“Welp, she’s pissed,” Silver Script declared as she set aside her bottled water and tucked her phone into the medical kit on her hip. Dabbing the sweat from her forehead with her sleeve again, she fixed Sonata with a tired look. “Um... is your boss gonna be cool with you getting back to work with fresh bruises? I mean, you’d think they wouldn’t stand out as much on blue skin, but...”

Sonata shrugged and glanced at the break room clock. “Mr. Refried knows people give me a rough time, but as long as the costume doesn’t get damaged, he won’t give me any grief about it,” she replied, adjusting one of the long costume sleeves to cover a fresh bruise on her wrist, only to wince as her other arm grazed her belly. “I’m the only one who’ll put up with wearing this thing, and I need the money...”

The gray lady’s eyebrow shot up. “Look, you’re clearly hurt, and regardless of the trouble you’ve gotten in the past, I’m pretty sure he wanted to do more than just hurt you,” she stated in a motherly tone that left no room for argument. “Call your boss and tell him about the attack, and tell him you need to take a personal day. If you need the money, I’ll give you whatever you would have earned today. After a traumatic experience like that, Luna knows you deserve it.”

She wanted to protest, to say that she couldn’t take the woman’s money despite desperately needing it, but Sonata could tell she wasn’t about to take no for an answer. “Thanks,” she murmured. “You’re probably right. If you hadn’t—”

“Don’t mention it.” Silver Script hopped to her feet, strode across the room, and placed a hand on Sonata’s shoulder. “I only did what any decent being, human or pony, should have. I shouldn’t have to be...” Instead of completing her thought, Sonata’s savior got a faraway look in her eye and trailed off. Her gray skin took on an almost bone-white pallor, and her arm fell to her side.

Sonata barely had enough time to react as the woman’s legs buckled beneath her. She slid her arm under the woman’s armpit and gently lowered her to the floor. Had this been any other person, she probably wouldn’t have had the strength to hold the person up, never mind guide them to the ground slow enough not to injure them, but the lingering effects of pegasus magic left Silver light enough to make an anorexic jealous. That much didn’t concern Sonata so much as the slow, shallow breathing of the person she held clutched against her chest.

“Oh, I am so not qualified for this,” she whimpered, looking around as panic fought for control of her senses. Sure, she had a bit of first aid training—a lot of the small jobs she did just to get by wanted someone who had such training—but it didn’t really say anything about what to do when a pony from another world pretty much dropped dead. She couldn’t really call an ambulance; too many questions would be asked, of Silver and Sonata, and the police would end up involved.

What could she do, though? Just sit there? Let her, the pony who just saved her, possibly die? No, I can’t do that, she decided as she laid pony-turned-human out on the floor. What to do, though?

Expanding her own lingering sense of magic toward the woman, Sonata had to fight back a flinch. The Equestrian magic with which Silver Script had been bursting with was but a tiny, flickering ember deep within her, but that wasn’t the worrisome part. That same, wrong presence she felt inside of Flash Sentry and his two accomplices was fighting to take root inside Silver’s head like a poisonous creeper vine.

Her eyes flicked to the medkit on Silver’s hip. Maybe she has something in there that could help? she mused, not really believing it. Even if there was, Sonata wasn’t convinced that she’d know what it was or how to use it. Sunset Shimmer, on the other hand, might. Sucking in a sigh, she reached into the woman’s deceptively spacious bag in search of her phone.

~ 06 ~

“I just can’t believe her, Rarity!” Sunset griped, throwing her hands into the wair. “She’s as subtle as a brick through your front window! I mean, would it kill her to show some restraint?”

She held her phone out to Rarity, displaying countless social media posts. One, showing a shot of Silver Script from behind, wings spread as she flew down a hallway, proclaimed, “Avenging angel sighted at Canterlot Mall!” With a flick of her thumb that flicked her smartphone over to her private messages, a number of messages from fellow students asking who the ‘ponymilf’ with the eyepatch was, and why she attacked Flash in the employee’s only hallway at the mall. Finally, she brought up a conspiracy blog that had latched onto the trending story, citing this, along with many past incidents that Sunset had been involved in, as evidence that magic existed and that otherworldly entities wanted to hurt everyone.

“This is bad!” she reiterated.

Tossing her violet locks over her shoulder, Rarity smiled. “Sunset, darling, you’re making a big to-do over nothing,” she replied, brushing off her friend’s concerns. “How many times has something like this happened—someone Ponying Up in public? How many times has that blown over?” Rarity paused as if to prompt Sunset for an answer. When none was forthcoming, she nodded. “The students of Canterlot High—and Crystal Prep, it would seem—don’t look to be in any rush to expose any of this to the public at large. Be it out of camaraderie or the need to be part of something special, everyone is keeping quiet. Have faith that they’ll continue to do the right thing.”

From Rarity’s generous reasoning and perspective, Sunset couldn’t deny that she might be overreacting—and rightly so!—but at the same time, this was still pretty worrisome. “Maybe you’re right, Rarity,” she said, heaving a great sigh before turning to her friend with a smile. “If there’s anything I’ve learned from you all, particularly the Anon-a-Miss incident, it’s that even if things look bad, we can’t assume the worst right out of the gate.”

Her pale-skinned friend hummed appreciatively, despite being reminded of what was hardly her finest of moments. “Besides, darling,” Rarity answered in that voice of faux sophistication. “In spite of her rough exterior, she seems to have a good heart. I’m not sure if you noticed, but when we were walking together through the mall, she always kept close to us, whilst also keeping an eye on those around us. Remember that group of biker ruffians outside the liquor outlet we passed?”

“Not particularly, why?”

“I don’t know what she did, but they looked like they were going to approach us until she did something.” Rarity crossed her arms before cupping her chin in one hand. “I think she doesn’t like letting bad things happen to people if she can help it.”

With a snort, Sunset ran her fingers through her fiery hair. “Chronic Hero Syndrome,” she muttered. “She fits the trope, based on her own statements... Do you think this is going to become problematic?”

Before Rarity could contemplate the question, never mind manage a response, Sunset’s phone rang. As she pulled it out of her jacket pocket, an amused smile crossed her face. “It’s her,” she said, showing Rarity the CID. “What do you think, more trouble, apology, or did she get lost?”

Rarity frowned at Sunset, tapped the answer key on the touchscreen, and set Sunset’s cellphone to speakerphone. “Miss Silver Script,” she crooned, “It’s so good to hear back from you; are you ready for more shopping?”

The air was silent for a moment, and then an unexpected voice came through the phone. “Uh, heeey.” It was a young woman’s voice, and one that struck Rarity as familiar. “You’re Rarity, right? I’m not sure if you remember me, and if you do, it’s probably nothing good, but I’m Sonata Dusk... Your pony friend saved me from some possessed goons, but she kinda just dropped, and I have no idea what to do.”

Sunset’s eyes widened in alarm, and her fingers tightened around her phone. “That idiot,” she whispered. “Sonata, what’s her pulse like?”

There was a long pause during which Sunset thought she could hear Sonata counting under her breath. “It’s steady, but weak.” After yet another pause, she added almost hesitantly, “I think whatever was controlling that guy she beat up is attacking her.”

“I need you to keep an eye on that; she has a weak heart, and if this is what I think it is...” Sunset’s eyes widened as she processed what Sonata had said. “Wait, WHAT? Where are you right now!?”

~ 06 ~

Lights swim before my eyes, making my head throb with pain. I would tell Sunset to turn the lights off, but my mouth doesn’t really seem to be cooperating. In fact, my body on the whole seems inclined towards inaction right now, which is funny, because I feel like I need to run a marathon.

Maybe it has something to do with the nice warm blanket I’m wrapped in. But that’s not right... I usually sleep under or on top of the blankets, never wrapped in. After that time in the Ponyville hospital, when I got tangled in blankets and kissed the floor, I never wrap myself in blankets. Plus, as a pegasus, I really do not like being bound.

“Hey, I think she’s, like, coming around.”

Now where have I heard that voice before? I shift against the blanket, trying to free an arm. All I manage to do is stuff my hand up under my tank top and inadvertently grope myself. At least, I think it’s myself. When did I have hands again? “Nnn,” I groan. “What happen? Somepony set me up the bomb?”

“Easy, Silver,” comes Sunset’s even-toned reply, though there’s something off about it that I can’t quite place. “You’re experiencing the after-effects of severe mana depletion and the near stoppage of your heart. Your magical reserves are extremely drained, and that put enough of a strain on your body that it almost stopped your heart.”

“Teach me to use pegasus and unicorn magic at once,” I mumble. Feebly, I attempt to open my eye, but my eyelids won’t budge. “I don’t think these bodies are meant to channel two different kinds of magic at the same time.”

“Pssh, you think?” That’s Sonata, for some reason. How did she get in Sunset’s apartment? “It was hard enough just getting enough magic in this world to use our siren magic. I can’t imagine doing what you did.”

“I didn’t imagine either. Look where that got me.” Somehow, I manage to pull the corners of my mouth up in a smile. A pain shoots through my chest as I try to move my arms again and I stop. “Wow, I haven’t felt this weak since I had to go through the whole exposure and observation for alchemical poisoning in that safety class, and the professor fudged my slip. Even burnout from practicing magic with Twilight was never this bad.”

Though I’m not entirely certain, I could swear I hear Rarity speaking to somebody else. It sounds like a woman’s muffled, “That’ll be fifty dollars,” to which Rarity says something followed by an awkward-sounding thank-you. The fuck is going on? Are we having more pizza? I was hoping to go out to a steakhouse.

“I do hope she will be able to find these acceptable, darling,” Rarity says, much closer and clearer. “I had to guess her size based on some quick measurements for her bottoms, but when she’s feeling better, she really needs to get herself fitted up top.”

“She better appreciate it,” I hear Sunset say, as well as the crackle of a plastic bag exchanging hands. “Did you see the way that one employee looked at us when I made up that story on the fly about the washing machine ruining our sick friend’s laundry, leaving her with only what she was wearing? I’m pretty sure she was related to Applejack or something. Probably thought we were up to no good.”

There’s a moment of silence, followed by a bag of something hitting me in the face. There’s a snicker from Sonata, and what could possibly be a muttered, “Right in the face.” That’s followed by more snickering.

“Ow! Don’t hit the cripple!” I shout, drawing full-on laughter from Sonata. “It’s illegal!”

“Oh, sorry!” Sunset’s tone seems genuinely apologetic, but I can tell she’s trying not to laugh. “I can’t really tell where stuff is going to land when I put it in your bag, y’know?”

“What!?”

My eyes snap open, both of them, and I look around. I’m lying on a plane of muted pink, surrounded by various odds and ends that are definitely all of the things I brought with me from Equestria, as well as numerous shopping bags. Sonata’s sitting beside me with her legs folded under her in an approximation of the seiza position that makes my own knees twinge with pain. No longer wearing her taco costume, but rather a pink skirt and dark magenta jacket with some sort of music note badge, she actually looks kinda cute. Then again, she’s holding my burner phone, trying and failing not to laugh.

“You stuffed me in here while I was unconscious!?” I whine, glaring at the light filtering in from the top of the bag. “What the hell?”

“Miss Silver, please, you must understand.” Rarity’s voice comes through the phone in that soothing voice I’ve her pony counterpart use countless times when dealing with her sister or an unruly foal being fitted for a dress. Not patronizing or anything. “You were unconscious and Sunset agreed with Sonata that a hospital was out of the question. Our plan was to bring you back to Sunset’s apartment and let you rest. It just so happened that I wanted to get you some necessities before we left the mall.”

And of course, neither of them think to check my bag for potions that would be helpful in this situation. Rarity and Sonata I can kinda understand, but Sunset? I sigh and look to Sonata. “Could you get this off me? I’m not about to go into shock now,” I grumble, straining my arm against the blanket I am quite literally swaddled in. “Besides, I have some bad news.”

“Oh? What’s that?” Sunset asks a tone of suspicion creeping into her voice. “Sonata told us when she called me that she could feel that dark presence in you, but that it had gone by the time we got there.”

As Sonata helped me unwrap myself, I glance in the direction of my alchemical goods. “This unseen enemy, this... eater of worlds took after Princess Luna and appeared to me in my dreams,” I explain, the exhaustion heavy in my voice. With great effort, I drag myself toward the pile of potion flasks. “It appeared to me, and I think it showed me what remained of the last iteration of this world. Sunset, when you send your consciousness back in time, you leave everyone else behind. It... isn’t pretty. I’m not sure if it was trying to fuck with me, or if it was showing me what became of the previous me, but it’s horrible.”

I find one of the mana potions, and quickly knock it back before rolling onto my back. “It had a message for you, Sunset,” I tell her. Warmth floods through my system all at once as my depleted reserves begin to replenish. Even with that booster in me, I know better than to push myself, because it takes a lot more to regenerate from near zero. Of course, that’s what happens when you don’t have a horn or focus of some sort to serve as a bottleneck. “It seems pretty aggravated by the continued interference and creation of new timelines, and has had enough. I quote, ‘Prepare for unforeseen consequences.’”

Unsurprisingly, when Sonata hears this, her eyes glaze over and a bit of a vapid expression comes over her. Not surprising since she probably hasn’t been sworn in on all this. Even if she does understand what’s going on, I doubt she has the whole picture. I mean, here I am talking about timelines, eaters of worlds, etc., and she’s just sitting there like ‘I stopped following this conversation two paragraphs ago; what is going on?’

“Those were its exact words?” Sunset’s voice comes off strained. “Great, so it’s aware we’re trying to stop it and it’s getting ticked off by this?” I only manage an affirmative hum before she groans very loudly. “I don’t even remember most of what has yet to happen... and this thing today, with Sonata? I never saw this coming. It was completely new.” Her next words barely come through the phone’s speaker. “Even if I can remember things, can I prepare for something when everything is changing?”

I shake my head softly, wondering what I can do to help. If this had been some sort of game, I would probably be debating whether we could actually trust some such thing that is supposedly aligned with us because it seems too helpful or knowledgeable, because that’s how those things work. This isn’t that sort of scenario, so far as I know, and at only two days in, it’s too early to start asking myself if this is going to be one of those cases. It will only make me paranoid if I start that now.

Instead, I close my eyes and say, “Sunset, fucking relax, or you’re going to go grayer than me. We’ll figure this stuff out later; for now I want you to think on this question, ‘Are you absolutely sure you need to know the past-future if you think it is changing?’ If the answer is yes, tell me tonight. I might be able to help you.” I turn my head to Sonata. “Could you hang that up for now? I don’t wanna have to top off the minutes on that phone already.”

“Okay,” she replies. I hear her clothes ruffle as she moves, possibly to place the phone down, followed by a grunt of pain. “Ow... Stupid Flash Sentry...”

A thought occurs to me as I lie next to the potion pile. “Come over here, lass,” I say softly, even as I sit up. I glance at her from the corner of my uncovered right eye and smile. “I’ve got something somewhere in here that’ll help you feel better.”

“It’s not booze, is it?” she asks with some hesitation. “This one time, Aria made me drink some stuff called vodka this time I twisted my leg, and it kinda helped while I could remember, but when I woke up, my leg was still sore, and my head hurt too.”

I snort derisively at that. Alcohol can numb pain emotionally and physically, sure, but it can be addicting, and doesn’t actually help. “Psh, that’s an utterly archaic way of coping with pain and injuries,” I say, leaving no room for argument. I begin rooting through the pile once more. “I’m an alchemist and a healer. A damn good one, too. If I can cure a pony of dwarfism just by temporarily changing their sex, I can sure as hell heal some bruises and internal injuries.”

Her hand goes to her neck, groping at some sort of collar she’s wearing, and sighs. Her shoulders sag, and suddenly she has this faraway look in her eyes. “You don’t have to do that, really.”

Finding what I’m looking for, I get back onto my knees and crawl over to her. “Girl, I choose when or when I don’t need to help someone,” I state firmly, before laughing softly. “You remind me a lot of one of my daughters, to tell the truth, and it’s making my mom instincts go nuts. Can’t rightly let you sit there in pain like that.” I place one hand on her shoulder while the other pops the cork on the flask. “C’mon kid, let’s get you patched up.”

Author's Note

Alright, so I was honestly hoping to get this out a lot sooner, but a lot of things came up in either my life, or DarkxRedemption's life that kept this from getting edited. Dark is currently off-the-grid, so I haven't been in contact for a number of days. That said, I've done my best to self-edit this so I can get my arse back on track with writing Chapter 07.