Kiai 2
As it had turned out, the mission was fairly simple.
“....This mission is of utmost importance and secrecy. Tell no one except Spike (I know you're reading this Spike).”
“There are ominous signs brewing that signal the return of a monster I had thought long banished. The movement of certain stars and weakening magical energies tell me that my long hidden sister will be returning. The Night Mare.”
“Please act in all haste to gather powerful fighters who you believe may stand against a true monster.”
“Whoa, The Night Mare!? She's real!?”
Spike's outburst mirrored what Twilight thought, though managed to keep to herself.
“I...I guess so. But, there's no time frame of when she might return or gauge of how strong the ponies we need to find should be. This may be a...problem.”
“We're almost there guys!”
The rainbow and blue Pegasus called back to them, her voice barely audible over the rushing wind. As the descent began, the two passengers looked over the side to get a feel for their temporary home.
Farms surrounded the outer edges, their fields covered in green and sparks of color belonging to fruit. The town began to spread out below, a building here and there on the green hills and grassland until they were close enough together to be called a town. From the air, it appeared to be a confusing mess of buildings smashed together to form a city.
Spike leaned in close to their pilot, yelling for her to hear.
“What's this place called!?”
“Ponyville! That Shining Armor guy said to leave you off here.”
Twilight crowded her assistant, trying to hear.
“Did he say where we should stay!?”
The pilot shook her head, keeping her eyes straight ahead as they approached a landing strip in the center of the city.
“Nope! But I can-hang on a minute...”
The chariot shuddered violently as it touched down, throwing it's occupants backwards into a screaming pile. Several knocks and tumbles later, the chariot rolled to a stop.
“My spleen...”
Spike's groan couldn't have compared with the pain of being jammed with a sharp dragon claw but she managed to keep this observation to herself and her own spleen. The rainbow pilot unhitched herself, looking in on her cargo.
“I said to hang on, you two.”
Twilight rolled the dizzy Spike off of her, pulling herself up by the side of the chariot.
“I thought that was a figure of speech...”
The pilot tilted her head, quizzically observing the mare.
“Why does everypony say that?”
Twilight sighed as she dismounted the chariot, lifting both Spike and the bags out magically. The first thing she noticed about the city was the sheer number of ponies. Canterlot, being a big city, had lots of ponies. But here there seemed to be a high energy, a charge in the air as stallions and mares carried goods to and from the nearby market, foals played in the streets and the sights and sounds assaulted her every sense.
She quickly focused her mind on the pegasus, to keep herself from being overwhelmed.
“So, you were saying something about a place for us to stay?”
She nodded, shaking her hoof at Twilight when she reached for her money pouch.
“That Shining stallion already paid me. And there are a few places to stay over that way. Clean, reasonable rates, right next to the market. Though I'd stay indoors at night if I were you. We've had a lot of ponies coming through lately and Ponyville is sort of growing faster than it can handle. There's a lot more crime than there used to be plus some wacko running around in a costume beating the criminals up.”
“I wouldn't worry about that.”
Spike puffed his chest up, twirling the suitcases in a mockery of martial arts.
“Twilight here is-MMMPH!”
A hoof shoved in his mouth kept him quiet as Twilight reached into her money pouch and pulled out two extra Bits.
“Very careful about stuff like that. Thank you, Miss...?”
The pilot accepted the tip, putting it with the rest.
“Rainbow Dash, fastest flier around Ponyville. You ever need me, I'm usually here looking for other fares, okay? You keep slipping me Bits like this and I'll be glad to direct you anywhere else you need to go.”
“Alright. Well, we'd better get going. Bye Dash!”
They waved as they left the Pegasus, delving into the thick throng of the market. Pony flesh pressed into them on all sides, and more than a fair share of glances landed on Spike, dragons not being a usual thing to see. Spike didn't seem to notice as he rubbed his jaw where the hoof had clapped his lips together.
“Twilight, why wouldn't you let me tell her how awesome you are? Y'know, spread the word around that you're a powerhouse so we don't get picked on?”
Twilight held her breath as they passed a particularly odorous potion shop run by a Zebra.
“Because it would have the opposite effect. If you tell ponies you're strong, they want to know how strong.”
“Horseapples. Where did you hear that?”
“Spike, don't you read books? That's what always happens. And watch your language.”
He snorted, rolling his eyes at the scribe.
“This isn't a book...”
They finally popped free of the crowd into a narrow alley, Twilight knocking down a little orange Pegasus as she did so.
“Oh, sorry about that.”
The purple maned filly accepted the helping claw Spike offered but she rushed off into the crowd without so much as a look back. Spike glared after her, grumbling.
“You're welcome! Hmph, ponies sure are rude around here.”
They followed the small alley out to the opposite street. The Inn was rather nice looking, high end and clean, just as Dash had described it.
The inside proved it though, with the hanging silks and lanterns. Twilight closed the sliding paper door behind her as Spike talked to the blue proprietress.
“It's 20 Bits a night, Twilight. And they have a hot spring here!”
The inn owner cracked open a well-worn ledger and pushed it towards them.
Twilight reached for her Bits. This trip was already getting expensive and she didn't know if the Empress would be funding her or if she were on her own when it came to money.
“Alright, but no cannonballs in the spring this time. You're just supposed to soak. Is it mixed bathing here?”
The owner nodded, smiling as Twilight fumbled for her money pouch, checking one side and then the other. Then the floor. And inside her hat.
“Um, Twilight? These bags are heavy...”
“I'm TRYING to pay her.”
The proprietress cleared her throat once, calling Twilight's attention.
“Did you happen to knock anypony over outside?”
“Oh...well, yes. How did you know?”
“Whenever anypony finds themselves bitless, they've run into somepony. Was it the orange filly? Or maybe that blue one that's been robbing rich travelers lately? Though you don't look all that rich.”
Twilight blushed, rubbing the back of her head.
“Uh..th-the first one...”
The blue pony slapped her guest book closed, still smiling sweetly.
“I'm afraid I can't help you then. Give my best to the street.”
And the door slammed behind them as they were shooed out.
They shared a look and a bizarrely well synchronized sigh. Spike was the first one to come up with a solution to their predicament.
“Let's go find that little pipsqueak!”
Twilight grabbed his tail as he began to charge off, his legs making little dust clouds as he ran in place.
“We're not going to beat up a filly Spike.”
“Maybe YOU can't-”
“WE will find her and scold her, but not violently. Understood?”
Spike snorted, blowing a little gout of flame from his nostril.
“Ugh...fine.”
---
Almost ten hours of searching through every confusing alley or street in the immediate area had turned up neither hide, hair or feather of the little filly. They did now know that the market area bordered the red light district, something Spike kept glancing at, and that there wasn't a single pony willing to offer any information without exchanging a few coins.
The loud grumble of empty bellies only made their situation worse as they sat by the side of the road, watching the stalls and booths close for the night.
“I'm glad the Empress can't see this. She'd be ashamed.”
Twilight sighed, knocking her head against the wall and tilting her hat back so she could look at the stars.
“Well...it's our first day. We can't be expected to get everything right.”
A clawed hand patted her shoulder, trying to make her feel a bit better after their disastrous first time outside of Canterlot.
“Hey! Y'all tourists?”
One of the booth workers stood there, hitched to her smaller, wheeled stall. Orange coat and blonde mane with an apple Cutie Mark. A rice hat sat far back on her head as she stared at the two with a pitying look.
“Is it obvious?”
Twilight asked, unable to keep the depression out of her voice.
“A mite, yeah. Ya ain't filthy enough to ave lived here long and you're sitting by the side of the street at night. It's a dead giveaway.”
The apple mare unhitched herself and approached, setting a few apples from one of the baskets down in front of them.
“This town used to be nice and safe-like. So what happened?”
The starved pair lunged at the apples, forgetting the years of manners they'd learned living in the palace. Twilight managed an explanation between bites.
“Pickpocket took everything we had. A little orange filly with a purple mane. Tiny wings.”
“Ya mean like that one?”
Twilight's eyes followed the casual point of the apple seller, her jaw dropping at the sight of the filly they'd been chasing all day casually slinking down the opposite side of the street.
“You!”
The filly flinched at the yell, taking off in an instant without so much as a look back.
“You're not getting away!”
Twilight took off after, her hooves flashing over the streets in huge leaps. Spike was soon left behind as Twilight gave chase.
For something as small as a filly, she was fast. Down back alleys, over fences and leaping up onto roofs with her little wings flapping like mad would have convinced Twilight that the little bit of lean skin was a ghost of some sort save for the bouncing of coins coming from a rather heavy looking satchel thrown over her side.
The orange filly leapt down from the roof, the clink of Bits all over the cobble street signaling an unexpected crash. Twilight dropped after, a triumphant look on her face that quickly changed to quick, worried glances.
Her landing placed her over the filly, the coins cast over the ground as she had expected. Blood swelled from a skinned knee that she nursed and standing over both Twilight and the filly were three Diamond Dogs, leering down at the easy gold and the weak looking ponies.
“Looks like we've met tonight's quota already boys. With such a generous offering, we'd be glad to let you two walk away without a single scratch.”
He pointed back the way they had come, sharp claws cutting the air.
“Go.”
It was the filly that spoke up first, standing up as tall as she could, blood trickling down her leg.
“This is my area, Ruff! We all agreed on the area outlines so you can't just come in and take my marks! The Baolan Huafen said so!”
The filly huffed at the enormous Diamond Dog, her chin barely reaching his knee. Twilight's eyes worked back and forth, frozen in place. Was this the real world? Was this what a real fight was like? Or was Ponyville just out of it's goddamn mind?
The dog grinned down at the filly, fangs showing under a friendly facade.
“They aren't here, are they?”
A swift kick sent the filly shooting across the ground, rolling end over end until she slid to a stop. Twilight's eyes went wider as the dog stepped up to her, cracking his knuckles as he leaned over the pony.
“You got anything to say?”
Twilight shot a look at the filly, groaning on the filthy ground. Her teeth clenched as she looked up at the diamond dog, a calm descending over her body as her mind worked. She was a student of the Empress. If something this insignificant could shake her, she had learned nothing.
“I'll give you one chance to walk away. I don't want to hurt you unless it's absolutely necessary. Just leave my Bits and go.”
A look of absolute confusion passed over the dog's face, shared between his compatriots, as though they'd never been threatened before. In an instant, that same dog leg rose and Twilight lashed out with a strike, crushing the risen knee into the ground before it could move.
A lightning step inside the reach of the dog followed by a straight punch to the gut sent him rolling onto his back, a strained, breathless growl rolling off his lips.
Pure shock was written over the faces of the other two as their leader nursed his belly and whimpered, the tiny pony glaring up at them.
“Take your friend and go.”
Contrary to what Twilight expected, the two circled her, her eyes moving back and forth as she watched for the tiny movements that signaled an attack. She'd never fought more than a single opponent before but incapacitating one long enough to focus on the other seemed like a smart move.
One lunged forward, Twilight summoning her staff in an instant and jamming it into the soft part of his underjaw. She twirled on the pole and swung her leg up up, turning a quick buck into a ball crusher on the very male dog.
She twisted as he fell back, sliding the bottom end of the staff over the cobbles and up into the solar plexus of the second.
“Extend!”
The pole shot to either side of the alley, trapping each dog against the wooden walls with a crunch of bone. The staff shrank, the bodies falling to the ground as Twilight unsummoned it.
“Whoa.”
Twilight looked once again at the filly who had gotten to her feet, her mouth open in shock. Twilight levitated every coin into the air and tossed them in the bag, approaching the little filly who shrank back into herself as Twilight glared down at her.
“You know stealing is wrong, yes?”
The filly nodded, staring at the ground.
“Then why did you do it?”
“I...I'm sorry.”
The filly stared hard at the ground before throwing herself prostrate before Twilight.
“Please! Make me your disciple!”
“What!? Disciple? But I'm just...”
“Twilight!”
The apple seller had rounded the corner, a worried Spike hopping off her back and rushing to the side of his boss.
“Are you-WHOA! What happened here? Twilight, did you-?”
The filly sprang to her hooves, a glint in her eyes as she flew into excited speech.
“It was like wham! Pow! Hwa-cha! It was incredible!”
The apple-seller watched the diamond dogs trying to crawl away, hoping to avoid further attention from the now terrifying purple mare.
“That right Twilight? Three of them fellers ain't nothin' ta sneeze at. Ain't many 'round that could take one down, let alone three.”
Twilight blushed, embarrassed at so much praise and commotion centered on her. Changing the subject seemed in order.
“Um...well, I suppose you could say that. Spike, I've got our Bits so why don't we get to the Inn?”
He took the bag from her magical grip, giving it a shake. It seemed a little heavier than it should have been for the amount of Bits they'd lost.
Twilight bowed slightly to the apple pony.
“And thank you so much for your kindness. I truly appreciate what you've done and if you ever need my help, don't hesitate to call on me.”
The apple mare blushed this time, not used to such declarations of gratitude.
“Aw shucks, Miss Twilight. It really weren't nothin'. Ah'll see ya around ifn' you're gonna be in town awhile. Just come say hi if you've got the time. My name's Applejack.”
Applejack tipped her hat and turned to get back to her abandoned apple cart. Twilight brought her attention to the still fawning filly.
“Now, can I walk you home? I can't very well let you walk around out here in the dark...um, what's your name?”
“Scootaloo. And if you want, you can stay with me. You'd save yourselves 20 Bits and be just as comfy.”
Spike scoffed, clicking his tongue at the boast.
“Bet you don't have a hot spring.”
“Well...no. But think of the money you'd save.”
Twilight, still worried about what the money situation was going to be like, realized there could be several problems with walking into a strange home.
“Won't your parents have a problem with sudden visitors?”
Scootaloo waved them after, taking them through another confusing collection of pathways between buildings.
“Don't have any. Come on, it's this way.”
They soon passed into the redlight district, both Twilight and Spike gawking at the garish lights and the painted mares that called to them from doorways. It certainly seemed much more lively than it had been when they'd passed through during the day.
There were times when Twilight slipped an embarrassed hoof over Spike's eyes just to avoid having to explain a few things. It wasn't as though she knew what she was seeing either but she knew she didn't want to have to talk about it.
They soon stopped at an unusual sight amidst the bright lights and signs. A tree rose up in a small park at the center of the lewd district, its full branches scraping the nearby bordellos. Scootaloo pulled them towards the foreboding structure, past the boarded front door and to a side window that she easily climbed into.
The unsure pair outside stared into the dark pit and shared a look distinctly reminiscent of 'you go first'.
“I dunno Twilight. This seems illegal. Does someone own this place?”
Scootaloo's voice floated out, a small candle flaring up in the dark.
“I own it. Squatter's rights.”
Twilight shrugged and climbed in, looking at the shelves and the still use-worthy furniture. It took her a moment to realize that the objects lining each and every shelf were books. Rows and rows...and rows of untouched books.
“This is a library.”
Spike sighed, looking at the paper bricks he'd imagined he could leave behind in Canterlot for a while. He didn't hate books but a change of scenery was nice sometimes.
“Looks like we're stuck here now.”
The orange filly pulled some extra blankets and sheets from a closet, spreading them out over the floor for her guests.
“This is great! I've never had guests before!”
Twilight yawned, looking longingly at the pillow. Her eyes went from the books to the pillow, back to the books... and settled on the exquisite look pillow.
“I'm afraid we may not be very good company, Scootaloo. If you don't mind, I'm going to turn in already. How about you Spike?”
He startled at the mention of his name, turning his slightly red face away from the window.
“Oh...uh, I might stay up a little.”
Twilgiht shook her head, pointing at the bedding.
“Bed. Now.”
He groaned, hunkering down in the covers and turning towards the wall.
“Watch if I wanna...can't tell me...'hey Spike, stop looking at those mares'...mean Twilight...”
Twilight sighed as she lay down, Scootaloo in between the dragon and pony.
“I love you too Spike.”
Twilight blew out the candle, her ears sharpening as her eyes became useless. The sounds of the redlight district were unusual to the mare. Raucous laughter, strange crashing and moans that came from right next door made her feel as though she'd stepped right into one of those overly detailed adventure books she liked to read.
This was what the real world was like. And as scary as it had been to see so many ponies, and get into a real fight and even get robbed...the prospect of what else could happen thrilled her.