One Day Off - A 'My Little Pony: Canterlot High' Side-story

It was nearly noon when the bus they were riding rolled up to the complex housing the pools. Apart from periodically checking his phone for more accurate updates on his mapping app, Gerald paid token attention to the others as they gossiped. He was most concerned that Twila might say something revealing about Equestria in public, but it seemed he needn’t have worried since she was just talking about the latest news along with the others.

The only other concern was how Rochelle kept changing her seating posture as she tried to get comfortable for the ride. She ended up resting her head against his shoulder and holding his right hand so that she led the rest of his arm across her shoulders. A lot of the other male riders spent a significant amount of time glaring at Gerald, but he had gotten worse from his own brother, so after a couple of minutes it stopped bothering him.

As they approached the complex, Gerald used his left hand to fish out and check his smartphone. He had been worried that the portal would be a fair walking distance from the pool, but as they all got off the bus he could see that it was inside the building. “This looks promising,” he said softly while Rochelle looked at the screen over his shoulder.

“Two birds with one stone, as they say?” Rochelle asked.

“Oh dear,” Felicia said, “I never understood that expression: who would ever want to hurt a couple of innocent birds?”

“Depends on what they’ve done,” Rae said.

“Or what they’ve eaten,” Jackie added. “But that’s what scarecrows are for.”

“Lets just go and find that portal, and maybe swim a bit,” Twila said, palm to her head.

“Yeah!” Rae and Pinkie cheered.

Inside the complex, Gerald took careful note of the building’s layout and the rooms they passed. The HUD in his glasses showed a wireframe map of the place in the bottom corner of his right lens, but all the mapping app could tell him was that the magic signature was to the left or right or further ahead or behind them.

Following these hints, Gerald pointed left or right each time the halls divided, but then as they split up so the girls could get changed to go swimming, the arrow’s direction changed. That was because Gerald had turned and started to walk away. “Oh no,” he groaned, checking his smartphone to confirm what his equipment was telling him.

“What ‘oh no?’” Twila asked. “Did you forget something at home, or at the store?” Then she looked at where he was pointing the phone’s built-in camera. “Oh no,” she echoed. The others gathered around, away from the door, to come up with a plan.

“You mean it’s in there?” Felicia asked, pointing at the door to the girls’ changing room. “Oh dear,”

“I don’t see what the problem is,” Rae said. “We just have to go in and... oh,”

“Yeah, I can see where that could be a problem,” Pinkie said.

“What’s the hold-up?” Jackie asked. “You gotta go in to use the portal, so you may as well get it over with.”

“I’m more concerned with what those who are already inside might think, seeing a man just walk in all of a sudden.”

“True, if they call security or the police you probably won’t have the time to do what you need to,” Rochelle said.

“Not to mention whoever’s in there won’t be used to being seen in the altogether the way you were,” Jackie said.

“Not wearing clothes in these hairless forms isn’t the same as when you’ve got a coat to cover you,” Twila said. “We definitely don’t need to cause a commotion, but what’re we going to do without magic?”

Rae and Pinkie exchanged a significant glance. “Just leave this to us,” Rae said.

“Yeah, we got this,” Pinkie skipped into the changing room, followed by Pinkie.

“I’m not going to like this, am I?” Twila asked after a moment. Silence followed, and then there was a muffled ‘BOOM!’ from the changing room. They took one step toward the door, and then grey smoke started to billow out between the cracks. The door burst open, and out flooded screaming women and girls, some in their bathing suits, others in street clothes, and still others in various stages of transition, clutching towels to cover what had to be covered, bags in hand as they all made for other available rooms in which they could complete the change.

The sudden explosion of activity made the group take at least a couple steps back to avoid being trampled. Jackie and Gerald managed to hold their ground, but Twila, Rochelle, and Felicia were windmilling their arms to try to avoid falling down. Hearing them voice their struggles, the other two pivoted and lunged to rescue their falling friends. Gerald had one arm wrapped around Rochelle’s waist as he reached further to grab Felicia’s extended wrist. He centered his balance over his leading foot directly underneath him as he squatted, and swept his tailing foot around in a full arc, even stamping it once for balance, and froze just like that for a moment. Jackie grabbed Twila just fine, but she lost her bag. Spike tumbled out when it hit the ground. “Careful!”

“Sorry, Spike,” Twila said as Jackie helped pull her back up to her feet. Felicia pulled herself along Gerald’s arm until she had her balance back, at which point he and Rochelle could also stand.

“Nice save,” Rochelle said.

“Thank you. Everyone alright?”

“From the sound of things, we were lucky not to get trampled,” Spike said. “What happened?”

Rochelle wrinkled her nose, as she became aware of a certain pungent scent. “Stink bomb,” she said distastfully.

“Smoke bomb? Isn’t that a bit excessive?” Twila asked as Rae and Pinkie stuck their heads out the door, both grinning.

“What? You said something about needing some time to do something, and this’ll give you time! Don’t worry: the smell’s quick-fading.”

“True, we want the other women to stay away, but won’t the building facility come to check it out and clean up?”

“Not if we lock the doors and make it look like they’re already on it,” Rae said.

“Oh, good plan.”

“It’s as good as any,” Gerald said. He spotted a ‘wet floor’ sign over by a nearby water fountain and planted it in front of the door instead. They had to be careful getting around it, and then he dragged it so it was as far into the doorway as he could make it. Then he waited for the door to swing closed before turning the lock.

The others went ahead of him into the changing room, which was already smelling more clear. There was a washroom, some benches and lockers, and the showering area, each with its own partition for privacy. There was then a short, curving hall that opened up to the pool area. Spike took up a position near the end of the hallway to keep watch while Gerald took his smartphone out to located the portal.

“Here it is,”

“A shower stall? Seriously?” Rae asked.

“I bet you’re glad we got everyone out first, huh?” Pinkie said.

“So how’s it look?” Jackie asked.

“Wait, how do we know someone didn’t already slip through it?” Twila asked.

“According to what I can tell, the portal is here, but it’s closed, like the one at CHS was most of the time,” Gerald said.

“Oh, I don’t want to do this again when it opens,” Felicia said.

“That’s okay, because I don’t think this one has a time-based lock on it. It can be opened with a gating spell or ceremony.”

“But we can’t cast magic here,” Twila said.

“Fortunately I came prepared,” Gerald said, opening his bag. “This will take a couple minutes to set up.”

“Considering we don’t know how much time we have before someone checks on the stink bomb for real, maybe we better get started on our own prep,” Rae suggested.

“You’re right, Rayne,” Rochelle said. “Lets go get changed.”

“Now?” Gerald asked, startled.

“When else? Try not to get too tempted to turn around and look,”

“Celestia’s mane, I guess I’ll try to resist the temptation to come all the way back to the changing section,” Gerald said.

“Oh, I doubt we have enough time to go all that way back,” Rochelle said, giving as good as she was getting. Gerald heard Felicia whimper, and then a shower curtain got drawn closed. Of course, that was another solution.

“By George I think she’s got it,” Jackie said.

Gerald shook his head, and returned his full attention to the task at hand. First he unrolled a square sheet of canvas paper that he had been carrying in a tube and laid it flat on the shower stall’s tiled floor. He had drawn a magic circle on the paper, so that regardless of where he had to set up he could carry out the casting. Next he placed four small jewels, all from his reserves, on the mat at each of the cardinal directions. There was a sapphire for north, a ruby for south, an emerald for west, and an amber-coloured stone for east. Before he launched into the next step, Gerald patted the mat down to ensure it was as flat against the floor as he could make it.

Gerald took his sheathed geargem dagger out of his duffel bag, and then placed the near-empty bag behind him. Kneeling there, looking at the dagger as he drew it, an odd thought occurred to him. So he held it, blade upward and crosspiece perpendicular to the wall ahead of him, and said “Sword of Gears, grant me sight beyond sight!” The blade extended to sword length, and the galf-gear crosspiece rotated so the teeth were toward the handle, and then split open becoming a more traditional crosspiece.

“I’ve never heard you say that before,” Twila said, poking her head into the stall behind him.

“I thought it’d be fun,” Gerald said, shrugging.

Rae snickered. “You’re such a geek,”

“I don’t know, Rayne, it sounds like you understood the reference.”

“And you don’t, Jackie?”

“Um... I understood the reference,” Felicia said.

“Uh, girls?” Spike said from the passage to the pool area.

“What is it, Spike? Is someone coming?” Twila asked.

“No, but the indoor pool’s looking kind of crowded.”

“What about the outdoor pool?” Jackie asked.

“It looks better. Wait, do you swim here often?”

“Every summer with Mark and Bea,”

“That would explain why she and the other Crusaders are here,”

“Really?” Pinkie said. “We could have a pool party!”

“I’m not so sure,”

“Why?”

“It’s the lifeguard on duty: it’s Bradley.”

“Brad’s here?” Gerald could hear Twila scramble into the shower stall and draw the curtain closed behind her. Ironically it was the same stall he was in, but fortunately she already had her swimsuit on.

“You both said that like it’s a problem,” Pinkie said, “but the more the merrier, right?”

“Not if I embarrass myself in front of him,”

“And I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I’m kind of a dog right now.”

“Oh no, pets aren’t allowed near the pool,” Felicia said. “What will we do?”

There was silence for a moment, and then Rochelle piped up. “Idea!~ Why, don’t you see how this is perfect?” She drew the shower curtain open with a flourish, but Twila crouched, as if to hide herself. “All you have to do, Twila dear, is to show him some of your pony charm.”

Gerald could not help but snicker. “Did you really just..?”

“Pardon me, but you were all ‘Sword of Gears.’ How dare you give me a hard time,” Rochelle said, hands on hips as she admonished him mockingly.

“I could have gone one worse,”

“And how’s that?”

“’I have the –‘”

“Okay, I concede! Get up, Darling,” she said to Twila. “All we have to do is doll you up a bit, and... oh no, that won’t do at all!”

“What’s wrong with my swimsuit?”

“How can you show your full charm in a one-piece?”

“By swimming extra fast in it?” Rae suggested.

“With confetti!” Pinkie said.

There was a pause, and then Felicia said, “why are you all looking at me? I haven’t got any ideas.”

“Well, that’s the best idea I’ve heard so far,” Jackie said. The others laughed.

“I don’t get it,” Felicia said. They laughed harder. “No, seriously, I don’t...” She mewed.

Well, no one else could pull that one off, Gerald thought. Correction: Fluttershy could.

“Still, we have to do something about that suit,” Rochelle said. “Aha!” She grabbed Twila and led her into another available stall. “We’ll take this, and then do this...”

“But Rari – I mean Rochelle, this is...”

“Take it, you’ll need it more.”

Gerald rolled his eyes, not knowing specifically what was going on, and not knowing if he wanted to know at this point. He focused on his sword, and began the short but looped incantation. The magic circle glowed, the gems rose up, and energies began to swirl, sending wind out to flow through the rest of the changing room. The gems began to spin in an orbit above the center of the magic circle, and then they tilted until they were perpendicular to the far wall and flying slowly toward it. Before they could hit said wall, thankfully, they vanished into a rippling space. Multi-coloured ripples spread out until they covered a person-sized shape. As the others started sticking their heads into the stall to see what was going on, Gerald expected the swirling portal to stabilize in a slight flash, but all he could do was to continue the incantation.

And then there was a flash, and Gerald had to suppress a grin although he was temporarily blinded. When his vision did clear, though, all thoughts of levity vanished, and instead curiosity struck at full force.

“Sunset Shimmer?!” Twila asked, gaping. Indeed, there stood Twilight’s yellow- and red-haired predecessor in a pink top and yellow skirt. She was also wearing a jewel on a necklace that had four very familiar colours on it. Gerald took his smartphone back out and proceeded to scan both their returned former-adversary and the space in front of the wall, which shimmered slightly.

“You’re not a demon anymore!” Pinkie said, bouncing.

“Yeah, that worked out about as well as that armoured friend of yours said it would,” Shimmer said. “It took awhile, but your friends back in Equestria were kind enough to accept me, and Princess Celestia said they could teach me a lot. It’s kind of embarrassing to admit, but they’re letting me use the Element of Magic in your place, Twilight.”

“So you’re...”

“Writing reports on friendship to Princess Celestia? Yes, I’m doing that.”

“You’re Princess Celestia’s student again,”

“But I will never replace you, nor will I try. I know I made a lot of mistakes, and I’m trying to make up for them now.”

“I think you’re well on your way, Sunset Shimmer.”

“Oh! Speaking of on the way, Twilight, if I’m here does that mean the portal’s open again? You could come home!” Shimmer grabbed Twila’s wrist and started to pull her toward the back of the shower stall.

“Hold it,” Gerald said, twisting his wrist slightly so the tip of his sword touched the wall ahead and to the side of Shimmer. He had the flat of the blade toward her, but she stopped in her tracks anyway.

“What’s wrong? Twilight can go home and nopony will have to worry anymore!”

“What’s wrong is that only one person can go through that portal before it becomes non-functional again, never to return to this location.”

“Where are we, anyway? This doesn’t look like CHS.”

“It’s the pool, silly?”

“The pool?” Shimmer stared Gerald straight in the eyes. “What’re you doing in the girls’ changing room?”

“Looking for the portal. What else would I be doing?”

“He has a girlfriend, by the way,” Rochelle said.

“Oh. Congratulations, I guess?”

“In any case, the portal will only transfer one person, and that person has to be wearing that necklace.”

“I didn’t even notice this,”

“You can think of it as the key. A key to a door on an electronic walkway moving in the direction opposite from that of your own walkway. It is one, single guaranteed safe pass.”

“I got it. Twilight should be the one to use it... but she wouldn’t leave Spike behind.”

“Or Gearhead,” Twila said. “As of now we need three safe passes, assuming you stay here.”

“I can’t,” Shimmer said. “I’ve got lessons I mean to finish in Equestria.”

“You’re going to see this through to the end?”

“Yes,”

Twila hugged Shimmer. “I’m proud of you,” she said.

“Hey, I’m the older one. I’m supposed to be proud of you.”

“Are you now?”

“Hello, girls? Can we get back to what we’re going to do before someone comes rushing in here?” Spike said.

“Why, what’s the situation?”

“We needed to clear the room so Gerry here could come in,” Rae said.

“So Rae and I set off a stink bomb!” Pinkie said.

“So now we’re worried that someone might come and catch him,” Jackie said.

“And Brad’s out there, and I’m in here,” Spike said.

“Ah, gotcha.”

“You don’t have to go back to Equestria right away, do you?” Pinkie asked.

“Well, no. Not unless the portal would close on me if I waited too long.”

“The rate of decay’s practically negligible,” Gerald said. “It will last at least the day, and as long as you have the jewel I used to open it, no one else can use and destabilize it.”

“That means you can swim with us!” Pinkie said.

“I’d like that,”

“Oh, Felicia Darling, why did you switch that wonderful bikini you bought for that? It’s so... plain.”

“I... umm... also brought the bikini. But I was kind of hoping...”

“I’ll help you with it,” Shimmer said. “I know just the think that’ll help.”

“And I’ll lend you a spare,” Rochelle said.

“Hey, if you had a spare all this time, why did I have to go through all that before?”

“Because, Darling, this suits you better. And I have to have my fun.”