Please read the Authors Note, thanks.
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"Spike, I don't think this is a good idea." Twilight watched as Spike tied together a few strips of cloth, creating a makeshift rope. "But we can't stay here, Twilight.", he replied, securing the rope on the window. " I don't feel good about the plan" "Plan? What plan? The only thing that matters right now is surviving." Suddenly a loud knocking disturbed the conversation "It's him, somebody told him. I'm out of here." Spike opened the window, quickly climbing out of it. "Spike you can't leave me here! Don't do this to me!"
Slowly the door on the other side of the room opened. A figure came in, looked around ... and flipped the light switch.
The light lit up, revealing a nice little room, filled with books a bed and a computer and a TV standing in one corner. Two persons standing next to the window. One was a lavender unicorn mare, her dark mane waving in the wind. The other was a small baby dragon, his purple scales covered by a black sweater. Watching them from the doorway, a frown on the face stood a white stallion. He lifted a hoof up to his face, a blue mane framing his head.
"Twily, what is that supposed to be?" The mare standing next to the window blushed "An escape attempt?" "From your birthday party?" the stallion asked. "Hey Shining Armor", Spike waved from the window. 'Look BBBFF, Spike and i just thought we wouldn't quite fit in there. On my birthday party. We don't know anyone there. Because there are all your friends ... and coincidental they all work for the police, too." "Twily, come on there are a lot of nice ponies out there. I'm sure you'll make a lot of friends. Let's go." With that Shining Armor left the room. In the mean time Spikes arms, tired from clutching to the rope the whole time, gave up making him drop to the ground. He quickly stood back up leaning back in through the window. "So we're going?", he asked. "Guess we have to." Sighing Twilight stood up and walked over to the door, out in the garden, to join her party.
Out in the open Shining Armor already waited for her. "Come on, it will be great" he said encouragingly waving her forward. Before Twilight had time to react she was pulled over, right in a big hug from her soon to be sister-in-law Cadence.
Secretly Twilight called her "the crystal princess", because her parents worked as jeweler, giving her access to all types of the shining shards. They thought it was a good advertisement when she wore them. Tonight she wore a big blue sapphire around her neck.
"This is going to be great.", she said. "I always wanted to introduce you to my friends. Girls say hello" An ear splitting choir of voices erupted around her. "Hi Twilight!" "How are you doing?" "What do you like?" "Where do you work?" "Who does your mane?" The questions just kept flying at her. Unable to react properly and still stunned by the shear number of questions she tried her best to reply. From the looks she got the ponies around her didn't seem to like them though.
"Hey what about that old roommate of yours Cadence told us about?" one mare asked. "I think she was called Moondancer?" Twilight’s body went tense. "Yes Moondancer. I haven't heard from her in quite a while. I think she works as an ingenieur somewhere in Manehattan now."
Meanwhile, in Canterlot, a white unicorn mare with a pink mane stood in a large white room, a single computer in its center.
The mare took out a pair of black sunglasses she carried in her black tuxedo and put them on her nose. She then proceeded to hook a small device into the computer, downloading all of it's data. Once she had finished the download, she planted a little bomb on the computer and turned tail, running for the exit. The explosion that followed her on her way was enough evidence for her that her work was done.
Outside the room she looked around. Of course somebody had heard the explosion and now a group of armed guards came down the stairs to her right. Moondancer run for her life, sprinting in the opposite direction. Behind her the guards opened fire, magical charged weapons firing bolt after bolt after her, but her quick reflexes help her to avoid all of them.
Having reached the end of the floor she stood before a locked door. Not slowing down, the mare jumped up on a few crates standing on the side of the walls. Without hesitation she jumped, right through the little window above the door. Having lost her chasers for the moment Moondancer quickly run to the stairs leading upwards. She could hear the guards breaking down the door, but continued her way nonetheless.
Finally she had reached the door leading to a big roof on one of the many buildings of Canterlot. She walked over to the edge and jumped down, landing on the roof of a garage next to it. From there she jumped down to the street. Finally being save for the moment she pulled out the device she downloaded the data to. Quickly searching through her e-mail address list she clicked one name. Satisfied with the result she turned around, moving to get out of here.
A a loud bang echoed through the night stopping her tracks. Moondancer dropped to the ground a great red stance building on her chest. Slowly a dark figure appeared out the shadows. A pegasus mare, her rainbow colored hair moving in the wind, moved closer to the corpse. A light blue hoof reached out for the device. Before she could touch it the monitor went blank, the device smoking from the inside. The mare frowned.
Meanwhile at Twilight’s birthday party things had gotten quite. The last guest had left a while ago only leaving Shining Armor, Cadence, Spike and Twilight back. "Well that went as well as I expected it to go", Twilight said. "Oh come on it wasn't that bad", Shining tried to cheer her up, but gave in when she glared at him. "OK maybe it could have gone better." Twilight stood up. "I'm back at my room. You're coming Spike?"
Entering her room Twilight noticed her computer screen flashing, meaning she had a received a message. "Who could it be?", she asked herself, then when she saw the name she gasped in disbelief. "Moondancer?!" Spike frowned "Wasn't that the mare that lied to the college so they kicked you out and then stole your boyfriend?" "Yeah. I remember what she did, thanks Spike", Twilight said sarcastic, while opening the mail. A window popped open, it read:
"A great mare, tales of power and magic
Snail and Scissor bringing me to town, destruction following my path
The stars sparkling, yet no night, defeated by a sweet melody"
"What is that supposed to mean?" Spike asked. "I don't know", the mare replied. "I know it from somewhere but i can't quite place it. I'll figure it out later. Sorry Spike but I'm suddenly real tired. Mind if we continue tomorrow? "Yeah no biggie. I'll go home then. Night Twilight" "Night Spike", she said. Once he was gone she went to her bed planning to sleep, but something kept her mind occupied. The riddle. She knew she knew the answer. If she just could remember...
Her eyes lit up in realization. Of course! The Adventures of the Great and Powerful Lulamoon. It was a story she and Moondancer came up when they were still friends. It was about the adventures of a showmare, traveling from town to town, to refine her magical powers. One particular story was about two young colts that brought an ursa into town, after hearing stories about her grand battle with one, and they wanted to witness it for themselves. Twilight grinned. She nearly forgot about the Story. Without hesitation she taped the word "URSA" into her keypad. The screen disappeared, being removed with a flood of steadily changing pictures..Twilight looked stunned at the screen. While the pictures weren't really that interesting, for some reason she couldn't look away, her eyes darting over the screen analyzing every last corner of each picture. Time flew by while she just stood there looking at the screen. Finally, the sun already had risen, the monitor went dark, releasing her from his grip. Twilight collapsed.
"Twilight? Hey, Twilight! You in there? Can you here me?" A loud voice shook Twilight out of her restless dreams. Groaning she opened her eyes, closing them again when the rays of the sun hit them. After taking an moment to accustom her eyes to the light, she opened them again.
There before her stand Spike, waving a hand before her eyes to get her attention. Noticing that her eyes were focused on him he grinned. "Whoa Twilight you look bad, maybe you shouldn't sleep on the floor next time. What happened after i left?" "I don't remember Spike. You left and then ... i just don't remember anything. Was something in the punch?" Spike just shrugged. "You should get ready Twi. We need to go to work soon." Watching her clock Twilight noticed that he was right. There wasn't much time left before she had to go.
Twilight was on her hooves in an instant. Her eyes darting around, a strand of her hair standing out of it's usual position, she fanatical began pacing around in circles, muttering to her self about being tardy. "Whoa, calm down" Spike said "There is enough time left. If you hurry we'll make it." "I guess you're right. I'll be there soon, you can go ahead." "Roger. See you later." With that Spike left her alone. Twilight, taking a moment to brush her mane, soon followed Spike downstairs, where her brother and Cadence were already sitting at a table, enjoying breakfast. As they noticed her arrival, Cadance levitated a sandwich over to her, receiving a thankful smile from Twilight.
While she ate she could here the news playing on the big screen in the living room. " ... we just received word that the chariot of Mr Strong Will, the General of the Minotaur Nation, safely reached the equestrian airport. Mr Strong Will will hold an important speech on the upcoming national security meeting .." *Flash* Suddenly Twilight’s head exploded. Million of pictures flashing through her brain, filling her head with information. Before she could realize what she did she asked, "Didn't he arrive yesterday already." She shook her head, confused why she would ask such a question. "Who?", Cadence, who hadn't paid attention to the broadcast, asked. "Never mind", Twilight quickly replied "Just something that I came up with a moment ago. I'll be on may way then. Bye."
At the same time, down in a ruined basement of Canterlot, two regal figures were having a debate. One was a pearl white mare, a horn growing from her head. She had a pair of large wings draped to her body and her mane was flowing in a non existent wind. The other one was smaller and of a darker color. She possessed the same features, except that she was a little smaller. Also her mane showed a starry night sky.
"Moondancer was part of the celestial guard. She was one of your agents." "And It was the duty of the lunar guard to bring her back, not to kill her. Thanks to your airhead we have nothing." "No" a light blue mare, coming out of the shadows, said "We have a dead traitor, That's already one thing." "It should have never come to this" the bigger of the two alicorns replied sharply. "What was so important about it anyway" the blue mare asked. The two alicorns shared a look, then the smaller one said: "After the Discord-Incident the two guards decided that we needed a bigger grade of cooperation. Thus the Hydra was created. a program that held all information, be they important or not, the two guards ever acquired. The data may be encoded, but whoever received the mail from Moondancer, now knows all of our secrets. We need to find it!" The blue mare tilted her head and held up a small screen. "This belonged to Moondancer. It's broken, but we could follow her signal. The data is in Ponyville. With you permission I think it's time for a little "vacation"."
Twilight sat behind her desk, working. She worked at the local electronic store, being the boss of the technical support department. A new virus was on the market, so many people came to her section asking for help. It even had destroyed their new test version of the latest computer model they received, an uncaring costumer having caught it while surfing the net. Her full team was occupied helping out, except for two of her closer friends Pinkie Pie and Gummy. Pinkie was a bubbly mare, her coat a bright pink, her mane just a shade darker. Gummy was a real oddball. He was a very silent stallion. His coat was a dark green, his mane a light pink. Mostly just blankly staring into nothingness, he often followed Pinkie, always being part of one of her new shenanigans. Those two were the local party animals and for some reason always managed to make or get into trouble. Today they had managed to bring a giant cake into the store and instead of working, they shared the cake with the customers waiting in line.
Despite being in charge for them, Twilight didn't bother to take action. She once tried but had to soon to accept that you just couldn't control those two, nobody could. Shaking her head she shot those two a glare, receiving a big smile and wave from pinkie back, and continued working.
"Next person", she said. An orange mare came closer, nervously playing with her cowboy hat. "Howdy there. Ah need your help with this." She pulled out a small apart, holding it up to Twilight. Twilight looked it over. It was a small music player, designed to be rather durable for people who enjoyed running or doing heavy working with it. She saw the problem right away. The display flickered, indicating it was caught in some kind of loop making it useless. "Yeah i know the problem with that one. If you leave it here we can repair it and send it back to you. Formulas are ... oh my gosh is that a Starswirl the Bearded badge?" The other pony looked surprised "You know him?" "Know him?" Twilight asked feign shock. "I'm his biggest fan. Did you know he invented the ..." "The amniomorphic spell" The orange mare finished "Yes, yes i did." "He was the most important conjurer of the pre-classical era" Twilight said admirng. The orange mare grinned. "That he was and much, much more. Name's Applejack by the way." She held out an hoof "Twilight Sparkle" Twilight said grabbing her hoof and shaking it. "You know what Applejack? I'll fix this right away, just a moment." With that she took out a little screwdriver, opened the devices cage and quickly readjusted the malfunctioning parts.
"Done" she exclaimed. "Whoa Nelly, that was fast" "I'm know for my good work. So back to Starswirl..." A loud cough interrupted them. while they were chatting a large line had built behind Applejack, the other costumers looking annoyed at the two. "Ah guess you need to work", the cowpony said. "You know what Ah'm part of a history research club a few streets away, Why don't you come over if you have time. Here's the address. Just tell them AJ send you, okay?" "I'll see about that," Twilight replied.
You're really planing to go?" Spike asked "I don't know about that. A stranger giving you an invitation to a mysterious club we never heard about before sounds kinda fishy." "I know. I had the same thought, but i checked on them. The clubs is actually pretty old, it's an uni club so there are always new people and the main research focus changes. Last year for example they researched the great migration from the north. But now they finished and it seems there new theme is Starswirl. I'm so excited. I've never really met someone interested in him, most people don't even know about him. What a shame. I bet it's going to be great" Twilight said fondling with the keys to her house. Once she had opened the door however she froze.
There in their hallway stood a pony completely clad into black. The black cloth hiding everything about that the pony.
Race, color or even gender weren't to decipher. The pony moved holding Twilight’s computer in her hooves. The figure just stood there obviously surprised by the two. Spike was the first to react. With a loud: "What do you thing you're doing?" he grabbed one of the vases sanding in the floor, throwing it at the thief. The thief just moved out of the way, his hoof deflecting the object. Spike continued to throw things at him while Twilight tried to sneak closer. But the thief had noticed her. Once she was close enough he kicked low, hitting one of her legs, disturbing Twilight’s balance and making her drop to the ground. The thief meanwhile used his momentum to spin around, position the PC on a wall shelf behind him, and facing them again. Spike was speechless. "You need to tell me how to do this." was the only thing he managed to say. The thief started to move planning to take them both out, but before he could act a loud crack came from behind him. All three turned toward to shelf, seeing the board giving in and dropping the computer to the ground, where it shattered into tiny pieces.
While Twilight and Spike were still looking at the broken PC, the thief took speed, dashed through them and disappeared into the night. He didn't stop running until he had brought a few miles between them. When he was sure nobody followed him he allowed himself to slow down and hid into an alleyway. Once it was clear that no one else was there AJ took of her mask a deep frown on her face. "That could have gone better" she thought. "Well at least there is still Plan B." Shaking her head she disappeared into the night.
Twilight sat in the stores storeroom, holding the last remains of her broken PC, Spike, Pinkie and Gummy standing close by. Pinkie and Gummy were wearing black hats a small flower bouquet and a small band reading "R.I.P Charly, we won't forget you. Twilight assumed Charly was here PC, but why Pinkie would call him that was above her. "So there's nothing we can do?" she asked "Nope" Spike answered "This thing is down. A real shame." "Just great , now I need a new one. Uurgh! And I’ve already spent my income this month." With a sigh she stood up. "Well no sense crying over spilled milk i guess. Spike I'll go over to the home works store next door. I need to buy new locks."
Twilight didn't waste any time playing around and went straight for the locks. On here way she passed a rather small looking Minotaur, who was studying the pipe wrenches. *Flash* Her brain starting spinning, information flooding it:
Fragile Mind, Minotaur, explosive expert, know to have worked work for different terrorist cells, highly dangerous. Twilight’s mouth went dry. Taking all of her courage together, she looked at the Minotaur. By now he already finished his business, walking over to the cashier. Twilight gulped nearly running out of the shop, forgetting what she came for.
Outside she ran into Applejack, who was talking to a yellow stallion with a blue mane. Once she noticed Twilight she came over. "Hey Twilight. How ya doing'" "Fine" she replied. "Nice to hear. You know I missed you on the last meeting. How about coming today?" "I guess ...?" Twilight said still a little groggy from the shock. " Great see ya later then Twi."
And just with that Twilight had plans for the evening.
It wasn't hard to find the place. The clubhouse was on a well traveled street and the building itself was also rather easy to spot. Being quite nervous Twilight rang the doorbell waiting for response. She could here hoofs coming closer and soon the door was opened. In the doorway stood a large red stallion, his blond mane and tail in a cropped to a short cut. Twilight felt a little uneasy. This guy was very intimidating. "Yes?" he asked. "Oh, ähm, yes. Applejack send me?" she said her voice trembling unsure. The stallion nodded gesturing for her to come in. He lead her down a small corridor and upstairs . Never saying a single word. Twilight started to get nervous "This might not have been my best idea" she silently thought, innerly debating whether she should keep following him,.
Reaching a door on the other side of the floor the big guy opened it and trotted in. Twilight looked inside and saw to her relief Applejack sitting on a long table, together with a small group of happily chatting ponies. As they entered Aj looked up smiling as she saw Twilight standing there. However, once she noticed the tension the mare was in she threw a scolding look at the red stallion. "Ya know Big Macintosh you could be a little nicer to our guests." Macintosh just shrugged. With a roll of her eyes Aj walked over to Twilight.
"Hi Twilight, glad you could make it. Let me introduce you to the guys. We have here Caramel, Berry Punch, Amethyst Star, Minuette, Heartstrings, Rainbowshine and Cheerilee. And of course you already met my brother Big Macintosh."
Each pony, while introduce, gave her a polite smile or wave while Big Macintosh just looked at her. At Twilight she added "You can sit wherever you want." As soon as Twilight had found a place she nodded. "So; shall we continue? Mac you were saying?"
And so the discussion started. Twilight being a little nervous at the beginning soon bloomed up and was quickly adding her own view points to the table. Twilight loved it. She normally only felt like this while playing games with spike. It was a great night for her. And of course that was when things hit bottom.
A loud clang occurred shaking all gathered ponies up. Twilight looked around curious, when suddenly the room filled with smoke. Coughing she tried to leave the room, but couldn't find the way. Not being able to see the crashed in a pony blocking her path. "You alright, Sugarcube?" Applejack asked holding a hoof out for her to take. "We need to get out here." She led Twilight out of the room, down the stairs and out of an backdoor. "Now listen close Twilight, we need to be really careful now. Someones chasing us and we need to get out of here!" "Huh but why?", Twilight mumbled, but before Applejack could answer her the door burst open, a group of black clad ponies standing in the door. " No time to talk! Run!"
Both were off before the first of the mysterious ponies could move.
"Whats going on?" Twilight screamed, a small group of ponies chasing them. Not answering Applejack dashed around a corner, Twilight only barely able to keep pace. Twilight looked behind her. The group following her slowly but steady gained ground, closing in on them. Twilight turned back surprised to see that AJ had disappeared. She nearly stop, but the sound of hooves behind her kept her going.
Then out of no where Applejack was back carrying a big crate in front of her. She gave it a mighty buck, throwing it in he group of their chaser, scattering them like bowling pins. With their chasers occupied they managed to get a small distance between them. Just as Twilight felt like they did it, a rainbow blur knocked into Applejack making her fly away. Twilight stopped dead in her tracks. There, where her friend Applejack was just a second ago, now was a blue mare pointing a gun at her.
"I have to admit that was kinda fun" she said. "But I'm bored now. So you better come with me, Egghead." "What do you think you're doing Rainbow Dash?" came a voice from behind them. Applejack who were tossed in a pile of card boxes littering the street stood up and walked over to them, a gun she had drawn out oh her shirt, pointed at Rainbow Dash. "She belongs to the lunar guard." Rainbow said. "The solar guard gets her first", Applejack shot back. "Uhm girls" Twilight managed to say from the sideline, both mares looking at her. "Could anyone tell me what's going on. Please!!" Applejack sighed. "How much do you know about Moondancer?" she asked. "Moondancer? My old roommate? What about her?" Twilight was confused "She worked for the solar guard" Applejack answered her. "She was a traitor to her country" Rainbow interrupted. "We know she contacted you."
If Twilight was confused before, she now was utterly puzzled. "Wah..? But I haven't talked to her in years", she managed to stumble. Then it made click. "The e-mail!" she whispered. "What was that sugarcube?" Applejack inquired. "The e-mail!" Twilight said this time louder than before. "She send me an e-mail!" The orange mare gestured for her to go on. "It was nothing special", Twilight said. "Just a riddle about an old story we wrote together. When i solved it there were a bunch of pictures, but .." "You saw them?" Applejack interrupted her. Twilight just nodded.
With a crackle rainbows walkie-talkie sprung to life, one of her comrades obviously trying to get in contact. It wasn't very clear, but Twilight managed to hear glimpses of it: "Colonel Dash ... Strong Will.. found a time-bomb.... at meeting hall ..." *Flash* Twilight froze a stream of picture and information flashing through her head once again. "They're planning to kill him" she said before she could stop herself. "Whom" Applejack questioned. "Strong Will! The General of the Minotaur Nation." The two mares just looked at her. "OK i know something is wrong with me", she said. "I know things. I remember things i never saw before." "It's alright sugarcube", AJ said, Just tell me what you're seeing." Twilight took a deep breath.
"OK listen. Today in the mall there was this Minotaur, a specialist with explosives. I know it sounds crazy. Last week the solar pegasi got hold of blueprints. Blueprints of a meeting hall. This meeting hall." She pointed a hoof at a building a few blocks away. "And the lunar guard found plans for a bomb. This bomb is now in there!"
"She worked with Moondancer!" Rainbow exclaimed pointing her gun threateningly at Twilight. Before she could do anything however Applejack interrupted her. "No she got it from the mail." With Rainbow staring quizzically at her she continued. "Twilight those pictures were encoded information, National secrets! And if you've seen them that means you now know all of them." "Wait a minute" Rainbow Dash said, "You're telling me the Hydra is in there?" She pointed her gun at Twilight’s head. "Seems so", Applejack nodded. "Just great", the blue mare facehoofed. Shaking her head she continued. "We need to defuse the bomb. Let's go."
Twilight started to panic. "What? You want to go in there? Are you crazy? Look I'm not good with this. Go ask Moondancer. She's the mare for the job." "Moondancer is dead" Applejack said with clenched teeth. Twilight just stared at her. Applejack nodded. "Yeah and so will you if you don't move", Rainbow interjected. "So let's go and defuses this stupid bomb". Twilight gulped . "If the information are correct the General is already holding his speech."
The three mares stormed into the entrance floor of the meeting hall. "Where now?" Applejack asked. Twilight took a moment to think. "The easiest way?" "The fastest" Rainbow replied. "Got it", with that Twilight dashed forward right through many of the other guests and even a small pond located in the middle of the room. Soon they had reached a large door. Bursting in they saw the General standing on a stage holding his speech. "Where's the bomb" Applejack asked. "I don't know", Twilight answered. The three let there gazes wander over the guests, enjoying the speech, and looked for any clues.
"There it is" Twilight had spotted the bomb. hidden in an eating dare, it stood in the center of the room. All three of them hastily made their way over to the construct.. Rainbow opened the hangings, revealing a computer strapped to a big load of C4. The counter on the screen told them that they only had a few minutes left. "Any ideas what to do?" AJ asked. Unfortunately nobody had. No one knew enough to dare anything and Twilight’s brain didn't had to add anything either.
Suddenly Twilight’s phone rang and with nothing better to do (and wanting to escape the situation) she picked up. Meanwhile the two spies very preparing the guest for en evacuation. Spikes exhausted voice came out of the boxes. "Twilight were are you? The virus went wild. It crashed hundreds of PC’s now and the boss called all of us in to find a solution." Twilight’s head spun. Hastily she checked the computer. She couldn't believe her luck. In the market, she had worked all day on the virus and this type of computer had proven especially vulnerable to it. "Spike I love you", she said. "Does anyone know where it comes from?" "Well there are a few sites that definitely spread it but why ...?" "Later Spike just name one. PLEASE!" Sullenly the Baby Dragon listed a few. "Thanks Spike, I owe you big." "Yeah but why .." Before he could finish she interrupted the call.
With all given haste she opened the browser of the computer, tipping one of the names spike told her in. "What are you doing", Rainbow asked, stress ringing in her voice. Understandable since all of their lives depended on what happened next.. "You'll see" was all Twilight said. Once the browser managed to load the site completely, the monitor froze, bright colors and sparks dancing over it's surface. The counter, nearing it's end stopped, freezing like the rest of the PC. Twilight let out an tired laugh, Applejack and Rainbow Dash looking at her in disbelief.
Once everything was clear the three mares walked out of the building. "I cant believe that just happened" Twilight said the joy of being still alive making her light headed. She let out a big laugh that had swollen in her chest, but stopped once she noticed the two spies weren't following her anymore. "What's wrong?" she asked. Applejack sighed while Rainbow just stood there unmoving. The rainbow haired mare was the first to talk "No matter how good you were kid, there's still the question what to do now. We can't let you run around with the information." Applejack said nothing but didn't dare to look into her eyes. "I'm sorry but you have to come with us!"
What ever reaction the two had expected, what happened next was it clearly not part of it. Instead of arguing, Twilight relaxed, smiling. "You know what?" she said "I don't think so." "Twi .." Applejack begun but was cut off by Twilight. "Now you two listen to me! Moondancer send the e-mail to me. I got all your secrets you should listen if you don't want them exposed. And I'll go now." Rainbow moved to stopped her but, but Twilight brushed her off. "You two want something from me, not the other way around." And with that she left, leaving the two off them behind.
Twilight woke up in her bed. She felt good, making her nearly forget the events of the day before, Nearly, She stood up, brushed her mane and went down. There like on every other day Shining Armor and Cadence were siting in front of the TV watching the news. "Good Morning Twili" Shining said said waving her over. "Slept well?" Twilight nodded. Then with a speed she didn't expected herself she wrapped her arms around the two, puling them in a big hug, Shining looked dumbfounded for a moment but soon returned the gesture. "What was that for?" he asked. "No big reason" Twilight said quickly. "Well I'll be off to work, see you later".
Once she arrived in the store Spike who had already waited for her came over. "Hi Twi. Listen the boss wants you to teach the newbie. You can do that?" "Sure thing Spike where is he?" "It's a she, and she's waiting over there" he said pointing a claw in a general direction. "Okay see you later Spike" "Cya." Twilight walked in the direction Spike had pointed her to, eager to meet the new guy. Once she saw who's standing before her however, her jaw dropped. there before her in the stores uniform stood Rainbow Dash grinning at her. While Twilight was still staring in shock, Applejack, pushing a cart before her, walked past by them giving her a quick wink. "Hi Egghead" Rainbow said. "I think we'll have a fun time working together."