There was a knock at the door.
Twilight jerked up from where she was slumped over on the desk, in the portable building she and Sunset were living in. Had she fallen asleep? Wait, did she sleep last night? Twilight woke up face to the desk, so she could only conclude that no, she had not gotten herself to bed last night! There was another knock.
Twilight got up, taking care to note she was still fully clothed, then answered the door.
“Mail’s here,” said a rather harried looking Granny Smith, with a whole armful of mail.
“You need any help with that?” Twilight asked, wincing at Granny’s load.
“You betcher,” Granny replied too grumpily for summer. “The principal cain’t git that school opened up for the ponies fast enough. There’s just too many of ‘em, what don’t know how to walk and talk yet!”
“Oh, well, that’s true,” Twilight admitted, “But I meant specifically the mail.”
“Already got three people deliverin’ it!” Granny replied hotly. “Ponies cain’t not barely write with their mouths, but everyone else wants to send ‘em letters! And as for you, I gotcha a special one.”
Granny handed Twilight a lone, thin letter. Utterly unremarkable except for the fact that the return address was Canterlot General Hospital. “It’s probably just... asking for more advice on treating ponies,” Twilight said uneasily, even though she knew full well that the hospital had always called her about that on the portable telephone before.
“Well, don’t worry yourself too much missy,” Granny said, with a soft, sympathetic look Twilight’s way. “We’re all strugglin’ in this, and it’s okay if you cain’t always hold up your end of the bargain. Things’ll be better once this is all over.”
“I... yeah, you’re right,” Twilight said disconsolately. She still hadn’t told them, about what she was reading in that diary. About Anathema, and its wanton slaughter, the terrible fate of those afflicted. About why everyone was changing into a pony, and somewhere in those pages was the very origin of humanity. Twilight wasn’t sure things would be better; it was all she could do to soften the blow at this point. People had been taking this really well, but... panic was on the horizon, and the city was running out of resources to keep track of everyone.
Twilight opened the letter and started reading, only for her eyebrow to go up at who was writing to her. The contents of the letter were... strange to say the least.
Dear Twilight Sparkle,
This is Dinky. I’m still recovering from when I got hurt a few weeks ago. You came to me once, to tell me what kind of pony I would become, which I’ve been trying to come to terms with, but there was something else you told me, that I would like to talk with you about. What you told me was that in your world, a girl named Ditzy Do was my mother, and while that would be physically impossible for her in my world, I think we are connected somehow.
I’m writing to tell you that my world’s Ditzy Do has been recieving love letters from a secret admirer. One of the letters told her “Dinky needs you,” right before my unfortunate incident. You’re the only one I know who has made any connection between her and me. Do you like Ditzy? It’s fine if you do, but I sort of accidentally told her about you being her secret admirer. Ditzy was going to ask you about this directly, but I don’t think she is very good at approaching people.
Twilight looked up at that, recalling one strange incident recently in which she emerged from the ancient library, having finished translating one of the books on botanical cuisine, because she didn’t want to face another horror story in that diary. She’d been getting ready to hop on the bus, when she noticed that googly eyed grey girl standing there right in beside her. A blush crept onto Ditzy’s face, as Twilight made eye contact (singular), and Ditzy opened her mouth as if to speak, but only a nervous laugh escaped her. Ditzy backed away then, shortly running away across the courtyard. Twilight never knew what to make of that, until now.
“This better be Sunset’s idea of a joke,” Twilight grumbled worriedly, looking back to the letter.
Please let her down gently if you aren’t interested in her. I don’t think she has any friends, so she might be in a very fragile situation. She gave me all her letters, as if I could make sense of them, but I think it’s also that I’m the first person who’s given her attention in a long time. She’s actually been visiting me even more than Diamond Tiara!
Best of luck, and sorry for the trouble with Diamond.
Dinky Do
Twilight hadn’t even told Sunset Shimmer about Ditzy’s daughter back home. It just didn’t seem important. And Twilight certainly hadn’t been writing any letters herself. Could this be another Equestrian from her own world, who wasn’t nullified many centuries ago? But the last incident before Sunset had happened centuries ago! How would any of them know about a modern Equestrian family, like Dinky and Ditzy Do?
It all added up to one thing. Somepony had come through the mirror recently, somepony familiar with Ponyville town culture, and somepony who hadn’t yet made contact with Twilight Sparkle. It was the only conceivable explanation.
She basically had to get ahold of these letters.
Twilight wasn’t sure how to do it, though. With her responsibilities over translating what could be recovered from the library, and acting as an informal mediator between her world and this one, she didn’t have much time to spare. Plus she’d never visited a mental hospital before, and the prospect was actually kind of freaky. Twilight Sparkle couldn’t pass this up though, just because she was a little nervous about crazy ponies! People. Whatever.
While Twilight sat at her desk, lay her chin in her hands and stewed, three blurs of yellow, white, and orange streaked by outside.
“It’s over! It’s over!” Apple Bloom cheered deliriously.
“I think I flunked everything and I don’t even care!” Scootaloo shouted alongside her.
“I think I didn’t flunk everything, and I don’t even care!” Sweetie Belle exclaimed as the three of them charged straight out of the car that brought them into the bright, sunny summer day. While Apple Bloom took off across the meadow, Scootaloo took to the sky, and surprisingly didn’t try to outrace the little yellow earth pony, but just turned cartwheels up there in the air. Sweetie Belle trotted in circles looking up at Scootaloo, while Apple Bloom shot across the meadow.
There were many ponies out here, like a bouquet of giant pony shaped flowers all over the meadow. There were many ponies everywhere, but these ponies saw the three and several recognized them, with exclamations of, “Apple Bloom!” and “They’re back!” and, “Wow, look at her go,” and “Hey Shcooaloo, wash how high I can fly!” The more landbound ones clustered around Sweetie Belle asking for news, and she happily told them,
“It’s over! School is officially over, and we can be here all the time now!”
Her smile kind of froze then, and her face dawned with horror, as everypony around her all began asking questions at once.
Summer was officially here, and it wasn’t looking good for the Cutie Major Crusaders. Any thoughts of a summer of peace and leisure were but distant pipe dreams. With over a thousand ponies on the farm, and dozens more showing up every day barely able to walk and talk, there was just too much work to do, to spend a lot of time playing around. The Crusaders quickly found themselves overwhelmed, as it seemed that school had actually been sheltering them from the brunt of it, but soon as finals ended, it seemed like everyone had a problem for them that absolutely needed to be solved. Sometimes, it was a problem that actually did!
Like even Sweetie Belle found herself conscripted into aiding the other unicorns, despite her frustrating inability to form a spark. Apparently a lot of what went into making unicorn magic was mathematical, with an actual geometry in the horn that could be exploited to produce cool effects. Unfortunately while there were plenty of people better than Sweetie Belle at math... well, quite a few at least, she still was the first one to study magic, and Twilight and Sunset were so busy with their ancient artifacts, it was nearly impossible to get a private magic lession with them.
Unfortunately that meant she had to spend a lot of time watching other ponies use magic.
“Alright,” she said wearily to the unicorn standing before her. A dark grey haired pony with a greyish blue coat of fur, Neon Lights was one of the rarest of the rare: a woman who transformed into a unicorn stallion. She/he found magic a thankful diversion from his other horn. Sweetie Belle was honestly having a harder time with keeping these pronouns correct than anything else regarding the surprisingly upbeat man... girl... stallion.
“So one more time,” Sweetie said, “Levitate this protractor, and slide the bevel around to where you feel the most resistance.”
The protractor reliably slid to the exact same angle as the slope of his horn. “Well that’s not it,” Sweetie said in puzzlement. “I don’t know why your levitation would be flaking out. The angle of influence is what was supposed to make it stable, but I’m pretty sure the complement isn’t too obtuse. I don’t really know how to do it right, because it’s in three dimensions and I only studied two. Or, three... and a half I think?
“Hey don’ ask me. I’m a flipping waitress,” he said with a downturned, discouraged slump, “I never even go’ past Algebra. All I wanna do is get sho I can lift stuff when walking aroun’, so I don’ have to carry every flipping thing in my mouth.”
“Try levitating the protractor again, and move it a foot to the right first,” a new voice piped up.
“Oh, Elias, thank goodness, ” Sweetie Belle said, turning to the other filly, a pale blue unicorn with a bright purple mane. “I need you to do your integration thing.”
“Integration thing?” Neon Lights asked the two curiously. The little blue and purple unicorn filly turned towards him and looked like she was going to say something, but the moment their eyes met, Elias blushed and looked away. If Sweetie Belle hadn’t been snooping on Elias’s dreams, she might even be confused what was going on.
Instead, Sweetie stepped in front of Elias and gave Neon a steady look of soft green, saying, “The magical potential of an energy field is proportional to the integral of the wave function. But I’m only a Freshman so I barely know what a wave function is. I don’t know why people keep asking me for help. I’m studying as fast as I can, but I mean...”
Sweetie Belle paused, looking down at Elias, who still silent, was actually crouching low and trembling in her anxiety.
“Calm down, Elias,” Sweetie Belle whispered. “He just wants to know why he keeps dropping things. He’s not even a real guy.”
“I’m fine Sweetie,” Elias said unconvincingly, unable to look at the larger male unicorn, “I just—”
“Hey, what’s that supposed to mean?” Neon whined, hovering over them with an offended look.
“Elias just isn’t used to being a girl, still,” Sweetie Belle told Neon Lights, still standing in between them protectively “You know the feeling, right?” she said searchingly.
“Oh, yeah, uh,” Neon stammered, backing up a tic, “I uh, don’t know how much help I can be though. Being a girl just sucks.”
“Oh, so you used to be a...” Elias said, looking up at Neon with wide, purple eyes. A sigh of relief almost escaped Sweetie Belle, as she was worried the filly wouldn’t be able to put even two words togther. She cautiously moved aside so the two could talk to each other directly.
The stallion didn’t seem to pick up on the knifelike tension in the air, but... he sure seemed relaxed, so maybe that’d rub off on her? “It is serioushly overrated,” he replied with a roll of his eyes. “So don’ ask me for advice on girly shtuff. I was terrible at being a girl. All I want is my horn working. This schanging gender stuff doesn’t bother me.”
“Well, it bothers me,” Elias said, looking away somewhat resentfully.
“Do ya wanna schange back?” Neon asked, with a sympathetic wince.
“Ye—” Elias said, looking back toward Neon, and then a look of surprise crossed her face.
“I... guess?” she said less certainly than she thought she would. “If I could, I suppose I would? What I really want is to stop being so shy around... guy ponies.”
“You’re doing pretty good with me,” Neon said with a sloppy smile that brought a blush to Elias’s face.
“W-w-w-well it’s because you used to be a girl,” Elias stuttered, looking away again. “So you know how I... feel.”
“Frankly Elias,” Sweetie Belle announced gruffly, “I don’t think I know how you feel, and I’ve been a girl my whole life!”
“We all have our weird experienshes here,” Neon said, “And mine’s a flaky horn. So could we maybe worry about that a little? I’d leave ya alone, but it almost sounded like you were onto something with the integral thingy.”
“Sure, it’s um... lift the protractor in your horn field,” Elias suggested. Neon did as she instructed, and she said, “Now start moving it to the right. Now up a little bit. Bit more forward. There, that’ll be the—” The blue light surrounding the protractor flickered and died, and it went clattering to the floor.
“Aw, man!” Neon said, snorting at the stubbornly quiescent protractor.
“No that’s what I expected,” Elias said. “You have a node forming at a zenith of 36 and an azimuth of... you have a dead zone in your magical field. It probably oscillates in an elliptical orbit, but what you need to do is adjust the frequency of your horn field, until those points of turbulence smooth out.”
“And how do I do that? ” Neon asked.
“Ooh, I know this!” Sweetie spoke up. “You need to imagine like you’re pulling a string within your horn up into your head. Once you find the right frequency for your horn’s angle, you should stop having any uh... dead spots!”
“Yeah, that’s right!” Elias said with a bright smile at Sweetie Belle. “Go ahead, try it,” she urged Neon. “It helps to move something in a parabolic arc while you do, so try levitating that again.”
When Neon fixed his shit and delightedly made the measuring device fly around in a figure eight, Elias laughed out loud. “Good job, you did it! That’s so cool!” she cheered happily. While the blue filly clapped her hooves and egged Neon Lights on, Sweetie looked at Elias more than the stallion. Sweetie Belle wanted Elias to see this part of herself, but was afraid to say something to avoid ruining the moment. It’s just that Elias was such a nice um... girl, when she wasn’t always trying to second guess her girlhood.
44 more ponies woke up the next day, completely at a loss of how to walk on four hooves, just like every other day. Apple Bloom saw the ponies she’d helped, in turn help whip the new ones into shape pretty easily, but it was still a lot of ponies to deal with. Sweetie Belle stuck with the mental unicorny/talky aspects of acclimatization, and Scootaloo spent her time giving lessons to flyers, so the three of them actually had very little time to play together, even though it was summer vacation.
The three came to realize with some trepidation, that this would only get worse, all the way up until the first day of school next year. And then they’d all be ponies. What would happen then? Was anything really going to change at all? Despite all the things for them to be worried about in this strange situation, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo found the most worrisome fear, that when it was over, they’d be pushed right back into the daily grind of high school.
Twilight Sparkle was... well, she was at the asylum for purposes of helping patients adjust to being ponies, but the pony she wanted to speak with actually wasn’t a pony at all. Dinky remained a human, at least for now. She found him together with another blonde boy, and a lady with bountiful curly hair of white and purple swirls, doing laps around a... chess board.
There was a minder there looking as weirded out as Twilight felt, as the three marched in tight squares, the older lady calling out marching orders... sort of. “7 8 9! so very fine! 7 8 9! stay in a line!” she commanded, seeming pleased as punch every time the other two turned to a different side of the chessboard.
They marched around a chessboard on which a game couldn’t possibly be played. The white chess pieces were scattered on their sides, rather than placed on the board. The black ones were all gathered up on the board in a small disorganized pile. Twilight didn’t like it.
“Is this... okay?” she whispered to the attendant uneasily.
He blinked, looking at her, and her guest badge, and whispered back, “This’s actually the most coherent ol’ Screwball has been here in a while. That kid’s got a touch, I say.”
Twilight stared at the purple lady with worry, for a different reason now.
“Did you say...” she asked hesitantly, “Screwball? That, er, that woman’s actual name wouldn’t be Diamond Dazzle, would it?”
“Why,” he asked, glancing at Twilight, “You come to visit her?”
Twilight shook her head. “No,” she said, “It’s just... I have a... friend who I thought was an orphan, and...”
“Ey, hold it,” the guy said, suddenly getting in Twilight’s face. “You gotta remember you signed a non-disclosure agreement. Unless there’s danger to life and limb, you could get in a lot of trouble for blabbing out a certain patient’s private life. She’s got family, you hear? It’s nobody’s business, and the last thing we want is to ruin Diamond—to ruin the life of a certain someone. Telling people they’re crazy is a bad idea, okay?”
“Bubble bath for breakfast is a crazy bad idea,” the white and purple haired lady commented gravely, standing together in the huddle with Twilight and the tweed shirted minder, who both about leapt out of their skin at her sudden closeness. “But don’t worry,” Screwball said soothingly, “I know which door to go through.”
“Izzit door number 1?” the minder asked disgustedly, returning his hat to his head.
“It’s door number 1!” she announced joyously, “The medicine is behind the table tongue. Trust me, I know these things!”
“Hey, um,” a quiet boy’s voice came behind her, “Your queen got knocked over again.”
“Oh no!” the lady exclaimed, unfocused purple eyes widening in alarm. She spun around and ran past the boy over to the chess board shouting, “Don’t worry Bubbles! Mommy’s almost got this game beat!”
“Sorry about that,” the lavender boy named Dinky said, while the pink lady retreated to er... roll on top of the chessboard, giggling, “I assume you’re here about the letters.”
“As a matter of fact, I—” Twilight glanced at the minder, “Am here to consult with the staff regarding their pony patients, after a simple presentation, but could I look at the letters, while I’m here?”
“Sure thing,” Dinky said happily, then glanced at the minder adding, “Um... hold on, let me get Ditzy.”
“Could you meet me in the group room?” Twilight said, before Dinky scurried off. “I’ll be setting up in there for a while.”
Several minutes later, Dinky and a familiar grey girl with blonde hair and mismatched golden eyes came walking into the group room, Dinky with a handful of letters, and the girl with a handful of anxieties.
“Ah! Excellent!” Twilight chirped, looking up from fiddling with the projector inserted in the desk she sat up on, there at the back of the room. “Are those the letters?”
Dinky nodded, looking down at them.
“Thank you, Dinky,” Twilight said with a smile that she moved to the girl, “And you must be Ditzy Do?”
The girl’s mouth dropped open with genuine surprise as she stammered out, “Uh, ah, yea, that’s me. You didn’t—write the letters, did you?”
“No, and I totally understand why you were reacting that way towards me,” Twilight replied soothingly, “I was just as silly and tongue-tied with my first crush on a stallion.”
Ditzy shut her mouth, and adopted a curious twitch in her eyelid.
“Could we focus on the letters?” Dinky said, uneasily, “And less on the whole... being a horse thing?”
While Ditzy’s mind went into strange territories she had never before once contemplated... or something, Twilight nodded and said to them, “Thank you for letting me look at them. I’m hard pressed to find any leads at all into the nature of this crisis. I think we’re finally putting the pieces together, but I need all the help I can get. You said there was something strange about the letters?”
“Well, other than that they’re all only a few sentences long, um...” Dinky fiddled through them, handing Twilight a letter. “Some of them really don’t seem like... they exactly match up with reality.”
“Oh? Like what?” Twilight said, looking at the letter.
I had no idea you were with Brad. You care for him? Perhaps I should just fade into the shadows.
“Oh, that’s sad,” Twilight said, wishing she had ears to lower. “I–I mean—” she stuttered, looking at Ditzy, “If you’re with another boy that’s okay; it’s fine. You have every right to decide who’s special to you.”
That didn’t stop Ditzy’s blush from deepening, and she looked away.
“What’s wrong?” Twilight said, desperate to console the girl.
Ditzy mumbled something too quiet to hear, and wincing inwardly, Twilight just had to say,
“Didn’t catch that, sorry.”
Ditzy said shyly, but more loudly, “Brad doesn’t even know who I am.”
“But your secret admirer thinks he does?” Twilight asked confusedly. Ditzy nodded mutely.
“The last letter is even weirder,” Dinky said in a more intrigued tone, “It says he ate her cookies, but she never even baked any.”
This week you were so clever, I thought the world of you! The cookies are tastier than I imagined.
Twilight looked at it in puzzlement, saying, “I thought you said your secret admirer hadn’t confessed.”
“He hasn’t! ” Ditzy blurted out anxiously.
“Are you sure he’s writing letters to you?” Twilight asked.
Ditzy frowned at that, saying a little grumpily, “Yes, he even said my name once!”
More than all the world, I want you to be happy, Ditzy Do. Five fingers salute your courage.
“Salute your courage? ” Twilight said skeptically. “Wait, was this the fifth letter you received?”
“I guess so?” Ditzy said, “They don’t have a date on them, but I can remember the order I think.”
“Please do,” Twilight said, folding her fingers in front of her mouth. “Something’s bugging me about these that I want to check.”
After some time, the grey girl handed Twilight a sorted stack of letters, and Twilight looked through them.
•
Year two sophomore here. One who thinks you adorable, and loves seeing you just as you are.•
In time, I want to confess to you. Two of us would be so perfect together.•
Others are loop in the head to ignore you. Three things special about you: golden eyes, cheerful smile, big heart.•
When I go outside, I want to go riding with you. Four legs and you’d be my cute little pony.•
More than all the world, I want you to be happy, Ditzy Do. Five fingers salute your courage.•
Our love is not an illusion. Six angels could not call me away from you.•
Imagine if we rode together on ponies. Seven and so on commands for horses, did you know?•
My love for you is so very real. I hope I can prove it by speaking to you for the first time.•
What kind of cad is one such as I? Watching you from the shadows, afraid you won’t be the angel I see.•
I had no idea you were with Brad. You care for him? Perhaps I should just fade into the shadows.•
I don’t know what our future holds. One thing is for sure, I’m totally sweet for you.•
When I saw you kiss that boy, I thought I lost you, but now that he snubs you, maybe I stand a chance.•
Oh for the love of—I tried to leave you, but I’m stuck with these heartfelt feelings for you.•
Sorry for last week. I never know what to write. When I go outside, maybe I can find inspiration.•
I should have confessed to you by now, but hopefully love can surpass this barrier. We were meant for each other, you and I.•
I’m working up the courage every single day. You won’t have to hold out much longer.•
This week you were so clever, I thought the world of you! The cookies are tastier than I imagined.•
Dinky needs you.•
I’m not Dinky, you ninny!
Twilight only peered at them a short while before murmuring, “Hm...? Oh, huh. Interesting.”
“What is it?” Dinky asked curiously.
“The first seven letters all have the letter’s number starting the second sentence,” Twilight said. “See? ‘Five fingers’ on the fifth letter?”
“Do you know what is a five finger salute?” Ditzy asked confusedly. “I could never figure that one out.”
“I think these messages are in some sort of code,” Twilight said, “It might just be to indicate that it’s the fifth love letter, and something about it... hmm...”
She looked through the letters again, muttering quietly to herself.
“Wh—” Dinky said, right as Twilight shouted,
“Aha!”
The golden-eyed kids both blinked.
“Look at message number 3,” Twilight said, holding it up and pointing for them, “Others are loop in the head to ignore you.”
“Yeah, loopy,” Ditzy said with a smile, “He’s not always the best speller.”
“No, he is,” Twilight replied, pointing to the letter again. “Which word in this letter is the word ‘loop’?”
“The... third,” Dinky said, leaning forward to look closer at the letters laid out in order on the table.
“It’s a simple code,” Twilight explained eagerly, “Take the first word from the first letter, the second from the second, and so on, and they form a secret message!”
“What message is it?” Ditzy asked in an engrossed tone.
Both looked toward Twilight eagerly, as she flipped through the letters again, saying the words, “year time loop outside world illusion ponies real I care for you stuck outside barrier longer than”
“...well?” Ditzy asked with an expectant grin, “What’s the secret message?”
Twilight blinked, looking at the two of them, saying, “Year time loop—oh.”
“Right,” Twilight grumbled disgustedly, glaring at nothing in particular.
“What’s wrong?” Dinky asked, puzzled. “Something you can’t tell us?”
“Yes, literally yes,” Twilight said with a sigh. “I’m afraid these letters are a dead end. I clearly found no secret message in them.”
“Yes, that’s what you said, right?” Dinky replied unsurely. “They’re just some silly love letters, but from who?”
“That, I’d really like to know,” Twilight said darkly.
“Hi!” said the white blonde boy from earlier, startling the darkly glowering Twilight so much that she flailed right off the desk, landing hard on the floor.
He continued in rapidfire alarm, “Oh no, I’m so sorry! It’s just Firey saw you and said you were Dinky’s friend and I thought that meant you might be okay to say hi to even though you’re a big important guest speaker and I’m sorry I always—” until Twilight held up a hand from her splayed out position on the floor.
“No problem!” she yelped, picking herself up with his assist, and brushing herself off, “I’m fine. It’s no problem, uh...” She looked at him questioningly.
“I’m the Dizzitron!” the boy announced excitedly, “But you can call me Surprise!”
Oh no.
Jan 12, 1395
No events have occured as of late. It seems too quiet. Ponies all around the kingdom are bunkered down and dealing with their own internal cases of Anathema. Our natural resistance seems to be our only saving grace. The surviving Wonderbolt is in stable condition, thanks to the brilliant physicians of Canterlot, and of course our dear Princess Twilight. Stable physically perhaps, but mentally... the nightmares she faces are beyond compare. If only we had gotten to her, before... but this is not a record of our failures, but a diary of our hopes for the future.
There have never been this many princesses in the world, and with two to bring the day and night, that leaves two to find a solution to this damnable problem. Surely they can find one. I only wish they were more experienced. Though Twilight is swift as a swallow to learn what I know, she is too inexperienced to watch over the dreams of ponies, especially in these troubled times. Would that I had a moment to... but even this journal must fall short. A princess’s duties only grow heavier as her kingdom comes at risk.
Princess Luna
“It’s funny,” Professor Berry told the dream princess, “You aren’t the only one of your sisters with memory loss. Vice Principal Luna and Principal Celestia are both princesses in this journal, and they have nothing but good to say about you.”
“Uh huh?” Princess Twilight asked, enraptured along with Apple Bloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle, who sat with Cherry on the carpet in a dream version of her apartment flat.
“The difference is they have memories instead, ” Berry said in an intrigued tone, “Whereas you have just... nothing.”
“I have some things,” Twilight said, hurt by the implications of that. “It’s just been so long!”
“Well you know, the forensics guys were saying that the fading in the ink and the dust accumulation were between 40 and 50 years of aging,” Berry said, “And that was in the time stopped room, where one year was like a hundred!”
“Okay,” the princess said awkwardly. There was a pause.
“Tell me more about Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom,” Princess Twilight said hopefully.
“There actually aren’t many entries matching them,” Berry replied, “Are you sure you don’t remember the names Applejack, Rarity and Rainbow Dash?”
“They sound familiar, but it’s been a while, so...” Twilight inwardly cringed, feeling guilty for not even remembering what marks went with those names.
“Well, these three remember them,” Cherry said a bit smugly, gesturing a hoof at the fillies sitting beside them, “See, your sister Sunset made friends with them, and introduced you. But Apple Bloom had—has a big sister called Applejack—”
“I’m related to Rainbow Dash?! ” Scootaloo asked, buzzing up giddily into the air.
“Well—yes, I guess?” Berry replied in confusion, “Sunset left an entry saying how she was impressed Rainbow Dash wanted Scootaloo as a sister, considering that she—er—you couldn’t fly.”
“I couldn’t?” Scootaloo asked, wide-eyed.
“She said Rainbow Dash was working with getting you flying, and doing that made her an incredibly dedicated friend to all,” Berry said, rolling her eyes. “The journal’s Sunset was a bit of an exaggerator though, so I think it just meant Princess Sunset thought really highly of Rainbow Dash.”
“Rainbow Dash deserves it,” Scootaloo said confidently, settling to the ground again. “Even if this time she learned to fly after I did.”
“What about me?” Sweetie Belle asked, leaning forward eagerly.
Rubbing a bright pink hoof under her chin, Cherry said, “Nothing so dramatic. But Twilight did once say how much she wished she and Sunset could be as good of sisters as you and Rarity. Which was silly since Sunset and Twilight seem to get along great, in the journal at least. So I guess you two were extra specially good sisters.”
“And still are,” Sweetie replied smugly, tilting her head with what she thought was graceful pride.
“So what did the journal say about our sisters?” Apple Bloom asked, “An’ Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie ah guess. What kinda friends were they to th’ princesses?”
“Oh, let me tell you about one of the entries Twilight left about an adventure between her and Fluttershy...” Cherry responded eagerly.
It was a good dream.
Dinky was extremely confused. First Twilight just ignored the fact that the mysterious letters predicted that Ditzy and he were connected, and now she stared silently at Dinky’s new friend as if she’d seen a ghost. No, it was as if Twilight was seeing a ghost, right now, right in front of her. Could she see Surprise’s friends?
“Uh... sorry?” Surprise said uncertainly, “You didn’t hit your head did you?” He gasped, “Oh no, you did! Now I—”
“I’m fine!” Twilight barked loudly. She looked around frantically a moment, before saying more evenly with an unsteady smile, “I’m... fine. So you’re... Surprise, huh?”
“Yup, and this is Madame Fire,” Surprise said, gesturing to the air to his right. “She was really curious about you, because you looked important, and kinda familiar.”
“Madame... Fire?” Twilight asked weakly.
“Yep, and Captain Clipper,” Surprise said seriously, “He thinks you’re important, and it’s not even pie related!”
“Pie?” Twilight squeaked.
“Jeez, she’s even less talkative than Slowpoke,” Surprise said critically to thin air on his left. “Why do you ponies all think she’s so special?”
“Ponies?” Twilight barely audiblated.
“What about ponies?” Surprise replied abruptly, blushing heavily like a cat with a canary, “I mean people, come on, because ponies haha who ever heard of talking pony people eheheh...”
“Don’t you have television privileges?” Dinky asked Surprise thoughtfully.
“Yeah,” he said distractedly, “And boy those talking pony people have been all over the news lately oh my GOSH it’s true!” his purple eyes went wide, “It was true all along! Captain Clipper, you’re a pony!” Smiling from ear to ear, he then wrapped Captain Clipper up in a bear hug. Which is to say, Surprise wrapped his arms around empty air and went hurtling forward, face-first on the ground.
“I’m... okay,” he coughed unconvincingly.
“Alright, what are you all doing in here making such a racket?” a woman in a nurse’s uniform said, striding in the room, “The presentation doesn’t start until the end of day hour. You’re not giving the miss Twilight here any trouble, are ya?”
“No trouble!” Twilight declared, with a tight lipped smile, “They were just... helping me set up. No problems here, whatsoever!”
“You’re not touchin’ any of the equipment, are ya?” the minder said, giving Surprise the evil eye. “An’ not any of your friends neither?”
“Please, my friends can’t touch anything,” Surprise said casually, waving a dismissive hand, “I said they were ponies, not that they were alive. ”
“Po—oh lordy, not this again,” the minder said with disgust, “Didn’t you finally agree that your old friends were human? I hope we don’t have to up your medication again.”
“That won’t be necessary,” Twilight stated loudly, “I was just talking with him about what he used to believe, and he’s much better now, with no need for anything like additional medication or anything additional.”
The minder was eyeing Twilight now, saying, “Listen miss, I know what you’re thinking, but these are very sick kids here.”
“I’m not sick,” Dinky declared offended, “I’m not even supposed to be here! And Surprise sees dead people, so what? Neither of us are going to kill ourselves anymore, and both of us are gonna—live.”
“Both of us are gonna live,” he repeated in surprise. It was easier to say that than... any of the other dozens of assurances he’d given counselors since coming here, about himself alone. Dinky was going to live, because... someone wanted him to.
Diamond just got mad at him for dying. The city sent him from the orphanage to here to help him, so he wouldn’t kill himself. Apple Bloom tried to save him, to talk him out of... jumping. Everyone seemed to want to stop Dinky from dying, but Surprise was the first person Dinky could remember who wanted Dinky to live. Actually really wanted him to live. They were going to live.
“Everybody out!” the flustered minder shouted, herding Surprise and Dinky out of the room, “Leave the lady girl alone, the presentation’s in an hour, an’ stop wandering off out of sight!”
The presentation went... poorly. It started out well enough, as far as Dinky could tell. It wasn’t anything Twilight hadn’t already personally told Dinky, though. A few of the patients made a fuss, but the minders were close by to remove anyone who started acting out, or freaking out. Unfortunately, they weren’t perfect at doing so, and they certainly weren’t minding the presenter.
“One final note,” Twilight had said at the end, “As I explained, I know all this because I come from a parallel universe to your own, where you all have counterparts who are already naturally ponies. Since I know many ponies from my own world, I can identify many of you here by your resemblance to them, and give you some idea of what pony you might become. I can’t promise I’ll know any of you. I don’t know everyone in the world after all, but I’ll be happy to tell whomever I can what kind of pony you’re going to turn out to be. Surprise here, for instance,” she gestured at Surprise, “Is a pegasus pony in my world, an adult mare, and a very strong flyer. If anyone else is interested, I’ll call your names out, and you can talk to me after the presen...tation...”
Twilight trailed off, staring above Dinky’s head. Then she shouted in increasing agitation, “Never mind. Presentation over. This presentation is over!” grabbing her easel with a clatter, hooking an arm in her bag, and striding hastily towards the door.
That was when some lady in the back started screaming, “No! Don’t go! Come back!” and lunged for Twilight. She was quickly wrestled to the floor as other patients scrambled out of the way and chairs went toppling around the floor.
“This presentation is over!” Twilight repeated in a frightened tone, staring at the lady who kept fighting the minders, screaming out for her while one of them fumbled for a sedative. Twilight staggered out of the room then and slammed the door behind her. And now other people were starting to panic because of the berserk lady, various cries of confusion and alarm as everyone lost their wits. It was chaos.
Dinky wanted to run out the door too, but Surprise grabbed him by the arm and dragged him into the crowd, shoving him face to face with a screaming woman he had never even talked to before. Dinky had an idea what Surprise wanted him to do, so he just shouted, “Calm down! What’s wrong?”
“They’re coming for us!” the dark grey lady shouted with unfocused pupils, “She was one of them, she’s going to get us all they’re going to get us all!”
Us...? “We’ll stop them!” Dinky lied as firmly as he could, “They won’t hurt you because we won’t let them do anything to you! She can’t do anything, you’re safe now. You’re safe with us.”
“You can’t stop them,” she replied shrilly, but at least focusing on Dinky, “You’re just a kid! Soon as they take one look into your eyes—”
“So don’t let them!” Dinky replied angrily, “Cover your eyes, calm down. They can’t get you if they can’t see you. Come on, cover your eyes, hurry!”
For some reason the lady did, covering her eyes and sobbing in fear. At least she wouldn’t be triggered by the chaos around them that way, but she seemed truly terrified! You weren’t supposed to touch the other patients, but it just... seemed like she was most frightened about being alone. So he gave her a cautious hug. She didn’t stiffen, which was a good sign, and he kept saying, “It’s okay, we’re gonna get them, you’re safe. It’s okay.”
The uh... minder was looking down at them cooly, from where they were sitting there on the floor. Dinky glanced up briefly and said to the huddled lady, “Okay now, a friend of mine is going to help you up. I know he looks like a hospital employee, but he’s a friend, and he’s going to help you.”
The minder did, and she didn’t protest being led away, and the chaos in the room was beginning to die down anyway. Diamond Tiara’s mom was still piriouetting around the center, but it looked like her attendants were gonna catch her any second now. Otherwise, dutiful application of calming techniques and sedatives had returned the place to its artificial and careful sense of serenity.
Twilight Sparkle utterly bungled everything. She was basically totally aware now, that someone like her coming to the asylum was a terrible idea, and she should have never done it. She thought nothing could be worse than seeing Surprise, and knowing that every time he talked about dead ponies, he was telling the truth.
But Surprise had been easy to deal with. He was so well adjusted given what Twilight read about him in that journal, and Twilight had never been close to Surprise in her own world. Twilight only knew of the pony in Rainbow Dash’s (her Rainbow Dash’s) curiously exhaustive knowledge of Wonderbolt facts. Twilight had only really seen Surprise in passing at certain perfunctory gatherings.
So, in witnessing Surprise still suffering from the horrible... loss of her entire team, even after all this time... it was terrible, but Twilight could deal with it. It didn’t make her completely lose her cool and freak out. The day had been going well. She got to look at the letters, and figured out their secret message. She got invaluable information that Sunset Shimmer would be eager to learn. Twilight comported herself relatively professionally for the course of her presentation, but then...
“Surprise here, for instance, is a pegasus pony in my world, an adult, and a very strong flyer,” Twilight Sparkle concluded, scanning the crowd for any other faces she might recognize, however humanized they may be. “If anyone else is interested, I’ll call your names out, and you can talk to me after the presen...tation...”
Twilight then noticed a lady in the back staring at her intently. The resident outfit did not conceal the lady’s eggshell white skin tone. The flat stripes of purple and white in her hair were very distinctive, and one could not mistake the color of her piercing blue eyes.
Mom...?
Oh yeah, Twilight... definitely could have handled that better. It wasn’t her mother, of course, and that made it even worse. What was Twilight going to tell her, that her daughter was (at best) trapped in an unknown location in an enchanted sleep? Twilight still hadn’t finished going through that awful journal, so she didn’t know the ultimate fate of the princesses... Celestia and Luna were accounted for of course, but of the other Twilight, only a dream remained, and of Sunset’s counterpart, there was no sign at all.
It was so hard for Twilight to read through that journal. It was so hard seeing people she knew as ponies, and having an idea of what they went through. It was so hard not seeing the ponies, not seeing so many missing ponies who should have been with their friends and by their side. There was no Shining Armor in the police force. No Night Light had appeared in any form around the city. Twilight had thought her family was just... gone, and then she ran into her mother, all alone at an insane asylum.
Twilight could understand why she was in there.
And the worst part about it was, Twilight Velvet didn’t remember her. Her mother’s mind was so... distorted? Erased? It was hard to say. But all that was left of her mother’s deep love for them all was this confused, paralyzed wanting for something she didn’t know, a desire that had never seemed more attainable than when the doppleganger of her daughter mistakenly stumbled into her life. The best Twilight could have told this Twilight Velvet was that she had a daughter, who resembled Twilight, and that they were searching for her, but had not yet found her.
She... wasn’t sure if it was healthy for Velvet to know that.
Mar 27, 1395
I think Applejack might be the element of Honesty! She’s certainly the most honest pony I know. I could wager that she can tell a lie, even if she didn’t know it. The world tree crystal reacted to her, so she must be something! But it didn’t transsubstantiate. I can’t figure out if it needs to be activated somehow, or if she needs to be especially honest, or what.
I wonder how many Element bearers could be hiding under my nose? I suspect Pinkie Pie might be Kindness, because with all she’s been through, she still smiles for other ponies, and only wishes well of us all. Sometimes I wish I could help her forget what happened in Nickerlite. I wonder what kind of pony she would be, if it wasn’t tragedy that brought us together? I’m thinking Twilight for Loyalty, for all she does for everypony under her rule, though I don’t know if a princess can wield them. Clover’s notes just say they give ponies the power without end, and combined they would be unstoppable. If only she had found them. It sure is a puzzle! Maybe that’s what the sixth Element is. Mystery!
Maybe I’m the Element of Laughter hahaPrincess Shimmer
“So, what do you wanna do?”
“Ah dunno, what do you wanna do?”
“...well don’t look at me. I’m just the dream princess.”
Sweetie Belle was off with something on her own, while Apple Bloom, Scootaloo and the dream princess found themselves kicking it in the sun on a grassy meadow underneath some sort of fanciful cloud city. Apple Bloom was on her back staring up at nothing, trying to understand how sleeping could feel so boring. Scootaloo was on her belly, her wings relaxed to her sides. And the dream princess, Twilight Sparkle was laying on her side like a horse might, looking torn between contentment and nervousness as she looked between the two fillies.
“You wanna go swimming somewhere?” Scootaloo asked thoughtfully.
“Not really,” Apple Bloom shrugged. “You two could go flying, if you wanna,”
“Hey, why don’t you come fly with us?” Scootaloo suggested brightly.
Apple Bloom lifted her head and raised an eyebrow, saying, “You remember I ain’t got no wings, right?”
“Apple Bloom, did you forget already?” Scootaloo said in a chiding tone. “This is a dream! ”
“Oh right!” Apple Bloom realized. “Yeah, let’s all go flyin’ then! You two use your wings, and I’ll just uh, dream mahself up there or however it works. Unless ah could dream that I was a pegasus?”
“I’m fairly sure that is a thing you can do, maybe, probably,” the princess responded uncertainly, “But maybe you should just... fly.”
“Well you could just... fly I guess?” Scootaloo said disappointedly. “But now I wanna see you as a pegasus! Go ahead, try it Apple Bloom!”
“I don’t know if this is such a good idea,” the princess cautioned. “Why shouldn’t Apple Bloom be happy with what she is?”
“It’s just for fun, princess!” Scootaloo protested to the purple regent. “Why would we even have dreams, if we can’t do cool stuff in them?”
“Why are you asking me? I don’t know! I don’t remember anything!” the princess said, backing up in agitation, to which Scootaloo groaned,
“It was a rhetorical question.”
“Ah ain’t havin’ any luck, y’all,” Apple Bloom sighed, looking at her bare yellow back. “What would wings even feel like? Ah only got four legs!”
“Well, just use me as an example!” Scootaloo suggested. “I had plenty of time to figure out what wings feel like. They’re like... construction cranes on your sides, with feathers on them.”
“Hmn...” Apple Bloom murmured, concentrating on Scootaloo. Wings like that were... weird, but they sort of made sense, in a Scootaloo sort of way. Construction cranes on your sides? Apple Bloom imagined how Scootaloo would imagine those cranes moving around, and then pulled her focus back to Scootaloo, and something slid into place in her head.
“Woah!” she said, wobbling on her hooves. “I think I... did it?”
Scootaloo was staring at her, smiling uncomfortably though, saying, “Maaaybe you overdid it, a bit.”
“Why? What did—” Scootaloo caught a look at her raised hoof, as pumpkin orange as Scootaloo’s.
“This is fascinating!” the princess, said to an increasingly alarmed Scootaloo, next to a rather weirded out looking Scootaloo. “You mimicked a dream construct, who was a dreamer!”
“How do ah turn it off?!” Scootaloo said querulously, and even her voice sounded like Scootaloo’s, just... more farmy. She turned around on her hooves trying to figure out how weird she felt she—she could feel the wings! They were all coming out of her back and she couldn’t stop them from sticking out and moving!
“Um, um, um,” Scootaloo said desperately, searching around on the forest floor. She picked up an apple she found and kicked it straight at Scootaloo. It filled Scootaloo ’s vision before smacking her in the forehead and knocking her backwards, to land on her back with a whump.
“Good thinking, Scootaloo!” the princess cheered, as Apple Bloom lifted her head groggily, trying not to lose the dream just out of reflex.
“I can’t believe that worked,” Scootaloo said amazed, as Apple Bloom came to realize she was herself again. Yellow and red, with four, and only four limbs accounted for. Oh, five if you count the tail.
“That was too wild!” Apple Bloom whined, rolling to her feet again. Her beautifully familiar yellow hooves. “Thank ya Scootaloo,” she said in her old, familiar voice. “How did y’figure that would work?”
“I uh... I guessed that it had to be my brain doing it, so I had to think you were Apple Bloom again,” Scootaloo offered hesitantly, “So I found an apple, and made you an Apple again.”
Apple Bloom blinked. Then she burst out laughing. It was just so absurd. She laughed until she awoke, chuckling even as she roused in the middle of the night. What even were dreams?