We ran through the streets of Ponyville, following Amaté. She was running really fast, her size helping her dodge the ponies that were walking by while we were having a more difficult time managing that, but we followed her.

“So! We’ll meet them back at the castle or at the lake?” I asked Spike, dodging a unicorn.

“At the lake. The princesses must have reached the castle by now. We’ll talk to your brother, find Sapph and Soul, and then meet them.” Spike answered, running by my side.

We ran to the outskirts of the town and saw a house that was different than the others. It was a big, two story house, with grey windows and roof. The front door was opened and I saw Flora standing at the front, planting some flowers at the law.

“Hey! Flora!” I shouted, startling her. “Sorry, do you know where Aguion is?” I Asked her.

“Goodness, Fairy. Don’t scare me like that again. He’s at his bedroom, I think. It’s upstairs, first door to the right.” She answered me.

“Ok, thank you.” I said, stepping into the house, the others followed me.

We looked around in awe, the house was fully decorated, with a few pot of plants here and there and a few empty photo frames on the walls for us to put our own pictures. We walked through the living room and saw the sofa and TV, and noticed that Draco was already connecting his videogame to television.

Scarlett jumped on the sofa and laid there, eyes closed and sighing. “I can get used to that…” She said. “How will you ‘inaugurate’ the TV?” She asked Draco.

He stopped for a moment. “Well… probably GTA 5.” He answered her.

“Wait here, guys. I’ll go talk to my brother.” I said, walking towards the stairs that were behind the couch.

I went upstairs and entered my brother’s bedroom, where he was organizing his wardrobe. I cleared my throat and he turned to me.

“Hey, Fairy. What can I do for you?” He asked me, sitting on his bed. I saw Niner Blaze there too, snoring peacefully.

“I found Spike and Eclipse. They’re having a picnic at the lake, and Sapph, Soul, Mirror, the Aspects and the Princesses will be there too. They invited me and the girls, so… Can we go?” I asked, giving him puppy dog eyes.

He returned me a half-lidded stare and pointed at my face. “That look doesn’t work on me anymore. But sure, you can go. I put your bags in front of your bedrooms' doors on the end of the hallway to the right.” He said with a smile.

I gave him a hug. “Thanks, Ag! See you later!” I said, running off.

“Have fun! So much for a seventeen year old…” He chuckled, returning to his task.

I jumped down the stairs and ran to the others, who were looking at the TV. I stopped for a moment when Draco used his bazooka to blow up a helicopter.

I furrowed my brows. 'Count with Draco to cause havoc in record time.' I mused and smiled. “Come on, guys. Aguion said we can go.” I said, motioning them to follow me out of the house.

“You guys can visit sometime, so we can play a bit.” Draco said to Spike and Eclipse, grinning when he managed to snipe a helicopter's pilot from a incredible distance before ducking behind a wall to protect himself from the police's bullets.

Fucking camper.

“Sure! See you sometime, Draco.” Eclipse said, waving to Draco.

“He’s cool, isn’t he? A lot of people stop playing videogames when they turn into adults, but most of the family plays. I think the only ones that aren’t ‘gamers’ are Metta, Flora and Sunshine.” I said.

“Your family is awesome. I would love to make Twi play something, but she says videogames are a waste of time.”

“Shame. Based on what you said to us, she would love playing Hearthstone or StarCraft.” Scarlett said, shaking her head.

We walked back into town and Spike showed us the way to Sapphyra’s and Soul’s house. After five minutes of walking, we were standing at the house’s door.

“Wait, I knew they live here in Ponyville, but I didn’t know they were roommates. Or housemates, in this case.” I said, cocking my head to the side.

Eclipse shrugged and knocked on the door. We waited for a moment before the door opened and a light blue dragoness with silver hair and wings stepped out. She was wearing a blue blouse and grey jeans; she had a flower on her hair that was the same blue as her scales. She looked at us with her and her silver eyes widened.

“Girls? Is that you?” Sapphyra asked us, a smile growing on her face.

“Oh, no. We’re just a mirage.” I deadpanned.

“Yup, it’s you. That was horrible, by the way.” She concluded with a half-lidded stare. Her smile returned and she hugged us. “I’m so happy you’re visiting!” The girls and I smiled.

“Good to see you too. Where’s your boyfriend?” I smirked.

Sapphyra pushued me back. “Soul isn’t my boyfriend!” She glared at me with a blush. “We’re just housemates, dammit!” She facepalmed, making us snicker. “By Frostrier, you guys are idiots.”

“You only noticed it now?” I laughed. “Ok, ok, we’ll stop. Where’s Soul?”

“He’s inside. We were getting ready for the picnic.” She grumbled before she smiled again. “You’re going?”

“Yep! Spike invited us!” Dolph said.

“Cool." We heard footsteps coming from inside. “Oh, there you are. We were talking about you.” Sapphyra smiled.

“Oh, really?” A black drake with grey wings, spines and horns said, stepping out. Soul was wearing a black jacket and jeans. His grey eyes stopped on us and he smiled. “Hey guys, long time no see.”

Scarlett frowned. “Dude, I know you’re a Shadow-wielder and all, but really?” she pointed at his clothes.

“I need to wear dark colors. It makes hiding in the shadows easier, even with my Shadow Veil.” He said, shrugging.

"Could at least put an indigo or grey t-shirt and unzip your jacket." Scarlett grumbled.

"Why are you fussing about this? You're not exactly someone that cares about those kinds of things." Sapphyra asked with a raised eyebrow and Scarlett shrugged.

"I'm hanging out with Metta a bit too much." She replied.

“Let’s go? It’s almost time, and maybe we’ll meet the others on the way.” Spike suggested.

We all nodded and Spike led us through town. Since this time we were walking calmly, Spike could point us some important places and reference points, like the bakery where Pinkie Pie worked and Rarity’s house and shop. After a while we encountered Twilight and the others, who were on their way to the lake.

“Hey, Twi.” Spike said while we approached the group.

“Hello, Spike.” She looked at me and the girls. “So, I take you brother let you come?”

“Yes, we’re going too.” I smiled.

“Good. Oh! Princesses, those are Fairy, Scarlett, Dolph, Viper, Soul, Eclipse, and Sapphyra.” She turned to us. “Those are Princess Celestia, Princess Luna and Starlight Glimmer.” Celestia was wearing a beautiful white dress while Luna was wearing more formal clothes, a simple strapless indigo shirt and black pants, and Starlight Glimmer was wearing a short-sleeved purple shirt and a blue knee-long skirt.

We bowed. “I’m happy to meet you, your highnesses.” I said, standing up. “And you too, Starlight.”

“Likewise, but please, call me and my sister by our names. Today we’re dispensing formalities.” Princess Celestia said. She stopped for a moment before asking us. “Say, are you from Hybrios?”

“Yes. I, Scarlett, Dolph and Viper are from Hybrios.” I answered.

“Excuse me, Celestia, but how do you know that?” Twilight asked her former mentor.

We started walking through the streets while Celestia answered. “Simple, I hired them.”

“Sorry, but I’m lost. You hired them to do what?” Twilight asked again.

“To put it simple, Equestria is opening its borders, the Everfree is fucking with Ponyville, Celestia needs to put more guards here but it would be a bit suspicious, so she asked Hybrios for help since we deal with this kind of shit daily, and here we are.” I said, shrugging. Twilight, Starlight and Rarity winced lightly at my choice of words while Luna and Rainbow seemed amused.

“Ok, but deal with what, exactly?” Twilight asked. Again.

‘Now I see what Spike was talking about.’ I thought, chuckling. “Feral beasts. Y’know, Timberwolves, Hydras, Cockatrices, you name it.”

“Wait, wait, wait. You. Fight beasts? Sorry, but I don’t believe in you.” Rainbow said, crossing her arms.

“Oh, really? Well, the Everfree is getting worse, so there’s a chance an attack will happen today. Then you’ll see us kicking beast ass.” Scarlett glared at Rainbow. Fluttershy whimpered.

“Scar, this is Fate's faforite hanging out spot. Saying those things here is asking for trouble.” Spike said with narrowed eyes. Just then we heard a scream coming from a street ahead. “See?” He sighed and pinched the bridge between his eyes.

We all dashed to the place where the scream came from and saw a Timberwolf chasing a brown earth pony colt. “So, Rainbow. Choose one of us to kick wood ass.” Scarlett said, still running.

Rainbow turned to us and pointed at me. “Thank you.” I smirked and ran faster to protect the boy.

“HELP!” He yelled, tears of fear streaming down his face. The Timberwolf prepared to pounce on him.

I jumped over the boy and slammed on the wolf mid-air, making both of us fall to the ground, but only I managed to fall on my paws. “Hey, you shouldn’t try to kill people. They might be able to fight back.” I said to the wolf and I saw the others running towards us and stopping at a safe distance. ‘Time to put on a show.’ I chuckled internally. The wolf tried to tackle me, but I side-stepped to evade the attack. It jumped at me, but I jumped to the side and slapped my butt. “Come on, I thought you were hungry!” I heard laughter coming from the others. The wolf snarled and tried to bite me, I just jumped over him and gave him a swift kick on the back of its head.

‘Just as I thought, they’re dumb like the ones in Hybrios. Tsk, better finish this.’ I thought, disappointed. I looked at the others. ‘Heh, this will blow their minds.' I smirked and closed my eyes, putting a hand on my hip and giving a smug smirk. “Hey, this is getting boring fast, so I’ll just finish you, ok?” I said while opening my eyes lazily. The wolf lunged at me but I was ready for it and reached for one of my Chasers.

I waited for him to come close to me before stepping to the side and slashing his foreleg off with my knife, making it howl in pain while I walked away. Its leg connected back to its body and it tried to attack me again.

“Dumbass. Arcane Bomb!” I shouted, charging up the Chaser with my magic and throwing at the wolf. The weapon exploded with the contact and turned the wolf to splinters. I saw a brilliant piece of wood shaped like a heart fly to the air. ‘There’s the core, destroy it and the wolf dies.’ I thought, running to the place where the core was going to fall.

I stood right below it and prepared a punch. “Alright, Mark! Don’t leave me hanging now!” I said, my hand being covered in a pink aura. “Copycat, Niner Blaze…” The aura changed colors, turning into a fiery red. “Fire Punch!” The aura was replaced by a powerful blaze and I punched the core with full strength. The impact broke the core in two and set it on fire, the two pieces fell to both my sides. I stared at the burning wood for a while before looking around and seeing the splinters disappear.

I smiled and walked calmly to the others. Every one of them, except for my friends, Luna and Celestia, were looking at me with gaping mouths, but even Celestia looked surprised seeing as her eyes widened slightly. She may be good at hiding her emotions, but knowing when people are lying is half of my job. I created some Arcane Chains on my hand and used them to close their mouths, patting Rainbow on the shoulder before turning to Spike. “Problem solved, which way is the lake?” I asked him.

He chuckled. “This way. Come on guys, we’re getting close.” He walked and everyone followed, except for Twilight and Rainbow who were still processing what they saw.

“Uhh, Spike?” I said, he stopped and looked at me. “I think I broke them.” I pointed at the two who were standing a few feet behind us.

“Of course you did! You just used magic! Magic! And you’re not even a unicorn!” Pinkie said, getting on my face.

“Yeah, sugarcube. How did ya even do that?” Applejack asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Let’s get them back to normal so I don’t need to explain twice.” I said, walking toward the blue-screened duo, and slapped their faces.

“Ow!” They cried in unison. “What the buck?!” Rainbow shouted at me.

“You’re getting behind. Come on.” I said, walking back to the main group.

Twilight teleported to my front. “How did you do that?!” She asked me with wide eyes. I teleported to the others, startling the ones that weren’t used to seeing a griffoness using magic.

“I’ll explain when we get there. Come on.” I said, walking calmly.

After a few minutes we reached the lake and set up our things on the ground near the lake. After everything was organized we sat down and I started explaining.

“Ok, unfortunately, to explain how a non-unicorn can use magic, I have to explain how my country was formed and how this magic was discovered.” I heard groans coming from Rainbow, Pinkie and Applejack. “Yeah, I know. I’ll try to resume it, but it’s still going to be a bit long.” I said with a panicked look before clearing my throat.

“Over two thousand years ago, a group of ponies were exiting Equestria; they were leaded by four of their most intelligent and strong: Fira, the unicorn; Quake, the earth pony; Aero, the pegasus; and Waterga, the seapony. They were escaping Equestria because of Discord, as he was driving ponies into madness, and, while some ponies liked his chaos, those who were escaping obviously didn't.

“They were running around, trying to find someplace that wasn’t claimed by anyone to build their refuge. On the way, they found others who were travelling, fleeing, and even banished. One of them was a changeling queen, even.”

“Wait, a changeling queen?” Starlight interrupted, astonished.

“Yep, Queen Chitin is one of the kindest queens you’ll ever find.” I said smile while cutting a slice of pie for me, putting it onto a paper plate Pinkie Pie brought for us. “Well, after some time – three years, if I remember correctly – they found a place near the Dragon Lands and stopped there. By that time they had grown a lot; The initial three hundred ponies turned into a little more than a thousand people from different species. One of them was a travelling unicorn, by the name of Manae. She was an expert in magic and her mark allowed her to see other people's magical auras and discover what kind of magic they knew. You can say she's our Starswirl.

“One day, she noticed that some unicorns and non-unicorns had similar auras. She asked for help in testing a theory and the founders plus some others decided to help her. She discovered that the non-unicorns could also use a different kind of magic that she called Auric Magic, since it came from our magical auras. She taught some ponies that had different auras and they were the firsts to master their elements, known by us as the Aura Masters." I finished. I went to grab my slice of pie, but it had vanished from my plate. I looked to my left side and saw Scarlett and Dolph fist-bumping each other, snickering at me.

I slowly shook my head. "Manae dammit, you two..." They started to laugh and I rolled my eyes, noticing we were receiving strange stares. I wondered why was that when it finally clicked. " We say our Masters' names like you do with the Princesses'. Some guy started that to mock the fact Equestria did that. Turned into a tradition a few years later." I snickered. "Half of Hybrios traditions started as jokes. My element is Arcane, so I use Manae's name, since she's the Master of Aracane." I said with a giggle as I grabbed another slice of pie Applejack was offering me.

“Wait, so that's why Sapph said ‘By Frostrier’ earlier?” Eclipse asked with a raised eyebrow, grabbing his own slice.

“Exactly, I’m mainly an Ice-wielder, and Frostrier is the Aura Master of Ice.” Sapphyre answered with a smile.

“So everypony has a different magical aura, and this aura establishes a pony's magic?” Twilight asked with a head cocked to the side.

“Yes, but there are people that have an aura of multiple types. For example, Eclipse, Sapphyra and Spike can use more than one type of magic.” I said, pointing at the three.

“That’s fascinating!" She said with a smile before blinking. "Wait, did you say Spike?” She asked, looking at the drake.

“Yeah, Fairy here taught me how to use some of my magic." He said and turned to glare at Twilight. "Actually, I tried to show you once or twice but you never had the time. After a while I stopped trying.” He sighed, and when Twilight opened her mouth to apoligize he cut her with a shrug. “Not a big deal anymore. Look, I can use two kinds of magic. Fire and Draconian, but normally we refer to the Draconian magic as just Dracon.” He then put his hands forward, one with the palm facing upwards, and the other downwards. “Fireball.” A small ball of fire appeared on his palm, the orange flame flickering rapidly. “Dracon Claw.” A green aura covered his other hand, forming a feral claw that looked like it could cut through steel.

The others looked in awe and he stopped the energy, making the spells disappear. “Spike, that’s amazing! Oh, the tests I could do, I need to study this magic right now!” Twilight said, standing up.

We all rolled our eyes and I used my chains to hold her in place, making the purple alicorn yelp. “Calm the fuck down, please. We can help you with it later, but right now we have a picnic to enjoy.” I said.

Twilight blushed. “Ok, sorry.”

“Fairy, why your Masters’ names are all related to their elements? Was it fate or something? Oh! And why you didn’t need to say ‘Arcane Chain!’ when you held Twilight down?” Pinkie asked, boucing in excitment.

“They changed their names when they turned into masters of their elements. Did you really think my name is Fairy? My real name is Talon Stryke; when I was small I got the nickname Fairy and I loved it. I use it even now with seventeen. And the attack’s name is more of a trigger, I used the Arcane Chains so many times I can use it without needing the trigger. Ok, the trigger just turned into a thought, but still. And same with a few other spells like my Teleport.” I answered.

“Ok, come on, we came here to eat and swim, not to have a fucking lecture about magic.” Scarlett said, annoyed.

I smiled. “Yeah! Come on, let’s eat, I’m starving!” I finally grabbed the slice and brought it to my beak, my eyes widening when I tasted it.

We proceeded with the picnic, talking with each other and savoring one of the best foods I've ever tasted.

Author's Notes:

Hey guys! I hope you liked this chapter. And holy crap, this took too long to write. Seriously I started around 5 pm, now it's 9 pm. I don't know if writing really takes this long or if I'm just slow.