//------------------------------// // A Rude Awakening // Story: Leap of Faith // by A bag of plums //------------------------------//               “Don’t worry about me. Get out of here now.”   “But I wonder… Why would the Assassins send a kid after me? Are they so lacking that they have no choice but to send you?”   “If you decide to play Assassin… You’d best be prepared to get hurt.”   “How do you feel now, Ms. Breeze? What’s that? I can’t hear you!”   “It’s a pity you Assassins die so easily…”   “Sunset! Go!”   Velvet felt as though she’d been run over by a truck, then tossed off a mountainside and into a bramble thicket. She tried to remember just why she felt like this, but her body’s operating capacities didn’t seem to stretch that far yet. Just lying down and breathing were all she could do right now.   After an indiscriminate amount of lying down and breathing, Velvet chanced cracking open one eye, but even that was a titanic effort. There was far too much light anyway. Dark felt nicer.   Bit by bit, the feeling returned to the rest of the girl’s body, which she instantly regretted: her head began pounding like someone was trying to suck out her brains and each limb had the dexterity and mobility of a lead pipe. There was also something warm and heavy draped over her, but Velvet didn’t feel like looking to find out what it was.   She felt as though she should say something. ‘Where am I?’ was a classic, although ‘help’ was also a favorite. In the end she settled on a mixture of both, but it came out of her parched mouth sounding a lot like a feeble ‘Aaarnnghhhnn’.   A noise came from somewhere in the distance. Or it could have been closer. It was so hard to tell when the room refused to stop spinning.   “...Hello?”   A voice.   Human.   Good.   Could have been female.   But too high pitched to be her.   Velvet’s fatigued state left her wondering whether she was actually hearing it or not. A loud thumping followed the greeting, but that was something she was grateful for. There were worse things to hear after waking up, like the sound of someone saying ‘did anyone get his number?’ or ‘you two hold her hands behind her back’. Either of those, however, was better than the sound of a knife being unsheathed.   Bit by bit, Velvet’s eyes made the decision to brave the light again. Millimeter by millimeter, the room came into view. She was laying flat on a bed in a room that she didn’t recognize, surrounded on all sides by muted wallpaper in stripes of green and white. The rest of the room was rather desolate, with wooden floorboards, a tartan rug, and a short nightstand upon which were placed three bottles of some kind of medicine, a bowl, and a clean washcloth. Somewhere in the distance there was music playing; the upbeat chords of an acoustic guitar.   So Wolfgang hadn’t killed her. That was the good news. The bad news was that with the light hitting the backs of her eyeballs, the resultant headache almost made Velvet wish he had.   The strain was too much. Velvet shut her eyes just as she heard the door swing open again, but by then the young Assassin was already sinking back into the comforting arms of unconsciousness. It was dark when Velvet awoke again, feeling marginally better than before, though that may just have been because there was no more sunlight lancing at her brain.   Okay. Let’s try this again.   Velvet shuffled her arms under the sheets, bringing her elbows into a bracing position. With a grunt of exertion, the girl managed to push herself into a slumped sitting stance. The mattress creaked a little, but it wasn’t loud enough for anyone to take notice.   As she brushed the sleep from her eyes, the condition of her hands became apparent. Each of them had been carefully wrapped in white bandages, all the way from her wrists to her elbow, and there was the heavy scent of antiseptic in the air.   Now that the dominoes in Velvet’s mind had begun to topple their way into wakefulness, the next piece to fall was that someone had moved her from the construction site and to wherever this was, and moreover, all of her equipment was gone.   Velvet glanced down; she was now clothed in a thin blue nightgown, sleeveless to bare her linen-wrapped limbs. A quick inspection at the rest of her confirmed her initial suspicions: someone had rescued her from the place where she’d passed out.   Right. Inch by inch, Velvet slid one stiff leg out from the covers. It too was wrapped up snugly in white and sent a shiver up the girl’s spine as it touched down on the icy floorboards. Let’s see how much trouble I’m in.   Paying no heed to the oncoming headache that these meager motions were beginning to cause, the young Assassin edged her other foot out and onto the floor. Using the nearest bedpost as a crutch, she levered the rest of her body out from under the covers, goosebumps forming on her exposed skin; the snow outside was still falling thickly and made Velvet wish for her coat more than anything.   Velvet pushed off the bedpost and managed to stay upright for a full two seconds before overbalancing and slamming into the wall. A muffled groan escaped Velvet as her wounded shoulder was jarred by the impact, and once more as she slid to the ground in a heap.   Panting, the young Assassin waited for her vision to stabilize before trying to stand up again, but her legs would not bear her weight.   “Come on…” Velvet croaked. “Stand up… please.” Sunset’s out there somewhere and I have to find her.   Finally giving up on her lower limbs’ functionality, Velvet dragged herself slowly toward the door. Each centimeter of floorboard was like a frozen pond, and she could feel it sapping the strength from her limbs with every pull of her hands.   After what felt like hours, Velvet reached the door. She rolled over and reached up to turn the knob. Twice her fingers slipped from the polished brass, but on the third she managed to grasp it firmly and-   Velvet froze on the spot. There were footfalls rapidly approaching and the girl let go of the doorknob, sliding on her backside and frantically looking for somewhere to hide.   Under the bed? No, too obvious.   Behind the curtains? No, too short.   The paltry furnishings in this room offered a rather poor selection of spots to hide, Velvet thought.   Sequestering herself behind the door’s swinging arc, Velvet curled up into a ball and waited.   The footfalls got louder, louder, louder, and then softer again. Whoever it was must have walked right past her door. Velvet breathed a sigh of relief.   And then the door to her room swung open, smacking the girl right in the head and making her yelp.   Stars spun in Velvet’s eyes as she slumped to the floor, dazed. As the black began to close in around her vision, a concerned face swam into view. A face crowned with yellow and red striped hair. A face that Velvet wanted to see more than anyone else in the world.   “Sunset Shimmer,” Velvet breathed, her eyes closing. A pair of warm hands clasped her own as the blue girl gave up the fight to stay awake. “I… I’m…  you… you’re safe.”  Twilight Sparkle trotted down the streets of Canterlot by herself, heading towards the location Princess Luna had given her. This was a residential area, sprinkled with manor houses and tall towers and dusted with the occasional park.   Some little fillies and colts were playing ball on the streets while an older pair watched over them. Twilight smiled as she passed them, both as a greeting, but also looking back to a memory. She never had any friends when she was younger, but her big brother, Shining Armor, was always there for her whenever she needed somepony to spend time with. The Princess of Friendship used to live around this area of Canterlot, but she didn’t know the address she was looking for. It was either a new establishment, or a really old one. A few ponies began to notice her presence, bowing to her as she passed. Twilight smiled and waved her hooves but otherwise kept going. There was an important discovery to be made today and she wasn’t going to let her friends in the other world down. It didn’t take long for her to become hopelessly lost, so Twilight pulled the papers that Luna had given her from her saddlebags, levitating them out in front of her. “Let’s see what it says…” she muttered to herself. “Number six, Fifth floor, Pine Towers, East Canterlot. Now if memory serves, Pine Towers should be… that way?” Twilight’s memory wasn’t as good as she wished it was today. She continued down the way she thought the place was, but when she reached the dead end, the princess knew she was in the wrong place. “Okay,” Twilight grumbled, turning around. “No more little miss nice pony.” Setting the paper on the ground, she focused the power in her horn and zapped the paper with a bolt of magenta. The paper floated up to eye level. “Point me,” Twilight commanded. Obediently, a tiny arrow made of magic formed above the paper, pointing at a side street. Following the arrow, Princess Twilight was soon able to find her way to Pine Towers, where she ended the spell. Twilight let out a sigh of relief and stowed the paper back in her saddlebag. The building was of a typical postmodern Canterlotian make, all tall spires and overhanging balconies. The lavender alicorn trotted up the short flight of steps into the lobby before making her way up the main stairs inside. Getting to the fifth floor was easy enough. Now all Twilight had to do was find a door with the number six on it. The hallway was small and narrow, but the princess managed to find the door she was looking for right at the end of the hall. Like everything else, it was shiny and smelled of fresh polish. She knocked on the gleaming wooden door with a hoof and stepped back, silently hopping, please don’t be asleep, please don’t be asleep, please don’t be asleep! To her astonishment, Twilight heard the sounds of hoofsteps inside before the door slowly opened, revealing a familiar face. “Corporal Dewdrop?” Twilight said incredulously. “Princess Twilight?” The guard sounded almost as surprised. “Uh, uh… What a pleasant surprise! W-what are you doing in this part of Canterlot?” “I was looking for a Lance Corporal Satin Breeze. I was told she lives here?” “Uh, yes, princess,” Dewdrop flashed Twilight a nervous smile. “Your information is not wrong. Thing is, she’s not home right now-” “Dew?” came a soft voice from inside the flat. “Who is it?”         Twilight watched Dewdrop’s face cycle through surprise, concern, doubt, and finally settle on a mixture of resignation and nervousness.         “Nevermind. I guess you’d better come in, Princess.”         The first thing that Twilight noticed upon entering was how dark it was. All the curtains and blinds had been drawn, leaving only a faint white outline around the windows. It smelled faintly of fruit, but Twilight couldn’t pinpoint exactly what. Once her eyes began to adjust to the gloom, the alicorn was able to make out a selection of simple but tasteful furniture, all in dark shades which blended in a bit too well with the overlaying darkness, as more than one bumped hoof made evident.                  Following Dewdrop, Twilight was led into a bedroom. The fruity smell was stronger here, and more importantly, there was a batpony sitting up on the bed, one who looked familiar for some reason.         “Sorry for the impromptu visit, but-”         “Oh, Princess Twilight,” the batpony left her bed to bow. “I wasn’t expecting you.”         Twilight waited for the obligatory bowing to be over before saying, “Uh, thanks. But I’m not going to be staying for long. I just had a few questions to ask you.”          “Of course, princess. It is an honor to have you in my home, even for a brief moment.” The darkness in the room seemed to fade slightly as Twilight’s eyes fully adjusted themselves. It was then that the Princess of Friendship realized who it was she was speaking to. She recognized the attractive batpony mare from the recruitment posters outside Canterlot Castle. “Umm… Are you Lance Corporal Satin Breeze?” “Yes, that’s right,” Satin threw her a rather sloppy salute, kicking a few discarded bits of Lunar Guard armor under the bed as she did so. Dewdrop cringed a little, but said nothing.         “Lance Corporal Breeze, I have some questions regarding Sergeant Velvet Breeze,” Twilight said as carefully as she could. She didn’t know how close Satin was to Velvet, so she didn’t want to sound disrespectful. “First off, I know it sounds like a silly question, but may I know how you are related to her?” Immediately, Twilight knew she had said something wrong. The pupils of Satin’s eyes shrank to tiny dots, and her breathing became hard and erratic.         “V-Velvet?” Satin muttered. “She’s my… my sister. Yes. That’s it. We’re sisters.”         “Satin, if you don’t want to do this…” Dewdrop said gently. “I-it’s fine, Dewdrop…” the slim batpony sighed. “The princess n-needs answers…” “I’m sorry, if it’s a bad time, I can always come back?” Twilight said, unsure how to handle the situation. “It’s okay, princess… Coming back later won’t change anything,” Satin continued, closing her eyes. “It’s just… I miss my sister. Very much.” “Look,” Dewdrop said at last. “Princess. I don’t mean to be rude, but this is kind of a touchy subject right now. So how about instead of asking Satin, you ask me? In the living room? Please?” Twilight agreed and nodded, though a part of her wanted to give the corporal a piece of her mind. If she had been this cooperative, Twilight wouldn’t have had to go through all the trouble to find this place. She trotted into the next room behind the corporal, who opened the blinds a tiny bit. As she did so, Twilight couldn’t help but turn up her muzzle at the mess that was brought to light. A bowl of overripe fruits lay atop the cluttered coffee table, and she counted at least five bottles of wine littered about, all in various states of emptiness. “What… What happened here?” Twilight couldn’t help but ask as she stepped over an old hairbrush. “Like I said, Princess,” Dewdrop said grimly. “It’s a touchy subject.” “If I may, corporal. What is your relationship with the lance corporal?” “She’s… my best friend, princess,” Dewdrop lowered her head. “We’ve known each other for years.” “Well, corporal, I’m truly sorry about Lance Corporal Breeze, but...” Twilight sighed and sat on the floor. She couldn’t know what Satin was going through, but she still had a friend out there that needed answers more badly than Twilight herself. “What do you know about Sergeant Breeze?” “I can tell you a bit more than most. Sergeant Breeze was a Lunar Guard, one of the better ones, if I dare say so. Younger sister to poor Satin, you know. She was devastated when the news came back.” “Oh. I’m sorry.” Twilight felt chagrined. Of course asking the relative to a fallen soldier would get this kind of reaction, she berated herself mentally. “Yeah. Never even found the body,” Dewdrop said, sweeping an empty pizza box off the couch. “Stinking Chrysalis. I hope they catch her and lock her away for a thousand years.” “Did they ever catch the one that broke her out of jail?” Twilight went off topic for just this question. “No, and more’s the pity,”the Solar Guard grumbled. “I’d have liked a few minutes with that one to show her who’s boss.” “I’m sure a lot of ponies do, corporal. Anyway, back to the reason why I’m here. What was Sergeant Breeze like? I will be grateful for anything you have.” “Well, that’s her over there,” Dewdrop gestured vaguely over to a photo on the wall. Twilight stood up and walked over, taking a closer look at it. It was a picture of a blue coated batpony with teal-grey hair. “She was a kind mare, always checking up on her sister, even though she was the younger sibling. She had joined the Guard first, you see. Satin joined much later.” “I see,” Twilight’s quill worked furiously on her parchment, recording everything. “And where are they from, Velvet and Satin?” Dewdrop raised a curious eyebrow. “Why, Hollow Shades of course. Like almost every batpony, princess. Velvet joined the guards almost seven years ago now, with Satin just finishing her fifth. They’ve been here in Canterlot ever since. “Now I have a question for you, if you’ll excuse me, Princess Twilight,” Dewdrop looked Twilight right in the eye. “Why the sudden interest in Velvet? All this stress isn’t good for Satin’s career, you know?” Twilight thought about what to say before opening her mouth. “I have a friend who’s in need of some help. She says she has a girl following her who said her name was Velvet Breeze. After discovering Sergeant Breeze is… no longer with us, I couldn’t help but think: is this girl a fake? And so here I am, looking for answers.” “Somepony impersonating Velvet?” Dewdrop growled, startling Twilight with her sudden hostility. “Point me to them and I’ll take care of it, princess. If it’s a changeling…” “Wait, wait!” Twilight threw her hooves in front of her face. “We don’t know anything yet! I still have to relay all this information to my friend.” “Well, I hope your friend is able to catch this fake Velvet. I can’t stand the thought of someone walking around as her!” “Well the thing is…” Twilight trailed off before she could reveal any more information. There was no concrete evidence that this other Velvet was a fake, but somehow she doubted that the grim-faced corporal would react well to talks of parallel universes and an entirely different species. “I’d prefer to keep this quiet until I have a definitive answer,” Twilight finished. “Safer for everypony that way.” Despite Twilight’s inner reservations, to her credit, Dewdrop calmed down quickly. “Well, who am I to argue with the mind of a princess? I’ll do anything I can to help your investigation.” Twilight nodded, pulling up the list of questions she had compiled on the way here. “What was Velvet’s favorite color?” “Purple.” “Favorite food?” “Mangoes.” “Family?” “One older sister, one mother and father.” “Any distinguishing features?” “Well,” Dewdrop scratched her head. “There was this scarf that Satin gave her.” “Anything else I should know about this scarf?” Twilight jumped on the point. Dewdrop shrugged. “Just a red scarf, Princess. Only thing they managed to recover from the… incident. Satin’s got it now, but I don’t think…” “Don’t worry,” Twilight said quickly. “I won’t ask to see it.” The rest of the afternoon was spent learning as much as she could about the late Velvet Breeze. From what Dewdrop had told her, Sunset’s Velvet already seemed uncannily similar to her own one, but Twilight had to make absolutely sure. Only when the sun was nearing the horizon did they finally reach the end of Twilight’s list. “Whew!” Twilight exclaimed, wiping a droplet of sweat off the parchment she had been using to record everything on. “I think that about covers it. Thank you for your cooperation, Corporal Dewdrop.” “Don’t mention it,” Dewdrop saluted. “It’s an honor to help out a princess, in any way I’m able; that’s why I joined the guards.” Twilight nodded. Dewdrop’s enthusiasm for her work certainly was uplifting; it reminded her a bit of Applejack. “Well, I should be going now…” Twilight rolled up her scrolls and packed away her quills. “Sure you don’t want to stay for a drink?” “I’d love to, but I can’t,” Twilight said, smiling as she magicked the front door open. “I need to get these matched up with my friend to see if her Velvet is a fake or not.” “Oh,” said Dewdrop, mollified. “Of course. See you later then, Princess Twilight.” Twilight turned back one last time at the door. “Corporal, I saw another pony at Sergeant Velvet Breeze’s grave that night I met you. That was Lance Corporal Breeze wasn’t it?” Dewdrop widened her eyes, not knowing Twilight had seen anything that night, sighing when she realized she couldn’t keep up her game. “Yes. It was. Satin visits it frequently. I’m sorry I lied to you, princess. I thought I could keep Satin safe that way.” “Don’t hit yourself for it, corporal,” Twilight returned and placed a hoof on the guard’s shoulder. “I too would do everything I can to help my friends.” Waving a final farewell to Dewdrop, Twilight descended the stairs, already assembling the letter to Sunset that she would compose as soon as she got back to her tower. She had almost reached the bottom of the steps and the end of her imaginary letter why she ran smack-dab into another pony, a pink pegasus with a yellow mane. “Ohmygosh, I’m so sorry!” the pegasus said. “Let me help you up.” Twilight flapped to her hooves and smiled at the other pony. “No need to worry; I’m fine.”         “Oh! You’re Princess Twilight!” The pegasus made to bow, but accidentally tripped over her own hooves while she was doing so and tumbled to the ground herself, which only flustered her more. “Sorry! I mean, sorry about me, Princess Twilight, I don’t know what’s gotten into me!” “Breathe,” Twilight commanded as she levitated the pegasus upright. “Just breathe, okay? You don’t have to bow just for me.” “But I have to! It’s traditional, and what if somepony sees me not bowing, what would they say-” A glare from Twilight. “Right, right. Breathe. Okay.”         “Now, let’s try again,” Twilight gave the pegasus a friendly smile. “I’m Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Friendship.”         “S-Sunny Skies, Princess,” the pegasus bobbed her head slightly, clearly fighting the urge to bow again. “I’m on the w-weather team. That’s right.”   “Well, that’s nice, Sunny Skies,” Twilight magically dusted off the pink pegasus. “Are you on your way up?” “Uh, no, not really.” “Oh.” Twilight paused for a moment. “Umm… So, uh, why are you here, Sunny?” “Just, y’know, on a stroll. Nothing like a brisk walk in the evening to get the blood going, you know?” “Sounds good, Sunny. Well, have a nice walk!” Twilight and Sunny Skies parted ways, with Twilight making for her tower at the castle and Sunny heading toward the eastern part of the city. Eager to get her findings to Sunset, Twilight took flight and was soon out of sight. Unobserved by both Sunny Skies and Twilight Sparkle, a pair of narrowed eyes watched them depart. Concealed inside a rooftop garden, Agent Eclair kept careful vigil over Princess Twilight. It hadn’t exactly been the most stimulating of jobs, but it had finally paid off. That pegasus, Sunny Skies, had been standing outside Satin’s flat for almost an hour before Twilight had bumped into her. All she’d done was pace around outside, occasionally bumping into or waving at passers-by. And now she was setting off down a narrow alleyway, looking over her shoulders furtively. A textbook example of stealth, Eclair hopped out of the shrubbery that had been her cover and crept to the edge of the rooftop. Sunny was just turning the corner into the alley, so Eclair spread her wings and soared to the other end of the street, ready to catch her off guard. Executing a perfect four-point landing, Eclair flattened herself against the wall, and just in time. The sound of hoofsteps was approaching. Closer, closer, closer, until… “Stop!” Eclair jumped out and glared right into the eyes of… a pure white unicorn with a pale blue mane.         “Huh?”         “Oh, uh, sorry. I mistook you for somepony else.” Eclair stepped aside to let her pass. “Terribly sorry.” “It’s okay,” the unicorn said graciously. “Were you by any chance looking for the pony with the pink coat and yellow mane?” Eclair decided how much to tell the unicorn. “Yes. That’s the one. Did you see her?” “Yup. Doubled back the way she came and went into a crowd. Did she do something wrong?” “Oh, nothing wrong. She just dropped something and I’m planning to return it.” Eclair finished with a straight face, putting years of experience to practice. “Oh. Okay,” the unicorn shrugged noncommittally. “Good luck with that.” The white unicorn began to trot away. Eclair watched her leave, disappearing through a marble archway. How odd… I could swear she was about to show… Retracing Sunny Skies’ predicted path, Eclair ended up back at Pine Towers, but there was no sign of the pink pegasus anywhere. Cursing, she dashed down the street, completely missing the sight of Sunny Skies reappearing from behind the archway with a satisfied smirk on her face.