"Long ago, in the magical land of Equestria there was a very special pony named Twilight Sparkle who resided in the town of Canterlot. She was a very studious unicorn who was a prodigee of the now retired Princess Celestia and didn't care much about making friends. Until one fateful day, Twilight was sent to Ponyville where she met an assortment of ponies who would later become her closest friends. While the lavender pony was hesitant to making friends, she was urged to begin her very first adventure with them. Back then, Nightmare Moon had been freed and was planning on creating eternal night. Luckily, Twilight and her friends were able to defeat Nightmare Moon using the power of the Elements of Harmony. With Twilight Sparkle bearing the element of Magic, Rarity with the element of Generosity, Fluttershy with the element of Kindness, Rainbow Dash with the element of Loyalty, Applejack with the element of Honesty, and finally Pinkie Pie with the element of Laughter. After using them, Nightmare Moon returned to her original state as Princess Luna and peace was returned to the land. And Twilight Sparkle had finally accepted friendship into her life. Thus beginning the era of Princess Twilight Sparkle…" Sparknite closed the history book he had been reading with a happy sigh.

"No matter how many times I read that story, just...wow!" Sparknite marveled in awe, his green and blue tail swishing with content under the midday sun.

The light blue unicorn was currently reading on the front porch of his small village house, his already bright smile widening as he hears the wingbeats of a certain white pegasus coming from behind him.

"Still want to meet the Princess of Equestria, yes Sparky?" Pitch Blaze chuckled, taking a seat beside Sparknite. His black and purple mane and tail were as pristine as ever, with his bangs covering his eyes as usual.

"Not just that, it would be amazing if she could take me under her wing too...you know, teach me more about friendship. Just like Celestia did with her…" Sparknite explained as he gazed out in the distance with a thoughtful expression, admiring a group of young foals playing together. They reminded Sparknite of him and Pitch when they were that age, young and full of energy that allowed them to run at ungodly speeds for crazy periods of time. These days, even though he was only a young adult, Sparknite found that his stamina had...decreased to a significant amount. Probably due to his sedentary lifestyle of constant reading.

"Hm? Why would you need to know more? You're already an amazing friend to me, Sparknite." Pitch Blaze reminded the blue unicorn as he eyes him through a gap in his elongated bangs.

"Aw, Pitch, that's nice to say but, you can never learn too much right?" Sparknite informed with a smile.

"I suppose...you really want to see her don't you?" Pitch Blaze asked fondly, his eyes softening with a hint of mischief as he leans his cheek onto his hoof. His unicorn friend's endless curiosity never failed to warm his heart.

"Well yeah, why?" Sparknite looked at his pegasus friend curiously, noticing the knowing smirk playing on his friend's lips.

"Because...I may or may not have received a invitation that lets us both go to her castle for a visit tomorrow afternoon." Pitch grinned, handing a piece of paper to Sparknite excitedly.

Sparknite gasped, snatching the paper with his orange colored magic before skimming the letter with shock.

"S-Seriously?! How did you..?!" Sparknite was about to ask, before being cut off by a lighthearted chuckle from the pegasus.

"My dear friend, I am a popular model; I know ponies, and some of them just so happen to know the Princess. Plus, you have been raving about Princess Twilight for years now...there was no way I was going to deprive my best friend of meeting his crush, hm?" Pitch teased his friend with a wink.

"Ugh! Pitch she is not--this is--I don't know whether I should hug you or hit you for what you just said!!" Sparknite's face reddened in embarrassment at that last statement, causing Pitch to laugh hysterically whilst also apologizing.

"I'm sorry, I couldn't resist...but seriously, what do you think?" Pitch finally caught his breath before turning to his friend expectedly.

"Hah...what do I think?" Sparknite began, turning his face away from Pitch for a moment. Celestia, why did he have to always do this to him?! The blue unicorn didn't like being sappy in public, let alone in front of his best friend. It was humiliating.

"Sparky?" Pitch looked at Sparknite in concern before he was suddenly tackled by the blue unicorn in a tight embrace.

Ok, one quick hug couldn't hurt. Besides, Sparknite's mother always told him to never bottle up his emotions, so this was how he would release them!

"...I think, you are the greatest friend ever and I can't believe you actually did this for me! Th-Thank you…" Sparknite choked up, trying desperately to push down the tears beginning to fill his eyes.

"Are you...crying Sparknite?" Pitch asked slyly.

Busted. Of course he noticed. Sparknite would have thought that this stallion who constantly covered his eyes as a fashion choice wouldn't catch the small details, but clearly he was wrong.

"Shut up and hug me." Sparknite whined with an embarrassed giggle.

Pitch Blaze obliged with a warm smile as he hugged him back. After a few seconds of lingering in the 'friendship moment' as Twilight once put it, the two ponies eventually parted.

"Well, if you do want to go, we should probably head to Canterlot now. It will be a long trip." Pitch informed urgently.

"Then what are we waiting for?! I'm gonna go start packing, you should do the same!" Sparknite exclaimed as he rushed for his front door.

"Don't just pack books Sparky!" Pitch Blaze called after him, receiving a nervous laugh from his best friend in response.

"Of course...it's not like that was the only thing I was going to pack you know!" Sparknite called back before heading inside, ready to pack other things besides his ever growing comic book collection.

"Yes it was. Where would that stallion be without me?" Pitch Blaze thought to himself with a knowing grin before heading to his own house to pack his things.

***

Once the two friends had arrived at the train station, they decided to wait a bit since the train wouldn't arrive for 5 more minutes.

"Five minutes to spare! If it weren't for my little input before you began packing, we probably would've missed the train." Pitch chuckled teasingly.

"Hey I don't take that long to pack my books!" Sparknite stated defensively.

"Really? I recall us being 10 minutes late for class in elementary school when you just 'had' to find your collection of Super Stallion comics." Pitch reminded Sparknite with a smug grin.

"Th..that was a long time ago!" Sparknite blushed sheepishly, still remembering his frantic search for the missing 3rd volume just minutes before school started.
The unicorn had ended up getting trapped under his bed for 10 minutes...hence the late arrival to school.

"Ok, then the 'Camping Trip Incident'?" Pitch Blaze brought up with a knowing smirk.

"Come on that wasn't recent either!" Sparknite lied, his face reddening.

"It was last week, Sparknite." Pitch Blaze giggled, causing Sparknite to laugh a little as well.

"Ok, ok...you're right. We probably would have...good thing I've got you to keep me on track huh?" Sparknite smiled fondly at his best friend, who quickly pulled his bangs away to wink at him.

"Good thing." Pitch side hugged Sparknite happily before letting go as they proceeded to wait for the train.

Just as the train was coming into view however, the two friends were surprised by a small voice calling for Sparknite in the distance.

"Sparknite!! You didn't tell me you were leaving without me!" Twirly Bright, Sparknite's little sister shouted as she galloped over to the two stallions.
The small, turquoise filly was practically rocketing towards them, leaving her pink and blue pigtails bouncing behind her in rapid succession.

"Oh, uh, sorry Twirly-" Sparknite began, about to explain himself, but his little sister continues without letting him so much as breath another word.

"Pleeeeaaase let me come with you!!!" Twirly Bright pleaded her brother as she hugged his hooves, her bubblegum pink eyes glimmering up at him with the strongest "puppy-dog" energy that her brother had ever seen.

"Twirly, I wish you could, but mom said she wants you to stay home." Sparknite sternly told his little sister, internally feeling guilt claw at his heart. It killed him a bit inside whenever he had to disappoint Twirly like this, but, rules were rules.

"But Sparky…!" Twirly was interrupted by her mother who scooped her up from behind. The unicorn mare was light blue like her son, with multicolored black and pink hair. She looks down at Twirly with her own stern, pink eyes.

"You heard your brother, Twirly. Sorry hon, you and Pitch go have fun meeting the Princess, ok? Oh, and don't forget to take pictures for me alright?!" Sparknite's mother Raven Spark advised with an excited grin as she kissed and hugged her son goodbye.

"Will do mom. Love you guys! Don't worry Twirly I'll let you know about everything when I get back ok? I'll even buy you a souvenir." Sparknite promised his sister before boarding the train, making Twirly brighten up a bit as she waved to her brother and Pitch, along with her mother.

When the two ponies took their seats, they proceeded to bid the two female ponies goodbye in return before eventually leaving the station.

"Aw, poor Twirly. It would've been nice for her to meet the Princess too, we're really going to have to make it up to her." Pitch said with tinge of guilt in his tone.

"And I have a bit of an idea on how to do that." Sparknite noted with a grin, his orange eyes sparkling as a light bulb goes off over his head.

"Oh, do tell!" Pitch turned to his friend with interest, leaning a bit closer to the unicorn.

"You know how Twirly is always babbling on and on about how tasty those special rock candies look in Canterlot's sweet shops?" Sparknite started.

"Yeah, you told me she likes to watch T.V shows based off of those. I believe it was called 'Canterlot Confectionary'." Pitch nodded as he recalled the series Twirly loved.

"Well, I was thinking of getting a rock candy necklace for her at one of the shops! And I'm going to get the main candy customized to look like Princess Twilight’s cutie mark! She'll love it." Sparknite exclaimed in anticipation.
He couldn't wait to see the look on his little sister's cute face when she sees one of her favorite treats. Pitch had been right as well; Sparknite couldn't even count the amount of late nights Twirly Bright would spend in front of the T.V, watching episode after episode and getting into trouble by him, or their mother soon after.

"That's an amazing idea Sparky! I have no doubt she will appreciate the gift as well!" Pitch beamed at the idea, before continuing to discuss other things with his best friend joyfully.

It had been a few minutes before an old female griffin in the seat across from the two friends interrupted them with a clear of her throat. This griffin had a brown coloration to her feathers along with mysterious, gray eyes that seemed to give off an unsettling aura as she bore holes into them with her thin pupils.

"Oh! Uh, sorry ma'am...were we being too loud?" Sparknite asked the griffin, quickly lowering his voice as he shifted uncomfortably underneath this griffin's stare.

"Course not youngin', I just have a question for y'all." The old griffin informed calmly, despite her beady eyes striking some nerves into the stallions in front of her.

"Ok...what is it?" Sparknite nodded for the griffin expectedly.

"You headin' to Equestria, that right?" The old female griffin interrogated, raising an eyebrow in an almost challenging fashion.

"Canterlot is in Equestria...so yeah. Why?" Sparknite cocked his head in confusion.

"...If ya'll want to keep yer friend there, I'd suggest cancelin' this little trip." The elderly griffin said darkly before pulling the string above her to get off the train, as it was her stop.

When she left, Sparknite and Pitch Blaze exchanged extremely puzzled looks. "...Griffins are weird…" Sparknite shrugged, dismissing the old griffin’s warning as craziness.

"Tell me about it. Though not all of them are like that." Pitch chuckled, picking his conversation back up with Sparknite as they rode along towards Canterlot.

Little did they know, they ignored the first hint that something was indeed wrong.

Author's Note

Hope you all enjoy this future AU!
I write for fun, but small (kind) critiques are appreciated