"-And I was like 'Oh my god she really did that?' and Twinkleshine was like 'Totally, I saw it with my own eyes'-"
"Uhuh."
"-So I was like 'That's totally insane!' And Twinkleshine said 'I know, right?'-"
"Uhuh."
"-And then Lemon Hearts walks in and is like, 'Oh hey girls what's going on?' And then-"
"Minuette?"
Minuette stopped talking for a moment, raising an eye brow at Moondancer, "Yeah?"
"We're in the library."
Minuette snorted, "Well, duuuuh- what, you don't think I know what a book is?"
Moondancer sighed, shutting her textbook, "No- but I'm beginning to doubt your level of literacy," she said, glancing over towards one of the many 'Quiet in the Library' signs. Minuette frowned, but only for a moment before her bright and cheery smile returned to her face. Moondancer still couldn't believe her friend never needed braces, god damn genetic lottery winner that one.
"Okay, Miss Grumpy-pants, have it your way- hey, after school you wanna walk with me downtown? I gotta cash in my paycheck- normally I'd have done it yesterday on my way home, but you see I ran into Lyra- she's going to CHS now, did you know that? Oh, also she's apparently been a pony this whole time and-"
Moondancer shoved a finger into Minuette's face, quieting her before sighing, "If I go with you, will you please be quiet?"
Minuette nodded vigorously.
"Fine, then."
Moondancer sighed as she redid her hair-tie for the third time. This is why she didn't go out- nature was everywhere and it always messed up her hair. At least now in the air-conditioned environment of the bank, she wouldn't have to worry about constantly retying it out of her face. So annoying.
Looking around the lobby, it was fairly empty for a weekday. Aside from herself and Minuette, there were only a few tellers and two other small groups of people waiting to make withdrawals or apply for a loan or something. It didn't really matter to her.
"Alright, that was quick!" Minuette said as she walked over towards the bench Moondancer was waiting on. She got up and stretched a little as Minuette fingered through a couple of bills.
"Finally, can we go now? I've got a test to study for," She droned, and Minuette started to roll her eyes before fear flickered across her face for a brief moment. She tackled Moondancer to the ground, as the roar of of an engine suddenly plowed through the front of the building. Rubble rolled harmlessly off the top of an armored van, as a group dressed in rubber clown masks filed out the back.
"On the ground- everyone on the ground now!"
"Hands up, away from the counter!"
Moondancer groaned under Minuette's weight, peeking out from under her once-again loose bangs.
'Oh my god. Oh my god we're in a bank robbery oh god this is bad we're gonna die oh god-'
"Clock up."
Minuette hauled Moondancer to her feet, and she started to scream, "What the hell are you doing, they're gonna shoot us!"
Holding onto Moondancer's hand tightly, Minuette shook her head, "No they're not- they're don't have the time."
Moondancer gave Minuette a look like she had grown a second head, before she noticed how quiet everything was. The thieves stood frozen, dust hung still in the air. Nobody even looked like they were breathing.
"What did you do?"
"No time to explain," Minuette said, and dragged Moondancer with her as she rushed towards one of the masked men. It almost felt like a blur to Moondancer, the way Minuette whacked one thief in the face before yanking his gun out of his hand; shoving another two frozen ones in a slow-mo collision with each other; and even yanking one's mask 180 degrees to blind them. Lifting Moondancer up bridal style, she rushed out of the new hole in the front of the building, banking around the right side and sliding into an alley way.
"Clock down!"
All of a sudden, the sounds of life started back up- and from the sound of the ruckus inside, the thieves were having a bad time. Minuette put Moondancer down, collapsing against a wall.
"Oh man, that always takes it out of me-"
Unfortunately for Minuette, her time to rest was cut short as Moondancer hauled her up by the collar of her Crystal Prep uniform, glaring at her.
"Explain. Now."
"Easy, easy!" Minuette said, holding her hands up, "I'll explain everything, just give a chance to catch my breath, alright?"
Moondancer glared at her for a second longer, before sighing and letting go. Minuette wiped some sweat from her forehead.
"Alright- so thing is, and you HAVE to promise not to tell anyone about this- but I... may kind of sort of have weird time magic that, according to our good old Lord and Savior, means I have some kind of important destiny- like those Crusader kids who started up PAULDRONS and stuff."
Minuette found a box in the alley to sit on as she continued her story, "Basically, there's some forms of magic that come from pony-land that are kind of hard to mix with human magic? So there's a few people that have access to these weird powers to kind of balance stuff out. Time magic, destiny magic- stuff like that, you know? So yeah, regulating time is a thing I can do now," She bounced in her seat, beaming with glee, "Ain't that totally neato?"
Moondancer, for her part, remained absolutely incredulous throughout Minuette's "explanation".
"... Time magic."
"Yup."
"And no one else can do this?"
Minuette tapped her finger to chin, "Well, I wouldn't say that- according to Sunset there's a few other people with wibbly-wobbly time stuff. One of them's an Earth-aspect, if you can believe that."
Moondancer groaned, letting her face fall into her palm.
"That's... great. Looks like relativity just flew out the window, that'll be just PERFECT for reworking current scientific theories on how the universe is supposed to work."
"Hey, lighten up!" Minuette said, clapping her hand on her friend's back, "Listen, you're probably a little shaken because you almost got stuck in a bank robbery, how about we go get some ice cream, okay? My treat."
Minuette waved a fat stack of bills under Moondancer's nose, and the bespectacled nerd frowned.
"That seems like a lot more than what you cashed out earlier."
"Whaaaat? Pfff-" Minuette waved her hand in Moondancer's face, "You probably misremembered or something. Come ooooon, ice cream is calling our names!"
Minuette started to lead Moondancer on, and she shook her head. Probably the stress of the situation getting to her.
Celestia played the tape again- she might not have made it to that particular robbery as Sunny Skies, but when it hit the news about how the thieves managed to somehow foil themselves with inexplicable clumsiness, she called in a couple favors. Something about the situation didn't seem right; aside from the scene caused by crashing an armored van into a building, they almost seemed to enter with practiced poise and grace. Absolute professionals. And then not a moment later, they're tripping over each other like a circus side-show.
"And here I thought I was the night owl around here," Luna said as she entered into Celestia's home office, setting down a tray with tea.
"Still looking over that tape?"
Celestia nodded, "It's so strange- they were obviously foiled by an outside source, but the people with abilities so fast were nowhere near the scene at the time. I even double checked with Rainbow and Turner- after school soccer practice and grading history tests, respectively."
Luna snorted as Celestia mentioned the resident crackpot of a teacher, "Time travelers, I'll never understand the appeal," She took one of the mugs, sipping quietly as Celestia rewound and parsed through the crash again. Something caught her eye.
"Hang on- who are those two? In the corner?"
"Huh?" Celestia turned as Luna jabbed her finger onto the screen. She frowned, removing it and taking out a small cloth to wipe away the smudge. It was no small wonder her little sister was always needed her help with technology- she acted like some old lady who didn't even know how to treat it right.
"What are you talking about, Luna?"
Luna took another sip, before clearing her throat, "Just watch those two in the bottom- they look like they're wearing Crystal Prep uniforms."
Celestia raised an eyebrow, before rewinding again and watching the van crash through the glass foyer for the thousandth time tonight. A full five seconds before the van enters stage-left, the blue and white haired girl tackles the other to the ground- barely leaving them in frame. Then, as all chaos broke loose they just vanished. Celestia's other eyebrow joined it's twin higher on her forehead.
"How did I not notice that?"
"Probably just sitting too close to the screen," Luna said as she took another drink, "You're going to go blind that way, you know."
Celestia rolled her eyes, before skipping back a few seconds and playing the scene frame-by-frame. Sure enough, the two mystery teens vanished without a trace the moment the heist went pear shaped.
"... Luna, send a message to Abacus Cinch. I need to make a social visit to Crystal Prep."