//------------------------------// // Twilight Hours // Story: Opposites Attract // by BronyGuy //------------------------------// Steel woke up with a small headache, he peered around the room and almost fainted at the sight had it not been for the memory of yesterday. The room was a disaster; the wall paint was barely connected to the actual wall and the insulation was seeping out of the cracks like tan blood. It was truly a creepy sight. He shrugged it off and carefully got out of bed, taking great care to not step on anything that might wake Derpy up. He really didn’t want to her to see this quite yet. After a long minute of slow maneuvering away from shreds of wall, and fallen objects Steel made it out of the room and walked down the stirs to the kitchen. After a long night like that he needed some coffee to calm the nerves. Steel didn’t usually drink anything other than the occasional drink at somepony’s party, but in times like these anything was necessary to calm him and Derpy down. And what better way that a tall warm cup of coffee straight from the maker? He picked up a mug and smiled at the sight. Derpy still held onto the “I <3 Lawyers” mug, even after all of what she’s been through. It brought a warm fuzzy feeling to mind, as if they had grown closer as family these past few days. He put the mug down over the dispenser and waited to the soft-black liquid to pour gently out into it. After that mug was filled Steel slowly took a sip of it, still black. He swished it in his mouth, taking note of the Canterlot grade substance. “How could something like this make it to Manehatten?” Steel wondered out loud. “Maybe this apartment isn’t as low-laying as we thought…” he shrugged, “Ah well, luxury over hiding I suppose.” He finished with another sip. He looked back at the living room, still a complete mess, and sighed. ’Perhaps we should fix this place up a bit.’ Steel thought as he kicked over a piece of wall. They really had gone a bit too far with this “Bug-finding” mess that they got themselves into yesterday. He was about to leave upstairs when a little envelope caught his eye. Under normal circumstances he would’ve simply opened it without a moments notice, but there was something a bit too creepy with this envelope. Not only did it have that blood-red crimson seal on it, but whom were they expecting mail from? Steel backed up from the envelope terrified of what it might hold. And then it hit him. “How did he get the mail here?” Steel said loudly as he backed even farther away. “Maybe… maybe some mail pony brought it. Yeah that would make sense.” He smiled a little bit relieved but then frowned at another thought. ‘Mail is fifteen floors down in the lobby…’ In an anxiety filled rage he trotted up to it, picked it up and opened it. He with shaky hooves he read it aloud. Meaning that Ballpoint delivered the note himself. Steel’s eyes grew wide with fear. ‘He… he’s toying with us!’ Steel finally focused on the note. Uppertin Square, is where you find that special mare. Uppertin Square manor, 18832 Canterlot That had done it; he threw the envelope down and fell apart at the seams. ‘He knew where I used to live….’ Tears poured out of his eyes, rolling down his cheeks. He finally let out a pain-filled moan and hit the floor of the apartment with his hoof, letting out all of his bottled up rage, and fear. ‘Why…’ was all he managed to think after that. Derpy woke up to find the room a complete atrocity; complemented with blood curdling moans from downstairs it put Derpy to fright right then and there. It wasn’t until she registered that it was Steel had she shook herself from the fear and sped down stairs to find Steel in a heap crying to himself. Never had she even thought that this would happen to Steel, she felt that of all ponies he was a strong lovable… almost like a “Knight In Shining Armor” kind of pony. Ever pony is real, and Steel is certainly as pony as any other. She knelt next to him and gave him in a soft hug. Funny, how every time she’d been in this situation Steel was there and now it’s pretty much in reverse. Derpy chuckled a bit, holding Steel closer. Steel let out a muffled sniff, “I’m sorry.” Leaving Derpy stunned. “I shouldn’t act this wa—“ “Don’t talk like that.” Derpy said putting a hoof to his muzzle. “You are just like everypony else, in fact you’re better than most ponies. Just because you have one little show of emotions doesn’t make you any less of a stallion.” She smiled, and that reassured Steel a bit. “Now please tell me, what are you so worked up about?” Steel didn’t want to tell Derpy the news, in case it would cause another one of her episodes to erupt again, “It’s just everything that is happening I just wish… Ballpoint was never brought up in this case.” Derpy nodded, “we all feel that way, making it a better idea to ask ‘What do we do now?’” Steel looked at the letter under the table, “We need to go back to my old home. Ballpoint is keeping Twilight and Dinky there.” Derpy pulled back, “How do—“ “Just trust me on this.” Steel got up, shaking himself off of the angst he still felt inside. It was slowly creeping up on him, but thankfully he had Derpy with him to help him through these tough times as he did for her. “Don’t bother packing the mug, I have a feeling we won’t need it anytime soon.” He remembered the coffee, and picked up another cup. He poured a cup for Derpy and offered her it. She thanked him and they walked out of the room, out of the apartment complex and started down the street. “How are we getting to Canterlot? It’s not like there’s a chariot lying around.” Derpy said eyeing the tall buildings. “Hm… well I suppose we can ask another friend of mine for a lift. Although I think he may ask for a favor in return…” Steel looked up at Derpy, “Seems like a fair trade in my opinion.” /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/ Brace Racer looked up at his wall clock. Nothing to do, his paper work was already completed. He smiled when the next idea occurred to him. Finally it had been so long since he’d done this, almost too long. His eyes shifted from the corners of the room, to the main door, just to make sure nopony say what he was about to do. He opened up his top drawer and slowly, almost as if to savor the sight of it, pulled out a box of... fancy chocolate. He opened up the box lid, and gazed at the sight of twelve tiny squares, triangles, and circles. He carefully picked one up and placed to morsel in his mouth, chewing it slowly as the flavor of chocolate with a hint of cherry exploded on his taste buds. He swallowed, “My what marvelous delicacies I really should thank the chef when I get the chance!” He heard a knock at the door, panicked, and quickly put the box away in his drawer. Brace almost fell out of his chair on the other end when he practically fell into it. “Come in!” Steel opened the door, followed by Derpy. “Hey Brace!” Steel said as he sat down in one of his chairs. “My my it’s been a long time since we’ve met hasn’t it?” Brace said as he pulled out the box of sweets. “My apologies for the ruckus I was just trying to hide these pretties!” He opened them up, “would you care to try one?” He happily gave both Derpy and Steel one. They thanked him and ate it right up. “So how is everything?” He sat back in his chair and pointed to Derpy, “And who’s this one?” “My name is Derpy Hooves and we were wondering—“ “Well hello there Derpy Hooves a pleasure it is to meet you!” He reached over and shook her hoof without a moments notice. Derpy just smiled and looked at Steel with a smirk. Steel just smiled sheepishly and shrugged. “Well thank you—“ “Stop right there!” Brace said with a glowing smile, “Don’t tell me… you two…” He didn’t finish but wriggled his eyebrows. Derpy and Steel quickly looked at each other, then back at him. “No no no!! It’s not like that!” They both said in unison. Steel face hoofed. “We just need your help, and then we’ll be out of your mane.” Derpy said. “Oh? What kind of help?” Brace said looking at Steel. “Well erm,” Steel stopped and looked at Derpy, “Let’s not go into details, we just need a carriage to Canterlot, and we need it now.” Brace looked at Steel inquisitively but didn’t bother to ask, “Very well! I’ll get you a carriage in a matter of minutes. Although I must be honest, a carriage to Canterlot is asking a lot, you’re going to owe me a favor sometime.” He called the main lobby, “Yes Sara please give full access of my carriage to Mr. Steel Thunder and Ms. Derpy Hooves. Oh and make sure somepony will be there to drive them.” He shut off the intercom and smiled at them, “There’s a carriage waiting in the parking center.” Steel and Derpy got up, “Thank you so much for your help,” Steel said as he shook Brace’s hoof. “Me pleasure! Do come back sometime!” Brace said as he plopped another chocolate into his mouth. /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/ The carriage finally landed, Derpy and Steel got out, rushing through the streets of Canterlot. They pushed passed pony after pony, shouts and huffs where heard by the two ponies, but they didn’t care the only thing they had in mind was finding Twilight and Dinky. They turned a corner, Steel almost losing his balance but managed to regain it. “We got to move faster!” Derpy shouted over the hustle and bustle of the streets. “Yeah I know,” Steel turned; he looked around but couldn’t find any other way of transport. He looked back at Derpy and suddenly an idea came to mind, “Derpy can you lift me up?” “I don’t know… I can always try though!” Derpy sprinted so she was next to Steel; she flapped her wings a few times and finally gained air. Derpy lowered herself and gripped Steel by his side. She started flapping harder, quicker, with more stamina and slowly Steel lost feeling of the ground in his hooves. “You did it!” He shouted. Steel looked ahead and found the street. He pointed with his hoof to the street. Derpy nodded and banked left flapping hard to miss more hanging signs. They finally reached the manor, at long last. They rushed the door, and with a loud crunch the main door was broken off its hinges. “Twilight where are you?” Derpy shouted through the air. “Ah… looks like your friends have arrived,” Ballpoint checked his watch, “And only a few minutes to spare! A shame there wasn’t enough time to mount you, I was really looking forward to that…” He shrugged, “Oh well… tah tah you filthy mongrel.” He jumped down a flight of stairs and landed outside in the backyard. With quickness he wrote out a letter, dropped it, and with ease he teleported out of Canterlot leaving behind only a dark purple burn in the grass. Derpy and Steel looked around the front room, yet couldn't find any sign of Twilight or Dinky. Steel opened a door that lead down a dark flight of steps. He motioned to Derpy and she followed. As they grew closer to their destination they began smelling a horrible stench of blood and gore. When they reached the bottom the sight was worse than anypony could’ve imagined. The walls were covered in blood, the floor too also held chunks of red particles and clumps of matted hair. But the sight most revolting was the sight of Twilight’s condition. Cuts, scraps and burns lined her sides, blood oozing down from every which way. She didn’t seem to be responding at all, giving a sign that she may have fallen under unconsciousness. Derpy went wide-eyed then quickly looked away from the heinous scene before her. Steel did the same. For a moment Nopony spoke, as the scene was just too unsettling. Not only was Twilight in terrible condition, but Dinky… “No…” Derpy spoke. “Please… he couldn’t have… not her…” She rushed up to Dinky and knelt aside from her. There wasn’t much damage to her; in fact it looked as if Dinky had been spared most of the damage. Her outside trauma seemed only to be a few cuts here and there, but Derpy could see it in Dinky’s eyes that what she had witnessed cannot easily be forgotten. Derpy hugged her daughter with tears streaming down her cheeks, and only grew incredibly worried more and more as she didn’t feel Dinky responding to the hug. “Derpy… Derpy…” Steel said tapping her shoulder. She looked back at him; “We need to get Twilight and Dinky to the hospital, now!” “There’s not enough time, they she be dead by the time we arrive!” Derpy looked around for anything that might help heal Twilight. Her eyes peered at Steel’s horn then it came, “You can heal her.” She said. “What? No I—“ “Yes… I’ve read up on unicorns. You can—“ “When did you read up on unicorns?” “Not important right now, we need to heal Twilight.” “Fine… and just how do you know how to heal her?” Derpy tried hard to recall the information. “First… you need to look directly at her horn… then… just… just imagine her as the condition she used to be.” Steel looked at the ground, as if searching for an answer. “Alright then…” He said as he stepped forward to Twilight. He focused on her, remembering how she looked before… this happened to her. Her dazzling mane as it flowed in the breeze, her cute dimples and how they showed themselves whenever she smiled, the way she blushed whenever she got embarrassed. Then he focused on her personal appeals. The way she’d always try to test everything and anything she didn’t understand. Steel began feeling his horn pulsing with magic, enveloping the room with a light blue. The way she’d stick up for her friends. The light blue magic began it’s way down towards Twilight and started circling her. How she loved Derpy with all her heart, even trying to get professional help to find her when she was missing. The magic encircled Twilight and Steel, illuminating the room more and more until they were merely a blur of Blue colored Light. How she never gave up. The way she knew how to handle things. How much of a caring mother she was to Dinky. How she helped Dinky through tough times. By now the magic that encased the two had blown into a form of sorts, swirling into a form of a heart. Steel didn’t know where all this information was coming from, it seemed out of nowhere, but he still pushed on. Steel felt a sensation like no other. It was a feeling of security, like a chilly night indoors with somepony special to you. Steel had a weird image of Octavia with him, but shook it away and focused. How she saved Dinky from certain doom. By now the form of light had enclosed some and tightened around the two forms. The spell was almost complete, and Steel could feel it. The magic coursing through his horn grew in power and in one last second all of his energy was released into Twilight’s aurora. He fell to the ground breathless. Derpy rushed to his side, and helped him up a bit. They quickly looked at Twilight and found absolutely nothing had changed… Steel eyes grew wide as saucepans, “It… didn’t work…” /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/ Ballpoint thought about his little encounter with Twilight, oh what absolute fun that was! He had a feeling his time was coming to an end, there was just something about the air, and the timing that suggested it. Might as well make the most of it. And what better way than having another party! He looked around Ponyville for just the right pony. And then he found her. Her mane, oh her mane, how it cascaded down her body with such grace… such elegance. Her pure white coat… almost like… like a marshmallow. He licked his muzzle, yet another glorious patron to… party with. He walked up to her and watched as she entered some clothing shop. “Hello,” She said half-heartedly. She had bags in her eyes, probably from lack of sleep. “Welcome to Carousel Boutique how may I help you?” She said. “I’d like to try out your line of clothes, do you have any brand new outfits in the back?” Ballpoint said. “Why yes we do, here at Carousel Boutique we have a large assortment of clothing from hats to capes. Now follow me, please.” She said as she escorted Ballpoint to the back of the shop. ‘Only a matter of time…’ he said as he eyed Rarity’s flank. ‘For the fun to resume….