The late July sun beat down mercilessly on Canterlot, its hot rays a virtual torture that never seemed to end; that was the norm for a California summer, and even though Autumn was a mere two months away, it almost seemed as though it would never arrive. There was no sign of clouds in the sky, and though the refreshing waters of the Sacramento River weren’t that far away, they seemed almost to tease and taunt those trapped in office buildings.
But for Posey, she merely ignored the trappings of the heat and sun and the cool, cool, river. No, for her, the unbearable heat was just another reminder of why the world was a cruel, cruel place.
“Time of death: 8:02:26, mark it,” the other doctor said. Looking at Posey, who had just literally sprinted from her car into the room, he said, “Look, Poe, it’s not your fault.”
“I know, Tense,” she told her colleague, Dr. Intensive Care, “but nobody likes losing a patient. Mrs. Mix was under my primary care, and I hoped she’d have a few more years.” In the corner, Posey could see her best friend and colleague, Redheart, but she ignored the looks from the other woman at the moment.
“Posey, we all have to go sometime,” he reminded her. “Nothing’s eternal, or else the world would be a huge mess. Look at it this way: at least you merely hate to lose them. I have to be reminded of my wife every time this happens.”
The chiffon-haired doctor sighed. “Sorry, Tense. I’d forgotten.”
“I don’t. I can’t.” But he gave her a wan smile and added, “At least I have my daughter out of what happened, and I wholeheartedly think my wife would agree. Watermelody is the pride of my life, and I can’t wait until she heads to college.”
For a change, Sunset was up early, and managed to crawl downstairs before her mother left for work. As she descended the stairs, she noted Twilight looking more than a little agitated. She was carrying a bag of bird feed and placing it in the trough she built for the parliament of owls that had made their home in the backyard since the return of the plum-haired scholar’s wayward owl.
Opening the backyard glass door, Sunset said, “Morning, sis. You got up early.”
“Hiya,” Twilight commented, not looking up from counting the thirty or so owls landing to stoop by the trough; most had already started chowing down on the feed, a mixture of dead insects, ground-up rodents and other meats necessary for the diet of a semi-tamed bird of prey. “Have you seen Aladdin?”
“Aladdin? Yeah, didn’t we watch it the other night? The genie was hilarious.”
“No, I mean my owl.”
Sunset blinked. “You named him?”
Twilight grinned. “I named them all – they are mine, right? Anyway, Aladdin’s more gray than brown; I’m guessing one of his parents is a barred owl. Named him that because he landed on my shoulder the day one morning back in January when I was humming one of the songs from the movie. Anyway, he’s been missing for two days, and it’s not like him. He’s a homebody, kinda lazy, honestly.”
“Not even going to ask,” the flame-haired teen commented as she leaned against the door frame. A second later, the third member of their group showed up. “Morning, sleepy.”
“Heya, yourself,” Octavia yawned.
“Tavi, have you seen Aladdin?”
She nodded. “Yeah, but to be honest, I kinda preferred The Little Mermaid.”
“No, I mean my owl!”
Octavia sighed. “You named them, Ms. Obsessive-Compulsive?”
“Yes, yes I did. But he’s been missing for two days!” Twilight commented. “I’m more than a little worried right now.”
Octavia’s mind suddenly swam back to two days ago – or rather a night and a half ago, when she was lying in a pool of dirt, blood and feathers. After she’d taken a shower, she’d realized something else had happened as well…and that terrified her more than anything else. She looked up to see all the owls staring at her, as if they knew what she’d done, as if they were condemning her. I didn’t do it! Or if I did, I didn’t mean to! she wanted to shout. I don’t even know what happened!
“N-no, I hadn’t,” the teenage musician finally stammered, looking away from her cousins in the hopes they wouldn’t catch on.
“Hey, Tavi, you okay?” Twilight asked.
“I’m…fine. Really,” Octavia demurred, looking as though she was trying to hide from the universe. Given her recall of the events after Twilight’s incidents due to her suffering from Vibe aftereffects, she wasn’t sure that she wanted to tell anyone what was going on until she was absolutely sure that was the problem.
The problem is: What if I do if something goes seriously wrong in the meantime? she mused with not a small amount of worry. If I really…. Oh, God, what’s happening to me?
Meanwhile, Sunset, unaware of the drama going through her cousin’s mind, patted Octavia on the shoulder. “Nervous about today?”
“Uh, yeah. Just a little.” Thankfully, Octavia had something to hide behind: namely, that she and Sunset would be taking their driver’s license tests today. Twilight, who didn’t have a car lined up for her, planned to take the test anyway, just so she could. The three of them had been practicing on-and-off since mid-June, with the three of them having taken the driving course offered at Sunset’s school, to boot.
“Well, let’s go in and get some breakfast, okay? Twily, you too. Don’t worry about Aladdin; I’m sure he’ll turn up sooner or later.”
“If you insist,” Twilight sighed, then put the feed bag in its bin before joining them inside.
“Thank you, Doctor,” Autumn Forest told Posey. “You did all you could, and my mother lived a long life, but she wouldn’t have had the extra days to say goodbye to her family if it wasn’t for you.”
“I’m sorry; I wish I could have done more,” Posey replied, the guilt on her face telltale, “but even I can’t stop the reaper.”
“I know. I need to make funerary preparations now, but once again, you have my sincerest gratitude for all you did,” the man said. Posey looked at him and his soft brown eyes, not quite yet showing the sorrow he would be feeling over the next few days. She also noted that to an ironic degree, the man’s hair and beard – the color of the dying leaves of fall – clearly made it more understandable.
“I understand, Mr. Forest. I’ll leave you to your business.” Unable to say more and feeling the pain of his mother’s death more personally right now than he was, Posey quietly walked back to the nurse’s station, where Redheart was waiting.
“You okay, Poe?” the rose-haired woman spoke, a look of concern on her face.
Posey shook her head. “No, I actually feel like I failed them. My patient, Red – she was my patient – and I couldn’t save her.” Posey looked over at the man, who was walking over to see his grief-stricken family. “I just hate losing them.”
“I know,” Redheart said with sympathy. “C’mon, we’ll turn this over to Outpatient and then go get you some coffee. Sounds like you need someone to chat with.”
“Thanks, Red.”
“Hey what are best friends for?”
Meanwhile, Autumn had to walk back and talk to his family. The love of his life, his wife Vanilla Cream, was already discussing things with her children. Fancy had a stoic look on his face; he had always been a “stiff upper lip” kind of child. Coco, on the other hand, was completely disconsolate: She’d been through an ordeal of a whole different situation as of recent, but she didn’t tell either of her parents what had happened. Her friend, Crackle, who did know, told them that it had been something that the school’s divas had taken care of – he wasn’t aware that the divas had that much power outside of school – and that she wouldn’t tell on her friend. Autumn respected the young girl, and so didn’t pry further.
“We have to talk to Outpatient Services, and then we’ll have to arrange something with a funeral house,” Autumn said to Vanilla.
His wife nodded. “I’ll call the funeral home and start making arrangements. But will you be able to hold up, love?”
He sighed. “I have to – it’s not like I can turn to my brother to help with any of this.”
“I’ll help in whatever way I can,” Fancy spoke up.
“Me too, Dad,” Coco spoke through the tears.
“Thank you both. Fancy, I want you and your sister to mostly focus on the wake. Vanilla, I want you to work on the funeral issue. I’ll have to talk to the lawyer, since he has the most recent copy of Mom’s will and he’s the executor anyway.”
“What about contacting our relatives?” Vanilla asked. “My parents will want to make the trip from home, and you know how the airport is over in Omaha this time of year. And then there’s your sister-in-law….”
“No, didn’t forget about her, believe me – I’d be a fool to, given how much she loved Summer. I’ll take care of those as well. I’m sure she’s got to make arrangements anyway; and I have no doubt others do, too.”
“Here you go,” Night said as he handed the keys to Sunset and Octavia, the smile on his face tempered with a bit of parental concern. All three had passed their driving tests, and thus all three now had driver’s licenses. Octavia had inherited her father’s Dodge Grand Caravan, mostly because of her need for all the cargo space for her instruments. Sunset, on the other hand, got her aunt’s Kia Forte, a smaller car the two used when they had no need for the minivan. Twilight didn’t have one yet, but she’d also told her father that she really didn’t want one at the moment, mainly because she had her cousin and her sister to rely on.
“Well, if you’re sure, Twily,” Night told her. “I don’t want you to feel left out.”
“No, Dad, I’m serious. Besides, it’s not like I’m the only one of my friends without a car: Pinkie and Rainbow don’t have ones either. And besides, it’s not really like I need them to get around the area.”
“Well, if you’re sure,” he replied, before turning back to the other two. “Girls, just because you now own your own cars, doesn’t mean that you need to drive around like lunatics, got that? Last thing I need is Shining to call me at three in the morning because you’ve had an accident or something.”
“I’m not sure I can do that in a minivan anyway, Uncle Night,” Octavia cracked a grin.
“Personally, I want to live long enough to be officially adopted,” Sunset said with a smile. “So no wild driving for me, I promise.”
“Good. Now go ahead and get out of here and do whatever it is that teenagers with cars do; it’s been a while for me. Besides, I have some paperwork to do.”
“Sure thing, Dad,” Twilight commented. As Night headed off towards his office, the plum-haired scholar asked, “So what now?”
“Maybe go see the other girls and plan for the week?” Octavia suggested. “Rarity wanted to plan a trip for all of us to hit the beach, mainly if only to keep their kid sisters out of their hair. Maybe between us, them, and the triplets, we can do an overnight camping trip; they do have those over at Horseshoe Bay.”
Twilight shuddered at the memory and Sunset caught that. “What about Mendocino?” the flame-haired girl suggested instead. “I’ve heard some nice things about it, and it’s a road trip, so all’s good.”
“You know, that’s a good idea. Let’s go pester them at work,” the raven-haired girl said impishly.
“Okay, who’s driving?” Twilight asked, and the trio looked at each other for the longest time before Twilight took the initiative, told her father she was borrowing his car and then dragged her sister and cousin towards it.
Meanwhile at the Sugarcube Corner Café, a different conversation was carrying on. It was a slow day, and most of it Mrs. Cake had spent attending to her children, leaving Sonata to pretty much run the place. At the moment, only two customers were in the café, and Sonata made sure to give them personal service. Admittedly, they didn’t tip well, but regardless, they meant a lot to her.
“So, we’re absolutely sure about this?” Adagio asked her sisters. “Because once we make this choice, there’s no turning back. Maddie will stay with us until we’re eighteen because of American law, but once we’re college bound, we won’t see her as often. We won’t see Mezzo and Vesper as soon as we tell them that we want to leave.”
“I know. But I can’t do this, sis; it’s not the life I want to lead,” Aria told her. “I love martial arts, and I’m a sharpshooter; maybe I can find work as a stuntwoman or a cop. But we’ve spent most of our lives running around the world doing stuff girls our age shouldn’t do – maybe things people in general shouldn’t do – and it’s nothing that I want to grow old and alone thinking about.”
“Old and alone?” Sonata caught that comment. “Someone ask you out?”
“Yeah, Indoor Court, my boss over at the Y,” Aria said, blushing slightly. “I keep trying to find reasons to shoot him down, but…it’s nice having someone pay attention to me.”
“Yeah, I know. There’s this guy who goes to high school over at County who comes in every morning after his jog to grab a frozen mocha,” Sonata sighed. “He’s asked for my phone number more than once.”
“Lucky,” Adagio mock-groaned. “Maybe that’ll happen for me once we start school; if I recall correctly, we’re in the zone for Canterlot High, not one of the other ones. In any case, I’ve asked Maddie to have Vesper and Mezzo attend. I know this’ll break their hearts, but we have to do what’s best for us.”
“Break their hearts? The fact that you and I are probably never going to see our sœurs for a long, long time should be a concern!” Aria interjected. “It is for me!”
“Sorry,” Adagio told her. “I know you love her and that she’s family. But this is our future, Ari – it’s not theirs.”
An uncomfortable silence fell over the three before Sonata finally spoke up with, “Well, I’ll be home as soon as we close. Maybe someone should order pizza or something; I don’t think it’s a good idea for any of us to cook tonight. I’m going to be emotional enough as is.”
“I’ll make the pizza,” Adagio offered. “Guess I should get used to it again, once I start working for Shim and Sham when the new restaurant opens.”
“So, anyone wanna tell me why the triplets ain’t here?” Rainbow asked as she sat down. The girls were meeting together over at Applejack’s place, and the younger trio was present as well. The living room was packed to practical capacity, and they were all noshing on an extra case of Rainbow’s favorite apple soda, as well as some fresh chocolate chip cookies Granny Smith had made just a few minutes before.
“Yeah, I called them about an hour ago, and Dagi said they had something important to do with their older sister,” Pinkie explained. “They said to call them tomorrow and update them on the plans. In any case, woo hoo! Party on the beach!”
“So Ah’m guessin’ we’re going to have to ride with you guys?” Apple Bloom asked.
“Unless you got wheels of your own and can drive for over four hours,” Rainbow drolled.
“No, I think we’re good,” Sweetie Belle interjected. Apple Bloom had hinted earlier that they could try to get a badge in Car Repair, but Sweetie was certain that one in camping – one that they hadn’t had a chance to get before – was probably going to be much easier to do.
“Well, after consulting with my parents, they highly recommended Mendocino as well,” Rarity said, handing out a bunch of documents she’d printed out for the group. “They vacationed there once before I was born; they recommended some hotels, but when I told them we’ll be camping…well, after Mother calmed Father down, they thought it would be a wonderful way to pass a weekend.”
“Mom and Dad weren’t happy about us camping?” Sweetie asked.
“No, but you know how Father can be: he was worried about a tsunami, or a hurricane or some ancient evil rising from the sea or something. Personally, I just think he’s being overprotective,” Rarity finished with a laconic but nevertheless elegant shrug.
“Don’t let him talk to my Dad,” Fluttershy interjected. “Now that he lives with us again, he’s been a bit…on an overprotective streak. Puppytails is currently in hiding,” she added, and nobody was really sure if she was serious or not.
“Well, Ah guess Ah’m in charge of the cookin’,” Applejack volunteered; she figured as the person whose family owned an organic grocery, it was only a matter of time before anyone asked.
“We’ll all bring something; it’s not fair to make you bring all the food,” Octavia piped in.
“Ah’d appreciate that; my parents don’t mind, but since we’ve got th’ truck Ah figured Ah could use that to carry the camping gear.”
“Well, it’s going to be a great chance for me to make some of my best outdoor recipes!” Pinkie said, squeeing. “We’re gonna have so many different flavors of smores—”
“There’s more than one flavor of smore?” Twilight asked.
Rarity giggled. “Twilight, dear, you should know by now that when there’s a Pinkie, there’s an, ahem, way.”
Meanwhile, without missing a beat, Pinkie continued. “And there’s a beetus, which is pretty good, too!”
“Oh, no – not the beetus,” Rainbow groaned. “The last time you made that, I was in sugar shock for the whole day!”
“Uh, Rainbow, didn’t ya say y’ needed the sugar anyway for the energy?” Applejack asked, recalling that moment.
“Well, yeah, but the crash afterwards put me asleep after the game – and I missed out on the team celebration! Me! The team captain! Do you know how embarrassing that was?”
Sunset sheepishly put her hand up. “Actually, that was my fault,” she admitted, an awkward smile on her face. “I, uh, slipped in some powdered Benadryl back then. It blended with the powdered sugar. If it helps, well…sorry.”
Rainbow threw up her arms. “Figures,” she grunted.
“So we’re good for what, next weekend?” Fluttershy asked.
“Can’t. I have cheerleading camp that weekend,” Pinkie told her. “What about the weekend afterwards? We can make it a double party: both for summer winding down and for Sunny’s adoption two weeks after!”
“I like that idea, personally,” Twilight said, moving as to bump Sunset playfully.
“What, no party afterwards, Pinkie?” Octavia asked. “You’re slipping.”
“Silly Tavi, of course there’s going to be a party afterwards! What kind of Pinkie do you take me for?”
Sonata came home to see their grande sœurs all gathered around a table, in their CADPATs, looking over documents. Standing behind them, also in uniform, were her sisters. They’d cut their hair to regulation again, and were no longer the mere teenage girls they’d been just hours earlier.
“No….” Sonata gasped. “You promised me, Dagi. You said we’d all do this together!”
Intermezzo Blue looked up from the document. “Seaman Dusk, you’re late. What’s your excuse?”
Madrigal Storm looked at her fellow SIREN. “She didn’t know, Lieutenant. Give her a break.”
“Fine. You have five minutes to get into uniform, Seaman Dusk. I’ll excuse the non-regs cut for now, but I want that fixed by tomorrow, understood?”
“Wha-what’s going on?”
“There’s been a general recall, Soni,” Adagio said as she approached her sister. “All active-duty SIRENs and any reservists on ready recall have been ordered to station – our new facility in downtown Canterlot.”
“What?”
Aria joined them. “We had to do this. This is our last chance to get revenge against those who wronged us! Then we can come back and be normal girls, without any pressure or guilt!”
Sonata looked horrified. “Why? Don’t you guys care? We wanted a normal life and now—” The youngest of the triplets angrily waved her arms to encompass everything. “Why did you lie to me, Dagi? Why are you backing her, Ari? You said you wanted a normal life, dammit!”
“We want a normal life for you three as well.” Intermezzo looked not unkindly at the teenager, not as the officer in charge of their cell, but rather as the older sister she’d been for Adagio for nearly all her life. “We wouldn’t ask this if the recall hadn’t happened here.”
“But a full battalion? That’s throwing a gauntlet in Les Scars’ faces! CSIS isn’t going to take this lightly,” Sonata stated with a tone that she wouldn’t have had just weeks before their current mission began. It was a sign of how much she’d changed since her worldview had been altered.
“I know. I hope the Old Man knows what she’s doing, or else we’re in trouble,” Intermezzo admitted. “Otherwise, this is going to be short and brutal for us. But I promise that once it’s all over, whatever plans Captain Blast has for us? They won’t include you three – they may not even include us.” She looked back at Madrigal and Vesper, then back at Sonata. “You three need a guiding hand, and far be it for us to abandon our petite sœurs.”
Adagio took her sister’s hand. “Please, Soni? We can’t do this without you.”
Aria took the other. “I know – it’s not going to be easy to tell our friends, or even if we’ll see them again. But once we’re done, we’re done. And we’ll all be together.”
Sonata had a very bad feeling about this but didn’t voice it. She couldn’t leave her sisters and their sœurs, even if she felt everything was going to go south.
“Okay, I’m in,” she said, knowing this was going to be the biggest mistake of her life. She could only hope it wouldn’t be the last one she ever made.
Intermezzo nodded. “Then get into uniform so I can formally report to the Quarterdeck that we’re mustered on station.”
Nervously, Sonata came to attention, sealing her fate. “Aye aye, ma’am,” she voiced, internally wincing.
At the desk in a private office adjacent to the bedroom, Divine Right looked at a copy of the grimoire that he commissioned for Cantata. It couldn’t be a perfect duplicate – he had to hold something in reserve, after all – but the transcription he was making would be more than serviceable enough. Of course, there was no assurance that she would be able to use it, unless she was a distant relative or someone from another one of the ancient bloodlines that Cavalcanti mentioned in his memoirs, and if that was the case, he would have to enchant a few items for her. Either way, it was just another way of ensuring her loyalty. In any case, it wouldn’t be ready for a while still; the historian he hired to translate one to the other was having some issues with some of Cavalcanti’s handwriting and that delayed it for another day.
He then looked at the small circle of runes he’d written down, as well as the vial in the center, giving off a sulfurous scent. Alchemical magic was still weak to him, but he was trying to learn that quickly; he had little choice in the matter. After all, his current project had been due to what he’d learned so far from his grimoire, and if it was to proceed beyond the embryonic stage, then he would need to make himself adept in rather short order. He then tapped a large touchscreen he had installed above the desk, noting the creature in another room that had once been Piano Bliss. A minor part of him felt bad for turning her into the creature that blood was being drawn from, but if his plan was to succeed, he would have to do it. A lot depended on that creature, the first of his true magical challenges. But he knew he would easily defeat any challenge, because it was his divine right to rule, to become a god-emperor and to own this, the first of many worlds.
Behind him, he could feel the sudden touch of Cantata’s fingers on the back of his neck. “Come to bed – it’s two in the morning.”
“I still have things to do,” he told her, taking her hand and kissing it briefly. “Don’t you?” he then asked her as he turned around to face her in his nearly naked glory; she’d slipped on a diaphanous bedgown to come to him.
Cantata smiled. “That’s what’s great about being a CO; I have an officer of the day who handles that sort of thing during the off-hours. But I’ll be back in uniform at 0800; that’s when I have to acknowledge all of our combat cells coming in so I can form them into new companies.”
“Then you should go to bed; I’ll be along after I have this last set of spells to cast in preparation for the big night.”
“And you’ll give me more details in the morning, I presume?”
“I’ll give you more than that, my dearest lady,” he told her.
She put her arms around him. “Like what?”
“Like the first step in owning this world,” he said, his eyes twinkling with sinister delight.
She leaned down and kissed him. “You come to bed in five minutes and I’ll show you a few things I’ve learned over the years,” she cooed. With that, she walked back towards the bed, and he then looked briefly at some astronomical and astrological charts, as they would be of supreme importance soon.
Assured that all was in place, he closed the book, confident that all would be done soon. As he rose from his chair, he looked at the moon as he headed towards its dalliance with the horizon. At last, all the pieces are falling together, he mused. I will have my throne, and more. I will have a wife that is truly worthy of me, and an army to grind my enemies into the dust.
He then reached into his pocket, pulling an old, faded picture of him during his teenage years. He was with a girl of incredible beauty and that even after all this time still had feelings for. But she’d spurned him and moved away – to this very town – and led a life without him. Well, here would be where he would get his revenge, a truly sweet and well-deserved one, because she’d spurned him and turned aside his affections, and now after all this time she would pay for that – dearly.
This is where I take everything from you, Solaire, he mused, ripping up the picture and throwing it in the garbage, including that which is most dear to you.
Under the sun-dappled light of a French morning, a group of teens departed the ornately-designed brick building on 2 bis Rue du Fer à Cheval. Normally the school was alive with a number of languages: French, English, Spanish, Dutch, and the myriad of tongues of the various nationalities that made up the student body of the Lycée International de Saint Germain-en-Laye, the world-famous International School located in the Parisian suburb of Yvelines. But it was still the summer holiday, at least for most of the student body; next week, school would start for the students assigned to the French, Dutch and Russian Sections of the storied academy.
Walking out of the wing assigned to the American Section of the school, a girl called out to her friends. “Thanks for coming with me, girls,” she said with an awkward smile.
One of them, with midnight-blue and white hair said, “Hey, it’s not like asking for a temporary leave from the school is common. Besides, you need friends around right now: you’re probably taking it hard, what with all the deaths in your family this summer.”
“Thanks, Night Lily. But seriously, when it’s your time to go, it’s your time to go.”
“That’s macabre as hell,” a second one with cyan and tan hair murmured.
“I don’t think she meant it that way, Beachcomber,” a third one with short coral-pink hair added.
“No, I didn’t, Priceless. What I meant was…well, nobody expected my uncle and aunt to have that car crash in Monaco, but Uncle Bataille never was much of a safe driver, and Aunt Quenouille wasn’t much better – but I loved them both, and I miss them dearly.” The girl’s eyes watered for a second, before she turned away to look into the distance. “As for my grandmother…she lived a long life and she was happy, at least the last time I saw her. At least Mom says that if we can make it there in the next few days, we’ll be able to attend the funeral.”
Priceless grinned, her lime-green eyes sparkling. “Well at least you get a sweet consolation prize – you get to go back to the States! Woo-hoo, shopping!”
Night Lily rolled her eyes. “Uh, Price? We live in Paris, remember? We’re already spoiled as it is.”
“Besides, I don’t know how much shopping I’ll be doing during the next few weeks I’ll be there,” the girl admitted. “Remember, I haven’t been back since I was a kid – been living here in France since Mom moved back.” The quartet crossed the street, walking towards the nearest bus stop. “As it is, when not getting to meet extended family, I’ll probably be studying to keep my grades up.”
Beachcomber laughed. “Studying? Really? The girl with perfect grades needs to study?”
“Beachie…. Look, my studies are important, since I want to attend a good university when we graduate, and even with my grades, Harvard or Oxford can be tough to get into.” The girl smiled softly, adding, “Besides, from what Mom tells me and what little I remember, Canterlot is hardly known for anything out of the ordinary. It’s just your average mid-size city in the US, not even as exciting as if we were going to New York or LA or whatever.”
Night Lily then looked at her friends and said, “Well, promise you won’t forget about us while you’re gone, okay?”
Beachcomber laughed. “Hell, you’d better bring us back presents, or else!”
“Hey, you gals are my best friends!” Sunset Shimmer said as she brushed a lock of her fiery-hued bangs out of her cyan eyes. “You know I’m going to!”