//------------------------------// // The Setup // Story: As The Sun Sets // by Noobblue //------------------------------// Cadance had setup a dinner. Something like it anyways, the castle staff insisted and eventually ended up doing ninety percent of the work. I tried though, I really did. The room itself was a dignitary dining room, something for hosting if Cadance remembered correctly; so it had all the standard opulence that was present throughout the castle. Unnecessary for this, but at the very least, they'd have a bit of privacy, while still being as close as possible to safety. This is going to work Twilight had likely gotten on the morning train the day after her letter, and would be in the Empire at five-ish. Which just so happened to be the current time, Shining was down by the station to pick up Twilight, and with Twilight's skill in magic, they'd likely teleport here, meaning they'd be here at around five thirty. And Dusk is going to be here at six. So I'm going to have thirty minutes minimum to explain and get things going. Cadance took a deep breath, and let it out over ten seconds I can do that. For now, she just had to sit and wait. ... Actually Cadance was going to go check the kitchens again to make sure the staff knew not to interrupt them. Twilight's POV "Shining!" Twilight, having just exited the Crystal Express, took a galloping start and gently glomped her brother. Shining, being A. used to this, and B. a absolute tank, barely moved, and returned the hug. "Hey LSBFF, how's it goin?" Twilight stepped away from him, but only a little bit, "How's it going? Apparently everything is going crazy!" Shining chuckled and Twilight continued. "I really hoped that after Tirek, the world would calm down a little, but then there was that village, and this, and the Grand Galloping Gala is co-" I'm rambling Twilight rubbed her hoof over her other leg, bashful, "It's just been a lot." "I'm sorry to say that this isn't really going to make it any better." "I know, I know, but I still want to help however I can." Shining leaned in conspiratorially, "Did you learn those spells?" "Yeah, Omnashe's Dark Magic Deflector, and Prism's All Purpose Protector." Although I did know the second one already "Good" Shining leaned back, "I won't lie, I'm pretty close to pulling the plug on all of this. I want you to be just as wary." "Don't worry BBBFF, Cadance was explicitly clear how dangerous Dusk was, I am totally prepared." Shining turned, "Shall we?" He close to kneeled and waved his hoof in a 'carry on' gesture. Twilight giggled, moved up to his side and lit her horn, "We shall." With a crack of teleportation, Twilight and Shining were standing in some sitting room within the Crystal Spire. Shining, quick to recover, started trotting, "Come on, I'm sure Cadance is waiting on us." Twilight made a light squee and caught up with her brother. "I can't wait to see Cadance again, I just wish it wasn't under these... well I mean it's always like this." "What do you mean?" "It just feels like me and Cadance never get time to just spend together, there's always something going on." "Come's with the territory of being a Princess right?" I guess "That seems about right." They fell into a comfortable silence as Shining Armor made his way to the dining room, and Twilight followed close by. Twilight didn't notice, but Shining started to realize the stunning lack of castle staff or guards patrolling the hallway. Aside from clenching his jaw, he made no comment. Eventually they turned down a hallway with a set of tall crystal doors at the end. Cadance turned into the hallway at the same time, and after the two seconds of which Cadance and Twilight had locked eyes, they rushed to each other and did their thing. Sunshine Sunshine Lady bugs awake Clap your hooves and Do a little shake! They both laughed and embraced. "It's so good to see you Twilight." I'm glad to help "I missed you too Cadance." Their hug continued. "Twilight, are you taller?" Twilight stepped away and tried to measure herself up to Cadance by memory. "Oh she's definitely taller" said shining, having approached from behind Twilight. Am I taller? "My LSBFF all grown up, soon you're gonna be taller than me." Shining gave a shit-eating grin "Oh hush Shiny." Twilight just looked back and forth during the exchange, trying to figure out if she had indeed grown. I could check with a spell "Regardless, come on Twily, we have a lot to talk about." Cadance turned with Shining towards the door, "Indeed we do. I'm sorry to make this all business, but..." Cadance's face said it all. A mix between cringe and shame. "I know Cadance, it's okay." They all made their way into the dining hall. The table was set, there were a nominally large amount of snacks, plenty of hoof food. Crackers and cheeses, mostly. As everypony took seats around the round table, Cadance and Shining next to each other, and Twilight a little ways across from Cadance, Cadance began to speak. "So, where are you at so far? Concise." Twilight thought for a moment. There's a pony we can't control, with the power to match and or surpass Starswirl the Bearded hiding out in the Crystal Empire because they're basically a fugitive from the Equestria Crown. Said pony is in the middle of doing something that potentially has the chance to harm a lot of other ponies. Solve with friendship. "Long forgotten powerful pony fugitive turned noble needs a friend?" She said, with a powerful inflection. "I wouldn't say needs" Came Shining's flippant response accompanied by rolling eyes "But essentially. Yes." "Can you tell me about him? Personality?" "He's a jerk." Cadance frowned at Shining and just held up a hoof to him. "He has very little patience for things that he can't see as important." Cadance dropped her hoof and reached out for a small block of cheese with he magic. "It leads him to be easy to irritate, as he cares about very little besides his own goals." "It sounds like he might just want to be left alone." "Which we obviously can't do." Shining quickly interjected. Twilight turned to address his comment, slowly asking, "Has he done anything bad yet?" "He's assaulted several ponies." "Ponies that attacked him first, if I can add that." Cadance looked to Shining with a raised brow. Shining shot back, "Sorry, I meant your guards." He attacked guards? Cadance nodded her head slowly, "Oh, right yes. He cast some sort of instant knockout spell on them. There wasn't really a fight, and they weren't hurt." "But we know that he can hurt ponies, and he's willing to attack them to get what he wants." Twilight took the chance to speak up, "It might not be that simple. What I mean is, you could say that about police ponies if you phrase it right." Shining looked incredulous, "What?" "What Twilight means is that a Police pony has the skill to hurt somepony, and would if given an adequate reason" We're getting a little off track "Well... okay well maybe, but you knew what I meant." "How old is he?" Both Cadance and Shining looked to each other. Shining shrugged and vaguely gestured at Cadance. Cadance looked back towards Twilight, "He's at least as old as Nightmare Night. Luna had claimed he was there for her fall, and a while before then too." Wait... What??? "Wait, you're telling me he could be as old as Celestia and Luna?" "Come to think of it, Luna also mentioned he was around during the Discordian Era." Twilight was aware of how visible her widening eyes were, "Older than Celestia and Luna!?" "I honestly don't know, I don't even think he knows either." O.K.A.Y. There was silence. "What. I mean, when am I going to meet him?" Shining pipped up, "Good question, and how many guards are going to be there?" Cadance took on a sheepish smile. "Actually, he'll be here in about twenty minutes." ... "Cadance" "Now hold on." "Cay-Dence" Cadance put her hooves up in mock surrender. "I want this to go right, and us going by to knock on his door isn't going to work... Again" "Cadance, I-" Twilight tried, but was interrupted. "Cadance, that's a terrible idea!" Cadance stood up, and almost glared. She lightly placed her hoof on the table. "Why!?" Shining too shocked that Cadance raised her voice, and Twilight, already struggling to keep up with the developing situation, gave space for Cadance to keep verbally rolling. "There's no other way for us to do this. We're in the Crystal Spire, surrounded by guards only a call away. We have the three most powerful ponies besides Dusk himself in the room to keep us all safe!" Cadance huffed, but continued, "I know we're playing with fire here, we're always going to be risking something when we do anything. This is worth the risk." "Cadanc-" Cadance interrupted him, "and it's not even that risky! Powerful or not, he can't take us all on at once." ... Cadance sat back down, and crossed her hooves in front of her. She turned away from the table and pouted. Twilight saw her ear flick, ever so slightly. "I didn't realize you felt so strongly about this." "My ponies are potentially at stake... Of course I care about this." Shining just nodded, Twilight added, "Even Dusk?" Cadance turned back, "Now don't get me wrong, Dusk is definitely a danger, but I think he's just confused." Cadance put a hoof to her snout, before gesturing, "Aimless maybe." "Which is why you think Twily should befriend him." "Yes." Twilight looked at Shining, Shining looked at Twilight, and then back to Cadance. She looks so... resolute... more so than I've ever seen "I'm definitely willing to give it a try, as the Princess of Friendship, I couldn't give anything less than my best." "That's all I'm asking." "That's not all I'm asking." Shining said, and continued, "I asked Twilight to look into more protection spells since she knew what we were dealing with a bit better." Cadance blinked once and gave a light shake of her head, "I have no problem with extra precaution, which spells?" "Omnashe's Dark Magic Deflector, and Prism's All Purpose Protector" "I would avoid using Prism's trademark science spell." a smooth voice called from the doorway. Twilight saw Shining almost have cheese go flying out of his nose as he choked and looked at the pony behind her. Cadance turned just as Twilight looked over her shoulder to see a metallic white Pegasus mare with a pair of... saddlebags... Oh, Celestia... is that leather? "Hello Dusk." Cadance made the attempt to formally greet him despite the other welcomes. Her? "How's it going Little Princess?" Quick Silver walked right up to the table, and sat down in-between Cadance and Twilight. Close enough that Twilight could probably lean over and touch the pony if she wanted. She didn't, but she could. Cadance leaned back into her seat. "I've been okay. Can I introduce you?" "No need, I already know Twilight Sparkle" Silver turned towards her, "Princess of Friendship, Celestia's personal student, Savior of Equestria a dozen times over, a proper adventurer. You do clean and effective work." Silver then reached over to a pile of crackers and shoved them in her mouth "Um... Thank you. Why shouldn't I use Prism's All Purpose Protection spell?" Silver, having finished chewing, said "Because I'll stop you, and you have enough magic behind your spellcasting that it'll probably hurt. I don't wanna do that." Twilight looked towards Cadance, who was smiling like a cheshire cat. She made a shooing motion with her hooves in encouragment. "Why would you want to stop me from casting a protection spell?" Shining mumbled something from across the table, Silver after inhaling more cheese and cracker said, "I'm not going to tell you, you'll have to figure it out on your own." Is there something wrong with the spell? It's complex, but easily something I can do. Hmmmmm... Nevermind "So... Cadance told me you're basically a master wizard?" "I wouldn't go that far." Cadance spoke up, "Then you're being modest." "It's just that I wouldn't ever claim to be a master of any sort of mystic art. There's always more to discover you know? Shining Armor?" "Sure." "Cmon, you could at least engage a little bit, you know? I mean, now's the perfect time to blast me with magic in the middle of a sentence." Silver frowned, "Or don't, fine, see if I care." Then returned to removing the food off the table. Shining and Cadance looked confused. Twilight spoke up, trying to resolve their confusion, "Were you... Trying to get him to blast you with magic while you were talking?" "Was it that obvious?" Silver turned towards Twilight and very methodically rolled her eyes at her "Why would you want me to blast you." "You just looked like you really wanted to." "No pony is going to be blasting anypony else today." Cadance tried. "Tell your boy toy that." "Hey!" Shining armor called out "Hay yourself! All that's here is cheese and crackers, if you want hay so bad then get it yourself!" Shining was stunned by Silver's outburst, Cadance looked like she was trying to think of a way to manage the conversation. Twilight laughed. Not intensely, just one solid laugh. "Thank you Twilight." Shining took to glaring at Silver. "You... remind me of one of my friends?" That wasn't meant to be a question, woops. "Oh yeah? Which one?" Despite the seemingly casual turn in the conversation, Twilight could still feel the growing tension weighing on her withers. Cadance spoke up in tandem with Twilight's answer, "Pinkie Pie" Silver paused their food shoveling, like they were frozen mid action. "You don't mean Pinkie Pie, the daughter of Igneous Rock Pie and Cloudy Quartz, do you?" "Wait, you know Pinkie's parents?" Twilight asked with a head tilt. "Yeah, I bought rocks from them. Small world huh?" "You bought rocks from Pinkie's parents?" Cadance asked, also confused Twilight switched verbal partners, "They farm rocks." I realize now that that's not a very good explanation "Why were you buying rocks." Shining said. It came out more as a suspicious demand than a question. "Rock related purposes." "That doesn't answer my question." "You asked a shit question then." Twilight interrupted Shining before he had a chance to respond. "Do you have to antagonize my brother?" "I absolutely do." Twilight scrunched her eyes and asked, "Explain why in complete detail." "No." Oh... "Please?" Said Cadance. "He really just deserves it." "In detail? Like Twilight said?" Silver rolled her eyes, "Ugh fine, I'm trying to teach him a lesson." Silver went to vaporize more food. "About?" She placatingly put up a hoof while chewing, "I wash getting there" She swallowed, "About not being a dick for no reason." "Can you please keep the vulgarity away from the dinner table?" Cadance was ignored, "You see, your boy toy there seems to think that being aggressive and rude towards me is somehow going to make me not a threat. That if he can 'cow' me somehow that he'll suddenly feel like he's in control." Silver took a breath, "The too most important ponies in his life are sat in a room with someone who could hurt them, and he thinks being a bully is going to solve that problem, and he's stupid for it." "I don'-" "No, you don't. You didn't even think of what you were doing before you did it. You won't even get what you want from acting the way you're acting. You're embarrassing your wife." "Don't talk about my brother like that." "I'll do what I want Princess." Out of the corner of Twilight's eyes she saw Cadance's wings began to unfurl. "Actually, you won't." Shining stood up. Twilight began, "You're at least not going to be hurting anypony, or doing anything that could otherwise harm Equestria." Twilight glanced over at Cadance, to see Cadance rapidly looking in-between Shining and Twilight, they locked eyes and the only thing Twilight saw was confusion plastered on Cadance's face. Shining lit his horn. Silver pulled out a bomb. "Shining wait!" Twilight yelled, seeing the danger. Silver had placed a small metal sphere etched in runes on the table. It may not have been a bomb, but it was carrying enough magical potential to become one. Shining fired a bolt of magic at Silver. The magic ripped across the table, and splashed on an unseen barrier right in front of Silver. Food and cutlery went flying, Cadance had fully stood with her wings unfurled and shouted, "Shiny! Stop!" Twilight had jumped up onto the table, her own wings unfurled, and her horn glowing with a barely contained stun spell. "Everypony stop!" Came Cadance shout, "What has gotten into you two!?" "Shining is an idiot, and Twilight has trauma." "I do not!" Silver stood and mimed a deeper voice, flapping her wings in jest, "You won't do anything to harm Equestria." Silver retuned to a neutral stance, "Really? How many times have you said that to someone about to hurt you or your friends?" "Cadance, Dusk cannot be reasoned with, we have to deal with him now!" "What?! What are you saying?!" "I know right? It's not like he could even hurt me if he wanted to." Shining Armor snarled, "I'm just getting warmed up." "And I stole and improved your trademark shield spell specifically to counter you. Since you obviously would never look for weak spots in your own spell." "What?" Shining Armor fired another blast at Silver, and sure enough, Twilight saw the metal orb, just around the size of her hoof, light up with magic as the bolt splashed on an unseen barrier. "SHINING ARMOR THAT IS ENOUGH!" Cadance pulled out the Royal Canterlot Voice. It rattled the doors and made sure anything still standing on the table fell over. Shining folded his ears down and went to retort, but Cadance beat him to the punch, "No! I don't want to hear it! You are embarrassing me! You made this into a dangerous situation!" "I-" "Dusk isn't even doing anything! He's just defending himself!" It seemed like Cadance had successfully mollified Shining with that. Twilight was just as equally stunned, never having seen Cadance... essentially verbally buck someone in the jaw. With Twilight's knowledge of Shining's mannerisms, he looked like a kicked puppy. "It's okay Little Princess. I mean, I did start it by being verbally attacked." Cadance turned towards Silver and just... Stopped, her facial expression read of somepony who had properly had enough of whatever was happening, and morphed towards pure confusion. "What is going on?" Twilight said slowly and carefully. "Ah..." Silver sat back down, and leaned back adopting an awkward sitting position, resting entirely on her flanks. "and then everypony stopped and considered the strangeness of the last couple of moments." and then everypony stopped and considered the strangeness of the last couple of moments. "I've seen enough moments like these to explain for you Twilight." Silver continued to lounge, "Cadance is wondering how her carefully laid plan could have gone so wrong. Shining Armor is berating himself for his lack of discipline, and you! You are drowning in choice, wondering what it is you're supposed to do, and hoping someone else will key you into how to de-escalate the situation." "I..." "Well it's been de-escalated. You're welcome." Cadance sat back down in her seat, and looked back towards Shining. Shining, took his seat too. Twilight quickly got off the table. Everypony took a breath. "I'm sorry, Cadance." Cadance shook her head and gestured at Silver. Silver held up a hoof. "I don't want your apology, before you start. I want you to act your age." Shining did not respond. "Kay, bye." Silver picked up her orb, and started leaving. Cadance smiled. Her ear twitched again. She gestured at Twilight to follow Silver. What is she... Cadance gestured harder, Twilight got up, and started to follow Silver. When she glanced back at Cadance, Cadance winked at her. Twilight almost didn't notice that Silver was holding the door open for her as she left, she nearly bumped into Silver. Silver gestured, "Shall we?"