Humans Meet Poniesby TwiPON3Chapters3: Twilight Meets the Princess of Friendship4: Introductions5: What... just happened?6: Princess Luna's Involvement7: Princess Celestia's Involvement and the Royal Infirmary8: Proof and Unicorn Magic: Sci-Twi's Innocence9: Midnight Sparkle Returns10: Fight for Lesson One11: A Little Self-Evaluation12: Finding Some Answers13: Sci-Twi Begins to Interact14: The Gettogether15: Start of a New Morning16: Lesson One17: Gifts18: Welcome Home19: Twilight Velvet and Night Light's First Visit20: Sunset's Past to Present21: Sci-Twi's Reunion22: Seth's Reunion23: An Extention of Magic: The Message and A Hidden Talent24: An Extention of Magic: Welcome to Equestria25: A (Literal) Fresh Start26: A Self-Taught Lesson in Self-Defense27: Anon-a-miss's Damage to Sunset28: A Sunday "Break"29: Back to (Canterlot City High) School30: Greg's Date31: Luna's Date32: Meanwhile...1: Leaving the Human World2: An Equestrian... Welcome?3: Twilight Meets the Princess of FriendshipPrincess Twilight's Point of View "Twilight!" Spike said, "Equestria is ending as we know it! DO SOMETHING!" "Uh-huh," I said, "You can get a claw massage, Spike. I'm too caught up in this book about Starswirl the Bearded to have time to do anything. Plus, I believe that you've earned yourself a heck of a lot of time off." "What about Sunset Shimmer!? And your friends in..." "They're in DANGER!? WHY IN CELESTIA'S SWEET NAME WOULD YOU NOT TELL ME THIS!? WE HAVE TO DO SOMETHING!!!!!" "But it's not the portal!" I ran through the castle, getting Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Starlight Glimmer, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash together. At this point, I was more concerned and scared for my human friends' safety over them being weirded out by seeing a clone of themselves from Equestria. "Okay, guys! Here's the plan!" Sci-Twi's Point of View "And you're sure that this is right for me," I said. She just walked next to me, more confident than ever and kept reassuring that things were going to be okay. "Of course," she said, taking me to a castle. She knocked on the door, which gained a lavender aura after the first knock. "FRIENDSHIP EMERGENCY!!!!!" a lavender unicorn with wings yelled, obviously in an enormous panic, "IT'S DIRE!!" Sunset stepped in front of the winged lavender unicorn and became firm. "Princess Twilight," she said, "there is no emergency anymore." "But... but Canterlot High... and your world... and..." "We took care of that. The um... windows... are just there because of some tension. Everything's okay now." "I HAVE TO-- wait, you what?" "As a matter of fact," she said, "You have a new student." The winged unicorn looked at me and lost all coherency to dumbfound, along with the full-pony variants of Sunset's friends. "Let's... go inside... then?" 4: IntroductionsAuthor's Note I know some of the lines in this chapter are duplicated, but that's just because when going from one character's perspective to another, the events can overlap. It does not necessarily mean that they are happening more than one time. It's more just to eliminate gaps than anything. 4: Introductions I was taken to this room with a large, circular table, surrounded by seven chairs, one of which was smaller than the others, all made of the same crystalline structure that the place was made out of. A bright purple... pony?... came in with more chairs for the each of us from Canterlot City. "I... how... What is this place!?" I asked. By now, everyone was able to speak except me. I was still dumbstruck. "Why don't we sit down?" the lavender winged-unicorn said. "Uh... yeah." "Doubles?" the Rainbow Dash from this dimension asked, somewhat narcassistically, "Twice the awesome!" They gave each other a high-five. Well, OUR Rainbow Dash did. This world's Rainbow Dash gave what could be considered more of a "high-hoof". The winged unicorn, though, seemed somewhat annoyed at this. "Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Pinkie, you are all dismissed. I can trust that you'll make your counterparts feel comfortable during their stay. Starlight and Sunset, you may also be dismissed, if you please." "Actually," the one I assummed to be Starlight said, "maybe we should stick around." "I said it was your call to begin with, so I'm okay with either." "Oh." We sat down, the four of us, and began to chat. "I... uh... um..." "Let's start with names?" she said, levitating a cup of what I presumed to be tea and sipping it. "I... it's... it's Twilight Sparkle." She dropped the cup and spat the hot liquid out on me in complete and total shock. That brought me back to terms with reality. The liquid was definitely tea. "Hey, ow!" I said, wiping the drink off of my face and glasses, "That's hot!" She looked at me with her mouth dropped open. Sunset Shimmer's Point of View I was NOT prepaired for what was about to happen at this introduction, ESPECIALLY considering that Twilight had already been to our world before and had seen human versions of her pony friends. "I... it's... it's Twilight Sparkle." I knew that it's normal for people and ponies to freak out over things, but I hadn't planned for this, especially seeing her go into complete mental shock and accidentally spit out hot tea. "Hey, ow!" Sci-Twi said, wiping the drink off, "That's hot!" Dammit! Was I really the only one remaining collected by any means? At least on the outside. Sci-Twi's Point of View My glasses were dirty now, but I could still see. I was a little mad, though, but not enough where I would have to actually be mad. More like perturbed or annoyed. But not mad or angry. "I'm sorry! I'm SO sorry!" the still-nameless pony said, "I'll get your glasses cleaned for you!" "No," I said, "It's fine. I'm used to it." "Come to think of it," she said, "you DO look a lot like me. I'm the Twilight Sparkle of this world." Princess Twilight's Point of View "Come to think of it," I said, coming to a realization, "you DO look a lot like me. I'm the Twilight Sparkle of this world." Okay. Introductions made it off to a REALLY bumpy start, but I think that things won't completely derail. Sci-Twi's Point of View "Come to think of it," she said, "you DO look a lot like me. I'm the Twilight Sparkle of this world." She seemed calm, and level-headed about the situation. If she was anything that she made herself out to be on the surface, she could (and probably would) teach me a lot about whatever she specialized in. "I'm not... going to be arrested, am I?" "It's a long story," Sunset intervened, "We'll get into that later if you want." Time seemed to slow exponentially. Each nanosecond becoming 500 times longer than the last, to be precise, although my calculations were probably the most inaccurate that they've ever been. "Sunset" Come on, Twilight freaking Sparkle! Think! "said" Maybe she'll just think that it's a hell of a lot to take in and let me go back home. "that" Just breathe, Twilight Sparkle. I took the thoughts that I was thinking and just started breathing again. "you'd like to learn about friendship." What the hell? "Is that right?" I looked at her for a few moments. "Are... are you okay? You look really flushed." I blacked out. Princess Twilight's Point of View "I'm not... going to be arrested, am I?" Twilight Sparkle said. "It's a long story," Sunset said in a casual, "that's not important RIGHT now" kind of way, "We'll get into that later if you want." Twilight Sparkle seemed to be uneasy with something, so I figured that the best course of action would be to give her a quick explanation of why she was here because something was OBVIOUSLY troubling her. I could tell that it was one of those "better not to pry" kind of things. "Sunset said that you'd like to learn about friendship. Is that right?" She became suddenly flushed and pale. "Are... are you okay? You look really flushed." She passed out cold. 5: What... just happened?Sunset Shimmer's Point of View Sci-Twi passed out cold, making Princess Twilight very anxious. She stood up and began to walk over to me, as if I were Princess Celestia and she was coming to me for the answer to life, the universe, and everything. Starlight (I assumed that's who she was through deductive reasoning) just kind of... froze. "Sunset," Princess Twilight said, VERY anxious, "What... just happened?" I took this opportunity to explain, as best I could, what had happened at the Friendship Games. "Okay, so the other you made a necklace of some kind that steals magic. She was, well I can't say careless, not really... she didn't know how to handle it. And at the end of the games, just so she could win, the principal of her school, Abacus Cinch, bullied the shit out of her, along with the other students from her school, just so she would have an 'advantage' over us and win a damn game! The results were... different. The portals, rifts actually, were created by her in an attempt to get to this world to learn and understand magic, except it... wasn't her. It was some demon-creature named Midnight Sparkle. We had to defeat her, no easy task but nothing we can't handle, no gloating intended, and succeeded. Cinch tried to come out on top by threatening to go to the school board, but there were multiple copies of evidence of her bullying and manipulating her, causing Cinch to have to accept defeat. The rifts are neutralized, to my understanding, but Sci-Twi is still pretty shook up about this. She believed, in my opinion, that I was bringing you here for some kind of inhumane treatment instead of friendship lessons, which is a COMPLETELY, massive emphasis, foreign concept to her, virtually nonexistent!" I said, barely able to keep mild composure now. Princess Twilight was OBVIOUSLY shaken, so much to the point where she fell backward in a chair and put a hoof to her head, but still coherent enough to do something. "That's a lot to take in," she said before turning to Spike, who had a quill and scroll ready, "Send a message to Princess Celestia and Princess Luna explaining what just happened. I don't give a crap about what it says, just get the point across! I need them here! NOW!" "Sure thing, Twi!" Spike's Point of View I went ahead and got a quill and scroll. "That's a lot to take in," Twi said, turning to me "Send a message to Princess Celestia and Princess Luna explaining what just happened. I don't give a crap about what it says, just get the point across! I need them here! NOW!" "Sure thing, Twi!" I said. I began to write as fast as I could. My clawwriting just had to be readable, so I went fast because this is a HUGE emergency! Celestia and Luna: This is Spike, and Twilight Sunset Shimmer Starlight Glimmer and myself need you both here! Twilight isn't telling me what to write so I'll just put it in my own words. you probably know about the rips and holes to the other world. that's okay now, but the person who did it is the Twilight from THAT world! she's here with us right now, and we really don't know what to do! She wAS manipulated into doing it and she wants to learn friendship because that twilight doesnt know frienD ship and nOW SHES PASSEDOUT!COMEWITHHELP!!!!! I blew the letter with certainty that they would get it. Twilight and Starlight were already gone, probably to get some water to pour on the other Twilight. I just stayed back with Sunset Shimmer if she needed me. Author's Note I know Spike's letter is atrocious, but in a panic, it was all he could do. I would upload a picture of the letter in horrible handwriting from my computer, but I have no idea how to do it. 6: Princess Luna's InvolvementPrincess Celestia's Point of View I began looking out of the windows of the castle while my sister was in the throne room, just to make sure everything was alright, but the extremely grim reality of the situation soon became evident when Luna brought me a note from Spike. The writing's messiness stated a very extreme panic level at the Castle of Friendship. "CELESTIA!!" my sister's voice shouted, "THE SITUATION IS FAR WORSE THAN WE THOUGHT!!!" Oh shit! She never addresses me by name! It's usually "Sister" or, less often, "Princess Celestia". The only other time was when... I all but broke down into sobs Tirek... Mother... when he... I'm glad my sister came when she did. "I... I can't... it's just... I miss her." I couldn't hold back any longer. I needed some time. "I'm sorry," my only living blood relative said, highly remorsful, "I'll leave a copy for when you are ready." Princess Celestia's Worst Memory With one final blow, Tirek knocked mom onto the ground. My sister and I were too afraid to do anything. "You've met your defeat, haven't you?" Tirek said to our mother. Mother laid there, barely half-conscious, when the monster threw one punch at her, opening up a hole in her chest, and then proceeded to yank her heart out. The sight made me vomit, but I didn't know what it would do to my sister, twenty-three years younger than me, being a six-year-old. She lay there bleeding out, nothing we could do except to hug her one final time before she reaches the end of the tunnel for good. "Mommy! No!" my baby sister begged and pleaded. I couldn't talk or do anything except for lay on the ground. "I know... I know that you'll do... do well..." She was gone. I threw up when she had hit the end. My sister, I know, was too young to deal with it like I was. "Is there anything that I could do?" a familiar voice said. I looked up to see the Lord of Chaos. "You...?" "Yes." Our lifelong enemy gave us instructions for a simple, yet powerful banishing spell to a place he had made months earlier. "STILL!" he shouted, and with a snap of his fingers (on the hand that was a lion's paw), he froze the monster in place so we could do the spell. Afterward, we both looked at him in confusion. "It's my job to make disharmony, not kill ponies. I'm sure that Equestria can go on for as long as it takes you to get better without my forces being at play." "Th-- thank you," we both sobbed." Princess Luna's Point of View I did not know what trouble I would soon cause because I was focused on a potential loss of an other-worldly being. "CELESTIA!!" I shouted, galloping as fast as I could down the halls of the castle, "THE SITUATION IS FAR WORSE THAN WE THOUGHT!!!" When I made it to my sister, she just stood idly, looking out a window, and mumbling. I didn't know what to do. "Mother... Discord..." She started crying. "I'm sorry. I'll leave a copy for when you are ready." And with that, I made an exact duplicate, that was easier to read of course, with her personal wondercolt, Air Guard. "This is for her when... when she is ready." "Yes, your majesty." I reread Spike's letter and decided that it would be best to teleport to the Castle of Friendship, and then proceed to the council room. When I made it to the Council Room, I immediately knew the urgency of the situation. "Spike, what has happened?" "Sunset can give you the full thing!" I turned to Sunset, who promptly began telling me the whole story. "Okay, so this Twilight made a necklace of some kind that steals magic, but she didn't know that it would do that. She was, well I can't say careless, not really... she didn't know how to handle it. And at the end of the games, just so she could win, the principal of her school, Abacus Cinch, bullied the shit out of her, beg pardon your majesty, along with the other students from her school, just so she would have an 'advantage' over us and win a damn game! The results were... different. The portals, rifts actually, were created by her in an attempt to get to this world to learn and understand magic, except it... wasn't her. It was some demon-creature named Midnight Sparkle. She was defeated, but Cinch tried to come out on top by threatening to go to the school board, but there were multiple copies of evidence of her bullying and manipulating her, causing Cinch to have to accept defeat. The rifts are neutralized, to my understanding, but their Twilight is still pretty shook up about this. She believed, in my opinion, that I was bringing Princess Twilight here for some kind of inhumane treatment instead of friendship lessons, which is a COMPLETELY, massive emphasis, foreign concept to her, virtually nonexistent!" she said, as if she would break down at any minute. "When Princess Twilight returns, we shall take her to the royal infirmary." Princess Twilight soon returned with Starlight Glimmer, each carrying a bucket of water. Both of them emptied their buckets on her, but it had no immediate effect. "Princess Twilight." "Yes, Princess Luna?" "I shall use my magic to teleport us all to the royal infirmary. Being one of your potential students, I see it only fit to give her top-notch care. My sister is... dealing... with... issues." "Thank you, Princess." I teleported us all to the Royal Infirmary. Princess Celestia's Point of View "Is there anything I could do to help, Celestia?" I heard the voice of my, in a way, father. "Just... just being here... just being here is enough. Thank you, Discord." I hugged him tightly while he let me cry on his shoulder. "Just let it all out. It'll be good for you." "Th- thank you." "Not a problem, child. Not a problem." Author's Note Yes, that is how forgiving I see Princesses Celestia and Luna to be: BANISHING Tirek to Tartarus instead of killing him when he killed their mother. And I can also see Discord, despite still being unreformed, having sympathy for the two alicorns while in grieving of such a dear and close loss, going so far as to "adopt" them as his children when they need comfort from that kind of situation. I'm also NOT going to go in depth on this dark memory, as I don't want it to be THAT kind of story. 7: Princess Celestia's Involvement and the Royal InfirmaryJust if the last chapter wasn't clear, here's what happens between then and now: Princess Celestia goes through re-mourning for a little while, Sci-Twi is still out-cold, but is now in the Canterlot Royal Infirmary and receiving top-notch medical care. Celestia makes it to the hospital and meets Sci-Twi. Sci-Twi's Point of View I woke up, only to find that I was in a bed of some kind. I was mostly soaked with what I hoped to be just water, but when I looked around, I saw them! They were going to torture me! The other rulers! I saw a tall, white winged-unicorn that strongly resembled Principal Celestia of Canterlot High and a slightly shorter one that was a deep blue and also strongly resembled Vice-Principal Luna of Canterlot High. I'm up shit creek. Dammit, Twilight Sparkle! Don't keep having thoughts like this! Midnight Sparkle could still be in there! She could still be a part of me that's dormant! "Wha-- wha-- what happened!?" "Please be careful," a serene, motherly voice said, "You've been asleep for almost four hours now." I looked around and found that I was in a HOSPITAL of all places. "According to Sunset," Princess Twilight spoke, "you were manipulated into releasing accidentally stolen magic, which transformed you into something horrible that did horrible things. Meeting me overwhelmed you so much that you passed out, thinking that we were going to torture you for what had happened. As for why you are soaking wet, me and Starlight Glimmer" "Hi," the light purple pony said, somewhat sheepishly waving a hoof at me. "each dumped a bucket of water on you." "I'm sorry, but we haven't been properly introduced yet," the lavender winged-unicorn said before continuing, "I'm Twilight Sparkle, the Princess of Friendship." "I'm Celestia," the white one said, "Princess of the Sun." "And I'm Luna, Princess of the Night," the remaining winged-unicorn added. "So... none of you are mad about any of this?" "Well, Miss Sparkle," Princess Luna said, "that is not exactly the case." "Damn, I've screwed up! And I couldn't even control it!" "We are mad-" "I know! I shouldn't have tried to understand magic to begin with!" "at a Ms Abacus Cinch." "What the...?" "You just started from a wrong perspective, and became overwhelmed with what might happen to you." "What... are you going to do with me? And what about Principal Cinch? Is she going to be okay?" Good going, Twilight. You've just asked them NOT to hurt the one who started all of this. "The royal guard is having her locked in the dungeon, if possible." "Crap." "It's not your fault," Princess Celestia said before turning her head toward the door, "The twelve of you may come in now. You should also bring the proof that your Cadence collected on the ringleader of this mess." One by one, ten creatures and two humans came into the room. Five of them were Sunset's anthropomorphized friends, five were their doubles from this dimension, and the other two were my brother and sister-in-law, Shining Armor and Cadence. "Twilie," my brother said, "Are you okay? From what we heard, you fell and hit your head!" "The doctors think that it may be a mild concussion at the very worst." "A CONCUSSION!?" "Twilie, you should really stop worrying about all of this." "Yeah, dude," the anthro Rainbow Dash said, "It's nothing to get worked up about. Sunset explained everything to the ten of us. We'll totally help you out. It's, like, what friends do!" "Friends?" I asked. "Yes, Darling," the anthro Rarity said, "People who are close to you that care for and help you with problems. You've never had one?" "Do Shining Armor and Cadence count, even though they're my family?" "It's a good start, Darling." "Is a part of being friends honesty?" I asked, "Everything was pretty vague and blurry when... she... took over." "Who!?" Princess Celestia said firmly, coming over to my bed, "Who is this girl that took over?" "I... I'm sorry. I shouldn't have-" "No," she said, the serene and somewhat-motherly tone returning in her voice, "Who is she? She might be the key to helping you recover. "M... Mid... Midnight... Midnight S..." "Midnight who?" Princess Luna asked, "You're in good hooves. You've got good friends and family. All of us are here to help you." "I'm... I'm afraid that... she'll come back." "Is that it?" anthro Rainbow Dash said, "We'll totally kick her ass!" "Midnight," I took a deep breath before continuing, "Midnight Sparkle." There was a short pause, broken by Princess Luna. "You may show her the evidence now, Miss Pie," Princess Luna said. I knew which version of who she was referring to when she called them that: Ms/Mr out of respect if they were from Canterlot, and by name if they were Equestrian. "Okie dokie lokie!" she said, getting her laptop out of her hair. Pinkie's laptop was an older MacBook, highly customized to have a pink casing with three balloons like the ones on her skirt on the back instead of white plastic and an Apple. "Thanks," I said as she sat the computer down on my lap. 8: Proof and Unicorn Magic: Sci-Twi's InnocenceSci-Twi's Point of View I went to open the computer, only to see that I still had hooves. I was evidently still a pony. The hard part would be getting to the proof. At this point, the back of the bed was set up, somewhat being like a recliner. "I can't use this." "Yes you can, Sci-Twi. You've got magic!" "That I don't know how to use!" "Just... just picture yourself doing the steps like you normally would if you were a human, and... and do as close as you can physically. That should jumpstart your horn magic." "Okay," I said, Picturing my hooves as wrists, I looked at the upper-right of the keyboard and pictured myself turning the thing on while I "did" it. Much to my surprise, it actually worked. "What the hell?" I said. I was completely speechless as I successfully opened the video files in a folder labeled Human Twilight: Friendship Games. Up first was one of Cadence's videos, which turned out to just be just sound, as the phone was facedown. It was still good enough for everyone in the room, though. "Okay, guys. Here's the first one. It says, 01: Manipulation into the Friendship Games.mp4." 01: Manipulation into the Friendship Games.mp4 (Sci-Twi's Point of View) Again, this part has no video because the camera was face down. All that Cadence really needed, though, was what they were saying in the office, but when video does come in, it is widescreen. "Shining Armor?" I said, "Why is my brother here?" "As an alumni," my sister-in-law began, "Principal Cinch thought he could provide some... unique perspective." "On what?" "Why, the Friendship Games, of course," Ms Cinch began to explain, "You competed in the games, did you not, Shining Armor?" Someone cleared their throat. "I did." "And do you happen to recall who won?" "Ha, Crystal Prep did. We always win." "We always win." "Why did you ask to see me?" I said. "Twilight, I'll be honest," Ms Cinch said, "It doesn't matter whether or not Crystal Prep wins or loses. The important thing is that we are expected to win because Crystal Prep has a reputation. And it is that reputation... my reputation that is responsible for everything we have here. For everything you've done here. And you've done quite a lot, haven't you?" "I don't know. I guess." "Oh, don't be modest. You're the best student this school has ever seen. What I can't understand is why my best student wouldn't want to compete." "In the Friendship Games?" "Look, Twilie," my brother said, "I know it's not really your thing, but representing the school is kind of a big deal. Plus, they could really use your help." "It seems Canterlot High is undergoing something of a renaissance," Ms Cinch said, "Test scores are up, grades, even athletics are on the rise. You see, they are developing somewhat of a reputation. This can not happen!" "Ms Cinch, I can't possibly participate in the games. My work here is very--" "Ah yes. Your work. Cadence, could you and Shining Armor find my contact sheet for the Everton Independent Study program?" "Of course," my sister-in-law said. A door opened, then closed, assuming that my brother and sister-in-law left the room. I turned up the volume to 100% "I understand you've applied," Ms Cinch said, "You see, one of the advantages of having a reputation is a certain amout of influence in such things. So, let me offer you a deal. In return for contributing your agile mind to these games, I will use my influence to guarantee your application is approved. Though, I suppose I could also have it... denied." I gasped. "What do you think I should do?" I skipped ahead about two or three minutes until I heard Ms Cinch's office door again. A knock was heard. "You may come in." "Ms Cinch," Cadence said, "I have the contact sheet." "Where is Shining Armor," Ms Cinch said, restlessly, "I presumed that he would be coming back with you, Ms Armor." "Just 'Cadence', if you will." "Where is he?" "He had some important business come up. He'll be back momentarily." "And just what is more important than assuring our win?" she said, becoming very angry within the conversation, almost to the point of complete screaming. "He never really said," Cadence said, becoming anxious, "All that he really said was, and I quote, 'I just want to ensure the victory of Crystal Prep. Just trust me, hon. And tell Principal Cinch to just continue without me.'. That's it." "Well," Ms Cinch said, backing down, "He always has been a firm and reliable person. You both have. I, with that being the case, believe that it will be for the best. Thank you, Cadence." "Is that all, Ms Cinch," I said. "Yes Twilight. You are free to go." A squeak, and then footsteps approached. The phone was picked up, revealing someone, then a door squeaked and closed. The picture was too fast to make out who. Must be Cadence. The video then became clear as the phone was set in what must've been a purse, shallow pocket, or handbag. A few steps were taken before any more was said. "She didn't scare you, did she?" "Uh..." The picture turned to an anxious me. "Don't worry, Twilie. Cadence and I will make sure everything is okay." "Thank you." "Why don't you go back to your lab and work some more on your research." "Okay." I became less anxious and began down a flight of stairs. The video, though, didn't follow me. There wasn't any conversation between my brother or Cadence, so I skipped about two minutes further until they started talking again, but their voices were low and stealth. "Wow," my brother said, "You working here as the Dean really proved me wrong. She does play us for dumbasses. "I know," Cadence said, "That also just answered the question of how much of a family of them she thinks we are." The picture turned to my brother. "Did you get Ms Celestia and Ms Luna in on it, too?" "Better. I told them about it, and had them plant a few recordings." "Now, we just play the waiting game." The video flipped, swapping to the front camera, revealing her on the left-hand side of the screen and my brother on the right, both being about three-quarters out of the shot. I correctly assumed that this was to see if they were being followed. "And Cinch is nowhere around." The person holding the phone held it down, moving the picture to Cadence, presumably so she could casually end the recording. Before ending it though, she said something, as if leving a message for me. "Twilight, we're not going to let you be bullied like this." The video ended. Sci-Twi's Point of View "You see, she, Ms Cinch, is a terrible influence on you, Miss Sparkle," Princess Celestia said, "You did nothing wrong." "I can't believe I let myself do that." I felt so guilty just hearing the four of us on video in Ms Cinch's office, and, evidently, I was showing it as precisely as my anxious self could. "Twilight," Princess Twilight said, "Are you okay? You're turning pale and clammy." "Why would you two do that!?" I said to my brother and his wife, "You could have at least told me that you were going to do that!" "We're sorry, Twilight," Cadence said, "We just had to play it cool for a while. Sadly, that meant leaving you in the dark. We wish we could've told you, but if we did, Cinch's playing the three of us for idiots would have been right, and she would have never been exposed." I felt my color coming back, but didn't know how to take in this information. That was visibly obvious. "Now that she's gone, we can be completely open and honest again," my brother said, both coming over to hug me. I was immediately relaxed. "Wow, I... I don't know what to say." "You don't have to say anything," Princess Twilight said. "Should I show you the rest of the videos?" "We've seen and heard it all," Princess Twilight said, "There's no need for that." "Thank God," I said, slamming the lid on the computer shut while ASTRONOMICALLY stressed, "I don't want to live through any of that shit ever again!" "You don't have to," Cadence said, somewhat motherly, "Now, I think Princess Twilight" Her and my brother were beginning to wonder what I thought was the same thing that I was. "would like to talk to you." I looked over to Princess Twilight. "If you'd like, that is." "Sure," I said, somewhat confused, "I... guess so...?" "Alright, then," she said, becoming focused on a topic that I hadn't figured out what it was yet, "How, when, and where would you like?" Twilight Sparkle, you might not be receiving punishment for Ms Cinch's actions, or what you did as Midnight Sparkle. Just go ahead and start with her. She did say that she IS the Princess of Friendship, and she WILL take care of you. Everyone here would, for that matter. "Okay," I said, taking a deep breath and regaining my composure, "Could we be alone? But... could my brother and Cadence stand right outside? I- if I need them?" "Sure," she said, turning around to everyone else, "If everybody and everypony would step out, except for Twilight's Brother and Sister-In-Law?" Everyone went out of the room at the request of the princess except my brother and sister-in-law. "What would you like for us to do?" Cadence asked. "Twilight Sparkle" "I guess it's okay if you and everyone just started calling me Sci-Twi now, just to be completely clear as to which of us they are referencing." "Okay, Sci-Twi," she said to me before turning around to face the only two left in the room, "Your sister has requested that you stay just outside of the room. If you want, I can have Princess Celestia get some chairs for you." "That'd be great," Shining Armor said, "Just call if you need us." On that, they stepped out and closed the door. Author's Note Thank God for modern tech, am I right? And, just to be on the safe side, the recording (the part with the SPOILER marking) in this chapter is the conversation the four of them had. In the movie, though, it was never recorded. This idea was from Aftermath of the Games. It's a really great story, and I think that you give it a read, especially if you like how the idea of recording bugs fits in with the story. 9: Midnight Sparkle ReturnsSci-Twi's Point of View I was getting anxious again, but this time wasn't like the others. You'll see me again, Twilight Sparkle! "NO!" I said, gripping onto the bed as tight as I could with hooves, "PLEASE DON'T!!!!!" I suddenly snapped back to reality. "'No' what?" Princess Twilight said, "Are you okay?" "Yeah," I said, "What did you want to talk about? It's okay if you want to sit at the foot of the bed. I'm used to Spike being there, but... he isn't. He's at home." "Oh. I'm sorry." "It's okay," I said before lowering my voice to just above a whisper, "Just as long as Midnight Sparkle stays away." She looked at me, nodded in an "Okay, I see" fashion, and sat down in the bed. "Well," she said sitting on the bed, "First, I'd like to start over from earlier." Dammit. "How much earlier?" "Right before you blacked out," she said, calmly, "I was hoping that it wouldn't come to you blacking out and having to be put in the Royal Infirmary." I let out a sigh of relief. "I was asking you if you'd like to learn about friendship, because Sunset Shimmer, I'm sure you already know her, said that you might be interested." "Friend...ship?" "She told me to be prepared for this," she said, "Because from what I understand, it doesn't exist to you yet." Okay, Twilight Sparkle. They aren't going to try to do anything to you. In fact, they probably... I told you that I'd be back! And now, you're going to fall to my control! I was sucked into a cage made of the same magic that had turned me into Midnight Sparkle. "RUN!!!" Princess Twilight's Point of View "Friend...ship?" she said, confused "She told me to be prepared for this. Because from what I understand, it doesn't exist to you yet." She began struggling. "RUN!!!" What I saw next was a monster that had manifested itself within Twilight! It looked exactly like the monster from the thing Sunset Shimmer showed me, only this time she was a pony! I jumped off of the bed and galloped backwards to the door. "Twilight? Are you okay?" I shouted "Twilight's not here!" it said, throwing a ball of magic at me. I teleported away from it, JUST before it hit me! It hit the door instead, taking out that entire wall. Everyone could see what was going on, I'm sure. Cadence's Point of View "You don't have to," I said, "Now, I think Princess Twilight," I began to question things, "would like to talk to you." Twilight looked over to Princess Twilight. "If you'd like, that is." "Sure," Twilight said, visibly unsure of what was going on, "I... guess so...?" "Alright, then," Princess Twilight said, "How, when, and where would you like?" "Okay," my sister-in-law said, taking a deep breath, "Could we be alone? But... could my brother and Cadence stand right outside? I- if I need them?" "Sure," Princess Twilight said, turning around to everyone of us, "If everybody and everypony would step out, except for Twilight's Brother and Sister-In-Law?" Everyone except me and Shining stayed in at the Princess's request. "What would you like for us to do?" I asked. "Twilight Sparkle" "I guess it's okay if you and everyone just started calling me Sci-Twi now, just to be completely clear as to which of us they are referencing," Twilight said. "Okay, Sci-Twi," she said to Twilight before turning back around to face Shining, "Your sister has requested that you stay just outside of the room. If you want, I can have Princess Celestia get some chairs for you." "That'd be great," Shining Armor said before turning to Twilight, "Just call if you need us." We went right out into the hallway. Princess Celestia had two chairs for us across from the door to her room, probably as a courtesy. "Don't worry," she said before turning and going to what must've been a waiting room, "She is in good hooves." The wall separating the room and hallway was thin, so we could, to an extent, hear the conversation. I looked at Shining, completely ignoring the fact that we were ponies now, both of us unicorns, to ask him a question. "Should we stay here or go a little farther down?" I asked, "I really want to respect her and her privacy, but she did say that she wanted us just outside in the hall." "She'd probably want us to stay here, even if we can hear them. I think that it's best if we just didn't listen and try to do something else instead," my husband said, thinking of something to do, "Maybe we could try that thing Sunset told Twilight to do with our phones and see if we can get it to work for ourselves." I thought for a second, but he never did anything except wait anxiously as if something bad was going to happen. "You're right," I said, getting my phone and holding it in my hooves, "We just need to take our minds off of it." When I managed to hold the power key on my Galaxy S6 long enough to see the thing start up, we heard screaming. Shining jumped out of his chair, only to get blown back against a wall. I was far beyond terrified at what I saw. "Twilie!" Shining said, getting up. 10: Fight for Lesson One Shining Armor's Point of View "She'd probably want us to stay here, even if we can hear them. I think that it's best if we just didn't listen and try to do something else instead," I said to Cadence, unsure of myself, "Maybe we could try that thing Sunset told Twilight to do with our phones and see if we can get it to work for ourselves." She gave what I said a thought, but I stayed on high alert. "You're right," she said, getting her phone, "We just need to take our minds off of it." She took my advice and tried her magic on her phone, but I continued to stay on high alert, sitting for what felt like hours. Until I heard screaming. "SHIT TWILIE!!!!!" I jumped up to run and help, but a blast took out the wall and door to her room and threw me back against the wall. Cadence was completely paralyzed with fear. "Twilie!" I said, getting back up, "Are you okay!?" "Your sister isn't here!" Princess Twilight said as the others came over to the room, "That's a monster that's taken her over by equestrian magic!" Sunset Shimmer rose and transformed into something and started to defeat Midnight Sparkle. "Now," she said, "You saw me do this to you earlier, and I'll defeat you again!" "She is not alone!" Princess Celestia said, "My sister, Princess Twilight, and I will back her!" The other five students from Canterlot City High School went up with them. "Don't think that you're alone, Sunset Darling!" Their counterparts from this world went up to fight too. "Yer gone havta try mighty hard ta push us back, too!" They all started doing something. I don't know how to describe it, but I was frozen with fear until something hit me. "Cadence," I said, seeing her get pulled out of that monster, "Come on! We have to do something!" We ran over to her and, with the strength only a sibling and mother could have, we began pulling her out of that monster. "PULL... HARDER...!!!" "Sister!" a voice said, "I shall help them pull their Twilight Sparkle out of this monster!" "WE'VE GOT YOU, TWILIGHT!!!!!" Cadence said. I felt something else helping us pull her out, but I'm not sure who, or what for that matter, it was. "DON'T LET THY SISTER GO!!!!!" Princess Luna said. It took a while, but when we pulled Twilie out, she fell on me from midair. "JESUS!!" she said as she fell and knocked me over, "Shining, I'm SO sorry!" She turned around and saw that monster looking right at her. Sci-Twi's Point of View I heard one of the princesses yelling, Shining and Cadence screaming, then I felt something or someone pulling me out. "PULL...HARDER!!!" "Sister! I shall help them pull their Twilight Sparkle out of this monster!" "WE'VE GOT YOU, TWILIGHT!!!!!" The pulling got stronger. "DON'T LET THY SISTER GO!!!!!" After some time, I fell out of her from midair and onto my brother. "JESUS!!" I yelled as I was falling, before landing on my brother, "Shining, I'm SO sorry!" I turned around to see Midnight Sparkle looking directly at me, as if Daydream Shimmer had no effect on her at all. "I'll be back! You'll fall to me, and I'll know EVERYTHING about EVERY kind of magic that EVER existed!" I could do nothing but hold onto my brother, Cadence, and Princess Luna as tightly as my hooves would allow. "I'll ALWAYS be there, Twilight Sparkle!" She was defeated once again, but this time she turned into a black smoke that made it's way inside me. "Miss Sparkle!" Princess Celestia said, "Are you alright!" I screamed out of panic several times, prompting my brother and sister-in-law to come and hug me again. "It's alright, Twilight," Cadence said, "It's alright." I stopped my repeated screaming as it turned into me just hyperventilating for a few minutes before anything else was said. "Are you okay?" the Princess of Friendship said, approaching me. "Uh-huh," I barely managed to get out. "And you're afraid that something was going to happen to you because of Midnight Sparkle?" "Uh-huh," I barely managed to get back out. "I see." Princess Celestia came over to me, prompting me to slide backward until I found myself in the corner of the room, on the floor, panicking my butt off. The Rainbow Dash from this reality was obviously getting pissed with the situation and came over to me. "Nopony here is going to do anything to you! You're just hurting yourself!" I found myself curled up in fetal position. "Rainbow Dash!" the Applejack from this reality said, coming over to me, "That's enough!" When she got over to me, she had Rainbow Dash to go away. "Now listen, sugarcube," she said, putting a hoof on my shoulder, "So that happened," she said, reassuringly, "That's in the past now. You don't have to go through this alone, Sci-Twi. You're surrounded by friends." There's that word again. Friends. "W- wh- what... are friends?" I said, barely managing to get anything out. "From what all 'vus understand, ya don't know a thang about 'em. Ah'm sure Princ'ss Twilight 'as wantin' ta give ya s'me lessons." "W- what...?" "People 'n' ponies 'at're there ta help ya. 'Specially times like these." I mumbled something that even I couldn't make out. Overwhelming. Now, to get the message out. You can do this! You've seen it here, Twilight Sparkle, first hand: they'll help you defeat and get rid of Midnight Sparkle. They'll... never... conquer... me! Yes they will! I finally came to realization that Midnight Sparkle wasn't here anymore. At least for the moment and physically, so I finally stopped shaking. "Overwhelming." "Could... could we... could we st- start... over?" "Of course," the Princess of Friendship said, "I'd like that." "Hey," Sunset said, coming over to me, "Is being a pony... overwhelming?" Her voice was, at this point in time, the only voice that could have calmed me, other than my brother's or Cadence's voice. "I... I... I don't have a choice?" "I can give you that choice," Princess Twilight said, "If you want to have it." "H- how?" "I'm the Princess of Friendship. It's what I do." "We'll be there for you, Twilight," Cadence said, "Whatever happens, we've got your back." "Could you... give them... a choice, too?" "I'd be honored." Princess Twilight's Point of View "Could you... give them... a choice, too?" Sci-Twi said, still super anxious, but now much more calmed. "I'd be honored." Her Shining Armor and Cadence went to either side of her and began hugging her. "Okay," I said, "We'll need some space, so if you could all come to the middle of the room," I turned to everypony else in the room, "If you could all..." I didn't even have to finish my request. "What now, Princess?" "Just come out of the corner so I can do a spell to anthropomorphize you." They came out of the corner, but I felt everypony's eyes on me that were from Equestria, so I turned around and gave a quick explination. "While I was in the human world, one night, Sunset Shimmer decided to turn a large closet into a small bedroom for me. The room is actually about a third of the size of Applejack's bedroom, but there was little space to work with. Anyway..." Princess Twilight's Flashback: Sunset Shimmer's Apartment, Canterlot City, California, 12 June 2015, 12:30p "What... is this?" I asked as Sunset as she picked up a small stick with buttons, aimed it at a weird flat thing, pushed one of the buttons, and made it show moving pictures with what sounded like people talking, "Is it something that humans do?" It said "JVC" for a few seconds before actually getting to the moving pictures. "Eh, one of them," she said, sitting on a couch and offering me to sit next to her, "This one's really interesting. I think you'll like it. It's a little weird until everything sticks to you, but I think that you'll end up liking it." "What's it called?" "This is TV. Mine comes over the Internet, so I can watch whatever the hell I want," she said really casually, "A lot of friends here watch it while they hang out together." Sunset's apartment was... cozy. She was self sufficient, had something called "Enter Net TeeVee", still not sure about what that is, and everything. She said that her apartment was like a hotel, except people lived in them instead of just staying for a few nights. There were three seperate rooms in hers: the main room (which had a small hallway attatched to it containing three doors: one at the end, and two across from each other), a bedroom that was pretty basic (but was still Sunset-y) on the left (facing the door at the end of the hall), a small bathroom on the right (still pretty basic), and at the end of the hall was a closet that was soon to be a small bedroom, thanks to the human Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, and Rarity. "I'd show ya what they're working on, but it's kind of a secret. Besides, I can kind of see that you'd like a break." "That's..." something blinking in the kitchen half of the room over the sink got my attention, scaring me, "GONNA KILL US!!!" I really couldn't move because of how scared I was. "What!?" Sunset said, leaping to her feet, "Did Equestrian magic get loose again?" "What's that!?" I said, pointing at the box with a stick behind it. Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Applejack, Fluttershy, and Pinkie all ran into the room with us. Sunset, though, just walked over to it casually with an eyebrow raised. "This?" said, holding up the box, revealing strings that attatched it to a black box on her wall. "Yes!" She gave me a confused look for a second before realizing what was going on. "This isn't dangerous," she laughed, reading a label, "it's just wireless Internet." "Ah'm sure glayed 'at there's nothin' fr'm Equestria here with us," Applejack said, "Right?" Sunset stopped laughing, set the box down, got two cups, and pulled two cans of something out of what looked like a small refrigerator. "It's okay," Sunset said, "False alarm." They went back to the closet. "You want something cold to drink?" "Sure." She pulled up a tab, making a small hissing sound, and poured a dark, bubbly liquid in one of the cups. "What's that?" I asked, curious this time. "Trust me," she said, doing the same thing with the other cup and can, "You'll like it." She came back and sat down on the couch, handing me one of the glasses. "So... I just..." I said, taking a sip. My eyes went wide as a weird sensation filled my mouth. It was like all of the little bubbles were attacking my tounge, so I quickly swallowed, but when I did, the stinging just went down my throat. It only lasted a second, though, but it tasted good. Whatever it was, I ended up opening my mouth and letting my tounge out for a minute until I was ABSOLUTELY sure that it was over. "Wha ith that, Thunthet Thinner?" She looked at me. "Are you okay?" "Wha kine oth duthink ith that?" "It's called 'soda'," she said, looking back at the screen, "Take another sip. It won't be so bad, now that you know what to expect." I did, and it actually tasted... good. Exotic good. I could tell that she could tell that I enjoyed it, even without exchanging looks. "I keep a whole stock of it under the counter." Just then, the scene on the screen changed to a group of humans with what looked like some animal stuff on them. It was mostly stuff like cat ears, tiger tails, some had small antlers, and a few even had wings. I wasn't sure what was going on because I was too busy wondering if Equestrian magic had spread worldwide here. "Did magic spread all over the world?" "No. It's just a show." "Then, why do they have ears, tails, and wings?" "It's just special effects." I was completely puzzled, so she pulled a notebook from under the couch and opened it to a page headed "RWBY". "When I saw that you were coming, I took a note or two on this show," she said, pointing at a word, "It's that. I can't ever say it for some reason, though." I looked at it, and in her handwriting with blue ink, it said: 2: Some of the human characters have animal attributes. They are anthropomorphic, meaning that they have animal characteristics "I never took you for a notetaker, Sunset!" "Yeah, but this was one of the few times." Like she said, it took a few minutes for me to actually understand the show. "Think you might bring your friends from home to meet us sometime?" I thought for a second. "Yeah. I don't think people here would be freaked out by seeing two of them now, instead of just one." "Next week?" "Yeah, sounds great." Princess Twilight's Point of View "...and that's how I learned about that stuff." "Wow, Darling," Rarity said. "Damn right it's awesome!" Rainbow said, picturing herself like that, "20% cooler if it had all had us in it. Don't think I'd like to be stuck that way, though." I turned back around to do my spell on them, and it worked with full success. Sci-Twi and her family had become half-pony, half-human! Sci-Twi's Point of View Her horn began to glow purple, but what I found the most stunning (almost literally) was that we were being lifted off of our hooves and encompassed in a purple aura for a short time before we were put back on the floor. What I did know was that I was on two feet again, along with my clothes returning normal, thank God. "Here!" Pinkie Pie said, pulling pair of blue jeans, a purple shirt with some beakers on it, a pair of regular white socks, and a pair of high-rise sneakers, out of her hair, "You should go change out of that because, after what happened earlier, that thing looks like it went through a lawnmower! Also, you might want these," she said, reaching into her hair once more and pulling out a pair of glasses that looked like mine (if they had no lenses or the white thing at the corners next to the earpieces), "You looked a little twitchy, so I figured that something didn't feel right." "Why do you have that stuff, Pinkie," Sunset said, just after she had turned to the same kind of anthro form that the others were. "Just a hunch that I'd need it today!" she replied, smiling absurdly big. "Right." I looked down, and realized that she was absolutely right! I had to get out of this and throw it away. My CPA uniform was completely destroyed, so I took the change of clothes and glasses and went for it. Shit! "Where's a bathroom?" I said, ready to run, "NOW!" I already had the titles nerd, weirdo, shut-in, and monster on me. I didn't want STRIPPER of all things added to that incriminating list. "Four doors down to the left," Princess Celestia said, pointing her hoof to the right. "THANK YOU!!" I ran as fast as I could and locked the door. "Oh God. Oh God," I panted, "Shit. What the hell just happened?" I looked in the mirror and was scared of what I DIDN'T see: her. Author's Note I don't know why, but I just picture Canterlot City being in Eastern-California. As far as I can gather, that is COMPLETELY subjective. Also, while it WAS someone else's idea for Sci-Twi (Aftermath of the Games by Darth Link 22) to live in an apartment with Shining Armor and Cadence because of her parents' death, I've always pictured Sunset living in an apartment flat of her own for some reason. Again, GREAT story, man! Also, I know Princess Twilight's flashback was pretty long and covered a few things, but tackling some of those things now seems pretty okay. 11: A Little Self-EvaluationStill in the bathroom. "Something's wrong. I actually need Midnight Sparkle, and I've gone without my glasses this whole time?" I said, having some weird revelation, "I'll worry about that in a minute. Right now," I said, ripping off the very tattered vest and throwing it onto the floor, "Just gotta make myself decent and just focus on that." The vest, or what was left of it actually, came off, along with the belt, which miraculously survived everything. "Okay," I said turning to the sink and splashing cold water on my face, "So far, so good. Mostly." Off with that scratchy shit, on goes something... normal? The shirt was practically already ripped off, but the replacement Pinkie gave felt brand new and practically WELCOMED freedom. "Wow," I said, looking in the mirror at myself with the new top, "It's almost... welcoming." This is what she was going to talk about? Wow. I was just hurting myself. Could this be friendship? I heard a knock on the door. "Twilight?" Sunset said, "Everything okay in there?" "I can't give any definite output just yet. Maybe in a few minutes?" "Sure thing." She walked off. After I was sure she was gone, I did some more self-reflection out loud. "Okay. Wow. This is... comfortable. Oddly comfortable." When I went to take off my skirt, to change it with the pants, it just gave way. Evidently, touching it was the last straw. "Really?" I asked myself, leaning on the counter, "Time to get this one over with." When I went to change into the pants, they actually felt protecting. Okay... So the shirt was one thing, but this? I'm not... is it some kind of perv-protection? Whatever it is, it should be enough to get Manor to stop trying to sneak pictures. "I feel... safe from them. Manor and his friends... won't be able to sneak pictures anymore." That left only the footwear and faux-eyeware. "I don't know how this is going to go down with anyone, but I may have to ask Pinkie Pie to help me get some more of these. If that's what friends do." I sat down on the floor and took off my CPA footwear. Actually, it was more like ripping because of how much damage everything had sustained already. Wow, Sparkle. You REALLY needed this. They're just too uptight there, but changes are damn sure coming at that hellhole. I can just feel it. "Okay," I said after I pulled the socks on my feet, noting their lack of delicacy, "This must be what it fells like to be laid back. With the other ones, I had to watch every little thing I did with my leg. It would even cramp up really bad sometimes." The sneakers were next. As I put my feet in them and tied the laces, I felt like the inside of it was conforming to the shape of my foot. Padding? Now they won't get as sore when I walk. "Wow. It's like, they made shoes just for walking. I'm getting out more." As I got up and put the faux-eyewear on, I took several steps back to examine the changes that had happened over the past several minutes. "Holy crap. I look like a whole new person." Everything looked great, but something was... off, so I went back to the mirror. "Pony ears, a muzzel, and a horn?" I turned to the side and looked at myself in the mirror like that, only to find that I had a tail with the exact same colorscheme as my hair. "Please be vestigial," I said, hoping it was. But it wasn't. It was an actual appendage. I tried using the horn for magic at the mirror to see if it still worked, and it did. What I saw next, though, both scared the shit out of me AND made me feel better, but she was... different... now. Aggressive, but not hostile. But she had manifested herself physically now. Colorwise, she was the same as earlier.. Midnight Sparkle. Her eyes weren't the same as before, instead, they were now... normal, but the irises were the same color as the magic was that she had manifested at the Friendship Games. She didn't have a messed-up horn made of magic, but one similar to mine that was real. She didn't look maddening of any stretch. Really, she just looked like a clone of me colored to look like herself at the Friendship Games. The only magic that I could tell that she had was the same as what I had. "Dammit, Twilight Sparkle," she said, "Look around you. What do you see?" I stammered. "Get over it already!" "Who... What..." "It's me," she said, in an annoyed tone, "Midnight Sparkle." I began to scream, but she shoved her hand into my mouth, preventing it. "You do need me, but you don't want to admit it. Earlier when I had full control in that room, I knew I needed you. That's the black smoke." My fear turned to confusion. "Dammit!" Midnight said, "Use that fucking bigass brain of yours and THINK dammit!" "What? What do you mean?" "I'll fucking show you!" Midnight said, turning the mirror into a screen. "What..." "Shut the hell up and watch." "It's Ms Cinch's office." "Who's in there?" "Ms Cinch." "And?" "Cadence." "Look how this goes down." "Cadence, if you would, please grab Miss Twilight Sparkle from class. I'll call Shining Armor up from the lobby." "Yes ma'am," Cadence said before leaving. Cadence left to go get Twilight. I looked at Midnight. "Dammit, at the mirror!" Ms Cinch looked like she was about to have a nervous breakdown. "What if this doesn't work? What if she says 'No'? What if she just freezes right in the middle of an event?" She pinched the top of her nose. "What if she doesn't WANT to go to Everton? She could snap at any minute and take out my spark plugs! She could expose me for who I actually am! In the middle of the games! To Canterlot City High School!" "What're you trying to show me?" "You just saw Cinch! In public, she's got a g-!" "Not that one!" I said, "None of the ones on that list! The others, I can live with. NOT that one, though." "You just saw Cinch! In public, she's got a damn reputation to flaunt around! The OTHER SIDE of her is a weak dumbass!" I thought for a second, then went and banged my head against the wall. Why the hell? 'Why the hell' what? "WHAT!?" I snapped back around. "Dammit, I'm YOU! MIDNIGHT Sparkle is a part of TWILIGHT Sparkle!" "So, you're..." "Still in shock, huh." "...just the dark side..." "Keep coming." "...of me." I heard footsteps coming down the hall, then a knock on the door again. "Sunset!" Sunset yelled, "You okay in there, Twilight?" I looked at Midnight in shock. She was a part of me, so we communicated by thought. What do I do? Open the damn door! But if she sees you... Just trust me for once here, willya? I sighed. Sure. "Just a second," I said as I went to unlock the door. "Everyone's worried about you. That whole 'Midnight Sparkle' thing that happened earlier, it was pretty screwed up." Oh for God's sake, just let her in. I was pissed. "Will ya get in here?" "Listen, I can respect" I pulled her in and locked the door behind her. "What... was that about?" "Damn, woman," Midnight said. Sunset looked around me, only to find her. Sunset was scared now. "Listen, she's not dangerous!" "That's not what scares me." "What does, then?" "Why... does she look... like that?" I thought for a moment, splashed some water on my face, and just took what Sunset was seeing right now to heart. "She's a side of me that I didn't know I had because I was such an idle pushover this whole time." "Wow." "Yeah," Midnight said, "Imagine how I felt when she had a spine a minute ago." "Wow. So, that thing in the room earlier, and at the school, you don't want to take control now? "Are you for real?" Sunset scowled. "No. I can't exist without her, and I DON'T want to exist without her." "And you don't want to know more about magic so much that you'd rip holes in the space-time continuum?" "Half of that's true. I want to keep everything IN TACT." "And..." "That magic kicked everything into an unbearable overdrive." "So you..." "Listen, everyone's going to come in here if we don't finish this up now," she reached into the last remaining pocket on my old skirt and pulled out the pocketknife that Shining had given me when I turned sixteen and opened it, "Just slice through me now, and if you want to pick this up later, just Skype Twilight." Sunset ran cold. I, on the other hand (probably because I was there the whole time), was okay with it. "Y-you want... m-me to... k-kill you?" "You'd have to do that to Twilight if that was ever going to happen." "No!" Sunset said before looking at me, "Do something." "She's just a physical manifestation of my dark side being projected by Equestrian magic. Slicing through her would be like taking the batteries out of a flashlight," I said, beginning to get just plain annoyed, "Whenever I use magic on a mirror, she'll come back." "I don't know!" she said, very scared. "Give me the knife," I said, "I'll do it." Sunset couldn't do anything but watch as I took the pocketknife and sliced right through her, causing her to dissipate into smoke that found its way into me. "Y... you..." Sunset was almost the color of Rarity now. "Just look," I said, putting the gift in my pocket and picking her up. "What?" Once again, I used what I called "null magic" on the mirror and successfully brought her back to the physical world. "Happy, dammit?" she said, "Now can we get the hell out of here?" Sunset regained her color, so I blasted Midnight Sparkle's physical manifestation into smitherines. "I'm so stupid," she said, "How did I not see that coming." "What?" I reached into the skirt pocket and pulled out the only other thing in there before I threw the rags away, which was my phone. "Here I am, from Equestria, and I don't know that you can't kill a manifestation of a part of something?" I went back over to her. "Really?" "On second thought, let's just go back with everyone. It makes sense now." Author's Note I know that this is probably gonna get a lot of stuff along the lines of "this needs a 'DARK' tag on it" or "why does Midnight not want to do what she was doing earlier" or "watch the language" or "why does Midnight not want to kill Twilight?". The truth is that Midnight Sparkle is just a manifestation of an unseen dark side of her that is projected with magic. No Sci-Twi means magic can't manifest within her. Magic can't manifest within her means no Midnight Sparkle. so.. No Sci-Twi means No Midnight Sparkle Nothing gets murdered here, and Midnight's language and temper are the result of her being the dark side of Twi. Sure, those thoughts probably come in her head now, but they could have just as easily BEFORE magic happened. All that Midnight is (at least at this point) is just Twilight's dark side coming into the world as its own version of her. Expect to see more (just... not like that) of their magic working in this way. 12: Finding Some AnswersSci-Twi's Point of View "Everyone left the hospital," Sunset said "Where are they now?" "At the train station. C'mon, I'll take you." I started walking with her to the train station. We're both anthropomorphic now, I just want to know why I have a tail and muzzle while Sunset and her friends are more human. Yeah. I wonder about that too. Do you think I should ask her? Honestly, I think you should ask the princess. You can try with Sunset, but she probably won't know. Just settle the curiosity and ask anyway if you feel like it. Not that it's going to make any difference in the end. "Okay," I said, "We're both anthropomorphic now, but I have a question about that." "You should probably ask Princess Twilight, though I might be able to help. Go ahead anyway. I'll try my best." "Why do we look different?" She stopped dead in her tracks. "Sunset?" "I don't know." "Are you okay?" "Something's... not right." "What?" "Never mind. It's probably nothing." We started walking back to the train station again, getting weird looks from everyone. "What are we going to do about Midnight Sparkle, Twilight?" "Why would you ask that?" "I just want to know. In case something like that comes up again." "It's not." "I'm just..." "It's not, and that's final." At the Station At the station, everyone who had been at the hospital earlier, except for Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, were at the station waiting for us. "Twilight!" Rarity said, "We thought you were never going to come out of that washroom, Darling!" Shining Armor and Cadence hugged me as hard as they could. "Please... stop...!" I said. "Sweetie, we're sorry if it hurt you." "Actually," I said, adjusting the faux eyeware, "I want to ask Princess Twilight a question." "Oh, you can ask me anything." "Now, this is just a question that occurred to me as I was in the bathroom, but I was just wondering why I looked a little different than Sunset and her friends when they become anthropomorphic. It's not a problem, really. In fact, it's just my curiosity doing its 'thing' again." "No worry," she said, "But it's the best and the least that I could do." "Will we stay like this?" "All aboard!" We all boarded the train. "10:25 Trip to Ponyville, last call!" "That's our ride back. I want you, your family, and Sunset all to sit with me and Spike." We all got on the train. Surprisingly, the seventeen of us managed to fit in a single car. Like the Princess had requested, Shining, Cadence, Sunset, and myself all sat with Princess Twilight. None of us, however, said anything until it started out of the station. "I'm not really sure, although... I really don't know." "Well... will we change back?" Cadence asked. "You and Shining Armor will. Sci-Twi, I'm not sure." "Wait," I said, "I'm STUCK!?" "Yes." "What?" "There is magic in your world now, some of which has been infused with you.." "So?" "The spell took your human attributes and put them on your pony body. I guess that since you're my double, you'll look like that until there's no magic in your world. I think what happened is that since you carry a piece of Equestria with you now, its magic, it will always be active." "Is it deadly? That's what I'm concerned over!" "No. You'll be fine. As for Cadence and Shining Armor, when they go home, they'll go back to being humans." "And if we do decide to come back, Princess Twilie, I mean Princess Twilight?" "It's okay. You can call me that," she laughed, "I mean, after all, I am just a different reality version of your little sister at the end of the day, right?" "No. You're a princess." "Other than that." "Other than that, yes." "Princess Twilie," Shining Armor blushed, "In all seriousness though, how will we work? Cadence and myself." "I only modified your Equestrian forms. When you come here, you look like that instead of a pony. At home, you're you." "I gotta say," Sunset said, "The muzzle really does suit you." "Stop it." Princess Twilight had a change of heart after everything that had happened earlier. "I'm thinking that today probably isn't a good time for friendship lessons." "Why Princess Twilie?" "Maybe when the atmosphere gets a little calmer, we can. As for right now, though, everyone just seems to have a lot on their plate." The rest of the ride back to the other town was quiet, except for Pinkie Pie being obnoxious. "You get used to it," Sunset said. When we got back to Ponyville, I think that's where we started from in this world, Princess Twilight took us to her castle. Surprisingly, there were no rips in the Space-Time Continuum anymore between our two worlds. "Even if you don't want to be my student," the princess said to me, "I want you to do one thing." "What's that," I said. "I want you to hang out with some people from your world." "Okay..." "And I want you to document it and send it back to me. Sunset can always reach me, so just get the report to her by the end of the week. After that," she said, "We can begin our lessons if you are ready. I don't want that group to include Sunset, Rainbow, Pinkie, Rarity, Applejack, or Fluttershy." "Why none of them specifically?" "I want to see where you stand without a crutch, so to speak." She led us to a room with a mirror that had several machines attached to it, making it capable of breaking physics. In theory. "This is a portal that connects Equestria to your world," she said as we entered a room the size of a large walk-in closet, "Any of you are free to come back any time." On that note, everyone left and went back to Canterlot City. Well, the humans did. 13: Sci-Twi Begins to InteractCanterlot City High School, Sci-Twi's Point of View When we went through the portal, everyone returned to human except for me. Either way, we helped each other up. "I'll go back to the apartment and fix it up so you can invite some company over," Shining said. "And I should go to the schoolboard about Cinch," Cadence said. "You just concentrate on trying to make friends, Twilie." I looked around and went over to five girls from my school: Sour Sweet, Sunny Flare, Sugarcoat, Lemon Zest, and Indigo Zap. I completely forgot that I had a horn, muzzle, and a tail. "H-hi... guys," I said. You're making a huge mistake, Sparkle! This will end up very badly if just ONE thing screws up. "Seriously?" Sunny Flair said, "Again? What's with the fake glasses, too?" "Wow. I actually feel sorry for you," Sugarcoat said. "Come on!" Lemon Zest said, "What's going on!? Got MUSIC!?" "Let her ask something if she wants to ask it, guys!" Indigo Zap said. "I don't... I mean... if you'd... catch a movie... just..." I heard footsteps come up behind me. "Twilight," Cadence said, behind me, "Your phone must've fell out of your pocket earlier at the hospital, and I just now remembered to give it to you." "Thanks." We exchanged a hug, then she gave me my Samsung Galaxy S6. "Now remember, Twilight," she said as she began to her 1999 Honda Civic, "Everything's gonna be just fine." There was an awkward pause until she drove off. "What just happened?" Indigo said. "Your mom's such a sweetie!" Sour Sweet said, "She should've had different kids! You can't even hold your damn phone?" I broke down crying in the middle of the parking lot. "WHAT THE FUCK, YOU BITCH!?" Indigo said, pulling Sour over to her by her bowtie and throwing punches, "YOU DON'T FUCKING SAY SHIT LIKE THAT TO PEOPLE, DAMMIT!! AND YOU DAMN SURE AS HELL DON'T SAY THAT TO PEOPLE WHO'VE TAKEN THAT FUCKING SHIT THEIR WHOLE FUCKING LIFE!! ESPECIALLY IF THEIR MOTHER IS DEAD!!!!!" I couldn't do anything but watch as Indigo began to beat the living shit out of Sour, knocking her out with just the first blow to the face. She did, however, manage to get at least fourteen or fifteen punches in, altogether. "Let... her... go...!" Lemon Zest said, trying to pull Indigo off of the now unconscious Sour Sweet. Sunny Flair had taken to trying to pull Sour's away from Indigo. Spike found me in all of the mess, so he ran over to me. "I don't know anymore," I sobbed, "I wish they were still here." "What's your problem, Indigo!?" Sugarcoat said. "Just look at her!" After a few minutes, the yelling ceased. I looked up and saw Indigo Zap covered in blood. Sour Sweet's body was still on the pavement. "Are you okay?" "Yes...?" I replied. "Now, you were saying..." I took a few deep breaths. "Would you like to come over to my house for the night and watch a movie?" "Sure. What movie?" Indigo replied. "Back to the Future?" "That movie," Lemon said, "is FUCKING AWESOME!" My phone rang, and the caller ID said "BBBFF". "Hey, Twilie. How's everything going?" "Just fine. Are you home yet?" "Actually, that's what I wanted to tell you about." "Give me the bad news." "Cadence is going to need me to be at the Board, and she also had me tell you that it could probably take a few hours. Don't worry though, we'll be just fine." "I'll see you later, then." "Bye." I hung up the phone. Sunset came up to me from behind. "Princess Twilight said that you can invite us too, if you want. She JUST wrote me from Equestria." "What?" Indigo said. Sunset looked up and noticed my face covered in dry tears and Sour unconscious. "Have you been crying? What the hell happened?" "N-nothing." "Who's 'Princess Twilight'?" Sunny asked. I could feel something was about to happen. "How about I just explain it to you guys at my place tonight. With the ten of you." "Sorry, if I went... overboard... with Sour earlier." I took one look at her and smiled. "You didn't, Indie." "So," Lemon said, "After making SEVERAL rifts to an alternate world as a she-demon" I went embarrassed, prompting her to apologize. "sorry, getting a horn, ears, muzzle, and tail," "Uh-huh," I nodded. "You want us to do something... together?" "Yes...?" "Even after all of the shit we put you through?" "If... you want?" "We actually have a choice?" "Yes...?" The remaining four Shadowbolts looked at each other for a second before "HELL to the yeah!" "The address is 830 4TH Avenue, Apartment C7." My phone rang, and the Caller ID read "Cadence". "Hello?" "Just go ahead and let yourself into our apartment, but before you leave CHS, I want you to give the phone to Principal Celestia or Vice-Principal Luna." "Okay." I asked Sunset to call Principal Celsestia over to where we were. "Yes, Twilight?" "My sister-in-law wants to talk to you." "Cadence? Such a nice woman." "Here ya go," I said, handing the S6 to her. "Hold the hell on for a second!" Lemon said, "Dean Cadence MARRIED YOUR BROTHER!?" "Yes?" "That's awesome!" "Hi, Cadence. No, it's Celestia. My sister had some things to attend to but-. No more classes at Crystal Prep today? I will sure tell them. Okay, here she is." "Cadence?" "Twilight, you can go ahead and start home if you want." "Okay," I said, ending the call. "Attention, students," Principal Celesta's voice came over the speakers, "There will be no classes at Crystal Prep Academy or Canterlot City High for the rest of the day." "How about we all meet back up at Crystal Prep and go from there," I said, becoming more and more relieved with the situation." Sunset's friends came over to her. "I guess we're having a sleepover at Sci-Twi's." "You can just meet up with us at CPA," I said. "Y'all c'n just rahde in mah Ford Pickup ta Sugarcube Corner whahle we wait." The group of Wondercolts went off with Applejack to get their things and wait for us. "I guess we should all get on the bus to go back to Crystal Prep," Indigo said as Sour was lifted onto a stretcher. "We could all go in my Tahoe," Sugarcoat said. The five of us got onto the bus back to CPA, but Manor and Blueblood stopped me. "Always wanted to go all the way, huh Manor," Blueblood said. "You know it Blue," Manor said, one hand going for my breast, the other going for my crotch, "Pictures won't cut it anymore, "Plus, she's just asking with her body to horse around." "You leave her alone!" Indigo said, her and the other three Shadowbolts running off of the bus, "Don't you fucking rape her!" Blueblood, with his muscular figure, blocked them on the bus, while Manor started to try... things. Principal Celestia and Vice-Principal Luna were trying to keep order on the other side of the crowd, so they didn't notice the screaming protests against my attempted rape. "You're sick!" I said as he touched me, "Stop it!" "You got it, horsey," he said as he pinned me against the bus and started kissing me. He was almost as strong as Blueblood, so I couldn't move. Sadly, he noticed my ears and horn next. "Didn't know you had a tootsie pop, too," he said, "but I'll just start with the ears." I flattened my ears, but he held my right one up and began to stick his tongue in it. Blueblood had the other four girls pinned helplessly on the bus. "Please stop!" "When I'm through," he said, "When I'm through." Blueblood stuck his head out of the bus to see a public peep show. "Just this one before the grand finale, Blue!" "Alright!" He tried to grab my horn and force it down, probably so he could put it in his mouth. When he grabbed my horn, though, I gave him a third-degree burn. "STOP IT!" I picked him up with my magic and held him above the bus, which received the attention of everyone. Principal Celestia came over to the bus to stop what was happening, but she was stunned when she made it to us. Blueblood, though, came out of the bus and ran at me as if he were going to punch me, so I picked him up too. "Both of you PERVERTS!!" I said, slamming them to the ground, making sure to leave them conscious, "Stop fucking RAPING ME!!" I picked them up and slammed them into the street-facing side of the base of the Wondercolts Statue, "And GET A DAMN LIFE!!!!!" I let them go, making sure that they didn't have to go to the emergency room, then proceeded to walk over to them, "Consider this a warning." "What... just happened?" a stunned Principal Celestia asked. Indigo ran over to the two administrators of CHS, "You really don't want to know." "Does it involve magic?" "Yes...?" Vice-Principal Luna looked at us, "On your way, then." We all loaded the bus back to CPA. "Damn, Sparkle," Sunny said, "What was that about?" "Those two perverts have always been trying to sneak pictures of me and touch things they shouldn't, and I guess, well, it must've just caught up with them, you know." "Yeah," Indigo said, "They really needed it." "I've had to put up with them since the fourth grade." "Wow." "In that other world," Lemon said, "What was it like?" "Well," I said as my phone went off with an Email from Cadence, "Hang on. Let me check this." "Sure." From: Cadence (cadencehaslove2007@hotmail.com) To: Me (twilightsparkle1999@hotmail.com) Shining (shiningincanterlot@gmail.com) Carbon: No Recipient Subject: Equestria Footage Attachments: Ponyville.mp4 Sunset Shimmer & Wondercolts.mp4 Humanizing Spell.mp4 Castle of Friendship.mp4 Ponies.zip I have no idea how these managed to get on my phone, but I figured that I should just send them to you in order for people to not think that we are crazy if we ever have to explain this to someone. Cadence Armor Sent from my Galaxy "Or we could just watch...?" I said, being very anxious as to the origin of the videos." I tapped Humanizing Spell.mp4, and VLC opened and played a video of the humanizing spell that Princess Twilight did on us. It lasted about 90 seconds and was studio quality. The other four Shadowbolts that were watching the video gasped when the spell was over with. "I guess that explains the wardrobe change," Sugarcoat said, non-sarcastically. They saw Pinkie give me new clothes and fake glasses and understood the changes that happened to me right then and there. "Wow," Sunny said as the bus pulled into Crystal Prep's parking lot. "Sorry for everything," Sugarcoat said. We all got off the bus and went to get our stuff. 14: The GettogetherAuthor's Note I know the idea that Sci-Twi's parents are no longer living (I prefer that term) isn't original, but it just makes this story have some depth. Also, the reason this chapter is this long is that it's their WHOLE gettogether. 14: The Gettogether Crystal Prep Academy "Guys," I said as we entered CPA, "How about if you all went and got your things, then decided to meet me at my lab here at school," I said, "Then we can decide what to do next. I keep several chairs in there for some reason." "You mean that closet you coop yourself up in?" Sunny asked, pissing Indigo off, "I mean, sure! We should do that. I've always wanted to see what you work on in there." She remembered Indigo beating the shit out of Sour and me with what I did to those two perverts. "Alright, then!" Indigo said, "Sounds like a plan!" They went to their lockers to get their stuff while I went to my lab to close up for the day. When I went in, I decided to put on my lab coat for whatever reason. My lab consisted of a computer I had built myself from the non-working, top notch ones here (built to look like an iMac), a laptop (also built from a set of high-end components), both running Linux Mint, a soldering station, several file cabinets (all of which were filled up), four tables, Spike's bed, two large corkboards, and several other tools, all of which were stopped for the night. Immediately after I had gotten all of the equipment, (save for my laptop and desktop computers, which were downloading an update for Cinnamon over CPA's WiFi) shut off, I heard knocking at the door. "Hey," a voice said, "It's Indie! you in there?" "Just a second!" I said, getting to the door, "Come in, guys." "I thought you said that we were spending the night at your place. Not working here," Sugarcoat said. "We are." "Then, what's with the lab coat," Lemon said. "This? Oh, I'm just wearing it because I just don't feel right without it in here." "Okay..." I took it off. "Yeah, I can see your point, Lemon." "Hey," Indie said, "You okay about... earlier... Sparkle?" Both systems finished updating. "Yeah," I said, feeling the pockets in my labcoat for my security thumbdrive, "Shit! Shit shit shit shit shit!" I began to panic because it wasn't in the coat pockets, "Don't mess with my computer! I'll be right back!" I ran out of the room and to my locker while Spike followed. Indigo Zap's Point of View "Hey, you okay about... earlier... Sparkle?" "Yeah," she said, glancing at the computer on her desk, then going through her lab coat, "Shit! Shit shit shit shit shit!" "What's wrong?" "Don't mess with my computer! I'll be right back!" She ran out of the room with her dog following her. "Okay," Lemon said to me, "What was that about earlier with Sour? I mean, I know she insulted Twilight's mom, but did you really have to do all that? I started to cry a little, but stayed strong. "Well you see, back when we were both thirteen, her parents had to be the chaperones for both of us. The nick 'Indie' comes in when she was six, but when she was thirteen and her parents were our chaperones on a trip to the science museum," I had to sit down, "we were all on a subway train..." Three years ago, Indigo's Point of View "What are you doing, Sparkle?" We were both on the subway to the museum at 1647 Lyon Avenue. Twilight was doing something with a laptop, while I was sketching some random stuff. We were the only people in that particular car. "Oh, nothing. Just trying to write a little bit of software." "Software for what?" "I've always wanted to just unlock my computer with my face, so I figured I could use the trip to work on it some." Suddenly, two men came over to us: one with a gun and one with a rope. The one with a rope tied us up, while the other one blew Sparkle's Parents' brains out. Twilight untied the rope, then we ran like hell to the next car, locking the door behind us. "...and that's why I did that. We stopped talking after that, because I couldn't bear to sit with her without sobbing for several months." "I had no idea," Sunny said. Twilight came back, panting. "Got... it..." She walked over to her computer, put the drive in, typed something, took the drive out, and it turned itself off when she turned the lamp at the desk off. "I'm... sorry." Sci-Twi's Point of View I ran back to my lab. "Got... it..." I panted, walking over to my computer and putting the drive in, causing the prompt to change. Authorization Input Encryption Program. Key: 89454448 77272553 Authorized! Ready. I pressed RETURN on the keyboard, resetting and activating the prompt window, then typing SHUTDOWN. TwilightSparkle@CrystalPrepLabPC$ SHUTDOWN_ Beginning Process. Started. Turn off lamp now to proceed with shutdown sequence. I turned off the lamp, forcing the system to shut down, and took the drive and stuck it in my laptop case. "Alright, if everyone is ready," I said putting my laptop away in its bag, "we can leave." "Let's do it!" I gathered all of my things and followed Sugarcoat and the others out to her brand-new Tahoe. "Okay," Sugarcoat said, opening the hatchback, "you can just throw your stuff in the back." "Can Spike ride with me?" "Why not?" Everyone put their stuff in the back of the SUV, then got in. Sunny Flare rode up front with Sugarcoat, while Indigo sat to my left between me and Lemon. "Where to first?" Sugarcoat said, starting the car, "Sugarcube Corner?" "Yeah." "Wow," I said as Sugarcoat pulled out of the parking lot, "This is a lot easier than I thought." "Yeah," Spike said, "Almost like they're your family." "Woah!" Lemon said, "Did your dog just talk?" "Are you sure that was a good idea?" I said back to him. "She comes back from an alternate world, shows you a spell that gave her ears, a horn, a tail, and a muzzle, and you find this weird?" "Good point." I learned then that Sugarcoat doesn't hyper mile at all, usually going above the speed limit some. "Um, could you slow down just a little bit, Sugarcoat?" Sunny said, "Because I'm kind of right in front of an airbag." "I know what I'm doing." "Okay, then." The ride actually went well. At Sugarcube Corner, I was surprised, along with everyone else, to see Sugarcoat buying everyone a milkshake for the road. I figured that I should give Sunset Shimmer my Skype name. "Sunset," I said, "At the hospital, I forgot to give you my Skype info." "Just a second," she said as she opened the program on her phone, "Ready." "It's Twilight1999." She looked me up, added me, and called me to test it out. Sure enough, the call worked. "Okay, so NOW you can get me. Still freaked out about earlier?" "Not really. Although it did stick for a while, I finally came to terms with it." "So you're okay with it?" "I guess." We heard Sugarcoat and Applejack talking. "Ah'm mighty thankful 'at ya did this fer us, but ya know ya didn't have to, right?" "It was the least I could do. Now, do you know where 830 4TH Avenue is?" "Jus' keep goin' 'bout another block 'er two, 'n it's right nextta concrete parkin' lot. Ah us'ta have fam'ly alivin' there, but they moved over ta Manhattan." "Oh, now I know. I used to live there with my cousin when my parents went back to college for a few years." "Sorry, where're mah manners? Ah'm Applejack." "Sugarcoat," she looked at her Apple Watch, "We better go. Traffic's going to pick up quick, and I don't want to be stuck here." "Just fahller me there," Applejack said as the group of Wondercolts loaded in her Ford. I saw her, Fluttershy, and Rarity get in the front of the truck, while Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie jumped up in the bed. "Guess that's my cue," Sunset said, "See ya in a few minutes!" "You too." She ran and jumped into the bed of the truck with the other two Wondercolts. "Guess we better go, Sparkle." "It's nice to be able to talk again, Indie." I followed the Shadowbolts into Sugarcoat's Tahoe. My apartment was pretty simple (kitchen/TV room right inside the door, the only boundary being where the kitchen counter starts; sitting room; two bedrooms; and a bathroom), but it still managed to hold eleven of us, not counting my brother or Cadence. When I unlocked the door and stepped in, I was in the small trance that I always am when I get home. The smell of honey was fresh in the air from the automatic sprayer that pumps once every thirty minutes, and was cool. Sunlight entered via the windows, creating a warming and welcoming "Come in and make yourselves at home" atmosphere. While it wasn't my childhood home, it might have as well been, just because of that safe feeling. The TV Room half of the front room was pretty basic: a basic cabinet TV console with four cutouts and a cabinet underneath and a couch. The console held a SANYO-brand VCR, Magnavox DVD Player, 27-inch VISIO television, and several dozen movie titles in the cabinet, most being on DVD with some being on VHS. A small Mohu TV antenna was attatched to the ceiling and connected to the "Antenna IN" on the VCR because the one on the TV didn't work. In front of the TV was a remote control from Walmart that would work with the three devices that the console held. The kitchen was very basic, holding a wooden countertop, one-bay sink, a refrigerator, countertop oven, a few cabinets with enough kitchenware for a family of five, a Mr Coffee, a 350-Watt Emerson microwave oven, a two-burner stove with a griddle, and in the middle of the kitchen half stood a small folding table that we used as a dining room table (although it was used rarely enough, seeing as how we never really "sat down for dinner" anymore after mom and dad died). Home sweet home. "Do you want us to take our shoes off?" Fluttershy said. "Huh?" "Our footwear, Darling." I stood there for a second as everyone brought their stuff in before coming back to reality, "Oh, it doesn't matter," I said, taking my socks and shoes off, "By the way, Pinkie Pie," I said, "Thanks again for the clothes." Everyone came in and began to examine the house. I followed Lemon and Indigo into the sitting room. The sitting room held a few cushioned chairs, a couch that could comfortably seat three people, an electric fireplace, and two tables: one between the two chairs and one in the space where one chair and the couch would intersect. On top of the electric fireplace were just four things: two pictures in front of two clay urns. The picture on the left of the fireplace was of my mother, and the right of my father. Under my mother, hers read Twilight Velvet 1972~2012 and my father's, in the same place, read Night Light 1971~2012 It managed to get the attention of the two other Shadowbolts in the room, then drew the attention of the others who were in my apartment. "I'm so..." Lemon said, coming over to hug me, "...sorry." "It's okay..." I began to sob, "...not your fault." "They still love you," Sunset said, coming over to me, "They could never stop loving you. I just know it." "I'm not the same person I was that day. I'm not even human anymore." "Sugarcube," I felt someone lift my head up, so I blinked my eyes to get the tears to go away, "They're yer mom 'n dad. I know I probably shouldn't word it like this, but they don't give a damn about what you are. Th' only thang that matters is that yer their daughter. All's 'ey care about 's you doin' the best you can an' bein' the best you can." "I... I j-just... just wish... they were still here. I... I j-just... do-don't want... t-to ruin... a-ny-one's... n-night," I sobbed, "w-with m-my p-pr-problems." "W'll Sugarcube," she said, "Just rememb'r 'at they're in a better place now. Okay, hon? Plus," she added, "it's not just yer problem now. We'll all helpya out." I could just nod. "Now, let's just have an ev'nin' o' fun and take yer mind off it." "O...okay." "I'm staying back here with her," Sunset said, "I don't want her to be alone like this." "We'll just get yer clothes fer ya from the barn, then." "Guys," Indigo said, "Lemon and I kind of need to stay too." "We'll be back in a few, then. Call if you need," Sunny said. "Will do." Everyone left except for Sunset, Spike, Lemon, and Indigo. An Hour Later "Better?" Indigo said as I took a sip of coffee that Sunset had made for me. "I think so," I said shakily, but no longer sobbing. Someone knocked at the door, so Lemon opened it, thinking it might be Cadence. "Yeah?" "I need to speak with Miss Twilight Sparkle," a voice said. "Fuck off, bitch" Lemon replied. "Miss Zest, this is not your place of residence, so you have no authority here." "I said, 'fuck off'." I heard footsteps come in and a door close. "Miss Sparkle," Ms Cinch's voice said, but was interrupted by Indigo. "Fuck off. You don't even need to be here, let alone after what happened earlier!" "Miss Zap, that's quite enough!" I looked up at her. "I understand that you have resorted to... extreme... actions to" "Leave." "I beg your pardon?" "She said 'leave'!" Sunset scowled. "Excuse me, Sassy, but" "HEY! The name isn't 'Sassy'! It's Sunset Shimmer! And GET OUT!" she was full-on yelling now. "Miss Shimmer, I am here go give Miss Sparkle an offer" I stood up. "Get the fuck out of my house!" I said, blowing an orange from the fruit bowl in the kitchen to smithereens, "Or you and I are going to have problems!" She turned and ran out into the hall, "Have your emotions controlled by tomorrow, or you three are expelled from Crystal Prep!" I slammed the door in her face using my magic. "Twilight, Darling?" someone knocked at the door, "Are you okay?" "Yeah. I'm fine, Rarity. Come in." Everyone came back in. "We figured that it would be better if we all came at the same time, Darling. Also, what was that woman doing here?" "I'm not sure," I replied. "Do you feel better now?" Rainbow asked. "Just knowing that you're all here to help me has made me a lot better," I said back, "I just wonder if Sunny and Sugarcoat are okay. And especially Sour Sweet. There was a lot of blood in that one." "Yeah, I did go overboard a little with her, now that you mention it," Indigo commented, "But she's a fighter. She had mono just before the Friendship Games." Lemon's iPhone 6 Plus rang, so she put it on speakerphone. It was Sugarcoat. "Sugarcoat," Lemon said, "Are you okay?" "I'm fine. Just caught up in traffic. How's Twilight holding up?" "I'm better now. Thanks for asking. Where are you?" "There's a wreck about five miles from my house, so I'm kind of trapped here. Me and Sunny both." "Do you guys still want to come over to Twilight's?" Rainbow Dash asked. "There's no way that we can. We're really sorry." "Uh hello? You're talking to one of the two Wondercolts that grew wings earlier! Of course you can!" "You'd do that? Even after earlier?" "We've kicked evil magic's ass today twice, so why not?" "We're at 1202 Papergreen Street if you still want to come and get us." "I'm coming, so be ready for me." "Do you need directions?" "Nope. I'll just do a flyover." "Okay, then." "Expect me in about two minutes." Sugarcoat ended the call, so Rainbow made two trips: one to get Sugarcoat and one to get Sunny Flare. "Wow," Sugarcoat said, "You've got speed." "Thanks! Just because I'm awesome." "Are you for real?" Sunny asked, trying her hardest not to be offensive (but failing anyway. Miserably). "You like to piss people off, don't you?" "I noticed that you like that set of clothes, Twilight," Pinkie Pie said, handing me a bag from Walmart, "So I picked you up some more like them!" "That's nice, Pinkie," I said, "But you really didn't have to--" "That's just what friends do, silly!" There was a knock at the door. "Miss Twilight?" Princess Celestia called. I could tell it was her because of how she addressed me. "You can come in," I said, "The door's unlocked." The door was encompassed in a golden aura, before opening to reveal the three princesses from earlier, but in human form. Princess Celestia looked like Principal Celestia, just with a sleeveless dress instead of a suit, along with her horn and wings from the hospital. Princess Luna looked like her counterpart except for clothing and the addition of wings and a horn. She was wearing a dress exactly like her sister, except colored dark-blue instead of white. Princess Twilight looked like a regular student from Canterlot City High, except with wings and a horn. "Oh God, of course you can come in!" They came in and sat on the couch in the TV Room half of the front room, so I followed. "We wanted to give you something in light of your new studies," Princess Luna said, handing me three books: one with a picture of the Sun, one with a picture of the Moon, and one with a picture of a purple star-figure. "What are they?" I asked, flipping through them, "They're blank." "Think of them like your phone," Princess Twilight said, "You can write in them, and they'll appear in a corresponding book back in Equestria." "I don't know what to say," I said, "Thanks!" "No problem." "While you're here, feel free to take a look around. I can get you something if you're hungry or thirsty." "That'll be quite alright," Princess Celestia said, "But I would like to take you up on your offer to see your house." "By all means," I said, "Well, this is the TV Room/Kitchen," I showed them the sitting room, "then there's a sitting room," I pointed at three doors, "My brother and Cadence's bedroom on the left, bathroom in the middle, and my room on the right." "Mind if I see?" Princess Twilight asked. "Sure," I said as she went into the sitting room, "It's nice." "Thank you," I said, pouring them each a glass of Milo's Sweet Tea. "Is that..." Princess Twilight said from the other room before gasping and probably collapsing on the floor. All of us rushed in to see what happened, but Indigo, Lemon, and Sunset brought me back into the kitchen. "Probably best if you sit this one out, Sci-Twi." I heard sobbing, so I knew exactly what was going on. "Princess Twilight sure is lucky," I said. "Oh God," Sunset said, "Please don't be sad!" "She still has her parents!" I said, "So, I'm not trying to sound selfish or anything, but I wonder if her parents could come and visit sometime." "Come on, Twilight," I heard Princess Celestia say, "It's okay. Everything's okay. Your parents are still around." "It's just... I don't want... her to... be... without them... either." "There's nothing we can do about that, my child." "Maybe they could come and visit Sci-Twi sometime!" Pinkie Pie said, ceasing the sobbing. "Thank you, Pinkie!" "Oh, you're welcome." Princess Twilight, along with Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, came back into the front room with Indigo, Sunset, Lemon, and myself. "I poured each of you some sweet tea," I said, awkwardly trying to change the subject. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna each took a glass, sat on the couch, and enjoyed it. Princess Twilight, on the other hand, came over to me. "Listen," she said, "I'm so sorry about them. I'm sure that they meant a lot to you then, and I'm sure they'll still mean a lot to you in time. I can't imagine the pain that you're going through right now," she hugged me, "but if you ever want, you can borrow mine. I'm sure they'll be okay with it, especially if it means helping you feel good." "Thanks," I said, handing her the third glass of tea, "It's not as good as soda, but it's still pretty good." She took a sip of the beverage. "If you want, I can give you a gallon to take back to Equestria." "It was rather nice," Princess Luna said, warmly. "I have another gallon under the counter," I said, getting a gallon of tea from under the cabinet, "You can take it back to Equestria with you." "Why? You don't have to do this, Miss Twilight." "Just as a 'Thank You' for not having me arrested after what happened." "It's perfectly okay, now that the holes are closed back again." "I would ask you three to stay, but I know you have royal duties in Equestria, so I can't bring myself to do it." "We would love to stay too, but we do have our own matters at hoof," Princess Celestia said. "I'm sure that I could stay," Princess Twilight said, "I mean, after all, I have an obligation, don't I?" "I suppose you do, Twilight," Princess Celestia said as she and her sister left, "We hope to see you again soon." "I'm sorry about earlier," Princess Twilight said, "I should've held it together better." "It's okay. Do you have an extra change of clothes, though?" Princess Twilight panicked for a second. "Crap!" "It's okay," I said, "We're the same person, so I'm pretty sure that you wear my size." "Okay, then." Someone knocked at the door. "Twilie," my brother said, "It's me. You home?" "It's unlocked." Shining came inside carrying a cardboard box of bags from Dollar General and set them down on the kitchen counter, "I thought you might need these," he said, pulling out various things like disposable foam plates, chips and dip, plastic disposable cups, and soda, "I've got more in the car, but I want you to stay up here with everyone." "Or we could all help," Sunset suggested. That night, 08:00p "Sci-Twi," Indigo said, "Do you have the movie ready now?" The TV was turned on and set to VCR, the player was on, warmed up, and set to VHS, but I couldn't find the actual movie. Cadence was finishing some pizza bagles to serve us while Shining was pouring drinks for everyone. "Just a second," I said, looking for the original 1985 VHS of the movie, "I can't remember where I put the tape." I looked through the cabinet of movies, but couldn't find Back to the Future, even after looking through it four times. The only part of it I could find was the cardboard dustcover. "Could your brother have done something with it?" Lemon said. "He wouldn't ever hide my favorite movie of all time from me like this." "Um," Rainbow Dash said, coming over to me, "Are you sure that it's on a tape and not DVD?" "Yes," I said, holding up the dustcover, "I watched it just the other day." Sunset noticed that the TV said "TAPE IN" on the middle of the blue screen in big, white text, "Maybe it's already in there." "You can try, but I don't think it is." She picked up the remote, pressed VCR, then PLAY. The image on the TV went black for a second before showing the ending credits to the movie. "I feel so stupid!" I said, putting my head against the console. Sunset began to laugh, followed by Indigo and Lemon, then Rainbow Dash, next was Princess Twilight, then finally Shining and Cadence. "Don't make me feel dumber, you guys." "We're not," Princess Twilight said, "The first time I ever watched TV, I got scared of Sunset's WiFi-box-thing, just because it was blinking." "Huh?" "Not to mention how much I fell all over the place once I started walking upright!" "Yeah," Sunset added, "A total klutz!" Princess Twilight laughed even harder. "Oh," she also added and laughed harder herself, "You should've seen me when I was trying to find out how their magic works here! It did not end well!" "Or when I accidentally hit a teacher in the head with a soccer ball last week!" Rainbow said, laughing even harder now. "Oh God," Lemon said, cracking up completely now, "Think about how I felt when my headphones accidentally ran dead in the library that day!" "Or when my goggles came off in the middle of class!" Indigo cracked. "Last year, how I forgot to actually get the turkey for Thanksgiving," Shining said, bending over and holding onto the counter for balance. "Or how I accidentally put your birthday cake in the freezer last month?" Cadence said, tearing up a little from her laughing. "We've all done stupid stuff before, Sci-Twi! In a few minutes, it's going to be funny, even to you!" Princess Twilight said. Oh, what the hell. I guess it was KIND OF funny. I started laughing so hard I was almost crying. "See?" The VCR reached the end of the tape, so it pinged, made a single KNOCK, and made a mechanical hum for a few seconds as the auto-rewind kicked in. The TV screen went black for a second, then came back and blinked REWIND in big letters on a blue background. The VCR pinged again, and began to rewind the VHS to the beginning. "Just give it a few minutes," I said as something started beeping in the kitchen, "What's that?" "Pizza bagles!" Cadence said, pulling two trays out of the oven. "Twilight," Sunset said, "Is it weird... having... you know." "The muzzle feels okay. I barely even notice the horn, and the ears I can live with, but I've still got a lot to get used to in this tail." "It's not any kind of trouble, is it?" Princess Twilight said. "No. Not really." I heard a vibrating noise come from my bedroom. I knew exactly what it had to be, so I ran in to get it as fast as I could. "Just a minute!" Indigo, Lemon, and Sunset followed me. My bedroom was small and simple, just like the rest of my house. It consisted of my bed, a dresser, nightstand, and an old, rectangular, plastic folding table, with a set of (somewhat broken from time and moving) plastic drawers from Walmart and a few milkcrates stacked to hold my books underneath, and my computer chair was a folding cardtable chair. The nightstand was just a bottom-up milkcrate with a piece of wood attached to the five sides to give the appearance of something better, holding a phone dock for my phone and a lamp, the folding table held my (now-upgraded) computer that I had since I managed to get into CPA, as a gift from my parents, another cradle for my phone, and the three books that I had received earlier, along with a mess of manila folders, papers, and notebooks. In the milkcrate bookcase, there were mostly reference books, but a few were hard-copies of some of the Daring Do franchise. "What are you doing?" Lemon asked. I looked at the books to see which was vibrating. The one with the Sun. "This may be important." I opened the book with the Sun on it, and where the first page had originally been completely blank, there was now a letter written to me in some of the neatest and most beautiful script possible: Miss Twilight, This is Princess Celestia, although I'm sure as of now you are aware, and I have something for you and your counterpart. Earlier, I spoke with the Twilight Velvet and Night Light of Equestria and described your dilemma. The response was rather extremely joyful, and they have agreed to come and spend time with you on occasion. You will have to excuse them for their blunders though, for obvious reasons. They will be at Canterlot High on Thursday. Princess Celestia I just stood there for a minute, stunned. "Twilight?" Sunset said. "Hey, are you alright?" Lemon asked, beginning to poke me. "YES!!!!!" I squealed, running back into the kitchen with the book, "SHINING ARMOR!!!!! CADENCE!!!!!" "What is it, Sweetie!?" Cadence worried. "You're not going to break down again, right?" Rainbow asked. "You okay, Sugarcube?" "Is she back, Darling?" I ran over to Shining and Cadence, knocking the table over, along with several glasses of soda and movie snacks. "I'll clean that up later!" I said, showing them the letter, "But look at THIS!!" Princess Twilight ran over to us to look at the book, too. When Shining and Cadence read the letter, they couldn't help but to squeal with me, with the princess following not long after. "THEY'RE COMING HERE!! TO OUR HOUSE!! THURSDAY!!" "Oh my," Fluttershy said, coming out of her startle, "Who?" "MOM AND DAD!!!" The very next thing that I knew was that Shining, Cadence, and myself were embraced in a hug with everyone else in my house. "It's a shame that we can't make time go faster, though," I said. The VCR made a single knock, pinged one time, ejected the tape, and pinged again, while the text on the TV said "NO TAPE". "Now," I said, "I should probably clean that up." "Don't worry about it," Princess Twilight said, using her magic to clean the mess, "All done." "Okay," I said, seeing that finished, "Ready to watch the movie?" "Let's do it!" Sunny said. I pushed the tape back in the VCR and waited for it to start. "It's... different," Sugarcoat said. "It's like a '97 model." The player pinged, making the text on the TV change to "PLAY". After a second, the motor started reeling the tape, making the picture go black again, pinged, and started playing Back to the Future. "Your equipment... is ancient," Indigo said, not trying to be offensive. "We had to sell our old TV when they... left. We found this one at a Goodwill for $20, and we haven't had Cable in forever, and the DVD player doesn't exactly work all the time. Not that it really matters, of course," I said, as we all tried to enjoy the movie, which became flaky at times because of the poor condition of the set. "When did you say it came out?" Princess Twilight asked me as the end credits began. "July 03, 1985." "Amazing." "I've wanted a DeLorean ever since I was a little girl." Instead of letting the tape finish and rewind, I just turned off the player and TV. Princess Twilight led me into the sitting room afterward. "Okay," she said, "So far, I've been documenting your night, and I want you to see what I have so far," she said, taking out a notebook, "The green is good, red is bad, and black is just comments." "Okay," I said, sitting on the couch with her, "Could we just start wherever?" "Sure. I'll just start you off with the basics. How does tomorrow sound?" Cadence must've overheard our conversation, "I'm sure cutting tomorrow will be perfectly okay with the school." "What about Ms Cinch?" I asked. "She was fired. I gave the board a copy of the videos of her manipulating you, then she tried to have me fired by saying I had you use magic against students with wings, human-eating plants, and a talking dog of all things!" "Superintendent Booklead," I said, entering the school board administration on 12TH Avenue, "I have several harassment complaints against Principal Abacus Cinch of Crystal Prep Academy, and request for her termination." Abacus Cinch, being over-punctual, was there earlier than I was in a desperate attempt to keep her position, although it wouldn't help. "I would like to see the evidence against Ms Cinch, Ms Armor." "Please, just 'Cadence', if you will," I said, handing him a USB with all of the conversations bugged between Abacus and Twilight, "Here you are." "Thank you." He put the USB in his computer and began watching the first video (the one of Cinch manipulating Twilight into the Friendship Games) and quickly became perturbed, not even finishing the first video before pulling the drive out and returning it to me. "Do you have anything to say in your defense, Ms Cinch?" "Miss Sparkle joined and competed in the games of her own freewill. It was Ms Armor's actions that had put the lives of not only my students in danger, but also the students of Canterlot City High!" "Please explain." "The two administrators of Canterlot City High condoned the behavior that was exhibited at the games earlier! They should also be in here, as they had their students using magic to win the games! Some were floating, and some grew wings! Back to the matter at hand, Miss Sparkle should face felon charges for attempted murder by this stolen... energy!" "Talking dog? Magic? Floating students with damn wings?" he said, "You expect me to believe any of that shit?" "As long as you're showing bugs, Dean Cadence," Cinch told me, "show the footage from earlier today at Canterlot City High School!" "There wasn't any files on the USB recorded at CHS, Abacus Cinch." "I beg your pardon? She involved her husband, Principal Celestia, AND Vice-Principal Luna!" "Get the hell out of here." "I beg your pardon, Superintendent?" "You're fired. Get your things and get the hell out of here. Now!" he turned to me, "Ms Cadence, you will be assuming position of Principal and Dean of Students until you find a suitable replacement for one of the positions." "None of that could possibly happen," she said with a smile, "because there is no such thing as magical ponies or other worlds." "But Ms Cadence Darling, of course it's real. I mean, Sci-Twi is even sitting in there, half-pony now. It's completely obvious." "No it isn't," Sunset said, "Cadence is right. It just never happened." Princess Twilight and I exchanged glances. "That's right, guys," I said with a wink, "She's just my twin who lives with my cousins out of state." "I-- Oh right!" Indigo laughed. "How about I call Principal Celestia and see if she'll give the students of CHS to 'recuperate' for the rest of the week with the students of CPA." "Bright idea 'f ya ask me," Applejack said, "Ah'm sure 'at she'll say 'yes' right then 'n there." Cadence called Principal Celestia and put the phone on speaker so we could hear the conversation. "Hello, Cadence," Principal Celestia's voice said. "Celestia, do you think that you could do me a solid?" "Yes. What is it?" "If you could give the students the rest of the week off?" "I did that just after the first bus to Crystal Prep left because of the damage the school sustained." "Thanks a bunch!" "No problem," she said, before ending the call. "So," Rainbow Dash said, "Nobody in here has school for the rest of the week?" "That's right," Cadence said before turning to the four Shadowbolts still in the TV room, "Go ahead and text your friends and parents and let them know that school is canceled until Monday. I'll let all of the teachers know right now via email." The text messages spread like wildfire, Cadence's email to the staff at CPA surely put them at a relief, and she even received a few calls about the situation, none of which she couldn't tackle. 15: Start of a New MorningThe Next morning I woke up to the sound of the door to my apartment closing, "Huh?" I looked around and found that two things were different: I fell asleep on the couch in the sitting room. There were people in my apartment that I had invited over. Spike was asleep on the floor beside the couch, occupied sleeping bags filled the front room and overflowed some into the sitting room, a few cans of soda and cups of Milo's Tea were on the floor (each having someone's name on them), two power strips filled up with phone chargers (some of which were not being used), and the apartment looking like a bigger mess than what it was. My phone and cup were on the table between the couch and chair. "What time is it?" I said, stretching, "Did last night happen?" My phone pinged, so I picked it up. "Did I miss a software update?" I pushed the home button, turning the screen on and showing my lockscreen with its standard information which read 6:03 AM Wednesday 16 September 2015 Twilight Sparkle's Samsung Galaxy S6 Battery: 20% - Connect your charger. "Okay, then," I said, taking the smartphone to my computer table and putting it in its cradle next to my Casio calculator watch and charging laptop, "Better go ahead and turn my computer on right now, just in case I need it later," I said, powering the 20-inch, 2009 iMac on. Thankfully, the note at the beginning didn't wake anyone, but I noticed Spike come in. "You're up early after a long night." "What's weird is that I usually don't stay up past 2:30 in the morning, even on my really late nights," I said through a big yawn, "What time did I go to sleep?" "I think around 4:00." I took out a set of clothes that Pinkie Pie gave me yesterday, a towel, washcloth, and my bottle of Suave from the dresser, "I really need this," I proceeded with my standard morning routine for after late nights: set clothes on bathroom counter, make coffee, bathe, and eat breakfast. When I took my clothes and toiletries to the bathroom, I noticed a funky smell from the toilet, so I held my nose and went to see what it was. It didn't smell bad, almost sweet, actually, "What is that?" It was over-sweetened cupcakes. It had to be Pinkie. "Really?" I said, flushing it. I took some peach-scented Lysol out from under the sink and gave a quick spray, just to help clear out the odor some. After that, I went to the kitchen to make some coffee. Getting over everyone was hard enough, but the normally-mostly-empty counter had two-gallon bottles of Milo's Tea, one being empty and the other being half full, four boxes of cans of soda, and several empty plates and bowls of crumbs that, just hours earlier, held an assortment of things such as fried chicken, curly fries, hamburgers, hotdogs, salad, casserole, chips, and other party snacks. There was really not enough space for me to make a pot of coffee. The table wasn't much better, but it wasn't trashed. Just messy. "I hope I didn't drink. I can only hope," I said, putting the trash in the garbage can under the sink so I had room to make coffee. It took me a few minutes before I was able to make some coffee, "Alright," I said as I pressed "BREW" on the appliance, "that should be done when I'm done." Next, I went back to the bathroom, this time to get a shower, which went without problems. After getting dressed, I decided to wear the watch today. "I guess it couldn't hurt to see the charge on my phone." 6:37 AM Wednesday 16 September 2015 Twilight Sparkle's Samsung Galaxy S6 Battery: 74% - Charging. My phone was charging on about two amps even, so I went to the kitchen to make some breakfast. I was too groggy to smell Cadence making pancakes, though. Oddly, I didn't feel like getting coffee anymore. "Hey, Twilight," Cadence said, having just woken up, "Did you sleep good?" "I did. How about you?" "Yeah. You sure had fun last night. Shining still hasn't gotten up yet." "Last night was something to enjoy, wasn't it?" "Yeah," she said, handing me a plate of chocolate-chip pancakes and a glass of orange juice, "You can eat in the other room if you want." "Thanks." "Oh, Princess Twilight left a note for you. I'm not sure if you've noticed it yet." I looked at the table that held my phone and cup just minutes earlier and saw a note under the coaster that was still next to the couch, "Thanks, Cadence." "No problem. Also, I'll take care of the apartment." I sat the plate and glass on the table and read the note: Sci-Twi, Sorry for walking out on you like that, but I had to leave soon enough to get back to Equestria to start with your lessons. Right now, your clock says about 6:00. I didn't want to wake you, or anyone else for that matter, but I'll be ready for you by 8:00 if nothing changes. If it does, though, I'll write you. Princess Twilight . "She must have left earlier." One by one, everyone else in the apartment woke up. I waited until everyone was awake before rewinding the movie we watched last night and put it away because of our obnoxiously loud VCR. "Las' night was MIGHTY fine, if ya ask me," Applejack said, sitting with me when she got her breakfast, "Yera great host." "Sci-Twi," Sunset said, "This came together great." There was a loud vibrating sound coming from my bedroom, so I went to check it out, although a part of me knew it was one of the books I had received as gifts yesterday, "I've gotta go check that out right quick." I ran into my room and, sure enough, it was the book that Princess Twilight gave me yesterday. When I opened it, I saw that she was ahead of schedule. Hey Sci-Twi, I am REALLY ahead of schedule right now, so much that Sunset would say something like "Wow, Twilight. You're really pumping all cylinders today," or something like that. Anyway, the point being that I have the castle ready for you. Just come on whenever you feel like it. "Twilight," Cadence said, coming into my bedroom, "What are you going to do today?" "Princess Twilight wants me to go to Equestria for a while." "Perfectly okay," she said, going back to the kitchen. Princess Twilight, I'll be there in a little bit. I'm leaving my apartment now. Is it okay if I bring my Spike? That would be perfectly okay. Thank you! I checked my phone again to see the charge. 7:27 AM Wednesday 16 September 2015 Twilight Sparkle's Samsung Galaxy S6 Battery: 100% - Charge Complete. I took my phone out of its cradle, put on my watch, and went to the kitchen to get a small glass of tea, "And you're sure you don't want me to help?" "It's fine." "I'll be back in a bit. I'll write Sunset before I leave." "Okay then." "Ready, Spike?" "Ready." "Let's go, then," I turned to everyone, "It's okay if you want to stay here while I'm gone if you want to." We left the apartment and began to CHS. 16: Lesson OneAuthor's Note I know I've pushed this chapter back so much, so here it is. This one and the next take place at the same time, but it didn't turn out quite like I wanted it to. If you're uncomfortable with the thought of being molested, completely skip over the spoiler markings in this chapter. You have been warned. 16: Lesson One "Okay, Spike," I said as we left the building, "I'm not sure what's going to happen and when, but tomorrow, you'll get to meet a version of my parents from a different reality." "That'll be nice!" The walk from my apartment to the bus stop wasn't far, being just a block and a half away, so we were able to make it within about five minutes. From there, it would be a fifteen-minute trip to Canterlot City High School. Spike and I didn't really talk, partially because of the fact that it would be unnatural, but mostly because I didn't have anything to talk about. "So Twilight, do you know what they've got planned for you?" "Not really." I got on the bus and just thumbed through my Hotmail and text messages, mostly to keep myself occupied even though I didn't have anything unread. The bus stop for CHS was a block and a half from the school. No problem there, but I had trouble at the school: Manor and Blueblood were there, and they looked pissed. Manor's hand was bandaged and Blueblood was wearing what looked like a laptop bag. "Uh... um..." "We saw your pony princess friend, Sparkle," Manor said, "We camped out here all night." "Leave her alone!" Spike said. Blueblood tied and gagged Spike next to the stairs at the school while Manor tried, and made it through part of it, to rape me. Again. "Now," he said, pulling me into some bushes, "I know what you've got now." "Wh-- what are you going to do to me?" "Fix our mistake," Blueblood said, tying my hands and feet together behind my back, "Go for it, Manor." "Stop! Please!" I screamed, hoping to God that someone would hear me. The knots were so tight that the circulation to my hands and feet was being cut off, so untying myself was out of the question. Even if I could do that, how would I get around them? I didn't know what to do. "We need the other gag," Manor said. Blueblood handed him the gag in return. "I'm giving you one chance to be quiet, or I'll make you quiet." "Stop! Please!" I cried, "I won--" Manor shoved the gag in my mouth, severely muting anything that I could possibly attempt to get out. "Don't try to take it out, horsegirl," Blueblood said, "Now, what about the 'big one', Manor?" "I'm drawing this one out," he said as he began to get over me, "Ready?" I shook my head, but it did no good. "Good," he said, beginning to lift up my shirt, "We'll start at the top with some french-kissing, then work to the 'promised land', if you get me." Shit. Everyone who knows anything about me at CPA knows that I am the kind of person who exhausts easily, so when my mouth went dry, they took the gag out because I would be too exhausted to struggle and too hoarse to scream for help. "Don't scream," Manor said, yanking the gag out, then kissed me. Manor may have been strong, but he wasn't really bright, and neither was Blueblood. In fact, they are the easiest two to manipulate at CPA based on statistics, so I pretended to be submissive to him. "Okay," I said dryly. "Wait, what?" "I'll do it if you give me something to drink. I hate dry kisses." "Blueblood, you heard 'er." He reached into his bag and pulled out a small bottle of Dasani water and poured it in my mouth for me. "Ready?" "Untie me." These dumbasses. He untied me, but I played "defenseless and exhausted" for a few more minutes until I was sure I had them covered. "There," he said, removing my shirt and pants (but still leaving my underwear on, thank God), "Ready." I just panted out of exhaustion for a second while he threw my clothes to the edge of the bushes. Thank God he didn't notice my pocketknife or pepper spray, and my phone wasn't an option since it was on the lawn. "Damn! You're just gonna let me go at you, aren't you?" I just nodded. "Let's do it, then." Blueblood just sat laughing his butt off while Manor was still just touching me through my undergarments. He took out his iPhone 6 to start recording, but I zapped it with an EMP from my horn, making him think the battery died. I did the same to Manor's phone. Both of them, thank God, were too focused on laughing at me that they didn't notice my horn. I had to wait until he prepared to... defile... me. "Ready for the big guns?" Right in the crotch, Twilight. He got off of me just enough where I could knee him. "Here we go, Twi--FUCK!!!" I don't know what in the hell his plan was, but he didn't get in me before he was on the ground. I had about two seconds before Blueblood tried anything on me. "HORSE BITCH!!" Blueblood said as he came at me with ropes again. He went down, too. While they were both down, I was able to at least get my blue jeans back on before they got back up. Manson was the first, then Blueblood. "You get back here and finish what you started!" I had to just pick up my shirt and put it on while I was running. I hope to GOD nobody saw me. "Get back here!" By the time I had my shirt back on, I had lost considerable distance, so I pepper sprayed them, leaving them on the ground for a while. I had enough time to cut Spike free and run through to Equestria if I hurried. "Spike," I said, running over to him and cutting off his gag, "I'm sorry you had to see that," I cut off the rope holding his feet together. "What now?" "Run like hell to Equestria." We both ran and I picked up my phone on the way back to the statue. That was home free. "GET THE FUCK BACK HERE!!" Manor said as we ran through the portal. We barely made it. "What was that about!?" "I... just wanna pretend that it never happened," I said, catching my breath, "It was the only way I could manipulate them into letting me go without me dying." Blueblood and Manor came through the portal, even more pissed than earlier. At least they were ponies now, so they walked on four legs. They also had no horn or wings, which was good for me, too but they managed to learn to walk and run in their new bodies before I caught my breath. They were both red where I sprayed them earlier, and their eyes were red, suggesting they became irritated, too. "Shit!" Spike lept out of my hands and fled down the hall, screaming loudly. I followed, but couldn't keep up, because I was, in slang terms, all brain and no brawn. "Princess Twilight!" I yelled as I ran down the corridor, "Help!!!!!" Manor tackled me halfway down the hallway, but couldn't keep me gripped because of a lack of fingers. When I got back up, though, I ran past four more doors to the one where Spike was (on my left), and locked it. "Shit," I said, "This is bad." "What happened out there, Darling?" "Rapists," I panted, prompting someone to slam something down. "Who, dammit!?" Princess Twilight said with protective fury before looking at a filthy me, "Who did this to you, and where the hell are they!?" I turned around to see the Equestrian counterparts of Sunset's friends and Starlight Glimmer, along with the three princesses. And that I was in a library. "It's... fine." "No it is not," Princess Celestia said with a firm volume and tone only a true queen could have, "In your world, such actions might be okay, but we do not stand by in Equestria when a pony is being molested." "But I'm not a pony." "Actually," Twilight said, "you are when you are on this side of the portal. Now who did it?" "Manson and Blueblood?" "I see, Miss Twilight." "Don't you need some kind of proof?" I said, trying to stall. Princess Twilight took my phone out of my pocket, levitated it onto the table, and somehow projected the screen onto the wall with magic. "I had a feeling that you were going to have to put up with that," she said as she went through my gallery to the album named "Camera Roll", "Let's just see what we have here." She tapped the most recent video, and everything was caught on video as if someone had been standing there, recordinng it the whole time. "It's-- it's-- it's not like that!" I said when the video got to the part where I stopped struggling. "You had to manipulate him somehow, and it was the only way to get help. There's no shame in that," Princess Twilight said as the door busted open, revealing two white regular stallions with patches of red, both having watering, bloodshot eyes. "Thou art under arrest!" Princess Luna said, encompasing and immobilizing them with a night-blue aura, "Thou have raped an innocent girl, tresspassed onto royal estate, and damaged said property!" "She pepper sprayed us!" Manor said. Now you're going to jail or whatever they have here with them! "It was for my defence, honest!" "You're not in any trouble, my child," Princess Celestia said, sitting me down and embracing me in a hug, "Like Princess Twilight said before, you did what you had." "She gets off scott-free!? We didn't even do anything!" Blueblood said, "She should be the one to get punished!" "Very well, then. Miss Sparkle, thou needs to enter the council room and await your sentence there!" Princess Luna said, carrying them off, "But you will receive eight months in the dungeon, minimum." Princess Celestia and Princess Twilight escorted me back to the room that I passed out in when I was here the first time. "What's going to happen now?" I said, anxiously. "Nothing is going to happen to you, my child." "What do you mean? And why do you keep calling me your child?" "While you did attack," Princess Celestia said as the rest of the ponies and Spike came in from the other room, "You did so for and only for your protection. If you had been on the offensive, then you would be the one serving time, but you weren't, so you won't. And the reason I call you my child is that, along with the other three princesses, I have a duty and obligation to protect and take care of whoever is under my rule. I don't view ponies under me, especially when they need help of any sort, as just ponies. They are all like my children, and I try to be like another mother to them, despite never being able to truly be one to them. I want my subjects to grow well and prosper, but they can't do it on their own without guidance." "Wow," I said, beginning to tear up, "That's beautiful." "I see that my words have truely touched your heart." "I don't know what to say." "For me, failure only comes when my subject falls or if I fail to help and nurture them to the best of my extent. This talk, I'm sure, has helped you grow." "It did. Now," I added, "I have just one other question." "Yes?" "Who is the fourth princess?" "Cadence and Prince Shining Armor." I just stood there for a second, not knowing that my phone was ringing. "Uh, Sci-Twi?" Princess Twilight said while I was in a bit of a daze, "I think your phone is ringing." "Huh?" I said, reaching for my phone just as the Skype sound stopped, "Thanks." It started back again, and the caller ID read Skype: Sunset Shimmer "Would it be okay if I took this?" "No, it's quite alright," Princess Celestia replied, rather modestly. "If it's Sunset," Princess Twilight said, "Tell her we said 'hi!'." "Hi, Sunset! Listen, I can't talk long, so--" "Hi, yeah, I'll make it quick. How do you turn off your computer?" "It's just an iMac, so there's no tricks behind it. At the top of the screen, you should see a command bar with an apple, and the words Finder, File, Edit, View, Go, Window, Help." "Okay, I see it." "Good. Click on the apple, then click 'Shutdown'. A window should open that says 'Are you sure you want to shut down your computer now?'." "Okay." "Just press 'Return' on the keyboard, and it should be off within a minute." "Okay. Thanks." "No problem. Anything else?" "Yeah, just one more thing: I'm not trying to rush you or anything, but how long do you think you'll be in Equestria today?" "I should be back by 11:30. I have to go now, but the princesses say 'Hi!'." I ended the call. "Okay," Princess Twilight said as she walked over to me, "I'm deciding to do this one time a week. Will that mess with your schedule any?" "No. It won't, Princess Twilight." "Now," Princess Twilight responded with a teacher's serenity in her voice, "I want to start out by addressing yesterday's problem. Before you start worrying, I don't mean it like that." I raised an eyebrow. "What I mean was how you freaked out." "Right..." "So, you completely lost it yesterday when you thought we were going to arrest you for doing something you couldn't help." "I'm lost." "Look around." I looked at everyone in the room. "How many people do you think are perfect?" "None of them...?" "Exactly." "So... friends can be like family?" "I'm going to go one step further and say that they are a family." "Oh." "So, as far as we're concerned with you about yesterday: No harm done." "And... about Manor and Blueblood?" "Them too. Now," she said, "I want to start out with something that you do everyday: conversation. I noticed last night at the sleepover, you had trouble talking to anyone except for Spike, Cadence, Shining Armor, and, to an extent, myself." "Is that bad?" "In a way, yes. From what I understand, most of your communication with the other people at your school is usually just a form of mumbling, but mostly passive-aggressive, nonverbal requests for more space. Am I right?" "I've... never paid attention." "Exactly." Princess Luna came in the room, looking as if she had been in an effortless struggle. "Our case will be held tomorrow," Princess Luna said, "If it is an appropriate time, may I request a briefing?" "With all due respect, Your Majesty," Rainbow Dash said, as if she were about to snap, "I have no idea what the tartarus you just said!" "Rainbow Dash," Princess Luna said, "A briefing is a way of asking what has happened while we were gone." She looked like she wanted to crawl under a rug... or whatever it is they do here. "Just getting started on conversation skills." The rest of the day was pretty smooth, actually. Several hundred double-takes and a lot of turned heads later, and the lesson was complete by about 11:10. "Anythin' y'all wanna do 'til ya haveta go back, Sci-Twi?" "No. Nothing in particular. I should go ahead and call back, just to let everyone know I'm leaving." "Before you leave, I want to know something, my child." "Yes, Your Majesty? "Did anyone know about your subject to this bullying?" "Well, not exactly. Ms Cinch told me that if I told anyone about it, she would have me tried and charged for Class II treason with no chance for parole." Princess Celestia's mouth hung agape as she heard this, so I further explained. "All because she would have to suspend them. And that was just when it was taking pictures of... oh my God, why... my... under-the-skirt... I can't live like that. If Cadence hadn't stepped in when she did, my life would be a living hell right now. Not because they have horse-fetishes, but because they enjoyed trying to probably kill me. Blueblood even went so far as to stab me with a knife. It was taken to the police, but with his money, he was able to get away with it seven or eight more times. That's where all of the scars were from yesterday, with the newest being Monday of this week. If anyone in my family went to the authorities about it again, they would have a hit taken out on them. Shining and Cadence didn't want for me to lose them or each other, so we had to keep quiet. And now that they're locked up here in Equestria, I can live my life a little more relaxed." "What in tartarus has your society allowed you to have to tolerate?" Princess Celestia said, in awe. Aweful. "I don't wanna talk about it." They all fell into silence as I made my Skype to Sunset. When she picked up, I heard a lot of what sounded like powertools, but it was a bad connection, according to her. We were talking across dimensions though, so static wasn't exactly something that could be ruled out. Especially considering all of what had happened yesterday, probably still interfering with the AT&T 4GLTE signal. Either way, I put the call on speakerphone. "HELLO?" "Sunset?" "OH, HI, TWILIGHT!!! WHAT'S UP? "Nothing. Just about to leave Equestria." She said something that I couldn't quite make out over the static. "What?" "NOTHING!! JUST DON'T TAKE ANY VEHICLE HOME!!" The noise stopped. "Why? And what was with the noise? "Just a little something. And probably bad signal." "Sound's legitimate." "Anything neat happen in Equestria?" "A lot." "Okay. See ya later." She ended the call. While I have you out, I might as well take a look at my messages. Just want to be punctual. Besides, I've already gotten myself into trouble. "Sci-Twi?" Princess Twilight said, "What are you doing?" "I happened to get a few messages, and I don't like to leave people in the dark, thinking that they won't get a reply! Besides, I've already caused myself too much trouble." "Nonsense, my child," Princess Celestia said, levitating my phone down to the table, "My sister and I will speak to the authorities in your world to help keep an eye on you." "You'd do that for me?" "You need to stop blaming yourself for actions beyond your control, both others' and yours. If you continue with the path that you are on, you will end at a destination of pure regret and hopelessness." "Thank you," I said, walking through the portal. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna came behind me, and proceeded to the CCPD, while I went home. I had no idea that they followed me, let alone still ponies. I found out after I checked my Skype when I saw them in the reflection. Skype: 3 New Requests Indigo Zap Accept Reject Lemon Zest Accept Reject Sugarcoat Accept Reject "Accept... accept... accept." I turned the screen off and saw them behind the reflection. "You're here?" I turned around, "and still--" "Alicorns." "You'll get into a lot of trouble!" "Then so be it," Princess Luna said as she made a Sony Walkman appear and play everything that I had said earlier. "What if you get in trouble for not being human?" "Alicorn magic is the strongest of thy magic. We are able to change forms at will." "If you need me, just run to my apartment." "Thank you, my child," Princess Celestia said, putting her hoof on my shoulder before flying to the police department. My phone rang. Skype: Indigo Zap "Hello?" "You can take the bus back if you haven't missed it yet." "Okay. Thanks." I ended the call and proceeded to walk with Spike in my bag to the bus, but the driver wouldn't let me on. "New policy: no horses." "I... what?" "Pup can't get on either without someone." How does this guy know that Spike is in my bag? "Excuse me, but just because I have a muzzle, pony ears, a tail, and a horn doesn't exactly make me a horse." "How so?" "They don't have horns." The driver slammed the door and drove off. "My child, you are in need of assistance, are you not?" "I am, Princess Celestia. I don't want to bother you with it, though." "My child," she said, turning me around to face her and lifting my head up, "As long as we're here, you can call on any of us, any time. Now, would you like a chariot?" I could only stammer for a minute, "What about the police?" "They refused, so we will." "Only if it's absolutely no trouble at all." Please, don't get pushy. Cinch was pushy. You just need help like shit. "Alright," she said, going back through the portal and returning with a gold-colored chariot, pulled by four winged-stallions. "Where is the human Princess Twilight Sparkle, Your Majesty?" She pointed a hoof at me, so they walked toward me and bowed, "Your Majesty." "I'm not a princess." They stopped bowing and blushed. I could tell that I wasn't doing any better. "I don't have the necessary life and social skills to know how to handle this." The stallions just awkwardly looked at each other. "I propose we forget this particular incident." "It never happened, then." Both Princesses got in the chariot, and the winged-ponies flew off with us. "Are you sure this is safe?" "Nonsense, my child." I opened my mouth to ask about the different kinds of ponies, but was stopped by Princess Luna. "Ponies with no horn or wings are simply earth ponies. Those that have wings and no horn are Pegasi, the opposite is true for unicorns, and wings and a horn is an alicorn. Alicorns are princesses, three of whom you have met." I looked down and saw Cadence and Shining Armor walking back home. "Can we land and get them?" "Of course," Princess Celestia said before raising her voice slightly, "Please land." "As you wish, Your Majesty." They landed right next to Shining and Cadence. "Would you like a ride back to your house?" They looked at each other, then at the chariot. "Sure." "Please, enter," Princess Luna said, everyone moving to make room for them. "Alright," Cadence said, not wanting to waste anyone's time, "We're ready." "Please continue," Princess Celestia said. "As you wish, Your Majesty." They flew us home. "How did you get to ride in this?" Shining asked. I looked at the two regal sisters. "It is thine own story, Miss Twilight." "I went to get on the bus, but the driver said 'horses aren't allowed', so Princess Celestia offered a ride in her chariot." "You don't have to worry about them anymore, Twilie." When we landed at the apartment, I offered them to come into my house again, so they took the offer. Despite being alicorns though, they made it through security. "I'll go ahead and call to let them know that we're coming up." "TWILIGHT'S BACK WITH HER FAMILY!!!!!" I heard Pinkie Pie scream. I called Indigo and let her know that we were back. "Hello?" "Hi. Cadence and Shining Armor are with me, and we're about to come up." "Oh, okay. See ya in a few." "Actually, we're taking the elevator this time." "Okay, then." The call ended when we stepped in the elevator. 17: GiftsAuthor's Note This chapter and the previous take place at the same time, but it didn't turn out quite like I wanted it to. You don't have to understand the computer code (I just looked it up online) to get the story. All you have to know is Sci-Twi's character (cooped up all the time doing research and projects) to get the story. 17: Gifts Indigo Zap's Point of View "Ms Cadence?" Fluttershy said. "As far as I'm concerned," she responded, "We're all on a first-name basis. I'm not 'Dean Cadence' or 'Principal Cadence'. I'm just 'Cadence'. I don't want to be formal just yet. I'm only 27. Plus," she added, "I'm just Twilight's sister-in-law." "Um, Cadence? Do you want us to help you clean up some?" "No. It's fine," Cadence said as Shining Armor woke up and came into the room with us, "I've got it." "Hey, Babe." "Oh, good morning, Shiny." "Oh, but of course, Darling. I mean, after all we're responsible for this mess, too." "It's fine. Besides, I've almost got it." Everyone took their garbage and put it in a garbage can in the kitchen, quickly filling it up. "Well," Cadence said, putting on a glove so she could compact the trash some, "It did help. Now, I can go get breakfast with Shiny." "You're too good to me, Cady. I'm paying this time." Twilight had just left and had been gone for a few minutes, but her former statement still held clear with Lemon and me. It's okay if you want to stay here while I'm gone if you want to. "Okay, Indigo," Sunset Shimmer said, addressing an issue that was only partially here, "What do we do until Twilight gets back?" My Apple Watch went off, so I checked it. "What time is it?" Cadence asked. "7:30." "We better go," Shining Armor said as they both left. For a few minutes, none of us said anything until Sugarcoat saw walking down the street. "I don't want to sound heartless or even blount," Sugarcoat said, "But it's probably just going to be some fast food and a trip to the park with a drink." "Yeah," I added, "They did seem a little tight on money." "And this console's jus' 'bout ta see its day." "Not to mention that it's atrocious, Darling." "That table of hers is going to give at any moment," Sunset noted, "It looks really old." "Table?" Lemon asked. "Her work table. I also did some poking around, and she has a few milkcrates for her books, and her file system is just some worn, plastic drawers. Not to mention one for her nightstand with a slab of wood on each side." "Oh God, really?" Sunny Flare asked, looking at the back of the TV. "What?" Rainbow said, taking a look behind the set at the wiring, "Wow." I went over and they put the TV down on its face, showing just how messed up it actually was. "Oh." Most of the inputs were either yanked out completely or hanging by a cable. "I can't bear to see her live like this," Sugarcoat said, taking out a debit card, "We need to get a few things. I'm the wealthiest out of any of us, not trying to gloat, so I'll pay for as much as I can." "I'll take the rest," Lemon said, "I'm just behind her on that scale." "None of it will fall on me, more than likely," I said, "but I come in third there. That should take care of it." "Like what?" Pinkie said. "Everything." "Mah God, Darling!" "What, Rarity!?" Sunset said. "This dresser is atrocious!" "It's settled. We're doing this." "I'll make a list of what we need to find," I said, "Let's just get it all together." "Good idea." "I'll drive ya back ta yer house so y'all c'n get yer SUV, Sugarcoat." "The address is--" "1202 Papergreen Street." "How did you know?" "I might've put you on speakerphone because we were all worried about you." A warm smile came across her face before she went back to business. "Ready, Sugarcoat?" "Ready, Applejack." "Sunny?" "When you are." "'et's go, then." Applejack, Sunny, and Sugarcoat left the apartment. "What now, Darling?" Rarity said to Sunset. "That microwave did take forever to make my popcorn last night," Rainbow commented. "I'm taking a look at that microwave," Sunset said, opening the door and looking at the rating, and was surprised at how low the rating was, "350 Watts!?" I pulled a blank notebook out of my bag and started writing in it everything as stuff came up. "That oven was giving off some pretty funky odors last night," Lemon mentioned. "And this Mr Coffee doesn't exactly get hot," Fluttershy added. "Anything else?" I said, finishing the list. "Several 8×10, 4×6, and 5×7 Photos have messed-up frames, Darling." "How many?" "Three 4×6s, four 5×7s, and three 8×10s." TV Console Workdesk Desk Chair Bookcase Drawers Nightstand TV VCR DVD Player Dresser Corkboards 1100-Watt Microwave Countertop Oven Coffee Maker 4×6 -3 5×7 -4 8×10 -3 I set the list on the kitchen table for everyone to go over. "Looks about right to me," Lemon said. "Wow," Pinkie said, "We have a lot to get for Sci-Twi!" Sunset Shimmer's Point of View "I'll go ahead and turn off all of her stuff," I said. "You should probably do that." I went into her bedroom and called her on Skype. "Come on, Sci-Twi!" It rang for a minute, then went to voicemail. She managed to get service in Equestria somehow. "Hello, you have reached Twilight Sparkle. I'm currently not available, so if you will please leave a message after the beep with your name and a callback number, I will return your call at the first available opportunity. Thank you, and have a nice day!" I ended the call and pressed redial instead of leaving a message. She picked up the second time. "Hi, Sunset! Listen, I can't talk for long, so--" "Hi, yeah, I'll make it quick. How do you turn off your computer?" "It's just an iMac, so there's no tricks behind it. At the top of the screen, you should see a command bar with an apple, and the words Finder, File, Edit, View, Go, Window, Help." "Okay, I see it." "Good. Click on the apple, then click 'Shutdown'. A window should open that says 'Are you sure you want to shut down your computer now?'." "Okay." "Just press 'Return' on the keyboard, and it should be off within a minute." "Okay," I said, following the instructions, "Thanks." "No problem. Anything else?" "Yeah, just one more thing: I'm not trying to rush you or anything, but how long do you think you'll be in Equestria today?" "I should be back by 11:30. I have to go now, but the princesses say 'Hi!'." She ended the call just as Applejack walked in with Sugarcoat and Sunny. Indigo Zap's Point of View "We're back, y'all!" Sunset walked hurriedly back. "What's up?" I asked. "Twilight is going to leave Equestria at 11:30, so we have to move fast. It's already 8:00." "I drove by the park on the way back," Sunny said, "Cadence and Shining Armor should have themselves occupied with each other for a while. They had just sat down with two cups of coffee and a bag from Wendy's." "They should be really good to go until at least until Twilight gets back if I'm right," I said, receiving looks from everyone in the room, "What? We used to be kind of friendly." "We've got enough time if we work fast," Sunset said. "I'll stay here with Angel," Fluttershy said, holding her pet rabbit. "Good idea, Fluttershy. You hold down the fort, and don't let anyone in," Rainbow Dash said as we began to leave. "Even Shining Armor and Cadence?" "Especially them!" "Oh. Okay." "Just call if you need us," Sunset said. "Thank you." "Okay," I said as we went into Walmart, "When we get everything, we need to meet at the Subway in the back of the store." "I'll take care of the TV setup," Sunset said. "Sugarcoat and I have the kitchen!" Sunny said. "I'll take care of office and organization along with Lemon," I said. "A'll take care o' the furniture with Rarity," Applejack said. "While you're there," Sunset added, "could you pick up some zipties? The antenna cable was a mess." "Of course, Darling," "Pinkie and I'll take care of the pictures!" Rainbow said. "Okay, I said, tearing a sheet of paper into five pieces and making the list into five smaller lists, "Here is what each of you need to get." We all went our separate ways. Sunset Shimmer's Point of View When we started to get what we needed, I went and got a cart, then went to the back of the store to get new living room equipment. "Excuse me," I said to the department worker, "I need a 32-inch TV, DVD player, and VCR. Preferably by JVC." She looked at me for a second, "Oh! You're Sunset Shimmer! I'll get one of each from the back. Do you want a remote with that?" "Sure. I don't have time to talk now, though." She went into the back and pulled the four things that I wanted, "The VCR is new-oldstock from 1998." "Does everything have the right cables?" "They're in the boxes." "Thanks. I'm going to wait at the Subway, then my friends are going to take it to the front and pay there." "Have a great day!" I went and waited for the others. Sunny Flare's Point of View "Looks like we're on kitchen duty," I said, getting a shopping cart and going to kitchenware with Sugarcoat. "Coffee maker should definitely be Sunbeam." "Good idea. Sunbeam microwave, too. Those things are 1100 watts at the start." "What kind of oven? Emerson?" "We've had a Sunbeam ever since I started in kindergarten. My grandmother gave it to us as a housewarming gift, and it's worked great ever since." We got the appliances and went to the Subway where Sunset was already waiting on us. "How good are those?" she asked us. "Top of the line," Sugarcoat said, "Yours?" "It's Japanese, so it's definitely great." Sugarcoat's Point of View The three of us exchanged a smile and nod, "I'm going to put in a call to my Uncle Auto to get Twilight a car," I said, taking out my iPhone 6. "Hello?" there was Journey playing in the background. "Uncle Auto?" "My favorite niece, Sugarcoat! How are you?" he answered with a cheerful voice as the music lowered in volume. "I'm good." "'At's great! Anything I c'n do for you?" "Yeah, I was wondering if I could get a DeLorean for my friend." "Must be a pretty special friend for you to do something like this. Who is it?" "You know that girl...?" "Sunset Shimmer from Canterlot High?" "Uh, no. Glasses...?" "Oh. Ms Twilight Sparkle?" his voice suddenly went to one of sympathy, "Hard times for her, ain't it?" "Yeah. We've started calling her 'Sci-Twi' because of her science, though." I felt bad for what happened, and he could hear it in my voice. "Sugarcoat, listen. You don't need to feel bad. I know that you know that they're in a better place now. They're never gonna have to worry about anything again, Sugar. As for what happened that day, there wasn't anything that you could've done. You weren't even on the subway." "I know. It's just... she's still going through it." "I know it must be hard for her, just like it was when I lost your aunt Bobbie. You just have to remember, and her too, that Mrs Velvet and Mr Light are in eternal paradise now. If she, her brother, or her sister has any trouble letting go, tell them to come and see me if they can. If they can't, I'll drop everything and go to them." "Th... thanks. That's the nicest anyone's been to her outside of her family until yesterday when Indigo beat the crap out of Sour Sweet for insulting her mom." "Indigo did the right thing," I smiled, feeling warm inside, "Listen, Sugar, whenever you see Ms Twilight, you tell her that my door is always open to her. I don't give a crap about anything else. I know how hard this can be for her." I desperately tried to change the subject. He obviously caught on, but went with it anyway, "Listen, what do I--" "Not a thing. I couldn't charge my niece, ev'n if my live depended on it. An' especially not for Miss Sparkle." I pushed my glasses on my face. "What's the address?" "830 4TH Avenue." "I'll have it over there in a little bit." Indigo Zap's Point of View I went with Lemon to get a shopping cart, then we headed over to get the workdesk. "Do you know what she'd want?" Lemon asked. "If she's still like she was when she was little, two long folding tables would be better than a fancy desk." "If you're sure," she said as we went to get the tables. When we got there, we picked out two different-sized tables so they could fit together right. "Now what?" Lemon asked. "A chair." "We need another store cart, so I'll meet you at the chairs." "Okay," I said as she went to the front of the store and I made my way to an office chair with lumbar support. Lemon met me there not too long after. "Lumbar support, huh?" "She did have something tied to that cardtable chair where her back would go." "Works for me," she said, putting the thing in the cart, "Next?" "Drawers." "Follow me, and I'll show you some nice ones." She got two sets of three wide drawers off of the shelf from the "Home & Living" department. "And you're positive that these are good?" "Absolutely!" she said, nothing but confidence and certainty in her voice, "Next!" "Bookcase." "I'd just bullshit that one with a deep, three-shelf cabinet." "Done. Lead the way," She found a patternless, tan cabinet the same depth as the table and width of the milkcrates she used for her books. "Wow," I said, "That's nice." "I know. Next!" "Four corkboards." "Easy," she said as we went and got the boards, then met up with the others. Applejack's Point of View "Ah gotta say, Rarity," I took a buggy, "How do y'all thank we oughta go 'bout gettin' this new setup?" "You saw her house, Darling. Modern and compact. Nothing with drawers, though. They're depressing," I said as I got a text from Sunset. The new TV is 32 inches "Ah see. Accordin' ta Sunset, we need one fer a 32-inch screen," I said as we ran over to the furniture section. Rarity had one picked out within a minute of arriving. "That one," she said, pointing to one that consisted of a shelf that sat of the floor with an aluminum pole at each corner holding a second shelf above it, making it as tall as two VCRs like Sci-Twi's. It also turned out to be the right width for the TV Sunset found. "Can you call someone to help get it down, Darling?" I stopped a worker as she was walking behind us. "Can I help you?" "We've found a TV console?" She looked at Rarity. "This one, Darling." "Rarity," I said, "Ah'm goin' ta get some zipties in case Sunset needs 'em while she's workin' on the antenna cord." "You do that, Darling." In the time it took me to find a pack of 250 zipties, Rarity and the worker had loaded up the console. "Anything else?" she said as I tossed the zipties on top of the console. "Actually, we need a bedside table and dresser, Darling." She took us to them. "Do you want me to help you with the dresser?" "No, Darling, but thank you for offering your assistance." "No problem," she said as she left. "Twilight's room is rather functional over a complete style, so the bedside table should reflect that." "Fer once, Ah actually know which one yer atalkin' at," I said, pulling a nightstand off the shelf that looked like a small wooden card table with a bright woodgrain finish just as Rarity found a matching dresser. "Ready?" "When you are, Darling." We both went to the Subway and met up with Sunset, Sunny, Sugarcoat, Indigo, and Lemon. "At's some nice stuff ya got fer Sci-Twi. Almost makes me jealous o' ya fer livin' in the city." We all exchanged smiles and Rarity ponied-up. I decided to call Big Macintosh and see if he'd help put the new furniture together. "Hello?" "Hey, I need to ask you a big favor." "Eeyup." "We're at Walmart right now gettin' some new furniture fera new friend o' ours." "Eeyup." "And Ah's awonderin' if ya could help us gittin' it tagether." "Eeyup. Where's she live?" "830 on 4TH Avenue, apartment number 7C ah thank. Fluttershy's there right now." "Ah'm on mah way with mah pow'r tools. Hey, you don't need a rahde back, doya sis?" "Actually, we might." "Ah'm on mah way. Truck's a bit messy, but Ah don't thank 't's too bad." "Thanks, Big Mac." The call ended, so I called Fluttershy. "Hello?" "Fluttershy, this's Applejack." "Hi. Is everything going okay?" "Ev'rthang's fine." "That's good to know." "Listen, my brother's comin' over with us fr'm the store so'e c'n help us git the stuff built since we ain't gonna have a lotta time as it is." "Okay. I'll let him in." "Mighty thankful," I said before ending the call. Rainbow Dash's Point of View "Okay, Pinkie," I said as we made our way over to the picture frames, "We're dealing with glass here, so be careful." "Of course, Rainbow Dash!" I said, "You wanna just get plain ones?" "Yeah. Just make it quick and painless," I said, getting the frames. "The next time she throws a party, it'll be AMAZING!!!!!" "Let's just go back with the others." Indigo Zap's Point of View It took a few minutes for everyone to get back, but we were all able to manage. "Alright," Applejack said, "When me 'n Rarity got over here, Ah called mah brother 'n he'll pick us up 'n help out with the load." I checked my watch. "Guys, it's already 10:00." We made our way to the front of the store as quickly as possible. "What are you guys doing," the cashier asked with big-city arrogant sarcasm, "rebuilding a house?" "Kinda," Applejack said, brushing it off. "So I guess you've found out about TV. Lemmie catch you up to speed: have you ever heard of YouTube?" she asked, her tone stronger than before, as she finished scanning the items, "$1485.89." She was obviously just trying to piss Applejack off. I'm pretty sure that the only think keeping her from showing the checkout lady what for was that her brother called. "Hey, Big Mac. How are ya? Pullin' inta Walmart? Uh-huh, Ah'll tell 'em," she ended the call, "He's here." The woman looked at me, "Hey, didn't you go to school with Twilight Sparkle when you were younger?" Applejack's brother came up to us. "Y'all ready?" "Yeah. They need some things in their house replaced after--" "I'm surprised that they only took out her mom and dad." "What?" Sugarcoat scanned her card, "When you've got a lot of money like this, it just doesn't feel right not to do this for someone who needs it." "She wasn't any better than either of them. And her brother, well, he's a joke of an officer," everyone around us just froze at that bitch, "That whole family should've had their brains blown out." Alright, that fucking does it! I snapped and began to throw punches at her, but had to keep her conscious or face prison time. "KEEP YOUR DAMN MOUTH SHUT!!!!! THAT GIRL'S MOTHER AND FATHER DIED ON THAT SUBWAY THAT DAY!!!!! AND YOU WANT HER AND HER BROTHER GONE, TOO!?!?!?!?!?" Applejack's brother had to pull me off of her. Unfortunately, she only had a black eye, dislocated jawbone, and a few missing teeth. "Either her or someone she knew took a hit out on her family. I was there when it happened." "Ah'm sorry 'bout that." "It's okay." "Now let's get this stuff back ta her house." We went back to the front and waited for Applejack, Sunny, and Big Mac to drive up and help us load the stuff up. For all the good it did though, we were set back by a pileup. Altogether, though, both truckbeds and a third of Sugarcoat's Tahoe ended up being used for the stuff. Sunset and Rainbow Dash rode with Applejack, Pinkie and Rarity rode with Big Mac, while Lemon and I rode with Sunny and Sugarcoat. "Hey, Fluttershy!" Lemon said, banging on the door as we all got up with the first trip of furniture. "Yes?" "It's us!" "Just a minute," she said, letting us in, "Oh my, what is all that?" "All of Twilight's stuff!" "Lemon?" I said, "Are you deaf?" "No." It took four trips to get everything up to her seventh-floor apartment. All of the construction went smoothly until Twilight began home when Sunset got a call from her. She put the call on speakerphone so she could hear it over us working. "HELLO?" "Sunset?" "OH, HI, TWILIGHT!!! WHAT'S UP? "Nothing. Just about to leave Equestria." She held the phone at arm's length and faced the opposite direction, "Shit! Hurry up, she's on her way back!" "What?" "NOTHING!! JUST DON'T TAKE ANY VEHICLE HOME!!" They finished with the powertools. "Why? And what was with the noise? "Just a little something. And probably bad signal." "Sound's legitimate." "Anything neat happen in Equestria?" "A lot." "Okay. See ya later." She ended the call. "Is ev'rything alright, Sugarcube?" Sunset had a "deer in headlights" look on her. "Sci-Twi's on her way home," her eyes widened even more, "Now." "Don't freeze up, then!" Sunny shouted as she backhanded Sunset, snapping her out her trance, "What the hell, Sunny!?" she said, "Thanks. I needed that." "Kick it into high gear," Rainbow said as the TV was set on the new console. "Oh right," Sunset replied before hooking up the new set to the antenna, DVD player, and VCR, then linking the remote to all three, then programmed the thing. "Wow," Sunny said, "Where'd you learn to do all that?" "I have the exact same one at my apartment." "Where did you say you were from, Darling?" "Canterlot. The one in Equestria." I went into Twilight's bedroom while Sunset finished up in the living room with Big Mac. Fluttershy was just re-framing photos. Lemon was in there, finishing up with Pinkie and Sugarcoat. "She has to have an 'off' switch or something," Sugarcoat said. "Okay. The tables are a two-person thing. Sugarcoat--" "I know what to do." "I'm skilled in electronics, so I'll go ahead and take her iMac off of the desk." "Do you know how?" Pinkie Pie said. "Yeah. And I can put it back together," I said, turning the computer on its face, "Most of it can go anywhere, actually. Now, where's a crate?" Pinkie pulled Twilight's old "bedside table" out of her hair, along with her old bookshelf. "I'm just like that. Most people think I'm adopted when they see me with the rest of my family, though." She handed me the crate, "I can tell," I said, putting the components and cables in the crate with the computer as best I could without breaking anything. "Can we start?" "Not yet," I said, gathering her stuff from the desk and putting it in the other crates, "Okay. Now you can. I need to make a quick call to her, just to let her know that she can take the bus. Most of everything is taken care of." "Okie-dokie-lokie!" The Skype sound played for about ten seconds before she answered. "Hello?" "You can take the bus back if you haven't missed it yet." "Okay. Thanks." She ended the call. "Hey, Indigo? You got that bedroom stuff swapped out? Mah Ford's ready, an' Ah have a feelin' 'at yer friend's gone be back soon." "Yeah." Applejack and her brother came, tore the bedroom "furniture" (if it could even be called that...) apart with ease, as it was severly aged and cheaply built, "Ah'll take 'is ta mah truck." "No more, right?" I replied as the tables, drawers, and cabinet were set into place. "'at's the last of it." Applejack's brother left with the box of now-rubble, and I began to set Twilight's work area back up. "Do you know how to set her computer up? I mean, with all those gadgets?" I set the thing back-up on her bed and pulled out the document scanner and Internet cable. "Look at the shapes of the end of these cables. Look at the holes in the back of the computer. You just match the shapes," I plugged in her Internet cable for example, "like a puzzle." Pinkie's hair deflated. "Those techies make it look so much harder. Where did you learn to do that?" Lemon asked. "I got an iMac for my birthday last month." I took the computer to the table, but Sunset ran in the room with six power strips and a plastic bag from her arm. "Hold it for a second!" "What?" "Forgot about these." Sunset held up six power strips. They looked like regular ones, except with an extra outlet on the end labeled "ALWAYS ON - LINK". "I noticed her plug setup, and it didn't exactly look safe. Or decently usable for that matter," she shook her head, "Point being, I'm wiring this baby to the wall." She dropped the power strips on the floor, emptied the bag, revealing two rolls of Gorilla mounting tape, screws, and zipties. "Okay." She took care of wiring and labeling the strips, then attaching them to the desk. Afterward, she and I put the iMac together and managed to put her stuff back. When we were finished setting everything back up, I turned on her iMac. It loaded like anyone would expect (pretty much like getting one straight from an Apple store), but a terminal window came up when the desktop loaded. "Okay... this is... unexpected. Even from her," Lemon said. "If I know her, it's probably just a check," I said, "We used to hang out when we were little. Kinda. Point being, she can get pretty technical about things." Bash TwilightSparkle@HomeiMac$ ./check Processor: 2.66 GHz Penryn Intel Core 2 Duo Working Memory: 8 GB Graphics: nVidia GeForce 9400M AirPort: Off Ethernet: 25Mbps/12.5Mbps USB#1: Keyboard USB#1(1): Mouse USB#2(2): Empty USB#2: HP Deskjet 3450 USB#3: Empty USB#4: Empty FW800: 4X FW800 ` FW800(1): 320 GB Seagate HDD FW800(2): Samsung Galaxy S6 Cradle FW800(3): Empty FW800(4): Empty "That's... an understatement, Indigo." "The last time we spoke at all was in 2012." There was an awkward silence, so I voiced an opinion. "Leave it alone and watch TV, say 'Aye'." "Aye," they all said. We all went into the front room where Sunny was channel-surfing. "Are you okay?" I asked, stepping into the kitchen to heat up some pizza bagels from the night before, only to find that there weren't any. What I did find was noodle soup and chopsticks. "It feels... odd... doing something like this." "How so?" "Like... it's... I don't know... fuzzy." "That feeling is called... um... I don't know what it's called." "TWILIGHT'S BACK WITH HER FAMILY!!!!!" Pinkie Pie screamed. I opened a curtain, and there was a CHARIOT on the damn ROAD. My phone rang, and it was Twilight. "Hello?" "Hi. Cadence and Shining Armor are with me, and we're about to come up." "Oh, okay. See ya in a few." "Actually, we're taking the elevator this time." "Okay, then." The call dropped when she stepped in the elevator. 18: Welcome Home Sci-Twi's Point of View The elevator jerkily stopped at the seventh floor, probably because it had never carried three people and two alicorn princesses before. I was just glad when it did, because I was starting to get a little claustrophobic, and I could tell the others were, too. "It seems rather small," Princess Luna commented, receiving a glare from her sister. "What?" I asked, "Someone had to say it. It opened on the seventh floor. Like lightning, I was the first one out. "Claustrophobic, actually." We made our way back to my apartment, where I smelled noodles. We all shot glances at each other. "They're still our guests," Cadence said, opening the door, "at least until Sunday. Maybe longer if they can." "Surprise!" We looked at each other, then went in. None of our furniture was the same hardly, and all of our kitchen appliances had been replaced. Cadence went and looked at them, Shining took a look at the TV, and my bedroom was completely different. "I... how... but..." "The coffee maker actually gets hot, the microwave heats up food in less than four hours, and the oven is brand-friggin'-new!" Lemon said. "Is this stuff ours?" Shining asked. "I took care of the TV," Sunset said, "Don't worry: It's brand new and it's Japanese. So it's really great." "You..." "Of course we did, Darling. It was the least we could do after seeing the..." "Yeah," Sugarcoat said, "Once we found out how old and crappy your stuff was, we kinda had to." I stepped in my bedroom and squealed, probably turning every head in my ~~apartment~~ house. "New worktables...? New drawers...? New... everything...?" "'at's right, Sugarcube," Applejack said coming up behind me, "Jus' a little somethin' ta say "Thankya fer invitin' us over". After... you know," she looked toward the sitting room where my parents' remains resided, "None of us really felt like you should've had ta give up ev'rthing." I ran back into the living room with my brother. "We have to go, my child." The two regal sisters left and headed back to Equestria. "How in the name of God could you afford all of this?" I asked, prompting Sugarcoat to flash a debit card. "That part fell on me." "Does anyone know how Sour Sweet is?" "I wouldn't feel too bad about it, Twilight," Lemon said, "She did... you know," she awkwardly stopped herself from saying it, but everyone knew it, "Point being: you can't live your life feeling bad about things." I noticed something on the kitchen table that I hadn't seen in forever: my hand-made "Best Hits" CDs, Sony Discman, and a pair of headphones. "You... you found them?" "Gotta say, Twilight," Lemon said, "Never took you for a music-listener." "I haven't seen these since we got our other TV!" "Pretty neat stuff on there." "You went through them?" "Air Supply, Rasputin, Walk Like an Egyptian, Madonna, Gloria Gaynor, Journey. Do I have to go on?" "I used to use these before I got Spike to help me." "Who wants biscuits?" Cadence asked, which was pretty much everyone, considering that it was lunchtime. Sugarcoat got a text, then pulled me down to the sidewalk. "Guys, we'll be right back." "What are you doing? Where are we going?" I said, grabbing Spike "You'll see." When we got down to the sidewalk, Sugarcoat sent another text back. Probably just a reply. "You remember how you said you dreamed of having a DeLorean?" "Yeah?" Where is she going with this? "Look around the corner." I saw a DeLorean, in practically brand-new condition, being driven to the apartment complex in front of a '99 Toyota RAV4. "I... never thought I'd see one in person. It's... amazing." "One better," Sugarcoat commented, "Look at the tag." I took one look at the tag, and that said it all: SCI-TWI I looked at her, and pointed to myself, in complete shock. "Yours." Someone got out of the car. He looked like Sugarcoat's uncle. "You're Miss Twilight?" "Uh-huh." "I'm Auto Coat," he said, holding his hand out for a handshake, "Heard what you were going through, and just thought I'd give ya a little something. Little sweetie told me about a dream, so I figured, 'What the heck?'," he handed me a set of keys. Engraved on one side of the keyheads were the letters "BTTF" in the same font as the movie's title card in orange, and the other had a purple sparkle. "I don't know what to say." "Listen: My doors are always open to you. Every time you feel sad about losing your parents," he pointed upwards at the sky, "just remember that they're in paradise now. As far as I'm concerned, you, your brother, and your sister are all a part of my family. If you need anything," he wrote down a phone number and gave it to me, "you just call me. I don't care when or where, I'll always be here for you." "I... don't have a sister." "Isn't Cadence your in-law?" "Yeah?" "Then she's your sister, too. Family's family, no matter what." I could tell that he had been through several hard times before, and his words were touching Sugarcoat and myself. "That's my Uncle Auto. He'd give up everything for anyone." "An' I wouldn't regret a thing at all." I felt myself tearing up. "How's about you take your mind off of the hard stuff, and give the car a test drive." I examined the keys, looked at Auto Coat, then Sugarcoat, then back at Auto Coat. "All yours." "Sugarcoat?" "Yes?" "Do you wanna ride with me? I do have to do a few things." "I'll let the others know what's going on." "Alright." She called upstairs and let them know what was going on. Auto gave me and her a hug, then left. "Ready?" "Can I come?" Spike asked, unnerving Sugarcoat a little. "Of course." "Did he just talk?" "Hang on," I said, putting the phone number in the back of my phone, "Okay." "I even found out which model you'd like." "A stick?" "That part was pretty easy to read. Plus, you said that's how you learned to drive last night." "Oh right." The car started nicely, and drove like it was brand new. "So?" "I like it," I said, shifting through the gears. There was a roadblock, and the two regal sisters of Equestria had been captured and pinned to the ground. Seeing this, I slammed the break on so I wouldn't hit them, because it wouldn't have been pretty at 55MPH. "What was that about!?" "Sorry!" I said, getting out. Sugarcoat followed me. "Are you okay?" It was more like they were arrested to be taken to a lab. "What was that..." she saw the princesses, "about? Oh God, I'm sorry." "We aren't sure what they're going to do!" I looked around, "Hang on." I went over to the two men who had the roads blocked. "Excuse me," I said, "But just what in hell are you doing?" The scientist looked at me, then at the cop. "We need to bring this one into custody, too." "This place keeps gettin' weirder," the cop slurred, as if she was slightly drunk. The next thing that I knew was that I was being put in handcuffs and was put on the ground. "Wow. Talking horses with horns and wings, and now a woman that looks like one with a horn. My day's going to shit." "How so?" "I'll be at the lab for at least a week on end, assuming I doubletime my work and don't take any breaks at all." "I know the feeling. Two times at CCHS, both were just surreal. She-demons, talking ponies, destroying reality, just a bunch of bullcrap. I swear, they put so much effort into these stories now that they should be paid to turn them into books." They looked at us again, and we almost got taken into a white van. "A'ight. Let's go, whatever you are." "Hold it!" Sugarcoat screamed, "Those are my specimens." "Where is your license, then?" Sugarcoat pulled out her wallet, and gave what I think was $250 to the cop to go away, and another $250 to the scientist to give us to her. "Checks out," the man said, "All yours." "Have a nice day, ma'am," the cop said. "Let's get you two home," Sugarcoat said, taking our handcuffs off. "We probably should," Princess Luna said as the two sisters turned themselves human. "Oh, by the way," Sugarcoat said, "Where's Blueblood and Manor?" "In the Canterlot Dungeon for... violation," I said. "As much as I hate those two sons of bitches," Sugarcoat said, "They need to be brought back. Otherwise, we're all in a shitload of trouble." "The portal is the other way," Princess Celestia said. "Get in." Four people in a two-seat car was rather uncomfortable, but I wanted them to be back home before anything could happen to them. By my calculations, I'd have to drive 70MPH solid to get back to the school soon enough for them not to be caught. "Will you at least slow down some, Twilight?" "Not until I know that they are safe." "Blueblood and Manor will be back in your world within an hour." "Good." "I'm not leaving until I'm absolutely sure that you two are home safe." "Thank you," Princess Luna said as they both went back through the portal. "What did you mean earlier when you said they..." I pointed to the bushes and walked over to Blueblood's case. "They need to learn." Blueblood and Manor came through the portal, looking even more pissed than they did at their arrest. "Oh God!" We both ran to the car and locked the doors. Sugarcoat ended up making it to my seat, while I in hers, "What happened? It's not running anymore!" The engine had stalled while she was asking about earlier. "Crap, we let it stall!" She tried to get it to start by holding down the acceleration. "It's the clutch, not the gas!" They were beating on the stainless steel body as the car cranked. "How?" "Hold the clutch, move the stick to first, press the gas while you take your foot off of the clutch!" She did what I said, and she finally made the car move. It only went 22MPH in low, but it was still enough to get them off of our butts. "We're telling the others about this." I felt like I was going to puke. Luckily, her plan was to go a few blocks, then swap places. "Are you okay?" she said as she pulled the car up to Kabylake Avenue and Coppermine Street. I leaned back and nodded, but when the car came to a stop, I went to the nearest trash can and vomited up everything. I could feel my face turning red, snot dripping out of my muzzle, and eyes tearing up, just from what I thought I'd have to go through. I could hear Sugarcoat buying a few sodas. How the hell could she drink a soda at a time like this? Unless she's just being cruel and butter me up. She went in a shop and came out with paper towels. "Let's get you cleaned up," she said, setting me down in the left-hand seat of the car and putting the sodas in between her knees, "I wasn't sure what you liked, so I got a few Pepsis to keep in here, just in case that happens again." I took the paper towels and cleaned myself off, using the rearview mirror to work with. She opened a can of soda, "Here. I'm sure that taste won't leave your mouth for a while, but this will really help get most of it out." I took the Pepsi, then she asked me again, so I closed the door with my other hand. "Are you okay?" I couldn't get the liquid in my mouth fast enough to get rid of that putrid taste, so I was... making a small mess. I'm glad she got extra paper towels, because I used them all to wipe the drink off with. "Yeah," I panted, head on the steering wheel, "I'm fine." "Now, tell me what had happened at that school!" "He... you know..." "No, I don't know." I took out my phone and played the recording for her that the princesses magically triggered. She sat in shock. "Really?" she said when the file ended. "Really," I nodded. "Everyone needs to listen to this, and if he, either of them, tries anything else, we'll put both in a coma." I smiled. "I'm not above picking on someone for a little while until it gets boring, but what they're doing is too much." "Yeah," I said as I began to drive back, "But they bribe the authorities." "Not anymore," she said, texting the recording to her phone, "We've got 'em." "How so," she put my phone in the cupholder. "It's thirteen-to-two, fifteen if the Princesses heard, that they did that to you." "How so?" "Look at this." "I can't. Maybe at the store. I have to get some things." "Okay, I'll take a look at it," I said as we came out of the store with a cart full of milk, tea, and soda. "In iMessage." 11 Recepients: Indigo, Sunny, Lemon, Sunset, Rarity, Fluttershy, Rainbow, Applejack, Pinkie, Cadence, Shining Me: Twilight-victim.m4a Rainbow: When I see these two, I am putting them BOTH in a coma! Applejack: Sugarcoat, they need to be torn a new one. How could you not see this? Fluttershy: Oh my Rarity: Darling, why would they do such... heinous... things? Shining: I want you to come home so we can talk about this. Pinkie: Those big meanies! My eye twitched for a few seconds before handing her the phone back in a noncoherent state. "Twilight?" We rode home in silence. Big Mac was back at the house when we got back. "Why didn't you tell us about this?" Cadence asked. "I... I didn't want to lose anyone else." "Oh, bullSHIT!" Rainbow said. "Both o' them guys oughta be thrown inna wood chipper," Big Mac said. "I know. But what can I do?" "Drop it off with the police?" Fluttershy said, "That seems like it would work." "Sugarcube, didn't y'all hear that record'n'? They'd get paid more to say "Nothin' happened, here'." "I could expel them." "That's not going to work," Indigo said, "They'd take a hit out on you." "This is going to be tough," my brother said. "Maybe not," Sugarcoat said, "Where did it happen?" "In the bushes at Canterlot High." "No video evidence?" I pulled out my phone and began to show the video. "Better." "What are you getting at, Sugarcoat?" Cadence asked. "You're Principal Celestia's niece, right?" "Yeah..." "Call her over." "Okay," she said, at a loss as she grabbed her phone from the counter and made the call. "Aunt Tia? Hi, it's Cadence. Great! worried. Really worried. A miss? Oh, no! Actually, I was wondering if you and Aunt Luna could stop by for a bit. Yeah, it's really. 830 4TH Avenue. Twenty-five minutes? That's fine." "She needs her laptop," Sugarcoat said. "You'll need your laptop. I'll say when you get here. Thanks." She ended the call, looked at her phone, and plugged it into the in-wall USB port at the kitchen counter. When the two principals of CHS made it to my apartment, Sugarcoat lead them and Cadence into the sitting room and closed the closet-style door. Sunny went to listen in with a glass from the kitchen but was stopped with several disapproving looks. After a few minutes, though, Sugarcoat wanted me in there. "Yes?" "You were... you know... at our school, but Sugarcoat knows how to fix that, and we needed your permission on something," Vice-Principal Luna said, "We want to have you on the roll for CHS, just to be on the safe side." "Sure...?" Cadence sat down with me, "According to Sugarcoat, if you're a student of CHS, and that crap happened to you there, they can do something about it, and nobody gets hurt." I looked around, "You can use my computer. I can get into the networks of CHS and CPA for you." "She's always been that smart. I've known her since she was six months old," Cadence chuckled. "So it's settled?" Twilight, this doesn't mean you can run from your problems at Crystal Prep, but you will have backup in a few more places now. "Yeah." I took them into my room, opened a connection to the CHS computer network (Flawed, last-generation security made it easy, though I didn't ever do any malicious work), and let Principal Celestia and Vice-Principal Luna do their work with the student database. "How did you know how to get into our school's network?" Principal Celestia asked me as I logged in as her. Twilight, you know that there's no point in lying about this, not that you would to begin with. Just how do you tell them when they're not as technologically inclined as you are? "Well?" she said, growing impatient. Shining Armor came in my room. "I don't know how to tell you." That seemed to break her. Somewhat. "Just try. I might be able to understand it," she said, looking at the scrolling computer code. "The CHS network servers runs a variant of something called 'Linux', and that variant is called 'Debian'. I use variants of Debian on my laptop and lab computer at CPA. The one I carry around with me is called Raspbian, while the one at my lab is a community-built Windows 7, based off of Debian. That's how I knew how to manipulate and command the system with packages, though I could do that with virtually anything that sports a DEB architecture. The security, though, is only 64-bit on one layer, so it's like a combination lock with one dial instead of three. As for the method of getting in, the max value of 64-bit is 18,446,744,073,709,551,616 , or 2^64. Once I injected my script and had it run, it made a package that was programmed to start sending cracks in a billion addresses and spread to other values like a virus, until the system opened the firewall to my computer. At that point, the package ran and did a handshake with my computer over a 256-bit AES encrypted connection where I could use any admin account with any password, and would be accepted as valid. Whenever I sign off, the package and shell script self-destructs, leaving no trace that I was ever in the system from here to begin with." Principal Celestia and Vice-Principal Luna looked at each other, then Cadence, my brother, then me. All in shock. "Did you know she could..." Principal Celestia looked at my brother, "Your sister..." "That's my little Twilie for you. For eight months last year, she was on the cyber team at the police station." "I don't know what to say," she said, sitting down and adding me to the registry. "It's a bit of a story, but she can't go back until after college, because of a rule change." "Her kindergarten teacher reccomended us put her on strong medication because of her mind," he and Cadence came and hugged me, "But we wouldn't have it. Nobody would, especially Mom. She wouldn't bear to let that doctor drug her. She's got a great mind, one that works in every way imaginable, and we couldn't ask for any better than her." He kissed me on my forehead, and Cadence booped my muzzle. Just like old times. Both sisters noticed the soldering station and my projects around it, including a somewhat-dissasembled laptop computer. Everyone had started coming in my bedroom. "I got that from Shining Armor and Cadence when I was twelve, the microwelder from Mom, and the toolset from Dad. I remember that I spent two-and-a-half weeks, literally around-the-clock working on an animatronic arm to program for when two wasn't enough. I remember that Ms Park actually came to my house, thinking something was wrong. If it wasn't for my family and her, I would never have came back to reality. It was a good thing that I did though, because I lost about ten pounds during those two weeks," I said, "That's how cooped-up I stayed." "Do you still have it?" Sunset asked, coming over to the bed. I was a little surprised when I found out that they heard those stories. "Yeah," I said, getting the arm out of my drawer labeled (in VERY messy handwriting) "MEMORABLE PROJECTS", "Wow! Here it is," I let Sunset hold it. I forgot how heavy it was. "Wow. It's heavy. Does it work?" I set it on my dresser, pulled two cables out of the back, (120V AC and USB), plugged it into the wall, set my laptop back together, brought it over, plugged the thing into the computer, set a one-speed desk fan to the side of the arm, connected it, and ran a file called "FAN_ON.SH". Principal Celestia had finished and came over to watch my first project ever, with everyone else who was in my house. pi@TwilightSparklesLaptop:~ $ cd Arm pi@TwilightSparklesLaptop:~/Arm $ sudo ./FAN_ON.sh Arm control started. Press START to turn on the desk fan, or type ^C to return to the prompt. If no action is taken in 60s, the script will assume you have typed ^C. I pressed the button on the base of the arm. Execution started. I am now turning on your fan, Twilight. Command finished. To close LXTerminal 0.2.0, type EXIT at the $ prompt. Otherwise, you may continue working in the terminal window. pi@TwilightSparklesLaptop:~/Arm $ "That's so AWESOME!" Rainbow Dash said. "That explains... so much," Principal Celestia said. "Everyone thought I was going to exhaust myself, so coffee was my best friend during that time," I said, smiling at the memory, "Shining Armor, Cadence, Mom, and Dad would all take turns coming in and checking in on me while I was in the zone, though I'm pretty sure that I had them worried when I ate my breakfast over the course of an eighteen-hour period. I hadn't felt that achieved before then in my life." "It's okay, sweetie," Cadence said, hugging me, "You meant well." I looked at everyone. "You're all welcome to stay as long as you want to." "Welcome back, Twilight." Author's Note Again, you don't have to know the tech stuff. Just know that Twilight is ABSURDLY smart, and you should be okay. 19: Twilight Velvet and Night Light's First VisitSci-Twi's Dream I looked around, and the place was familiar. I did see Midnight, but she was just a passenger. A subway? And my clothes? Did I fall asleep in them again? Well, at least I don't have to worry about her trying to kill anyone just to learn something. I looked at the Casio Calculator watch that Mom gave me when I was seven years old. 08:43 27 AM I held the "Divide" button, which acted as the "Date" button in clock mode. 12 8-11 SA "Oh God." I heard screaming, so I ran to the window, and saw the horror of that day unfold: my parents' death. "NO!!" "Fear not, Miss Twilight," a familiar voice said. I turned around and Princess Luna, in a human form resembling my half-pony body, placed a hand on my shoulder, "It's okay. You are safe." "Is this real?" I began to sob. "No. It is simply a dream, young one," she began to do something with her magic, "They are my domain, and it is my duty as Princess of the Night to aid all that I can in a peaceful and restorative sleep." "But..." I said as she began to do something with her magic. "Look at your watch, young one." I looked at it, and it now read an earlier time: 08:40 00 AM "What the...?" "You are having an anxiety about your parents'... Equestrian parents'... visit today." I looked back at my parents from my reality, just as the stabbing was about to happen, but they didn't react. It was almost like they were... projections. My brother and Cadence were holding hands and watching a movie just a few seats down from them now. "Are you sure?" She nodded with a smile on her face, "Go and see them." "Everything will be fine when you step in that car." "Will you come with me?" "Of course." The moment I opened the subway doors to get to that car, Indigo became her current age, the assailants and past me vanished, and they looked up at me. "M-mom...? D-dad...?" "Yes, deary? I didn't hear you get up," she looked up at us from her new copy of Extreme Sports Weekly and was immediately shocked, "What happened to you!?" "Velvet, I'm sure our baby girl's just-- What the heck!?" he dropped his Sudoku book, "My baby!" I gave a sheepish laugh as they ran over to me. "What happened to you?" Mom asked, getting the others' attention, "Are you okay? Your face looks swollen!" "Twilie!" Shining and Cadence ran over to me with Mom and Dad. Indigo looked up at us in complete shock, twitching and speechless. "I'm fine," I said, embracing them in a hug, "I'm fine, now that I have you." "What do mean, Sparkle?" Indigo stood up, coming to realization, "And who's she?" she pointed to Princess Luna. "J-just back up, and I'll explain everything, but you might want to sit down." "Okay," Indie said. "Before telling us anything else, Twilight," my dad said, "I want you to tell us about what we're seeing." I looked at Princess Luna, who gave me a nod of approval. "Something happened to me, Shining, and Cadence that led us to a different reality, called 'Equestria'. This reality is, instead of humans, inhabited by ponies. There are four kinds: Regular, pegasi, unicorns, and alicorns. Pegasi have wings, unicorns have horns, and alicorns have both. One of the princesses there, my alternate, used a spell on me that would turn me where I would be equally human here and there, instead of having to swap from human here to pony there. The spell left me with pony ears, a horn, a muzzle, and a tail, and some magic from that land left me with perfect 20/20 vision, hence the faux-glasses. She," I pointed to Princess Luna, "is the Princess of the Night. She helps everyone there have a good night's sleep, and she's an alicorn, as you've already noticed, probably." "You're not hurt, are you?" "No. As long as I can see you, I'm fine." "Nice to... meet you, Princess Luna," Mom said, shaking her hand. "Charmed. All of you." "I'm..." "Mrs Twilight Velvet and Mr Night Light." "How do you know?" "I am very familiar with you two in Equestria. You are her parents there, too." They stood with their mouths agape. "Is that... us, Velvet?" I looked behind me and saw an Equestrian variant of my parents. "Twilight?" I heard Lemon's voice calling, "Twilight? You okay, dude?" "Lemon isn't anywhere around here, Princess Luna. How can I be hearing her?" "One o' yer books is glowin' 'n buzzin', Twi. Prob'ly oughta check it." "I haven't even met Applejack yet." My watch began beeping, so I checked it. 05:12 04 AM 15 9-17 TH "Miss Twilight, it is time for you to return to the waking world. Only then will you know of your anxieties' real truthfulness," she said, leaving the subway car. I took one last look at the scene before leaving. It had turned into what it should've been that day, three years ago. "What are you doing, Sparkle?" We were both on the subway to the museum at 1647 Lyon Avenue. I was writing computer code, while Indie was sketching some random stuff. We were the only people in that particular car. "Oh, nothing. Just trying to write a little bit of software." "Software for what?" "I've always wanted to just unlock my computer with my face, so I figured I could use the trip to work on it some." "Then, why are you timing it? It just looks at your face." "I want to make sure that it's as efficient as possible on this AMD Opteron-based architecture, Indie." Mom and Dad both looked up from their books and smiled. "What's up with her, Ms Velvet?" "Oh, she's just in the zone, deary, just doing what she likes." Indie looked at Dad. "Indie, I've been where you are. Both of us have." She raised an eyebrow at a complete loss. "Just try to get involved and help out. Even if it is just something simple, just show her that you're willing to try," he motioned for her and Mom to lean in, "I'll let ya in on a little secret. We go in the zone with her, too. All of us do, but at the end of the day, we don't understand a thing she does or says in it." Indie looked at me juggling a watch, notebook, and trying to look at the webcam on the 2008 custom-built Aluminum MacBook. "Okay, I need a better system." Indie sat next to me, "Can I help? I don't know how to code, but is there anything I could do anyway?" "Just one second," I said, setting up a new profile, "Ready!" "What do you want me to do?" "Look at the camera and take your picture, then sign out. Just click the Opteron menu, then logout." She took her picture, then signed out. "Okay, I'm gonna time how long it takes for the computer to recognize your face and load to the LXDE desktop." She clicked her nick, Indie, and looked at the iSight camera as I began to time it. She gave a "thumbs up" when it had finished. "17.89 seconds," I said, making a note, "Now, we swap roles." She timed the process on her iPhone 4S, totaling 3.7 seconds. "Uh, 3.7 seconds?" "Thanks, Indie," I said, giving her a hug, "I never would've known my own algorithm without your help," I said, scribbling something in an almost-full spiral-bound notebook. "If I get rich and famous, apart from my family, I'll see to it that you get a part of it, too." "W- why?" she said, caught off guard. "Because it feels right, and you helped." "I just held a stopwatch and looked at a laptop." "True, but you were a very important variable," I said, saving my work and turning to her, "I don't care that all you did was chronograph my login and take a picture of yourself. You still helped," I added, "Wanna watch Back to the Future tonight?" "Me? After everything?" "Sure. It felt... nice... having someone outside of my family that I could talk to," I turned around to Mom and Dad, "But you two and Shining and Cadence are irreplaceable." "Twilight?" I felt a jerking sensation on my body and heard Sunset's voice. It was time to leave the subway. In the morning "Mom...? Dad...?" I woke up on the couch in the sitting room. I had gotten used to the tail and other pony features by now, but today was going to be a new experience: I could finally see Mom and Dad again. "They're not here, Sugarcube," Applejack said, holding the book that Princess Twilight gave to me, "But ya really oughta check 'is. Might be important." I turned around, moved my tail between me and the armrest, put on my "glasses", and read the letter that Princess Twilight wrote. Sci-Twi, Expect to see your parents from Equestria at about 6:30 in the morning. We were all too excited to sleep. Princess Twilight "I've got just enough time to get to the school and pick them up!" I said, racing to my room to get myself ready for the day. 05:42 12 AM "Sweetie," Cadence called while I was in the shower, "I'm leaving $20 for you to get breakfast with, since I don't think you'll have time to eat here. "Thanks, Cadence," I said, running to my bedroom in drip-drying clothes. I looked on my desk to get my keys, money, and my glasses and watch (since they weren't on the bathroom counter). The keys and $20 were there, but not the eyeware and watch, so I started to freak out. "Twilight?" Lemon said, worried as she came in my room. "I can't find my glasses and watch!" She gave a small laugh, "I think you took a shower with them on." I stopped freaking out and looked at myself in my phone's front camera, "Oh." "You better hurry if you want to meet your parents." "I'll be back, guys!" I said, pocketing the keys, $20, a car charger (I had no idea how much charge my phone had, but it couldn't be more than 40%), and my phone. "I made you some coffee," Cadence said, handing me a to-go cup of fresh coffee. "Thanks! I'll be back in a few minutes!" I took the elevator down, as that was the best way. I was going to have to put speed first as it was, but I checked my phone in the elevator just to see how much time I had. 6:00 AM Thursday 17 September 2015 Twilight Sparkle's Samsung Galaxy S6 Battery: 44% ∆ Connected to AT&T via Unknown Infrastructure at 768Kbps Still need to charge it, though. The elevator stopped at the fifth floor, and a pale girl with electric-blue hair, purple ovular glasses, and headphones got on. Just say 'Hi'. "Um, hello." She looked at me, "Hey," she took off her glasses revealing magenta eyes that flashed red, "What's up?" I noticed she had fangs. Almost... vampiric. "WHAT!?" I jumped backward, hitting the corner of the elevator. Time slowed exponentially, and the possibility of being attacked by a bloodthirsty creature was NOT helping any of my anxiety about what might happen today. "I don't attack." Really? She could be on her way to an Annicon, and you, with that bigass brain of yours, think she's ACTUALLY a vampire? I know something's up, and I've had PLENTY of nosebleeds, and that smell is STRONG on her breath! When you've been in my shoes, THEN we'll talk. "Hey, you're that girl." "Huh?" "From the games. You sure have been beating yourself up over that, going by what Applejack's told me." "And you don't bite?" Stay strong. "No. Vice-Principal Luna's a vampire, too. You've never noticed?" "No." The elevator FINALLY made it to the ground-level. "Nice meeting you, Sci-Twi!" she said as she walked off. What the hell? I cleared my mind the whole way to my car. My phone started charging the second I cranked it up. "Money... check. Phone... check and charging. Time..." the console's clock read 6:07, "I can pick up breakfast on the way." I finished downing the cup of coffee and put in my old mixtape. Unchained Melody by Air Supply began to play, which helped my nerves. As I parked on the street side of the Wondercolts statue, I did a quick scan for Blueblood and Manor. The clock on the console flashed 6:23. I also decided to check my phone to see its charge. 6:23 AM Thursday 17 September 2015 Twilight Sparkle's Samsung Galaxy S6 Battery: 97% - Charging Connected to AT&T 4GLTE Not here. Good. And I'm on time. I got out, and as I was making my way to the garbage cans at the front of the school, I was jumped and pinned to the ground by Manor and Blueblood. "HELP!!!!!" "That won't do you any good!" I let out a surge of magic, making a blast. I heard someone running over to me immediately after. "Get off of her!" Principal Celestia yelled, "Luna, call the police." She called the cops, and by 6:27, those two boys were being escorted off of the school grounds in handcuffs. "Are you alright?" "Yeah," I said, "You two sure do get up early." "We had a dream last night to be ready for something like this today." "I bet I know how." Princess Luna took my McDonald's bag and threw it away for me, while Principal Celestia helped me up. "It must've been hard for you." "Yeah," I said, excusing myself to finish my coffee. I downed the remaining portion of the coffee in a second attempt to get rid of any lingering grogginess. I was about to throw the cup away when something came through the portal. "What the--?" I heard Vice-Principal Luna say. When I looked up from my now-empty coffee cup, there were my parents, on all fours. They obviously weren't my my parents, but they were close enough. "Velvet, does something feel... off... to you?" "I'm... it's different." I ran over to them, but stopped myself from falling on them over my own feet. Instead of becoming full humans, they became more like me: small horn, pony ears, muzzle, and a tail. They had all of the accessories that Mom and Dad would probably wear today: Dad's sunglasses and digital watch on his left arm, and Mom's Quartz watch with her fingernails painted the same shade of purple as the stripes in her hair. "Is that you, Twilight?" my dad said, taking off his sunglasses with his horn. They noticed how I was standing, then looked at one another. "How about I help you two up?" "That sounds great." I tried to help them up, but failed miserably, barely getting them halfway up before falling back down, though they were able to hold their balance for a few brief moments. "I don't think that this is going to work, Sugar," I looked around. Principal Celestia and Vice-Principal Luna had already gone back inside, and I wasn't about to leave Mom and Dad stranded like this. "Deary, anything else we could try?" Mom said, both sitting down now "We could try to get you two balanced against my car," I said, going over to my DeLorean, "Come on." Balancing with the front of the car, while it did prove to be a challenge, was a success. It was easier with Mom than with Dad, because she was more into thrills, where Dad was more into things like Sudoku and Bingo. I looked around, and saw Principal Celestia and Vice-Principal Luna coming back out of the school. "What's going on, Twilight?" "I don't know. They probably just want to meet you." They met the two principals at a little past the statue. "Hi, I'm Principal Celestia," she said to my mom, "I take it that you are Mrs Sparkle?" "Twilight Velvet, actually." "And you must be-" "Night Light." "Pleased to meet you," Vice-Principal Luna said. "Velvet, we should probably get to Twilight's house. Her Shining Armor and Cadence might be getting worried." "Good point, Dear." They were both shaky in walking to my car, but they had two very different approaches to it. Mom, with her love for a thrill, probably though Aw, heck! I'm just going to go for it until I fall!, as she was just trying to get to the car, taking rather large steps and holding out her arms for balance. Dad, on the other hand, probably thought something along the lines of Alright. I'll just go slow and easy. This Twilight would help us, just like our Twilight would., because he was taking slow, small steps to get to the car, even asking to hold onto me a few times. "And, there!" I said, helping Dad get sat down in the car next to Mom, "Have you two eaten breakfast?" "We had hotdogs," Dad said." "Just asking, because Cadence usually makes eggs on Thursday." They looked at each other, "That sounds nice, Deary." "It's settled," I said as I began to close the gullwing door, "Be careful." They moved over, then I went and got in. "Do you like music, Mom? I'm asking because mine liked it. A lot." "We both do," they said. "Tell me if you like this," I said, putting in a mixtape that was rewound to Walk Like an Egyptian by The Bangles. TAPE IN → "Ready," Mom said, "Play the music." PLAY → The song from 1986 started playing as I drove to ~~my~~ our apartment. "Oh, I just love this song! Do you have a Neighagara Falls here?" "Neighagara Falls?" "Now Velvet, one step at a time." "I'm sorry, Night Light! I'm just so happy and excited!" "Oh, Niagara Falls! We can do that on your next visit, Mom." If my hypothesis is correct, then 95% of our experiences with our parents have been the same as Princess Twilight's with hers. Driving up to the apartment, I took the cassette out and put it in a small bag. I pocketed the phone and leftover money from my trip to CHS, but I decided to leave the car charger in the car, for obvious reasons. "How do we get out?" Dad said as I unlocked the car. "Just hang on," I said, opening the door. "Good to get out of that seat. I needed to stretch my legs." I called Shining Armor to let them know that I was back. "Hello, Twilie!" "Hey, Shining!" "Did those two get taken care of?" "Yeah. They were led off in handcuffs by 6:30." "Great! You wanted to talk to me about something, didn't you?" he teased. "Big surprise when I get back home. Also, is Cadence making eggs?" "She's got the griddle on high right now. Do you want some?" "Yeah." "Alright, then." I ended the call, "Ready?" "Ready." I took them up to Apartment 7C in the elevator because I didn't want to risk them losing their balance and falling down several flights of stairs. "We're home!" I said as I had Mom and Dad stand right outside the door, just out of sight. "Who, sweetie?" Cadence said, taking another plate of eggs off of the griddle. "You can come in, now!" Mom came in, walking in a manner somewhat like you would after you would get off of a merry-go-round, while Dad came in, closer to a normal stride. "Oh, Shiny!" Mom said seeing my brother. Shining Armor turned around and dropped a plate, shattering it and leaving an egg-y mess on the floor. "Is something wrong?" Cadence asked, turning around and dropping a spatula with raw egg on it on the linoleum floor. "We didn't startle you, did we deary?" "N-no, Mom," Shining said as he began to tear up, causing Rainbow to snicker a little. "Hush it," Applejack said, somewhat harshly, "They prob'ly haven't had a family moment like this since, you know. That?" Applejack received a raised eyebrow as a response. Dad ended up in the sitting room, looking at what would send Mom into a shock, "Velvet? Can you come in here for a minute?" She could tell the tone of his voice changed drastically, going from cheerful to serious and concerned, "Yes? What is it, honey?" "I don't know how to describe it, but maybe the kids and Cadence can." Rainbow Dash turned the same shade of red as the red half of Sunset's hair (in other words, VERY) trying to hold back (being only somewhat successful, to be generous) laughter when Dad called Shiny and me "kids". She received a slap from Indie that made a slightly-swollen bruise in the shape of her hand on the side of Rainbow's face. "Oh, Celestia! Twilight? Shining? Cadence? Can you three come in here?" There was anxiety and a little fear in her voice. Dammit! We forgot to take those pictures down! We all went in and saw Mom and Dad sitting on the couch with Dad holding Mom in his arms. "I... I can't believe it. Everything you went through, Deary." "Well, we have you back now, you two," Cadence said. They looked at each other very uneasily, but the thought was obvious: they weren't safe here. We were all in denial of it, but they had to go back to Equestria. For their safety. "You drove them here, Twilie, so Cady and I will drive them back to the portal." "Okay." "It's at Canterlot High School, right?" "Yeah." "Come visit soon, Sugar," Dad said as they were leaving the apartment, "We'll miss you." When the door closed, I looked at the mess that was made with breakfast earlier. I had lost the part of my appetite that the bag on the way to CHS didn't tackle. "I should clean that up." "You want an excuse to use magic, don't you, Twilight?" I sheepishly smiled. "Alright then." Author's Note Yeah. I know that Twilight Velvet and Night Light are inseparable during this chapter, but that's just how good their marriage is: To death do they part (and then some). 20: Sunset's Past to PresentAuthor's Note Okay, so here's the deal with this chapter: Nothing dirty, but it's Sunset Shimmer's flashbacks from the time she came into the human world up to the present (September 2015, not December 2017-January 2018 present). I liked the idea of her being homeless and self-sustaining, but not the idea of her being taken in vs the idea that she has her own place as a kind of gift from the others. The particular condition of her living during her "homeless" state was amazing in Finding Home by Cirrus Sky, so I thought of another direction that could've gone in (especially since high-school students can't keep their noses out of others' business). This is also an amazing read, so go and take a look. ☺ Update: The colored text in the flashbacks are narration, and this is the converter I used to learn from. And no, mine is NOT perfect, so I typed the addresses the exact same way I would've in real life. 20: Sunset's Past to Present Sunset Shimmer's Point of View Prologue: Sunset Shimmer had a drastic mutation in her brain from the other fillies at birth, one that made her a fast learner, so her and the would-be-Princess Twilight Sparkle, with this same DNA deviation, both had very high IQs and soaked up information like a brittle, dry sponge. Sunset's impatience landed her in the human world, while Twilight's patience led her to be a princess. Both are brilliant minds, and both have twice the capacity to revolutionize the world that they live in. "Sunset," Rainbow Dash asked me, "I've wanted to ask you so damn long!" Sci-Twi had finished cleaning the mess that she thought only she was responsible for, so the brief of our conversation managed to capture her attention. "Rainbow Dash!" Rarity scolded, "As much as I'm sure we'd all like to know, I figure that the appropriate thing to do would be to wait until her juncture! Besides, some things are best left to one's self, Darling." "Wait... you guys..." she said to everyone before scolding herself, "Sunset, you damn screwball!" she returned to the group, "Ask away," she turned smug and sat down on the couch where there was still room, "I've been waiting for this." "If you're from Equestria and have been here for like, two years, then how the hell did you figure out how to blend in so good!?" Rarity returned the question with obvious, extreme, visible, speechless embarrassment. She had missed Rainbow's mark completely, in part because Rainbow gets dirty with questions sometimes, but only in good fun. "Are... you okay?" Lemon asked. "It'll pass." Sunset's Flashback, Thursday 01 August 2013 8:30p, Canterlot City What the tartarus? I looked around and saw that it was night in this strange land. A building, somewhat like a square castle, stood in front of me on the strange path. "It's hard. Cold," I described the cement before turning to face the mirror that, only minutes ago, had acted as a portal, my gateway to this world. It was shut off. Even though I was in this predicament, it still served one use: I examined myself in this body. I wore a leather jacket, purple shirt, orange skirt with a purple and yellow stripe, and dark boots with purple designs on them. "Okay, then." I felt inside of pockets, even though I knew I didn't have any belongings, whatsoever. "Is anypony even awake?" Nopony was awake, or even around where they could her me. "I'm a weird creature," I said, just then noticing something reflecting moonlight, "Dammit, I'm finding out what that is!" I crawled over to it because that was the only way I knew how to move in this new body. "Okay, what are you?" I figured out pretty quick that I had no magic in this world, whatsoever, so I took the "Earth-Pony" approach: my mouth and... things. I am not looking forward to this." I grabbed the weird slab with my mouth, crawled back to the road, and set it down. One side was plastic, and the other was glass with several... buttons? I don't know. "Okay, Sunset. You're not a pony, but you're not a chicken. Sadly, you have to act like one, though," I said, pecking at one of the buttons with my nose. To my amazement, it lit up! It showed a picture of two of these creatures, standing on what must be their hind legs. "Might as well get on with it," I said as I crawled back over to the mirror, "How to do this." I tried several things, none of which worked. I tried using my mouth, sliding up against it with my back, but nothing worked. Until I fell backward by using my... hoof?... to climb to my find legs, "What the-?" The thing that replaced my front hooves started to grab things, one falling in an open position, similar to a chair leg with a wide base, while the other... clutched something. The thing, "What the-?" I had a thought. "Come on, Sunset! You have a brain almost as good as the Princess's!" I clutched onto the corner of the mirror until I was all the way up. When I felt steady enough, I moved myself to the middle of the mirror, then turned myself around with my... legs? Again, I don't know. Either way, I stood, taller than ever before and leaning against the mirror with my back, trying to imitate the two creatures in the picture. "Front legs and hooves crossed... check." I bent down to get the slab and, after an hour of getting nowhere with the thing, I finally got it to do something that showed one of the creatures... walking? And talking. And clutching things. "Maybe you should set this down and try walking. It does look delicate." I tried taking a few steps, falling after each, so I looked at the thing. I think that there's a technique for everything. After figuring out something, I crawled back over to the mirror and tried to stand without pulling myself up on the statue. It took several tries, but I got back up. "Okay Sunset," I took a deep breath, "If you can get to the rail without collapsing, I should be alright." I made it to the rail, then I figured I really oughta pick up my speed if I want to survive here, so I did just that. I walked back and forth a few times until I felt comfortable. From walking to trotting, cantering, and finally galloping. I did begin to get delusional, and I couldn't figure out why until the Sun began to rise. "Shit!" I felt like I'd fall if I galloped or cantered, and trotting wasn't going to be exactly fast enough to get out of anyone's sight if they would be waking up now, so I picked up the device and began to trot away. I started getting hungry and began to hurt after a while, and that's when the slab started making these sounds. "Hey!" One of them came running over to me, "That's my phone! I can't go to school without it!" School, eh? Dirt. Found. "No." He went to hit me, but I knew I had to keep my balance. "Excuse me?" As good as I was at profiling people, I just knew that he had a Playcolt magazine, or whatever it was here, in his bag. He was exactly that type: geeky, scared, and shameful. "I know you have a girly magazine in there," The new look said it all: at least four. "And I'll show it to everyone here if you don't do what I say." Pale, sweaty, shaky, and scared, this geeky wimp agreed. Not that I cared. I just wanted to blend in around here. "What do you want?" "I'm not from around here," I said, pulling the magazines out and hiding them inside of my jacket, "And if you want your secret safe," I leaned in close to him, making the blackmail obvious, "I'll show everyone." "Follow me home," he said on the spot. I spent a week getting a crash-course on how to live in this world. As far as he was concerned, my name was Amber Skys. Over the course of that week, I learned that I was a human, I only had two legs, the others were arms, hands were at the end of those, and fingers as their appendages. I learned all of the aspects of the human body, what foods they ate (though I had to force myself from hucking whenever I sat down to a plate of meet. I had to look strong, so night was the best for that.), chemicals (chloroform came in really handy after the first night). Then I learned about how they ived and their luxuries, interactions, phrases, taboos, and the whole nine yards. "What's the green paper?" "Money." He taught me how to count that over the course of an hour, so when I left on the last night, I took as much money (or cash, as they called it) and ran like tartarus, (or ran like hell, as they put it), and there was a lot, along with a notebook and writing-pen. I didn't get caught, thank Celestia, so I found a sewer and slept in there for the night. Yeah, I was that desperate. "Just tonight, Sunset." The next morning, I climbed out of the sewer and made a break for the nearest store that was open, making a list of the things that I would need: Clothes Bag Shoes Socks Food Drink Pillows Blankets A way to get these clothes from smelling like shit. Hacked phone Blade After I managed to get all of that, I had to scout out a place to live. After about six hours, by the "phone's" count, I found an abandon place, so I set up home in it. Cold water, missing windows, rotting structure. All I could manage was to get by-- Present "Wait a damn second, ponygirl!" Sunny scolded, "You're saying that--" I cut her off. "I used possibly sexist blackmail to learn by threatening with a geeky perv's porn, resorted to theivery, slept in a damn SEWER of all places, and still chose to stay here instead of letting go of my dark-rooted pride, going back to a royal castle in Equestria, and apologizing to Princess Celestia about everything that I did wrong. Am I proud of it? No. Was I stupid? Yes. Have I learned from it? Damn right." When I looked up, everyone had their mouths agape. "Was it really that bad?" "Yes...?" Cadence said, coming in the apartment with Shining Armor and a completely speechless and somewhat flushed Princess Twilight. "Oh crap." "Actually... we heard everything." "Oh, God. I've screwed up, haven't I?" "Just... keep going," she replied, "We won't judge, especially until we hear everything. And even then, we won't be mad." "Hokay," I said with a deep breath. Flashback "Nobody around for miles... check. No fuzz... check. Can I get in?" I tried to get in, "dammit." The blade fell out of my jacket pocket, giving me an idea: Cut into it. "New experience," I said, cutting my hand, "OW!" It felt... good. Not in the "Okay, this is comfortable" way or the "I deserve to punish myself like this" way, but more along the lines of the "Now I know what could happen to me in this world" kind of way. "Shit that hurts, but I probably deserved it, especially after what I did to Princess Celestia," I said, wrapping my hand with one of the shirts from my bag. It stang like crap, so I took the phone out and asked it for help. "Hey, Google?" "Yes, Sunset Shimmer." "What do you do when you've accidentally cut yourself with a pocketknife?" "First, you boil anything out with hydrogen peroxide, then wrap it. Keep the wound clean and dry. If it becomes infected, see a doctor. If fatal, cauterization serves as an emergency solution, recommended after all other solutions become exhausted for various reasons." I wrote down the stuff I'd need, then asked another question. "Hey, Google?" "Yes, Sunset Shimmer." "Where can I get wrap and hydrogen peroxide?" "At the Dollar General Store, twelve miles east of your current location in Canterlot City." "I'll have to write that down and lookup blade safety. This does not feel good." After a few hours of cutting, I broke in and busted a wooden fencegate open and tore down a door, revealing what looked like a waiting room in front of an office divided by a glass pane. "Home sweet home," I said, examining the resources, "No electricity, cold water, some missing windows, and this place is abandon. Might as well be perfect." I sat the bag down and began pulling the cushions off of the chairs in the waiting room and putting them together in the office half of the building in the shape of a bed. There were just enough, so the pillows and blankets were sat on it. The extra clothes went on the "bed" too. "Dammit!" I said, holding up my hand. It was dripping with blood, stinging, and my arm had began to be covered in the red liquid. "Why do I... GAH! enjoy this? EEEEE!!" I took a few seconds to reflect on the possibly very sick question that I just asked, and remembered the answer. "Oh right... Ngh! This body... Augh! won't take it... and I needed to learn that!" After a few more whimpers from the surging pain in my hand, I came to realization. "I gotta fix this, or I might die!" I said, dumping my bag on a blanket, except for the money, and rushing to a bus Present "You don't... do you?" Shining asked me. "No, of course not. It was a one-time deal: me slicing my hand by accident." The scar, now resembling a birthmark, was still very much there. "How did it not get infected?" Fluttershy asked. "Well, let me finish the part about me getting my own place here built, then that'll come up." Flashback "Listen," I said to the driver with my right hand concealed and my left hand thumbing to the store's address on something called "Google Maps", "I need to get to the nearest Dollar General. Now!" "Take a seat. Fair's 48¢ a mile." I did the math in my head, and it came out to be about $5.76. "At'll do it." Taking the first available seat, I unwraped my hand from inside of the jacket and wiped most of the blood off with the inner lining. Damn, I'm in some deep shit. The cut went across my hand, but the worst part was when it didn't get absorbed into the jacket's lining. "Miss?" the person next to me said with a deep, country accent. He was probably a little taller than me, if we stood side-by-side. Messy, light gamboge hair, moderate sap green eyes, and freckles were what characterized his face the most. He wore a white shirt under a red jacket with a brown collar and rolled-up sleeves, along with frayed, denim blue pants and a belt, with two armbands. I looked at his feet, and saw that he wore red-and-white shoes. His build? Not muscular, but still strong enough to carry a few loads. "Who the hell are you?" "Name's Big Macintosh, 'though mah friends us'ally call me Big Mac, fer short," he said, rather welcoming, "Now, 'bout yer hand. Ev'r'thing okay?" "Everything's fine dammit!" I said, taking off the jacket and making even more of a bloody mess. "Now, simm'r down," he said, grabbing my wrist and holding my hand open, so I struggled against him for a minute, "I ain't gone hurt ya. Couldn't rest with m'self 'f ah did," I quit struggling, so he cleaned the wound off, then became a little shocked, "Ya might lose yer hand, own 'count ah how nasty 'at cut is. Ah'll take ya ta the farm 'n Granny'll gitya fixed right up." "No. I'm getting the stuff, and I'm fixing it myself!" I pulled my hand away from his loosened grip. Present "Wait a dang sec'nd!" Applejack scolded, "You were homeless, from Equestria, and could've DIED, and you still didn't won't any help?" "I caught a cold a week before you found me," I said. "If it hadn't been fer each 'f our pryin' 'n Princ'ss Twilight, you'd a been DEAD!" I looked to Princess Twilight. "You had a heart rate of about seven, a fever of 105.5 degrees, HARDLY breathing, and things were CRAWLING on you!" "But the Fall Formal--" I began to sob. "You did a horrible thing! That was in the past at that point! They forgave you! And you still wanted to treat yourself like that!?" "I just thought it was the right thing to do." She calmed down and came over to me with a stack of napkins, "Listen, Sunset. Even if they hadn't forgiven you, I'm sure they wouldn't have let you just die in an abandon building. I know it's not in any of anyone's heart for that to happen." "But I didn't want them to think I was terrible," I said, wiping a consistent stream of tears off of my face. "I know them well enough to know that's never a thought that would've ever crossed their minds. The only thing that happened was they questioned why you'd do that, and now we have the answer." "But... some of the others at school think I should just... jump." "Oh, just to tartarus with that crap. If they think that, then they're the ones that need to change. All you can do is fix you." "Listen," Sci-Twi said, "From my understanding, you and I both caused similar problems, but the important thing is that now they're solved." "Maybe tellin' us how the rest of the night went might help ya get some closure. Then, we c'n give Principal Celestia 'n Vice-Principal Luna a ring." "Hokay," I said through another deep breath, "But I'm skipping the busride back, because it mostly involved me being pissed off at the time. Flashback I went inside my "house" rather mad. "Damn store is closed," I murmured to myself as I got my bed ready, "Can't get the shit I need, sliced my hand," I opened a pack of socks and cut finger holes in two of them so I could, hopefully, use them to suck up some of the blood. The Next Morning "Ungh. What... happened?" I said, swatting flies away. I got up, ate a box of crackers, found that the sock had become mostly a dark red, and picked up the list that I made yesterday. Lock Peroxide Wrap I got back on the bus to the store, got the crap, and went back, then treated the wound. Exhaustion kept me from doing anything else. Present "Okay," I said, regaining my composure, "I told you that much, now you tell me how you tracked me down." "It's... a kind of weird story," Rainbow Dash said. "Tell it!" "Ya know that weird guy...?" Rainbow's Flashback, Thursday 16 January 2014 8:30a, Canterlot City High School Yeah, so I had math with this guy first. It's the same one who, well I don't know what he did. Anyway, so I was in math with him, and he and I sat next to each other in the back of the class. "Mr Seth!" the teacher yelled to the guy sitting next to me, "Are you paying attention?" He looked up from his laptop that looked like a bomb. "No. Because I already know, like, fifty times this shit. I came into your class yesterday with a soldering iron and started working on a computer board for a Dell Inspiron 5100 laptop, and we," he belched, "had this exact same conversation yesterday. I'm like a damn megagenius. Get over it." A few seconds of uncomfortable silence followed while he put the thing in a bag. "I-I-I I'll be in my thinktank." "And just where is it that you go to everyday?" "In the library," he said as he left. We haven't been able to get a connection to Sunset. Maybe he can help us. I texted Fluttershy, Rarity, Applejack, and Pinkie something that might help That guy's in the library. He might help. Meet up in the front room "Would it be okay if I went-" "Oh, just go!" the teacher snapped after being insulted earlier. I ran as fast as I could and met the others in the school's foyer. "Any intel on this guy?" "Ah do see 'im right around here purdy much ev'r chance 'e gits." We heard the sound of wood clomping on the floor, "What's that, Darlings?" I turned to look, and it was that guy. He had shoulder-length, brown hair with strands of black and electric blue, and was probably 5'9" in height and was not shaved. He was wearing a grey windbreaker, brown shirt, blue jeans with an orange belt, and shoes that looked like wooden sandals, but with a small piece of wood running left-to-right under the ball of his foot was and one right in front of the heel, along with glasses that looked like the frames were circular made from bending a wire coathanger. The expression on his face looked like he was stressed and exhausted, appropriately matching his state of hygiene, seeing as he looked like he hadn't showered yesterday, leading us to question if this was really the right way to go about tracking Sunset down, "I think his name is Seth," Pinkie said a little nervous. "What," he snapped in an eastern accent. I couldn't pinpoint exactly where it was from, but it sounded like an old friend from Brooklyn. Seth's Point of View Oh God. There's those five girls. Athlete, Party, Fashion, Farm, and Shy. "What." I said abruptly,. "Maybe this wasn't a good idea, Darling?" "Oh God," I said, letting out a heavy breath of air, "Don't go. You've got a problem, and I'm your last, and possibly only, resource. What is it?" "Sugarcube, is this the best idea 'at y'all got?" the southern one said nervously to the rainbow-haired one. I looked at my Casio calculator watch, "Really? I'm," I belched, "like the smartest person in the school and you don't know how to ask me a damn question? OhmyGod, Firehead never had any trouble with asking me stuff, so why the hell do you?" I slurred somewhat. "W'll ya see," the southern one said, "At's what we wanted ta ask ya. 'f ya could help 's find 'er." "What do we need." "Wait, so you'll do it, Darling?" "Hell, yeah." "The first thing to do," the athlete said, pulling me out of the school and to the Wondercolts statue, "is to get Princess Twilight in Equestria. She's a pro at figuring out what's wrong with people." "Equestria? The other world? Princess?" "You would've had to have been at the formal, Darling." "Right. One problem." "Yes?" "I draw the line at interdimensional travel." "We're screwed," the athlete said as the pink one's hair deflated. "How the fuck is that possible?" "Ah can't take 't anymore!" the southern one said, shoving me into what should've been the glass. Instead, it was a portal, "In ya go!" I reflexively screamed upon entering this other world, and I knocked over a horse with a horn and wings. "Are you okay?" I tried to stand up, but failed, falling back on all-fours instead. I looked to either side of my body and found that I had wings. Thank God I still had my clothes and glasses, or I would be naked and half-blind. Well, maybe the latter wasn't so bad, considering my current situation. "Are you Princess Twilight?" "Yeah. You must be from the other world." "Yeah, they wanted you. Something about us fixing some problem with a fire-headed girl not being at school." "Let's go, then!" We went back through the portal. I was so FREAKING glad to get back to being a human. "I. Am going. To kill you for that." After a momentary unease settled, they asked what I was doing next. "Are you going to the library, Darling?" "Yeah." "Can you help us find someone?" "Mm-hm." "Sunset Shimmer hasn't been at school for the past two days, and we're REALLY starting to get worried about her, so we were wondering if you could do something to-" I interrupted the pink one. "Shut the hell up. I'm sorry, but I've had a long four nights. With no sleep." "Oh." "What was it that you were wanting me to do again?" "You're always working with tech-geek stuff, so we were wondering if you could get her address," the athlete said. "Really? She couldn't have paraphrased it?" "You grow rather numb to it, Darling." I sighed, then said, "Let's go to the library." In the library, I was bombarded with questions. "Okay guys, get me coffee. This'll take like 90 seconds. Give me your phones." "Why?" the shy girl asked, "We can't contact her." "No, but you could before today," I said, putting a flashdrive into a computer so it would kill out all of the "Big Brother" shit, "And I can take those traces from cell towers to triangulate a ping." "Can you dumb it down?" the athlete said. I took a ball of twine from my bag, had the southern girl stand at the chair, while the athlete stood about 25 feet away. "What's 'is s'posed ta prove again?" "Just wait," I said, unraveling the twine from the ball to make a trail from the southern girl to the athlete. "Um, what's this?" the shy girl asked. "One second," I said, putting several books on the floor, two or three of them on the twine. "Darling, we know you can do this, but that's all we understand. What is it?" "Orange calls Blue, so a connection is made between their phones, right?" "Next," Blue said. "But the connection, represented with the string, has to go through several cell towers, represented by the books." "Okay." "I take the call data from your phones, and from there, it's just a game of find the path." "Oh! You're going to use our phones where we called and figure out where they ended up?" Pink asked. "Right." Blue and Orange gave me their phones. "Not a lot to work with, eh?" "It's only been me and Applejack." "Okay," I said as I began to take the phones apart and put the pieces in two plastic dishes, "You'll be surprised at this." "Hey!" Blue snapped, "I just got that!" "Do you want your friend or not?" "You can fix it, right?" "This is as easy for me as it is for you to knock someone's ass out in soccer." "Wow." I plugged the phones into the computer, opened a terminal, and began to run some code, "Where's Yellow?" "Right here," she said, putting the books back on the shelf with White. I decided to take out and drink a Red Bull, just for safe measure. "Do you have an address, Darling?" I turned back to the computer "Three... two... one... done." "Where is it, Darling?" "1482 Northwest Side Avenue," I said, making a few notes in Cyrillic, one of which was the address. I also wrote down the address of an apartment building and a Panda Express near my house. "Now," I said, "get ready to run like hell. I'm gonna destroy this thing to cover up my trails," I said, putting my crap back up, closing the windows, and taking the drive out, putting it in a seperate pocket in my bag from the Panasonic laptop, along with reassembling the phones. I waited for the librarian to go to the other side of the library before I pulled a flask out from under my pant leg, along with two screwdrivers. It was labeled HCl 4x, "Three..." I pried the top of the all-in-one open, "Two..." I took the flask out, "One..." I emptied the flask into the computer and pulled out the drivers, "We've got about ten seconds to get." We all quickly walked out and was in the hall by the time the circuitry in the Dell was beyond repair. "WHO DID THIS!?!?" "Run like hell to Celestia. I've got the damn questions." "Let me see your notes, Darling." "Fine," I said, turning the page to the messily written results: Аддрессес 830 4тх Авенуе: Апартмент Цомплех 670 Стате 72: Панда Ехпресс 1482 Нортхwест Стате Авенуе: Сунсет Cxиммер'с Хоусе "We can't read this, Sugarcube," Orange pointed out. "Working on it," I said, opening a camera Cyrillic-Latin translator on my phone, "Look through the phone," I said, taking a picture of the page Addresses 830 4th Avenue: Apartment Complex 670 State 72: Panda Express 1482 Northwest Side Avenue: Sunset Shimmer's House "What's with the other two?" "Pander Express and the complex are throwoffs." In Celestia's office, Luna was in there with her. "Could we have Sunset's address? We just want to check in on her." "I'm sorry, but that's strictly against school policy. I can't give out her personal information, even to her friends." Complete and udder bullshit. This girl doesn't even HAVE information to give out. She's damn HOMELESS. "I'd like to ask you something, Ms Celestia," I said, trying to play innocent, "I was wondering if you could tell me what a few addresses were around town. I was looking for a place to take my friends after school today for a bite to eat." She abruptly changed the subject, "Were you behind the destruction of one of the computers in the school library?" "Ms Celestia," I said, "As much as I wanna take credit for that, I couldn't," I pointed to the girls behind me, "Plus, they'd probably pulverize me if I did take credit." "Well then, what are the addresses, and I'll point you in the right direction." "830 4TH Avenue." "Okay," she said, her eyes beginning to look to the side, "670 California 72." She begin to subtly panic. "1482 Northwest Side Avenue." She was outwardly, silently panicking. Her eyes constricted and darting across the room, arms crossed with her hands clutching them, turning pale, heavy breathing, biting and licking her lips, and profuse sweating all gave away that she wanted us gone. "H- How did you get those places?" "Just asked around." Bullshit lie, but 'Tia can't do anything but panic. She grabbed a bottle of Dasani water and drank the whole thing before mentioning another word. "The first one's a Panda Express, and I'm not sure about the second one, and I'm pretty sure the third one was a hoax," she said desperately. "Love me some Panderee," I said, "Mind if we go and get takeout?" "Take the rest of the day off. My treat." Just as soon as we walked out, Luna walked in to check her sister. "Are you okay, 'Tia?" "I don't know what just happened Lulu." "What?" "A kid came and threw a few addresses at me, and one happened to be this girl's house!" "It must be a sick place for her to live." "Ms Celestia?" I opened the door to find her in a complete panic and her sister was extremely shocked. "Forgot to ask for directions!" Luna gave me a dirty look as Celestia gave me a quick and dirty set of directions for a "scenic" route. She really wanted me to go away. "Twenty-eight miles down 4TH Avenue north, turn right on exit ramp 273,--" "OH! I know where that is! I go past there every day. Thanks!" "No problem?" I ran out to the others, "Guys, we'll go in my station wagon. It's a little bumpy, but it managed to put up some shit back in the east." As we started to leave civilization, my phones began to lose signal, going off one at a time. "An' yer pos'tive 'is 's the place?" Orange said. "Absolutely. This is where the pings to ya phones stahted from." When we went in, I carried my first-aid kit, just in case I needed, and I needed it like shit. This girl was on the brink of death for God's sake "What the fuck happened!?" "What do we do!?" Blue said. "Pink, get my kit. Princess Twilight, help me for the love of God. Blue and Yellow, I need you to try to clean up some," I noticed White was throwing up at the sight of the blood and diarrhea, "Orange, get my phone and call 'Tia." Princess Twilight and myself hooked a defibrillator and blood pressure monitor on her. Outside, I heard Orange's bullshit lies. "Um, hi! Ah'm not sure what ta git," she said, looking in my station wagon at all the supplies. Technically, she wasn't lying because she never specified the scenario, "An' Ah's a wond'rin' what--" "Oh, give me the damn thing! You help Princess Twilight and I'll speak to her!" "Okay, then." "Celestia, the Pander Express getup was just a hoax to get out of school to check on what's-her-face!" "What?" "Seven BPM!" Orange said. "She's got a heart rate of seven, dammit!" "That low?" Luna asked. "So get your asses over here with a damn doctor and as big of a shitload of medicine as you can get!" "How did you get that information?" "I watch for signs and vibes, which 'Tia made VERY obvious ones when I gave the girl's address!" "We can't get Nurse Redheart to her fast enough!" "I'll text you a pingroute to your phones and change all of the lights to green for you, so you'll just have to drive as fast as hell to get here!" The call disconnected due to bad signal. Principal Celestia's Point of View I had almost stopped crying when the phone rang. The caller ID was pretty sketchy, though. Skype +1 (530) 530-5300 "Hello?" "Um, hi!" "Applejack, please tell me that you're at a restaurant!" "We're not exactly at Panda 'xpress, but Ah'm not sure what ta git." Someone came up in the background, "Oh, give me the damn thing! You help Princess Twilight, and I'll speak to her!" "Okay, then." The phone sounded like it was grabbed from her hand. "Celestia, the Pander Express getup was just a hoax to get out of school to check on what's-her-face!" "What?" "Seven BPM!" Applejack said in the background, causing me to put my face in my hands. "That low?" Luna asked. "So get your asses over here with a damn doctor and as big of a shitload of medicine as you can get!" "How did you get that information?" "I watch for signs and vibes, which 'Tia made VERY obvious ones when I gave the girl's address!" "We can't get Nurse Redheart to her fast enough!" "I'll text you a pingroute to your phones and change all of the lights to green for you, so you'll just have to drive as fast as hell to get here!" Present "And that's how it happened." "Messed up." Sci-Twi's mouth opened in shock, "Seth Circuits?" "You know him, Darling?" "We used to be friendly to each other, then we just kinda lost touch." "I'd like to meet this person," Princess Twilight said, "Where does he live?" "I... don't know." "None of us do, Darling." Sci-Twi's Point of View I started thumbing through my phone, hoping that I'd still have his address. Eventually, I found it. 43 Quicktime Circle "Hey," I said, "I still have his address!" 21: Sci-Twi's ReunionAuthor's Note I don't know why, but I just thought that the character Greg from Steven Universe would make a great cousin/guardian for Seth. I did change a few things around, so that, as far as a "family" goes, it's more in an iCarly style (older, "anything goes" sibling with a younger "somewhat reasonable" sibling), so Greg is 12 years older than Seth, putting him at 28 and 16, respectively. Also, on the Cyrillic text (I know it's not perfect by ANY means, it's just how I'd write it for the heck of it), the subscripts aren't a part of the labels (on the drawers, etc). Also, I don't thing getting drunk off of Monster Energy Drink qualifies as Narcotics. Yeah. Let me know if there's any inconsistencies. I kept getting screwed in the head and thinking I wrote this chapter from Seth's point of view. His will be the next one, so this is Sci-Twi's chapter. 21: Sci-Twi's Reunion Sci-Twi's Point of View "This is it," I said to everyone who was jam-packed in Sugarcoat's SUV, "43 Quicktime Circle." She pulled up in the driveway and we all got out to see a bluish, split-level house. I went up to knock on the door, hoping that he still lived here, "Please be here." I heard a familiar sound of wooden clomping, then the door opened, revealing a guy with a gray windbreaker tied around his waist and a soda in one pocket, red shirt, bluejean pants, shoulder-length brown hair with dirty blond streaks held partially out of his face with a paperclip, glasses that looked like they were hand-made from a coathanger, and a pair of Japanese Kimono sandals. He spoke with a moderate Brooklyn accent. "Purple?" "TwiPON3?" "Oh my God, where the hell have you been?" "We had to move to town a while back." "Shining! Cadence!" "Nice to see you, too," Shining replied. "Is that the pizza?" someone from upstairs asked. "No!" His cousin came running down the stairs, then stopped dead in his tracks, "Twilight Sparkle?" "Hi, Greg." He still had the same figure and build he had when Seth and I were young: six-foot-two, lean, and brown hair that came down to his ankles. Sweet Jesus, Greg! Don't you EVER cut your hair? "What's with the muzzle, horn, ears, tail, and fake glasses? I haven't seen you this gone out since we were, like, 7, for God's sake. And I really like the new outfit. It looks really laid back." "It's a really long story, and Pinkie Pie gave me the clothes after my other ones were destroyed the other day at the games." "Yeah, when the flash drives, WiFi adapter, and Bluetooth adapter in my fingers got hot," he peeled back the middle three fingers on his right hand, showing a thin USB stick and two adapters where the fingernails would be, "I figured 'This shit's for real', so I ran like shit out of there." "Neat," she said, "What happened to your fingers, though?" "That's disgusting, Darling!" Rarity said, looking a little sick, "Put it back!" "Battery acid about a year ago," he said, reconcealing the fingers' peripherals. "Oh." "You and your subjects may enter my castle now, Your Ugliness," he said regally. I broke down laughing and had to lean on the doorframe. "Okay, this friendship," Princess Twilight said, "is abusive." "Okay, Fred G Sanford. We're comin' on in." We stopped laughing long enough for everyone to go in, but Princess Twilight stayed outside with me for a second, "Is it okay if I observe this friendship?" "Sure." The three of us went inside, "I'll getya some cahffee, and letcha dahctor it up yaself," he took a look at me, "But really, what's up with the fake glasses," I said, bringing two mugs of coffee to the dining room table, "That's gotta be an interesting story." "My eyes were magically brought to 20/20 at some point right after the Friendship Games." "Huh. Guess you won't want the ones I made for you way-back-when now." "I'd love to be able to wear them again," I said. "But you just said you have perfect vision." "These don't have any lenses." "Oh." He took us all down to the basement where our old science lab was, "Here's my lab. And room," I took one look at the door, and it still had the sign on it. Written in masking-tape blue was ТwиПОН3 анд Пурпле'с Лаб (TwiPON3 and Purple's Lab) The basement wasn't really big, but what it was was nice. Eighty-Five percent was devoted to our lab, while the remaining 15% consisted of a makeshift bedroom, the boundary clearly marked on the floor, walls, and ceiling with a line of masking tape and the words BEDROOM and LAB indicating which side was which, just in case it wasn't already obvious. The lab was similar to mine at home with the exception of being bigger, having a small bathroom, having a small counter with a kitchen sink and coffee peculator, freezer, a long metal table with cabinets and drawers underneath spanning the entire wall next to the kitchen area, a few folding tables placed in various locations in the bigger half of the room, and a closet with a small table next to it labeled Лаб Цлотхес(Lab Clothes). Overall, the lab partition was messy with the usual lab stuff: computers, cables, dishes, irons, microwelders, etc. The bedroom wasn't exactly anything notable, either. It consisted of a foldout couch in front of a hidden staircase, minifridge, 800-watt Emerson microwave, a table that could comfortably hold two original MacBooks, (though it had one that was constantly running on one half and the other had a phone dock connected to it via FireWire 400 with an alarmclock), a 13-inch CRT RCA TV/VCR on the floor, and three full drawers labeled 📼Магнетиц Тапе(Magnetic Tape) 📀Оптицал Видеос(Optical Videos) 💿Оптицал Софтwаре(Optical Software) Everyone except for Princess Twilight, who was more concerned with mine and Seth's friendship, was shocked at what we used to do. "I'd like to know one thing, Sci-Twi," Princess Twilight said to me, "How did your friendship begin?" Seven Years Old: Public Library I walked across the library, reading a book that I was about to check out when I ran into this boy who was walking in my direction, writing in a notebook. We ran into each other, knocking the books out of our hands. "Ow!" I said. "Watch it!" he replied. My parents and a man who couldn't have been any older than his mid-twenties came over to us. "Is everything okay, Twilight?" Mom said, running over to me. He stood up, looked at me, then held out a hand, "Sorry. My bad," he said, helping me back onto my feet, "I like your watch. It's just like mine." He had messy brown hair with dirty blonde streaks, wore wooden Japanese Kimono sandals, bluejeans, and a periwinkle shirt. He spoke with a Brooklyn accent. "My mom gave it to me for my birthday. How'd you get yours?" "My cousin gave it to me." I looked at his glasses. They were... different. Almost like the circular frames were handmade with a welder and clotheshanger, "I like your glasses. Where'd you get them?" "My cousin took me to WalMart to get some over-the-counter glasses after I didn't like what the optometrist had. We went home, and I found a wire cutter and coathanger and just... went to town until I found something that felt right. Then I soldered away. A week later, Greg took me back to Dr Lenses, and they made the lenses in their lab." "Cool. I'm Twilight Sparkle. Who are you?" "Seth Circuits, but you can call me TwiPON3." "Maybe we can be friends?" "You can stay the night with me. My address is 43 Quicktime Circle." "No way! We live right next to you!" We embraced each other with a big hug before Mom and Dad and that man came over to us. "Are you okay, sugar?" "I'm fine, Dad." "Did you make a new friend, Deary?" "I did." "Oh, I am just so proud of you!" "He wanted me to stay over at his house tonight. Could I? He lives right next to us." "Alright, Sugar." Present "Alright. I've heard your side of the story, Sci-Twi," Princess Twilight turned to Seth, "Now I want to hear it from you." Seven Years Old: Public Library I walked across the library, writing concepts in a composition book for my workarea when I ran into this girl who was walking in my direction, with her nose in a textbook. We ran into each other, knocking the books out of our hands. 'Watch it!" I said "Ow!" I said. My twenty-five year old cousin came over to us, along with the girl's parents. "Hey," Greg said, "Something wrong?". I stood up, looked at her, then held out a hand, "Sorry. My bad," I said, helping her back up, "I like your watch. It's just like mine." She had purple hair that came to the middle of her back, thick-framed glasses, lavender skin and eyes, and wore a skirt and a purple shirt with a pink six-pointed star on it. "My mom gave it to me for my birthday. How'd you get yours?" "My cousin gave it to me." She looked at my glasses, "I like your glasses. Where'd you get them?" "My cousin took me to WalMart to get some over-the-counter glasses after I didn't like what the optometrist had. We went home, and I found a wire cutter and coathanger and just... went to town until I found something that felt right. Then I soldered away. A week later, Greg took me back to Dr Lenses, and they made the lenses in their lab." "Cool. I'm Twilight Sparkle. Who are you?" "Seth Circuits, but you can call me TwiPON3." "Maybe we can be friends?" "You can stay the night with me. My address is 43 Quicktime Circle." "No way! We live right next to you!" We embraced each other with a big hug before Greg and her parents came over to us. "Everything alright?" "Mm-hm, and I possibly made a friend. Can she stay with us tonight?" "Definitely," he said with a smile. Present "I don't know what to make of it," Princess Twilight said to me. "Purple, I got 'em ready for ya!" "I'll be there in a sec, Messy," I said, "Princess Twilight, I gotta go." I went over to our old clothing area (basically where we kept a few changes of clothes and our labcoats), and was greeted with an unusual surprise. "I wasn't sure if you liked lenses or not with glasses, so I made you a pair without lenses and one with regular flat polycarbonate," I looked at the glasses, "They don't have any power to them." I looked up and smiled, taking the glasses off that Pinkie gave me and replacing them with the lensed ones. "What do you want to do first," I said, getting my hair into a mess before pinning it with paperclips, binderclips, and pencils, "Still have that thing?" I put my labcoat on. "Hell, yeah!" He put on his labcoat over his jacket and filled it with pencils and various other objects, not to mention a pocketknife that looked like a shotgun shell, then took a good look at me before laughing like shit. What the hell's so funny? "You need to... You need to see your... yourself right now!" he said, taking my picture with a Motorola Droid X after sticking a binderclip with a pencil in it over the paperclip in his hair, "You look hilarious!" I took a look at the picture, then doubled-over, "Oh my God!" "What is it, Sci-Twi Darling? Is everyth-- OH MY SWEET GOD!!!!!" "Jesus, White. If you need to lay down," he pointed to the couch that doubled as his bed, "there's a couch right there." "Alright, Seth!" Applejack said, somehow not managing to intimidate him, "Ah'm sick o' ya callin' us by our col'r! What's yer deal!? Racism ain't exac'ly somethin' ya should have, dammit!!" "Applejack, please," Fluttershy said, coming over to the three of us, "I'm sure there's a reason." "He isn't being racist," Sunset said, "He hasn't called me 'Ponygirl' or anything like that, and he's been Sci-Twi's friend forever now. I think." "SHUT THE HELL UP!!!" Applejack was boiling. If looks could kill, Fluttershy, Sunset, Seth, and myself would have dropped dead. And judging by the look in her eyes, she wanted to beat the shit out of him. Seth, being completely oblivious to social cues, probably had no idea about what was going on. "Applejack, lighten up!" Rainbow yelled as he began to back up. "Please for the love of God, what Rainbow said!" Just as she was about to beat the living crap out of him, she stopped and calmed down, "Ah can't brang it on mahself ta hurt anyone," she turned angry again, "But why are you bein' so damn racist?" "I'm not," he said, very much confused, "Where'd you get that idea?" "Yer callin' us by what color our skin is, Sunset's hair, but you called Rainbow by her actual name!" "Wait, her name's actually 'Rainbow'?" "You didn't know, did you?" Sunset asked, coming to a realization, "Applejack, if he was racist, he would have a: not helped me, b: not let Sci-Twi inside because she's half pony." "Or even TALK to Princess Twilight when he was in Equestria," Fluttershy added. "Oh God!" he said, "You're just going to jump to conclusions when you've only seen me ONCE in the past!?," he stormed up the stairs, leaving his labcoat on a hangar, "FUCK IT!!!!!" The door slammed so loud that, with 90% of the room being hard surfaces, the sound echoed for a second and hurt Lemon's ears. "What... just happened?" Applejack asked. Nobody said anything because we were all wondering the same thing. "I'll go talk to him," I said. I went into the kitchen where I found him grabbing a handful of icecubes from the freezer and dropping them in a cup, making a small mess. Upstairs, I could hear an electric guitar playing Rasputin. Seth then pulled a can of something out of the refrigerator and emptied it into the glass. I just sat down at the table. "Um... shouldn't you-" "Yeah, I don't give a fuck," he snapped, sitting down at the kitchen table, opposite from me and drank the whole glass. "Something wrong?" "D-Do Don't take this the wrong way or personally, b-but your friend," he belched, "maybe has an issue with 'jumping the gun', don't ya think?" he slurred "No. And what's with you?" I asked, rather concerned, "Not that I'm mad--" "Of course, Twi, you're never pissed off when you're pissed off, a-a-and I," he belched again, "just blow right up," he looked at his glass, so I took it and smelled it. "Gross!" I said, "It's Irish! With rot." Sunset, Princess Twilight, and Applejack ran upstairs. "So...?" he said, slurring his speech a little, "Wha's wron?" "Shit! Princ'ss Twilight, Ah didn't know that Ah did THIS!" Applejack said, beginning to pull both sides of her hat down as if she was forcing it over her head, "Ah've screwed up 'is tahme!" she said turning pale. "Okay, what happened, Sci-Twi?" Sunset asked me, "You were up here with him when this happened, right?" "This is not going to end well," Rainbow said, coming in the kitchen. "Sow I figurd," he said, taking back the glass. "What's going-- Oh my Lord," Greg said, coming into the kitchen, "I was almost afraid of this." "What?" I asked, "Does he have a problem?" "No. He's only had to cope with something almost hellish just once in the past, and he did it like this. I think it makes him completely forget that what happened actually happened." "How far did he go?" Seth went back to the refrigerator, holding the glass parallel to the floor, spilling the ice. "Eight. How many has he had?" "I think just one." "Ho boy." He grabbed a handful of ice and dropped it in the cup, popped open another can and refilled the glass, "Jus lemmie cometo real'ty, willya?" "No!" Sunset ran over to him and set the glass of greenish liquid on the counter, "No! I've been there, and it's not a path you want to go down!" "Ih numbd mahside," he said, getting the drink and stumbling over to the table, spilling it some. "What?" "Six months ago," Greg started, "he was stabbed several times. He says this helped, as painful as it was to watch." He started to drink the second glass, but stopped. Thank God, "Icant doih." He set the glass down, and Pinkie came upstairs and drank it. "Dear Lord, Pinkie don't!!" Instead of becoming very much drunk, she gained a MASSIVE surge of energy, making me question if she was on a different plane of reality. She did manage to identify it, though. "Why the hell did you do that, Pinkie Pie!?" Sunset asked as she set the glass down. "Hmm. Monster Energy Drink, bitter lime flavor!" she said, becoming increasingly twitchy, eyes dilating like saucers, and a massive smile on her face. "Oh God, guys. Hit the deck. Pinkie and energy drinks should never mix," Sunset said as Pinkie ran out the front door. "Gemmie a Rehbull'n I'll be back soon." Greg went and gave Seth a Red Bull, and he was back in two minutes, flat. "What happened?" Seth said, knocking the empty can off of the table, "Damn that was fleeting." "I worry that something's gonna go wrong one day, Seth," Greg said. "You think I like it?" "No, but-" "Then there's your answer!" "Wait," Sunset said, "You're telling ~~me~~ us that you got drunk off of an energy drink?" "Yes ma'am," he said firmly. "To try to cope with being called racist?" "Mostly the part where I thought it was going to get physical. She looked like she was going to pulverize me." "But you're back, now." "Yes, and I'm tired of questions," he turned back to me, "Come back downstairs, Horsey," he chuckled. "That's funny," I laughed. "There's something I wanna give yas." "Lead the way, Screwball." We both doubled over on the floor laughing so hard that it started to hurt. After a few minutes, we both went downstairs, and he led me to his couch, which had a box under it, simply labeled Фоур-Еыес(Four-Eyes). Shining Armor, Cadence, and Greg had come down to the basement. "Here ya go, Four-Eyes," he said, handing the box to me, "I hope you can still use 'em." "You better cut that out!" Shining said loudly. "Wait and see how this pans out. They were close when they were younger." "I guess you're right." "And for you, Wireface," I said, handing him a box the size of a milkcrate, "I hope you'd still like it after three years." "Open on three?" "Count of three. In Korean. Ready when you are." What compelled us to learn how to count to five in Korean is far beyond either of us. Either way, we counted down at the exact same time. "Ses, dul, hana, OPEN!" We both opened the boxes. Mine had five pairs of bluejean pants with extra pockets, a belt with Тwилигхт Спаркле and beakers printed on it, five shirts (three were magenta and two were bright lavender) with a beaker and six-pointed star on the front in white, similar to my hairclip, along with $50 and a photobook of pictures from when we were younger, and a pair of blue wooden Japanese Kimono sandals with the same white beaker-star pattern as the shirt, "Oh my God, I just love it!" he smiled, "I'm gonna go change right now!" I went and changed into one of the shirts and put the belt on, then broke down laughing. "What?" he laughed from the other side of the door as I came out. "I look like a jackass!" "I didn't know that you were friends," Lemon said, "Why didn't you tell me?" "Guess I just kinda... forgot... after they... left... us," my voice was solemn, but changed back to heavy laughter when I picked up a picture of Greg, Mom, Dad, Seth, me Shining Armor, Cadence, and Indigo flipping the camera off, while the frame read, in beautiful script, Family and friends aren't a thing for life. They're a thing for ALWAYS. Pictures like this really cheer me up. No dates, no names, just family and always, instead of the two that are in our sitting room concealing clay urns. "You gonna... you gonna take some... some time to breathe... or what?" "I'd ask if you wanted to stay," I said, "But I'm a little packed." "You and your friends could always just stay here. With me. And Greg." Everyone silently debated that before Rainbow Dash gave a loud approval. "FUCK, YEAH!!!" "Get ya things 'n make yourself at home, Rainbowhead. Hell, why not all of you?" "Name's Rainbow Dash. Not Head," she said to Seth in a don't sweat it attitude. "At least I was half right." "My friends usually just call me Rainbow, for short." "Rainbow Dash," he said, tossing a set of keys with the Mercedes-Benz logo etched in them, "I don't mind a few scratches from you and your friends, but the clutch slips." She looked at him with a raised eyebrow as Applejack came downstairs, fearing the worst had happened. "Ah can't b'lieve 'at Ah did that," she looked at Seth, "Please don't do anything! Ah'm a mighty sorry 'bout-" "Forget the whole damn thing. Nobody's gonna remember it by the morning, okay? Now listen. I've invited everyone to stay here and, if you want, you and... you do have a brother, right?" "Big Mac? Yeah." "Okay then," he said, hurriedly, "You two can stay too. Just don't blow up again." "Just thought you'd need the extra space to carry all the bags. The key goes to the '75 station wagon," he said as he pressed a button on the wall, making a mechanical rumbling noise, amplified by the hard surfaces in the room. "WHAT WAS THAT!?" Fluttershy yelled as everyone looked around with worried expressions. "Garage door," he said, pointing to a set of stairs going into the ceiling, "You can get to it just through there." Within five minutes, everyone except Lemon, Indigo, myself, and Seth. "What's this," I said, touching a capacitor on a logic board on one of the tables, "Looks inte..." I was zapped, but that was the least of my worries, seeing as how something blew up pressure-wise on me knocking me out with my unconsious body falling over before I just... left it. And started going up. FAST. "Okay, this is weird!" I said, approaching the Exosphere. I wasn't sure how I was still breathing, then suddenly, I was on a layer of clouds in front of a gate with a sign that, in scripted calligraphy even more perfect than Princess Celestia's, read Welcome, Twilight Sparkle, "Hello?" "Come in, Twilight Deary," my mother's voice said. I took off the glasses to wipe the lenses clean, when I noticed something in their reflection: I had wings of all things! "No! Not me, too!" "Please, just for a minute, Sugar?" Dad's voice said, "We can't come and see you if you're out there." I collected myself, put the glasses on, and went in. At this point, I didn't really care about anything,"Okay." Inside the gate, behind the blinding but comfortable light stood Mom and Dad. Not from Equestria, but from the subway. They didn't look shot or stabbed or hurt, but that only made it harder to face them. They were wearing their favorite clothes, and had a golden halo over their heads, along with a pair of beautiful wings that would shame anything a human or pony could ever dream of doing. I tried to divert myself and thoughts to what this place might be: A remote island? South California? ANYWHERE!? "I can't look you in the eye, anymore. I've done something so terrible, I'm sure you'll hate me." "What?" Mom said as her and Dad hugged me, "Where did you get that idea?" "After what happened at the Friendship Games. I- In fact, I'm not even the same daughter that I was before Monday." "Let's not worry about that, Sugar," Dad said, him and Mom taking me to a diner that very much resembled the Huddle House. "You'd have no way of knowing, but," I said, emptying the contents of my pockets on the table, which only consisted of the three things I had been carrying with me since Monday night: my pocketknife, pepperspray, and Galaxy S6, "but I... I-" "You may have been that monster for a while, Deary," Mom said, "But it's just like your friend Applejack-" My eyes went wide, so her and Dad immediately knew that they'd have to explain everything, "How do you know about Applejack?" I asked, "And what about what Sour Sweet said-" "Well, what did she say?" "She called me a sweetie, then said you two should've had different kids when Cadence brought my phone to me," I was all out crying now. "Everyday, Sugar, we look down on you from up here, and we couldn't be happier about what you three have become," he said, pointing at the table, "We both started crying because you thought we wouldn't love you anymore," something started to show on the table. It was me crying, surrounded by the others, "Now, you tell me if you don't think that's the truth." "Sugarcube," Applejack lifted my head up, so I blinked my eyes to get the tears to go away, "They're yer mom 'n dad. I know I probably shouldn't word it like this, but they don't give a damn about what you are. Th' only thang that matters is that yer their daughter. All's 'ey care about 's you doin' the best you can an' bein' the best you can." "I ~~believe~~ know that's all true." "Just because you have wings and you're half-pony doesn't mean we'll stop loving you, Deary," Mom said as she and Dad pulled me in for another hug, "We even saw what happened at the games, and we still love you. We would've, even if you had stayed like that," I was crying now, "Do you know why?" "No...?" "Because deep down, you're still our baby," Mom finished as she kissed my forehead and Dad booped my muzzle with his fist (seeing as now his finger wouldn't be big enough), "Now, dry up those tears," she said as Dad handed me a vanilla milkshake in a 1950s style glass. "I want to show you something else," he said, pointing at the table. It showed Mom in a hospital bed with Dad beside her and Shining and Cadence in chairs next to Dad. Mom and Dad looked about sixteen or seventeen years younger, while my brother and Cadence were just kids. Mom was sweating and shaking so Dad was holding her hand. "What do you AHH!! hope for...!!!" "I think that you should get a baby girl, Velvel." "What could happen to the baby!?" "Whatever happens," Dad said as Shining and Cadence went to give Mom a hug, "There'll always be four of us who loves whoever it is, no matter what." Mom gave a sincere smile that could warm anybody's heart before looking as if she was in an intense amount of pain. "Who's it going to be, Mommy?" Shining asked, drinking a Mr Pibb with Cadence. "WE DON'T KNOW! HONEY GET THE DOCTOR!!!!!" "On it, Velvel!" Dad said as he opened the door and shouted for someone. "What's he doing?" Young Cadence asked my brother. "I don't know." Two doctors ran into the room and to Mom. "THIS IS IT!!" Mom started squeezing Dad's wrists to the point that they were beginning to lose circulation. After a bit, though, she just looked exhausted. "Congratulations, Mrs Velvet!" A doctor said, handing her a lavender-colored infant with purple hair with a pink stripe, "She's a beautiful baby girl!" "The worst of it's done, Vel," Dad said as she was handed the wrapped newborn, "What do you want to name her?" She looked over to an excited Shining Armor, "I think we should let you decide, Shiny." He looked around the room at a clock that read 5:53 A, then out the window, "Twilight, uh," he looked in to... my... eyes, "Spar-- Twi-- Twilight Sparkle!" "Time of birth: 5:53. Date of Birth: Friday, November 20, 1998. Name: Twilight Sparkle." "I'm your mommy," Mom said, cradling me, "And that's your daddy," he pointed at Dad, "And your brother, Shining Armor, and his friend, and hopefully yours too, Cadence," she said as the four of them hugged me, "We're your family, and we'll always love you, no matter what happens, Deary." "In a little while," Dad said, "You'll get to see your brand new home." "My birthday?" I said as the table turned back into a table, "What does that have to do with anything?" "Honey, that's where and when our love for you started, and it's that same love that you'll keep getting from us forever." I guess they're right. Maybe I have be-- CRUD!! WHAT IF I DIED, TOO!? "Mom, I'm not--" "No. You're just here for a visit, Deary." "In fact," Dad said, "We needed this just as much as you did, Sugar." "Wait... you did?" "We missed you so much. And I'd kinda like to hear that story about Spike. It's not everyday that you see a talking dog, Right Velvel?" "Right." "Can... can you come visit us? Or at least get some pictures with me?" "Sure, Deary. Now, get the camera ready," she said as I opened the camera package on the phone, "I knew that we'd still get more pictures." "Say cheese!" A series of futuristic beeps and a screenflash indicated that it was taken, "I missed that smile, Sugar. Let's see it!" A swipe opened up the newly-took picture on the Camera Roll, and it showed us in a booth: Mom and Dad with their halos and wings and me with mine and my pony features, "The tail must've been hard getting used to, huh Sweetie?" Dad asked. "I don't care what happens to me. Just knowing that I have you is all that I need." After a few more pictures and a couple of videos and a LOT of lost time, we finished our drinks. "Sorry," Mom said, "It's time for you to leave." "What? No! Please!" "I'm sorry, Sugar," Dad said before smiling, "You'll see us again really soon." "Huh?" At the exact same time, they both said those three words that always meant definite truth, "I guarantee it." "I love you," I said, giving them a hug, then went off on my way. When I stepped out of the gates, everything changed from the clouds for ground to me laying on a sofa with everyone around me. "Miss Twilight?" Princess Luna's voice called to me, "Are you okay?" "You should've called the paramedics like everyone else does! Not this!" I sat up, and found that I was in the living room. In it were the three princesses (in pony form), Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Applejack, someone who looked like he might be her brother, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Sunset, Lemon, Indigo, Sunny, Sugarcoat, a beat-up Sour Sweet, my brother and Cadence, Greg and Seth, the Wondercolts' Equestrian counterparts (still in pony form), and everyone's things from my house. "And I'm telling yas, that she's gonna be fine!" "Guys, what happened?" I said, reaching into my pockets, but not finding anything. Was everything I've just experienced real? "Are you okay, Twilie," Shining and Cadence said. "I... I don't know. I think so," I said, trying to get something out of my pockets. This time, there was a note: Sugar, you left a few of your things with us. They're in a box under the downstairs foldout. We'll see you guys when you get back upstairs. Love, Mom and Dad "Guys I'll be back!!!!!" I yelled, running downstairs and using the bottom of the handrail to get leverage to go to the couch. "Is this really such a good idea, Twilight?" Sunset asked as I jumped on the floor to get the box, "You might hurt yourself again!" "Worth it!" I said, grabbing the box. The lid simply said We love you. They HAVE to be in here! I opened the box and found the three things I was missing, along with a note. We're right outside, Deary. "They're here!" I said, setting the box on the couch and running to the front door. "Who?" Cadence asked, running to the door with Seth, Sunset, Shining, Indigo, and Lemon, "Please be alright," she muttered under her breath as I opened the door. I opened the door, and standing there were Mom and Dad with their halos and wings from earlier, but they also had something: each had their clay urn and their picture from the sitting room in the apartment. "Come in!" I said, full of ecstasy and joy. "Listen," Shining said, believing they were just two assholes, "You better not do anything to any of us! Either of you!" They came in and sat at the kitchen table, wings slightly open and still visible where they had their halos from earlier. "We thought we'd make a quick stop by the house and get a few things that you might know what to do with, Sugar," Dad said, as they both put the pictures on the table, facedown and opened the two urns, both of which were empty. "WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO TO MOM AND DAD'S ASHES!!!!!" Shining was boiling, to put it generously, not to mention everyone's anger that had been with me in my apartment on Monday. "I want to tell you a story, Shining," Dad said, keeping his composed exterior like he used to before the subway, "You remember on the night of your first date?" Shining's face turned back from red to its original color, "How I told you that everything would turn out just fine, maybe even better?" he sat down, "Well," Dad stuck his hand in the urn and it turned to ash until he pulled it out, making it turn back into his hand. "Dad?" "Hi, Son," he said as my brother and Cadence began to cry, "Before you can't see, I want to show you something," Dad looked at Mom, and they both nodded and turned over the pictures. They each had a third line printed on them: Twilight Velvet 1972~2012 2015~ Night Light 1971~2012 2015~ "What the hell?" Seth said as Sunset's mouth dropped open. After a few seconds, I saw them exchange a high-five. "I don't know," she replied. "We'll be back down for a while," Mom said, "Is there anything you five want to do?" "Five?" Sunset asked, "Who?" They looked at everyone in the room. "Oh," Mom said, "Guess we didn't think it through, Deary." "Who are you two?" Lemon asked as my parents opened their wings halfway. "Lemon Zest," I said, "This is my mom, Twilight Velvet," Mom waved, "and my dad, Night Light." "Nice to meet you, Lemon Zest," Dad said, shaking her hand. "Sunset Shimmer," Sunset said in a playin' it coool voice, "Lot in common with Sci-Twi," she winked at me. "I kind of sensed it," Mom said. "I'm Sugarcoat, Mr and Mrs Sparkle." "Please," Dad said, "Don't be so formal," Mom and Dad chuckled, "It makes us feel old!" "Sorry." We all went into the living room, where there were more shocked expressions. The princesses actually bowed to my parents! "It is an honor to meet you," Princess Celestia said. "We're not gods," Mom said. "You're..." "Angels, Sweetie." "Mighty fine ta meet ya, Mr and Mrs Sparkle," Applejack said, holding her hat to her chest by its brim as Mom and Dad sat down on a sofa, "Ah'm Applejack," she said, before introducing her brother, "And this is Macintosh. We usually call 'im Big Macintosh er Big Mac, fer short." "Eeyup." "He really ain't one fer many words, if ya know what ah mean." 22: Seth's ReunionSeth's Point of View I heard a car drive up to the house. Shit this soundproofing doesn't work The doorbell rang, so I hoped it was the pizza. "Purple?" "TwiPON3?" "Oh my God, where the hell have you been?" "We had to move to town a while back." "Shining! Cadence!" "Nice to see you, too," Shining replied. "Is that the pizza?" Greg asked. "No!" Greg came downstairs, then stopped dead in his tracks, "Twilight Sparkle?" "Hi, Greg." "What's with the muzzle, horn, ears, tail, and fake glasses? I haven't seen you this gone out since we were, like, 7, for God's sake. And I really like the new outfit. It looks really laid back." "It's a really long story, and Pinkie Pie gave me the clothes after my other ones were destroyed the other day at the games." "Yeah, when the flash drives, WiFi adapter, and Bluetooth adapter in my fingers got hot," I peeled back the middle three fingers on my right hand, showing a thin USB stick and two adapters where the fingernails would be, "I figured 'This shit's for real', so I ran like shit out of there." "Neat," she said, "What happened to your fingers, though?" "That's disgusting, Darling!" White said, looking a little sick, "Put it back!" "Battery acid about a year ago," I said, reconcealing the fingers' peripherals. "Oh." "You and your subjects may enter my castle now, Your Ugliness," I said regally. I broke down laughing and had to lean on the doorframe. "Okay, this friendship," Princess Twilight said, "is abusive." "Okay, Fred G Sanford. We're comin' on in." We stopped laughing long enough for everyone to go in, but Princess Twilight stayed outside with me for a second, "Is it okay if I observe this friendship?" "Sure." The three of us went inside, "I'll getya some cahffee, and letcha dahctor it up yaself," I took a look at her, "But really, what's up with the fake glasses," I said, bringing two mugs of coffee to the dining room table, "That's gotta be an interesting story." "My eyes were magically brought to 20/20 at some point right after the Friendship Games." "Huh. Guess you won't want the ones I made for you way-back-when now." "I'd love to be able to wear them again," I said. "But you just said you have perfect vision." "These don't have any lenses." "Oh." I took us all down to the basement where the lab was, "Here's my lab. And room." Twilight looked at the sign that was written in masking-tape blue Everyone except for... other Twilight... who was more concerned with our friendship, for whatever reason, was shocked at what we used to do. "I'd like to know one thing, Sci-Twi," her twin looked at Twilight, "How did your friendship begin?" Seven Years Old: Public Library I walked across the library, reading a book that I was about to check out when I ran into this boy who was walking in my direction, writing in a notebook. We ran into each other, knocking the books out of our hands. "Ow!" I said. "Watch it!" he replied. My parents and a man who couldn't have been any older than his mid-twenties came over to us. "Is everything okay, Twilight?" Mom said, running over to me. He stood up, looked at me, then held out a hand, "Sorry. My bad," he said, helping me back onto my feet, "I like your watch. It's just like mine." He had messy brown hair with dirty blonde streaks, wore wooden Japanese Kimono sandals, bluejeans, and a periwinkle shirt. He spoke with a Brooklyn accent. "My mom gave it to me for my birthday. How'd you get yours?" "My cousin gave it to me." I looked at his glasses. They were... different. Almost like the circular frames were handmade with a welder and clotheshanger, "I like your glasses. Where'd you get them?" "My cousin took me to WalMart to get some over-the-counter glasses after I didn't like what the optometrist had. We went home, and I found a wire cutter and coathanger and just... went to town until I found something that felt right. Then I soldered away. A week later, Greg took me back to Dr Lenses, and they made the lenses in their lab." "Cool. I'm Twilight Sparkle. Who are you?" "Seth Circuits, but you can call me TwiPON3." "Maybe we can be friends?" "You can stay the night with me. My address is 43 Quicktime Circle." "No way! We live right next to you!" We embraced each other with a big hug before Mom and Dad and that man came over to us. "Are you okay, sugar?" "I'm fine, Dad." "Did you make a new friend, Deary?" "I did." "Oh, I am just so proud of you!" "He wanted me to stay over at his house tonight. Could I? He lives right next to us." "Alright, Sugar." Present "Alright. I've heard your side of the story, Sci-Twi," she looked at me, "Now I want to hear it from you." Seven Years Old: Public Library I walked across the library, writing concepts in a composition book for my workarea when I ran into this girl who was walking in my direction, with her nose in a textbook. We ran into each other, knocking the books out of our hands. 'Watch it!" I said "Ow!" I said. My twenty-five year old cousin came over to us, along with the girl's parents. "Hey," Greg said, "Something wrong?". I stood up, looked at her, then held out a hand, "Sorry. My bad," I said, helping her back up, "I like your watch. It's just like mine." She had purple hair that came to the middle of her back, thick-framed glasses, lavender skin and eyes, and wore a skirt and a purple shirt with a pink six-pointed star on it. "My mom gave it to me for my birthday. How'd you get yours?" "My cousin gave it to me." She looked at my glasses, "I like your glasses. Where'd you get them?" "My cousin took me to WalMart to get some over-the-counter glasses after I didn't like what the optometrist had. We went home, and I found a wire cutter and coathanger and just... went to town until I found something that felt right. Then I soldered away. A week later, Greg took me back to Dr Lenses, and they made the lenses in their lab." "Cool. I'm Twilight Sparkle. Who are you?" "Seth Circuits, but you can call me TwiPON3." "Maybe we can be friends?" "You can stay the night with me. My address is 43 Quicktime Circle." "No way! We live right next to you!" We embraced each other with a big hug before Greg and her parents came over to us. "Everything alright?" "Mm-hm, and I possibly made a friend. Can she stay with us tonight?" "Definitely," he said with a smile. Present "I don't know what to make of it," Twilight (I'm assuming she's another Twilight) said to Twilight. "Purple, I got 'em ready for ya!" "I'll be there in a sec, Messy," she replied, "Princess Twilight, I gotta go." She came over to the coat cabinet and was greeted with an unusual surprise. "I wasn't sure if you liked lenses or not with glasses, so I made you a pair without lenses and one with regular flat polycarbonate," she looked at the glasses, "They don't have any power to them." She looked up and smiled, taking the other glasses off and replacing them with the lensed ones. "What do you want to do first," she said, making herself look messy, "Still have that thing?". "Hell, yeah!" I put mine on and put a pocketknife and some other crap in the pockets. Then, I broke down laughing. What the hell's so funny? "You need to... You need to see your... yourself right now!" I said, taking her picture with a Motorola Droid X after sticking a binderclip with a pencil in it over the paperclip my his hair, "You look hilarious!" She took a look at the picture, then doubled-over, "Oh my God!" "What is it, Sci-Twi Darling? Is everyth-- OH MY SWEET GOD!!!!!" "Jesus, White. If you need to lay down," I pointed to the couch that doubled as his bed, "there's a couch right there." "Alright, Seth!" Orange said, angry for some reason, "Ah'm sick o' ya callin' us by our col'r! What's yer deal!? Racism ain't exac'ly somethin' ya should have, dammit!!" "Applejack, please," Yellow asked, coming over to the three of us, "I'm sure there's a reason." "He isn't being racist," Firehair said, "He hasn't called me 'Ponygirl' or anything like that, and he's been Sci-Twi's friend forever now. I think." "SHUT THE HELL UP!!!" Okay, Orange was boiling pissed. If looks could kill, Twilight, Firehair, Yellow, and I would have dropped dead. What the HELL? "Applejack, lighten up!" Rainbowhair yelled as he began to back up. "Please for the love of God, what Rainbow said!" Just as she was about to beat me to smithereens, she stopped and calmed down, "Ah can't brang it on mahself ta hurt anyone," she turned angry again, "But why are you bein' so damn racist?" "I'm not," I replied, "Where'd you get that idea?" Jesus Christ, woman! "Yer callin' us by what color our skin is, Sunset's hair, but you called Rainbow by her actual name!" "Wait, her name's actually 'Rainbow'?" "You didn't know, did you?" Firehair came to a realization, "Applejack, if he was racist, he would have a: not helped me, b: not let Sci-Twi inside because she's half pony." "Or even TALK to Princess Twilight when he was in Equestria," Fluttershy added. "Oh God! You're just going to jump to conclusions when you've only seen me ONCE in the past!?," I hung the labcoat up as I went to the kitchen, "FUCK IT!!!!!" I went into the kitchen and made a decent-sized mess getting drunk on bitter-lime flavored Monster from 1972. "Um... shouldn't you-" "Yeah, I don't give a fuck," I snapped, sitting down at the kitchen table across from her and drank the whole glass. I was out of it. This stuff is strong but fleeting to me. PLEASE, for the love of God Almighty, WORK DAMMIT!!!!! "Gemmie a Rehbull'n I'll be back soon," I said as the glass began to wear off. I had no concept of how long I was like that. All that I knew was that I drank a can of Red Bull and ignored the painful headache that followed for a little bit. "What happened?" I asked, accidentally knocking the empty can off of the table, "Damn that was fleeting." Bullshit if it WASN'T fleeting. "I worry that something's gonna go wrong one day, Seth," Greg said. "You think I like it?" "No, but-" "Then there's your answer!" "Wait," Firehair said, "You're telling ~~me~~ us that you got drunk off of an energy drink?" "Yes ma'am," was my reply. "To try to cope with being called racist?" "Mostly the part where I thought it was going to get physical. She looked like she was going to pulverize me." "But you're back, now." "Yes, and I'm tired of questions," I looked at Twilight, "Come back downstairs, Horsey," he chuckled. "That's funny," she laughed. "There's something I wanna give yas." "Lead the way, Screwball." We both doubled over on the floor laughing so hard that it started to hurt. After a few minutes, we both went downstairs, and I led her to the couch, which had a box under it labeled Фоур-Еыес(Four-Eyes). Shining Armor, Cadence, and Greg had come down to the basement. "Here ya go, Four-Eyes," I gave her the box, "I hope you can still use 'em." "You better cut that out!" Shining said loudly. "Wait and see how this pans out. They were close when they were younger." "I guess you're right." "And for you, Wireface," she gave me a crate-sized box, "I hope you'd still like it after three years." "Open on three?" "Count of three. In Korean. Ready when you are." Shit if I had ever figured out why we learned to do that with Google Translate. "Ses, dul, hana, OPEN!" We both opened the boxes, "Oh my God, I just love it!" she smiled, "I'm gonna go change right now!" She went into the bathroom and broke down laughing after a few minutes. "What?" I laughed as she came back. "I look like a jackass!" "I didn't know that you were friends," the one with the headphones said, "Why didn't you tell me?" "Guess I just kinda... forgot... after they... left... us," her voice was solemn, but changed back to heavy laughter when she picked up a picture of Greg, Mom, Dad, me, her Shining Armor, Cadence, and Indigo flipping the camera off, while the frame read, in beautiful script, Family and friends aren't a thing for life. They're a thing for ALWAYS. "You gonna... you gonna take some... some time to breathe... or what?" "I'd ask if you wanted to stay," I said, "But I'm a little packed." "You and your friends could always just stay here. With me. And Greg." Everyone silently debated that before Rainbowhead gave a loud approval. "FUCK, YEAH!!!" "Get ya things 'n make yourself at home, Rainbowhead. Hell, why not all of you?" "Name's Rainbow Dash. Not Head," she said to Seth in a don't sweat it attitude. "At least I was half right." "My friends usually just call me Rainbow, for short." "Rainbow Dash," I said, tossing a set of keys with the Mercedes-Benz logo etched in them, "I don't mind a few scratches from you and your friends, but the clutch slips." She looked at me with a raised eyebrow as Orange came downstairs, fearing the worst had happened. "Ah can't b'lieve 'at Ah did that," she looked at me, "Please don't do anything! Ah'm a mighty sorry 'bout-" "Forget the whole damn thing. Nobody's gonna remember it by the morning, okay? Now listen. I've invited everyone to stay here and, if you want, you and... you do have a brother, right?" "Big Mac? Yeah." "Okay then," he said, hurriedly, "You two can stay too. Just don't blow up again." "Just thought you'd need the extra space to carry all the bags. The key goes to the '75 station wagon," he said as he pressed a button on the wall, making a mechanical rumbling noise, amplified by the hard surfaces in the room. "WHAT WAS THAT!?" Yellow yelled as everyone looked around with worried expressions. "Garage door," he said, pointing to a set of stairs going into the ceiling, "You can get to it just through there." Within five minutes, everyone except her friend with headphones, Indigo, Twilight, and myself. "What's this? Looks inte... AHH!!!" Something zapped her. "Twilight? Twilight!? CAN YOU HEAR ME!?" I yelled, checking her vitals Yep. She's a'ight. Just needs to rest. "Guys, help me get her on the sofa upstairs." They helped me get her on the couch. "Call 911!" "We can't! "Do it, dammit!" I took my Huawei Nexus 6P, held it up to my face, and mocked what Indigo said. "Hello? 911? Yes, I have an emergency at 43 Quicktime Circle in Canterlot. The nature is that my friend, who is half-pony with a horn, tail, muzzle, and pony ears was blown back about five-or-so feet and knocked unconscious. Yes, that's right. She's half-pony, and the oldest one at the house is sixteen years old. Thank you!" "I see your point," Indigo defeatedly replied. When the others got back, there was hell to pay. "Miss Twilight?" a blue pony kept saying to Twilight, "Are you okay?" "You should've called the paramedics like everyone else does! Not this!" She came back to the land of the living, thank God, and got her bearings straight. "Guys, what happened?" she said, reaching into my pockets. "Are you okay, Twilie," Shining and Cadence said. She pulled a note from her pocket "Guys I'll be back!!!!!" she yelled, running downstairs. Firehair followed. "They're here!" she yelled as she made a break for the front door. "Who?" Cadence asked, running to the door with me, Firehair, Shining, Indigo, and the one with the headphones, "Please be alright," Cadence muttered under her breath as Twilight opened the door. When she opened the door, her parents were standing there with halos and wings. "Come in!" she said, full of ecstasy and joy. "Listen," Shining said, believing they were just two assholes, "You better not do anything to any of us! Either of you!" They came in and sat at the kitchen table, wings slightly open and still visible where they had their halos from earlier. "We thought we'd make a quick stop by the house and get a few things that you might know what to do with, Sugar," Dad said, as they both put the pictures on the table, facedown and opened the two urns, both of which were empty. "WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO TO MOM AND DAD'S ASHES!!!!!" Shining was boiling, to put it generously, not to mention everyone else in the house, more or less. Probably better that I DON'T know. Otherwise, I'd probably LITERALLY raise all hell. "I want to tell you a story, Shining," Night Light said, keeping his composed exterior like he used to before the subway, "You remember on the night of your first date?" Shining's face turned back from red to its original color, "How I told you that everything would turn out just fine, maybe even better?" he sat down, "Well," he stuck his hand in the urn and it turned to ash until he pulled it out, making it turn back into his hand. "Dad?" "Hi, Son," he said as Shining and Cadence began to cry, "Before you can't see, I want to show you something," Night Light looked at Velvet, and they both nodded and turned over the pictures. Printed on them were: Twilight Velvet 1972~2012 2015~ Night Light 1971~2012 2015~ "What the hell?" I said as Firehair's mouth dropped open. After a few seconds, we exchanged a high-five. "I don't know," she replied to me. "We'll be back down for a while," Velvet said, "Is there anything you five want to do?" Where were they? "Five?" Sunset asked, "Who?" They looked at everyone in the room. "Oh," she said, "Guess we didn't think it through, Deary." "Who are you two?" the one with headphones asked as my they opened their wings halfway. "Lemon Zest," Twilight said, "This is my mom, Twilight Velvet," Velvet waved, "and my dad, Night Light." "Nice to meet you, Lemon Zest," Dad said, shaking her hand. "Sunset Shimmer," Firehair said in a playin' it coool voice, "Lot in common with Sci-Twi," she winked at Twilight. Headphones = Lemon Zest. Firehair = Sunset Shimmer. PLEASE remember that, shit-for-my-brain! "I kind of sensed it," she said. "I'm Sugarcoat, Mr and Mrs Sparkle," a short girl with glasses said. Short with glasses = Sugarcoat. "Please," Night said, "Don't be so formal," the winged couple chuckled, "It makes us feel old!" "Sorry." We all went into the living room, where there were more shocked expressions. The ponies actually bowed to them! "It is an honor to meet you," the white pony with a horn and wings said. "We're not gods," Velvet replied with a smile. "You're..." Twilight stunned. "Angels, Sweetie." "Mighty fine ta meet ya, Mr and Mrs Sparkle," Applejack said, holding her hat to her chest by its brim as Mom and Dad sat down on a sofa, "Ah'm Applejack," she said, before introducing her brother, "And this is Macintosh. We usually call 'im Big Macintosh er Big Mac, fer short." "Eeyup." "He really ain't one fer many words, if ya know what ah mean." They gave a small laugh. Orange = Applejack. Red and brown jacket = MacintoshBig MacintoshBig Mac I'll ask later. "Well, it's time for us to go back now, but we'll come back as soon as we can," Velvet said, hugging Shining, Cadence, and Twilight in their wings, "We'll always love you." They went outside and began to fly off. "Told ya they were proud o' ya, Sugarcube," Applejack said, hugging Twilight. I am going to have to learn a LOT of names tonight, dear God. Author's Note This chapter is Seth's chapter. Sci-Twi's is the previous one. 23: An Extention of Magic: The Message and A Hidden TalentAuthor's Note Last night (in the story) turned out pretty dangerous. The "party", that is. Two Doc-Brown characters (one with the potential to piss others off easily) The guy's host (a Doc-Brown like type at that) and his 28-year old, OPEN-minded cousin/brother (depending on how you'd see it) binge on pizza more often than not (and who the hell KNOWS what's in their refrigerator) An essentially rule-free environment (Basically the only one being don't murder anyone intentionally) A packed house, most of which are girls (Don't get any thoughts! It's not like that). I really don't think that I need to explain how it went. And yes, some more guests were invited to the party. Also, this was originally supposed to be split into two chapters, but instead they were smushed into just one because of a mistake on my part. Sorry. 23: An Extention of Magic: The Message and A Hidden Talent Sci-Twi's Point of View I woke up on the stairs to a loud banging on the door. Seth woke up to it too, although I'm pretty sure that he was in the bathroom. "Hello?" I said, opening the door. It was Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. "It is nice to see you again," the blue alicorn said. "Hey Twilight! Tell whoever that is to fuck off!" I felt my face turn red with shame as they looked around me. "Uh, Seth? It's not exactly--" I WISH I'd woke up cuddling somebody or something now. Someone else in the bathroom vomited. If I know Seth, and I sadly do, he was probably thinking What are all of the creative ways I can kill you with this vomit right now?, seeing as he hadn't had a chance to get some coffee or Red Bull. "Ya know, I don't know what the hell I did last night, but I got some stank on meh!" My eyes darted to the left and right once as I felt Princess Twilight come up behind me. "What... what is this smell? I can't even identify it! Smells kinda like orange and guacamole. Weird how ya just... just wanna keep smelling it, ya know?" "May we come down?" The four of us went to the couch and began to discuss Equestrian magic. The basement was a complete mess. "What is it that you wanted to talk to me about?" I asked. "I requested for the princesses to come after they mentioned a pony, a Pegasus, Seth Circuits." "Seth?" I asked as he came stumbling out of the bathroom, over to the (now on its side) minifridge and drank a Red Bull from it. His torso was covered in vomit, and if looks could kill, the four of us would be dying a slow, painful death. There was no way that he was already up for the day. "Yeah?" "Is... ~~this~~ that supposed to be bad?" Princess Celestia said, all three princesses looking at me for an answer. "Uhh... probably?" "Oh! Now I get it!" he said, "How does bacon and eggs sound for breakfast?" "That's... not exactly what this is about." "Oh," he said. There was a short pause as a pony-fied Sunset came downstairs, drinking out of a 12-cup pot of coffee, rubbing her eyes and just as groggy. At least she was somewhat of a morning person. Otherwise, all hell might've broken loose. "Who the hell could be so damn chipper at 7:20 in the morning, other than you, Twilight?" "And, there's number two." "Number two?" Princess Celestia asked. "Why would Celestia be here at this time?" Sunset asked coming over to us, "I thought Seth said he erased his address forever ago." "I did," he said as he began to cook bacon with a Bunsen burner. Sunset looked over and vomited at the sight. "Don't worry. I have some pony bacon in the cooler forya." "You eat horses and ponies here!?" Human Applejack got up (she had been laying on a mattress awake with Spike and her brother, and had sustained a few bruises from Big Mac not noticing her under the covers) at hearing that. "Y'ALL DON'T SERVE HORSE MEAT TO A PONY, SETH!!! NOW AH'M GONE TA RIP YA A NEW 'NE!!!" she said, giving Lemon Tart a reason to laugh of all things, "DAMN, YA DON'T SERVE A HORSE AT ALL, DAMMIT!!!!!" "Pony bacon?" Pony Pinkie Pie asked, bouncing over to the burner, "I WANNA SEE!!" She took the box off of the counter, "T-O-F-U Bacon! Safe for V-E-G-A-N-S?" "In my defense, I didn't want any of this to happen!" "OH!" the pink pony said, "It means pony-friendly! Not made from ponies!" "Y'all don't git out much, do ya?" "No." "A pony by the name of Seth Circuits, fitting his description, has been identified on the Equestrian census, and has been requesting to meet with all of you." "Alright?" "But we are curious as to the conditions of... magic?" We all turned around to the sound of a CD shattering at 20,000 RPM. "And we're not sure if it would be a safe move." "Well, why aren't you going to Sunset about this? Why me of everyone?" Two things had just left my dictionary: the phrase of all people and the word impossible. "We figured that it would be in the best interest if you heard it first." "Mom?" Sunset asked after getting to her feet and drinking God-knows-how-much soda, "Is that you?" Princess Celestia couldn't help but to reunite with her daughter. "We are asking this because you have spent the most time with him in this realm." "Sure. He's always been good with stuff in this area." "What the hell!?" Applejack said as a fire buzzer went off, "HOW, on ALL of God's creation, did you manage to SET WATER ON FAHRE!?" "I think that may have been ethanol, Applejack!" they said, running to get a fire extinguisher from the bathroom. "WHY WOULD Y'ALL DO THAT!?" "Are... you sure?" "Apart from an obvious lack of cooking skills, yeah. I think that it'll be fine." NOW I know why all the pizza and microwave foods. "Uh, how about something else," Pony Rainbow Dash said, "Like that stuff from last night?" "Sister, we must go now," she turned to me, "Come to Equestria at 2:00." Princess Celestia and Sunset bade farewell, then the two sisters left. "Okay, I have six pizzas on the way, and three are for those of you who don't eat meat," Seth said, "Commies." "Okay," Pony Pinkie Pie said, "What's a commie?" "It's a joke," he replied, "You have to eat SOME kinda meet if you wanna be American in my book." Sunset began to laugh as she collapsed on the floor, her four legs giving way. "You do know that Equestria isn't communist, right?" Princess Twilight said. The five shadowbolts began to laugh and collapse on the floor. "Laughter is freaking contagious!" I doubled-over until a familiar voice said something. What made my spine run cold is what was said. "When you were judging that contest last night," Midnight said, "you should've took in on the action with those mad skills of yours." "What's she talking about, Sci-Twi?" Sunset asked. "She never told any of you?" I got ready to gag her. "No. What?" Seth kept quiet because he knew that I didn't want it getting out that I could play instruments. "Well," Midnight began, "When she was younger, she --" I jumped her, pinned her to the ground, and drug her to the bathroom where she ripped off the gag, but not before I locked us in. "WHY THE FUCK DID YOU DO THAT!?" "I don't know. Maybe because you wouldn't shut the hell up!?" "You can coop yourself the fuck up, or you can actually do what the hell your teacher would want!" I took a deep breath, went out of the bathroom, over to the cupboard, pulled out my old electric guitar, had Seth come over and get his, then got ready. "A little Blues riff in B, watch me for the changes, and try to keep up," I told Seth, who gave me a nod as I began to play Johnny B Goode like it was played in Back to the Future. The next thing I knew was that Human Pinkie was playing a drumkit, Pony Pinkie was playing a sax, Rarity was playing a Roland ep-7II electric piano, and Applejack was on her bass. "Damn, girl," Lemon said, "You a badass." I couldn't hear her, but I could read her lips, "Check this out!!" I yelled over the already blaring music. Princess Twilight's expression went from surprised to complete shock when I decided to just shred out the rest of the song. "Oh my God," Indigo said when I got finished, "You played the shit outta that guitar." I looked at Seth, who returned the look. I misinterpreted the sign everyone was giving off badly. "I'll just... put it back. I should've known that this was a dumb idea." "Darling," Rarity said, "You can't possibly just QUIT right after that. Just one more?" "Yeah," Sunburst said, "A few more." "I don't know any more songs." "Sugarcube," Applejack said, obviously picking up on my lie, "Y've gotta know justa few more o' them." I looked around the room at various things, then my eyes settled on the pictures of Mom and Dad. "Guys, just me and Seth on this one?" "Why of course, Darling." "This song," I said after they had given the conceptual spotlight to the two of us, "This song is the song that my parents first danced to, and it's their favorite as a couple. I know that Seth knows it, and that it's..." I looked into Seth's orange eyes and smiled, "It's really nice once you hear it. It was written in 1980," I said as I began to play Every Woman in the World, "It's nice to know that this stuff gets passed on through the gene pool, even if you can't ever get a how on it." "What was that song that your mom likes?" Indigo said as we finished the song. "Walk Like an Egyptian?" "Can you play it?" "It'll have to be the last one for right now, but sure," I said, "We just need another guitar, tambourine, and drumkit." Sunset brought her guitar, Human Pinkie came up to her drumkit, and Fluttershy mustered the strength to come and play her tambourine. "This is my mom's favorite song of all time, so here we go." When we finished the song, everyone in the room had a new view on the both of us. 24: An Extention of Magic: Welcome to EquestriaFast forward a few hours. Canterlot City High School, next to the portal. Everyone is there from Seth's house, and they're getting ready to go through. Sci-Twi's Point of View "Guys, when you go through the portal," I said, "You'll--" "Outta our way!!" Indigo and Lemon shouted. My head didn't stop spinning until after we were all in the portal room in Princess Twilight's castle. At least Princess Celestia and Princess Luna were there when I came to. "What the fuck happened to my body!?" Sunny said, "I'M A DAMN HORSE!!!!!" "Ho-ly shit, this is weird," Seth said, seeing himself as a pony with wings. Rarity was a unicorn, so sunset went to help her calm down. I looked at myself, and I was a unicorn, too. Like earlier. "I don't even wanna know." After a quick freakout from the Wondercolts and Seth coming to a realization, we left the castle at the request of Princess Twilight, while the princesses helped the five Shadowbolts come to terms with being ponies. The Equestrian variants of the Wondercolts stayed back at the castle. "Dude," Seth said, as we all sat down at a table outside of a restaurant, "This is every brony's dream." "Wait," Rainbow said, beginning to laugh at him, "You like to watch My Little Pony?" "On VHS," he replied shamelessly. Rainbow responded by doubling over on the ground laughing her butt off. "That's for little girls!" "Yeah," he said, "Well last week when I went to the spa for the steamroom, my humidifier and radiator quit," he smiled slyly, "I saw a certain someone waiting in line for a little something." Rainbow Dash jumped at that, "I stop laughing! It WASN'T me!" "I don't know... maybe someone with an athletic complexion..." "I won't make fun of it again!" "Cerulean..." "Please!!" "Moderate cerise eyes..." "ANYTHING!!! JUST NAME IT!!!" "Rainbow Dash was there for a spa treatment." "I'M RUINED!!!!!" "You went to the spa? I could've had them give you the PERFECT treatment, Darling!" "Why'd ya do somethin' lahke that, Seth?" "Honestly," Sunset said, "Former bully here, but I've gotta take his side." "An' yer doin' that WHY!?" "It's justified. Not that he was trying to bully Rainbow to begin with, of course. He said he's a brony." "Of course. An' what's wrong with that?" "Then when Rainbow started laughing, he brought up her spa trip." "An' jus' what the hell's wrong with goin' ta the spa?" "Nothing. Just like there isn't anything wrong with him being a brony or me being a pegasister." "So, yer tellin' me 'at Seth had ev'ry right ta say that." "Pretty much. "Look at 'er, fer God's sake!" I went over to her and figured out what was going on. "You're an athlete, right?" "Yeah...?" "And you love those Daring Doo books that you pretend so hard not to read?" "Mm-hm...?" "And you went to the spa one time?" "About that..." "No wonder you're so good at soccer, Darling!" "What?" she responded. "You seem to use it more as a 'relaxation-therapy' than to just primp and be girly from what I've just gathered." "But it was the spa of all damn places!" "So?" "That's it?" Rainbow realized after a minute. "Really?" Seth apathetically asked, coming over to the three of us. Suddenly his eyes were a bright crimson, his pupils became vertical, and there were two fangs protruding from his mouth. "Darling, what's going on?" "What the fuck!?" She tried to run, but couldn't. Fear had actually taken hold of her. He was coming straight for me. "Um, are you okay?" "Is this some kind of hidden, creepy party?" "Please, God, no!" He was standing with the three of us now. "Be gentle!" "I've been a vampire for two years," he said as time seemed to return to normal, "I'm not gonna eat you. Or drink your blood. Or any of that." "Then, what are you gonna do?" "Absolutely nothing." He looked at his hooves. His sandals had turned into Japanese Kimono... horseshoes? "Hi, guys," a familiar voice said, "You're from the other..." I turned around to find Seth's counterpart in this world. He, on the other hand, was scared at the fact that ours was a vampire. "A'ight," he said, "What happened to you?" "It's a long story, me." "Darlings, we need to figure something out so we know which of you we're talking to." "I'm Doc," Human Seth said. "Works for," Pony Seth belched, "me. I'll be Pon-Seth." "A'ight!" Doc said, "An angel JUST got its wings!" Pon-Seth looked at me, "Oh no. Not even if I was single!" He went to Sunset, "I've always seen something in Princess Twilight, but I don't know what to do." "Pon-Seth, she's royalty, so your chances with her are pretty slim, if you even have any." The others came and joined us, prompting Pon-Seth to fall lovesick for the princess. Princess Twilight, coincidentally, went over to Sunset, prompting for Pon-Seth to take a few steps back. "I really want to tell him how I feel!" "Just tell him, then." Pon-Seth looked at her as she nervously smiled before taking a blunt approach to asking the question. "I... would you... I mean I'd..." "Yes?" "How do I... well, ya see..." "Princess, I don't think that I can ask you anymore because you're a princess now." "Okay, then. I guess, just pretend that for the next half-hour I'm just a unicorn who put wings on herself." Pon-Seth sighed, then popped the question, "Twilight, marry me?" "YES!!!" They ran together and did the pony-equivalent of kissing. "I see you've found your special somepony, Twilight," Princess Celestia chuckled as what had to be my brother and Cadence from this world came up with my Equestrian parents. Wow. Either he's city-fast, or he's been here. "Two Twilights!?" Cadence asked. "It's a long story, Shiny and Cadence." "Shiny!?" We ended up having to tell how we found out about Equestria. This was getting old. "Wait," Shining said, "You're from an alternate world?" "Uh-huh." We heard a weird conversation between Pon-Seth and Doc. "So, you're a vampire?" "Damn straight." "What's it like?" Doc's eyes flashed red and his fangs extended again, "It's not really that different," he took a look of suspicion, "I'm picking up on a vibe..." This can NOT end well... If he fucking does what I think he will, run like hell away. Done, Midnight. "Could I" Here it comes... "be one too?" The other five Shadowbolts came over to us. "I've never done this before, but sure." Oh shit... Pon-Seth and Doc tried to figure the best way out for one to bite the other's neck. Evidently, they forgot they were in public. "Okay," Doc said, "you sit down, and I'll bite you. That way, you won't fall over and possibly hurt yourself." Pon-Seth laid down on his back instead, but began to squirm when Doc was getting ready to bite. "On second thought, I really don't think that this 'vampire' stuff's for me. Maybe--" "The worst part is the bite." "Oh really, it's fine! I was just caught up in the moment! Really!" Pon-Seth began to sweat profusely and squirm, but a firm hoof kept him restrained. "Y-You're... you're strong, like, really strong!" "I know. Still wanna squirm away?" "No," he said as Doc lifted his hoof off of him, "But I still wanna do it." "I'm doing it on the count of 10," Doc turned to my brother and Cadence, "Think you could come hold him down for me?" They just shook their heads. "I'll help," I said. Lemon and Indigo looked at each other for a second, "Any friend of Twilight's is a friend of ours," Lemon said. That took care of three hooves. "I got the forth one," Doc said, "On the count of 10." Pon-Seth started sweating again while Midnight was ready to run like hell. "Ten, nine, eight, se-" Doc sank his fangs into Pon-Seth's neck and began sucking, resulting in Pon squirming and screaming a little before he let go, leaving a heavily-breathing and scared-shitless Pon-Seth. He laid on the ground for about a minute with his eyes closed from exhaustion before getting back up. "What was that about!?" he said, his pupils becoming vertical, irises becoming a hungry crimson, and fangs protruding from his mouth. Doc kept a smug look on his face the whole time. "What was what about?" "You biting and sucking my blood!" Pon-Seth said, "WHY!?" Doc went to speak, but was subsequently interrupted. "Princess Twilight wanted to marry me, but now I'd be surprised to find out that she even wants to look at me!" Princess Twilight ran over to Pon-Seth, "You're beautiful, Redeyes." "You really--?" "Oh yeah." "I'm a--" "Vampegasus. Now, I want you to pin me down just like how Doc pinned you down, and I'll try to get up." "Why?" "Just wanna see how it felt to be you." He pinned her down just as he had earlier, right when the two regal sisters came over. They only saw her struggling to try to get away from a vampire. What's worse is that they had royal guards with them. "You're gonna fall to me, and all of your power will be mine!" Doc said. "No! Let me up! I wanna be free!" "STOP!!" Princess Celestia said, "Release the Princess! Guards, detain the threat!" Unfortunately for Pon-Seth, he didn't know what was going on. "Darling, please look around," the pony counterpart said, to no avail. He was caught. "The assailant is NOT a regular pony, your highness. NOBODY knew what to do. "The assailant is a vampire," Princess Luna said, giving nonverbal instructions for everyone to maintain their distance, "A princess has never been attacked before, let alone by a creature of the night." "What?" "You attacked a princess! That is a felony that will land you in the dungeon, in stone for 1000 years, Seth Circuits!" "Luna, stop! We were going to get married tomorrow!" "Excuse me?" "I love him." "He is a creature of the night." "Let him go." Princess Luna and, by obligation, Princess Celestia were defeated in this battle, so Pon-Seth was let go, then he pinned the other me on the ground. "If you cannot escape me," he said to her, "then I will have to make you my slave!" She struggled some more, "Oh no!" He leaned down to her neck, and I think that I saw his fangs retract. "Nip!" "Bleh." He stood back up, "Arise from your slumber, as you will now be known as Red Dusk!" "I am Red Dusk, and you are my master," she said flatly as she sat up, "What are your demands?" They both burst out laughing, "So, will you be my prince?" "Only if you'll be my Princess, you mutant." "I will, wingman." "The wedding shall be next week, then?" "Sounds perfect," the vampegasus said. "Mom," Sunset said, "Was something different supposed to happen?" "Yes," she replied as Pon-Seth and Princess laid down on their backs. "Sci-Twi, as weird as that sounds coming from me, should we...?" Doc asked, but was at a loss for words. "I don't know." Nobody knew what to do. "This," Princess Celestia said, "is Equestria. You all are welcome here whenever you like." "But, why did you want us here? At 2:00 specifically, at that?" "This, my child, is when magic reaches its highest concentration in the ambient area. You, and all of the human counterparts, along with Sugarcoat, Indigo Zap, Lemon Tart Zest, and Sunny Flare, have all shown and proven yourselves, so your bodies are absorbing the final layer of magic that you would not have gained, had you remained in the human world." "Can we go back home at all? And what about Sour Sweet?" "Sour Sweet will be spending some time here with Princess Twilight and Dr Kindheart --" Princess Celestia said, but was interrupted by Sour. "That SHRINK!?" "He's not a shrink. You and him will be having sessions to help find the source of your conflicting aggression." "Aww, that's nice! Thank you for making me talk to some-DAMN-body who's going to lock me up in an insane asylum and drug the SHIT out of me!!" "We don't use medicine here. We let nature run its course. The closest thing we ever use to medicine is a doctor's magic," she said, "Anyway, you and him will be seeing each other for a week, and then we'll see your progress. As for the rest of you," she continued, "this magic is now a part of you. Whatever you do, you will always have it with you." The next thing that I knew was that we all went back, with the exception of a now-more-composed Sour Sweet. The rest of the day, thank God, was more-or-less uneventful. Author's Note Readers who have made it this far, Sunset will die, but don't be sad. It won't be for long, thank you for staying with me for as long as you have. 25: A (Literal) Fresh StartAfter a day of God-knows-what, everyone went back to Seth's, but Sunset had a lot to think about, so she decided to walk it off. That night. Big problem. Sunset Shimmer's Point of View 09:45p PDT "Seth, Twilight? I'm gonna go take a walk." "A'ight." "Is something bothering you?" "Nah, just wanted to go and get some fresh air. Say, which way is Canterlot again?" "When you get to the end of the Cul-de-sac, right for about five miles, then the right half of the fork becomes 12TH Avenue Northeast." "Thanks," I said, grabbing my phone. When I got upstairs and grabbed the doorknob, though, I had a strange urge to do something kind of weird, but not at the same time. Last night, Seth said that he used to keep his phone in a Ziploc bag in his underwear. Maybe it wouldn't hurt if I did that, too. There WERE some pretty pissed-off people at school this week. I did just that. Thank GOD that nobody saw me. "Okay, Shimmer," I said to myself as I began to the fork from the cul-de-sac, "The 'anon-a-miss' thing on MyStable has already passed over. Those rapscallions," I took a second to laugh at what I had called the crusaders, "made a post on the blog, so I should be in the clear. Everything I did to Momma, she could never stay mad at--Whuh!?" I was pulled into several dark bushes and was beaten several times by several fists and possibly a nine-iron. "Not so tough now, huh Anon-a-miss?" Gilda's voice taunted. One more hit and I was out. I woke up blindfolded, gagged, hands and feet tied together behind my back and some kind of something on my mouth. "Mmph!" "Can it, ya little fuck!" Gilda's voice said, "You're gonna PAY for what you did, Anon-a-miss!" Please, no! "Shut the hell up!!" another voice said as my blindfold came off. He had a glowing branding iron in the shape of my cutie mark, "Your ass," he said as a bullet grazed me, "is gonna die!" I was beat again. Fuck! Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck! I can't feel my legs! My body's numb! Fuck! The branding iron was held to my face for ten agonizing seconds. My right cheek. DAMN!!!!! I blacked in and out several times before coming back one last time. I couldn't make out any voices. Why? The only things that I could feel at all below my neck were my arms. I blacked out one last time. Seth's Point of View 12:03a PDT Twilight's phone rang. Skype: Sunset Shimmer "Guys, it's Sunset," she said, answering the phone. All she got was about ten seconds of screaming, beating, and swearing. "Can you trace this call, Seth?" "Skype or AT&T?" "Skype." "Fuck yeah," I said, grabbing my phone and plugging it into my Panasonic Toughbook CF30. "Got it?" "Oh shit." "What?" Lemon asked, "What is it?" "Call a damn ambulance! We need to get to 428 Industrial Road South! Now!" I said, grabbing the keys to my Mercedes-Benz and running up to the garage. Lemon called an ambulance, and soon, all four cars had left from the house. "What do you think happened?" Indigo said as she and Lemon jumped into my station wagon. "Something badshit terrible." Fourty-five minutes later at 97 miles per hour and we were at a factory. No ambulance, and all that was there was a mangled Sunset, BARELY clinging to life. Sugarcoat's Tahoe was able to binge on about 200, so she drove Sunset to the ER. Princess Luna's Point of View Everything was happening so fast. "I'm sorry, Miss Luna, but we don't have a Ms Sunset Shimmer on file." "What the FUCK does thine mean!? We have lost our mother over a THOUSAND years ago when we were only a filly! And thou dare speaketh to us in thine manner!? "Miss, I'm not sure what your religion is, but I assure you: someone is on their way to the hospital right now via personal escort. Patient confidentiality laws prevent me from knowing any details, but if I did, I would tell them to you, seeing as how you're blood-kin." "Get the fuck outta mah way!" Seth yelled as he ran through the infirmary with a stretcher holding a covered body, the other humans following. "We have a room ready for Ms Solaire, 109." I switched over to my equine form and began to gallop as fast as I could, searching for 109. 'Tia, Discord, Twilight, and Sour Sweet followed, just as fast. "Don't you die on us!" I heard the human Rainbow Dash yell. Celestia tried opening the door, but it was locked. "FUCK!" I raised a hoof and began to pound on the door as loud as alicornily possible. Seth opened it. "Not good," he said, a morbid look on his face. Seth's Point of View I opened the door at the pounding of horseshoes. "Not good." "She's going to be paralized from her bust down, assuming she even makes it through the night. She will also have no use of her hands, and, because of the head trauma, she will be mentally disabled." "MY BABY!!!" Celestia collapsed onto the floor. "Her expected lifespan is four days, Ms Solaire." The only thing from keeping me crying was my boiling anger to hunt down everyone who did this and murder them. Slowly and painfully. *BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE...* "She's gone." That didn't help matters. Everyone in the room was crying, and I was using every bit of my self-control not to try and hunt down who did this. I was visibly in full-attack mode, so the nurses were scared of me. If only she was still alive, I might be able to get some feedback and kill those bastards. Or at LEAST show them what for and tear them a new one. Midnight, who was very much emotional, but not devastated, asked me to do something very uncomfortable. "Seth?" "What the fuck!?" I snapped back at her. "Can you... b-br-brin-bring her back?" I was still in attack mode, but hugged her as she started crying. "Midnight," I said, stroking her hair like an older brother would to his younger sister, "Sunset is like my family now. Of course I will. I mean, fuck it. I'd even try to bring you back, as terrible as you can be. We need you and her both." She tried to say "Thank you", but all she could do was cry and hold me tighter. "I get the message. You're welcome. But I need you to let go if you want me to be able to do this." She nodded and laid down on the floor. "Guys," I said, "I'm gonna try something." Rainbow and Applejack moved from the head of her bed, so I bit down on her jugular and began to drink. Sweet Jesus in heaven, I hope this works! Her throat was cold and dead-feeling. Complete lifelessness consumed her body. "WHAT'RE YA DOIN'!?" I put the back of my hand to her forehead. "THAT'S REPULSIVE, DARLING! PLEASE QUIT!!!" I felt something. Warmth! "Please stop..." the nurse gagged, "doing that," she gagged again, "to Miss Sunset Solaire!" she vomited. I released my bite and lapped at the wound for a few seconds to make sure it was through bleeding, though I didn't take my hand off of her head. "What was that!?" Sunny asked. "My attempt at bringing her back to the living," I said, noticing the nurse had collapsed into a puddle of her own vomit and snot. "Ungh," Sunset moaned. "This ain't the time fer ya ta be amakin' sounds ta get her blood offa yer tongue!" "It's her." She stood back up and cleaned her face off some and noticed her fingers moving a little, then her chest rising and falling, then she woke up. "How the...?" She opened her eyes, revealing that they had changed color from a moderate cyan to an almost hungry shade of crimson, along with vertical pupils. "What'sh... going on here?" She had a pair of fangs that she learned to talk around rather quickly. "Where am I?" she said, stretching out as best she could in front of the doctor in the hall that gave the report to the nurse. "This is scientifically and medically impossible!!!!!" Celestia was startled and jumped back up and ran back over to her daughter, then took a look at her, "My baby! You're a... a..." "Just say it!" Sunset Shimmer's Point of View Okay, there is a NEW surge of power going through my body, and I DON'T know what it is. I moaned as I heard some voices, then I moved a few of my fingers. This is weird. I've spent all of this time trying to fix something, but now it may have just gone down the crapper. I opened my eyes once the voices became clear. "What the...?" a nurse in the room asked. I immediately knew something was different about myself because I had a sudden blood lust and that I could swear something was going on with my eyes because I had somewhat-better top-and-bottom peripheral vision than before. "What'sh... going on?" There were two things in my mouth. They're sharp. "What am I?" I asked as I stretched out the best I could in that bed, and some of my bones cracked. "This is scientifically and medically impossible!!!!!" Mom, after being startled and ran over to me, seemed scared of me, "You're a... a..." "Just say it!" "I don't know." Seth walked over to me, and his face said it all: fangs, crimson eyes, vertical pupils, and a bloodstain on his mouth. Okay. I don't know if this is good, or bad. "What did you do?" "You were beaten so badly that you died here in the hospital, so I bit down on your throat and began to suck your blood while I held the back of my hand to your forehead until I felt it get warm and I felt some kinda pulse go by where I bit you. When it came back enough, I licked off the mess." I had never been scared like that in my life. "Wow. So, I'm a-" "Vampire," he said as I got up. I was in my clothes from last night, but they weren't torn or bloody anymore. "Dr Heartbeat!!" the nurse called. Evidently, he was really punctual, so he came into the room as fast as possible. "That death certificate you signed on Miss Sunset Solaire, she... I don't know how to put it! She's... the only things are the brand marks!" He looked back and forth at a clipboard, a sheet of paper, and me. "Just, concentrate on healing the brand marks, and they'll be gone." I looked at my hands, revealing two more brands, then smiled, "I think I kinda like 'em." I noticed Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie curled up in the corner, on the floor. Pinkie was comforting her. "Sunset?" Pinkie said, her hair inflating back to it's usual afro-style. "Fluttershy?" I said, literally picking her up off of the floor with ease, "I'm back." All she did was stammer. "What's wrong," I said, putting her down. I felt my eyes return to normal and my fangs retract. "Please don't drink me!" "What? No! I'd never do that!" She just stammered some more. "Let's go back," Seth said. The ride back was... awkward.... to say the least. We all just went to sleep when we got back and tried to forget what had happened. Author's Note Yeah... I'm gonna leave it at that. 26: A Self-Taught Lesson in Self-DefenseFast forward several hours after everyone is awake. Sunset Shimmer's Point of View We all loaded up to go to Sugarcube Corner. It was then that I found out that Seth listened to some really weird music. "What is this?" Rainbow asked. "No damn idea." "Then, why do you listen to it?" "I just thought it was catchy, so I made a CD and a mixtape of this, and a bunch of other songs, because what the hell?" "Oh." It felt like we were really far away from Canterlot, but in reality, we weren't. It must've been because we weren't leaving from Sci-Twi's apartment on 4th Avenue. What was interesting was when we actually got to Sugarcube Corner. "Okay guys," I said, holding my milkshake up for a toast, "Cheers to making it out of the hospital alive!" "Back at ya," Seth said, "Even if it was hellishly disgusting!" "You're really glad that you weren't awake," Sunburst said, "It was pretty weird, huh Starlight?" he nudged her. "Tell me about it," she said, messily drinking her milkshake. "Stahlight, yas got a little schmutz ahn ya face," Seth said, pointing to her cheek. She looked at it with the front camera on his phone, then the three of them laughed as she cleaned it off, "Messy drinker here!" "Hey!" a familiar voice from last night said, "I'd know that brand and hair anywhere!" I was yanked up from the booth by Gilda, "I thought we did you off last night!" Bitch. "You're gonna take it, and you're gonna STAY down this time!" she said, throwing a punch that knocked me back onto the table (destroying it in the process), and left me with a black eye. I noticed that Flash Sentry (my ex), Vinyl, Chrysalis, Judge Discord, Principal Celestia, Vice-Principal Luna, Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, Ms Cheerilee, Shining Armor, Cadence, Maude (Pinkie's oldest sister), probably all of my other friends (more than likely), the former principal of CPA, and Mr & Mrs Cake all snapped their attention over to us. Several gasps and murmurs went around about what had just happened. This is going to get very bad, really fast. I stood back up and kept a stern look on my face, my gaze locked with hers. "Oh, you want more?" she said as she grabbed the back of my shirt with one hand and my hair with the other, then proceeded to slam my head against the corner of the booth, then threw me down to the floor. "Don't call the cops, Darlings! This has to work itself out on its own!" That's it you fucking piece of garbage. I got back up, then went into what Seth described as "attack mode". My eyes changed, fangs shot out, and when I noticed I was bleeding right under my left eye, I wiped some of the blood on my finger, then licked it. "You're a fucking SICKO!!!!!" I put a sinister grin on my now-vampire face, healed it, then took several slow steps toward her, "You think I'll go that easy?" I noticed that everyone was scared frozen, but that didn't stop me from picking her up by her side. "Wha-- what are you doing? Put me down!" "Okay," I said, throwing a punch to her abdomen that sent her flying across the room, her landing on her back on Principal Celestia's table. She, Luna, Chrysalis, and Discord moved backwards into their booth just as Gilda made impact on the table. "You have no idea who or what you're dealing with here," I said as she got up, took one of the table legs, and slammed it into my head. The only thing I actually felt was like when someone would barely hit their head on the wall. It still had enough force to make me lose my balance, which she took to her advantage by knocking me to the floor on my back and stabbing me several times with a large pocket knife, then threw several more punches at me. "Through?" I said, healing myself again. My shirt was pretty much covered in holes now, but with each time I healed and got back up, some more of her strength turned into fear. "You think what I've done is all I'm capable of?" I said as Dumbbell, the school's #1 for the wrestling team came up behind me, "You don't even know," I pulled him over my shoulder and threw him on his back in front of me. He's got to be at LEAST 300 pounds of muscle. If I can do all of this without a bead of sweat, they should run while they still can. "What all I can do." Dumbbell got back up and tried to get back at me, so I threw him backward, and evidently destroyed the booth that Flash and Vinyl were sitting at. "How are you even--" "Alive?" "You're a... a..." "Vampire? Fuck yeah, I am." "One of us is going to die today, a--and it won't be me!" "Really?" I said, picking her up and throwing her across the restaurant and behind the counter, almost in the back room. Dumbbell threw a few punches at me, and he met the same fate, albeit landing on the CMC's booth instead. "Not one word of this." I'm pretty sure that everyone was too scared not to agree with me. "Now you can call the cops," I said, reverting back to my fangless, cyan-eyed appearance. I did heal myself to make it look like I had only been in the crossfire of what happened, along with keeping the brand marks (for whatever reason). Sugarcube Corner now looked like a stabbing and a fight had broke loose: destruction, blood on the floor, the whole works. When the cops showed up, Abacus singled me out. "It was her!" she pointed at me, very shaken, "Miss Sunset Shimmer Solaire!" "Is this true?" one of the officers said, coming over to me. "I... I don't... no. I-it wasn't me." "Then who was it?" "I don't know. It... it all happened... just so fast." "I'm required by Canterlot City and California State laws to, even though you were not involved, to ask for any alibis." "She didn't do it, Darling. She's much too ladylike." "I wouldn't word it quite like that," Seth said, "but, in essential, yeah. That's pretty much it." "Celestia Solaire!" Abacus scolded, "You should control your child better than that!" "I assure you that I have raised Sunset the right way." "You most certainly have not!!" "I think it might have been someone with orange hair," Vinyl said. "Orange... hair..." the second cop said, writing the description down, "And you're positive, Ms" "Vinyl Scratch." "Ms Scratch?" "Still alive," a paramedic said from behind the counter, "How's the guy?" "Still alive." After about a half hour, the cops finally left. Ten minutes later, two guys came in, then came over to Twilight: Blueblood and Manor. "Pretty lame stunt you pulled, Sparkle," Blueblood said, "and now, you're gonna pay," he threw a punch that knocked her out. Seth and I both retaliated the same way I did when Gilda attacked me. Seth followed suit, but this time, he grew a pair of leathery wings. "No mercy, these are the pervs," Seth told me, "I'll take Blueblood." I smiled as my fangs shot out and my eyes changed color. "Does the word 'horsey' sound familiar?" I said as a fight broke out between me and him. Seth's fight was over in about two minutes, but I like to draw mine out. Mine started the same way it had with Gilda: I let him slam me down a few times, then beat the living shit out of him. "WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU!?" "A bodyguard," I said, my foot on his chest, pinning him helplessly to the floor. Blueblood, by this time, was a mess. Unconscious, several ribs busted from the first punch he sustained, then the second one to his head knocked him out. That's when he started bleeding. "I... I didn't... I didn't know you existed!" "Of course vampires exist," I replied as he went to squeeze Maude with one hand and Abacus with the other. At some point, Lyra, Sweetie Drop, Diamond Tiara, and Silver Spoon came in the corner-side restaurant. "I don't want to see you within a hundred miles of Twilight EVER again," I said, pulling him off of the two girls and holding him up, "You wouldn't be thinking of molesting her again, wouldn't you?" "No! Now please put me down!" "You got it," I said, throwing him towards the counter and knocking him unconscious. When that was over and done with, I healed myself back up and went over to where everyone else was. "Sunset," my legal mom said, stunned. "Yes?" "How?" "It's a long story," I said, pushing some hair out of my eye. "What happened to your face?" Sweetie Bell asked. "That Anon-a-miss thing you three started," I said as I walked over to them. "DON'T HURT US!!!!!" "Gilda and her lackey Dumbbell got about 45 other students from school, kidnapped me at 10:00 last night, took me to a factory, and almost beat me to death. Part of that beating involved me being branded. They," I pointed to where my friends were, "tracked me down, rushed me to the hospital, and I died there." "Then..." Applebloom started shaking, "How're y'all here?" "I was turned into a vampire." "PLEASE DON'T DO ANYTHING TO US!!!!!" Scootaloo begged. "You've already done what you needed to after that online stunt you pulled, so I guess you're okay, just as long as you don't play shit like that again. Besides," I added, "you're not the ones who killed me." "Ah thought we fixed it!" "Gilda's a bitch," I said as I began to walk away. "That DEMON!!" Abacus yelled at me. I put my hand over my mouth and gasped. "Abacus, that's enough!" Principal Celestia said, "She's as good as my daughter, and you talk about her like that!?" "Your daughter is a demonic equine from another world!" "Listen here!" Seth said, storming over to her in attack mode, "You stop calling my sister a demon! She's a VAMPIRE!!! And you want her DEAD because of THAT!?" "Yes!! And you too!!" "HEY!!" Vinyl stood up and took off her glasses, "Watch your fucking mouth!" she said, her eyes flashing from a moderate cerise to crimson, pupils going vertical, and fangs shooting out of her mouth, "You've got a HELL of a lot of us to take out!" "Ms Solaire! You can't possibly expect me to let this go unnoticed!" Luna stood up behind her, vampiric eyes, fangs, and leathery wings as well, "Leave. Now." "I beg your pardon," she said, turning around to face her. Luna was so pissed that she had a red aura coming from her eyes. "Get out of here now, before I do something that'll land you in the hospital." Abacus threw a punch at Luna. "You did NOT just hit my aunt!" Cadence said, pissed. The punch, while pretty hard, didn't do any damage. That fight was over in a hurry because Luna's returning punch knocked her down onto the floor, "Out. Now." "Jesus!" Cinch yelled as she ran out of the restaurant as fast as she could. "What just happened...?" Sunburst said as Sci-Twi came back to. "There's four vampires in this rest'rant, an' two fights an' all hell just broke loose." "Why are Blueblood and Manor on the floor? And why does Blueblood look like he has busted ribs? And why are they bleeding? And why does Ms Luna have fangs and wings? Am I safe!? And for the love of God, where is Ms Cinch!?" "Quick answers," Seth said, "Blueblood hit you, so I busted some of his ribs." "I took care of Manor." Ms Luna came over, "Please," she said, "Just 'Luna', if you will. 'Miss' and 'ma'am' make me feel old," she continued, "But, I was born a vampire, while my sister wasn't. Abacus struck me moments ago, dealing no damage, so I returned the... favor, if it could be called that, and told her to leave, which is promptly what happened. "Is... is it over?" "I think so, Midnight," Indigo replied. I didn't notice Mom, Auntie Moon, Princess Twilight, and Princess Cadence enter the restaurant. "I tried to kill myself when Anon-a-miss was going on, Twilight, so why wouldn't I help you out with your problem?" "You tried to..." Sugarcoat said. "Yes. Doing it now would never work, seeing as how I'm a hell of a lot more durable and quick-to-heal now." "Why?" I cast a spell on a three foot-by-three foot area on the floor. Derpy had just come in, too. Author's Note If you have any requests for any of the other characters' POV, just leave them in the comments below, and I'll see to it that they get posted. The reason that I'm not doing it directly in the chapter is that they wouldn't fit in with the flow of how I wanted it. Anyway though, just say in the comments if you want another character's perspective, and I will get back to that ASAP. Also, the Sci-Fi tag might end up coming off, since the story clearly doesn't have that element yet. If I don't have any real Sci-Fi stuff by 18 1-31, it'll come off (at least until I do have some in here). Edit 18 3-5: I changed where Melody turned Seth into a vampire. It's now Luna that turned him into a vampire. I thought about it, and I can do a lot more with that. 27: Anon-a-miss's Damage to SunsetYeah, so here it is in plain sight. Friday 12 December 2014, 2:05 PDT "How did that video even get on MyStable anyway?" I asked myself, slowly walking down the halls of CHS to Remedial Algebra. Two in the morning when she admitted that to me, now it's all over the fucking Internet. "Sunset, I've always wanted to be a vampire. Don't tell anyone!" "Don't worry. I won't," I chuckled, "So... guess it's my turn now?" "Yeah." "Okay," I sat, thinking of a secret to top that. Shit, she's good. "I'm a pony," I said, receiving an assload of laughing from Rainbow Dash, who was slugged by Applejack. "As imposs'ble 's sounds, you sleep with 'at teddy bear!" "Okay, I'll shut up." "Actually, I'm a unicorn." Rainbow broke the crap out laughing. "Don't even bother," I said, "Let's just go to the school," I went to get my phone, but it wasn't where I thought it was, "Can I borrow one of your phones?" Applejack gave me hers, then we all left for the school. "Okay," I said, just outside the portal, "Through here is Equestria. That's where I come from." "An' yer sure 'bout this 'ne?" "Trust me," I said, walking through the portal with her phone. When I went through, I took off the now-unnecessary clothes and started snapping pictures like crazy. I may have went overboard, seeing as how I woke Princess Twilight up. "You better know it!" I heard a door open, so I turned around, "Twilight!" I held a foreleg across my chest, and she went into shock. Both of our eyes darted back and forth. The camera caught some of that, too. What in HELL am I doing? Ponies usually don't wear clothes. "Hi...?" "What's... this...?" she looked around, then at me, "Why... that...?" "Oh," I said putting my foreleg back down, "Been a human for so long, the clothes must've stuck." So. Fucking. Awkward. "So... what's... going on?" "Me and Rainbow were in an argument about whether or not I actually was a unicorn, I'll fill you in later, and I might've... went crazy with the camera." "Oh. You didn't..." "No." "So, you're just here to prove that you're a unicorn?" "Yeah. Wanna show them that you're an alicorn?" "I guess... if that was just you being weird... and I don't have to do anything crazy." "Just a few REGULAR pictures. But don't be modest! Show 'em that you're a princess!" She opened her wings, "Little more," she went into full-princess mode, "Perfect!" I said, taking several pictures. "Can I see?" "Sure," I said, showing her the pictures, "I'll even get some prints made for you." "I have one favor to ask, though." "Yeah?" "The next time you do that, try not to do... that," she said, looking at the almost-provocative-model style pictures, shuddering after a few seconds. "Done." I went back through the portal and showed the pictures to the other five girls. "Oh my..." "Af hverju ekki bara að drepa þig, Sunset?" Sweetie Drops said, harshly. I noticed something that caught my eye while she was talking. What the fuck was that? And... shit, does she have FANGS!? "I'm... sorry?" "You should go away. Before I do something that you'll regret." "NÚNA!!!" I did a stupid thing by stepping toward her, especially considering that the hallways were completely empty. "Could you at least..." "Það er það!!Þú ert hádegismatur!" "Shit!" I said, running like all hell had just broken to Principal Celestia's office, "SOMEBODY HELP!!!" "Ekki hlaupa frá mér, Anon-a-miss!" she said, tackling me to the ground, "Ég hef þig rétt þar sem ég vil þig, og þú munt deyja! Ég og Lyra eru ekki elskendur!" I let out a bloodcurdling scream, then punched her as hard as I could. Please work! My main goal was to get up and leave, but I also wanted to get a few of her teeth, if I could. "Hvað í fjandanum!?" she said as I took out her left canine and molar. I had to kick her off of me next. "Oh God!" I said, getting the teeth and making a break for the library. My phone had to be charged. "Oh God, oh God, oh God!" I went into the library, got my things, and found a bus that would take me home. "Please tell me I refilled the generator!" After a 45-minute long ride, the old industrial district was the last stop before the loop. Next came a 20-minute run, which left me completely exhausted. "Sweet Jesus! What the hell was Bon-Bon saying?" I looked at the teeth, then held the unnaturally long canine up to mine and looked to a mirror. "Oh shit... She's a vampire." What do I do now!? I began to carve hunks of my skin out. I woke up at 12:30 in the morning to this really loud noise. My arms and face had stopped bleeding, somehow. "Opnaðu fjandanum! Ég get lykta þig þarna!" Fuck. I took my phone, the teeth, some money, and a small bag with a change of clothes, and ran like hell out the back. Fuck! Shit! Dammit! She's a bloodthirsty vampire! I don't know how far I made it into town before I passed out. 08:43a "Git outta here 'n back ta hell where ya belong!" a southern voice said that sounded like Applejack's dad, followed by two shotgun blasts. "Y'all okay, Sunset?" her mom's voice said, "Don't leave 's yet, sugarcube!" "Just leave me," I said. A crashing noise woke me the rest of the way up, but my arms wouldn't hold my weight when I leaned back on them. "Lemmie in the truck!" he yelled, throwing a shotgun in behind me, then cranking what had to be a 1973 Ford F150 and gunning the engine, "Is she awake, Pear?" "She's up, Mac." "Pear? Mac?" "It's okay now, honey. We're taking you back to the barn." "What? Why?" "We saw you layin' onna wood pallet, then we noticed that you were missin' big hunks o'yer skin 'as missin'." "Who are you?" "I'm Pear Butter," she said, "An' that's my husban', Bright Mac." "What's going on?" "We're takin' you back ta the barn. Those vampires 'as 'bout ta have ya." "I'm the one who did that." "Why?" "After Anon-a-miss, Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie, and Rainbow all told me to go away from them. That they didn't want anything to do with me." "Well, maybe you c'n talk to 'em back at the barn." "Oh, God." "Wait," Applejack said, "Y'all did what!?" "She's not Anon-a-miss," Fluttershy said, "The old Sunset Shimmer wouldn't do something like this." "Yeah, if it hadn't been for your mom and dad, Applejack," I said as Rarity wrapped my leg, "I would have either bled out or become Vampire Food." "How many?" Rainbow asked. "At least four." "Holy shit, Shimmer," Rainbow said, her mouth agape, "How are you even alive?" "Applejack's parents saw a trail of blood, so they followed it and found me almost dead. I bled that much." "Ah am so sorry, Sunset fer not believin' ya before," Applejack said, holding her hat to her chest. Everyone else followed suit. So, yeah. That's pretty much it. 28: A Sunday "Break"Sunset's Point of View, Sunday 20 September 2015 at 2:30a I woke up with this weird thirst. Normally when I would wake up in the middle of the night thirsty, I would drink a few cans of soda, but it wasn't that kind of thirst. It was bloodlust. "Good Lord, I'm thirsty." I took notice of the house. Even though the lights were off, save for a few phones' charge screens, I could see everything as bright as it would be at noon. Better eyesight? This HAS to be from being a vampire. I went against my better instinct and went over to Seth, who was sleeping with Sci-Twi on that pullout couch. Does this guy REALLY talk in his sleep? "Sunburst, þú ert uppáhalds bróðir minn. Auðvitað mun ég snúa þér í vampíru." Sunburst, you're my favorite brother. Of course I'll turn you into a vampire. You and Sunburst aren't brothers. Hell, you're not even the same-- WHAT THE FUCK!?!? This is that weird language that Seth said something in Friday night! "Sunset, þú ert svo partý dýr!" Sunset, you're such a party animal! "What in the hell did you just say!?" I said, smiling and laughing. "I said, 'Sunset, you're such a party animal!'!" "It sure as hell sounded weird!" "This is freaky," I said, poking him. He immediately woke up. "Já, sólsetur?" Yeah, Sunset? "Okay, so I have a few questions," I panicked, waking up Aunt Luna. "Hvernig get ég skilið þig þegar þú talar svona núna? Og hvernig í fjandanum get ég talað svona núna!?" How can I understand you when you talk like this now? And how in the hell can I talk like this now!? "Það er móðurmál vampíru. Þegar ég sneri þér í einn, þá hafði þú nætursýn, fulla stjórn á öllum hliðum líkamans, getu til að tala þetta tungumál, hraða, mótstöðu og aukið styrk. Áhersla á aukin.Þótt ég hafi enn ekki nákvæmlega mynstrağur af hverju ég hef vængi og þú fékkst ekki neitt." It's a vampire's native language. When I turned you into one, from that point, you had night vision, full control over EVERY aspect of your body, the ability to speak this language, speed, resistance, and increased strenght. Emphasis on increased. Although I still haven't exactly figured out why I have wings and you didn't get any. "Halda áfram. Hvað gerir þú fyrir blóð?" Moving on. What do you do for blood? "Ég er með lítinn ísskáp sem ég geymi fullt af töskur frá sjúkrahúsinu. Einn af vinum Gregs gefur mér nokkra í einu svo ég þurfi ekki að fara í morðingja eða vekja hina dauðu." I have a mini fridge that I keep full of bags from the hospital. One of Greg's friends gives me several at a time so I don't have to go on a killing spree, or wake the dead. He gave me several bags, although I only managed to drink two or three of them before Sunny, Lemon, and Indigo came down with a flashlight and saw my hands and face somewhat covered in the liquid from where I had tried to get an entire bag in my mouth at once. "Oh my God," Sunny said, the trio scared practically shitless. Ef augun mín eru rauð og fangarnir mínir eru að sýna þá mun þetta endast hræðilega. If my eyes are red and my fangs are showing, this will end horribly. "I just needed a drink, guys! Everything's fine!" "I have never been this close to a thirsty vampire before," Indigo said, the trio still being very much terrified. "I'm NOT going to bring myself to do that! Somewhat because it would involve literally killing someone first." "That's not why we came down here," Lemon said, "Seth has a pet wolf." "No I don't." They took both of us upstairs while I finished the bag that I started on when they scared the crap out of me. In their bedroom, there was a wolf with moderate sap green eyes, a pale light grayish olive tail, pale light grayish gamboge fur, and a stetson hat. "That would be Applejack," I said as the lycan turned back into the farmer. "Ow," she said as she looked up at me, "Gah!" "I was just really thirsty. Now, can we forget this ever happened and just go back to sleep?" I said, going back downstairs to the pile of comforters that I called my bed and went to sleep. 8:43a "Good morning, Sunset," Fluttershy said to me as I was heating up some tofu-bacon pizza, "Did you sleep good?" "Já, gerðirðu það?" I replied, turning around to face her. "Yeah, did you?" I replied, turning around to face her. "S... Su... Sun... Sun-set? Did you...? Is that...?" I opened the cabinet that held the mini fridge with the blood bags, "Það er frá sjúkrahúsinu." I opened the cabinet that held the mini fridge with the blood bags, "It's from the hospital." She raised an eyebrow. "It's from the hospital, I replied. "Oh," she replied, still shook up. "Yeah, I'm gonna get this blood off of me before Mom wakes up," I said as I went into the bathroom and turned on the sink, only to find that the blood on my face had crusted over. "Seth? What do you do about this?" I said from the bathroom. "Handaðu sápu!" Hand soap! I was able to get most of the mess off of me, but Sunny, Lemon, and Indigo must've told the others because they were suddenly afraid of me. "Darling," Human Rarity said, "You're not a bloodthirsty cannibal... are you?" "No!! For the love of God, is there something horribly wrong with a vampire drinking a few refrigerated bags of blood when she wakes up in the middle of the night!? I mean, I'm still the same damn person!" "She's got a point," Seth said as he started outside to take the ponies (minus Starlight and Sunburst because they wanted to stay some more) back to the school, "I'll be back." When he left, I heard a 2011 Ford Fusion stop at the house, then Vinyl and Flash came down through the garage access. "Sunset, you've gotta watch out for the cops! They are after you!" "Oh crap," I said, "For what?" "Sugarcube Café." "I tried to call, but I didn't get you. All that I got was a robot that said your phone wasn't found. What's up with that!?" "This is the Canterlot City Police! Open up!" "You gotta hide! Now!" "Uh... hang on!" I said, turning my appearance into somebody completely different, "Let me see if this worked!" I looked into a mirror and found that I was a COMPLETELY different girl, so much to the point where I could be Seth's cousin from Russia, along with a native Russian accent when I spoke. I took that opportunity to change into a set of clothes that Pinkie gave me with Cyrillic stuff on them. "How did you--" "Ve'll talk later!" I said, running upstairs to the front door. Holy fuck, even my voice is different. My fake name is Natalya Smirnov. "Allo?" I said, opening the door, "Da?" "I'm officer Carl Rochester. We're looking for a Ms Sunset Shimmer Solaire, ma'am. Have you seen her, Ms?" "Natalya Smirnov, Seth's cousin. What does she look like?" "Five-foot-ten, light amber skin, moderate cyan eyes, sometimes crimson, crimson and yellow hair, may have fangs." "I don't think so. What was she wearing?" "Where are you from again, Ms Smirnov?" "Sankt Peterburg, Russia. Now, what was she wearing?" "Black leather jacket, purple skirt with a bright orange stripe, black boots with a purple line close to the bottom, and an orange shirt with a Sun-like figure on it." "Are there any features that stand out?" "The girl did have a Sun brand on her right cheek and on both of her palms." "I will watch for this girl, though I will be going back to Russia on Friday. How long will this search last?" "Two weeks, when she is caught, or when she is confirmed dead. Thank you, Ms Smirnov." "Good day to you as well, officer." When they left, I went to the bathroom in the basement and lost it. "Are you okay?" Sugarcoat asked me. "Get my phone." She brought my Motorola Droid Razr MAXX to me that Seth gave me as a housewarming gift, then I opened Skype for a video chat with him. It's in Russian. And I can actually READ it. And probably SPEAK it, too. Dr_Emmett_Seth_Brown | Online Voice Call Video Call Chat I hit the Video call button and he answered, thank God. "Seth?" "Who are you?" "I'm Sunset." "Prove it." I changed back to Vampire Sunset Shimmer, "Good enough?" "Go on." "Where are you?" "Stopped at your apartment because the fuzz has a roadblock set up. Why?" "They're after me for what happened at the restaurant yesterday!" "I'll be right back." He must've pressed the button to shut off the camera, not end the call, because I heard yelling and an 1975 Mercedes-Benz V4 engine racing back to the house. "The police are after my baby!?" "Yeah," I said, turning back into Natalya Smirnov, "Seth, my Russian alter-ego is Natalya Smirnov." "Okay," he said, hanging up the phone. "Okay," Flash said, "Sunset...? Natalya...?" "It's Natalya. I'm not Sunset Shimmer right now." "Okay. You are very smart." "I didn't even know that you could do that as a vampire," Vinyl said, amazed at my transformation. "Seth has a very different way of doing things. The only explainable way is that there is a method to his madness," Sci-Twi said. "Oh." "Now, I need to go to Principal Celestia and Vice-Principal Luna and let them know about this shit." "I'll start hacking," Sci-Twi said, pulling a small, sapphire-blue Acer laptop out of a compartment in the cupboard, "If I know him, and I'm pretty sure that I do, this should be really easy." "What do you mean?" I said as she turned on the miniature computer. "I mean-- Crap. It's not on the-- Woah." "'Woah' what?" I said, going over to look at it, "Wow." "There are at least fifty APs that this computer's picking up." "So?" Rainbow said, "What does that have to do with anything?" "It's not connected to ANY of them." "So..." I started poking around and found the router. "We can't do anything until someone finds the--" "The WiFi network is Homo Nosferatu Vampiris, and the password is Vinyl Scratch turned me into a vampire, this is my wireless.," I said, looking behind the mini-fridge that held the blood sacks. "Typing it in..." she said, typing the sentence in for the password, "Authenticating..." she held the laptop by the sides, "How did you know?" "This is Seth we're talking about here. Now you hack away and get Principal Celestia's address." In two minutes flat, she had an address and directions. "768 South Riverside Drive. Take my DeLorean." "Thanks," I said as she handed me the keys and directions." "Wow, they've got a really nice house," I said, getting out of the car and going up to the door. I hope she's home. I rang the doorbell, "Just a minute." Good. Celestia's home. "Can I help you?" "Would it be okay if I came in?" "It would be my pleasure." Celestia led me to the kitchen table where she and Luna were eating breakfast. Luna was NOT a morning person, judging by the way she glared at me. "If you bother me, I can think of a hundred different ways to murder you with my coffee," she said as Vampire VP Luna. "Who are you?" Celestia said, setting a plate of waffles down for me, "Care for for some breakfast?" "Celestia, Luna, it's me. Sunset Shimmer," Luna woke up and spat out her coffee while Celestia jumped back in shock, "I can prove it," I changed from Natalya Smirnov to my vampire self. "How did you...?" Celestia said. "All vampires can do it, sister." "That was my alter-ego, Natalya Smirnov. She's Seth's cousin from Russia." "Okay, but why?" "The fuzz is after me for the other day," I said as Judge Discord and Chrysalis let themselves in. I did not notice that at all. "Sunset?" Chrysalis said, making me turn around at them, "What happened back there?" I morphed back into Natalya Smirnov, although I knew it was too late for that. Please don't call the cops! "Should we get the police, Honey?" Chrysalis asked Discord. "Chrys, I don't know that we should be trying to make that decision." "No. Sunset is doing what she needs to do," Luna said, "The only problem is that she doesn't have a clone she can use to make something like that happen again. There's no telling what would happen to a vampire in the Canterlot/California legal system." "Well, I can't fake getting killed. That would make my life a living hell," I said, "The cop said that it would go on for two weeks, until I was found, or until I was presumed dead." "I really don't know what to do other than have you wait the two weeks." "How fast can you arrange a court date, Discord?" I said. "What?" "I need a court date for this afternoon. I don't care what side I'm on." "Why? The place was destroyed. Assuming that there were any cameras in there, they're gone now. Nobody recorded it, either." "That might not be true," I said, calling Seth on Skype Video. "Hello, mysterious cousin from Russia. Did the po-po give you any trouble?" "They never knew it was me. I want a court date arranged for this afternoon, but I need to have the whole thing recorded on video." "I had a feeling that I'd need to wear a camera bug to the Café yesterday." "How much did it pick up?" "All of it. In 1080p." "Give it." "Later, I'm getting you a laptop. Today." "Why?" "You know damn-well." "You should have the video in three... two... one... now. Look in your camera roll." "I trust you on that." "Now, when do you want the court?" "4:00." "Done. What judge?" "Judge Discord." "Done. E-mailing the summons now." "Thanks. Bye." When I hung up, I saw the notification that had the summons. Mozilla Thunderbird for Android Linux From: Seth (emmetsethbrown@compuserve.com) To: Me (sh1mmytotheleft@gmail.com); Celestia Solaire (sungoddess@gmail.com); Luna Solaire (moongoddess@gmail.com); discord@hotmail.com; chrys-change@msn.com Carboned: Subject: Court Summons Attachments: Sunset Shimmer - Court Summons.pdf Sunset, here is the court summons. I sent a copy to the CCPD, Judge Discord and his wife, Celestia, and Luna. I'll see you there. Best interest is you on the defensive, so I had to go through all hell to get Gilda to do this. Everyone's phone pinged with the same message, so I opened up the file. SUMMONS Plaintiff: Gilda E. Griffin Defendant: Sunset S. Solaire Ms. Sunset S. Solaire: You are being summoned to appear in the Criminal Violence court on Sunday, September 20, 2015 at 4:00 PM at 672 Beacon Way, Canterlot, CA for the charges of the following: Attempted Murder Violence Assault Failure to appear in court may result in judgement being declared in your absence, and a minimum of 2 Years jailtime. "Boo-yah." "You do realize," Luna said, "if something goes wrong, you will go to prison. Right?" "Nothing's gonna go wrong," I said, streaming my phone to the TV. "You know Russian?" Chrys asked. "Maybe...," I replied, opening the video of the fight from the Café and letting it play, start-to-end. "We'll still back you." "Thanks." I went back over to Seth's house, expecting him to drag me out to his station wagon to get a laptop from somewhere, but that didn't happen. "I'm gonna wait a bit before dragging you out. How did they take it?" "It was shocking, to say the least. But I think they took it pretty well." "Good." Court Gilda was at the plaintiff's stand, beat up. "Got the shit?" "Yeah. Can you stream your phone onto the wall?" "Hell, yeah." Discord went to the Judge's stand, so I morphed back into Sunset, scaring Gilda shitless. "Rise," everyone got up. "Sit," everyone sat back down. "I understand neither of you have requested lawyers." "I wanna see her ass BEAT!!!" "And you, Miss Solaire? "Já. Ég held að ég verði í lagi." Yeah. I think I'll be fine. "In English, please? This court does not recognize your language." "Yeah. I think I'll be fine." "Very well, then," he said, turning to Gilda, "Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?" "Yeah! What's it to ya?" "I do not tolerate outbursts like that, Miss Griffin. I will hold you in contempt of court if you keep it up. Now, I understand she tried to kill you? Are you sure?" She replied with only a stern look that said She sure as fuck did. "Do you have anything to say in your defense, Miss Solaire." I streamed the video on the phone onto the wall, scaring everyone even MORE shitless. "I rule in favor of the defendant." Gilda ended up going into a fit of rage, resulting in her being led out by a cop. "What now?" Seth wondered. "Sleep it off?" I replied "Do something crazy?" Seth's House "Well Darling," Rarity said to Seth, "It's been fun, but we must go now." "Before you leave, if you ever come back, don't bother with the front door. Just come in through the garage access. The keypad entry is 1-2-4-C. I don't care when the hell you come, just be careful when you come down, because you might see something that isn't exactly safe to be around." Vinyl gave a thumbs-up, then everyone except for Sunburst, Starlight, Sci-Twi, and myself left Seth's house. "What now?" Sci-Twi said, "This isn't exactly a--" "I hacked into the school's database," Seth replied, "so just come with us, tomorrow," he said, "making" his bed. "About that laptop?" "Greg saw your crap accidentally, so he went and got you something," he said, giving me a box wrapped in brown wrapping paper with the words То: Сунсет Схиммер, Фром: Сетх. Хаппы то хаве ыоу ас а феллоw вампире! "What is it?" "Just open it and find out. It's something that I know you'll love." I tore into the wrapping paper, and it was a box with a red laptop and the word Acer stylized on it. "It's an Acer." The rest of the day went by really fast. Author's Note When Sunset turns into Natalya, her phone swaps from English to Russian. 29: Back to (Canterlot City High) SchoolSeth's Point of View Monday was interesting, to say the least. I already had the same schedule as Sunset, but but put Sci-Twi's schedule where it would line up with ours perfectly. First period coding went by with a rocky start, even more so because our teacher, Mr Son Duk-bae, wasn't here today. Instead, it was his wife's brother, Vladislav Ivanov. When the three of us walked in, he got mad at Twilight, "Miss Sparkle, is it?" "Yeah?" "Take the tail, ears, and horn off." "But, they're--" "Off. Now!" I took out a bag of blood that I brought with me to school, mostly to take the attention from Twilight, but I was a little thirsty, too, so I started to drink the red fluid, only for the bag to get snatched out of my hand, "No food or drinks in my class!!" "I have a deficiency." Of human blood and a decent teacher. He drank some of it, not knowing what the fluid was as the three of us took our seats, "What is this!?" "My breakfast," he spat it out, "A+. Why?" "Don't be a smartass with me!!" "That would be blood," he started shaking, "So, I would give it back, if I were you," my eyes turned crimson, my fangs shot out, and I grew wings. "Take it off!" he said, "It is distracting to other students!" "Sunset and myself," I said getting up, "are vampires. Twilight," I continued, now walking toward him, "is half-unicorn," I slammed my fist on the desk, breaking a piece of it off, "So I would give the bag back," I crushed his iPhone, "unless you want all hell to unfold," I bit my tongue where it would start bleeding, wiped it on my teeth (mostly at the tips of my fangs), and glared a devilish smile at him, "So?" My teeth, now stained from the liquid from my veins, now glaring right at him didn't keep him from spitting some out on me and trying to run out into the hallway. You don't KNOW what you're dealing with yet. I tackled the man in the hallway on his back, prompting him to throw the bag down the hall. This guy's an IDIOT. "Þú ferð ekki í kringum að pissa á neinn," I said, making sure he couldn't move,"Vegna þess að einn þeirra gæti verið vampíru," I continued, getting in his face, "Eins og ég!" "You don't go around just pissing off anybody," I said, making sure he couldn't move, "Because one of them could be a vampire," I continued, getting in his face, "Like me!" "Please don't," the reply came. I gave another slow, devilish grin before hearing Vice-Principal Luna's voice. "Bara hvað í fjandanum er að gerast hér?" "Just what the hell is going on here?" I looked up and saw her in her vampire form. "Þú, Sunset Shimmer, Twilight Sparkle, Starlight Glimmer og Sunburst þurfa að koma með mér." You, Sunset Shimmer, Twilight Sparkle, Starlight Glimmer, and Sunburst need to come with me. After getting the others from their classrooms, Luna took us all to her office. We're in deep shit. When we were all in her office, we thought that she was going to literally kill us. We were damn wrong, though when she started laughing so hard she had to bend over, "Are we in trouble?" "I wanted that son-of-a-bitch jackass gone when he started!" she said, just making it to her chair, "Now, what happened?" "We went in to class, he told Twilight to take off her pony stuff, so I took out a bag of blood that he took up." "Yeah?" "And he DRANK it!" She had her face on the desk, beating it with her fist and laughing so hard, that it rivaled my high-pitched cackling, "Then what?" "He asked what it was, I told him that it was type A+ blood, he spat it out, and I pinned him on the floor in the hall!" "THIS is why I love it when you do stuff, Seth!" "Anything else, Lulu?" "If I could trade you in for 'Tia, I probably would sometimes!" We both started laughing again, "She'd kill you right now if she heard that!" "Both of us!" "Anything you want to tell us?" Twilight asked. "I make an effort to get in trouble and get caught by Luna at least two times a week. She knows I hate class, and I know that she hates some of the people here." "This is just like what Ms Cinch was doing to me." "No it isn't," I replied, "Cinch was a bully. Lulu's one of my friends, and I'm too smart for class," I said, turning to Luna, "How old are you?" She had lost me, "What?" Sunset and Twilight moved to the corner of the room. "You've got the hots for Greg, right?" "Oh. Yeah. I'm 28." "Have you asked him?" "I can't. He's a famous rock star, and I'm a principal at a high school." "What's your number? And, do you eat at Frank's Diner?" "503-667-4289, and yeah" she said, as I wrote her number down, "Why?" "Be there at 2:45." "I think he wants you, too," I said, calling Greg. "Hello?" "Greg, I need you to meet me at Frank's Diner at 3:00." "Have you got into trouble again?" "No." "Okay. Bye." Luna began to look a little worried, "What just happened?" "You and Greg have a date for when school gets out." "Should I--" "You look fine. He thinks it'll be me." After a pause, she broke the silence. "You want out of class today, don't you." "Anyone else you're pissed at?" "Nobody that's here today." "Aww." "But, I could call in some jackass subs." "Consider it done," I said as the Russian sub came in her office, "Look sharp!" "Is now a bad time, Miss Solaire?" "No," she said, turning cold-principal, "Please continue." "After earlier, I'd like to quit." "Understandable," she said, holding her hands on her desk in a professional manner, "Seeing as to how the event was," she liked her lips as her eyes flashed red for a second. Okay, this is gonna cause some pretty-damn-big trouble. "Seth, come with me, please," Luna said, leading me out, "Tell me you keep extras in that bag of yours!" she whispered. "How many?" "I don't know." I took two bags out and gave them to her, "Have a backup," I gave her a Yeti cup, "I think we've tortured the guy enough," I finished as she emptied the bag into the tumbler and gave it back to me. She put the other in a purse. "Thank you!" "No problem. 'et's go back." Back in the office, Vladislav was scared shitless as the others were teaching Sci-Twi how to use unicorn magic. Sunset's vampire started to show, ensuring that he ran out. At that point, the others and Celestia came in. "So... what just happened?" Rainbow asked. "Ivanov's gone." "Why?" Celestia asked. Luna and I exchanged a smile, "Assload of reasons." Celestia looked at the desk and found a few sticky spots, prompting Lu to fidget with her shirt and hands and me to adjust my jacket. Rainbow, Applejack, Pinkie, Rarity, and Fluttershy left the office as Celestia began fuming. "WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT WITH MY SISTER!?" Okay. Just HOW did she get the idea that I'm trying to plow Luna? "Hvað!?" What!? "Don't pull that vampire-talk with me!" "He's not plowing me!" "Then what's this!?" "What's what?" "This crap on your desk!" "That would be spit. We were laughing earlier." "Wow. It must have been a really funny joke." "That guy drank blood!" she laughed "Oh God. How many times do you pull him out of class a week?" "Shooting for three?" I said. "Leave," Celestia said, "Both of you. Just go." Luna, Starlight, Sunburst, Twilight, and Midnight all came with me back to my house. "Greg!" I said, opening the door, "I'm home!" 08:45 23 AM 30: Greg's DateGreg's Point of View "What did you do this time?" I said, coming down the stairs. "Hi, Greg," I looked up and saw the most beautiful woman ever. Moderate opal eyes, moderate sapphire blue and pale, light grayish Persian blue hair, light phthalo bluish gray skin with pale, light grayish magenta eyeshadow, "May I... come in?" "Y- yeah." She was wearing a magenta shirt with a thick, white collar that had a navy moon on it, a belt over the shirt, grayish navy jeans, and white shoes with a magenta pattern. Damn, she's sexy. I don't know if I can do this. The very next thing that I knew was that everyone except for me and Luna were in the basement. "So... is this... what happened?" "I... took the rest of the day off. And... he brought me here." "Wow, um, what do you think of nights?" "I could almost be the party goddess of them," she said, her eyes turning crimson, fangs pointing out of her mouth, and growing a pair of leathery-looking wings, causing me to take a step back, "Is something wrong?" "Wow." She looked at her reflection in the window, then gasped, "I'm sorry!" "How about we just start slow?" Everything but her fangs went back to how they were when she showed up, "I'd love that." "What do you do, um..." "Luna Solaire." "Luna?" "I'm the Vice-Principal for Canterlot High." "I play in a band." "I'm a vampire." "And I don't care." "Is this love?" she came in and I closed the door. "Yeah," we shared a passionate kiss, "It is." "In an alternate reality," she started, "I think I'm a pony moon goddess." "Will you be my moon goddess?" "If you'll be my rock star." That night, around 10:30 "Okay," she said, leading me to the Wondercolt statue, "It's just through here," she pointed to the mirror facing the school at the base of the statue. "It's a mirror." "Maybe," she said, sticking her hand through it, "Who first?" "Together." We both went through the portal, and it turned us into ponies, and came out into a closet. "Woah," I said, noticing that Lulu had wings and a horn, "Sexy." "Your wings, too." We got out of the closet and found our way out of the castle, but not without interruptions. "Princess Luna? You look... different." "Princess Luna?" I asked. We turned around to find a pony version of the timid girl, "I didn't know that you had a special somepony." "Could you show us out? We're not from this world," I said, "We're on our first date, and we wanted to meet... ourselves." "Of course!" she said, leading us out and to a train station. It was a calm walk, actually. "This train will take you straight to Canterlot. I'll have Spike send her a message, okay?" "Okay," Lulu said as she walked off. "Now to get ourselves together," I said, both of us boarding the train. "Next stop, Canterlot. Travel time, thirty-eight minutes," the conductor said over the speaker as we sat down and the train began moving. "So," I asked, "so you know what to expect?" "No. Not really." "We could be together here." "Eh, I doubt it." "Do I have wings or a horn?" "Just a pair of wings." I opened them, then wrapped one around Lulu. "Aw, you." "I know, Babe." "I suppose you are my counterpart," a pony that looked like Lulu said, "I am the Princess of the Night." The pony had a horn and wings like Lulu, but she had moderate cyan eyes, flowing moderate sapphire blue mane outlined in gray persian blue, dark blue coat, and light sapphire blue eyeshadow. "Who are you?" I asked the pony. She looked at me and became somewhat bashful, almost as if she was attracted to me somehow. "H-hi," she said, eyes changing to blue, wings changing, and growing fangs, exactly like Luna. "He's mine!" Lulu said, "So don't get any ideas." "I've always had a thing for Greg." I heard Seth's cackling, "Lu, you've gotta come check this out!" "What is it?" "Blueblood just drank a bag of blood because he thought it was raspberry juice, then fell out cold when I told him what it was!" We all went into the next car to find a light gray unicorn with light arctic blue eyes and a light amber mane collapsed in a puddle of bloody vomit. "Wow, that's ripe!" I said, immediately noticing the smell. I took a glance from Lulu that said Yeah.. A pony that looked like Seth, but with wings, looked at me, "Don't freak out. Your Seth turned me into a vampire." "Yeah, I've gotten used to that." "Can your Seth write in Cyrillic?" "What?" "Like they do in Russialand. The funky letters?" "I'm a musician." "Just call me 'Pon-Seth'." Glaring a pair of fangs at me, he started laughing again, collapsing on the floor, along with the other Luna. "This sure beats watching HGTV with Celestia!" Lulu said, grinning at me. Those fangs are sexy. "I killed a garden by playing, and Seth killed four of them by looking at 'em!" She made that sound like a show for jackass gardeners, "Oh, these bee-flowers are the perfect touch for the Sun and bleh!" "You should see Seth when he's partying!" I laughed. She'll enjoy this! "Tia hates it when I come home at 5:30 in the morning, wasted! Have you ever drank?" "I have had one beer, and I was just o-u-t, out! If you wanna be amazed, spend the night on the town with Seth. I lost track of how much alcohol he drank, but the police were just like, 'What the hell?'." "What do you mean?" "He showed me a video from his DashCam the next morning, and it showed the cops doing a breath test on both of us. Mine said 0.12, and I was wasted. They just thought I was tired." "What about Seth?" Oh, just wait, Lulu. "They said his was above 30! You couldn't have known that he had drank at all unless you had seen him!" "That explains so-damn-much!" "Canterlot!" The train stopped and all four of us got off, only to find Pony Greg waiting at the station with a guitar. "Hey, what took..." he saw Luna, "you...? Wow, you're sexy." Luna began to blush, then let her fangs show again. I noticed the shock and lovesickness in his eyes. We both have a thing for Luna. Author's Note I'm officially at the point where I'm making this up as I go. 31: Luna's DateLuna's Point of View "Are you sure that this is such a good idea?" I asked, as he pounded on the door several times. "You'll be fine," Seth said, opening the door. After a minute, a guy my age came down stairs and looked at me. "Hi, Greg," he was lean, had gray-brown eyes, and brown hair that looked like it had never been cut, "May I... come in?" "Y-yeah." He was dressed in a black shirt with a gold star on the front, the sleeves were ripped off, a pair of blue jean pants, and muted-blue sandals. Celestia's gonna be PISSED if I can go into this before her. I can't rush or force it, though. The very next thing that I knew was that we were inside and everyone else had gone downstairs and started something. "So... is this... what happened?" "I... took the rest of the day off. And... he brought me here." "Wow, um, what do you think of nights?" "I could almost be the party goddess of them," I said, something making him take a step back, "Is something wrong?" "Wow." I looked at my reflection in the window that separated the living room from the dining room, then gasped, "I'm sorry!" "How about we just start slow?" I changed my eyes back and got rid of the wings, "I'd love that." "What do you do, um..." "Luna Solaire." "Luna?" "I'm the Vice-Principal for Canterlot High." "I play in a band." "I'm a vampire." "And I don't care." "Is this love?" I said, leaning towards him as he closed the door. "Yeah," we shared a passionate kiss, "It is." "In an alternate reality," I said, "I think I'm a pony moon goddess." "Will you be my moon goddess?" "If you'll be my rock star." That night, around 10:30 "Okay," I said, leading him to the Wondercolt statue, "It's just through here," I pointed at the mirror facing the school at the base of the statue. "It's a mirror." "Maybe," I stuck my hand through the mirror, "Who's first?" "Together." We both went through the portal, and it turned us into ponies, and came out into a closet. "Woah," he said, looking at me, "You're sexy." "Your wings, too." We got out of the closet and found our way out of the castle, but not without interruptions. "Princess Luna? You look... different." "Princess Luna?" Greg asked. We turned around to find a pony version of Fluttershy, "I didn't know that you had a special somepony." "Could you show us out? We're not from this world," Greg said, "We're on our first date, and we wanted to meet... ourselves." "Of course!" she said, leading us out and to a train station. It was a calm walk, actually. "This train will take you straight to Canterlot. I'll have Spike send her a message, okay?" "Okay," I said as she walked off." "Now to get ourselves together," he said as we boarded the train. "Next stop, Canterlot. Travel time, thirty-eight minutes," the conductor said over the speaker as we sat down and the train began moving. "So," he asked, "Do you know what to expect?" "No. Not really." "We could be together here." "Eh, I doubt it." "Do I have wings or a horn?" "Just a pair of wings." He opened them, then wrapped one around me. What a man. I love him. "Aw, you." "I know, Babe." A pony that looked similar to me came over to us, "I suppose you are my counterpart. I am the Princess of the Night." The pony had a horn and wings, moderate cyan eyes, flowing moderate sapphire blue mane outlined in gray persian blue, dark blue coat, and light sapphire blue eyeshadow. I don't give a shit WHO the hell she thinks she is. If she tries to come onto Greg, I'm going STRAIGHT for the throat! "Who are you?" he asked. She looked at Greg and began to fall lovesick. "He's mine! So don't get any ideas." "I've always had a thing for him." I heard Seth's cackling, "Lu, you've gotta come check this out!" "What is it?" "Blueblood just drank a bag of blood because he thought it was raspberry juice, then fell out cold when I told him what it was!" We all went into the next car to find a light gray unicorn with light arctic blue eyes and a light amber mane collapsed in a puddle of bloody vomit, and the smell almost knocked me over. Greg was the most affected by it. "Wow, that's ripe!" Yeah, sexy. A pony that looked like Vampire Seth looked at Greg, "Don't freak out. Your Seth turned me into a vampire." "Yeah, I've gotten used to that." "What?" "Like they do in Russialand. The funky letters?" "I'm a musician." "Just call me 'Pon-Seth'." He started laughing again, then collapsed on the floor with Luna. "This sure beats watching HGTV with Celestia!" I told Greg. Yeah, we have chemistry. "I killed a garden by playing, and Seth killed four of them by looking at 'em!" I replied by mocking the shit that I never really paid much attention to, "Oh, these bee-flowers are the perfect touch for the Sun and bleh!" Greg broke out laughing, "You should see Seth when he's partying!" "Tia hates it when I come home at 5:30 in the morning, wasted! Have you ever drank?" "I have had one beer, and I was just o-u-t, out! If you wanna be amazed, spend the night on the town with Seth. I lost track of how much alcohol he drank, but the police were just like, 'What the hell?'." "What do you mean?" "He showed me a video from his DashCam the next morning, and it showed the cops doing a breath test on both of us. Mine said 0.12, and I was wasted. They just thought I was tired." "What about Seth?" This will be good. "They said his was above 30! You couldn't have known that he had drank at all unless you had seen him!" "That explains so-damn-much!" "Canterlot!" The train stopped and all four of us got off, only to find Pony Greg waiting at the station with a guitar. "Hey, what took..." he saw Luna, "you...? Wow, you're sexy." Luna began to blush, then let her fangs show again, something Greg found attractive about me. "You really should find someone with whom you can grow old with 32: Meanwhile...Seth's Point of View "Okay," Sunset asked me, "Spill it. I want to know how you became a vampire. You obviously weren't one before I woke up in the hospital with Princess Twilight crying about me." "I'm friends with Luna." "That explains how you've always gotten away with your bullshit. I want to know about that first." "Sit down with a cup of coffee, this'll be a long story." "Okay, so when I was a Freshman, I knew I should keep to myself, because I didn't want a repeat of Delmarva... Flashback #1, Tuesday 11 October 2011 12:05p, Canterlot City High School ---Vice Principal Luna's Point of View--- "Luna," my sister said, "I really think that we should do something," Tia said, pacing back and forth, "I'm worried." "About who? Him or us?" "Both. In the three months of him attending Canterlot High School, so much of himself is degraded." I looked out the window and noticed the storm clouds closing in. It had thundered already, but that storm had passed an hour earlier. This one was supposed to be just a heavy downpour, "I'll do it," I said, getting up and leaving her office. "Thank you." "Don't mention it." I owed her a favor anyway, and we had spent this time profiling him. The results came back that Celestia could accidently cause some kind of a living hell to happen, but I could get through to Seth. ---Seth's Point of View--- "Great," I said to myself, seeing the storm clouds approach, "At least my food won't be dry. Right, Twilight?" I looked around my sapphire-blue Acer Aspire One, "Oh right. You're gone." I always sat at the picnic tables outside of the school's lunchroom, regardless of the weather outside. I had a whole table to myself, and I was away from all of the bullies. Not that I was particularly liked anyway. Or ever hungry, for that matter. Maybe I should just hit Greg up for money and buy up all of the food or that weird drink that's like booze to me. Wait! What am I thinking? That's crazy! What was I thinking? I opened up LibreOffice Writer and my story that I was working on, Delorean Trip in Time, when I noticed VP Luna heading toward the lunchroom. "Someone's done something," I said as the netbook slowly loaded the document that I had been working on for almost a month now, "Go, baby, go." When the document loaded, the loud and fast ticka ticka ticka of my typing could easily be heard from a distance, so I knew that I was in the zone. I kept myself just enough in a gray area where I would still notice where someone was headed, given that they showed up, "Twilight, you'd be proud," I said to myself. Luna was noticibly closer now, but she wasn't headed into the lunchroom. She was coming to me! Control-S, Control-Q, Control-Alt-L! The file slowly saved on the laptop running Windows 7-skinned-Linux Mint, then locked just as she made it to the picnic table, "Is this seat taken?" "No. I'll move." "No, don't." "Huh?" "I was wondering... if you'd like someone to talk to for a bit?" "What do you mean?" "I just figured," she began, "that you'd like to not be alone today for your lunch break?" "Well, it couldn't hurt." If she pulls ANYTHING, I'm marching my ass out and NOT coming back for at LEAST a week. "So," she began, "What's it like out here?" "Well, it's just... normal... and peaceful... out here. Not to mention comfortable." She looked at my unopened carry-out plate from the lunchroom and my drink, "What'd you get for lunch today?" I rested my elbows on the table and set my head in my hands, "Just a slice of sausage pizza and a coffee, black with sugar," I said, opening the plate to reveal the slice of homemade pizza, "Why?" "Just curious." "Alright," I said, "What the hell did I do?" "Oh, you didn't do anything wrong." I closed my laptop and put it in my bag, "Am I supposed to do something here?" "Maybe we could tell each other about ourselves?" she said as I sat back up. "There's not--" a solid downpour began, "This is fuckin' lovely," I said putting my hands on the bench and crossing my legs, "No friends, Co-Principal Luna is out here, I'm doused with rainwater, and I can't see." "How about we go into my office, okay?" "Sure, why not?" We went into her office where I tried to continue my lunch. "So, how long have you lived in Canterlot?" "Tell me about yourself first," I said, wiping all of the water off of my glasses with a washcloth VP Luna kept in her office, "Also, what is so fascinating about me?" "Well, as you know, I'm the Vice-Principal of Canterlot High. My sister, and only sibling, is the Principal." "Okay. What's new?" "Well, when I was in school, I had social anxieties, just like you," she sighed, "But over the years, I've learned to accept the fact that there are other people in my life." "Yeah," I said, looking to my soaking-wet laptop case, "That." "Earlier, I saw your laptop, and it had something on the lid," she said, suspicious as to whether I had some kind of talent behind the artwork, "Would it be okay if I took a look at it? I pulled the crappy netbook that I so much enjoyed out of my bag and set it on the table, showing her where I turned the lid into a canvas, "I just took a few K-pop songs and put them altogether in a scene," she looked at it, "Well, my favorites, anyway. Gangnam Style, Korea, New Face, and Gentleman." "Shit, that's good." "I wanted to put I LUV it with the group too, but, in the end, I decided against it because I had already run out of room." "Huh. I sketch some," she said, pulling out a notebook from a drawer, "Here. I don't even let Celestia go through it," she handed it to me, "I think I can trust you, though." I took it and looked as some of the sketches. They were amazing, to say the least. Shit. This is good. DAMN good! "Are you trying to be a sketch artist of some kind?" "I just do this when I get stressed." I noticed a small pair of fangs, so I flipped through the notebook and found something suspiciously different about her, "Do you believe in vampires?" I asked. Damn that was stupid. "Yeah. They actually are real." "How do you know?" "I know someone really close who is a vampire." You. "Who?" "I'll tell you later," she said as I finished my lunch, "You seem stressed." "Yeah. How do you put up with it?" "Well, there is sketching, but my favorite way to deal with it is gaming. Have you ever played Xbox?" "Not really. I'm more of an 8-bit gamer. Atari and Nintendo." "How about some one-on-one this afternoon?" "Sure. You are the first person at this whole school who actually seels like they give a damn about something other than themself." "Oh," she said, shocked at what I had just said, "What?" "Yeah. The guy who sits by himself everyday, JUST so he doesn't have to put up with people wishing he was dead of all the damn things doesn't have a person in the world outside of his house." I must've buttdialed someone because I heard a shocking WHAT!? from my pocket behind PSY-Korea. "What's he sayin'?" a southern-accent said. "People want him dead?" a raspy voice said. "I think so," a timid girl's voice said. "Mah God, Darling!" an English-accent said, "One should NEVER wish that upon someone else!" "What song is this?" "Pinkie Pie, Darling, I think that-" I picked the phone up and shouted over the now-blaring K-pop, "Yeah? And I'm here to STAY! So GET THE HELL OVER IT!!!!!" "Have a cup of coffee first!" the first voice said as a pink arm shot through the phone, holding a large Starbucks coffee, "Black with sugar!" "Gee, thanks," I said, taking the highly-caffinated drink, "I was out anyway." The arm retreated and a pink mouth protruded from the phone screen, "Enjoy!" "Okay..." I said as the mouth retreated, "Any other body parts I need to look out for?" "Nope!" I slid the phone across the table with my foot. "That was... weird," VP Luna said. "Agreed." "Dash, Ah'm just sayin' 'at Ah don't feel right eavesdroppin' on someone else's chatin'." "Oh, for the love of Jesus Christ in Heaven, will you just push the red button that says END THE DAMN CALL already!?" "Sorry, Darling," and the call ended. "What was the name of that song," VP Luna said as I stopped the music, "Oh, and you can just call me 'Luna' now. We're friends, if you want." "That's nice," I said, opening the crappy laptop, "I guess you can read something I've written. It's not any good, though." "I'll be the judge of that," she grinned, showing fangs again as she snatched the computer. "Just a heads-up, it's really slow." When the file finally opened, she skimmed over it, then looked up at me, "It's actually pretty good." "You think so?" "Yeah," she said, putting the computer back in my bag. "At my old school, I would have already been strip-searched." "For what?" "Who the hell knows?" "How's your homelife?" "Pretty good. Greg, my cousin-" "Greg Universe? The musician?" "Mm-hm. Anyway, he lets me do pretty much anything that I could think of. I mean, I could practically get away with murder for God's sake." "So, is he home now?" "Nah. He's on tour with the rest of the band. They should be back by Friday night, though." "Would you like to spend the week with me?" "Sure. Have you ever played Just Dance?" "I've never played with someone before." Twilight and I used to play that at Indigo's. "How about I take you to your house so you can get your clothes." "Sure. 43 Quicktime Circle." We went to her car, and she asked me about my music. "What do you like to listen to?" "Well," I said, "There is some weird shit from North Korea that I either strangely enjoy for the hell of it, or just make fun of. Then, there's Air Supply and K-Pop. I have a thing for stuff from the '80s like Walk Like an Egyptian, and Eye of the Tiger, then there's Gloria Gaynor, I'm not sure, actually. I guess that it's just what I find on YouTube that I like." She unplugged her phone from a Line In to Cassette adapter, "How about you put some of that music on?" "Sure," I said, taking my iPod Touch 4, plugging it into the stereo, and started my playlist lableled K-POP, "What first?" "Any of them." I tapped Korea and let it play. After a few seconds, I set the PDA in the cupholder and saw Luna smile. "Good, right?" "Shit! It's good. It's damn good!" "This is the best part!" "What?" "Do it with me. You'll like it." "Korea, deo keuge! Korea, deo keuge! Korea, deo sege! Korea, oh, oh, oh!" As she drove onto the circular road that held my house, she seemed almost nostalgic. When she pulled up to my house, she asked to come in. "You can just park in the driveway, or I can open up the garage for you, assuming Greg's junk is out of there," she looked at me with a confused look, "The upstairs is being soundproofed." "I'll just park in the driveway. Would it be okay if I came in?" "Sure," I said as we both got out of the car and went in. The door was pretty much always unlocked, but a few people thought I was nuclear, so they steered clear of the house usually. "Do I need to get my own bedding?" I said as she followed me down to the basement, "Because it's no trouble." The basement was partitioned for two areas: 85% for a decent lab and 15% for a bedroom. "Where... are your clothes?" "The cabinet next to the one with the labcoats." "Where?" "Next to where the stairs come out into the room." "Do you want me to help you?" "Just make yourself comfy if you want." "I think I'll help, then." "Suit yourself," I said, getting a blanket and pillow off of the couch that served as my bed so I could put them in a suitcase of some kind. I was suddenly thirsty, so I reached for my Yetti cup that I poured Dr Pepper in this morning, but something about it smelled different. I have got to stop setting these things next to my chemicals. I didn't notice the initials LS on the lid. "No matter," I said to myself before turning to Luna, who already had a week's worth of clothes in a bag. "What do you do at the end of the day?" "I don't do anything." "Would you just like to go over to my house then?" "Sure." "You want a bite?" "Not really." "Sure? I can get something from upstairs." "I'm sure." We went out to her car, and she drove me straight to her house. Wow. It's nice. "You know," she said, "I have a gaming cave." "Can you show me?" She took me downstairs to a basement that was almost as big as the one at my house, "Damn. You have it all." "And that's how I got to know Luna." "Okay," Sunset said, drinking from a coffee mug that read Wорлд'с Бест Вампире, "Now, how did you become a vampire?" "I asked Luna to do it in exchange for me giving her vacation time." "I should have guessed." Flashback #2, Monday 20 January 2014 8:30a, Canterlot City High School I made my way to Vice-Principal Luna's office, and those words rang in my head time and time again. We were REALLY good friends, but she didn't exactly let everything go unseen. Seth, please come to Vice-Principal Luna's office. Now. That one word, Now. She's let me get away with a lot of shit in the past, but I don't think I'll get away with this so easily. Maybe she's in a good mood. Unlikely, ESPECIALLY considering how pissed she was when she came up to that dump on Thursday. The door was within arm's length, so I'm sure that she sensed me, especially considering that I came up as silently as possible, even going so far as to take my Japanese Kimono Sandals off and carry them, essentially making me barefoot, "Come in." "Yes?" "Close the door." The only source of light in the dimly-lit room at this point was the light coming in from the mostly-folded blinds, "Please sit." "So...?" She slid one of my notebooks to me. It was labeled Сцхоол Схит. ПРИВАТЕ!!. My stomach sank. "I see that you've known that I'm a vampire, correct?" "Yes...?" "I could expel you for what you did Thursday. I should expel you, but knowing what I do know about you, it wouldn't do any good. Besides, you did potentially save Sunset Shimmer's life. "I don't get where you're going with this." "I need time off," her fangs extended, "And I'm sure you do, too." "I'm not intimidated by the fangs." "And I saw what you did in the library, too. I'm impressed." "Thanks," I smiled. "So, you're not mad?" "Well, there was the destruction of school technology." "That." "But, I will overlook it," she said, "On the condition that you pull me some time off. You're probably shaken as well, so you can do yourself the favor, too." I thought for a second, then got another sly grin, "Make me a vampire?" Her eyes turned from opal to red, "Let me get to your neck. It'll only hurt for a minute, but it won't be bad. The fangs are going to be pretty weird to talk around at first, though." "Is that how you were?" "I was born a vampire. Celestia wasn't though." "Neat." "Ready?" "Sure." "On the floor, on your back," she said, earning a confused look from me, "It works best if I bite at your jugular." "Oh!" I got on the floor and got ready, but Luna was obviously a little worried about something, "What is it?" "If someone comes in, sees the mess, what we're doing, and gets somebody. They'll think it's a sex scandal." "Good point. Still wanna do it now?" "Doesn't really matter to me." I emptied my laptop case and set it on the floor where my head would be (making sure that the mess would be normally covered by the laptop, even though it would blend in with the others), "Mess is taken care of." She locked the door, "Door's locked." I took a few coins from my bag and wedged them between the door and the doorframe, for extra security, "Now we're safe." "Okay, get ready." I got back on the floor, "Hai." She chuckled, "Japanese. Funny," she went to a somewhat-serious tone, "Now, you can't make any noise. Squeeze my arm if you have to." "Got it," I said, giving a thumbs-up. She bit down, and I reflexively began to squirm, but squeezed her arm with my left hand and made a fist with my right one. Oh God! Getting my blood sucked out is the weirdest thing ever! "Okay," she said, getting up and sitting on her knees, "I'm done. Feel alright?" "Yeah." I felt of my throat where she had bitten down, and felt two holes, along with a bloody mess, "This is noticeable," I said to her as she licked the remaining blood off of her face. "Sorry. This is going to be weird," she said, "but I need to lap at the wound for it to close." "Okay," I said. After Thursday, this almost does not deviate from the status quo. She lapped at the bleeding holes in my neck for about two or three seconds before getting back up, "Okay." I sat up, and she looked at me with somewhat of a shocked expression, "What?" "You have wings." "I'll start hacking," I said, getting up and putting my crap (minus the laptop and my smartphone) back in the bag. "Good idea." After about five or so minutes, I had Lu about two months worth of personal days and myself checked out, "What now?" "I'm not sure," she said, handing me a few bags of blood, "They're A+. I think that they're really sweet." I drank one, then realized how thirsty I actually was, "This is sweet." She smiled, then I knew that our friendship had became a lot closer, "Hungry?" "Hell, yeah," I said, putting my laptop in the bag. "What's a place you like?" "Frank's Diner." "Go get your books from class. I'm in a 1984 Honda Civic CRX Hatchback. Navy-blue." "I figured." "I'll carry your computer and meet you at the front." "A'ight," I said as we both left the office. The walk back to the classroom was overly-satisfying. Normally, I would get bullied by most people because I'm friends with the school's Vice-Principal, but now everyone who saw me did their best to avoid me. Not that I wasn't above taking revenge out on them, though. At one point, I heard some people talking. Those girls from Thursday. I walked right by them, along with a sixth girl that looked similar to Twilight before I lost touch with her. "What the hell?" the athlete said, noticing my eyes, fangs, and wings. She immediately turned to the timid girl, "Fluttershy, don't turn around!" "What? Why?" she said, turning around to me, "Oh my goodness!" she yelled as she fainted before being caught by the athlete and farmer. "What in Celestia is going on in your world!?" the purple girl said. Wow. She REALLY sounds like Twilight. "Mah God, he's looking this way!" "Need anything?" I said, walking toward them. "C'me on, Flutt'rshy!" the farmer said, "Don't quit on 's!" When I made it toward them, the usually-hyperactive girl's hair deflated as she went into a small state of panic, "Are you okay?" "Yes, Darling! We're okay!" the vain girl said. I looked at the timid girl, "No it isn't. I'm taking a look whether you like it or not." The only one of them that dared to get in my way was the athlete, but that didn't last for long. "Stay away from her!" I shined my fangs at her. "Don't hurt me." I went over to her, felt of her head, and checked her vitals. "Dash, s'mtimes you do stupid things!" "What?" "Yer lucky 'at ya ain't bleedin' ta death right now!" "I'm super fast, and I have wings." "So's he!" "I need a bottle of cold water. Or ice." The pink girl gave me an ice pack, so I set it on the timid girl's head, then she slowly came back to. "Oh, I thought I saw a vampire," she said, regaining coherency, "Oh my goodness!" she crawled backward as fast as she could. "Jesus, kid. I don't kill." "I thought you always wanted to be a vampire, Fluttershy," the pink girl said, her hair instantly poofing back up. I rolled my eyes, "We're not animals. Red eyes, wings, fangs, ability to manipulate things," I counted on my fingers, "The only characteristic that all vampires share is the eyes and fangs. Some vampires have wings, some can manipulate things, some can do both, and some can't do either. I just happen to have a pair of wings. I can't manipulate things, though." "So, you're not an animal?" the timid girl asked. "No," I shook my head, "I'm not." "Oh." "I'll go get my stuff, and I probably won't be back today," I said, walking back to the classroom. I heard them start talking again, but it was about me being a vampire. I didn't take offense to it, but a part of it did freak me out. "I didn't know he was a vampire, Darling. He sure kept it covered up." "He wasn't!" I heard the hyperactive one say. She made me freeze in my tracks, "Seth was a regular human before this morning when he went into Vice-Principal Luna's office, he and her have a friendship that started a few months after he moved from Delaware to Canterlot that MIGHT have caused him, and all of us by association, not only because we saved everyone, but because he found where Sunset was, even though he did it illegally. Anyway, that's besides the point. He went into Vice-Principal Luna's office this morning with just his laptop, but the way he was told to go to her office was enough to make him think that he had screwed up bigtime! Not to mention that he already knew that Lu, that's his nick for her, was a vampire herself! She just happened to be born one, so they struck a deal: Seth hacks and gets both of them out without any reprecussions, and Luna turns him into a vampire. Princess Twilight's from an alternate pony world where events run parallel to our own, so I'm sure that him and her are friends in Equestria, that is the name right?" she giggled, "Of course it is, Silly! Anyway, Princess Twilight and Pony-Seth, who is a pegasus, are, like really great friends! That explains the wings. The logic behind his friendship with Vice-Principal Luna, is a different story, although I do know that him and Princess Luna, she's the pony equivalent of Vice-Principal Luna, but a night-goddess instead, along with being a vampire herself, too, they try to have all of the fun that Seth and our Luna has, making Luna have the ability to manipulate things, as well as have a pair of wings!" Judging by the way she said that, I could just feel that she had the world's biggest grin on her face. "Pinkie Pie, Darling, I don't think that's what happened." I went back over to her, but the farmer went into a small panic, "Pinkie, Ah thank ya've messed up bigtime!" "How did you know about that friendship?" I asked, "I'm a secluded person." "Just a hunch!" "What about Equestria?" the Twilight-esque girl said. "You're a pony princess. Of course it would only make sense!" I received a few glances, "That is the same girl whose hair deflated when I said I wasn't going through a mirror-portal," I said, backing away from the group, "See ya." I got my books and met Lu out in front of the school. "Hey, what took ya?" "You know those six girls?" I tossed my bookbag into the back seat. "You had a run-in with them," she said, putting the car in gear and leaving the parking lot, "Am I right?" "Yeah," I said, kicking my feet on the dashboard, "Don't mind me getting comfortable, do ya?" She glanced at me, "No. I don't. This car is 30 years old, anyway." "How did ya get it?" "eBay. How do the wings feel? They don't hurt, do they?" "No. Not really." "Are you still okay?" "Yeah. The wings are cool, I feel better than ever, and I'm NOT in that idiot-coop anymore." We were at a stoplight, so she put her head on the steering wheel and just laughed, "God, that's funny." "What do I need to expect? Now that I'm a vampire." "The Sun won't kill you, but it will feel a bit uncomfortable. You'll start sparkling after being out in it for a while, which I assume you don't ever do to begin with, let alone all day, which is when that starts." "Yeah, I don't." "You won't live forever like they do in the movies," "Thank God." "A shitload of strength," "A'ight." "Night vision. Everything will look like it's daytime," "Hot damn." "Obviously, you'll have to drink blood occasionally," "Fine with it." "You can make yourself look like anything or anyone," "Sweet." "There are two levels of manipulation: basic and true. Any of us can use basic manipulation, but a lot of us don't have true manipulation." "What's the difference?" "Basic manipulation is being able to control things on a small scale, usually not very significant things, but the ability is still there. True manipulation is affecting everything on a large scale," she could tell that I was at a loss, "I took computer classes in school, so naturally, I made some digital mischief. You, on the other hand, could take out anything you can connect your laptop into." "Right..." "Now, swap that power and those abilities between us, then picture those as vampire manipulation abilities." I gave what Luna said a thought, "Oh. Makes sense." We hadn't been paying attention, so we didn't know when we were at the restaurant, "What do like?" she asked. "A bacon burger." "Those are so good." We went in, had our order taken, then picked back up, "What's your game?" "What do you mean?" I asked. "You know, console?" "The S-Nes." She laughed into her hand, "What?" "S-Nes? That's... that's just a weird way to say it. Usually, people call it SNES or Super Nintendo." The waitress brought our food out to us, then Lu shot her fangs out, "What... are you doing?" "Huh?" she put the sandwich down, "Oh, it's a lot easier to eat this stuff with fangs." We both managed to devour the large sandwiches in two minutes, flat, "Oh, and don't worry about getting fat, either." "How?" "A vampire's body utilizes every bit of food they eat. I mean, we don't even have to eat! It just feels nice. And, there have been times where I've wondered what it's like to be a normal human." "Boring," I replied without missing a beat, "You have to eat and worry about weight and all of that junk, unless you have an ungodly-high metabolism, and you can't do anything that you told me in the car." "Do you have any idea about how easy this is?" "Helluva?" "Right, you are." We left the restaurant and got back in her car, although she just sat in the driver's seat with the clutch and gas depressed as she threw the key in the cupholder. "Sleep is the same way as eating is. Vampires don't need it," she said, this time solemnly. "Are you okay?" "That day I came out and sat with you at that picnic table, I hadn't slept at all since the first week of school had ended. Tia wanted me to go check on you that day, but I was debating against it. Just like I had done every other day, actually. Every night, I would pace back and forth in my basement, wondering if you'd be okay. I would have came out sooner, but I was constantly afraid that I'd just... go straight for your neck and finish you in one go, or at least scare you shitless. If I knew how you felt about vampires and wanting to be one, I would have went to you earlier. When you picked up that cup of blood at your house, I almost had a meltdown. I probably would have if you had drank any. That's just how scared I was. Later when we were playing on the Xbox 360, I wanted, so DAMN bad, to tell you everything. That night, at 2:30 after you had fell out, holding a pot of coffee, that had spilled all over your pillow and cover, I originally thought 'Well done, Luna. Well friggin' done.'. I remember looking at the warm and sticky mess, debating on how to clean it. Seperate the liquid from the bedding? No, I might make a horrible mess. Just pull it off of him? No, I don't want to WAKE the guy. I need Celestia.. All of those thoughts, swimming in my head were making me debate whether or not I should've came right out and said everything, or if I should have even taken you in. Not that I'm trying to hurt you-" "You're not." "Anyway, I went upstairs and saw Celestia in the kitchen, doing the one thing that I thought I'd NEVER see her do: panicing at 2:30 and using coffee for comfort. We both managed to keep ourselves collected, even though we were handling the situation rather badly. I don't know how, but we managed to wake you up. What was probably the worst part was when you came upstairs, looked us both in the eye at the kitchen table, and, while you were only half-awake at that, said, and I quote, 'Luna, just tell me that you're a vampire I'm okay with it. Celestia, stop worrying so-damn-much.' We both worried on that for a while before I cleaned up the coffee that you had spilled in your sleep while you were prowling through the refridgerator. I, honest to God, had no idea that you knew. Anyway, a few minutes later, you came back down stairs with a can of soda, or pop, as you call it, confusing me and my morals a little further," she sighed, "then you came over to where I was at the couch, sat your drink down, hugged me, said 'Thank ya, sis.", tried to open a spot on your arm for me to drink from, which you managed to do, but I closed it, then passed out on the arm of the sofa. Tia saw the whole thing from the top of the stairs, making for a very awkward moment, before leaving and going to bed. I seriously thought about pulling another night, something I knew I could do with no problem, but I sat down and pulled you off of the arm of the couch, which ended up in you holding me in your sleep, then me falling asleep too, leaned up against the back of the thing. The next morning at around 9:30, while we were supposedly having a contest to see who could drink the most coffee to wake themselves up, I was debating on whether to tell you." "That's heavy," I said as she finally started the car and drove off. "Now, I finally know that I could've told you all of this sooner" "And turned me into a vampire." "I just... keep beating myself up over it." "Don't," I said, "That's a topic that neither of us knew to bring up, even if there ever was a right time to. Although I bet it feels good getting that off of your chest, doesn't it?" "It does on SO many levels." "And get this," I said, "If you hadn't ever turned me into a vampire, you'd still be beating yourself up over nothing." "I guess you're right." "Care for a little one-on-one?" "360?" "2600." "You're on." End of Flashback Sci-Twi's Point of View I know I should tell them about my dreams. Seth is smart, and he was always able to pull stuff from them that made sense. Ohh, but I can't. Not out loud. Oh, for fuck's sake, Twilight Sparkle. Stop it. Now. I'll cut you a break, and I won't tell anyone. That is, assuming you don't wake up screaming again in the middle of the damn night. "And that explains that." The rest of the day until 15:00 went by fast enough with everything going on in that basement, before everyone coming BACK over for another party. That went smooth enough, but what wasn't was a feeling in my gut that I'm sure even Midnight didn't know about. Even if she did, it would worry her. I don't want that, even IF she's horrible. This is MY fight, and I've got to fight it alone. "Dude, Twilight," Seth said to me, "You okay?" "I'm fine." The rest of the day went rather normal until I went to sleep at 21:30, but my sleep was... disturbing... to say the least. Several nightmares killed any chance I had at actually feeling rested in the morning. Sci-Twi's First Nightmare I looked around and saw that I was on the same bus as I was several days ago when I went to Equestria for my first friendship lesson. Everyone was cold and distant, just like on any other city bus, but this time, Spike wasn't with me in my bag. "Wow," I said, looking at my Casio Calculator watch. 07:38 49 AM 15 9-16 I, exactly like the first time, just thumbed through my Hotmail and text messages, mostly to keep myself occupied even though I didn't have anything unread. "I must be going to CHS," I said, noticing the time and date and my surroundings. The bus stop for CHS was a block and a half from the school. No problem there, but I had trouble at the school again: Manor and Blueblood were there, and they looked pissed. Manor's hand was bandaged and Blueblood was wearing what looked like a laptop bag. "Please! Stop!" I was gagged and stripped like the first time. What was different, though, was that everyone I knew that was still alive were there, too. Except for Midnight. "Mmph! Mmph!" I said through the gag, trying to EMP the iPhone that was recording me being molested, but to no avail. "You didn't deserve the help you got the first time," Sunset said, my vision severly blurring for some reason. "Be a dear and look at yourself, Darling," Rarity said, holding a mirror up to me, "Oh right! You're blind!" "Like shit you are," Seth said, putting my glasses on as I clenched my eyes shut, "Blueblood, Manor! Save some goods for the rest of us, why don't ya?" I felt parts of my body change, then what sounded like a powerful handgun was shot immediately to the left of my head, scaring the living crap out of me. Please! Upon opening my eyes, I found that I was a normal human again. No Equestrian magic, no muzzle, no horn or tail, no anything! I was just... me! "See yourself NOW?" Princess Twilight said, maniacally. "Please... stop...!" I said, dryly before getting beaten to death. I woke up screaming before punching two or three different people. "Dude, Twilight!" "Deary, everything's okay now!" "C'mon, Sci-Twi!" I hit another person before I became completely lucid again, "Please help." "We're here, Kiddo." I opened my eyes, only to find that the lights were on, and all of my friends, Shining and Cadence, Mom and Dad, and even Cinch for some damn reason. "You put up a good fight, Twilie," Shining said, "On several of us." I looked at Mom and Dad, "Oh my God, I'm so sorry!" "It's okay," she said, holding a bag of ice to her face, "We know you didn't mean it." "Dude, Twi," Seth said, looking at me, "What the hell happened?" He was missing a fang and two teeth. "I... had a nightmare." "No shit," Midnight said, "You kept screaming for a handgun." "I was?" "Yeah," Sunset said, holding her stomach, "I'm pretty sure that you work out, too. You even knocked Big Mac out. Twice." "Oh, Jesus." "Just... Just go back to sleep," Seth said to me, "I'll be right here," he gave me his 375 Magnum that he used to use if he heard a noise in the middle of the night, "I can just go all out for it." That was the last thing I remembered before I was out again. Sci-Twi's Second Nightmare I found myself back in the house. We had all just got there for the first time, but now, nothing was aggressive.What was originally a misunderstanding that was blown out of proportion to the accidental accusal of racism didn't happen. Instead, it was immediately realized, so I went upstairs, completely unnoticed by the others and looked in the refrigerator. There wasn't anything there that Seth could have gotten "drunk" from. "That's strange." "What's strange, dude?" "Gah!" I snapped back around, only to find Seth. He was smiling, but I could see where his fangs were showing past his mouth, and he had one hand on his hip. "Something wrong?" My eyes darted left and right for a minute, "No! Everything's fine!" He walked closer to me as his smile faded, "No you're not, Twilight. I know when something's wrong with you. I mean, we've known each other since we were like seven." I guess he does feel obligated to protecting me, somehow. "It's just that..." "Yeah?" "All of your garbage from the refrigerator is missing." His smile and pose returned, "Dude," he said, "shit happens. Besides, vampires don't need to eat and sleep like everyone else. Pretty much all of our energy comes from what blood we ingest." ` "Wait," I said, "So you're not mad?" "Hell, no. It's like I said: Shit happens." Just then, he, Sunset, Ms Luna, and Vinyl all jumped on me and tried to kill me. I remember screaming, being tied down, getting cut open, and having something stripped out of me that resembled everything I had lived for and done, along with all of my life, as I had perceived it. Again, I woke up screaming and accidentially injuring more people. This time, Indigo, Seth, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Starlight Glimmer. "Twilight! Wake up, dammit!" "Dude, PLEASE come back to The Land of the Living!" When I became fully awake and aware of my surroundings, I realized that my wrists and ankles were restrained to something, which only unnerved me even more. "What the hell is going on!?" I cried. "Dammit, Rainbow Dash!" Seth said, coming over to untie me, "You just DON'T do that to people! I don't care WHAT the hell is going on! You could at least be humane about it!" "Look who's talking!" she replied, "You're a vampire! That has to be even worse than tying her up! I mean, she almost HIT me! Besides, you said so yourself! It could blow someone's head off!" "Are you okay, Twi?" he said, helping me up. "Y... yeah." "No you're not." "DAMMIT! If you won't tell, then I'll just say it right here, right now. You had two nightmares, the first one was from that day where you were raped, and everyone just kept it going. The second one was that every vampire that you know began attacking you and killed you. Ironically, the one to start attacking you was Seth!" she looked at the vampire, then subsequently became scared of what she had just said, "Oh God, I'm SO sorry! Don't kill me!" He sat down next to me and put an arm around my shoulder, "Someone had to say it, Midnight. I was literally counting the seconds until it was said. She replied with only a sigh of relief. "That's how I feel right about now," he said, adjusting his position on the couch to where he was sitting against the back and the armrest. I held Seth's waist, leaned against him and fell asleep again, feeling safer now. This time, I actually had a wonderful dream. Dream #3 I looked around, and found that we were at some kind of dance, and the song that was playing was Two Less Lonely People In The World by Air Supply. It was live! Everyone that I had ever seen was there. Okay. What's the catch? I found that I was slow dancing with Seth. I noticed something different about him now He was dressed like Daniel Krumitz from CSI: Cyber. He was three inches taller. His hair was parted in the middle, making it go around his face, and was somewhat shorter. He had his wings unfolded, his eyes were crimson, and his fangs were out (Just thought I'd put that there because I don't usually see him like that). Neither of us were wearing our now-usual eyeware. He was wearing a regular pair of eyeglasses, and I wasn't wearing any at all. "Hey, Seth?" "Yeah, Twilight?" "Did you get taller? Also, are we in love?" "So what, if we are?" The song began to slow, everyone around us stepped back by about three feet, and a spotlight made its way to us. "Every love is here and now, there's..." The song slowly stopped at the end of that phrase, everyone had stepped back, and the spotlight now shone on us, leaving both of us confused. "You can do it, Darling!" "Go on now, Sci-Twi!" "You can do it!" "Seal the deal, Twi!" "Go on, now!" "Go for it!" We looked into each other's eyes, and knew it: We were in love. Should we? The two of us leaned in for a kiss. "Just don't bite my tongue." When our lips met, everyone started cheering, and the band finished the song. "...Two less lonely people in the world, and it's gonna be fine!..." "I guess that answers my question," I said as he picked me up and held me for another kiss. "Guess it's settled, then." "Is this supposed to feel... like this?" "I'm a six-foot-tall, bloodsucking, human creature; you're half-unicorn now; and you find this weird?" he said, putting me back down, "I'm just going to go with it." "You know," I said, "the only times I've actually been kissed were when Blueblood and Manor were molesting me. This one actually felt... nice." "If they try to do that again, I'll tear them apart," he said with a smile, "They know what I'm capable of, and I've taken a guess that you'd help me kick their asses, too." "That'd be lovely," I said, returning his warm smile. Several more scenes passed by me: dates (some to Japan and a now-unified-under-the-Southern-government Korea), high school graduation, college, hanging out with our friends, then stopped on a proposal at a Japanese Teppanyaki Restaurant. In none of the scenes, we were dressed up. Seth wore the same style of outfit, and I was just wearing my normal clothes. Neither of us had aged a lot in terms of appearance, either. I must've stopped wearing glasses, but Seth alternated between his and a regular pair. "Twilight," Seth said, now 23, "Would you make me the happiest person on Earth?" he got down on one knee and presented me with a ring, "If you'd marry me." The entire restaurant went quiet, and I could feel everyone looking at each other and smiling. "I'd love to." Everyone in the restaurant became happy, a few people even clapping and cheering. The next scene that I stopped at was the wedding. More like an hour before. "Oh, but I insist, Darling! A wedding just isn't a wedding if it's not formal!" "Rarity," I replied, "We're not going for that. I mean, we're already a vampire and half-unicorn getting married. Besides, we both agreed: We're too different to try to be normal, so let's not make what we do normal." Time sped forward to the next hour: We were at the altar, and nobody was dressed for a normal wedding. None of Seth's family was here, but all of mine, our friends, and their families were there. I'm sure he liked that more. "Do you, Twilight Sparkle, take Seth C DeMeats to be your lawful wedded husband?" "Why not?" "And do you, Seth C DeMeats, take Twilight Sparkle to be your lawful wedded wife?" "I'm not ruining this day for anyone." I giggled at that. I'll take it that's a 'hell-to-the-yeah!'. "You may now kiss." We shared a kiss that was as passionate as the first date. "I now present to you, Mr and Mrs DeMeats." " Author's Note I'm working on this chapter while I figure out all of the romance in the previous two. And NO! Lu is NOT a pet name, and Seth and Luna are NOT lovers. EDIT: When I oblique the Cyrillic text, the letters change. If you copy and paste the Cyrillic stuff in something like Kate, you'll see what it really is. EDIT: I know those songs are post-2011, but this is an alternate universe story. EDIT: This is now a Meanwhile... chapter. 18 3-27: I might try to do a sequel that takes place when the characters are older. 1: Leaving the Human WorldSci-Twi's Point of View "Twilight," The girl with fiery hair said, helping me up as I put on my glasses, "You said you wanted to understand magic, right?" "But not at the cost of the whole world. I just wanted to understand what I can. Not her. Not Midnight Sparkle." Her five friends came over to me and reassured me that everything was going to be alright. "Now," she said, directing me into the hole in space, "welcome to Equestria." Author's Note The Human Twilight Sparkle, because of her "brainy" and "Dr Emmett Brown-like" demeanor (Back to the Future reference on the second one), will be referred to as "Sci-Twi" to more easily distinguish her from Princess Twilight Sparkle. Also, that is what I've seen her called in other places in the fandom. 2: An Equestrian... Welcome?I went into the world filled with magic, but quickly lost my balance and fell down upon entering. Sunset followed me in, and provided me with some assistance. She was now one of these creatures, moving as if she had previously been one of them before. I began to break down a little because of this. The unrest and cluelessness of the quadroped creatures of this strange world didn't really help much, either. "Wh... Where are my fingers? What's this thing on my head!?" "Calm down, Twilight," she said, "Those are hooves, and you're a unicorn here. You have magic here. And I mean REAL magic," she said, reassuringly. I tried to stand up again, but I fell back down. "I can't stand up. Where are my feet!?" "You're not a human here. You're a pony." "What?" She stood on four legs instead of two now, and she had hooves as well as a muzzle. Her ears resembled a horse's ears, and she had a tail that was the same style as her firey hair. "I know it's a lot to take in at first, but you'll get the hang of it really soon if you just take a moment and relax." Sunset's friends, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, and Rarity, all came through the rip with her, although they just turned slightly anthropomorphic (simply getting pony ears and hair becoming impossibly long, along with Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy getting wings) instead of becoming the creatures of this land. I had a sneaking suspicion that Sunset knew how to utilize (or reject) resources in order to transform into a hybrid creature. "You... you didn't... you didn't change like they did. They're still human!" "I know somepony who helped me, and she can help you just as good." "Some...pony? You mean someBODY, right?" "You'll see." She taught me how ponies stood and walked, and then proceeded to take me to a strange place.
3: Twilight Meets the Princess of FriendshipPrincess Twilight's Point of View "Twilight!" Spike said, "Equestria is ending as we know it! DO SOMETHING!" "Uh-huh," I said, "You can get a claw massage, Spike. I'm too caught up in this book about Starswirl the Bearded to have time to do anything. Plus, I believe that you've earned yourself a heck of a lot of time off." "What about Sunset Shimmer!? And your friends in..." "They're in DANGER!? WHY IN CELESTIA'S SWEET NAME WOULD YOU NOT TELL ME THIS!? WE HAVE TO DO SOMETHING!!!!!" "But it's not the portal!" I ran through the castle, getting Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Starlight Glimmer, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash together. At this point, I was more concerned and scared for my human friends' safety over them being weirded out by seeing a clone of themselves from Equestria. "Okay, guys! Here's the plan!" Sci-Twi's Point of View "And you're sure that this is right for me," I said. She just walked next to me, more confident than ever and kept reassuring that things were going to be okay. "Of course," she said, taking me to a castle. She knocked on the door, which gained a lavender aura after the first knock. "FRIENDSHIP EMERGENCY!!!!!" a lavender unicorn with wings yelled, obviously in an enormous panic, "IT'S DIRE!!" Sunset stepped in front of the winged lavender unicorn and became firm. "Princess Twilight," she said, "there is no emergency anymore." "But... but Canterlot High... and your world... and..." "We took care of that. The um... windows... are just there because of some tension. Everything's okay now." "I HAVE TO-- wait, you what?" "As a matter of fact," she said, "You have a new student." The winged unicorn looked at me and lost all coherency to dumbfound, along with the full-pony variants of Sunset's friends. "Let's... go inside... then?"
4: IntroductionsAuthor's Note I know some of the lines in this chapter are duplicated, but that's just because when going from one character's perspective to another, the events can overlap. It does not necessarily mean that they are happening more than one time. It's more just to eliminate gaps than anything. 4: Introductions I was taken to this room with a large, circular table, surrounded by seven chairs, one of which was smaller than the others, all made of the same crystalline structure that the place was made out of. A bright purple... pony?... came in with more chairs for the each of us from Canterlot City. "I... how... What is this place!?" I asked. By now, everyone was able to speak except me. I was still dumbstruck. "Why don't we sit down?" the lavender winged-unicorn said. "Uh... yeah." "Doubles?" the Rainbow Dash from this dimension asked, somewhat narcassistically, "Twice the awesome!" They gave each other a high-five. Well, OUR Rainbow Dash did. This world's Rainbow Dash gave what could be considered more of a "high-hoof". The winged unicorn, though, seemed somewhat annoyed at this. "Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Pinkie, you are all dismissed. I can trust that you'll make your counterparts feel comfortable during their stay. Starlight and Sunset, you may also be dismissed, if you please." "Actually," the one I assummed to be Starlight said, "maybe we should stick around." "I said it was your call to begin with, so I'm okay with either." "Oh." We sat down, the four of us, and began to chat. "I... uh... um..." "Let's start with names?" she said, levitating a cup of what I presumed to be tea and sipping it. "I... it's... it's Twilight Sparkle." She dropped the cup and spat the hot liquid out on me in complete and total shock. That brought me back to terms with reality. The liquid was definitely tea. "Hey, ow!" I said, wiping the drink off of my face and glasses, "That's hot!" She looked at me with her mouth dropped open. Sunset Shimmer's Point of View I was NOT prepaired for what was about to happen at this introduction, ESPECIALLY considering that Twilight had already been to our world before and had seen human versions of her pony friends. "I... it's... it's Twilight Sparkle." I knew that it's normal for people and ponies to freak out over things, but I hadn't planned for this, especially seeing her go into complete mental shock and accidentally spit out hot tea. "Hey, ow!" Sci-Twi said, wiping the drink off, "That's hot!" Dammit! Was I really the only one remaining collected by any means? At least on the outside. Sci-Twi's Point of View My glasses were dirty now, but I could still see. I was a little mad, though, but not enough where I would have to actually be mad. More like perturbed or annoyed. But not mad or angry. "I'm sorry! I'm SO sorry!" the still-nameless pony said, "I'll get your glasses cleaned for you!" "No," I said, "It's fine. I'm used to it." "Come to think of it," she said, "you DO look a lot like me. I'm the Twilight Sparkle of this world." Princess Twilight's Point of View "Come to think of it," I said, coming to a realization, "you DO look a lot like me. I'm the Twilight Sparkle of this world." Okay. Introductions made it off to a REALLY bumpy start, but I think that things won't completely derail. Sci-Twi's Point of View "Come to think of it," she said, "you DO look a lot like me. I'm the Twilight Sparkle of this world." She seemed calm, and level-headed about the situation. If she was anything that she made herself out to be on the surface, she could (and probably would) teach me a lot about whatever she specialized in. "I'm not... going to be arrested, am I?" "It's a long story," Sunset intervened, "We'll get into that later if you want." Time seemed to slow exponentially. Each nanosecond becoming 500 times longer than the last, to be precise, although my calculations were probably the most inaccurate that they've ever been. "Sunset" Come on, Twilight freaking Sparkle! Think! "said" Maybe she'll just think that it's a hell of a lot to take in and let me go back home. "that" Just breathe, Twilight Sparkle. I took the thoughts that I was thinking and just started breathing again. "you'd like to learn about friendship." What the hell? "Is that right?" I looked at her for a few moments. "Are... are you okay? You look really flushed." I blacked out. Princess Twilight's Point of View "I'm not... going to be arrested, am I?" Twilight Sparkle said. "It's a long story," Sunset said in a casual, "that's not important RIGHT now" kind of way, "We'll get into that later if you want." Twilight Sparkle seemed to be uneasy with something, so I figured that the best course of action would be to give her a quick explanation of why she was here because something was OBVIOUSLY troubling her. I could tell that it was one of those "better not to pry" kind of things. "Sunset said that you'd like to learn about friendship. Is that right?" She became suddenly flushed and pale. "Are... are you okay? You look really flushed." She passed out cold.
5: What... just happened?Sunset Shimmer's Point of View Sci-Twi passed out cold, making Princess Twilight very anxious. She stood up and began to walk over to me, as if I were Princess Celestia and she was coming to me for the answer to life, the universe, and everything. Starlight (I assumed that's who she was through deductive reasoning) just kind of... froze. "Sunset," Princess Twilight said, VERY anxious, "What... just happened?" I took this opportunity to explain, as best I could, what had happened at the Friendship Games. "Okay, so the other you made a necklace of some kind that steals magic. She was, well I can't say careless, not really... she didn't know how to handle it. And at the end of the games, just so she could win, the principal of her school, Abacus Cinch, bullied the shit out of her, along with the other students from her school, just so she would have an 'advantage' over us and win a damn game! The results were... different. The portals, rifts actually, were created by her in an attempt to get to this world to learn and understand magic, except it... wasn't her. It was some demon-creature named Midnight Sparkle. We had to defeat her, no easy task but nothing we can't handle, no gloating intended, and succeeded. Cinch tried to come out on top by threatening to go to the school board, but there were multiple copies of evidence of her bullying and manipulating her, causing Cinch to have to accept defeat. The rifts are neutralized, to my understanding, but Sci-Twi is still pretty shook up about this. She believed, in my opinion, that I was bringing you here for some kind of inhumane treatment instead of friendship lessons, which is a COMPLETELY, massive emphasis, foreign concept to her, virtually nonexistent!" I said, barely able to keep mild composure now. Princess Twilight was OBVIOUSLY shaken, so much to the point where she fell backward in a chair and put a hoof to her head, but still coherent enough to do something. "That's a lot to take in," she said before turning to Spike, who had a quill and scroll ready, "Send a message to Princess Celestia and Princess Luna explaining what just happened. I don't give a crap about what it says, just get the point across! I need them here! NOW!" "Sure thing, Twi!" Spike's Point of View I went ahead and got a quill and scroll. "That's a lot to take in," Twi said, turning to me "Send a message to Princess Celestia and Princess Luna explaining what just happened. I don't give a crap about what it says, just get the point across! I need them here! NOW!" "Sure thing, Twi!" I said. I began to write as fast as I could. My clawwriting just had to be readable, so I went fast because this is a HUGE emergency! Celestia and Luna: This is Spike, and Twilight Sunset Shimmer Starlight Glimmer and myself need you both here! Twilight isn't telling me what to write so I'll just put it in my own words. you probably know about the rips and holes to the other world. that's okay now, but the person who did it is the Twilight from THAT world! she's here with us right now, and we really don't know what to do! She wAS manipulated into doing it and she wants to learn friendship because that twilight doesnt know frienD ship and nOW SHES PASSEDOUT!COMEWITHHELP!!!!! I blew the letter with certainty that they would get it. Twilight and Starlight were already gone, probably to get some water to pour on the other Twilight. I just stayed back with Sunset Shimmer if she needed me. Author's Note I know Spike's letter is atrocious, but in a panic, it was all he could do. I would upload a picture of the letter in horrible handwriting from my computer, but I have no idea how to do it.
6: Princess Luna's InvolvementPrincess Celestia's Point of View I began looking out of the windows of the castle while my sister was in the throne room, just to make sure everything was alright, but the extremely grim reality of the situation soon became evident when Luna brought me a note from Spike. The writing's messiness stated a very extreme panic level at the Castle of Friendship. "CELESTIA!!" my sister's voice shouted, "THE SITUATION IS FAR WORSE THAN WE THOUGHT!!!" Oh shit! She never addresses me by name! It's usually "Sister" or, less often, "Princess Celestia". The only other time was when... I all but broke down into sobs Tirek... Mother... when he... I'm glad my sister came when she did. "I... I can't... it's just... I miss her." I couldn't hold back any longer. I needed some time. "I'm sorry," my only living blood relative said, highly remorsful, "I'll leave a copy for when you are ready." Princess Celestia's Worst Memory With one final blow, Tirek knocked mom onto the ground. My sister and I were too afraid to do anything. "You've met your defeat, haven't you?" Tirek said to our mother. Mother laid there, barely half-conscious, when the monster threw one punch at her, opening up a hole in her chest, and then proceeded to yank her heart out. The sight made me vomit, but I didn't know what it would do to my sister, twenty-three years younger than me, being a six-year-old. She lay there bleeding out, nothing we could do except to hug her one final time before she reaches the end of the tunnel for good. "Mommy! No!" my baby sister begged and pleaded. I couldn't talk or do anything except for lay on the ground. "I know... I know that you'll do... do well..." She was gone. I threw up when she had hit the end. My sister, I know, was too young to deal with it like I was. "Is there anything that I could do?" a familiar voice said. I looked up to see the Lord of Chaos. "You...?" "Yes." Our lifelong enemy gave us instructions for a simple, yet powerful banishing spell to a place he had made months earlier. "STILL!" he shouted, and with a snap of his fingers (on the hand that was a lion's paw), he froze the monster in place so we could do the spell. Afterward, we both looked at him in confusion. "It's my job to make disharmony, not kill ponies. I'm sure that Equestria can go on for as long as it takes you to get better without my forces being at play." "Th-- thank you," we both sobbed." Princess Luna's Point of View I did not know what trouble I would soon cause because I was focused on a potential loss of an other-worldly being. "CELESTIA!!" I shouted, galloping as fast as I could down the halls of the castle, "THE SITUATION IS FAR WORSE THAN WE THOUGHT!!!" When I made it to my sister, she just stood idly, looking out a window, and mumbling. I didn't know what to do. "Mother... Discord..." She started crying. "I'm sorry. I'll leave a copy for when you are ready." And with that, I made an exact duplicate, that was easier to read of course, with her personal wondercolt, Air Guard. "This is for her when... when she is ready." "Yes, your majesty." I reread Spike's letter and decided that it would be best to teleport to the Castle of Friendship, and then proceed to the council room. When I made it to the Council Room, I immediately knew the urgency of the situation. "Spike, what has happened?" "Sunset can give you the full thing!" I turned to Sunset, who promptly began telling me the whole story. "Okay, so this Twilight made a necklace of some kind that steals magic, but she didn't know that it would do that. She was, well I can't say careless, not really... she didn't know how to handle it. And at the end of the games, just so she could win, the principal of her school, Abacus Cinch, bullied the shit out of her, beg pardon your majesty, along with the other students from her school, just so she would have an 'advantage' over us and win a damn game! The results were... different. The portals, rifts actually, were created by her in an attempt to get to this world to learn and understand magic, except it... wasn't her. It was some demon-creature named Midnight Sparkle. She was defeated, but Cinch tried to come out on top by threatening to go to the school board, but there were multiple copies of evidence of her bullying and manipulating her, causing Cinch to have to accept defeat. The rifts are neutralized, to my understanding, but their Twilight is still pretty shook up about this. She believed, in my opinion, that I was bringing Princess Twilight here for some kind of inhumane treatment instead of friendship lessons, which is a COMPLETELY, massive emphasis, foreign concept to her, virtually nonexistent!" she said, as if she would break down at any minute. "When Princess Twilight returns, we shall take her to the royal infirmary." Princess Twilight soon returned with Starlight Glimmer, each carrying a bucket of water. Both of them emptied their buckets on her, but it had no immediate effect. "Princess Twilight." "Yes, Princess Luna?" "I shall use my magic to teleport us all to the royal infirmary. Being one of your potential students, I see it only fit to give her top-notch care. My sister is... dealing... with... issues." "Thank you, Princess." I teleported us all to the Royal Infirmary. Princess Celestia's Point of View "Is there anything I could do to help, Celestia?" I heard the voice of my, in a way, father. "Just... just being here... just being here is enough. Thank you, Discord." I hugged him tightly while he let me cry on his shoulder. "Just let it all out. It'll be good for you." "Th- thank you." "Not a problem, child. Not a problem." Author's Note Yes, that is how forgiving I see Princesses Celestia and Luna to be: BANISHING Tirek to Tartarus instead of killing him when he killed their mother. And I can also see Discord, despite still being unreformed, having sympathy for the two alicorns while in grieving of such a dear and close loss, going so far as to "adopt" them as his children when they need comfort from that kind of situation. I'm also NOT going to go in depth on this dark memory, as I don't want it to be THAT kind of story.
7: Princess Celestia's Involvement and the Royal InfirmaryJust if the last chapter wasn't clear, here's what happens between then and now: Princess Celestia goes through re-mourning for a little while, Sci-Twi is still out-cold, but is now in the Canterlot Royal Infirmary and receiving top-notch medical care. Celestia makes it to the hospital and meets Sci-Twi. Sci-Twi's Point of View I woke up, only to find that I was in a bed of some kind. I was mostly soaked with what I hoped to be just water, but when I looked around, I saw them! They were going to torture me! The other rulers! I saw a tall, white winged-unicorn that strongly resembled Principal Celestia of Canterlot High and a slightly shorter one that was a deep blue and also strongly resembled Vice-Principal Luna of Canterlot High. I'm up shit creek. Dammit, Twilight Sparkle! Don't keep having thoughts like this! Midnight Sparkle could still be in there! She could still be a part of me that's dormant! "Wha-- wha-- what happened!?" "Please be careful," a serene, motherly voice said, "You've been asleep for almost four hours now." I looked around and found that I was in a HOSPITAL of all places. "According to Sunset," Princess Twilight spoke, "you were manipulated into releasing accidentally stolen magic, which transformed you into something horrible that did horrible things. Meeting me overwhelmed you so much that you passed out, thinking that we were going to torture you for what had happened. As for why you are soaking wet, me and Starlight Glimmer" "Hi," the light purple pony said, somewhat sheepishly waving a hoof at me. "each dumped a bucket of water on you." "I'm sorry, but we haven't been properly introduced yet," the lavender winged-unicorn said before continuing, "I'm Twilight Sparkle, the Princess of Friendship." "I'm Celestia," the white one said, "Princess of the Sun." "And I'm Luna, Princess of the Night," the remaining winged-unicorn added. "So... none of you are mad about any of this?" "Well, Miss Sparkle," Princess Luna said, "that is not exactly the case." "Damn, I've screwed up! And I couldn't even control it!" "We are mad-" "I know! I shouldn't have tried to understand magic to begin with!" "at a Ms Abacus Cinch." "What the...?" "You just started from a wrong perspective, and became overwhelmed with what might happen to you." "What... are you going to do with me? And what about Principal Cinch? Is she going to be okay?" Good going, Twilight. You've just asked them NOT to hurt the one who started all of this. "The royal guard is having her locked in the dungeon, if possible." "Crap." "It's not your fault," Princess Celestia said before turning her head toward the door, "The twelve of you may come in now. You should also bring the proof that your Cadence collected on the ringleader of this mess." One by one, ten creatures and two humans came into the room. Five of them were Sunset's anthropomorphized friends, five were their doubles from this dimension, and the other two were my brother and sister-in-law, Shining Armor and Cadence. "Twilie," my brother said, "Are you okay? From what we heard, you fell and hit your head!" "The doctors think that it may be a mild concussion at the very worst." "A CONCUSSION!?" "Twilie, you should really stop worrying about all of this." "Yeah, dude," the anthro Rainbow Dash said, "It's nothing to get worked up about. Sunset explained everything to the ten of us. We'll totally help you out. It's, like, what friends do!" "Friends?" I asked. "Yes, Darling," the anthro Rarity said, "People who are close to you that care for and help you with problems. You've never had one?" "Do Shining Armor and Cadence count, even though they're my family?" "It's a good start, Darling." "Is a part of being friends honesty?" I asked, "Everything was pretty vague and blurry when... she... took over." "Who!?" Princess Celestia said firmly, coming over to my bed, "Who is this girl that took over?" "I... I'm sorry. I shouldn't have-" "No," she said, the serene and somewhat-motherly tone returning in her voice, "Who is she? She might be the key to helping you recover. "M... Mid... Midnight... Midnight S..." "Midnight who?" Princess Luna asked, "You're in good hooves. You've got good friends and family. All of us are here to help you." "I'm... I'm afraid that... she'll come back." "Is that it?" anthro Rainbow Dash said, "We'll totally kick her ass!" "Midnight," I took a deep breath before continuing, "Midnight Sparkle." There was a short pause, broken by Princess Luna. "You may show her the evidence now, Miss Pie," Princess Luna said. I knew which version of who she was referring to when she called them that: Ms/Mr out of respect if they were from Canterlot, and by name if they were Equestrian. "Okie dokie lokie!" she said, getting her laptop out of her hair. Pinkie's laptop was an older MacBook, highly customized to have a pink casing with three balloons like the ones on her skirt on the back instead of white plastic and an Apple. "Thanks," I said as she sat the computer down on my lap.
8: Proof and Unicorn Magic: Sci-Twi's InnocenceSci-Twi's Point of View I went to open the computer, only to see that I still had hooves. I was evidently still a pony. The hard part would be getting to the proof. At this point, the back of the bed was set up, somewhat being like a recliner. "I can't use this." "Yes you can, Sci-Twi. You've got magic!" "That I don't know how to use!" "Just... just picture yourself doing the steps like you normally would if you were a human, and... and do as close as you can physically. That should jumpstart your horn magic." "Okay," I said, Picturing my hooves as wrists, I looked at the upper-right of the keyboard and pictured myself turning the thing on while I "did" it. Much to my surprise, it actually worked. "What the hell?" I said. I was completely speechless as I successfully opened the video files in a folder labeled Human Twilight: Friendship Games. Up first was one of Cadence's videos, which turned out to just be just sound, as the phone was facedown. It was still good enough for everyone in the room, though. "Okay, guys. Here's the first one. It says, 01: Manipulation into the Friendship Games.mp4." 01: Manipulation into the Friendship Games.mp4 (Sci-Twi's Point of View) Again, this part has no video because the camera was face down. All that Cadence really needed, though, was what they were saying in the office, but when video does come in, it is widescreen. "Shining Armor?" I said, "Why is my brother here?" "As an alumni," my sister-in-law began, "Principal Cinch thought he could provide some... unique perspective." "On what?" "Why, the Friendship Games, of course," Ms Cinch began to explain, "You competed in the games, did you not, Shining Armor?" Someone cleared their throat. "I did." "And do you happen to recall who won?" "Ha, Crystal Prep did. We always win." "We always win." "Why did you ask to see me?" I said. "Twilight, I'll be honest," Ms Cinch said, "It doesn't matter whether or not Crystal Prep wins or loses. The important thing is that we are expected to win because Crystal Prep has a reputation. And it is that reputation... my reputation that is responsible for everything we have here. For everything you've done here. And you've done quite a lot, haven't you?" "I don't know. I guess." "Oh, don't be modest. You're the best student this school has ever seen. What I can't understand is why my best student wouldn't want to compete." "In the Friendship Games?" "Look, Twilie," my brother said, "I know it's not really your thing, but representing the school is kind of a big deal. Plus, they could really use your help." "It seems Canterlot High is undergoing something of a renaissance," Ms Cinch said, "Test scores are up, grades, even athletics are on the rise. You see, they are developing somewhat of a reputation. This can not happen!" "Ms Cinch, I can't possibly participate in the games. My work here is very--" "Ah yes. Your work. Cadence, could you and Shining Armor find my contact sheet for the Everton Independent Study program?" "Of course," my sister-in-law said. A door opened, then closed, assuming that my brother and sister-in-law left the room. I turned up the volume to 100% "I understand you've applied," Ms Cinch said, "You see, one of the advantages of having a reputation is a certain amout of influence in such things. So, let me offer you a deal. In return for contributing your agile mind to these games, I will use my influence to guarantee your application is approved. Though, I suppose I could also have it... denied." I gasped. "What do you think I should do?" I skipped ahead about two or three minutes until I heard Ms Cinch's office door again. A knock was heard. "You may come in." "Ms Cinch," Cadence said, "I have the contact sheet." "Where is Shining Armor," Ms Cinch said, restlessly, "I presumed that he would be coming back with you, Ms Armor." "Just 'Cadence', if you will." "Where is he?" "He had some important business come up. He'll be back momentarily." "And just what is more important than assuring our win?" she said, becoming very angry within the conversation, almost to the point of complete screaming. "He never really said," Cadence said, becoming anxious, "All that he really said was, and I quote, 'I just want to ensure the victory of Crystal Prep. Just trust me, hon. And tell Principal Cinch to just continue without me.'. That's it." "Well," Ms Cinch said, backing down, "He always has been a firm and reliable person. You both have. I, with that being the case, believe that it will be for the best. Thank you, Cadence." "Is that all, Ms Cinch," I said. "Yes Twilight. You are free to go." A squeak, and then footsteps approached. The phone was picked up, revealing someone, then a door squeaked and closed. The picture was too fast to make out who. Must be Cadence. The video then became clear as the phone was set in what must've been a purse, shallow pocket, or handbag. A few steps were taken before any more was said. "She didn't scare you, did she?" "Uh..." The picture turned to an anxious me. "Don't worry, Twilie. Cadence and I will make sure everything is okay." "Thank you." "Why don't you go back to your lab and work some more on your research." "Okay." I became less anxious and began down a flight of stairs. The video, though, didn't follow me. There wasn't any conversation between my brother or Cadence, so I skipped about two minutes further until they started talking again, but their voices were low and stealth. "Wow," my brother said, "You working here as the Dean really proved me wrong. She does play us for dumbasses. "I know," Cadence said, "That also just answered the question of how much of a family of them she thinks we are." The picture turned to my brother. "Did you get Ms Celestia and Ms Luna in on it, too?" "Better. I told them about it, and had them plant a few recordings." "Now, we just play the waiting game." The video flipped, swapping to the front camera, revealing her on the left-hand side of the screen and my brother on the right, both being about three-quarters out of the shot. I correctly assumed that this was to see if they were being followed. "And Cinch is nowhere around." The person holding the phone held it down, moving the picture to Cadence, presumably so she could casually end the recording. Before ending it though, she said something, as if leving a message for me. "Twilight, we're not going to let you be bullied like this." The video ended. Sci-Twi's Point of View "You see, she, Ms Cinch, is a terrible influence on you, Miss Sparkle," Princess Celestia said, "You did nothing wrong." "I can't believe I let myself do that." I felt so guilty just hearing the four of us on video in Ms Cinch's office, and, evidently, I was showing it as precisely as my anxious self could. "Twilight," Princess Twilight said, "Are you okay? You're turning pale and clammy." "Why would you two do that!?" I said to my brother and his wife, "You could have at least told me that you were going to do that!" "We're sorry, Twilight," Cadence said, "We just had to play it cool for a while. Sadly, that meant leaving you in the dark. We wish we could've told you, but if we did, Cinch's playing the three of us for idiots would have been right, and she would have never been exposed." I felt my color coming back, but didn't know how to take in this information. That was visibly obvious. "Now that she's gone, we can be completely open and honest again," my brother said, both coming over to hug me. I was immediately relaxed. "Wow, I... I don't know what to say." "You don't have to say anything," Princess Twilight said. "Should I show you the rest of the videos?" "We've seen and heard it all," Princess Twilight said, "There's no need for that." "Thank God," I said, slamming the lid on the computer shut while ASTRONOMICALLY stressed, "I don't want to live through any of that shit ever again!" "You don't have to," Cadence said, somewhat motherly, "Now, I think Princess Twilight" Her and my brother were beginning to wonder what I thought was the same thing that I was. "would like to talk to you." I looked over to Princess Twilight. "If you'd like, that is." "Sure," I said, somewhat confused, "I... guess so...?" "Alright, then," she said, becoming focused on a topic that I hadn't figured out what it was yet, "How, when, and where would you like?" Twilight Sparkle, you might not be receiving punishment for Ms Cinch's actions, or what you did as Midnight Sparkle. Just go ahead and start with her. She did say that she IS the Princess of Friendship, and she WILL take care of you. Everyone here would, for that matter. "Okay," I said, taking a deep breath and regaining my composure, "Could we be alone? But... could my brother and Cadence stand right outside? I- if I need them?" "Sure," she said, turning around to everyone else, "If everybody and everypony would step out, except for Twilight's Brother and Sister-In-Law?" Everyone went out of the room at the request of the princess except my brother and sister-in-law. "What would you like for us to do?" Cadence asked. "Twilight Sparkle" "I guess it's okay if you and everyone just started calling me Sci-Twi now, just to be completely clear as to which of us they are referencing." "Okay, Sci-Twi," she said to me before turning around to face the only two left in the room, "Your sister has requested that you stay just outside of the room. If you want, I can have Princess Celestia get some chairs for you." "That'd be great," Shining Armor said, "Just call if you need us." On that, they stepped out and closed the door. Author's Note Thank God for modern tech, am I right? And, just to be on the safe side, the recording (the part with the SPOILER marking) in this chapter is the conversation the four of them had. In the movie, though, it was never recorded. This idea was from Aftermath of the Games. It's a really great story, and I think that you give it a read, especially if you like how the idea of recording bugs fits in with the story.
9: Midnight Sparkle ReturnsSci-Twi's Point of View I was getting anxious again, but this time wasn't like the others. You'll see me again, Twilight Sparkle! "NO!" I said, gripping onto the bed as tight as I could with hooves, "PLEASE DON'T!!!!!" I suddenly snapped back to reality. "'No' what?" Princess Twilight said, "Are you okay?" "Yeah," I said, "What did you want to talk about? It's okay if you want to sit at the foot of the bed. I'm used to Spike being there, but... he isn't. He's at home." "Oh. I'm sorry." "It's okay," I said before lowering my voice to just above a whisper, "Just as long as Midnight Sparkle stays away." She looked at me, nodded in an "Okay, I see" fashion, and sat down in the bed. "Well," she said sitting on the bed, "First, I'd like to start over from earlier." Dammit. "How much earlier?" "Right before you blacked out," she said, calmly, "I was hoping that it wouldn't come to you blacking out and having to be put in the Royal Infirmary." I let out a sigh of relief. "I was asking you if you'd like to learn about friendship, because Sunset Shimmer, I'm sure you already know her, said that you might be interested." "Friend...ship?" "She told me to be prepared for this," she said, "Because from what I understand, it doesn't exist to you yet." Okay, Twilight Sparkle. They aren't going to try to do anything to you. In fact, they probably... I told you that I'd be back! And now, you're going to fall to my control! I was sucked into a cage made of the same magic that had turned me into Midnight Sparkle. "RUN!!!" Princess Twilight's Point of View "Friend...ship?" she said, confused "She told me to be prepared for this. Because from what I understand, it doesn't exist to you yet." She began struggling. "RUN!!!" What I saw next was a monster that had manifested itself within Twilight! It looked exactly like the monster from the thing Sunset Shimmer showed me, only this time she was a pony! I jumped off of the bed and galloped backwards to the door. "Twilight? Are you okay?" I shouted "Twilight's not here!" it said, throwing a ball of magic at me. I teleported away from it, JUST before it hit me! It hit the door instead, taking out that entire wall. Everyone could see what was going on, I'm sure. Cadence's Point of View "You don't have to," I said, "Now, I think Princess Twilight," I began to question things, "would like to talk to you." Twilight looked over to Princess Twilight. "If you'd like, that is." "Sure," Twilight said, visibly unsure of what was going on, "I... guess so...?" "Alright, then," Princess Twilight said, "How, when, and where would you like?" "Okay," my sister-in-law said, taking a deep breath, "Could we be alone? But... could my brother and Cadence stand right outside? I- if I need them?" "Sure," Princess Twilight said, turning around to everyone of us, "If everybody and everypony would step out, except for Twilight's Brother and Sister-In-Law?" Everyone except me and Shining stayed in at the Princess's request. "What would you like for us to do?" I asked. "Twilight Sparkle" "I guess it's okay if you and everyone just started calling me Sci-Twi now, just to be completely clear as to which of us they are referencing," Twilight said. "Okay, Sci-Twi," she said to Twilight before turning back around to face Shining, "Your sister has requested that you stay just outside of the room. If you want, I can have Princess Celestia get some chairs for you." "That'd be great," Shining Armor said before turning to Twilight, "Just call if you need us." We went right out into the hallway. Princess Celestia had two chairs for us across from the door to her room, probably as a courtesy. "Don't worry," she said before turning and going to what must've been a waiting room, "She is in good hooves." The wall separating the room and hallway was thin, so we could, to an extent, hear the conversation. I looked at Shining, completely ignoring the fact that we were ponies now, both of us unicorns, to ask him a question. "Should we stay here or go a little farther down?" I asked, "I really want to respect her and her privacy, but she did say that she wanted us just outside in the hall." "She'd probably want us to stay here, even if we can hear them. I think that it's best if we just didn't listen and try to do something else instead," my husband said, thinking of something to do, "Maybe we could try that thing Sunset told Twilight to do with our phones and see if we can get it to work for ourselves." I thought for a second, but he never did anything except wait anxiously as if something bad was going to happen. "You're right," I said, getting my phone and holding it in my hooves, "We just need to take our minds off of it." When I managed to hold the power key on my Galaxy S6 long enough to see the thing start up, we heard screaming. Shining jumped out of his chair, only to get blown back against a wall. I was far beyond terrified at what I saw. "Twilie!" Shining said, getting up.
10: Fight for Lesson One Shining Armor's Point of View "She'd probably want us to stay here, even if we can hear them. I think that it's best if we just didn't listen and try to do something else instead," I said to Cadence, unsure of myself, "Maybe we could try that thing Sunset told Twilight to do with our phones and see if we can get it to work for ourselves." She gave what I said a thought, but I stayed on high alert. "You're right," she said, getting her phone, "We just need to take our minds off of it." She took my advice and tried her magic on her phone, but I continued to stay on high alert, sitting for what felt like hours. Until I heard screaming. "SHIT TWILIE!!!!!" I jumped up to run and help, but a blast took out the wall and door to her room and threw me back against the wall. Cadence was completely paralyzed with fear. "Twilie!" I said, getting back up, "Are you okay!?" "Your sister isn't here!" Princess Twilight said as the others came over to the room, "That's a monster that's taken her over by equestrian magic!" Sunset Shimmer rose and transformed into something and started to defeat Midnight Sparkle. "Now," she said, "You saw me do this to you earlier, and I'll defeat you again!" "She is not alone!" Princess Celestia said, "My sister, Princess Twilight, and I will back her!" The other five students from Canterlot City High School went up with them. "Don't think that you're alone, Sunset Darling!" Their counterparts from this world went up to fight too. "Yer gone havta try mighty hard ta push us back, too!" They all started doing something. I don't know how to describe it, but I was frozen with fear until something hit me. "Cadence," I said, seeing her get pulled out of that monster, "Come on! We have to do something!" We ran over to her and, with the strength only a sibling and mother could have, we began pulling her out of that monster. "PULL... HARDER...!!!" "Sister!" a voice said, "I shall help them pull their Twilight Sparkle out of this monster!" "WE'VE GOT YOU, TWILIGHT!!!!!" Cadence said. I felt something else helping us pull her out, but I'm not sure who, or what for that matter, it was. "DON'T LET THY SISTER GO!!!!!" Princess Luna said. It took a while, but when we pulled Twilie out, she fell on me from midair. "JESUS!!" she said as she fell and knocked me over, "Shining, I'm SO sorry!" She turned around and saw that monster looking right at her. Sci-Twi's Point of View I heard one of the princesses yelling, Shining and Cadence screaming, then I felt something or someone pulling me out. "PULL...HARDER!!!" "Sister! I shall help them pull their Twilight Sparkle out of this monster!" "WE'VE GOT YOU, TWILIGHT!!!!!" The pulling got stronger. "DON'T LET THY SISTER GO!!!!!" After some time, I fell out of her from midair and onto my brother. "JESUS!!" I yelled as I was falling, before landing on my brother, "Shining, I'm SO sorry!" I turned around to see Midnight Sparkle looking directly at me, as if Daydream Shimmer had no effect on her at all. "I'll be back! You'll fall to me, and I'll know EVERYTHING about EVERY kind of magic that EVER existed!" I could do nothing but hold onto my brother, Cadence, and Princess Luna as tightly as my hooves would allow. "I'll ALWAYS be there, Twilight Sparkle!" She was defeated once again, but this time she turned into a black smoke that made it's way inside me. "Miss Sparkle!" Princess Celestia said, "Are you alright!" I screamed out of panic several times, prompting my brother and sister-in-law to come and hug me again. "It's alright, Twilight," Cadence said, "It's alright." I stopped my repeated screaming as it turned into me just hyperventilating for a few minutes before anything else was said. "Are you okay?" the Princess of Friendship said, approaching me. "Uh-huh," I barely managed to get out. "And you're afraid that something was going to happen to you because of Midnight Sparkle?" "Uh-huh," I barely managed to get back out. "I see." Princess Celestia came over to me, prompting me to slide backward until I found myself in the corner of the room, on the floor, panicking my butt off. The Rainbow Dash from this reality was obviously getting pissed with the situation and came over to me. "Nopony here is going to do anything to you! You're just hurting yourself!" I found myself curled up in fetal position. "Rainbow Dash!" the Applejack from this reality said, coming over to me, "That's enough!" When she got over to me, she had Rainbow Dash to go away. "Now listen, sugarcube," she said, putting a hoof on my shoulder, "So that happened," she said, reassuringly, "That's in the past now. You don't have to go through this alone, Sci-Twi. You're surrounded by friends." There's that word again. Friends. "W- wh- what... are friends?" I said, barely managing to get anything out. "From what all 'vus understand, ya don't know a thang about 'em. Ah'm sure Princ'ss Twilight 'as wantin' ta give ya s'me lessons." "W- what...?" "People 'n' ponies 'at're there ta help ya. 'Specially times like these." I mumbled something that even I couldn't make out. Overwhelming. Now, to get the message out. You can do this! You've seen it here, Twilight Sparkle, first hand: they'll help you defeat and get rid of Midnight Sparkle. They'll... never... conquer... me! Yes they will! I finally came to realization that Midnight Sparkle wasn't here anymore. At least for the moment and physically, so I finally stopped shaking. "Overwhelming." "Could... could we... could we st- start... over?" "Of course," the Princess of Friendship said, "I'd like that." "Hey," Sunset said, coming over to me, "Is being a pony... overwhelming?" Her voice was, at this point in time, the only voice that could have calmed me, other than my brother's or Cadence's voice. "I... I... I don't have a choice?" "I can give you that choice," Princess Twilight said, "If you want to have it." "H- how?" "I'm the Princess of Friendship. It's what I do." "We'll be there for you, Twilight," Cadence said, "Whatever happens, we've got your back." "Could you... give them... a choice, too?" "I'd be honored." Princess Twilight's Point of View "Could you... give them... a choice, too?" Sci-Twi said, still super anxious, but now much more calmed. "I'd be honored." Her Shining Armor and Cadence went to either side of her and began hugging her. "Okay," I said, "We'll need some space, so if you could all come to the middle of the room," I turned to everypony else in the room, "If you could all..." I didn't even have to finish my request. "What now, Princess?" "Just come out of the corner so I can do a spell to anthropomorphize you." They came out of the corner, but I felt everypony's eyes on me that were from Equestria, so I turned around and gave a quick explination. "While I was in the human world, one night, Sunset Shimmer decided to turn a large closet into a small bedroom for me. The room is actually about a third of the size of Applejack's bedroom, but there was little space to work with. Anyway..." Princess Twilight's Flashback: Sunset Shimmer's Apartment, Canterlot City, California, 12 June 2015, 12:30p "What... is this?" I asked as Sunset as she picked up a small stick with buttons, aimed it at a weird flat thing, pushed one of the buttons, and made it show moving pictures with what sounded like people talking, "Is it something that humans do?" It said "JVC" for a few seconds before actually getting to the moving pictures. "Eh, one of them," she said, sitting on a couch and offering me to sit next to her, "This one's really interesting. I think you'll like it. It's a little weird until everything sticks to you, but I think that you'll end up liking it." "What's it called?" "This is TV. Mine comes over the Internet, so I can watch whatever the hell I want," she said really casually, "A lot of friends here watch it while they hang out together." Sunset's apartment was... cozy. She was self sufficient, had something called "Enter Net TeeVee", still not sure about what that is, and everything. She said that her apartment was like a hotel, except people lived in them instead of just staying for a few nights. There were three seperate rooms in hers: the main room (which had a small hallway attatched to it containing three doors: one at the end, and two across from each other), a bedroom that was pretty basic (but was still Sunset-y) on the left (facing the door at the end of the hall), a small bathroom on the right (still pretty basic), and at the end of the hall was a closet that was soon to be a small bedroom, thanks to the human Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, and Rarity. "I'd show ya what they're working on, but it's kind of a secret. Besides, I can kind of see that you'd like a break." "That's..." something blinking in the kitchen half of the room over the sink got my attention, scaring me, "GONNA KILL US!!!" I really couldn't move because of how scared I was. "What!?" Sunset said, leaping to her feet, "Did Equestrian magic get loose again?" "What's that!?" I said, pointing at the box with a stick behind it. Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Applejack, Fluttershy, and Pinkie all ran into the room with us. Sunset, though, just walked over to it casually with an eyebrow raised. "This?" said, holding up the box, revealing strings that attatched it to a black box on her wall. "Yes!" She gave me a confused look for a second before realizing what was going on. "This isn't dangerous," she laughed, reading a label, "it's just wireless Internet." "Ah'm sure glayed 'at there's nothin' fr'm Equestria here with us," Applejack said, "Right?" Sunset stopped laughing, set the box down, got two cups, and pulled two cans of something out of what looked like a small refrigerator. "It's okay," Sunset said, "False alarm." They went back to the closet. "You want something cold to drink?" "Sure." She pulled up a tab, making a small hissing sound, and poured a dark, bubbly liquid in one of the cups. "What's that?" I asked, curious this time. "Trust me," she said, doing the same thing with the other cup and can, "You'll like it." She came back and sat down on the couch, handing me one of the glasses. "So... I just..." I said, taking a sip. My eyes went wide as a weird sensation filled my mouth. It was like all of the little bubbles were attacking my tounge, so I quickly swallowed, but when I did, the stinging just went down my throat. It only lasted a second, though, but it tasted good. Whatever it was, I ended up opening my mouth and letting my tounge out for a minute until I was ABSOLUTELY sure that it was over. "Wha ith that, Thunthet Thinner?" She looked at me. "Are you okay?" "Wha kine oth duthink ith that?" "It's called 'soda'," she said, looking back at the screen, "Take another sip. It won't be so bad, now that you know what to expect." I did, and it actually tasted... good. Exotic good. I could tell that she could tell that I enjoyed it, even without exchanging looks. "I keep a whole stock of it under the counter." Just then, the scene on the screen changed to a group of humans with what looked like some animal stuff on them. It was mostly stuff like cat ears, tiger tails, some had small antlers, and a few even had wings. I wasn't sure what was going on because I was too busy wondering if Equestrian magic had spread worldwide here. "Did magic spread all over the world?" "No. It's just a show." "Then, why do they have ears, tails, and wings?" "It's just special effects." I was completely puzzled, so she pulled a notebook from under the couch and opened it to a page headed "RWBY". "When I saw that you were coming, I took a note or two on this show," she said, pointing at a word, "It's that. I can't ever say it for some reason, though." I looked at it, and in her handwriting with blue ink, it said: 2: Some of the human characters have animal attributes. They are anthropomorphic, meaning that they have animal characteristics "I never took you for a notetaker, Sunset!" "Yeah, but this was one of the few times." Like she said, it took a few minutes for me to actually understand the show. "Think you might bring your friends from home to meet us sometime?" I thought for a second. "Yeah. I don't think people here would be freaked out by seeing two of them now, instead of just one." "Next week?" "Yeah, sounds great." Princess Twilight's Point of View "...and that's how I learned about that stuff." "Wow, Darling," Rarity said. "Damn right it's awesome!" Rainbow said, picturing herself like that, "20% cooler if it had all had us in it. Don't think I'd like to be stuck that way, though." I turned back around to do my spell on them, and it worked with full success. Sci-Twi and her family had become half-pony, half-human! Sci-Twi's Point of View Her horn began to glow purple, but what I found the most stunning (almost literally) was that we were being lifted off of our hooves and encompassed in a purple aura for a short time before we were put back on the floor. What I did know was that I was on two feet again, along with my clothes returning normal, thank God. "Here!" Pinkie Pie said, pulling pair of blue jeans, a purple shirt with some beakers on it, a pair of regular white socks, and a pair of high-rise sneakers, out of her hair, "You should go change out of that because, after what happened earlier, that thing looks like it went through a lawnmower! Also, you might want these," she said, reaching into her hair once more and pulling out a pair of glasses that looked like mine (if they had no lenses or the white thing at the corners next to the earpieces), "You looked a little twitchy, so I figured that something didn't feel right." "Why do you have that stuff, Pinkie," Sunset said, just after she had turned to the same kind of anthro form that the others were. "Just a hunch that I'd need it today!" she replied, smiling absurdly big. "Right." I looked down, and realized that she was absolutely right! I had to get out of this and throw it away. My CPA uniform was completely destroyed, so I took the change of clothes and glasses and went for it. Shit! "Where's a bathroom?" I said, ready to run, "NOW!" I already had the titles nerd, weirdo, shut-in, and monster on me. I didn't want STRIPPER of all things added to that incriminating list. "Four doors down to the left," Princess Celestia said, pointing her hoof to the right. "THANK YOU!!" I ran as fast as I could and locked the door. "Oh God. Oh God," I panted, "Shit. What the hell just happened?" I looked in the mirror and was scared of what I DIDN'T see: her. Author's Note I don't know why, but I just picture Canterlot City being in Eastern-California. As far as I can gather, that is COMPLETELY subjective. Also, while it WAS someone else's idea for Sci-Twi (Aftermath of the Games by Darth Link 22) to live in an apartment with Shining Armor and Cadence because of her parents' death, I've always pictured Sunset living in an apartment flat of her own for some reason. Again, GREAT story, man! Also, I know Princess Twilight's flashback was pretty long and covered a few things, but tackling some of those things now seems pretty okay.
11: A Little Self-EvaluationStill in the bathroom. "Something's wrong. I actually need Midnight Sparkle, and I've gone without my glasses this whole time?" I said, having some weird revelation, "I'll worry about that in a minute. Right now," I said, ripping off the very tattered vest and throwing it onto the floor, "Just gotta make myself decent and just focus on that." The vest, or what was left of it actually, came off, along with the belt, which miraculously survived everything. "Okay," I said turning to the sink and splashing cold water on my face, "So far, so good. Mostly." Off with that scratchy shit, on goes something... normal? The shirt was practically already ripped off, but the replacement Pinkie gave felt brand new and practically WELCOMED freedom. "Wow," I said, looking in the mirror at myself with the new top, "It's almost... welcoming." This is what she was going to talk about? Wow. I was just hurting myself. Could this be friendship? I heard a knock on the door. "Twilight?" Sunset said, "Everything okay in there?" "I can't give any definite output just yet. Maybe in a few minutes?" "Sure thing." She walked off. After I was sure she was gone, I did some more self-reflection out loud. "Okay. Wow. This is... comfortable. Oddly comfortable." When I went to take off my skirt, to change it with the pants, it just gave way. Evidently, touching it was the last straw. "Really?" I asked myself, leaning on the counter, "Time to get this one over with." When I went to change into the pants, they actually felt protecting. Okay... So the shirt was one thing, but this? I'm not... is it some kind of perv-protection? Whatever it is, it should be enough to get Manor to stop trying to sneak pictures. "I feel... safe from them. Manor and his friends... won't be able to sneak pictures anymore." That left only the footwear and faux-eyeware. "I don't know how this is going to go down with anyone, but I may have to ask Pinkie Pie to help me get some more of these. If that's what friends do." I sat down on the floor and took off my CPA footwear. Actually, it was more like ripping because of how much damage everything had sustained already. Wow, Sparkle. You REALLY needed this. They're just too uptight there, but changes are damn sure coming at that hellhole. I can just feel it. "Okay," I said after I pulled the socks on my feet, noting their lack of delicacy, "This must be what it fells like to be laid back. With the other ones, I had to watch every little thing I did with my leg. It would even cramp up really bad sometimes." The sneakers were next. As I put my feet in them and tied the laces, I felt like the inside of it was conforming to the shape of my foot. Padding? Now they won't get as sore when I walk. "Wow. It's like, they made shoes just for walking. I'm getting out more." As I got up and put the faux-eyewear on, I took several steps back to examine the changes that had happened over the past several minutes. "Holy crap. I look like a whole new person." Everything looked great, but something was... off, so I went back to the mirror. "Pony ears, a muzzel, and a horn?" I turned to the side and looked at myself in the mirror like that, only to find that I had a tail with the exact same colorscheme as my hair. "Please be vestigial," I said, hoping it was. But it wasn't. It was an actual appendage. I tried using the horn for magic at the mirror to see if it still worked, and it did. What I saw next, though, both scared the shit out of me AND made me feel better, but she was... different... now. Aggressive, but not hostile. But she had manifested herself physically now. Colorwise, she was the same as earlier.. Midnight Sparkle. Her eyes weren't the same as before, instead, they were now... normal, but the irises were the same color as the magic was that she had manifested at the Friendship Games. She didn't have a messed-up horn made of magic, but one similar to mine that was real. She didn't look maddening of any stretch. Really, she just looked like a clone of me colored to look like herself at the Friendship Games. The only magic that I could tell that she had was the same as what I had. "Dammit, Twilight Sparkle," she said, "Look around you. What do you see?" I stammered. "Get over it already!" "Who... What..." "It's me," she said, in an annoyed tone, "Midnight Sparkle." I began to scream, but she shoved her hand into my mouth, preventing it. "You do need me, but you don't want to admit it. Earlier when I had full control in that room, I knew I needed you. That's the black smoke." My fear turned to confusion. "Dammit!" Midnight said, "Use that fucking bigass brain of yours and THINK dammit!" "What? What do you mean?" "I'll fucking show you!" Midnight said, turning the mirror into a screen. "What..." "Shut the hell up and watch." "It's Ms Cinch's office." "Who's in there?" "Ms Cinch." "And?" "Cadence." "Look how this goes down." "Cadence, if you would, please grab Miss Twilight Sparkle from class. I'll call Shining Armor up from the lobby." "Yes ma'am," Cadence said before leaving. Cadence left to go get Twilight. I looked at Midnight. "Dammit, at the mirror!" Ms Cinch looked like she was about to have a nervous breakdown. "What if this doesn't work? What if she says 'No'? What if she just freezes right in the middle of an event?" She pinched the top of her nose. "What if she doesn't WANT to go to Everton? She could snap at any minute and take out my spark plugs! She could expose me for who I actually am! In the middle of the games! To Canterlot City High School!" "What're you trying to show me?" "You just saw Cinch! In public, she's got a g-!" "Not that one!" I said, "None of the ones on that list! The others, I can live with. NOT that one, though." "You just saw Cinch! In public, she's got a damn reputation to flaunt around! The OTHER SIDE of her is a weak dumbass!" I thought for a second, then went and banged my head against the wall. Why the hell? 'Why the hell' what? "WHAT!?" I snapped back around. "Dammit, I'm YOU! MIDNIGHT Sparkle is a part of TWILIGHT Sparkle!" "So, you're..." "Still in shock, huh." "...just the dark side..." "Keep coming." "...of me." I heard footsteps coming down the hall, then a knock on the door again. "Sunset!" Sunset yelled, "You okay in there, Twilight?" I looked at Midnight in shock. She was a part of me, so we communicated by thought. What do I do? Open the damn door! But if she sees you... Just trust me for once here, willya? I sighed. Sure. "Just a second," I said as I went to unlock the door. "Everyone's worried about you. That whole 'Midnight Sparkle' thing that happened earlier, it was pretty screwed up." Oh for God's sake, just let her in. I was pissed. "Will ya get in here?" "Listen, I can respect" I pulled her in and locked the door behind her. "What... was that about?" "Damn, woman," Midnight said. Sunset looked around me, only to find her. Sunset was scared now. "Listen, she's not dangerous!" "That's not what scares me." "What does, then?" "Why... does she look... like that?" I thought for a moment, splashed some water on my face, and just took what Sunset was seeing right now to heart. "She's a side of me that I didn't know I had because I was such an idle pushover this whole time." "Wow." "Yeah," Midnight said, "Imagine how I felt when she had a spine a minute ago." "Wow. So, that thing in the room earlier, and at the school, you don't want to take control now? "Are you for real?" Sunset scowled. "No. I can't exist without her, and I DON'T want to exist without her." "And you don't want to know more about magic so much that you'd rip holes in the space-time continuum?" "Half of that's true. I want to keep everything IN TACT." "And..." "That magic kicked everything into an unbearable overdrive." "So you..." "Listen, everyone's going to come in here if we don't finish this up now," she reached into the last remaining pocket on my old skirt and pulled out the pocketknife that Shining had given me when I turned sixteen and opened it, "Just slice through me now, and if you want to pick this up later, just Skype Twilight." Sunset ran cold. I, on the other hand (probably because I was there the whole time), was okay with it. "Y-you want... m-me to... k-kill you?" "You'd have to do that to Twilight if that was ever going to happen." "No!" Sunset said before looking at me, "Do something." "She's just a physical manifestation of my dark side being projected by Equestrian magic. Slicing through her would be like taking the batteries out of a flashlight," I said, beginning to get just plain annoyed, "Whenever I use magic on a mirror, she'll come back." "I don't know!" she said, very scared. "Give me the knife," I said, "I'll do it." Sunset couldn't do anything but watch as I took the pocketknife and sliced right through her, causing her to dissipate into smoke that found its way into me. "Y... you..." Sunset was almost the color of Rarity now. "Just look," I said, putting the gift in my pocket and picking her up. "What?" Once again, I used what I called "null magic" on the mirror and successfully brought her back to the physical world. "Happy, dammit?" she said, "Now can we get the hell out of here?" Sunset regained her color, so I blasted Midnight Sparkle's physical manifestation into smitherines. "I'm so stupid," she said, "How did I not see that coming." "What?" I reached into the skirt pocket and pulled out the only other thing in there before I threw the rags away, which was my phone. "Here I am, from Equestria, and I don't know that you can't kill a manifestation of a part of something?" I went back over to her. "Really?" "On second thought, let's just go back with everyone. It makes sense now." Author's Note I know that this is probably gonna get a lot of stuff along the lines of "this needs a 'DARK' tag on it" or "why does Midnight not want to do what she was doing earlier" or "watch the language" or "why does Midnight not want to kill Twilight?". The truth is that Midnight Sparkle is just a manifestation of an unseen dark side of her that is projected with magic. No Sci-Twi means magic can't manifest within her. Magic can't manifest within her means no Midnight Sparkle. so.. No Sci-Twi means No Midnight Sparkle Nothing gets murdered here, and Midnight's language and temper are the result of her being the dark side of Twi. Sure, those thoughts probably come in her head now, but they could have just as easily BEFORE magic happened. All that Midnight is (at least at this point) is just Twilight's dark side coming into the world as its own version of her. Expect to see more (just... not like that) of their magic working in this way.
12: Finding Some AnswersSci-Twi's Point of View "Everyone left the hospital," Sunset said "Where are they now?" "At the train station. C'mon, I'll take you." I started walking with her to the train station. We're both anthropomorphic now, I just want to know why I have a tail and muzzle while Sunset and her friends are more human. Yeah. I wonder about that too. Do you think I should ask her? Honestly, I think you should ask the princess. You can try with Sunset, but she probably won't know. Just settle the curiosity and ask anyway if you feel like it. Not that it's going to make any difference in the end. "Okay," I said, "We're both anthropomorphic now, but I have a question about that." "You should probably ask Princess Twilight, though I might be able to help. Go ahead anyway. I'll try my best." "Why do we look different?" She stopped dead in her tracks. "Sunset?" "I don't know." "Are you okay?" "Something's... not right." "What?" "Never mind. It's probably nothing." We started walking back to the train station again, getting weird looks from everyone. "What are we going to do about Midnight Sparkle, Twilight?" "Why would you ask that?" "I just want to know. In case something like that comes up again." "It's not." "I'm just..." "It's not, and that's final." At the Station At the station, everyone who had been at the hospital earlier, except for Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, were at the station waiting for us. "Twilight!" Rarity said, "We thought you were never going to come out of that washroom, Darling!" Shining Armor and Cadence hugged me as hard as they could. "Please... stop...!" I said. "Sweetie, we're sorry if it hurt you." "Actually," I said, adjusting the faux eyeware, "I want to ask Princess Twilight a question." "Oh, you can ask me anything." "Now, this is just a question that occurred to me as I was in the bathroom, but I was just wondering why I looked a little different than Sunset and her friends when they become anthropomorphic. It's not a problem, really. In fact, it's just my curiosity doing its 'thing' again." "No worry," she said, "But it's the best and the least that I could do." "Will we stay like this?" "All aboard!" We all boarded the train. "10:25 Trip to Ponyville, last call!" "That's our ride back. I want you, your family, and Sunset all to sit with me and Spike." We all got on the train. Surprisingly, the seventeen of us managed to fit in a single car. Like the Princess had requested, Shining, Cadence, Sunset, and myself all sat with Princess Twilight. None of us, however, said anything until it started out of the station. "I'm not really sure, although... I really don't know." "Well... will we change back?" Cadence asked. "You and Shining Armor will. Sci-Twi, I'm not sure." "Wait," I said, "I'm STUCK!?" "Yes." "What?" "There is magic in your world now, some of which has been infused with you.." "So?" "The spell took your human attributes and put them on your pony body. I guess that since you're my double, you'll look like that until there's no magic in your world. I think what happened is that since you carry a piece of Equestria with you now, its magic, it will always be active." "Is it deadly? That's what I'm concerned over!" "No. You'll be fine. As for Cadence and Shining Armor, when they go home, they'll go back to being humans." "And if we do decide to come back, Princess Twilie, I mean Princess Twilight?" "It's okay. You can call me that," she laughed, "I mean, after all, I am just a different reality version of your little sister at the end of the day, right?" "No. You're a princess." "Other than that." "Other than that, yes." "Princess Twilie," Shining Armor blushed, "In all seriousness though, how will we work? Cadence and myself." "I only modified your Equestrian forms. When you come here, you look like that instead of a pony. At home, you're you." "I gotta say," Sunset said, "The muzzle really does suit you." "Stop it." Princess Twilight had a change of heart after everything that had happened earlier. "I'm thinking that today probably isn't a good time for friendship lessons." "Why Princess Twilie?" "Maybe when the atmosphere gets a little calmer, we can. As for right now, though, everyone just seems to have a lot on their plate." The rest of the ride back to the other town was quiet, except for Pinkie Pie being obnoxious. "You get used to it," Sunset said. When we got back to Ponyville, I think that's where we started from in this world, Princess Twilight took us to her castle. Surprisingly, there were no rips in the Space-Time Continuum anymore between our two worlds. "Even if you don't want to be my student," the princess said to me, "I want you to do one thing." "What's that," I said. "I want you to hang out with some people from your world." "Okay..." "And I want you to document it and send it back to me. Sunset can always reach me, so just get the report to her by the end of the week. After that," she said, "We can begin our lessons if you are ready. I don't want that group to include Sunset, Rainbow, Pinkie, Rarity, Applejack, or Fluttershy." "Why none of them specifically?" "I want to see where you stand without a crutch, so to speak." She led us to a room with a mirror that had several machines attached to it, making it capable of breaking physics. In theory. "This is a portal that connects Equestria to your world," she said as we entered a room the size of a large walk-in closet, "Any of you are free to come back any time." On that note, everyone left and went back to Canterlot City. Well, the humans did.
13: Sci-Twi Begins to InteractCanterlot City High School, Sci-Twi's Point of View When we went through the portal, everyone returned to human except for me. Either way, we helped each other up. "I'll go back to the apartment and fix it up so you can invite some company over," Shining said. "And I should go to the schoolboard about Cinch," Cadence said. "You just concentrate on trying to make friends, Twilie." I looked around and went over to five girls from my school: Sour Sweet, Sunny Flare, Sugarcoat, Lemon Zest, and Indigo Zap. I completely forgot that I had a horn, muzzle, and a tail. "H-hi... guys," I said. You're making a huge mistake, Sparkle! This will end up very badly if just ONE thing screws up. "Seriously?" Sunny Flair said, "Again? What's with the fake glasses, too?" "Wow. I actually feel sorry for you," Sugarcoat said. "Come on!" Lemon Zest said, "What's going on!? Got MUSIC!?" "Let her ask something if she wants to ask it, guys!" Indigo Zap said. "I don't... I mean... if you'd... catch a movie... just..." I heard footsteps come up behind me. "Twilight," Cadence said, behind me, "Your phone must've fell out of your pocket earlier at the hospital, and I just now remembered to give it to you." "Thanks." We exchanged a hug, then she gave me my Samsung Galaxy S6. "Now remember, Twilight," she said as she began to her 1999 Honda Civic, "Everything's gonna be just fine." There was an awkward pause until she drove off. "What just happened?" Indigo said. "Your mom's such a sweetie!" Sour Sweet said, "She should've had different kids! You can't even hold your damn phone?" I broke down crying in the middle of the parking lot. "WHAT THE FUCK, YOU BITCH!?" Indigo said, pulling Sour over to her by her bowtie and throwing punches, "YOU DON'T FUCKING SAY SHIT LIKE THAT TO PEOPLE, DAMMIT!! AND YOU DAMN SURE AS HELL DON'T SAY THAT TO PEOPLE WHO'VE TAKEN THAT FUCKING SHIT THEIR WHOLE FUCKING LIFE!! ESPECIALLY IF THEIR MOTHER IS DEAD!!!!!" I couldn't do anything but watch as Indigo began to beat the living shit out of Sour, knocking her out with just the first blow to the face. She did, however, manage to get at least fourteen or fifteen punches in, altogether. "Let... her... go...!" Lemon Zest said, trying to pull Indigo off of the now unconscious Sour Sweet. Sunny Flair had taken to trying to pull Sour's away from Indigo. Spike found me in all of the mess, so he ran over to me. "I don't know anymore," I sobbed, "I wish they were still here." "What's your problem, Indigo!?" Sugarcoat said. "Just look at her!" After a few minutes, the yelling ceased. I looked up and saw Indigo Zap covered in blood. Sour Sweet's body was still on the pavement. "Are you okay?" "Yes...?" I replied. "Now, you were saying..." I took a few deep breaths. "Would you like to come over to my house for the night and watch a movie?" "Sure. What movie?" Indigo replied. "Back to the Future?" "That movie," Lemon said, "is FUCKING AWESOME!" My phone rang, and the caller ID said "BBBFF". "Hey, Twilie. How's everything going?" "Just fine. Are you home yet?" "Actually, that's what I wanted to tell you about." "Give me the bad news." "Cadence is going to need me to be at the Board, and she also had me tell you that it could probably take a few hours. Don't worry though, we'll be just fine." "I'll see you later, then." "Bye." I hung up the phone. Sunset came up to me from behind. "Princess Twilight said that you can invite us too, if you want. She JUST wrote me from Equestria." "What?" Indigo said. Sunset looked up and noticed my face covered in dry tears and Sour unconscious. "Have you been crying? What the hell happened?" "N-nothing." "Who's 'Princess Twilight'?" Sunny asked. I could feel something was about to happen. "How about I just explain it to you guys at my place tonight. With the ten of you." "Sorry, if I went... overboard... with Sour earlier." I took one look at her and smiled. "You didn't, Indie." "So," Lemon said, "After making SEVERAL rifts to an alternate world as a she-demon" I went embarrassed, prompting her to apologize. "sorry, getting a horn, ears, muzzle, and tail," "Uh-huh," I nodded. "You want us to do something... together?" "Yes...?" "Even after all of the shit we put you through?" "If... you want?" "We actually have a choice?" "Yes...?" The remaining four Shadowbolts looked at each other for a second before "HELL to the yeah!" "The address is 830 4TH Avenue, Apartment C7." My phone rang, and the Caller ID read "Cadence". "Hello?" "Just go ahead and let yourself into our apartment, but before you leave CHS, I want you to give the phone to Principal Celestia or Vice-Principal Luna." "Okay." I asked Sunset to call Principal Celsestia over to where we were. "Yes, Twilight?" "My sister-in-law wants to talk to you." "Cadence? Such a nice woman." "Here ya go," I said, handing the S6 to her. "Hold the hell on for a second!" Lemon said, "Dean Cadence MARRIED YOUR BROTHER!?" "Yes?" "That's awesome!" "Hi, Cadence. No, it's Celestia. My sister had some things to attend to but-. No more classes at Crystal Prep today? I will sure tell them. Okay, here she is." "Cadence?" "Twilight, you can go ahead and start home if you want." "Okay," I said, ending the call. "Attention, students," Principal Celesta's voice came over the speakers, "There will be no classes at Crystal Prep Academy or Canterlot City High for the rest of the day." "How about we all meet back up at Crystal Prep and go from there," I said, becoming more and more relieved with the situation." Sunset's friends came over to her. "I guess we're having a sleepover at Sci-Twi's." "You can just meet up with us at CPA," I said. "Y'all c'n just rahde in mah Ford Pickup ta Sugarcube Corner whahle we wait." The group of Wondercolts went off with Applejack to get their things and wait for us. "I guess we should all get on the bus to go back to Crystal Prep," Indigo said as Sour was lifted onto a stretcher. "We could all go in my Tahoe," Sugarcoat said. The five of us got onto the bus back to CPA, but Manor and Blueblood stopped me. "Always wanted to go all the way, huh Manor," Blueblood said. "You know it Blue," Manor said, one hand going for my breast, the other going for my crotch, "Pictures won't cut it anymore, "Plus, she's just asking with her body to horse around." "You leave her alone!" Indigo said, her and the other three Shadowbolts running off of the bus, "Don't you fucking rape her!" Blueblood, with his muscular figure, blocked them on the bus, while Manor started to try... things. Principal Celestia and Vice-Principal Luna were trying to keep order on the other side of the crowd, so they didn't notice the screaming protests against my attempted rape. "You're sick!" I said as he touched me, "Stop it!" "You got it, horsey," he said as he pinned me against the bus and started kissing me. He was almost as strong as Blueblood, so I couldn't move. Sadly, he noticed my ears and horn next. "Didn't know you had a tootsie pop, too," he said, "but I'll just start with the ears." I flattened my ears, but he held my right one up and began to stick his tongue in it. Blueblood had the other four girls pinned helplessly on the bus. "Please stop!" "When I'm through," he said, "When I'm through." Blueblood stuck his head out of the bus to see a public peep show. "Just this one before the grand finale, Blue!" "Alright!" He tried to grab my horn and force it down, probably so he could put it in his mouth. When he grabbed my horn, though, I gave him a third-degree burn. "STOP IT!" I picked him up with my magic and held him above the bus, which received the attention of everyone. Principal Celestia came over to the bus to stop what was happening, but she was stunned when she made it to us. Blueblood, though, came out of the bus and ran at me as if he were going to punch me, so I picked him up too. "Both of you PERVERTS!!" I said, slamming them to the ground, making sure to leave them conscious, "Stop fucking RAPING ME!!" I picked them up and slammed them into the street-facing side of the base of the Wondercolts Statue, "And GET A DAMN LIFE!!!!!" I let them go, making sure that they didn't have to go to the emergency room, then proceeded to walk over to them, "Consider this a warning." "What... just happened?" a stunned Principal Celestia asked. Indigo ran over to the two administrators of CHS, "You really don't want to know." "Does it involve magic?" "Yes...?" Vice-Principal Luna looked at us, "On your way, then." We all loaded the bus back to CPA. "Damn, Sparkle," Sunny said, "What was that about?" "Those two perverts have always been trying to sneak pictures of me and touch things they shouldn't, and I guess, well, it must've just caught up with them, you know." "Yeah," Indigo said, "They really needed it." "I've had to put up with them since the fourth grade." "Wow." "In that other world," Lemon said, "What was it like?" "Well," I said as my phone went off with an Email from Cadence, "Hang on. Let me check this." "Sure." From: Cadence (cadencehaslove2007@hotmail.com) To: Me (twilightsparkle1999@hotmail.com) Shining (shiningincanterlot@gmail.com) Carbon: No Recipient Subject: Equestria Footage Attachments: Ponyville.mp4 Sunset Shimmer & Wondercolts.mp4 Humanizing Spell.mp4 Castle of Friendship.mp4 Ponies.zip I have no idea how these managed to get on my phone, but I figured that I should just send them to you in order for people to not think that we are crazy if we ever have to explain this to someone. Cadence Armor Sent from my Galaxy "Or we could just watch...?" I said, being very anxious as to the origin of the videos." I tapped Humanizing Spell.mp4, and VLC opened and played a video of the humanizing spell that Princess Twilight did on us. It lasted about 90 seconds and was studio quality. The other four Shadowbolts that were watching the video gasped when the spell was over with. "I guess that explains the wardrobe change," Sugarcoat said, non-sarcastically. They saw Pinkie give me new clothes and fake glasses and understood the changes that happened to me right then and there. "Wow," Sunny said as the bus pulled into Crystal Prep's parking lot. "Sorry for everything," Sugarcoat said. We all got off the bus and went to get our stuff.
14: The GettogetherAuthor's Note I know the idea that Sci-Twi's parents are no longer living (I prefer that term) isn't original, but it just makes this story have some depth. Also, the reason this chapter is this long is that it's their WHOLE gettogether. 14: The Gettogether Crystal Prep Academy "Guys," I said as we entered CPA, "How about if you all went and got your things, then decided to meet me at my lab here at school," I said, "Then we can decide what to do next. I keep several chairs in there for some reason." "You mean that closet you coop yourself up in?" Sunny asked, pissing Indigo off, "I mean, sure! We should do that. I've always wanted to see what you work on in there." She remembered Indigo beating the shit out of Sour and me with what I did to those two perverts. "Alright, then!" Indigo said, "Sounds like a plan!" They went to their lockers to get their stuff while I went to my lab to close up for the day. When I went in, I decided to put on my lab coat for whatever reason. My lab consisted of a computer I had built myself from the non-working, top notch ones here (built to look like an iMac), a laptop (also built from a set of high-end components), both running Linux Mint, a soldering station, several file cabinets (all of which were filled up), four tables, Spike's bed, two large corkboards, and several other tools, all of which were stopped for the night. Immediately after I had gotten all of the equipment, (save for my laptop and desktop computers, which were downloading an update for Cinnamon over CPA's WiFi) shut off, I heard knocking at the door. "Hey," a voice said, "It's Indie! you in there?" "Just a second!" I said, getting to the door, "Come in, guys." "I thought you said that we were spending the night at your place. Not working here," Sugarcoat said. "We are." "Then, what's with the lab coat," Lemon said. "This? Oh, I'm just wearing it because I just don't feel right without it in here." "Okay..." I took it off. "Yeah, I can see your point, Lemon." "Hey," Indie said, "You okay about... earlier... Sparkle?" Both systems finished updating. "Yeah," I said, feeling the pockets in my labcoat for my security thumbdrive, "Shit! Shit shit shit shit shit!" I began to panic because it wasn't in the coat pockets, "Don't mess with my computer! I'll be right back!" I ran out of the room and to my locker while Spike followed. Indigo Zap's Point of View "Hey, you okay about... earlier... Sparkle?" "Yeah," she said, glancing at the computer on her desk, then going through her lab coat, "Shit! Shit shit shit shit shit!" "What's wrong?" "Don't mess with my computer! I'll be right back!" She ran out of the room with her dog following her. "Okay," Lemon said to me, "What was that about earlier with Sour? I mean, I know she insulted Twilight's mom, but did you really have to do all that? I started to cry a little, but stayed strong. "Well you see, back when we were both thirteen, her parents had to be the chaperones for both of us. The nick 'Indie' comes in when she was six, but when she was thirteen and her parents were our chaperones on a trip to the science museum," I had to sit down, "we were all on a subway train..." Three years ago, Indigo's Point of View "What are you doing, Sparkle?" We were both on the subway to the museum at 1647 Lyon Avenue. Twilight was doing something with a laptop, while I was sketching some random stuff. We were the only people in that particular car. "Oh, nothing. Just trying to write a little bit of software." "Software for what?" "I've always wanted to just unlock my computer with my face, so I figured I could use the trip to work on it some." Suddenly, two men came over to us: one with a gun and one with a rope. The one with a rope tied us up, while the other one blew Sparkle's Parents' brains out. Twilight untied the rope, then we ran like hell to the next car, locking the door behind us. "...and that's why I did that. We stopped talking after that, because I couldn't bear to sit with her without sobbing for several months." "I had no idea," Sunny said. Twilight came back, panting. "Got... it..." She walked over to her computer, put the drive in, typed something, took the drive out, and it turned itself off when she turned the lamp at the desk off. "I'm... sorry." Sci-Twi's Point of View I ran back to my lab. "Got... it..." I panted, walking over to my computer and putting the drive in, causing the prompt to change. Authorization Input Encryption Program. Key: 89454448 77272553 Authorized! Ready. I pressed RETURN on the keyboard, resetting and activating the prompt window, then typing SHUTDOWN. TwilightSparkle@CrystalPrepLabPC$ SHUTDOWN_ Beginning Process. Started. Turn off lamp now to proceed with shutdown sequence. I turned off the lamp, forcing the system to shut down, and took the drive and stuck it in my laptop case. "Alright, if everyone is ready," I said putting my laptop away in its bag, "we can leave." "Let's do it!" I gathered all of my things and followed Sugarcoat and the others out to her brand-new Tahoe. "Okay," Sugarcoat said, opening the hatchback, "you can just throw your stuff in the back." "Can Spike ride with me?" "Why not?" Everyone put their stuff in the back of the SUV, then got in. Sunny Flare rode up front with Sugarcoat, while Indigo sat to my left between me and Lemon. "Where to first?" Sugarcoat said, starting the car, "Sugarcube Corner?" "Yeah." "Wow," I said as Sugarcoat pulled out of the parking lot, "This is a lot easier than I thought." "Yeah," Spike said, "Almost like they're your family." "Woah!" Lemon said, "Did your dog just talk?" "Are you sure that was a good idea?" I said back to him. "She comes back from an alternate world, shows you a spell that gave her ears, a horn, a tail, and a muzzle, and you find this weird?" "Good point." I learned then that Sugarcoat doesn't hyper mile at all, usually going above the speed limit some. "Um, could you slow down just a little bit, Sugarcoat?" Sunny said, "Because I'm kind of right in front of an airbag." "I know what I'm doing." "Okay, then." The ride actually went well. At Sugarcube Corner, I was surprised, along with everyone else, to see Sugarcoat buying everyone a milkshake for the road. I figured that I should give Sunset Shimmer my Skype name. "Sunset," I said, "At the hospital, I forgot to give you my Skype info." "Just a second," she said as she opened the program on her phone, "Ready." "It's Twilight1999." She looked me up, added me, and called me to test it out. Sure enough, the call worked. "Okay, so NOW you can get me. Still freaked out about earlier?" "Not really. Although it did stick for a while, I finally came to terms with it." "So you're okay with it?" "I guess." We heard Sugarcoat and Applejack talking. "Ah'm mighty thankful 'at ya did this fer us, but ya know ya didn't have to, right?" "It was the least I could do. Now, do you know where 830 4TH Avenue is?" "Jus' keep goin' 'bout another block 'er two, 'n it's right nextta concrete parkin' lot. Ah us'ta have fam'ly alivin' there, but they moved over ta Manhattan." "Oh, now I know. I used to live there with my cousin when my parents went back to college for a few years." "Sorry, where're mah manners? Ah'm Applejack." "Sugarcoat," she looked at her Apple Watch, "We better go. Traffic's going to pick up quick, and I don't want to be stuck here." "Just fahller me there," Applejack said as the group of Wondercolts loaded in her Ford. I saw her, Fluttershy, and Rarity get in the front of the truck, while Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie jumped up in the bed. "Guess that's my cue," Sunset said, "See ya in a few minutes!" "You too." She ran and jumped into the bed of the truck with the other two Wondercolts. "Guess we better go, Sparkle." "It's nice to be able to talk again, Indie." I followed the Shadowbolts into Sugarcoat's Tahoe. My apartment was pretty simple (kitchen/TV room right inside the door, the only boundary being where the kitchen counter starts; sitting room; two bedrooms; and a bathroom), but it still managed to hold eleven of us, not counting my brother or Cadence. When I unlocked the door and stepped in, I was in the small trance that I always am when I get home. The smell of honey was fresh in the air from the automatic sprayer that pumps once every thirty minutes, and was cool. Sunlight entered via the windows, creating a warming and welcoming "Come in and make yourselves at home" atmosphere. While it wasn't my childhood home, it might have as well been, just because of that safe feeling. The TV Room half of the front room was pretty basic: a basic cabinet TV console with four cutouts and a cabinet underneath and a couch. The console held a SANYO-brand VCR, Magnavox DVD Player, 27-inch VISIO television, and several dozen movie titles in the cabinet, most being on DVD with some being on VHS. A small Mohu TV antenna was attatched to the ceiling and connected to the "Antenna IN" on the VCR because the one on the TV didn't work. In front of the TV was a remote control from Walmart that would work with the three devices that the console held. The kitchen was very basic, holding a wooden countertop, one-bay sink, a refrigerator, countertop oven, a few cabinets with enough kitchenware for a family of five, a Mr Coffee, a 350-Watt Emerson microwave oven, a two-burner stove with a griddle, and in the middle of the kitchen half stood a small folding table that we used as a dining room table (although it was used rarely enough, seeing as how we never really "sat down for dinner" anymore after mom and dad died). Home sweet home. "Do you want us to take our shoes off?" Fluttershy said. "Huh?" "Our footwear, Darling." I stood there for a second as everyone brought their stuff in before coming back to reality, "Oh, it doesn't matter," I said, taking my socks and shoes off, "By the way, Pinkie Pie," I said, "Thanks again for the clothes." Everyone came in and began to examine the house. I followed Lemon and Indigo into the sitting room. The sitting room held a few cushioned chairs, a couch that could comfortably seat three people, an electric fireplace, and two tables: one between the two chairs and one in the space where one chair and the couch would intersect. On top of the electric fireplace were just four things: two pictures in front of two clay urns. The picture on the left of the fireplace was of my mother, and the right of my father. Under my mother, hers read Twilight Velvet 1972~2012 and my father's, in the same place, read Night Light 1971~2012 It managed to get the attention of the two other Shadowbolts in the room, then drew the attention of the others who were in my apartment. "I'm so..." Lemon said, coming over to hug me, "...sorry." "It's okay..." I began to sob, "...not your fault." "They still love you," Sunset said, coming over to me, "They could never stop loving you. I just know it." "I'm not the same person I was that day. I'm not even human anymore." "Sugarcube," I felt someone lift my head up, so I blinked my eyes to get the tears to go away, "They're yer mom 'n dad. I know I probably shouldn't word it like this, but they don't give a damn about what you are. Th' only thang that matters is that yer their daughter. All's 'ey care about 's you doin' the best you can an' bein' the best you can." "I... I j-just... just wish... they were still here. I... I j-just... do-don't want... t-to ruin... a-ny-one's... n-night," I sobbed, "w-with m-my p-pr-problems." "W'll Sugarcube," she said, "Just rememb'r 'at they're in a better place now. Okay, hon? Plus," she added, "it's not just yer problem now. We'll all helpya out." I could just nod. "Now, let's just have an ev'nin' o' fun and take yer mind off it." "O...okay." "I'm staying back here with her," Sunset said, "I don't want her to be alone like this." "We'll just get yer clothes fer ya from the barn, then." "Guys," Indigo said, "Lemon and I kind of need to stay too." "We'll be back in a few, then. Call if you need," Sunny said. "Will do." Everyone left except for Sunset, Spike, Lemon, and Indigo. An Hour Later "Better?" Indigo said as I took a sip of coffee that Sunset had made for me. "I think so," I said shakily, but no longer sobbing. Someone knocked at the door, so Lemon opened it, thinking it might be Cadence. "Yeah?" "I need to speak with Miss Twilight Sparkle," a voice said. "Fuck off, bitch" Lemon replied. "Miss Zest, this is not your place of residence, so you have no authority here." "I said, 'fuck off'." I heard footsteps come in and a door close. "Miss Sparkle," Ms Cinch's voice said, but was interrupted by Indigo. "Fuck off. You don't even need to be here, let alone after what happened earlier!" "Miss Zap, that's quite enough!" I looked up at her. "I understand that you have resorted to... extreme... actions to" "Leave." "I beg your pardon?" "She said 'leave'!" Sunset scowled. "Excuse me, Sassy, but" "HEY! The name isn't 'Sassy'! It's Sunset Shimmer! And GET OUT!" she was full-on yelling now. "Miss Shimmer, I am here go give Miss Sparkle an offer" I stood up. "Get the fuck out of my house!" I said, blowing an orange from the fruit bowl in the kitchen to smithereens, "Or you and I are going to have problems!" She turned and ran out into the hall, "Have your emotions controlled by tomorrow, or you three are expelled from Crystal Prep!" I slammed the door in her face using my magic. "Twilight, Darling?" someone knocked at the door, "Are you okay?" "Yeah. I'm fine, Rarity. Come in." Everyone came back in. "We figured that it would be better if we all came at the same time, Darling. Also, what was that woman doing here?" "I'm not sure," I replied. "Do you feel better now?" Rainbow asked. "Just knowing that you're all here to help me has made me a lot better," I said back, "I just wonder if Sunny and Sugarcoat are okay. And especially Sour Sweet. There was a lot of blood in that one." "Yeah, I did go overboard a little with her, now that you mention it," Indigo commented, "But she's a fighter. She had mono just before the Friendship Games." Lemon's iPhone 6 Plus rang, so she put it on speakerphone. It was Sugarcoat. "Sugarcoat," Lemon said, "Are you okay?" "I'm fine. Just caught up in traffic. How's Twilight holding up?" "I'm better now. Thanks for asking. Where are you?" "There's a wreck about five miles from my house, so I'm kind of trapped here. Me and Sunny both." "Do you guys still want to come over to Twilight's?" Rainbow Dash asked. "There's no way that we can. We're really sorry." "Uh hello? You're talking to one of the two Wondercolts that grew wings earlier! Of course you can!" "You'd do that? Even after earlier?" "We've kicked evil magic's ass today twice, so why not?" "We're at 1202 Papergreen Street if you still want to come and get us." "I'm coming, so be ready for me." "Do you need directions?" "Nope. I'll just do a flyover." "Okay, then." "Expect me in about two minutes." Sugarcoat ended the call, so Rainbow made two trips: one to get Sugarcoat and one to get Sunny Flare. "Wow," Sugarcoat said, "You've got speed." "Thanks! Just because I'm awesome." "Are you for real?" Sunny asked, trying her hardest not to be offensive (but failing anyway. Miserably). "You like to piss people off, don't you?" "I noticed that you like that set of clothes, Twilight," Pinkie Pie said, handing me a bag from Walmart, "So I picked you up some more like them!" "That's nice, Pinkie," I said, "But you really didn't have to--" "That's just what friends do, silly!" There was a knock at the door. "Miss Twilight?" Princess Celestia called. I could tell it was her because of how she addressed me. "You can come in," I said, "The door's unlocked." The door was encompassed in a golden aura, before opening to reveal the three princesses from earlier, but in human form. Princess Celestia looked like Principal Celestia, just with a sleeveless dress instead of a suit, along with her horn and wings from the hospital. Princess Luna looked like her counterpart except for clothing and the addition of wings and a horn. She was wearing a dress exactly like her sister, except colored dark-blue instead of white. Princess Twilight looked like a regular student from Canterlot City High, except with wings and a horn. "Oh God, of course you can come in!" They came in and sat on the couch in the TV Room half of the front room, so I followed. "We wanted to give you something in light of your new studies," Princess Luna said, handing me three books: one with a picture of the Sun, one with a picture of the Moon, and one with a picture of a purple star-figure. "What are they?" I asked, flipping through them, "They're blank." "Think of them like your phone," Princess Twilight said, "You can write in them, and they'll appear in a corresponding book back in Equestria." "I don't know what to say," I said, "Thanks!" "No problem." "While you're here, feel free to take a look around. I can get you something if you're hungry or thirsty." "That'll be quite alright," Princess Celestia said, "But I would like to take you up on your offer to see your house." "By all means," I said, "Well, this is the TV Room/Kitchen," I showed them the sitting room, "then there's a sitting room," I pointed at three doors, "My brother and Cadence's bedroom on the left, bathroom in the middle, and my room on the right." "Mind if I see?" Princess Twilight asked. "Sure," I said as she went into the sitting room, "It's nice." "Thank you," I said, pouring them each a glass of Milo's Sweet Tea. "Is that..." Princess Twilight said from the other room before gasping and probably collapsing on the floor. All of us rushed in to see what happened, but Indigo, Lemon, and Sunset brought me back into the kitchen. "Probably best if you sit this one out, Sci-Twi." I heard sobbing, so I knew exactly what was going on. "Princess Twilight sure is lucky," I said. "Oh God," Sunset said, "Please don't be sad!" "She still has her parents!" I said, "So, I'm not trying to sound selfish or anything, but I wonder if her parents could come and visit sometime." "Come on, Twilight," I heard Princess Celestia say, "It's okay. Everything's okay. Your parents are still around." "It's just... I don't want... her to... be... without them... either." "There's nothing we can do about that, my child." "Maybe they could come and visit Sci-Twi sometime!" Pinkie Pie said, ceasing the sobbing. "Thank you, Pinkie!" "Oh, you're welcome." Princess Twilight, along with Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, came back into the front room with Indigo, Sunset, Lemon, and myself. "I poured each of you some sweet tea," I said, awkwardly trying to change the subject. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna each took a glass, sat on the couch, and enjoyed it. Princess Twilight, on the other hand, came over to me. "Listen," she said, "I'm so sorry about them. I'm sure that they meant a lot to you then, and I'm sure they'll still mean a lot to you in time. I can't imagine the pain that you're going through right now," she hugged me, "but if you ever want, you can borrow mine. I'm sure they'll be okay with it, especially if it means helping you feel good." "Thanks," I said, handing her the third glass of tea, "It's not as good as soda, but it's still pretty good." She took a sip of the beverage. "If you want, I can give you a gallon to take back to Equestria." "It was rather nice," Princess Luna said, warmly. "I have another gallon under the counter," I said, getting a gallon of tea from under the cabinet, "You can take it back to Equestria with you." "Why? You don't have to do this, Miss Twilight." "Just as a 'Thank You' for not having me arrested after what happened." "It's perfectly okay, now that the holes are closed back again." "I would ask you three to stay, but I know you have royal duties in Equestria, so I can't bring myself to do it." "We would love to stay too, but we do have our own matters at hoof," Princess Celestia said. "I'm sure that I could stay," Princess Twilight said, "I mean, after all, I have an obligation, don't I?" "I suppose you do, Twilight," Princess Celestia said as she and her sister left, "We hope to see you again soon." "I'm sorry about earlier," Princess Twilight said, "I should've held it together better." "It's okay. Do you have an extra change of clothes, though?" Princess Twilight panicked for a second. "Crap!" "It's okay," I said, "We're the same person, so I'm pretty sure that you wear my size." "Okay, then." Someone knocked at the door. "Twilie," my brother said, "It's me. You home?" "It's unlocked." Shining came inside carrying a cardboard box of bags from Dollar General and set them down on the kitchen counter, "I thought you might need these," he said, pulling out various things like disposable foam plates, chips and dip, plastic disposable cups, and soda, "I've got more in the car, but I want you to stay up here with everyone." "Or we could all help," Sunset suggested. That night, 08:00p "Sci-Twi," Indigo said, "Do you have the movie ready now?" The TV was turned on and set to VCR, the player was on, warmed up, and set to VHS, but I couldn't find the actual movie. Cadence was finishing some pizza bagles to serve us while Shining was pouring drinks for everyone. "Just a second," I said, looking for the original 1985 VHS of the movie, "I can't remember where I put the tape." I looked through the cabinet of movies, but couldn't find Back to the Future, even after looking through it four times. The only part of it I could find was the cardboard dustcover. "Could your brother have done something with it?" Lemon said. "He wouldn't ever hide my favorite movie of all time from me like this." "Um," Rainbow Dash said, coming over to me, "Are you sure that it's on a tape and not DVD?" "Yes," I said, holding up the dustcover, "I watched it just the other day." Sunset noticed that the TV said "TAPE IN" on the middle of the blue screen in big, white text, "Maybe it's already in there." "You can try, but I don't think it is." She picked up the remote, pressed VCR, then PLAY. The image on the TV went black for a second before showing the ending credits to the movie. "I feel so stupid!" I said, putting my head against the console. Sunset began to laugh, followed by Indigo and Lemon, then Rainbow Dash, next was Princess Twilight, then finally Shining and Cadence. "Don't make me feel dumber, you guys." "We're not," Princess Twilight said, "The first time I ever watched TV, I got scared of Sunset's WiFi-box-thing, just because it was blinking." "Huh?" "Not to mention how much I fell all over the place once I started walking upright!" "Yeah," Sunset added, "A total klutz!" Princess Twilight laughed even harder. "Oh," she also added and laughed harder herself, "You should've seen me when I was trying to find out how their magic works here! It did not end well!" "Or when I accidentally hit a teacher in the head with a soccer ball last week!" Rainbow said, laughing even harder now. "Oh God," Lemon said, cracking up completely now, "Think about how I felt when my headphones accidentally ran dead in the library that day!" "Or when my goggles came off in the middle of class!" Indigo cracked. "Last year, how I forgot to actually get the turkey for Thanksgiving," Shining said, bending over and holding onto the counter for balance. "Or how I accidentally put your birthday cake in the freezer last month?" Cadence said, tearing up a little from her laughing. "We've all done stupid stuff before, Sci-Twi! In a few minutes, it's going to be funny, even to you!" Princess Twilight said. Oh, what the hell. I guess it was KIND OF funny. I started laughing so hard I was almost crying. "See?" The VCR reached the end of the tape, so it pinged, made a single KNOCK, and made a mechanical hum for a few seconds as the auto-rewind kicked in. The TV screen went black for a second, then came back and blinked REWIND in big letters on a blue background. The VCR pinged again, and began to rewind the VHS to the beginning. "Just give it a few minutes," I said as something started beeping in the kitchen, "What's that?" "Pizza bagles!" Cadence said, pulling two trays out of the oven. "Twilight," Sunset said, "Is it weird... having... you know." "The muzzle feels okay. I barely even notice the horn, and the ears I can live with, but I've still got a lot to get used to in this tail." "It's not any kind of trouble, is it?" Princess Twilight said. "No. Not really." I heard a vibrating noise come from my bedroom. I knew exactly what it had to be, so I ran in to get it as fast as I could. "Just a minute!" Indigo, Lemon, and Sunset followed me. My bedroom was small and simple, just like the rest of my house. It consisted of my bed, a dresser, nightstand, and an old, rectangular, plastic folding table, with a set of (somewhat broken from time and moving) plastic drawers from Walmart and a few milkcrates stacked to hold my books underneath, and my computer chair was a folding cardtable chair. The nightstand was just a bottom-up milkcrate with a piece of wood attached to the five sides to give the appearance of something better, holding a phone dock for my phone and a lamp, the folding table held my (now-upgraded) computer that I had since I managed to get into CPA, as a gift from my parents, another cradle for my phone, and the three books that I had received earlier, along with a mess of manila folders, papers, and notebooks. In the milkcrate bookcase, there were mostly reference books, but a few were hard-copies of some of the Daring Do franchise. "What are you doing?" Lemon asked. I looked at the books to see which was vibrating. The one with the Sun. "This may be important." I opened the book with the Sun on it, and where the first page had originally been completely blank, there was now a letter written to me in some of the neatest and most beautiful script possible: Miss Twilight, This is Princess Celestia, although I'm sure as of now you are aware, and I have something for you and your counterpart. Earlier, I spoke with the Twilight Velvet and Night Light of Equestria and described your dilemma. The response was rather extremely joyful, and they have agreed to come and spend time with you on occasion. You will have to excuse them for their blunders though, for obvious reasons. They will be at Canterlot High on Thursday. Princess Celestia I just stood there for a minute, stunned. "Twilight?" Sunset said. "Hey, are you alright?" Lemon asked, beginning to poke me. "YES!!!!!" I squealed, running back into the kitchen with the book, "SHINING ARMOR!!!!! CADENCE!!!!!" "What is it, Sweetie!?" Cadence worried. "You're not going to break down again, right?" Rainbow asked. "You okay, Sugarcube?" "Is she back, Darling?" I ran over to Shining and Cadence, knocking the table over, along with several glasses of soda and movie snacks. "I'll clean that up later!" I said, showing them the letter, "But look at THIS!!" Princess Twilight ran over to us to look at the book, too. When Shining and Cadence read the letter, they couldn't help but to squeal with me, with the princess following not long after. "THEY'RE COMING HERE!! TO OUR HOUSE!! THURSDAY!!" "Oh my," Fluttershy said, coming out of her startle, "Who?" "MOM AND DAD!!!" The very next thing that I knew was that Shining, Cadence, and myself were embraced in a hug with everyone else in my house. "It's a shame that we can't make time go faster, though," I said. The VCR made a single knock, pinged one time, ejected the tape, and pinged again, while the text on the TV said "NO TAPE". "Now," I said, "I should probably clean that up." "Don't worry about it," Princess Twilight said, using her magic to clean the mess, "All done." "Okay," I said, seeing that finished, "Ready to watch the movie?" "Let's do it!" Sunny said. I pushed the tape back in the VCR and waited for it to start. "It's... different," Sugarcoat said. "It's like a '97 model." The player pinged, making the text on the TV change to "PLAY". After a second, the motor started reeling the tape, making the picture go black again, pinged, and started playing Back to the Future. "Your equipment... is ancient," Indigo said, not trying to be offensive. "We had to sell our old TV when they... left. We found this one at a Goodwill for $20, and we haven't had Cable in forever, and the DVD player doesn't exactly work all the time. Not that it really matters, of course," I said, as we all tried to enjoy the movie, which became flaky at times because of the poor condition of the set. "When did you say it came out?" Princess Twilight asked me as the end credits began. "July 03, 1985." "Amazing." "I've wanted a DeLorean ever since I was a little girl." Instead of letting the tape finish and rewind, I just turned off the player and TV. Princess Twilight led me into the sitting room afterward. "Okay," she said, "So far, I've been documenting your night, and I want you to see what I have so far," she said, taking out a notebook, "The green is good, red is bad, and black is just comments." "Okay," I said, sitting on the couch with her, "Could we just start wherever?" "Sure. I'll just start you off with the basics. How does tomorrow sound?" Cadence must've overheard our conversation, "I'm sure cutting tomorrow will be perfectly okay with the school." "What about Ms Cinch?" I asked. "She was fired. I gave the board a copy of the videos of her manipulating you, then she tried to have me fired by saying I had you use magic against students with wings, human-eating plants, and a talking dog of all things!" "Superintendent Booklead," I said, entering the school board administration on 12TH Avenue, "I have several harassment complaints against Principal Abacus Cinch of Crystal Prep Academy, and request for her termination." Abacus Cinch, being over-punctual, was there earlier than I was in a desperate attempt to keep her position, although it wouldn't help. "I would like to see the evidence against Ms Cinch, Ms Armor." "Please, just 'Cadence', if you will," I said, handing him a USB with all of the conversations bugged between Abacus and Twilight, "Here you are." "Thank you." He put the USB in his computer and began watching the first video (the one of Cinch manipulating Twilight into the Friendship Games) and quickly became perturbed, not even finishing the first video before pulling the drive out and returning it to me. "Do you have anything to say in your defense, Ms Cinch?" "Miss Sparkle joined and competed in the games of her own freewill. It was Ms Armor's actions that had put the lives of not only my students in danger, but also the students of Canterlot City High!" "Please explain." "The two administrators of Canterlot City High condoned the behavior that was exhibited at the games earlier! They should also be in here, as they had their students using magic to win the games! Some were floating, and some grew wings! Back to the matter at hand, Miss Sparkle should face felon charges for attempted murder by this stolen... energy!" "Talking dog? Magic? Floating students with damn wings?" he said, "You expect me to believe any of that shit?" "As long as you're showing bugs, Dean Cadence," Cinch told me, "show the footage from earlier today at Canterlot City High School!" "There wasn't any files on the USB recorded at CHS, Abacus Cinch." "I beg your pardon? She involved her husband, Principal Celestia, AND Vice-Principal Luna!" "Get the hell out of here." "I beg your pardon, Superintendent?" "You're fired. Get your things and get the hell out of here. Now!" he turned to me, "Ms Cadence, you will be assuming position of Principal and Dean of Students until you find a suitable replacement for one of the positions." "None of that could possibly happen," she said with a smile, "because there is no such thing as magical ponies or other worlds." "But Ms Cadence Darling, of course it's real. I mean, Sci-Twi is even sitting in there, half-pony now. It's completely obvious." "No it isn't," Sunset said, "Cadence is right. It just never happened." Princess Twilight and I exchanged glances. "That's right, guys," I said with a wink, "She's just my twin who lives with my cousins out of state." "I-- Oh right!" Indigo laughed. "How about I call Principal Celestia and see if she'll give the students of CHS to 'recuperate' for the rest of the week with the students of CPA." "Bright idea 'f ya ask me," Applejack said, "Ah'm sure 'at she'll say 'yes' right then 'n there." Cadence called Principal Celestia and put the phone on speaker so we could hear the conversation. "Hello, Cadence," Principal Celestia's voice said. "Celestia, do you think that you could do me a solid?" "Yes. What is it?" "If you could give the students the rest of the week off?" "I did that just after the first bus to Crystal Prep left because of the damage the school sustained." "Thanks a bunch!" "No problem," she said, before ending the call. "So," Rainbow Dash said, "Nobody in here has school for the rest of the week?" "That's right," Cadence said before turning to the four Shadowbolts still in the TV room, "Go ahead and text your friends and parents and let them know that school is canceled until Monday. I'll let all of the teachers know right now via email." The text messages spread like wildfire, Cadence's email to the staff at CPA surely put them at a relief, and she even received a few calls about the situation, none of which she couldn't tackle.
15: Start of a New MorningThe Next morning I woke up to the sound of the door to my apartment closing, "Huh?" I looked around and found that two things were different: I fell asleep on the couch in the sitting room. There were people in my apartment that I had invited over. Spike was asleep on the floor beside the couch, occupied sleeping bags filled the front room and overflowed some into the sitting room, a few cans of soda and cups of Milo's Tea were on the floor (each having someone's name on them), two power strips filled up with phone chargers (some of which were not being used), and the apartment looking like a bigger mess than what it was. My phone and cup were on the table between the couch and chair. "What time is it?" I said, stretching, "Did last night happen?" My phone pinged, so I picked it up. "Did I miss a software update?" I pushed the home button, turning the screen on and showing my lockscreen with its standard information which read 6:03 AM Wednesday 16 September 2015 Twilight Sparkle's Samsung Galaxy S6 Battery: 20% - Connect your charger. "Okay, then," I said, taking the smartphone to my computer table and putting it in its cradle next to my Casio calculator watch and charging laptop, "Better go ahead and turn my computer on right now, just in case I need it later," I said, powering the 20-inch, 2009 iMac on. Thankfully, the note at the beginning didn't wake anyone, but I noticed Spike come in. "You're up early after a long night." "What's weird is that I usually don't stay up past 2:30 in the morning, even on my really late nights," I said through a big yawn, "What time did I go to sleep?" "I think around 4:00." I took out a set of clothes that Pinkie Pie gave me yesterday, a towel, washcloth, and my bottle of Suave from the dresser, "I really need this," I proceeded with my standard morning routine for after late nights: set clothes on bathroom counter, make coffee, bathe, and eat breakfast. When I took my clothes and toiletries to the bathroom, I noticed a funky smell from the toilet, so I held my nose and went to see what it was. It didn't smell bad, almost sweet, actually, "What is that?" It was over-sweetened cupcakes. It had to be Pinkie. "Really?" I said, flushing it. I took some peach-scented Lysol out from under the sink and gave a quick spray, just to help clear out the odor some. After that, I went to the kitchen to make some coffee. Getting over everyone was hard enough, but the normally-mostly-empty counter had two-gallon bottles of Milo's Tea, one being empty and the other being half full, four boxes of cans of soda, and several empty plates and bowls of crumbs that, just hours earlier, held an assortment of things such as fried chicken, curly fries, hamburgers, hotdogs, salad, casserole, chips, and other party snacks. There was really not enough space for me to make a pot of coffee. The table wasn't much better, but it wasn't trashed. Just messy. "I hope I didn't drink. I can only hope," I said, putting the trash in the garbage can under the sink so I had room to make coffee. It took me a few minutes before I was able to make some coffee, "Alright," I said as I pressed "BREW" on the appliance, "that should be done when I'm done." Next, I went back to the bathroom, this time to get a shower, which went without problems. After getting dressed, I decided to wear the watch today. "I guess it couldn't hurt to see the charge on my phone." 6:37 AM Wednesday 16 September 2015 Twilight Sparkle's Samsung Galaxy S6 Battery: 74% - Charging. My phone was charging on about two amps even, so I went to the kitchen to make some breakfast. I was too groggy to smell Cadence making pancakes, though. Oddly, I didn't feel like getting coffee anymore. "Hey, Twilight," Cadence said, having just woken up, "Did you sleep good?" "I did. How about you?" "Yeah. You sure had fun last night. Shining still hasn't gotten up yet." "Last night was something to enjoy, wasn't it?" "Yeah," she said, handing me a plate of chocolate-chip pancakes and a glass of orange juice, "You can eat in the other room if you want." "Thanks." "Oh, Princess Twilight left a note for you. I'm not sure if you've noticed it yet." I looked at the table that held my phone and cup just minutes earlier and saw a note under the coaster that was still next to the couch, "Thanks, Cadence." "No problem. Also, I'll take care of the apartment." I sat the plate and glass on the table and read the note: Sci-Twi, Sorry for walking out on you like that, but I had to leave soon enough to get back to Equestria to start with your lessons. Right now, your clock says about 6:00. I didn't want to wake you, or anyone else for that matter, but I'll be ready for you by 8:00 if nothing changes. If it does, though, I'll write you. Princess Twilight . "She must have left earlier." One by one, everyone else in the apartment woke up. I waited until everyone was awake before rewinding the movie we watched last night and put it away because of our obnoxiously loud VCR. "Las' night was MIGHTY fine, if ya ask me," Applejack said, sitting with me when she got her breakfast, "Yera great host." "Sci-Twi," Sunset said, "This came together great." There was a loud vibrating sound coming from my bedroom, so I went to check it out, although a part of me knew it was one of the books I had received as gifts yesterday, "I've gotta go check that out right quick." I ran into my room and, sure enough, it was the book that Princess Twilight gave me yesterday. When I opened it, I saw that she was ahead of schedule. Hey Sci-Twi, I am REALLY ahead of schedule right now, so much that Sunset would say something like "Wow, Twilight. You're really pumping all cylinders today," or something like that. Anyway, the point being that I have the castle ready for you. Just come on whenever you feel like it. "Twilight," Cadence said, coming into my bedroom, "What are you going to do today?" "Princess Twilight wants me to go to Equestria for a while." "Perfectly okay," she said, going back to the kitchen. Princess Twilight, I'll be there in a little bit. I'm leaving my apartment now. Is it okay if I bring my Spike? That would be perfectly okay. Thank you! I checked my phone again to see the charge. 7:27 AM Wednesday 16 September 2015 Twilight Sparkle's Samsung Galaxy S6 Battery: 100% - Charge Complete. I took my phone out of its cradle, put on my watch, and went to the kitchen to get a small glass of tea, "And you're sure you don't want me to help?" "It's fine." "I'll be back in a bit. I'll write Sunset before I leave." "Okay then." "Ready, Spike?" "Ready." "Let's go, then," I turned to everyone, "It's okay if you want to stay here while I'm gone if you want to." We left the apartment and began to CHS.
16: Lesson OneAuthor's Note I know I've pushed this chapter back so much, so here it is. This one and the next take place at the same time, but it didn't turn out quite like I wanted it to. If you're uncomfortable with the thought of being molested, completely skip over the spoiler markings in this chapter. You have been warned. 16: Lesson One "Okay, Spike," I said as we left the building, "I'm not sure what's going to happen and when, but tomorrow, you'll get to meet a version of my parents from a different reality." "That'll be nice!" The walk from my apartment to the bus stop wasn't far, being just a block and a half away, so we were able to make it within about five minutes. From there, it would be a fifteen-minute trip to Canterlot City High School. Spike and I didn't really talk, partially because of the fact that it would be unnatural, but mostly because I didn't have anything to talk about. "So Twilight, do you know what they've got planned for you?" "Not really." I got on the bus and just thumbed through my Hotmail and text messages, mostly to keep myself occupied even though I didn't have anything unread. The bus stop for CHS was a block and a half from the school. No problem there, but I had trouble at the school: Manor and Blueblood were there, and they looked pissed. Manor's hand was bandaged and Blueblood was wearing what looked like a laptop bag. "Uh... um..." "We saw your pony princess friend, Sparkle," Manor said, "We camped out here all night." "Leave her alone!" Spike said. Blueblood tied and gagged Spike next to the stairs at the school while Manor tried, and made it through part of it, to rape me. Again. "Now," he said, pulling me into some bushes, "I know what you've got now." "Wh-- what are you going to do to me?" "Fix our mistake," Blueblood said, tying my hands and feet together behind my back, "Go for it, Manor." "Stop! Please!" I screamed, hoping to God that someone would hear me. The knots were so tight that the circulation to my hands and feet was being cut off, so untying myself was out of the question. Even if I could do that, how would I get around them? I didn't know what to do. "We need the other gag," Manor said. Blueblood handed him the gag in return. "I'm giving you one chance to be quiet, or I'll make you quiet." "Stop! Please!" I cried, "I won--" Manor shoved the gag in my mouth, severely muting anything that I could possibly attempt to get out. "Don't try to take it out, horsegirl," Blueblood said, "Now, what about the 'big one', Manor?" "I'm drawing this one out," he said as he began to get over me, "Ready?" I shook my head, but it did no good. "Good," he said, beginning to lift up my shirt, "We'll start at the top with some french-kissing, then work to the 'promised land', if you get me." Shit. Everyone who knows anything about me at CPA knows that I am the kind of person who exhausts easily, so when my mouth went dry, they took the gag out because I would be too exhausted to struggle and too hoarse to scream for help. "Don't scream," Manor said, yanking the gag out, then kissed me. Manor may have been strong, but he wasn't really bright, and neither was Blueblood. In fact, they are the easiest two to manipulate at CPA based on statistics, so I pretended to be submissive to him. "Okay," I said dryly. "Wait, what?" "I'll do it if you give me something to drink. I hate dry kisses." "Blueblood, you heard 'er." He reached into his bag and pulled out a small bottle of Dasani water and poured it in my mouth for me. "Ready?" "Untie me." These dumbasses. He untied me, but I played "defenseless and exhausted" for a few more minutes until I was sure I had them covered. "There," he said, removing my shirt and pants (but still leaving my underwear on, thank God), "Ready." I just panted out of exhaustion for a second while he threw my clothes to the edge of the bushes. Thank God he didn't notice my pocketknife or pepper spray, and my phone wasn't an option since it was on the lawn. "Damn! You're just gonna let me go at you, aren't you?" I just nodded. "Let's do it, then." Blueblood just sat laughing his butt off while Manor was still just touching me through my undergarments. He took out his iPhone 6 to start recording, but I zapped it with an EMP from my horn, making him think the battery died. I did the same to Manor's phone. Both of them, thank God, were too focused on laughing at me that they didn't notice my horn. I had to wait until he prepared to... defile... me. "Ready for the big guns?" Right in the crotch, Twilight. He got off of me just enough where I could knee him. "Here we go, Twi--FUCK!!!" I don't know what in the hell his plan was, but he didn't get in me before he was on the ground. I had about two seconds before Blueblood tried anything on me. "HORSE BITCH!!" Blueblood said as he came at me with ropes again. He went down, too. While they were both down, I was able to at least get my blue jeans back on before they got back up. Manson was the first, then Blueblood. "You get back here and finish what you started!" I had to just pick up my shirt and put it on while I was running. I hope to GOD nobody saw me. "Get back here!" By the time I had my shirt back on, I had lost considerable distance, so I pepper sprayed them, leaving them on the ground for a while. I had enough time to cut Spike free and run through to Equestria if I hurried. "Spike," I said, running over to him and cutting off his gag, "I'm sorry you had to see that," I cut off the rope holding his feet together. "What now?" "Run like hell to Equestria." We both ran and I picked up my phone on the way back to the statue. That was home free. "GET THE FUCK BACK HERE!!" Manor said as we ran through the portal. We barely made it. "What was that about!?" "I... just wanna pretend that it never happened," I said, catching my breath, "It was the only way I could manipulate them into letting me go without me dying." Blueblood and Manor came through the portal, even more pissed than earlier. At least they were ponies now, so they walked on four legs. They also had no horn or wings, which was good for me, too but they managed to learn to walk and run in their new bodies before I caught my breath. They were both red where I sprayed them earlier, and their eyes were red, suggesting they became irritated, too. "Shit!" Spike lept out of my hands and fled down the hall, screaming loudly. I followed, but couldn't keep up, because I was, in slang terms, all brain and no brawn. "Princess Twilight!" I yelled as I ran down the corridor, "Help!!!!!" Manor tackled me halfway down the hallway, but couldn't keep me gripped because of a lack of fingers. When I got back up, though, I ran past four more doors to the one where Spike was (on my left), and locked it. "Shit," I said, "This is bad." "What happened out there, Darling?" "Rapists," I panted, prompting someone to slam something down. "Who, dammit!?" Princess Twilight said with protective fury before looking at a filthy me, "Who did this to you, and where the hell are they!?" I turned around to see the Equestrian counterparts of Sunset's friends and Starlight Glimmer, along with the three princesses. And that I was in a library. "It's... fine." "No it is not," Princess Celestia said with a firm volume and tone only a true queen could have, "In your world, such actions might be okay, but we do not stand by in Equestria when a pony is being molested." "But I'm not a pony." "Actually," Twilight said, "you are when you are on this side of the portal. Now who did it?" "Manson and Blueblood?" "I see, Miss Twilight." "Don't you need some kind of proof?" I said, trying to stall. Princess Twilight took my phone out of my pocket, levitated it onto the table, and somehow projected the screen onto the wall with magic. "I had a feeling that you were going to have to put up with that," she said as she went through my gallery to the album named "Camera Roll", "Let's just see what we have here." She tapped the most recent video, and everything was caught on video as if someone had been standing there, recordinng it the whole time. "It's-- it's-- it's not like that!" I said when the video got to the part where I stopped struggling. "You had to manipulate him somehow, and it was the only way to get help. There's no shame in that," Princess Twilight said as the door busted open, revealing two white regular stallions with patches of red, both having watering, bloodshot eyes. "Thou art under arrest!" Princess Luna said, encompasing and immobilizing them with a night-blue aura, "Thou have raped an innocent girl, tresspassed onto royal estate, and damaged said property!" "She pepper sprayed us!" Manor said. Now you're going to jail or whatever they have here with them! "It was for my defence, honest!" "You're not in any trouble, my child," Princess Celestia said, sitting me down and embracing me in a hug, "Like Princess Twilight said before, you did what you had." "She gets off scott-free!? We didn't even do anything!" Blueblood said, "She should be the one to get punished!" "Very well, then. Miss Sparkle, thou needs to enter the council room and await your sentence there!" Princess Luna said, carrying them off, "But you will receive eight months in the dungeon, minimum." Princess Celestia and Princess Twilight escorted me back to the room that I passed out in when I was here the first time. "What's going to happen now?" I said, anxiously. "Nothing is going to happen to you, my child." "What do you mean? And why do you keep calling me your child?" "While you did attack," Princess Celestia said as the rest of the ponies and Spike came in from the other room, "You did so for and only for your protection. If you had been on the offensive, then you would be the one serving time, but you weren't, so you won't. And the reason I call you my child is that, along with the other three princesses, I have a duty and obligation to protect and take care of whoever is under my rule. I don't view ponies under me, especially when they need help of any sort, as just ponies. They are all like my children, and I try to be like another mother to them, despite never being able to truly be one to them. I want my subjects to grow well and prosper, but they can't do it on their own without guidance." "Wow," I said, beginning to tear up, "That's beautiful." "I see that my words have truely touched your heart." "I don't know what to say." "For me, failure only comes when my subject falls or if I fail to help and nurture them to the best of my extent. This talk, I'm sure, has helped you grow." "It did. Now," I added, "I have just one other question." "Yes?" "Who is the fourth princess?" "Cadence and Prince Shining Armor." I just stood there for a second, not knowing that my phone was ringing. "Uh, Sci-Twi?" Princess Twilight said while I was in a bit of a daze, "I think your phone is ringing." "Huh?" I said, reaching for my phone just as the Skype sound stopped, "Thanks." It started back again, and the caller ID read Skype: Sunset Shimmer "Would it be okay if I took this?" "No, it's quite alright," Princess Celestia replied, rather modestly. "If it's Sunset," Princess Twilight said, "Tell her we said 'hi!'." "Hi, Sunset! Listen, I can't talk long, so--" "Hi, yeah, I'll make it quick. How do you turn off your computer?" "It's just an iMac, so there's no tricks behind it. At the top of the screen, you should see a command bar with an apple, and the words Finder, File, Edit, View, Go, Window, Help." "Okay, I see it." "Good. Click on the apple, then click 'Shutdown'. A window should open that says 'Are you sure you want to shut down your computer now?'." "Okay." "Just press 'Return' on the keyboard, and it should be off within a minute." "Okay. Thanks." "No problem. Anything else?" "Yeah, just one more thing: I'm not trying to rush you or anything, but how long do you think you'll be in Equestria today?" "I should be back by 11:30. I have to go now, but the princesses say 'Hi!'." I ended the call. "Okay," Princess Twilight said as she walked over to me, "I'm deciding to do this one time a week. Will that mess with your schedule any?" "No. It won't, Princess Twilight." "Now," Princess Twilight responded with a teacher's serenity in her voice, "I want to start out by addressing yesterday's problem. Before you start worrying, I don't mean it like that." I raised an eyebrow. "What I mean was how you freaked out." "Right..." "So, you completely lost it yesterday when you thought we were going to arrest you for doing something you couldn't help." "I'm lost." "Look around." I looked at everyone in the room. "How many people do you think are perfect?" "None of them...?" "Exactly." "So... friends can be like family?" "I'm going to go one step further and say that they are a family." "Oh." "So, as far as we're concerned with you about yesterday: No harm done." "And... about Manor and Blueblood?" "Them too. Now," she said, "I want to start out with something that you do everyday: conversation. I noticed last night at the sleepover, you had trouble talking to anyone except for Spike, Cadence, Shining Armor, and, to an extent, myself." "Is that bad?" "In a way, yes. From what I understand, most of your communication with the other people at your school is usually just a form of mumbling, but mostly passive-aggressive, nonverbal requests for more space. Am I right?" "I've... never paid attention." "Exactly." Princess Luna came in the room, looking as if she had been in an effortless struggle. "Our case will be held tomorrow," Princess Luna said, "If it is an appropriate time, may I request a briefing?" "With all due respect, Your Majesty," Rainbow Dash said, as if she were about to snap, "I have no idea what the tartarus you just said!" "Rainbow Dash," Princess Luna said, "A briefing is a way of asking what has happened while we were gone." She looked like she wanted to crawl under a rug... or whatever it is they do here. "Just getting started on conversation skills." The rest of the day was pretty smooth, actually. Several hundred double-takes and a lot of turned heads later, and the lesson was complete by about 11:10. "Anythin' y'all wanna do 'til ya haveta go back, Sci-Twi?" "No. Nothing in particular. I should go ahead and call back, just to let everyone know I'm leaving." "Before you leave, I want to know something, my child." "Yes, Your Majesty? "Did anyone know about your subject to this bullying?" "Well, not exactly. Ms Cinch told me that if I told anyone about it, she would have me tried and charged for Class II treason with no chance for parole." Princess Celestia's mouth hung agape as she heard this, so I further explained. "All because she would have to suspend them. And that was just when it was taking pictures of... oh my God, why... my... under-the-skirt... I can't live like that. If Cadence hadn't stepped in when she did, my life would be a living hell right now. Not because they have horse-fetishes, but because they enjoyed trying to probably kill me. Blueblood even went so far as to stab me with a knife. It was taken to the police, but with his money, he was able to get away with it seven or eight more times. That's where all of the scars were from yesterday, with the newest being Monday of this week. If anyone in my family went to the authorities about it again, they would have a hit taken out on them. Shining and Cadence didn't want for me to lose them or each other, so we had to keep quiet. And now that they're locked up here in Equestria, I can live my life a little more relaxed." "What in tartarus has your society allowed you to have to tolerate?" Princess Celestia said, in awe. Aweful. "I don't wanna talk about it." They all fell into silence as I made my Skype to Sunset. When she picked up, I heard a lot of what sounded like powertools, but it was a bad connection, according to her. We were talking across dimensions though, so static wasn't exactly something that could be ruled out. Especially considering all of what had happened yesterday, probably still interfering with the AT&T 4GLTE signal. Either way, I put the call on speakerphone. "HELLO?" "Sunset?" "OH, HI, TWILIGHT!!! WHAT'S UP? "Nothing. Just about to leave Equestria." She said something that I couldn't quite make out over the static. "What?" "NOTHING!! JUST DON'T TAKE ANY VEHICLE HOME!!" The noise stopped. "Why? And what was with the noise? "Just a little something. And probably bad signal." "Sound's legitimate." "Anything neat happen in Equestria?" "A lot." "Okay. See ya later." She ended the call. While I have you out, I might as well take a look at my messages. Just want to be punctual. Besides, I've already gotten myself into trouble. "Sci-Twi?" Princess Twilight said, "What are you doing?" "I happened to get a few messages, and I don't like to leave people in the dark, thinking that they won't get a reply! Besides, I've already caused myself too much trouble." "Nonsense, my child," Princess Celestia said, levitating my phone down to the table, "My sister and I will speak to the authorities in your world to help keep an eye on you." "You'd do that for me?" "You need to stop blaming yourself for actions beyond your control, both others' and yours. If you continue with the path that you are on, you will end at a destination of pure regret and hopelessness." "Thank you," I said, walking through the portal. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna came behind me, and proceeded to the CCPD, while I went home. I had no idea that they followed me, let alone still ponies. I found out after I checked my Skype when I saw them in the reflection. Skype: 3 New Requests Indigo Zap Accept Reject Lemon Zest Accept Reject Sugarcoat Accept Reject "Accept... accept... accept." I turned the screen off and saw them behind the reflection. "You're here?" I turned around, "and still--" "Alicorns." "You'll get into a lot of trouble!" "Then so be it," Princess Luna said as she made a Sony Walkman appear and play everything that I had said earlier. "What if you get in trouble for not being human?" "Alicorn magic is the strongest of thy magic. We are able to change forms at will." "If you need me, just run to my apartment." "Thank you, my child," Princess Celestia said, putting her hoof on my shoulder before flying to the police department. My phone rang. Skype: Indigo Zap "Hello?" "You can take the bus back if you haven't missed it yet." "Okay. Thanks." I ended the call and proceeded to walk with Spike in my bag to the bus, but the driver wouldn't let me on. "New policy: no horses." "I... what?" "Pup can't get on either without someone." How does this guy know that Spike is in my bag? "Excuse me, but just because I have a muzzle, pony ears, a tail, and a horn doesn't exactly make me a horse." "How so?" "They don't have horns." The driver slammed the door and drove off. "My child, you are in need of assistance, are you not?" "I am, Princess Celestia. I don't want to bother you with it, though." "My child," she said, turning me around to face her and lifting my head up, "As long as we're here, you can call on any of us, any time. Now, would you like a chariot?" I could only stammer for a minute, "What about the police?" "They refused, so we will." "Only if it's absolutely no trouble at all." Please, don't get pushy. Cinch was pushy. You just need help like shit. "Alright," she said, going back through the portal and returning with a gold-colored chariot, pulled by four winged-stallions. "Where is the human Princess Twilight Sparkle, Your Majesty?" She pointed a hoof at me, so they walked toward me and bowed, "Your Majesty." "I'm not a princess." They stopped bowing and blushed. I could tell that I wasn't doing any better. "I don't have the necessary life and social skills to know how to handle this." The stallions just awkwardly looked at each other. "I propose we forget this particular incident." "It never happened, then." Both Princesses got in the chariot, and the winged-ponies flew off with us. "Are you sure this is safe?" "Nonsense, my child." I opened my mouth to ask about the different kinds of ponies, but was stopped by Princess Luna. "Ponies with no horn or wings are simply earth ponies. Those that have wings and no horn are Pegasi, the opposite is true for unicorns, and wings and a horn is an alicorn. Alicorns are princesses, three of whom you have met." I looked down and saw Cadence and Shining Armor walking back home. "Can we land and get them?" "Of course," Princess Celestia said before raising her voice slightly, "Please land." "As you wish, Your Majesty." They landed right next to Shining and Cadence. "Would you like a ride back to your house?" They looked at each other, then at the chariot. "Sure." "Please, enter," Princess Luna said, everyone moving to make room for them. "Alright," Cadence said, not wanting to waste anyone's time, "We're ready." "Please continue," Princess Celestia said. "As you wish, Your Majesty." They flew us home. "How did you get to ride in this?" Shining asked. I looked at the two regal sisters. "It is thine own story, Miss Twilight." "I went to get on the bus, but the driver said 'horses aren't allowed', so Princess Celestia offered a ride in her chariot." "You don't have to worry about them anymore, Twilie." When we landed at the apartment, I offered them to come into my house again, so they took the offer. Despite being alicorns though, they made it through security. "I'll go ahead and call to let them know that we're coming up." "TWILIGHT'S BACK WITH HER FAMILY!!!!!" I heard Pinkie Pie scream. I called Indigo and let her know that we were back. "Hello?" "Hi. Cadence and Shining Armor are with me, and we're about to come up." "Oh, okay. See ya in a few." "Actually, we're taking the elevator this time." "Okay, then." The call ended when we stepped in the elevator.
17: GiftsAuthor's Note This chapter and the previous take place at the same time, but it didn't turn out quite like I wanted it to. You don't have to understand the computer code (I just looked it up online) to get the story. All you have to know is Sci-Twi's character (cooped up all the time doing research and projects) to get the story. 17: Gifts Indigo Zap's Point of View "Ms Cadence?" Fluttershy said. "As far as I'm concerned," she responded, "We're all on a first-name basis. I'm not 'Dean Cadence' or 'Principal Cadence'. I'm just 'Cadence'. I don't want to be formal just yet. I'm only 27. Plus," she added, "I'm just Twilight's sister-in-law." "Um, Cadence? Do you want us to help you clean up some?" "No. It's fine," Cadence said as Shining Armor woke up and came into the room with us, "I've got it." "Hey, Babe." "Oh, good morning, Shiny." "Oh, but of course, Darling. I mean, after all we're responsible for this mess, too." "It's fine. Besides, I've almost got it." Everyone took their garbage and put it in a garbage can in the kitchen, quickly filling it up. "Well," Cadence said, putting on a glove so she could compact the trash some, "It did help. Now, I can go get breakfast with Shiny." "You're too good to me, Cady. I'm paying this time." Twilight had just left and had been gone for a few minutes, but her former statement still held clear with Lemon and me. It's okay if you want to stay here while I'm gone if you want to. "Okay, Indigo," Sunset Shimmer said, addressing an issue that was only partially here, "What do we do until Twilight gets back?" My Apple Watch went off, so I checked it. "What time is it?" Cadence asked. "7:30." "We better go," Shining Armor said as they both left. For a few minutes, none of us said anything until Sugarcoat saw walking down the street. "I don't want to sound heartless or even blount," Sugarcoat said, "But it's probably just going to be some fast food and a trip to the park with a drink." "Yeah," I added, "They did seem a little tight on money." "And this console's jus' 'bout ta see its day." "Not to mention that it's atrocious, Darling." "That table of hers is going to give at any moment," Sunset noted, "It looks really old." "Table?" Lemon asked. "Her work table. I also did some poking around, and she has a few milkcrates for her books, and her file system is just some worn, plastic drawers. Not to mention one for her nightstand with a slab of wood on each side." "Oh God, really?" Sunny Flare asked, looking at the back of the TV. "What?" Rainbow said, taking a look behind the set at the wiring, "Wow." I went over and they put the TV down on its face, showing just how messed up it actually was. "Oh." Most of the inputs were either yanked out completely or hanging by a cable. "I can't bear to see her live like this," Sugarcoat said, taking out a debit card, "We need to get a few things. I'm the wealthiest out of any of us, not trying to gloat, so I'll pay for as much as I can." "I'll take the rest," Lemon said, "I'm just behind her on that scale." "None of it will fall on me, more than likely," I said, "but I come in third there. That should take care of it." "Like what?" Pinkie said. "Everything." "Mah God, Darling!" "What, Rarity!?" Sunset said. "This dresser is atrocious!" "It's settled. We're doing this." "I'll make a list of what we need to find," I said, "Let's just get it all together." "Good idea." "I'll drive ya back ta yer house so y'all c'n get yer SUV, Sugarcoat." "The address is--" "1202 Papergreen Street." "How did you know?" "I might've put you on speakerphone because we were all worried about you." A warm smile came across her face before she went back to business. "Ready, Sugarcoat?" "Ready, Applejack." "Sunny?" "When you are." "'et's go, then." Applejack, Sunny, and Sugarcoat left the apartment. "What now, Darling?" Rarity said to Sunset. "That microwave did take forever to make my popcorn last night," Rainbow commented. "I'm taking a look at that microwave," Sunset said, opening the door and looking at the rating, and was surprised at how low the rating was, "350 Watts!?" I pulled a blank notebook out of my bag and started writing in it everything as stuff came up. "That oven was giving off some pretty funky odors last night," Lemon mentioned. "And this Mr Coffee doesn't exactly get hot," Fluttershy added. "Anything else?" I said, finishing the list. "Several 8×10, 4×6, and 5×7 Photos have messed-up frames, Darling." "How many?" "Three 4×6s, four 5×7s, and three 8×10s." TV Console Workdesk Desk Chair Bookcase Drawers Nightstand TV VCR DVD Player Dresser Corkboards 1100-Watt Microwave Countertop Oven Coffee Maker 4×6 -3 5×7 -4 8×10 -3 I set the list on the kitchen table for everyone to go over. "Looks about right to me," Lemon said. "Wow," Pinkie said, "We have a lot to get for Sci-Twi!" Sunset Shimmer's Point of View "I'll go ahead and turn off all of her stuff," I said. "You should probably do that." I went into her bedroom and called her on Skype. "Come on, Sci-Twi!" It rang for a minute, then went to voicemail. She managed to get service in Equestria somehow. "Hello, you have reached Twilight Sparkle. I'm currently not available, so if you will please leave a message after the beep with your name and a callback number, I will return your call at the first available opportunity. Thank you, and have a nice day!" I ended the call and pressed redial instead of leaving a message. She picked up the second time. "Hi, Sunset! Listen, I can't talk for long, so--" "Hi, yeah, I'll make it quick. How do you turn off your computer?" "It's just an iMac, so there's no tricks behind it. At the top of the screen, you should see a command bar with an apple, and the words Finder, File, Edit, View, Go, Window, Help." "Okay, I see it." "Good. Click on the apple, then click 'Shutdown'. A window should open that says 'Are you sure you want to shut down your computer now?'." "Okay." "Just press 'Return' on the keyboard, and it should be off within a minute." "Okay," I said, following the instructions, "Thanks." "No problem. Anything else?" "Yeah, just one more thing: I'm not trying to rush you or anything, but how long do you think you'll be in Equestria today?" "I should be back by 11:30. I have to go now, but the princesses say 'Hi!'." She ended the call just as Applejack walked in with Sugarcoat and Sunny. Indigo Zap's Point of View "We're back, y'all!" Sunset walked hurriedly back. "What's up?" I asked. "Twilight is going to leave Equestria at 11:30, so we have to move fast. It's already 8:00." "I drove by the park on the way back," Sunny said, "Cadence and Shining Armor should have themselves occupied with each other for a while. They had just sat down with two cups of coffee and a bag from Wendy's." "They should be really good to go until at least until Twilight gets back if I'm right," I said, receiving looks from everyone in the room, "What? We used to be kind of friendly." "We've got enough time if we work fast," Sunset said. "I'll stay here with Angel," Fluttershy said, holding her pet rabbit. "Good idea, Fluttershy. You hold down the fort, and don't let anyone in," Rainbow Dash said as we began to leave. "Even Shining Armor and Cadence?" "Especially them!" "Oh. Okay." "Just call if you need us," Sunset said. "Thank you." "Okay," I said as we went into Walmart, "When we get everything, we need to meet at the Subway in the back of the store." "I'll take care of the TV setup," Sunset said. "Sugarcoat and I have the kitchen!" Sunny said. "I'll take care of office and organization along with Lemon," I said. "A'll take care o' the furniture with Rarity," Applejack said. "While you're there," Sunset added, "could you pick up some zipties? The antenna cable was a mess." "Of course, Darling," "Pinkie and I'll take care of the pictures!" Rainbow said. "Okay, I said, tearing a sheet of paper into five pieces and making the list into five smaller lists, "Here is what each of you need to get." We all went our separate ways. Sunset Shimmer's Point of View When we started to get what we needed, I went and got a cart, then went to the back of the store to get new living room equipment. "Excuse me," I said to the department worker, "I need a 32-inch TV, DVD player, and VCR. Preferably by JVC." She looked at me for a second, "Oh! You're Sunset Shimmer! I'll get one of each from the back. Do you want a remote with that?" "Sure. I don't have time to talk now, though." She went into the back and pulled the four things that I wanted, "The VCR is new-oldstock from 1998." "Does everything have the right cables?" "They're in the boxes." "Thanks. I'm going to wait at the Subway, then my friends are going to take it to the front and pay there." "Have a great day!" I went and waited for the others. Sunny Flare's Point of View "Looks like we're on kitchen duty," I said, getting a shopping cart and going to kitchenware with Sugarcoat. "Coffee maker should definitely be Sunbeam." "Good idea. Sunbeam microwave, too. Those things are 1100 watts at the start." "What kind of oven? Emerson?" "We've had a Sunbeam ever since I started in kindergarten. My grandmother gave it to us as a housewarming gift, and it's worked great ever since." We got the appliances and went to the Subway where Sunset was already waiting on us. "How good are those?" she asked us. "Top of the line," Sugarcoat said, "Yours?" "It's Japanese, so it's definitely great." Sugarcoat's Point of View The three of us exchanged a smile and nod, "I'm going to put in a call to my Uncle Auto to get Twilight a car," I said, taking out my iPhone 6. "Hello?" there was Journey playing in the background. "Uncle Auto?" "My favorite niece, Sugarcoat! How are you?" he answered with a cheerful voice as the music lowered in volume. "I'm good." "'At's great! Anything I c'n do for you?" "Yeah, I was wondering if I could get a DeLorean for my friend." "Must be a pretty special friend for you to do something like this. Who is it?" "You know that girl...?" "Sunset Shimmer from Canterlot High?" "Uh, no. Glasses...?" "Oh. Ms Twilight Sparkle?" his voice suddenly went to one of sympathy, "Hard times for her, ain't it?" "Yeah. We've started calling her 'Sci-Twi' because of her science, though." I felt bad for what happened, and he could hear it in my voice. "Sugarcoat, listen. You don't need to feel bad. I know that you know that they're in a better place now. They're never gonna have to worry about anything again, Sugar. As for what happened that day, there wasn't anything that you could've done. You weren't even on the subway." "I know. It's just... she's still going through it." "I know it must be hard for her, just like it was when I lost your aunt Bobbie. You just have to remember, and her too, that Mrs Velvet and Mr Light are in eternal paradise now. If she, her brother, or her sister has any trouble letting go, tell them to come and see me if they can. If they can't, I'll drop everything and go to them." "Th... thanks. That's the nicest anyone's been to her outside of her family until yesterday when Indigo beat the crap out of Sour Sweet for insulting her mom." "Indigo did the right thing," I smiled, feeling warm inside, "Listen, Sugar, whenever you see Ms Twilight, you tell her that my door is always open to her. I don't give a crap about anything else. I know how hard this can be for her." I desperately tried to change the subject. He obviously caught on, but went with it anyway, "Listen, what do I--" "Not a thing. I couldn't charge my niece, ev'n if my live depended on it. An' especially not for Miss Sparkle." I pushed my glasses on my face. "What's the address?" "830 4TH Avenue." "I'll have it over there in a little bit." Indigo Zap's Point of View I went with Lemon to get a shopping cart, then we headed over to get the workdesk. "Do you know what she'd want?" Lemon asked. "If she's still like she was when she was little, two long folding tables would be better than a fancy desk." "If you're sure," she said as we went to get the tables. When we got there, we picked out two different-sized tables so they could fit together right. "Now what?" Lemon asked. "A chair." "We need another store cart, so I'll meet you at the chairs." "Okay," I said as she went to the front of the store and I made my way to an office chair with lumbar support. Lemon met me there not too long after. "Lumbar support, huh?" "She did have something tied to that cardtable chair where her back would go." "Works for me," she said, putting the thing in the cart, "Next?" "Drawers." "Follow me, and I'll show you some nice ones." She got two sets of three wide drawers off of the shelf from the "Home & Living" department. "And you're positive that these are good?" "Absolutely!" she said, nothing but confidence and certainty in her voice, "Next!" "Bookcase." "I'd just bullshit that one with a deep, three-shelf cabinet." "Done. Lead the way," She found a patternless, tan cabinet the same depth as the table and width of the milkcrates she used for her books. "Wow," I said, "That's nice." "I know. Next!" "Four corkboards." "Easy," she said as we went and got the boards, then met up with the others. Applejack's Point of View "Ah gotta say, Rarity," I took a buggy, "How do y'all thank we oughta go 'bout gettin' this new setup?" "You saw her house, Darling. Modern and compact. Nothing with drawers, though. They're depressing," I said as I got a text from Sunset. The new TV is 32 inches "Ah see. Accordin' ta Sunset, we need one fer a 32-inch screen," I said as we ran over to the furniture section. Rarity had one picked out within a minute of arriving. "That one," she said, pointing to one that consisted of a shelf that sat of the floor with an aluminum pole at each corner holding a second shelf above it, making it as tall as two VCRs like Sci-Twi's. It also turned out to be the right width for the TV Sunset found. "Can you call someone to help get it down, Darling?" I stopped a worker as she was walking behind us. "Can I help you?" "We've found a TV console?" She looked at Rarity. "This one, Darling." "Rarity," I said, "Ah'm goin' ta get some zipties in case Sunset needs 'em while she's workin' on the antenna cord." "You do that, Darling." In the time it took me to find a pack of 250 zipties, Rarity and the worker had loaded up the console. "Anything else?" she said as I tossed the zipties on top of the console. "Actually, we need a bedside table and dresser, Darling." She took us to them. "Do you want me to help you with the dresser?" "No, Darling, but thank you for offering your assistance." "No problem," she said as she left. "Twilight's room is rather functional over a complete style, so the bedside table should reflect that." "Fer once, Ah actually know which one yer atalkin' at," I said, pulling a nightstand off the shelf that looked like a small wooden card table with a bright woodgrain finish just as Rarity found a matching dresser. "Ready?" "When you are, Darling." We both went to the Subway and met up with Sunset, Sunny, Sugarcoat, Indigo, and Lemon. "At's some nice stuff ya got fer Sci-Twi. Almost makes me jealous o' ya fer livin' in the city." We all exchanged smiles and Rarity ponied-up. I decided to call Big Macintosh and see if he'd help put the new furniture together. "Hello?" "Hey, I need to ask you a big favor." "Eeyup." "We're at Walmart right now gettin' some new furniture fera new friend o' ours." "Eeyup." "And Ah's awonderin' if ya could help us gittin' it tagether." "Eeyup. Where's she live?" "830 on 4TH Avenue, apartment number 7C ah thank. Fluttershy's there right now." "Ah'm on mah way with mah pow'r tools. Hey, you don't need a rahde back, doya sis?" "Actually, we might." "Ah'm on mah way. Truck's a bit messy, but Ah don't thank 't's too bad." "Thanks, Big Mac." The call ended, so I called Fluttershy. "Hello?" "Fluttershy, this's Applejack." "Hi. Is everything going okay?" "Ev'rthang's fine." "That's good to know." "Listen, my brother's comin' over with us fr'm the store so'e c'n help us git the stuff built since we ain't gonna have a lotta time as it is." "Okay. I'll let him in." "Mighty thankful," I said before ending the call. Rainbow Dash's Point of View "Okay, Pinkie," I said as we made our way over to the picture frames, "We're dealing with glass here, so be careful." "Of course, Rainbow Dash!" I said, "You wanna just get plain ones?" "Yeah. Just make it quick and painless," I said, getting the frames. "The next time she throws a party, it'll be AMAZING!!!!!" "Let's just go back with the others." Indigo Zap's Point of View It took a few minutes for everyone to get back, but we were all able to manage. "Alright," Applejack said, "When me 'n Rarity got over here, Ah called mah brother 'n he'll pick us up 'n help out with the load." I checked my watch. "Guys, it's already 10:00." We made our way to the front of the store as quickly as possible. "What are you guys doing," the cashier asked with big-city arrogant sarcasm, "rebuilding a house?" "Kinda," Applejack said, brushing it off. "So I guess you've found out about TV. Lemmie catch you up to speed: have you ever heard of YouTube?" she asked, her tone stronger than before, as she finished scanning the items, "$1485.89." She was obviously just trying to piss Applejack off. I'm pretty sure that the only think keeping her from showing the checkout lady what for was that her brother called. "Hey, Big Mac. How are ya? Pullin' inta Walmart? Uh-huh, Ah'll tell 'em," she ended the call, "He's here." The woman looked at me, "Hey, didn't you go to school with Twilight Sparkle when you were younger?" Applejack's brother came up to us. "Y'all ready?" "Yeah. They need some things in their house replaced after--" "I'm surprised that they only took out her mom and dad." "What?" Sugarcoat scanned her card, "When you've got a lot of money like this, it just doesn't feel right not to do this for someone who needs it." "She wasn't any better than either of them. And her brother, well, he's a joke of an officer," everyone around us just froze at that bitch, "That whole family should've had their brains blown out." Alright, that fucking does it! I snapped and began to throw punches at her, but had to keep her conscious or face prison time. "KEEP YOUR DAMN MOUTH SHUT!!!!! THAT GIRL'S MOTHER AND FATHER DIED ON THAT SUBWAY THAT DAY!!!!! AND YOU WANT HER AND HER BROTHER GONE, TOO!?!?!?!?!?" Applejack's brother had to pull me off of her. Unfortunately, she only had a black eye, dislocated jawbone, and a few missing teeth. "Either her or someone she knew took a hit out on her family. I was there when it happened." "Ah'm sorry 'bout that." "It's okay." "Now let's get this stuff back ta her house." We went back to the front and waited for Applejack, Sunny, and Big Mac to drive up and help us load the stuff up. For all the good it did though, we were set back by a pileup. Altogether, though, both truckbeds and a third of Sugarcoat's Tahoe ended up being used for the stuff. Sunset and Rainbow Dash rode with Applejack, Pinkie and Rarity rode with Big Mac, while Lemon and I rode with Sunny and Sugarcoat. "Hey, Fluttershy!" Lemon said, banging on the door as we all got up with the first trip of furniture. "Yes?" "It's us!" "Just a minute," she said, letting us in, "Oh my, what is all that?" "All of Twilight's stuff!" "Lemon?" I said, "Are you deaf?" "No." It took four trips to get everything up to her seventh-floor apartment. All of the construction went smoothly until Twilight began home when Sunset got a call from her. She put the call on speakerphone so she could hear it over us working. "HELLO?" "Sunset?" "OH, HI, TWILIGHT!!! WHAT'S UP? "Nothing. Just about to leave Equestria." She held the phone at arm's length and faced the opposite direction, "Shit! Hurry up, she's on her way back!" "What?" "NOTHING!! JUST DON'T TAKE ANY VEHICLE HOME!!" They finished with the powertools. "Why? And what was with the noise? "Just a little something. And probably bad signal." "Sound's legitimate." "Anything neat happen in Equestria?" "A lot." "Okay. See ya later." She ended the call. "Is ev'rything alright, Sugarcube?" Sunset had a "deer in headlights" look on her. "Sci-Twi's on her way home," her eyes widened even more, "Now." "Don't freeze up, then!" Sunny shouted as she backhanded Sunset, snapping her out her trance, "What the hell, Sunny!?" she said, "Thanks. I needed that." "Kick it into high gear," Rainbow said as the TV was set on the new console. "Oh right," Sunset replied before hooking up the new set to the antenna, DVD player, and VCR, then linking the remote to all three, then programmed the thing. "Wow," Sunny said, "Where'd you learn to do all that?" "I have the exact same one at my apartment." "Where did you say you were from, Darling?" "Canterlot. The one in Equestria." I went into Twilight's bedroom while Sunset finished up in the living room with Big Mac. Fluttershy was just re-framing photos. Lemon was in there, finishing up with Pinkie and Sugarcoat. "She has to have an 'off' switch or something," Sugarcoat said. "Okay. The tables are a two-person thing. Sugarcoat--" "I know what to do." "I'm skilled in electronics, so I'll go ahead and take her iMac off of the desk." "Do you know how?" Pinkie Pie said. "Yeah. And I can put it back together," I said, turning the computer on its face, "Most of it can go anywhere, actually. Now, where's a crate?" Pinkie pulled Twilight's old "bedside table" out of her hair, along with her old bookshelf. "I'm just like that. Most people think I'm adopted when they see me with the rest of my family, though." She handed me the crate, "I can tell," I said, putting the components and cables in the crate with the computer as best I could without breaking anything. "Can we start?" "Not yet," I said, gathering her stuff from the desk and putting it in the other crates, "Okay. Now you can. I need to make a quick call to her, just to let her know that she can take the bus. Most of everything is taken care of." "Okie-dokie-lokie!" The Skype sound played for about ten seconds before she answered. "Hello?" "You can take the bus back if you haven't missed it yet." "Okay. Thanks." She ended the call. "Hey, Indigo? You got that bedroom stuff swapped out? Mah Ford's ready, an' Ah have a feelin' 'at yer friend's gone be back soon." "Yeah." Applejack and her brother came, tore the bedroom "furniture" (if it could even be called that...) apart with ease, as it was severly aged and cheaply built, "Ah'll take 'is ta mah truck." "No more, right?" I replied as the tables, drawers, and cabinet were set into place. "'at's the last of it." Applejack's brother left with the box of now-rubble, and I began to set Twilight's work area back up. "Do you know how to set her computer up? I mean, with all those gadgets?" I set the thing back-up on her bed and pulled out the document scanner and Internet cable. "Look at the shapes of the end of these cables. Look at the holes in the back of the computer. You just match the shapes," I plugged in her Internet cable for example, "like a puzzle." Pinkie's hair deflated. "Those techies make it look so much harder. Where did you learn to do that?" Lemon asked. "I got an iMac for my birthday last month." I took the computer to the table, but Sunset ran in the room with six power strips and a plastic bag from her arm. "Hold it for a second!" "What?" "Forgot about these." Sunset held up six power strips. They looked like regular ones, except with an extra outlet on the end labeled "ALWAYS ON - LINK". "I noticed her plug setup, and it didn't exactly look safe. Or decently usable for that matter," she shook her head, "Point being, I'm wiring this baby to the wall." She dropped the power strips on the floor, emptied the bag, revealing two rolls of Gorilla mounting tape, screws, and zipties. "Okay." She took care of wiring and labeling the strips, then attaching them to the desk. Afterward, she and I put the iMac together and managed to put her stuff back. When we were finished setting everything back up, I turned on her iMac. It loaded like anyone would expect (pretty much like getting one straight from an Apple store), but a terminal window came up when the desktop loaded. "Okay... this is... unexpected. Even from her," Lemon said. "If I know her, it's probably just a check," I said, "We used to hang out when we were little. Kinda. Point being, she can get pretty technical about things." Bash TwilightSparkle@HomeiMac$ ./check Processor: 2.66 GHz Penryn Intel Core 2 Duo Working Memory: 8 GB Graphics: nVidia GeForce 9400M AirPort: Off Ethernet: 25Mbps/12.5Mbps USB#1: Keyboard USB#1(1): Mouse USB#2(2): Empty USB#2: HP Deskjet 3450 USB#3: Empty USB#4: Empty FW800: 4X FW800 ` FW800(1): 320 GB Seagate HDD FW800(2): Samsung Galaxy S6 Cradle FW800(3): Empty FW800(4): Empty "That's... an understatement, Indigo." "The last time we spoke at all was in 2012." There was an awkward silence, so I voiced an opinion. "Leave it alone and watch TV, say 'Aye'." "Aye," they all said. We all went into the front room where Sunny was channel-surfing. "Are you okay?" I asked, stepping into the kitchen to heat up some pizza bagels from the night before, only to find that there weren't any. What I did find was noodle soup and chopsticks. "It feels... odd... doing something like this." "How so?" "Like... it's... I don't know... fuzzy." "That feeling is called... um... I don't know what it's called." "TWILIGHT'S BACK WITH HER FAMILY!!!!!" Pinkie Pie screamed. I opened a curtain, and there was a CHARIOT on the damn ROAD. My phone rang, and it was Twilight. "Hello?" "Hi. Cadence and Shining Armor are with me, and we're about to come up." "Oh, okay. See ya in a few." "Actually, we're taking the elevator this time." "Okay, then." The call dropped when she stepped in the elevator.
18: Welcome Home Sci-Twi's Point of View The elevator jerkily stopped at the seventh floor, probably because it had never carried three people and two alicorn princesses before. I was just glad when it did, because I was starting to get a little claustrophobic, and I could tell the others were, too. "It seems rather small," Princess Luna commented, receiving a glare from her sister. "What?" I asked, "Someone had to say it. It opened on the seventh floor. Like lightning, I was the first one out. "Claustrophobic, actually." We made our way back to my apartment, where I smelled noodles. We all shot glances at each other. "They're still our guests," Cadence said, opening the door, "at least until Sunday. Maybe longer if they can." "Surprise!" We looked at each other, then went in. None of our furniture was the same hardly, and all of our kitchen appliances had been replaced. Cadence went and looked at them, Shining took a look at the TV, and my bedroom was completely different. "I... how... but..." "The coffee maker actually gets hot, the microwave heats up food in less than four hours, and the oven is brand-friggin'-new!" Lemon said. "Is this stuff ours?" Shining asked. "I took care of the TV," Sunset said, "Don't worry: It's brand new and it's Japanese. So it's really great." "You..." "Of course we did, Darling. It was the least we could do after seeing the..." "Yeah," Sugarcoat said, "Once we found out how old and crappy your stuff was, we kinda had to." I stepped in my bedroom and squealed, probably turning every head in my ~~apartment~~ house. "New worktables...? New drawers...? New... everything...?" "'at's right, Sugarcube," Applejack said coming up behind me, "Jus' a little somethin' ta say "Thankya fer invitin' us over". After... you know," she looked toward the sitting room where my parents' remains resided, "None of us really felt like you should've had ta give up ev'rthing." I ran back into the living room with my brother. "We have to go, my child." The two regal sisters left and headed back to Equestria. "How in the name of God could you afford all of this?" I asked, prompting Sugarcoat to flash a debit card. "That part fell on me." "Does anyone know how Sour Sweet is?" "I wouldn't feel too bad about it, Twilight," Lemon said, "She did... you know," she awkwardly stopped herself from saying it, but everyone knew it, "Point being: you can't live your life feeling bad about things." I noticed something on the kitchen table that I hadn't seen in forever: my hand-made "Best Hits" CDs, Sony Discman, and a pair of headphones. "You... you found them?" "Gotta say, Twilight," Lemon said, "Never took you for a music-listener." "I haven't seen these since we got our other TV!" "Pretty neat stuff on there." "You went through them?" "Air Supply, Rasputin, Walk Like an Egyptian, Madonna, Gloria Gaynor, Journey. Do I have to go on?" "I used to use these before I got Spike to help me." "Who wants biscuits?" Cadence asked, which was pretty much everyone, considering that it was lunchtime. Sugarcoat got a text, then pulled me down to the sidewalk. "Guys, we'll be right back." "What are you doing? Where are we going?" I said, grabbing Spike "You'll see." When we got down to the sidewalk, Sugarcoat sent another text back. Probably just a reply. "You remember how you said you dreamed of having a DeLorean?" "Yeah?" Where is she going with this? "Look around the corner." I saw a DeLorean, in practically brand-new condition, being driven to the apartment complex in front of a '99 Toyota RAV4. "I... never thought I'd see one in person. It's... amazing." "One better," Sugarcoat commented, "Look at the tag." I took one look at the tag, and that said it all: SCI-TWI I looked at her, and pointed to myself, in complete shock. "Yours." Someone got out of the car. He looked like Sugarcoat's uncle. "You're Miss Twilight?" "Uh-huh." "I'm Auto Coat," he said, holding his hand out for a handshake, "Heard what you were going through, and just thought I'd give ya a little something. Little sweetie told me about a dream, so I figured, 'What the heck?'," he handed me a set of keys. Engraved on one side of the keyheads were the letters "BTTF" in the same font as the movie's title card in orange, and the other had a purple sparkle. "I don't know what to say." "Listen: My doors are always open to you. Every time you feel sad about losing your parents," he pointed upwards at the sky, "just remember that they're in paradise now. As far as I'm concerned, you, your brother, and your sister are all a part of my family. If you need anything," he wrote down a phone number and gave it to me, "you just call me. I don't care when or where, I'll always be here for you." "I... don't have a sister." "Isn't Cadence your in-law?" "Yeah?" "Then she's your sister, too. Family's family, no matter what." I could tell that he had been through several hard times before, and his words were touching Sugarcoat and myself. "That's my Uncle Auto. He'd give up everything for anyone." "An' I wouldn't regret a thing at all." I felt myself tearing up. "How's about you take your mind off of the hard stuff, and give the car a test drive." I examined the keys, looked at Auto Coat, then Sugarcoat, then back at Auto Coat. "All yours." "Sugarcoat?" "Yes?" "Do you wanna ride with me? I do have to do a few things." "I'll let the others know what's going on." "Alright." She called upstairs and let them know what was going on. Auto gave me and her a hug, then left. "Ready?" "Can I come?" Spike asked, unnerving Sugarcoat a little. "Of course." "Did he just talk?" "Hang on," I said, putting the phone number in the back of my phone, "Okay." "I even found out which model you'd like." "A stick?" "That part was pretty easy to read. Plus, you said that's how you learned to drive last night." "Oh right." The car started nicely, and drove like it was brand new. "So?" "I like it," I said, shifting through the gears. There was a roadblock, and the two regal sisters of Equestria had been captured and pinned to the ground. Seeing this, I slammed the break on so I wouldn't hit them, because it wouldn't have been pretty at 55MPH. "What was that about!?" "Sorry!" I said, getting out. Sugarcoat followed me. "Are you okay?" It was more like they were arrested to be taken to a lab. "What was that..." she saw the princesses, "about? Oh God, I'm sorry." "We aren't sure what they're going to do!" I looked around, "Hang on." I went over to the two men who had the roads blocked. "Excuse me," I said, "But just what in hell are you doing?" The scientist looked at me, then at the cop. "We need to bring this one into custody, too." "This place keeps gettin' weirder," the cop slurred, as if she was slightly drunk. The next thing that I knew was that I was being put in handcuffs and was put on the ground. "Wow. Talking horses with horns and wings, and now a woman that looks like one with a horn. My day's going to shit." "How so?" "I'll be at the lab for at least a week on end, assuming I doubletime my work and don't take any breaks at all." "I know the feeling. Two times at CCHS, both were just surreal. She-demons, talking ponies, destroying reality, just a bunch of bullcrap. I swear, they put so much effort into these stories now that they should be paid to turn them into books." They looked at us again, and we almost got taken into a white van. "A'ight. Let's go, whatever you are." "Hold it!" Sugarcoat screamed, "Those are my specimens." "Where is your license, then?" Sugarcoat pulled out her wallet, and gave what I think was $250 to the cop to go away, and another $250 to the scientist to give us to her. "Checks out," the man said, "All yours." "Have a nice day, ma'am," the cop said. "Let's get you two home," Sugarcoat said, taking our handcuffs off. "We probably should," Princess Luna said as the two sisters turned themselves human. "Oh, by the way," Sugarcoat said, "Where's Blueblood and Manor?" "In the Canterlot Dungeon for... violation," I said. "As much as I hate those two sons of bitches," Sugarcoat said, "They need to be brought back. Otherwise, we're all in a shitload of trouble." "The portal is the other way," Princess Celestia said. "Get in." Four people in a two-seat car was rather uncomfortable, but I wanted them to be back home before anything could happen to them. By my calculations, I'd have to drive 70MPH solid to get back to the school soon enough for them not to be caught. "Will you at least slow down some, Twilight?" "Not until I know that they are safe." "Blueblood and Manor will be back in your world within an hour." "Good." "I'm not leaving until I'm absolutely sure that you two are home safe." "Thank you," Princess Luna said as they both went back through the portal. "What did you mean earlier when you said they..." I pointed to the bushes and walked over to Blueblood's case. "They need to learn." Blueblood and Manor came through the portal, looking even more pissed than they did at their arrest. "Oh God!" We both ran to the car and locked the doors. Sugarcoat ended up making it to my seat, while I in hers, "What happened? It's not running anymore!" The engine had stalled while she was asking about earlier. "Crap, we let it stall!" She tried to get it to start by holding down the acceleration. "It's the clutch, not the gas!" They were beating on the stainless steel body as the car cranked. "How?" "Hold the clutch, move the stick to first, press the gas while you take your foot off of the clutch!" She did what I said, and she finally made the car move. It only went 22MPH in low, but it was still enough to get them off of our butts. "We're telling the others about this." I felt like I was going to puke. Luckily, her plan was to go a few blocks, then swap places. "Are you okay?" she said as she pulled the car up to Kabylake Avenue and Coppermine Street. I leaned back and nodded, but when the car came to a stop, I went to the nearest trash can and vomited up everything. I could feel my face turning red, snot dripping out of my muzzle, and eyes tearing up, just from what I thought I'd have to go through. I could hear Sugarcoat buying a few sodas. How the hell could she drink a soda at a time like this? Unless she's just being cruel and butter me up. She went in a shop and came out with paper towels. "Let's get you cleaned up," she said, setting me down in the left-hand seat of the car and putting the sodas in between her knees, "I wasn't sure what you liked, so I got a few Pepsis to keep in here, just in case that happens again." I took the paper towels and cleaned myself off, using the rearview mirror to work with. She opened a can of soda, "Here. I'm sure that taste won't leave your mouth for a while, but this will really help get most of it out." I took the Pepsi, then she asked me again, so I closed the door with my other hand. "Are you okay?" I couldn't get the liquid in my mouth fast enough to get rid of that putrid taste, so I was... making a small mess. I'm glad she got extra paper towels, because I used them all to wipe the drink off with. "Yeah," I panted, head on the steering wheel, "I'm fine." "Now, tell me what had happened at that school!" "He... you know..." "No, I don't know." I took out my phone and played the recording for her that the princesses magically triggered. She sat in shock. "Really?" she said when the file ended. "Really," I nodded. "Everyone needs to listen to this, and if he, either of them, tries anything else, we'll put both in a coma." I smiled. "I'm not above picking on someone for a little while until it gets boring, but what they're doing is too much." "Yeah," I said as I began to drive back, "But they bribe the authorities." "Not anymore," she said, texting the recording to her phone, "We've got 'em." "How so," she put my phone in the cupholder. "It's thirteen-to-two, fifteen if the Princesses heard, that they did that to you." "How so?" "Look at this." "I can't. Maybe at the store. I have to get some things." "Okay, I'll take a look at it," I said as we came out of the store with a cart full of milk, tea, and soda. "In iMessage." 11 Recepients: Indigo, Sunny, Lemon, Sunset, Rarity, Fluttershy, Rainbow, Applejack, Pinkie, Cadence, Shining Me: Twilight-victim.m4a Rainbow: When I see these two, I am putting them BOTH in a coma! Applejack: Sugarcoat, they need to be torn a new one. How could you not see this? Fluttershy: Oh my Rarity: Darling, why would they do such... heinous... things? Shining: I want you to come home so we can talk about this. Pinkie: Those big meanies! My eye twitched for a few seconds before handing her the phone back in a noncoherent state. "Twilight?" We rode home in silence. Big Mac was back at the house when we got back. "Why didn't you tell us about this?" Cadence asked. "I... I didn't want to lose anyone else." "Oh, bullSHIT!" Rainbow said. "Both o' them guys oughta be thrown inna wood chipper," Big Mac said. "I know. But what can I do?" "Drop it off with the police?" Fluttershy said, "That seems like it would work." "Sugarcube, didn't y'all hear that record'n'? They'd get paid more to say "Nothin' happened, here'." "I could expel them." "That's not going to work," Indigo said, "They'd take a hit out on you." "This is going to be tough," my brother said. "Maybe not," Sugarcoat said, "Where did it happen?" "In the bushes at Canterlot High." "No video evidence?" I pulled out my phone and began to show the video. "Better." "What are you getting at, Sugarcoat?" Cadence asked. "You're Principal Celestia's niece, right?" "Yeah..." "Call her over." "Okay," she said, at a loss as she grabbed her phone from the counter and made the call. "Aunt Tia? Hi, it's Cadence. Great! worried. Really worried. A miss? Oh, no! Actually, I was wondering if you and Aunt Luna could stop by for a bit. Yeah, it's really. 830 4TH Avenue. Twenty-five minutes? That's fine." "She needs her laptop," Sugarcoat said. "You'll need your laptop. I'll say when you get here. Thanks." She ended the call, looked at her phone, and plugged it into the in-wall USB port at the kitchen counter. When the two principals of CHS made it to my apartment, Sugarcoat lead them and Cadence into the sitting room and closed the closet-style door. Sunny went to listen in with a glass from the kitchen but was stopped with several disapproving looks. After a few minutes, though, Sugarcoat wanted me in there. "Yes?" "You were... you know... at our school, but Sugarcoat knows how to fix that, and we needed your permission on something," Vice-Principal Luna said, "We want to have you on the roll for CHS, just to be on the safe side." "Sure...?" Cadence sat down with me, "According to Sugarcoat, if you're a student of CHS, and that crap happened to you there, they can do something about it, and nobody gets hurt." I looked around, "You can use my computer. I can get into the networks of CHS and CPA for you." "She's always been that smart. I've known her since she was six months old," Cadence chuckled. "So it's settled?" Twilight, this doesn't mean you can run from your problems at Crystal Prep, but you will have backup in a few more places now. "Yeah." I took them into my room, opened a connection to the CHS computer network (Flawed, last-generation security made it easy, though I didn't ever do any malicious work), and let Principal Celestia and Vice-Principal Luna do their work with the student database. "How did you know how to get into our school's network?" Principal Celestia asked me as I logged in as her. Twilight, you know that there's no point in lying about this, not that you would to begin with. Just how do you tell them when they're not as technologically inclined as you are? "Well?" she said, growing impatient. Shining Armor came in my room. "I don't know how to tell you." That seemed to break her. Somewhat. "Just try. I might be able to understand it," she said, looking at the scrolling computer code. "The CHS network servers runs a variant of something called 'Linux', and that variant is called 'Debian'. I use variants of Debian on my laptop and lab computer at CPA. The one I carry around with me is called Raspbian, while the one at my lab is a community-built Windows 7, based off of Debian. That's how I knew how to manipulate and command the system with packages, though I could do that with virtually anything that sports a DEB architecture. The security, though, is only 64-bit on one layer, so it's like a combination lock with one dial instead of three. As for the method of getting in, the max value of 64-bit is 18,446,744,073,709,551,616 , or 2^64. Once I injected my script and had it run, it made a package that was programmed to start sending cracks in a billion addresses and spread to other values like a virus, until the system opened the firewall to my computer. At that point, the package ran and did a handshake with my computer over a 256-bit AES encrypted connection where I could use any admin account with any password, and would be accepted as valid. Whenever I sign off, the package and shell script self-destructs, leaving no trace that I was ever in the system from here to begin with." Principal Celestia and Vice-Principal Luna looked at each other, then Cadence, my brother, then me. All in shock. "Did you know she could..." Principal Celestia looked at my brother, "Your sister..." "That's my little Twilie for you. For eight months last year, she was on the cyber team at the police station." "I don't know what to say," she said, sitting down and adding me to the registry. "It's a bit of a story, but she can't go back until after college, because of a rule change." "Her kindergarten teacher reccomended us put her on strong medication because of her mind," he and Cadence came and hugged me, "But we wouldn't have it. Nobody would, especially Mom. She wouldn't bear to let that doctor drug her. She's got a great mind, one that works in every way imaginable, and we couldn't ask for any better than her." He kissed me on my forehead, and Cadence booped my muzzle. Just like old times. Both sisters noticed the soldering station and my projects around it, including a somewhat-dissasembled laptop computer. Everyone had started coming in my bedroom. "I got that from Shining Armor and Cadence when I was twelve, the microwelder from Mom, and the toolset from Dad. I remember that I spent two-and-a-half weeks, literally around-the-clock working on an animatronic arm to program for when two wasn't enough. I remember that Ms Park actually came to my house, thinking something was wrong. If it wasn't for my family and her, I would never have came back to reality. It was a good thing that I did though, because I lost about ten pounds during those two weeks," I said, "That's how cooped-up I stayed." "Do you still have it?" Sunset asked, coming over to the bed. I was a little surprised when I found out that they heard those stories. "Yeah," I said, getting the arm out of my drawer labeled (in VERY messy handwriting) "MEMORABLE PROJECTS", "Wow! Here it is," I let Sunset hold it. I forgot how heavy it was. "Wow. It's heavy. Does it work?" I set it on my dresser, pulled two cables out of the back, (120V AC and USB), plugged it into the wall, set my laptop back together, brought it over, plugged the thing into the computer, set a one-speed desk fan to the side of the arm, connected it, and ran a file called "FAN_ON.SH". Principal Celestia had finished and came over to watch my first project ever, with everyone else who was in my house. pi@TwilightSparklesLaptop:~ $ cd Arm pi@TwilightSparklesLaptop:~/Arm $ sudo ./FAN_ON.sh Arm control started. Press START to turn on the desk fan, or type ^C to return to the prompt. If no action is taken in 60s, the script will assume you have typed ^C. I pressed the button on the base of the arm. Execution started. I am now turning on your fan, Twilight. Command finished. To close LXTerminal 0.2.0, type EXIT at the $ prompt. Otherwise, you may continue working in the terminal window. pi@TwilightSparklesLaptop:~/Arm $ "That's so AWESOME!" Rainbow Dash said. "That explains... so much," Principal Celestia said. "Everyone thought I was going to exhaust myself, so coffee was my best friend during that time," I said, smiling at the memory, "Shining Armor, Cadence, Mom, and Dad would all take turns coming in and checking in on me while I was in the zone, though I'm pretty sure that I had them worried when I ate my breakfast over the course of an eighteen-hour period. I hadn't felt that achieved before then in my life." "It's okay, sweetie," Cadence said, hugging me, "You meant well." I looked at everyone. "You're all welcome to stay as long as you want to." "Welcome back, Twilight." Author's Note Again, you don't have to know the tech stuff. Just know that Twilight is ABSURDLY smart, and you should be okay.
19: Twilight Velvet and Night Light's First VisitSci-Twi's Dream I looked around, and the place was familiar. I did see Midnight, but she was just a passenger. A subway? And my clothes? Did I fall asleep in them again? Well, at least I don't have to worry about her trying to kill anyone just to learn something. I looked at the Casio Calculator watch that Mom gave me when I was seven years old. 08:43 27 AM I held the "Divide" button, which acted as the "Date" button in clock mode. 12 8-11 SA "Oh God." I heard screaming, so I ran to the window, and saw the horror of that day unfold: my parents' death. "NO!!" "Fear not, Miss Twilight," a familiar voice said. I turned around and Princess Luna, in a human form resembling my half-pony body, placed a hand on my shoulder, "It's okay. You are safe." "Is this real?" I began to sob. "No. It is simply a dream, young one," she began to do something with her magic, "They are my domain, and it is my duty as Princess of the Night to aid all that I can in a peaceful and restorative sleep." "But..." I said as she began to do something with her magic. "Look at your watch, young one." I looked at it, and it now read an earlier time: 08:40 00 AM "What the...?" "You are having an anxiety about your parents'... Equestrian parents'... visit today." I looked back at my parents from my reality, just as the stabbing was about to happen, but they didn't react. It was almost like they were... projections. My brother and Cadence were holding hands and watching a movie just a few seats down from them now. "Are you sure?" She nodded with a smile on her face, "Go and see them." "Everything will be fine when you step in that car." "Will you come with me?" "Of course." The moment I opened the subway doors to get to that car, Indigo became her current age, the assailants and past me vanished, and they looked up at me. "M-mom...? D-dad...?" "Yes, deary? I didn't hear you get up," she looked up at us from her new copy of Extreme Sports Weekly and was immediately shocked, "What happened to you!?" "Velvet, I'm sure our baby girl's just-- What the heck!?" he dropped his Sudoku book, "My baby!" I gave a sheepish laugh as they ran over to me. "What happened to you?" Mom asked, getting the others' attention, "Are you okay? Your face looks swollen!" "Twilie!" Shining and Cadence ran over to me with Mom and Dad. Indigo looked up at us in complete shock, twitching and speechless. "I'm fine," I said, embracing them in a hug, "I'm fine, now that I have you." "What do mean, Sparkle?" Indigo stood up, coming to realization, "And who's she?" she pointed to Princess Luna. "J-just back up, and I'll explain everything, but you might want to sit down." "Okay," Indie said. "Before telling us anything else, Twilight," my dad said, "I want you to tell us about what we're seeing." I looked at Princess Luna, who gave me a nod of approval. "Something happened to me, Shining, and Cadence that led us to a different reality, called 'Equestria'. This reality is, instead of humans, inhabited by ponies. There are four kinds: Regular, pegasi, unicorns, and alicorns. Pegasi have wings, unicorns have horns, and alicorns have both. One of the princesses there, my alternate, used a spell on me that would turn me where I would be equally human here and there, instead of having to swap from human here to pony there. The spell left me with pony ears, a horn, a muzzle, and a tail, and some magic from that land left me with perfect 20/20 vision, hence the faux-glasses. She," I pointed to Princess Luna, "is the Princess of the Night. She helps everyone there have a good night's sleep, and she's an alicorn, as you've already noticed, probably." "You're not hurt, are you?" "No. As long as I can see you, I'm fine." "Nice to... meet you, Princess Luna," Mom said, shaking her hand. "Charmed. All of you." "I'm..." "Mrs Twilight Velvet and Mr Night Light." "How do you know?" "I am very familiar with you two in Equestria. You are her parents there, too." They stood with their mouths agape. "Is that... us, Velvet?" I looked behind me and saw an Equestrian variant of my parents. "Twilight?" I heard Lemon's voice calling, "Twilight? You okay, dude?" "Lemon isn't anywhere around here, Princess Luna. How can I be hearing her?" "One o' yer books is glowin' 'n buzzin', Twi. Prob'ly oughta check it." "I haven't even met Applejack yet." My watch began beeping, so I checked it. 05:12 04 AM 15 9-17 TH "Miss Twilight, it is time for you to return to the waking world. Only then will you know of your anxieties' real truthfulness," she said, leaving the subway car. I took one last look at the scene before leaving. It had turned into what it should've been that day, three years ago. "What are you doing, Sparkle?" We were both on the subway to the museum at 1647 Lyon Avenue. I was writing computer code, while Indie was sketching some random stuff. We were the only people in that particular car. "Oh, nothing. Just trying to write a little bit of software." "Software for what?" "I've always wanted to just unlock my computer with my face, so I figured I could use the trip to work on it some." "Then, why are you timing it? It just looks at your face." "I want to make sure that it's as efficient as possible on this AMD Opteron-based architecture, Indie." Mom and Dad both looked up from their books and smiled. "What's up with her, Ms Velvet?" "Oh, she's just in the zone, deary, just doing what she likes." Indie looked at Dad. "Indie, I've been where you are. Both of us have." She raised an eyebrow at a complete loss. "Just try to get involved and help out. Even if it is just something simple, just show her that you're willing to try," he motioned for her and Mom to lean in, "I'll let ya in on a little secret. We go in the zone with her, too. All of us do, but at the end of the day, we don't understand a thing she does or says in it." Indie looked at me juggling a watch, notebook, and trying to look at the webcam on the 2008 custom-built Aluminum MacBook. "Okay, I need a better system." Indie sat next to me, "Can I help? I don't know how to code, but is there anything I could do anyway?" "Just one second," I said, setting up a new profile, "Ready!" "What do you want me to do?" "Look at the camera and take your picture, then sign out. Just click the Opteron menu, then logout." She took her picture, then signed out. "Okay, I'm gonna time how long it takes for the computer to recognize your face and load to the LXDE desktop." She clicked her nick, Indie, and looked at the iSight camera as I began to time it. She gave a "thumbs up" when it had finished. "17.89 seconds," I said, making a note, "Now, we swap roles." She timed the process on her iPhone 4S, totaling 3.7 seconds. "Uh, 3.7 seconds?" "Thanks, Indie," I said, giving her a hug, "I never would've known my own algorithm without your help," I said, scribbling something in an almost-full spiral-bound notebook. "If I get rich and famous, apart from my family, I'll see to it that you get a part of it, too." "W- why?" she said, caught off guard. "Because it feels right, and you helped." "I just held a stopwatch and looked at a laptop." "True, but you were a very important variable," I said, saving my work and turning to her, "I don't care that all you did was chronograph my login and take a picture of yourself. You still helped," I added, "Wanna watch Back to the Future tonight?" "Me? After everything?" "Sure. It felt... nice... having someone outside of my family that I could talk to," I turned around to Mom and Dad, "But you two and Shining and Cadence are irreplaceable." "Twilight?" I felt a jerking sensation on my body and heard Sunset's voice. It was time to leave the subway. In the morning "Mom...? Dad...?" I woke up on the couch in the sitting room. I had gotten used to the tail and other pony features by now, but today was going to be a new experience: I could finally see Mom and Dad again. "They're not here, Sugarcube," Applejack said, holding the book that Princess Twilight gave to me, "But ya really oughta check 'is. Might be important." I turned around, moved my tail between me and the armrest, put on my "glasses", and read the letter that Princess Twilight wrote. Sci-Twi, Expect to see your parents from Equestria at about 6:30 in the morning. We were all too excited to sleep. Princess Twilight "I've got just enough time to get to the school and pick them up!" I said, racing to my room to get myself ready for the day. 05:42 12 AM "Sweetie," Cadence called while I was in the shower, "I'm leaving $20 for you to get breakfast with, since I don't think you'll have time to eat here. "Thanks, Cadence," I said, running to my bedroom in drip-drying clothes. I looked on my desk to get my keys, money, and my glasses and watch (since they weren't on the bathroom counter). The keys and $20 were there, but not the eyeware and watch, so I started to freak out. "Twilight?" Lemon said, worried as she came in my room. "I can't find my glasses and watch!" She gave a small laugh, "I think you took a shower with them on." I stopped freaking out and looked at myself in my phone's front camera, "Oh." "You better hurry if you want to meet your parents." "I'll be back, guys!" I said, pocketing the keys, $20, a car charger (I had no idea how much charge my phone had, but it couldn't be more than 40%), and my phone. "I made you some coffee," Cadence said, handing me a to-go cup of fresh coffee. "Thanks! I'll be back in a few minutes!" I took the elevator down, as that was the best way. I was going to have to put speed first as it was, but I checked my phone in the elevator just to see how much time I had. 6:00 AM Thursday 17 September 2015 Twilight Sparkle's Samsung Galaxy S6 Battery: 44% ∆ Connected to AT&T via Unknown Infrastructure at 768Kbps Still need to charge it, though. The elevator stopped at the fifth floor, and a pale girl with electric-blue hair, purple ovular glasses, and headphones got on. Just say 'Hi'. "Um, hello." She looked at me, "Hey," she took off her glasses revealing magenta eyes that flashed red, "What's up?" I noticed she had fangs. Almost... vampiric. "WHAT!?" I jumped backward, hitting the corner of the elevator. Time slowed exponentially, and the possibility of being attacked by a bloodthirsty creature was NOT helping any of my anxiety about what might happen today. "I don't attack." Really? She could be on her way to an Annicon, and you, with that bigass brain of yours, think she's ACTUALLY a vampire? I know something's up, and I've had PLENTY of nosebleeds, and that smell is STRONG on her breath! When you've been in my shoes, THEN we'll talk. "Hey, you're that girl." "Huh?" "From the games. You sure have been beating yourself up over that, going by what Applejack's told me." "And you don't bite?" Stay strong. "No. Vice-Principal Luna's a vampire, too. You've never noticed?" "No." The elevator FINALLY made it to the ground-level. "Nice meeting you, Sci-Twi!" she said as she walked off. What the hell? I cleared my mind the whole way to my car. My phone started charging the second I cranked it up. "Money... check. Phone... check and charging. Time..." the console's clock read 6:07, "I can pick up breakfast on the way." I finished downing the cup of coffee and put in my old mixtape. Unchained Melody by Air Supply began to play, which helped my nerves. As I parked on the street side of the Wondercolts statue, I did a quick scan for Blueblood and Manor. The clock on the console flashed 6:23. I also decided to check my phone to see its charge. 6:23 AM Thursday 17 September 2015 Twilight Sparkle's Samsung Galaxy S6 Battery: 97% - Charging Connected to AT&T 4GLTE Not here. Good. And I'm on time. I got out, and as I was making my way to the garbage cans at the front of the school, I was jumped and pinned to the ground by Manor and Blueblood. "HELP!!!!!" "That won't do you any good!" I let out a surge of magic, making a blast. I heard someone running over to me immediately after. "Get off of her!" Principal Celestia yelled, "Luna, call the police." She called the cops, and by 6:27, those two boys were being escorted off of the school grounds in handcuffs. "Are you alright?" "Yeah," I said, "You two sure do get up early." "We had a dream last night to be ready for something like this today." "I bet I know how." Princess Luna took my McDonald's bag and threw it away for me, while Principal Celestia helped me up. "It must've been hard for you." "Yeah," I said, excusing myself to finish my coffee. I downed the remaining portion of the coffee in a second attempt to get rid of any lingering grogginess. I was about to throw the cup away when something came through the portal. "What the--?" I heard Vice-Principal Luna say. When I looked up from my now-empty coffee cup, there were my parents, on all fours. They obviously weren't my my parents, but they were close enough. "Velvet, does something feel... off... to you?" "I'm... it's different." I ran over to them, but stopped myself from falling on them over my own feet. Instead of becoming full humans, they became more like me: small horn, pony ears, muzzle, and a tail. They had all of the accessories that Mom and Dad would probably wear today: Dad's sunglasses and digital watch on his left arm, and Mom's Quartz watch with her fingernails painted the same shade of purple as the stripes in her hair. "Is that you, Twilight?" my dad said, taking off his sunglasses with his horn. They noticed how I was standing, then looked at one another. "How about I help you two up?" "That sounds great." I tried to help them up, but failed miserably, barely getting them halfway up before falling back down, though they were able to hold their balance for a few brief moments. "I don't think that this is going to work, Sugar," I looked around. Principal Celestia and Vice-Principal Luna had already gone back inside, and I wasn't about to leave Mom and Dad stranded like this. "Deary, anything else we could try?" Mom said, both sitting down now "We could try to get you two balanced against my car," I said, going over to my DeLorean, "Come on." Balancing with the front of the car, while it did prove to be a challenge, was a success. It was easier with Mom than with Dad, because she was more into thrills, where Dad was more into things like Sudoku and Bingo. I looked around, and saw Principal Celestia and Vice-Principal Luna coming back out of the school. "What's going on, Twilight?" "I don't know. They probably just want to meet you." They met the two principals at a little past the statue. "Hi, I'm Principal Celestia," she said to my mom, "I take it that you are Mrs Sparkle?" "Twilight Velvet, actually." "And you must be-" "Night Light." "Pleased to meet you," Vice-Principal Luna said. "Velvet, we should probably get to Twilight's house. Her Shining Armor and Cadence might be getting worried." "Good point, Dear." They were both shaky in walking to my car, but they had two very different approaches to it. Mom, with her love for a thrill, probably though Aw, heck! I'm just going to go for it until I fall!, as she was just trying to get to the car, taking rather large steps and holding out her arms for balance. Dad, on the other hand, probably thought something along the lines of Alright. I'll just go slow and easy. This Twilight would help us, just like our Twilight would., because he was taking slow, small steps to get to the car, even asking to hold onto me a few times. "And, there!" I said, helping Dad get sat down in the car next to Mom, "Have you two eaten breakfast?" "We had hotdogs," Dad said." "Just asking, because Cadence usually makes eggs on Thursday." They looked at each other, "That sounds nice, Deary." "It's settled," I said as I began to close the gullwing door, "Be careful." They moved over, then I went and got in. "Do you like music, Mom? I'm asking because mine liked it. A lot." "We both do," they said. "Tell me if you like this," I said, putting in a mixtape that was rewound to Walk Like an Egyptian by The Bangles. TAPE IN → "Ready," Mom said, "Play the music." PLAY → The song from 1986 started playing as I drove to ~~my~~ our apartment. "Oh, I just love this song! Do you have a Neighagara Falls here?" "Neighagara Falls?" "Now Velvet, one step at a time." "I'm sorry, Night Light! I'm just so happy and excited!" "Oh, Niagara Falls! We can do that on your next visit, Mom." If my hypothesis is correct, then 95% of our experiences with our parents have been the same as Princess Twilight's with hers. Driving up to the apartment, I took the cassette out and put it in a small bag. I pocketed the phone and leftover money from my trip to CHS, but I decided to leave the car charger in the car, for obvious reasons. "How do we get out?" Dad said as I unlocked the car. "Just hang on," I said, opening the door. "Good to get out of that seat. I needed to stretch my legs." I called Shining Armor to let them know that I was back. "Hello, Twilie!" "Hey, Shining!" "Did those two get taken care of?" "Yeah. They were led off in handcuffs by 6:30." "Great! You wanted to talk to me about something, didn't you?" he teased. "Big surprise when I get back home. Also, is Cadence making eggs?" "She's got the griddle on high right now. Do you want some?" "Yeah." "Alright, then." I ended the call, "Ready?" "Ready." I took them up to Apartment 7C in the elevator because I didn't want to risk them losing their balance and falling down several flights of stairs. "We're home!" I said as I had Mom and Dad stand right outside the door, just out of sight. "Who, sweetie?" Cadence said, taking another plate of eggs off of the griddle. "You can come in, now!" Mom came in, walking in a manner somewhat like you would after you would get off of a merry-go-round, while Dad came in, closer to a normal stride. "Oh, Shiny!" Mom said seeing my brother. Shining Armor turned around and dropped a plate, shattering it and leaving an egg-y mess on the floor. "Is something wrong?" Cadence asked, turning around and dropping a spatula with raw egg on it on the linoleum floor. "We didn't startle you, did we deary?" "N-no, Mom," Shining said as he began to tear up, causing Rainbow to snicker a little. "Hush it," Applejack said, somewhat harshly, "They prob'ly haven't had a family moment like this since, you know. That?" Applejack received a raised eyebrow as a response. Dad ended up in the sitting room, looking at what would send Mom into a shock, "Velvet? Can you come in here for a minute?" She could tell the tone of his voice changed drastically, going from cheerful to serious and concerned, "Yes? What is it, honey?" "I don't know how to describe it, but maybe the kids and Cadence can." Rainbow Dash turned the same shade of red as the red half of Sunset's hair (in other words, VERY) trying to hold back (being only somewhat successful, to be generous) laughter when Dad called Shiny and me "kids". She received a slap from Indie that made a slightly-swollen bruise in the shape of her hand on the side of Rainbow's face. "Oh, Celestia! Twilight? Shining? Cadence? Can you three come in here?" There was anxiety and a little fear in her voice. Dammit! We forgot to take those pictures down! We all went in and saw Mom and Dad sitting on the couch with Dad holding Mom in his arms. "I... I can't believe it. Everything you went through, Deary." "Well, we have you back now, you two," Cadence said. They looked at each other very uneasily, but the thought was obvious: they weren't safe here. We were all in denial of it, but they had to go back to Equestria. For their safety. "You drove them here, Twilie, so Cady and I will drive them back to the portal." "Okay." "It's at Canterlot High School, right?" "Yeah." "Come visit soon, Sugar," Dad said as they were leaving the apartment, "We'll miss you." When the door closed, I looked at the mess that was made with breakfast earlier. I had lost the part of my appetite that the bag on the way to CHS didn't tackle. "I should clean that up." "You want an excuse to use magic, don't you, Twilight?" I sheepishly smiled. "Alright then." Author's Note Yeah. I know that Twilight Velvet and Night Light are inseparable during this chapter, but that's just how good their marriage is: To death do they part (and then some).
20: Sunset's Past to PresentAuthor's Note Okay, so here's the deal with this chapter: Nothing dirty, but it's Sunset Shimmer's flashbacks from the time she came into the human world up to the present (September 2015, not December 2017-January 2018 present). I liked the idea of her being homeless and self-sustaining, but not the idea of her being taken in vs the idea that she has her own place as a kind of gift from the others. The particular condition of her living during her "homeless" state was amazing in Finding Home by Cirrus Sky, so I thought of another direction that could've gone in (especially since high-school students can't keep their noses out of others' business). This is also an amazing read, so go and take a look. ☺ Update: The colored text in the flashbacks are narration, and this is the converter I used to learn from. And no, mine is NOT perfect, so I typed the addresses the exact same way I would've in real life. 20: Sunset's Past to Present Sunset Shimmer's Point of View Prologue: Sunset Shimmer had a drastic mutation in her brain from the other fillies at birth, one that made her a fast learner, so her and the would-be-Princess Twilight Sparkle, with this same DNA deviation, both had very high IQs and soaked up information like a brittle, dry sponge. Sunset's impatience landed her in the human world, while Twilight's patience led her to be a princess. Both are brilliant minds, and both have twice the capacity to revolutionize the world that they live in. "Sunset," Rainbow Dash asked me, "I've wanted to ask you so damn long!" Sci-Twi had finished cleaning the mess that she thought only she was responsible for, so the brief of our conversation managed to capture her attention. "Rainbow Dash!" Rarity scolded, "As much as I'm sure we'd all like to know, I figure that the appropriate thing to do would be to wait until her juncture! Besides, some things are best left to one's self, Darling." "Wait... you guys..." she said to everyone before scolding herself, "Sunset, you damn screwball!" she returned to the group, "Ask away," she turned smug and sat down on the couch where there was still room, "I've been waiting for this." "If you're from Equestria and have been here for like, two years, then how the hell did you figure out how to blend in so good!?" Rarity returned the question with obvious, extreme, visible, speechless embarrassment. She had missed Rainbow's mark completely, in part because Rainbow gets dirty with questions sometimes, but only in good fun. "Are... you okay?" Lemon asked. "It'll pass." Sunset's Flashback, Thursday 01 August 2013 8:30p, Canterlot City What the tartarus? I looked around and saw that it was night in this strange land. A building, somewhat like a square castle, stood in front of me on the strange path. "It's hard. Cold," I described the cement before turning to face the mirror that, only minutes ago, had acted as a portal, my gateway to this world. It was shut off. Even though I was in this predicament, it still served one use: I examined myself in this body. I wore a leather jacket, purple shirt, orange skirt with a purple and yellow stripe, and dark boots with purple designs on them. "Okay, then." I felt inside of pockets, even though I knew I didn't have any belongings, whatsoever. "Is anypony even awake?" Nopony was awake, or even around where they could her me. "I'm a weird creature," I said, just then noticing something reflecting moonlight, "Dammit, I'm finding out what that is!" I crawled over to it because that was the only way I knew how to move in this new body. "Okay, what are you?" I figured out pretty quick that I had no magic in this world, whatsoever, so I took the "Earth-Pony" approach: my mouth and... things. I am not looking forward to this." I grabbed the weird slab with my mouth, crawled back to the road, and set it down. One side was plastic, and the other was glass with several... buttons? I don't know. "Okay, Sunset. You're not a pony, but you're not a chicken. Sadly, you have to act like one, though," I said, pecking at one of the buttons with my nose. To my amazement, it lit up! It showed a picture of two of these creatures, standing on what must be their hind legs. "Might as well get on with it," I said as I crawled back over to the mirror, "How to do this." I tried several things, none of which worked. I tried using my mouth, sliding up against it with my back, but nothing worked. Until I fell backward by using my... hoof?... to climb to my find legs, "What the-?" The thing that replaced my front hooves started to grab things, one falling in an open position, similar to a chair leg with a wide base, while the other... clutched something. The thing, "What the-?" I had a thought. "Come on, Sunset! You have a brain almost as good as the Princess's!" I clutched onto the corner of the mirror until I was all the way up. When I felt steady enough, I moved myself to the middle of the mirror, then turned myself around with my... legs? Again, I don't know. Either way, I stood, taller than ever before and leaning against the mirror with my back, trying to imitate the two creatures in the picture. "Front legs and hooves crossed... check." I bent down to get the slab and, after an hour of getting nowhere with the thing, I finally got it to do something that showed one of the creatures... walking? And talking. And clutching things. "Maybe you should set this down and try walking. It does look delicate." I tried taking a few steps, falling after each, so I looked at the thing. I think that there's a technique for everything. After figuring out something, I crawled back over to the mirror and tried to stand without pulling myself up on the statue. It took several tries, but I got back up. "Okay Sunset," I took a deep breath, "If you can get to the rail without collapsing, I should be alright." I made it to the rail, then I figured I really oughta pick up my speed if I want to survive here, so I did just that. I walked back and forth a few times until I felt comfortable. From walking to trotting, cantering, and finally galloping. I did begin to get delusional, and I couldn't figure out why until the Sun began to rise. "Shit!" I felt like I'd fall if I galloped or cantered, and trotting wasn't going to be exactly fast enough to get out of anyone's sight if they would be waking up now, so I picked up the device and began to trot away. I started getting hungry and began to hurt after a while, and that's when the slab started making these sounds. "Hey!" One of them came running over to me, "That's my phone! I can't go to school without it!" School, eh? Dirt. Found. "No." He went to hit me, but I knew I had to keep my balance. "Excuse me?" As good as I was at profiling people, I just knew that he had a Playcolt magazine, or whatever it was here, in his bag. He was exactly that type: geeky, scared, and shameful. "I know you have a girly magazine in there," The new look said it all: at least four. "And I'll show it to everyone here if you don't do what I say." Pale, sweaty, shaky, and scared, this geeky wimp agreed. Not that I cared. I just wanted to blend in around here. "What do you want?" "I'm not from around here," I said, pulling the magazines out and hiding them inside of my jacket, "And if you want your secret safe," I leaned in close to him, making the blackmail obvious, "I'll show everyone." "Follow me home," he said on the spot. I spent a week getting a crash-course on how to live in this world. As far as he was concerned, my name was Amber Skys. Over the course of that week, I learned that I was a human, I only had two legs, the others were arms, hands were at the end of those, and fingers as their appendages. I learned all of the aspects of the human body, what foods they ate (though I had to force myself from hucking whenever I sat down to a plate of meet. I had to look strong, so night was the best for that.), chemicals (chloroform came in really handy after the first night). Then I learned about how they ived and their luxuries, interactions, phrases, taboos, and the whole nine yards. "What's the green paper?" "Money." He taught me how to count that over the course of an hour, so when I left on the last night, I took as much money (or cash, as they called it) and ran like tartarus, (or ran like hell, as they put it), and there was a lot, along with a notebook and writing-pen. I didn't get caught, thank Celestia, so I found a sewer and slept in there for the night. Yeah, I was that desperate. "Just tonight, Sunset." The next morning, I climbed out of the sewer and made a break for the nearest store that was open, making a list of the things that I would need: Clothes Bag Shoes Socks Food Drink Pillows Blankets A way to get these clothes from smelling like shit. Hacked phone Blade After I managed to get all of that, I had to scout out a place to live. After about six hours, by the "phone's" count, I found an abandon place, so I set up home in it. Cold water, missing windows, rotting structure. All I could manage was to get by-- Present "Wait a damn second, ponygirl!" Sunny scolded, "You're saying that--" I cut her off. "I used possibly sexist blackmail to learn by threatening with a geeky perv's porn, resorted to theivery, slept in a damn SEWER of all places, and still chose to stay here instead of letting go of my dark-rooted pride, going back to a royal castle in Equestria, and apologizing to Princess Celestia about everything that I did wrong. Am I proud of it? No. Was I stupid? Yes. Have I learned from it? Damn right." When I looked up, everyone had their mouths agape. "Was it really that bad?" "Yes...?" Cadence said, coming in the apartment with Shining Armor and a completely speechless and somewhat flushed Princess Twilight. "Oh crap." "Actually... we heard everything." "Oh, God. I've screwed up, haven't I?" "Just... keep going," she replied, "We won't judge, especially until we hear everything. And even then, we won't be mad." "Hokay," I said with a deep breath. Flashback "Nobody around for miles... check. No fuzz... check. Can I get in?" I tried to get in, "dammit." The blade fell out of my jacket pocket, giving me an idea: Cut into it. "New experience," I said, cutting my hand, "OW!" It felt... good. Not in the "Okay, this is comfortable" way or the "I deserve to punish myself like this" way, but more along the lines of the "Now I know what could happen to me in this world" kind of way. "Shit that hurts, but I probably deserved it, especially after what I did to Princess Celestia," I said, wrapping my hand with one of the shirts from my bag. It stang like crap, so I took the phone out and asked it for help. "Hey, Google?" "Yes, Sunset Shimmer." "What do you do when you've accidentally cut yourself with a pocketknife?" "First, you boil anything out with hydrogen peroxide, then wrap it. Keep the wound clean and dry. If it becomes infected, see a doctor. If fatal, cauterization serves as an emergency solution, recommended after all other solutions become exhausted for various reasons." I wrote down the stuff I'd need, then asked another question. "Hey, Google?" "Yes, Sunset Shimmer." "Where can I get wrap and hydrogen peroxide?" "At the Dollar General Store, twelve miles east of your current location in Canterlot City." "I'll have to write that down and lookup blade safety. This does not feel good." After a few hours of cutting, I broke in and busted a wooden fencegate open and tore down a door, revealing what looked like a waiting room in front of an office divided by a glass pane. "Home sweet home," I said, examining the resources, "No electricity, cold water, some missing windows, and this place is abandon. Might as well be perfect." I sat the bag down and began pulling the cushions off of the chairs in the waiting room and putting them together in the office half of the building in the shape of a bed. There were just enough, so the pillows and blankets were sat on it. The extra clothes went on the "bed" too. "Dammit!" I said, holding up my hand. It was dripping with blood, stinging, and my arm had began to be covered in the red liquid. "Why do I... GAH! enjoy this? EEEEE!!" I took a few seconds to reflect on the possibly very sick question that I just asked, and remembered the answer. "Oh right... Ngh! This body... Augh! won't take it... and I needed to learn that!" After a few more whimpers from the surging pain in my hand, I came to realization. "I gotta fix this, or I might die!" I said, dumping my bag on a blanket, except for the money, and rushing to a bus Present "You don't... do you?" Shining asked me. "No, of course not. It was a one-time deal: me slicing my hand by accident." The scar, now resembling a birthmark, was still very much there. "How did it not get infected?" Fluttershy asked. "Well, let me finish the part about me getting my own place here built, then that'll come up." Flashback "Listen," I said to the driver with my right hand concealed and my left hand thumbing to the store's address on something called "Google Maps", "I need to get to the nearest Dollar General. Now!" "Take a seat. Fair's 48¢ a mile." I did the math in my head, and it came out to be about $5.76. "At'll do it." Taking the first available seat, I unwraped my hand from inside of the jacket and wiped most of the blood off with the inner lining. Damn, I'm in some deep shit. The cut went across my hand, but the worst part was when it didn't get absorbed into the jacket's lining. "Miss?" the person next to me said with a deep, country accent. He was probably a little taller than me, if we stood side-by-side. Messy, light gamboge hair, moderate sap green eyes, and freckles were what characterized his face the most. He wore a white shirt under a red jacket with a brown collar and rolled-up sleeves, along with frayed, denim blue pants and a belt, with two armbands. I looked at his feet, and saw that he wore red-and-white shoes. His build? Not muscular, but still strong enough to carry a few loads. "Who the hell are you?" "Name's Big Macintosh, 'though mah friends us'ally call me Big Mac, fer short," he said, rather welcoming, "Now, 'bout yer hand. Ev'r'thing okay?" "Everything's fine dammit!" I said, taking off the jacket and making even more of a bloody mess. "Now, simm'r down," he said, grabbing my wrist and holding my hand open, so I struggled against him for a minute, "I ain't gone hurt ya. Couldn't rest with m'self 'f ah did," I quit struggling, so he cleaned the wound off, then became a little shocked, "Ya might lose yer hand, own 'count ah how nasty 'at cut is. Ah'll take ya ta the farm 'n Granny'll gitya fixed right up." "No. I'm getting the stuff, and I'm fixing it myself!" I pulled my hand away from his loosened grip. Present "Wait a dang sec'nd!" Applejack scolded, "You were homeless, from Equestria, and could've DIED, and you still didn't won't any help?" "I caught a cold a week before you found me," I said. "If it hadn't been fer each 'f our pryin' 'n Princ'ss Twilight, you'd a been DEAD!" I looked to Princess Twilight. "You had a heart rate of about seven, a fever of 105.5 degrees, HARDLY breathing, and things were CRAWLING on you!" "But the Fall Formal--" I began to sob. "You did a horrible thing! That was in the past at that point! They forgave you! And you still wanted to treat yourself like that!?" "I just thought it was the right thing to do." She calmed down and came over to me with a stack of napkins, "Listen, Sunset. Even if they hadn't forgiven you, I'm sure they wouldn't have let you just die in an abandon building. I know it's not in any of anyone's heart for that to happen." "But I didn't want them to think I was terrible," I said, wiping a consistent stream of tears off of my face. "I know them well enough to know that's never a thought that would've ever crossed their minds. The only thing that happened was they questioned why you'd do that, and now we have the answer." "But... some of the others at school think I should just... jump." "Oh, just to tartarus with that crap. If they think that, then they're the ones that need to change. All you can do is fix you." "Listen," Sci-Twi said, "From my understanding, you and I both caused similar problems, but the important thing is that now they're solved." "Maybe tellin' us how the rest of the night went might help ya get some closure. Then, we c'n give Principal Celestia 'n Vice-Principal Luna a ring." "Hokay," I said through another deep breath, "But I'm skipping the busride back, because it mostly involved me being pissed off at the time. Flashback I went inside my "house" rather mad. "Damn store is closed," I murmured to myself as I got my bed ready, "Can't get the shit I need, sliced my hand," I opened a pack of socks and cut finger holes in two of them so I could, hopefully, use them to suck up some of the blood. The Next Morning "Ungh. What... happened?" I said, swatting flies away. I got up, ate a box of crackers, found that the sock had become mostly a dark red, and picked up the list that I made yesterday. Lock Peroxide Wrap I got back on the bus to the store, got the crap, and went back, then treated the wound. Exhaustion kept me from doing anything else. Present "Okay," I said, regaining my composure, "I told you that much, now you tell me how you tracked me down." "It's... a kind of weird story," Rainbow Dash said. "Tell it!" "Ya know that weird guy...?" Rainbow's Flashback, Thursday 16 January 2014 8:30a, Canterlot City High School Yeah, so I had math with this guy first. It's the same one who, well I don't know what he did. Anyway, so I was in math with him, and he and I sat next to each other in the back of the class. "Mr Seth!" the teacher yelled to the guy sitting next to me, "Are you paying attention?" He looked up from his laptop that looked like a bomb. "No. Because I already know, like, fifty times this shit. I came into your class yesterday with a soldering iron and started working on a computer board for a Dell Inspiron 5100 laptop, and we," he belched, "had this exact same conversation yesterday. I'm like a damn megagenius. Get over it." A few seconds of uncomfortable silence followed while he put the thing in a bag. "I-I-I I'll be in my thinktank." "And just where is it that you go to everyday?" "In the library," he said as he left. We haven't been able to get a connection to Sunset. Maybe he can help us. I texted Fluttershy, Rarity, Applejack, and Pinkie something that might help That guy's in the library. He might help. Meet up in the front room "Would it be okay if I went-" "Oh, just go!" the teacher snapped after being insulted earlier. I ran as fast as I could and met the others in the school's foyer. "Any intel on this guy?" "Ah do see 'im right around here purdy much ev'r chance 'e gits." We heard the sound of wood clomping on the floor, "What's that, Darlings?" I turned to look, and it was that guy. He had shoulder-length, brown hair with strands of black and electric blue, and was probably 5'9" in height and was not shaved. He was wearing a grey windbreaker, brown shirt, blue jeans with an orange belt, and shoes that looked like wooden sandals, but with a small piece of wood running left-to-right under the ball of his foot was and one right in front of the heel, along with glasses that looked like the frames were circular made from bending a wire coathanger. The expression on his face looked like he was stressed and exhausted, appropriately matching his state of hygiene, seeing as he looked like he hadn't showered yesterday, leading us to question if this was really the right way to go about tracking Sunset down, "I think his name is Seth," Pinkie said a little nervous. "What," he snapped in an eastern accent. I couldn't pinpoint exactly where it was from, but it sounded like an old friend from Brooklyn. Seth's Point of View Oh God. There's those five girls. Athlete, Party, Fashion, Farm, and Shy. "What." I said abruptly,. "Maybe this wasn't a good idea, Darling?" "Oh God," I said, letting out a heavy breath of air, "Don't go. You've got a problem, and I'm your last, and possibly only, resource. What is it?" "Sugarcube, is this the best idea 'at y'all got?" the southern one said nervously to the rainbow-haired one. I looked at my Casio calculator watch, "Really? I'm," I belched, "like the smartest person in the school and you don't know how to ask me a damn question? OhmyGod, Firehead never had any trouble with asking me stuff, so why the hell do you?" I slurred somewhat. "W'll ya see," the southern one said, "At's what we wanted ta ask ya. 'f ya could help 's find 'er." "What do we need." "Wait, so you'll do it, Darling?" "Hell, yeah." "The first thing to do," the athlete said, pulling me out of the school and to the Wondercolts statue, "is to get Princess Twilight in Equestria. She's a pro at figuring out what's wrong with people." "Equestria? The other world? Princess?" "You would've had to have been at the formal, Darling." "Right. One problem." "Yes?" "I draw the line at interdimensional travel." "We're screwed," the athlete said as the pink one's hair deflated. "How the fuck is that possible?" "Ah can't take 't anymore!" the southern one said, shoving me into what should've been the glass. Instead, it was a portal, "In ya go!" I reflexively screamed upon entering this other world, and I knocked over a horse with a horn and wings. "Are you okay?" I tried to stand up, but failed, falling back on all-fours instead. I looked to either side of my body and found that I had wings. Thank God I still had my clothes and glasses, or I would be naked and half-blind. Well, maybe the latter wasn't so bad, considering my current situation. "Are you Princess Twilight?" "Yeah. You must be from the other world." "Yeah, they wanted you. Something about us fixing some problem with a fire-headed girl not being at school." "Let's go, then!" We went back through the portal. I was so FREAKING glad to get back to being a human. "I. Am going. To kill you for that." After a momentary unease settled, they asked what I was doing next. "Are you going to the library, Darling?" "Yeah." "Can you help us find someone?" "Mm-hm." "Sunset Shimmer hasn't been at school for the past two days, and we're REALLY starting to get worried about her, so we were wondering if you could do something to-" I interrupted the pink one. "Shut the hell up. I'm sorry, but I've had a long four nights. With no sleep." "Oh." "What was it that you were wanting me to do again?" "You're always working with tech-geek stuff, so we were wondering if you could get her address," the athlete said. "Really? She couldn't have paraphrased it?" "You grow rather numb to it, Darling." I sighed, then said, "Let's go to the library." In the library, I was bombarded with questions. "Okay guys, get me coffee. This'll take like 90 seconds. Give me your phones." "Why?" the shy girl asked, "We can't contact her." "No, but you could before today," I said, putting a flashdrive into a computer so it would kill out all of the "Big Brother" shit, "And I can take those traces from cell towers to triangulate a ping." "Can you dumb it down?" the athlete said. I took a ball of twine from my bag, had the southern girl stand at the chair, while the athlete stood about 25 feet away. "What's 'is s'posed ta prove again?" "Just wait," I said, unraveling the twine from the ball to make a trail from the southern girl to the athlete. "Um, what's this?" the shy girl asked. "One second," I said, putting several books on the floor, two or three of them on the twine. "Darling, we know you can do this, but that's all we understand. What is it?" "Orange calls Blue, so a connection is made between their phones, right?" "Next," Blue said. "But the connection, represented with the string, has to go through several cell towers, represented by the books." "Okay." "I take the call data from your phones, and from there, it's just a game of find the path." "Oh! You're going to use our phones where we called and figure out where they ended up?" Pink asked. "Right." Blue and Orange gave me their phones. "Not a lot to work with, eh?" "It's only been me and Applejack." "Okay," I said as I began to take the phones apart and put the pieces in two plastic dishes, "You'll be surprised at this." "Hey!" Blue snapped, "I just got that!" "Do you want your friend or not?" "You can fix it, right?" "This is as easy for me as it is for you to knock someone's ass out in soccer." "Wow." I plugged the phones into the computer, opened a terminal, and began to run some code, "Where's Yellow?" "Right here," she said, putting the books back on the shelf with White. I decided to take out and drink a Red Bull, just for safe measure. "Do you have an address, Darling?" I turned back to the computer "Three... two... one... done." "Where is it, Darling?" "1482 Northwest Side Avenue," I said, making a few notes in Cyrillic, one of which was the address. I also wrote down the address of an apartment building and a Panda Express near my house. "Now," I said, "get ready to run like hell. I'm gonna destroy this thing to cover up my trails," I said, putting my crap back up, closing the windows, and taking the drive out, putting it in a seperate pocket in my bag from the Panasonic laptop, along with reassembling the phones. I waited for the librarian to go to the other side of the library before I pulled a flask out from under my pant leg, along with two screwdrivers. It was labeled HCl 4x, "Three..." I pried the top of the all-in-one open, "Two..." I took the flask out, "One..." I emptied the flask into the computer and pulled out the drivers, "We've got about ten seconds to get." We all quickly walked out and was in the hall by the time the circuitry in the Dell was beyond repair. "WHO DID THIS!?!?" "Run like hell to Celestia. I've got the damn questions." "Let me see your notes, Darling." "Fine," I said, turning the page to the messily written results: Аддрессес 830 4тх Авенуе: Апартмент Цомплех 670 Стате 72: Панда Ехпресс 1482 Нортхwест Стате Авенуе: Сунсет Cxиммер'с Хоусе "We can't read this, Sugarcube," Orange pointed out. "Working on it," I said, opening a camera Cyrillic-Latin translator on my phone, "Look through the phone," I said, taking a picture of the page Addresses 830 4th Avenue: Apartment Complex 670 State 72: Panda Express 1482 Northwest Side Avenue: Sunset Shimmer's House "What's with the other two?" "Pander Express and the complex are throwoffs." In Celestia's office, Luna was in there with her. "Could we have Sunset's address? We just want to check in on her." "I'm sorry, but that's strictly against school policy. I can't give out her personal information, even to her friends." Complete and udder bullshit. This girl doesn't even HAVE information to give out. She's damn HOMELESS. "I'd like to ask you something, Ms Celestia," I said, trying to play innocent, "I was wondering if you could tell me what a few addresses were around town. I was looking for a place to take my friends after school today for a bite to eat." She abruptly changed the subject, "Were you behind the destruction of one of the computers in the school library?" "Ms Celestia," I said, "As much as I wanna take credit for that, I couldn't," I pointed to the girls behind me, "Plus, they'd probably pulverize me if I did take credit." "Well then, what are the addresses, and I'll point you in the right direction." "830 4TH Avenue." "Okay," she said, her eyes beginning to look to the side, "670 California 72." She begin to subtly panic. "1482 Northwest Side Avenue." She was outwardly, silently panicking. Her eyes constricted and darting across the room, arms crossed with her hands clutching them, turning pale, heavy breathing, biting and licking her lips, and profuse sweating all gave away that she wanted us gone. "H- How did you get those places?" "Just asked around." Bullshit lie, but 'Tia can't do anything but panic. She grabbed a bottle of Dasani water and drank the whole thing before mentioning another word. "The first one's a Panda Express, and I'm not sure about the second one, and I'm pretty sure the third one was a hoax," she said desperately. "Love me some Panderee," I said, "Mind if we go and get takeout?" "Take the rest of the day off. My treat." Just as soon as we walked out, Luna walked in to check her sister. "Are you okay, 'Tia?" "I don't know what just happened Lulu." "What?" "A kid came and threw a few addresses at me, and one happened to be this girl's house!" "It must be a sick place for her to live." "Ms Celestia?" I opened the door to find her in a complete panic and her sister was extremely shocked. "Forgot to ask for directions!" Luna gave me a dirty look as Celestia gave me a quick and dirty set of directions for a "scenic" route. She really wanted me to go away. "Twenty-eight miles down 4TH Avenue north, turn right on exit ramp 273,--" "OH! I know where that is! I go past there every day. Thanks!" "No problem?" I ran out to the others, "Guys, we'll go in my station wagon. It's a little bumpy, but it managed to put up some shit back in the east." As we started to leave civilization, my phones began to lose signal, going off one at a time. "An' yer pos'tive 'is 's the place?" Orange said. "Absolutely. This is where the pings to ya phones stahted from." When we went in, I carried my first-aid kit, just in case I needed, and I needed it like shit. This girl was on the brink of death for God's sake "What the fuck happened!?" "What do we do!?" Blue said. "Pink, get my kit. Princess Twilight, help me for the love of God. Blue and Yellow, I need you to try to clean up some," I noticed White was throwing up at the sight of the blood and diarrhea, "Orange, get my phone and call 'Tia." Princess Twilight and myself hooked a defibrillator and blood pressure monitor on her. Outside, I heard Orange's bullshit lies. "Um, hi! Ah'm not sure what ta git," she said, looking in my station wagon at all the supplies. Technically, she wasn't lying because she never specified the scenario, "An' Ah's a wond'rin' what--" "Oh, give me the damn thing! You help Princess Twilight and I'll speak to her!" "Okay, then." "Celestia, the Pander Express getup was just a hoax to get out of school to check on what's-her-face!" "What?" "Seven BPM!" Orange said. "She's got a heart rate of seven, dammit!" "That low?" Luna asked. "So get your asses over here with a damn doctor and as big of a shitload of medicine as you can get!" "How did you get that information?" "I watch for signs and vibes, which 'Tia made VERY obvious ones when I gave the girl's address!" "We can't get Nurse Redheart to her fast enough!" "I'll text you a pingroute to your phones and change all of the lights to green for you, so you'll just have to drive as fast as hell to get here!" The call disconnected due to bad signal. Principal Celestia's Point of View I had almost stopped crying when the phone rang. The caller ID was pretty sketchy, though. Skype +1 (530) 530-5300 "Hello?" "Um, hi!" "Applejack, please tell me that you're at a restaurant!" "We're not exactly at Panda 'xpress, but Ah'm not sure what ta git." Someone came up in the background, "Oh, give me the damn thing! You help Princess Twilight, and I'll speak to her!" "Okay, then." The phone sounded like it was grabbed from her hand. "Celestia, the Pander Express getup was just a hoax to get out of school to check on what's-her-face!" "What?" "Seven BPM!" Applejack said in the background, causing me to put my face in my hands. "That low?" Luna asked. "So get your asses over here with a damn doctor and as big of a shitload of medicine as you can get!" "How did you get that information?" "I watch for signs and vibes, which 'Tia made VERY obvious ones when I gave the girl's address!" "We can't get Nurse Redheart to her fast enough!" "I'll text you a pingroute to your phones and change all of the lights to green for you, so you'll just have to drive as fast as hell to get here!" Present "And that's how it happened." "Messed up." Sci-Twi's mouth opened in shock, "Seth Circuits?" "You know him, Darling?" "We used to be friendly to each other, then we just kinda lost touch." "I'd like to meet this person," Princess Twilight said, "Where does he live?" "I... don't know." "None of us do, Darling." Sci-Twi's Point of View I started thumbing through my phone, hoping that I'd still have his address. Eventually, I found it. 43 Quicktime Circle "Hey," I said, "I still have his address!"
21: Sci-Twi's ReunionAuthor's Note I don't know why, but I just thought that the character Greg from Steven Universe would make a great cousin/guardian for Seth. I did change a few things around, so that, as far as a "family" goes, it's more in an iCarly style (older, "anything goes" sibling with a younger "somewhat reasonable" sibling), so Greg is 12 years older than Seth, putting him at 28 and 16, respectively. Also, on the Cyrillic text (I know it's not perfect by ANY means, it's just how I'd write it for the heck of it), the subscripts aren't a part of the labels (on the drawers, etc). Also, I don't thing getting drunk off of Monster Energy Drink qualifies as Narcotics. Yeah. Let me know if there's any inconsistencies. I kept getting screwed in the head and thinking I wrote this chapter from Seth's point of view. His will be the next one, so this is Sci-Twi's chapter. 21: Sci-Twi's Reunion Sci-Twi's Point of View "This is it," I said to everyone who was jam-packed in Sugarcoat's SUV, "43 Quicktime Circle." She pulled up in the driveway and we all got out to see a bluish, split-level house. I went up to knock on the door, hoping that he still lived here, "Please be here." I heard a familiar sound of wooden clomping, then the door opened, revealing a guy with a gray windbreaker tied around his waist and a soda in one pocket, red shirt, bluejean pants, shoulder-length brown hair with dirty blond streaks held partially out of his face with a paperclip, glasses that looked like they were hand-made from a coathanger, and a pair of Japanese Kimono sandals. He spoke with a moderate Brooklyn accent. "Purple?" "TwiPON3?" "Oh my God, where the hell have you been?" "We had to move to town a while back." "Shining! Cadence!" "Nice to see you, too," Shining replied. "Is that the pizza?" someone from upstairs asked. "No!" His cousin came running down the stairs, then stopped dead in his tracks, "Twilight Sparkle?" "Hi, Greg." He still had the same figure and build he had when Seth and I were young: six-foot-two, lean, and brown hair that came down to his ankles. Sweet Jesus, Greg! Don't you EVER cut your hair? "What's with the muzzle, horn, ears, tail, and fake glasses? I haven't seen you this gone out since we were, like, 7, for God's sake. And I really like the new outfit. It looks really laid back." "It's a really long story, and Pinkie Pie gave me the clothes after my other ones were destroyed the other day at the games." "Yeah, when the flash drives, WiFi adapter, and Bluetooth adapter in my fingers got hot," he peeled back the middle three fingers on his right hand, showing a thin USB stick and two adapters where the fingernails would be, "I figured 'This shit's for real', so I ran like shit out of there." "Neat," she said, "What happened to your fingers, though?" "That's disgusting, Darling!" Rarity said, looking a little sick, "Put it back!" "Battery acid about a year ago," he said, reconcealing the fingers' peripherals. "Oh." "You and your subjects may enter my castle now, Your Ugliness," he said regally. I broke down laughing and had to lean on the doorframe. "Okay, this friendship," Princess Twilight said, "is abusive." "Okay, Fred G Sanford. We're comin' on in." We stopped laughing long enough for everyone to go in, but Princess Twilight stayed outside with me for a second, "Is it okay if I observe this friendship?" "Sure." The three of us went inside, "I'll getya some cahffee, and letcha dahctor it up yaself," he took a look at me, "But really, what's up with the fake glasses," I said, bringing two mugs of coffee to the dining room table, "That's gotta be an interesting story." "My eyes were magically brought to 20/20 at some point right after the Friendship Games." "Huh. Guess you won't want the ones I made for you way-back-when now." "I'd love to be able to wear them again," I said. "But you just said you have perfect vision." "These don't have any lenses." "Oh." He took us all down to the basement where our old science lab was, "Here's my lab. And room," I took one look at the door, and it still had the sign on it. Written in masking-tape blue was ТwиПОН3 анд Пурпле'с Лаб (TwiPON3 and Purple's Lab) The basement wasn't really big, but what it was was nice. Eighty-Five percent was devoted to our lab, while the remaining 15% consisted of a makeshift bedroom, the boundary clearly marked on the floor, walls, and ceiling with a line of masking tape and the words BEDROOM and LAB indicating which side was which, just in case it wasn't already obvious. The lab was similar to mine at home with the exception of being bigger, having a small bathroom, having a small counter with a kitchen sink and coffee peculator, freezer, a long metal table with cabinets and drawers underneath spanning the entire wall next to the kitchen area, a few folding tables placed in various locations in the bigger half of the room, and a closet with a small table next to it labeled Лаб Цлотхес(Lab Clothes). Overall, the lab partition was messy with the usual lab stuff: computers, cables, dishes, irons, microwelders, etc. The bedroom wasn't exactly anything notable, either. It consisted of a foldout couch in front of a hidden staircase, minifridge, 800-watt Emerson microwave, a table that could comfortably hold two original MacBooks, (though it had one that was constantly running on one half and the other had a phone dock connected to it via FireWire 400 with an alarmclock), a 13-inch CRT RCA TV/VCR on the floor, and three full drawers labeled 📼Магнетиц Тапе(Magnetic Tape) 📀Оптицал Видеос(Optical Videos) 💿Оптицал Софтwаре(Optical Software) Everyone except for Princess Twilight, who was more concerned with mine and Seth's friendship, was shocked at what we used to do. "I'd like to know one thing, Sci-Twi," Princess Twilight said to me, "How did your friendship begin?" Seven Years Old: Public Library I walked across the library, reading a book that I was about to check out when I ran into this boy who was walking in my direction, writing in a notebook. We ran into each other, knocking the books out of our hands. "Ow!" I said. "Watch it!" he replied. My parents and a man who couldn't have been any older than his mid-twenties came over to us. "Is everything okay, Twilight?" Mom said, running over to me. He stood up, looked at me, then held out a hand, "Sorry. My bad," he said, helping me back onto my feet, "I like your watch. It's just like mine." He had messy brown hair with dirty blonde streaks, wore wooden Japanese Kimono sandals, bluejeans, and a periwinkle shirt. He spoke with a Brooklyn accent. "My mom gave it to me for my birthday. How'd you get yours?" "My cousin gave it to me." I looked at his glasses. They were... different. Almost like the circular frames were handmade with a welder and clotheshanger, "I like your glasses. Where'd you get them?" "My cousin took me to WalMart to get some over-the-counter glasses after I didn't like what the optometrist had. We went home, and I found a wire cutter and coathanger and just... went to town until I found something that felt right. Then I soldered away. A week later, Greg took me back to Dr Lenses, and they made the lenses in their lab." "Cool. I'm Twilight Sparkle. Who are you?" "Seth Circuits, but you can call me TwiPON3." "Maybe we can be friends?" "You can stay the night with me. My address is 43 Quicktime Circle." "No way! We live right next to you!" We embraced each other with a big hug before Mom and Dad and that man came over to us. "Are you okay, sugar?" "I'm fine, Dad." "Did you make a new friend, Deary?" "I did." "Oh, I am just so proud of you!" "He wanted me to stay over at his house tonight. Could I? He lives right next to us." "Alright, Sugar." Present "Alright. I've heard your side of the story, Sci-Twi," Princess Twilight turned to Seth, "Now I want to hear it from you." Seven Years Old: Public Library I walked across the library, writing concepts in a composition book for my workarea when I ran into this girl who was walking in my direction, with her nose in a textbook. We ran into each other, knocking the books out of our hands. 'Watch it!" I said "Ow!" I said. My twenty-five year old cousin came over to us, along with the girl's parents. "Hey," Greg said, "Something wrong?". I stood up, looked at her, then held out a hand, "Sorry. My bad," I said, helping her back up, "I like your watch. It's just like mine." She had purple hair that came to the middle of her back, thick-framed glasses, lavender skin and eyes, and wore a skirt and a purple shirt with a pink six-pointed star on it. "My mom gave it to me for my birthday. How'd you get yours?" "My cousin gave it to me." She looked at my glasses, "I like your glasses. Where'd you get them?" "My cousin took me to WalMart to get some over-the-counter glasses after I didn't like what the optometrist had. We went home, and I found a wire cutter and coathanger and just... went to town until I found something that felt right. Then I soldered away. A week later, Greg took me back to Dr Lenses, and they made the lenses in their lab." "Cool. I'm Twilight Sparkle. Who are you?" "Seth Circuits, but you can call me TwiPON3." "Maybe we can be friends?" "You can stay the night with me. My address is 43 Quicktime Circle." "No way! We live right next to you!" We embraced each other with a big hug before Greg and her parents came over to us. "Everything alright?" "Mm-hm, and I possibly made a friend. Can she stay with us tonight?" "Definitely," he said with a smile. Present "I don't know what to make of it," Princess Twilight said to me. "Purple, I got 'em ready for ya!" "I'll be there in a sec, Messy," I said, "Princess Twilight, I gotta go." I went over to our old clothing area (basically where we kept a few changes of clothes and our labcoats), and was greeted with an unusual surprise. "I wasn't sure if you liked lenses or not with glasses, so I made you a pair without lenses and one with regular flat polycarbonate," I looked at the glasses, "They don't have any power to them." I looked up and smiled, taking the glasses off that Pinkie gave me and replacing them with the lensed ones. "What do you want to do first," I said, getting my hair into a mess before pinning it with paperclips, binderclips, and pencils, "Still have that thing?" I put my labcoat on. "Hell, yeah!" He put on his labcoat over his jacket and filled it with pencils and various other objects, not to mention a pocketknife that looked like a shotgun shell, then took a good look at me before laughing like shit. What the hell's so funny? "You need to... You need to see your... yourself right now!" he said, taking my picture with a Motorola Droid X after sticking a binderclip with a pencil in it over the paperclip in his hair, "You look hilarious!" I took a look at the picture, then doubled-over, "Oh my God!" "What is it, Sci-Twi Darling? Is everyth-- OH MY SWEET GOD!!!!!" "Jesus, White. If you need to lay down," he pointed to the couch that doubled as his bed, "there's a couch right there." "Alright, Seth!" Applejack said, somehow not managing to intimidate him, "Ah'm sick o' ya callin' us by our col'r! What's yer deal!? Racism ain't exac'ly somethin' ya should have, dammit!!" "Applejack, please," Fluttershy said, coming over to the three of us, "I'm sure there's a reason." "He isn't being racist," Sunset said, "He hasn't called me 'Ponygirl' or anything like that, and he's been Sci-Twi's friend forever now. I think." "SHUT THE HELL UP!!!" Applejack was boiling. If looks could kill, Fluttershy, Sunset, Seth, and myself would have dropped dead. And judging by the look in her eyes, she wanted to beat the shit out of him. Seth, being completely oblivious to social cues, probably had no idea about what was going on. "Applejack, lighten up!" Rainbow yelled as he began to back up. "Please for the love of God, what Rainbow said!" Just as she was about to beat the living crap out of him, she stopped and calmed down, "Ah can't brang it on mahself ta hurt anyone," she turned angry again, "But why are you bein' so damn racist?" "I'm not," he said, very much confused, "Where'd you get that idea?" "Yer callin' us by what color our skin is, Sunset's hair, but you called Rainbow by her actual name!" "Wait, her name's actually 'Rainbow'?" "You didn't know, did you?" Sunset asked, coming to a realization, "Applejack, if he was racist, he would have a: not helped me, b: not let Sci-Twi inside because she's half pony." "Or even TALK to Princess Twilight when he was in Equestria," Fluttershy added. "Oh God!" he said, "You're just going to jump to conclusions when you've only seen me ONCE in the past!?," he stormed up the stairs, leaving his labcoat on a hangar, "FUCK IT!!!!!" The door slammed so loud that, with 90% of the room being hard surfaces, the sound echoed for a second and hurt Lemon's ears. "What... just happened?" Applejack asked. Nobody said anything because we were all wondering the same thing. "I'll go talk to him," I said. I went into the kitchen where I found him grabbing a handful of icecubes from the freezer and dropping them in a cup, making a small mess. Upstairs, I could hear an electric guitar playing Rasputin. Seth then pulled a can of something out of the refrigerator and emptied it into the glass. I just sat down at the table. "Um... shouldn't you-" "Yeah, I don't give a fuck," he snapped, sitting down at the kitchen table, opposite from me and drank the whole glass. "Something wrong?" "D-Do Don't take this the wrong way or personally, b-but your friend," he belched, "maybe has an issue with 'jumping the gun', don't ya think?" he slurred "No. And what's with you?" I asked, rather concerned, "Not that I'm mad--" "Of course, Twi, you're never pissed off when you're pissed off, a-a-and I," he belched again, "just blow right up," he looked at his glass, so I took it and smelled it. "Gross!" I said, "It's Irish! With rot." Sunset, Princess Twilight, and Applejack ran upstairs. "So...?" he said, slurring his speech a little, "Wha's wron?" "Shit! Princ'ss Twilight, Ah didn't know that Ah did THIS!" Applejack said, beginning to pull both sides of her hat down as if she was forcing it over her head, "Ah've screwed up 'is tahme!" she said turning pale. "Okay, what happened, Sci-Twi?" Sunset asked me, "You were up here with him when this happened, right?" "This is not going to end well," Rainbow said, coming in the kitchen. "Sow I figurd," he said, taking back the glass. "What's going-- Oh my Lord," Greg said, coming into the kitchen, "I was almost afraid of this." "What?" I asked, "Does he have a problem?" "No. He's only had to cope with something almost hellish just once in the past, and he did it like this. I think it makes him completely forget that what happened actually happened." "How far did he go?" Seth went back to the refrigerator, holding the glass parallel to the floor, spilling the ice. "Eight. How many has he had?" "I think just one." "Ho boy." He grabbed a handful of ice and dropped it in the cup, popped open another can and refilled the glass, "Jus lemmie cometo real'ty, willya?" "No!" Sunset ran over to him and set the glass of greenish liquid on the counter, "No! I've been there, and it's not a path you want to go down!" "Ih numbd mahside," he said, getting the drink and stumbling over to the table, spilling it some. "What?" "Six months ago," Greg started, "he was stabbed several times. He says this helped, as painful as it was to watch." He started to drink the second glass, but stopped. Thank God, "Icant doih." He set the glass down, and Pinkie came upstairs and drank it. "Dear Lord, Pinkie don't!!" Instead of becoming very much drunk, she gained a MASSIVE surge of energy, making me question if she was on a different plane of reality. She did manage to identify it, though. "Why the hell did you do that, Pinkie Pie!?" Sunset asked as she set the glass down. "Hmm. Monster Energy Drink, bitter lime flavor!" she said, becoming increasingly twitchy, eyes dilating like saucers, and a massive smile on her face. "Oh God, guys. Hit the deck. Pinkie and energy drinks should never mix," Sunset said as Pinkie ran out the front door. "Gemmie a Rehbull'n I'll be back soon." Greg went and gave Seth a Red Bull, and he was back in two minutes, flat. "What happened?" Seth said, knocking the empty can off of the table, "Damn that was fleeting." "I worry that something's gonna go wrong one day, Seth," Greg said. "You think I like it?" "No, but-" "Then there's your answer!" "Wait," Sunset said, "You're telling ~~me~~ us that you got drunk off of an energy drink?" "Yes ma'am," he said firmly. "To try to cope with being called racist?" "Mostly the part where I thought it was going to get physical. She looked like she was going to pulverize me." "But you're back, now." "Yes, and I'm tired of questions," he turned back to me, "Come back downstairs, Horsey," he chuckled. "That's funny," I laughed. "There's something I wanna give yas." "Lead the way, Screwball." We both doubled over on the floor laughing so hard that it started to hurt. After a few minutes, we both went downstairs, and he led me to his couch, which had a box under it, simply labeled Фоур-Еыес(Four-Eyes). Shining Armor, Cadence, and Greg had come down to the basement. "Here ya go, Four-Eyes," he said, handing the box to me, "I hope you can still use 'em." "You better cut that out!" Shining said loudly. "Wait and see how this pans out. They were close when they were younger." "I guess you're right." "And for you, Wireface," I said, handing him a box the size of a milkcrate, "I hope you'd still like it after three years." "Open on three?" "Count of three. In Korean. Ready when you are." What compelled us to learn how to count to five in Korean is far beyond either of us. Either way, we counted down at the exact same time. "Ses, dul, hana, OPEN!" We both opened the boxes. Mine had five pairs of bluejean pants with extra pockets, a belt with Тwилигхт Спаркле and beakers printed on it, five shirts (three were magenta and two were bright lavender) with a beaker and six-pointed star on the front in white, similar to my hairclip, along with $50 and a photobook of pictures from when we were younger, and a pair of blue wooden Japanese Kimono sandals with the same white beaker-star pattern as the shirt, "Oh my God, I just love it!" he smiled, "I'm gonna go change right now!" I went and changed into one of the shirts and put the belt on, then broke down laughing. "What?" he laughed from the other side of the door as I came out. "I look like a jackass!" "I didn't know that you were friends," Lemon said, "Why didn't you tell me?" "Guess I just kinda... forgot... after they... left... us," my voice was solemn, but changed back to heavy laughter when I picked up a picture of Greg, Mom, Dad, Seth, me Shining Armor, Cadence, and Indigo flipping the camera off, while the frame read, in beautiful script, Family and friends aren't a thing for life. They're a thing for ALWAYS. Pictures like this really cheer me up. No dates, no names, just family and always, instead of the two that are in our sitting room concealing clay urns. "You gonna... you gonna take some... some time to breathe... or what?" "I'd ask if you wanted to stay," I said, "But I'm a little packed." "You and your friends could always just stay here. With me. And Greg." Everyone silently debated that before Rainbow Dash gave a loud approval. "FUCK, YEAH!!!" "Get ya things 'n make yourself at home, Rainbowhead. Hell, why not all of you?" "Name's Rainbow Dash. Not Head," she said to Seth in a don't sweat it attitude. "At least I was half right." "My friends usually just call me Rainbow, for short." "Rainbow Dash," he said, tossing a set of keys with the Mercedes-Benz logo etched in them, "I don't mind a few scratches from you and your friends, but the clutch slips." She looked at him with a raised eyebrow as Applejack came downstairs, fearing the worst had happened. "Ah can't b'lieve 'at Ah did that," she looked at Seth, "Please don't do anything! Ah'm a mighty sorry 'bout-" "Forget the whole damn thing. Nobody's gonna remember it by the morning, okay? Now listen. I've invited everyone to stay here and, if you want, you and... you do have a brother, right?" "Big Mac? Yeah." "Okay then," he said, hurriedly, "You two can stay too. Just don't blow up again." "Just thought you'd need the extra space to carry all the bags. The key goes to the '75 station wagon," he said as he pressed a button on the wall, making a mechanical rumbling noise, amplified by the hard surfaces in the room. "WHAT WAS THAT!?" Fluttershy yelled as everyone looked around with worried expressions. "Garage door," he said, pointing to a set of stairs going into the ceiling, "You can get to it just through there." Within five minutes, everyone except Lemon, Indigo, myself, and Seth. "What's this," I said, touching a capacitor on a logic board on one of the tables, "Looks inte..." I was zapped, but that was the least of my worries, seeing as how something blew up pressure-wise on me knocking me out with my unconsious body falling over before I just... left it. And started going up. FAST. "Okay, this is weird!" I said, approaching the Exosphere. I wasn't sure how I was still breathing, then suddenly, I was on a layer of clouds in front of a gate with a sign that, in scripted calligraphy even more perfect than Princess Celestia's, read Welcome, Twilight Sparkle, "Hello?" "Come in, Twilight Deary," my mother's voice said. I took off the glasses to wipe the lenses clean, when I noticed something in their reflection: I had wings of all things! "No! Not me, too!" "Please, just for a minute, Sugar?" Dad's voice said, "We can't come and see you if you're out there." I collected myself, put the glasses on, and went in. At this point, I didn't really care about anything,"Okay." Inside the gate, behind the blinding but comfortable light stood Mom and Dad. Not from Equestria, but from the subway. They didn't look shot or stabbed or hurt, but that only made it harder to face them. They were wearing their favorite clothes, and had a golden halo over their heads, along with a pair of beautiful wings that would shame anything a human or pony could ever dream of doing. I tried to divert myself and thoughts to what this place might be: A remote island? South California? ANYWHERE!? "I can't look you in the eye, anymore. I've done something so terrible, I'm sure you'll hate me." "What?" Mom said as her and Dad hugged me, "Where did you get that idea?" "After what happened at the Friendship Games. I- In fact, I'm not even the same daughter that I was before Monday." "Let's not worry about that, Sugar," Dad said, him and Mom taking me to a diner that very much resembled the Huddle House. "You'd have no way of knowing, but," I said, emptying the contents of my pockets on the table, which only consisted of the three things I had been carrying with me since Monday night: my pocketknife, pepperspray, and Galaxy S6, "but I... I-" "You may have been that monster for a while, Deary," Mom said, "But it's just like your friend Applejack-" My eyes went wide, so her and Dad immediately knew that they'd have to explain everything, "How do you know about Applejack?" I asked, "And what about what Sour Sweet said-" "Well, what did she say?" "She called me a sweetie, then said you two should've had different kids when Cadence brought my phone to me," I was all out crying now. "Everyday, Sugar, we look down on you from up here, and we couldn't be happier about what you three have become," he said, pointing at the table, "We both started crying because you thought we wouldn't love you anymore," something started to show on the table. It was me crying, surrounded by the others, "Now, you tell me if you don't think that's the truth." "Sugarcube," Applejack lifted my head up, so I blinked my eyes to get the tears to go away, "They're yer mom 'n dad. I know I probably shouldn't word it like this, but they don't give a damn about what you are. Th' only thang that matters is that yer their daughter. All's 'ey care about 's you doin' the best you can an' bein' the best you can." "I ~~believe~~ know that's all true." "Just because you have wings and you're half-pony doesn't mean we'll stop loving you, Deary," Mom said as she and Dad pulled me in for another hug, "We even saw what happened at the games, and we still love you. We would've, even if you had stayed like that," I was crying now, "Do you know why?" "No...?" "Because deep down, you're still our baby," Mom finished as she kissed my forehead and Dad booped my muzzle with his fist (seeing as now his finger wouldn't be big enough), "Now, dry up those tears," she said as Dad handed me a vanilla milkshake in a 1950s style glass. "I want to show you something else," he said, pointing at the table. It showed Mom in a hospital bed with Dad beside her and Shining and Cadence in chairs next to Dad. Mom and Dad looked about sixteen or seventeen years younger, while my brother and Cadence were just kids. Mom was sweating and shaking so Dad was holding her hand. "What do you AHH!! hope for...!!!" "I think that you should get a baby girl, Velvel." "What could happen to the baby!?" "Whatever happens," Dad said as Shining and Cadence went to give Mom a hug, "There'll always be four of us who loves whoever it is, no matter what." Mom gave a sincere smile that could warm anybody's heart before looking as if she was in an intense amount of pain. "Who's it going to be, Mommy?" Shining asked, drinking a Mr Pibb with Cadence. "WE DON'T KNOW! HONEY GET THE DOCTOR!!!!!" "On it, Velvel!" Dad said as he opened the door and shouted for someone. "What's he doing?" Young Cadence asked my brother. "I don't know." Two doctors ran into the room and to Mom. "THIS IS IT!!" Mom started squeezing Dad's wrists to the point that they were beginning to lose circulation. After a bit, though, she just looked exhausted. "Congratulations, Mrs Velvet!" A doctor said, handing her a lavender-colored infant with purple hair with a pink stripe, "She's a beautiful baby girl!" "The worst of it's done, Vel," Dad said as she was handed the wrapped newborn, "What do you want to name her?" She looked over to an excited Shining Armor, "I think we should let you decide, Shiny." He looked around the room at a clock that read 5:53 A, then out the window, "Twilight, uh," he looked in to... my... eyes, "Spar-- Twi-- Twilight Sparkle!" "Time of birth: 5:53. Date of Birth: Friday, November 20, 1998. Name: Twilight Sparkle." "I'm your mommy," Mom said, cradling me, "And that's your daddy," he pointed at Dad, "And your brother, Shining Armor, and his friend, and hopefully yours too, Cadence," she said as the four of them hugged me, "We're your family, and we'll always love you, no matter what happens, Deary." "In a little while," Dad said, "You'll get to see your brand new home." "My birthday?" I said as the table turned back into a table, "What does that have to do with anything?" "Honey, that's where and when our love for you started, and it's that same love that you'll keep getting from us forever." I guess they're right. Maybe I have be-- CRUD!! WHAT IF I DIED, TOO!? "Mom, I'm not--" "No. You're just here for a visit, Deary." "In fact," Dad said, "We needed this just as much as you did, Sugar." "Wait... you did?" "We missed you so much. And I'd kinda like to hear that story about Spike. It's not everyday that you see a talking dog, Right Velvel?" "Right." "Can... can you come visit us? Or at least get some pictures with me?" "Sure, Deary. Now, get the camera ready," she said as I opened the camera package on the phone, "I knew that we'd still get more pictures." "Say cheese!" A series of futuristic beeps and a screenflash indicated that it was taken, "I missed that smile, Sugar. Let's see it!" A swipe opened up the newly-took picture on the Camera Roll, and it showed us in a booth: Mom and Dad with their halos and wings and me with mine and my pony features, "The tail must've been hard getting used to, huh Sweetie?" Dad asked. "I don't care what happens to me. Just knowing that I have you is all that I need." After a few more pictures and a couple of videos and a LOT of lost time, we finished our drinks. "Sorry," Mom said, "It's time for you to leave." "What? No! Please!" "I'm sorry, Sugar," Dad said before smiling, "You'll see us again really soon." "Huh?" At the exact same time, they both said those three words that always meant definite truth, "I guarantee it." "I love you," I said, giving them a hug, then went off on my way. When I stepped out of the gates, everything changed from the clouds for ground to me laying on a sofa with everyone around me. "Miss Twilight?" Princess Luna's voice called to me, "Are you okay?" "You should've called the paramedics like everyone else does! Not this!" I sat up, and found that I was in the living room. In it were the three princesses (in pony form), Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Applejack, someone who looked like he might be her brother, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Sunset, Lemon, Indigo, Sunny, Sugarcoat, a beat-up Sour Sweet, my brother and Cadence, Greg and Seth, the Wondercolts' Equestrian counterparts (still in pony form), and everyone's things from my house. "And I'm telling yas, that she's gonna be fine!" "Guys, what happened?" I said, reaching into my pockets, but not finding anything. Was everything I've just experienced real? "Are you okay, Twilie," Shining and Cadence said. "I... I don't know. I think so," I said, trying to get something out of my pockets. This time, there was a note: Sugar, you left a few of your things with us. They're in a box under the downstairs foldout. We'll see you guys when you get back upstairs. Love, Mom and Dad "Guys I'll be back!!!!!" I yelled, running downstairs and using the bottom of the handrail to get leverage to go to the couch. "Is this really such a good idea, Twilight?" Sunset asked as I jumped on the floor to get the box, "You might hurt yourself again!" "Worth it!" I said, grabbing the box. The lid simply said We love you. They HAVE to be in here! I opened the box and found the three things I was missing, along with a note. We're right outside, Deary. "They're here!" I said, setting the box on the couch and running to the front door. "Who?" Cadence asked, running to the door with Seth, Sunset, Shining, Indigo, and Lemon, "Please be alright," she muttered under her breath as I opened the door. I opened the door, and standing there were Mom and Dad with their halos and wings from earlier, but they also had something: each had their clay urn and their picture from the sitting room in the apartment. "Come in!" I said, full of ecstasy and joy. "Listen," Shining said, believing they were just two assholes, "You better not do anything to any of us! Either of you!" They came in and sat at the kitchen table, wings slightly open and still visible where they had their halos from earlier. "We thought we'd make a quick stop by the house and get a few things that you might know what to do with, Sugar," Dad said, as they both put the pictures on the table, facedown and opened the two urns, both of which were empty. "WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO TO MOM AND DAD'S ASHES!!!!!" Shining was boiling, to put it generously, not to mention everyone's anger that had been with me in my apartment on Monday. "I want to tell you a story, Shining," Dad said, keeping his composed exterior like he used to before the subway, "You remember on the night of your first date?" Shining's face turned back from red to its original color, "How I told you that everything would turn out just fine, maybe even better?" he sat down, "Well," Dad stuck his hand in the urn and it turned to ash until he pulled it out, making it turn back into his hand. "Dad?" "Hi, Son," he said as my brother and Cadence began to cry, "Before you can't see, I want to show you something," Dad looked at Mom, and they both nodded and turned over the pictures. They each had a third line printed on them: Twilight Velvet 1972~2012 2015~ Night Light 1971~2012 2015~ "What the hell?" Seth said as Sunset's mouth dropped open. After a few seconds, I saw them exchange a high-five. "I don't know," she replied. "We'll be back down for a while," Mom said, "Is there anything you five want to do?" "Five?" Sunset asked, "Who?" They looked at everyone in the room. "Oh," Mom said, "Guess we didn't think it through, Deary." "Who are you two?" Lemon asked as my parents opened their wings halfway. "Lemon Zest," I said, "This is my mom, Twilight Velvet," Mom waved, "and my dad, Night Light." "Nice to meet you, Lemon Zest," Dad said, shaking her hand. "Sunset Shimmer," Sunset said in a playin' it coool voice, "Lot in common with Sci-Twi," she winked at me. "I kind of sensed it," Mom said. "I'm Sugarcoat, Mr and Mrs Sparkle." "Please," Dad said, "Don't be so formal," Mom and Dad chuckled, "It makes us feel old!" "Sorry." We all went into the living room, where there were more shocked expressions. The princesses actually bowed to my parents! "It is an honor to meet you," Princess Celestia said. "We're not gods," Mom said. "You're..." "Angels, Sweetie." "Mighty fine ta meet ya, Mr and Mrs Sparkle," Applejack said, holding her hat to her chest by its brim as Mom and Dad sat down on a sofa, "Ah'm Applejack," she said, before introducing her brother, "And this is Macintosh. We usually call 'im Big Macintosh er Big Mac, fer short." "Eeyup." "He really ain't one fer many words, if ya know what ah mean."
22: Seth's ReunionSeth's Point of View I heard a car drive up to the house. Shit this soundproofing doesn't work The doorbell rang, so I hoped it was the pizza. "Purple?" "TwiPON3?" "Oh my God, where the hell have you been?" "We had to move to town a while back." "Shining! Cadence!" "Nice to see you, too," Shining replied. "Is that the pizza?" Greg asked. "No!" Greg came downstairs, then stopped dead in his tracks, "Twilight Sparkle?" "Hi, Greg." "What's with the muzzle, horn, ears, tail, and fake glasses? I haven't seen you this gone out since we were, like, 7, for God's sake. And I really like the new outfit. It looks really laid back." "It's a really long story, and Pinkie Pie gave me the clothes after my other ones were destroyed the other day at the games." "Yeah, when the flash drives, WiFi adapter, and Bluetooth adapter in my fingers got hot," I peeled back the middle three fingers on my right hand, showing a thin USB stick and two adapters where the fingernails would be, "I figured 'This shit's for real', so I ran like shit out of there." "Neat," she said, "What happened to your fingers, though?" "That's disgusting, Darling!" White said, looking a little sick, "Put it back!" "Battery acid about a year ago," I said, reconcealing the fingers' peripherals. "Oh." "You and your subjects may enter my castle now, Your Ugliness," I said regally. I broke down laughing and had to lean on the doorframe. "Okay, this friendship," Princess Twilight said, "is abusive." "Okay, Fred G Sanford. We're comin' on in." We stopped laughing long enough for everyone to go in, but Princess Twilight stayed outside with me for a second, "Is it okay if I observe this friendship?" "Sure." The three of us went inside, "I'll getya some cahffee, and letcha dahctor it up yaself," I took a look at her, "But really, what's up with the fake glasses," I said, bringing two mugs of coffee to the dining room table, "That's gotta be an interesting story." "My eyes were magically brought to 20/20 at some point right after the Friendship Games." "Huh. Guess you won't want the ones I made for you way-back-when now." "I'd love to be able to wear them again," I said. "But you just said you have perfect vision." "These don't have any lenses." "Oh." I took us all down to the basement where the lab was, "Here's my lab. And room." Twilight looked at the sign that was written in masking-tape blue Everyone except for... other Twilight... who was more concerned with our friendship, for whatever reason, was shocked at what we used to do. "I'd like to know one thing, Sci-Twi," her twin looked at Twilight, "How did your friendship begin?" Seven Years Old: Public Library I walked across the library, reading a book that I was about to check out when I ran into this boy who was walking in my direction, writing in a notebook. We ran into each other, knocking the books out of our hands. "Ow!" I said. "Watch it!" he replied. My parents and a man who couldn't have been any older than his mid-twenties came over to us. "Is everything okay, Twilight?" Mom said, running over to me. He stood up, looked at me, then held out a hand, "Sorry. My bad," he said, helping me back onto my feet, "I like your watch. It's just like mine." He had messy brown hair with dirty blonde streaks, wore wooden Japanese Kimono sandals, bluejeans, and a periwinkle shirt. He spoke with a Brooklyn accent. "My mom gave it to me for my birthday. How'd you get yours?" "My cousin gave it to me." I looked at his glasses. They were... different. Almost like the circular frames were handmade with a welder and clotheshanger, "I like your glasses. Where'd you get them?" "My cousin took me to WalMart to get some over-the-counter glasses after I didn't like what the optometrist had. We went home, and I found a wire cutter and coathanger and just... went to town until I found something that felt right. Then I soldered away. A week later, Greg took me back to Dr Lenses, and they made the lenses in their lab." "Cool. I'm Twilight Sparkle. Who are you?" "Seth Circuits, but you can call me TwiPON3." "Maybe we can be friends?" "You can stay the night with me. My address is 43 Quicktime Circle." "No way! We live right next to you!" We embraced each other with a big hug before Mom and Dad and that man came over to us. "Are you okay, sugar?" "I'm fine, Dad." "Did you make a new friend, Deary?" "I did." "Oh, I am just so proud of you!" "He wanted me to stay over at his house tonight. Could I? He lives right next to us." "Alright, Sugar." Present "Alright. I've heard your side of the story, Sci-Twi," she looked at me, "Now I want to hear it from you." Seven Years Old: Public Library I walked across the library, writing concepts in a composition book for my workarea when I ran into this girl who was walking in my direction, with her nose in a textbook. We ran into each other, knocking the books out of our hands. 'Watch it!" I said "Ow!" I said. My twenty-five year old cousin came over to us, along with the girl's parents. "Hey," Greg said, "Something wrong?". I stood up, looked at her, then held out a hand, "Sorry. My bad," I said, helping her back up, "I like your watch. It's just like mine." She had purple hair that came to the middle of her back, thick-framed glasses, lavender skin and eyes, and wore a skirt and a purple shirt with a pink six-pointed star on it. "My mom gave it to me for my birthday. How'd you get yours?" "My cousin gave it to me." She looked at my glasses, "I like your glasses. Where'd you get them?" "My cousin took me to WalMart to get some over-the-counter glasses after I didn't like what the optometrist had. We went home, and I found a wire cutter and coathanger and just... went to town until I found something that felt right. Then I soldered away. A week later, Greg took me back to Dr Lenses, and they made the lenses in their lab." "Cool. I'm Twilight Sparkle. Who are you?" "Seth Circuits, but you can call me TwiPON3." "Maybe we can be friends?" "You can stay the night with me. My address is 43 Quicktime Circle." "No way! We live right next to you!" We embraced each other with a big hug before Greg and her parents came over to us. "Everything alright?" "Mm-hm, and I possibly made a friend. Can she stay with us tonight?" "Definitely," he said with a smile. Present "I don't know what to make of it," Twilight (I'm assuming she's another Twilight) said to Twilight. "Purple, I got 'em ready for ya!" "I'll be there in a sec, Messy," she replied, "Princess Twilight, I gotta go." She came over to the coat cabinet and was greeted with an unusual surprise. "I wasn't sure if you liked lenses or not with glasses, so I made you a pair without lenses and one with regular flat polycarbonate," she looked at the glasses, "They don't have any power to them." She looked up and smiled, taking the other glasses off and replacing them with the lensed ones. "What do you want to do first," she said, making herself look messy, "Still have that thing?". "Hell, yeah!" I put mine on and put a pocketknife and some other crap in the pockets. Then, I broke down laughing. What the hell's so funny? "You need to... You need to see your... yourself right now!" I said, taking her picture with a Motorola Droid X after sticking a binderclip with a pencil in it over the paperclip my his hair, "You look hilarious!" She took a look at the picture, then doubled-over, "Oh my God!" "What is it, Sci-Twi Darling? Is everyth-- OH MY SWEET GOD!!!!!" "Jesus, White. If you need to lay down," I pointed to the couch that doubled as his bed, "there's a couch right there." "Alright, Seth!" Orange said, angry for some reason, "Ah'm sick o' ya callin' us by our col'r! What's yer deal!? Racism ain't exac'ly somethin' ya should have, dammit!!" "Applejack, please," Yellow asked, coming over to the three of us, "I'm sure there's a reason." "He isn't being racist," Firehair said, "He hasn't called me 'Ponygirl' or anything like that, and he's been Sci-Twi's friend forever now. I think." "SHUT THE HELL UP!!!" Okay, Orange was boiling pissed. If looks could kill, Twilight, Firehair, Yellow, and I would have dropped dead. What the HELL? "Applejack, lighten up!" Rainbowhair yelled as he began to back up. "Please for the love of God, what Rainbow said!" Just as she was about to beat me to smithereens, she stopped and calmed down, "Ah can't brang it on mahself ta hurt anyone," she turned angry again, "But why are you bein' so damn racist?" "I'm not," I replied, "Where'd you get that idea?" Jesus Christ, woman! "Yer callin' us by what color our skin is, Sunset's hair, but you called Rainbow by her actual name!" "Wait, her name's actually 'Rainbow'?" "You didn't know, did you?" Firehair came to a realization, "Applejack, if he was racist, he would have a: not helped me, b: not let Sci-Twi inside because she's half pony." "Or even TALK to Princess Twilight when he was in Equestria," Fluttershy added. "Oh God! You're just going to jump to conclusions when you've only seen me ONCE in the past!?," I hung the labcoat up as I went to the kitchen, "FUCK IT!!!!!" I went into the kitchen and made a decent-sized mess getting drunk on bitter-lime flavored Monster from 1972. "Um... shouldn't you-" "Yeah, I don't give a fuck," I snapped, sitting down at the kitchen table across from her and drank the whole glass. I was out of it. This stuff is strong but fleeting to me. PLEASE, for the love of God Almighty, WORK DAMMIT!!!!! "Gemmie a Rehbull'n I'll be back soon," I said as the glass began to wear off. I had no concept of how long I was like that. All that I knew was that I drank a can of Red Bull and ignored the painful headache that followed for a little bit. "What happened?" I asked, accidentally knocking the empty can off of the table, "Damn that was fleeting." Bullshit if it WASN'T fleeting. "I worry that something's gonna go wrong one day, Seth," Greg said. "You think I like it?" "No, but-" "Then there's your answer!" "Wait," Firehair said, "You're telling ~~me~~ us that you got drunk off of an energy drink?" "Yes ma'am," was my reply. "To try to cope with being called racist?" "Mostly the part where I thought it was going to get physical. She looked like she was going to pulverize me." "But you're back, now." "Yes, and I'm tired of questions," I looked at Twilight, "Come back downstairs, Horsey," he chuckled. "That's funny," she laughed. "There's something I wanna give yas." "Lead the way, Screwball." We both doubled over on the floor laughing so hard that it started to hurt. After a few minutes, we both went downstairs, and I led her to the couch, which had a box under it labeled Фоур-Еыес(Four-Eyes). Shining Armor, Cadence, and Greg had come down to the basement. "Here ya go, Four-Eyes," I gave her the box, "I hope you can still use 'em." "You better cut that out!" Shining said loudly. "Wait and see how this pans out. They were close when they were younger." "I guess you're right." "And for you, Wireface," she gave me a crate-sized box, "I hope you'd still like it after three years." "Open on three?" "Count of three. In Korean. Ready when you are." Shit if I had ever figured out why we learned to do that with Google Translate. "Ses, dul, hana, OPEN!" We both opened the boxes, "Oh my God, I just love it!" she smiled, "I'm gonna go change right now!" She went into the bathroom and broke down laughing after a few minutes. "What?" I laughed as she came back. "I look like a jackass!" "I didn't know that you were friends," the one with the headphones said, "Why didn't you tell me?" "Guess I just kinda... forgot... after they... left... us," her voice was solemn, but changed back to heavy laughter when she picked up a picture of Greg, Mom, Dad, me, her Shining Armor, Cadence, and Indigo flipping the camera off, while the frame read, in beautiful script, Family and friends aren't a thing for life. They're a thing for ALWAYS. "You gonna... you gonna take some... some time to breathe... or what?" "I'd ask if you wanted to stay," I said, "But I'm a little packed." "You and your friends could always just stay here. With me. And Greg." Everyone silently debated that before Rainbowhead gave a loud approval. "FUCK, YEAH!!!" "Get ya things 'n make yourself at home, Rainbowhead. Hell, why not all of you?" "Name's Rainbow Dash. Not Head," she said to Seth in a don't sweat it attitude. "At least I was half right." "My friends usually just call me Rainbow, for short." "Rainbow Dash," I said, tossing a set of keys with the Mercedes-Benz logo etched in them, "I don't mind a few scratches from you and your friends, but the clutch slips." She looked at me with a raised eyebrow as Orange came downstairs, fearing the worst had happened. "Ah can't b'lieve 'at Ah did that," she looked at me, "Please don't do anything! Ah'm a mighty sorry 'bout-" "Forget the whole damn thing. Nobody's gonna remember it by the morning, okay? Now listen. I've invited everyone to stay here and, if you want, you and... you do have a brother, right?" "Big Mac? Yeah." "Okay then," he said, hurriedly, "You two can stay too. Just don't blow up again." "Just thought you'd need the extra space to carry all the bags. The key goes to the '75 station wagon," he said as he pressed a button on the wall, making a mechanical rumbling noise, amplified by the hard surfaces in the room. "WHAT WAS THAT!?" Yellow yelled as everyone looked around with worried expressions. "Garage door," he said, pointing to a set of stairs going into the ceiling, "You can get to it just through there." Within five minutes, everyone except her friend with headphones, Indigo, Twilight, and myself. "What's this? Looks inte... AHH!!!" Something zapped her. "Twilight? Twilight!? CAN YOU HEAR ME!?" I yelled, checking her vitals Yep. She's a'ight. Just needs to rest. "Guys, help me get her on the sofa upstairs." They helped me get her on the couch. "Call 911!" "We can't! "Do it, dammit!" I took my Huawei Nexus 6P, held it up to my face, and mocked what Indigo said. "Hello? 911? Yes, I have an emergency at 43 Quicktime Circle in Canterlot. The nature is that my friend, who is half-pony with a horn, tail, muzzle, and pony ears was blown back about five-or-so feet and knocked unconscious. Yes, that's right. She's half-pony, and the oldest one at the house is sixteen years old. Thank you!" "I see your point," Indigo defeatedly replied. When the others got back, there was hell to pay. "Miss Twilight?" a blue pony kept saying to Twilight, "Are you okay?" "You should've called the paramedics like everyone else does! Not this!" She came back to the land of the living, thank God, and got her bearings straight. "Guys, what happened?" she said, reaching into my pockets. "Are you okay, Twilie," Shining and Cadence said. She pulled a note from her pocket "Guys I'll be back!!!!!" she yelled, running downstairs. Firehair followed. "They're here!" she yelled as she made a break for the front door. "Who?" Cadence asked, running to the door with me, Firehair, Shining, Indigo, and the one with the headphones, "Please be alright," Cadence muttered under her breath as Twilight opened the door. When she opened the door, her parents were standing there with halos and wings. "Come in!" she said, full of ecstasy and joy. "Listen," Shining said, believing they were just two assholes, "You better not do anything to any of us! Either of you!" They came in and sat at the kitchen table, wings slightly open and still visible where they had their halos from earlier. "We thought we'd make a quick stop by the house and get a few things that you might know what to do with, Sugar," Dad said, as they both put the pictures on the table, facedown and opened the two urns, both of which were empty. "WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO TO MOM AND DAD'S ASHES!!!!!" Shining was boiling, to put it generously, not to mention everyone else in the house, more or less. Probably better that I DON'T know. Otherwise, I'd probably LITERALLY raise all hell. "I want to tell you a story, Shining," Night Light said, keeping his composed exterior like he used to before the subway, "You remember on the night of your first date?" Shining's face turned back from red to its original color, "How I told you that everything would turn out just fine, maybe even better?" he sat down, "Well," he stuck his hand in the urn and it turned to ash until he pulled it out, making it turn back into his hand. "Dad?" "Hi, Son," he said as Shining and Cadence began to cry, "Before you can't see, I want to show you something," Night Light looked at Velvet, and they both nodded and turned over the pictures. Printed on them were: Twilight Velvet 1972~2012 2015~ Night Light 1971~2012 2015~ "What the hell?" I said as Firehair's mouth dropped open. After a few seconds, we exchanged a high-five. "I don't know," she replied to me. "We'll be back down for a while," Velvet said, "Is there anything you five want to do?" Where were they? "Five?" Sunset asked, "Who?" They looked at everyone in the room. "Oh," she said, "Guess we didn't think it through, Deary." "Who are you two?" the one with headphones asked as my they opened their wings halfway. "Lemon Zest," Twilight said, "This is my mom, Twilight Velvet," Velvet waved, "and my dad, Night Light." "Nice to meet you, Lemon Zest," Dad said, shaking her hand. "Sunset Shimmer," Firehair said in a playin' it coool voice, "Lot in common with Sci-Twi," she winked at Twilight. Headphones = Lemon Zest. Firehair = Sunset Shimmer. PLEASE remember that, shit-for-my-brain! "I kind of sensed it," she said. "I'm Sugarcoat, Mr and Mrs Sparkle," a short girl with glasses said. Short with glasses = Sugarcoat. "Please," Night said, "Don't be so formal," the winged couple chuckled, "It makes us feel old!" "Sorry." We all went into the living room, where there were more shocked expressions. The ponies actually bowed to them! "It is an honor to meet you," the white pony with a horn and wings said. "We're not gods," Velvet replied with a smile. "You're..." Twilight stunned. "Angels, Sweetie." "Mighty fine ta meet ya, Mr and Mrs Sparkle," Applejack said, holding her hat to her chest by its brim as Mom and Dad sat down on a sofa, "Ah'm Applejack," she said, before introducing her brother, "And this is Macintosh. We usually call 'im Big Macintosh er Big Mac, fer short." "Eeyup." "He really ain't one fer many words, if ya know what ah mean." They gave a small laugh. Orange = Applejack. Red and brown jacket = MacintoshBig MacintoshBig Mac I'll ask later. "Well, it's time for us to go back now, but we'll come back as soon as we can," Velvet said, hugging Shining, Cadence, and Twilight in their wings, "We'll always love you." They went outside and began to fly off. "Told ya they were proud o' ya, Sugarcube," Applejack said, hugging Twilight. I am going to have to learn a LOT of names tonight, dear God. Author's Note This chapter is Seth's chapter. Sci-Twi's is the previous one.
23: An Extention of Magic: The Message and A Hidden TalentAuthor's Note Last night (in the story) turned out pretty dangerous. The "party", that is. Two Doc-Brown characters (one with the potential to piss others off easily) The guy's host (a Doc-Brown like type at that) and his 28-year old, OPEN-minded cousin/brother (depending on how you'd see it) binge on pizza more often than not (and who the hell KNOWS what's in their refrigerator) An essentially rule-free environment (Basically the only one being don't murder anyone intentionally) A packed house, most of which are girls (Don't get any thoughts! It's not like that). I really don't think that I need to explain how it went. And yes, some more guests were invited to the party. Also, this was originally supposed to be split into two chapters, but instead they were smushed into just one because of a mistake on my part. Sorry. 23: An Extention of Magic: The Message and A Hidden Talent Sci-Twi's Point of View I woke up on the stairs to a loud banging on the door. Seth woke up to it too, although I'm pretty sure that he was in the bathroom. "Hello?" I said, opening the door. It was Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. "It is nice to see you again," the blue alicorn said. "Hey Twilight! Tell whoever that is to fuck off!" I felt my face turn red with shame as they looked around me. "Uh, Seth? It's not exactly--" I WISH I'd woke up cuddling somebody or something now. Someone else in the bathroom vomited. If I know Seth, and I sadly do, he was probably thinking What are all of the creative ways I can kill you with this vomit right now?, seeing as he hadn't had a chance to get some coffee or Red Bull. "Ya know, I don't know what the hell I did last night, but I got some stank on meh!" My eyes darted to the left and right once as I felt Princess Twilight come up behind me. "What... what is this smell? I can't even identify it! Smells kinda like orange and guacamole. Weird how ya just... just wanna keep smelling it, ya know?" "May we come down?" The four of us went to the couch and began to discuss Equestrian magic. The basement was a complete mess. "What is it that you wanted to talk to me about?" I asked. "I requested for the princesses to come after they mentioned a pony, a Pegasus, Seth Circuits." "Seth?" I asked as he came stumbling out of the bathroom, over to the (now on its side) minifridge and drank a Red Bull from it. His torso was covered in vomit, and if looks could kill, the four of us would be dying a slow, painful death. There was no way that he was already up for the day. "Yeah?" "Is... ~~this~~ that supposed to be bad?" Princess Celestia said, all three princesses looking at me for an answer. "Uhh... probably?" "Oh! Now I get it!" he said, "How does bacon and eggs sound for breakfast?" "That's... not exactly what this is about." "Oh," he said. There was a short pause as a pony-fied Sunset came downstairs, drinking out of a 12-cup pot of coffee, rubbing her eyes and just as groggy. At least she was somewhat of a morning person. Otherwise, all hell might've broken loose. "Who the hell could be so damn chipper at 7:20 in the morning, other than you, Twilight?" "And, there's number two." "Number two?" Princess Celestia asked. "Why would Celestia be here at this time?" Sunset asked coming over to us, "I thought Seth said he erased his address forever ago." "I did," he said as he began to cook bacon with a Bunsen burner. Sunset looked over and vomited at the sight. "Don't worry. I have some pony bacon in the cooler forya." "You eat horses and ponies here!?" Human Applejack got up (she had been laying on a mattress awake with Spike and her brother, and had sustained a few bruises from Big Mac not noticing her under the covers) at hearing that. "Y'ALL DON'T SERVE HORSE MEAT TO A PONY, SETH!!! NOW AH'M GONE TA RIP YA A NEW 'NE!!!" she said, giving Lemon Tart a reason to laugh of all things, "DAMN, YA DON'T SERVE A HORSE AT ALL, DAMMIT!!!!!" "Pony bacon?" Pony Pinkie Pie asked, bouncing over to the burner, "I WANNA SEE!!" She took the box off of the counter, "T-O-F-U Bacon! Safe for V-E-G-A-N-S?" "In my defense, I didn't want any of this to happen!" "OH!" the pink pony said, "It means pony-friendly! Not made from ponies!" "Y'all don't git out much, do ya?" "No." "A pony by the name of Seth Circuits, fitting his description, has been identified on the Equestrian census, and has been requesting to meet with all of you." "Alright?" "But we are curious as to the conditions of... magic?" We all turned around to the sound of a CD shattering at 20,000 RPM. "And we're not sure if it would be a safe move." "Well, why aren't you going to Sunset about this? Why me of everyone?" Two things had just left my dictionary: the phrase of all people and the word impossible. "We figured that it would be in the best interest if you heard it first." "Mom?" Sunset asked after getting to her feet and drinking God-knows-how-much soda, "Is that you?" Princess Celestia couldn't help but to reunite with her daughter. "We are asking this because you have spent the most time with him in this realm." "Sure. He's always been good with stuff in this area." "What the hell!?" Applejack said as a fire buzzer went off, "HOW, on ALL of God's creation, did you manage to SET WATER ON FAHRE!?" "I think that may have been ethanol, Applejack!" they said, running to get a fire extinguisher from the bathroom. "WHY WOULD Y'ALL DO THAT!?" "Are... you sure?" "Apart from an obvious lack of cooking skills, yeah. I think that it'll be fine." NOW I know why all the pizza and microwave foods. "Uh, how about something else," Pony Rainbow Dash said, "Like that stuff from last night?" "Sister, we must go now," she turned to me, "Come to Equestria at 2:00." Princess Celestia and Sunset bade farewell, then the two sisters left. "Okay, I have six pizzas on the way, and three are for those of you who don't eat meat," Seth said, "Commies." "Okay," Pony Pinkie Pie said, "What's a commie?" "It's a joke," he replied, "You have to eat SOME kinda meet if you wanna be American in my book." Sunset began to laugh as she collapsed on the floor, her four legs giving way. "You do know that Equestria isn't communist, right?" Princess Twilight said. The five shadowbolts began to laugh and collapse on the floor. "Laughter is freaking contagious!" I doubled-over until a familiar voice said something. What made my spine run cold is what was said. "When you were judging that contest last night," Midnight said, "you should've took in on the action with those mad skills of yours." "What's she talking about, Sci-Twi?" Sunset asked. "She never told any of you?" I got ready to gag her. "No. What?" Seth kept quiet because he knew that I didn't want it getting out that I could play instruments. "Well," Midnight began, "When she was younger, she --" I jumped her, pinned her to the ground, and drug her to the bathroom where she ripped off the gag, but not before I locked us in. "WHY THE FUCK DID YOU DO THAT!?" "I don't know. Maybe because you wouldn't shut the hell up!?" "You can coop yourself the fuck up, or you can actually do what the hell your teacher would want!" I took a deep breath, went out of the bathroom, over to the cupboard, pulled out my old electric guitar, had Seth come over and get his, then got ready. "A little Blues riff in B, watch me for the changes, and try to keep up," I told Seth, who gave me a nod as I began to play Johnny B Goode like it was played in Back to the Future. The next thing I knew was that Human Pinkie was playing a drumkit, Pony Pinkie was playing a sax, Rarity was playing a Roland ep-7II electric piano, and Applejack was on her bass. "Damn, girl," Lemon said, "You a badass." I couldn't hear her, but I could read her lips, "Check this out!!" I yelled over the already blaring music. Princess Twilight's expression went from surprised to complete shock when I decided to just shred out the rest of the song. "Oh my God," Indigo said when I got finished, "You played the shit outta that guitar." I looked at Seth, who returned the look. I misinterpreted the sign everyone was giving off badly. "I'll just... put it back. I should've known that this was a dumb idea." "Darling," Rarity said, "You can't possibly just QUIT right after that. Just one more?" "Yeah," Sunburst said, "A few more." "I don't know any more songs." "Sugarcube," Applejack said, obviously picking up on my lie, "Y've gotta know justa few more o' them." I looked around the room at various things, then my eyes settled on the pictures of Mom and Dad. "Guys, just me and Seth on this one?" "Why of course, Darling." "This song," I said after they had given the conceptual spotlight to the two of us, "This song is the song that my parents first danced to, and it's their favorite as a couple. I know that Seth knows it, and that it's..." I looked into Seth's orange eyes and smiled, "It's really nice once you hear it. It was written in 1980," I said as I began to play Every Woman in the World, "It's nice to know that this stuff gets passed on through the gene pool, even if you can't ever get a how on it." "What was that song that your mom likes?" Indigo said as we finished the song. "Walk Like an Egyptian?" "Can you play it?" "It'll have to be the last one for right now, but sure," I said, "We just need another guitar, tambourine, and drumkit." Sunset brought her guitar, Human Pinkie came up to her drumkit, and Fluttershy mustered the strength to come and play her tambourine. "This is my mom's favorite song of all time, so here we go." When we finished the song, everyone in the room had a new view on the both of us.
24: An Extention of Magic: Welcome to EquestriaFast forward a few hours. Canterlot City High School, next to the portal. Everyone is there from Seth's house, and they're getting ready to go through. Sci-Twi's Point of View "Guys, when you go through the portal," I said, "You'll--" "Outta our way!!" Indigo and Lemon shouted. My head didn't stop spinning until after we were all in the portal room in Princess Twilight's castle. At least Princess Celestia and Princess Luna were there when I came to. "What the fuck happened to my body!?" Sunny said, "I'M A DAMN HORSE!!!!!" "Ho-ly shit, this is weird," Seth said, seeing himself as a pony with wings. Rarity was a unicorn, so sunset went to help her calm down. I looked at myself, and I was a unicorn, too. Like earlier. "I don't even wanna know." After a quick freakout from the Wondercolts and Seth coming to a realization, we left the castle at the request of Princess Twilight, while the princesses helped the five Shadowbolts come to terms with being ponies. The Equestrian variants of the Wondercolts stayed back at the castle. "Dude," Seth said, as we all sat down at a table outside of a restaurant, "This is every brony's dream." "Wait," Rainbow said, beginning to laugh at him, "You like to watch My Little Pony?" "On VHS," he replied shamelessly. Rainbow responded by doubling over on the ground laughing her butt off. "That's for little girls!" "Yeah," he said, "Well last week when I went to the spa for the steamroom, my humidifier and radiator quit," he smiled slyly, "I saw a certain someone waiting in line for a little something." Rainbow Dash jumped at that, "I stop laughing! It WASN'T me!" "I don't know... maybe someone with an athletic complexion..." "I won't make fun of it again!" "Cerulean..." "Please!!" "Moderate cerise eyes..." "ANYTHING!!! JUST NAME IT!!!" "Rainbow Dash was there for a spa treatment." "I'M RUINED!!!!!" "You went to the spa? I could've had them give you the PERFECT treatment, Darling!" "Why'd ya do somethin' lahke that, Seth?" "Honestly," Sunset said, "Former bully here, but I've gotta take his side." "An' yer doin' that WHY!?" "It's justified. Not that he was trying to bully Rainbow to begin with, of course. He said he's a brony." "Of course. An' what's wrong with that?" "Then when Rainbow started laughing, he brought up her spa trip." "An' jus' what the hell's wrong with goin' ta the spa?" "Nothing. Just like there isn't anything wrong with him being a brony or me being a pegasister." "So, yer tellin' me 'at Seth had ev'ry right ta say that." "Pretty much. "Look at 'er, fer God's sake!" I went over to her and figured out what was going on. "You're an athlete, right?" "Yeah...?" "And you love those Daring Doo books that you pretend so hard not to read?" "Mm-hm...?" "And you went to the spa one time?" "About that..." "No wonder you're so good at soccer, Darling!" "What?" she responded. "You seem to use it more as a 'relaxation-therapy' than to just primp and be girly from what I've just gathered." "But it was the spa of all damn places!" "So?" "That's it?" Rainbow realized after a minute. "Really?" Seth apathetically asked, coming over to the three of us. Suddenly his eyes were a bright crimson, his pupils became vertical, and there were two fangs protruding from his mouth. "Darling, what's going on?" "What the fuck!?" She tried to run, but couldn't. Fear had actually taken hold of her. He was coming straight for me. "Um, are you okay?" "Is this some kind of hidden, creepy party?" "Please, God, no!" He was standing with the three of us now. "Be gentle!" "I've been a vampire for two years," he said as time seemed to return to normal, "I'm not gonna eat you. Or drink your blood. Or any of that." "Then, what are you gonna do?" "Absolutely nothing." He looked at his hooves. His sandals had turned into Japanese Kimono... horseshoes? "Hi, guys," a familiar voice said, "You're from the other..." I turned around to find Seth's counterpart in this world. He, on the other hand, was scared at the fact that ours was a vampire. "A'ight," he said, "What happened to you?" "It's a long story, me." "Darlings, we need to figure something out so we know which of you we're talking to." "I'm Doc," Human Seth said. "Works for," Pony Seth belched, "me. I'll be Pon-Seth." "A'ight!" Doc said, "An angel JUST got its wings!" Pon-Seth looked at me, "Oh no. Not even if I was single!" He went to Sunset, "I've always seen something in Princess Twilight, but I don't know what to do." "Pon-Seth, she's royalty, so your chances with her are pretty slim, if you even have any." The others came and joined us, prompting Pon-Seth to fall lovesick for the princess. Princess Twilight, coincidentally, went over to Sunset, prompting for Pon-Seth to take a few steps back. "I really want to tell him how I feel!" "Just tell him, then." Pon-Seth looked at her as she nervously smiled before taking a blunt approach to asking the question. "I... would you... I mean I'd..." "Yes?" "How do I... well, ya see..." "Princess, I don't think that I can ask you anymore because you're a princess now." "Okay, then. I guess, just pretend that for the next half-hour I'm just a unicorn who put wings on herself." Pon-Seth sighed, then popped the question, "Twilight, marry me?" "YES!!!" They ran together and did the pony-equivalent of kissing. "I see you've found your special somepony, Twilight," Princess Celestia chuckled as what had to be my brother and Cadence from this world came up with my Equestrian parents. Wow. Either he's city-fast, or he's been here. "Two Twilights!?" Cadence asked. "It's a long story, Shiny and Cadence." "Shiny!?" We ended up having to tell how we found out about Equestria. This was getting old. "Wait," Shining said, "You're from an alternate world?" "Uh-huh." We heard a weird conversation between Pon-Seth and Doc. "So, you're a vampire?" "Damn straight." "What's it like?" Doc's eyes flashed red and his fangs extended again, "It's not really that different," he took a look of suspicion, "I'm picking up on a vibe..." This can NOT end well... If he fucking does what I think he will, run like hell away. Done, Midnight. "Could I" Here it comes... "be one too?" The other five Shadowbolts came over to us. "I've never done this before, but sure." Oh shit... Pon-Seth and Doc tried to figure the best way out for one to bite the other's neck. Evidently, they forgot they were in public. "Okay," Doc said, "you sit down, and I'll bite you. That way, you won't fall over and possibly hurt yourself." Pon-Seth laid down on his back instead, but began to squirm when Doc was getting ready to bite. "On second thought, I really don't think that this 'vampire' stuff's for me. Maybe--" "The worst part is the bite." "Oh really, it's fine! I was just caught up in the moment! Really!" Pon-Seth began to sweat profusely and squirm, but a firm hoof kept him restrained. "Y-You're... you're strong, like, really strong!" "I know. Still wanna squirm away?" "No," he said as Doc lifted his hoof off of him, "But I still wanna do it." "I'm doing it on the count of 10," Doc turned to my brother and Cadence, "Think you could come hold him down for me?" They just shook their heads. "I'll help," I said. Lemon and Indigo looked at each other for a second, "Any friend of Twilight's is a friend of ours," Lemon said. That took care of three hooves. "I got the forth one," Doc said, "On the count of 10." Pon-Seth started sweating again while Midnight was ready to run like hell. "Ten, nine, eight, se-" Doc sank his fangs into Pon-Seth's neck and began sucking, resulting in Pon squirming and screaming a little before he let go, leaving a heavily-breathing and scared-shitless Pon-Seth. He laid on the ground for about a minute with his eyes closed from exhaustion before getting back up. "What was that about!?" he said, his pupils becoming vertical, irises becoming a hungry crimson, and fangs protruding from his mouth. Doc kept a smug look on his face the whole time. "What was what about?" "You biting and sucking my blood!" Pon-Seth said, "WHY!?" Doc went to speak, but was subsequently interrupted. "Princess Twilight wanted to marry me, but now I'd be surprised to find out that she even wants to look at me!" Princess Twilight ran over to Pon-Seth, "You're beautiful, Redeyes." "You really--?" "Oh yeah." "I'm a--" "Vampegasus. Now, I want you to pin me down just like how Doc pinned you down, and I'll try to get up." "Why?" "Just wanna see how it felt to be you." He pinned her down just as he had earlier, right when the two regal sisters came over. They only saw her struggling to try to get away from a vampire. What's worse is that they had royal guards with them. "You're gonna fall to me, and all of your power will be mine!" Doc said. "No! Let me up! I wanna be free!" "STOP!!" Princess Celestia said, "Release the Princess! Guards, detain the threat!" Unfortunately for Pon-Seth, he didn't know what was going on. "Darling, please look around," the pony counterpart said, to no avail. He was caught. "The assailant is NOT a regular pony, your highness. NOBODY knew what to do. "The assailant is a vampire," Princess Luna said, giving nonverbal instructions for everyone to maintain their distance, "A princess has never been attacked before, let alone by a creature of the night." "What?" "You attacked a princess! That is a felony that will land you in the dungeon, in stone for 1000 years, Seth Circuits!" "Luna, stop! We were going to get married tomorrow!" "Excuse me?" "I love him." "He is a creature of the night." "Let him go." Princess Luna and, by obligation, Princess Celestia were defeated in this battle, so Pon-Seth was let go, then he pinned the other me on the ground. "If you cannot escape me," he said to her, "then I will have to make you my slave!" She struggled some more, "Oh no!" He leaned down to her neck, and I think that I saw his fangs retract. "Nip!" "Bleh." He stood back up, "Arise from your slumber, as you will now be known as Red Dusk!" "I am Red Dusk, and you are my master," she said flatly as she sat up, "What are your demands?" They both burst out laughing, "So, will you be my prince?" "Only if you'll be my Princess, you mutant." "I will, wingman." "The wedding shall be next week, then?" "Sounds perfect," the vampegasus said. "Mom," Sunset said, "Was something different supposed to happen?" "Yes," she replied as Pon-Seth and Princess laid down on their backs. "Sci-Twi, as weird as that sounds coming from me, should we...?" Doc asked, but was at a loss for words. "I don't know." Nobody knew what to do. "This," Princess Celestia said, "is Equestria. You all are welcome here whenever you like." "But, why did you want us here? At 2:00 specifically, at that?" "This, my child, is when magic reaches its highest concentration in the ambient area. You, and all of the human counterparts, along with Sugarcoat, Indigo Zap, Lemon Tart Zest, and Sunny Flare, have all shown and proven yourselves, so your bodies are absorbing the final layer of magic that you would not have gained, had you remained in the human world." "Can we go back home at all? And what about Sour Sweet?" "Sour Sweet will be spending some time here with Princess Twilight and Dr Kindheart --" Princess Celestia said, but was interrupted by Sour. "That SHRINK!?" "He's not a shrink. You and him will be having sessions to help find the source of your conflicting aggression." "Aww, that's nice! Thank you for making me talk to some-DAMN-body who's going to lock me up in an insane asylum and drug the SHIT out of me!!" "We don't use medicine here. We let nature run its course. The closest thing we ever use to medicine is a doctor's magic," she said, "Anyway, you and him will be seeing each other for a week, and then we'll see your progress. As for the rest of you," she continued, "this magic is now a part of you. Whatever you do, you will always have it with you." The next thing that I knew was that we all went back, with the exception of a now-more-composed Sour Sweet. The rest of the day, thank God, was more-or-less uneventful. Author's Note Readers who have made it this far, Sunset will die, but don't be sad. It won't be for long, thank you for staying with me for as long as you have.
25: A (Literal) Fresh StartAfter a day of God-knows-what, everyone went back to Seth's, but Sunset had a lot to think about, so she decided to walk it off. That night. Big problem. Sunset Shimmer's Point of View 09:45p PDT "Seth, Twilight? I'm gonna go take a walk." "A'ight." "Is something bothering you?" "Nah, just wanted to go and get some fresh air. Say, which way is Canterlot again?" "When you get to the end of the Cul-de-sac, right for about five miles, then the right half of the fork becomes 12TH Avenue Northeast." "Thanks," I said, grabbing my phone. When I got upstairs and grabbed the doorknob, though, I had a strange urge to do something kind of weird, but not at the same time. Last night, Seth said that he used to keep his phone in a Ziploc bag in his underwear. Maybe it wouldn't hurt if I did that, too. There WERE some pretty pissed-off people at school this week. I did just that. Thank GOD that nobody saw me. "Okay, Shimmer," I said to myself as I began to the fork from the cul-de-sac, "The 'anon-a-miss' thing on MyStable has already passed over. Those rapscallions," I took a second to laugh at what I had called the crusaders, "made a post on the blog, so I should be in the clear. Everything I did to Momma, she could never stay mad at--Whuh!?" I was pulled into several dark bushes and was beaten several times by several fists and possibly a nine-iron. "Not so tough now, huh Anon-a-miss?" Gilda's voice taunted. One more hit and I was out. I woke up blindfolded, gagged, hands and feet tied together behind my back and some kind of something on my mouth. "Mmph!" "Can it, ya little fuck!" Gilda's voice said, "You're gonna PAY for what you did, Anon-a-miss!" Please, no! "Shut the hell up!!" another voice said as my blindfold came off. He had a glowing branding iron in the shape of my cutie mark, "Your ass," he said as a bullet grazed me, "is gonna die!" I was beat again. Fuck! Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck! I can't feel my legs! My body's numb! Fuck! The branding iron was held to my face for ten agonizing seconds. My right cheek. DAMN!!!!! I blacked in and out several times before coming back one last time. I couldn't make out any voices. Why? The only things that I could feel at all below my neck were my arms. I blacked out one last time. Seth's Point of View 12:03a PDT Twilight's phone rang. Skype: Sunset Shimmer "Guys, it's Sunset," she said, answering the phone. All she got was about ten seconds of screaming, beating, and swearing. "Can you trace this call, Seth?" "Skype or AT&T?" "Skype." "Fuck yeah," I said, grabbing my phone and plugging it into my Panasonic Toughbook CF30. "Got it?" "Oh shit." "What?" Lemon asked, "What is it?" "Call a damn ambulance! We need to get to 428 Industrial Road South! Now!" I said, grabbing the keys to my Mercedes-Benz and running up to the garage. Lemon called an ambulance, and soon, all four cars had left from the house. "What do you think happened?" Indigo said as she and Lemon jumped into my station wagon. "Something badshit terrible." Fourty-five minutes later at 97 miles per hour and we were at a factory. No ambulance, and all that was there was a mangled Sunset, BARELY clinging to life. Sugarcoat's Tahoe was able to binge on about 200, so she drove Sunset to the ER. Princess Luna's Point of View Everything was happening so fast. "I'm sorry, Miss Luna, but we don't have a Ms Sunset Shimmer on file." "What the FUCK does thine mean!? We have lost our mother over a THOUSAND years ago when we were only a filly! And thou dare speaketh to us in thine manner!? "Miss, I'm not sure what your religion is, but I assure you: someone is on their way to the hospital right now via personal escort. Patient confidentiality laws prevent me from knowing any details, but if I did, I would tell them to you, seeing as how you're blood-kin." "Get the fuck outta mah way!" Seth yelled as he ran through the infirmary with a stretcher holding a covered body, the other humans following. "We have a room ready for Ms Solaire, 109." I switched over to my equine form and began to gallop as fast as I could, searching for 109. 'Tia, Discord, Twilight, and Sour Sweet followed, just as fast. "Don't you die on us!" I heard the human Rainbow Dash yell. Celestia tried opening the door, but it was locked. "FUCK!" I raised a hoof and began to pound on the door as loud as alicornily possible. Seth opened it. "Not good," he said, a morbid look on his face. Seth's Point of View I opened the door at the pounding of horseshoes. "Not good." "She's going to be paralized from her bust down, assuming she even makes it through the night. She will also have no use of her hands, and, because of the head trauma, she will be mentally disabled." "MY BABY!!!" Celestia collapsed onto the floor. "Her expected lifespan is four days, Ms Solaire." The only thing from keeping me crying was my boiling anger to hunt down everyone who did this and murder them. Slowly and painfully. *BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE...* "She's gone." That didn't help matters. Everyone in the room was crying, and I was using every bit of my self-control not to try and hunt down who did this. I was visibly in full-attack mode, so the nurses were scared of me. If only she was still alive, I might be able to get some feedback and kill those bastards. Or at LEAST show them what for and tear them a new one. Midnight, who was very much emotional, but not devastated, asked me to do something very uncomfortable. "Seth?" "What the fuck!?" I snapped back at her. "Can you... b-br-brin-bring her back?" I was still in attack mode, but hugged her as she started crying. "Midnight," I said, stroking her hair like an older brother would to his younger sister, "Sunset is like my family now. Of course I will. I mean, fuck it. I'd even try to bring you back, as terrible as you can be. We need you and her both." She tried to say "Thank you", but all she could do was cry and hold me tighter. "I get the message. You're welcome. But I need you to let go if you want me to be able to do this." She nodded and laid down on the floor. "Guys," I said, "I'm gonna try something." Rainbow and Applejack moved from the head of her bed, so I bit down on her jugular and began to drink. Sweet Jesus in heaven, I hope this works! Her throat was cold and dead-feeling. Complete lifelessness consumed her body. "WHAT'RE YA DOIN'!?" I put the back of my hand to her forehead. "THAT'S REPULSIVE, DARLING! PLEASE QUIT!!!" I felt something. Warmth! "Please stop..." the nurse gagged, "doing that," she gagged again, "to Miss Sunset Solaire!" she vomited. I released my bite and lapped at the wound for a few seconds to make sure it was through bleeding, though I didn't take my hand off of her head. "What was that!?" Sunny asked. "My attempt at bringing her back to the living," I said, noticing the nurse had collapsed into a puddle of her own vomit and snot. "Ungh," Sunset moaned. "This ain't the time fer ya ta be amakin' sounds ta get her blood offa yer tongue!" "It's her." She stood back up and cleaned her face off some and noticed her fingers moving a little, then her chest rising and falling, then she woke up. "How the...?" She opened her eyes, revealing that they had changed color from a moderate cyan to an almost hungry shade of crimson, along with vertical pupils. "What'sh... going on here?" She had a pair of fangs that she learned to talk around rather quickly. "Where am I?" she said, stretching out as best she could in front of the doctor in the hall that gave the report to the nurse. "This is scientifically and medically impossible!!!!!" Celestia was startled and jumped back up and ran back over to her daughter, then took a look at her, "My baby! You're a... a..." "Just say it!" Sunset Shimmer's Point of View Okay, there is a NEW surge of power going through my body, and I DON'T know what it is. I moaned as I heard some voices, then I moved a few of my fingers. This is weird. I've spent all of this time trying to fix something, but now it may have just gone down the crapper. I opened my eyes once the voices became clear. "What the...?" a nurse in the room asked. I immediately knew something was different about myself because I had a sudden blood lust and that I could swear something was going on with my eyes because I had somewhat-better top-and-bottom peripheral vision than before. "What'sh... going on?" There were two things in my mouth. They're sharp. "What am I?" I asked as I stretched out the best I could in that bed, and some of my bones cracked. "This is scientifically and medically impossible!!!!!" Mom, after being startled and ran over to me, seemed scared of me, "You're a... a..." "Just say it!" "I don't know." Seth walked over to me, and his face said it all: fangs, crimson eyes, vertical pupils, and a bloodstain on his mouth. Okay. I don't know if this is good, or bad. "What did you do?" "You were beaten so badly that you died here in the hospital, so I bit down on your throat and began to suck your blood while I held the back of my hand to your forehead until I felt it get warm and I felt some kinda pulse go by where I bit you. When it came back enough, I licked off the mess." I had never been scared like that in my life. "Wow. So, I'm a-" "Vampire," he said as I got up. I was in my clothes from last night, but they weren't torn or bloody anymore. "Dr Heartbeat!!" the nurse called. Evidently, he was really punctual, so he came into the room as fast as possible. "That death certificate you signed on Miss Sunset Solaire, she... I don't know how to put it! She's... the only things are the brand marks!" He looked back and forth at a clipboard, a sheet of paper, and me. "Just, concentrate on healing the brand marks, and they'll be gone." I looked at my hands, revealing two more brands, then smiled, "I think I kinda like 'em." I noticed Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie curled up in the corner, on the floor. Pinkie was comforting her. "Sunset?" Pinkie said, her hair inflating back to it's usual afro-style. "Fluttershy?" I said, literally picking her up off of the floor with ease, "I'm back." All she did was stammer. "What's wrong," I said, putting her down. I felt my eyes return to normal and my fangs retract. "Please don't drink me!" "What? No! I'd never do that!" She just stammered some more. "Let's go back," Seth said. The ride back was... awkward.... to say the least. We all just went to sleep when we got back and tried to forget what had happened. Author's Note Yeah... I'm gonna leave it at that.
26: A Self-Taught Lesson in Self-DefenseFast forward several hours after everyone is awake. Sunset Shimmer's Point of View We all loaded up to go to Sugarcube Corner. It was then that I found out that Seth listened to some really weird music. "What is this?" Rainbow asked. "No damn idea." "Then, why do you listen to it?" "I just thought it was catchy, so I made a CD and a mixtape of this, and a bunch of other songs, because what the hell?" "Oh." It felt like we were really far away from Canterlot, but in reality, we weren't. It must've been because we weren't leaving from Sci-Twi's apartment on 4th Avenue. What was interesting was when we actually got to Sugarcube Corner. "Okay guys," I said, holding my milkshake up for a toast, "Cheers to making it out of the hospital alive!" "Back at ya," Seth said, "Even if it was hellishly disgusting!" "You're really glad that you weren't awake," Sunburst said, "It was pretty weird, huh Starlight?" he nudged her. "Tell me about it," she said, messily drinking her milkshake. "Stahlight, yas got a little schmutz ahn ya face," Seth said, pointing to her cheek. She looked at it with the front camera on his phone, then the three of them laughed as she cleaned it off, "Messy drinker here!" "Hey!" a familiar voice from last night said, "I'd know that brand and hair anywhere!" I was yanked up from the booth by Gilda, "I thought we did you off last night!" Bitch. "You're gonna take it, and you're gonna STAY down this time!" she said, throwing a punch that knocked me back onto the table (destroying it in the process), and left me with a black eye. I noticed that Flash Sentry (my ex), Vinyl, Chrysalis, Judge Discord, Principal Celestia, Vice-Principal Luna, Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, Ms Cheerilee, Shining Armor, Cadence, Maude (Pinkie's oldest sister), probably all of my other friends (more than likely), the former principal of CPA, and Mr & Mrs Cake all snapped their attention over to us. Several gasps and murmurs went around about what had just happened. This is going to get very bad, really fast. I stood back up and kept a stern look on my face, my gaze locked with hers. "Oh, you want more?" she said as she grabbed the back of my shirt with one hand and my hair with the other, then proceeded to slam my head against the corner of the booth, then threw me down to the floor. "Don't call the cops, Darlings! This has to work itself out on its own!" That's it you fucking piece of garbage. I got back up, then went into what Seth described as "attack mode". My eyes changed, fangs shot out, and when I noticed I was bleeding right under my left eye, I wiped some of the blood on my finger, then licked it. "You're a fucking SICKO!!!!!" I put a sinister grin on my now-vampire face, healed it, then took several slow steps toward her, "You think I'll go that easy?" I noticed that everyone was scared frozen, but that didn't stop me from picking her up by her side. "Wha-- what are you doing? Put me down!" "Okay," I said, throwing a punch to her abdomen that sent her flying across the room, her landing on her back on Principal Celestia's table. She, Luna, Chrysalis, and Discord moved backwards into their booth just as Gilda made impact on the table. "You have no idea who or what you're dealing with here," I said as she got up, took one of the table legs, and slammed it into my head. The only thing I actually felt was like when someone would barely hit their head on the wall. It still had enough force to make me lose my balance, which she took to her advantage by knocking me to the floor on my back and stabbing me several times with a large pocket knife, then threw several more punches at me. "Through?" I said, healing myself again. My shirt was pretty much covered in holes now, but with each time I healed and got back up, some more of her strength turned into fear. "You think what I've done is all I'm capable of?" I said as Dumbbell, the school's #1 for the wrestling team came up behind me, "You don't even know," I pulled him over my shoulder and threw him on his back in front of me. He's got to be at LEAST 300 pounds of muscle. If I can do all of this without a bead of sweat, they should run while they still can. "What all I can do." Dumbbell got back up and tried to get back at me, so I threw him backward, and evidently destroyed the booth that Flash and Vinyl were sitting at. "How are you even--" "Alive?" "You're a... a..." "Vampire? Fuck yeah, I am." "One of us is going to die today, a--and it won't be me!" "Really?" I said, picking her up and throwing her across the restaurant and behind the counter, almost in the back room. Dumbbell threw a few punches at me, and he met the same fate, albeit landing on the CMC's booth instead. "Not one word of this." I'm pretty sure that everyone was too scared not to agree with me. "Now you can call the cops," I said, reverting back to my fangless, cyan-eyed appearance. I did heal myself to make it look like I had only been in the crossfire of what happened, along with keeping the brand marks (for whatever reason). Sugarcube Corner now looked like a stabbing and a fight had broke loose: destruction, blood on the floor, the whole works. When the cops showed up, Abacus singled me out. "It was her!" she pointed at me, very shaken, "Miss Sunset Shimmer Solaire!" "Is this true?" one of the officers said, coming over to me. "I... I don't... no. I-it wasn't me." "Then who was it?" "I don't know. It... it all happened... just so fast." "I'm required by Canterlot City and California State laws to, even though you were not involved, to ask for any alibis." "She didn't do it, Darling. She's much too ladylike." "I wouldn't word it quite like that," Seth said, "but, in essential, yeah. That's pretty much it." "Celestia Solaire!" Abacus scolded, "You should control your child better than that!" "I assure you that I have raised Sunset the right way." "You most certainly have not!!" "I think it might have been someone with orange hair," Vinyl said. "Orange... hair..." the second cop said, writing the description down, "And you're positive, Ms" "Vinyl Scratch." "Ms Scratch?" "Still alive," a paramedic said from behind the counter, "How's the guy?" "Still alive." After about a half hour, the cops finally left. Ten minutes later, two guys came in, then came over to Twilight: Blueblood and Manor. "Pretty lame stunt you pulled, Sparkle," Blueblood said, "and now, you're gonna pay," he threw a punch that knocked her out. Seth and I both retaliated the same way I did when Gilda attacked me. Seth followed suit, but this time, he grew a pair of leathery wings. "No mercy, these are the pervs," Seth told me, "I'll take Blueblood." I smiled as my fangs shot out and my eyes changed color. "Does the word 'horsey' sound familiar?" I said as a fight broke out between me and him. Seth's fight was over in about two minutes, but I like to draw mine out. Mine started the same way it had with Gilda: I let him slam me down a few times, then beat the living shit out of him. "WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU!?" "A bodyguard," I said, my foot on his chest, pinning him helplessly to the floor. Blueblood, by this time, was a mess. Unconscious, several ribs busted from the first punch he sustained, then the second one to his head knocked him out. That's when he started bleeding. "I... I didn't... I didn't know you existed!" "Of course vampires exist," I replied as he went to squeeze Maude with one hand and Abacus with the other. At some point, Lyra, Sweetie Drop, Diamond Tiara, and Silver Spoon came in the corner-side restaurant. "I don't want to see you within a hundred miles of Twilight EVER again," I said, pulling him off of the two girls and holding him up, "You wouldn't be thinking of molesting her again, wouldn't you?" "No! Now please put me down!" "You got it," I said, throwing him towards the counter and knocking him unconscious. When that was over and done with, I healed myself back up and went over to where everyone else was. "Sunset," my legal mom said, stunned. "Yes?" "How?" "It's a long story," I said, pushing some hair out of my eye. "What happened to your face?" Sweetie Bell asked. "That Anon-a-miss thing you three started," I said as I walked over to them. "DON'T HURT US!!!!!" "Gilda and her lackey Dumbbell got about 45 other students from school, kidnapped me at 10:00 last night, took me to a factory, and almost beat me to death. Part of that beating involved me being branded. They," I pointed to where my friends were, "tracked me down, rushed me to the hospital, and I died there." "Then..." Applebloom started shaking, "How're y'all here?" "I was turned into a vampire." "PLEASE DON'T DO ANYTHING TO US!!!!!" Scootaloo begged. "You've already done what you needed to after that online stunt you pulled, so I guess you're okay, just as long as you don't play shit like that again. Besides," I added, "you're not the ones who killed me." "Ah thought we fixed it!" "Gilda's a bitch," I said as I began to walk away. "That DEMON!!" Abacus yelled at me. I put my hand over my mouth and gasped. "Abacus, that's enough!" Principal Celestia said, "She's as good as my daughter, and you talk about her like that!?" "Your daughter is a demonic equine from another world!" "Listen here!" Seth said, storming over to her in attack mode, "You stop calling my sister a demon! She's a VAMPIRE!!! And you want her DEAD because of THAT!?" "Yes!! And you too!!" "HEY!!" Vinyl stood up and took off her glasses, "Watch your fucking mouth!" she said, her eyes flashing from a moderate cerise to crimson, pupils going vertical, and fangs shooting out of her mouth, "You've got a HELL of a lot of us to take out!" "Ms Solaire! You can't possibly expect me to let this go unnoticed!" Luna stood up behind her, vampiric eyes, fangs, and leathery wings as well, "Leave. Now." "I beg your pardon," she said, turning around to face her. Luna was so pissed that she had a red aura coming from her eyes. "Get out of here now, before I do something that'll land you in the hospital." Abacus threw a punch at Luna. "You did NOT just hit my aunt!" Cadence said, pissed. The punch, while pretty hard, didn't do any damage. That fight was over in a hurry because Luna's returning punch knocked her down onto the floor, "Out. Now." "Jesus!" Cinch yelled as she ran out of the restaurant as fast as she could. "What just happened...?" Sunburst said as Sci-Twi came back to. "There's four vampires in this rest'rant, an' two fights an' all hell just broke loose." "Why are Blueblood and Manor on the floor? And why does Blueblood look like he has busted ribs? And why are they bleeding? And why does Ms Luna have fangs and wings? Am I safe!? And for the love of God, where is Ms Cinch!?" "Quick answers," Seth said, "Blueblood hit you, so I busted some of his ribs." "I took care of Manor." Ms Luna came over, "Please," she said, "Just 'Luna', if you will. 'Miss' and 'ma'am' make me feel old," she continued, "But, I was born a vampire, while my sister wasn't. Abacus struck me moments ago, dealing no damage, so I returned the... favor, if it could be called that, and told her to leave, which is promptly what happened. "Is... is it over?" "I think so, Midnight," Indigo replied. I didn't notice Mom, Auntie Moon, Princess Twilight, and Princess Cadence enter the restaurant. "I tried to kill myself when Anon-a-miss was going on, Twilight, so why wouldn't I help you out with your problem?" "You tried to..." Sugarcoat said. "Yes. Doing it now would never work, seeing as how I'm a hell of a lot more durable and quick-to-heal now." "Why?" I cast a spell on a three foot-by-three foot area on the floor. Derpy had just come in, too. Author's Note If you have any requests for any of the other characters' POV, just leave them in the comments below, and I'll see to it that they get posted. The reason that I'm not doing it directly in the chapter is that they wouldn't fit in with the flow of how I wanted it. Anyway though, just say in the comments if you want another character's perspective, and I will get back to that ASAP. Also, the Sci-Fi tag might end up coming off, since the story clearly doesn't have that element yet. If I don't have any real Sci-Fi stuff by 18 1-31, it'll come off (at least until I do have some in here). Edit 18 3-5: I changed where Melody turned Seth into a vampire. It's now Luna that turned him into a vampire. I thought about it, and I can do a lot more with that.
27: Anon-a-miss's Damage to SunsetYeah, so here it is in plain sight. Friday 12 December 2014, 2:05 PDT "How did that video even get on MyStable anyway?" I asked myself, slowly walking down the halls of CHS to Remedial Algebra. Two in the morning when she admitted that to me, now it's all over the fucking Internet. "Sunset, I've always wanted to be a vampire. Don't tell anyone!" "Don't worry. I won't," I chuckled, "So... guess it's my turn now?" "Yeah." "Okay," I sat, thinking of a secret to top that. Shit, she's good. "I'm a pony," I said, receiving an assload of laughing from Rainbow Dash, who was slugged by Applejack. "As imposs'ble 's sounds, you sleep with 'at teddy bear!" "Okay, I'll shut up." "Actually, I'm a unicorn." Rainbow broke the crap out laughing. "Don't even bother," I said, "Let's just go to the school," I went to get my phone, but it wasn't where I thought it was, "Can I borrow one of your phones?" Applejack gave me hers, then we all left for the school. "Okay," I said, just outside the portal, "Through here is Equestria. That's where I come from." "An' yer sure 'bout this 'ne?" "Trust me," I said, walking through the portal with her phone. When I went through, I took off the now-unnecessary clothes and started snapping pictures like crazy. I may have went overboard, seeing as how I woke Princess Twilight up. "You better know it!" I heard a door open, so I turned around, "Twilight!" I held a foreleg across my chest, and she went into shock. Both of our eyes darted back and forth. The camera caught some of that, too. What in HELL am I doing? Ponies usually don't wear clothes. "Hi...?" "What's... this...?" she looked around, then at me, "Why... that...?" "Oh," I said putting my foreleg back down, "Been a human for so long, the clothes must've stuck." So. Fucking. Awkward. "So... what's... going on?" "Me and Rainbow were in an argument about whether or not I actually was a unicorn, I'll fill you in later, and I might've... went crazy with the camera." "Oh. You didn't..." "No." "So, you're just here to prove that you're a unicorn?" "Yeah. Wanna show them that you're an alicorn?" "I guess... if that was just you being weird... and I don't have to do anything crazy." "Just a few REGULAR pictures. But don't be modest! Show 'em that you're a princess!" She opened her wings, "Little more," she went into full-princess mode, "Perfect!" I said, taking several pictures. "Can I see?" "Sure," I said, showing her the pictures, "I'll even get some prints made for you." "I have one favor to ask, though." "Yeah?" "The next time you do that, try not to do... that," she said, looking at the almost-provocative-model style pictures, shuddering after a few seconds. "Done." I went back through the portal and showed the pictures to the other five girls. "Oh my..." "Af hverju ekki bara að drepa þig, Sunset?" Sweetie Drops said, harshly. I noticed something that caught my eye while she was talking. What the fuck was that? And... shit, does she have FANGS!? "I'm... sorry?" "You should go away. Before I do something that you'll regret." "NÚNA!!!" I did a stupid thing by stepping toward her, especially considering that the hallways were completely empty. "Could you at least..." "Það er það!!Þú ert hádegismatur!" "Shit!" I said, running like all hell had just broken to Principal Celestia's office, "SOMEBODY HELP!!!" "Ekki hlaupa frá mér, Anon-a-miss!" she said, tackling me to the ground, "Ég hef þig rétt þar sem ég vil þig, og þú munt deyja! Ég og Lyra eru ekki elskendur!" I let out a bloodcurdling scream, then punched her as hard as I could. Please work! My main goal was to get up and leave, but I also wanted to get a few of her teeth, if I could. "Hvað í fjandanum!?" she said as I took out her left canine and molar. I had to kick her off of me next. "Oh God!" I said, getting the teeth and making a break for the library. My phone had to be charged. "Oh God, oh God, oh God!" I went into the library, got my things, and found a bus that would take me home. "Please tell me I refilled the generator!" After a 45-minute long ride, the old industrial district was the last stop before the loop. Next came a 20-minute run, which left me completely exhausted. "Sweet Jesus! What the hell was Bon-Bon saying?" I looked at the teeth, then held the unnaturally long canine up to mine and looked to a mirror. "Oh shit... She's a vampire." What do I do now!? I began to carve hunks of my skin out. I woke up at 12:30 in the morning to this really loud noise. My arms and face had stopped bleeding, somehow. "Opnaðu fjandanum! Ég get lykta þig þarna!" Fuck. I took my phone, the teeth, some money, and a small bag with a change of clothes, and ran like hell out the back. Fuck! Shit! Dammit! She's a bloodthirsty vampire! I don't know how far I made it into town before I passed out. 08:43a "Git outta here 'n back ta hell where ya belong!" a southern voice said that sounded like Applejack's dad, followed by two shotgun blasts. "Y'all okay, Sunset?" her mom's voice said, "Don't leave 's yet, sugarcube!" "Just leave me," I said. A crashing noise woke me the rest of the way up, but my arms wouldn't hold my weight when I leaned back on them. "Lemmie in the truck!" he yelled, throwing a shotgun in behind me, then cranking what had to be a 1973 Ford F150 and gunning the engine, "Is she awake, Pear?" "She's up, Mac." "Pear? Mac?" "It's okay now, honey. We're taking you back to the barn." "What? Why?" "We saw you layin' onna wood pallet, then we noticed that you were missin' big hunks o'yer skin 'as missin'." "Who are you?" "I'm Pear Butter," she said, "An' that's my husban', Bright Mac." "What's going on?" "We're takin' you back ta the barn. Those vampires 'as 'bout ta have ya." "I'm the one who did that." "Why?" "After Anon-a-miss, Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie, and Rainbow all told me to go away from them. That they didn't want anything to do with me." "Well, maybe you c'n talk to 'em back at the barn." "Oh, God." "Wait," Applejack said, "Y'all did what!?" "She's not Anon-a-miss," Fluttershy said, "The old Sunset Shimmer wouldn't do something like this." "Yeah, if it hadn't been for your mom and dad, Applejack," I said as Rarity wrapped my leg, "I would have either bled out or become Vampire Food." "How many?" Rainbow asked. "At least four." "Holy shit, Shimmer," Rainbow said, her mouth agape, "How are you even alive?" "Applejack's parents saw a trail of blood, so they followed it and found me almost dead. I bled that much." "Ah am so sorry, Sunset fer not believin' ya before," Applejack said, holding her hat to her chest. Everyone else followed suit. So, yeah. That's pretty much it.
28: A Sunday "Break"Sunset's Point of View, Sunday 20 September 2015 at 2:30a I woke up with this weird thirst. Normally when I would wake up in the middle of the night thirsty, I would drink a few cans of soda, but it wasn't that kind of thirst. It was bloodlust. "Good Lord, I'm thirsty." I took notice of the house. Even though the lights were off, save for a few phones' charge screens, I could see everything as bright as it would be at noon. Better eyesight? This HAS to be from being a vampire. I went against my better instinct and went over to Seth, who was sleeping with Sci-Twi on that pullout couch. Does this guy REALLY talk in his sleep? "Sunburst, þú ert uppáhalds bróðir minn. Auðvitað mun ég snúa þér í vampíru." Sunburst, you're my favorite brother. Of course I'll turn you into a vampire. You and Sunburst aren't brothers. Hell, you're not even the same-- WHAT THE FUCK!?!? This is that weird language that Seth said something in Friday night! "Sunset, þú ert svo partý dýr!" Sunset, you're such a party animal! "What in the hell did you just say!?" I said, smiling and laughing. "I said, 'Sunset, you're such a party animal!'!" "It sure as hell sounded weird!" "This is freaky," I said, poking him. He immediately woke up. "Já, sólsetur?" Yeah, Sunset? "Okay, so I have a few questions," I panicked, waking up Aunt Luna. "Hvernig get ég skilið þig þegar þú talar svona núna? Og hvernig í fjandanum get ég talað svona núna!?" How can I understand you when you talk like this now? And how in the hell can I talk like this now!? "Það er móðurmál vampíru. Þegar ég sneri þér í einn, þá hafði þú nætursýn, fulla stjórn á öllum hliðum líkamans, getu til að tala þetta tungumál, hraða, mótstöðu og aukið styrk. Áhersla á aukin.Þótt ég hafi enn ekki nákvæmlega mynstrağur af hverju ég hef vængi og þú fékkst ekki neitt." It's a vampire's native language. When I turned you into one, from that point, you had night vision, full control over EVERY aspect of your body, the ability to speak this language, speed, resistance, and increased strenght. Emphasis on increased. Although I still haven't exactly figured out why I have wings and you didn't get any. "Halda áfram. Hvað gerir þú fyrir blóð?" Moving on. What do you do for blood? "Ég er með lítinn ísskáp sem ég geymi fullt af töskur frá sjúkrahúsinu. Einn af vinum Gregs gefur mér nokkra í einu svo ég þurfi ekki að fara í morðingja eða vekja hina dauðu." I have a mini fridge that I keep full of bags from the hospital. One of Greg's friends gives me several at a time so I don't have to go on a killing spree, or wake the dead. He gave me several bags, although I only managed to drink two or three of them before Sunny, Lemon, and Indigo came down with a flashlight and saw my hands and face somewhat covered in the liquid from where I had tried to get an entire bag in my mouth at once. "Oh my God," Sunny said, the trio scared practically shitless. Ef augun mín eru rauð og fangarnir mínir eru að sýna þá mun þetta endast hræðilega. If my eyes are red and my fangs are showing, this will end horribly. "I just needed a drink, guys! Everything's fine!" "I have never been this close to a thirsty vampire before," Indigo said, the trio still being very much terrified. "I'm NOT going to bring myself to do that! Somewhat because it would involve literally killing someone first." "That's not why we came down here," Lemon said, "Seth has a pet wolf." "No I don't." They took both of us upstairs while I finished the bag that I started on when they scared the crap out of me. In their bedroom, there was a wolf with moderate sap green eyes, a pale light grayish olive tail, pale light grayish gamboge fur, and a stetson hat. "That would be Applejack," I said as the lycan turned back into the farmer. "Ow," she said as she looked up at me, "Gah!" "I was just really thirsty. Now, can we forget this ever happened and just go back to sleep?" I said, going back downstairs to the pile of comforters that I called my bed and went to sleep. 8:43a "Good morning, Sunset," Fluttershy said to me as I was heating up some tofu-bacon pizza, "Did you sleep good?" "Já, gerðirðu það?" I replied, turning around to face her. "Yeah, did you?" I replied, turning around to face her. "S... Su... Sun... Sun-set? Did you...? Is that...?" I opened the cabinet that held the mini fridge with the blood bags, "Það er frá sjúkrahúsinu." I opened the cabinet that held the mini fridge with the blood bags, "It's from the hospital." She raised an eyebrow. "It's from the hospital, I replied. "Oh," she replied, still shook up. "Yeah, I'm gonna get this blood off of me before Mom wakes up," I said as I went into the bathroom and turned on the sink, only to find that the blood on my face had crusted over. "Seth? What do you do about this?" I said from the bathroom. "Handaðu sápu!" Hand soap! I was able to get most of the mess off of me, but Sunny, Lemon, and Indigo must've told the others because they were suddenly afraid of me. "Darling," Human Rarity said, "You're not a bloodthirsty cannibal... are you?" "No!! For the love of God, is there something horribly wrong with a vampire drinking a few refrigerated bags of blood when she wakes up in the middle of the night!? I mean, I'm still the same damn person!" "She's got a point," Seth said as he started outside to take the ponies (minus Starlight and Sunburst because they wanted to stay some more) back to the school, "I'll be back." When he left, I heard a 2011 Ford Fusion stop at the house, then Vinyl and Flash came down through the garage access. "Sunset, you've gotta watch out for the cops! They are after you!" "Oh crap," I said, "For what?" "Sugarcube Café." "I tried to call, but I didn't get you. All that I got was a robot that said your phone wasn't found. What's up with that!?" "This is the Canterlot City Police! Open up!" "You gotta hide! Now!" "Uh... hang on!" I said, turning my appearance into somebody completely different, "Let me see if this worked!" I looked into a mirror and found that I was a COMPLETELY different girl, so much to the point where I could be Seth's cousin from Russia, along with a native Russian accent when I spoke. I took that opportunity to change into a set of clothes that Pinkie gave me with Cyrillic stuff on them. "How did you--" "Ve'll talk later!" I said, running upstairs to the front door. Holy fuck, even my voice is different. My fake name is Natalya Smirnov. "Allo?" I said, opening the door, "Da?" "I'm officer Carl Rochester. We're looking for a Ms Sunset Shimmer Solaire, ma'am. Have you seen her, Ms?" "Natalya Smirnov, Seth's cousin. What does she look like?" "Five-foot-ten, light amber skin, moderate cyan eyes, sometimes crimson, crimson and yellow hair, may have fangs." "I don't think so. What was she wearing?" "Where are you from again, Ms Smirnov?" "Sankt Peterburg, Russia. Now, what was she wearing?" "Black leather jacket, purple skirt with a bright orange stripe, black boots with a purple line close to the bottom, and an orange shirt with a Sun-like figure on it." "Are there any features that stand out?" "The girl did have a Sun brand on her right cheek and on both of her palms." "I will watch for this girl, though I will be going back to Russia on Friday. How long will this search last?" "Two weeks, when she is caught, or when she is confirmed dead. Thank you, Ms Smirnov." "Good day to you as well, officer." When they left, I went to the bathroom in the basement and lost it. "Are you okay?" Sugarcoat asked me. "Get my phone." She brought my Motorola Droid Razr MAXX to me that Seth gave me as a housewarming gift, then I opened Skype for a video chat with him. It's in Russian. And I can actually READ it. And probably SPEAK it, too. Dr_Emmett_Seth_Brown | Online Voice Call Video Call Chat I hit the Video call button and he answered, thank God. "Seth?" "Who are you?" "I'm Sunset." "Prove it." I changed back to Vampire Sunset Shimmer, "Good enough?" "Go on." "Where are you?" "Stopped at your apartment because the fuzz has a roadblock set up. Why?" "They're after me for what happened at the restaurant yesterday!" "I'll be right back." He must've pressed the button to shut off the camera, not end the call, because I heard yelling and an 1975 Mercedes-Benz V4 engine racing back to the house. "The police are after my baby!?" "Yeah," I said, turning back into Natalya Smirnov, "Seth, my Russian alter-ego is Natalya Smirnov." "Okay," he said, hanging up the phone. "Okay," Flash said, "Sunset...? Natalya...?" "It's Natalya. I'm not Sunset Shimmer right now." "Okay. You are very smart." "I didn't even know that you could do that as a vampire," Vinyl said, amazed at my transformation. "Seth has a very different way of doing things. The only explainable way is that there is a method to his madness," Sci-Twi said. "Oh." "Now, I need to go to Principal Celestia and Vice-Principal Luna and let them know about this shit." "I'll start hacking," Sci-Twi said, pulling a small, sapphire-blue Acer laptop out of a compartment in the cupboard, "If I know him, and I'm pretty sure that I do, this should be really easy." "What do you mean?" I said as she turned on the miniature computer. "I mean-- Crap. It's not on the-- Woah." "'Woah' what?" I said, going over to look at it, "Wow." "There are at least fifty APs that this computer's picking up." "So?" Rainbow said, "What does that have to do with anything?" "It's not connected to ANY of them." "So..." I started poking around and found the router. "We can't do anything until someone finds the--" "The WiFi network is Homo Nosferatu Vampiris, and the password is Vinyl Scratch turned me into a vampire, this is my wireless.," I said, looking behind the mini-fridge that held the blood sacks. "Typing it in..." she said, typing the sentence in for the password, "Authenticating..." she held the laptop by the sides, "How did you know?" "This is Seth we're talking about here. Now you hack away and get Principal Celestia's address." In two minutes flat, she had an address and directions. "768 South Riverside Drive. Take my DeLorean." "Thanks," I said as she handed me the keys and directions." "Wow, they've got a really nice house," I said, getting out of the car and going up to the door. I hope she's home. I rang the doorbell, "Just a minute." Good. Celestia's home. "Can I help you?" "Would it be okay if I came in?" "It would be my pleasure." Celestia led me to the kitchen table where she and Luna were eating breakfast. Luna was NOT a morning person, judging by the way she glared at me. "If you bother me, I can think of a hundred different ways to murder you with my coffee," she said as Vampire VP Luna. "Who are you?" Celestia said, setting a plate of waffles down for me, "Care for for some breakfast?" "Celestia, Luna, it's me. Sunset Shimmer," Luna woke up and spat out her coffee while Celestia jumped back in shock, "I can prove it," I changed from Natalya Smirnov to my vampire self. "How did you...?" Celestia said. "All vampires can do it, sister." "That was my alter-ego, Natalya Smirnov. She's Seth's cousin from Russia." "Okay, but why?" "The fuzz is after me for the other day," I said as Judge Discord and Chrysalis let themselves in. I did not notice that at all. "Sunset?" Chrysalis said, making me turn around at them, "What happened back there?" I morphed back into Natalya Smirnov, although I knew it was too late for that. Please don't call the cops! "Should we get the police, Honey?" Chrysalis asked Discord. "Chrys, I don't know that we should be trying to make that decision." "No. Sunset is doing what she needs to do," Luna said, "The only problem is that she doesn't have a clone she can use to make something like that happen again. There's no telling what would happen to a vampire in the Canterlot/California legal system." "Well, I can't fake getting killed. That would make my life a living hell," I said, "The cop said that it would go on for two weeks, until I was found, or until I was presumed dead." "I really don't know what to do other than have you wait the two weeks." "How fast can you arrange a court date, Discord?" I said. "What?" "I need a court date for this afternoon. I don't care what side I'm on." "Why? The place was destroyed. Assuming that there were any cameras in there, they're gone now. Nobody recorded it, either." "That might not be true," I said, calling Seth on Skype Video. "Hello, mysterious cousin from Russia. Did the po-po give you any trouble?" "They never knew it was me. I want a court date arranged for this afternoon, but I need to have the whole thing recorded on video." "I had a feeling that I'd need to wear a camera bug to the Café yesterday." "How much did it pick up?" "All of it. In 1080p." "Give it." "Later, I'm getting you a laptop. Today." "Why?" "You know damn-well." "You should have the video in three... two... one... now. Look in your camera roll." "I trust you on that." "Now, when do you want the court?" "4:00." "Done. What judge?" "Judge Discord." "Done. E-mailing the summons now." "Thanks. Bye." When I hung up, I saw the notification that had the summons. Mozilla Thunderbird for Android Linux From: Seth (emmetsethbrown@compuserve.com) To: Me (sh1mmytotheleft@gmail.com); Celestia Solaire (sungoddess@gmail.com); Luna Solaire (moongoddess@gmail.com); discord@hotmail.com; chrys-change@msn.com Carboned: Subject: Court Summons Attachments: Sunset Shimmer - Court Summons.pdf Sunset, here is the court summons. I sent a copy to the CCPD, Judge Discord and his wife, Celestia, and Luna. I'll see you there. Best interest is you on the defensive, so I had to go through all hell to get Gilda to do this. Everyone's phone pinged with the same message, so I opened up the file. SUMMONS Plaintiff: Gilda E. Griffin Defendant: Sunset S. Solaire Ms. Sunset S. Solaire: You are being summoned to appear in the Criminal Violence court on Sunday, September 20, 2015 at 4:00 PM at 672 Beacon Way, Canterlot, CA for the charges of the following: Attempted Murder Violence Assault Failure to appear in court may result in judgement being declared in your absence, and a minimum of 2 Years jailtime. "Boo-yah." "You do realize," Luna said, "if something goes wrong, you will go to prison. Right?" "Nothing's gonna go wrong," I said, streaming my phone to the TV. "You know Russian?" Chrys asked. "Maybe...," I replied, opening the video of the fight from the Café and letting it play, start-to-end. "We'll still back you." "Thanks." I went back over to Seth's house, expecting him to drag me out to his station wagon to get a laptop from somewhere, but that didn't happen. "I'm gonna wait a bit before dragging you out. How did they take it?" "It was shocking, to say the least. But I think they took it pretty well." "Good." Court Gilda was at the plaintiff's stand, beat up. "Got the shit?" "Yeah. Can you stream your phone onto the wall?" "Hell, yeah." Discord went to the Judge's stand, so I morphed back into Sunset, scaring Gilda shitless. "Rise," everyone got up. "Sit," everyone sat back down. "I understand neither of you have requested lawyers." "I wanna see her ass BEAT!!!" "And you, Miss Solaire? "Já. Ég held að ég verði í lagi." Yeah. I think I'll be fine. "In English, please? This court does not recognize your language." "Yeah. I think I'll be fine." "Very well, then," he said, turning to Gilda, "Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?" "Yeah! What's it to ya?" "I do not tolerate outbursts like that, Miss Griffin. I will hold you in contempt of court if you keep it up. Now, I understand she tried to kill you? Are you sure?" She replied with only a stern look that said She sure as fuck did. "Do you have anything to say in your defense, Miss Solaire." I streamed the video on the phone onto the wall, scaring everyone even MORE shitless. "I rule in favor of the defendant." Gilda ended up going into a fit of rage, resulting in her being led out by a cop. "What now?" Seth wondered. "Sleep it off?" I replied "Do something crazy?" Seth's House "Well Darling," Rarity said to Seth, "It's been fun, but we must go now." "Before you leave, if you ever come back, don't bother with the front door. Just come in through the garage access. The keypad entry is 1-2-4-C. I don't care when the hell you come, just be careful when you come down, because you might see something that isn't exactly safe to be around." Vinyl gave a thumbs-up, then everyone except for Sunburst, Starlight, Sci-Twi, and myself left Seth's house. "What now?" Sci-Twi said, "This isn't exactly a--" "I hacked into the school's database," Seth replied, "so just come with us, tomorrow," he said, "making" his bed. "About that laptop?" "Greg saw your crap accidentally, so he went and got you something," he said, giving me a box wrapped in brown wrapping paper with the words То: Сунсет Схиммер, Фром: Сетх. Хаппы то хаве ыоу ас а феллоw вампире! "What is it?" "Just open it and find out. It's something that I know you'll love." I tore into the wrapping paper, and it was a box with a red laptop and the word Acer stylized on it. "It's an Acer." The rest of the day went by really fast. Author's Note When Sunset turns into Natalya, her phone swaps from English to Russian.
29: Back to (Canterlot City High) SchoolSeth's Point of View Monday was interesting, to say the least. I already had the same schedule as Sunset, but but put Sci-Twi's schedule where it would line up with ours perfectly. First period coding went by with a rocky start, even more so because our teacher, Mr Son Duk-bae, wasn't here today. Instead, it was his wife's brother, Vladislav Ivanov. When the three of us walked in, he got mad at Twilight, "Miss Sparkle, is it?" "Yeah?" "Take the tail, ears, and horn off." "But, they're--" "Off. Now!" I took out a bag of blood that I brought with me to school, mostly to take the attention from Twilight, but I was a little thirsty, too, so I started to drink the red fluid, only for the bag to get snatched out of my hand, "No food or drinks in my class!!" "I have a deficiency." Of human blood and a decent teacher. He drank some of it, not knowing what the fluid was as the three of us took our seats, "What is this!?" "My breakfast," he spat it out, "A+. Why?" "Don't be a smartass with me!!" "That would be blood," he started shaking, "So, I would give it back, if I were you," my eyes turned crimson, my fangs shot out, and I grew wings. "Take it off!" he said, "It is distracting to other students!" "Sunset and myself," I said getting up, "are vampires. Twilight," I continued, now walking toward him, "is half-unicorn," I slammed my fist on the desk, breaking a piece of it off, "So I would give the bag back," I crushed his iPhone, "unless you want all hell to unfold," I bit my tongue where it would start bleeding, wiped it on my teeth (mostly at the tips of my fangs), and glared a devilish smile at him, "So?" My teeth, now stained from the liquid from my veins, now glaring right at him didn't keep him from spitting some out on me and trying to run out into the hallway. You don't KNOW what you're dealing with yet. I tackled the man in the hallway on his back, prompting him to throw the bag down the hall. This guy's an IDIOT. "Þú ferð ekki í kringum að pissa á neinn," I said, making sure he couldn't move,"Vegna þess að einn þeirra gæti verið vampíru," I continued, getting in his face, "Eins og ég!" "You don't go around just pissing off anybody," I said, making sure he couldn't move, "Because one of them could be a vampire," I continued, getting in his face, "Like me!" "Please don't," the reply came. I gave another slow, devilish grin before hearing Vice-Principal Luna's voice. "Bara hvað í fjandanum er að gerast hér?" "Just what the hell is going on here?" I looked up and saw her in her vampire form. "Þú, Sunset Shimmer, Twilight Sparkle, Starlight Glimmer og Sunburst þurfa að koma með mér." You, Sunset Shimmer, Twilight Sparkle, Starlight Glimmer, and Sunburst need to come with me. After getting the others from their classrooms, Luna took us all to her office. We're in deep shit. When we were all in her office, we thought that she was going to literally kill us. We were damn wrong, though when she started laughing so hard she had to bend over, "Are we in trouble?" "I wanted that son-of-a-bitch jackass gone when he started!" she said, just making it to her chair, "Now, what happened?" "We went in to class, he told Twilight to take off her pony stuff, so I took out a bag of blood that he took up." "Yeah?" "And he DRANK it!" She had her face on the desk, beating it with her fist and laughing so hard, that it rivaled my high-pitched cackling, "Then what?" "He asked what it was, I told him that it was type A+ blood, he spat it out, and I pinned him on the floor in the hall!" "THIS is why I love it when you do stuff, Seth!" "Anything else, Lulu?" "If I could trade you in for 'Tia, I probably would sometimes!" We both started laughing again, "She'd kill you right now if she heard that!" "Both of us!" "Anything you want to tell us?" Twilight asked. "I make an effort to get in trouble and get caught by Luna at least two times a week. She knows I hate class, and I know that she hates some of the people here." "This is just like what Ms Cinch was doing to me." "No it isn't," I replied, "Cinch was a bully. Lulu's one of my friends, and I'm too smart for class," I said, turning to Luna, "How old are you?" She had lost me, "What?" Sunset and Twilight moved to the corner of the room. "You've got the hots for Greg, right?" "Oh. Yeah. I'm 28." "Have you asked him?" "I can't. He's a famous rock star, and I'm a principal at a high school." "What's your number? And, do you eat at Frank's Diner?" "503-667-4289, and yeah" she said, as I wrote her number down, "Why?" "Be there at 2:45." "I think he wants you, too," I said, calling Greg. "Hello?" "Greg, I need you to meet me at Frank's Diner at 3:00." "Have you got into trouble again?" "No." "Okay. Bye." Luna began to look a little worried, "What just happened?" "You and Greg have a date for when school gets out." "Should I--" "You look fine. He thinks it'll be me." After a pause, she broke the silence. "You want out of class today, don't you." "Anyone else you're pissed at?" "Nobody that's here today." "Aww." "But, I could call in some jackass subs." "Consider it done," I said as the Russian sub came in her office, "Look sharp!" "Is now a bad time, Miss Solaire?" "No," she said, turning cold-principal, "Please continue." "After earlier, I'd like to quit." "Understandable," she said, holding her hands on her desk in a professional manner, "Seeing as to how the event was," she liked her lips as her eyes flashed red for a second. Okay, this is gonna cause some pretty-damn-big trouble. "Seth, come with me, please," Luna said, leading me out, "Tell me you keep extras in that bag of yours!" she whispered. "How many?" "I don't know." I took two bags out and gave them to her, "Have a backup," I gave her a Yeti cup, "I think we've tortured the guy enough," I finished as she emptied the bag into the tumbler and gave it back to me. She put the other in a purse. "Thank you!" "No problem. 'et's go back." Back in the office, Vladislav was scared shitless as the others were teaching Sci-Twi how to use unicorn magic. Sunset's vampire started to show, ensuring that he ran out. At that point, the others and Celestia came in. "So... what just happened?" Rainbow asked. "Ivanov's gone." "Why?" Celestia asked. Luna and I exchanged a smile, "Assload of reasons." Celestia looked at the desk and found a few sticky spots, prompting Lu to fidget with her shirt and hands and me to adjust my jacket. Rainbow, Applejack, Pinkie, Rarity, and Fluttershy left the office as Celestia began fuming. "WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT WITH MY SISTER!?" Okay. Just HOW did she get the idea that I'm trying to plow Luna? "Hvað!?" What!? "Don't pull that vampire-talk with me!" "He's not plowing me!" "Then what's this!?" "What's what?" "This crap on your desk!" "That would be spit. We were laughing earlier." "Wow. It must have been a really funny joke." "That guy drank blood!" she laughed "Oh God. How many times do you pull him out of class a week?" "Shooting for three?" I said. "Leave," Celestia said, "Both of you. Just go." Luna, Starlight, Sunburst, Twilight, and Midnight all came with me back to my house. "Greg!" I said, opening the door, "I'm home!" 08:45 23 AM
30: Greg's DateGreg's Point of View "What did you do this time?" I said, coming down the stairs. "Hi, Greg," I looked up and saw the most beautiful woman ever. Moderate opal eyes, moderate sapphire blue and pale, light grayish Persian blue hair, light phthalo bluish gray skin with pale, light grayish magenta eyeshadow, "May I... come in?" "Y- yeah." She was wearing a magenta shirt with a thick, white collar that had a navy moon on it, a belt over the shirt, grayish navy jeans, and white shoes with a magenta pattern. Damn, she's sexy. I don't know if I can do this. The very next thing that I knew was that everyone except for me and Luna were in the basement. "So... is this... what happened?" "I... took the rest of the day off. And... he brought me here." "Wow, um, what do you think of nights?" "I could almost be the party goddess of them," she said, her eyes turning crimson, fangs pointing out of her mouth, and growing a pair of leathery-looking wings, causing me to take a step back, "Is something wrong?" "Wow." She looked at her reflection in the window, then gasped, "I'm sorry!" "How about we just start slow?" Everything but her fangs went back to how they were when she showed up, "I'd love that." "What do you do, um..." "Luna Solaire." "Luna?" "I'm the Vice-Principal for Canterlot High." "I play in a band." "I'm a vampire." "And I don't care." "Is this love?" she came in and I closed the door. "Yeah," we shared a passionate kiss, "It is." "In an alternate reality," she started, "I think I'm a pony moon goddess." "Will you be my moon goddess?" "If you'll be my rock star." That night, around 10:30 "Okay," she said, leading me to the Wondercolt statue, "It's just through here," she pointed to the mirror facing the school at the base of the statue. "It's a mirror." "Maybe," she said, sticking her hand through it, "Who first?" "Together." We both went through the portal, and it turned us into ponies, and came out into a closet. "Woah," I said, noticing that Lulu had wings and a horn, "Sexy." "Your wings, too." We got out of the closet and found our way out of the castle, but not without interruptions. "Princess Luna? You look... different." "Princess Luna?" I asked. We turned around to find a pony version of the timid girl, "I didn't know that you had a special somepony." "Could you show us out? We're not from this world," I said, "We're on our first date, and we wanted to meet... ourselves." "Of course!" she said, leading us out and to a train station. It was a calm walk, actually. "This train will take you straight to Canterlot. I'll have Spike send her a message, okay?" "Okay," Lulu said as she walked off. "Now to get ourselves together," I said, both of us boarding the train. "Next stop, Canterlot. Travel time, thirty-eight minutes," the conductor said over the speaker as we sat down and the train began moving. "So," I asked, "so you know what to expect?" "No. Not really." "We could be together here." "Eh, I doubt it." "Do I have wings or a horn?" "Just a pair of wings." I opened them, then wrapped one around Lulu. "Aw, you." "I know, Babe." "I suppose you are my counterpart," a pony that looked like Lulu said, "I am the Princess of the Night." The pony had a horn and wings like Lulu, but she had moderate cyan eyes, flowing moderate sapphire blue mane outlined in gray persian blue, dark blue coat, and light sapphire blue eyeshadow. "Who are you?" I asked the pony. She looked at me and became somewhat bashful, almost as if she was attracted to me somehow. "H-hi," she said, eyes changing to blue, wings changing, and growing fangs, exactly like Luna. "He's mine!" Lulu said, "So don't get any ideas." "I've always had a thing for Greg." I heard Seth's cackling, "Lu, you've gotta come check this out!" "What is it?" "Blueblood just drank a bag of blood because he thought it was raspberry juice, then fell out cold when I told him what it was!" We all went into the next car to find a light gray unicorn with light arctic blue eyes and a light amber mane collapsed in a puddle of bloody vomit. "Wow, that's ripe!" I said, immediately noticing the smell. I took a glance from Lulu that said Yeah.. A pony that looked like Seth, but with wings, looked at me, "Don't freak out. Your Seth turned me into a vampire." "Yeah, I've gotten used to that." "Can your Seth write in Cyrillic?" "What?" "Like they do in Russialand. The funky letters?" "I'm a musician." "Just call me 'Pon-Seth'." Glaring a pair of fangs at me, he started laughing again, collapsing on the floor, along with the other Luna. "This sure beats watching HGTV with Celestia!" Lulu said, grinning at me. Those fangs are sexy. "I killed a garden by playing, and Seth killed four of them by looking at 'em!" She made that sound like a show for jackass gardeners, "Oh, these bee-flowers are the perfect touch for the Sun and bleh!" "You should see Seth when he's partying!" I laughed. She'll enjoy this! "Tia hates it when I come home at 5:30 in the morning, wasted! Have you ever drank?" "I have had one beer, and I was just o-u-t, out! If you wanna be amazed, spend the night on the town with Seth. I lost track of how much alcohol he drank, but the police were just like, 'What the hell?'." "What do you mean?" "He showed me a video from his DashCam the next morning, and it showed the cops doing a breath test on both of us. Mine said 0.12, and I was wasted. They just thought I was tired." "What about Seth?" Oh, just wait, Lulu. "They said his was above 30! You couldn't have known that he had drank at all unless you had seen him!" "That explains so-damn-much!" "Canterlot!" The train stopped and all four of us got off, only to find Pony Greg waiting at the station with a guitar. "Hey, what took..." he saw Luna, "you...? Wow, you're sexy." Luna began to blush, then let her fangs show again. I noticed the shock and lovesickness in his eyes. We both have a thing for Luna. Author's Note I'm officially at the point where I'm making this up as I go.
31: Luna's DateLuna's Point of View "Are you sure that this is such a good idea?" I asked, as he pounded on the door several times. "You'll be fine," Seth said, opening the door. After a minute, a guy my age came down stairs and looked at me. "Hi, Greg," he was lean, had gray-brown eyes, and brown hair that looked like it had never been cut, "May I... come in?" "Y-yeah." He was dressed in a black shirt with a gold star on the front, the sleeves were ripped off, a pair of blue jean pants, and muted-blue sandals. Celestia's gonna be PISSED if I can go into this before her. I can't rush or force it, though. The very next thing that I knew was that we were inside and everyone else had gone downstairs and started something. "So... is this... what happened?" "I... took the rest of the day off. And... he brought me here." "Wow, um, what do you think of nights?" "I could almost be the party goddess of them," I said, something making him take a step back, "Is something wrong?" "Wow." I looked at my reflection in the window that separated the living room from the dining room, then gasped, "I'm sorry!" "How about we just start slow?" I changed my eyes back and got rid of the wings, "I'd love that." "What do you do, um..." "Luna Solaire." "Luna?" "I'm the Vice-Principal for Canterlot High." "I play in a band." "I'm a vampire." "And I don't care." "Is this love?" I said, leaning towards him as he closed the door. "Yeah," we shared a passionate kiss, "It is." "In an alternate reality," I said, "I think I'm a pony moon goddess." "Will you be my moon goddess?" "If you'll be my rock star." That night, around 10:30 "Okay," I said, leading him to the Wondercolt statue, "It's just through here," I pointed at the mirror facing the school at the base of the statue. "It's a mirror." "Maybe," I stuck my hand through the mirror, "Who's first?" "Together." We both went through the portal, and it turned us into ponies, and came out into a closet. "Woah," he said, looking at me, "You're sexy." "Your wings, too." We got out of the closet and found our way out of the castle, but not without interruptions. "Princess Luna? You look... different." "Princess Luna?" Greg asked. We turned around to find a pony version of Fluttershy, "I didn't know that you had a special somepony." "Could you show us out? We're not from this world," Greg said, "We're on our first date, and we wanted to meet... ourselves." "Of course!" she said, leading us out and to a train station. It was a calm walk, actually. "This train will take you straight to Canterlot. I'll have Spike send her a message, okay?" "Okay," I said as she walked off." "Now to get ourselves together," he said as we boarded the train. "Next stop, Canterlot. Travel time, thirty-eight minutes," the conductor said over the speaker as we sat down and the train began moving. "So," he asked, "Do you know what to expect?" "No. Not really." "We could be together here." "Eh, I doubt it." "Do I have wings or a horn?" "Just a pair of wings." He opened them, then wrapped one around me. What a man. I love him. "Aw, you." "I know, Babe." A pony that looked similar to me came over to us, "I suppose you are my counterpart. I am the Princess of the Night." The pony had a horn and wings, moderate cyan eyes, flowing moderate sapphire blue mane outlined in gray persian blue, dark blue coat, and light sapphire blue eyeshadow. I don't give a shit WHO the hell she thinks she is. If she tries to come onto Greg, I'm going STRAIGHT for the throat! "Who are you?" he asked. She looked at Greg and began to fall lovesick. "He's mine! So don't get any ideas." "I've always had a thing for him." I heard Seth's cackling, "Lu, you've gotta come check this out!" "What is it?" "Blueblood just drank a bag of blood because he thought it was raspberry juice, then fell out cold when I told him what it was!" We all went into the next car to find a light gray unicorn with light arctic blue eyes and a light amber mane collapsed in a puddle of bloody vomit, and the smell almost knocked me over. Greg was the most affected by it. "Wow, that's ripe!" Yeah, sexy. A pony that looked like Vampire Seth looked at Greg, "Don't freak out. Your Seth turned me into a vampire." "Yeah, I've gotten used to that." "What?" "Like they do in Russialand. The funky letters?" "I'm a musician." "Just call me 'Pon-Seth'." He started laughing again, then collapsed on the floor with Luna. "This sure beats watching HGTV with Celestia!" I told Greg. Yeah, we have chemistry. "I killed a garden by playing, and Seth killed four of them by looking at 'em!" I replied by mocking the shit that I never really paid much attention to, "Oh, these bee-flowers are the perfect touch for the Sun and bleh!" Greg broke out laughing, "You should see Seth when he's partying!" "Tia hates it when I come home at 5:30 in the morning, wasted! Have you ever drank?" "I have had one beer, and I was just o-u-t, out! If you wanna be amazed, spend the night on the town with Seth. I lost track of how much alcohol he drank, but the police were just like, 'What the hell?'." "What do you mean?" "He showed me a video from his DashCam the next morning, and it showed the cops doing a breath test on both of us. Mine said 0.12, and I was wasted. They just thought I was tired." "What about Seth?" This will be good. "They said his was above 30! You couldn't have known that he had drank at all unless you had seen him!" "That explains so-damn-much!" "Canterlot!" The train stopped and all four of us got off, only to find Pony Greg waiting at the station with a guitar. "Hey, what took..." he saw Luna, "you...? Wow, you're sexy." Luna began to blush, then let her fangs show again, something Greg found attractive about me. "You really should find someone with whom you can grow old with
32: Meanwhile...Seth's Point of View "Okay," Sunset asked me, "Spill it. I want to know how you became a vampire. You obviously weren't one before I woke up in the hospital with Princess Twilight crying about me." "I'm friends with Luna." "That explains how you've always gotten away with your bullshit. I want to know about that first." "Sit down with a cup of coffee, this'll be a long story." "Okay, so when I was a Freshman, I knew I should keep to myself, because I didn't want a repeat of Delmarva... Flashback #1, Tuesday 11 October 2011 12:05p, Canterlot City High School ---Vice Principal Luna's Point of View--- "Luna," my sister said, "I really think that we should do something," Tia said, pacing back and forth, "I'm worried." "About who? Him or us?" "Both. In the three months of him attending Canterlot High School, so much of himself is degraded." I looked out the window and noticed the storm clouds closing in. It had thundered already, but that storm had passed an hour earlier. This one was supposed to be just a heavy downpour, "I'll do it," I said, getting up and leaving her office. "Thank you." "Don't mention it." I owed her a favor anyway, and we had spent this time profiling him. The results came back that Celestia could accidently cause some kind of a living hell to happen, but I could get through to Seth. ---Seth's Point of View--- "Great," I said to myself, seeing the storm clouds approach, "At least my food won't be dry. Right, Twilight?" I looked around my sapphire-blue Acer Aspire One, "Oh right. You're gone." I always sat at the picnic tables outside of the school's lunchroom, regardless of the weather outside. I had a whole table to myself, and I was away from all of the bullies. Not that I was particularly liked anyway. Or ever hungry, for that matter. Maybe I should just hit Greg up for money and buy up all of the food or that weird drink that's like booze to me. Wait! What am I thinking? That's crazy! What was I thinking? I opened up LibreOffice Writer and my story that I was working on, Delorean Trip in Time, when I noticed VP Luna heading toward the lunchroom. "Someone's done something," I said as the netbook slowly loaded the document that I had been working on for almost a month now, "Go, baby, go." When the document loaded, the loud and fast ticka ticka ticka of my typing could easily be heard from a distance, so I knew that I was in the zone. I kept myself just enough in a gray area where I would still notice where someone was headed, given that they showed up, "Twilight, you'd be proud," I said to myself. Luna was noticibly closer now, but she wasn't headed into the lunchroom. She was coming to me! Control-S, Control-Q, Control-Alt-L! The file slowly saved on the laptop running Windows 7-skinned-Linux Mint, then locked just as she made it to the picnic table, "Is this seat taken?" "No. I'll move." "No, don't." "Huh?" "I was wondering... if you'd like someone to talk to for a bit?" "What do you mean?" "I just figured," she began, "that you'd like to not be alone today for your lunch break?" "Well, it couldn't hurt." If she pulls ANYTHING, I'm marching my ass out and NOT coming back for at LEAST a week. "So," she began, "What's it like out here?" "Well, it's just... normal... and peaceful... out here. Not to mention comfortable." She looked at my unopened carry-out plate from the lunchroom and my drink, "What'd you get for lunch today?" I rested my elbows on the table and set my head in my hands, "Just a slice of sausage pizza and a coffee, black with sugar," I said, opening the plate to reveal the slice of homemade pizza, "Why?" "Just curious." "Alright," I said, "What the hell did I do?" "Oh, you didn't do anything wrong." I closed my laptop and put it in my bag, "Am I supposed to do something here?" "Maybe we could tell each other about ourselves?" she said as I sat back up. "There's not--" a solid downpour began, "This is fuckin' lovely," I said putting my hands on the bench and crossing my legs, "No friends, Co-Principal Luna is out here, I'm doused with rainwater, and I can't see." "How about we go into my office, okay?" "Sure, why not?" We went into her office where I tried to continue my lunch. "So, how long have you lived in Canterlot?" "Tell me about yourself first," I said, wiping all of the water off of my glasses with a washcloth VP Luna kept in her office, "Also, what is so fascinating about me?" "Well, as you know, I'm the Vice-Principal of Canterlot High. My sister, and only sibling, is the Principal." "Okay. What's new?" "Well, when I was in school, I had social anxieties, just like you," she sighed, "But over the years, I've learned to accept the fact that there are other people in my life." "Yeah," I said, looking to my soaking-wet laptop case, "That." "Earlier, I saw your laptop, and it had something on the lid," she said, suspicious as to whether I had some kind of talent behind the artwork, "Would it be okay if I took a look at it? I pulled the crappy netbook that I so much enjoyed out of my bag and set it on the table, showing her where I turned the lid into a canvas, "I just took a few K-pop songs and put them altogether in a scene," she looked at it, "Well, my favorites, anyway. Gangnam Style, Korea, New Face, and Gentleman." "Shit, that's good." "I wanted to put I LUV it with the group too, but, in the end, I decided against it because I had already run out of room." "Huh. I sketch some," she said, pulling out a notebook from a drawer, "Here. I don't even let Celestia go through it," she handed it to me, "I think I can trust you, though." I took it and looked as some of the sketches. They were amazing, to say the least. Shit. This is good. DAMN good! "Are you trying to be a sketch artist of some kind?" "I just do this when I get stressed." I noticed a small pair of fangs, so I flipped through the notebook and found something suspiciously different about her, "Do you believe in vampires?" I asked. Damn that was stupid. "Yeah. They actually are real." "How do you know?" "I know someone really close who is a vampire." You. "Who?" "I'll tell you later," she said as I finished my lunch, "You seem stressed." "Yeah. How do you put up with it?" "Well, there is sketching, but my favorite way to deal with it is gaming. Have you ever played Xbox?" "Not really. I'm more of an 8-bit gamer. Atari and Nintendo." "How about some one-on-one this afternoon?" "Sure. You are the first person at this whole school who actually seels like they give a damn about something other than themself." "Oh," she said, shocked at what I had just said, "What?" "Yeah. The guy who sits by himself everyday, JUST so he doesn't have to put up with people wishing he was dead of all the damn things doesn't have a person in the world outside of his house." I must've buttdialed someone because I heard a shocking WHAT!? from my pocket behind PSY-Korea. "What's he sayin'?" a southern-accent said. "People want him dead?" a raspy voice said. "I think so," a timid girl's voice said. "Mah God, Darling!" an English-accent said, "One should NEVER wish that upon someone else!" "What song is this?" "Pinkie Pie, Darling, I think that-" I picked the phone up and shouted over the now-blaring K-pop, "Yeah? And I'm here to STAY! So GET THE HELL OVER IT!!!!!" "Have a cup of coffee first!" the first voice said as a pink arm shot through the phone, holding a large Starbucks coffee, "Black with sugar!" "Gee, thanks," I said, taking the highly-caffinated drink, "I was out anyway." The arm retreated and a pink mouth protruded from the phone screen, "Enjoy!" "Okay..." I said as the mouth retreated, "Any other body parts I need to look out for?" "Nope!" I slid the phone across the table with my foot. "That was... weird," VP Luna said. "Agreed." "Dash, Ah'm just sayin' 'at Ah don't feel right eavesdroppin' on someone else's chatin'." "Oh, for the love of Jesus Christ in Heaven, will you just push the red button that says END THE DAMN CALL already!?" "Sorry, Darling," and the call ended. "What was the name of that song," VP Luna said as I stopped the music, "Oh, and you can just call me 'Luna' now. We're friends, if you want." "That's nice," I said, opening the crappy laptop, "I guess you can read something I've written. It's not any good, though." "I'll be the judge of that," she grinned, showing fangs again as she snatched the computer. "Just a heads-up, it's really slow." When the file finally opened, she skimmed over it, then looked up at me, "It's actually pretty good." "You think so?" "Yeah," she said, putting the computer back in my bag. "At my old school, I would have already been strip-searched." "For what?" "Who the hell knows?" "How's your homelife?" "Pretty good. Greg, my cousin-" "Greg Universe? The musician?" "Mm-hm. Anyway, he lets me do pretty much anything that I could think of. I mean, I could practically get away with murder for God's sake." "So, is he home now?" "Nah. He's on tour with the rest of the band. They should be back by Friday night, though." "Would you like to spend the week with me?" "Sure. Have you ever played Just Dance?" "I've never played with someone before." Twilight and I used to play that at Indigo's. "How about I take you to your house so you can get your clothes." "Sure. 43 Quicktime Circle." We went to her car, and she asked me about my music. "What do you like to listen to?" "Well," I said, "There is some weird shit from North Korea that I either strangely enjoy for the hell of it, or just make fun of. Then, there's Air Supply and K-Pop. I have a thing for stuff from the '80s like Walk Like an Egyptian, and Eye of the Tiger, then there's Gloria Gaynor, I'm not sure, actually. I guess that it's just what I find on YouTube that I like." She unplugged her phone from a Line In to Cassette adapter, "How about you put some of that music on?" "Sure," I said, taking my iPod Touch 4, plugging it into the stereo, and started my playlist lableled K-POP, "What first?" "Any of them." I tapped Korea and let it play. After a few seconds, I set the PDA in the cupholder and saw Luna smile. "Good, right?" "Shit! It's good. It's damn good!" "This is the best part!" "What?" "Do it with me. You'll like it." "Korea, deo keuge! Korea, deo keuge! Korea, deo sege! Korea, oh, oh, oh!" As she drove onto the circular road that held my house, she seemed almost nostalgic. When she pulled up to my house, she asked to come in. "You can just park in the driveway, or I can open up the garage for you, assuming Greg's junk is out of there," she looked at me with a confused look, "The upstairs is being soundproofed." "I'll just park in the driveway. Would it be okay if I came in?" "Sure," I said as we both got out of the car and went in. The door was pretty much always unlocked, but a few people thought I was nuclear, so they steered clear of the house usually. "Do I need to get my own bedding?" I said as she followed me down to the basement, "Because it's no trouble." The basement was partitioned for two areas: 85% for a decent lab and 15% for a bedroom. "Where... are your clothes?" "The cabinet next to the one with the labcoats." "Where?" "Next to where the stairs come out into the room." "Do you want me to help you?" "Just make yourself comfy if you want." "I think I'll help, then." "Suit yourself," I said, getting a blanket and pillow off of the couch that served as my bed so I could put them in a suitcase of some kind. I was suddenly thirsty, so I reached for my Yetti cup that I poured Dr Pepper in this morning, but something about it smelled different. I have got to stop setting these things next to my chemicals. I didn't notice the initials LS on the lid. "No matter," I said to myself before turning to Luna, who already had a week's worth of clothes in a bag. "What do you do at the end of the day?" "I don't do anything." "Would you just like to go over to my house then?" "Sure." "You want a bite?" "Not really." "Sure? I can get something from upstairs." "I'm sure." We went out to her car, and she drove me straight to her house. Wow. It's nice. "You know," she said, "I have a gaming cave." "Can you show me?" She took me downstairs to a basement that was almost as big as the one at my house, "Damn. You have it all." "And that's how I got to know Luna." "Okay," Sunset said, drinking from a coffee mug that read Wорлд'с Бест Вампире, "Now, how did you become a vampire?" "I asked Luna to do it in exchange for me giving her vacation time." "I should have guessed." Flashback #2, Monday 20 January 2014 8:30a, Canterlot City High School I made my way to Vice-Principal Luna's office, and those words rang in my head time and time again. We were REALLY good friends, but she didn't exactly let everything go unseen. Seth, please come to Vice-Principal Luna's office. Now. That one word, Now. She's let me get away with a lot of shit in the past, but I don't think I'll get away with this so easily. Maybe she's in a good mood. Unlikely, ESPECIALLY considering how pissed she was when she came up to that dump on Thursday. The door was within arm's length, so I'm sure that she sensed me, especially considering that I came up as silently as possible, even going so far as to take my Japanese Kimono Sandals off and carry them, essentially making me barefoot, "Come in." "Yes?" "Close the door." The only source of light in the dimly-lit room at this point was the light coming in from the mostly-folded blinds, "Please sit." "So...?" She slid one of my notebooks to me. It was labeled Сцхоол Схит. ПРИВАТЕ!!. My stomach sank. "I see that you've known that I'm a vampire, correct?" "Yes...?" "I could expel you for what you did Thursday. I should expel you, but knowing what I do know about you, it wouldn't do any good. Besides, you did potentially save Sunset Shimmer's life. "I don't get where you're going with this." "I need time off," her fangs extended, "And I'm sure you do, too." "I'm not intimidated by the fangs." "And I saw what you did in the library, too. I'm impressed." "Thanks," I smiled. "So, you're not mad?" "Well, there was the destruction of school technology." "That." "But, I will overlook it," she said, "On the condition that you pull me some time off. You're probably shaken as well, so you can do yourself the favor, too." I thought for a second, then got another sly grin, "Make me a vampire?" Her eyes turned from opal to red, "Let me get to your neck. It'll only hurt for a minute, but it won't be bad. The fangs are going to be pretty weird to talk around at first, though." "Is that how you were?" "I was born a vampire. Celestia wasn't though." "Neat." "Ready?" "Sure." "On the floor, on your back," she said, earning a confused look from me, "It works best if I bite at your jugular." "Oh!" I got on the floor and got ready, but Luna was obviously a little worried about something, "What is it?" "If someone comes in, sees the mess, what we're doing, and gets somebody. They'll think it's a sex scandal." "Good point. Still wanna do it now?" "Doesn't really matter to me." I emptied my laptop case and set it on the floor where my head would be (making sure that the mess would be normally covered by the laptop, even though it would blend in with the others), "Mess is taken care of." She locked the door, "Door's locked." I took a few coins from my bag and wedged them between the door and the doorframe, for extra security, "Now we're safe." "Okay, get ready." I got back on the floor, "Hai." She chuckled, "Japanese. Funny," she went to a somewhat-serious tone, "Now, you can't make any noise. Squeeze my arm if you have to." "Got it," I said, giving a thumbs-up. She bit down, and I reflexively began to squirm, but squeezed her arm with my left hand and made a fist with my right one. Oh God! Getting my blood sucked out is the weirdest thing ever! "Okay," she said, getting up and sitting on her knees, "I'm done. Feel alright?" "Yeah." I felt of my throat where she had bitten down, and felt two holes, along with a bloody mess, "This is noticeable," I said to her as she licked the remaining blood off of her face. "Sorry. This is going to be weird," she said, "but I need to lap at the wound for it to close." "Okay," I said. After Thursday, this almost does not deviate from the status quo. She lapped at the bleeding holes in my neck for about two or three seconds before getting back up, "Okay." I sat up, and she looked at me with somewhat of a shocked expression, "What?" "You have wings." "I'll start hacking," I said, getting up and putting my crap (minus the laptop and my smartphone) back in the bag. "Good idea." After about five or so minutes, I had Lu about two months worth of personal days and myself checked out, "What now?" "I'm not sure," she said, handing me a few bags of blood, "They're A+. I think that they're really sweet." I drank one, then realized how thirsty I actually was, "This is sweet." She smiled, then I knew that our friendship had became a lot closer, "Hungry?" "Hell, yeah," I said, putting my laptop in the bag. "What's a place you like?" "Frank's Diner." "Go get your books from class. I'm in a 1984 Honda Civic CRX Hatchback. Navy-blue." "I figured." "I'll carry your computer and meet you at the front." "A'ight," I said as we both left the office. The walk back to the classroom was overly-satisfying. Normally, I would get bullied by most people because I'm friends with the school's Vice-Principal, but now everyone who saw me did their best to avoid me. Not that I wasn't above taking revenge out on them, though. At one point, I heard some people talking. Those girls from Thursday. I walked right by them, along with a sixth girl that looked similar to Twilight before I lost touch with her. "What the hell?" the athlete said, noticing my eyes, fangs, and wings. She immediately turned to the timid girl, "Fluttershy, don't turn around!" "What? Why?" she said, turning around to me, "Oh my goodness!" she yelled as she fainted before being caught by the athlete and farmer. "What in Celestia is going on in your world!?" the purple girl said. Wow. She REALLY sounds like Twilight. "Mah God, he's looking this way!" "Need anything?" I said, walking toward them. "C'me on, Flutt'rshy!" the farmer said, "Don't quit on 's!" When I made it toward them, the usually-hyperactive girl's hair deflated as she went into a small state of panic, "Are you okay?" "Yes, Darling! We're okay!" the vain girl said. I looked at the timid girl, "No it isn't. I'm taking a look whether you like it or not." The only one of them that dared to get in my way was the athlete, but that didn't last for long. "Stay away from her!" I shined my fangs at her. "Don't hurt me." I went over to her, felt of her head, and checked her vitals. "Dash, s'mtimes you do stupid things!" "What?" "Yer lucky 'at ya ain't bleedin' ta death right now!" "I'm super fast, and I have wings." "So's he!" "I need a bottle of cold water. Or ice." The pink girl gave me an ice pack, so I set it on the timid girl's head, then she slowly came back to. "Oh, I thought I saw a vampire," she said, regaining coherency, "Oh my goodness!" she crawled backward as fast as she could. "Jesus, kid. I don't kill." "I thought you always wanted to be a vampire, Fluttershy," the pink girl said, her hair instantly poofing back up. I rolled my eyes, "We're not animals. Red eyes, wings, fangs, ability to manipulate things," I counted on my fingers, "The only characteristic that all vampires share is the eyes and fangs. Some vampires have wings, some can manipulate things, some can do both, and some can't do either. I just happen to have a pair of wings. I can't manipulate things, though." "So, you're not an animal?" the timid girl asked. "No," I shook my head, "I'm not." "Oh." "I'll go get my stuff, and I probably won't be back today," I said, walking back to the classroom. I heard them start talking again, but it was about me being a vampire. I didn't take offense to it, but a part of it did freak me out. "I didn't know he was a vampire, Darling. He sure kept it covered up." "He wasn't!" I heard the hyperactive one say. She made me freeze in my tracks, "Seth was a regular human before this morning when he went into Vice-Principal Luna's office, he and her have a friendship that started a few months after he moved from Delaware to Canterlot that MIGHT have caused him, and all of us by association, not only because we saved everyone, but because he found where Sunset was, even though he did it illegally. Anyway, that's besides the point. He went into Vice-Principal Luna's office this morning with just his laptop, but the way he was told to go to her office was enough to make him think that he had screwed up bigtime! Not to mention that he already knew that Lu, that's his nick for her, was a vampire herself! She just happened to be born one, so they struck a deal: Seth hacks and gets both of them out without any reprecussions, and Luna turns him into a vampire. Princess Twilight's from an alternate pony world where events run parallel to our own, so I'm sure that him and her are friends in Equestria, that is the name right?" she giggled, "Of course it is, Silly! Anyway, Princess Twilight and Pony-Seth, who is a pegasus, are, like really great friends! That explains the wings. The logic behind his friendship with Vice-Principal Luna, is a different story, although I do know that him and Princess Luna, she's the pony equivalent of Vice-Principal Luna, but a night-goddess instead, along with being a vampire herself, too, they try to have all of the fun that Seth and our Luna has, making Luna have the ability to manipulate things, as well as have a pair of wings!" Judging by the way she said that, I could just feel that she had the world's biggest grin on her face. "Pinkie Pie, Darling, I don't think that's what happened." I went back over to her, but the farmer went into a small panic, "Pinkie, Ah thank ya've messed up bigtime!" "How did you know about that friendship?" I asked, "I'm a secluded person." "Just a hunch!" "What about Equestria?" the Twilight-esque girl said. "You're a pony princess. Of course it would only make sense!" I received a few glances, "That is the same girl whose hair deflated when I said I wasn't going through a mirror-portal," I said, backing away from the group, "See ya." I got my books and met Lu out in front of the school. "Hey, what took ya?" "You know those six girls?" I tossed my bookbag into the back seat. "You had a run-in with them," she said, putting the car in gear and leaving the parking lot, "Am I right?" "Yeah," I said, kicking my feet on the dashboard, "Don't mind me getting comfortable, do ya?" She glanced at me, "No. I don't. This car is 30 years old, anyway." "How did ya get it?" "eBay. How do the wings feel? They don't hurt, do they?" "No. Not really." "Are you still okay?" "Yeah. The wings are cool, I feel better than ever, and I'm NOT in that idiot-coop anymore." We were at a stoplight, so she put her head on the steering wheel and just laughed, "God, that's funny." "What do I need to expect? Now that I'm a vampire." "The Sun won't kill you, but it will feel a bit uncomfortable. You'll start sparkling after being out in it for a while, which I assume you don't ever do to begin with, let alone all day, which is when that starts." "Yeah, I don't." "You won't live forever like they do in the movies," "Thank God." "A shitload of strength," "A'ight." "Night vision. Everything will look like it's daytime," "Hot damn." "Obviously, you'll have to drink blood occasionally," "Fine with it." "You can make yourself look like anything or anyone," "Sweet." "There are two levels of manipulation: basic and true. Any of us can use basic manipulation, but a lot of us don't have true manipulation." "What's the difference?" "Basic manipulation is being able to control things on a small scale, usually not very significant things, but the ability is still there. True manipulation is affecting everything on a large scale," she could tell that I was at a loss, "I took computer classes in school, so naturally, I made some digital mischief. You, on the other hand, could take out anything you can connect your laptop into." "Right..." "Now, swap that power and those abilities between us, then picture those as vampire manipulation abilities." I gave what Luna said a thought, "Oh. Makes sense." We hadn't been paying attention, so we didn't know when we were at the restaurant, "What do like?" she asked. "A bacon burger." "Those are so good." We went in, had our order taken, then picked back up, "What's your game?" "What do you mean?" I asked. "You know, console?" "The S-Nes." She laughed into her hand, "What?" "S-Nes? That's... that's just a weird way to say it. Usually, people call it SNES or Super Nintendo." The waitress brought our food out to us, then Lu shot her fangs out, "What... are you doing?" "Huh?" she put the sandwich down, "Oh, it's a lot easier to eat this stuff with fangs." We both managed to devour the large sandwiches in two minutes, flat, "Oh, and don't worry about getting fat, either." "How?" "A vampire's body utilizes every bit of food they eat. I mean, we don't even have to eat! It just feels nice. And, there have been times where I've wondered what it's like to be a normal human." "Boring," I replied without missing a beat, "You have to eat and worry about weight and all of that junk, unless you have an ungodly-high metabolism, and you can't do anything that you told me in the car." "Do you have any idea about how easy this is?" "Helluva?" "Right, you are." We left the restaurant and got back in her car, although she just sat in the driver's seat with the clutch and gas depressed as she threw the key in the cupholder. "Sleep is the same way as eating is. Vampires don't need it," she said, this time solemnly. "Are you okay?" "That day I came out and sat with you at that picnic table, I hadn't slept at all since the first week of school had ended. Tia wanted me to go check on you that day, but I was debating against it. Just like I had done every other day, actually. Every night, I would pace back and forth in my basement, wondering if you'd be okay. I would have came out sooner, but I was constantly afraid that I'd just... go straight for your neck and finish you in one go, or at least scare you shitless. If I knew how you felt about vampires and wanting to be one, I would have went to you earlier. When you picked up that cup of blood at your house, I almost had a meltdown. I probably would have if you had drank any. That's just how scared I was. Later when we were playing on the Xbox 360, I wanted, so DAMN bad, to tell you everything. That night, at 2:30 after you had fell out, holding a pot of coffee, that had spilled all over your pillow and cover, I originally thought 'Well done, Luna. Well friggin' done.'. I remember looking at the warm and sticky mess, debating on how to clean it. Seperate the liquid from the bedding? No, I might make a horrible mess. Just pull it off of him? No, I don't want to WAKE the guy. I need Celestia.. All of those thoughts, swimming in my head were making me debate whether or not I should've came right out and said everything, or if I should have even taken you in. Not that I'm trying to hurt you-" "You're not." "Anyway, I went upstairs and saw Celestia in the kitchen, doing the one thing that I thought I'd NEVER see her do: panicing at 2:30 and using coffee for comfort. We both managed to keep ourselves collected, even though we were handling the situation rather badly. I don't know how, but we managed to wake you up. What was probably the worst part was when you came upstairs, looked us both in the eye at the kitchen table, and, while you were only half-awake at that, said, and I quote, 'Luna, just tell me that you're a vampire I'm okay with it. Celestia, stop worrying so-damn-much.' We both worried on that for a while before I cleaned up the coffee that you had spilled in your sleep while you were prowling through the refridgerator. I, honest to God, had no idea that you knew. Anyway, a few minutes later, you came back down stairs with a can of soda, or pop, as you call it, confusing me and my morals a little further," she sighed, "then you came over to where I was at the couch, sat your drink down, hugged me, said 'Thank ya, sis.", tried to open a spot on your arm for me to drink from, which you managed to do, but I closed it, then passed out on the arm of the sofa. Tia saw the whole thing from the top of the stairs, making for a very awkward moment, before leaving and going to bed. I seriously thought about pulling another night, something I knew I could do with no problem, but I sat down and pulled you off of the arm of the couch, which ended up in you holding me in your sleep, then me falling asleep too, leaned up against the back of the thing. The next morning at around 9:30, while we were supposedly having a contest to see who could drink the most coffee to wake themselves up, I was debating on whether to tell you." "That's heavy," I said as she finally started the car and drove off. "Now, I finally know that I could've told you all of this sooner" "And turned me into a vampire." "I just... keep beating myself up over it." "Don't," I said, "That's a topic that neither of us knew to bring up, even if there ever was a right time to. Although I bet it feels good getting that off of your chest, doesn't it?" "It does on SO many levels." "And get this," I said, "If you hadn't ever turned me into a vampire, you'd still be beating yourself up over nothing." "I guess you're right." "Care for a little one-on-one?" "360?" "2600." "You're on." End of Flashback Sci-Twi's Point of View I know I should tell them about my dreams. Seth is smart, and he was always able to pull stuff from them that made sense. Ohh, but I can't. Not out loud. Oh, for fuck's sake, Twilight Sparkle. Stop it. Now. I'll cut you a break, and I won't tell anyone. That is, assuming you don't wake up screaming again in the middle of the damn night. "And that explains that." The rest of the day until 15:00 went by fast enough with everything going on in that basement, before everyone coming BACK over for another party. That went smooth enough, but what wasn't was a feeling in my gut that I'm sure even Midnight didn't know about. Even if she did, it would worry her. I don't want that, even IF she's horrible. This is MY fight, and I've got to fight it alone. "Dude, Twilight," Seth said to me, "You okay?" "I'm fine." The rest of the day went rather normal until I went to sleep at 21:30, but my sleep was... disturbing... to say the least. Several nightmares killed any chance I had at actually feeling rested in the morning. Sci-Twi's First Nightmare I looked around and saw that I was on the same bus as I was several days ago when I went to Equestria for my first friendship lesson. Everyone was cold and distant, just like on any other city bus, but this time, Spike wasn't with me in my bag. "Wow," I said, looking at my Casio Calculator watch. 07:38 49 AM 15 9-16 I, exactly like the first time, just thumbed through my Hotmail and text messages, mostly to keep myself occupied even though I didn't have anything unread. "I must be going to CHS," I said, noticing the time and date and my surroundings. The bus stop for CHS was a block and a half from the school. No problem there, but I had trouble at the school again: Manor and Blueblood were there, and they looked pissed. Manor's hand was bandaged and Blueblood was wearing what looked like a laptop bag. "Please! Stop!" I was gagged and stripped like the first time. What was different, though, was that everyone I knew that was still alive were there, too. Except for Midnight. "Mmph! Mmph!" I said through the gag, trying to EMP the iPhone that was recording me being molested, but to no avail. "You didn't deserve the help you got the first time," Sunset said, my vision severly blurring for some reason. "Be a dear and look at yourself, Darling," Rarity said, holding a mirror up to me, "Oh right! You're blind!" "Like shit you are," Seth said, putting my glasses on as I clenched my eyes shut, "Blueblood, Manor! Save some goods for the rest of us, why don't ya?" I felt parts of my body change, then what sounded like a powerful handgun was shot immediately to the left of my head, scaring the living crap out of me. Please! Upon opening my eyes, I found that I was a normal human again. No Equestrian magic, no muzzle, no horn or tail, no anything! I was just... me! "See yourself NOW?" Princess Twilight said, maniacally. "Please... stop...!" I said, dryly before getting beaten to death. I woke up screaming before punching two or three different people. "Dude, Twilight!" "Deary, everything's okay now!" "C'mon, Sci-Twi!" I hit another person before I became completely lucid again, "Please help." "We're here, Kiddo." I opened my eyes, only to find that the lights were on, and all of my friends, Shining and Cadence, Mom and Dad, and even Cinch for some damn reason. "You put up a good fight, Twilie," Shining said, "On several of us." I looked at Mom and Dad, "Oh my God, I'm so sorry!" "It's okay," she said, holding a bag of ice to her face, "We know you didn't mean it." "Dude, Twi," Seth said, looking at me, "What the hell happened?" He was missing a fang and two teeth. "I... had a nightmare." "No shit," Midnight said, "You kept screaming for a handgun." "I was?" "Yeah," Sunset said, holding her stomach, "I'm pretty sure that you work out, too. You even knocked Big Mac out. Twice." "Oh, Jesus." "Just... Just go back to sleep," Seth said to me, "I'll be right here," he gave me his 375 Magnum that he used to use if he heard a noise in the middle of the night, "I can just go all out for it." That was the last thing I remembered before I was out again. Sci-Twi's Second Nightmare I found myself back in the house. We had all just got there for the first time, but now, nothing was aggressive.What was originally a misunderstanding that was blown out of proportion to the accidental accusal of racism didn't happen. Instead, it was immediately realized, so I went upstairs, completely unnoticed by the others and looked in the refrigerator. There wasn't anything there that Seth could have gotten "drunk" from. "That's strange." "What's strange, dude?" "Gah!" I snapped back around, only to find Seth. He was smiling, but I could see where his fangs were showing past his mouth, and he had one hand on his hip. "Something wrong?" My eyes darted left and right for a minute, "No! Everything's fine!" He walked closer to me as his smile faded, "No you're not, Twilight. I know when something's wrong with you. I mean, we've known each other since we were like seven." I guess he does feel obligated to protecting me, somehow. "It's just that..." "Yeah?" "All of your garbage from the refrigerator is missing." His smile and pose returned, "Dude," he said, "shit happens. Besides, vampires don't need to eat and sleep like everyone else. Pretty much all of our energy comes from what blood we ingest." ` "Wait," I said, "So you're not mad?" "Hell, no. It's like I said: Shit happens." Just then, he, Sunset, Ms Luna, and Vinyl all jumped on me and tried to kill me. I remember screaming, being tied down, getting cut open, and having something stripped out of me that resembled everything I had lived for and done, along with all of my life, as I had perceived it. Again, I woke up screaming and accidentially injuring more people. This time, Indigo, Seth, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Starlight Glimmer. "Twilight! Wake up, dammit!" "Dude, PLEASE come back to The Land of the Living!" When I became fully awake and aware of my surroundings, I realized that my wrists and ankles were restrained to something, which only unnerved me even more. "What the hell is going on!?" I cried. "Dammit, Rainbow Dash!" Seth said, coming over to untie me, "You just DON'T do that to people! I don't care WHAT the hell is going on! You could at least be humane about it!" "Look who's talking!" she replied, "You're a vampire! That has to be even worse than tying her up! I mean, she almost HIT me! Besides, you said so yourself! It could blow someone's head off!" "Are you okay, Twi?" he said, helping me up. "Y... yeah." "No you're not." "DAMMIT! If you won't tell, then I'll just say it right here, right now. You had two nightmares, the first one was from that day where you were raped, and everyone just kept it going. The second one was that every vampire that you know began attacking you and killed you. Ironically, the one to start attacking you was Seth!" she looked at the vampire, then subsequently became scared of what she had just said, "Oh God, I'm SO sorry! Don't kill me!" He sat down next to me and put an arm around my shoulder, "Someone had to say it, Midnight. I was literally counting the seconds until it was said. She replied with only a sigh of relief. "That's how I feel right about now," he said, adjusting his position on the couch to where he was sitting against the back and the armrest. I held Seth's waist, leaned against him and fell asleep again, feeling safer now. This time, I actually had a wonderful dream. Dream #3 I looked around, and found that we were at some kind of dance, and the song that was playing was Two Less Lonely People In The World by Air Supply. It was live! Everyone that I had ever seen was there. Okay. What's the catch? I found that I was slow dancing with Seth. I noticed something different about him now He was dressed like Daniel Krumitz from CSI: Cyber. He was three inches taller. His hair was parted in the middle, making it go around his face, and was somewhat shorter. He had his wings unfolded, his eyes were crimson, and his fangs were out (Just thought I'd put that there because I don't usually see him like that). Neither of us were wearing our now-usual eyeware. He was wearing a regular pair of eyeglasses, and I wasn't wearing any at all. "Hey, Seth?" "Yeah, Twilight?" "Did you get taller? Also, are we in love?" "So what, if we are?" The song began to slow, everyone around us stepped back by about three feet, and a spotlight made its way to us. "Every love is here and now, there's..." The song slowly stopped at the end of that phrase, everyone had stepped back, and the spotlight now shone on us, leaving both of us confused. "You can do it, Darling!" "Go on now, Sci-Twi!" "You can do it!" "Seal the deal, Twi!" "Go on, now!" "Go for it!" We looked into each other's eyes, and knew it: We were in love. Should we? The two of us leaned in for a kiss. "Just don't bite my tongue." When our lips met, everyone started cheering, and the band finished the song. "...Two less lonely people in the world, and it's gonna be fine!..." "I guess that answers my question," I said as he picked me up and held me for another kiss. "Guess it's settled, then." "Is this supposed to feel... like this?" "I'm a six-foot-tall, bloodsucking, human creature; you're half-unicorn now; and you find this weird?" he said, putting me back down, "I'm just going to go with it." "You know," I said, "the only times I've actually been kissed were when Blueblood and Manor were molesting me. This one actually felt... nice." "If they try to do that again, I'll tear them apart," he said with a smile, "They know what I'm capable of, and I've taken a guess that you'd help me kick their asses, too." "That'd be lovely," I said, returning his warm smile. Several more scenes passed by me: dates (some to Japan and a now-unified-under-the-Southern-government Korea), high school graduation, college, hanging out with our friends, then stopped on a proposal at a Japanese Teppanyaki Restaurant. In none of the scenes, we were dressed up. Seth wore the same style of outfit, and I was just wearing my normal clothes. Neither of us had aged a lot in terms of appearance, either. I must've stopped wearing glasses, but Seth alternated between his and a regular pair. "Twilight," Seth said, now 23, "Would you make me the happiest person on Earth?" he got down on one knee and presented me with a ring, "If you'd marry me." The entire restaurant went quiet, and I could feel everyone looking at each other and smiling. "I'd love to." Everyone in the restaurant became happy, a few people even clapping and cheering. The next scene that I stopped at was the wedding. More like an hour before. "Oh, but I insist, Darling! A wedding just isn't a wedding if it's not formal!" "Rarity," I replied, "We're not going for that. I mean, we're already a vampire and half-unicorn getting married. Besides, we both agreed: We're too different to try to be normal, so let's not make what we do normal." Time sped forward to the next hour: We were at the altar, and nobody was dressed for a normal wedding. None of Seth's family was here, but all of mine, our friends, and their families were there. I'm sure he liked that more. "Do you, Twilight Sparkle, take Seth C DeMeats to be your lawful wedded husband?" "Why not?" "And do you, Seth C DeMeats, take Twilight Sparkle to be your lawful wedded wife?" "I'm not ruining this day for anyone." I giggled at that. I'll take it that's a 'hell-to-the-yeah!'. "You may now kiss." We shared a kiss that was as passionate as the first date. "I now present to you, Mr and Mrs DeMeats." " Author's Note I'm working on this chapter while I figure out all of the romance in the previous two. And NO! Lu is NOT a pet name, and Seth and Luna are NOT lovers. EDIT: When I oblique the Cyrillic text, the letters change. If you copy and paste the Cyrillic stuff in something like Kate, you'll see what it really is. EDIT: I know those songs are post-2011, but this is an alternate universe story. EDIT: This is now a Meanwhile... chapter. 18 3-27: I might try to do a sequel that takes place when the characters are older.
1: Leaving the Human WorldSci-Twi's Point of View "Twilight," The girl with fiery hair said, helping me up as I put on my glasses, "You said you wanted to understand magic, right?" "But not at the cost of the whole world. I just wanted to understand what I can. Not her. Not Midnight Sparkle." Her five friends came over to me and reassured me that everything was going to be alright. "Now," she said, directing me into the hole in space, "welcome to Equestria." Author's Note The Human Twilight Sparkle, because of her "brainy" and "Dr Emmett Brown-like" demeanor (Back to the Future reference on the second one), will be referred to as "Sci-Twi" to more easily distinguish her from Princess Twilight Sparkle. Also, that is what I've seen her called in other places in the fandom.
2: An Equestrian... Welcome?I went into the world filled with magic, but quickly lost my balance and fell down upon entering. Sunset followed me in, and provided me with some assistance. She was now one of these creatures, moving as if she had previously been one of them before. I began to break down a little because of this. The unrest and cluelessness of the quadroped creatures of this strange world didn't really help much, either. "Wh... Where are my fingers? What's this thing on my head!?" "Calm down, Twilight," she said, "Those are hooves, and you're a unicorn here. You have magic here. And I mean REAL magic," she said, reassuringly. I tried to stand up again, but I fell back down. "I can't stand up. Where are my feet!?" "You're not a human here. You're a pony." "What?" She stood on four legs instead of two now, and she had hooves as well as a muzzle. Her ears resembled a horse's ears, and she had a tail that was the same style as her firey hair. "I know it's a lot to take in at first, but you'll get the hang of it really soon if you just take a moment and relax." Sunset's friends, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, and Rarity, all came through the rip with her, although they just turned slightly anthropomorphic (simply getting pony ears and hair becoming impossibly long, along with Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy getting wings) instead of becoming the creatures of this land. I had a sneaking suspicion that Sunset knew how to utilize (or reject) resources in order to transform into a hybrid creature. "You... you didn't... you didn't change like they did. They're still human!" "I know somepony who helped me, and she can help you just as good." "Some...pony? You mean someBODY, right?" "You'll see." She taught me how ponies stood and walked, and then proceeded to take me to a strange place.
