Today was my first day at my new school! It’s kind of scary, moving to a new town, but mommy says that as long as I show everyone how smart and sweet I am, I’ll make plenty of friends in no time.
The first thing we did in class was a group project. I got paired with a girl named Sunset Shimmer. She’s real pretty and has gold and red hair with green eyes. She was kind of grumpy though. I think nobody else wanted to be her partner. I don’t think the teacher liked her much either, because she acted like she was sorry for partnering me with her. But I dunno, she didn’t seem like a bad person.
Looking forward to tomorrow!
Twilight Sparkle.
Twilight woke up screaming.
She bolted upright and cradled her head in her hands as she drew long, shuddering breaths. Hot tears ran down her cheeks, and her tank top was sticky with sweat. An old alarm clock screamed at her shrilly from her nightstand.
It wasn’t fair; she hadn’t had that dream in over a year. She was supposed to be better now. What the hell was the point of years’ worth of expensive therapy and medication if she was still reduced to a quivering wreck any time there was the slightest interruption to her routine?
“Dammit!” Twilight screamed, smashing her fist against the alarm clock. It shattered with a dying warble and the broken glass of the front plate sliced into her fingers.
Her hands shaking, Twilight leaned over her bed and rummaged through her suitcase, doing her best not to drip blood all over her clothes in the process. She took out a small plastic pill bottle and tore off the top before tapping out two into her hand and gulping them down, not bothering with water.
She took a deep breath and then wiped at her eyes and runny nose with her sleeve. It would take a few minutes for the medicine to actually have any effect, but the simple act of taking the pills made her feel slightly better.
From outside her room she heard the rapid footfalls of someone running up the stairs, followed by a frantic pounding on the door. “Twilight, sweetie, are you okay in there?” came the worry-edged voice of her sister-in-law, Cadance.
Twilight groaned, then swung her feet off of the bed, standing up shakily. “I’m fine,” she grumbled, sniffling as she got up and unlocked the door. Now that she had gone and freaked out again, it would be time for another pity party. Just what she needed.
Cadance opened the door and immediately paled when she saw Twilight’s hand. “Oh, honey…” Her eyes just screamed, ‘Oh, you poor thing.’
Twilight grit her teeth and let Cadance lead her to the bathroom.
Spike had followed Cadance up, and he happily barked and jumped around Twilight’s legs, oblivious to the morning’s drama as Cadance began to wash and dress the small cuts on her fingers.
“Maybe you coming out to stay with us wasn’t such a good idea after all,” Cadance said as Twilight winced from the alcohol being rubbed into her skin.
“No!” Twilight snapped, perhaps too quickly. “Look, I’m fine. It was just a minor incident, probably brought on by overstimulation from moving in, and possibly from that extra soda I drank before bed. I came out to stay here with you guys in Ponyville for a reason. I can handle it.”
“Now, Twilight,” Cadance began. Twilight reached down with her undamaged right hand and scratched Spike behind the ears to help steady her nerves. “It’s great that you’re taking an active interest in accomplishing things, but your brother and I just don’t want to see you get hurt.”
It was always the same song and dance. ‘Poor Twilight, she’s so twaumatized 'cause she inadvertently caused the death of her best friend! Let’s everyone soothe and coddle her and wrap her in bubble wrap until she suffocates!’
The worst part was that, on some level, they were right.
Part of the reason she wanted to come out to the suburbs of Ponyville, and the Greater Canterlot Area in general, was to escape that mentality. A fresh start, but she was still too young to be living on her own, and she would have to depend on the hospitality of her sibling for the time being.
“So, what’s for breakfast, anyway?” Twilight asked, forcing a cheerier inflection into her voice. The drugs were starting to kick in, which helped a little.
Cadance raised an eyebrow as she finished tying off the bandage. “Bacon and pancakes. Your brother already left for work.” With a sigh, she added, “You know I’m going to have to tell your parents about this, right?”
“Yeah, I know,” Twilight said, flexing the fingers on her left hand. It hurt a little bit, but at least it hadn’t been serious. “Don’t worry, I’ll replace the alarm clock.”
“Twilight,” Cadance groaned, reaching to press at her temples. “You know that’s not the issue here, we—”
“Aww, how’s my little boy doing!” Twilight said, kneeling down and rubbing Spike’s ears. “I bet someone needs to go outside, huh? Do you wanna go outside?”
Spike barked in acknowledgement, and before Cadance could raise any more objections, Twilight took off running around the corner and down the stairs, Spike doing his best to stay by her side.
Twilight skipped past the kitchen and went straight for the back door. Spike dashed out, running happy circles around the lawn. Twilight took a few steps out and felt the grass between her toes, still a bit chilly with the morning dew.
She closed her eyes, taking a deep breath and letting the morning sink into her. The sun on her face, the birds singing in the background, Spike’s enthusiastic ministrations. A quiet, beautiful moment, here in the heart of suburban perfection.
Was this to be her fate, then? To be haunted by that singular, defining moment for the rest of her life? How much longer was she going to have to live like this?
“Sorry, Sunset,” Twilight mumbled under her breath. “Almost sounds like I’m blaming you for my problems.”
No. She was Twilight Sparkle: super-genius. She had every expectation that within the decade, she’d have two PhDs and a MD. If her research bore fruit, she could probably get knighted before she was forty. She had a plan for greatness, and she wasn’t going to let herself be dragged down.
A smile on her face, Twilight made her way across the lawn to the large garage, carefully avoiding the presents Spike had left behind.
It was a dream garage—for a family who cared about that kind of thing. Space for two cars, a work area, and a loft up above for even more space. While it would probably never match what she had back home in Baltimare, Shining had offered her the workspace to set up a secondary lab away from home.
Right now it was just a stack of boxes that she had brought in the night before, but she could already picture its greatness. She was going to have to get some more tables, order some of the larger equipment online, pay for her own separate internet connection, and run some wires through, but it would all be worth it once she was finished.
Twilight ripped open one of the boxes and pulled out a stack of papers. They consisted of all the readings on and various pieces of evidence she had collected from one particular high school. None of the data made any sense; the math didn’t add up at all, and reports from official media were remarkably vague, especially since juveniles were involved.
Twilight shifted through the papers, looking over everything again. It was a little difficult to look over them without her glasses, but her vision wasn’t that bad. After all, she still needed to eat, shower, and change her clothes, so it wasn’t as if she would be staying out there in her pajamas all day anyway.
The best way to get the answers she sought would be to go out there and get them herself. That meant tracking down the students of Canterlot High to see if she could find any leads on where to start her research proper. She was hardly the most outgoing person around, but she had been studying up on some social engineering techniques to properly prepare for this sort of investigation.
Yep. Just like her family had been pushing her to do for ages now, Twilight Sparkle was going to have to make some ‘friends.’
“Eyup. Uh-huh. No no, I totally get what you’re talking about. Mmmhmm. Is that so?”
Applejack resisted the urge to pitch her phone into the trash as Rarity continued to drone on and on and on. Something about dresses and business plans. Applejack wasn’t even following at this point. Normally, Fluttershy was the one to take on this sort of role, but for whatever reason Rarity had generously decided to share her grievances with Applejack instead.
Maybe if she opened up a few extra apps on her phone she could run her battery down faster.
“No, she didn’t,” Applejack said. “Well, I suppose you—oof!”
Something slammed into Applejack from behind, and her phone went flying out of her hand, bouncing along the ground and skittering into the grass. Well, she had wanted an excuse, but if her phone had gotten broken because of it…
“Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry!” a familiar voice said from behind her, the tone lacking sincerity. “Are you okay?”
Applejack’s eyes widened as she turned around and saw Twilight Sparkle sprawled out on the ground, looking up at her with apologetic eyes.
“Uh, you all right there, sugarcube?” Applejack mumbled, offering a hand to the girl and pulling her to her feet. Something wasn’t right with this picture. Why would Twilight be visiting the human world again, completely without warning, and then just randomly bump into her at the State Fair?
“Please forgive me, I can be really clumsy sometimes, heh,” Twilight said, throwing on a big bashful smile.
Applejack could easily tell that it was forced, as if she were reading lines from a script. And... Twilight didn’t seem to recognize her. Whatever was going on, it wasn’t going to be anything good.
“It’s uh, no problem. I was a mite distracted in the middle of the walkway anywho.”
Twilight smiled, then held out her right hand. Applejack noticed her left had a bandage wrapped around it. “My name is Twilight Sparkle! I’m kind of new in town, and I don’t really know anyone here or where anything is. I thought coming to the fair might be a good way to get a lay of the land, but it’s just so big and there’s so many people…”
“Name’s Applejack.” She took her hand, shaking it vigorously. “Uh, where’re you from, Twilight?”
“I’m from Baltimare,” Twilight said cheerfully. “I graduated high school last winter, and right now I’m visiting my brother and my sister-in-law out here for a while. Seeing the sights, spending time with family, you know.”
Applejack nodded, trying to keep her face neutral. Graduated high school already? She didn’t look any older than she normally did, although she had glasses on, and her hair was a bit messier and had been pulled back into a ponytail. Whoever this Twilight was, she was acting different than the Twilight she knew. Pinkie had once mentioned seeing another Twilight out walking a dog before; perhaps this one wasn’t secretly a pony princess.
Given all the weirdness that had cropped up both times Twilight had shown up in the past, Applejack made a note to be careful.
“Um…” Twilight bit her lip, lowered her eyes, clasped her hands behind her back and kicked at the dirt hesitantly. “I don’t mean to impose or anything, but I’m just a little overwhelmed out here and I’m actually kind of lost. Would you be able to maybe show me around or something?”
Applejack rubbed at her eyes, pinching the bridge of her nose. Was this girl trying to damsel up? Rarity would get an absolute kick out of this. Speaking of Rarity…
“Yeah, alright, sure. Always happy to show a bit of good old hometown hospitality.” Applejack walked over to grab her phone. Rarity’s voice was still coming from the speaker and sounded worried, but Applejack just hit the mute switch.
“Yes! Thank you very much,” Twilight said, beaming. “You uh, go to Canterlot High, right?”
“Yup.” Applejack nodded, motioning for Twilight to follow her to a nearby stall. “Look, I gotta finish my phone call real quick, but my brother over here can set you up with the best apple fritters this side of Dodge Junction. Twilight, this is my brother, Big Mcintosh. Big Mac, this is Twilight Sparkle. She’s uh, new in town and I’ll be showing her around.”
Big Mac looked between the two of them as he sat behind the family stall, then raised an eyebrow at Applejack.
She nodded back at him, and he shrugged.
“Eyup.”
Communicating with her brother really was easy sometimes.
Applejack walked a ways down the busy thoroughfare till she was out of earshot, then pulled out her phone and flicked the sound back on.
“Applejack? Applejack? I know you’re still there, what’s going on? That almost sounded like Twilight in the background!”
“I’m here, Rar. Sorry bout that, I got bowled over. And uh, yeah. It is Twilight. Kind of. Look, we’ve got a bit of a situation.”
“Oh. Oh dear.” Rarity paused, taking measured breaths into the phone. “Okay, on a scale of ‘surprise slumber party’ to ‘the literal end of the world,’ what are we dealing with?”
“Yeah, that’s just it, I’m not really sure.” Applejack glanced back at Twilight, who was currently giving an oversized fritter a rather skeptical eye. “I think it’s the Twilight who’s not a pony princess. Who, y'know, grew up as a normal human in this world and all that. She just kind of bumped into me out of the blue, asking if I could show her around town or something.”
“That’s… odd. And kind of suspicious.” Applejack could hear Rarity tapping her nails against glass. “How do you think we should handle this?”
Applejack kept her eye on Twilight. She looked normal enough. Sure, she was acting kind of strange, but who was to say any given alternate universe counterpart would be the exact same person on the inside? “We should give her a shot, I guess. She’ll probably need to know the truth eventually, but maybe we can take a chance to get to know her as a person and make friends with her before we go dropping bombshells like ‘by the way, everyone at school already knows a person who looks exactly like you and has the same name’.”
“Makes sense. I’ll get the girls together, you show Twilight a good time at the fair. Meet us at Sugarcube Corner in a couple hours. And make sure to call if you need anything, or things start to get… weird.”
“See ya soon.” Applejack ended the call. Her expression grew sour when she saw that there was a new tiny crack in the corner of her screen. It was going to be one of those days.
“Sorry about that,” Applejack said as she made her way back. “So, where do you wanna go?”
“Um. Just around the fair should be fine for now, I think,” Twilight said, wrapping the uneaten half of her fritter in the paper it came with. It had been a lot better than she expected.
She was still baffled that her plan was actually working. Sure, it was a plan that she had come up with and all, but she had expected the need to try several different people, refining her approach before she finally got results. Then again, the people of this town did seem friendly. Several kids had even smiled and waved to her just while she was walking around. It was a marked difference from back home.
“So, uh,” Applejack said, leading her through the crowd. “You said you graduated already? Kind of surprised you’re not here to transfer to Canterlot High or something.”
Twilight wrinkled her nose at the thought, but quickly remembered to smile instead. Sure, Canterlot High was hiding something interesting, but actually receiving an education there? In terms of college prospects it was decidedly average. “No, I’m not transferring. I graduated when I was sixteen, at the top of my class. I’ve already got a full scholarship to Hayvard, but I decided to wait until I was eighteen to actually go. I’m spending my time working on some independent research projects instead.”
Applejack let out a low whistle, then pulled off her hat and wiped at her brow. “Wow. I, uh. Them’s some serious credentials you got there. Downright prodigy. Guess you’ve a right to be proud of it.”
This was definitely easy. Who said you couldn’t learn social interaction from a book?
Now that she had established a rapport, it was time to start fishing for answers. “What do you think of Canterlot High, as a school?”
Applejack shrugged. “S’alright, I suppose. Probably same as any other school, for the most part. Though we don’t get a lot of folks heading off to Hayvard.”
“I see.” She had called that much, at least, but it was a pretty generic response regardless. “I’ve heard some interesting rumors about what goes on there.”
“Interesting rumors, huh? I reckon most high schools gather a couple of urban legends over time.”
Twilight pursed her lips together. Was this girl purposely dodging her questions, or did she just not know? Or maybe it was her mistake to assume an average student would be able to give her insight in the first place.
“Oh, hey, Twi, I know,” Applejack said, grabbing her wrist and pointing across the fairgrounds. “Wanna hit up the Ferris wheel? It’s a good way to get a lay of the land.”
Twilight stiffened, and felt the blood drain from her face. Damnit, she needed to keep herself together. “I’m…” she paused, licking her lips and swallowing, her throat suddenly dry. “N-not really okay with heights.”
Applejack turned to her, raising an eyebrow, then shrugged. “Alright. Wanna go play skee ball instead?”
“Wait, really?” Twilight asked. “You’re not going to try and push me to get over it, or ask why?”
Applejack threw her head back and laughed. “Aw, Twi, come on. I mean, if its something you wanna talk about, I’ll listen, but everybody’s got something they ain’t comfortable with. No skin off my apples.”
Twilight bit her lip. She wasn’t really sure how to respond to something like that. And this Applejack girl was, well, friendly. She was acting as if they were already close friends or something, even though they’d just met. At least, that was how it seemed, though she was hardly an expert.
“... Thanks,” she finally mumbled, unable to keep herself from blushing.
“Nothing to it,” Applejack said, her grin wide. “Now, I got a pretty mean throwing arm, so—”
Something slammed into Twilight from behind, knocking her to the ground.
She naturally tried to catch herself with her injured hand, but the impact met with a sharp spike of pain and she crumpled, unable to support herself.
“Dammit!” Twilight swore, reaching up to make sure her glasses were still intact. It was one thing when she carefully bumped into someone on purpose and controlled her fall; it was another to get randomly body-checked into the dirt.
“Oh, man, I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to…”
Twilight whipped around, her eyes blazing. A tall youth with spiky blue hair stood looking down at her, his eyes wide.
“Whoa,” he muttered, his face coloring slightly. “Is that really you, Twi—”
“Twilight!” Applejack called out, her voice raising an octave as she elbowed the boy hard in the ribs and caused him to grunt. “This here’s, uh, Twilight Sparkle. She’s from Baltimare, visiting. Twilight, this is Flash Sentry.”
Applejack glared daggers at him, but he just looked confused.
Twilight groaned, pulling herself up and dusting off her skirt, then flexing her fingers slightly. “What’s going on here?”
Flash Sentry turned to her, his face lit up with a ridiculously stupid grin. “Man, we’ve really got to do something one of these days besides just bump into each other. Like… Holy crap, you’re bleeding!”
He crossed the distance between them and grabbed her bandaged hand to inspect it. The bandages on her middle finger had started to turn a little red; she must have opened one of the cuts in the fall. “I didn’t realize I pushed you that hard. We’d better get you to a nurse’s station.”
“Get off of me!” Twilight snarled, yanking her hand away and taking a step back. This was getting weird, fast. People were starting to stare. What was this creep babbling about? Applejack seemed to know him, but that didn’t make it any less weird.
Flash stared at her, his eyes wide and looking hurt. “Twilight, I…”
“Come on now, Casanova,” Applejack said, tugging on his ear. “Need to talk to you for a second.”
Twilight watched as Applejack pulled Flash to the side, out of earshot, then began a conversation in hushed whispers. They kept glancing at her in ways that seemed meaningful.
She crossed her arms over her stomach and began to fidget. A part of her just wanted to leave and go home. It was one thing to put on a cheerful face, but situations like this were way out of her depth.
But she had come here to investigate something weird in the first place. For all she knew, this could be a part of it. Perhaps some sort of schoolwide conspiracy she could uncover. Which would be kind of disappointing, really. Even if something like that turned out to be true, it wouldn’t get much ground as an actual scientific paper.
Either way, she wasn’t about to jump out of the pool just because the water was a little cold.
“Sorry about that,” Applejack said, walking back over. Flash Sentry was walking in the opposite direction, looking glum. “He has a knack for bumping into new girls. He’s a sweet guy at heart, but I guess he can come off a little strong sometimes.”
Twilight frowned, working through possible responses in her mind. Finally, she smiled, shaking her head and saying, “It’s okay. I was just caught a little off guard, that’s all.”
Applejack narrowed her eyes, but then shook her head. “How’s your hand, anyway?”
Twilight pinched at her fingers lightly with her other hand. It hurt, but the pain was already fading again. “It’s fine. Had a bit of a broken glass incident this morning. Fingers are like foreheads; they’ve got a lot of capillaries and make a mess, but unless it’s deep you don’t have to worry much.”
“Uh-huh…” Applejack said, nodding. “Lemme guess, you broke a beaker or something science-y?”
Twilight had to stop herself from rolling her eyes. Something science-y. Of course, an answer like that would be a lot more dignified than the truth. “I’m still up for skee ball, if you are. Although I’m not very good at it.”
Applejack grinned, flexing what Twilight noticed were surprisingly strong muscles. “I’m a three time champ, y’know. Rainbow Dash is the only one who can ever come close to beating me. So if y’all want any of them big stuffed animals, ain’t no better gal to ask then me.”
Big stuffed animals, huh? Not exactly something she cared for, but it would be pretty typical. “Sure, that sounds great.”
Twilight sat back in the restaurant booth, exhausted, one arm wrapped around the purple pony plushie Applejack had won for her.
It had been surprisingly fun. When she had chosen to bump into the farmer seemingly at random, it had apparently turned out to be a lucky break. Applejack had been the perfect guide, and Twilight had quickly found herself lost in the whirlwind of sights, smells, and activities of the fair.
When Applejack had asked if she wanted to meet up with some of her friends, Twilight had readily agreed. The more people from Canterlot High she met, the better chance she’d have of finding information to lead her to the truth. But this…
Twilight felt sweat run down the back of her neck as she tried to keep a wide smile. Her jaw was beginning to get sore, and her eyes darted back and forth between the five beaming faces currently regarding her from the other side of the booth.
Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash. A blur of faces, names, and hobbies, all introduced to her in a flurry. They all seemed relatively pleasant at least, but there was a strange feeling that she couldn’t quite put her finger on, like they already expected something from her even though it had only been five minutes.
“Doyouhaveapetdog?” Fluttershy suddenly blurted out, breaking the silence.
Twilight blinked, taking a few moments to parse the quiet outburst. “I do, actually. His name is Spike. He’s not exactly the sharpest tool in the shed, but he’s as loving and loyal as, well, a dog can be. Eheh...”
“Aww,” Fluttershy cooed. “I’d love to meet him.”
Before Twilight could think up a proper response, Pinkie Pie raised her hand and shouted “I’ve seen you before!”
“Pinkie Pie!” Applejack hissed through clenched teeth. “I thought I told you we were—”
“Yeah, I remember seeing you around town like a year ago, walking a dog!”
Applejack deflated slightly. “Oh.” She turned to Twilight, looking puzzled. “I thought you said you were new in town.”
Crap. It hadn’t been a lie, exactly, but getting caught in a slight contradiction wasn’t going to do her any favors. “Um, I meant I was new to living here. I’ve visited my brother out here during the holidays and stuff. You must have seen me then.”
Rainbow Dash snorted and rolled her eyes.
“So, what brings you out to our humble little town?” Rarity asked, shooting Rainbow a glare. “Applejack tells us that you’ve already graduated. Very impressive for someone our age.”
“I’m working on an independent research project,” Twilight said. “If I can get a paper published before I even set foot in college, it’ll do wonders for my future academic prospects.”
“My my,” Rarity, said, her eyes sparkling. “I do admire a woman who’s ambitious enough to know what she wants and how to get it.”
Twilight blushed slightly at the praise and sat up a little straighter in the booth. “Thank you. It takes a lot of hard work and dedication to succeed in my field. And, while it would be great if ideas were merely bandied about and would succeed or fail based on their own merits, us scientists are still human. Nobody can escape politics, and it takes either natural charisma or exceptional talent to stand out amongst the pack.”
Rarity threw her head back, laughing gaily. “Oh, we are going to get along very well. I know a lot about standing out.”
“Yeah, that makes sense,” Rainbow Dash muttered, growling under her breath. “Because you know what I think of when I hear the name Twilight Sparkle? Stuff like ‘ambition’ and ‘standing out'." She turned to the others. “Am I the only one here who thinks this whole thing is a load of bull?”
Twilight narrowed her eyes. “I’m sorry, is there a problem?”
“What in the hay are you getting on about, Rainbow?” Applejack asked, her voice low. “Since when do you have the right to get on anyone else’s case when it comes to tootin’ your own horn?”
“Come on, Dashie, we need to give her a chance!” Pinkie Pie said, latching onto Rainbow’s arm.
Rainbow Dash pulled her arm free, then turned away from her with a huff. “Whatever, do what you want.”
Applejack let out a long sigh, taking her hat off and setting it on the table. “Sorry about that, Twi. Rainbow must’ve woken up on the wrong side of the bed or something. She’ll come around.”
Twilight felt a sinking feeling in her stomach. There was some sort of subtext she was missing here, but she couldn’t quite wrap her head around it. “I see.” A good, neutral and noncommittal answer.
“So, um, what kind of research are you actually doing?” Fluttershy asked.
Well, under normal circumstances this would have been a pretty easy topic for her to discuss. She had danced around the specifics so far, but she was here to try and glean information from local teenagers, after all. A part of her thought that she should keep it subtle and coy, but that was the part of her who had watched too many movies. There was no likely harm to be found in just asking. One of them was bound to have an answer.
Twilight opened up her purse and pulled out a folder, opening it up and laying the contents out on the table. “Does any of this look familiar to you?”
“Ooh, I know!” Pinkie Pie said, raising her hands. “It’s a bunch of squiggly lines!” As the others stared at her, her eyes widened and she leaned over the table, grabbing Twilight’s shoulders. “Are you designing a new type of roller coaster?”
Twilight flinched backwards from the sudden invasion of her personal space. Applejack pulled Pinkie off of her, and she nodded in thanks. “No, um, nothing like that. Back home in Baltimare I’ve got a lot of high tech and expensive equipment and sensors in my lab. Last fall, several of my instruments started going haywire out of the blue. It wasn’t quite clear why, but they detected several large concentrations of something centered here in this city, at Canterlot High.”
The five other girls exchanged glances with each other, and Twilight continued, “About a month ago there was another spike, giving similar readings, although there were some distinct differences in the data. Ultimately, this is what I’m here to research. Honestly, I’ve exhausted much of what I can do from a purely scientific perspective, and so now I’m here to gather field data. I was hoping someone who goes to the school might be able to shed some light on the situation.”
“Uh…” Applejack mumbled, her eyes shifting left and right. All of them looked uncomfortable with the topic. Jackpot.
Twilight grinned, leaning forward on her elbows and clasping her hands in front of her mouth. “You guys know exactly what I’m talking about, don’t you?”
“Told you she wasn’t interested in friendship,” Rainbow Dash mumbled under her breath.
“Quiet,” snapped Rarity.
Applejack let out a long sigh, running a hand through her hair. “Man, I was hoping to save this part till later.” She placed her hands down on the table, leaning forward and looking Twilight directly in the eyes. “Look, sugarcube, we do know the answer to this. It’s a long story, hard to believe, something you probably won’t like to hear, and it might seriously shake your worldview. If you really want to know, we’ll tell you, and it’ll be the honest truth. I swear it.”
Twilight snorted, the fading sunlight through the cafe window reflecting off of her glasses. “What kind of scientist would I be if I wasn’t willing to accept challenges to the status quo every now and again? I won’t take your word for it, but if you have evidence, I’ll happily take it into consideration. Even then, if you’re willing to share your perspectives, I’m sure it’ll be quite valuable, even if they’re biased.”
Applejack slumped back in her seat, staring up at the ceiling. “Yikes. Where to even start…”
Rarity frowned, tapping her fingers on her empty glass. “We may as well get some more drinks while we’re at it. We’ll be here awhile.”
“More opportunity for spit-takes that way!” Pinkie said, draining the last of her milkshake.
“Pinkie, if you spit milk on me one more time...” Rainbow Dash said, glaring.
Applejack glanced over towards Twilight. “If you don’t mind, there’s actually one more person in our little, uh…”
“Posse?” Pinkie Pie suggested helpfully.
Applejack frowned, then shrugged. “Our posse. She’s running a bit late, but should probably be here any minute if you can wait a little before we start. She’s a big part of everything that happened so we wouldn’t want to leave her out.”
As Applejack finished speaking, there was the sound of a loud motor arriving outside, puttering noisily before the engine was killed.
“Speak of the Devil, and she shall appear!” Pinkie Pie announced, bending her straw into the shape of horns and holding them up to her forehead.
“Pinkie Pie,” Rarity said, sighing. “I thought we agreed not to use the D-word at Sunset anymore. It’s just mean at this point.”
Pinkie Pie hid the straw behind her back, whistling innocently, and Rarity sunk her face into her palms.
Not speaking of the devil at sunset? Sounded like an odd superstition. She needed to be writing this stuff down. With a little bit of effort, she extracted her notepad and pen from her purse. Sure, she could easily take notes with her phone, but for stuff like this she prefered the old-fashioned route. It was just a matter of —
“Hey guys. Sorry I’m late.”
The bell to the store rang as the door opened, accompanied by a voice. A voice that sounded familiar, even as it was different. It was completely impossible, of course, and her ears were just playing tricks on her, and…
She walked around the corner, and then froze. Their eyes met.
She was tall. She had always been taller than Twilight, and seven years had apparently kept their proportions similar, height-wise. Of course, instead of a gangly little girl, she was now a full-grown woman, on the cusp of the prime of her life. She was gorgeous, beautiful, radiant. Her glorious red and gold hair was framed perfectly by the setting sun behind her.
Those same emerald eyes, begging her, pleading for her not to let her die.
Sunset Shimmer.
Twilight’s eyes widened, and her heart slammed against her ribcage like it was trying to escape. She trembled, and her breathing turned rapid and shallow. Somebody was saying something, but she couldn’t even process the sound. Every aspect of her attention was locked onto the hellish apparition standing before her.
This was it. This was what going crazy felt like.
No no no no no no no no no no no no no no no!
She wanted to scream, to cry, to run away, to lock herself in her closet and never come out again. She had fought for years to try and climb out of the tattered remnants of that tragedy, and now it was all for naught. The nightmares had won. She might as well just give up. Right. It was all just a dream. She needed to wake up. Anything, to wake up.
