• Published 3rd Nov 2015
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My Little Dynamite: Book One - Fuzzyfurvert



After fives years abroad, Princess Cadance returns to Equestria where she is immediately placed under the protection of prodigy Battle Mage, Twilight Sparkle.

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Late Night Snack

Chapter 5

Glowing pale green pinpoints of light flitted across the skyline in the early darkness of the night over Canterlot City. Rooftops flashed past as it moved with silent grace through the shadows of wooden water tanks and metallic ventilation ducts. The lights paused for a moment on the ledge of an old apartment building, far above an open air market. Below, the last stubborn merchant closed up shop for the evening, the large store window going dark.

The green lights winked out, the creature they belonged to blinking its pupil-less eyes, and rotating its head to scan the warren of streets and alleyways. It searched for its prey for a moment and then moved on. Its target, the one called Princess Cadance, was hidden somewhere in the city. It leapt to the next building with tireless ease, its pony-like mouth opening to taste the air and the ambient magic around it. It was only a matter of time before the trail to Cadance became clear.


“I’m going to die tonight.”

Twilight swallowed hard as she idly rubbed her coat down with a towel. “I just know it. I can feel it, Spike.”

“Oh stop being so dramatic.” Spike crunched down on a small blue sapphire, grinding the stone down to a rough powder in his jaws. “She’s a girl, just like you.”

“No, you don’t understand Spike, she’s a Princess, she’s an alicorn, she’s...she’s Cadance!” Twilight shuddered and covered her head with the towel, flopping bonelessly down at the small kitchenette table in the safe house dining room. “I grew up with her! We went to the same school and everything. I know we made that foalhood promise to always be BFFs and stay together, but really, she’s taking it seriously!”

Spike continued to munch the gemstone to dust, before lifting the edge of the towel to look Twilight in the eye. “Are you saying it wasn’t serious? I have never known you to make a promise you don’t keep, Twilight.”

“Yes,” Twilight grumbled from under the towel, “it was serious. But she’s made it plainly obvious that she not only wants to keep that promise intact, but that she is ready to move our relationship past childhood friend and right into romantic cohabitation!”

Spike raised his eyebrow ridges at that. “Wow. Really? Cadance must have missed you these last few years, huh?”

“I guess…” Twilight sighed and tossed the towel aside, since Spike wasn’t letting her sulk under it in peace. “How am I supposed to react to that? She’s been back in town for a few hours and she’s kissed me a half dozen times already—the last one was almost all tongue!”

Spike grinned, holding up a claw. “Wow! High four, Twi!”

Twilight glared at him and frowned.

“Oh come on, you’re gonna leave me hangin’?” Spike shook his head and fished out a second sapphire from the basket in the middle of the table. “Fine, be that way. See how I treat you when I finally get that seamstress to notice me. I’m just gonna slip out the back without a word. At least I’m supportive of your relationships.”

“We do not have a relationship, Spike! We can’t! I’m a Battlemage guard, and she’s a Princess. There’s got to be a conflict of interest there. Especially when I work for—and am the star pupil of—another Princess.” Twilight huffed and crossed her hooves. “I’m supportive of your...relationships. I keep encouraging you to just talk to that mare. Don’t act like I’m the bad guy here.”

“Ok, maybe that was unfair of me.” Spike popped the sapphire into his mouth, crunching it loudly. “It’s just...if I had my lady friend upstairs, fresh from a shower and a long makeout session, I would give you a high four, dish a couple of details, and then get my scaly tail back up there!”

Twilight grumbled under her breath and sighed. “And I’d totally be happy for you…”

“Thank you.”

“This still doesn’t help me with my problem though.” Twilight lit her horn, opening the icebox in the corner of the kitchen, and pulled out a bottle of dark liquid. She popped the cap and took a long pull of the sweet beverage.

“Do you like her?”

“What?” Twilight looked up sharply. Spike fixed her with a steady stare, his reptilian eyes unblinking.

“Do you like her? It’s a simple question, Twi.” Spike leaned forward slightly. “You’re my sister, so you don’t have to answer to me. But if the answer is even remotely ‘yes’, then I suggest you get your plot back upstairs and figure this out before some assassin or other political nonsense makes a decision for you.”

Twilight blinked as Spike stood and stretched. “Also, because I’m your brother, I’m going to go check the gem stores in the basement again. Maybe I’ll sleep down there. It’s really quiet. Hard to hear anything that might be going on upstairs...” Spike smirked, winking at her and pushed his chair back in under the table.

She watched him turn and shuffle deeper into the house with a smug look on his face. The wheels in her mind turned over their conversation until she jolted in her seat and leaned to the side to call after Spike. “The hammy wink you gave me after saying that really oversold it.”

Spike chuckled from down the hallway, his tone playfully mocking. “Praise the Sisters! Twilight Sparkle can be taught!”


Her target was close. The magic was in the air, much like a scent on the breeze, drawing her green eyes to a rundown section of Canterlot near the southern gate. The building here were older, closer together, their facades faded and chipping around the edges. Many had their own outer walls and enclosed courtyards, relics from the past times of strife the city had been through. The cobblestones here still held a trace of the daytimes’ heat and the smell of many creatures living in a small space prevailed everywhere. Traditional tracking would be difficult at best here.

She tasted the air, unhinging her jaw plates to expose as much of her sensitive tongue. The organ could feel magic like a second pulse. Her barbed hooves gripped the crumbling brick façade, her head swiveling slowly until the feeling got stronger. Wherever Cadance was hiding, it was further south, deeper into the overpopulated slums. She let go of the bricks, pushing off into the early night air to leap to the next building and continue her hunt.

An hour later, she paused again atop a squat tower besides a sleeping drake that dwarfed her with its bulk and opened her mouth to breathe deep. Scents and magic collided with each other in the back of her throat and painted a picture in her mind of all the active sources of magics around her. Every powered carriage and the path it’d woven through the streets below became clear to her as did the paths of every pegasi and airship that had passed recently overhead. The apartments were awash with the movements and lingering taste of unicorns and diamond dog mages.

Amid it all, one flavor sung out above the rest. It tasted like a unique blend of all pony magics at once. She smiled, looking down from her perch at the alleyways below. At first, she’d been confused, the flavor of Cadance’s magic faded in and out as it wafted down one street and then the next. But it soon became apparent that it was coming up at every ponyhole cover.

“Clever girl.” She smirked and breathed in the magic again. “Tastes like a single unicorn guard is with you too. This will be too easy.”

The great drake shifted at the sound of someone speaking and blinked sleepy eyes. He looked around and noticed a small black cat with green eyes looking at him from the ledge. “Oh, so it was you making noise? Go home, cat. I have no cream for you.”

The cat meowed at him and then jumped to a lower ledge, scampering off into the night.


“Cadance?” Twilight pushed the door open to the master bedroom slowly. “I brought you a drink.” She held up two chilled bottles of sweet carbonated syrup. She paused in the doorway, glancing around the room until she spotted Cadance on the king sized bed. The Princess was on her side, turned away from the door, idly flipping through Twilight’s spellbook.

“Hey!” Twilight gasped and trotted around the bedside. “A mage’s spellbook is private, it’s like a diary!”

Cadance turned and looked over her shoulder with a playful grin. “Too bad. I got bored waiting on you. What took so long?”

Twilight felt herself blush again and looked away. “Quick patrol. I wanted to make sure we weren’t followed.”

“I’m glad to see you’re still a terrible liar.” Cadance smirked and turned another page in the spellbook.

Twilight bristled and glared at Cadance for a moment before sighing and setting the bottle down on the bedside table. “Ok, I was talking to Spike.”

“I’m glad he’s here.”

Twilight blinked and looked at Cadance. “Really?”

Cadance nodded. “Yes. Spike has been a good friend since he was old enough to start following us to class. He’s growing so much and...it’s nice to have someone with teeth and claws here to help you protect me.” Her voice got quiet. “Sorry for being such a nuisance. Political assassinations come with the cute little crown.”

“You’re really going to have to tell me what you’ve been up to, Cadance.” Twilight shifted uncomfortably on her hooves. “You’ve been so blasé about this whole situation and...I’m curious.”

“I will, soon, I promise.” Candance sighed, rolling over to face Twilight, with the spellbook still in her grasp. Twilight’s horn started to glow, her aura tugging the book away from the Princess. “Oh c’mon Twily, I was reading that! I want to know what spells and meta-magics my guardian is packing. For...you know...security reasons.”

“Yeah, right.” Twilight sighed again and climbed up to sit on the bed next to Cadance. “It’s just a bunch of evocations and a few abjuration spells for safety.”

“I saw the admixture equations.” Cadance let out an impressed whistle. “That’s what you used to beat Aunt Luna, isn’t it?” She put her hoof gently on Twilight’s. “I can’t claim to understand it. Evocation has never been a strong suit of mine.”

Twilight looked down at the hoof resting against her own and recalled Spike’s words. She rested back against the pile of pillows on the bed and smiled gently at her princess. “The equations aren’t complete, yet. But if you want, I can explain it to you?”

Cadance grinned, rolling over onto her belly to get comfortable. Twilight’s study lectures had a tendency to run long. “Only if you promise to go slow.”