Fluttershy and Naruko emerged from the Ever-Free Forest much faster than they probably should have considering how deep in they were. “Ramen! Ramen! Ramen... the food of life!” Naruko sang happily. She was even bouncing a little.
Fluttershy was hovering behind Naruko as Kyuubi walked next to them both in his three tailed form. The blonde unicorn’s bouncing made for an uncomfortable ride on her back, so he decided to walk with them instead.
“This Ramen stuff must be very amazing if she is this happy about eating it,” Fluttershy said softly to Kyuubi. She wasn't at all seemingly fazed by the fact they were just in the Ever-Free Forest and had faced and defeated a giant stone solider.
Kyuubi rolled his eyes and asked, “Am I the only one who finds it odd we had no trouble leaving the Ever-Free Forest that quickly? Also shouldn’t we visit the Princesses right away?”
Fluttershy gave him a questioning glance. Kyuubi shook his head and gave a smile. “It may not really be that amazing to other ponies, but to Naruko… it is.”
“Ramen is amazing. It’s the food of Legends! It is pure utter ecstasy! Especially Victory Ramen!” Naruko said as she started her ramen dance and song again. Kyuubi and Fluttershy just went with it, and didn’t bother to say anything else about ramen.
As they approached Ponyville, Naruko was still bouncing and she was soon joined by a bouncing pink pony. “What are we bouncing for?!" Pinkie asked in her usual cheerful manner.
“Ramen, Pinkie! Raaaamennnnn!” Naruko said.
“OOOOhhh of course!!!” Pinkie said with her usual big and bright smile. She started bouncing in time with Naruko.
Fluttershy hovered over quickly and asked. “You’ve had this ramen stuff before, Pinkie? Is it any good?”
“Ohhh of course it’s super-duper ultra-amazing!” Pinkie said with full confidence. Fluttershy seemed to nod in interest with a hoof on her chin. “Of course I’ve never even heard of it until just now!”
Fluttershy had to catch herself before she fell to the ground as she stopped flapping her wings for a second. “How do you know it’s any good then…? Never mind… I shouldn’t have asked… sorry.”
“Don’t worry, Fluttershy! I know it is amazing because Naruko here is so happy to be on her way to get it. I mean it must be really good if she loves it this much,” Pinkie said matter-of-factly.
Naruko just nodded and kept humming and going on about how wonderful ramen was to herself. She wasn’t as crazy about it all the time anymore, but when she did get crazy about ramen she really didn’t hold back.
“So are we all going to get this ramen stuff then?! Oooohhhh!!! Should I throw us a Ramen party?! That might be fun, of course I need to know what this ramen stuff is first. Is it a candy?! I really like candy, or better yet cupcakes! Everyone loves cupcakes! They are like cakes except in cups,” Pinkie said as she spaced out and started to drool, yet she still didn't miss a bounce.
“Cupcakes are good, Pinkie. But ramen is... Ramen!” Naurko said. “Do you want to come with us to have some too, Pinkie?! Fluttershy, Twilight, and I are going to go have some Victory Ramen!”
“That must be even more super fantastically amazingly awesome than just normal ramen! Sure I would love to have some!” Pinkie said. She then started to join in on Naruko’s ramen song.
Fluttershy didn’t want to be a downer, but she felt she had to at least tell Pinkie where they were going to get the ramen. “Ummm… Pinkie… We have to go all the way to Canterlot to get this Ramen…. Can you take that much time off from the bakery at this exact moment?”
Pinkie frowned and said, “Awww…. I can’t go then… At least not today….” She then smiled again and cheerfully said, “Oh well! You will just have to make sure to have enough of this wondertacticful Ramen for me then.”
Fluttershy gave a little nod in understanding as the pink pony turned ninety degrees west and shouted, “Bye lovely wonderful pony friends! Aaaand super awesome fox friend.”
The others gave her a cheerful wave goodbye, and Naruko already started making plans for a ramen expedition for her friends at a later date when they could all go. First though she needed her Victory Ramen with Fluttershy and Twilight.
{-} {-} {-}
Twilight was pacing in the library. She was deeply concerned about Naruko and Fluttershy’s mission. Helping Rarity and the others all of this time had done little to ease her mind. It may not have felt like it to her adventuring friends in that temple, but it had been a total of three days at least.
Spike gave a yawn. “Twilight, you need to go and get some rest…. You haven’t slept much at all since Naruko left for her quest with Fluttershy. Your pacing is making me tired just watching.”
Twilight just gave him a look. Spike gulped and decided it was time to clean up the basement, or anything to stay away from Twilight right now. She was acting worse than when she somehow believed the reason Celestia hadn’t given her and Naruko any actual tests for a couple of weeks was to lure them into a false sense of security.
Twilight figured the princess would suddenly give them a pop test that would somehow involve levitating all of the Royal Guards, dodging fire bolts, and singing the Equestrian Anthem… backwards at the same time.
Soon Twilight heard a familiar voice singing about Ramen. Twilight’s purple eyes lit up and she gave a huge smile after frowning for three days straight. “She’s back!” Twilight shouted before she disappeared in a flash of light.
{-} {-} {-}
Naruko finally stopped bouncing and looked right in front just as a pink white light appeared. Twilight then dashed forward and gave her a great big hug. “Ohh Naruko you made it back! I was so worried about you!”
She next looked and smiled at Fluttershy before giving her a big hug as well. “You too, Fluttershy! I’m so glad to see you made it! Not that I didn’t think you two would make it! I had complete faith you would both make it no problem! Still it is so good to see you both back!”
Fluttershy wasn’t quite sure how to respond to this welcome back. She was surprised when Twilight appeared right before them. The yellow pegasus decided on just returning the hug and smiling. It really was good to be back in Ponyville again.
Naruko waited until after Twilight finished hugging Fluttershy and then the blonde unicorn gave her friend a great big hug again. “I’m so glad to see you again, Twilight!” She looked her friend over and gave her a concerned look as she asked, “You did at least sleep? Right, Twilight?”
Twilight gave a nervous smile as she said very quickly, “Sleep? I didn’t have any time for sleep. I was too worried, but I don’t need sleep! Sleep is for ponies who don’t know how to pull all-nighters for consecutive days!” She tried to seem confident, but her frazzled mane and the noticeable dark circles under her eyes was a dead give away to the truth.
Twilight finally realized she wasn’t fooling anyone and sighed. “I tried to sleep… I just couldn’t…. I mean you two were on a dangerous mission! I feared I had overlooked something crucial. I know there will be other missions, and you will be alright, but I couldn’t stop triple checking, quadruple checking, quintuple checking, sextuple….” The purple unicorn gave a sheepish smile. “You get the idea.”
Naruko nodded as did Fluttershy while their friend continued, “I mean two ponies lives depended on any information I could find on their mission… Not to mention all of Equestria! Then Spike finally made me realize that I couldn’t figure out everything about that place because not even the princesses really remember much about it…. Spike finally made me go help Rarity and then others in any way I could to help me calm down… only I didn’t! Because I kept thinking about what I would do next time there was a mission.”
Twilight then took in a deep breath, placed a hoof to her chest, before slowly extending it outwards as she exhaled. She jumped a little when Fluttershy shouted, “AHH!!! You’re where Naruko got that from! I was wondering about it….” Fluttershy blushed after looking at her friends and added, “Sorry if I caused you to jump, Twilight.”
“Yes I learned it from her, Fluttershy. She learned it from her old foal sitter,” Naruko said.
The blonde unicorn then turned to Twilight and asked seriously, “Did you… you know…?”
Before Naruko could go further, Twilight shook her head. “Fortunately I managed to keep my worries mostly to myself, and didn’t cause any castle wall destroying accidental magic explosions this time.” She gave another sheepish smile and a small whinny.
Naruko gave a smile and placed a hoof on the other unicorn’s back. “That is good, Twilight.” She then gave Twilight another hug. Fluttershy decided she really didn’t want to know the details about accidental castle wall destroying magic.
“Sooooo…. Victory Ramen?” Twilight asked with a smile and a yawn. It seemed the relief she felt at seeing her friends allowed her body to actually realize how exhausted it was now and relax.
Naruko smiled and said, “Victory Ramen! Fluttershy is coming with us. She has never had it before! Can you believe that?”
“Yes I can actually, Naruko….” Twilight said. The blonde unicorn gave a look of betrayal to this. Twilight then gave her a serious face and said, “It is a tragedy how few know of the wonder that is ramen, Naruko. Remember it is our job as Followers of Ramen to enlighten the unfortunate.”
Naruko nodded emphatically. Kyuubi gave a soft laugh and muttered fondly, “Those two and ramen.” Fluttershy was even more curious about this food if even Twilight seemed to really like it.
Twilight spoke again. “We, the Followers of Ramen, must enlighten the blind to its glory.”
Naruko spoke. “We, the Followers of Ramen, must bring love and joy to others in the form of Ramen.”
Then the two unicorns spoke together, “We, the Followers of Ramen, must remember moderation. For if we don’t, then we won’t experience its true ecstasy, and will never reach Ramen Nirvana.”
Fluttershy blinked, not sure what to make of this until her two friends laughed. Twilight then spoke. “While it is really amazing and wonderful; I still can’t believe we really got that into it and made it a religion when we were younger.”
Naruko laughed and said, “When you say younger you mean until a year ago.” The two giggled and Fluttershy started to laugh as well.
“Did you two really do that?” the pegasus asked.
“Yes. They did,” Kyuubi answered. The two unicorns were still giggling. “In fact, it was Celestia who fortunately got them to make the last decree to their 'religion'. My partner rediscovered her love for the food while training in Canterlot. We found a ramen stand there and had some to eat. Thus her love for the food was reborn and we visited more often. She even dragged the others along with her.”
Kyuubi gave a laugh as he said, “You can only imagine the chef’s surprise when two of Celestia’s well-known personal students, and the princess herself, stopped by his little small food stand the first time.”
Fluttershy gave a giggle to the thought of that. Kyuubi laughed further as he continued, “Also he only made the mistake of giving them free ramen once… Naruko with Twilight’s and Celestia’s help almost ate him out of business. Celestia sent money later after they all recovered from their ramen binge.” Naruko and Twilight laughed to the memory.
Naruko gave a sudden serious look and said to Twilight. “Okay, Twilight.” The pony in question turned to her fellow unicorn. “We will all go and get some Victory Ramen. But you better actually sleep on the train ride to Canterlot. Understood?”
Twilight gave a frown. “You better do the same Naruko Uzumaki! I know you haven’t had much sleep, if any, while on your mission.”
Naruko frowned at Twilight. “Well I did at least sleep some. Unlike some unicorns who stayed up the whole time worrying.”
Fluttershy sighed and then said in a strong enough voice to be heard right away. “We will all sleep on the train ride to Canterlot, There is enough time for it.” She then narrowed her blue eyes, which held a determined glow daring them to challenge her.
Both unicorns lowered their heads and agreed with her as they made their way to the train station. Twilight was actually impressed with Fluttershy putting her hoof down like that. The librarian hoped it wasn't just a temporary thing.
{-} {-} {-}
Before the trio of ponies made their way to their compartment, Fluttershy sweetly asked one of the train attendants to check in on them once they were about ten minutes from Canterlot. The young stallion could only blush and nod to her words. Fluttershy was standing in a way that was reminiscent of “Cruletyshy” as the two spoke.
The butter yellow pegasus couldn’t help, but giggle at his reaction once he was gone. She felt happy that she could get a stallion to react that way. She thought that was something just for ponies like Rarity.
Thanks to Fluttershy’s intervention, the trio of ponies were able to enjoy a wonderful nap on their way to Canterlot. Fluttershy had some very interesting dreams on the way.
Dream Fluttershy was walking with a very impressive grace and sway to her flank. It got the attention of many stallions, and some mares as well. Dream Fluttershy was really happy to get this kind of attention from others. In the past, she was always a side lined mare to ponies like Rainbow, even in her dreams. Now however, she was more than capable of getting attention from others on her own.
Fluttershy decided she really needed to get a use of this part of her. She hoped “Cruletyshy’ might help her out in this regard. She didn’t want to become some whorse, but she wanted some attention in that way. In the end, she did care more about getting along with her friends though.
Naruko had dreams of a different kind. In the blonde unicorn’s dreams, she was devouring mountains of ramen. The mountains of ramen eventually turned in to a large field instead. Next to dream Naruko appeared Twilight and then the two started to run around playing in the field together.
Twilight had a very odd, but enjoyable dream. In her dream, she started out as her usual self studying in the Ponyville Library, which had substantially increased in size. Eventually she found something very crucial and took it to Naruko.
Naruko and her then went on the most exciting and enjoyable adventure ever for anypony. They even went into a foreign land that was covered in sand, but the sunset views were more breath taking than anything she had seen before in either picture or real life. During the course of the adventure many deep feelings were expressed, and the lavender pony was able to tell Naruko of her deepest and most secret feelings.
The dream then changed and she got some odd glimpse of what was clearly a different world. Also she caught a short glimpse of some vaguely familiar human forms, or as close as she could tell from Naruko's descriptions. Each figure looked similar to her friends.
The lavender unicorn shot up and took in a deep breath as she exhaled it. Twilight focused herself and used the tried and true calming motion Cadance taught her years ago. The gifted unicorn then taught her best friend the same thing. This seemed to have paid off if what Fluttershy briefly said about the mission was true.
Celestia’s most gifted student was in a cold sweat as she looked around the compartment. Naruko was busy sleeping and obviously dreaming about ramen if the murmurs of “Ramen! Food of the Gods! MMMM!” were anything to go by.
Twilight looked around and slowly regained her breath completely. She wasn’t sure what her dream was about. “I’ve read and heard that some really gifted unicorns received visions of the future, but they were supposedly jumbled up badly. Was that dream such a vision?” Twilight thought to herself. She always figured the ponies who supposedly had these visions were probably on something and used extremely vague terms very much open to interpretation.
She shook her head. “Visions… of the future…” she said to herself with a hint of distaste. She knew such things were stupid and unrealistic. “Whatever that was… the dream felt so very real though...”
Twilight sighed. “At least I was there with the girls. And more importantly Naruko...” the unicorn said to herself. She was surprised she felt warm at the last part. Twilight was troubled about this. She wasn’t sure where her feelings for the blonde unicorn really fell, and if said feelings were returned in the same manner.
However she knew no matter what, Naruko would always be there for her until her last breath. Twilight always did her best to show her appreciation for this whenever she could. She may be new to this friend stuff, but she was already wholeheartedly into it. Though she did kind of favor Naruko.
Whenever there was a fight between Naruko and somepony else. Twilight usually sided with the beautiful blonde Unicorn. She even knew if it came between Celestia and Naruko…. Twilight would choose Naruko…
Twilight was just very glad that situation was very unlikely to happen. Naruko was different, but she too saw the Alicorn princess as a motherly figure. Twilight felt the same way.
“I wonder if we should visit the princess while we're in Canterlot…” Twi thought to herself. She was 50/50 on the deal. She wanted to just be there with her friends Fluttershy and Naruko only, but she also liked the idea of visiting Celestia again.
In the end, the lavender unicorn decided it would be Naruko’s decision. Some would see this as a cheap way out of making the decision, but Twilight was different. In her case, it showed she would let Naru choose and go along with it. The pony deserved that after the mission.
Twilight sighed as she knew she wouldn’t be sleeping anymore on their way to Canterlot. She was a little happy that she at least had gotten some sleep, and from her guess woke up about twenty minutes from their destination. She took this time to sort through her thoughts and dreams.
She knew Naruko was very important to her, but she rarely realized just how much the blonde unicorn was. Twilight had mixed feelings about her dreams. She was thrilled by how close she seemed to be with Naruko, but there seemed to still be an irritating distance between them.
This distance was similar to what she sometimes felt towards Naruko in reality. Twilight was always better at magic than Naruko, but the blonde unicorn excelled at combat magic. Naruko excelled at combat magic more than anypony else Celestia had ever known supposedly.
“Was her training in that other world really that harsh…? Or is there something else that drives her…?” Twilight was once again plagued by a question that had often haunted her mind. She always felt like there was a part of Naruko she just couldn't even understand. She was kind of glad she couldn't understand that part of Naruko, but it still bugged her.
The pony shook her head. “Why does this bother me?! Naruko has shown she really cares about me. She even said if she were to ever get with a stallion, they would have to also really like me.”
The unicorn finally sighed as she thought, “Why am I bothered so much by these thoughts?!” She let out another long breath. This was no time for such thoughts. She would always stay by Naruko’s side as well… No matter what came their way.
{-} {-} {-}
The train finally came to a stop at Canterlot Exchange. Ponies of many types and from all over exited the train in an orderly fashion. Fluttershy felt a little overwhelmed about the proceedings, but she was happy. She was here with two really good friends. Nothing else mattered to her.
“Victory Ramen!!!” shouted Naruko. She then smiled at Fluttershy and said, “This doesn’t happen often…. But I'm treating you Flutters! After all you did for me and Equestria. It's the least I can do.”
Fluttershy blushed gracefully as she followed the others. The butter yellow pegasus managed to get some appreciative glances from part of the Canterlot Elite as they walked the streets. She was a little excited by this, but cared more about being with her two friends.
{-} {-} {-}
It didn’t take long for Naruko and Twilight to lead them to their final destination. Fluttershy was surprised how unimportant but homey the place felt. She instantly smiled to her friends. Fluttershy already knew this would be a night she would treasure for the rest of her life.
“Well well well!!! If it ain’t two of my most favorite customers and ponies… so long as they pay! How have you been?! Looks like you two brought a friend as well! That hasn’t happened in a long time,” the owner said cheerfully.
The owner was a tan bodied stallion with a light brown mane with just a touch of grey. His cutie mark was a bowl of noodles sitting on top of a napkin.
Naruko playfully rolled her blue eyes and grinned, “It was only that one time we didn’t pay!”
Twilight giggled and added, “And you were the one who said it was on the house.”
The stallion laughed joyfully. “Yep a mistake I made only once.”
“I believe you were paid in the end anyways,” Fluttershy said. The others blinked at that. “Kyu told me the story,” She answered the others. She also could have sworn she heard a huff of indignation at her usage of the shortened name from some where.
“Well come on you ponies! Have a seat! Tell you what, half price for you three tonight. I believe I heard a shout of Victory Ramen from a few blocks away.” The owner gave a blushing Naruko a grin.
{-} {-} {-}
Twilight was the first to order in the group once they sat down. “I'll just have my usual to start with.”
Fluttershy looked at the menu skeptically as she read over what was in each dish. She finally made her decision, and was more than willing to give the staff her benefit of the doubt. However, it seemed Naruko was going to take the lead here and order for her.
“Two Miso, four pork, three veggie ramen for me. Fluttershy here would like to start off with a small of each type!” Nauko smiled as the owner got busy right away.
Fluttershy was close to protesting, but decided against it. After all she had been through the Forest Temple with Naruko, she was sure not much would get to her now.
There was one thing that bothered her. “It isn’t really made of pig is it?”
“Nah. He messed around with the different broths and came up with some that a few gryphons said tasted similar to such things,” Naruko answered first as she started to stare off dreamily.
“He usually calls it something else, but Naruko here insist on calling it by the name the gryphons used,” Twilight said as well.
“Plus… though I don’t want to… I might have to eat meat sometime…” Naruko answered with a little frown. As a pony, she had gotten more than used to how her body worked and she wasn't happy to eat meat. Was she still in her own world she might be craving the stuff, but here it didn't seem appetizing to her.
Fluttershy gasped and looked horrified. “Why would you ever?” She might have completely flipped out hearing this from Naruko, but she knew there had to be a good reason for it.
“Well part of my eventual duties as a Contract Guardian will be to visit foreign countries. I will have to respect their customs the best I can,” Naruko said with a nod.
“Ohh… I never really thought about that before,” Fluttershy said. She soon picked up several wonderful scents as several bowls of ramen came out for the group. She looked in awe as she saw the many steaming bowls. Her mouth soon started to water, and she noticed her’s wasn’t the only one. Both Naruko and Twilight were drooling next to her.
“Here you go, you three!” The owner handed out the meals and sat down to wait. He was expecting more customers to start showing up soon enough. His place wasn’t large, but it was roomy and thanks to a certain group of ponies his humble food restaurant became rather popular.
He then gave a chuckle as he spoke up. “I never did thank you two for the business you inadvertently gave me.”
“What do you mean?” asked Twilight. Naruko was too busy enjoying her victory ramen to say anything. Fluttershy was happily trying each of her bowls in turn but listened.
“Well your brother Shining Armor of course! You two dragged him here a couple of times. Afterwards once he started guard training, he and his fellow cadets made this one of their hangouts when off duty,” the ramen chef pony said.
He gave a hearty chuckle, “I even added to my restaurant thanks to all of the business. It seems things caught fire after Shining Armor and a couple of others came to love the place.”
He then gave a wide smile as a couple of ponies he recognized made their way over to him. “How are you two wonderful ponies tonight?” He greeted them.
“Oh simply wonderful, my Friend. My lovely companion here insisted we come here tonight,” said a voice that Naruko would have recognized if she wasn’t too busy eating. “Not that I complained mind you.” The pony then gave a friendly chuckle.
The owner joined in the chuckle. “So do you two want your usual spot tonight?”
The pony who first spoke was about to answer, but blinked in surprise as he exclaimed, “I say. Is that Naruko and Twilight? Along with a lovely pegasus mare?”
Naruko and Twilight looked up. They gave a smile as they saw a white coated unicorn stallion with a light blue wavy mane and thin stylish mustache. He was dressed stylishly as always and gave off a pleasant aura like always as well. He gave them a smile.
“Fancy Pants?” Naruko and Twilight asked together.
“Yes, indeed. I must say it is smashing to meet you two here of all places again. Not to mention this wonderful friend of yours,” he said with a smile as Fluttershy blushed.
“I hate to interrupt… But who are your friends here exactly? I don’t really recognize them,” a rather quiet voice from behind him said.
The group looked and saw an earth pony mare in a wonderful but simple dress. She had a light blue coat and a black mane and tail. On her flank was a cutie mark with an artist easel and two crossed fine tipped paint brushes.
“Oh sorry, I simply got caught up in meeting two friends of mine that I haven’t seen in a while.” He then pointed a hoof to the mare next to him. “This is, Fine Brush. She is a delightful mare who also is the curator at my main art gallery.”
The mare next to him gave a polite friendly smile and bowed to the others. Fancy gave her a smile as he spoke again. “These two ponies here are delightful friends of mine, who sort of introduced me to this place the first time I came here.”
He pointed a hoof at Twilight first. “Twilight Sparkle of the Sparkle family and also Celestia’s most talented and faithful student. She is such a delight and one can really have an engaging conversation with her about almost anything.” The lavender unicorn gave a bow and blushed.
Fancy then motioned to Naruko. “This here is, Naruko Uzumaki. She is Celestia’s most perceptive student and studies alongside Twilight personally with the Princess. She is also Equestira’s Contract Guardian. She isn’t always formal, but she really is a wonderful mare as well.”
Naruko gave a very well-practiced curtsy and smiled as she said quietly, “It is a pleasure to meet you, Fine Brush.”
Fancy then chuckled as he added, “I guess I should have mentioned she can be very elegant and polite when she wants to be, or the situation calls for it.”
Fine Brush stared in awe for a bit. She then put herself into a deeper bow. “I am sorry for not recognizing you two right away! I hope I didn’t offend either of you.”
“They aren’t really much for formalities, my dear,” Fancy said as Brush stood up and blushed a little. “Sorry Naruko and Twilight. Fine Brush here is used to the usual Canterlot types. If you know what I mean.” The ponies chuckled to this.
Twilight then spoke up and pointed to Fluttershy who was just watching everything with interest. “This lovely pegasus you noticed is a good friend of ours. Her name is Fluttershy. She takes care of most of the animals in Ponyville and the area around it. She is also the Bearer of Kindness.”
Fluttershy gave a soft smile and gracefully curtsied to the new ponies. “It is nice to meet you sir and ma’am. I am sorry, but I am not very familiar with you.” She felt a little bit sad she didn’t know these two ponies.
Brush and Fancy both gave polite chuckles. “It is nothing to worry about, Miss Fluttershy. We are hardly important ponies outside of Canterlot. Besides we should be bowing to you,” Fancy spoke. He would have been more polite and respectful, but he could tell such manners would only make the pegasus mare uncomfortable.
“He is right, Fluttershy. We weren’t responsible for bringing one of the two princesses back. You are a national hero. Sorry if we haven’t treated you properly,” Fine Brush said as she bowed again.
“Oh no don’t worry about it. It's alright,” Fluttershy said quickly. “Though if you pardon me I would love to get back to this meal if that is alright with you. Ramen really is delicious.”
“Go ahead. We too are Followers of Ramen. We know how important it is,” Fancy replied with a serious smile. He then looked to Twilight and Naruko as he said, “Shining Armor initiated us into the esteemed group.”
The two ponies then gave the Ramen chant Twilight and Naruko did earlier. All four said the last part together. Fluttershy was starting to think she needed to find out how to join this group. Ramen really was good. She loved how the salt mixed with the ingredients and was only barely noticeable to somepony like her with very discerning taste buds.
“Well then you two should join us tonight for Ramen. Unless you want to keep to yourselves,” Naruko said cheerfully.
“We would love that opportunity!” Fancy said ecstatically. Fine Brush just nodded enthusiastically in reply.
{-} {-} {-}
Fancy and Fine had three bowls each, all smalls, before they finally left the group. “Remember. Have Ramen in moderation my Friends.”
“We would, but this is Victory Ramen!” Naruko shouted before she gave them each a hearty goodbye.
Fancy Pants gave a lighthearted chuckle as he said, “Well enjoy it then. It was really nice to meet you all again.”
Fine next gave a rather relaxed smile as she spoke, “It really was! I hope to see you all again sometime.”
“Perhaps we should take a trip to Ponyville sometime? Yes?” Fancy asked. Fine nodded. She could use it as both a business trip and a pleasure trip.
“Oh? If you do that. Be warned you might attract a lot of attention from a certain pony we know,” Fluttershy giggled. Her cheeks were a bit flushed as she placed a graceful hoof to stifle her giggle.
“Yeah! If Rarity hears you are from Canterlot she will pester you with all kinds of questions!” Twilight said with a giggle as well. Naruko giggled but kept eating her ramen.
“Oh? Like how she did when you first met her?” Fancy asked with a smile. Twilight and Naruko had told him a lot about their time in Ponyville during their meals. The two unicorns nodded to him.
“Fluttershy, when I visit there you will have to introduce me to your animal friends and show me some of the scenery,” Fine Brush said.
“You can count on it,” Fluttershy said as they left.
The two had really hit it off when Fine talked about her pet dog. The curator also talked about how she was really into landscapes now as well, and was a bit of an ‘amateur’ artist herself.
Fancy chuckled to that and told them not to let her humility fool them. Fine Brush had placed in several contests and a good bit of her ‘hobby’ stuff was on display at many art galleries in Equestria.
“I wouldn’t let some snotty pony who wasn’t passionate about art their self, run my gallery after all,” he said with a charming smile.
{-} {-} {-}
Shortly after the other two ponies departed their company. The group of friends finished their meals. Surprisingly it was a rather red faced and giggly Naruko that told them, “Let’s blow this joint and see what fun we can get up to!”
Twilight might have been the sensible one and pointed out they weren’t exactly in the right state of mind to go gallivanting around Canterlot. However, the salt and lack of sleep was getting to her as well. Plus they did have some drinks. In Equestria, there wasn’t really too much of a ‘drinking age’.
Fluttershy was of a fairly clear mind, and kind of knew better. However, she was feeling more alive and daring after her mission. After all once you faced odds like that, you deserved a night or two of irresponsible fun she decided. Also she had never had an opportunity like this before and was eager to enjoy it to the fullest.
Naruko gave a grin to her friends. “Come on girls! I know of this club in the area! We should check it out!” The others decided what the hay and left with her. Naruko made sure to pay for their food and left a good tip. The shop owner might have tried to talk some sense into them, but he was busy with other customers when they left.
Once they were on the streets, Naruko let out a loud. “WHOO!! Yeah! What an awesome night to be alive!” Twilight giggled.
Fluttershy took in a deep breath and jumped into the air and shouted, “I love Equestria! Yeah!!!!” She blushed when she noticed a few ponies look to her. Some gave smiles, some giggled, and a few stuck their noses in the air as high as they could.
Naruko then led the charge to the destination only she knew at this moment. They soon heard some deep bass music play as the approached a night club. It had a bright neon sign with a familiar cutie mark on it though they couldn't really place it. However the club kind of stood out from all of the others in the area.
“Stargazer Lounge,” Twilight read with her head cocked to the side. She stuck her bottom lip out as she tried to place where she heard that name. It soon clicked and her eyes lit up. “Hey isn’t this where Vinyl and Octavia are preforming after the Gala?” She asked excitedly. Naruko had told her that little tidbit a while back.
Naruko just grinned and nodded. Fluttershy was busy fluttering all around the place gazing at all of the bright signs and the ponies everywhere. She had never seen so much going on at night before in her life. The ponies were dressed in all kinds of outfits and styles.
“So these are those ‘night clubs’ I've heard about!” the pink maned pegasus said to no one in particular.
The trio of friends then went up to the door and asked to enter. The bouncer pony gave them a look over and asked in a low voice, "Names?"
Naruko looked a little confused, but answered anyways. "Naruko Uzumaki, Twilight Sparkle, and Fluttershy we're from Ponyville."
The bouncer raised an eyebrow and chuckled, "Well I'll be... Go on in you three. Vinyl works here a lot and put your names and a few others on the list. Since she brings us a lot of business she got this privilege no problem."
He then shook his head in amusement. "I never thought you would actually show up here myself and teased her about it. I guess I owe her a night out drinking now." He gave a sigh as he knew that night would be an entire pay check possibly.
As the three friends entered, they heard some loud music and a familiar voice speak up. "Is everypony ready to really rock out now?!" There were several whistles, cheers and hoof stomps in response. The three friends just smiled as they entered the club. It was going to be an awesome night. Maybe even a Rainbow Dash awesome night.
{-} {-} {-}
The group was now in a different club. Fluttershy kept dancing to the music the band was playing. She loved this music. It had a beat to it she just let ‘flow’ through her as Vinyl called it. She still couldn’t believe how amazing this night was already turning out to be. They went to the Stargazer and caught the last half of Vinyl’s set.
Once the DJ saw them in the crowd, she demanded they hang with her tonight. Surprisingly she took them to a different bar that played a completely different kind of music from her own. “Got to respect the Swing, fillies!” was the DJ’s response when asked about this by the others.
Vinyl usually preformed music that was heavy on the bass from the genre ‘Dubstep’. However, it turned out the DJ liked other music as well. The white unicorn seemed to love Swing music. She did her own thing music wise, but she loved artist like Frank Hoofnatra, Dean Manetin, and even Cab Gallopway.
“How in the world did you come to like this music, Vinyl? It is pretty cool, but still. Not really close to what you do,” Naruko asked.
“Yah, I know what you mean. Octavia introduced me to it actually. I told her bass and when it dropped was all that matter in music. So she dragged me along to a few places like this as a way to show me that there was more to music, and instruments actually mattered in more than just classical music,” the DJ pony gave a chuckle.
“I had teased her about that a few times. I also joked with her that older music was all prude and stuck up.” Vinyl then had a hard to read face as she said, “Boy was I wrong. They weren’t prude at all. They just knew how to use innuendo better in many cases.”
When they entered the place it wasn’t long until Twilight was bobbing her head to the music. Naruko joined the purple unicorn soon enough. Fluttershy at the time was just looking around in awe and taking it all in.
The pink maned pegasus liked this place. Several ponies were dressed in here. The dressed stallions were wearing suits that seemed to be a little lose fitting to allow for movement. The dressed mares were wearing dresses made with fine, but durable materials which flowed as they moved.
The mare was even more surprised by the way the ponies were dancing. They were really all over the place. However, the best part to her was the music. She loved the way it sounded. There were so many instruments and they all played well with each other. The large band members were stallions all wearing white tuxedos.
As the band played, one of the saxophonists started whistling and approached a microphone and started to sing. “Oh this is a good one!” Vinyl said. Naruko and Twilight listened as the DJ got their whole group Long Mane Island Iced Teas. She was going to make sure they enjoyed this night to the maximum!
Since that happened, Fluttershy had danced with several ponies. It seemed her natural grace, and natural ability made it easy for her to dance to the music. Each dance partner gave her some new tips. Fluttershy hoped she might have found a new past time with the way things were going.
Naruko and Twilight tried to keep up, but were only, “Cool for first timers.” Not that this wasn’t an impressive feat, but a few of the stallions Fluttershy danced with said she was a natural and better than some experienced dancers. Vinyl, despite her looks not really fitting in, was a master and many of the ponies knew her really well.
Regardless all four mares had a wonderful time. It was getting late now, but “The night is still young girls!” Twilight shouted to them all when Naruko pointed this out. “Besides! I can teleport us all if needed!” Twilight said with confident smile.
The purple pony was having way too much fun to let something like distance and needing to get back home get in the way. Also worst case scenario they could all crash at Twilight’s home in Canterlot or maybe even the castle if needed.
Naruko seemed to still have a song stuck in her head. They made a quick stop to get drinks at a local bar though before going on. When they first entered it was Twilight that decided to announce their arrival. “Whooooo! Yeah!!!!”
Naruko, Fluttershy, and Vinyl laughed to this. “So what is a good drink here, bar tender?” Naruko asked with a lazy but still beautiful smile.
The bar pony gave a laugh. He was a kindhearted older stallion. “Well we have a special on shots tonight. Do you lovely mares like that?”
Fluttershy gave a nod. Vinyl was like “Hell yeah!”
“What she said!” Twilight yelled in agreement.
“Depends on the shot, but yes I like them. Got any shot to recommend?” Naruko asked. She then looked to her friends and noticed Fluttershy had disappeared. She looked around quickly and saw the pegasus looking over the jukebox.
The pink maned flyer gave a smile as she selected a song performed by Cab Gallopway. One of the singers sung this song in the last club and she really liked it. She wanted to hear the original version.
“Well I’ll be… Seems we got here a few mares who like real music,” the old bar tender said with a chuckle.
“Tell me do you lot like cinnamon?” he asked. The group all nodded. The bar tender gave a smirk. He had a chance to possibly make something more than the usual drinks here. It excited him. “How about A Starry Night for all of you?”
“Hmmm…. That sounds interesting,” Vinyl said. She was a drinker, but usually stuck to the normal hard liquor drinks.
“Sure! On me!” shouted Twilight. The bar tender chuckled as he prepared the drinks.
“Oooo…. It looks pretty,” Fluttershy said as she looked at the gold flakes in her shot. “This isn’t toxic or anything is it?”
“Only if you drink way more than you should like all alcohol,” the bar tender said with a smile.
After each mare looked at their shot, Twilight finally nodded. “Alright!” she raised her glass. “To Naruko and Fluttershy. Two great mares that proved more than their worth to Equestria!”
Naruko and Fluttershy felt a little warm in their hearts hearing that. Vinyl wasn’t sure what was going on, but she would toast that. She guessed it had to do with their adventures in saving Princess Luna or something.
The group of ponies each downed the shot. “Woah! Cinnamony,” Vinyl said with a slight cough. She really hadn’t expected that kind of strong flavor.
“Mmmm… Cinnamony,” Fluttershy said with a smile as she smacked her lips. She liked the shot a lot.
Naruko and Twilight just blinked at the taste. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t their favorite. It was kind of strong though.
“Oh wow… that was strong. I don’t know about you lot, but I need to even out the taste…” Vinyl said. She seemed like she was about to ask something she really didn’t want to ask even though both other unicorns in their group nodded in agreement.
She bit down on her own teeth as she asked. “Can we have a round of Whiskey Sours?” she knew it was a ‘Filly’ drink and heard a couple of chuckles, but she liked the taste and really needed it after that shot.
The bartender just nodded and made the drinks. Fluttershy wondered what the problem was with the shot. She really liked it.
After their Whiskey Sours, the group paid and left. As they left, Naruko’s blue eyes lit up as she got an idea. “Hey girls follow me!” She then charged off as she had thought of something crazy fun to do.
Soon the four ponies were standing in front of a large grand fountain right outside of the castle. Vinyl was watching with a curious eye. Fluttershy was still thinking about all of the dancing and the Starry Night shot. She got the recipe before they left. It was half jaeger and half goldschlager. Twilight was only a little nervous that they were all so close to the castle.
“What's the big idea, Naruko? Don’t keep us in suspense,” Vinyl finally asked.
Naruko then seemed to get a beat in her head as she jumped into the fountain and started dancing. She even let off a large spell discharge with her horn. A bright blue light soared into the sky and burst into some kind of firework display. A couple of ponies watching nearby clapped their hooves before continuing on to their destination.
“Alright!” Vinyl shouted as she jumped in and joined Naruko. Flutteshy soon followed suit.
Twilight was a bit scared thinking the Royal Guard, and worst yet, her brother would come out and see what was going on. When nothing happened, she cheered “To hay with it all!” as she joined the others.
Vinyl’s horn glowed briefly as a tune started to play that matched there separate dance moves somehow. As the group danced, they got several observers some even joined them in the dancing thing. A few even jumped into the fountain as well.
The royal gaurds watching this unfold just stood there. One of the younger gaurds asked, “Should we…. Do something about this?”
The veteran Captain in charge just smiled and chuckled. “They aren’t doing anything to hurt anypony else. I say we let them have their fun.” The other guards nodded in agreement.
Once the music stopped Naruko gave out a shout. “Yeah!!! The Princesses are awesome and rule! I love them! Woooh!!!” Twilight gave a giggle as she nodded to the words.
Fluttershy shouted her own words. “I love Swing Music! I love dancing! I love Equestria!!!” Several of the nearby ponies ‘amened’ her words even if they only agreed with part of them.
Shortly after the fun finally stopped, Naruko asked for a ride home. Twilight not really caring that she was drunk and tired said she could do it no problem. “Want a lift, Vinyl?” she asked their DJ friend.
“Nah! I’m cool. Got myself a room in one of the hotels. I have to perform again in a couple of days at the Stargazer anyways. See you cool chickas later.” With that, the DJ pony made her way back to her room for the remainder of the night and most likely half the day tomorrow, or well today really.
“Alright Gals! Gather round me! Welcome to the Twilight Express! Enjoy the ride. Don’t mind the bumpiness it isn’t permanent,” Twilight said. Fluttershy and Naruko laughed as the gathered around her.
The group of mares were soon encased by a pinkish white light after Twilight ‘charged’ the spell a good bit. Once the light vanished, there was a loud boom and a burst of light that many nearby cheered to as it faded thinking it was some kind of light show.
Soon after there was a loud burst of light and a small cloud of smoke near Fluttershy’s cottage. The three happy but tired mares marched slowly into Fluttershy’s home and without looking around all collapsed on Fluttershy’s bed. They snuggled in real tight and didn’t even bother with the sheets. Naruko’s horn seemed to glow briefly as they were all encompassed in a pleasant temperature. Twilight might have asked about the spell, but she was to happy and exhausted to ask things like that.
{-} {-} {-}
The next day, or well actually the same day but later, Naruko and Fluttershy were at the nature loving pegasus’ hut still sleeping off their Ramen adventure from last night. Twilight would be there with them, but she woke up that morning and without thinking and teleported herself to her bathroom. She didn’t realize what she had done until Spike handed her a cup of coffee and asked, “Where were you and Naruko last night, Twilight?”
The purple unicorn blushed to this but only said, “Having a little bit of a girls’ night out…?” It came out as a half question. Twilight hoped Spike didn’t pick up on this and ask for elaboration.
“Yuck! Does that mean you all stayed up chatting about stallions or something?” Spike asked in a half disgusted and half interested voice. Regardless the Unicorn knew her wish was granted and Spike took what she said at face value.
Twilight gave a nervous giggle as she thought about some of the things they did. Also the dancing at that club. Her and Naruko had danced a lot and even danced with each other before they left. She blushed a little bit. She remembered her and Naruko shared a drink at one point.
She blushed and said slowly to spike. “Yeaaa… That’s right. Nothing else happened…. We most certainly didn’t go to Canterlot and go out partying or anything like that,” she said the last part in a rush as she gave a small whinny. Spike just shrugged his shoulders and went about his morning chores.
It was now a little after that awkward conversation. Twilight was currently practicing some different spells. Each spell was very different from the other. She had just given Spike a mustache which he thought made him look fabulous. He frowned as Twilight took it away saying to him, “Sorry Spike, but the mustache has to go. This was just for practice.”
Spike frowned as he looked over the list and said, “Still 25 spells. Geez that’s a lot of magic, Twilight. I knew unicorns had lots of spells they could use but this is amazing.”
“I think it would be better said as 25 types of spells. If I wanted too, I could do a lot more actual spells given all of the different, but still similar spells unicorns learn. Usually a unicorn learns lots of spells dealing with her specialty,” Twilight said in her teacher mode. She still slipped into it every so often, but not as much as she used to, since she got a good bit of her teaching bug out of her system with Naruko when they younger.
“Then how do you have so many different types of spells, Twilight?” Spike asked.
“Well Spike, my specialty is magic, but I don’t know much at all about combat magic. That’s more Naruko’s department. She probably knows just as many types of spells, but most of them combat oriented,” Twilight said as they went out for bit of a breather.
“Still, Twilight. That was awesome,” Spike said with a bright baby dragon grin. It then fell from his face as he sighed, “Wish I could kept the mustache though.”
Twilight gave a laugh. “Maybe if you behave yourself I’ll give you one again, but only for a little while.”
“Yes!” Spike shouted. It would have caused a few ponies to glance at the two, but oddly enough there weren’t many out at the moment it seemed. As Twilight felt a little embarrassed, she took notice of this fact.
“Say, where is everypony? I know I wasn’t so hung over from the Victory Ramen Fest that I actually missed most of the day before magic practice…” Twilight said. Her ears then drooped a little bit and she asked quietly, “I wasn’t right?”
Spike gave her a look. “Well you were a little bit out of it this morning when you returned and it took some time to wake you up today completely.”
Twilight frowned, but then gave a smile, “Maybe. But last night was worth it!” She then decided to brighten up anyways and kept walking forward. Spike shrugged his shoulders and followed.
It wasn’t long until they found all of the ponies. They were gathered around some wooden traveling trailer. “I heard she is a great witch,” one pony said to another.
“I heard she picks on hecklers at her shows, and that is when the real entertainment starts,” a second pony replied.
Many other ponies were going on and on about a show mare of some kind. Twilight was actually intrigued by this. She knew she probably knew better magic than this pony, but she never had the bravado nor the charisma for telling stories and showing off to others.
She walked over to Pinkie Pie. “So what exactly is going on, Pinkie?”
“Oh hello, Twilight!” the pink pony said in her usual friendly manner before giving her purple pony friend a great big hug. “Apparently there is this new pony in town. She is some kind of Show pony. I wanted to greet her like I do all ponies, but she refuses to come out of her trailer at the moment.”
Pinkie then frowned in confusion, “I even offered her some fresh cupcakes, but she refused. I don’t know what pony could say no to cupcakes. Like I told Naruko yesterday, they're cakes, but in cups! What's not to like? So where is Naruko anyways?”
Twilight gave a snicker. “Her and Fluttershy are still recovering from the Victory Ramen we had last night. We ended up at Fluttershy’s somehow, but I still managed to get home this morning.”
“Wow! I just knew that stuff had to be good, but I didn’t think it would be that good,” Pinkie said in reply. She gave a slight frown. “I really wanted to go, but I had to work at Sugar Cube Corner last afternoon and into the early evening. It sounded like so much fun….”
Twilight frowned as well. She hated seeing a friend sad, Pinkie Pie especially. The party pony seemed to switch between moods far too quickly to be healthy. At the same time, she was just as easy to cheer up usually. “Well Naruko did mention getting everyone, which includes you, together for a Ramen trip sometime.”
As Twilight predicted, Pinkie was almost instantly back to her usual Pinkie Pieness. “That sounds like lots of more fun! I can’t wait!” Pinkie was smiling big and running in place. She wanted to burst out in song, but she had a feeling the show pony was about to start her show.
As if on cue, the trailer expanded into a sizable stage as a voice spoke out calling for attention. “Come one! Come all! And witness magics unseen before, and hear tales untold! The Great and Powerful Trixie is here for you, Ponyville!”
At about the same time, Applejack and Rainbow walked up and stood by Twilight. They were quietly complaining about a lousy show-off pony or something. Rarity trotted up next to them, but she remained silent. Twilight hoped AJ and Rainbow wouldn't keep complaining and interrupt the show or anything like that.
“Hmmm… That stage setup requires some decent enchantment work,” Twilight thought as she watched events unfold. She wasn’t really listening to her friends at the moment.
Once the stage was set and the message spoken, there was a blaze of light and fireworks as a mare with a blue coat and a sleek silver mane stood confidently in the center of the stage in a magic cape and hat.
Twilight couldn’t help but smile. She hadn’t been to a magic show in a while. This one looked to be good and entertaining. Plus she already had thoughts about asking the mare about her firework spells. It was something she could see being very handy to know.
“Behold! The Great and Powerful Trixie! Trixie is the most powerful unicorn in all of Equestriaaaa! Watch and enjoy feats of amazement and funnnn!” the unicorn said with a confident smirk was she brought out all of her charisma to sell herself to crowd. It was something any traveling performer had to do for the crowds.
“I hope this show goes well. I want to show off my new tricks!” the show mare mentally wished excitedly, though she didn’t show it. She did have to keep a certain persona while on stage after all.
Due to her excitement, she barely heard a couple of ponies complaining about magic and mentally frowned. She saw they were standing next to a purple mare she short of recognized and was sure she heard about in Canterlot a few times. She wasn’t sure though. Maybe she could find out later… but for now she had to regretfully deal with ponies interrupting the show.
“Oh? It seems we have some Neighhhhsayers! You doubt Trixie’s greatness!” She wasn’t sure how this would go, but it could make for a good show. She kind of hoped it wouldn't escalate, but if it did she would deal with them as she could to make it part of the show.
She knew didn’t have any confederates in Ponyville causing the ruckus. It was such a small town, but the perfect practice ground for her new tricks. She would have to be careful with this approach, and find a way to figure out their skill level in anything if they decided to go further. After that, it was simply a matter of finding a way to keep the show going. Hopefully the ponies wouldn’t be too belligerent, even if it was a bit gratifying dealing with such ponies and she had no problems with doing so if needed. More than that she kind of hoped they would just be quiet and watch the show, she hadn't even done much yet to get it started.
“Ah sure am a Neigh sayer. We Apple’s don’t take kindly to some high an mighty braggart!” a pony with a Stetson hat said.
“So it’s going to be that way is it? Trixie knows how to handle ponies like this,” the showmare thought to herself a little disappointed, but ready to make this a spectacle for the show.
Twilight wanted to say something to calm down Applejack, but Spike was begging her to stand up to this “brag pony.” Twilight guessed he hadn’t been to a magic show in a while, or maybe it was because he got a personal one almost everyday as she practiced. Either way he didn't seem to realize traveling performers kind of did brag as a way to draw in attention to their performance. She had been to a few festivals when she was younger in Canterlot and it was rather impressive if you had two performers close to each other fighting for crowds. They would end up bringing out their best and each would get plenty of recognition.
Twilight also guessed Applejack had never been to a show before and that was why she took offense. “She is probably too busy on her family’s farm or selling their goods for something like that,” Twilight thought. Still, it wasn’t polite to interrupt a show like that, especially when all of the other ponies were happily enjoying it. AJ also seemed to be already up on the stage.
“Ah bet yer fancy lights and words can’t do anything like this!” Applejack said as she started doing rope tricks using her tail. That was pretty impressive, but doing something like this in the middle of another pony's show wasn’t the right thing to do. Applejack finished by lassoing an apple from a nearby tree and eating it in one bite, core and all. The crowd cheered, and the show pony gave a smug smile.
“Well that wasn’t too bad, gentle farm mare,” Trixie said with a bit of teasing lilt to her voice. “But watch and be amazed by Trixie’s amazing magic!” More fireworks burst to life behind her, without a noticeable glow to her horn.
Twilight was curious about this. The show mare either had stage hands, a switch built into the stage, or she was that good with the spell that the magic wasn’t seen. Twilight knew something like that was possible, but it took a lot of practice and familiarity with the spell. Even then it was usually a basic spell or something dealing with a unicorn’s talent. She was a little more interested in this mare's magic and she kind of momentarily forgot AJ was about to be dealt with even if she did kind of think the farm mare brought it upon herself by intruding on the stage which showponies held scared almost.
Trixie’s hat floated above her revealing her horn. It was letting off a soft pink glow. The mare then jumped to her hindlegs and waved her forehooves as one tip of the rope started to dance to music. The other end stealthily grabbed another apple and before AJ knew what happened the farm mare was hogtied in her own rope with the Apple stuffed in her mouth. Many ponies laughed to the sight.
Twilight was a little conflicted here. It was kind of funny and AJ did sort of start it by interrupting the show. However, Applejack was still her friend, so Twilight didn’t really feel like laughing at the moment. She hoped her friend was alright as she got off the stage and that no pony else would interrupt.
“How dare you come to town and try and show off like that!” Rainbow spoke up once Applejack was untied and off the stage. Twilight mentally sighed. Of course Rainbow would say something like that and cause further problems. She was also disappointed because given Rainbow's love of the Wonderbolts and how she had been to a couple of their shows, she should know better than to interrupt some other pony's show like this.
“Especially when that's my job!” Rainbow said as she puffed out her chest and raised her head proudly towards the sky.
The rainbow maned pony then gave a challenging smile. “I know some unicorn magic spagic can’t compare to what I can do!”
Twilight actually felt a little offended her friend was putting unicorns and magic down like that. She might have been angry, but she knew Rainbow Dash didn’t actually mean anything by it and didn’t even understand how her words could offend somepony. She still didn't think it was right to get up a stage and steal a traveling performer's spotlight like that.
Rainbow Dash then took off into the sky and swung around on a windmill for some reason, before then punching a hole through the center of several clouds. She then paused midair in the center of the sun’s light. Twilight was sure she posed or something, but no pony could see it without blinding their eyes.
The cyan pegasus then darted back towards the ground and managed to bring a trail of water droplets with her as she skidded to a stop and the droplets formed a rainbow above her. “They don’t call me Rainbow and Dash for nothing!” she said with a huge self-satisfied grin.
The scene was impressive and several ponies did cheer loudly. Not so many unicorns though, even if there weren’t as many of them in Ponyville. “Seems like I wasn’t the only one a little offended by her statement about magic,” Twilight thought to herself, even Rarity didn’t look amused. The fashion pony kept her ever present poise though and didn’t let it show too much.
Trixie then gave a smirk. “The only thing they will be calling you after this is Loser,” she said quietly as her horn glowed again.
Trixie then used her magic to make the rainbow solid and she wrapped it around Rainbow Dash quickly and pretty much spun the pegasus like a child’s toy top.
“Woah! Woah!” Rainbow said as she finally came to a stop on the ground. Her rose colored eyes were swirling. “I think I’m going to be sick…” the mare said quietly.
Twilight once again had mixed feelings about this. She felt a little vindicated. “Ha! Magic’s not so easily dismissed now is it?” she thought. Okay she felt really vindicated, but if any pony needed their ego brought down a little bit it was Rainbow Dash.
“If she doesn’t learn to control that ego of her’s. It will get her into a lot of trouble, and eventually too much trouble for her to handle.” Twilight concluded her thoughts. She was actually a little genuinely concerned for her friend in this regard.
“So does no one else dare to challenge the Great and Powerful Trixie?! Or has Trixie proven to you all that she is the greatest equine in Equestria!” the show pony said as she shot off more fireworks.
“Okay maybe there are two ponies that need their egos brought down a little bit. No pony is better than Naruko! Or Celestia!” Twilight thought to herself. She was just about to challenge the pony, but then paused as she wondered why she suddenly thought of Naruko again, and more or less in equal regard to Princess Celestia.
She then gave a little frown. “I do wish Naruko was here…” she thought with a sigh.
“Trixie supposes it only makes sense no other pony would dare challenge Trixie’s greatnesss,” the mare said casually. She mentally smiled. It was now time to finally start her show properly. She knew how to start it off with a little bit of a teaser.
“After all no other unicorn has the power to vanquish the dreaded Ursa Major!!!!” Trixie said aloud with a flourish of fireworks and a low grade light show of her waving a wand at an Ursa Major in the sky above the ponies.
“Oooo!!! That is awesome!” said a tall orange coated colt unicorn with a snail cutie mark.
“Yea!! For sure! Trixie really is the greatest unicorn in all of Equestria!” said a chubby steel blue coated unicorn colt with a pair of scissors for a cutie mark.
“Oh come on! You didn’t see it! I think what we need is a unicorn to challenge her. You know a good old unicorn to unicorn magic duel!” Spike shouted as he looked imploringly at Twilight.
Twilight shook her head out of her musings about Naruko and was about to say something when Rarity spoke up next.
“Enough! Applejack and Rainbow Dash may be brash enough and competitive enough to let such words provoke them. But Rarity is not. Rarity conducts herself with poise and grace at all times. She is above such matters,” Rarity spoke raising her nose in the air only a slight bit.
Twilight blinked. “When did Rarity start using third pony speech? I guess she thought Trixie’s speech pattern was worth using as a way to reinforce her ‘high society’ status. I will admit it is kind of cute, but if it continues Naruko and I will have to talk to her about it, and set her straight. I won’t let one of my friends get that pompous and stuck up!”
“Ooo… what’s the matter? Afraid you will get a hair out of place in that sorry excuse for a rat nest you call a mane?” Trixie said as she smirked and shook a hoof at Rarity. She might have been getting a little carried away now with the rush of getting the hecklers to stop.
“Okay…. I can understand her calling out Rainbow Dash and Applejack, but Rarity was trying to avoid the conflict.” Twilight thought with a frown.
Rairty’s eyes narrowed as she said, “It. Is. On.” The fashion pony then hopped up on to the stage and started lecturing the show mare on how a unicorn should properly conduct herself around others.
Twilight simply rolled her eyes, but was secretly rooting for Rarity. She still thought Rarity was making the situation worse with the lecturing like that. You were supposed to lecture in a manner it was obvious you were trying to teach and not looking down on somepony.
When the lecture was over, Rarity magicked up a dress and redid her mane while covering herself in a curtain she neatly detached from the stage backdrop. Once the curtain was tossed aside by magic, the white unicorn was in a beautiful dress with her mane done up in a large and elegant top bun.
It was impressive because she did it on the spur of the moment with little time for preparation and execution. Plus, she didn’t have any materials here apart from the curtain. It was something else to make an illusion spell that solid looking. Twilight and several others “ooed” at it.
Trixie seemed to be a little bit impressed, but she wasn’t about to let another unicorn steal her show especially after just helping herself to her stage property like that without asking. Trixie was caught up in the moment now and didn't realize it was kind of okay what Rarity did, since she did challenge the pony more directly. “My My… Such lovely hair. It is a shame it won’t last!” with a flash of her horn Rarity’s mane was no longer lovely.
The white unicorn’s mane was now a green mess with a few stray twigs in it. “I need a mirror now!” Rarity demanded. “I need to know what she did to my mane!” She stomped a hoof and somepony floated a mirror over to her.
Rarity gasped aloud as she saw what happened. She then cried as she whined, “Green is such a horrible color!” The fashion pony then bolted away racing right pass a pony with a green colored mane who didn't look pleased with Rarity's comment.
Twilight felt bad about this turn of events, but at the same time she wanted to roll her eyes. “Oh please it won’t take you long to get it back to normal, Rarity. Don’t be so melodramatic in front of all these ponies.”
Many experimental spells had shown Twilight just how bad a mare’s mane could get, but so long as it wasn’t falling out you were okay. She supposed mane’s had a magic of their own. It usually took one good wash, maybe two if it was really bad and singed, to get it back into order. Sometimes a good shake alone made it presentable.
Rarity's behavior was also a bit of a problem for what the mare wanted to accomplish in her life. If Rarity freaked out like that in public, she would be eaten alive by the so called “Canterlot elite” she so desperately wanted to be a part of, especially in the fashion industry. If Rarity so easily lost her train of thought to use a good mane touch up spell, she was doomed to fail… unfortunately.
Trixie smirked once again as Rarity left and looked around. “Does any other pony dare challenge Trixie and her greatness?” The show mare then looked right at Twilight. Probably because she heard Spike begging the purple unicorn to do something about Trixie. She also noticed the other ponies had been standing next to her as well.
“How about you?” she pointed a hoof right at Twilight.
Twilight gave a nervous laugh and scratched the back of her mane as she gave a forced smile and answered. “Who me?” Trixie nodded, “Nope… Nothing special here… I don’t even know combat magic… and only just practiced 25 types spells,” Twilight said quickly so only one mare, Trixie, noticed what she said. It wasn’t intentional even then.
The show mare was impressed, but didn’t say anything. She was about to call this mare out, but that would have distracted from her show. Twilight obviously didn’t really understand how inconsequential her lack of combat magic was to other ponies. Apart from the royal guard, Naruko was probably one of the very few ponies who did know any, though Trixie didn’t know about the blonde unicorn at this time.
Trixie was a little relieved when the purple pony ran away dragging the baby dragon with her. Trixie then blinked as she finally realized something she should have earlier.
“Twilight Sparkle… She was the unicorn that hatched a baby dragon… Celestia’s personal student! I lucked out there…” She gave a confident smirk and looked over the crowd to cover her momentary shock at who she had just accidentally challenged to a magic duel on the stage.
“Nevertheless. It is time for the show to finally start!” Trixie finally regained her mental composure and spoke aloud. “Well it seems it is finally time for the entertainment to begin,” she said with her show pony smile. The remaining ponies cheered out loud for her.
“I don’t think I'll be able to try my new spells this show after all. Those challenges were difficult. It isn’t easy making light actually physical and then using it to spin a pony out,” she said to herself. She had a feeling her normal show with a little more flare would be enough though. If things went well enough, she could have another show tomorrow and hopefully the Neigh Sayers wouldn’t show up to disrupt her again. Then she could try her new spells and incorporate them into her show.
She was starting to understand why some show ponies had crowd controllers on their staff. She preferred to do things the old fashion way though. She always felt nothing was more uplifting and enjoyable than a live traveling show for ponies to watch. She tried to make it something bigger, but most in the biz wanted a steady job preforming in show venues instead. She was left to do it all on her own including hyping up the show because of this.
{-} {-} {-}
“Twilight can we please go back? That mare is insufferable! She kept bragging the whole time,” Spike whined from Twilight’s left.
Twilight shook her head as she said, “Spike. Trixie is a show pony. It is her job to brag and show off as a way to entertain others.”
Spike grumbled and then spoke again, “But the way she embarrassed Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity. How dare she do that to Rarity!” He seemed a little extra angry towards the end.
“Applejack was interrupting her show and when challenged by Trixie, who was probably trying to just get AJ quiet to start the show, Applejack jumped up on the stage and called her a fraud,” Twilight said.
“And?” Spike simply replied.
“And as any worthwhile show pony would do, Trixie didn’t back down to the challenge. In show biz, reputation is important. If she let a pony cow her here then what is to stop others from doing the same elsewhere?” Twilight answered.
Spike sighed in frustration to that answer, but didn’t give up. “What about Rainbow Dash then? Huh?” Twilight raised an eyebrow at him. He already regretted his question, but didn’t back down.
Twilight gave a small scoff. “Rainbow not only interrupted the show after Applejack, but tried to steal the spotlight as well. Hay, she even insulted unicorn magic as a whole! She may be my friend, but I am not going to let her just insult magic like that and be okay with it.”
Twilight then let out a breath. “Besides Rainbow Dash wants to be a Wonderbolt. She should know better than to interrupt a show like that.”
Spike then quietly asked, “Rarity?” He was running out of steam for his anger by this point.
“Ok… I will admit that Trixie could have handled that better instead of provoking Rarity when she was trying to end the interruptions in her own fashion,” Twilight answered. Spike gave a satisfied smirk.
“But…” Spike’s smirk disappeared. “If Rarity wants to make it big in the fashion world and especially in Canterlot, she shouldn’t let herself be so easily provoked. All Trixie did was make fun of her mane. I know Rarity takes pride in her mane, but compared to some of the Fashion elite she wants to impress… Trixie’s comments are equal to a foal saying, ‘yeah? Well…. You’re stupid,’ and nothing more.”
Spike sighed. He should have known better than to try and argue with Twilight like this.
The two continued their journey home in silence. “I think Naruko and I will have to actually warn Rarity about the Canterlot elite she wants to mix with so much. I really don’t want her to ruin her chances with them because of their little snide comments. I also don’t want her becoming like them either,” Twilight thought to herself.
She then gave a sigh as she thought about her white coated unicorn friend. “I only hope she will listen this time. Unlike with Prince Blueblood… Still not going to give up on that argument so easily though.”
{-} {-} {-}
Once the troublesome ponies were gone, Trixie’s show was a blast for the audience. She even took volunteers, who wanted to help with the show and be a part of it. She decided she was going to perform once more before she left, since it had gone so well.
“However…. Those two colts might be trouble…” Trixie thought to herself. She loved fans, especially the young ones, because they were so excited and fun to meet. Those two unicorn colts though didn’t seem to be the brightest… She hoped they wouldn’t do anything dumb and stupid… Like think her stories were completely truthful and happened the way they did.
She purposefully made that tale very outlandish for entertainment. It always got the audience more excited and eager to watch. A small part of her feared those two might do something though. “Surely not… Their parents had to of taught them better than that… Right?” she asked herself. She ended up shrugging it off and deciding it couldn’t possibly be that bad in the end.
She did try to help the situation by having them do her favors. She hoped this would do one of two things. Either they would get tired of her and decide she was some stuck up snobby show pony, or they would be too exhausted to get into any trouble.
Unfortunately for Trixie and Ponyville, Snips and Snails weren’t easily deterred once they set their minds to something. For this night, they had set their minds on seeing some “Amazing Magic”. They figured naturally the best way to see that was to bring an Ursa Major to town.
They really thought endangering a town full of mostly Earth ponies with only one combat trained unicorn using an Ursa Major was a bright idea.
The worst part was said unicorn trained in combat magic and the pegasus specializing in animals, were being lectured and questioned about how they had time to go and ‘party it up with Twilight,’ but not to give a mission debriefing to the princesses who ruled the land. It was no surprise Kyuubi shook his head in disbelief to this.
“Ha Ha! You have to tell me about last night, Naruko. I cut off our connection to get a much deserved night’s sleep. If it was so amazing that it took priority over the princesses it must have been something else,” the foxy teased his lovable partner mentally. Said partner just mentally gave him a halfhearted glare.
On the plus side, Celestia did smile as she thanked Naruko for saying how she thought the princesses were awesome and loved them. She even was happy Fluttershy shouted all she did last night in the fountain as well. It was touching her ponies loved their land so much they just had to shout it out loud during the late hours of the night.
Princess Luna shook her head, but smiled. Hearing a pony admit they liked and loved her was wonderful to hear, even if she was lumped in with her sister. She didn’t mind that. She and Tia were close again and that was more important. Also she knew Naruko meant it and loved the two as separate ponies.
This all happened for the two adventuring ponies after a rather rough wakeup call while hung over at the ungodly hour of 2 PM in the afternoon. Ungodly after a night of binge eating ramen and other activities. Salt in mass was really one hell of a legal substance. The alcohol only compounded the situation, even if some of the drinks did taste good.
Down in the Ever-Free Forest at this time a young voice asked, “Are you sure this will work, Snips?” It was the tall unicorn colt who spoke first.
“Of course it will! Trust me,” said a shorter unicorn as they entered the Ever-Free Forest.
Soon after that there was a loud roar and the two colts quickly ran towards town to wake up the Great and Powerful Trixie to see some ‘awesome magic’.
{-} {-} {-}
“So a giant star bear cub was attacking the town?!” Naruko asked in surprise later that night after she returned with Fluttershy.
“You didn’t hurt the baby bear did you?” Fluttershy asked with concern.
Kyuubi was wondering why they deemed these questions more important than say. ‘Are you alright, Twilight?’ But the fox decided to just keep quiet this time. He was tired of being the voice of reason today.
“Yes, it did attack the town! A couple of idiot colts thought it would be a great way to ‘see some awesome magic’. I left their punishment up for the Mayor to decide. Trixie ran off before I could talk to her or anything though,” Twilight answered Naruko first.
The purple unicorn next turned towards the yellow pegasus and spoke. “Really? You’re more concerned about a giant star bear that could have easily destroyed the town than the town itself, Fluttershy?”
Fluttershy looked a little upset at this accusation. “I am concerned about the bear. Yes the town is more important, but as you can see the town is still here and not too badly damaged.” Fluttershy then motioned a hoof at the town.
She may have seemed a little terser than she wanted, but after her hangover and an unexpected impromptu summon to Canterlot castle, which was followed by an equally unexpected forced teleportation. She felt she was allowed this terseness… a little bit. She still felt a little bad about it on the inside.
Twilight gave a sheepish smile as she scratched the back of her mane, not too much unlike a certain blonde unicorn. “Oh… I guess that does make sense…”
The purple pony then gave a cough and spoke again. “So… Where were you two? I mean I doubt you could have easily missed a loud bear the size of a large house marching out of the Ever-Free Forest right by your hut, Fluttershy. Even if you were still hung over from last night.”
“Heh heh…” This time Naruko was giving the sheepish smile, and scratching the back of her mane. Fluttershy, despite her mood, gave a warm smile at the actions. “I kind of forgot to report to the Princesses we were successful on our mission…”
Twilight’s purple eyes widened for a moment, but she soon rolled them and just shook her head. “Typical Naruko… Ramen gets involved and little else matters... Good thing it doesn’t get involved too often,” Twilight thought to herself and giggled mentally.
Fluttershy spoke, “Turns out Celestia wanted us to report back immediately after the mission, and figured her ‘most perceptive student’ would know this right off the bat. She figured we were still on our mission, but…” Fluttershy blushed here and hid behind her pink mane. “She heard about some of our… escapades last night.” Fluttershy blushed a little more hearing herself say that. Memories that were over all pleasant came back to her from last night.
“Hmph!” said a voice too deep for such a small fox. “The Sun Princess sent us an instant teleport summons shortly after these two finally woke up.” He then gave a grin. “It was actually a rather amusing scene to watch.”
“Hey… it wasn’t funny for us,” Naruko said with a frown.
“Of course it wasn’t. Usually when a pony is in trouble the scene is only funny to others as they are chewed out, if it’s funny at all. In this case, it was very entertaining,” the fox said with a fox grin.
“Well at least once we showed her the stone and the many treasures we ‘liberated’ from the forest temple. She was in a bit more of a forgiving mood,” Fluttershy said getting them back on topic.
Honestly, Celestia seemed more amused by the situation now that Fluttershy thought about it. At the time, the Sun Princess was too much for the two ponies to think of her as anything other than a little upset.
“Now that you mention it, I don’t think I remember seeing you three carrying any treasure. Much less a mythical artifact in the form of a heart shaped ruby encased within amber with two bronze tree branches on either side of it. Where did you two stash these things?” Twilight asked.
Naruko gave a huge grin. “Remember that fancy writing I started working on a couple of years after we met, that you didn’t recognize, Twilight?”
Twilight nodded her head. She had only seen Naruko practice it a couple of times. “Well during my Guardian training, I found out a way to use those characters to form special scrolls that can be used for storing things.”
“Those things turned out to be really helpful. Once she used them, they made returning home much easier,” Fluttershy said with a ‘happy Fluttershy smile’. This smile was so cute and heartwarming many had started calling it that. Pinkie Pie first came up with the term.
Twilight had a very determined look in her purple eyes as she ran up to Naruko and used her magic to look Naruko right in the eyes as she said, “You must teach me this! A new way to organize?! There is no way I will let you blow me off on this!”
Naruko gulped. She wasn’t opposed to teaching her best friend this, but the intensity of Twi's gaze was hard to bear. “Okay… Okay… but you do realize you will have to learn a new written language, not seen here in a very long time? Not even the princesses are very familiar with it. Are you sure?”
Twilight, Fluttershy, and Kyuubi each gave the blonde unicorn a deadpanned expression and a raised eyebrow. Twilight asked the obvious question with the obvious flat emphasis. “Really, Naruko? You’re asking ME if I am sure about learning something new, exciting, rare, and useful?"
Naruko gave her trademarked embarrassed expression in response. Twilight kept speaking, “Do I really need to answer that question?”
“Okay… I get it… Not really the smartest question to ask. Give me a break… I had a long time after a very fun, but long night, followed by a rough wakeup call this morning.”
“It was afternoon... sorry…. I didn’t mean to correct you,” Fluttershy said as she looked a little bashful when Naruko looked to her.
Naruko sighed. “Afternoon…” The blonde magic user then gave another sigh. “It will take some time for preparation, Twilight. But I will teach you about seals.”
The blonde unicorn then gave a confident grin. “Fortunately for you, I’m probably a master on the subject!”
“You mean I’m a master on the subject… You are very talented in it, but I am still the one that knows more about them,” Kyuubi corrected her.
“I did say probably, Kyuuuu,” Naruko said his cutesy name in a very cutesy voice much to the fox’s disgust, but to the others’ amusement. She even stretched out the ending for extra annoying cuteness.
Twilight was the first to finish giggling of the three mares. “Ok. I guess I can wait. But you better also try to teach me combat magic too in payment for keeping me waiting.” Twilight gave a smile in victory. She was sure she had Naruko here now.
The blonde unicorn just kept giving a pleasant smile as she easily said, “There are 204 ‘letters’ in the Hiragana and Katakana alphabets.” Twilight’s triumphant smile started to slip.
“Also I don’t even know how many Kanji there are total. I haven’t learned them all, even. I’m guessing there are probably 50,000 Kanji. I know at least 2,000 of them because they were, ‘common’.” Twilight’s feel of victory over her friend was completely gone now.
Naruko wasn’t done yet though, “Also you have to be very careful with them. If you don’t write the character’s just right, you might end up putting a hole in the space time continuum, or just blow yourself up.” Naruko was smiling. She knew Twilight would give up on learning combat magic… for now…
Fluttershy gasped in horror. That was absurd in her mind. “Language shouldn’t be that complicated,” she breathed to herself.
Twilight was equally gasping in horror. She loved studying and learning, but the homework and practice she knew she would have to undergo for this venture was on a completely different scale from what she had studied in the past.
Give Twilight the complete unabridged works of every pony philosopher and magic scientist in ancient Equestrian, and she might be looking at an equal work load. The fact Naruko had learned as much in 11 years along with her ninja training at the academy and under Kyuubi. Really said something about her true intelligence.
Twilight knew she was still more… ‘Educated’, but it was very impressive. She couldn’t help but feel even more awe and something else for her best friend. “No wonder she was able to rather quickly catch up in magic studies to work with Celestia and me,” Twilight thought to herself.
{-} {-} {-}
As Twilight met with her two friends again, Trixie was running as fast as she could from Ponyville. She was now a good distance away. She looked around to make sure no one was nearby. As she noticed she was alone, she let the tears she had been fighting back finally fall as she kept running.
She hated how things had turned out. She knew she shouldn’t have bragged like she did. Trixie knew she shouldn’t have lied and said she took on an Ursa Major alone when she hadn’t done so.
The thing was she was a show pony. It was her job to stretch tales and embellish a little on the truth. She was supposed to be entertaining. She just wished she hadn’t taken a story she told at foal parties, and made herself the star of it. This was the origin of the Ursa Major story.
She usually kept cool while entertaining, but all the ‘neigh’ sayers got to her. Maybe she did deserve a little karma kick truthfully, but did she really deserve to lose her home and all that she owned? No, she didn’t. It wasn’t her fault two idiots would actually go and try to get her to conquer what they thought was an Ursa Major.
She slowed down and paused for a small rest as she sobbed more. She just knew she was ruined. In show business, your reputation was a huge part of your success. She just knew Ponyville would ruin it for her. She hadn’t even gotten to try out her newer and more amazing tricks yet. Now she feared she never would get the chance, and it was all just because two idiot bucks thought it smart to bring doom to their town just to see ‘amazing magic’.
Trixie broke down for just a little longer before she started to run again. She never noticed the moon princess return to her castle having seen what transpired that night. Princess Luna was about to step in earlier that night, but smiled as she noticed Twilight Sparkle had the situation under control. However, one thing still remained on the dark princess’ mind that night. She needed to talk to her sister about that again, and she wouldn’t take ‘no’ for an answer this time.
{-} {-} {-}
Princess Celestia yawned as she woke up and made her way down to the dining room. It was time for her morning meal with her lovely sister. Once she stepped into the room and saw the frown on Luna’s beautiful face, she knew something was up. “What’s wrong, dear Luna?” She secretly hoped this wasn’t something too bad, but she had a sinking feeling it was.
“Sister…” Luna said with a cold tone in her voice that put Celestia on edge. “It is definitely time to start the patrol again.”
“Not this again, Luna,” Celestia sighed. She loved her sister, but she kept going on and on about the patrol lately. “You know what I have said about this before, Luna.”
Luna looked at her with narrowed eyes, which caused Celestia to stop and listen. “I do know what you have said. Even if the animals aren’t a problem the patrol is needed to, if nothing else, keep idiot subjects from dragging another Ursa Minor into the heart of Ponyville. Next time it might be an actual Ursa Major!”
Celestia’s jaw opened and her eyes widened in disbelief. “What?! Who would do that?!” She wasn’t sure how to respond to this. She wasn’t even sure if she should believe it or not.
Princess Luna approached her sister and touched her horn to her sister as she said, “Perhaps I should just show you, dear sister.” With those words her horn glowed and Celestia’s eyes widened even further as she saw the previous night’s events.
Once the show was over and the sisters were both sitting down, Celestia rubbed a hoof on her forehead just below her horn. “Of all the idiotic, half-witted, brain dead and stupid feats of pony kind, that has to be one of the worst ideas ever!”
Luna didn’t grin to this, nor smile in victory despite wanting to do so. The truth was they were lucky none of their beloved subjects were grievously injured.
Celestia took a long sip on her cup of morning tea, feeling this was going to be one of those days. “Okay I can see what you mean about needing the patrol again. I would rather it wait a little longer so the other ponies will be more receptive to working for you. However, we will just have to hope there are enough for it to start up. Do you have a captain in mind, Luna?” Celestia asked though she had a good idea about the answer to this question.
“Yes I do. Naruko Uzumaki. She has the drive to protect her home and friends. She has proven to have the skills required after the mission she was sent on, and she is the more combat oriented of your students. Twilight may be better at magic in general, but when it comes to combat, not even she can hold a candle to Naruko. And that’s even without her using Kyuubi’s powers in conjunction with her own,” Luna said as she took an elegant sip of her tea before placing the cup down gently.
She did however wonder what would happen if Naruko taught Twilight about combat magics. Luna couldn’t help but give a little shudder at the potentially unstoppable unicorn that would be born from this act. She wouldn’t admit it, but she actually found the prospect a little terrifying.
“I won’t argue with you on that. I only hope she can find some others to help her. I'll have Fluttershy give her and the others your captain gathers advice on creatures and dealing with them, including dealing with them in more aggressive and violent ways. Fluttershy knows how to do so despite it not being her preference,” Celestia said to Luna.
“Will she understand? She is the Element of Kindness,” Luna said with some concern. She wanted her patrol to be ready for the worst of situations. If these ponies were willing to risk their lives to help protect others, she wanted them to be as ready as they could be.
“I will make her if need be, Luna. However, telling her the purpose of the patrol and what it is they are dealing with should be more than enough persuasion. She does care for all critters and such, but even then Ponies are more important to her, even if it is only by a tiny bit. I have said this before, and I still believe it holds true. Plus, she was with Naruko on their mission. She understands sometimes you have to get dirty by now. The only difference here is the problem animals, most of the time, will be approached aggressively but still non-lethally,” Celestia said.
Luna gave a smile and walked up to her sister and gave her a wing hug as she said, “I’m just glad it didn’t take something worse than this to make you realize we need to push for it. What about funding?”
Celestia returned the wing hug and smiled. “I will deal with that today during the Sun Court, Luna. We will meet again tonight to go over the particulars, sister.” Luna’s smile grew bigger as she finished up before then heading to bed for the day.
Celestia wouldn’t say so out loud, but she felt happy seeing Luna smile like that. She just wished it wasn’t related to such an important issue.
{-} {-} {-}
Celestia walked gracefully into a room full of the Royal Cabinet. All of the gathered ponies were wondering what the meeting was about. Each of the ponies went silent the moment she walked into the room. The sun princess took her seat at the table and turned to them with a serious face.
“It is time we reanalyze the budget regarding the Ever-Free Patrol. My sister and I have decided due to recent events and other potential dangers, it should once again be pushed to the fore front. Luna has told me she wishes for Naruko Uzumaki, our Contract Guardian, to be the Ever-Free Patrol Grand Captain.”
There were many murmurs among the gathered ponies as Celestia settled in for the meeting. The princess could even taste the excitement in the air. She thought this odd, but would wait to see how the long meeting went. It was going to be a long, but hopefully productive day.