Chapter 64

“How much further is it, Twily?”

Twilight looked up from her phone, scanning the scenery through the windshield from the back seat of her brother’s car. She watched as the trees passed by on both sides of the road, trying to recognise where exactly they were.

“Umm…” she replied, then she saw the familiar curve in the road that she always used as a memory hook when she was headed out to Fluttershy’s house. “Oh! It’s just a few more minutes from here. The driveway is on the left, but it’s fairly well hidden, so I’ll let you know where to turn.”

“OK,” her older brother, Shining Armor, said from the driver’s seat.

Twilight’s sister-in-law, Cadance, who was also the Dean at Twilight’s former high school, turned around in the passenger front seat to face the lavender-skinned girl. “So your friends have this gathering every single Saturday?”

Twilight nodded. “Yeah,” she replied with a smile, “although not everyone makes it every time. Like me.”

“Well, Thanksgiving weekend is a great time to go,” Cadance said with a smile. “You’ve been so busy with school since August, it’ll do you good to spend time with your CHS friends again.”

Twilight smiled. “Yeah, it’s been a while. Thanks for driving me out here, by the way. I know it’s a long way,” she said, reaching up to adjust her glasses. As always, she just ended up fumbling around with her fingers when she couldn’t find them, forgetting yet again that she'd gotten perfect 20/20 vision after becoming one of the immortals.

“Anytime, Twily,” Shining Armor said, smiling in the rearview mirror at her.

It was Saturday, October 8th, Thanksgiving weekend. Being that it was the first holiday of the school year, Twilight had decided to come back to Canterlot to visit her friends to see how they were all handling the loss of Fluttershy, and to find out if there was any news of her rescue yet.

In a text conversation with AJ, she learned that the group had decided to have the Saturday dinner at Fluttershy’s house to keep the memory of their friend strong, and to bolster their hope for her return.

Twilight was excited to see her friends again, but also a bit apprehensive. Would the atmosphere there be bad with the shy girl missing? Did the others know that Twilight had become an immortal yet? The only person there who knew about Twilight’s change was Rarity, who was also the only other immortal in town at the moment.

As they pulled into Fluttershy’s driveway, Twilight looked around the yard to see who was there. She saw Pinkie’s car, as well as AJ’s old Ford pickup, and Fluttershy’s little SUV parked in the middle, unable to be moved since the keys had been taken along with the shy girl.

She didn’t see Rarity’s car anywhere. “Maybe she’s on the way. It IS only 2pm,” Twilight thought.

“OK, here you are, Twily,” Shining Armor said, turning around in his seat to look at her after putting the car in park.

“Thanks again for the ride,” Twilight replied with a smile as she opened the car door to get out. When she placed her foot on the ground, she stopped for a moment, smelling the distinctive aroma of burning wood, which prompted her to lean back into the car. “Hey, do you guys want to join us for a while? It smells like they’ve got a fire going.”

Shining Armor and Cadance looked at each other for a moment. They were somewhat caught off guard by the offer, but after a short moment they both looked at her again with smiles on their faces.

“Sure!” Cadance replied. “It’ll be nice to see those girls again. It’s been a few years since I’ve seen them, aside from Sunset Shimmer. I remember all of them being such cute little sweethearts.”

Shining Armor shut his car off and he and Cadance got out, following Twilight around the right side of the house to the backyard, where there was a fire pit which had been dug by her boyfriend the first week he stayed at the house with her.

As they rounded the corner to the backyard, the smell of smoke got stronger, and they could hear the murmur of the girls’ voices as they chatted back and forth together. Twilight and her family rounded the rear corner of the house to find the campfire burning brightly in the middle of the yard as three of the girls sat in lawn chairs, facing the trees, watching the orange flames slowly consume the logs piled up in the pit.

The girls were sitting with their backs to the house, as well as the new arrivals as they approached, leaving Dash, Pinkie and AJ unaware that anyone was behind them.

“I just don’t see what the big deal is?” Pinkie Pie was saying from her seat on the left, shaking her head.

Dash, who was sitting in the middle, put her hand up as she replied to the pink girl. “Look, Pinkie Pie…now, I like chillaxing on the shitter as much as the next gal, but it’s something that I kind of like to do…you know…alone.”

Pinkie shook her head again in response.

AJ, who was on the right, holding a bottle of some kind of fizzy apple drink in her right hand, spoke next. “I just don’t think it’s a concept that’s gonna catch on for most folks,” she said, using the top of the bottle to tip her hat up a bit before taking a sip.

Twilight cringed a bit as she looked back at her sibling and his wife, who were looking back at her with stunned looks on their faces, unsure if they were hearing the conversation correctly.

“Aww,” Pinkie whined, hanging her head in defeat. “I just love spending time with you guys so much. I was just trying to find a way to spend even more time together.”

“And there’s nothing wrong with that, sugarcube,” AJ replied, tipping the bottle back for another swig before continuing. “I’ll tell you what, the next time you’re having a dump, and you feel lonely, shoot me a text! I would have no problem with that, whatsoever.”

“Aw, it’s just not the same.” Pinke sunk down into her chair. “I just thought it would be nice to be together, chat and…maybe have snacks.”

“WWWWWHAT?” Dash screeched in disgust as AJ suddenly yanked the bottle from her lips and sprayed the drink into the fire from her mouth, resulting in a quiet hiss as the beverage evaporated on the hot coals.

“SNACKS???” AJ hollered, quickly wiping her chin with the back of her hand. “ARE YOU OUTTA YER FUCKIN MIND??”

Twilight, hoping to prevent her family from seeing anymore of the conversation, put her hand to her mouth and loudly cleared her throat to get the girls’ attention. All three of them turned and looked blankly at the three newcomers, then their eyes lit up after a second when they realised who was there.

“Twilight!” they all shouted together, standing up and walking around their chairs to greet them, all chattering at once so nothing could be understood.

“It’s good to see you too, guys,” Twilight said sheepishly, rubbing the back of her neck.

“You look awesome without your glasses, Twilight!” Dash complimented, reaching out to adjust Twilight’s bangs for her. “You look just like the-“ she stopped herself, wondering if it was appropriate to talk about Twilight’s princess counterpart in front of her family. “Uh…” she trailed off, then cleared her throat.

“Um…” Twilight shifted the conversation. “You’ve met my brother, Shining Armor?” she asked, motioning to her tall, white skinned brother, who had a shaggy head of multi-toned blue hair.

The girls nodded. AJ reached her hand out to shake his, giving him a good squeeze, causing him to wince a bit. “Howdy!” she greeted casually.

“And you remember Cadance?” Twilight continued, gesturing to the pink skinned woman with the long flowing hair, coloured in purple, pink and yellow hues.

“Oh yeah! Dean Cadance!” Pinkie squealed, suddenly wrapping her arms around Twilight’s sister-in-law.

“Hi…uh, Pinkie Pie, is it?” Cadance replied, chuckling nervously.

“Uh-huh!” Pinkie giggled as she squeezed Cadance even tighter.

“Is it OK if they hang out with us for a bit?” Twilight asked.

AJ headed to the back of the house where there were more chairs stacked up out of the way. “Of course they can! What kinda folks would we be if we said no?” she said, grabbing a few chairs to set the around the fire. “The more the merrier!”

They sat down around the fire, feeling the mild awkwardness that usually accompanies people who haven’t seen each other for a while, who have unexpectedly been thrown into a social situation together.

Cadance was rubbing her hands together as she looked around the yard. “This is a beautiful place, which one of you lives here?”

“Oh…uh, this is Fluttershy’s house,” Dash answered, forcing a smile.

Cadance tilted her head. “Oh, right! She’s the one who loves animals. It only makes sense that she would buy a place out here,” she said, putting her fingertips to her chest. “My gosh, she is such a sweetheart.”

AJ nodded. “Yeah.”

“Where is she?” Cadance asked, looking at the house. “In the house?”

There was a silence around the fire as she girls stared at the ground, looking somewhat despondent, making Cadance wonder if she’d said something wrong.

Twilight, not wanting to be the bearer of bad news, took a breath and turned to her sister-in-law. “Um, she’s…missing.”

The unexpected words were like the sound of shattering glass to Cadance and Shining Armor, sending pangs of shock through their chests.

“You’re kidding?” Cadance gasped, covering her mouth.

“No. I wish, but no,” Dash said quietly, worriedly rubbing the back of her neck. “She’s been gone for two weeks now.”

“Oh man,” Shining Armor said with concern. “The police are looking for her, I assume?”

“Well, actually…no,” Dash explained. “Golds went to look for her.”

Both Shining Armor and Cadance’s faces went blank.

“He’s Fluttershy’s boyfriend,” AJ finished.

“Oh...” Cadance replied. “Is he an investigator or…?”

“Um, not exactly,” Dash said slowly.

“O…K?” Cadance replied, cocking an eyebrow.

Pinkie interjected. “If real life was the movie ‘Taken’, Golds would be Liam Neeson.”

Dash nodded in agreement. “Yeah, only a hundred times more badass.”

Shining Armor’s eyebrows went up. “Wow, than Liam Neeson??”

Cadance shook her head, trying to wrap her mind around the situation. “So…but, I don’t understand why you guys wouldn’t have called the police?”

“Cuz we know Fluttershy is outta the country,” AJ replied, “and the police can’t help her anyway. Golds can.”

Shining Armor and Cadance looked at each other, unsure of what to think.

“Well, I hope she’s OK,” Cadance said with a reassuring smile. “I’m sure it’ll all work out in the end. You just have to stay positive.”

The girls all nodded in agreement.

“We know she’ll be fine,” Dash said. “It’s just finding her and bringing her home that’s the problem.”

The group sat for a moment, unsure of what to talk about next. Twilight, feeling like a moderator between her friends and her family, decided to break the silence.

“So…is Rarity on her way out, or…?”

AJ nodded. “Should be around any minute.”

“So Twilight,” Dash started saying as a smirk spread across her face. “Looks like you’re on cooking duty tonight.”

Twilight’s eyebrows went up. “Me? Why?”

AJ chuckled. “Heh heh, we’re roasting hot dogs n’ smores n’ marshmallows n’ shit, and no one does it better than you, cuz you can do it without poking holes in them.”

Twilight rolled her eyes. “Fine,” she said flatly at first, then she followed it up with a giggle at AJ’s enthusiasm.

They brought the food out and let Twilight work her magic.

Literally.

She sat in her chair, holding her hand out as she controlled a ring of half a dozen marshmallows that were circling above the fire, roasting to perfection without any holes jammed through them.

AJ had to yell at Pinkie periodically, who kept leaning over the fire, trying to catch a marshmallow in her mouth as they flew by, making chomping noises every time she bit down. The others, including Twilight’s brother and sister-in-law were laughing at her antics as Twilight passed some of the other perfectly toasted treats out to those who wanted them; through the air, of course.

Roughly half an hour later, everyone heard a loud rumble growing in the front yard. It was the unmistakable sound of a heavy, chattering diesel engine that got louder as it approached the house and stopped, idling for another moment before shutting down with a squawk.

“Isn’t that Golds’ truck?” AJ asked.

“It’s probably Rarity,” Pinkie answered with her mouth full of marshmallow. Her eyebrows suddenly perked up as she raised her index finger. “Oh! And DO NOT ride with her in that thing. She is craaazyyyy!”

They watched the side of the house for someone to appear from around the corner, and sure enough, the fashionista herself trotted proudly into the backyard as if she was a movie star on the red carpet at the Oscars.

“Hello darlings!” Rarity greeted before noticing their new guests. She let out an excited gasp, clasping her hands together. “Well, if it isn’t the lovely Dean Cadance! How are you, darling?” she gushed, reaching down to give the Dean a one-armed hug around the shoulders.

Cadance recoiled slightly as Rarity’s cheek affectionately pressed against her temple, the odd combination of vanilla and diesel exhaust filling her senses as it wafted from the smooth indigo hair. “Oh, just Cadance is fine,” she said, turning her head to see the other girls giggling at the situation.

As Rarity joined the party, Twilight started floating some hot dogs over the fire to cook them while Dash and AJ got the buns and condiments ready on a little patio table by the house. They conversed with Cadance and Shining Armor about the Friendship Games and the two high schools. As it turned out, Cadance had heard all about the school shooting at CHS, but was unaware that Fluttershy was the one who thwarted it. The girls decided not to bring it up, figuring that they'd already told enough strange stories about the shy girl that afternoon.

“So, how is Sunset Shimmer doing in Canterlot now that she’s done school?” Cadance asked.

“She’s pretty good,” Dash answered. “She got an apartment like two blocks from mine, which is awesome cuz she comes over all the time to play video games and watch movies.”

“She’s got a degree in Forensic Science, right?” Shining Armor asked.

The girls nodded.

He rubbed his chin. “Does she have a job yet?”

“Nah,” Dash answered. “She’s been having a tough time finding an opening.”

Cadance tilted her head a bit. “Oh, that’s too bad.”

Shining Armor reached out to touch Cadance’s arm. “Hold on, once I get the papers for the office, I might be looking for someone.”

AJ raised an eyebrow. “What kind of office?”

“I just wrote by bar exam,” he replied. “I passed, and I rented some office space to open my own firm. Once I have all the permits and all that, I’ll be good to go.”

“Wow,” AJ exclaimed. “You’re a lawyer? Good for you, partner.”

“Yeah, that’s awesome, man!” Dash agreed.

“Heh…thanks,” he said humbly, rubbing the back of his neck. “But anyway, I might have a use for someone like Sunset to do some occasional digging for me.” He dipped his head a bit and spoke a little quieter. “She still has the, uh…you know…mind thing, right?”

The girls gave a confirming nod as Twilight smiled at her brother. “You would hire Sunset Shimmer? That’s so great of you.”

“Well,” he shrugged, “it would only be part time, like a once in a while kind of thing. Just when I need her, but at least she’ll get some experience, and she would be perfect for the job, what with her, uh… ’abilities’ and all.”

AJ nodded, then adjusted her hat. “She sure would. Sunset’s a smart cookie,” she said. “That’s great that you’d take her on. We’ll be sure to let her know as soon as she gets back.”

Shining Armor and Cadance both looked confused.

“Gets back? Is she not going to be here tonight?” Cadance asked.

Dash shook her head. “Nah, she went with Golds to go find Fluttershy, for the same reason you want to hire her. We don’t know when they’ll be back.”

“Oh…” Cadance said in surprise, looking at Shining Armor as he returned the same look back to her.

Rarity, mistakenly believing that Twilight’s family was unaware of the situation with Fluttershy, decided to change the subject to ease the uneasiness brought on by the mention of their missing friend.

“Ooh!” she squealed, “You won’t believe who I saw the other night!”

“Who’s that?” AJ replied.

“Do you remember Lyra and Bonbon?” Rarity asked, to which the others nodded after a moment of thought. “Well, I saw them at the bar downtown Wednesday night. They’re both still looking quite lovely, I must say. Good on them!”

“Hm,” AJ nodded idly as she stared at the fire.

“And,” Rarity continued, “I happened to overhear that they are both married and have some very lovely children.”

This obviously hooked the attention of Dash and AJ, who both had their eyes open wide as they looked at Rarity for a moment, then at each other. Dash suddenly groaned and squeezed her eyes shut, covering her face with both hands as AJ let out a victorious chuckle.

“HA! Pay up, Rainbow Dash! You lose!” AJ gloated.

“No way!” Dash squealed. “The bet’s been off for years!”

AJ scowled and shook her head. “What? Since when?”

“Oh, I don’t know, since we made that bet like, eight years ago?” Dash shrugged.

“That don’t mean shit!” AJ argued. “A bet’s a bet.”

Dash rolled her eyes, then slouched down in her chair in defeat. “Fine,” she groaned. “I don’t have any cash here though. I'll give it to you later.”

“Twenty bucks!” AJ shouted, pointing her finger at Dash.

“Yes AJ,” Dash sighed.

The farm girl stood up and patted Dash on the shoulder. “No hard feelin’s, sugarcube. You want another hot dog?”

“Uh…” Dash thought, patting her stomach. “Nah. I’m good. Thanks.”

Some time went by, and the group enjoyed the fire, the marshmallows and hot dogs -- which were all perfectly roasted by Twilight -- and of course, each other’s company. It felt good to bring a sense of togetherness back to the shy girl’s empty house, and it gave them all a fresh hope that she would be returned to her home very soon.

The sun was starting to set, and Shining Armor and Cadance had to head back home before it got too late. They thanked the girls for the food and the good time, as well as leaving their best wishes for their missing friend to be returned home safely.

After they left, the remaining girls sat around the fire. It was quieter now without their guests present; they had been putting on a cheerful front with Twilight’s family there, but in reality they were more worried about their friend than ever, wherever she might have been at that moment.

Just as the sun disappeared behind the trees, Twilight had gotten up from her seat to look at a picture on Pinkie’s phone that everyone had gathered around to see. As she stepped forward in the dark, she clumsily tripped on a piece of wood that was sitting next to the fire and fell forward, landing with her hand right in a pile of glowing red embers at the edge of the fire.

The others looked up from the phone when they heard her fall, which was followed by a spray of sparks that flew up into the air when her hand stirred up the coals.

“TWILIGHT!” they shouted in unison, except for Rarity, who’s eyes went wide, realizing the blunder could expose the lavender girl’s immortality, which Twilight still wished to keep a secret.

“Oh dear…” Rarity thought to herself as she quickly walked towards Twilight to help her up. “Oh my goodness, darling! Are you OK?”

Twilight nodded, putting her hand under her other arm to hide it, smearing dark ashes on her light blue golf shirt in the process.

“Let’s go inside, quickly!” Rarity said, putting on a show as the others stood and watched with concern. “I know where Fluttershy keeps all of her creams on ointments for just such a thing.”

Inside, they discussed what they should do, eventually deciding to wrap her hand up and leave for town after telling the others that they were going to a walk-in clinic. They returned to the backyard briefly to tell the other three girls what they were doing, to which they all voiced their disappointment. After all, it was the first time they got to see Twilight in two months, and now she had to leave again.

“You want us to come with?” Dash offered.

“No no, Rainbow Dash,” Rarity replied. “There’s no sense in all of you sitting in a boring waiting room. I’ll take her. It’s not like I’ll get tired anyway.”

“You sure?” AJ confirmed.

“Absolutely. You ladies stay here and put some laughter in this place,” Rarity said, giving her hair a flip.

“Aye-aye, Captain!” Pinkie saluted with a giggle. “Were gonna go inside in a bit and play some games, maybe watch a movie and sleep over here.”

Rarity smiled at her friends. “That’s so sweet of you, darlings. I know this poor house longs for the sound of happiness again,” she said, spinning on her heel to leave. “Come now, Twilight. We simply must get you looked after.”

Twilight, who had her hand wrapped in a bandage and was clutching it to her chest, pretending to nurse it, gave a little smile and a nod. “Sorry guys,” she said sheepishly.

AJ waved her off. “Don’t be sorry, sugarcube. Accidents happen. I just hope you didn’t get burned too badly.”

“Yeah,” Dash agreed, “that would suck, especially on a holiday weekend. Hopefully it’ll be fine. Send us a text when you know, K?”

Twilight nodded. “OK,” she said, turning to leave. “Bye guys. It was good to see you again, and thanks for having Cadance and Shining Armour over.”

“No problem!” Pinkie squealed cheerfully. “Bye-bye! Good luck!”

Twilight opened the passenger door of the big blue Dodge and got in as Rarity started the noisy engine, then drove to the end of the driveway.

“Whew! That was close. Thanks for covering for me, Rarity,” Twilight said as she unwrapped the bandage from her uninjured hand while Rarity pulled the truck onto the road and accelerated briskly toward town.

“T’was the least I could do, darling,” Rarity replied. “I trust you are OK?”

“Yeah,” Twilight said as she studied her hand, incredulous of the fact that it was completely fine after being slammed into a pile of hot embers. “This is actually the first time I’ve really seen the indestructibility in action.”

Rarity glanced over at the lavender girl with her eyebrow cocked. “Really? I would have thought that you, of all people, would have been performing a plethora of experiments on yourself, studying every aspect of your new existence to learn every bit possible about this power.”

Twilight rubbed her ear sheepishly. “Well…actually, no,” she replied. “I’ve mostly been spending tons of time at school, and reading anything I can get my hands on every night.”

“Hm,” Rarity mumbled, looking back at the road.

“Maybe someday I’ll start looking into that,” Twilight continued. “To be honest, I didn’t choose to become this way to be tough and indestructible like you guys did.”

Rarity glanced at her friend with a blank expression.

“Um, I really just wanted more time; to see what the future brings. You know?” the lavender girl finished.

Rarity was quiet for a moment. “I wasn’t given the choice, darling,” she finally said.

Twilight, realising what she’d just implied, looked down at her feet. “Sorry. I didn’t mean-”

“It’s quite alright,” Rarity said, reaching over to pat Twilight’s slender arm. “To tell you the truth, I am simply thrilled to have you here tonight. It’s been so dreadfully lonely at night with the others gone away.”

Twilight nodded. “I know what you mean. The nights alone are long. Although, I have my books, but sometimes they’re not enough.”

Rarity smiled at her friend. “Well, I would love it if you would spend tonight with me.”

Twilight smiled. “Sure. What do you want to do?”

Rarity put her finger up. “We’ll paint the town!”

Twilight looked down at herself. “I have ashes all over my shirt,” she said. “I know this is probably a dumb question, but do you have something I could wear?”

“As a matter of fact,” Rarity replied, leaning over towards Twilight, “I do.”

The lavender-skinned girl smiled back at her friend, knowing that she would have plenty for her to wear.

“You look cute as a button without your glasses.” Rarity said, out-of-the-blue.

“Oh…thanks.” Twilight said, blushing. “It’s doesn’t make me look too much like the Princess, does it?”

“It does,” Rarity confessed, “but I could never mix the two of you up. You may be the ‘same’, with the same quirks and interests, but the lives you’ve both lead have molded you into two people who are vastly different in many ways. You are as much an individual from her as you are from me, and I want you to always remember that.”

Twilight twirled her hair around her finger. “Thanks Rarity,” she said with a smile. “You’re a great friend. I’m glad to be spending tonight with you. This is going to be so much fun.”

Rarity gave her a sly grin. “Indeed, darling…”

*****

“I don’t know, Rarity. I don’t get it,” Twilight said, looking down at herself. “Halloween’s not for a few weeks.”

They were in the back room of Rarity’s boutique, standing across from one other, looking each other’s outfits over. Rarity was wearing a tight, shiny black outfit with tall black boots. At the top was a wide V-neck which showed off her ample white cleavage, with a large, pointed collar suspended over each of her shoulders. There were three diamonds on the outsides of the thighs, and white pinstripes down the outside of the arms. Topping it off was a mask that covered the upper half of her face, along with a ribbon that held her indigo hair up in a tight bun.

Twilight was wearing a nearly identical outfit, except on her thighs there was a large, six-pointed fuchsia star with five smaller white stars circled around it. The other difference with Twilight’s outfit was the pinstripe on the arms, which was a lavender colour, rather than white.

Her hair was slightly different as well. Twilight’s bangs were too short to be tied into the bun on the back of her head, so they hung across her forehead as usual, covering the top of the black mask.

Rarity giggled. “This is not for Halloween, darling. It’s for tonight.”

Twilight turned her head slightly, bringing one ear closer to her friend. “I’m sorry, tonight? Where are we going tonight that we’ll be wearing these?”

“I’m not sure yet, darling,” Rarity replied, picking up a belt that was made of the same shiny black material to put it on around her waist. On the buckle, there was a thin, rigid black box, which was just the size and shape to slide a smartphone inside; which the fashionista did, followed by her putting a set of wireless earphones in her ears.

Twilight looked down at herself for a moment, then back at Rarity before cocking her eyebrows. “Your boobs look better.”

Rarity turned suddenly to look at Twilight as she adjusted the small speaker in her ear. “Nonsense, darling! You have lovely breasts.”

Twilight sighed. “But yours are…popping out more.”

Rarity shook her head, rolling her eyes. “Well, size isn’t everything. Everyone is different. I thought I did a good job of accentuating your body, did I not?”

Twilight turned to look at herself in the mirror. She had to admit, she did look good. It wasn’t very often that she dressed sexy like this, and she had a tendency to forget how nice of a body she really had. “Hm,” she mumbled, studying herself closely. She turned from one side to the other, even going so far as to stick her hip out to see how her ass would pop. “Hm!” she said again with a higher, more satisfied tone, along with a smirk.

She then found herself looking at the material that the outfits were made of. She touched the forearm of the sleeve to her cheek, feeling the strange, smooth texture. The material was fairly thick, about an eighth of an inch, which added roughly a quarter inch to each of the girls’ silhouettes. However, even with such a thick layer of material it didn’t feel hot to wear -- not that it would bother them anyway -- but there was definitely some form of breathing going on through this material.

“Hey Rarity?” Twilight asked, turning to the fashionista. “What is this stuff?”

Rarity was listening to her headphones, staring off into space.

“Rarity!” Twilight said louder so the indigo-haired girl would hear her.

This got Rarity’s attention. “Hm?” she said, turning her focus on Twilight. “I’m sorry darling?”

Twilight tugged on the material on her arm. “What is this stuff?”

Rarity took one headphone out. “Oh, that’s a special high-strength material. Very expensive, but I feel it was well worth the investment.”

“Well, can you be more specific? What kind of high-strength material?” Twilight insisted.

“It is a flexible, breathable material, consisting of a Kevlar weave on the outside with a thin graphene core.”

Twilight’s eyes went wide. “Graphene?? Where did you find material like this?”

“I have connections, my dear Twilight. My supplier has people in all the right places,” Rarity replied with a sly wink.

Twilight shook her head. “But, this stuff is essentially indestructible. How did you work with it? How did you make these suits out of it?”

“Well there are special cutting utensils,” Rarity explained, “but they were dreadfully expensive, so I made my own with my magic.”

“Hm,” Twilight thought as she rubbed her chin. “How are they stitched together? Surely you didn’t just use regular thread?”

“Clearly not,” Rarity stuck her nose up. “Are you familiar with carbyne?”

Twilight furrowed her brows, touching her index finger to her chin as she thought. “Carbyne…” She nodded. “Yeah, actually. Back in 2016, they were able to string together over 6400 carbon atoms inside of two graphene nanotubes to keep it stable, but it was too small to even be seen with the naked eye,” she said, shrugging her shoulders as she looked back at her friend. “But that’s obviously way too small to be viable for, well, any use, really. Where did you find this stuff?”

“Well, as it turns out they have learned how to mass produce it since then.” Rarity informed her friend.

Twilight nodded. “I was just about to say, I thought I’d heard they were producing larger amounts of it. So, is that what you used as your thread?”

Rarity nodded. “Yes indeed. Triple stitched on every seam. These suits should be able to handle almost everything that we can. I would certainly hate to end up showing everyone my bottom if I ever get hit with a flamethrower or something…how embarrassing!” she giggled.

“I’ll say,” Twilight replied. “I read all about these materials in class. Graphene, if stretched out like plastic wrap, can support the weight of a car if placed on a point the size of the tip of a pencil; and carbyne is twice as strong as that.” Twilight cocked an eyebrow. “But why do you need such an outfit? And why did you make one for m-“ she stopped suddenly, looking wide-eyed at the fashionista. “Wait a minute…what are you planning on doing tonight???”

Rarity was looking up at the ceiling with her eyes, touching her headphone with her fingertips, listening closely to whatever was playing on her phone. She suddenly looked at Twilight with excitement. “I think we’ve got something!” she gasped.

“What are you listening to?” Twilight asked.

“I have several police scanner apps on my phone, darling,” Rarity replied.

Twilight shook her head in disbelief. “What are you doing, Rarity? This is crazy!”

Rarity let her arms fall to her sides as she glared sternly at her friend. “Golds has charged me with looking after Canterlot, so that’s what I’m doing. And tonight, you’re coming with me.”

*****

The two masked girls were perched atop the roof of a variety store across the street from a car dealership called ‘Lexus of Canterlot’.

Twilight had no idea what Rarity was planning, or why they were there. All she could do was watch as Rarity seemed to be scoping out the fenced compound where all the new cars were parked.

“Rarity…” Twilight finally whispered, to which the fashionista shushed back sharply.

“SHHH! No names!” Rarity whispered loudly.

“Oh!” Twilight whispered back, ducking her head as she put her fingertips to her mouth. “Sorry, but why are we here?”

Rarity was looking at the yard full of cars for a moment before she turned to her friend. “I got a report on the police scanner of a bunch of keys that went missing from this dealership today.”

Twilight nodded. “OK, so why are we here now?”

“It’s a simple, but effective form of grand theft auto, darling,” Rarity explained. “The thieves go into the dealership during business hours posing as customers, and they blend in, looking as though they belong there, shopping for a car or having service done in the shop. If they see any tagged keys that happen to be lying around on a sales desk, or the service counter, they pocket them. After gathering a few sets of keys, they leave. Then late at night, they come back and use the keys to take the cars.”

“Hm,” Twilight thought as she rubbed her chin. “That’s clever. How did you know about that?”

“Golds,” Rarity replied. “He told me about it once. He said he’s seen it happen before.”

Twilight nodded. “I should have guessed. And you just said Golds’ name.”

Rarity gasped. “Oh! I did, didn’t I,” she replied, then she scowled and backhand slapped Twilight on the shoulder. “Hey, so did you!”

It was Twilight’s turn to gasp this time. “Oh crap! Sorry.”

Rarity paused as she looked back at the yard again. “No matter, darling,” she whispered. “I need to get inside that compound.” Rarity shook her head suddenly. “I need to stop saying ‘darling’, too.”

Twilight smiled.

“OK Twilight,” Rarity said, rubbing her hands together, “could you be a dear and put me inside that compound, please?”

“Hey!” Twilight whispered. “You just said my name!”

Rarity gasped, looking at Twilight with her eyes wide again. “Shit! Sorry, dar-“ she stopped herself and shook her head. “SHIT! Just put me in there, please.”

Twilight sighed. “Fine,” she said, but what am I going to be doing?”

“You will watch for them. Once they enter the compound, you stay by the gate and DO NOT let them leave. Understand?” Rarity ordered.

“Um…OK. I’ll try,” Twilight said, reaching her hand out towards her friend.

“You won’t try, you will succeed,” Rarity replied. She looked down at herself as the lavender aura of Twilight’s magic enveloped her, curling her legs up and hugging her knees to her chest as she was lifted from the rooftop, then floated across the street quickly, eventually arriving above the dealership compound.

Twilight kept an eye on the street, watching out for any late night strollers who might be watching. Unsurprisingly, the street was deserted. It was, after all, 1:30 in the morning, so she brought her eyes back to Rarity so she could start to gently lower the fashionista into the yard.

When Rarity was about twenty feet above the ground, Twilight caught some movement in her peripheries. She shifted her gaze to the right end of the street, where a dark blue full-size van had turned the corner unusually slowly, then made its way down the quiet street with it’s headlights off.

Twilight had to guess that it must have been the thieves. She panicked and released Rarity without thinking; then covered her mouth, realising her blunder too late as she watched her masked friend fall the remaining twenty feet to the ground inside the compound.

“Aaaah!” Rarity’s voice could be heard in the distance as she went down and disappeared out of sight amongst the cars and SUVs.

Twilight hissed inward through her teeth, cringing as she watched to see if Rarity’s landing was going to set off any car alarms. “Sorry Rarity…” she whispered to herself as she brought her attention back to the van, which had pulled up and stopped on the road at the dealership driveway.

Six men piled out of the passenger side, one from the front seat, who stayed to talk to the driver for a moment. The van pulled away after some short words, presumably to wherever they had planned to meet after they’d taken the cars. The man from the front seat turned to walk towards the large fence where the other five guys were gathered. One of them had a pair of bolt cutters, which he used to cut the padlock and toss it on the ground.

They rolled the large panel of fence to the side, opening the compound so they could drive the cars out. One of them had a bunch of key fobs in his pocket, which he handed out to the other five guys, each of whom would be driving one of the cars. They started walking around the lot, pressing the buttons on the remotes to find out which cars they went with.

As a few of the cars’ lights started to flash, Twilight realised it was time to head over there to block them from escaping, as ordered by Rarity. She turned to the service ladder that they had used to climb onto the roof with, but then she stopped for a moment. Why did she need to climb down? Jumping would be so much faster.

After taking a deep breath, she looked over the edge of the store roof, clenching her fists as she psyched herself up to make the leap. “You can do this, Twi,“ she coached herself. “It won’t hurt. It CAN’T. Remember the coals, remember the coals…”

Twilight stepped back a few feet, then held her breath as she put herself into a running position. She hesitated for a moment, taking a few more breaths and exhaling them through her puckered lips, and finally, she took off towards the edge. She watched it get closer and closer, but just as the edge was another step away, she screeched to a halt, teetering with her arms held outstretched as she caught her balance, then pulled herself back.

Her heart was racing inside her chest, each beat thumping in her ears, drowning out her thoughts. “Why did I stop?” she wondered. “Come on, Twi, don’t be a wuss!” She closed her eyes as she gently bumped her fist against her forehead, trying to understand why her legs seemed to stop her on their own accord.

She stood there with her fists together in front of her chest, tapping her knuckles together nervously as she noticed that the men across the street had dispersed and were nearing their vehicles.

“Damn it!” Twilight cursed. “Just jump…just jump…” She egged herself on for a moment, but realised that she couldn’t force herself to jump. A lifetime of learning not to hurt oneself, as well as the fear of pain was inhibiting her control of her own body. “Is this one of the things Golds trained Fluttershy and Rarity to overcome?” she wondered as she looked down one more time, then straightened up and closed her eyes.

“I can do this.” she whispered, realising that it might be easier with her eyes shut. Perhaps if she couldn’t see how high up it was, then she might be able to do it. Twilight squatted down at the edge of the roof, ready to jump.

Then she stood up straight again. “Damn it!” she cursed again. “It would have been faster to just use the damn ladder!”

Her heart was still thumping in her chest. “Remember the coals,” she coached herself as she bit her lip, still squeezing her eyes shut. “Just do it quick…like a band aid!”

She finally worked up the nerve to do it. All she had to do was stop thinking and just do it fast so her mind wouldn’t have time to stop her. Holding her breath as though she was jumping into a pool, Twilight put one foot forward and leapt blindly from the roof.

Unfortunately, she wasn’t close enough to the edge, which she would have known if she’d kept her eyes open, and she caught her trailing foot on the corner of the building and she flipped forward as she fell.

After what seemed like an eternity of silence, with nothing but a gentle breeze against the exposed portion of her face Twilight hit the asphalt face first with tremendous momentum, her body crumpling up in a pile behind her as she came to rest in the crack-filled parking lot. She winced instinctively, keeping her eyes squeezed shut, expecting the pain to set in as it always would after a fall like that, but it never came. The impact was there, the jarring cease of motion, the noise of the collision ringing through her head; but there was no pain.

Her eyes popped open suddenly in disbelief. She knew in her mind that she was indestructible, she'd already experienced it when her hand unexpectedly got buried in the hot coals, but nothing prepares a person for a twenty foot face-dive into hard, gritty asphalt without any fear of pain whatsoever. It was something that she had to learn by doing.

She jumped to her feet, her eyes wide as saucers as she ran her fingertips along her cheeks, checking to make sure she hadn’t lost all sensation, and not just pain. “This is amazing!” she thought to herself, before bringing her focus back to her task across the street. She took off towards the dealership, suddenly becoming aware of the fact that she was running around in public in the middle of the night, wearing a near indestructible superhero costume, about to help stop a robbery with her friend who makes dresses for a living.

The absurdity of it hit her as her boots clopped across the street, then the parking lot of the Lexus dealership, until she slowed to a stop at the open gate of the compound.

Then she froze.

“What do I do now?” she wondered, realizing Rarity hadn’t been very specific with her about what exactly she was supposed to do. One of those thieves was going to come through that gate at any second now…

***

As one of the thieves walked through the parking lot, he repeatedly pressed the button on his fob to get the car he was about to steal to chirp for him, signalling its location. It was distracting with the others doing the same thing. He kept thinking he’d found his car, only to realise that it was someone else’s.

When he finally found it in the middle of the back row, he pushed the lock button on the remote one more time to confirm that it was his, then he hit the unlock button, causing the lights to silently flash twice. He then quickly walked the remaining fifty feet to the car, taking a quick look around the parking lot to see the other thieves’ progress. Once he got to the car, he opened the door, got in and was about to start it when a woman’s voice spoke to him from the back seat.

“Nice car. Are you taking me out to dinner and a movie?”

He was startled by her voice, and turned to look into the back seat to see a pair of sapphire eyes just inches from his face, glaring at him through a shiny black mask.

“What the f-“

CRACK!

***

“Hey!” One the men shouted. “This one’s blocked in by another car, but that one’s stick shift. Bring the bolt cutters and we’ll just break the window, put it in neutral and we’ll push it out of the way so I can get mine out.”

“OK,” one of the others said from the other side of the lot. “Be right there.” He started walking, letting the long-handled cutters swing at his side with each step.

The man whose car was blocked in watched as his partner approached. He was passing by the front of another car when he saw a dark shape come into view from the left, sliding across the hood of the car he just walked by. The man with the bolt cutters recoiled at what was coming at him, and he swung the heavy tool at what he could now see was a female figure dressed in black, but she dodged the attack with ease.

She kicked his forearm, knocking the bolt cutters into the air where she caught them in her hand, then quickly hooked the handle around the back of his neck and pulled his head downward to drive her knee into his face. He bounced back, stumbling a few steps away from her as he covered his nose with his hands, trying to recover from the pain, only to have a high-heeled boot driven into his stomach. The blow knocked him down, hitting his head on the rearview mirror of the adjacent car on the way, rendering him unconscious.

The man whose car was blocked was frozen in shock, having just witnessed his partner getting thrashed when the black figure quickly turned her head to face him, revealing to him a black mask over a white face. She charged at him suddenly, causing the hair to stand up on the back of his neck in fear.

He turned around, intending to retreat to his car so he could get inside and lock the doors to protect himself from the intruder. He made his way along the side of the car that was blocking his, but was stopped when he realised it was parked too close to another car to get past. In a panic, he turned and ran around to the other side of the car, too frightened to look back to see where the woman was as he reached his car and opened the door to get in.

Just then, the dark mistress leapt over the car next to his, somersaulting across the trunk lid then kicking his car door with both feet before she landed on the ground.

He had one leg in the car by then, and when she kicked the door, it slammed shut, pinching his leg in between the door and the car body. He hollered out in pain as he fell onto his back beside the car, turning his head to see where she was, only to see a black boot coming towards his face, followed by a loud crack, then sudden darkness.

***

Twilight heard the holler about halfway back in the compound, her heart rate rising again as she became nervous about what was happening out of sight amongst the sea of cars. She thought she saw Rarity run across the lot a few seconds earlier, but now she’d lost sight of her again.

She was startled when one of the men appeared from between two SUVs fairly close to her, but he was facing the other way, walking in the direction of the scream.

“Hey! What the hell was that?” he shouted as he walked quickly to investigate what had happened. He didn’t make it far.

Twilight watched in awe as the masked Rarity leapt over the hood of one of the cars that he was approaching and drove her foot into his stomach, then his head, followed by her violently hooking her arm around the back of his neck, putting him in a headlock. She bent him forward and yanked him ahead, driving his head into the grille of a nearby car, then slammed her knee into his face. She released him from the headlock next and pulled his hair to bring him back to an upright position to deliver a half-circled right hook, knocking him to the ground for good.

“Whoa…” Twilight mumbled in a daze as she watched her friend disappear from sight again. She was then startled back to reality when a large man got out of a car that was only ten feet from the gate.

“Hey! There’s another one over here!” he shouted, pointing directly at the lavender-skinned vigilante.

Twilight’s heart leapt into her throat when she saw him start walking menacingly towards her. “Hey!” she shouted, putting her hand out as she backed up. “Stay away!”

He continued to advance, forcing Twilight to retreat a number of steps until she was almost thirty feet outside of the gate. He broke into a run when he was about fifteen feet from her, provoking her to using her magic, raising her open hand at him. He was flung backwards by the invisible force, then slammed into the end of the fence, knocking him out cold when his head hit the thick metal pole.

Twilight was frozen in place as she stared at the large man she’d just incapacitated, who was now laying motionless, face down on the ground at the entrance to the compound.

Her mind was racing as she stood there with her knees trembling, wondering how she’d found herself in such an intense situation. It was just that morning that she was reading in her dorm room when she made the decision to go visit her friends from Canterlot for the weekend, asking her brother to drive her out to Fluttershy’s house for a nice campfire and hang out, and she ate hot dogs and roasted marshmallows without a care in the world.

But now, she was at a car dealership in the middle of the night, wearing a superhero suit with her fashion bug friend, who was running around knocking people out like a UFC fighter.

She decided to head back into the compound, keeping her hands nervously clutched to her chest as she stepped a few feet inside the gate, looking for Rarity while keeping an eye out for any thieves who might still be on their feet.

She heard a sudden thump on the roof a vehicle to her left, and turned to see Rarity flipping with her hands off the roof of a gold SUV. As the masked fashionista landed, she conjured up a sharp looking object in her hand with a white flash and swiftly threw it directly at Twilight, who ducked her head and covered her face with her arms as she let out a frightened squeal.

Nothing hit Twilight, however, and she heard a male voice grunt behind her, prompting her to uncover her face and turn to see who it was. To her surprise, it was the last car thief, laying on the ground, clutching his bloody shoulder.

She looked back at Rarity, who was standing next to the gold SUV with a sly smirk on her face. “That’s all of them,” she said with a casual finality that baffled Twilight.

Twilight drew in a deep breath. “Rar-...uh, wow! That was…WOW! You were amazing!”

Rarity shrugged. “T'was nothing. Now let’s get these boys packed up,” she said as she walked past Twilight towards the man she’d just put down, then laid her high heel into his face to silence him.

“Wait!” Twilight cried, causing Rarity to stop and look at her. “You…you were like a ninja, or Batman, or…something! Is that what, um…he taught you? You learned all that out in the field??”

Rarity nodded. “Of course,” she said. “You, on the other hand, need some serious work.” Rarity pointed at her friend. “Look at how you’re standing. You look like a victim. Like prey. Even with that amazing outfit on.”

Twilight looked down at herself, realising that she still had her hands clutched together against her chest and was standing with her knees together.

“You are powerful. Act like it,” the fashionista commanded. “And be fearless. You cannot be hurt.”

Twilight stood more up right, bringing her shoulders back a bit, but she still looked fairly awkward. “Well, I did jump off the roof of the store.”

Rarity shook her head. “You fell off.”

Twilight’s head dipped down in embarrassment. Her face was flushed, creating a buildup of heat under her black mask. “Oh…you saw that, huh?”

“Unfortunately,” the fashionista said. “And you saw what just happened here.”

The lavender-skinned girl was confused. “Huh? What just happened?

“You thought I was throwing that spike at you,” Rarity said.

Twilight sighed. “I know. I should have trusted you.”

“Well, it’s not so much that,” Rarity explained. “It’s that you flinched.”

“Flinched?”

“Yes,” the fashionista continued as she started to pace around. “Suppose a different scenario. What if that man wasn’t an assailant, and you were in fact protecting him? You have the ability to stop my attack, either by catching it or using your magic, but instead, you flinched. And you would have failed your objective.”

Twilight rubbed her chin as she looked at the ground. “I couldn’t help it. It’s just human instinct to fear pain, even though I know intellectually that I can’t be hurt anymore.”

“You must train yourself not to have fear. It was the first thing I was taught, and it is one of the most important things you need to know in these new lives of ours,” Rarity explained.

Twilight looked up at her friend, still somewhat in shock of what she had just participated in. She turned to point at the man by the fence. “I did get one though, did you see?”

Rarity smirked a bit. “I suppose I’ll give you that one. But you did look pretty frightened while it was happening,” she said. “You have a great power. You took down the biggest man in the group, and you’ve had no training whatsoever. Just imagine if you had proper training like me. You would be a god.”

“Hm,” Twilight mumbled as Rarity walked over to the fence and conjured up a sword with a bright flash, which she used to cut the wire-mesh section out of the fence. She then dragged it over to the middle of the lot.

Rarity then instructed Twilight to use her magic to move all the unconscious men onto the sheet of wire-mesh, then wrap them up in it like a burrito, hooking the ends together to keep them contained in case they woke up. To top it off, they left the key fobs and the bolt cutters next to the package of thieves for the police to find in the morning.

“All wrapped up in a nice little package,” Rarity said proudly, dusting her hands off as she admired a job well done. “Well then, what now? Should we see what else is on the police scanner?”

They walked out of the dealership parking lot together as Twilight thought to herself. “You know,” she said to Rarity, “We kind of destroyed their property when you cut that fence up to tie them together with.”

“I’m aware, “ Rarity replied, “but it’s still cheaper than losing six eighty-thousand dollar vehicles.”

Twilight nodded in agreement. “Yeah, I guess so,” she said. “What if the guy in the van comes back when they don’t show up with the stolen cars? He’ll find them tied up, and we left the bolt cutters there for him to cut them free with.”

“Not to worry,” Rarity replied, sticking her nose up. ”If he suspects they were caught, then he would also suspect a police presence here, and it find it doubtful that he would put himself at risk by coming back to check on them.”

“Right.” Twilight nodded as they entered a dark alley to stop and reflect on the evening for a moment.

After a several minutes of rumination, Rarity broke the silence. “Well, what do you want to do now? You never answered me before.”

“I don’t know,” Twilight replied. “I’m still thinking about all those amazing things you just did.”

Rarity smirked. “And…?”

Twilight clenched her jaw and looked Rarity straight in the eyes. “Teach me.”