Tik…tok…tik…tok…tik…tok.

The entire room was dead silent, except for the ticking of the clock, as all seven ponies waited to be released. Everypony was in utter shock. Red Haze, for once in his life, was at a complete loss for words. He had his hoof around Melody as she silently sobbed into him.

Tik…tok…tik…tok…tik…tok.

Shadow Step sat on one of the tables, tears filling her eyes but not streaming down her cheeks. Midnight Blue had his hoof around Candy Jolt, staring blankly at the seat across from him, while Candy laid her head on his shoulder, tears streaming down her face.

Tik…tok…tik…tok…tik…tok.

Lightning sat next to Scarlet, his eyes still wide with shock. Scarlet stared blankly at the wall before hers. She didn't move, she hardly even blinked. Tears filled her eyes and streamed down her face, but she made no move to wipe them away.

She could feel everypony's staring at her. She blinked back tears of her own. "I didn't cause this," she muttered. She glanced around the room, seeing everypony still staring at her. All with a mixture of fear, shock, and, in Red's case, disgust. "I didn't!"

All of them looked away, making a conscious effort to do so. Still, though, eyes kept drifting her way, trying to just subtly look at her. Scarlet sighed, giving up.

Tik…tok…tik…tok…tik…tok.

"Were…" Principal Cinch started, her voice wavering and shaky, as though it would break at any moment. She cleared her throat, swallowing, before starting again. "We're there any survivors?"

Nopony had to wonder who she was asking. Scarlet was silent for a moment, staring at the wall in front of her, before muttering, "How should I know?" Which was all the answer any of them needed. Everypony looked away, but, again, their eyes kept drifting to Scarlet.

All except for Shadow. She knew Scarlet didn't have all the answers, and that's if she had any to begin with. And she knew staring at her wouldn't give her them. She just stared down at her hooves.

That was when the door opened, getting everypony's attention off of Scarlet to the four ponies that walked in, to which Scarlet was grateful. Two of the ponies had the royal guard uniform, while one had a doctor's uniform and the final pony had a nurse's one. Scarlet barely glanced at them before looking straight ahead.

"Hi. I'm Doctor Healing Charm, and this is my assistant, Tender Touch. We're from Manehatten General. Is there anypony here who feels they might need…medical attention or spiritual counseling?"

"What's going on?" Principal Cinch asked, standing up. "Are there any survivors?"

The doctor stammered and stuttered, as though not sure how to answer this question, before one of the guards interrupted him, stepping forward.

"I'm Shining Armor, Captain of the Royal Guards. This is Private Spearpoint. I understand how you all must be feeling…and I know it's going to be difficult…but we need to ask questions regarding today's events…while they're still fresh in your mind. This will prove invaluable to our rescue attempts…and any potential criminal investigation."

As one everypony looked at Scarlet again, including the guards and medics. Clearly, word of Scarlet's outburst had spread and it was obvious who they wanted to interrogate. They just didn't want to single her out.

Tik…tok…tik…tok…tik…tok.

"You said: 'Get me outta here. The bucking airship's going to explode'. How did you know that?" Shining Armor asked, putting down a file on the table that sat between him and Scarlet with his magic, standing in front of it.

Scarlet was sitting on the other side, her hooves on the table. She stared down at them. She wasn't stupid. She knew that as soon as she started spouting about premonitions and visions and gut feelings, they'd throw her in the loony bin and throw the key away.

Though, if the expression on Captain Armor's face was anything to go by, if she didn't start explaining herself and soon, she was going to be held responsible.

"I…umm…I just uh…got this weird gut feeling…" Scarlet muttered.

"Did you take any sleeping pills before getting on the airship? Any narcotics or drugs?" Private Spearpoint asked, to which Scarlet just shook her head. "Are you sure about that? I know you're underage and all that, but trust me, right now getting in trouble for taking drugs is the least of your worries."

"Look, we know about your fear of flying. Maybe you…I don't know…took something to get the edge off? You know, something to help you relax a bit, something to help you sleep so that by the time you woke up–"

"I didn't take anything!" Scarlet snapped, looking up at Shining Armor. When she saw him glowering at her, she swallowed down her defensiveness and looked back down, biting her lower lip, before muttering. "I didn't take anything…sir."

The two guards looked at each other before turning their attention to Scarlet again. "Tell us what happened."

"I saw it," Scarlet admitted reluctantly. "I saw the airship explode."

"Does this weird feeling have anything to do with what you said to Red earlier? How if he stayed on that airship, he'd be taking a trip to the afterlife? Just moments before the airship exploded?"

"No…" Scarlet muttered, looking at the guards with wide eyes. Were they insinuating…that she'd take down a whole airship…with all those innocents…just to hurt Red? Why…why would she do that?

"Then why'd you say it?" Private Spearpoint asked.

"B-because I…I didn't think it was actually going to happen. I…I thought it was just…just a bad dream or whatever."

"If that was the case, then why did you get off the ship?"

Scarlet remained quiet at Shining Armor's question. She didn't know why, in all honesty. It was…it was just a gut feeling. A instinctual moment. Looking back now, it was ridiculous. Had she had the same, semi-calm mindset she does now, she probably wouldn't have. So, she didn't say anything at all. She just shrugged.

"…I just saw her panicking," Candy Jolt said to the two guards, looking each of them in the eyes. "I just…wanted to help. I didn't actually think the airship was going to crash. I just, understood what it was like to have a panic attack and she was scaring the other passengers…" Candy trailed off, thinking about all those passengers who died on the airship. All of those who didn't listen. Candy didn't listen either, not really. She just wanted to help Scarlet.

"How well do you know Scarlet Flare…?"

"…she's one of my best students. Unlike her prankster of a brother, Cliff Chaser. Those two are such opposites and yet, so much alike." Principal Cinch sighed heavily, as she thought about the teacher she sent back on that ship. Tears came to her eyes as she thought about him. "I…I sent him back on the airship…" she muttered.

"Why? Why did you insist you stay off the plane…?"

Shadow remained silent, blowing a piece of bubble gum. She knew whatever explanation she said, she'd sound like a crazy pony.

"You said you weren't friends with anypony who got off. You said you hardly knew them apart from their reputation. Why'd you get off?"

Shadow shrugged. Well, these guards weren't gonna stop until they got her answer. "I saw and heard Scarlet. I don't know…I…I guess I just…believed her."

Tik…tok…tik…tok…tik…tok.

Scarlet paced the waiting room they were all back in again with that infernal clock. She couldn't sit still. Not after everything that happened. Everypony else sat, all of them in utter shock. They were all waiting for their parents to come get them.

Again, everypony was silent. After all, what else was there to say? Everypony kept glancing at Scarlet, as though it was her fault the airship crashed. Scarlet could feel them, but she just ignored them. There was no point. No matter what she said, no matter what they believed, they were going to keep staring. She was the freak who knew about the airship exploding before it actually exploded after all.

Suddenly, the doors burst open and a brown unicorn with a tan mane came rushing in. "Scar!" He yelled, running up to Scarlet and embracing her in a tight hug. "Thank Celestia you're okay!"

"Cliff," she responded with relief, glad to see her idiot of a brother.

Scarlet's parents came in next, and the other parents weren't far behind, rushing to their corresponding children.

Shadow looked at the passing parents, wondering if her step-parents even bothered to show up, hurt but not the least bit surprised that they didn't. She had still hoped though.

Everypony hugged their family, all the moms in the room crying happy tears that their babies were okay. As Scarlet was hugging her parents, she noticed Midnight Blue sobbing, along with his parents, though she didn't understand why.

Shadow watched all the kids and their happy reunions and she couldn't help but feel a little resentment towards them. She knew it was stupid, and that it wasn't their fault, but still, it wasn't easy. She wished her father was still here. At least he'd give a damn…

"…forty-four days have passed since we lost a hundred and forty-four loved ones…friends…a teacher…"

Scarlet tuned the speaker out as she sat next to her parents and brother, at the memorial that was being held for the graduating class. For all one-hundred and forty-four of them.

For the past month and a half, Scarlet couldn't help but feel guilty. She knew she shouldn't. It was…just a fluke. A coincidence, as her brother told her many times. He'd ask her the question she needed to hear, even if she needed to hear it every day: had it been anypony else who had that vision and insisted they get off, would she have listened and gotten off the airship? And her answer was probably not. It helped, but it didn't ease the guilt.

She looked up at her coltfriend and his family. Lightning had his head in his hooves to hide his tears. He lost a best friend. A pony he grew up with since kindergarten. She looked at Midnight's family. Midnight had a non-identical twin brother on the airship. She understood now why Midnight and his family were sobbing in the waiting room of those docks.

His father looked back up at her, accusation in his gaze. He clearly blamed her for his son's death. It wasn't hard to understand why. She turned her gaze to Red and Melody. Both Melody and Red had good friends on that airship. Red's eyes were red, but he wasn't crying right now. Melody on the other hoof was sobbing again. She always did feel with her heart more than most ponies.

Candy Jolt's family wasn't sitting far from Midnight's. Candy was hugging Midnight who was sobbing into her shoulder. Apparently, they'd been best friends since the day they were born. Their whole lives had been one big coincidence. Well, their upbringing had been. Their parents had been best friends, growing up together. Their parents got married in the same month, they both got pregnant at the same time, and Candy, Midnight, and his twin were all born on the same day. Midnight and his twin, Fire Flash, just happened to be born six weeks early.

Finally, she looked up at Shadow. She was the only one who seemed to feel her gaze and look back up at Scarlet. But there wasn't accusation or fear or anything like that. In fact, Shadow looked…curious. Scarlet made it her mission to find out everything she could about the ponies she saved. She tried finding out about Shadow Step, but there wasn't much to find. Shadow remained a mystery.

She turned around to see Captain Shining Armor and Private Spearpoint standing in the back, in their guard uniforms. What were they doing here? Captain Armor turned his gaze from the speaker to Scarlet, who promptly looked away. Captain Armor's and Private Spearpoint's were the only two dry eyes in the whole audience. She could feel Armor's gaze on her back a little while longer before he turned his gaze back to the speaker.

They took the sheet off the statue, and ponies began to walk up to the stadium with roses either in their magic, in their hoof as they hovered to the stage, or in their mouths. Soon, it was time for Scarlet and her family to put their roses on the statues. Her parents stayed sitting, but Cliff joined her.

Of course, she ended up behind Red and Melody. He was silent for a good long moment, but, as always, he couldn't help himself.

"I hope you don't think, Flare, that just because my name ain't on this wall... that I owe you anything." He muttered, curling his lip at Scarlet. She could feel Cliff tense beside her. Lightning told her brother all about Red's irrational and misplaced anger toward Scarlet, but Cliff usually let Scarlet fight her own battles until it went too far.

"I don't," she muttered, it being the truth. He didn't owe her. None of them did. They already paid a hefty price, losing their loved ones. They didn't need to pay anymore.

"All I owe these ponies is to live my life to the fullest," Red continued, glaring at Scarlet.

Scarlet was not in the mood to deal with Red's infamous temper. "Then why don't you lay off the W.G., huh Red?"

Red turned to Scarlet, getting in her face. She barely flinched, barely even moving, glaring up at him. He wasn't gonna hit her. He may have had a very quick temper, but even he had gentlecolt values. He'd never hit a mare. Ever. "Don't you ever bucking tell me what to do, Flare! I control my life, not you! And I'm never going to die. Ever!"

However, Cliff felt it was time to intervene. "You must be Red Haze, the colt with the infamous temper I've heard so much about," Cliff said calmly, stepping between Scarlet and Red.

Red twisted his lips, sizing Cliff up. "Who the fuck are you? Flare's personal bodyguard?"

"Cliff Chaser. You've probably heard about me. Got quite the reputation around here." An awkward silence followed, Red with a WTF look and Scarlet putting a hoof to her forehead. "Nevermind. Not important. What's important is that you know me as Scarlet's older brother. So, here's something I hope you'll only have to hear once to understand. Buck off my sister, or you'll see who really has a temper. Got it?"

Red glared up at Scarlet's brother, before glaring at Scarlet herself. He scoffed, turning away. "Whatever." He muttered.

Melody stayed where she was for a bit before hurrying after Red. Cliff and Scarlet put their flowers on the statue before walking away, Cliff walking off to talk with some of his old friends, while Scarlet kind of just stood there, numb to nearly everything. She cried so much for the past month and a half, that she didn't think she had any more tears left in her.

Suddenly, a mare who was a year younger than Scarlet came rushing up, who was also a unicorn. She and Scarlet got along pretty well, and would sometimes sit together, despite being in different grades. She'd be a senior this coming year. Scarlet wondered what her grad night would entail.

"Scar, guess what. I passed my magic test. After high school, I'm going to Celestia's school for gifted unicorns! Can you believe it? I mean, I got eighty percent which is the lowest you can get but still! Isn't that exciting!"

"Yeah, Frosty. It is. I'm proud of you. You earned it." Scarlet said, feeling bad that she wasn't in the mood to talk to Ocean Frost, but at the same time hoping this conversation would end soon.

"Yeah, but…umm…the…the weirdest thing happened. Umm…one of the professors who…uh…evaluated me…she said, 'Young lady, you're going to die at a young age'…" Ocean Frost paused before chuckling nervously. "That's…that's not gonna happen…right?"

Scarlet sighed heavily. "I don't know Frost. I sure hope not." And here they go, ponies now thinking that just because she had one premonition about the future, she was all-seeing now.

"Right. Thanks. Well, I uh…just wanted to uh…let you know about my test. See you later!" Ocean Frost hurried off.

Scarlet felt a tap on her shoulder, and she turned around to see Shadow Step behind her, holding a black rose. "Umm…because of you…I'm…I'm still alive so…uh…here." Shadow gave Scarlet the rose before flying off and out of sight.

It was eleven forty at night, and Scarlet lay on her bed, staring at the most recent newspaper about the memorial service yesterday. She couldn't stop staring at it, reading the article over and over again. She practically had it memorized. She hadn't left her room since the memorial service yesterday. Cliff had brought the newspaper with her breakfast this morning.

Her parents were growing worried, and it was only by her brother's slick-talking that he kept them from barging in there and demanding they have a forum circle where Scarlet shared her feelings.

Scarlet didn't understand why she had that premonition. Why her of all ponies? She wasn't anything special. Just a unicorn who went to a high-level school and got decent grades. If fate really wanted to save her class or stop the airship or something, why not somepony like Principal Cinch or Princess Celestia, somepony who had power? Not…not somepony who could only save a measly eight ponies, and even that was just by some happy coincidence.

Scarlet levitated the newspaper on her nightstand and grabbed a magazine about fashion, something she cared about in her old life. Something she struggled to take up an interest in again. As she flipped through the pages with her magic, her gaze drifted to the newspaper with the article. She stared at it, guilt welling up in her at the sight of a picture of Midnight and his family.

She levitated the magazine with her magic and was about to put it away when something slammed against her window, startling the hell out of her. She turned towards it to see an owl trying to fly into her damn window. With a huff, she threw the first thing she could think of at it. The magazine still held in her magic.

She threw it at the window behind her desk, scaring away the bird. She sighed, turning away from the window, sitting back down, and setting the newspaper back down on the bed in front of her.

As she stared at the article, the pages of the magazine, which landed on her desk, got caught on the blowing fan, ripping some of the pages up into small pieces, before scattering them around the room in the wind the fan made.

One very specific piece landed on the newspaper, on top of the picture of Midnight and his family. Scarlet squinted at the piece before her eyes widened in fear. No…no way…not…not again…

Meanwhile, Midnight Blue waved goodbye to Candy Jolt. She had offered to stay the night, but he told her he wanted to be alone for now. To sort things out. But…that was only half of the story.

The truth was that he knew she was grieving too. She knew Fire Flash almost as well as Midnight did. They used to call themselves the Summer Triplets since they were all born on the same day in summer, despite not being related by blood, though, Candy was so close to the two of them…they might as well have been.

Midnight knew that as long as Candy, CJ as her friends called her, was here, consoling him, she'd never get the chance she needed to sort out her own grief. He sent her home for her own sake as much as his. They both needed to grieve, and they couldn't do that by pushing their own grief aside to help the other through theirs.

Sighing heavily, he walked up the stairs to the bathroom, hoping that maybe a warm bath would calm him down. He turned on the tub faucet before walking to the window, cracking it open so steam wouldn't build up too much. He then walked to the bathroom sink, turning it on to splash his face with cold water, hoping to get as much of the grief out of it as possible, not wanting to scare his parents, glancing at the mirror to see how well of a job he was actually doing.

As he looked at himself in the mirror, he could've sworn he saw a shadowed silhouette behind him, one that didn't resemble a pony or any figure he could name, but rather a big black blob. He whipped around, only to see nothing there. He shook his head, clearing away his thoughts, turning back to the mirror to dry his face. It was just paranoia.

A small wind blew in from the cracked window and knocked over a nearly empty shampoo bottle that had accidentally been left open, causing it to leak and spill off the rack that held it, drip dropping onto the edge of the tub and leaking to the bathroom floor. It created a small puddle on the tiled floor, one that slowly and discreetly grew.

A pipe from the ceiling began to leak, drops dampening the ceiling before dripping down onto the floor and one side of the rod, making where the rod held itself up by the wall a little unstable. The water that fell on the floor only made the shampoo that was there all that more slick.

Midnight, completely unaware, walked over to the tub, which was halfway filled with water. As he began to bend down to feel the temperature of the water, his hooves slipped on the puddle on the floor and he fell head first into the half-filled tub, his head underwater, half his body over the edge.

He tried to lift his head by grasping onto the edge of the tub, but the shampoo there made it slippery, and his hooves only slipped every time he started making some sort of progress, dropping his head deeper into the water. He tried using his back hooves, but they too slipped.

In a desperate attempt to get to his hooves, he accidentally grabbed the shower curtain and pulled, hoping to use it to help himself up, but the rod, already a little unstable from the slick wall, fell and landed on top of him, immobilizing his wings so he couldn't use them to help get his head out of the tub. He began to breathe in water, it going down his throat and into his lungs. His chest began to burn as his body naturally tried to heave the water back up, but more only went down his throat. His eyesight became blurry. The pressure of the water gave his eyes and ears a stabbing pain. He tried to scream, but it was muffled by the water as the tub continued to fill.

Soon, his body began to relax as he lost consciousness, slowly becoming limp. His breathing slowed to a stop, his head under the water, his lower half lying over the tiled bathroom floor.

Scarlet burst into her brother's room, catching him by surprise, the piece of paper in her magic. Cliff practically jumped six feet into the air, quickly hiding magazines under his pillow as though they both didn't know what they were about, even though it was painfully obvious.

"Cliff! I need an address!" She said with no preamble, ignoring her brother's sad attempts at hiding anything, despite being a full-grown colt…legally. Mentally, he should still be in High School. "Midnight Blue's address!"

"W-what…w-who…what are you talking about?!" Cliff asked, completely lost.

Scarlet rolled her eyes. "Dammit, Cliff. I don't have time for your games! Midnight Blue. One of the survivors of grad night. I need his address."

Cliff looked at his sister, at a complete loss for words. Finally, he seemed to find his tongue. "W-what makes you think I got it? He's your classmate."

"You have connections all over the city and it's been the hottest story for the past month and a half! Surely you got something! C'mon!" Scarlet looked at the clock. Eleven fifty-five. "We don't have much time!"

"What do you even need it for anyway?!" Cliff asked, his eyes still wide in surprise. "What the hell has gotten into you, Scar?"

Scarlet bit her lip. She glanced at the piece of paper in her magic, the same one that landed on the picture in the article. The one that had the words …ul midnight blue d… written on it. She knew exactly what dress those words were from. It was one of her favorites, though it would totally clash with her color scheme. It was from a piece called Midnight Sky.

Normally, she'd pass it up as a simple coincidence, but she had that feeling. That same feeling she had on the airship. The same one that told her to get off it. Her stomach had filled with dread and her mind began to panic against her will. That feeling saved her life once, she'd be a fool to ignore it now.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you. Just give me the damn address!" Scarlet said, her mind and body panicking.

"Scar, look–" Cliff started, only for Scarlet to interrupt.

"Now!" Scarlet yelled. She had a feeling she didn't have very much time.

Cliff sighed heavily but relented. It wasn't very often Scarlet asked anything of him and it was even rarer for him to say no. "I got a couple of buddies who live around the same block as a couple of the survivors. One of them lives across the street from this Midnight colt. I'll write down his address for you. If you promise me one thing," Cliff said, raising his hoof when Scarlet began to protest. "You want the address or not."

Scarlet rolled her eyes. "Fine. What is it?"

"Promise me you won't go stirring up trouble. That family, as well as most of this part of town, has had enough tragedies. Please don't make it worse."

Scarlet sighed. If she was right, then it was only a matter of time and it wouldn't be her stirring up trouble. But she couldn't tell Cliff all that. So, pressed on time, she nodded. "Yeah yeah, I won't. Now, give me that address."

Cliff wrote down the address, and just as he was about to give it to her, she snatched it out of his magic. Without another word, she bolted for the door, barely glancing at the address before leaving her house, just as the clock struck midnight.

Tik…tok…tik…tok…tik…tok.

Author's Note

F.Y.I: W.G stands for Wakeupgrass

One down. Seven to go.