Canterlot Academy: Knights of the Dark Moon

by LordLycaon

Tutoring and Thieving

Twilight loved Mondays. While most ponies loathed Monday, she embraced it. Sure, she could do without having to get up so much earlier than she would’ve liked, but in her mind, it was well worth it to learn something new. This Monday, however, had been a tad more exciting for her than usual.

In the lounge at the mares’ dormitory, there was bulletin board that was updated daily to announce upcoming events and opportunities for students to earn extra credit, ranging from sports tryouts to club advertisements. None of it had particularly interested her that much, but she still made a habit of checking the board, just in case something came up. And just yesterday, a great opportunity came to her attention: tutoring.

She felt positively giddy inside at the idea of helping a fellow student or two learn new things as well. There were so many fields she could potentially help somepony in; history, science, magic (if her pupil was a fellow unicorn, of course), and numerous other topics that enthralled her to no end. She couldn’t help but let out a light giggle of excitement as she walked down the hall. That earned her a few awkward glances, which she ignored to the best of her ability.

‘Auditorium, right after classes are done,’ she reminded herself as she continued down the hall toward her history class. Right after that, she made another mental note to ask somepony where the auditorium was, since she hadn’t gone back there since orientation at the start of the school year. The corners of her mouth turned up in a smile as she had a feeling that she was going to have a fairly interesting day.

-o-

By the time she arrived at the auditorium, most of the available seats were already taken. Most of the ponies here were lanky-looking stallions who probably wanted an excuse to stay out of any physical education classes (though Twilight couldn’t really say anything about that, considering she wasn’t exactly a star athlete herself). One or two stallions gave her looks that she recognized from cheesy teen movies, where the dorky characters display the same form of infatuation as what Rarity’s entourage had for the white unicorn. Those looks didn’t do anything to make her feel any more comfortable.

“Hey, Twilight!” The unicorn nearly leaped out of her skin at an excited voice from behind her. Pinkie Pie giggled at her reaction, snorting once. “Sorry about that. Didn’t mean to startle you. What’s up?”

Twilight took a deep breath to calm her jumping nerves before speaking. “I’m just here to sign up for tutoring. I’d like to help struggling ponies get through their classes. Why are you here?”

“Same reason,” Pinkie replied as they both took seats near the front of the auditorium. “I want to make learning more fun for my fellow students!”

Twilight was about to make a comment about how Pinkie didn’t seem like tutor material, but quickly reminded herself about the pink pony’s advanced intellect. “Huh. It’s easy to forget that you’re actually a genius.” She immediately raised a hoof to her mouth, afraid she might have offended Pinkie with that remark.

“No worries,” Pinkie said with a nonchalant wave of her hoof. “I sometimes forget that, too. Which is pretty ironic when you really think about it. I mean, I should know how smart I am, but I forget about it, like, all the time, and then I say something super-duper smart, and I remember that I’m actually some sort of genius, but then I forget about it again, then I say another smart thing, and—” A purple hoof clamped over her mouth.

“Okay, Pinkie, I get it.” Twilight gave a sigh that expressed a mix of annoyance and amusement. Just listening to Pinkie ramble like that was exhausting, but also kind of entertaining sometimes, in its own way. “Hey, do you know how they’ll assign us to students?”

“Uh-uh. It’ll probably be one-on-one stuff, just to make things simple.”

Twilight nodded in agreement. One-on-one tutoring would probably work best. It would make planning lessons much simpler, and it would be easier for the tutor to keep their pupil’s attention.

“By the way, what subject are you going to tutor for?” Pinkie asked, brow raised in curiosity.

“Oh. Um…” Twilight thought on the question for a few moments. “I’m… not really sure. I’ll probably help ponies who are struggling in Equestrian literature. I do read a lot of books, so I should be able to help my assigned pupil in that subject.”

Pinkie giggled. “You do have your face buried in a book eighty percent of the time,” she quipped. “Literally. I did the math and everything.” Twilight wasn’t sure whether she should laugh or be angry about that. “I’m gonna tutor ponies who are having trouble in theoretical physics.”

Twilight blinked. “Theoretical… you mean like String Theory? Parallel universes and things like that?”

“Yep!” the earth mare replied in a chipper tone. “You’d be surprised how few ponies signed up for that class, and most of the ones that did all thought it’d be easy. It is for me, but I can see a lot of furrowed brows in class.” She giggled again. “I’m guessing they got more than what they bargained for!”

“I would guess so,” Twilight chuckled in amusement. The two of them conversed for a while about their classes, with Pinkie using surprisingly large words now and then. It was refreshing for Twilight to finally be able to hold a conversation in which words like ‘algorithmically,’ ‘singularization,’ and ‘astrophysical’ could be used much more casually, without the need to explain their meaning. The only downside was how easily Pinkie could go off topic, or be distracted by something. The pink pony explained that she had been diagnosed with ADHD at a young age, so Twilight could at least forgive the tangents and whatnot.

“Hey, did you hear?” Twilight’s ears perked up curiously when she overheard somepony say something. Two ponies, a stallion and a mare, were also chatting, though she initially assumed it to be gossip related. “There’s been another disappearance.”

“Really?” the second pony asked. “Who?”

“Don’t know. The Royal Guard is keeping most of the investigation pretty hush-hush for some reason. But I’ve been hearing rumors that notes with some kind of weird moon symbol were found in each victim’s house.”

“Wait, a symbol?” Twilight asked, curiosity getting the better of her.

The stallion nodded, turning to look at her. “Yeah. Don’t know what it’s supposed to look like, though.”

“I’ve heard that the guards around the Academy were called in to make sure no students go missing, too,” the other mare said.

“I’ve noticed the guards,” Twilight stated. “I asked Headmaster Stargazer about that a while ago. He said that they’re here for pretty much that exact reason.”

“Then we’ve got nothing to worry about!” Pinkie chimed in cheerfully. “Royal Guards are super tough and awesome! No way anypony here at the Academy is vanishing with them around!”

“I hope you’re right,” the stallion said. He had a look that clearly betrayed a certain nervousness about him. It made Twilight feel uneasy, but she decided it would be best to just focus on other things. Her brother was a captain in the Royal Guard, after all, and he was credited as one of the best. If anypony could figure out what was going on, it’d be him. There was nothing to worry about.

-o-

The Academy library was massive. Countless books, tomes, and novels were packed in every shelf. This place had every genre one could imagine and then some. They had books on science, books on math, books on magic, fictional works, nonfiction, reference, dictionaries, encyclopedias, everything. There was a grand total of fifteen full-time librarians working here, and twenty part-time. There were even some student volunteers helping the librarians with their work.

It was in the library where Twilight was to meet with her new pupil. It was her idea. She figured it would be a good place for tutoring in literature. There were more than enough books to use as reference to the subject. Before her was an assortment of textbooks on Equestrian literature, along with a few classic novels and short stories that were considered classic masterpieces. She had everything she would need, as far as she knew—though maybe a hundred flashcards wouldn’t be enough, she mused.

She was reading one of the many books written by Starswirl the Bearded—this particular one dealt with the intricacies of teleportation and its variations. Ever since her duel with Sunset Shimmer left her curious about these kinds of spells. She had pulled it off almost effortlessly. And beyond that, there was that voice. She had tried to push it aside as just her imagination, but it kept crawling back to her thoughts. The voice was… familiar. She had never heard it anywhere in her life, and yet she felt like she knew it from… somewhere. And the way it guided her in the duel felt… natural. Instinctive, even. Who’s voice was it? And where did it come from?

“Twilight?”

She yelped and shot into the air, hovering in her own magic. She looked down to see Flash Sentry staring at her with a raised eyebrow. She gave an awkward chuckle and descended back into her seat. “Um… hi.”

“Hey,” Flash greeted with a smile, disregarding Twilight’s jumpiness. “Sorry about that. It’s been awhile since we last talked, hasn’t it?”

“Yeah…” She rubbed at the back of her neck for an awkward moment. “Why are you here? I would’ve figured you would be hanging around with your friends on the hoofball team.”

The orange pegasus shrugged. “To be honest, I don’t really know if I can actually call them real friends. They’re just guys I hang out with when I don’t have much else to do. Besides, I’m here for tutoring.”

An eyebrow shot up as she regarded him. “Really?”

“Yeah…” He looked away for a moment before looking back. “My grades in Equestrian lit have been slipping. Coach says I’ll need to bring my grades up if I want to stay on the team.”

“Equestrian lit?” Twilight asked, somewhat surprised. “Well, I’m the only pony who signed up to tutor for that subject. So, I guess we’re going to be teacher and student for a while.”

Flash gave a surprised look. “You’re my tutor? Huh. That’s kind of a weird coincidence. Well, at least you’re somepony I know.” He took a seat across from the unicorn mare and looked at the various books laid out on the table. He seemed to be nervous for some reason. While Twilight found that to be rather odd, she didn’t question it, and opened a textbook.

With that, they began the lesson, starting with some simple things first. Occasionally, as Twilight would lecture on the wonders of the written word, she would catch Flash just staring at one of the open books. She could tell he wasn’t reading. She knew when ponies were reading. He didn’t have any of the subtle eye movements or slight motions of the lips. He just… stared at them, making a confused face every now and then. Whenever she tried to look at whatever was confusing him, he would pull the book away and say that he would figure out soon enough, and that she should just go on with the lesson.

It went like that for almost an hour. Twilight would lecture, Flash would stare at a book, she’d ask about it, he’d just say to go on with the lesson.

“Are you even paying attention?” she asked when she caught the pegasus staring at a book’s open pages again.

He stammered for a moment. “Y-yeah, I am, I totally am.”

She narrowed her eyes at him. “Then name the short story I was just talking about.”

“Uh…” He hesitated. “Pass?”

“You weren’t paying attention at all, were you?” Twilight deadpanned, her voice drowning with annoyance. Flash could only lower his head in shame, not meeting Twilight’s eyes. She sighed and gathered up all of the books in her magic. “Fine. It’s almost time for dinner anyway. Lesson over.”

“Twilight, I’m—”

She turned away pointedly. “I don’t want to hear it. If you don’t want to raise your grades, fine. No skin off my back.” As she left him by himself, she looked over her shoulder. “If you want to try again, meet me here again tomorrow, same time. I’ll give you one more chance, but no more than that. But don’t waste my—”

“I’m dyslexic!” Flash hollered, making Twilight freeze in her tracks. She stared at him, not sure what to say. The pegasus sighed and slumped in his seat. “I’m sorry I snapped, and I’m sorry I seem like the worst student ever. It’s just… the words just… float off the page whenever I try to read something. It’s why my grades are sinking.”

Twilight didn’t take her eyes off of him. He hung his head low, ashamed. She thought about what she said prior to Flash’s revelation. She kicked herself for being so condescending, especially without really giving him a chance to explain himself. She sighed and returned to her seat across from him, setting the books down again and opening one of the simpler ones. The orange stallion gave her a confused look.

“Look, you’ve made your point,” he said. “You don’t have to—”

“I don’t want to hear it,” she interrupted. “Listen, I can’t, in good conscience, just leave you on your own.” He still had a somewhat confused expression. She gave small, reassuring smile. “Think of this as your second chance. Don’t just stare at the book the whole time.”

“Uh, yeah,” Flash said with a light chuckle. “Let’s get started, then. For real, this time.” With that, Twilight started the lesson again. She made sure to try to be more patient with him this time around. Still, the lesson went on for about two hours, at which point, curfew was only half an hour away. Realizing the time, they said their farewells, agreeing to meet again, same place, same time.

While Flash left, Twilight dropped off the books she had checked out back at the front desk. She bid a quick farewell to the unicorn librarian, who was writing down a few notes about something. Once Twilight left the room, the librarian smirked.

“The boss is going to find this interesting,” she muttered quietly to herself as she hid her notes in the desk drawer.

-o-

When Twilight finally got back to her room, Rainbow Dash was lying in her bed, reading one of the books she had with her. She flipped the page just as Twilight closed the door behind her. “Hey, Twi,” the pegasus greeted. “How’d that tutoring thing go?”

“It went well. I think,” she said as she levitated her saddlebag to the foot of her bed.

“You think?”

“Long story,” Twilight explained as she ran a hoof through her mane, yawning.

Rainbow shrugged. “Fair enough,” she said nonchalantly. “Hey, the girls and I are gonna meet up tomorrow in the lounge for a group study thing. You in?”

The violet unicorn grinned at the idea. “Sure. I’d love to.”

“Great.” The cyan mare marked her place in her book and put it back in its spot among the other novels, the turned to Twilight and smirked. “By the way, we agreed on having snacks, and we voted to have you go get them from the market.”

Twilight blinked and looked at her. “Wait, what?”

“Hey, you’ve lived here in Canterlot your whole life. You know this town better than the rest of us.”

Twilight furrowed her brow and scowled. “I can understand that, but you should’ve consulted me before deciding on that!”

“Chill, will you? Just get the best that you can find. We’re all gonna chip in, all right?” Rainbow had that cocky expression of hers on as she spoke. Twilight wasn’t going to win this argument. Dash had a stubborn streak a mile long (second only to Applejack). Soon, the unicorn sighed in defeat.

“Fine. But next time, ask me first.”

A smiled played at the edges of Rainbow’s lips. “Deal.”

With that out of the way, the two mares went about their own evening routines and eventually turned in for the night. As she went to sleep, Twilight thought on what she could get in the way of snacks, depending on how much money her friends were willing to donate. Maybe she could get them back for this somehow.

-o-

The next day after class, Twilight made her way through the busy streets of Canterlot. Ponies of all walks of life trotted through the city streets, enjoying the warm afternoon weather. Many of the working class ponies browsed through the various shops and stands on their way home from work, while a few of the noble class dined at the many outdoor cafes. Twilight smiled some as she saw one young filly excitedly point towards a toy store and managed to convince her parents to enter. They put on a show of meager resistance before the filly excitedly ran inside, the parents smiling faintly as they followed.

Twilight walked along the street, heading towards an old shop she and her family used to frequent when she was younger. She silently hoped that it was still open after all this time. Donut Joe used to know her family by name, and always knew what they would order before they could say. The thought of persimmon-filled, glazed donuts had her licking her lips in anticipation, making her speed up her pace.

As she rounded the corner of the street, her eyes widened, and she smiled just as wide. The shop was not only still open, but it had apparently expanded some. Used to be, it was a little hole-in-the-wall shop, easily missed by most ponies. But now, it appeared to be a full-fledged restaurant. It still sported the sign with Donut Joe’s face and a large donut behind it, and Twilight could see customers coming and going through its front doors.

She hurried ahead and entered, the entry bell heralding her arrival. She saw quickly that the restaurant was fairly busy with customers; a few waitresses came and went through the gathered tables.

“Well, as I live and breathe, if it isn’t Twilight Sparkle! Haven’t seen you in a dogs age!” she heard a rough voice say from the counter.

She looked towards the voice and smiled wide again. “Donut Joe, hello. It’s been a while.”

The light tan unicorn smiled as she approached. He adjusted his server’s cap on his brown mane to fit comfortably. “Darn right, it’s been a while! How’ve you been, kid? You’re looking good.”

“Thanks, Joe. So do you.” She looked around the busy restaurant. “The store’s really grown since I was last here.”

The store owner smiled proudly. “Yeah, she has. Grown into a right proper restaurant. Even some of the richer folk come in from time to time. I owe thanks to your family and others for it. If you guys hadn’t come around as often as you had, I might still be running a small stand on some street corner.” He looked her over critically. “So, what are you up to these days, kid?”

It was her turn to smile proudly. “I’m a student at the Academy.”

He whistled low. “Well, isn’t that something? Good on you, kid. What’re you studying?”

“Magic,” she said without hesitation.

“Magic, huh?” He tilted his head at her. “That’s kinda vague.”

She smiled a bit of a cryptic smile. “Magic is, by its very definition, vague.”

He thought on that for a moment before laughing. “I’ll give you that.” He gestured broadly at his display cases, which were filled with delicious treats that made the mouth water. “So, what’ll it be, kid?”

She looked through the many tasty treats on display, her stomach growling at the sight of the pastries. “Do you still have those persimmon-filled, glazed donuts?” Her tone sounding more like begging than simple pleading.

He laughed again. “Figured you’d still like those. Yeah, I’ve got’em still. In fact—” He reached into a display case and hoofs her a napkin wrapped donut. “—first one’s on the house.”

“Oh! Thank you.” She wolfed down the pastry in a few bites. She couldn’t help herself; the sweet pastry combined with tartness of her favorite fruit made her gulp down the food as fast as she could.

Joe watched her eat with satisfaction, knowing he roped in another customer.

She wiped the glaze from her mouth with the napkin. “Could I get donuts for seven, er… ten ponies? My friends and I are going to get together for a study session.”

He nodded a few times. “Give you two dozen, how’s that sound?”

She smiled wide. “That would be fantastic.”

As he completed her order, she passed over the required bits.

“Tell your friends about the place, eh?” he said as he slid the coins into the register.

“Oh, I will. Goodbye, Joe.” She waved to him, her donuts carried by her magic.

He returned her wave. “Take care, kid. Good luck with your studies.” He turned to help another customer.

Twilight exited the store and trotted back the way she had come. Her smile was genuine as she moved through the streets. It felt good to visit a place from her childhood; she rarely had the chance to do so in recent years. Between her time trying to get accepted into the Academy and maintaining her grades now that she was in it, she really didn’t have the time for a lot of other things. She absently wondered if she should try to make time, but shook the thought away. She swore she would be the best at magic in the Academy, and she would follow her determination through.

She rounded the corner and gasped in surprise as she just about ran into somepony. For a split second she lost her magical grip on the boxes of donuts, but managed to save them at the last moment.

“Hey! Watch where you’re—Flash?”

The pegasus looked to her in disbelief. “I swear, I don’t plan these things. Are you all right?” He helped her to her hooves.

She dusted herself off and looked at him. “I’m fine. What are you doing out here, Flash?” She checked to make sure the donuts weren’t damaged.

“The guys sent me out to get some hayburgers for after practice.” He sighed. “It was my turn to do the fetching.”

Twilight smiled a bit at the irony. “The girls are had me do the same. They went so far as to designate me before I even knew about it.”

Flash smiled. “A little dirty-hooved.”

Twilight's ears flattened. “It is.”

Flash chuckled and looked towards the donuts. “So, where’d you go to get those? They smell really good.”

“Donut Joe’s Donut Shop, back down the road a ways.” She gathered her food again. “I better go, the girls are waiting on me.”

“Yeah, I better get going, too—” He grunted as a small filly bumped into him. “Hey, kid! Better be careful!” he said to her with faint irritation.

The little filly uttered a half apology and moved away; not before Twilight caught sight of her putting away a small pouch.

“Flash, do you have your bits?”

He looked to her in confusion before he patted himself down. “I think I do. But—“ His eyes widened. “Hey! It’s gone!”

Twilight whirled back to the filly who was trying to make her way through the crowd. “Stop! Thief!”

In a panic, the filly ran through the crowd, who only parted in shock as she raced past.

“Stop her!” Twilight quickly gave chase, leaving her donuts behind.

The filly turned down a narrow alley with Twilight in close pursuit. Twilight found herself struggling in keeping up with the thief. The little urchin was fast on her hooves, and was obviously familiar with the streets.

Twilight gathered her magic and teleported in front of the filly. “That’s far enough, you—” She blinked in surprise as the filly didn’t slow and only slid through her legs and past her without missing a beat.

“Hey!” Twilight shouted and gave chase again.

Twilight again charged her horn and shot a beam at the thief, ducked in time to see the beam fly overhead and explode in sparks as it struck the wall; her stride only quickened. Twilight growled in frustration and fired a few more beams at the fleeing thief.

Flash suddenly flew beside her as he raced ahead to be just behind the thief. “Hey, kid! Stop, now, before she—” He gasped as the thief struck a gutter pipe and caused a torrent of collected rainwater to wash over him, sending him tumbling on the ground.

He wiped the water from his face as Twilight raced past him. “Hurry, Flash!”

He muttered and took off after her, once again catching up to the filly as they ran past a warehouse. “Kid! I’m warning—” The filly kicked a stack of barrels that fell all around the two. Flash managed to dodge them, but Twilight was not as lucky. She tripped up and fell face first into a puddle of muck and the two could hear the little filly have a laugh at their expense.

“That’s it!” Flash burst ahead and landed in front of the stunned filly. She stumbled back in fear as she looked to him in complete shock. “That’s enough, kid. Give me back my money, and we’ll let you go.”

The thief looked around like a cornered animal, frantically searching for an escape that wasn’t there. “I didn’t do any—” Her eyes went wide, and one of them started twitching as she fell over with a strangled cry.

“Got you.” Twilight said in triumph as she wiped the remainder of the muck from her face.

“Twilight, what did you do to her!?” Flash asked in a near panic.

She rolled her eyes. “It’s a stun spell. She’ll be fine. Besides, I am not taking chances.” She turned her glare to the stunned thief. “Now we just need to get a guard and have him take her away.”

The young thief’s eyes widened in panic and she tried, unsuccessfully, to run.

“Twilight, wait.”

She looked back at the pegasus. “Wait? What for?”

Flash looked to the little filly. “Why did you steal my money?”

The thief tried to talk but all that came out was muffled speech.

“Twilight, can you let her talk?”

She looked to him in confusion. “What for? She’s a thief. We should turn her over to the guards for stealing.”

“She’s just a kid, Twilight. Let her talk.”

She huffed. “Fine.” Her horn glowed faintly, and the thief was able to move her head around.

“T-thank you,” she uttered.

“Think nothing of it,” Twilight growled.

The filly looked to Flash with unmistakable fear. “Don’t let her hurt me.”

“She won’t.” Flash promised, though Twilight just rolled her eyes. “Now, why did you steal my money?”

The filly looked between them. “I was… hungry.”

Twilight looked to her critically; the little waif was rather thin. “Doesn’t your mom feed you? And for that matter, didn’t she teach you that stealing is wrong?”

The thief looked to the grimy street in shame. “I guess she would… if I had a mom.”

The way she said it struck the heart cords, but Twilight was careful not to believe anything a thief says at face value. A part of her, however, felt sympathy for the filly. “I don’t believe you,” she half-lied.

The filly looked to her with wide, watery eyes. “It’s true, ma’am, honest.”

Twilight looked at her skeptically, even less sure of herself.

“Twilight.”

She turned to Flash. “What?”

“We should let her go.”

She looked at him as if he was mad. “What? You’ve got to be kidding! She’s a thief! If we let her go, she’ll just steal from somepony else!”

His expression grew firm. “Twilight, she’s just a filly; a filly who just made a dumb mistake. Sometimes, we’ve gotta make mistakes to learn from them.”

Twilight looked at him. There was something in his tone that was different from the normal, somewhat annoying Flash Sentry she’d come to know. He almost sounded… remorseful, perhaps?

Flash looked at the filly. “If you give me back my money, and promise not to steal again, we won’t turn you over to the guards.”

Twilight was surprised the little filly’s neck didn’t snap from how fast she nodded. “Yes, I promise I won’t do it again!”

He smiled faintly. “I wouldn’t either, because now that she has you with her magic, she can find you again easily.”

Twilight’s eyes widened a split-second before she caught on to what Flash was doing. “That’s right,” she said to the thief. “I’ll be able to find you with no problems now. If I ever catch you stealing again, I’ll tell the guards exactly where to find you.”

The thief gave a small squeak and gulped nervously.

“Now give him his money back.”

The filly wasted no time in returning the money, and fled down another alleyway away from them.

Twilight huffed. “Why’d you do that, Flash?”

“I meant what I said.” His gaze looking down the alley that the filly had run to.

As the two were walking back towards the place Twilight had left her donuts, she found herself glancing at the strangely quiet pegasus beside her. He had said nothing since they left the alley, his expression pensive. He was obviously occupied by whatever thought that plagued him.

Finally she couldn’t help but ask. “What happened, Flash?”

He didn’t look directly at her. “Would you be offended if I didn’t want to say?”

Twilight shrugged and nodded at the same time. “All right.”

The two walked in silence until they returned to the place where they had run into each other. Twilight instantly noticed something was amiss.

“My donuts!” She looked around frantically, but found no sign of the missing pastries.

“Did someone steal them?” Flash asked, looking around.

“What do you think!? Ugh! Now what am I going to do?” Twilight was close to tears, her persimmon-filled donuts, gone! What had she ever done to deserve such cruel punishment?

Flash sighed after a moment and hoofed her the pouch with his money. “Here.”

She looked to him in genuine shock. “Flash, I can’t do that. What about your food?”

He shrugged. “We really don’t need it. Some of us could do with less hayburgers and more practice, if you get my meaning.” He spoke above her protests. “Please, take it, Twilight. It’s my fault your food was stolen.”

Twilight considered him a moment before she reluctantly accepted the gift. “Thank you, Flash. I owe you for this.”

He smiled. “Don’t mention it. Well, I’d better head back. The guys are going to have a field day with me. See you later, Twilight.” With a quick, improper salute, he took off towards the Academy.

Twilight watched him go before turning back for Donut Joe’s. The thought of her destination and donuts quickened her pace.

-o-

Not far away, the filly thief talked nervously with two burly ponies in a darkened room.

“So, she helped him then?” one of them asked her.

The filly nodded. “She did. She even put a spell on me that’ll let her find me again,” she said in a fearful voice.

Both of the stallions laughed gruffly. “That was a lie. She can’t do anything like that.”

“Sh-she can’t?”

“No.” The stallion tossed her a small bag that clicked with the sounds of clinking bits. “Now, beat it, kid.”

The thief quickly tucked away the pouch before looking longingly at a pair of boxes that held only a few donuts left.

“Um… can I have one?” she dared to ask.

The two laughed again. “Take one, kid, and get lost.”

The thief quickly grabbed one of the few remaining donuts and left just as quickly.

The other stallion looked to his partner after finishing another donut. “The boss’ll love to hear about this.”

The other nodded and helped himself to another donut. “Oh, yeah. He’ll be happy to hear this little tidbit about our sassy little candidate.” He took a bite of the donut. “Mm, persimmon. We’ll have to remember that place.”

Comments

[NobleValor]

Well, I can't wait to see where you're going with all this.

[kingthe13]

6249737 well it's a country ruled by a princess and still has nobility and let me tell you if these nobles are anything like actual nobles then the rules of the honor duel are on part with something they ed create......
Nobles the perfect example of a good idea on paper but total shit when done.

[kingthe13]

Could there be two shadowy groups manipulating events behind the scenes.