Author's Note

Pinkpoint the alicorn can sense abnormal energy and was responsible for telling Twilight to visit Sweet Apple Acres. Don't worry, you'll meet her in the next chapter. :)

But now we're stressed out

It was a warm, cloudy day on the 16 of April in 2017. The Loud family was getting dressed to go to the Easter service in Royal Woods Roman Catholic Church. Back in April of 2014, a tornado that traveled from the southeast struck the chapel leaving it in utter ruin. Some residents were in favor of an expedited rebuilding. They saw no reason to make any changes to the cramped coziness and traditional designs that everyone had gotten used to.

Others were in favor of enlarging it to accommodate new programs and services that a few companies have agreed to help sponsor. There were those that even suggested that a Baptist church be built in its place due to the declining catholic faith in the general population. That’s when a younger generation of Royal Wood Catholic’s grouped up and advocated for bold, fresh, but reasonable changes for the rebuilding and encouraged the adults to accept most of the sponsor’s funding.

Linka Loud waited outside the bathroom as her 16-year-old brother Luke fidgeted impatiently with the collar of his navy blue vest. The older teenager was 14 years old the last time his family had been to church, but to him, it felt like it had been many years. Before the tornado, the Loud’s typically attended mass around three times a year. The coffee color haired boy had come to terms with his bisexual orientation during his sophomore year in high school, but Luke tried not to think about how he would soon be surrounded by community members who were likely to judge him.

The boy was grateful to have a family that had his back and accepted Luke Loud for who he was. The family had finished getting ready. It was still chaotic for Lynn Sr. and Rita to help the younger Loud brothers get ready on time (I am especially Looking at you Lexx), but they were nevertheless on better behavior than expected. Loki was glad to spend more time with his family and friends who still lived in Royal Woods for spring break. Luke imagined how it would be like when the rest of his siblings and himself were adults.

Family reunions would have to be held outside for most of the activities. It would take hours for everybody to fully catch up with everyone else’s lives. Lynn Jr’s children would play sports or just mess around on Mr. Grouse’s property. It would be fine until something got broken. Music of all genres would reach the ears of half the neighborhood.

And if Luke himself ever decided to raise children, he would try to teach them how to dance. He did not know much about the art, but he made a mental note to learn someday soon. It is, after all, a healthy way for people to skillfully express themselves and relieve stress.

“We’re almost there kids” Lynn Sr. announced as soon as the church was in sight.

“Let's see if- ”

The 42-year-old paused when the rest of the family peered out the windows in shock.

“I can find parking for this thing..” The man squeezed the wheel and groaned dramatically.

“I wish you had paid attention when I declared that the results of my calculations meant that we should have arrived an hour prior to the grand opening’s scheduled time.” huffed Levi.

Linka rolled her eyes. She loved her brother, but It was very annoying to live with a five-year-old that was more intelligent than her own parents despite lacking emotional development and life experience. Whatever. The girl just prayed for the next two hours to fly by. The family got out of the Vanzilla. After bumping into several families and having to chase after Leon, who ran after a stray dog, the Louds spotted the Santiago’s and joined them in the crowd.

The snow haired 12 year old looked around her as the cameras gathered, and someone made a short but redundant speech regarding the grand opening. Linka spotted someone that she did not recognize at all. It was a girl that appeared to be mixed with Caucasian and Indian, and she was slowly moving towards her right. The girl wore a dark backpack and carried a small purse. This young woman sported a simple light blue dress and a somewhat filthy hat that matched it.

Her hair was short and dyed dark purple. That's when Linka glanced into the teen’s hazel-colored eyes as the girl examined Linka’s odd hair pigmentation and gave a half-smile. The snow haired child realized that it was becoming harder to focus on the speaker and the light chatter around her muffled. Something about this person felt very unsettling.

As the evening aged, Linka began to text her friend Claire McBride to catch her up on the day’s events. She and her adopted mothers chose not to leave their home at all that day. It wasn’t worth the drama. Besides, they had paperwork and an ill older cat to attend to. Linka mentioned the mysterious stranger she met at church and how she seemed a bit young to possibly be traveling independently.

“If you think about it, a lot of weird people are moving to Royal Woods nowadays. I always wanted to live in Detroit, so thank god that the new mayor is pushing to urbanize this little city. People are now talking about how the population might reach 40k by the time the year’s over. Anyway, who knows? Maybe you’ll see the girl again soon. See you tomorrow. Night Linka.” Claire responded in her last text.

The young girl got ready for school the next morning but was slightly delayed due to an incident in the kitchen. She hurried for the bus stop and exchanged greetings with Zoe, Ruby, Lena, and Claire.

“Has anybody seen Ron? asked Linka.

“ No. That’s odd because the bus should arrive in less than a minute,” replied Zoe, a girl who wore glasses and her red hair in a ponytail.

“Wait..I think I hear something” Piped Lena.
Linka glanced towards her left, where the young hispanic and another girl were emerging from some trees. The boy said something that surprised the platinum blond-haired preteen who wore a pink beanie. She then smiled, and he gave her a kiss. The group of friends looked at them in surprise.

“Is that who I think it is??” asked Claire.

Linka nodded, recognizing the girl as Casey Porter. Late last year, the snow haired girl’s class baked sweets to sell for a fundraiser. Casey was an associate of a former enemy of hers named Chandler before the latter finally moved out last week. The blondie, who looked somewhat similar to Linka herself, made her way into the latter’s classroom after school and found a way to break into the ingredient cabinet that the 11-year old’s group used. She proceeded to toss a bag of cannabis inside of it and sneak off without a trace. Even though the group was found innocent, any evidence against Casey was circumstantial.

Why was Ronaldo interested in her? He sort of knew who she was, but Linka had never even seen the two together before. The school bus headed towards the group and screeched before halting. There was silence as everyone boarded. The girl wanted to yell and warn her friend to stay away from the beanie head.

The boy had moved back to Royal Woods to stay out of trouble, not to find more, but Linka knew the hispanic would not appreciate her telling him what to do or maybe even ask if she was jealous...which she wasn't. The snow haired child sighed and wished him the best. The bus came to a stop, and everyone got off. Part of the crowd rushed into the school, but the girl took her time. When she was about to enter the building, someone fell and dropped some papers.

It was the Indian girl from yesterday. Linka chased after a sheet that got stuck in the bushes and brought it to her.

“Thanks”

The purple-haired teen was dressed in stylish ripped jeans and a pink t-shirt.

“I don't think I ever got your name.” she said.

“Oh, it's Linka..Loud. What’s yours?”

“Ella Keer”

“Nice. Did you know that Ella is actually Lorde’s birth name?”

“No, I didn't.”

“What brings you to Royal Woods?”

“It’s..a long story, but basically...I ran away to live with my Great-Grandfather.”

As the girl tried to process this, the bell rang, signaling a warning that she would be tardy if she wasn’t in her third-floor class in 5 minutes.

*******************

“Terra to Linka”?

Applebloom opened the front door as the female youth blinked and came back to her senses.

“Sorry..I just zoned out for a bit. I have a lot on my mind.”

“Happens to all of us, sugarcube” replied Applejack.

At the door stood a female purple-eyed former Alicorn. The young couple's jaw dropped when they saw her. The equine’s fur was the color of lavender, and her mane and tail were a shade of a very dark purple that had a blue tint if she would let it shine in the light, with the exception of the streaks of a lighter purple shade and pink. Her cutie mark was a large six edged star design with six smaller white ones surrounding it. Twilight Sparkle was her name, and pony’s large wings remained tucked to her sides.

The mare thoughtfully narrowed her eyes at the human pair for several moments.

“Who are you guys, and what brings you here?” she asked in a serious tone.

After exchanging greetings with the now pegasus, Linka cleared her throat.

“My brother built a portal. We used it to escape our dimension, but it sent us to a seemingly random world since we didn’t have any particular destination in mind.”

With Twilight’s experience in dimension EQG, she did not give much thought to Linka’s height and for some time figured she was already an adult due to being five feet and four inches tall ( The youth would have continued to grow taller up until the age of 15 if she had prolonged her pregnancy) but then it suddenly occurred to her that the young hispanic was a youth due to his developing height and body structure that would continue to mature until about age 20.

“I am familiar with your kind. How old are you guys in human years?”

“We’re both 13 years old” They responded.

The mare swore that they were older. She noticed how the poor kid’s eyes were heavy with stress and burden, amongst other things. Perhaps they were refugees.

“Linka, what were you gonna tell us before the interruption?” asked Applebloom.

The snow haired youth's face became serious.

“You have to understand us...we wouldn’t have even chosen to use the portal if we knew that it would have sent us to a world with no humans in it!”

The Apple family and Twilight listened and became concerned.

“And that’s because I am four months pregnant.”

Twilight’s mouth gaped open.