//------------------------------//
// (15) Game Plan 
// Story: Canterlot High's D&D Club 
// by 4428Gamer 
//------------------------------//


Rainbow's POV
Outside Canterlot High
Friday 5:42 PM




"I thought Agix was the capital."

"It is." Story nodded. "Agix is the capital of Leodaav. Cragen's just bigger. The Drakehead Mountains used to house its own kingdom, primarily Dwarves, and Cragen was its capital back then. During the Lifetime War, the Dwarven kingdom merged with Leodaav and Agix remained the capital. Although, Cragen is still an older and larger city."

"And it's underground," I tacked on, trying to keep the basic facts in my head.

"And it's underground," Story parroted. "Whenever they start running out of space, Cragen mines the cavern's outer walls further and deeper while ensuring stability."

"And the Dagarkins get to be one of the important families down there, right?" I asked him. I wanted to have Ravathyra be something big like a ruler or something but Story talked me down. So instead, we agreed that she would be a noble. Not as awesome but it sounded cool enough.

"Clan Dagarkin can be the third clan of Cragen. Third underneath the Stonebreaker," he relented. While making her backstory, he told me what some of Leodaav's nobility was like. Most of it was pretty boring, I never cared much about political whatevers, but I forced myself to focus about as much of it as I could. I wanted to do this right for Ravathyra.

From what I remembered, Stonebreaker Sichedai was the lord of Cragen. Underneath him was a number of clans that were set up like a leaderboard. They went all the way down to something over twenty before they were regular clans at that point. The Stonebreaker was considered rank 0 since there was no debate he was on top. So for Ravathyra's clan to be rank 3 meant that they had to be pretty important.

The rest of Leodaav's nobility doesn't have that leaderboard gimmick. It was just land barons, wealthy merchants, and other stuff that makes the nobles big shots. But, since high ranking clans held a lot of sway over Cragen, where there were dozens of precious metal or gem mines, they treated the higher clans as equals if not suck up to them sometimes.

My character being a Paladin of Ulaa was good for her Clan's image. It made the clan seem really, uh. What was the word? Oh yeah, honorable. However, Story made sure I knew that in Leodaav, nobility was ruthless. If I did anything that would look bad, Ravathyra and the clan would suffer for it. No way would I let that happen though. Especially since I was giving Ravathyra almost Pinkie Pie levels of friendliness.

I'd like to see those nobles try now, I thought defiantly.

"So what made 'em rank three?"

Story paused. "Well, there's a number of businesses or activities they could do that would keep them in that kind of position. But you don't need to really go that into detail about this."

"No, I want to," I told him. "I want to try and learn as much as I can about everything about her."

He gave me a careful look before speaking again. "Rainbow Dash. You don't need to know everything about her, to make her a great character. I mean, I won't stop you or anything but trying to keep up with an entire life's story is kind of hard. End of the day, she's still a fictional character."

Shows what he knows, I thought. What if she was stuck in there all braindead or something before I got to sky-space? All because I didn't bother trying. No way was I letting that happen.

"Nah, it's cool. If I'm gonna do something I want to go all out," I excused with a grin. It was the kind of lie that was mostly true. Only Applejack ever saw through those. Then again, Applejack wasn't here, so... "By the way, how big are Dwarf clans supposed to be?"

Story let out a low chuckle and shook his head before pulling out a thinner book than what we were reading from. "Well then, I'm definitely not gonna stop you." He found a tab sticking out of the pages and opened it towards the center. "Go ahead and roll me. A...D10."

I looked over at the space on the bleachers between me and Gilda. At some point while we were in that void, Sunset passed her dice to me since I didn't have my own. Something I should probably fix. "Nine."

He nodded to himself. "And now a D8?"

"What's this for?" Sunset asked as I rolled the next die.

"Seven," I read aloud.

Story took a moment to look to the side with a look of disbelief. "Okay...You have ten siblings."

Fluttershy coughed some of the water she was sipping as Gilda just let out a whistle.

"How many?" Sunset blinked.

"A-Are," I stuttered. "Are they all older than me?"

Story read the book a little further and with a bored look picked up his own dice. "I'll spare you the sprained wrist and roll for you." But before he could, his phone started buzzing against the metal bleacher louder than if he had just left the ringtone on.

He picked it up and nearly stuffed it in his pocket before seeing the name on the screen and stopping. "Uh, I-I gotta take this."

He got up and walked away a few feet, leaving me free to pull the book over to my lap so I could see it. Somewhere under the word 'Sibling' was instructions on what to roll for, which made my eyes go wide.

"For each sibling?" I half-whispered. Ravathyra, you better appreciate this. I picked up some dice and started to roll.

"Hey mom," Story spoke too low for us to hear. "Yeah, I'm still here with my friends...What? It's not that...Oh wow, it's almost six...Yeah, we're still at the school...Hear about Ms. Cheerilee? No. She wasn't here today...WHAT?!"

All of us stared at him before Story held up a finger. "Don't? Don't te—Hey, slow down! Sorry, please so slow down? What are you..."

Whoever was on the other end, they talked quick and direct. But before we could try and hear anything, Story excused himself and walked further away.

"Something's wrong." Sunset crossed her arms.

"Story's mom is a surgeon," Fluttershy reminded us. "Maybe she needs his help driving again?"

"Nah, her car got fixed. Story said so on Wednesday," Gilda informed us. "Apparently she's got a second phone she calls him with if it's important."

"How do you know that?"

"It says 'URGENT' on the Caller ID. Every now and then me or the others in our group spot it. She sounds cool though." Gilda shrugged. "Every so often she has Story smuggle in cookies for us."

"The peanut butter cookies?" Fluttershy smiled.

"Those things are so good," Gilda breathed, matching her grin. "Not gonna lie, I think I'd commit crime for those things."

Shockingly enough, Fluttershy nodded along, sending me and Sunset into a spiral of questions. But before we had the chance to ask any of them, Story was walking back with his phone tucked into his pocket and a very conflicted look on his face.

"Is everything alright?" Fluttershy asked.

"Ya need to book it?" Gilda tossed in.

"Uh. Well, it's nothing serious," he told us as he struggled to find the words. "But Mom wants me to head back to the house...And I can't say why."

"You don't need to explain any family matters to us." Sunset gave him an assuring nod. "We won't be upset."

"R-Right, but it's not family, it's..." He rubbed his hands together. "I'll-I'll text you all later. This is a...ugh. It'll come up." He left it at that. "Rainbow, are you rolling all that?"

I glanced up from the book. I was drawing tally marks on the corner of a paper as I got maybe halfway through all the siblings. "Uh, yeah. Here, you need your book back, right?"

"It's fine," he said before packing up the binder and book he took out of his bag. There wasn't nearly as much stuff to pack as last time this happened. "Keep it. I'll just swipe it back on Monday or Tuesday. Besides, there's other stuff in there if you really want to keep working on it."

With everything else put away, he slung his bag over his shoulders and we all said our goodbyes before he started off for the parking lot, leaving the four of us on the bleachers and the magic around the papers and dice to fade away. Except, as we all watched the magic fade, Fluttershy and Sunset quickly realized that all of us were watching the magic.

The two of them watched with wide eyes and held breath while I could swear I almost heard their minds screaming in worry. It almost made me laugh when they took in a deep breath at the same time as Gilda but for a completely different reason. It was even worse when Gilda set a glare on them, making both girls flinch.

"Okay. Start talking," she commanded with no humor. "No one's leaving. Until you tell me...how the heck I woke up in sky-space!"

Fluttershy leaned behind me while Sunset went speechless. "Sky. Sky-Sky-Space? W-What are you talking about?!"

"Don't dick with me," she snapped. "I thought I was gonna get stabbed. I thought Dash was gonna get stabbed! I pulled a rock out of a woman's chest, woke up in the middle of a thunderstorm. I somehow changed her life with my 'effin mind!"

Fluttershy started shaking while Sunset started to shrink back for a moment.

"Dash said it was all magic. I thought she was crazy. Ha! Ya know what? I believe her now. And she said you were the magical girl. So get your friggin' wand. Get your friggin' sailor uniform. Get your lies outta the way! And tell me what's going on!"

As she let out a huff that was borderline growl, Sunset suddenly recognized what was happening. Even though I knew Gilda didn't mean it, Sunset thought she was trying to intimidate her. A lot like what Sunset did before she became our friend. Only louder and angrier.

"What. Are you talking about?" Sunset stood with a flash of courage to stare Gilda down only for Gilda to repeat the action and tower over her again. That didn't scare Sunset a second time. "None of that happened! We have been here the whole time. The magic didn't even go out of control!"

Gilda opened her mouth to shout again only for Sunset to sneer. "Quiet," Sunset demanded, making Gilda freeze. "I am a foot in front of you. We're not at a rally. We are outside. Where other people might hear us. In case you haven't noticed, we're not exactly trying to show this stuff off. Now I'll answer your question but Please. Stop. Screaming."

When I saw Gilda's white-knuckled fists started to tremor, I closed the book before reaching out to put a hand on her shoulder. Her head whipped around to glare me into a puddle which only worked to terrify Fluttershy further. But in my case, I stared right back at her with a calm frown and simply shook my head.

"..." Gilda rolled her jaw for a moment before she realized where her head was at. I watched her fists loosen up as she took a few deep breaths. It did nothing to help the rage on her face but her voice seemed passive enough to face Sunset again.

"So then," she exhaled. "You admit it? This magic crap's real?"

Sunset watched Gilda for a moment, processing what she was watching before watching me for another clue. When she saw that I was doing my best to stay calm for Gilda, I think it clicked for Sunset that Gilda wasn't being personal about this.

"...Yes," Sunset answered after a breath of her own. "There's no use denying it to you. I just saw you watching magic. So yes. it's real. But I swear, Gilda, nothing about this 'sky-space' happened. We've all been here. The entire time. Alright?"

"Actually. We haven't," I told her, visibly taking the wind out of Sunset. "Remember when Story said the magic words?"

Gilda out a heavy scoff. "Is that really what you're callin' it?"

"We have to be careful not to say those words ourselves," Sunset covered for me. "I'm assuming he says it for your group too? That corny line at the start?"

Gilda rolled her eyes. "What? You mean 'Let's start a st—' mmph! mm-mmph-mmm!

Gilda started flailing hard, nearly flipping me over her shoulder like a wrestler before I called for her to relax. After a few tries Gilda heard me and I could feel her breathing into my hand.

"Yes Gilda. Those words," I told her. I let go of her mouth only after she stopped talking. "Whenever anyone says it, that magic starts up. Story's said it and I've said it now. It goes off every time."

I took a step back and watched as Gilda grabbed the sides of her jacket, straightening it stepping back so she could see all of us in front of her. "Okay. Then explain this: I've played in Story's game for years now. And today is the only time it's ever happened!"

Sunset cringed. "That's probably because it's our fault. When we started playing on Tuesday, we somehow got our magic into the game. That's why you haven't seen it until now."

Gilda frowned. "What do you mean you put magic into it? How did you get magic?! Magic's not even supposed to be real! Magic's supposed to be some made up thing for babies and cults!"

Sunset smirked at that and looked away. "And ponies," she muttered under her breath.

"What was that?"

"Nothing."

"No, not nothing! You're telling me everything! I'm in this now!"

"No offense Gilda," Sunset started with all the offense in her tone. "But I don't like giving out my secrets. Something I'm sure you might understand."

I cringed. Uh-oh. That's a tone I haven't heard from Sunset. Not since the Fall Formal anyway.

"Is that a fact?" Gilda leaned even further in Sunset's face, cracking her knuckles.

Sunset didn't back down. "Try swinging. You don't scare me."

"I should."

"O-kaaaay," I announced, pushing the both of them away from each other. Gilda versus Sunset: No one wins. "Gilda? Trust Sunset on this. It's fine. Alright? She's cool, I promise."

"..." Gilda took a deep breath. In and out from her nose as she pulled out the sunglasses on her shirt collar; not once blinking away from Sunset who stared right back. Then, after a few long seconds, Gilda flicked her wrist and she unfolded her shades before sliding them on with a single hand. After taking another deep breath, she forced herself to take a step back. Then another. And then a third before turning partly away to stare up at the sky and focus on her breathing.

"...s-sorry," she mumbled. "I'm sorry. I didn't..." Gilda swallowed and took another slow breath. "Yeah. Alright. This is your thing. I get that. It's your call how this works. Not mine. Dash told me as much earlier."

Sunset took a moment to calm down as well, feeling just as guilty when she saw Fluttershy almost at the point of hyperventilating. Then she gave me a look. I didn't know what I looked like right now but however it seemed, it made Sunset feel that much more set on trying to cool everything down.

So when she thought she was calm, she walked until she was in Gilda's peripheral. "I'm sorry too. In the past, I used to understand how magic works. But recently? Even before the magic you just saw, I still don't understand it. And the one po...person," she corrected. "That had just as much of an idea as I did? I lost contact with her. I know you want answers. I do too. And normally? I have them. And believe me, laying them all out to help everyone feel less worried about what might happen would make this so much easier. I hate seeing my friends get worried about magic. But...the more I keep seeing about this magic? the less control I feel I have. So, I'm sorry, but until I figure out how this all works? I'm as lost as you."

Sunset... I bit down onto the inside of my cheek. She...Is that all true?

Gilda never looked back. She just kept staring up at the sky and breathing in and out. She was nodding along and her shoulders slumped when she learned she wasn't going to get all her questions but she kept calming herself down anyway.

Sunset losing the book to Twilight really did hit her, huh? I know she said it wasn't my fault but...I feel so guilty.

Sunset let her words sink in. She didn't want to rush Gilda's breathing as she inhaled. Then exhaled. Inhale. Exhale. Still looking skyward until finally she said three short words. "It wasn't there."

"There?" Sunset blinked. "What wasn't?"

"The magic. At the game. Wednesday game," Gilda deciphered. She turned around to face Sunset fully from behind her violet lenses. "You said that your magic started all of this on Tuesday, yeah? Well, on Wednesday, Story said Let's...the words," she substituted. "Like every other game before then. And nothing happened. There was no magic. No changing lights...Sky-Space. None a' that. Just a normal game."

Sunset let the words process in her mind while she folded her arms. "So you didn't see it? And I'm guessing everyone else there didn't either?"

Gilda shook her head. "Aside from Story, I'm the best poker face at that table. Everyone else there wears their hearts on their sleeves. Even Big Mac."

"That's....Th-That's right." Fluttershy peeked out from behind me but still under her hair. She didn't look up at anyone either. "Applejack said her brother plays too. An-And he's seen the magic before at Canterlot. If he saw anything, he would have told us about it by now."

"You mean he knows about this too?" Gilda sighed. "Always the quiet ones, huh?"

"So he hasn't seen it either," Sunset determined. "Good to know."

Gilda furrowed her brow. "You make something from that?"

"...Possibly." Sunset thought it over very carefully. "So far, the only ones who have seen the magic in action are us and Gilda. That is much different than every other time magic's happened here. Before, everyone could see it clearly. And now we're also the only ones to have used it. Allegedly. If I'm right, Gilda must have been effected by it since we were with her. So, perhaps, the magic spreads and becomes visible to who has it."

"Like a disease?" Gilda frowned. "But again, didn't happen Wednesday. And Story was both at our game and yours, right? He runs 'em. Wouldn't he...spread it?" She looked as if she didn't understand her own words.

"He's. An exception. I think." Sunset sighed. "We're not sure, but I think it's possible the magic doesn't work on him. He doesn't see any of it. Even when he rolls the magic dice himself. So, if we're going along with the disease theme, I'd go as far as to say he might be immune."

"That's good though, right?" I asked. "If he's immune and the magic doesn't happen when we're not around then that means we have nothing to worry about! The magic's safe with us!"

"Not exactly." She shook her head. "Gilda and her group had no way of seeing it. And Story can't see it. Just because they can't see something doesn't mean it's not there."

"You think it's unchecked," Gilda translated. Sunset nodded. "That's an easy fix then. I go in on Wednesday, pretend like nothing's wrong and then report back to you guys."

"That...is a great idea," Sunset complimented. "If the seven of us go, there's no telling how the magic might respond since we have our own. But you don't. You're just able to see it now. You could find out what's happening!"

"What about the others?" I glanced between them. "If us playing with Gilda made her see the magic, what if the same happens with them? Gilda can see magic, so if she gets them magic'd, they'll start freaking out and we won't be their if something goes wrong."

Gilda's smirk fell off. "Hold up. Does that mean I'm not allowed to go without screwing them up? I didn't even want this!"

Sunset grimaced. "No. You-You need to go." Her expression screamed 'rock and a hard place.' "Look. There's two possibilities. Either one; it spreads from whoever can see the magic to someone else. Or two; it spreads because of us."

She gave Fluttershy and me a look that explained exactly what she meant.

"And you're cool with testing that on a bunch of strangers?" Gilda frowned. "I don't mind bein' bait but, like I said; hearts on their sleeves. They see something, everyone's gonna know. Not to mention we play at a game shop. There's a good ten other people there at any time."

"Does it have to be at the game shop?" Fluttershy asked. "Can't Story have the game at his house?"

"Probably not." Gilda shrugged. "That shop gets loud. If he could have had it at his house, we'd have moved there a long time ago."

"Your house?" I offered.

"You remember my house Dash? My family's never moved."

Oh.

Her house didn't have a dining room, so no big table to set up at. From what I remembered, Gilda and her family always ate in the living room on the couch. And that living room wasn't big enough for a whole group to play. Not to mention her Grandpa was the type to nag and complain nonstop.

"...Big Mac," Sunset suggested. "What about Sweet Apple Acres? They have a barn, right? It's quiet, no distractions, and no one will be nearby that isn't part of the group."

Gilda rolled her jaw, thinking it over for a second. "Well...Yeah, that might do it. One of the other players is a friend of mine I invited. She's pretty good at talking. She could probably convince the others to go along with it if the place works out."

"We can head over and check right now," I offered. "AJ and Big Mac are probably home already. We can gather up the rest of the girls and figure out a game plan."

"All of us?" Fluttershy scrunched her face.

"Why not?" I shrugged. "Today's Friday. We can stay up as late as we need!"

"But Applejack and Rarity are the only ones with cars," Fluttershy reminded us. "Applejack's already home and Rarity can only fit five of us in her car. And it's already 6 PM. It'll get dark soon."

"Right." Sunset frowned. "There's seven of us that need to get to Sweet Apple Acres. Unless AJ drives all the way to town and back, we can't all get there."

"Good thing I brought my second helmet then." Gilda grinned.

We all looked at her. "Helmet? You have a bike?"

"Course I gotta bike! Fast too. Hell, I could probably ferry some of you there with how fast it rides."

"Do you even know where the farm is?"

"It's a farm! I'll ride until I see a silo." Gilda laughed. "Whoever's riding with me should borrow Sunset's jacket though. Your arms are gonna feel bad otherwise."

"I guess that means I'm riding then." Sunset smirked. "Only I wear my jacket."

"..." Gilda eyed her for a moment before letting out a tense huff. "Better hold on."

Sunset cracked a smile. "Why? I thought Dash was the fast one."

Gilda fixed her glasses and grinned. "Oh, you're on, Bacon Hair!"

"Try me, Shades," Sunset stepped up, their stare down reminding me of myself and AJ.

That is gonna be an interesting ride, I thought as I opened my phone to start calling everyone.




Applejack's POV
Sweet Apple Acres
Friday 6:47 PM




"Alright y'all. Here we go."

Big Mac and I each pulled the barn doors wide opening, letting the setting sun's rays spill into the interior. The girls took the moment to peek inside but there wasn't much to see. Just two carts, a dozen empty bushels, and then plows, hoes, and any other manner of farm equipment we stored near the entrance for easy reach. We had crates that we packed any apples for shipping but we stored those in the silo. It helped with the clutter.

Further in were stalls that lined the walls. From what Granny said, Sweet Apple Acres used to have more livestock than the slim handful of animals we have now. None of them slept in this barn now though. Instead, most stalls had bales of hay while the rest had odds and ends that hadn't seen the light of day for months at best. Since we repurposed the silo to hold the crates, any feed we had went to the barn. It might have sounded backwards but, again, not a lot of livestock. The feed took up less space.

Finally, all the way in the back were things that hadn't been touched in years. To the right was an old car with a piece of the front poking out from under a hole-ridden tarp. The thing had been gutted for parts long ago, with some pieces tangled up nearby. The left side was less interesting. All there was to see was a pile of junk and debris no one took to the dump. Broken crates and scrap metal. Some of it was older than myself or Big Mac.

Apparently there was something appealing in here that only the girls saw. They didn't have their jaws hanging or anything overboard like that but I could have sworn I heard a couple audible gasps of awe. Aside from possibly Rainbow Dash, I don't think any of the girls had ever seen the inside. Since the farm was so out of the way, the girls never really came down here.

Before I took a shot guessing who was impressed, Pinkie bounded in with her fingers stretched out in front of her to make a box. As if she were looking through a camera as she stuck her tongue out. "You know, this kinda reminds me of one of those find-it picture books! You know, where you have to look through all the clutter to find a tennis racket, and a roller skate, and a dish, a swan, and a fedora before you go to the next page! Except they always hide the roller skate in the rafters for some reason! Not to mention, who uses one roller skate?! Like, what happened to the other roller skate? Is it on a different rafter? But that just sounds silly. Why would you go roller skating in the rafters?! You can only go back and forth on one of the beams which is such a waste of good roller skating! They should probably hide the fedora in the rafters so that whenever you need one in case of fedora emergencies, you can just hit the wall and have it fall on the top of your head as if you're in the movies! Like this!"

Pinkie slid up beside one of the columns and brought a swift elbow into it before nodding her head down. Then, as though the heavens wanted to humor her, a dusty white fedora landed on her head. We all took a moment of silence just how the heck any of that happened as the only part of Pinkie's face we could see from under the hat was the pearly whites of her smile.

Who's fedora even is that? I pondered. I looked to Big Mac for some help but he seemed just as lost.

Rarity decided to take point on ignoring all of that and proceeded to walk over towards one of the stalls. After sizing it up, she tried to run a finger along the top of the low partition to investigate the dust before she suddenly pulled back in a flinch. Between shaking her hand I noticed a gnarly splinter wedged badly in her finger.

"I-It could do with some..." She took a moment to pluck the splinter before flinging it away and holding her finger. "Slight attention."

"Slight? A leaf blower couldn't make a dent in this dust," Gilda accused as she and the rest of the girls entered.

"Proven fact," I admitted.

"Eeyup," Mac backed me up. If anything, leaf blowers made the dust worse whenever we tried.

"Be that as it may," Rarity restarted after taking the finger out of her mouth. "After some...alright, a lot of care," she surrendered. "This barn would make for a lovely reception area! You know, rustic themed weddings are finding their greater audience lately."

I shrugged. "Maybe, but they ain't gonna try here. Barn's too well insulated. This place gets hotter than a oven at a luau when summer hits. And winter don't make a dent either."

"Eenope."

"We'll get some fans then." Rainbow shrugged. "Not too big a deal."

"That wouldn't solve the problem." Twilight set her bag down, letting Spike step out and stretch. "That would only push the heat around. You would need something to cool the space."

"And that's where we got an option," I told them. The girls started smiling until I shook my head. "Don' get too excited. It don't get any cleaner. Big Mac?"

He nodded and started guiding the rest of us towards the back wall before he started shifted around the pile of trash.  Piece by piece, he cleared out a path before finally the girls saw what I was talking about. A door. Any paint that was on it was curling off in places and the doorknob had fallen off at some point. The frame around the hinges looked extra brittle too, making the door tilt in place.

The girls' excitement all started to plummet before Big Mac forced the door open. He had to stop once or twice to kick around the trash and nails before he could scrape the door against the floorboards wide enough for someone to presumably walk inside. That is, if it weren't for the real problem.

Wall to wall, the room was filled like a storage unit. Random pieces of furniture, boxes of hobbies family members had lost interest in, as well as paperwork and files that had no reason to exist anymore took all the space. Then, as if it couldn't get any more unappealing, there was this awful stench wafting at us as though the room was trying to scare us away. And as far as my family was concerned, it had worked.

However, in the far corner of the room towards the ceiling there was a single metal rectangle attached to the wall. The only thing that made me think of this room when Rainbow had called to fill me in on Sunset's plan. An AC unit. It was an old model but aside from age, it looked in perfect condition. From this side of the doorway at least.

"Far as Ah know, that thang should still work. Might need a wire or two replaced if a rat ever chewed through but we can fix that. Also there's a huge game table in the middle a' the room."

"Heh. Where?" Sunset asked half-jokingly. Although, to tell the truth, you couldn't see it from the entrance with all the garbage in the way.

"Granny said way back that she'd bring friends back here fer poker night. But when the group cashed out fer the last time, it became storage. Then just plum forgotten. Ah've never stepped foot in here before."

"Nnope," Big Mac included. Him neither, huh?

Gilda clicked her tongue. "Well this is a bust."

Spike stepped up and started sniffing around before bringing a paw to his nose and backing out. "Blegh! Smells like rotting fruit in there!"

"Did that dog just talk?!"

"Magic," I, Rainbow, and about half the room answered.

"...One of these days I'm breaking into Grandpa's liquor cabinet," the girl confessed.

"It gets easier," Spike sighed.

Gilda pinched the bridge of her nose. "Yeah, uh, please don't say...anything. Please?"

"Well, do we have any other ideas?" Rainbow asked. "Because if not, that means we're testing magic at that store."

"Not an option," Twilight enforced. "We have to avoid magic in a public setting by any means necessary."

"Should we even be testin' this at all?" I asked. "Again, we should be comin' clean with Story an' jus' save the headache."

"Yeah, I'm kinda fallin' on team Tell All here," Gilda rose her hand.

"Seconded," Twilight added as she did the same.

"Eeyup."

"I know. I know." Sunset closed her eyes. "At this point, I'm for telling him too! It's the right thing to do. But, regardless, we still need to test how the magic works. Gilda's group has six players with only her and Big Mac in the know about all of this. By now, the issue isn't telling Story about magic. It's telling Story and four random people about magic."

Rainbow turned to Gilda. "You said one of those players was a friend you invited, right? Can she keep a secret?"

Gilda's abrupt mad, cackling laughter did nothing to lift our spirits.

"No! No, she can't keep a secret! Gabby lives up to her name," Gilda said between laughs. "Like, she even has her own blog! No, if she finds out about this, half the town and them some are finding out."

Big Mac didn't say anything. He just hung his head in defeat.

"Well that's not good." Rarity bit her lip. "And that would also mean we can't convince them to cancel their game. To do so would mean having to explain why."

I nodded sullenly. "Tellin' Story the truth sounds much simpler now, don't it? We do that an' we can convince him ta cancel that game before somethin' goes worse."

"It might already be too late," Sunset warned. "Their group's already met up once, remember? If the magic already happened and they didn't see it, they may already be a part of this. Not only that, but we learned with Gilda that the magic can spread. Just because Story's immune doesn't mean he can't pass the magic on. If that's what happened, then all of them may have already been caught on Wednesday."

Twilight took in a sharp breath. "You're worried that this may spread."

"I'm worried it already has." Sunset turned back to Gilda. "I need to ask; the other four players. Do you know if any of them play games separate from Story's table?"

Gilda thought about it but didn't have an answer.

"Eeyup," Big Mac answered, earning every eye in the room as he held up one finger. "One fella."

"Big Mac." Sunset walked up to him. "Please think very carefully about this. Have they already played with another group since Wednesday?"

Big Mac shook his head. "Nope." That put me and the rest of the girls at ease. "Monday."

"Well that's a relief," Fluttershy said as Pinkie happily nodded her head.

"...No, it's not," Twilight corrected as Pinkie frantically shook her head. "That only gives us the weekend to find out how this magic spreads. That, or find a way to delay that game without telling them. Otherwise—"

"Otherwise those nerds will play with other nerds, who will play with more nerds, and by the end of the month all the nerds will have magic," Gilda summed up. "Which I'm guessing means, what, total nerd anarchy?"

"I think they call those conventions," Pinkie informed her. "Which means we're gonna need a lot of goodie bags!"

"Not if we can help it," Sunset assured us. "Before that happens, we need to figure out one question: Does it spread to anyone that plays with someone that has magic? Or just when they play with the seven of us?"

"And now that Gilda can see the magic, we have a way of determining that theory." Twilight nodded. "All we need to do is have Gilda's group convene before Monday. If the test results in the best possible outcome, then we'll know how to limit magical transference from then on."

Gilda blinked a few times, pointing a confused face at Twilight. "So then...I watch what happens and tell you?"

"Correct."

"In that case, I'm all in." She smirked. "But, in exchange, you're gonna keep me in the loop about all this magic stuff from now on. Right?"

"Obviously." Rainbow Dash grinned. "With you helping us out, will have all the backup we'll need!"

"Right on." Gilda and Dash shared a fistbump before Pinkie appeared behind the large of the two with a cord in her hand.

"In that case...Welcome to Sonic Rainbooms, Gilda," Pinkie cheered before giving a large tug on said cord. From the other side of Gilda, somehow hidden from the rest of our view, a colorful cannon launched a colorful menagerie of streamers that pelted the entire back wall.

As Gilda ducked her head low from the sound of the explosion, Pinkie clambered up her back. "What instrument do you play?!"

"Uhhh." Gilda glanced up at the lightweight girl, too confused to care about personal space. "I don't?"

"Okay. Triangle it is!"

"Wha—no, I'm. I'm not playing anything! And get offa me!" As Gilda tried reaching for Pinkie, who took it as a game of tag as she crawled around on the taller girl's back, the rest of us gathered up.

"I take it this means we will be preparing this space then?" Rarity gestured to the back room. "Can we get everything ready in time?"

"If everyone chips in, Ah don' see why not," I told her. "Big Mac can use his truck ta cart everything ta the dump and Gilda err myself can go with him ta unload it."

"We'll also need one or two of us to convince Story to go along with the idea," Twilight told us. "We can use that time to tell him about that magic too."

"In that case, we'll leave that up to you and Fluttershy," Sunset told her. "Fluttershy knows him the best and Spike's a good way to prove it if he doesn't believe you at first."

"I can vouch for that." Gilda rejoined us as Pinkie let herself get carried under her arm like a pillow. She was also wearing the fedora now. "A talking dog sounds way better than waking up in Sky-Space again. Though, I probably would've called bull and thought you put a speaker on his collar."

"I can imagine." Rarity placed a hand on her cheek. "Whatever this Sky-Space was, it sounded absolutely startling. It sounds unlike anything we had seen so far as well."

"⏚⊑⎅☍. ⌿⍀⎐⍙⍜⏚," Rainbow mumbled in that garbled language. She looked guilty but with that stupid filter there was nothing we could do but be here with her.

"Actually, I think I have an answer for that," Twilight said without looking up from a notebook she was flipping through. "Remember when Rainbow Dash said the phrase and the table appeared in the hallway?"

Most of us were nodding except for Gilda who took a second to snap her fingers beside each of her fingers. "I'm sorry, what did you just say?"

"Rainbow Dash used the magic herself in the hallway," Twilight repeated. "In the process, she summoned a large table and we were. Able to...You didn't understand any of that, did you?"

Twilight didn't bother finishing when she saw the look on Gilda's face get worse the more she kept talking. And when Twilight asked that last part, Gilda slowly shook her head. "Was I supposed to? How'd you even make that noise?"

"Garblin', right?" I asked her, earning her attention. "It happens whenever ya hear one of us say somethin' that yer apparently 'not supposed ta know,'" I said in air quotes.

"I have it written here: 'If anyone attempts to learn about something they are not supposed to know, the information is made impossible for them to understand.' That's where the garbling comes from," Twilight said. And by Gilda's reaction, she seemed to understand that just fine.

"I'm guessin' writing stuff down doesn't work either?" Gilda shoved her hands into her thick jacket's pockets before trying to keep subtle about shifting it around. The barn's heat already at work I see.

"It actually looks worse than the garbling sounds," Twilight explained. "The writing moves."

"Pffft, no way! Show me." Gilda's expression flipped like a switch and Twilight only had to turn a few pages in her notebook before showing the same thing she showed the rest of us already.




⍀̶̛͕̞⍜̸̛̫̍ ̵̭̈́⟊̷͔̠̊̓⍙̸̞̀͜͝⋢̩́⌖̵͇͈͗⍙̴̧̧̐͝⋏̵̱͈͠ ̵̠̍͠⟊̶̜͙̇͛☊☊⋏̵̥̜̓̾⎐̵̹̇̀⊬̶̱̈́☊ ̶͍͔́͘☊ ̵̨̮͐͑⎍̶̬̔̚⋏̵͚͖̌⟊̷̡̼̓̍⏃̸̨̇̈⍙̵͇̏ ̸̮̓⟊̵̝̪̊☍⌖̶̟̳̐́⎅̷͉̭͂͐☊ ̶̘͗̔⋏̷͓͉̉⍾̶̮̳̎⍀̷̍⍙̸̧̏⌿̷̺̼͌ ̴̠̫̍͝⍾̶̛̙⋏̸̯̯̕⊑̶̠̜̽ ̵̯̼̆͘⟊̴͙͇̓͋⏃̴̠̂⋏̶̛̣͐ ̴̢̀̅⍙̷̬̉⌖̶̤͙̑͝ ̵͎͖̋̿⊬̵̘̄⊬̷̼́̚⌖̸̻͍̅⋏̴̡͆̊⋔̸̨̯̉ ̷͓̃⌖̷͈̚ ̶͙͝⏁̸͚̫̈͠⍙̸͖̺̊̓⌖̴̪̃⎎̷̛͖͘ ̷̱̎͊⌖̶̥̙̒̃⏃̶̪̩̈́̈́ ̸̯͚͐☊⍾̷̘͙̕⋏̷̣͜͠͝ ̸̺̇͗͜⎍̵̪̣̈́͝⋏̵͉́͗⟊̸̬͌̌⋔̶͉̙̏͛⋏̸̣͒⏃̷͇̽́ͅ ̶̭̖͌⋔̴͍̚⌖̷̝͉̽⋏̸͈̂⏚ ̷̪̥̀͝⍙̵̛̪͉͊⌖̶̰̇ ̷̦̆⎎̸̙̈͝⟊̷̻̹͗⍙̵͉͑☊ ̷͍͙̎☊ ̷̨̝̓̓⌖̸̱̈͛ ̶͙͎̓⏁̵̫̐̍⍙̶͙͂⌖̷̺̓⎎̸̩̻̐,̴̳͑̽ ̶͈̔͝⍾̶̙͉́⋏̸̩̬̀̅ ̴͙͍͋͠⍀̴͎̿͆⍙̸̼̞̑̊⍜̵̘̮̈́̏⌖̵̦̎͆⏃̶͎̈́͝⎐̶̘͓̂⟊̷̠̜͛⍀̵̢̦̈̿⌖̴͉̅̅͜⍙̴̡̂ ̵͓̑⍀̸̭͆͘ ̶͓͚͂͆⎐̷͓̮̐̄⟊̶̝͐⋔̴̩͠⋏̸̣̇̋ ̵̘͋⍀̸̱͈̋⎐̶̠̫̂́⊬̸̪͓̈́͒⌖̶̦̩͗̚ ̶̤̥͠⍜̷̮͖̉⌖̸̮͗͝⏃̵͍̪̈́ ̴̙͗͋⍾̶̝̗̍⋏̴̱̿̂⎐̵͕̣̇ ̸͕̜͝͝⌖̶̼͚͆͝ ̷̤͂⎅̷̢̰̀⍙̵̹͜͝⋔̶͖͔̈́̕⋏̴̦̓⏃̵͙͌͐☊⟊̴̘͑⍙̵̣́⋔̸͔̞͝.̶̺͔̀ ̸͎̆⌖̴̰͔̀͝⍙̶̯͍̚⌰̵̱̥̂⋏̷͉̻̓̚ ̶̲̋̏ͅ⌖̸͚̰͋⍙̶̯̗̈́͘⋏̸͖̪̑ ̶̠̬̽̀⍀̸̧̪̿⏚ ̸͎̪͐⟊̷̨͔͌⎍̵̼̗̊⎍̶̜͚̆⌖̶̬́⎎̸͖̉͆⋏̸͚͕͋⋔̵̨͎̿̀ ̷͉̅̇☊⌖̶͍̺̕ ̶͇͊̂⏁̶̙̮̓͝⍙̷͚͔̓⌖̷̳̟̅͗⎎̵͕̐ ̵̥̻̓☊⍾̵̟̋̉⟊̶͚͋☊ ̷̝̦̽̂⍀̵̘̣́͝⍙̶̫̉̈́⍜̴͖͗̀⌖̶̭̝̃⏃̷̛̫͝⎐̶̼̱̎̂⟊̶̪͛☊⍀̴̤̿̅͜⌖̶̡̏͝⍙̷̗̔,̶̣̃̐ ̵̢̤͠⍀̷͓̀☊ ̸̖́̚☍⋏̷͚̔̂⌰̵̠̋͛⌖̸̡͍͛⎐̶̲̑̏⋏̴̥̃͝⏚ ̶̓̚⊬⌖⏚⏚⍀☍ ̶̻̳͝☊⌖̵̪̞̚ ̸̥̣͛̈́⎅̸̨̱͛͝⍙̴̱͕̀⋔̸̠̉͋͜⋏̴̰̚⏃̴̨͂̈́⏚☊⟊̸̡̋̿⍙̸̫͇͛̀⋔̶̨̀ ̴͍̜͗͐⌖̷̛͖̈́⍙̸̪̒⌰̷̙̿̿⋏̷̳̖̐ ̸̢̈́̌⟊̶͖̲̈́⌿̸̦̻́̕⟊̶̢̾̈́⍀̷͕̗̊͐⍙̴̳͊.̵̗̤̅




Gilda kept her eyes glued to the paper like a kid to a static TV screen as she reached forward to tap the words. When that didn't do a thing to stop the pencil lines dancing across the paper Gilda took a step back and nodded. "Okay, that's freaky."

"Right?" Dash grinned.

"That was rule eight." Twilight turned back to the rules and passed it to Gilda. "And I think rule seven has a clue about what happened with Sky-Space."

"...Rule seven," Gilda began reading. "When the participants and leader agree to start the game in unorthodox conditions, such as being in multiple locations or a willing participant incapable of playing, the game creates a solution to try accommodating the situation. Example sleeping, question mark and...More of that garbled writing," she passed it back to Twilight and pointed it out.

"Magic Table," Twilight read allowed, earning an eye roll from Gilda who still heard garbling. "I guess that means we can't share information as easily as we hoped."

Gilda shrugged. "Fine. I guess I don't need to know everything about this junk. Besides, weren't we talking about the magic spreading around? We can care about Sky-Space later."

Ah'm with ya there," I tossed my two cents in. "Fer somethin' like this, we can only take it one problem at a time. And Ah say we only got one choice fer now."

"Then I believe we're in agreement then? No objections?" Rarity looked towards each of us to see who would speak up. None did. "Perfect. Then we can prepare the space tomorrow. Assuming Granny Smith will be alright with us borrowing the space."

"Eeyup," Mac answered. He's right. Once we tell Granny we're clearing out the back room, she'll be happier than a bee on honey glazed ham. She might even have us take a pass on our chores around the farm so we can focus on it. Poor Applebloom...

"In that case, we should head back home for the night so we can get some rest," Fluttershy offered. "While there's still some light out."

"AJ, can I just crash here for the night?" RD asked.

"Ah'll check with Granny but it shouldn't be an issue. Guest room's empty."

"I'll go ahead and take your spot in Rarity's car," Sunset said instantly.

"What, you don't want another ride?" Gilda chuckled.

"Not the way you drive," Sunset fired back with equal humor.

"Fair." Gilda came in on a street bike. I didn't know much about motorcycles but I knew the wrong pothole or tree root would do enough damage. The bike would be a goner too.

"How about we agree to meet back here, say, 10:00 AM at the latest?" Twilight asked. When the others agreed, she went to load Spike back in her bag. "And Fluttershy and I can stay in town to talk to Story."

There wasn't too much else to say after that. We tossed a couple more pleasantries and I and Gilda were properly introduced but after that there wasn't too much else to talk about that couldn't be saved for tomorrow.

Rarity's car and Gilda's bike pulled out of the farm and back towards the paved roads while I and Big Mac led Rainbow inside to ask Granny. Before we could even get the words out, Granny was calling for Applebloom to get one more set of silverware for Rainbow to join us for supper. Thankfully, all of us had plenty to talk about at the table that wasn't magic related.

But by the time we were heading upstairs to talk about our own business, both our phones started buzzing at the same time about a message. It was from Story directed to all of us and given how late in the day it was starting to get, it had caught our attention.



8 People: You, Story, Flutters, Dash, Pinks, Sunset...:

Hey girls. Sorry for late message but I need to tell you all something.

Is everything alright?

What's wrong?

U ok?

Yeah, I'm good. Flutters, Sunset, Dash, you know how I got important phone call before?

Yeah

Ye

Yes.

It's about that.

My mom asked if I could come home because a neighbor got in a car accident.

Wat?!

They ok?!

You daid athome? How condition?!

Condition good.

Are they alright?! When did it happen?

You said at home*

It happened yesterday. They came home today.

Yur mom surgen, yea? Wat surgry?

They needed surgery?!

Can they have visitors? I can keep company!

Me too

^^^^^

Calm down!

No surgery. Wasn't that bad.

She saw my Mom at the hospital is all and my mom helped her home.

Thank heavens!

Yay, no surgery!

It might have been best to have led with that, darling.

I didn't bring up the surgeon part!

My bad. Sry.

To be fair you and RD both have blue text.

Don't blame me. Rainbow has a RAINBOW of colors to choose from!

Wait.

Story. Why did you need to let us know? You said 'it will come up' back at the school.

Right. Well, that's because it's our teacher. Ms. Cheerilee.

WAT?!!!!!!

What?!

NO! IS SHE OKAY?!

How did it happen?! Is she okay?!




Rainbow and I didn't send anything back while the rest of the girls kept typing a mile a minute, taking whatever Story was trying to type and hiding it amongst their messages in the history. As for Rainbow and me, we just stared at one another in silent horror.




I get get well soon cards!

Did anything get broken? How is she doing?

Dose she need help wit anything? I know che doesnt have teachers aid.

I can have every student sign cards before Monday! Is she coming in on Monday?! Can she stay home?

Story has added 'Clockwork Teacher' to group'

GIRLS! Everyone slow down!

Oh

Clckwrk Teachr?

Crap! Yu werent sppsed to se that! So sorry!

...Keep it. It nice

Ms. Cheerilee? Is that you?

How are you doing?

Story tell bout crash! U gud?!

Rainbow! What was that?

Wut?

I see grammar like that I take points.

Huh?!




Rainbow only looked up from her phone to glare at me for laughing.




We didn't see you at school today. No one knows you were in an accident.

Good Sunset. Thank for takng time to txt well.

Ms. Cheerilee, are you okay?

I fine. Hard to type fast with ome hand.

Do you mean one hand?




After a few seconds, a notification popped up saying that Story was sending a picture to the chat. All the girls went completely silent in the texting as we waited for the loading bar to fill up. When it finally did after what felt like longer than it was, we saw a picture of Ms. Cheerilee lying on her couch. She was in old slacks that were a little short for her and a simple T-shirt; much different from the outfit she normally wore to school. Although, with all the injuries, no one faulted her for her clothes.

Across her body was numerous small bandages as well as one towards the center of her forehead that pushed her hair into this permanent cow lick. She had several pillows to help keep her head and leg elevated as she was holding the phone above her with her right hand. That last part was important because Ms. Cheerilee was left-handed. And she couldn't use her left hand due to the heavy cast it was in.

In fact, most of her injuries looked to be on her left side. She had this ankle compress on her left leg too. She was trying  not to let it bother her too much as her frustration was instead set to the phone she was trying to type into as she held it above her.

Suddenly, a lot of stuff made sense. Why Ms. Cheerilee wasn't there for the club yesterday as well as classes today? Plus, none of the students were in the know about this. They probably wanted to let Ms. Cheerilee rest for a day before sending a swarm of phone calls and emails to act as more noise.

And we were just as concerned as any of those students would be. I mean, we are her students after all. And when we saw our teacher in pain like this, our only answer is to drop whatever we had going on to to make sure she was okay.