S.M.I.L.E. Agent Aria Blaze

by Hopeful_Ink_Hoof

All Around the World

Aria walked up to Twilight Velvet's office, finding the door open. The senior agent sat leaning over her desk, glasses resting on her nose. A large stack of paper rested on her desk, flipped open as she read through it. Several folders rested off to the sides.

Aria walked in without knocking.

"You wanted to see me?" she asked. Aria flopped into a chair -- without asking or waiting to be asked -- and sat sideways, one leg flopped over the armrest.

"Yeah," Agent Velvet replied, not looking up. "Just..." she held up one finger. Her eyes continued to move back and forth, reading whatever text was in front of her.

After a few seconds, she brought her finger down and looked up, closing the papers. She gave a small smile as she looked up, holding up the documents.

"My latest story," Velvet stated. "Picked it up from the editor on the way in. Just going through to see what notes they've put in it this time." She smiled. "Got to keep up with my official job, you know." Turning, she set the story aside. "But, I'm sure you can guess that's not why I called you in here." She picked up one of the folders. "I actually wanted to talk to you about a few things with the farmhouse incident."

Crossing her arms, Aria gave a shrug.

"First," Velvet continued, "Kerfuffle is going to be fine. She's going to be stiff and bruised for a while, but will be back in a few days."

"So?" Aria snapped, pressing down in the chair more as she turned away. "Why should I care?" Kerfuffle was a girl she barely knew. Sure, Aria thought she was kind of cute, and her position here showed her to be pretty smart, but she was also perky. Annoyingly so. Aria would not mind a fling with her, but that was it.

And anyone who claimed that Aria had been up late, having trouble sleeping because she was worried about Kerfuffle was a damned liar.

Twilight Velvet shifted in her seat, looking away from the file. Her icy blue eyes stared over the rim of her glasses, pinning Aria in place, and lips pressed thin in thought. One finger tapped on the side of the folder.

"Okay?" she said, raising an eyebrow. "Is there something you want to talk about?"

"No," Aria snapped, pressing down in her seat more.

Several seconds passed with the two looking at each other.

"Well if you change your mind." Velvet returned her attention to the folder. "Getting to your report, I wanted to ask: why did you re-break your nose?" One hand moved to rub at her nose. "It sounds incredibly painful."

"It was," Aria stated. "That was the point." She moved to sit up straighter. "My resistance wasn't enough to avoid being affected completely, but it was enough that I was able to realize it wasn't real, and move a little on my own. To break completely free, I needed a massive shock. In this case, the pain of having my nose re-broken."

"So, a shock could break someone out of a mental attack?" Velvet asked. "Like the fear spell or your mind control?"

Aria shook her head back and forth, letting out a hum.

"It depends." She waved a hand. "It's like the target's willpower, the spell's strength, previous experience, training..." her brow furrowed as she racked her brain. "... a bunch of other things I don't remember." She scratched her cheek. "Think there was something about food once? Like eating certain things could make it better or worse?" With a sigh, she waved her hand. "I don't remember, and never really cared."

Velvet let out a hum, sitting back in her own seat.

"That makes things a little more complicated. I suspected it was something like that, and had hoped you could explain how Kerfuffle ended up under its control despite the fall, or how Miss Seed was able to resist."

"Sorry," Aria replied. "Don't know enough about the circumstances or the factors."

"What about your sisters?" asked Velvet. "Maybe you could speak with them and see if either of them remember more." She gave a chuckle. "Especially if that food part is true. Having any edge against mental attacks would be extremely helpful."

A snort escaped Aria as she rolled her eyes. Adagio would just love that. Miss Know-It-All showing why it had been so important to pay attention to those stupid, long, and boring lectures about magic and magical theory that Aria had never really cared for. Oh, Adagio would definitely tell her, but there was probably going to be a price to pay for it. Maybe humiliation. Maybe groveling. Nothing too serious, just a reminder as to why Adagio had been the brains of the operations.

Grabbing a pen, Velvet made a mark on the paper.

"I guess that means there is no reason to ask about how Babs was able to stay awake enough to flee the basement after being hit by the spell, or your opinion on her in general." She let out a sigh. "Still, it might be worth keeping an eye on her. See how she develops, and if she has any innate or direct magical abilities when she's older."

"Thinking about recruiting her?"

"Once she's old enough, if the circumstances are right. Some magic abilities do run in bloodlines, after all. So if she ends up having even half the abilities of Applejack, she could be a great help in protecting others."

"Isn't Moondancer your daughter's age?"

Velvet looked up at Aria.

"Moondancer is a genius who graduated college level classes last year." She pointed a finger. "And she's here so we can keep an eye on her just as much as because of her incredible brilliance and skill." Her lips pressed thin, as she licked her lips. "As much as I love my daughter, I can't ignore her flaws, including how she can get very focused on an idea, to the detriment of many things. Cinch may have encouraged her to unleash the magic, but Twily herself made that spectrometer that collected it in the first place." Eyes narrowing, she tapped at the desk. "Imagine what would have happened if someone just as smart, driven, and focused had done the same thing, but neither had the assistance of Sunset Shimmer to talk her down, nor the emotional support of friends and family to help deal with the aftermath."

After seeing video of "Midnight Sparkle," and seeing the nerdy alternate universe version of Sunset turn into what someone named "Morningstar Shimmer" with her own eyes, it was easy to imagine the little nerd Moondancer going full on dark angel of destruction as well.

What would they even call her? "Nightmare Moondancer?"

"Yeah," Aria conceded, "I can see why that might be a problem."

Velvet gave a nod, settling back into her seat.

A knocking sound came from the door.

"Sorry to interrupt," a feminine voice Aria did not recognize said from behind her, "but we're getting readings that the portal in front of Canterlot High has opened. Thought you would want to know immediately."

"The portal," Velvet repeated.

It was an unexpected announcement. Not only was the school closed for Spring Break, but The Rainbooms were off on a cruise for the entire time. As such, there would be no reason to open it from this side. Plus, considering Shimmer had a way of communicating with the Equestrian Sparkle, the princess would be aware of their being away, and have no reason to open it from the other end.

"Have some people look into it," Agent Velvet ordered. "Passive observation only for now. See if anything comes through, and whether or not it is a threat before we do anything else."

"Yes, ma'am," the woman at the door called out.

Velvet let out a sigh, shaking her head.

"Our luck something attacks when the girls are out of town."

Her attention returned to Aria.

"Getting back to the report, I wanted to ask you about the crystals."

Before the conversation could get back on track, music suddenly filled the air.

Aria felt a brief surge of anger as she recognized the song. It was not the one that The Rainbooms had used to defeat her and the other sirens, but it was one that she had heard. Over and over and over again. The music video would be played day after day, on every screen, in front of every store, all throughout the mall. Not only was it a burning reminder of their defeat, but they were seeing the very band that defeated them having a modicum of success. There was some comfort in the fact that it was not the very song that had been used in their defeat, but it was still them, and just because they had started to move on did not mean all of the wounds had healed.

Pulling a cell phone from her pocket, Velvet hit the button and brought it up to her ear.

"Twily? Is everything okay?"

She listened to the person on the other side, brow furrowing.

"Yes," Velvet answered, "I can pick you up, but what are you doing at the school?"

She listened more.

"Okay. But I want a full explanation when I get there. Understood?"

After a second, she gave a nod.

"Good. Be there in a few minutes."

Ending the call, Velvet returned her attention to Aria.

"We'll have to cut this short," she announced as she stood up. "It seems something happened on the cruise, and now everyone needs to be picked up from the school."

Comments

[FanOfMostEverything]

What would they even call her? "Nightmare Moondancer?"

I usually go for "Midnight Waltz."

"We'll have to cut this short," she announced as she stood up. "It seems something happened on the cruise, and now everyone needs to be picked up from the school."

"And I mean everyone."

Nice transition chapter, especially the leadup to Spring Breakdown aftermath. This should be quite the sight to see.

[Herald of Opera]

10070112

What would they even call her? "Nightmare Moondancer?"

And my first thought was to go for "Devil Dancer" complete with "ever danced with the devil in the pale moonlight?"

[Booster Spice]

10070112

The Last Waltz lasts Forever?

Velvets first thought, why are they coming through the portal from a totally different dimention when on a ship on the same planet as here?

Simple. Compared to another dimention, the whole of local space can effectively be a single point, so the fastest way around is to step over, then step back. And vice versa. Opening Portals at random gets you a lot of vaccuum, the occasional stellar core and rarely planetary intersection etc. Needs a lot of targeting work to get a lock on something safe and surface.