Twilight wasn’t sure how long she stood there hugging Mimi as she cried into her fur, but after some time had passed she heard some murmuring behind her. Someone cleared their throat and she maintained her hug of the distraught girl as Skitter spoke.
“Um, Twilight? Are you okay?” Twilight nuzzled the now sniffling girl she was hugging before releasing her embrace and turning to face Skitter. She felt one of Mimi’s hands settle at the base of her neck and press down as though she needed to support to keep standing. Skitter was standing about ten feet away while the others where gathered a little further back. Their clothes were burned and torn, and Twilight could see angry red welts on Faultline’s exposed skin as she leaned against the large mass of Gregor. Newter was helping Spitfire sit up gently and Labyrinth was clutching Faultline’s hand tightly.
Twilight released a breath she didn’t realize she had been holding. No one had died. This wasn’t the tower, this wasn’t the apartment buildings. It was okay, this was okay. She closed her eyes briefly and breathed deep as she listened to the wind brush gently through the leaves above her and felt the soft grass under her hooves. It was okay, she was okay.
“I’m alright,” she said opening her eyes. “I remembered…” A few tears gathered in her eyes as she mentally hugged the memories of her friends. “I’m just so glad everyone’s okay.” Skitter let out a breath of her own and some of the tension in her posture relaxed. She glanced over her shoulder at her friends and then around the green field that had replaced the abandoned lot where they had been fighting. Finally she looked at the girl that had slipped down beside her and was now sitting and leaning her head against Twilight’s side.
“And her? Is she okay? Twilight what did you do?” Skitter finished with a pointed look at the weeping girl. Twilight fidgeted a little, something felt different about that. Something her body was trying to tell her but she didn’t want to get sidetracked right now. She wasn’t sure she could explain, not really. She didn’t even understand all of it.
“I..I can’t speak for her. I don’t think anyone would be okay after what she went through.” Twilight thought she heard Spitfire mutter something in response to that but she continued. “I’m not sure how to explain it all in your words. I’m not sure I could explain it all if you spoke equestrian, but she’s not a bad person. She didn’t even come here to try to hurt me or you.”
“She seemed real set on doing just that a moment ago.” Faultline interjected in a voice that was laced with an unhealthy sounding wheeze. Twilight flinched at that as the Mimi’s body tensed a little against her.
“She didn’t really, all she really wanted was to see a friend.” Twilight saw Labyrinth tense up at this and Faultline narrowed her eyes a little. “Not in a bad way, I think she just wanted to talk. I could see..$@$%..her..connections, she really didn’t want to do more than that, but something was wrong, something was…twisting..them….!#$!#…dimming them? I remembered. I didn’t remember everything, but I remembered so much. I saw…I felt my friends and we…@$%@$ !#$!# elements of harmony, using them together we were able to @$%@$@…untangle her? Make her connections right?”
Their faces were a mix of incredulity and wariness. Twilight realized that it wasn’t just Mimi they where wary of, but her. She didn’t understand that. Why would they be scared of her? She wished she could translate this better, she was messing this up somehow.
“I..don’t have the words for what I’m trying to explain. But she didn’t want to hurt people, not deep down, and now she doesn’t have to anymore.” Twilight leaned her head down and softly brushed it against the side of the girl’s face. Before Twilight could continue Mimi started to speak even as her tears continued.
“I..I didn’t want to. I never meant to! I was to weak, to weak to not use it. And when I used it I didn’t care anymore. I..used it sometimes because I didn’t want to feel, and it let me not care. I..how can I..everything I did, all those awful things I did.” She stopped talking and just sobbed for a moment before continuing. “What am I going to do? The Nine are going to kill me and if they don’t they’ll put me in the birdcage and I’ll die there instead. I, what..”
“We’ll help you, that’s what friends are for.” Twilight gently pressed herself against Mimi’s side.
“Um…”
“Twilight I’m not sur..”
“The Fuc..”
“You can come with me. Hiding two people from the Nine can’t be any harder than just hiding me. We’re going to figure out what to do about these Nine people and afterwards we can figure out where you want to go from there. I know some people in your government that maybe able to help you.” When Mimi tensed, Twilight quickly reassured “In a good way.” Skitter and her friends still looked worried and unsure, but Faultline seemed to be making an effort to pull herself together and done her professional mask once again.
“Twilight - how do you know these things? How do you know she’s safe? What did you mean by connections? I’m sorry but I can’t risk my people with such an unknown.” Twilight sagged at this, but she understood. Faultline wanted to protect her friends and she hadn’t seen what Twilight did.
“I understand. I’m not sure I can explain beyond what I have already said.” Thinking of a certain pink pony she even smiled a little. “I know how frustrating something like that can be. I know we just met and that there’s no reason for you to believe what I just said. It’s okay. Thank you for coming, for talking with me and being willing to help, but I can’t leave her.” Mimi looked up in startled amazement at this and Twilight nodded reassuringly at her. Before Twilight could start trying to figure out what she was going to do Skitter spoke up again.
“I’ve got a place you can stay.” Twilight’s spirits leaped at that and she couldn’t help the bright smile that found its way onto her face. Nobody else looked particularly happy about it but when they tried to interject Skitter waved them off. “No, This is actually for the best. I can act as a go between, use my bugs to pass messages and plant dead drops. We can still do all the things we were before to try and help out, and you guys don’t have to risk drawing the attention of the Nine.”
“No, instead all of that risk would fall to you.” Faultline grumbled and then in a quieter voice Twilight almost didn’t catch, “and other risks I’m not sure any of us understand.”
“It’s my risk to take, and Twilight probably saved my life the first night I was out as a cape. I owe her one.”
“You don’t,” Twilight blurted at this.
“Then lets just say I want to. What do you say, sleep over at my place?” Skitter asked with a little devil may care bravado.
“Wait wait wait!” Newter interjected. “Is no one going to mention the elephant in the room? Let’s ignore the mystic mind whammy and the verdant park from nowhere - She’s got fucking wings!” Twilight startled at this and spun her head around. Sure enough a set of wings rested on her back. Upon paying attention to them they sprung open, larger than regular pegasus wings.
“Oh..Oh, wow, ok, those are, um, new. The elements never did anything like that before.” Twilight tried to make them fold back against her side, but instead generated a couple of fitful flaps that brought here a half a foot off the ground before stumbling back to her hooves. “I wow, um..I need to research..magical abnormalities..history of alicorns..pegasus flight mechanics...oh but human libraries won't have any of the books I need...a checklist, I need a checklist.” So saying a couple of scattered rocks glowed for a moment before becoming a scroll and a quill. Faultline spoke up again.
“Let’s not get sidetracked. The plan has changed a little, but not substantially. Even this far out in the boonies someone is going to notice this.” She gestured at the changed landscape around them. “We need to get moving. Especially since we no longer have transport.” Shooting a guarded look at Mimi she continued. “The rest of us will head back to our secondary base of operations to be on the safe side. Skitter, you know where the meeting is going to be tomorrow. We’ll see you there and we can do some planning afterwards once we know how the others are going to act regarding the ABB and the Nine. Twilight…stay safe. Lets go people.”
Tugging her hand out of Faultline’s grip Labyrinth slowly walked over knelt down and after a moment of hesitation gave Mimi a quick hug. She got back up quickly and almost ran back to the others. Gregor gave a solemn wave before stepping over to Spitfire and gently lifting her into his arms. Newter leapt out in front and they started making their way down the street. Skitter watched until they were out of sight and then turned to look back at Twilight and Mimi. Twilight gave her a nervous smile as her new appendages shifted erratically on her back.
“So, sleepover?”
______________________
Twilight’s new wings continued to twitch and move randomly as they skulked through another abandoned alley, their path having gotten more and more convoluted the closer into town they got. Since Twilight was what Skitter had called, ‘more than conspicuous,’ they had been forced into a twisting two steps forward one step back path Skitter had scouted out with her bugs.
It was now getting very late, and by all rights given the day she had and the miles they had just covered Twilight should have been exhausted. Certainly she had been ready to drop by the time she was discovered by Skitter. Using the elements or the change she had undergone had instead left her brimming with energy. Her newfound memories had buoyed her emotions and allowed her to regain control, she wasn’t glowing or unintentionally summoning magical flames anymore, but now it seemed almost eager. Waiting to leap not just from her horn, but from her her hooves and wings too.
Twilight glanced to her side to check on Mimi and then forward again to make sure they weren’t falling to far behind Skitter. The need to be discrete and silent wasn’t helping her restlessness nor did it seem to be helping anyone’s emotional state if anything she had learned about human body language was true. Finally after another series of random turns they came to the back of a two story brick building and a solid looking metal door without a handle. Skitter paused and after a moment Twilight heard a muffled clack. The door eased open an inch before Skitter grabbed the edge and opening it ushered them inside.
Twilight felt herself freeze and Mimi clutch her neck when Skitter closed the door behind them and plunged the room into near totally darkness. She was halfway into conjuring a light spell when she heard a click and soft slightly blue tinged light filled the room. They were in a large kitchen, not nearly as big as you would find in the palace, but certainly bigger than a household’s. Glancing behind her at the door Twilight saw that it had a sliding metal bar as a locking mechanism that was wrapped in webbing that narrowed into a thick strand that passed through a pulley and then disappeared into a freshly drilled hole in the counter that was closest to it. Seeing what Twilight was looking at Skitter spoke before Twilight could investigate it further.
“I wouldn’t open that cabinet.” She said indicating the place beneath the drilled counter top. Skitter’s voice had a tone that Twilight remembered some of her friends used when they were warning you about something, but also sorta secretly hoped you do it anyway. She now remembered one too many pranks by Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash to let her innate curiosity seduce her into opening said cabinet.
“Hmm,” Twilight vocalized as she glanced between the door, the cabinet, and Skitter whose talent after all was speaking to insects of every imaginable type. Giving Skitter a small smile that conveyed a, ‘what you’re doing, I see it look,’ she continued. “Thanks for the warning. What is this place?” Looking around Twilight saw that the lighting all looked like it was coming from small electric bulbs strung by recently added wire secured to the ceiling and leading back to to large black boxes with metal poles sticking out of them that rested by the door. Clearly whatever this place was it wasn’t currently connected to central utilities like the PRT building had been.
“It’s an old city firehouse, probably been 30 years since this part of town had the funding to support it. It seemed like the perfect place for a lair, lots of space. Follow me, I’ll give you the not so grand tour.” Mimi and Twilight followed Skitter through an arched doorway and into a large open room with two huge opening on the other side that were sealed by large metal doors. In the corner closest to them a spiral staircase made of iron wound its way up to a second floor, while a polished brass pole stood proudly in the center of the open space leading up to a circular opening in the ceiling.
“This is where they used to keep the trucks, but it works well enough as a workspace.” Skitter gestured to a hoofull of folding tables along one wall and what looked like some recently installed shelving. One had a half finished copy of Skitter’s costume laid out on it, while another was piled randomly with construction tools. The shelves were occupied almost entirely by terrariums. Twilight wandered over to the table covered in tools and Mimi walked slowly to the brass pole and stared up its length. “Come on upstairs and I’ll show you where we’re sleeping tonight.”
Twilight’s eyebrow twitched at the disorganized table and when Skitter turned away to head for the stairs she quickly lit her horn and arranged the tools by type and size, all placed neatly an equal distance from their neighbors. Extinguishing the light on her horn and letting out a satisfied sigh she quickly trotted over to the others to keep up.
The second floor was split with one side having a couple of what looked like offices while the other side was a large open space filled with a dozen metal bed frames. The closest frame actually had a mattress and sheets with a beaten up nightstand holding a couple of books, while the others were bare grey metal. In the middle between the two rows of beds the brass pole from below rose from a hole in the floor guarded by an iron rail with a human sized hole on one side.
“And here’s where we sleep. I use the offices for silk production and the best silk spinners around here are black widows, so, um I recommend not going over there, there kinda territorial.” Twilight glanced uneasily at the previously harmless looking offices and thought of some of Fluttershy’s more unconventional friends who she had similarly described as ‘a little territorial.’ She decided to stay as far away from said offices as possible. “It doesn’t look like much, but trust me you did not want to see this place when I first found it.”
Twilight jumped in quickly to put that worry to rest as Mimi walked past her towards the beds. “Oh no, you’ve done a great job, I can only imagine how much a mess it was after being abandoned so long. I think it’s great. Certainly nicer than that old factory.” Skitter yawned and turned back to the stairs.
“I’ve got some spare sheets and a sleeping bag downstairs, we should be able to make some pallets to sleep on with them. I’ll run down and get them, if either of you want something to drink there’s some water and soda in that cooler over there, help yourselves.” Skitter started back down the stairs but just before her head disappeared down them Mimi spoke for the first time since leaving the lot.
“Hey, does this pole still work?” At Skitters hesitant nod Mimi smiled and jumped to the pole and slid quickly out of sight. Twilight’s ears rotated and she heard quiet laughter and quick footsteps heading towards the stairs. An indescribable warm feeling rose in her chest and shooting a challenging grin towards Skitter she ran to the hole and leapt to pole, delighted giggles following her down. At the bottom she had to roll out of the way of Skitter who had somehow managed a much faster slide. Mimi looked at the two of them from the base of the stairs before flashing a grin and running up them Twilight and Skitter fast on her heels.
———————————
An hour later Twilight was settling into her makeshift bed as she used her magic to gently comb Mimi’s hair. They hadn’t had materials for makeovers, smores, or even a pillow fight and Twilight was in no mood for ghost stories. But they had talked, not about anything really, and some unspoken agreement not to bring up anything serious had formed somewhere along the line. Mimi was mostly quiet, but seemed content to listen. Skitter’s mask was a small discordant note, by the end however Twilight had almost stopped noticing it.
She clopped her fore hooves together. She had even managed to get them into a game of twenty questions! It hadn’t been a textbook slumber party, besides missing a few key steps Twilight couldn’t remember there being a section on fire poles. Clearly the latter was an oversight that she was sure future editions would remedy with a judicious letter to the publisher. Overall Twilight thought it was pretty good for her first attempt at a cross dimensional multi-species sleepover.
None of her problems had gone away. The same things that had driven her to despair where still out there, waiting for her. But for now, right now, she was warm, safe, and with friends. For now she was happy and she pulled that feeling close and basked in it. Tomorrow would come, and when it did she would face it. With friends both near and far, old and new, strange and wonderful.
Struck by a thought she levitated a small notepad and pen they had been using earlier to keep score and flipped it to a new page. One more thing to do.
“Dear Princess Celestia,
------------------------------------------------------
The next morning after Skitter had left to meet with Faultline and then the other non-PRT capes Twilight had started on a project of her own. With a transmuted piece of chalk she had began drawling intricate circular patterns and designs all over the concrete floor of the old truck bay. Complex Equestrian runes wrapped some, while others were inlaid with fractal geometric patterns. Hovering in the air above her Mimi had created three small globes of fire to light the room. She was sitting about halfway up the spiral staircase with her legs dangling over the edge. She was wearing some sweatpants and a too big ‘hoodie’ that Skitter had loaned her and seemed content to watch while Twilight worked.
Lost in her work Twilight didn’t realize how much time had passed until she heard the clack of the door opening in the kitchen. With no natural light inside it was hard to tell, but most of the day must be gone if Skitter was already back from the meeting. A few moments later Skitter walked into the room still wearing her somewhat creepy bug costume and stared at the floor before looking up at the floating orbs of fire, and then over to Twilight.
“Do I want to know? You’re not about to summon some dark creature from beyond our realm of understanding are you?”
“What?! No of course not, those practices have been banned for thousands of years! Why would I do something like that?” Twilight sputtered in shock. Skitter waved her hands in that human motion that said to calm down.
“Hey, easy, I was joking,” she looked around at the patterns again lit by the flickering orbs of flame, “mostly. So what are you doing?”
Twilight smiled brightly at the question and straightened her posture. “I’m creating a series of spell circles to help me create a memory crystal.” Realizing that neither Skitter or Mimi would know what a spell circle was she continued. “Hmm, It’s like a…guide, or maybe like a mnemonic, but also a…@$@%^..battery or capacitor? as well. The spell I’m going to cast is really complicated and delicate, and instead of holding it all in my head at once I can do some of it before hand and….$Q$#@..set the some of the magic in place, and then during the course of casting I can…@$%@…chain?…them together using the patterns.”
“So what spell are you going to cast?” Skitter asked seeming to stumble over the words spell and cast.
“I’m going to try and create a memory crystal. If I’m successful I’ll be able create a three dimensional recording of myself and store it in the crystal. I think I can construct a spell to send it to the wards and I was thinking it would be nice to really show them I’m alright. It’s a little labor intensive, but I didn’t really have anything to do until you got back. I’m almost done.” Twilight set her chalk down. “So what happened at the meeting? What is everyone going to do?” Skitter stared at the pattern for a moment in thought before shaking her head.
“Well….
___________________________
The place was called Somer’s Rock. A dilapidated bar on a dilapidated street on which the businesses that remained opened only seemed to be because their owners had nowhere else to go and nothing else to do. Upon entering the place Skitter found that the inside decor matched the outside impression. She had done a little running around before the meeting and thus was one of the last people to get there. Taking a look around at the gathered capes what popped into her head was, ‘I have never seen a more wretched hive of scum and villainy.’ Faultline and Skitter both had thought that it would be advantageous if there wasn’t an explicit connection between them so Skitter settled onto a stool by the bar by herself. The people that Faultline and Skitter had been calling ‘non-PRT’ capes mostly consisted of some of the most notorious villains in the north east.
Several tables had been pushed together in the center of the room and the leaders of the various factions of Brockton Bay’s criminal underworld were seated there while their compatriots filled the booths around it. Skitter had done her research and set about identifying the people that had decided to show. At the far end of the table was a man armored from head to toe and wearing a crown of blades who could only be Kaiser. He was the head of what was probably the most powerful gang in Brockton Bay, Empire 88, a white supremacist group that recruited like minded capes from all over the world. Sitting in a booth behind him were the rest of the Empire’s representatives.
A pair of blond twins, Fenja and Menja, in valkyrie style armor and full face helms. They could grow three stories tall and were a hundred times more durable than a human when they did. The woman in a pure white costume and eyes glowing bright enough that she was hard to look at had to be Purity. Krieg, Night, Fog, and Hookwolf rounded out their table. It was the kind of firepower that nearly any Protectorate division would be jealous to have.
Next to Kaiser at the table was a skeletally thin man in a skin tight black costume whose only distinguishing feature was a white snake design that started at his head, wrapped around his neck, and then trailed down to one ankle. Faultline had briefed her on him, no one was sure if he had a power or not, but apparently he ran a good section of downtown with highly trained ex-military from around the world. He had hired Faultline for a few jobs that left her with the impression that he was very well founded. That he was here alone said something about his confidence at least.
Skitter recognized the costumed form of Tattletale sitting further down the table, and the rest of the Undersiders sitting in another booth. Up until their disastrous run in with the Wards and Twilight during the bank robbery they had been a not much noticed, but rising star of the local underworld. They were still missing Grue, but apparently Bitch had somehow managed to escape custody they also had another member that she didn’t recognize. She had never been more glad that she hadn’t taken Tattletale’s offer to join then when she heard the news about Bitch and Grue’s capture. When Twilight had told her about it from her perspective it had only reinforced the idea she had dodged a bullet.
A man in a black costume and a red tophat and mask was sitting across from Tattletale. A girl, a guy, and some sort of gorilla were sitting in a booth and wore costumes with a matching color scheme. Skitter didn’t recognize them, but given the fact that their leader was sitting at the main table while the leader of the Merchants sulked discontentedly with a few other shabbily dressed members of his meth dealing and using gang at the most distant booth in the place said that he must have some sort of reputation.
Faultline rounded out the central table with the Gregor, Newter, and Spitfire occupying the booth closest to the Empire’s. Skitter felt a little out of place being the only lone cape in the joint, but nobody had gainsaid her presence and everyone in the room seemed to be paying attention to the head table. Which suited her just fine, Skitter and Faultline had met earlier and gone over everything. They agreed that Faultline was going to be the one to do any talking. Coil steepled his fingers in front of him and started things off.
“That should be everyone. Seems Lung won’t be coming, though I doubt any of us are surprised, given the nature of tonight’s discussion.”
“The ABB,” Kaiser replied.
“Hundreds confirmed dead, more hospitalized. The PRT headquarters downtown leveled while the first extraterrestrial being ever contacted was staying there. Said alien still missing and possibly dead. Causing international outrage. Random bombings, running battles in the streets between ABB and police and military. They are targeting our businesses and are pushing into all of our territories. All of this with no indication that they are stopping anytime soon.”
“It is inconvenient,” Kaiser nodded.
“They're being reckless,” Faultline interjected. “Beyond reckless, outright insane.”
“Which is the real concern,” Coil continued. “They can’t sustain this. Something will give, they will self destruct sooner or later, and cease to be an issue. Had things played out differently we could have even looked at this a good thing. But their actions even before the tower bombing were drawing far to much attention, bringing in heroes from other cities and a Homeland Security presence here. The tower bombing has shined the light of the world on our city, and if we don’t contain it we may all find ourselves exposed in it.”
“They’ve gotten the attention of more than just the government,” Faultline spoke with deadly seriousness. “I have first hand confirmation that the Slaughterhouse Nine are in town.” At that declaration the room went silent, even the endless dissatisfied muttering of the Merchants stopped.
“Fuck me,” Tattletale breathed, “Thats true, you ran into one of them, shit you beat one of them, no-“
“Yes,” Faultline spoke over Tattletale. “Burnscar attacked my group last night, she’s…no longer a problem. I also have it from what I would consider a reliable source that Jack Slash died the night before last not long after the tower explosion.” Once again silenced reigned. While the individual life expectancy of a member of the Nine was about six months, Jack slash had been a member of the Nine for a decade and had developed a reputation as the luckiest psychopath that walked the face of the earth. Jack Slash being dead was world changing news. Once again it was Tattletale the broke the silence.
“Holy shit, he is dead, you met the person that killed him, they helped you with Burnscar..fuck Twilight Sparkle killed him, she lived through the bombing.” Faultline’s expression shifted to aggrieved, bordering on pissed.
“Yes, when we parted ways I got the idea she was going to lay low for now. Jack gave her the impression before she killed him that if she tried to shelter with the Protectorate or PRT that they would be the Nine’s next targets.” Faultline paused for a moment and then continued when no one picked up the conversation. “So that is probably the biggest reason to deal with the ABB and deal with them quickly. Quite frankly we have bigger problems and can’t afford to be distracted by them.” The cape in the tophat let out a soft whistle.
“Well, that was bracing. I would say that Twilight Sparkle’s introduction to humanity these past two weeks has been..sub-optimal. A mad bomber, an S-Class threat, and a being from another world.” Skitter thought he stressed those last two words a little more than the rest as he shot a quick look at his team. “This city is more interesting than I gave it credit for.”
“Quite,” Coil responded. “So, given this new information, are we in agreement? The ABB cannot be allowed to continue operating.” Nods and murmurs of agreement went around the room.
“Then I suggest we establish a truce. Not just everyone here, but between ourselves and the law. I would contact authorities and let them know that until the ABB and the Nine are taken care of or driven off, our groups will restrict our illegal activity to only what is absolutely essential to our business, and we will enforce the same for those doing business in our territories. That would let police forces and military focus entirely on these threats as well. There would be no violence, infighting between our groups, grabs for territory, thefts or insults. We band together with those we can tolerate for guaranteed victory, and we ignore those we cannot cooperate with. Kaiser?”
“I think that is acceptable,” Kaiser agreed.
“Yeah,” Tattletale said. “Unless we all want to try doing business in the smoking cinder that used to be Brockton Bay we need to take care of this, were in.”
The man in the tophat tipped it. “A little more fun than we had planned on, but no problem, count us in.”
__________________________
…There are always a few snags when you try to get a bunch of different capes working together, but they all agreed to put aside any differences they have for now to take care of the ABB and not interfere with each other until the Nine leave the city or are otherwise out of the picture.” Twilight was both relieved and worried. Relived that so many people were going to band together to help each other and her, worried about the danger those nice people were going to be putting themselves in.
“Thats good news, thank you so much for going. I just hope everyone stays safe.” Twilight bent back down and made a few more marks on the floor before neatly placing her chalk in a small box she had drawn in the corner. “Done! Now all I have to do is charge and configure the @$%# circles and I’ll be ready to cast the spell.”
“So when your done you’ll have a crystal that will show a 3D recording of you?” Skitter inquired.
“Um-hmm,” Twilight nodded absently as she glanced between the patterns on the floor and a sheet of paper she was levitating in front of her, making large checkmarks as she went down a list. Skitter paused for a moment before continuing in a light tone.
“Did you know that it is a tradition to start such recordings with a specific greeting?” Twilight looked up from her list with a puzzled frown.
“Really?”
“Yup, don’t worry though, it’s nothing complicated.” After Skitter had explained the greeting Twilight was very confused. It was a very strange way to greet someone, either her translation spell was failing her or it was a human idiom that had passed well beyond it’s original meaning. Regardless it was no problem adding it in front of what she wanted to tell the Wards and the PRT.
____________________________
The next morning a scroll addressed the Wards with a small clear crystal attached by a ribbon materialized with a purple flash in front of Vista as she was eating cereal in the Protectorate cafeteria. Vista flinched back from the scroll before realizing she recognized that shade of purple.
“Twilight!” She exclaimed drawing the attention of the other Wards and members of the Protectorate that were present. Sliding the ribbon holding the scroll together off she unrolled it. Reading the brief and neatly written instructions she proceeded to baffle everyone else when she tossed the crystal into her water glass. The glass glowed bright purple for a moment and then suddenly Twilight Sparkle was standing on the table. Twilight turned her head to the side for a second and then faced forward again. Vista tried to reach out and touch her and found her hand passing through Twilight’s leg with no resistance. Then the unicorn spoke.
“Help me Obi-Wan Kenobi, you’re my only hope…”