I was surrounded by the dark warmth of my non-dream. The soothing thud of a heartbeat present in the distance told me that I hadn't fucked up the process of slipping into this state. After all, Princess Luna probably didn't have any power here, so I couldn't rely on her to keep the nightmares away while I'm here. Still, it'd been so long since I'd had to do this that I'd actually started to dream, finding myself in Mr. Noteworthy's history classroom surrounded by a mix of ponies and humans before I achieved lucidity and banished it all.

The reasons for why I was here in the first place were hardly joyous ones, and if my subconscious was left unchecked to shape a dream, I might start dwelling on that bandage I saw on Sunset's wrist. It'd already dredged up a bunch of unaddressed feelings of guilt. It'd been enough that I'd even momentarily started reminiscing about Keith this morning.

Normally, I'd just be content to stay here in the void, unthinking while I basked in the womb-like peace until it was time to wake. At the same time, though, I had questions that I needed answered. Even if Luna couldn't reach me here, I got the impression that Harmony had some reach. After all, was it not Harmony that was the driving force behind that table? It would need some reach into this world if it were able to detect the friendship problem, right? Or am I reading too much into things.

"Harmony, are you there?" I called out into the void. After a second, I consciously gave myself form. Curiously, my body wasn't consistently my filly or human form; it kept flickering between the two. No, not me when I was Nemo, either. It was the girl known as Emerald Flicker. The truth was that my self-image had distorted completely not long after the Chrysalis incident, and this concussion was probably not doing me any favours.

No response came, though. An avatar of Harmony had come to me in a dream once before, although I suppose it was borderline narcissistic to assume that the living concept itself always had a metaphorical eye on me. Even though, you know, it seemed to be the goddamn reason why I looked the way I did. Assuming what I'd seen in that dream before I was given the crystalline tentacle treatment—and dragged into the ground—was real, it inferred that it had a reason to keep the filly's body to later stick my soul in.

"Look, if you're actually keeping an eye on me, I just wanna talk," I called out into the void. On a whim, I focused on riling up my magic, imagining that my next words were empowered by magic. "Please, I just want to talk!" The words reverberated around me, even though there were no walls for them to echo off of. Shit, that's... loud? Is that the right word?

For a few minutes, I was left in the peace and quiet of my empty dream space. I'd just about given up and debated conjuring a table and a deck of cards when I felt it. You know that feeling you get when someone or something is watching you, but you can't see it? The most intense sensation of that rippled through me, manifesting and cascading through my dream space in the form of millions of eyes watching me out of the darkness. Then, as quick as it came, it left, once more leaving me alone in the dark.

I just shouted out into the void, and many, many somethings came to check out what the fuss was... The thought that I'd just potentially drawn the attention of some eldritch horror beyond mortal comprehension sent a cold chill through my dream. Brilliant idea, Anon; come to this world to solve a problem, only to then get yourself mind-raped by a Great Old One whose nap I so rudely interrupted.

"Curious... Very curious." came a feminine voice out of the darkness. A presence quickly flooded my dream space. It was powerful, smothering, and I could feel it examining me from every angle and judging me. "Child of Equestria, why are you in Our domain, and how did you come to possess the form of this child? We know that you cannot be her, for she is with Us... so how?"

I trembled, looking around for someone to address. There was nobody to be seen, though—just the void. "I honestly wish I knew," I answered honestly. No doubt it can tell if I'm lying. "I crossed the veil between worlds on the verge of death, and found myself in Equestria. An empowered being—deified there as Celestia and Sol Invictus—found me, and through her, Harmony granted me this form." I held up my hand, which occasionally turned into a hoof. "I know that our world mirrors this one, so I find it increasingly likely that my original body perished and Harmony placed me in the body of Equestria's Emerald."

It took some effort, but I conjured up what I could remember of the dream I'd had. From Emerald running through a forest and falling into a ravine, her life flashing before her eyes, to her begging what I imagined was an avatar of Harmony—in the form of a crystalline Celestia—to make the pain stop, and to let her see her mother again. Even its warning... "This was not for you to see, Nemo," the avatar spoke, looking directly at me, even though I wasn't in the spot I'd been in the original dream. That sent an involuntary shiver down my back. "Let the daughter of Emerald Breeze, and her memory, rest in peace." I almost cut the recall short, but I remembered the last bit. "You have your own troubles to worry about, without dredging up memories of the dead."

"At the time, I'd thought it just a very strange dream," I explained to the voice, "but coming here has shown me that the chances are good that I'm Anonymous—Nemo—but also that I am somehow Emerald Flicker." I conjured up images of the portal, both from Equestria's side and this one, complete with an image depicting pony me entering one side and coming out as the schoolgirl on the other side. "I think the portal just forces the user to match their new environment."

Although I still couldn't really perceive the presence that I was conversing with, there was this vague sense of it nodding. That whole "Hmm, yes; I see!" sort of nodding. What is it really, though? I found myself wondering as the silence began to drag on. To fill the void, I explained why I was here, and assured it that I was going to be gone as soon as my job here was done.

"Though your time here will be short, We do believe you can be of use to Us," the presence declared quite suddenly. All at once, the figure of a person in flowing dark robes appeared before me and seized me by my hands. Though most of their face was obscured by a hood and darkness, the long white tresses spilling out near the neck and very feminine hands that gripped my own made it quite easy to associate the form with the voice. "During your stay, We wish for you to spread belief in magic once more to Our children. Our ability to influence them has waned as Our teachings have been corrupted by those who preach Our faiths out of self-service, and the evolution of science brought about by the disheartened."

Control over my dream was wrested from me, and things began to change. No, that wasn't quite right... I was being presented with flashes of imagery. The same robed figure appearing before people. From what I could remember of Earth's history, I saw what looked to be colourful Egyptians, Native Americans, Indians, Arabs, and even Aztecs. With each interaction, she presented each group's leader figure with a large staff and either a tome, carved tablets, or papyrus scrolls. The same overall message played into my mind, in words I couldn't speak but understood perfectly. "We give unto you the gift of knowledge and magic. We ask only that you use these gifts to spread wellness, humility, and prosperity among Our children, and share the knowledge of these gifts."

For a time, the peoples did as she asked of them. Magic spread like wildfire, and there seemed to be a golden age shining down upon all of mankind... Then the darkness in the hearts of man began to warp her teachings. What began as gifts of prosperity and health slowly turned into tools of power, greed, and war. Entire cultures were wiped from existence and all memories except hers. The greedy grew into tyrants and perverted the faiths that had so long ago sprung up around her.

So it came to be that she began to rescind her gifts, allowing only to those who stayed true to her beliefs to continue to benefit from them. This led, unfortunately, to magic-users being branded heretics, blasphemers, and thieves, leading into both a purge and further vilification of magic. If the most powerful and 'revered' could not have it, none would be permitted to. Thus the world's magic field began to still.

It was awe-inspiring to be presented with a living history of the world's magic. At the same time, though, it was so, so very sad. "Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live." The words came unbidden from my memory, and I had to wonder if my own world, at one time, had magic as well.

"We believe that, despite the failings of the old, humanity is ready to move past this," she explained, guiding my dream back into the void as easy as if she herself was Princess Luna. "It is Our deepest hope that in restoring belief to the younger generation, We can once again spread the joys of magic to those with good in their hearts. Your Harmony has already blessed five through the past actions of her agents."

I didn't really know what to think. It seemed like this was the avatar of this world's magic—and the basis for all of this world's faiths—but she was practically begging me, a double-outsider to help. It was kinda overwhelming, but at the same time... she's not being demanding and it isn't as though she's asking me to become Horse-girl Jesus. "I'll do what I can while I am here," I agreed. "If Sunset Shimmer chooses to return, I think she would make for a good guide in the future; she was trained under the same great mage as Aunt Twilight. If not... I'll have to consult the Equestrian crown."

The presence in my dream began to lessen, but I could see the makings of a smile on the unobscured parts of this avatar's face. "That is all that We can ask." Turning away, she began to retreat into the void before saying, "Know that you walk with the blessing of—"

~ 27 ~

I snapped upright, an icy chill filling my chest from being startled awake. It felt as though something had just hit my leg, and if I'd not had my arms tucked into the sleeping bag, I'd probably have lashed out. As it was, I ended up simply gasping and letting out a startled "Whazzat?" There was no point looking around the dim living room to find out what happened; without my glasses, I couldn't see shit anyways.

"It's time to get up, Anonymous," came Principal Celestia's voice from the darkness in front of me. As I reached out of the sleeping bag to the coffee table, I felt the familiar frames pressed into my palm along with the touch of skin. "Here." Once I had them on, I saw that she was standing beside the couch, already dressed in her work clothes and drinking a coffee while watching me. "I see you have pony ears again. You were talking in your sleep, too."

With a shrug, I unzipped my sleeping bag and began to pull myself out of it. All the while, I could hear the water running in the bathroom. "I'm pretty sure I was having what some would call a religious experience," I murmured. "Talking to the avatar of some greater force in this world. Might've been God for all I know."

Celestia's eyebrow perked in the early-morning gloom, but didn't let out more than an "Uh-huh," at my statement. I mean, to be fair to her, she was dealing with the magical extra-dimensional doppelganger of a dead little girl. "We've got half an hour before we're out the door," she said instead. "Luna should be out shortly if you need the shower, although if you're anything like her, you might be better off waiting until we're at the school and using the showers there."

After a moment to think, she asked, "Would you like a coffee?" When I nodded, she shrugged. "I'll warn you now; we only keep the instant stuff here in the condo. We normally just stop at Donut Joe's and get something before stopping in."

I rolled my shoulders as she went off into the kitchenette, turned on some actual lights, and started rattling through the cupboards looking for a spare mug. While I had the 'privacy', I quickly got changed into a mix of the uniform and my gym clothes. This time, it was the white tee, the uniform skirt—and pantyhose, despite how weird it made me feel—and loafers. The track jacket I just tied around my waist as I pulled my hair into a ponytail once more.

Once I packed almost everything away into the bag, I sat down on the floor at the coffee table with my new magic notebook, pencil, and clay. I'd had a vague idea of how to begin issuing punishments of my own for this situation and acting on behalf of my dream guest. My first target would be Spoiled Rich, whose vile nature allowed for this situation to devolve as far as it had. That said, I couldn't just harm her directly or cause excessive property damage. No, I'd have to do something spectacular to fuck with her and let her know I was the cause.

Beyond glancing up and issuing a thanks as Celestia passed me a mug of instant coffee, I didn't distract from my work. It took more time than I'd like to admit to reproduce my locking mechanism spell or tweak it so that it would remain active for a fixed length before terminating. The best part was that the original spell wasn't all that power-draining; the version I cast on the cereal box hadn't even used a twentieth of my reservoir, and the complexity/cost inversion property meant that the cut-off condition would only make it cost less. How long is long enough for that bitch though?

All the while, I noticed something; the magical field of the world wasn't resisting me as much as it had yesterday afternoon. Was this what they meant by their blessing? It even seemed like my reserves had actually been steadily recovering through the night, even without any extra sugar. I was almost completely topped off, even though I had to have been down to half when I went to bed.

"Say, Miss Celestia?" I commented, chugging the cup of coffee once it had cooled enough. "You want to get some petty revenge on that Rich cow?" She gave me a questioning look, but I just raised my hands defensively. "It's nothing illegal, I swear—mostly because this world doesn't have any laws pertaining to magical pranks, but that's besides the point. Just tell me which car's hers and I'll make sure it's locked down tighter than a prison's max security wing during a riot for the next month."

She stared at me for a moment, but I felt the familiar sense of mischief I'd gotten from her yesterday morning returning in full force. "It's a neon pink Beetle with 5P01L7R1CH on a custom plate," she said with a smirk. "You have no idea how many times she's parked that thing in the fire lane in front of the school."

Excusing myself, I grabbed my cloak, the pencil, notebook, and bag of clay and booked out the door to the elevator. I hurriedly engraved the new and improved lock spell on ball of clay and cooked it while the elevator descended. The moment the door opened to the garage, I began my search. It wasn't hard to find in the least, parked crookedly in a parking spot that appeared to have some drainage grate beneath it. There was also a nearby maintenance scaffolding with a piece of pipe hanging off of it. More ideas...

Making sure I had my hood up, I walked up to the driver's side door of the car, tore a blank page from my notebook, and used the disc with lock inscribed on it to pin it to the driver's side window, engaging the lock spell with a smirk. I wasn't done though, there was still the message to leave.

Spoiled Rich
Your petty and self-serving nature has enabled a great number of evils in a short period of time. Worse still is that you wilfully enabled the harassment, assault, and near suicide of a teenage girl, and yet you showed no degree of regret for your part in it. Equestria cannot even begin to mete out proper justice on behalf of the girl in question, so we'll have to settle for some mischief instead.
You will find that regardless of turning the key, your motor-vehicle shall not open. I'm happy to tell you that for the next 30 days, your car has been completely people-proofed. Even if the windows are smashed or the roof is quite literally separated using the jaws of life, you will find yourself quite incapable of entering. This is merely my spell operating as intended.
Let this serve as a sample and warning of what magic is capable of. If we so much as hear a peep that you have been causing trouble to anyone affiliated with CHS's students or faculty, a disabled car will be the least of your concerns. Remember these words well: 'Our princesses are merciful, but I am not. The emerald eyes of justice are watching.'

Content with the note, I slipped the pencil into the pocket of my robe. Then my finger grazed the amplification medallion and I remembered the other idea I had. Walking over to the scaffolding, I grabbed the length of pipe and dragged it over to Rich's car. After a moment's consideration, I pumped some mana into the medallion, and then walked over to the car.

Given how small it was, it couldn't weigh even a tonne. Sure enough, I had absolutely no issue lifting the front end of it. With that in mind, I jammed one end of the pipe up against the transmission, and wedged the other end into the grate below. It took a few adjustments to make sure it wasn't going anywhere, but once it was, I stepped back and admired my handiwork. There stood Spoiled Rich's 'cute' little Not-Volkswagen, the front end propped up at a thirty-five degree angle on a length of steel pipe jutting from a drainage grate, forming a glorious obtuse triangle of frustration. It'll probably come down on its own if the pipe starts to give through the day.

Then Luna was beside me, radiating a mixture of disappointment and amusement. "Ah," she said, passing me my backpack. Must be time to go. "I see that I am too late to stop you. I hope this prank was worth it, because she is not going to be happy."

I shrugged. "I should hope that her self-preservation instincts should recognise this as the warning it is," I said with a smile that showed way too much of my pearly whites. "If she does, lemme know and I'll put the fear of magic in her."

~ 27 ~

After getting a proper red eye and another breakfast bagel at Donut Joe's, we arrived at CHS without incident. I took a few minutes to filled them in on my general plan for the day, and then availed myself to the showers. They were fine with me making use of the school's facilities, with the stipulation that if I was to bake any more clay discs, I'd do it outside. That was fine by me. Any students coming and going would probably witness some fire magic.

Surprisingly—and what a questionable thing it was—the computer I booted up in the library didn't require any sort of login credentials. So I spent much of the time until first bell looking up bits of information for a few spells. Oh stuff like muzzle velocity of beanbag rounds took some careful phrasing—Keith had told me about internet filters at school when he was attending school in the past—thus I searched instead riot bean bag round "m/s" to get the relevant value of 70-90 m/s in an article summary.

It was tempting to look into concepts such as rail-guns, plasma, and nuclear fusion, but I had to remind myself that I wasn't going to become Equestria's Oppenheimer—Cloppenheimer? Anything weapons-related I planned on making should only be made for self-defence purposes. You don't need nukes or rail-guns for self protection. That said, rail-guns were a step removed from a mass driver, which could have good use in a pollution-free means of putting ponies in space.

Instead, I found myself looking at the idea of portals. Keith had been obsessed with a TV show about a military branch of the United States Air Force operating out of Cheyenne Mountain, travelling through a portal to other planets and interacting with aliens. Sure, it was slightly older than me, but he was more than happy to share it with me. What was the principal behind those gates called? Was it a wormhole?

It was a far-off idea with my current understanding of runic magic, but I took down notes on wormhole concepts regardless. After all, it would be pretty fucking cool if I could be part of the group responsible for putting ponies on the moon voluntarily. Would Princess Luna be for or against such an idea, though? Would she be alright with the idea of colonising her moon?

I also ended up jotting down a bunch of other stuff and ideas. For example, silicon was needed for vacuum-rated seals, and I might be able to create an array to depressurise an airlock using a banishment rune. Repressurising, on the other hand, would require either conjuration, or a sealable vent to an air source. I sketched a potential 'portal room' design using a 'stargate' as a stand-in for a portal. Could a conjure/air combination be used to create a proper gas mix? If so, would that mean I could use conjure/earth to conjure up specific minerals or ores? Those questions were noted down in the pocket notebook as well. Speaking of, I turned it back to the page where I'd written my knowledge notes. It took me only a few moments to review and update those notes.

My knowledge:

• First post suspected to be made the fifth—could be earlier. Confirmed the fifth.
• Can't rule out something precipitated this. Find out if anything special happened in the days leading up to start.
• Suggested that friends and/or family of peer group may be at centre of conspiracy.
• Investigate tactics employed versus historical. Sloppy. Very sloppy. Definitely someone on the younger side and not very thorough.
• Some students may remain hostile after Anon-a-Miss took my bait, outing me as formerly having been male in my human life.
• Crusader counterparts are spooked. Consider approaching with care. I've never seen Sweetie Belle look so scared of me before.
• My human 'counterpart' is deceased. From what I can gather, she may have been an athlete, although based on an interaction with Rainbow yesterday, Emerald may have had something happen to her leg. If she had self-esteem issues and didn't see herself as good at anything besides running, I could see that being devastating for her.

Once that was done with, I packed that notebook away and started shutting down the computer. I continued until I had everything but the magic notebook, which was open to the page with the now-completed air-bullet spell, and a ball of clay. A few modifications were made compared to when I started writing it out yesterday. For example, now there was a triggered effect that would cause the air capsule created and fired by the spell to burst on impact. It'd be like an over-pressurised balloon popping, but it would hopefully deal with the possibility of a random capsule of air rolling around on the ground.

Once it was etched out and seated on my palm for baking, I carefully turned it over so that I could etch a bullet shape with the moon-glyph for air within on the back. I put everything else away and started making my way out the front entrance. I got a lot of strange looks while I stood on the front step of the school with a ball of flame slightly smaller than my head hovering above my hand. I don't think the 'sweet' smile and the flicking of my ears helped any in that department.

The only relatively interesting thing to happen while I was out there was when a teacher—a tanned woman with golden locks and a purple blazer that matched the pants Principal Celestia wore—stepped outside, dipped the tip of a cigarette near the fireball, and said, "Vice Principal Luna requested that I inform you that your presence will be required in the offices at lunchtime for a meeting with a guest." She had a bitchy look on her face as she brought the cancer stick to her lips, before sighing. "Please try not to cause us any more problems." At that, she walked away from the front of the building to go smoke beside the statue.

So that's it, I thought, turning over the medallion and leaning against the wall. I'm meeting with Emerald Breeze in a few hours. There were a few students that passed me by that I recognised. Pinkie Pie, for example, came through and I had to stop her before she reached out and tried to touch the flame—It's not illusory, silly filly; I'm just better protected!—and then there was Flash Sentry, who looked kinda awestruck at the casual display, until he remembered I nearly broke his nose. There was even this blue girl in a purple witch's cap who was watching me with a look of... something. Why do I not feel more nervous about that? Why does not being nervous make me feel a bit nervous?

Once the medallion was baked on both sides and cooled, I stowed it away, and it was back into the school for me. I caught Luna watching me through the office windows into the foyer, so I quickly shot her a thumbs-up to let her know I got the message. On my way back to the library, I remembered the ball that I'd gotten stuck in the ceiling trusses at the end of the game. Wonder if that is still up there? I changed my trajectory and went to the gymnasium entrance.

"Coach Iron Will, are you in?" I called out, kicking off my shoes and pulling my sneakers from my bag. As I slipped on the sneakers, I found my loafers to be still damp from being outside, so I simply left them by the doors, rather than putting them in my bag. Sure enough, there was the man standing on a ladder, trying to jab at the stuck ball with a long pole. Given that he had nobody there holding the ladder and it was leaned up against the wall, that was an OSHA hazard. "Uh, sir? You want some help with that?"

Even before he shifted awkwardly as he turned to regard me, I was already making my way across the gym. The ladder only shook a few times before I'd braced it. He slowly lowered the pole he was holding, before climbing down himself and sighing. "It'd only seems right since you got it stuck there," he commented, looking me up and down, "But what can you do with those little noodle arms of yours, pony girl?"

My ears flicked in response to the indignation of him insulting my admittedly scrawny arms. I didn't let it get to me, though; magic—and apparently speed—were my domains, not brawn. That's why I made that strength amplifier. Fishing the new medallion from my pocket, I smiled. "This!" I said, stepping out further onto the gym floor so that I could get a better line of sight on the ball. As I gripped the medallion in my left hand, I pointed my right index finger at the ball, making an L with my thumb. Pump a bit of mana and... "BANG!"

Still, the air bullet, shimmering blue as a thin capsule of magic wrapped the air within, flew true. Stricken by the magical projectile, the black and white ball popped free from the roof truss it was wedged into. A loud pop as if someone had burst a balloon rang out at the same time. It was slightly louder than I expected, and for a moment I was concerned it had hit with too much force for the soccer ball to handle, but a moment later, the ball bounced harmlessly to the floor.

It was a weird sensation. Even though the spell discharged from several centimetres from my fingertip, my hand kicked upwards with recoil. My finger itself tingling with numbness as I slipped the medallion back into my pocket. It took me shaking my hand violently for the tingling to stop, but thankfully there was no pain. Note to self, brace my hand if I need to fire off multiple shots, I mused, holding my hand up with the L configuration once more to blow at my fingertip. It was a silly thing, but it left me feeling giddy.

"I, uh, yeah," the man muttered, walking over to the ball. He picked it up and looked it over. From here, I could see a slight scuff mark from where the spell hit, but other than that, it looked pristine. "I reckon that'd do it. Thanks."

Giving him the finger guns—only for him to flinch—I smiled as I started walking backwards across the gym towards my shoes. "Not a problem, man," I replied. It was such a small thing, helping him using my special talent, but I was feeling an intense euphoria from the act. "If you need a repeat show later, lemme know—or if you have anything you need burned."

I knew I should feel guilty for making the guy flinch, and especially the continued look of discomfort from the bull of a man; I'm not a monster. All the same, the good mood that validating my own talent had put me in was actually overpowering all of the negativity lingering in the school. Oh sure, I could still feel it as I put my sneakers back in my bag, especially as I dumped a pair of thumb-tacks from my loafers that someone had apparently left for me while my back was turned. For the first time in a while, however, I was feeling in control of what I felt. It was hard not to be in a good mood.

As I exited the gymnasium and returned to the hallway, I found myself whistling a catchy, albeit inappropriate tune. Occasionally, I'd pass by a random student, who would look at me with some degree of surprise. I mean, I still had my cloak on, but my hood was down, so they'd see my pony ears sticking up out of my hair. I think that surprise in them made it so easy for them to start grinning when I gave them a smile and friendly wave. It was awesome.

Is this how Pinkie feels all the time?

When I got back to the library, I wasn't surprised to see it officially open. There were a few groups hanging out around various computers, and Ms. Cheerilee was at the front desk checking out a few books for students. I was more than kinda hoping to meet the counterparts of the Crusaders, but the trio was nowhere to be seen. Maybe they figured this would be where I'd be and purposely avoided the area? Or maybe they took the day off.

~ 27 ~

In the end, I spent much of the morning either creating spells to casually show off magic to Emerald Breeze, or helping Ms. Cheerilee reshelve books. The latter was quite easy, since I'd spent a lot of time in libraries and got very familiar with the Dewey Decimal System. It also helped the last time I was in one back on Earth, I volunteered in exchange for a meal. Gosh, but she was surprised. All I asked in return was to be reminded of my meeting when it got close.

The spells I'd ended up settling on were conjuration of water at a targeted point, conjuration of a small sphere of ice, and demonstrating light and flame. I hadn't yet prepped the first two, but I figured the easiest way would be to just inscribe them just before the meeting. I even popped out to ask Raven if I could have an empty water pitcher and some glasses in the meeting room when it's time for the meeting.

The rest of the time, I spent reading something I'd found while shelving. It was a graphic novel—Might've been a manga, but who cares?—about a guy on a motorcycle who travelled to different realities to fight monsters and eliminate 'anomalies'. It was all in order to prevent the worlds from merging together and collapsing the multiverse. He had this device that interacted with these special cards, granting him different armoured forms. Some looked more bug-like, others reminding me of knights, while yet others had a very high-tech vibe.

Sure, it seemed as though there was some missing context—in fact, by the second volume, I was almost convinced this was some sort of cross-over series given he was able to copy powers and forms of others—but it was still fairly interesting. It actually gave me some ideas for the future. Could I create something like that with magic alone? I wondered as I made some notes. I'd probably have to consult Twilight, but I imagine I'd probably need someone skilled in artifice to create the belt, too.

I couldn't help but smirk at the idea of me in some kind of armoured suit, protecting Ponyville from monsters and villains. What would my catchphrase even be, though? I thought with a giggle, doodling a little filly in armour and tights, hidden beneath a bug-eyed mask. 'Now, count up your sins?' Nah; too religious. 'It's showtime?' No, that doesn't work either. 'Now, shall we begin the experiment?' I'm a bit of a geek, but that's more something Twilight would say. I shrugged and shook my head. Probably better to workshop that after I have a super-suit.

Another thing all those armoured fighters seemed to have were weapons that they could either conjure up or seemingly pulled out of nowhere. What would even suit an earth pony? I mused. Unless I practice standing on two legs, I'd probably not be well off going with something that required a grip. Maybe elemental claws and a horn-blade? Or maybe—

"Anon, it's almost time for your meeting," Ms. Cheerilee said, interrupting my thoughts. I hadn't even really noticed when she'd come back in after leaving to teach class, so I nearly leapt free of my skin. Glancing at the clock, I saw that it was half an hour until the lunch hour for students. "If you want to get something to eat, Granny Smith should be starting to serve lunch right about now."

I nodded, packing away my stuff. My spell notebook, pencil, and the remainder of my ball of clay went into the pockets in my robe. "Thanks, Ms. Cheerilee," I replied. Before I left, I made sure to return the graphic novels to the place I found them. After all, I wasn't checking them out—I don't think I even could—and I was trying to be courteous to these people who were tolerating me being at their school while not being a student, so making Cheerilee do it didn't really fit.

When I hit the lunch-room, there were a few students hanging around. At first I thought they might've been skiving off class, but then I remembered that seniors apparently sometimes had a free period. Regardless, I grabbed a tray, and hopped in line behind a familiar blue-haired guy. He was second in line, so I had time to decide. I keep running into him, I mused as I looked over the menu. I was tempted to get a slice of pizza, but then I saw something that made me salivate: a hamburger and fries.

"Hello again, dearie," Granny Smith said when it was my turn to order. She still had that timeworn smile of an old woman who hoped you might listen to her. "Gonna order somethin' ta put some meat on yer bones this time?"

"Yessum," I answered, taking out my wallet. "Can I get one of those burgers you've got on the menu, a side of fries, and a bottle of fizzy cider."

Her eyes momentarily drifted up to the ears poking out of my hair, before shrugging. "If'n that's what ya want dear," she murmured before rattling off a price as she started assembling the meal. "Ah trust ya to know yer belly better'n me."

Once the food was on my tray and the tab was paid, I made my way back to the school's office. Ideally, I would've stopped to eat in the cafeteria, but I wasn't sure how much time I had until Emerald's mother arrived. I caught more than a few odd looks when I passed a few students—probably the whole meat thing—but what did I care? Even if it was a pre-made patty it was real beef. My own little vengeance against those bawdy cows at AJ's.

"Would you mind if I ate my lunch in the meeting room before Emerald Breeze shows up?" I asked Raven as I stepped into the office through the open door. "I'm not sure when I'll get the opportunity to eat otherwise."

The woman just looked at me with a deer in the headlights expression. Alarm rolled off her as she glanced to the door leading into the room I'd occupied yesterday afternoon. "That, um," she stammered. Swallowing and looking back to me, she sighed. "That might be too late, Anonymous."

I glanced at the door and frowned. "She's already here, isn't she?" I asked, looking down at my tray of food before letting out a sigh. "Ah well. I hope she'll understand if I take my meal while we talk."

"If it helps, Celestia is in there and can act as a buffer," she offered, standing up to get the door for me.

"Thanks Ms. Inkwell," I said stepping into the meeting room. I kept my eyes lowered just enough that I couldn't make out anyone's faces, but still make out who was sitting where. They stayed that way until I found a spot separate from the two—who were seated at opposite ends of the large ovoid table. Once I'd set my tray of lunch down, I removed my rucksack and sat it beside me on the floor. I apologised as I took a seat. "Sorry, Ms. Celestia, I expected I still had time to take my meal before this meeting."

When I looked up, Principal Celestia was looking at me with a barely-contained look of disbelief. "That's okay, Anonymous," she replied in a tone that clearly told anyone that it was clearly not as okay as she'd like me to believe. "I know how much a growing young woman needs food." She looked away from me to the woman at the other end of the table. "Emerald Breeze, this is Anonymous—not to be confused with the rumour blogger we're currently hunting down. Anonymous, this is Emerald Breeze."

"Please, just Anon is fine," I insisted... I looked from my lunch to my human counterpart's—how weird it was to say that—mother. "I still feel weird being called Anony—" My voice hitched as I got a good look at her. Holy shit. I know that I was supposed to be the spitting image of Emerald Flicker, but Emerald Breeze seemed like an older version of the same girl I saw in the mirror... Sure, she didn't have glasses, and her freckles were much more intense, but her hair seemed to curl in the exact same ways, as mine. The only major difference I spotted were the crow's feet and bags around her eyes. "—mous."

Author's Note

The catchy melody Anon's whistling is 3G 3F 3F 3E♭ 3E♭ 3C 2B♭ 3E♭ 3E♭ 3E♭ 3C 2B♭ 3E♭ 3E♭ 3E♭ 3F 3F 3G 3F 3E♭. I'll let you all sound it out and figure it out why it's an inappropriate tune to whistle in a school.

I'll let you all guess what she's reading an adaptation of.