Twilight Sparkle: Friendship Expert

Shining armor ducked behind the small defensive barricade, he could feel his mane rippling from a few magic bolts that just barely missed his head. “A little help would be nice over here.” He called out a touch manically.

He could hear a few explosions going off nearby, the pillars of smoke were all he could actually make out though. “Yeah, this might take a minute!” He could just barely hear the shout in the distance.

Shining risked looking over the wooden table providing cover, nearly getting hit by yet another bolt in the process. He scanned the area quickly, making out the fugitives just up ahead. They were all wearing dark blue cloaks with silver badges pinned to the front. Two unicorns and a pegasus were standing out in the open, pressed close together.

“This would be a great time to give up!” He called out.

“Never!” was the reply he received. “The glory of her empire shall be built on the ashes of your defeat.”

Shining armor wouldn’t admit it to anyone, but the reverent undertones sent a chill down his spine. He looked ahead, leaning back against the table. He could see guards running back and forth, more explosions were going off in the distance, and the fire around him was definitely spreading.

This area was a wreck. The biggest issue was that Shining knew that this wasn’t going to be the only section of the city blocked off today. He had seen the citizens making their way out at least, the loyalists methods were questionable, but at least they hadn’t tried hurting any of the non-combatants. Shining only had basic training in hostage retrieval tactics.

He slumped. His first serious assignment sucked.

Shining armor was running for his life. Turns out the small group wasn’t alone and when he burst through the doors of the bar they’d hidden themselves in, he found himself surrounded. A quick bubble shield was enough to get him out of there, but he could hear their yelling in the distance getting closer.

It was around about now that he wished his special talent also involved shielding himself on the go. It was enough to stop a magical bolt or a semi heavy object, but they always shattered on impact. This left a sharp pain in his head and was going to lead to a pretty severe headache by the time this was all over.

“Take this sunspawn!” yelled one of the many loyalists on his tail.

Shining had a moment to look behind him before he had to use his magic to jerk himself to the side. A carriage hit the ground right where he had just been, spider web like cracks spreading out from the impact site.

Shining’s eyes darted around for any hint of safety. Being in the open was only getting him in more danger at this point. If they had an earth pony with that kind of special talent, he was all but screwed if he stayed outside.

Another crashing sound went off over his head as a large barrel slammed into the wall above him. He could feel small pieces of wood lodging themselves into his back and he immediately threw himself forward.

Gathering his magic he looked around the area before catching sight of a nearby alley. He sent off a flashbang and ran like his life depended on it. In this case it probably did.

“Oh, come on!” Luna yelled out, throwing her controller down in disgust.

A game over screen flashed over the tv and she heard a sigh through her headphones. “Better luck next time, Lulu?”

“I don’t really know if I want to play this game anymore.” She leaned back on the sofa, closing her eyes and trying to knead the frustration out of her head. “Our tactics are perfectly sound, that ambush should have gone off without a hitch!”

“You always say that,” the voice chuckled. “We’re good, but we can’t plan for everything.”

“And I always mean it too,” she replied. “I guess I’m just a sucker for punishment.”

“I’ll say. It’s getting pretty late over there anyway, might want to head to bed right about now.”

“Don’t feel like it. Besides, aren’t you the one always waxing philosophical about the glories of the night?” Luna rolled over onto her belly, grumbling unintelligibly into the sofa.

A hearty laugh on the other end. “You said you had something going on for that niece of yours didn’t you? Some kind of birthday party?”

More unintelligible mumbling, before a loud groan issued forth. “She’s not my niece, not that I’d be against it or anything, but…”

“You sound like a family to me, there’s more to a bond than blood. You should talk to her about it.”

Luna groans. “I don’t know, I don’t want to push her away. She hasn’t had it easy, and I really don’t want to put her on the spot. Even sister has been laying off doing anything official.”

“You’ll never know if you don’t ask, but I’ll bow to your experience, oh mighty Vice Principal.”

Luna laughed. “I don’t know that I’d call myself mighty. You do learn a thing or two about dealing with kids though. Not that most ever open up to me, but sometimes…”

“Maybe you should lay off the stern disciplinarian angle?”

“Never!”

“Alright, alright, it’s up to you. But still, I know you’ve got big plans soon, best be up and about. I’ve got to get going soon, planning a trip somewhere special.”

“Oh, something that would peak your interests?”

“Ah, not like that. But… You might be seeing me sooner than expected.”

Luna gasped. “You mean?”

“That’s right, your second is on his way over. Ready to fight at your side.” His voice was filled with mirth.

“I’m not exactly planning on anything that big. But it would be nice to have you over, might even be able to introduce you to Sunset hmmm?”

“Well, I suppose it would be good to see the next in command. Hopefully she’s up to snuff.”

“Wouldn’t that be dearest Tia?”

“Ah, I’m always on your side Lulu, you can count on that.”

Twilight Velvet woke up to the sound of frantic knocking on the door. She wiped at her eyes blearily, looking to Night Light for assistance before realising he was out. She had crashed after yet another day of getting stuck into her manuscript. Night Light was probably still working in the royal astronomy tower.

She rolled out of bed, falling onto the floor and heaving herself onto her hooves. It was the work of a few minutes to maneuver her way around the pages scattered over the floor. A flick of her magic and the house slowly started to light up.

She opened the door with a wide yawn, looking around for whoever had been knocking so frantically. It wasn’t until she looked down that she was surprised to see the sight of her daughter and another filly she didn’t know huddled near the entrance.

Twilight looked up to her with fearful eyes. “Mom, you gotta hide us.” She looked around the street warily, it was almost eerily silent.

Velvet frowned but quickly ushered them into the living room. She stuck her head out the door and glanced around for any signs of a threat before pulling back in and closing the door firmly. She looked at Twilight with a stern expression, waiting for an explanation.

Velvet hadn’t given up her frown throughout the whole sordid tale. Her daughter really was going to give her a heart attack one of these days. She really should know better than to be looking for dangerous things at this time of night. Or at all really.

“Hmm,” said Velvet. “We’ll be talking about this in more detail later young lady, but I think for now I need to contact the Princess. The both of you should probably be getting to sleep.”

She gazed over them both critically. “Might be time for dinner first though, if you’ve been out all night.” She looked at Fluttershy in particular.

She stepped up to her hooves and gave a quick stomp. “All right, into the kitchen. I’ll make up something real quick and then I’ll go send out a letter to the Princess.” She walked ahead of them, mumbling to herself. “I should still have a few firemail envelopes…”

“So… uh… Fluttershy right?” Twilight asked nervously.

She got a shy nod in reply.

“Well, as I’m sure you heard from my mom, my name is Twilight. It’s nice to meet you.” She went to hold out her hoof, before realizing she hadn’t let go off her spoon.

She lightly blushed, placing the spoon into her bowl before reaching out again. Fluttershy bumped her hoof softly, blushing an even brighter red. Twilight grinned.

“Hoof bump huh? My friend Vinyl likes them a lot, haven’t seen many other ponies who do that though…” She trailed off thoughtfully.

“My… my friend Rainbow does it all the time.” Fluttershy murmured quietly.

“Rainbow?” Twilight asked curiously.

Fluttershy gave a small smile, finding a topic she was comfortable talking about.

Moon Dancer kept to the edges of the crowd, looking around warily at the ponies surrounding her. Each and every one was covered in a blue cloak and had a silver badge pinned to their chests. Their cowls were pulled up to hide their faces in shadow.

Moon Dancer was wearing her own cloak, but she hadn’t earned a badge of her own yet.

She gulped nervously, trying to stamp out her fear of the crowd. Her mind was a little fuzzy and unfocused as she pressed herself up against the wall. She knew that she was safe, but all those bodies larger than her, shuffling around, capable of crushing her even by accident… they made her extremely uncomfortable.

She didn’t have to deal with this for long before she heard a voice cutting across the idle chatter filling the room. She looked up to the podium set on the stage at the head of the room. Banners of pure black were hung up on either side, dark blue crescent moons were emblazoned on their center, tips pointing upwards. Wings were bursting out from both sides and a star was placed in their centre.

“Brothers and sisters, fellow guardians of the night sky.” Called out a powerful voice that Moon Dancer was only too familiar with. “I am here to share most welcome news with you.”

Excited murmuring broke out among the crowd as Moon Dancer frowned. A shiver went down her spine as she tried to focus only on the pony at the podium.

“Manehatten will soon fall to our might. The precious sunspawn are swarming the place, but are falling to our superior ideals. The Sunlit Heretic sits on her throne and does nothing to alleviate her ponies suffering, as we all well knew.”

Angry murmuring can be heard throughout the crowd.

“We have many of our political allies gathered here to set plans in motion. We have been successful so far with stymying the Heretics motions for aid, and we are all but sure manehatten will fall within the coming weeks.”

Cheering fills the room. The speaker allows it for a moment before motioning with a hoof for silence.

“Many of our other operations are proving fruitful, the Heretics eyes in the further reaches of the kingdom have been blinded, and the Changeling menace is in the process of being harnessed for the furthering of our goals. What we need to do now is decide how we shall proceed. Will any of our members step forth with suggestions?”

Moon Dancer looked on, an unsettling feeling in the pit of her gut as she watched things play out. She wasn’t sure why, but something about this didn’t sit right with her.

A flash of light appeared in the Canterlot garden. The shape of a pink unicorn resolving itself in the light of the moon. Her head turned from left to right, eyes searching frantically for anypony or anything that might be watching.

She eventually deemed things safe enough and moved further into the gardens. Her hoofsteps losing their hurried pace as nothing jumped out at her.

The moonlight had given the gardens a mysterious atmosphere. While the unicorn knew nothing particularly dangerous should be found here at this time, only things still sealed away, she couldn’t help but feel uneasy. The shadows seemed to shift and move just out of the corner of her eyes.

She reached her destination without anything untoward happening. Arriving in front of a statue built out of what looked to be a mishmash of different parts. No limb seemed to come from the same creature but it somehow made up a cohesive whole.

She scanned it with her horn, looking for cracks and fissures or any kind of spell. When she couldn’t find anything she let out a sigh of relief. She examined it for a few more minutes bye eye, before she heard a noise coming her way. Her head jerking towards it with wide eyes.

She flashed away the instant she saw the telltale armor of a royal guard coming her way. A moment later the guard strolled onto the scene, humming under his breath. He heard a sharp cracking sound coming from nearby and looked around warily.

Unable to make anything out in the near darkness, and not hearing anything further, he simply continued his patrol.