Chapters Chapter 2: Joining the Herd
“That’s insane, Twilight.”
“Can the Royal Guards even do anything at all?”
“Well…I suppose you’re right, but why pick me? Why not Fluttershy, AppleJack, or Rarity? Can’t they help?”
Shining armor was still laughing. Twilight maintained her temper for the tenth time. Her brother had laughed with the rest of his collages for about twenty minutes. “Please.” Twilight said calmly. “We need to join the E.U.P.” He continued to chuckle. “You? A royal guard? You’re one of the four princess of Equestria! Even Rainbow hasn’t passed the academy yet, and she just wants to be a Wonderbolt!” Twilight’s horn started to sparkle. “Who do you think you are? Con Mane?” Twilight’s horn started to emit light. “Seriously, you’re so ridicio-” SLAM. Cups and memos went flying, scattering everywhere with paper after she had used a levitating spell to flip the table 180o degrees.
Shining Armor stared at his sister as she continued to shout in anger.
Shining Armor kept on staring at his sobbing sister, and after a minute of silence, he spoke, putting his hoof on his sister’s shoulder. “Are you sure you want to do this?” His voice was anxious and official, the relaxed attitude gone. The Captain of the Royal Guard had suddenly changed from her brother to a leader. Finally, Twilight thought, they get it. Her voice slowly became firm. “Yes.”
The captain turned to one of his still laughing collages. “Flash, if you don’t get these two ponies in the E.U.P and put them on the investigative team right now, I will kick your clot.”
The E.U.P was one of the earliest and still surviving royal groups. Established after Luna’s banishment, it started out as a basic command center. However, a few years of dramatic development happened in Equestria after the three groups of ponies: pegasus, unicorn, and earth pony united. Transforming the agency to a state of the art military base complete with labs led by unicorns, investigative teams led by earth ponies, and training camps led by pegasus’. Currently, it holds the latest weapons, technologies, and the smartest ponies around.
Twilight had loved the place since she first visited with her parents and her brother after Celestia took her in as her student and gave her a quick tour of the castle, watching bored scientists playing holographic neightendo games, specifically pokemare, with “real” balls and creatures coming out of them, ready to listen to the scientist’s command to start fighting. What was most amazing was another scientist coming out of nowhere; so angry he formed a bat out of thin air and nearly knocked out the fellow scientists with it.
“Your Majesty.” A rough voice from one of the royal guard snapped her out of her memories. “Anyway, the captain seems to have issued you the Sergeant’s training course, so I suggest you go to rest. We have provided a king size bed for your comfort, “The History of the Wonderbolts” movie for your entertainment, and you will find food all provided from our best royal chefs.” Twilight, again rolled her eyes. “Seriously?” Even if she was a princess now, her brother could still tease her all he wants, as if she was going to be a rookie agent tomorrow, she will be a “princess” rookie agent. “That’s right, Agents Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash.” Commander Spitfire replied casually, waving her hoof at Rainbow.
“Ohmygosh ohmygosh ohmygosh ohmygosh!”
Putting Rainbow on her back, she continued.
Looking at her past mishaps with flying, it was going to be a looooong training session tomorrow.
A month later, Twilight knew she was ready. Spitfire had trained her to all kinds of skills, from hoof and magic combat to gadgets testing. Most of them Twilight had never seen before, like a self-aware robot used in both combat training and chess, a scouter which could detect the power levels of unicorn magic, and for some reason, an automatic cupcake dispenser. While Rainbow Dash aced in combat, Twilight found interest in the gadgets, eventually breaking them down and fixing them on a daily basis. The best thing was that Luna had covered up for her absence by saying that she was in mental distress due to the press, which everyone believed due to the events in the past. Three days later, she was to be deployed into the edge of Equestria with Rainbow, where E.U.P scouts found the same yellow feather from the crime scene, which had been identified to be Flash Sentry’s, a member of the Royal Guard who had disappeared.
She felt like Daring Do in the quest for the sapphire stone, going to certain death and meeting a friend that had betrayed her and was now her rival. The only thing comforting him now was Spike, softly massaging her back with his claws smeared with herbs from Zecora, healing the wounds that she had faced in the training center. “You could leave the E.U.P now, you know.” His voice was steady, but she could sense the fear inside him. “Don’t worry Spike, I’ll be ok. He’s just one pony, and I’m a fully trained agent now.” “But what if...” Twilight forced a smile. “Can you promise me something?” Spike now had a confused look on his face “What?” Twilight’s voice was trembling as she spoke. “Don’t tell Fluttershy, Pinkie, Rarity, or Applejack where we’ve gone.” Spike felt a surge of anger, but then her words made sense. If he spoke to her friends about their adventure, it would worry them sick. So the voice that replied was not full of anger, it was trembling and soft. “Ok. Go to sleep, Twilight.”
“Agent Sparkle!” Twilight came out of her stupor. They were drifting swiftly across the desert, and it was hard trying to stay awake when wind was blowing smoothly through your face, erasing the worries and consciousness away. She had already drifted off for several times, only to be woken up by Spitfire either slapping her on the face or shaking her head, which she was doing now. “Wake up, or I’ll tell Rainbow to do a Sonic Rainboom in front of your face.” “We’re not even there yet.” She complained groggily. Spitfire had been staying up the whole time without sleeping, while Rainbow, knowing how to multitask when flying, could sleep and fly at the same time without any problems.
“WAKE UP!” Twilight sighed and got back into focus.
“What?” Twilight was still in confusion as Spitfire was screaming at Rainbow. Where did the cannons come from and who had this sort of technology? It seemed that the opponent was smarter than they though, and could explain why Celestia was attacked so easily by Flash without the alarm of any royal guard patrolling the area. Did he have some modern tech that enabled him to sneak in the palace unnoticed? Could there be another pony involved? If it weren’t for Rainbow Dash, she would have pummeled by the cannon’s contents while still stuck in doubt. However, Rainbow was not a pony that abandoned her friends so easily, holding the true spirit of loyalty, unlike Spitfire, who didn’t even realize what happened. She had grabbed Twilight by the hoofs and was now quickly gliding towards the ground, dodging all of the cannon’s bullets.
“You knew this would happen?”
In the Academy, Twilight and Rainbow had learned that in such a situation, all fallen allies had to be left behind. However, this was not what they really stood for, as true friendship meant that no pony gets left behind. Quick as a timberwolf, Rainbow dashed after the falling body of Spitfire while telling Twilight: “Cover me!”
“Scootaloo?”
"Er....heey...Rainbow Dash."
Chapter 4: The Mastermind
“Scootaloo? What are you doing here?”
Before the two could continue to stammer, Scootaloo interjected, standing in front of her friends, completing the group, the Cutie Mark Crusaders, known for doing reckless activity to get their cutie marks, which always resulted in chaos every time. Seeing Rainbow Dash as a role model, Scootaloo was often the one who suggested these bizarre ideas and got them into trouble. However, showing a hint of her older sister’s loyalty, she always took the blame and responsibility for the trio’s actions when they went too far with their exploring and adventuring.
“It’s all my fault, Twilight. When you first got your castle after the six of you defeated Tirek, we met Flash Sentry, one of the royal guards who came as well to visit. At first, he seemed like a really nice pony, playing games with us while treating us like adults at the same time. Since he gave all of us such a feeling of responsibility and importance, we trusted him when he asked us if we wanted to meet up with him every week for some random fun and adventures. After that, we would always met with him outside the castle every Wednesday to play his games and have fun with him, such as exploring Canterlot under his permission and participating in the annual fair at the Crystal Empire.”
Twilight did not know how to react to this sudden outburst of truth from such a small filly, though she already guessed what followed from the look on Scootaloo’s face as she continued her speech.
“Then, one day, in another one of our adventures, he led us to this place, where he told us to mount these weird cupcake cannons and shoot down any objects in the air. In the beginning he threw rocks for us to blast, which was quite fun to shoot down. Then, an alarm set off behind us and he disappeared! We’re sorry Twilight, we should had known better that he wanted us to aim at other ponies than simple rocks! Now we injured another pony!” Scootaloo started to cry as she stared at the unconscious body of Spitfire on Rainbow Dash’s back.
“We’re really sorry Twilight.” Sweetie Belle and Applebloom quietly whispered.
Rainbow Dash and Twilight Sparkle nodded, their faces now devoid of fear and full of determination. As Spitfire flew off with the CMC on her back towards Canterlot, Twilight and Rainbow rushed into the cavern that had opened along with the cannons, ready to face the danger below.
A few minutes later, the two ponies reached the bottom of the cave. Silently trotting towards the center, a swarm of bats suddenly flew outwards in their faces, almost making Twilight scream, but luckily Rainbow put her hoof in her mouth just in time.
“Did you see the look on her face?” The voice was raspy, yet feminine.
“RAINBOW DASH!!!”
Princess Luna is one of the four alicorn princesses that governed Equestria. Unlike Cadence and Twilight, who were made alicorn. Luna along with Celestia were born alicorns who have lived for thousands of years. Equestria back them was in chaos and poverty due to the past events with Dischord, the spirit of chaos, who is now reformed. Celestia wanted to keep the kingdom away from outsiders to protect the population, but Luna saw that the pony folk were already suffering from lack of food, and the two sisters argued, which Celestia winning each one due to her position, which drove Luna slowly into depression, forming Nightmare Moon one day, forcing Celestia to use the Elements of Harmony against her and sending her to the moon for a thousand years. It was when Twilight Sparkle arrived in Ponyville that she was released, and Twilight along with her new found friends used the new Elements of Harmony to remove her hatred and anger, leading her to realize her and Celestia’s mistake and solve it with her now forgiving sister together.
“That’s right, Twilight Sparkle. I am responsible for all this.” Luna spoke in a tone that was guilty, but did not seem serious.
“That would explain the lunar eclipse…Wait…WHAT!” Twilight stared at Luna.
Luna looked at Twilight, her face now slowly decreasing its happiness as the truth of her words sunk in.
Twilight slapped her face again.
“I’ll explain everything on the way back. Lets go back to Canterlot.”
Twilight fell on her bed exhausted once again as she had to explain to seven different reporter ponies on what happened in their adventure. Going back to Canterlot was tiring enough, but for Pinkie Pie’s release resulting in a colossal explosion, the end result being more than a couple of cupcakes, streamers, and candies in her mane toppled by a swarm of hugs from the same pony who kept thanking her again and again for recusing her, though looking at the other prisoners screaming about parties and fluffiness in the prison, she felt that they were the ones that were recused. Still, it was all worth it, as seeing Luna reunite with the now recovered Celestia in a sisterly hug was quite heartwarming and sweet, though not quite as heartwarming as seeing her brother being able to take a break for the first time and visiting her crystal tree house. In the end, everything was back to normal, and her friendships were as strong as ever. Even Flash Sentry, who was found trembling under the bridges of Ponyville, was forgiven, though Twilight couldn’t really see a spark in him anymore, looking at his true personality.
“Well, I guess I should write a letter to the Princess.” Twilight sparkle remarked.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle.
Staring at the rising moon and the falling sun, Twilight sparkle went to sleep as the two princesses of day and night resumed their responsibilities.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------The End------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By chankl2
Flash Sentry’s heart was still pounding as he slipped the package into his pocket. He had told himself to leave it under Celestia’s bed. As he slowly flew up the building, he knew that he was running out of time.
She was still sleeping as he climbed in. Quietly, he slipped the package under the bed and jumped out of the window after setting the timer on the bomb. The yellow pegasus flew across the horizon, just as the Canterlot Castles exploded.
Twilight Sparkle groaned as she sat up and walked away from her bed. Two nights of endless conferences, interviews, questions, and worst of all, Luna, and her infinite speeches about her concern for her own sister. I know that their bond was close, she thought to herself, but she doesn’t have to remind me every living second of my life!
She felt a slight shudder as she remembered looking at the bizarre sight at the castle two days ago. Covered in rainbow paint, sprinkles, and frosting, Celestia looked like an alicorn rainbow dash, an alicorn who had been stuck in a state of shock for two days now since the party bomb exploded when she dragged it out of her bed.
Being a Party bomb that was set off, Pinkie Pie was naturally suspected, but the Cakes quickly provided a solid alibi that she had spent all evening looking after the baby cakes at the time of the explosion.
The Royal Guards, including her brother, had checked the chaos left by bomb to no anvil, the only piece of evidence being a yellow feather found outside of the castle, which was still being identified by the Royal Science Academy, leaving them no choice but to take Pinkie in for questioning.
Twilight knew that her brother told her to stay put and not interfere, but after seeing Celestia in such an embarrassing situation and innocent Pinkie Pie arrested, she knew that something had to be done. Suddenly, Twilight thought of an idea. It was the most amazing and dumbest idea ever, but it just might work.
Soaring out of her window, she flew over to Rainbow Dash’s home and knocked on the door. The rainbow pegasus opened the door lazily, yawning and stretching her wings. Before she could groggily greet Twilight and close the door, since it was only 7am, she soon found herself being pushed out of the window by Twilight while hearing her scream: “We’re going to Canterlot!!!”
Rage suddenly rushed through Twilight as the shadowy figure disappeared with a teleportation spell, laughing in a piercing shriek as the ground below exploded with Twilight’s blast. Looking at the second next best option, she galloped towards Flash Sentry, eyes showing nothing but resentment towards this character.
“Wait Twilight, its not what you think its liked!”
“Princess Luna?”
