//------------------------------// // An old revisiting // Story: Purple Tears v.2 // by Doukzor //------------------------------// Rainbow had already left by the time String Play was done eating the soup. They hardly acknowledged the pegasus as she left, but she didn't seem to mind. She bid Twilight good luck and was back on her way to fighting off the clouds- which without her lookout had decided to form a small shower over Sugarcube Corner. Twilight sat down beside String Play with her own bowl of soup. It was time to initiate proper conversation- and she had a feeling they knew what the kinds of things she was going to ask. It wasn't a good idea to pressure a child into talking, but after their last sentence she figured patience could be mostly done away with and the talking could come now. Not that she thought this was a good idea, however. "String Play, I've only enough knowledge for a minor in Psychology, but I can tell you're not okay. Please talk to me." she started the conversation about as casually as she could at that moment. She had the thought that her soup was going to go untouched. "I'm... I'm okay. Everything's okay." they muttered. "What happened before you passed out on the street?" "Nothing. No, I mean, I don't- I didn't pass out on the street...I don't know." they winced, bringing a hoof up to their forehead. "O-Oh, okay then. We'll try small, who are your parents? I know everyone in Ponyville, so I'm sure we can find them." Twilight changed the subject quickly. She didn't want to upset them before she found out something that could help. "I didn't... Live in Ponyville... I don't remember..." they clutched their head with both hooves. A pang of guilt rushed over the purple unicorn. "Hey hey, it's alright. If you don't remember you don't have to try to force yourself. Just tell me what you do remember." "I... Okay. I was outside... I think." they said softly, their face contorting into a crease. "I... It was cold- no, it was wet. It was... Raining! And... It was sometime after uh... Um... Nightmare N-Night." they nodded, happy with their statement. A slow smile spread across their face as they looked at Twilight. "It was my friend's birthday party!" Twilight had an influx of multiple emotions at once. Both proud and confusion settled into her gut, a sinking feeling weighing down her pride. String Play could remember something! But what she remembered baffled her. "String Play... Did this happen recently?" They nodded as hard as they could without getting a headache. "Mmhmm... Everything after that is blurry, but... That... Sounds right." they smiled- they must be remembering the party. "But... Nightmare Night is in a couple days." Their smile faltered. They opened their mouth to say something but stopped, then tried again and nothing came out. "What... Do you mean?" "I mean, well, Nightmare Night hasn't happened yet this year." they both processed that information slowly. "What... Year is it?" they finally asked, scared of the answer. Twilight could only imagine what horrible ideas they were getting from this. She had a few of her own- what if this foal hit their head so far they lost some of their memory? After a few drawn out minutes of silence, Twilight answered String Play. "It's 1987." "..." String Play froze. Their pupils (or irises) shrunk. "But... It was 1987 then." They began to cry almost immediately. "W-Why is this h-happening to me?!" they dug their face into their hooves, sobbing sloppy wet tears. "It's okay- it's okay! Hey, String Play, listen to me," Twilight put both hooves on their shoulders. "One time, a while back, I went back in time! Now," she reminded herself they probably had the year simply mixed up, "nothing bad happened. In fact, nothing happened! When I went back to the present, everything was normal. I was worried over nothing!" she explained quickly. String Play soaked this in, her child mind piecing together what she meant. "It's just... Something's not r-right. There... There were things that happened... Afterwards." they countered eventually. "Do you remember what kinds of things?" Twilight asked lightly. She wasn't going to pressure the foal into anything else, just in case. "Y-Yeah, sorta? There was... I was outside, I was going to the party... And..." Twilight could tell they were thinking hard about it, "And t-then it got cold. It was raining. It got c-colder. And then... I didn't feel anything. I wasn't h-happy... Something bad happened." they looked at Twilight with a newfound pain in their eyes. "I'm sorry. I don't know wh-what happened." "No, it's fine. You did great- we're getting somewhere, right? How about your friend's birthday party. Where was it?" "Um- Oh! It was at that place- why can't I remember it? It was... Uh... It was fun! And colorful! And I went there a lot! There were characters that sung for us, and... My friend's... Dad did stuff for the company? Or something...?" they offered. "So, what you're saying is your friend's father worked for the company? Hey- that's great! That means we can find your friend and your parents faster," Twilight patted them on the back. "Now, was this place perhaps Friendly Fazbeers Pizzeria?" "Freddy Fazbear's Pizza! Yeah! W-Well, there was this other place, too, but... I don't think that was where her birthday was at, so yeah!" String Play practically glowed. "You did great, String Play! Now, it might not be the same one, but a Freddy Fr...Fazbear's Pizza opened up just down the road. Do you wanna go and see if your friend's there?" the unicorn offered. "Oh, yes please!" they exclaimed gleefully, a newfound energy rushing through them. They leaped off the couch, soup and tea gone, and bounded over to the door. There was a limp in their step, but they did well enough and seemed oblivious to it. Twilight gathered her satchel and stuffed a notepad in there- just in case. The two headed out through the door- maybe, just maybe today would be productive after all. As the two trotted down the road happily, String Play seemed to take a few unhealthy long glances at the sun. "It's been... So long since I saw the sun... It's so warm." they said slowly. "What do you mean? Do you live somewhere where the sun doesn't come out much?" Twilight asked, whipping out her notepad immediately. "Not... Really? I'm not sure. It's all blurry." they responded carelessly, still enraptured by the burning light. "Well, if you keep staring like that you're going to hurt your eyes." the unicorn stated simply. String Play looked away and immediately recoiled, scrunching up their nose. "I'm seeing lights!" they complained. "I told you." Twilight snickered. As they rounded the corner of a street a large brown and white building came into view. It was painted with various characters- all of them were a mix between pony and their respective animal, and a few things like balloons and cake covered the spaces between the larger murals. There was a string of lights wrapped around the building, and large tinted windows set in place so that the blaring lights inside couldn't disturb the outside. Two sliding doors were positioned at an extension in one of the walls at the corner of the street. You couldn't miss this building if you tried. String Play bounded up to the building, forcing Twilight to rush after them. For a young and probably injured creature they seemed to sprint as fast as Rainbow Dash "H-Hey! Wait for me!" she called out. The foal hardly caught her words, but did relax their pace a little. "I know you're excited, but- Ack!" as the unicorn caught up to String Play, her eyes closed as she caught her breath, she collided with an incoming pony and nearly fell, stumbling back. She put a hoof over her snout, which burned after being ran into. A lavender colored stallion shuffled awkwardly in front of Twilight momentarily as he regained his balance. He had awfully dark circles under his eyes, which themselves were clouded over purple disks. He glanced at Twilight, realized who he'd ran into, but did his best to hide it as he stammered an apology and rushed past. "I-I'm sorry, please excuse me." he had a thick accent, but it was hard to recognize with how quickly he spoke at that moment. "O-Oh it's fine, ah-" and he was gone. She'd noticed the horn on his head, and just assumed he was in such a rush that teleporting was necessary. "That was weird." she muttered to herself. String Play came rushing back. "M-Miss? Are you alright?" they asked. Miss? Had they already forgotten her name? "Uh, you can just call me Twilight. And yeah, my nose hurts, but I'll be fine. Let's go in!" she changed the subject as they walked up to the door. It opened on its own to reveal an overload of lights flashing about the ceiling. There was a small area for a line with a red carpet placed down, and some poles with matching fabric between them to connect the zigzagging line. With only three or so families ahead, Twilight let herself take in the full scenery. In front to their right was a large plastic stage with three large robots on it, all doing stiff movements and "singing" to a joyful children's song. Right ahead of them was a very large space filled with long tables and decorative balloons, banners, and posters. A hallway was located at the far end at the right of the room, and to the left was a carousel and an assortment of arcade machines. A small plastic foal stood in the middle giving out balloons. She couldn't see quite was in the wall on Twilight's side of the room (as she wasn't close enough to peak over the wall) but she did see a large group of fillies and colts rush to her left, implying there was more to see. She wasn't gonna lie, being in a place as full of joy as this made even her rational adult outlook on things buzz giddily, like she was a little filly about to jump into a ball pit. Today- she was certain- could not be bad, despite the big disruption in her plans. Not matter what, today would be great, and she would help this foal- she would fix this problem.