Double Timeline: Count up Your Crimes

Blue Jay reclined in the one of plastic chair that she and her coworkers had been given for their meeting with the manager of the Ontrotio’s Post Office. Just before the manager left, he passed out route map, schedules and a list of who they would be shadowing for the first couple days. “Finally!” She muttered and stretched her wings. Though she had been listening, her visual attention had been more focused on the birds of all kinds flying from branch to branch s she looked out the window. Taking a couple seconds to put the papers in her saddle bag, her hoof hovered over the hotel information but then she decided to look at that later and instead decided to trek around and do a little sight seeing as she headed out of the building while waving to her coworkers.

Approaching the railing, Blue Jay looked over at the largest waterfall of Neighra Falls awestruck at the amount of water rushing over the edges with the spray creating a faint rainbow and providing a cool breeze in the warm sunlight. She heard a mare describing the falls and looked around until she saw a sign.

“While the collective name for the three falls is Neighagra Falls. Princess Celestia has named this one the Horseshoe Falls, further down is the Bridal Veil Falls and then Americolt Falls is at the end. For Horseshoe falls, there is a height of 167 feet from top to the whirlpool below, and summertime average 675,000 gallons per second. The first pony to go over the falls –and survive– was an earth colt named Sam Patch, leading to a long list of ponies from all races to try and recreate the event. The first unicorn mare, Annie Edson Taylor, went over in a barrel and came out bleeding, but alive.” The mare explained to some ponies who thanked her before walking away.

“I would be a bit more impressed,” Blue Jay grinned as she approached the pagasus mare, “if you didn’t read directly from that sign,” she pointed to where the sign sat detailing the falls.

The black furred mare sighed and shrugged. “Ponies tend to think of me as an expert here instead of just reading the sign themselves. I actually have that memorized.” The mare grinned. “Do you have any questions for me?”

Blue Jay giggled and shook her head before holding out a hoof. “No, I found it amusing. I’m Blue Jay.”

“Name’s Neon Echo,” the mare introduced herself as she shook the other’s hoof. “Local mare and DJ extraordinaire.” She brushed her long neon blue mane with blazing yellow streaks from her luminous pink eyes before turning to face the falls again as her lambent orange tail swished from side to side occasionally.

“Well now my job is going to seem boring compared to yours.” Blue Jay joked as she stood beside Neon Echo at the railing. “I’m a simple mailmare.”

“A simple mailmare?” Neon Echo repeated in disbelief. “Don’t sell yourself short, Blue Jay, mailmares are needed in our word. After all, how would be be able send and receive letters?” She nudged Blue Jay with her wing. “Truth be told, I probably would have been in your spot if I didn’t get get my cutie mark after spinning a few turntables one night.” Turning her attention away from the falls, she looked at Blue Jay. “Did you just move here?”

“Nope… well, kinda. Work is doing an exchange program so for the next couple weeks, I’ll be delivering the mail here.”

“Neat. Well, if you’re not working over the weekend, you should come to Club Se7en. First drink will be on me.”

“Thanks for the offer, but I’m not old enough to drink. I still got two years before I can.”

“Ah.” Neon Echo nodded. “Well, even if it’s apple juice or a milkshake, first one is still on me.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.” Blue Jay replied happily before they said their goodbyes for the time being and they troted in opposite directions.

The week had both rushed and crawled by for Blue Jay. Sitting on the edge of her hotel room’s bed, she rubbed her temples to soothe the headache that had been growing over the course of the day. With a sigh, she laid on her back and looked up at the ceiling for half a second before closing her eyes. Just as she was drifting off to sleep, somepony knocked on the door. “Who is it?” She asked, her tone a little annoyed.

“Neon Echo.” The voice replied before Blue Jay got up and opened the door. “Hey there, ready to party?” The two had bumped into each other during the middle of the week and had lunch together during the time they gave each other their addresses and room number.

Blue Jay shook her head slowly “Not tonight.”

“Oh, working tomorrow?”

“No, just been dealing with a headache all day.” Blue Jay groaned as she walked over to the couch and laid down. “You’re welcome to come in though.”

“Probably a good thing I came by then.” Neon Echo walked in and headed for the sink filling a cup with water before reaching into her saddlebags for a couple of pills. After finding them, she trotted over to Blue Jay’s side and handed them and the water over. “Here. Take two and you should feel better in an hour.”

Sitting up, Blue Jay took the offered pills and swallowed them with the help of the water. “Thanks, but an hour?”

“Fastest thing they got.” Neon Echo wrote down an address and drew a map. “If you feel better, this is where I’ll be tonight. I’d love to see a friend there, but I understand if you can’t make it.” She wanted to stay to make sure her new friend would be fine, but knew she had to get to Club Se7en to set things up. Standing up, she patted Blue Jay’s shoulder “I recommend sleeping, that’ll help.”

“Thanks.” Blue Jay replied with a smile and Neon Echo left the room. Starting an internal debate, she looked between the bed and the hoof drawn map a few times. With a sigh, she climbed off the bed and headed for the bathroom turning on the shower.

“Hey! You made it!” Neon Echo elated happily as she saw Blue Jay enter Club Se7en from where she sat at the bar.

“Thanks to your medicine.” Blue Jay hopped up on the seat beside her.”Aren’t you working tonight?”

“Will be, it’s just slightly too early for me to start.” Neon Echo got the barkeep’s attention. “Another one of these, and whatever my friend wants,” she motioned to her glass before to Blue Jay and the barkeep nodded  with the two orders before trotting away. “What made you change your mind?”

“Beside the medicine, I’ve wasted a week already and haven’t seen too much of the city with the longer mail routes.”

Neon Echo took a sip of her drink once the barkeep dropped them off. “Well, if you’d like, I can take show you around town for a bit tomorrow.”

“Sure, that sounds like fun.” Blue Jay smiled and the two chatted as they nursed their drinks until Neon Echo had to take up her place behind the turntables. All at once, the lights shut off except for the emergency lights leaving the place in near total darkness.

From the stage, two electric blue line started from the bottom and made their way up before looping around to form circles and proceed upward until it reached the top of table and going over the edge revealing turntables and switches. “ARE YOU PONIES READY TO PARTY!?” Neon Echo yelled which caused the ponies on the dance floor to cheer and that’s when she dropped the bass.

It took five seconds for Blue Jay to reach up and lower the volume on her necklace but even that wasn’t enough. Pressing the three circles in a particular order, the necklace shut itself off and though the music was still loud, she could at least tolerate it. As the black lights came on, strobe lights and multi-color light projects turned on flashing randomly as they swept around the room and it wasn’t long before a fog machine covered the dance floor with smoke. Blue Jay watched Neon Echo, noticing the black lights hid her body while making her neon colors stand out, even opting for two neon green wristbands on her hooves, giving her an ethereal beauty as she mixed the records and music keeping the crowd alive.

At some point during the night, Neon Echo switched over to her pre-recorded tracks and made her way back to the bar sitting beside Blue Jay. “Do you know how to dance?” She yelled over the noise and Blue Jay shook her head. “Then tonight’s the night you’re going to learn,” taking Blue Jay’s hoof in hers, Neon Echo pulled her onto the dance floor and started dancing.

Blue Jay watched and tried to copy some of the dance moves, but they were wooden at best and she couldn’t enjoy it feeling to self conscious that other ponies were watching and judging her.

Neon sighed and moved closer to Blue Jay. “Relax, feel the music flow through you,” She said with her mouth next to Blue Jay’s ear. Guiding Blue Jay through some dance moves, she slowly weaned off with her help until both mares were dancing side by side and it was only when Neon had to resume “work” that Blue Jay realized she had been dancing without any help.

Neon scratched the records and when she caught Blue Jay’s eyes, she winked before holding a hoof out and Blue Jay returned the air brohoof before looking away with a slightly blush. When Club Se7en was winding down, Neon came up to Blue Jay once more, a thin sheen of sweat on her. “Hey,” She took the offered glass of water from Blue Jay and drunk it before continuing “if you want to wait until I shut things down here, you’re welcome to spend the night at my place and tomorrow I can show you around town.”

“The melting wax house.” Blue Jay said as she looked at a sign above the doorway of a large grey building. “Is this a good idea?” She asked Neon picturing a more haunted version with actual wax figures melting giving off a grotesque appearance.

“Yeah, ponies knew the name because this was once a horror that scared the young ones.” Lyla Firecracker replied. “But they got a lot of complaints from several hoofball mares so they cleaned up the place so to speak.” The only way in and out was the door they stood in front of with one window to the right of it to let some light in and as they entered, a bell rang alerting a pegasus to their arrival.

“Welcome to the melting wax house.” She greeted in a bored tone after looking up from the magazine she was looking at. “It’ll be fourteen bits per pony and we also having a no flying policy except for one area. Pictures are welcomed as well.” The two paid their fare and as they entered through another door, the pegasus went back to her magazine.

The first room was a corridor with three ponies of each race on either side of them. The earth ponies first, unicorns second, and pegasi third, standing at attention as they walked passed with the corridor opening up into a smaller version of the throne room. They were soon greeted with both Princess Celestia and Luna smiling with their wings outstretched and yet looking regal at the same time.

“Should we bow?” Blue Jay asked, wondering what they were supposed to do.

“I would think it wasn’t needed. But I’m not sure.” Neon replied, then she shrugged, “Though to be honest, I never really did and haven’t seen anypony else do so.” With the agreement that they didn’t have to, they exited to the right, leaving the throne room and walked out into the courtyard with dimmed lights and painted walls to suggest an evening scene. It was set up much like it would be for the Grand Galloping Gala but there was a painted cobblestone pathway that led the shortest way through that room. Off to one corner stood Octavia with her trademark cello, Symphony on her violin, Frederic Horseshoepin sitting at a piano, and Parish Nandermane playing the harp as soft classical music played around them. In the middle of the room, there was a large fountain with Star Swirl the Bearded standing beside it looking up at the night sky as if casting a spell to make the stars twinkle in the night sky. Standing on the edge –clad in her cape and pointed hat– of the fountain near Star Swirl was Trixie creating an ursa minor illusion for some foals. A few feet away from them stood Photo Finish with her trademark camera and instructing the mane 6 into position, with Twilight Sparkle being in the middle but there was enough room around each pony to see them from all sides.

As they exited through the doorway besides the mane 6, they ducked under a set of tied-back red plush curtains and found themselves standing at the beginning of a fashion runway. On either side, there were ponies looking up and some had camera while others didn’t and standing at the end stood Hoity Toity. As they walked to the end, he had an audio clip giving them a random compliment.

Exiting the fashion show, they found themselves hearing rushing water and as they turned the corner, they found a wall painted blue with white clouds and a wooden set constructed to be an inner tube about to go over the edge of Neighagra Falls.

“This is cool.” Blue Jay said as she walked around the falls and stood in the inner tube. Then she threw her fore hooves into the air and whooped happily as if she really was going over. There was a click of a shutter, thus drawing their attention to the opposite wall.

“Feel free to pose however you wish.” Blue Jay read the flyer besides the camera. “You can pick up your photos at the end. Please be courteous to others if they are waiting.” She looked at the others. “Guess we don’t need to worry about the last one for now.” Neon joined her in the inner tube and pretended that it was the end for them. The next photo had them cheering as they were almost over the edge. Blue Jay then went to the front acting like she was slipping as Neon held Blue Jay’s hooves.

“Don’t let go!” Don’t let go! Please don’t let go!” Blue Jay pleaded.

“Don’t worry, I got you!” Neon shouted with an indoor voice but she could feel Blue Jay’s hoof slipping out of her grasp. “BLUE JAY!” She cried out as Blue Jay fell towards the basin of the falls, her voice getting smaller. They both laughed as Blue Jay stood up from the floor when a sudden idea struck her. Getting back in, the two adopted an ‘oh buck’ expression as the camera took the final picture before they moved on.

“To be honest, I’m not sure if my last words would be “I regret nothing!” or “Oh buck!” with the last word trailing after me the entire way down.” Blue Jay said as she was looking back at Neon, she didn’t see but felt a large leaf smack her head. Turning around, she saw the leaf was nearly as big as she was. Pushing the leaves aside during their trek through a jungle until it opened to reveal a path leading to a golden pyramid. On their left stood Daring Do with an ancient artifact with a speech bubble wishing Ahuizotl better luck next time while on their right stood Ahuizotl and his hench-cats, including the fussy white house cat.

Entering the pyramid, they walked up the spiral staircase with the scene changing from ancient civilization to that or a night club halfway up the stairs with a soft bass reverberating through the area. As they reached the second floor, the bass was a little louder but kept quiet as different color lights pulsed randomly to give the feel that the ponies on the dance floor were really dancing. Along one wall was a bar and on the opposite side stood the DJ, the one and only, DJ-Pon3 behind her mixing tables.

They left the nightclub scene and they soon came to came to a door with a sign daring any and all brave ponies to enter. “Hey, let’s go in here.” Blue Jay said as she put her hoof on the door to open it. The first villain they were greeted with was Queen Chrysalis and a couple of changelings, including one that was halfway through the process of becoming a crystal pony with a fleur-de-lis cutie mark.

Passing by Tirek and Discord, the last villain they saw was Nightmare Moon and three Shadowbolts, one in flight and the other two standing on either side of Nightmare Moon.

“Can you imagine what Equestria would be like if Nightmare Moon had won all those centuries ago?” Neon asked, her voice changing tone slightly and they opted not to spend too much time before Nightmare Moon because her eyes seemed to look straight to their souls.

“I’m glad she didn’t.” Blue Jay replied. “Though a fight between her and the other villains would be interesting to watch.”

“But if they’re both villains, who do you cheer for?” Neon asked as she tried to picture which of the villains would ultimately come out on top as the exited the room.

“That’s easy, we cheer for the Elements of Harmony.” Blue Jay replied without missing a beat. They laughed as they found themselves on the landing strip of the Wonderbolt Academy and were greeted by Colonel Purple Dart and Admiral Fairweather holding a banner between them that read “welcome to the Wonderbolts.” General Firefly was a pony length away, but had his back to them as he looked at a wall painted with lighting and sparkles trailing after the first set of Wonderbolts and a speech bubble having him saying “those are my Wonderbolts!”

Commander Easyglider stood a little further down with drawings of different maneuvers blueprints that the Wonderbolts could perform for the shows. They also had Admiral Fairy Flight and General Flash of the seventh and tenth squadrons respectively getting ready to lead their teams. As they got closer to the current Wonderbolts, they paused by Flaire De Mare who was watching a set of six costumes slowly rotating in an oval shape with each one getting more streamlined.

Captain Spitfire, Soarin, and Fleetfoot stood at the very end of the room saluting while the other current Wonderbolts were flying overhead with half of them creating a storm cloud trail behind them. Several mirrors on the ceiling allowed ponies to see the tops and sides of those in flight.

They left the Wonderbolts behind and walked into a hallway with a small science classroom with Professor Bill Neigh standing behind a desk with the desk being filled of apparatuses filled with five different color lights that were supposed to represent liquids. They couldn’t get too close due to a railing but there was a panel that had five different color buttons on it. Blue Jay pressed two of them and the corresponding liquids were mixed into one beaker in the middle of the desk. There was an audible poof and a cloud of black smoke shot up and when it was clear, his face was covered in ash and he had wonky eyes before he coughed out a smoke ring. A minute later the area reset itself so each she tried a few more times getting the same result until Neon pressed the right combination to turn the liquid a golden color.

Opposite of Professor Bill Neigh and his science class was the Power Ponies. Mistress Mare-velous, Fili-Second, Zapp, Radiance, Masked Matter-Horn and Saddle Ranger stood ready to defend Metropolis with their powers ready, Though Saddle Ranger had a large darken shadow painted behind her. Hum Drum was pointing ahead of them to where Mane-iac was emerging from a space trough with a speech bubble saying “Ah! After ten-thousand years I’m free, it’s time to conquer Equestria.”

Since the way through was closer to the Power Ponies than Bill Neigh, the door and hallway were represented by a portal and when they emerged, they stood on a crystal walkway while the walls had a pinkish hue to them with a several changelings being blasted away and there were a few crystal ponies waving at them. Beside the crystal heart, Princess Cadence and Shining Armor stood close to each other. Cadence’s horn was glowing pink while Shining Armor pinned a changeling under his hoof like it was no big deal.

They exited the building and stood off to the side so they wouldn’t be in anypony’s way while their eyes readjusted to the sunny day. “That was totally worth every bit!” Blue Jay exclaimed as she looked at the photos they had taken with the inner tube.

“Glad you enjoyed it,” Neon smiled. “How about some lunch, and then we can wander around window shopping?” At Blue Jay's nod, the pair trotted off to find a place to eat.