants, a gentle smile upon her face “Donnie I wanted you to look at this plant I grew a while back.” She said turning to the purple terrapin “When I showed it to Swifty….well….she acted…weird….she said witchweed is useless and to burn it” She sighed softly while running her fingers through the strange purple flowering grass. She had invited Donatello over after the harsh chewing out Swifty had given her….the unicorn had hoped Donnie would find a use for this plant…or at lest tell her this plant wasn’t as useless as Swifty declared… Donatello rubbed his chin as he leaned in to inspect the plant in question “Well…ah…I’ll admit botany isn’t one of my forte….in fact….I’ve never seen so much flora before in my life…” His brown eyes gazing around as he spoke. Really Dinky’s green house was amazing! Living in a sewer made it hard to actually see any kind of plant life, but he had to admit…it made things smell better… “I’ve tried using the flowers to make soap, perfume….candy…so far….nothing has worked….literally…” Dinky said frowning moving away from the plant in question, moving over to another inhabitant of her green house “I could use almost ant plant in this green house in making soap, perfume, candles, make-up, even paint! Witchweed seems to be fighting me every step I try to take with it” she said in a huff with annoyance. Donnie couldn’t help but chuckle “So your saying this is one of those magical plants and needs possible preparations and Swifty for some reason is refusing to touch this stuff…” He looked at the plant thoughtfully. Swift Heart had been keeping her distance lately…even acting coldly towards him…honestly he would have been thrilled before; however, he actually missed talking to some else that understood what he was saying….he missed his friend…he just didn’t know what he did wrong… “I’ll look into it” Maybe if he could figure out a use for this plant he could get his friend back. Don’t get him wrong, he had no romantic feelings for the girl those feelings were reserved for his precious April but he didn’t have a lot of friends…it was nice having a friend outside is family…He carefully took a small portion of the witchweed and placed in a bag for later use “Anything else you can give me?” He asked Dinky thought for a moment “Well I can’t think of anything else…I really don’t feel right giving you anything I know is potentially dangerous….there in the other section of the green house” She said pointing to a closed off room with an electronic lock on the door “There are some plants that can eat you whole! But the leaves can cure almost any poison…I’d only let you or anyone in there with Swifty, Luna or myself we know the most about which plant can cure or kill ya” she admitted with a smile Donnie gulped “Wow…from the looks of it…you’ve got….a variety of deadly plants” He said looking at the sealed door, he know from the size of the green house alone that the area he currently stood in was only but a quarter of the actually size of the total building…as far Donatello knew the green house was divided into multiple section each with a specified designation for certain plants…the current location he stood in was the medicinal section of the green house… He was also aware that Mikey was in the edible section of the greenhouse accompanied by Master Splinter. Said mutants were have a discussion of which Donnie could only cringe at his own memory….the talk was something he was bound to never forget….but with Mikey’s new found interest in females he supposed it was necessary… In another section of the greenhouse was Raphael and oddly enough Mona Lisa, the dragon asked Raph for help gathering berries in the strictly fruit designated area…Raph had protested at first but after Mona whispered something into his ear he complied rather quickly to help the dragon. Mona was going to dye some fabric with the berry juices. Leo however was training upon request from Princess Luna on battle tactics and command….basically he was being forced to play chess with her. Splinter even approved it agreeing that it would help improve his strategic planning for future battles. Swifty was currently in her lab doing heaven knows what, Donnie wasn’t able to get any information out of her since she started giving him the cold shoulder…. Donnie sighed softly…his mind drifting to April for a moment she had been acting strange lately, the poor purple banded turtle just didn’t understand what was going on anymore girls were so mysterious to him. April was currently at school with Casey but they would be coming around later…Casey just couldn’t get enough of these magical ponies, dare he say fanboyed over this little village… Rolling his eyes at the thought Donatello gathered the witchweed and turned to the exit bidding Dinky a goodbye as he left. The artificial sun stinging his eyes as he stepped out of Dinky’s greenhouse, his brown eyes taking in the sunny green fields of Settlement Town, and the small village that lay before him. The genus was unable to believe that all this existed underground and that there was a community that openly excepted him and his strange family without judgement. Taking in a deep breath his lung filling with the fragrant air of this little place, the trees and floral blooms that the ponies planted left Donnie feeling relaxed and put a smile on his face. He headed off wanting to get back to his lab and start figuring out what to do with this magical plant. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxMLP/TMNTxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Raphael growled as he held the basket filled with mixed berries, “How did you know about THAT!” He demanded looking at Mona the desire to kill raising by the minute. The dragon smirked and chuckled “Well it’s not MY fault your lips are loose when you are” She said placing a few extra blackberries in the basket “I am never drinking again!” Ralph snarled as Mona chuckled pressing a berry to his lips. “You say that now, but believe me once you’ve had your first taste….” Mona smirked as Raph allowed her to feed him the sweet ripe berry “You don’t stop till the taps dry” She said watching the tough mutant blush with a growl. The red banded turtle looked away from Mona a blush painted on his cheeks as he chewed on the berry and wondered why he even let her feed him the stupid thing! Fluttershy had asked him to help her with some animals but Mona blackmailed him into helping her! Mona sighed, poor little turtle crushing on a married mare…well all the more fun for her. She looked at him up and down. She was going to have so much fun dressing this hothead up in ridiculously fancy outfits. Raph shuddered at the way she looked at him, like a little girl that just got a new Ken doll…he frowned “You better not dress me up in anything stupid or I swear I’ll tear everything to shreds!” he snarled causing Mona Lisa to laugh at his declaration. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxMLP/TMNTxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Mikey was looking at Splinter with a terrified look in his large blue eyes, why did he have to tell him this stuff!? Oh dude this was the worse thing EVER! Mikey opened his mouth in an attempt to speak but found he couldn’t even say a word. For the first time in his life he was actually speechless. “That my son is why it so important to remember this simple edict her body, her rules. If she says no then you are to reframe from any action, understand?” Splinter questioned his poor disturbed son…. Mikey scuttled away from his father looking at him “G…got it Father” He said frightened while his mind was still contemplating the whole ‘talk’ Splinter just gave him. Splinter chuckled when he spoke with Donatello on this subject it had been a total reversal, with Donatello going to detail about the subject. Still the rat master wasn’t sure how he felt right now…He was in uncharted territory with his four sons; while he always hoped his sons would find love for themselves, he didn’t have a clue how to guide them in this situation… “Daddy…” Mikey said softly eyes looking to the ground, a tiny pout on his lips as he rubbed his shoulder “Do you think….I mean…Swifty been kinda cold to Donnie…and I’m like happy about that…but…does that mean I gotta chance?” His voice was somewhat quivering as he spoke. The orange banded turtle felt his heart pounding in his shell he couldn’t look at Splinter feeling somewhat embarrassed by his question… A smile graced the old rat’s face, “My son…” He placed a hand under Mikey’s chin and lifted his eyes upwards getting the youngster to look at him in “The path to true love is one riddled with hardships; however, you need only remember this…a heart encased in ice can only be melted by a warm sun.” He said removing his hands The young turtle blinked “What’s that gotta do with Swifty?” He questioned scratching his head in confusion and folded his arms over his shell. Splinter chuckled lightly “It means you need only be yourself and if it happens, it happens what you must always remember is that…sometime we cannot force other to feel the way we wish…be prepared for the worst but always hope for the best” With that Splinter turned away from his son and began to leave the greenhouse. Michelangelo watched as Splinter left, his own blue eyes glancing around the green house. Was this how Donnie felt when it came to April? He really needed to stop teasing his older brother. He suddenly shook his head and gave himself a quick slap on the face “Dude! It’s like Splinter said! Something about a cold heart melting from sun! And ain’t no sun brighter then me!” He said confidently as he headed towards the door. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxMLP/TMNTxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Leo grumbled as he scratched his head, after what felt like hours and hours of listening to rules he sent even more hours getting his butt kicked at a extremely boring board game! His left eye had a slight tick to it as he watched Luna once again claim another victory. Luna frowned as she looked upon Leonardo “Little one, your not concentrating on your strategies.” She said gently hoping to encourage him “Chess is about planning your next five moves…it about thinking ahead” She explained for what was more then likely the hundredth time that day. “I know!” Leo snapped feeling irritated “And I have been planning! You just…keep…winning!” He looked away slouching in his chair and putting a hand under his chin The Princess of the Night frowned “What is really bothering you? Is the situation with Karai weighting on your mind?” she asked trying to figure out why the eldest turtle was having such problems playing the game. With a grumble Leonardo looked away “A part of me…really wanted to believe Karai was telling the truth…she learned in the end that Splinter is her true father…but he lost her…again” He slammed his fist on the table. “I once was lost…in the mists of my own jealousy….I lost my way and pushed away the only family I had” Luna said softly closing her eyes, “However…anything that is lost can be found. A small group of friends helped me find my way back to light, love, and family” She placed a hand on top of Leonardo’s “Focus on bring her back not on losing her” Leonardo blinked as he took in Luna’s words “What exactly happened to you? I mean you mention often enough that something bad happened to you…but you never go into detail…” He blinked curiously at her. “That is a story for another time…sometimes speaking of ones own pain….is hard” Luna looked away from the child “I might one day tell your family my crimes” she flattened her ears to her head in sorrow The blue terrapin looked at the chess board and moved his knight “Check” He said simply Luna blinked at the looked at the board “Still so much to learn” She moved her own piece “Check mate” she said taking down his king. Leonardo groaned in defeat slapping his forehead with his hand “How much longer do we have to play this game?” He asked Luna only chuckled xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxMLP/TMNTxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Donnie after making his trek back to the lair filed into his lab and be began taking out the witch weed with a smile on his face “Okay then let’s start with simple grinding it down and boiling it” he said taking a mortar and pestle and began to turn the whole flower into a paste grinding slowly. The turtle noticed it released a pleasant aroma that he greedily breathed in…his eyes flashed green briefly before he let out a harsh cough and quickly covered his mouth. Donatello blinked for a moment before continuing… With the plant turned into a nice mush Donnie proceeded to boil in a small little pot he had. The idea was to break down the paste into a liquid. It was bubbling pleasantly in no time at all, while releasing even more of that pleasant aroma “I just can’t understand why Dinky was having such trouble? Already this plant is showing promise as an air freshener!” He inhaled the smell, his eyes flashing green again…he let out a churr from his throat feeling a tingling pleasure corse through his body without even realizing it he lower his beak to the boiling liquid letting it slip past his lips and flow down his throat… Donatello suddenly flew backwards, green flashes of energy flowing over his body, his ever cell feeling super charged! He took a deep breath and opened his eyes, the gentle brown was now blaring green “I feel REALLY good!” He chuckled holding up his hands and looking at them he could feel energy surging through him! “Donatello come to practice” The voice of his father echoed through his lab… Donnie snapped to attention turning towards the door and growled, why did Splinter always have to interrupted him!? Always when he was in the middle of studying! Letting out a growl he grabbed his bo staff and marched out of the lab and towards the dojo. He almost felt like a storm was brewing deep down in side of him… Four turtles all sitting in a row, practice was about to begin for the evening. All four turtles keeping their heads bowed and listening to Master Splinter as he spoke; however, one little turtle wasn’t…one little turtle was growing more and more annoyed by the minute….couldn’t they just get this over with? Couldn’t Splinter hurry this up? The rat master was notching something off with his purple toting son…something wasn’t right…the very fur on the back of Splinter’s neck was standing on edge, his eyes narrowed as he turned to Donatello….his spirit felt off “Donatello your and Raphael will start” he needed to see how this will play out Raph smirked as he and Donnie circled the dojo looking for an opening to strike “Well brainiac you might as well drop the staff and give up now” he taunted the purple turtle. “Do you EVER shut up!” Donatello sneered looking at Raphael…damn him! Raph was always taunting him! Always bullying him! Talking down to him…making him feel…inferior…his eyes flashing green… The red turtle only smirked at getting Donnie’s ire up so early “Aww did I hit a nerve?” He sneered sarcastically to his brother Splinter suddenly had a bad feeling as he watched his brilliant son carefully, something was terribly off… Donatello glared at his older brother “Your a complete moron who can hardly read without help…Mr. Dyslexic turtle!” He shouted swing his bo staff forward “Your so pathetic that you gave up within two days of ME trying to help you!” Raph blinked and growled blushing bright red “What the shell Donnie! You prom…” He was cut off from speak when Donatello’s staff gave him a sudden slap across the face. The other turtle had moved faster then normal, his body was emitting an eery green glow “What’s the matter brother dearest? You can dish out the humiliation but obviously can’t take it” He smirked feeling superior at the moment, he felt so powerful! Leonardo got to his feet in an instant he had never seen Donnie act like this before, normally the purple turtle was so pacify but this…something was wrong….very wrong… “Donnie is acting all dark and stuff” Mikey commented a hint of fear in his voice, the youngest turtle always the empathic of the group was feeling some serious negative vibes coming off his bro, he didn’t understand where this suddenly came from! Smirking Donatello balled his fist as he approached Raphael with a smirk, his eyes glowing green and all that energy he felt was being focused into his fist. He charged at Raph…. The red banded turtle could only look on in shock as Donnie charged at him, everything seemed to slow down in that moment… Splinter stepped in front of Donnie taking the full blunt of the attack as green energy expelled from Donatello’s fist and sent the ninja master flying back into the wall with a loud crash “Donatello…” Splinter said clutching his side “My son what has happened to you?” he questioned weakly as he stumbled to his feet. The other three turtles could only stare in shock at what had just happened, none could find the words to say or even the will to speak. “I’m done” Donatello said not even feeling the least bit concerned for his father, “I have more important things to research then wasting my time with this ninja crap” He stated as he turned and walked away Once the genus turtle was out of the room the three remaining rushed to their father’s side to tend to his. “Father!” Leonardo shouted not even sure what to do and even more afraid to lay a hand on him. Confusion was etched on his face “What was that?” Mikey looked away his blue eyes filled with water and sorrow “Something was wrong with Donnie…something…bad man” He said hugging himself. The orange turtle turned to the dojo exit, what was that? The green stuff coming off Donnie…what was it….he blinked “Magic…” he whispered it had to be magic… xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxMLP/TMNTxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Donnie was back in his lab, he had crushed and brewed more of the witchweed. He needed more had to have more! He picked up the flask and brought to his lips greedily drinking it down. He felt the wicked energy flowing right through his vains and laughed as he brought up a hand “I can do anything with this power! I can’t believe Swift Heart thought witchweed was useless! HAHA” He laughed sending out a green burst of energy and decimating one of his work tables with gleeful insanity. He brought both of his hand up to look at them “With this power…I could do anything! Defeat Shredder, The Krang!! Even….” a dark smile crossed his face “Get rid of my so-called ‘rival’ hehe” a sinister chuckle erupted from Donatello as he began to plan…first he would need more witchweed… xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxMLP/TMNTxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx April had made her way into Settlement Town, she wanted to try and get to know the girls a little better…at least that was what she was telling herself…these girls had been training their whole lives to fight…like guys had been…they had the skills and talents similar to the boys… The red head was heading to the castle figuring they were there if not she’d try the training arena next. The village seemed to be preparing for something a holiday perhaps? Maybe Valentines day? There were quite a few bright red hearts and red banners being hung around and everyone seemed to be extra cuddly with each other. “Oh!” A voice cried out as April collided with another body and felt something hard it her head. “Ouch!” April yelped grabbing her head as she looked to see what hit her and blinked “A…crown?” She looked up blinking she knew Luna would never bump into anyone! So who did she bump into?! Pink….VERY pink…she had wings and a horn like Luna but she was pink with a purple, yellow and magenta mane. April blinked not recognizing this mare at all “Um…sorry” she said hopeful that this Alicorn wasn’t quick to anger… The mare smiled “It’s alright accidents happen” She said cheerfully as she keeled down to pick up her crown and placed it upon her head. The mysterious princess then turned her head to look at April. “Um…I’m April O’Neil nice to meet you….your highness” She said awkwardly “Sorry for bumping into you…I wasn’t really paying attention” “I’m Princess Cadance and it alright I wasn’t paying attention either, Aunt Luna asked me to visit Settlement Town and over see preparations for Hearts and Hooves Day. This year is particularly special since its the first in twelve year since two Alicorns have reunited it’s given many something to hope for” She said gently before giggling “But truth be told I think Aunt Luna just wanted me to visit her” April looked confused for a moment as she stifled a laugh “Hearts and Hooves Day? What’s that? Is it like Valentines Day?” She asked holding her hands behind her back. The Princess smiled “I don’t know what Valentines Day is but Hearts and Hooves Day remembers the love of a young prince giving a love potion to his beloved princess.” Cadence began explaining the story to the young human happily. The red head thought for a moment “So they are really love potions? Its not just some made up stuff?” She asked feeling somewhat concerned by this new information “Yes but, love potions are highly illegal!” Cadence said sternly frowning at the very thought of love potions “Love potion don’t influence real love…just the feeling of being in love, real love is a magic that can’t be duplicated by anything” She paused a moment Before continuing. “Evening my love magic, it doesn’t make ponies fall in love but reminds them of their memories of being in love” The princess was silent for a moment as she looked over the young human…a gentle smile crossed her face once again “I could use some help, would you be my assistant for the day?” She asked April blinked for a moment, “Well…sure!” She smiled feeling pretty excited about being an assistant to a real princess. Turning around and taking a place besides the princess the two began walking. Cadance smiled “Aunt Luna decided she wanted this Hearts and Hooves day to be held in a fair like style, so first thing we’ll do is try some of the food that will be served! I hope you like chocolate!” The red head’s eyes lite up “Oh I think I can total handle chocolate” She said brightly feeling at ease with Cadence “Would it be alright to ask a question? I mean beside the one I just asked….” The mare nodded, years of baby sitting Twilight had taught her one thing. The best way to get someone to talk about their problems was to let them do so on their own… “I heard from the girls…your the princess of love, so…when you met your husband…how do know…you were in love?” April asked brushing some hair from her face, “And I mean you are a princess, and he was just guard how did you…I mean weren’t you worried about what other would think? About the future you would have?” Cadance giggled softly “Before he was a guard back in high school, Shinning was a nerd” She said confidently, “He was into table top gaming and all short of nerdy stuff not very popular, and I was the popular filly simply because I was a princess” She said thinking back to that time long ago, “I loved him the moment I first saw him” April blinked “So he wasn’t some sports team captain?” she asked honestly surprised by this revelation. “The captain of the polo team was interested, he was popular with everpony and every filly thought he was the best looking but under it all was a shallow jerk and he was rude to every pony even my Aunt Celestia” Cadence frowned at the memory “He believed because he was so good looking, because he was so rich that only he deserved a happily ever after” The red head looked away for a moment, why was she even asking this question. She knew looks were only skin deep, she knew personality mattered more! She knew all that! So…why was she torn? “Love isn’t about choosing the easiest path April” Cadence said cutting through her thoughts, “Sometimes you need to be brave enough to love someone even if society says otherwise” There was a knowing smile on the princess’ face. April blushed and looked away “So…chocolate tasting” she changed subject xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxMLP/TMNTxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Luna blinked “From what you’ve described…it sounds like Donatello has come in contact with dark magic…but seeing as how he’s never used magic before…I must admit…I don’t know how this is possible” The princess of the night admitted as she poured tea for her guest Splinter. “I sensed great darkness within him, and what he did during practice wasn’t like him at all….he is my gentlest of sons…” Splinter spoke worry evident in his voice. He needed answers and a means to save his son… “Dark magic can and will corrupt the user’s mind and soul, we must stop this before it escalates…we find the source and destroy it” Luna said absolution a fiery determination burning in her eyes as she poured a heaping amount of sugar into her tea and took a sip. Splinter raised an eyebrow “Do you take tea with your sugar?” He questioned looking at her. “Sweet things makes us most happy” Luna shot back frowning with her cheeks puffed out, she couldn’t help it! Tea was very bitter and needed sugar. Bonbon walked in and placed a fruit plate before the two “No Luna I’m not bring out any sweet cakes today, the doctor said your blood pressure was a little high the last time” The creme colored mare said before Luna could protest. Luna twitched “You’ve been giving me a lot of cheek lately Bonbon have you forgotten who the mighty princess of the night is?” She questioned with a glare. “No but I also haven’t forgotten who ate all the sweet LAST NIGHT and no it wasn’t Swift Heart she was in her lab all night” Bonbon glared at Luna “And I’d also like to remind you some of those sweets were for the Hearts and Hooves day celebration for tomorrow night!” she hissed Luna looked away ear flattened against her head as she sipped her tea and munched on a strawberry “I haven’t a clue as to what your talking about” She said trying to play innocent as Bonbon smirked victoriously walking away. “You two act like a daughter and mother” Splinter chuckled with a slight smile before frowning again as he thought about his son Donatello “I will take my leave…I need to figure out what is wrong with Donatello and where he some how obtained dark magic” The rat turned to leave. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxMLP/TMNTxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Donnie smirked as he entered Dinky’s greenhouse, he noticed the unicorn wasn’t alone “Hello Swift Heart” He greeted looking at the pegasus before addressing “Dinky I could use some more witchweed, I used up the last batch” his eyes flashed green as he eagerly made his way over to the plant. “Witchweed” Swift Heart mumbled as her eyed went as wide a saucers. She watched Donatello’s movements, watched his body language, and mostly watched his eyes. She folded her ears back and moved away as Donatello began gathering a rather large amount of witchweed. Dinky didn’t noticed anything different as she handed Swifty a small bag of dried tea leaves “Heres that tea you wanted! The citrus blend” She said smiling as the magenta mare absentmindedly took the small bag. “I didn’t know you like citrus flavored tea” Donnie said turning back to look at the girls a lopsided smile crossing his face. He stepped towards the girls, the turtle noticed Swifty stepping away from him causing him to frown in disgust “Why do you move away from me? Why are you scared?” he demanded eyes flashing green with anger. Swift Heart bit her lip to keep from gasping and drawing more attention to her, “No reason Donatello” she looked away. Swifty sniffed the air as Donatello approached her…a sweet smell wavered off him, her eyes narrowed “I need to get something from my lab” She said quickly taking her leave. Dinky blinked “Swifty! Really that child, you’ve been trying so hard to be friends with her, and she’s just acting like a brat!” the unicorn’s fur bristled up as her cheeks puffed up “I’ll talk to her later” She said pulling out some preening scissors to get some extra cuts. Donatello shook his head “Don’t worry I want to talk to her on my own, but I’ve got other things to do first….I really need to talk to Casey first” He smirked and left with the witchweed in his bag The unicorn looked confused “I thought he disliked Casey?” A few moments later the three other turtles came run in looking freaked out and worried “Dinky!” Leo exclaimed taking hold of her shoulders “Was Donnie here? We need to find him!” He said with such urgency Mikey stepped forward “Luna thinks he’s under the influence of dark magic! He was totally tripping out at practice and shoot off evil vibes!” He shouted “He actually beat me!” Raphael stated with a glare “Got any clue how Donnie got involved with dark magic” He insinuated something with his tone. Said unicorn cocked her head to the side “The only thing I gave him was Witchweed…Swifty said it was useless so I asked Donnie if he could find a use for it” she said simply looking at the boys “He was hoping to be friends with her again…” Mikey twitched “Friend?! That fiend!” his face contorted in an angry pout “He’s so evil he finally gave up on April and is now going after the best girl in the universe!” he said only to get slapped in the back of the head by Raph “Just tell us where Donnie went” Raph said rolling his eyes “I need to get some serious payback for earlier!” he snapped Leonardo slapped his forehead “Raphael! Michelangelo! This is a bigger problem then your love life or your pride! Donnie is in trouble we could end up losing our own brother!” He shouted “Well…Donnie did say he wanted to talk to Casey…” Dinky said as the boys suddenly rushed out “Oh….that should have been a clue” she scratched her head as her ears drooped slightly and quickly followed after them. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxMLP/TMNTxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Casey and Mona Lisa were currently shouting at the TV in the back of Mona’s fashion studio, watching a collage hockey game and each rooting for the other team. The two hockey fans were cheering and shouting, throwing popcorn into the air and stuffing their faces with junk food. “Dude these fudge cakes Pinkie made are awesome!” Casey said stuffing another chocolaty cake into his mouth “And it even better when you have all your teeth” He laughed Mona laughed wiping her face “I’d share my sapphire cupcakes with ya but it might break those pearly white” She teased crunching into a jewel studded cake “OH Look at that another point for my team! GO! GO! GO! TEAM!” She hollered loudly The two fist bumped as the game continued, they didn’t even hear the purple banded turtle enter from the front door. Donnie smirked as he heard the sounds of joy ringing from the back, currents of dark magic traveled up and down his arms as he approached the sounds a maniacal smile etched on his face… “Donatello” The turtle nearly jumped out of his shell and turned around to come beak to snout with Swift Heart “I require your assistance in my lab now” she said sternly leaving no room for argument “It has to do with the witchweed I have found a way to make it even more powerful” She said looking him in the eyes “It’ll make you even stronger, nothing will stop you but only if you help me” The turtle blinked “So you were working on it the whole time?” He inquired to the girl stepping closer to her. He noticed this time she didn’t back away, perhaps uncovering what witchweed did finally got her to open up to him. “Indeed, I’ve been working with witchweed for quite awhile” Swifty said folding her ears back as she crossed her arms “Come quickly the time grow short with ever seconding passing” she said expressing a sense of urgency and left quickly. Donnie rolled his eyes well what harm was it to indulge her? If he had to think about it she never really asked much of him anyway…smiling “Very well I know where Casey is…I’ll deal with him later” He followed Swifty close behind. “Hey did you hear something?” Mona asked slurping down some cola and looking confused. Casey let out a belch and laughed “nah, your hearing things” stuffing more food in his mouth. A moment later four people came running in “Casey!” Ralph shouted looking frightened and relieved as he saw his friend unharmed. Both hockey fans looked confused for a moment and glanced at each other before turning to the turtles. “Where’s Dorkatello?” Casey asked scratching his head in confusion as to what was evening going. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxMLP/TMNTxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx “I don’t think I’ve ever eaten so much chocolate in my life!” April said rubbing her stomach and laughing as she stumbled out of Pinkie Pie’s bakery with Cadence. April stretched her back and smiled brightly. Cadance smiled it was nice to see the young human relieved of her stress and worry “I'm glad to see you feeling better” She said putting a hand on the young girl’s shoulder. April couldn’t help but return the smile, “So what are we doing….next” Her smile fell when she turned her head away and spotted a familiar turtle walking side by side with a short pegasus “D…Donnie?” she felt as though her heart was in a vice clamp that was growing tighter by the second as she watched the two being all friendly…was Donnie looking at Swifty with the same warm filled eye that often stared at her? The princess of love looked at the girl with a knowing look in her eyes “I think your beginning to realize your own heart” She said softly as she glanced at the two…something…something wasn’t right with the purple turtle….she looked back at the girl “April come with me” She began leading the girl off… Donnie looked at Swift Heart as they walked, “Why don’t we hurry this up? I can feel the Witchweed adding from my veins” He growled holding up his hand and forming a green ball of energy. Swifty looked at him cocking her ears as began walking faster “Flying is faster but alas you have no wings follow” She said sternly. The pegasus knew she had to take it slow, she had to let the witchweed drain from his system “Magic of this potency must be dealt with patients” The turtle growled his eyes flashing green “Don’t test MY patients” he snarled speeding up to keep pace with her… The young pegasus glanced away from Donatello and noticed the red headed and Princess Cadence. She felt somewhat glad to have made the annoying girl upset, “Why does one so intelligent as you waste your time aspiring to court such a maiden? What spark does she inspire in you?” She asked Donatello blinked “April? She so lovely, cool, smart, brave, and so beautiful” he sighed thinking about his precious April oh what he would do to have her in his arms! To sweep her off the ground and swoon for him as the turtle moaned for her. A scowl made its way to Swifty’s face but held her tongue for the moment with Donatello’s current condition speaking her mind would only cause him to lash out. Her eyes glanced around thankfully during their chat they had managed to walk all the way to her lab. She looked up at him and opened the door “After you” she motioned for him to enter. “finally” Donatello thought smirking as he entered followed by Swift Heart and the sound of a locking door. The purple turtle turned sharply towards the little filly “What was that?!” He demanded the dark energy pulsing through his body. “Ensuring we aren’t disturbed” Swifty said brushing by him and walking over to her cauldron and picked up a vile that was placed on a table besides the cauldron. She glanced at Donatello “Drink this and your power will be increased” She handed him the vile The turtle took the vile and examined it, the liquid inside smelled just like the witchweed he licked his lips and drank it in one gulp “Ahhh…” He sigh contently as he felt the energy flow through him again. Swift Heart picked up a medical mask and slipped it over her muzzle, she turned from Donatello and grimaced when she heard the turtle teen regurgitating all over her lab floor…it was necessary…she folded back her ears as she heard Donatello gagging and huffing…just a little more…just a little more…she heard more retching before a thump…. Swifty turned to the now unconscious turtle laying in a mixture of green and blue slim…she had to work quickly… xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxMLP/TMNTxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Donatello opened his eyes, his mouth felt like cotton balls, his body felt drained of all strength, and his stomach felt like a hot iron rod had been forced inside and burned his entire gut from the inside out….he became aware that his gear and been stripped and he had been strapped down to a medical bed… There was an IV in his arms and clear fluids in a hanging bag next to him, he also noticed another IV this one was attached to a bag filled with sparkling green liquid…what was going on? “Try not to move, detoxification can be…vary unpleasant…” Swift Heart said suddenly popping into view as she looked him over pulling a warm comforter over him “I’ve already informed your family of what happened to you…but its time…I tell you what happened and more” Donnie looked confused “Detox? But I never took…any kind of drugs…” he said hoarsely and watched as Swifty shook her head… The little pegasus was silent “I sabotaged any attempt Dinky made to use the witchweed…because I knew the truth behind it…most creatures have ready access to their magical cores” She began taking a seat next to the bed and checking Donatello’s pulse. “For some accessing it like a unicorn could is impossible…Witchweed…was created through dark arts in a far off land Zeboraca the Land Zebra tribes…but this plant wasn’t created by the zebras…it was created by the lioness tribe” Swifty picked up a bowl of water near by and brought it to Donnie’s lips and helped him to slowly drink “lioness tribe was very envious of the zebra’s powers, their spirituality, and inner strength…the lioness tribe once ruled all of the Zeboraca” “What does this have to do with me?” Donatello asked moving his mouth away from the water not sure where this was going at all…and he had a feeling he wasn’t going to like it… Swifty placed the bowl down and picked up a towel she had close by and began wiping his face, “The Zebra Tribe brought order to the chaos the Lioness tribe had placed upon the savanna…the Lioness in retaliation summoned a demon spirit that ‘blessed’ them with the magical plant…witchweed” she scowled angrily and stood up. Donnie watched as Swifty moved away from him…her whole demeanor seemed off…her wings were drooping as were her ears…her back was turned to him “What happened…what does witchweed do?” He pressed for more information… “It enhances a creature’s ability to use their magical core; however, it corrupts both the mind and soul of the user on top of being a highly addictive narcotic” She said moving back to her seat “They thought they could over power the Zebra Tribe…their assumption was incorrect…they were banished from the land” her eyes narrowed, “But they failed to learn their lesson through painful defeat” again she sneered Donnie looked down at himself, “So…I unknowingly took a very bad drug” he said holding up his hands, “It felt…so good to be so strong!” he said balling his fists “I even beat Raph!” “But it wasn’t really your true strength…” Swift Heart said putting her hands on top of his and forcing them down “Witchweed enhanced your physicals ability…” “But how do you know so much about this stuff!?” Donatello said suddenly getting angry at her pulling his hands away “And what was this about sabotaging your own sister?!” he glared suddenly feeling as though it was all Swift Heart’s fault The young mare looked away taking back her hands, “Before the fall of Equis…I lived in Northern Mountain region…Princess Celestia and Princess Luna ruled the Southern region…” She paused “Now you may think they ruled all of Equis because they raised and lowed the sun and moon…” She shook her head “But this was not so…” xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxMLP/TMNTxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Luna sighed as she looked at the worried family before “The Northern Mountain region as well as other parts of Equis weren’t under our rule and we preferred it that way…my sister and I didn’t believe in ruling over the entirety of the world…each country had it’s own government and system of leadership…” She explained to the group “The Northern Mountain region was divided into seven separate domains, each controlled by a different family” Luna looked away “I don’t know much about the domain Swift Heart came from…it was a place called Crystal Valley…Swift Heart has told me of her short time their…but it is not my place to share her past…” Splinter looked as though he wanted to speak, to demand an answer from the princess, he placed a hand on his head and sighed “Of all things I feared for my children drugs were never something to cross my mind…I always talked about this situation with them…I warned them…” Luna placed a hand on the rat’s shoulder “This was a drug not even I knew of…much one that exist in this world you couldn’t have known…not even a princess know everything” “Enough! I just want to know if Donnie is going to be alright!” Ralph demanded slamming his hands on the table with a glare “All this stupid magic stuff! All this stupid….stupid EVERYTHING!!” He shouted tears threatening to spill from his eyes. A gentle hand placed itself on the hothead’s shoulder “Raph…we’re all worried about Donnie…but getting angry isn’t going to help…we need to be there for him…support him in his recovery” Leonardo said trying to console his little brother “I’m just as worried too” Mikey smiled “Besides he’s in good hands…cute hands….” The orange turtle said getting a dreamy look in his eyes again…only to get slapped upside the head by Leonardo and Raphael. April looked on the verge of tears “But does only Swift Heart know how to help Donnie?” She demanded, “Why don’t you just use your magic to cure him!?” she shouted at the princess “I can’t tell you…that is only for Swift Heart to tell…it’s her tale” Luna said getting up from her seat “I’ll have Bonbon bring you something to settle your nerves…I have my duties to tend to” with that said the lunar princess too her leave… xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxMLP/TMNTxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx “Only Princess Luna knows the truth about me…not even my adopted sisters nor Lyra and Bonbon know of this” Swifty said placing another bag of the sparkling green liquid “Crystal Valley was a mining domain, some of the rarest ores could only be found there…. the area was controlled by the Duke Rep he was a Hippogriff” The young pegasus said retaking her seat. Donnie watched her for a moment, “I’m guessing this Duke was important for some reason…and for some reason he means something to you…” “Your right…Duke Rep married a Lioness named Catrina, this lioness came to the valley not only for the valuable ores that were there…but also the soil…it was perfect for growing her witchweed…” Swift Heart said darkly, “Catrina charmed her way into Duke Rep’s heart and made him solely devoted to her…they married several years before I was born…” Donatello gulped “She used witchweed to exert her control over him…and the valley” he guessed and frowned when Swifty nodded suddenly pieces were forming in his head… “Duke Rep was completely under her spell..however…he could only remain under her spell as long as he was happy…he wanted something that Catrina couldn’t give him…Witchweed made impossible…” Swifty looked at him with a variety of emotions showing in her face “He wanted children…Catrina would hire any female desiring money to bare Duke Rep children…” “You were one of his kids weren’t you?” Donnie said feeling a lump form in his throat, “How many kids were there?” He asked Swift Heart was silent for a moment “I was the youngest of 13 mixed half siblings…my mother was a unicorn mare whom wished to leave crystal valley…and that’s all I knew” “M..ixed? You had thirteen older siblings? I can’t even imagine how that might have been” Donnie stuttered staring at her with saddened eyes, “Go on…tell me more” Swifty looked away “It was hard…everyone always tried to one up each sibling…being the youngest made me the easiest target…” The pain that shined in her eyes was evident “Before I learned to fly…I was thrown down a mine shaft that was closed off due to an infestation of rock worms…” she wrapped her wings around herself shivering. With her ears folded back Swift Heart spoke softly “Enough about that, my past is just that and I shall speak no more of it. Catrina used witchweed and used her dark magic to enslave the citizens of Crystal Valley…the day Equis fell I was leaving Crystal Valley…I was running away to find something better then that life…I didn’t even know what I was looking for…” She looked at Donnie “I still don’t know if I’ve found what I seek…I don’t know if my journey had ended…” Donatello was silent for a moment “When I yelled at you…and…grabbed you…” he felt so stupid! All the signs had been there! The purple turtle took a breath “Swifty why did you share this with me?” The pegasus looked away again “How else can I explain what I know? When I was young…I hid in the one place the other never looked…my special place…the library…it had all the knowledge I needed..I knew I couldn’t stop Catrina…I had to leave…what I required for the detox potion…was more knowledge…something I couldn’t acquire there…It was only in Southern part of Equestria in which I attain the information" She said softly, “I can cure you…it shouldn’t have happened…if only I had told Dinky the truth…this whole situation is my fault” she turned and left him before Donatello could ask anymore questions… xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxMLP/TMNTxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx The family was still waiting for news when the magenta pony came into the room looking at them “Donatello will be fine, since the affliction was caught before it could spiral too far he’ll recover quite quickly. I have given the detox cure and by morning’s light will be released from my care till then he shall remain in isolation” She said walking past them. Raphael stood up “That’s it?! That’s all you have to say!” He shouted clearly not happy about the situation, he wanted to know what the big secret Swift Heart was hiding “Hey! Don’t you walk away!” he shouted Master Splinter stood quickly and placed a hand on his hotheaded son’s shoulder “Raphael…a persons past is never easy to speak of, let her be…” he commanded sternly and turned to his other two sons “We shall go home and return in the morning” he left no room for argument as he removed his hand from Raphael’s shoulder and turned to the ponies “We shall return in the morning thank you for taking care of my son” he bowed to them and headed out of the room… Leonardo look turned to Dinky “I think you should talk to Swifty now that you know she sabotaged your previous efforts…you deserve answers” he said following Splinter as Raph followed silently behind him leaving Mikey the last to leave… Michelangelo stood up a look of pain sorrow etched on his face as he looked at Luna “I don’t blame her…ya know she had her reasons and this could have happened to any of my bros it was just like an accident man…” He said following his family Bonbon sighed after the turtles had left “Why can’t Swifty tell us what she knew!? This whole sad situation could have been avoided if she just opened up to us!” Bonbon said frustrated as she rubbed forehead shaking her head. “I really try to get close to her I do! But she always seems miles away!” Putting a hand on Bonbon’s shoulder and pulling the mare into a gentle hug Lyra rest her chin on top of Bonbon’s head and gently rubbed her back “Bonny…don’t be like this…yelling didn’t help, bribing didn’t help, all we can do is what we’ve been doing…keep trying and just stay patient with her” she said softly kissing Bonbon’s hair “For whatever reason she scared of us, we just have to keep trying to help her…” “Your wrong…she opened up to me…she felt we were similar because of my past…because of my feelings toward Celestia…” Luna said lowering her gaze “I should have told you everything I knew but not even I knew that Dinky had obtained witchweed…it was a foolish of me to not keep a closer eye on them…but blaming ourselves will not change the situation all we can do is move forward” Luna said looking up and smile “We shall all move past this and become stronger for it” The other two mares nodded with a smile. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxMLP/TMNTxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Dinky out of all of them was the most enraged by the situation, all of her hard work was for nothing all because Swift Heart kept a secret! All because her ‘so-called little sister’ sabotaged her efforts to make witchweed useful! Said unicorn was current in the training arena going through her combat training in angry not believing that because of Swift Heart one of their friends could have been seriously hurt! “AH!” Dinky shouted firing a blast of water into the air and slicing at it with her trident. She spun her weapon around and jabbing at the air…She was angry! “Hey Dinky” A soft voice spoke out suddenly causing the unicorn to stop her practice, Dinky looked at Mona and frowned as the dragon stepped forward towards her “Need a sparing partner?” Dinky shook her head “I just want to be a lone right now! I can’t believe instead of just telling me about witchweed she purposefully ruined all my attempts to use the stupid flower! Why did she keep this from us!? From me! I thought we had grown close enough to know everything!” She shouted stopping her hoof on the ground. Mona shook her head “D you and I have always known Swifty had ya know…issues we only met her when she was only four years old we don’t know what had happened back then” The dragoness stepped forward “We’re not phycologist…and well a pony hasn’t actually shown up…Swifty needs help in ways we can’t help her, but the most we can do…is stay by her” The unicorn shook her head “How!? How can I stay by her? How can I lead her if she won’t even open up!? I’m tired of secrets!” Dinky shouted strapping her weapon to her back and storming away “I’m done with her pathetic attitude! This ends now!” Mona blinked for a moment before quickly breathing fire and stopped Dinky in her track “Don’t even think about it! Right now your acting out of anger! So knock it off!” She shouted and left Dinky Dinky said nothing as the fire died down, “I’m not backing down this time…” She said leaving the arena “A team without trust can’t function…I am getting to the bottom of this once and for all” xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxMLP/TMNTxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Donatello stared at the all the things around him, it was strange being the patient instead of the doctor even stranger to be in someone else’s lab. When he had first entered this lab he thought it was utterly ridicules with all the bubbles blowing around and the giant teddy bears thrown about like a giant mess…however laying here it didn’t seem so ridicules…the way the bubbles just floated around and the light they reflected all colors of the rainbow and seemed to danced around the giant bears…it was comforting…he swore he could even hear a soft music box playing in the background… The purple turtle was feeling much more clear headed, he was also thinking about what he needed to do next…he closed his eyes… Swifty would come in and out changing the liquid drops from his IV she wouldn’t say anything, more then likely for not knowing what to say. Donatello sighed as he thought about what he had learned…coming from a background of abuse was never easy to overcome and she never had anyone to really talk to…he smiled well he knew the best cure to help her…it was something he couldn’t do…this, if he was honest with himself, was a job better suited to ironically Mikey…when it come to the heart he had a natural empathic sense…maybe that’s why Mikey had fallen so hard for her…because she needed him…and Mikey knew it. “Hey Swifty…can we…can we be friends?” It seemed like a childish thing to ask but in this situation it was the best way to get an emotionally detached girl to realize his intentions The little pegasus blinked at him almost owlishly and cocked her head to the side “You wish to be friends with me?” She looked confused “But from your prior actions toward me it indicated otherwise…” Donnie sighed “And I was wrong in treating you in such a manner…I only want to be friends Swifty…truth is…I love April and love is something that can’t be forced or even analyzed…it something that happens and when you admitted you liked me…I wanted to push you away I was worried…” Donatello looked at Swift Heart and saw a confused look on her face “I was worried April would try and push me towards you or back away from me…I worried I would lose her” He admitted looking away feeling guilty “And I didn’t treat you right, I should have just told you the truth and from now on I will be more honest with you, I want to be your friend” Swift Heart blinked cocking her head to the opposite side, it was strange but the little pegasus could have sworn she saw Donnie glowing for a moment….she blinked again “Admittedly my attraction to you was due to your intelligence; however, as I’ve observed your feelings for April are true I already knew such a relationship between us was improbable” She said running a hand through her mane and offering a gentle smile “There are few whom understand what I speak of…friends are a rarity…” she looked at him “I’d like us to be friends” The two genius smiled in comfort and understanding, the turtle nodded “Friends then…and as friends I’d like to collaborate with you on finding a way to defeat the Krang and finding a retromutagen!” He said confidently “I get the feeling if we put both of our heads together we can do some awesome stuff!” “I concur with you Donnie, I believe there to be a possibility of my potions adding to the arsenal for future battles after witnessing your smoke bombs…I believe a blinding bomb would be most useful” Swift Heart said putting a hand under her chin. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxMLP/TMNTxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx April was currently pulling various science and technology magazine off the self as well as getting Donnie’s favorite candies after finding out what had happened the red head wanted to do everything in her power to make Donnie feel better while he recovered from his…drug induced episode…Casey was with her though he wasn’t nearly as concerned as she was… “April don’t you think that enough? I mean Swifty even said he’d be better in the morning and he ain’t dying!” He said somewhat irritated and crossed his arms over his chest with scowl on his face. April glared at Casey “But they also said he would need to rest for at least a day or two! Donnie’s mind is like a sponge he’s going to love all these and when your feeling down candy makes you feel better!” She snapped at him and turned making her way to the register. The Hockey player frowned and followed “You know Swift Heart likes him, maybe you outta back off and let her have him!” He snapped glaring “Stop toying with him when it obvious your with me!” April suddenly turned and faced “I am NOT with you! I DON’T want to date you and frankly…I think your a jerk!” She shouted slamming everything she was buying on the register counter. “So what are you saying? You want to date…that FREAK?” Casey shouted at her scratching his head getting angrier by the moment, how was this happening? The only interesting girl he knew was actually considering dating a ugly mutant freak over a devilishly handsome jock like him!? The red head paid for everything and smiled “He’s not just a freak…he’s my freak and it’s time I stop beating around the bush…” She said walking away and leaving a confused Casey Jones n her wake.