A Morning On The Town
Twilight Sparkle Versus the Forces of Darkness
Chapter 01 - A Morning On The Town
*BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP*
“Ugh,” groaned the mess of limbs from the bed in the dark dormitory. The tangled mess of covers and limbs shifted for several seconds before a hand finally slapped down on the alarm, shutting it off for another five minutes.
The hand’s owner grumbled a bit under her breath, before shifting around and swinging her legs over the side of the bed and sat up.
It was too early for this. Had she really set the alarm for 6:45AM? What had she been thinking?
“Sparky…” moaned another girl’s voice from the other bed alcove of the dorm. “Why’d you have to set your alarm so early…?”
“I don’t remember,” Sparky groaned, covering her eyes with her hand for a moment before dragging it down her face. She yawned, stretching in her pyjamas as she attempted to come to her senses, but it wasn’t working.
“What time’s first class?” the other girl asked from her section of the room.
“Mine’s at 10:30,” Sparky answered, running a hand through her dark hair, tracing the magenta streak that went from bangs to back. “You?”
“Noon,” was the answer.
“Sorry,” Twilight mumbled.
“‘Sfine,” the other girl replied sleepily, before Sparky heard the sound of a body getting reacquainted with its bed. “Just warn me next time before you set your alarm this early, alright Twilight?”
“Sure thing, Sunset,” Twilight nodded, before suddenly alighting.
“Oh! I was going to the library to help Ms. Valkyrie!” she exclaimed, before hastily dashing for the bathroom and turning on the shower.
“Great…” grumbled Sunset from her bed, sticking an arm over her ear to try and drown out the sound of rushing water.
Twilight hastily scrubbed herself, and in her haste to get ready to head to the library, she almost forgot to rinse out the shampoo in her hair. Her white oxford and lilac sweater-vest were thrown on, her navy pants and purple slip-ons quickly following suit, before she dashed out the door, leaving an irritated Sunset Shimmer still trying to squeeze in a few more hours of sleep.
The halls of the dorm were devoid of people up this early. Twilight supposed it all had to do with the fact that it was a Friday, and everyone was trying to get all their sleep in for whatever wild parties were going to go down that evening. Or maybe some of them were going to be like her and go to bed at a reasonable time, so they could go to the President’s address tomorrow. It wasn’t often that President Sunbeam herself came and spoke to everyone on campus, after all.
She reached the front doors of her dorm, took a quick glance at the darkness outside, took a deep breath, and pushed the door open.
Dawn’s rosy touch was just starting to light up the eastern horizon, but the night’s darkness and chill were still all around her as she set off for the local library.
Canterlot University did have a library of its own, but it wasn’t her destination this morning. She had no finals to study for, no research papers to write, and no definitions to list. Today, her destination was further into the city.
The lamps that lit up the sidewalks were still glowing bright orange, illuminating the sides of some of the many buildings of the campus, such as the College of Fine Arts just across from her dorm or the College of Business further away.
There were few people out this early. Those that were seemed to be in groups for the most part, such as the women’s football team practicing in the empty fields in the distance under the floodlights.
Taking another deep breath, Twilight set out, following the sidewalk as it led her out of the campus and into a neighborhood, before emerging in a small city square, at the center of which stood a tall, proud bronze statue of President Amethyst, one of their past leaders. A plaque commemorating her deeds was visible but illegible in the current lighting, but Twilight ignored it anyway. A few other shops were deserted, a few were opening up, and the two restaurants were already seeing business from the other early birds.
But Twilight’s destination lay in the larger building that took up half of its side of the square directly across from where she had emerged from the neighborhood separating this square from the university. It didn’t take her all that long to cross the brick center, passing Amethyst’s statue, and arrive just as the kindly older woman with long white hair and a white dress pushed open the door for her.
“Good morning, Twilight!” the woman smiled brightly at her. “Here to help me get started this morning, are we?”
“I did say I was coming over a couple of days ago,” Twilight reminded her, smiling back.
“Did you?” the woman furrowed her brow, “I’m sorry, it must have slipped my mind.”
“It’s alright, Ms. Valkyrie. Any new books come in?” she felt giddy at the new shipment of different adventure books Ms. Valkyrie had placed an order for. Being one of her favorite visitors always meant she got to read some of them early.
“I’m afraid not, Twilight,” the old librarian shook her head sadly. “The shipping companies are under heavy stress, what with the Deci-Millennium being in the next few months. Everyone and their mother seem to be putting parties together for it several weeks in advance. We might not see those books for another week or two.”
“That’s fine,” Twilight shrugged. “Gives me plenty of time to catch up on the other books I’ve still got to read.”
Ms. Valkyrie did have a couple of helpers who worked at the library, but they didn’t come in until later. It still didn’t take her and Twilight long to get the library up and running for the morning, since much of the time, Ms. Valkyrie always seemed to have everything ready the night before.
Twilight usually handled reshelving. After all the volunteer hours she had put into helping Ms. Valkyrie, she knew the library’s organization by heart.
“So,how are your classes going?” the elder woman asked, sliding a couple of books into their place over in the fiction section.
“Same as always,” Twilight replaced a history book next to its sister volume. “All A’s, Sunset always out with her boyfriend, already got so high a grade that I don’t even have to turn up to the Final to still pass.”
“D passing, or C passing?” the older woman asked.
“Both,” Twilight shrugged, before grabbing another book off the cart and pushing the cart out of the aisle after seeing it was in a different section. “C-passing in the three classes in my major, and the other two are just core credit, where D stands for diploma.”
“But knowing Night and Velvet, I doubt they’d be too happy with you getting those grades,” remarked the librarian, finishing up her cart.
Twilight felt a slight bit of disappointment. It had been a game with her for years now, trying to beat Ms. Valkyrie at shelving all the books. Even when she started with fewer books than the full-timer, she always seemed to come in second.
“They’d cut my spending allowance if I did that,” Twilight placed the book in its place. “They don’t mind if I don’t make A’s, as long as I’m trying.”
“But you always make A’s.”
“And my allowance never gets cut,” Twilight grinned as she picked up the last two books on the cart and walked them to their place. “It’s a great system!”
“Can’t argue with that.” The librarian glanced at the clock on the wall. “What time is your first class?”
“10:30,” Twilight answered, wheeling the cart back behind the librarian’s desk. “I’ll need to head out here in a minute if I wanna get breakfast before class.”
“That’s quite alright, dear,” the old woman assured her. “My assistant should be showing up soon anyway, and the library doesn’t see as much business as it used to.”
“You sure you don’t need any more help?” Twilight asked, stepping out of the librarian’s desk now that her work had been completed. It was almost time to go, and she needed the time to finish getting prepared for class.
“I’m quite sure, dear,” the librarian patted her on the arm. “We got almost all the opening work done. Have a good day in class!”
Satisfied that her work was done, and with the time drawing closer to when she would need to head back to campus, Twilight bid the old woman farewell, pushed open the door, and strode out into the little square.
It was one of many such squares in Canterlot. Having been the capital of the Republic of Equestria for the last 10,000 years, it’d had no shortage of time to build outward and upward. At the last census, it clocked in at just over 27 million people. The whole Canterlot Metropolitan area came in with over 40 million people calling it home, making it the largest city in the world.
As such, quiet little corners of the city such as this one were few and far between. This particular quiet corner wasn’t even all that quiet normally. It was just early enough to where there were very few people on the streets.
“I wonder if Donut Joe’s is open,” she muttered to herself as she stepped back outside.
It had been a long time since she had been there, not since she had started school at the very least.
A quick glance at her phone confirmed she did have enough time to run over and get back to school in time to grab her books and head to class, accounting for a quick hello and picking up her favorite of Joe’s creations, a glazed twisty.
It didn’t take her more than fifteen minutes to get there from the library, set at the corner of Everfree Street and Belt Line Road, both of which formed the unofficial boundaries between University Park suburb and Canterlot proper, which made it a pretty popular breakfast destination for fellow students. Fortunately, it was mostly clear of people that morning.
“Welcome to Joe’s! How can I-- Twiliiiiight!” The stocky brown-haired man behind the counter grinned, before giving a cheery wave.
“Morning to you too, Joe,” She responded in kind, a quick little wave as she stepped up to the counter, ignoring the empty queue entirely.
“Usual, I presume?”
“Of course!” Twilight pulled her wallet from her pocket and proffered a few bits in cash.
“Oh the house,” Joe waved it off, reaching down, grabbing a paper and grabbing one of Twilight’s favorites and handing it to her. “Long as you drop by a bit more often now, ya hear?”
“Sure thing!” She grinned, before stowing the bits away and taking the donut. “I’ll do my best. You know how school is.”
“Yeah yeah,” Joe rolled his eyes. “You kids and your schoolwork as an excuse.”
“It’s true,” Twilight shrugged, before sinking her teeth into the glazed goodness. “Mmm, I missed these.”
“Your brother stops by every so often,” Joe pulled out a towel and started cleaning his counter. “Walking stereotype, he is. Cop can’t get enough of the donuts.”
“No cop would say no to your donuts, though.”
Joe snorted. “Well, stereotypical ones wouldn’t.”
He yawned. It seemed that, despite the fact that he was usually up this early almost every day of the week, it didn’t always mean he was fresh every morning.
“So, how’s life treating you?” he asked, tossing the towel in a dirty rags bin and grabbing a pair of tongs to transfer some of his donuts from the machine behind a section of wall to behind the glass window display.
“Same old same old, I guess,” Twilight shrugged. “Classes are classes, Sunset and Flash keep me up all night with their games, Ms. Valkyrie keeps lending me books… you know, the usual.”
“How old are you now, Twilight?” Joe asked. “Last I remember seeing you in here, you were still in secondary, and that was six years ago. You can’t still be in college!”
Twilight glanced away awkwardly.
“...you’re kidding,” Joe stared at her with a baffled expression on his face. “You’re still in school? But you’ve never failed a class! You should have graduated months ago!”
“I have more than one major,” she replied.
“Double-major? Makes more sense, I guess.”
“Umm… more like… four,” Twilight brushed her hair forward just enough to hide her face from view.
Joe stared at her.
“Four?” he asked, the incredulity behind his voice kept well-hidden.
“Y-yeah.”
“How many hours are you taking this semester?” he asked, still mentally trying to figure out what in Old Celestia’s name had possessed her to do four majors at once.
“Sixteen. It’s really not that hard!” she added hastily, waving a hand wildly to stop him from responding. “Most of them have the same prerequisites and core classes and stuff!”
“Oh for the love of…” Donut Joe buried his face in his hands, before running them through his hair. “Twilight, do you even know what it is you want to do?”
“Umm…” Twilight tapped her fingers together and glanced away. “...no?”
Joe snorted and shook his head. “Nothing wrong with that. I didn’t know what I wanted to do until I was already two years in. But, if I may ask, what all are your majors?”
“The hard sciences,” she replied with a shrug.
“The hard sciences?” Joe asked, sounding a bit confused. “Which ones are they?”
“You know, biology, chemistry, physics…”
“And the last one? Computer Science?”
“No, Mathematics.”
“Wow, you really don’t know what you want to be, do you?” Joe asked, trying not to make fun of the poor girl.
“I do, but…” Twilight grimaced, “there’s no such career as being a professional student. I mean,” she shrugged, “science and stuff is all nice, but I just… I don’t know where I would go forward with it. I want to study something that constantly gives me new things to learn. New, unexpected and unpredictable things, that make it all the more fun!”
“What about quantum physics?” Joe suggested. “I hear they’re working on all kinds of amazing things.”
“I did apply, but…” she tossed a hand by her head, “I just didn’t feel like my heart was all that in it. Everything just doesn’t seem all that interesting to me.”
“I know the feeling,” came a young, male voice from behind her.
Twilight turned to see a young man stride into Donut Joe’s Donutopia behind her. He wore nothing particularly impressive-- merely a white T-shirt that hung a bit loose on his thin frame, and a pair of jeans. His unkempt bright red hair caught the light in a peculiar way, and his cool green eyes looked past her at Joe.
“Flare!” Joe exclaimed, grinning and holding out a hand, which Flare shook. “Twilight, meet Flare Dancer. Flare, this is Twilight Sparkle. Her family’s some of my favorite customers.”
“Pleasure,” Flare said, smiling warmly, holding out a hand, which Twilight shook.
“Likewise,” Twilight responded.
“Anyway, yeah, I know the feeling of everything seeming banal,” Flare shrugged. “Oh, and I’ll have two glazed and one twist.”
“Coming right up,” Joe started grabbing the aforementioned items.
“You’ll find something you like someday,” Flare smiled encouragingly. “Just keep searching.”
“Thanks,” Twilight inclined her head at the young man. “I guess I’ll be heading out. I need to get back to campus for class. How much do I--”
“I told you, on the house,” Joe held out a hand to prevent her from pulling out her bits. “Sure there’s nothing else I can do for you?”
“No, I think not,” Twilight smiled.
“Yeah, the readers are starting to wonder if the plot of the story is around here somewhere,” commented Flare, smirking.
“But thanks anyway!” Twilight added. “I’ll be sure to drop by more often.”
“Alright, I’ll hold you to that,” Joe waved. “Later, Twilight.”
And with that, Twilight was back out into the city, and back towards the school.
The day felt almost perfect. It was growing ever closer to fall, and the weather was starting to cool down just enough to make it perfect hoodie weather, especially on a mountainside city like Canterlot.
The citygoers were out in full force. Everyone from businessmen and women to hooky-playing teenagers was now walking up and down the now-busy intersection, with a few automobiles driving along the roads to make sure no one strayed too far out into the street.
Even with all of this, Twilight knew it wasn’t going to take her long to get to the campus. In short order, she was weaving her way in and out of the crowd of people, just a slight bit of haste to her footsteps.
Someone bumped her shoulder purely by accident, and she stumbled, falling onto her knees.. Groaning at the very minor inconvenience, she started to push herself up.
As she finished and straightened up, she felt a prickle at the back of her neck, like the many times Shining Armor had tortured her as a child by holding the tip of a pen deliberately millimeters over the back of her neck. That strange, maddening sensation was back, and coming from somewhere off to her left. She recoiled slightly, whirling to see what was causing it.
At first, it didn’t look like anything was there, but after the two people who were initially stepping in front of it moved, Twilight saw an alleyway between a couple of shops, and standing in that alleyway was a black-cloaked and hooded man.
At least, Twilight assumed it was a man, since the being’s face was completely shrouded in darkness. He was either male, or a really flat-chested female, and the cloak itself wasn’t helping. It was baggy, with a zipper straight down the middle of it and open from the bottom to about the waist, and two dangling metal beads at the end of drawstrings connected around the collarbone, and a metal chain held the two sides together even if the zipper didn’t.
The being wore what looked like tall black boots and black gloves, and absolutely all of this ensemble looked like it was leather.
Despite the fact that Twilight had a niggling feeling she was supposed to be feeling intimidated, and she was, her rational part was questioning the all black leather ensemble.
He should stick out like a sore thumb in public, she observed, staring back at the hooded person, who stared right back at her.
...so why doesn’t anyone seem to notice him?
People just kept going about their business. This guy should have been catching stares from everyone, and yet no one seemed to even remotely be aware of xis existence… except her.
And come to think of it, the darkness shrouding xis face was completely unnatural! She should be able to see at least some part of the figure’s face, but it was like a sheet of black was put right in front of xis nose.
For only a moment, Twilight’s rational self overcame her suspicions about the being, but then it suddenly dawned on her, this being was completely unnatural, and was interested in her, for some reason or another.
A sliver of cold seemed to slide up her gut, filling her with TREPIDATION!, she felt rooted to the spot and couldn’t act.
For another long moment, the cloaked figure stared at her as she stared back, feeling incapable of doing anything else, before the figure seemed to decide it was enough. An inky shadow appeared under his feet, and a bubble of darkness enveloped the being, leaving nothing behind as it vanished.
For a fleeting moment, Twilight stared at the spot where the cloaked figure had stood, mind reeling.
Who… who was that? And why was he watching me? she wondered, her frown only partially covering up the slight bit of apprehension she felt.
A clocktower rang. Twilight was jolted out of her trance as she realized it was 10 already, and she needed to get to class as soon as possible. But her sudden haste did nothing to quell her uneasiness at the figure’s presence, or at what he could possibly signify.
Out of the corridor of darkness stepped the man, in the middle of a large stone room in a castle on an unscalable peak in the northernmost reaches of Equestria. He had to admit, he had not expected the girl to see him.
Intriguing, he thought. Perhaps I will have to be more subtle when following her.
Still, as commanded, he waved a hand through the air, an aura of darkness issuing from it. In the air in front of him, the darkness that issued from his hand and coalesced, forming a large, black, translucent cloud that shifted all around in its place, before a pair of icy-blue eyes manifested themselves in the center.
“Yes, servant?” an equally-cold feminine voice issued from the cloud. “What have you to report?”
“Everything is proceeding as planned,” the man said in a hollow, empty sounding voice. He knelt before the cloud. “The time for your return is close at hand.”
“That alone cannot be the reason you contacted me,” observed the shadow, eyes narrowing. “What have you found?”
“Per your orders, I have been following the Spirits of Harmony as they went from bearer to bearer for the last several millennia,” the man reminded her.
“Yes, and what of it?” the shadow asked. “Have you found the sixth?”
“I do not know,” the man admitted. “There was a certain… difference in this girl’s aura, but nothing definite.”
“Perhaps it would be best to simply eliminate her now,” mused the shadow. “If the Elements of Harmony are incomplete, what chance do they have of stopping me?”
“I feel that would be an unwise decision,” the cloaked man replied, glancing up at the shadow briefly before lowering his head again. “It would alert the Equestrian government to my existence, and though they have not the means to interfere with me, I am sure I need not remind you of how fortunate they can be if they are actively working against you.”
The shadow seemed to hiss with distaste.
“Still, my ten-thousand year banishment is nearly at an end, servant,” a satisfied edge being’s voice crept into the shadow’s voice. “You shall have your due reward for being so faithful once Equestria is mine to rule.”
“I eagerly await my master’s return,” the man clapped a fist over his heart and rose. “And I will be there to greet you upon your return, Nightmare Moon.”
“I am already looking forward to it,” she shadow’s eyes seemed to sparkle with malevolent anticipation. “Prepare the way for my arrival, servant. The time of my return and my ascension is nigh.”
“By your command,” the man bowed, and the shadow dispersed, leaving the man standing alone in the stone room. For only a moment was he still, but then he was off. There was work to be done.
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Hm, solid start. I have to admit I lol'd at Flare's 4th wall-breaking quip,
s6.postimg.org/5ul2jmext/continue_Monkey.jpg
7171232
Like I said, story won't take itself too seriously. And neither will the characters. It's weird, but I see it like I'm a guy following them around taking notes while they perform on a stage, and they try to ignore me, but from time to time, they'll comment on me being there.
Still, that will be far from the only fourth-wall break of the story.
Hmm organization xiii lookin Guy better watch out lol
So, NMM has Organization XIII working for her?
Interesting. Let's see where this particular rabbit hole will take us.
7171501 Don't forget Totally Not Axel showed up earlier.
(Even though they both actually have nothing to do with Organization XIII).
7171542 I just realized that you used axels title as his name lol
7171610
Err...
I used to be on Fanfiction.Net, and I wrote a story featuring Jack Thomas (my Starbound protagonist) being a human thrown on Earth, with his pony self being named Flare Dancer since he couldn't remember who he was (the story was pretty awful, I wouldn't waste your time). I just felt like throwing an appearance or two in there.
As for the cloaks, bear in mind, in the Kingdom Hearts universe, the cloaks are used to prevent darkness from tainting the heart of one who travels through corridors of darkness. Figured I'd reuse the concept here.
7171620 cool
Intriguing, looking forward to more