//------------------------------//
// 5. Attachments 
// Story: The Mother City 
// by Quicksear 
//------------------------------//

You know, waking up on holiday is something we all usually look forward to. The peacefulness, the lazy relaxation that we all get from waking up whenever we want, just to see the sun sluggishly rising through the sky as our worries fall away.

We certainly don’t want to be batted awake by an anxious looking Pegasus.

I felt a couple of whacks through my pillow fortress and jolted awake. I shot a look at Fluttershy, who stood on the edge of the bed, still holding the pillow, her weapon of choice, in her mouth. Noticing that I had woken, she spat it out and babbled, “<-Marc, you have to come with me and help my friends. I don’t know what is going on, but you need to apologize!->”

“Nnungh!” came a grunt from the foot of the bed. Andrew threw an arm up as if trying to claw his way out of a lava pit, and hauled his bleary visage over the edge of the bed to look at us in confusion. This being a sentiment I well understood, I glanced curiously at the Pegasus who was now looking rather bashful, and I heard her mumbled apology. 

She seemed at a loss as to what to do now that she had my attention, so I took the initiative. “<-What’s going on, Fluttershy, why would I need to apologize? Did the fruit last night not go down well?->”

“<-Oh! No...Well, you do need to show us how the...bathroom works, and we need breakfast, but...No, no, Rainbow Dash! I think you upset her last night; she’s really depressed this morning.->”

Great, now I had to babysit a self-centred Pegasus with a wounded ego? Not gonna happen.

Fluttershy’s other concerns seemed far more pressing, so I rolled over to Andrew and explained what Fluttershy had been talking about. He nodded slowly as he woke up fully before commenting, “Well, I guess that sets up our morning. I’ll get to the food, I know where everything is. Besides, I really don’t want to have to explain how to use the bathroom.”

Fluttershy, uh, fluttered out of the room, her wings buzzing in agitation, as Andrew made to follow her. A small grunt from me, though, quickly got his attention. When he turned and saw me holding a certain navy blue kit bag, he wasted no time in gently closing the door. "Okay, are we gonna read that note now?"

I nodded, and unzipped the bag and shuffled around the weird lengths of fabric until the small note emerged from its burrow. I unfolded the small note, saying, "So lets see what Sarah has to say shall we...?"

"Well?" Andrew prompted. 

"It's an address," I said, though it sounded like a question, "Its the address to someplace in Hout Bay. That's, like, on the other side of Table Mountain, isn't it?"

Under the address were a few simple words, which I read out loud: "'If you need any help, I owe it to you. Sarah'...Huh? I guess she sorted herself out and got a place. Well that's nice. Looks like she couldn't forget the 'charm' of ponies that quickly after all."

Andrew opened his mouth to speak, but the sound of shattering ceramic cut him off. With a wan smile, he said, "We should probably get out there. After all, Sarah isn't on our list of necessities right now."

I barely even grunted in response. Right, down to business. I threw the bag under the bed and found some fresh clothes before wandering out into the living room. Rainbow Dash was lying spread out on the couch against the far wall, staring blankly out over the canal, with its wheeling seagulls and diving cormorants, sighing every now and again. Sitting next to her was a distressed Fluttershy, muttering consolations while wringing her forehooves. Rarity too, looked a little down, but found a way to entertain herself by levitating a small apple before her. It seemed she was having a little difficulty, but maybe her magic just wasn't as good as it was in the show, since her talent was finding gemstones after all. Right? My attention was drawn then to Applejack, who stood in the kitchen, in front of the fridge, just about managing to pull the door open.

The pit fell out of my stomach as I dashed over and slammed the door shut. “<-Whoa, Applejack! There’s no need for you to be in there, Andrew is going to sort out breakfast for you guys shortly, just wait for him, okay?->” I gulped nervously as I thought about the many pounds of bacon and fillet steak my uncle had stocked for Andrew and myself. If there was anypony I wanted to keep from seeing that, it was Applejack. With all her farm animals, I imagined a violent reaction to my having their inter-dimensional relatives carved up in my fridge.

Applejack grumbled and stomped a hoof. “<-All’s Ah was lookin’ fer was a good hot cup a coffee!->”

“<-Well, Andrew will be more than willing to help you, I’m sure, but didn't Twilight say you guys shouldn't be having coffee? Or any stimulant...?->”

Applejack groused at me. “<-Well, Twi ain’t exactly been all too calm lately, has she? And it ain't like I’m askin’ fer salt or nothin’, just a coffee! Ah’m feelin’ so goddess-darned tired right about now, I jus’ need a boost...->”

I nodded understandingly. “<-Of course, it’s been stressful for all of us lately. But first, Fluttershy said you guys needed an explanation of the, uh, facilities in your suite.->”

Let’s just say the less said of that, the better. I explained to Applejack and Fluttershy (The others wouldn’t have been able to fit in the room anyway) how to operate a human toilet and shower, both of which were apparently vastly different to the designs the ponies were familiar with. I immediately saw the problem with the shower soaps. Ponies can’t squeeze bottles, and it was pretty clear that holding a bar of soap was out of the question, too. I ignored the physical impossibilities and, with the tour concluded, I walked out past the open spare bedroom door. I took a double-take when I saw Twilight’s face.

She was sitting on the bed, staring at my laptop’s screen with a pained expression, quickly turning to anger, to surprise, to shock and back again. I had a really bad feeling about what she was experiencing online. Instead of interrupting her, I dashed over to the lounge, tripping over Rainbow Dash’s tail as I went. After a mumbled apology which received no response, I turned the TV on and switched to the linked screen.  What I saw there shocked me, but not in the way you might expect.

Code.

Lines and lines of endless code running hundreds of rows a second shot up the screen, scrolling into ever larger sets and patterns that I could never follow, even if I knew what to be looking for. The screen was split into four, each running through its own sequence that seemed to stretch on into infinity until it all blanked into ones and zeros. Twilight was reading binary.

Now that was just messed up. What was she, some Matrix operator?! I turned and walked around the two ponies in the lounge and burst into the spare room. Twilight looked up at me in surprise, getting her eyes into focus, then scowled when she recognized me. “<-You humans are truly disgusting, you know that?->”

“<-Yeah, yeah, humanity sucks, whatever,->” I interjected, “<- I saw what you were doing on the living room TV; What were you doing...-> MY LAPTOP!”

I stared down at my pride and joy. The screen flickered slightly, even though I could clearly see the battery lying a foot away. The buttons were mashed, some of them stuck deep inside the frame, emitting small pulses of light. It wasn't a backlit keyboard.

I could almost hear my patience snapping. “<-Twilight! Are you really this much of a mega-bitch? You broke my bloody laptop, and for what? You READ binary, you didn't even need it!->” I’m not a particularly imposing figure, sure, but after all the trouble Twilight had given me, I’m sure I was quite validated in getting in her face. 

Twilight looked taken aback for a moment, then her eyes hardened. I felt her mind reaching for mine, but in my wroth I pushed it away, drawing a sharp breath from the alicorn. She stared at me intently as I stood over her, her head canting over into that curious expression she wore so well. Instead of answering me, her horn began to glow with a violet haze. I saw gauzy violet swirls congealing in the air around my computer into hard lines that dove into the device, levitating it and its components. I watched as the keys popped back into the correct alignment, the battery slide into place, and the screen began running with code before flickering to the start-up screen. Then it gently floated over to me, so that I could reach out and take it from the magical aura. Twilight nodded to me before speaking. “<-I am sorry about that, I realise it must have been distressing, but I have left it as you gave it to me. I needed its focused connection to set my leylines into the currents of information of your ‘internet’. The damage was unintentional and reversible, as you can see.->”

I logged in and looked at my pristine desktop. My eyes drew back up to Twilight, who sat waiting for me to speak. I obliged her; “<-Okay, sorry for the name-calling, and... thanks. Did you find enough information to answer my question from yesterday? How much do we know about you guys, if anything?->”

Twilight gave me a deadpan stare then, being reminded of what she had been searching through. “<-Hm...Yes, you humans seem to learnt a surprising amount of information, but to be honest, most of this drivel is useless misconception. You actually believe that we are the figment of some company’s imagination. It’s almost laughable. And this...’fanfiction’ you alerted me to: I cannot believe you would think we could be so depraved. Not to mention,->” Twilight continued “<- You have an extraordinarily poor understanding of pony anatomy.->”

I nearly choked on my tongue at that, hoping she hasn't referring to what I thought she was. She didn't give me time to respond before continuing,"And you...wow, really? THAT's what you think of us? That was disturbing on so many levels that I had to stop reading after a while." 'A while' probably being less than a second, but I didn't dwell on that "<-It wasn't that bad...->" I  mumbled, but she forged ahead,  “<-Of course, there are some credible details in the haystack. The TV show you mentioned has many of them, although its portrayals of me and my friends’ adventures are somewhat naive: the characterizations are a bit extreme, and I certainly do not act out THAT much...->” I barely contained a snort, earning a glare from Twilight, “<-I was interested to see that although the series of our exploits was even chronologically accurate, the background features and characters were terribly off, but I think I may have a theory.->”

I had slipped into thought as she spoke, but looked up expectantly at her last words. She too, looked deep in contemplation. Noticing my curiosity, she stated in an almost condescending tone, “<-Your world and ours share separate realities, you see. Yours sits in one pocket of the existential plane, and ours in another. There are theoretically infinite numbers of these realities, but we will never know. At this moment in time, our reality is...bumping into yours, shall I say? In fact, I think they may always have been close, considering a few similarities. Coincidence cannot account for these things. I thought that maybe it was magical radiation from our uses of the elements of harmony that gave your species knowledge of us, but although that explains your knowledge of the Element-bearers, it’s clear that the connection goes deeper than that.->”

My eyes widened in realization. “<- Wow...That means that, what? Our separate universes have been sharing information or something? Wait...->” I thought back to basic physics at school “<-Certain particles, or sub-particles, or something like that, are linked, even over infinite distance, and react to their counterparts’ movements. These particles are also drawn together over time, so maybe...maybe our ‘realities’ are borne from the same materials of existence? That explains why our realities are near each other, why parts of your existence leaked into the consciousness of our world, and maybe even why the members of the Friendship is Magic show production team came together to create it. Right?->”

Twilight gave me another deadpan stare, droning, “You have absolutely no idea what you're talking about, but...Yeah. Let’s go with that.” Before jumping off the bed and brushing past me into the living area. As she bumped me, I felt another one of those weird epiphany things: This time I realized that I had actually come far closer to the mark than Twilight had expected, or considered comfortable.

Shaking off the sudden and unlooked-for realization, I almost followed Twi out, but something caught my eye: a spread of pink splayed over a blanket the other side of the bed that seemed to soak up the sunlight that Pinkie had been carefully placed in. I rounded the bed and bent down to her, worried. I patted the figure beneath the blanket, expecting to see Pinkie’s huge blue eyes under what I assumed was her mane. Instead, the silky hair disappeared under the blanket moments before I felt a distinctly pony-like tackle land around my shins. 

With a yelp, I keeled over onto the bed.  I realized that Pinkie I had in fact been looking at Pinkie’s tail, and that she was now firmly wrapped around my legs. “<-Thanks for that juicerific watermelon, Marcy! It made me feel so much better to have a full tummy after yesterday!->” Pinkie’s face turned to me and I saw her bright eyes, glowing smile and heard her cheerful tone.  I also noticed her straight magenta hair and the slight tremor in her voice that betrayed her.

I rolled up and pulled Pinkie up onto the edge of the bed with me, wrapping an arm around her as I said, “<-Hey Pinks. I’m glad you enjoyed your supper. I have another one just outside for your breakfast, if you want it?->”

Pinkie instantly shook her head. “<-No, no! ...I mean, Could you bring it here for me? I’d rather just stay in the sun. ->”
“No, Pinkie,” I said calmly, slowly, “<-You need to move. You can come and cheer Rainbow up, I think I hurt her feelings last night. Do me a favour, please?->” When no response was forthcoming, I sighed, and asked, “<-Are you scared of Twilight?->”

Pinkie’s eyes widened as she shook her head muttering protestations, but I held onto her, and as her argument petered out, I found myself feeling moisture collecting in the sleeve of my shirt from her wet cheek. She stared out of the window, and in a barely audible whisper, said, “<-I don’t know...Twilight is one of my bestest friends, but...She’s been so mean lately. I don’t know if I like Princess Twilight Sparkle as much as my friend Twily...->”

Her words confused me slightly, but I felt a certainty in the back of my mind. It came from the realizations of the last few days: Twilight’s overbearing attitude, her controlling nature, her coldness. I knew, somewhere in my head, that Twilight was not as she seemed. And I felt that Pinkie needed to know that too; “<-Pinkie, I know Twilight is being scary right now – I’m scared of her too – But I truly think...No, I know that she has you and your friends’ best interests at heart. She just has a lot to deal with right now. She’s trying to protect you by taking it all on herself. I’m trying to help, but I need you to back me up. Can you do that for me Pinkie?->”

She looked at me for a moment, surprised as much as I was by little speech. “<-How do you know that, though?->” I shrugged, unsure, but she continued regardless, “<-Oh! Is it like my Pinkie Sense? Do you have a special sense, too?->”

I grinned down at her once-again beaming features. “<-Yeah, I do. We humans call it ‘intuition’, and it always seems to work out somehow.->”

Pinkie giggled at me, then suddenly bent down and conducted a rapid inspection of my hand with her snout before bouncing up and trotting through to the living room, her straight mane and tail waving out behind her.

I looked around the messy room for a moment before walking out, thinking, Confound these ponies, they trashed my room. With a chuckle at my own silly joke, I felt a plan forming in my mind. Twilight wouldn't approve, but I didn't plan on giving her a choice.

With a half-baked scheme to focus on, I walked purposefully to the room phone, and called reception, “Ah, yes, hello...Yes, I’d like to call for a room valet for tomorrow morning...Yes, apartment number 207...Thank you, yes we’ll be out. Thank you, goodbye.”

Proud of myself, I turned and faced the room, its occupants all staring at me as if I were the bearer of the apocalypse. Rainbow Dash, Rarity and Fluttershy stared at me from the lounge, Pinkie shot me an uncertain look, but wasn't willing to let her new smile drop. Andrew stood gawking at me as he held a steaming pot over the overflowing cup in Applejack’s hooves, she being too busy stammering to notice.

And then there was Twilight. That particular annoyed growling face was rapidly becoming a set feature of any interaction with the alicorn. “<-Did you just call people up to this room for tomorrow morning?->” She hissed softly.

I grinned, ever so proud of myself,  “<-Why, yes, I did exactly that! A team will be up here to clean the apartment for us. They don’t expect us to be here when they arrive.->”

Twilight began twitching slightly. Her friends all backed away, aware as I was that something really bad was about to happen. But I was too high on my victory to stop. “<-Now, Twilight, no fireballs, that would be really hard to explain to the cleaners...->” 

I saw a malevolent light sliding into her eyes and shut up. Her whisper betrayed more than anger, and all of a sudden I realized she was scared. “I need to cast the shrinking spell again...on six ponies...->”

I stopped fooling around and looked at her levelly. “<-No, you don’t. You need to trust me to do the right thing. You need to get outside, as do your friends. You’re all stressed out. I knew you wouldn't agree with me unless I gave you no choice. Well, here’s your options: Trust me and come with us, or waste energy on a bunch of transformation spells and still come with us. I think your choice is pretty clear.->”

Twilight glared at me, her stance rising to haughty poise. “<- Then what? What are you going to do to us? I can’t trust you if you are going to go behind my back like this!->”

I stepped right up t her and just about poked her in the chest. “<- And I wouldn't have to if you were listening to your heart, Twilight. You know what I think; you've dug around in my head. Andrew and I are protecting you, no matter what. That requires some level of trust, right? Don’t worry. It’s out of your hooves.->”

She seemed to cave in on herself mentally as I said those words, like the weight of a mountain was lifted from her and piled on all at the same time, but she stood stock-still, uncertain on how to react. I looked past her and beckoned Pinkie with a waving hand. She stepped over slowly, but when she saw the stricken look spreading across Twilight’s face, she reacted instinctively.

Twilight found herself wrapped in a tight hug as Pinkie soothed, “<-Don’t worry Twilight, Marc will help us! You’ll see, you picked a nice alien and you don’t have to worry so much now! You don’t have to be a Princess so much, and we can be friends again!->"

Twilight began swaying side to side, a small sob breaking through her crumbling shell. I stepped back and leaned against the counter next to my friend Andrew, watching as one by one, all five of Twilight's estranged friends gathered to comfort the teary alicorn. Applejack stood opposite Pinkie, nuzzling Twi’s neck, as Rarity joined her. Finally, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash, wearing smiles of relief and happiness, spread their wings around the group hug, holding their friendship together.

I grinned at the heart-warmingly cute scene as I listened to the comforting cooing that slowly coaxed a smile onto Twilight’s lips. I felt a nudge form the other side of the counter, and turned misty eyes to Andrew, who shrugged questioningly at me, “Dude, what the hell just happened? Why is Twilight crying, and why in God’s name did you call for a room valet?”

“Mate,” I said, enjoying the first moment I’d had with these creatures that didn’t seem in the least bit threatening “All you need to do is rent us a bus for tomorrow morning. So long as it has tinted windows and you can drive it, I think we may just have a chance of pulling this off.”

“Pulling what off, exactly?”

I shushed him, “I’ll tell you later, mate...” Turning back to the group of ponies, I looked on as some bounce found its way into Pinkie’s mane once again.