An alarm went off.
Twilight Sparkle groggily reached out and fumbled for the switch. She groaned as she leaned over the side of her bed and finally switched the thing off, standing up straight and letting out a big yawn.
Finally, back to school, she thought, walking over to her purple dresser and retracing a routine she was all too familiar with. A routine that had been broken (much to her dismay) recently, by a bad actor.
It was only two weeks ago when the unthinkable happened at Canterlot High: a school shooting.
The shooter was a boy Twilight and her friends had no recollection ever seeing at the school; a sophomore who was dubbed “the quiet kid” by his classmates. He killed 23 people and wounded 15 others using a semi-automatic rifle, and was found dead at the scene—bringing the number of dead up to 24. Parents, teachers, and people in general around the nation were in uproar, angry and confused on why tragedies like this kept happening. The story was still being run on the news daily. Twilight’s parents and friends had been scared and concerned, and still were. And now it was time to go back. And Twilight?
Twilight could care less.
It was an honest thought she had. And she had plenty of time to think about the implications of it; even before the shooting, hypotheticals were what she daydreamed about, among other things. Sure, the thought of being killed at her own school was scary. Death was scary, the scariest thing! Twilight would never wish the fear of death on any of her classmates. But a person so misaligned to human society, existing in her own school, and both possessing the ability and having the intent to act on their own negative thoughts? It was far-fetched, to say the least.
That wasn’t to say the possibility of such an unlucky thing happening didn’t cross her mind. In fact, it had, and she knew that if a bad actor of that caliber were to have reached her classroom in time, she would not have had a very high chance of getting out of there alive.
But, when it had happened, the sound of shots in the beginning were far away enough that she had known that she was probably going to be fine. Although she regretted not having had the ability to reassure her classmates; they had been focused on staying dead silent and panicking within their own thoughts, but that was what the school drills had said to do, even if Twilight objected to the advice of them.
Twilight had organized her thoughts both during and after the shooting. And what she had decided was thus:
A tragedy had occurred. People were dead. This sort of happening is bound to occur aperiodically over any amount of time. Her school had been unfortunate enough to be the source of that aperiodic tragedy. And that was that.
Twilight both loved and lamented her brain for being able to think analytically like this. Loved because it shielded her from the crippling amount of emotional and psychological distress a normal person would feel, but lamented for the same exact reason. She knew her friends would change, and she wasn’t sure she could understand that change. But she could try.
After finishing her usual morning routine and getting dressed, Twilight headed downstairs to make herself breakfast.
Twilight Velvet smiled sympathetically as her daughter entered the dining room. “Hello, dear. Are you feeling okay?”
Twilight Sparkle did a double take; on the kitchen table was a big plate of french toast, complete with strawberries. It was something her mother only did for her birthday.
“Um, mom, you know it’s not my birthday, right?”
Twilight’s mother put a hand on her shoulder, keeping up the smile. “I know, honey… I just wanted to do something to make you happy. With all that happened… I mean, I-I can’t even imagine what you’re feeling. You know, it’s okay if you just want to eat this and go straight back to bed, right?”
“Mom, I’m going to school,” Twilight said as she let out a giggle, still a bit confused. “Thank you though. But you really didn’t have to.”
Suddenly, her mother hugged her, a bit too forcefully for her liking.
“Y-You eat up, okay? And be careful… be careful at school. Okay?” She let out a sniffle. Twilight grimaced as she returned her mother’s hug.
“Okay mom… stop worrying. I’ll be fine. I mean, do you even know the odds of something like that happening again? And within a very short timeframe as well? That would be extremely improbabl-”
“I know honey… I know…”
Twilight was subsequently released from her mother’s grasp after an awkward silence. The two exchanged another smile, and then Twilight was free to indulge in her french toast.
An impulsive thought thanked the shooter. She shook it away.
Twilight Sparkle arrived at homeroom the same time she always did. Usually, her homeroom teacher would wave at her and she would wave back. Today however, her teacher seemed deep in thought and didn’t even spare her a glance. Irregularities seemed to stack up; as each person shuffled into the classroom, it was obvious that almost half the students would be missing. Twilight didn’t like this. It made her feel floaty, like she wasn’t slotted in place.
Barely on time, the last person who arrived was Trixie, taking her seat next to Twilight. She was pretty much the closest Twilight was to anyone in her homeroom; it was honestly dull sometimes, but she kind of liked it that way.
“Hey Trixie,” Twilight said as she turned her head, “What’s going on today? Why is half our homeroom missing?”
Trixie shot her a look as if she had insulted her.
“Do you really want to be here today? I’m only here because my parents made me go.”
Twilight stared at her, confused. “Why wouldn’t I want to be here toda-”
“Oh. Right. Yeah,” Twilight turned away, embarrassed. Trixie ignored her and planted her head in her arms.
Finally, her homeroom teacher got up, addressing the class.
“Okay everyone. I know you probably don’t want to be here today, and that’s fine. I don’t really want to be here either. I’m not going to talk about what happened. Just, if anyone is having trouble… if anyone is having problems, uh, adjusting, know that you can always see the counselor, and you can go home if you want. We’re going to be lenient on that. And if you see anyone struggling with this alone, help them. Okay? Alright. That’s all.”
Twilight got up to head to first period. The small amount of people that were there slowly followed her out the door. Today’s going to be a weird day, she thought.
As Twilight found out, all of the teachers on this particular day were dedicated to making classes “relaxed”, but she would argue that it was a bit too much. In fact, there wasn’t any new material being taught at all. Not that it mattered to Twilight—she rarely encountered anything she didn’t know (even in advanced classes), and mostly valued classes for hands-on experience and honing skills. But, she was worried for her peers. Was it really worth cutting whole classes for “taking a mental health break”? She honestly wasn’t sure, and would have to read some studies when she got home.
Twilight sighed as she received the last bit of food added to her tray, which included a cupcake, because that was supposed to make people feel better somehow, she guessed. She headed over to where her friends sat—counting only five of them—and mentally prepared herself for the warped atmosphere that would no doubt linger between them. None of them had spoken in person as a group at all the past two weeks; the only correspondence Twilight had with them was in a group text chat that largely consisted of emojis, and Twilight hadn’t been confident enough to think of anything to send that wouldn’t have been totally inappropriate.
“Hey everyone,” Twilight said lightly, pulling a chair out and sitting down. “I guess… Pinkie Pie isn’t coming today?”
The seconds of silence were maddening. Twilight was worried she had said something wrong, when Rainbow Dash finally spoke up.
“I asked Maud, she said Pinkie wasn’t feeling ready to come back yet,” she answered without glancing up, then continued sipping her chocolate milk.
Everyone looked so tired, like they didn’t want to be here. Twilight guessed that made sense. She felt bad for Pinkie Pie, knowing that this would be the hardest on her. She was always prone to depressive episodes.
Sunset Shimmer scooted her chair a bit closer to Twilight. “Are you doing okay?” she asked in a low voice, turning her head.
Twilight looked around. Everyone was either staring at their food or on their phone, not paying attention to them. “Yeah I’m fine, Sunset,” she answered, smiling at her. Sunset had a confused expression on her face. Twilight got rid of the smile and grimaced, then started on her lunch. Sunset shrugged, and scooted back away.
Rainbow Dash started tapping on the table. Twilight glanced at her. She looked deep in thought. The lunch table was silent. As the tapping continued, the others started to notice.
“Rainbow Dash,” Applejack spoke.
“What!?” Rainbow barked back, smacking her other hand on the table, glaring at her. Then, she realized everyone was staring at her, but she wasn’t sure why.
“Are you guys gonna say anything!?” She paused, waiting for an answer. When it didn’t come, she continued.
“Okay, then I will. It’s messed up, okay!? What happened. And, and, how does a kid like that get a gun!? In this country!? Why aren’t those things just banned period? What the hell is the government doing!? They’re just gonna let our classmates die, to, to, to-”
Everyone was staring wide-eyed at Rainbow Dash’s ranting. Twilight couldn’t help herself, she spoke up.
“Rainbow-” she started, cutting her off. Everyone turned toward her. “You know the government had nothing to do with this, right?”
“What!?” Rainbow shot back in surprise, putting both her hands flat on the table. “Twilight, of course it does! These shootings have been happening all over the country for more than a decade. And the government. Does. Nothing!”
“What do you want them to do?” Twilight asked.
“What do-” Rainbow Dash stuttered. “What do I want them to do!?”
“I want them to ban. Guns. Hasn’t everyone been saying that!? On the news!? I mean, doesn’t everyone agree with that? Who the hell needs one of those things!? They were literally made to kill people. That power shouldn’t be in the hands of anyone!"
Rarity nodded silently. Fluttershy was still staring at her food. Applejack had her eyes closed and arms folded—she was trying to hold her tongue. Sunset had her fingers to her temples, frustrated.
“Rainbow, they can’t just ban guns,” Twilight started, “There’s already so many in the country. I mean, that’s a complete constitutional change! A large amount of the population just isn’t going to comply, and will probably try to hide their guns. And I wouldn’t be surprised if that started a civil war of some kind. Which would not be good.”
“Twilight-” Sunset tried to interject, but was ignored.
“Even if a total ban and seizure of all firearms was carried out, people are still going to find ways to carry out mass killings. That’s not to say it’s not wrong to assume it would lower overall homicide fatalities—it would, but it wouldn’t put a dent in overall deaths much at all. Not to mention that the vast majority of firearm-related homicides are single victims, and considering that mass shootings are more of a statistical anomaly than anything, changing such a fundamental law-”
Rainbow Dash suddenly shot up, her chair banging loudly on the floor. She circled around the table. Twilight got up as well, realizing her mistake, and took a step back.
“Do you even fucking care about what happened?” Rainbow Dash snarled, quickly closing the distance between them and pointing a finger.
“Rainbow, I-I-”
“Answer me!”
Sunset got up, ready to restrain Rainbow Dash if she had to. Twilight looked scared. “Rainbow, calm down,” Sunset pleaded, putting her hands up in front of her.
Rainbow didn’t back down, still focused on Twilight. “Rainbowshine died,” she spat, tears welling up in her eyes. “People died, even if you didn’t know them. So don’t say they’re just a ‘statistical anomaly’!”
“That wasn’t what I meant-”
“Then apologize!”
Twilight stood there, dumbfounded, staring at Rainbow Dash. She knew apologizing was the right thing to do, but she really, really didn’t want to. Because it would be like lying. She wasn’t apologetic at all for offending Rainbow Dash! Why should she be? It’s her own fault for not keeping her emotions together!
The lack of an answer lingered for too long. Rainbow Dash raised her palm. Sunset quickly grabbed her, pulling her away.
“Rainbow stop-” Sunset begged, struggling to keep her from striking Twilight. At this point, the other tables were starting to notice. They were making a scene.
“Then tell her to say sorry!” Rainbow Dash yelled, attempting to get free of Sunset’s grip.
Then, something Rainbow Dash heard made her stop. It was Fluttershy, she was crying.
“Fluttershy!” Rainbow called out, a moment too late—Fluttershy had already gotten up and was running to the hallways. Sunset let Rainbow go, allowing her to run after.
Rarity and Applejack were still sitting, staring after the running Rainbow Dash, taken aback by how heated the situation had gotten. Sunset turned back to Twilight.
“Why didn’t you just say sorry?” Sunset asked with an accusatory glance.
Twilight couldn’t say anything back. After standing there in disbelief for a short while, Sunset shook her head in disappointment, and left.
“Twi’,” Applejack said suddenly, taking a drink of her milk. “I just want ya ta’ know I agree with you. Guns don’t kill people, people kill people.”
Rarity got up, took her tray and pushed in her chair. “Excuse me,” she said, then promptly left as well.
Twilight sat back down. There was still plenty of time before lunch period ended. Plus, she never finished her lunch.
“Thought that’s how that would go,” Applejack sighed. “You’re always welcome at my house, Twi’. Don’t reckon the girls will be that keen to see you anytime soon after that.”
“…You aren’t mad at me too?” Twilight asked hesitantly, working on her sandwich.
“Nah. I know you were just bein’ honest. I mean, the things I’d do to that kid if he hadn’t taken the coward’s way out…”
“But you’re angry,” Twilight said back. “People would get that. I’m just… I don’t know. Maybe Rainbow was right. It would be different if I knew one of the victims. I’m not sure how I would feel.”
Applejack stood up, taking her tray with her and moved to the seat next to Twilight. “You didn’t get what I meant, Twi’. I don’t like having these thoughts. Being angry. It would be easier if I were like you.”
Twilight thought about it. Were the others just jealous because she was able to be happy—or at least indifferent—in this situation full of suffering? Was she allowed to be happy? It seemed unfair to her, and she felt bad about it. But she knew that it wasn’t really like that. Deep down, Twilight knew it was a matter of morals, and she had a sinking feeling that she wasn’t sure if she could do anything about it.
I need a mental health break, she thought.
Rainbow Dash knocked on the door to Fluttershy’s house. She knew she could have used her powers to beat Fluttershy there, but felt that it would’ve just made things more awkward, so she waited until after school to stop by.
The door opened, revealing Zephyr Breeze with a pained expression on his face. The expression changed to a smile as Zephyr realized who was at the door.
“Oh hey Rainbow Dash, what’s u-”
“Can it,” Rainbow quipped back, pushing Zephyr aside to get to the stairs up to Fluttershy’s bedroom. After walking up, she knocked lightly on the bedroom door.
“Fluttershy, it’s Rainbow. I’m coming in, okay?”
There was no response. Rainbow Dash opened the door to find a human-shaped pile of covers on Fluttershy’s bed. She closed the door behind her, and moved to stand over where she believed Fluttershy was.
“You’re not mad at me, are you?” Rainbow Dash asked, folding her arms. The bed covers moved slightly.
“No…” a muffled voice whispered.
“But I made you cry,” Rainbow Dash said worriedly. “I’m sorry about that. It’s just… Twilight was being such an a-hole. And she wouldn’t even apologize about it. I mean, what’s her deal?”
“She doesn’t care…” Fluttershy muttered. Rainbow Dash took a seat on the edge of the bed, and rubbed the pile of covers with her hand tenderly.
“No… she cares, right?” Rainbow Dash questioned. “She just doesn’t know how to show it… or she doesn’t want to admit it. Or something.”
“You’re more stubborn than her…” Fluttershy’s faint voice shot back. Suddenly, the covers moved, and her head shot out from them, surprising Rainbow Dash.
Fluttershy’s eyes were red, and her pink hair was damp. She looked slightly angry; it was an uncommon sight to see on her face.
“She doesn’t want to admit the opposite,” Fluttershy spat, with an unfitting amount of vitriol. “That she doesn’t care.”
Rainbow stared at her, wide-eyed. “Fluttershy, you don’t actually believe that, do you? She’s our friend.”
Fluttershy fixed her gaze on the ground, upset. “I don’t want to be friends with someone who thinks like that.”
Rainbow Dash put her hand to her mouth. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing, coming from Fluttershy of all people. Sure, she was upset at Twilight, and in the heat of the moment almost smacked her in the face, but she had calmed down, and was willing to admit that she had just misjudged Twilight’s character at the time. But Fluttershy didn’t seem to think it was a misjudgment.
“No, Fluttershy, hey,” Rainbow Dash began. “Look, we can talk this out with her, okay? I don’t actually want to lose a friend over this.”
Fluttershy looked at her. “She already lost me,” she replied, dejected, wiping new tears from her eyes.
Pinkie Pie felt like the world was ending. She didn’t want this. She didn’t want to feel like this. Everything was supposed to be happy and fun. Sure, school got boring at times, but there was never a dull moment when her friends weren’t just around the corner. At least, that’s what she normally thought, but she couldn’t get in that mood today. Or any day since the bad thing at school happened.
Pinkie Pie knew there were bad people in the world that did bad things, her parents had told her all about that when she was little. They even told her there were people that wanted to do bad things to her, and that made her scared. But imagining people doing bad things to her friends… or her sisters… that made her really, really scared. And sad.
And she couldn’t stop feeling sad. People at her school were gone and they were never coming back. That made her cry and cry… and each time she tried to clear her mind and think of absolutely nothing, trying to make it blank, it would work for only a short while, and then she would start crying again.
The door creaked open. It was one of her sisters. Pinkie blew her nose again, put her phone down (she was trying to play games on it, but it wasn’t really helping), and sat up in her bed. It was Marble at the door, bringing her dinner.
“Dinner,” Marble murmured, shutting the door and bringing the tray closer. Pinkie wiped her face and took the tray. “T-Thanks, Marble,” she said.
Marble looked at her anxiously, not sure what to say. Pinkie put her arms out in front of her. “S-Sister hug?” she asked between sniffles, her straight hair waving from the movement.
Marble accepted her hug, and Pinkie buried her face in her chest. “It’s okay, Pinkie,” she said in a small voice, trying to keep herself from crying as well. Pinkie didn’t want this to end; it was the only way could get even a hint of a warm, happy feeling. But Marble couldn’t reciprocate that feeling, she just felt awkward and sad.
The hug was eventually broken and Marble silently walked to the door, leaving after returning a small wave to Pinkie. Pinkie’s phone then buzzed—it was a couple of texts from Rainbow Dash.
doing okay?
we’re all here for you if you need anything.
She didn’t reply back, it would just make them worry more. But it was nice that all her friends still cared about her. That made her heart hurt just a little bit less.
Twilight sipped her glass of cider as she listened to Applejack’s rant. It was comforting in a way to her; Applejack would actually allow her to interject and they would disagree about certain things politely. She guessed that was a perk of having a big family, dissenting ideas would need to be somewhat welcome or things would break apart fast.
She had been invited to Applejack’s house and accepted, and was now sitting at the kitchen table along with her and Big Mac. Apple Bloom was off with her friends until it got dark, which made sense to her, and was definitely better than staying home and being forced to think about recent events.
“So anyways, my cousin I was tellin’ ya about, he thinks these sort of things are planned. In order to rile folks up and take our guns,” Applejack said with a chuckle, obviously not accepting the idea.
Twilight laughed. “Sounds like a bit of a loony. I know your family generally distrusts the government, but there’s a limit to that.”
“Eeyup,” Big Mac agreed.
Suddenly, Twilight’s phone rang. “Excuse me for a second,” she said, standing up and stepping out of the room, checking who it was.
It was Rainbow Dash. She sighed, and accepted the call, bringing the phone to her ear.
“Twilight?”
“Yeah?”
“Look, I want to apologize. Uh, in person. Listen, where are you right now? I went to your house, but…”
“I’m at Applejack’s. She invited me over.”
“Oh.”
There was a pause.
“Does, uh, does she mind if I come over?”
Twilight let out another sigh.
“Rainbow, I really don’t think that’s a good idea…”
“Okay. Yeah. You’re right. Just um, call me back when you get back home? We can talk there?”
“That’s fine, Rainbow.”
“Thanks. Sorry, uh, for earlier.”
“It’s okay.”
Twilight ended the call. She was honestly surprised that Rainbow Dash was willing to talk to her again so soon. It made her a bit hopeful. But, she tried to chain down that hope. She had offended one of her best friends after all, and still hadn’t apologized.
She returned to the table and sat back down.
“Who was it?” asked Applejack, already guessing the answer.
“It was Rainbow Dash,” Twilight replied with a strained expression. “She wanted to apologize. In person. Later.”
Applejack crossed her arms, feigning a look of respect. “Wow, that’s mighty mature of her.”
Twilight shot her back a look. “She sounded genuine.”
Applejack looked back in disbelief. “Really? I can’t imagine she’d flip-flop so easily.”
“I don’t think she’s changing her mind about anything,” Twilight replied, fixing her gaze on her cider. “Maybe it’s about something else. She sounded really anxious.”
“Whatever it is,” Applejack took a drink of cider, “I told you ya need to stand your ground. Don’t make her guilt-trip you or anything.”
“I’m not trying to be mean about this, Applejack,” Twilight said back. “I was just trying to get her to think rationally. But it was offensive the way I did it, I get that.”
Applejack leaned back. “But when you say ‘sorry for offending ya’, that just makes those kinda people angrier. Trust me Twi’, ya got ta’ stand your ground.”
Twilight sighed. Applejack wasn’t making this any easier; she and Rainbow had a history of being rivals, and would disagree on just about anything. But it’s not like they ever had a falling out or anything, they were still friends.
Twilight took another sip of her cider. “So, tell me more about this cousin of yours.”
When Twilight returned to her house, Rainbow Dash was already there waiting, sitting on the sidewalk. She stood up and smiled painfully at her.
“Did you want to talk here, or…” Twilight asked.
“Let’s talk in your room,” Rainbow answered. She sounded like she had a lump in her voice. That scared Twilight. Was this really about her apologizing?
“Okay.”
Twilight led Rainbow Dash up to her room, greeting her parents along the way. They seemed happy—Twilight never invited any of her friends to her house. It was usually the other way around. Twilight thought it best that they don’t know about the tension between her and her friend.
Once she shut the door behind them, Twilight joined Rainbow Dash sitting on her bed. “Okay, what did you want to say?” Twilight inquired.
“I’m sorry,” Rainbow dash gazed at Twilight intently. “About almost hitting you. It was uncalled for.”
Twilight was silent for a moment.
“Okay,” she finally said back. “It was reasonable for you to get… angry, I suppose. I, um…”
Twilight hesitated for a moment. “Applejack told me that, saying something like ‘I’m sorry I offended you’ would just make you angrier… I want to say that, though. I didn’t have to blurt out all that stuff and make it seem like I was arguing with you, and-”
Twilight’s eyed widened. “Wait, I’m not doing that again, am I?”
Rainbow Dash looked at her with a strange expression, then laughed hollowly. “It’s okay, Twilight. I think I get it. You don’t have to say anything more to me you don’t want to.”
Rainbow Dash turned her gaze toward the ceiling, tapping her fingers. “Actually, I came here to talk about something else.”
There it is, Twilight thought. She felt a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach.
“It’s,” Rainbow Dash swallowed. “It’s about Fluttershy.”
“What happened?” Twilight asked suddenly, taking Rainbow’s hands in her own. “Did she… did she hurt herself?”
“No!” Rainbow blurted out, then steeled herself. “She…” Rainbow’s voice wavered as she closed her eyes. “I… I can’t say this, Twilight…”
“Um…” Twilight looked at her, confused. She was obviously fighting back tears. “You could text me it?”
Rainbow Dash pulled her phone out, slowly typing a message. The moment she sent it, she flopped back on Twilight’s bed, arms hiding her face.
fluttershy doesn’t want to talk to you anymore.
Twilight felt the tears running down her cheek.
So this is how everyone feels right now, she thought.
Twilight sat down at the lunch table, a tired look on her face. “Hi guys,” she said, glancing up at the only two of her friends that decided to go to school today—Rainbow Dash and Applejack.
Applejack looked up from her food at Twilight sympathetically. “Hey Twi’. Rainbow told me what happened,” she sighed. “I don’t know what to say, to be honest.”
“It’s okay, Applejack,” Twilight responded, staring at the center of the table. “It’s sort of my fault.”
“It’s not your fault,” Rainbow Dash blurted out tersely, a disgusted look on her face. “She’s too fragile. It’s her fault.”
“Hey!” Applejack snapped back, giving Rainbow an angry glare, pointing a finger. “She ain’t going to change just because ya want her to. Same goes for Twi’. Both of ya’ll got problems to deal with, y’all should deal with them together. Stop all the bickering.”
“Shut up, Applejack!” Rainbow Dash yelled, closing her eyes and putting her hands to her head. “You think you get to act all carefree like you’re not a part of this!?” she asked loudly as she returned her gaze, fixing it on Applejack and standing up.
“Rainbow-” Twilight tried to interject.
Applejack narrowed her eyes at Rainbow Dash. “Rainbow, I think you need to go cool off.”
“Fine!” she agreed, picking up her tray. “I can’t deal with this crap right now,” she said under her breath as she left the table.
“Applejack…” Twilight chided, looking at her in disbelief.
“Don’t you start, Twi’,” Applejack replied, taking a bite of her sandwich. “I was being as polite as can be.”
Twilight groaned, and decided to just eat her lunch in tandem, exhausted from the past couple days.
Sunset Shimmer stepped through the portal and tried to balance herself against the usual uncomfortable footing caused by the sudden transformation into a pony. Princess Twilight Sparkle was already there waiting for her; Sunset had used the magical book to send her a message with the phrase “emergency meeting” in it.
“Welcome back, Sunset,” Twilight greeted, leaning against Sunset’s barrel to help steady her body. “What Equestrian magic is it this time? Giant monster? Parasprites? Regular human who discovered magic and went insane with power again?”
Sunset stretched her hooves and tried to get comfortable, then looked at Twilight with a sad expression. “No… just regular humans. Period. And there’s no imminent danger, sorry.”
“No imminent danger?” Twilight asked, surprised. “Why the heck did you say ‘emergency meeting’ then? I have stuff, er, tasks I need to complete, Sunset.”
“Can we just sit and talk?” Sunset asked. “Something happened at the school. And things aren’t going well with everyone.”
“Okay…” Twilight replied, hesitant. She led her to the crystal table.
“Now,” Twilight said as they both took a seat. “What is so important? What happened?”
“There was a school shooting,” Sunset answered matter-of-factly. Twilight stared at her.
“I don’t know what that means.”
Sunset facehoofed. “Sorry,” she apologized. “I forgot that you don’t know much about the human realm. Listen, uh, do you know what guns are?”
“Ah, guns,” Twilight responded, a smile on her face. “I picked up that knowledge while I was there. They’re sort of like mini-cannons, used in war, right?”
Sunset looked uncomfortable at the sight of Twilight’s smile. “Uh… yeah,” she answered. “Except, the average person has access to them, at least in the country CHS is located in.”
Twilight paused in confusion. “That… doesn’t seem like a good idea,” she added, then her ears pinned back, and a horrified expression grew on her face. “Wait, is that what you meant by ‘shooting’?”
Sunset nodded.
“Did… did ponie-, did people die?” she asked. Sunset nodded once again.
Twilight lowered her gaze to the table. She relaxed a bit, then spoke. “That’s horrible. I’m sorry to hear that.”
“Thank you, Twilight,” Sunset said in a dry voice. “That’s not really the main reason I came here though.”
“What do you mean?”
Sunset sighed. “We had a little schism the other day during lunch. Well, not all of us, but mainly Twilight, and Rainbow Dash. And, honestly, I’m still siding with Rainbow Dash on this.”
“You-” Twilight started, looking at Sunset quizzically. “You’re mad at me? I mean, the other me?”
“Yeah, I am,” Sunset answered, a look of displeasure on her face. “And I came to you to… I don’t know, understand her reasoning.”
“I’m not her, Sunset,” Twilight said, confused. “What did she even say to Rainbow Dash?”
“She just,” Sunset began, “she just started blurting out facts and stuff. Trying to argue with her. See, Rainbow Dash was ranting that guns need to be banned, which I agree with, and then Twilight tried to argue against that like it was some kind of debate contest. And the fact that she did that—it just makes me think she doesn’t care at all about what happened.”
Twilight was silent for a moment.
“I… don’t know what you want me to say.”
“I don’t know!” Sunset yelled, throwing her hooves up. “Can’t you explain why she acted like that? I don’t want to hate her!”
Twilight looked back down at the table in thought. Then, she looked back at Sunset. “Sunset, I’m not her. I can’t tell you why she feels how she feels, or how she thinks.”
“You are her,” Sunset argued. “All of your friends’ human selves, they all have the same personalities as their pony counterparts. Is that not a fact?”
“That’s…” Twilight thought about it. She remembered the last time she was in the human realm, and it was true. All of her friends had the same quirks and acted the same way.
“Okay, you’re right,” Twilight agreed. “So what do you want me to say? Explain myself as if I’m her? Sunset, frankly, I think it’s weird that you’re trying to use me as a substitute for her. Maybe you should try and talk with her yourself?”
“Twilight,” Sunset said with force, putting her hooves on the table. “Tell me why you think she wouldn’t care about what happened.”
Twilight sighed. “Okay,” she complied, rolling her eyes. “She probably wouldn’t care because, I’m guessing, she didn’t know anyone who died. Does that not seem reasonable to you, Sunset? If you had to mourn every stranger on the planet, that would be crippling, and a waste of your time. Now why she’s against the idea of limiting or even banning the ability to own weapons designed to kill I have no idea; Equestria outlawed all forms of dark magic millennia ago, and-”
“But that’s not normal, Twilight!” Sunset argued. “The people that died, they were our classmates, a part of our community! I keep thinking every night about how unfair it is that they died… and I would’ve done anything to stop it from happening. If I had known that there was a kid like that, even if I had just touched him once I…”
Sunset shook her head. She continued, “What makes me angry is just, Rainbow Dash offers a clear solution that would have prevented everything and Twilight cuts it down without even offering another one. Like she doesn’t care, like it didn’t matter. She called the shooting a ‘statistical anomaly’!”
Twilight turned her head to the side. “Well, if it was a statistical anomaly, then changing established rules or norms just because of it would be unreasonable. If that was her argument, then I understand it. But I’d need to see data to back that up.”
“So you wouldn’t do anything about it?” Sunset asked angrily. “Just because it had a low chance of happening?”
Twilight put her hooves together. “If I—or rather, the other me—were to have foresight of the incident, she would definitely have tried to stop it. Unless the decision had an effect on the even farther future somehow and created a worse outcome, but I doubt that would be the case.”
“But that’s not what I’m asking about,” Sunset replied. “It’s about supporting policies that would stop this sort of thing from ever happening again. It’s about helping others, being a good person!”
“I see what this is about,” Twilight sighed. “So you don’t think I’m a good person, because I disagree with you.”
“No, that’s not what this is about!” Sunset yelled back.
“Then I don’t get it,” Twilight responded clearly. “And I don’t think my other self will get it either. Sorry.”
Sunset got up from her chair and faced the room with the portal. “Guess I was right,” she scoffed. “You’re just like her.”
As she left, Twilight shrugged, and felt relief at finally being able to return to her experiments.
Sunset exited the portal and got up from her knees. She was planning on staying a bit longer as to not seem conspicuous when she returned—right now, students were heading to class in front of her. She hadn’t thought about that a moment ago when she left prematurely.
“Sunset!”
She groaned, and turned to see the purple-skinned person calling her name.
“I just saw you come out of the portal,” Twilight said, looking worried. “Is that why you weren’t at school yesterday? Did something happen?”
Sunset stared at Twilight, an intense look on her face. She stepped a bit closer to her.
“I talked to Twilight,” she stated in a brusque tone. “About you,” she added, folding her arms and narrowing her eyes.
“About me?” Twilight asked, confused, thinking for a moment. “Sunset, are you still ma-”
“This problem you have,” Sunset interjected, “acting like a robot. It’s fucked up. You need to get help.”
“What?” Twilight stepped back. “Sunset, what are you talking about?”
“You know what I’m talking about!” Sunset shouted back, trailing Twilight as she continued to move back. “I thought-”
“I thought we were friends,” Sunset glanced down at the ground, stopping, a look of hatred on her face. “I thought you were just like me. But you’re not. You’re just like the other Twilight, obsessed with learning about the most stupid, worthless things, wasting your life away, pretending that you’re helping people, when you really don’t care at all. It’s just, like a game to you.”
Twilight Sparkle stared at Sunset in disbelief. “Sunset, why don’t you just let me expla-”
“You’ve done enough explaining!” Sunset yelled, throwing her hands up. “I just got done talking to you! And all you did was make this whole thing worse!”
Twilight stood there, her hands to her sides. She had no idea what to say, and though she felt sad due to Sunset’s outburst, a new emotion reared its head: anger.
“Fine,” Twilight said, balling her hands into fists. “If you want to believe whatever illogical notion your brain made up about me, fine. I won’t stop you.”
“Good,” Sunset added, turning away. “We’re done then. Don’t talk to me anymore.”
As she left Twilight, Sunset did her best to stop the tears from coming. But she couldn’t—she ran into the nearest bathroom, locking herself in a stall, and let it all out.
Twilight didn’t cry, though. Not this time.
One month later
Twilight stared at the message on her computer she had typed out, making sure to read it over before sending it. It was a long-winded reply to a post about the nature of a new paper that came out recently regarding quantum folding; the subject was one of the more interesting mechanical physics problems in her opinion, and she followed multiple blogs online that sporadically posted about it.
Twilight was content in the moment. The incident at the school—the shooting—was largely forgotten by the general public at a national level. Locally, it was still brought up at times, but mostly the outrage for it had died down. She could still tell that the psychological damage done to other students at the school was still there though, and might never go away for some.
That made her think of Pinkie Pie. Twilight guessed that she was no doubt still shook by the experience, but honestly, Twilight had no desire to check in with her. Pinkie Pie had gone back to school eventually, but only conferred with the group of girls that were once Twilight’s friends: Sunset Shimmer, Rarity, and Fluttershy. Rainbow Dash was also included in their group, though Twilight still considered her an acquaintance.
Applejack on the other hand had split off from the group on her own, asserting that she wasn’t going to be friends with them anymore if they were so quick to stop talking to Twilight over something ‘that petty’, which did not sit with them well, and they gladly ostracized Applejack.
Twilight still didn’t understand why they were so mad. She thought the whole thing would blow over within a week, and when it didn’t, she was worried it was going to hurt her, like when she had first learned about what Fluttershy had said.
It didn’t hurt her. Twilight was still friends with Applejack, and talked to Rainbow Dash on occasion, so she had once mistakenly thought that it was the fact that she still had friends that saved her from a severe bout of depression or anxiety.
But as Twilight thought about it more, she realized that both in the past and in the present, she was always happy when she was with her friends, but also when she was alone.
So, she lost some friends.
Really, she couldn’t care less.
She clicked the send button.
