Sunset Shimmer - September 6th, 2000 (16 years ago)Sunset Shimmer - September 6th, 2000 (16 years ago)
Ponyville - Mirror Equis
Ugh, school. I always hated school and just three days into Sophomore year I had no hopes of liking anything about it this year.
Well, except for getting to drive to school. That was cool. I never expected dad to get me a car for my 16th birthday. Sure, it was kind of a crappy car, but that’s better than no car. Especially when you have friends.
In High School, the friend with the car is King. Or Queen in my case.
I never had trouble making friends, or keeping friends. So it wasn’t like I needed to be able to give people rides and run errands to have friends. But it did mean that I could take my best friends to the mall, or camping, or out to the river to do some dirt biking.
There would be plenty of time for fun. After all, my friends didn’t do school work. I did it all. Because school is a waste of fucking time.
You have to do something while the teacher is droning on and on and on about something you learned 4 years ago in middle school. I swear, if I bothered to keep worksheets, I could just change dates on middle school papers and turn them in for the same grade in Highschool.
Did they think we didn’t read, or surf the web, or something? Kids aren't so stupid you need to tell them about the civil war more than once.
Well, okay. Some of us are pretty stupid. But you should make the dumb ones drop out so everyone with half a brain can actually learn things!
Whatever, at least the teachers were dumb too. Read a bunch of your friend's papers, memorize how they write, what words they use, memorize their handwriting, ask them for all essays and worksheets they need to do. Bang that out in the otherwise wasted half hour of each class where the teacher just won't shut up and dispense new information.
Go home, spend about 15 minutes typing up the essays. Hand out work to friends in the morning, everyone gets straight A’s, and we can all go hang out after school and do something useful.
Sure it’s cheating, but it’s not like knowing about ancient Sumeria is going to help you in a career as a programmer. Unless you make video games or something. But still, you could just look that up when you need it.
Why the hell isn’t school teaching things like how to do taxes, how to finance a home, how to get a job, how to start a career. You know, things that will actually matter in life. People say your parents are supposed to teach you that stuff but they don’t. Because they, you know, have jobs.
I sighed in frustration and rolled over, my bed creaking as I moved. If school wasn’t going to teach it, and my parents weren't, I should probably learn it myself.
Reaching over to my nightstand I flipped my laptop open. I loved it a lot. It’s the first thing I bought with money I’d earned from working at the bookstore. That had been a great summer job. Too bad dad got it for me so I didn’t know how you did that…
I’d dropped two grand on my little Toshibi laptop. Kinda not worth it. I should have gotten something from this year instead of last year. Because I’d had to buy an expansion card to make it work with wifi since dad wasn't going to run a cable to my room. Other than that, no complaints!
Good to type on, lightning fast 56k modem built in, the perfect internet surfing machine! Because I could do it under my quilt in bed instead of in the living room at mom’s desktop.
My plain white random hand-me-down furniture filled room might be a bit unappealing to look at, but at least it was mine. I wouldn’t have my mom or siblings looking over my shoulder and asking why I was reading about calculus.
They never believed me when I said I read things because I only had to do it once. Might as well get it out of the way now right? Or at least when no one is available to hang out.
I pressed the power button and my laptop whined to life, chugging along for the few minutes until it finally displayed the desktop. Another perk of a laptop, you can password it, so your parents can't get onto your profile and that means you can have a sexy desktop!
Too bad all I had for a sexy desktop was pictures of my ex. I really didn’t want to look at Lyra posing like the chick from Titanic in her pony costume. It had been hot when we were a thing but… Yeah. Not now.
I wonder if anyone else at school was into that kind of stuff? Probably not. Most teen girls have outgrown their horse phase.
Revisal. At least my parents couldn’t see I’d made a white picture in paint and written ‘sexy desktop!’ in pink in the middle of it...
I hit dial so I could get online and went downstairs to make a sandwich while EOL did its thing. Naturally, that meant I came back with a ham sandwich minutes later only to see that I should go eat at the table then come back again.
I wonder if anyone will ever make the internet work faster? Maybe I could do that. It would probably be hard but whatever. It would pay amazingly well, wouldn’t it?
Deciding to look up how to get a job working on the internet, I finished eating and slowly walked back up to my room. As I pushed my door open, a soft electronic beep came from my laptop. An IM! Yes! Dial-up complete!
Flopping back down on my bed hard enough to make it creak, I squinted at the screen name. Who the hell writes their screen name in five different shades of pink?!
Ponkwomannn apparently. Who-
Ah! Right, Pinkie Pie. I’d met her on the first day of school. New girl, parents owned a mine or something.
With the name solved, I read the message.
Ponkwomannn: How ru online right now?
Unsure what she was talking about I replied, I’m at home. Is something cool going on? I’ll be right over.
A few minutes later, Pinkie replied. Ponkwomannn: Rarity called and said she saw u at Greasy Joes with some guy and wanted to know if u were going out. I saw u were on and wanted to know how because it would be really really really cool to be able to chat with everyone from anywhere!
She must have seen someone who looks like me. Because I’m at home, I don’t even like Joe’s, I answered.
No need to say that I wouldn’t be going out with a guy. Pinkie seemed like the kind to accidently blurt out secrets, and I wanted to keep my friends. And not be probably thrown out by my parents… Ugh, yeah let’s change thought lines here.
Want to go camping this weekend? I asked hopefully. I wanted to take Lyra up to a cool place just out of town, but that’s not happening now. I can still afford the campsite for the weekend though. Do you want to come? You could bring a friend too. My tent sleeps four.
I opened up a browser window and started searching for how you do taxes. Time to stop complaining and read up. I’d managed to find a site that seemed like it might have accurate information when EOL chimed again.
Ponkwomannn: Sorry you two broke up. It was the pony thing, wasn’t it?
I felt my heart have six simultaneous attacks then try and jump out of my throat. Slamming the keyboard in panic I typed out, For the love of god, tell no one! Please! Do you have any idea what would happen if my parents found out?
The reply came instantly.
Ponkwomannn: It’s okay! I only told Rainbow Dash because she’s looking for a girlfriend which is how I know you like girls because she knew you were going out with Lyra who told me you guys broke up when I asked her if she knew anyone else because I couldn’t find you to ask and you weren't online so I couldn’t ask you.
Oh god! How many people knew!? Life ruined!
Ponkwomannn: But was it the pony thing?
I took a deep breath. Pinkie seemed like a socialite. She’d probably know how many people knew. If she already was friends enough with the JV soccer star after three days, and well enough to know she liked girls. A thing I did not know despite being on the team last year too.
No. She wanted to be open with my parents… I answered. [Can we not talk about this? I don’t want people to know. My parents are super religious. They might kill me!
Ponkwomannn: My lips are sealed! Until June 26, 2015 at least. Everything will be okay then! Trust me, I’m a time traveler :D
I couldn’t help but smile. Pinkie had a great sense of humor. That’s why I’d said hi to her in the first place.
LOL. But seriously… Parents are super religious. So yeah. I sent, just to be safe.
I’d managed to get back to reading and made it through a few pages before another beep interrupted me.
Ponkwomannn: Hey, so Rarity called again, and she says it’s definitely you. Like, she called you by name. Why did you lie to me?
I raised an eyebrow. What the fuck? Well, there was an easy way to settle this.
Reaching up to the shelf above my bed I grabbed my webcam, plugged it in the USB port, waited for my laptop to recognize it was plugged in, and then clicked the video chat button.
The camera’s little green light winked on. I waved, picked it up, turned it around my room. Set it back down, then turned it off so dad wouldn’t have to pay for a crapload of bandwidth.
Ponkwomannn: Woah! You are at home! That’s so weird!
I nodded. Remembered that the camera was off, and then went to type again, only for another message to pop up.
Ponkwomannn: Also love your posters! Do you ride horses? Guess I know why you and Lyra were a thing.
I bit my lip to not laugh too hard at her innuendo. I did still like horses, hence why I kept all of the posters I’d bought starting from age seven onwards.
No, I’ve never gotten to ride. But I’d like to. And yeah, it is weird. I guess Rarity’s playing some dumb joke. I finally answered.
Rarity isn’t the joking type. That’s my thing… Think she’s in trouble? Maybe someone's after her and she’s trying to signal for a ride but needs to do it like a spy because they are listening! Pinkie said, jumping to conclusions which total-
Totally made sense.
Rarity was hot, rich, and teased boys a lot. Yeah, someone might be stalking her, and she knew I had a car.
You could be right, I mean, Rarity could have a stalker. Or worse. I’m going to go check it out. BRB, I said, shutting my laptop and rushing downstairs.
As I reached the bottom of the stairs, I nearly bumped into my mom as she came out of the kitchen.
“Woah! Where are you going, missy?” She asked her pink eyes twinkling mischievously. “Did some boy ask you to dinner?”
I shook my head stepping around her. “No! One of my friends might be in trouble, we’re not sure. So I’m going to pick her up from Greasy Joes, to be safe,” I explained.
Mom frowned, thin lips parting slightly. I knew she’d had a pretty bad experience in the 80s involving a stalker. Hopefully, she would understand-
“Be quick, but drive safe. And come straight back when you’re done,” she instructed.
I nodded. “Of course mom, I’d call you if I had a cell phone,” I said picking up my favorite black motorcycle jacket as I turned to leave. “Oh! That’s not a hint or anything. I just meant that, you know, if I had one, I’d call.”
“I know, now go. Pick her up. If there is a problem, come back here. Mister Silver across the street is a detective. It’s safe here,” mom said firmly.
I nodded, called “Back soon!” and headed out to my car.
My old 1987 Yota Camer was a rusty, once blue, now mostly gray, hunk of junk on the outside. But she still ran well, and she was roomie for compact car. Roomy enough to get cozy in the back seat on a camping trip I never got to go on…
Shaking the recent breakup out of my head, I climbed in, started my car up, and pulled out of the driveway.
My house was out in the suburbs, and Greasy Joe's was just a few blocks from the school. It would take five minutes to leave the orderly rows of the same three houses painted different colors and get into the more chaotic downtown. Not a long drive by any means, but it could be made way longer with traffic, and if Rarity was in trouble…
Fortunately, traffic wasn’t too bad. I’d made it out just before the 5 pm traffic rush. Within six minutes I spotted the big fiberglass burger on a stick sign and pulled into the large diner’s parking lot. As I drove up to the chrome sided building, I saw Rarity waiting on a bench by the door.
I liked Rarity. She was cute. The whole ‘refined wealthy lady’ look worked for her. The fact that her designer clothes were fake had a lot of people think of her as a phony, but I happened to know she made all of her stuff herself. By like, literally glancing at a photo from a magazine.
That made her cool to me. It’s why we’d been friends for three years.
The short navy blue skirt and jacket she had on today gave off a ‘business professional’ feel. It went well with her hair, she had it up in a bun instead of left loose and flowing like she usually had it. Maybe she had some formal event to go to later?
Come to think of it, that made it even more strange that she would insist I was here when I wasn’t…
Deciding to fear the worst I pulled up close to the door and rolled down the driver side window.
“Rares, hop in! Quick!” I called urgently.
I felt my stomach turn uneasily when Rarity’s eyes widened in honest shock.
“I- but- But you’re inside!” She stammered, jaw dropping. “I just talked to you!”
“I’ve been home since school got out,” I countered throwing my hands up in frustration. “What the hell is going on?! This isn’t funny, Rarity.”
“Are you playing some kind of, of prank on me?” Rarity asked with suspiciously a haughty huff working it’s way into her voice.
“No, I’m not. Something weird's going on…” I said decisively. “Where am ‘I’ at, inside?”
Rarity paused, looking at me with concern for a moment. “Darling, what’s the most awkward thing I’ve caught you doing?” She asked suspiciously.
“I uh… Why?” I asked frowning.
I damn well knew what it was but I'd rather not say it.
“Because I think you just found out you had a long lost twin or something and are pranking me,” Rarity said, crossing her arms.
Oh for fuck’s sake!
I took a deep breath and quickly said, “You walked in on Lyra and I when she talked me into riding on her back…”
Fortunately she hadn't also talked me into riding on her naked... That would have been way worse to get caught doing.
Rarity nodded to herself. “Yes, well then. ‘You’ are sitting right there,” she said, pointing with one finger to a window two booths down from the door.
I turned to look.
I looked back.
Not my reflection. Me. A me. Same off yellow skin. Same cyan eyes. Same bright red and yellow bacony hair. My usual white V-neck tee!
She looked me in the eyes through the glass and smiled sinisterly. My eyes widened, my heart pounded in my chest.
“Rarity, get in the car!” I yelped.
“What?” Rarity asked, frowning for a moment, then looking uncertain as she noticed the actual fear in my eyes.
“I don't know what this is! Get in the car!” I repeated urgently.
Rarity paused for a moment, looked over at the window, and then bolted for the passenger door. I gunned the engine almost before she shut the door, pulling back out into traffic as quickly as possible.
“What on earth is going on?” Rarity asked fearfully.
“I don’t know! She seriously said she was me?” I asked urgently, changing lanes to try and get behind a bus.
Maybe I could break the line of sight between my car and the diner… Was that important? It seemed important.
“Well, no, but I said ‘Hello, Sunset,’ and she looked up, said ‘hey’, sounded just like you and well, I asked if ‘you’ were going out with what’s his name? Flash! Because well, that’s not exactly something I think you’d do. She told me to go away after looking at me like she had no clue who I was!”
I winced. That was something really hurtful to do to an old friend. “Good call, I wouldn’t do that. Why didn’t you-”
“Go away? Well, I did, sort of. I thought you wanted to pretend you didn’t know me for the date for whatever reason. That was very hurtful,” Rarity continued, interrupting as per usual.
“Yeah, but I didn’t do it. That… Clone me did!” I pointed out.
“I-I know now but still,” she protested. “Whoever she is, she definitely looks a lot like you but um, don’t you think we’re being silly? Surely some people look the same.”
“Yeah,” I agreed after a moment’s thought. “But just… She could have been my twin! And sharing a name too? That’s creepy.”
“You know, that would explain a lot, do you have a twin?” Rarity asked.
She’d mentioned that idea before. Now that I was less creeped out from seeing myself, that seemed like the best explanation.
“I don’t think I do, but I do have three older siblings. It’s possible mom gave a twin up for adoption. We used to be pretty poor… We should ask,” I decided.
Rarity nodded, then realized she hadn’t buckled up yet and quickly buckled her seatbelt.
“Well, this has certainly been a little adventure. Can you drop me off at home, please?” She asked politely.
I shook my head and turned left to get onto 4th Street. The fastest way back home.
“Can’t. Uh, sooo… The way Pinkie explained things made me think you were being stalked by some guy you upset. And I told my mom I thought you were in trouble. So I promised I’d head straight back,” I explained.
“Oh, well thank you, darling. Good to know I can count on you for that sort of thing,” Rarity said turning to look out the window. “Can you give me a ride home after explaining everything’s all right to your mom?”
“Sure, unless you want to hang out,” I offered. “Oh yeah, Pinkie Pie. I asked her if she wanted to go camping this weekend. Want to come too?”
“I might be able to go,” Rarity said thoughtfully. “It’s not some place out in the middle of the woods, right?”
I laughed. “No, it’s a rental campsite. There are bathrooms. Lyra didn’t want to do real camping either.”
“Well, in that case, count me in,” Rarity decided giving me a happy smile. “Oh! You should invite Rainbow, you know the soccer captain?”
“I was on the team too, Rares,” I reminded. “And yeah, Pinkie told me. If she doesn't invite anyone I think I will ask her along… I think you were right with that whole ‘move on’ thing. I don't want to keep dwelling.”
“She seems a little well, boastful. But I don’t think she would give anything away to your parents. And best of all, according to Pinkie, her parents know and are fine with it. They assumed Pinkie was there for a date when she came over,” Rarity said in an attempt to kill time.
“Speaking of relationships, are you and Blueblood still a thing? I heard you guys had a fight at lunch yesterday,” I said to shift the conversation away from myself.
Rarity groaned and rolled her eyes. “Ugh, no. I thought a wealthy family would teach their son a little class and proper manners, apparently not. And yes, I know that’s my sixth two-week relationship! I’m sure I’ll have better luck this year. Do you know anyone who happens to be a proper gentleman?”
“Uh… Thunderlane?” I asked, not really sure if he was the sort of thing Rarity would go for.
But to be fair, it’s not like she knew what she went for either.
“Ugh! No!” Rarity exclaimed, actually gagging. “He once wore the same pair of jeans for three months! His family isn’t poor either. He has more pants, he just didn’t change them! Anyone with that sort of hygiene is off the table.”
“Sooo, that's a no to all guys plus me then?” I teased, flashing Rarity a grin.
“Oh please, you're a bit… Tomboyish, but you still aren't going to be okay with being a dripping grease sponge… Ugh,” Rarity exclaimed with a shiver.
I was tempted to tell her I enjoyed working on my own car. But instead, I decided to give her a beauty tip.
“Did you know the way I get my hair to shimmer like this is by rubbing in used crankcase oil?” I asked.
Rarity smiled and burst out laughing for a few long moments, during which I turned onto the street my house sat on.
“You have the best beauty related jokes, darling,” Rarity giggled.
Heh, one of these days I should show her that trick actually worked. I’d figured it out accidently while working on my dirtbike back in middle school. Knowing that would probably make her head explode.
Pulling up to my irritatingly faded turquoise house, I made sure to park next to the sidewalk, remembering that dad was having a business partner over for dinner tonight. It hurt a little when he asked if I could park so it looked like we didn’t have a junk car in the yard, but I did understand why.
Besides, a rusty car is better than no car.
Deciding to be polite, I quickly shut off my car and hopped out, then vaulted over the hood to open Rarity’s door for her.
“We’ve arrived, Ma’am,” I informed with a mock bow.
Rarity rolled her eyes and climbed out of the car, leaving me to shut the door for her. “Honestly, Sunset, you don’t need to do that.”
“Nah, but I do like your face when I do,” I giggled.
Despite her knowing I didn’t like her as more than a friend, it still bugged Rarity when I treated her as if I were a gentleman. Which I did. Because well, her irritated face is funny.
Rarity turned and walked over to the sidewalk, a flash of red glinting in the corner of my eye as she moved. I turned and looked, as anyone would when noticing a flashing light. A small red, diamond shaped gemstone was stuck on the hem of her skirt behind her left leg.
“Uh, Rarity? Did you put your skirt on backwards?” I asked with a frown.
“... Just who do you think you’re talking to?” Rarity demanded in return, turning and putting her hands on her hips to give me a friendly ‘seriously?’ glare.
“Well, the gem on your skirt is on the back, so you know,” I said with a shrug.
“Gem?” Rarity asked, frowning as she reached down to pull the fabric over and look. “How odd. It must have gotten stuck. Did you leave this in your car?”
She plucked the gem from her skirt and held it up. The red stone seemed to shine with its own pale light. As if a dim LED had been stuck inside it. I'd never seen anything more pretty in my life.
“No, I don’t bedazzle things. But I would if that kind of stone is for sale!” I answered, leaning in to get a better look at the pretty ruby, or whatever it was.
“Well, it has to be. The back is flat and slightly sticky. This definitely fell off someone's… something. I’ll look around, maybe I could find some more and we could do something nice with your old jacket!” Rarity proposed, holding out the gemstone for me. “Here, you hold onto it. I’ll remember what it looks like and if you can get to a craft shop I imagine you'll need it to find more.”
I nodded and took the gemstone, slipping it into my pocket. “Maybe not my jacket, but definitely some jeans. These would look cool on top of the pocket rivets,” I mused. “Come on, let’s let my mom know she can stop panicking.”
The two of us walked up the driveway, onto the porch, and then headed inside. As I opened the door I noticed a pair blue converse ‘boots’ next to the door. Whose were those?
“Mom? We’re back, it’s okay. Just a misunderstanding,” I called.
“In the kitchen, your friend Pinkie stopped by,” Mom called back.
Why would she- Oh. Duh. She wanted to know.
Rarity and I headed into the kitchen to find that she and Pinkie had made something of a mess. If I was judging things right, it looked like some fancy bread was in progress.
“Hi, Sunset! Hi, Rarity!” Pinkie exclaimed eagerly as we walked in. “You totally just vanished and I wanted to make sure everything was okay and I don’t know your phone number but your mom said you don’t have a cellphone, so maybe we could get some walkie talkies or something?”
Blinking at her rambling uh, well, run on sentence. I shrugged. “Um, well I might be able to afford a cell phone next year. But it’s okay, Rarity’s fine. It was just someone who looks a lot like me,” I explained.
Mom turned, using the back of a wooden spoon to push her hair out of her eyes. “Wait, Rarity, you were being stalked by a girl?” She asked in confusion.
“Oh! No, not at all. These two apparently thought I was trying to coyly signal for help, that’s all. I ran into a girl who looks just like Sunset and well, they also share a name apparently. I was confused about how she could be in two places at once. It was all just a big misunderstanding,” Rarity explained sitting down at the table.
“Oh! Well, thank goodness,” Mom sighed in relief. “The last thing I want is for something... Grim to happen to a family friend.”
I nodded and sat down too. “I saw the girl she was talking about,” I informed. “Mom, I don’t have like a lost twin, do I?”
Mom laughed. “Not unless they gave me more morphine than I remember, missy. Long lost twins, I swear that Lyra’s conspiracy theories have started to rub off on you… Come to think of it, I haven't seen her in months. Are you two fighting?”
“She looked exactly like her,” Rarity said honestly, thankfully deflecting the conversation away from Lyra. “Sounded just like her too. Well enough to fool me at least.”
“Mmm, well, these things happen,” Mom said, attending to her and Pinkie’s baking. “I heard a story that back in the day, a Duke stumbled across his exact doppelganger at a bar in the same town he ruled over. You do have a semi-rare color combination, Sunset, but there’s still bound to be a few who resemble you out there. Maybe she was a distant cousin or something.”
I nodded. “Yeah maybe… Still, it’s pretty scary to see yourself,” I said casually. “Soo, I guess Pinkie’s hanging out with you?”
Pinkie nodded. “Yepperooni! Your mom was having a hard time with sourdough, and I know a really good recipe. We can hang out later, this doesn't take long.”
“Cool, still want a ride back home, Rarity?” I asked.
She nodded. “Yes, I have a piano recital later… I… Well, don’t tell my mom but I was sneaking a milkshake at the diner on the way home.”
I smiled and shook my head. “Your secret's safe with me. Mom, Pinkie, you two need anything since I’m going back out?”
“Cranberries,” Mom replied immediately. “There’s forty dollars in my purse, go ahead and use that.”
“Okay, back soon,” I promised, heading out once more.
Dropping Rarity off at her house downtown went by rather uneventfully. We talked about the upcoming camping trip. She teased me about that time I had a crush on a guy because he looked and acted girly and I didn’t know because he had a unisex name. I teased her back about that middle school phase where she tried to make burlap fashionable.
I was home within a half hour, cranberries in hand, and spent the next few hours with Pinkie just hanging out and talking. She wanted to talk to me about Rainbow, clearly playing matchmaker for her, but also genuinely interested in being my friend too.
It took a lot for me to explain she really couldn’t talk about it here. It’s like she just couldn’t understand the concept of hating someone for a preference. Which was fucking awesome and made me kinda start to have a bit of a crush on her, but that was snuffed out by her incessant chattering.
I could be friends with someone who talked at 60 miles per minute, but I don’t think I could deal with dating that.
Eventually, the sun began to set and well, there was only one thing to do.
“Hey, so it’s getting late. You want a ride home?” I asked, not wanting her to have to walk across town or whatever this late at night.
“Well, actually, I was wondering if it would be okay if I stayed the night,” Pinkie asked, spinning around in my desk chair.
“Um, well, normally I don’t mind, but I have to do some homework before bed. There’s stuff due first period tomorrow,” I said with an odd frown.
Not to mention that I was a bit exhausted. But you don’t just tell a friend ‘go away I’m tired’. It's just too rude.
Pinkie frowned, her cotton-candy-hair seeming to frown with her, losing just a little poof.
“Are you sure you want to be alone tonight?” She asked with a tinge of worry.
“Uh, why?” I asked, scooting back on my bed slightly, her response having been more than a little creepy.
“Because, like, what if the you Rarity found is actually an evil version of you from another dimension that’s here to replace you as a part of some sinister plot to take over the world!” Pinkie exclaimed urgently. “You’ll need someone here to make sure you’re safe, and I’m just the girl for the job!”
I rolled my eyes. Dang it, Pinkie! Your sense of humor is funny, but your imagination is a bit far fetched.
“It was just someone who looked like me. I’ll be fine,” I laughed. “Do you need a ride home?”
“Are you sure you’ll be okay?” Pinkie asked hesitantly.
I nodded. “Yeah. It’s okay. If you want to sleep over tomorrow, sure that would be fine. But I got to get this work done before bed and we’d be up all night talking.”
Pinkie sighed and nodded standing up. “A-all right. If you’re sure. You don’t have to worry about the ride. I live just down the street,” she said before giving me a happy smile. “Bye! See you tomorrow… Unless you’re abducted by alien body snatchers!”
Pinkie backed out of my room waving her hands in a silly fashion while whistling the old classic ‘aliens!’ stinger tune from B-movies.
Laughing hard enough at her antics to smack my head into the wall, I waved at her. “Ow! Heh heh, later Pinkie. See you in the morning.”
With Pinkie gone, I fired my laptop back up. There was just enough time to get some reading done before quickly doing everyone’s math worksheets.
I managed to get through the ungodly boring slog that was how to do basic income taxes when my mom’s angry curse echoed up from downstairs.
“Everyone, open up a window. I burned the hell out of this batch,” mom yelled.
Oh, that was just fucking great! I turned around, unlocking and sliding the window over my bed up as high as it would go. And just barely in time too! I only got to feel the cool breeze for a half second before the first few wisps of smoke reached my nose.
“Ah hell!” I heard my brother Blade curse. “What did you do? Cook it in a forge!?”
“The oven got turned up to five hundred somehow,” Mom yelled back. “I’m sorry!”
Ugh… Great. So whatever she’d been baking was actual ash now. Lovely.
I got up, walked over to my door and shut it. Stuffing a towel underneath to plug the gap. Hopefully, that would help keep the smell out.
As I turned around to get back to reading I noticed my alarm clock read nine fifteen. Ugh, great… I had to wake up at about five to get to school on time after picking Rarity up. Her dad couldn’t drive her this week for whatever reason.
I should probably just go to bed now.
Feeling lazy I stripped down to my t-shirt and panties and just sort of rolled under my blanket, closing my laptop as I bundled up. It wasn’t cold enough to warrant pajama pants anyways. It was cold enough to be kinda pleasant, and the air outside still smelled like fresh cut grass.
I must have been more tired than I thought because after just a few minutes I drifted off to sleep.
Something banged against the wall. My eyes peeled open, the noise startling me enough to wake me up slightly. My room was dark, really dark. The moonlight streaming through the window provided barely enough light to see by as I peered around my room to see whatever had woken me up.
Probably a plastic unicorn statue falling off a shelf or something. Whatever. I’ll put it back in the morning.
I would have fallen back to sleep, but the moonlight dimmed. A person’s shadow suddenly cast itself onto the floor, blocking the moonlight.
My eyes flew open in terror. Pinkie had been right!
I opened my mouth to scream, but the intruder was already on the move. The window was right above my bed, I never had a chance to stop her from pushing an oily rag into my mouth. Whatever coated the rag tasted like grape cough syrup, only evil, it had to be a drug!
I thrashed, trying to throw her off me, but she held me down with just as much strength as I could muster. She moved her head slightly as she went to pin me, the moonlight striking her face revealing it to be me! The same me from before.
Oh sweet god no! Pinkie had been right! I was going to spend the rest of my life in some alien zoo!
I screamed around the rag, but it muffled my voice almost completely. And I couldn’t push it out… I was too tired. Why was I so tired?
Oh god! It really was drugged.
“Hey, take it easy. I’m not going to hurt you,” she said to me with a sinister smile. “I don’t know if that would do anything to me… But I am going to make you vanish. Sorry, but I have no choice. There can’t be two of us in this world at once. Somepony would notice.”
Somepony? What the fuck kind of thing was that to say?
I felt my eyes roll backward into my head, and everything went dark.