Chapter One: Thou Art I, And I Am Thou
Twilight Sparkle looked out the train window, "Friendship Through the Ages" playing in her ears. Spike shifted next to her as the subway train rattled along the tracks, and Twilight absently stroked him in an effort to quiet him down. In roughly half an hour, she would be in Canterlot, her new home for the next year at least. The coffins would also appear - it was eleven-thirty PM.
Twilight shuddered as she recalled the first time the sky had turned green. It was around midsummer, and she had been up late reading with Spike curled up next to her. The clock turned midnight, and her bed, next to the window and bathed in blue light, was suddenly coated in sickly green. Looking out the window, a coffin was now standing upright on the sidewalk, facing her window.
She yanked the blinds shut and threw the covers over her head, her heart thumping as she whimpered quietly in fear. Spike snuggled a little closer to the distressed girl, but even when the sky went back to normal and the coffin disappeared she couldn't go back to sleep. Her parents had tried to convince her it was all a bad dream, and she had desperately hoped they were right, but ever since then she had become obsessed with the supernatural, looking in books and online for any record of such a phenomenon happening to someone else.
Her search had resulted in the decision to transfer to Canterlot High, the spectacular light show sighted a few months ago having taken place at their Battle of the Bands, and before that the entire front of the school had been blown up for 'reasons unknown'. Geologists had suspected an earthquake, but Twilight knew better. There was something suspicious about that school.
The train stopped, and she grabbed her bags, picked up Spike, and pushed through the turnstiles just in time to see people turn to coffins and the sky turn the green of a witch's potion. What a lovely sight.
Occasionally glancing at the list of directions that she'd written down for herself, she headed to the Canterlot High dormitories, for those who had to stay at school year-round for any reason. She pushed open the door, and was greeted with an unusual sight; lights on. Everyone except the dorm supervisor should be asleep by now. Besides, the power always goes out during this time!
She turned to the right side of the rather cozy main room and jumped in surprise. Not at the fact that it was in shadow, but the fact that there was a girl standing there. Her skin was a pale pink, and her white-and-purple curls sat on her shoulders, a little propeller beanie sitting atop them, spinning despite the lack of a breeze. She smiled serenely. Spike growled at her.
The puppy's growling seemed to amuse the girl, as her only reaction was a soft giggle. When she spoke, it was sudden and her voice had a foreign lilt to it. "It's a pleasure to meet you. Now would you kindly sign the contract over there?"
She pointed to the reception desk across from her, and Twilight looked over to see that there was, indeed, a contract, and a blue pen sitting next to it. Twilight walked over to the desk and peered at the contract; it was written in a language she could not decipher.
"It's nothing big. All you're doing when you sign it is accepting responsibility for any choices you may make."
Well, that doesn't seem like too big a deal. Twilight thought. She picked up the pen and signed the contract without hesitation.
The girl giggled. "We'll meet again, very soon." Her propeller began to spin faster, and the skirt of her black-and-white dress began to blow around her knees as she slowly but surely disappeared, the contract vanishing with her. The pen stayed, however.
There was a whisper, and she was gone.
"That was definitely odd." Twilight said aloud quietly.
Suddenly, a girl clattered down the stairs, pointing a gun at Twilight.
