Twilight of Harmony: Equestria Girls

“So what now?” Sunset asked.

Sparks thought for a moment.

“Hey Applejack, do you guys load your own shotgun shells?” She asked the farm girl.

Applejack blinked for a moment before replying.

“We do. Why do you ask?”

“Do you think you can get about a dozen shells loaded with rock salt for me?” Sparks inquired.

“Don’t need to. We have a good stock for scaring off foxes and coyotes when they start nosing around the hen house.” Applejack replied.

Sparks nodded. “We should only need half a dozen or so. 00 should suffice for dealing with the situation if she decides to be a real bitch about it.” She replied.

“So you’re just going to go in and kill her?” Sunset asked.

Sparks shook her head. “I’m going to try diplomacy first. Figure with as badly as the Princess screwed us up, Starseeker might be in the same boat. Of course there is always the off chance that the Starseeker that Celestia is dating is the local variant and there is no need to gank a bitch.” She replied causing Jazz to snort.

“Okay. Jazz grab the sawed off shotguns and the holsters for them. Make sure to grab your sidearm as well. Hollow point load out.” Sparks said as she went to her bag and pulled out a thigh holster and put it on before clearing her sidearm and switching to magazines loaded with hollow point rounds.

Jazz passed over a holster that Sparks secured to her belt on the left side, set up for a crossdraw. Jazz then handed her a box of shotgun shells that she pulled half a dozen rounds from and dropped into a cargo pocket on her pants.

Sparks then pulled a duster from her bag and put it on. Making sure that the jacket fell properly and allowed her easy access to her weapons she nodded.

“AJ can you go and get those rounds for us? We need to head out soon.”

The farm girl nodded and headed out.

“So this is the place?” Sparks asked as Celestia pulled up to a modest single story ranch house just outside of town.

“It is. Star likes her privacy.” Celestia said as the three women got out of the car.

Sparks nodded as she looked around.

The house was set back a good distance from the road and the closest neighbors were nearly a mile away.

“Head on a swivel Jazz. No telling what is going to happen.” Sparks ordered as she straightened her jacket.

The trio went up to the door and Celestia knocked.

The door opened to reveal a woman with greyish toned skin and rust colored hair with streaks of grey. Her brown eyes lit up when she saw Celestia.

“Tia, I wasn’t expecting you. Who are your friends?” She asked.

“This is Jaycee Sparks, a former student of mine and one of her friends, Jazz.” Celestia said, gesturing to each woman. “They had a couple of questions to ask you Star.”

“Oh, and what kind of questions do you young ladies have?” Starseeker inquired.

Sparks spoke. “What do you know about Equestria?” She asked pointedly.

Starseeker stumbled, but recovered quickly.

“Never heard of it. What is it?” She asked nervously.

“Pull the other one Starseeker. Princess Celestia told me quite a bit about you.” Sparks said, her eyes narrowing.

Starseeker sighed, suddenly looking every one of her years.

“So she finally sent someone. Who are you? The Captain of the Guard?” Starseeker asked in a resigned tone.

Sparks shook her head. “My name is Princess General Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Magic and commander of Overwatch. I am also the Bearer of the Element of Magic.” She said.

“So you are an alicorn then. Why are you here? To kill me?” Starseeker asked tiredly.

“That depends upon you and what kind of body count you have after the last four hundred some odd years.” Sparks replied.

“Surprisingly, I have only killed twice. Once from feeding and once in self defense. I have taken pains to be careful in my feeding.” Starseeker replied.

Sparks nodded. “That’s good. While I am leaning towards being lenient and not taking you out permanently, I need to know what your overall plan is.” She said to the vampire.

Starseeker looked at the alicorn in human form. “Honestly, I had this whole revenge scheme planned out, but after a couple of years, I realized that after the Princess spurned me and cast me through the portal, I would only be proving her right that I was evil. I then decided that the best revenge would be to live well. Since then, I have been quietly nudging things towards a more peaceful advancement where I could. Obviously I haven’t always been successful. The Forties were a prime example of that.” She said.

Sparks chuckled. “Yeah, humans can be stubborn fucks when they want to be. But trying to avoid the mess that was the Second World War would only have been capable by preventing the first one. But kudos to you either way for trying. What have you been up to lately?” Sparks said.

Starseeker gave a brief overview of her activities within the last decade.

“So basically trying to push advancement of medicine and technology while whispering in the ears of the right people to handle the issues with the various insurgent groups to either wipe them out or marginalize their influence.” Sparks said. “Not too shabby. From what I have been able to glean from my albeit limited research, many attacks have been thwarted in the last couple of decades.”

Starseeker nodded. “I have been doing what I can to make the world a better place. Though, my time is growing short.” She said, finishing with a sad tone.

“How so?” Sparks inquired.

“The spellwork that I performed has started to fail. It has probably been failing for the better part of three decades. I started to notice it a few years ago when I started to age even when I had fed.” Starseeker replied. “I estimate that I have less than a century left.”

Sparks nodded. “Very well then. I will be working to establish at the very least an outpost, hopefully a small embassy here in this world to secure the portal and deal with any other issues that Princess Celestia and Starswirl have sent through the portal aside from yourself and the sirens.” She said.

“How does that affect me?” Starseeker inquired.

“Well, given that another Equestrian, a former student of Celestia’s, is in a self imposed exile here and she may be going back if she so desires, I will need someone who knows the lay of the land politically and would be able to liaise with the local government to deal with issues of a magical nature. This way you can protect both this world and our home world.” Sparks explained.

Starseeker was quite as she contemplated this.

Finally she replied. “I will do this for you, but on one condition.”

“And that condition is….?” Sparks inquired with a raised eyebrow.

“That between now and when I finally pass on, if I wind up falling to bloodlust, that you are the one that strikes me down.” Starseeker said.

Sparks’s eyes widened before her face turned serious as she stood. Gathering her magic, she flicked her right hand. In a flash of lavender light, the sword she had summoned in the throne room, Dawnbreaker, appeared.

“Starseeker, should the day come that you lose yourself to the monster that lurks beneath the surface, you will meet your end at my blade.” Sparks intoned, her voice laced with magic.

Starseeker’s eyes widened. “The Dawnbreaker? Where did you find it? It has been lost since…”

“Since the schism. I summoned it in the throne room of Canterlot Castle when some Liger SS tried to take out Princess Celestia, Princess Luna and myself. I slaughtered them all and wound up spending around twelve hours in a healing coma after bleeding out.” Sparks replied with a wry grin. “Just so you know, it hurts like a bitch coming back from something like that.”

Starseeker looked at her incredulously before shaking her head and smiling. “It is good to know that one such as yourself will take care of putting me down if I become a danger. I will become your ambassador, Princess-General Twilight Sparkle and provide assistance in safeguarding both worlds.” She said, standing and bowing with her right fist on her left shoulder.

Sparks nodded. “That is good to hear. My other option would have been Sunset, but she has nowhere near the experience she would need to be able to do the job without losing her mind from the stress.” The soldier said, dismissing her sword.

Starseeker chuckled. “The mantle of leadership is not an easy one to bear, no matter your age.” She said, calming.

Sparks nodded solemnly. “No it isn't. But for those of us that bear that mantle, we must do the best we can to take care of those who we lead.” She replied.

“Wise words from one still in her first century.” Starseeker said. “I look forward to working with you.” She added as she reached her hand out.

Taking her hand and shaking it, Sparks smiled in response. “I look forward to it as well.”

Later that night after Sparks and Jazz had returned to Sunset and Sparky’s apartment, Sparks sat out on the balcony with a glass of bourbon that Luna had kindly purchased for her while listening to her mp3 player.

Movement to her side had her turning her head and removing one of her earbuds.

“Hey Sunny. Couldn’t sleep?” She asked the other Equestrian.

Sunset smiled ruefully. “Shouldn’t I be asking you that?” She said. “Since when does Luna contribute to the delinquency of minors?” She asked, gesturing to the glass and bottle of the amber liquid.

“Since mentally I am her age she didn’t feel guilty about getting me a bottle.” Sparks said with a smirk as she took a sip of her drink.

“Makes sense I guess. So what are your plans now?” Sunset asked as she leaned against the railing.

Sparks shrugged. “Relax and spend time with you and the girls. Celestia and Luna are going to contact their cousin who is apparently pretty high up in the government to arrange a meeting about setting up a place to move the portal to. Other than that, not really much on the agenda.” She replied.

Sunset nodded. “So what happened with Celestia that things are strained between you two?” She inquired.

Sparks sighed. “She disagreed with my and Luna’s position of going to war. Even after Baltimare was destroyed by a megaspell, she still tried to talk me out of it. That is the main reason my domain around Ponyville, the area in the Badlands that our largest base is at and the other bases that have been built have are effectively sovereign soil and Overwatch is outside of the control of the Equestrian government.” She explained. “I regret what I had to do, but the vast majority of the population support my decision. Eventually we will come back into the fold, but right now the only flag that flies is the Overwatch flag with the US and British flags.”

“She must not have liked that.” Sunset replied dryly.

Sparks chuckled wryly. “Not in the least, but she still wanted to do things diplomatically after several thousand of our citizens were reduced to ashes and Liger troops came into the castle and demanded our surrender via force.” She said. “I added thirty bodies to my count that day and showed Celestia that I wasn’t that naive mare that she had taught all those years. That and I called her to the carpet for how she treated both of us. Did I ever tell you what she said when I sent her a message warning her about Nightmare Moon’s return?”

Sunset shook her head. “No, you never did.”

“Basically she said that I needed to stop reading dusty old books and make some friends. Completely brushed me off and sent me to Ponyville to oversee the Summer Sun Celebration. It was by sheer dumb luck and fate that I ran into the other Bearers and that we were able to overcome the challenges to defeat the Nightmare and restore Princess Luna to her true self.” Sparks said. “So many things could have gone wrong that night. So many things left to chance that could have destroyed our world.”

Sunset sat with wide eyes. “That is, just unbelievable.” She said finally.

“It is. Oh, and did you know that my being the Element of Magic was literally set in stone before the Sisters defeated Discord the first time?” Sparks asked.

“What.” Sunset replied.

Sparks nodded. “Yup. My cutie mark is right there on the Tree of Harmony between theirs.” She said.

Sunset gained a dark expression on her face. “So that was why she changed after I got my cutie mark. She realized that I wasn’t the one who would bear the Element of Magic and wasn’t of use to her plans.” She ground out.

Sparks sighed and stood before wrapping the woman in a hug.

“Even if that was her thought process, getting pissed off about it won’t do any good. It just means that you are letting her win. Starseeker put it best today, ‘the best revenge is to live a good life’. She told Sunset.

Sunset drew a shuddering breath as she wrapped her arms tightly around Sparks.

“I saw her as my mother. I did everything I could to make her proud of me and she just cast me aside. I don’t know if I can truly forgive her for that.” Sunset said as tears rolled down her cheeks.

Sparks rubbed her back gently as she spoke. “You don’t have to if you don’t want to. What she did was cold and callous. I wasn’t really treated any better. There were things that I did that I should have been imprisoned for, but I just got a stern look and a ‘I’m so disappointed in you’ speech.” Spark said, resting her chin on Sunset’s head.

“What did you do?” Sunset asked quietly.

“Used the Want It, Need It spell to create a friendship problem because I had a self imposed weekly deadline for sending friendship reports to Celestia. Nothing had happened that week so I had nothing to report. I panicked and went nuts. I had some deep grovelling to do after that to repair my relationships with the townsfolk. When Jason and Twilight were merging, they were able to take an objective look at a lot of things. I was able to remove the rose colored glasses and see things for what they were.” Sparks explained, still holding the other woman in her arms.

“That has got to be confusing, having a merged personality.” Sunset said.

Sparks shrugged. “Only when I talk about things before the merge. After it, things are generally easier.” She said.

“So did you come here just to see all of us and move the portal?” Sunset asked quietly.

Sparks smiled. “Partially. The main reason I came though was to relax and spend time with you.” She replied.

Sunset looked up at the taller woman. “Really? Why?” She asked.

“Well, it's kind of funny. As I was remembering things and looking at my interactions with people, I came to a realization that I had fallen for a beautiful young woman who was so resilient that she was able to come back for being as low as you can get and coming out stronger for it.” Sparks said with a smile.

“Really? But, I’m not all that special. I have done some horrible things, not just in general, but to you specifically.” Sunset replied with disbelief in her voice.

“Maybe, but we all do horrible things at times. Both intentionally and not. It is how we handle the aftermath of those things that defines who we are. If you can acknowledge that you screwed up then accept it and move on, using the lessons learned to keep from making the same type of mistake again, then you will grow and be more resilient for it.” Sparks said. “Can you not say that you haven’t learned from your mistakes and take care in not repeating then or backsliding into the mentality that you had before the Fall Formal?”

Sunset was quite for a few moments as she rested her head on Spark’s chest, listening to her heartbeat.

“You’re right. I have made a change from how I used to be and I haven’t even tried any of my old tactics to get my way.” Sunset replied.

Sparks smiled.

“See, that proves that you are a good person at heart. You just had to get past the hurt for her to come back out.” She said, smiling at Sunset.

Sunset smiled back up at her. She seemed to hesitate for a moment before stretching up and meeting Spark’s lips with her own.

Sparks’s eyes widened before closing as she pulled Sunset closer.

Their lips parting and foreheads touching the pair smiled.

“What was that for? Not that I minded it, just curious.” Sparks inquired.

“Truthfully? I have wanted to do that for a long time, but I wasn’t sure what your feelings were. But, since you basically confessed them, I took a chance.” Sunset replied, looking into Sparks’s lavender eyes.

Sparks smiled. “I’m glad you did. Now it is getting late and I need some shut eye.” She said pecking Sunset on the lips, drawing a surprised giggle from the other woman.

“You’re right. I have an early shift at work.” Sunset said pulling back. “Dinner tomorrow? Just you and me?”

Sparks laughed. “You underestimate the need for information from our friends. That and I know Jazz will be shadowing us discretely since she has orders to keep an eye on me.” She said. “Right, buddy?”

Jazz stepped from the shadows. “You know I’ve got your back Warlock. I will run interference with the others while you two are on your date.” She said with a smirk.

Sparks laughed. “Thanks Jazz. Just try and stall them a bit.” She said before turning to Sunset. “Just so you know, I am up for just about anything for food. Though sadly red meat no longer agrees with my stomach. I miss having a well cooked steak.” She said wistfully.

“Yeah, I haven’t been able to even think about a cheeseburger since I met Daisy and the other cows.” Jazz said with a shudder. “That just makes it weird as hell talking to a cow and them talking back.”

“So veal is off the menu?” Sparks said with a wicked smirk.

Jazz turned a little green. “You are an evil, evil woman.” She said prompting Sparks to laugh and Sunset to giggle a bit.

Soon all three headed for bed.