A/N: Hello readers! Sorry for the long wait, but my usual beta had dropped off the face of the internet.
So, first, thanks to hirodaichi for filling in as beta!
Sorry for such the short chapter, but other things called life have been kind of hectic. That, and writer's block.
And, since this chapter is posted near Christmas, Merry Early Christmas, for those of you who celebrate it!
Reviews are greatly appreciated!
Mistress was keeping herself scarce ever since the incident with the goo.
Nothing of any remarkableness had been seen since, except when Ike lit Marth's pants on fire.
Twilight had been having her room slowly repaired, spending most of her days either cleaning up, keeping an eye out for Mistress, or asking around about Pit.
She really needed to talk to him. He had missed a lot, wherever he had been, and she needed to know what was going on. He was her friend, after all.
She stuck the Smashers Index on her empty bookshelf, which had luckily escaped heavy damage. She was debating about taking Ike's advice and getting a new book, but she felt that she might need it later.
She stacked a few other books, ones that had been easily repaired, by its side. One was the Hyrule Historia Zelda had translated for her, which, on second thought, Twilight brought down to dinner.
The Cafeteria changed a lot based on the time of the meal.
It was now styled in the manner of a fancy restaurant and buffet, with red seating and finely polished wood. It was lit with a golden light, and Twilight felt like she should be wearing more formal attire.
She sat at the usual corner seat, setting an umbrella down by her side. Opening the Hyrule Historia to the first page, she calmly began eating her blueberries. The rest of the women joined her later, casting a few curious glances at her umbrella.
Then it reached five o'clock.
Screaming resounded from the fifth floor, and a huge rumbling that sounded like a freight train on a collision course with the Mansion.
The rest of the girls ducked below the table, but Twilight calmly opened the umbrella.
The umbrella was embellished with her cutie mark, and was a light lavender color. The second she opened it and hoisted it on her shoulder, a transparent faintly glimmering purple shield surrounded her. It enclosed her, her seat, and the portion of the table where her dinner sat.
She proceeded to calmly eat her blueberries as utter chaos ensued.
A few things flew around, clunking into her purple shield, but easily repelled.
It's a little bit of a disgrace, she thought, turning a page, that we're in such a nice place and all they can think about is brawling over food.
When the clinking of silverware came to Twilight's ears, she closed the umbrella and put it down under the table.
"Very nice, Twilight," Zelda proclaimed, as the others at the table began eating. "Quite a practical solution for this place."
Samus, dressed in a simple workout tank top and shorts instead of her zero suit, waved a fork in Twilight's direction. "You know it's bad luck to open an umbrella indoors."
Marth laughed. "Oh, stuff and nonsense! Superstitions rarely pan out into anything, and anything that does happen is a coincidence!"
Samus cast a 'seriously' glance Marth's direction, and Twilight intervened before things got messy.
"So, have you guys found out anything?"
They all shuffled uncomfortably. Samus and Peach frowned curiously. Twilight bit her lip.
"Well," Link said, smiling cheerfully, "I did find something else!" He dragged a disheveled Pit up above the table.
Pit looked extremely irritated, and had bits of leaves caught in his clothes. Link had a death grip on Pit's collar, and it was obvious that Pit would have escaped but for that.
"What…Pit?!" Twilight was taken aback. "How?!"
Link grinned. "Found him on the roof, talking to a couple of pigeons!"
Ike stifled a snerk. "Pit's bird side has finally gotten to him!" He then burst out laughing, falling over into Twilight's lap.
Pit gave Ike a murderous look, then distributed it to the rest of them.
A sudden chill came over the table, and it quieted. Even Ike stopped laughing. Link was the only one unaffected.
She sometimes wondered about his sanity.
"Uh…do you know why," Twilight asked cautiously.
Link shook Pit, which caused the angel to glower at him. If looks could kill, Link would be deader than a doornail, and then some.
"He was plotting something with them," Link said. "Said something about taking over something…"
Ike cracked up again. "Let's take over the Smash Mansion with an army of PIGEONS! Master Hand sure wouldn't be able to stand up to those!"
Pit inhaled sharply.
Marth smashed his foot down on Ike's, causing him to jerk up and yell with pain.
"You're making a scene," Marth whispered into Ike's ear. "People are staring at us."
Twilight glanced around. Marth was right. People would start wondering what they were doing.
"Oh," Ike retorted. "I thought you liked that."
Zelda looked warningly at the two blunettes. "Not now, Ike, Marth…"
"Why not now," Ike said, glancing at Zelda.
Twilight looked worriedly around the table. Samus looked like she was about to hit someone, Peach had lost her light aura-almost like she deflated, Zelda was looking scarily stoic, Ike and Marth were snarling at each other, and Link was looking from each person's face to the next, his battle expression on.
But Pit's expression was the most worrisome. He was smiling maniacally, face contorted into the most gleeful snarl there was.
Twilight blinked, and the maniac Pit was gone, replaced by one who didn't care.
Did…did I just imagine that?
Twilight gripped the seat. Her friends were getting louder and louder, and they were beginning to draw unwanted attention.
Twilight began to frown.
What are they doing?! They'll blow everything that I've worked on! Mistress will find out, or worse, she already knows! Idiots!
Twilight stopped herself. Was she really thinking about her friends like this? Negativity slammed down on her full force, drowning her.
"ALL SMASHERS, YOUR ATTENTION, PLEASE!"
Link, startled, dropped Pit, and immediately the crushing depression was lifted. Twilight faltered a little, and her friends blinked.
Master Hand was floating where everybody could see him, and all eyes were trained on him.
"I have the Tournament Partner List for Round One! Please listen for your teams and the order of your brawls!
"For Brawl One, the teams are Sonic and Solid Snake versus Zelda and Link!
"Brawl Two: Samus and Twilight Sparkle versus Mario and Kirby!"
Master Hand went on, while Twilight poked Zelda.
"Hey," she whispered, "I thought that we already did round one."
"That was a trial," Zelda whispered back. "Just to show off the new brawlers, if there are any, and to show that the old ones are still there."
"Oh…" Twilight leaned back.
She tuned out, retreating into her own thoughts. She was deeply disturbed by the fact that she called her friends 'idiots'. Sure, they might act like idiots sometimes, but she never would have gotten angry over the fact like that.
Something was off here. Twilight couldn't put her finger on it exactly, but there was something missing.
