Luna loomed tall over Rarity and Bright. Sweetie was off to the side, spared her glare. "I'm told you two have been quite... busy." She brought her hooves together. "A fact I only learned after the fact... Care to explain why this is?"

Rarity laughed tensely, fanning herself. "Well, you see, darling... It was a matter of urgent request."

Bright nodded quickly. "The vamps were really pissed off! We had to do something or they'd have caused all kinds of problems."

Luna raised a brow at that. "Would they now?" She fixed her gaze on the mildly trembling Rarity. "Would they?"

"I'm afraid so, ma'am, Your Highness." Rarity dipped as low as she could get, practically kow towing. "I am proud to report, dear, that we accomplished our mission with essentially no collateral damage! We were quite mindful of your instructions."

Luna crossed her arms, though sank into a seat, looming less than her full height. "I am gladdened to hear that... Now, tell me how you ended up in discussions with mine sister of all ponies! What could she have given that I could not have just as easily?!"

Rarity swallowed nervously under Luna's stern gaze before Bright's bracing paw steadied her shaking knees. They owed their mentor honesty about deciding to act alone.

Bright met Luna's eyes firmly. "We just didn't wanna stress you handling everything solo all the time..." He scuffed a paw, pressing on. "Guess we better learn trusting allies to help instead of grabbing big problems ourselves and messing up, huh?"

Rarity offered the peace proposal draft. "As new agents overeager responding fast, we wrongly rushed in alone..." She gathered courage to continue. "But following your example about fostering inner strength, did we totally mess up asking Princess Celestia's guidance for sustaining future peace?"

Luna glanced from the scrolls to fix both with eyes ancient and unreadable before forcibly relaxing tensed shoulders.

"Have seats. I should hear this whole tale before judging too harshly..."

Rarity slid up into a seat. "Besides, dear, it wasn't... practical." She waved an ornate fan at Luna. "The vampires had quite made up their mind. It was only through quick action that we got named as the first wave of their... trouble-solving."

Bright hopped up next to Rarity. "Yeah! They would have sent someone else... And you guys don't have phones."

Luna pointed to a dusty phone resting in the corner.

"No, I mean phones." He mimed a phone against his head. "The kind you carry with you."

That got all the ponies staring at him. "Right, not a thing, sorry..."

Luna coughed into a hoof. "That sounds like a marvelous device, but, as you discerned, it does not exist. I would dearly like for us all to be in constant touch..." She swelled large with a draw of breath. "Which is why I know your next assignment, a small one, but quite important."

Sweetie Drops saluted sharply. "We're on the case, ma'am! What do you have in mind?"

Luna's horn glowed as she pulled a tab, revealing a paper with Twilight's unhinged face on it, captured during one of her more manic periods. "Return to Ponyville and share this need with Twilight Sparkle. I feel certain she could work around it, if we ask."

Rarity peered curiously at Luna's portrait of a studious Twilight mid-research frenzy.

"You propose having Twilight catalyze more advanced magical engineering?" Rarity smiled wide, mind already imagining wire-free wardrobes. "Imagine charm bracelets relaying gossip among Canterlot's upper crust!"

Sweetie Drops pinched her brow as Rarity speculated on accessories. "Amplifying gossip is clearly not the objective here..."

Meanwhile Bright bounced waving for attention. "I call first phone buddy when Twilight whips those up! We can prank cross-dimensional!" His grin faded. "Er, if Luna thinks going trans-reality is cool?"

Luna weighed their eager outbursts with practiced patience, smiling subtly. "Pranks are not the goal. I want you all in contact, with each other, and with me." She rose decisively. "Come - first Ponyville, then beyond!"

They all let a unified cheer as they poured out of the office. With a unified purpose, they marched purposefully to the train.

They did not reach it.

A frazzled and distressed Twilight found them first. "There you are!" She glanced between Bright and Rarity. "I assume you two have not engaged in any reproductive acts." That wasn't a question. "Good. Good good." She laughed hysterically. "Thank Cel..." She trailed off, noticing a glaring Luna. "Thank Harmony," she revised.

Rarity inclined her head at the frazzled pony. "Twilight, darling... Why are you even thinking about that? I dare say it's just not your business, dear."

"That's what you think!" Twilight prodded Rarity in the center of her chest. "You almost exploded."

Rarity blinked at the news, sinking to her haunches. "Did I now?"

Bright burst into laughter. "Hey now, I'm not that good, jeesh, Twi. What makes you think Rarity would go kaboom?"

Luna put a hoof over her face. "Can we focus? Miss Twilight Sparkle, we were just coming to enlist your aid, if you've a moment?"

Luna's prompt question cut through spiraling hysterics as Twilight blinked hard then shook herself, puffy locks bouncing. She glanced around in growing befuddlement at her unfamiliar public outburst.

"Oh wow, sorry everypony..." Twilight grinned sheepishly as the group relaxed wariness seeing returning reason re-emerge behind violet eyes. "Guess those all-nighters finally caught up on old bookworm Twilight, huh?"

Twilight put a hoof to her chest, inhaling and exhaling slowly as Cadance had shown her, regaining her lost thoughts.

"S-sorry, I just needed a reminder... I'm alright now. Oh, thank you." Twilight sipped the proffered cup of Luna's Lullaby tea brew restoring cognitive clarity to overtaxed thoughts. "Now then, since Rarity is not exploding, what was this you were coming to me about?"

Luna turned a hoof at Bright. "He was speaking of a device."

Sweetie took that chance. "He mentioned something about something like a phone that you could carry with you, and still make and receive calls despite not being attached to a wall. Is that possible?"

"Wow." Twilight rubbed her hooves with building glee. "Piggybacking on the existing telephone network... With proper aetheric connections bridging gaps... Need to stabalize." She muttered on and on little bits of arcane tidbits that meant little to any save her.

"Darling." Rarity leaned in. "Sounds like you're on the case, good... But what was that about exploding?"

Twilight blushed, ears pinning back in chagrin. "Oh yes, that...ahem, sorry again everypony!" She shook her head ruefully. "Let's just say nosy bookworms poking snouts too deep into unfamiliar paranoia often get silly theories stuck in their heads..."

The scholarly mare glanced aside at the gently frowning Rarity. "In your case, I may have...wildly over-extrapolated certain energy readings during recent exams seeking insights on Bright's unique hybrid nature into utterly fantastical notions about vampiric..." Twilight coughed, skipping hastily onwards. "...reproductive implications."

She waved a hoof, banishing the embarrassing mental meanderings. "Which are positively absurd and my own sleep-deprived imagination getting wayyy ahead of available evidence." Twilight smiled contritely. "Please excuse my presumptuous ramblings and let's focus on this brilliant mobile magic exchange concept!"

Her horn flashed, sweeping the group into her cozy library. "Now, I have some theories on modularizing existing telescroll enchantments for portable pan-Equestrian coverage..." Books, components, and a very relieved baby dragon assistant materialized in midair before she caught herself, grinning sheepishly.

"That is uh, if Princess Luna doesn't mind us relocating here to delve directly into the design work? The tools of my trade are so much handier to hoof on home turf!" She fidgeted eagerly, already levitating various devices with an inquisitive eye. "So if you're still amenable...where shall we start brainstorming our protype?"

Spike dusted himself off from where he had appeared. "Twilight, you just got back. Where are you hopping to now?"

Twilight took a moment, train of thought lost in her hurry. "You are... correct." She pat Spike gently. "There's a reason you are my #1 assistant."

"I try." He puffed his chest and stuffed his thumbs in an imagined vest. "Seriously, what are you doing?"

Twilight began eagerly describing her project.

Luna turned away from it. "They're engrossed in the task. We are only in the way now."

Sweetie shook her head. "Very well. I should check in."

Luna frowned. "Check in? Who or what with?"

Sweetie pointed to herself. "I am an agent of S.M.I.L.E. on top of your agent, ma'am. I should check in with them. My local office isn't far from here." She saluted sharply. "Ma'am." But she didn't wait, trotting off with a purpose.

Rarity rubbed at her cheek. "Well... If we're taking a break, permission to take my little Bright-lamp to my boutique? I'd love to show the scamp around, and maybe update his wardrobe while we're there. Ooo, this will be quite a delight."

So Luna was left alone. "This was exactly what I wanted to avoid." She glanced back at the closed door that led to Twilight working her magic. "I wish you well, strange one." She emerged from the tree library into the light of day. "Now what shall I do with myself..."

"Worry not, we shant squander this gracious furlough!" She walked on light hooves, imagining the fresh fineries awaiting Bright's adornment. "I shall see Sir Bright conveys only the utmost sophistication abroad!"

The vampiric fashionista eagerly headed for familiar spires of her old Carousel Boutique on the other side Ponyville. Nopony occupied its elegant environs just now with customers grown scarce since her undead self's reveal.

Still Rarity breathed deep of fabrics and comforts of her first bold dream - one declaring icons need not kneel before prejudice. Within these walls she once concealed, now throwing open doors to outcasts redefining assumptions of beauty and privilege.

She drew bedazzled Bright into the empty showroom. "Well darling, shall we peruse my stylistic sanctum while destinies unfold without?"

Bright looked left and right over the many ponyquins adorning the space. "A fresh suit, done by the Rarity? Can't wait!" He curled his thick tail into view. "I'm still loving this."

Rarity batted at the ornate bauble on his tail, serving as a guard over the end of it. "I do fancy it myself, dear. It's why I selected it." She smooched his cheek. "But what about the rest of you? My fine gentlecreature deserves to look as fantastic as he is!"

She floated over tapes to begin measuring Bright rapidly. "I just need you to stand still... a moment."

Sweetie stepped off the elevator beneath her sweets shop. Approaching a panel, she leaned in, allowing a laser to flash right in her eye. "I hate that..." She rubbed the tearing eye as soft beeps and buzzes played.

With a final chime, a panel swung into view. "Agent Sweetie Drops," greeted a dour stallion. "You've been out of contact."

"I've been on assignment, and you know which one." Sweetie saluted despite her terse words. "Reporting in. Mission asset: Night Wings, is under control."

"Very good." The stallion touched his hooves together. "Have you identified the source--"

"--I have," cut in Sweetie. "Harmless. They've only grown more harmless. Creature, far under the sway of harmony, and Miss Rarity's swaying plot."

The stallion coughed into a hoof. "I see... Continue monitoring. Equestria is only safe thanks to your efforts."

"Sir!" Sweetie crisply saluted with a serious expression. "For Equestria."

The stern stallion returned Sweetie Drop's staunch salute before terminating transmission, secured screens sliding to conceal SMILE's covert subterranean nerve center teeming with precisely polished professionals bent on shielding Equestria from existential threats no sunny civilian brochure ever mentioned...

Sweetie sighed wearily in the sudden ringing silence. How she had thrilled learning selected to this elite sentinel Sisterhood guarding the good life from sinister secrets!

Bitterness bobbed briefly before her discipline dutifully drowned its familiar tang. "The work never ends," she sighed to herself, taking hold of the elevator. It pushed her back up into the candy shop. She arrived with her usual smile on, ready to greet the day as a nice, happy, background pony.

Author's Note

Communication is key, they say. Let's get a cellphone! 20/29

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