5 - Interlude 1
Edited by Pilate. One swell zebra, he certainly is.
The five mares and one dragon stood at the train station, waving goodbye until the train carrying their unofficial leader to Canterlot was out of sight.
One by one they departed. Fluttershy had to get Spike set up at her cottage, Applejack was behind on farm chores, (after all the shenanigans of yesterday) Rarity had some dresses she had to get get back to, and even Pinkie Pie had to go get some baking work done for the Cakes. Eventually, Rainbow Dash was left alone at the train platform, alone, but for some deeply disturbing thoughts. Rainbow was the only one who had seen Twilight’s combat knife before she had stored it in a saddlebag, and she couldn't get the thing out of her mind. Even as she finally flew away from the platform, and toward her house, her thoughts were troubled.
Why did Twilight have a weapon? Weapons kill stuff, they don’t do anything else, is Twilight gonna kill stuff? Why did the motto on it have to be so creepy too? Twilight said something about black operations...
Rainbow knew a little about the Equestrian military. The Wonderbolts were, after all, technically a military organization. However, her knowledge of black operations was limited. She had read about them in a few books, but the kinds of books she read were usually more focused on the action than on stuff like that. All she knew was that, according to the government, anything done on a black op, as they were usually called, never happened.
I guess that sort of explains the motto.
She broke out of her train of thought for a moment to wave at Derpy Hooves as she passed. The grey mailmare waved back cheerfully, before zipping away with the rest of her deliveries. Derpy was one of the few ponies up at this hour. Looking around, she could see that she was still a couple minutes from her home. She was flying far slower than usual, but for some reason, felt no need to hurry.
As she lapsed back into her previous train of thought, she was struck by a far more disturbing idea.
She said the princess only wanted to have her run some obstacle course or something. Why did she need a combat knife?
She shuddered as she neared her home. Rainbow hoped her egghead friend would be okay, but all this worrying was going to give her an ulcer.
Looking down again, Pinkie Pie could be seen bouncing off somewhere random. How she remained so absolutely cheery after all that had been revealed last night, and this morning, was a mystery to her pegasus observer.
Some things never change I guess.
With a newfound smile on her face, Rainbow landed in her cloud-house. She had gotten up early that morning, but suddenly, she no longer felt like a nap. Instead, she settled for a quick shower, and a bite to eat, she wasn’t going to let this day go to waste, she had stunts to practice.
--{MoW}--
Rarity was unable to focus on the dress in front of her.
She had gone straight back to the boutique from the train station. Usually all she needed to calm down was a bit of work. Sure sometimes work, in itself, was stressful, but those occasions were the exception, not the rule. This time was an exception. The seamstress's thoughts simply wouldn't leave her alone. The dress she was currently staring past was nothing but a bit of fabric draped over a ponyqiun.
I cannot believe that Twilight's brother began training at eleven years old! He must never have even had a foalhood, being bred for war from the start. Why, that shouldn't even be legal.
Rarity's eyes widened as a terrible thought came to her.
Maybe it isn't! Oh, Twilight did say that we weren't allowed to tell anypony. Have I become nothing more than a pawn in some government conspiracy? What could my role be? I wonder if I'm a hero, or villain...
The fashionista snorted derisively, as she came back to her senses.
I really must stop reading those romantic spy novels. I'm sure there's no conspiracy, or any such nonsense.
Finally giving up on the dress, Rarity turned and walked into her kitchen, located in the back of the shop, but not before flipping the 'open' sign to 'closed' with her magic. After making sure Sweetie Belle wasn't snooping around anywhere, she retrieved a key from atop the fridge, and opened her favorite cabinet, the liquor cabinet.
From that heavenly place, she withdrew a bottle of expensive scotch. Next she got down a glass. Finally, she placed two ice-cubes in the glass from the freezer built in to the fridge. Retiring to her study upstairs, and lounging on a plush couch, the mentally exhausted mare poured herself a generous amount of her favorite drink, setting the bottle next to the couch. She hated the idea of drinking in the morning. However, she had a very different attitude regarding the act of drinking in the morning.
While sipping her drink, she gazed longingly out the window at Ponyville. It really was a beautiful morning. The sun was shining bright in the sky, with not a cloud to be seen, ponies were everywhere, going about some business, or just enjoying the day. She quickly spotted Pinkie Pie, bouncing through the mass of ponies toward the road out of town. That mare had a way of making herself easily noticeable, even in a crowd.
Seeing that Pinkie managed to stay happy brought a small smile to Rarity's face.
Not even revelations of war, and a dear friends involvement in a top secret military group, can keep her down.
Seeing that her glass was empty, Rarity decided against pouring another, as she had originally intended. Instead, with thoughts of a happy pink pony, she trotted back downstairs, and put the bottle away.
There were dresses to be made.
--{MoW}--
Applejack kicked her hind hooves again, savoring the satisfying sound and feel of her body striking the tree. Apples rained down from above, trading their homes among the branches for far more temporary ones in the baskets surrounding the tree. The farmer wiped the sweat off her brow, and began using her hat to fan herself, gaining at least a small amount of a reprieve from the hot sun. It was just about high noon, and she should have been done by now.
Unfortunately, she had gotten held up seeing Twilight off, and on top of that, her troubled mind wasn’t making things any easier. It was now high noon, and the day was getting very hot. Applejack decided to take a break, and laid down on the soft grass under an already harvested apple tree.
Unfortunately, the lack of something to occupy her mind brought her thoughts back to the news they had all received from Twilight, both last night, and this morning.
Now just what is that filly doing? Thinking she's some sort of soldier? Heck, that ain't the Twilight I know.
With a grunt, the orange mare slapped her hat back on her head, and stood up. That was enough of a break for now, that was enough of those thoughts for now.
Stepping up to the next tree in the row, she turned, and prepared for a mighty buck. Her back legs coiled, her whole body grew tense, she waited, took aim, and kicked as hard as she could. Less than half the apples fell.
"Dangnabbit!" Applejack shouted, stomping her hoof in frustration. It didn't last long however, instead, she was forced to confront the source of her distraction. Twilight had lied to them. Now, Applejack may not have known much about 'operatives', and secret military forces, but she could tell when a pony was hiding something. There was more to this than an obstacle course, and that thought scared the normally stoic mare to the point of ruining her apple bucking.
Applejack sat down tiredly, and hung her head low.
Why would Twilight lie to us? Is she gonna be in danger? Maybe I should let the other girls know, they might have some idea what to do.
She sighed heavily.
No, I'm sure Twilight had a perfectly good reason not to tell us everything. We're dealing with top secret stuff here after all. She'll let us know the whole story when she gets back.
Suddenly, her brow furrowed, though she didn't look up from the ground.
What if she doesn't come back? What if she goes on some dangerous mission for the Princesses, and gets killed? I don't know if I could handle that I don—
She was brought out of this troubling line of thought by a happy sound. Somepony was whistling, apparently on the path out of town that passed by Sweet Apple Acres. Applejack raised her head, and looked across the fence to see the road. There was Pinkie Pie, happy as ever, hopping down the path away from town, whistling the happiest song this cowpony had ever heard.
Applejack could do nothing but smile at the sight. Pinkie didn't let thoughts like these trouble her, she just went about her day, happy as ever, trusting that their friend would be back soon, with all the more stories to tell for it.
As Pinkie bounced out of sight around a bend, Applejack stood back up, smiling broadly. In a much better mood than before, she walked over to the next tree in line, going through the same process as before, giving it a strong buck.
Every apple on the tree fell.
--{MoW}--
Fluttershy was taking care of a poor badger who had lost it's home in a storm a week ago. His name was Woodsworth, and he was living with the shy caretaker until he could find a new home. She didn't really mind, in fact, she cherished every animal she took care of. Today, however, her heart just wasn't in it. Oh, she felt terrible about it, to be sure, but there was nothing for it. She still helped them, and she still enjoyed it, as much as anypony enjoys helping another living creature, but that special feeling that brought a smile to her face was missing.
All of her animal friends, even Angel Bunny, had tried in their own way to cheer her up, but nothing worked. Instead she was spending the afternoon laying on the couch, feeling down. She had gotten all of the necessary animal related chores done by noon, and had not moved from the spot for a few hours now. As she lay there her thoughts drifted to the recent events that were likely the reason for her melancholy.
I just can't believe there are ponies and zebras out there killing each other. She shuddered at the thought. Can't they see violence is never the answer?
Fluttershy sighed, ...and Shining Armor was even involved. Oh, I hope he didn't have to kill anypony, oh that would be just awful As the next thought crossed her mind, her eyes began to water ever so slightly. Now Twilight is going to war too. I just know that's what's going to happen. She's going to go to war, and she's going to have to kill zebras, and she'll never be the same, and she'll become a mean old war mare, and—
There was a knock at the door.
Fluttershy blinked. Who in Equestria could that be?
She had gotten better at actually answering her door, ever since she became friends with the rest of the girls. So, instead of pretending not to be home, as she would have done once, she got up, wiped her face, and walked over to the red double door across the room.
Opening the door revealed the super happy ball of pinkness that was Pinkie Pie, as super happy and pink as ever.
"Oh, hello Pinkie Pie." Fluttershy attempted, and failed, a warm smile. "What brings you around here?"
"Well, I thought you might need some cheering up. I was on my way over here around noon, but shortly after passing Sweet Apple Acres, I ran into a little trouble."
Fluttershy looked shocked. "Oh goodness. What kind of trouble?"
"Well, it went a little something like this..."
Fluttershy regretted asking as soon as she saw Pinkie Pie draw in an impossibly deep breath.
Pinkie Pie then proceeded to regale her with one of the strangest tales she had ever heard. Apparently Pinkie had been summoned by Starswirl the Bearded, along with four doppelgangers of herself from other points in time and space, to save the universe from... something.
There was a lot of bizarre time-travel logic, and it somehow all ended with Pinkie Pie teaching discord about practical jokes and then eating orange push-pops with him atop a skyscraper in some place called Maretropolis, before Discord sent her back.
When Pinkie had finished, Fluttershy simply stared, dumbstruck by the strange pile of words unceremoniously vomited upon her by the pink mare standing, smiling, in her front doorway. After a few moments, she blinked, and formed a response. "Oh, um, that's nice." Her response forming skills were still not where she wanted them.
Pinkie didn't seem to notice. "Yeah, I guess it is a little nice. So do ya mind if I come in?"
By now, Fluttershy barely had to fake her smile at all. "Not at all, I would actually love the company. Come in."
The pink party pony did just that, following Fluttershy to the kitchen, and taking a seat at the table. While Pinkie sat, the shy pegasus began to prepare some tea.
"Thanks for coming Pinkie, I admit I was feeling a little down after everything that happened."
"No problemo Flutters! I love cheering up friends. It's kinda my thing."
The kettle began to whistle, and Fluttershy expertly prepared two cups of tea, hers not too strong, with a smidgen of honey, Pinkie's as strong as she could make it, with several spoonfuls of sugar, and a bit of cream. She brought the tea over to the table, taking a seat across from her friend, and giving her the tea.
"Ooh, just the way I like it! Thanks Fluttershy, you're the best!" Pinkie immediately took a large gulp of tea, seemingly unaffected by it's almost dangerous temperature. "So how're the animals?"
"They're doing well, why just the other day, Puffington was..."
They talked for hours, Fluttershy had a lot to say about her animals, and Pinkie Pie just had a lot to say.
By the time they finished it was already evening, and the sun was just beginning to set. Creatures of the forest began to enter the cottage, requiring the attention of the caretaker of a pegasus.
"Thank you for coming over Pinkie."
"No problemo, it was a ton of fun." Pinkie Pie grinned as she headed to the door. "See ya later Fluttershy."
"Goodbye Pinkie. I hope to see you again soon."
And with that, Pinkie Pie left the cottage, and headed back towards Ponyville, whistling a happy tune.
Fluttershy began the nightly chores for her animal friends, enjoying it infinitely more than she had been that morning. She hummed while she worked. They hadn't even talked about the things that had been worrying her earlier, but somehow, Pinkie had made her feel as if everything was going to be okay.
With that thought she returned to work, a large, and completely genuine, smile on her face.
--{MoW}--
Pinkie Pie entered Sugarcube corner, backlit by the final rays of a setting sun.
Immediately, she let the smile drop from her face. She had managed to cheer up all her friends, that was a win. However, for all of her fun-loving, silly antics, Pinkie still fell prey to anxiety, and depression. It was simply that if the others ever saw how broken up she really was about this they would only end up feeling the same way. Pinkie would never allow that, even if it meant putting on a brave face so that there was nopony there to ease her mind of the thoughts that plagued it.
Twilight was away on some sort of assignment for the army, there was no guarantee that she would come back unhurt, or even at all. On top of all that, there were ponies and zebras out there right now, killing each other. Even if Twilight didn't have to kill anypony, her brother had. In fact, it was very likely all he did, all he had been trained to do. It was all so much, so much worry, so much pain, so much violence.
The party pony trotted in a funeral march through the storefront, making her way on heavy-hooves up the stairs towards her room. The day weighed on her mind as much as it did on her body. Pinkie barely managed to drag herself to her bed before collapsing into it. She laid there for a while, staring at the ceiling, her thoughts eating at her like some horrid parasite, before flopping over onto her side in a fruitless search for a comfortable position on the bed and a clear mind. Eventually—in a town full of friends—she cried herself to sleep, completely alone.
Stats
Page generated in 0.023 seconds
Total duration
637 users online
849,975 hits today, 1,960,719 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
First!
1663741
That's REGIDAR'S JOB YOU FOOL!
Oh great, now there's a rip in the space time continuum in my house. You proud of yourself?
1663741>>1667474
WE'LL ALL DIE
You damn fools.
first comment breaking the comments relating to first comment relating to Regidar's ability to appear everywhere?
so.. Shining Armor is a spartan, Twilight is an assassin... and Pinkie Pie is Pinkie Pie though sad when she's alone...
I should never be given a keyboard at 5 in the morning
This prinny is impressed, dood.
Me like it alot, dood!
Upvote JUST for Applejack's pottymouth. Maybe you could make it Humour as well, and have it like Red vs Blue?
Will read.... But why... when I saw the Twilight cover art stuff..... Did I think this story would turn Twilight into Solid Snake?
It's here, it's finally here!
-Minty
(Titles inbound)
1667474
1667484
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
*Is sucked into the vortex*
1667588
Heh, pretty much.
I'm actually not going for a 'hidden-blade' thing with her weapon. It went more like this:
I just think mouth based weapons are a little silly, so it had to go on her foreleg, but then how would she run? Well, I'll just make it retract— Whoops! Assasins Creed weapon.
But yeah, Shining it totally a spartan.
1667601
Thanks!
1667634
I plan on having a little bit of humour, but it won't really be a comedy.
Hopefully nobody minds this.
1667688
Glad to hear!
I was hoping people would be okay with my characterization of our favourite prancing purple pony.
1667929
I'll be honest, I'm not familiar enough with that series to do much in the way of references.
Pretty much all I have is, "War has changed."
Other than that, I just thought the cover art looked cool.
1667957
Oh great, now the crazies are starting to comment.
1668110
Omigosh omigosh omigosh omigosh!
Glad that you like it!
RiL'd, for after I clean my own implements of war.
Edit: You bastard, you keep getting featured
1668234
Ha!
You have no idea how little I was expecting that. This thing got uploaded in the middle of the night, after a holiday.
But hey, I'm not complaining.
You have alot of potential here!
Make it big and make it epic. NAO!
I'm still~ in a dream! Snake Eater! Great job, keep goin and stay golden^^
Darn...looks like I'm late. oh well, let's see what you got. Description sounds promising
1668438
Welcome to the party!
Glad you made it.
1668329
Oh trust me, the stakes get pretty high.
1668437
Thanks!
1668464
First Chapter complete! Love it so far. Your Twilight reminds me of the new Sherlock Holmes movies
ps
"Son of a bitch"
1668529
I love the new Sherlock Holmes movies, you'll probably see that.
This story, I like it.
media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mdqightXBN1rw5vzj.gif
Oh, Pinkie
I love you so much and it hurts to see you sad. Curse the fourth wall! I want to hug her!
This story is excellent.
Your editor missed an error.
inb4 Featured.
Wait. Dammit.
1668730
C'est la vie. If you wouldn't mind pointing them out in a PM or some such I'll prod Zap until he fixes them.
1668572
They're both so cool, I couldn't choose just one!
1668730
1668778
What he said.
Finally, a Solid Sparkle story, All what we need now is the adition of Pinkie Fisher along and we're ready to go
After Pinkie told Fluttershy her story, I thought maybe she was using drugs to cope with her depression....What the buck was that?
1663741 YOU GONNA GET BANNED!
Yes. I like this. I need more. Sorry, didn't you hear me?
I NEED FUCKING MOOAAAAAAAR!
1669017
Nah, she's just really depressed.
She has nopony to cheer her up, because if her friends knew how depressed she was, they never would have been cheered up themselves.
If you look at how they all got cheered up, it always involved seeing Pinkie Pie so happy. It's a sacrifice she has to make.
1669397
I like you.
You're the only one to comment on every chapter.
1669424
ya...but what the buck was with that weird story? Star-swirl? Discord?
1669458
Ohhhhhhh that!
That was a reference to one of my favourite authors ever, shortskirtsandexplosions, and his story, Crisis of Infinite Pinkies.
And yes, it's just as crazy as Pinkie makes it sound.
1669470
) make me question his sanity...
I should have figured it was some sort of reference... I really like some of SS&E's stories, but some of them (and his blogs, good God his blogs...
1669487
Oh, he's definitely insane, but it's why we love him.
1669498
Comments on the main page count as comments on the latest chapter.
I have no way to tell them apart!
Minimal errors, good characterizations, interesting premise... why can't everything be this good?
Hm. Interesting idea.
A few questions for you, though.
Firstly, I see you reference the military, and the Equestrian _Army_. Yet we all know SA is the captain of the Guard. So, how do you view the Equestrian military setup? Clearly, Equestria has a sizable professional army, but is this separate from the Guard, or is the Guard simply a special unit of the army?
Secondly, how is SA both the Captain of the Guard, and a Spec Ops resource manager? I could understand him being assigned a cover, but those are usually fairly generic, certainly nothing so important or time consuming as captain of the royal guards - and yet we have clearly seen that he _is_, in fact, active in that role. Even if you want to claim that he is simply _a_ captain _in_ the royal guard, being married to such a high profile person as a Princess, and being close family of another high profile person (thrice national hero Twilight Sparkle), there will be too much interest in him for him to safely continue being involved in technically-illegal operations. Plus, if he were ever captured/identified, it would be very difficult for the Equestrian government to claim ignorance of his actions, what with him commanding/being in their sovereign's personal guard, and being very well known to her.
Which leads to me to the more important question - why the hell is Twilight an active member of a black ops organisation? Not only would her well known, close, personal relationship with the Princess make it impossible for the government to deny association with her if she gets caught, but being a _thrice_ hero of Equestria, the government can't exactly make 'disappear' should an operation go awry.
Oh, and she is also the Element of Magic, a key component of a superweapon that has already saved Equestria twice.
Sure, I could understand _training_ her, but sending her against lesser threats, in situations that don't require the Elements, seems to be just a very poor decision.
1670179 OR seperate universe where none of that matters and Sparky's family can be badasses be badasses
As for the "guard" vs "army" thing here's how I have it in this fic:
Shining Armor is a captain in the EAF (Equestrian Armed Forces) which is the term used to refer to all of Equestria's military. After his first tour of duty (a long one, 998 to 1001) he was given the assignment of Royal Guard. The Royal Guard is not it's own organization, merely an assignment that can be given to any member of the military.
Now why would they deploy Shining?
Well, he's pretty much a war hero. He distinguished himself during his first tour, and even received a couple medals. When the war started heating up again recently (as Twilight mentioned) it was expected of him to be out there doing something. Now as you said, there are plenty of reasons for Celestia to want him to stay safe, so in order to do both she gave him command of a base within the Equestrian controlled part of Zebranistan. From there he can command troops and handle operatives (yes, he does both) without being in any real danger himself.
I should note that The Elements cannot be used to aid Equestria in the war because they can only be used for harmony, and war is chaotic regardless of which side you're on.
Now as for the Twilight thing, I don't want to spoil anything, but trust me when I say that Celestia would never send Twilight on a dangerous mission, and would need a very good reason to send her on even a milk run.
Let me know if I didn't address anything, I accidentally erased my whole reply so this is the half-assed redo.
And then Gummie pops out of her mane and hugs her!
1671470
The start of something great.
Subject: Pinkie Pie
Suffix Title obtained: "The Candle in the Dark"
-Minty