//------------------------------// // Lines and Old Friends // Story: Land of Friendship and Magic // by Archmage Ansrit //------------------------------// (Prospit's duplicate, train to Canterlot) "My, what a lovely dress." A tall, rosy-white unicorn mare said, a slight accent to her words. "Indeed; the cloth is simply recherché." Her companion said; a tall, robust white unicorn with a blue mane. "Ah, you must be sir Fancy Pants and lady Fleur de Lis." Prospit said... well, being a duplicate did not make her any less 'her'. The pair gave her a rehearsed polite nod. "Please, nothing so formal, dear." Fancy Pants said, voice very measured as 'refinement' mandated. "Just 'Fleur' is more than enough." Her voice was much the same; controlled and mostly neutral. "Thank you for the compliments, by the way; my parents made it for me." Prosperity said, just like them - which irked the guard that had been on the receiving end of her sarcasm for the last ten minutes. "My name is Prosperity, though friends and family call me 'Prospit'." "How lovely." Fleur said. "My adoptive father offered plenty of options, as well." Prosperity said, wiggling a single claw in the air. If one were to pay attention, it would almost look like she was painting, or perhaps writing. She was, but not with unicorn, pegasus, or earth pony letters. 'You have my condolences.' "Oh? Interesting." Fancy said, as Fleur 'buffed' a hoof on her coat. 'Thank you.' "Yeah... Typhon is... quite the personage." Prosperity chuckled politely, waving her claw as if fishing for words. 'Phantasma was my friend.' "My goodness!" Fleur gasped in 'surprise'. 'We know.' "He caused quite the stir recently." Fancy Pants said, pretending that he was cleaning his monocle. 'Do you have news?' "He has a talent for setting things in motion... be it metaphorically, or literally." She tapped a claw on the other in amusement. 'Your youngest sister is doing fine as of three days ago.' "We should converse further over dinner." Fleur proposed, placing a hoof on Fancy's shoulder. 'Thank you.' "Perhaps even something more private; I wish to know more about somepo- excuse me, someone so famous." Fancy said, chuckling behind a hoof, before extending it towards Prosperity. 'She has been worried about her sister, thank you.' "But of course!" Prosperity took his hoof in a gentle shake. "I would love to do so, you have but to ask." The last word was pointed, and a playful glare was leveled at the guard that started the whole mess. He almost snorted. 'She's so much like Phantasma, I have no doubt she can handle it.' "Dear Prospit?" Fancy asked, making Prosperity turn back to him. He glanced to his hoof, making her turn and see that she 'forgot' to stop the shake. "Sorry." She smiled warmly as she released him. "We should talk more when dinner is served." ***** (Library) Brief introductions done, they sat on some cushions making a circle. "Yeah, as much as I'd like to chat, I, like... I need some advice." Rainbow Dash said. Twilight and the others paid close attention; Dash was being... somewhat distant, muted. "I- the thing is- ugh." Dash closed her eyes and hung her head for a moment. She then straightened up. "Remember-? Wait, stupid question." She rubbed her eyes with a hoof. "Back when we first met, I crashed into you." Dash sighed heavily. "I did it again, to somepony else... I hurt her, Twilight." She said, rubbing a foreleg with the other. "I made her cry." Prosperity tapped her arm awkwardly. Technically, she already knew about that, but it did not make being in the middle of it any less uncomfortable. "I could tell - she wasn't calling me egocentric to be mean or anything, she was just trying to tough it out." She turned to Ditzy. "It made me think anyways - about how I treat others, I mean." "Sure, if you need anything, I'm there. Bam. Ten seconds, tops. But that's just one side. I'm called 'reckless' all the time, but I always blew them off - I mean, nopony got hurt, right? And if I break something, I pay for it. I never had to see somepony limping away from me with a black eye from an accident." "If you fear it's too late to apologize, don't worry." Prosperity said, placing a palm reassuringly on her back. "It is never too late, even when it looks like it is - especially if it looks like it is." 'I'm sorry, Moonshadow. I wasn't there for you.' The young dragon cried silently, the blizzard raging on around Typhon's dome. 'None of us were.' Typhon embraced her gently. 'I could not see Sombra until it was too late...' The beautiful crystals no longer glinted softly in the light. They were gone, leaving behind only a frozen wasteland. Phantasma and Flitter wept openly, while Clover tried to appear strong, but was betrayed by tears. 'I will not be caught unprepared again.' Prosperity said, tightening her fists. 'When the city comes back, I will be there.' "I'm not very good at this - not in this way." Dash said. "Would you guys help me?" "Of course!" Ditzy chimed in. "You're a good friend, Rainbow, and you've helped me out a lot!" "Yeah!" "We saved the world twice already; I'm not going to leave you alone now." "As I said already, I like you all." Dash smiled. Everything would be just fine. ***** (Typhon. Past) Equestria was filled with monsters. That was a fact. One would simply shrug and say 'well, they do have the Everfree', but the reality was harsher. Yes, the forest did have a large amount of dangerous creatures, but they roamed further than that. They were not completely confined. Case in point: THE GIGANTIC BUCKIN' CENTIPEDES WRECKING COLTON. There were three humongous ones, with each individual section about the size of a Volkswagen, and long enough to - by my estimates - encircle a football field ('soccer', however) and leave a few segments still. There were plenty of smaller ones, too. Something must have aggravated them, likely one of Discord's little chaotic timed 'bombs'. I was in my little zen state, allowing me to contemplate some thoughts while I acted. After all, I didn't feel fear any more - not in the normal sense, anyways. I... acknowledged fear. Fear was one of many illusions - the cause of some, rather. I simply allowed fear to run through without stopping; fear should not be allowed to clog your system, because that was the time when things like 'freezing up' and 'panic' attacked. I could fear and dread without fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little death that kills you over and over. Without fear, I could think and act no matter how much I disliked my situation - or the scenario playing through my head. Clover said that it was a wise way of thinking, in an insane sort of way. After all, a sane person would not jump through the fire towards a certain sun-flanked princess that was not entirely pleased with them. ***** (Celestia) The princess grunted as three pairs of pincers assaulted her shield. Behind her, the cries of colts and fillies fueled her resolve. She would not have much trouble, normally, yet the fire raging around and the sheer amount of monsters worried her. She could hold. She would hold it, for days if necessary. Her grunt was more of displeasure. She wanted to beat the creatures back with her own hooves, rather than leave it all in the hooves of her soldiers. A crying filly squeezed her leg, with the foal's pregnant mother hugging the little one. She held the monsters back. All of them were counting on her. She was their shield and castle. She was unyielding, their ruler, their Protector. Her eyes blazed with power. The small ones, with segments the size of a cantaloupe, caught fire upon contact. The largest ones, too, had their heads incinerated... but the accursed beings shed the entire heads and the next segment was warped into the shape of another, before their pincers once more reformed onto the new head. The situation was still far from being under control, but the cries grew silent withal. A pegasus guard landed roughly, but on his hooves; he could not slow down enough, and the landing was unkind. Celestia watched with horror as the nearest house burst into pieces from a large centipede ramming into it, the tremors being the last straw that sent the guard tumbling to the ground, right in the middle of the rain of debris. There was blue. The rocks and lumber entered the faint blue sphere, but, just as they touched the deeper blue sphere, a wave of a hand sent a blast of air that knocked them away. It was... elegant; she reluctantly granted him that. He stood over the dazed guard, arms swaying with graceful, seemingly-gentle motions that nonetheless were fast enough to swat all of the broken pieces of the former home. His gauntlets did not have a speck of sooth on them. A few of the small creatures jumped him from behind. She almost snorted. That tactic had never worked. Indeed; an arm was already swinging; no sooner had the overgrown insects attempted to enter the radius of his influence they found themselves flung into her shield by a blast of air. They burned. His fist swung. The cracking of chitin reached her ears even through the fire. The sphere of blue wavered and deformed as he (not-so-gently) picked the guard in his arms and threw him into the air, making him open his wings on reflex, to be sent higher by a few more blue lines. Typhon had a sword in his hand. Long, with a soft, elegant curve, yet the blade was rough-hewn and did not seem to be a good choice against the creatures, who could deflect arrows that were not charged with magic. Celestia knew better than to take things at face value, though. She could see his face; he was muttering something. The blade emitted a wan light for a moment, before he turned it on the monsters. ***** The last centipede fell to the guards. There were numerous wounded, though, miraculously, no deaths. Celestia had, after all, been right there when the alarm was raised. And Typhon... "You may wonder how such a rough-hewn blade cuts so cleanly! It is because the sword knows no such doubt!" Typhon shouted, holding the sword over his head in triumph. He turned away, lowering into a crouch, gathering his strength, and then jumped. He broke some shingles, and she definitely heard the creak of wood absorbing abuse. She... might have told the guards she was going to incinerate the remains herself 'as preventive measures' just to have an excuse to see more closely the results of whatever magic he had worked. After all, he had used his blade to slice through the remnants of a wall. She was willing to let this incident pass. The damages were already bad enough. ... Since when had she decided to have a threshold that made it preferable to have him involved? At least he had saved the guards.