"What?" I blinked dumbly, not quite believing I'd heard her correctly.
She hastily came inside, setting the paper she carried onto the coffee table. "I think Princess Luna contacted us through our dreams last night."
Now I was even more confused. "I-I'm sorry, could you maybe explain that so it, I dunno, makes sense?"
Os sighed. "Right, I forgot you don't watch the show. Princess Luna is one of the two rulers of Equestria, along with Celestia. Luna governs the night, raising the moon and protecting her citizens from nightmares."
I blinked. "Okay...?"
"I think last night, she used her dream-walking powers to contact us across dimensions, and tell us how to stop all these transformations."
I began to swerve the conversation, trying to retain some sense of normalcy. "Okay, I don't know what you started taking in order to believe this, but you need to get off of it now."
She sighed, pinching the bridge of her muzzle with a hoof. "You had the same dream as me, right? With the Ninja Sex Party reference, and the crying sun?"
I balked. "That's what that was a reference to?"
"Their song, 'Romance Novel'. It's pretty funny, you should check it out sometime. Anyway," she got back on topic, "the moon spoke to us, and told us to find the Bearers of the Elements of Harmony, right?"
I nodded. "I'll admit, that's too much to be just a coincidence. But really, Os? A cartoon character bridged the gap between dimensions just to tell two random nobodies how to fix this mess?"
"Well, that's just it; what if we aren't just two random nobodies?"
Did I hear that right? "What?"
She pulled out one specific paper: a list of names and dates. Included on it were me and her, with the dates of our transformations. And on top of that list...
"Lily?" my eyes widened.
Os nodded. "I went around and gathered dates of transformations, and I can't find anybody who transformed before her. And yes, I know this town isn't nearly a large enough sample size, so I even asked around online."
"Wh-wh-what are you saying?" I managed to stutter out.
"Remember what Luna said, in the dream? 'Gather them where the change began'. If Lily was the first one, then she'd need to tell those who know that! Lily hasn't told anyone other than us..."
"...so we were the ones she went to!" I finished. "Okay, but that still wouldn't explain how a fictional character contacted us in our dreams!"
She blinked, then admitted, "I haven't worked out everything, but it's all we've got right now!"
I thought over that, before slowly nodding. "Alright, so let's say that, hypothetically speaking, a talking pony princess did manage to bridge dimensions and talk to us through our dreams," I had to stifle a gag at how crazy that sounded. "What are we supposed to do about it?"
"Exactly what she said; find the Elements."
I balked, desperate to avoid the route this was going. "Okay, but aren't they, like, in their world?"
"You're only half right," she explained. "The physical Elements are in Equestria, but she said to find their Bearers."
"...how is that any better?"
Os groaned. "Look, the Elements of Harmony represent the key elements of Friendship — just bear with me on this," she added when she saw my incredulous look. "There's Kindness, Honesty, Generosity, Loyalty, Laughter, and Magic. The Bearers of each Element embody the trait their Element represents — except for Magic, which embodies all of them."
I nodded slowly. "So you're saying that we just need to find six people that represent these Elements?"
"Yep!"
"Well, good luck with that."
Now, it was Os's turn to balk. "Wh-what do you mean?"
I shook my head. "Forgive me, but I'm finding this incredibly hard to believe."
"Harder to believe than people turning into Equestrians?"
I went to retaliate, but paused. Should I really be doing this?
"...yes, yes it is."
Like a light switch, her energy seemed to drain away. "Wh-what are you saying, Rove?"
I sighed. "I just think the stress may be getting to your head."
Her brows furrowed. "What, are you calling me crazy?"
I quickly defended, "I never said that! I'm just saying, really listen to yourself right now. No offense, but what you're saying sounds like it came straight from a shitty fanfiction."
Almost immediately, I regretted saying that. Her eyes began to moisten, and midnight blue streaks began bleeding into her aura. "What happened to not abandoning your friends?"
I tried to recover, "Look, Os, I just think—"
"Just stop, Rove," she interrupted curtly, regathering her papers in her wings. "I can take a hint."
My ears laid flat against my head as she walked by. "Os..."
As she reached the door, she turned back to give me one last look. My heart sunk as I looked into the most hurt eyes I'd ever seen. "Well, at least we know one person that can't be a bearer..."
With that, she slammed the door shut, leaving me to think about what I'd just done.