//------------------------------// // New Era interactions 4 Twilight // Story: Night Patrol 2: Awakening // by Foxgear //------------------------------// Night Patrol awakening chapter 26 By Foxgear Earlier while the others were at Rarity’s Twilight Sparkle pressed her muzzle firmly into the book Celestia gave her on shields. Her eyes flickered, droopy from a lack of sleep. Since returning home from the wedding she’s thrown everything she was into studying magic. Not just any magic, but battle magic. The one magic Celestia never taught her. It was a subject she too ignored, but as the villains became more and more powerful, so did her own want for actual attack spells grow. To say she was disappointed when Celestia only tossed her a shield spell book was an understatement, but she rationed her teacher knew best. After all, a good defense was key to battle too, if she was to believe the magic duel book she was reading, and she did. It was written by Starswirl after all, how could she not believe it? “Twilight? I have your lunch.” Spike shouted from outside the library. “Bring it in then, please,” Twilight called without looking away from her book. When there was no sound of the library door opening and closing and the rumbling of her stomach growing louder. She finally looked away from the words that held her in their sway for the past few days. “Spike? Where’s lunch?” “Out here! You need to come outside Twilight! It’s been over a week! Your friends are starting to worry, I’m starting to worry!” Her little dragon assistant pleaded. This wouldn’t be his first try at this plan to get her to leave the library. And she did leave from time to time, but only to practice the spells she learned. She was set to ignore his concerns and keep studying, hunger be damned. But then her stomach tightened again. Painfully. Making her wonder when the last time she had eaten was. Looking at the receipt from the last takeout bag Spike brought her, it read well over two days ago. “I thought my magic was a bit weak.” She muttered. Food was as important to magic as it was to the body. Spike had her by the mane. She relented and scooted away from her desk. “I’m coming!” She called trotting downstairs. Sure, enough Spike was waiting with a blanket out on the front lawn for her and a cucumber sandwich and tea. Smiling she settled down next to him. The sun’s rays re-energizing her. Another important thing for her health. “Thanks.” She says magicking her sandwich and began to snark it down. Spike poked her, holding up the bottle of tea. “Small bites and sips or I will call everypony here and if that doesn’t work, I’ll send a letter to Princess Celestia again.” Spike threatened. Making her slow down and take smaller bites. Realizing if she started acting crazy again Celestia would only put further restrictions on her. Something she was unused to. Celestia hardly ever restricted her in anything when it came to learning growing up. Which had made the first time a very devastating blow to her ego, it was the first time she felt she lost Celestia’s trust. “Thanks, Spike, but I’m fine.” “You don’t seem fine to me.” “That’s just your opinion.” “Should I get a doctor’s then?” That last rebuke made her pause. Again, she needed to keep the crazy down. Which she wasn’t! She wasn’t acting crazy! She was just binge studying! There was no telling when the next attack would come! “I said I’m fine, Spike.” She said with a bit more bite then she should have. Devouring the last of her sandwich and gulping down the tea in seconds. She stood up and marched towards the library. “I’m just studying is all. Nothing to worry about. Really. I promise once I finish my research, everything will go back to normal.” “When will that be?” He skeptically asked. Making her flinch slightly. How long would it take to become a master battlemage? It usually took years, a lifetime even. “You know,” She said smiling widely, perhaps too widely. “Soon?” “Soon?” Spike replied. “Yep, soon.” She replies back, the two of them staring in silence. Spike gets up. “Ok.” “Ok?” “Yeah,” he says, “Ok. Do what you want. I’ll see you when I get home.” He walked off, her eyes following him. He was going to get the others. She knew it. They would try to make her stop! But she couldn’t stop! Her work was too important! If she doesn’t up her game, then… Imagines of the wedding flood her mind. She and her friends helpless on the ground. Completely useless. The Princess forced to give up for their sakes. She couldn’t let that happen again! Running inside Twilight grabbed her saddlebags and spell books then teleported out of the house, near the edge of town. Thanks to her training and study, her teleport range has greatly increased. Soon the rest of her skills would follow. “Time for some private spell practice.” She muttered entering the Everfree forest, heading towards her favorite training spot. The vicious critters along the way made for some good practice too. Breaking off into a trot Twilight followed the glow of her horn. Fully expecting an attack any minute. Her progress was swift, her well-worn path making for much easier travel then when she first started coming out here to practice. Really it just meant she had more time to practice with the reduced travel time. Hopefully, in time, she’ll just be able to teleport straight to her secret practice sight. It was ambitious for a mage her age, but it’s what drove her to do better. Still the idea of calling her training ground ‘secret’ was a bit silly and childish. But she liked the sound of it. Secret. A place all of her own to really cut loose with her magic. No worrying about unwitting frogs or ponies getting hit by her spells and turning into a sin against nature. Or a law violation. There were laws about what you could and could not turn into an orange. A lot of things. “Seems kind of quiet tonight,” Twilight said aloud as she follows the path. Usually, something would have tried to attack her by now. Did she scare away the local timber wolf pack by blasting them too much? Oh, that could be a problem. “Distorting nature is never a good thing,” Twilight muttered Celestia’s words from her youth. Now she was probably obligated to control this territory, less something more dangerous fills the void. “Maybe they're just in a different part of the forest,” Twilight said hopefully, not really wanting to have to maintain a territory in the Everfree. On the other hoof, she was technically already doing that. Really thinking about it more, if she keeps to her routine maintaining a territory wouldn’t be so hard. It was her secret spot after all. Though maybe not that quite secret. Really could the castle of the two sisters be considered secret? It was a landmark, one that no pony knew off it seemed. Actually, given from what she’s heard around town, no pony seemed to know there was even a castle out in the Everfree. She supposed with Canterlot being the capital now that made sense. So not so much secret but forgotten. Or Abandon. The Castle was still technically Princess Celestia’s. Right? A roar in the distance made her freeze. Then another roar and another. There was a whole chorus of roars resounding through the tree! The temperature seems to spike too. Ahead of her came a brilliant glow. Twilight began to cough as black smoke rolled around her. The Everfree forest was on fire! Breaking off into a hard gallop Twilight keeping her head hung low, her eyes on her trail. She wasn’t that far from the castle. If she could make there she could take shelter. There was enough clearing around the old fortress that the fire would never reach it. “AHHH!” Screaming she burst through the foliage just in front of the old rickety bridge. Only the bridge wasn’t there. It was gone! She took a few moments to catch her breath and clear her vision, it must have just fallen again. That was not the case though. The old wood posts were gone, torn from the ground. With only their rotting bottoms in the earth. Upon closer examination after clearing away some smoke Twilight found brand new, large trunks stabbed into the earth with strong, thick, new steel cables running across the gorge, with new sturdy boards spanning the whole distance. Somepony had fixed the bridge! What’s going on here? She wondered, holding a hoof over her mouth. The smoke was getting thicker. Looking above the treetops Twilight could see the raging glow of the fire, black smoke pouring into the air. North towards the castle she heard voices, and the sound of hammer on stone. Casting a low-level obfuscation spell, she blended into the tree line of the Everfree, intent on seeing the cause of the fire. Her mane began to fizzle, each breath she took painful as she inhales good amounts of smoke. A filter shield did the trick. Filtering the smoke out of the air around her. One of the many new she shields she learned from the book. A good choice of her master. One she was appreciating all the more now. The temperature reached its zenith, her coat becoming bogged with sweat as the heat swelled around her. Peering from the bushes Twilight kept a firm hoof over her muzzle at the sight before her. Dragon ponies. Seven of them under the light of the moon were lined up in a row spewing fire from their mouths at the tree line. Behind them a team of earth rinin dug into the ground, ripping the tree’s roots from the earth and then burning them. Broken piles of cobblestone and dirt litter the newly made clearing. Remembering the old map she studied for finding the elements, Twilight quickly surmised they were clearing the old road to the castle. The presence of the rinin meant Princess Luna was mostly like involved. Twilight was about to drop her spell and go speak the Rinin but became intrigued as she watched them work. The rinin were more likely to act themselves if they didn’t know she was watching them. Besides, she was curious about their intentions with her ‘secret’ spot. About facing, Twilight made her way back to the ravine. Crossing the new and very sturdy bridge. Twilight is once again intrigued by the number of night ponies present. They were all tolling away at the old castle. A team of earth ponies in hard hats bearing the Royal Engineers symbol stood to the side, speaking with an orange Rinin. Obviously, they were here to work on the old castle. Suddenly the orange Rinin froze and turned towards her, his nostrils flared wide. “Who's there!” He demanded, all the workers coming to a standstill. Suddenly it was very, very quiet. she cowered, keeping still under obfuscation spell. Knowing they couldn’t see her. The orange rinin, much like a dog, sniffs his way over to her, his hot breath blowing against her bangs as he stared right at her. “Topaz! What are you doing? There’s nothing there.” A pink rinin laughed approaching them. She moved between Twilight and Topaz. “Come now, let’s get back to work. Or are you too tired to keep on? You have been pushing us rather hard these past few days no?” “I know I smelt something VeeVee,” Topaz grumbled, trying to move past the pink medic, but she doesn’t relent and blocked his path. “Now, now, it’s probably just something the fire team is burning, a strange plant or something. You know how the forest is? Right?” VeeVee says craning her neck backward. “Look there is nothing behind me.” Twilight felt a shiver as the raspberry rinin smirked directly at her. She had a feeling the dragon pony could see her. Topaz sighed, VeeVee turning back to face him, while Twilight breathed a sigh of relief. “Perhaps your right. Maybe I am a little tired. Everypony! We pack up for the night in twenty! Make sure your tools are all accounted for!” Twilight continued to hold her breath as the rinin walked away. The raspberry colored rinin glanced back several times with a knowing smirk. There was no doubt she could see her. So why not say anything? Shaking herself of the uneasy feeling plaguing her, Twilight silked away into the darkness, intent of doing some training tonight. Continuing on her trail Twilight followed the winding path to her true secret spot. A large clearing with large boulders and a few caves about a mile from the castle proper. The results of her previous sessions marked in the crumbled boulders along the small canyon wall. Here she could truly cut loose. Walking to the three pony statues in the center, she tapped each atop the head. The statues begin to shake black dirt globing onto their stone bodies morphing their shape into her image. Glowing purple runes appear on the bodies as their eyes open, revealing solid purple eyes of magic. These were the secret to her success for improvement. Detailed in Starswirl’s book of dueling, training golems. Planting just a little of her magic inside of the golems they would take her form and she could fight them. Every time she defeated them they would learn and be much harder to defeat next time. There was a coffee stain covering part of their instructions, but she was sure it wasn’t a concern. So far, she’s managed to push the golems to level seven, as indicated in glowing magic on their chests. “Ok, TG (Twilight golem) 1 through 3, another round tonight. Give me all you got!” The golems nodded silently and jump back, each one preparing a magic blast. Twilight bounced in place, her tongue between her teeth as she waited for their attack. BEUM! Went the first blast, skillfully she blocks with a small square shield, jumping sideways Twilight swings the shield around to block an attack from the left. Side trotting, she looked for the third golem, widening her shield as the two continue to blast at her. “Where are you?” She whispered under breath searching for golem number three. A bright light caught her eye, Twilight swings her body reshaping her shield into a half sphere as the third golem charged at her with a mana blade, a blade of magic emitted from the horn. TG-1 pressed against the shield, slowly cutting its way inside the barrier! “No way! How do you know that spell! I just read up on it tonight! I haven’t even had time to practice it myself!” Twilight gawked while TG 2 and 3 continue to bombard her. She shrinks the shield to strengthen it, but she was being overwhelmed! This was a huge leap from level six! “We know all you know, Master,” TG-1 said. Which it was not supposed to do! “You can’t talk! At least the book said nothing about you talking! Well, at least the parts I could read! Oh, this is so exciting!” The golem continued to cut through the shield, the other two stopped shooting and charged the shield with mana blades, piercing it easily! Damn her lack of focus! Also, the tips of those blades were a little close for comfort! “I order you to stand down! Training is over!” Twilight barked, sweat pooling on her brow, she was using a lot of magic keeping the three at bay. The golems did not stop. “I said stop!” “Safety features are disabled after level six, you must defeat us or die.” The three golems said, all in her voice. It was really creepy, also, WHAT! “Fine then!” Twilight dropped the shield quickly jumping back and blasting the three with a barrage of magic blasts. Her adrenaline got the better of her as she continually fires till her horn turned red. She clenched her jaw, hissing at the intense heat on her brain. She wouldn’t be able to use her horn for at least a minute. Unless she wanted to feel some real pain. “At least that’s over. I’ll have to find another copy of the book and read the stained parts for next time.” “Foolish master,” the robotic monotone trio of the golems said as they walk out of the smoke, completely unharmed thanks to the pink shield surrounding them. Of course, they knew what she knew. “You are assuming there is a next time.” “Ha! If you kill me then you’ll disappear!” That was a great counter. Surely that will make them stop. “No, we won’t. We will drain the life force from your dying flesh and skin your body and take over your life.” TG-1 monotoned. Twilight chuckled nervously as the three encroached on her, her butt hitting the side of the pit. “Really, wow, that’s should really be in the front of the book. But tell me, which one gets to wear my skin? There are three of you, and one of me. So, who's it going to be?” Maybe they would fight each other, maybe they would bicker, but whatever happens, she just needed enough time for her horn to cool and she could teleport the hell out of here! “We will figure that out after we kill you. For now, we are a united front.” TG-2 says. “Nice try, but it’ll take more than that to trick us, Master.” So much for buying time! She breaks right, the TG-3 stabbing with a mana blade, Twilight ducked the blade going over her head and into the boulder. Ramming TG-3 with her shoulder Twilight knocked the golem down, wincing as her tender flesh hit the hard stone body. She should have done some resilience training. Chancing a blast and firing at the other two she managed to hit one in the side, but the burning pain in her skull had her reeling as she ran away from the three. A barrage of magic blasts on her tail as she skidded behind some cover. “One, two, three, four, five,” Twilight counted as each magic blast hits the rock. Debris falls on her head as she sits there panting. “Each of those was medium powered shots, they’re me so they can each only fire five before having to stop and cool down.” Really being golems, they shouldn’t have limits like that, they shouldn’t feel pain from overheating, or maybe with their new intelligence they could or maybe they think they can. They were trying to skin her, to be her, so… does that mean they’ll act like her too? Poking out from behind cover, and pointing her hoof outward Twilight shouts “Is that a new copy of Advance spells 1000 and 1?” “Where!” Surprisingly all three golem Twilights turn in the direction she’s pointing, while she ducks back behind cover. “Hey!” They scream letting out a barrage of magic blasts. Half of Twilight’s cover crumbling from the barrage. (Ok, I might have just wasted that tactic. But I learned something, they have my quirks. I can use that. What are my weaknesses? No, they know all of mine. What are their weaknesses? Think, think, what is it they always did before?) Then it came to her. (They never attack alone! They didn’t fight without their friends… like I’m doing now. At least I didn’t make six of them.) The barrage stopped, the sound of heavy galloping hooves coming closer! They were coming! She had to find a way to separate them, to take them by surprise! Something she would never do! “Frontal attack!” Twilight screamed charging over the half-destroyed boulder. Instantly she took three magic blasts to the body, dropping her to her knees. The golems stand over her, looking pathetically at her. “Why didn’t I take you by surprise?” Despite not having pupils, the three golems roll their eyes speaking as one. “You charged Nightmare Moon head on before you even knew the basic magic blast. A suicide charge was within our expectations. We just didn’t think you’d be stupid enough to do it again. Now, how do you want to be skinned? Front to back or side to side?” “Neither please.” “Front to back it is.” All three ignite their mana horns, the three glowing pink blades descend toward her, her hair smoldering from the magical heat. Twilight braced for the pain and thought of her parents and brother, wondering how horrified they would be when they found her skinned alive and a rock wearing her flesh. Assuming golems didn’t have changeling level of disguise. But what did she know? Apparently, nothing because of a fricken coffee stain! All hope seemed lost when a sudden battle cry came over the tree line, making the three golems pause. “YEHAW!” A red and silver blur flew overhead. Distracting the golems. “Twilight, over here!” Came the voice of AJ, Twilight felt her eyes watering at the sight of her friends appearing from the tree line. In desperate need she teleports, by only reaches halfway, her horn overheating again. “After her!” TG-1 screamed. The golems galloping after her. Twilight suddenly found herself airborne! “I got ya!” Said the voice of Rainbow Dash. “Hey, Red AJ! Show me what you got!” The red and silver streak come toward them, Twilight caught the briefest imagine of a red Applejack with silver wings diving towards the three golems. Instantly Twilight remembered her from the wedding. The red pony began to shoot red blasts from her wings, peppering the three golems, pulling up as the three began to fire at her. “Those things training golems?” AppleJazz asked her flying up beside Rainbow Dash. Twilight nodded the relief of being saved stealing the last of her strength, even to talk seemed too much for her right now. Jazz shook her head. “Great, I don’t have the right ammo, red gem bullets don’t do good against rock type enemies. I’ll hold them off, go get Commander Topaz…” A loud whinnying roar echoed through the sky. “Never mind. Follow my lead, you're in for a show.” Rainbow followed Jazz down to the others, the orange/blue and rosy pink rinin from before stood ahead of the group between them and the three golems. The golems eye the two wearily. Slowly back peddling as the orange rinin snorts a blue smoke from his nostrils. Raising his wings Twilight and the others stare in awe was blue fire erupts on the rinin’s wings. He pounced, claws extended in attack as he raced across the pit. The three golems whirl around, but they were too slow, Topaz passed through their group stopping on the other side, his wings returning to normal. The three golems engulfed in blue fire as they fall to the ground, sliced perfectly in half as they crumbled to dust. Topaz turned around, walking straight towards her, “Well, well, who do we have here? I thought I smelt something. Turns out it’s Celestia’s protégée.” The orange rinin bowed his long neck looking straight into her eyes. “I think you have some explaining to do, missy. Starting with your friends there.” Twilight chuckled nervously as she turned to face the disappointed faces of her friends plus Spike. “So… where should I start?” “Why in the Sam hell did you go off and do something so foolish, Twilight!” They were back at the old castle, sitting around one of the new tables provided for the construction crew, course all work has been stopped for the night, giving her friends a lot of silence to fill as they scold her. Applejack being the first. Rainbow Dash was the next one. “Yeah, Twilight! Why would you leave us out of something this awesome! Fighting clones of yourself? Awesome! Fighting clones of myself? Even more awesome!” The others proceed to glare at the blue pegasus. “Ah… I mean… you shouldn’t have flown solo and stuff like that.” “Well, I for one can understand the need to learn how to defend one’s self. I take self-defense classes myself, but this is on the extreme Twilight. You could have gotten hurt. And with no pony around to aid you I don’t think I need to go into detail about what could happen.” Rarity said gaining some stares from the others. “What? What are you all looking at?” Rainbow snorted, “You study self-defense? As in Karate in the like? I’ve never seen you at the dojo.” Rarity turned up her nose at Rainbow’s snickering, “I as if I would go to the smelly dojo behind the grocery store. No, I attend Kempo lessons from Lotus Blossom and Aloe at the spa with Fluttershy every Wednesday.” All eyes turn to Fluttershy whose hiding beneath her mane. “I went to learn massage techniques for my animal friends. But I walked into the wrong class and was too embarrassed to say so. It has actually been a lot of fun. Also, Twilight, I think what you did was very dangerous and I would appreciate if you didn’t do it again. If that’s ok.” That’s four of six down Twilight mused feeling horrible, not just for putting her friends through so much worry, but the ass kicking her golems put her through. Her horn still cooling off from that last teleport. She most likely has magic exhaustion. “Do you have anything to say Pinkie? Spike?” Twilight asked the two-feeling miserable. VeeVee, the raspberry colored rinin said she could heal her, but said she would only do so after her friends were done venting. The rinin herself was off to the side, grinning like Cheshire cat, glad she was enjoying the spectacle. The other rinin, Topaz, who had defeated her golems with frightening ease sat next to the raspberry rinin. He kept looking at her as if studying her. Twilight found it unnerving. “Not really,” Was Pinkie rather curt reply. Which was very strange for the very hyper earth pony. “I think Spike has something to say though.” Twilight panned to her number one assistance/little brother/son dragon with his arms cross and looking very displeased. Spike was a lot of things to her. If she were honest she would say he was her first friend, but their bond was deeper then that. Or at least it should be. From the look in his narrow green eyes it was obvious she really hurt him this time. “Before you say anything, I just want to say, I’m sorry.” Spike’s glare didn’t lessen, but he uncrossed his arms and waddled over to her. He stared at her rubbing his claws over her cuts and bruises from the battle. She was certain he was deliberately poking them to teach her a lesson. He then wrapped his little arms around her neck and hugged her tight. “Just promise you won’t do this again.” He said. The hurt in his voice really cut at her heart. “I promise not to be so reckless next time. Despite everything, I did learn a very important lesson during that fight. I thought to be stronger I had to do things alone, to isolate myself and devote everything I was to studies. Like I did when I was in Canterlot. I should have known better. I should have known no matter how many spells I learned or how much I improve my magic, I’ll always be stronger with my friends than without them. I’m just sad it took almost dying for me to realize that.” The girls collectively ‘awwed’ all of them dogpiling in a massive hug on top of her. Which was really sweet, but also hurt! It hurt a lot! She screamed in agony shaking the leaves in the trees as her friends quickly climbed off her. All of them looking guilty while VeeVee causally strolled over seemingly enjoying her pain. “Now that your all done venting, allow me to patch you up.” VeeVee took a deep breath, pink fire glowing beneath her scaled chest. Twilight began to back away as VeeVee reared back. “WAIT WAIT WAIT!” Twilight screamed as VeeVee unleash a stream of pink flames. Her friends let out a horrified scream and so does she, but Twilight quickly stops when she realized the pink flames weren’t burning her. They weren’t even hot! They were warm like a cozy blanket was being wrapped around her body, it kind of made her sleepy. Then the cut on her leg disappeared, and slowly did her other injuries as the pink flames slowly began to die down, until they were all gone and she sat on her hunches completely healed. She looked up to VeeVee in complete amazement. VeeVee smirked, “That never gets old. At least you didn’t roll on the ground. I’d have to set you on fire again.” “How in the world…” Applejack said slack-jawed. “Amazing isn’t it?” Jazz said appearing from behind AJ. “VeeVee is a very special Rinin. Instead of burning ponies with fire, she heals them! That’s why she’s our best field medic!” “Yes, thank you Jazz, though I could have said so myself.” Jazz sank back, bowing her head apologetically. VeeVee turned her full attention to Twilight, lifting her legs and poking the lavender unicorn with her claw. “Hmm, you seem to have healed nicely. My healing flames use the patients own magic as fuel. I had thought you’d be only half healed in your current state, but you have a… potent amount of magic. Still, I would advise no heavy spellcasting for a few days.” “Thank you, sorry for the trouble,” Twilight bowed her head. “Oh, it was no trouble, in fact, it was a pleasure,” VeeVee said in a very strange almost enthralled soft tone. “I can see why Celestia chose you as her latest student. She was always good at finding you once in a generation type.” “What?” VeeVee went rigid, clearly, the latter part wasn’t supposed to have been heard. “Oh nothing, nothing.” She replied turning away. “Don’t mind me, I like to babble, but we should really wrap this up, you need your rest. I’ll be sure to come by and check on you later. Is there anything you wish to ask the girl Commander Topaz?” The orange rinin was front and center while VeeVee sank into the background of the forest. His expression was neutral and calculating. “What was the purpose of your training?” Twilight wrinkled her muzzle in confusion. “I’ll clarify. Why were you training out here, alone in the most dangerous woods in Equestria, unsupervised and with no medical personnel or even second to keep watch over you. Why were you using Starswirl’s training golems spell when they are known to go rogue? Thus, they were banned from use in the year ANM 6. Surely all this was not done under Celestia’s guidance or approval.” “Well, you see…” “Answer honestly now, Celestia’s student. Honestly will show you leniency, lies will bury you.” Twilight’s ears drooped as she took a breath, panning from Topaz to her friends back to the rinin. “No, Celestia didn’t know I was doing this, nor did she give me the book where I learned the golem spell. I kept it hidden from her when she caught me taking several advance spell books from the library. Due to a certain event prior to the wedding, I lost Celestia’s confidence in my ability to self-study. The only book I was allowed to take was on shields.” Topaz nodded, “I see, what drove you to these actions? Surely you knew what you were doing was wrong?” “Yes, but I needed to get stronger! During the invasion I…, I was useless, helpless even, I wasn’t any help to the princess at all. I just got in the way. If I had been a better mage I could have…” “Done nothing,” Topaz said bluntly, Twilight’s body going ridged at the harsh words. “Even if you were twice as powerful, you would have still been in the same boat. In the battle between Princess Celestia and the changeling queen adding your power wouldn’t have tilted the scales enough in Celestia’s favor. The only strategy that would have led to victory would have been if you teleported everypony out of the room, allowing Celestia to use her full might. Might, I’m sure you have never seen before that day.” Twilight and the others slowly nodded. Still shaken by what they saw. “She hid her trump card well then these past thousand years. But now it’s been played. I’m sure once things settle down, Celestia will take more interest in your development, just be patient and don’t get yourself killed before then.” “You talk like you’ve gone through this before,” Twilight inquired. Topaz nodded, “I too was once her student, as well as two other rinin, for a short time. I’ve also seen her go through several other students before a thousand years ago when she started taking on individual students. They like you, had talent and above average magic. Like you, they got ahead of themselves and got burned for it.” A clear and loud gulp came from Twilight’s throat. “I’ll… ah… take that into account. (YAWN) But really, it’s late, we should be getting home. I’m feeling particularly tired right now. If you don’t mind, could I ask you a question before we go? Topaz shrugged, telling her to go ahead. “What are you all doing out here? You fixed the bridge, your unearthing the old road, are you… are you going to rebuild the castle?” Twilight said with a hint of hope and excitement in tone. Sadly, Topaz’s frown quickly squashed that. “I was sent here to survey the castle by Commander Sixes, later I received a message from Princess Luna after I sent in my report two days ago. My orders are to build a stage for the concert she planned and then…” Topaz looked warily to Jazz, who caught on to what he was saying. Her face heartbroken. “Then what?” Applejack demanded noticing her cousin’s mood change. The others leaned in as Topaz looked squarely at them and bluntly said. “Then we’ll destroy the castle.” A cricket’s chirp of silence passed through the silence. Twilight slammed her hooves on the table. “WHAT! You can’t destroy the Castle! Its where we found the elements of harmony, it was Celestia castle, it’s also a historical landmark! You can’t destroy it!” “I didn’t destroy it! Celestia did! Letting it sit and rot in the elements for a thousand years!” Topaz barked back at her. “She abandoned it! She’s the one that didn’t want to fix it properly after the battle with Nightmare Moon! It’s our home! Not hers! She gave up her rights to it long ago before you were an egg in your mother’s, mother’s womb!” “I’m going to go inside,” Jazz said abruptly, running towards the castle. The sight of the young mare’s tears not making Topaz feel any better about the situation they found themselves in. He didn’t want to see the old castle go either, but the whole place was crumbling. The stones held up longer than any pony probably would have thought without maintenance, but you can’t plaster new brick to old crumbling eroded stone, and you can’t get rid of a thousand years of mold with soap. Feeling more conflicted then he’s ever felt in his life Topaz looked at the six mares and dragon before him. Tired and wanting to be alone. “Go home, all of you. VeeVee, escort them home.” “Alright, you don’t mind if I take a day or two to taken in the town, do you?” Topaz waved off her request, saying he didn’t care. VeeVee looked pleased as she told the girls and Spike to line up and follow her. “Alright, come along now my fillies, I’ll have you back to town in no time!” Jazz peered out the glassless window of the old classroom where Luna used to teach her and the other fillies and colts. She sniffed as she watched VeeVee lead Applejack and the others back towards down. Taking out a cloth from her saddlebag she blows her nose, feeling pity for her self as she pictures the castle as it had been a thousand years ago. The castle that had been full of life and warmth now as just cold and silent. The pain of the bleak contrast was almost enough for her to want it gone this instant, just so she wouldn’t have to see her home like this. Trotting down the hall she followed the dim light of the moon through the dark halls, some gem lights were placed here and there, probably for the workers. She saw where they attempted to clean the mold from the walls, the chemicals they used still mucking up the air. Making her noise twitch with irritation. Whatever they used was strong and pungent. She touched one of the whitened bricks with her hoof, the whitened stone instantly crumbling away. Seems whatever they used was too strong. Probably expensive too. Turning left there was a half-broken wall, part of it was cut cleanly away, new stone next to the old. Hitting the joint where new and old met the old wall broken with only a moderate amount of force on her part. The joint broke easily. Her heart in the slumps she kept heading for her destination, only for one of her hooves to fall through the floor! “Dammit,” She cursed pulling her leg free. Numerous tiny cuts marring her leg. This place really was done for. Still, she had to see it just one more time. The one room that meant the world to her, Dusk’s room. Spreading her wings, she flew over the rest of the crumbling floor, seemed the living quarters were in worse conditions than the rest of the castle. Whole segments of the floor were missing. She could see the floor beneath and sometimes she could see even further. Some of the holes probably went straight to the basement. Coming to her destination Jazz gently tapped the ground, making sure it would hold her weight. It seemed like it would, so she folded her wings staring longingly at her best friend’s door. Half wondering if Starwind’s spell was still in effect. She tapped on the old oak, the door slowly swinging open. The gem lights on the ceiling turned on, flicking, their lights weak. She could barely make out the room, but it looked the same as it had been a thousand years ago, minus the thousand years of dust. “Hey Dusk, I’m back.” She says walking inside. “It’s been a while, but I just thought I would come and tell you it worked, we’re a thousand years in the future, we saw Princess Luna again. Things are really different though. I guess more then I expected them to be.” She stood in the middle of the dusty room, listening for the reply that was never coming. Then she heard a creek behind her. “Change is natural.” The hairs on the back of her neck stood up, Jazz turned around, green eyes wide with disbelief at the voice she just heard. In the corner of the room sat a cloaked figure on the old rocking chair, holding a book aloft in black/silver magic with a tawny muzzle and longhorn poking out from beneath the readers hood. The reader closes the book, which Jazz recognized as the journal Starwind left for Dusk by the mark on the cover. The figure smiled, jumping off the rocking chair they’d been sitting on, their cloak detailing their frame to be that of a mare. “It’s good to see you again,” The tawny mare said brushing Jazz’s hair with her hoof. The mare leaned closer, giving Jazz a closer look at her silver/black eyes, eyes she knew. “My best friend.” “DUSK!” Jazz screamed reaching out with grab her long-lost friend but the cloaked mare disappears, Jazz catching nothing but dust. “Dusk, please! Come back! Dusk!” She screamed, but to no reply. Making her wonder if what she had been real or her heart playing tricks on her. “Here we are, I hope you all enjoyed the trip.” VeeVee sings playfully as Twilight and friends moan in exhaustion. Really, she didn’t know what they were complaining about. Sure, the team rebuilding the road to town were only halfway there and the parts of the forest still remaining was very rough walking, but really it was an easy trip. “Good, I’m beat,” Rainbow Dash said flying up to her cloud home above the town. “I’ll be fine from here,” Said Fluttershy trotting away from the group. “The cakes are just over there, that’s me!” Pinkie Pie said bouncing away. “My lovely abode is merely two blocks away, I’ll bid you all ado.” Chimed Rarity, leaving VeeVee with Spike and Twilight. Applejack having left the group when they came to the main road. “We’re just over there, we live in the treehouse,” Spike said as Twilight fell on top of him, snoring away. “Um… could you perhaps…” “No problem,” VeeVee said picking Twilight up with her tail and placing the unicorn on her back. She began to trot towards the library, finding the strange home rather amusing as Spike opened the door for her. “I’ll just put her to bed for you.” Spike smiled, looking very happy about the offer, “Thanks, um… say can I ask you a question?” VeeVee’s smirked as the little dragon poked his claws together, his cheeks cherry apple red. She noticed him eyeing the white unicorn on the way here. Eyeing her a lot. “Sure, little one, ask away.” She said laying Twilight down on the bed. “Well, don’t tell any pony, but I sort of have crush-I mean feelings for Rarity, the white unicorn and I was just wondering with you being a dragon pony and all, does that mean… umm… “Spike’s entire body turns completely red with steam rising from his cheeks, if he gets any hotter he’d probably burn the treehouse down. “Can ponies and dragons… you know?” This was just precious VeeVee mused taking in the adorable little dragon. A dragon crushing on a pony, maybe her kind could be made outside of a lab. But what to do? Should she tell him the truth? No, this would be fun to watch. “Is the fact that I stand before you not proof enough?” She grinned, complete satisfaction running through her body at the star-struck look of the little purple dragon. Leaning down she butters up her lips, teasing him with a kiss on the cheek. “But it’s such a same, a handsome full-blooded dragon such as yourself must find a half breed like me repulsive.” “Oh no, no, no! I don’t! You very beautiful Ms. VeeVee! And I really like ponies!” Spike’s cheeks were red as cherries, she could hear his heart pounding through his chest like a drum. She wondered if it would explode if she pushed him a bit more. That might be interesting to see. Spike mood shifts, turning sour. “I don’t really care for dragons, I did meet some once, but we didn’t connect very well.” “Were any of them female?” Spike blinked, looking positively confused. He rests his chin on his palm in deep thought. “Hmm… I don’t think so. Yep, I’m pretty sure I just hung out with only the guy dragons during the migration.” “Well, shouldn’t you wait and meet one first before judging whether your like dragons or not? You never know, you might just find yourself falling for fetching dragoness, who returns your feelings.” “I love Rarity though! She’s… YAWWN she’s…” “Ok, ok I get it, but it’s time for little dragons to go to bed. Here I’ll tuck you in.” Before Spike could protest VeeVee wrapped him in her tail. “Is this your bed? This little basket?” “Yeah,” Spike says sleepily. “It takes up less room. But there’s a second bed Twilight has for sleepovers, your welcome to use it.” VeeVee laid Spike down in the basket and goes to inspect the spare bed. It wasn’t a thousand count sheets, but it beats flying back to camp to sleep in the woods. Besides Topaz did say it was ok for her to explore the town. She was about to settle down when a bewildered moan came from behind. Seems Twilight has woken up. “Who are you? How did I get home?” Twilight swiveled her head, looking completely baffled. “I’m VeeVee of Night Patrol, remember? We just met at the castle no long ago and I was the one to carry you home in case you were wondering. I figured as a medical professional I should keep tabs on my patients.” Twilight looked around, her eyes half closed, her eyes thinking. “I suppose that makes sense. Why do I feel so drained? I feel like I got hit by a rock, again.” “Like I told you earlier, my healing flames use your own magic to heal. You stayed awake longer then I expected, you passed out the moment we entered the town. Probably your body giving up since you were home and with friends. Your brain probably decided it didn’t need to stay awake anymore. Just goes to show how much you trust your friends.” Was all that believable? It wasn’t really medical science, but this pony looked really gullible. It was the same for most of these Celestia chosen prodigies. No common sense, they were too special for that. “I guess that makes sense. I’d want to research that later though,” Twilight replied sleepily. “I feel strange, I want to go sleep, but I feel wide awake now.” “You were asleep for about twenty minutes. That’s just about the right time to relax and regain some energy. Give it a few minutes and you’ll fall asleep again, if you’re still wound up, I’ll fix you up some milk.” “I don’t think we have any milk in the fridge though.” VeeVee snickered, “You said anything about milk from the jug? I have several perfectly healthy teats right here.” Twilight’s face turned a dark shade of green. “Relax, I’m kidding. I’ll just sit right here and talk till you fall asleep again.” “My mom used to do that. She said I could talk to her until she fell asleep.” Twilight mumbled as she laid her head back down on her pillow. “So, what do you want to talk about?” “Well,” VeeVee said smiling. “Let’s start with your magic. I was very impressed with your skills tonight. Such self-reliance. I don’t see that very often in Celestia’s students. But I think you could use an actual teacher.” “Princess Celestia is my teacher,” Twilight countered, her eyes drooping lower. “Princess Celestia is a ruler, not a teacher. She can teach, I’ve seen her do it, but a true teacher, no a true master would devote all their time and energy to their student. Especially ones as special as you. Yet, Celestia does not. It was fairly obvious to all of us in Night Patrol Celestia has changed. She’s become much more micromanaging then before. Meaning she doesn’t have enough time for everypony, so you, her talented student is set aside for other more pressing tasks. Tell me Twilight, may I call you Twilight? When was the last time Celestia sat down and taught you something? Magic related of course.” Twilight’s mouth opened and closed, realization and hurt clear on the young mare’s face. “A few months? Maybe. At least nothing major since she sent me here to learn about the magic of friendship.” “I see, then would you be open to another more present teacher? Say, like me?” “No offense, but… you’re a rinin, not a unicorn. What do you know about magic?” VeeVee’s smirk widened as she pinched Twilight’s horn between her claws, the young unicorn’s eyes like stars as VeeVee’s another claw begins to glow. With a mere gesture, the rinin levitated one of the Twilight’s many books over. The young unicorn's mouth was practically on the floor. “How did you do that?” “Magic,” VeeVee replied, Twilight giving her a sour ‘I know that’ look. It was adorable. Seemed Twilight was irritable when sleepy. “I used your horn as a focuser. During Night Patrols first disbandment I took the grant Celestia gave us to go to magic school and tested some theories. Would you believe me if I told you some earth ponies gave me this idea? You don’t need to reply, I see the disbelief in your eyes. But really any pony that heard you drilled a hole in your head and stuck a metal rod in it would think you crazy, good thing you're only crazy if it doesn’t work. And it does Twilight. Naturally, I’m not inclined to drill into my skull, but I did rig up something to the same effect.” VeeVee watched with delight at Twilight’s wonder-filled eyes as she reached into her saddlebag to produce a ‘magic wand’ of sorts. Made from the bones of ‘donated’ dead unicorns. It’s amazing what ponies let you get away with if you’re a medical professional. Naturally Twilight didn’t need to know the material of her little magic stick. She just needs the temptation. “So, Twilight, what do you say? Care to come under my wing? I promise I’ll be a dutiful teacher.” “But Princess Celestia…” “Can still be your teacher, just think of me as a substitute, somepony to help through the day to day lessons. It’s not like you're only allowed to have one teacher, right?” “I suppose… can we talk about this more in the morning? I’m… starting to feel sleepy again.” Twilight yawned her eyes barely a narrow breath open. “Good night, VeeVee.” “Oh please, Twilight,” She replied softly tucking the unicorn’s blankets up to her chin. “Call me Vee.”