Twilight Sparkle: Friendship Expert

Fleur sipped her tea, leaning back casually. Across the table Cadance sat there with wide eyes. “So… you’re a secret agent huh?”

Fleur focused on the table, her hooves tracing grooves in the wooden surface. “I suppose that is the long and short of it.”

“Why… why didn’t you tell me?” Cadence asked quietly. “I’m pretty sure I have the clearance to know, I am a Princess.”

Fleur looked away for a moment, chuckling to herself. “I was going to. A long time ago in fact.” She sighed.

“So… why didn’t you?”

Fleur sagged in her seat. “I could give you a lot of excuses. It was never the right time, I didn’t think Celestia would be happy about it, I thought you would be happier not knowing…”

“But…?” Cadance asked.

“I was just scared. Scared of what you would think, how you would react. I’ve heard horror stories from other agents, the conclusions ponies leap to when they find out their loved ones deceive others for a living. I didn’t want to ruin what we had.”

She waved a hoof unhappily around them. “Especially because you’re a Princess, the chances of us meeting were already a million to one. I didn’t think you would come to a good conclusion.”

Cadence reached across the table, grasping Fleur’s hoof in her own. “Fleur, I would never doubt you like that. This is a big deal, because I had no idea. But I can understand you not wanting to talk about it.”

“So… you’re not mad?”

Cadence looked to the side with a wry grin. “I wouldn’t say I’m mad, but I’m not exactly happy either. You’re gonna owe me one for this, and the whole saving you thing.”

“Night out on the town?”

“What do you think?” Cadence smirked.

They looked at their prisoner. “We should uh… probably deal with this first though, right?”

Fleur smirked. “Already on it, one of my secret agent friends is on assignment nearby. Has her daughter with her actually. On the job training starts so young these days...”

“Now Bonnie, this’ll be a nice easy assignment. Bad guys already taken out.” The mare wore a finely tailored suit with dark sunglasses. “Now, just to make sure you remember. What do we do if they start talking back?”

Bon Bon jumped up in the air and kicked out with a hind hoof. “Hoof to the face, right mom?”

The mare leant over and ruffled her daughters mane. “That’s right love, you’re such a smart little filly.” She said with a sappy smile.

Bon Bon beamed proudly.

Sunset strolled into sugarcube corner, marching up to the counter with a smile. “My usual please.”

“Of course dearie, just take a table and we’ll bring it out to you in a bit,” said Mrs Cake warmly.

Sunset nodded and gave her thanks before moving to a nearby table. She didn’t have to wait long before she heard the sound of a bell going off above the door.

Bon Bon’s stoic expression contrasted heavily with the way Lyra bounced around her. She made her way up to the counter, ordering for both of them before they moved to flank their friend at the table. Lyra was bursting at the seams with excitement, Bon Bon only let out a sigh, leaning back.

“You let her get into the iced coffee again?” asked Sunset.

Bon Bon looked into the distance. “I don’t know why I keep making these life choices. I thought a padlock would look stupid on the fridge. I should have just gone with my gut.”

Sunset chuckled. “You live and you learn. Any idea when the others are going to arrive?”

“I saw Ditzy’s van on the way here, but considering how fast she was going? Probably not going to get here just yet.”

“Left her oven on again?”

“Probably.”

Sunset leaned back, letting Lyra’s excited chatter wash over her. Bon Bon was already there to nod in all the right places and make affirmative noises. Sunset just enjoyed the company, a small part of her marvelling at how not alone she felt these days.

She was roused from her stupor by the bell at the door going off once again. Ditzy trooped into the store with a lazy smile on her face, more people following behind her. She was one of the few of Sunset’s friends with a license and a vehicle. The fact that it was a van only made it easier for her to haul everyone around when they all needed to be somewhere.

She could make out Trixie and Pinkie behind her. She couldn’t help but glance around for any of Pinkie’s former friends, the last time they made a scene in here… yeah, she didn’t want to think about it. Some of those girls were vicious.

Still, there was a reason her friends went to Sugarcube Corner. Bon Bon’s shop was nice and all, but it wasn’t really made to be a hang out. That and Bon Bon did a lot of her… business there. Only Lyra actually knew about that, and as much fun as it was to mess with her, Sunset knew it was dangerous to go around talking about it.

"So what's the meeting about, Sunset?" asked Ditzy.

Lyra’s arms slammed down onto the table with a bang, getting a sharp glance from Mrs Cake. “We got the portal working.” She said sheepishly, leaning back.

Ditzy started clapping her hands. “Oh, that’s wonderful. Does that mean what I think it means?” She asked with a hopeful grin.

Sunset leaned back and smirked. “You’re all invited to come explore, but we’ll definitely need to prepare for this.”

“The great and powerful Trixie is always prepared.” said Trixie haughtily.

“It’s not going to be that easy Trix,” said Sunset with a wry smile. “It’s probably not going to be too dangerous, but there are questions none of us are going to be able to answer. We need to blend in.”

Bon Bon smirked.

“We’re going to make so many friends!” said Pinkie as she bounced in place.

Hey Twilight, you miss me?

Sunset! It’s been so long, is everything okay?

A little more than okay. You’re currently talking to the pony that finally reengineered one of Starswirls own artifacts.

What!? How did you do that? Which one was it?

With a lot of help from a friend of mine. It’s a mirror that allows you to travel to nearby dimensions. It’s actually something we should probably talk about.

Sunset?

I have a confession to make, I probably should have told you this earlier, but… I’m still dealing with the consequences of one of my mistakes.

What do you mean? Is something wrong? Is there anything I can do to help?

Nothing you really need to worry about. But that fight I had with the Princess? I ended up taking a trip through the mirror. The place I ended up in doesn’t naturally have magic, it’s also populated by an entirely different species from our own.

Twilight’s quill hovered over the page, mind blank. ‘No magic!?’ Twilight screamed in her mind. She couldn’t imagine what that would have been like, and Sunset had the same kind of magical talent she did. But wait…

You said the world doesn’t naturally have magic, but you remade the mirror?

It took a lot of doing, but a little magic has seeped in from our world. Turns out Starswirl used this to get rid of some of his more powerful enemies. Immortal force of nature type enemies...

Twilight was quickly starting to reach information overload. But there was a more important question on her mind.

You can get back right?

I can now, but that’s something we should probably talk about later. I’d like to know what’s been going on with you lately. You sounded worried the last time you wrote.

Deep inside a dark and gloomy forest lies an abandoned castle. The once great stone walls crumbled long ago, the plantlife winning the long battle for the interior. Not far away lies a crystalline structure in the shape of a tree. The once soft glow of arcane light has been steadily growing brighter. Pulsating like a heartbeat, spreading it’s light further and further.

Calling out.

Fluttershy woke up with a yawn, pulling herself up onto her hooves. She stretched her back out before laying back down on the rough bark. The sound of birdsong surrounded her, the late afternoon light filtering through the leaves.

Fluttershy was tired, and not very comfortable, but she stayed awake anyway. Looking around she could see a few foals in the distance, some already following their parents home. None of them looked her way, not that they would have been able to see her if they had.

She waited until the last foal left before flying down to the ground. She had grown more confident in her flying since she fell from the sky, but still wasn’t comfortable in the air. It was too useful when she was lost in that forest though, so she had worked through most of her worst fears by the time she came here.

Canterlots parks were much safer, even if there were fewer animals. She knew where to go to find food, and the guards kept the place safe even if she had to avoid them. It was overall a good choice and she was glad she had listened to the advice Mrs Squirrel had given her.

She had been taking far too many naps lately though.

She made her way through the trees, darting in and out. She looked around cautiously, there wasn’t much to be worried about lately, but there was this one little filly that had almost caught her a few times. She was always fiddling with a necklace around her neck, and looking around cautiously as if ready to bolt.

Fluttershy wasn’t sure what to make of it, but she had flown away each time and the filly hadn’t followed her. She probably should have moved on by now. But she really liked this place and she wasn’t ready to leave yet. She wasn’t even sure where to go.

Maybe she could find another nearby park?

Twilight was wandering at a dangerously late hour. She wasn’t sure why she was bothering with this, but she guessed her curiosity was being its usual insatiable self. At this rate it was definitely going to get her killed.

She looked around with a shiver. The afternoon light was starting to wane and she really needed to leave but…

Her necklace was glowing. She’d modified them again, so that they could search for hidden things. It wasn’t very accurate and it was a bit of a power hog, but she’d found some useful stuff out and about while using it. Lately it had been going off near this park.

She would normally have headed back by now, but she had been out here searching for a while. She had caught a few glances of something moving up in the trees. That would normally have gotten her out of there fast, but her necklace never vibrated to show hostile intent. Risky but worth it.

Maybe a friendly Changeling? She almost chuckled, she wasn’t sure if that was something she would even want to find at this point. It was a lot easier to just think about them as the enemy. She kind of hoped they weren’t all evil though, it would be nice to think that this was just one really bad group instead of an entire species she had to deal with.

It was then that her necklace finally started vibrating, and she knew with crystal clear certainty that she’d gotten cocky.

Fluttershy watched the filly from a distance, sometimes she came closer and sometimes she went further away. This was the latest she’d actually seen her out and about, and she was really curious about the glowing thing around her neck.

It was cold out right now and most of the animals had started leaving. Something dangerous was getting closer and she wasn’t sure if she should say anything or not. It was risky, but she didn’t want anypony getting hurt. She was also pretty sure the filly was looking for her specifically, which gave her mixed feelings.

On the one hoof this was kind of her fault, on the other she shouldn’t be looking for her in the first place. The guard in the distance made her especially nervous.

As she was deciding what to do, she heard a sharp cry in the distance. Her head swivelled around, her eyes just making out a dark shape hovering over the nearby guard. The filly below was looking just as nervous as Fluttershy felt.

She hesitated a moment before flying down.

Twilight was screwed, she knew that there was no way that sound could be a good thing for her. She saw the guard go down and the dark shape in the distance. It hadn’t come after her yet, but it was only a matter of time. As she watched, a new shape came out of the darkness, tackling the black being to the ground.

She started backing away when a different shape flew down from the trees. She nearly let out a screech, only clamping down on the impulse at the last moment for fear of detection.

The shape resolved into a small pegasus filly with a yellow coat and pink mane. Her eyes were darting around fearfully, before they focused on Twilight. “H-hey, we… we should probably get out of here.” The filly gulped.

Twilight just stared at her for a moment before nodding. “O-okay,” she looked at the fighting in the distance. “I guess you were what I was looking for out here?”

“I… uh, I think so, you’ve been getting awfully close…” She trailed off nervously at the end, quickly walking past Twilight, only turning around to beckon her closer.

“I didn’t want to hurt you or anything you know,” said Twilight, looking over her shoulder nervously. “I just wanted to know what was going on out here.”

The yellow filly gave out a squeaking sound, ducking her head in her mane. She moved awkwardly, trying to keep up the pace while hunching in on herself.

“It’s just, I have this necklace, it helps me find hidden things.” Twilight gestured to the necklace, nearly tripping over a rock as they made their way out of the treeline.

She was just rambling at this point, trying not to think about what was behind her.

The filly looked back curiously, glancing at the glowing pendant.

“I can make you one if you like?” Twilight asked cautiously.

“I… uh…”

“It also helps you stay hidden! It vibrates when bad ponies are looking at you, and it can turn you invisible for a little bit…” Twilight trailed off before her head shot up.

She quickly walked over to the little filly. “I can’t believe I was so stupid,” said Twilight. “Quickly, hold onto me.”

The filly looked at her with worry. “Please, just trust me.”

“O-okay.” She pressed herself against Twilight’s side.

Twilight tapped the crystal three times and they vanished off the visible spectrum. A few moments later a few dark shapes barreled past them. They stopped in front of them. Looking around cautiously.

“I can feel their emotions in the air, but it stops here,” said one.

“Teleport?” replied another.

“They’re a bit young, but maybe one of the guards? Passing unicorn? Reports indicate the filly is good with enchantments.”

“Either way we need to get moving, the others have it handled back there. We’ll spread out and search the area, if we don’t find anything we’ll just leave.”

They shot off into the darkness in different directions.

Twilight and the filly she had found stayed stock still for a few minutes after they’d left. Exchanging fearful glances and trying their best to not make a sound.