> Blazing Night
>  by P and J discoveries
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> The Great Meeting
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	First night at the academy, the white filly thought, walking to the enormous building with her foster mom. "Mommy," she said, obviously seeming worried, "what if I don't meet anypony? What if nopony likes me?"
"Don't worry, Blaze, I know at least one filly or colt at the academy will want to be your friend," replied Mrs. Sauna, her short mane blowing in the slight breeze. "Did you remember your lunch?"
Blaze replied cheerily, "Yep! It's in my left saddlebag."

"Class, I have a big announcement for you all! We have a new student!" I walked into the room, my white cheeks flushed a slight shy pink. "Could you tell the class your name, young filly?"
"M...my name is... is Shotsworth. Blaze Shotsworth. Just call me Shotsworth though," I replied, shakily at first, but I grew more confident.
The teacher replied kindly, "Well, Blaze it's nice to meet you. My name is Mr. Fog. You can sit next to Buzz." He pointed to a young colt with a black and yellow striped mane, his saddlebags held closed with a clip in the shape of a bee. Walking to the desk beside him, I smiled. He glared at me, seeming to wish I'd never come here in the first place. 
"Hello, Buzz," I said, rather quietly. 
A young filly next to me leaned over and said, "Don't worry about him, he's only mad because his best friend moved away a week ago, and that was her seat."
"What was her name?" I asked.
"Night Fury. By the way, my name is Lilly Pad."

I jumped out of the way as a stray arrow whizzed past my ear, nearly cutting it. "That's okay, Buzz, just keep your bow straighter next time," said Mr. Fog, picking up the arrow and giving it back to Buzz. I pointed my own arrow at the foam target, aiming for the red center. Releasing the arrow, it flew to the left and hit near the center. 
But not on it.
The arrow rested there before it fell to the ground, a chemical on the tips reacting with the foam and changing it blue. I readied my next arrow, using my magic to draw it back to my cheek. This arrow flew and hit the target almost dead center, just a bit to the right. I groaned lightly, then sent a third arrow without honestly paying attention. The hard thunk of stone on wood drew my attention to the target. The red part of the target started to turn deep violet as the chemical reacted. Mr. Fog gasped, then walked to the target, lifting the arrow out of it's wedge in the wood. "You... You hit a bulls-eye on your first time using a bow and arrow?" He said in astonishment.
"I-I don't know how, I was hardly even p-paying attention on aiming that arrow!" I grasped for the right words, stuttering slightly. Buzz seemed ready to hit me right in the nose.
"How does a FILLY do better than ME?! I have always been the best archer in class! Plus," Buzz was ranting in a major temper tantrum, "fillies don't need to be shooting arrows, they belong in the kitch-"
"That is ENOUGH, Buzz. We all know you are devastated of your loss of Night Fury. We couldn't control her moving since her father had gotten a major promotion in his line of work." Mr. Fog cut off Buzz mid-sentence. Buzz huffed, and stalked out of the room, muttering something to Mr. Fog that sounded like, "I'm going to the bathroom."

It had been two weeks since I got my first bulls-eye in class, and I had been getting better. My aim was straighter, and much more consistent. I was hitting more and more targets, and could actually travel down a line of bows and shoot an arrow out of every one of them - each one being a perfect bulls-eye. Today was special, it was the archery test - our very first. We were to shoot three arrows. If we got two out of three arrows as bulls-eyes, we got a one hundred percent. Now, it was my turn, and I  shivered with anticipation. Launching my first arrow, it hit white foam and the area around it turned blue. I huffed slightly, readying my second arrow. This shot was a perfect hit, dead center of the target.
I pulled my final arrow out of the quiver, my magic oddly being shaky, as I was nervous. Slowly I drew the end of the arrow all the way back to my cheek, took a deep breath, and released it, my eyes shut. 
All the noise in the room at that point was the splitting of wood.

I slowly opened my eyes, and what I saw was nothing that I had expected. Not only had I split the second arrow I had shot, but I split the target as well. I may have put to much power into that last shot, but my body was unresponsive. A deep blue magic aura lifted up the entire target, pulling it back to the teachers desk. We had a substitute that day, and she looked entirely mortified. She had obviously seen nothing like this in her experience - and the old mare obviously had a LOT of experience. "Y-You, young filly, uh, Shotsworth, come here please."
I walked up to the desk, made of two students desks as a temporary replacement of Mr. Fog's desk, which Buzz had involuntarily broken in a fit of rage one day. "Yes, Mrs. Mist?" I asked calmly, but my insides were doing flips as I was terrified. 
"You get not only a one hundred percent on your test, but-" Mrs. Mist cut off her sentence, and levitated a pencil to point at my blank flank. I glanced around and saw a cutie mark, as if another student had somehow drawn it on without my knowing. The small image held a black bow, the color of fresh obsidian, and an arrow with a burning stone tip. I gasped and jumped up and down, finally glad that I was no longer the only blank flank in my class.

A sharp crack filled the room as Blaze launched an arrow from a crystalline bow, the wooden target falling down in two pieces. She noticed the arrow behind the target stand, jutting out of the stone wall. It was rather deep, considering the tip being dull stone. Without resting Blaze lept to another target, readying her bow and pulling out an arrow. With it being her last arrow, she had saved it, since it was by far the best arrow she had. 
Blaze's mother - or foster mother, as she had recently discovered - had sent it to her, the tip being made of a very fine silver. The reflection of the light on the arrow could have been blinding to any other pony. But to Blaze Shotsworth, it only sharpened her vision, bringing everything to a more distinct shape. She shot, and the arrow cracked but did not split this target. Purposefully, she made this shot a lighter one, knowing that if it struck the wall behind the target, the tip would either bend or break. If it bent all it would take to fix it would be taking the arrow to a grinder. But she knew better than to use silver on a stone grinder. The sheen of it would become duller, and even though the tip would be sharper, the arrow head itself would always get smaller.
"Thank you, Ms. Shotsworth. You may head back to your classroom," said the instructor. Blaze began the short walk back to Mr. Fogs room, and noticed the door was open, a loud clatter of a desk hitting the ground emitting from the doorway. She hurried to the door, and stopped before walking in, seeing Buzz hugging a young mare. Her enormous braid fell off the resting place of my back, and Buzz stepped aside, hearing the sharp crack of a metal decoration on a ponytail holder hitting the stone floor.
"Oh, hello there!" said the Pegasus with lavender eyes. "My name is Night Fury."
> Melee Combatist
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	I walked slowly into the enormous building, knowing why I was there. My mother had left me here when I was born, since she couldn't take care of me. The note left with me said she was sick, not deathly, and was pregnant with another foal. I had known my family was poor from the moment I started talking. I asked why my blanket was so ratty, and the headmaster of the academy told me it was because my mother was poor, and didn't have money for a nice one. Oddly enough, a young colt, a week younger than me, was dumped the same night I was. His family had been rich before they had him, and they quickly lost their riches. He had shown up with a beautiful card and a silky green blanket. We became close friends, both of us being pegasi.
The young colt was named Buzz, and he was a sweet tan colt with slightly golden wings. His mane was always kept short when he was younger, and it was black striped with yellow. Somehow our families had been friends, and we were almost brother and sister. That was the block of our relationship. As we got older, my family eventually came back to me, saying they had money to take me back into their home. I was overjoyed.
I met my new twin brothers, who were three years old at the time. My father got a promotion in the job he had, and - with heavy hearts - they had to take me with them to Ponyville. He was going to work with Princess Twilight as her new chef. I was allowed to go and meet the rest of the elements of harmony, and met with a young mare that really connected with me - Ms. Fluttershy, with her daughter, Cloudy Dreams. 
I helped Fluttershy when Cloudy Dreams was in school, and one day, I wandered into the Everfree Forest while Fluttershy was feeding her indoor birds. I wandered for a long time, and eventually got lost. I got extremely scared, and once I heard a bush rattling quickly, I began to scream. What came out of the bush was nothing I expected.

Out of the bush came a tiny creature made of wood. "Oh my gosh! Are you alright little one?" I asked the puppy-sized creature. "I must have terrified you, but when you were in the bush, you terrified me!" The creature whimpered lightly, and I picked it up, planning on taking him with me to Fluttershy's house. 
Once I got there, Fluttershy grabbed me up in a huge hug and said, "Night Fury! You had me worried sick! I didn't tell your parents so they wouldn't start freaking out and get mad at me for loosing you. Where were you?"
I replied, "I walked into that forest. And look! I found a new friend!" I showed Fluttershy the tiny creature, and she screamed. 
"That's a T-T-T-T-T-T-TIMBERWOLF! GET AWAY FROM IT IT'S DANGEROUS!!!" I jumped as she batted the timberwolf puppy off of my back with her wing, and picked me up to protect me.
"Fluttershy, wait!" I exclaimed, frightened, "I saved him! He was lost and I-" Suddenly a loud howl filled the air around us. Fluttershy began to tremble, and a huge timberwolf stalked out of the Everfree Forest. It howled again, louder and louder. The puppy raced to the full grown timberwolf, and barked at it, seeming to communicate. The older timberwolf barked back, but left the puppy and walked back into the Everfree. 
"H... how did that happen?" Fluttershy said quietly, dumbstruck. I couldn't believe it myself. FLuttershy set me down and the puppy raced to me, licking my face with a leaf tongue. I giggled as he jumped over me, licking my face and front hooves.
"I'm gonna call you Twig!" I said to the puppy, and he yipped excitedly, seeming to like the name.
"W-well, then, Twig is a-a new part of-of the fa-family," Fluttershy stammered, still frightened. I helped her into her hut, not realizing I had earned my cutie mark until she pointed it out a few minutes later.

I lived in Ponyville for 11 years, watching my younger brothers, Hammer and Screw, grow and head to school. I was too nice for them to have any quarrel with me, but they argued quite a bit amongst themselves. As they got older Hammer and Screw began to dislike our parents, just like any teenage pony does. I couldn't stand it after the 11th year, and asked my parents if I could move back to the Cassedy Academy. She decided I was old enough to move back for my last two years. I gathered my stuff, and secretly hid my sword in my wing.
I had never told my family or even Fluttershy, but everyday I went to a stallions house and he taught me how to fight melee. He had a sword made custom for me, the same shade of my coat and in the shape of a feather. That way I could hide it in my wing and use it when I needed to, only for self defense.

I took a huge breath, and walked into Mr. Fog's room for the first time in 11 years. He heard the door open and looked at me, gasping. Buzz glanced at the door and immediately looked away, then did a double-take. He must have thought I was another pony. Jumping out of his chair, I noticed how toned his body had grown. His desk clattered to the floor, and he raced to me. He grabbed me in a huge hug, and I suddenly heard hooves beating the stone floor in the hallway. Buzz let go of me and turned to look at the white unicorn mare. I said, "Oh, hello there! My name is Night Fury."
She stood there gaping at me, seeming surprised. "You're Night Fury?!"
"Y-Yeah, why?"
Lily Pad, a young mare that had a gorgeous transformation over time, said, "Buzz has absolutely HATED Shotsworth when she showed up. She sat in your seat and he gave her the death glare."
"You should have seen him," Mr. Fog said, recalling a day I hadn't been here, "When Ms. Shotsworth made her first bulls-eye when she wasn't paying attention! He went BALLISTIC when he realized, not only a mare, but a mare younger than him could shoot an arrow better than him."
"She can?" I asked since the best archer I had ever known had been Buzz. "May I see her in action?"
The mare, Blaze Shotsworth, said gleefully, though her disposition was obviously a deep, hateful one, "No need. Mr. Fog kept the target I got a bulls-eye with. Just look at it!" Her soft red magic levitated a wooden board off of a backwards facing stand. Still jutting out of the board was an old arrow, the feathers having rotted away after 11 years. Not only was the dull stone arrow deep in the wood center of the board but a sharp crack spit the center of the board. "He also took several pictures to keep as mementos, since I have been his best student. This one is the one I'm most proud of!" 
She pulled a small square photo off of a tack board and showed it to me. Buzz was gaping at the picture. I assumed he was never told and had been absent that day. "You... BROKE a target in two, and... and somehow got that dull arrow... dull STONE arrow into the solid stone wall?!"
Mr. Fog replied as Blaze was to giddy as she looked over her old pictures that were yellowing at the edges, "Ms. Shotsworth has done that tons of times. Now, my darling stepdaughter, what have you achieved with your time in Ponyville?"
I smiled and began to recall everything that happened in Ponyville. "Oh, and I won't be arching with this class anymore. I'm going into the melee classes now. I will still train with you guys though." Buzz gasped, then glared at Blaze.
"It must be your fault she won't be in this class!" He shouted in rage at Blaze Shotsworth, and my gaze became more and more confused and angry.
"BUZZ!" I shouted at him, "Stop it! It's not Blaze's fault! I couldn't practice archery at Ponyville, so I took the next best thing - sword fighting. I have it with me if you need proof."
Buzz replied angrily, "Then show me the sword you're using." I reached into my wing slowly, and Buzz got angrier, saying, "I said show me, not 'Preen'!" I hurried to grab the sword, being careful not to slice up any of my feathers. 

"Whoa," Lily Pad said, her murky blue eyes wide in astonishment as I pulled out the deep violet sword from my wing. "That's a neat place to hide a sword!" I smiled, and Buzz muttered to Mr. Fog something that sounded like "I'm going to the restroom..." Mr. Fog grabbed Buzz's tail with his magic.
"Oh no you're not! I know why you always go there, and it's to sulk about Night Fury changing and growing up." 
"No it's not!" Buzz shouted, surprising Mr. Fog enough for him to release his magical hold on his tail and run off. 
Blaze stared at the door, and said, "Well, it's not like he hasn't acted that way before."
> Their Lives Before
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Night Fury swung the deep violet feather-shaped sword at the rice sack dummy, and without anyone actually seeing her cut it, it split in two and rice poured all over the floor. "Nice job, Ms. Fury. You were well trained in Ponyville in the art of melee. You do know," the testing mare said, "that you should only use your sword-"
"In a self defense situation, when I'm protecting myself or another pony, yes." Night Fury replied, finishing the mares sentence. "My teacher, Clean Cut, knew the rules, and always drilled that into my head."
The testing mare said, "Very good. Next, your 'opponent' will be a thick block of wood, quebracho, to be exact." Night Fury knew quebracho wood was hard to cut, incredibly strong. But she also knew that her sword was made of some of the finest material - steel tapered from a stray meteor that landed near Ponyville. Silently Night Fury swung the sword and the block, cut diagonally, slowly slid apart. "Wonderful! Your final test - a block of iron to split," the mare said.
"I've been waiting for this one," Night Fury said. Jumping to the top of the enormous iron block, she sliced it incredible quick, in loads of different directions. Large iron chunks rained down off of the block, and three ponies were sculpted from the iron. In the place of the enormous rectangular prism stood a statue of Night Fury herself, Buzz, and Blaze Shotsworth, standing like a team. 
"That," the mare said, "was incredible! You should be proud, and you can take that to your dorm. You may head back to Mr. Fog's room now." Night Fury walked out of the room, seeing Shotsworth walk out of her own test room. 
"Check it out, Night Fury," Shotsworth said, holding up an arrow as we started walking back to Mr. Fog's room together, "this is the arrow my foster mom gave me. Wonderful silver, expensive or not, I don't know. But it seems a bit expensive."
Night Fury still held her sword in her hoof, said, "My sword was made of steel off of a meteor that hit the outskirts of Ponyville."
"Nice," she replied. "Y'know, I don't completely understand why Buzz hates me. Other than the fact that I sat in your old seat, of course."
Night Fury said, "You look like his mother." Shotsworth just stared at Night Fury, obviously confused. "His mother had been a white unicorn with a deep red mane, similar to the color at the bottom of yours. Hers was solid though, and she had the same dark blue eyes as you. Even her magic was the same color. That could be the reason he dislikes you so much."
"Do you have a picture of her, cause I'm pretty skeptical," Shotsworth told her, and Night Fury could understand. 
Night Fury replied, "Yeah, I have a copy of the picture that came in his card. You want to know the reason- Oh, wait, there's a note on Mr. Fog's door."
Blaze began to read the note, "'Fillies, don't worry. The class isn't in the room because we went outside for some Agricultural Science learning. The headmaster came in and said the students need to learn how to raise crops if they ever plan on living on a large bit of land. Come and join us.' Well, that explains a lot."
"Well, like I was saying," Night Fury continued with her previous story, "the reason Buzz hates his parents, and mine for that matter, is because our families dumped us here when we were younger."
"That's deep," Blaze interupted.
Night Fury kept going with her story the whole way to the garden outside the academy. Blaze was silent most of the way, only saying short sentences consisting of at least 2 words. Mr. Fog met them at the entrance of the garden, and said, "Hello, girls! Welcome to the garden, feel free to eat any of the ripe fruit or vegetables." Night Fury gazed at the new additions to the garden - plants like crystal berries were added, kept in pots filled with the emerald green grasses of the Crystal Empire. 
"Whoa, you guy added crystal berries to the garden?" Night Fury was amazed by the gorgeous multicolored berries. She picked a fat golden one and bit deep into it. "Mmm, I love tes tings!" she said, golden juice dripping down her cheek. Blaze spotted Buzz, nose scrunched and deep red cheeks showing a heavy emotion of love and lust.
Blaze told Night Fury, "Not to alarm you, and don't scream it after I tell you, but I think Buzz likes you more than a sister." Night Fury looked, not astounded, but like she's heard that before.
"I know. Just the way he looks at me gives it away." Buzz had looked away from Night Fury and was nibbling a strawberry, his face almost completely red. One of the other colts in class nudged him and started to tease him about how embarrassed he looked. 
"Well, it seems the rest of the class knows too." Blaze said softly.
Night Fury replied, "Yeah, they've always known. Just because of a right guess and blushy lovey mare hormones. I went into this state of stuttering, lip nibbling, and rubbing my mane with my hooves." Blaze could understand, she'd met a colt who made her act like that as well. "And of course, since my class knew me so well, they knew it meant I liked him." 
"I've gone through that myself," Blaze told Night Fury, her own blush becoming immensely evident. "Geode, that's who it was for me. Oh, Faust, he had the most toned, muscular, lean, stone gray body, and a mane looking like layers in a stone cliff. But his EYES! My Celestia, they were so gorgeous, a very light turquoise, just- aaagh! I miss him so much..."
"Wait," Night Fury said, "'Geode' as in the famous geologist unicorn, 'Geode'?!"
Blaze looked startled. Had she never put two and two together? "H-he's the fa-famous geologist? Faust, I haven't been in touch with him for so long, I never knew..."
"All right, students, it's time to head in for dinner," said Mr. Fog. Buzz hurried to be the first one inside, his red face still visible as a red berry amongst green ones.
Blaze sighed contently and said, "Finally! I'm starving, and exhausted..." As soon as dinner was over, she went to the room she shared with no one, and passed out.





A soft motion of the bed, and the hush of somepony moving the silky covers startled Night Fury. She leapt from her bead, almost ready to defend herself. A still sleeping form climbed into her bed, it's horn and enormous mane showing the evident identity. 
"Blaze... Blaze..." Night Fury whispered, hoping to wake the young unicorn. It did nothing more than slightly stir her. "Blaze! You need to wake up..." This time, she seemed to attempt to say, "Just let me sleep, Mom...", but all she could mumble out was, "Jis... lemme hace fi... mubbull...".
A quiet creak of an old hinge brought Night Fury's attention to her door. A tan pegasus colt stood in the doorway, a curious look on his face. "Night Fury, is Shotsworth in here? I was heading to the bathroom and saw her coming in here."
"Uh-huh," Night Fury replied, skepticism in her voice, "You were going to the bathroom... in the Mare's dormitory section? And don't say you got lost, I've been gone for several years and I STILL remember every hall in this school."
Buzz stammered for just a few moments, then turned red and raced off, his wings beating quickly. Night Fury walked over to Blaze's sleeping form, shaking her and sometimes saying "Shotsworth, come on, wake up." When she finally stirred and said, "Whah?" Night Fury told her, "Come on, let's get you back to your own room. You must've been sleepwalking." 
"Oh. Y-yeah, I... I do that sometimes..." Blaze mumbled. Once she was back in her room, Night Fury returned to her very own, finally able to rest peacefully.