//------------------------------// // 6 - Enchantment // Story: Twilight's Story // by Damaged //------------------------------// Twilight woke, warm and cozy, feeling like she was snuggled up to a big stuffed toy. She gently squeezed with her forelegs, mind not making the connection to the big bed and being with a stallion. There was the gentlest of squeezes back, the touch pulled her mind from sleep, but not enough for embarrassment to kick in. "Mmm, Night…" "Night was the one you wanted to be cuddling?" Frida's words pulled Twilight from sleep completely and her eyes snapped open to find she was snuggled up against the griffon, one of her friend’s wings draped over her. "And here I thought I was being good and not letting you two get too carried away on your first night in the same bed." Too mortified to reply, Twilight Velvet tried to struggle free of Frida only to feel a pair of hooves gently tug at her from behind. "Well, at least a little. Night is still asleep, if you relax he probably won't wake up for a little while yet." Frida's eyes danced with mirth and, despite herself, Twilight did hold still. A snout nuzzled into her mane and Twilight was blushing beet-red, but in another way this was actually nice. She squeezed her eyes closed and then practiced the same little trick she did when really panicked. Slowly, she counted. "One… two… three…" On the third number she took a deep breath, then counted three more in her head and let it out. As relaxation filled her, she felt the stallion's grip tighten a little and couldn't help smiling. Night slowly surfaced from sleep, his mind awash with happy dreams. He squeezed the big pillow he was cuddling tight to his belly and was thankful he didn't have the normal stallion greeting to the day. Then he felt the pillow breathe. "T-T-Twilight?" "Yeah?" Twilight didn't dare move, if she did she would be the one who pulled away from this. "What's up Night?" Her heart beat faster and faster. A million things ran through the stallion's mind before he beat it all down with the simple truth. He was cuddled up to a mare and she knew he was and wasn't kicking him from bed. "So… uh… we just cuddling today?" "For a little bit." Twilight felt gears align in her head, cogs snapping into a power-train and suddenly spinning. "I like you, Night." Twilight immediately realized she would have to nail or glue her mouth shut, it was clearly a traitor. "I guess… I wasn't mad at you, just how this whole selection thing went. I wanted to be a Princess' Guard, royal protector of Princess Celestia. This seemed like a demotion." Night adjusted his grip, running one hoof along Twilight's foreleg. "Now that I have settled in, it doesn't seem quite so bad." Frida was pulled from the bed, Staccato wrapping the gryphon's forelegs in her tail and yanking the bird-cat clear across the room and out. "What… let me goooo!" "Come on feather-head, let's go look at the trees." Staccato turned just once, to see the pair on the bed. A warm, giggly feeling welled up. She winked at them before closing the door and leaving them alone. "I think Frida is going to take credit for… for this… what is this?" Twilight found that despite what she would have thought a few moments ago, and previous in her life, having your foreleg rubbed like that was quite nice. "Friends? Good friends?" Night felt the leg move under his ministrations, but only enough to make it a bit easier to rub. Both were interrupted in their musing when the door was thrown open by Staccato. "You two need to get up and see this, we… we might need to leave very quickly!" If it had been Frida, there might have been some pause, some moment of disbelief, but neither of them thought the siren the type for such games. A tangle of limbs was seen as both ponies rolled to get from the bed, each giving a giggle before finding their own kit. Night lifted his armor in his magic and slipped it down over himself, while Twilight grabbed a few spell-booklets she had put together and some special knock-out drugs. Slipping a first-aid pouch into the other side of her pack, Twilight turned just as Night got his helmet on. Both ponies found their hearts beating faster not just because of the possible danger, but at their new feelings. "Ready, partner?" Night's normal color was washed away again, into gray and silver. "Yeah, let's go buck this problem." Night felt really good, it was like there was a weight lifted from him and he could just relax and do his job. As the two emerged from the cabin they heard a soft song, a relaxing song. "Uh… Staccato?" Night's legs were heavy, he leaned sideways into Twilight. "She is doing it for a reason… look." Twilight tried to gesture with a hoof, but she almost fell over and instead leaned into Night and pointed with her horn. In the forest ahead, there were two very cross-looking bugbears, now leaning against each other and taking the odd swing. Night had no clue how they mustered that much energy. "Must be really angry… like, really-really angry." Twilight smiled wider, the relaxation working like an effective tranquilizer on her until something poked into her ears. With the song muffled she managed to stand up straighter and think properly again. Of course, without her leaning against him, Night fell down in a heap of clanging armor. Frida stuffed some moss into the stallion's ears too and in a moment he was shaking his head and getting up. Opening his mouth, Night was about to ask what was going on when the griffon pointed to nearly a dozen of the big predators, the bugbears all in little groups and slumped under the effects of the singing. Not wanting to break the spell the siren was using, Night kept his mouth shut. Wandering toward the nearest pair of bugbears, Twilight's eyes narrowed onto two long slashes on the nearest creature's back. Her eyes widened and she wanted to shout back to the others but, just then, was pushed to the ground as a huge, dark paw flew through the air where she was just standing. Night was atop her, pinning her down and glaring at her. Pointing with a hoof back to the cabin, the mare got a nod from Night before the pair scampered back and inside. "What has them so riled up already? I thought they weren't meant to get angry for a little while yet?" Night was, like the other three, pulling the moss from his ears. Staccato was panting and looking spent while Frida dashed off and got her a glass of water. "Dragon." Twilight managed to say, moving over to the siren and giving her a gentle pat on the shoulder. "Those marks weren't made by a bugbear, too many claws. Only creature big enough to leave that kind of mark, and have that many claws, is a dragon." Twilight didn't even need to check a book; there was a reason she graduated with the marks she did. "Okay, so we go looking for a dragon?" Night took the wobbling glass from Frida in his magic, passing it to Staccato who gulped it down in a few mouthfuls. "Unless they are angry about something too, then it will probably find us first." Twilight started reaching for books to confirm her findings. Locating one that had the sum total of dragon lore, compressed down to a convenient size for field use, she started poring through it. "We should be okay so long as none come at the house directly." Frida left her oceanic friend to peek out through a little window at the front. All the windows were small by design, it seemed likely for just this reason. "Ah, ha!" Twilight's eyes refocused from reading the tiny print in the condensed book. "It says here that dragons will mostly only get territorial if they have a clutch or are entertaining a mate, so somewhere there is a mare dragon with… well, maybe a stallion or eggs." "So what do we do?" Night was standing by the front door, ready for if the worst happens. "Well, we could go and ask them to stop." Twilight's words drew three sets of eyes all looking at her with incredulity. "What? It worked for you, Frida, and you as well, Staccato." "Twilight, it isn't as if the dragoness will just apologize and stop being angry." Night sighed but he knew what his task was going to be. "Okay, so how do we get out of here without getting the attention of at least ten angry bumblebears?" "Fly?" Frida spread her wings and got glared at by two unicorns. "What? I can fly, and I saw Staccato flying." They all looked at the siren. "Well, okay, I can fly. I don't like doing it though, very undignified…" The looks didn't stop and Staccato gave a defeated sigh. "Alright, and I can probably carry you both, too." "How do we get outside, then?" Twilight pointed to the door, where a bugbear was gazing back at Frida through the window. The changed relationship, personal-wise, made Night a little more worried about Twilight, but it wouldn't stop what he planned. "Leave that to me. You follow me out and Staccato, grab me before we leave." Twilight felt a lot safer for Night having made his grand speech, she felt her heart flutter a touch and smiled wide. When she was grabbed and tossed onto Staccato's back she gave a little, "Eeep!" but grabbed on for all she was worth. Night opened the door and immediately pushed all his power into the single most important spell all guardsponies had drummed into them. It was the what they all ended up knowing and using as a first reaction when they thought of magic. He created a sphere of force around himself. "Not just a pretty flank." Staccato slipped out behind him, feeling her body pulled into the sphere as it grew. Coiling her tail around the stallion's belly she squeezed tight and lifted him up into the air. "Got the door!" Frida's cry as she left the house behind the big target was cut short as a huge paw swiped at her. She dodged low and snapped out her wings, beating hard to get out of reach of the monster. The four were soon comfortably aloft… well, comfortable was an exaggeration. Night was squeezed around his midsection, his armor stopping any real crushing Staccato might have given him and Twilight was clinging to the siren's back for dear life. "You two okay?" Frida yelled at the ponies over the strong wind of their passage. "I got the door closed and almost lost some feathers for it." She grinned to Twilight and almost coughed on a bug, then chewed happily. Twilight nodded to Frida and looked back. A very bad idea. Back was also 'down' and she gasped, seeing Night but quickly snapping her head forward again. "Where should we go?" Staccato turned her head and slowed, just hovering with her magic. "Twilight? Just hold on, I won't let you fall." Not willing to risk even looking, Twilight yelled out her reply. "Wherever there are dragons, there is smoke. Just head toward any smoke and be ready to dodge." No sooner was it said than the wind around the mare picked up again. It was forever, for both Night and Twilight, before they were back on solid ground, but when they were both ponies fell onto the stone, belly first, and kissed it. "I wasn't that bad, was I?" Staccato looked at the two unicorns and blushed. "You were fine, given the circumstances." Frida landed beside her friend and patted the siren on the back. "They certainly couldn't appreciate how sleek and amazing you are in the air." Staccato blushed a little gave the griffon a friendly push. "Whatever, this was the most smoke I could see." She pointed up the mountain they had landed before. "This what you meant?" Twilight pulled herself from the terror that had held her to the siren's back. She leaned close to Night and gave his cheek a little nuzzle before looking up. "Oh… oh wow, yes, definitely." The peak of the mountain was wreathed in smoke and it looked to be getting thicker by the moment.