//------------------------------// // Chapter 1 // Story: Home Team // by totallynotabrony //------------------------------// Megan smoothed her skirt, although she was still uncomfortable. High school could do that to you, even if you weren’t a student. She’d had to trade her boots for flats and hose. At least she still wore her favorite necklace, a heart-shaped locket kept out of sight inside her blouse. As the first bell of the day rang, she got up from the desk at the front of the room and introduced herself. “Good morning, everyone. I am Ms. Williams, your substitute teacher for today.” Teachers came and went, and the students took the news without much reaction. That is, except for five girls that sat together near the back. Megan had seen them before, as friends of the pony version of Twilight Sparkle. Perhaps due to that, they all seemed a little more interested in seeing a new face. Although Megan had been working with Twilight – the human one – for the last few months, this was one job that required Megan herself. Some version of Twilight Sparkle was already known around this school. That didn’t mean Twilight couldn’t help. Megan certainly wasn’t old, but she might have been getting a little out of touch with the kids. Even if Twilight couldn’t show her face at Canterlot High, she could help Megan do the research on how to better fit into her substitute teacher role. To figure out what was going on at Canterlot High this time, they might need all the help they could get. The troubles had started small. Celestia had noticed the students had seemed restless, quick to anger. It was hard to point to any one thing, but something had to be causing it. It was, admittedly, a rather vague assignment, but Megan had gotten into more for less, and a lot farther from home. After reviewing the lesson plan and assigning busy work, Megan sat down. Her purse was behind the desk, by her foot. The zipper was open, but not enough to expose the large fighting knife inside. Lucky this public school didn’t have the kind of problems that required metal detectors at the doors. But apparently it had a history of magical disturbances. Megan looked around the room. It figured. The school looked exactly like a place where magical ponies-turned-human would hang out. Styles and fashions had changed since she was a kid. The saccharine-sweet outfits and styles were apparently only skin-deep, however. The limited information Megan and Twilight had been able to collect indicated that detentions were on an upward trend and more complaints were being reported. There had been nothing from the five girls that were involved in the Sunset Shimmer incident six months previously. Megan took that as a positive sign. It could mean that their friendship was strong enough to survive a few minor kerfluffles. In fact, as Megan waited for the class to end, she noticed the five of them passing notes. Whatever it was about, it seemed to be a serious conversation. Before she could call them out, the bell rang. The students started to get up. The girls in the back were last to leave. The one named Rarity lagged behind, already searching for her phone inside her purse before she was even out of the classroom. She finally found the phone and hurried to catch up to her friends. Megan saw a chance and took it, dexterously dipping her fingers in the top of the purse and snatching the first piece of paper she felt. Rarity didn’t notice and kept going. Megan glanced at the paper, seeing a multitude of different handwriting styles on it. Smoothing the paper out on her desk, she began to read. Have you guys noticed something strange going on around here lately? Define strange. We got three new students! I've got to throw them a party! They showed up and people started getting meaner at about the same time… What’s that got to do with it? Recall what happened the last time we got a new student. Do you think Twilight has something to do with this? No, but...maybe we should think about contacting her. Totally. But after band practice. I’ve got a new riff that you guys will love! Very interesting. Megan put the note away in her purse as the next class began to arrive. On lunch break, Megan went to find Twilight. The girl was waiting for Megan in a car in the parking lot, wearing cargo pants and t-shirt. She had her hair tied back and wore utilitarian sunglasses. Megan had begun to see a lot of herself in Twilight. It was slightly jarring to realize that she had become a role model. Twilight had had a choice, and she’d picked Megan. The idea of magical ponies living in the universe next door would be an adjustment for anyone, although Megan had been dealing with it since she was a preteen. Twilight had only recently been introduced, and had taken after Megan for guidance. Megan wasn’t sure that she was ready to be a mentor to anyone, much less a high school girl, but Twilight was a brilliant student, if sometimes prone to occasional bouts of obsession. At least she hadn’t started wearing cowboy boots in an attempt to be more like Megan. Megan got into the car and handed Twilight the note. “Pony-Twilight’s friends were passing this around. What do you think?” Twilight studied the paper as Megan reached into the back seat to get a sandwich from a cooler. She took a few bites before Twilight replied. “It sounds like they have some way of communicating with the other world.” Megan nodded and kept chewing. Twilight put her fingers to her chin. “It leaves me with questions. I wonder how much they know about the current situation. Are they only noticing these things because they hung out with a pony? Who are these new students they mentioned?” “I have that information.” Megan held her sandwich with one hand and reached into her purse with the other. She found a notebook and flipped to the page where she had written down the names. “Adagio Dazzle, Aria Blaze, and Sonata Dusk.” “Hmm. Ponies, do you think?” Twilight asked. “Possible,” Megan replied. “I’d hate to think that more of them came here after we made a demonstration out of Sunset Shimmer and sealed up the statue in front of the school.” Twilight frowned, remembering how the pony-turned-girl-turned-demon had looked after a rifle bullet to the face. She changed the subject. “How could they even get here? I thought they had some sort of magic mirror that was somehow linked with the statue.” “The keyword there is ‘magic.’” They both sat silently for a moment. Megan finished her sandwich. Twilight asked, “How aggressive should I be on this? As of now, we haven’t detected a serious threat.” Megan considered it before replying. “It’s nice to be nice, but everyone would rather see the home team win. Use your judgement, but remember that proportionality is not always something we can afford.” Megan’s look told Twilight the weight of the authority she was being saddled with. It took an extreme circumstance to justify the use of force. Taking a life was a terrible thing to do, but magically enslaving a high school as the first step to taking over the world was worse. And so the threat posed by Sunset Shimmer had been ended. Megan checked the time and opened the door. “I’ll work on my end. See if there’s anything you can dig up.” Twilight nodded and watched Megan return to the school for afternoon classes. She slumped behind the steering wheel and pulled out her phone. The names Megan had given her only returned the barest results on the internet. Twilight looked at their social media profiles, but none of them seemed to go back more than six months. Interesting. That was about when the last incident at the school had occurred. Convinced she was onto something, Twilight kept mashing buttons all afternoon. Hacking from the tiny keyboard of a phone was not easy, not to mention the moral conundrums Twilight kept having from breaking into people’s accounts. She did, however, become convinced that Adagio, Aria, and Sonata were more than a little suspicious. When her phone actually rang, it startled her to realize that it was already time for school to be out. Well, Canterlot High was out for the day, at any rate. Principal Celestia was giving Twilight a pass for today from her other school where Twilight actually attended. Although it seemed like she was getting more of an education outside of class these days. Twilight answered the phone. It was Megan. “I have a lead on the new students,” she said. “Probably related, things really kicked up a notch after lunch. I heard something happened in the cafeteria. You keep eyes on those five girls and make sure they don’t do anything stupid.” “Like what?” Twilight asked. “Like summoning a pony princess from another universe,” Megan said with only a small trace of humor. Twilight wondered what the ritual would involve. Probably not a pentagram and a blood sacrifice. As she understood it, that wasn’t how pony magic worked. They finished the call. Twilight saw her marks exiting the building. She started her car and got moving. Trailing their cars at a safe distance, Twilight followed them to a house with “Pie” on the mailbox. She parked a short distance down the street. The bright afternoon sun wouldn’t help her pass unnoticed, but the house was fortunately surrounded by bushes. Twilight managed to get into position beside the garage, crouching beneath a window. She didn’t think that she had been seen. She could hear the low mutter of voices through the wall, and occasionally an instrument being tuned. It sounded like a band getting ready to play. Waiting patiently, Twilight was eventually rewarded with a song. It was quite good for a high school band, and she found herself tapping her fingers on the side of the house as she knelt with her ear pressed to the wall. The music took a step up in quality as they kept playing, and Twilight saw a flash out of the corner of her eye. She glanced upward at the window. Raising her head slightly, she peeped one eye over the sill. The garage was in disarray, but a space had been cleared for instruments. A handmade banner hung on the wall declaring The Rainbooms. The band was rocking, and they had pony ears and tails that sparkled with magic. Twilight could barely suppress a gasp. She didn’t know what a spell to summon a pony princess looked like, but it wouldn’t be too surprising if she was looking at one right now. Ducking back from the window, Twilight grabbed her phone and dialed. Megan answered, sounding brusque. “What?” “I think they might be doing some sort of magic,” Twilight said. “Deal with it.” Megan hung up. Twilight stared at her phone. That was so unlike Megan. A spike of fear went through her. Megan was investigating the new students. Had something happened to her? From inside the garage, the band launched into the finale. There was a bigger flash of rainbow light than before, nearly blinding despite the sunny day. The drums crashed one final time, and then everything went silent. A fraction of a second passed and then there was a quick exclamation from inside. Excited voices talked quickly. Twilight managed to pick out one word from the muted cacophony: her own name. She eased back to the window. Inside the garage, she spotted a girl that looked exactly like her, seeming slightly dazed but happy to be in a group hug with the other five. The newcomer wore a color coordinated blouse and tie over a skirt. There seemed to be a familiar-looking dog with her. Indecision gripped Twilight. What was she supposed to do about the appearance of herself from another world? Going to Megan for advice was out. She didn’t think pony-turned-human Twilight was a threat to Earth, but she couldn’t just do nothing about it. Twilight wavered. The group of girls knew something was going on at the school. Perhaps that was why they’d brought their princess friend in once more. They didn’t seem hostile. Swallowing hard, she got up, went to the door, and knocked.