//------------------------------// // Prologue // Story: Feedback // by RQK //------------------------------// The vibrating book in her backpack had to mean only one thing. Sunset Shimmer knew that much. The halls of Canterlot High School bustled with life as several conversations crowded the air and students of all sorts brushed past each other. Gaggles of teenage girls shared giggles over cell phones as they shot texts to friends on opposite ends of the building. Exam review guides took to the air in the form of paper airplanes and were met with several playful attempts to swat them out of the sky. As soon as Sunset found a gap within the crowd, she slung her backpack off her shoulder and fished inside. She pulled the book out and flipped to the latest page. Meet in front of the statue as soon as you can. Sunset frowned. She glanced at the previous pages and compared their neat and steady lettering to the blocky and jagged writing on this one. Twilight didn’t write this, she thought. Snapping the book shut, Sunset picked herself up and dipped into the next hallway. She brushed past student after student as she wove through the halls, hoping that the message didn’t herald some new disaster. The school was two for two in that regard after all. Sunset passed through the school’s tall, circular foyer and opened the glass doors at the front, emerging into the sunlight beyond. She looked down the lawn at the statue of a horse stuck in a rearing pose. A group of humans huddled in front of it, each glancing about every direction. They ran their eyes at the bricks in the building, the concrete street behind them, and, more often than not, themselves. Everything but her. Had they informed Twilight? Was this an intervention? Maybe that was why they had beaten her here. “H-hey girls!” she said with an unsteady wave. A small, purple dog emerged from below them and looked up at her with a wide-eyed expression. “Sunset!” Spike exclaimed as he leaped up toward her. She laughed as she scooped him out of the air and pulled him in close. “Hey, Spike! Good to see you!” The humans watched through crossed arms and token chuckles. As she situated him in her arms, she looked back up and tried, and failed, to find Twilight within them. She instead turned her gaze to meet the five staring back at her and swallowed. I might as well get this over with… “Listen…” Sunset said, kicking the ground, “I need to apologize. Again. I didn’t mean to break the parade float, okay? I’m… I didn’t mean to do it…” The five girls reeled for a moment before turning to each other, silently sharing an entire conversation through perplexed expressions and light shrugs. “Sunset…” Spike trailed off. Fluttershy brushed her long, pink hair out from in front of her face. “What are you talking about, exactly?” Sunset frowned. “Uh…” Applejack jumped a foot into the air. “What in tarnation!?” she cried, pointing over Sunset’s shoulder. Sunset whirled around to find that five similarly appearing humans had appeared at the school’s entrance. She went to respond but then found her double-take. The five in front of her looked like the five behind her, even down to the very clothes on their bodies. Somehow, she knew, the years of dealing with Princess Celestia’s double were about to pay off. The rest of them, however, erupted into a short burst of sharp gasps and perturbed expressions as it hit them full force. They stared intently at each other to see who would move first. And then, after a rapid-fire of gasps, the doubles rushed forward to meet each other, inspecting each other as they would themselves in the mirror. At times, they even tried to parrot one another. Sunset watched with careful eyes. Half of the humans moved in jerky, uncoordinated, and even unenergetic manners when compared to their doubles. They curled their hands like hooves and their legs seemed to betray them with every step; Sunset herself had been through that phase before. And that cinched it. “You look like you’re all from Equestria, aren’t you?” she asked with a grin. “You must be Twilight’s friends.” All ten of the doubles stopped, and then half of them—the guilty half—nodded. Sunset nodded and smiled the sort of “I knew it” smile. “Great!” she exclaimed. “Welcome to Canterlot High! Maybe we can give you the tour when Twilight comes through,” she said. The five Rainbooms (she assumed) lit up at the mention of Twilight’s name. They squirmed about as they shot each other smiles as wide as their faces and clapped their hands together with glee. “I mean, she is coming, right?” Sunset asked quizzically, now turning her attention back to the Equestrians. The five Equestrians shrunk down, turning their gazes toward any place in the courtyard but her. They took hold of themselves as knots moved up and down their throats. At that point, Spike rolled himself out of Sunset’s arms. The metal collar around his neck clinked as he landed. He plodded back toward the Equestrians as if he had to concentrate on putting one paw in front of the other. Sunset’s smile faded as her eyes darted worriedly between the five Equestrians. “Right?” Spike shook his head and turned to her. “Sunset…” he said, “there’s something we need to tell the school… but we wanted you to hear about it first.” “T-tell me… what? Spike, where is Twilight?” The Equestrians looked up through sullen grimaces, save Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy. The former turned her back to them to hide her disgust and the latter kept her eyes glued to the concrete. Applejack removed her stetson and held it to her chest with a pleading look in her eyes. The Rainbooms now stood by in complete and utter silence. Their eyes grew wider with every moment. Sunset felt a shiver run down her spine and she swallowed. “Where… is Twilight Sparkle?” With water in his eyes and a quivering frown on his muzzle, Spike said, “Sunset, that’s why we’re here. S-something has happened…”