Eighteen - Trigger
Sunset’s horn worked furiously as she circled the entrance to Discord’s hidden caves. Twilight had proposed that they install defenses, and everypony had seemed to think it a good idea, so she had enlisted Sunset and Starlight to help. As Sunset finished her final touches on a misdirection enchantment (not that it would do much good if the changelings were actively looking for them, but still), she noticed something awry in the passive alarm spell. It was a minor mistake, but a big problem, because the majority of the defenses were wired up to the alarm.
“Hey, Glimmer!”
Starlight trotted over with a huff. “What?”
“I think you forgot to specify a trigger release radius on your alarm spell here.”
“Unlikely.” Starlight’s horn igniting as she sifted through the defenses they had installed, and her eyes started to tick with ire. “I didn’t even cast this spell, dolt. What, you find a mistake and just assume that it has to be my fault?”
Sunset rolled her eyes. “Well, excuse me for not thinking it was the alicorn princess’s mistake!”
Starlight’s horn dimmed, and she turned to face Sunset with slanted eyebrows. “Oh, believe me, I’m just as surprised as you are that you managed to find something she missed.”
“Celestia, what is your problem?”
“MY problem?!” Starlight threw out a hoof belligerently. “You’re the one who’s treating me like I’m incompetent!”
“I don’t think you’re incompetent. Just a bit of a bitch, to be honest.”
“Because you’ve been so nice to me since the moment you woke me up, huh?”
Sunset clenched her jaw. “Alright, so I was a bit curt then, but given the circumstances, I think I had the right.”
“I’m not talking about just then! You’re always acting like I’m worse than everypony else!”
“No, you’re always acting like you’re better than everyone else!”
“GIRLS!”
Sunset and Starlight stopped shouting and turned an impressive shade of white as Twilight Sparkle approached them, wings flared, jaw set, eyes narrow, and ears pointed.
“I know you’re both still learning about friendship, but I expected better. From both of you.”
The pair looked down, silent.
Twilight sighed and turned away. “While you two were busy yelling at each other, I finished all the other spells and hooked them up to the alarm. We can head back now.” As they each lifted a hoof to follow, Twilight’s head whipped around. “After you two talk this out. You’re both good ponies, and I don’t see any reason why you two can’t reconcile your differences.”
And with that, Twilight left them to themselves.
After a good bit of sitting there twiddling their metaphorical thumbs, Starlight spoke up. “Well, you heard what she said. I’ve never been good at making friends with ponies. I tend to be a bit… controlling, at times.”
“And even if I didn’t like you, I shouldn’t have been so rude.” Sunset said flatly. “Sorry, by the way.”
“Same. I… Is this the part where we say we’re going to start over?”
Sunset let out a long breath. “If there’s one thing I’ve learned about friendship, it’s that starting over’s never so easy.”
“Really? I’ve found that ponies can be awfully forgiving.”
“And you haven’t done what I’ve done.”
“I—” Starlight wanted to say something about how it was the other way around, that nothing Sunset could have possibly done could come close to her own past sins. But the look in the mare’s eye… “Let’s not talk about the past.”
Sunset smiled. “Well, there’s one thing we can agree on. I guess it’s something.” She looked away. “But, my point is that we can’t start over. Nobody can. That’s not how the world works. The only thing we can do is try to climb back up, one step at a time.
“I’m going to be honest, I don’t think we’ll ever be friends. I know that’s what Twilight wants for us—saying she’s a bit of an idealist is like saying I’m just a little cynical—but, realistically? Let’s just focus on not actively hating each other for now.”
Starlight looked almost impressed. “You’re a lot more mature than I thought. Sure, let’s do it. Acquaintances?”
“Acquaintances.”
Chrysalis smirked as Traxx’s report came through. She watched through his eyes as the three ponies walk back into the cave, and cackled for at least a minute.
“Found you!”
The lives of Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie were not exactly what most would consider normal, but the last few days had been particularly peculiar. Getting trapped in another dimension as an unfamiliar species under the looming threat of a maniacal horse-bug queen wasn’t something that any of them had been expecting, even with their bizarre amount of experience with magic, monsters, and anthropomorphization. So, whenever their hectic lives allowed it, they enjoyed to indulge in a bit of casual cards between the five of them, talking about current events, griping about life and the universe, and pondering the dreary looking future. It was a way to vent, of sorts. As Twilight, Sunset, and Starlight were busy, and Spike had decided to lounge in the lounge with some of his Ponyville friends, they found themselves with a perfect opportunity.
Their last card game had been tragically cut short by the sudden arrival of Sunset and the rest of the ponies that had teleported with her out of Friendship Castle, so they were eager to start another one before their next magic training session. There had been a group effort of ten minutes to recover all the cards (they never did find the four of clubs, unfortunately), and Rarity had suggested the much tamer sport of Go Fish, as she would rather not have Applejack and Rainbow Dash get into another fight.
“Yo, Rares, got any eights?”
“Afraid not, dear.”
Rainbow huffed, took a card from the pile, and huffed even louder. “Man, I have the worst luck in this game.”
As Pinkie asked Applejack for jacks, winning a pair, she spoke up. “Do you all ever think about how we’re going to explain this to our parents? Because that’s what I’m worried about. They’ll ground me for forever if they find out I’m skipping school to save the world! Fluttershy, any threes?”
Fluttershy shook her head.
“For the skippin’ school part, or the savin’ the world part? An’ gimme your tens, RD.”
“Ha! Go fish!”
“Both!” Pinkie exclaimed. “They’re the worst! All they care about is rocks! And not even parties about rocks! Only ROCKS!”
“Pinkie, would you be a dear and pass me your kings?”
Pinkie forked over a couple cards, and Rarity smirked as she lay down her quartet of cards. “I must admit, I do worry about my family, too. Sweetie Belle can manage on her own, but she must be worried sick. Applejack, might you have any sixes? Well, assuming the changelings didn’t get to her, that is.”
“Go fish. I’m awfully worried ‘bout Applebloom myself, not to mention how Granny’s gunna be madder than a horse after a whippin’ when I get back… and Big Mac’s gunna be ticked, too, havin’ to do all my chores…” Applejack let out a breath she’d been keeping back for far too long.
“Applejack, do you have any tens?” Fluttershy asked, almost silently.
“Aw, shucks, you know I do…”
“Thank you… Pinkie, can I have your jacks, please?”
“Aww, I was so close!”
Fluttershy talked idly as she inspected her hand and the board, setting her books of tens and jacks down. “I don’t really think my family will mind too much. Well, they probably would, because of the danger and all… but I don’t think they’d be able to find the courage to say anything about it or try to stop me. Rainbow, do you have any eights?”
Rainbow grumbled as she handed her card over, and gawked as Fluttershy produced three more from her hand, pushing her into the lead. “Damn, Fluttershy, you’ve had one hell of a turn.”
She blushed. “Oh, it’s nothing really. I just have lots of luck and a good memory.” Her luck ended when she asked Rarity for nines, though. “I’m more worried about that human Chrysalis,” she said, drawing a card from the deck.
Rarity cocked her head. “Why? She’s on our side, is she not?”
Rainbow let out another frustrated grunt at Pinkie’s upsetting lack of fours.
“But she works for the government. I don’t want to be taken away for testing…”
“Don’t be silly, Fluttershy! She’s not going to take us away from our friends and families just because we have some magical powers!” Pinkie smiled at Rarity. “Sixes!”
Rarity grudgingly handed over her pair of sixes, and Pinkie set the four cards down next to her collection of twos, tying herself with Rarity.
“Pinkie, you clearly haven’t seen the same alien movies I have,” Rainbow said, after she smugly told Applejack that she didn’t have any queens. “The government doesn’t care what it takes to secure the safety of the country.”
Rarity hummed. “Well, Bon Bon is our friend, right? Surely, Chrysalis will listen to us if we have her backing us up. And, Applejack, I’ll relieve you of those queens.”
Rarity grimaced as Applejack handed her a single queen. That put her up to three; a very dangerous position to be in.
“Are we really her friend?” Applejack asked, getting a little hot under her hat. “She’s been lyin’ to us ever since we met ‘er!”
“She did have a good reason,” Fluttershy pointed out. “And, if you don’t mind, Rarity, um…”
“The queens?” she said flatly.
Fluttershy nodded.
“I thought as much. Well, I do mind, but it is the rules.”
Fluttershy apologized sweetly as she set down her fourth book in two turns. Her master plans were foiled, however, when Pinkie lacked nines. “I wonder if Lyra knows about her job,” Fluttershy said.
“Probably,” Rainbow reasoned. “They’re best friends. Hey, AJ, got any fours?”
Applejack was too busy staring to worry about the game. “Rainbow, you’re pullin’ my leg, right?”
“What? About them being best friends? They say that all the time! Now do you have any fours or not?”
“I—go fish, but Rainbow…”
“Urg, what?”
“They’re datin’.”
Rainbow’s mouth dropped open. “They’re gay?!”
Fluttershy raised an eyebrow. “Not to be rude, but… out of anybody to not know that, I’m, um, surprised it’s you.”
“It’s not like we’re a hivemind or something! How was I supposed to know?” Rainbow protested.
“They’re not very subtle about it, darling. Honestly, Rainbow; I know you don’t always play with a full deck, but this is a tad of a stretch.”
“She’s not playing with a full deck right now!” Pinkie exclaimed happily. “Literally! You keep asking for fours, but we lost one of the fours before we started the game!” Pinkie giggled.
Rainbow’s brow furrowed as she stared at her hand—three fours, and a nine.
She mumbled something about needing to use the bathroom and left, leaving her friends to stifle their laughter.
A few minutes later, their game on pause, they heard a high pitched scream from the direction Rainbow had gone. The five of them were up and galloping to the bathroom (or, well, one of the bathrooms) in seconds. When they reached it, Twilight, Sunset, and Starlight were already there.
“Twilight!” Applejack called. “Is Dash alright?”
“We don’t know,” Sunset answered, somewhat more hurried than usual. “The door’s locked.”
“Sunset, dear. While your respect for Rainbow’s privacy is admirable, I think a scream takes precedent.”
“Exactly.” Starlight smirked and blasted the door off its hinges.
Rainbow was just starting to stand up as they entered, hissing in pain and clutching her head.
“Are you okay?” Twilight asked, examining the pegasus for injuries.
“Yeah, I’m good. I just fell.”
“I know exactly how you feel,” Pinkie said. “Was it soap? It’s always soap for me. Marble always leaves soap lying around on the bathroom floor, which is very irresponsible of her, but sometimes I think she does on purpose because a lot of the time there are multiple bars of soap lying there and sometimes they’re hidden under a towel, which could still be an accident I guess but is a lot more suspicious, you know?”
“Yeah, no, it was just water.”
Pinkie shrugged.
“With all that screamin’ ya did, I expected something a bit more scary, Rainbow,” Applejack said.
“I don’t know,” Fluttershy mumbled, “falling can be scary. Water too.”
“Not scary enough t’ scream like a banshee caught naked in the shower.”
“I met a banshee once,” Twilight interjected. “They don’t take showers, though.”
Sunset rolled her eyes. “Of course you have.”
Starlight turned her body down the hall, and her neck around to face the others. “Well, I’m glad you’re okay. We got the alarm working and everything, so you all can sleep easy tonight. Bye.”
And with that, the ponies dispersed.
Yet as Starlight was trotting away, she felt a sharp yank on her tail.
“Ow! Who—Sunset, I thought we were—” she stopped when she saw Sunset’s eyes; wide and fearful.
“Starlight. We forgot to fix the alarm spell.”
The two unicorns quickly teleported back to the cave’s entrance, and tapped into the alarm’s spell matrix even quicker.
“Urg—I can fix the error, but we won’t know if it triggered!” Starlight all but whined.
“But the initial trigger was set!”
“Yes, I know. The problem was with the release.”
“Yeah, but that’s good!”
“How?!” Starlight was already starting to hyperventilate.
“Listen,” Sunset explained, delicately balancing speed and calmness, “the initial trigger was in place, so anything that passed through the radius would have tripped it. It just wouldn’t have gone through with the signal. You just need some way to retroactively set the release; the spell should remember if it was tripped or not.”
Starlight paused, a smile sprouting from her lips. “It’s even simpler than that! If I can alter the trigger timer to our horns from instant to constant, it should—”
She was cut off by flashing lights and a siren’s wail from both her and Sunset’s horn.
For once in their time together, the two acted in perfect concordance:
“Buck. Us.”