WHOOM!
She stumbles slightly from the teleport. Those crystals never were nearly as smooth as Unicorn-based teleports. Or, Celestia forbid, Alicorn-based teleports. Unfortunately, neither of the latter two are suitable for this situation.
Though, she can think of at least one pony that’d pull it off anyways. She’d never been that good. Of course, they had tried to convince him to join them- or even to consider it. He had refused- something about percentages neither of them had understood. He’d spoken way too fast, listing numbers, chances, and scenarios faster than they could process it. From how it sounded, he was talking about the number of things that could go wrong and the likelihoods of each one. That makes sense- he’d been explaining his rock-solid decision not to accept their offer, and she already knows that’s how his mind works.
But now, she needs to go in to meet Night Light, the pony that extended the invitation to her. Night Light will perform her evaluation and, if needed, be responsible for her training. Given how much her now-Pegasus friend taught her before, she fully expects to be able to skip much of that training. She carefully keeps her eyes forwards as her friend leads her through the hallways, passing numerous agents on the way. She’d been overjoyed whenever the offer finally came- but now, she’s mostly nervous.
Finally, they reach a door. That in itself is quite an experience. The sign next to the door identifies it as the office of one Night Light, who happens to be the Canterlot District Manager, the Chief Evaluation Specialist, and the Lead Trainer, among other things! On the door itself, there is a series of overlapping medallions. Many of the early ones are bronze, but as her eyes sweep towards the present, those peter out in favor of the silver, and the gold… Oh, there’s so many gold! Only, the very latest one is silver, after almost six years of nothing but gold. Top agent, top analyst, top investigator, top everything, for so many years… Then the silver one. Second best analyst, awarded… Today. A momentary spell suggests that one was attached five minutes ago.
Her cream friend stares at this silver one for a few seconds as well before knocking on the only bare patch on the door- right below the doorknob.
They wait a few seconds before the door opens. “Please don’t tell me I’ve failed to place as-!” The navy blue recipient of all those awards freezes still, breaking off midsentence at the sight of the two mares.
“Night Light,” Bonbon bows her head formally. “This is Candy Stripes, the ex-Unicorn I mentioned earlier.”
The pegasus continues to stare at the minty pegasus in the hallway.
Eventually, Lyra tilts her head slightly, and turns towards her friend. “Did I forget to brush my mane or something?”
Bonbon looks her over briefly. “Nope. Maybe she’s stunned by just how you look as a pegasus?”
“Really? I can’t imagine it’s much better than when I was a unicorn- if at all. Feathers are so difficult to get right.” She shudders, as if remembering some terrible memory, and turns back to the blue pegasus they’ve come to talk to.
Unfortunately, the aforementioned pegasus is still doing her best impression of an inanimate object.
So Lyra waves a hoof in front of her face. “Hello? Anypony home?”
Night Light blinks once, attempting to force her thoughts back into coherence. She’d expected a pegasus, not this! Finding out Sweetie Drops had become a pegasus was bad enough. Now of course, she gets-
Wait! Coherence has finally returned to her thoughts- enough that she’s realized she’s stood staring at the pony in front of her for a few moments too long… Quite a few moments, actually. She blinks a second time. “Uh,” she mutters.
Lyra, having just asked Bonbon if they should come back later, puts on her best imitation of one of Pinkie’s toothy grins.
“Maybe…?” Bonbon answers, watching her friend confusedly.
Night Light finally snaps out of it, returning to herself. Her head shakes a tiny bit, she blinks twice- and instantly bows down, confusing neither mare. “My apologies! Come in, come in!” She backs out of the way.
Lyra’s toothy grin vanishes into a blur of confusion.
Bonbon facehooves for an entirely different reason, and nudges her friend inside, before closing the door. As soon as it’s shut, she lets out a breath. “Sorry,” she informs her friend, before Night Light can get a word in edgewise. “I forgot she can see the invisible.”
Lyra facehooves. “You think she saw…?”
Bonbon only nods.
At this point, Night Light recovers. “Did you want something, Princess…?”
Lyra hangs her head. “Of course you’d think that,” she mutters, and looks back up. “No, this does not make me a princess; as a matter of fact, it was an accident. I’m still not sure what happened.”
Night Light finally straightens, shivering slightly. “Not a…?”
Lyra nods. “Not a princess. Just L- erm, Candy Stripes. Regular, civilian Candy Stripes, prepared to refuse any offers of royalty or nobility.”
The dark pegasus shudders again, forcing herself to hold calm. “That broken spell… Did it do a full ascension, or…?”
“Winged unicorn?” Lyra finishes. “Nope, it’s the full ascension.”
“Ahh…”
Bonbon interrupts. “I happened to notice the silver medallion,” she states. “May I ask who stole the gold?” She’d missed the awarding ceremony.
“Don’t touch it,” Night Light declares. “Nasty magic shock. Anyways, the gold went… What?”
Lyra had turned her head to the door, casting a quick scanning spell on the medallion. “Interesting,” she mutters. “That medallion’s spent- it won’t be shocking anypony…” She turns back towards the navy blue pegasus. “But you might be needing a cover story soon.”
A knock is heard on the door. Night Light glances at the two- and, at their nods, pulls the door open again. “Don’t tell me-!” She cuts off at the sight of her next visitor. “Speak of the devil. Speedy Thought.”
The young, golden earth pony mare raises an eyebrow and asks the question. “What?”
Night Light sighs. “We were just talking about you,” she mutters, indicating the awards decorating her door; it swings inwards. She then turns towards the other two. “I’d like you to meet Agent Sweetie Drops and a new recruit, Candy Stripes. You two, I’d like you to meet Speedy Thought- the analyst that took first place.”
“About that, actually,” the golden-maned blank-flank states. “I have an unfair advantage- and you definitely deserved first place. It took a few minutes to explain, but Princess Luna herself agreed. I’m no longer a medalist- and you’re first place once again. They’ll probably be swapping the silver out for the gold sometime tomorrow, whenever they finish re-engraving it.” She indicates the bottle sticking out of her also golden saddlebags. “I thought I’d come to celebrate your achievement- but if you’re busy, I can wait.”
Night Light looks between the two mares and Speedy Thought. “Uh…”
Bonbon ends up making the decision. “Why not celebrate first?” she asks- to Lyra’s nod.
Night Light shrugs, backing into the room again. “Come in, then.” A few seconds later, she closes the door again, behind Speedy Thought.
“Congratulations?” Lyra suggests first. “Sorry, I’m not yet familiar with… Uh…”
At this, Night Light laughs. “Nah, it doesn’t mean much. You’ll find I’ve continually gotten that particular gold medal for the last fifteen years.” She smiles at the ceiling. “As a matter of fact, it was one of my first.” Then, she looks back down at the new mare. “Then of course, Speedy Thought appeared- and apparently, she’s produced more accuracy- and speed- than anypony else!”
“Like I said, though,” the named mare states, “I’ve had an unfair advantage.” She reaches into her saddlebag, pulling out two stemmed glasses and the bottle, placing them on Night Light’s desk.
Bonbon reads the label first. “Where’d you get that…?” she asks.
“It’s, uh,” she glances at it. “I didn’t. This is a non-alcoholic imitation that should taste exactly the same.”
Lyra raises an eyebrow. “Imitation?” she asks.
“Yep,” Speedy Thought says, popping the cork with dismissive ease as she starts pouring. “Thought we could enjoy it.”
Night Light watches her fill all four stemmed glasses before speaking up. “How’d you do that?”
“Do what?”
“You pulled out two glasses and put four down.”
Speedy Thought smiles, but declines to answer. Rather, a stallion speaks up, picking up the fifth glass. “Oh, that was easy.”
Night Light yelps, leaping into the air and landing back down. “What-?” He hadn’t been there a second before.
“And don’t be calling me ‘Prince’ or anything- I’m not even a citizen.”
Lyra and Bonbon blink. “I thought you said-!” they say together.
“You remember what I said when we met yesterday, Candy Stripes? About how good I am at lying?” His glass clinks gently against Speedy Thought’s, before they both take a sip. “Ahh, that hits the spot.”
Night Light interrupts before the two pegasi can come up with an answer. “Who are you?”
He raises his eyebrows. “I’m Speedy’s unfair advantage,” he states. “So, you going to join us in celebrating your unparalleled skills or no?”
“Uh…”
“No, mine don’t count.”