Greene
"No way, she's gonna fall."
"Come on Liz, come down!"
"Wish I could take a picture."
"Someone go get the principle!"
"Oh not again."
She moved one hand up, grasping the ledge. Her right foot slipped, but she'd felt that coming for some time now. She swung her weight onto her left foot and hopped. While that didn't buy her any height, it did let her get both feet onto the wall again. With another heave, she pulled herself further up. She took a moment to lean against the ledge, looking down at the assembled students. She kicked her legs against the wall, smiling.
"How's the weather down there?" she asked.
"Very nice, how's it up there?" someone shouted up.
Elizabeth shrugged. "A bit chilly. Gonna get closer to the sun, maybe that'll help."
"That's not how it works!" another reminded her.
"Yeah yeah," she snarked, standing back up. She jumped, scrabbling for purchase on the wall. For a moment her feet caught on her skirt, and she gasped in fear. But experience persevered and, in seconds, she'd climbed to the top of the school, dangling her legs over the edge. She threw her arms to the side, looking down at the assembled student body.
"Yeah! What now?" She laughed, flopping down on the back of the school, relishing in the height she'd gotten.
The shadow of someone behind her blocked the sun. "Miss Greene," said the one voice she dreaded. Her guts froze, and her heart leaped into her throat. She turned her head around, and there, emerging from a stairway passage to the roof the janitors used to keep the school clean of leaves and such, was Principle Flora.
She whipped around, scrambling to her feet. "M-Mr. Flora," she said nervously. "Nice to see you! Um, nice view up here, right?" Mr. Flora was about as intimidating as his name wasn't. He stood head and shoulders above everyone else Elizabeth had ever met. His black hair was shaved in a military cut like she'd seen Daddy have, framing a face so tan as to be almost golden. Combined with his impossibly wide shoulders that his dark, all-business suit did nothing to slim, bulging bisceps, trisceps, and various other 'ceps, he looked like he'd be better at home holding the world up, not in an office with a Harvard degree behind him.
"Elizabeth," he said in a smooth-as-honey voice. "How many times have we spoken about climbing the school?"
"Ooh, someone's in trouble!" came a snicker from below.
"Hehe, twenty seven but who's counting, right?" She backed off, inching towards the roof's ledge.
If Mr. Flora noticed, he gave no indication. "You do realize that only school staff members are allowed up here, a quality you are distinctly... lacking in." He sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose with enough force to break her own. "Oh Elizabeth, what am I going to do with you?"
"Um, give me a stern word and let me go?" she asked nervously, calculating how she'd need to move and when. The crowd was backing off, likely already knowing what she planned to do.
Principle Flora sighed. "Oh Elizabeth. Honestly, you're such a bright young lady. I've seen your test scores. If you could refrain from doing things like this, you may end up working for NASA, or - "
"As much as I like talking to you, sir, I, um, forgot I left my cat under the oven!" She turned around and leaped, sailing two stories to the earth. Wait for it... now! She tucked her chin under her shoulder and rolled with the impact, coming up in a run for it. The other kids cleared out of her way and she booked it like the Nuclear Alarm had gone off. She wasn't going to go straight home, she wasn't crazy! She'd never be able to sprint that long. So she went for the woods behind the school, slipping in and vanishing before anyone could follow her. Some person - a commie probably - had started a rumor that the woods were haunted, and now even the grown-ups were afraid to go in.
More for her.
She wasn't a survivalist, not by a long shot. The amount of time she could survive in the wilderness was more or less equal to the time it would take her to thirst to death. But she didn't need to stay in the woods for too long, just long enough to circle back to her house. The buzzing of insects filled the air, and more than once she had to slap away a mosquito. Stupid bugs. Stupid summer-while-there's-still-school. Before long she'd circled around, and had reached the backyard of her house. The twelve-year-old jumped over the dividing fence, then knelt as a little ball of fur bounced up to her.
"Hey there Sniffles," she said, ruffling the white cat's fur, brushing her fingers over the black splotches. "How've you been?"
Sniffles mewed.
"I missed you too." Elizabeth stood back up, clicking her tongue at Sniffles. "Come on girl, let's get you some fish."
Sniffles mewed slightly louder.
Elizabeth could only laugh at that. The two of them swept into their home, where her mother was busy knitting a sweater. Elizabeth didn't really care for it. The sweater was something about Vietnam. Sniffles clawed at her leg, almost drawing blood before she caught into her dress and scampered up to rest on her shoulder, keeping silent vigil on the kitchen. Elizabeth went to the fridge, but passed by it to the shelves. She reached for the box and took out one of the fish-flavored crackers (They tasted nothing like fish, yuck) that Sniffles just couldn't get enough of.
She frowned, taking the cracker out. She could've sworn there'd been more. Oh well, not her problem. She held the treat up to Sniffles, who took it up from her and, in a single agile leap, went from her shoulder to the shelves. In another leap, she alighted on the floor, scampering off to God-knows-where.
"Elizabeth?" she heard her mother call.
"Over here!" she shouted. Had Mr. Flora called them already? He couldn't have. She was fast. But then again, no matter how fast she was, telephones were always faster.
"Come to the living room, there's someone to meet you!"
She gulped, her feet bringing her from the kitchen to the living room without her say. Oh no. This was it. Oh God above, what had she done? She should never have ran from Mr. Flora. She should never have climbed to the top of the school. She should never have -
"Daddy!" She ran forward, placing her arms around his neck. He hugged her back, lifting her effortlessly, chuckling.
"Oh look at you, you've grown so much!" He set her back down, ruffling the orange hair that spilled across her head. "Why's your hair undone like that?"
"Mom says I don't need to do my hair up if I don't want to. Oh, but I like skirts, Daddy!"
Daddy looked over at Mom. "Is that so?" he said slyly.
She rolled her eyes. "Yes yes, you've won on that. But her grades don't lie, you know. She's definitely got a future in math."
"Honey, you know that girls are naturally - "
"Maybe on average, but individuals can still - "
"Hers is a fluke. She gets points for being cute."
"Maybe when she was six, but she's in eighth grade!"
"Then it's sex appeal!"
Elizabeth started backing away. She hated it when her parents fought like this. She reached the kitchen.
"This is your daughter you're talking about!"
"It doesn't matter if I'm right! Her place is in the kitchen, like yours and every woman before!" She ran. This was what she hated about Daddy's visits. He and Mom had been fighting a lot lately. Calling each other less. She wanted to scream that it was so unfair! She didn't want her parents to fight, not like Jimmy's parents!
Her entire family was coming apart.
***-_***_-***-_***_-***-_***_-***
She gasped, relieving the sinking drowning choking, the forgotten dream's vague recollection of sadness and fear slipping away. Before she could pull her warmth back inside she flailed her arms about, tearing through the cocoon and stumbling to her knees. She paused for a moment there, pulling her warmth back inside, then recoiling off the damp soil onto two feet. A flick of tendrils bounced the dirt from her hands, and she set to looking around.
The moon was closing in on the horizon, and since the day-night and night-day switches happened so strange and fast and not-quite-right, it would very quickly become morning. The smell of rain still clung to the air, from the rainshower that had forced her to stay inside Fluttershy's home most of yesterday. That had been a rude rude rude awakening. The dirt was still damp damp damp, so she entered Fluttershy's home, spotting the sleeping equine fairly quickly by virtue of the sound of her breathing and heartbeat.
She sat down next to her resting form, gently running a hand through her coat and mane. She smiled weakly. Over the week since the... welcome... Fluttershy had been acting very oddly around her. As if Greene was the one made of brittle glass, not her. Why why why? She didn't understand. It hadn't been just her. The rest of the Harmony Elements, even the ones she wasn't quite as fond of, also behaved as such.
She looked up through a window, watching as the moon dipped closer to the horizon. All at once, the stars faded, and the moon plummeted. At the same time, it became horribly bright bright bright, forcing Greene to squint before her eyes adjusted.
These equines were diurnal. Fluttershy was an equine, and it was day. She was not awake. Elizabeth had to fix that.
She placed a palm against Fluttershy's belly, and gently clenched the base of her spine. It immediately tingled lightly, and sent a tiny tiny tiny shock of electricity into the pegasus. She jerked slightly, then sleepily opened her eyes. "O-Oh, hello Elizabeth," she said.
"Morning," she said.
"Good morning to you too," she murmured.
"No, is morning. Ponies awake in day. It's day."
"O-Oh, right. It's... Tuesday, right? I think I need to, um, pick up some birdseed from the market."
"Come with you? Or hunt for flesh for flesh eaters?" It was one of the few things she did that made her feel like she was helping. Fluttershy could gather and, ugh, buy food for the plant-eaters easily enough, but hunting flesh and bringing it from the forest was something she excelled in. Of course, it meant she rarely spent time in Ponyville and so rarely gathered essence, but there was no rush. She had all the time in the world...
... well, not all the time. She so wanted Fluttershy to be hers and take care of her forever so that nothing would ever bother her ever again because...
But there was no rush.
"Well, you can come with me, um, if you really want to, that is."
She smiled. "Yes. Want to come. Want to see."
"Alright then." Elizabeth moved off the bed, letting the equine get up. She went through her daily ritual, while the rabbit continued to stare at her. Before too long, they'd left and were approaching the earth pony nest. This early early early in the morning there were few equines awake, but the ones that were never ceased to stare stare stare at her, regardless of how many times she reminded them that there was no sense in doing so. Fluttershy finished up her, eugh, shopping in short order, with little event.
"Don't understand, just don't understand," she muttered to herself. There were quite a few clouds in the sky, sometimes blocking the sun, thankfully.
"Oh, um, what don't you understand?" Fluttershy asked, looking up at her.
"Currency." She shook her head. "Never never never."
"W-Well, if it bothers you too much, um, I'm sure Twilight would let you borrow a book. I-I'm sorry, I don't know how it happened myself..."
"No, not that curious," she hissed. She glanced over at Rarity's business/home. She still hadn't gotten that dress.
"Hey Shy! Hey Lizzy!" said the equine suddenly right in front of her where had she come from where where where?! She leaped back with a screech, landing low with one hand touching the road, hissing. A shadow shifted around her.
"Where - why - how - why?" she rasped angrily, slowly rising back up.
Pinkie Pie tilted her head, face oddly contemplative, and Fluttershy spoke up quietly. "Um, Pinkie, I-I don't think it's nice to scare ponies... I mean, Evolved like that."
"Oh it's no biggy!" she said with a wave of her hoof, bouncing up to - but not too close, thankfully - Elizabeth. "So Lizzy, I was just thinking. You can only eat meat, right?"
"Yes," she said, unaware of what that had to do with anything.
"And you didn't like any of Bon-Bon's candy that I got for you at the party, right? I asked Twilight for a book on that, and it said that meat eaters can't taste sweets, right?"
"... Yes." Was this going anywhere?
"Um, Pinkie? I don't think Elizabeth really wants to be bothered. I mean, you remember..." Fluttershy said, trotting over to Pinkie Pie's right.
The earth pony frowned for a moment. "Yeah," she said morosely. "Yeah, I do." She brightened up again. "But that's no reason to ignore all the happy things!" Her eyes flicked upwards for a moment. Elizabeth did so as well. There were a few drifting clouds. Several pegasi flying back and forth. She supposed even equines sometimes got surprised by the abilities of the other subgroups. "So Lizzy, you can't eat pastries like cakes and - " A deep gasp. " - cupcakes. And you don't taste sweets. So I was thinking... what would you say to me inventing a super funtastic meat-cake just for you? Huh? Huh? Well?"
Elizabeth tilted her head. She pondered this suggestion over in her head, long and hard and more meat why not? "Yes," she said greedily.
"Great! Signal!"
Elizabeth was confused at what that meant. A moment later, Fluttershy's eyes widened strangely - the blue surrounding her pupil actually shrunk - and then Greene felt something pressing down on her from above, pushing down. It didn't matter, she was able to take it because she was ever so strong and she had endured so much worse, yes she was so strong and so -
- WET!
Taken by surprise, she collapsed with a crying screech. First to her knees, then her hands, then as the water so much water continued to pour around her, to just laying on her stomach, all in one smooth motion as the downpour crashed around her. She gasped as the water water water dripped around her, pooling around her and soaking into the soil but there was so much on her! She couldn't feel her hands, her legs, anything!
Everything was limp, unwilling to respond to her mental commands, although most of those commands were centered on the feeling of pain, of her body and her suit coming apart at the smallest levels, unable to move through the body of water clinging to her.
"Elizabeth!" shouted/said a worried Fluttershy, rushing up next to her, nudging her head with her snout. She tried to swat her away, but her arm twitched and that was it. "Elizabeth, Elizabeth say something!"
"W-Water," she croaked, water slowly falling off her and the numbing fading but it was happening too slow slow slow! "B-Bad."
"Haha!" shouted a new voice. Rainbow Dash. Infront of her. "That went perfect!"
"Yep! Coulda used a better word than signal, though. I mean, what was I thinking?"
"Heh, yeah. Hey, Elizabeth, don't take it too personally." With great effort, Greene pulled herself onto her hands and knees, looking at Rainbow Dash, who'd landed to Pinkie Pie's left. They both seemed to be laughing. Laughing at her.
Suddenly it clicked.
Pinkie Pie had made her stop moving. Rainbow Dash dumped water all all all over her. They'd planned this.
She growled, numb fingers tightening against the street, but still too desensitized to carve grooves in it like they would normally.
"Heh. Hey, Elizabeth, you all right? Come on, lighten up, it was just a prank."
"Rainbow," Fluttershy said, still at Greene's side. "I think you really hurt her. Look at her!"
"Oh, sheesh. It was just a little water." Greene pulled herself further up. One knee came up, the corresponding hand resting on top of it.
"I don't know," Pinkie Pie said, looking suddenly less energetic. "She doesn't look ok."
"W-Wet," she sputtered. She shook her head, not as quickly as she would have liked, sending stray droplets flying. "T-Tricked me. Hurt me. L-Laughed at me!"
"Oh, Lizzy, I'm really really - "
Her vision narrowed. Fluttershy ceased to exist. The sky ceased to exist. The equines looking at her display ceased to exist. Nothing was real except the two Elements that had just hurt her and laughed at her pain. With a noise that was half growl, half roar, Elizabeth Greene summoned her strength and pounced.
She hit Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash both at the same time, clamping one hand around each of their necks and forcing them to their backs, looming over them. Her arms shook with the effort of keeping herself up, but she ignored it, channeling a steady current into the two equines below her to paralyze them.
"Hurt me," she growled. Her weight bore down on the two, but the way she'd clamped her fingers kept them from choking, and she didn't have the control to change that. "Laughed at me," she snarled, getting closer.
"Elizabeth," Fluttershy said, still by her side. "Elizabeth, please, let them up!"
"They hurt me! Meant to hurt me!" Her echoes buzzed angrily, like irritated insects, filling the air.
"No, they didn't!" she said, frightened.
Frightened.
Scared of her.
She looked over at Fluttershy, whose face was of absolute horror. "Then what?" she hissed. "Accident? Cheered about it."
"Elizabeth, Pinkie and Rainbow prank everypony, especially if they're new. They didn't mean anything by it, it was just some fun."
She let just a little more of her weight fall on the two beneath her, their eyes bulging slightly. "Fun to cause pain? Fun to hurt?"
"They didn't mean to hurt you, Elizabeth. Please, just let them up. Please."
Elizabeth bit her lip with enough force to tear through metal. "Then what did they mean to?" Pinkie made a little sound beneath her, but with her mouth paralyzed by the steady weak steady current, that was all it was.
"It's just a prank. It's not supposed to hurt anypony, they meant it in good fun."
"My expense." Still, she eased up some of her weight, but not before taking a snip of Pinkie Pie's essence. She placed it in Ponyville Earth Pony, but for a moment it flickered over to Canterlot Pegasus. She frowned, and forced it into place.
"They wanted you to laugh about it too. They weren't trying to be mean about it. Please, let them go."
She stopped squeezing electricity into the two and got off. Her back was still completely numb, so she fell back, eyes looking up at the clouds. She laid there for a while, panting, slowly too slowly drying, feeling returning to her body. Once she felt somewhat better, she pulled herself up, glaring at the two equines who'd done that to her. They were on their haunches, looking up at her with wide eyes, hugging each other fearfully and rightfully so!
"Out of my sight," she hissed, a web of tendrils sluggishly expanding from her feet and reaching towards them. They didn't need to be told twice, both vanishing in little clouds of dust. Once they were gone, Elizabeth stumbled again, then shook her legs, getting more water off of them. She brought her warmth in close and spread it along her body. It tingled and numbed painfully where it encountered water, and she clumsily lifted it off her, removing most of the water.
There. Almost better now. She drew the tendrils she'd released back into herself. She scowled at Fluttershy, and immediately felt a stab of guilt for being angry at Fluttershy. "Well? Why did they do that?"
"P-Pinkie and Rainbow like to play pranks," she said almost too quietly for even Greene to hear. "They don't do it to be mean, really. I know it may, um, look like that sometimes." She paused, broken only be the uneasy talking of the equines in the background. "Um, Elizabeth, if you don't mind me asking, why did you fall down like that? I-If it's alright for me to ask?"
"Water hurts," she rasped. "Water burns. Can't move through it."
"But then how do you drink?" she asked, one of her ears flicking in what Elizabeth thought was curiosity.
She looked at Fluttershy strangely. "Don't."
"But, oh. Right, um, alien biology. Sorry."
They soon started back to Fluttershy's home, the pegasus carrying the seeds she'd acquired in her bags. All the while, Elizabeth kept irately flicking off numbing water from her. She could've sworn, each time she thought she got it all off more attacked her!
"Elizabeth," Fluttershy asked as they left the area of the town. "Are you alright?"
"Will recover," she said. "Water numbs, but water dries. Takes time to effect, surprise got me."
"That's not what I - nevermind."
"That's not what you what?"
"Oh, um... Elizabeth, about what you told us at your party. Are you... okay? You sound like you've had a difficult life."
So that's what it was about. It made sense; these equines lived in a much better better better world than that of the Similars, so a story from there would upset them. "Difficult life," she admitted. "Looking up."
Fluttershy smiled. "I'm happy to hear that. I don't know what it would be like if I went through that." She shivered, as if to emphasize the point. "Elizabeth, do you... want to see the town? I mean, I'd like to go with you, but I need to get these seeds back."
"See town?" she asked. She shook her head. "No, no. With you."
Fluttershy gave her a gentle smile. "O-Oh, thank you. You've been a really big help, Elizabeth."
She allowed herself to smile. "Suppose so." They arrived back at Fluttershy's home and began to tend to Fluttershy's animals who were, as Greene quickly realized, her own family in a way. Mostly, Elizabeth just stood back, watching as Fluttershy tended to each of them, occasionally helping out. Such as leaping to a bird's nest, or climbing the tree, to deliver them food or bring an injured member down to Fluttershy's level, sparing her the need to fly. It was curious to see; a pegasus that feared flight, but she didn't think too deeply of it. Why should she?
She brushed away a stray hair from her face as Fluttershy spoke with a bear, something about berries going out of season. She was still angry, especially at Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie. She'd trusted them. They were supposed to be heroes of these equines, of this world, and then they went and did that to her? Why? She resolved to ask Fluttershy as soon as she was done with the other animals.
That time arrived when they were inside, Fluttershy eating a sandwich and sipping tea out of a cup. She couldn't begrudge the smell; it was pleasant. Sitting in a chair, reinforced by her warmth so it didn't buckle under her deceptively large mass, Elizabeth was beaten to the punch by Fluttershy.
"So, um, if you don't like water, then how do you drink? I-If you don't mind me asking, of course." She, with the spoon strangely - magic? - attached to her hoof, scooped some sugar into her cup.
"Don't drink," she said calmly as Fluttershy took a gentle sip from her cup, slurping once and then apologizing profusely. "Never had to. Similars drink, not me."
"But, um. I heard how Celestia needed a sample of your blood." The rabbit, Angel Bunny, lightly tapped Greene's shoulder.
Greene winced at the memories, the flashback of held down weak drained of blood. She brushed Angel Bunny off. "Make sure I wasn't dangerous by being here."
"Yes. Um, how can you have blood if you never drink water? You've got to take it in somehow."
Elizabeth pondered this for all of five seconds. "Don't know, doesn't matter. Have blood. Don't need to drink." Something lightly nipped at her feet. She glanced down to see Angel Bunny there again. What was with this creature? Before it could hop away, she wrapped it in her warmth, pinning it to the ground with a cocoon of tendrils and leaving only the nose and eyes uncovered.
"Oh, well, I suppose that's alright," Fluttershy muttered, before taking another sip.
"Don't understand," Elizabeth muttered. "Prank, don't understand. Nothing good either way, bad bad bad all around."
"Well, um, oh I don't want to say anything mean about them. Please don't tell them I said this?"
"Won't," Greene promised in a heartbeat.
"Alright." Fluttershy took a deep breath, seeming to prepare herself. "They're mischievous ponies. They're not mean, but they get a good laugh out of pranking ponies, or, um, anyone, really. They never really do anything bad, just, um, inconvenient."
She narrowed her eyes. "Others let them?"
"Well, they aren't hurting anypony," she muttered.
"Hurt me," she growled. She was lucky the equines had figured out she didn't like water. The Similars had tested, of course, but she hadn't reacted to that any more than she'd reacted to anything during the Time for Waiting.
"And they're really sorry, Elizabeth. They didn't want to hurt you."
"Even if not, annoying. Bothers many, pleases two! Stop them."
"B-But they aren't trying to hurt anypony."
"Displeasure of many, pleasure of few," she insisted. She shivered. "Still hurt me. Hurt me, hurt me, hurt me."
"A-Are you sure you're alright?"
"I'm fine!" she snapped, then immediately felt bad when Fluttershy whimpered. "Sorry," Elizabeth said.
"It's alright," she squeaked. "You're just upset."
"Upset too weak word. Hurt me. Water hurts."
"I know, you already said. So, um, we let them continue because it doesn't really hurt anypony. It's annoying at the moment, but you look back on it and laugh."
"Won't laugh about that."
"Well, you're the, um, exception. I know it doesn't seem like it, but it's not that hard to put up with it, a-and they prank everypony in town, so there's a lot of time between each pony getting pranked."
Elizabeth huffed. "Shouldn't at all." She didn't want to talk about this anymore. "Plans tomorrow?"
"Oh, well, um." Fluttershy seemed taken off guard. Elizabeth spared a moment to glance at the rabbit she still had ensnared. It glared at her, but she released it and siphoned the tough, ensnaring tendrils back into her foot. "Well, I was thinking I should visit Zecora. It's getting colder, and some of the animals always have trouble with hibernating." She creased her brow. "I think she has something that helps with that."
"Hibernate, hibernate," Greene mused. She felt like she should know that word. Oh, but she didn't. Fluttershy did, though, and what were friends for? "What's hibernate?"
"Hibernation, um, that's when some animals go to sleep for the winter. They can't find food during the winter, see, so they sleep it away so they don't use as much, um, energy."
"Hmm," Elizabeth said to herself. "Makes sense. Though... can't find food?" She shook her head. "Doesn't matter. Zecora?"
"She's a friend," she explained. "She lives right inside the Everfree forest, so she can get the plants she needs to make, um, potions and medicines."
"Pony lives in Everfree?"
"Zebra, actually. I think some of her potions give off a smell that ward off p-predators. She's really good at making potions."
Elizabeth smiled. "Then meet Zecora tomorrow."
***-_***_-***-_***_-***-_***_-***
Twilight Sparkle
"So, let me get this straight," Twilight deadpanned, looking at the two downtrodden ponies before her. "You decided, in your infinite wisdom, it would be a good idea to prank Elizabeth Greene, by dumping an entire raincloud on her?"
"Well - " Rainbow began.
Twilight didn't let her even start. "Elizabeth Greene, ambassador to an alien world, who's at the top of the Everfree Forest's food chain, who has enough strength to lift Fluttershy's cottage with one hand just to let her talk to the termites, whose motivation for nearly killing her assailant in Canterlot was 'he touched me', who's traumatized by being murdered by her own son after being held in isolation for nearly five decades." She paused, and then did her best to imitate the Royal Canterlot Voice. "And you thought it'd be a good idea to prank her?!"
"Well, when you put it like that, Twi..." Pinkie says, shifting on the floor.
"Great," she muttered. "Just great. Well, at least we're probably not going to have an interplanetary crisis on our hooves, but, just, grah! What could have possessed you to do that?!"
"It was just some rain!" Rainbow protested. "I didn't know it would do... that to her!"
Twilight paused. All she'd known is what the prank was, and that Greene had been absolutely livid afterward, and that was just from what the two had confessed. "Rainbow, what happened to her?"
"She just fell down!" Pinkie answered for her. "Like, splat! Then she started, like, making everypony angry and scared, saying that water hurt, and then she, um, pinned us." Pinkie rubbed her neck. "It was so weird! My everything was buzzing, but it wasn't like Pinkie Sense, and I couldn't move at a-a-all because of it."
"Electric current," Twilight mused. "Elizabeth can do that. I don't think its magic, though. More like an electric eel, I think." Twilight shook her head. "This doesn't change the fact that what you two did was incredibly stupid! She could have killed you! She probably would have if Fluttershy hadn't been there!" Twilight's throat tightened at that. She realized just how dangerous Elizabeth Greene truly was. It was a really good thing the only times she wasn't with Fluttershy was when she hunted in the Everfree. As much as she didn't like the term, while Fluttershy kept her tamed, they needed a way to keep her tame.
"Sorry," Rainbow Dash grumbled on the library floor.
"Oh, I don't think I'm the one you should be apologizing to! Apparently, water is poisonous to Evolved!"
"Oh," they said at the same time, before Pinkie continued. "We, we really messed that up, didn't we Rainbow?" Rainbow. Not Dashie. Rainbow. "W-We need to tell her how sorry we are."
"Yeah, we should." The two get off their haunches and head for the library door, but Twilight stopped them by locking it with magic.
"Not so fast. She'll still be angry at you. Give her a moment to calm down. Try tomorrow. Until then." She gave them each one last glare for good measure before unlocking the door. "Go think about what you've done."
"Yeah. Sheesh," Rainbow said, walking out of the door. "Poison, who'd have thought?"
Once they were gone, and the door was closed, Twilight let our a frustrate yell. There was a series of footsteps, and Spike appeared, coming down from upstairs. "Sheesh, did they really do something that bad?"
"They pranked Elizabeth, by dumping a cloud full of water on her, and it turns out water is paralytic toxin to her."
He blinked, spatula still in his claws. "Wait, water? Like, the stuff we drink?"
Twilight laughed nervously. "Yeah, who'd have guessed? Oh, and guess which planet has sixty-two point three four percent of its surface area covered in ocean? Equus!" She slumped her face onto the floor, eyes closed. "Rrgh!"
"Well look at it this way, now you have something to enter into your biology report on Greene."
Flick ear one. Flick ear two. She lifted her head, looking at Spike. "You're right!" Her horn lit up, teleporting in a flash of energy into her bedroom. She pulled the blank book detailing her knowledge about Elizabeth's biology and opened it - there was distressingly little. Greene was understandingly nervous about being tested on.
She dipped her quill and found a new page to begin writing on.
Subject E1 reacts negatively in the presence of water. When subjected to the downpour of a raincloud, she was briefly paralyzed and in pain. This lends further credit to the theory that humans live on a desert world, however it is not known if the effects of water are isolated to Evolved or humans in general. With no way to visit their world, there is little chance of resolving this theory.
Twilight looked over other things, and then realized something.
The blood of E1 is teeming with variants of the strain that results in differences between Evolved and humans. The virus is naturally mutated in their blood by an as-yet unknown process resulting in a variety of strains. While most are even more harmless than the original, some have beneficial effects. Though undocumented, it is not unthinkable that some may be harmful.
After the welcome party, she'd added, E1's personal history reveals an innately high reproduction level of Evolved, a single of which can have hundreds of children, even hundreds of thousands in the right conditions, though the means by which this is done are unknown. This may or may not extend to humans. Further analysis regarding the number of Evolved indicated that female Evolved are self-fertilizing, not requiring the presence of male sex cells to reproduce. This indicates E1 has innate genetic-scrambling abilities, which serve to both mutate her virus in the bloodstream, and to give her children diversity, as they were not implied to be clones of her.
But that was just it, wasn't it? She could randomize the virus strains in her blood, and blood's main component was water. So if water was poisonous to her, how did she have blood? It clearly didn't have affect on her once inside; she could chalk that up to internal protections, like how a pony's stomach didn't dissolve from the stomach acid, yet getting that same acid on fur would burn. But drinking the water... no, there had to be something else.
Celestia's sun was beautiful outside, casting its rays on Ponyville. Twilight just kept scribbling theories to test on what Elizabeth Greene was capable of.
