Two hours (and an easy half-gallon of coffee) later...
Double D was sweating profusely, now laying down on the couch and shaking, somewhat. He was also holding a potted cactus labeled JIM.
"There, there," I said, stroking his head a few times, "None of the holes in the space-time continuum are still here."
I think.
"I knew that Marie had... but you... and the fire... almost gym class over again."
"Celestia forbid, I know that feeling exactly."
"You... you do?"
"The part about this world's Twilight Sparkle turning into Midnight Sparkle. Remember?"
"You had magic. I was killed in a dodgeball game, then brought back to life somehow."
Equestria's used their world as a dumping ground for far too long.
"Killed? When?"
"1986 Monday, April 14."
"Interesting," I said a particular detail not making its way to the front of my head, "I've seen this before, I think," I got up, dismissing the thought. If it's important, it'll come back. "Just lie there. I'll get you some water."
"Thanks."
While I was getting him a glass of water, the doorbell rang, "I'll get it, Edd!"
I gave him the glass of water, but he just sat it down and gibbered for a minute or two.
"Yes?" the person at the door was my height, had shoulder-length blue hair that covered one eye, black tank top, green pants, pink belt, and a dark green wristband with dark shoes, "Can I help you?"
She looked around me, then pinned me to the floor, "WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO TO MY MAN!?" she said, in a huge rage
"Nothing!" I said, "Just let me go and I'll tell you everything!"
She read me for a minute, then let me up, "If you try anything, I'll do things to you that shouldn't even be possible!"
"Okay," I said, "I'm a pony from another world. More specifically, a unicorn. I can read people's minds, and, with my mom being the literal avatar of the Sun from where I'm from, my magic specializes around pyrotechnics," I said, setting the rug on fire with my magic before smothering it again, "I had to come completely clean with Double D and explain this to him," Double D was hugging his knees now, "I don't think he digested it very well."
The girl went from pissed to having to digesting the information, and finally, sitting on the staircase.
"I... didn't know that there was a bridge between worlds like this."
"What... are you saying?"
"Well..."
Monday 01 May 2017, 3:30p; Double D's and Marie's Van, Junkyard; Marie's POV
~~~~~
"Are you sure that you have something?" Double D said, waiting for the photocopyer/printer/fax to begin ringing.
He had decided to call home and tell his parents that he would bespending time with his science partner (girlfriend, actually), working on a robot. And fixing a laptop. Marie was at her laptop, an old, Compaq Presario 1200 that stayed running 24/7 so the Kankers could have HDTV in their trailer. The events had played out just good enough that she could take the computer (since her's and the van's PineBooks were in the shop) and keep it plugged in for a week for the duo to do research.
"Don't you need to get that back home, Marie?"
"No. Lee's in detention for beating a kid, while May's too stupid to ever catch on that she's watching stuff from a terrabyte hard drive. The detention ends Friday at 6:45, so we have until then to get it fixed. How's the dial on the phone?"
Since his parents didn't answer, Double D had left a brief message, and was working on an old rotary phone so they could make calls over Marie's hacked cell connection like any other person who wasn't calling from a cell, "It's not pulsing. All of the circuits seem to be fine, though," he said, unplugging the fax from the adapter's telephone jack and plugging the phone straight into it, "What's your number?"
"1-698-759-4562."
I heard him dialing, then my phone rang and showed VAN.
"What did you do?"
"I guess it was the fax. Originally, the phone was broken, but now that it's fine, we just won't be able to plug the printer into the telephone network."
"Alright. Also, I think I've came across another world. Come check this out."
"Marie," he said, inspecting the code and currently printing results page, "You're using dated hardware. If that's 100% accurate, I'll lose it."
I thought about the computer for a bit.
300 MB of memory, Windows 1998, 800 by 600 laggy screen that has to be propped up, dead battery. Maybe, but I'll keep everything in a drawer.
"Maybe, but it is substantial on its own."
"You are right about that," he said, putting the phone back together and looking at the printouts, "But why Peach Creek?"
"Not here, but it's still somewhere. We just have to figure that out," I said, turning a fan on the laptop so it wouldn't overheat, "Hungry?"
"...so, yeah."
Double D had made a decent recovery. He was now sitting upright and speaking coherently, but was still trying to digest what I said.
"I'm Sunset Shimmer, by the way."
"Marie Kanker, " she replied.
"Kanker..." I thought, "That name rings a bell."
THAT hit me like a rock. Those three sisters died on Sunday July 15, 2012 in a massacre shooting!
Sunday 20 November 2016 11:45p; Sunset's Apartment, Canterlot City, California
~~~~~
"Come on," I said to myself, trying to make out Seth's writing, "You've read stuff he gave you before, Sunset Shimmer, you can do it now for a card.
I had the side panel of Philomena opened so I could put in a FireWire card but I couldn't get the covers off of the slots in the back of the computer.
"Augh!!"
I threw the side panel over to the wall, making a hole in it, but the computer plate was fine. I noticed some script that was the exact same as the boot logo inside the plate, but it had a date- two dates! And names!
Philomena: Made in Arnold's Basement 11.10.2016-
Mitzi Groß/Mitzi Groz: Born in GDR 08.11.1971 - Died in GDR 08.11.1989
Arnold Groß/Seth DeMeats: Born in GDR 08.11.1971 - Died in GDR 08.11.1989
"I need to remember this," I said, taking a picture with my phone, "Screw the cards, I need some answers!"
I did the math and called Seth.
"11:45p here is... add nine hours... it's 8:45 tomorrow morning for him. He better answer."
"Hello?" he said over the phone with a natural German accent, "Sunset? What are you doing up at this hour? Mitzi's asleep."
"I have some questions for both of you. Firstly, what does 'GDR' mean?"
Nothing for a few seconds
BEEP BEEP BEEP
Dammit, he hung up!
PING
I looked at my phone and saw that 'Seth' had texted me.
Meet Mitzi and I at the school gym. I'll tell you everything there. Just steer clear of Mitzi, though; she can be, beg pardon, pissy when someone wakes her up at night. I'll try to have some coffee for her, but no guarantees.
I'll be there on my motorbike, and I have a key. Don't wake anyone up.
I got my keys, jacket, turned everything off, and rode to the school. There, Arnold and Mitzi were waiting in his blue Yugo Polski Fiat 126p.
"I'm here," I said, the duo getting out of the ancient car. Arnold was rather awake, but Mitzi was... sleepwalking. With steaming coffee. Not a good combo.
"Good."
I unlocked the door to the gym and we all went in.
"Both of our stories are the same."
"Go the hell ahead."
"It started when I was born in East Germany. Mitzi and I were born on the same day. Our parents let us lead our own lives when we were twelve, but on 08 November 1989, just one day, one day, before the Berlin Wall fell, we tried to cross over. It was 8:30a German Time, and our plan was to cross into West Berlin, stay there until about 8:00p, then cross back into East Berlin. When we almost to the wall, we were blown up by landmines before we could actually get to it and climb over. The next thing that I remember was that we were in a dark alleyway and couldn't understand anyone. We had no money, couldn't understand the language, and didn't even know where we were at. It was hard for the first few months until a girl named Sonata Dusk got us a hotel room to stay at. She gave everything that we needed, food, a place to live, and taught us how to speak American English. Our stories split here, but only to how we adjusted. Even after about 27 years, I'm still not adjusted to a time change of -9 hours, but I adjusted to other aspects like the food, for instance, rather fine. For the most, we kept our East German mannerisms. Mitzi, on the other hand, adjusted to the time change over about a week, but still won't eat anything that's not Central-European."
"Where does 'Seth DeMeats' and 'Mitzi Groz' come in?"
"One day, 30 September 2014, Greg and us ran into each other in a restaurant. He said that he was lonely, and wanted a roommate. Mitzi and I talked it out, and agreed. I told him that my name was Seth DeMeats, but Mitzi decided to keep her name, changing the ß to a z. The Fiat came as a New Year's present for 2015."
"Why did you lie?"
"Would you believe that, unless you'd been through something extrordinary, we were really blown up the day before the wall began to come down?"
"Good point. I lived my whole life thinking that you were from the northeast. But knowing this, I..." I was speechless. Two of my closest friends were essentially dead, East Germans!
"I know. It's a lot to take in," he said, giving me a pair of 3.5 inch floppy disks, "On them are several articles, pretty shocking."
At that, we all left to go back home. I was stunned.
"I don't care that he's East German, hell I don't care about any of that! But DEAD!? Twenty-seven years!? Oh sweet Celestia!"
I decided to keep my mouth shut for the rest of the way home.
Why? How!?
When I got back to my apartment, I booted up my computer (the only thing missing was a side panel that had to be freaking TITANIUM), and, for the first time, used the floppy drive.
"If this is what digital articles were like 20 years ago," I said as the drive mounted to the desktop with the label CANTERLOT [FAT32], "I'm not going to complain when I can't watch YouTube in HD."
After two long minutes, the slow drive displayed its contents in a Konqueror window. Eight files, almost completely filling the disk: SAMANTHA_GALES.PDF; JANICE_WALTERS.PDF; ALEXANDRA_MATTHEWS.PDF; JAMIE_SANDERS.PDF; KATHERINE_JACKSON.PDF; CYNTHIA_LITTLE.PDF; ARNOLD_GROZ.PDF; MITZI_GROZ.PDF.
Being a fast reader, I figured out who was who rather quickly, but spent all of the next two days digesting it.
"Fluttershy is actually Samantha Gales. Rarity is Janice, Rainbow's real name is Alex. Applejack fell into a wood chipper as Jamie Sanders. Katherine is Pinkie who had... severe sanity issues!? And Twilight isn't... She's Cynthia Little!? She tried to cheat, just so her parents wouldn't think she's complete GARBAGE!? THAT is fucked up!"
I saved the other two files for last. I was DEAD wrong to think that they wouldn't have records of mourning in them.
I opened the last two files on the disk, and after reading them, I couldn't believe it, "Both of them were first-cousins on their mom's side with the East-German leader and first-cousins on their dad's side with the Soviet leader!? They could've had it all, but he just enjoyed driving her around and she enjoyed making and listening to music with him? And they're the reason that the Berlin Wall fell?"
I took my phone and texted him.
Arnold, I read the documents. I... I just can't believe it.
Seth didn't reply immediately like he normally does. Instead, my phone just flashed Seth is typing... for a couple of minutes.
If you want to know, don't bring up any of their past lives. If you mention anything about Samantha Gales or her family, Fluttershy will run into hiding and stay there for several weeks; despite being a nature person, her dad beat her to death on her 18th birthday in 1968. If you bring up Janice to Rarity, she'll go into a depression because of how her family was. Things only got worse when the Depression hit. Her neck was snapped in 1932 on her 18th birthday in a car accident. Alex, if Rainbow so much as dreams the name, makes her overuse performance-enhancing drugs; That and a heart problem makes it explode. If anything about the Sanders family is mentioned to AppleJack, she'll commit suicide by poison and toxins; she committed suicide on her 18th birthday in 1903 that exact same way, hoping that with only her two siblings' mouths to feed, they could keep the, very run-down, farm. They lost it a week later. If Katherine or any slight of instability is mentioned to Pinkie, well, she died originally by jumping out of a fifth-floor window and splattering on the pavement. Any mention of her past life will trigger her into going back to a concernable level of a manic disorder, and she'll kill herself, thinking she can pull an extraordinary feat. If the slightest self-imperfection makes its way to Twilight on herself, or if she's reminded of Cynthia, she'll immediately go and hang herself. You know Mitzi and my stories, but Greg is the most modern. He died in late 2014 because of an alien attack. His space-goddess girlfriend was able to bring him back, but told him to come to the other side of the country where he'd be safe. None of us, except for Greg, who died at 22, will ever age past 18.
I looked through my pictures on my computer, and found a group picture from a week earlier of all of us. We were all still there, but Fluttershy was now Samantha Gales, the flower girl from 1968; Rarity as the fashion designer from the late 1920s, Janice Walters; Rainbow Dash was now the female athlete from 1977, Alexandra Matthews; Applejack was now the struggling farmer from 1903, Jamie Sanders; Pinkie Pie was now the unstable, hyperactive girl from 1999, Katherine Jackson; Twilight was now the girl pushed and overworked to more than succeed from 2002, Cynthia Little; Seth DeMeats and Mitzi Groz were now the German-Soviet siblings, Arnold and Mitzi Groß born into the top ranks of both governments, but just happy to enjoy life, still looking for a way to see 1980s West Berlin for a day. All in all, they were still recognizable as my friends, but they looked now exactly like they would've when or right before they died. Stuck as eighteen-year-olds.
And I was with them. The living, breathing, humanized spirits of these poor eighteen-year old teens who died violent deaths, never getting a chance at life.
And I turn eighteen in August.
I sent a text to Principal Celestia, then cried myself to sleep that night, with all of my friends coming over the next day, now looking like they did in the picture.
"Darling, what's wrong? Principal Celestia told us to come and spend the day with you."
"Ain't lost some'ne have ya?"
"I... I know. I know the truth," I cried, "But I couldn't get to the second one."
"Well shucks, we're all fine now, Sugarcube."
"Do you have a lab of any kind?"
During my insanely long memory, it occurred to me: Double D was dead because of high school gym class. He had also made a full recovery.
"I'll drive us," Marie said, leading us out to a Yugo tagged EDD.