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Sparkle's No. 1 Assistant

by Wanderer D

Chapter 3: Loyalty Mission 1: Element Fatale pt. 2

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Twilight Sparkle, Wrex and Rarity sat around the table, staring at the glowing, blue ghostly figure hovering in the middle of it. From time to time, it would fizzle as if it were about to disappear, only to reform again perfectly into a semi-transparent miniature Octavia, who was staring back at them.

“Oh-kay.” Octavia blinked twice before leaning towards them, with her face somehow becoming bigger, before she leaned back and her shape returned to a regular size. “This is… unusual.”

Twilight Sparkle smiled, puffing her chest out proudly. “I made it myself! Based on what Wrex here told me about the intergalactic communication devices used by the Council Races!”

Wrex nodded. “She got it perfect. Right down to the communication gaps and the lousy definition.”

“Still, the fact that it comes from a scroll…” Octavia shook her head. “I’ll never understand unicorns.”

“Be that as it may,” Rarity finally spoke up. “I really would like to know how Miss Philarmonica will be of any help for… my purposes.”

Twilight nodded. “Simple! Octavia has been hired to play at Bluedud’s Manor tonight, she will help us infiltrate the estate, foalnap him, gag him, hopefully rough him up and then transport him in relative safety to your home. In chains.”

“And why would I want to help you with this?” Octavia asked, ignoring the dirty look Rarity shot Twilight at the mention of Blueblood’s nickname. “I would be risking my career and possibly my well being in this endeavor.”

“Sparkle here wants to make the team tougher,” Wrex piped in. “She thinks that all of you have a price and that once that price is paid, you’ll join her mercenary group as full members of the Elements of Harmony.” He smirked. “It’s like the Blue Suns. Only with less asari.”

"And who wants Blueduds dead?" Octavia asked after a pause.

"I, want Blueblood for myself," Rarity growled. "Once he sees that I am the perfect fit, he won't be able to help himself and completely fall in love with me!"

Octavia turned to look at Wrex and Twilight. "Doesn't she know that Blueduds is—"

"Blueblood!"

"...not into—"

"I don't care what you say!" Rarity screeched. "He is my prize for joining you barbarians in what I am sure will be nothing but looting, destroying and ravaging!"

Twilight raised a delicate eyebrow. "Ravaging?"

"It's what barbarians do," Rarity responded, nodding briefly at her vast collection of romance novels, most of which had bulky and muscled stallions holding frail unicorn females close to them while the background burned. In fact, now that she was looking more closely, it was the same unicorn, oddly familiar too, with a frail female unicorn in his arms, and the only thing that changed was the background.

"You seem awfully enthusiastic about the ravaging, though," Wrex pointed out, then shrugged. "Not that there's anything wrong with it. Very popular in Tuchanka before the Genophage."

Rarity cleared her throat. "I'm just expressing my utter disgust at what is sure to be nothing but—"

"We get it, you're excited about it." Twilight rolled her eyes. "Look, Octavia, I'm trying to gather the Elements of Harmony to become the ultimate force of intergalactic law for this quadrant. And I need you and the others to help me. Will you do it?"

Octavia mulled her words for a moment. "If I do this for you, I will demand a favor in return."

"Will that ensure your loyalty and the success of our mission?"

Octavia looked at her straight in the eye. "Yes."

Twilight Sparkle smiled. "Good."

Nightime in Canterlot was a thing of beauty. The city gleamed like molten gold in the darkness, with its warm lights and music and events drawing the ponies of the city into its several nightclubs or operas.

A few miles outside the city, overlooking it from the side of a mountain, was Blueblood Manor: several stories high, with a huge garden surrounding it, and a fence surrounding the garden itself to keep the plebeians out.

Already, the area closest to the manor, where the large pool was located, was abuzz with activity. Waiters and waitresses, cooks, security, musicians... the whole lot of them busied themselves with last minute details for Prince Blueblood's party. That's why not one of them noticed that Octavia Philarmonica was taking a bit too long setting up in her spot and adjusting the cello.

Glancing around, she narrowed her eyes. "This is graymare to purple syndrome, come in purple syndrome," she whispered onto her bow, which pulsated with a red glow for a moment.

"This is purple syndrome, is everything ready, graymare?" Twilight's voice asked from the bow.

"Almost," Octavia whispered back. "I'll have to sneak to the back and drop the package, but I managed to secure two invitations."

"Excellent, graymare." Twilight's voice sounded pleased. "We will be ready to take them when you do."

Octavia stood up, pretending to be frustrated and walked over to a guard standing watch near a door. "I need new strings, I believe that there should be some still in the backroom."

The guard glanced at her. "You've been there before?"

"Last month, same party, basically."

The guard nodded and stepped to the side granting her access. "Be quick. We'll be starting in ten minutes."

Octavia nodded and hurried in. Once she was alone, she unrolled a scroll and laid the two tickets she had procured flat inside it, before rolling it up again. After a moment, the scroll erupted in green flames and disappeared, leaving no trace.

Quickly gathering some supplies, she hurried out of the basement, and took her place among the other musicians. The party would be starting soon.

"Are you ready?" Twilight asked while making sure her dress was on properly.

Rarity stared at the tickets in her hooves. "T-these are invitations to Blueblood's Manor to attend his party!"

"Yes," Twilight rolled her eyes. "I thought we had established that already."

Rarity shot her a dirty look. "Well, unlike certain ponies, I never even thought I would get one!"

"And you didn't," Wrex pointed out with a shrug. "We stole it for you."

"Wrex is right," Twilight said. "You can still rest assured in the truth that you would have never gotten one otherwise."

"That is not helping," Rarity hissed.

Twilight and Wrex shared a look and shrugged.

"Y-you two don't realize how important this is to me!" Rarity accused. "I have been dreaming of being with my prince ever since I was a filly!"

"So... you busted your back to become the greatest clothes designer you could ever be, built aspirations for a career and global fame... and you wanted to drop them just because Blueduds looks cute in his waistcoat?"

Rarity sputtered. "T-that's not—"

"Oh, I can totally see it," Twilight interrupted. "The life of a noblemare, standing there, looking pretty, not doing any sort of work at all because that would be unseemly. That's totally you."

"I—"

Twilight shook her head. "Wrex."

"Sparkle."

A smile crossed Twilight's face. "Let's hunt."

Prince Blueblood chortled as he picked up another canape with his magic and graced the stallions around him with a smile. "...and I said: Dear, that is definitely not an 450 Avant de Garde! If you are going to pretend to be a true noble, you might as well learn the basics!"

The pleased chuckles from his peers were interrupted when the doors to the manor opened and Twilight Sparkle walked in. Immediately conversation ceased, and all looks were on her and the pony that had walked in behind her. Both were tastefully dressed in dresses that were clearly created to fit by a skilled designer, but that was not enough for Blueblood.

"Sparkle! How dare you intrude into my party?"

Twilight Sparkle smiled, and most guests took a step back. "Why, Blueblood, why wouldn't I be here," she said and levitated an invitation. "When you so kindly invited me?"

"I did what?!" Blueblood snatched the invitation from Twilight's spell and stared at it, casting several spells to check if it was real.

It was.

"Now that that's been cleared," Twilight spoke up, walking past Blueblood, "Where's the bar? I hope you have some real drinks and not only that flavored water you call wine in here."

Blueblood seethed. How dare that mare so casually canter into his home? Uninvited! Well, invited, but not by him! Who would dare invite such a—

"—an atrocious little beast!"

Blueblood blinked. Then looked at the mare that had walked in behind Twilight Sparkle, who seemed to be very, very angry at her majesty's apprentice.

"I can't believe she grew up in the palace with such abominable manners! What's wrong with that mare?"

He shook his head. "I... beg your pardon?"

Rarity jumped. "Oh, my! I'm very sorry your highness, I just never expected Twilight Sparkle to have such... such lack of manners! Such disregard for etiquette! To march suddenly up to our host and treat him, I mean you, like that! Unforgivable!" She took a step towards the bar. "I should have a talk with her and educate her on the nuances of—"

Blueblood immediately stopped her, shaking his head frantically. "Nononono! She is unforgivable, but I do love my manor and would like it to remain standing!"

"Oh," Rarity said a little unnerved. "I apologize once more, your highness."

Blueblood cleared his throat. "Think nothing of it," he scoffed. "I have to admit I am impressed that Twilight Sparkle of all ponies would be able to make... friends... with a mare that clearly knows station and protocol, not to mention proper etiquette." He levitated a cup of wine and offered it to her.

Rarity took the proffered wine and tried not to squee. She cleared her throat and and smiled in thanks. "I wouldn't call myself her friend, exactly..." she confessed. "I merely had the misfortune of meeting her."

"Didn't we all?" Blueblood chuckled.

Rarity took a sniff of the wine and raised it a bit higher, and taking in the colors and swirling it before sniffing it and tasting it.

Blueblood gazed at her expectantly.

"61 Château Latour?"

Blueblood smiled. "Why yes, yes it is! Allow me to introduce you to my very special friends over here..."

Rarity scampered to where Twilight Sparkle sat at the bar next to several empty bottles of different spirits. "Twilight, dear, aren't you having a simply marvelous time?"

Twilight looked over her shoulder at Rarity, who stood shakily on her hooves while nurturing another cup of wine. "Not really, watching you bat your eyelids at Blueblood while he bats his at the stallion with the two bits signs on his flank loses its appeal within the first three blinks."

Rarity frowned. "He is not doing that!"

"If your eyes weren't focused on him for the last three hours, you might have noticed where his were focusing."

"That is simply not—"

She was interrupted by the arrival of Octavia and other band members, who took a seat at the bar.

"Shouldn't you be playing?" Rarity asked tersely.

"His majesty has absconded with Bit Pound, to the backyard, where nopony else is allowed, and just about everypony else is drunk out of their mind,." Octavia replied, nodding with her head at the still half-dancing, half-falling couples on the floor in front of the empty orchestra. "So we decided to take our break, and get some good drinks. This is how it usually works out. Soon enough his bodyguards will come here and escort everypony not with his highness out."

"You've got it all wrong!" Rarity snapped. "I have that stallion wrapped around my hoof! Any minute now he'll call for me an—"

"Alright, everypony!" One of the bodyguards announced, interrupting Rarity's diatribe. "We will be escorting you all out in the next ten minutes! Finish your drinks!"

Octavia muttered a curse and quickly refilled her whiskey glass. "We should hurry."

Twilight Sparkle snorted and levitated several bottles of expensive-looking alcohol. "How about we continue this party at my place? Hmm?" She leaned in towards Octavia and hiccuped, raising her eyebrow invitingly. "I can... I can teach you... y'know, how to be a better element of depravity."

Octavia held Twilight's gaze with her own. "You're drunk, Twilight."

The band members behind her looked at each other worriedly. The drummer leaned in behind Octavia. "Maybe you shouldn't talk to the Twilight Sparkle in that tone," she said hurriedly. "We all value our lives an—"

"Nonesense!" Twilight declared. "Tavi here... she, well, Tavi here she can call me whatever she wants! We're buddies!"

Octavia visibly cringed. Slowly, she opened her eyes and looked from Twilight to the dozen or so bottles hovering above them, before lowering back to Twilight. "Fine. Will Wrex be there?"

Twilight sneered at her. "Only if you want him too... I was thinking you, me... exploring the magic of nonplatonic friendship."

"So Wrex is going," Octavia said hurriedly. "And Brass. She's going too."

"No I'm not!"

"Yesh!" Twilight decided, levitating the drummer. "Yes you are!"

"And Rarity, of course..." Octavia added, surreptitiously grabbing a couple more bottles of single malt.

"I am not going anywhere! I will stay here with Prince Blueblood and—"

"Miss?" A bodyguard put a hoof on Rarity's shoulder. "You'll have to vacate the premises now. His highness has requested all guests leave at this time."

"No!" Rarity fell to her knees, ignoring the band ponies and Twilight walking past her, or Twilight's magic levitating her off the floor and dragging her behind them. "How could he do that to me? We connected! It was there! Clear as day!"

"Face it Rarity," Octavia spoke up as soon as they were out of the mansion and scrunching her nose at Twilight when the drunk mare tried to bite her ear. "Blueblood is not for you. He simply isn't interested in mares."

"But it's not fair!" Rarity wailed.

"That's what he said," Wrex chuckled, hefting a sturdy cloth bag with something, or somepony big struggling inside and making muffled sounds of protest. "I had to bring them both though, they were kind of hard to separate."


Rarity's wail made the windows rattle.

Dear Princess Celestia,

I have secured the loyalty of Rarity for my Elements of Harmony Squad. It's too bad that she had to find out, despite all evidence clearly pointing towards the inevitable truth, that Blueduds was definitely NOT into mares.

Regardless, plenty of wine and tequila shots seem to have done the job, and she has at least stopped wailing. With her promise to join my squad as a full member in exchange for this job done, I am one step closer to creating my perfect team.

I am also very confident that Octavia will be joining us presently, as I have been practicing the magic of friendship on her repeatedly for the last few hours. I have to say, that noise-dimming spell you taught me has come very handy!

I believe Brass might have a crush on Wrex.

Your faithful student,

~Twilight Sparkle

My most faithful student...

I said the magic of platonic friendship. Platonic.

I am still unsure how your cousin Blueblood ended up with Bit Pound inside a pony-sized birdcage in the Zocalo with no recollection of what happened the night before.

Regardless, I am glad one of your... friends... has found a deeper connection to you through your efforts. And I mean Rarity. Although I am sure Miss Philarmonica also has something to you know, Twilight, I think I'll stop writing here.

~~Princess Celestia

Next Chapter: Loyalty Mission 2: Neon Element Pt. 1 Estimated time remaining: 4 Hours, 26 Minutes
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