//------------------------------// // WEDNESDAY, MAY 10, 3:40 PM // Story: Analemma, or A Year in the Sunlight // by Dubs Rewatcher //------------------------------// When I step into the CHS band room for the Rainbooms’ regular jam session, I’m greeted by the usual suspects — Applejack tuning her bass, Rarity texting, Pinkie riding a ceiling fan — but also a new player, chatting with Fluttershy. “Twilight!” I say way too loudly, startling both sides of the conversation. Offering an apologetic grimace, I hurry towards them and drop my bag. “What are you doing here? I thought you had SAT prep on Wednesdays.” Twilight scoots over to let me sit down. “I took my SAT on Saturday, remember? So no more prep classes — at least, assuming I score high enough that I won’t need to retake it in the Fall.” “I’m sure you did wonderfully,” Fluttershy says. I pat Twilight on the back. Gently. “We all know you crushed it!” “I don’t want to jinx myself,” Twilight says, looking down at her lap. But soon a sly smirk — the kind you’d see on a suave spy, or an evil mastermind — slips over her face. “Though I probably did pretty well.” “Hell yeah.” I head over to the band room’s back closet, where I keep my junky old Strat. “So, you here to practice with us? Do you play anything?” “I’m sure you have a lovely singing voice,” Fluttershy says, picking up her tambourine. “Princess Twilight was our lead singer for two whole days, you know.” “Why only two days?” Fluttershy twiddles her fingers. “She had to help us defeat a group of evil soul-eating sirens that tried to take over the world with pop music. It didn’t take very long.” Twilight starts to laugh, but then freezes and shoots me a slack-jawed glance. I just hold my head high and tune my guitar. “Well,” Twilight says, dragging her eyes away from me, “I used to take glockenspiel lessons at Crystal Prep, but I was never very good. And I haven’t really sung in public since Sunday School choir as a kid, so...” “Don’t you worry,” Applejack says as she walks up to us. “Heck, I missed having an audience when we jam.” “Agreed,” Rarity says. “Before the sirens came and mucked things up, Sunset used to applaud us after every song! It’s been dreadfully dreary since then.” She smiles at me. “Of course, we love having you in the band so much more, darling.” So why didn’t you let me join back then? “You’d better,” I say. “Are we ready to get started?” Applejack frowns. “We will be, once Dash—” “Yo, guys!” Rainbow Dash shouts, crashing through the double doors like a tweaking bull. “Guess what I found!” “A lucky penny?” Pinkie asks, still hanging from the ceiling fan. She gasps hard enough to suck up half the air in the room. “Two lucky pennies?” “Nah, cooler than that.” Rainbow throws down her bag, rummages inside of it, then pulls out a stack of square photos. “Remember when I brought that old camera to our Halloween party? I thought I lost it, but my mom found it at the back of my sock drawer and printed out the pics!” Everyone gapes and gaggles, forming a tight circle around Rainbow Dash. Everyone except for Twilight and I. Twilight because she didn’t even know we existed back then, and me because it’s a night I’m still trying to forget. Pinkie holds a big Halloween party every year. No big deal. Except last year’s took place six days after the Fall Formal. And she invited a new guest: Me. It was supposed to be my public debut as one of the ‘good guys.’ But in the days leading up to it, a few people straight up told Pinkie they wouldn’t go if I did. And at the party, seven people (I counted) arrived, saw me, and left within ten minutes. I spent the night nursing a plate of cotton candy in the corner, watching as the party circled around me. No one except Pinkie dared to get close, like I’d put up an electric fence. Even Fluttershy, Queen of Kind, talked to me from six feet away. The most exciting part of the night was when I slipped into Pinkie’s bedroom and spent five minutes screaming into her pillows. At least I had a pretty cool costume. “Ooh,” Pinkie says, picking out a photo, “I forgot about Sunset’s sweet vampire costume!” My eyes cross. “I wasn’t a vampire,” I say, tuning my already tuned guitar. “Huh?” Dash squints at the photo, then takes it from Pinkie and holds it up for me like I don’t remember my own costume that I spent three days making. “But you’ve got the sharp teeth and the wings and all that.” “Just having sharp teeth and wings doesn’t make you a vampire,” Fluttershy says. The hole in my stomach starts to shrink, until she adds, “I even told her during the party that it was a great fruit bat costume.” “I wasn’t a fruit bat either,” I say. Keep tuning. “We’re sorry,” Rarity says, frowning. “What were you again?” We’ve had this conversation five times. I’ve explained it five times. “I dressed up as a character from a show I like,” I say, smiling. “Don’t worry, I don’t think anyone recognized it.” Everyone nods in understanding, then goes back to giggling at the memories. I keep my eyes focused on the neck of my guitar, sliding a finger over the ridged strings. I’m upset, and I know I shouldn’t be. It’s stupid. It’s so stupid, it’s just a Halloween costume, literally nothing. Why am I so sensitive? It’s such a minor issue. So why can’t they remember? I’ve explained it to them five times. But I tried to kill them last year, and they’re still so nice to me. Be grateful. Stop making a big deal out of it.  Do they even care? Shut up. “Sky Blaster?” Twilight’s voice hits me like a defibrillator. She’s staring at me, she’s smiling, but I’m just blinking while my brain pulls itself out of the muck. All I can manage in the meantime is, “What?” “Your costume,” Twilight says. How long has she been sitting next to me? “You were Sky Blaster, right? Queen From a Torn World?” That kicks my mind back into full gear. “Wait, wait,” I blabber, waving my hands in front of me. “How did you know that? You watch Torn World?” “Yep! I used to read the manga too — fell off once they started the Cruel Planet arc, though.” She motions back towards Rainbow Dash and her photos. “I’m shocked they didn’t recognize it, honestly. You did a great job. Even without the blue skin, I’d know that armor and those wings anywhere!” “That’s what I said! They’re, like, iconic!” I say. My chest tickles with barely contained laughter. “You are legit the first person I’ve met at CHS who knows about Torn World. I've been obsessed with it since it premiered last year!” “Last year?” Twilight asks, smile fading. She lids her eyes. “Sunset. Are you watching it subbed or dubbed?” Oh, Celestia. “Dubbed,” I say. I hold up a warning finger. “Now before you start—!” “I knew it!” Twilight jumps to her feet and clasps a fist over her chest. “It’s unthinkable! Sunset, my best friend, watches dubbed anime?” I throw my hands into the air. “I don’t get what the problem is! Who in their right mind wants to read while watching?” “Who wouldn’t want to?” “You’re just salty because Deep Slate sounds way cooler in the dub than he does in the original.” “Nuh-uh. Deep Slate’s seiyū brings so much more passion to the role!” “He sounds like my grandma!” “Uh, Sunset?” Applejack calls. Both of us twirl to find the rest of the group already set up and ready to play. Applejack has a hand on her hip. “You ready to get started or what?” “Yep, be right there!” I pick up my guitar and scamper over — but not before leaning into Twilight and whispering, “We’ll continue this debate later.” I can only imagine the look on Twilight’s face as she cries out, voice cracking, “It’s not a debate if the other side is ontologically evil!”