Jade awoke alone in her dorm, short of breath and just short of screaming. She dreamed she was back at the party, trapped in the dark with dozens of other students. Trapped with him as he put on another horrifying show for her benefit. But this time it wasn’t Iris looking up at her with mangled eyes. Not Iris banging her head into the window over and over again.
It was Braeburn. All at once she knew she had to call him. She had to know he was okay. So she pulled out her phone and opened FaceTime. She hesitated only once when she saw the time: 7:43 AM. Jade remembered it was Saturday, and wasn’t even sure he would be awake at this hour. Her heart fluttering, she started the call anyway.
As luck would have it, he answered relatively quickly, and Jade felt more at ease when she saw his handsome green eyes and dirty blonde hair with amber highlights.
“Morning, Brae,” she said with a tired smile. “Sorry, did I wake you?”
Braeburn gave her the smile he seemed to always have just for her. “’Course not, hon. Grew up on a farm, remember? I’m used to getting up at the crack of dawn.”
Then Braeburn’s smile started to drift away, and he studied her closer through the phone screen as he asked, “Is somethin’ wrong, Jade?”
Trying her best to keep up her smile, Jade answered, “No, just… wanted to talk to you. How’s classes?”
Braeburn’s skeptical look remained, and Jade realized she should’ve known better than to try and slip one past him. “Fine. Better than you look right now to be brutally honest. Jade, you look like you haven’t slept at all.” His skeptical expression became more pained. “Please… just tell me what’s wrong.”
As she thought about everything from losing Violet to the horror she’d witnessed the night before, Jade couldn’t keep the hot tears from building up. Nor could she keep her voice from breaking as she finally answered, “It’s just… i-it’s been a really hard week….”
Jade wiped at her eyes, and couldn’t see the sorrowful sympathy on her fiancé’s face as he asked, “You miss your friend, huh?”
Sniffing loudly, Jade nodded. “You have no idea.” And Jade hoped it would stay that way.
“I’m sorry, hon. Believe me, if I could I would climb right through this screen to hold you and make you breakfast.”
The earnest sincerity in his eyes gave her the strength to smile. “I know, and I love you for it.” But her smile didn’t last. “I really wish you could be here too.”
At that, Braeburn perked up. “Hey, that reminds me. It may be awhile, but in about a month I’m dropping my Friday ethics class for a different elective, and there’ll be a week that I have no classes on Friday. I was thinking I’d head down to visit you then. Spend the weekend together!”
The smile that formed on Jade’s face was bigger than the last, and remained longer. “I’d love that.”
“Well, I love you.”
The two of them talked for several more minutes after that about nothing in particular, and when they at last hung up Jade already felt better than she had at any point during the entire week. At the very least, it gave her the strength to go through her morning routine and head down to the cafeteria for breakfast. Even so, the cold fear gently but persistently nagged at her.
All throughout the uneasy night that she spent setting up magical wards around her room, Jade kept thinking about why she was the only one at the party who could remember the events of that night. At first she assumed that her inherent magical nature protected her from whatever mass memory wipe spell had been cast, but the dream that so violently awoke her that morning presented another possibility: That the man in the dark had wanted her to remember everything. That the whole night—and the dream that followed—served as a warning: Stay out of my way.
Considering what she stood to lose, Jade was certainly tempted to obey. After all, she had left her life as a Magus of Equestria behind her. All she wanted now was to lead a normal life. She’d never asked to be Starswirl’s apprentice when she’d still lived in ancient Equestria. Hadn’t wanted fame or glory. In some way, ending up in the human world was the best thing to ever happen to her. Besides, what could someone like her do against such a powerful evil?
Perhaps she could help, Jade thought. The daughter of Princess Celestia that Applejack spoke of.
But time enough for that later. Jade had given Applejack the means to put this Sunset Shimmer in touch with her. No need for Jade to rush to find her without good reason. No, Jade would bide her time. Let the man in the dark think that she was cowed. And all the while she would research and plan. So Jade entered the barren cafeteria and grabbed herself some breakfast.
Hours later, Jade found herself sitting in the park near the campus with another history book, remembering with sorrow that the last time she’d opened one like it was with Violet. At the very least, she was going to find out more about this Ordo Duodecim.
“Jade, there you are!”
Jade looked up, and saw Code Break approach her. Yet again she was struck by the sheer contrast between the man she saw now and the one she had known only days before. It wasn’t just that he’d given himself a cleaner appearance, his entire demeanor seemed much more confident now, and Jade couldn’t help but be reminded of Braeburn when he first started wearing contacts.
“Hey Code, were you looking for me?”
Nodding in affirmation, Code said, “Wanted to make sure you were okay. You left the party in a pretty big hurry last night. Looked like you were sick to your stomach.”
“I’m fine now, I think,” Jade answered, giving him a reassuring smile. “Must have just been something I ate.”
Code nodded and “hmm’ed” before saying, “Actually, I also kind of wanted to thank you.”
“Thank me? What for?”
With a smile, Code said, “Well… I guess for everything. I know that things have been hard for you lately, so the fact that you took the time to help me on top of all that…. Well, it was very selfless.”
Jade was puzzled. “Sorry Code, but remind me… what exactly did I do to help you?”
“Listened to me vent, for one.” With a bitter laugh, Code added, “Funny, isn’t it? You were one of Violet’s best friends, and the guy who barely knew her was the emotional wreck. I’m sorry about that, by the way. That was probably the last thing you needed to deal with.”
“No, it’s okay. We all deal with our grief differently.”
“But it wasn’t just that,” Code went on. “You also told me some things that I think I needed to hear. It might have been nothing to you, but our talk really motivated me to turn my life around.”
“Well, I can’t take all the credit,” Jade said with a smile. “You’re the one who went and improved yourself!”
Code rubbed the back of his head. “Yeah. It’s still a long road ahead, I think. I still have a hard time talking to most people, but again, you helped me a lot. Taking me with you to the party was definitely a step in the right direction I think.”
With a teasing grin, Jade said, “You seem to be doing just fine talking to me.”
Returning her grin with an awkward one of his own, Code said, “Well… I guess I find it easier to talk to a friend.”
Shortly after that Code told her he had to go, and as Jade watched him go she realized that perhaps one good thing had come of the last week after all.
The rest of Saturday passed relatively quietly. Jade passed it reading mostly school assignments, trying to put everything that happened out of her mind for now. She ended up going out for dinner with Sandstone and his friends, who made sure to apologize for not returning her messages. By the time it was finished she was beat, and headed back to her dorm for an early night.
She half expected more nightmares as she drifted off to sleep, but was blessed with a very soothing dream. She was talking with Shrinking Violet the way they always used to about this, that, and the other. Assignments, the Canterlot nobility. Cute boys, cute girls, the state of Equestria’s foreign relations. For a while, Jade believed this was the waking world, and that everything that had transpired over the last week was just a bad dream. At some point though, Jade remembered where she really was and frowned.
“Is something wrong, my little pony?” Violet asked with Queen Faust’s voice, and Jade knew she was talking to both of them at once, with that weird logic that could only exist in dreams.
Thus, Jade’s answer was for them both. “I just miss you, is all.”
“Then linger here a little longer. There’s still time.”
Jade’s problems in the waking world nagged at her mind, but the friend sitting across from her smiled. “You need not fear the man in the dark. He is not yet ready to make his next move, and in the end you cannot be the one to stop him.”
Jade had many questions of course, but Braeburn was there now and suddenly they didn’t seem all that important. She lay with him for who knew how long—in dreams time mattered not—until his arms started to take on the texture of bed sheets; of the bed sheets in her dorm bunk. Jade fought it even as the rest of the room started to appear in her mind’s eye—not ready to leave just yet.
“All dreams must end eventually, my little pony,” Faust’s voice was faint now, but was still clear and comforting. “But fortunately, so do all nightmares.”
Then Jade awoke, surprised to find herself feeling refreshed and… peaceful. That morning she knew that come what may, she would be ready for it.