Random Ramblings

by PioneeringAuthor

Neon Butterfly and Midnight Echo

Neon Butterfly swept the lobby of her father's gym, making sure that no dirt or gravel was left there. Today the studio was closed, and her father was out running errands, leaving Neon Butterfly all by herself in Neon Blade's School of the Naginata in Manehatten. However, Neon Butterfly didn't mind. In fact, she enjoyed a period of silence to rest her senses and admire her home. For a moment she stopped and eyed the smooth, dark, wooden floors, and noted the tiny rips in the edges of the blue mat where one-on-one sparring was held, and made a mental note to keep an eye on that, in case it threatened to fall apart in the future. She closed her blue eyes and sighed quietly, her aqua green pelt shuddering slightly as she relaxed. She stretched her wings, spreading her black feathers as far as she could before she closed them again. Suddenly, she heard a knock at the door, and her eyes opened and her ears moved towards the sound, pondering who was there. Surely it wasn't Father, because he would simply walk into the building. Curiously she leaned her broom against the beige wall and trotted to the front room, remaining serene all the while, for she was not one to let her emotions control herself. Peeking out the window of the lobby, Neon smiled at what she saw and gladly opened the door. Yes, even she allowed a smile--after all, happiness was a good thing, as long as it was controlled and not obnoxious.

"Midnight Echo! My dearest friend, come in!" Neon greeted her best friend as the black Pegasus trotted in happily.

"Neon! I missed you so much!" Midnight declared as she tightly hugged Neon Butterfly. As she hugged her friend, some of Midnight's blue mane fell into Neon's eyes, but she didn't complain about it.

"Hey, where's your dad?" Midnight asked as she let go of Neon and cast her teal eyes around the place.

"He is out running errands at the moment," Neon explained, "But he should be back soon--would you like something to eat or drink?"

"Meh, I'll take something to drink--got any strong coffee?" Midnight answered, the neon yellow edges of her blue mane sparkling in the light coming through the windows as she looked around at how empty the building was.

"Indeed, we do," Neon admitted with a smile as she walked upstairs, signaling with her head that Midnight should follow her.

Soon the two were sitting in the upstairs living room, talking about what was going on in their lives. Actually, Midnight Echo did most of the talking, for she was one to talk all about her amazing life while Neon Butterfly listened, for she was one to listen politely and respectfully, for all honorable warriors should be polite and attentive to others.
Hence, it was fairly one-sided, but Midnight did ask her BFF many questions which Neon gladly answered, so it was indeed a conversation.
Every so often Midnight refilled her coffee mug, since she was raised by Nocturnii and had still not completely adjusted to being awake in the morning. Another quirk from her Batpony family was that instead of gesticulating with her hooves during her speech, she tended to gesture with her wings, which had black shoulders with feathers that alternated between blue and neon yellow, giving her wings a striped look. Overall, she was highly energetic.
Meanwhile, Neon Butterfly displayed little emotion beyond a small smile or chuckle, and didn't gesture much with her hooves or wings. However, she did occasionally stretch her wings, revealing the underside to have a layer of sky blue feathers between the green shoulder and black primaries. Overall, Midnight Echo was very lively and casual while Neon Butterfly was calm and refined, like a serene Onna Bugeisha.

"Oh, you should have been there, Neon!" Midnight moaned as she finished another boastful story of her exploits, "I totally left all the other Diurnal--I mean, Pegasi-- in the dust! I totally OWNED them all! It was fantastic!"

"Indeed, you sound like you were quite deserving of honor," Neon replied with a calm nod, "However, the honorable thing to do in winning is not to go on and on about how 'awesome' you are, but to point out how 'awesome' your competitors were as well."

"Yeah, they did pretty well too...But I still left them in the dust!"

"I am certain you did, but a powerful warrior should be as polite as she is skilled."

"Man, you always find a way to lecture me like an auntie! Ha ha ha... but you are always right, it seems."

"I am not always right. I simply do my best to be an honorable soldier."

"But you aren't a soldier!" Midnight chuckled, "You aren't a soldier! You aren't a Wonderbolt! You aren't even a security guard! Why worry so much about being soldierly if you aren't a soldier? Why not relax and take things more casually?"

"You know my past," Neon reminded her, "And how my father comforted my after my mother's death with, 'soldiers don't cry; we must be strong and move on,' do you not?"

Dead silence fell.
Midnight looked away and nodded as she put down her coffee mug with her wings.

"I know that I am not really a soldier, but I try my best to act like a strong soldier, to bring honor to my family. My father was adopted by Rikumese Kirin, and honor was instilled deep into his psyche, and he passed that to me," Neon explained calmly as she sipped her chai tea with one ice cube and one mint leaf, "I do admit that I probably should relax more, but what is wrong with being proper and honorable?"

"Well... nothing, but I mean... you... just... I mean... " Midnight tried to figure out what she was fumbling to say as she scratched her chin with her wing in thought, "Well... there is nothing wrong with that, but you are so into honor that sometimes I can hardly tell if you are happy or sad! Is that a good thing, to always look so serious?"

At that, Neon giggled and replied, "Well, I try to remain calm so that I can think clearly, and I make sure to not show too much emotion... although, I will try to smile more... okay?"

"Okay, I think I can live with that," Midnight accepted with a smile of her own. At this point the sun had moved, sending bright beams in through the window nearby, making her squint more as she added, "and can you please close that window? I'm not used to sunlight, you know."

Neon obliged gladly.

"Is that better?" Neon asked.

"Yeah, thanks!" Midnight replied, opening her eyes more.

Abruptly the door downstairs opened, the bell on the frame jingling merrily.

"My Little Butterfly, where are you?" A voice called.

"Father is home!" Neon announced with a grin as she flew downstairs with her best friend behind her. She allowed herself to be just a bit gleeful, since her father was home.

The three spent the afternoon together, enjoying the visit. The studio was soon filled with the sounds of friendship and hospitality. Indeed, it was a lovely, relaxed day.

Author's Note:

Neon Butterfly's Ref

Midnight Echo's Ref

This was written totally by me, and the characters belong to me. Again, this is writing practice, so I would really appreciate some feedback so that when I write the main stories of Karamverse, my and Imperator Aetheris's AU, I will be able to write them at my absolute best.

Anyway, thanks for reading and I have more coming up!

--Pioneering Author

Edited on 11/30/2019. Changed a thing in Neon Butterfly's father's backstory.

Comments

[Furious Thestral]

It's a good chapter and I liked how the two of them seemed to get along even with their differences among them.

it seems that there are little parts that needed an improvement as in the part that Echo pointed out that why isn't Neon a royal guard or any of sorts if she lives by "honor above everything", she could tell about why of such thing, or what does Echo dedicates in life when she tells about the race she had won.