The next prophecy

Sky pulled the arrow from the tree with a huff and disconnected the cuff then placed the arrow back in her quiver. She cantered over to Jet and Frozen as they trotted to the camper. "What's going up?" She said.

Speaker walked into the arena, and went over next to Sky and Jet. "Can somepony fill me in."

"I'm as lost as you are." Sky said. "Something to do with a pony who fell or something." Frozen said.

Zefarin gave Frozen a withering and disapproving look.

'I'm waiting for an explanation, Mr. Flame, Mr. Jet,' he said coolly. 'I don't tolerate being ignored. What exactly is going on here?'

Meanwhile, Nikki was slinking away, the shadows from the woods moving to hide her from view. A whimper slipped past her throat as she snuck into the darkness, eyes glowing like lamps.

Jet nods "Ok Lord LeBrun. Me and Forzen we're sparring and Nikki here got a little too close and got drenched."

"We are deeply sorry Lord LeBrun. Not to point hooves but she should have been paying attention to where she was going. I might be to blame as well for my water went over a larger distance than needed." Frozen said looking at Lord LeBrun.

Zefarin looked as satisfied as the unicorn could... which was to say, not very. He dropped his umbrella point to the ground and nodded at the two.

'Do be more aware of your surroundings,' he warned. 'I will tell Ms. Hooves the same, but, had the circumstances been different, we could have had a serious injury on our hands. It's not becoming to harm someone smaller than yourselves.'

He turned to speak to Nikki, only to see that she had disappeared. Huffing an exasperated sigh, he turned his attention to the woods. The filly flinched at the piercing gaze that caught her own, but, to her relief, he didn't go after her.

'Dinner in an hour, ponies,' he advised instead. 'Go get yourselves cleaned up.'

Speaker whispers to Sky "Who was that?"

Jet grins and says, as he walked past Sky and Speaker "That was Zefarin LeBrun now come on new guy unless you know where the Apollo cabin is."

Once Zefarin had disappeared into the distance, Nikki crept back out of the forest, looking around with wary eyes to make sure the scarily composed unicorn had left. Once she had, she spotted the group of ponies she had unwittingly attracted his attention to, and she slunk towards them, eyes trailing on the ground.

'I'm sorry,' she muttered to her hooves. 'I didn't mean to cause any trouble. Could... could I come along with you?'

She looked up with hope sparkling in her eyes.

"I dont see any problem with that," Speaker said to Nikki before turning to Jet and saying" and yes I do my way to the cabin, I did get the tour you know."

Jet nods "Alright and Hey" he turns to Nikki "Uh sorry 'bout that I was mainly me an Frozens fault. So friends?" He sticks his hoof out to shake

Nikki eyed the older pony's hoof cautiously before accepting it with a surprisingly firm shake.

'Thank you,' she said quietly. 'No worries. I lost my temper. So sorry about that. I hate not having that control over myself.' She looked genuinely abashed for a moment before grinning at the group.

'Do you talk to your parents often?' she asked with genuine curiosity. Then she let out a nervous laugh. 'Because, you know, I don't know who mine is, anyways... hehe...'

Jet grins and then shakes his to Nikki's question "Nah I really try not to talk to my dad but I will occasionally for tips one music or archery."

"I just got claimed so not really..." Speaker said.. "and you better not start calling me noob like everyone else around here" he added, his voice filled with playful anger.

Nikki looked up at the older pony and shook her head.

'I'm in the lower twenty percent of the age range here at the camp and considerably smaller than most campers,' she said wryly. 'I don't think calling anypony a 'Noob,' as you so poetically put it, is going to let me go anywhere but the ground.'

She looked down at her hooves and the shadows that rested beneath them, feigning obedience until she would loosen her grip and let them run free.

'Must be nice, having someone reliable to go to for advice,' she said bitterly. 'I bet that, even if I did get claimed by my dad, he'd be awful with advice.'

It wasn't too far from the truth. If Hades was anything, 'helpful' wasn't on that list.

Jet grins and says "Anyway off that subject... TO DINNER!" He grabbed both of them and started dragging them to the pavilion "So what are your guys weapons? I can tell you New guy, you use a bow and arrow but what about you Other new pony?"

Sky trotted after them with Frozen. "I use water in case you didn't already see." Frozen said. "I use a bow and arrow! So I can tell you and I are gonna get along." She said giving Speaker a noogie as they walked. "I can't wait to EAT!" Sky said as the sun set.// DJay awoke from her tree to see Sky, Frozen and jet with 2 new ponies. DJay swooped down and tackled Speaker out of Jet's hooves. She looked Speaker in the eyes and grinned her fangs showing.

"Uhhhh... Sup?" Speaker said, being to tired to be scared.

"Alright you're cool. Normally most ponies would be scared but i can tell you're to good for that. The name's DJay. You can normally only see me at night, occasionally during the day." She said flapping her wings and getting off of him. "Hey DJay!" Sky said trotting over. "Hey Sky. Anyone know what's for breakfast? I'm Starved!" DJay said.

Nikki looked down at her hooves, not really sure how to answer the question without giving herself away. Unclaimed ponies didn't carry around Stygian Steel. Stygian Steel was a hard metal to manage, with more weight and density than was normal to use in a blade. Along with its origins in the River Styx, it really only made sense that the geokinetic children of Hades were usually the only ones to carry them.

Then again, it wasn't quite as incriminating as the dancing shadows yearning for her to use them. That was a bit of a dead giveaway.

'This,' she finally answered, gesturing to the black lily nestled in her waves. 'It changes when I need to use it in combat, but I like it disguised otherwise. Great for hostage situations, haha. It's a sword.' She put a smile at the end of it.

Her stomach rumbled, and she sheepishly acknowledged it. She really did need some dinner.

Jet shrugs and says "I don't know DJay but sadly this is where go our separate ways to our own tables. Now you Speaker" He puts his hoof on Speaker's shoulder "I will try to mentor you whenever possible so will the other Apollo campers."

"Well, I do have a question, why didn't Apollo try to communicate with me, besides the claiming, I know he is a god and all, but doesn't he care about his children?" Speaker asked as he and Jet made there way to the Apollo table.

Nikki eyed the empty Hades table with trepidation, hesitating for just a moment before she made her way to the crowded Hermes tabled and sat herself down on the edge, away from everypony else. For a moment, she stared at the food, suddenly uninterested, before reaching for it.

A deep, old voice rang in her head, causing her to drop the fork gripped tightly in her magic.

'Stop being such a wuss,' the voice commanded. 'No child of mine should deny the power given to them. It makes you a coward, Nicolette.'

'What, like you?' she hissed. A couple of Hermes foals looked her way in confusion before turning away when her eyes stayed on her empty plate.

'Should I claim you again?' the voice said instead, refusing to acknowledge her (true) scathing remark. 'I picked a rather unfortunate moment, didn't I? What if I just put a little skull up there, in front of everyone? Then you can't hide, little Nicolette.'

'What if I don't want to?' she snapped, garnering more attention. Feeling the eyes on her, she scooted a little closer to the edge of the table. 'What if I like being anonymous? What if it protects me?' she continued silently.

Hades was silent for a moment.

'Is that really what you want?' he asked, his voice uncharacteristically soft. 'To hide behind a lie?'

She had no answer to that.

After a long pause, when everypony's attentions were diverted, she quietly picked up her plate and moved to the empty Hades table.

Jet shrugs and says "That I don't know but......" His eye was drawn to Nikki walking to the Hades table says to Speaker "So she is a daughter of Hades? Nice." He looks around at all the other tables as they all stopped talking. He quickly thought 'Buck it' he started to clap