Twisted in Time

Before our fated meeting, you should know what she's been through. Her name is Wavelength, a bat pony who is one of my closest friends. She was born in a forest to the northwest of Canterlot, in a small cave with her mother and father. She has great hearing, but her sight isn't too great, day or night. For the first five years of her life, she lived in the forest with her parents.

"Now Wavelength, remember this well. Noise is but a distraction and you must never succumb to emotions, understand, missy?" Wave's father said

"Yes daddy, I understand" Wave repeated back.

Wave's mother came in and whispered to her father. "Honey, what do we do with her?"

"Nothing, for now. If she wants to go, then one less in the household. We can finally get rid of her" Wave's father said

"Okay honey" Wave's mother turned and walked away.

"Now Wavelength, go to bed. It's that time for you. You have one more day, understand?" Her father asked, but sounded more like a demand.

"I understand, Father" Wavelength replied. Then she went to her bed and went to sleep

This was two years ago. The days leading to her eventually leaving for Canterlot. She didn't spend much time with her family whenever she left the house. Thanks to the problem with her eyes. She left her family at 5 to get the Canterlot. She's one year ahead of me. So I didn't know the pain she was going through. For the first two years, she was by herself, the only bat pony in class. Not many of the young fillies and Colts liked or trusted her. Bats weren't the most trusted at the time. I'll continue the story the week before the meeting.

2 years later

In class, Techno and I sat together in the front, we weren't popular, but not many hated us. That's because of Wavelength, a bat pony who was hated by pretty much everypony. Only Techno and I didn't. And after seeing the pain she goes through...

'She still hasn't left, I wish she would just leave'. 'Nopony likes her, get her out'. 'Saying her name is a curse, we don't want that'. Insults she would hear, but ignore. Her mental fortitude was impressive, but it wouldn't last forever. That's when I thought she needed a friend to hang out with. That's when this whole thing started.

"Mom, may I have a friend come over this weekend?" Mystic asked

"Isn't Techno coming over already?" She asked back

"No, a different friend, one from school!" Mystic said with enthusiasm

"You made a new friend? Who is it?" Mystic's mother was wondering

"I can introduce you two once I ask her. Please, mom!" Mystic plead. After some thought, she agreed and let the new pony come over for the weekend.

We got to school on time, just like any other day, but today was different. When we got there, I saw Wavelength in the corner of the hall. Usually, we don't see her until class starts. I looked at her and she looked back, then turned her head away.

"Are you ready, Techno? At lunchtime-" Mystic started to say

"I know, I know... It's just... is she okay with it?" Techno asked hesitantly

"She needs us Techy, you've seen what they've done to her. I will not stop until she accepts." Mystic sounded very enthusiastic about this meeting

"We can at least talk, but if she doesn't want to, we leave her alone, okay?" Techno asked

"Once I hear her story, I'll leave her alone," Mystic reassured Techno

The day went as normal, she sat in the front, ponies were calling her names, wanted her gone, Techno and I worked on our class work when the lunch bell rang.

"I always love lunch, they never have anything bad," Mystic said.

"No, there was one time you had to rush to the bathroom from how sick you got from the food," Techno said back

"Today is the day we talk to her!" Mystic said excitedly.

We went to sit down at our normal seats and started eating when Wavelength trotted to her normal seat and began to eat by herself. That's when we made our move.

"Hello there!" Mystic greeted Wavelength.

"...Hi" Wavelength replied

"How have you been?" Mystic asked back

After a small pause "Okay," Wavelength says back.

"Do you want to hang out?" Mystic asked immediately

"...Can you please leave me be?" Wavelength said in a dull voice.

"What's wrong?" Mystic asked

"I don't want to hang out with you," Wavelength said back, sounding a little mad.

"Mystic, we should l-" Techno started to say before being interrupted.

"Why not? I just want to be friends~" Mystic insists

"Why do you? All I've seen is you want me gone" Wavelength sounding slightly more irritated

"If I wanted you gone, would I be trying this hard to be your friend?" Mystic asked

"I don't have any friends," Wavelength said

"Then we can be your first!" Mystic said very happily

"Just leave me to myself," Wavelength insisted as she got more frustrated with Mystic.

"Mystic, we should go. She won't listen" Techno started getting up, but the Mystic said...

"And disappoint your father? No way!" Mystic said to Techno. "Wavelength, we're classmates, please just let me try. I don't hate you. I think you're a great pony that other ponies don't like. But you seem interesting. I want to get to know you!" After that, Mystic stood up and look Wavelength in the face.

Wavelength sat there and gave it some thought while eating. After she finished, she looked at Mystic and said, "What do we do as friends?"

Mystic's eyes grew and jumped up and down with joy. "Are you free this weekend? You can come over to my house!"

"I guess I could come over..." Wavelength hesitantly replied.

"You just need to ask your parents if they are okay with it," Mystic said.

There was a pause, it would have been an eerie silence if not for being in a noisy lunchroom. Wavelength looked away from them.

Just then, the bell rang and most ponies ran outside for recess.

"Wave, we can talk or play outside," Mystic said as she went outside.

"Wavelength, are you okay?" Techno asked

"Yeah, let's go out to play," Wavelength stood up, threw her trash in the trash bins and trotted out. Techno followed and threw both his and Mystic's trash away and left to go outside.

"...Fillies and colts never clean up after themselves..." The lunch mare said as she started to clean up

We went out to play with Wavelength and it seemed like she enjoyed the time. In class, we sat together, and at lunch, we did the same. It was fun to get to know her a little more before our weekend. ...We never found out why she didn't respond to us when we brought up her parent. She didn't say anything about them until the end of our weekend.

Wavelength came over the weekend and the three of us had a lot of fun. We played a lot of games together. It was a fun weekend, but it had come to an end...

"Okay, it's almost time to go," Mystic's mother said.

"I can take you home, Wavelength," Techno said

"No... I can take myself," Wavelength said back

"I think it would be nice to know where you live so we could go to your house once!" Mystic exclaimed.

"...I don't think you want to know that..." Wavelength spoke hesitantly

"All you'd need to do is ask your parents. I mean, they let you come over this time, so-" Mystic keep on going.

"I don't live with anypony, I live by myself, okay?" Wavelength interrupted Mystic.

Everypony stood there in shock. It was Mystic's mother who broke the silence. "Where do you live then?"

"Just outside the city... I sleep in the trees and bushes," Wavelength replied.

"What about your parents?" Mystic's mother asked.

"They are back at home, they didn't want to come here with me..." Wavelength said

"That just isn't right, you should go back now," Mystic's mother said

"They want me to stay," Wavelength said back

"I'll take her home if that's ok..." Techno said, hoping for it to be okay.

"For now, I guess it will be okay," Mystic's mother said and then went into the other room.

Techno took her to the outskirts of Canterlot and then went home. After they left, I went to talk to my mother about what to do.

"Mom, can Wave stay with us?" Mystic plead

"I don't know if we can, that's one more to take care of," Mystic's mother said

"Please?" Mystic sounded sad about it. "I don't want her the feel alone!"

After a pause, Mystic's mother replied with, "I'll see what I can do about this, okay? But no promises" Mystic's mother said.

"Thanks, Mom!" Mystic said and hugged her.

It took a day or two but it was official, she would move in and live with me. She cried tears when she heard the news. I've never seen her so happy before or since. We hang out a lot, and she's a very smart pony. Techno and I are very happy with what we did that week.

But that's the end of our happy story, for only a few weeks later, something horrible was going to happen. The point where the story changes.