Poor Reflections

Chapters

A (Big) Favor
Rachel
Allison
Felicity
Rebecca
Penny
(Ground) Rules
(Re)Introductions
Rain and (Lack of) Tears
(Relative) Distance
(Time) Management
(Peaceful) Domesticity
(Sinking) Ship
(Infuriating) Grin

A (Big) Favor

The sun is shining from the wrong side of the room.

That was the first thought that crossed Twilight’s mind as her eyes blinked open. She didn’t recognize her surroundings at first as her eyes slowly adjusted to the glare of reflected sunlight off of crystalline walls. She thought that she might be visiting Shining Armor and Princess Cadance in the Crystal Empire, but the furnishings were too spartan for that to be the case.

Then memories of recent events came back to her in a rush, and she was sorely tempted to crawl back under the covers and hide her head. She lay there, lost in thought, for a long while. The past few days had been trying, to say the least.

She had gone from the most powerful alicorn in all of Equestrian history to a hollow shell of her former self, wholly unable to conjure even the weakest telekinetic field. She’d made the necessary sacrifice in order to save her friends, but had almost damned Equestria in the bargain, in the hopes that everything would work out okay.

And it had – Tirek was defeated and Equestria was saved. Twilight and her friends had not only had their magic returned to them, but they had received an even greater boon – the ability to channel the Tree of Harmony. With its aid, they had restored the balance of magic to Equestria. The princesses had been restored to power and ruled once more. Twilight had received her full title, the Princess of Friendship, and obtained her domain as well. They had won, and all was right with the world.

So why do I feel so empty inside?

If there was one thing Twilight had learned over the last several years, it was that the best weapon against existential ennui was a large dose of caffeine. With a resigned sigh, she threw off her blankets and crawled out of bed.

She winced as her hooves echoed sharply across the room when they touched the floor. Gone were the soft creaks of well-worn floorboards beneath plush throw rugs. Gone were the aged wooden furnishings to deflect and absorb the sound waves. Even the usual morning birdsongs took on a noticeable reverb, undercutting the cheer she normally took from them.

She walked over to the window and looked down across the town of Ponyville. She was so high above it all, a story or two above even the top of the town hall. She felt disconnected from everything at this height. It was as though the castle, and by extension, her role as Princess of Friendship, had literally elevated her above the mundane concerns of the townsfolk below. She knew deep in her heart that the exact opposite should be true. And yet...

Twilight’s wings twitched. She was tempted to hop out the window and glide down to see what was going on in the town below, to mingle with her friends and neighbors and remind herself that she was still Twilight Sparkle, not a goddess-regent locked away in a crystalline tower. But she knew from experience that flying first thing in the morning without stretching properly, let alone without eating something, was a terrible idea. No, she needed to start her day correctly, and that began with a fresh pot of coffee.

She tried to shake off her lingering melancholy as she left her bedroom and headed down the tower staircase towards the upper reaches of the main keep. Golden sunlight streamed through the narrow windows and refracted into a thousand tiny rainbows scattered through the hall. Here, at least, there was a small measure of simple beauty and warmth, and a smile tugged at the corner of her mouth as she descended.

She stopped at the base of the stairs next to Spike’s bedroom door, which she was surprised to see was ajar. She knocked a hoof against it before poking her head inside. “Spike?”

The room was empty. His bed was made, too. “Hmm. That’s strange,” she wondered aloud. She walked over to the railing overlooking the main hall and raised her voice as she called again. “Spike?”

“Hoo,” came a reply from above her. She looked up to see Owlowiscious glide down towards her, a scroll rolled up in one of his talons. He swooped around her head once, then landed on her back.

She turned to look at him. It had been a very near thing that she had saved him from Tirek when he destroyed the Golden Oaks Library; she had barely been able to grab him and teleport outside as their home exploded behind her. He was a loyal friend, an excellent helper, and she was very glad he was safe. “Good morning, Owlowiscious. Do you know where Spike has gotten himself to?”

“Hoo,” he replied as he held out the note, which she enveloped in a telekinetic field and opened. It was, in fact, a note from Spike.

Hey, Twilight –

I couldn’t sleep that well – the new castle doesn’t make noises like the library used to, and the silence kinda got to me, y’know? So I got up early and did a few chores around the castle, mostly just to see what we still need.

We don’t have a lot of basic stuff – can you believe this place doesn’t have a coffee pot? I made a list of things we’ll need in the near future, and I’ve gone into town to get them. Don’t worry, a coffee pot is at the top of the list.

You’re still asleep – I’ll probably be in town for a while, so I left some bits in the crystal bowl at the bottom of the east staircase so you can head to Sugarcube Corner. I know you need your caffeine fix – please don’t try to go without it, we both know how well that turned out last time.

I’m leaving this note with Owlowiscious, so I know it’ll get to you as soon as you wake up. He was a big help pointing out stuff we need around here. I’m glad you got him out of the library okay.

I’m glad you got out okay too.

Love,
Spike

Twilight’s vision blurred as she finished the note. A lot went unsaid between the lines, but she read it easily enough. There was a lot left to get used to, but she was moved by how his concern fell squarely on her. I love you too, Spike.

She turned to look at her owl familiar again. “Thank you, Owlowiscious. How are you holding up? Is the new castle getting to you, too?”

“Hoot,” he replied as he gently bonked his head against the side of her face. It was an affectionate gesture, one that Twilight leaned back into as she nuzzled him.

“I’m glad you’re okay too.” She held the impromptu embrace for a while before she straightened. “Get a good day’s rest, okay? I think there might be another long night ahead of us.”

“Hoo.” He nipped at her ear fondly. She smiled back at him as he spread his wings and soared up into the crystalline arches of the main hall to find a place to sleep.

Twilight was tempted to follow suit and crawl back into bed herself. Spending the day trying to figure out how to live in her new home wasn’t something she was looking forward to. If she had her druthers, as Applejack would say, she’d be spending the day with her friends, enjoying each other’s company and spending as much time as possible away from this place.

Sadly, that wasn’t an option; in the wake of Tirek’s destruction and the toll he had taken on the hearts and minds of their fellow ponies, she and her friends had decided it was best to spread out their efforts to rebuild, as well as spend some time with their families. To that end, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy had gone to Cloudsdale, Pinkie had returned to her family’s rock farm outside Fillydelphia, and Rarity and her family were staying with some cousins in Canterlot. Applejack and the rest of the Apple family were still at Sweet Apple Acres, but it was the beginning of harvest season – they wouldn’t have any spare time over the next few weeks.

As for Twilight–

A loud knock at the front door disrupted her train of thought. Who could that be? Curious, she trotted down the stairs into the main hall. Another insistent knock resounded through the castle when she was halfway to the door, and she quickened her pace to a canter. “I’m coming, hold on,” she called. She teleported the remaining distance to the main entrance. She opened the door, and the last creature she expected to see on the other side of it greeted her.

“Hello, Twilight,” Discord said cordially as he towered over her, “may I come in?” He offered her a wide grin that showed off far too many of his mismatched teeth.

“Oh.” Twilight found herself momentarily at a loss for words before her manners caught up with her. “Um, hello, Discord. Yes, please come inside.” He stepped through the massive golden doors, and she shut them behind him. “I was actually about to head over to Sugarcube Corner for some coffee. Would you care to join me?”

“Oh, well, I would, Twilight, but, er, my face isn’t exactly greeted with a warm welcome around town these days.” He gestured at his goat-like visage, and his mismatched horn and antler rotated outward as he looked thoughtful for a moment. “Of course, the townsfolk have never really warmed to me all that much, if I’m honest.”

Twilight fixed him with a glare. “Gee, I wonder why,” she deadpanned. The list of atrocities Discord had visited upon Ponyville over the last few years had grown much longer when Tirek had convinced him to join his crusade against the princesses.

Discord shrugged. “It’s a puzzlement.” He had, at the end, helped to overthrow Tirek in a genuine act of contrition. Twilight, her friends, and Princess Celestia had forgiven him in light of his actions, but she could certainly understand how the other citizens of Equestria would take their time in doing so.

“Anyhow, if it’s coffee you’re after, I can certainly help with that.” With a grin and a snap of his claws, he teleported them both into chairs at the table in the castle’s cavernous dining room, where the ceiling promptly rained coffee beans.

Twilight sighed as beans bounced off her horn and buried themselves in her rumpled mane. It’s too early in the morning for this. The din of them clicking off of the crystalline floor and austere stone furniture was maddening, and Twilight had to shout in order to be heard. “This isn’t quite what I had in mind, Discord!”

“Oh, poo, and here I thought we were just having a bit of fun.” With another snap of his claws, the coffee beans vanished, replaced by several burlap sacks neatly stacked in the corner, next to the kitchen. “The finest slow-roasted coffee beans from Coltlumbia – I thought they would make a nice housewarming present, since Fluttershy mentioned you were a fan of coffee.”

“Oh.” Discord usually wasn’t so straightforward, nor was he this generous. Assuming he obtained them legitimately, that is. Twilight dismissed the unkind thought as soon as it formed. “Thank you, Discord, that’s... really sweet of you.”

“Oh, pshaw.” He daintily waved his eagle talon at her, then looked around the room. “I must say, I do love your new place. It clashes so gloriously with the decor of the rest of Ponyville. Homogeneity is so overrated, wouldn’t you–”

Discord must have caught how Twilight's ears folded back and her eyes cast downward at that statement, because he suddenly trailed off. “Er…” He looked around as if for something to say. “*ahem* So, Twilight… are you well?”

Twilight blinked at him as her ears perked back up; he was never one for small talk. “Um, yes, I suppose I am. How have you been?”

“Good, yes, good. Me too.” They stared at each other as an uncomfortable silence descended between them. Suddenly, Discord lifted his paw. “Oh, the coffee.” He snapped his claws one more time, and a giant pink ceramic coffee mug appeared on an incongruous gold inlaid enameled saucer. Drawn into the light foam of the steaming liquid within was a striking resemblance to Twilight herself, albeit with a cheesy grin and a vacant stare. She snorted. This is more like him. She looked up to see him take a sip from a comically convoluted straw, leading to a tall glass of something viscous, frothy, and fuchsia. She decided not to ask.

Then the aroma hit her – a heavenly scent, promising clarity and earthy delight in equal measure. Twilight’s eyes went wide, and she tilted her head down to whiffle at the coffee. “Is that… Is that hazelnut?”

“And a bit of nutmeg. It’s how Fluttershy takes her coffee at Sugarcube Corner; I’m given to understand it’s palatable.”

Twilight was inclined to agree as she took an experimental sip. It warmed her soul as quickly as it warmed her body – truly, this was how coffee was meant to be enjoyed. “It’s delicious. Thank you, Discord.” She took another indulgent sip of her coffee and smiled contentedly.

“You’re welcome.” He stared at her as she drank, to the point that Twilight’s smile faltered.

“Is something wrong?”

“Well…” He hesitated. “I suppose the truth is that I’m here for more than just a housewarming present and well-wishes. I… I need your help, Twilight.”

That’s a first. “Help with what?” She set her mug back down on the saucer. “Having trouble coming up with a birthday present for Fluttershy? You still have a couple of weeks left.”

He waved a paw as though he was swatting at a fly. “No no, I’ve had that taken care of for a while now. No, I need your help with something a bit… bigger.”

A cold feeling in the pit of her stomach fought for dominance over the warmth of the coffee. “How much bigger?”

Discord sighed as he leaned his elbows against the table and folded his mismatched digits together in front of himself. “Twilight, I realize I haven’t been the best friend to you or the girls. I’ve betrayed your trust multiple times, and I don’t blame you for harboring any lingering resentment towards me for my previous actions.” He paused as he considered her reaction to his words, but when she remained silent he continued. “That said, I would very much appreciate it if what I’m about to tell you never made its way back to Princess Celestia, or Princess Luna.”

The cold feeling won. “I– I don’t know if I can promise that, Discord.”

He sagged a bit in his seat, obviously disappointed with the answer, but he nodded. “I understand. I suppose I should have expected that. It doesn’t matter either way; I still need your help.”

Twilight took another sip of her coffee, then motioned for him to continue.

Discord took a deep breath as he began. “I’m certain nobody realizes this, but when I was first released from my stone prison a few years ago, I didn’t immediately set about sowing chaos across Equestria.”

Twilight blinked again. “You didn’t?”

He shook his head. “No. I was quite keen to distance myself from the Elements of Harmony and their wielders, so as soon as I was free, I abandoned this plane of existence entirely.”

“You… what?”

Discord frowned. “This is going to take a long time if you keep interrupting me like that,” he huffed.

“I’m sorry, I just– please continue.” Twilight took a swig of her coffee as Discord took another deep breath.

“Anyways, you’re not the only one who’s done a bit of interdimensional travel these past few years. I’d spent so much time rooted to the same spot that when I first got free, I wanted to wander as far and wide as I could. I spent the better part of a month hopping from universe to universe, merrily toying with the native inhabitants of each world I came to for a few hours. ” He seemed to smile at the memory, and Twilight grew increasingly unsettled.

Discord’s faint smile rotated upside down, which unsettled Twilight even further. “Of course, I see now that most of that fun was had at other people’s expense, and between the plundervines and the whole Tirek debacle, I realized that my actions have consequences that travel further than I may have intended.” The rest of Discord slowly rotated around to turn his expression back into a smile as he hovered upside-down. “So, since Fluttershy’s been away, and nopony wants anything to do with me anyways, I decided to check in on those other universes and see how they were doing.”

Twilight leaned forward, coffee forgotten. “And?”

“Well, as the fates would have it, anywhere I went, I was invariably drawn towards that world's equivalent of you and your friends. Some of those other universes – most, in fact – have managed to self-correct, more often than not due to other-you and friends banding together to heroically save the day.” He swung an upraised fist, then sighed. “But, for a few worlds, that hasn’t been the case. I need your help to fix one of them.”

She quirked an eyebrow. “Have you tried fixing it yourself?”

Discord snorted. “Ha! Have you met me? I don’t fix things, Twilight; at best, I break them in new and interesting ways.” He paused to take a sip of his own drink. “Besides, I already tried. I don’t think I accomplished very much.”

Twilight slowly nodded. “Okay. What do you need me to do?”

“I need you to come with me when I go there next; tomorrow, if you don’t have anything else planned.”

She didn’t, so she nodded. “What do you need me to do when we get there?”

He shrugged. “I haven’t the faintest idea.”

Twilight snorted incredulously. “What? Then why are you so sure you need my help?”

Discord’s red-on-yellow eyes stared at her, unblinking. “Because the 'you' of that world is dead.”

All traces of cheer vanished as Twilight’s blood ran cold. “You killed another version of me?”

“No! Heavens, no, don’t be silly,” Discord scoffed. “No, the other you died long after my visit, and half a world away from where I was. Tragic circumstances, to be sure, but it had nothing to do with me.” Twilight fixed him with an accusatory glare nonetheless, but Discord ignored her as he continued. “I did some digging, and it turns out she was supposed to be a foreign exchange student at the school your other friends attend the following year. It’s likely that the same pattern as all the other worlds would have unfolded there as well, were it not for her untimely demise. Whatever she was going to do,” he pointed his paw at her, “you will need to do in her stead.”

Twilight sighed. “Okay, then. Can Spike come with us? He was a big help the last couple of times I’ve–”

Discord was already shaking his head no. “I’m sorry Twilight, but this isn’t going to be a simple jaunt through a stable magical portal. It’s easy for me to slip between worlds – it’s what I do, part of who I am. Taking you along for the ride, however, is another thing entirely. I can’t even guarantee that I can get you there and back again safely; taking along two passengers is out of the question.”

The cold feeling spread up towards Twilight’s heart. “I– I can’t just leave him here by himself!”

The draconequus held up his mismatched paw and talon, claws spread wide. “He’s your assistant. I have every confidence in your ability to find a place to stash him while you’re away.” As though the matter had been settled, he clapped, teleporting them both back to the entrance hall. “I’ll see you at dawn tomorrow morning at the edge of the Everfree Forest. That’s the time and place the walls between planes will be thinnest, so please don’t be late.”

“But–”

“I have very little patience for wishy-washiness, Princess Twilight,” Discord almost hissed, “and as you’ve already said you’d help, I trust you to find a way to be able to keep your word.” He may as well have physically manifested the word “princess” and slapped her with it.

Seeing how stung she was by his words, Discord’s expression softened somewhat as he leaned down to eye level with her. “Their lives are in danger, Twilight. In some cases, they’re a danger to themselves – I recognize the pattern. You’ve fixed the damage I’ve done before. I can’t do this without you.”

Twilight saw the earnestness in his expression, and knew that she didn’t have a choice anymore. “Okay. I’ll figure something out.”

Discord grinned, his usual jovial self once more. “Excellent. I’ll see you at dawn. Pack light.” And with a snap of his talons, he vanished in a puff of cotton-candy scented smoke.

Twilight sighed. Now she really wasn’t looking forward to the rest of the day. She walked back to the dining hall to finish the rest of her coffee and try to think of what to say to Spike.

Spike was taking the news of Twilight’s imminent departure better than she thought he would, if she was being honest with herself.

“It's not fair! Why can’t I come with you?!” He wailed at her from his position on the floor, arms wrapped tightly around one of her forelegs.

Twilight sighed. “I’ve already told you, Spike, Discord doesn’t think it would be safe for both of us to travel with him. There are too many–”

“When have we ever taken Discord at his word for anything?” Spike let go of her foreleg for the sole purpose of crossing his arms in front of his scaly chest, his petulant glare hovering somewhere between skepticism and incredulity.

“Look, I don’t like being in this position either, but when it comes to interdimensional travel he’s the best authority alive. I have no reason to doubt him.” She moved over to the bed to continue packing her saddlebags as well as to hide her uncertainty.

Spike threw his claws into the air. “We have every reason to doubt him! How many times has he screwed us over now?”

Twilight whirled on him. “Hey! Watch your language, mister!”

His eyes bugged out as he sputtered for a response. “For what?! ‘Screwed over’? Rainbow Dash says something worse with every other sentence that comes out of her mouth!”

Twilight bent her head low to glare at eye level with him on the ground, and her voice was deadly calm as she asked, “Are you Rainbow Dash?”

This had the desired effect of confusing him. “What– well, no, but–”

“But nothing.” She raised her head back up to its full height as she glared imperiously down at him. “You will keep a civil tongue in that mouth or I will wash it out with soap. Is that clear?”

The poor dragon whelp was so frustrated that steam was starting to come out of his snout, but he fixed his gaze to the floor and simply replied, “Yes, Twilight.”

“Good.” She almost felt guilty for manipulating him like that in order to short circuit the argument, but she just didn’t have the energy to prolong the fight. “Now, hurry up and pack a bag. Your train leaves for Canterlot in an hour.”

He grumbled something under his breath – it sounded an awful lot like “As you wish, Princess” – but obediently got to his feet and waddled out the door of her bedroom. Once he was gone, Twilight took a deep breath and rested her head on her bed. That’s twice now someone has used my title as a weapon against me.

She readjusted her wings as she raised her head and set back about her tasks. Dwelling on slights against her – both spoken and unspoken – was a horribly inefficient waste of time, and she had further preparations to make before she saw Spike off at the train station.

Dawn the following day saw Twilight rushing towards her rendezvous with Discord. She’d stayed up too late packing and repacking her saddlebags and had overslept. The sun was already cresting the horizon as she followed the path leading into the Everfree Forest.

She found Discord waiting in a clearing at the very edge of the treeline, standing perpendicular on the side of a bald cypress, impatiently tapping his lizard claw. When he saw her, he threw his arms in the air in exasperation. “There you are!” He vanished in a puff of smoke, only to appear hovering at her side as she ran. “Do you have any idea how narrow a window we have? Quickly, to the center of the clearing.”

Twilight was a bit out of breath from her rush. “I’m sorry, I–”

“No time!” Discord bamfed them both to a small patch of clover surrounded by dirt in the middle of the clearing – a distance of less than twenty feet by that point. His long tail extended to ludicrous size as it dragged a circle into the dirt around them, then began to inscribe other, smaller circles around each of them with his eagle talon.

Since when does Discord need a set of magic circles in order to wield his magic? “Discord–”

“Shush!” Before either circle was complete, he stiffened. “Oh, I almost forgot.” He reached up and removed a tine from his antler with a small popping noise, which he held out to her. As she took the tine from him with a telekinetic field, it transformed into an ornate wrought iron key, attached to a length of twine. It looked vaguely familiar to Twilight, but before she could ask about it, Discord put his paw to her muzzle. “I’ll answer all your questions on the other side, I promise. But for now, put this on, hold on to my paw, and no matter what happens, do not let go.”

Twilight hesitated, then slipped the loop of twine over her head. She wrapped her forehoof around his offered wrist as he wrapped his paw around her fetlock. With that, he completed both circles – the circumferences of which touched underneath their entwined forelimbs – and shut his eyes.

Just before the sun cleared the horizon, he opened them again, and a blinding white light shone out from his face. “Hold on,” he shouted, and Twilight felt herself going weightless, her mane and tail flowing in an invisible wind. The dirt beneath her hooves kicked up in a whirlwind, blocking her view of the world beyond the outer circle. Energy crackled all around her, and the scent of ozone nearly overpowered her as the sky above split open and sucked them in.

The wind howled around them as they were ejected into the beyond. Plaid energy waves formed a background of pure insanity as Discord and Twilight hurtled through the space between spaces. An infinite field of stars surrounded them, then winked away as Discord dragged her through a hole of nothingness that appeared nearby. The howling gale was suddenly silenced, and all was black – a darkness so total that Twilight questioned her very existence. Her vision blinked back for a moment, and Twilight thought she could see a thousand multi-hued geometric patterns shattering, then reconstructing themselves, on a scale that made her eyes feel like they were burrowing deep into her skull to get away. She shut them tightly and tried to scream, but there was no air to breath.

Discord lurched to the side and hauled Twilight with him, hurling them both through another hole in space-time. It felt as though they had plunged through an icy river, and all warmth was stripped from her body. She felt more than heard a series of sickening crunching noises as it seemed like she was being torn apart by a gravity field pulling her in all directions at once. A deep rumbling noise rose above the silence, which resonated louder and louder until it crescendoed with the force of a thousand party cannons firing as one–

–then, suddenly, there was light.

Rachel

The phone alarm went off, and the sound of marching boots filled the storage shed. Rachel blindly flailed until she hit the snooze button, and her snores filled the room almost immediately.

Soon enough, the alarm rolled forth once again, and despite desperately wanting to ignore it, she got up with a groan to face the coming day. She hopped off her double-stacked mattresses and started to stretch away the kinks in her back as an industrial drumbeat joined the stomping combat boots and ominous bass line. When the electric guitar came in Rachel began her morning exercise routine, determined to kick the morning’s ass.

Rachel was properly warmed up by the time "Hell March" ended. She tied her hair back as best she could (her most recent attempt at giving herself a haircut made getting all of it somewhat difficult) and grabbed her earbuds for her morning run.

She stepped out of her storage shed, walked to the edge of the roof it sat upon, and leaned against the low stone wall that defined the roof’s perimeter. A slow smile crept across her face as she looked out over the city, the street lights still on as the pre-dawn glow barely kissed the eastern horizon. This was her favorite time of day, when the major decisions she had been forced to make over the last few years didn’t seem so bad.

Alone.

The word appeared unbidden in her mind, and with it, a familiar hollow ache in her heart. The city was lovely, but it was an empty experience without anyone to share it with.

Rachel gave an impatient snort – she didn't have time for this if she wanted to avoid being late on the first day of school. Nothing a little Paul Gilbert can't blast out of my head. She queued his playlist and hopped up on the stone wall. It was well over a foot wide, which was plenty as far as she was concerned. More importantly, her footsteps wouldn't resonate nearly as much as they would if she ran on the roof itself.

Still, it was always exhilarating when she first stood up tall on the edge each morning; it was a seven story drop if she misstepped. Jaw set, she started running.

By the time Paul had finished his set Rachel had worked up quite a sweat, so she hopped down from the wall to finish the routine with a few sets of crunches, push ups, and squats. Each set of muscles was important, and she tried to pay attention to as many of them as she could over the course of the week. Today was leg day, and unlike the other slackers at the gym, she never skipped it.

Another twenty minutes saw the sun finally start to crest the distant horizon, which signaled the end of Rachel’s workout. She didn’t have much time before the residents of the building below would start to get up for the day, and she needed to be in and out before they did. After a final few cool-down stretches to ease the tension from her gloriously aching muscles, she went back into her shed and grabbed her toiletries satchel, stuffing it and a change of clothes into her courier bag. She slid on her crocs, wrapped a towel around her shoulders, and jogged over to the south wall of the roof. Taking a deep breath, she vaulted over the edge.

She turned as she cleared the wall and grabbed the drain spout leading all the way to the ground from the edge of the roof. The thought struck her as she dangled there that most people would consider hanging on to a rusty pipe seventy feet from the ground to be nightmare fuel, but to her it was simply routine. She smiled, got her feet underneath herself, and climbed down to get even with the top level of the fire escape. She hopped over to the rusted metal scaffolding with enough grace to avoid making too much noise and slowly crept over to the third window.

She’d scouted out which rooms were taken over the course of the previous week, and fortunately this one would remain unoccupied – seven stories was a bit much for a dorm without an elevator, at least for most students, and Rachel’s luck had held over the past five semesters. Still, she checked again to make sure the room was empty before carefully sliding the window open and hopping inside.

She softly closed the window and tiptoed over to the door, which she always kept locked from the inside as a precaution. She looked through the peephole – no sign of movement. She didn’t really expect any at this hour on a Monday, but she’d had a few too many close calls over the years. She could say she was someone’s cousin from another floor only so many times before suspicions were raised, and she liked her current living situation too much to take any unnecessary risks.

She cautiously opened the door and poked her head out, checking both ways. The hallway was clear, so she quietly shut the door behind her and hurried to the shared bathroom for this half of the floor. She ducked inside, and seeing it, too, was empty, she finally allowed herself to relax.

A brisk shower and a quick brushing of teeth later saw her refreshed and ready for the day, and she paused in front of the mirror to check herself out. She was pleased to see the various dyes in her shoulder-length technicolor hair were still holding, and the sides, while shorter and uneven, gave her a shaggy rough-and-tumble look she kinda dug. She flexed, appreciating the definition present in her biceps and abs. She was by no means muscle-bound, but had a lean, wiry form of strength. She snapped her fingers and pointed at her mirror image with a wink.

Satisfied, she turned and moved to the door, easing it open to peek out. She immediately ducked back and shut it again with a wince as a trio of girls walked past, talking quietly among themselves. Rachel listened intently at the door. When she was sure they were well past her, she slowly opened it again to watch them. Judging from their clothes and shoes, they were getting ready for a morning jog. She stared at them through the crack in the doorway as they made their way to the far stairwell, appreciating the way their loose sleeveless shirts contrasted with the tightness of their shorts. Her eyebrows raised at the way their muscles shifted in their legs as they walked. Wow, they don’t skip leg day either. A sly grin slid across her face, even as she bit her lip. Damn, I love living here.

Alone. Rachel shut her eyes against the sudden urge to go join them.

She shook her head to clear the lingering thoughts of bike shorts and sports bras. Focus, Rachel. She watched the trio disappear down the stairs as she listened for any other early risers. Hearing none, she silently left the bathroom and headed back the way she came.

She had made it back to the fire escape and was just preparing to jump over to the drain pipe when the loudest explosion she had ever heard erupted from the south side of town. Jeezus, what– oops.

Startled, Rachel had tried to simultaneously jump and turn towards the noise, and these incongruous actions led her to lose her balance. Oh shit. She pinwheeled her arms in a desperate attempt to stay upright, but she realized that she wasn’t going to recover enough to avoid jumping, and she also was too far forward to properly jump. Purely on instinct, she stretched out as tall as she could as she started to fall and, miraculously, her fingers found purchase on the pipe as her heels braced against the railing of the fire escape.

A second passed, and Rachel realized that she had successfully stopped. After a nervous chuckle, she took a deep breath and assessed her situation. She stared straight down at the seven story drop that had just nearly killed her, vision partially obscured by the towel that was wrapped around her neck. Again, she was struck by how this sort of thing was proper nightmare fuel to most people.

She grinned.

Rachel tried to look over to the south towards the explosion, but she didn’t see anything like what she expected; no smoke, no fire, nothing. She was disappointed, but it didn’t matter; she was running late. It was a pretty fair hike to get to the high school from the university campus, and it took a while via skateboard.

She shifted her left hand, then her right to allow her fingers to get a better grip around the pipe, then slowly – and very carefully – started easing more and more of her weight onto her arms and off of her legs. She tightened her back and abdominal muscles to keep her body more or less level, and slowly lifted her right leg off of the railing. She eased the leg down and lined it up so that when she released the tension on her left leg she softly swung her lower body down and against the pipe. Once she was braced in her normal climbing position, it was trivial to clamber back up the drain, jump up to the edge of the roof’s perimeter wall, and haul herself over.

She laughed as she dropped back to the stability of the rooftop. “Hoo! Haha! No coffee for me, thanks!” She paused to enjoy the lingering adrenaline rush for the span of a few deep breaths, then went inside to check her phone. Upon seeing the time, she swore, stuffed a small pile of notebooks and other scholastic detritus into her courier bag, slid on her Vibrams, grabbed her skateboard, and bolted back to the south wall.

A thought nagged at her as she ran; in that split second before she realized she was about to fall, when she had looked towards the southern horizon, she could have sworn she saw a rainbow.

Allison

The ancient clock radio ticked over to 6:00am, and the speakers obediently blared to life.

*click* "SKY DIVIN’
I WENT ROCKY MOUNT’N–"

*SLAM*

Allison’s fist pounded into the top of the radio, silencing it. God, Ah hate that song, she thought as she hauled herself upright and out of bed with a groan. She twisted away the kinks in her back, and was rewarded with a chorus of popping noises. She blinked away the last of the sleepiness from her emerald green eyes as she ran a hand through her long blonde hair, then grabbed a pair of jeans and an orange t-shirt and got dressed for the morning chores.

She hopped down the stairs to join the rest of her family in the kitchen. Her grandmother busied herself at the stove over a large pot of oatmeal and a griddle full of eggs and potatoes. Her giant of an older brother, Mackenzie, ever the early riser, was already chowing down – it was likely he wanted an early start on spraying the orchard before the sun got too hot. Her twelve-year-old sister, Alexis, came trotting down the stairs right behind her, a large pink bow tying back her fiery red ponytail.

“Well, mornin’ sleepyheads,” her grandmother greeted them as they sat at the kitchen table. She placed a fully laden plate of steaming vittles in front of each of her granddaughters, then set about ladling a bowl of oatmeal for herself.

“Mornin’, Granny,” they chimed in unison as they dove into their delicious morning feast.

“Oh hey,” Alexis said around a mouthful of potatoes, “can somebody run me into town this afternoon? Ah’m hangin’ out with Sam and Shireen.”

“Don’t yew tawk witcher mouth full, youngin’,” the family matriarch reprimanded Alexis in a thick Kentucky drawl as she rapped her on the head with a wooden spoon.

Allison hid a small smile behind her glass of milk.

“Ouch! Sorry! Jeez." She swallowed. "Anyways, can anybody take me? We wanna get the most out of our last day o’ summer.”

Allison continued chewing in silence, learning from her little sister’s mistake. Ah’ve a feelin’ Ah’m ‘bout to get voluntold, anyhow, she thought.

As if on cue, Mackenzie stood up to take his dishes to the sink with a simple, “Nope.” He left the kitchen and strode out the front door without another word.

“Sawrry, smelly-belly, Ah gotta git them accounts squirreled away afore th’end o’ the month. Ain’t got tahm fer a milk run.”

Alexis turned to her older sister and engaged maximum puppy dog eyes. “Please, sis?”

Allison rolled her eyes. Honestly. “Awright, fine.” Allison leveled a fork at her sister. “Ah want you ready to go the second I get back from school, though.” It was more than a little annoying that she'd have to wheel right back around and head back into town after school.

“Sure! Ah'll be waitin'.”

“‘Kay, is Shireen’s mom gonna be able to give you a ride back out here then? Ah got a pile of stuff that needs doin’ tonight.” While true, Allison simply wanted to avoid having to supervise the three preteens together for any span of time. As much as she loved her sister, she and her two friends were a veritable force of nature – the disastrous kind, more often than not.

Alexis nodded. “Uh-huh. She’ll give Sam a ride too, Ah expect.”

Allison snorted. “Well, it ain’t like the orphanage is gonna send a car for her.”

A silence fell over the table as the younger Smith siblings finished their breakfast and set out to start their morning chores.

Allison tied back her hair with a scarlet hair tie as she walked across the front yard. It was a long trudge to the giant red barn that served to house the heavy machinery that helped keep the apple harvest from rotting in the fields, a walk that left plenty of time for Allison to be alone with her thoughts. It took a great deal of hard work to keep the farm afloat, especially after a particularly bad harvest a few years back. The list of chores stretched out in Allison’s mind, much of them involving hard physical labor, and Allison wondered, not for the first time, if this was really the sort of life she wanted to live when all was said and done with school.

She stopped at a tree in the middle of the yard and watched Alexis as she skipped over to the chicken coop, humming tunelessly to herself. It’s been a long while since Ah was that carefree, she thought. She leaned a shoulder into the tree, arms folded in front of her, and she wondered idly how long it would be before her little sister realized what it truly meant to try to make a living on a farm.

Her musings were interrupted by a small explosion, followed by a loud grinding noise, which echoed across the yard from the direction of the barn. Oh no, Allison thought as she hurried over to the giant double doors and burst through them.

A thin veil of smoke was coming from the engine of the crop spraying machine. Mackenzie was furiously trying to open the hood, but the metal plate refused to budge.

Her brief concern for her brother’s safety, now allayed, quickly shifted to something else. “God dammit, Mackie, what the fuck didja do this time?”

Mackenzie’s deep bass rumble did little to mellow the heat behind his retort as he slammed his fists on the hood. “Ah didn’t do nothin’, AJ! All Ah did was try to turn the fuckin’ thing on!”

Bullshit, Allison seethed to herself as she stomped her way through the fumes over to the tool bench. “Ah swear, you project some kinda fuckin’ field, Mackenzie.” She ripped open one drawer, then another as she looked for a wrench. She seized one and turned back to the misbehaving machine. “It seems like every other week Ah’m crawlin’ up this thing’s ass tryin’ to set it straight, cuz y’done touched it funny.” She effortlessly popped the hood, only to be greeted by a dense cloud of smoke to the face. She coughed as the lid slammed back down, then turned on her brother with a scowl, wrench leveled at his face. “Ah’m half-tempted to demand supervised visits if Ah’m gonna hafta keep doin’ this.”

“Y’know what, fuck you! Maybe if you actually fixed the damn thing instead of bullshitting some jury-rig together, it wouldn’t blow up every time someone touched it!”

“Maybe if we could afford replacement parts every time you blew the fuckin’ thing up, I wouldn’t need to jury-rig it!”

“Well maybe if–”

An annoyed younger voice interrupted them. “Y’all fightin’ again?”

The older siblings whirled to regard their younger sister. Rather than admit any wrongdoing, they yelled in unison, “No!”

Alexis sighed. “Fightin’ ain’t gonna get the chores done any quicker, y’know.” She wandered towards the corner and picked up a rake and a bucket, then left again.

The elder Smith siblings shot each other a glare. Allison spoke first. “If you can haul alfalfa fer the cows, Ah’ll get this thing fixed up by th’ time yer done.”

Mackenzie continued to glare at her for another few heartbeats, then left the barn without another word. Allison gritted her teeth as she returned to the malfunctioning machine and got to work.

The morning sun was well above the horizon by the time Allison managed to coerce the sprayer into holding itself together long enough to tend to the orchard. Mackenzie had managed to make a significant dent in her chores, to his credit, but he left a few things of his own undone. There was nothing for it, though; Allison was running late. She'd already need to skip taking a shower in order to even have a prayer of making it to school on time.

She hopped into the cab of her red '88 Toyota pickup and turned the engine over. Or at least, she tried to.

Ah-HRN-HRN-HRN-HRN-click.

“No.”

Ah-HRN-HRN-HRN-HRN-click.

“Oh god, no, not today, please.” If her truck wouldn’t start, she was well and truly–

AH-HRN-HRN-HRN-HRN-HRN-HRN-click.

“No, no,” she moaned, “come on!” She slammed a palm onto the steering wheel and tried again. As she turned the key, a brief flash off in the distance towards town caught her eye, but as she tried to focus on it - AH-HRN-HRN-HRN-Ka-kruf-kruf-VROOOOOOMMMMM.

*ka-click-vwrrRR-* “I can't get no!”

Alexis was stunned. No fuckin’ way.

"No sa-tis-fac-tion!"

Allison punched the roof in exultation. “YES! Ha-ha, thank you thank you thank you!” Not only did her ancient Toyota actually start, the truck's cassette deck – which she had thought long dead and beyond repair – had returned to life as well. She gleefully turned the truck around, and as she blew down the long gravel driveway towards the highway into town, she looked at the clock. She was going to be late – really late – if she followed the speed limit.

“Welp,” she mumbled. Now that she had the Stones returned to her, she felt invincible.

With a determined grin on her face, she floored it.

Felicity

Felicity lay awake in her bed as dawn slowly brightened the curtains over her window. She stared at the ceiling, hands folded over her stomach. She tried to not dwell on the previous night, and failed miserably.

The nightmares hadn’t been as bad as usual. This time, she was simply trapped in an endless grey forest. The dirt of the forest floor had been a darker grey than the mist that had risen from it, and the pale trees had been stripped of their leaves. The mist had clung to her clothes and hair, chilling her to the bone. All she could remember feeling was a desperate need to get home. She had wandered aimlessly for what seemed like hours, calling out for anyone to help her find her way.

No one had replied.

No, definitely not so bad, she thought as a single tear traced a path down her motionless face. She made no move to wipe it away.

When the sun was well and truly up Felicity’s alarm sounded, signalling her to start going through the daily motions. She sat up and ran a hand across her cheek to remove what little moisture remained, then tried to let the soft piano tones and mellow tribal drum beat wash away the night’s melancholy.

She cast her gaze around her room in an effort to ground herself. Her computer softly whirred on her desk, a mildly comforting background white noise. A pair of tall bookshelves stood next to it, filled with art books, graphic novels, and fantasy literature. A smaller set of shelves held her camera and miscellaneous camera equipment. Her bass guitar sat in the corner. A simple end table with a slender lamp sat next to her bed. These things were comfortable, familiar to her.

Plastered across all four walls were maps of lands both foreign and fictitious, and filling in the gaps between them were a hundred photographs of abandoned places, ruined castles, overgrown train stations, and flooded factories. Very little of the original yellow wallpaper showed through.

Felicity’s eyes landed on a picture of an abandoned forest railroad, completely overtaken by lush green foliage. She closed her eyes and tried to imagine standing on that railroad, in a forest full of life instead of death. She tried to feel the warm afternoon breeze as it blew through the gently swaying trees, to hear the endless susurrus of leaves on all sides. She felt the worn grain of the wooden rail ties under her bare feet, smelled the damp earth and fresh, clean air, with the vaguest undercurrent of rust.

She stood there on that wayward forest path, carved a century past by men who ultimately failed to tame the nature surrounding them. The music played, and for the span of a minute, Felicity was at peace, her nightmares forgotten.

The song ended, and silence brought Felicity back to reality, such as it was. She took a deep breath, then slowly got out of bed and softly padded from her room into the kitchen.

Her mother was already sitting at the kitchen table, slicing a banana into a bowl of oatmeal. “Morning, sleepyhead,” she sang cheerfully. “Did you get a good night’s sleep?”

Not for a long while now, Mom. “Mm-hmm,” Felicity lied with a nod. She moved to the cabinet to make her usual mug of Earl Grey.

A pause, then her mother asked, "Are you going to be okay for dinner tonight? I’ve got a fundraiser meeting that will likely go late.”

“That’s fine, I’ll probably make some soup or something.” The electric kettle dinged, and she carefully poured the scalding water over her tea bag.

“Really? I figured you’d want to splurge a little, what with today being the first day of school and all.”

Felicity winced as her heart rate accelerated; it was different when someone else mentioned the impending school day. “No, I’d like to keep saving money for a rainy day. You never know when my car’s going to need something else replaced.”

“Tch. You are way too responsible for your age,” her mother remarked around a mouthful of oatmeal as she leveled her spoon at her.

“I was raised too well,” Felicity replied primly.

Her mother made a face at her, and they shared a giggle as Felicity sat down and grabbed a banana for herself. They enjoyed their breakfast together in a comfortable silence.

As Felicity drained the last of her tea she looked over at the clock on the stove. “Well, I’d better get ready for school.”

Her mother looked at her watch. “So soon? I thought you didn’t have to be there until eight.”

“I don’t, but I wanted to watch the swallows one last time before…” She trailed off with a sigh.

Her mother gave her a sympathetic look. “I understand, honey. You go on ahead, I’ll see you when I get back from the meeting tonight, okay?”

Felicity nodded. “See you then. Love you, Mom.” She leaned over and gave her mom a kiss on the forehead, then went to her room and changed into a long brown skirt and a yellow blouse. She considered which pair of shoes to wear, then decided to postpone the decision and ducked into the bathroom across the hall.

She did a double take at her reflection in the mirror – the dark bags under her dull turquoise eyes were as pronounced as they’d ever been. I don’t know how it is Mom doesn’t see these. With a sigh, she quickly washed her face and toweled it dry, then opened up her makeup kit and started to cover the dark circles.

Once her face had been addressed she ran a brush through her waist-length hair, dyed raven-black. A single long forelock was dyed a soft pink, a concession on her part last October to appease her mother on two fronts; to assuage her fears that she was going through a “Goth” phase, and to help support her charity efforts during Breast Cancer Awareness Month. [She looked herself over; her clothes suited her tall, willowy frame, and with the addition of the makeup, she could almost be mistaken for a whole human being.

With a self-deprecating snort, she headed back across the hall into her room, and had just slid on one of her shoes when suddenly–

–a horrific explosion from outside rattled the windows of the apartment building; she could even feel it reverberate through the floor.

Felicity jumped with a shriek. She flew to her window and tore open the curtains. She scanned the horizon for any signs of fire, or any other sign of catastrophe for that matter. She saw something a moment later – to the south, a shimmering column that was quickly dissipating, and what looked like – was that a rainbow? She stared in awe as whatever it was faded to nothing, and uninterrupted blue shone across the post-dawn sky once more.

“Felicity? Are you okay?”

Felicity started, then quickly rushed over and opened the door. Her mother sat there in her wheelchair, eyes wide. “Yeah, Mom, I’m fine, are you okay?”

“Thank goodness, yes, I’m fine. What the hell was that all about, I wonder?”

“I don’t know. I thought I saw something near Beacon Hill Park, but it faded away pretty quickly. It didn’t look like an explosion or anything like that, though.”

“Hoo, boy. Well, something to keep an eye on in the news, I guess.”

They shared a nervous laugh. They stood in the hall for a moment or two, then Felicity said, “Well, I guess I better get going. Who knows what traffic is going to be like after that.”

“Good point. I’m gonna go take a shower, so have a good first day at school, sweetie. Be careful out there.” Felicity bent down to give her mom a hug and a kiss goodbye. She left their basement apartment and hurried up the ramp to the parking lot.

Felicity climbed into her ancient Honda Civic and set her backpack on the passenger seat. In truth, she wasn’t really concerned with getting to school – she had plenty of time for that, even with traffic. She just wanted to have extra time to spend with her tiny feathered friends.

A dozen blocks away from the high school, Felicity pulled over to the side of the road. Just ahead the road split a small detention basin, maybe a hundred by two hundred feet in size. Felicity was drawn to the basins because even in the middle of town, surrounded by concrete and strip malls, life found a way to flourish.

Ordinarily the ponds would be dry as a bone, since the city was decidedly within the rain shadow of the mountains to the west. Weirdly, though, the past few years had seen an unprecedented amount of rainfall – enough to cause serious floods when it first began. In fact, this past spring had seen two solid months where it had rained every single day. Because of this, the detention basins had been flooded with water all summer, and all manner of fascinating flora had sprung up within them. A lush, self-contained ecosystem of reeds and cattails had exploded up from the ground, and with the water came a plethora of insects, much to the dismay of the people who had to work nearby.

However, what was bad for the humans proved incredibly beneficial for a colony of swallows.

Easily two dozen small birds spent the entirety of the morning every day hunting bugs in spectacular fashion, constantly cutting across the road from one pond to the other, swooping and diving for prey. They effortlessly knifed through the air, stooping into the reeds only to bounce back up again and wheel about for another pass.

Felicity killed the engine as she watched the swallows dart about. She was fascinated by their endless aerial ballet, and she allowed herself to be mesmerized by their dance.

I wish I could do that, she thought as she stared out her windshield at the acrobatic display. Just soar through the air like it was second nature, just fly away from all the troubles and worries and fears. I’d live a simple life of hunting and flying all day. She allowed herself a sad smile. Of course, I’m afraid of heights, too, so maybe not.

Time passed, and an alarm on her phone signaled it was time for her to actually head to school. She started her car with a sigh; she knew that it was unlikely that she would be able to revisit the site before the city mowed the vegetation under later that week.

She pulled back on to the road, and to her surprise a swallow flew in front of her car as it trundled along, almost as though it was pacing her. She pulled up to the highway intersection and grinned as the little daredevil soared up and dove back toward the basins. She offered a small salute to her temporary air guard, and continued on to school when the light turned green, her spirits vastly higher than they had been.

Rebecca

The faintest sound of plucked guitar strings disturbed the silence of the opulent bedroom. Deep within a pile of plush white comforters Rebecca slumbered, unperturbed by the noise.

The guitar slowly got louder. A voice, soft and low, sang the words to an ancient and arcane story, and Rebecca smiled faintly in her sleep. She shifted as she dreamed, then lay still once more.

The voice sang a second verse, louder than the first, and Rebecca stirred in earnest. She slowly crawled out from under the covers of her ornate bed and stretched luxuriously as the song reached its bridge. She hummed along with the tune as she grabbed her fluffy white dressing gown from its hanging place on the wall.

Rebecca silenced her alarm as the song finished and removed her sleep mask. She blinked as her eyes adjusted to the muted light of her bedroom, then reached over to her art deco nightstand and grabbed her tablet to review her orders for the month of August. She was ahead of schedule, a deliberate move on her part in case school proved to be more of a hindrance to production than she expected.

A slow smile crept across her face as she saw the single task she set for herself this afternoon: a custom order for a special pendant. It would challenge her abilities, and it involved no small expenditure on her part for the semi-precious stones that would make up the majority of the piece, but it would certainly be worth it if – no, when, she corrected herself – she pulled it off. Still smiling, she climbed out from under the covers and headed down the hall to the bathroom.

She grabbed her hairbrush and considered her reflection in the large bathroom mirror. Her hair, which she had dyed a deep indigo the week before, swooped down past her shoulders. She ran a hand through it a few times as she admired the hue, then proceeded to brush it straight.

Satisfied, she checked the rest of her reflection – her sculpted eyebrows, her deep blue eyes, her flawless skin, her dazzling white teeth. She took her usual reassurance from this, and strode confident and determined from the bathroom and downstairs to the kitchen.

She busied herself assembling a bowl of greek yogurt and granola while humming the refrain of the song she woke to again. She idly scrolled through her Twitter feed as she ate. Another handful of positive reviews, a slew of people begging her to expand her commissions slots – a standard night’s feedback.

The sound of her younger sister Shireen as she banged an elbow against the entrance to the kitchen – and her subsequent hiss of pain – brought Rebecca’s attention back to the real world. She smiled at the haphazard tangle of soft pink and lavender locks that tumbled off her sister’s shoulders – it had been fun dyeing their hair together last week – and her smile widened at the memory. “Good morning, sister-dear,” she sang.

“Mmm,” Shireen grunted as she moved to the pantry and grabbed a random box of cereal, eyes tightly shut.

Rebecca quirked an eyebrow. “Did you sleep well?”

“Mmm,” came the same reply as the twelve-year-old opened a cabinet and fumbled for a bowl.

Rebecca’s pleasant smile reversed into a moderate scowl. Her sister wasn’t usually this non-responsive, unless… “Did you stay up all night playing that silly game again?”

At this, Shireen cracked open a bloodshot eye to meet Rebecca’s accusatory glare. “Still doing the Transatlantic thing, I see,” she croaked.

“Don’t you change the subject, young lady,” Rebecca rebuked. “Your health is important, and maintaining a routine sleep schedule is crucial to that end!”

Shireen managed a half-shrug as she poured out a bowl of corn flakes. “I’m in promos for Diamond.” She opened the fridge and traded the box of cereal for a jug of milk. “Was on a roll. Didn’t lose a game until… late.”

Rebecca narrowed her eyes. “How late?”

Shireen mumbled an unintelligible response.

“What was that?”

“‘Till like, two or three, okay? Jeez, get off my back.” She poured a generous splash of milk onto her cereal, then fished for a spoon in the silverware drawer.

“Shireen! It is imperative that–”

Shireen slammed the drawer shut, hands clawing at the air in front of her face. “Okay! Look, the only reason I’m even awake at this ungodly hour is so that I can get to bed at a decent time tonight! I am fully aware that I will be in school in–” she looked at the clock on the microwave and sighed – “less than twenty-five hours.”

“‘Fewer’,” Rebecca automatically corrected.

“Oh my god, you’re not even listening!” Shireen shoved the milk jug into the cupboard next to the bowls. “Look, I’m trying to fix my mistake, okay? I’m not crazy, and I’m not stupid, and I would appreciate it if you would remember that from time to time!”

Rebecca was taken aback by her sister’s outburst as she raised a hand to her chest. “I’m only trying to look out for what’s best for you, sweetie.”

“Whatever,” Shireen grumbled. She stomped out of the room with her cereal and back up the stairs to her room.

Rebecca sighed as she stood to put her dishes in the sink. I wish she would understand where I’m coming from, she thought as she removed the milk from the cupboard and returned it to the fridge. It’s not as though I, too, haven’t burned the midnight oil a few times too many in my youth. She tisked as she pulled the box of corn flakes out of the fridge and returned it to the pantry. “Honestly,” she said out loud to no one.

“Honestly what, ‘Becca?”

Startled, Rebecca whirled to see her mother sashay into the room.

“Oh, nothing, mother,” she replied as she leaned over to hug her and kiss her lightly on the cheek. “Just Shireen and I exchanging words.”

“You mean poisoned barbs? I could hear you all the way upstairs,” her mother chastised, although with a smile on her face.

Rebecca dismissed her claim with a wave. “It was nothing, really.”

Her mother laughed at the obvious lie. “Well, I’d hate to see it when it becomes something, then.” She opened the freezer and grabbed a pair of frozen waffles.

Despite Rebecca’s feigned nonchalance, the indignation of being spurned by her younger sister was eating away at her calm. “She’s just so insolent sometimes!”

Her mother just smirked at her. “Honey, if there’s one thing that I learned growing up with five sisters, it’s that it’s a miracle we all made it out of that house without killing each other. You know my rule – if you haven’t drawn blood, I don’t wanna get involved.” She shoved the yellow discs into the toaster. “You’re both strong, independent young women – she’ll figure things out, and so will you.”

Rebecca rolled her eyes behind her mother’s back as she listened to the same tired refrain. Perhaps if you had less of a laissez-faire attitude towards raising her, I wouldn’t have to keep harping on her about these things. She kept her mouth tightly shut, however, and was able to force a pleasant smile by the time her mother turned back to her.

“Well, to change the subject, I wanted to let you know I’ll be in my workshop for the rest of the day after school today – I’ve got a special order that I’m just dying to make!” She clapped her hands together, beaming.

“Oh, about that, hon – I got a text from Cheryl saying she’s calling in sick. Something about the stomach flu? Anyways, can you run and pick up Sam from the orphanage when you get out of school? I’m gonna have to pull a double shift at the salon to cover for her, and your father won’t be back until late again.” She busied herself over buttering her waffles as though this was no big deal – although they both knew it wasn’t. “She, your sister and Alexis were gonna hang out and dye their hair today, or something like that.”

Rebecca’s blood turned to ice in her veins. “Mother, no. I can’t, I have to work on the pendant–”

“Look, I’m not asking you to babysit them or anything – they’re all twelve years old, for god’s sake – just pick Sam up is all.” She fixed Rebecca with The Look.

Rebecca inhaled deeply through her nose and, once again, forced a smile. “Of course, mother. I’d be happy to.” All three of them at once, god help me.

“Good.” Her mother returned her attention to slathering syrup onto her waffles–

–when at that moment, a loud explosion rattled the entire house, startling them both. The syrup bottle pinwheeled into the air, landing on the floor with a dull clatter.

To Rebecca's horror, a familiar pain manifested in her chest, an ache that grew worse with every heartbeat.

Her mother, oblivious, stared out the window as she said, "My god, what was that?"

Don't panic, Rebecca. Remember the exercise. Slow and easy. In and out. She inhaled deeply, then softly let her breath back out, once, then again.

Her mother, not hearing a response, turned to her daughter, to find her much paler than she had been a moment ago. "'Becca?"

Ignore her. Soft and even. In and out. Rebecca closed her eyes and continued to breathe.

"Hey. Rebecca. Are you okay?" Her mother reached out to her.

"I'm fine, mother," she snapped, sparing as little breath as possible on her words, as slowly, steadily, the ache in her chest lessened.

At length, Rebecca opened her eyes, crisis averted. She saw her mother, concern etched on her features. "I thought you said you were getting better."

"I am. I have been. I was just startled, is all. Nothing to worry about." Another forced smile. "I'm afraid I've got to run; I don't want to be late for my first day of school, and I still need to do my hair."

Her mother slowly nodded. "Alright, 'Becca. Have it your way."

Yes, Rebecca thought as she made her way up the stairs, my way.

Penny

The alarm klaxon goes off. I succeed in waking up long enough to hit the snooze alarm, then collapse back into blissful unconsciousness.

The hateful alarm cries out once again, and this time I concede, sitting up with my eyes still closed, trying to remember why it was I felt like setting an alarm for the last day of summer vacation. I think it’s at least partially out of spite – Past Me’s kind of a bitch like that. Then I look at my phone to silence it, and see that it's actually the first day of school.

I forgive you, Past Me. This time.

I swing my feet over the edge of the bed and lean forward slowly so I can see how off-balance I am from last night’s sleep aid. I find mobility is barely compromised as I get my feet underneath me and stand up tall, stretching away the kinks that always come from a motionless slumber.

I grab my morning wake-up call from the secret-secret place behind the kinda-secret place in my closet and rub most of the sleep from my eyes so I can see who else is awake. Finding the hallway empty, I shamble into the bathroom. With something approaching reverence, I take the necessary step to chase away the blear from the night before.

*snrk*

I stare at myself in the mirror, contemplating my wavy, unruly hair. It’s bleached a platinum blonde, but I can’t remember why. Again, Past Me showing her true colors, or lack thereof in this case. I've dyed my hair thirty-seven times in the past three years. The fact that I can remember that means the drugs haven't kicked in yet.

Something catches my eye, and I lean closer to my reflection. Two, four, seven, ten, twelve… When did I get a seventeenth ear piercing? I stand back up straight and reflect for a moment. The fact that I honestly can’t remember brings a crooked smile to my face. My routine is doing its job.

It starts with a beat, one I barely register before my foot does, softly tapping itself along for the ride. My hips start to sway, and soon enough the vocals fade in. I sing along as I hop in the shower.

“People won’t be people when they hear this sound
That’s been glowing in the dark at the edge of town”

Time starts to do that thing that happens when I stop paying attention to it, and I sing the next line as I’m pouring myself a bowl of the most vibrantly colored sugary cereal my little sisters could convince my parents to buy.

I lose another few minutes, and I’m staring at myself in the bathroom mirror again, trying to figure out what to do about my hair. Platinum blonde is unacceptable as a first impression, I think. I look underneath the sink at the small smattering of colors from the visual spectrum. Most of them are on the warm side. I think that says something about me, but I don't know what. This pleases me – the not knowing, I mean.

I spy a hot pink towards the back, and with a rallying cry of "fuck it," I set to work. My younger sisters are shouting at my older sister about something in the hall, but before I can really tune in–

–suddenly I'm downstairs again. I look at my hands, and it looks as though they're really badly sunburned. I guess that's from the dye? I sure hope so. If they really are burned, I can't feel it. I'm pretty sure I didn't take that much today.

I sing quietly to myself as I hop into the kitchen, feeling like a much more acceptable version of myself. I start to pour myself a bowl of technicolor sugary nonsense when I see I already poured one from before. Curious. With a shrug, I empty the second bowl back in to the box and SUDDENLY a flash of (rainbow?) light and a crack of thunder come from the southern windows of the house, and reflexes honed from years of 3rd-person shooters send me diving behind the couch in the living room, scattering cereal everywhere. Briefly rooted in reality (at least, I’m pretty sure it’s reality– man, how much did I take today?), I peek over the back of the couch and through the patio door. A faint trace of non-dawn colors fade from the morning sky, and for the briefest of moments I feel really, really giddy, like something amazing is going to happen and I can’t wait for it to happen like it’s Christmas morning or more like Christmas Eve and I can’t open any of the presents and the anticipation is killing me and oh my god is this what ODing feels like fuck I bet this is what ODing feels like oh god oh god fuck me what is going–

“Penny?”

“WHAT?!” I nearly jump out of my skin as I whirl to face the young girl who addressed me. I blink, and suddenly I recognize it’s my little sister, Molly. “Oh, hey, sis! What are you up to?” I force a grin to my face, and it comes out nervous. Fortunately, Molly's too scared to notice how jumpy I am.

“Are you okay? What was that noise?”

“Oh, ah, I dunno, little bug! Seemed like it was far away, though, to the south. Nothing to worry about, I don’t think.” I give her a reassuring hug. “I’m fine, though, are you okay?”

“Mm-hmm.” She nods her head, and I hold on to her a little longer. She grounds me more than I think I should let her. Something within me stirs, and I consider this small person wrapped in my arms, whose arms are wrapped around me in turn, and for the briefest of moments I doubt everything I’ve done over the past three years.

I remember the rain, and the tears, and the lack of tears, and my doubts vanish. No compromises. The cycle must be maintained.

My face set to "reassuring smile", I pat my sister twice on the back and let her go. She seems reluctant to return the favor, so I tousle her hair and pour her a bowl of cereal too. We join our other two sisters at the breakfast table while our parents fuss over their laptop trying to find out more about the explosion. I share a grin with my sisters as I dive into the sugary delights in my bowl–

“Kitchen is the cook
Whoa-ey-oh
Scissors are the barbers
Whoa-ey-oh
Singer is a crook
Whoa-ey-oh”

I must have lost quite a bit of time, because the clock on my dashboard says I’m just a little early for my first class of the day as I pull into an empty parking space in the middle of a vast grid of cars. I grab my backpack and double-check what my first class is – Homeroom, O’Brien, Room 104 – then stuff the paper into the pocket of my vest and get out of my car.

I take a moment to review what I’m wearing, because the vest part threw me, too. Tight white t-shirt, black vest, mm-hmm, over a black mini-skirt and black-and-pink striped leggings, pink fingerless gloves a couple of shades away from the dye still on my hands, with my black no-nonsense combat boots. Not terrible, but not great. I really need to start laying out my clothes the night before, ‘cause Autopilot Me just doesn’t have much in the way of taste.

I sling my backpack over my shoulder with the gravitas of a soldier shouldering her rifle and take a deep breath as I look at the sprawling high school building.

I blink, and I’m standing in the main hall, looking up at a banner that says in huge block letters, “WELCOME TO CENTRAL HIGH”.

“Chorus full of actors,” I sigh under my breath, as a sea of teenagers rush to and fro around me. Gotta get through the day, one step at a time. I vaguely recognize a bunch of people, and I'm pleased that the usual roar of memories is muffled to a background hum.

I think I'm getting ahead of myself, though. I put on my best, most winningest smile, and head to class.

(Ground) Rules

TWILIGHT

The light was blinding, and Twilight's head throbbed.

“Well, that didn’t work,” Discord’s voice mumbled to her left.

Twilight felt a violent shudder reverberate through her as her senses tried to adjust to her new surroundings. Everything hurt. Her ears rang, her stomach churned, her skull pounded, and she slowly sank to her knees, clutching her head.

Wait... She sank to her bipedal knees. She clutched her head with her hands. She pulled them away and looked at the foreign-yet-familiar digits attached to the end of her forelimbs.

Twilight shut her eyes tightly. “Discord? Why do I have hands?”

There was a pause before he replied. “Why wouldn’t you?”

Damn you, Discord. “You could have warned me we were heading to the human world. Why did we go through all that when we could have just walked through the magic mirror in the castle?”

“A human world. This isn’t the same one you’ve visited before.”

What? “That doesn’t make any sense.”

There was a sigh, and Twilight’s headache worsened as Discord began to lecture her. “Twilight, there is a nigh-infinite number of universes out there. Some worlds are ruled by ponies. Some – a lot, actually – are ruled by humans. Others are inhabited by a conglomeration of all manner of sentient species. One of the worlds I visited when I first got free was inhabited solely by semi-sentient flower gardens.” Another sigh. “I’ve never been more soundly defeated.”

Twilight opened her eyes. “You’re making that up–”. Her breath caught in her throat as she stared at Discord. He was wholly transformed; where once there had been a chaotic mish-mash of animal parts, there now stood a distinguished, if ostentatiously dressed, human male – in the later stages of his life, given the creases on his face and veins of silver running through his otherwise dark hair and beard. His nose was a bit large for his face, but otherwise...

He blinked at her with eyes that were now a vibrant blue, instead of their usual jaundiced red. “What?”

“You just look so, uh,” Twilight fished for the right word, “... normal.”

Discord grimaced. “Ugh, there’s no need to be rude.”

Twilight pulled her gaze from Discord’s new form to take in their surroundings. They seemed to have arrived at the top of a hill, in a public park of some kind. A gentle breeze blew through it, carrying with it scents that spoke of summer. Twilight smiled at the familiarity, but she saw Discord’s ear twitch. His face paled somewhat, and he said in a quiet voice, “We need to move.” He scanned their surroundings until his eyes fell on a maintenance shed. “Come along,” he said as he started to walk towards it.

“Wait,” Twilight called as she staggered to her feet and adjusted her saddlebags – no, her backpack, now – to more evenly distribute the weight across her back. Her knees wobbled a bit as she found her balance, then stood up straight. I guess I’ve had plenty of practice at this, she thought as she frowned at Discord. “I think you owe me a bit more of an explanation of why I’m here.”

He ground his oddly even teeth. “Twilight, there are two types of rules that govern the universe,” he said as he held up two fingers. “The first, the kind that Celestia and Luna invented, were made to be broken–” Twilight’s frown deepened, but he ignored her, “–and the second are the rules that keep the universe from flying apart into its constituent atoms.” He spread his hands wide for dramatic effect. “Those are the rules that you don’t break without a very good reason, and I just broke almost all of them in order to get you here. It was not subtle, and it certainly attracted attention, from the entirety of this forsaken city if nothing else. And if by some blind chance nothing else noticed then we will have been very lucky indeed.” He looked around nervously. “I doubt very much that we’re that lucky, however, so we need to move.” He turned and strode off to the maintenance shed without waiting for a response.

The fact that Discord seemed frightened of the consequences of his actions unnerved Twilight more than anything he said, so she pushed her follow-up questions to the back of her mind and followed him.

They stopped in front of the plain beige door of the shed. Discord tried to open it, but it was locked. “Good. Twilight, please use the key I gave to you to open the door.”

Twilight had been wondering if there was a way for Discord to make even less sense, and now she had her answer. “Discord, there’s no way this key is going to fit into that lock.”

Discord rubbed his matching human hands across his face. “Twilight, please. Just do this last thing for me, and I can explain everything on the other side of this door.”

“Why didn’t you just hold onto the key and use it yourself?”

“Because then the door would be keyed to me!” Discord looked like he was on the verge of having a seizure. “Please, Twilight. Just trust me. Touch the key to the lock.”

Twilight snorted, but she reluctantly obeyed and touched the key to the doorknob.

A jolt of energy shot through the key and up her arm with a loud snap, and Twilight recoiled. “Ow!” She shot another glare at Discord.

He had a hand across his face as he motioned for her to get on with it with the other. “That was the key binding itself to you. Only you can use it now.”

With an angry huff, she thrust the key at the far-too-small keyhole.

To her shock, the key slid into the doorknob anyway, surrounded by a pale lavender glow where it should have been forced to stop. She turned the key and heard a low clunking noise of a lock being undone. Jaw open, she removed the key and tried the knob, and found it was now unlocked.

“Excellent,” Discord said, and as soon as the door was open the tiniest sliver, he shoved it aside, took Twilight by the shoulders, and dragged her inside with him. She tried to protest as he slammed the door shut and turned the lock, but he wasn’t listening. He simply leaned against the doorjamb and–

Twilight gasped as she realized she recognized the entryway. She slowly turned, jaw agape, as she realized where that door had led.

It was the Golden Oaks Library.

Or rather, it was a very good imitation of it. The more she stared, the more tiny inconsistencies she saw. The bookshelves were emptier than they had been, and what books were there were out of order. The patterns on the rugs were either too simple or too complex from what had been there previously. The room smelled too clean, as though each of the books had been printed yesterday, rather than the sometimes decades-old tomes she was familiar with.

Still, there was no denying it – she felt like she was home. There were tears in her eyes as she tried to find the words. “Why?”

Discord turned away from the door, head bowed. “I blame myself for you losing your home, Twilight. I thought that, since you would need a temporary home on this world, I could at least make it somewhat familiar.” He looked up and met her gaze. “What do you think?”

Twilight couldn’t decide if this was the kindest or the cruelest thing Discord had ever done. She considered the way he was looking at her expectantly, and couldn’t detect a trace of malice.

After a long pause, she decided to give him the benefit of the doubt. “It’s lovely, Discord. Thank you.” She offered him a sad smile, then looked around the room again.

Discord saw the followup questions on her face. “So, ground rules. That key around your neck is what stores this pocket dimension when it’s not in use. When you use the key on any door, locked or otherwise, the magic flows out of the key and creates a portal here. Once on the other side, locking the door seals off the library, and the door back on Earth can be used normally again.”

“So the key can be used on any door? And it opens back up to where we came from?”

“Indeed it does.” Discord smiled back as he gestured towards the door. “Shall we?”

Twilight blinked. “Right now?”

He took out a pocketwatch from his vest pocket. “Well, soon. You don’t want to be late for your first day of school, after all.”

Twilight groaned. “Alright then, let’s get this show on the road.” She adjusted her backpack as she walked towards the door. Rehearsing, she said, “‘Hi, I’m Twilight Sparkle, pleased to meet you! Hi, I’m Twilight Sparkle–”

Discord looked startled as he moved to lean against the door to keep it shut. “Actually, no, you’re not.”

Twilight was puzzled. “Not what?”

“Twilight Sparkle. That’s not exactly a name on this plane of existence. You’ll be taking on your counterpart’s identity while we’re here: Talia Singh, foreign exchange student.”

Twilight’s face scrunched up with confusion. “What kind of a name is ‘Talia Singh’?”

Discord sighed. “This is going to take some explanation.” He unlocked the door and stared through the peephole as though searching for something. Apparently satisfied, he opened the door and motioned for her to go first. “At least we’ll have something to discuss on the bus.”

(Re)Introductions

TWILIGHT

Twilight stood at the front of the class. The homeroom teacher, Mrs. O'Brien, stood next to her as they watched students trickle into the room.

Discord said I'd be able to recognize my friends when I saw them, but I don't see anybody yet... He had warned her that humans here had a limited palette of hues when it came to skin and hair color, which worried her – none of her friends' coat colors really fell in that band, so she'd need to–

Wait. At that moment, a radiant young woman with heavily curled rich indigo hair walked through the door wearing a low-cut white blouse and an indigo skirt. Around her neck was a silver chain, from which hung a trio of sapphires.

Twilight smiled to herself. That's one down, I think.

Her thoughts were interrupted by Mrs. O'Brien. "So, Miss Singh, would you like me to introduce you to the class, or would you rather introduce yourself?"

How Twilight would introduce herself to her classmates – and by extension, her friends' duplicates – had been weighing on her mind. She wasn't certain she'd be able to maintain her cover, regardless of Discord's insistence to the contrary. "Well, it might be best if you introduce me first, and I can take it from there."

"Okay, that sounds good. Those are lovely contacts, by the way."

Twilight blinked. "I'm sorry?"

Mrs. O'Brien blinked back at her. "Your eyes. That's a lovely shade of lavender."

"Oh, right." She'd heard about contacts the last time she'd visited Canterlot High – an impressive, if high maintenance, alternative to glasses. "They aren't contacts, that's actually my real eye color."

"You're kidding." Mrs. O'brien leaned closer to take a better look.

"It's true, see?" Twilight looked left, right, up and down. As she did so, a thought struck her – a story she'd been told by her mother about how she'd gotten her name. She grinned and said, "That's actually why everyone calls me 'Twilight' back home, because of my eyes."

"Oh. Well, if that's how you want to introduce yourself, that’s fine by me.” She straightened. “Once we've taken care of introductions, I'll take roll so you can start to learn everyone’s names before I throw you to the wolves." She chuckled to herself, but stopped when she saw the horrified look on Twilight's face. "That's just an expression, dear."

"Oh, haha, of course." Note to self – this place has a weird sense of humor.

The bell rang, and Mrs. O'brien checked her watch. "That's the five-minute bell. The rest of class should be arriving soon."

Twilight kept her eyes locked on the door, examining each student as they came in. She was reasonably certain that she saw analogues for Pinkie Pie (while oddly dressed, her wild pink hair and wide blue eyes were dead giveaways), Fluttershy (who looked exhausted, though tall and graceful) and Applejack (who wore a red plaid button-down shirt and jeans, though surprisingly was without her trademark hat). Rainbow Dash, however, was conspicuously absent.

The bell rang again, and Mrs. O'Brien walked over to shut the door to the classroom. As she tried to shut it, though, a yellow canvas bag slid against the door frame with a thud, propping the door open. The teacher looked down at the bag with a frown and reached down to grab it when a very familiar raspy voice shouted from the hallway, "I'm here!"

And that makes five, Twilight thought with a smile as a sweaty, rainbow-haired teenager appeared in the doorway with a laugh. "Hah, I'm here." She appeared to be gasping for breath. "I made it."

"You're late, Miss Dilis."

"Yeah," she gasped, "but only if the door's closed, right?"

Mr's O'Brien glared at her, then waved her inside. "Don't let it happen again."

"Ha, I won't." She collapsed into a chair at one of the tables in the back of the room.

"Now then, class, before I take attendance, I'd like to introduce you to our new foreign exchange student, Talia Singh." She gestured at Twilight as all attention became focused on her.

She smiled and waved, an old hand at addressing a crowd of strangers. "Hello, everyone. Please, call me Twilight..."

Mrs. O'Brien finished taking attendance, then said, "Alright, Tal– Twilight, if you'd like to take a seat somewhere, I'll start distributing locks for your lockers." The class began to chatter among themselves as Twilight waded into their midst.

The list of names Discord had given her had confirmed her suspicions about her friends’ identities, so she headed to the largest cluster of them. She took her seat next to Rachel at her table in the back, behind Allison and Rebecca.

Rachel gave her an appraising look as she sat down. "Are your eyes really that color?"

"Ha, I have a feeling I'll be answering that question a lot today, but yes! Same color I was born with."

"Nice. I got stuck with these baby blues." Her eyes were indeed sky blue, the same color as Rainbow Dash’s coat back home, which Twilight thought was passing strange; all the rest of her friends still had the same eye color. Magenta eyes must not exist here, either.

"They're still very pretty."

"Oh, uh, thanks. Say, you're not, uh..." Rachel gave her another appraising look as she trailed off. "Nah, never mind."

"What?"

"Nah, silly question. Don't worry about it."

Twilight considered pressing her further, but was distracted by Rebecca's audible sniff. "Allison, dear?"

"Hmm?" Allison was leaning back in her chair, hands folded behind her head, resting her eyes.

"Did you, by chance, forget to take a shower today?"

Allison cracked open an eye. "Why?"

"You're just a bit... ripe, this morning."

Allison eye shut again. "And a very merry 'fuck you' to you too, Rebecca."

Rebecca sniffed again, eyes never leaving her phone. "Ah, yes, silly me – I forgot that basic civility is frowned upon around here."

Oh dear. Twilight opened her mouth to interject, but Rachel held out a hand to stop her. "Don't, it's not worth it. They'll snipe at each other all morning if you try to stop them."

Rebecca raised an eyebrow. "Allison isn't the only one who could use a bath, dear."

"Hey, at least I showered this morning. It's just a long way here on a skateboard, is all."

"You could ride the bus," Allison said as she shifted into a more comfortable slouch in her chair.

"Pff, lame–"

"So, Rachel," Twilight interrupted, desperate to try to shift the conversation in a more positive direction, "you're clearly an athlete; what sports teams do you play for here?"

Allison and Rebecca snorted in unison. Rachel ignored them. "I can see why you'd think that," she replied, a wry grin on her face as she flexed her well-toned arms, "but I'm not really a 'team player' kind of girl."

Twilight was stunned. "Wait, really? Why not?"

“I’ve just always done best on my own. Other people hold me back, and I don't like getting yelled at for pointing it out. Besides, I save all my energy for the ring.”

“What–” That’s as far as Twilight got before Allison groaned and got to her feet.

Rachel frowned at her. “Where are you going?”

“Someplace quieter.” Allison moved to a table at the far end of the room and propped her boots on the table, looking irritated. Twilight couldn’t help but notice Rachel’s gaze following her across the room.

Shortly, Rachel returned her attention to Twilight. “Anyways, I save all of my energy for MMA fighting. That’s the only sport I care about.”

‘Fighting’? Before Twilight could ask, there was another scoff from Rebecca. “I would hardly call two brutes trying their very best to beat the stuffing out of each other a ‘sport’, Miss Dilis.”

Rachel shot her a glare. “Who the fuck asked you?”

“Rachel Dilis!” Rachel whirled around in surprise to see Mrs. O’Brien looming over her, a handful of locks in her hands. “Utter that language in my classroom again and you will spend a week in detention! Is that clear?”

Twilight quietly shied away from teacher and student as they glared at each other. “Crystal,” Rachel said through gritted teeth. “Can I have my lock? I was just leaving.” Rachel stood, accepted her lock, and left the room without another word.

Mrs. O’Brien sighed and handed a lock to Rebecca and Twilight, then moved on down the row. Once she had passed, Twilight moved forward and sat next to Rebecca, who had continued tapping away at her phone through the entire exchange. “That wasn’t very nice, baiting her like that.”

“I didn’t do it to be nice, dear,” Rebecca droned, a smile tugging at the corner of her mouth. She did nothing else to acknowledge Twilight's presence.

“Hey,” Twilight objected, “if that’s how you treat people, you’re going to end up without any friends.”

“I don’t need any friends in my line of work, Twilight, just happy customers. I manage that easily enough.”

Twilight was taken aback – even at their worst back at Canterlot High, Twilight’s friends had managed to form or find a place in smaller cliques. This was a whole other level of… wrong. “Surely you must have some friends?”

This finally provoked a response, and Rebecca set down her phone as she turned to regard her, her face hovering somewhere between patronizing and pity. “Look around you, Twilight. This is our senior year of high school. At the end of the year, they will hand us a scrap of paper that says we meet the barest minimum standard for being a decent human being. Aside from that, absolutely nothing that happens within these halls has any meaning whatsoever to our future lives, least of all interpersonal relationships.”

She must have misread the look of confusion on Twilight’s face, as she took a deep breath before she continued. “I’m sorry, you’re a foreign exchange student, so let me break this down into simpler language: I am not a very good friend. I never have been. I’m just very good at acting as though I am. And after a while, I started to wonder why I bothered to maintain the pretense.” She returned her attention to her phone. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a business to manage.”

Clearly dismissed, Twilight numbly stood and walked away. She debated trying again with Allison, who clearly didn’t want to be bothered as she listed back in her chair, the perfect image of lackadaisical apathy.

A small whimper to her left caught her attention. She turned to see the quiet girl, Felicity, head rested on her folded arms – she appeared to be asleep. A deep grimace twitched across her face as she whimpered again. Twilight had seen similar expressions on Spike’s face when he was having a bad dream, so she sat down quietly next to her and tried to shake her gently awake. “Hey–”

“Eep!” Felicity jerked up with a start, eyes wild. She recoiled from Twilight when she saw her, and pointedly shut her eyes as she turned away, apologies bubbling out of her. “I’m sorry! I’m so sorry, I– I guess I must have drifted off, sorry.”

“Hey now, it’s okay,” Twilight kept her voice low as she tried to reach out to reassure her, but Felicity scooted even further out of reach. She turned her shoulder away from her as her black hair covered what little of her face Twilight may have otherwise been able to see.

“I’m sorry,” she said again, “I– I haven’t been sleeping all that well. I’m a little twitchy, I guess.”

I'd hate to see how bad it can get if this is ‘a little twitchy’. “No worries. I just thought you might have appreciated waking up – it didn’t look like you were having a very good dream.”

Felicity shuddered. “No, it wasn’t a good dream.” A long pause. “Um, th-thank you.”

“My pleasure.” Twilight sat for a moment, unsure of how to proceed. She decided to be proactive. “Hey, do you know of any good places for coffee around here? I’m pretty new in town.”

“Coffee?” Felicity turned back towards Twilight – she didn’t actually face her, but it was progress. “Not really, no, I’m sorry.”

Twilight slumped in her chair, half disappointed at being stymied again, half terrified at the thought that this might be a world without coffee. Could such a hellish place truly exist?

“Not nearby, anyways. There’s a lovely little coffee house downtown that I go to from time to time – The Crescent Moon. I go there for their tea, but I’ve heard good things about their coffee as well.”

Thank Celestia. “That sounds good to me!” Twilight decided to press her advantage. “Would you like to join me there sometime? I’d love to have someone show me around the city a bit.”

“Oh, um, well, I’ve got to work this afternoon – and every afternoon this week.” There was another long pause, but then she surprised Twilight by actually turning and shifting her hair back behind her ear as she looked at her for the first time. “I don’t have anything going on Saturday night, though. Would you like a ride there?”

“Yes, please, thank you so much!” Outwardly, Twilight tried to maintain a chipper smile, but inwardly she was panicking. I can’t wait almost an entire week!

Mrs O’Brien appeared and handed Felicity a lock, and Felicity stood to stow her things. “Great! We can make plans later this week. It’s good to meet you, Twilight.”

“Likewise, Felicity.” She watched her leave the room, then scanned the room for Penny. She didn’t see her, so she headed out into the hall with the rest of the class. The hallway echoed with a dull roar of chattering voices, squeaking hinges, and slamming metal doors. It reminded her a bit of Canterlot High, though the hallways here were more crowded.

She spotted Penny as she walked in a wide loop around Allison to get to her locker. That’s odd, she thought as she walked up to introduce herself.

Penny beat her to the punch as she whirled on her with a surprised smile. “Oh, hey! You’re the new girl – Talia, right? I’m Penny!” She reached out a hand for a handshake, which Twilight gratefully accepted. Finally, one of them acts the way they should.

“Hello, Penny. Please, call me Twilight. It’s nice to meet you.” She offered her a warm smile.

Penny smiled back. “I love meeting new people! They haven’t had a chance to, um…” Penny’s smile faltered, and they continued shaking hands as an uncomfortable silence stretched between them. Twilight’s knuckles had started to ache by the time Penny shook her head, as though trying to clear it. “Never mind all that now, hahaha!” Her nervous laugh set Twilight on her back foot, and she removed her hand from Penny’s grip. Penny, as if on instinct, reached out to grab it again, and Twilight took another step back out of her reach.

Penny’s eyes widened as Twilight recoiled, and she gathered her arms back in front of herself, almost in a defensive pose. “Ohmigosh, I’m sorry! I tend to come on a little strong to new people, since I…” She stopped mid-sentence again, and seemed horrified by what she had been about to say. A rapid series of expressions flashed across Penny’s face, too fast for Twilight to read them all.

Suddenly Penny’s eyes began to dart all over Twilight, scrutinizing her in detail. Twilight took a third step away from her, uncomfortable with the penetrating nature of Penny’s stare. “Uh, Penny? Are you okay?”

Penny’s eyes locked onto Twilight’s for the briefest of moments before she slapped her hands over them. “I’m really, really sorry, Twilight. Can we try this again in like, an hour from now? I have to, um,” she shook her head a final time, “go.” Her hands flashed open as her face twisted into a horrible facsimile of a cheerful grin. “Bye!” In a blink, she merged into the crowd of students surrounding them and was gone.

That was… unpleasant. The encounter with Penny left Twilight shaken. She slowly shook her head as she sighed. I’ve certainly got my work cut out for me.

Rain and (Lack of) Tears

PENNY

My morning isn’t going according to plan. I’m not that big on plans to begin with, but wow, I’m not asking for much here. All I wanted was to drift from wake-up call to mid-morning mellow to afternoon pick-me-up to evening lullaby, just like any other day. Easy-peasy, lemon-squeezy.

The hallways are still flooded with students at their lockers, stowing their stuff and chatting and catching up and taking selfies and pointedly ignoring me, which is fine, really, cuz I really kinda don’t want to run the risk of remembering anything right now. I'm wandering around in a sort of half-panic. I check my phone again as I walk, trying not to look anyone in the eye. It’s not yet nine o’clock, and my morning wake-up call is already wearing off.

I’m sweating. God, how am I already sobering up? Did I not take enough? Have I somehow built up a tolerance in the span of 24 hours? Does white have an expiration date?

I can feel a pressure building up in the back of my mind, like something threatening to break through the chemical dam I’ve so carefully maintained over the last few years. I want to hurry, but I’m taking a circuitous route around this wing of the school to get back to my locker, hoping that the new girl will have left by then.

I can’t believe I almost told her everything. What the hell was that? Once, I can almost understand. I get a wild hair up my ass (wait, is it hare? I can see rampaging butt rabbits making people do crazy shit) every once in awhile and try to do something stupid, but I’m pretty good at catching myself. But twice? Why am I so compelled to tell this complete stranger my life story?

I slow my pace as I realize two even weirder things – why (or, even better, how) did I try to get a read on her, and how did that read pull up nothing? I shudder as lavender eyes win a staring contest with my mind.

I’m stressing myself out. I just have to make it back to my locker and let mellow Molly massage my mental mess back to mush. I pause at a water fountain for a drink – gosh, my throat’s dry – and try to calm down as the motor kicks on with a grinding cough, indicating maintenance will be necessary within–

Oh no.

Cold dread floods through my body. I stare at the floor waxed within the previous twenty hours– okay, no, I stare at the ceiling tiles still showing water damage from heavy snowfall the previous winter– dammit, fine, I’ll just shut my eyes.

There. Now, think.

I had hoped the incident with Twilight had been a fluke. Isolated. But no, that’s too much to hope for. Despite my best efforts, my mind is now fully cogent. So, problem: I’m lucid. Solution: take mid-morning molly an hour early and hope the rest of the day stays on track. I just have to make it back to my locker.

Easier said than done. I’m tempted to try to make it there with my eyes closed, but the hallway’s too crowded. I really, really don’t want to open my eyes, though. It’s like standing on the high dive at the pool; the longer I stall, the worse it gets. With that in mind, I take a deep breath, open my eyes, and set off at a brisk pace.

I keep my eyes glued to the floor to try and avoid looking at anyone – it’s not like I can forget where I’m going in this state, but even people’s shoes are scuffed and worn, a result of the depressed economic environment since– just keep moving Penny, don’t look at the Chuck Taylors, the very finest in canvas-based footwear, worn almost exclusively by– stop it!

God, it’s worse than I remember it being. I’m almost sprinting back to my locker now as the data input threatens to overwhelm my sense of fashion tends to be dated compared to that of the coastal cities as culture drifts inward towards the midwestern dirt encrusting the sole’s edge is old, multi-layered, the workboots of a farmboy, non-standard considering central location for high school though not unprecedented, considering the small number of northern farms that send their students to the city for higher eduation, including– no! Don’t think about a ten-year-old girl, sandy blonde hair tied back with a scarlet hair tie, stares back at her with anger, pain, and tears in her eyes.

Penny stares at the girl, her distant kin, as she stands there in her black dress. Suddenly her own clothes are replaced with solid black, and she stands in the expansive front yard of a farmhouse–

Blinded by my reverie, my runaway train of thought derails as I slam into someone. I knock them over, and a collection of sketches tumbles to the floor. “Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry,” I say as I bend to help pick Zachary, seventeen years old, abusive mother, forty-two stitches over the last– I shake my head as I turn to run into the crowd, but I lock eyes with Brandi, showed up drunk to school for a solid week after– god dammit, no! Stop looking at Kelsey, spends time shuttled back and forth between two parents who don’t care about Thomas who abandoned his girlfriend after she got pregnant and Caleigh got pregnant the summer before last but she never– shut up shut up SHUT UP!

I slam my head into a locker and shut my eyes again and try to choke back a sob. Failing that, I look to see that hey, this is my locker. Thank god. I twirl the lock – seven to twenty-seven past zero to eleven important number prime number eleven goes into one hundred and eleven eleven times but always comes back one of these days I’m going to just start screaming and never stop, but I don’t think that’ll be today as I wash down the pill with an ice-cold Red Bull and take a deep breath.

I’m shaking, but I already feel a small measure of control as studies have shown the placebo effect takes hold well before the drug has a chance to work its magic. I shift a stray sweat-plastered lock of violently pink hair back behind my ear as I head for the bathroom to splash some water on my face. I reach for the door as it opens in front of me–

“Oh, hey, Penny. Jeezus, you feelin’ alright, cuz?”

NOOO–

The cloudy sky above rumbles with distant thunder, threatening rain.

Shadowy faceless figures clad in black float to and fro, aimless, void of personality or tangible form. They blend with the gloom of the heavy, overcast sky. They are irrelevant.

Today is a day for heartfelt, polite, and utterly meaningless platitudes. It all fades into a background din of white noise. Penny pays it no heed.

This is not a day about her.

A family, distant kin, is stricken by tragedy. The mother and father are gone. They were people that Penny had long looked up to, that her own parents had pointed to as paragons among their fellow men and women, and now they were dead. The tattered remnants of that family grieved, incapable of comprehending anything beyond the scope of the tragedy that had befallen them.

This is a day devoid of laughter.

A grandmother looks after her granddaughter, a child barely capable of speech. A grandson, old enough to know true grief, clings to her arm and chooses not to speak. It will be a long time before he decides to speak again.

A middle child is missing. She is the one Penny seeks, as she has done in her memory so many times before.

Penny finds her standing alone, off to the side. Her back is to the shadowy gathering. Penny walks up behind her, and the girl turns.

“She keeps askin’ for ‘em.”

Penny doesn’t know how to respond to this. There is no response to this. She remains silent.

“Ah can’t keep listenin’ to her. Ah had to get away.”

Penny moves closer. Allison flinches away.

“Don’t. It’s bad enough that everyone else treats me the same way they treat her. Don’t you go doin’ the same.”

Penny tries to think of something to do, or say, or even think. Words fail her.

“Ah hate her.”

“No, you don’t.” An automatic, if sincere, response.

Allison turns to face her, eyes brimming with angry tears. Her voice is calm as she says, “Yeah. I really do.” She lowers her voice to an unsteady whisper as she says, “Almost as much as Ah hate them.”

“Allison–”

A voice calls out from the shadows. “Penny! We’re leaving, dear, come on!”

Allison wipes away the tears in her eyes before they can fall. None appear to replace them. “Go. You ain’t doin’ me any kindness by stayin’.”

Penny opens her mouth to say something – anything! But the words will not come.

“Penny!”

Allison turns away from her, jaw set. Penny watches her best friend’s heart turn to stone, and as she has done a hundred times before, does nothing.

Wordlessly, Penny turns and leaves.

Trapped within a point of view, powerless to alter the course of her memory, an older Penny screams at her younger self to act. To make a dumb joke, to reach out and hug Allison, to set something on fire – anything other than pointless inaction.

It is, as always, all for naught. Young Penny climbs into her family’s car as the first drops of rain begin to fall.

Wait, this isn’t happening. This isn’t now.

The world softens at the edges and begins to fade away to nothing. The car door slams shut, and Penny wakes up.

I blink.

(Relative) Distance

ALLISON

Allison scrubbed at the stubborn smear of engine grease on her chin that she hadn’t realized had been there all morning, cursing her brother, the sprayer, the farm, and Rebecca in turn. Eventually it faded, and she considered her reflection in the bathroom mirror. She scanned herself for any further smudges, and finding none, grunted with satisfaction.

As she leaned back from the mirror she locked eyes with herself. Her emerald irises were so like her brother's.

So like her mother's.

She turned away from herself, her lips pressed into a thin line. Ain’t got time for any of that. She grabbed a handful of paper towels and dried the rest of her face as it hardened to an impassive mask, then turned to leave. She heaved open the door to the girls bathroom, only to be startled by Penny. “Oh, hey Penny.”

Penny’s eyes flew wide as she recoiled from her, then froze. Allison rocked back on her heels as she considered her unexpected reaction. “Jeezus, are you alright, cuz?”

Penny didn’t reply as her eyes slid out of focus. Allison took a step back as Penny’s breathing became ragged and her eyes filled with tears. In a low voice, Allison asked, “Penny?”

Suddenly, Penny blinked, and any trace of tears vanished as her gaze snapped back to Allison. Her face lit up with a manic grin as she chirped, “Oh, hey Allison! What's up?”

Allison blinked back at her. “Ah could ask you the same thing.”

Penny’s eyes started to slowly drift out of focus again. “Yeah, yep. Me too.” She listed a bit to her left, then shook her head and blinked a few times. “I mean, um, things. And… stuff.” Her wide grin melted a bit into a dreamy sort of smile. “I’m fine though, thanks.”

Ah somehow doubt that. “Y’sure?”

“Yeah, I just gotta… just gotta, um.” Penny shut one eye and squinted at – well, near – Allison with the other. “... butt rabbits.”

Allison raised an eyebrow. “Say what now?”

“Uh-huh. Wild hares? Or something.” Penny sidled past her and weaved her way to a sink, where she splashed some water on her face. A flimsy half-smile shifted from one corner of her mouth to the other as she stared at her own reflection, now seemingly oblivious to Allison’s presence.

Uh-huh. “Welp, Ah’ll let you... wrassle them varmints, and Ah’m…” Allison sighed as her gaze fell to the floor, “Ah’m just gonna pretend Ah didn’t see you.”

“That’s probably for the best,” Penny called after Allison as she left, the bathroom door banging shut behind her as she slowly shook her head. That girl’s on drugs, Ah swear.

Allison started towards her locker, then stopped and turned to stare back at the bathroom entrance. That was the most we’ve spoken to one-another in, what, three years now? The realization shook her, as Penny had once been her best friend, long ago. Nowadays it’s like she avoids me on purpose. It seemed almost fitting that Penny’s parting advice had been to forget her. Times change, Ah guess.

She swallowed past the thickness in her throat, irritated at her brief brush with useless sentimentality, and she resumed her trudge back to her locker. She arrived in time to catch the tail end of a conversation that only one party was keen on having.

“Uh, no, I can’t. I gotta work tonight.” Rachel was paying particularly close attention to swapping the order of her books as Twilight hovered over her shoulder.

Twilight was unphased. “Oh, really? Where do you work?”

“Why do you care?”

Twilight seemed taken aback by the question. “I’m just… showing an interest, aheh.”

Rachel sighed. “Sullivan’s Gym, downtown. Off Adams and 27th Avenue.”

“Well, maybe we can meet up afterwards?”

“Afterwards I’ve got an appointment I need to keep.” She slammed her locker shut. “Look, I gotta get to class. Later.” She spun the lock and vanished into the shifting mass of teenagers flowing down the hallway.

Twilight raised the side of her hand to her mouth, brow furrowed. “Hmm.” Then she turned and caught Allison’s eyes, and instantly brightened. “Oh, hello Allison! How is the morning treating you so far?”

Crud. “Peachy.” Allison opened her locker and turned her back to Twilight – much as Rachel had ineffectually done, she realized, and so turned to face her once she had her books in hand. “Listen, pesterin’ folk about their personal business ain’t a good way to make friends around here, y’feel me?”

Twilight had the good sense to look sheepish. “I’m gathering that. I can’t help it, I guess – I just want to get to know... everyone.”

Allison narrowed her eyes at Twilight’s hesitation, but said nothing.

Twilight hurriedly continued, “Meeting new people is fascinating, and I love learning all I can about them.”

Allison snorted. That ain’t quite it. “Well, ain’t you just a pile of sunshine an’ daisies.”

“Oh, why thank you!” Twilight beamed.

Allison lowered her eyelids as she closed her locker. “That wasn’t a compliment.”

Twilight tilted her head. “How is comparing me to ‘sunshine and daisies’ not a compliment?”

“No, Ah meant–” Allison stopped herself short as she rubbed her eyes. Her breath hissed through her nose before she continued. “Look. Ah appreciate the effort you’re trying to make here. Ah truly do. But Rachel has her own thing goin’ on. An’ before you ask, so do Ah. We ain’t exactly got the time nor the inclination to go around makin’ friends.”

Twilight’s shoulders slumped. “Rebecca said pretty much the same thing.”

Allison rolled her eyes. “Well, she’s kind of a bitch, but yeah, runnin’ her own business an’ bein’ snooty about it takes a lotta her time. You’re barking up the wrong tree there, too.”

She twisted towards her locker and yanked on the lock to make sure it was latched, then turned to go. She glanced at Twilight one last time, but hesitated as she caught the defeated look on her face.

Allison sighed. “Look, if you really wanna make a friend, you should go talk to Felicity. That poor girl’s… she could use a friend.”

Twilight perked up a bit at this. “Well, she and I are hanging out on Saturday.”

“See, there ya go.” Allison paused. “Penny could use a friend too, Ah think, but, uh... she’s likely gonna do you more harm than good.”

“What do you mean?”

“Just a feelin’. Girl’s off her nut, is all.” Speaking ill of Penny, however deservedly, left a sour taste in her mouth. “Anyways, best o’ luck to ya.”

Before Twilight could respond, Allison turned away and merged with the surging human tide, leaving the new girl in her wake.

(Time) Management

TWILIGHT

The day had not gone according to plan.

Twilight had spent the rest of the morning getting lost while trying to find where all of her classes were. To her dismay, most of her friends’ schedules didn’t line up with each other, and only one or two of them would be in any given class she had. She had hoped that she would be able to find them during lunch but, again, the school was so massive that the student body used the cafeteria in shifts. Allison and Rebecca didn’t have the same lunch period as Twilight, and when she had scanned the cafeteria for Felicity, Penny, and Rachel, they were nowhere to be found.

Only at the end of a day of tiresome syllabi and wasted time did Twilight finally catch up with the one student who didn’t actively avoid talking to her: Felicity.

“Hello, Felicity. How did your first day of classes treat you?” Twilight beamed at her, pleased to see her looking a bit less haggard than this morning.

“Oh, hello, Twilight,” she said pleasantly as she stashed the rest of her books in her locker. “I think it went well. The first day of classes is never really demanding, though.”

Tell me about it. “Yep, it all seemed pretty straightforward.” Speaking of straightforward… “Say, you mentioned earlier today you had to work this week. I was just curious, where do you work?”

Felicity smiled brightly at this. “Oh, I work for–”

A tone from the PA system cut Felicity off as it echoed through the crowded hallway. A bored, nasal voice echoed tinnily, a few decibels too loud for comfort. “Talia Singh, please report to the Vice Principal’s office. Talia Singh to the Vice Principal’s office, please.”

Felicity’s eyes went wide. “Wow, what did you do?”

“I– I’m not sure,” Twilight replied as her mouth went dry. Have they already figured out I’m not supposed to be here?

Seeing her discomfort, Felicity reached out a hand and touched Twilight lightly on her forearm. “Well, you’re a foreign exchange student – maybe they’re just checking in on you after your first day.”

Twilight blinked, then shot her a nervous grin. “Right! I’m sure you’re right, haha. Nothing to worry about,” she said with more confidence than she felt.

“Well, I won’t keep you, then. Best of luck!” With a friendly wave, Felicity joined with the roiling mass of students as they surged towards the exit doors, yearning for sweet freedom.

The walk to the Vice Principal’s office was long – Twilight almost got lost again trying to find her way to the main hall – and the closer she got, the more trepidation she felt. She had barely started learning about her friends, and she worried now it was all about to fall apart before she could even truly begin.

She arrived at the thick oak door that led to the vice principal's office. She swallowed as she cautiously opened the door and poked her head through it. “You… you wanted to see me?”

The office was of a decent size, filled mostly by a wide expanse of cherrywood desk. Unlike so many other rooms in the high school, this room was lit only by a pair of mismatched light fixtures resting on the corners of the desk. Behind it was a massive, high-backed, burnished black leather chair, back facing the door.

The vice principal raised a hand and waved Twilight forward, so she entered the room and let the door thud shut behind her. After a long pause, Twilight cleared her throat. “H–hello?”

The chair slowly spun around, and Twilight gasped when she saw the occupant.

“Discord?!”

“Hello, Twilight! How was your first day back at school?” Discord, still in his oddly normal human form, now wore a worn and patched tweed jacket with leather elbows. He leaned forward and steepled his fingers, an excited grin etched onto his features.

Aghast, Twilight looked down and read the plaque on the desk. “‘Vice Principal Stryfe’?” She frowned at her fellow outsider. “Subtle.”

“Isn’t it? I certainly thought so.” Discord’s grin turned sly as he adjusted a lampshade on his desk. “Surprised to see me?”

“In a word? Yes! What are you thinking? Are you trying to blow my cover?”

“Far from it! How did you think a dead girl managed to keep her place at this school?”

“I–” Twilight stopped as she realized the glaring incongruity of her presence. She narrowed her eyes. “How did a dead girl keep her place here? What have you been up to?”

“Oh, a modified memory or three, a corrupted data server. Foal’s play, really.”

“Discord!”

“That’s ‘Vice Principal Stryfe’ to you, young lady,” Discord said with mock indignity as he stood up and straightened his jacket – which somehow only rumpled it further. “Speaking of young ladies, how goes your mission? Has friendship won through and solved all of your erstwhile friends’ worldly problems?” There was a twinkle in Discord’s eye that made Twilight’s blood boil.

“No, as a matter of fact, it hasn’t. They don’t want anything to do with me.”

The grin fell from Discord’s face. “What, you haven’t even spoken to them?”

“Not really! They’re all either completely self-absorbed or all twitchy and paranoid – Rebecca never looks up from her phone, Rachel and Allison are deliberately ignoring me, and I haven’t even seen Penny since this morning.” Twilight huffed as she continued, “The only person I’ve made any headway with is Felicity, and you just interrupted me with her when you summoned me here!”

Discord frowned at her. “Well, it sounds to me like you haven’t been using your time very wisely.”

Twilight's heartbeat pounded in her ears. “Perhaps if you told me what it was, precisely, you did, I would have a better idea of what I need to do!”

Discord shrugged. “Not that much, really.”

Twilight’s jaw clenched so tight the cords in her neck stood taut against her skin.

Discord hastily backpedaled. “Honestly, I did nothing that would cause this level of damage. Certainly nothing like the outright mental manipulation I pulled with you and your friends in Equestria.”

“That’s not helpful!”

“That’s all I have! I visited a hundred worlds when I first escaped – you should be grateful I even remembered that I did anything here, let alone what.”

Twilight advanced and slammed her hands down onto the desk. “No! Don’t you dare get flippant with me! I’m only here because you asked me for help! Or have you already forgotten that, too?”

Discord had backed into the filing cabinets lining the far wall in surprise at Twilight's outburst. Once the shock of the moment had passed, he slumped forward, head bowed. “You’re right, of course. You don’t deserve that kind of attitude when you’re only here as a favor to me.” He returned to his chair and leaned heavily on his elbows, seeming weighed down. “But that doesn’t alter the fact that I don’t really remember what I did. You’re going to need to figure that out yourself.”

Twilight’s heartbeat no longer pounded in her ears – it had shifted behind her eyes. “Can you at least tell me why you think they so desperately need my help? I mean, Felicity was a bit twitchy this morning, and Penny is behaving… oddly, but the rest of them seem fine, if a bit full of themselves.”

Discord returned to his original pose, steepled fingers pointing to his chin. “That, you’re going to need to find out on your own as well, I’m afraid.” He held up a hand as Twilight balked. “Twilight, no offense, but you’re almost as bad at lying as Applejack. If I just told you what was going on with them, do you really think you would be able to maintain a facade of ignorance?”

“Yes!” Twilight’s stern expression faltered as Discord raised a bushy eyebrow. She glanced at the floor. “... if I had to.”

Discord leaned forward to catch her eye again. “As I understand it, one of the cornerstones of friendship is trust. How do you think they would respond if you, a total stranger, suddenly acted as though you were privy to their darkest secrets?”

Twilight sighed. “Badly.”

“That’s right,” Discord said with a nod. "You're going to need to wheedle their stories out of them yourself. Besides, you know how much I hate spoiling the ending of a story." His grin slipped towards sly once more.

The headache started to sap Twilight's strength. She shut her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose, to no avail. She half-asked, half-stated, “So I’m on my own, then?”

Discord shifted in his chair. “Not entirely. I’ll still be around for the most part to keep an eye on you, and to maintain pretenses around here.”

Something in his tone made Twilight look back up. “What do you mean, ‘for the most part’?”

“Well, I’ll be popping back over to Equestria from time to time as well; I can’t miss afternoon tea with Fluttershy, after all.”

Twilight stared in disbelief as she shook her head. She stood without another word and headed for the door.

Discord blinked as she left. “What? Did you want me to bring you back some scones?”

Twilight’s pace quickened as she heaved the heavy oak door open and slammed it shut behind her. As she stormed into the now-empty hallway, she heard Discord’s muffled shout, “Was it something I said?”

(Peaceful) Domesticity

REBECCA

Rebecca drove her white Fusion north from her home, Shireen slumped in the passenger seat. The car was suffused with a stony silence, the result of a rather heated argument between the sisters regarding the catastrophic lack of Mountain Dew, and certain parties being unwilling to obtain fresh supplies. I shall rid Shireen of her crippling caffeine addiction yet, Rebecca thought as she basked in the self-righteous glow of her minor authoritarian victory.

Still, it would be awkward if we arrived at the orphanage with both of us in a foul mood. With the press of a button, a chime sounded from the dashboard.

*bing* “Line in. Please say a command.”

“USB,” Rebecca enunciated.

“USB,” the car replied.

“Play artist, ‘Lily Allen’.” The car complied, and soon Lily Allen’s dulcet tones filled the car. Rebecca smiled as Shireen closed her eyes with a low groan and rested her head against her seat.

“Must we?” Shireen asked.

“We must.” Rebecca turned east and drove towards the shady part of downtown. Shireen leaned her head against the window as she stared at the passing consignment stores, and grew increasingly miserable with every passing city block.

Around the line, “and we’ll get a Chinese and watch TV,” Shireen couldn’t contain herself any more. “Ugh, why? Why listen to this? It’s so… so…”

Rebecca glanced towards Shireen. “Poetic?”

“Lame! Who sings about this kind of nonsense? Who listens to this?”

“Shireen, some people look forward to a lifestyle of peaceful domesticity, as opposed to the cruel realities of most relationships.”

A shadow crossed Rebecca’s face as she spoke, but Shireen didn’t notice as she crossed her arms. “Well, I hate it.”

“Hate is a strong word, sweetie.”

“Not when it comes this! Peaceful dom– uh, domin–”

“Domesticity?”

“Yeah, that. Peaceful domesticness isn’t what I look for in music!”

“Well, maybe one day your tastes will mature.”

Shireen squeezed her eyes shut and pressed her palms against them. “Rebecca, please. I’ve got such a bad headache, can we listen to anything else?”

“No. Consider it your just desserts for drinking Mountain Dew like it’s water. You reap what you sow, sister-dear.”

Shireen slumped further into her seat with an exasperated sigh and returned her vacant gaze to the window.

Several city blocks later, on the eastern outskirts of downtown, the orphanage rose up as a small volcanic island amidst a sea of concrete and brownstone apartments. Shireen immediately perked up upon seeing the brick-and-mortar building, and both sisters grinned as they saw a tiny figure sitting on the front steps, head in hands, a nun hovering behind her.

Rebecca pulled up to the front gate, and Shireen hopped out of the front seat. The young girl on the steps hopped up as well, and they raced to give each other a hug. Rebecca smiled at the scene, as did the nun standing on the front steps. They waved politely to one-another through the windshield as Sam and Shireen ran back to the car.

Rebecca turned to look in the back seat as they clambered in. “Hello, Sam,” she said as she offered the sprightly youth a warm smile, “how have you been?”

“Hi, Rebecca,” she chirped, “I’m doing pretty good! It’s really great to see the two of you!” Her endearing ear-to-ear grin forced a chuckle from the back of Rebecca’s throat.

“Well, I’m glad to see you too, dear.” Rebecca pulled out of the parking lot and turned west.

After a few moments, Sam’s smile faded a bit. “Um, what’s this we’re listening to?”

Rebecca’s eyes flicked to Sam’s in the rear-view mirror. “Lily Allen. Do you like it?”

Sam’s mouth formed a tight line. “It’s, um, fine.” She nodded. “Yep.”

Rebecca returned her gaze to the road. “If you don’t like it, sweetheart, we can listen to something else. What sort of music do you listen to these days?”

Shireen’s jaw dropped, an incredulous glare cast her sister’s way, but Rebecca pretended not to notice.

Sam was oblivious. “Oh, I dunno. Something a little more, um, rock-ish? Something with electric guitars, maybe?”

Rebecca furrowed her brow. “Hmm. That might be a bit of a trick dear, I’m sorry. Unless – have you ever heard of Creedence Clearwater Revival?”

Sam shook her head.

“Oh, we need to fix that.” A short conversation with her Fusion later, the driving beat of “Fortunate Son” filled the car.

Sam nodded her head in time to the drums, and smiled as the guitars came in. “Yeah, this is way more like it. Thanks, Rebecca!”

“Oh, wait to thank me until you’ve heard the whole thing.” Rebecca turned up the volume.

Sam grinned as she turned to Shireen to ask her something, but stopped short. “Shireen? Are you okay?”

Shireen stared at the back of Rebecca’s head, unblinking, jaw clenched as tight as her fists. “I’m fine, Sam.”

“It’s just, your eyelid is doing that twitching thing again.”

“I’m fine, Sam,” she repeated as she turned to face her. She forced a smile. “I just have a really bad headache, is all.” She changed the subject. “Hey, I gamed straight through lunch – have you eaten yet?”

Sam shook her head, her shock of blonde hair flapping back and forth. “Not recently, I had an early lunch around eleven.”

Rebecca met Sam’s eyes again through the rear-view mirror and asked, “Did you want to pick something up on the way back to our house? We can go wherever you would like.”

“Really? Gee, I dunno – I don’t get out much, haha. I could eat anywhere, I’m pretty hungry.”

“Someplace with Mountain Dew,” Shireen piped up.

Rebecca was about to argue when Sam nodded with an energetic “Ooh, yeah!”

The older girl frowned slightly with a roll of her eyes, but conceded. “Alright, that narrows it down somewhat. How about–”

Sam interrupted as her eyes flew wide. “Ooh, ooh, what about Taco Bell?”

Shireen gasped, a wide smile on her face. “Yeah, Taco Bell!”

Rebecca cringed in her seat as she looked at the both in the rear-view mirror. “Girls, are you sure? That’s barely even food–”

“TACO BELL,” the two girls happily chorused, “TACO BELL!”

Rebecca sighed. “Taco Bell it is.”

Rebecca did her level best to try to ignore the ravenous homf-homf-homf noises coming from the dining area as she made herself a peanut butter sandwich – half because of the horrific table manners, and half because she was unsure if allowing her wards to poison themselves on crudely-wrapped faux-meat garbage constituted good supervision. She came into the kitchen with her sandwich and a glass of lemonade and sat across from the two younger girls.

“Urf sho goobv,” Sam mumbled around a massive mouthful of burrito, “fank oo sho much.” A tiny rivulet of grease trickled down her chin.

Rebecca shuddered. “You’re certainly welcome, dear. I’m glad you’re enjoying your, er, meal.”

Shireen drank deep of her extra-large Mountain Dew. “Oh, sweet elixir of life,” she exclaimed, “pipe it into my veins!” Sam and Shireen shared a giggle as Rebecca looked on and tried not to retch.

A chime from her hip distracted her from the gluttonous display before her, and she gratefully removed her phone from her pocket. It was a text from Alexis’ older sister, Allison:

Hey, just now leavin with Alexis. Be there in a jiffy.

Rebecca steeled herself for the inclusion of the Third Musketeer, and sent back a reply:

No worries, we were just finishing up some food.
The little ones are looking forward to Alexis joining them.

“Looks as though Alexis will be joining us shortly, dears.” A cheer went up from the far side of the table, and they set about finishing their food with renewed vigor.

True to Allison’s word, Alexis arrived just as they were clearing the table, and Sam and Shireen burst through the door to greet their friend with a giant three-way hug. Rebecca stood in the doorway and tossed a polite wave at Allison, who remained in her truck in the driveway as she watched after her sister. She caught her eye and waved back, and Rebecca nodded.

Once the three younger girls had calmed down and come inside, Rebecca lined them up in the foyer. “Okay, listen up you three. I have a very important commission that I need to work on today, so you are, effectively, going to have the house to yourselves.” This provoked a chorus of excited gasps, which was entirely the wrong reaction for Rebecca’s liking. She crossed her arms in front of her chest and gestured at Shireen as she continued. “Our mother seems to think that you three are capable of being left unsupervised, and I am not much in a position to argue, much as I am inclined to disagree.” She leveled a glare in her sister’s direction.

Shireen narrowed her eyes at the reproachful look. “What?”

“The Salamander Incident.”

Shireen balked. “Okay, that was over a year ago, and you can’t prove–”

“Enough!” Rebecca held up a hand to forestall further argument. “All that aside, I cannot in good conscience leave you to your own devices without hearing from your own mouths the rules of this house, so” – she extended a finger – “recite.”

The trio groaned. Alexis quipped, “Do we have to?”

“Recite!”

They heaved a collective sigh, then said in unison, “Rule number one: no setting things on fire.”

Rebecca extended another finger. “Two!”

“No explosions that could cause a fire.”

“Three!”

Their gazes shifted to the floor. “No chemical reactions that may cause an explosion that could start a fire.”

“Four!”

“No rated ‘R’ movies.”

Rebecca extended her thumb. “Addendum: no noise loud enough to summon me from the basement.”

Amidst much sighing, and much less in unison, the three girls repeated, “No noise loud enough to summon Rebecca from the basement.”

Rebecca nodded, satisfied. “Very well. Do not disappoint me, girls.”

“We won’t,” Shireen replied as she planted her fists on her hips. “Can we go?”

Rebecca dismissed them with a wave. “You may go.”

The girls bolted up the stairs to Shireen’s room as though fired from a gun. With a deep, calming breath, Rebecca descended the basement steps.

As she approached her workstation, she found her stride lengthen, her head held higher. She turned on the sole overhead light, bathing her small section of the basement in a fluorescent white glow. She sat, surrounded by the tools of her trade. Here, in her workshop, she was in full control – a master craftswoman, about to ply her trade. The world above – school, family, supervisory responsibilities – faded away. All that existed was the Work.

This was her favorite time to be alive – the moment just before taking the plunge and beginning a project, particularly one of this magnitude. A palpable energy tingled in the air and sent shivers down Rebecca’s spine, and she sat still, enjoying the brief thrill, before she reached up and turned on her fume hood. Her contented smile broke into a wide grin as she plugged in her soldering iron and unscrewed the lid to her canister of flux.

The components of the pendant were arrayed in front of her – carnelian and jade, nacre and jet, silver and gold wire in a dozen gauges. She took a deep breath as she turned on her magnifying lamp and swiveled it into place. The song, which she had woken to each morning since she first took the commission, played unbidden in her mind. She grabbed a pair of tweezers and considered the tiny chunks of beautifully smooth carnelian beneath the lens. She set one, then two aside for inclusion in the staff – as that was to be the focus of the piece – and softly sang to herself the words she had committed to her heart in preparation for this moment.

Satisfied with her selections, she continued to sing as she began to twist the gold wire into the correct setting for the stones, then soldered it into place. Once finished, she tamped the stones into their settings one by one with practiced ease.

A handful of minutes after she had begun, she held the finished miniature Ruyi Jingu Ban in her hand, gold end caps glinting, carnelian flashing in the harsh glare of her mag lamp. Fully in the zone, she allowed herself the faintest of smiles as she sang, “Begun the havoc in heaven.”

(Sinking) Ship

ALLISON

The long drive from Rebecca’s house to the farm was uneventful, affording Allison some time to reflect on the the day. The Stones caterwauled away, lending their voices in validation to her mood: “Hey, you, get off of my cloud!”

School had been as tedious as she remembered it being, while also reminding her how much she hated dealing with other people. Her encounter with Penny brought up questions her mind idled on, but didn’t feel compelled to answer; instead, she found herself mulling over the conundrum of Twilight. Her earnestness was endearing, but her persistence was irritating – Allison had spent the majority of the day pointedly saying as little as possible to her, yet she still kept yammering. That girl couldn’t take a hint if you gift-wrapped it on her birthday an’ dropped it in her lap.

Still, the image of Twilight standing sad and alone in the middle of a crowded hallway kept surfacing. In spite of herself, Allison felt her attitude towards her soften. She seems awful lonesome; Ah bet it’s a scary thing, bein’ a fish out o’ water, far away from home an’ everythin’ that’s familiar. She idly wondered how well she would fair if she was sent abroad to attend a school in… wherever it was Mrs. O’Brien had said Twilight was from.

Still, it ain’t like Ah can do anythin’ about it. She shoved any lingering thoughts of the new girl out of her head as she turned up the long gravel driveway to her home.

Allison felt a creeping sense of unease as she rounded the bend in front of the barn and saw all of the farm’s heavy machinery was still inside – Mackenzie wasn’t out tending the orchard. Her unease increased tenfold when she pulled up in front of the house to see her brother sitting on the front step, elbows on his knees, head in his hands.

She jumped out of her truck and jogged up to him. “Mackie?” He looked up at her, and she was shocked to see his face was wet with tears. “Mackenzie, hey, what happened?”

He simply stood up and quietly said, “Talk to Granny.” He started to head off towards the orchard.

Allison, not much one for being ignored, stepped in front of him and put a hand on his chest. “Hey! Tell me what’s goin’ on!”

Mackenzie’s eyes bored into Allison’s as his hands fell on her shoulders. He squeezed them so tightly she could feel her collarbone creak. His rumbling voice was little more than a growl when he spoke. “Talk. To. Granny.”

With that, he let her go, and proceeded to stalk off into the orchard. Allison made no move to get in his way again. She simply watched him go as she lifted a hand to rub her aching shoulders.

He’s never hurt me like that before. Not once. Not ever.

Allison’s heart begin to pound in her chest, but she fought to bring herself back to a stoic composure. She sniffed away any tears before they found safe passage to her eyes and took a deep breath, then headed through the front door.

Her grandmother looked up from the kitchen table, a pile of manila folders and spreadsheets in front of her. “Oh, hey there, AJ. C’mere, we need to talk some.”

Allison felt the blood drain from her face as she slowly walked into the kitchen, poured herself a glass of sweet tea, and sat down across from her grandmother. They simply stared at each other in silence for a long time, neither of them wanting to start the conversation.

Allison, ever impatient, broke the silence first. “Ah saw Mackenzie on the front step. He seemed pretty shook up about somethin’.”

“Ah reckon he is. Whur’d he git hisself to?”

“Last Ah saw he was headed into the orchard.” She rotated her iced tea between her hands, fidgeting. “Ah take it you already talked to him.”

Her grandmother sighed. “That Ah did, AJ. Lordy, Ah wish this ain’t the case, but…” She drew a deep breath. “We’re losin’ the farm.”

Allison was too shocked to respond with anything more coherent than, “What?”

“It’s so, Ah’m afraid. Ah been runnin’ numbers awl day. E’en if th’ harvest this year is th’ best we e’er had, we still ain’t gonna have enough to pay the operatin' loan.” She took another deep breath to steady herself, to little effect. “We’ve gawt another year, an’ then we’re gonna have t’ sell.”

A familiar fire spread from Allison’s heart throughout her body and soaked into her mind. It took a concentrated effort on her part to not immediately fly into a rage, but she had the willpower to hold herself in check in front of her grandmother; this wasn’t the first time Allison had been dealt horrifying news, after all. She waited for her grandmother to pull herself together somewhat, then asked, “How can things have gotten so bad, Granny? Ah thought we were doin’ pretty well these past couple o’ years.”

“Oh, we were, darlin’, but that one bad spell we had a few years back – it forced us t’ take out a second mortgage on the farm. We’ve been able to make do for a few years since, but it was yer parents’ lahf insurance that was helpin’ keep us afloat. Now that yer about t’ turn eighteen, though, well…” the old woman trailed off, unable to continue.

Allison was able to connect the dots for her. “The life insurance policy is only payin' out for Alexis now.” So my growin’ up is what’s sinkin’ the ship. Amazin’. Her heart began to pound in her chest.

Her grandmother nodded. “That’s one of the reasons thangs went so far south wit’ that one bad harvest, since Mackie turned eighteen that year.”

The sheer unfairness of the situation started to crack Allison's calm exterior. She desperately searched her mind for ways they could stave off foreclosure. “Wait, didn’t you say once you were settin’ aside some money from the life insurance payout for us kids’ college fund? What if we rolled all that back into the farm?”

The family matriarch gave her the saddest look she’d ever seen. “Fer whut, youngin’? At best, that’d buy us two years, mebbe two an’ a half. Whut then? We’d still need to either sell or foreclose at the end o’ that time, ‘cept then you an’ yer siblins wouldn’t have nothin’ t’ help you find sumthin’ else.” Her grandmother shook her head. “No, AJ, Ah won’t have it. You an’ Alexis an’ Mackenzie are gonna have a future, even if it’s gonna hafta be somewh–”. She choked on the words, and was forced to finish the sentence in a quavering whisper. “– somewhur else.”

A note of finality hung in the air. The two women sat at the table in silence, staring at one-another. Allison had always thought of her grandmother as a force to be reckoned with, holding their family together through grit and spit.

Now, for the first time, she simply looked frail.

Allison could bear it no longer. She stood and announced, “Ah’ve gotta find a more permanent fix for the sprayer. Ah’m gonna grab some things from the barn, then Ah’ll be in the basement if’n you need me.”

Her grandmother reached out as though to stop her. “AJ–”

Allison flinched out of her reach. “Y’said it yerself, Granny – farm’s gotta run fer another year yet. Ah’ve still got work to do.” She turned and walked away as she said, “Best get to it.”

Once outside, Allison felt the armor around her heart crumble. Her gaze darted around the farmyard, now irrevocably colored with a tinge of impermanence, as though everything could be whisked away from her with her next heartbeat, nothing to be done.

She ran to the barn and slammed the door shut behind her, so that she might have some measure of privacy as she finally gave voice to her frustration. Wordless screams clawed their way out of her as she hurled her tools around the barn. Once the first drawer of her tool chest was empty, she punched it hard enough to dent the side – and hard enough to bust open her knuckles. The searing pain was enough to bring Allison a measure of control over herself.

Pointless.

She fought to get her breathing back to normal. Can't cry. Gotta stay strong. Gotta stay focused. She narrowed her worldview down to a single task – obtain the malfunctioning parts from the crop sprayer’s engine and take them down into the basement workshop.

Presently she found her breath easier to come by, and with a determined step she set about her self-assigned tasks.

(Infuriating) Grin

RACHEL

The late afternoon traffic thickened as Rachel skateboarded downtown. A quick glance at her phone told her she was running a little late, so she skated towards one of her favorite shortcuts, Adams Park.

The park was mostly just an open concrete plaza spanning half a city block, lined with evenly spaced benches and tree planters. A large stone fountain served as its centerpiece. It was a favorite destination of local business folk for their lunch break, as there was always a reliable selection of food carts. Rachel spied a hot dog stand and toyed with the idea of grabbing an after-school snack.

Before she got close to it, a police officer stepped up to place his order. Rachel frowned briefly, then smiled again when she realized who it was.

“Hey, Officer Stone,” she sing-songed, voice cracking with youthful enthusiasm, “awesome weather we’re having, huh?”

The police officer seemed to deflate with a groan. “Hello, Rachel,” he monotoned, “and how many laws have we broken so far today?”

Rachel made a show of putting a hand to her chin and thinking as she skated in a wide circle around the hot dog stand. “Hmm, can’t think of any off-hand.”

“And I don’t suppose that sign serves to refresh your memory?” Officer Stone jerked a thumb at a signpost near the street that read:

ABSOLUTELY
NO BIKING
NO ROLLERBLADING
NO SKATEBOARDING
AT ANY TIME

She dismissed the sign with a wave of her hand. “Pfff, please, city ordinances don’t count. Besides, this place is one of the fastest shortcuts across downtown, there’s no way you can stop people from using it.”

A bike messenger whizzed across the plaza and banked into traffic amid a chorus of blaring car horns. Rachel crossed her arms with a smirk, chin jutting forward, as Officer Stone rubbed his tired eyes.

“Look, Rachel, just because a law has trouble being enforced doesn’t mean it’s okay to break it. These rules are in place to help keep people safe.”

Rachel laughed as she continued her circle, rainbow hair fluttering in the breeze. “Dude, who are you trying to kid? People are going to hurt themselves all the time, whether the law says it’s okay or not. There’s nothing you can do to stop that.” She pushed once to maintain momentum. “How many times do we need to have this little talk anyway? Aren’t you tired of this song and dance?”

“You have no idea,” he said with a sigh. “You do know the rules apply to you, too, Rachel, whether you like it or not.”

“Nah. They were made by people less awesome than me, for people less awesome than me. I’ma keep doin’ my thing; you just need to lighten up.”

Officer Stone’s face darkened into a deep scowl. “Some days it’s pretty tempting to just taze you and haul your ass into juvie and be done with it.”

Alone.

Rachel felt her smirk tighten on her face, but she couldn’t let him see any sign of weakness. A bank clock on the far side of the plaza politely reminded Rachel that she was running late, so she reluctantly backed down. “No time for love, Doctor Jones,” she called as she broke the circle and shoved off deeper into the downtown district, leaving Officer Stone behind.

From the outside, Sullivan’s Gym didn’t look like much – which was fitting, considering it didn’t look like much on the inside, either. The puke-orange carpet was thin, dusty, and in rather desperate need of replacement; the geometric paint job on the walls would have been considered garish in the ‘80s. Still, the equipment was in decent shape, the ring that occupied the center of the gym was sturdy, and the patrons were serious about what they were doing, so Sullivan “Sully” Pelagius (owner and manager) continued to provide an environment where aspiring boxers and MMA brawlers could practice getting their teeth punched down their throat.

Sully, a squat balding man with curly black hair hanging off the sides of his head, looked up from his desk through the front office door as Rachel came in. “Ah, hey kid,” he called in a nasal voice, a thick Brooklyn accent betraying his out-of-state origins, “c’meah.”

Rachel obliged. “Hey Sully, what’s up?”

“Chahlie cawled in sick t’day, so dey ain’t gonna be any lesson dis aftanoon.”

“Aw, man,” Rachel whined as her face fell, “I was hoping to get one more good session in this week.”

“Yeh, I know, but tha stomach flu comes for us awl evenchulee.”

“Ew.”

“Right? I tol’ him ta take his time.” He gave her a wry grin, then went back into business mode. “Still, a deal’s a deal, so I c’n ashully pay ya in full fuh ya time t’day. Hell, if ya want ya c’n stay fadda resta tha day, I could use tha help, wat wit Chahlie gone.”

This brightened Rachel’s mood considerably. “Hell yeah, Sully, I can always use the extra money!”

“I thought that might be ya ansuh.” He hauled himself to his feet. He was only a few inches taller than Rachel was, and Rachel was pretty short for her age. “Let’s hop to it, yeah?”

“Righto, boss.” She went to the supply closet and grabbed a can of compressed air and a dust rag.

Rachel went about her responsibilities – keeping the training equipment clean and dust-free, keeping the free weights organized, mopping the floors as necessary – without complaint. In exchange for her services helping to keep the gym running smoothly, Sully paid her under the table half minimum wage, applying the rest of her wages towards her mixed martial arts lessons. It had been Rachel’s dream since she was very young to fight in the MMA, and every week saw her get a little closer to that goal.

It also helped that Rachel had lied through her teeth about her age when Sully first hired her.

So when a scrappy college sophomore, fresh from out-of-state, showed up with a saunter in her step and a duffel bag on her shoulder, and said she wanted to spar with the best fighter in the gym, Sully sized her up, gave her a smirk, and said, “Hey Rachel, c’meah.”

Rachel had been whistling tunelessly to herself as she mopped the floor nearby. She looked up with a start and wandered over. “Yeah? What’s up, boss?”

“Rachel, this is Lisa Dunn. She wants ta join owa gym, and ta prove her woith she wants ta fight tha best man heah.” He looked at her with a twinkle in his eye. “Go getcha geah on.”

She gasped as a huge grin flashed across her face. “Really? Omigosh, yeah, totally! I’ll be right back!”

“Whoa whoa whoa,” Lisa said, hand raised. “Your best fighter is a fifteen-year-old girl?”

Indignation was an old friend to Rachel in conversations like this. “Hey! I’m not fifteen!”

“Fourteen, then,” she scoffed, disdain dripping from her voice. This elicited further protest from Rachel, but Lisa ignored her. “C’mon, Sully, I’m being serious.”

“So am I, kid. She’s the best fightah inner weight class atta gym t’day, an’ onna tha best besides. You wanna fight ta prove yaself, she’s ya patnah.”

“Pfff, forget this.” Lisa turned to leave.

“What, you chicken? Scared I might muss that pretty blonde pompadour of yours?”

Lisa stopped her dead in her tracks. “I’m not a chicken.”

“What’s that? I don’t speak chicken. That just sounded like “bawk bawk ba-kawk” to me.”

“Somebody needs to teach you some manners, little girl,” Lisa seethed.

Sully scoffed. “Wat, you gonna volunteah?”

Lisa stared at him as Rachel grinned cattily. “Fine.” And with that, she stalked towards the locker room.

Sully slowly shook his head as she left. “Ya can take ‘er quick, if ya play it right,” he mumbled as he walked past Rachel towards the ring.

Rachel hurried off to don her sparring gear as well. This is gonna be fun!

Ten minutes later the combatants were facing each other in the ring. Rachel wore a sky blue sparring helmet and gloves over a loose white t-shirt and grey sweat pants; Lisa wore bright gold gloves and helmet with a lime green sleeveless shirt and baggy green shorts. They glared at each other from opposite corners of the ring.

Sully called from the side of the ring, “Let’s keep this thing civil, yeah?”

Rachel grinned. “Let’s keep it interesting instead; fifty bucks says I can lay you out in less than a minute.”

Lisa scoffed. “Don’t be insulting, brat.”

Rachel tapped her chin with her glove in a pensive pose. “Hmm, you’re right. Thirty seconds.”

Lisa’s hackles rose. “You’re on, little girl.”

“Shake on it,” Rachel said as she stuck out her right glove.

The older girl hesitated, then shook Rachel’s glove with her own.

“Witness,” Sully called, and he pulled out a stopwatch from his shirt pocket as he rang the bell hanging from the side of the ring.

Immediately Rachel hopped back and forth from foot to foot, comically gyrating her fists around each other. “C’mon, ya big palooka, put up yer dukes!”

Lisa stared blankly at her for a pair of heartbeats. Her shoulders slumped as her arms fell to her sides. “This is so stupid.” She turned to Sully as she pointed a glove at Rachel. “Sully, what the–”

That was as far as she got before Rachel’s fist pounded into her temple. Caught completely off-guard, Lisa couldn’t react as Rachel spun and sent her right heel directly into her solar plexus. All the air in her lungs rushed out in a single gust as she toppled to the mat, and Rachel had her in an armbar before all of her limbs finished hitting the ground. Lisa tapped out with a grimace a few seconds later, and it was over.

Rachel sprang back to her feet as Sully rang the bell. “Time?”

Sully looked at the stopwatch and quirked an eyebrow. “22.1 seconds. Nice job, kid.”

“Yes!” Rachel jumped and punched a fist in the air. “Haha! Personal best!”

Lisa’s chest was heaving for air as she struggled to her feet. “Whu-wait, h-hold on,” she wheezed, “that isn’t... even close… to fair.”

Sully frowned and crossed his arms in front of his chest. “Tha bell rang, ya took ya eyes off ya opponent, an’ ya dropped ya gahd. Ya owe the little lady some money.”

“Aw, c’mon, Sully,” Rachel cooed, “look at her poor dumb face. I didn’t exactly fight fair.” She pinched her cheek and grinned as she leaned in. “Double or nothin’ says I can do it again in less than a minute.”

“Oh you little–” Lisa choked back her retort as she shot a glance around the ring, which had drawn the attention of the rest of the day’s patrons. They now crowded around Sully, who wore knowing smirk on his face. In a strained voice, Lisa said, “Fine, you’re on. Double or nothing.” She held out a gloved hand, and they shook again.

“Witness,” Sully called out as the crowd started to clap. Rachel backed away a few steps, Lisa finished getting her feet back under her, and the bell tolled.

This time Lisa didn’t waste any time as she came in swinging. Encouragement was shouted to her from the crowd. “Atta girl, Lisa, keep up the pressure,” and “c’mon, Lisa, you got this!”

Rachel’s eyes were wide, an almost predatory grin on her face as she nimbly dodged around each of Lisa’s swings. Gotta be quick, gotta be patient. She threw a quick jab at her chin to keep her mad. Lisa easily blocked it and countered, but Rachel’s defense was also in place. She continued grinning as Lisa kept coming and threw a pair of roundhouse kicks at her. As Lisa’s foot landed she snapped her body forward and tried to land a brutal cross, but Rachel was already backpedaling and her gloves absorbed the impact instead. She’s strong, and she’s fast – but I’m faster.

Her infuriating grin was working; Lisa swung wildly as she got increasingly frustrated with her inability to land a strike. She was breathing heavily too as she tried to make up for having so recently had the wind knocked out of her. Lisa paused and took a step back to catch her breath, and Rachel did the same, shooting a quick glance at Sully. He quickly flashed his fingers at her, four, then five.

Rachel locked eyes with Lisa, widened her grin, and wiggled her hips.

Lisa howled as she hurtled forward and threw her shoulder behind a right hook. Too slow, Lisa, Rachel thought as she ducked down below it. She coiled her muscles and extended them all in a single line, legs to back to shoulder to arm, and propelled her fist straight up underneath Lisa’s chin. Her follow-through nearly lifted her off her feet, and Lisa was out like a light before she even hit the mat. Lisa’s head bounced once, then she lay still.

“58.9 seconds,” Sully called out as he rang the bell again.

“Yes! Haha!” Rachel planted a foot on Lisa’s chest as she struck a pose.

The crowd, most of whom were used to her antics, was already dispersing, muttering to themselves. “Boooo,” came a single voice from the side.

“Thank you, thank you!” Rachel waved and blew kisses at them as she leaned against the ropes. “I love you guys!”

To her surprise, she heard someone clap. “Woohoo, go Rachel!” Her eyes widened when she saw that it was Twilight, standing at the back of the dispersing crowd.

Rachel stared blankly at her, jaw agape. The hell is she doing here? She stared a moment longer, then scoffed through a sideways grin as she stepped through the ropes and hopped down next to Sully.

He pulled out his wallet and counted out five twenties for her. “Ya winnings, m’lady. I’ll geddit from ‘er when she wakes up.”

“Thank you, kind sir.” She removed a twenty and handed it back. “Your finders fee, sir.”

“Why thanky, young miss.” Sully smiled pleasantly as he tucked the twenty back into his wallet. “Ya know, ya dint need ta fleece ‘er fowah full hunnadollas.”

“I know, it just seemed like the thing to do.”

Sully faked wiping a tear from his eye. “Ah, dey grow up so fast.”

Rachel punched him in the shoulder with a chuckle, then started removing her gear. “Welp, back to work.”

“Yeh, I bettah make shooah she ain’t gonna die ah nothin’.” Sully started to climb up into the ring as Rachel headed back into the women’s locker room.