//------------------------------//
// Chapter 18: Ready, Set, SPLIT! 
// Story: Caverns & Cutie Marks: High School, High Stakes 
// by TheColtTrio 
//------------------------------//

“You know,” Rarity said, looking up at the stone towers and walls that loomed over them, “when Pinkie said ‘castle’, I almost expected it to be proportioned for the other buildings nearby.”
“When Pinkie says something, she means it,” Princess Twilight muttered. The keep of an old medieval castle stood in front of them, right between two suburban 2-story houses and sitting along the sidewalk. Behind them were reasonably priced cars likely used to ferry children to and from sports meets. “You ever seen anything like this, Wits?”
“I watched a cartoon once where a millionaire put a castle on top of his house,” Wits replied, “but he owned a skyscraper in a major metropolitan area, not a suburb.” He looked back down at the two girls. “And gargoyles. Well, he didn’t own the gargoyles. They came with the castle.”
“A bit like an apartment coming with a refrigerator and stove?” Twilight asked.
“Kinda, but with more Star Trek alumni. And Johnny Bravo.”
“What are you on about?” Rarity asked.
“Don’t worry about it.” Wits End hopped up to the heavy wooden door and wrapped his fingers around a rope hanging next to it. “One, two, three, hwah!” With that, he gave the rope a tug. Through the door, they could hear a crude bell clattering in response.
Rarity wrinkled her nose. “11th century doorbells have something to be desired.”
“I know, right?” Wits replied. “You can’t even program them to take pictures of whoever rung them. What’s our cover story again?”
“Amber Glitter was about our age in the game,” Twilight explained, “so she’ll probably be our age here too. We’re representatives from the student council checking on the homelife of one of our fellow students.”
“She goes to Equestria High? That seems awful coincidental.”
“We don’t know for sure, but it’s either that or Crystal Prep.” Twilight stepped up to join Wits by the door. “Just try to keep vague until we know which school she’s at.”
Wits nodded. “I’ll give it my…” He shrugged noncommittally.
Rarity stepped behind them, looking over the two teens. “Are you sure you two will be able to work together on this? Light Patch mentioned something about Roads Crossed?”
“We’ll be fine,” Twilight said.
“We’ve grown a lot as people since then,” Wits agreed.
“Your breath stinks, by the way.”
“My breath smells fantastic, screw you.”
“Oh good grief,” Rarity muttered.
The door creaked open inwards, cutting off any further bickering. A young blue-green girl stood on the other side, dressed in the well-made, if simple, clothes of a housekeeper. She looked the three teens over for a moment. “Yes? How may I help you?”
Twilight stepped forward to just before the threshold with a smile. “Hi, we’re from the school council,” she explained, holding up a yellow legal pad with a series of scribbles across the first page.”We’re doing our annual check-up on the homelife of our fellow students, and we were hoping we could talk to you about how Amber Glitter is doing.”
“Miss Glitter?” The girl seemed confused, but moreso worried about talking to strangers. “Um, well...”
“Won’t take more than a few minutes,” Wits said, putting on his most dashing smile. “If you don’t mind me saying, I love how you’ve done your hair. Loose plaits are quite underrated compared to tight braids, in my opinion. Might I ask your name?”
The girl blushed, one hand unconsciously moving up to touch the loose braid of hair that draped over her shoulder. “Oh, um, thank you. I mean, my name is Opal.” She looked over the three teens, then down at her feet. “Um, please come in.”
Twilight glanced at Wits as Opal led them into the entry hall, with the boy waggling his eyebrows in return. “I must say,” Rarity whispered, “I never thought you for the casanova type.”
“Kasanoda?” Wits whispered back.
“Casanova. A flirt.”
“Oh, that. I had a punchcard for that sort of thing back in Discord’s game. Really, I just thought about what you’d say if she walked into your boutique.”
Rarity looked Opal over for a moment as the entered a sitting room. “A remarkably accurate impersonation,” she muttered.
“Please make yourselves comfortable,” Opal said, motioning towards an assortment of plush couches and armchairs, “and I’ll be right back with some afternoon tea.”
“Oh, that won’t really be necessary,” Twilight replied as they sat down. “We just wanted to ask a few questions about Amber’s life at home, and how that ties into her schooling.”
“Of course, miss.” Opal bowed her head slightly. “I thought it would be best for your check-up if you get your answers from Miss Glitter herself.” She flashed a helpful smile at the three teens, lingering slightly on Wits End, as she left the room.
Rarity leaned towards the other two. “What do you think she means by ‘getting our answers from Glitter herself?” she asked.
“Dunno,” Wits said, leaning back in the armchair. “Maybe she’s playing hooky?”
Twilight was about to respond when a chime came from her phone. She fished it out and flipped it open. “It’s from Sunset,” she said, scanning the message. “Oh… horsefeathers and haybales.”
“That doesn’t sound good.” Wits sat up a little straighter. “What happened?”
“She was asking around school about the castle.” A bead of sweat formed on Twilight’s brow. “The Tarponyen’s have been hiring tutors from all over this version of Equestria for years. There’s no student council; Amber Glitter is homeschooled!”
The three of them stared at each other for a moment, with only the constant ticking of a grandfather clock breaking the silence. “So now what do we do?” Rarity asked. “Abandon the plan? Use Wits End to break a window and run for it?”
“I don’t want to use my head, thank you very much,” Wits replied. “We already told Opal we’re from the student council, so let’s run with that.” He stopped as the three teens heard footsteps coming their way. “Just follow my lead,” he whispered.
Opal entered the room, stepping to one side of the doorway and bowing. “Thank you for waiting. Allow me to introduce Miss Amber Glitter.” She gestured towards the golden teenaged girl who followed her through; a redhead whose eyes were firmly set on her slippers. “Miss,” Opal continued, “if you’ll take a seat, I’ll be right back with something to drink.” She shot a look at the three teens before ducking out of the room; the universal ‘play nice or I’ll destroy you’ glare shared by all those in the role of a maternal guardian.
Amber shuffled over, taking the seat closest to the door. “Opal said you three were from a school,” she mumbled, occasionally glancing up from her lap to almost look one of them in the eyes. “Which school is it?”
“Canterlot High,” Wits replied with a smile. “As members of the student council, we like to check in with anyone who's not enrolled to see how we can help.”
“I don’t want to enroll at Canterlot,” Amber shot back. She folded one leg under her, her fingers idly twisting the ends of her red hair. “I’m fine with the tutors my parents have selected.”
“You don’t have to enroll.” Wits sat back slightly, visibly relaxing his posture. “Think of this as an outreach program, or a helping hand. Sometimes you just want help from someone other than a tutor, you know?” He shot a look at Twilight and jerked his head towards the golden girl.
Twilight nodded and turned to Amber. “We understand there’s a lot of pressure to live up to whatever your mentor’s set before you,” she said. “It’s even harder when you’re being taught by someone you look up to. And you don’t want to worry your parents in case the tutor tells them where you’re having trouble.”
“That, my dear,” Rarity jumped in, “is why the Canterlot High student council started the Mon Petit Tuteur program. It’s a sort of personalized study group for tutored students ‘on the sly’, as it were.” She gave Amber a knowing wink, which elicited a small smile. “All you’d have to tell your parents is that you’re going out with friends when you need help.”
Amber looked up at the three teens, finally making eye contact. “And what do you three get out of it?”
“School pride,” Wits said automatically. “Well, and school credit. But to be honest, the best part is knowing that we’re helping some people like us out of their shell, you know? When I was,” the mint-colored teen had to stop himself from saying ‘a kid’, “well, when I was younger, I certainly there had been something like this to help me out.”
“How does it work, though?” Amber asked. “Would I have to sign up, or…”
“Nothing that complicated,” Twilight said. “If you’re interested, we just give you our phone numbers and you can text if you want some help. Easy as pie.”
Amber thought for a few moments. “Well, I suppose it couldn’t hurt,” she said, fishing her phone out of a pocket.
After a quick round of exchanging phone numbers, Opal returned with four cups of tea and a smile as she saw Amber deep in conversation with Rarity over early Renaissance fashion, while Twilight sat off to the side pretending to know what was going on. Wits gave the maid a smile and a nod as she set a cup on the end table next to him. “I was worried at first,” she admitted, “but now I’m glad I let you three in.”
“So am I,” Wits said, keeping his voice down so as not to interrupt the talk of lace and furs happening nearby. “I have to ask, what does the Targponyen family do to afford a castle in the middle of the suburbs? Is Amber’s father like a politician or something?”
“Oh, no. Mister Bastion is king, though,” Opal replied.
Wits gave a cough, caught in mid sip of tea. “K-king?”
Opal chuckled. “That’s what most people around here call him, at least. Yes, he’s a senator up in the capital. Very busy recently, as you can imagine.” 
“I don’t even want to know,” Wits thought. 
“Mister Bastion is Miss Glitter’s uncle,” Opal explained. “He’s taking care of her while her father, Mister Glorious, is on his tour of service. Without her mother…” the maid’s expression turned grim for a moment. “It’s been difficult for her recently.”
“So it’s just you and Amber in this castle?”
“Mister Bastion has other staff on hand, and there’s the tutors, but not many people her age.” Opal looked up to see Amber and Rarity stifling chuckles, likely at Twilight’s attempt to join the conversation. “It’s been quite a while since I’ve seen her so happy.”
“Twilight and Rarity have a lot of experience with befriending people who need friends.” Wits sipped his tea. “So, no-one else, huh? Nothing like a step-mother or a second uncle or…”
“I’m not sure what you’re getting at,” Opal interrupted, her voice hardening, “but I wouldn’t mention Mister Bastion’s brother if I were you.”
“Boomer’s still a right git, then,” Wits End thought. “I’ll leave it at that, then. The tea is delicious, by the way.”
A light blush spread over Opal’s cheeks. “I’ll fetch some snacks to go with it,” she said quickly, turned back to the door.
“One last quick question,” Wits said. “This castle. How did they build it so quickly?”
Opal blinked in confusion. “The castle’s always been here, sir. They built the suburb around it.”
Wits frowned. “Really? When was it built?”
Opal opened her mouth to answer, but stopped. Her eyebrows knitted as she thought. “I’m afraid I don’t know that. I really must get those snacks.” With that, she hurried away.
Wits End watched her disappear around the doorway, then turned back to the three girls, where Amber and Rarity were explaining to Twilight the difference between Victorian and Lolita. “Curiouser and curiouser…”


* * *


Citizens going about their lives on the streets of Canterlot tried their best to ignore the slogging form of a young man in shorts and a t-shirt as he shuffled through the city. His two companions, both girls of high school age, bracketed him, trying their level best to not be embarrassed by his behaviour.
“Purple Heart, if you keep up with this, we won’t even need to get to the police station to see Officer Just Duty,” Applejack sighed. “He’ll be summoned to deal with you long before we get there.”
“You really think that the police department would send a police captain do deal with a misdemeanor such as this?” Science Twilight asked, gesturing at the purple teen between them.
“He’s disturbin’ the peace,” Applejack retorted. “Ah think a police captain would be fine.”
Twilight adjusted her glasses as she stared hard at the blonde haired girl. “You don’t believe in proportional response, do you? Besides, Just Duty may not be on duty.”
Applejack shrugged. “Worth a shot.”
“Let’s hope that the just police captain is indeed on duty,” Purple Heart said, straightening from his slogging posture. He grinned at the two girls. “See what I did there? With his name?”
The pair snorted as they stalked past him. “You ain’t Wits End,” Applejack replied. “Don’t try so hard.”
The purple teen harrumphed and shoved his hands in his pockets, striding after the pair with shoulders hunched to match the scowl on his face. “‘M funny,” he muttered petulantly.
“Of course you are, dearie,” an old woman soothed, patting his arm as she walked past. “Just keep telling yourself that.” She walked off, leaving Purple Heart balked in the middle of the sidewalk, gaping after her. Further ahead, Applejack and Twilight tried to contain their giggling.
“I do believe you just got burned by a senior citizen,” a voice chuckled. “Do you need an escort to the nearest burn trauma center?” The trio turned around to see their goal standing behind Applejack and Twilight. Just Duty grinned toothily at Purple Heart, waving with his donut as he took a sip of coffee.
“What a stroke of luck,” Purple Heart grimaced. “A wild Just Duty appears with donut and coffee in hand. Should we flee or flirt.”
“Okay, now yer definitely tryin’ to be Wits,” Applejack accused. “Are you having an identity crisis?” Purple Heart gasped dramatically and slapped his hands to the side of his face.
“Wits? Identity crisis?” he cried. “You don’t say? Well goodness gracious, whatever shall we do?” He ran past the pair and shouted into Just Duty’s face. “Sound the alarm! Call Scotland Yard!” He turned to the stunned girls, ignoring Just Duty’s twitching chin as the man looked at his dropped donut. “Applejack, of all the impossible childish fiddle-faddle, identity crisis, I ask you!” He huffed and folded his arms over his chest, looking away dramatically. Or petulantly…
“Quiet a talented boy,” Just Duty hummed, peering down at his dropped donut. “Talented enough perhaps to get me another pastry?”
The two girls rushed past Purple Heart and linked an arm with each of Just Duty’s. “Unfortunately, Purple Heart’s low on cash. He’s grounded,” Applejack said. “But we’d happily get you another pastry if you’d answer a few questions for us.”
“Indeed,” Twilight agreed. “Whatever pastry you want in exchange for answering a few questions of ours.”
Just Duty arched an eyebrow at the two teenage girls hanging off his arms and nearly spilling his coffee. “Is this bribery I smell?” he asked. The pair shook their heads vehemently in denial.
“We just want to thank you for all the work you do,” Twilight assured. She glared at where Purple Heart still stood, gazing into the distance. “And the questions aren’t personal in nature, nor are they about police business.”
Just Duty sighed. “While I’d prefer the offender of my pastry purchased a replacement, I won’t say no to a pair of earnest citizens.” As he led the girls away to his favorite pastry shop, he couldn’t help but grin at Purple Heart over his shoulder. “Care to join us? I’m sure there will be samples that even your wallet can’t say no to.”
Purple Heart broke his pose and sneered after the trio as they walked down the street. He made to follow them, only to stop when he saw a child standing near a corner looking confusedly around. Her brow was furrowed ever so slightly, as if she were trying to remember something. His gaze shifted briefly to Applejack, Science Twilight, and Just Duty’s retreating backs. Making up his mind, he walked over to the girl.
“You okay there?” he asked. The girl looked up at him, eyes widening when she saw the gargantuan purple skinned teen.
“Big,” she whispered.
Purple Heart chuckled and squatted down so that his eyes were level with hers. “Better?” She nodded shyly. “You okay?”
She frowned again. “I thought I saw a giant building over there,” she said, pointing across the street. Purple Heart’s gaze followed her finger. Across the street was a park filled with children just out of school for the day. He arched an eyebrow and glanced at the girl.
“Anything interesting about this giant building?” he inquired.
The girl nodded. “It was full of ponies. We were all looking at a pit in the center filled with sand.” She looked straight into Purple Heart’s eyes. “You were fighting a bunch of them. They had spears.”
Purple Heart blinked, brain kicking into overdrive. The Lancers fight… But how…
His thoughts were interrupted by the arrival of a young woman, a haphazard ponytail flopped over her left shoulder.
“Maya, time to go home,” the woman said, taking the girl’s hand. Purple Heart was frozen in place, eyes looking at nothing as the pair left.
The girl waved. “Bye, Purple Barbarian,” she called.
...Aw noes… All noise disappeared as he recalled that battle in the Colosseum. He could hear the faintly words of the young woman scolding the girl ‘for calling the nice young man a barbarian’. He blinked rapidly, trying to fathom the girl’s words.
“How could she have memories of me when I was a pony?” he whispered, standing tall. He ignored the staring pedestrians in favor of stroking his stubbled chin with one hand and cradling his elbow with the other. Brows furrowed, he turned and started walking, deaf to the cries of irritation and outrage from fellow pedestrians as they circumnavigated his path.
“Could there have been some kind of magical backlash or something that made memories from the game world seep into the Canterlot High?” He stopped. “Well, that hurt to consider… I’m not that smart… How the hell would it even happen.” His walking resumed.
He managed to make it around the corner that Applejack and Science Twilight had taken Just Duty when he stopped, eyes wide, mouth forming an ‘O’, and tapped his fist against his palm. “The Targponyens! They must have come from the game and brought magic that started filtering memories from the game world into their equivalents!” he realized. A grin split his face only to disappear a second later. “But that doesn’t explain why or how...” He groaned, shoving his hands in his pockets. “I hate magic.”
His pondering shuffle was interrupted shortly afterwards with the return of Applejack, Sci Twi, and Just Duty, all toting pastries and hot beverages.
“You missed your chance for a hot danish, Purple Heart,” Sci Twi chortled, biting into her pastry. “Fresh from the oven.” She gave a moan of satisfaction and washed the bite down with a sip of her drink.
“The apple cider is amazing,” Applejack praised.
“I am partial to their croissants now,” Just Duty admitted. “Especially their chocolate ones.” The trio paused in their glowing reviews to look perplexedly at the silent youth before them.
“Purple Heart? Ya okay?” Applejack prodded. “You don’t seem real peeved that we left you behind.”
Purple Heart looked at them, gaze moving from one to the other. “Officer Duty,” he spoke grimly, “have there been any reports of people talking about things that make no sense? Asking about buildings where there are none or recognizing people or objects that they’ve never seen before?”
Applejack and Twilight shared a look and glanced at the police officer, waiting for his response with baited breath. The graying officer frowned and pursed his lips to take a ruminative sip of his coffee.
“As a matter of fact,” he mused, “there have been several reports of such behavior over the past few days.” He nodded, taking another sip of his drink. “A young man asked where he could find the blacksmith. A bartender asked for gold coins instead of bit bills. An old woman was rushed to the hospital after an explosion in her house. She was mixing together highly volatile chemicals with herbs and plants.”
“And there was a little girl who asked me where the Coliseum was,” Purple Heart said. He grimaced and the two girls shivered while Just Duty frowned.“It’s official. Something is going on somewhere. I have a really bad feeling about this...”


* * *


“Five minutes. Just five minutes. I need a break from being the kid who tried to hide from the tornado in the cotton candy factory,” Light Patch whined, dropping into a bench outside of Crystal Prep.
“Oh, quit whining,” Dash replied, “it’s not like-”
“You’ve dragged me across the city five times; mostly jogging the whole way to talk to fifty or so different people in order on the list Pinkie compiled in order, rather than clustering for efficiency of travel? Yeah, it’s good we didn’t do that,” the teenager wheezed as he laid down on the bench.
“Wow, that was some Grade B snark there,” Pinkie said as she leaned over the teenager, pulling a stethoscope out of her hair and putting it up to his chest.
“Everything sound good in there?” he growled between his deep breaths.
“I’dun know, not a doctor,” Pinkie replied, throwing it into her backpack. “I just wanted to make sure it was still working. I’ve been looking for it for a while and, like a lot of things I lose, they eventually show up again, just in my hair!” She finished with a shrug as she stuck her hand back into her hair. “Nope, still no music player,” she declared cheerily, missing the worried glances exchanged between Light Patch and Rainbow Dash.
“Welp, I’m ready,” he declared, pulling himself off the bench and slightly shakily to his feet.
“That was fast. it’s barely even been a minute,” Rainbow said, sliding up next to him to make sure he was steady, because there was no way she was gonna carry him let alone drag him.
“Because if I lay there for the next four minutes,” Light Patch replied, “all I’m gonna think about are the implications of what Pinkie just said. And at the end of that road is madness with a pretty pink bow.” Rainbow froze for a moment and then, eventually, shrugged.
“Right, well, Holdfast is the last on the list, and then we’re done for the day. So, anyone got an idea on how we want to approach him?”
“With a large stick and a tiger set on maul?” Light Patch suggested.
“How about with a party and cupcakes?” Pinkie suggested, rooting around in her hair again.
“Yeah, somehow I don’t think either of those ideas will work all that well,” Rainbow said. “How about we just go in ask him if he knows the Targponyens, if he remembers their welcome party, and what weird rumors he’s heard about the town?” 
“And when he asks us why the questions, and why him?”
“It’s easy. Pinkie was afraid her first welcoming party for them didn’t work, and she wants to try again. And as for the rumors, we’re doing reports on local myths and legends and how they form, and we wanted someone who felt like a more considered source who wouldn’t just accept these at face value.”
“That sounds... like a surprisingly well thought out plan,” Light Patch admitted after a few moments thought.
“I am a sports team captain. I’m allowed to do that. Also here’s our out too; I brought some math homework,” Rainbow said smugly.
“What about that makes it our out?”
“If we need to get out, I can bug him to help me with this,” she said, pulling it out to show.
“What if he does decide to help you out?”
“Then I get help with my math homework, so win win,” she said with a shrug putting her math homework back into her bag.
“Welp, here’s his office!” Pinkie cheered.
“Wait, wasn’t his office supposed to be on the third floor?” Rainbow asked, looking around the hallway.
“Yeah,” Light Patch quietly replied.
“When did we go up stairs?” Rainbow asked again before suddenly shaking her head. “No, never mind, it’s just Pinkie being Pinkie,” she said before knocking on the door, without giving either of her friends a chance to respond.
“Come in,” an older voice answered from inside of the office. The three quietly shuffled in and closed the door behind them. Light Patch was the last to enter, allowing Holdfast to miss the small shudder as he looked at a new form of one of the three bosses that gave them trouble.
“I feel it’s safe to assume that the three of you aren’t students from Crystal Prep, so you can’t be here to complain about too much homework. So, what brings the three of you to my office, then?” Holdfast asked, looking between the three of them.
“We’ve got a questions we’d like to ask you for a report,” Rainbow Dash replied.
“And I’ve got a Pinkie Party Questionnaire for you! With a coupon for a half-off cupcake!” Pinkie cheered.
“Ah hah,” the professor replied, taking the offered coupon. He glanced at it before setting it on his desk. “I can’t recall having been to any parties recently.”
“It was the welcome party for the Targponyens. It was a few months ago; I forgot to send out my usual questionnaires like normal, so I figure better late than never, right?” Pinkie declared, throwing her hands up and releasing two handfuls of confetti. The colored paper flitted about the room in silence as Holdfast and the others in the room silently observed Pinkie. After a minute or two, Pinkie opened on of her eyes and looked at the confetti now covering various surfaces of the office. “I’ll, uh, I’ll clean that up,” she said with a nervous smile.
“I should hope so,” Holdfast replied, looking as if he was just barely holding in a sigh. “Unfortunately, I doubt I’ll be of use with that... party questionnaire. I can guarantee I was never at that party at all. In fact, if it was in the time period I’m suspecting it was, I was most likely away from the city at a conference.” Holdfast pick up the coupon between his fingertips. “So you might as well take this back,” he finished, holding it out towards Pinkie.
“Nope, it’s fine! You go ahead and keep it,” she said trying to reach a piece of confetti just on the top of a bookshelf.
“If you must insist...” He set the coupon back on his desk and turned to look at Rainbow Dash and Light Patch. “I assume you two had a few questions of your own? Or are you here for party-based moral support?”
“Yeah, we’ve got a report to do on urban legends and how they start and all of that. We wanted someone with a more considered mind’s input on some of the strange local rumors we’ve been hearing about around the town,” Rainbow smoothly lied.
One eyebrow raised on Holdfast’s face. “And what are the rumors you’re focusing on?”
“Well for starters, there’s been rumors of coordinated massive spider colonies forming in the sewers,” Light Patch said, starting with Rainbow’s lead.
As he considered the rumor, Holdfast adjusted a pencil on his desk that had been knocked loose by Pinkie’s cleaning. “Likely spawned from a kernel of truth, as all rumors are. Someone encounters a large spider colony maybe—Orb-Weavers for example—and their arachnophobia and pattern recognition spun into overdrive.” The corner of his mouth twitched in a smirk. “If you’ll pardon the pun.”
“Yeah, that makes sense. I think I remember hearing about a shut down water treatment plant that had a massive spider colony move in,” Light Patch idly replied as he made a few scribbles in a notepad he had handy.
“There’s also been rumors of some pack of literal timber wolves in the park or something,” Rainbow suggested.
“I’ve heard this rumor myself.” Holdfast replied quickly. “I find it much to... punny to feel it’s anything more than a prank or an in-joke of some kind.” 
“There’s also been some suggestions that a castle appeared overnight in town. Speaking of which, have you ever meet the Targponyens?” Pinkie chimed in as she picked up the last piece of confetti.
Holdfast laughed at the last rumor. “Likely started from an inattentive homebody, or one who routinely takes long summer vacations. As for the Targponyens, I have meet them in the past, but I wouldn’t really say I know them. Passing hellos in the town at the most, I assume.”
“What about rodents of unusual size?” Light Patch asked, earning a dismissive scoff.
“An absolute fabrication,” Holdfast threw back. “Now, was there anything else you wanted to ask? Unlike my students, I have things need to get done before I leave for the day.”
“Yeah, I got a couple of questions about my math homework,” Rainbow replied, pulling the sheets out.
“You’d be better off asking a mathematician than an economist, but allow me to take an educated guess.” Holdfast made a point of not looking at Rainbow Dash’s papers. “You’ve got answers two, five and six wrong. Figuring out how is what your parent’s tax dollars and those twenty-pound book-shaped doorstops are for.” He made small shooing motions as he turned to stack of ungraded homework.
“Humph. Thanks, I guess,” Rainbow muttered as she led the group out, staring at the math homework. She looked back as Pinkie shut the door behind them. “Well, looks like we got done a little ahead of the others at least, even with you slowing us down,” she finished, looking at Light Patch.
“I guess that means we get to go to the library and work on finishing your math homework,” Light Patch said, looking at one of the sheets. “Looks like all of those math classes will finally pay off a little.”
“Oooh, I can do some research on parties in fifteen ninety-nine!” Pinkie cheered as she took off.


* * *


Princess Twilight looked at all of the teens currently back at the house the guys had set up in. Rarity currently sat, trying to not twitch as she eyed a bookshelf that had been missed in all of the recent cleaning, Fluttershy and Purple Heart appeared to be in some discussion about cats and poorly spelled food items, and Wits End appeared to currently be tearing into whatever show he had been watching with Sunset. She could hear the others around the first floor of the house, but her attention, along with that of everyone else in the house, was drawn by the sounds of the front door opening.
“I’m telling you, it’s not really that hard. Each level of math leads into the next. The first is speed, then acceleration, and finally distance,” Light Patch said, waving his hands.
“I really don’t care what integration does, I just need to know enough to get through the test!” Rainbow replied, following him in with Pinkie happily bouncing along behind her.
“We’re back! I have snacks, and we have intel!” Pinkie declared happily, holding aloft a box of various pastries.
Wits perked up, looking the pastry box over. “Which one is that? The snacks or the intel?”
“Why would you need to ask that?” Sunset asked.
“Because of all of the tropes that could happen right now, ‘character accidentally eats the MacGuffin’ is right up there for our group.”
Sunset frowned. “I mean…”
Purple Heart ambled over and peeked over Pinkie’s shoulder, eyeing the box in her hands. “Can has please?” he requested. “Applejack and Sci Twi were mean to me and didn’t share their pastries.”
“Only cuz you ruined Officer Duty’s coffee,” Applejack retorted from across the room.
The purple teen rolled his eyes. “May I point out that doing so allowed you and Sci Twi to interrogate the fine officer for a change.”
“And may I point out that we should get back to the task at hand now that Pinkie has returned?” Science Twilight butted in. “We’re all here, so let’s share our experiences. We’re burning daylight.”
“Can I have a pastry at least?”
Sci Twi rubbed the bridge of her nose and sighed. “...Fine.” While Purple Heart popped the lid and proceeded to wrestle with Pinkie Pie over the pastries, Science Twilight cleared her throat.
“I shall share first. Now, since we’re pressed for time, I won’t boot up the powerpoint presentation I prepared and shall instead settle for handing out portfolio’s of my team’s discovers,” the science inclined girl stated, passing out folders to the rest of the group. “From what Applejack and I could deduce from Just Duty’s answers, the populace of Canterlot have been suffering from memory based ailments ranging from amnesia and blackouts to straight up memories of a fantasy realm. From what Purple Heart later shared with Applejack and I, the fantasy realm in question is the game world you four-” she gestured to the three boys and Princess Twilight, “lately inhabited.” She sniffed, allowing a look of mild disdain to cross her face. “Since Purple Heart did not type up his findings, he shall have to share them verbally.”
“Our group can also offer a secondary confirmation to the memory issues,” Light Patch threw out.
Purple Heart swallowed the last bite of his pastry and stepped forward around Sci Twi, brushing his hands clean on his pants. “Mind you, this happened after Applejack and Science Twilight offered to buy Just Duty another coffee,” he prefaced. “So I was alone.”
“Lovely,” Sunset quipped.
Purple Heart ignored the interruption. “This little girl was standing on the sidewalk, looking at the park across the way and when I asked her if there was something wrong, she asked me where the Coliseum was.” He paused, looking for recognition around him. “She also mentioned ponies with spears. Only time I heard of ponies with spears was when I was fighting in the Coliseum. Then she bid me goodbye with the moniker I was given. The Purple Barbarian. The populace of Canterlot are either sharing memories or receiving memories from their counterparts in the game world for some inexplicable reason.” He looked at Wits and Light. “Either Discord is playing another joke or Bael retained some of Discord’s power.”
“Well, if Bael did retain power, he sure didn’t bring any of Holdfast’s,” Light Patch said, stepping up. “Holdfast was on the sneakier side, but he didn’t show any signs of recognizing me. At the very least, it looks like we aren’t dealing with the Holdfast from the game.” Everyone looked at Wits End at the small sigh he gave.
“Was he really that bad?” Princess Twilight asked with a concerned look.
“I didn’t really share the bad half of it, and I don’t think I even knew a quarter of it,” the mint-colored teen replied, sharing a lightning quick glance at Fluttershy.
“Well, we at least have that good news,” Light Patch said, jumping back into the conversation. “As mentioned, we can add a second source on the memory issues. We canvassed a bunch of the town, and some memory issues came up a few times. Also, it appears the closer you live or work to the castle, the more likely you are to remember the birthday party. Also, the rumors; the spiders and timber wolves and stuff.”
“The really weird thing was the results of the rumors,” Rainbow chimed in, causing Pinkie to bounce to the middle of the room.
“Yeah, all of the rumors Witty Fresh brought up for us to ask about! Other than minor variations, everyone’s details and accounting of the rumors were basically word for word!” Pinkie said. “Well, on all of the rumors related to your adventures in Discord’s game world. The generic ones I came up with usually got no knowledge or wildly different stories,” she finished.
Princess Twilight nodded. “That’s the sense I got from our survey of the castle as well. It was like a weird gestalt of this world and the game world. Amber Glitter seemed much more like a regular teenage girl than a princess.”
“I’ve got a theory on that, actually,” Wits jumped in. “From what Opal told me, it seems like what we’re dealing with is a good old CK-class restructuring scenario.” He paused for a moment, looking over the faces of the other teens. “Okay, not a lot of looks of recognition here, so short version.” He shook the papers out of one of the folders Science Twilight had handed him and clicked open a pen. “Let’s say each of these pages is a different universe. We’ve got the Equestria Girls universe we’re in now…” He drew a rough house on one page, then moved on to some of the others. “The Equestria that Horse-Light is from, Discord’s game world, aaaaaand the world the three of us are from.”
“Simple multiverse theory stuff,” SciTwi mused, gathering the remaining papers that had landed around Wits’ feet.
“Multiverse stuff is never simple,” Princess Twilight groaned.
“For Twilight’s Equestria and this world,” Wits continued, “it’s a relatively easy case of people and objects traveling between the two.” After looking around for a moment, he moved over to corkboard currently being used for various class schedules and pinned the four pages up. “This pin,” he said, holding up a purple pin before sticking it into the Equestria page, “is Twilight. You take Twilight out of one world, and move her to another.” With that, he pulled the pin and stuck it into the Equestria Girls page.
“Can I get a pass on this lecture?” Rainbow Dash asked, glaring at Light Patch. “I’ve already had one today, and I don’t feel like another one.”
“Save your questions until the end,” Wits replied, to the groan of the rainbow-haired jock. “The same case goes for the three of us; we got moved from our world,” he unstuck three pins and repinned them next to the Twilight pin, “and into this one.”
“An’ yer saying that ain’t what’s happenin’ here?” Applejack asked.
Wits shook his head. “Not exactly. What’s happening here is more like…” He tore a quarter of the house off of the game world page and stuck it over the Equestria Girls house, and secured it in place with tape provided by Pinkie. “A bit like that. Someone or something is taking pieces of the game world and writing them over this one. That’s why there’s bits that don’t make logical sense, like a castle in the suburbs.”
“So,” Science Twilight said slowly, “the data for Amber Glitter got copied over from the game world and got pasted over the data in this one. Things like her house got replaced, but her personality didn’t.”
“Exactly!” Wits paused for a moment. “Actually, using a computer analogy probably would’ve been a lot easier than paper. Darn you, visual aids.”
“Oh, the visual aids helped,” Pinkie said around her seventh pastry. “Python or ‘see sharp’ would’ve been really complicated.”
“In conclusion, the game world is being brought here along with all its individual quirks,” Sunset stated. “Great. Just great.”
“The big question is who or what is responsible,” Rarity said. “From what you three say, you seem to think it’s one of your ‘villains’. Or at least, one of them has a hand in this… copy pasting… Did I use that right?”
“You did,” Sci Twi mused. “Rather appropriately I might add.”
“Congratulations about our successful intel gathering aside,” Princess Twilight spoke loudly, “what happens now?”
Wits End straighten up. “Now we…” He trailed off, his posture deflating. “I have no idea. We’ve already had plenty of run-ins with Just Duty and Holdfast, and neither of them seem to have anything to do with this. Bael might have the power, but I don’t see why someone that wanted to escape his place in the game would want to recreate that same world. I am, officially, stumped.”
“I guess we wait and see. Maybe play around with the puzzle pieces we do have and see if we can fit more of them together, maybe?” Light Patch offered.
“Sounds plan-like,” Purple Heart said. “I need more food though...”