//------------------------------// // August 18 - Déjà vu // Story: 7DSJ: The Knife's Edge // by Flynt Coal //------------------------------// At the front of the classroom, the professor continued his lecture, but Jade Lily did not hear him. Something’s different…. Once again that day, Jade was wracked by another surreal, overwhelming sense of déjà vu. It had started early Saturday morning, when the feeling had been so powerful it had actually roused her from her sleep. Somehow, ever since that moment, Jade felt that the entire world was different somehow. Yet at the same time… it was not. In those bleary-eyed early hours of the morning, Jade had chalked it up to nothing but frayed nerves after her first week of University, but now Jade was convinced: There was powerful magic at work here. “Jade?” Her friend’s voice brought her back to reality (whatever that might be now). “You coming?” Jade blinked. Somehow, class was already over, and students were filing out of the room. Shrinking Violet stood just beside her, looking mildly anxious. Of course, Violet was always mildly anxious about something, but this time Jade thought it might actually be warranted. “You feeling okay, Jade?” Violet asked. “You’ve been spacing out a lot today.” “I’m fine,” Jade answered, brushing aside a lock of her long mauve and lavender hair. “I’m just tired.” It wasn’t necessarily a lie, and the yawn that followed was genuine enough, so Violet simply nodded as Jade put her books away and stood to accompany her out the door. It had only been about a week since Jade started her first semester at Michigan Tech, but already she knew she would have a lifelong friend in Violet. The two of them had hit it off almost immediately when they met in their first period class. Perhaps a part of it was they were two of the only black girls in their focus, but Jade soon found out the two of them had a lot in common. Violet was a brilliant and creative young woman with frameless glasses and soft red hair cut short, and had worked very hard through high school to get into MTU. Despite the girl’s very prevalent social anxiety, Jade had managed to get her to open up a little about herself, and had since discovered they shared a certain degree of homesickness. Violet had spent much of her childhood growing up in New Orleans, that is until Hurricane Katrina came through. Having completely lost their home, Violet and her family had moved to Detroit to live with her aunt and uncle. Although they had been accommodating enough, Violet still missed the friends and the life left behind in New Orleans. Without elaborating, Jade had told Violet that she could empathize with that. After all, the pain of being unable to return home—and that even if she did, it wouldn’t be the same—was one Jade was all too familiar with. Jade brushed aside those rather depressing thoughts, choosing instead to enjoy the home and friends she had now. She pulled out her phone and her heart skipped a beat when she saw a new alert: A message from Braeburn. It was nothing more than a simple check to see how she was doing, but any message from the love of her life gave her butterflies. “So, what are you doing for lunch, Jade?” Violet asked. “Iris and I wanted to check out that new burrito place that opened up down the street,” Jade said as she replied to Braeburn’s message. Violet seemed somewhat disappointed, and if Violet had wanted to eat with her, Jade could guess why. Her roommate in residence, Iris Nightshade, had what could generously be described as a very… outgoing personality. One that often set her at odds with Jade’s much more timid friend. So it was a surprise when Violet said, “Mind if I tag along?” At Jade’s surprised look, Violet folded her arms. “What? I can handle a little teasing from your roommate.” “I just thought you would have wanted to have lunch with Sandstone and the others,” Jade said with a shrug. Apparently, Sandstone and Violet had been friends since high school, and were all part of a very diverse little group of friends. It was easy to miss the way Violet’s folded arms shifted ever so slightly so that she was hugging herself. “Nah, things have been kind of weird between us lately.” “What happened?” Jade asked. Sucking in a breath, Violet answered, “He asked me out.” It took a second for Jade to process this. “Oh.” After giving it more thought, Jade said, “Well, seems like a good guy. You don’t at least want to give it a chance?” Violet looked away. “He’s… let’s just say he’s not really my type.” Violet’s face then turned an interesting shade of red. “Besides… I kinda like somebody else….” Jade raised an eyebrow. “Oh? Who is it?” But Violet kept staring at the ground, her voice even smaller now than it had been. “Doesn’t really matter.” Then gesturing to the promise ring on Jade’s finger, she said, “Not all of us can be as lucky in love as you, Jade. I don’t have a chance with them….” “Not with that attitude you don’t!” said a new voice in a lighthearted teasing tone, and Violet jumped in alarm as another girl approached. “Just get some lacy underwear, invite them over and show them what it looks like on you. That usually works for me!” “Hey Iris,” Jade greeted, and braced herself for an over enthusiastic hug. Iris Nightshade was an exceptionally attractive young woman with a lot of love to give, and was well on her way to building a reputation of giving it very freely. “Jade. Is Mumbles there coming with us for burritos?” Iris asked when she broke the hug. “As long as you keep the teasing to a minimum,” Jade said sternly. “Of course! You know it’s all in good fun, right?” Just then, Jade remembered something. “Oh! I actually need to return a book to the library. Mind if I do that real quick before we go?” “What book?” Violet asked curiously. Seeing no harm in it (after all, she didn’t have to explain why she had taken it out), Jade pulled out the book in question. “Religious Cults Through the Ages?” “Jade, why are you reading about cults?” Iris asked curiously. “You can’t deny this sort of stuff’s kinda fascinating,” Jade said, deliberately avoiding giving her a real answer. After all, how was she to explain that she came from a dimension where she was a magical unicorn, and that she was searching for evidence of somepony using her mentor’s mirror portal without his knowledge? “For instance, there was this one group called Ordo Duodecim said to have operated all around Rome and Europe as far back as Julius Caesar’s time. Executed a lot of people. Some real Illuminati shit...although obviously they existed before the real Illuminati.” Violet rubbed an arm uncomfortably. “Eesh. History is so… scary.” Iris was quiet for some time before saying, “Welp, just make sure you don’t drink the Kool-Aid, okay, Jade?” Jade laughed. “Yeah, I’ll be careful. In the meantime, can I trust you to behave yourself around Violet while I return this?” “I’ll do more than merely behave.” Iris put an arm around Violet and smiled. “I’m going to completely steal your best friend while you’re gone.” Seeing Violet’s own vaguely uncomfortable smile, Jade said, “Good luck with that,” before heading into the library. She returned the book without incident, and was surprised to see upon her return that Iris and Violet were actually talking quite amicably. Iris gave her a triumphant grin when she saw her, and Jade couldn’t help but grin back. Even so, as she, Violet, and Iris went off to eat, Jade had an inexplicable bad feeling. She didn’t notice the male figure follow her out of the library, watching the trio of girls go through spectacled eyes curtained by long black hair. That night, Jade went to bed still feeling the strange coming and going sensation of déjà vu that she’d felt throughout the day. It was becoming more than just surreal now—it was becoming unsettling. So as luck would have it, when Jade finally drifted off into slumber, she dreamed a most comforting dream of someone she had not seen in a very long time. A woman appeared before her in the dream wearing simple attire, her hair as red as lifeblood. It was only as her hands started to glow—weaving together invisible broken threads—that Jade realized it was her liegelady: Queen Faust of Equestria—regent of her home as it was when she still lived there. Jade called out to her, but the ancient queen was too preoccupied with her work. Finally, the alicorn in human form took notice of Jade and smiled. “It’s good to see you’ve made a fulfilling life for yourself despite the injustice you have suffered, my little pony,” Faust said, and Jade’s heart swelled at the familiar old term of endearment. “But your faith is soon to be tested. Much hardship lies ahead of you; revelations to shatter all you know as truth.” At that, the old queen’s countenance grew sad. “I only wish there was more I could do to prepare you for what lies ahead.” Jade was speechless. She had dreamed of her world many times before. Seen Queen Faust, her parents, and her mentor, Starswirl the Bearded. But never before had any of them seemed as real as Faust had been in that dream. “I don’t understand,” Jade had told her after a time. Faust had only looked at her with sad, resigned eyes. “You will,” she said, like it was the most terrible thing she could imagine. Though Jade didn’t know it, the revelations Faust spoke of would not come to pass until early in the following year. But the catalyst to those events would take place the very next week.