Private Night Light of the EUP Royal Guard (Canterlot City Patrol) is working his way through accounting school by polishing armor and making sure nobody steals any buildings. And then a hyper-confident, fearless unicorn about his age shows up at his barracks, talking about a conspiracy to steal an artifact from the Canterlot Museum of Antiquities.
What follows is a series of high places, tight spaces, double-crosses, and discussions of the vital role of accounting in public life.... all taking place over twenty years before six particular ponies began saving the world on a regular basis.
Honorable Mention in the Ancestral Tribute contest.
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Excellent job on the exchanges, characterizations, action and general wrap-up in this one-shot. REALLY loved this spin on Night Light and Velvet's first meeting (yeah, them learning to work together so well on such a big adventure in just a few hours is something they ended up passing down to their future daughter [:-D]). Definitely loved how Night Light, despite being more comfortable with simple stuff, still stepped up along with Velvet against griffon gangsters and mad cultists. Also loved the bits of foreshadowing - such as Velvet struggling with a mystery novel where she was stuck on the second sentence, the involvement of S.M.I.L.E. (including Stormbringer pointing out that keeping those dangerous artifacts in places like museums doesn't fool most of the crooks they deal with) and the conditions in Griffonstone - and the teamwork in sealing the Aeolus. And, yeah, Velvet and Night Light learning to work together that well that fast is something they are definitely going to pass down to their future daughter.
Ohh and this is probably how he fell in love with her
And this is probably how Twilight got her habit from her mother
If Only They knew about his other dark secrets
11396606 This is back when Wind Rider was young, before he got bitter. He's still honest in this timeframe.
If a pony in the royal gardens listened very carefully, at that moment, they could hear a statue retch.
Just because you're a regressive warmonger doesn't mean you have to be sexist.
Outstanding climax, and character dynamic throughout. The king of the winds is one of my favorite figures in Greek myth, so the former got a big smile from me. I wonder if their kids ever found out about this part of their lives. I assume both got the necessary security clearance eventually, but whether Velvet ever told them is another matter. And I imagine she had a few thoughts to share with Celestia on the day of Twilight the Younger's entrance exam...
All told, wonderful stuff. Thank you for a most engaging read and best of luck in the judging.
Night Light being in the royal guard makes a surprising amount of sense. It would be easier for Shining Armor to get in if he had family connections.
And probably that's how Twilight got the excitement from
And also the origin of twilighting came from lol 😆
Are you kidding me that was your plan
Well that was certainly a pretty awesome story about how Twilight's mother and father met and not only that discovering a conspiracy going on in Canterlot so much action pack a lot of talking about this whole conspiracy a lot of turns and twists and probably how they work together as a team which that's pretty awesome I have to say this was a pretty cool one here keep up the good work
well ok this is a fun story.
i like this and hoo boy does it have a bunch of twist and turns in it.
That was a good story.
Very excellent story!
Thank you very much
I like how your characterize Nightlight with his opression with accountancy, they say girls inherit some personality traits from their father so makes sense Twilight gets her near OCD level of obsession with order from her dad. Same with boys and mom, so Velvet being brave reflecting in Shining Armor.
The Twists where fun, Stormbringer being a Government agent who masquerades as an anti-government conspiracy theorist. Gulder seems to want power, but nah pure greed is his only motivation, and Cultists show up to be the actual villians, nicely done.
Night Light and Twilight Velvet joining SMILE fits in the popular head cannon that Celestia kept eyes on Twilight Sparkle her whole life. The children of SMIlE agents are going to be kept tabs on in hopes they might follow in their parents foot steps. And Twily and Shining did do so, of exactly. It as important assets to Equestia's safety? Yes indeed.
This is really good!
Grab your upvote and favorite and get out of here you bastard.
Very nice, but a lot of slice of life.
11398793 In the same way Pulp Fiction was, yeah.
I firmly believe that in good writing it's less about the what and more about the who.
Greek mythology, yay! That was one heck of a climax. I thoroughly enjoyed this story, thanks!
Cry havoc and let slip the... accountants and reporters?
Well, we now have some definitive hints where Twily got her crazy from...
We don't actually have that many stories of these two behaving in the manner the show characterised them, do we? Looks like we've been missing out on something great then.
11398877
Ahhhhh... I didn't notice the Pulp Fiction approach.
With just 10,000 words, theres a lot of "who" being crammed in and its not the smoothest. Having a visual aspect would've gone a long way, but thats the medium.
A really fun read and I loved how Night Light was characterised. Made me feel bad with how he didn’t realise how the other guards were treating him.
Great story
This was fun.
That was enjoyable :)
An oddball ghost happened across your fic and read it. Have a review!
Intrigue, action, adventure, and romance! A wonderful little romp.