//------------------------------// // Chapter 1 // Story: Incarnate // by Revel Montaro //------------------------------// What is the meaning of life? The question… THE question that tops all others. It has been asked by everyone at some point in their lives, be it scholar or homeless beggar. However, some questions should be asked with a care. Afterall, you may not like the answer should the universe ever have the courtesy to reply. Canterlot City, like many cities grew out from what was once a central square. This original square, which still existed, began as the heart of what was to become a bustling metropolis. The square consisted originally of a courthouse, a church, a government building, and a park where the citizens would gather. Some gathered after church, some to picnic, and while not as often anymore, some gathered to protest some misdeed at the steps of the courthouse. The four streets that made up the square were no longer pot holed dirt trails and were now paved modern streets, but still maintained their boring if convenient names of North, South, East, and West Streets. The courthouse and the central government buildings had grown and been modernized in accordance with the changing times. The church too had been renovated numerous times. And the park was mostly still intact, but now also included a special parking area for numerous food trucks that would take advantage of the lunch hour rushes. Or they had until apparently a spatula became possessed by Equestrian magic and decided to try and serve up its owner for lunch. This in turn had caused the truck to become possessed as it circle around the square slinging burger meat at anyone in range. Panic and chaos had ensued. Things may have gotten worse, perhaps even deadly, if not for one girl who had been enjoying her day off from work. The blue skinned, polychromed haired young woman had just wanted to go for a nice little jog around downtown then back home for some gaming and then maybe a nice food coma after finishing her lunch. But no, something weird had to happen… again. “Ugghhhhh!” groaned Rainbow Dash. She stood by and watched as people ran away or were knocked over by flying meat. “You have got to be kidding me.” Rainbow wasted no time sending a group chat message to her friends that magic was on the loose again. Her phone rang a second later. “A food truck? Seriously?” “I know, right?” Rainbow paused to easily dodge a double meat patty that tried to land on her face. “So, what’s the plan, Sunset?” “Well… the square is a bit too conspicuous for us to pony up in. If you can lead the truck away, maybe south towards Old Maple Park that will slow it down before we do the old rainbow laser two-step.” Rainbow noted the lack of enthusiasm in Sunset Shimmer’s voice, but chose to ignore it for the moment. “Okay, but how do I get it to follow me?” “I dunno. Tell it you prefer chain fast food or something. Just make it mad, I’m sure you can handle that.” “I don’t think I like what you’re implying.” Sunset chuckled politely. “Dash, we all have our special talents.” Rainbow ended the call and scowled. She didn’t get under people’s skin ALL the time. Only those that ignored her awesome feats. Regardless, they had a plan, if albeit a poor one. The teen took a moment stretch out, thankful that she had already dressed for a running occasion and called out to the rampaging food truck with an angry spatula behind the wheel. “Hey! Burger Mack has the biggest and most juicy bacon cheeseburger in the biz!” The truck came to a screeching halt, turned, and revved the engine. It. Was. On. ---------- “Ugh. I think I’m going to throw up,” said Sunset Shimmer as she staggered through the door of Twilight Sparkle’s lab. Twilight stood at the door with a concerned look on her face while she held it open for the rest of their friends to join them. The lab on the outside looked like an ordinary freestanding backyard building made of sheet metal. The inside, however, had been packed with all manner of tech, much of it cannibalized from other computer components to suit the needs of the young genius and her many pursuits of science. In addition to a few boxes of spare parts, there was a marker board, two work benches, and a small lounge area for when friends came to visit. The lounge had been the last addition, the area meticulously reorganized after rearranging the machines that had been used to detect the energy signatures of magical radiation as well. Sunset recalled the first time Twilight had brought her and the girls to the lab and happily gushed over the data she had collected that allowed her to build the magic absorbing spectrometer. Rarity had made the mistake of calling the lab a She-shed, but only once. Later, Sunset and Twilight had spent hours going over the collected magical information while the others watched a movie on the digital projector. If Sunset closed her eyes she could still remember it like it was yesterday as opposed to almost two years ago. The focus on sweet nostalgia had helped settle her stomach a bit. “I don’t see what your problem is,” said Rainbow Dash after she hopped into a rolling office chair and spun around. “As far as magical outbreaks that one was pretty tame. Sure, the truck could have hurt someone, but after AJ got the truck stuck on that concrete island all it could do was throw meat at us.” Sunset looked up at Dash from her doubled over position, her complexion almost as green as their former classmate, Wallflower Blush. Rainbow smirked. “It was meat, cow meat. You know I don’t like the smell of animal flesh, cooked or otherwise. And then…” “Then a big, fat, meeeeeaty patty caught you right in the face. HA! You might say you choked on-“ “Rainbow!” Rarity scolded with a waggling finger, but the damage had been done. Sunset forgot about the pleasant memory of talking math and magic with Twilight and recalled the burger juice that ended up in her mouth, some of it had gone down her throat. A second later Sunset stumbled as she ran for the powder room toilet. The sound that followed made everyone except Rainbow Dash cringe. “Was that necessary?” Rainbow brushed off Rarity’s glower with a shrug. “Just a little payback from earlier. I’m done now.” The disapproving frown that Fluttershy was giving her had sucked most of fun out of the joke by that point. “You can be so horrible sometimes,” Twilight muttered as she moved to gently knock on the restroom door. “Hey, are you okay? Anything I can do to help?” A toilet flushed followed by the sound of sink water running. The door swung open a minute later and Sunset used the door frame the steady herself. Twilight took one of Sunset’s hands to help provide comfort. At least her face looked its normal shade of goldenrod. “Remind me to thank your dad for having the foresight to install plumbing in this place because there was no way I was going to make it to the house.” Using her free hand, Twilight gently pushed a few locks and loose red and blonde hair out of Sunset’s face. Sunset smiled. A deep breath later, she was far more composed. “That was payback for earlier, wasn’t it?” Rainbow smirked. “Totally.” Sunset offered her fist for Rainbow Dash to bump with and the athlete returned the gesture without hesitation. “This is just getting worse,” Sunset said, the smile retreating from her face. “We got lucky today that all seven of us happen to be off from work earlier. I have to go later and it’s not like I can run out of the restaurant to stop the latest magical rampage. ‘Sorry, Mister Yan, I had to leave the customers hanging because I had to go smack a friendship problem in the face with a rainbow.’ I’d fire me too.” No one said anything because they had all had similar internal conversations and concerns. It was then that Sunset noticed Twilight still had not let go of her hand. Twilight caught the glance and quickly released her, finding a very interesting piece of dirt on the ceiling. Sunset smiled warmly. “Well, there’s gotta be somethin’ else we can do. Won’t be long before y’all head off to your colleges and there ain’t no way you can drop everythin’ and come runnin’,” said Applejack. She had taken to an old brown recliner and it was rare for anyone, other than Rainbow Dash, to fight over it. Rarity had sprayed it several times with fragrance and swore it still smelled of sweat and dirt. Sunset made her way over to the old couch across from the recliner that she had helped find at a garage sale and moved into the lab. It was green and gray plaid, ugly as sin, and somehow still reasonably comfortable. No one missed the extraordinary dejected expression she wore before burying her face in her hands. Rarity was the first to speak. “Darling?” Sunset looked up and tried to put on a happy face. After this many years as the closest of friends it fooled no one. “I’m sorry. I feel happy for all of you, I really do. I mean, Rarity, you are going to Westphal Design School. That will open so many doors for you. Rainbow Dash got a sports scholarship to East State University. Fluttershy is going to Pomell to work in either conservation or veterinarian and Twilight finally decided on Cal Tech… which is an amazing science and technology university, probably the best in this hemisphere… And on the other side of the country.” Twilight sat down next to her best friend and quickly took her hand again. Sunset smiled weakly at the gesture, letting out a sigh. “Everyone is moving on with their lives, that’s just how it is,” Sunset continued. “At least AJ is staying close to home and Pinkie will only be across town at the culinary institute so at least I’ll be able to see them most weekends, you know, if I’m not too busy working my meaningless, go no where job.” Sunset glanced around the room. Each of her friends had faces that varied between guilt and sadness. She didn’t want this to devolve into a pity party, but that was the direction the mood was heading and she scolded herself, fighting to get her guard back up and put on a happy face. High school was over and real life beckoned whether they wanted it to or not. It was exactly for this reason Sunset Shimmer had not brought up the subject before. She didn’t want their last few months together to be marred with melancholy and tears. This was the launching point for the rest of their lives. They were all adults now in the eyes of the state and the world at large. Being an adult came with expectations and realizations that while the future beckoned so did uncertainty. “I’m sorry, everyone. I didn’t mean to kill the mood… you know, any more than my throwing up had already done. It’s just… this had all been weighing on me. I try to keep a cap on it, but…” “I don’t understand, why can’t you take classes at Canterlot U?” Rainbow said from the chair that was now balancing on just its back legs. No small feat considering it had wheels. “You’re way too smart and talented to just work as a waitress for the rest of your life. Why are you settling?” “I thought I already went over this? All my documentation is fake. It’s based on some pretty thinly veiled lies. When I first crossed-over I had no idea what it was like to live in this world. I got lucky, in many ways. First being that apparently English and Royal Equestrian sound the same, secondly, that I didn’t get scooped up and sold to child slavery. “Instead, with a few gems and gold coins in the right hands I discovered that in order to do anything this world you had to have a birth certificate and other forms of proof you were born here. I paid a guy to get me the blank forms and managed to get them to look official enough. They were good enough to slip me into a public high school and amazingly even enough to fool the old lady at the DMV to get my driver’s license, but the more I have to flash that fake paperwork the more a chance someone will notice something is wrong.” Rainbow Dash let out a groan as if her disappointment in the system at large would be enough to help her friend. “Colleges take admissions very seriously. And even if I wanted to go a different route, like say make it on my own as a singer-songwriter or sound engineer? The more famous you get, the higher up the ladder you go someone always inevitably goes digging for dirt. I have had literal nightmares of being on the cusps of breakout success to have it end with me being arrested and dragged to a holding facility in handcuffs while some smelly immigration officer tries to figure out which country I snuck in from. Then throw magical pony ups in that and my nightmares only get worse.” Fluttershy gasped, pulling a sofa cushion to her face. “That’s horrible!” Rainbow Dash’s chair landed on its wheels again. “Damn… I mean… wow that sucks. Still, there has to be something better, right?” “Don’t worry, Sunny!” shouted Pinkie Pie. “If they ever threw you in the pokey I would organize a breakout! You would be surprised what I can hide in a cake.” “No,” mumbled Applejack, “I doubt she would.” Sunset felt Twilight squeeze her hand. The two maintained eye contact for several heartbeats before Sunset had to look away. She just couldn’t keep staring into those magnificent purple eyes. It was like driving a dagger into her heart, twisting it, and then asking if she wanted seconds. She let out a breath and composed herself, much like she had been taught long ago by a magical alicorn princess. The walls came back up and the confident, tough girl persona was back in full effect. “Ultimately, the only solution is the magic has to be contained, or controlled. It’s the only way anyone in this world is going to get to live a normal life. I refuse to ruin your futures because I brought magic into this world and set off an unstoppable chain reaction. According to all the readings Twilight’s arcane spectrograph and analyzer are getting the number of these incidents are getting more frequent, that is likely not a coincidence.” “I would have to compare and contrast the data from the last year to see if it corresponds with your hypothesis that incidents are in fact happening more frequently or if it’s just perception. I can even compare it all the way back to,” Twilight paused, swallowing a lump, “the Friendship Games.” “Do...” Fluttershy began meekly, her face barely visible through her wall of pink hair. “Do you think we are causing this? I mean you said in the past that when we pony up you can detect it on your devices, even if it’s only just one of us. That would have to mean we send out energy, right?” Sunset sighed, rubbing her face. She was having far too much trouble maintaining her confidence today. Too many questions and not enough answers. “I don’t know. It’s possible. Force multipliers? Honestly, I think I need to take another trip to Equestria. I asked Princess Twilight to monitor things from her side, but she’s been crazy busy with her and her friends being groomed to take over rule of the kingdom. I still can’t wrap my head around that one. So much is happening there it’s hard to keep up with.” Sunset paused, her throat became suddenly very dry, but the words were there and her friends had a right to hear where the thoughts were going. “Maybe… maybe I should be spending more time there instead. That’s still the most likely cause of the magical intrusions and I wouldn’t have to worry about birth certificates because, well you know, I WAS born there.” Pinkie’s gasp caused Sunset to nearly jump out of her skin. “You… You would leave us?! Like move back to Ponyland leave us?!” Sunset grimaced, choosing her words carefully. The only thing scarier than a manic Pinkie Pie was an overly depressed Pinkie Pie. Last time Sunset had seen Pinkie’s hair literally deflate she was half a second away from calling 9-1-1. “The thought has crossed my mind. I mean, it was my home. I miss it from time to time. Visits help, but with my future options here narrowing… Maybe it’s time to pack it in and head back and then I only visit this world on occasion instead.” “Like birthdays?” “Of course.” “Holidays?” “Probably?” “Obscure anniversaries?” Sunset blinked. “Uhhh… Maybe?” Despite her efforts, Pinkie blubbered and tears shot from her eyes like broken plumbing as she glomped Sunset and by happenstance, Twilight into a bone crushing hug. “But I don’t want you to leeeeeeaaave!” “Nothing is set in stone yet, Pinkie,” Sunset said. Her face uncomfortably squished between a crying Pinkie Pie and squirming Twilight whose glasses had gone completely askew. Why is she acting like this? Travelling through the mirror is faster than a train ride or cross-country flight… Is Twilight still holding my hand? Sunset freed herself and stood, stretching out the kinks and some of the awkwardness. “Okay, like I said. Nothing is getting decided today and I need to go home and get ready for work.” Twilight checked the clock on the wall and stood as well. “Yes, right. And I need to get cleaned up for my date with Timber.” Despite her best effort, Sunset’s smile faded for a moment before returning. “Anything special?” Twilight fidgeted a bit, playing with her hair and looked around the room far more nervous that she should have been. “No, no. Well, maybe. We’ll see. I mean we made plans, but plans can change due to unexpected variables such as weather or nuclear catastrophe! So, yes! Dinner date, which is a date, with food.” Twilight took a moment to let in and out two full breaths before continuing. “He and Gloriosa have been busy supervising renovations for the upcoming summer season influx of kid campers and training the new camp counselors. It’s the only night he said he could get away so we’re going out to Munchies on the Creek.” “Well, that would not have been my first choice for a romantic interlude. However, they do have one of the best appetizer menus,” Rarity said while rubbing her chin. “It’s fine. Yes, HA! Everything will be fine… totally fine. He planned everything else, though I did double check the list he made and it is what I wanted because I totally know what I want. Also, yes, I like their boneless wings.” “Well, have fun. I’ll probably head to the portal first thing tomorrow. If it’s okay with you I’ll drop by here and leave the journal so if you or anyone needs to get ahold of me. I should be back either tomorrow night or the following morning. You know, before back to work.” Sunset tried to make it sound chipper and failed miserably. Twilight nodded, still fidgeting with her hair and finding something very interesting about her shoes. “Sounds good.” “Good.” “Yes.” The two looked up and stared at one another while five other pairs of eyes shifted back and forth between them until Sunset finally stepped back and out the laboratory door, waving at the rest of their friends as she went. Twilight sighed, taking a moment to clean her glasses, having become smudged from the Pinkie Pie surprise attack hug. Rarity was about to speak, her jaw hanging slightly open during the entire exchange. “Well, you’re all welcome to stay as long as you like. Remember, last one out turns the lights off and locks the door. It’s one of those spin and pull the door close locks… I don’t know why I’m explain that you’ve all been here before… I’m just going to go.” With that said, Twilight exited as well. Several seconds passed before Rainbow Dash finally shouted. “Okay, I know I’m dense when it comes to this relationship crap, but even I picked up on that!” “APPLEJACK!” The farm girl gasped and nearly fell out of her chair from Rarity’s unexpected outburst. “We need to get to the bottom of this!” “Say what now?” “Oh, come now, if even Rainbow Dash was able to pick up on the intimate tension between Twilight and Sunset surely you saw it as well.” “I saw it,” Applejack acknowledged, “don’t make it our business to interfere though. If they got somethin’ goin’ on they should talk it out themselves. ‘Sides, it ain’t right to snoop on your friends.” “But this is a friendship problem!” Rarity whined. “This is what we are supposed to do! Be there for our friends in their times of need and clearly there is something going on that either they do or do not know about, underlying animosity or sexual tension. If this is some sort of love triangle it’s going build, and bubble, and possibly explode at the worst possible moment if we do not gather the clues to see the whole picture. Why, the world as we know it may be at stake!” Pinkie, Rainbow, Fluttershy, and Applejack stared at their alabaster skinned friend with varying degrees of disbelief and doubt. “This requires investigation.” “Spying,” Rainbow corrected, “you mean spying.” “It’s not very nice to spy on people,” Fluttershy added. Rarity crossed her arms and raised her chin in a dignified posture. “It’s for research and to help friends. Who is with me?” Applejack crossed her arms. “Call it whatcha’ like, it’s still bein’ nosey.” “Pass. Don’t care about spying on nerd date and got some serious gaming to do before I pass out.” Rainbow jumped to her feet, stretching out. “Plus, its taco night.” “I would tooooootally join you, but I have to work too,” said Pinkie giving Rarity the biggest, glassy sad eyes she could muster. “Forgiiiiiive meeeee!” Rarity turned to Fluttershy who continued to stroke her hair. “I don’t feel comfortable spying on Twilight. I mean, Twilight and Timber have been dating for a while now. They may start kissing and touching and it would make us voyeurs… Or if there is a problem they may start fighting, oh, I don’t know which would be worse.” Rarity’s enthusiasm was slowly being crushed with each rejection. As much as Applejack disliked getting into other peoples’ business without their consent, she also hated letting her friends down. The farmgirl let out a tired, exasperated sigh. “Oh fine. You know I can’t stands to see you pout. I can tell this is goin’ to eat at you till you pop and make you wanna fill yourself up on ice cream till you call me in the middle of the night cryin’ you feel fat… again.” Rarity cupped her hand over Applejack’s mouth and hissed, “I thought we agreed to never speak of that.” “You want my help or not?” “Yes!” *ahem* “Yes, darling. We should leave now. We need to change to the appropriate attire and I want to set up in a good location so that my tools of the trade will be most effective.” Applejack blinked. “A do what now?”