The Adventures of Princess Erroriaby SecondbestscribeChaptersChapter One: Call of the ErrorChapter Two: Fall Error FriendsChapter Three: Sleepless in ErrorChapter Four: Lesson ErrorChapter One: Call of the ErrorThe music served as a steady background beat, while various ponies danced, ate and chattered. One of those ponies was not much different from everypony else. She was a pegasus, and bore a coat of vanilla, with a wisteria mane and tail, the latter with a light violet stripe. Her eyes were a bright cobalt, and she was chatting easily with another filly. "This party stinks," huffed the vanilla pony to her friend. "I didn't see any sarsaparilla on my way in." "Well, you did come three minutes late," pointed out her companion, a golden-coated earth pony. "You might as well have put up a sign saying 'sarsaparilla here' the day before and waited for Pinkie Pie to realise." The vanilla pony scoffed, and fluttered her wings. "Still. It's not fair. After all, you do know how much I love sarsaparilla, right?" "Who doesn't?" replied the earth pony. "Anyway, Diamond Tiara would've thrown a fit if it hadn't been Pinkie who downed it all. Didja hear that Pinkie planned all this in the first place?" The first filly raised an eyebrow, intrigued. "No... why?" The gold pony shrugged. "Dunno. Guess it's just one of those things when you're friends with everypony." "Diamond Tiara doesn't have any friends," snorted the vanilla filly. "All she's got is Silver Spoon. Snips or Snails would do better!" A bout of giggling was shared between the ponies. The golden-coated one tossed her light-orange mane with the light-amber stripe, and blinked her purple eyes. "Not everypony makes the right deci- " The music stopped. "What the hay?" exclaimed the vanilla pony, looking around. "Noi, what's going on?" "Dunno," replied Noi, blinking. "I didn't do anything, if that's what you mean." Frowning, the vanilla pony grabbed Noi's hoof and led her over to the source of their troubles, which seemed to be down to an earth pony filly with a huge bow. "Check that bow out," hissed the vanilla pony to Noi. "It's insane!" "Alula, shush," hissed back Noi. They watched in sudden horror as Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon began advancing on the filly. Alula bit her lip. "What should we d- " "Nothing!" snarled Noi. "We stand here and do nothing! Who knows what'll happen to us if we intervene? Diamond Tiara'll have our flanks!" Now, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon had started on the taunting. "Wooow!" gushed Silver Spoon. "That is an amazing cutie mark." The two bullies began laughing together, high-pitched and annoying. Alula gritted her teeth, and began advancing. "Alula!" Noi yelped, as quietly as she could. "What are you doing?" Diamond Tiara leapt in, eyes flashing evilly. "Nice try!" "BLANK FLANK!" While the bullies giggled and laughed at the filly's expense, murmurs sweeping through the crowd, Alula stepped forward. That was the last time those bullies messed with those without cutie marks! She opened her mouth to yell... "You got a problem with blank flanks?!" Noi uncovered her face. "What? Who..." Two fillies - both with cutie marks, Alula realised - gasped along with the rest and backed away, revealing two ponies huddled underneath the table. They both had eyes justified and angry. The one who had yelled - the bright-orange pegasus with the messy purple mane - spoke again. "I said... you got a problem with blank flanks?!" The two ponies got up, and Alula could now see the other pony clearly. She was a unicorn, alabaster-white, with a curled pink-and-purple mane. Silver Spoon scoffed. "The problem is that's she's, like, totally not special." "No," spoke up the unicorn, trotting to the earth pony's side. "It means she's full of potential!" "It means she could be great at anything!" added the pegasus, going to the earth pony's other side. "The possibilities are, like, endless!" Alula, despite herself with wings flared and hooves splayed, giggled. The imitation of Silver Spoon was pretty good. "She could be a scientist," continued the unicorn, "or an amazing artist, or a famous writer! She could even be mayor of Ponyville someday!" "And she's not stuck being stuck-up like you two!" pointed out the pegasus, shoving a hoof in the bullies' direction. Titters swept through the crowd, much louder than the murmurs from before. Diamond Tiara's face took on an affronted look. "Hey! This is my party, why are you two on her side?!" "Because..." replied the pegasus, and looked at the unicorn. On cue, the two turned so that their flanks were facing out towards the crowd with pride. The earth pony gasped. "You don't have yer cutie marks either?!" she burst out. "Ah thought ah was the only one!" "We thought we were the only two!" came the pegasus' reply. Suddenly, everypony's attention was drawn to the librarian, Twilight Sparkle, walking down to meet them. Noi took advantage of the situation and grabbed Alula's tail, dragging the filly back. "Hey!" snapped Alula. "What gives?" "I for one think you are three very lucky fillies," Twilight was saying. Diamond Tiara's face switched from affronted to downright disgusted, Silver Spoon's quickly following. "Lucky? How can they be lucky?" Twilight met their disgust with irritated disappointment, then confusion, then good humour. "They still get to experience the thrill of discovering who they are! And what they're meant to be!" "And they've got all the time in the world to figure it out," added an orange earth pony. She had freckles and a cowpony hat, and struck Alula's memory as the bearer of the name Applejack. "Not just an afternoon," she added, grinning at the earth pony. The family resemblance struck. "Wow," commented Alula. "What is this, an intervention? Or some sort of stage act?" "Five bits they burst into song," said Noi. Alula grinned. "You're on." While the two turned away, a crowd began to form around the three blank flanks. Alula's ear twitched, and her grin grew wider. "Nope! Don't hear any singing." Noi pouted. "Great. Now I'm five bits poorer." Alula laughed as they took seats away from the crowd, then let the humour fall from her face. "Say, Noi, what was with that stuff before?" "What stuff?" asked Noi innocently. "All that 'get back here' stuff. I was going to totally kick those bullying butts!" Noi blinked, then shrugged over-casually. "Well, those two fillies sorted it out anyway." Alula resisted the sudden urge to slam her hoof down on the table. "Yeah, but what if they hadn't?!" Noi shrugged, then looked over at a table nearby them. There, the three blank flanks were seated, chatting animatedly together. She watched as one - the pegasus - raised her hoof. Her tail swayed, briefly obscuring her left blank flank. Somehow, this went to highlight her lack of cutie mark - but abundance of potentiality. Noi suppressed a sigh, and instead looked downwards to her own flank, which was adorned with the picture of a magnifying glass. Her special talent... finding things. "Hello?" came Alula's voice. "Hell-ooo? Equestria to Noi, come in Noi!" "Hunh? Whah?" Noi looked around wildly. "You spaced out on me," explained Alula, evidently amused. "Am I that boring?" Noi rubbed her forehead. Inexplicably, she was suddenly suffering from a painful headache. She shook her head. "No, it's just... ow, my head..." Alula looked concerned. "Are you okay? Do you want me to walk you home or something?" Noi shook her head again. Her temples throbbed achingly. "Ack... actually, yeah..." She tried to get off her seat, but simply stumbled. Immediately, Alula flew to her side, supporting her. "Oh, Celestia, this headache's terrible," groaned Noi. "Don't worry, we'll get you to Nurse Redheart - " Alula outstretched a wing comfortingly, pulling Noi close and secure. Noi let out a yell, and collapsed. Chapter Two: Fall Error FriendsThe golden filly fell to the floor, amidst the kind of loud and obnoxious gasps native to Ponyville. Alula was left standing there, shocked, for a good few seconds. What in Equestria had just happened? "Noi!" she managed to blurt out, and fell to the floor. She tried to lift Noi up, and when that didn't work, attempted to wake her up through the tried and tested method of slapping and yelling until something happened. Something sure as hay happened, at least. Twilight Sparkle ran over, as well as Applejack. The librarian's eyes were wide with concern, akin to the farmer's, as they both skidded to a halt. Alula saw Diamond Tiara mutter to Silver Spoon, and they both turned towards her with eyes flashing with something unnameable. "What happened?" urged Twilight, while Applejack began fanning Noi with her hat. Alula bit her lip. "Um... I... I don't know... Noi had a headache... so she got up and I helped her... and then she yelled and f-fell..." Suddenly, tears began to raise their spears and blow their battle horns. Angrily, Alula sent forth the troops of emotion-hiders, and managed to push them back southwards, to the Wood of the Heart. "C'mon, Twi, we'd better get this lil' filly off tah Nurse Redheart," advised Applejack, hoisting Noi onto her back with the ease of an experienced older sister and apple-bucker. Twilight nodded, and turned to Alula. "I think you'd better come with us. You know what happened, after all." Alula winced, then nodded. She trotted hesitantly after Twilight, while Applejack quickly filled in her little sister. Alula felt the eyes on the back of her neck, and her wings refused to move until they were out in the street and on the way to the hospital. "So what's your name?" inquired Twilight. "Alula," murmured the filly, purposefully keeping her voice down. Applejack quickly caught up with them, Noi's unconscious body jumping slightly on her back. Alula made sure to avert her gaze from her friend, but she couldn't help thinking that this was all Alula's fault... "Do you know where your parents are, Alula?" asked Twilight quietly. Alula managed not to sniff. "Yeah... they're at work. M-my big sister was looking after me." "And who's yer big sis?" asked Applejack politely. "H-her name is Parasol," murmured Alula, then cleared her throat and walked a little straighter. She did, after all, have at least a bit of dignity to maintain. Twilight frowned, and looked behind her. Applejack did so too, then turned back to Alula. "What about yer friend here?" the farmpony asked. "She was with me..." Didn't help her much, though, did it, thought Alula savagely to herself. Didn't help at all... Suddenly, Twilight stopped. She waved to a pegasus who was flying after them - a very familiar pegasus. "Hello!" exclaimed the unicorn. "Are you Parasol?" The pegasus descended, and - no longer silhouetted by the sun - revealed her vanilla coat, wisteria mane and tail and piercing orange eyes. All Alula saw, however, were the three purple umbrellas that meant safety. "Alula!" she exclaimed, and ran to embrace her younger sister. Alula returned the hug warmly, and sheltered herself underneath her sister's wing. "What's happened to Noi?" asked Parasol, her eyes wide with worry. "Alula, what...?" Applejack and Twilight looked at each other. "Ma'am, we're gettin' this lil' filly to the hospital," explained Applejack. "Ah reckon questions c'n wait 'til later." Parasol, mouth thin, swallowed dryly and nodded. "Well... alright then. Lead the way." Alula had met Nurse Redheart a few years ago, when she had broken a wing. It hadn't been serious, but the nurse had struck Alula as a good friend, but generally stern and strict. It was confusing sometimes, being a filly. Parasol kept close to Alula throughout the whole ordeal. Noi was brought to a ward, and there were a lot of questions asked to Twilight and Applejack and Parasol, but not to Alula because she was just a filly, and fillies don't know anything about big important adult things, right? Right. Soon enough, Noi's parents arrived; Action Shot and Coco Crusoe. There was more confusion, much worried looks and even a brief "conversation" between Coco and Parasol that really wasn't nice enough to be called a "conversation" at all. "Your family's trouble," he had snarled. "You stay away from us." Parasol had opened her mouth to retort, but they had already gone to watch over their daughter. Alula watched as her sister slammed a hoof down on the ground and gritted her teeth, muttering very bad words to herself. Parasol caught Alula's eye and stopped, then rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly. "Er... sorry, Lu. Kind of lost it there." "I saw that," pointed out Alula. "What's Mum and Dad gonna say?" "Not much," admitted Parasol. "They've been called over to Hoofington for a while. Freak snowstorm, apparently. They won't be back until the summer holidays, at least." This had happened in the past, numerous times in fact. Alula's parents were weather-tamers; they were responsible for all stray spikes of weather, everything from cyclones to hurricanes. But normally they would inform Alula and Parasol weeks before - pegasus magic was strong enough to judge weather spikes. "Not this one," Parasol said apologetically, when Alula pointed this out. "Sorry, Lu. Just me and you, eh?" Parasol laughed weakly. Alula looked to the ground. Yeah, sis. Just me and you. No Mum and Dad. No Noi. And then the horror set in. What'll I do about Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon at school? Because Noi had always been the protector; the cool head in times of heat, the calm voice amidst the roar, the helping hoof when Alula picked fights with stallions in high school. Moreover, she had been the smart one - she used words, not hooves, against the bullies. She wasn't easily provoked, she wasn't hot-headed and she wasn't Alula. "You'll have other fillies at school, right? To play with and hang out with and stuff?" Parasol, oh Parasol - so oblivious to the bigger picture, so blind, so mixed-up with her priorities, so - Oh Celestia, Noi! I'm forgetting Noi! How did she faint? Why did she faint? Was it me? Celestia's sun, it was me, wasn't it? Her internal monologue was interrupted by the voice of Twilight Sparkle, Element of Magic and local librarian. "Alula? Are... you alright?" "Better than Noi," she said immediately, then gasped at what she had said. Twilight and Parasol took no notice of this, though. "Alula," Twilight began, her tone serious. "I am as worried for your friend as you are, though perhaps... not for the same reasons. Would it be alright with you - and your sister and family - " Twilight nodded towards Parasol at this, " - if you came to my house and answered a few questions? Nothing serious - it's just that this doesn't normally happen, as you would appreciate." Alula had to laugh; it was either that or cry. Guilt was already taking over - she hadn't felt like this since she had taken a peek of her sister's diary and discovered Parasol's crush on some stallion or other. Parasol, smartly, decided to step in at this point. "We appreciate the offer, Twilight, and we both acknowledge the... peculiarities of the situation. But... well, quite a bit has happened today." Twilight nodded seriously, and Applejack appeared at her side. "Sugarcube, ah reckon Parasol's right," said the farm pony, amusement lighting her sap-green eyes. "Any day's taxin' on a filly, an' today ain't the day fer interrogatin'." "Maybe tomorrow," added Parasol, latching onto the excuse like a limpet to a rock. "Yeah, we're actually really tired. Aren't we, Lu?" Parasol jiggled Alula with her wing, smiling widely. Alula stifled a giggle and nodded seriously. Applejack chuckled and tipped her hat to them both. "Well, alright, then," she said. "C'mon, Twi, let's leave 'em." Twilight nodded, and smiled weakly. "Heh, sorry. I just love finding out new things - and can I say this is quite fascinating..." "How will Noi be?" burst out Alula. Twilight looked aback for a minute, then smiled again. "She'll be fine. A little magical surge knocked her out, but she'll recover soon. Still, she'll be feeling a bit shaky for a good week; today was probably her last school day for the year." Alula bit her lip, then forced a smile. "Take care, alright?" said Twilight, then gave them one more smile as she turned and left. "Come on," whispered Parasol to Alula. "Let's go get ice-cream. My treat. And remember," she added playfully, "it wasn't your fault, okay?" "Okay," said Alula, and grinned. But as they turned to leave the hospital, Alula couldn't help but feel like everything, right then and there, was her fault. Author's Note Just to make things clear... 1) Alula is DEFINITELY NOT an alicorn. AT ALL. EVER. 2) Noi is not an alicorn either. Her special talent is finding things. She is an earth pony. She has no title other than her name. Chapter Three: Sleepless in ErrorThe ice-cream was good. Great, in fact. Parasol had a rocky road that she drowned in chocolate syrup, and Alula had her absolute favourite ice-cream flavour of all time ever: vanilla. While they spooned the snacks into their mouth, Alula listened to - and often interrupted - Parasol's recount of her day at the weather factory. Alula wasn't clear on the details, but there seemed to be some kind of romance rhombus going on between her and Flitter and Thunderlane. "I mean, just because she's his younger brother's foalsitter doesn't justify anything! She's probably just foalsitting Rumble because she wants to suck up to him! I mean, what does she have that I don't?!" Angrily, Parasol shovelled a huge dollop of rocky road into her mouth. Alula blinked at her, confused, then snickered. "Well, she probably doesn't have a fuse shorter than Snips!" Parasol opened her mouth to yell, then remembered she had rocky road in her mouth and went to stop it from spilling out. Alula snorted with laughter at the sight of her sister struggling with rocky road ice-cream and chocolate syrup oozing out from the corners of her lips. In the end, they finished their ice-cream and went home, laughing and joking in the way sisters do when they're full on ice-cream and not, thankfully, lactose intolerant. Alula challenged Parasol to a race to Cloudsdale, which Parasol agreed to, but lost on account of her particularly filling rocky road and chocolate syrup. "Thank Celestia for vanilla!" crowed Alula, raising her hooves to the sky as if appealing to some higher being. "Shut... up..." panted Parasol, leaning against a nearby cloud and huffing. "Mum and Dad'd ground you for giving me lip like that," teased Alula, flying circles around Parasol as she found her bearings on the cumulus streets of Cloudsdale. "Again..." hissed Parasol, "shut... up..." Alula continued to tease her until they reached their house - one of many pegasus dwellings nestled alongside the thoroughfare of Cloudsdale. Parasol, still muttering to herself, got out a key and unlocked their door. Alula pushed past her playfully and began bouncing on the couch. "You..." snarled Parasol, "are so mean..." That night, they had a dinner consisting of pizza, courtesy of Private Pansy's Pegasus Pizzaria. It was delicious, just like every other pizza from Pansy's, and was a family-sized one fully loaded with veggies of all kinds. Alula and Parasol constantly fought over the slices with more mushrooms, but would force the ones with tomatoes onto each other - now that Alula thought about it, Mum and Dad hated tomatoes too. It seemed to be a kind of family trait. Then they watched mild horror movies, which left Parasol shaking and Alula rolling her eyes. Afterwards, they had a quick chat, then Parasol kissed Alula's forehead and closed the door behind her. Alula fell asleep, and she dreamed... "Where am I?" Alula spun around, blinking in confusion. She seemed to be standing beneath a dark-blue sky, with black-and-white tiles stretching out to either side, as far as her eyes could see. "H-hello?" There was the voice again. Somehow, it was familiar, like somepony she had known well but had forgotten over the years. It seemed to be coming from behind her, so she turned around and looked for the speaker. "Anypony?" Then it hit her. That was her voice. Shuddering, Alula began to walk forward. Anything was better than just standing still, after all. So she trotted across the checkerboard expanse, looking for the speaker who had Alula's voice. But the scenery did not change. Above, purple clouds swirled, and Alula was reminded of her parents, and how she wouldn't see them until the holidays, and she was suddenly very, very sad indeed... "Hello? Who's there?" "It's me," said Alula, and found that the not-her didn't sound exactly like her, just similar enough to fool even her. "Alula. Who are you?" There was a pause, and then the not-her answered. "My name is Erroria... Princess Animatia Erroria. Are you a princess, Alula?" Alula laughed. "No, Princess Animatia Erroria, I'm not. But what's a princess doing in my head?" The air rippled - no, not at all. The air glitched, twisting in upon itself then righting itself quickly, almost embarrassed. "I don't know," whispered the princess. "But you can call me Erroria..." Alula frowned. "Erroria..." The word didn't flow off the tongue. Rather, it seemed to inch nervously to the edge, then close its eyes and jump off. "Oh, hang on... I'll just..." Again, the air glitched, but the spastic movements seemed to be centred on a point a few feet in front of Alula. The air twisted again, and a few phrases of random code flashed across the sky, then a filly just like Alula appeared. Wings, mane, no cutie mark... But there was one difference. She had a horn. "Hello," she said softly, looking up. Alula looked into eyes the same shade as her, but as she looked closer, she saw that the air around Erroria was glitching too, with code flashing around her and bright colours shuddering and blinking in and out of existence. "Well," said the stunned Alula, "that was... unexpected." Erroria smiled weakly, then the air glitched out again. There was a brief span of darkness... ...then Erroria's eyes were the bright red of a traffic light, surrounded by screen-black... ...then everything began to go the colour of vanilla. While Alula fell asleep - no, while Alula woke up, she thought sleepily that mysterious dream sequences were so very cliche indeed... Alula woke up. Chapter Four: Lesson ErrorThe next day, Alula said nothing of the dream to Parasol. There wasn't much point, and at any rate her older sister looked like she could do with some strong coffee, which Parasol had after she got up at least two hours after Alula. Still, they had a good brunch of scrambled eggs and piping-hot cocoa and veggie burgers, and at one o'clock they went over to the Golden Oak Library. Alula realised suddenly that she had never been to the library before. She wasn't that big of a reader, and whenever she did read, it was usually science-fiction: space-travel had always intrigued her. Princess Luna in particular was somepony that she both feared and revered - mostly, though, she just feared. After all, she had been up on the moon for a thousand years - she surely had seen aliens or something during that, hadn't she? Well, actually, she was Nightmare Moon back then, so obviously she would've been plotting or something, right? And anyway, I reckon it's more of a metaphorical thing - I mean, the craters in the moon used to look like her head, so her soul or something was probably trapped within the moon or... or something. Ahem. If ponies can literally jump out of their skin, Alula would probably have done so. As they can't, she simply started so violently that she nearly kicked a passing Berry Punch. "Alula?" said Parasol, while Berry Punch tossed them an affronted look. "Are you alright?" "Yeah! Yeah yeah yeah, I'm fine, I'm just... uh..." Alula fixed a wide grin on her face while she cast around for an excuse, any excuse. She blurted out the first thing that came to her head, which was regretfully, "Itchy!" Parasol blinked at her. "Itchy," she deadpanned. Alula nodded, almost maniacally. "Yep! Yeah! Exactly! I'm really really really itchy! Like, soooo itchy!" To illustrate her point, she began scratching ferociously at her head, her hooves, her wings, that awkward grin still glued onto her face. Parasol said nothing. Instead, she sighed and shook her head. "Fillies..." The Golden Oak Library was a giant tree, hollowed out into both a living space and walls lined with inbuilt bookshelves. When Parasol had knocked on the door, they had been greeted not by Twilight Sparkle but by her baby dragon assistant, Spike. Alula had seen him around town a few times, but only knew his name because Noi did - and then the guilt came back. "Oh!" he had said. "You're Alula and Parasol, I guess. Come on in!" And here they were now. Twilight and Parasol were going through the obligatory small talk, while Alula was allowed to walk around the place. The books were old and dusty, with titles down their spines that she had to tilt her head to read. She didn't for most of them, though, after checking out the upper layer of tomes and discovering that none of them were about space. So she went over to Twilight to ask after them. "Oh!" said the unicorn. "You like books, I suppose?" Parasol laughed. "And Princess Luna was banished to the sun!" Alula shot her sister an angry look, then turned back to Twilight. "Not really. Just the ones about space." "Well, you were looking in the history section! The science-fiction books are over there - " Twilight waved a lavender hoof towards the other side of the library, " - and the space books are up near the top." Alula thanked Twilight, then went over to the shelves, flew up and began browsing. She soon came across a likely-looking volume: When the Stars Align, which was book one in the Phenomena series. It was a fairly thick book, with a storyline that Alula was drawn to, so she descended and began reading. That is, until the voice came back. That looks good. Didn't you see somepony reading that a few weeks ago or something? Alula said nothing. Then, very very hesitantly, hissed, "Who are you?" I'm Princess Animatia Erroria. Have you forgotten me already? Oh dear, I'm not that boring, am I? Alula couldn't tell if the voice was kidding or not. "Um... so... the dream was... wait, what? This is just like some bad fantasy series!" I'd shrug if you could see me. Alula frowned. According to the rules of these kinds of situations, she was supposed to be panicking, doubting her sanity. Rather, it was like somepony she had been expecting an hour ago had shown up, only that she had been expecting her for her whole life. In fact, she had been expecting somepony for so long, she had forgotten that she was expecting somepony. And now that pony was here. I'm not afraid to say that that narration was terribly cheesy. "What happened to being all scared and stuff?" commented Alula, turning a page. "Alula?" came Parasol's voice. "Are you alright?" "Fine," called back Alula, and lowered her voice. "Is there some kind of way I can talk psychically to you or something?" No. Alula pouted. "No need to be so smug." Then Twilight was there, saying something about asking some questions, and Alula found herself saying yes, sure, why not... "So," said Alula, "this isn't going to kill me?" She was hooked up to a machine that Twilight had called the "x-ray". It had a large flat board with lots of buttons and knobs and dials and flashing things on it at the front, while at the back Alula was sitting in a chair in the uncomfortable way Lyra Heartstrings had. On her head was a bowl-shaped helmet thingy, with a lot of wires and blinking lights on it. It was heavy. Alula fidgeted. Twilight laughed. "Of course not! I've tested this countless times on myself and Spike." "It tickled," said Spike. "All it does is measure your magic levels." He frowned, and added, "You may feel a bit hungry afterwards, but you should be fine!" "The stuff with your friend - " Twilight cleared her throat, and continued, " - yesterday got me thinking. Normally, only a strong surge of magic would have done something like that, so that got me thinking. It's probably nothing, but Parasol's agreed, so...?" Alula shrugged. "Should be fine!" She cast a look over at her big sister. Alula knew her - she would always act so nonchalant, but inside she knew that she was worrying more than a mother. "I'll be fine," said Alula pointedly. Parasol nodded stiffly, then laughed at Alula's poker face. "Well, alright. Is it okay if I stay here, Twilight, or...?" Twilight winced. "Well, um, actually, the magic levels here can get just a teeny tiny bit too high when the x-ray's in use, so I'm afraid you'll have to stay outside. But I guarantee that she'll be fine!" Parasol bit her lip. Alula could almost see the internal battle raging within her older sister. So the young vanilla pony sighed, and said, "Come on, Para, if it starts hurting I'll scream." The other ponies laughed, and Erroria said, Good job. Get them calm. Then we'll be able to see what happened to Noi. Maybe it's something to do with you, thought Alula, suddenly and viciously, and was immediately grateful when she remembered that Erroria couldn't read her thoughts. The two mares had a quick conversation, while Alula looked around. The wires on her helmet were attached to lots of meters and small boxes with screens. She resolved not to touch anything, and to look as calm as possible. Then Parasol was stepping out of the door, telling Alula to behave, and the door closed, and Parasol was gone. "So," said Twilight, "first off, I'll just ask you a few questions. Okay?" Alula nodded, as well as she could with the helmet on her head. "Okay..." Twilight looked down at her clipboard. "Well, Alula - do you remember what happened before Noi fainted?" "Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon were picking on this filly with a bow... then these two other ponies came out from under a table, I remember that - oh! And I was trying to get to them to stand up for the filly, but..." At this point, Alula frowned. "But?" prompted Twilight. "But Noi stopped me," mumbled Alula. There was silence, apart from the beeping of the x-ray and the scratching of Twilight's quill. Erroria kept silent. Alula was glad of that at least, as the guilt suddenly overtook her. She didn't cry, though, not with Twilight around again and Parasol just outside the door. "So," said Twilight, and her voice was gentler this time, "what happened afterwards?" "Well," said Alula, and swallowed, and continued. "She started having a headache, so I got up to help her, and when I touched her, she yelled and... and fell over." She sounded weak, and tinny, and stupid. But Twilight simply frowned, nodded and scribbled a few notes on her clipboard. "Now," said the unicorn, and gave Alula a warm smile, "let's take some tests!"
Chapter One: Call of the ErrorThe music served as a steady background beat, while various ponies danced, ate and chattered. One of those ponies was not much different from everypony else. She was a pegasus, and bore a coat of vanilla, with a wisteria mane and tail, the latter with a light violet stripe. Her eyes were a bright cobalt, and she was chatting easily with another filly. "This party stinks," huffed the vanilla pony to her friend. "I didn't see any sarsaparilla on my way in." "Well, you did come three minutes late," pointed out her companion, a golden-coated earth pony. "You might as well have put up a sign saying 'sarsaparilla here' the day before and waited for Pinkie Pie to realise." The vanilla pony scoffed, and fluttered her wings. "Still. It's not fair. After all, you do know how much I love sarsaparilla, right?" "Who doesn't?" replied the earth pony. "Anyway, Diamond Tiara would've thrown a fit if it hadn't been Pinkie who downed it all. Didja hear that Pinkie planned all this in the first place?" The first filly raised an eyebrow, intrigued. "No... why?" The gold pony shrugged. "Dunno. Guess it's just one of those things when you're friends with everypony." "Diamond Tiara doesn't have any friends," snorted the vanilla filly. "All she's got is Silver Spoon. Snips or Snails would do better!" A bout of giggling was shared between the ponies. The golden-coated one tossed her light-orange mane with the light-amber stripe, and blinked her purple eyes. "Not everypony makes the right deci- " The music stopped. "What the hay?" exclaimed the vanilla pony, looking around. "Noi, what's going on?" "Dunno," replied Noi, blinking. "I didn't do anything, if that's what you mean." Frowning, the vanilla pony grabbed Noi's hoof and led her over to the source of their troubles, which seemed to be down to an earth pony filly with a huge bow. "Check that bow out," hissed the vanilla pony to Noi. "It's insane!" "Alula, shush," hissed back Noi. They watched in sudden horror as Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon began advancing on the filly. Alula bit her lip. "What should we d- " "Nothing!" snarled Noi. "We stand here and do nothing! Who knows what'll happen to us if we intervene? Diamond Tiara'll have our flanks!" Now, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon had started on the taunting. "Wooow!" gushed Silver Spoon. "That is an amazing cutie mark." The two bullies began laughing together, high-pitched and annoying. Alula gritted her teeth, and began advancing. "Alula!" Noi yelped, as quietly as she could. "What are you doing?" Diamond Tiara leapt in, eyes flashing evilly. "Nice try!" "BLANK FLANK!" While the bullies giggled and laughed at the filly's expense, murmurs sweeping through the crowd, Alula stepped forward. That was the last time those bullies messed with those without cutie marks! She opened her mouth to yell... "You got a problem with blank flanks?!" Noi uncovered her face. "What? Who..." Two fillies - both with cutie marks, Alula realised - gasped along with the rest and backed away, revealing two ponies huddled underneath the table. They both had eyes justified and angry. The one who had yelled - the bright-orange pegasus with the messy purple mane - spoke again. "I said... you got a problem with blank flanks?!" The two ponies got up, and Alula could now see the other pony clearly. She was a unicorn, alabaster-white, with a curled pink-and-purple mane. Silver Spoon scoffed. "The problem is that's she's, like, totally not special." "No," spoke up the unicorn, trotting to the earth pony's side. "It means she's full of potential!" "It means she could be great at anything!" added the pegasus, going to the earth pony's other side. "The possibilities are, like, endless!" Alula, despite herself with wings flared and hooves splayed, giggled. The imitation of Silver Spoon was pretty good. "She could be a scientist," continued the unicorn, "or an amazing artist, or a famous writer! She could even be mayor of Ponyville someday!" "And she's not stuck being stuck-up like you two!" pointed out the pegasus, shoving a hoof in the bullies' direction. Titters swept through the crowd, much louder than the murmurs from before. Diamond Tiara's face took on an affronted look. "Hey! This is my party, why are you two on her side?!" "Because..." replied the pegasus, and looked at the unicorn. On cue, the two turned so that their flanks were facing out towards the crowd with pride. The earth pony gasped. "You don't have yer cutie marks either?!" she burst out. "Ah thought ah was the only one!" "We thought we were the only two!" came the pegasus' reply. Suddenly, everypony's attention was drawn to the librarian, Twilight Sparkle, walking down to meet them. Noi took advantage of the situation and grabbed Alula's tail, dragging the filly back. "Hey!" snapped Alula. "What gives?" "I for one think you are three very lucky fillies," Twilight was saying. Diamond Tiara's face switched from affronted to downright disgusted, Silver Spoon's quickly following. "Lucky? How can they be lucky?" Twilight met their disgust with irritated disappointment, then confusion, then good humour. "They still get to experience the thrill of discovering who they are! And what they're meant to be!" "And they've got all the time in the world to figure it out," added an orange earth pony. She had freckles and a cowpony hat, and struck Alula's memory as the bearer of the name Applejack. "Not just an afternoon," she added, grinning at the earth pony. The family resemblance struck. "Wow," commented Alula. "What is this, an intervention? Or some sort of stage act?" "Five bits they burst into song," said Noi. Alula grinned. "You're on." While the two turned away, a crowd began to form around the three blank flanks. Alula's ear twitched, and her grin grew wider. "Nope! Don't hear any singing." Noi pouted. "Great. Now I'm five bits poorer." Alula laughed as they took seats away from the crowd, then let the humour fall from her face. "Say, Noi, what was with that stuff before?" "What stuff?" asked Noi innocently. "All that 'get back here' stuff. I was going to totally kick those bullying butts!" Noi blinked, then shrugged over-casually. "Well, those two fillies sorted it out anyway." Alula resisted the sudden urge to slam her hoof down on the table. "Yeah, but what if they hadn't?!" Noi shrugged, then looked over at a table nearby them. There, the three blank flanks were seated, chatting animatedly together. She watched as one - the pegasus - raised her hoof. Her tail swayed, briefly obscuring her left blank flank. Somehow, this went to highlight her lack of cutie mark - but abundance of potentiality. Noi suppressed a sigh, and instead looked downwards to her own flank, which was adorned with the picture of a magnifying glass. Her special talent... finding things. "Hello?" came Alula's voice. "Hell-ooo? Equestria to Noi, come in Noi!" "Hunh? Whah?" Noi looked around wildly. "You spaced out on me," explained Alula, evidently amused. "Am I that boring?" Noi rubbed her forehead. Inexplicably, she was suddenly suffering from a painful headache. She shook her head. "No, it's just... ow, my head..." Alula looked concerned. "Are you okay? Do you want me to walk you home or something?" Noi shook her head again. Her temples throbbed achingly. "Ack... actually, yeah..." She tried to get off her seat, but simply stumbled. Immediately, Alula flew to her side, supporting her. "Oh, Celestia, this headache's terrible," groaned Noi. "Don't worry, we'll get you to Nurse Redheart - " Alula outstretched a wing comfortingly, pulling Noi close and secure. Noi let out a yell, and collapsed.
Chapter Two: Fall Error FriendsThe golden filly fell to the floor, amidst the kind of loud and obnoxious gasps native to Ponyville. Alula was left standing there, shocked, for a good few seconds. What in Equestria had just happened? "Noi!" she managed to blurt out, and fell to the floor. She tried to lift Noi up, and when that didn't work, attempted to wake her up through the tried and tested method of slapping and yelling until something happened. Something sure as hay happened, at least. Twilight Sparkle ran over, as well as Applejack. The librarian's eyes were wide with concern, akin to the farmer's, as they both skidded to a halt. Alula saw Diamond Tiara mutter to Silver Spoon, and they both turned towards her with eyes flashing with something unnameable. "What happened?" urged Twilight, while Applejack began fanning Noi with her hat. Alula bit her lip. "Um... I... I don't know... Noi had a headache... so she got up and I helped her... and then she yelled and f-fell..." Suddenly, tears began to raise their spears and blow their battle horns. Angrily, Alula sent forth the troops of emotion-hiders, and managed to push them back southwards, to the Wood of the Heart. "C'mon, Twi, we'd better get this lil' filly off tah Nurse Redheart," advised Applejack, hoisting Noi onto her back with the ease of an experienced older sister and apple-bucker. Twilight nodded, and turned to Alula. "I think you'd better come with us. You know what happened, after all." Alula winced, then nodded. She trotted hesitantly after Twilight, while Applejack quickly filled in her little sister. Alula felt the eyes on the back of her neck, and her wings refused to move until they were out in the street and on the way to the hospital. "So what's your name?" inquired Twilight. "Alula," murmured the filly, purposefully keeping her voice down. Applejack quickly caught up with them, Noi's unconscious body jumping slightly on her back. Alula made sure to avert her gaze from her friend, but she couldn't help thinking that this was all Alula's fault... "Do you know where your parents are, Alula?" asked Twilight quietly. Alula managed not to sniff. "Yeah... they're at work. M-my big sister was looking after me." "And who's yer big sis?" asked Applejack politely. "H-her name is Parasol," murmured Alula, then cleared her throat and walked a little straighter. She did, after all, have at least a bit of dignity to maintain. Twilight frowned, and looked behind her. Applejack did so too, then turned back to Alula. "What about yer friend here?" the farmpony asked. "She was with me..." Didn't help her much, though, did it, thought Alula savagely to herself. Didn't help at all... Suddenly, Twilight stopped. She waved to a pegasus who was flying after them - a very familiar pegasus. "Hello!" exclaimed the unicorn. "Are you Parasol?" The pegasus descended, and - no longer silhouetted by the sun - revealed her vanilla coat, wisteria mane and tail and piercing orange eyes. All Alula saw, however, were the three purple umbrellas that meant safety. "Alula!" she exclaimed, and ran to embrace her younger sister. Alula returned the hug warmly, and sheltered herself underneath her sister's wing. "What's happened to Noi?" asked Parasol, her eyes wide with worry. "Alula, what...?" Applejack and Twilight looked at each other. "Ma'am, we're gettin' this lil' filly to the hospital," explained Applejack. "Ah reckon questions c'n wait 'til later." Parasol, mouth thin, swallowed dryly and nodded. "Well... alright then. Lead the way." Alula had met Nurse Redheart a few years ago, when she had broken a wing. It hadn't been serious, but the nurse had struck Alula as a good friend, but generally stern and strict. It was confusing sometimes, being a filly. Parasol kept close to Alula throughout the whole ordeal. Noi was brought to a ward, and there were a lot of questions asked to Twilight and Applejack and Parasol, but not to Alula because she was just a filly, and fillies don't know anything about big important adult things, right? Right. Soon enough, Noi's parents arrived; Action Shot and Coco Crusoe. There was more confusion, much worried looks and even a brief "conversation" between Coco and Parasol that really wasn't nice enough to be called a "conversation" at all. "Your family's trouble," he had snarled. "You stay away from us." Parasol had opened her mouth to retort, but they had already gone to watch over their daughter. Alula watched as her sister slammed a hoof down on the ground and gritted her teeth, muttering very bad words to herself. Parasol caught Alula's eye and stopped, then rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly. "Er... sorry, Lu. Kind of lost it there." "I saw that," pointed out Alula. "What's Mum and Dad gonna say?" "Not much," admitted Parasol. "They've been called over to Hoofington for a while. Freak snowstorm, apparently. They won't be back until the summer holidays, at least." This had happened in the past, numerous times in fact. Alula's parents were weather-tamers; they were responsible for all stray spikes of weather, everything from cyclones to hurricanes. But normally they would inform Alula and Parasol weeks before - pegasus magic was strong enough to judge weather spikes. "Not this one," Parasol said apologetically, when Alula pointed this out. "Sorry, Lu. Just me and you, eh?" Parasol laughed weakly. Alula looked to the ground. Yeah, sis. Just me and you. No Mum and Dad. No Noi. And then the horror set in. What'll I do about Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon at school? Because Noi had always been the protector; the cool head in times of heat, the calm voice amidst the roar, the helping hoof when Alula picked fights with stallions in high school. Moreover, she had been the smart one - she used words, not hooves, against the bullies. She wasn't easily provoked, she wasn't hot-headed and she wasn't Alula. "You'll have other fillies at school, right? To play with and hang out with and stuff?" Parasol, oh Parasol - so oblivious to the bigger picture, so blind, so mixed-up with her priorities, so - Oh Celestia, Noi! I'm forgetting Noi! How did she faint? Why did she faint? Was it me? Celestia's sun, it was me, wasn't it? Her internal monologue was interrupted by the voice of Twilight Sparkle, Element of Magic and local librarian. "Alula? Are... you alright?" "Better than Noi," she said immediately, then gasped at what she had said. Twilight and Parasol took no notice of this, though. "Alula," Twilight began, her tone serious. "I am as worried for your friend as you are, though perhaps... not for the same reasons. Would it be alright with you - and your sister and family - " Twilight nodded towards Parasol at this, " - if you came to my house and answered a few questions? Nothing serious - it's just that this doesn't normally happen, as you would appreciate." Alula had to laugh; it was either that or cry. Guilt was already taking over - she hadn't felt like this since she had taken a peek of her sister's diary and discovered Parasol's crush on some stallion or other. Parasol, smartly, decided to step in at this point. "We appreciate the offer, Twilight, and we both acknowledge the... peculiarities of the situation. But... well, quite a bit has happened today." Twilight nodded seriously, and Applejack appeared at her side. "Sugarcube, ah reckon Parasol's right," said the farm pony, amusement lighting her sap-green eyes. "Any day's taxin' on a filly, an' today ain't the day fer interrogatin'." "Maybe tomorrow," added Parasol, latching onto the excuse like a limpet to a rock. "Yeah, we're actually really tired. Aren't we, Lu?" Parasol jiggled Alula with her wing, smiling widely. Alula stifled a giggle and nodded seriously. Applejack chuckled and tipped her hat to them both. "Well, alright, then," she said. "C'mon, Twi, let's leave 'em." Twilight nodded, and smiled weakly. "Heh, sorry. I just love finding out new things - and can I say this is quite fascinating..." "How will Noi be?" burst out Alula. Twilight looked aback for a minute, then smiled again. "She'll be fine. A little magical surge knocked her out, but she'll recover soon. Still, she'll be feeling a bit shaky for a good week; today was probably her last school day for the year." Alula bit her lip, then forced a smile. "Take care, alright?" said Twilight, then gave them one more smile as she turned and left. "Come on," whispered Parasol to Alula. "Let's go get ice-cream. My treat. And remember," she added playfully, "it wasn't your fault, okay?" "Okay," said Alula, and grinned. But as they turned to leave the hospital, Alula couldn't help but feel like everything, right then and there, was her fault. Author's Note Just to make things clear... 1) Alula is DEFINITELY NOT an alicorn. AT ALL. EVER. 2) Noi is not an alicorn either. Her special talent is finding things. She is an earth pony. She has no title other than her name.
Chapter Three: Sleepless in ErrorThe ice-cream was good. Great, in fact. Parasol had a rocky road that she drowned in chocolate syrup, and Alula had her absolute favourite ice-cream flavour of all time ever: vanilla. While they spooned the snacks into their mouth, Alula listened to - and often interrupted - Parasol's recount of her day at the weather factory. Alula wasn't clear on the details, but there seemed to be some kind of romance rhombus going on between her and Flitter and Thunderlane. "I mean, just because she's his younger brother's foalsitter doesn't justify anything! She's probably just foalsitting Rumble because she wants to suck up to him! I mean, what does she have that I don't?!" Angrily, Parasol shovelled a huge dollop of rocky road into her mouth. Alula blinked at her, confused, then snickered. "Well, she probably doesn't have a fuse shorter than Snips!" Parasol opened her mouth to yell, then remembered she had rocky road in her mouth and went to stop it from spilling out. Alula snorted with laughter at the sight of her sister struggling with rocky road ice-cream and chocolate syrup oozing out from the corners of her lips. In the end, they finished their ice-cream and went home, laughing and joking in the way sisters do when they're full on ice-cream and not, thankfully, lactose intolerant. Alula challenged Parasol to a race to Cloudsdale, which Parasol agreed to, but lost on account of her particularly filling rocky road and chocolate syrup. "Thank Celestia for vanilla!" crowed Alula, raising her hooves to the sky as if appealing to some higher being. "Shut... up..." panted Parasol, leaning against a nearby cloud and huffing. "Mum and Dad'd ground you for giving me lip like that," teased Alula, flying circles around Parasol as she found her bearings on the cumulus streets of Cloudsdale. "Again..." hissed Parasol, "shut... up..." Alula continued to tease her until they reached their house - one of many pegasus dwellings nestled alongside the thoroughfare of Cloudsdale. Parasol, still muttering to herself, got out a key and unlocked their door. Alula pushed past her playfully and began bouncing on the couch. "You..." snarled Parasol, "are so mean..." That night, they had a dinner consisting of pizza, courtesy of Private Pansy's Pegasus Pizzaria. It was delicious, just like every other pizza from Pansy's, and was a family-sized one fully loaded with veggies of all kinds. Alula and Parasol constantly fought over the slices with more mushrooms, but would force the ones with tomatoes onto each other - now that Alula thought about it, Mum and Dad hated tomatoes too. It seemed to be a kind of family trait. Then they watched mild horror movies, which left Parasol shaking and Alula rolling her eyes. Afterwards, they had a quick chat, then Parasol kissed Alula's forehead and closed the door behind her. Alula fell asleep, and she dreamed... "Where am I?" Alula spun around, blinking in confusion. She seemed to be standing beneath a dark-blue sky, with black-and-white tiles stretching out to either side, as far as her eyes could see. "H-hello?" There was the voice again. Somehow, it was familiar, like somepony she had known well but had forgotten over the years. It seemed to be coming from behind her, so she turned around and looked for the speaker. "Anypony?" Then it hit her. That was her voice. Shuddering, Alula began to walk forward. Anything was better than just standing still, after all. So she trotted across the checkerboard expanse, looking for the speaker who had Alula's voice. But the scenery did not change. Above, purple clouds swirled, and Alula was reminded of her parents, and how she wouldn't see them until the holidays, and she was suddenly very, very sad indeed... "Hello? Who's there?" "It's me," said Alula, and found that the not-her didn't sound exactly like her, just similar enough to fool even her. "Alula. Who are you?" There was a pause, and then the not-her answered. "My name is Erroria... Princess Animatia Erroria. Are you a princess, Alula?" Alula laughed. "No, Princess Animatia Erroria, I'm not. But what's a princess doing in my head?" The air rippled - no, not at all. The air glitched, twisting in upon itself then righting itself quickly, almost embarrassed. "I don't know," whispered the princess. "But you can call me Erroria..." Alula frowned. "Erroria..." The word didn't flow off the tongue. Rather, it seemed to inch nervously to the edge, then close its eyes and jump off. "Oh, hang on... I'll just..." Again, the air glitched, but the spastic movements seemed to be centred on a point a few feet in front of Alula. The air twisted again, and a few phrases of random code flashed across the sky, then a filly just like Alula appeared. Wings, mane, no cutie mark... But there was one difference. She had a horn. "Hello," she said softly, looking up. Alula looked into eyes the same shade as her, but as she looked closer, she saw that the air around Erroria was glitching too, with code flashing around her and bright colours shuddering and blinking in and out of existence. "Well," said the stunned Alula, "that was... unexpected." Erroria smiled weakly, then the air glitched out again. There was a brief span of darkness... ...then Erroria's eyes were the bright red of a traffic light, surrounded by screen-black... ...then everything began to go the colour of vanilla. While Alula fell asleep - no, while Alula woke up, she thought sleepily that mysterious dream sequences were so very cliche indeed... Alula woke up.
Chapter Four: Lesson ErrorThe next day, Alula said nothing of the dream to Parasol. There wasn't much point, and at any rate her older sister looked like she could do with some strong coffee, which Parasol had after she got up at least two hours after Alula. Still, they had a good brunch of scrambled eggs and piping-hot cocoa and veggie burgers, and at one o'clock they went over to the Golden Oak Library. Alula realised suddenly that she had never been to the library before. She wasn't that big of a reader, and whenever she did read, it was usually science-fiction: space-travel had always intrigued her. Princess Luna in particular was somepony that she both feared and revered - mostly, though, she just feared. After all, she had been up on the moon for a thousand years - she surely had seen aliens or something during that, hadn't she? Well, actually, she was Nightmare Moon back then, so obviously she would've been plotting or something, right? And anyway, I reckon it's more of a metaphorical thing - I mean, the craters in the moon used to look like her head, so her soul or something was probably trapped within the moon or... or something. Ahem. If ponies can literally jump out of their skin, Alula would probably have done so. As they can't, she simply started so violently that she nearly kicked a passing Berry Punch. "Alula?" said Parasol, while Berry Punch tossed them an affronted look. "Are you alright?" "Yeah! Yeah yeah yeah, I'm fine, I'm just... uh..." Alula fixed a wide grin on her face while she cast around for an excuse, any excuse. She blurted out the first thing that came to her head, which was regretfully, "Itchy!" Parasol blinked at her. "Itchy," she deadpanned. Alula nodded, almost maniacally. "Yep! Yeah! Exactly! I'm really really really itchy! Like, soooo itchy!" To illustrate her point, she began scratching ferociously at her head, her hooves, her wings, that awkward grin still glued onto her face. Parasol said nothing. Instead, she sighed and shook her head. "Fillies..." The Golden Oak Library was a giant tree, hollowed out into both a living space and walls lined with inbuilt bookshelves. When Parasol had knocked on the door, they had been greeted not by Twilight Sparkle but by her baby dragon assistant, Spike. Alula had seen him around town a few times, but only knew his name because Noi did - and then the guilt came back. "Oh!" he had said. "You're Alula and Parasol, I guess. Come on in!" And here they were now. Twilight and Parasol were going through the obligatory small talk, while Alula was allowed to walk around the place. The books were old and dusty, with titles down their spines that she had to tilt her head to read. She didn't for most of them, though, after checking out the upper layer of tomes and discovering that none of them were about space. So she went over to Twilight to ask after them. "Oh!" said the unicorn. "You like books, I suppose?" Parasol laughed. "And Princess Luna was banished to the sun!" Alula shot her sister an angry look, then turned back to Twilight. "Not really. Just the ones about space." "Well, you were looking in the history section! The science-fiction books are over there - " Twilight waved a lavender hoof towards the other side of the library, " - and the space books are up near the top." Alula thanked Twilight, then went over to the shelves, flew up and began browsing. She soon came across a likely-looking volume: When the Stars Align, which was book one in the Phenomena series. It was a fairly thick book, with a storyline that Alula was drawn to, so she descended and began reading. That is, until the voice came back. That looks good. Didn't you see somepony reading that a few weeks ago or something? Alula said nothing. Then, very very hesitantly, hissed, "Who are you?" I'm Princess Animatia Erroria. Have you forgotten me already? Oh dear, I'm not that boring, am I? Alula couldn't tell if the voice was kidding or not. "Um... so... the dream was... wait, what? This is just like some bad fantasy series!" I'd shrug if you could see me. Alula frowned. According to the rules of these kinds of situations, she was supposed to be panicking, doubting her sanity. Rather, it was like somepony she had been expecting an hour ago had shown up, only that she had been expecting her for her whole life. In fact, she had been expecting somepony for so long, she had forgotten that she was expecting somepony. And now that pony was here. I'm not afraid to say that that narration was terribly cheesy. "What happened to being all scared and stuff?" commented Alula, turning a page. "Alula?" came Parasol's voice. "Are you alright?" "Fine," called back Alula, and lowered her voice. "Is there some kind of way I can talk psychically to you or something?" No. Alula pouted. "No need to be so smug." Then Twilight was there, saying something about asking some questions, and Alula found herself saying yes, sure, why not... "So," said Alula, "this isn't going to kill me?" She was hooked up to a machine that Twilight had called the "x-ray". It had a large flat board with lots of buttons and knobs and dials and flashing things on it at the front, while at the back Alula was sitting in a chair in the uncomfortable way Lyra Heartstrings had. On her head was a bowl-shaped helmet thingy, with a lot of wires and blinking lights on it. It was heavy. Alula fidgeted. Twilight laughed. "Of course not! I've tested this countless times on myself and Spike." "It tickled," said Spike. "All it does is measure your magic levels." He frowned, and added, "You may feel a bit hungry afterwards, but you should be fine!" "The stuff with your friend - " Twilight cleared her throat, and continued, " - yesterday got me thinking. Normally, only a strong surge of magic would have done something like that, so that got me thinking. It's probably nothing, but Parasol's agreed, so...?" Alula shrugged. "Should be fine!" She cast a look over at her big sister. Alula knew her - she would always act so nonchalant, but inside she knew that she was worrying more than a mother. "I'll be fine," said Alula pointedly. Parasol nodded stiffly, then laughed at Alula's poker face. "Well, alright. Is it okay if I stay here, Twilight, or...?" Twilight winced. "Well, um, actually, the magic levels here can get just a teeny tiny bit too high when the x-ray's in use, so I'm afraid you'll have to stay outside. But I guarantee that she'll be fine!" Parasol bit her lip. Alula could almost see the internal battle raging within her older sister. So the young vanilla pony sighed, and said, "Come on, Para, if it starts hurting I'll scream." The other ponies laughed, and Erroria said, Good job. Get them calm. Then we'll be able to see what happened to Noi. Maybe it's something to do with you, thought Alula, suddenly and viciously, and was immediately grateful when she remembered that Erroria couldn't read her thoughts. The two mares had a quick conversation, while Alula looked around. The wires on her helmet were attached to lots of meters and small boxes with screens. She resolved not to touch anything, and to look as calm as possible. Then Parasol was stepping out of the door, telling Alula to behave, and the door closed, and Parasol was gone. "So," said Twilight, "first off, I'll just ask you a few questions. Okay?" Alula nodded, as well as she could with the helmet on her head. "Okay..." Twilight looked down at her clipboard. "Well, Alula - do you remember what happened before Noi fainted?" "Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon were picking on this filly with a bow... then these two other ponies came out from under a table, I remember that - oh! And I was trying to get to them to stand up for the filly, but..." At this point, Alula frowned. "But?" prompted Twilight. "But Noi stopped me," mumbled Alula. There was silence, apart from the beeping of the x-ray and the scratching of Twilight's quill. Erroria kept silent. Alula was glad of that at least, as the guilt suddenly overtook her. She didn't cry, though, not with Twilight around again and Parasol just outside the door. "So," said Twilight, and her voice was gentler this time, "what happened afterwards?" "Well," said Alula, and swallowed, and continued. "She started having a headache, so I got up to help her, and when I touched her, she yelled and... and fell over." She sounded weak, and tinny, and stupid. But Twilight simply frowned, nodded and scribbled a few notes on her clipboard. "Now," said the unicorn, and gave Alula a warm smile, "let's take some tests!"
