//------------------------------// // Reconciliation // Story: Bloom Filter // by ferret //------------------------------// “I’m telling you, I have no magic powers, no ancient memories, and no way to undo this in any fashion. I’m a statistics teacher!” “No!” Twilight shouted back, “You have to be able to fix this! I refuse to believe that somepony like you would have done something like this to himself without some sneaky way out of it.” “I am not a pony,” the scruffy grey man known as Discord countered, “And if your experience is any indication, I wouldn’t even be a pony across the portal!” “You’re the only one who could end this!” Twilight outright pleaded, stalking after Discord as he hurried down the school hallway for what was clearly important business, certainly not to get away from these girls, “Please, Discord! We can’t tell anyone what’s going on, if they can’t remember what happens on the Edge! There might be ponies trapped out there!” “I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Discord replied, “It’s certainly nothing I’ve been doing, unless I’ve been imprisoning ponies in my sleep?” “We’re almost finished with the journal,” Twilight said miserably, “But I don’t know if it’ll have the answers we need. They tell us everything about what is happening here, except how to stop it!” “Well if it were me, I’d just have your damsel in distress wake up on her own,” Discord pointed out. “If she doesn’t, then maybe there is a reason for that. My advice it that unless you can find out the reason princess Sleeping Beauty is having trouble waking up, I suggest you turn your attention to more important things.” “Such as?” Twilight asked. “Everyone is turning into ponies!” he practically shouted at her. “Maybe you could, I don’t know, think about possible ways to solve that problem?” “It’s... complicated,” Twilight said with a wince. “Oh, of course it’s ‘complicated’” Discord finger-quoted. “The thing is,” Sunset said twirling a lock of her hair, “We’re not sure that everyone wasn’t a pony in the first place.” Discord honestly had no idea what to say about such a ridiculous sentiment. “So.” “Um.” “Yeah.” “Your mom is... nice,” Dinky offered uneasily. It was technically the truth, he was pretty sure. “My mom is completely flipping nuts,” Diamond groaned. The two of them were sitting together in the day room, after that whole... thing just happened. Surprise had scarpered off, and a certain special someone had left by other means. “Where did she even get a pine cone?” “She’s not so bad,” Dinky replied, “She just sees things ...differently than the rest of us.” “Differently enough to get a timeout,” Diamond said grumpily, “From her own daughter!” “Sorry I... told her about the boating terminology,” Dinky mumbled, apologetically. “Not your fault. She just gets wrapped up in ideas sometimes. I like, try not to understand her,” Diamond said glumly, staring at the table they sat at. “Why not?” Dinky asked innocently. Diamond looked at him curiously, saying, “You know. You’re so interested in this psychology stuff, I thought you’d like, know.” “Afraid I don’t,” Dinky replied sheepishly, “Or if I do, I’m just not seeing it. Wouldn’t you want to understand your own mother?” “She wasn’t always like this,” Diamond replied soberly. “It started with just little slips. Mixed up words and... getting confused. They say it might have been brought on by stress. Her job as a court advisor just... got the best of her, but I think it was going on before that. She was getting more and more obsessed with her schedule, and having things always exactly a certain way. She had to eat the same things, and had all sorts of timers for when she was supposed to cook dinner, and brush teeth, and reading time, and budget time, and... she even timed how long she’d relax outside. “It was a long time ago,” Diamond said wistfully, “But I remember when she used to take care of me. And I think the stress was because... she was already slipping, and it was the only way she knew how to keep herself like... there. Eventually it got so bad, it didn’t work anymore, and now she’s... here.” “I thought you didn’t know your parents,” Dinky admitted quietly. “Yeah that’s on purpose. Like, why would I want anyone to know my mom had to give me up because she was crazy? ” Diamond asked him with a little flare of anxiety. “It must be embarassing,” Dinky replied, looking the way her very enthusiastic mom had been er... dragged. Diamond took a while to respond to that. “They say like,” she said, swallowing, “Schizophrenia runs in the family. It’s something you can... inherit.” “Not always, though,” Dinky said, laying a hand over hers. “You turned out fine,” “Yeah, now, but—” Diamond’s fingers clenched into his. “They have me, like,” she said haltingly, fighting to find the words, “I’m like, taking, like... pills.” When Dinky didn’t know what to say, Diamond Tiara had to continue. “They say if I take these pills then I might be ...okay. They keep me really like, sluggish, and relaxed. I guess so I don’t start ...slipping.” “Diamond...” Dinky said softly, at a loss of how to comfort her. “I don’t feel like I’m slipping,” Diamond said with an edge of fear to her voice, “I just get like, confused sometimes, and things stop making sense. A–and then someone’s shaking me, or telling me to calm down, even though I thought I was calm, and then they told me I should start taking these pills. I—I started seeing people turning into ponies, before it even happened. I thought they had like, horse ears or something.” She too stared off after her mother, saying, “They say it’s really rare for schizophrenia to hit you until you’re in like, college. Because of the stress, I guess. So the pills are kind of just in case. So that’s why I try not to understand her.” Dinky looked along with Diamond Tiara and said, “She seemed pretty happy.” “Well like, yeah,” Diamond rolled her eyes, “I don’t think she even knows she’s in a mental hospital.” “Then at least if it happens, you’ll be happy, right?” Dinky said. “Doesn’t seem so bad to me, really.” “I’ll be happy, but what about everyone else?” Diamond complained. “What about the other people who get hurt?” Dinky leaned against Diamond Tiara saying, “She hurt you pretty bad, huh.” “I wish I could go home,” Diamond whimpered quietly. “Me too,” Dinky sighed. Twilight Sparkle stared forward at nothing. “Twilight, we don’t have to continue...” Sunset said from where she sat in a folding chair laid out in the strange reading room hidden deep beneath the earth. She had a laptop open, with a transcription therein, possibly the most valuable document in the world, currently. Twilight Sparkle was sitting on a cushion they’d brought in, reading from a large, worn, faded looking book. Or not reading, as it were, because it didn’t look like she could bring herself to read it. The third accompanying them was sitting on her belly next to the podium, and reading over what Sunset had just transcribed. The yellow haired pink pony known as Cherry Berry whistled, but didn’t seem to know what to say about it, or them. “We have to continue,” Twilight said quietly, to herself as much as Sunset. “The fate of the world could be resting on it. What’s in these pages...” “I know, but—but just humor me for a moment, okay?” Sunset said. “So our counterparts were... both princesses, and they had to fight something worse than anything we could ever have imagined. The—the other princesses are still here, right? The principal and the vice principal? So our counterparts are probably not um... dead? Yours is inside the dream realm somehow, so she’s alive! You don’t—” Sunset rubbed her face, saying, “Look, this is just... I don’t know if you’re ready to read something like this, that’s all. I’m over a hundred years old. I’ve murdered people for fun, gone insane, driven people insane, committed suicide, and this is still seriously fucking with me. I can’t imagine what it’s doing to you. I can translate it on my own, and get it to Professor Berry. Let them deal with it for a while. We can just go through our portal when our time comes, and get home to all our friends and family.” Sunset was taken aback as Twilight glared at her almost resentfully. Then Twilight’s features softened, and she said faintly, “It’s mostly written in Scribe. I could make a basic transcription code to Latin English. We could... we could let other people save the world for once.” “Let’s just go ho—back, for now,” Sunset said, reaching past Twilight and closing the book. The purple girl did not resist or protest this. “I really think we’ve been here long enough,” Sunset said, helping Twilight to her feet, and looking around at the lamp-lit stone reading room they were standing alone in. Either of them could have easily touched the ceiling. “Let’s get back to the surface,” Sunset said bleakly, “And get out of this... tomb.” Feb 9, 1395 Fillydelphia is gone. I can’t believe I’m writing this, but it’s just gone. As if it were never there. They’re all dea gone. So many ponies, just... torn apart from their long agos. The refugees started arriving today, and they all confirm that there is nothing even left to remember. So few of them, yet we’re already stuffed to the gills here. It’s our duty to protect these ponies, but instead we’re checking them for Anathema, and imprisoning them for doing no wrong, until they die... horribly. We still have no defense, we still have no treatment. Our preventative measures are failing. All we can do is try to make them comfortable, and keep them separate from other ponies. What is this thing, to be so effective at destroying us? What should we do about this? Ponies are on the verge of total annihilation; it’s like a Hearth’s Warming tale come to life. I wasn’t prepared for this. Princess Celestia... what should I do? Princess Twilight Cherry Berry was having the strangest day. She was driving down the crowded inner city streets, and she was having trouble with the wheel in just her hooves. She couldn’t keep her car on the road, because it kept slipping off to the left or the right. Even when she forced it onto the road, it started slipping upward, like it was being repulsed from the road like a magnet. It didn’t help that her back seat passengers kept complaining, “Are we there yet?” and “Almost there!” She stuck her head out the window to look at the problem, and somehow, Berry could stretch her neck all the way under the car, where the wheels were actually just hanging there, and there were no gravomatic repulsors like in that one movie. How was this possible? Staring forward, she yanked the steering wheel to no effect, her wheels spinning uselessly as she tried to figure out what was going on. It was like a hand was picking up her car, no not a hand. There were ropes attached to it, and the roof of her car was missing. What? When she looked up, Cherry Berry sighed with relief. Oh, it was just the car’s balloon. It must have deployed then lifted them into the sky as a failsafe for the difficulty she was having staying on the road. She was worried there for a minute, but now she could just gaze forward at the horizon, drifting wherever the wind took her. “Ms. Berry?” a voice came from her backseat passengers. “Ms. Berry?” “What?” Berry asked crossly, turning from the wheel to find three little fillies sitting on the bench around the edge of the balloon’s basket. Two of them were her students from first period, and the third was that orange filly they’d been doing pony stuff with. “What’re you doing in my car?” Berry asked, confused as she didn’t even seem to be in her car anymore. “We were looking for you,” the white unicorn said, standing and hopping from the bench to the floor, looking up at Berry with searching green eyes. “Apple Bloom, Scootaloo and I could really use your help.” “Oh, sure, you had a question on the history exam?” Berry asked. She frowned and said, “I can’t give you a better grade I’m sorry.” “Don’t worry,” the Apple Bloom filly said, “It’s summer! We’re just riding in your balloon with you.” “Yeah,” the orange one named Scootaloo said, “Thanks for taking us up here. We really appreciate it.” “Um, okay, but I don’t remember giving you a ride,” Berry said, in puzzlement. “Yeah, we kinda stowed away,” the white one said with a blush. “Because we really had to ask you something important.” “What could be so important that you’d sneak onto my balloon?” Berry said, glaring at the three of them. “The Journal,” Apple Bloom replied. “Of the Princesses.” “Oh,” Berry said gloomily, falling heavily on her haunches, “That.” “We really need to know what that journal says,” the white one said, giving such a heartwrenchingly pleading gaze. “It’s for a friend!” Apple Bloom replied joining the white unicorn in pleading. “I can’t...” Berry said uneasily, “I can’t just tell you. You’re just kids! This is some really disturbing stuff here.” “Really?” Scootaloo said with a worried look in her own violet eyes. “Maybe this isn’t such a good idea, then.” “It’s her only chance!” Apple Bloom said frustratedly. “Th’ Princess has nothing left in here, and she’s aching so much to find out who she is.” “Of course it’s going to be disturbing,” the white unicorn said, rolling her eyes. “Princesses don’t get trapped in dreams without something really bad happening.” “What are you all talking about...?” Cherry said in confusion, while the soft breeze sped the balloon silently along high above the ground. “Sorry,” Scootaloo said to Cherry, tossing her head to indicate the others, “They get a little bit wrapped up in stuff sometimes.” It looked like she was trying to act like she was the mature one, which was totally adorable, especially with how the filly was fluttering her wings proudly. “We need you to tell us what’s in that journal,” the little pegasus said, “It’s for a friend.” “I don’t care,” Berry said in a shaken voice, stomping enough to rattle the basket. “This journal’s about a deadly plague and a—a lot of people who died, and it’s not something I can just tell to a couple of kids!” “We kinda thought you’d feel that way,” Apple Bloom said slyly, with her lowered ears raising, and a smug smile, “But maybe there’s somepony else you could tell it to.” Cherry stared at the little filly in puzzlement. Apple Bloom stared back with an increasingly nervous smile. “That’s your cue!” the white filly whispered, hanging on the basket’s edge, and talking to someone off the other side. There was an inaudible response, and the white unicorn said, “It’ll be fine! Just tell her who you are.” “What—” Cherry started to say, as a force of nature swept over her balloon, circling it and diving into it/her before she so much as had a chance to squeak. The... presence furled its wings, and it was a pony, but not just any pony. This one held a regal grace that emanated from every inch of her deep lilac body. Her indigo hair was a sea of stars, glowing at the edges like the end of day. She was... beautiful, no, she was more like beauty itself. “Hi!” she said in a disturbingly familiar voice. “I’m Twilight Sparkle.” Somewhere in the suburbs of Canterlot, within the walls one of the innocuous looking houses, a rainbow haired pony stood outside a laundry room that was ominously silent. She didn’t know what happened to her dad, how big of a pony he was, not even how much he had changed, if he wasn’t done changing yet. “Da’, ish okay. I know you’re thurning inho a pony. You don’ hahta hide anymore. I jus’ wanna levwel with you,” Rainbow Dash said around the infuriatingly difficult fireplace poker clutched in her mouth. The one thing of which Rainbow Dash was sure is that her dad was probably not in the best mood right now. That’s why Rainbow Dash held the irony tasting fireplace poker in her mouth. Not that she wanted to use it to subdue him or anything, but, you know, just in case things got dangerous for her in there. She might have face that angry man, or stallion, when he was panicked and backed into a corner, or laundry room as it were. Her heart fluttering at the fear of what she might find in there, Rainbow Dash hollered out another warning, “M’mm coming in!” The only question now was if this time Dash would have the guts to follow through with it. She didn’t want to see her dad... broken... Still no answer, but more sounds of motion from the laundry room. They stilled, and then the light turned on in the laundry room. Taking that as a grudging olive branch, Rainbow cautiously moved forward, turning the corner swiftly so she could see into the laundry room, and fend off any threats. There before Rainbow Dash on the tiled floor, between the hulking bulk of the washing machine and the wall, stood a petite little pegasus mare. Her bony wings were folded tightly against her green furred body, her four slim legs were uncertain and shaky, and her ruddy golden eyes were full of fear and defiance. Rainbow Dash dropped her fireplace poker with a clank. It definitely was her dad. She had the same turquoiseish skin—fur now, the same slicked back yellow mane, a good deal more disarrayed now. The mark on the mare’s rump was unquestioningly the emblem for his old football team that Dad obsessed about so much. It was like a girly pegasus version of her dad. Gone was the pot belly, the thinning hairline, the broad shoulders, the firm jaw and the strong, meaty fingers, and in their place something so absurd, Rainbow Dash couldn’t believe it even though she was seeing it with her own two eyes. It was like looking into a mirror. No more a tall, imposing man, Rainbow’s dad looked uncannily like Rainbow Dash herself. Yet her dad almost seemed, no definitely was just a little bit shorter. The silent pegasus mare was just a bit shorter than Rainbow Dash, and with how short Rainbow Dash was, did that mean her dad was... a foal? Too gangly and skinny to be one of those compact foals. Was her dad some sort of pony... teenager? A shaky laugh rose up in Rainbow’s chest, which to her surprise turned into a genuine laugh, and when her dad’s response to that was to angrily scrunch up her muzzle, Rainbow Dash just lost it. We’re talking collapse on your back belly laughs. And when her dad tried to tell her to stop laughing in a cute chirpy voice with a horrible lisp... “Ou’! Ou’! Ou’! Ou’!” her dad was suddenly howling, in some girly voice, battering clumsily at Dash’s side, and Rainbow Dash could hardly walk she was laughing so hard, but she was being absolutely horrible here, so Rainbow Dash let herself get herded out, and then stumbled into the small living room before collapsing in another case of the terminal giggles. There were no survivors. Billions perished. Finally crawling back to the threshold of the laundry room, Rainbow Dash said breathlessly, “Dad... dad... okay I’m not... laughing at you... whoo. It’s just the whole thing is kind of messed up. How much do you know?” Silence was again her answer. “Okay, not much,” Rainbow Dash said uncomfortably. “So, at the farm—my friend has a ranch that’s like, pony central. Anyway it’s mostly random, but there are a lot of guys turning into girl ponies. It’s some genetic pony thing I dunno. And lots of ponies are turning out to be foals. That’s a little kid pony. You’re not a foal, I uhh... think. We both got lucky and turned into not um... quite kid ponies. That means you can probably fly pretty good. You need to get to the farm, or... or the fairgrounds is also being set up as a pony place I think. Did you read about it in the paper?” More silence. Rainbow lifted a hoof up, wings half spread, saying worriedly, “Listen, you’re gonna sound funny for a while, so don’t worry about how you sound. Lotta people going through this right now. They can show you how to walk and talk right again. And how to take care of your uh... wings.” Dash blushed and stared at the badly painted wall outside the laundry room, with the height marks her dad made still there. Rainbow Dash’s height marks: drawn in black pen, from a little girl to a lanky teenager, almost all now high above the little rainbow pegasus. She gulped. “Sorry I’m bad at this,” Rainbow said, “It’s just so weird. I thought you would be a stallion for sure. I’m okay with it, I mean. Totally okay! I just uh, how long have you been a... I mean your feathers are coming in, so it must have been a few days at least. Sorry for uh, running out on you. I think it’s gonna be okay though. Nobody is going to laugh at you like I uh... did, and sorry for that. I just want to know if you’re going to be okay.” Rainbow Dash looked around her old house, even more a mess than usual. Some chairs were overturned, one slid over by the cabinets presumably to reach up there. Cereal boxes were tossed around on the floor, with a lot of spilled food. At least the ants hadn’t got to it yet. After a long silence, a girl’s voice drifted from around the corner to the laundry room, asking in an absolutely heartbroken tone, “Wha’th do I doo?” Dash didn’t know what to do. She didn’t know what to say. It had never happened before, literally never before had Rainbow Dash’s dad ever asked for her help. It wasn’t supposed to happen. None of this was supposed to happen. It was wrong for Rainbow, just some young girl, to treat her father like this, as if he wasn’t the one in charge. But someone had to do something because her dad was really hurting here, like genuinely scared, and Rainbow Dash was never all that big on obeying the rules. “Okay you’re a pegasus, so I know you’ll appreciate this, but you’re gonna have to trust me,” Rainbow said. “Just follow me outside, and I promise nothing bad’s gonna happen.” Rainbow Dash then turned and headed for the back door. The sliding glass door was easy to open, with a simple lever to unlatch it, and a large metal handle she could hook her hooves on. She stood outside in their tiny backyard, hoping that her dad or... whatever he was now would listen to her. Rainbow Dash was kind of afraid to wait out here, afraid that he would reject her for pitying him. It wasn’t a fear without reason, but this was sort of unprecedented. She’d never seen her dad so shaken as to ask her what to do. Some guilty corner of Rainbow Dash’s conscience hoped that this kind of a jolt might be just the thing to snap her dad out of his impenetrable funk. Even if he had to be a short little mare like herself... it was one hell of a funk, that Rainbow Dash wouldn’t wish on her worst enemy. Dash didn’t have to wait long, before a slim turquoise snout came poking out the glass door from inside the house. Her dad came out all the way, once she saw that Dash saw her. Her ears were turned back almost sulkily as she hobbled out into the beautiful spring day, looking at Rainbow Dash out of the side of her face. No, definitely sulkily. Time to fix this. “And up we go!” Dash declared, hooking her dad around the shoulder elbow things, and beating her wings strongly to heave them both ponderously into the air. The muscles in her chest flared up in pain, and Rainbow Dash started to wonder if this was such a good idea, especially when her dad started struggling. “Whahyouoing?!” the other pegasus squawked in shock. “Lemmegho!” “Stop moving!” Dash shouted back, bobbing erratically a few body lengths above the ground, “I just wanna show you how awesome being a pegasus is!” “A...wha? Hyu... flying?” her dad uttered in utter shock, going limp and staring up numbly at Rainbow Dash. Dash took that as her chance to ascend higher, every inch of altitude a struggle for her, and all worth it. “Check it... out,” she said, as their house diminished below them. “This is what I saw coming here. Isn’t... that awesome?” Dad’s only response was her own wings spreading out, smacking against Rainbow Dash’s blue belly. “OK I’m gonna put you down now,” Rainbow Dash said hurriedly, trying to get back down without sinking like a stone, and without her aching wings falling off. She succeeded, and her dad... mom... sister or whatever just crumpled onto her front lawn, into a dazed pile of green and golden pony. “You shouldn’t try to fly yet,” Rainbow Dash explained. “I’ve actually been working on it all May and um... June, after I uh... ran away... again. I’m gonna get us a ride. My friend’s family’s been running a sort of pony training camp, and they’ll be able to set you up better than if you were just stuck in your house for... how long now?” Her dad was staring at Rainbow Dash now with a sort of weirdly astonished expression. “Couple daysh,” the young mare said, looking away and not offering any more than that. “Yeah, so... I’m gonna go call them on my phone, to get a ride for us,” Dash said bashfully, “Much as I’d like to fly you the whole way back, I’m kinda new at this too, and my uh... wings aren’t used to flying across town yet.” “...alright,” her dad said cooly, trying to stand up on her hooves again. It was adorable really, like watching a newborn... pony get her legs under her. An adorable that didn’t belong anywhere near Rainbow Dash’s dad. He’d hate if she ever tried to imply that he was anything but tough... wouldn’t he? Rainbow Dash couldn’t recall a time where she had ever tried, but... it was obvious, right? Dads just didn’t... like that sort of thing, right? Nov 13, 1394 Twilight is more wise than she admits. The resemblance of this phenomenon to the ancient Windigo plague is unmistakable. I am firmly convinced that the same power that saved our people then is the key to saving our people now. The Fire of Friendship. If I can piece together these ancient records... only fragments remain of course, this is a prediscordian era after all. But I sincerely think that if I can figure out just how they did it, it could lead to a solution to the problem we face, even now. Princess Shimmer Ditzy Do had to admit, one nice thing about being left alone at lunch is that it gave her a lot of time to write a letter. She wanted to tell him in person, but there was no way she was going to get permission to do it. She wasn’t his family, or even his friend. They wouldn’t allow her anywhere near him because they surely thought she was just some dumb, violent bully, and he did too. So she was writing him a letter instead. Surely they would let her write a letter to him, especially because of what she had to say to him. She wasn’t under any illusion he’d forgive her for what she did, but at least it would make him feel better, that there’s someone at school who doesn’t hate him for... for what he’s done. It was a shock to Ditzy to realize that she didn’t hate him for what he had done. It wasn’t the sort of thing you were supposed to forgive! Getting a young girl pregnant, in her very first year of high school... Ditzy couldn’t even imagine what would bring him to do that. Sure she had been... curious about boys before, and she’d spent many lonely nights wishing she had... that. But she’d never get herself pregnant! And she was sixteen years old, so it was natural for her to start having those... thoughts sometimes. He was a Freshman, so wouldn’t that make him 14? Did he not know what he was doing? She didn’t think it was possible to not know if you were doing that. Yet any animosity she had for the boy had since faded. The shock of realizing she’d been so mad at him over nothing, it made her feel less mad at him in general. And the thought of what Dinky did after she hit him... Ditzy just couldn’t imagine Dinky as an uncaring monster, if he’d been hurt so badly by her that he... tried to kill the monster. She never thought it might actually be something he couldn’t control, that maybe there was a real person in there, who was trying to fix the problem too, but just had to sit and watch while he um... overpowered a girl, or whatever. Besides, Ditzy had felt like her urges was controlling her, when she was at her most um... right before finishing. She realized in those moments that she would say yes, even if it got her pregnant, because she just... wanted to feel someone close to her, and really close to her. Was that what happened to him? He didn’t know and they both pushed it too far together, and then he couldn’t stop saying yes until it had happened? Ditzy felt what she could probably call mild terror at her own hormones. She didn’t want to be pregnant, not in a million years, knowing she wasn’t ready for it, that it would not end well for her, and that giving birth was supposed to hurt. A lot! But as a teenage girl, Ditzy discovered that she was only one quiet evening with a back massager away from changing to wanting it so bad. When she did... that sort of thing, Ditzy got to where she didn’t even care if it hurt anymore. Did meant he wasn’t a monster, either? Maybe Dinky didn’t want to impregnate girls all the time, only when he got really worked up, just like Ditzy Do but opposite. He was just a boy who at the worst possible time, felt an urge he couldn’t control. Ditzy didn’t write all that. Half of her thoughts were on the danger of communicating with boys. One thing could lead to another, especially at age 16. That was like, the worst age to be if you were worried about that sort of thing. She had to have a lot of care and restraint in what she said, knowing that she was talking with a boy and how dangerous that could become. So she lifted her pen, closed one eye, and began to write. Dear DInky, You don’t know me. I’m just a sophomore at your school. My name is Ditzy Do, and I’m writing to apologize. I know what you’re going through, I think, maybe. You were just having fun, and let things go too far, and that’s okay. It’s not okay because what happened was a problem, but you’re okay, is what I mean. You’re still a good person, and I don’t think I’ve ever heard anything mean about you, besides this. Maybe if I had friends, I’d hear about how mean you were, but Okay, she was going to have to throw that one out. She wasn’t trying to talk about her own problems. Getting a fresh sheet of paper, Ditzy tried again. Dear Dinky, I’m sorry for hitting you on the day before you did something bad. It was all a terrible misunderstanding, I think. I have been receiving letters from a secret admirer, you see. I know, crazy isn’t it? Little old me? But I started getting letters one day, every week. He said beautiful things about me, and it’s the nicest anyone has ever been to me before. But then one day he told me that you needed me. I’d heard about what you had done, making Diamond Tiara pregnant, and I thought you were the one who wrote those letters. I thought you were confessing! All it said was “Dinky needs you” and I thought you wrote it because you wanted me and I was next and Another crumpled ball of paper landed next to her wastebasket, but Ditzy Do was determined, and this time she got it right. Dear Dinky, You don’t know me, but my name is Ditzy Do and I’m a sophomore at your school. I am writing to apologize. I’m the girl who hit you, before you were seen atop the roof. I’m sorry I hit you. I should have been mature and just told you how I felt. Believe it or not, I’ve been getting letters from a secret admirer for quite some time now. When I received one that said nothing but, “Dinky needs you,” I thought it was you who had been writing them, and you were telling me you were going to come after me, like I thought you did with Diamond Tiara. I thought all these letters were insincere. Just you buttering me up so you could get me pregnant too. You didn’t write them though, because my secret admirer saw what happened, and told me in his next letter that he wasn’t Dinky. He was just trying to warn me that you needed me. So I wanted to tell you I’m sorry and I shouldn’t have hit you. It’s sad what happened to Diamond Tiara, but I think I understand why you, and she, did it. You didn’t go after Diamond Tiara. You were just having fun, and things got out of hand, I think. So, yeah. Take care! Ditzy Do Now she just had to figure out how you get a letter to the hospital. “Ditzy! It’s time for dinner!” came the voice of her mom from downstairs. Sighing, Ditzy left her letter on her desk for now, but determined to get it to him in any way she could. So it turns out you can just ask the mental hospital to deliver letters to patients! Who knew? Dinky hadn’t felt better than he did right now, not since all this started happening, and maybe even before that. Now that he thought about it, that Ditzy girl really had been the last straw. It was probably just bad timing, but maybe his secret yearning did have something to do with it, wishing that his mother hadn’t left him at the orphanage. Ditzy Do wasn’t really his mother, but she was... important to him, for some reason. It was crazy since he hadn’t even met her, before! Maybe that other world was closer than people thought. “Well, what’s it say? What’s it say?” the indefatigable Surprise uttered at the open letter in Dinky’s hands. Ditzy had apparantly left it with the front desk, which deemed it safe for Dinky to read, and now Dinky had read it. Both Surprise and... Flatter were very curious about it though, so Dinky told the boy accomodatingly, “It says she’s sorry for hitting me. She was... one of the kids who were picking on me, I guess. Just came out of the blue and knocked me across the floor.” He continued to look at the letter in wonder, saying, “She’s... okay with me now, and the only reason she was mad was a big misunderstanding. It says here she was receiving letters from a secret admirer, and when he... I guess he tried to warn her that I was getting picked on, but she thought I was writing it and was just... bragging, I guess. Ditzy Do thought I wrote those letters in order to earn her affection, so I could... y’ know...” Dinky made finger guns, closed one eye and clicked. Surprise winced, understanding immediately. Dinky added with some relief, “Well, at least there’s one person at school who doesn’t hate my guts.” “Two,” Surprise pointed out. “Two?” Dinky asked. “Her secret admirer!” Surprise said, “He was looking out for you, too!” “Oh, huh, I guess he was,” Dinky said, giving the letter another bemused look. “Does she know who he is?” Surprise asked. Dinky shook his head. “I don’t think so. She certainly didn’t say she did.” “How did he know that you needed her?” Surprise asked even more curiously. “Well, it wasn’t a secret I was getting pushed around,” Dinky said sullenly, “Or that I deserved it. I didn’t think so at the time, but I really did need help.” “No Dinky,” Surprise whined insitently, taking the other boy’s shoulders in his hands, “How did he know that you needed her ? Did you even know her?” “Not... really?” Dinky said looking back at surprise in confusion, “We never talked or anything. She’s an upperclassman, and...” He looked at Ditzy’s letter more critically. “And no one would have known that she was supposed to have anything to do with me, except perhaps... a girl I met, named Twilight Sparkle.” “You think Ditzy’s secret admirer is a girl?!” Surprise squeaked in eager astonishment. Dinky shook his head at that, saying seriously, “No, but she’s the only one I know who could have known to connect me and Ditzy together. Perhaps I should ask her if she’s got a moment to talk about this...” “Well I’m not closed minded, and you know Flatter. She swings that way too sometimes,” Surprise said frankly, “It’s totally okay with us if Twilight like likes Ditzy.” “It could be that,” Dinky admitted, “But something tells me that girl might have a different reason for sending love letters to Ditzy Do.” In her balloon, Cherry Berry cowered beneath the inscrutable darkness that this pony was. Who was she? What was she? “Hi, I’m Twilight Sparkle,” she said. Berry gaped, and blurted out, “No you’re not!” She then slapped her hooves over her mouth, pupils narrowing in fear as the being took a step... back? The being took a step back in shame, not forward in outrage, and again in Twilight Sparkle’s voice said, “Oh, sorry, you’re right.” What was going on? “I’m the other Twilight Sparkle,” it said. “You know, the one who’s stuck in dreams?” Now that she knew what to look for, it was... possible to perceive the being, though it made Berry feel electrified to do so. The being was a... a pony, clearly. She had wings, and she had one of those unicorn horns. “You’re a...” Berry squinted at her, “A... pega...corn?” “A what?” the pegacorn asked in confusion. “She’s the dream princess,” the white unicorn insisted by her side. “I don’t actually... know what kind of pony you’d call that.” “But that’s not important,” the orange filly said, buzzing up impatiently, “This is the real Twilight Sparkle... the one who wrote that journal!” “Eh heh...” the princess said, lifting a hoof and... blushing? “I don’t suppose you could y’know... tell us what’s in it? I have this memory problem, see, and I... really could use something to jog my memory.” “I... you wrote that?” Berry said, open mouthed, “You went through that?” “I guess?” Princess Twilight replied. “I don’t really remember. It was a long time ago.” “A-and you want to remember?” Berry asked weakly. “Because some of it is okay, but some of it is... horrifying! I—I don’t know if I can take much more of translating it. My friends, they— I— you... a lot of ponies... died.” “Oh, I know ‘died’” Twilight said, rolling her eyes and waving a dismissive hoof, “That’s when they fall over and flop around, then hold a flower to their chest.” “A–actually the flower is placed there post-mortem...” Berry replied uneasily, “But no I mean... ponies were in a lot of pain.” There was a glimmer of understanding in the princess’s eyes, as she said evenly, “I know pain.” “C’mon Ms. Berry!” Scootaloo pleaded with her. “You know what it’s like! The princess can’t even remember her friends anymore, and some of them might still be here! She needs to know who she is, and this journal might be her only hope!” “But...” Berry said, feeling trapped in her own balloon’s basket by three eager, pleading, earnest fillies, especially the orange one. “Well, I guess, if it’s her journal? But a lot of it is terrible!” “It’s okay,” the princess said eagerly. “I want to learn, even if it’s terrible. Did I have any friends?” “You... yeah, you do. You are one of four princesses,” Berry said, looking up at her thoughtfully from where she was sprawled in the balloon basket, “And someone else who isn’t writing in the journal of the Princesses. There’s you, the principals, and um, does the name Sunset Shimmer ring a bell?” “The other Twilight an’ Sunset are friends too?” Apple Bloom asked, in amazement. “It does sound familiar...” Twilight said, staring off into space. “They’re not friends, Apple Bloom,” Berry corrected her student. “They’re sisters!” Rainbow Dash’s house still had a land line phone, which was currently in three major pieces. It looked like an angry filly had been stomping on it. Dash had her cell though, and it had a stylus, so she got ahold of someone to pick them up pretty easy. Soon, a couple of people arrived at their house to give them a ride, human people who Dash vaguely recalled were at the farm just to be with their ponifying relatives. Her dad didn’t want to face them, but Rainbow Dash half pushed, half goaded her into going along with it. As Dash sat in the back seat next to her dad, he—er, she, sprawled in a miserable pile of pegasus, sprawling even more awkwardly than Rainbow Dash felt about their relationship. Yet... as miserable as she looked, her dad was upset and all, but not... jadedly so. He stared forward in a daze, as the world outside the car window passed by them. It was so weird; her dad was absolutely miserable about what happened to her, so utterly lost, and yet this was the most content Rainbow Dash could remember him ever being. It was like he was waking up from a long nightmare. The effect was made all the more poignant by the fact that he was well... cute! Not that he—er—she was girly cute, but it was to Rainbow Dash like watching a younger, more shell shocked form of herself, in colors of green and gold. It made Rainbow Dash feel curiously... protective. Her dad was aware of the strangeness of all this too, and he called Rainbow Dash on it when they arrived, seriously testing her patience. With ponies gamboling all over the ranch, Rainbow’s dad firmed her jaw and said stubbornly, “...I don’ wannha go ou’ zhere.” “Dad? Come on,” Dash said looking back at him worriedly, “You see all the ponies out there? There’s nothing to be embarassed about.” “don’ wan’ zhem to shee me liek zhis,” the young mare replied, furiously fighting back tears. “Not shposhha be like zhis.” The humans who gave them a ride were helpful enough, but they weren’t anyone Rainbow Dash knew. They looked helplessly in the car door, as the little mare her dad had become curled herself more protectively against the back seat. Rainbow Dash sighed, and settled next to him. Her. Whatever. “You don’t have to get out right away,” she said comfortingly, “I’ll stay with you as long as you need.” “Why?!” her dad shot back, her head twisting around to stare at Rainbow Dash in anger and confusion. “Why h’you doing zhis? You shoul’ yelling ah me anh’ being shupi...shupi theenasher an’ now you gonna ghrow up? You shink you’re my mom now? Turnin’ intho a poyy mae’ your ballsh drop?!” Her dad lost her fury abruptly, glancing aside before adding mutedly, “Or howe’er you shay zhat... for girlsh.” “Actually, they kinda did,” Rainbow Dash replied, somewhat in surprise. She hadn’t thought much about herself yet, but... “My counterpart is some shorta pony hero, an’ she’s full grown, Twilight Sparkle tells me. So I guess I am more mature? I don’t feel any different, but... this pony curse or whatever has been really messing with our ages. Some of us get older, and some get younger. Like you. You’re... probably almost as old as I am? I think you might be a little... uh, younger...” Dash shook her head apologetically, saying, “Not that I don’t totally respect you. I just um... want you to know I’m here for you.” “Shoul’n’ be here for me,” came the grumble. “Oh no.” Dash said, getting good and comfortable there on that faded car seat. “I already let you down once, when you needed my help, and I’m not gonna leave you hanging like that ever again.” Her dad didn’t protest at first, just sitting there unnaturally quietly. But when she spoke, it was not in anger, but confusion. “When?” Rainbow Dash started to answer, but had to stop because, “When I uh... ran out to turn into a pony?” she tried impotently. “Never hlet me down, becaush alwaysh dishapoinmen’” her dad drawled, turning her yellow maned head away from Rainbow Dash in disconcerted disdain. “No, thish’s really bugging me now,” Rainbow Dash said, “It was when I uh... shomething big. Your uh... flight school?” Her dad turned to look at her again. “You jus’ wan’ me ta talg hwhile I can’ say anyzing,” her dad concluded in an unamused tone. “But hyou were jush a ba’e. Tha’ one was not your faul’.” Rainbow Dash really wanted to thank him. She really did, so she did. Rainbow Dash was not a complicated girl. “Thanks, dad,” she said quietly, “I was just thinking I know a friend who knows the real —I mean, the other me. She’s gotta know you too. We hate each other! The other me had to have mentioned you at least once. I bet Twilight can tell you how old you are. She said I’m 29, can you believe it?” Dad raised an eyebrow, saying, “No’ in zhe sligh’est” “Plus she might know why I keep getting this feeling like I majorly let you down,” Dash added. “I never really thought about it until this year, but it’s bugging me.” “Goo’ for you,” he said, curling up again. Rainbow Dash groaned, saying, “Come on, dad you’re being stupid. This isn’t even your car. You gotta come out some time, and the sooner the better!” Her dad said nothing. “I get that you want to tough it out and get past this... whatever it is that happened to you,” Rainbow Dash said in exasperation. “I do too! But you’re going about it in the wrong way. Those ponies—people out there aren’t your enemy. They don’t expect you to be some untouchable badass, or—or some delicate little girl. I don’ know what you think people’ll see with you like this, but nobody wants you to be anything besides what you already are. So come out here, and... and deal with it, and I promise things’ll get better.” “So I shoul’ jus’oo wha’ever you shay,” her dad said sarcastically, lifting her head again, “I don’ know whas goo for me, huh? You jus’ kinap me from my owhn housh jus’ becaush I... I don’ know any beher?” “Look I’m not—” Dash facehooved, “Okay maybe I am saying it, and maybe it is for your own good, but—” “I am my own man!” her dad shouted. “Sop threating me liek shome lil kid!” “Then stop acting like one!” Rainbow Dash retorted angrily. Her dad just glared at her, scrunching up her muzzle furiously, and refused to budge. “Fine, we’ll do zhis the hard way,” Rainbow Dash growled at last, and she... she didn’t have hands, okay? So there just wasn’t any less humiliating way to do this. She bit down on the hair of her dad’s new golden tail, and backed out of the car. Her dad gave an undignified squawk, but wasn’t coordinated enough to hold onto anything, and with her tail sort of... slung over Dash’s shoulder, still in the grip of those strong pony teeth, Rainbow Dash trotted forward, carting her dad turned bratty kid sister off toward where Sunset’s trailer would be, and hopefully Twilight Sparkle. As luck would have it, it was that skinny purple girl who answered the door. The one who knew the other her. Rainbow Dash immediately said, “Hey mh dhh th—” Then she spat out her dad’s tail, and said, “My dad turned into a pony too, and she looksh familiar or something, so I want to know if other-me knew other-him—I mean—other-her. I don’t know who she’s sh’pposed to be. She’s way too young and too uh, not male, to be my counterpart’s dad in your world, so who is she? Do I know her?” “The... pony you just dragged here by the tail?” Twilight Sparkle queried woozily. She didn’t look so good; it was clear from the frazzled hair that she’d been losing sleep, and there was this sort of haunted panic in her eyes, like when the horror you want to escape is just the truth. “Who’s now refusing to look at us, and attempting to cross her arms?” “...we’re working out some personal issues,” Rainbow Dash said testily. “I just wanna know if you know her and how old she is, and... stuff.” “Well, what’s her name?” Twilight asked innocently, then grimaced, turning to Dash’s dad and asking, “Sorry I mean, what’s your name?” That earned her a glare from Dash’s dad, and a reedy, slurred soprano sounding as vicious as a chipmunk could possibly be, saying “I can’ even shay my name anhymore.” “Sorry, sorry! I’m a little distracted at the moment,” Twilight replied, squeezing her forehead in the fingers of a hand for some reason. Then she turned and re-asked Rainbow Dash in a tight whisper, “What is her name? She does look familiar, but I can’t quite place her. And did you say she was your dad? ” Disregarding Twilight’s surprise, Rainbow Dash said, “Yeah. And my dad’s name is Lightning Dust. I dunno what a girl version of that name would be.” “Lightning Dust?” Twilight asked, and whatever reaction Rainbow Dash could have expected, it would not have been for Twilight to stare at the fallen and newly minted mare with her eyes bugging out it surprise, pointing and shouting in outrage, “You almost got me killed!” Rainbow Dash was rolling on the ground with laughter. Her wings couldn’t even stop it. “Yeah!” she crowed when she could breathe, “That is so totally my dad!” “But wait, I haven’t even got to the part about the tornado!” Twilight whined. Rainbow Dash was going to die here, wasn’t she.