Commander Twilight Sparkle walked through the streets of Cantelrot beside her escort from the Royal Guard and new friends Stonewall, now in full armor. Between the two of them they carried a passed out purple alicorn Princess of Friendship. “So….did you know she’d do that?” Stonewall asked as they made their way for the castle in the late evening of the day, the sun was just barely still above the horizon.

“Did I know she’d challenge us to a drinking game till she passed out or did I know that after a few sips of Nightfall she would be completely drunk and buy a round for the entire bar?” Twilight asked her guard friend. “The answer to the first one is no, as for the second, partly yes, I hadn’t expected her to buy a round for everyone in the bar with no limit on the price.”

“Well I think she made a few subjects loyal to her today.” Stonewall said and the two of them chuckled.

“Nothing like buying your subjects a free drink to win support, though listening to her drunkenly sing “An Irish Pub Song” was rather entertaining, I didn’t know she had memorized the lyrics.” Twilight said with a chuckle.

“I still have no idea what an Irish Pub is but the song was very lively, think a few of the other bar goers even started dancing, wasn’t sure, to distracted by her.” Stonewall said gesturing his head to the alicorn between the two of them.

“I was most focused on not getting my head taken off by her “Dancing” on the table while she sang.” Twilight said. “When she cuts loose she really cuts loose.”

Stonewall nodded. “So you and her being counterparts from different realities an all does that mean you get like her when drunk?”

Twilight shrugged as best as she could. “I have no idea; I still need to ask the Major what I’m like when actually drunk as I don’t remember anything the next day.”

“Who’s the Major?” Stone wall asked.

“Oh, it’s Chr—“

“You there halt!” An authoritative voice said from a side street and both of them stopped and looked to see a Royal Guard patrol heading for them. When they got close the unicorn in the middle looked the three of them over. “What’s all this then?”

Twilight put on her friendliest smile. “Found the Princess passed out in the library, guess she was studying too much and passed out so me and this helpful guard are taking her back to the castle.” Twilight said gesturing Stonewall to her head.

The patrol leader looked between the two of them. “Is this true?” He asked Stonewall.

“Yes sir.” Stonewall answered without hesitation.

The Guard nodded. “Very well carry on you two.” He said and the patrol headed back down the street while Twilight and Stonewall started walking again.”

Once they were half a block away Stonewall spoke up. “So any particular reason we just lied to some other guards?”

“Do you want to explain that the Princess of Friendship passed out in a bar after starting a brawl with some of the other patrons?” Twilight said looking at her friend over the drunken alicorn.

“Point taken.” He replied and Twilight nodded.

“Thanks for helping distract those guards that showed up while I dragged her out the back.” Twilight said.

Stonewall smiled. “What are friends for?” He said and Twilight nodded in agreement as they continued to carry the Princess back to the castle, thankfully not running into any more patrols.

Having dropped off the Princess in her room to sleep of this evening events Twilight and her escort made their way through the castle not really sure what to do as neither could report to anyone with both of them smelling of drink, Twilight had to admit Stonewall could hold his liquor with the best of them though a small sip of Nightfall had nearly put him on his ass for an hour, much to Twilight amusement. Twilight was still the reigning queen of drinking as she could down multiple shots of Nightfall with very little effect.

The two companions wondered the halls with no real destination in mind so it was a surprise when they found themselves outside the throne room. Carefully peaking in the two of them saw Luna upon the throne attending Night Court, as was expected there were not many ponies present as many still either didn’t know there was a night court or felt that Luna wasn’t enough to handle their problems. Something Twilight had dealt with back home as the EDF primarily dealt with Night Court when they did need to speak to the court outside of standard meetings, it had help spread the word and also gave the people confidence in the night ruler’s ability to handle court matters because if she can make decisions of the EDF and they abide by them then she must know what she is doing.

Currently there were two ponies arguing over land in a dispute on who owned a particular section between their two properties.

“I tells you the land belongs to me!” One of them shouted at the other, their noses actually pressed together, it was clear to the two watcher these were well to do families but not nobility and this wasn’t something stupid like wanting to raise taxes to build a personal pool.

“And my family has owned that land for years!” The other pony shouted back.

“My great granddad bought that land fair and square, it belongs to me!” The first pony shouted.

“He did no such thing as that land has been in my family’s name for generations!” The second pony shouted.

While the two representatives argued Luan was busy looking over a map of the area as well as old deeds and charters. Twilight had to admit that seeing a Princess wearing glasses was always interesting as Luna had a minor issue with her sight so looking over the slightly smaller than normal writing on official documents as well as on maps she needed glasses or else it was all a blur to her. For her glasses the Night Princess had chosen a pair of half rimmed dark blue pair that perched perfectly on her muzzle.

Even with the glasses watching her look over the papers before her while the two representatives argued she looked every bit like a ruler of a nation making a decision that would affect her subjects greatly. After a few minutes she lifted a paper and squinted slightly even with her glasses as the document was old and the words slightly faded. Twilight watched as her lips moved as she read the old document and then her eyes brightened as she smile.

“Excuse me good gentlecolt.”She said formally as she lowered the paper and removed her glasses to look at the two representatives who stopped arguing when she spoke and looked at her.

“Yes Princess?” They said in unison then glared at each other.

“It seems the land in question is neither of yours.” Luna said and the two blinked.

“What in all things green are you saying Princess, the land is mine.” The First reparative said.

“Nonsense, it is mine.” The second said but before they could begin to argue again Luna spoke up.

“Four generations ago some there was an archeological survey done that discovered some artifacts from back when Equestria was first founded to suggest that one of the first towns built after the Unification once stood there and the land has been protected by the crown as a historic site ever since, there for it belongs to nopony.” Luna said.” Before that the land was divided between your two families and both agreed to turn over their share of the land as a protect site so neither of your families have a claim on the land.” Luna said calmly.

The Two representatives blinked. “Well I’ll be if that’s the case then this entire dispute was over nothing.” The First said and turned to the second. “Mighty sorry for the ways I acted towards you.”

The other pony waved his hoof. “Think nothing of it for I acted dreadfully as well.” He said. “It is I who should apologize to you.”

“No, no I should be the one to apologize.” The First said.

“And I say you do not need to for I was horrible to you so I must be the one to apologize.” The second said as they started to move towards the door.

“I insist it was my fault and I am sorry.” The first said.

“There is no need sir!” The other said his voice raised. “I must be the one to apologize.”

“Nonsense it is me who should apologize.” The first said also raising his voice, Twilight rolled her eyes as the two were starting to argue about who was in the wrong and her and Stonewall slipped away from the door before they got spotted and began to walk the castle once more.

Eventually they ended up in the servant’s area and they both could hear the sound of music playing and loud talking coming from one of the storage areas in this section of the castle. The Door was partly open allowing the two to sneak a peek inside.

a few boxes had been pushed together to make a table and both the day and night servants were sat around it with a deck of cards between them while a day servant unicorn sat in a corner playing a fiddle while a night servant played a guitar beside him filling the room with a type of music that had no real name as it was the sound of musicians playing whatever came to mind that sounded good.

The servants seemed to be deep in a card game that had a lot of bits riding on it if the stack in the middle was anything to go by; however they spoke as if the bits were not there.

“So today I got called away to Celestia’s study but she wasn’t there even then I was told she had summoned me and when I returned one of the cakes I had been keeping an eye on was missing.” One servant said and the rest chuckled.

“Sounds like you’ve been had by the Queen of Cakes.” Another servant said and the first shook his head.

“I know, but it’s not like I can really say anything, she is the princess after all.” The first said.

“Eh it’s not like a cake going missing once in a while is that big a deal and it keeps her happy.” Another servant said.

“I know but this is the third cake this week.” The first said.

“That’s not so bad, when I came on shift I found Luna galloping down the halls as if the castle were on fire and when she spotted me she galloped to me with the biggest smile on her face and said. “You servants, we require thy aide, tell us what tis literature called graphic novels we have heard of?” Slipped into old equestrian the whole convocation as I tried to explain what it was when I have no idea much myself as I am not into that sort of thing but she wouldn’t let me leave till I told her everything I know. Apparently she found a guard reading one of the comics that are aimed more towards older ponies they import from out of the county and read it. I think she is going to end up buying every single one she can find.” The Servant said.

“Is it really that surprising? Those came to Equestria while she was away and it makes sense she wouldn’t have learned about them in her normal research in what she has missed.” Another servant said.

“Yeah true, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Royal Library gets an entire section dedicated to those imported comics sometime in the near future.” The one who told the story said and the rest nodded or muttered agreement, Luna had made several changes to the castle life as she found something that interested her that wasn’t around before the time that she was away and she always filled the castle with it.

“Hah!” one of the servants explained and laid his cards out. “Read them and weep lads.” He said and reached for the bits.

“Ah ah!” Another servant said and laid down his cards and the other one found and then grumbled as he sat back and the other pony moved the bits onto his side of the table. “Another hand?” The winner asked and everyone agreed as the cards were reshuffled.

With the new cards being dealt Twilight and Stonewall smelled of the drinks they had earlier so they needed to kill time. As they walked twilight augmented hearing caught the sound of singing coming from a side hall and she waved for Stonewall to follow her and keep quiet. She followed her hearing till she found a side hall where the singing was coming from and they peeked around, Twilight was surprised to see it was Celestia singing as she looked out over the city but what was more surprising was what she was singing.

Open up your eyes now and wait for the darkness
Try to fall asleep fast and pray for the planet
You don’t want to see what’s lurking now inside us
What we’ve all become is just lies and disguises

Twilight blinked as the Solar Princess was singing one of the songs Twilight had played over her first lesson for the Royal Guards. Granted she sung it in her voice how she wanted so it was more of a gentle sounding song but the fact she was singing it was surprising.

When Celestia finished singing she lowered her head. “Such a dreadful song but it’s been stuck in my head all day and seems so fitting for this castle.” She muttered to herself as she looked out over the city and smiled. “I guess it does sound nice overall and defiantly something a mare like her would enjoy.” She sighed again. “I wonder if she realized how much that song fits the games we play in this castle.” Celestia said to herself as she walked up the hall.

Twilight and Stonewall shared a look that said “No one cane know what we just heard or we will both be banished to the moon” and then promptly headed as far away from that hall as they could making sure not to go towards the part of the castle Celestia went to.

As they walked Twilight spoke up. “You know if you ditch the armor we could go out on the town.” She said looking at the polished gold armor her companion wore.

“But I am on duty.” Stonewall said.

“So? You can still escort me, not like you need to be in armor to do that.” Twilight said and Stonewall thought about it.

“I suppose you are right, though if my superiors find out I’m going to get torn a new one.” He said as he removed his helmet and reverted to his actual appearance.

“Eh just say I threated to kick your ass if you didn’t remove it, I’m sure they will by it.” Twilight said waving a hoof.

They stopped long enough for Stonewall to remove his armor and then Twilight stored it in her pocket dimension and they headed for the gate and the city that lay beyond it.

Now out in the city they discovered that they still didn’t really have any plan so they continued their wandering only now it was in the city rather then the castle. As expected for the hour the Canterlot streets were deserted save for the patrolling guards, at least near the castle.

Ending up closer to the outer edge of the city the streets started to have ponies roaming them not dressed like the standard Canterlot flare in that it was stuffy suits and dresses and more along the lines of colorful outfits and hats and Twilight soon figured it out when they neared a street that had a building that seemed to be made of lights and even from this distance the ground shook with the bass that was being pumped out of the building

Looking at each other the two of them Shrugged and headed for the building, neither of them having been in a nightclub before. It wasn’t too hard to get past the bouncer as apparently Twilight’s uniform looked close enough to standard club attire not to be denied and since Stonewall was with her he was allowed in as well, guess being the only EDF soldier in Equestria had a few perks in that no one recognized your uniform as a type of uniform.

Passing through a small entry way that was much like an air lick do to the heavy doors to help contain the music the two ponies were assaulted with a heavy techno beat when they opened the inner door and Twilight was glad for her augmented hearing as it automatically dampened the sound down to a bearable level while Stonewall had to cover his ears with his hooves.

Inside the club was a mass of activity as most of the building was a dance floor with flashing strop lights, colored light that were contently on the move swinging from their tracks above the dancefloor as well as a screen before the DJ booth with a visualizer of yellow bars jumping with the music.

One entire wall to the side of the dance floor was dedicated to a bar and a few small tables before it while there were two sets of stares on either side of the DG booth that lead to a balcony that wrapped around three walls of the building and there was another area roped off with a large pony before the only way in acting as bouncer for what Twilight figure was a VIP section.

Making their way around the edge of the dance floor to the bar the two ponies look a seat on the stood there and a bartender dressed in a dark blue vest and bright green cap walked over from the other end of the bar.

“What would you like?” He yelled over the music. Not knowing what this place had as a selection they both just answered whatever he’d give them and he nodded before vanishing to make their drinks. Twilight turned around and face the dance floor and looked over the crowd of moving bodies, the place was pack and the ponies all wore an assortment of bright colors with not real thought put to making anything match, Rarity would have heart attack if she saw it. Twilight did notice an odd stallion in the crowd in that he wasn’t dressed like the rest in his white and red stripped sweater with matching beanie and think black rimmed glasses. He was standing off to one side of the dancefloor in the largest group of ponies there was.

“Here you go!” The Bartender yelled as he set two colorful drinks on the bar behind the two ponies and they turned back to face the bar. Both the drinks were in tall thin glasses and were dark blue in color, Twilight had no idea what it was or why there was a tiny umbrella in it. The two friends looked at each other and shrugged before they both sipped the drink. It was defiantly alcoholic though tasted more of fruit then anything and was sweet.

Either way it was an alright drink and the two sat there and drank the fruity drink as the club music blasted away behind them, Stonewall seemed to be getting used to it as he didn’t look to be in so much pain. “How is it this didn’t bother you when we walked in here?” He said over the music.

She taped her ears. “Augmented hearing, it dampens loud noises as soon as I hear them so I don’t go deaf.” She said.

“How much of you is still pony?” He said.

Twilight shrugged. “Maybe 50%, give or take, I still have all my internal organs and only part of my brain isn’t organic.” She said and he just looked at her. “What? War is hell!”

He shrugged and they lapsed into silence and just enjoyed their drinks and listen to the music, granted drinking more wasn’t solving the issue of losing the smell of alcohol but hey what else do you drink at a bar?

The silence, what there was of it was broken by a stallion walking up beside where Twilight sat. “Hey there good looking, why don’t you ditch the boring stallion and come join me and my friends on the dance floor?” The stallion asked and Twilight looked at him, his breath alone told her he defiantly had way too much to drink and it had given him over confidence.

“Sorry, not interested.” She said simply and looked back at her drink, though she was flattered someone was hitting on her as most didn’t do to her being the leader of an entire army and her cybernetics scared most people off a drunken stallion and his friends was not even close to what she was looking for in a good time.

“Come on don’t be like that, I can guarantee it will be worth your while.” He said and Twilight bristled when he laid his hoof on her flank and she turned and looked at him.

“As I said, not interested.” She said and shoved his hoof off her ass.

“Look buddy she said no, take the hint.” Stonewall said leaning back in his stool to look past Twilight.

The Stallion scowled at him. “No one asked you, me and the mare are talking so keep your nose out of it.” The stallion said.

“Look she’s a friend of mine and she said she wasn’t interested so back off.’ Stonewall said and Twilight sighed.

“Look” Twilight said looking at the stallion. “I’m flatter you took the time to walk all the way over here and talk to me and all, but facts are facts, I am not interested.” She said.

“Come on babe.” He said and placed his hand back on her flank right here her cutie mark used to be.

“Get your hoof off my ass before I remove it for you.” She said harshly and the Stallion just looked at her keeping his hoof firmly rooted.

“Come on’ She said trying his best smile as he ran his hand down her flank and felt the scar tissue and blinked as he actually looked where his hoof was. “What the—“IT was as far as he got before Twilight forehead collided with his muzzle in a head-butt and he went stumbling back grabbing his nose. “You bitch!” He yelled. “You broke my nose!”

“I fucking warned you!” She yelled back glaring at him and she saw several other ponies move off the dance floor headed for them, most likely the friends the stallion mentioned.

“What’s the big idea head butting out friend, all he wanted was to offer you some fun as you looked board.” One of the stallion’s friends said as they moved to surround the two friends blocking all escape routes. “You owe him an apology!”

“Like hell I do, if anyone should get an apology its me.” Twilight said.

“Now now, I think we’ve all just had a bit too much to drink.” Stonewall said trying to defuse the situation. “I’m sure my friend is sorry, why don’t you guys just head back onto the dance floor and have fun?”

“Not till that bitch apologizes.” The stallion Twilight head-butted said walking up tot eh group holding napkins to his bleeding nose.

“And I said fuck you on apologizing.” Twilight said. The Group moved in on the two trapped ponies and Twilight looked at Stonewall. “Get ready.”

“What are you—“Before he could finish Twilight spoke loudly.

“You know when you are in training they teach you two very important things, one is how to survive the field, and two.” She grabbed her empty glass. “Never watch the glass.” She threw it into the air and as expected the ponies looked up at it and Twilight grabbed Stonewalls glass and smashed it into the side of the head of the closest stallion staggering him and then the brawl was on.

The next nearest pony lunged for Twilight and she dodged to the side while two jumped at Stonewall who met them and used his earth pony strength to power them back. While Twilight was a skilled fighter in hand to hand combat, a fight against a trained opponent is far different then fighting an untrained opponent that is drunk as they do some of the most random things in a fight and it makes them unpredictable. Which was why Twilight found a glass smashing against the side of her head having been thrown by one of the ponies she was fighting but she dint stager as she had been hit harder, still it hurt like hell and did slow her by half a second allowing a stallion to tackle her.

Stonewall was doing as well as Twilight was as he fought two of the drunken ponies at once and was trying to keep from being caught in-between them as they tried to surround him. When one got behind him he bucked the pony in the chest and sent him sliding back but it left him unbalanced to defend himself till his rear legs came back down which allowed the other pony to smash a chair across his back.

The DJs were up in their booth and saw the brawl when it started and how it didn’t last just a few seconds. The two ponies looked at each other in their jumpsuits and helps that covered their entire face and made them kind of look like robots, especially with the lights in the front of their helmet playing images across the front of their faces at random. Without a word the two ponies nodded and hit their controls and the music in the club changed to one far more appropriate for a BRAWL.

Twilight pressed her rear legs against the stallion onto of her and shoved as hard as she could and easily shoved him off of herself before rolling to her hooves just in time to grab the other ponies strike and lift him up and over herself to slam him down on the bar. With a loud yell she started to run along the bar, dragging the stallion across the bar top with her and casing other ponies who had been sitting at the bar to leap out of the way as their drinks were destroyed by the pony’s head.

Stonewall recovered from the chair strike and jumped to the side at his open came at him again with what remained of the chair and instead went tumbling over the railing that separated the bar from the dance floor. This left the third pony who hadn’t joined the fight yet, this one a unicorn mare, to grab a bar stool in her magic and hurl it at Stonewall who managed to duck it, and it crashed into another stallion at the end of the bar who turned and glared back a the mare who winced as the stallion grabbed another chair and came at her.

With the one friend now dealing with an enraged stallion that hadn’t been part of the fight at first it gave Stonewall a moment to recover before the stallion her had bucked came at him with a bottle swiped from another table.

Twilight reached the end of the bar with her passenger and let him go so he could go sailing off the end of the bar and to the floor at the foot of the stair to the second floor. She turned around just in time to take a hoof to the face that staggered her but she recovered fast enough to duck the next blow which caused her drunk open to stumbled into another pony and cause him to spill his drink all over himself.

“Why you!” The now drink cover pony yelled as he turned around and deliver a hoof to the stumbled pony’s face.

The two DJs safe up in their booth bobbed their head to the music as they watched the small brawl slowly grow as more and more ponies got drawn into the fight as it soon enveloped the entire club and the entire time they kept the music pounding as they enjoyed the show they were getting.

Twilight found herself back to back with another mare as they fought off four other ponies who were ganging up on them. As Twilight ducked and grabbed a stallions thrown punch she flipped him over her shoulder and the mare behind her bucked him into the bar and Twilight grabbed a glass and hurled it at the face of a stallion about to land a blow from her blind spot and the mare nodded in thanks before turning to face her remaining opponent as did Twilight.

Stonewall on the bar and using the height advent to buck ponies in the face and sent them staggering back thinking how this day started out to peacefully before having to jump to avoid a pony’s attempt to swipe his legs out from under him. And he felt it was time to abandon his post as he leapt forward and used the ponies in front of the bars heads as stepping stones till he reached a clear area on the dancefloor.

Twilight and the other mare found themselves back into a corner by half a dozen stallions and mares and were using chairs to keep them at bay as best as they could though a pony leapt from the second floor balcony and landed on Twilight’s back, while it didn’t bring her down do to her cybernetics it did stagger her at the sudden shift in weight and she dropped her chair and she stumbled into the group of ponies in front of her, luckily the pony on her back made a great shield and battering ram and knocked back several of the ponies which gave her impromptu ally some breathing room as she smashed the chair into the side of one of the other ponies.

Stonewall threw off a pony who had jumped on his back and tried to get a leg around the stallion’s neck. Instead he sailed through the said and crashed into two other ponies. Stonewall only had a moment to look around before another pony was lunging at him, only for a talon to dart out and grab the pony by the neck and another to collide with his face before tossing the pony away. Stonewall looked and saw a griffin of all things in the middle of the brawl on the dance floor as who nodded to Stonewall before point behind him. Stone wall looked as saw a pony using one of the small tables as a battering ran to bulldoze through the crowd; both Stonewall and the Griffin jumped to the side and allowed the pony to run by. Stone wall nodded in thanks and he and his new ally waded back into the fray.

Twilight managed to fight her way back to the mare she had been working with just in time to pull another mare off of her and deliver another head-butt before helping her ally to her hooves and they took up positions to watch each other’s backs as ponies came at them from all sides.

The two DJs sat back in their booths, heads still bobbing to the beat as they watched the show down on the main floor of the club and the balcony above. There wasn’t a single area in the club that was calm save the DJ booth as even the VIP area was in chaos. The DJs spotted a few of the bouncers down on the floor either trying to restore order or simply having been drawn into the brawl like everyone else, they didn’t know. All that mattered was that they kept the music flowing.

Stonewall and his griffin ally delivered simultaneously punches to a stallion they were both holding as he had tried to get the drop on them and the combined force sent the pony sailing back over the bar, smashing many of the bottle of alcohol stored on the shelves. With that threat dealt with the two turned to the next nearest pony, at this point about half the combatants lay unconscious on the floor of the club turned gladiator arena.

Twilight and the other mare jumped on the backs of two other mares who were using their magic to keep their opponents at bay, completely ruining the entire brawl and in unison both mares brought a bottle down on the top of the head of their temporary mounts and both the unicorn mares dropped having been knocked out at the same time. The two allies scrambled to their hooves and looked for their next opponents.

The DJs who were enjoying the show saw the front door of the club burst open and a surge of gold armor sweep onto the main floor of the club and when the brawl didn’t stop when they yelled the golden river surged forward and slammed into the sea of chaos to bring order back to the club and the two DJs knew that the show would be over shortly.

Twilight and her ally found themselves next to Stonewall and his griffin ally, the mare almost attacked them till Twilight shouted that they were friends and then it was the four of them versus everyone else, luckily everyone else was also interested in fighting each other as well so only a few ponies came at the group of three ponies and one griffin.

And then the Royal Guard slammed into the mass of ponies and their group was larger than any other group and their armor protected them from the few ponies that took a swing at them and they were quickly brought down.

“Ok time to go.” Twilight shouted over the blaring music and yelled and crashed from the fight. “Out the back!” She yelled and bolted for the door behind the bar her compatriots right behind her as she leapt over the bar and galloped into the kitchen, there the group of fleeing ponied and one griffin found the bartender and a few club goers, including the pony in the red and white striped sweater and beanie with the glasses avoiding the brawl on the main floor. “Nice club I’m going to recommend it to some friends of mine!” Twilight yelled at the bartender as she galloped by heading for the back door.

She burst through the back door into the alley behind the bar and as soon as her group was through she slammed the door and pulled a dumpster in front of it to block any guards that may be perusing them. “This way.” She said heading further up the alley rather than to the street where guards would most likely see them. The group trotted to the far end of the ally where Twilight stopped them and peeked around the corner, there were a few ponies on the street but no sigh of gold among them so the group ventured out and started to walk more leisurely away from the club.

“Holy shit was that a real blast!” Twilight said with a large smile on her face. “I haven’t had a good brawl in a while.”

“You have an interesting definition of the word “fun”” Stonewall said favoring one of his legs as a pony got a lucky hit in with a chair leg on it, he was sure it wasn’t broken just severely bruised but still hurt a lot.

“I did not know ponies even knew how to brawl, I thought you were all peaceful creatures who didn’t believe in violence.” The griffin said as they walked.

“Oh you’d be surprised what we ponies do.” The mare said with a laugh before holding out a hoof to Twilight as she walked beside her. “Name’s Bright Meadow.” She said with a smile and Twilight shook the earth pony’s hoof as they walked.

“Twilight sparkle, though it would be easier if you called me Commander Sparkle or simply Commander.” She said as she good her first good look at the mare she had fought alongside. The mare was an earth pony, a few inches shorter then Twilight with a compact frame with a dark pink coat and lightish red mane. While she didn’t look strong Twilight had seen her fight and knew though her frame was compact it hide a good amount of muscle.

“I’m Glendale von Greywing.” The Griffin said with a nod of his head.

“And I’m Stonewall.” Stonewall said with a sigh. “Didn’t expect anyone to give us a hoof during that fight.”

“Safety in numbers.” Greywing replied with a shrug. “You knew what you were doing and where just drunkenly swinging so you’d make a comrade in that fight.” He said looking at Stonewall.

“Well thanks, I hadn’t had too much to drink is why.” He replied with a chuckle.

“Eh, me it was just cause you didn’t take a swing at me.” Meadow said with a shrug. “Figured ‘hey this mare ain’t coming at me so that’s good.’ And well we just kind of stuck together.”

Twilight nodded. “Well either way thank you two for the help, hadn’t gone in there planning to start a brawl but can’t say it wasn’t a real blast.” She said with a smile, she was a bit annoyed her uniform was ruined, she had managed to stash her cap and sunglasses in her pocket dimension early on but the uniform wasn’t able to be stored so now it had splatters of blood on it, spilled drinks and her left sleeve was torn and one of the pockets was ripped nearly off, in short Rarity was going to kill her if she found out.

“So now what? We spell even more like alcohol then we did before.” Stonewall said. “And trying to explain it to my C.O. is not going to be fun.”

“C.O.?” Meadow asked looking over her shoulder at Stonewall.

He nodded. “Yeah I’m a member of the Royal Guard. Relax. “He said when she saw the mare’s eyes go wide. “Though I am on duty my job is keeping her. “He gestured his head at Twilight with his head. “out of trouble.”

The mare looked between him and Twilight several times. “I think you need to rework you strategy” She said and Twilight burst out laughing.

“Oh no he is doing fine, it’s just I seem to have a talent for finding trouble.” She said with a chuckle and patted the guard’s shoulder.

“Yes well be that as it may I do believe that what happened at the club would count as a lot of trouble.” Greywing said and Twilight took a look at him. He was bigger than she was, no surprise being a griffin, with dark grey feathers on his head and neck as well as around his legs while the rest of his body was covered in dark brown feathers whose tips were grey as well. He had a decent build was he clearly wasn’t part of the Griffin military.

“And that’s why we ran, as long as no one knows we were there then we can’t get in trouble.” Twilight said and then scratched her chin. “Though need to come up with a story to explain our injuries and my ripped clothes.” She said thinking a moment. “Ah I’ll think of something.” She said waving a hoof to the side. “So Greywing what brings you to Canterlot?”

“I am a Merchant, I was hoping to expand into Equestria and was seeking permission from the Princess but it seems there is a long waiting list.” He said shaking his head. “I have been here a week and I may need to return home as every day I am not selling my wares is a day I do not make a profit and I have been using up my savings just to pay for my hotel and food mostly.”

“You ever think about the Night Court?” Twilight asked.

“Night Court?” The Griffin asked confirming what Twilight had thought; very few actually knew Luna ran her own Court at night doing the same as Celestia did during the day.

“Yes, Princess Luna runs Court at Night and there are few petitioners and those seeking her counsel.” Twilight said. “It would probably be easier to get in to see her.”

Greywing nodded. “Well yes that would have been nice to have known about however I believe tonight will not do and I do not believe I can wait till tomorrow night as I only have enough bits to pay for my trip grab to the Griffin Kingdoms and a little to live off of till business picks up again.”

Twilight thought about it that was a problem as there was no guarantee that he could get into tomorrow’s Night Court. She then had an idea. “Well there may be someone you can see tomorrow that should be able to help.” Twilight said looking back at the merchant. “Where are you staying?”

“The Sol Diarchy near the Canterlot Market District as I planned to sell my wares there if I was allowed to and could stay at the hotel.” Greywing said.

Twilight nodded. “Alright, if I am able to pull off what I am planning I’ll come find you there tomorrow; if not then the least I can do is come see you off.” She said with a nod and the griffin nodded in thanks. “You know all things considered I think today has been a rather good day.” She said looking back forward a smile on her face, though she got chewed out she ended up making some new friends because of it and got to have a lot of fun. She knew tomorrow her and Stonewall would need to try and explain their injuries in a way that made it clear they weren’t involved in the brawl and also she would need to talk the Princess into meeting with Greywing about him selling his wares in Equestria as well as make plans for dealing with the Purifiers based on the intel the spy gave them, all while Celestia would probably still be mad at her so she’d have to avoid her so she doesn’t have a panic attack.

Tomorrow was going to be a busy day.

Author's Notes:

Well Commander Sparkle had a fun time tonight and made some new friends.