Domain of Friendship

by Cold Bolt

Episode 3-1

Twilight Sparkle stared at the clock in the hospital waiting room with a sigh as she marched back and forth impatiently.

“C'mon, Twilight,” groaned her scaly purple assistant from a nearby chair. “I’m sure she’ll be done any minute now, so will you relax already? You’re pacing so much, you’re gonna wear out the carpet.”

“But she was supposed to be done half an hour ago!” Twilight gave Spike a worried glance before turning back toward the clock. “This assignment is really important, and we need all the time we can get to prepare…”

“It wasn’t actually an assignment though,” Spike pointed out. “More of a request, if you ask me…”

Twilight shook her head. “Princess Celestia doesn’t make requests, especially not of her students. Her words were gentle, as they always are, but I know this task is much more important than that.”

Arguing the point further wasn’t going to be much use, so Spike simply shrugged.

“I just wish I knew what’s wrong,” Twilight continued. “Maybe she forgot and left early? Or maybe they suddenly extended her shift for the day… or maybe - ”

“Or maybe she’s standing right behind you,” Spike interjected.

Waterwing smiled cheerily. It stung just a bit when the realization had struck her that a large portion of her medical expertise was now irrelevant, given that it applied to human patients and not ponies (despite how strangely human-like they seemed to be in many respects). Still, to her credit, she’d at least managed to impress the staff at the Ponyville hospital enough to land a job there, even if it was merely as an otherwise lowly patient escort; she wasn’t entirely sure if she was willing to aim any higher for the time being if it meant having to retake classes she’d technically already passed.

“Waterwing, there you are!” Twilight gave a quiet sigh of relief. “I was starting to worry a little. What kept you?”

Wiping a bead of sweat from her forehead, Waterwing began flapping her wings in a very particular pattern.

<Busy busy! Much work. Done now!>

Twilight smiled as she recognized the signs Waterwing was using. Collectively, they had made good progress learning how to communicate with her properly, though there was still a lot to learn. Twilight somewhat lamented her inability to practice the wing forms herself, knowing she’d be able to learn them much faster that way… but since the alternative was a weekly group study session with all her friends, this didn’t trouble her much.

“Wait, busy?” The thought suddenly struck Twilight as odd, noting as she looked around that the waiting room was all but deserted. The matter didn’t seem worth questioning, though; there was much to do. “Well, anyway. The train with our guest on it should be arriving in just a few minutes, so if you want to freshen up a bit before she gets here, you’ll have to be quick about it.” With that, she motioned for Spike to hop on her back and made for the front door.

Waterwing followed along, stopping briefly to flash a confident smile and sign again. <Fast. Okay!> She paused briefly to scratch her head. <But what pony is it?>

Twilight shook her head as they stepped out into the late afternoon sun. “Princess Celestia never did tell me who we’re supposed to be meeting… just that she was ‘somepony who would appreciate a nice evening in a quiet town,’ if I remember her wording correctly. We should head for the train station if we want to - huh?”

As they reached the main road, Waterwing came to a halt and began staring intently at a small nearby lake.

Spike scratched his head. “Um… Is something wrong?”

Waterwing gave the pair a glance and briefly held up a hoof. Before either of them could inquire further, she took off into the air and dove straight into the lake. Spike gripped Twilight firmly to keep his balance as she dashed forward, skidding to a stop and staring incredulously at the spot where her friend had disappeared. Mere seconds later, Waterwing marched calmly out of the water, shook herself dry, and turned to grin once again at Twilight.

<Fast!>

After spending a moment processing what he’d just witnessed, Spike giggled to himself.

“Well, I… suppose that’ll have to do, then.” Twilight wiped a stray drop of water from her nose. “The train should be in by the time we get there, so let’s go.”

After a nod from Waterwing and an uneventful few minutes’ walk, the trio ascended the steps onto the station platform just as a dazzling train decked out in gold and purple came to a stop, emitting a deafening burst of steam as it did so.

Spike hopped down from Twilight’s back and tilted his head at the lustrous locomotive. “Wait, isn’t that Stellar Limited? I thought only the highest-ranking royal officials were allowed onboard.”

Twilight turned back toward Spike and nodded. “I’m not surprised; the Princess wouldn’t have asked this of us herself unless it was somepony really important, like one of her personal advisors.”

Waterwing’s eyes went wide as she stared incredulously at something behind Twilight. <Or moon pony.>

“Moon pony…?” Twilight echoed, not entirely sure she’d read that correctly.

Waterwing nodded fervently. <Moon pony!>

Twilight scratched her head. “Waterwing, I don’t… wait.” Lowering her hoof, she spun around.

A tall mare in midnight blue stepped out of the passenger car. Her mane and tail glittered like the night sky and drifted gently, independent of the breeze, and her chestplate and flank each bore the emblem of the crescent moon.

Twilight’s jaw nearly hit the floor. “P-Princess Luna…?!”