Shadowbolts Adventures: Desperate Hearts

by DragonShadow

01 - Dreaming a Little Dream

Chapter 1: Dreaming a Little Dream

The bus was strangely empty as Twilight Sparkle entered with her backpack clutched against her chest. It felt for a moment as if she was the only person in the world, before she noticed a friendly, welcome face sitting in his usual seat against the far side window. A wide smile spread across her lips as she made her way down the aisle to join Starswirl, sliding into the seat beside him. She let her backpack slide to the floor at her feet.

"Whew, you wouldn't believe the day I had," Twilight rubbed her forehead with one hand. "So many tests all in one day!"

Starswirl's eyes twinkled with a mixture of pride and mischief. "You passed all of them, I imagine."

Twilight couldn't help but grin as she adjusted her glasses on the edge of her nose. "Well, I gave it my best, and the teachers seemed pleased."

"That's my girl..." Starswirl lifted his hand to her shoulder, giving it a powerful squeeze. "You're just like me."

"Thank you..." Twilight stared up into his eyes deeply. "You're the only person who really understands me..."

"I do understand you, Twilight... people like us need to stick together." Starswirl's hand moved from her shoulder to her cheek, cupping it gently in his palm. "Nobody can really understand us the way we understand each other."

"Yes..." Twilight leaned slightly closer to him, feeling her cheeks flushing. "I know exactly what you mean..."

"Twilight..." His hand slid around her waist slowly, pulling her up from the seat to bring her closer to his chest. She felt her heartbeat quicken as he pulled her close, his eyes staring into hers with something new... a passion she had never seen in them before. "You are the most precious girl I've ever met in my life..."

"Staswirl..." Twilight cooed as she moved closer, her lips nearing his as his hand stroked down her back. "Yes... yes..."

Twilight Sparkle's eyes snapped open, staring at her ceiling sharply. She could feel her breath coming in deep gasps, while her mind whirled in shock and confusion. She had had erotic dreams before, of course. It was a natural part of growing up, after all... but having it about someone she knew in real life was a new experience for her. She wasn't able to wrap her head around it. Was she crushing on Starswirl? That was positively silly... he was over fifty years older than her. How could she even consider it?

She lay in the darkness and silence, letting her mind tug at the questions until morning came.

***

"Heave!" Indigo Zap's voice was cut off by the sound of five girls straining against the thick length of chain. It moved slowly with each massive grunt of collective effort, pulling back towards the street as the engine block lifted distressingly slowly from the driveway in front of them. Inch by inch, pull by pull it rose toward the winch connected to the heavy duty steel on wheels. "We're.... almost there! Just a little more!"

Sunny Flare felt like her arms were going to collapse from the strain, but finally Indigo Zap gripped the smaller line in her hand and tugged on it, a latch on top of the winch to lock it in place.

"There! that should be high enough!" Indigo grinned.

"Ugh!" The other four girls all collapsed to the pavement in unison, leaving the engine dangling from its perch beside the car.

"Why do engines have to be so big?" Lemon Zest ripped off her gloves. "My hands still hurt through the gloves."

"They have to pull an entire car, Lemon. You can't do that with a double-a." Indigo reached up to lift her safety goggles from her eyes, perching them on top of her head.

"Well I sure hope this is worth it, Indigo." Sugarcoat climbed back to her feet, adjusting her glasses which had fallen askew on collapse. "You've spent so much money on parts for this thing. It wouldn't cost much more to get a used car that already works."

"Yeah, but it wouldn't have this baby in it." Indigo patted her brand new engine with an almost affectionate smile. "There's enough horsepower in here to put a magic pony princess to shame."

"Hardy-har..." Sour Sweet grumbled, flat on her back on the pavement with her chest heaving.

"Besides, this is a matter of pride, too. Dad gave me a challenge to get this thing running, and I'm gonna do one better. I'm gonna make this the best car we've ever had."

"I for one applaud your ambition." Sunny Flare rose to her feet slowly, brushing down the overalls she borrowed from Indigo. "But I think we could all use a short break before we put it in. That really took a lot out of us."

"Yeah, relax, I got you girls covered. I'll go bust out the sandwiches I made earlier, as thanks for helping me out so much today."

Sugarcoat rested her hands on her hips. "Doing hard labor, getting paid in sandwiches. Living the dream."

"I owe you a sarcastic comment." Sour Sweet lifted one hand tiredly from the pavement, then let it flop back down again. "I'll think of one when I'm not dead tired..."

"Sandwiches will be fine, thank you." Sunny gave Indigo a friendly smile.

Once their friend had gone inside, Sunny turned back to the others, but paused when she saw Twilight Sparkle approaching from further down the sidewalk. She was waking right past them, her head down and her eyes looking thoughtfully intense. It wasn't an unusual look for her, and it always meant that something was on her mind.

"Hey, Twilight." Sunny waved across the yard and moved to intercept. Twilight didn't look up from the sidewalk, a sure sign that something was bothering her. Sunny picked up her pace and ran ahead of her, standing on the sidewalk and waiting for Twilight to run face-first right into her side.

"Gah!" Twilight looked up in shock. "Oh, I'm sorry, Sunny! Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." Sunny gave her friend a reassuring smile. "You look kind of distracted, though. Are you okay?"

"I'm..." Twilight blushed. "Maybe not so much... can you keep a secret?"

"I may have one or two rolling around my head." Sunny winked.

"I kind of had a weird dream last night..." Twilight's blush grew unusually deep, and she seemed to be avoiding Sunny's eyes. "A... sort of maybe... erotic dream?"

Sunny stared at her friend for a moment, then let out a light chuckle. "Twilight, that's hardly something I'd call weird. We all have those from time to time."

"I know, I know, but this one was different. It was about someone specific."

"Oh?" Sunny cupped her hands in front of her, fixing Twilight with an attentive, but non-expectant look. "Is that so?"

"Yeah... it's kind of embarrassing... I don't even know what it means." Twilight was nervously fiddling with her glasses so much that she looked like she was trying to bury them in her eyes, with her hands in just the perfect position to block her view of Sunny. Sunny reached out with both hands to take her wrists in a gentle grip, pulling them away from her face. At last Twilight met her eyes again, seeing her patient, bright smile, and finally relaxing a little. "It... it was about Starswirl. My friend from the bus."

"I see." Sunny was careful to keep her reaction perfectly neutral aside from the smile on her lips. "Twilight, can I ask you something personal?"

"Of course."

"Have you ever dated before?"

"Dated?" Twilight's cheeks flushed brightly. "N-no, I can't say I have. The boys at Crystal Prep were never any nicer to me than the girls..."

"How about at CHS? Has anybody caught your eye?"

"Not really." Twilight shook her head. "There's this one boy who's nice to me, but he's not my type. He's rather... loud, for me."

"You'd prefer a boy who's smart, calm, quiet, and intelligent... like you."

"Maybe." Twilight sighed. "And Starswirl is all of those things... do you think I'm crushing on him? Am I that weird?"

"Twilight." Sunny put her hands on her shoulders with a firm grip that wouldn't be denied. "You're not weird, I think you're just lonely. You met a man who's a lot like you, and who likes you. There's an attraction there. That's not wrong... but there are other boys more your age you could connect with. You just need to get out and meet them."

"Lonely? I'm not lonely, I just have bigger priorities than that."

"Twilight..." Sunny's expression grew worried now. "If that's true, then I'll drop it right now. But as your friend, I don't want to see you repress your natural need for companionship just because you're afraid to put yourself out there. It's not healthy for you."

"Do... do you really think I'm repressed?"

"Please don't take this the wrong way... but you're having erotic dreams about seventy-year-old men. In my opinion? You could use someone to connect with."

Twilight's face turned thoughtful again as she stared into Sunny's sincere face, then nodded slowly. "Okay, I'll... I'll give it a try. But, um, how?"

Indigo's voice interrupted from the lawn. "Hey, are you two coming? There's enough sandwiches for both of you!"

Sunny glanced back, then turned back to Twilight, holding her open hand out to her. "I'm sure we could come up with a way to get you out there, if you want us to."

Twilight nodded more quickly this time with a warm smile as she placed her hand in Sunny's. "Okay, let's do it."

Sunny squeezed her hand and pulled her back to the others, approaching the tray Indigo had set on the grass, while the rest of the girls lounged around it.

"Hey Twi, help yourself." Indigo gestured to the tray with one hand while the other held a bologna sandwich near her lips. "When we're done you can help us get the engine in."

"Thank you. I could try..." Twilight plopped down on the grass between Indigo and Sunny with a soft blush. "But I'm not as strong as you all are."

"You don't have to, Twilight. We got it up, we can put it in." Sunny glanced around at the others. "In the meantime, we have things to discuss. Twilight Sparkle wants us to help her find a boyfriend."

Lemon Zest perked up. "A boyfriend, eh? That sounds cool, I know some of the best dance clubs in town!"

Twilight squeaked. "I'm not really one for dancing..."

Indigo shrugged. "That's cool, we can hit the park, see if there's anybody using the sports fields you can get to know."

"I'm not one for sports..."

Sunny Flare chimed in next. "We can go to the beach."

"I'm not a strong swimmer..."

Sugarcoat folded her arms. "You don't go to the beach to swim. You go to make yourself visible."

"I'm not good at being visible..."

Sour Sweet chimed in. "Then let's just post an ad online! It can say boring nerd who doesn't do anything seeks companionship!"

Indigo patted Sour Sweet on the back. "Glad to have you back."

Twilight winced and lowered her head. "I'm sorry... I'm making this difficult..."

Sunny Flare stroked her chin. "She has a point, though." When she saw Twilight's wet puppy-dog eyes turn on her she raised her hands disarmingly. "Not the boring nerd part, the placing an ad part. If you're uncomfortable going out and meeting people, why don't we try an ad? You can find someone like you without weeding through the ones who aren't."

"Do those things even work?" Sugarcoat asked. "They've always seemed kind of dodgy to me. As if people can be boiled down to numbers and mathematics."

"Maybe it's not perfect, but it's a place to start, and there's no immediate pressure." Sunny smiled. "In fact we could all take out an ad. It might be fun, and who knows, it could lead somewhere."

The other girls all exchanged curious glances before Indigo spoke up. "Heck, I've done crazier things before. Sign me up!"

Lemon Zest nodded. "I'll have to ask Vinyl if it's okay... but if she says yeah, I'll totally go for it!"

Sugarcoat smirked. "This isn't going to work. But heck, I'll join in anyway. It might be worth a few laughs."

Sour Sweet grinned. "That's exactly how I wanted to spend my weekend! Pleading with strangers I don't even know to give me a date I don't even want!"

"I'll take that as acceptance." Sunny turned back to Twilight. "There's a studio in town that helps people recording dating videos and load them to their site. We can go tomorrow, if you don't have any plans."

"I don't." Twilight was smiling broadly as the others all turned toward her. "Thank you, girls. This means so much to me."

Sugarcoat smiled. "It'll all be worth it when something goes terribly wrong."

Comments

[CuttlefishDreamer]

That beginning... I certainly did a double-take at that! Glad to see continuity with Starswirl, even if he probably wouldn't appreciate it! xD

[Talon and Thorn]

6637924

Well it is sort of flattering to find a young woman is crushing on you...

But then there's the possible prison time issue.

[Enduring Man-Child]

Hey...I'm not sixty yet. Maybe I DO have a chance! At any rate, good to see my beloved bespectacled waifu doesn't indulge in ageism against us chronologically gifted guys!

Sour Sweet chimed in. "Then let's just post an ad online! It can say boring nerd who doesn't do anything seeks companionship!"

Hey, that's me as well! We were made for each other! (Also, best line EVAR!!1!)

[Ri2]

Wait, why would Lemon need Vinyl's permission? Are they dating?

[BenRG]

To put words in Sour Sweet's mouth: "Yeah, the ads work! If you want a long line of perverts lined up outside your door!"

[Tennis Match Fan]

Twilight on Tinder

[theanonymousbrony]

Was she crushing on Starswirl? That was positively silly...

No, no, no, silly is seeing the Terminator wearing a pink bunny suit, this is just disturbing beyond all reason.

Also, if Twilight is really wanting a smart guy for a boyfriend, then why doesn't she go after that purple nerd with the glasses? I mean she's clearly been at CHS for at least more than a week, so I'm pretty sure she would've noticed him by now. And Hell, if she's not even attracted to that one, then why doesn't she go after that one nerd who looks like Featherweight? Sure, we barely see him do anything other than look like a scrawny dork, but he must be the smart type for sure.

[TrackingTarget]

I'm trying to decide if I like Sugarcoat or Sour Sweet more. Not an easy task.

[MythrilMoth]

Sugarcoat knows the score.

Also, this has my favorite cover art of all the Shadowbolts Adventures.

[Emperor]

So wait, is Star Swirl a bus driver, or just some random old guy that's often on the same bus route as Twilight is going to/from school? Well, I guess it's probably the latter since it gives her time to get into deep philosophical conversations with him, thus giving them a connection. Either that or she really IS just crushing on a random old dude.

Well, it wasn't uncommon two centuries ago for 70-year-old dudes to marry teenage girls. John Tyler was a U.S. President born in 1790 and he has two living grandchildren (both in their 90s though) because of this. But still definitely yeeeech.

Also, LemonScratch? VinylZest?

[Patronum2000]

6961291
psst, there might be an explanation to who Starswirl is (in this series) here
https://www.fimfiction.net/story/292924/shadowbolts-adventures-standing-up

[Samey90]

"Why do engines have to be so big?" Lemon Zest ripped off her gloves. "My hands still hurt through the gloves."

Perhaps Indigo heard about cars such as Final Objective and decided to fit Rolls-Royce Merlin engine in hers. Yes, it's a plane engine. No, it doesn't matter.

[ScisetShimmerEvan]

"Lonely? I'm not lonely, I just have bigger priorities than that."

Uh huh....

Sour Sweet chimed in. "Then let's just post an ad online! It can say boring nerd who doesn't do anything seeks companionship !"

That sounds just wrong and ridiculous if you ask me.

Sugarcoat smiled. "It'll all be worth it when something goes terribly wrong."

Stop ruining the moment sugarcoat.

[PonyList]

"Do those things even work?" Sugarcoat asked. "They've always seemed kind of dodgy to me. As if people can be boiled down to numbers and mathematics."

Does she mean advertisements in general??? Lmao what