The Featured Story

by zel

Rating: everyone
Tags: Dark, Alternate Universe, Romance
Length: 3508

yolo

swag

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2013-12-31 12:02:50 UTC

I just got a new Joe Ford album

As Starry Sky breathed heavily, pleased with herself, a small bit of laughter filled the air. Turning her gaze to Celestial, she saw an amused grin on his face poorly hidden by his forehoof.

That’s probably a small comfort to the Manhattanites; the virus dying out because it already killed almost everybody. Blacklight was a little confused, however, by the people’s attempts to keep a normal schedule. They still went to their jobs and their previous engagements rather than staying home. It’s interesting to see an entire city of people (or what’s left of them) in denial. They drive to work and worry about trivial matters like everything is the same, completely disregarding that the world, especially Manhattan, will never be the same after the outbreak.

"I. . don't think I've seen you around before. . .umm. . what are you?" He asked.

"I see .. I'm sorry but I didn't see him with you. . .Angel found you this morning in a tree. You were lucky to have survived that storm too. . never seen a storm act like that. . plus it wasn't scheduled. I do say your a strange looking bug."

Dana’s seen a few videos with glimpses of Alex in the background, usually bounding across rooftops like the entire city is his bouncy castle. She, however, questions the legitimacy of these videos as well, as they are really shitty in the quality department. How is it that every time someone tries to film an urban legend, their camera is out of focus?

"Well", she stuttered, trying to find the best choice of words, "is it so bad that I want to be a benevolent philanthropist to my number one assistant now and then?" She responded with a knowing smirk, breathing an internal sigh of relief as she watched Spike struggle with her choice of vocabulary.

“Delaying giving you this, sire.”

Celestial Sky felt his jaw drop finally as he stared at it, completely unaware that hers had as well. She was not only cute, but she even had the same freaking cutie mark as him. Unable to resist any longer, Celestial Sky turned to Starry Sky, who did the same. They locked eyes with each other and said nothing as the silence wrapped around them.

Though he’d never been known to be telepathetic, Captain Ironhoof’s next words brought that possibility to Flash’s mind. “And, in the off-chance that you are as concerned about Princess Twilight Sparkle today as you were yesterday,” he said snidely, waving a forehoof, “she has taken the day off as well. Her attacker shall be dealt with tomorrow night.”

I did what you asked and I asked my parents if we could have a slumber party and they said yes and when I invited Bluebell to it she said yes too and we had a lot of fun! We braided each others manes and we made smores in the fireplace and we talked about our favorite Daring Do books and it was the best time I ever had since we moved from Fillydelphia.

Tired eyes fell upon a small being in the yellow one's pink hair. A weak smile showed on his muzzle,"S. .sparx. . ."

“It’s simply fascinating dear!” Rarity said. “You’ve should have seen the capital building. It is purely divine and majestic. And the prince who lives there, Oh! He is so handsome and such a hunk of a stallion," she added ravishingly.

Alex! Alex is alright! What happened to the infected? She tried to voice her thoughts.

“ Okie doki loki! So the standard leveling system is pretty basic. You gather experience by completing the everyday tasks and quests the game’s NPCs gives you each and every day of the week.” Pinkie Pie drew a couple of crude drawings of creatures with horns and teeth, and a picture of a hammer and anvil. “There are also other ways to level up by killing the creatures of this world. You could also work on your profession skill which acts as your ‘job’ in this world. But since it’s really easy to put a lot of effort into the profession, it rather improves your profession level rather than the main level,“ She kicked the chalkboard and it folded into a square box. She stuffed the cap and everything into the bag and turned back to her friends with a smile. “Any questions?”

Twilight took her crown off and gave it a forlorn inspection. “You know you can drop the titles around me, Rarity. It doesn’t feel right having my friends address me as such,” or my children outside of serious situations, for that matter. “I only wish the others could have made it.”

+Ω‡‡¥‡‡Ω+

Dash blew Twilight a raspberry before adding, "O-of course! I already knew that." She groaned in annoyance, "Look, are you gonna play the game or not?"

Dumbfounded, Flash merely opened and closed his mouth again.

Blacklight continued walking down the sidewalk in a straight line before turning into a concealed alley. Once he was comfortably out of sight, Blacklight changed.

“My… child??”

Flash paused, taking a breath through his nostrils. His shoulders slumped as he sat down on his haunches and stared at the concrete below his hooves. “Did you…

Flash stood there, stone and statue and silent. He took his breaths slowly as he stared off into nothingness.

Okay, I will! Thank you very much Princess Twilight! I will start reading it right away.

I’m sorry. I tried to help you out as best I could, but I’m really not qualified yet to give out the sort of advice you need. I still have a lot to learn about being a princess, and providing quality recommendations is clearly one of those things I’m still learning. I think I may have been way overzealous when I assured you of my report’s accuracy, even as I tried to avoid giving you false hope. I hope you can forgive me for that someday.

No answer. That was not a good sign. Spyro struggled to open his eyes, slowly, letting them adjust to that painful light again. It took him perhaps thirty or forty attempts, before finally his lids remained open longer then a minute. Blurred colors stared at him. The pale violet eyes of his were having trouble focusing on just one. What's more was they seem to shift and move, more phasing out of sight while plenty more took the missing blobs of colors places. As these splotches of colors moved, the source of that garbled noise seem to be coming from them.

He brushed his way into the room. The room had the same green carpeting and brown walls, with a simple bed with blue covers and a computer desk complete with a swivel chair, which was currently occupied by Dana, who was on her laptop that Blacklight had bought for her. She couldn’t use his laptop anymore, as it was destroyed when the Leader Hunter took her. Blacklight shivered in the memory of that unacceptable failure.

A white alicorn hears a voice from within the private chambers of her room. She is clad in a soft blue robe and nothing more. Royal accessories rest on a nearby dresser, awaiting for when their owner would adorn them come morning. She is standing on a small balcony, complete with a small telescope at the edge which overlooks much of Canterlot castle. Her stature is regal, her coat a pure snow white with grand wings hugging her sides. Soft pastel colors grace her mane and tail, both flow majestically as though a wind stirs their movement, yet the air is still. A sun is emblazoned on her flank, marking her as the sun goddess and ruler of Equestria along with her sister. Princess Celestia smiles as Luna approaches from a shadow, her dark body a steep contrast to her older sibling.

Only the teacher said that princesses are supposed to live in castles so Golden Oaks can’t be a library. Then Ruby Red laughed and said how would a bookworm like me even know if the textbook was wrong? I told her that was because you told me your address but she said I was lying and the teacher had to give us a timeout because we were being disruptif in class.

The pegasus peeked from under the table,"T.. that was Spyro?. . H. .he did that?!"

[blockquote]Level Up! Level 2[p][p class="indented double"]You’ve gained the following Skills![/p][p class="indented double"]~ Incinerate: 130% Dmg. AoE. Next Rank:+20% Dmg [/p][p class="indented"]Burn your enemies to a crisp! [/p][p class="indented double"]HP Boosted.[/p][p class="indented"]MP Boosted.[/p][p class="indented"]Speed Boosted.[/p][p class="indented"]Magic Speed Boosted.[/p][p class="indented"]M. Defense Boosted.[/p][p class="indented"][/blockquote]

Note: I have no idea what the fuck was author doing, but I am not writing a script to clean this shit up.

That’s probably a small comfort to the Manhattanites; the virus dying out because it already killed almost everybody. Blacklight was a little confused, however, by the people’s attempts to keep a normal schedule. They still went to their jobs and their previous engagements rather than staying home. It’s interesting to see an entire city of people (or what’s left of them) in denial. They drive to work and worry about trivial matters like everything is the same, completely disregarding that the world, especially Manhattan, will never be the same after the outbreak.

The soft patter of hooves against his floor and the comfort of one resting on his shoulder should’ve made Flash Sentry turn around, but he didn’t.

"A.. are you still lost? The pegasus asked.

The servant took a step back from the door and sighed, glancing at the weathered pocket watch in his hoof. It was already several minutes past the awakening call; everypony was stirring and rising within Canterlot Castle. It wasn’t like his master to slack off when it came to his duties.

The librarian, meanwhile, was bouncing around the pegasus in a very happy fit. She was literally jumping with joy. A lot was known about Star Swirl in the textbooks, but his personal journal entries were never found. Only the products of his study on magic survived throughout time. If Luna herself lent her knowledge of him into the game…

“No.”

Old Theme: Persona 4 Arena -Reach out to the Truth

Anyway! I’ve finally completed a rough outline of a plan for you, which I’ve enclosed in this letter. It uses a statistical analysis of all my experiences and observations regarding friendship to plot out the optimal course of action for your future social needs. Hope it’s not too confusing. I tried to get Spike to look over it and make fixes where the jargon got too technical.

I am sorry that you and Spike are fighting right now. That is sad because he seemed like a very nice and cute dragon when I saw his picture in Canterlot and you are a very nice princess so I don’t know why you two would be mad at each other. I hope you make up soon.

Half of the other royals muttered their agreement. Chrysalis shared the others' displeasure, but kept quiet about it. Twilight Sparkle is not to be underestimated, she *had** to know this would be our reaction.*

It’s now when I get to the greatest challenge of the grocery trip: The produce section of the marketplace. The smell it expels. The fat, plump watermelons. The pears that are practically bursting with sweet, tangy nectar. Tomatoes being sold by the slice. And… apples. Juicy, succulent apples. I would DIE for an apple right now.

I know we’re not actually on speaking terms right now, but before you write back to Aurora on this, I just want you to think about about what you’re telling her, and if this is really how you want her to learn about friendship.

Sincerely, Aurora

So obviously, shopping was left to the nigh-invulnerable man-eating monster-in-human-form to do.

The sound of wings flapping above the two, draws their heads up as another flying creature descends and lands before them.

“Thank you, Princess…” Before Flash could finish speaking, there was a bright flash of light.

"By the way," she started, poking her head out of the door, "This isn't an 'official' meeting. Take off the armor, be social!"

“Heavens, Darling, didn’t the princesses say anything about that?” Rarity asked once Rainbow pushed them off of her.

"Do you like..."

"Hmm, they do seem a little. .brighter then the other constellations sister. As for this shimmer you speak of, I can neither sense nor see with my own eyes." She looks away again, giving Celestia a faint smile.

The day was vividly beautiful, and the blessed sun shined yellow upon all the ponies out in the open, basking them in a coat of gold. Younglings ran throughout the town as they played, basking under Celestia's warm rays, while the older mares and stallions went about on their usual business.

Celestial Sky pointed a hoof towards the pillar, causing Starry to turn around. The pillar was still upright and solid, but there was a minuscule crater where her spell had hit. Unhappy, she turned to him with a pout on her face.

I think it may be best if we cut off correspondence right here. I’ve added a couple Pegasus Express stamps you can use to send another letter to Princess Celestia and ask her again for advice. It’s clear that I’m not cut out for providing any sort of recommendation, even in an unofficial capacity. I hope she’ll see that now, after this.

Ironhoof shoved the bite of pancake into his mouth and chewed joylessly, swallowing quickly so he could continue. “What with that despicable, outrageous little bastard Orion—shaming his family, betraying tradition, and making an utter fool of himself on top of attacking our Princess and our Guard—pulling his stunt on the Princess’s already stressful first day, well…”

Twilight was bombarded with congratulations, both mentally and in the physical world. Everywhere she looked, Twilight found her children beaming smiles back at her. The sheer volume of them over the Link was trivial to handle, but the vocalized accolades threw her off balance. “A fair point.”

“One more won’t hurt my favorite newbie,” Maggie insisted with a purr, as she placed one last mug in front of Flash, gave him her winning smile. Flash’s brain couldn't take a stand against her hypnotic smile, so he downed this mug, quickly feeling like he was about to fall out of his seat.

After several minutes of inhuman parkour, Blacklight came to a stop in another secluded alley, where he swiftly changed his appearance again.

“… Yes?” Greyhoof pressed his forehoof more firmly down on his shoulder.

I’ve seen supplicants gift knowledge of alchemy, new farming techniques, and knowledge of better love feeding grounds; but that wasn’t enough for her, now was it? This must be her way of affirming her dedication to her new species. Silandrus eyed the bound scroll still held aloft in Twilight’s lavender-orange magic. The younger mare carried herself with something in between fear of rejection and a firm belief that she was right. “Given the nature of your request, I call for a recess. If the Summit finds your evidence and proposal adequate, you will be granted what you seek.”

“By the way, what’s grinding?”

Twilight forcibly pushed Chrysalis’ hoof away from her daughter. “You will not harm my drones, Chrysalis.”

"Spyrooooooo! I think we should laaaaaand! These winds are too much! You'll injure yourself if we don't descend below!" Sparx called out over the shrieking winds.

“S-sire…” Stumbling back up onto his hooves proper, Greyhoof steadied himself against the doorframe and looked into the eyes of his master. He bowed quickly, then asked, “Are you—“

Rarity jolted up, finally noticing Spike, rather than the intrinsic beauty she saw in him. Wait, beauty? Rarity gave herself a mental kick and, with a little convincing, concluded she stared simply for the sake of fashionable appeal. "Yes, Spike?" She replied, almost scaring herself with the minor quiver she noticed in the pitch of her voice.

The storm raging above them was near deathly silent thanks to Silandrus’ enchantments. This allowed Cadista to be heard with ease. Twilight was partially glad that she had missed her mother’s opening statement, it was long and tedious, and she’d heard it in rehearsal so much that she was sick of it.

Spyro rose on his feet and took a glance at the entrance to the main chamber. He could hear the faint snores still, his wings growing restless against his back. His fore paws started to scratch the stone, adding to the growing anxiety he could feel welling up in his chest, his body telling him to follow Sparx' advice.

"Oh?" Celestial Sky answered, "What do you mean by that?"

"I'm. .I'm ok. . he just. .froze my wings over. I can't use em. Be careful this dragon feels different from the others."

Dear Spike,

Flash rolled over onto his side and brought his pillow to his face. “Not at all, Greyhoof,” he said, muffling the venom in his voice.

Dana’s vision finally stopped swimming enough to make out the form of her brother’s head, still in that stupid hood looking no worse for wear. Her vision focused enough to see the concern in his strangely reflective eyes.

"I am very glad you decided to stay here tonight," she spoke.

Twilight’s eyes lit up and she squealed in return, “OHMIGOSH! Really!? How?”

"I am very glad you decided to stay here tonight," she spoke.

Twilight stiffened at the terms, but said nothing aloud.

“May your reign last four thousand years, Queen Twilight Sparkle.”

…Still worth it.

“So your name is Flash, huh? Must be new to the guards. I always take a little pride in knowing all the guards.” Maggie leaned forward, smiling a smile that always seemed to make stallions of any age weak in the knees.

Let me know how it goes!

Please, please don’t say any more about your itchy dry scale. I’ve been trying to put that thought out of my mind. Just keep using the ointment the vet gave you and you’ll be fine.

"Your cutie mark is a..." he began.

Alex! Alex is alright! What happened to the infected? She tried to voice her thoughts.

Fluttershy had just finished convincing Angel Bunny to let go of her foreleg when the strangest creature came from the tree line a little ways away from her cottage. At the sight of any other strange creature running out of the scary forest laughing hysterically, she probably would have bolted into her cottage and hid under her bed. But this one was covered in b-blood.

Twilight chuckled to herself, “By crashing into other ponies? I bet so. Anyway, what’s this about me and this game?”

“I know you did.” Greyhoof walked over and started pulling at the end of the spear with both forehooves, which was embedded deeply into the wall. Grimacing with pained effort, he added, “I figured something terrible must have happened yesterday to warrant all of this.”

The shuttle slid into one of the Phoenix’s many hangars, allowing Twilight to disembark, only to find a huge gathering of purple drones cheering wildly, with two particular ponies standing at the forefront of the celebration.

"Why, of course," Princess Celestia spoke, "I was the one who arranged this after all."

The stallion's smile only widened as he spoke.

"Do you like..."

"Goodness, Spike, drifting off into a daydream even as a mare speaks to you. Certainly I must be more entertaining than your fantasies?" Rarity cooed with a false, condescending smile. She laughed as a filly would at Spike's stuttering attempts to correct himself, "Darling, it's okay, it was just a little joke. Now, as I was saying before, do you think it would be okay for you come to my boudoir tomorrow afternoon to assist me in affixing our treasures to various designs?" Just for good measure she turned to Spike with a half lidded smile to try and seal the deal. Rarity knew it wasn't necessary for Spike, the little dragon was always so eager to please, it was more of a natural reflex. When dealing with colts she often found herself having to sway her mane or bring attention to her beauty to get them to do what she wanted, but it was different with her borrowed assistant. Spike often did as she asked with a gusto she expected from her little sister and her ragtag gang of fillies, she truly admired him for that. A true gentlecolt, or was Spike a gentle-dragon? Rarity gave her mind an internal shake to clear it confusing thoughts about the etiquette regarding dragons.