Griffonstone, once a thriving city and capital of the United Kingdoms of Gryphonia, now divided between its inhabitants. It was located beyond the Celestial Sea in the east of the USA. The population turned against each other because of everything that happened in the last weeks.

It started slowly with weird looking plants. The local scientists and experts thought that they might be mutated subspecies of already known flora. Nobody questioned it any further.

Then, people went missing. The authorities searched for excuses. At one point they claimed that the disappearances were caused by a smuggler ring or, that people went on vacation or moved away. Those, as all other ‘logical’ explanations came up to avoid a panic of the public. But to no avail.

The government sent small troops of police and military into the mountain chains around Griffonstone to search for the missing. Nobody had returned.

First citizens started to demand answers which couldn't be given. Demonstrations were held. Next, things like computers and cellphones died. It was the famous straw that broke the camel's back.

People in despair, especially the ones who lost friends and family to unsolved circumstances, demanded a new government; a government that would be able to protect them from this invisible foe.

One of these people was the young woman Gilda. Her friends and acquaintances gave her because of her dominant personality, pride, her will to ‘be awesome’ and rough behaviour, the nickname, Gilda, the Gryphon.

She had bright brown skin, a very athletic body, yellow eyes, short white hair that grew more to the front and was a solid 6 feet tall. Gilda wore black sneakers, camo pants and a black t-shirt with a label on the front that said, ‘Be awesome’.

She had lost her grandfather, Grandpa Gruff.

One day she wanted to visit his house in the countryside, a little outside of Griffonstone. His door was destroyed and he wasn't there anymore. His house was empty and she didn't find a single hair of him, except blood. A lot of blood. Gilda was sure that he wasn't attacked by some mysterious ‘smuggler ring’. It looked more like the attack of a wild animal. She never found out what happened to him and it devastated her.

Then there was one of two people in her life who she ever called a best friend, Greta. Like Gilda, the girl lost someone, her younger cousin, who just wanted to visit her for a week. The young boy went missing three days after his arrival. He wanted to go on a walk with the family's dog in the nearby hills and Greta waited the entire day for his return. The dog came running with his leash on in the moment she decided to search for him, but her cousin didn't.

Then the rumors started. People claimed that they saw creatures of mythology or other fantastic sights, then there was the rumor about people who could use ‘magic’, of all ridiculous things.

Gilda was annoyed by so much stupidity. What would come next? Dragons? A troll invasion? Unicorns? Pegasi? Living Gryphons? She decided to ignore all that and prepared herself for the next demonstration. She just waited for Greta. Speaking of the devil, someone knocked on the door and she heard the voice of her friend.

"Gilda! Are you ready to go?" Greta demanded to know.

"Yes, I'm coming! Chill, will ya?" Gilda answered in her rough voice.

She left her house and the two friends proceeded towards an appointed meeting, involving the entire city. In the meantime, they started to catch up with each other.

Her friend Greta had an average body; not too fat, not too trained, but graceful. She was 5'6” in height, with white skin, blue eyes, bright, smooth green hair that reached her lower back and a small nose. Her body screamed, ‘I'm cute, adore me!’, in Gilda's opinion.

Greta wore a grey scarf with a dark yellow, crescent-like half-moon as adornment, knee-length black boots, a red skirt that reached to the higher half of her upper legs and a fancy white blouse, where her arms remained uncovered.

"Did you hear that the Prime Minister wanted to reveal something big today? He announced it in the newspapers that he wanted to show something to the whole city, that would mark the, I quote, 'Beginning of a New Era'," Greta informed thoughtfully.

The tall girl scoffed at that, "Ha! That dweeb and his egghead-brigade are completely useless. People are missing and they do nothing. Some have started to spread rumors about ‘monsters’. Others claimed that they saw other humans who used magic in secret. Seriously, I even saw how neighbors started to attack each other because of different opinions. That's lame and not awesome at all."

It was obvious to her that the politicians tried to save their skin and made up all these rumors as distractions from their stupidity.

"Gilda, we should take that seriously. From what I heard, he really meant what he said," Greta lectured her friend.

"Whatever," the teenager with the yellow eyes replied, annoyed.

Why should she care? This guy, Prime Minister Reginald Silvertalon, was a coward in Gilda's book. She was sure of that.

The entire town populace was assembled in front of the government department of the city on the Guto Plaza, the place with the biggest open area in Griffonstone.

Television, radio, internet, cellphones, everything stopped working a short while ago, Gilda even heard how some claimed that their TV just vanished into thin air right in front of their eyes. In her opinion, those people were likely drunk, on drugs or insane, maybe even all three things at once. As if something like that could happen. So all had to gather at the Plaza for the big news.

The Guto Plaza itself was 300m² big, void of anything except a fountain topped by three giant gryphon statues made of marble, in the center of the place. The Plaza was paved with black cobblestone. Seriously, what birdbrain decided to build this place? Someone with claustrophobia? Gilde asked herself that every time she saw this area.

Everything was full of people. Gilda guessed that nearly everyone showed up; demonstrators, supporters of the government, maybe almost all of the 106,000 citizens. The prime minister and his cabinet stood upon a well-guarded, giant stage. Most of them looked very insecure themselves. Why had their leader called this meeting with the entire city? She could see it in their eyes, even from her distance.

Gilda's eyesight was always better than the average human.

He finally came forward to the lectern on an extra built base so that everyone could see him; Prime Minister Silvertalon. He was well-built, had a distinctive face, but was a little small in Gilda's opinion, maybe around 5'5”. He seemed to do a lot of sports. His eyes were an unforgiving orange and sharp looking, with his silver eyebrows. It gave the impression that he tried to look into your soul. But it was more illusion than reality. His hair was formed in a chaplet. He wore a half-bald head, the little hair he still had was a dark shade of silver, too, like his eyebrows. His clothes consisted out of a white suit, pants, shirt and shoes, but a red tie.

Gilda was never into fashion, but she was sure that this combination looked stupid.

Finally, he started his speech.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, my dear citizens! I thank every single one of you for your appearance. I know that the last weeks were hard and trying for everybody and many lost someone who was dear to them. I myself lost my hairdresser three days ago. I thought I was lost and could never be happy again."

He made a little break to hear amused reactions for this poor attempt of a joke. Nobody laughed; not even the most trustworthy supporter found that funny. Gilda nearly forgot that he wasn't just a dweeb, but a boring loser, too. This weirdo was all kinds of awkward. After he coughed slightly in embarrassment, he continued. The girl hoped she wouldn't die of boredom.

"Well, where was I? Ah, yes. I know that we are going through hard times. People are missing and possibilities of communication, like e-mails-"

E-mails?! Great, she could put ‘old fart’ on her list, too. No one used e-mails nowadays to communicate, first and foremost. There was this new invention; it was called the ‘cellphone’, with apps to log into social media websites like MyStable, HayApp or Tweet. Maybe he never heard of that before. Gilda questioned the intelligence of every voter who gave this guy a voice.

Oh, she missed some parts. Well, nothing important. She could summarize it in a few words.’Lame’, ‘boring’, ‘stupid’ and ‘I don't care’.

At the end of this torture, he finally came to the part of why she attended in the first place, his ‘great reveal’.

"Now, it is time for the reveal of the reason why I called you to this occasion. I finally found out why humans disappeared from our great city and it was indeed a tragedy, but it was sadly unavoidable."

The dumb dweeb said what?!

"You see, the beings, who were responsible for all of our losses had no other choice. Their goddess demanded sacrifices-"

OK, Gilda didn't care much for politics, but she was pretty sure that devil worshipers had not that kind of influence. People already started to leave with shaking heads and she was very close to doing the same. Certainly everyone already looked at him like he was insane or possessed by a demon. Some mouths dropped so low that it could be enough for a world record.

She wondered if the devil worshipers drugged him somehow. Maybe they poisoned his protein drink or gave him strong meds, or threatened to geld him... that wouldn't be a loss for the world

No, seriously. It really wouldn't. At all.

"So, in order to please her, the poor souls had to sacrifice other lives. Human lives. I was shocked, too, like you, my fellow citizens. But who are we, that we would deny them?"

“Your voters, you dumbass!” Gilda thought in pure disbelief.

"So, without further ado, I make room for the next speaker. The leader of the people who are suffering the wrath of an ancient goddess. Wait, I have to read the name to pronounce it correctly." He looked through his notes. "Mr. Zin'tala from the Kozzubari Tribe!"

Well, that didn't sound very promising for Gilda, "Greta, we should book it. I fear that this won't end well for us otherwise," she stated nervously.

"Y-yes, you are-what is that thing?!" Greta looked in great shock to the stage.

Gilda turned around to see what froze her friend like a statue. OK, maybe she was drugged, too.

A dark purple circle with some strange symbols everywhere appeared above the stage and another one directly beneath it on the ground. From both circles came a thin purple beam of light in either direction. The weird laser beams met each other in the middle and caused a black, egg-shaped portal to appear on the stage. Some strange-looking being stepped out of the portal. Gilda never saw something like that before.

It stood tall with seven feet, was built with a lot of muscle, more than possible on normal humans. A colossus, even under the clothes. It had a dark red skin color, a long hammer nose, sharp sky blue eyes with dark brown eyebrows, two at least 30 cm long curved, black tusks, the face in general was a little pulled in the length, otherwise it looked like the form a human.

Gilda could see that its hands, and probably the feet, too, had only three thick fingers and toes. It had no hair on the head, as far as she could see, and long, pointy ears and long earlobes down to its neck.

It wore a lot of piercings made out of... gold, maybe? Six piercings were on each ear on the top, three in the ear lobes, four on the nose.

Then there was its outfit. It wore bracers around the wrists, but no armor, some purple fabric, simple looking black shoes and a blood red robe. She could swear his entire fabric glowed in a black outline.

It wore a freaking glowing human skull on its hand. It looked very real.

It, or more, he started to talk in a deep, loud, commanding, but smooth voice with an strong accent, "Ahhhh, humans. Welcome. I'm glad you all could make it in time for the upcoming feast. Our Goddess will be pleased with her sacrifices. Allow me to introduce myself and my tribe. We are trolls, by the way, for those of you who still didn't find out. Your world has changed and I’m the harbinger of these dire news. I'm Voodoo Prophet Zin'tala from the Kozzubari troll tribe. Let me explain everything a little bit for you to understand what I'm talking about, before we will start the feast."

Trolls?! How was that even possible?! Gilda was more than confused. She always thought of the rumors as stupid fantasy, and now there stood before her the living proof that they were true? She was worried about the implications. So her grandfather was really killed by some strange monster? The girl looked around and saw how every human just listened, frozen in shock, fear or even awe. Greta looked... interested. What?

He spoke like a raconteur, "Indeed, the visions of the nature spirits granted us clarity about this world's situation. Some of your kind remained, but some were transformed into something new. Trolls, elves and goblins from what we saw, and many others in the outside world, beyond your city. And not only them; plants, animals, nature itself. A lot of things started to change according to the wishes of the spirits. You humans were blind and didn't see the signs, the power of strong mojo, or as you call it, magic, awoke from its slumber.”

Gilda tried to pull her frozen friend away from the scene, “Greta! Snap out of it!” She was ignored.

Zin’tala continued reverently, “Azijjk, the Bloodmother, our Goddess, granted us power over the shadows, but in exchange she demands sacrifices. Blood. But there are different qualities of your life source. ‘Strong Blood’, ‘Weak Blood’, ‘Determined Blood’, ‘Sinful Blood’ and the highest quality, ‘Pure Blood’. Every kind of blood has its own usefulness and unique properties for our mojo. I fear, that most of you are counting to the ‘Weak Blood’ kind at the moment. Luckily for me, the quality of blood can be changed with...drastic measures and life experiences.” A sinister tone made itself known, “We will play a game in order to discover who is worthy to serve as a grand sacrifice and who will end pitifully: A hunt."

The moment he finished his sentence, Zin'tala heaved his arms, stretched them in a 45 degree angle from his body at chest height, and concentrated, looking maliciously at the now terrified humans. His body started to levitate a little from the ground and his body was now glowing in the same dark purple as the portal. Under him appeared a black magic circle. Even his freaking eyes glowed in a purple light.

After a few seconds, black mist came out of his hands and flew around the entire Plaza to its edges, around the entire plaza appeared around 30 big, pitch black panthers out of the fog. They were at least 5'5” tall, had shining, entirely white eyes and stood around the whole place with some distance from each other, but they didn't block the backside of the Plaza. Gilda wondered why.

Oh, look. Their beloved Prime Minister decided to voice his concerns. How nice of him. Obviously, he did that with so much fear in his voice that it wouldn't surprise her if he would wet himself. Maybe he already had.

"S-Sir, Mr. Zi-Zin'tala! You to-told me, that y-you just wa-wanted to talk-" Zin'tala interrupted him.

“God, why can't this guy grow a spine?” Gilda thought in disgust for such cowardice. She was much too awesome to cower in fear. Duh.

"Yes, I did talk to them, didn't I? What is your point?" the prophet asked as if speaking to an inferior waste of space.

"Th-this ‘hunt’ y-you want t-to play, w-well, that is k-kind of not f-fair," Silvertalon commented pathetically

Gilda could only groan and facepalmed, "Wow, this guy deserves a medal for being the greatest dweeb in history!”

Zin'tala laughed madly and looked at the smaller human with amusement, "Not fair? I give them the chance to better their blood quality and to die as an honorable and worthy sacrifice." He looked disgusted at the Prime Minister, "I have to thank you for the diplomats you sent us. They made me stronger and gave me the ability to create portals. Still, you are-"

The troll prophet took out a sharp silver dagger adorned with a blood red diamond in the hilt from one of his pockets. It was solely for nefarious ceremonies and enchanted for the purpose. He used it to stab Silvertalon directly into his heart and stared the dying man into his eyes with unholy glee.

"-unworthy, but your soul can still be of use to me," Zin'tala informed with sadistic finality.

The commanding officer of the police snapped out of it and screamed to his fellow men and women, "He killed the Prime Minister! Shoot him!"

Zin'tala just scoffed at this sentiment and formed a protective viridian green colored bubble shield around him. it stopped every single bullet, until nobody had any left. He killed a few of the humans, who attacked him with black lightning. The pained screams terrified the rest of them and they surrendered, fearing for their lives.

Gilda never liked him, but she never wished his death. Now he was murdered like a worthless piece of trash. OK, he was kind of worthless, she had to admit, but not like that.

The Voodoo Prophet pulled his dagger out of the Prime Minister's corpse, looked back at the horrified humans and just said one word to break the silence, "Run."

The effect was immediate, people started to scream in blind panic, trampled over each other to save themselves. They all tried to escape in the only direction possible, where no panther stood; the back of the Plaza.

Gilda took her best friend's hand and pulled her to safety. luckily they already stood more in the back of the crowd. "Greta, we have to go!" Her friend looked like she spaced out, "Greta!"

The girl in question finally heard her friend and looked confusedly at Gilda, "W-What? Oh, yes. You're right. We should... go," she said in a strange tone.

"Snap out of it! I can't be awesome for the both of us when you are falling apart on me!" the white-haired teenager exclaimed in worry.

"S-Sorry, this is just so much to take in, you know?" Greta got wet eyes and sniveled sadly.

Both friends ran for their survival and after one minute, they heard the first screams of the panthers’ victims.

"Follow me. I know where we can hide ourselves," Greta said quickly, now with much more courage in her voice.

Gilda followed her best friend into the mountains, to the edge of a cliff. She had to admit that the view was breathtaking. Beneath them was a giant, dark blue lake, but that wasn't important right now.

"Err... Greta? What are we doing here?" The taller girl looked questioningly back at her friend and what she saw surprised her, very much.

Gone was Greta's fear or her nervous behaviour. She looked calm and confident and a little... remorseful? But only barely. The girl in question looked into Gilda's eyes with her own. There was a malicious spark in them. Greta started to talk in her usual silky voice, but now with a pitying undertone.

"Oh, poor, poor, Gilda. I didn't want it at first, believe me, but now... we have to part ways, permanently." She took her own ceremony dagger out of the brown bag.

She wore that ugly thing the entire time. Gilda already wondered what she had in there. Greta never liked such bags, normally.

"What are you talking about Greta?! Answer me!" She was furious now. Her best friend suddenly threatened her with some weapon? “What in the bloody hell is happening here?! Wait, this dagger looked exactly like the one from this crazy voodoo troll.

No... no, No. No! That couldn't happen to her! Not again! She already lost a friend, now her second one wanted to kill her? Was that it?

"Ahhhh, my promising child, you finally cornered your prey. I'm proud of you. Now, take her blood and gain strength." The Voodoo Prophet himself came out of the treeline and stood beside her former best friend.

"So, is that it? You'll just kill me?! Could you at least tell me why?!" Gilda wanted to get answers before these two would take her down, but she couldn't think clearly. This betrayal was just too much for her at the moment.

Greta sighed fatefully, "Gilda, I told you how my dog returned alone and without my cousin, right? Well, that wasn't the whole story. I instantly ran beyond the hills into the surrounding mountains and searched for him, like a mad woman, but I never found Gullus.”

If not for her situation, the athlete would feel sorry for the girl, but that wasn’t possible right now, “And that gave you the brilliant idea of presenting Griffonstone on a silver plate to some fanatics?!”

Instead of being angry, Greta looked sincerely happy, “I wanted to return home. Suddenly, many trolls of the Kozzubari surrounded me. I begged for my life and swore that I would help them to please their Goddess, our Goddess. They brought me to my new family, to my new father. He promised me that I could be a part of the Kozzubari. I just had to convince the Prime Minister to send diplomats. Well, more like scapegoats, but he didn't know that. With their blood, Zin'tala could create a portal in Griffonstone. The rest, as you know, is history.”

The tall teenager felt sick in the stomach. How far gone was this girl?! Worse, she knew about Greta’s abusive father, but that was no reason to accept a freaking mass murderer as a replacement!

“I have to gain strength through blood and I never met a stronger and braver person than you, Gilda. Blood gives us power, as the Bloodmother commands, and I wanted your blood. I know, you see that as some kind of betrayal to our long friendship, but it's nothing personal, I can assure you," she finished her tale in such a sincere tone that Gilda felt ill.

As Greta ended her explanation, Gilda couldn't understand what she meant. Yes, she heard every word, but why? Why would she betray her like that? After the whole thing with Rainbow Dash, Gilda thought that she at least still could call the girl in front of her a friend. Now she knew better.

"Now listen to me you dweeb. We are friends no more. I don't need any friends. I'm awesome on my own. I hope you rot in Tartarus!" Gilda was livid, sad, fearful for her life, so many emotions at once and she didn't know how to express herself.

Most of all, she was ANGRY.

"I'm sorry Gilda, but know that there was no other way for us." Gilda had her eyes closed for a few seconds, out of despair. Greta saw it, stepped forward and rammed her dagger into her former friend’s gut. The wounded teenager screamed out in pain.

A single tear left Greta’s left eye, "I will never forget our friendship. Farewell, Gilda."

The fatally injured young woman stumbled and fell backwards, a long way down, directly into the water of the lake.

Zin'tala put a hand on his new daughter’s shoulder and looked into her eyes, a warm smile on his face, "Well done, my child. You proved yourself worthy and showed your faith in our Goddess and in our ways of life. It was a necessary sacrifice, never forget that. Now, let us return to Jin'Herra and let me show you true strength. You shall forget the name of the weak human 'Greta' and take upon your new identity from this point on. I declare you worthy of the position I will bestow you with, my daughter. You shall be known as a member of the Kozzubari Tribe, Blood Priestess Ganzala."

Ganzala kneeled gratefully in front of her new father, “Long live the Kozzubari Tribe. For the Bloodmother.”

Gilda felt cold. Very cold. She felt how the bones of her left leg were broken from the impact on the water; it hit the lake first. She lost both humans in her life she once called best Friends. Was that how she would die? Murdered and forgotten in some forsaken lake? She felt her consciousness slipping away at a slow rate.

Suddenly she had new energy inside of her, why?

"Do you wish for a second chance in life, young human?" a motherly voice asked.

What was that voice? It sounded like fizzing water, but kind of female. It had a warmth which gave her hope again. Yes, she wanted a second chance. She wouldn't die here and she was ready to do everything necessary, even alone. She didn't care for friendship any more. So she answered the question in her mind.

"So be it. I will accept you as my Scion and you shall learn the ways of the water elementals, I'm sure you will handle every obstacle in your way. Close your eyes. Let my magic inside you and we will meet again later. A new life awaits you."

She closed her eyes and let the voice do its work. Then, her vision went white.

Gilda opened her eyes and saw that she rested in a soft bed. It was king sized and looked like some sort of bed for royalty. As she glanced around, she thought that the entire room made the impression like it was made for royalty.

OK, if it would have more furniture than just the bed in it.

It had a soft sky blue blanket. Same with her pillow and a crimson colored bed sheet. The bed itself was made of some kind of unknown wood she never saw before, but it had water drops as decorations.

The room was painted in a royal blue, but it was empty. Why? It confused her.

The door opened and a woman entered. Well, she looked mostly like that. She was tall, 6'6”, but her entire body was made of ocean blue water. She wore sea green almost translucent appearing boots, which reached to her knees and were adorned with some amber colored, unknown symbols. Same for her vambraces, made of some metal Gilda didn't know. They were colored dark green, glowing mysteriously in an ocean blue outline and with aquamarine adornments, which looked like some kind of kraken.

It was called, Maelphin, an alloy that could only be used and handled by water elementals. It made it possible for them to change the water currents in strength and direction in their near surroundings around 30 meter. Effective to irritate enemies, unfortunate souls, or incredible foolish ones, who wanted to fight an elemental of water in its very domain.

The second ability was that Maelphin could be used to conceive the Ocean's Voice, it meant that the bearer of this ore could communicate with all creatures of the sea and understood them in return.

The ‘woman’ definitely had a female figure and looked like a human, maybe a little broader, but still graceful. She wore nothing on her body except the boots, vambraces and a necklace, which was golden in color and consisted out of a thin golden chain and held a great aquamarine colored crystal, formed like a raindrop. It glowed mysteriously.

“Well, at least she has no breasts or private parts,” Gilda thought thankfully to herself. That would be awkward, but lucky for her the female-looking water elemental had none of it.

Gilda's savior had gleaming, emerald green colored eyes. They had a round, kind-looking shape, nothing else that could qualify as a face, like a mouth, eyebrows or a nose, but the eyes gave the girl warmth. That was enough for her.

"Ah, I see my Scion awoke from her slumber. Allow me to introduce myself, my name is Neptula and I was the one who saved you." There it was again, the fizzing, kind and warm voice.

"T-thank you. I-" Gilda stopped talking. Her voice; it sounded still like her own, rough and female, but had now a distortion and it sounded a little like Neptula's, like some kind of moving water, it was hard to describe for her. But she felt good. Really good. And powerful, too. That feeling was incredible.

"It seems you noticed. As a Scion, you are now something that is known as a half-elemental. In your case, an elemental of water. Additions to your old body and reconstructions needed to be made, you might say. Here, let me help you," Neptula explained kindly.

The elemental snapped her fingers and a big turquoise mirror made of water came out of the floor. Now that she looked down... the entire room had no real floor. The ground was made out of calm, turquoise water and she could stand on it.

"Take a look and admire the new Gilda. By the way, you are surely asking yourself how I knew your name. The answer is simple. The moment you accepted my help, I had not only access to your body for the time being, but your mind, too. I could see the memories of your life. But don't worry, I would never judge you. The past is the past for a reason. We have to look forward, form the present and prepare for the future," she explained patiently to her new Scion.

Gilda did exactly that and looked into the mirror, even though it made uncomfortable to think that somebody she never met before knew everything about her. What she saw surprised her. It wasn't entirely her old body anymore, but she had to admit it; she looked awesome!

Her white hair changed its color to olive green, her golden eyes were now a dark blue, like deeper water, her skin color had changed to royal blue. She was taller, too. From 6' even to 6'4”. Otherwise, Gilda had still her athletic body. She even saw, or more felt, something on her. Her whole skin was covered by translucent water. When she listened carefully, she could even hear how the water flowed around her body, like a second one.

Lastly, she noticed the most obvious change; she wondered how she didn't see it at first. Gilda was walking around in her birthday suit, not a single piece of clothing was on her body.

For the record, Gilda would deny with all her being that she reacted how she did when Neptula asked her later about it, "Eep!" the embarrassed girl exclaimed girly, her royal blue switched to violet in her face, hiding herself under the blanket in panic.

The water elemental remembered at this point what she forgot the whole time, clothes, humans had the urge to wear clothes their entire life, everywhere and nearly all the time.

But that wasn't her fault, in her mind. She never wore any.

"There is no reason to be embarrassed, my pupil. Modesty is no problem or concern here in the Elemental Planes," Neptula tried to calm her down.

But Gilda wasn't calm, in fact, that didn't make her feel any better at all. Would that mean that she could, in theory, run around naked and every male here would be like, 'Well, whatever.'? That didn’t sit well with her pride either way.

"Elemental Planes? Is that how this nation is called?" the Scion of water inquired in confusion.

Neptula chuckled in amusement, "You have much to learn. But no. You see, 'Elemental Planes' is the name of a set of dimensions. The worlds of the elementals and others, like the human world is called 'Earth' or 'Terra'.”

Gilda nodded sharply, that made sense, kinda.

The water elemental continued smoothly, “There are five different kinds of elementals, fire, water, thunder, earth and air. Every tribe has its own plane, like you humans have your space. Our domain, the lands of the water elementals, is called the Roaring Oceans. As you will soon witness for yourself, we have many underwater temples, cities and other places you might find worth exploring, but you will learn everything in due time. No rush."

"I see. Well, thank you very much for your help. So I'm your... 'Scion'. What does that mean for me?" the former human queried, sincerely interested.

Neptula viewed at the reborn teenager with approval, "You will be trained by me in order to gain the abilities which come with your rank. You are already above the lesser water elementals, but I have a question of my own. What does the name 'Rainbow Dash' mean to you? I felt great unrest coming from your very being when your mind focused on this human female. Let me help you, my Scion."

Gilda saw red, being reminded of the other person in the world who betrayed her, "Pah! She was once one of my best friends, like Greta the traitor. But she sent me away, because I didn't want to play with her pathetic loser friends. This Pinkie Pie girl annoyed me to no end. She always wanted to give me a ‘welcome party' to 'make me feel happy'. I mean, what am I, a hippie? Rainbow's other childhood friend, Fluttersomething, is still a doormat. But the most annoying one was this ‘Sunset Shimmer’, I believe was her name.”

A glint of recognition appeared in the water elemental’s eyes, not that the half human noticed it.

Meanwhile the Scion continued relentlessly, pacing up and down and gesticulated with her arms, “She realized quickly that I didn't want to hang out with them and only cared about Rainbow Dash. She gave me such a cliche speech about how I couldn't force her to choose, and how my way of behaving would be wrong. Seriously, this girl made it her personal mission to show me how I should behave. They angered me to the point where I snapped at them. All of them. And I called them out on their lame dweeb-behaviour.”

Neptula saw glimpses of her Scion’s memories, but it was politer to keep the conversation going, “I presume your former friend didn’t like your opinion about the other humans?”

Gilda snorted in sarcasm, “HA! Dash told me that it was me who should think about her errors and to not come back until I knew better. Like it was my fault that her so called friends didn't see awesomeness, even when it would bite them!"

The teenager felt better. Much better. She could finally talk to someone about everything that happened. She never mentioned it to anybody, she was too pissed off at the time and her pride wouldn’t allow it.

Neptula hugged Gilda lovingly and whispered into her ear, "Shhhh. Everything will be fine. They won't hurt you anymore. You don't need them any longer. You are my Scion, and I will teach you everything you need to learn about your new abilities. And do you know what will happen when you are ready? You can pay them back. Every single one of them. Sunset Shimmer for taking Rainbow Dash away from you, your best friend, and Rainbow Dash herself, because she abandoned you.”

A snarl escaped with a bubbly effect out of her throat, “Even Greta?”

Her new teacher shook her head, much to Gilda’s displeasure, “I fear not. The other girl, Greta. She is out of our reach in this very moment. The Bloodmother is no opponent you want to take lightly and the Kozzubari are one of the strongest known troll tribes. It would be foolish to challenge them without a very good plan... or an army."

Yes, Greta could go and die painfully. Gilda wouldn't cry one single tear after her, this traitor. Her, Rainbow Dash and Sunset Shimmer... she would pay them back. She would show those dweebs that she had no need to take lessons from them. But it depended on her new mentor and how good she would be in her training.

"My dear Gilda, you will make your mark. So let us talk about the future, about what I can grant you. And in return, you shall train under my guidance and be recognized as 'Gilda, the Tideless Wavebreaker'," the elemental proclaimed proudly.

She didn't see it, but Neptula had an expression in her eyes that made her look for a few moments like she calculated something in her mind.

But the young Scion of Water had to admit, her new title sounded all kinds of awesome.

Flood Maiden Neptula was pleased with her choice. She found this poor soul in the lake, drowning. Or more, she felt how the girl struggled to survive, so she decided to take her in. She rarely saw such determination in a young mortal. That this girl knew Sunset Shimmer and the other mortals was just a fringe bonus. She was sure that her own mistress, the highest water elemental, Lady Aquaz, would want to know about her new Scion and everything else.

The Lady informed her most trusted water elementals about the mortal, who played an important role somehow in discovering Terra and how this Sunset Shimmer, her friends and others had to be observed for the time being and everything related to them should be reported. She didn't know why they were important, but Neptula would comply the will of the Unyielding Water.

Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Rarity, Applejack and Rainbow Dash sat in the living-room and were already bored. Even though Sunset, Shining Armor and Sunny Flare had barely left Sweet Apple Acres, like 20 minutes ago.

"So, what are we going to do now, as long as Sunset is gone?" Rainbow Dash asked slowly.

"Ya could help on th' farm, ya know? Sweet Apple Acres has always somethin' to do," Applejack reasoned.

"AJ, I'm bored, not desperate," Rainbow replied shortly, like it was the most obvious answer. The cowgirl gave her friend her best deadpan look. Pinkie giggled.

Twilight entered the room with Spike in her arms and asked the group, "Hey girls! Does anyone want to come with Spike and me? We are going outside for a while to spend some time to, you know, calm down after everything that happened." Twilight tried to look nonchalant, but the others, especially Rarity with her eye for details, saw that the girl acted suspicious.

"Darling, I think a little fresh air would be absolutely delightful. Let me prepare myself and I will come with you and Spike," Rarity said happily.

She left the room, thoughtful, but otherwise fine.

Pinkie Pie suddenly looked with a serious face at Twilight and surprised the others, “You know, you reaaaally shouldn't hide how you're feeling in front of your friends," she stated with a pouting face.

"W-what are you talking about?" Twilight was sure that she could have convinced the others that everything was fine, but Pinkie beat her to it.

"Your smile. It's wrong; forced. I will come with you and together we turn that not-quite-frowny face into a smiley face." At the end of her sentence, Pinkie smiled again in her to her friends usually known Pinkieness.

"O-Ok. Thanks, Pinkie Pie. Did you see the others somewhere? Sweet Apple Acres looks so empty," the book-loving girl inquired to switch the topic.

Rainbow groaned once again in boredom and gave all the needed intel with a careless attitude, trying to balance a pencil on her nose while doing so, focusing on it, "Well, the girls from Crystal Crap went to Ponyville. Said something about searching for clues and information.” The pencil nearly rolled from her face, but she held steady enough, “Our former principals and Ms. Cadence are north of Sweet Apple Acres. They said that they wanted to train their magic and look out for further dangers. Trixie and the others are helping all over the place under Big Mac's watch, so that they don't mess up. Moondancer is in the western orchards in the barn, testing some ideas she got, or something like that.” She moved too much and gravity took its price, much to her chagrin. She looked back at Twilight, “Granny Smith is preparing meals with Apple Bloom and Scootaloo. But Rarity ordered them for whatever reason to prevent Sweetie Belle from making any food. And lastly, us, we have nothing to do at the moment, but Applejack's idea is lame and I don't feel like taking a walk."

After Rainbow Dash finished, the girls looked at her in wonder, much to Rainbow's confusion, "What"?

"We thought you didn't pay attention, Dashie. Because you looked so, well, bored when everyone split up to go about their own business. I'm sorry," Fluttershy helped her childhood friend out.

Rainbow Dash looked genuinely insulted.

"Hey! Of course I paid attention! I mean, duh! I wouldn't be awesome if I didn't pay attention to the important things in life," the athlete exclaimed smugly.

"Ya kiddin'? Yer the only one of us who had problems in any subject at school, because ya never paid attention to the teachers," Applejack spoke the truth, much to her friend's displeasure.

"As I said, the ‘important’ things in life," Rainbow Dash replied defiantly.

Twilight already wanted to lecture the chromatic teenager about the importance of knowledge, when Rarity returned in the same attire she wore at Camp Everfree most of the time. Rarity? Wearing the same clothes more than once in a row? Blasphemy!

And the purple-haired girl made her annoyance about exactly this atrocity well known, "We need to go shopping soon! There is no other way around that. I only packed ten different kinds of clothing, because I thought we would just be gone for a week. A lady of class like myself needs her diversity. But this mud outside would ruin most of my outfits and anything else I owned has surely been incinerated by now.” The girl dramatically put a hand on her forehead, “I can try to endure, but something has to be done!"

"Sugarcube, Ah think we have more important things to worry about. Ya know, like the fate of the world?" Applejack said flatly to the fashionista.

"Applejack, darling, the world can only be saved when you have the right attire. Nobody said we can't look fabulous, even in the darkest of times. I mean you saw what the geodes did with us, they gave each of us this gorgeous outfits," Rarity answered with a sincere smile.

"They did look nice," Fluttershy supported shyly, but she had a worried look in her eyes. Well, more so than usual.

"Rarity, you don't have to come with me. You should rest your ankle," Twilight said worriedly.

"Pfft! Darling. You should know by now that little setbacks are not enough to stop me. A lady has to endure and overcome every obstacle and smile in grace. Besides, you heard Mrs. Smith earlier. I should put at least a little pressure on it and slowly walk again. In this way it heals faster and I don't plan to sit down here the entire time and do nothing," Rarity replied with a smug grin.

"Flutters, is everything OK? You look so thoughtful sometimes, ever since we reached the farm," Rainbow Dash asked curiously.

"Um... I'm worried about the animals here on Sweet Apple Acres. I saw that they were protected, but something like a manticore or a chimera wouldn't have any problems hurting the poor dears. I wanted to go to the southern border of Sweet Apple Acres and check on the horses. That is, if you don't mind, Applejack," Fluttershy requested hopefully.

"No problem. Ah can lead ya to them. Ah'll just tell Granny Smith," the cowgirl agreed gratefully.

"I will come with you girls. I won't just stay here behind and leave my friends alone. Besides, I think it could be fun to see Sunset's cousins," Rainbow Dash stated impishly. She had a amused smile after the last part.

"Right. Sunset said she was originally a Unicorn. I wonder what she looks like as one?" Twilight mused. Interested.

"I'm sure that they are adorable." Fluttershy had a dreamy and longing look in her eyes, "I asked her once how Ponies in Equestria looked in private, after she told us that she was a Unicorn. They sounded very cute," the pink-haired girl informed blissfully.

"Maybe Ah should ask her when she comes back if she would like a sugar cube." Applejack grinned mischievously. The others had a good laugh at that. Rarity and Fluttershy just giggled.

Luna, Celestia and Cadence searched for anything that could be a potential danger to the others.The former dean more as moral support, but they all made it their duty to protect the students and the Apple Family. In the moment Sunset and her team left, they immediately began to patrol around the north, because the Everfree Forest had its borders there, too.

"We've searched for at least two hours now and everything is quiet. Do you really think we'll find any problems?" Cadence asked with some tension.

"Now you jinxed it. We will find trouble now," Luna answered to her niece in determination and slight glee.

“Luna, if I didn't know you any better, then I would think that you are excited to fight," Celestia poked at her sister's attitude.

"Tia, can you tell me that I'm wrong? Besides, I've always kind of... dreamed about something like that. Don't misunderstand me! I'm really sad about every lost life, but I always used my free time to play online with others in MMORPGs and-" Luna's sister interrupted her.

"Oh, I remember! I had problems finding sleep many nights, because someone had to scream every few minutes, because she had too much fun. What was the name of your guild again? The 'Nightmare Moon Rangers'?" The older sibling was amused by the name.

Cadence laughed. She heard about her aunt's secret pleasure. Nobody knew about that, save her and Celestia.

"For your information, dearest sister of mine, the Nightmare Moon Rangers counted as one of the most successful guilds of the server and what you are describing as 'screams' were my orders. As the guild master, by the way. We were famous for our attacks on the enemy, deep in the dark of the night. Nobody would see us coming," Luna finished her explanation in a very proud tone.

"But auntie, you do know that your games were fantasy and now most of these things are here in reality, right?" Cadence was worried that her aunt would be overly excitable in some situations, which could lead to danger for her and others.

Celestia put a hand upon the younger woman’s shoulder and smiled reassuringly, "Don't worry Cady. Luna knows that, still, we had so many new problems to worry about in the last while. We should let her live out her secret desires for a little bit. It will all be fine in the end."

"Thank you, sister... I think," Luna said, unsure.

They ventured a little deeper into the Everfree to make sure that no predator would lurk in the shadows, just waiting for easy prey to ambush. Next, they heard a low growl. It sounded like... a lion?

"Be careful!" Celestia shouted in alarm.

She instantly switched into her armor and summoned her sword and shield. Luna did the same with her own set the moment she heard the growl. Cadence hid behind her aunts, afraid.

"These humans have awoken their magic, too. Like those little human females with the weird smelling magic from the last time," a prideful voice stated.

"Yessss, indeed," a second, female voice replied.

"Two of them are the mages I felt," the third voice explained patiently.

Then it came. Or more precisely, they. A being consisting of a black lion, a blue snake and a white dragon, parts of each of those animals were somewhere on the body.

"From last time?” A gasp escaped her shocked throat, “YOU! You are the chimera who killed all these humans from the cave! You slaughtered our bus driver and the two from Camp Everfree!" Luna shouted in fury.

"You act like it should matter to us whom we feed on. You humans are no better than the other animals we devoured," the lion commented, bored.

"You will pay for your crimes! I will-" the lunar knight couldn't finish her threat, because Celestia silenced her little sister with a hand gesture.

"Luna, please. Calm yourself." She looked now at the chimera, specifically the dragon, "What do you have to say? I would like to hear your thoughts. Sunset Shimmer told me a lot about you. She told me that you were responsible that none of the girls died. You let them go. Why?"

"Ah, I remember that name. Tell me, before I answer your question, did she find it? Her magic from this world? I felt something, because I have a natural connection to the element of fire and someone awoke a form of magic connected to this element. Was it her?" the dragon asked curiously, in his deep voice.

"Yes, it was her. She called it 'Phoenix Magic'," Celestia replied calmly.

Luna was annoyed and angry. A part of her wanted to make the chimera pay for the lives it took. Now. Cadence just hoped they would survive.

A baritone chuckle came from the dragon, "Interesting. I knew it was the right decision to let her live, but to answer your own question, I kept her and her friends alive, because I felt something as I saw them. As you already know, the world is changing. New lands were created, old ones destroyed and many humans evolved into something else. When I talked with her, my instincts told me that she would be somehow important for the future. That was all."

Celestia nodded lightly, “I see.”

The dragon locked eyes with the furious Luna, "Your anger is quite understandable, yes. We killed the humans, but they were prey, nothing more. And most of them weren't even able to live with the truth. Many of the humans we preyed upon thought, until their very end, that we were an hallucination. Kill or be killed. That is the cycle of life. Every normal creature knows that. You survive, you escape. You fight, you die, you adapt. Everything is a part of the cycle. But you humans never could accept that.”

The former vice-principal stomped her foot in frustration with the ever so patient being, “We differ from normal animals! Sapience means that you can freely choose. There is no need to follow the primal instincts.”

The dragon shook his head in disappointment, “You are just too prideful to admit it. Sometimes, you are even much worse than an average animal ever could be. No, your kind always had the desire to destroy and to kill everything that opposed its will on this world and to force its rule upon all. What you did was beyond simple dominance. Beyond the concept of an 'apex predator'. You didn't tolerate anything that could be a danger for you. Then, many eons later, some of you showed first signs of remorse for the sins of your ancestors and built 'zoos' and 'national parks', because you saw how the diversity of life was destroyed by supremacists, poachers, the addiction of power and riches or such senseless killing as 'sport'. Your own arrogance would have led to your downfall at one point in history.”

“Sssso much for ssssapience,” the snake lisped mockingly.

The lion snorted in disgust, “You humans can truly have a perverted version of fame and honor in your mind. It must be a challenge to kill a tiger from a high distance with your little ranged weapons. And you even have the arrogance to find pleasure in such things and act like you achieved something great. Pathetic.”

The dragon continued calmly, “That is, in our opinion, the most disturbing habit of your race. That some humans killed, and still kill until this very day, for pleasure. Not because they had to, or for a greater use like, for example, food. It is easy to simply take a life from a safe distance, as long as your own life isn't in immediate danger. In progress, many of you lost something very important or never had it to begin with: the respect for life itself. Sometimes you act without thinking. You take everything for granted and rarely think about the long term consequences of your actions.”

Luna began to stammer. She didn’t find words to defend herself or mankind’s honor, “I-I-”

The dragon interrupted her, “Tell me, young one. Do you want to kill us now, because we hunted humans? Or simply because of our nature? Will you make it your task to eliminate every chimera now, because we are too dangerous and need to be put down for good? Do you want to make us extinct? Will it make you sleep better? Will you excuse mindless slaughter with phrases like, 'it was for the greater good'? When sapient races go to war, then it is unfortunate, but it happens. That one side erases the other. But our natural role as a predator is not a sin to earn the death sentence, don't you think?"

Luna was furious at the beginning, but the more the dragon talked, the more she felt ashamed for her earlier wish to kill them. She felt remorse.

"Why? It was so simple. You killed humans. I would seek revenge in return, but now I feel like it is me who was in the wrong. Why?" she asked the dragon quietly.

He looked into the distance with a thousand yard stare and replied, "Because we did something most beings wouldn't accept until the end of their existence. We confronted you with the honest truth in its most brutal form. Many hear things they don't want to hear in life, because it wouldn't fit in their worldview. Most would simply close off their senses, ignore the facts, or even fight the truth with all their being.” A final touch decorated his words, “It is your decision and yours alone how you will live with the truth. I can't force it upon you. But I won't tell you to let me do what I want either. When I would try to kill someone you love, then it is your natural right to defend them and to kill me in the process. I would fight back with all I have, of course, but if the end would come, so be it. Just know that the most difficult path of life is not to do what you always want, but to do what is right. What is needed.”

The Lion growled lowly and the snake hissed.

“To mourn the dead is a right of the living, but to abuse their death as an excuse to exterminate other lives, to fulfill nefarious schemes, to go on a killing spree or to satisfy your own bloodlust, is the way of insanity," the dragon finished at last.

The three women were deep in thought to process his words.

Finally, Cadence voiced her opinion, "I think I understand. You are right. We can't change the past. Revenge won't bring back the dead. But sometimes we have still to hunt down those responsible when they are a threat to everything we stand for. Personally, I don't like violence. At all. But as you already explained, I have to adapt and face the world how she is. Not only for myself, but for the ones I care about. Thank you, chimera." Cadence was thankful and at ease now, because the chimera didn't want to eat them.

"Don't worry, we already fed. We wanted to see who the new mages were and because we smelled Sunset Shimmer's scent on you. Oh, before I forget, please tell her that we decided to take on a name. She wanted to know our own, but we never had one. We named ourselves 'Nova'. That was our compromise. The snake didn't like names which sounded 'too male'," the dragon informed them, rolling his eyeballs almost imperceptible.

"Yessss. Some names were jusssst torture." The snake looked angrily at the lion.

"What? I still think we should have named ourselves Simba, or Mufasa," the lion replied confused and obvious, the snake and the dragon groaned in great annoyance.

"We will tell her that. We thank you very much, Nova." Celestia said politely with a little smile.

They all heard a loud and unholy howl and turned around, facing its direction.

"Did you hear that?" Luna inquired, ready for combat.

"Yes, it came from beyond this treeline. Let's take a look, maybe someone needs our help!" Cadwnce exclaimed urgently.

"Nova, will you help us?” Silence was the answer. “No-" Celestia and the others turned around to look at the chimera, but they were gone, like they never existed in the first place.

"W-where are they? I didn't hear that they left," the former dean stammered, very confused.

"It doesn't matter. We have to go!" Luna urged seriously. To support her statement, another, this time very angry, howl was heard.

They all nodded their heads and ran, hoping that it wasn't too late.

"Now, please tell me, Darling. How do you feel? And I want the full truth this time. I must confess that you are a very bad liar my dear," Rarity admitted sheepishly, worried but purposeful. She would help their friend.

Twilight, Spike, Pinkie Pie and Rarity strode together between the treelines, west of Sweet Apple Acres. The young scientist was still shaken by the events. She needed an open ear, but didn't want to bother everyone at once. She was sure that they had their own problems at the moment.

Rarity hinked slightly, still, but the strong bandages around her ankle helped her more than enough. They stabilized her foot and made walking much more pleasant for the young fashionista.

The lavender girl sighed, “I'm still shocked about everything that happened in such a short time. Camp Everfree, the cave, Timber and Gloriosa, Canterlot City, Cinch, Raga, just EVERYTHING! The entire world is changing and there's nothing we could do to stop it. People died! I-I don't know what to do anymore. I can't think. I can't sleep in peace. I don't even know if my parents are still alive or already dead!" Twilight ranted, peeved.

Rarity and Pinkie hugged Twilight tightly and Spike whimpered sadly, rubbing his fur on Twilight's leg to help his owner and friend.

"Cheer up, Twi-Twi. I'm sure your parents are alive. They're probably already searching for you and your mother is surely in a super-duper mother bear mode and won't stop until she found you, Shining Armor and Spike, so that you all can be a very happy family again. I will give you a 'Congratulations-Twilight-you-found-your-parents-again' party when that happens, OK?" Pinkie Pie smiled her most radiant smile at her friend.

Twilight couldn’t help herself, but chuckle slightly, "Pinkie Pie, you always know how to make me laugh again and to point out the positive side. How do you do that?" she asked her pink friend, tears in her eyes.

"Tons of sugar. When most people eat too much sugar or only food with sugar they are in danger of getting diabetes eventually. But the diabetes knows not to mess with me, that it can't touch me. I just send it home to his frowny-mcgrumpy-parents. My house doctor once said that my blood is like a medical impossibility and wanted to ask scientists to test me on sugar-antibodies. They laughed at the poor woman, but I mean, duh. Even I know that something like that can't exist," Pinkie Pie explained happily.

Rarity, Twilight and Spike laughed wholeheartedly at this story.

"Oh Pinkie Pie. That was the funniest story I've heard in a long time," the fashionista complimented her friend, chuckling. Then she continued, "You see, Darling? Take my own parents for example. Mom and dad are on holiday overseas or somewhere else at the moment. I'm not entirely sure where. They are always vague about their trips, I must confess." She shrugged helplessly. "My point is that I'm very worried about them, but I have Sweetie Belle with me. I have to take care of her. She is my little sister and I can't distance myself because of her. The poor dear needs her big sister. In addition, I can't simply run off in blind panic and leave you all alone. We need to stand together and I will give you my full support. I don't even know where I should look for my parents anyway," Rarity said calmly, but somber.

"Oh! Oh! My family is the same. My dad is totally into tradition, but he's the nicest dad of all the nicest dad's in the history of dadness. My mother is great, too. And then there is my little sister Marble. She and Fluttershy could be the bestest of friends and battle each other in a 'Who-can-be-shyer-contest'. My older sister, Limestone... she and Rainbow Dash are both very competitive. But she has some anger issues. Lastly, I have my bestest, biggest sister, Maud. She is the riot of every party aaaand very overprotective of her family. There was this one time in my 3rd class, when some meanie stole my cupcake. Maud talked with him, he never came near me again, ever.” A fond smile graced her features, “My sisters and I... we have our very own tradition. it makes me always nervouscited! The 'Pie Sisters' Swap Day'. We even came up with a song! The 'Pie Sisters Swap Day Song'.”

"Awwww." Twilight and Rarity found this tradition simply adorable. Spike muttered something about ‘girly stuff’, but nobody heard his displeasure.

They arrived near a part of the forest where many unknown plants were growing. Twilight was fascinated.

"Here must be some of the new flora I heard about. Let us investigate its secrets!" The girl was excited at the prospect to learn something new.

They made their way to some beautiful looking flowers, which looked like lilies, but instead of a normal color, they gleamed in a hypnotizing orange that had sparks of magic around it.

"They look simply divine! This color, the sparks, truly magnificent," Rarity said, awed.

The group of friends ignored the thick vines which assembled themselves closer around them. The moment Twilight tried to pick a flower, the vines came to life and moved. They shot out of the earth in great length and surrounded them. Rarity, Spike and Twilight were very worried and started to panic.

But not Pinkie Pie. The girl looked with a very serious and concentrated expression on her face. First at her fearful friends, then to the tendrils, back to her friends, back to the tendrils for a last time. Next, she took a pair of black sunglasses out of her puffy hair, put them on and announced in a creepy, deep voice, "I saw enough hen-" Pinkie couldn't finish one of the most overused internet memes she could find, because the plants started to attack her and her friends.

The fight had started.

Fluttershy, with the help of Applejack and Rainbow Dash, fed the horses. The athlete jokingly asked her blond friend if she wanted to set up one of her horses with Sunset. The cowgirl just hit the rainbow-haired prankster on the shoulder and Fluttershy couldn't help but blush a deep red at the unwanted images in her head.

"I'm just happy that every animal seems to be OK. I was worried that they were in danger. Thank you for helping me, girls, but you didn't have to do that. I would have understood. I mean, if you don't mind me saying." Fluttershy didn't want to make her friends feel forced to help her.

"It's fine, Fluttershy. Really, we do that for you, because you're our friend. No need to apologize," Rainbow Dash tried to calm down the shy girl.

"Dash's rig't. T'be honest, Ah was worried for them, too. But Ah didn't want to panic too much for probably nothin'," Applejack thanked her friend.

Mentioned chromatic teenager analyzed their surroundings and came to a less than happy conclussion, "Yeah, but the magic already did its fair share of changing here, too. I'm sure the last time we were here this part of the farm had only wide fields for the horses. Now we have a big bog, which reaches by the way over the south of your lands now," Rainbow stated, worried.

"Ah know, but we can't do anythin' about it. Granny even said that the bog was small at first, but it spread everywhere. Ah fear fer th' farm," Applejack replied gloomily.

"Don't worry, AJ. I'm sure it will be alright... somehow. Now, let's go back to the house and enjoy good homemade food and cider," Rainbow said, her stomach supported its owner in her statement.

The girls wanted to leave the horse stable, but they suddenly heard the panicked nickers of the horses.

"W-what was that?" Fluttershy queried nervously.

"Ah don't know, but none o' them varmints're takin' our horses!" Applejack sprinted outside. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy followed slightly behind.

What they saw shocked them. Two giant crocodiles made from rock and crystal. Both the same size, with a length of 13-15 meters from the head to the end of the tail. And they were massive, because of the amount of muscle, stone and crystal, but they had different coloration. They were Basilisks and both had sharp, yellow glowing eyes, no irises and a very dangerous mouth with many long, sharp teeth made of diamond and a powerful jaw to boot.

One of them had yellow crystals on its front legs and blue crystals on its hind legs, the entire back from the neck to the start of the tail was protected by many sharp, grey thorns of stone. It looked like granite to the girls. The body itself was protected by shifted, small, dark green flagstones.

The second one had green crystals on its hind legs and orange crystals on its front legs. It had no thorns on the back, but thick segments of blue colored stone, sapphire, and the rest of the body was protected by red corundum.

The red basilisk moved faster than expected with its size and bit a horse. It transformed to stone at a fascinatingly slow rate. After the process was finally over, the entire animal was a blue statue. Immediately, the two beasts devoured its victim and looked hungrily at not only the horses, but the humans, too.

The three friends were disturbed by the show they just witnessed. Rainbow Dash, in all her awesomeness and detailed experience in being the most adventurous girl of their group of friends, summarized the feelings and thoughts of every human who had the honor of seeing that.

In fact, she nailed it, "Oh, COME ON!"

Author's Notes:

Greetings my avid readers!

I hope you enjoyed the chapter.

Nova is like the three musketeers all in one. Only with more scales and fur... and maybe teeth.

Thank you very much for reading and stay tuned!