Sunset
"...And that's why we need your help." You splay your hands to the people gathered around the conference table, the Shadowbolts. You don't quite know all of their names by heart yet, but none of them were too excited to come to CHS after hours and hang out in the staff areas. On your side there's only Flash and Twilight, your whole squad.
The lighter blue one with twintails has her arms crossed. She nods to the arrow on the table and deadpans. "If that thing really works, why don't you just use the magic to build another portal?" Everyone takes her lead and regards it with some skepticism.
You try your best to smile, like you were expecting questions after your sincere plea for help. "There was only so much magic left in this world when the portal closed. A lot of it was let out during the Friendship Games, but it's almost gone now, and even that much wasn't enough to fix the portal again. All the rest of it's... reverting."
Your mind goes to the Dazzlings for a moment. If they really are from the days of Star-Swirl the Bearded, they've been filter-feeding off of people for at least a thousand years. Lives spent scratching after each new bit of magic... they'll come for the gem, you know it.
It doesn't help that you only have one complete, and you're pretty sure they have another, or most of one. No matter what timeline you pull her from, Adagio never answers your questions. She never tells you how to escape, she just laughs at you or snarls, and then tries to hurt someone.
"What do you mean by 'reverting'?" Lemon Zest asks. She's kind of slumped over her chair, chin rubbing into her arm, but at least she's paying attention.
You cough, and Flash brings over a small dog-crate. Inside, there's some neutral, suspicious snuffling. Butterfingers, you woke him up.
You place it on the table so everyone can see him. "This was... is, Twilight's dog. A week ago he fell through a portal started by rampant Equestrian magic and started talking, with human vocal cords, in full English, for hours on end. Now..." You wave a hand at Spike, and his eyes follow it. Then, he scratches himself.
Sour shudders, and Lemon looks suddenly very teary-eyed. It's good to know that there are dog people no matter what world you live in.
"If you agree to this, one of you will have to take care of him. We can't risk anything happening." You say.
Some of them nod to themselves. Sour Sweet's face has been swinging from placid to mournful to muttering this whole time, but you can't make out her words. It's not like it's a big condition compared to tracking down immortal monsters or repairing ancient magical artifacts from the wrong end.
One of them raises her voice. "Why us?" You definitely don't need to squint to see her, her hair looks like the wrapping on energy drinks, except for the goggles.
"We, uh... we thought, since you were sort of Twilight's friends, and you knew about Equestrian magic more than anyone randomly on the street, we could trust you with this kind of power."
"You mean you didn't want a Wondercolt getting put in harm's way." The same girl.
"No, we're going to have to use the arrow on some of them if this looks like it might not work out. Once we're out of usable magic... well, that's it, so we've got to use it for something. But when we do that, we're going to have to do it carefully." You explain.
Eyes fall on the arrow again. Twintails speaks, and the sentence trails into the room. "You're not going to erase our memories, are you?" Emphasis on 'our'.
You were worried about this, but you decided that they had to know everything ｢MS｣ could do. Honesty's an important part of friendship, of harmony. This isn't going to work if you're just yelling at them to do things, that didn't even work all the time when you bossed around Snips and Snails.
"If not all of you think this is a good idea, we'll have to, but just to make sure that everything stays secret. But I promise neither of us will use it on you any other time."
That brings a somber mood to the room, but hopefully you didn't just ruin your chances. You don't have room to do this wrong, not right now. A few conversations with people down the line has taught you that manipulation will be necessary, but you want to stick to the truth. Honesty, honesty, until you have to diverge from that path.
Sour speaks, for the first time you can actually make out. She's still in mutter-mode, though, talking with a kind of shadow over her face. "If this doesn't work, that's going to be it. We're all stranded."
Twintails weighs in, in almost the same tone. "If it's for Twilight, then it's bigger than us. Only someone heartless would say no to that."
Indigo nods with her eyes closed. "Simplifies it." No one raises any further objection.
Okay, breathe, you think you've got it. "Alright. Just remember, if you get lucky then we might not need to do this at all." You try to survey the room.
Maybe not the best idea to give them hope when you don't know what could happen. Some people might not be strong enough, and you haven't really warned them about that. They all stare up at you, patiently.
You laugh, nervous. "Uh, so, who wants to go first?"
Care
It's the evening, and you're staying at home, trying to vacuum the water-stains out of your carpet. Trixie took the car, you don't know where. It's not like you were going anywhere today. From what you can tell, your time in this purgatory's going to keep on running.
It's still ridiculous how fast something that important happened. You didn't know Golden very well, and you won't insult her by pretending to be more hurt than you really are, but you're definitely hurt for Derpy. It doesn't help the guilt that she wasn't really your family member, that she was distant or she once tried to put you in a hospital.
Just a few seconds with three random girls, making an escape too late, and the whole thing was already played out somehow. If you'd been awake to help her, you could've at least taken that bullet. Or could you have?
Like always, the lights sparkle in your future and taunt you. They're still there, they're still there. You swear, if you see that arrow again you're vaporizing it on the spot, no matter what it costs. And if that doesn't work, whoever's holding it.
You brood for a while, until there's a knock on the door.
Your heart jumps. Trixie hasn't been gone for very long, but you didn't get the feeling that she was getting you takeout or anything. You also know she can get in without a key, so there's no need to knock, and it's well past dark.
You sigh. It's probably Fido, or the Shadowbolts, or the Dazzlings, or the Crusaders, or Sunset, or Flash, or Anonymous, or Golden's ghost, or another evil version of you, or... you trudge to the door and look through the blinds.
...! Derpy!
She turns to your peering eyes, and she looks as sweet as ever. She's sad, but... more pitying than anything, like it would only be okay if you were happy.
You open the door, fast. Then your mouth moves, but it's too dry to talk.
After a moment you choke something out. "D-Derpy, I didn't know you were coming."
She comes closer and puts her arms around you. The hug is light, but you think she can probably feel your heartbeat now. It's running high; you were expecting more of a slap, to be honest, or another blow to the head from ｢Spinal Tap｣.
She pulls away from you, and she's blinking back tears. Then her eyes flutter closed, and she moves to kiss you. And a tiny barrier of light, smaller than a handkerchief, bounces up between your faces.
She bumps it before you can say something, and her eyes open again, surprised. You can see as the sadness in them deepens, and your heart shrivels up and dies with the sight.
"We have to talk." She says, suddenly straightfaced.
You nod, mouth dry again, and close the door behind her. Then you turn on a light and escort her over to the couch, and she tells you the story of what happened after you lost consciousness.
She goes light on the details of Golden's death, and you don't hurt her by asking for more. Trixie already told you as much as she could about all of it, of course, but not about this ball of light you gave her somehow, ｢Spinal Tap｣'s attacks on the whole conference room, the race outwards.
And not what Twilight knew. Derpy tells you that Twilight cried out for help in the heat of the moment, that she needed to be rescued. She never showed a Stand, and she didn't know exactly what Sunset was trying to do - she was just as much of a victim as the rest of you, used for her brains.
And then comes the good news. "-But now she's on our side. I've got her. And if ｢Spinal Tap｣ keeps gathering the gems, we can just hide them with Trixie's Stand until we have all of them! I'll already have a few by tomorrow morning." She's leaning forward a bit, arms resting on her knees, smiling genuinely but with water still in her eyes.
You lean forward too, until it's like you're two kids in a secret clubhouse. "That's great. Once we can get all three of them, we can wrap it up in a day or so. It'll take a little bit to wait until good things can happen to me again, but if we can hold them off for a dozen more days..."
Your voice trails off when you notice she's shaking her head. Her eyes are lowered to her knees, to the floor. You watch, and wait for some sign of what you're supposed to do.
"There's bad n-news too," she says, quietly.
You try to be gentle, and you rest a hand on her knee. "I know."
She shakes her head again. "No, not her. Not just her. It's something else, I only learned today. My, m-my parents had us sit down for it, and they told us..." She hiccups. You've never heard her do that before, it sounds childish except there's something sick to it, and she starts shaking again.
No, no, no... You can see why your power didn't stop her from coming here, or cut her brakes or something like that. This won't be a happy memory for you. But for her, you have to do something.
You bridge the distance between the two of you and put your hands on her shoulders. Something stops you a few inches away, two tiny, hand-shaped platforms like hologram blueprints of gloves. She doesn't notice, and you don't give her time to. It might doom you in the end, it might drag you away into hopelessness, but right now ｢Timbuk Three｣ is still your Stand. And as long as you can use it, as long as you have a future left to fuel it with, it will do as you say!
You burn away something small and distant, and don't mourn the loss, and the platforms disappear. You feel her again, hands on her shoulders gripping onto her like she's the only real thing in the world.
They squeeze her arms and you pull her against you. It's awkward, both of you half-standing and half-kneeling, but you don't let go. She cries into your collarbone, hands clenched into fists at the base of your neck. You only hear sound when she breathes out, sharp and high.
In that moment you remember burning the entire arm off of a Shadowbolt to protect her, and you're not sorry for it.
She calms down a little bit, face still planting against you, hair draped over your hands. Then a little more, by degrees.
You wait, and keep burning tiny moments. "Whatever it is, it'll be okay. We'll handle it somehow, just like everything else." You say, and she looks up at you, with red-rimmed, sore-looking eyes. "I promise. I'm not giving up on you, ever, not if you don't tell me to."
She blinks, and stands up a little taller, kissing you. It's something informal, almost sloppy, more about the thought than the act. You don't care that your mouths almost miss. It's the seal of something important here. Even if you're going to suffer like this, you can still create a good future. For her.
She pulls away and catches her breath. You lower her back to the sofa, and get ready to listen.
She rubs the back of her arm against her eyes, and then starts. "My parents made plans months ago, but they were saving it to surprise us at the end of the school year, and now that Golden's gone they've pushed everything ahead, because they don't think Canterlot's a safe place any more." They have a point, it probably isn't - wait. "They're already rescheduling everything, they'll have it ready in the next two weeks, just as fast as they can get the passports updated."
Passports...? "What are you saying?"
She looks like someone's making her plunge a knife in your chest, like if she could just not speak, you would be alive later tonight.
"We're moving back to France."
Sunny Flare
Urghhh.
You're coming to. Your head hurts, fiercely, but you’re upright. That's peculiar. You don't feel air on your wrists, and when you open your eyes, you can see that your computers are still with you.
You're sitting in an empty room in a not-uncomfortable chair, good except for the crick in your neck and a little blood on the front of your blouse. And your computers are still there. They're not any good in combat, of course - in fact, they're more like PDAs, but you expected them to be gone.
You reach a hand for your pocket to make sure the rest of your things are still with you, and find your arm's tied to the chair. So's the other one, and as your legs come awake you see they're stuck there too. Okay, okay. You turn and scan the room, looking for Sugarcoat.
She's next to you, alright, and already awake. You meet her eye, and she's been looking at you coolly for a while. Her hands are gripping the wooden arms of her chair tight, and you're surprised she hasn't ripped them right off. She looks annoyed, but not with you; there's something fearless in her eyes.
"You're awake." In comes the voice of the little pink one, from behind you. You crane your neck, and it protests harder; she's standing at the only entrance to the room, with her father standing over her.
Okay, which floor are you on? And what's the girl's Stand do?
Sugarcoat bites into the conversation. "You think you're going to interrogate us?"
It definitely packs a punch, plus it was able to move her around... and they somehow defeated Sugarcoat, even though she could've out-threatened them with ｢Nails for Breakfast｣.
Diamond speaks up as they enter. "Yes, actually." But nothing about that makes sense, unless they had better reflexes, or maybe if it healed the damage somehow. Something like that. Regardless, it's a Stand you don't want to go up against without more information. The windows in the room are dark, but you can see a few tree branches outside.
Second or third floor, probably. Were there more from the outside?
They walk around so that you don't have to turn to face them. Ooh! Filthy's holding the stone!
Your eyes turn from it to Sugarcoat. She doesn't look back, and if she gives you some sign, you don't see it. You didn't have a plan for getting captured and then tied to chairs and interrogated. You'd assumed that it would just be... over, then. Maybe...
Sugarcoat spits at the two. "We'll die before we tell you anything!"
Diamond keeps smiling. "Don't be dramatic. We know how to find your families, we know how to counter your Stands, and if you don't tell us what we want to know, we can just call the police on you for trying to steal from us."
"Yeah, and we can just get someone on our side to erase their memories! If you think we've never had to fool them, you've gotta be more sheltered than you look." Okay, she might want to tone it down from there.
Sugarcoat was the type who listened close to other people, who really got to the center of whatever they were talking about. She spoke with a scalpel. Did they give her brain damage, or what? Even you could tell that some of what those two were saying was a bluff.
"What is it you're trying to find out?" You ask them, eyes moving from the daughter to the father.
What kind of a crazy daddy would let his kid interrogate people who threatened to kill both of them?!
You notice that Sugarcoat's glaring at you, and it raises the hairs on your neck with a sense of genuine betrayal. Diamond ignores her a lot better than you do, and takes the Siren gem from her father politely. Then, she holds it up, like you're about to adjust a monocle and inspect it more closely.
Yes, of course, it's the big red magical rock.
"This. I want to know everything. Every detail you have about it and the other two, who wants it, and what for." She says. You probably don't have your magic detector on you, do you? You still don't understand how she could've assembled a gem so quickly, or why she would've hidden it all underneath of her bed, but it scares you more than a little.
"We really haven't been told much. Sunset Shimmer just wants them so she can reopen the gateway to her world." It doesn't actually hurt anything to explain that far. She pals with another kid who stole this gem in the first place, and through a network of connections she traces back to Care Root.
The look on her face solidifies that she's probably heard this before. But then she asks another question. "Why?"
"...'Why' what?"
"Why reopen the portal?"
"So she can go home?" You try to put a good intonation into that one.
For some reason, she doesn't buy it. "Really? She didn't seem to want that before now. What changed in the last three months to make her so interested in going back again?"
Sugarcoat scoffs rather violently, but doesn't say anything. You put on an unamused face. "When people lose things, they tend to want them back more than if they hadn't lost them in the first place. She found out what her world meant to her."
Filthy speaks, and it kind of jars you. "And what does that have to do with the two of you?" It must be late night for him to have been caught up on all of this.
Sugarcoat answers him. "We're helping her because it's the right thing to do! And we're not going to back down from saving the world because of a pointless setback like this, either!" Diamond keeps a straight face, but her father raises an eyebrow. Damn it, Sugarcoat.
"We want to help her because the worlds need to stay connected together. Remove Equestria, and magic's going to shrivel away in this one. That's more than anyone should have to lose." As you say it, you realize it's actually a decent argument. You don't know what magic can do, or even if it can help people do more than cheat at competitions, but there must be some way to build a technology around it. If only the patent office would believe "friendship power" was legitimately claimable...
"And what about Care?" Diamond asks you, directly.
You manage to look nonchalant. "What about him? He had one of the pieces and we had to take it from him."
She gives you a 'come on now' look. "We both know he didn't have a piece of this when you went after him. The only one of us who had one was me, the whole way. You only fought with him at the same time that some fake copy of him was trying to hurt Derpy, not to come after this."
She's so smug you wish you could box her one. Thanks, Sherlock. "Fine. We went after him because he was a big threat. If he used his power the wrong way, it would've ruined everything we were trying to accomplish."
"Oh? And how's that?"
Isn't it obvious? "Well, by destroying-" you start, and then stop yourself, and clamp your mouth firmly shut.
Okay, you're an idiot. Diamond's smugness increases, and you've had more than enough of this.
"By destroying one of these gems, do you mean? If there are only two left, no one will be able to use them?" She hefts it again, back up into your vision. You grit your teeth, but keep your mouth shut.
Sugarcoat sighs. "Don't be stupid. They're indestructible." She bites back something extra, something more like Indigo. She looks tired.
"Then it shouldn't matter if I just handed it to my father here, should it? His Stand wouldn't turn it into a trillion dollars and ruin your plans forever?" She feints handing it over to him, watching both of you for struggling.
You don't give her the satisfaction. "｢Royals｣." The visible chair disappears just as you push up out of it. Its twin, flipped vertically into the floor, stays in contact with your shoes for a moment, and then you're moving. You've got handcuffs dangling on your extremities, and the ones on your ankles slap against the carpet dully. Whatever.
Diamond's backing away, and you take the advantage, barely even noticing Filthy Rich behind her. You half-expect her to disappear, but her Stand doesn't activate. In a single rough swipe, you rip the gem out of her hand.
Now, push out the bad memories of that track scholarship...
Your entire body turns, kicking against where she'd just been standing. The world lurches underneath of you sickly, not fast enough, and you get the sensation of running in a nightmare, being chased by things infinitely faster than you. Then the slow motorcyclish turn ends, and you've made the steps to the Sugarcoat.
"That's the right stuff, Flare!" She shouts, rattling the handcuffs, eyes wide.
A hand on her chair, and suddenly there's a second seat jutting out of the back, arms and all. You grab one of those, and focus again - the original disappears, and gravity takes control of your de-facto boss.
She crouches before she can fall on her butt, and then you throw the chair at your two enemies. Filthy grabs it, and it explodes into money before reforming out of the air into a gun.
Really?!
"Shoot me! Shoot me and you'll just shoot her! ｢Nails for Breakfast Demo｣!" Sugarcoat shouts, and you can see her neck change, standing out from the rest of her like a single patch of tie-dye in a fancy suit. Diamond's changes too.
You see an opportunity: quickly you come up behind Sugarcoat, and fling one of your handcuffs around her throat.
Then you raise your voice, which you'd prefer never to have to do. "If you shoot, I'll make this puncture her throat!"
Filthy stares at you for a minute, and he's really not going to back down, is he? Could his Stand just give her a skin graft in a matter of seconds, before it would matter? How would he know it sure enough to risk his daughter's life?
Then he turns the gun down, away from you. You think for a moment that he's putting it down at his side, but his finger doesn't leave the trigger. He turns it to the side, to... his daughter's throat.
Sugarcoat's.
You stare at this utter madness, and he looks back up at the two of you soundlessly. Neither of you move, and you feel Sugarcoat breathing against you, all shoulders. She only has one throat, that's not something that ｢Royals｣ could fix, and to your knowledge she hasn't used her ability on any other people lately, any bystanders or random people. That would be horrible, but in the heat of the moment it's not as horrible as being alone here with these two.
No one speaks for a moment, and then finally the one who opens her mouth is Diamond. She sighs, a little annoyed. "This has been very interesting, but I think I've had enough of it. ｢Pink Act 2｣."
Something small, kind of like ｢Lemon Demon｣, comes floating over towards you. It's almost all pink, and it's bright and hard to look at. Despite your general panic at your situation, a new layer of foreboding enters your mind.
"She's going to put us back in the chairs! Don't let it touch you!" Sugarcoat says to you.
You're close to the exit. If you can just make it a few paces further, you'll be outside and you can slip away somehow! But it comes drifting towards you like a nightmare, relentless even if it's not moving quickly. You can't get out of here without the element of surprise, so what? What do you do?!
Sugarcoat strains to do something, you can feel her muscles tightening. She puts her hands to her head, and a clump of white hair falls out onto the carpet. You look at it in horror, and then up to the Stand - it's upon you.
Okay, Stands can fight Stands. You don't have one that floats around you like other people do, yours is stuck to your palms, but maybe you can block it or something like that!
You lurch with this hasty idea, ready to test it out, when Sugarcoat shouts. "｢Nails for Breakfast Demo｣!" When it comes out, her voice cracks, rasping on too-high syllables.
You expect her to switch something with you, but there's nothing - and nothing with Filthy or Diamond, either. No, something... appears, in front of her, like a third person in the room. It's entirely dressed up in a motorcycling outfit, dark helmet and all. It was hers, back in the Games. Indigo's, you remember watching her practice for it.
It stands between you and the much smaller pink apparition, and for the first time both of your interrogators look surprised. Then it bends its legs a little, assuming a different posture, defensive.
You don't waste time watching. It jabs ｢Pink Act 2｣ while you back up out of the door, and the two start genuinely fighting. Then Sugarcoat starts to buckle in your arms, like she's lifting something her own weight. The Stand falters for a moment, fading and then returning, and you turn with her and run out the door.
You almost have to drag her behind you, and a gunshot rings out past you, but it's much too late. With chains clanking behind you like a ghost out of A Christmas Carol, you race down the nearest hallway, making as many turns as possible.
Care
"France?" you chew on the toughest syllable of your life.
Derpy nods. "I tried to stop them, but they think it's just... too much. They don't trust me right now, to know what to do."
She looks dejected by that. You don't know how to relate to her; it wasn't like your parents were really very... hands-on.
You try to be comforting. "Well, we can still... write each other? I mean, I'll be out of school after the next semester, I can just move to where you are." It wouldn't actually be nearly that easy, but... well, it's not like it's just your future you've been fighting for. For the both of you combined, you can endure that.
She nods, since she's already ahead of you. "Yes, but... what if being too far away shorts out your power? I-I mean, how can all of those good things happen for us if we're not going to see each other?" She looks up at you, her face a mask of worry.
You stroke one of her bangs reassuringly. "You shouldn't be thinking about that right now. You've been through so much in the last day, I don't want you to be afraid for me too."
"But if something happens to you, all of this, it'll all be for nothing! Even Golden just wanted to make sure that things would work out between us, and now she's dead and everything's falling apart anyway!" She doesn't have any more crying left in her right now, and she looks at you almost accusingly.
This damned Stand. Was it just a curse from the beginning, with no hope for either of you? You've often thought that it would be easier on you to not have ｢Timbuk Three｣, but to think about the lives that would be saved...
You push that out of your mind, you've run through these thoughts too many times now. Thinking too much about the wrong things is a big problem for you.
After a moment, you respond. "I don't know what to say to that, for sure. Maybe it is doomed. But if it is, it won't hurt you for very long. If we get to the very bottom of the lights, then... then I'll just burn those ones out so you can move on."
She stares at you for a long, frozen moment, and then pushes you away from her. And as you search her face for a sign of what you just did wrong, she reaches a new level of upset.
Before it was the world that was unfair, but now she's upset with you, and you can feel the emotions running off of her and towards you in waves. For a moment it looks like new tears have suddenly been commandeered, but she just shakes to herself.
You step closer, hand raised diffidently to try offering her some comfort. It feels wrong that the two of you aren't touching any longer. "I didn't mean-"
She raises her voice over you. "Don't talk that way! After everything that we've done together, and everything that we've had to give up, you'd just throw it all away?!"
For her, probably.
"I only meant that... as a complete last resort, if both of us had to choose between being miserable..."
You don't know how to word what you're trying to say, and her eyes aren't making it easier for you. "I don't want you to die! You can't just burn everything out and, and leave me behind! We have to get through this together!"
That's not what you meant! And it's not realistic, you can't just expect that things will work out that way! For a moment you wonder if Sunset sent another version of Derpy to find you, and then you feel disgusted with yourself, as low as before you ever met her.
"Derpy, I..." You don't know what you're trying to say now, but you have to flail your way to something, anything to lift this feeling. It's crushing your heart, now.
She doesn't cut you off, and you go on. "I love you, and... I don't want to pull you down with me. I'll fight as hard as I can for what we have, so we can build up a future together, but... Derpy, it just doesn't look like it's going to happen."
"Don't say that!" she shouts, the edge wavering wetly in her voice. "I believe in you! And I need you to believe in this, too! Do you think I'll just find someone else on the street who's like you, Care?"
The last question hits you square between the eyes. You blink. "What do you mean?" There are tons of people like you, you're nothing very special.
She half chuckles to herself, like you just told a joke. "Care, you're... you're one of the nicest people I've ever known, and you've put your life in danger for me, and my sisters, and just to give us all a future! You're smart, you're sweet, you get lost and nervous so easily--"
You have a hard time keeping eye contact with her, and not for obvious reasons. She steps closer, suddenly the warmer one of the two of you, though not by much. And she lowers her voice.
"If I was the one with ｢Timbuk Three｣, would you ever want me to sacrifice myself so you could, could... 'move on'?"
“Of course not." Your voice comes out bested and breathy. You’d struggle, and struggle, until there was nothing to do at all. You’d tie yourself to her destiny until you made something of it or every last moment was disintegrated.
”Then don’t say it like I could do that.”
Before you can think, you stick your foot in it again. “But that’s… that’s not what this is.”
Her mouth purses, but she lets you talk.
Images of the other version of you, aloof and casually evil, flash through your awareness. “｢Timbuk Three｣ is the only reason I was able to meet you in the first place, and understand how… how much you matter. In some other world, you don’t have to worry about being stuck to my destiny.”
As the words roll out, you try to think of some gentle way to restate yourself, so she at least understands. If this all goes south, you don’t want to launch it on her in the moment. You could give it all up for her, but not if it had to be a cruel surprise.
Frustration takes over her again. "In another world, I'm dead!"
...Oh. That's not something you've wanted to think about. You know what the other version of you said that night, you and her shared everything, but you zoomed right over it in the recap. It definitely wasn't something you could imagine ever doing, not in a million years, not even on accident.
"But that might be a freak chance event! If there are enough other universes to get my evil twin out of, there must be plenty of them where none of this happened at all, and you're perfectly happy in at least some of them!" Okay, you may be mathematically inclined, but talking about apparently-proven theoretical physics is outside of your wheelhouse.
"What about you?" she asks.
"What do you mean?"
"There must be plenty of universes where you're happy with someone else, right?"
You think a moment, and shake your head minutely. That's... a little too far-fetched.
Her shoulders sag, and her eyes develop a glaze of pity. ”You really don’t think you deserve me, do you?”
Of course you don't. You killed her sister, you dragged her into a war, you shackled her to a destiny designed to make her miserable...
"No," you say the word softly, hoping that it'll make the impact less painful for her - although you don't really know why it would hurt. You feel a kind of submerged shame at how little you understand this pattern.
"Do you think I deserve you?"
It doesn't hurt to be honest about that. "I think you deserve better than me." You stop for a moment, shaking your head and appending yourself. "Not that I want you to leave. I'm just... I'm no good at this. Let's not fight."
"Who?" she steps closer, and you almost take a step back.
"Huh?"
"Who do I deserve?"
Well, it's not like you have a list running of people your girlfriend should be with who aren't you; one answer comes to mind, and doesn't make room for substitutes. "Wh-whoever you want. Anyone."
She's intent now. The way that you've cycled through these emotions... a couple months ago, you wouldn't have felt anything this strongly in the course of a whole week. In some ways, you'd take that numbness over the discomfort you're feeling now.
"And who do you deserve, then?" Her voice is low.
You look at her and try to come up with an answer. It's like you just turned the wrong corner, mentally - but again, it's not like you were obsessed with ranking yourself in the dating pool, ever. And you're still not, for obvious reasons.
...A response doesn't show up.
She gives one for you. "'Nobody'. Is that it?"
You feel suddenly, strangely, like she's seeing inside of you, and both of your hands come up placating. "Okay, it was a stupid thing to bring up. It's just... how I feel sometimes, and I wasn’t trying to hurt you with it. I'm sorry."
She waits for you to finish, unmoving. Then, before you can blink, she bridges the short distance between you.
Her hands are clutching at your arms, tight, almost painful. You feel a sudden, squirming need to pull away for a moment. Normally being close to her is impossibly wonderful, but right now you just want a moment of breathing space.
"Look at me," she says, and you do. Then she takes a deep breath, and for a second you can hear nothing except your fridge and the lights. "Say you deserve me."
You have to admit, the words fluster you, and you already regret bringing this up. A couple of minutes ago you were busy dealing with France, weren't you? But if you just say the words, she might be appeased.
"I... but I don't..." They don't come.
She scowls, and then something sweeps your legs out from under you, from behind, and this realization only hits once you're already halfway to the ground. You fall onto your carpet, already searching for your attacker.
You catch a glimpse of something, and roll over onto your stomach to reorient yourself towards it; in the attempt, you get enough of a look to realize it's ｢Spinal Tap｣'s tail. Then, as quickly as it came, it disappears back into the air, and there's a sudden, breath-squeezing weight settling on your back. You try to roll over, and it doesn't move.
"Are you sitting on me?" you twist your head hard enough to see her doing exactly that. She's staring off into space neutrally while she compresses your lumbar.
You have trouble lifting bags of road salt. Would it be inappropriate to laugh at this?
"You know what you have to do. I saw what happens to you when you think that way, and I'm not letting it happen here."
｢Timbuk Three｣'s sudden unwillingness to separate the two of you is like a bad joke. You try to tell yourself that she's just trying to help you to get her mind off of what's happened to her, but... well, you're trying to help her too, and for the same reasons, so that's no argument. You...
You sigh. Just bite the bullet already!
"Fine, alright, uncle!"
She doesn't so much as breathe at you.
"I deserve you." It comes out sounding normal, but each syllable had to roll its way into place. You feel dirty, but not as much as you felt on the cusp of saying it.
"Now promise me you'll never destroy your future to make me move on from you."
First off, that's not what you meant. "I can't promise something like that, I don't know what's in the future!" You realize the irony. "Well, much."
"I can stay here all night, but you're not getting up until you say it." She says matter-of-factly, still busily inspecting two random points on your wall.
You know she's not going to be reasonable, or realistic. It's something you love about her, but you're learning it doesn't go away. This whole relationship has been about holding on for dear life.
...Would she have liked you, if ｢Timbuk Three｣ hadn't put you together?
It doesn't matter. You have to make her happy.
"Okay. I promise." You say, and get no response. You say it a second time, more deliberately. "I promise I won't burn out my future just so you can be happy."
The pressure on your spinal column lifts, and you roll over. Oof.
She's kneeling beside you, brushing the dust off your shoulders as you sit up. "There. That wasn't so bad, was it?" She's smiling, thinly, like some victorious angel.
You did your job.
Sugarcoat
You got out!
It took getting through the overdecorated overlarge overmansion, but no one else was around to stop you. The brat and her father never caught up with you, although they still have your phones. Both are encrypted, but with their resources, they might already know everything on them, which is why you're utterly failing to dial a number in this phone booth right now.
You didn't realize these things still existed, but clearly your body's rejecting them. There's some extreme pain in your abdomen right now, and this life-forsaking monster headache... Your fingers slip on the fifth number, again, like you're some kind of invalid. You can hardly put the next quarter in, and when you do, you see liver spots running up your arm.
Oh, no, they're just patches of freakish mismatched skin. Great.
Your hand hovers over the numbers, but you don't press any of them yet. First, you switch hands with Sunny, and the shakiness goes away for a minute. She makes no sign of noticing, standing watch outside. Not a very good watch, if she can't even figure out that you took her hand away from her. The streets are mostly empty by now, mostly, but a city's a city.
The numbers come easy now, and you resist the sudden stupid urge to celebrate your progress. The headache helps, and you put a hand to your forehead while you cup the probably-diseased phone to your ear. At least in this tight space you can lean on the wall.
It rings, and keeps ringing for a while. If this one doesn't work, it'll be Lemon, then Sunset.
...It draws into those infernal extra rings, the ones that can go on for minutes on end.
When she finally answers, she's lucky you haven't hung up and redialed. "What?"
"Sour, it's us. Things got majorly fucked, but-"
"Sugarcoat? We were worried about you! Where are you?"
"They've got an entire gem already, we're coming your way. We have to regroup before they can put the police on us or do something worse." No more sleeping in your house. Not until they can get the arrow free, and present circumstances make that less and less likely. If Care weren't around to have all these ridiculous overcomplicated plans maypoled around, this would all have been settled forever ago!
"Well, get the hell over here!"
"I don't know where you are."
"They called all of us to the Sweet Shoppe so we can plan."
Good thinking. "That's not too far. We'll be there soon, but we're coming on foot."
You can't believe you had to ditch your fucking car, but you couldn't even find it in the driveway. Bastard probably turned it into money or reversed it out of time or some other freaky shit. You huff.
"Well, hurry. We were all about to go on a rescue mission and it's two in the - what’s that?” Her voice travels away from the phone for a second. Then there's a pair of shouts, indistinct. This connection's despicable, and your headache's getting worse.
"Sour?" You press your hand into your hair, and you something feels off. A thick clump of white comes away, with a few strands of blue underneath it - you stare at it as some commotion starts on the other end of the line.
"Is that - oh, shit." Danger of some kind, and it's not where you are. You feel the oddest kind of longing, one you wouldn't even notice if it didn't hit you like nausea.
Sour's voice comes closer again, now swiveling to 'peppy'. "We'll actually need to raincheck that, I think. The Sirens just showed up."
You open your eyes fully, and the headache seems to lift from you. "Which ones?"
You hear the phone move, and your question doesn't get an answer. The snarlier voice comes on a moment later. "They're standing outside. Pinkie's the only one with keys for the back, but it doesn't matter anyway since they put a bunch of those black rope things outside of it."
They're playing for keeps. It scares you how that's the only way you can think to summarize it. You try to figure out what they might be planning, but those parts of your mind are being roadblocked.
"We're on our way." Of course something awful would happen just now, the universe is too mean-spirited to let you off the hook once or twice -- but now you have something to do.
You drop the phone without hanging up, leaving Sour to figure out that you're not around any more. Before it can collide with the glass of the inner booth, you've already spun on your heels and opened the door. You do something like storming outside of it, more aware of the way your feet are hitting the ground and trying to lengthen your strides.
Sunny turns over to you just as you've built into a jog. "What's-"
"I'll explain on the way." You grab her by the arm and tear her away from her post.
It's only once you're in motion that you start really thinking. The Shoppe isn't someplace you've gone regularly, but you know it's at least a dozen blocks away from where you are now, so you'll just have to make time.
Sunset
You're in a small backroom, an office next to the larger oven-centric space you'd expect in the back of the cafe, surrounded by the forces you're trying to rally. All three of the Dazzlings are outside, and they're willing and able to kill in pursuit of their goals.
You don't know how they know you'd be here, but it might have been by following Sour Sweet and Lemon Zest. If that really is how they did, then they've seen the shipping container. You'll have to think of some way to move her, discreetly.
At this exact moment, you've got five people with you, one outside and another two on the way. Aria's got you surrounded already, which means it might be a siege situation.
You stop thinking and start talking. "Sour, Lemon, go defend the doors." They clamber off, closest to them anyway. "Everyone else, our first priority is getting out of here safely. If we can get to ｢Party Rock｣, we can do that for sure. Does anyone have a phone?"
Fluttershy nods sheepishly and raises hers while the others search for theirs. "I do."
"Good. Call Pinkie. Everyone else, form a second line and support the Shadowbolts. If Sunny Flare and Sugarcoat are coming here, we've got to be ready to pick them up."
"We're on it!" Rainbow all but cheers, and heads out to help the defense effort.
You stand up and pocket your half-a-gem, mind working furiously. No more casualties. You head outside to get an eyeful of the scene.
Yep, they’re there alright. Adagio stands in the center, just outside of your doors, hands behind her back. She’s not in the singing outfit, just a hoodie. If you didn’t know more about them, you’d think all three of them were just slightly shady girls. No doubt she wants to talk to you.
You step forward from behind your friends, and stride up to the Shadowbolts. Both of their Stands are out - Lemon Zest is half-crouching. No one moves except you, and quietly you push the door open, not wide enough to enter or exit.
The night air scalds your nose as you speak. “Where’s Flash?”
Adagio smiles. ”Give us the gem and we’ll tell you.”
You say nothing.
”You’ve got an awful lot of people in there, don’t you? Oh, and they all smell just like Equestrian magic, imagine that.”
“They have Stands, and none of them are ones you’d want to mess around with.”
She waves a hand dismissively. ”Yes, yes, I’m sure your pet humans are well-protected. It’s a shame you didn’t bring them to meet us a day ago, I think we’d have liked being reacquainted.”
This is exactly what you’ve been trying to avoid. You can’t risk them. They’re the island of hope that you had once you stopped trying to hurt people for power. You aren’t going to let them be put in harm’s way over this!
”That really was an interesting tactic, though, opening a portal by channeling the magic through your body. Although you would die if you pulled it off, even with the perks of not being from around here.” Her voice is conversational, but her smile makes you want to attack her.
You deflect her probe. “Maybe you don’t understand as much as you think you do.”
Her expression doesn’t change. ”Oh, very good. It’s too bad that I’m better. Maybe I won’t give you Flash back.”
Sonata titters, and her voice is small. ”Flash-back.”
Adagio rolls her eyes.
“I’m going to give you one more chance.” You say this, and her eyebrow raises another three notches. “Once I have all three of the gems and the portal’s opened, I’m going to destroy them if they’re not broken already. The three of you will starve, in pain, for the rest of time, and I’ll make sure that no one in Equestria ever lets you back inside.”
Aria, silent up to now, gives a single, dismissive ‘pah’. Adagio closes her eyes and covers her mouth, hiding a giggle on the edge of politesse.
Then she answers for the three of them, without even looking at the other two. ”You don’t really think we care if there’s a portal to Equestria or not, do you?” You start to say something, and then hesitate as she goes on. ”We’ve been here long enough to get over our homesickness. It’s not much of a world, but… well, we’ve got plans for it.” Another unpronounced smile lights up her face, but the eyes make it cruel.
”Then I’ve got bad news for you.” The headlights come on, and all three of them look towards them, too late.
｢Party Rock｣ crashes straight for them, sending them flying like ragdolls. Pinkie stops it, and the whole yellow body of it lurches behind her. Then she yanks the lever, and the bus door opens with the typical hydraulic wheeze.
You push open the Shoppe door and wave your friends through. As they hurry for the bus, you nod to Lemon and Sour too. They know you’re in no real danger, for now.
You know that if Adagio just started clawing at your eyes, you might have some trouble, and enough Equestrian magic might hurt, too. Mostly, the only thing that can hurt you is yourself. You wish Twilight were here, she’d say something to make it feel less stressful.
You shout after them as you leave yourself, door banging shut behind you. ”Call Sugarcoat and figure out where they are!”
Lemon shouts back to you, her face suddenly nervous. ”They don’t have phones!”
You swear, stepping up into the bus while you do it. “Where are they coming from?”
”I don’t know!” Sour shouts back, irritably.
Pinkie’s voice cuts over both of you. ”Sunshim, they’re getting back up!” There’s no fear in her voice; she sounds just as excited as she always does. She shifts gears, and you shuffle a little closer inside so the door can close behind you.
And… something happens. The world whiplashes around you, all the colors getting replaced, everything different. For a second you think you’ve hit your head, and then you realize you’re standing in the Shoppe again, on the edge of leaving the back rooms.
You have enough time to see a huge iron chainlock appear around the front door, when something grabs you around your middle. A big shepherd’s-crook, like you’re being pulled off of the stage.
As it pulls you back, you can see the door open. Sour peeks her head out and looks for you. Then, just as you’ve fixed your hands around the device and started twisting around, it disappears completely.
You fall over and try to get a sideways look at your latest problem. Then your heart skips a beat.
Not right now. Filthy Rich stands there, with his daughter next to him, looking serious as a heart attack. Over her shoulder there’s a Stand.
That can’t be, there’s no way she got a hold of the arrow.
”Sunset Shimmer.” Neither of them opened their mouths. The third voice comes from behind them, you almost miss her in the metal and the low light. ”You killed my sister. You made it so she had to die.”
Silver Spoon steps up between the two of them. Her voice is almost emotionless, like Pinkie’s sister’s. ”Now, you’re going to bring her back.”
｢To Be Continued｣
Stand: ｢Nails for Breakfast Demo｣
User: Sugarcoat
Ability: Automatic Stand; transfers itself to the most underdeveloped Stand user in its vicinity. Switches body parts with any person the user’s touched hands with. Over the course of three days, permanently transforms its user into Indigo Zap.