Final Fantasy XIV:Darkness and Harmony

by steel soul

Chapter 1

Celestia’s sun shone brightly upon the mountain-side city of Canterlot, many of its residents moving about, dealing with their daily lives. It was within this busy little - if Canterlot could even be remotely classified as little, that is - city that five mares and a purple baby dragon would make their way towards the royal castle.

“Whoo-wee!” an orange earth pony mare exclaimed loudly, much to the dismay of her white unicorn cohort. “Now that was some fine grub!”

“Applejack, do you really need to talk so loudly? We’re all right here, darling, and we can hear you just fine without the extra volume,” a white unicorn said with exasperation over her friend’s outburst. “Really, now. Yes, it was rather delicious, but did it really warrant such a response?”

“I am what ya fancy ponies call a food conosaur, Rare,” Applejack said with a grin. “Can’t help it if I enjoyed the food and wanted to share it.”

“That’s connoisseur, Applejack.”

“I’ve heard it both ways~!” a bright pink earth pony giggled as she bounced beside the small group.

“Eh, connoisseur schmonnoisseur,” a cerulean coated pegasus pony said carelessly as she lazily flew above the group. “What’s it matter, anyways? We had good food, we enjoyed it, end of story.”

“Oh. Well I thought it was a very lovely lunch,” a butter yellow pegasus squeaked as she trailed behind the others. “I’m just sorry it took so long for me to choose what I wanted.”

“Ah, don’t worry about it, Shy,” Applejack said as she waved off the mare’s apology. “‘Sides, Pinkie technically took longer to order her share than it took for you to decide.”

“I couldn’t help it, though,” the pink mare said with a giggle as she somehow managed to pat her belly while bouncing. “All the food looked and sounded so yummy, I just couldn’t help but want to try it all.”

“Pinkie. You ordered mostly from the dessert side,” a purple baby dragon with green frills and a cream colored underbelly called out from his perch upon Fluttershy’s back.

“Well there’s, um, nothing really wrong with it. At least for Pinkie, it seems,” Fluttershy stated shyly.

“Yeah, yeah,” Spike said. “Still can’t help but wonder where she puts it all.”

“My money’s on her-” the light blue pegasus started to say before she suddenly found her mouth filled with a pink hoof, the owner of said hoof somehow managing to keep it there long enough to stifle her words even though she was still bouncing alongside the group.

“Ah ah ah, Dashie. That would be spoiling the secret!” the pink mare sing songed after finally removing her hoof.

“Too bad Twi was too busy with her studying ta get something to eat with us,” Applejack spoke up, “Mighty nice of ya to get her a doggy bag to go, Spike.”

“Yeah, well knowing her, she’d have gone all day without eating anything and not realized it,” the baby dragon responded.

“Really don’t know how those egghead types do that,” Rainbow said as she flew above the group. “You really can’t survive on books alone ya know.”

“Try telling that to Twilight. She once went on a three day study binge. I don’t know how she didn’t damage something permanently from it,” Spike said with a roll of his eyes.

“I once went on a three day sweets binge,” Pinkie called out. “Oh boy! I don’t remember half the stuff I did after that.”

“Yes, well. Aside from that, it is very nice of you to look after Twilight, dear,” Rarity said, looking to Spike as they approached the castle gates.

Spike blushed at the compliment Rarity gave him. “Aww, it’s nothing at all.” The baby drake puffed out his chest, pounding it hard with his fist. “Nothing a Number One Assistant can’t handle, anyway.”

“And Twilight is very lucky to have someone as thoughtful as you looking out for her,” Fluttershy added quietly.

“Yeah yeah, enough with stroking the little dude’s ego. He’s great and all, and Twi needs to get out more. But hey, we can totally drag her out of that dusty old library and get her to spend the afternoon with us, right?” Dash butted in.

“I reckon we can think of something for us all to do together,” Applejack mused as she rubbed a hoof under her chin.

“Ooh, like maybe play a game? Like I Spy? Or maybe 20 Questions? Ooh, ooh, or maybe Name That Species?” Pinkie exclaimed excitedly.

“I would actually like that last one,” Fluttershy stated just quietly enough that nobody but Spike heard her.

“Well first we have to find her. Anypony got any idea where the library in this place was?” Applejack queried to the rest of the group as they entered the main foyer of the castle.

“I do, I do!” Pinkie suddenly exclaimed, waving her hoof about excitedly. “I was with Twilight when we first snuck in, so I know exactly where it was. We just have to take the fourth turn on the right, followed by a second turn on the left, two doors down into a side broom closet, back out into the hall, down the hall where we came for another three turns left, followed by another turn left three halls down and then it should be on our right! Oh! And don’t forget to hide from the guards right before turning that final corner!”

“Or,” Spike spoke up. “You can just ask me to show you the way.”

“Oh yeah… let’s do that!” Pinkie exclaimed just as exuberantly as always.

With the purple and green drake now leading the way through the castle interior, it wasn’t long before the small group of ponies found their way to the wing that was known as the Starswirl the Bearded wing.

The small group approached the ornate double doors with guards posted on either side, neither glancing anywhere but straight ahead of them until the group was right in front of them.

“Scuse me, partners. Is Twilight in there?” Applejack broke the minor silence.

The guard looked down upon the mare as she spoke, “Applejack, if I am correct. And the rest of the Elements of Harmony. I was told that Miss Sparkle is within her old living quarters. She has been expecting you.”

“I thought she was studying here. Did she take a bunch of books with her to go or something?” Rainbow Dash asked quizzically.

“Actually, she was given a new assignment,” the guard spoke again.

“Assignment?” Spike spoke up. “She was just here to study. Did Princess Celestia ask her to look into something specific?”

“Not at all. It has to deal with the guest that resides within the castle,” the guard answered

“Guest? Spike, was there anypony important visiting today?” Rarity inquired of the purple baby dragon. “A visiting prince perhaps? Or maybe a noblepony from a far off land?”

“Not that I know of,” Spike said as he rubbed a claw under his chin. “Better go check it out.”

“Ooh, you think the guest likes parties? I haven’t had a chance to throw one in the castle yet. And what better party than a Welcome to Canterlot Party?” Pinkie chirped excitedly.

“I think that we should get to know this mysterious guest first,” Rarity mused. “Perhaps invite him for tea.”

“Well we ain’t gettin’ nothin’ done standing around here. Let’s mosey on over to Twi’s room and see fer ourselves,” Applejack drawled as she began to lead the way towards Twilight’s room, only to pause momentarily before letting out an awkward chuckle and turning back to look at Spike.

Spike sighed softly before turning the other way. “It’s this way.”

“Thank you again, Spike,” Fluttershy said softly up towards the baby dragon on her back.

“Heh. Any time, Shy. Now let’s get going. Don’t want Twi’s food to get cold.”

And with that, the group of five mares and one baby dragon set off to find their friend’s room, leaving behind two stone faced guards. After they left, neither of them moved from their position, but the one on the right did speak up.

“Five bits we hear something from our post.”

“Make it ten,” the other said with a straight face as they both reached up and bumped hooves, sealing the bet.

00000~00000

Twilight had been quite the giddy little filly as her quill blurred across her notepad with how much information the mare had been given. She could barely contain her excitement every time she learned something new about Swift’s homeland. The Au Ra girl had made mention of several nation-states such as Gridania, Ul’dah and Limsa Lominsa, and had gone into minor detail about them and the way they interacted with one another. That alone was enough to fill up half a notebook with the amount of notes Twilight took on the subject matter.

She was curious to hear how they worked in harmony with one another, thinking that perhaps they worked similarly to the way their own society worked, but Swift surprised her when she was told that they actually didn’t work together that much. Ul’dah was a center of commerce in the dry, rocky region of Thanalan, Limsa was a port town and Gridania was located in the middle of a vast forest known as the Black Shroud. They were all connected in some way or another, but their politics and activities didn’t often line up with one another.

This brought Twilight to questioning how well the people of those cities worked with one another, but unfortunately she was unable to get a clear-cut answer. As it turned out, the inhabitants of the continent Swift described as Eorzea were a big melting pot. Many different species, each with beliefs and ideals different from one another, all congregating together in one massive, confusing mess. It was a wonder they managed to get anything done at all, from the sounds of it.

But Swift assured her that even though things seemed chaotic and unorganized, life continued moving for those that inhabited her home country.

It was shortly after this discussion that they breached the topic of ‘monsters’.

“So you mentioned before about how the nation-states of Gridania, Limsa Lominsa and… Ul’dah, was it?” Twilight started to question, glancing up curiously at the Au Ra girl sitting across from her for clarification on if she had the names correctly.

“Yes, those were the three main ones,” said Au Ra girl answered with a nod.

“Right. Well you mentioned how they worked together… or rather how they sort of didn’t,” she stated, her tone conveying her own confusion on the matter. But she continued on, regardless. “But you never mentioned how they deal with anything else. The pony tribes have had a long reign of peace since Celestia and Luna began to lead us, even after Luna was… unavailable. But for the most part, we’ve not had to deal with much else of anything because they were looking out for us as we lived our lives. Without some grand moral authority, how do your people deal with threats to peace?”

She wasn’t naive enough to think that things settled down peacefully just because everyone wanted the same thing. There were some minorly turbulent times in history that most average ponies didn’t know about, and the history books didn’t relay the events unless they were big, globe-spanning events. She knew that the power the two alicorn sisters held was a big deterrent from other, less peaceful nations and wildlife alike.

“That’s a difficult question to answer, seeing as how there is no single answer to it. People in higher authority positions made the calls that would set precedents for how situations were handled in the future. Sometimes they worked out to the benefit of all, sometimes only one group benefited and sometimes nobody did. And even then, not everyone has the same view of ‘moral right’ as the other side. What, to you, would seem like the obvious choice that benefitted all sides, could mean a net loss to a third group not previously considered.

“There are many ways to look at the situation and think on how it can be resolved, but sometimes there are just no right answers. Sometimes the ‘bad guys’ win. Sometimes things work out. It’s all hit and miss, but at the end of the day we’re still moving forward,” Swift finally concluded. “Did any of that make sense?”

“Very much so,” Twilight said as she dotted the last sentence. “It sounds a little bleak, if I’m being honest about it.”

“It can be, yes,” Swift said with a soft chuckle and a nod of her head, fully aware of what a massive gray zone morality was for most of the world. “But I believe I got off topic. We were discussing outside threats. The closest thing I can think of would be the monsters that infest a majority of the land outside of the areas influenced by Hydaelyn. The most common type are referred to as Voidsent, labeled as such because they originate from a plane of existence that scholars have dubbed the Void.”

“Hold up,” Twilight interrupted her before she could go into further detail. “You mentioned something called Hydaelyn, yes? Is it some kind of spell to keep monsters out? ”

“I’m not entirely sure how to describe Hydaelyn to someone who was not raised knowing of her. I suppose it would be the same as anyone not growing up here knowing about your Celestia. The difference between us being that your history clearly documents her existence and her actions. Historians from Eorzea have yet to gather any concrete information about Hydaelyn. She’s sort of a myth; a legend, if you will. The only common knowledge about her is that she’s a sort of guardian deity, watching out for us and blessing our towns with safety from Voidsent. Though even that’s all rather religious speculation. No scientific progress has been made in understanding how it happens, or why it happens. Or if it has, it’s been long buried.”

“I see… And what you said about the Voidsent? What exactly is it? Or should I say they? They don’t seem to be something benign the way you word it.”

“Ah, now those have been studied,” Swift said with an enthusiastic chuckle. “Voidsent are… well I suppose the easiest way to refer to them as would be ‘demons’. Or ‘daemons’ if that’s your prerogative. I personally don’t know why they’re constantly popping up all over and attacking people. In fact, sometimes there doesn’t seem to be any clear goal as to what they’re trying to do. And unfortunately the few people who seem to have found some mild understanding of their intentions have either been driven mad or were corrupted by the very things they were studying. But I have a hypothesis about that.”

“That is kind of depressing… but I would love to know about that hypothesis,” Twilight answered as she sat back in her chair, giving her notes a once over.

“Well, see the universe, or the world as we know it, always strives to maintain balance in all things. Light and dark, yin and yang. Whenever there is too much of one, the other must surge back. Whenever there is too much light, the dark will attempt to smother said light. And whenever there is too much dark, the light will glow even brighter than before. Metaphorically speaking, anyways. It sounds kind of campy, probably not really scientific in any way, but it’s an observation that I like to believe has some basis in truth,” Swift elaborated for the lavender unicorn mare sitting before her.

“My teacher always says that there’s no wrong way to theorize. Besides, I think that what you’re saying makes at least a little sense. I mean, you can’t have shadows without the light after all. Or the moon without the sun.”

Swift nodded her head along with Twilight’s words, glad to hear that someone at least understood her idea. Then she opened her mouth to ask Twilight a question of her own, but was interrupted as the door to the room was suddenly thrown open.

The first to appear was a rather colorful maned pony, her cerulean wings keeping her aloft just above the ground. Despite her being the first to enter, her attention was upon the one behind her, an orange coated female pony wearing a dusty brown hat upon her head of blonde hair styled into a ponytail of all things, and an annoyed scowl upon her face.

“Rainbow! I thought we all agreed to knock, not dang near kick the door off its hinges!” she shouted up at the floating pegasus mare ahead of her, completely oblivious to the two beings in the room previously conversing with each other.

“And that was before you all started to draw straws to decide who knocked. I just did it faster, that’s all,” the pegasus scoffed lightly, much to the earth pony’s annoyance.

“And what’s wrong with deciding on how to enter somepony’s home?” another mare with an alabaster coat and an elegantly styled violet mane scoffed as she entered as well. “Friend or not, there is a concept called manners, darling.”

“Aw, Twilight doesn’t mind, do ya Twilight?” a bubblegum pink earth pony mare said as she bounced into the room, her darker pink and very puffy mane swaying back and forth chaotically as she moved.

It was at this moment that the new entrants’ attentions were drawn to the bed where Twilight and Swift had been sitting on while discussing with one another.

The ponies who had just entered didn’t quite know what to make of the scene before them. The sight of the strange looking creature more than enough to stall any semblance of speech between them. The stillness of the room would continue for quite some time before the soft country tones of the blonde maned, orange coated mare would shatter the silence.

“Ah… Rainbow… Do ya see a tall, skinny creature in all black sittin’ on the bed next ta Twilight?” the mare stage whispered for pretty much all within the room to hear.

“Well that’s rather rude,” Swift stated with a frown as she kept her gaze on the newcomers, emerald irises tracking all six of them, including the one that seemed to be hiding in the back and the smaller one that was behind the white one. “I am sitting right here, after all.”

Before Applejack could say anything to her defence, a pair of bright pink hooves clamped her mouth shut, the pony with the impossibly curly pink mane making herself known. “Don’t worry, Jacky. I got this.”

The pink pony released the orange one, jumping forward onto her forehooves before flipping over, bouncing onto her hind hooves over and over again before landing in front of Swift. With the most serious of faces, the bubblegum colored mare reached into her mane and pulled out a plate of cookies.

The Au Ra girl merely stared at her with a look somewhere between confusion and amusement. She had experience with silly characters, and some of the people she considered friends could be put into that category, but this pony seemed to take that category and twist it on its head.

Pinkie Pie giggled as she wiggled the plate of cookies teasingly in front of the strange girl. “Go on! They don’t bite! Unless you think sugar cookies bite.” The mare paused as she tapped her chin. “Though some customers say that my cookies have a bite to them, whatever that means.”

After a moment to consider, the Au Ra merely shrugged her shoulders and brought her hand up to the plate. Carefully grabbing a single cookie, she quickly brought it to her mouth and took a bite. A few seconds of chewing and swallowing, and she nodded her head slightly. “It’s good. Thank you for this,” she said before quickly finishing off the rest of it.

The mare squealed before turning to the rest. “And she passes the Pinkie Pie Test of Friendship!” she exclaimed with a proud grin.

“Uh, Pinkie? How does liking cookies mean anything?” the rainbow maned pegasus asked with a clearly confused expression as her eyes moved between the proudly grinning Pinkie Pie, the almost alien looking creature sitting on the bed and Twilight right next to it.

“Silly Rainbow. No bad pony would think my cookies are good and say it. Obviously she is a good pony.”

“I feel like I need to point out that I’m still sitting here… very much in clear hearing range of everything you’re saying,” the Au Ra spoke up calmly, but with a mild hint of annoyance in her voice.

“”Oh! We are quite sorry, my dear,” the posh alabaster mare said as she strolled forward, flicking her purple mane with a hoof before bowing courteously to her. “My friends usually don’t deal with… social situations quite well. I, on the other hoof, know my way around a conversation. If you would permit me to apologize on behalf of my friends and greet you personally. My name is Rarity, or Lady Rarity if you prefer.”

“Swift,” the girl spoke up plainly with a nod towards the mare. “Pleasure to make your acquaintance. Twilight and I were just talking about a few things. But I assume you’re here to see her?”

“That is the case, yes,” Rarity said with a nod before facing the purple mare. “I’m pretty sure the poor girl forgot to eat this morning, right Twilight?”

Twilight blushed lightly at having her lack of thought pointed out to brazenly, but she nevertheless nodded her head at Rarity’s line of questioning. “Yeah… what with everything happening, I kind of forgot,” she admitted.

“Well ya do need to eat, Twilight, and Spike got a whole heaping helping of vittles for ya. Ain’t that right, Spike?” Applejack turned to face the little green dragon, only to find that he wasn’t listening at all, his focus only on one being, and it was on the one that was sitting next to Twilight.

“Spike? Hello, Equestria to Spike!” Rainbow Dash called out once everyone else’s attention was drawn to the little drake. Their eyes went from Spike to the object of his attention - or being in this case - and back again, unsure as to why the normally kind and courteous drake was acting oddly.

Huh? Wha?” Spike squeaked, a soft blush on his cheeks. “Oh! Yeah, right… food and… stuff.”

“Are you quite alright, Spike?” Rarity questioned the little drake with a concerned frown. “You were just staring off into space for a while there.”

Meanwhile, Twilight, who had been watching the events unfold silently, internally realized what was happening. Her eyes moved over to Swift, then back to Spike, remembering his expression when he first met Rarity. This time it was a lot less pronounced than it was back then, but it was still the same. It seemed like Spike had another crush. She could give an educated guess that it also helped since it seemed Swift was at least part dragon, considering the scales spread across her face and the horns protruding from the sides of her head. Once that thought finished circulating in her mind, she silently groaned at the thought of the little drake vying for the affection of two girls, one a pony and the other a new species she had never heard of.

“Oh! Yeah! I’m fine!” he told her with an embarrassed laugh. “A-Anyway! Heres your food, Twi. A nice daisy and daffodil salad. Just the way you like it, of course.”

“Thanks, Spike,” Twilight said with a grateful smile, using her magic to levitate both him and the food up to her. She placed the food down in front of her and just off to the side while bringing him closer to her so she could give him a hug. “What would I ever do without you?”

“Well you would probably starve in a dusty old library piled under thousands of books,” he said sarcastically.

Twilight gave him a mildly annoyed look at that, giving him a light shove which ended up toppling him over backwards and landing just beside Swift. “Gee, thanks. Tell me how you really feel,” she said with an over exaggerated pout.

“Aw come on, Twi,” he said as he picked himself up and dusted himself off for show. “You know I say these things because I love you.”

However, before Twilight could answer, Spike felt something brushing along his spines. He jumped slightly, turning around as he did so to find Swift with her hand raised. “Interesting. I knew there were dragons in Equestria from what I read, but reading and seeing are two completely different things… you’re a bit bigger than the dragonlets I’ve seen. How old are you?” she questioned him curiously.

The poor dragon could barely get a word out, stuttering and blushing like only a child would.

The Au Ra before him tilted her head slightly, frowning in slight concern. “Are you alright? Did I do something to offend?”

“I doubt it,” Rainbow said with a shrug. “But that is a question that has been bugging me. How old is Spike, Twi? You keep saying baby dragon but he doesn’t act like any foal I know.”

“He turned 16 a few months ago,” Twilight informed her. “You were there for his birthday party, weren’t you?”

“Well, yeah, but you never said how old he is. Just gave him another book. Ya know, because of what happened last time. And if he’s 16, how is he still a baby?”

Twilight opened her mouth to respond, but someone else beat her to it. “Probably because to his species, he still is one. Where I come from, a dragon can live well over a millennium. Some of the older ones even longer than that. Would it be right to assume it’s the same for dragons here?” Swift spoke up.

“Well… we still don’t know much about dragon culture,” Twilight admitted. “But you are right. In the eyes of many dragons, he would still be a baby.”

Swift once again nodded at that, the other ponies in the room save Fluttershy muttering to themselves about the recently relayed fact, before turning back to Spike. “He’s still just kinda stuck there. Is something wrong with him?”

“I’m sure he’s fine,” Twilight waved off. “In any case, I think we should introduce the rest of my friends. Rarity already introduced herself.” Said alabaster coated mare waved politely towards Swift, who nodded back in return.

“And I’m Pinkie Pie!” the pink mare from earlier who had offered her a plate of cookies shouted exuberantly, bouncing up to the edge of the bed. “But of course you already knew that, ‘cause Dashie called me that, and did you like my cookies? What am I saying, of course you did. You even said so yourself. I made them extra special because my Pinkie Sense was going off earlier today telling me I would meet a new friend, which I thought was kinda obvious since we’re in Canterlot and there’s still a lot of ponies here who aren’t my friend but I didn’t think it would be like this. And now I can throw you a super surprise party, but I guess it’s not much of a surprise party if you know about it. But then again, you don’t know whe-”

The pink mare was suddenly cut off as the hovering pegasus mare clamped a hoof around her mouth. For all the good it did, since it seemed from the muffled sound and the mare’s moving mouth, she either didn’t notice the obstruction or didn’t care.

“Jeez, alright Pinkie. We get it. New pony in town… kinda. New friends and all that, but give ‘em some breathing room,” said pegasus told the excitable mare.

The rainbow maned mare, while busy with holding back the mouth on the pink menace, turned to face the Au Ru. “You can call me Rainbow Dash. Greatest flyer in all of Equestria and future Wonderbolt!”

“Nice to meet you,” Swift replied easily at the normal greeting, before turning as the orange coated earth pony with a cowboy hat approached.

“Name’s Applejack. And sorry if’n I offended ya earlier. Didn’t mean nothin’ by it. Just never seen somethin’ like ya around here. Closest I could say was that Iron Bell fella who came by Ponyville a while back, but he was a lot bigger. Bulkier too.”

The Au Ra shrugged at that before holding a hand out towards the mare, who stared at it for a moment before smiling and placing her hoof into the girl’s palm. Swift raised an eyebrow as she felt some sort of phantom grip meet hers, but shrugged it off as something to look into later after the meet and greet was done. They shook, Applejack’s strength jerking Swift’s arm a bit at the force behind it, and Swift smiled. “At least you apologized. There are worse ways to start a relationship off. Believe me, I would know.”

“Ah know all too well, ma’am,” Applajack said with a smile and a nod.

There was a soft shuffle behind the group, a yellow and pink pegasus mare could be seen , her gazed shifting between the ground and the Au Ru. “I… I guess I should… i-introduce myself, too. If that's okay that is. I don’t want to interrupt.”

The rest of the ponies quieted down for the nervous mare to make introductions, Swift’s attention now focused on her.

“M-My name is Fluttershy. I, um… It's nice to m-meet you…” the stuttering mare spoke, becoming more and more self-conscious as she felt the pressure of being the center of attention.

“Swift, but you’ve already heard that,” replied the Au Ra with a slight nod, feeling bad for putting the girl in such a situation. It was obvious to everyone in the room how nervous she was, even without the stutter.

She nodded before looking back at the dragon-like girl. “I-I did. It’s very nice to m-meet you, Miss Swift.”

“No need to call me miss,” Swift responded with a slight chuckle. “Makes me feel old. Just Swift is fine.”

“Well its a pleasure to meet you, Swift. And we would love to catch up on what you and Twilight were doing before,” Rarity cut in after a bit of silence. “And I know the best way to do so.”

Applejack rolled her eyes as she leaned over towards her blue friend, who by now had managed to restrain Pinkie from jumping all over the room with a well placed pinkie promise. “10 bits she says the spa.”

Rainbow leaned back in and whispered, “No deal. Try a less likely bet next time.”

“I know a nice little garden not too far from here,” Rarity mused. “And it's such a nice day out. It would be a shame to let such weather go to waste.”

Applejack couldn’t help but give Rainbow the cheekiest of grins the prismatic mare had ever seen. “Well now. Glad ya didn’t take that bet. Would’ve lost for sure on that one.”

Rainbow lightly scowled at the farm pony, but let the jab slide.

“A picnic does sound nice,” Fluttershy said quietly.

“I have no objections to it. A little fresh air would be nice,” Swift said with an approving nod. Discussing the differences in cultures between their two races was fine and all, but it was starting to get a bit stuffy in Twilight’s room.

“But… research,” Twilight said sadly, as if she were a filly and someone had taken away her favorite toy.

“We got all our lives to do research,” Rarity said as she made her way to the door. “Why not take a break with your friends and treat our new friend to a nice day out?”

“Well statistically speaking there’s a bigger chance of a sunny day than meeting a new species, especially when you can control the weather and account for when it will be sunny or not,” Twilight tried defending.

“Twilight. We talked about this. No bringing science into a debate about friendship,” Rarity childed her, which only got a pout from the mare.

“Come on, egghead. Grab your food and let’s go. We’re heading out even if I have to carry you,” Rainbow interjected before they could debate the topic further.

“Ugh. Fine. I guess I do have to eat this salad Spike got me,” the purple unicorn mare relented as she slipped off the bed. “You guys really don’t fight fair when you gang up on me like that.”

“All’s fair in love and friendship!” Pinkie chirped, finally breaking her silence. “And you know we love you, Twilight, so that’s double all fair!”

“Make it a triple since you are our friend, after all,” Applejack said with a wink as she made her way towards the doorway. “Now lets get.”

Swift chose that moment to speak up as she looked down at the still frozen drake before her. “You sure he’s alright? He’s just been staring at me this entire time.”

Twilight hummed at that before using her magic to put the little drake on her back. “I’m sure he will be fine in a bit. Spike gets like that when he is… thinking,” she said with a giggle.

“I see,” Swift said with a very soft frown, not fully buying it yet not willing to push further. “Well, if you say so.”

Author's Note:

NK AN: Hey all, co-author here. Sorry it's taken so long on getting out chapter two. Motivation was way down for the past long while, but we finally got around to finishing this up. Took a good chunk of time, but hey, I'm proud of what we managed here. And hopefully, muse willing, we'll be able to start on the next chapter soon. Don't expect an update rapidly fast, because we need to find a time slot where we're both free in order to write this the way we do, but hopefully it won't be another half a year. Hope you all enjoyed the chapter, and we'll see you all next time.

Comments

[DeKar]

Welcome back!
It's been a while :P

[shadowfalcon76]

7715908
Sorry for the necro, but I was just amused by the dating of your post via the Weeping City comment. Nowadays, I wouldn't be surprised if I could grab no more than five of my friends and unsync that raid at this point.

Now, Rabanastre on the other hand...