Twas a stormy day in Ponyville, with howling winds and crashing thunder. Lightning flashed, illuminating the nearly deserted paths of the small town, the slumbering residents all having a visit or two from the princess of the night. Some would be overjoyed, while others would fear that eternal night had come to visit them.
Darkness shrouded the Golden Oaks Library, as not even Twilight had bothered to stay up later tonight to catch up on reading. She slept very peacefully in her bed, even Spike's gentle movements in his basket hardly disturbing her. It was the best rest she had had in a long time, especially with her latest foal kissing duties finally concluded.
Shifting in her sleep, Twilight sought the world of dreams to take her mind off of the day's events. Just as the world of dream began to embrace her weary mind, a very loud rapping noise shattered the connection. Sitting awake, the alicorn lit her horn, eyes still droopy from having been so close to complete rest.
The silhoutte of a pony ducked from the window, a flash of yellow suggesting that it was a member of the royal guard. It made no sense that they would tap at her window. For a moment, it almost resembled the form of Flash Sentry.
Twilight's ears perked up for just a moment before she dropped them again. This Flash Sentry was not the same as the other; oh well, one could dream right?
Wait a minute. Twilight growled upon realization that dreaming about anything would have to wait until after she addressed this late night visitor.
She tip-toed out of bed and out of her shared room with Spike, steathily trotting down the stairs with the kind of skill that came with knowing the squeeky parts of the stairwell and practice.
Once on the ground floor, Twilight acknowledged the oddity of having only her lit horn for light; not wanting to give anypony the wrong impression, Twilight lit a few candles, giving the room a somewhat eerie glow. Just the thought of flames licking at the books would have made her cringe, but the candles were safely stowed in open topped glass; unless her visitor asked for trouble, there would be no book burning going on tonight.
Finally reaching her front door, Twilight called out to the visitor on the other side. "Who is it and what do you want?"
Pretty straightforward. No need to beat around the bush, or open the door to a complete and utter stranger in the middle of the night. Ponyville was a safe place, but being a princess required a certain level of vigilance.
"Flash Sentry, second in command of Shining Armor's royal crystal guard, your highness." Flash spoke with a formality befitting most guards, with not a hint of what was going through his head. "I need to speak with you."
As tempted as Twilight was to have him speak through the door for the remainder of his bit, another flash of lightning suggested that a wet pony in metal armor might would want to seek shelter from the weather.
And so she opened the front door using her magic, revealing a soaking wet and most pitiful looking Flash Sentry. He looked as if he had flown straight here from the Empire non-stop, with baggy eyes, drooped wings, and pupils that begged for darkness to allow them respite from work.
At his hooves was a basket, with a picnic blanket drawn over it. Twilight connected two and two together very quickly.
"Yeah, this is not happening," Twilight said, politly attempting to turn him down before he even asked, "How many times do I have to tell ponies, I am not the princess of foal sitting."
"Then what kind of princess are you then?"
Flash's smart remark caught Twilight off guard for a moment, especially when a flash of blue light encased his eyes. He seemed more invigorated after this statement, as if he had been waiting to say something like that for awhile.
It was unsettling to say the least. She had no intentions on backing down, however, for all it took was one moment of weakness for more ponies to pour in and cite the incident as evidence that she indeed took in foals.
"Well, I do not know my role yet. If I take a guess at it, it will have something to do with friendship, not raising other ponies' foals."
Sentry took the basket handle in his mouth and stepped inside; the unspoken agreement that he could come in seemed to fly this go round, for Twilight merely closed the door behind him. Passing, Twilight noted that he smelled like sweat and frustration; maybe he had already tried Fluttershy's cottage.
Setting the basket down on the nearest cleared table, Flash turned back to Twilight with wide, watery eyes. "Please, I beg of you, take this foal. I know that you will be a fine replacement mother."
Twilight would have asked why he felt confident of that, but a more pertinent question demanded her voice. "What happened to the original mother?"
Flash cast a glance to the floor. Whatever it was, it apparently was not something he wanted to speak up more about.
"She is no longer of this world. I was compelled to find a decent home."
Twilight's ears drooped at the thought, her heart beginning to waver on her stark decision. But of course, her mind had not given up the fight by a longshot.
"That is, terrible, but what about the father?"
"Executed."
The quick, snappy response and the lack of hesitation, made Twilight question the nature of this request. Was this an amiable one, or was Flash in the trafficking cause? Asking directly might incite aggression, so Twilight attempted a more tactful approach, by mindlessly drawing a circle into the floor with a hoof.
Her head downcast and gaze ungraspable, she flattened her ears to her head, her wings already folded for this particular pose. "Well, what about you? Could you not take care of the colt?"
Though her head was cast downwards, Twilight caught the professional guard member actually rolling his eyes at her. Yellow flag raised. "If I could take care of the colt, do you think I would come all the way here in this Celestia forsaken weather just to ask the princess of nothing to take care of this colt?"
Twilight snapped to attention, a strike at her normally placid ego inciting outrage.
"Now hold on, that is uncalled for! I think you need to re-think your approach Mr."
Flash flared his wings, lowering his body stance, a flash of green over his eyes only hinting at a potential physical alteration. "Listen, I have tried to be nice here, but it is clear that that approach is not working."
Twilight, using her magic, levitated the pegasus a few inches off the floor; just as he noticed that he was not in control of the situation, Twilight slammed him into the bookshelf behind him, a large pile of books falling atop of him. A few books clanged off of his helmet as he rose, shaking it off.
Twilight advanced, a subtle threat in her posture. This caused Flash to back off towards the door, no doubt having understood that he had lost that battle.
"I am not going to be threatened in my own house." She stepped over a few fallen books, hardly paying attention to the levitating bundle to her back.
Flash continued to back off until the door met his rump; he then came face to face with Twilight, eye to eye. It was rather close quarters, but Flash knew a suave way to get some distance and establish some damage control.
"Princess, have I ever said how beautiful you are when you are angry?"
Twilight backed off almost as soon as the words came out of his mouth, looking between a mix of flattered and angry. Her face scrunched up in bemusement, she yet still had not noticed the precariously floating bundle make its way up the stairs. The intense sweating of Sentry from exertion also seemed to go unnoticed.
"If your intention was to get me riled up, good job. I will make sure my brother hears the joke next time we write. Now, I am going to have to ask you to leave, with the foal."
Flash nodded, darted over to the basket, and swiftly made his way back to the door, careful not to swing too much. The door opened magically, and the intense weather carried on. Flash would have turned to apologize, but Twilight's magic ushered him out before he fully got out the response.
Deep down, as the door slammed shut, Twilight felt somewhat rude, if not a little cold-hearted. The poor colt would have to endure the elements with that poor knock-off of Flash Sentry. Twilight shook her head for a moment, as it came to question whether the Flash she met had been the original or the alter ego, and vice versa.
This questioning did not last long, and Twilight promptly dissmissed the notion as something for the morning. She returned upstairs, only to find a faint blue glow coming from her room. Confused, yet fearing the likely truth, the Element of Magic eased back into her room to find a blue crystal colt searching her bed for something.
The blue was not even cyan, but a sort of sea blue, much like one would find in clear tropical waters. The wide, searching eyes guided the stubby legs of the crystal earth pony as the colt searched hither and fro on the bed. It was kind of cute.
But this colt was not a unicorn, so how in the world did it manage to get up here without her noticing it? Even still, Flash was not a unicorn either, so he couldn't have just levitated it up here.
That's when a potential answer hit her. She turned to the grumbling Spike, urgency replacing her earlier weariness.
"Spike, wake up! I need you to compose a letter to Princess Celestia!"
The young dragon stirred and rolled onto his back, eyes fluttering open. He put an arm up to try to shield from the not so bright light. "At this hour? What for?" The sleepy dragon hardly kept from slurring his words, dreams having likely visited him already.
Too bad, the matter was urgent, and Twilight wanted to make sure that Celestia was alerted immediately of the issue. "A crystal pony has been trafficked into the library. We need to make her aware of this!"
Spike scoffed, turning onto his belly, staring into his sheets. "Can't you just re-traffick it to the trafficker?"
Twilight, patience wearing thin, levitated the baby dragon into the air, plopping him down onto her bed next to the colt. "No, I believe Flash Sentry is long gone now..."
Spike's eyes widened, as if this bit of information changed everything. "Flash Sentry was here? At this hour?" He looked to the colt and then back at Twilight, as if trying to piece together some information. "Is it yours?"
Twilight facehooved. "He, Spike, and no he is not mine! That is at least half of the problem! I think the Royal Guard may be participating in crystal pony trafficking."
Spike looked to the colt yet again, noticing that it had stopped searching the small bed, finally realizing that whatever it sought was not in the bed. He then looked back to Twilight with an incredulous expression.
"Are you sure that you are not jumping the cannon here?"
Twilight sighed and took a parchment and quill from a nearby cup using her magic. "I will write it myself then."
Dear Princess Celestia,
I have been forced to endure yet another foal being dropped off at the library. It is getting worse though; it is a blue crystal colt! Flash Sentry personally dropped him off, despite the weather, and even tried to threaten me!
Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie think it is funny, but I am not amused by foals being dropped off to me in the middle of the night on a regular basis. It has really gotten old.
I think you should start an investigation into the matter. Oh, and may I get your permission to put up a sign that says: "No foalsitting services offered, EVER!"
Your Faithful Student,
Twilight Sparkle
Author's Note
Another attempt at comedy! This might can be considered a teaser for the sequel to Arch of Shadows. Either way, it's a thought generator that I hoped you found as enjoyable to read as I did.