The first thing that greeted Velvet when she came to was the ringing ache in her horn. A harsh, yellow glare coming from a single bare ceiling bulb caused her to squint. The last time she had experienced a magic backfire this bad was in college, when her prank to sabotage a hookah belonging to her roommate Wheat Grass blew up in both their faces.

Sitting up and rubbing her head, Velvet noticed a different sort of yellow glare: Daring was leaning on one of the shelves, and she didn’t look pleased. Next to her, Velvet’s prior mess of electronics had been neatly tucked back into a duffle bag, the antenna poking out of the zipper. Velvet felt a chaotic mixture of clothes under her body slide across the floor, a black leather jacket especially chafing her fur. The clothing collective felt less like the improvised mattress it was supposed to be and more like sleeping in a giant, musty hamper.

Truly, five-star bed amenities worthy of a luxury cruise.

“Good evening, Twilight.” There was a slightly acrid tinge in Daring’s voice as she faced her companion. The brim of her helmet shaded part of her scowling face. “Any reason you were playing Radio Stable wannabe and blowin' stuff up while trigger-happy henchponies are wandering around wanting to give their Saturday-Night Specials a workout?!”

Twilight sat up a little straighter as she finally noticed the steam emitting from Daring’s ears. "Um, what?"

"I mean… you didn't even lock the damn door! You're lucky you're not sporting a few new holes!"

Velvet’s eyes then drifted to the wall clock—7:08. The blue darkness from the window only served to confirm just how long she’d been out cold. Combining so many spells on top of trying to increase amplitude all at the same time was a stupid idea…

Daring’s eyes tracked over to the duffle bag, specifically the antenna poking out of the zipper. “Night Light again, huh?” Daring’s voice softened.

“Yeah.”

“I take it you weren’t able to make it work…”

Velvet huffed in a heavy sigh. “He was expecting me to get in touch with him today. And now that my travel plans have changed… rather drastically, mind you…” Velvet looked back out of the darkened window. “Don’t get me wrong: Nighty’s a patient stallion, but even he has his limits. It’s going to be days before I can even try to contact him again, and I’ve been misleading him up to now. What am I going to do?”

Yes, I intend to milk the fact that it is Mothers' Day right now dry.

This art depicts a scene from my fanfic, Spectrum of Lightning, the first in a series of action-adventure stories starring Objectively Best Mane Six Mother. But adventuring is not merely a matter of shooting the bad guys until they die. Sometimes, the brakes have to be pulled, the action heroine yanked out of an adrenaline high, and the consequences of past actions entertained.

For the few of you who have been tracking these chapter arts, my previous chapter artist, Tillie-TMB, has gone inactive in order to take care of college. And when one door closes, another one opens…in this case, two of them. I'm thrilled to have Celestial-Rainstorm and Redahfuhrerking as my new chapter artists! They both do great work and even if you aren't going to check my fanfic out, you can at least check out the work of these two great peeps. Personal recommendation? Celestial-Rainstorm's Heart of the Draconequus comic: a FlutterCord classic from the fandom's early days. It might not be the same genre as my fanfic, but it's a keeper all the same.