Applejack's POV
Wednesday, 12:23 PM
Outside the Cafeteria
With the dark passing clouds that hung overhead, not too many of the other students were interested in eating outside. Originally I thought that was going to be for the best considering we had no idea what our magic could do.
Only, after seven minutes of nothing but sitting and staring at weird shaped dice on a table, I started staring at the clouds for something more interesting.
"So...I guess I didn't miss anything."
A few of us looked up to see Rainbow Dash walking over with lunch in hand. As she took a seat she immediately started reaching for her drink. "Sorry for taking so long. Mr. Cranky made me and a bunch of other students walk all the way back to our classes before we could go get our lunch."
I rolled my eyes. "Well maybe if ya didn't run down tha halls like a crazed bull..."
"It's not like I have much of a choice," she countered. "With all the transfers, the lunch line is longer than ever. And my class is on the other side of the school."
After taking a moment to calm herself down, Rainbow turned to Sunset. "Any news on how this stuff works?"
Sunset only shook her head. "Nothing. I tried whatever I could yesterday and nothing worked. What's more..." Sunset reached into a pocket and pulled out another 20-sided die. "This is the only one that still looks different."
"Sunset." I folded my arms. "Don' tell me ya've been keepin' that thing with ya all mornin'."
It was already bad enough we took it from Story. Was gallivanting with it a good idea?
"I can't leave it at home," Sunset argued. "If it does anything we should be close by when it happens."
"But, can't that be a tad dangerous," Rarity asked. "There are several new faces around the school grounds that don't know what to expect. Especially after the school has garnered so much attention."
"She's right, ya know." I brought my gaze back to Sunset. "Dean Cadence and Vice Principal Luna told both our schools ta try keepin' calm 'bout all the magic."
Sunset sunk in her seat. "I know," she relented. "Principal Celestia told me the same thing this morning."
"Hmm?" Twilight glanced up, most of her attention still stuck on some orange-colored book. "The principal?"
Sunset nodded. "After she distracted Story for us, Ms. Cheerilee told Celestia about what she saw. So Principal Celestia wanted our side of the story."
Fluttershy shuffled in her seat. "I hope she's not too worried about this."
"She's actually kind of relieved," Sunset admitted. "When I told her Story couldn't see any of the magic, she asked that we try and solve this without anyone else finding out about it."
In hearing that, Rainbow looked like all the wind got knocked out of her. She let her chin rest onto the table as her frown just got worse. "Ugh...Does that mean that we gotta keep going to this boring club?"
"Oh come now, Rainbow." Rarity smirked. "For a few times, you seemed to be getting the swing of things. That is until you lost your hammer."
"Hey, I got it back didn't—" Rainbow stopped when she saw some of the knowing smirks from a few of us. Myself included. "Not the point. Look, if the magic's coming from us then what if we just stop going? Won't that solve the problem?"
"But I liked that game," Pinkie added. "I punched a goblin in the nose with Glemerr!" Pinkie practically leaped out of her chair with a war cry.
Rarity nodded happily. "I have to agree. With the theatre department always full I can't even help with the costumes let alone take center stage. In this club, I can play by my own design."
Rainbow's expression fell further before she turned to me.
"Come on AJ. You gotta be just as bored as I am with this."
I simply rose an eyebrow. "I might not be a fan of playin' some action hero. Let alone a 'rogue'," I muttered to myself. "But I promised Story that I'd give the game a fair shake. An' I don't think one game counts as fair. 'Sides, the game feels like somethin' up Twi an' Sunset's alley. Am I right?"
I looked over to the science girl in question. And just like the whole time she's been here, Twilight had her nose in that same book.
Sunset shrugged. "You're not wrong."
"...Uh-huh." Meanwhile, Twilight's attention was just as stuck in the book as her nose.
"Wait a second..." Rainbow sat up to read over Twilight's shoulder, mouthing a few words as she read what was in the book. "Are you reading one of those D&D books?"
"Of course," Twilight stopped reading only to write a few notes. "Sunset did say that we should try and get some things for ourselves."
"When I said that, I meant like the dice or figures." Sunset tried looking at the front of the book before her expression turned somewhat worried. "Isn't that book around fifty dollars?"
"Normally." Twilight flipped the page. "But this is my brother's book. He let me have it when I told him I was playing."
Rainbow's interest suddenly stopped as she fell back in her seat. "Which means you want to keep going."
"Sorry Rainbow Dash," Fluttershy consoled. "But. Um. I still want to play too."
And that makes six. I took a sip of cider as Rainbow came to the same realization.
But rather than give up, Rainbow's face lit up like a lightbulb. "Then what if we just play it then?"
A small collection of what's or huh's had Rainbow Dash keep explaining.
"I mean, what if we just play the game without Story?" Rainbow pointed to the stuff in the middle of the table. "We have dice and. And the action figure things." She pointed to Twilight next. "We have a book to play the game. We even have those papers Story had us keep. We're all good!"
The group went silent while all of us were thinking the idea over. To RD's credit, there was nothing wrong with the plan. If the stuff worked like our instruments then the magic would go the second we worked on it. The only thing that made me cautious about trying it out was what's going to happen after we make the dice light up?
"Well, Sunset?" Rarity turned to her. "Is it something worth trying?"
"..." Sunset settled her gaze on the stuff scattering the table. Then back to the die in her hands. I know she wasn't far enough into her own thoughts that she failed to hear Rainbow's idea.
As she was still thinking, Sunset gently planted her die down with the others so that we could finally see what she was looking at. Or more specifically, what she wasn't looking at.
For all that any of us could tell, the die was a milk white color without any numbers on any of the twenty sides. It had no smudges of any kind and looked entirely flawless. Not even a chip on one of the corners.
Twilight put down her book as she stared at it. "It's...still magic?"
Sunset nodded. "And it's been like that after Story left yesterday."
Since Story.... My brow furrowed. "...Wait a sec."
"So you got one too?" Rainbow started fishing around in a pocket before pulling out another die. Except rather than being milk white like Sunset's, or even that deep chrome blue that her dice first turned into yesterday. Instead it was green with white colored numbers; it was normal.
"I thought if I kept it the magic would stick around or something. But it turned off not too long after we left the classroom." Rainbow put the die down with Sunset's. "And when I helped load everything into his car the dice wouldn't turn back on."
"Die," Twilight spoke.
"Twilight," Rarity said in a small gasp. "What a thing to say."
"Wha— no." Twilight held up a hand. "I mean, die is singular for...nevermind." She looked back to Story. "Is that why you think we don't need Story to make the dice work?"
"Kind of," Rainbow said with a shrug. "It's not like he has any magic."
If ever I heard a jinx, I thought.
With a sigh, Sunset started digging through her bag. "Let's give it a shot. Doing nothing isn't going to get us anywhere. At least if we do it outside it'll be away from anyone else."
From her bag she pulled out a couple of papers, all of it probably about the club yesterday. And on top of them all was a character sheet that Story passed out to all of us.
"Wait. We're doing this now?" Rainbow watched as each of us started taking after Sunset's example. While some were taking out their paper from the game, others were pulling back whatever dice and figures they originally threw onto the table.
I looked over at her. "It was your idea, wasn't it?"
As Rainbow stumbled over her answer, I plucked the paper with all of Platick's info on it out of a binder. It was only one paper so I didn't bother to take it out of my bag. And from the looks of it, everyone else was the same.
The only one who didn't pull anything out was Rainbow Dash who, instead, sat watching with a bit of guilt on her face.
"I, uh...I didn't bring anything."
"That's alright Dashie," Pinkie explained before putting the blank dice in front of Rainbow Dash. "That just means that you get to do what Story did!"
"You mean the leader?" Rainbow just looked confused.
"The DM, actually," Twilight clarified as she put her book in front of Rainbow Dash. "You might need this though. There's some statistics for wolves and other things in the back."
"Hold on! Why do I gotta be the one doing homework all of a sudden?!"
"Like AJ said, you were the one who had the idea in the first place." Sunset 'politely' folded her hands together on the table. "It's only fair that you take the lead on this one. Dungeon Master," she ended with a smile.
"Never say that again," Rainbow groaned. But despite how much she frowned at the dice, Rainbow eventually started to reach for it. "...Fine. Let's just...do this."
Story's POV
Meanwhile
In the Cafeteria
Scattered around me was a collection of papers either filled with information or with maps of towns and geography. A lot of other students probably thought all the papers was a sign that I was insane or frantically studying for a test today.
Whatever the reason, it let me have this half of the lunch table to myself. The other half was taken by two students who didn't mind the papers. In fact, while eating their lunch, they had some papers spread out of their own. Science project apparently.
I took a bite out of my burger and kept looking at the page in front of me. On the top read Sevolta; a small village far from any large city. It's a place that Rarity had come up with while I helped her make a character for the club.
She originally asked if it would be easier for me if she picked a place I already made but I knew that giving me a new village would be more fun.
Still, aside from saying Ricven came from 'incredibly humble beginnings' and that the village is 'prideful and proud' in what they do, Rarity didn't have the kind of info I needed to make something come to life.
How long was the village around for? How big is the village? Are they farmers? Ranchers? Hunters? Do they even grow their own food? Is the village mostly gnomes like Ricven or are gnomes few and far between? All of these questions and more were still going unanswered.
I took another bite of my burger and went over what Rarity did tell me; how the village was made. She imagined that the village was founded by seven families, all of which were skilled artisans of different kinds.
Some fell on hard times while others wanted to strike out on their own. Sure enough, all of them came together and put everything they had left towards a single homestead. If it failed then they would have nothing left and yada, yada, yada.
That explained the 'Sev' part of 'Sevolta, I figured as I reached for a couple fries. It was a start. I promised that I'd come up with a few ideas and run it by her to see if it fit with what she imagined. That is, if she still wanted to play the game by then.
It was something to roll with and I was glad. Some of the other girls didn't have any idea of what to do. Like Pinkie. She more liked the idea of playing ASAP and didn't have anything in mind.
When I asked if she wanted some help thinking of something, Pinkie let me have free reign of Glemerr's past. She told me she'd rather it be a surprise so that she can look forward to seeing what Glemerr's past was like. Although it made me nervous whether she'd like it or not.
I glanced at the maps while taking a larger bite of my burg—"Ow!"
I dropped what little food I had in my hand. Without realizing it I bit down so hard on my finger that I could see the bite mark.
I took a second to look over at the other two sitting at the table. They were looming over their books confusedly but they didn't seem to notice me.
"Okay," I breathed out, shaking my hand. "At least no one saw that..."
"Eenope," a deep voice drawled.
I stiffened up. That voice was not only close by, it sounded like they were trying not to laugh. Great, I chastised. They just saw a transfer guy eating his own hand. I must look like a moron.
Not immediately hearing his footsteps, I took a breath before turning around. "Yeah, yeah, I wasn't paying attention. Happens to the best of us, right...Big Mac?!"
"Eeyup," he said with a nod.
Sure enough, standing behind me with lunch tray in hand was a mountain of a man with a blonde mop of hair on his head and a bright red jacket. Even with my hand stinging like mad I could tell that he was trying hard not to smile.
Instantly, my anger passed by as I motioned for him to take a seat. "Go ahead. Laugh all you want. Just remember that each chuckle is another rock falling on Sir Biggun's head later."
Big Mac's smile dropped real quick. "Ya wouldn't."
I grinned. "Keep poking the DM and find out." Big Mac sat opposite of me as I started moving papers out of the way for him.
On top of the game I was now running for the girls, I had another D&D game on Wednesdays and Big Mac was in it. In fact, it was him and the other four that convinced me to set up this club in the first place.
And ever since the girls joined in, Big Mac was even more than willing to help me out with the club. Especially when he heard that his sister joined. When he found that out, he wouldn't stop laughing for a solid five minutes. And another ten when he heard she was playing a rogue.
Once the papers were pushed away I looked up only to see Big Mac glancing across them as quick as he could.
"Don't get too excited." I smiled. "I already got Wednesday all set up. This is all stuff for your sister and her friends."
His face fell for a moment before he looked to me with a raised eyebrow. "Need help?"
"Pffffft. Nah." I smiled. "I'm throwing them through the tutorial. Besides, they might not even stick around long enough. Not all of them seemed too interested."
"Eenope." Mac shook his head and smiled. "AJ bought dice yesterday."
"She did?"
Big Mac nodded. "Rarity an' Twilight too."
"Huh..." I looked over at the notes for all their characters. Well, most of their characters. I didn't even have anything for that Rainbow girl's Dwarf. "I told them they could just use my dice. They didn't have to buy some."
I picked up the top two papers. One was the Sevolta page from earlier and the other had Fortuna Trade written out. That one was for AJ's character.
"...Say, Big Mac?" I started looking around for where one or two other papers were. "Can I get your help after all?"
Rainbow's POV
Meanwhile Again
"It doesn't have to be perfect," Rarity tried to assure me. "Just make up something."
"Easy for you to say," I countered, flipping page after page of all these boxes that looked exactly the same. Full of numbers and stuff that didn't make sense. "You don't have to look at all these confusing boxes."
"I don't think the numbers are too important," Sunset said. "Just give it a shot."
Right before I reached the end of the book I got to the second to last page of monsters in the back. The only thing that stood out was the skeleton covered in ripped clothing and holding a dinged up sword.
"Uh...Sure," I mumbled, finding the box that said 'Skeleton' in big red letters. "There. Are...these." And I turned the book around to show the picture. "Rawrrr." I half-tried to growl while shaking the book.
"The skeletons are growling?" Twilight asked.
Pinkie suddenly gasped. "Are they bear skeletons?!"
"They're bare boned," AJ joked.
"Look, what do want from..." Bears? Bear. Wasn't there a bear...? I took the book back and flipped back a couple pages to the start of the list, finding another box labeled 'Black Bear'.
"...Yeah," I hummed with a nod. "Yeah, they're BEAR skeletons. And they're clawing out of the ground with their BEAR claws."
Pinkie gasped. Again. "They're bare. Bear. Claws!" She leapt out of her seat, planting a foot on the bench and throwing a fist to the air. "Glemerr will stop them!"
"How's come they were in the ground?" AJ sat next to Pinkie, just confused.
"Are we...In a pet cemetery?" Fluttershy asked with a shiver down her spine.
"Why are there bears in a pet cemetery?" Rarity bit her lip.
"We're in a cemetery?" Twilight repeated.
"Does it matter?" I rolled my eyes.
"Well..." Sunset half sang with a smile on her face. "I mean, it might matter if 'zombie dogs' start 'pawing' out of the dirt." Sunset and Pinkie both started to laugh.
"Just roll the dice already," I shouted, my face getting heated.
Story's POV
Big Mac took one more look over the papers I had piled up beside me and the colored maps I had. Usually my stuff was more organized so the random papers were probably a dead giveaway that I wasn't on top of everything.
"How can ah help?" He smiled.
"Thank you." I nodded, reading over the papers. "Like I said, I know what the next few games will be like. But if they're sticking around like you think then I guess I'm just trying to figure out if I have some good stories for their lives. Can I run 'em by you and you tell me what you think?"
"Eeyup."
"Awesome." Getting the last few papers together I picked one to try first. "Then let's start a story."
After the girls were done laughing it off, Twilight pushed one of the regular dice to me. "You need to roll..." She stopped for a second to yawn. "Initiative."
I snickered, watching Twilight break into another yawn right after. "Don't get too excited."
AJ managed to hold back from yawning. "Geez. Musta woke up too early this mornin'."
"No, stop saying yawning. If you yawn, then I'll yawn and then everyo..." Whatever Pinkie was saying, it got cut off by another loud yawn. "No, I yawned!" Even with her shouting, Pinkie let her head rest next to her ninth and last mini cupcake. She still took a bite out of the frosting though.
...VvvvVVvvvVVVvVVVVVv...
Looking back at the table I could see the milk-white dice, the one Sunset had, starting to rattle back and forth as it started to change.
The milk white color shifted into this golden-brass color, gaining a shine to it as the sun reflected off of the now metallic faces. As it morphed, numbers and odd swirling shapes began carving into each face. After each number or shape finished getting carved out, they were a darker metal color as compared to the die itself.
When it looked exactly as when Sunset had rolled it yesterday it finally stopped rattling and went dead still.
"S-Sunset!" I shook her shoulder just as she was about to lay her head on the table. "The dice! It-It's changing! It worked!"
When Sunset finally stopped yawning, she went back to trying to keep her head up. "That's nice. Dash...Enjoy t...game..."
"Enjoy the— Hey, you're the one who wanted to do this!"
I watched the table. For some reason or another, all of them were falling asleep without warning. With a clank, Fluttershy fell right into her bowl of salad. Twilight's head was down next and her nose was half submerged in her mash potatoes. At the same time, AJ was starting to tip her hat down so the sun couldn't reach her.
The only ones still fighting to stay awake were Rarity and Sunset, who's heads were starting to fall into their arms, and Pinkie who was standing and using her arms to keep herself propped up.
"What's going on?" I stood up from my spot and ran over to Sunset. I started shaking her just to keep her awake.
"Sunset? Sunset, why's everyone falling asleep?" The more I kept shaking her the more she seemed to get tired.
"The..." She stopped for another yawn. "The die...Are th...symbols?" She slurred.
"Symbols? You mean the—" I practically lunged for the metal changing die and picked it up. It was as heavy as metal now. "You mean the squiggly lines?"
"Mmhmm." She looked at with one eye. "The squiggs. They're da dunamansss...y. Dunamance is. Old divinate…"
"...What?" I gave her the flattest look.
"Diviners," Sunset tried again. "Princess is. A div..."
"Sunset?" I waved a hand in front of her face. Nothing. "Sunset!"
Even when I started shaking her like a carpet she wouldn't wake up. All she gave me was snoring.
"Who's still awake?" After I turned to the other girls, my question was met with a chorus of snoring. Even Pinkie, who was that last one standing soon remedied that by falling into the dirt unconscious.
"Oh, come on." It didn't matter which one I spoke to, none of them answered.
When nothing worked, I looked back at the die in my hand. It was still made of bronze and heavy. It wasn't glowing though.
"Okay," I breathed to myself. "Think. Think. Think, think, think, think, think." I walked over to where I was sitting before. "I'm the only one awake. I have no clue what Sunset meant by Dune-A-Man. And I have a magic dice."
I looked at the die. "Magic dice. Magic..."
Closing my eyes, I tried focusing on the magic. Or at least, I think that's what I was trying.
"You will all wake up now," I said in a slow tone that those fake hypnotists always used. "You will wake up and...Know exactly what's going on."
I flicked the dice across the table.
"Fifteen!" I called out to no one at all. "High number; fifteen!"
I looked at the girls while I kept my arms spread out like a performer. "...This is so stupid."
With a dull kick to the bench, I started tapping my fingers while I tried thinking of something else.
"What else did Sunset say," I asked myself. "Dun-A-Man. Divinate. Divers. The princess. Princess. The princ—P-Princess Twilight!"
I rushed over for Sunset's bag and spilled everything on the ground until I saw that giant book from her world. With a cheer I snatched it out of the grass and plucked through until I got to the last page she wrote in.
I didn't want to waste time so I just kept reading until I saw something that stood out. Apparently next to all the writing, Sunset tried copying the symbols on the dice. A few lines from them pointed to old looking words that was probably in some other language. Some kind of Pony Latin no doubt.
"Ugh, come on. Use English," I spoke into the book. Like that would help. Congrats Rainbow. You skipped egghead and went straight to screw loose.
A loud snort ripped my attention away from the book. From beside the bench we were eating at was still Pinkie asleep on the dirt. Only know, she was shaking back and forth and snorting.
She never was a quiet sleeper, I remembered.
Tossing the book on the table for now, I walked over to Pinkie and kneeled down. "Alright Pinks. Let's at least get back to the table."
I wrapped my arms under her's and tried to pick her up off the ground to drag her. By the time I at least got the upper half of her body off the ground I looked up in time to see a large Frankenstein of a guy barreling towards me with some terrifying bat-like club.
His war cry met my screaming as I took Pinkie and dove us out of the way.
The guy, who was twice as big as Big Mac, kept running past us and made a running leap over part of the ground where three more giant guys were waiting with clubs. While the guy that passed me had greenish skin, the other equally large guys looked more gray.
I watched as the partly cloudy sky changed into heavy dark clouds looming over us, ready to storm at any second. About three feet away from Pinkie and I, the ground sank down into a straight canal; something you would imagine out of Venice. But instead of wood harbors with space for several boats everything was stone and only eight or so feet across.
When I looked behind us the picnic table and the girls were gone without a trace. Instead, there were run down buildings built near more water canals that made up some sort of medieval city. Rather than those amazing pictures of a clean Venice, this looked like what someone would imagine a Venice In the Slums to look like.
We need to get out of here. Now, I thought, getting ready to jump to my feet. Only as I did, I looked beside me where Pinkie was lying and noticed someone else.
Sitting near us was a small, stocky kid with a greenish tint to their skin. They looked like the green man that was in the middle of a 1v3 street brawl on the other side of the canal.
The kid, who I think was a girl, was watching the fight with shock and worry. For some reason she didn't seem to notice us, nor did the guys fighting.
I kept quiet for a few seconds and watched as the green guy suddenly ducked under one of the gray guys' club swing. Then, as the gray guy was readying another swing, Green brought up his small club and bashed it into the gray one's wrist.
No doubt the wrist bone shattered as the gray guy dropped his club in a loud scream. But Green wasn't done.
He deftly grabbed the attacker by the ponytail and brought his knee into the attacker's face. When the gray one was well and unconscious, Green shoved him into the canal's water and squared off against the two remaining guys.
"Yeah!" Suddenly, the little girl jumped up to her feet. "You go, Mord! Teach 'dem Angla's what for!" The deep English accent was hard to ignore. It was even harder not to hear how it sounded like Pinkie's voice.
"Pinkie, get up." I looked down at the snoring Pinkie head in my lap. "Pinkie!"
I looked again to the fight just in time to see Green— err, Mord —dislocate the shoulder of one of the two guys before throwing him into the club of the second like a human shield. With a mighty shove, Mord threw his 'shield' into the third guy with enough force to knock both of them into the water.
"Kif dill!" Mord shouted in Orcish, glaring daggers.
Orcish? I furrowed my brow. How do I know he said that in Orcish? How do I know what Orcish is?
My mind took its time wrapping around that as Mord turned around to look at the cheering little girl.
Orc girl, maybe, I assumed. If they were speaking Orcish then, whatever these people were, maybe they were Orcs...ish.
"Ya did great Uncle Mord," the orc girl shouted. "Ya really showed 'dose Angla's who's da betta Orc!"
Mord didn't share her enthusiasm. Instead, he grimaced as his face softened.
"No I didn't, Little Glem," Mord said with a gentle tone. Opposite of the Orcish he was shouting at the three. "I showed 'em who the stronger orc was." Mord then motioned for 'Little Glem' to step to the side.
Little Glem's expression became confused as she took a few steps to the side. "But wait. Ah thought tha' betta an' stronga were da same."
Mord rolled his eyes but started into a run for the edge of the canal just like before. And once again I found myself in the way of his path.
Without much time to think, I moved Pinkie aside and rolled off right as Mord was leaping over the canal. However, when I jumped to my feet to look back, he wasn't there. Neither was Little Glem.
In fact, the entire Venice Slums were missing. Now, I was standing a few feet away from Pinkie in the middle of the school yard with the picnic bench and our friends right back where they were supposed to be.
Nothing changed. Everything was back to normal.
Pinkie was now on her side. Exactly how I moved her when I dove away from Mord. But, other than that, she was still asleep and completely untouched by whatever happened.
Confused and a little worried, I walked back to Pinkie and knelt beside her. Instead of pick her up, I reached for her shoulder to try shaking her awake.
"No Glem," Mord's voice echoed. "Just because someone's stronger doesn't mean they're better. Same with bein' smarter too."
"Huh," Little Glem's voice echoed too. Only now, I could see her and Mord begin to appear out of thin air. "Well, I still think ye'r betta than 'em, Uncle Mord. They were tryin' ta snag me." By now, both of them were completely visible and parts of the scenery were starting to fade back in.
Mord took a second to leer off to where the canal was before tossing his club in the water. "Well...That's what makes 'em worse than you or me, Glem. They'll keep doin' bad things with their strength. But us? We'll do better with ours."
"Ya mean...Ah got strength too?"
Mord grinned. "Sure do, Miss Muscles." He walked over to ruffle her hair before picking her up for a piggyback ride. "Now come on. Let's get ya something to eat."
Little Glem started to giggle before climbing up to Mord's head, putting a foot on his shoulder and holding out a fist like Pinkie did earlier. "Yeah! Glemerr is hungry!"
Mord busted out laughing. "And so is MORD!" He shouted with a boisterous cry.
The two kept going, laughing all the way down the path as they did. The heavy clouds rolling above or the three groaning orc goons in the canal didn't seem to bother them in the slightest.
When I stepped away from Pinkie a second time, the entire moment melted away once again. The only thing I could hear was Pinkie giggling in her sleep.
How'd I do that? I looked down at my hand. That never happened before. None of the other girls did that either; it's only ever been wings and ears.
Curious, I walked back over to the group at the table. They were exactly like I left them. The magic die was there too, sitting right where I left it on a fifteen.
Some of the girls were flinching or moving like Pinkie was. Even the ones that I knew didn't sleep restlessly. Like Rarity, who every couple of seconds flinched or Sunset who left out a heavy breath as though she were upset about something.
Are they all going through the same thing Pinkie is? I looked back at my hand. And can I do that to all of them?
Curious, I reached out for Rarity who was closer than any of the others and put my hand on her shoulder. Almost instantly, noises and pictures started to fade into reality like with what happened to Pinkie.
Except for this time the noise was unbearable.
What met me wasn't a giant orc rushing at me with a war cry but instead the worst high-pitched screeching sound anyone could have ever made from a violin possible. Every wrong note that was scratched out made Rarity and I flinch out of instinct alone. It took all the willpower I had not to cover my ears and let go of Rarity to make it stop.
"Ugh!" Another screech. "No." Screech. "Little better." Louder screech. "Oops! Heh. Wrong direction."
Between each scream of a violin, this 'refined' sounding voice threw in their two cents before the next screech came again.
SCRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRCH!
That time the small cloud of birds took off flying into the sunset ahead. The sky was easily visible without any clouds above like the school or Venice Slums Pinkie had. There were now several hues of yellows and oranges as if the sky was on fire. The setting sun was only responsible for some of the color as the second sun behind it helped to blend in the reds and purples.
The landscape around us felt plain by comparison of that sunset. For miles, the land had rolling hills and pastures with a herd of horses moving to graze in a spot where the violin wasn't ruining their ears.
Lucky, I thought.
Overlooking it all was me, Rarity and a third person. Sitting on this wooden fence that I was now standing behind was this young gnome wearing—
"How do I know that?!" I shouted. How do I know the short guy's a gnome?! How did I know the Orcish thing? Come to think of it...
I looked up at the sunset. The first sun was setting and the blue one behind it was a little higher. How did I know that thing's a sun? My first thought of a blue orb in the sky isn't 'well there's the second sun, nothing to see here.' How did I know that?!
The answer sadly didn't come to me and instead, I was left clueless on this hilltop. From looking around me I could see the majority of this horse ranch complete with farmhouse and barn. Somewhat like Applejack's house. And judging from the clean-looking rancher's clothes on the gnome, he more than likely lived here.
Rather than doing any actual ranching, the gnome was sitting there trying as hard as he could to play even a single note right on that violin.
Now, I didn't know much about violins. In fact, I didn't know how to play any instrument too well unless 'guitar' was somewhere in the name. But what I did know was that you weren't supposed to hold the strings down in a death grip.
SSSCCCCCCCCCRTTTT!
And grinding the violin-wand-thing on the strings like skinning a cat was probably too much force.
SCCRT!
The gnome clicked his tongue. "Almost."
Almost?!
"Maybe I need ta be faster," he suggested. "When she played it, her arm was goin' back an' forth like crazy. O-Or rather." The gnome paused for a second as he leaped off the fence, landing on his feet. "She was steppin' back an' forth an' danced ta her music. Maybe...Maybe I should dance too."
The gnome took a second to shuffle his feet a little as he kept trying, and failing, to play his violin. As he did, I let go of Rarity and let it play without ruining my ears.
"I wasn't that bad when I started playing guitar, was I?" I asked nobody. The worst thing I remember doing was trying to do the perfect guitar slide when I got my first guitar. I slid straight into the coffee table and could barely bend my knees for a week.
I shook the memory away and started looking at the other girls. So far, Sunset went from huffing to frowning, as though she were in an argument. Applejack, on the other hand, was starting to look restless. There was still nothing from Twilight or Fluttershy though.
Story's POV
Big Mac turned the paper with AJ's story on it and pointed at a list of names and groups.
"Those are supposed to be possible people or organizations that Platick ran into at some point," I explained. "Groups that would have shown him a couple of things."
Big Mac's expression twisted for a second. "Ya said AJ didn't wanna be a thief."
My shoulders slumped down. "Yeah. And I'm not making Platick out to be. Only thing is. Well. A rogue knows how to read Thieves' Cant automatically. Plus there's lock picking and sneaking around. I wanted to find a reasonable way for Platick to know those things. Obviously, I can't say that it was a hobby of his to open safes. That doesn't make sense either. So getting caught in the wrong crowd's one of my only ideas."
Big Mac scratched at his chin for a moment. Something was churning in his head. "Well..."
He took a second to go back and read something else on the paper. His eyes focused on it. "What if they came ta him?"
"Came to him?" I thought over the list of names and groups I wrote. None of them were much for seeking out recruits. Especially not Platick. "Any idea why?"
Big Mac didn't answer. He instead reached for a pencil and circled the list of names. Then he drew an arrow from them to a part of Platick's story AJ thought up.
When he slid the paper back to me I looked the names over again. Big Mac didn't know who they were and since he played in my world I couldn't give it away. But when I centered on one of the names on the list, a few things started to click.
With each click, my expression twitched upward. First from confused to neutral. And then from neutral to smiling. And finally from smiling to a crooked grin.
"Yes..." I nearly hissed. "Oh. This can work."
Big Mac smiled. Glad that he was able to help.
I let go of Twilight's shoulder without too much to gain from it. When both she and Fluttershy weren't moving I wanted to see what was up.
All I ended up getting from it was a hooded woman hunting a rabbit from Twilight and a Wood Elf covered in dirt and grass stains looking over a scythe that was left at some nature shrine from Fluttershy. There wasn't any talking from either of them.
By now I realized what was happening. Each of the girls was having dreams, or something, about their characters from the game. Honestly, if I actually paid attention yesterday I probably would have noticed with Pinkie or Rarity's dream.
But if that's the reason then why wasn't I asleep? I was at that club. It took my magic like it did all of theirs.
All of a sudden, AJ flinched. Not a small twitch like Rarity with the violin but one that nearly had Applejack falling out of her seat.
I ran to check on her but whatever happened she wasn't flinching again. The only thing that changed was her hands clenched into fists and her breathing heavy; as if she just finished a marathon.
Knowing that she wasn't about to wake up and tell me what was wrong, I put a hand on her shoulder and started looking in every direction I could. The fading in was starting to get easier to deal with as I got the hang of it.
The first thing that always came first was the sounds and people. This time there were two. The first was a human kid that looked younger than Scoots and the second was a High Elven woman...no, person, who looked full grown. There was little to no sounds except for the human guy breathing hard at the same pace as Applejack.
It was only after he faded in well enough that I could tell why. His clothes were beaten up and bloodstains were starting to set in. His dusty blonde hair was disheveled with some of it matted to the side of his face where more blood had gathered.
He was leaning on a wooden club for support and looked exhausted. If it wasn't for him still fading into reality I probably would have tried running up to help him out of habit.
The High Elf was fairing much better. They were dressed in a puffy gown that Rarity would probably make for a prom complete with bright colors just dark enough not to be loud or obnoxious.
They looked like they belonged in some kind of Disney movie. The only problem was that they gave off this vibe that they were in control of everything. Almost how Sunset acted before she was our friend, only to max effect.
The visuals of the dream started to appear as the bench and girls vanished. I noticed that for the first time the dream wasn't outdoors but inside. There was a wooden ceiling blocking any chance of seeing the two suns or the sky.
When it all finished forming, AJ and I were in some sort of basement. Crates and barrels gathered in the corners and a set of wooden stairs led to a door with an iron latch on this side. The latch was locked.
In the middle of the basement, all the junk left a wide-open space with a huge rug covering the floor. Multiple bloodstains were dried around it and I could only guess they were from the kid. Then, tucked behind a large wine rack, I noticed a bed and some other furniture with a candle alight on the nightstand.
Although, none of that would stand out too long when I saw what the kid was standing in front of. A bleeding mannequin.
The mannequin had nothing on it except a painted face and the basic form of a person. It stood in a boxing pose and bobbed side to side. It had scuffs here of there with the seams on the shoulder split open to reveal cotton on the inside.
That was all the proof I needed to know that the blood dripping from the end of the mannequin's arms, not hands but spheres the size of tennis balls, were dripping with the kid's blood.
'What. Is. That,' I mouthed. I almost let go of AJ's shoulder out of fear of the thing. The only thing that was keeping me from letting go was whether anything happened to the girls in these dreams.
The kid straightened up and stared down the mannequin. He seemed...like he wasn't surprised a mannequin was squaring up at him.
"Ms. Kiirnodel." The guy turned towards the elf. "May I rest for today? I've been at this for two hours." His voice made it sound like he wanted to be excused from dinner and not fighting a killer mannequin.
"Platick," They started calmly. "You have only yourself to blame. I offered to give you a steady schedule of self-defense and education. You decided you wanted to avoid training. This was bound to happen."
"But...Why does it have to hit back?" Platick turned back to watch the dummy. "Training dummies are supposed to be stationary."
"You cannot defend yourself from nothing." They gave a small smile. "You need to be ready to protect yourself."
"But why do I need to defend myself?" He turned back to them. "It...They-They already..." He started looking uncomfortable.
They noticed it too. "Platick...You and I both know it's not that simple. Whoever is responsible, it wasn't a random robbery. You were targeted."
"...Yes, but." He was debating whether or not to say anything before finally one thought won over another. "It's not like I plan to go out and...Find them. That's what some stupid hero would do."
"...Stupid?" They rose an eyebrow. "Platick. Heroes are not stupid."
Platick scoffed. "We ran a store for 'heroes.' They were all stupid."
Kiirnodel's smile dropped. "Yes, well...Be that as it may, they could handle a training dummy. Something that you need to replicate. Now."
As Kiirnodel rose her hand in the air, Platick quickly turned back to the mannequin in a fighting stance. He was on edge.
Kiirnodel snapped their fingers and the mannequin moved.
At first, it looked easy. The mannequin would throw a wide punch or rush at Platick in a telegraphed way. Like amateur wrestling shows. Platick was able to dodge those.
But it kept going. Kiirnodel snapped her fingers a second time and the mannequin would act faster. Its punches would be quicker, its attacks harder to read, and since it was a mannequin there were no eyes or way of showing what it would do next.
That went on for another minute before Kiirnodel snapped their fingers again. Twice. The mannequin changed it up. Instead of only boxing punches, it would duck around and fight Platick like a street brawl. It started throwing feints and Platick would barely get away from getting hit.
Platick would go on for another minute before his skill ran out. A feint would trip him up one time or a punch was too strong another. Gradually the mannequin would start getting the upper hand.
Snap.
Out of desperation, Platick swung for the mannequin's head but it didn't connect. The mannequin would duck and lunge forward in one motion. Before Platick could recover, a swift sucker punch caught him across the jaw.
The mannequin didn't relent. It went for body blows. One. Two. Four. Seven. Thirteen. By the time Platick backed up, the mannequin socked him in the temple and the nose in a rapid one-two.
The mannequin hopped back before Platick could even recover. When he finally did, he wiped his nose on his sleeve. More blood.
"I...Please." he looked to Kiirnodel. "I don't like fighting. I—"
"Eyes forward," they told him. Platick obeyed. "Like it or not you cannot ignore it. You need this."
"..." Platick turned to them again. "I need this?"
The mannequin answered for them.
With Platick's guard down, the mannequin charged silently thanks to the plush rug. When it arrived it put all of its momenta into a single headbutt. The force was so great that Platick was forced to the ground with an arc of blood trailing from his nose.
Fresh blood ran down the mannequin's painted face but it didn't stop. It leaned over Platick and started to punching towards his body and face.. All Platick could do was take cover and accept the blows.
I looked over at Kiirnodel. They had a guilty look but no signs of interrupting.
Do something, I pleaded. Back at Platick, he was wildly swinging his club without looking. He caught the mannequin's arm but it did nothing. It gave the mannequin another opening.
Stop... I tried looking away. At anything that wasn't a bloody mannequin.
Then I saw AJ.
With each punch to Platick, AJ would flinch. Her hat covered her face and she was lying in a way where I couldn't see her body, but I didn't want to look. I could hear the punch and Platick's reaction and it filled in the blanks when AJ flinched.
Applejack's getting hurt. Stop. Stop this!
I looked at the elf again. They took in a breath and sat firm as the mannequin continued. When they finished collecting themselves I saw them raise their hand.
They were about to snap again.
"NO!" I screamed.
The mannequin stopped. AJ stopped twitching. Platick was lying there. Breathing.
I started breathing too. I was holding my breath the whole time.
"Help him up," Kiirnodel commanded. The mannequin obeyed and gently stood Platick up. He didn't resist.
When Platick was on his feet, Kiirnodel got up from their plush throne of a chair and walked forward. Even with their heels crossing the hardwood floor, their footsteps made no sound.
They reached the edge of the rug and the mannequin closed the distance, putting Platick in arms reach of them.
They better not hurt AJ anymore. I glared. If they do I'll drag her out of this dream and teach them myself.
Kiirnodel, thankfully, did nothing like that. They held out a hand and spoke in odd words while their palm would glow with this warm green energy.
Kiirnodel then placed their palm against Platick's head before every wound on Platick began to be swept off like red paint. With each wound wiping away, Platick's raspy breathing slowed.
So did Applejack's.
"There we are. Good as new," they ensured. "Now. Go put on some clean clothes. I'll have Nephis make you a nice meal."
"...Wait." Platick, who was still a little out of it from 'practice', managed to give the elf a sideways glance. "What about your advice on defense class?"
"Oh, nevermind that," they dismissed. "I can always go over them at another time. A meal seems more important."
They turned Platick around and tried to nudge him to run along but Platick wouldn't have any of it. He dug in his heels and turned to face Kiirnodel.
"You're hiding something from me," he announced.
"There has never been a time were I haven't hid something from you." They smiled. "Why are you surprised?"
Platick stared at Kiirnodel's smile. The more he did, the more worried he looked. "What's going on?"
The elf gently held Platick's face with both of her hands, looking him directly in the eyes. "Platick. I know that you have a keen eye for things. But that curiosity of yours needs to be controlled. You need to learn when to pick your battles."
"Pick my battles?" Platick frowned. "You make me fight a mannequin I can't beat."
"That's on purpose." They nodded.
"On purpose?" Platick started to glare. "You can't expect me to learn how to pick my battles and then throw me in a ring with a magic, fighting, training dummy!"
"Shhhh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shhhh. Calm, calm. Lacma..." As they said that last word, Kiirnodel's hands began to glow again but this time in a light blue tint as they held Platick's temples.
All at once, Platick's glare softened, his shoulders slumped, and his eyes started to glow with multiple colors. As though a rainbow was passing by his irises. Every ounce of Platick's anger washed from his face.
"You want some advice from your training? Fine. I'll tell you. You never back away," they explained. Their voice was neutral. "I have never once said that you need to stay your ground. I never even said that you had to stay on the rug. You have an entire room to practice in.
"Back away. Jump. Duck. Get something other than a club. Defending yourself does not mean winning a fight. It means protecting yourself. Understand?"
Platick took a second to breathe. "I understand. I still don't want to fight though," he explained, proving to me he wasn't mind controlled.
"I know. And I hope you never want to. Now. Go change." Kiirnodel shooed him onward and watched as he walked over to his room behind the wine rack.
"...He'll be okay." They said without prompt. "This is merely two months after the incident. And he's only twelve."
Then they turned to the side, facing in my direction with a sly grin. "Though, you think I'm being too hard on him. Don't you?" they asked, looking directly at...
Directly at me.
I blinked. And then looked behind me at the stairs. The door at the top was still closed. And locked. No one was behind me; not even another mannequin.
I didn't want to be right. I wanted to prove they didn't see me. So, as if it would make me calm down, I leaned to the side.
Their eyes followed me.
My mouth made a thin line while I was trying not to make any sounds. Then, as silently as I could, I ducked to the other side. Faster.
They watched.
Their smile grew entertained as they started to walk towards me. And even when they walked across the rug and back onto the floorboards their heels never made a sound.
I tried backing up but I could only get so far without letting go of Applejack. A part of me was trying to reason that she'd be fine if I left but with the elf seeing me I wasn't sure anymore. I couldn't leave her here alone with it.
They stopped when they were about in reaching distance and looked to my face. Although, now that they were this close, my brain started filling me in on a few other things. The first had to do with knowing that they weren't a woman. With every one of these dreams, or whatever they are, stuff kept coming to my mind. Not only were they a they, they weren't even a person.
Now that I was close enough, I could tell that them being an elf was...fake. Their clothes and entire body had this glow to it. Underneath that glow wasn't an Elven woman but something else. Something with horns and eyes that were different than mine.
The horned person was shorter than the elf and had a different tint to their skin. While the elf had a metallic skin tone, their skin was actually
"Now, now," both the Elven woman and horned thing warned with a wag of their fingers. A playful grin stretched over both their faces as they saw me follow their finger. "Let's not give it away to everyone, hmm? It's better to keep them guessing."
I said nothing. I barely managed a blink.
"But, to your credit." their grins grew toothier. Their teeth weren't normal. "You're able to see me. Now that is fun, fun, fun."
It can't do anything...It can't. This is a dream, I told myself. I couldn't help myself from biting my li—
"Now that's just a bad habit," they said, speaking the very second I was about to do it. "You really shouldn't frown either. It's unbecoming of a lady. And after all..."
They reached out their hand, the fake elf form doing the same. The elf's hand went right through my face. As it should. This was a dream after all.
Then the thing's hand rested on my cheek.
Then I felt it.
"You have such a beautiful fa—"
Then I lost it.
I tried screaming 'no' only to scream nonsense. I tore my hand from AJ's shoulder and threw punches at the monster or elf but hit nothing.
Like every other time, everything was back to normal in an instant. No basement, no mannequins, no Platick, and no monster. I was back outside with my friends unconscious at the table and Pinkie was on the ground behind me.
Well, Pinkie wasn't behind me for long. When I backed the hell away from where the monster was, I tripped over Pinkie and landed on my back. All the wind was knocked out of me and I was left staring at the gray and dark with the sun— the only sun —out of sight.
I laid on the dirt for minutes trying to put myself together. My heart was going too fast to count the beats and my face was twitching.
When I felt like I was safe I pulled out my phone to check the time. It was still lunch. There were a couple minutes left.
I let my phone drop onto my chest and reached for my cheek. That monster's hand was...bony. It was stiff and hairy and warm, too warm, and I could feel every bone in its hand. One of the nails were a little too close to my eye and it...and it was...it...
It was a dream.
The dream was over.
I breathed a sigh of relief.
A face hung over mine.
"What are you doing?"
"AHHHH!"
My head flung off the dirt so fast I nearly slammed into the face above me. When they ducked away they screamed themselves and took a second to keep from falling over.
"What the. Are you trying to scare me?!"
"S-Sorry. You just... Ya. Jus...D-Don't. Sorry," I took a deep breath, turning away so whoever they were didn't see me shaking. I needed another second. "I didn't mean to."
"...Hmph," They hmph'ed. "Well, as considerate as Trixie is, even she has her limits."
The hairs on the back of my neck stood up. She was the last person I wanted to see right now.
I bit back my groan and settled for getting up from the ground. I still wasn't looking at her. "What do you want?!"
"What Trixie wants is to know why her rivals are asleep outside. When it's raining."
"Raining?" I wiped my eyes and turned around, only now seeing that Trixie was standing there with a large umbrella opened and above her. "What are you talking about, it's...it's raining."
I looked round and, sure enough, there was a light sprinkle now. But, judging by how much I and the other girls were a little soaked it looks like it rained more earlier.
Did that happen when I was in AJ's dream?
"That's what Trixie said." She rolled her eyes from under her umbrella. "...How and why are they still asleep?"
I looked at the others and saw that they hadn't moved. But in better news, AJ seemed to stop flinching.
"Um..." "Let Trixie guess," she stopped me before I could speak. "Another magic thing is happening and you're the only ones that know?"
"...Yeah," I admitted. Trixie wasn't a transfer student so I guess it wasn't a bad thing for her to know. Besides, she technically knew about magic more than anyone else at Canterlot High. Even if that was by accident.
She smiled to herself. "Well, you should consider yourself lucky Rainbow Dash. For the great—"
"And Powerful Trixie has a new trick to save the day," I finished with no enthusiasm whatsoever. It was the same thing every time. And it got old.
But Trixie didn't seem to think so. After giving me a swift glare, she walked over to Pinkie and handed me her umbrella on the way.
Since I had no idea what was about to happen I followed behind her and held the umbrella over the three of us. It was pretty big for only one person.
Trixie knelt down next to Pinkie and took a deep breath. "Okay. Trixie needs absolute quiet."
"You're the only one talk," "SHH!" She shushed me.
After what had to be a solid ten seconds flat of nothing, Trixie lunged. Before I could stop her, she grabbed Pinkie by both shoulders and started shaking her like a ragdoll, shouting 'wake up' as though she were an auctioneer.
"WAKE UP!" She gave it one last shout and we watched as Pinkie's head balanced itself for a few seconds only to fall back in a loud snort.
"..." I leaned back a little. I was going to pull Trixie away when she reached Pinkie but for some reason she didn't seem to notice any orcs forming into reality.
"...Well, I'm out of ideas." Trixie stood up abruptly.
"Wha-What?!" I stood up with her. "That was it? Shouting was your big trick?!"
"Trixie never said she had a trick," she told me. "Before you interrupted Trixie, she was going to say that the greatest way to wake up someone is the direct approach."
My face was completely neutral. "So...You didn't see anything when you were shaking her?"
"No. Was Trixie supposed to?" She turned back to Pinkie and then the others. "Well, Trixie doesn't see anything now. Other than two soaking wet books on the table."
I tensed up. "Sunset's book!"
Ditching the umbrella, I ran for the table. Amongst the sleeping girls was the D&D book I messed with earlier and Sunset's book. Both were laying face up with the pages now gathering even more rain than it already did.
"No! No, no, no, no, nooo!" I picked up the magic book and started flipping back to the page I was on before. But when I reached the page, dozens of other pages started falling out of the book.
"NO!" I tried catching the papers with one hand but that left me holding the book by only the back cover. By the time I got a good grip on two or three papers, a good fourteen more fell out.
From the corner of my eye I could see half the writing vanishing from the page. The only thing left was Sunset's writing and huge spaces of blank space mixed in.
"What's happened with the book?" Trixie, who took the time to pick her umbrella back up, looked at the papers in confusion.
I dropped the pages and book cover back on the table. "What's wrong is that we don't have a way to talk to Twilight anymore."
Trixie pointed a thumb at the sleeping Twilight.
"The Other Twilight!"
Trixie frowned. "Doesn't she come from the statue or something?"
"Uh...I don't know if it's on or not. The only one who would is still asleep." I gestured to Sunset. She was the only one I hadn't checked but she wasn't flinching like some of the others; only frustrated huffing. I think she was okay.
"...Is this Dungeons?" Trixie looked over the rest of it. "Kind of random."
"Ignore that." I waved it off. "Until we wake them up we need to...You know the game?"
"A little," she shrugged. "One of Trixie's friends play it." When she saw the look I gave her, she frowned. "What? Trixie has friends!"
I shook my head. "So then, can you..." I bit my tongue as I eyed the metal die on the table. Was telling her about that thing a good idea?
Story's POV
Big Mac furrowed his brow. He was still looking at Applejack's stuff.
When I caught him and glanced back at it I frowned. "Is it too dark?"
"Eeehh," he hummed, moving his hand in a so-so motion.
"It is too dark," I translated.
He shook his head. "Ta us? Nope. Ta tha girls? Ehh, may be a bit."
I nodded along. "Yeah, I think you're right. Maybe I'll hold off on messing with their characters. At least until I know whether or not they wanna stick around."
"Eeyup," Big Mac agreed.
I sat back and finished the last of my food. "Now...What to do with Rainbow's character?"
I stared at the metal die and without warning let out a huge yawn. But at the same time, the school bell rang out. Lunch was over.
"Hmm!" A muffled voice called out. "Twilight? Is school done yet?"
From underneath the table, I spotted Spike pocking his head out from Twilight's bag.
"Huh? Oh, we're outside. Sweet, we are done!" Spike cheered with the whole backpack shaking side to side. His tail was probably shaking the bag. "Twilight! Let's get home already! Mom got me that new chew toy and I hear it calling my name!"
"uuuuu-huh?" Twilight murmured. "Home? Spike, it's lunch. We still have a couple of hours..."
"Twilight?" I leaned over and put my hand on her shoulder. No visions. "Twilight, are you awake?!"
"W-What? Yeah, I'm up." She then looked down at the end of her nose. "Why is their mashed potatoes on my face?"
A long yawn followed by a few stretching noises came from beside the table. "Oh, I needed that nap," Pinkie announced. "They should really give us a napping class! Bet you'd ace that class, huh Dashie?" A chortle later and Pinkie was up on her feet.
"You're all awake!"
"Awake?" Rarity asked. "Why were we asleep? And why are my ears ringing?"
All at once, the girls were starting to wake up. And before they could ask why I tried putting a hand back on their shoulders. There weren't anymore dreams. Not even with Applejack and the monster.
A few of them started to ask what was going on. I tried to figure out a good way to tell them but the attention was brought back to Trixie as she picked up the metal die.
"Hold on, don't touch...that?" I paused. As Trixie held it, the metal die turned back to being milk white and empty. "How'd you do that?"
"Erm...Well, T-Trixie is simply full of surprises!" She gave us a huge grin. "Why, she's so Powerful that Trixie even astounds herself."
She was met with a tough crowd.
"...Rainbow Dash?" Sunset called from behind me.
I sighed. "Yeah, I'm sorry Sunset. Trixie kind of wandered over here while I was—" "Not that." She stopped me.
I turned around and saw Sunset flipping what little of the book's pages were left. "What happened?"
Everything went silent as we all watched Sunset flipping through the book. She was trying to read the first few pages of it. Those pages, she mentioned in the past, she used to talk with the Celestia of the other world years ago. But now only her writing was in the book.
"..." Everyone, even Trixie, didn't know what to say.
So instead of words, another yawn broke the silence.
The culprit rubbed her eyes.
"What I miss?" Fluttershy asked drowsily.