"Shh..." Lisa hushed, brushing a hand over her friend's forehead, "It's alright, Pinkie. It's over now."
"W-what's over?" Samantha frowned, nudging her friend away. "I still want to know, Twilight. What happened? I can feel it, but I can't quite tell what it was exactly..."
Lisa shook her head, remembering the strange girl's words from mere minutes ago. "It's-- it's nothing, Pinkie. You... I guess you must've..."
"Must've what?"
The girl sighed. "Listen, Pinkie." She began slowly, "Don't tell anybody else that I know about this, but I was talking to Samantha not too long ago."
Samantha gasped, backing away from her friend. "You... you know?" She stuttered, reaching an arm towards the doorknob, "Why... how could you?!"
"Wait!" Lisa cried as the strange girl once again disappeared with the slam of a door. "What did I do?"
Pinkie and I... or at least, our alter-egos, helped create Equestria as we know it...
The thoughts swirled about Lisa's mind, no matter how hard the girl tried to expel it.
You really don't remember, do you?
You weren't forced to forget your past life.
The girl paused, an entirely new question formulating in her mind.
If the simulations were made to recreate reality, what could've possibly happened here in real-life?
"C'mon, girly." Chad's gruff voice cut through the air as he turned towards the younger girl beside him. "You can carry another bag, can't ya?"
The girl shook her head, her arms straining already to lift the two bags of flour she was carrying.
Chad stared at the girl for another moment, before grabbing two bags of his own from the rations truck. "Alrighty then." He continued, "Let's get these things back to the storehouse."
Lisa watched silently as her two fellow officers lumbered towards the run-down storehouse, bulging bags of flour in tow. Was this really what this world had come to? Or was it simply a byproduct of the disconnection that resulted in such a dire state of civilization? The girl continued to watch as the two vanished into the storehouse, reemerging moments later as they made their way back to the truck. Back and forth, back and forth they went, never stopping to rest.
"Ay."
"Gah!" Lisa shrieked, jolting from the surprise as Timothy sat down beside her, "Spike! Don't scare me like that again!"
Timothy shrugged. "Hey, it's not like you weren't being a creep as well, watching those two doing their share of the work while you're just... what even are you doing, Twilight?"
The girl stared downwards. "Watching them." She sighed, turning her focus back to her friend, "It's just... well, I've been feeling more and more disconnected from my friends than I've ever been before."
Timothy silently raised a brow.
"No, no. It's not like that." Lisa corrected, "I know you're still here. It's just that the rest of our friends... well, I guess save for Pinkie, but even then, she's hardly ever herself anymore, but--"
"Twilight." The boy said sternly, placing a hand on Lisa's shoulder, "You're rambling again."
The girl let out a defeated sigh, shaking her head as she leaned back against the rough wall of the building behind them. "Sorry..." She began, "It's nothing, really. I've just been feeling down lately, and I don't quite know why." She dug her fingers into the cool soil. "I don't even know how to put it into words anymore, Spike."
"Hey," Timothy continued, "It's okay. You don't have to worry about a thing. We've only got, what... like, a week left until we can reconnect, Twilight."
Lisa shook her head. "I know, Spike. But... I'm not sure if I even want to go back anymore." The girl gazed towards the sky with a frown. "Samantha... Pinkie's alter ego, or whatever she calls her, told me that we used to be friends. Not between myself and Pinkie, but between us, Lisa and Samantha."
"Bu--"
"I'm don't want to go back yet, Spike. I want to remember who I was, who I am." The girl rambled on, her eyes wild with glee, "I want to see what else there is in the world, meet some new people maybe. Even make some new friends!"
Timothy gripped Lisa's shoulder harder. "Twilight." He began, nudging her repeatedly, "Twilight, come on. You know you can't stay here. Equestria needs you still!"
"I..." Lisa paused, staring blankly into the distance. "I have to go back, don't I?"