[Continued from: http://pastebin.com/mdEX6rY7 ]
 
Garret huffs as he places a bucket full of apples in the barn of Sweet Apple Acres, looking towards Cinnamon Cider who gives him a thumbs up before speaking.
"All that farm work you've done lately sure has helped you. What made you decide to go help us during harvests, anyway?"
 
Cider walks towards the purple-haired satyr, swaying her hips to her hoofsteps.
"It couldn't be because of me, now could it?"
 
Garret swallows a lump as he becomes momentarily distracted by her tantalizing hips, though he quickly shifts his focus back up to her face. "Of course not! Friends should be helping each other. There's not anything wrong with that, is there?"
 
Cider laughs, slapping Garret on the back.
"Relax, man! I'm just kidding around. Seriously though, thanks for helping out with the harvests. We've been able to reach our quotas way faster than usual, which gives us a lot more free time. Let's get inside, I think we have some cider left over that they won't miss."
 
As they sat at the kitchen table, Garret couldn't help but notice the scrutinizing look that Cider keeps giving him.
 
"Y'know," Cider finally says, "how many've you done, Garret?"
 
"I-- beg your pardon?" was all Garret could manage to say as his thoughts derail.
 
Cider sighs frustratedly.
"Oh come on, you know what I'm talking about. How many compatibility tests have you done? I know Glimmer has basically done compatibility tests with all of us because of being the one who came up with it."
 
Garret snaps out of his stupor as he realizes his mistakes.
"Oh! Well, uh... I've only been tested with Hope and Pogo. None of us thought it necessary after we found a perfect pairing in me and the pink one."
 
Cider frowns at the answer.
"Well tell ya what. We'll be takin' the test tomorrow."
 
Garret is taken aback by the sudden declaration, lowering his mug as he talked.
"But why? Hasn't anyone been a fit with you?"
 
Cider looked into her cider as she swiveled the beverage around.
"No. None of the ones we tried fit. Darcy, Dee, Jay, Presto and Gumdrop were all duds. Duds for me anyway. And all I wish for is to help you guys do that Jupityr thing."
 
Garret smiled a bit. He got up and took Cider's hand, who looked at him with a very confused expression.
"Well," the boy started, "let's go see Glimmer now, then! We've plenty of time anyway, didn't you say so yourself?"
 
Cider returned the smile, standing up by using Garret as counterbalance.
"I guess I did, didn't I?"
 
--
 
Twilight shunted Glimmer out of the cellar door, face full of disappointment.
"Glimmer, I've told you that those... 'Jupityrs' that you call them, there has been no evidence of anything abnormal in any of you at all. We've checked multiple times already."
 
Glimmer spun a good 180 degrees, stomping her hoof into the ground to blow off anger.
"I keep telling you mom, it's nothing to do with the anatomy! I know there are no visible signs of Jupityrdom, but I keep telling you it's in our dormant magic reserves!"
 
Twilight looks her daughter directly in her eyes.
"If you are so adamant on that theory, then let me hear it."
 
Taken aback by her mother's sudden change in tone, Glimmer takes a second to reorganize before breathing deeply.
"Well, as you know, satyrs are without any magical focal points like unicorns, and they aren't as capable of passively drawing from it like the Pegasi or Earth Ponies are. However this does not mean that they are without magic like the humans. Given enough stimulus to any prime emotion, like fear or rage, this hidden magic reserve manifests itself in the most unpredictable of ways."
 
Twilight nods, walking over to a couch. She eyes her daughter as she sits down, unsure of her intentions.
"Yes, all that is in the revised book of biology that I wrote. Wherein is your idea?"
 
Glimmer stands in front of Twilight, holding a couple of dolls.
"The harmonic magic that dwells in the satyrs is lying dormant for an as of yet unknown reason, but I may have taken a step towards finding it out. If one satyr isn't enough to activate the magic, what about two?"
 
Twilight raises an eyebrow.
"Two satyrs? What could a second satyr possibly do to the equation?"
 
Glimmer stacks the dolls onto each other on a nearby table, leaving her with free hands to gesticulate.
"If two satyrs with compatible minds and hearts were to touch upon each other's magic, an entirely new element would be created out of it, no matter how temporary it may be."
 
Twilight snorts in an attempt to suppress a giggle.
"So you're saying that if they'd somehow combine their magic, they'll create your so-called jupityr?"
 
Huffing indignantly, Glimmer hits the table to stop her mother's laugh.
"Of course, that still leaves many questions. Some of them being 'How do they combine?', 'What allows them to combine?' and 'How do you even tell if two satyrs are compatible?' Those three I have answers for, whilst the rest I'm working on. How it can happen is dependent on whether both of them are willing to fuse into one being or not. What allows the fusion is dependent on what they think will stir the magic. A good indication of this is something that has been nagging both satyrs for some time, begging to be either said or done. It could be a dance, it could be a certain sound, it could even be a special phrase they can't get out of their head. What matters most, though, is the contact with the other satyr. Even if the phrase has been said or the sound has occurred, nothing would happen if the two satyrs aren't in physical contact with each other."
 
Twilight gives her a questioning look.
"And the compability? How is that measured?"
 
Glimmer clears her throat, cheeks reddening a bit.
"As embarrassing as it is to admit it, the most reliable results come from... Uh, matchmaking tests."
 
Sighing as she gets up from the couch, Twilight puts a hoof on Glimmer's shoulder.
"I know you've worked hard on this, but tests you've gotten from Equestrimare magazine just won't have any merit whatsoever. I'm sorry Glimmer, but I won't be convinced until I see these jupityrs with my own eyes."
 
Glimmer's eyes were tearing up as her mother tore all of her work down in front of her. The door opens in time to distract her from shouting at Twilight.
 
Garret hurries inside, Cider following right behind him. Garret waves at Glimmer and her mother as he begins to speak up.
"Hello missus Twilight, hey Glimmer, we need to do that testing again."
 
Glimmer's initial reaction was to go wide-eyed, but quickly gets it together as she smiles, thinking it the perfect opportunity to prove herself.
"Sure! You both know what to do, I hope."
 
---
 
Garret and Cider sit in absolute silence as they focused on scratching down various personality traits of themselves, occasionally glancing up towards each other. Before long, they both hand in the sheets of paper to Glimmer who looks over them with eager eyes.
"Let's see now... Match, match, match, ambiguous..."
 
Glimmer's eyebrows slowly rise as she gets through each question, before finally looking between Garret and Cider in disbelief.
"This... This is new. Garret, you do realize what this means, right?"
 
Garret shrugs, face showing his unknowing state.
"No, you just mumbled while you read our results. What does it mean, Glimmer?"
 
Glimmer hurried over, grasping Garret's shoulders.
"It means that you're the first of all the satyrs to have shown almost perfects matches with two others now!"
 
Cider gives a large grin at the news.
"So, does this mean we can become a Jupityr?"
 
Cider almost jumps with excitement as the "yes" uttered by Glimmer reaches her ears. She rushed over to the most freed up area of the ground floor of the library, Garret joining her moments later.
 
"You do know how this part works right," Garret asked as he stood in front of Cider, holding her hands. She simply nodded as she closed her eyes. "Okay, let's just say whatever comes to us on 3."
 
They both held their eyes closed when Garret uttered the word 'three'.
 
They furrowed their brows as he said 'two'.
 
When he said 'one', their cheeks reddened simultaneously at the prospect of uttering their most undying thought.
 
The words they mutter to each other are far from audible to Glimmer and Twilight, but the effects they cause are difficult to dismiss. A profound silence engulfs the library for a second before a bright light enveloped the two satyrs, which peters out shortly afterwards.
 
Twilight's lower jaw hung low as she saw the singular creature rise up from its kneeling position. It looks around the room in confusion before looking down on its gauntleted hands. It inspected its hands intently before noticing the helmet it wore.
 
The heavily armored being took a moment to let everything sink in before jumping in joy, raising a fist in the air in triumph.
"We did it! We actually did it! I can't believe it!"
 
Twilight walks nervously towards the jupityr, panic creeping into her voice.
"...Where's Cider and Garret? What are YOU?"
 
Glimmer put her hands on her hips in a triumphant pose.
"I told you, mom! I told you Jupityrdom is real!"
 
The armored jupityr turns towards Twilight, taking his behavior down a notch.
"Oh, sorry Twilight. We're- well, I- am both Garret and Cider. Currently they're me and I am a representation of their harmony. As for what THIS body is, the two have found a name for me. They're going to be calling me the Vanguard."
 
"Vanguard? I do--"
Twilight is cut off as something large impacts outside. Silence permeates the air until a bestial roar rends it asunder, causing ponies outside to scream and panic.
 
Not missing a beat, Vanguard brandishes his mace as he charges outside, leaving Twilight to catch up to the Jupityr.
 
A manticore, its fur bristling with unbridled rage, turns towards Vanguard the moment he steps outside. The Jupityr raises his mace at the beast, talking with a resolute voice.
"Varmint, go back to the Everfree or I'll cut you down!"
 
The tone of the voice catches Cider's subconscious off-guard, causing Vanguard to giggle slightly.
"I guess I better find a new way to speak."
 
The manticore draws from the depths of its anger as it utters a rattling howl of barely restrained rage, pouncing at the creature offending its eyes.
 
Vanguard makes a desperate dive under the manticore, sliding away as the beast embeds its claws into the dirt. It turns around in time to witness the jupityr lay a considerable amount of strength behind his swing, clocking the manticore square in the face. It roars in pained anger as it suddenly goes down on all fours, readying its glistening scorpion tail.
 
Taking a step back from this sudden change of attitude, Vanguard adopts a more defensive stance as the manticore charges at him, tail poised to strike.
 
Deflecting the first attack from the manticore's stinger, the jupityr attempts a swing at the monster, though gets caught off-guard by the tail's backswing. Vanguard is flung into the side of a cart full of straw, slumping down in a daze. The manticore looms threateningly over the jupityr as it rears back for a killing blow, relishing the moment for just a bit too long.
 
As Vanguard's eyes regain focus, his lives flash past his eyes as he sees the massive paw of the manticore swiping down towards him. Time seems to drag on forever as he keeps his eyes shut, only snapping out of it by the strained voice of Twilight Sparkle shouting "Get up and stop this thing!" at him.
 
He looks up at the massive beast looming over him, its entire body shivering as it fights against Twilight's magic.
 
The jupityr gasps in shock as he balls up a hand. A deep rumble is heard from below before a large, jagged rock erupts from the earth just below the manticore, impaling the beast accompanied by the piercing sound of stone grinding against stone.
 
Contrary to what Vanguard and Twilight expected, cracks begin running across the manticore's body. It stops moving altogether as it loses all color and falls apart, leaving nothing but gray crystals and blackened stone.
 
Twilight gasps in horror as she sees the former manticore's composition, memories of a past she'd happily forgotten suddenly rushing back to her.
 
"If the jupityrs are really as strong as you have tried to convince me about, gather them at once."
The unicorn rushes back inside, leaving Cider, Garret and Glimmer to gather up the others.