In the Dark of the Night

by dragonjek

She'll Be Mine

“Bad news, Captain. Dawn approaches, but we won’t be able to set up a camp anytime soon.”

Indigo Zap frowned, her breath coming heavily from the exertion of the long night’s flight. “What do you mean, Sunny Flare? ‘Cause I don’t think anypony is going to be up for a longer flight.”

Especially not the ponies pulling the chariots. They were tough as Tartarus, but damn if dragging a vehicle around all night wouldn’t be exhausting.

The bizarrely named bat pony shook her head. “Just… just look. There’s no way we can touch down anywhere near here.”

The captain of the Shadowbolts sighed. If it wasn’t one thing, it was another. She folded her wings, letting herself drop below cloud cover—

Then opened them up and scrambled back up as fast as she possibly could. As soon as she was out of sight from below, she dashed up to her cousin at the front of the group. “Shitty news, Lieutenant! There’s a hatchery of dragons below us!”

Waft Draft blanched. “Buck.”

“Sorry, but we’re related. I have to pass.”

“Would you shut up? This is serious!”

“I know that!” Indigo Zap shouted, glaring at him. “I was giving you an opportunity to come up with something! Do I seriously need to do everything myself?”

“You’re the captain.”

“And you want a recommendation for that promotion of yours! Ugh, nevermind, I already figured out what to do. I need to speak to the Princess.”

Not waiting for her cousin’s response, she slipped to the middle of the formation, where the Princess was trying work on some manner of paperwork without falling asleep. She alighted upon the back of the chariot.

The shifting weight caught Princess Twilight’s attention, and she turned around in response. Zap’s face must have been easy to read, because the Princess was frowning. Indigo Zap found that she didn’t like the look, and wanted Twilight to stop. “Is something wrong, Captain?”

Somewhat belatedly, Indigo Zap snapped out a salute. “I’m afraid so, Your Highness. We need to set up camp soon, but it looks like we’ve flown over an uncharted dragon hatchery.”

It took a moment for that to sink through, but her response was even more striking than Waft’s. “Oh, Celestia. If they see us, we’re all going to die.”

Zap swallowed. “Isn’t that a little… extreme?”

“Dragons don’t want anything that isn’t a dragon to know where they lay their eggs! If it weren’t for these clouds, every adult present would have already taken to the air.”

The idea of an entire swarm of dragons was already a frightening one, but Zap had no idea how much danger she’d just put everypony in by ducking beneath the clouds. Even she couldn’t hide the quaver that snuck into her voice after that. “I-I see. We can’t land, then.”

“No, definitely not,” Twilight said. “Just letting them see us would be too great a risk.”

That voice… that was entirely unlike what Indigo Zap had heard of her so far. The fear she had heard so clearly in Twilight’s voice had vanished—no, that wasn’t the right word. It had transformed. What had been shock and terror had become determination, and the intensity of the gaze on her face sent delicious chills down Indigo’s spine.

She could almost see the thoughts in the Princess’s head—not what they were, but the shape and focus of them. Watching the mental machine of Twilight’s mind was like watching crystal technomancy at work; she had no idea what was happening, but even without knowing what she was looking at the sense of activity was vibrant and alive and captivating.

Purple eyes met gold as Twilight stared at her. “Captain, you’re proficient at umbral magic, yes?”

Well duh. “I’m the most talented bat pony from the Canterlot Caverns, bar none.” Particularly when it came to sex, Princess. “But umbral magic is part of my special talent.”

“Excellent! I’m sorry, but I’ll need you to push yourself to your limits for me.”

Ooh, she liked the sound of that. “I was an athlete before I became a Shadowbolt, Your Highness! You don’t need to worry on that account.”

Twilight smiled at her. Her cute little fangs made Indigo Zap’s heart skip a beat. Why did it feel like the Princess suddenly felt closer to her? “That’s great! But please, just call me Twilight. I’ll need you to gather everypony together first; I need everypony close together so I can capture as many of them in the spell as possible.”

“A spell? What are you casting?”

“Just some magic to let everypony walk on clouds—and as importantly, to let us set solid objects like the chariots down on top of the clouds. We can’t afford to go to the ground.”

That was brilliant. Indigo Zap was so thankful that she was traveling with Twilight and not anypony else; how many ponies could just throw out cloud-walking spells out of nowhere? Although there was an issue, there. “But… Your Highness—”

Twilight smirked. Oh, Celestia! She should smirk more often! “Now I know how Celestia feels. Seriously though, Captain, just call me Twilight.”

Zap was blushing. Blushing. Her! Blushing! Since when did Indigo Zap blush? Thank Luna that her uniform covered her face. “Th-then you should call me by name too, Twilight. I’m Indigo Zap.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Zap!”

“L-likewise—but back to the point! If you’re casting the spell, what am I supposed to be doing with shadows?”

Forced smiles didn’t look pleasant on Twilight’s face. “Your squadron has twelve ponies, and the flight of the Night Guard adds another six. It’s taken a total of twenty ponies to pull all the chariots, and I have six aides. And that’s just the ponies—I have to support all the chariots, too.”

Indigo Zap tried to imagine using that much magic. Umbral magic didn’t involve spells, but just trying to pick up half of that—her eyes shrank to pinpricks. Nopony could do that.

“If I cast the spell on everypony individually, I’ll collapse near the end. I’ll need to apply it in groups so that nopony will get left out.”

“B-but Twilight, if you do that then you’ll…”

Twilight smiled. This one was decidedly more pleasant. “That’s why I have you here. My pegasus magic would normally support me, but if I run through my magic reserves devoting it to everypony else then I’ll fall through the clouds. I’m trusting you to support me if I can’t stay conscious, alright?”

“Of course! I won’t let anything happen to you, Twilight. And that’s a promise.”

“I’m glad. Just don’t wear yourself out, alright? We still have to travel tomorrow night.”

Indigo Zap was stunned. Absolutely stunned. She had no idea how Twilight could possibly manage that much magic. She managed to layer the spell over all the dozens of ponies there and their equipment before she fell.

Of course, this ‘fall’ lasted a grand total of four inches before she was wrapped in shadow. Zap held her Princess close to her as she quietly shouted orders to the rest of the company, ordering them to roll up the corners of the cloud so as to keep a wayward flying dragon from coming across them and to ensure that nopony rolled over the side in their sleep.

Having had a history with sleepwalking, this was a legitimate worry.

But as the day fell upon them, Zap found herself unable to sleep. There was a crack in her confidence, an unthinkable flaw in a perfect pony. She knew she could maintain a shadow construct in her sleep, such as the one with which she now embraced Twilight’s body. But what if she made a mistake?

What if today was the day that she failed?

The idea terrified her like nothing ever had before. Sleep didn’t come to her that day, and frankly Zap didn’t try all that hard to find it.

They almost didn’t travel when night finally came ‘round. Twilight was barely able to drag herself to consciousness, and Indigo Zap didn’t trust her to stay on board the chariot if they tried to go flying again. But staying above a dragon hatchery was such an insane risk that they couldn’t possibly afford to stay.

Indigo Zap volunteered to remain on the chariot with her, and so in the early hours of the night she remained by her Princess’s side, propping her against Zap’s body so that she neither lay on the chariot floor nor was at risk of falling off. And maybe she ran her hooves through the Princess’s magical mane, but that was because Twilight Sparkle hadn’t really had time for brushing her hair. That’s all.

Really.

So, Indigo Zap wondered, if that’s how the night had progressed, then what the buck happened to turn that around?

Somehow, Twilight was now awake, and they were now in her tent. When had it turned to day? When had Zap shed her uniform? When did they leave the chariot?

When had her head ended up on Twilight’s lap?

No, seriously. Indigo Zap wanted to know. That was a memory she really wanted to have.

But when she asked Twilight—not so blatantly, of course—she was met with a giggle. “I’m just returning the favor!” Twilight said. She was laying down across the pillows they had set up as her bed, with Zap’s head resting against her flank. Was Twilight aware what this could be interpreted as? Zap had heard that she was pretty innocent, and she could certainly believe it.

“You must have worn yourself out yesterday, because by the time I woke up you had fallen asleep right beside me!”

A flash of fear widened Zap’s eyes. How could she have fallen asleep? She was staying up to protect Twilight! She wasn’t that irresponsible, was she?

Another giggle. “Don’t worry,” came her Princess’s low, reassuring voice. It was warm and comforting in her ear. “You kept me perfectly safe. So rest now, Zap. Let me take care of you for a bit.”

Oh. Well, when she put it that way, that sounded like a… pretty… good… i…dea…

It was the following night that they arrived at the capital of Nightlorn Vale.

The ponies of the Vale were… odd. Tattoos weren’t common amongst ponies, but the dye the bat ponies of the Nightlorn tribes used actually glowed in the dark. Sure, bat ponies survived on fruit, but what was the point of flying at night when absolutely everything with eyes could see you? And almost everypony was absolutely covered in them.

Weird though they were, Twilight Sparkle didn’t seem to notice. Or perhaps it would be better to say that she had already accepted it—she answered what looked like a local, traditional greeting (some bizarre bowing and crossing of the wings) in the same manner as the bat pony oligarchs.

Unfortunately, that was when she disappeared into the conference room, with only a couple of those paperwork dummies and a grunt from the Night Guard as accompaniment.

Zap spent the next few hours being incredibly bored. The locals were nice, offered absolutely delicious food, and she was certain that only a few days ago she would have been happy to be there. But as it was, she could only mope about in Twilight-less agony.

After an eternity of waiting, her Princess emerged, visibly weary after spending all night conversing with the leaders of Nightlorn Vale. Zap was quick to return to her side, signaling to the rest of her Shadowbolts on duty to fall into formation around Twilight. “How are you feeling?”

“Exhausted. They act nice, but they have to be some of the stubbornest ponies I’ve ever met.”

Zap put a consoling hoof on Twilight’s shoulder. “No progress, then?”

“Well, that depends on what you mean by progress. We haven’t even brought up the terms by which the tribes might rejoin Equestria, but we have determined that I am, indeed, Princess Twilight Sparkle, and am here to engage in diplomatic talks with them.”

Ouch. “That took six hours?”

Twilight groaned and trudged forwards. “Yes! Six hours, just for that! I see why Celestia suggested I not bring any of my friends from Ponyville. I hate to think about how long their lives would have been put on hold trying to get through this mess. If today’s anything to go by, I’m going to be here for weeks.”

Weeks! Indigo Zap couldn’t keep a smile off her face at the thought that she’d be spending weeks with Twilight.

“W-well, since you’re so tired, do you want to get some refreshments? There’s this stand with deep fried pomegranates and yogurt, and my squad says it’s absolutely delicious.”

Twilight gave a soft, tired smile and shook her head. “Sorry, but I don’t think I’m going to be good company right now. Maybe I’ll take you up on that tomorrow night, but for now I think I’ll just retire to the hotel, if that’s alright with you.”

She felt a pang of sadness that her offer was turned down, but the branch Twilight had extended for the next night soothed that away.

“Now that you have a good grip on it, try to pull it down. No, don’t actually move it! Try to… hm… try to imagine that a direction exists that only you know about, and pull it that way.”

Twilight made a cute little grunt as she moved her hooves through the air. The motion wasn’t necessary, but at this early stage of her attempts at using umbral magic, they served as a good way to focus her attention.

A chair, suspended in darkness, floated in the air before them. But slowly, inch by inch, the chair began to drop into the shadows enveloping it, until at long last the furniture had disappeared entirely into the Princess’s shadow.

“I-I did it,” Twilight Sparkle breathed out. She sounded incredulous, and with good cause; she had been trying and failing to swallow an item into the umbra for two days already.

“Y-you did it,” Indigo Zap echoed quietly. She, too, sounded incredulous, and with good cause; Twilight had only been practicing swallowing an item into the umbra for two days!

Zap repeated herself in a shout, leaping onto Twilight to wrap her hooves around her. “That was amazing! I can’t believe you managed to do it so quickly!”

“Ahaha… you’re just saying that,” Twilight replied with a blush.

“No, I’m being serious! You’re a natural.” Her eyes narrowed as she poked her royal friend. “Especially if you compare this to your flying practice.”

Twilight blushed, her hoof scuffing the floor as she looked away. “I’ll have you know that I’ve gotten pretty good at flying by now!”

“Yeah, but not as a bat pony.”

Zap hadn’t let go, and Twilight hadn’t said anything. As far as she was concerned, that was a good sign, and meant that she could stay there. She adjusted her arms around her friend, settling in as best she could.

It had been three weeks since the talks had begun. Twilight had been quick to ask to learn umbral magic, although it had taken some quick talk on Zap’s part to convince Twilight that she should learn from Zap, instead of trying to go find a teacher from the locals.

Truthfully, she was sure that Twilight would try to go out and learn from one of the Nightlorn bat ponies anyways, to see if there were any special techniques unique to the area, but Zap had managed to convince her that she would have the best understanding if she started off learning the standard Equestrian bat pony approach to manipulating shadow.

She knew that Twilight would be a quick study, but she hadn’t been prepared for the voraciousness her dear Princess showed whenever presented with the opportunity to learn something. Zap had taken to working in other lessons in bat pony-hood into their meetings, just to be sure that she could draw out the lessons through the entire visit.

Every night she learned more about Twilight, and every day she wished she could know even more.

Diplomacy was a slow process, but her friend managed to make some progress each day, even if she complained about it to Zap as the nights drew to a close. Indigo Zap was proud that Twilight considered her close enough of a friend to be such a confidante, but…

But ‘friend’ just wasn’t enough. Zap wanted more. She held out, waiting for an opportunity to push their relationship beyond that, but the time never showed itself.

Of course it didn’t. The world didn’t arrange itself for her, she knew that. She knew there wasn’t such a thing as a ‘right time’ to confess, the same way she knew there wasn’t such a thing as love at first sight or a ‘one true love’.

But even knowing that, she couldn’t bring herself to say anything as the weeks passed, fooling herself into thinking that their gradually increasing closeness was enough for her.

It wasn’t! She didn’t want to become one of Twilight’s best friends, as wonderful though the position was. She wanted to be more.

But every once in a while the world gives a pony a break. The last day of their visit provided her with an opportunity, so long as she was willing to take it.

Indigo Zap couldn’t pull her eyes away from Twilight’s mouth. The mango the fruit stand had sold was just too huge to get an easy grasp on, and the sweet liquid trailed down Twilight’s face to drip from the soft curve of her chin.

The soft suckling sounds she made as she tried to drain the fruit dry were just so damn erotic, it wasn’t fair. Zap was pretty sure she would have been arrested for public indecency if she had made the same noises.

Actually, that might have actually happened. Was that why she woke up in jail last Nightmare Night?

“Oh, Celestia, this is so good!” Twilight moaned. “What did you say these were again?”

“Mangos. You’ve seriously never had a mango before?”

“No, and I regret it so much.”

Zap put a wing about Twilight’s shoulders. “Don’t forget that we’ve still got more to do tonight! Their Midsummer Night’s Festival is supposed to be loaded with stuff.”

The bat ponies had already agreed to rejoin Equestria, but Twilight had elected to remain in Nightlorn Vale just a few nights longer to experience their supposedly renowned Midsummer Night’s Festival. Indigo Zap had never heard of it, but maybe Canterlot was just too far away.

Twilight made agreeing sounds as she ripped the now-shriveled fruit in half. “Want some? I think it’s too big for me to eat the whole thing.”

She accepted, shoving half of it into her mouth so she could pull her friend away from the table. Zap started explaining where they were going next (although the food in her mouth reduced it to incoherent mumbles, which Zap didn’t really care about).

“Where to now? The food was wonderful, and I just loved the opportunity to see the Nightlorn Vale’s traditional masked operetta!”

“That’s a secret~!”

Twilight groaned, but Indigo Zap had learned how to pick out the good-natured feeling behind it. “Fine then. Do with me as you will,” she replied, unaware of just how much danger that phrase put her virginity in.

Fortunately, Indigo Zap had more self-control than that.

She instead drew the unknowingly beautiful pony to the air, pushing and needling at Twilight until she had settled her Princess in at the top of one of the cliffs overlooking the vale.

“Will you tell me what this’s about, already? We’re going to miss the festival up here!”

“Do you ever stop asking questions?”

“No.”

Zap’s lips twitched up into a smile. “Well, ask them quietly, because you won’t enjoy this if you spend all your time talking.”

“Enjoy what?! Come on, just… tell… oh my…”

Her small smile burst into proud beaming as Twilight’s mouth snapped audibly shut. She had only seen some of the practice the week before, but she had known that if anything would really get to Twilight, it would be this.

The sky lit up with color, but it wasn’t magical in the least. Dozens upon dozens of the ponies of the Nightlorn Vale took to the air, all glowing in different colors as their tattoos shone in the moonless night. But this wasn’t the everynight mob of roving colors that populated the paths of the city.

Vast numbers of ponies swirled through the air in a great aerial dance, each pony a tracery of color painting the sky with their movement. Zap couldn’t tell whether the sky ballet looked more like an artist painting a canvas or a many-branched parade moving in three dimensions, but the explosion of color that filled the night sky put any static artwork or mundane dance to shame.

If her gasps were anything to go by, Twilight and her greater experience with the fine arts agreed.

Indigo Zap swallowed. “Hey, Twilight?”

This was a bad time. She should wait until the display was done. That would make the biggest impression, right? And then they could go have fun with the games down in town. Lovey-dovey couple stuff.

But like a silly filly, she hadn’t been able to contain herself. Considering her timing, she was frankly astonished when Twilight turned her attention away from the twirling fresco of ponies.

“Is something wrong, Zap? You sound nervous.” And as easily as that, her Princess turned away from one of the most beautiful things Zap had ever seen, just to ensure that she was alright.

“Not wrong, per say. Right is a better word… I hope.”

Twilight’s eyebrows could express sarcasm with remarkable clarity. “How descriptive.”

Zap laughed, rubbing at her mane as she tried to find the words that she had spent so long practicing. “Look, I… I just wanted to say that these last couple of months have been some of the most amazing of my life. Meeting you has been one of the best things that has ever happened to me.”

Her Princess flushed. Zap loved how easily embarrassment came to her cheeks. “O-oh. Well, thank you. I’ve enjoyed coming to know you, too.”

“But now that I’m faced with the fact that our trip is coming to a close—that you’ll go back to your castle and I’ll return to Canterlot…”

Twilight rested her hoof on Indigo Zap’s shoulder. “That doesn’t matter, Zap. As long as we keep caring about each other, distance is nothing more than an inconvenience.”

“You’re wrong!”

Twilight stumbled away from Zap’s shout, her eyes wide. She should be surprised—Zap certainly was. She thought this was the first time she had shouted at Twilight since they’d met.

“I have friends who live in other cities, and I have pegasi cousins in Cloudsdale. I know about keeping bonds up over long distances, but… but… hate the thought of actually living somewhere you don’t. I don’t want to wake up and not know if it’ll be hours or days or months until I can see your face again. I don’t want to bring home dinner and not wonder if you’re going to like it. I don’t want to have an entire life that doesn’t even intersect with yours!”

“W-what are you trying to say, Zap? You aren’t making much sense…”

Ugh! Why couldn’t she see what Zap was trying to say? “I want to live my life with you!”

“O-oh! Well, I’ll have to talk with Spike, but our castle is big enough that I’m certain we have enough space for a roommate—”

Nope nope nope. “For such a smart pony, you can be so stupid, Twilight!”

“Then what do you mean? I don’t get it!”

“I mean this, you beautiful idiot!”

And so Zap kissed her.

Twilight stiffened in her arms, not responding as Indigo Zap desperately tried to show her feelings with action, rather than words. But the other mare’s lack of response made Zap’s ears drop…

Until her Princess relaxed, and let her lips slip open.

Luna beamed. “We are most pleased to hear of thy success!  The representatives of Our wayward bat ponies arrived but a day before—ah, I apologize, my speech has once again regressed. The ponies of Nightlorn Vale arrived last night. You have done an admirable job, and if Celestia were awake I can assure you that she would agree.”

“Thank you, Luna,” Twilight murmured in response, her gaze slipping away from her fellow royal to follow a certain Shadowbolt as she disappeared down the hall. “Did you hear about the troubles we ran into on our way there?”

“The dragons? Certainly. It was most distressing, and I have already mandated that all maps be updated to include the new no-travel zone.”

“Well, as a result, I feel that I’ve… had my eyes opened for me. You, Celestia, and Cadance all have guards of your own; I think it would be prudent for me to have a bodyguard, at the very least.”

“Oh? This is most pleasing news! To speak in truth, we—by which I mean, myself and my sister—have begun to worry that your protections may not be sufficient. Not all dangers are best resolved via force, and not all forms of force may be equally applied. I shall draft up a list of suitable guardians at once!”

“No, no need for that, Luna! I’ve already got somepony in mind. You don’t mind if I take one of your Shadowbolts, do you?”

“… huh?”