Sunset Shimmer found Purple Heart loitering outside the cafeteria’s double doors, reclining against the wall beside them. She hesitated a moment as the doors swung shut. His eyes were closed and he was muttering under his breath, making his words unintelligible. A soft sigh escaped her and she moved closer to the purple teen. Her back pressed against the wall and she slid down to sit beside him. His words were clear now. Sunset turned to consider him as he spoke, watching his profile.
“High dukes, great princes, barons, lords, and knights,” he whispered. “For you great seats now quit you of great shames. Bar Harry England that sweeps through our lands with pennons painted in the blood of Harfleur. Go down upon him, you have power enough. And in a captive chariot into Rouen, bring him our prisoner!”
“I’m sorry,” Sunset said when his words finished echoing in the hall. Purple Heart jerked and turned to her, eyes wide with surprise.
“Eh?” he grunted intelligently.
Sunset frowned. “I’m sorry,” she repeated, exasperation entering her tone. “It was… immature of me to keep ragging on you for things you had no control over.” He looked like he wanted to retort, but astonishingly, he remained silent; merely listening to her.
“I got kind of… absorbed with the idea that people thought we should be shipped together,” she continued. “As you can guess, I wasn’t very happy with this standoff. And I rudely made my displeasure known by taking it out on you.”
“What bugs me the most,” Purple Heart replied, after a few seconds of silence between them, “is that we wiped the slate clean before history class. For all of a few minutes, things were fine. And then you got, ‘absorbed’ as you say, with the labels people gave to us. Of all the people in this school, you should know what it’s like to deal with labels.” Sunset winced and nodded in agreement.
“You’re right, I shouldn’t have labeled you after that first encounter,” she agreed. “I was just… uncomfortable.”
He snorted. “You’re telling me,” he chuckled. “I thought Celestia was gonna sentence me to community service in the bathrooms or some dusty attic. I hate sneezing.”
Sunset let a small giggle escape. She offered her hand. “Pax?”
The purple teen grinned and took the offered appendage. “Pax.” He let go and rolled to his feet. “Just Duty though… that was interesting. And Wits mentioned running into Holdfast...” He fell silent, eyes narrowing as his brow furrowed in concentration.
Sunset arched an eyebrow at his shift in countenance and stood as well. “Who are Just Duty and Holdfast by the way?” she queried. “Did you see them in the movies your friends spoke of?”
“Nah,” Purple Heart hummed. “Just Duty and Holdfast were characters in the game created by Discord that were based off our ideas or personal features of our favorite villains. Just Duty was Light’s while Holdfast was Wits’...” He trailed off, brow creasing.
“Sooo...who was your’s?” Sunset prompted.
Purple Heart’s face paled. “Aw fudge,” he groaned.
The red haired teen blinked. “A dessert? Your favorite villain is a dessert?”
“No,” the boy replied, rubbing his eyes with the palms of his hands. “Bael is my villain. And I think things just got a whole lot more interesting around here...”
Sunset arched an eyebrow at Purple Heart, shaking her head at his vague statement. “Interesting how?” she asked.
“If my assumptions are correct,” Purple Heart hummed, “and I need to confirm this, Just Duty was the name of the officer who escorted us here with Shining Armor.”
Sunset furrowed her brow and plopped her chin on her knee-supported hand. “You mean the officer who dragged you and Wits away after our… first encounter?”
“Yeh,” he replied, giving no outward reaction if he noticed her relabeling of their first meeting. “At first, I thought it was just a coincidence that a character we had faced in a separate dimension just happened to have a human duplicate here. ‘Cuz, y’know, that’s a thing.” His gaze flicked to her for a brief moment and she sighed, nodding in agreement. “But he then did one very telling thing: he acknowledged Light by name. Ding-dong, sketchy things are knocking.”
Sunset considered his theory. It made sense. Recognizing someone you knew from a separate world was certainly cause for concern. The amount of shenanigans and craziness simply from Twilight and herself arriving here had been extraordinary.
Sunset blinked and looked questioningly at the purple teen. “What about the other guy? Holdfirm or Fat or whatever his name was?”
He snorted a laugh. “Don’t let Holdfast or Wits hear you say that,” he chortled. “Things’ll get messy then. Nah, Holdfast was just a teacher that Wits ran into at Crystal Prep. I don’t know if he recognized Wits because the little mint didn’t care to share much. I was too busy getting shaken by Light.”
Sunset snickered, covering her mouth with a hand. Purple Heart waved a hand dismissively, grinning.
“It’s all good, you can laugh,” he assured.
Sunset grinned, still laughing lightly. “So, what’s your theory on Bael being here?”
“Well, I know he didn’t die, that’s for certain,” Purple Heart explained. “When he fell from that balcony, he disappeared in a puff of green smoke and strings.”
“Strings?”
“Yeh, one of his abilities,” he clarified. “Strings, power, and cunning. Terrifying combination. At least he wasn’t pink.”
“...Now I’m confused.”
Again, he waved his hand dismissively. “It’s not important right now,” he said. “What matters now is finding out if Bael came here.”
“And how do we go about doing that?” Sunset inquired. “Scouring the city asking if any strange strings are hanging around green smoke clouds?”
“Nah,” Purple Heart denied. “I was thinking we go ask Principal Celestia if she’d seen anyone suspicious coming out of the portal.”
“Will Light Patch please report to the principal’s office,” Luna’s voice crackled through the intercom, “you are needed for processing. That is all.”
The pair looked at the nearby speaker blankly. “Well,” Sunset sighed, “what’s your second choice, Holmes?”
“Ehm,” Purple Heart grunted. “I unno… That was pretty much my entire plan.”
Sunset rolled her eyes and stood, looking imperiously down her nose at Purple Heart. “Then why don’t we go ask Twilight? She actually has equipment to make readings of the portal and would definitely be the first to know if any dimensional travelers arrived in the city.”
The purple youth blinked and ‘huh’d. “Didnae think o’ that,” he muttered.
“Apparently not,” she smirked.
He glared at her and stood up. “Har har,” he griped, smacking away any dust on his backside. “That means we need to find Twilight.”
“Yeah,” she confirmed. “C’mon, we haven’t got all day.” She made to step down the hall only to be stopped by Purple Heart’s restraining hand.
“Actually, we do, considering we’re late for our next class,” he informed.
Sunset blinked once. “Dammit!”
* * *
Twilight adjusted her glasses, raising an eyebrow in the process. “And the reason you’re hiding in here is…”
Wits End looked up from his place under one of the science lab’s tables, a cord running from the phone in his hands up to the outlet in the nearby wall. “Because I’m boycotting P.E.”
“Not that I appreciate the effort to prevent unnecessary expenditure of energy,” Twilight said, “but you know you’ll get us both in trouble if someone catches you playing hooky in here, right?”
“And what’s your excuse?”
“I’m setting up for science club.”
“Great. If anyone asks, I’m helping.”
“By sitting under a table playing Sucrose Smash?”
Wits looked up at the girl with her arms crossed. “First of all, if I was gonna be playing anything, it’d be Blaze Symbol Champions. Or Maidens Battlefront. I have many waifus to collect. Secondly, I’m trying unlock this.” He turned the phone towards Twilight to reveal a lock screen.
Twilight knelt down and stared at the screen. “What, you forgot your password?”
“It’s not mine. I found it while we were at Crystal Prep. It’s what my counterpart in this world taped it to the underside of that fire extinguisher.” He turned the screen back towards himself as he handed a small collection of papers over. “While I was in Lit., someone tossed those at me.”
“Wow.” Twilight flipped through the pages. “Interlocational Audio Communication Device? This person is either an alien, or in middle school.” She handed the papers back and shifted so that she was sitting cross-legged next to Wits under the table. “But you’re supposed to know that password, right? It’s gotta be something from that Caverns and Cutie Marks game you were stuck in.”
“Sure, except there’s like a billionty possible things it could be referring to.”
“That’s not a number.”
“A fragillion.”
“Also not a number, but whatever. Why not just try something so the hint pops up?”
“Mmm.” Wits was lightly biting his index finger where it met the palm. “Sure, but then I’d be down to just two guesses.”
“Two guesses with a definite direction to head is better than three with no idea. Just make the best guess you can and see what comes up.”
Wits sighed. “You’re right. Let’s see, what’s important enough to be a password…” After a moment, his thumb slid across the screen. “Gallopilli… The place where we won our last battle.”
Twilight leaned over to watch as he hit enter. “Guess not, huh?” Wits made a noise of mild irritation, and the purple girl read the now available hint. “‘Go back to the beginning. No caps, no space, no bits’. Any ideas?”
“I dunno; a reference to the American cut of Hurricane Touchdown?” Wits went back to biting his finger. “Back to the beginning probably means the beginning of the adventure, so… What happened back then? The Bandit Chief? Taxi the Timberwolf? Friendship summoning a Big Damn Heroes moment?”
Twilight shifted her gaze from the screen to the boy, seeing his teeth forming indentations of the skin of his hand. “You alright, Wits?”
“Hmm?” Wits looked down his nose at his hand. “Oh, right.” He moved his hand away from his mouth, wiping it idly on his pants. “Nervous habit I picked up after getting back to my world. When you go without hands for a while, it’s real easy to start messing with them to confirm they’re still there.” He set his hand on the floor behind him, leaning back against his arm. “I’ve been trying to break it, but I guess being back in this world got it started again.”
The two of them were silent for a few moments. In that time, the intercom crackled to life. “Will Light Patch please report to the principal’s office?” Luna’s voice crackled through the intercom. “You are needed for processing; that is all,” she finished ominously.
“Sounds like your friend is in trouble,” Twilight said.
“When is he not?” Wits muttered. After another moment, he shifted back forward. “Okay, it’s gotta be the town our first quest ended in.” His thumb sped across the screen again. “No capital letters or spaces, so… Road’s Crossed.”
The two teens watched the screen. “Nope.” Twilight sighed. “There’s got to be something before that, right? Some first sidequest, or first NPC you encountered, or first battle, or something. Right?”
“Maybe?” Wits’ jaw tightened as he glared at the phone. “It’s been a long time since the start of that ordeal.”
“Well, if someone had been watching your adventure, what would they have seen while watching you? From the beginning.”
“Uhhhhhh…” Wits closed his eyes. “I showed up near a stream of some sort, got real angry at Discord, met up with Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie…” He opened one eye to look at Twilight. “The ones who’re friends with Twilight Sparkle, Princess Edition. And then I almost got my rear end caved in by a scorpion, and-”
“Could it be the scorpion?”
“Unlikely. It wasn’t exactly memorable. The first really interesting thing that happened was that we got captured by a couple of bandits that were after our bits. I actually managed to turn it into a callback right near the end.” Wits paused. “‘No caps, no space, no bits’.”
“Does that mean something?”
“We’re gonna find out.” Wits tapped the screen to wake it up. “It explicitly said there’s no spaces, so it’s looking for more than one word in the phrase. If that last bit means what I think it does, then it should be…” His words slowed down as he typed them out. “I. Don’t. Have. Any. Bits.”
With a cheerful tone, the screen shifted to a main page with a single phone contact pinned to it. Wits punched the air with his free hand, successfully striking the underside of the table over him. “Yes! And ow!”
Twilight grinned. “Great! Now what?”
“Now we let our mystery guest know I’ve solved their little riddle.” He tapped the contact icon, bringing up its information. “Mystery Lord Kibarashi? Know anybody by that name?”
“I don’t think anyone would name their child that.”
“This from a girl named Twilight Sparkle.”
“What’s your point?”
“Nevermind.” Wits opened the text messenger and tapped out a message. “Solved your puzzle,” he said with both his voice and his thumbs, “we should meet.”
Twilight let out the breath she didn’t know she was holding. “Alright, good. Now what happens?”
“Now?” Wits paused as a bell rung in the hallway, and the sound of teenagers stomping rose in volume. “Now we go to our next class.”
* * *
Light Patch sat in the front row of the math class, trying to remember anything from his college math classes as the teacher talked about the calculus subject they were covering for the rest of that week. Just as the barest slivers of information were returning to the surface of his memory the school's PA system crackled to life, dropping the slivers back to the depths of his mind from whence they’d came.
“Will Light Patch please report to the principal’s office,” Luna’s voice crackled through the intercom. “You are needed for processing; that is all,” she finished ominously, causing Light Patch to gulp as the crackle of the PA faded. He looked at the teacher, who nodded towards the door signaling the grey teen to go.
Light Patch stood up, gathered his things quickly, and left the room; and tried to ignore the whispers from everyone as he left the room. “Well, rumors are gonna fly all over the school about what I did to sound like I was being called to prison, so at least I don’t see how this could get much worse.” He muttered to himself as he began trudging towards Celestia and Luna’s offices.
Fate naturally accepted the challenge, despite the vague wording. “Just the teen I was hoping to see,” Just Duty said, hustling to catch up. “I was heading to meet Celestia and her sister for a bit of a working lunch, and I was hoping I’d run into you again. Though, after that school wide message, I suspect you’re less than thrilled to be seen near a cop. I hope you’re prepared to deal with the rumors.”
Me and my big mouth, Light Patch thought as he adjusted his pace to keep with Just Duty. “I’m not worried about the rumors. I doubt they’ll stick around long enough to be an issue,” he replied, matching pace with Just Duty.
“I guess they wouldn’t,” he replied thoughtfully. “This school does tend to attract a lot of interesting events, such as the sudden appearance of you and your friends midway through the semester. Speaking of which, what do your parents think about the transfer?”
Light Patch’s mind whirled as he tried to come up with a response. I wish and hope all of the information on lying from Burn Notice was true, and that I can remember it all. “They’re as supportive as they’ve always been. I don’t think Mom’s super thrilled about the transfer, but I think she at least understands why I wanted to do it. If she’s got major qualms about it, she’s not telling me them,” he replied, trying to walk a fine line of specificity and also vagueness.
“They’re just concerned for you-”
“And they just want what's best for me. Yeah, I know, and I love them for it. Doesn’t mean I can’t roll my eyes after hearing that for the five hundredth time,” the teen replied, earning a short laugh from Just Duty.
“I probably heard it over a thousand times, and I’d swear under oath that I’ve heard my mom say it for a couple of years after she’d passed,” the cop said, taking a bite outta the soft pretzel he’d been holding. “What about all of the projects you were involved in back at ‘school whose name is so ridiculously long I refuse to name it’?” he asked around his pretzel.
Light Patch chuckled while his mind tried to figure out if that was an in-joke between the two or not. “At least it’s not the school whose name is so ridiculously short that you have to take even longer to explain that ‘yes, that really is the school's name’.” Light Patch replied glibly, taking in the small smile Just Duty hid with a second bite of his pretzel. “As for the projects, I’ve agreed to help them where I can, when I can, until they either get someone else to fill in, or the projects are done. But considering I’ve left, there isn’t really a whole lot I can do.”
‘To give up on a project so easily... Is that natural for him?’ the voice questioned in the back of Just Duty’s mind. Not really, he thought back, but as he mentioned, there might not be a whole lot he can do, having left the school officially. “I’m surprised you're not actually just ignoring the rules and continue working on the projects anyway,” Just Duty replied.
“I’m hurt that you’d assume I’d blab about anything like that; if I was doing it in the first place,” Light Patch replied, trying to sound as neutral as he could.
Now that is a little odd. If he felt something was a lost cause he’d just cut his losses and move on, not try to hang around doing whatever little bits he still could, Just Duty mentally noted and filed away. Just Duty suddenly snorted as a realization flashed through his mind. “I just realized this is probably one of the longest conversations we’ve ever had,” he noted chuckling.
“Well, we are both heading towards the same destination, and most of the kids are in class or too busy rumor mongering,” Light Patch replied, sighing heavily at the end.
“That helps, sure, but usually you’re way more to the point. Not a word, action, or thought wasted,” Just Duty replied chuckling thoughtfully. “I, uh, may have used police resources to check for robotics backgrounds on your parents,” he trailed off at the look Light Patch gave him. “I should probably mention I may have had you go through metal detectors a few times as well,” he finished with an apologetic smile before cramming the last bites of his pretzel into his mouth for thinking time. “Just how bad was it?” he asked quietly after swallowing.
“Was what?”
“Don’t play this game,” Just Duty said with a heavy sigh. “Your burn out. I’ve seen you after a few, and you change. But only in small amounts; ‘sufficient amounts’, you’d call it,” he said making air quotes with his fingers. “Yet here you are, acting like an almost completely different person. How long did you spend in the hospital this time?”
Light Patch began rubbing his wrists. “Just a couple of days,” he replied hesitantly, hoping his stalling would be interpreted as not wanting to share rather than stalling for time, “Mostly because it was starting to get so bad, I spotted what was going on before it got too bad. The doctor told me I was lucky I’d realized what I was doing to myself this time. If I hadn’t, I’d have, in his words, carried myself right to death’s door,” he finished, staring at the floor and trying to not look at Just Duty’s face.
“You’re still a terrible liar,” Just Duty said, his gaze locked straight ahead; looking forward again a neutral look on his face. “Still, you seem to have actually changed, so I’ll leave it alone.” For now, he added mentally, resolving to keep an eye on him for a bit longer. The two continued on in silence for a few more moments before they got to their destination. “Looks like we’re at the Principal's Office. After you, oh doomed one,” he said, holding the door to Celestia and Luna’s offices.
“Thanks,” Light Patch said, entering the door to the waiting room.
“I do hope you’ve learned your lesson, sister. Honestly, the poor teen is probably already rumored to be responsible for all of the strange things that have been happening around the school now,” Celestia said, looking annoyed at her younger sister and Vice-Principal. Luna, for her part, looked part apologetic but also annoyed; neither, however, had noticed the door open.
Light Patch quickly rushed to in front of the sisters and dropped to his knees. “I throw myself upon the mercy of the state! Please forgive the sins of a poor lost youth, and take pity upon his poor misguided soul,” he half-wailed, slight tears welling up in his eyes. Just Duty snorted and barely got a hand over his face before he could laugh too loud.
The two sisters looked at Light Patch, both having been startled by his sudden appearance in their eyes, before glancing at each other. They stood there looking at the teen for a few moments before Celestia cleared her throat and nudged her sister with her elbow. “Ah, uhm.” Luna started. “I apologise for my poor phrasing. You are not actually in trouble; we just needed you to come in. There have been a few problems getting all of the information from your old school, so until everything goes through the systems, we needed you to fill out a few things. And we also needed you to talk to the school nurse as well.” She motioned to the woman standing in another corner of the room who was trying, and failing, just as much at Just Duty at hiding her mirth.
“Ah, well, then let’s get started. I’d hate to miss lunch for the second day in a row,” Light Patch said, following Luna into her office.