//------------------------------// // Chapter 1 // Story: The Night's Justice // by JadeLightning //------------------------------// Justice of the Night -Chapter 1- By JadeLightning Twilight Sparkle had spent the past decade learning the sorcerer’s craft at Luna’s prestigious school. Now a lovely mare in her twenties, Twilight had learned a great deal about magic and herself during her time at Queen Luna’s school. She had made some great acquaintances and friends, and they had helped her along with her own studies towards becoming one of the greatest sorceresses in all of Equestria. At least that was what she told her parents with every letter she sent home. Twilight Sparkle’s time at Luna’s School of Sorcery had certainly been fruitful, but near-half of it was not due to studying or passing courses. Twilight had learned the magical craft to an effective level, wanting to at least honor her parents’ wishes for her to become a great sorceress to some degree. Twilight however, always felt more comfortable learning about magic and her surroundings in a more hands-on fashion, and her parents hadn’t really understood that side of her, but supported her all the way, which she loved them for. There were a few things she didn’t have the heart to tell them, though. She would often sneak out in her youth during the daytime and explore the bright world nopony else saw when they were slept. Although she had heard that in other towns and cities, there were lots of things to do during the daytime, Ponyville was a quiet burg and she liked the privacy her explorations outside of Ponyville gave her, especially when she dared cross into the dangerous Everfree Forest. No one needed to know about those ventures. While at Luna’s school however, Twilight had learned a great deal about other ponies, and in the last couple of years, things citizens of old-time Ponyville didn’t dare. The most fun for Twilight of course manifested itself in the form of parties with lots of drinking and dancing. Twilight had quickly become a master of the funnel as well, something used to drink a whole lot of what one of her closest friends at school would call “Lunashine” very fast. One of her other “friends” had also tried to get her to give what he called “Alicorn Dust” a try, but Twilight was at least smart enough not to go for that. And that sort of fun, mixed with a variety of spells including Twilight’s oldest favorite, teleportation, made for all kinds of amazing adventures, at least in Twilight’s mind. Even with all of her crazy misadventures and the trials and tribulations of growing and schooling, Twilight missed her parents dearly even if she didn’t want to tell them the truth of most of her fun. Twilight had not spoken to or seen her parents in a couple of years, since it wasn’t cheap to hire passage from Canterlot to Ponyville, and Twilight had been afraid to return home since her questionable activities had started. However, she and her parents had been planning her return trip for months now, and a chariot was to arrive for her at Canterlot International Flightport near sunrise. “Perfect” Twilight said to herself, checking over the flight schedule again as she checked the clock behind the schedule post. “I’m right on schedule. It’s a long flight, but I should be able to sleep through it and wake up right as the sun sets to go give mom and dad a big hug. I wonder if mom’s going to make those hayseed biscuits and cornmeal for breakfast. She always saves that kind of thing for a special occasion…” She thought to herself for moment, trying to remember what her mom’s special meals actually tasted like. She hated being gone for so long, but she couldn’t help the personal guilt. “Twilight!” came an energetic voice from across the waiting area. Twilight turned to face the caller. “Oh, hey Lyra! Fancy meeting you here!” Twilight galloped over to greet her friend, nuzzling her gently in greeting. “Oh I know!” Lyra said with a look of cheerful surprise still lingering on her face. “It’s great to see you too. How’ve you been these past couple of years? How are things at the academy?” Twilight giggled, rolling her eyes gently. “Oh you know, the same boring schoolwork, all to help us get ahead, apparently. I’ve had some great times otherwise though, met a lot of interesting people these past couple of years. And some…I’d rather not talk about.” Her mind lingered back to the phrase “Alicorn Dust” for a moment. “Well that’s great, Twi! I’m glad I graduated early, but I sure do miss some of the fun you only get at LSS. And their music program just can’t be beat!” Her eyes turned back to her cutie mark, a brilliant gold lyre, earned at the school eight years before as she came to understand her masterful skill with the instrument. “But enough about that, what brings you to Canterlot International? Heading home?” Twilight beamed; her violet mane flying as she nodded vigorously. “Oh yeah, got a month-long break coming up. Going to head home for the first time in a couple years and see my folks. I get enough letters about them missing me, you know?” She lowered her head, sort of embarrassed even telling an old friend she hadn’t been home in a two years. “But what about you?” She looked up at Lyra, hoping to redirect the conversation. “Me? Oh, I’m heading back to Manehattan to get home to Night Whisper. He’s been missing me so these past couple of months. He’s had to work from home and I had a string of concerts in New Colt City and Trottingham. Poor dear. Hard to believe we’ve only been together a couple of years, and it feels like a lifetime.” Lyra’s face reddened as she finished her sentences, but Twilight just smiled at her. “All that sounds wonderful, Lyra, at least you’ve found somepony who cares and moved on in your career, I’m Twilight Sparkle, Student and Partier Extraordinaire right now.” Twilight’s expression turned to a sly grin before she spoke again. “But tell me, Lyra, whatever happened to that mare that used to follow you everywhere? Did you ever finally explain yourself to her? What was her name again? Bow-Wow?” Lyra’s happy expression faded completely. “Oh Twilight, you always were the adventurous type, asking questions no one else would dare. At any rate, her name was Bon-Bon. She was that creepy, but really good natured mare who would always try and talk to me after meals, or slide notes under my door. It was all well and good, until she finally told me she was in love with me. I…suppose I gave off the wrong signals? Although I think that’s hard to believe when I told her many times I just wasn’t into mares. Poor dear, I think it might’ve broken her heart. But now that I think about it, I’m not even sure how she knew where I lived or was around at mealtime. She’s an Earth Pony. I don’t really know what she was doing at LSS anyway.” Twilight nodded in agreement, her mind returning to the reason she was in the flightport at all. “Omigosh! What time is it?!” Her eyes darted past Lyra’s head toward the enormous clock ticking away at the wall between the concords to chariot docks. The time read 9:56, four minutes before her flight’s departure. “Sweet, merciful Luna! I’m sorry, Lyra, but my flight’s chariot arrives in less than five minutes! I have to go! It’s been amazing catching up. Tell Night Whisper I said hello!” With that, Twilight teleported in a flash to the end of the concourse and Lyra watched her trot up to the reception desk and hold out a ticket. Lyra then turned around and made her way towards her own flight’s concourse, as Twilight boarded the overlarge commercial chariot for hers. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ As Lyra trotted down her concord, she panicked, realizing that she didn’t have much time left until her own flight and tripped as she picked up speed. She quickly righted herself, picking herself back up off the floor, rather upset that nopony around had offered her any help, and leaned down to pick up her things, only to realize that somepony was now standing with her. Lyra gasped and jumped back, her things spilling out of her hooves. The pony that now stood before her was cloaked in a bright white garb, with a hood covering his head. The more distinguishing feature, that had caused Lyra to jump back, was that the pony was wearing a thin black blindfold across his eyes. As Lyra started to back away, the pony spoke: “Hello there, miss. May I inquire as to the name of the pony you were just conversing? I do hate to be a bother, but it’s of the upmost importance that my colleagues and I know exactly who she is.” Lyra grew even more uncomfortable, still backing away slowly. “I...I don’t know…or…well, I can’t tell you. Why do you need to know, anyway?” Lyra looked around frantically, hoping that somepony walking down the concord would notice, and maybe even try to help her. This situation had to look suspect to somepony. “Oh, they can’t see us.” The cloaked pony chuckled and glanced around at the travelers moving past the pair of them. “They’re as blind as I am. They all are. It’s alright though. I don’t mean any trouble; I just need to know who that lovely mare was. Then I’ll be out of your hair, Miss Lyra.” Lyra stopped for a moment, her distress escalating, but now curious. “Y-you know my name? Why? Who are you?” The cloaked pony chuckled again, a delighted, condescending sort of pitch following his voice now. “I know many more things about you, Miss Lyra, mate of Night Whisper, a famous archaeologist from Manehattan. Your talent with a lyre is unmatched, and there are even things we know that you hide from yourself. We know so much about you, but the name of the mare you just spoke with escapes us; we have a hunch, but it’s so very important we find out…” Lyra frowned, still slowly moving away from the stallion. “Wait...you just said we, are there more of you?” The blind stallion nodded. “How astute, Miss Lyra. There are many of us, and we all seek to find reality in justice. My own search has brought me to you, Miss Lyra and has demanded I know exactly who that mare was. If you cannot help me…” The stallion gave a curt nod, and a movement behind her caused Lyra to jump backwards…into another pony. She turned quickly, now coming face-to-face with what was obviously a younger mare, wearing the same garb as the stallion, including the cloak and blindfold. When she spoke, the mare’s voice carried a softer tone with a higher pitch. “I have the mystery mare’s name. Her name is Twilight Sparkle, age 21, and she is indeed daughter to Midnight and Stardancer Sparkle, and quite the explorative type. Her cutie mark is a black magnifying glass draped across a sand-colored map. As far as my sources tell me, she should have boarded a chariot for Ponyville around ten minutes ago. Probably to meet her parents and they’re just the ponies we need to see. What have you been doing all this time, Captain, and why did I have to do all this work for you?” The mare finally turned her attention back to Lyra. “And what is she doing with us? Nopony is supposed to know about us, you fool! You were probably intimidating her with your hocus-pocus mystical bravado again. Idiot! Oh well, it looks like I’ll need to clean up your mistakes again. I still have no idea how you actually made Captain…” She lowered her hood, apparently-blind eyes still trained on Lyra. She then placed her hooves along the sides of the blindfold and lowered it. There was a flash, and Lyra let loose a piercing scream. Hours later, the peaceful ponies following the concourse to their chariots had no idea that anything unusual had just taken place in their very midst. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Twilight Sparkle’s flight had been particularly uneventful. She had enjoyed an in-flight daisy sandwich and had taken a few hours to rest her eyes. Most of the flight took place during the daytime; so naturally, everypony onboard had decided to rest their eyes. After a while, Twilight felt herself shaken awake by the passing steward stallion, who explained to her and all ponies around that their flight would be landing on Ponyville in minutes. Ecstatic, Twilight leaned her head out of the chariot and looked toward her hometown, a wonderful place she hadn’t seen in years…which was of course on purpose, to avoid displaying her “party self” to her loving parents. Her parents, much to her delighted surprise, had been waiting for her at the Ponyville flightport, and when she saw them, descending the ramp from her chariot, she simply teleported right over to them and gave them both a giant hug. “Twilight!” said her parents in unison; “It’s so good to see you again!” Stardancer stepped back, flapping her wings happily and giving her daughter a good look. “Well, it looks like you’re eating well, and you’ve gotten even more beautiful during these couple of years! I still don’t see why it had to be such a long time, but in your letters it sounded important, and your father told me not to worry…so I did anyway…” She sighed and gave Twilight another big hug. Stardancer finally released Twilight, and her father stepped up to her, his face beaming. “Lookin’ good, Twi’. Since you’re here, I guess you kept yourself safe after all. I knew you’d be fine, I’m just hopin’ all the extra studyin’ was beneficial to you!” He chuckled happily for a moment before continuing; “And if it wasn’t, there are always jobs around here in Ponyville. Luna knows I’d give my left foreleg to have you stick around for a while. Has that cutie mark proven useful to ya, hon’?” Twilight smirked at her father, a twinkle in her eye. “Oh sure it has Dad, amazingly. You know how I like to explore, good and bad, y’know? And I’d love to be around more, but I’ve got at least a semester of studies left, but after that, who knows? I’d love to come back to Ponyville, but you and Mom both know me too well to think that’s a definite.” At these words, Twilight lowered her head and blushed slightly. Stardancer trotted up to her daughter and nuzzled her. “It’s alright, Twi’. We know you need to get out and find your own way, and we don’t want to hold you back from going where life wants to take you.” Midnight Sparkle walked up to the pair and nuzzled them both. “Well, we all know you’ll need to get out into that wide world very soon, but hey, you’re home now, and we should enjoy the time we have! How about dinner? I’m thinkin’ something small, maybe Desperado’s?” ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ For the next few hours, the happy family of three enjoyed a night on the town. It had been a long time since Twilight had been to Desperado’s, but their salad buffet and was something had loved since she was a filly. They sat and talked, eating their meals and watching the live band who came in from Appleoosa every now and then to drop off supplies and play some tunes for the patrons of Desperado’s. The restaurant had been started by a native Appleoosan, Lone Star. Lone Star had dreamt of moving to a town like Ponyville and bringing with him some Appleoosan flavor. His ideas had been a success, and right now a certain family of three couldn’t be happier about that. As the moon descended toward the horizon, the family left Desperado’s and began their journey home. Twilight and her parents enjoyed a quiet stroll back to her parent’s home, meeting nopony on the way back, as it had gotten pretty late and most ponies in Ponyville tended to be asleep by sunrise. As they entered the threshold of the two-story, lavender-tinted home, Twilight was hit by a child-like nostalgia she hadn’t felt since her last visit two years ago. “It’s the same home I remember!” she said quietly to herself. Her mother trotted up to her and chuckled, smiling over at her warmly. “Yes Twi’, we haven’t changed anything. All the while we’d been hoping you’d just come back eventually, and so we’ve kept it the same as it was when you left. All of your things you didn’t take with you are just where you left them. Then again…” Her mother thought for a moment, a hoof to her chin. “I don’t really know what we’d do with anything here otherwise, it’s not like we’ve got any place to go, your father and I live very solitary lives you see, and we only ever need each other’s company. It would be nice to have some friends around occasionally though…” Stardancer then gazed out the nearby window, as if to see somepony who wasn’t there. Unfortunately, there was somepony there, and they were staring right back at her, or they would be, if their eyes weren’t obscured by a thin, black stripe. ~~~~~~~~~To Be Continued~~~~~~~~~