Though it was still broad daylight, the second Twilight and Fluttershy entered the forest they were immediately treated to barely any light whatsoever. The sounds of the woods were without a doubt frightening for the two, and the powerful winds howled through the leaves. Every clearing they came across, they could look up and see the flying fortress of a city, Cloudsdale, hovering overhead.

The city itself had a half-sphere bottom, and only Pegasai knew what lay on top of it. It stayed afloat by the harsh updraft of the forest and, more specifically, the wind crystal pushing on the rounded bottom. It was a risky yet ingenious design choice Twilight still held in high regard to this day, but now was not the time to be thinking of that.

The forest seemed to only grow darker as Twilight and Fluttershy continued their journey, even though it was still broad daylight. And, as previously mentioned by Twilight, there were monsters scattered everywhere.

"Try to move slowly" Twilight whispered to her new friend "Maybe that way, we'll attract less attention than we need to. There are a lot of monsters here, Fluttershy, and I don't want to be taking them all on at the same time."

"O-Okay..." Fluttershy nodded, trying her best to avoid making as much noise as possible.

"So..." Twilight attempted to created some small talk in whisper "You live close to the forest. Do you have any idea where the wind crystal might be?"

"Sorry, no..." Fluttershy sighed "I've just lived on the edge of the forest, never once stepping into it. It looked much too scary, and looking at the inside of it now, I can see I was right to assume the worst..."

"Aw, c'mon, it can't be that ba-"

(Music Stop)

*crack

A snapping sound was heard below Twilight's feet, signalling she just stepped on and broke a stick, sending the noise throughout the entire forest. Reacting to it immediately, she and Fluttershy stopped dead in their tracks, praying to god that nothing heard their walking. A single minute felt like an eternity, patiently waiting to make sure nothing popped out at them and attacked them off guard. After a few more moments of silence, they began where they left off on their path, making sure never to-

*crack*

"Oh... Sorry..." Fluttershy apologized almost instantaneously. Twilight did nothing as the sound of what seemed like hundreds upon thousands of monsters quickly approached their position.

"RUN!!" Twilight and Fluttershy took no time in fleeing the scene just before the gigantic flock of metallic-looking bats swarmed the area they were previously in. They never looked back, too scared to even think about doing so. Though it was nearly impossible to see, they just ran forward aimlessly, hoping that they would bump into a hollow log to hide in.

"They're still coming, Twilight!" Fluttershy had run so fast that her hood had come off her head "I can hear them!"

"Stay calm, Fluttershy!" Twilight assured her partner "We'll find a- OOF!" she smacked her face right into something she couldn't quite make out.

After allowing her eyes to adjust, she saw the object she ran into was, low and behold, a hollow log to hide in. Without question, she guided Fluttershy into the log and, soon after, herself. The bats harmlessly, in a physical sense, flew over their hiding spot with no complications. However, their loud screeching caused a ringing in Twilight's, Fluttershy's, and Spike's ears.

(Music Stop)

"That... that was close..." Twilight pointed out, panting all the while "Damn, I can't see anything in this darkness... Fluttershy, do you have some sort of holy spell you can use to brighten the place up a bit?"

"No, sorry, Twilight..." Fluttershy shook her head "Oh, this is all my fault! If I hadn't have stepped on that stick, we wouldn't be in this situation..."

"Hey, no need to get so worked up about it" Twilight gave a kind smile, despite knowing the White Mage couldn't see her do so "Everyone makes mistakes, and it's only really bad until someone loses an eye."

"That... would be bad" Fluttershy cheered up a little bit.

"Yeah, it would be."

The two had a short laugh, making sure to be as quiet as possible while doing so as to not attract anymore attention than they already had. However, the moment they finished their moment, they heard footsteps slowly approaching them. They fell dead silent once again, listening closely to the sound of the steps slowly crinkling every leaf and cracking every twig and stick on the ground. To say it was nerve-wracking would have been an understatement.

To their surprise, more slow footsteps began appearing alongside the original pair. Twilight immediately deduced that they were Buho, like her and Fluttershy, from the way metal clanged every time they stepped. What she couldn't figure out was whether or not these Buho were guardsmen patrolling the area, or raiders looking for loot and useful scavenges.

A bright light then shone forth from one of the sources of the footsteps, at last revealing just who these people were. Twilight took a small peek outside the log and gasped a bit. Not only were they guardsmen patrolling the area, but they were clothed and decorated just like the elite soldier team simply known as the Dragoons. Twilight had to use every ounce of her strength to remain calm about the situation.

"Twilight are you okay?" Fluttershy whispered.

"Take a guess who they are!" Twilight excitedly whispered "Go on!"

"Um... I don-"

"The Dragoons, the legendary patrol team of Cloudsdale!"

"...I'm still not quite familiar" Fluttershy honestly answered, causing Twilight to facepalm and unintentionally raise her voice.

"Are you kidding?" she complained "They're famous for their strength, their bravery, and their kindness! They have a strong reputation as the greatest warriors that ever were, thanks to their flying capabilities, and their-"

"Well, well, well... And who exactly do we have here, hmm?" a male voice spoke from behind Twilight. Her eyes widened and her pupils shrank the moment she heard the voice. Slowly, she turned around to see a Dragoon with a standard issue Dragoon attire, including navy blue armor with silver highlights covering his entire body, a silver knight mask over his face, a diamond-shaped shield attached to the left arm armor with a silver dragon pattern on it as well as a red gem in the center, and a long spear with an axe at the end of it. The wings behind him were light green, and his light green ears stuck out from atop his helmet. Around his waist was a black waist cape. From the tone of his voice, he did not sound pleased at all.

"Um... hi?" Twilight nervously smiled.

"Commander Spectrum Streak!" the Dragoon called over his superior, who came and revealed himself looking near identical to the normal Dragoon only with gold highlights and shield instead of silver. His ears and wings were a purplish blue color.

"What seems to be the problem?" the commander, apparently name Spectrum Streak, spoke in a slightly higher pitched, but still recognizably male voice.

"We found these two hiding in this log. What do you wish to do with them, sir?" the Dragoon asked in a formal manner "May I suggest the dungeon? We haven't thrown anyone in the dungeon for quite some time now, and I fear our men are beginning to get angst-y."

"Hmm..." Spectrum looked at Fluttershy, Twilight, and then the latter's baby Bahamut, causing him to slightly gasp "Um, no. Not these two. They might prove useful in our survey."

"How so, sir?"

"For god's sake, man! One of them is a White Mage, and the other is a Summoner! Did you happen to forget we forgot to bring magic users on this expedition?"

"Actually, you did, sir..."

"What was that, lieutenant?" Spectrum crossly asked the Dragoon.

"N-Nothing, sir!" the Dragoon shook his head "Just, um, clearing my throat is all. I'll be sure to have them signed onto the expedition as soon as possible, sir!"

"Good to hear. Dismissed!" Spectrum stood tall and sturdy, and with a salute from the lieutenant he was off to do as promised. Spectrum stayed behind to talk with the girls, however.

"So, you're really a Dragoon?!" Twilight's eyes sparkled in excitement.

"Um, yes" Spectrum nodded, slightly confused by her reaction "Anyway, I'm not sure we've met before. My name, if you haven't heard already, is Spectrum Streak. I'm the commanding officer of the entire Dragoon army. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance."

"Y-Yeah..." Twilight blushed a bit.

"Um... Twilight?" Fluttershy spoke up "Could you, um... maybe get out of the log please? If you want to, of course."

"Ah, so Twilight is your name then?" Spectrum questioned "A fittingly lovely name for a lovely young woman such as yourself. Wanna bang later tonight, by the way?"

"Uh-huh..." Twilight seemed as if she didn't even know what was being asked.

"As I thought: she's totally in love with me..." Spectrum placed a hand up to his face and sighed "I supposed I should get used to women falling for me now."

"Pardon?" Fluttershy asked as she got out of the log "If you don't mind repeating, um... What was that last part?"

"Oh, about the women?" Spectrum laughed a bit "Well, I've only recently been promoted to commanding officer. I figure alongside the job, I'll get the occasional swooning fangirl every once in a while. Oh, who am I kidding? Every girl is gonna wanna swoon when I walk up next to them!"

"I see..." Fluttershy spoke skeptically.

"Wait, only recently?" Twilight snapped out of her trance for a second to ask a question.

"Don't you worry about that, ma'am" Spectrum assured "If you're concerned about my combat skills, I've seen plenty of battles in my time as lower ranks. I'm just new at commanding everyone."

"Fascinating..." Twilight's eyes sparkled with excitement again.

"Sir! Their registration is nearly complete" the Dragoon from earlier came back to speak with his commander "All I need is their names and we're good to go!"

"Noted" Spectrum nodded and turned back to the two women standing in front of him "Now, I know your name is Twilight, but what might your friend's name be?"

"M-My name?" Fluttershy asked.

"It's Fluttershy" Twilight answered for her partner "She has a difficult time speaking with other people, especially when it comes to revealing her name."

"...and, done" the Dragoon guard nodded after finishing with the registration paper in his hand "Congratulations, Miss Twilight and Miss Fluttershy; you are now a part of the Dragoon survey team."

"Out of curiosity, what are you all surveying here?" Twilight asked, wanting to know more about what she blindly signed up for.

"What else? The wind crystal" Spectrum answered, making Twilight very happy in her head "We've been sent to investigate the recent activity happening around it. Some say its becoming tainted by some sort of shadowy force, but, I mean, c'mon! That's impossible! That Sombra dude has been dead for years!"

"Not dead, just banished" Twilight corrected him "The light of the crystals was too strong for him, and it forbade him from ever stepping foot into this world again."

"So, yeah!" Spectrum nodded "We have nothing to worry about! That taint stuff is probably just a rumor anyway. Well, the faster we get this done the better. I'll have my men get back into formation and we'll set out for the crystal."

"Sounds like a plan" Twilight agreed.

"Oh, and if you guys come across any monsters while in these woods, just let us handle them" Spectrum spoke cockily "We know that some monsters can be scary, venomous, and big, so don't be ashamed if you want to hide behind us."

"O-Okay..." Fluttershy spoke, nodding slightly.

"Heh... Obviously you haven't really met us yet, Mr. Streak" Twilight smirked "We'll be fine. Or, at least I will be. Fluttershy here might need a small bit of protection."

"Whatever you two need, we'll supply it" Spectrum bowed respectfully before walking off to collect his men.

"Come along, Spike" Twilight snapped her fingers at the baby Bahamut before it climbed up onto her back and soon onto her shoulder. She then walked Fluttershy over to the entire Dragoon squad, who happened to be waiting for them.

After about half an hour of walking and fighting monsters with Spectrum and his team of three other Dragoons, they finally made it to a clearing much, much brighter than the forest itself. This was thanks to the small green crystal on a cracked and aged alter, the former which shone a light that was bright, but soft on the eyes. It was beautiful, to say the least.

"And there it is, ladies and gentlemen" Spectrum called out "The wind crystal in all its glory. It's a little smaller than I remember though..."

"The crystals may be only big as both of your hands, but the power they store is unbelievable..." Twilight said in in know-it-all tone "In fact, did you know the crystals could actually-"

"No one cares!" the entire Dragoon team stopped her from speaking any further. After all the needless information spouting from what they deemed a walking encyclopedia page for half an hour, they didn't need anymore exposition. Twilight pouted a bit, but quickly got over it as she looked at the crystal, soothing her.

"Well men, it looks as if the crystal is safe" Spectrum nodded "Looks like we can finally go back home!" he turned to the girls and bowed "Thank you, ladies, for your companionship and magical capabilities. I doubt my men would have gotten through the forest without your summoning and healing magic."

"You wouldn't doubt anything if you remembered to bring healing items..." the same Dragoon from before muttered under his breath.

"What was that, private?" Spectrum asked with a small smirk under his helmet.

"Priv- NO! Oh..." the Dragoon collapsed to the ground in disappointment.

"Wasn't that, um... a little cruel?" Fluttershy asked.

"Nah, it's cool" Spectrum assured "Dragoons that talk back to their leaders are sentenced to a rank reduction, but he'll probably get it back in a few days."

"Spectrum, there's one last thing I want to check before we head back" Twilight told him "The crystal may be okay, but its guardian may not be. They're technically one in the same, so anything we can't see on the crystal may be reflected on its guardian."

"Good idea, Twilight" Spectrum nodded "But where would we find it? Obviously somewhere around the crystal, but in a place where we might never be able to see it..."

"Sir! I found it!" the Dragoon private called out, summoning the his commander as well as the two magic users over "It's just sleeping here, but... It looks as if its in pain."

(Music Stop)

The beast was about the size of two humans stacked upon each other, with a gluttonous pink body and a grotesque open mouth with hundreds of sharp yellow teeth in it. It had two arms, each with a five-fingered hand and a fat shoulder. Dark pink ears grew out from the top of it, with blue hair coming out of both. On its lower body was another head, this time orange with just as many yellow teeth, a large lower jaw and a tuff of blue hair on the top of its head. On the entire beast's body's back grew several grey, twisty horns. Like the Dragoon mentioned, it was fidgeting in its sleep, seemingly in pain.

"Incredible..." Twilight thought aloud "I never thought I'd ever have the honor of seeing a guardian in person..."

"Good job, lieutenant!" Spectrum patted the Dragoon on the back.

"Lieu- um, thank you, sir!" the Dragoon saluted.

"Oh dear... You poor thing..." Fluttershy quickly ran over to aid the beast, placing a hand on where she believed its heart to be "I... I think that is its pulse... It's b-beating so fast, but I-I can't figure out if i-it's supposed to..."

"Fluttershy's right" Twilight agreed "We have no way of finding out anything about it unless we..." she sighed "...wake it up. But we should try and formulate a plan before we attempt to-"

"Wake up, you dumb piece of fat!" Spectrum hit the guardian with his spear, attempting to awaken it. Twilight immediately saw this and was about to call out to him to stop, but a fierce rumbling was heard not a few seconds later.

"Uh oh..." Twilight stared at the guardian in fear.

The guardian's four eyes, two on each head, soon opened to reveal their natural curvy form, as well as their grey pupils. The beast slowly got up and began floating in front of the six members of the team. However, something was off about it, and despite knowing nothing about the beast, Twilight was quickly able to deduce what it was; there was a dark purple mist coming out of its eyes.

"I'm not a guardian biologist, but I'm gonna say right now that the mist coming from its eyes looks bad" Twilight spoke up.

"Thanks, Sherlock" Spectrum rolled his eyes inside his helmet, as well as gave a deadpanned tone.

"Don't give me that!" Twilight argued "You're the one who woke it up!"

"That's because you said we had to wake it up!"

"Then I said we have to form a plan first!"

"You should have said that before I started whacking it!"

"Oh, so this is my fault, huh? You go and bonk an ancient beast in the head and why? Because I didn't make myself clear fast enough? Who goes by that logic anyway?!"

"Um... guys?" Fluttershy tried to speak up.

"I do, as a matter of fact!" Spectrum continued "It's the way I've always done things, and my team and I have never gotten into a single hitch ever!"

"I bet you're proud of that, huh?"

"Yeah, I am!"

"Um... hello?" Fluttershy tried to get their attention again, watching as the other Dragoons tried their best to fight off the guardian without the others' help and failing unfortunately miserably.

"Oh for... You can't always go around and do stuff like this! You're so brash and quick-minded! Ugh... I used to think the Dragoons were something like heroes, and then I met you!"

"Well maybe if you weren't such a know-it-all all the time, maybe we'd get along better!"

"Bastard!"

"Bitch!"

"GUYS!!!" Fluttershy finally shouted, getting their attention "SHUT UP AND LOOK!! Oh, I'm so sorry... I didn't mean to shout..." the two looked over to the guardian and gasped when they saw it had already taken out all of the Dragoons on the team, and it was staring right at them now.

"Nuts..." Twilight sighed before reaching out her hand to Spectrum "Temporary truce?"

"Temporary truce" he did the same, albeit slightly regretfully "This isn't over, y'know."

"Oh, I'm well aware" they both retracted their arms and looked back at the guardian "But now's not the time. Whatever-its-name-is is going down!"

"I TYPHON" the guardian spoke in a loud, booming voice "YOU DARE HURT CRYSTAL? YOU NEED DESTROY!"

"Not exactly the brightest bulb, hmm?" Spectrum asked, pulling out his spear and twirling it around a bit before getting into a battle position he was comfortable with "This'll be a piece of cake!" he rushed straight into battle with his lance up front.

"Spectrum, no!" Twilight called out, but it was too late. He bounced against Typhon's body, who in turn opened its mouth wider than it already was and sent a burst of air spiraling at him, knocking him away and onto the ground.

"Cure!" Fluttershy shouted, casting a soothing light upon Spectrum's body and healing all of his wounds "Are you okay now, Spectrum? Maybe you, um... shouldn't do that again?"

"Y-Yeah... Okay..." Spectrum nodded before getting back up and facing Typhon alongside Twilight again.

"Spike, you know the drill" Twilight spoke to her Bahamut. He quickly crawled down from her shoulder and spewed a steady fire breath at the guardian. Unfortunately, it did little in the way of damage.

"Oh dear..." Fluttershy nervously shuttered in fear.

"If weapons don't work, and if magic doesn't work, then what will?!" Twilight shouted.

"Twilight, wait..." Spectrum began "If you'll allow me to be smart for a few seconds, why not cast Cure on it?"

"Are you crazy?!" Twilight shouted "That would only heal it!"

"Unless it was an undead monster!" Spectrum explained himself "Tell Fluttershy to do it quickly, before we're blown to bits!"

"R-Right!" Twilight had very little time to react to the situation, so she just went along with what her gut was telling her "Fluttershy! Cast Cure on Typhon!"

"W-What?" Fluttershy questioned "B-But wouldn't that-"

"Just do it!" Twilight flexed her arms downward "Good god, I hope that doesn't become a fad..."

Fluttershy nodded and cast her healing spell on Typhon. To her surprise and Spectrum's expectation, it screamed in agony and collapsed onto the ground, sticking out its throbbing tongue which Twilight and Spectrum believed to be its weakspot. Without question, they immediately used their physical weapons against the tongue.

"Wait, watch this! Jump!" Spectrum made Twilight watch as he jumped into the air, only to come back down and impaling the tongue with his spear pointing downwards. Impressed, Twilight brought out her dagger and finished the job up. By this point, the tongue had swelled to gigantic proportions, and looked as if it was about to explode.

"Fire in the hole!" Twilight yelled before she and Spectrum hightailed it out of there just as the explosion occurred, splattering blood all across the ground, mainly around Typhon. The explosion killed the guardian immediately.

"Did we do it?" Fluttershy wondered "Oh, thank goodness... That thing was... scary..."

"HA! For an ancient beast, you ain't so tough after all!" Spectrum laughed at Typhon's body before noticing something on the ground "Hey, look! There's some money next to him. I wonder how that got there..."

(Music Stop)

"Wait... Typhon is dead..." Twilight put two and two together before gasping and looking back over at the wind crystal, which had turned a very pale green color "No! Nonononono!! This can't be happening!"

"Is the wind crystal... dying?" Spectrum asked.

"I think the crystal... might already... be dead..." Fluttershy tried her best to stop herself from crying.

"But if the crystal is dead..." Spectrum's eyes widened as he focused and felt no wind blowing on his ears or wings. He looked up and saw Cloudsdale shaking and slowly plummeting down back into the earth.

"Oh crap! RUN!!" Twilight noticed this as well and grabbed Fluttershy, racing out of there with Spectrum by her side. They had escaped the general radius of the floating city, but even at their current speed, nothing could protect them from the blast of wind that would blow them back once it crashed down, which, of course, it did.

The sudden fall of the great city sent a tremor reverberating throughout Equestria. Fortunately, no major damage was done, but it still shocked many people. None were more shocked than the inhabitants of Cloudsdale, for obvious reasons. The city landed right on top of the wind crystal's alter and utterly destroyed it, presumably along with the crystal.

(Music Stop)

As soon as the tremor was finished, Twilight, Fluttershy and Spectrum looked back in both awe and fear. The city was just as beautiful as Twilight imagined, with some understandable cracks from the fall. Tall buildings of quartz and pearl stood tall, and in the center was a giant castle that seemed to take up one entire fifth of the city. It was glorious.

But they soon snapped out of their trance when they noticed just how much damage the city, nay, they had done. The forest had been leveled and no doubt a giant crater had taken its place. They also took into account the lives that may have been lost during the fall.

"No..." Twilight finally came to the realization of her actions "I just came to check on the wind crystal. But instead, not only did I fail my job, I destroyed it, literally felled a city, and probably killed hundreds of lives..."

"If it makes you feel any better, I never really liked the place anyway" Spectrum said, causing Twilight to get even angrier.

"HOW COULD YOU SAY THAT?!" her eyes had started to tear up "Your entire city, your friends, even your family might be in trouble and that's all you have to say?!"

"R-Right, sorry..." Spectrum apologized "My... family..."

"Twilight, m-m-maybe it might be a good idea to investigate the city" Fluttershy suggested "You know, to, um... check for any survivors and heal them..."

"Good idea, Fluttershy..." Twilight took a deep breath in before allowing Spike to climb up her arm and leaving for the city, but not before turning back to Spectrum and saying "Not a word out of you! You got that?"

"Yes, I understand..." Spectrum nodded and began walking with the two towards Cloudsdale.

Author's Notes:

Woo! Big chapter! Took me a while, but I'm finally done! So, when Twilight mentioned Spectrum's family, he seemed a little down, didn't he? More will be explained later...

This was brought up to me before, but I'll just say it for good measure: OCs will not be in this story, including mine. I want to make this story like a merge between canon Final Fantasy and canon My Little Pony, so no OCs from either side. That being said, if you want a monster to appear in this story that you know of, please let me know and I'll see what I can do.

Be sure to Like, Comment, Favourite and Follow, and until then, dream on everyone!