//------------------------------// // Prologue: Anon-A-Miss (Part IV) // Story: Severed Ties // by Carol Heart //------------------------------// “Wooee, that was one heck of a trip,” Applejack said as she pushed open the crystal door to Twilight's castle. “I completely agree, darling. There is nothing quite like Canterlot during the holidays and to be center stage for the Hearth's Warming Eve show...EEEEeeee,” Rarity squealed while prancing on the tips of her hooves, “it was simply marvelous.” “I don’t know about all of you,” Rainbow Dash said, tiredly flapping as she flew above the rest of her friends, “but I’m ready to crawl into bed. After my display of awesomeness needed to make that snore-fest of a show even remotely cool, I’m going to need some serious sleep to recoup.” “Snore-fest?! How can you say that?” Twilight cried in frazzled disbelief, then proceeded to enter lecture mode to educate her obviously uninformed friend. “The Hearth's Warming Eve play depicts a hallmark event in the history of ponydom. Where once the tribes had been separated by hatred and mistrust, they were finally able to band together and…” “Exactly what I was saying,” Rainbow cut her off, “‘snore-fest’. I mean, come on, they could’ve at least shown some of the fighting between the tribes, maybe then I could’ve shown off some of the sweet moves I’ve been working on.” “I don’t think fighting would have been a very nice thing to show. It would have been scary,” Fluttershy commented in her usual soft tone as she shrunk into her mane at the thought of even staged violence. “Oh, please, a few well-timed kicks and some sweet stunts wouldn’t be scary,” Rainbow argued emphasizing her statement with some kicks and jabs to the air in an improvised aerial routine, “it would be awesome, and it’s nowhere near as bad as some of the actual things we’ve faced before.” “I know, but usually when we have to fight something big and scary, there's no time to really think about it. Going up on stage in front of all those ponies was bad enough, but knowing I’d have to fight you all too, it would have been too much.” “Enough of this grumpy talk. After such a successful show, I’d say it’s time for a PARTY!” “Pinky, darling, we already had a wrap party in Canterlot after the show.” “I know, silly, but this is our triumphant return to Ponyville after making our ‘Spectacular Stage Debut in Canterlot’ Party.” “Come on, Pinks, I just said I was looking forward to catching some Z’s.” “What’s the matter, sugarcube, all out of awesomeness? Too bad too, seein’ as I still have one of the barrels of Apple Family Special Reserve that I was goin’ to bust out ta celebrate, but if you’re too tuckered out, I’m sure Pinkie won’t turn down…” “You’ve got some of the good cider left? No way am I letting Pinkie cut me out again.” Shaking her head at her friends’ antics, the purple princess could only smile. “Before any sort of party gets underway, I’m going to go check on something in the library.” Walking down the hall, Twilight Sparkle wrapped the doors of her private library in the magenta aura of her magic and pushed them open. She was immediately beset by the smell of smoke and raw magic. Glancing about, it didn’t take long to spot the source of the offending smell. The device that she had created to open the mirror portal lay in ruins. The pieces were scattered and broken on the floor though some parts seemed to still be emitting residual sparks of magic. “Sweet Celestia!” Twilight gasped. “Sunset!” she shouted casting about the floor for the journal that the two shared. “It’s okay, Twi,” the pony princess heard a low voice say behind her. Turning she spotted the form of an amber unicorn, her red and gold mane currently blocking her face in a manner befitting Fluttershy. “Sunset,” Twilight questioned, stepping closer to her friend, “what happened here? Are you alright?” This was met with a dark chuckle that caused Twilight to freeze in her approach towards her friend. The unicorn lifted her head and stared the princess in the eyes, allowing Twilight to get a good view of her friend. Sunset’s mane and coat were muddy and disheveled. Her left eye was purple and on the verge of swelling shut. Her muzzle was bent and bleeding. “Am I alright? No. I am so far from alright right now,” Sunset said, her voice still low but firm, as she fixed her friend with a hard stare. A feat made all the more intimidating as she managed it with one eye. “Sunset, what happened? Who did this to you?” Putting a hoof to her mouth she breathed out, “Was it the girls?” The response came in the form of another dark chuckle. “No, it wasn’t the girls. They only threw me out. It was Gilda. She and her cronies jumped me as I was heading here to take you up on your offer. I managed to get away and ran through the portal. I was a little panicked at the time and I smashed the machine so no one could come after me.” Surveying the destruction she was still sitting amid she added, “Sorry about the mess.” “Don’t worry about that,” Twilight said reaching out and turning her friend towards her. “I took that machine from concept to proof in under an hour the first time. It shouldn’t take me long to do it again. As soon as we fix you up, I’ll repair the machine and the two of us are heading back to Canterlot High and we’ll get to the bottom of this Anon-A-Miss thing.” “No, we’re not.” Sunset replied dejectedly. “Like Tartarus we’re not!” the alicorn shouted. “Those five are supposed to represent the Elements of Harmony, and after what they’ve done, they’re in for a long lecture on what that is supposed to mean. Followed by extensive groveling and pleas of forgiveness to you.” “Twilight, as much as I would love to see you give someone else a Princess of Friendship speech, that’s not going to be happening anytime soon.” Pointing a hoof at the book in front of her that appeared to be charred slightly and still gave off an acrid smell. “I knew they didn’t want to see me anymore, but I didn’t think they’d go to such extremes to ensure it. By my calculations, you won’t be able to give them your friendship speech for another twenty-seven moons.” Just then voices could be heard in the hallway and the doors to the library burst open admitting a group of five ponies that were familiar, but technically unknown to the amber unicorn. “I told you the egghead would have to be pried away from the books for the party,” said a blue pegasus who flew in with an added barrel roll for no apparent reason. “No worries, Twilight,” the bouncing pink earth pony with a cotton candy-like mane said while still managing to carry a massive multi-tiered cake, “if you didn’t want to leave the library to come to the party, we just brought the party to the library.” It was then the five realized Twilight was not alone. Catching sight of the bruised and beaten unicorn, they stopped short. They recognized Sunset Shimmer from the descriptions Twilight had shared of her experiences in the other world. They knew that she had turned over a new leaf and even been the one to save the day during the battle with the sirens. They had all been concerned and disappointed at the behavior of their counterparts. From what Twilight had told them of the situation, seeing Sunset here and now did not speak well of their counterparts’ behaviors and given the state the unicorn was in, all of them were interested in giving friendship lectures of their own to their human doppelgangers, but the task right now was caring for an injured pony. “Darling, your eye. We must get something on there right away, I would hate to think what leaving it unattended could do to your complexion.” “Oh my, those look serious. I’m sure I have some herbal remedies that will help with the pain. Um, if you want, that is.” “I can fix us up some vittles. Nothing makes ya feel better than some hearty home-cookin'.” “I can track down the doc. It’s late, but I’ll find him and I won’t take no for an answer in getting his flank here pronto.” “Don’t worry, I’ll start planning your ‘Welcome to Ponyville/Get Well Soon/Sorry our human counterparts are total meanies but we so totally aren’t so feel better…” the bouncing pink pony paused to take an impressively large breath simply to conclude, “Party” Next to her, Twilight heard a guttural sound emanating from the injured pony. The look she saw on Sunset’s face was one the princess had never wanted to see on her friend again. Twilight had once seen Sunset glare another student into his own locker. This look was more intense than that one. It was a look of pure anger and hate, and it was directed at Twilight’s friends. Wanting to cut off any more potentially difficult situations for Sunset tonight, the alicorn opted to step in. “Listen, girls,” the princess stepped in diplomatically. “Sunset’s had a very rough day and I don’t think she’s up for more ponies today. I’ll take care of this and talk to you all tomorrow. If you could just let Spike know and have him bring up some tea and the first aid kit, I’d appreciate it.” “Yeah, no problem. Come on everypony, you heard her. Party’s off,” Applejack said, corralling the others back out the door. Removing her Stetson, the blond mare risked a glance at the bloodied unicorn. “For what it’s worth, sugarcube, I do hope ya feel better soon, and that’s the honest truth.” Putting the hat back on she left the room shutting the doors to the library behind her and leaving the princess to care for her injured friend. *** Despite the time of night, the explosion of magical energy did not go unnoticed. In a repurposed storage room in the basement of the prestigious Crystal Prep Academy, a lone girl was still hard at work. It had been months since an experiment she had set up to track variances in the local weather patterns had picked up a major atmospheric disturbance over the city. Intrigued by readings that made no sense as there had been no related reports of catastrophic weather phenomena, the young scientist knew she would have to investigate further. With the permission of the dean, she utilized the school’s radio tower to amplify the range of her sensors and even requisitioned some of the school’s research funding. She was the one who had earned most of for Crystal Prep after all. She never liked competing in all the academic events or having to publicly present her research findings, but it meant funding for her research so she endured it. As the weeks continued, new readings seemed to stream in constantly. They were inconsistent though, seemingly appearing at random and never in the same location. They were also never as strong as the reading she had recorded that first night, but they were definitely of a similar energy signature. Then it happened. A few weeks after the smaller energy surges had begun, there was another massive energy spike. This one was even greater in magnitude than the first, and with the additional equipment she had at her disposal, the scientist was inundated with new readings from her equipment. The source of this energy remained a mystery. All of the information led her to believe it was a previously unidentified energy type. Her head swam with the possibility of discovering a new energy source. From what information she had gathered, it was more powerful than anything that was currently being utilized. The possible applications filled the scientist’s imagination. She could revolutionize the world with her scientific discovery and that dream only motivated her to dig deeper and dedicate herself more to discovering the energy source. It was that motivation that had found her spending yet another night hunched over her computer in the hopes of finding something she had missed that might lead her to her quarry. Pulling the newest seismologic readings off the machine, the girl added them to her ever-growing collection of reports and data she had collected on the mysterious events surrounding Canterlot High. Repositioning the thick dark-framed glasses that had slipped down her nose, Twilight Sparkle remarked to her number one assistant, “No doubt about it, Spike, there’s definitely something strange going on at that school.” Spike could only bark his agreement as he continued to chew on his toy.