Something Halloween

It was a very relaxed, very happy Twilight Sparkle sitting outside at a cafe next door from the office and sipping some green tea. The day was, once again, beautiful and sunny and kept her nice and warm even in the weak October chill. She had a pair of custom-made pony sunglasses to keep off the harsh glare of the sun and also to give her that 'cool mare' look. That last was Anon's comment, which she kinda liked. It always made her smile when she remembered.

The place made average tea, but they did an amazing omelette with veggies. Darlene from the reception said they over-salted it, but that was just what Twilight liked about the food here. Most human food was too bland by half for her taste. Right now, Twilight was finishing the last bite and dabbing at her muzzle with a napkin. Excellent as always, but it was time to get back to work. She brought out some money from her light, pony-adapted purse and left it on the table. The purse had been a small gift from Suri which arrived quite unexpectedly in the mail several months prior. It was just so much more convenient than saddlebags for the modern, on-the-go businessmare.

Suri was doing well for herself, from what Twilight could gather. Good for her. She hadn't liked that mare too much in the past, but it looked like she was turning a new leaf on Earth. Musing on the ways this new world had changed them all, the alicorn stood up and made her way back to the street. She was pleasantly full, well rested - thanks to the spell - and kept nice and warm by the combination of the autumn sun and the tea inside her belly. Not to mention relaxed after Anon's bath-massage and subsequent lovemaking.

A flash of pink caught her eye and she looked across the street, where a young girl was playing hopscotch on the sidewalk. It wasn't a common sight, at least on this street. There hadn't been residential buildings here in the past fifty or so years. Maybe the girl's mother was in one of the shops, but that was really irresponsible to just leave a young child out on the street like that, alone. Twilight looked both ways for the cars, then quickly crossed, just to make sure everything was alright. She stopped just outside the crude chalk drawing and watched for a moment. The child was wearing a very frilly dress, complete with stockings and a bonnet. It looked a bit over-elaborate, but Twilight wasn't about to judge.

Some people liked to over-dress their children and it didn't look as if the girl minded. Her lips were pursed in concentration as she hopped up and down, following the complex rules of the game.

"Um, excuse me, little girl?" Twilight called out.

It was strange that the child hadn't noticed her on her own. Ponies were usually a very interesting sight for most people. Maybe she had been brought up to be polite? That would be a welcome change from some Twilight remembered. The girl didn't seem to have heard and just kept jumping from square to square. Twilight tried to follow the game for a while, but couldn't quite make sense of it.

"Hello?"

At long last the child heard and looked over. If she thought it interesting to find herself speaking to a pony, she didn't show it. Probably she had seen her on TV, Twilight thought. It still wasn't the reaction she'd been expecting and something about the girl made her slightly uneasy. Despite that, Twilight gave her best, friendliest smile.

"Hi there! Are you alone out here? Do you know where your mother is?"

Wordlessly, the girl extended an arm and pointed at a nearby building. As far as Twilight knew, those were just offices. Not even shops.

"Your mother works in there?" the pony guessed.

The girl said nothing and just turned back to her game. A very quiet child. Maybe she couldn't speak? That would explain her strange attitude and the unsettled feeling Twilight got from her. Well, strange or not, it still wasn't acceptable to just leave a child on a busy sidewalk in the middle of the business district unsupervised! The mare wanted to go over and look for the mother and then give her a piece of her mind!

Could she leave the child alone for a bit longer? She had been alright so far and the street wasn't too busy. "Okay, sweetie, I'll go and look for your mother, do you understand? Please don't go anywhere and don't walk on the road, okay?"

The girl gave her a blank look, but then nodded after a few moments.

"What's your name?"

Again, the empty stare. I was really starting to get to Twilight and she took an involuntary step back. "Okay, that's okay. You don't have to tell me. Your parents probably told you not to talk to strangers, that's okay. I'll be back very soon!"

She was a bit relieved when she trotted towards the building the girl had indicated, even if made Twilight feel a bit guilty. Not as guilty as she would make the mother feel, though! The mare reached the lobby door and looked up at the sign. It was an accounting firm. Definitely not the kind of place where you go briefly inside and leave a young child to wait for you! Looking back to make sure the girl was still okay, Twilight gasped. She was lying on the ground! She must have fallen!

All thought of looking for the mother was momentarily forgotten as the mare galloped back. Her heart was racing and her face was scrunched up in worry. Please let it be just a minor bruise, she thought. She reached the child and froze in terror. The girl was sitting up and put a hand to her face, where a trickle of blood was flowing freely.

"Oh no no no, this is bad, this is bad!" Twilight gasped.

She fumbled in her purse for the phone and looked around for any help. The sidewalk was completely deserted. She dialed the three most important digits and shuffled her hooves anxiously as it rang. A tired-sounding lady picked up.

"Nine one one, how may I help you?"

"Quick! I need an ambulance. This little girl fell and she's bleeding!"

A hand landed on her shoulder and Twilight squeaked in fright. She twirled around. It was a very concerned-looking Samuel Oswin. Accounts Payable department, Twilight had a few meetings with the man in the recent months. A wave of relief flushed though her. She had help.

"Sam! Quick, the girl needs help. I'm calling 911, go to the reception and grab the med kit under the desk! Hurry!"

He looked around in confusion. "What are you talking about Twilight? What girl?!"

The mare turned around and her mouth fell open. There was nothing on the sidewalk. No chalk drawing of the hopscotch game. No girl. No blood. "S-She was right h-here!" she gasped.

There were a few people standing and staring at her strangely. Twilight couldn't quite process what was going on. The sidewalk had been devoid of others just a few seconds ago! A voice in her ear reminded her that she had the emergency services on the line. "Ma'am? Is everything okay, ma'am? What's your address so I can send an ambulance."

What could she say? It had happened! It couldn't have just been in her imagination! "She was there. She was bleeding!"

"Ma'am, I'm gonna need you to calm down and tell me your address," the voice on the phone said.

Twilight forced herself to calm down and took a deep breath. First thing first. "Sorry," she told the emergency lady. "There's been a mistake. I'm sorry to have bothered you." She didn't wait for the reply and hung up. Then she looked at Samuel. "I could swear there was a girl in a frilly pink dress playing hopscotch! I talked with her!"

The man looked blank. "Sorry, Twilight. There was no one there. I saw you running from across the street and I came to check. Then you were yelling in your phone. You didn't hear me!"

The mare shook her head, then rubbed it with a hoof. It didn't make sense. Had she been seeing things? Things that weren't real? Why a girl in an old-fashioned dress playing hopscotch?

"Are you okay, Twilight? I think you better come inside. Should we call an ambulance or something?"

"N-No, no, I'm fine. It's just- it was so weird! It looked so real!"

"Come on, I'll have Darlene call Anon. Let's get you off the street."

She allowed herself to be led away by a gentle pressure on her withers. Samuel was leaning down to keep his hand there, for which the mare was very grateful. Her mind was racing, trying to make connections. Could it be related to her spell? How? Why? She found it very hard to believe that she would suddenly start seeing things. Yes, there were those flashes of color, of course, but having them change from amorphous color blobs to actual people was a bit of a jump.

The girl had clearly reacted to her. It was really uncanny and she had to think about it. Illusions like this could be really troubling. She might need to cast the counter-spell if this was starting to happen. The book didn't mention any such side effects, though. Maybe this was something else. Perhaps she was over-working herself? It could conceivably be a sign of stress. Good thing she was handing over Pony Society to Clarissa, then. It was probably just in time!

They entered her office building and Darlene looked up with a smile which froze, then melted away. "Twilight?!" the woman called out and rushed around the front desk. "You look like you've seen a ghost! Did something happen?"

As if Twilight wasn't even there, Samuel explained: "I found her panicking out on the sidewalk a couple of doors down. She said she saw a little girl get hurt, but there was nothing like that."

"I'm fine, I'm fine," the mare said, a bit testily. She hated it when people talked about her as if she wasn't there. "I think I just overworked myself. I'll take the rest of the day easy."

The receptionist agreed immediately. "Good idea! I'll give Anon a call and see if I can find someone to drive you home."

"I can drive!"

The woman gave her an altogether too condescending smile. "Nonsense, if you're stressed enough to be seeing things you probably shouldn't drive."

Twilight was silent because the woman had a good point and she couldn't come up with a good rebuttal. Darlene took it as acquiescence and went to her desk to pick up the phone. She pointed at Samuel. "Please take Miss Twilight up to her office, okay?"

Twilight just rolled her eyes in exasperation, but she didn't fight the man as he led her to the elevator. Maybe a short rest would do her some good. She had been working practically non-stop for the past two weeks. The sleeping spell was good, but maybe it wasn't quite perfect. She decided she'd take it easy from now on. No more than six hours of work in the night, the mare swore to herself. The rest of the time she could use to catch up on some books and movies she'd been meaning to read and watch, respectively.

There was also the counterspell. Despite her intentions, she hadn't had a chance to look at it yet. Now, more than before, Twilight felt like she should be ready with it. If this all really was some side effect of her no-sleep spell, she wanted to be ready to undo it at a moment's notice.

The first thing she needed to think about, however, was what to tell Anonymous. She would tell him what had happened, that much was a no-brainer, but beyond that - should she tell him her fears that the spell was messing with her mind? He would just worry and tell her to undo the sleep spell. Maybe it was best to just tell him that it was because of stress. It was an equally likely guess, after all.

He was already waiting when the elevator reached their floor and the mare gave him a faint smile. She took a deep gulp of air. "First of all, I'm okay Anon. No need to worry..."