Rainbow Dash had barely pushed the button for the doorbell when the door already flew open, and Pinkie Pie let her in. Rainbow seemed a tad confused, since this wasn’t Pinkie Pie’s place, but she pushed that away. She had more serious things to worry about right now.
She followed Pinkie into a living room. The glasses and plates on the table gave her a good idea that more people had to be around, even if right now, only Rarity was present. She looked more stressed out than Rainbow had ever seen her, and she just had a glare for Rainbow instead of a greeting
“Took you long enough.”
“I came as soon as I could. I had soccer training and I couldn’t just let the team hanging. And it’s not like I had much of a warning.”
Rarity immediately relented and her glare faded away with a deep sigh
“Yes, of course Darling. I’m sorry if that came out a bit snippy. I wasn’t really prepared for something like this either. Frankly, the whole situation is rather frustrating since there is so little I can do to help.”
Rainbow just waved off any hard feelings and slumped on the couch, next to Rarity while Pinkie Pie had vanished through another door.
“So, how bad is it?”
“Well, we are all still struggling to understand the situation as a whole, but I must say, what I heard so far is terrible.”
Rainbow nodded and glanced to the doors that led deeper into the house. It was far too quiet for the number of people who were here right now, and Rainbow didn’t have to be a genius to figure out that it was a bad sign.
“I only have a couple texts so far, but it must really be bad if Blue asked for help.”
“Oh Darling, you don’t even know half of it. Blue was devastated, desperate, and, and…”
“Angry.”
“Yes. According to Applejack, it took Fluttershy almost half an hour just to calm her down enough so she could get into the car. Luckily, Miss Luna was able to handle her so far, I believe they are still in her room, together with Sunset.”
Rainbow nodded and frowned
“And what do we do now? What’s the plan?”
“I’m afraid there isn’t much of a plan. As it stands now, there is frustratingly little we could do.”
Rainbow shook her head angrily
“No way. There must be something we can do. We saved the world like four times, we are that awesome. No way we can’t find a solution to this.”
“I understand that you are upset, Rainbow Dash, but right now we can’t just charge in head first, least we risk making the situation worse than it already is.”
Rainbow just shook her head again
“So we need a game plan. First things first, we need to get Blue’s rent so they won’t get kicked out. How about we do a concert like we did for Gloriosa and Camp Everfree?”
“Applejack had the same idea, Darling. Even if we could organise a concert, or a bake sale, or anything on short notice, it would just delay the real problem.”
“And what’s the real problem then, Rares?”
Before Rarity could answer, Pinkie Pie chimed in. She had been surprisingly quiet the whole time, and even now that she spoke up, she was missing her usual drive
"Her sister. Even if we get the money for the rent and they get to stay another month, they will still take Blue away from her sister.”
Rarity nodded with the same sad expression as Pinkie, but Rainbow’s anger just flared up again
“They can’t just do that! That has to be illegal!”
“Well, Miss Celestia and Twilight are looking through all the documents right now, but they haven’t found anything so far, so…”
Rainbow sighed and slumped back
“So if Twilight hasn’t found anything, there probably isn’t anything. She’s too much of an egghead to miss anything. Still, it doesn’t feel right. They can’t just separate two sisters just because they feel like it.”
A door opened in the back of the house, and Rainbow heard sobbing before the door closed again. Applejack and Twilight entered the living room, neither of them looking better than Rarity or Pinkie Pie
“Any news?”
Applejack shook her head and slumped heavily into a chair
“Afraid not. Blue calmed down but now she’s just staring at the wall and doesn’t react to anything I said. Fluttershy said she’d stay with her for now. But I’m more worried about Spring Meadow, honestly. She doesn’t look good, at all.”
Rainbow Dash glared at the other girls
“Come on guys, think. There must be some way out of this.”
Twilight shook her head
“I don’t see how. All the documents are legally binding and there’s no loophole. Whoever did this was very thorough.”
“But Twi, your brother is a cop, right? Can’t he just, you know, loose the file on accident?”
Twilight glared at Rainbow Dash for that
“First, my brother doesn’t do things like that. Second, this comes from Children Protective Service, not the police department. And third… I already asked and he said no.”
There were only sounds of frustration from everyone, but Twilight wasn’t even finished yet
“It’s not like he could do much anymore. Spring Meadow lost guardianship over Blue, so she’s legally a ward of the state right now. So even if we somehow got Canterlot city department on our side…”
“Federal office would just take over. Probably already has. Which means, even if we got Blue and her sister out of the city somehow…”
“Any other city would have to arrest them, and they’d still get separated. And since Blue is a ward of the state, the state controls her passport at the moment, so they can’t just get on a plane and leave the country either. Not that we have money for plane tickets anyways.”
Rarity looked defeated, but Rainbow Dash just kept shaking her head
“That can’t be right. They just decided to separate them and send Blue to the other side of the country? Without a judge and a jury? No lawyer and nothing?”
Twilight shook her head
“This isn’t a legal prosecution, Rainbow. There hasn’t been a crime, so there are no witnesses, no lawsuit, no judge.”
“But this is crazy! So somebody who never even met Blue gets to decide over her life?”
“That’s the system. I don’t claim it’s always fair, but that’s the system we live in.”
“No wonder Blue hates the office so much. This sucks.”
A few rooms away, Celestia looked up when the door to her office opened and Luna slipped inside
“Did she finally calm down?”
Luna shook her head and slumped into the only chair of the room
“No, I wouldn’t call it that. It’s more like she finally collapsed from exhaustion. I expect her to be just as angry when she wakes up. Did you have more luck with Spring Meadow?”
Celestia also shook her head
“I’m afraid not. She has shut down completely and doesn’t respond to me anymore. I left her alone so she could get some rest, but… I doubt it will help much.”
Luna nodded and rubbed her temples as if to ease a bad headache
“This is quite the situation. Even if we had more time, I don’t know if we could do anything to solve this.”
Celestia went back to pacing up and down, something she only did when she was very stressed
“Luna, I think separating them will have a very bad impact, on either of them. Blue will probably lash out and get herself into more trouble. And Spring Meadow already blames herself for letting it come this far. I am afraid what she will do without her sister.”
Luna could only nod and sigh
“Everything Spring Meadow did for the last nine years, she did for Blue. She fought to become her legal guardian and she worked every and any job, just so they could barely survive, and Blue could keep going to school. Without Blue, she’s going to be a high school dropout with no goal and no perspective left.”
“Luna, we can’t let that happen. She had such big hopes in Canterlot… and now she’s going to lose everything if we don’t help.”
“But what can we do? Offer her a job at our school? Our budget is already stretched thin because of all the magical shenanigans that happened this year. And even if we could, even if we let them live here without any rent, it won’t change the fact that Blue is going to be sent away.”
Celestia stopped pacing and turned to look at Luna, strangely nervous all of a sudden
“I’ve been thinking about this and… if Ocean Shore is now a ward of the state, well… adoption would be a possibility.”
Luna just shook her head and frowned
“CPS already thinks I’m biased. They will disagree and draw this out for months before I’d even get a chance.”
“Well, maybe I could…”
Luna got up and glared at Celestia, who backed away as it came so suddenly
“Celestia, can you go in that room, look Blue in the eye and tell her that it wouldn’t be out of pity?”
Celestia’s eyes opened wide. Blue would glare at her as well, and she would be even more angry than Luna. If she couldn’t even face her sister, then…
“No. I couldn’t. And Ocean Shore is too proud to become a pity case.”
“I don’t like it any more than you, Tia. But it seems our hands are bound in this.”
Celestia carefully put her hand on Luna’s shoulder
“Luna, you can’t save everybody. You know that. You did all you could. You said Spring Meadow shouldn’t blame herself, but neither can you.”
“I know. But I really wish there was something, anything I could do. Things just started looking up for them, and now… they don’t deserve this.”
Celestia, unsure what to say, simply pulled her sister into a hug. She felt the same way, of course, but right now she had to be the voice of reason. Just like Luna had to be for Blue. Sometimes, that was all they could do.
A few hours later, and all seven girls just sat in the living room. They had thrown out ideas and plans, only to dismiss them moments later. Silence had taken over and each girl was just staring ahead, lost between angry, like Rainbow Dash and Sunset, or sad, like Fluttershy.
Blue was still asleep in Sunset’s room, and Spring Meadow hadn’t left Luna’s room yet. Celestia and Luna hadn’t left the office either, but Sunset knew they were just as worried as the seven friends.
Rainbow Dash finally broke the silence and kicked an empty soda bottle through the room
“Man, this sucks. We got enough magic to blast any monster to smithereens, but we can’t even help a single friend when she’s in trouble.”
Rarity nodded, with a depressing sigh
“It is true, for all the good things we achieved, our geodes won’t do us any good right now. The magic of friendship can’t compete with the cruelty of bureaucracy, or so it seems.”
The magic of friendship failed, huh? Princess Twilight will be devastated when she hears that.
Sunset thought while the others kept talking around her. Somehow, the last thought didn’t sit well with her.
What am I even thinking? Princess Twilight would never give up. Not when a friend is in trouble. She would find a way. After all, she’s Blue’s friend too and… wait, that’s it!
“That’s it! Rarity, you’re a genius!”
The girls just stared as Sunset suddenly jumped on her feet and raced back to her room. Rarity and Rainbow Dash followed quickly
“What do you mean, Darling?”
“The magic of friendship! We’re not the only ones who have it, and Blue has more friends than just us! If we can’t help her, maybe another friend can!”
As the door flew open, Blue woke up suddenly and started moaning and swearing, but Sunset ignored her. She had an important message to get through.
Blue was sitting on the bed in the guest room. The girls were still around, but she couldn’t see them right now. She didn’t feel like she was about to explode anymore, but she’d still lash out at them. They didn’t deserve that, so she stayed away.
Spring Meadow was sitting on the window sill and talked to someone on her phone. Blue didn’t really pay attention, but she kept watching her sister. Spring Meadow didn’t look good at all. Blue had seen the expression on her sister’s face before. Sunset Shimmer had looked at her like this once.
Blue shook her head and glared.
No. Spring is stronger than that. We just need to figure something out.
Just what? Miss Celestia, Miss Luna and not even Twilight Sparkle found any loophole. The police wouldn’t help, the office wouldn’t help. They couldn’t just leave the city either. No matter how they looked at it, they were stuck.
Spring Meadow hung up the phone and swore under her breath. Blue turned her head towards her, and Spring looked as pissed as she felt
“They want us out of the apartment by the end of the week. Even if we somehow found the money. Bunch of assholes.”
Like always when it was just the two of them, Spring was talking in German. Blue didn’t think that the girls would try to listen in, neither did Spring. It was just out of a habit.
And sometimes, at least for Blue, some things were just easier to say in German
“Sorry I always mess up everything for you.”
Spring got up immediately and joined Blue on the bed
“Blue, it’s not your fault. These people…”
“They did all this because of me! They stirred up all sorts of trouble to get back at me. If it wasn’t for me… if it wasn’t for me, you’d still have your job. You’d be a nurse like you’ve always wanted, you wouldn’t have to be stingy with money. You wouldn’t have to go through all this shit. Maybe I should just go with them. So you can have a better life without me.”
Blue flinched when her sister clung on her, and started crying again
“You can’t just leave me alone, Blue. What am I going to do without you?”
Blue shuddered and Spring’s grip got only tighter. She had always thought Spring was so strong, too strong to break. If even Spring Meadow couldn’t take this anymore…
I can’t do it. I can’t leave her. But what can I do? I don’t know. I’d do anything, anything if only Spring Meadow would be happy again…
Somebody knocked on the door, but didn't wait before they barged right in. Sunset was holding her giant old book and she looked strange, like a mix of excited and nervous.
Blue glared at her, mostly so Spring Meadow would get a chance to compose herself, but Sunset didn't care the least
“I think I found a way out for you. It's a risk, and it's pretty drastic, but I think we don't have much of a choice anymore.”
Before Blue or Spring could ask, Sunset opened her book and showed them the last entries. Most of the page was filled with that wavy symbol language, but the last few paragraphs were written in normal English. Blue leaned in and read them. Then she blinked and read again. And again, just to be sure.
“No way. No way! Are you serious?”
Spring Meadow now looked at the tome as well, curious from her sister’s reaction. She frowned when she couldn’t read the wavy part, but she got even more confused when she reached the part that she could read
“Blue… what does this mean?”
Blue just stared at the pages in pure disbelief
“I… that can’t be right. Sunset, what the fuck is this?”
Twilight, are you around? Sorry to bother you this late, but you’re our last hope.
I’m here. What’s going on? How can I help?
Remember what we talked about earlier? It seems that there’s no way out of it for Blue and her sister. If they stay here, they’ll be separated, and I’m scared of what might happened to them next. So I was wondering if maybe they could…
Yes! I understand what you’re getting at, and I remember the promise I made. Please tell Ocean Shore and her sister that they’re welcome to come to Equestria in their time of need. They can stay in my castle for as long as they need.
Thanks Princess! You’re the best!
“Sunset… are you fucking nuts? We can’t just leave this world just like that, right?”
“Well, why not? If you stay here, who knows what will happen? Over there, you’ll have Princess Twilight to help you. You’ll be safe and have ponies on your side.”
Blue looked like she didn’t know if she should punch Sunset or start crying, but Spring Meadow was just confused
“Will anybody tell me what the fuck is going on here?”
Sunset and Celestia, who had joined them after Blue had started screaming, took turns explaining, while Blue just stared at the book.
No way. No fucking way. This can’t work. No fucking chance.
And then she remembered how Spring Meadow had looked just a few minutes ago. How deep in their shit they both were stuck already. Could they really take more? Could she just pass up on a magical solution?
I’d do anything for Spring. I refuse to give up. There's a chance, so I'm not gonna question it. We'll take that chance, even if it seems weird at first glance.
Spring stared at her and Blue stared back. Then she nodded. It was a chance, maybe their last one. They had to make this work. They had to.