Rōnin

Twilight was on a study rampage of a completely different level than ever she has been. She didn't know anything about the batponies and what little she found in the library wasn't very helpful. The thing is, batponies had always been looked down upon by all other races, and thus there was very little information on them. The only thing that was actually mentioned was their racial inferiority and basic anatomical information, nothing useful. In a way, that was good.

Twilight had, shamefully, believed the rumors of the batponies. But when Celestia had contacted her about what had happened in Canterlot, the big riot entirely consisted of batponies, she finally realized how wrong she had been. Ever since then she has been working as an informant to a thestral courier, giving him intel that came from Celestia in encrypted letters.

Twilight heard the burp from spike and the pop of a letter materializing out of his fire. She took the letter and found a second one attatched, too complex to encrypt, something big must have happened. She took the letter addressed to Luna and tucked it into her dress folds. Then she left the castle and walked out into the Everfree. There she met the courier, at the usual place beneath the old castle.

She went below into the castle dungeons, that was where she usually met him. She didn't know why but the idea of meeting a stallion in the dungeons made her face grow red, especially this stallion. He was a rather large stallion, almost a full head taller than her and twice as broad. He had several scars over his dark green coat and pale blue eyes, serpentine as all batponies eyes were. His mane was a darker green than his coat and cut short to make him more aerodynamic. He had to be fast after all.

He was waiting unseen in the dim light of the dungeons. And waited until Twilight was within arms reach before jumping out to scare her. She recoiled with a small scream, earning a hearty chuckle from Cedar, the courier.

"Don't do that to me." Twilight said swatting him on his bare chest.

"Aw, but your so cute when you're scared." He says with mock complaint.

He wore just a pair of woolen pants tucked into leather boots and a leather belt to hold them up with a belt bag on his right hip. His chest was practically ripping with muscle and the scars only added to his appearance. All of this plus his comment made twilight blush. She handed him the letter addressed to Luna, surprising Cedar.

"A solid letter? Not the usual translation from a cipher?" He asks taking it from her and looking it over. "It must be something big, be it for better or worse."

"It has to be, else she would have encrypted it like she usually does." Twilight says. "What news from the front?"

"It's going relatively well." He says. "It's almost a stalemate, we just barely have the upper hand because of our strategy vs their horde tactics. But their numbers are worrying. We might be able to force Blueblood to the bargaining table, but then again, his obvious stubbornness isn't helping much."

"Has there been any word from Luna herself?" Twilight asks.

"Yes actually." Cedar says. "The absolutely strangest thing has happened. A very weird looking stallion showed up when Luna and her small militia were outmatched and turned the tide of the battle. He wore a strange armor, and had the face of a demon. He carried three different swords, all of them strange to us. Princess Luna has asked him to train some new soldiers to fight like he does."

"And how does this, 'creature', fight?" Twilight asks.

"Very swift, very deadly. He seems to move without stopping at all, and his cuts are very effective. He doesn't stop for anything unless every last enemy he sees is dead. I've even heard Princess Luna has asked him to give her the same training. Last I heard she was rather good at it."

Twilight looks up at him rather confused. She shrugged it off. "Anything to be sent to Princess Celestia?"

"Just another letter from Princess Luna." He says handing over an envelope of folded parchment.

The envelope was sealed with a wax seal that bore Luna's mark. A rose with a crescent moon above it and four stars on four sides of the seal.

"Thank you Cedar." Twilight says taking it from him and putting into the folds of her dress.

"Your face is flushed again." Cedar informs her.

"NO ITS NOT!" She says her face growing red.

"Well it wasn't, but it is now." He says with a teasing singsong voice.

She could only stutter. He knew exactly which buttons to push and when to embarrass her. She sometimes wished that he'd stop, but then again, he was so good at it. And some part of her liked it, the way he knew exactly how she would react to certain things.

She turned an even darker shade of red when he wrapped an arm about her shoulders and pulled her into his side. "Why are you so nervous. We've known each other for almost two years now."

"I know, you just won't stop teasing me." She says.

"Are you complaining?" He asks, teasing her again.

"N-no, I'm saying I wouldn't be so 'nervous' if you would stop teasing me in such a way." She says.

"You like it when I do." He says, knowingly.

She pulled away to look him square in the face. "Shut up," She said, just before pulling him into a kiss.

Twilight returned home a few hours later, sore in her nether regions. She had an enormous blush on her face and was thankful for the dark night. Wow, just wow he was good. She more or less waddled into her home and undressed before getting into bed. This was an active day. She closed her eyes and slept, dreaming of that evenings 'events'.