#1

With the sun reaching it's peak over the sky of Vanhoover, the city was beginning to come alive in full swing. Everybody is winding down from Mandy's party the day before, with many nursing the worst hangover they've ever had. Despite this, the city is still plastered with Attack on Mango merch, and decor. Seems the city's going to milk their cash-cow for as long as possible. As Nar skates through the streets, he looks around at his face plastered all over, alongside those of his friends. On the side of one of the tallest buildings in the city, he can see a banner hanging, calling Vanhoover "Home of #1!" With one of the band's album covers pictured beneath it. Their faces are plastered all over the city, and while Nar's bandmates are getting the full celebrity treatment, nobody even seems to recognize him. All fine by Nar. He'd rather not get swarmed during his frequent skate sessions. Nar turns onto a much more secluded street to take a shortcut to his favorite breakfast spot. As he does so, he spots what looks to be a group of stallions/men surrounding someone against a wall. They're too tall, and large for him to see who they're accosting at first, so he removes his earbuds, and drops them into his shirt pocket. "What's the matter babe? Never seen this much man before?" Nar nearly gags at the first words he hears from the stallions. As he gets closer, he begins to see what looks to be a head of black hair in the middle of the three men. Looks like a woman/mare, a good head or more shorter than the guys accosting her. Upon closer inspection, Nar notices that she actually has her head turned away, and has shrunken up against the wall. "Hey!" Nar shouts as he approaches. "Knock it off, assholes!" The group turns to face him, with two of the men stepping forward, while the third places an arm beside the woman's head to keep her from running. Nar lifts his arms as he prepares for a fight. "Hey, hold on a sec." The man next to the woman calls out. "Ain't that they guy who kicked the shit out of that gryphon on TV?" One of the two men approaching Nar leans forward, squinting. His eyes then go wide, and he stands up straight. "Oh shit, it is!" He then turns, motioning for the others to follow him. "C'mon! This ain't worth it!" The three men quickly slink off down the street. Nar skates up to place himself between them, and the woman, watching them until they retreat around a corner a block down. He then turns back to look over their victim. She looks to be a young adult, earth pony, around his age. She has a VERY long, messy, black mane/hair that goes down nearly past her hips, and covers her eyes completely. The black sweater she's wearing is a little too big on her, and her hands don't even poke out of the sleeves. Her jeans seem a little dirty, and her sneakers are old, and worn. All in all, it honestly looks like she's been wearing this outfit for a few days now. Doesn't smell like it though. "Hey." Nar offers her a warm smile, but makes sure to stay a comfortable distance away. "Are you alright?" The only response he gets is quiet mumbling he can barely hear. He leans in a little closer, and thinks he can just about make out her words. It sounds like she's speaking neighpanese. Nar shifts from Equestrian, to Neighpanese as he asks "Oh, you can speak Neighpanese? That's cool. I'm fluent. We can use it if you're more comfortable with it." At this, the woman raises her head just enough, and she brushes some of the hair out of her face, revealing one of her eyes. There are... quite a few bags under it. In a quiet voice she squeaks out a "Sorry", in neighpanese. "Hey! Don't be! Those guys were accosting you! I wasn't just gonna sit by and let them do that!" Her head begins to fall, and she goes silent, leading Nar to break the silence. "What's your name? I haven't seen you around her before." The response he gets is a quiet "Aki." "Well, it's nice to meet you Aki! I'm Nar! Are you from here?" She shakes her head, slowly. "Oh? Just visiting, or did you just move here?" "I... Just moved here..." Jeez, she's frozen stiff. She can't even seem to look him in the eyes when she talks. Must be pretty shy. "Hey! Vanhoover's a great city! Did you move here from Neighpan?" Nar continues to exude energy, while Aki only nods in response. "That's awesome! My dad moved her from Neighpan a long time ago! He lives in Ponyville though." Nar pauses, hoping for a response. It doesn't come. "So, what are you doing out and about?" "Groceries... I got lost..." "Well, would you like some help? I know the city like the back of my hand! I know a grocery store close by, and I could go with you so you don't get accosted again!" Aki gives a nod, and a hopeful "Y-yes please." Nar motions for Aki to follow him, then waits for her to walk beside him before he begins to skate down the street. For the rest of the afternoon, Nar helps Aki as she shops for groceries. At first, the sheer size of the store he takes her to overwhelms her, but eventually, she starts to get the hang of things. By the end of the trip, Nar notices that she's bought a suspiciously large amount of cup noodles. Like, enough to eat for every meal for at least 2 weeks. Afterwards, he manages to convince her to go get lunch with him, where he takes her to the band's old stomping grounds. Shifty Sais. Turns out, she's a pretty picky eater, but she really seemed to like the cheese nachos, so Nar's happy with that. The two converse the whole while, with Aki growing more, and more talkative as they do so. She seems to warm up to him fairly quickly. By the time Nar gets Aki back to her apartment, she seems hesitant to go inside. Nar stands behind her as she fumbles with her keys. She seems to drop a piece of paper from her purse, just before she manages to get inside, and slams the door shut behind her. Nar picks up the paper, and goes to knock on the door. "Hey! Aki! You dropped-" He stops when he catches a glimpse of what's on the paper. "Thank you for showing me around the city. I had a great time. Please text me at some point. I'd like to be friends." Followed by a phone number. Ooooh! Sly! She dropped that paper on purpose! Probably just too shy to actually ask him in person. Oh well. He'll shoot her a text after he gets home later. Nar begins to descend down the stairs of the apartment complex with a big, goofy smile on his face. It felt good to make a new friend!

Tiny hands push on Nar's arm until he begins to rouse. His eyes begin to open, and his ears pick up a voice, but his brain doesn't quite process the words being said. The bed shakes slightly, and Nar finally turns to see who keeps pushing his arm. There, the excited face of Cookie bounces up, and down, just barely peeking above the bed. "Papa! Santa! Santa!" Instantly, Nar is wide awake. He begins to shuffle out of bed, only for Cookie to take off out of the room. Nar slips his slippers on, and follows after her, calling out for her to wait before she goes down the stairs. He supervises to make sure she descends them properly, following right behind her. When the father and daughter exit the stairs, they turn right to look into the living room. The rest of the family has already gathered, and oh my! Presents galore! There isn't an empty space of floor within 3 feet of the Hearth's Warming tree! Cookie hurries over to the tree to sort through the gifts, while Nar plops down on the couch next to Asuka. He looks at the coffee cup in her hand, and scratches his chin. "Third cup." Asuka rolls her eyes, with a stupid smile on her face. "Shove off." He guessed correctly. Kisho helps his Granddaughter pile all of her gifts from Santa into one pile. By the time they're done, the pile is taller than she is. Beside Nar, Asuka leans in to whisper. "You spoil her." Nar simply smiles, and nods. For the next 20 minutes, the family watches as Cookie opens her gifts from Santa. LOADS of toys, a fancy pink toy chest to put them in, and a fluffy pajama onesie that she DEMANDS her papa help her put on right away. One visit to the bathroom later, and Cookie emerges, twice as fluffy as she was before. After Cookie finishes opening all of her presents from Santa, the family shares a breakfast. As Kisho takes a seat at the table, he places a carton of eggnog in front of Nar. "This time, it's not expired. I checked." He lets out a little chuckle, as Nar unscrews the cap. "C'mon! It was only 2 days out of date that one time!" Asuka shakes her head. "And yet you spent half of that Hearth's Warming in the bathroom." Betty quickly shuts her children down. "Let's not talk about this at breakfast." After breakfast, the family reconvenes in the living room to exchange gifts. They're a little sad Hiari couldn't be home for Hearth's Warming this year, but she did send them a letter! Cookie gets even MORE toys, Juno gets Asuka a deluxe coffee maker, and Kisho gets Nar, Asuka, and Juno matching lounge pants. The three stand together for a picture, only for Asuka's smile to fade to a grouchy frown afterwards. "What's with the face?" Asks Juno. "She's just jealous I look better in these than she does." Answers Nar. The room shares a laugh. Afterwards, Asuka finally speaks up. "The tag is stabbing my behind. It's REALLY uncomfortable." After all of the presents have been opened, Nar announces that he has one last gift for his father. He then uses his phone to display a picture on the living room's TV. There, it displays the front window of Shifty Sai's showing the cardboard cutouts of Attack on Mango with a new addition. Now, between Asuka, and Nar, stands a cutout of Kisho, decked out in his Mango Merch. Below him, a sign points upwards stating "Our #1 Fan." With breakfast over, and presents gifted, the family cleans up, and prepares for the usual holiday tradition. It was time to open up the restaurant, and give the needy, and lonely a family to celebrate Hearth's Warming with!

//Feel free to add an excerpt from your character in the comments if you like! I may choose to feature some of the characters in the comments in an upcoming post from Nar! (https://youtu.be/W8WSZwX2xhg?si=MYGhakTGprQ6K3Bw) Artuo looks up from the table he's cleaning in his restaurant to look over to a booth near the middle of the restaurant. It's the booth that Attack on Mango usually sits at, but lately, they haven't been coming in 3 days a week like they usually do. When they do, it's only 4 of them now. Asuka, Juno, Ruby, and Deena show up, but it's been nearly 2 months since Artuo last saw Nar. When he asked the others about him, all they told him was that he was on a 'personal trip', and wouldn't elaborate. Artuo heaves a sigh as he stands, and moves to the next table. Well, whatever this personal trip is, Artuo hopes Nar makes it back safe, and sound. He's got a new menu item he needs Nar to test out for him. The bright lights of the Vanhoover nightlife flash by Mandy Fullbright as he limo drives her home from a photo shoot. As she stares out her window, she spots a billboard featuring the members of Attack on Mango, calling them "Vanhoover's #1". A smile begins to form on her lips as she begins to reminisce on the many memories she has with the band. Their many appearances at her parties, her going to their shows, the time she got to perform with them, and even the brunch she shared with Asuka, and Nar all those years ago. She particularly remembers how red Nar's face got when she kissed him on the cheek afterwards. What a cute little goofball. Mandy sighs, and looks at her phone for a few moments. She really should call them soon. They've been pretty quiet for the past two months, so it would be good to check in on them. Whatever the case, she hopes they're doing well. Steve stands behind the counter of his bar as a few of the regulars drink beer, and watch the hockey game on the big screen behind the bar. His head snaps towards a particular stool as he thinks he hears the sound of his nephew, Nar, laughing. To his dismay, Nar has not spontaneously appeared in his usual seat. In fact, he hasn't come to visit in 2 months now, and he hasn't returned a single call from Steve in that time either. It's starting to make Steve worry. It doesn't help that the only answer his bandmates are giving him when he asks about Nar is that he's on a 'personal trip.' Steve reaches behind the bar, and grabs himself a 'Gruff' brand Root beer. As he cracks it open, he lifts it for a toast towards Nar's stool, and tips it back. Wherever the kid is, Steve hopes he's happy, and healthy. Hiari steps out of the shower after a rather long day of surveillance. After drying off, and exiting her bathroom, she sits down on the bed of her apartment, and looks to the family photo she has sitting on her nightstand. She particularly stares at her big brother, smiling as he jokingly attempts to push both his little sisters out of the shot. Seeing her family all together, and happy brings a smile to her face. Knowing they'll be waiting for her when she comes home for the holidays is what gives Hiari the strength to keep doing such a dangerous, and demanding job. As she lies down, and prepares for bed, she offers up a quick prayer, hoping to be able to see her family again soon. Betty Yakushi finds herself in a large, open field. Beyond, she can see Ponyville Elementary School's playground, with the school on the hill behind it. A warm smile comes across her face as she sees her son, Nar, as a young child, playing on one of the playground sets. Her smile is replaced by a look of shock as Nar appears to slip, and hit his head before he tumbles to the ground. Horror grips her heart as her son sits up, and begins to wail, as blood pours from his head. Betty begins to run towards the playground, waving her arms as she frantically calls out to her son. "Nar! Sweetie! Mommy's here! It's okay! Mommy's here!" Yet, no matter how much she runs, she never gets any closer to him. She runs, and calls out to him for what feels like an eternity. Then, Betty is jolted awake to the sight of her husband, gently shaking her. "Dumpling! Are you okay? You seemed to be having quite a terrible nightmare." Betty sits up, and is immediately wrapped into a hug. She weakly returns her husband's hug, and the two sit together in their bed, as Betty begins to sob. "I- I saw Nar, when he was a child. He was on the playground at school, but fell, and hurt himself. No matter how much I ran, or yelled, I never got any closer to him." At this, Kisho tells his wife that he'd had a similar dream. The two remain wrapped in each other's embrace as they begin to pray fervently for the safety, and well being of their son. All around Asuka is void. For as far as she can see, there is nothing but black abyss. She takes a step forward, but a sudden noise causes her to jolt. A horrific scream echoes through the void. Asuka is stunned as the scream continues. It's full of shock, terror, and agony. Even worse. She recognizes it as her brother's voice. "Nar?" Asuka calls out, but Nar's screams do not cease. Her head darts around, looking for him. Her vision passes over a blur, and she quickly snaps back to it. In the distance, she sees her brother on his knees, doubled over with his hands clutching his head. His mouth is open wide, and his eyes are shut tight, as he screams into the void. He's in immense pain. Asuka can feel it. "Nar!" She screams. Asuka's legs begin to move of their own accord. She breaks out into a sprint towards her brother, as she continues to cry out to him, but to no avail. She runs, and screams over, and over, but Nar never responds, and she never gets any closer to him. Asuka is jolted awake as she's pulled into a tight embrace by her friend, Deena. "It's okay! You're okay!" Deena's voice is urgent, but soft. Asuka does not respond. She simply stands from the embrace, and exits her room. As she does so, she sees Juno, and Ruby doing the same. The three all affirm that they had the exact same dream. At first, they think about a group hug, and maybe a sleepover in the living room, but Asuka insists they check Nar's room first. Together, all four head downstairs, and into the basement. Asuka's heart pounds as she reaches for the doorknob to Nar's room. She slowly opens the door, then flips on the lights. Still empty. As tears form in Asuka's eyes, she's wrapped into a group hug by Juno. There, inside Nar's room, the four members of Attack on Mango share a group cry, and pray fervently for their friend's safe return.

8 PM, Vanhoover Time, Channel 10, Vanhoover Tonight Entertainment Program. The show begins on an opening shot of two hosts sitting behind a desk in a relatively minimalist studio. Behind them are two large screens. Each displays the logo for one of two different bands. On the left, Attack on Mango. On the right, Dragonautica. In between the two logos, is a giant, stylized "VS" logo. After a second of pause, the host on the left perks up to speak. "Good evening Vanhoover! I'm Maple Drags!" Then, the right host speaks. "And I'm Steve!" There's a brief pause. The left host does her best to hide her sudden confusion. The right host beams a nervous smile. Sweat is already beginning to form around his brow. "Tonight, we have some of the biggest news in Vanhoover entertainment history!" Maple cheers. "For the first time in decades, Vanhoovers top two bands are going at it in a Battle of the Bands!" Adds Steve. "That's right! Just over a week ago, Vanhoover's #2 band, Dragonautica issued a challenge to the #1 band, Attack on Mango! 2 days later, Attack on Mango accepted the challenge! Tonight marks the official start of the battle, and we have live footage from the Glorian Amphitheater where it's about to kick off!" https://youtu.be/aw9IMpvWo0w?si=WynBTL27iRgRyO4n The feed cuts to a shot of a yak with the hair of an 80's metalhead, standing behind a large crowd inside of the Glorian Amphitheater. The reporter can only barely be heard over the roar of the crowd. "Hey Maple! Things are getting pretty wild in here! The crowd is electric! I don't think I've ever seen a crowd this pumped before! Except for back when A.D.R.O played their reunion show 10 years ago! We've just gotten word that the bands are getting ready to come out on stage!" As if on cue, the camera quickly pans up to the stage, where a large plume of fire shoots up in the middle. The crowd erupts into ecstatic cheers as one by one, 5 dragons emerge from the fire. First is a red dragon with wild, spiky black hair, and an outfit straight off of a barbarian from DnD. Next is a blue dragon with long, blonde hair that appears to shimmer. She wears a ripped, silver dress, which appears to have been torn at just above her hips. It only barely covers what it needs to. Next is a young white dragon. He appears to be no older than 11, and bounces around the other dragons in a hyperactive daze. Next, comes a black dragon, chained, and shackled to a dense, metal dolly. His mouth has been covered in a  thick, steel muzzle, which drips acid from the corners. Lastly, comes a green dragon wearing a nice, 3 piece suit with the sleeves ripped off. He is the one wheeling the black  dragon onto the stage. The first three dragons wave to the crowd below. Screens behind the stage show close ups of the blue, and red dragon's cocky smiles, and the white dragon's genuine, beaming excitement. The black dragon thrashes in an attempt to break free of his constraints. The green dragon scowls. He appears to search the crowd before making eye contact with the Vanhoover Tonight's camera. The camera zooms in, only to be met with a middle finger. The fire on the stage quickly dies out, and the dragons take their place on the right side of the stage. The camera zooms back out to get a shot of the stage in full. A thick fog begins to emerge from the left side of the stage. It rolls down the stage, into the crowd below, creating a faint haze. The lights on the left side of the stage are dimmed, with lights coming from underneath the stage illuminating 4 silhouettes, rising up from below. When the figures fully emerge, the lights cut on, and reveal the members of Attack on Mango, already arranged, and posed. The camera then zooms in to slowly sweep over the band. Nar stands at the front, with his fist clenched, and a large smirk across his face. Asuka stands beside him with one hand outstretched towards Dragonautica, giving them a thumbs down. Her other hand pulls at her left eye, with her tongue stuck out. Behind her stands Ruby, one hand on her hip, and the other pointing towards Dragonautica. In the back stands Juno. He appears to be happily waving to the crowd. The crowd erupts into uproarious cheers. The camera zooms out to get a shot of the two bands. Then, a voice comes over the amphitheater's speakers. "Vanhoover! Tonight marks the start of a historic event!" Then, the figure of an alicorn in a VERY shiny, sequin suit steps out onto the middle of the stage. The camera zooms in to focus on the alicorn. "Tonight marks the first time in 30 years that the top two bands in Vanhoover have gone head to head in a battle of the bands!" More cheering erupts from the crowd. "Let's not keep everyone waiting then! Allow me to go over the rules for this battle!" The camera zooms out, showing a shot of the stage in full. The screens behind the stage now show stylized graphics of sheets of paper with writing on them. "This will be a best of 5! The first band to win 3 challenges wins the battle! The challenging band will chose the first challenge, then the defending band will chose next! We'll repeat until one band has 3 wins!" The graphics on screen change to overly-stylized representations of each thing explained by the alicorn. "If both bands end up with 2 wins each, it'll go to a popularity vote, following a performance by each band! As for the challenges themselves, the rules are simple! Each banc can challenge the other to whatever challenge they see fit! Though, challenges with a high risk of serious injury, or death are not permitted! Both bands must compete with the same amount of members for each challenge! Though special exceptions may be made!" The camera then zooms in on the lead guitarist of Dragonautca, as the alicorn turns to face him. "Dragonautica! As the challengers, you get to issue the first challenge! I hope you've got something good in mind!" To this, the red dragon smirks. "Well, we COULD just start with a good old fashioned fight!" He pauses to allow the crowd to cheer, gasp, and ooh. "But where's the fun in that? We're dragons! It wouldn't be remotely fair! So! We thought long and hard about the best way to start this battle of the bands. And what better way than Vanhoover's past time? Hockey!" The camera quickly pans over to Attack on Mango. Nar has a visible glint in his eye. His response is quick, and eager. "You're on!" The camera then pans back to the alicorn. "Then it's a date folks! Next Monday!, Timberwolf Arena! Attack on Mango vs Dragonautica in a hockey match for the ages!" The cheering from the crowd reaches a fever pitch. "Tune in! This is gonna be a match you won't want to miss!" The camera zooms out one last time before the feed cuts back to the studio. Both hosts sit with bright smiles at the ready. "There you have it! 6 PM, Monday! Timberwolf Arena! Of course, if you can't go in person, we'll be broadcasting the full match live!" The left host beams, before the right host speaks up. "It's sure to be a great start to this historic battle of the bands! Don't miss it!"

"Regardless of if you accept or not, we're gonna take back the number one spot either way!" The words linger in the air of Attack on Mango's living room. Silence falls over the band's four members, and their housemate. While Deena appears mildly curious, Ruby's face goes serious. The other three, however, show little reaction. "So." Ruby begins, her voice a low growl. "They want to challenge us huh?" To this, Nar offers a shrug. "It was gonna happen eventually." Juno nods in agreement, followed by Asuka posing a question. "Wonder what got them to finally do it. We've been #1 for what, almost 5 years now? You'd think they'd have challenged us sooner, right?" Ruby is stunned by how casual her bandmates are being about all this. They've just been challenged to a battle of the bands for their position at the top of Vanhoover's music charts, and they don't seem bothered at all?! Before Ruby can voice her concerns though, Juno speaks up. "Oh yeah, didn't Dragonautica sign a contract with that record label Winston Dreamglow started up recently? It was a multi-million bit contract, right?" To this, Asuka nods. "Yeah. I wouldn't be surprised if that gave them the confidence to finally challenge us. If they lost a battle of the bands, they could lose a ton of fame, but with Winston's money backing them up, it's not as big of a risk." Ruby then interjects. "Wait, so if WE accept their challenge, and lose, WE could lose our fame?" "Yup, but we'd lose all credibility, and reputation if we declined, or ignored them. They've got a good reason to challenge us, and we don't have a good reason to decline. If we do, we'll be labeled as pussies, and people will stop listening to us." Nar answers. "Such is the way of the Vanhoover music scene. Only the strong survive." Adds Juno, with a solemn nod. "So... We either accept, and risk losing our hard earned fame, or we decline, and lose it anyway?" Ruby huffs. "Yeah. Not like it's that big of a deal. It's not like much has changed since we became famous. Yeah, we own a house, and cool van now, but we honestly never though we'd get this far as a band." Asuka responds, still quite casual about everything. "So... You guys are okay with losing what you've worked so hard for?" A dejected Ruby asks, her head hung. "Everything? It's not like we're gonna lose our jobs, house, money, or anything if we lose. Yeah, we'll probably end up back to playing at seedy rock clubs again, but we're not gonna go broke. Not like we were doing anything with all our money anyways." Nar shrugs. "At least we'll have some fun before we fade into obscurity if we accept." Asuka stands from her seat at the couch, and begins to stretch. "Yeah. It does sound pretty fun, going up against Dragonautica. If we win, we'll probably keep our spot on the charts for another decade or so too." Juno also stands, nodding in agreement. "Yeah. We've sorta coasted through band stuff lately too. It'll be fun to have a challenge for once." "Agreed!" Cheers Nar, shooting up from his chair. The three then look to Ruby, who shares an uneasy look with them. Their stares pierce through her very soul, and before long, she finds herself unable to do much more than agree. "Alright. Fine." She utters a long sigh. "But if we lose, I'm going back to my old band. I don't want Winston holding that over me for the rest of my life." Ruby's tentative agreement is quickly accepted, and Nar beams a grin to the rest of the band. "Then we're in agreement. Next gig's tomorrow night. They'll be waiting for our answer then. Then, the fun begins."