Her Guiding Light
“Vel? Equestria to Vel. COME ON DAMMIT!”
Twilight Velvet broke from her trance after receiving a powerful smack to the back of her head.
“Dammit Fye,” Velvet said while rubbing the back of her head, “I almost had it.”
Placed before Velvet, on a cheap hotel room cloud-desk, were several writing implements. A few notebooks, stacks of individual pieces of paper, pencils and pens of all different designs, two inkwells, and a pair of ring binders filled to the breaking point with notes.
“Ugh, you’ve been saying that all week,” said Firefly, “we have more important stuff to do now. Your novel can wait.”
Velvet glared at the pink pegasus. “This is the culmination of months, years, of research, note-taking, and study. I got my degree so I could write this novel.”
Firefly performed a lazy loop while rolling her eyes. “You don’t even have a main character or what they’re going after. It’s just some random pony going after some random thing.”
“It’s just a minor hiccup.”
“Who starts writing not knowing that stuff. All the research in the world means nothing without those two things.”
“I just haven’t found my muse yet,” Velvet looked up at the clock in their hotel room, “And we still have about an hour before you even need to get there, let alone how long until the show starts.”
Firefly landed. “Can you blame me? I’M. FINALLY. A WONDERBOLT.”
Velvet had to admit, the face-splitting smile Firefly had when she spoke those words was infectious.
“There ya go,” Firefly nudged Velvet’s shoulder, “I almost thought you weren’t happy for me.”
Velvet bopped the pegasus on the head. “How could you think that? I’m half the reason you even tried out in the first place,” Velvet adopted a pained expression, “frankly I’m a bit hurt.”
Firefly brought a hoof to the bridge of her muzzle. “Don’t give me that. You know I didn’t mean it.”
When Firefly looked back up Velvet was sticking her tongue out at her.
Firefly narrowed her eyes, “And you’re supposed to be the mature one.”
“Just give me a minute to gather my things and I’ll–” Velvet was interrupted by Firefly grabbing her up and flying her out of the room.
“Wait wait wait wait,” she said, “just let me grab one notebook at least.”
Velvet and Firefly walked down the streets of Cloudsdale toward the Cloudiseum. Velvet was taking in the sights and jotting things down in the notebook floating in front of her. Firefly was restless, her wings twitching every step she took. It wasn’t long until Firefly had had enough.
“Ugh, why won’t you let me fly?!”
Velvet spared her a passing glance before she returned to her sightseeing. “You don’t want to wear yourself out before the show do you? Or pull a wing?”
“Fine fine, I get it Vel,” she said, “still don’t have to like it.”
They walked together in a comfortable semi-silence. Firefly’s wings fidgeted less as time went on and she focused more on the various sights occasionally pointed out by Velvet. When Velvet stopped speaking entirely to focus on her writing, the following silence was too much for her. Before she could say something, Velvet spoke up.
“Why are you doing this, Fye?”
Firefly just looked at her with confusion. “Doing what?”
“Becoming a Wonderbolt,” Velvet elaborated, “It just seems so… different from what you wanted and studied for.”
Firefly shrugged. “It’s not that different from my dream. And technically, being a Wonderbolt was another dream of mine too, ya know.”
“I do know, but I’ve just always thought that you had more passion for archaeology,” Velvet turned to Firefly with an energetic smile, “you’re one of the youngest ABDs in Coltlumbia’s history. I still have another year until I get that far.”
“Yeah, but that dissertation’s a bitch.”
“That’s not why and you know it,” Velvet looked down and away from Firefly, her eyes teared up and she pouted, “I just thought you’d be more honest with me. We’ve been best friends almost all our lives.”
Firefly let out an exasperated sigh. “Evil. Pure evil. No pony should be that good at guilt tripping.”
Velvet perked up immediately and smiled innocently. “I know not what you speak of.”
Firefly rolled her eyes. “Whatever. I’ll tell ya, just no more guilting. I can’t resist and it’s not fair.”
Velvet nodded.
“It’s not that I don’t love archaeology, I do, I think it’s just plain awesome,” said Firefly, “But it’s just not how I thought it was when I was growing up ya know?
“It’s not like those books or film reels we found in your folks’ attic when we were kids. There’s no high flying adventure, no kicking ass, and definitely no keeping the cool stuff. Not that I would, but if a scepter popped up that just looked cool, I might’ve been tempted back then.
“I’m still young Vel and I want to do all that cool stuff. I want to defy death, to be a doer of dares, fly faster than anypony, have ponies know my name even for just a few years. I can get all that with the Wonderbolts.”
“But what about finding lost civilizations or filling in the gaps in history,” said Velvet, “you wouldn’t stop talking about all that and I could see the… the… fire, yes fire in your eyes. It was that passion that inspired me to follow my own.”
Velvet chuckled, “I honestly don’t know what I’d be doing now if it wasn’t for all of that.”
Firefly looked at Velvet with eyes the size of dinner plates. She hadn’t even realized that they had arrived at the Cloudiseum.
“I-I never knew that I had… well I guess such an impact on you,” Firefly smirked, “I’m flattered, but it was your writing that kept me going all those years. You more than anyone should know that during the first couple years of college I practically gouged my own eyes out because of all the freaking papers I had to write.”
Firefly took a moment to look at the crowds of ponies filing into the Cloudiseum and at the massive structure itself. “It’s not like I don’t plan on finishing; I just need to do this for now and get it out of my system, ya know?
“And heck, a nice side benefit is seeing how things’ll go with Spectrum. I know we’ve only dated a couple years, but it’d be nice to see if he really is ‘The One’”
Velvet laughed. “Look at you talking about ‘The One.’ I thought only Nightlight and I took any of that seriously,” Velvet patted Firefly on the head, “my little Firefly is all grown up.”
“Hey! I’m allowed to mature a bit, ya know.”
They paused for a moment before they burst out laughing.
“Okay, you need to get in there before they think you ditched. Wouldn’t want to be fired before you even really started,” said Velvet.
“Heh heh, yeah you’re right,” said Firefly, “You have your skybox ticket, right?”
Velvet’s horn glowed a brilliant raspberry and a ticket floated out of her bag. “Yes I have the ticket you almost made me forget when you dragged me out of the room. And I still think calling it a skybox is oxymoronic.”
“Noted,” said Firefly, “Now get your cute flank up there and be amazed by my awesomeness.”
Velvet rolled her eyes as Firefly trotted toward the locker-rooms.
“Wait!”
Firefly turned back toward Velvet as the unicorn caught up to her. “Watcha need Vel. I really need to get going here.”
“Promise you’ll finish,” said Velvet.
“Um, finish what?”
“Your doctorate. Whenever you’re done with the Wonderbolts I want you to promise me you’ll finish.”
“I was going to anyway Vel.”
“Just please promise me.”
Firefly threw her arms around Velvet and whispered in her ear. “I promise. Anything for you Vel.”
Velvet returned the hug. “Thank you, Fye.”
They broke their embrace and Velvet smiled. “Now get your cute flank in there and show them what you can do.”
Firefly saluted and bolted to the locker-rooms.
Velvet marveled at the oxymoronic skybox. A buffet was up against a wall and filled with various delicious salads, cheeses, pastas and some things she couldn’t even recognized. The half-dozen chairs in the skybox were especially comfy, even more so than regular cloud chairs.
She shared the room with four pegasus ponies: A stallion, a mare, a colt, and a filly,.
The mare and stallion were older than she was by at least a decade from what she could tell. The light-blue colt was probably in his mid-teens and the filly, who had a distinct fiery mane, couldn’t be more than six or seven given her size and lack of a cutie mark.
The mare turned to Velvet and smiled. “Hi there, I’m Sky Shower,” she held out her hoof, “didn’t expect to see anyone else up here.”
Velvet took the proffered hoof and shook. “I’m Twilight Velvet, but you can just call me Velvet.”
“Nice to meet you Velvet. Just Sky for me then.”
“It’s nice to meet you too, Sky.”
The stallion approached and Velvet shook his hoof as well, “Firestorm.”
He went back to his seat and sat down.
“Don’t mind him,” said Sky, “He doesn’t speak much.”
Sky gestured toward the foals, who were eagerly staring down at the Cloudiseum’s center. “And these two are Soarin and Spitfire. Say hello kids.”
The two young ones gave offhanded hellos without taking their eyes off the center.
Sky rolled her eyes. “Kids these days.”
Velvet chuckled. “Well it’s nice to… half meet your children at least.”
Sky smiled. “Actually, only Soarin is mine; Spitfire is Firestorm’s. Our partners are in the Wonderbolts. Heck, Spitfire’s mother is the captain.”
“Well that explains their enthusiasm. Although I guess I’ve never actually seen a young pegasus that didn’t love the Wonderbolts.”
Sky gestured to the buffet and the two mares started gathering plates of various foods.
“If you don’t mind me asking,” Sky said, “how does a unicorn stay here on Cloudsdale with all the well,” she prodded the floor with a hoof, “clouds? I’ve even seen earth ponies on occasion and I’ve never really thought to ask before.”
“There were some officials below the city that cast a cloud-walking spell. They make it last a week so falling through doesn’t sneak up on you.”
“That’s sounds amazing,” Sky laughed, “It’s stuff like that that makes me wish I had a horn sometimes.”
“They can be useful,” Velvet said as they went to their seats, “of course, I’m jealous of your wings. Sometimes I just want to know what it’s like to soar through the skies without being carried.”
“Oh that reminds me,” said Sky, “how did you get a box ticket?”
Sky’s eyes widened for a moment before she added, “That came out a bit worse than it sounded, sorry.”
“It’s okay, I didn’t really see it that way,” said Velvet, “My friend got me the ticket. She just joined the Wonderbolts, in fact, this is her first show.”
A yellow blur caught Velvet’s eye and the little filly was hovering in front of her at eye level.
“You know Firefly,” the filly practically shouted. She had a face-splitting smile and wide eyes. “That’s so cool!”
“You know her? I thought this was her first show.”
Sky responded. “Sometimes our significant others get us permission to watch their practices.”
Spitfire nodded. “Yeah yeah. And Firefly was awesome!”
Velvet smiled at the filly’s vibrant enthusiasm. “Well I think she’ll be overjoyed to know she already has a fan.”
“Can you get me her autograph?”
The sweet smile and the pleading eyes melted Velvet’s heart. “I’m sure she’ll be more than happy to.”
The filly hugged Velvet around the neck, temporarily strangling her. “Thank you, thank you, thank you!”
Spitfire zipped back over to Soarin and stuck out her tongue. “I’m gonna get Firefly’s autograph, so there.”
“So you’ll get the rookie’s autograph,” he said, “who cares. She won’t last long anyway.”
“Yes she will, dummy butt.”
“Spits be nice,” said Firestorm.
“You too Soarin,” said Sky.
They both mumbled their apologies and turned back to the center of the stadium where the show was just starting.
Velvet saw a pegasus shoot out from somewhere beneath the arena. He landed on a stage on the edge of the arena where a small stage and microphone were set up.
Velvet tuned out as the pegasus started his announcing. She honestly wasn’t interested in the Wonderbolts. She saw the appeal, she understood why ponies loved them so much, but she just didn’t really care that much.
And then the announcer changed that, if only for a short time.
“And last, but certainly not least, our newest recruit… FIREFLY!”
Firefly burst from beneath the arena and shot up into the sky. The trail she left in her wake, contrasting that of the other Wonderbolts, was like blue lightning. She did a lap around the arena before returning to the center and shooting back up into the sky. She turned, and dived, and zipped, and zoomed until a blue, crackling image of her cutie mark emblazoned the sky.
Velvet was awestruck. Sure, she had seen Firefly fly before, but this was different. Not because of the tricks or the trail or even the lightning-work. No, it was simply what she saw in Firefly; the unbridled joy. Firefly was always happy when she was in the sky, but bringing joy to the cheering crowds amplified that and even if Velvet couldn’t see her expression, she knew that Firefly had never been happier.
Velvet hadn’t realized just how loudly she was cheering until her friend’s solo performance was over. Spitfire was hovering in the air cheering until she became hoarse and induced a coughing fit.
And Velvet knew in that moment why Firefly became a Wonderbolt…
She wanted to bring the same joy she had for flying to all those around her.
The show had ended and Velvet was standing outside of the Cloudiseum, looking all around to catch sight of her friend.
She saw Firefly zip out of one of the stadium’s entrances, clad in her Wonderbolt uniform with her goggles hanging around her neck. The pegasus’ face brightened when she spotted Velvet.
Firefly launched at Velvet and wrapped her in a bone-crushing hug which Velvet returned in full.
“You were amazing, Fye.”
“Well what’d you expect from somepony as awesome as me.”
They pulled apart in time for a yellow blur to slam into Firefly’s side. It was pure luck that her exhaustion didn’t cause her to get knocked down. The filly babbled excitedly while clutching the older mare’s leg and Firefly didn’t understand a word.
“C’mon Spits, give the girl room to breath.”
Spitfire turned to the new arrival, a mare in a Wonderbolt uniform, before backing away from Firefly. “Sorry,” she said sheepishly.
Firefly went rigid and saluted the mare. “Captain.”
The Wonderbolts captain rolled her eyes and returned the salute. “At ease kid. Show’s over, no need for formalities,” she nudged Firefly’s shoulder, “you need to loosen up a bit.”
Firefly rubbed the back of her head. “Heh heh… yeah, sorry about that. I just don’t want to mess things up Cap–”
The captain raised a hoof, “Copper Dart or just Dart. Please just Dart. What my folks were thinking when they named me that I’ll never know.”
“Right, Dart. I’ll try to remember that,” Firefly chuckled.
Dart wrapped a hoof around Firefly’s neck. “Now look alive recruit, you have a fan.”
“And she was hoping for an autograph,” said Velvet.
Velvet levitated a poster of the Wonderbolts, with their newest member feature most prominently, along with a pen to Firefly.
Spitfire perked up again. “I’m gonna be a Wonderbolt just like you and mom and you’re so awesome and cool and please sign my poster, please.”
Firefly blushed. “No problem kid.”
She grabbed the pen from Velvet’s telekinetic grip and jotted down a small note along with her signature.
Velvet floated the poster to the filly who grasped it delicately and read aloud, “To my first and greatest fan, Spitfire, never lose sight of your dreams. Can’t wait ‘til you join the team. Firefly.”
Spitfire squeed and hugged the newest Wonderbolt again, Velvet barely managing to float the poster away to prevent damage.
Firefly ruffled the filly’s mane. “Seriously kid, you hold onto that dream. Heck, flying as well as I’ve seen you at your age, you’ll be a shoo in.”
“Thank you, thank you, thank you.”
Velvet swore she saw a light bulb appear above Firefly’s head before the pegasus removed her goggles and slipped them on the filly’s head.
The goggles drooped down and settle around the filly’s neck and she looked up at her new idol.
“My first show, my first autograph, and my first goggles for my first fan. You keep those around kid, when you tryout I wanna see you wearing those, got it.”
Spitfire trembled, squeed, and started hopping around Firefly, “Yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes.”
Dart chuckled at the display and used her wing to intercept and scoop up the hyper filly. “I better get this little one home before she faints from excitement.”
Velvet floated the, now rolled up, poster to Dart who tucked it gently under her other wing. She and her daughter said their goodbyes and Dart cantered off down the street, joining up with her husband who was waiting near the crowd’s edge.
Firefly sat down and sighed. “I’m so exhausted.”
Velvet giggled. “You must be. All those amazing tricks and that cute little fan of yours; I would’ve passed out by now.”
Firefly hopped on to Velvet’s back and shot her hoof in the direction of their hotel. “Carry me, loyal steed.”
“I’ll let that slide just this once.”
They made about halfway to their hotel when Firefly’s ear twitched.
“Did you hear that?”
Velvet looked around and moved her ears all about. “No.”
“You sure cause I swear someone’s saying something.”
Firefly
Velvet’s ear twitched. “I hear it too.”
“FIREFLY!”
Firefly slipped off Velvet’s back and the looked behind themselves. When they saw nothing their gaze turned up.
In the sky, flying toward them at speed, were a pair of stallions, one riding on the other’s back.
The pegasus stallion had a distinctive rainbow-colored mane while the unicorn, eyes filled with terror, was shades of blue and blending into the darkening sky.
As they neared, the pegasus came to an abrupt landing just a few yards away from the mares. The unicorn gripping the pegasus’ neck was flung forward.
“Can’t walk! Can’t walk!”
Velvet’s horn glowed and wrapped the stallion in her magical grip. She floated him over to her and set him on her back.
He immediately wrapped his arms around her neck and started kissing the back of her head, mumbling thank yous to her and the Princess.
Velvet rolled her eyes. “My stallion is the bravest pony I’ve ever known.”
“H-hey, Spectrum’s the one who wouldn’t stop to let someone cloud spell me. And he wouldn’t slow down even when I fell.”
The pegasus stallion trotted up to them. “I caught you didn’t I? Besides, I got us here in, well, relative time at any rate.”
Firefly hugged Spectrum and kissed him. “You actually came.”
He wrapped a wing around her and pulled her close. “You didn’t honestly think that Nightlight and I would leave you girls hanging didja?”
Firefly smiled. “Did you catch any of the show?”
“Th-the tail end of it,” said Nightlight, still trembling from his unassisted flight.
“We flew around the place looking for you, but decided that we’d be better of trying the hotel you girls said you’d be at.”
“So you flew all the way from Canterlot carrying Night and both of your saddlebags just to see me?”
“Of course, babe,” Spectrum said, “I love you, don’t I?”
Nightlight took a last calming breath. “And I love you too Velvet. Only reason why I’d let this psychopath fly me anywhere.”
Velvet rolled her eyes once more and started trotting of toward the hotel with her boyfriend still on her back; the two pegasi fell in next to them.
“It wasn’t that bad.”
“You stole a necklace.”
“Oh right,” Spectrum reached into his saddlebag and grabbed a blue lightning bolt pendant. He slipped it around Firefly’s neck, “For you, my love. Had to get you something for your big day.”
Firefly teared up a little and playfully shoved him. “You big lug. Robbing a jewellery store for me? You’re so sweet.”
“About that,” said Velvet, “What do you mean he stole it?”
“Guy was so intent on getting that necklace for Firefly and showing up to the show that when the jeweller showed it to him, he grabbed it, bolted, and left me to pay for it,” Nightlight shot Spectrum a glared, “I didn’t have time to see if I even had enough bits for the thing before he came back, grabbed me, and left all the bits I was carrying behind.”
“I’m sure you had enough.”
“If the police or, Celestia forbid, the guard come breaking down our door I am not going down with you.”
Spectrum grinned. “That’s fair.”
“Well I like it,” said Firefly, “always did like sapphires. They match me so well.”
“I knew you wou–”
Spectrum collapsed just as they reached the hotel and dragged Firefly down with him. He started snoring immediately; dead to the world.
Firefly’s eyes narrowed. “And there went the mood.”
Velvet giggled.
Velvet brought Nightlight to the front desk where the hotel employee kindly got an official staying at the hotel to cast the cloud-walking spell on him. Nightlight was still too nervous to actually try walking himself. Velvet shook her head; if she didn’t love him, she mused.
She returned to her friend, who was struggling with the physically larger stallion. Her exhaustion didn’t help matters much.
Firefly, with a little help from Velvet and Nightlight’s magic, managed to finally lug the stallion upstairs to their floor and deposited him on the bed in Firefly’s room.
Nightlight carefully slid off Velvet’s back and stretched. “I think I’ve got it from here sweetie. You look more spent than I do, go get some rest.”
They kissed. “Fine, but you probably need the rest just as much, so hurry up and come to bed.”
She left to her own room next door.
Velvet turned her attention from the notebook on the desk to the door as a tired Firefly slowly moved toward the bed.
“What happened to Nightlight?”
Firefly laid down on the bend and smirked. “He passed out practically right after you left. So I decided to arrange him and Spec in bed together.”
Velvet snickered.
“Yeah, thought that their reactions in the morning would amuse me too.”
Firefly stretched out on her back and laid her head on a pillow and closed her eyes.
Velvet smiled at the sight and turned her attention back to her notebook. She used her pencil to doodle a picture of Firefly on the first page.
Seeing Firefly at the show and speaking to her beforehand gave her what she needed to start her first draft.
“You gonna get any sleep tonight, Vel?”
Velvet turned to the pegasus, her eyes still closed. “Yeah, I’ll join you in a minute.”
“Promise me we’ll stay in touch.”
Velvet’s eyes widened. “What do you mean?”
Firefly opened her eyes and met Velvet’s. “I’m a Wonderbolt now so I’m going to be travelling a lot,” she sighed, “and even when I’m not I’ll be here in Cloudsdale to be near the Wonderbolt HQ.”
“I don’t see the problem.”
“Sure you do, Vel. Spec is gonna be up here in Cloudsdale with me because of the whole getting a doctorate in weather sciences, but you and Night are gonna be in Canterlot.”
Firefly’s eyes went to the ceiling. “At first, we’ll send letters all the time and see each other whenever we can, but that won’t last. We both want to start families at some point and with our careers we’ll build lives for ourselves. Over time we’ll drift apart and I’m afraid that someday we’ll just stop seeing each other altogether”
“That won’t happen Fye, I promise,” Velvet’s tone then turned stern, “now get some sleep young lady. You get too depressing when you’re tired.”
Firefly smirked. “Yeah, yeah, I’m doing it.” She turned around with her back facing Velvet. “When you do get to bed, don’t be afraid to spoon me. I know how you look at this sexy flank and you’ll get to say you spooned a celebrity. It’s a win-win.” She turned and winked at Velvet.
Velvet blushed. “And now you’re moving into your tired flirty phase. Thought we’d be skipping it this time.”
Firefly giggled and started settling down. Velvet waited for Firefly to fall asleep before she returned her attention to the notebook.
She looked at the doodle of Firefly and decided that it needed something. She took her pencil and added a pith helmet and a vest.
She looked back at Firefly and the gold chain of the gifted necklace. She smiled as she thought back on some of Firefly’s earlier words:
I want to defy death, to be a doer of dares, fly faster than anypony, have ponies know my name even for just a few years.
Looking back to the first page she wrote a title for her future novel.
“A doer of dares with a sapphire gemstone necklace.”
Daring Do
and the Quest for the
Sapphire Stone
“She’ll never stop teasing me about that title, I just know it,” she said with a chuckle.
Below that, as she looked upon her sleeping friend, she decided to write her dedication, or at least the second part.
Dedicated to my firefly. Whenever I would doubt myself. Whenever I feared I wouldn’t find an inspiration or a muse. Whenever I felt that I had lost my way. I would look to her and knew that as long as she was there, whether guiding me or being by my side, I would always pull myself up. I would always be able to look to my firefly’s guiding light.
Author's Note
My first submission for One-Shotober. Hope you all enjoy.