//------------------------------// // Pt 1 Outtake - Plan C in Manehatten // Story: The Troll Squad // by Witching Hour //------------------------------// “Oh no… He’s gonna get kicked out again…” Moony groans, her brow furrowed in annoyance. Beside her, Sunny looks across the bar to where Third Commander Lightning Streak was making several passes at a very attractive unicorn mare serving drinks around the club. While the mare seems to be handling herself well enough, the scowl on the stallion behind the bar’s face, and the stallion’s eyes following Lightning Streak’s failing progress in wooing the mare are the telltale signs of the coming eviction. “This has to be a new record,” Sunny sighs, taking another sip from his drink. “We’ve been here, what, a half-hour?” “Twenty-two minutes…” Moony corrects absently. “Dammit… I wanted to have some fun before we had to pull the press train…” “I know! An hour would have been at least the decent thing to do,” Sunny laments, shaking his head. “But, I guess there is no rest for the wicked, as they say.” Sighing heavily, Moony rises from her seat, putting enough bits on the bar to cover her twin’s and her own tabs. “The Show does go on…” she agrees as Lightning passes behind the pair, still relentlessly pursuing the surprisingly composed mare. "I may not be able to give you wings, but I can certainly make you feel like you're flying!" Moony can only cringe at the commander’s futile attempts, and cringes again as the stallion who’d been watching Lightning’s efforts the entire time slams his hoof down on the bartop. “That’s it!” the bartending stallion shouts, quickly coming around the bar and out into the main area. “How far do you think Commander Derp will fly this time, sis?” Sunny asks with a sad smile. “Through the front doors, at least. Better get there first so the cameras don’t notice,” Moony responds, pulling her brother in that direction. “Well, then we’d best put on a convincing show,” Sunny chuckles, putting a wing over his sister and pulling her close. She leans into him, rubbing her cheek against his neck as she puts on a mask of drunken happiness, bringing a rosy color to her cheeks. “And here I thought you could hold your drinks, missy.” “Oh Shunny… I’m ffff-fine,” Moony protests with a pronounced slurring of words even as she smiles, looking up at him with green eyes glittering from amusement behind a veil of adoration. “No, no really I think you’ve had far too much, my love,” Sunny admonishes Moony in a loving tone as he pushes open the doors to the club and leading them into the cool night air. “We really should get you back to the hotel, and to bed.” “C’mon, Shunny… I didn’ have tha’ much! I wanna dance!” she complains even as she staggers and almost trips over her own hooves in an attempt to turn her brother around and head back inside. “Moonbow,” Sunny starts sternly. “You are in no shape to dance!” He pulls her back up straight and keeps her on course, even as the blinding flash of bulbs start to assault them, quickly followed by shouts of ‘look over here,’ and ‘give her a kiss!’ “I know one dance I can manage,” Moony retorts, her eyes fixing on his with a sly smile on her blushing face. “I don’t know, dear heart,” Sunny stage whispers loud enough for the reporters, and really everypony nearby, to hear. “Here, in public? What would ponies say?” “Eeeeeeeh… Let ‘em-” she starts to respond with a shrug, but she ‘accidentally’ trips her twin, sending them both tumbling to a heap on the sidewalk. Moony makes a small squeak as Sunny lands on top of her, and her cheeks burn crimson through her muted violet coat. Grunting slightly as he rolls off of his twin, Sunny quickly comes around and helps Moony up, pulling her into his arms as he gazes longingly into her eyes as he gently brushes a loose lock of her blond mane out of her face with a hoof. “Are you alright?” His voice is soft, as if the only thing that matters in the world right now is situated in his arms. “I’m fine,” Moony sniffles, tears forming in her eyes. “I jus’ wish the night hadn’ been ruined!” “What do you mean?” Sunny inquires, a smile forming on his face that causes a few of the mare reporters to almost swoon at. “I… I jus’ wanted you to have fun,” Moony explains as she lowers her eyes from her twin’s. “Instead I got drunk, and… and then I tripped you!” The sniffling turns into soft, drunken crying the sight of which causes Sunny to pulls his twin close again, laying his head against hers. “Oh, Moony,” Sunny coos, rubbing her back gently. “How could my night be ruined when I spend it with the mare I love most in the world.” Looking up slightly, he spies the door to the club open again, this time to allow Fire and his own actually drunk twin to escape into the night air. Winking slightly to the captain of squad three, Sunny smiles and leans back slightly to lift his sister’s face from his chest. “Now, moon of my soul, let us dry those tears, and get you back to the hotel.” Sniffling, Moony’s own face breaks into a shaky lopsided smile. “O… okay,” she hiccups, wiping the tears from her face with the back of a hoof. “But… if I fall again…” she trails off, looking ashamed. “Then I will carry you, dear,” Sunny finishes as he helps her to stand again. “Cap… What the hell did you two do outside? We never got mobbed that bad before about what you two supposedly do behind closed doors!” Azzy asks as she returns to the room she shares with the Squad 12 Captain. Not long after there’s a knock on the door to the adjoining suite, which the blue pegasus quickly opens, allowing both Sunny and Bear Claw to pile through. “Maybe a little more than the usual…” Moony admits, smiling coyly as the stallions make themselves comfortable in the room and Azzy falls over onto her bed. “I admit, it was perhaps one of our finest performances,” Sunny sighs, putting a hoof to his chest. “But then, it really had to be considering who we were drawing attention away from.” “Please, Sunny… We both know I was leading the dance… You were just following… Everypony knows the lead gets all the credit,” Moony retorts teasingly. “Oh, dear sister, always the humble one,” Sunny chuckles. “So… Bets on what Hotpants’ reaction’s gonna be?” Bear Claw queries, looking up from his take-out box with yellow-green stains permeating the paper, clearly indicating the primary spice in its contents as curry. “Ten bits says she reads the headlines and blows steam out her ears,” Sunny smirks. “Twelve says she calls you two into her office again,” Azzy rolls her eyes, her own smirk growing. “Fifteen for all of the above, but you get off with a slap to the hoof,” BC says around a mouthful of noodles. Moony just smirks. “I’m not betting… Because she’s gonna call us into her office like always, try to read us a riot act, as she usually does, but give up around half-way through because Sunny and I will be putting our actions in perspective… Like we do.” “You really know how to take the fun out of it, Moony,” Sunny sighs as he shakes his head. “Guess that’s why you’re the captain!”