Twilight opened her eyes, blinking to try and clear her blurry vision. Noting her lack of success after a few tries, Twilight realized her glasses must have come off when she fell. Carefully feeling about so she didn't crush them by accident, Twilight pushed herself up from the cold concrete to her knees and began to feel around for the missing frames. Despite the fuzziness, Twilight could tell the sun was still out despite having arrived at CHS in the late afternoon, so she reasoned that she couldn’t have been lying on the ground for very long.
Finally, the scientist’s thin fingers brushed against the smooth plastic of her lenses. As she slid the thick frames into place, she gingerly brushed the side of her face with a tentative touch eliciting a sharp jolt of pain as a result. Thankfully, a quick check of her fingers did not turn up any sign of blood. She would have a nice bruise she would have to explain to her parents but nothing too serious.
Twilight gave a low sigh. Years of bullying by her classmates at Crystal Prep had forced her to become quite the expert at concealing the various bumps and bruises she seemed to acquire often from just walking through the hallways. While she was sure Cadence would have wanted her to utilize all the makeup tips she had passed on over years of babysitting makeovers, Twilight was sure this was not the scenario Cadence would have envisioned.
Shaking her head to clear the unhappy memories away, Twilight nearly fell back over, not as a result of the head injury, but at the sight that lay before her, though what she beheld made her question if she hadn’t suffered a more severe head trauma than she had initially diagnosed. On the ground next to her was the body of a small animal. It was a poor description to be sure, but despite her extensive knowledge in the fields of biology and taxonomy, Twilight had no idea how to classify the creature beyond that.
“What in the world?” Twilight breathed, her scientific curiosity getting the better of her as she inched a bit closer. At first glance, the animal’s rough shape led Twilight to initially classify the creature as equine. It had four hooved legs as well as a mane and tail.
A better view, however, told Twilight that was where the similarities ended and there were far too many differences for her classification to be entirely correct. Firstly, the figure was small, roughly the size of a large dog which was well below the accepted standards for even a pony. The coloration was also odd. The amber shade of the majority of the creature’s fur might have been within reason had the mane and tale not been a fiery red and gold. These colors matched a stylized depiction of a two-toned sun the pony, for lack of a better term, had on its flank.
Twilight was ready to assume the thing before her was nothing more than a discarded plushy when she saw its barrel rise and fall ever so slightly in a slightly labored breath. Concern overriding caution, Twilight rushed to check the creature for injuries as the quick movement provided her with a sharp reminder of her own.
Rushing around to get a better look and evaluate the not-plushy pony for any injuries. A cursory glance did spot a bit of blood matting some of the creature’s mane. Twilight suppressed the scream that fought to escape at the sight. She really didn’t like the sight of blood unless it was in a clinical setting.
Fighting down the building panic, Twilight brushed the disheveled mane out of the way to locate the source of the bleeding. The sight it revealed caused Twilight to let the scream slip, and this time there was no holding it in. The reaction though was not elicited by the wound, which seemed to be relatively minor. No, the reaction was wrought when the young scientist discovered the wound was located next to what appeared to be a spiral horn jutting from the center of the creature’s head.
Realizing that someone might have heard her, and not wanting to be caught somewhere she wasn’t supposed to be with an injured creature that wasn’t supposed to be, Twilight scooped up the living, breathing, reality-shattering being and ran as best she could for a copse of trees across the street.
Her brother had often teased her about getting out of the lab for some exercise. Though she had insisted that endurance was not needed for running experiments, she was now rethinking that belief (along with so many others) as she struggled awkwardly to carry the body. She barely managed to duck behind the trees, slumping immediately to the ground, just missing being spotted by a rainbow-haired girl exiting the front door of the school.
***
Rainbow Dash sat alone in the band room of Canterlot High. If things had been different, it would have been rehearsal day for the Rainbooms, but that was before Anon-A-Miss. Since that day back in December when they had abandoned Sunset and the magic journal had exploded, none of them had felt like picking up an instrument. At first, they chalked it up to prior engagements or needing to study for finals, but it soon became clear that they were avoiding the room where they had spent so many hours together.
There was also the fact that since that day, none of the Rainbooms had successfully managed to pony up. Occasionally one of them would manage a flicker of power and there would be a faint trace of magic, but no matter what they tried, it would quickly fade without ever actually achieving the full ponied-up state.
Rainbow had her theories as to why that was. In the few attempts she had made to shred a wicked guitar solo and see if she could get her wings back, there would always be this feeling as the magic began to take a hold of her. It was a feeling of friendship, and a connection between her and the other girls, but even as it started, she would soon feel the glaring absence of one of their number. Remembering that her magic was supposed to represent the Element of Loyalty and it was her betrayal that had caused the absence, the magic would quickly fade.
The prismatic athlete never discussed it with the other girls. She wasn’t one to get into all the touchy-feely emotional junk, though she suspected their experiences were probably similar. Each time someone managed a flicker of magic, it would always fade, leaving that person in a more sullen mood than they’d been before. So they didn’t talk about it and eventually, they had avoided playing altogether.
So here she was, sitting alone in the music room that had once been the hub of her group of friends, and now held only sad reminders of what they’d lost. Strumming idly on an acoustic guitar, as her current mood did not warrant rocking out on her electric, Rainbow Dash was suddenly roused from her sad musing by the startled cry of someone in front of the building.
Moving quickly, the sports star leapt to her feet to check out the window to see what was the matter. What she saw made her heart stop. She had only seen it briefly and it was far away and at a poor angle, but something inside her hoped she wasn’t mistaken.
Bolting for the music room door, a rainbow blur quickly sped down the hallway, her sneakers squeaking loudly as they echoed in the empty halls. It was fortunate she was causing so much noise too, as she nearly barreled into a familiar trio of middle schoolers as they polished the trophies near the front entrance. Spotting them in time, Rainbow skidded to a stop just in front of them avoiding crashing through their work like extra shiny bowling pins.
“Whoa there, sugarcube, where’s the fire?” a familiar accented voice asked as a hand reached out to steady the racing athlete.
Following the reveal of the ones behind Anon-A-Miss, Applejack had taken it upon herself to oversee the younger girls both to ensure the work they were given as punishment got done correctly and in case anyone in the school got ideas about revenge. In truth, it hadn’t been an issue. While the outcry for punishment had been high during the assembly when the truth came out, Principal Celestia had soon shut them all down. She reminded the school that while the trio had only posted the comments, it had been the school at large that had assumed Sunset was guilty and sought to punish her for crimes she did not commit. Now, while Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo were persona non grata, for the most part, they were simply ignored with only the occasional student shooting them a dirty look.
“No time, AJ,” the athlete said as she pulled herself out of her friend’s grip, hurdled the wall of trophies, and burst out the door. Scanning the area, she saw no sign of anyone in the courtyard. Rushing over to the Wondercolt statue, Rainbow Dash ran her hand over the mirror-like surface of the plinth. Just like every other time she had done so in the past three months, the stone remained cold to the touch.
“Dash, ya got ta stop beatin’ yerself up,” Rainbow heard her friend approaching behind her. “We all miss Sunset, and there’s nothing Ah wouldn’t give ta try and make things right by her, but…”
“I know, I know,” the sporty girl interrupted, “but I swear I just saw Twilight at the portal.”
The farmer sighed, “Believe me, sugarcube, we all want that to be true, but there ain’t no one here. Don’t ya think if she was here, she’d have come in at the very least ta give us all the verbal beat down we all deserve?”
“But it had to be her.” Dash hated how desperate her voice sounded as she said it, and she let her head droop forward.
“Come on, Dash, ya can help us get everything squared away with tha trophies, and then we can hang out for a bit. Maybe swing by Sugarcube Corner. Shy’s workin’, but maybe the other girls’ll want ta meet up.”
With a comforting arm on her shoulder, the farm girl steered her prismatic-haired friend back inside the school. Meanwhile, the trio formerly known as Anon-A-Miss had witnessed the whole thing, and once again they were filled with shame and sadness over what they had done.
***
“Okay, Twilight,” the girl panted to herself, trying to gather her thoughts. “Thinking is what you’re good at.” Glancing down at the... Twilight gulped, unicorn in her arms, she carefully freed a hand and brought it to her chest, inhaling deeply. Then she slowly exhaled as she brought it away. Though still panting a bit hard from the physical exertion, the technique was enough to calm her mind a bit.
“First, assess the situation,” Twilight told herself, as she started mentally creating a checklist, something else that normally helped to calm her anxieties. “You have a mythological animal that fell out of a statue’s base at your rival school. A school, mind you, that you were not supposed to be at because the Friendship Games are coming up and if a Crystal Prep student is seen at Canterlot High, they’ll assume you’re there to pull a prank.”
At that point, Twilight’s mind started to spin out of control at the possible implications, her breathing once again starting to increase. “Now you are going to be arrested for trespassing and animal cruelty. They might even think I’ve been dabbling in illegal animal testing or genetic experimentations. Those charges will be on my permanent record and I’ll never get into Everton. Not just Everton, no prestigious university will ever consider letting me in and I’ll have to attend,” Twilight gulped and let the thought escape in a whisper, “state school.”
As Twilight sucked in a breath on the last, horrible thought, she realized her thoughts may have gotten away from her. Clearing her mind again using the breathing technique Cadence had taught her, Twilight began again, “Assess the situation.” Looking down at the unconscious form in her arms, Twilight noted the blood now sticky on her fingers from examining the creature’s head wound. “Whatever this animal is, and wherever it came from can wait,” Twilight said, the panic in her voice being replaced by determination in a set course of action. “It’s hurt so the first step is to get it some medical attention.”
Slipping her free hand into the pocket of her blue hoodie, Twilight pulled out her phone, grateful it hadn’t fallen out in her mad dash from CHS. Pulling up an app and opening a map of the area, Twilight was relieved to find that there was an animal shelter only a block away. After calculating the quickest route to the shelter and committing it to memory, Twilight slid the phone back into her pocket. With her plan worked out, Twilight repositioned her arms around the injured creature and carefully made her way down the road.