Neon Dreams

by Bigwig6666

Thirteen

Neon puffed her cheeks out and absentmindedly pushed a mug of cider back and forth between her hooves. It wasn’t whisky, it didn’t taste great--it wasn’t even that cold--but it was something to give her a light buzz and take the edge off.

In the minutes that followed Twilight’s revealment of herself to COTS, the group of ‘dangerous terrorists’ and ‘criminals’ had began to throw a party, complete with games, sharing drinks and playing music amid a smattering of cheerful creatures. Even Spike seemed to liven up, sharing in drinking and laughing with the ponies around him. The princess herself seemed to also enjoy it all, although Neon suspected in truth she was merely putting on airs to not worry any of them.

As their namesake suggested, the Children of the Sun indeed looked up at her like children, wide-eyed and full of awestruck wonder. Even those that weren’t ponies, the odd griffon, dragon and hippogriff here and there, seemed to worship her like a goddess or some other divine being, to which she was quick to tell them otherwise and insist she was no different than them.

”These are good creatures. A good family. You think I could fit in with them, dad?”

Neon looked down into her mug. She sighed and brought to to her mouth for another sip. She winced as the piss tasting liquid trickled down her throat and heavily set the drink down. From out of the crowd she spotted a happy looking Sparky heading towards her, one of his wings clutching at a fresh mug of cider.

“You seem awfully chipper,” she commented as he sat down and rubbed his hooves together.

He grinned back at her. “Why wouldn’t I be? This is a party after all.”

Neon snorted again and looked around the makeshift bar. To say she was surprised that COTS allowed alcohol, let alone had a bar and any sense of fun that didn’t revolve around Twilight would be an understatement. Her gaze settled back on her mug of half drank cider and she grimaced.

“Some party. The booze isn’t even strong.”

Bright Spark aimed an overdramatic gasp at her. “You’re kidding right? Neon, this stuff, it’s like premium cider, it’s like the best pre-Ponyopolis cider around--how can you not like it?”

Neon shrugged. “More of a whisky filly myself.”

“Whisky, eh?” came a voice from beside them. Neon looked up quickly and recognised Flurry Heart. The alicorn chuckled and sipped at her own mug of cider, swishing it around with a devious smile. “I do recall us having some ‘stronger’ stuff as you put it stashed away somewhere, but, uh... on account of last time, well...”

Neon felt her eyebrow twitch. “Last time?”

Bright Spark’s eyes widened and he pushed himself away from the table, clutching onto his drink with an excited look on his dumb face. “Contest!” he yelled. Around them, the crowd paused in their revelry to watch, and even Twilight turned her attention towards them, curious as to what was transpiring.

The alicorn placed both her front hooves on the table and set her drink down. “Tell you what, Neon Dream,” she said confidently, avoiding the question posed to her. “Let’s say you can’t hold your liquor half as well as I can, and we’ll call it a day.”

“Is that a challenge?” Neon also rose up and placed her hooves on the table and pulled her ears forwards. “Is Sparky right? You saying you want drinking contest with me, Flur-ray?”

“You bet your ass I am.”

They leaned so close towards each other that the tips of their horns began to spark in the close proximity. An instant rivalry was formed.

A light cough and the clearing of a throat made them both turn and look. “Now, now girls,” Twilight said, speaking up and waving a hoof at them. She hiccupped and excused herself. “We’re all friends here, and I’m not having either of you hurt yourselves.”

Neon flared her nostrils. “Nopony’s getting hurt Twilight,” she said, forcing herself to smile as she spoke. She ignored the crowd’s gasps at her referring to the princess by her first name alone, something the rest of them seemed reluctant, afraid almost, to do. “We’re just gonna have a friendly little contest is all.”

“She’s right, auntie,” Flurry replied, also glancing at Twilight with an equally forced smile. “Just a little competition. Between friends, of course.”

Twilight frowned at them both. The bridge of her nose was a light pink shade, indicating she’d had a bit to drink, and her eyelids fluttered briefly. She was about to say something more when she was stopped. Spike placed a claw on her back and leaned in close to her ear. He whispered something inaudible over the din of the other occupants of the bar and smiled. After a moment more a large grin spread across the princess’s face, one that was although joyous hinted at a great sadness underneath, and nodded back at him.

“You’re right Spike,” she said softly. “Good idea. Make some room for them, everypony,” she continued, raising her voice a touch to address the crowd. “We’ll also need some judges. Three should do. Anypony want to volunteer?”

A few hooves went up. The princess pointed at them and waved a few forwards. An earth pony stallion, a pegasus mare and a female griffon.

Twilight nodded and used her magic to set up a small space, dragging a table over and placing Neon on one side, and Flurry on the other. Neither mare protested, clearly eager for the contest to start, clearly longing for the chance to show the other pony up.

“Your names?” the princess asked the appointed judges.

“Cinderblock, your majesty,” said the stallion with a polite bow.

“Sugar Rush, miss,” said the mare.

“G, your grace,” said the griffon. “Spelled, G-E-E.”

“Well, judges Cinderblock, Sugar Rush and... Gee?” Twilight continued, beaming at them, if a touch confused at the griffon’s name. “If you all sit here-” She gestured next to where she was sitting, directly beside the newly acquired table. “Rules?”

A few murmurings of agreement went up around them.

Neon didn’t hear exactly what the rules were as she tuned out the ‘formal proceedings’. What she did notice was how the princess seemed to relish organising things, even something of great importance like who could drink the most. She grinned to herself as the princess ordered the ponies around, and spotted a heavy set unicorn approaching them, a pair of glasses and a large bottle in his magical grasp, awash with a pale blue light.

The stopper came out, and Neon caught a whiff of the what the substance inside smelled like. The liquid poured out was clear, something which surprised her as well. Flurry too looked surprised and gave the unicorn a quizzical look.

“Vodka, eh? I thought we didn’t have any left?” she asked the unicorn.

He shrugged and grinned at her. “I found a bottle last time I was out. Long as you don’t wreck my bar again.”

“Crystal Scout’s Honour that was a one time thing, Bilge,” Flurry chuckled, holding her hoof up.

Neon eyed the strong smelling liquid suspiciously and felt her eyes water from the sheer intensity of it. It smelled an awful lot like the varnish Mr Dust used to wax his precious vans. The alicorn made no further hesitations and lifted her glass up.

“Cheers,” she said with a confident smirk.

“Cheers.” Neon did the same, giving her a sarcastic smile back. The glasses clinked together. The crowd held their collective breaths and waited to see what would happen.

The first to move was Flurry, who brought her glass to her lips and swung it back. She set the glass down firmly and slammed her hoof into the table, closing her eyes. After a moment passed she opened them and smiled a toothy grin.

“Wow,” she wheezed, earning a few chuckles from the crowd, even Twilight too.

Her opponent gave her a venomous look then glanced down at her own drink. She chanced a look sideways at the judges and at Twilight, then at Sparky sitting next to the princess. He egged her on and made a hoof pumping motion, silently cheering for her. The rest of the crowd had returned to being deathly quiet, all of them leaning forwards in anticipation. She braced herself and slung her own drink back, and immediately began to cough and sputter.

“Wow,” she wheezed in between coughs.

This ‘vodka’ was unlike anything she had ever tried before. She reckoned even Sal would have trouble stomaching this stuff down... and yet, once the initial shock had passed, she found the taste quite appealing. She clicked her tongue and licked at the corners of her mouth and grinned at the alicorn across from her, who quietly clapped her hooves together and grinned back.

With the competition well underway, the crowd whooped and cheered, watching intently to see which mare would stop first. Neon stole a look over towards Twilight, and although the princess gave her a pair of raised eyebrows, as if to say ‘don’t overdo it’, she still smiled and seemed happy that everypony was having a good time.

Neon smiled and slung another shot back.

***

Twilight awoke slowly and quietly, to an even quieter bedroom. She yawned and stretched her hooves, glad to have a peaceful sleep for a change in a real bed. After stretching, she looked around for a brief moment. Events of the previous night came to her in bits and pieces. She smiled, glad to have been a part of some joy for a change--however brief it may have been. Her head, unlike many of the others, didn’t actually pound with an intense headache, as she sensibly swapped her cider for some hot cocoa at one point.

The time for celebration was over now, however. Now came the time to save Equestria, and find a way to stop Midnight Sparkle from invading her mind again. Speaking of, her dark passenger had remained oddly quiet since she met Luna in the dreamscape.

And the princess didn’t like it.

When she was there, taunting her, yes it hurt but at least she knew what her game was--sort of. When Midnight was quiet, Twilight was left worried and unsettled. Was she planning something in retaliation for being beaten back? She certainly seemed the vindictive type. Twilight bit her lip and knew she had to be alert and watchful for any more trickery. But then again, at least Neon knew about her--and two heads are always better than one. Unless it’s an unruly and bad tempered orthros.

Thinking of Neon, Twilight realised she lost track of her friend--and Flurry as well--at some point in the night’s festivities, and wondered where they had ended up.

“Well, first thing’s first,” she said to herself, stretching her legs and cracking her neck. “I should talk with Flurry and figure out where exactly to start.”

She made to move and found the duvet of the bed restricting her movements. She looked down and smiled, for at the foot of her bed, like he always used to be, Spike curled up and tucked his snout under his tail. His body rose and fell with steady breaths, and a thin trail of drool hung out from his mouth. Twilight’s horn ignited and lifted up the covers as best she can, freeing herself and swinging her legs over the side of the bed.

“Spike,” she whispered, stepping around to be in front of him and gave him a gentle push. “Spi-ike!”

Spike turned his heavy head and groaned at her, pawing feebly at his spines with laggy claws. “Ten more minutes, Twilight...” he mumbled. His breath rolled out of his mouth with an odious stench. Clearly, he had had too much cider.

Twilight chuckled and gave him another push, glad to see he hadn’t really changed after all these years. “Come on, sleepyhead. Busy day today.”

The dragon groaned again and clutched at his head. His eyelids slowly creaked open to reveal his bloodshot and hungover eyes. “Hnnnnn...”

The princess giggled and stepped away. “Come on. Let’s go see if we can find Flurry somewhere.”

As if on cue, a knock came at her door. “Auntie?” she heard to her delight. “Uh, can you come out for a second?”

Twilight quickly opened the door and looked down into her niece’s also bloodshot eyes. The young alicorn smiled back at her and held a hoof to her head, clearly nursing the tail end of a hangover.

“Well hello, you,” Twilight said with a smirk. “Enjoy yourself last night? Is neon in the same sorry state you look?” she chortled.

Flurry bristled her feathers and sheepishly looked down at the ground. “Uh, yeah. About that, um... auntie... Neon’s sorta disappeared.” She pawed at the doorframe, trying to avoid the look Twilight was giving her.

“What do you mean disappeared?”

“W-well, after you turned in for the night, I sorta... started throwing up, and Neon wandered away looking for a place to sleep, mumbling about something cool she had picked up to that kid she was with--Bright Spark. We’ve got a few guys looking out for them both, but nopony’s seen either of them since... well since last night. I don’t remember much, either...”

The princess sighed and shook her head. “I told you two to take it easy... Alright, let’s go and find her. Spike, are you-” She glanced back at the dragon, once again snoring and passed out on her bed. She rolled her eyes at him and couldn’t help but laugh. “Fine. Well, lead the way then, bug.”

Flurry nodded. A smile pulled at the sides of her mouth. “You haven’t called me bug since I was little,” she mumbled.

Twilight smiled back and nuzzled into her niece’s mane. “Look at you now,” she said proudly. “You’ve kept these ponies safe, Flurry. Whatever happened to that sweet little filly I used to babysit? When did you grow up? And who for that matter taught you what alcohol was?” she playfully scolded.

Her niece grinned up at her mischievously. “Dad did.”

“Ohh, yes I see.” Twilight nodded knowingly and turned her head, pretending to look serious. “I should have guessed my brother’s bad influence would rub off on you. Did he ever tell you about the time he and Cadance were kicked out of the Canterlot library for ‘public indecency’?”

“Auntie!”

The younger alicorn turned scarlet, while her aunt laughed and nuzzled her again.

A few moments of silence descended upon them as they shared in a small cuddle, reminiscing about happier times. Twilight wrapped her wing around her niece and felt her heart wrench itself apart thinking about Shining Armour, Flurry’s dad, and those years Flurry was alone.

“I’m so sorry, Flurry,” she whispered, breaking the silence. She rested her head atop the young alicorn’s mane and took a deep breath. She still smelled the same, a mixture of baby powder and... mushed peas.

“I missed you,” Flurry murmured quietly, burying her muzzle against her aunt’s fuzzy chest. She voiced exactly what Twilight was thinking, and prompted the princess to pull her in closer and give her a gentle but tight squeeze.

“I know. I missed you too, Flurry,” she replied. “I promise I’m not going anywhere any time soon. Crystal Scout’s Honour.”

“I’ll hold you to that, Auntie Twily,” the alicorn sniffed. She looked up with twinkling eyes and smiled happily. “With the best auntie in the world, now we can really start to help Equestria get better.”

“Of course we can.” The princess beamed with pride at her and rubbed at her eyes before they turned towards the door and made to let the sleeping dragon lie. “Seriously, when did you grow up?”

“I still have Whammy, if that helps?”

After some more back and forth and some more gentle teasing as they walked together, they heard some commotion. They quickly rounded a corner and soon enough they spotted a large swath of ponies staring up at a pair of great big metal doors. At the head of the crowd several ponies were trying to keep peace, including a couple of the judges from the ‘competition’.

Flurry frowned. “That’s the garage,” she murmured. “Where we keep the cars and everything. What’s happening over there?”

Twilight shrugged. “Let’s go and find out, shall we?” She placed a wing around her niece and her horn ignited. Before the young alicorn could protest, say or do anything in particular, there was a flash and a pop. In an instant they appeared in front of the crowd, next to those trying to keep the peace. Flurry stumbled away and clutched at her head, groaning and rubbing her temple.

“Warn me next time you do that, auntie,” she grumbled. “I’ve still got a headache you know.”

The princess fluttered her wings and looked at the crowd, which had instantly subdued itself at her presence. “Good morning everypony,” she said cheerfully. “Now, what’s the trouble here?” Many of them mumbled a good morning back, while a few simply stared up at her with fearful and worried eyes. No, not at her, but behind her.

She turned around and squinted up at the large metal doors. They were imposing alright, but that didn’t explain the crowd’s reaction at all. Frowning, she turned back and looked at the griffon beside her with a smile of recognition. “Gee, wasn’t it?” she asked the feathered creature politely.

Gee nodded, holding one of her claws underneath her chest to bow lightly. “Yes, miss Twilight,” she said excitedly. Her voice was soft and quiet. The tips of her wings and a few feathers around her face were stained black. “Sorry but I’m, like, so amazed you remembered my name.”

“I try and remember every creature’s name that I meet,” Twilight said with a smile. She nodded towards the crowd and then the door behind them. “So uh, what’s happening here?”

The griffon’s excitement faded and she gave the princess a worried look, bristling her feathers and clacking her beak. “There’s something in there,” she said with a tremble. “Some sort of animal, we can’t tell. Cind said he saw a pair of glowing blue eyes and heard something growl, and then he got out. I don’t blame him, freaky things are always being found in Ponyopolis...”

“It’s true, your majesty,” the stallion beside them said--Twilight recognised him as well as Cinderblock. He stepped forwards upon hearing his name being spoken. The stallion looked haggard and just as hungover as Flurry, but still forced a smile onto his face and bowed to Twilight. His accent was curiously enough that of a Manehattanite.

“A growl you say?” Twilight gave him a curious look, making a note to ask Flurry about these ‘freaky things always being found in Ponyopolis’, wondering briefly if they had anything at all to do with her imprisonment. “What sort of growl?”

“I’d say it sounded like a wounded animal. Uh, your highness. Somethin’ alive an’ dangerous.” He scratched the back of his head and looked away, the edges of his cheeks turning slightly pink. “It’s not like I stuck around long enough to see what exactly. I slammed the door shutters button on my way out and we haven’t gone in since.”

“I see. Thank you,” said the princess. She turned her attention to the door and addressed Flurry. “Is there a way to open these doors from this side?”

Flurry nodded. “Uh, yeah. Hang on.” She looked around for a moment and spotted a large red button on the wall behind them. She crossed over to it and pushed her hoof into it.

The doors began to creak and slide open, grinding metal on metal and groaning and creaking with the strain of movement.

Twilight braced herself as they opened enough for a pony to walk through. “Alright everypony, stay close to me. If it is an animal it might be dangerous. I don’t want any of you getting hurt.”

They all nodded and murmured in agreement and gazed up at her in awe. Flurry glanced around at the crowd behind them and cleared her throat. “You lot had best stay clear, just in case it is dangerous,” she told them. The remaining ponies quickly backed off and stood at a reasonable distance, watching and waiting curiously.

The princess, her niece, Cinderblock and Gee all stepped forwards into the dark building. The cold air surrounded them with an icy grip, and from out of the shadows came a low rumbling.

”That must be the growl,” Twilight told herself. She spread her wings out in front of the others, who walked slowly behind her. “Hello?” she called out. “We don’t wanna hurt anypony in here.”

Another rumble answered her, and as she grew closer she saw the aforementioned pair of glowing blue lights, fixated directly on her, watching her from the shadows.

“Hello?” she tentatively called out towards it. “Hey there, it’s alright, we’re not here to hurt you-”

Another rumble cut her off, although now she was closer it sounded less like a growl and more like... snoring?

Twilight frowned and licked her lips, growing ever closer to whatever it was. “Gah, I can’t see anything,” she murmured. “Wait...” Light sprung forth from her horn, illuminating the area around them. She gasped and stared at whatever was growling-slash-snoring.

The ponies behind her did the same, even Flurry Heart, who looked up with a puzzled frown.

It was big, perhaps just a touch taller than Twilight at eight or nine feet tall. It’s legs, shiny and metal, were branded with one unfamiliar symbol and one, more recognisable symbol she knew she had seen somewhere before but couldn’t place where. It had no mane, or tail that she could see, and the design of its sleek featureless head looked wholly alien and unsettling to her--she thought to herself she’d feel the same even if she hadn’t been frozen in time.

“It’s a Megacity Security Battle Suit,” whispered Gee fearfully. Twilight didn’t turn to look at her, but still heard the griffon’s powerful wings flap together nervously. “I’ve seen them before... What’s one doing here?” she squawked.

Flurry stepped towards both it and her aunt cautiously. “Auntie Twily?” she whispered. “We should back off a bit-”

“Ugggghhhhh...” came a low rasp from nearby, just to the left of the suit, making the griffon freeze and the stallion instinctively step in front of her and puff his chest out in a chivalrous manner. Flurry snapped to attention, lowering her head and flexing her wings out behind her, while Twilight calmly and slowly directed her eyes downwards, towards the new groan, piecing bits of the puzzle together.

The princess recognised Bright Spark’s delivery van, the familiar paint giving her a fleeting level of comfort, and surmised the groaning must--hopefully--be coming from him within. That still didn’t explain where Neon was, or what the ‘battle suit’ was doing there. She held a wing up to stop anypony else from approaching it, and took a few steps forwards for herself.

“Sparky? Are you in there? Are you okay?”

Another groan came from within the van, followed closely by another rumble from the mechanical pony beside it. Twilight flicked her eyes between them nervously.

Using her magic, she gripped hold of the van side door and pulled it open. Several empty cans spilled out, and the stench of alcohol hit her like a truck. She gasped for air and waved a hoof in front of her nose, shining her light inwards. Bright Spark was revealed to her, currently looking very sorry for himself and trying to shrink away from the light.

“Aggghh... put the sun out,” he mumbled, idly waving his hooves to shield his face. Around him were several more empty cans, stamped with the same branding as those that spilled out onto the ground. He squinted and shielded his eyes. “Prin... Princess Twilight?” he slurred. “What... are you... what’s going on?”

“It’s morning, Bright Spark. We’re looking for Neon,” she replied tersely, trying not to find the situation humorous. Try as she might, she couldn’t stop a small smile from spreading across her face. The ponies behind her began to relax, even Flurry heart stopped groaning and straightened herself up. “Do you know where she went last night?”

“Neon? Ssssure, she’s, uh...” The young pegasus looked confused for a moment and looked around. “She’s... no... should be right...” He shakily rose to his hooves and lurched forwards, stumbling out of the van. His mane was a mess, and his breath reeked of alcohol, making the princess’s eyes water for a moment. “Neon’s... ahh there she is, there,” he said, pointing a a wavy hoof towards the metal pony beside them.

Twilight frowned, her smile faltering. “In that? I don’t follow.”

“They’re like... exosuits you can wear, auntie,” Flurry quickly explained, seeing the confusion etched onto Twilight’s face. “Ponies called pilots sit inside one of them, hook themselves up to the machine, and they move with it. They enhance their power, make them stronger, faster, harder to kill, etcetera. Security only rolls them out for emergencies.”

Twilight nodded. “Oh okay.” She still looked and felt puzzled, but was beginning to understand.

Her niece looked semi-pleased with herself and squinted at the big pair of blue lights on the pony’s ‘face’. “I didn’t see it come in earlier, where’d it come from?” she asked Sparky.

The pegasus roused himself and clicked his tongue, sleepily yawning and looking at her with bleary eyes. “Neon said it was payment for a job well done... from that metal bird...” He yawned and began to lie down. “I’ma just nap here... yeahhh...” He glanced at the walker and frowned. His eyelids fluttered for a moment, and then he was out again, resting happily on the cold concrete floor.

Flurry frowned and tapped her chin, deep in though. “From that metal bird?” she murmured to herself more than anything else. “Hmm. Must be Razor, right? For once that buzzard’s actually useful. How she got a suit like this I have no idea, and I don’t particularly wanna find out. Still. Cool, right?”

Twilight nodded curtly and rustled her wings at the mention of the unpleasant Lady Razor. She took a tentative step forwards and then tapped the metal pony’s leg.

“Neon? Are you in there?” she called out. Her words echoed out around the otherwise empty hangar. There were several vehicles in there, all strange designs Twilight of course didn’t recognise. She looked around at them and reminded herself this was most definitely not the Equestria she remembered, despite the jovial nature of the Children.

The Battle Suit groaned and grumbled again, making the ponies behind her flinch. A snort came from deep inside of it, and Twilight breathed a sigh of relief when Neon’s voice answered her.

“Ugghh... what... time... is it?” the unicorn’s voice rumbled, sounding like it was coming through a radio from deep within the metal suit.

Behind her, Twilight heard Flurry mutter under her breath. “We found your growling animal then, Cin. Nothing more than a drunk mare with a killer hangover...”

At her words, the princess couldn’t keep it in any longer and began to laugh. Her uncontrollable giggling soon spread to the others, and sooner still they were all laughing, save of course, for Bright Spark, who lightly snored and let a trail of drool hang out of his mouth.

Comments

[iAmSiNnEr]

Hope you're doing alright, mate, just checkin' in on ya!

[Bigwig6666]

10559211
I'm doing good lad, just crackin on with stuff ya know? Couple of chapters doing my absolute nut in lol

[Razzy]

This can't end well, the whole COTS give off a massive evil for vibe to me.

At least the pay was good.