Equestria Guardians; Friendship is Magic
Chapter 7: A Beautiful Heart of Gold; the Diamond of Generosity pt.1
Few Days Later
Twilight's Lab/Home
Training Room
After they had brought Applejack into the circle, Slash realized that Twilight had little to no combat training with her magic. And so a new room had been added to Twilight's lab in a new door, created by Space Magic. The key was that it created a separate dimensional room as big as the lab, or bigger. Once they entered it, with the girls wearing gi uniforms, like they did in Karate classes, with Applejack's hat off, her hands and forearms bandaged up, Pinkie and Twilight's hair ponytailed up, they were stunned to say the least of the various obstacles on the course. Deflective arrows with a balancing jade-colored turtle shell in one corner. Another corner was an army of wooden crocodile warriors that were similar to the wooden warriors Martial Artists used to practice arm and hand moves and blocks. A Field of Fiery Death for evasion and anticipation, and a row of seven-talon rings swinging back and forth like pendulums. And then finally was a swinging spike club walking platform, with spinning serpent logs to finish it off.
The girls were in awestruck, as Spike blinked at it as well, as he asked, "Isn't this a little overkill?"
"Well, Twilight's in need of making sure she's physically strong with her magic," Slash stated as he was perched on Spike's head. "This is best as we get. And this is only the beginner's equipment."
Applejack, not as worried as the sweating Twilight, shrugged, "This is Beginners?"
"Yep," Slash nodded, "So let's begin."
"Wait, what?" Twilight nearly squeaked out, as she looked at the fearsome course in front of her. "Right now?"
"Yeah," Slash said, as he explained. "Your magic can also be used to physically enhance your speed and strength. The stronger you are with your magic, the more uses and more powerful you'll be, in power and physical strength."
Twilight gulped, as she twiddled her fingers, "Oh, okay. Well... I don't know if I can do all of this..."
"Well, if we don't try, we'll never know," Slash said, as he tapped Spike's head, as the two walked along the side of the course, with the girls following. "Well, we'll try something more suited to your level."
"Which in this case, is level zero on the physical," Spike stated. "She can't even jog down the neighborhood without wheezing or collapsing in less than a few seconds."
Twilight frowned, "SPIKE!"
"Wow, you're really terrible when it comes to sports," Pinkie commented.
"Alright then, Level Zero it is for now," Slash stated. "Though there's no such thing as a Level Zero."
Twilight sighed, at this assault on her physical strength and abilities. She looked around, and lit up, as she pointed to something in the corner, "Hey! Maybe I can start with this!"
When they looked over to where she pointed and ran over to, they saw a friendly-looking raccoon bandit dummy. Applejack examined it over, as she pointed out, "I dunno, Twi. This 'ere looks like somethin' ya use ta train kids. Ah would know: I had somethin' like dis back at home."
"Really?" Pinkie asked. "Does Apple Bloom use it?"
"Nah, we mostly use ours ta pry open the barn door when it's summer time," Applejack replied.
"Well, it's better than nothing," Slash said, as he flew on a pole next to it, and gestured to Twilight, "Well, Twilight. Go ahead, and show us what you can do."
Twilight blinked, as she nearly froze up, "Right now? Or should we wait until lunch?"
"Just hit it," Spike groaned.
Twilight sighed, as she looked at the dummy, and sized it up, almost in thought, as Pinkie Pie asked, "What are you doing, Twilight?"
"I'm measuring the distance and angles, and calculating…"
"It's just a punch, Twi," Applejack sighed. "Ain't nuthin' but ballin' the fist, reelin' it back, and assertin' yerself."
Twilight was silent for a moment, until she stalled again, "But maybe if I…"
"Would you hit it?!" Slash roared out, losing his patience.
"Alright, alright," Twilight said, as she finally got ready. Hesitantly, she very light hit the dummy with her fist, as it gently rocked back in place. She looked to the others, who all had a frown on their faces, as she asked, "What?"
"Try again," Slash replied. "This time, though, do it harder."
Twilight sighed, and this time, Twilight knocked the dummy all the way backwards. "Alright, how's that…"
WHACK!
The Dummy righted itself and whacked Twilight, sending her flying backwards and knocking around. Twilight found herself on the training course, as everyone stepped forward to try and help. But all they could see was Twilight struggling to balance on the serpent logs, and eventually ended up doing a painful split on two of them. "Ack! That hurts!"
She looked up and saw a spiky tethered ball, which smacked into her and sent her flying into the jade turtle exercise, where it rattled her around. Everyone winced, as Slash grimaced at the scene, "This may be harder than I thought."
"I'm feeling nauseous!" Twilight cried out.
The turtle finally spilled her out as she stumbled into the army of wooden warriors, proceeded to whack every part of her body. The last dummy whapped her into the stomach, and everything was knocked out of her, as she wheezed out, "Oooooh, good thing I didn't eat yet."
She struggled to get on her feet again, taking one step and reached out to a dummy arm… and immediately got pummeled all over again. Twilight came out the other side, battered and bruised… as well as standing on the Field of Fiery Death.
When she realized this, she squeaked out, "Oh no…"
A huge swoosh of fire erupted, as its reflection on the others were shown, as Twilight yelled out, as she got singed. After a while, she came back to them, crawling into view, dazed and charred, with a little strand on her head on fire. She collapsed in front of them, face first, as she sighed in pain and exhaustion, until she gasped for breath, and looked at them, "How did I do?"
Slash flew down to her, and walked over to her dazed face, "Congratulations, Twilight. There is now a Level Zero." And then he put out the fire with his little fingers.
Twilight weakly smiled, "Okay…" and fell unconscious.
Afterwards
Canterlot Academy
After their physical training, Twilight was limping through the hallways, as lunch was about to start. Applejack and Pinkie Pie had headed off to class after her, since they weren't in her state. And Spike went off to class as well, with Slash in his backpack. Which at this point, Twilight thought he'd be thankful… since once she was feeling better, she'd tan him a new one for putting her through all that.
"Ugh, this is why I hate physical fitness," Twilight groaned, shuffling through the hall like a mummy. She winched as she tried to go further, but the feeling of the bruises and sore spots had gotten to her easily, "Ugh. I should have learned healing spells first than attack spells…"
"Twilight?"
Twilight turned around, as she saw Flash Sentry walking in nearby, as he looked at her confused in her condition. When he saw the bruises, he knelt down to help her up, much to her embarrassment, as he asked in concern, "What happened? You look like you went through day one of boot camp."
"Oh, it's nothing too serious, Flash. I..." she tried to reassure him, but thought in a quick panic. 'Come on Twilight, think of something that doesn't involve training.' Suddenly sweating on nervousness, she finally and goofily replied, "… I slept in by accident and rushed to school leading to a few accidents. Nothing major." Flash looked a little confused on that, but Twilight looked away as she looked stupefied, 'That's the best I could come up with on the spot?'
"Well, you should really go to the nurse's office to make sure it's nothing serious," Flash kindly advised.
Twilight shook it off, as she weakly smiled, "No, I'm fine. Thanks though." She attempted to go on, but she suddenly felt a bit of pain from her leg, as she winced.
Flash, realizing she was hurt, gently grabbed her arm, and looked it around his neck, "Come on, I'll go with you."
Twilight blushed at that, but asked, "But won't you be late for class?"
"Class isn't for a little bit," Flash insisted, as he smiled at her, as he helped her walk to the nurse's office. "Come on, it's just down a flight of stairs."
Twilight smiled, as she looked away, hiding a blush, "Thanks, Flash."
But unknown to her, Flash was hiding a blush himself.
Nurse's Office
Once they got to the nurse's office, the nurse got to work with Twilight. She had applied some ointment on the bruises, and carefully examined the state of what she was in. After a moment of detail, and with Flash sitting next to Twilight, the Nurse had made her conclusion.
"It's nothing serious, just a few blows to the body," the nurse reassured Twilight as well as Flash. "After a little bit, she should be fine."
Twilight smiled, as she sighed, "Thanks, I figured it wasn't anything serious."
"Better to be safe than sorry though," Flash smirked.
"I agree," the nurse replied. "Although I'm surprised as that you were caught in a situation that would end up receiving so many blows at once."
A nervous Twilight looked away, as she rubbed the back of her neck, "Yes, just one of those crazy coincidences that happens every now and then."
"Indeed. I'll be right over here in case you need anything else," the nurse said, as she walked over to a room connected to the nurse's area, that being the storage or office area in which she did her paperwork at. However, if anyone had noticed as she walked past the glass display window… Nightmare Moon was in place of the nurse's reflection, indicating it was Nightmare Moon in a magical disguise.
At the moment, both Twilight and Flash were alone, sitting next to one another on the bed. It was rather infuriating on the situation, as this had been the longest time the two had been with one another after five years. Or even remotely started to be near one another aside from the field trip. The two were nervous as ever, as the silence between the two was going on the brink of nervousness. Finally, the two quickly turned to each other in order to speak up.
"So-" they both said in perfect unison. At the sudden realization, both turned away in embarrassment, hiding their blushing faces from one another.
"Well, um… the weather's nice today, isn't it," Twilight spoke up, breaking the embarrassing silence.
"Yeah, really nice," Flash responded, not turning to look at her.
But a good thing too, because Twilight looked worried, and was screaming to herself in her head, 'What am I talking about?! What's wrong with my brain?! The weather?! UGH!'
'UGH! Man, what's wrong with that response?! Really nice,' Flash berated himself. But then thought of something, as he realized it sooner than later, 'Well… maybe this is a better time than ever.' In truth, after five years, there had been a question on his mind, and this was no better time to ask, as he turned to her with a smile, "So, um… Twilight?"
Quickly, Twilight wiped the worry off her face, as she asked, "Yes, Flash? What is it?"
Flash took a deep breath, and just tried to play it close to the vest… and failed miserably, as he asked, "What happened after the field trip five years ago? After what happened, you just up and disappeared. Well, until now."
Twilight was surprised to hear that question, and then had a face that was a mixture of both dread and embarrassment written on her face. She sighed deeply, as she looked away from him in shame, but finally managed to answer, "W-Well, I was… um…" she sighed again, as she finally managed to get the truth out, "I was in therapy after what I saw and experienced in the store the teacher found me in. The one where you all saw me bolt out of with a look of sheer terror on my face."
"The antique store you were in," Flash asked to be sure.
'Great. Now he's going to think I'm nuts just like everyone else does,' Twilight thought in dread, as she nodded, giving him a sad look, "Yeah, that's the one."
Flash then asked, "Do you mind if I ask what happened in that store that day?"
Twilight sighed, as she looked up at the ceiling, shaking her head, "You wouldn't believe me, I probably wouldn't believe it if I hadn't seen it myself."
When he heard that, Flash could tell she was nervous about it. But why she was so nervous on it, was the real mystery. So he scooted closer to her, making her feel a little nervous. He placed a hand on her shoulder, getting her to turn to him, as he sympathetically smirked to her, "How about you let me decide if I believe it or not?"
When those words uttered through, Twilight's face obtained an innocent blush on her face, as she looked away in thought, 'Should I? I mean I have to keep this a secret, but he's the first one to ever want to hear what happened without thinking I'm nuts.' Deciding to take this chance, she sighed as she looked to Flash, and smiled nervously, "Well-"
But the moment was ruined at that point, as the door slammed open, startling the two. At that moment, Rarity and her aid groupies barged in. And in the process, caused Flash and Twilight to separate and act like nothing happened.
Rarity's aide smashed through, as he called out, "Nurse! We have an emergency!"
The nurse suddenly ran in, as she asked looking frantic, "What! What is it?"
Rarity was swooning, acting like she was about to faint, as she pressed the back of her hand, and looked up at the ceiling, acting all dramatic, "Of all the things that could happen, this is THE! WORST! POSSIBLE! THING!"
"Yes," the nurse urged for the problem to be introduced.
"It's just too much for me to handle anymore," Rarity cried out.
"Yes…" the nurse urged, pushing for the answer.
"It's just… it's just… IT'S TOO MUCH TO BEAR!" Rarity continued to cry out in dramatic agony.
The nurse got fed up, as she screamed, "Well, what is it?! You're making me hysterical!"
Rarity brought up her left hand as she displayed her fingers to show. In this, she revealed her showing her finger. She then wailed out like a banshee who missed her favorite show, "I. Broke. A nai-l-l-l-l-l-l-l-l!"
At that moment, a wave of silence washed over the scene. The three people who weren't with Rarity merely looked at the scene, as a small gust of wind blew by, and a tiny cricket chirped. The silence broke, as both Flash and Twilight stood up, as the latter asked, "She broke a nail?"
"She broke her nail!" one of the aides got into Twilight's face. "How would you feel if your fingernail got broken after helping someone open their can of soda!?"
Twilight huffed in annoyance, as did Flash, as they saw the violet haired girl's overreaction, as well as her staff helping her out like she was some sort of goddess. Flash shook his head, as he got up, and headed for the cabinet to get more bandages.
But at that moment, Twilight's backpack let out a small light. Twilight was the only one to notice it, as she pulled it to her, and opened it. There, where she kept the remaining three Elements of Harmony, one of them was glowing up a reaction. There, the Element of Harmony, which was the violet diamond, was illuminating on and off. Once Twilight pulled it out, it began to brighten and pulsate, which surprised the girl.
Flash took notice of Twilight's shocked face, as he got the wrong idea, "Twilight, it's just a broken nail. I don't think she'll have to…"
"Sorry, Flash, but I gotta go," Twilight ran out of the office, leaving a confused and dejected Flash again.
He sighed, knowing that another chance to ask her what happened that day had gone down the tubes, "Darn. Not again."
As she ran to her class, Twilight's mind was questioning the obviousness of what she had discovered moments ago, "Rarity? A Guardian?"
Later that Day
"Rarity? A Guardian?" Applejack asked out of shock. "Y'all are jokin' on that, right?"
After school, twilight had rounded up with Pinkie and Applejack, along with Spike and Slash, as she had told them the news. Spike was awestruck and heart throbbing at the moment, Slash was in contemplation. But Twilight shrugged, "That's what I saw. The Element of Generosity glowed immediately when Rarity entered the nurse's office. It has to be her."
"Rarity…" Spike cooed with hearts swarming all around his head.
Applejack and Twilight looked at the boy in a bit of concern, but the cowgirl snapped out of it, as she looked to Pinkie Pie, as she asked, "What about ya, Pinkie?"
But both girls and the dragon puppy went wide eye, as they saw Pinkie Pie not paying attention. But instead was break dancing to the song she was listening to on her Ipod. It was evident, as she sang, "Dance Fo Yo Bees. Dance-Dance Fo Yo Bees. All I want to do is Dance… FO YO BEES!" once she struck a pose and finished her song, Pinkie Pie returned to her cheerful self, and blinked, seeing everyone's shocked expressions, as she pulled her headphones off, and asked, "Sorry, what?"
The two groaned, as Twilight repeated, "We think that Rarity might be the Bearer and Guardian of Generosity."
Pinkie lit up, giving way to puppy dog eyes, as she gushed out, jumping around, "ALRIGHT! We get another friend~! We get another friend~! Whoopee!"
"Yeah, I still ain't buyin' it," Applejack retorted. "Ah mean, I may not 'ave seem ta be payin' attention around, but ah was observin' all the time. And ah gotta tell ya: popular girls like that ain't thinkin' nuthin' much but themselves and their looks." She then pointed to the Element of Generosity, as she stated, "Maybe that darn thing's broken or somethin'."
Pinkie's goofy and energetic demeanor dropped, as she examined her friends closely with an arched eyebrow, as she asked, "And why is that a problem? And why do you think the Element is broken? It's magic. Duh."
"I jus' gave ya the list, Pinkie Pie," Applejack shot out trying to get a point through. She looked to Twilight, as she stated, "Twilight. Try an' defend me on this one, please?"
Twilight sighed, as she stated her opinion, "I have to admit, but Applejack might be right. I've been around girls like that, even when I was ten. They are kind of a shallow bunch when you look at it analytically. I mean, I'm having a lot of doubts that she could be one of the Guardians to the Elements of Harmony."
But Pinkie Pie waved it off, as she stated, "Nah, that's just a typical stereotype, you two." She crossed her arms, as she smirked, "Besides, I have a good feeling she's a good person."
"Yeah, me too," Spike said, finally snapped out of his love-struck gaze.
Slash sat up on the bench, and asked, "You two ever talked to her? Has anyone among us here, aside from me, ever talk to her?"
As soon as that question echoed among them, the two slouched down, as they both answered in defeat, "No."
But Pinkie Pie perked up, as she stated, "Well, the truth is she's always around the Student Council."
"Those groupies?" Applejack asked.
Pinkie Pie nodded, "Yeah. They don't let anyone get close to her."
"Hey, speaking of Rarity…" Slash pointed out. "She's coming this way."
The girls and Spike looked to be assured of this, and saw Rarity walking in their direction. Quickly, and before Spike could go on one of his ogling stare off moments, they ducked for cover in some bushes nearby. Rarity walked past them without even knowing that she had an audience observing her in the shadows. Once she was out the gate, the others got up, as they looked to one another.
"Where do you think she's going at this hour of the day," Twilight asked.
"Oooh, I know where I'd be: a malt shop getting a triple hot-fudge sundae shake," Pinkie Pie said, as she licked her lips up. "Hmmmm… sundaes…"
Both Spike and Slash went deadpanned on that, as Spike replied, "That's some place you'd go, Pinkie."
"Knowin' her type, she's gone ta some fancy salon ta get a perm or a pedicure," Applejack shot out looking unamused.
But Twilight wasn't about to deter on the board of defeat, as she hopped out, "Well, either way, we need to be certain about the Element of Generosity."
2 Hours Later
Downtown
After nearly two hours of searching around the city, the trio of girls and Spike were groaning of exhaustion. They were currently sitting on a bench near a restaurant, as they were trying to wipe away the exhaustion that plagued them on an endless and fruitless search for Rarity. They had lost her mid-way when they attempted to tail her, but every time she turned around, they had to hide again. The last time they hid, it was on the subway, and they had lost her in the crowd. Now, they had to try and find her once more. So far… nothing came up. Spike got up, and pulled out Slash, as he put him on his sister's lap, as he walked away.
"I'm callin' it quits; my feet are killing me," Spike argued. "We'll try again tomorrow." And then walked back to the underground lab/training grounds.
Applejack groaned, as she pulled off her hat, as she sighed, "I gotta admit, ah'm stumped. Ah honestly thought she'd be there at those places."
Pinkie just slouched, as she clawed at the skies, "Missed… so many… dessert coffee bars… on the search. Missed… taste test… opportunities… Ugh." And fell off the bench in a heap, as she moaned, "Sugar… need energy…"
Twilight sat up, as she sighed, "Well, Spike's got the right idea. We should try tomorrow."
Slash hopped off of Twilight's lap and landed on Pinkie's head, as he was firm on finding Rarity, "Now hold on a moment. There might be a way to find her."
Twilight seemed to perk up a bit, as she asked, "How?"
"You said that the Element of Generosity glowed when it was in her presence, right?" Slash asked, and then determined. "Well, then the only way we'll find her is by using the Element."
Twilight stood up and dug in her backpack, fishing out the Element of Generosity. As she held it out in her hand, holding it out like a compass, the diamond-shaped jewel glowed in the direction it stopped at. Applejack stood up, waving herself with her hat, as Pinkie suddenly shot up, fully energized again, as Applejack was amazed by the turn of events, "Hoowee. That darn thing there's like a dowsin' rod."
"Alrighty then! Let's find her!" Pinkie Pie jumped up, as the trio of girls ran to follow the light of the gem.
After a while, they had finally made their way into a more friendly section of down town. It was only then that they had reached to where the diamond gem had led them to. It was a homeless shelter, as it looked like a few homeless people were walking about. As the girls investigated, Pinkie Pie asked, "Wow. You think Rarity came into this place?"
Twilight looked around, and then spotted the girl in question, working together with chefs in preparing meals and was planning to take them out to the people. "Definitely."
Next Chapter: A Beautiful Heart of Gold; the Diamond of Generosity pt.2