//------------------------------// // Strange Days At Canterlot High II // Story: Do you believe in ghosts? // by The Infinity Doctor //------------------------------// Midnight sat on one of the many benches littering the grounds of Canterlot High, boredly scratching a nail into the seat of the woodwork. She suddenly stopped when she raised her hand to scratch at her nose, and suddenly realized that there were slim shavings spiraling out from under the very nail she used to scratch at the bench. Quickly blowing the shavings off, she pretended to admire them as a pair of fil- girls, walked by, one with pink hair, a white stripe running through it, wearing a stylish, yellow jacket. The other girl's hair was silver, hers too, having a stripe running through it. A pair of blue-framed glasses sat on the bridge of her nose, reflecting the bright sunlight that shone down on the earth below it. 'Need to learn to be more careful about that...' Midnight thought, chastising herself to keep the small portion of power that had crossed over with her through the mirror under control. A fraction of her strength was basically all that had come with her, among other things. "I'd very much appreciate it if you wouldn't refer to me as an object." a voice seemed to whisper in her ear "Can you lean to the left a bit? I'm getting a weak signal." 'Calypso...' Midnight groaned, hoping against hope that the she-draconequus hadn't crossed over with her. "Hmph, buck you too, Midnight," Calypso responded snidely "besides, not like I can really do any damage in this stuff-n-sew body of flesh." Midnight winced upon hearing her demon's words. 'Thanks ever so much for that image...' "Hey, I'm here all week, try the oats!" Calypso laughed shrilly, the sound grinding against her host's ears. 'You're here for longer, unfortunately.' Midnight replied, knowing full well she shouldn't give into the trickster's jabbering. "Once again, buck you too, Midnight." Calypso responded, then followed by silence. 'You need some new material.' Midnight responded with finality. "..." 'At any rate, be quiet- I need to think.' "Oooh, about what? Details!" 'You know full well, Callie.' "You used my nickname, so it must be serious!" 'Calypso, shut up, for Celestia's sake...' Midnight groaned, rolling her eyes. The annoyance of her voice went silent, much to the Midnight's satisfaction. Midnight continued to lounge on the bench for a good half an hour, patiently waiting for Squeaks' school to let out for the day. She felt out of place, being there- everything was almost the same, yet felt so alien and different, she could barely comprehend she was in a different world. Given, she really was in a different world, on behalf of Twilight Sparkle. The metal bell hanging up on the side of the building rang, soon followed by dozens and dozens of people flooding out of the building. Some chattered excitedly with their friends, others were pushing through the crowd to make it to the buses, not wanting to miss their ride home. Midnight found herself watching the 'humans' with interest, some of them to be shockingly similar in appearance to some of the ponies she'd seen in her world. Namely, Lyra and BonBon talking about about something called a 'Cold war'. The crowd soon thinned out, leaving just a trickle of students as the horseless carraiges started, silently shaking Midnight out of her thoughts. 'I guess I know how Dreamcast feels, now...' Midnight chuckled inwardly. Her thoughts turning to the dream-eater, Midnight wondered if the not-quite-a-pony had a counterpart in this world, as well. She figured she did, since Lyra and BonBon were here. A sudden thought came to her, as shocking as if somepony had taken a few cubes of ice and set them on her back. If Lyra and BonBon had 'human' counterparts here, then that could mean... Midnight hurried into the building, desperately looking for Squeaks. She needed to get out of here as soon as possible, she needed to warn- "Oh! Miss Storm, how wonderful to see you!" a mysterious woman said, appearing seemingly out of nowhere. The woman was wearing an off-white smock, covered in a multitude of colored stains, most likely from paint. Midnight also took notice of the woman's scent, picking up what she thought was sawdust. Midnight took notice of her eyes, finding one of them to be purple, and the other to be green, just like... "Erm...yes, nice to see you too!" Midnight said, then dropped the farce "I'm sorry, I have no idea who you are." "I didn't think you would," the woman replied kindly "I'm the new art teacher for Canterlot High, I was hired just a few weeks ago." "Oh?" Midnight asked, somewhat interested. The woman nodded. "Yes- would you mind stepping inside for a moment? I feel that I need to discuss something with you." Midnight nodded, unsure, then followed Dreamcast's counterpart, wondering what the woman could possibly talk to her about. Midnight soon discovered what it was, as she found four fillies, eyes downcast, standing before a small desk in the nearest corner of the room. "I see..." Midnight said, then looked to the woman as she sat down at her desk. All four of the girls were covered from head to hoof in different arrays of paint, most likely the reason why Dreamcast's smock was covered with it. Then again, it just might've been part of her job. "As you can see," Dreamcast said, after taking a sip from an orange and blue coffee mug that said 'I never say no to a complement'. Midnight wondered what it could possibly mean, not sure what the phrase meant. "we had a bit of an incident today in class." "Oh?" Midnight said, feigning ignorance "What happened?" "Well, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, and Squeaks-" "It wasn't our fault that Snips made fun of Squeaks' mom!" Scootaloo blurted out, then blushed furiously as she covered her mouth with both hands. 'So that's who he is, I thought he looked familiar.' Midnight thought, seeing the similarities between the slightly-chubby boy and his Equestrian counterpart. She also took notice of the ice bag the boy was holding to his eye, indicating that something more had happened than the four were letting on. All six of them stood in silence, not sure what to do or what to say. "Well, I think it's about time to go home," Midnight said, motioning to Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, and Squeaks to follow her, then turning to Dreamcast "I'll be sure to talk with Squeaks, and I'll let the others' parents know what happened." Dreamcast hesitated a minute, then nodded, telling Snips that he could go. Later, as they were walking home, in no particular direction, Midnight decided to confront the three about the incident. "So...what exactly was it that got you so riled up?" Midnight asked. "I refuse to talk! I want my attorney! I'll-" Midnight burst into laughter, despite the situation, cutting of Scootaloo from a seemingly well-prepared rant. "I'm not interrogating you, I just want to know what happened." Midnight responded as her laughter died down. "Well..." Squeaks began "Snips was going on about how different the two of us are...and- and he said that you weren't my real mom, an-and...that...I was just..." Midnight took action, wrapping an arm comfortingly around her as they continued walking. "So...you got mad, and you hit him, right?" Midnight asked. Squeaks was sobbing by now, burying her face into Midnight's side as she wept, stammering out apology after apology. Midnight stopped, stooped so she was looking Squeaks right in the eye. "Squeaky-" Midnight began, making the filly flinch "I'm proud that you defended yourself, and your reason was good." Squeaks stared at her in confusion, as if she'd grown a second head. "But that doesn't give you the right to let your friends whale on him." "Er...actually, Squeaks was the one that gave him the black eye, Scootaloo and I actually tried to get him to go away..." Sweetie said "...and then we whaled on him..." Midnight rubbed her eyes, and then stood up straight, continuing her walk. "Well, let's get to Sugarcube Corner, since it's just up the street." "Why're we goin' there?" Scootaloo asked "Aren't we in trouble?" "Yeah, but not with me; as soon as we get there, I'm calling your sisters to come and pick you up." Scootaloo's hope to get out of the situation scot-free was dashed.