//------------------------------//
// Chapter 85 - Meeting their expectations! Part 3 
// Story: The normal life of Nitpick Bittersweet 
// by Ryusun 
//------------------------------//

There was a mini competition for the best group disguised during the party. Everyone had wonderful costumes ranging from cute animals to truly horrifying monsters.

I was feeling off for some reason.

“Evil lurks on the horizon! Fate has chosen six warriors of destiny to wipeout the evil forces of the malevolent sorcerer Candora!”

On stage of the gym hall, the last group’s turn arrived. The girls jumped to the scene and light materialized their silhouettes.  

“I am Black Mammoth-Warrior! Daishi of Loyalty!” Rainbow said with a ridiculous pose.

“And I am Pink Ptera-Warrior! Meity of Generosity!” Rarity followed.

“Blue Tricera-Warrior! Dankie of Laughter!” Pinkie as well.

“Yellow Tiger-Warrior!! Boishy of Kindness!!” Fluttershy beamed happiness. 

“Red Tyranno-Warrior! Appleki of Honesty!” Applejack managed to not get embarrassed.

“Green Dragon-Warrior! Surai of…!”

“Leadership!” Rainbow whispered.

“Leadership!” Sunset said quickly and empowered. “And we are-!”

“The Super Dino Soldiers! The Power Warriors!” The girls exclaimed together, a flash of rainbow brightened the stage.



“And I am…!”

“Barlight of Ponyland!” Rainbow whispered.

“Barlight of Ponyland! Protector of the Magic of Friendship!” The Princess said excited, wearing a blue starry coat and a hat with some bells at the tip.

“And I am a baby dinosaur! Her loyal assistant!” The other Spike added, wearing a dinosaur-like costume.

I remember that Rainbow mentioned that everything related to anime, manga and cosplaying characters from Nipponese shows was something childish a while ago. I believe that includes parodying the Hyper Sentai show that my brother watches from time to time. What happened to that? Why Fluttershy is having a face full of delight and nobody noticed? Why does she look that she is having more fun than the others? Why aren’t they wearing headbands or helmets? Why my other self is wearing something similar as me minus the hat and colors?

Why I am here?

“Twilight?” Rainbow whispered.

“Yes?” To my surprise, both of us said that together. She chuckled. I followed… as best as I could.

“Your line!” Rainbow insisted.

“I’m Lord Everton! A normal scientist helping the Dino Warriors from the shadows!” I just said still.

“Yes!” Rainbow mumbled.

I felt absurd.

“Oh my God!! Is that Princess Twilight!?” A student from the vast multitude almost passed out.

“It’s her!!”

“Princess!! Will you help us defeat the guys from Crystal Prep Academy!?”

“Will you show those meanies which is the best school!?”

“How many days are you gonna stay with us!?”

“Guys!” Sunset stood in front of them. “Let her breath a little!”

The other one chuckled with an optimistic look. “I’m sad to say that I can’t stay for more than two days. I must go back home at Sunday evening to celebrate Nightmare Night with my friends of my world! But if I can be of any assistance, I’ll gladly help you out in whatever I can!”

Numerous mumbles of acceptance and praise were spoken in her honor. Like a celebrity that you only see once every year. Like a bright star shining in the sky, hypnotizing her admirers with her radiance. Just looking at her made me realize that I was…

‘Redundant!’

I slapped myself hard enough to snap me back to reality, soft enough for nobody to notice. Sunset had this face of… enchantment… painted all over her face. Like if something wonderful was happening to her right now. I felt a scratch on my left leg. It was the other Spike. I kneeled to him and marveled at the similarities that he shared with my loyal puppy.

“What is it, little puppy?”

“Puppy? Well, I suppose that I look like one. But in reality I am a ferocious, fire-breathing dragon back in my world!” He said prideful.

“Oh, really? You look exactly like my dog. The voice is the same too.”

“Great! He must be as cool as me! In fact, that’s why I came to talk to you! Where is he? We could spend the night together!”

“Back at home, sleeping.”

“What? How old is he?”

“I believe he already has a year in this world. I took it under my care one year ago on next Sunday from the streets.”

“Oh man, then he is still a child. I wanted to meet him, though.”

That… annoyed me.

….

The party exploded. All the students had a time of fun and great dancing. Thunderbass and his band were playing a kind of soft rock and even I enjoyed the rhythm. But moving my body for long periods of time wasn’t my thing, I had enough with the sport class training and I still haven’t got used to it.

There were some seats in the sides of the improvised dance floor. Resting was a great idea and I took the farthest seat I could find. The girls were having lots of good moments and I looked at them in awe. Cadence once told me that looking from afar to the ones you love brings joy too. As long as it was peaceful… I didn’t mind being alone for a while.

But just for a moment.

“Hey there!”

Someone appeared at my side. A smile tenderer than any of the girls had with eyes that manifested the stars themselves was facing at my direction. Her sweat and faster breathing from all the dancing didn’t make her drop a single ounce of her grace. I could see it.

She was perfect too.

“Oh… hi!”

“Why are you here all alone? You should be with all the girls and me!”

“I’m… just tired. Not really good at making physical activities for so long.”

“Hehehe! I knew you were the same as me! I am really bad at this too compared to the girls!”

“Really?”

“Yeah! I mean, I’m still not used to this human anatomy! If I was in my original form, I believe I could last a little longer!”

“Oh…” 

So it was just a side-effect of her metamorphosis to human shape. 

“Say, I have a lot of questions I wanted to ask you last time! To be honest, I believe knowing myself from another perspective could be GREAT!”

“Are you sure?”

“YES!”

She is so passionate about this.

“I thought the same too.” 

In the past.

“Fantastic! We can talk a lot of things while we have our slumber party in Applejack’s house!”

“We are going to have a slumber party at her place? Tonight?”

“Yeah! Didn’t Sunset tell you about it? The girls are excited as well!”

“…I didn’t have any idea about it! When did they talk about it?”

“Just a few minutes ago! And you have the right to come to the slumber party! It wouldn’t be the same without you!”

“Is that true?” She nodded with an innocent smile. “I’ll call my Dad to tell him the change of plans!”

“Great! After we finish exchanging questions and answers, I will teach you all about the Magic of Friendship, just the two of us!”

“…Excuse me?”

“You heard that right!” She bumped her fist on her chest with a secure attitude. “Sunset has become a great mentor but I believe only I can 
help you with some peculiarities we certainly share! Our introverted ways and our hate for cheesy quesadillas for example!”
Hate of quesadillas!?

“But-!”

She politely interrupted me. “It’s okay! I was once in your position! I know what it means to be like a… Oh Celestia, this is embarrassing! But we scientists must stick together!”

“Magic is not a science here…”

A loud and vivid power core took place. The people went wild with the band’s performance. 

“Did you say something? I didn’t hear you!”

“Nothing important, Princess.”

“It really sounds weird when you say that! Just call me… uhm! I know! From now on, when we refer to you, I’ll call you Sci-Twi! Sunset told me you love science as I do and I think it fits really well! Especially with those glasses of yours!”

Funny…

“Marvelous. And you?”

“Just Twilight is fine! Say, Sci-Twi… Have you seen Flash Sentry around here?”

“That guy? Well, no.”

“Oh… That’s a shame! He is pretty… nice, isn’t he?”

“Yeah…”

‘Insufferable!’

“Something tells me we aren’t in the same channel.”

Your state of the obvious is - Did I just -!?

“No, sorry! It’s just that this is my first school party and it is somewhat noisy here… Twilight.”

“I remember when I arrived to Ponyville for the first time! I thought that everypony was noisy and annoying as well! But it turned out to be alright! As a matter of fact, I don’t think I could live anywhere else now!”

You could go back right now, in this precise moment, you know?

“Indeed.” 

“Say, I wonder if when you Pony-Up you transform into an Alicorn as well!”

“I have not Pony-Up yet.” I said straightforward.

“What!? I thought you would have done so by now! I knew that Sunset wouldn’t reach you as fast as I would! More the reason to help you with your magic abilities!”

“I already have Sunset and the girls. I’m fine with them.”

“Isn’t that great!? If we combine our efforts together, you’ll embrace the Magic of Friendship far quicker than you can expect!”
Are you even listening to me?

“I can hardly wait. Cadence made me enroll here for that specific reason in the first place.”

“How great! You have a Cadence in this world too! Is she a Principal like Celestia in this world?”

“She is a Dean! A kind of Vice-Principal, and very good at that!”

“I expected nothing else! She is a great sister-in-law! Did you know that I’m already an aunt in my world!? We had a lot of troubles with my nephew but everything turned out fine in the end! Never mind that for now! Let’s go and dance with the girls!” She crossed my arm with hers and a cheered face manifested in her visage. “Now, where are they?” We walked inside the infested dance floor. “This reminds me when Queen Chrysalis captured us in one of her secret hideouts before I became a princess! But obviously the students here aren’t changelings and their eyes are vivid instead of empty ones!” 

I looked to the roof, trying to breathe like Cadence taught me to in times of impatience. My other self finally searched quietly for the girls.
Beautiful silence… inside the noisy party.

“At that time, with the help of my friends, I managed to-!”

Will you ever shut up!?

‘ANNOYING!!!’

“LOOK OUT!!!” 

‘CRASH’

A quick charge! A violent landing! It took me several seconds to understand what just happened. One of the lights from the roof just… fell down. My other self was saved by Rainbow, avoiding the falling object with her quick reflexes. If it weren’t for Lyra that came to save me, I would have been crushed to death by the structure.

My savior looked at me with a face of concern. “Are you ok, Twi-Twi?”

Looking at her eyes… it comforted me that she cared. “Yes…” I gave her my best smile.

….

I may not remember all the names but I recognized all the faces that came to the party. They were all present during the Friendship Games, so it wasn’t strange for them to see Rainbow Dash in the Pony-Up state when she was flying from lamp to lamp while carrying me. My job was to make sure that all the lamps were in good shape so no further accidents could happen again.

Good thing that I put all my essential science tools in my locker.

“That’s strange. All the lamps are welded to perfection inside the structure. And this steel is one of the hardest and safest in the market.”

“Great! That means that the party can continue after we clean up!”

“Yeah…”

“What’s wrong?”

“It’s just… a strong force is necessary to even damage the structures. If my mental calculations are right, this kind of steel should bent with at least forty thousand and three hundred PSI. The force must be even greater to rip it and make it fall like that.”

“Ripped?”

“Fly back to the damaged roof lamp.” She was brusque in her flying. “Look. It appears to have been… crushed in this section.”

“It must have been a faulty work! If everything else is fine, then let’s continue the party, Sci-Twi!”

Urrrrgh!

“I suppose so…” As we descended, a cold sweat passed through my forehead, reaching my nose and finally falling from the tip. I was scared for some reasons.

The back of my head hurt for a moment.

….

After some hours of high school entertainment, we found ourselves in the family van of my parents. I told Dad about the slumber party and he rushed to give us a ride to the Apple household. He brought Spike and asked my Mom to prepare my favorite pajama and some hygiene items on my bag, thinking that his company and the items could make my stay nicer.

I have the best Mommy and Daddy in the world.

Big Mac came for his siblings as well, and Princess Twilight took a ride in the truck of the Apples. It would have been weird for my Dad to see my doppelganger from another dimension and the secret should be kept safe for as long as it can. Before arriving with Applejack and the rest to the house, Big Mac took Applebloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo to Rarity’s home. I could see the dread in my friend’s face.

….

After the girls and I took a shower and were renewed for the lively night to come, Pinkie and Rainbow were tinkering with Applejack’s TV and player. Horror movies handpicked by Pinkie herself will make us have a blast of a time.

Or I hoped.

“Twilight, when did you arrive?”

“Today, a little bit before the party started! Sunset and I rushed to her department to change and prepare my hood for the surprise!”

She went to her apartment!!?

“You are mean, Sunset!” Pinkie said jokingly.

“I told you it was a surprise!”

“Twilight, I have something to tell you regarding a friend of mine!”

“Fluttershy, don’t you dare!”

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing is wrong. She’s just confused.”

“Rainbow Dash! Let her talk!” Applejack said with a scolding tone.

Fluttershy told us about Gilda and her current relationship with us… them. She also mentioned about Indigo Zap and the few Shadowbolts who had a change of heart after what happened on the games. The others also gave a bit of their thought regarding the current state of our ongoing competition.

“I’m not surprised that Rainbow and Pinkie have an enmity with her. After all, both of them had a similar problem in the past back in my world as well!”

“See, I told you it was pointless to give her a second chance!”

“But there is a curious factor here.”

“And what is that, Twilight?”

“In my world, Fluttershy and Gilda never met during their childhood. And my world’s version loved pranks. I remember when I was searching for the Crystal Heart Spell on my early days as a princess when she and Trixie tried to trick the ponies of the Crystal Empire with false cider. We managed to save the day and I found my lesson and the spell in the process… but the Gilda of your world hates pranks. And if my hunch is correct, it seems that the one from this world is… probably on the side of good, just misguided by Crystal Prep’s influence.” 

“I can’t believe what I’m hearing!” Rainbow shook her head in extreme denial. “Are you sure we are talking about the same girl?”

“In my world, I heard that Gilda as a fledgling was-!”

“A what?” 

“You could say child in this world.” She drank some juice. “As I was saying, Gilda wasn’t that brave when she was younger until Rainbow Dash took her under her wing. And yours did the same. But since the Gilda of this world befriended Fluttershy when she didn’t have any friends, then it is possible that you both can have an easier time strengthening your friendship. After all, the you of my world have long started anew again.”

“What?”

“That’s right! You are good friends now back in Equestria! Perhaps it is destiny that you become friends again! After all, remember that although there are differences between both worlds, there are constants as well! In the end, we follow the same pattern and we are linked by fate!” The girls agreed to her words and just smiled to one another. “After all, if I lost my mind and nearly became a control freak during an embarrassing incident regarding a friendship lesson for Princess Celestia, then it’s no wonder that Sci-Twi became a monster too when she absorbed all the magic!” She quickly shut her mouth. “No offense.”

Shshhhi… Cheeseburger.

“You’ll get used to it.” Sunset discretely bumped her elbow in my arm.

Very funny…

“About your competition, this Principal Cinch sounds like a strict and senseless ruler!”

“That she is! She made Twilight do a lot of outrageous things for the sake of winning! She is evil to me!” My puppy said.

“Come on! You don’t know real evil until you face King Sombra, Queen Chrysalis, the Sirens, Nightmare Moon, Tirek, Discord, Starlight Glimmer, and many more we have faced!” 

“That’s sure a long list!” 

“That’s right, other me! I’m even a hero in the Crystal Empire!”

“Wow!” The girls expressed together. My other self just rolled her eyes with a little grin.

“I believe it’s time to end the talking and enjoy the movies! I’m still in awe on how fluid the animation is in this world compared to mine! We barely have reel to reel projectors!”

“But we have magic comics that make us live the adventure!” Sunset added. “Not to mention that we have hydroelectric dams and machinery like in this world! Perhaps magic compensates the technology missing from here with certain spells!”

“I suppose you are right! Still, it’s pretty impressive!”

“It is! I also can’t live without my iCellphone anymore! It works like magic!” The girls and I laughed at her joke. 

We watched some movies deep into the night.

….

I couldn’t sleep for some reason.

It was almost three in the morning, and a horrible sensation flowed through my body. I was sweating hot drops and my eyes didn’t adjust to the darkness, even with my glasses put on. Sunset and company were comfortable in the floor. Even Rainbow Dash wasn’t doing her hellish snores… perhaps covering her face with a mantle did the trick.

It looked nice and comfy down there.

My mirror was hugging me while babbling in her dreams. Something about a quesadilla infestation. How silly of her for being afraid of a fantastic meal. She released me and turned around, giving me the chance to get out of bed.

The fresh air of the field would soothe my troubles.

….
I remember this place pretty well. Sunset told me here last time that I would help her in her quest of spreading Real Friendship to all the people. At that time, I thought it was a great idea.

And I still do.

But after all that has happened since then… I wasn’t sure that I was made to follow her like she wants me to. Like she needs me to. I met people from another perspective and I’m sure there is more to it. It’s like a… hunger… that doesn’t sate, doesn’t stop, and doesn’t rest.

Hunger…

I shook my face many times and tried to forget what I thought. Embracing the breeze that touched my whole persona, I drowned myself in the freshness of the clean air from this town. 

I love it… it releases my doubts… it makes me free.

“Here you are.”

A sourly familiar voice came from behind. I turned my head to partially see my doppelganger come to my side. She put her hands on the table nearby and sat down. She made a gesture to join her and for some reason, I did. 

“Can’t sleep either?”

“No. To be honest, the only time I felt comfortable in a bed from this world was when I stayed at the school library! The beds here may look similar to the ones of Equestria… but the springs and filler aren’t the same. Instead of the white stuff you use that resembles cotton, we use a special kind of hay to fill our beds and the springs aren’t as hard as the ones you use! The Yaks and Griffins use the hay in its rawest form, but I think that would be far more comfortable than these! And you?”

“Me?”

“Why can’t you sleep?”

“I felt hot back there…”

“Sorry! I was barely aware that I hugged you in bed! It’s rare for me to hug someone in my sleep who isn’t Spike. I still remember all the times I tried to share a bed with Rarity and the others from my world during slumber parties on my first year in Ponyville… I try to sleep alone whenever I can during sleepovers.” She smiled embarrassed. “But since it was you… it felt really comfortable.”

Thanks for taking consideration of my feelings on the matter.

“It’s fine… just felt weird.”

“I know! This reminds me when Cadence, my Cadence, hugged me in bed and sang me lullabies to fall asleep when I was a foal on several occasions!”

“My Cadence did the same too… so many, wonderful times.”

“Yeah… It’s strange, you know. I don’t know about yours, but my Cadence was born without meeting her parents. Even so, she managed to become a pony full of love and kindness.”

“Now that you mention it… I never met or heard about Cadence’s family before. I just met her one day when my parents needed a baby-sitter for me, long ago. Wait... Sunset once told me that orphans don’t exist in Equestria!”

“They do! I wasn’t aware of that until I began my journey to discover the Crystal Spell I mentioned earlier. Cadence is one. I asked Princess Celestia about the subject and to my surprise, nearly two percent of the population of our whole history was an orphan. But, even the less fortunate countries in my world have a family registered. That some races are grumpy and lone wolfs like the griffins is another story. In any case, you could say that orphans are almost a myth, even before the foundation of Equestria or during the reign of the now-redeemed King Sombra and the battle for the Crystal Empire one thousand years ago!”

“And what happens if there is one?”

“There are facilities for those! But since they are barely used… at least the Ponies working there are well paid. I heard it’s a boring work, though. You know, lack of activities and stuff.”

“That sounds so utopian-like. In this world… I don’t know. Too many civil wars and a World War in our history to have an accurate number of... the less fortunate.”

“It seems that we share many things more than looks, and knowledge is one of them. All I have to say is that I thank Princess Celestia for adopting her and giving her a sense of family. Having Cadence in my life is an important part of what I am now.”

“Yeah…”

This was unexpected. Sharing a wonderful person in our lives and talking about her made this strange tension I had… go away. It made me sleepy.

“Well, we should go back to sleep and prepare for tomorrow.”

“Why? I don’t think we could fall asleep now! Trust me, I know since we are technically the same pony! Person! Whatever!” She smiled widely.

That’s true but…

“I don’t think that we-!”

“Now, now, now! Let’s start with the basics, Sci-Twi! Check-list or Flash-cards?”

“Check-list.”

“Great! Now… Two or three quills in your desk?”

“I use pens but three in case of an emergency.” She clapped her hands with a merry face.

I take my praise back. For an hour, she bombarded me with questions after questions of the silliest things of our – MY self. Even if we are from different worlds, similarities from the core essence were obvious to us. With some exceptions like cheese and... boys... Yeugh… She was so fascinated and merry hearted that she was unaware that she transformed to her Pony-Up state. She was happy.

I wanted to go back to bed.

….

The girls were like dead logs when I opened my eyes. I may have slept like four hours but I felt well rested for a strange reason. Granny Smith gave me waffles and fresh milk and juice for breakfast. They were tastier than the ones she does on school. Finishing quickly, I journeyed to CHS. If it weren’t for Big Mac that reminded me of the final revision that the projects needed for this week, I would have waited for the girls a long time before they even knew what was going on. While on my way to CHS, I bought a couple of bottles of water in a convenience store.

I’m sure Nitty would be there and he would need at least one. 

“Twilight…”

“What’s wrong, Spike?”

He slowed his walk speed and I kneeled in front of him. “How was it?”

“What?”

“Talking with your other self?”

“Oh, yeah… nice. Why?”

“Because my other self… Wrrr…” He tried to swallow a complaint, but I reminded him that he could trust in me when I caressed his head. “Annoying! He is annoying! When we saw that you two were missing, we searched for you all over the place! When we found you talking alone, we decided that it was for the best to leave you be! I thought that was fine and nice! But then…”

“Then what?”

“He started to talk about his adventures, acts of heroism, and Princess Twilight this and that! At first, it was great and interesting, but then, he didn’t stop! Worse is his taste for girls!”

“What is it?” I quickly put my hands in my mouth and smiled, realizing by instinct what that meant. “Who is the lucky one?”

“….Ahahahaha… uh… I think that Winona is… cute?” He blushed.

“Good boy! Always look for the nice girls! What’s the problem with the other Spike?”

“He likes Rarity!”

Drool fell from my mouth. “What… did you say!?”

He cleaned my saliva with my pocket’s handkerchief. “He likes humans, Twilight! Or just Rarity! Or her hair! I don’t know!”

“But age! Species! Nou!”

“I’m not… comfortable around him. Or perhaps he was joking. Or perhaps it was just the first day. But…”

“Let’s… give them a second chance! Yes! It’s like you say, my loyal assistant! It was only the first day! Perhaps they are just excited to meet us properly and they just want to talk a lot! I’m sure that today will be different!”

“You are right, Twilight! You always think of every scenario!”

“Good puppy!”

“Good morning, Twilight! Hey, Spike!”

“Oh, hi!” Spike greeted. Lyra and Bon Bon joined us in our walk. “Thank you again for yesterday! Sunset told me what happened and… I really appreciate it.”

“You little silly!” She took him in her arms. “I wouldn’t let Twilight get hurt if I’m around her! That’s what friends are for! Right, Bon Bon?”

“But of course, my friend! Now come! I can see that some students are arriving to the school! Look, it’s the boss!”
Nitty was walking… strangely. He was slower, sloppy, and trying so hard to walk correctly. My pace sped up and I grabbed his hand.

“Are you ok?”

“No… but if I check a little pending stuff and see that everything is in order, I’ll go home immediately and let that woman –“ He pointed to Bon Bon still afar. “- run the show. I may need… some help to go back… if you don’t mind.”

“…I’ll help you in any way you need.” I gripped his hand.

“Thanks, Midnight. It’s nine with eighteen in the morning. This shouldn’t take long.”

Midnight… Midnight… Midnight Sparkion… it sounded nice.

….

Whispers, mumbles, scared faces. There was a commotion on the corridors. I got a bad feeling and something wanted me to stop and make Nitty go back home.

“Bittersweet! S-something t-t-t-terrible has happened!” Mystery Mint said almost choking.

“What is it?”

“You better see this, man!” Thunderbass was in shock and sweating. 

We arrived to one of the rooms who had all the stages for the puppet show, now broken beyond repair. Nitty’s eyes twitched. He closed them and tried so hard to relax.

“We can find a way to… scavenge useful stuff in our homes and find alternatives!”

“Boss!” Soarin rushed to him. “The costumes that the clubs were working on are ruined!”

“What the hell did you just say!?”

“Something terrible has happened in the gym hall!”

I couldn’t stop him. Fear for him made my hands tremble. I took out my old and trusty Rubik cube and played with it while walking to our destination. The Cutie Crusaders were in the door, horrified.

“Ah… hi, Bub-in-law!”

“Please step aside, little ones.”

“I don’t think that is a good idea!” Sweetie Belle said while smiling extremely troubled.

“Why don’t you eat something in Sugarcube Corner and we try to make… uh, adjustments, to the stuff in there with the rest. You can return in the evening!” Scootaloo winked.

Nitpick didn’t listen and he tenderly put the girls aside.

“We can fix this, y’all!”

He opened the door and walked to the back stage where the rest of the materials that were going to be used for the projects were. Crushed and ruined now.

His breathing - I finally saw it. The face of distress! A discreet laughter of despair!

“Nitty, I’m with y-!”

“Ha-Ha-Ha…”

Oh... my ...

“Bittersweet! What are we going to do?”

“Where is Sunset?”

“Boss, tell us what to do!”

“Your orders, Boss!”

“Boss!”

“Boss!!”

“BOSS!!!”

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!”



….

The ambulance came for him immediately after calling to nine-nine-one. I called Gilda out of despair and she rushed from Crystal Prep to CHS. She almost pushed the whole school to the ground on her wake to reach him. She got into the cabinet with him and the paramedics. Nitty looked red hot and extremely weakened on the stretcher. A fever of thirty-nine Celsius and lack of rest was the cause, according to our school nurse. I could see a black limo on the street and it soon followed the van to the nearest hospital. No doubt it was Reem and the others.

Before she left, Gilda told me to stay in the school and make a report of all the loses that CHS has. When he recovers, he is going to need it. I really wanted to go with them too but… sadly, she was right. I must be useful to the school in any way I can. The competition must go on.

Several minutes later…

“Twilight, how bad is it?” Lyra mumbled.

“Horrible... it’s really bad. According to my calculations, we just have enough for one show and the meals. We have red numbers and there is no hope to make this work without a heavy sum of money or a real miracle. And…” 

My hand trembled. Lyra grabbed it. “He WILL be fine! I know by now that he is really stubborn and resilient! Concentrate for now, ok?” I smiled to that.

“Where is Sunset!?” An angry student almost yelled. “She should be trying to help us in this mess too!”

“Let me give her a call but I assure you that she is as worried as us!” Or so I hoped. I got into an empty classroom and I thanked my luck for her quick answer. “Sunset…”

“Hey! Where are you, Sci-Twi!? We’re gonna have breakfast with everyone so we can be ready for a great teamwork on school today!” 

I gave her a quick explanation of the situation. She hung up the call instantly.

….

The girls’ eyes were wide open and cold sweats were forming on their skins. The drops were falling like rain from the tips of their noses and ears. Sunset in particular was walking from place to place to witness the terrible damage done to all the projects. 

To say that she was ok would be a fatal mistake.

“This can’t be happening... This can’t be happening!!! Someone please tell me what happened!”

“We arrived around nine in the morning since some of us came to continue our work!”

“When we came to the room where the stages were, they were already broken!”

“And when we tried to get into the costume’s room, the lock was stuck! When we budge it, the whole disguises were already torn apart!”

“Sabotage from Crystal Prep, perhaps?”

“Unlikely.” Vice-Principal Luna came into scene. “We recently upgraded the locks of all doors of the school with state-of-the-art equipment and unless you have the keys to get inside, entrance to the installation is virtually impossible. Sadly, the security camera system is broken and the replacements will arrive on Wednesday. Who was the first group to arrive here besides the cleaning staff when I opened the doors? Perhaps they saw an anomaly and we can start from there.”

“The Cutie Crusaders were here before anyone else!” A student said.

The girls looked at them with… a cold stare.

“Applebloom.”

“What? Are you serious, Sis!? We didn’t do it, y’all!”

“Sweetie Belle, we won’t be mad at you if you tell us the truth.”

“What!? We are innocent!”

“Scootaloo, that’s not cool!”

“Rainbow Dash, we swear that we didn’t do it!”

“Then who else?” Applejack stood in front of them. “You were the first students to arrive here and the mess was done before the other groups came!”

“Look.” Rarity took a deep breath. “I know you really want to help and this is not the first time that you have made a disaster!”

“WE DIDN’T DO IT!” The three shouted.

“If Nitpick was here, he would believe us!” Applebloom said a little teary.

“I don’t think so, y’all… but like Rarity said, if you tell us the truth, we could let it pass!”

“Speak for yourself! We are going to lose if we don’t make something and quick!” A guy said and several students joined in his complaint.

“WAIT!” From the light, a starry figure and her follower walked through the lost souls. She looked at them with a pierce but gentle stare. “I know that this turn of events looks really bad, and I can see in your eyes that you worked hard for this goal to come to reality! But blaming others won’t solve anything. Nor trying to find a culprit will do us any good! Perhaps the door wasn’t properly locked and a thief came to steal some valuable items! Is there something missing on those classrooms besides the destroyed works?”

“Now that you mention it, a projector is missing in one of the rooms!”

“And the box of stitches with some of the money inside is missing as well!”

“But Ponyville doesn’t have a record of thievery before!”

“It has!” I said. “The new statistics that came yesterday on the news said that Ponyville at least has four cases of theft each year! This could be considered the second one! At least, officially.”

“See?” My other self said more relaxed. “It was just bad luck.”

“But is not fair!”

“I know… I know…” She put her hand on the shoulder of the afflicted student. “If we work together, perhaps we can find –AAAAAH! I GOT AN IDEA! SPIKE!”

“Yes, Twilight!?”

“Go and bring that book from you know where!”

“Ah, does that mean-!?” She nodded. “Right away!” Several minutes later, he brought a big book with him and gave it to her. “I’m still not used to that space travel stuff.”

“What is it, Twilight?” Sunset looked fascinated when glancing at the book.

“Long ago, we had a bookworm problem in my old library but he managed to overcome his hunger of eating books and repaired them all. He was unaware that he created a spell and I have been trying to use it but it requires a different kind of magic that normal unicorns have. Not to mention that it only restored paper and tint when I managed to cast it, like it’s supposed to. But… the magic here works a little different so… maybe…”

“Bring all the broken stuff here quickly! Let’s give it a shot!”

Moments later, there was a pile of what were once incredible handcrafted arts in the middle of the hall. The other one and the girls held their hands together. She took the lead instead of Sunset. 

“Sci-Twi, come! It’s time to do Real Magic!”

“But I haven’t Pony-Up before!”

“Then this is day it finally happens! Come and join hands with Applejack and me!” 

When I joined hands with them, I felt a strange surge of energy flowing through my body. It felt warm. It felt nice. It felt...

“Concentrate!”

Out of place.

The glowing aura suddenly dissipated. The girls were perplexed at this event. We tried several times again but each time it felt less and less powerful the connection of energy I felt before.

“Ah… I don’t know what’s happening! We are united as one and we should be able to do it like we did with the Dazzlings!”

“I don’t know. I felt that something is missing.” Applejack said.

“Me too.” My other self said. “What about you, Sunset?”

“I can feel your warm aura flowing through me, and also Fluttershy, Rarity and Pinkie’s.”

“I can feel them too… but I don’t feel Applejack and Rainbow’s.”

“Perhaps I… not being able to Pony-Up is doing something wrong with the link.”

“You may be right… but we don’t have much time. For now, you should let us try this spell on our own and when the occasion arrives, you will join us as well in the future.”

“Yeah… You are right.”

It didn’t take a lot of effort to let go of her hand. Applejack’s was harder in comparison. I felt that if I let go, something in me would... 

“Surgarcube.” She gripped both of my hands. “It’s okay, yo.” She hugged me. “You’ll be part of this next time, and I’ll be there holding your hand like a Champ.”

I finally let go and joined the rest of the students. The girls united their hands once again and the aura appeared, stronger than ever. It was blinding. 

Unreal.

“Yes! This time I’m sure it will work! Spike!”

The other dog launched the book to the air and a rainbow beamed to it and then to the broken stuff. When the show was over, the trash was now restored to their original form. Everything looked good as new. Even the broken lamp was fixed as well. The students cheered and threw the Princess to the air while clapping and chanting her name. I held my puppy in my arms and Lyra and Bon Bon joined my side.

“Well, I guess magic saves the day… again.” Lyra said… with an unexpected dry smile.

“Yeah! So much for the drama! As long as Cinch doesn’t know about this, everything will be fine! After all, we STILL want to make the magic unknown to everybody until they say so!” Bon Bon said.

…It’s true! We were supposed to make this a clean competition. We were supposed to give our best and make things happen… with our own hands. As I started to look away from the girls and the others around them, I saw some students on the sidelines. They felt... Angry? 

'No.'

Furious? 

'No.'

I locked my sight again at... her.

Disappointed?

'Perhaps!'