A Spectator's Sentryenceby gaptyChaptersThe MetamorphosisA Little FableThe JudgementThe Great Wall of ChinaThe TestIn the Penal ColonyThe MetamorphosisOne morning, as Flash Sentry was waking up from a poor night’s sleep, he discovered a cat-sized unicorn sleeping on his feet. He had no reaction, as in his current state, which he always had in the mornings, he just saw Sunset Shimmer’s hair and assumed that his classmate was lying there. Neither of the two implications crossed his mind, and it took all his willpower to stumble into the bathroom to get the needed cold shower for his morning routine. At this time, he had already forgotten the red-yellowish hair that was on his feet, even if he somehow remembered to put down the toilet seat—his subconsciousness must have reminded him that a girl was in his house. The first sign of any reaction came when he walked back into his room to put on his clothes. His half-awakened eyes were fixed on the still-sleeping unicorn on his bed, and after rubbing them, he still saw the same image before him. However, he sighed, took his clothes and went back into the bathroom to put them on. Truth was, Flash wasn’t a morning person at all, and his mind was completely blank as he followed the preparations for the upcoming day, everything done as if in a brainless, automated state. Even when scrolling through the messages on his phone, he didn’t comprehend any of them and just swiped to the next one—one of the reasons his close friends never asked him anything important in the morning, as they knew him well enough to know that he’d just forget it. It was a wonder that, whenever he left the house, he was all tidied up and prepared, not having forgotten a single thing—one of the mysteries in the world where there was no answer to be found. What saved him every morning, though, was the hot black tea—not coffee, he hated it—that he liked to mix with milk. Several classmates had reacted with disgust whenever he shared how he made his tea, but he simply shrugged it off and enjoyed the beverage, giving him the energy to come back into his senses. Sure, only slowly, but it was better than nothing. That’s why, when he was chewing on his breakfast and taking a big sip from his cup, his mind slowly came to the awareness that something wasn’t right today, but—as he had forgotten any stranger’s presence already—he put the feeling aside and soon left the house to go to school, making the morning like any other morning for him. “Nothing?” “Huh?” “Anything weird?” “Uhm, no.” “Alright! Say if you see anything!” Flash scratched his head as he saw Pinkie Pie bouncing away. Now, seeing the unicorn on his couch watching TV and munching on apples it had taken from a fruit bowl in the kitchen, his mind suddenly proved that it could occasionally remember things, as he realised that that unicorn right before him, having the exact same look as Sunset Shimmer, was here in this house from the beginning of the day. Sure, it— she didn’t make a mess in the house like any other animal would, which he was glad about, but the matter of fact was that it was Sunset Shimmer, as a unicorn, right in his house! There could be several explanations regarding this incident, as Sunset and her friends had all kinds of unexplainable and magical adventures before. And with the portal being literally before the school, some Equestrian shenanigan was always about to happen. What bothered him more was the choice of the house Sunset chose to reside at. She had six best friends, was very close to each of them—to the point that they barely were separated from each other—and yet she chose his home as her current housing, not even saying that she had her own apartment. In short, it was unclear to him what exactly she was doing here. If some Equestrian accident happened, he would’ve assumed that Sunset would be on the edge to figure out how to reverse the effect or discuss it with her friends and Princess Twilight, but not watching TV where some mystery show was about to reveal the villain of the story. It didn’t matter though. If Sunset chose his house to live in during her transformed state, then he’d support her—as much as there was to support, considering that the unicorn just lived by herself, giving no attention to Flash, who was still staring at her. He assumed that besides making sure that she’d have food to eat, he didn’t have to do anything with her, which was, he had to admit, a relief. He couldn’t imagine what it would be like to take care of someone he knew as a person, but suddenly acted and had the needs of a common pet—if unicorns would’ve acted as pets to begin with. At least Sunset still had her sapient mind, considering she watched TV, which, he was sure, no other pet besides Spike would do. Speaking of Spike, how did it come that he spoke like a human? All he knew was that the Rainbooms just accepted it, and surely there was an explanation behind it related to Equestrian magic. He sighed. At one point he really should have asked them that question, but nonetheless, Spike was a different issue and, right now, Sunset was here, so he cleared his throat. “Hello, Sunset! Can you talk?” he said, grinning a nervous smile. She turned to him, her eyebrow raised and her lips straight. He knew that look, the facial expression he had to see too many times before the Fall Formal. He never imagined to see that again from her, not even mentioning it being from a unicorn, but here they were. A disappointed and pitiful look, showing him that he shouldn’t intervene in anything she did. He hated that look, hated that it was so effective on him—he guessed that he still hadn't gotten over Sunset's previous past as a bully, where he had let himself be controlled by her. There was a single thought of resisting that look. Didn’t she reform after all? But as quickly as it came, the saving thought giving him the needed strength was suddenly forgotten. He lowered his head and sighed, turning towards his room to change into his casual outfit he wore at home. Did someone see it? Sadly, no. We wrote to everyone, and several replied that they’re on the watchout. Anything new? We’re still searching through the libraries. Keep watching for any signs! We will. Good luck. Flash laid on his bed, as he heard hooves on the ground walking around his house. During the afternoon, Sunset had fallen asleep, but in return the unicorn was now making annoying noises, disrupting his own sleep. It wasn’t even her fault, as the walls were thin and the ground didn’t dampen any steps. After all, when his friends had visited him, he noticed that the living room had always been really loud, but hadn’t bothered to do anything about it, which he now regretted. Sure, he couldn’t have predicted that a unicorn would be roaming around his house, and he was sure that hooves are just by nature loud on solid ground, but a simple carpet would have done wonders for the noises and him falling asleep. He didn’t want to ask her to be quiet, as he was sure that Sunset was already stressed from being a unicorn, so he took his headphones and plugged it into his phone. It helped, and soon his eyes were closing, not noticing how the door opened and the unicorn entered his room. Author's Note "How about if I sleep a little bit longer and forget all this nonsense?" A Little FableThe next morning, Sunset Shimmer was sitting on Flash when the alarm clock rang, staring with a blank expression right in his eyes. And yet, his mind didn’t register the unicorn on him, so when he was about to pull off the blanket from him, he felt a weight preventing it. With a yawn he let go of the blanket and rolled out of the bed, keeping the unicorn with his hands on her position. He strolled to the bathroom, not noticing Sunset walking right behind, who still kept her eyes on him. In a comedic timing, he slammed the bathroom door right on her face. The next moment, the unicorn’s horn lit up in a red aura, and suddenly the door opened. With lowered eyebrows and a raised upper lip, she stomped with her right hoof on the ground. “Close the door, mum.” The words, muttered by Flash, who forgot in his current state that he lived alone, left the unicorn acceptably confused, and as she didn’t make any attempt to follow his request, he closed the door himself. “I‘m already a big boy!” Sunset stared for a long time into nothing in particular, in this case at the door, wondering what was going on in the mind of this teen boy and if his words had any bigger implications. She shouldn’t have, but trying to make sense of the words left her in this immovable and speechless state—not like if Sunset had spoken anything as a unicorn at Flash’s home—for such a long time, that she was already alone in his house when her eyes recognised that right before her nose was the wooden door. During lunch break, Flash sat at a table next to the Rainbooms, trying to see how the group of friends reacted to the absence of Sunset Shimmer. Unexpectedly for him, they were calm, and while they weren’t joking as much and he could hear some serious undertone in their voices, no one said a single word about their seventh friend. He thought that at least Fluttershy would drop a few words regarding her new state, considering her incomparable, if not even obsessive, love for animals. He knew that they had everything in control, but he still wanted to know what caused Sunset to be a unicorn living in his house, so he mustered up his courage and approached them. However, his attempt was disrupted by an explosion. Granny ran out of the kitchen while a dishwasher with cables as its arms jumped after her. Too big for the door, it ripped down the wall around it. Immediately the Rainbooms ‘ponied up’ and ran towards the newly possessed object to defeat it. Flash sighed and crawled out of the cafeteria, dodging the plates the dishwasher monster threw. He shouldn’t distract the heroes, nor be a burden to their life saving duties. Maybe he could write a message? It would be a good idea, but he feared that it would be buried among the many messages the Rainbooms surely got being so popular. He shook his head. He just had to wait for the right time, even if he didn’t know if it would come sooner or later. Entering his home, he heard the sound of the TV from the living room being on. Interestingly enough, it was the same mystery show, an episode he couldn’t recall having seen before, even if it seemed familiar. “Hello, Sunset,” he greeted her. The unicorn turned her face towards him, before turning shortly after her view back to the TV without any reaction. “So, uhm,” he scratched the back of his head, “there was a magically possessed dishwasher at school, but no worries, your friends could defeat it and didn’t get hurt.” The unicorn flinched her ears, but her eyes remained on the TV. He sighed. Whatever the transformation did to Sunset, it made her less approachable than before—not like she hadn’t remained her distance from him, but he could at least talk to her and she would respond. However, she couldn’t do anything about it, he tried to reason, since, as a unicorn, she couldn’t talk, but he hoped to get at least a little thanks for letting her stay here in his house—or just even have her acknowledge his existence. No, he shouldn’t think like that. He should be grateful that she chose his house to reside in her current state, that in all that chaos of Equestrian magic changing the world and needing heroes to get it in control, his unnoticeable appearance was seen worthy of taking that little help he could offer. “Won’t your friends come over one day?” It was a reasonable question in his mind, as there was no way her friends wouldn’t want to visit her. In fact, he wondered why they hadn’t visited her yesterday, since they would definitely be interested in knowing how Sunset was taking her new state, but who was he to judge? Surely they were busy taking care of a new threat. As Sunset didn’t react to that question, he sighed and sat down on the couch next to her. The TV was airing an episode he hadn't seen before, so he could as well watch it with Sunset. There were several public critics on the mystery show, as it tried to prove that certain creatures exist and pointed out any evidence that would support it, while neglecting the facts disproving them, but Flash just enjoyed the exploration and learning about the “legendary” beings. Oftentimes he wondered if any of those beings came through the portal, but he never came around asking Sunset if she had heard about their existence. If the portal is a mirror portal, what if it also mirrored the beings? Maybe Sunset was watching this show for this exact reason. He was impressed by her selflessness, taking the free time to research any new creatures that might be possibly related to her home world—although there wasn’t probably anything else to do in his home for her, but still, it was time valuably spent. Unlike him. He couldn’t do anything for the world. When the episode ended, he turned to the unicorn, only to back up in surprise, as her eyes were fixated on him. Since when did she stare at him? Was she trying to say something? As she kept staring at him in her sitting position, he leaned back and slowly stretched out his hand towards her head. Was it dehumanising to pet a human transformed into a cat-sized unicorn? He got the answer when Sunset raised her hoof to push the hand away. Of course it was dehumanising; he also wouldn’t like to be treated like a pet if he got transformed into one, so why would it be different for Sunset—not even considering that this body was the one she was born with. However, Sunset suddenly stood up and climbed on his chest, as he was almost laying, and laid there, her eyes staring into his own. He couldn’t make any sense of this action, especially that deadpan expression the unicorn had the whole time, while her eyes were barely blinking. Coming to think of it, did she even blink at all? Maybe it wasn’t an Equestrian thing to blink. Whatever Sunset was doing, his thoughts were suddenly running, recalling all the events he had with her. The first time she went to school, the first weeks where she acted all weird—now explainable with her coming from another world—the first months where she rose in popularity, the turning point where she saw the school as a ruling ground and started her bullying path, the first time she asked him out to be together— Him being a young teenager, he agreed, as Sunset was attractive. It wasn’t really him being in love yet, as he was still discovering all the new feelings coming with puberty, and Sunset just saw in him a tool to become more popular, which honestly hurt him when he found it out. Then came Twilight Sparkle—the Princess one. He heard that love at first sight didn’t exist, but he thought that this was exactly what had happened. However, his fate was cruel to him, as his interest in a romantic relationship turned out to be destined to fail. As to make it crueller, later on this world’s Twilight appeared, daily in his sight, not being remotely interested in him. A reminder for what he would never get. Nonetheless, he had accepted his fate and dropped his hope in getting his love returned. What else could he do anyway? Even if he crossed the portal, Twilight was a Princess, and he was just a highschool boy. Well, he hoped to get a second chance with Sunset, one where both were more mature and, most importantly, the former bully being reformed. Was it to get distracted from Twilight? Was it to clinch into anything connected with Equestria, the world where the Princess came from? It didn’t matter anyway, as Sunset was caught up in all the new and fun activities with her new best friends, and he could see that she wasn’t interested in more than just a friendship with him. Besides, she rose into a hero status by defeating anything possessed with Equestrian magic, becoming someone others looked up to whenever unexplainable danger arrived in this city. He was happy for her to have found her destiny. He just wished he had one too. As his thoughts were turning and spinning around, the unicorn kept staring at him, and, if he saw it correctly, her horn was surrounded in a faded red aura. Wasn’t he considered popular? Just what happened after the Fall Formal with him? He knew the answer: After Fall Formal, Sunset’s pedestal crumbled; everyone saw who she was truly all along, and with him having been together with her, his credibility fell too. No one wanted to do anything with him anymore. Everyone saw in him a former minion who had helped Sunset’s terror. At least his closest friends remained, but he missed when his other classmates would casually talk with him too. If only he lived back with his parents. If only he had someone to talk to about his confused and weird feelings. If only he wasn’t alone. But it didn’t matter. He was just someone caught up in a story of superheroes, while he was destined to remain in the background, getting ignored, being irrelevant, being forgotten. He was a nobody. He was— The doorbell rang, ripping him from his thoughts. He moved his arms to put the unicorn away, but she raised her hoof and pushed the arm away. “But the doorbell—” She gently put his hoof on his lips. Right, it didn’t matter. He didn’t matter. He was a nobody. He was worthless. Her eyes remained on him, while the red aura around the horn brightened. The silence was only interrupted by his occasional coughing, as he felt weaker with each minute. Any success? No. We’re searching everywhere, other students ask among their families or other friends. Principal Celestia notified Crystal Prep and Candance promised that their school is looking for it, but we didn’t find it. I hate being stuck here. I wish to be helpful. You are! You try to find more information about it. Yes, but I doubt we’ll find more than the few notes we already have. Please, be careful. Don’t worry, Sunset, we’ll find and defeat it! Author's Note "You only need to change your direction," said the cat, and ate it up. The JudgementAs Flash used his phone as his alarm clock, he woke up in time for the next day, even if he fell asleep on the couch. There was no need to mention that it was an uncomfortable sleep, and with the additional anxious dreams he had, he woke up with a strong headache. He groaned, waking up the unicorn on his chest in the process, who immediately sat up, stared into his eyes and lit up her horn. However, he didn’t acknowledge her existence and sat up, making the unicorn fall with a smack to the ground. His eyes wandered around the living room, and Flash tried to make sense why he didn’t see the usual room he had always woken up to. His stomach growled, notifying him that after he came from school, he didn’t eat anything—not even speaking about the burning throat begging him for water. In short, he felt miserable, so he turned towards the kitchen and stumbled over the unicorn on the ground, who remained laying there motionlessly. In an awakened state, Flash would’ve stopped, apologised to Sunset and taken care of her, but in his—additionally almost sick—state he kept going, letting the confused unicorn stare into nothingness. In the kitchen, he filled up a cup with water and chugged the substance in, before grabbing a piece of bread on the kitchen counter and stuffing it into his mouth. While he chewed, he walked into his room and followed afterwards his usual morning routine. When he approached the front door to leave, he couldn’t find the keys to unlock it. Searching around in his somewhat awakened state, he found them on the table in the living room—next to Sunset Shimmer. As soon as he stretched his hand to grab the keys, a hoof was suddenly above them. Yet, his mind didn’t comprehend this fact and simply grabbed the hoof and pulled it upwards. The unicorn was dandling in the air, as Flash’s eyes were watching the yellow hoof in his hand. After a while, his eyes wandered back to the keys and he took the keys with his other hand. No matter how much the unicorn was shaking, his grip around her hoof was firm, and the next moment he was outside, carrying Sunset with him without even noticing it. Soon enough, his burden was noticed by pedestrians that crossed his way, each stopping whatever they’re doing to stare with wide open eyes in his direction. By that time, his mind had slowly come back, and finally he noticed what he was doing with the unicorn. “Oops! Sorry, Sunset,” he said and immediately put her down. This was embarrassing, surely not only for him, but also for her, being carried around like that. Hopefully it wasn’t painful. While Sunset sat down, he also noticed the stares of the people around him, each saying absolutely nothing, as their eyes and mouths were wide open, generating an onerous atmosphere. He saw a woman slowly stepping backwards, a child suddenly getting tears in their eyes, a man biting his lip as his legs were shaking—not exactly the reaction he expected from seeing a unicorn on the streets. At least he supposed that they were reacting to Sunset, but several looked above her, which confused him even more. “Flash?” he heard a quiet voice behind him say. Turning around, he saw Derpy, having the same kind of expressions as the others. “Oh, hi Derpy!” he greeted her. “How are you?” He tried to smile, even though he felt like walking back and falling to his bed. He was surely sick. “I—” Derpy muttered, her eyes focusing between the unicorn and him. “I wanted—” He saw in her hands a decorated envelope with a name written on it, but she was too far away to make out the letters. Suddenly, she crumbled the envelope and ripped it apart, as she closed her eyes and looked away. “Doesn’t matter.” She sniffed and rubbed her eyes. “You deserve someone like her.” She turned around and ran away. Confused, he looked to Sunset, who simply licked her hoof like a cat. However, once she noticed his stare, she stopped and looked up to him, as her horn was surrounded by a red aura. Out of nowhere, he coughed. His head went dizzy, his head suddenly felt like being hammered, and his body froze. Sunset tapped with its hooves on his leg. “You’re right,” he muttered. “I should stay at home today.” The unicorn nodded and led the way back to his house. We finally found it! It lives with Flash! Flash? Why didn’t he say anything? Maybe it affected or controlled him, we can’t tell. He was with it shortly outside on his way to school, before he went back to his home with it. What did it do? Just what we know already: Everyone saw something else in it. Someone said though that Flash was looking pale. You need to be with him. But how? We’ll get affected by it too! I— I don’t know, but you have to. We’re trying to come up with something. Did you try to message him? We did. I’m more wondering how he skipped our public announcement. It shows that he read it, so we thought he knew. If it was in the morning, he wouldn’t remember reading it. He and mornings are— Wait, this is it! The last steps towards his front door, Flash stumbled over his own feet and fell to the ground, as his coughing got even worse. After he got a break, he saw up, only to see Sunset at the door with an annoyed expression. He was too weak. He took a deep breath and stood up, before he took out the keys with his shaking hands and, after several trials, opened the door. The unicorn just snorted and entered the house, not waiting or even giving a thankful glance at him. Flash sighed and followed her, before staggering gaspingly to the kitchen and making himself a hot tea. He became sick, he could feel it, but he couldn’t do anything more than drink a lot, eat chicken soup and stay in bed—the way his mother treated his colds before. Hopefully Sunset wouldn’t get infected by him, if she even could with her different body, but as he didn’t want to risk it, he went to his room and closed the door, before laying in multiple layers of blankets on his bed. He felt his phone vibrate, notifying him for new messages, but he was too tired to check them. However, as he was laying there, he heard the door open and small steps coming nearer to him, the kind of steps only a four legged creature with hooves could make. “Sunset, I’m sick. Don’t be with me,” he muttered. She didn’t listen and jumped on the bed, before laying on top of his chest and aiming her face in his direction, as their eyes met again like yesterday. When her horn lit up, he coughed again. It must’ve meant well by the unicorn, showing her care for him this way, but it didn’t matter. She shouldn’t waste his time for him, whose non-existence would’ve changed nothing. For Sunset, it was different; the world revolved around her, it gave her power, then a fall, only to rise like a phoenix from the ashes with redemption, with new best friends, with magical powers—a second chance. For him, it had decided that he was not worthy of any attention. He didn’t deserve it for his stupidity of getting together with an attractive bully who has used his position for her personal gain, and he also should’ve known better than having any hope of ever getting into a relationship with a Princess from another world. He made decisions based on looks, so the world punished him—deserved—by throwing at him unreachable visual desires he would never get. Sunset had redeemed herself for her actions, proved in the Battle of the Bands her worth, and what did he do? Asking her out, hoping to get some distraction and another chance in unattainable love. He was stupid, and he deserved to remain ignored, forgotten and alone. There was no point in picking up his vibrating phone to answer the call. He was glad that Sunset was with him right now, but he wouldn’t be angry at her if she got bored and left him alone, rotting in his room until no one would remember his name, because that’s what he deserved. He coughed again. His lungs hurt, his throat was burning, and his body was sweating despite freezing. He felt awful. It was the worst kind of cold he ever got, and he should’ve measured his temperature for fever, but he was too weak for it. It didn’t matter though, as he didn’t matter. Author's Note At this moment an almost endless traffic rolled across the bridge. The Great Wall of ChinaHe almost fell asleep, but an insistent, non-stopping doorbell forced him to stand up and stumble weakly to the door and open it. To his surprise, he saw Fluttershy with folded arms, lowered shoulders, a light blush and, most noticeably, wearing a blindfold. He also saw in his eye corners a rainbow coloured hair disappearing behind a bush, but it was probably just a fever dream he had. “Uhm, hi!” Fluttershy greeted him, almost too quietly to hear her. “Hello, Fluttershy,” Flash replied and coughed. “Why the blindfold?” “Oh, ehm, you don’t know?” “Don’t know what?” “Did you read our messages?” “If today, no, I’m feeling too awful for anything.” Her posture suddenly eased, as her stance got more confident. “Are you exhausted?” she asked, her voice being full of worry. “Kinda,” he replied. “Let me help you!” Flash smiled. She was always so kind to everyone. No wonder everyone of the Rainbooms were so popular, as they put everyone else above themselves and were always ready to help someone in need. “Thank you, but I’m fine.” He coughed. “I’ll get over it myself.” “No, I—I insist!” She clenched her hands into fists. “You, Flash, are looking awful!” “You’re blindfolded.” “Oh, right.” Her voice became barely hearable, before she got back her courage. “But I hear it!” “Really, there is no need. I don’t want you to catch my cold.” “Don’t worry about me, Flash, I’ll be fine. May I please enter? Just for this day.” He sighed. He was simply too tired to care. “If you insist.” He opened the door and went to the side, waiting till she’d pass. “Uhm,” he heard her say, as she still remained before the door. “Oh, right.” He chuckled nervously and grabbed her hand to lead her in. “Forgot about the blindfold.” “It’s nothing.” “Let me lead you to Sunset,” Flash said. Fluttershy stopped in her movement. “Sunset?” “Yeah, Sunset. You know that she’s here with me, don’t you?” “Why is it Sunset for you?” Flash gave her a confused look, until he remembered that she couldn’t see him. “I—What?” “Oh, uhm, nevermind then,” she stuttered. “How, uhm, is she doing?” “She’s taking her new, or technically old, body well, even if she’s not really communicating.” “New body?” Flash didn’t answer, as he tried to process why Fluttershy seemed to be surprised about the state of one of her best friends. However, he began to cough, and suddenly all he wanted was to lay down, as the strong tiredness took back over his body. “Where is Sunset?” Fluttershy asked. “Ehm,” he looked around and saw her looking curiously at Fluttershy, “right next to us.” “Lead me to where you can lay down. I’m taking care of you!” “But the blindfold—” “Later!” He led her to the couch in the living room and let himself fall immediately on it, as his coughing got even worse. His lungs were like on fire, and his clothes were by now soaked in with water. “Alright. Where is Sunset now?” “Next to you,” he replied. “I think she wants to talk with you.” “She can wait. I’m gonna turn around, say stop when Sunset is behind me.” “Uhm, okay.” He couldn’t make sense of her weirdness, but waited nonetheless till Fluttershy met the requirement. “Stop.” She immediately peaked under her blindfold and glanced carefully at Flash. “Oh my, you look really awful! I’m gonna make you something to eat!” “There’s no—” Before he could finish his sentence, she walked away and closed the door to the kitchen, and, if he heard it correctly, even locked it. This was strange of her, like every of her behaviour, but he was too tired to think about it. By now, such a strong weakness came all over his body, that he couldn’t move any muscle anymore, not even speaking about the constant changing of freezing and burning sensation. Nonetheless, he took the last strength to look up and saw Sunset before the kitchen door, tapping with her hooves on it. For someone with the superpower to understand animals, Fluttershy was completely deaf to her unicorn friend. “We can’t wait till the next day! He’s gonna die if it remains with him!” “But Sunset told us that—” “She could be wrong! He’s coughing non-stop, his hands are shaking when he walks and he’s completely wet from his sweats. We need to separate it from him!” “…” “Twilight—” “I’m thinking. Do you think you’ll be able to withstand it?” “I, ehm—” “Prepare a rope and open the front door, then go to the room it is in and remove your blindfold.” “But—” “Remember, you’ll only be able to interact with it when you perceive it visually. Throw a rope at it immediately. Rainbow will come in blindfolded and take you outside.” “…” “You’re the most unsure of us, Flutters, which weirdly helps against it, and Flash lived with it for several days. I know you’ll be able to do it.” “I—I trust you.” Flash must have fallen asleep, because he was suddenly covered in several blankets and feeling better—still sick, but not as awful as the last moment he recalled. The TV was on, playing another episode of the mystery show he had by now seen for several days. He had seen that one before; it theorised how behind the human’s view creatures existed and fought between each other, unbeknownst to us and were never measurable. He didn’t like that one, as it reminded him too much of him and Equestrian magic, so he reached out to the remote on the table and turned off the TV. “You’re already awake?” He heard a southern accented voice speak to him. “How are you feeling?” “Better,” he muttered. “I think I fell asleep.” “Nah, you fell unconscious, Sugarcube, but I don’t blame you. That, uhm, fever took you hard.” Steps from the kitchen came nearer, and soon he saw Applejack offering him a bowl with soup. “Here, take this. You need it.” He sat up, even if it hurt to move, and slowly took sip by sip. It felt good, as the hot liquid warmed him up, even if he had to be cautious to not accidentally cough and spill it all over himself. During that, Applejack was sitting next to him, remaining silent, as she was busy on her phone. “Thank you,” he muttered when he finished the soup. “It’s nothin’, just helping you out.” “So, uhm, where is Sunset?” Applejack looked up. “Oh, right. The one with the new body, I assume as a unicorn, right?” He raised his eyebrows. “Well, what else would I mean?” “Nevermind that. So, Sunset’s out with Fluttershy. You need to rest before taking care of, well, her.” Flash scratched the back of his head. He felt better to notice that now a second Rainboom was saying weird stuff, but he still wasn’t healthy enough to come up with reasons, and asking questions would seem weird in his eyes—it was probably, like usually, some kind of inside information regarding Equestrian magic anyway. He sniffed and looked down on his clothes. “Oof, I smell awful. I‘m taking a shower.” How is the plan going? We had to differentiate. Flash was too sick. I feared it. How is he? You don’t have to worry, Applejack wrote that he’s already doing a lot better after we removed it from his house. You did it? How? Well, the actual plan was for Fluttershy to hold it with a rope while Rainbow would be blindfolded and drag her to your apartment, but— She looked at it, didn’t she? Well, she knew about the proportionality of confidence and its effect, so this was her own fault. Fluttershy was on the other hand amazing, dragging both of them to the destination. She’s always stronger than she appears. Tell her I’m proud of her. How do you keep it at my place? We have many volunteers from our school, so each takes their turn watching it for 15 minutes. It’s devastating to see how each is broken down when they leave it. I can’t imagine how it must’ve been for Flash living with it. Poor guy, he didn’t deserve any of it. And yet you want to involve him in your plan to defeat it? It will work. He’s perfect for it. Do you know or do you hope it? I—both. It has to work. I see nothing else. Because I know that it won’t with me. For a fever, he got better way too quickly, as when he came out of the shower, he felt already healthy and his coughing had stopped. However, this also meant that his mind could fully comprehend the past events, so when he came back to the living room, where Applejack was still chatting over her phone, he stood before her, his fists clenched. “Alright, just what is going on?” Applejack raised her head. “Ehm, how’re you feelin’?” She grinned nervously. “I’m feeling great, so now explain to me this: How does it come that neither you nor Fluttershy knew of Sunset being a unicorn? She lived here with me for three days now, and yet you, her best friends, didn’t care the slightest for her!” “Flash—” “No, you listen!” he shouted. “I thought that you knew she was a unicorn, I thought there was some Equestrian magic reason that she had to live with me, but now I know that she had to because you abandoned her! You, her best friends, just forgot about her! I heard you talking with each other yesterday, and not once did any of you wonder what had happened to her!” Applejack stared at him, her mouth open and her hands holding her phone tightly. “And you know what?” he continued. “I know exactly how she feels! You, Fluttershy, everyone of you has to apologise to her for your ignorance! She will not say anything to you about her being hurt, but she is hurt, deeply! The world doesn’t revolve only around you, Rainbooms, not even speaking that Sunset’s a part of you, and just because only you can fight Equestrian magic, it doesn’t mean that now you’re the main characters and others are just some replaceable extras!” He took a break to catch his breath. “Flash, is—” She looked to the side. “Is that how you feel?” “It isn’t about me.” He gritted his teeth. “And don’t try to deviate from the topic!” “I’m not, Flash. If you—” “Again you talk about me, Applejack! Just admit that you’re wrong!” “Calm down!” She suddenly stood up and threw him to the couch. “I will tell you exactly what happened over the last few days, got it?” Flash stared at her, and when his first shock faded, he nodded slightly. “Good, and no more interruption!” “Why did I agree to this?” “Shut up! The—the Great and—Non-Magical Trixie is trying to prove—” “That’s what I mean, Darling. You were supposed to lead me, not ramble about your insecurities as a magician.” “I am—Powerful!” “No, all you do is talk about yourself, while I still have no idea where to go!” “I’ll tell you, but first, Trixie—she—” “Grr. I told Twilight that you were the wrong person. But no, ‘her acting is a form of her own insecurity’—as if. You’re just a narcissistic, self-obsessed magician-wannabe!” “You take that back! Who was the one ripping her own clothes seeing it?” “Oh, now you can speak without stuttering? Why don’t you take your courage to finally tell me where to go!” “I’ll show you where to go! Here!” “—Did you just throw a peanut butter cracker at me?” “…” “Hey! I’m talking to you!” “One moment. Let Trixie try something.” “I swear, if you throw at me your gooey snacks one more—what are the sounds?” “The Great and Smart Trixie’s is throwing them at it.” “Please explain to me why you—” “It looks confused, and Trixie’s confidence is back!” “What?” “Yes, take that, stupid face! I’m the best magician, not you and your telekinesis!” “Wait, please don’t tell me you see Twilight in it.” “What is it like when your stupid glasses are smeared and sticky? Hahaha!” “Why out of everyone—” “You’ll never sabotage my show again! Trixie believed that she had real magic! You made Trixie look like a fool! You—you—I’m the magician—I have—real—magic—” “—I’ll just call Twilight for an exchange to lead me. And notify her that stupid actions help apparently.” Usually, Flash was quick to fall asleep whenever it was quiet, and even when he had important exams on the next day, he could remain calm and not let his thoughts be worried for the next day. However, this didn’t apply to today. Applejack told him everything she knew, how the unicorn she saw was actually a being breaking any confidence and feeding off the doubts of a person. She also told him of the plan of using Flash’s morning state to give him Sunset’s geode—which apparently would do something; she didn’t know though what exactly it did that Sunset couldn’t stay in the world, and the latter had refused to even mention anything related to that. To be clear, he was more than glad that finally someone had explained to him what was going on, and even more he felt relieved that, for once, he would be taking part in fighting against a threat. However, this also meant that he was not only excited, but also feeling pressure and worried if the plan would even work. Would he even wake up? Would his mind really be “empty” and “fitting” for this task? There was also the part that he would presumably not even remember anything happening, which, to be honest, rather annoyed him, but considering how Sunset had to stay in Equestria, it was probably for the best. All these thoughts wouldn’t be in his head if he didn’t know anything of the plan, but he was nonetheless relieved that, this time, it were his own thoughts. He felt blind recalling how the unicorn was obviously not Sunset at all, but Applejack assured him that this was normal, and that it was a wonder that he survived with it for so long—that sentence still gave him the shudders. If he didn’t accidentally took it with him outside, no one would’ve even know about it being with him, and— He shook the thought away. He didn’t have to worry, he just had to fall asleep, so he turned to the wall and closed his eyes. Author's Note However, there was no other way to carry out the construction except the way it happened. The TestOne morning, as Flash Sentry was waking up from a well-resting sleep, he saw an indescribable being over his bed. A few features of it were recognisable, as it reached in its height towards the ceiling, it had several multicoloured wings, uncountable eyes in the centre of its body, and what seemed to be a collection of various animal and human legs and arms coming out at seemingly random places. However, these were only the small details the human mind could make sense of; they were only parts of a sight that would burn through the human mind, shatter it into pieces and break the last remaining sanity one had before. And yet, despite him seeing it, his mind didn’t comprehend its look at all, so he simply yawned and stood up, tripping towards the bathroom. There, he took off his pyjamas and was about to go to the shower, but a bright glow of something around his neck caught his attention. He felt around it and noticed a necklace, so he tried to take it off–to no avail. It was as if it was glued onto him. Flash scratched his head, as his mind tried to make sense of the situation he was currently in. The morning routine demanded him to shower; but to shower, he had to take every piece of clothing and jewellery–which he usually didn’t wear–off himself, but he couldn’t, and any tasks demanding the slightest of problem solving abilities would be too much for his morning state. In desperation, the mind chose to simply forget the necklace and continue the routine. Entering back into his room, Flash saw the being again as it was moving quickly around the room. However, with it was what seemed to be an red coloured light resembling an alicorn–its wings widely spread and from its horn beams of light being shot at the other being. This was definitely not part of his morning routine–Flash’s mind was sure of it–so it ignored once again the sight and Flash went to his wardrobe to get his clothes. His back towards the both beings, he heard what seemed to be quick slashes, followed by a painful neigh right behind him. Flash put on his cloths and went to his desk to– His eyes looked at a corner of the room where his desk was, or more correctly was supposed to be. It wasn’t empty, being rather the opposite, as there were many broken wood pieces, books, ripped papers and posters and even a broken guitar. But there was no desk with his prepared bag to take to school. Flash looked around and found the bag on the ground, but as soon as he was about to grab it, a cat paw suddenly took it first. “That’s my toy!” The paw froze in its movement. To understand Flash’s words, one had to know that his mind had connected the sight to a several years old memory where he once visited his aunt and her cat–back then being just a few months old–wanted to steal something of his. The cat paw certainly didn’t know it and was confused, so Flash could take back his bag with ease. Leaving his room, he noticed several flashes of light, but as his morning routine was finished with his room, Flash simply closed the bedroom’s door. Entering the kitchen, Flash went straight to his kettle and turned it on to heat the already prepared water in it. Afterwards, he stumbled to his fridge to take out his breakfast, which he put on the table to later eat it. Suddenly, the sound of crashing and falling objects was heard, and if he judged it correctly, it must have come from the same room as he was currently in. As if to confirm it, he saw repeated flashes of light, almost blinding him. Nonetheless, since his mind was tired from the chaotic morning by now, Flash simply turned towards the kettle to pour himself the hot water into a cup, where the teabag was already prepared. He went towards the fridge again to get the milk for his tea, but as soon as he returned to his cup, he couldn’t find it anymore. He scratched the back of his head. Sure, Flash didn’t have the best morning state, but there was no way he would forget to prepare a tea before getting the milk. Even worse, his kettle was gone, not even speaking of the kitchen plate, which seemed to be broken in half as shards of plates and cups laid on the ground. Suddenly, he heard the sound of a painful neigh again, but as it was somehow connected to the disappearance of the annoying flashes, his mind accepted it and decided to skip the tea making part–even if it meant that it would take Flash a longer time to come back to his senses–and move on to the breakfast– Flash groaned, as he saw that everything that he prepared for the breakfast was on the ground, while parts of the table were sticking out the window–however that had happened. His mind had the first coherent thought of connecting the state of the kitchen to the two beings he saw that slashed their paws or shot flashing lights at each other; but as logical as that thought was, it was the only smart one, as the follow up was to connect it to a memory of when he accidentally stumbled into a rehearsal of the drama club. “Oops, sorry, I didn’t know you were practising here.” Flash left the kitchen, where sudden quick sequences of flashing lights were coming from, and sat on the couch in the living room. His mind was exhausted, not only from the constant distractions and the random, unexplainable incidents, but also from not getting the morning routine done. How else did it know without Flash’s consciousness what to do? It knew to get a breakfast and afterwards to go to school, but with the breakfast gone, should it even do anything? Should Flash just go back to sleep and repeat the morning routine? Would then the kitchen return to a normal state? The sudden explosion coming from there seemed to indicate the opposite. However, his attention was caught by the sight of six glowing geodes on the table. Each had their own colour, and each glowed sometimes brighter, sometimes weaker. Occasionally, the pink one glowed brighter and the sounds of an explosion was heard; occasionally, the purple or the white one glowed and the sounds of objects crashing into each other was heard. As his mind decided that it had by now nothing better to do, Flash watched with a mild interest the light spectacle of the geodes. After a while, suddenly each of them glowed in an even brighter light than before, before they faded and lost their glowing. At least the sounds and flashing from the kitchen stopped too. When Flash came back to his senses, the first thing he noticed was that he had an unusual cup of tea in his hands, as, while it was still a well done tea, it had no milk in it. The second thing was that he still wasn’t on his way to school, but in the living room on his couch, and looking at the time revealed that he was certainly late for the first lesson. The last thing was the mess in the kitchen, which he could see from where he sat: it was the biggest mess, as if something blew up there, and—since when was there a hole in the ceiling? He sighed, as he realised that there must have been a fight in his house, which he must’ve missed, but he was sure that the Rainbooms had dealt with it already. But still, why was he always so “lost” in the mornings? Why couldn’t he remember anything? There had been the chance for him to become important, to be useful, but he was sure that he had only been a burden for the girls, as they’ve gloriously fought the danger in his house. Suddenly, he saw a yellow hand offered to him, and looking to his right, he saw a smiling Sunset Shimmer. “Good morning, hero.” He looked confused at the girl sitting next to her. What was she doing here? His mind recalled the last days, remembering the state she had been before. “Wait, you’re back to being human!” Sunset laughed. It was a heartwarming laugh, something that, while seemingly coming from him having said something stupid, was a genuine, friendly laugh with not bad intentions. “Glad to see that you’re still slow in the morning,” she said and took a sip from her own cup—knowing her, presumably coffee. “Huh?” He scratched the back of his head, before taking another sip. It was silent, as they remained sitting wordlessly on the couch, but the atmosphere was relaxed—well, as relaxed as one could be seeing your destroyed kitchen. Admittedly, he nonetheless enjoyed the moment of them sitting together in silence. It reminded her of his first days in their previous relationship, where he had been slowly coming back to his senses and realised that her girlfriend had been with him the whole time in the morning. At last, the memories from yesterday came slowly back, and when he made gasping noises, he heard Sunset giggle again. “Here we go,” she said. “Wow,” was all he could say. “Yep. You can’t imagine how relieved I am that the plan worked.” “I bet you’re also happy that you’re back.” “I am,” Sunset responded. “But honestly, I’m more happy that you, my friends, the CHS-students, and everyone who helped to defeat it came through it harmlessly. This was something we seven were far from able to deal with alone.” Flash took another sip, as they remained quiet for a while. “So, uhm,” he bit his lip, “could I ask why you had to be on the other side?” Sunset’s expression hardened immediately, as her eyes widened. Her chest moved quicker and quicker from her breathing. Suddenly, she shook her head. “Let’s—Let’s not talk about what it did to me.” She took a deep breath and exhaled. “I’m sure that words wouldn’t be able to describe even a quarter of it, and I really don’t want to remember it.” Flash nodded, not feeling left out from being kept in the dark—her reaction did explain more than enough for him. He kept the silence between them, until Sunset’s breathing got back to normal and she had calmed down . “Do you know that, uhm—” “I do,” Sunset replied. “Applejack told me about what you saw in it.” “Oh.” Flash gave a nervous smile. “Can I ask, well, how do you feel about it?” “I don’t know yet, honestly. Twilight told me that many students have seen at least one of the Rainbooms in it, which would probably explain how it got here. A collective, shared doubt.” “Many?” Sunset nodded. “That’s—kind of a relief,” he muttered, but then saw her stare at her. “I said that out loud, didn’t I?” “Mhm.” She gave a slight grin. “I didn’t mean that—I—I am relieved that I’m not the only one, you know? Maybe it’s wrong to want others to feel the same—” “Flash,” Sunset put a hand on his shoulder, “any feelings and doubts are okay to have. Don’t be ashamed of them.” He sighed. “Well, they don’t make sense though, you know? What deal do I have feeling left out when you get Equestrian magic? How is it your fault?” Sunset didn’t reply, and Flash remained quiet, thinking over all the thoughts the being had put into him. Back then, they all felt real to him, as if they were his own thoughts, but now? Was he really that depressed? Or did it just understand how to manipulate him and grow the few insecurities he had? It was probably the latter, he hoped. “Maybe it is, maybe it isn’t,” Sunset said, “maybe it’s all your own fault, or it’s Starswirl’s who created the portal. I don’t think that—in this case—you have to search for who’s fault it is, but to talk about your feelings, to not let them stay inside you and eat you up. Truth be told, you seemed weird around us for a while already, as if you feared us.” “I did?” Flash looked away. “Yep. You stopped texting me and avoided me whenever possible.” “Now that you say it, I really did.” He sighed. “I’m sorry.” “Nothing to apologise, Flash. Whenever you need an open ear, know that I am always happy to listen to you.” “Really?” “Of course, that’s what friends do.” His eyes widened. She saw a friend in him. He wasn’t forgotten. “Can we sit for a little longer?” He asked. “Just for ten more minutes, then we have to go to school.” Flash groaned. “Are you kidding me?” “No. Principal Celestia agreed on you missing out on the morning classes, but when the construction workers come, you could as well be in class.” “Construction workers?” “Well, who else will fix your kitchen?” “Fair point. But who pays them?” “Insurance.” He laughed. “No wonder the fees are getting so high around here.” After school, Flash felt a tap on his shoulder and, turning around, saw Derpy before him. “Hello, Derpy!” he greeted her. “Hello, Flash!” she said with her cheerful voice. “Thank you for defeating this being!” “Oh, it was nothing, literally.” He scratched the back of his head. “I don’t even remember it happening.” “But it was you, so you’re the hero!” He was flattered from the praise, but he felt it wasn’t deserved. “I wasn’t the only one after all, and if I wouldn’t have been saved on that day before from it, I wouldn't have even survived. Plus, you and others helped keep it in place while I recovered, so it was a team effort from everyone.” “Sure, but I still wanted to give you a gift.” She gave him a chocolate bar and an envelope. “Oh, uhm, thanks, but—” “Just take it.” She smiled. “You deserved it.” He took the gift. “See you tomorrow then!” she said and walked away. “Bye!” he said, before turning his view towards the envelope. It had his name written on it. Curiously, he opened it, wondering what was written in there. Author's Note "Stay," he said, "that was only a test. He who does not answer the questions has passed the test." In the Penal ColonyDear Silver, I know that you still hate me for the mistake I made, but please read through this possibly last letter of mine—even if not for the fact that you care for me, then at least as my final wish. The being that stuck to me, the “judgement of mine”, feeds off my guilt. It reminds me every day, every hour, every single minute of the poor souls I hurt when I had abused the powers. I deserved it, I truly do. You have every right to be angry at me. You have warned me to not touch the powers of the other world, but I did, and now I suffer the consequences. I am forced to be alone, as otherwise this being, the needed reaction that had stopped me, will break down anyone seeing it—you have seen it yourself, after all, so you know what I mean. I wish to see you again. I wish to be able to apologise to you in person and not through a letter, but I can’t anymore—I have ruined the possibility myself. And now, I feel my last strength being taken, and soon my final breath will be done, but I worry for others, and for you. This being won’t be satisfied with me. It will want more, and choose more victims to feed off their guilt, their insecurities, their doubts. I need to stop it. I won’t be able to kill it, but I know that it can be put to sleep. I’m sorry to tell you that I still kept the geodes with me. I know I should’ve given them back to you already, but they kept me sane, gave me some resistance against the being. If not for them, I wouldn’t be able to survive even a day. The magic, the powers from the other world, it’s alive. Each has a personality, resembling a trait, and I feel them being angry at me, but also at the being. The powers know that with my death, the being will choose another victim. They want to fight it, but they don’t have the right attribute to counter its effect. Nonetheless, they rage against it, the geodes glow brightly whenever it’s near them, and I think I know how to help them. I need to make another one of them, give it the trait the being is making me feel, not to harm, but to help others, not to make one feel guilt, but compassion and empathy. This one will be the only one able to fight and defeat it. Making this new geode will channel all their rage into it. This rage will be too much for any bearer—even one geode right now is difficult to handle—but I’ll have to be the one. My last action shall be the one fixing my mistakes. If you got this letter and I still haven’t returned, you’ll find me in the crystal cave we had played as kids. If you have mercy over me, bury me there. Make sure you remove the magic from the geodes—you know how to do it—and search for the seventh one. I don’t know yet what colour it will get, but you’ll know it once you’ll see it. Put these empty geodes on my grave, as a reminder for anyone else to never repeat my mistake, to never abuse unknown powers. Keep me in your memories, and please forgive me one more time. Sincerely, Your lost, punished brother Author's Note "He doesn't know the sentence that has been passed on him?" "No," said the officer again, pausing a moment as if to let the explorer elaborate his question, and then said: "There would be no point in telling him. He'll learn it on his body."
The MetamorphosisOne morning, as Flash Sentry was waking up from a poor night’s sleep, he discovered a cat-sized unicorn sleeping on his feet. He had no reaction, as in his current state, which he always had in the mornings, he just saw Sunset Shimmer’s hair and assumed that his classmate was lying there. Neither of the two implications crossed his mind, and it took all his willpower to stumble into the bathroom to get the needed cold shower for his morning routine. At this time, he had already forgotten the red-yellowish hair that was on his feet, even if he somehow remembered to put down the toilet seat—his subconsciousness must have reminded him that a girl was in his house. The first sign of any reaction came when he walked back into his room to put on his clothes. His half-awakened eyes were fixed on the still-sleeping unicorn on his bed, and after rubbing them, he still saw the same image before him. However, he sighed, took his clothes and went back into the bathroom to put them on. Truth was, Flash wasn’t a morning person at all, and his mind was completely blank as he followed the preparations for the upcoming day, everything done as if in a brainless, automated state. Even when scrolling through the messages on his phone, he didn’t comprehend any of them and just swiped to the next one—one of the reasons his close friends never asked him anything important in the morning, as they knew him well enough to know that he’d just forget it. It was a wonder that, whenever he left the house, he was all tidied up and prepared, not having forgotten a single thing—one of the mysteries in the world where there was no answer to be found. What saved him every morning, though, was the hot black tea—not coffee, he hated it—that he liked to mix with milk. Several classmates had reacted with disgust whenever he shared how he made his tea, but he simply shrugged it off and enjoyed the beverage, giving him the energy to come back into his senses. Sure, only slowly, but it was better than nothing. That’s why, when he was chewing on his breakfast and taking a big sip from his cup, his mind slowly came to the awareness that something wasn’t right today, but—as he had forgotten any stranger’s presence already—he put the feeling aside and soon left the house to go to school, making the morning like any other morning for him. “Nothing?” “Huh?” “Anything weird?” “Uhm, no.” “Alright! Say if you see anything!” Flash scratched his head as he saw Pinkie Pie bouncing away. Now, seeing the unicorn on his couch watching TV and munching on apples it had taken from a fruit bowl in the kitchen, his mind suddenly proved that it could occasionally remember things, as he realised that that unicorn right before him, having the exact same look as Sunset Shimmer, was here in this house from the beginning of the day. Sure, it— she didn’t make a mess in the house like any other animal would, which he was glad about, but the matter of fact was that it was Sunset Shimmer, as a unicorn, right in his house! There could be several explanations regarding this incident, as Sunset and her friends had all kinds of unexplainable and magical adventures before. And with the portal being literally before the school, some Equestrian shenanigan was always about to happen. What bothered him more was the choice of the house Sunset chose to reside at. She had six best friends, was very close to each of them—to the point that they barely were separated from each other—and yet she chose his home as her current housing, not even saying that she had her own apartment. In short, it was unclear to him what exactly she was doing here. If some Equestrian accident happened, he would’ve assumed that Sunset would be on the edge to figure out how to reverse the effect or discuss it with her friends and Princess Twilight, but not watching TV where some mystery show was about to reveal the villain of the story. It didn’t matter though. If Sunset chose his house to live in during her transformed state, then he’d support her—as much as there was to support, considering that the unicorn just lived by herself, giving no attention to Flash, who was still staring at her. He assumed that besides making sure that she’d have food to eat, he didn’t have to do anything with her, which was, he had to admit, a relief. He couldn’t imagine what it would be like to take care of someone he knew as a person, but suddenly acted and had the needs of a common pet—if unicorns would’ve acted as pets to begin with. At least Sunset still had her sapient mind, considering she watched TV, which, he was sure, no other pet besides Spike would do. Speaking of Spike, how did it come that he spoke like a human? All he knew was that the Rainbooms just accepted it, and surely there was an explanation behind it related to Equestrian magic. He sighed. At one point he really should have asked them that question, but nonetheless, Spike was a different issue and, right now, Sunset was here, so he cleared his throat. “Hello, Sunset! Can you talk?” he said, grinning a nervous smile. She turned to him, her eyebrow raised and her lips straight. He knew that look, the facial expression he had to see too many times before the Fall Formal. He never imagined to see that again from her, not even mentioning it being from a unicorn, but here they were. A disappointed and pitiful look, showing him that he shouldn’t intervene in anything she did. He hated that look, hated that it was so effective on him—he guessed that he still hadn't gotten over Sunset's previous past as a bully, where he had let himself be controlled by her. There was a single thought of resisting that look. Didn’t she reform after all? But as quickly as it came, the saving thought giving him the needed strength was suddenly forgotten. He lowered his head and sighed, turning towards his room to change into his casual outfit he wore at home. Did someone see it? Sadly, no. We wrote to everyone, and several replied that they’re on the watchout. Anything new? We’re still searching through the libraries. Keep watching for any signs! We will. Good luck. Flash laid on his bed, as he heard hooves on the ground walking around his house. During the afternoon, Sunset had fallen asleep, but in return the unicorn was now making annoying noises, disrupting his own sleep. It wasn’t even her fault, as the walls were thin and the ground didn’t dampen any steps. After all, when his friends had visited him, he noticed that the living room had always been really loud, but hadn’t bothered to do anything about it, which he now regretted. Sure, he couldn’t have predicted that a unicorn would be roaming around his house, and he was sure that hooves are just by nature loud on solid ground, but a simple carpet would have done wonders for the noises and him falling asleep. He didn’t want to ask her to be quiet, as he was sure that Sunset was already stressed from being a unicorn, so he took his headphones and plugged it into his phone. It helped, and soon his eyes were closing, not noticing how the door opened and the unicorn entered his room. Author's Note "How about if I sleep a little bit longer and forget all this nonsense?"
A Little FableThe next morning, Sunset Shimmer was sitting on Flash when the alarm clock rang, staring with a blank expression right in his eyes. And yet, his mind didn’t register the unicorn on him, so when he was about to pull off the blanket from him, he felt a weight preventing it. With a yawn he let go of the blanket and rolled out of the bed, keeping the unicorn with his hands on her position. He strolled to the bathroom, not noticing Sunset walking right behind, who still kept her eyes on him. In a comedic timing, he slammed the bathroom door right on her face. The next moment, the unicorn’s horn lit up in a red aura, and suddenly the door opened. With lowered eyebrows and a raised upper lip, she stomped with her right hoof on the ground. “Close the door, mum.” The words, muttered by Flash, who forgot in his current state that he lived alone, left the unicorn acceptably confused, and as she didn’t make any attempt to follow his request, he closed the door himself. “I‘m already a big boy!” Sunset stared for a long time into nothing in particular, in this case at the door, wondering what was going on in the mind of this teen boy and if his words had any bigger implications. She shouldn’t have, but trying to make sense of the words left her in this immovable and speechless state—not like if Sunset had spoken anything as a unicorn at Flash’s home—for such a long time, that she was already alone in his house when her eyes recognised that right before her nose was the wooden door. During lunch break, Flash sat at a table next to the Rainbooms, trying to see how the group of friends reacted to the absence of Sunset Shimmer. Unexpectedly for him, they were calm, and while they weren’t joking as much and he could hear some serious undertone in their voices, no one said a single word about their seventh friend. He thought that at least Fluttershy would drop a few words regarding her new state, considering her incomparable, if not even obsessive, love for animals. He knew that they had everything in control, but he still wanted to know what caused Sunset to be a unicorn living in his house, so he mustered up his courage and approached them. However, his attempt was disrupted by an explosion. Granny ran out of the kitchen while a dishwasher with cables as its arms jumped after her. Too big for the door, it ripped down the wall around it. Immediately the Rainbooms ‘ponied up’ and ran towards the newly possessed object to defeat it. Flash sighed and crawled out of the cafeteria, dodging the plates the dishwasher monster threw. He shouldn’t distract the heroes, nor be a burden to their life saving duties. Maybe he could write a message? It would be a good idea, but he feared that it would be buried among the many messages the Rainbooms surely got being so popular. He shook his head. He just had to wait for the right time, even if he didn’t know if it would come sooner or later. Entering his home, he heard the sound of the TV from the living room being on. Interestingly enough, it was the same mystery show, an episode he couldn’t recall having seen before, even if it seemed familiar. “Hello, Sunset,” he greeted her. The unicorn turned her face towards him, before turning shortly after her view back to the TV without any reaction. “So, uhm,” he scratched the back of his head, “there was a magically possessed dishwasher at school, but no worries, your friends could defeat it and didn’t get hurt.” The unicorn flinched her ears, but her eyes remained on the TV. He sighed. Whatever the transformation did to Sunset, it made her less approachable than before—not like she hadn’t remained her distance from him, but he could at least talk to her and she would respond. However, she couldn’t do anything about it, he tried to reason, since, as a unicorn, she couldn’t talk, but he hoped to get at least a little thanks for letting her stay here in his house—or just even have her acknowledge his existence. No, he shouldn’t think like that. He should be grateful that she chose his house to reside in her current state, that in all that chaos of Equestrian magic changing the world and needing heroes to get it in control, his unnoticeable appearance was seen worthy of taking that little help he could offer. “Won’t your friends come over one day?” It was a reasonable question in his mind, as there was no way her friends wouldn’t want to visit her. In fact, he wondered why they hadn’t visited her yesterday, since they would definitely be interested in knowing how Sunset was taking her new state, but who was he to judge? Surely they were busy taking care of a new threat. As Sunset didn’t react to that question, he sighed and sat down on the couch next to her. The TV was airing an episode he hadn't seen before, so he could as well watch it with Sunset. There were several public critics on the mystery show, as it tried to prove that certain creatures exist and pointed out any evidence that would support it, while neglecting the facts disproving them, but Flash just enjoyed the exploration and learning about the “legendary” beings. Oftentimes he wondered if any of those beings came through the portal, but he never came around asking Sunset if she had heard about their existence. If the portal is a mirror portal, what if it also mirrored the beings? Maybe Sunset was watching this show for this exact reason. He was impressed by her selflessness, taking the free time to research any new creatures that might be possibly related to her home world—although there wasn’t probably anything else to do in his home for her, but still, it was time valuably spent. Unlike him. He couldn’t do anything for the world. When the episode ended, he turned to the unicorn, only to back up in surprise, as her eyes were fixated on him. Since when did she stare at him? Was she trying to say something? As she kept staring at him in her sitting position, he leaned back and slowly stretched out his hand towards her head. Was it dehumanising to pet a human transformed into a cat-sized unicorn? He got the answer when Sunset raised her hoof to push the hand away. Of course it was dehumanising; he also wouldn’t like to be treated like a pet if he got transformed into one, so why would it be different for Sunset—not even considering that this body was the one she was born with. However, Sunset suddenly stood up and climbed on his chest, as he was almost laying, and laid there, her eyes staring into his own. He couldn’t make any sense of this action, especially that deadpan expression the unicorn had the whole time, while her eyes were barely blinking. Coming to think of it, did she even blink at all? Maybe it wasn’t an Equestrian thing to blink. Whatever Sunset was doing, his thoughts were suddenly running, recalling all the events he had with her. The first time she went to school, the first weeks where she acted all weird—now explainable with her coming from another world—the first months where she rose in popularity, the turning point where she saw the school as a ruling ground and started her bullying path, the first time she asked him out to be together— Him being a young teenager, he agreed, as Sunset was attractive. It wasn’t really him being in love yet, as he was still discovering all the new feelings coming with puberty, and Sunset just saw in him a tool to become more popular, which honestly hurt him when he found it out. Then came Twilight Sparkle—the Princess one. He heard that love at first sight didn’t exist, but he thought that this was exactly what had happened. However, his fate was cruel to him, as his interest in a romantic relationship turned out to be destined to fail. As to make it crueller, later on this world’s Twilight appeared, daily in his sight, not being remotely interested in him. A reminder for what he would never get. Nonetheless, he had accepted his fate and dropped his hope in getting his love returned. What else could he do anyway? Even if he crossed the portal, Twilight was a Princess, and he was just a highschool boy. Well, he hoped to get a second chance with Sunset, one where both were more mature and, most importantly, the former bully being reformed. Was it to get distracted from Twilight? Was it to clinch into anything connected with Equestria, the world where the Princess came from? It didn’t matter anyway, as Sunset was caught up in all the new and fun activities with her new best friends, and he could see that she wasn’t interested in more than just a friendship with him. Besides, she rose into a hero status by defeating anything possessed with Equestrian magic, becoming someone others looked up to whenever unexplainable danger arrived in this city. He was happy for her to have found her destiny. He just wished he had one too. As his thoughts were turning and spinning around, the unicorn kept staring at him, and, if he saw it correctly, her horn was surrounded in a faded red aura. Wasn’t he considered popular? Just what happened after the Fall Formal with him? He knew the answer: After Fall Formal, Sunset’s pedestal crumbled; everyone saw who she was truly all along, and with him having been together with her, his credibility fell too. No one wanted to do anything with him anymore. Everyone saw in him a former minion who had helped Sunset’s terror. At least his closest friends remained, but he missed when his other classmates would casually talk with him too. If only he lived back with his parents. If only he had someone to talk to about his confused and weird feelings. If only he wasn’t alone. But it didn’t matter. He was just someone caught up in a story of superheroes, while he was destined to remain in the background, getting ignored, being irrelevant, being forgotten. He was a nobody. He was— The doorbell rang, ripping him from his thoughts. He moved his arms to put the unicorn away, but she raised her hoof and pushed the arm away. “But the doorbell—” She gently put his hoof on his lips. Right, it didn’t matter. He didn’t matter. He was a nobody. He was worthless. Her eyes remained on him, while the red aura around the horn brightened. The silence was only interrupted by his occasional coughing, as he felt weaker with each minute. Any success? No. We’re searching everywhere, other students ask among their families or other friends. Principal Celestia notified Crystal Prep and Candance promised that their school is looking for it, but we didn’t find it. I hate being stuck here. I wish to be helpful. You are! You try to find more information about it. Yes, but I doubt we’ll find more than the few notes we already have. Please, be careful. Don’t worry, Sunset, we’ll find and defeat it! Author's Note "You only need to change your direction," said the cat, and ate it up.
The JudgementAs Flash used his phone as his alarm clock, he woke up in time for the next day, even if he fell asleep on the couch. There was no need to mention that it was an uncomfortable sleep, and with the additional anxious dreams he had, he woke up with a strong headache. He groaned, waking up the unicorn on his chest in the process, who immediately sat up, stared into his eyes and lit up her horn. However, he didn’t acknowledge her existence and sat up, making the unicorn fall with a smack to the ground. His eyes wandered around the living room, and Flash tried to make sense why he didn’t see the usual room he had always woken up to. His stomach growled, notifying him that after he came from school, he didn’t eat anything—not even speaking about the burning throat begging him for water. In short, he felt miserable, so he turned towards the kitchen and stumbled over the unicorn on the ground, who remained laying there motionlessly. In an awakened state, Flash would’ve stopped, apologised to Sunset and taken care of her, but in his—additionally almost sick—state he kept going, letting the confused unicorn stare into nothingness. In the kitchen, he filled up a cup with water and chugged the substance in, before grabbing a piece of bread on the kitchen counter and stuffing it into his mouth. While he chewed, he walked into his room and followed afterwards his usual morning routine. When he approached the front door to leave, he couldn’t find the keys to unlock it. Searching around in his somewhat awakened state, he found them on the table in the living room—next to Sunset Shimmer. As soon as he stretched his hand to grab the keys, a hoof was suddenly above them. Yet, his mind didn’t comprehend this fact and simply grabbed the hoof and pulled it upwards. The unicorn was dandling in the air, as Flash’s eyes were watching the yellow hoof in his hand. After a while, his eyes wandered back to the keys and he took the keys with his other hand. No matter how much the unicorn was shaking, his grip around her hoof was firm, and the next moment he was outside, carrying Sunset with him without even noticing it. Soon enough, his burden was noticed by pedestrians that crossed his way, each stopping whatever they’re doing to stare with wide open eyes in his direction. By that time, his mind had slowly come back, and finally he noticed what he was doing with the unicorn. “Oops! Sorry, Sunset,” he said and immediately put her down. This was embarrassing, surely not only for him, but also for her, being carried around like that. Hopefully it wasn’t painful. While Sunset sat down, he also noticed the stares of the people around him, each saying absolutely nothing, as their eyes and mouths were wide open, generating an onerous atmosphere. He saw a woman slowly stepping backwards, a child suddenly getting tears in their eyes, a man biting his lip as his legs were shaking—not exactly the reaction he expected from seeing a unicorn on the streets. At least he supposed that they were reacting to Sunset, but several looked above her, which confused him even more. “Flash?” he heard a quiet voice behind him say. Turning around, he saw Derpy, having the same kind of expressions as the others. “Oh, hi Derpy!” he greeted her. “How are you?” He tried to smile, even though he felt like walking back and falling to his bed. He was surely sick. “I—” Derpy muttered, her eyes focusing between the unicorn and him. “I wanted—” He saw in her hands a decorated envelope with a name written on it, but she was too far away to make out the letters. Suddenly, she crumbled the envelope and ripped it apart, as she closed her eyes and looked away. “Doesn’t matter.” She sniffed and rubbed her eyes. “You deserve someone like her.” She turned around and ran away. Confused, he looked to Sunset, who simply licked her hoof like a cat. However, once she noticed his stare, she stopped and looked up to him, as her horn was surrounded by a red aura. Out of nowhere, he coughed. His head went dizzy, his head suddenly felt like being hammered, and his body froze. Sunset tapped with its hooves on his leg. “You’re right,” he muttered. “I should stay at home today.” The unicorn nodded and led the way back to his house. We finally found it! It lives with Flash! Flash? Why didn’t he say anything? Maybe it affected or controlled him, we can’t tell. He was with it shortly outside on his way to school, before he went back to his home with it. What did it do? Just what we know already: Everyone saw something else in it. Someone said though that Flash was looking pale. You need to be with him. But how? We’ll get affected by it too! I— I don’t know, but you have to. We’re trying to come up with something. Did you try to message him? We did. I’m more wondering how he skipped our public announcement. It shows that he read it, so we thought he knew. If it was in the morning, he wouldn’t remember reading it. He and mornings are— Wait, this is it! The last steps towards his front door, Flash stumbled over his own feet and fell to the ground, as his coughing got even worse. After he got a break, he saw up, only to see Sunset at the door with an annoyed expression. He was too weak. He took a deep breath and stood up, before he took out the keys with his shaking hands and, after several trials, opened the door. The unicorn just snorted and entered the house, not waiting or even giving a thankful glance at him. Flash sighed and followed her, before staggering gaspingly to the kitchen and making himself a hot tea. He became sick, he could feel it, but he couldn’t do anything more than drink a lot, eat chicken soup and stay in bed—the way his mother treated his colds before. Hopefully Sunset wouldn’t get infected by him, if she even could with her different body, but as he didn’t want to risk it, he went to his room and closed the door, before laying in multiple layers of blankets on his bed. He felt his phone vibrate, notifying him for new messages, but he was too tired to check them. However, as he was laying there, he heard the door open and small steps coming nearer to him, the kind of steps only a four legged creature with hooves could make. “Sunset, I’m sick. Don’t be with me,” he muttered. She didn’t listen and jumped on the bed, before laying on top of his chest and aiming her face in his direction, as their eyes met again like yesterday. When her horn lit up, he coughed again. It must’ve meant well by the unicorn, showing her care for him this way, but it didn’t matter. She shouldn’t waste his time for him, whose non-existence would’ve changed nothing. For Sunset, it was different; the world revolved around her, it gave her power, then a fall, only to rise like a phoenix from the ashes with redemption, with new best friends, with magical powers—a second chance. For him, it had decided that he was not worthy of any attention. He didn’t deserve it for his stupidity of getting together with an attractive bully who has used his position for her personal gain, and he also should’ve known better than having any hope of ever getting into a relationship with a Princess from another world. He made decisions based on looks, so the world punished him—deserved—by throwing at him unreachable visual desires he would never get. Sunset had redeemed herself for her actions, proved in the Battle of the Bands her worth, and what did he do? Asking her out, hoping to get some distraction and another chance in unattainable love. He was stupid, and he deserved to remain ignored, forgotten and alone. There was no point in picking up his vibrating phone to answer the call. He was glad that Sunset was with him right now, but he wouldn’t be angry at her if she got bored and left him alone, rotting in his room until no one would remember his name, because that’s what he deserved. He coughed again. His lungs hurt, his throat was burning, and his body was sweating despite freezing. He felt awful. It was the worst kind of cold he ever got, and he should’ve measured his temperature for fever, but he was too weak for it. It didn’t matter though, as he didn’t matter. Author's Note At this moment an almost endless traffic rolled across the bridge.
The Great Wall of ChinaHe almost fell asleep, but an insistent, non-stopping doorbell forced him to stand up and stumble weakly to the door and open it. To his surprise, he saw Fluttershy with folded arms, lowered shoulders, a light blush and, most noticeably, wearing a blindfold. He also saw in his eye corners a rainbow coloured hair disappearing behind a bush, but it was probably just a fever dream he had. “Uhm, hi!” Fluttershy greeted him, almost too quietly to hear her. “Hello, Fluttershy,” Flash replied and coughed. “Why the blindfold?” “Oh, ehm, you don’t know?” “Don’t know what?” “Did you read our messages?” “If today, no, I’m feeling too awful for anything.” Her posture suddenly eased, as her stance got more confident. “Are you exhausted?” she asked, her voice being full of worry. “Kinda,” he replied. “Let me help you!” Flash smiled. She was always so kind to everyone. No wonder everyone of the Rainbooms were so popular, as they put everyone else above themselves and were always ready to help someone in need. “Thank you, but I’m fine.” He coughed. “I’ll get over it myself.” “No, I—I insist!” She clenched her hands into fists. “You, Flash, are looking awful!” “You’re blindfolded.” “Oh, right.” Her voice became barely hearable, before she got back her courage. “But I hear it!” “Really, there is no need. I don’t want you to catch my cold.” “Don’t worry about me, Flash, I’ll be fine. May I please enter? Just for this day.” He sighed. He was simply too tired to care. “If you insist.” He opened the door and went to the side, waiting till she’d pass. “Uhm,” he heard her say, as she still remained before the door. “Oh, right.” He chuckled nervously and grabbed her hand to lead her in. “Forgot about the blindfold.” “It’s nothing.” “Let me lead you to Sunset,” Flash said. Fluttershy stopped in her movement. “Sunset?” “Yeah, Sunset. You know that she’s here with me, don’t you?” “Why is it Sunset for you?” Flash gave her a confused look, until he remembered that she couldn’t see him. “I—What?” “Oh, uhm, nevermind then,” she stuttered. “How, uhm, is she doing?” “She’s taking her new, or technically old, body well, even if she’s not really communicating.” “New body?” Flash didn’t answer, as he tried to process why Fluttershy seemed to be surprised about the state of one of her best friends. However, he began to cough, and suddenly all he wanted was to lay down, as the strong tiredness took back over his body. “Where is Sunset?” Fluttershy asked. “Ehm,” he looked around and saw her looking curiously at Fluttershy, “right next to us.” “Lead me to where you can lay down. I’m taking care of you!” “But the blindfold—” “Later!” He led her to the couch in the living room and let himself fall immediately on it, as his coughing got even worse. His lungs were like on fire, and his clothes were by now soaked in with water. “Alright. Where is Sunset now?” “Next to you,” he replied. “I think she wants to talk with you.” “She can wait. I’m gonna turn around, say stop when Sunset is behind me.” “Uhm, okay.” He couldn’t make sense of her weirdness, but waited nonetheless till Fluttershy met the requirement. “Stop.” She immediately peaked under her blindfold and glanced carefully at Flash. “Oh my, you look really awful! I’m gonna make you something to eat!” “There’s no—” Before he could finish his sentence, she walked away and closed the door to the kitchen, and, if he heard it correctly, even locked it. This was strange of her, like every of her behaviour, but he was too tired to think about it. By now, such a strong weakness came all over his body, that he couldn’t move any muscle anymore, not even speaking about the constant changing of freezing and burning sensation. Nonetheless, he took the last strength to look up and saw Sunset before the kitchen door, tapping with her hooves on it. For someone with the superpower to understand animals, Fluttershy was completely deaf to her unicorn friend. “We can’t wait till the next day! He’s gonna die if it remains with him!” “But Sunset told us that—” “She could be wrong! He’s coughing non-stop, his hands are shaking when he walks and he’s completely wet from his sweats. We need to separate it from him!” “…” “Twilight—” “I’m thinking. Do you think you’ll be able to withstand it?” “I, ehm—” “Prepare a rope and open the front door, then go to the room it is in and remove your blindfold.” “But—” “Remember, you’ll only be able to interact with it when you perceive it visually. Throw a rope at it immediately. Rainbow will come in blindfolded and take you outside.” “…” “You’re the most unsure of us, Flutters, which weirdly helps against it, and Flash lived with it for several days. I know you’ll be able to do it.” “I—I trust you.” Flash must have fallen asleep, because he was suddenly covered in several blankets and feeling better—still sick, but not as awful as the last moment he recalled. The TV was on, playing another episode of the mystery show he had by now seen for several days. He had seen that one before; it theorised how behind the human’s view creatures existed and fought between each other, unbeknownst to us and were never measurable. He didn’t like that one, as it reminded him too much of him and Equestrian magic, so he reached out to the remote on the table and turned off the TV. “You’re already awake?” He heard a southern accented voice speak to him. “How are you feeling?” “Better,” he muttered. “I think I fell asleep.” “Nah, you fell unconscious, Sugarcube, but I don’t blame you. That, uhm, fever took you hard.” Steps from the kitchen came nearer, and soon he saw Applejack offering him a bowl with soup. “Here, take this. You need it.” He sat up, even if it hurt to move, and slowly took sip by sip. It felt good, as the hot liquid warmed him up, even if he had to be cautious to not accidentally cough and spill it all over himself. During that, Applejack was sitting next to him, remaining silent, as she was busy on her phone. “Thank you,” he muttered when he finished the soup. “It’s nothin’, just helping you out.” “So, uhm, where is Sunset?” Applejack looked up. “Oh, right. The one with the new body, I assume as a unicorn, right?” He raised his eyebrows. “Well, what else would I mean?” “Nevermind that. So, Sunset’s out with Fluttershy. You need to rest before taking care of, well, her.” Flash scratched the back of his head. He felt better to notice that now a second Rainboom was saying weird stuff, but he still wasn’t healthy enough to come up with reasons, and asking questions would seem weird in his eyes—it was probably, like usually, some kind of inside information regarding Equestrian magic anyway. He sniffed and looked down on his clothes. “Oof, I smell awful. I‘m taking a shower.” How is the plan going? We had to differentiate. Flash was too sick. I feared it. How is he? You don’t have to worry, Applejack wrote that he’s already doing a lot better after we removed it from his house. You did it? How? Well, the actual plan was for Fluttershy to hold it with a rope while Rainbow would be blindfolded and drag her to your apartment, but— She looked at it, didn’t she? Well, she knew about the proportionality of confidence and its effect, so this was her own fault. Fluttershy was on the other hand amazing, dragging both of them to the destination. She’s always stronger than she appears. Tell her I’m proud of her. How do you keep it at my place? We have many volunteers from our school, so each takes their turn watching it for 15 minutes. It’s devastating to see how each is broken down when they leave it. I can’t imagine how it must’ve been for Flash living with it. Poor guy, he didn’t deserve any of it. And yet you want to involve him in your plan to defeat it? It will work. He’s perfect for it. Do you know or do you hope it? I—both. It has to work. I see nothing else. Because I know that it won’t with me. For a fever, he got better way too quickly, as when he came out of the shower, he felt already healthy and his coughing had stopped. However, this also meant that his mind could fully comprehend the past events, so when he came back to the living room, where Applejack was still chatting over her phone, he stood before her, his fists clenched. “Alright, just what is going on?” Applejack raised her head. “Ehm, how’re you feelin’?” She grinned nervously. “I’m feeling great, so now explain to me this: How does it come that neither you nor Fluttershy knew of Sunset being a unicorn? She lived here with me for three days now, and yet you, her best friends, didn’t care the slightest for her!” “Flash—” “No, you listen!” he shouted. “I thought that you knew she was a unicorn, I thought there was some Equestrian magic reason that she had to live with me, but now I know that she had to because you abandoned her! You, her best friends, just forgot about her! I heard you talking with each other yesterday, and not once did any of you wonder what had happened to her!” Applejack stared at him, her mouth open and her hands holding her phone tightly. “And you know what?” he continued. “I know exactly how she feels! You, Fluttershy, everyone of you has to apologise to her for your ignorance! She will not say anything to you about her being hurt, but she is hurt, deeply! The world doesn’t revolve only around you, Rainbooms, not even speaking that Sunset’s a part of you, and just because only you can fight Equestrian magic, it doesn’t mean that now you’re the main characters and others are just some replaceable extras!” He took a break to catch his breath. “Flash, is—” She looked to the side. “Is that how you feel?” “It isn’t about me.” He gritted his teeth. “And don’t try to deviate from the topic!” “I’m not, Flash. If you—” “Again you talk about me, Applejack! Just admit that you’re wrong!” “Calm down!” She suddenly stood up and threw him to the couch. “I will tell you exactly what happened over the last few days, got it?” Flash stared at her, and when his first shock faded, he nodded slightly. “Good, and no more interruption!” “Why did I agree to this?” “Shut up! The—the Great and—Non-Magical Trixie is trying to prove—” “That’s what I mean, Darling. You were supposed to lead me, not ramble about your insecurities as a magician.” “I am—Powerful!” “No, all you do is talk about yourself, while I still have no idea where to go!” “I’ll tell you, but first, Trixie—she—” “Grr. I told Twilight that you were the wrong person. But no, ‘her acting is a form of her own insecurity’—as if. You’re just a narcissistic, self-obsessed magician-wannabe!” “You take that back! Who was the one ripping her own clothes seeing it?” “Oh, now you can speak without stuttering? Why don’t you take your courage to finally tell me where to go!” “I’ll show you where to go! Here!” “—Did you just throw a peanut butter cracker at me?” “…” “Hey! I’m talking to you!” “One moment. Let Trixie try something.” “I swear, if you throw at me your gooey snacks one more—what are the sounds?” “The Great and Smart Trixie’s is throwing them at it.” “Please explain to me why you—” “It looks confused, and Trixie’s confidence is back!” “What?” “Yes, take that, stupid face! I’m the best magician, not you and your telekinesis!” “Wait, please don’t tell me you see Twilight in it.” “What is it like when your stupid glasses are smeared and sticky? Hahaha!” “Why out of everyone—” “You’ll never sabotage my show again! Trixie believed that she had real magic! You made Trixie look like a fool! You—you—I’m the magician—I have—real—magic—” “—I’ll just call Twilight for an exchange to lead me. And notify her that stupid actions help apparently.” Usually, Flash was quick to fall asleep whenever it was quiet, and even when he had important exams on the next day, he could remain calm and not let his thoughts be worried for the next day. However, this didn’t apply to today. Applejack told him everything she knew, how the unicorn she saw was actually a being breaking any confidence and feeding off the doubts of a person. She also told him of the plan of using Flash’s morning state to give him Sunset’s geode—which apparently would do something; she didn’t know though what exactly it did that Sunset couldn’t stay in the world, and the latter had refused to even mention anything related to that. To be clear, he was more than glad that finally someone had explained to him what was going on, and even more he felt relieved that, for once, he would be taking part in fighting against a threat. However, this also meant that he was not only excited, but also feeling pressure and worried if the plan would even work. Would he even wake up? Would his mind really be “empty” and “fitting” for this task? There was also the part that he would presumably not even remember anything happening, which, to be honest, rather annoyed him, but considering how Sunset had to stay in Equestria, it was probably for the best. All these thoughts wouldn’t be in his head if he didn’t know anything of the plan, but he was nonetheless relieved that, this time, it were his own thoughts. He felt blind recalling how the unicorn was obviously not Sunset at all, but Applejack assured him that this was normal, and that it was a wonder that he survived with it for so long—that sentence still gave him the shudders. If he didn’t accidentally took it with him outside, no one would’ve even know about it being with him, and— He shook the thought away. He didn’t have to worry, he just had to fall asleep, so he turned to the wall and closed his eyes. Author's Note However, there was no other way to carry out the construction except the way it happened.
The TestOne morning, as Flash Sentry was waking up from a well-resting sleep, he saw an indescribable being over his bed. A few features of it were recognisable, as it reached in its height towards the ceiling, it had several multicoloured wings, uncountable eyes in the centre of its body, and what seemed to be a collection of various animal and human legs and arms coming out at seemingly random places. However, these were only the small details the human mind could make sense of; they were only parts of a sight that would burn through the human mind, shatter it into pieces and break the last remaining sanity one had before. And yet, despite him seeing it, his mind didn’t comprehend its look at all, so he simply yawned and stood up, tripping towards the bathroom. There, he took off his pyjamas and was about to go to the shower, but a bright glow of something around his neck caught his attention. He felt around it and noticed a necklace, so he tried to take it off–to no avail. It was as if it was glued onto him. Flash scratched his head, as his mind tried to make sense of the situation he was currently in. The morning routine demanded him to shower; but to shower, he had to take every piece of clothing and jewellery–which he usually didn’t wear–off himself, but he couldn’t, and any tasks demanding the slightest of problem solving abilities would be too much for his morning state. In desperation, the mind chose to simply forget the necklace and continue the routine. Entering back into his room, Flash saw the being again as it was moving quickly around the room. However, with it was what seemed to be an red coloured light resembling an alicorn–its wings widely spread and from its horn beams of light being shot at the other being. This was definitely not part of his morning routine–Flash’s mind was sure of it–so it ignored once again the sight and Flash went to his wardrobe to get his clothes. His back towards the both beings, he heard what seemed to be quick slashes, followed by a painful neigh right behind him. Flash put on his cloths and went to his desk to– His eyes looked at a corner of the room where his desk was, or more correctly was supposed to be. It wasn’t empty, being rather the opposite, as there were many broken wood pieces, books, ripped papers and posters and even a broken guitar. But there was no desk with his prepared bag to take to school. Flash looked around and found the bag on the ground, but as soon as he was about to grab it, a cat paw suddenly took it first. “That’s my toy!” The paw froze in its movement. To understand Flash’s words, one had to know that his mind had connected the sight to a several years old memory where he once visited his aunt and her cat–back then being just a few months old–wanted to steal something of his. The cat paw certainly didn’t know it and was confused, so Flash could take back his bag with ease. Leaving his room, he noticed several flashes of light, but as his morning routine was finished with his room, Flash simply closed the bedroom’s door. Entering the kitchen, Flash went straight to his kettle and turned it on to heat the already prepared water in it. Afterwards, he stumbled to his fridge to take out his breakfast, which he put on the table to later eat it. Suddenly, the sound of crashing and falling objects was heard, and if he judged it correctly, it must have come from the same room as he was currently in. As if to confirm it, he saw repeated flashes of light, almost blinding him. Nonetheless, since his mind was tired from the chaotic morning by now, Flash simply turned towards the kettle to pour himself the hot water into a cup, where the teabag was already prepared. He went towards the fridge again to get the milk for his tea, but as soon as he returned to his cup, he couldn’t find it anymore. He scratched the back of his head. Sure, Flash didn’t have the best morning state, but there was no way he would forget to prepare a tea before getting the milk. Even worse, his kettle was gone, not even speaking of the kitchen plate, which seemed to be broken in half as shards of plates and cups laid on the ground. Suddenly, he heard the sound of a painful neigh again, but as it was somehow connected to the disappearance of the annoying flashes, his mind accepted it and decided to skip the tea making part–even if it meant that it would take Flash a longer time to come back to his senses–and move on to the breakfast– Flash groaned, as he saw that everything that he prepared for the breakfast was on the ground, while parts of the table were sticking out the window–however that had happened. His mind had the first coherent thought of connecting the state of the kitchen to the two beings he saw that slashed their paws or shot flashing lights at each other; but as logical as that thought was, it was the only smart one, as the follow up was to connect it to a memory of when he accidentally stumbled into a rehearsal of the drama club. “Oops, sorry, I didn’t know you were practising here.” Flash left the kitchen, where sudden quick sequences of flashing lights were coming from, and sat on the couch in the living room. His mind was exhausted, not only from the constant distractions and the random, unexplainable incidents, but also from not getting the morning routine done. How else did it know without Flash’s consciousness what to do? It knew to get a breakfast and afterwards to go to school, but with the breakfast gone, should it even do anything? Should Flash just go back to sleep and repeat the morning routine? Would then the kitchen return to a normal state? The sudden explosion coming from there seemed to indicate the opposite. However, his attention was caught by the sight of six glowing geodes on the table. Each had their own colour, and each glowed sometimes brighter, sometimes weaker. Occasionally, the pink one glowed brighter and the sounds of an explosion was heard; occasionally, the purple or the white one glowed and the sounds of objects crashing into each other was heard. As his mind decided that it had by now nothing better to do, Flash watched with a mild interest the light spectacle of the geodes. After a while, suddenly each of them glowed in an even brighter light than before, before they faded and lost their glowing. At least the sounds and flashing from the kitchen stopped too. When Flash came back to his senses, the first thing he noticed was that he had an unusual cup of tea in his hands, as, while it was still a well done tea, it had no milk in it. The second thing was that he still wasn’t on his way to school, but in the living room on his couch, and looking at the time revealed that he was certainly late for the first lesson. The last thing was the mess in the kitchen, which he could see from where he sat: it was the biggest mess, as if something blew up there, and—since when was there a hole in the ceiling? He sighed, as he realised that there must have been a fight in his house, which he must’ve missed, but he was sure that the Rainbooms had dealt with it already. But still, why was he always so “lost” in the mornings? Why couldn’t he remember anything? There had been the chance for him to become important, to be useful, but he was sure that he had only been a burden for the girls, as they’ve gloriously fought the danger in his house. Suddenly, he saw a yellow hand offered to him, and looking to his right, he saw a smiling Sunset Shimmer. “Good morning, hero.” He looked confused at the girl sitting next to her. What was she doing here? His mind recalled the last days, remembering the state she had been before. “Wait, you’re back to being human!” Sunset laughed. It was a heartwarming laugh, something that, while seemingly coming from him having said something stupid, was a genuine, friendly laugh with not bad intentions. “Glad to see that you’re still slow in the morning,” she said and took a sip from her own cup—knowing her, presumably coffee. “Huh?” He scratched the back of his head, before taking another sip. It was silent, as they remained sitting wordlessly on the couch, but the atmosphere was relaxed—well, as relaxed as one could be seeing your destroyed kitchen. Admittedly, he nonetheless enjoyed the moment of them sitting together in silence. It reminded her of his first days in their previous relationship, where he had been slowly coming back to his senses and realised that her girlfriend had been with him the whole time in the morning. At last, the memories from yesterday came slowly back, and when he made gasping noises, he heard Sunset giggle again. “Here we go,” she said. “Wow,” was all he could say. “Yep. You can’t imagine how relieved I am that the plan worked.” “I bet you’re also happy that you’re back.” “I am,” Sunset responded. “But honestly, I’m more happy that you, my friends, the CHS-students, and everyone who helped to defeat it came through it harmlessly. This was something we seven were far from able to deal with alone.” Flash took another sip, as they remained quiet for a while. “So, uhm,” he bit his lip, “could I ask why you had to be on the other side?” Sunset’s expression hardened immediately, as her eyes widened. Her chest moved quicker and quicker from her breathing. Suddenly, she shook her head. “Let’s—Let’s not talk about what it did to me.” She took a deep breath and exhaled. “I’m sure that words wouldn’t be able to describe even a quarter of it, and I really don’t want to remember it.” Flash nodded, not feeling left out from being kept in the dark—her reaction did explain more than enough for him. He kept the silence between them, until Sunset’s breathing got back to normal and she had calmed down . “Do you know that, uhm—” “I do,” Sunset replied. “Applejack told me about what you saw in it.” “Oh.” Flash gave a nervous smile. “Can I ask, well, how do you feel about it?” “I don’t know yet, honestly. Twilight told me that many students have seen at least one of the Rainbooms in it, which would probably explain how it got here. A collective, shared doubt.” “Many?” Sunset nodded. “That’s—kind of a relief,” he muttered, but then saw her stare at her. “I said that out loud, didn’t I?” “Mhm.” She gave a slight grin. “I didn’t mean that—I—I am relieved that I’m not the only one, you know? Maybe it’s wrong to want others to feel the same—” “Flash,” Sunset put a hand on his shoulder, “any feelings and doubts are okay to have. Don’t be ashamed of them.” He sighed. “Well, they don’t make sense though, you know? What deal do I have feeling left out when you get Equestrian magic? How is it your fault?” Sunset didn’t reply, and Flash remained quiet, thinking over all the thoughts the being had put into him. Back then, they all felt real to him, as if they were his own thoughts, but now? Was he really that depressed? Or did it just understand how to manipulate him and grow the few insecurities he had? It was probably the latter, he hoped. “Maybe it is, maybe it isn’t,” Sunset said, “maybe it’s all your own fault, or it’s Starswirl’s who created the portal. I don’t think that—in this case—you have to search for who’s fault it is, but to talk about your feelings, to not let them stay inside you and eat you up. Truth be told, you seemed weird around us for a while already, as if you feared us.” “I did?” Flash looked away. “Yep. You stopped texting me and avoided me whenever possible.” “Now that you say it, I really did.” He sighed. “I’m sorry.” “Nothing to apologise, Flash. Whenever you need an open ear, know that I am always happy to listen to you.” “Really?” “Of course, that’s what friends do.” His eyes widened. She saw a friend in him. He wasn’t forgotten. “Can we sit for a little longer?” He asked. “Just for ten more minutes, then we have to go to school.” Flash groaned. “Are you kidding me?” “No. Principal Celestia agreed on you missing out on the morning classes, but when the construction workers come, you could as well be in class.” “Construction workers?” “Well, who else will fix your kitchen?” “Fair point. But who pays them?” “Insurance.” He laughed. “No wonder the fees are getting so high around here.” After school, Flash felt a tap on his shoulder and, turning around, saw Derpy before him. “Hello, Derpy!” he greeted her. “Hello, Flash!” she said with her cheerful voice. “Thank you for defeating this being!” “Oh, it was nothing, literally.” He scratched the back of his head. “I don’t even remember it happening.” “But it was you, so you’re the hero!” He was flattered from the praise, but he felt it wasn’t deserved. “I wasn’t the only one after all, and if I wouldn’t have been saved on that day before from it, I wouldn't have even survived. Plus, you and others helped keep it in place while I recovered, so it was a team effort from everyone.” “Sure, but I still wanted to give you a gift.” She gave him a chocolate bar and an envelope. “Oh, uhm, thanks, but—” “Just take it.” She smiled. “You deserved it.” He took the gift. “See you tomorrow then!” she said and walked away. “Bye!” he said, before turning his view towards the envelope. It had his name written on it. Curiously, he opened it, wondering what was written in there. Author's Note "Stay," he said, "that was only a test. He who does not answer the questions has passed the test."
In the Penal ColonyDear Silver, I know that you still hate me for the mistake I made, but please read through this possibly last letter of mine—even if not for the fact that you care for me, then at least as my final wish. The being that stuck to me, the “judgement of mine”, feeds off my guilt. It reminds me every day, every hour, every single minute of the poor souls I hurt when I had abused the powers. I deserved it, I truly do. You have every right to be angry at me. You have warned me to not touch the powers of the other world, but I did, and now I suffer the consequences. I am forced to be alone, as otherwise this being, the needed reaction that had stopped me, will break down anyone seeing it—you have seen it yourself, after all, so you know what I mean. I wish to see you again. I wish to be able to apologise to you in person and not through a letter, but I can’t anymore—I have ruined the possibility myself. And now, I feel my last strength being taken, and soon my final breath will be done, but I worry for others, and for you. This being won’t be satisfied with me. It will want more, and choose more victims to feed off their guilt, their insecurities, their doubts. I need to stop it. I won’t be able to kill it, but I know that it can be put to sleep. I’m sorry to tell you that I still kept the geodes with me. I know I should’ve given them back to you already, but they kept me sane, gave me some resistance against the being. If not for them, I wouldn’t be able to survive even a day. The magic, the powers from the other world, it’s alive. Each has a personality, resembling a trait, and I feel them being angry at me, but also at the being. The powers know that with my death, the being will choose another victim. They want to fight it, but they don’t have the right attribute to counter its effect. Nonetheless, they rage against it, the geodes glow brightly whenever it’s near them, and I think I know how to help them. I need to make another one of them, give it the trait the being is making me feel, not to harm, but to help others, not to make one feel guilt, but compassion and empathy. This one will be the only one able to fight and defeat it. Making this new geode will channel all their rage into it. This rage will be too much for any bearer—even one geode right now is difficult to handle—but I’ll have to be the one. My last action shall be the one fixing my mistakes. If you got this letter and I still haven’t returned, you’ll find me in the crystal cave we had played as kids. If you have mercy over me, bury me there. Make sure you remove the magic from the geodes—you know how to do it—and search for the seventh one. I don’t know yet what colour it will get, but you’ll know it once you’ll see it. Put these empty geodes on my grave, as a reminder for anyone else to never repeat my mistake, to never abuse unknown powers. Keep me in your memories, and please forgive me one more time. Sincerely, Your lost, punished brother Author's Note "He doesn't know the sentence that has been passed on him?" "No," said the officer again, pausing a moment as if to let the explorer elaborate his question, and then said: "There would be no point in telling him. He'll learn it on his body."
