SAPR

by Scipio Smith


For Want of a Nail (New)

For Want of a Nail

Trixie’s look was so sour that it could have curdled the milk in the teacup which she was holding with perfect poise in her right hand, glaring at Twilight over the top of it, even as the steam rose up between her face and her host.
“Soooo,” Trixie said, drawing out the word almost as long as she drew out the ‘R’s in her style, “it’s mission week tomorrow, the chance for all the teams to really show what they can do out in the field, and our mission… is to babysit you?”
Twilight winced. “That… that’s about the long and short of it, yeah,” she murmured apologetically.
Trixie continued to glare at her over the tea. Her eyes remained fixed on Twilight even as she began to sip her tea daintily with one hand. Only when she had drunk her fill did her scowl dissolve into a rather smug smile. “Well, I suppose that we’ll manage to keep you safe. Don’t worry, Twilight; you’re in good hands with a real team.”
Rainbow made a sound as though she was about to choke. “'A real team'?”
“Trixie,” Starlight murmured. “That’s enough.” She and Trixie were sitting on Penny’s bed, while Rainbow and Twilight sat similarly side by side on Twilight’s bed, facing their two guests, whom they had just finished briefing on the role that Team TTSS were expected to play in the forthcoming mission to Mountain Glenn. “This is serious.”
“Everything is serious,” Trixie replied. “That’s why we have to make light of it while we can.”
“I might take your point in general, but I’m still not sure this is the time,” Starlight said softly. She looked at Twilight, and then at Rainbow, then back at Twilight again. “So, let me run this back: the White Fang might be hiding in a place called Mountain Glenn, which is a dead city in the southeast of Vale that had to be abandoned because the grimm got in and killed everybody.”
“That’s a rather grim summation,” Twilight said. “But fundamentally accurate.”
“And why do you think that the White Fang might be based there?” Starlight asked.
“That’s… classified,” Twilight said.
“We have been on a mission with Blake before, you know,” Trixie reminded them. “You could just tell us that she produced this intelligence.”
“That… would have made a lot of sense,” Twilight admitted, mentally kicking herself for not thinking of that. It would have explained everything perfectly!
Starlight and Trixie looked at one another.
“You didn’t get this from Blake, did you?” asked Starlight flatly.
“It’s classified,” Rainbow repeated.
“Ooookay,” Starlight murmured. “But you,” she pointed at Rainbow Dash, “but not you,” she jabbed her finger at Twilight, “are going to this Mountain Glenn place to check it out. You, Twilight, are going to be in another airship providing support and we’re going to be there with you to guard you.”
“And possibly provide reinforcements if necessary,” Twilight added.
Trixie drank some more of her tea. “As gratified as the Grrrreat and Powerrrrful Trrrrixie is that General Ironwood recognises that only Team Tsunami has the skill required to be entrusted with this vital task,” she declared, verbally preening with every word, “Trixie is less than happy that she isn’t trusted enough to know everything about this operation.”
“It’s nothing personal,” Twilight assured her. “It’s just… operational security.”
“Fair enough, I suppose,” Starlight allowed. “It doesn’t answer my bigger questions.”
“Like what?” Rainbow asked.
“Like why you?” Starlight demanded. “Couldn’t the General find any real soldiers?”
Rainbow smirked. “No real soldiers as awesome as us.”
Starlight didn’t smile. “Rainbow Dash,” she replied, reproachfully. She leaned forward, her elbows resting upon her knees. “Listen, I get it. Believe me, I get it, I mean, I’m Trixie’s teammate, remember?” She jabbed her thumb at Trixie, earning a gasp of faux outrage that Starlight ignored. “Every team leader acts like their team is the best, every team leader acts like their team doesn’t need to go to school and totally has the skills to graduate early and start kicking butt, and some teams even manage to back it up. But we’re not talking about an unsupervised mission to fix a relay tower here; we’re talking about a White Fang base and a dead city full of grimm.” She hesitated. “I gotta be honest with you, I wouldn’t let Trixie agree to ride point on something like this.”
“No?” Rainbow asked, sounding surprised to hear it.
“Hell no!” Starlight declared emphatically. “It’s way too dangerous! So cut it out and tell me the truth: why are you doing this? If General Ironwood thinks that the White Fang base is in Mountain Glenn, then why doesn’t he put a squad of specialists on it and let them earn their pay?”
Now it was the turn of Rainbow and Twilight to look at one another.
“We… we really can’t tell you everything,” Twilight said. “I’m sorry, but-”
“But we don’t understand some of this stuff ourselves,” Rainbow said. “Like how this is a joint mission with Beacon, and Professor Ozpin doesn’t like specialists.”
Twilight looked at Rainbow. He doesn’t? When did you find that out? Did General Ironwood tell you that?
Starlight leaned back, a puzzled frown upon her face. “Who doesn’t like specialists?”
“Professor Ozpin,” Rainbow repeated.
“Is that why we had to rescue Twilight and the others from the forest?” Starlight asked.
“No, that was just politics; this is something else.”
“So he doesn’t like adult soldiers, but he’s fine with students,” Starlight muttered, shaking her head in disbelief. “This is a weird country.”
“I’m sure he has good reasons for it,” Twilight said, earning her an incredulous look from Rainbow Dash.
What? I can’t help it; I like to give people the benefit of the doubt.
“Like Twi said, we can’t say everything,” Rainbow added. “But… we’re the only ones who can do this. You’re going to have to trust us on that.” She paused. “But you don’t have to be a part of it. If you don’t want this, then you can find a real mission, and I’ll try and find someone else to be our backup and take care of Twilight while I’m away.”
Trixie and Starlight looked at one another, seeming to confer without words.
“That,” Trixie declared, “will not be necessary!”
“We’re your first choice, right?” Starlight asked.
Rainbow nodded. She grinned. “Who else would I pick ahead of you four?”
“Then that’s why we’ll do it,” Starlight said. “I’m not going to make you settle for your second choice pick with this much at stake. Not with Twilight at stake.” She reached out and put a hand on Twilight’s knee. “Don’t worry, you’ll be perfectly safe with us.”
“And you only need to scream out, Rainbow Dash,” Trixie added, leaping to her feet. “And the Grrrreat and Powerrrrrrful Trrrrrixie will rrrrrescue you!”
“I think I might rather die down there,” Rainbow muttered. But then she smiled, to show that she hadn’t meant anything by it. She thrust out one hand. “Thanks, Starlight, I appreciate this.”
“AHEM!”
“Thank you, Trixie,” Rainbow said, with a slight sigh in her voice. “This means a lot to me.”
“You’re welcome, Rainbow Dash,” Trixie replied. “And you’re absolutely right, of course; we are every bit as talented as serving specialists. And we have much better hair.” She petted said hair with one hand.
“Will Sunburst or Tempest be disappointed about missing out on a real mission?” Twilight asked anxiously.
“We’re going to be on stand-by to reinforce an effort to locate a high value target; you don’t call that a real mission?” Starlight asked.
“I just meant-”
“I know what you meant,” Starlight replied. “And it’s fine. Sunburst and Tempest aren’t the glory-seeking types. Sunburst will be happy to help, and Tempest… Tempest is-”
“Tempest,” Trixie said, “is Tempest.”
“In any case, Team Tsunami has already shown that it can complete missions without the aid of a professional huntsman,” Trixie said. “Now we’re showing that we’re trusted by General Ironwood himself with high value missions. Almost as trusted as beloved Rainbow Dash herself.”
If only you knew, Twilight thought.
“So, does this mean that we get to find out just why you’ve been pretending to be a huntress in training this year, Twilight?” Starlight asked.
“What are you talking about?” Twilight gasped. “I am a huntress in training. I decided to get out of the lab and-”
“Twilight,” Starlight said flatly. “We’re not stupid. Just because I haven’t known you as long as Rainbow or the other girls doesn’t mean that I don’t know you well enough to know that this isn’t you. Do we get to know what’s going on, or is that classified too?”
“I’m afraid so,” Twilight murmured.
“You’re keeping a lot of secrets,” Starlight said quietly. “Just… remember that I’m here if you need to talk about the pressure. I know what it’s like to feel like there’s a lot resting on your shoulders.”
And that’s just one more reason why we can’t tell you anything about this, Twilight thought. Starlight had already freaked out once from the pressure of school and its attendant expectations; just how badly would she take the revelations that had borne down upon Twilight and Rainbow Dash this morning? “Thank you,” she said. “I’ll keep that in mind.”
“Yeah,” Starlight said. “You do that.” She paused. “How are you feeling? After last night?”
“I’m fine,” Twilight said. Honestly, aside from solidifying her choice not to go into the field with the others, any feelings that last night had aroused in her had been pretty much dispelled under the light of morning, crushed beneath the weight of revelations which had left her no room to feel anything else about anything else. “I mean… you’re right, Starlight, I’m not a huntress, and I have been pretending-”
“Twilight!” Rainbow squawked.
“For reasons which I’m not at liberty to explain to you, but I suppose if you want a reason why I’ll be hanging back with you guys, that’s why. I don’t want to put any of the Mountain Glenn team in additional danger by forcing them to protect me.”
Trixie nodded. “How was she, Rainbow Dash? That Cinder Fall, I mean.”
“Tough,” Rainbow admitted.
“Tougher than you?” Trixie asked, her tone shorn of the mockery that Twilight would have expected to accompany such a question.
“She pulled a cheap shot at the end,” Rainbow muttered.
“She threatened me to get Rainbow to take a hit,” Twilight explained. “Like I said, that’s why I’m not going.”
“But she’s not invincible,” Rainbow insisted. “I would have had her, otherwise. I think you could take her,” she added to Starlight. She looked at Trixie. “You, I’m not so sure about.”
Trixie harrumphed.
Starlight shook her head. “I still can’t believe that a student would do something like this. Do they have any idea why she did it?”
“No,” Twilight said quickly, and hoped it wasn’t too obvious that she was lying. “Not a clue.”
“Her whole team was in on it, too,” Trixie said. “Four students!”
“I find that easier to believe than that any one member of a team could be a traitor and the others didn’t realise it,” Starlight replied. She got to her feet. “Anyway,” she said. “We should be going. We’ll brief Sunburst and Tempest – as much as we can, anyway – and be waiting for you tomorrow, Twilight.”
Trixie bowed. “Twilight Sparkle. Rainbow Dash.”
Twilight smiled. “See you tomorrow, both of you.”
Starlight opened the door for Trixie, who stepped out, while Starlight lingered in the doorway. “I mean it,” she said. “I’m here if you want to talk. Either of you.” She smiled and closed the door after herself, leaving the two of them alone.
“It sucks that we can’t tell them,” Twilight moaned.
“Would they want to know?” Rainbow asked. “I mean… Starlight doesn’t exactly handle pressure well.”
“I suppose,” Twilight admitted. “Although I think Trixie would deal with it okay.”
Rainbow’s eyebrows rose. “Really?”
“Yeah,” Twilight replied. “Think about it: who handled it best out of all of us?”
“Sunset,” Rainbow said. “Or maybe Ruby. Can I answer a tie?”
“It’s a fair question,” Twilight allowed. “But Ruby is… rather unique, so if we take Sunset as an answer, then what does that tell you?”
“What does it tell me about Trixie, you mean?” Rainbow responded. “I don’t know, they both…” She trailed off. “You’re not saying-”
“I think it’s worth considering the possibility that enormous ego may be the best way to withstand the shock of these revelations; even allowing that a data point is not the same as a trend, it’s rather telling that the person who took it all best is the person with the highest opinion of themselves and of their own worth.” She smiled. “Makes sense, don’t you think? People like Sunset – people like Trixie – think they’re so amazing that revelations like this can’t put a dent in them.”
“It makes sense, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it,” Rainbow groaned. “Anyway, just because Trixie can handle it doesn’t mean that we have to tell her. We can’t.”
“I know we can’t,” Twilight said. “I just… I don’t like being one of the people who decides who does and who doesn’t deserve to know the truth.”
“We’re not,” Rainbow told her. “General Ironwood decides. Or Professor Ozpin decides. That’s what weirds me out; the General taking orders from someone else, but… anyway, the point is that we’re not deciding anything. Just like we didn’t decide who got to find out about Penny.”
“We sort of did decide that,” Twilight reminded Rainbow Dash.
“We got permission.”
“It’s not as if General Ironwood would have considered it if we hadn’t pushed him on it.”
“Somehow, I doubt he’ll be as open to the idea of telling everyone about… all this,” Rainbow remarked.
Twilight nodded. “Do you think that I should ask about magic?”
Rainbow was silent for a moment. “Do you want to ask about magic?”
Twilight hesitated. “Not right now,” she admitted. “Not with everything else happening at the moment; I don’t want to bother General Ironwood with it, but… I’m wondering if I should afterwards, when the mission is over. Or when the threat is over. When things have calmed down. Sometime, I feel like I should ask. I feel like I’ll regret it if I don’t.”
Rainbow reached out and clasped Twilight by the hand. “You think the General knows something?”
“We know Professor Ozpin knows something,” Twilight said. “Ruby’s diary, remember? Or her mother’s diary, rather. The powers possessed by that woman that Team Stark escorted sound a lot like the abilities displayed by the woman who rescued me when I was a girl!”
“The woman that you think-”
“Oh, come on, Rainbow Dash!” Twilight cried. “We just found out that the Two Brothers were real and that they left four relics of unimaginable power behind here on Remnant, that an immortal queen of the grimm is seeking those relics, and that General Ironwood and the headmasters of Beacon, Haven, and Shade Academies run a secret society dedicated to protecting said relics and the rest of the world; is it still so hard to imagine that I didn’t have a concussion that day?”
Rainbow took a moment to respond. “Well, when you put it like that,” she muttered. “But my point stands, the same point that I’ve always had when you’ve tried to convince me about this stuff: where are they? The world is so dangerous – even more dangerous than we thought – so if there are these whatever you want to call them with magic, if you want to call it that, then where are they?”
“Where are the relics?” Twilight responded. “Maybe General Ironwood and the others don’t trust that their powers won’t be misused in the same way that they don’t trust people to use the Relics safely and with wisdom.” Given what had become of the prophets in the stories, Twilight couldn’t say that their fears were unfounded.
Rainbow frowned and looked away.
“You don’t agree, do you?” Twilight asked.
“You don’t fight with one hand behind your back; that’s tactics one-oh-one,” Rainbow declared. “People make fun of the fact that we need air support and a strike loadout to get anything done, but we hit hard, we hit fast, and we get the job done before anybody has time to die. That’s the Atlesian way, but do we hide away our biggest weapons because we’re scared of what people might do with them?”
“In the stories, they were hunted down for their powers,” Twilight murmured.
“Then stick the Ace Ops on it to keep them safe!” Rainbow cried. “There are other ways to protect someone than just hiding them away.”
Quis custodet ipsos custodes,” Twilight whispered.
“Come on, Twi, you know I don’t speak clever.”
“Who guards the guards themselves?” Twilight translated. “What if the Ace Ops were the ones who wanted their powers?”
Rainbow pursed her lips together. “That’s… we have to trust somebody!”
“The General seems to disagree, or Professor Ozpin does, anyway,” Twilight replied. “Maybe I won’t ask him. I don’t want General Ironwood to have to lie to me.”
“You don’t know he’ll lie.”
“I can’t imagine he’ll tell me the truth just because I ask,” Twilight responded.
“Maybe it’s not him,” Rainbow suggested. “Maybe… maybe it’s a different group that are hiding these magical girls?”
Twilight snorted. “I think two completely unrelated secret societies would be a little ridiculous, don’t you?”
Rainbow was forestalled from replying to that by a knock on the door.
“Hang on a second,” Rainbow said, motioning for Twilight to stay seated. She got up and crossed the dorm room towards the door. She opened it, said, “No.” And then shut the door again.
Twilight frowned. “Who was that?”
“Wrong address,” Rainbow said.
There was another insistent knock upon the door.
“Rainbow Dash?” Twilight asked, a touch of sternness entering her voice.
Rainbow huffed. “It’s Bon Bon,” she explained.
“Bon Bon?” Twilight repeated. “What does she want?”
“I don’t care what she wants; I’m not opening this door,” Rainbow said, even as Bon Bon kept on knocking on that same door.
“I’m not sure she’s going to go away,” Twilight pointed out.
“She will,” Rainbow said confidently. “Eventually.”
“Or you could-”
“She tried to get Blake expelled,” Rainbow said. “And she tried to do it by saying she wanted to kill all the faunus! Am I supposed to just ignore that?”
“Sunset and Blake seem to have forgiven Cardin Winchester,” Twilight pointed out.
“That’s their right; it doesn’t make it my responsibility to do the same,” Rainbow said.
“She might be sorry.”
“That doesn’t make it my job to make her feel better,” Rainbow snapped.
“No,” Twilight murmured. “No, I suppose it doesn’t.” She hesitated for a moment, then got to her feet. “So why don’t you let me explain that to her?”
“What?”
Twilight gestured at the door, which was still being hammered on by Bon Bon’s fist. “Don’t you want that to go away sooner rather than later?”
Rainbow took a deep breath and then rolled her eyes. “Okay,” she said, walking back to the bed and sitting down heavily upon it, crossing paths with Twilight on the way as the latter approached the door.
Twilight took a moment to smooth out her skirt for no particular reason before she opened the door, revealing that it was indeed Bon Bon on the other side. She was wearing her Beacon uniform, even though it was Sunday, and as soon as she saw Twilight, a sheepish smile spread slowly across her face.
“Hey, Twilight,” she said softly, tremulously, her wide eyes making her face look strained. “How are you doing, after… you know?”
“Why do you care?” Rainbow loudly demanded from where she sat.
Twilight ignored that. “I… I’m okay,” she lied.
Bon Bon started to try and peer around the door, but seemed to think better of it. “I know that this might seem strange to believe, but I never stopped considering myself your friend,” she said. “Both of you.”
“You’ve got a funny way of showing it!”
“I thought you didn’t want to speak to her?” Twilight said, some asperity creeping into her voice.
“I don’t; she’s just making it hard not to,” Rainbow replied.
“I suppose I deserved that,” Bon Bon murmured. She hesitated. “Correction, I really deserved that. I’m sorry. I’m sorry, Rainbow Dash,” she said more loudly. “I shouldn’t have done what I tried to do to Blake, and I certainly shouldn’t have said what I said. I… I screwed up.”
“You screwed up?” Rainbow repeated, getting off the bed and striding over to the door. “You screwed up?! You suggested that we should all die, and you call that screwing up?”
“I never said it was a little screw up,” Bon Bon offered.
A wordless growl rose up from Rainbow’s throat.
“Look, I’m really sorry,” Bon Bon insisted. “I’m sorry about what I did; I’m sorry for getting so jealous about Blake, about you; I’m sorry about what happened to Twilight; I just… I want to make this right. What do I need to do to prove to you that I… does it really need to be said that I don’t actually want to commit genocide?”
“I don’t know, doesn’t it?” Rainbow said.
“I was just saying that,” Bon Bon said. “I just wanted to get a reaction out of Blake.”
“You got a reaction alright,” Rainbow muttered.
“Come on, Rainbow Dash, how long have you known me?” Bon Bon demanded. “Is one mistake enough to erase all that?”
“It was quite a mistake,” Twilight pointed out.
“I know,” Bon Bon groaned.
“Bon Bon,” Twilight said. “I’m sorry, but this… this isn’t really the best time. And I know that sounds like I just want to get rid of you, but it’s true.”
“Right,” Bon Bon murmured. “Maybe later then?”
Twilight smiled. “Maybe later.”
Bon Bon nodded. “I suppose I can’t expect you to forgive me just like that, can I?” She lingered, nonetheless. “I… I really am glad you're okay,” she said. “You don’t… I’m glad. I won’t take up any more of your time.” She stepped away as Twilight gently shut the door.
“She seemed sincere,” Twilight remarked.
Rainbow snorted.
“Maybe-”
“Twi,” Rainbow said, stopping her with a single word. “Don’t. I know that you mean well, but you don’t understand this.” She paused. “No one will ever talk about you that way, about humans that way.”
“Are you sure about that?” Twilight asked.
Rainbow rolled her eyes. “Okay, nutjobs in the White Fang, maybe, but you know what I mean: Bon Bon talked about wiping out the faunus, and she gets to walk around Beacon attending classes like it was nothing. If I said I wanted to kill all the humans, then it wouldn’t matter why I said it; I’d get tossed on my ass faster than you can say ‘toss that faunus out on her ass.’”
“General Ironwood-”
“Wouldn’t be able to protect me, even if he still wanted to,” Rainbow insisted. “Twilight, you’re my best friend, but this is one of those times where you don’t know what it’s like to be me. And you never will.”
Twilight held her piece, at least momentarily, and when she spoke again, she didn’t dispute Rainbow’s point, but rather said, “It sounds as though she wants to do better.”
“Good for her, but that doesn’t mean I have to put up with her while she finds her way to being a decent person,” Rainbow said. “I’m allowed to put myself first and only hang out with the people that I like.”
“Yes,” Twilight allowed. “Yes, you are, of course. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to seem-”
“You didn’t,” Rainbow assured her. “It’s fine, I just… don’t want to talk about Bon Bon right now.”
“Okay,” Twilight agreed. “Not another word.”
There was another knock at the door.
“Really?” Rainbow asked. “Really?
Twilight covered her mouth with one hand, giggling slightly as with the other hand she opened the door yet again.
Neptune Vasilias stood on the other side, in his shirt, tie, and white jacket, and as soon as the door opened, he began to lounge upon the doorframe. “Hey,” he said in that smooth, charming voice of his, flashing his teeth in her direction.
“You’ve got some nerve,” Rainbow growled, reaching out for the door to slam it in his face.
“Wait wait wait!” Neptue cried, holding up both hands and placing his foot against the door. “I… okay, that was a mistake. I should have opened a little differently. A little… less cool.”
“You think?” Rainbow replied.
“Although you have to understand, it’s very hard for somebody as cool as me not to be cool,” Neptune said.
Rainbow growled wordlessly.
“Although sometimes, being cool isn’t exactly cool, in the circumstances,” Neptune added. He scratched the back of his head with one. “Can I come in? I promise this will only take a second.”
Twilight stepped back. “Of course. Come on in.”
“Twilight?” Rainbow demanded, aghast.
“It’s fine,” Twilight insisted, gesturing for Neptune to come in. “Would you like something to drink?”
“Thanks, but no, I… I don’t want to intrude,” Neptune explained as he stepped in. Rainbow shut the door after him with a little more force than was strictly necessary. Neptune glanced at it over his shoulder, before returning his attention to Twilight. “So… how are you?”
Twilight sighed. “Is everyone going to ask me that?”
“You did get attacked,” Neptune pointed out.
“Isn’t that a hazard of being a student huntress?” Twilight replied.
“Not in the middle of school, it isn’t,” Neptune pointed out. “Besides… is it going to sound really insulting if I say you seem like the kind of girl who ought to be protected?”
“It probably is a little insulting,” Twilight allowed. “But I’m not insulted. I think it’s quite sweet, really.” She pushed her glasses back up her nose. “Or at least, that’s what I would have said before-”
“Before I turned you down for the dance?” Neptune asked. “Yeah, that… that wasn’t cool of me. And that’s what I’m doing here. I know that it’s over, don’t worry, but… I’m really glad you’re okay, but… I guess I just can’t help feeling that if I’d just gone to the dance with you, then you wouldn’t have been attacked.”
Twilight was silent for a moment. He wasn’t wrong; if she’d been at the dance with him, then she wouldn’t have been at the tower when Cinder was there. Of course, on the other hand, if Twilight had been at the dance with Neptune instead of in the tower, then they would never have found out that Cinder was a servant of Salem – they and Team SAPR would never have found out about Salem – and she would have been able to plant her virus in the CCT with nobody any the wiser until the moment came for her to spring her trap.
In that sense, however frightened she may have been at the time, Neptune had done her a service.
“So why did you do it?” Rainbow asked.
“Huh?”
“Why did you turn down Twilight?”
“You don’t have to answer that,” Twilight assured him.
“Yeah, you do.”
“No, you don’t!”
“It’s fine,” Neptune said. “I… this is going to sound really stupid, but… I can’t dance.”
Twilight blinked. More than once. She stared at Neptune through the lenses of her spectacles. “You… you can’t dance?”
“I know, shocking, isn’t it?” Neptune said. “It’s something I try to avoid people finding out about.”
“You didn’t want to go to the dance with me because you can’t dance?”
“Well, there isn’t much other reason to go, is there?” Neptune asked.
Twilight stared at him, for a little while longer, before she failed to restrain the laughter that spilled out of her. She realised, as she clutched her sides, that Rainbow Dash was laughing too, and who could blame her? All of this, from the battle in the tower to their induction into General Ironwood’s inner circle, Cinder’s unmasking, the mission to Mountain Glenn, all of it had happened because Neptune Vasilias couldn’t dance.
If Professor Ozpin hadn’t already told them that there were gods, Neptune might have just proved their existence.
“I didn’t think it was that funny,” Neptune huffed.
“It’s not,” Twilight accepted. “I’m sorry, it’s just that…” She trailed off, thinking about how much she could actually tell him. “It’s just that you’re right: if I had gone to the dance with you, then I wouldn’t have been attacked in the tower, and we would never have found out that Cinder Fall was an enemy in our midst or that she was planning to plant a virus in the CCT network itself.”
Neptune’s eyes widened. “She did?”
“She tried,” Twilight clarified. “It’s been contained. All because of you.” She beamed. “Neptune, because you couldn’t dance, you may have just spared Remnant unimaginable catastrophe.”
“Really?” Neptune gasped. “I mean… really?” A slow smile spread across his face. “Wow. So, does this make me a hero?”
“Let’s not go nuts,” Rainbow said dryly.
Twilight chuckled. “You’ve done something important, even if you didn’t mean to.” She grinned at him and batted her eyes. “Rainbow and I have a mission to prep for, but you know, just because you didn’t take me dancing doesn’t mean that everything has to be over.”
Neptune’s eyes rose. “You mean-?”
“I mean think about it.” Twilight stood on tiptoes to plant a kiss upon his cheek. “I’ll see you around, Neptune Vasilias.”
Neptune stared at her, frozen, unblinking. “Uh, yeah. I mean yeah! I, uh, I will think about that. A lot. And I will see you. Soon! I mean… yeah.” He flashed his teeth at her, but the effect was ruined by the way that he was grinning like an absolute lunatic. And by the way that he bumped into the wall on his way out before finally making his way out of the door, moving like a drunk man all the while.
Rainbow’s eyebrows had disappeared into her bangs as she shut the door. “Really?”
“Why not?” Twilight asked.
“Because he’s Zephyr Breeze with blue hair!”
“He’s not Zephyr,” Twilight replied incredulously. “He’s a nice guy.”
“He’s not as cool as he thinks he is.”
“He doesn’t have to be cool to be a nice guy,” Twilight replied. “Besides, it’s not like I proposed or anything. I like him, and I think we could have some fun; what’s wrong with that?”
“Nothing, I guess,” Rainbow admitted. “I just don’t know why you pick ‘em.” Rainbow’s scroll began to buzz. “It’s one person after another right now, huh?”
Twilight snorted. “Who is it?”
Rainbow got out her scroll. “Oh, hey, it’s Fluttershy.”
“Ooh, I wonder how she and Applejack are doing?”
“We’ll find out, won’t we?” Rainbow replied. She pressed a button. “Hey, Fluttershy, you’re on speaker.”
“R-Rainbow Dash?” Fluttershy murmured, her voice trembling. “Rainbow Dash, is that you?”
Rainbow frowned. “Yeah, yeah, it’s me, Fluttershy, and Twi’s right here too. Fluttershy, are you okay?”
“She is, for the moment,” the voice of Cinder Fall drawled out of the scroll. “Whether she stays that way, well… that rather depends on you.”