//------------------------------// // Chapter 19 // Story: Severed Ties // by Carol Heart //------------------------------// The afternoon was dragging slowly.  Twilight had been off attending her classes for over an hour, leaving the two quadrupeds alone in the lab once again.  The time had been spent with both working on their individual projects.  Sunset sat in the desk chair running through the data Twilight had collected and trying her best to convert the information into numbers she could actually use in the formulas she’d learned in CSGU.  Spike had opted to pour over the O&O sourcebooks seeming intent on creating his own campaign.  Sunset had offered to help, but the pup had wanted to keep it a surprise for when it actually got played.  So aside from the odd disgruntled muttering about not finding vacuum cleaners listed under monsters or weapons, the time was spent in companionable silence. Unfortunately, this left Sunset ample time to dwell on the worry that had been eating at her since Twilight left.  In all that the unicorn had told the young scientist about her homeworld, the fact that it was a parallel to this one had been left out of the explanation.  At first, it was mostly to simplify things for the teen who was having a hard enough time dealing with magical portals and stray unicorns, the thought of compounding that with pony princess counterparts seemed like it would be a bit more than the human Twilight Sparkle could handle.   To be fair, she had brought up both Equestrian doubles previously, though she had merely mentioned them as her friends, or ‘the princess’, but that seemed to be enough.  When Twilight had seen the miniature for Spike’s game, she had made the obvious assumption that it was her, not knowing that the ‘adventure’ had been a retelling of a story that dragon Spike had made sure to regale her with at every opportunity upon her moving into the princess’s castle.  The pony could have corrected her, but what did it matter at this point?  It wasn’t as if Sunset had been lying to her.   That thought made the pony wince.  She may not have had a lot of contact with either Element of Honesty recently, but she knew that you didn’t make friends by lying and even lies of omission were still lies.  And the human Twilight Sparkle was turning out to be a good friend.  Sunset shivered to think of where she’d have ended up if not for the girl’s involvement.  At best stranded in this world in her pony body; at worst whatever magical surge went off in the castle and sent her into the mirror could have stranded her in another world altogether.  Twilight’s research might have saved her from oblivion for all she knew, and despite Sunset’s terrible treatment of the scientist, Twilight had stood by her and promised to help get her back to Equestria. A warm feeling sprang in the unicorn at the knowledge that she wasn’t alone.  It was a feeling she’d been missing out on for over a year.  While the Equestrian versions of Spike and Twilight had been there for her, Sunset had kept them at a distance.  Now though, their counterparts were reminding her of what it was like to spend time with others and actually enjoy spending time with friends. But could she really call them friends if she was holding out on them?  Wasn’t the secret of their Equestrian doubles just another means of Sunset keeping others at arm’s length?  Would it really make a difference if Sunset told them now?  Twilight had more or less come to terms with the magical other world.  Would knowledge of Sunset’s other friend being the teen's pony princess double be too much for the human girl the unicorn had become attached to?  Would Twilight hate her for keeping that information from her for so long?  Would Twilight reject her and kick her out just like everyone else. The fiery unicorn was shaken from her spiraling thoughts by the sound of a key in the lock.  If the bells were anything to go by, the current class hadn’t started that long ago, and Twilight Sparkle did not seem like the type to be skipping.  Spike too seemed to be concerned as the hackles on the puppy rose and he started to emanate a low growl.  Sunset shushed him, gaining his attention, and shook her head motioning in the direction of the cot.  He caught on and moved to hide.  Sunset hurried to lock the computer as the door opened revealing not the teen girl that Sunset had gotten used to, but a familiar face nonetheless. Sunset quickly jumped from the chair and slid under the cot just as Indigo Zap entered the room.  Sunset remembered the girl from the hallway encounter last week.  During their sleepover, Twilight had explained how the group of five were the top students in the school, outside of herself.  Since they couldn’t beat her academically they instead took particular glee in belittling her socially.   Indigo Zap in particular seemed to take exception to Twilight’s status.  She was captain of numerous sports teams as well as a top student, and her dominant personality didn’t appreciate coming in behind someone like Twilight Sparkle.  While the other members of the clique were content to bully the bookworm through insults and subtle shoves, Indigo would be the one to take it further, destroying her belongings, shoving her in lockers, even hitting the nerdy girl on occasion though she was careful not to do it where it would leave a mark that might be used as evidence. Sunset and Spike watched as she carefully closed the door behind herself before taking a look around and smirking.  Spike immediately moved to chase her out, but Sunset held him back silently mouthing, “Not yet.”  Spike nodded though clearly not liking this.  He kept his eyes trained on the intruder in his person’s lab and couldn’t help but bear his teeth at the bully as a snarl formed on his muzzle.  Indigo pulled out her phone and began taking pictures of the room before moving on to the conspiracy board mounted on the wall containing all the research Twilight had charted on magical phenomena around Canterlot, particularly CHS.   Indigo scoffed as she noted the rival school, “What are you up to, nerd?  Think you can run off to be with the other losers?”   Once she was done, the jock moved over to the computer.  Sunset breathed a sigh of relief knowing she had locked the computer.  Indigo plopped down in Twilight’s desk chair and fiddled with a mouse causing the password screen to appear.  Surprisingly, this didn’t seem to deter the athlete as she inserted a thumb drive into the USB port. “This better work,” she muttered, “or Sugarcoat will have to learn to code with one hand.” After a few seconds of whirring and blinking the lock screen disappeared revealing Twilight’s desktop and all of the documents Sunset had just been pouring over. “Oh no,” the unicorn breathed, her eyes widening in fear.  Unfortunately, Indigo’s hearing was sharp enough to catch it.   “What was that?” she said, surprised to not be alone.  Turning toward the source of the noise, her eyes narrowed on the cot.  Rising and stalking toward the hiding spot, she called menacingly, “Is that you hiding under the bed, Dorkle?” Spike had gathered from all the secrets that no one was supposed to see Sunset and though his feelings on the unicorn’s presence might still be undecided, he knew he had to help her for the sake of Twilight.  Before Sunset could react, he dove out from under the bed and clamped down hard on the sports star’s ankle just as she moved to bend down and search under the bed.    Yelping in pain, Indigo jerked backward, taking the little dog along for the ride.  Her athleticism paid off as she managed to not fall as she leaped backward with one leg still encased in the jaws of the purple menace.  Giving a hard kick worthy of the soccer captain she was, Indigo managed to dislodge Spike’s teeth, though they took a fair amount of skin with him as he flew across the room.  Sunset only just managed to slow him down as he connected against the wall, preventing him from suffering more than a bruise from the impact.   Gripping her injured ankle, the goggle-wearing girl glared at her dazed attacker.  “Right, I forgot about the nerd’s mutt,” she growled.  “Well, pooch, you’re going to pay for that.  Let me show you who’s top dog around here.”  Indigo began to stalk toward the downed dog, a murderous glint in her eyes.  Not wanting to see more harm come to the puppy who had protected her, Sunset threw caution to the wind and began to cast a spell.   As she approached the dog, Indigo froze as Spike was suddenly enveloped in a warm red hue.  The light intensified, blinding the athlete for a moment.  When the spots cleared from her eyes, where the small puppy had once been, stood instead a hulking beast.  He stood on all fours though his back legs appeared to have him standing on tiptoe while his forelegs appeared to be exceedingly muscular arms making the once little dog now struggle to keep from bumping his head on the ceiling.   A smile spread across his face revealing a set of large teeth.  Extending a large front paw, that now more closely resembled a hand, Spike reached for the dumbstruck girl.  Indigo tried to force her frozen legs to get out of the way but only caused herself to fall backward, giving the new diamond dog a chance to take hold of her.  Lifting her up to eye level, the monstrous purple giant glared at her with narrowed yellow eyes. “Leave Twilight alone,” the beast said in a low guttural growl.  “I don’t want to hear about you picking on her ever again or I will find you and I won’t be happy.  Got it.”  The athlete could only manage a whimper in response but opted to nod profusely.  Spike lowered her back to the ground.  “Good.  Now…Get Out,” he growled.  The sports star probably would have set some new school records for if anyone had been around to witness her dash from the lab, though she was probably glad no one was around to see the trail she left behind. Shutting the door, the red glow once again enveloped the room, revealing the once again tiny puppy giving a sniff at a puddle left on the floor.  Spotting this, the unicorn gave another flash of her horn to make the mess disappear.   “Spoilsport,” called the dog.   “That’s just gross,” Sunset said, “besides, Twilight would probably blame you.” “Yeah,” agreed Spike before smirking, “though I can’t wait to tell her about getting back at Indigo for her.” “About that,” started the unicorn, “maybe it would be better if we didn’t tell her.” “Why wouldn’t we tell her Indigo was snooping through her stuff?” Sunset shook her head, “No, that part we’ll have to let her know about.  Just the part about scaring off Indigo.  Maybe it’s better if we don’t share all the details.” “Why?” asked the puppy with a confused head tilt. “I just don’t want her to worry,” said Sunset.  “I know how Indigo makes her feel, and with everything that’s been happening lately, Twilight’s been under a lot of pressure. I don’t want me using magic or you scaring the pee out of Indigo to be another thing for her to stress out about.” “Yeah that’s true,” agreed the dog.  “Think about it this way,” said the pony, “after the scare you just gave her, Indigo’s not going to be messing with Twilight any time soon, so that’s even less stress.  And it’s not like Indigo could tell someone about Twilight’s giant talking dog.  They’d laugh her out of the building.” Spike chuckled at that.  “I guess you’re right.” “I am.  Trust me,” the unicorn said hopping up on the cot and flopping down unceremoniously.  “Now I’m going to take a quick nap before Twilight gets out of class and it’s time to head to the soccer game.  That illusion spell drained me a bit.  Mind keeping an ear out for any more trouble?” “No problem,” the puppy said with a mock salute.  Then in a quieter, more serious voice added, “And, Sunset…thanks.” “You’re welcome, Spike.”  Sunset smiled before drifting off.