//------------------------------// // Friendship Fails // Story: Bloom Filter // by ferret //------------------------------// Some three nights earlier, unconcerned with such trivial things as fall dances or popularity contests, a pair of former ponies were standing out in the night, outside in front of the school courtyard that leads to the main entrance to Canterlot High. They were both standing beside a well known but rarely noticed statue of a rearing horse right in front of the street. Though it was long past school hours, and perhaps because it was long past school hours, not many would see the two girls standing there, in the black night illuminated by the orange glow of streetlights. Not many passed by this part of town at this hour. If they did, they perhaps would think it odd to see a pair of girls just standing there with their parcels and packages, an odd dog on his haunches at their feet, as if they were waiting for a bus to arrive. Thy would probably assume a bus was about to arrive. One of these two girls had a look of barely restrained eagerness on her face, the other a look of pensive dread. “I’m so excited!” Twilight said, beside herself with glee. Beside her was her faithful assistant Spike, who was no doubt as excited as she was, along with what one would consider a heavy sack full of books, but of course the tomes of this world were far too dangerous and disruptive to risk taking home with her. These books were, in fact, copious amounts of meticulously gathered notes by the human hand of Twilight Sparkle herself. “30 moons,” Twilight Sparkle whispered, “I can’t believe it’s finally here!” “I am looking forward to having hands again so much,” the dog spoke up clearly but quietly, in a way dogs probably shouldn’t be speaking up. He reared up, waving his front paws as if for emphasis. Nothing accompanied him for the journey, well except for a certain ground breaking discovery in comic literature that he sort of snuck underneath Twilight’s notes, but she’d thank him once he showed the world what the human Marevalous’s secret origin story is. “They are pretty convenient,” Twilight agreed, shouldering her bag and running those odd sensitive digits down the strap. “You’ll be able to see all your old friends again,” Sunset Shimmer said uncomfortably. She didn’t have as much stuff as Twilight, just some items she thought she could pawn off in that world, for something useful in this world again, the next time around. The flame haired girl checked her wristwatch, saying, “Getting close to time,” in an apprehensive tone. Twilight turned and looked at Sunset worriedly. “You don’t have to, you know,” Twilight offered. Sunset shook her head though. “No, you were right,” Sunset said to Twilight seriously. “The secret I’ve been searching for is in the magic of friendship, and I may not have many friends left over there who haven’t gotten on with their lives, even if they remember me, but... well, there’s at least one who I really need to apologize to.” Twilight smiled and nodded understandingly, turning to face the portal with a thought on her face. “It’s been so long,” she said in a hollow voice, then blinked, and turned back to Sunset stammering apologetically, “I–I mean no I know it hasn’t really been a long time, but for me just I mean we’re just still new at this you know?” “Smooth,” Spike said, rolling his eyes. Sunset chuckled mirthlessly. “It’s fine,” she said, “You enjoy yourself as much as you can. Remember your time is precious, and you have to hold onto every minute of it. They’ve been waiting all year too.” “It’s so unfair to them,” Twilight murmured mournfully. “I just wish I could–” “Hold that thought, Princess,” Sunset said, staring at her watch. “Annnd... midnight. The portal is open!” “Alright!” Spike shouted cheerily. He covered his mouth with his paws and looked around nervously if anyone had heard, saying, “I mean, uh, woof woof.” As they were alone in the middle of the night, he was probably worried about nothing, but it didn’t hurt to be paranoid. “Yess!” Twilight simultaneously squeed, bunching her hands together. “I’ll see you two on the flip side!” she cheered, striding to the portal. She hesitated though, turning back to regard Sunset worriedly repeating, “I will see you, right?” “Yeah, yeah,” Sunset drawled, rolling her eyes. “It’s so weird getting used to being a pony again. You remember when we met. I had to keep teleporting, because I could hardly walk!” “Yes I do,” Twilight said unapprovingly, “Too bad you weren’t clumsier, or this might never have been a problem.” “Yeah and– and I’d still be stuck, and,” Sunset shuddered a sigh, “And wouldn’t know about what friendship could be. I know it’s selfish but–I’m really glad I fucked up, even if... I mean, stop waiting. Go and enjoy your friends! I promise I’ll follow you.” “Do you Pinkie Promise?” Twilight asked teasingly. “Not on your life!” Sunset declared confidently. “That girl scares the bajeebus out of me.” Spike snickered at that. “Very well then,” Twilight said, turning her round face toward the horse statue. “I’ll just have to trust you will go through with it, this time.” “Don’t worry I’ll make sure she—” Spike said before getting interrupted by Twilight saying in a guiding tone, “Don’t force her. She has to do this on her own.” Sunset pffted, “As if that mutt could force me to do anything.” “I am a thoroughbred dragonhound, thank you very much,” Spike pronounced teasingly, a paw raised regally. Twilight wanted to talk to Sunset more about this, to boost her confidence, even maybe drag her through, but this was something Sunset had to do on her own. So she smiled at those two and, with visions of her friends, her real friends in her mind, Twilight turned and leaped through the portal to Equestria. Or, she would have, if she didn’t smack face first into unyielding stone. “Ow! Cornfeathers! Ow!” Twilight hissed, putting her hands over her nose. “Cornfeathers was old when I was in Equestria,” Sunset said derisively. She looked at her watch again, sneering at the thing. “Stupid human technology,” she grumbled. “Must be broken again.” “We can’t have missed it,” Twilight said with a little panic in her voice. Spike just whimpered in a doggy way, walking forward a few hesitant steps, but afraid to try the portal himself in case it really was broken, and not just a fluke. “Don’t worry, Princess,” Sunset assured the pained girl. “I’m pretty sure I’d notice if we were three whole days late. Look, the moon is full, see? It’s just not midnight yet. My watch is off, or something.” Twilight touched the stone statue again, finding its surface unyielding still. “Oh, I hope it becomes midnight soon,” she fretted fussily. “We’ll just wait around,” Sunset said agreeably, sitting down and putting an arm around the other girl. “It’s already the middle of the night, so it can’t be long now.” When dawn broke over Canterlot High, the janitor was drawn by the sound of hysterical sobs, to the strange crazy girl who did not even go to their school, who wouldn’t leave the school statue, no matter how her friend tried to console her or calm her down, until she was dragged away kicking and screaming for causing a public nuisance. Two nights later, it was the Fall Formal, yay! The city was quiet this time of night. The residents who worked, were done working, and the night life was pretty much absent, all those energetic students off partying at the school on the edge of town. The sounds of distant cannonfire nonwithstanding, it was a rather unremarkably peaceful quiet time of day. There was one student, well not really a student, who probably should have been having a blast, but instead she was standing in a third dingy apartment, with a paid deposit in it, but no plans for another month of rent. Sunset Shimmer was standing out on the small balcony they had on the third floor. Her hair cascaded from her head like fire, in bold bright stripes of yellow and red. They were hot colors, for a hot pony, who had grown up in the sun, but had since come to spend a lot of time in the shadows. She picked this apartment when she wanted to watch the Formal from afar, without attending it and going through all that heartache and rigamarole. Above the everpresent glow of the electric street lights you could see the high school, all lit up and cheerful with a white light that almost looked like a crystal from here, or a star on the earth. In her hands, the girl held a pack of cigarettes, idly at first because she was just looking out over the distance at the dance party. But she looked down at the box, and stuck a cigarette out, then slid it back in again. She stared at it dully, then tossed it aside, clattering on the cement of the balcony surface. This was supposed to be the last one, and she couldn’t spend it getting hooked on the soothing smoke from those leaves again. Not while she still had hope. At least she still had hope. Cement. There was another thing humans had figured out sometime during their absolutely impossible situation. It wasn’t exactly shaped pearlith, the material of choice for stone structures back home, but it was still made out of limestone for the most part, with some creative use of chemicals and fire to make sure that it didn’t harden until it had been shaped as desired. It was ugly, and rough, and dangerous to work with, but it worked. That seemed to characterise a lot of this human ingenuity, not that she could blame them. Sunset turned and padded over the cement on her soft, sensitive feet. Feet that didn’t make any sense, since it’s not like humans could have evolved with shoes on. But feet nonetheless. She tried to remember what hooves felt like. It’d been her first time back in decades, and she hadn’t even paused to feel her old hooves. And now she might never... well, it’s nothing she couldn’t deal with. Sunset was far too used to dealing with her day to day life. She could deal with it. But she wasn’t the only one anymore. And her only real friend here was not dealing with it. At all. The bowl of mushy oatmeal mash was untouched. Sunset didn’t know why she thought it would be. It was supposed to remind her friend of home, of her old self, but it only reminded Twilight Sparkle of home, and her old self. Something she did, and did not, want to be reminded of. Sunset stared over at the fallen girl, lying face up in the bed, next to the bed table on which the bowl had been placed wordlessly. At her feet was curled a weird colored mutt, sleeping fitfully, who would have stood out if dogs didn’t have almost as much genetic variation as human beings. Twilight was just staring up at the ceiling. She didn’t even have any notes around her. All her notes and research were in a violent disarray, thrown all around the living room. Sunset hadn’t even bothered to clean in up yet, not sure if she even should. “Hey uh,” Sunset said to Twilight uncomfortably. “We’ve got to check the statue again,” Twilight said emptily. “It’s the third day, Twilight,” Sunset told her desperately. “If it was going to happen–” “We have to try!” Twilight shouted, sitting up from where she lay. “There has to be a way back home! It can’t just... not be there!” It was more life than the former princess had shown all day. “We can check it one more time,” Sunset said, “But there’s no reason to think maybe all this threw it off or something. There’s more magic in this world than there has ever been, and we might not be able to predict what affect it has on the portal.” “What if we–” Twilight paused as Spike shifted restlessly against her feet. “What if it never opens?” Twilight asked quietly, clearly less quietly than she’d like. With her hair in disarray and the saddest look on her face and as big of eyes as she could make, she looked... Sunset turned away, unable to hide a blush as she said frankly, “It will open. We just... it’s something about the apple. There’s no reason when this settles that the portal will suddenly just stop being magical.” “Is this why Apple Bloom turned into a pony?” Twilight said at her in an angry whisper. “Could our world have ...leaked into hers somehow, and corrupted the apple sequence?” “That doesn’t make sense, but none of this makes sense anyway, so what do I know?” Sunset looked at Twilight and shrugged casually. “She can’t be the Apple Bloom from your world, since she’s part of the time loop, and I think I’d notice if there were two Apple Blooms running around.” Sunset winced as she realized the words ‘your world’ escaped her lips. “It would be so much easier with our horns,” Twilight muttered grumpily. “If we could just figure out why Apple Bloom turned into a pony... that, then maybe we could replicate the process on ourselves, but we need our horns to figure out why she turned into a pony!” “Well, we have a lot of data at least?” Sunset offered. “Those theoretical correlations between mana and spatial flux. At least we have electrothaumatic interference to measure.” “No magically sensitive instrument is going to come close to a good old horn in your head,” Twilight stated flatly. “The best we’ve been able to measure is that Apple Bloom did, in fact, turn into a pony. And you and I both have eyes.” Sunset frowned thoughtfully. “Well if she had a luminate—” “Could we just go to the portal already, and see if it’s open?” Spike asked, speaking up in a more jaded tone than usual. “If you two get into talking theories again, none of us are going to get any sleep!” “Sorry, Spike,” Twilight said with a half smile. “We’ll just check it really quick, to make sure its period has translated rather than merely truncated.” “It’s... period translated?” Spike said tilting his head with a doggy whine in his throat. “If it hasn’t opened for a shorter time, rather than opening at a different time entirely,” Sunset translated. “Well don’t just sit there,” Spike said sitting on the bed to the two girls standing beside him, “Let’s go check it out!” Meanwhile, after dark, at a certain high school you may have heard of, in the gymnasium auditorium, in the middle of an auspicious high school dance, a little pony known as Apple Bloom was pretty sure the pink girl with the blue hair was winning, for what counts as winning. She had a whole pile of minions she called “followers” who were driving the competition to the floor by peppering them with what appeared to be canned sardines. But one rose before the assault, the one with the cannon, and she shoryukened the other girl right off the stage. The pink one countered, sacrificing her followers to the graveyard to untap her island giving her one extra mana to— okay somehow they were playing cards now, and Apple Bloom was too busy looking frantically for her friends to pay much more mind to their proceedings. The gas grill at the more popular refreshment station had tipped over in the chaos, and was belching columns of fire into the air, illuminating screaming students, and for some reason the sprinkler system wouldn’t come on. A janitor was basically hurling fire extinguisher tanks at it whole, screaming “YEAHHHH” every time they burst on impact in a volumnuous shower of fire retardant foam. Apple Bloom dodged ...that, then thought she spotted a lick of purple hair, so she ran for the overturned table, ignoring the princesstrial candidates on stage, who continued to shout. “You may have Trixie in a headlock,” exclaimed the blue girl as the two grunted in a tight tense wrestling embrace, the crowds around them cheering on their favorite, “But you cannot imprison Trixie’s greatness!” One scuffle later and the pink girl with the blue hair shouted back, “You can piledrive me all you want!” Maybe if she’d just use third person, someone would remember her name, but alas she did not. “But everyone will still love m—” she got cut off by the impact, her hard head breaking the stage, and sending a spotlight swinging down, its broken cable sparking with electricity. “Scootaloo, there you are!” Apple Bloom shouted, gallopping up to the girl who had taken refuge behind a fallen table, against the flying debris, the paintballs, the copious amounts of streamers flying everywhere. Together with Scootaloo was that dark suited blonde boy, who was looking really out of his element crouched there like that. He took one look at Apple Bloom, and deliberately turned to look over the edge of the bench, as if scanning for hostiles. Oh, right. The whole naked thing. “Oh, skip it!” Apple Bloom shouted at him. “Just don’t look at mah butt and it’s fine!” She was too excited to be ashamed at this point. Besides she’d already been running all over the place now, and anyone who spotted her had just rubbed their eyes, then poured their glass back into the punch bowl. This definitely was too much of a disaster to worry about some little pony, although Apple Bloom didn’t see any demons yet. “Scoots, what happened?” Apple Bloom asked in utter confusion, “Ah was under the table, an’ it all—boom!” “There was a dispute over Fall Formal Princess,” Scootaloo snarled, “The blue one won by a single vote, and the the pink one challenged her to a duel, and they just had all this stuff ready for it, like they were planning on it all along!” Another explosion shook the building, sending plaster raining down on the three of them. “We have to get out of here!” Scootaloo exclaimed, pulling Dinky’s head down, right before a folding chair hurtled over the table, barely missing clipping him in the head. “But I don’t know where Sweetie Belle is, or Diamond Tiara!” “We gotta make sure they’re safe!” Apple Bloom shouted. “Ah cain’t get a ride with Rarity, without Diamond’s dress to hide me! An’ also they’re our friends!” “My mom will give you a ride!” Scootaloo shouted over the din, “But they won’t leave without us, so we gotta find them! Just, if you spot the other girls, we can all make a break for it!” Apple Bloom nodded curtly, and turned her ears to listen around. It wasn’t long before she heard the familiar sound through the smokey dusty partial visibility in the gym, of Sweetie Belle shouting, “Apple Bloom!” and “Scoota—” then she got cut off briefly, then belted out, “Scootaloo! Where are you!” “She’s over there!” Apple Bloom shouted to the two of them. When they just looked at her blankly, she shouted, “Where mah ear is pointing!” Apple Bloom ran off in that direction, the two kids running along behind, just as some huge impact came down, obliterating their table behind them, shaking the ground with its intensity. “That was close!” Scootaloo shouted. “What was that?” Dinky shouted too, his curly locks all sweaty from keeping up with the two of them. “Water balloon, I think,” Scootaloo said speculatively. “It was the size of a bus!” Dinky answered in agitation. “A bus?” Scootaloo said disbelievingly, “That was barely the size of a coupe!” “Sweetie, can ya hear me!” Apple Bloom shouted, searching around until Sweetie burst out of the crowd to envelop Apple Bloom in her arms and hair, in a big hug shouting, “You’re okay!” While Apple Bloom tried to breathe, Diamond ran up behind Sweetie, with some sort of weapons assembly in her arms that looked kind of like an automatic giant rubber band launcher. Diamond had a rough look to her like she got a faceful of explosion, that covered her face and the whole front of her dress in black soot. “C’mon, let’s get out of here!” she shouted. Sweetie dropped Apple Bloom to her hooves, and they waited while Diamond covered for them with suppressing fire. Dinky and Scootaloo ventured ahead cautiously to check the exit. The two came back through the smoke, and Dinky shouted, “It’s no good! The doors are blocked by pie! There’s no way out!” “No way out?” Diamond said with a dangerous look in her eyes, “Then we’ll have to like, make a way out.” One well intentioned escapade with a cannonball later (not the cannon) and the heavily damaged wall broke open in a shower of plaster. That was about when the fire sprinklers came on, blasting all the flame retardant foam in a redundant layer of cold water. Everyone was instantly soaked, and spluttered as they staggered out into the hallway. Apple Bloom shook herself off and looked at her companions...... oh right, that Dinky boy was still with them. He kind of, had that moonstruck look to him, like he just saw a naked girl shake herself off like a dog or something. “It’s fine!” Apple Bloom exclaimed self consciously, dashing off on her hooves to drag a discarded tablecloth back with her in her...mouth. “Y’all dry off with this!” she said throwing it at the four of them. There was a thundering explosion then, the gas main or something, that sent Apple Bloom and Scootaloo both scrambling for cover. Apple Bloom gave Scootaloo a wan look from underneath the tablecloth and said, “Ah’m a little pony. What’s your excuse?” “Fast reflexes,” Scootaloo answered smoothly. “I think it’s winding down anyway,” Sweetie Belle said to them consolingly, leaning over the tablecloth and watching the diminishing violence within. Apple Bloom exclaimed in a tight reedy whisper from underneath the tablecloth torn from the remains of the refreshment table, “Ah cain’t believe y’all talked me into this!” Next to her, totally covered in soot, Diamond Tiara exclaimed as well, “I can’t believe that just happened!” “This enough adventure for you, Diamond?” Scootaloo said to her irascibly. “Uggh,” Diamond exclaimed, dropping her assault rifle and folding her arms sourly. She didn’t deny it though. “Do you think the fire is still spreading?” Sweetie Belle whimpered alongside the two of them, curiously untouched. Scootaloo, who was also peeking out from under the tablecloth, not a very inconspicuous lump said, “After all those fire extinguishers exploded? Everything is absolutely soaked in nasty foam!” A blonde boy next to Scootaloo just shook his head and said, “I’m so confused.” “Maybe ah’m just a dumb pony,” Apple Bloom mused, “But ah’m pretty sure challenging someone to a duel because you lost to them is against the rules or somethin’.” “At least both the princesses are unconscious,” Tiara sighed, “I didn’t even see who won.” “Ah can hear the sirens already,” Apple Bloom said. “Maybe we better skedaddle before the paramedics get here, an’ who knows who else.” And so the four, now five friends skedaddled like they never skedaddled before, the lead being Apple Bloom, eager to get her little pony body out of sight before it made things even worse. A short distance away, and time ago, Twilight Sparkle was poring over statue, her stethescope trailing along its smooth flat surface, a look of total concentration on her face. “Uh, Twilight?” Spike said worriedly, pawing at her side and staring at the flashing, smoking gymnasium. “I think it’s starting to get pretty rough in there.” “Not now Spike, trying to measure the mumblepacitymumbles,” Twilight said continuing to stare forward. Sunset Shimmer wasn’t being much help, certainly. She was just leaning against the corner of the statue, with an amused smirk on her face, watching the Fall Formal slowly go up in smoke and flames. “Looks like both Trixie and Sea Swirl tried for my spot this time,” Sunset remarked. “It’s always pretty spectacular when those two go at it. I wonder if they both prepared independently this time, or if it’s one of the ones where they stage the whole thing together, just for the attention?” “I am not getting a peep here,” Twilight grumbled, tapping on the unrelenting stone with a piece of inert quartz. “You know the auditory homologue effect is largely theoretical,” Sunset said down to Twilight. “Besides, I think it’s getting on time when you blasted me. Wanna see what happens this year?” “I did not blast you,” Twilight said, “I helped your friends fill you with the magic of harmony.” She sighed, and took the stethescope from around her ears dangling in her hand as she stood up straight. “You’re right though, I’m just not getting anywhere. I wonder what—euw... did a table just go through the window?” Twilight stood and joined Sunset in watching the chaos unfold. Spike started pretending he was a sports announcer or a disaster news reporter or... something. The dance definitely was what could be expected if you put a bunch of hormonal teenagers in an enclosed area and told them to decide on who’s the best. Apparantly it got bad enough for partygoers to give up the ghost, because they started streaming out of the smoking building, running every which way to get to their motorized vehicle thingies. The few who could drive at least. The rest had to just mingle in the parking lot. It was the strangest practice, marooning your foal at places like this, but then not letting them operate motor vehicles out of concern for their safety. Twilight Sparkle really did not understand these humans one bit. She had a sneaking suspicion that she never would, if Sunset was any indication. With Spike barking out play-by-plays, Twilight shifted and lay an arm against the smooth stone that should have been a gateway, still wishing that maybe she would just go through it this time. A thundering explosion shook the whole area, shattering the remaining windows, and sending the mint green Lyra analogue soaring through the air like a pegasus. Twilight reflexively caught her in her... she had no magic. Twilight winced as Lyra hit the asphalt in a way that looked really painful. She just couldn’t stand how terribly fragile these humans were. Lyra started screaming right away and clutching her leg, which had a big red stripe on it where she was already bleeding just from scraping it on the concrete. Twilight started forward, but she saw Sunset hadn’t even flinched, still just leaning there staring forward, with a bored expression on her face. “Can’t we at least help out?” Twilight said in frustration to her fiery friend, who sometimes seemed nothing more than the dull glow of dying embers. Sunset blinked and shook her head as if realizing that she was in a situation here. “Oh, right. Yeah, Lyra needs first aid, and her wrist is sprained but she doesn’t realize it yet.” She started jogging forward and this time it was Twilight who remained frozen staring at her friend. “How many times has...” she asked Sunset, when she turned back to see why Twilight wasn’t following. Sunset just shrugged in answer. “Every time she blows the gas main. Now come on, you’re right; we should do what we can.” The two of them and Spike ran forward. Sunset kept running into the only slightly burning building, to where she knew there was a prepared kit full of gauze and antiseptics, while Twilight ran up to the aquamarine girl, saying, “Oh my gosh, don’t worry! My friend’s getting some bandages.” She thought to tear strips off her dress, but then she remembered about bandages, and sterility. “You’ll be okay,” she told the human girl earnestly. “Just hold on a sec.” Lyra was looking at her with a hesitant gaze, saying in her straight alto, “Thank you, do I... know you?” “No, I just saw you fell and my friend and...” Twilight blushed holding out her hand in a greeting. “I-I’m Twilight Sparkle.” Lyra reached out her hand but winced. She stared at it and whimpered, saying, “My wrist hurts...” “You may have sprained it,” Twilight said sitting next to her. “Just hold it very carefully in your lap.” Lyra did so wincing again. It wasn’t half a minute before Sunset was charging back with the whole kit in her hands. She dumped it open on the parking lot and got to work right away, taking out the cotton and saline and wetting down Lyra’s leg and carefully wiping away the worst of the dirt and grit. Lyra stiffened at the pain, and Sunset stiffened too in realization, lifting her head from her work to say, “Uh, hi I’m Sunset Shimmer. Don’t mind me I just saw you hit the turf and is it okay if I wrap up your leg?” “Y-yeah,” Lyra said uncertainly. “You a nurse’s assistant or something?” Indeed those coming out with injuries were getting approached by said assistants and nurses who were standing by for patching up any wounds acquired in such a disaster. As Lyra hadn’t exited via any door it didn’t look like anybody had noticed her yet. “The blast wave took care of most of the glass,” Sunset just said without explaining. “Twilight, you pick the stuff out of the back of her dress.” She had already swiped on a yellow medicinal cleanser, and was wrapping Lyra’s cut leg tightly in white gauze. Twilight did as instructed, wishing desperately for the finer and more comprehensive touch her horn could have employed. She used her thin fingers to seek out glass fragments, trying to avoid cutting herself on them, wincing when a large one had even drawn a cut down the girl’s thin skin. It didn’t look like anything... serious back there though. “Should’ve thought twice before trying to undermine the floor boards,” Lyra muttered, hissing again as she cradled her wrist. “Who even runs a gas pipeline underneath a gymnasium?” “Someone who doesn’t expect students to ride a jackhammer in there,” Sunset mumbled distractedly. Lyra chuckled, “Yeah I...” she squinted at Sunset saying, “How did you know it was me on the jackhammer?” “Saw you go through the window,” Sunset said smoothly, “Can’t imagine it was anyone else.” “Yeah bu–” Lyra started to say and Sunset stood up saying, “Well you’re all set. Just wait for a nurse to take care of your wrist. There should be one in about 30 seconds or so.” She blinked, and added, “I mean, I’ll go get one.” Then jogged off. Soon the nurse was wrapping up Lyra’s hand much more gently than either of them could have managed, saying in that Cownadian accent, or human analogue which seemed to be a province called Manitoba, which was odd since Manitoba was supposed to be very, very far away from here. Right. The nurse said, “Thank you so much for your quick thinking girls. If only more students were as kind as you! I think Lyra and me can take it from here now.” Lyra blushed, saying, “Y-yeah, thanks um, Sunset and... Twilight hey your names are themed, cool.” “Let’s see if any other students need help,” Sunset said quickly, pulling Twilight along until they were around the corner. Sunset sighed then and sank against the wall, putting her fingers to her temples and rubbing. “Sorry,” Twilight said to her walking with her forward as Spike loped at their heels. “It’s really tricky not revealing stuff.” “Eh, it’s... fine I’m used to it,” Sunset said. “If this really is the last time around, then it’s good that we helped her. Hate for something bad to happen to someone just when they were about to escape. Even if they weren’t my friend, it’d still be my f—” “No,” Twilight said putting a finger on Sunset’s lips. Sunset was too surprised to make a snarky retort and just stood there. “No blaming every little thing on yourself. If you can help that’s great, but if you can’t?” Sunset smiled at Twilight. “Don’t worry about it,” she said in as gentle a tone as she ever did. Whether she was reassuring Twilight, or merely finishing Twilight’s sentence didn’t need to be said between the two girls. The three of them milled through the spooked crowd of stranded students outside the gym in the cool night air, some shivering and wet from where they didn’t get out before the sprinklers kicked on. There were actual paramedics pulled up, who seemed to be carting off a few unconscious humans, while the rest were just... low priority. So few experienced nurses in the human world, another tragedy of their species. Such a short time to learn anything, it’s no wonder most of the people trying to help had barely dressed a wound, before becoming medical assistants. It made Twilight’s heart swell with... not with pity, but with a compassion that came with understanding. She too had to live like this, and she really sympathized with the situation humans found themselves in every day. Normal mundane tasks made into dangerous adventures, merely by the lack of a sensible magic hyperstructure. With her own trouble fraught life, she felt a connection with that, something that swelled in her that... wait, no. She was actually starting to feel funny now. “Sunset, something’s...” Twilight said uncertaintly, touching her human chest beneath those soft fleshy mounds where something... familiar was happening. “Sunset, the elements!” Twilight exclaimed in sudden excitement. Sunset turned to look at her, saying “What? What about the elements? Harmony, you mean?” “I feel something!” Twilight said excitedly, “And it’s friendly! I think something is happening!” “This is just... the same hour as last time,” Sunset said with wonder, and a quick check at her watch. “This is probably the exact same time the Elements awakened the year before!” Fear tinged her voice as she backed up from Twilight saying, “Y-you’re not gonna zap me though. I’m better now, I swear! No more loopy loops, I promised!” “No, I’m not,” Twilight said in a puzzled tone, looking down at herself. “I don’t know exactly what they’re... it feels like... something’s not quite—” And then her head snapped up, Twilight’s eyes glowed eerie and white, and a halo spread out from her body: a magenta sphere you could only see the edges of. It was just a sudden faint pulse, that swept over Sunset and everyone around before she could react. The leather clad girl looked at her hands, then looked around frantically, and in the crowd there were answering pulses, one for each of the six, seemingly random and unevenly distributed. “...right,” Twilight said shakily, stumbling in place making Sunset look back at her. Twilight’s eyes were normal again, which is to say a vivid violet, that was an entirely different color than her magic. Sunset still wondered if your magic changes color when you became a princess, or if Twilight was just always weird that way. But Sunset said anxiously, “Twilight, look!” drawing Twilight’s attention to the spheres drifting gently over a very uneasy crowd, nobody outside of those two having any idea what this strange new phenomenon is, other than it felt... friendly, kind, giving, you know the drill. “I–I don’t... understand,” Twilight said, looking at what was happening. It was both subtle and short lived, the visible light fading as it spread out. Maybe if they had their equipment... or their horns obviously, but soon it was just an ordinary parking lot full of confused students again. “That did... something?” Spike said uncertainly. Then his pupils narrowed and he gave two short barks before anyone could look the way they heard his voice. Smiling and wagging his tail all innocently. Twilight absent mindedly patted him on the head, still thinking. “The element bearers are going to be here,” Sunset said speculatively. “I suppose that was each of their current locations?” “What happened though?” Twilight asked unhappily. “It was some sort of resonance effect. Maybe something to do with the–” she looked around at the students crowded around them, some giving her and Sunset odd looks, before leaning over and whispering something into Sunset’s ear. “Maybe it was,” Sunset mused. “Maybe it is. Maybe that means...” “Check the portal!” the two girls said together looking each other in the eye excitedly. They blinked, blushed and pulled away. “You know, the... new computer game that everyone’s been... talking...” Twilight declared in a furious display of verbal backpedalling. “That was like seven years ago!” a boy’s voice called out in the crowd. “Right, okay,” Sunset pushed her way out of the crowd, headed straight for the statue no doubt. “Let’s hurry, just in case it... we only have a few minutes but we can at least get a message out.” Twilight hurried after her, calling behind herself hastily, “Yes, the game that has messaging faculties. Boy is it ever retro!” And the dog said nothing, because he is a dog. Diamond Tiara, on the other hand... “I’m jealous of my roommates!” Diamond Tiara yelped. “Whu?” Apple Bloom asked her, in a muffled voice from where she was hanging, “Where’d thayt come from?” “I dunno, just felt like saying it, I guess,” Diamond said, looking puzzled herself. “Look at the pretty lights!” Dinky said, at what was sweeping through the crowd. “Watch out!” said Scootaloo jumping in front of him as it... passed through both of them harmlessly. Dinky was the newest of the five friends, a blonde haired boy who’d gotten dragged into the fray by the excitable Scootaloo, Scootaloo the action girl who was fast friends with Sweetie Belle, the pretty girl, Apple Bloom the animal mascot, and Diamond Tiara the bad girl. “What was that?” Sweetie Belle said in a nervous tone. “Fireworks or... something?” “C’mon,” Apple Bloom said, “Ah know ah heard Applejack around here somewhere. She can get us t’safety and out of sight and stuff.” “You are out of sight,” Diamond said, shouldering the laundry bag in which Apple Bloom had hid, to avoid being a pony around all these confused students. “Yeah an’ I can bairly see,” Apple Bloom said fussily, pulling the hole down so she could peer out of it and trying not to rotate around in place. “Cry me a river; at least you don’t have to carry anyone,” Diamond said grumpily. “Now like, use your little pony ears to find A—oh my god!!” “What?! What is it?” Apple Bloom exclaimed, along with most of her friends, sticking her head out of the bag to look in Diamond’s direction. “It’s her!” Diamond almost shouted. “Look, she’s right there!” “Who?” Scootaloo asked in an exasperated whine. “You can’t just say ‘she’ that’s like half the student body!” “The purple girl, in my dream,” Diamond clarified. “You can see her, right? She’s right over there!” “Yeah, that...” Sweetie peered over at her. “Does look like the girl you drew. You think it’s her?” “If I could take a photo, it would look exactly like her,” Diamond answered emphatically. “Well don’t just stand there,” Apple Bloom said. “Let’s get closer to her!” The motley gaggle of freshmen snuck closer, Scootaloo saying in a questioning tone, “Is that... that’s your sister’s friend, right? Talking to the purple girl?” Apple Bloom stretched her neck around Diamond’s back, saying, “Y-yeah! It’s um... Sunset Shiner or somethin’. She gives real good advice to all her friends. Who are... all in Diamond’s drawing!” “I don’t know what’s going on,” Dinky said solemnly, “...but this is so exciting!!” less solemnly. He was as easily pulled into the intrigue as even the ones who had been in the fray for months now. “What’s she doing?” he asked, getting up on his tiptoes to see around shoulders and hats. “She’s walking away!” Sweetie said in alarm, doing the same thing. “C’mon Diamond, giddyup!” Apple Bloom called curtly, “We gotta catch her!” “I can’t... ugh— move! you stupid–” Diamond grumbled as their subtle sneaking turned into not subtle pushing. Well, a gaggle of motley freshmen don’t really have the muscle power to move a bunch of really tall upperclassmen. “I am not your horse!” Diamond shouted in realization, trying to glare at Apple Bloom but just spinning around in the process as the bag swung around held over her shoulder. “I’ll get to her!” Scootaloo said, weaving her way ahead of them through the forest of legs and tall boots. “We’ll all get to her!” Diamond said, continuing to determinedly push her way through. Any who wouldn’t move for her got the Glare of Death (tm) and disintegrated on the spot into a small pile of ash that could be easily passed, or at least she wished they would. Dinky couldn’t follow Scootaloo so he stuck behind Diamond, whose brute force methods despite her smaller size were actually about as effective as Scootaloo’s saber dance. The two emerged from the crowd at the same time, to stumble up to Sweetie Belle standing there waiting for them. “You know, people will move out of the way if you ask them to,” Sweetie said in a less than impressed tone. “Just... let’s go!” Scootaloo grumped, jogging after the mysterious girl, who along with Sunset had run away, vanishing around the edge of the gymnasium. The four of them sans a pony peeked around the edge of the building to see the front courtyard where the main school entrance was, empty except for the two older students jogging right up to the horse statue, accompanied by an odd looking mutt of a dog. Apple Bloom had fallen on her back in the bag, and couldn’t see when Diamond ran forward, so she shouted, “Hey, lemme out!” “What?” Diamond drew up short. “The purple girl’s gotta take us seriously if she sees a pony!” Apple Bloom said confidently. Without a word, Diamond dumped the sack on the ground. Apple Bloom scrambled out its opening to see her three friends plus one running ahead of her. “Wait up!” Apple Bloom shouted, gallopping forward and... catching up in less than a second. Yeah she was pretty dang quick now, alright. The five freshmen all drew up short when they reached the statue. Because there was no one there anymore, except for Sunset Shimmer and the mysterious purple girl, who was pressing her hands on the flat face of the statue’s base and squinting at it in concentration. And that weird dog, who got an alarmed look at the sight of them, and instead of barking, went up on his hind legs and tugged on Sunset’s jacket. Maybe that dog used to be a human too?? Plodding up to them nervously, Apple Bloom, all things considered, found herself the lead of whatever you called the group they were in. It made sense and all. She was the magic pony. They were the moral support. Still, Apple Bloom felt her tail and ears dropping like weights on ‘em, as she ignored the alarmed hiss of breath that Sunset gave at the sight of her, and hurried right up to the purple girl. Steeling her nerve, Apple Bloom said, “Uh... ‘scuze me?” The purple girl turned towards Apple Bloom and her eyes widened. She... didn’t look so good. She scrambled up straight away from the statue, her hair all sproingy and her face the picture of disarray and alarm. She didn’t say anything, in the same sense that one does not make any sudden moves around a hungry bear, or one does not just start yanking wires out of a ticking bomb. Apple Bloom gulped. “Ah–ah’m a pony,” she explained, and instantly felt stupid for doing so. “But I used to be a girl!” she clarified. “Ah dunno if you’re the magic pony um... rainbow girl, but if y’are, could you maybe ...change me ...back?” And the girl’s face went... worryingly blank at that. This was a terrible idea. Apple Bloom tried to stand there defiantly, refusing to let her chance at regaining her true self pass by, but she was just so scared and then the girl said, very quietly, “Change... back?” “Y-yeah,” Apple Bloom whimpered. “An’ ah’m sorry bout the demons but... ah really wanna just be a regular girl again.” “Change back?” the girl repeated almost uncomprehendingly. Apple Bloom started to answer, but the girl looked at the Sunsit girl and said, “Change back. She wants to change back.” The purple girl turned forward again, and though all Apple Bloom’s friends were behind her, the girl only had eyes for Apple Bloom. Hurt eyes, angry eyes. “She wants to live her normal life as a normal little girl,” the purple girl spat out bitterly, “Forget about anything else that might be important, the first thing she wants is not to be a pony! I’ll just wave my amazing human powers and save her from such a terrible fate! Apple Bloom was backing up and cowering at the girl who was shouting out loud and staring down at her so coldly and angrily. Apple Bloom couldn’t stop staring at those sharp looking, clenching teeth. Why was she getting up so close? “She’s clearly the only one who lost her entire life,” the girl shouted at Apple Bloom, her eyes shaking with anger, “And look, her little friends are here. How nice she actually has friends. And she wants to be human. She wants to be human!” Apple Bloom was butting up against the very friends that evoked such a hatred in this complete stranger, and couldn’t get away! This was the worst idea ever! Bloom was half turned away from the girl, and just wanted to kick her legs out and make the bad things go away; it was that bad. And then the girl said, “I’m done.” She straightened up, gave the statue the most vicious look and announced, “I’m done. I am done. I am not doing this. I’m done!” and as she did so, she walked away stiffly. Apple Bloom sure as hell wasn’t going to chase after her after that, or even twitch one single muscle. She and her friends stayed there in varying amounts of terror, confusion and indecision, all the way until the upperclassman girl had gotten in one of the parked motor vehicles. The purple girl turned the ignition, setting it idling and staring fixedly forward. Sort of like... Sort of like Rarity. Many people helped Apple Bloom more than the purple girl that night. It wasn’t a difficult accomplishment really. It was actually Applejack, but first Sunset, who helped Apple Bloom more than the purple girl that night. First, the fire haired girl gave Apple Bloom nothing more than a sad, calming, and apologetic smile. It didn’t help Apple Bloom much, outside of breaking the fog of panic from her head, but it still was helping as she watched Sunset smoothly walk away, followed by that weird looking dog. The miss Sunsetter didn’t say a single word. She and her purple dog just walked over to the vehicle and climbed in while Apple Bloom watched. Sunset said something then, about driving, to the furious purple girl, who just broke down right on the spot, collapsing on the wheel, her shoulders shaking. The two of them didn’t come back. The purple girl just crawled into the back, and the less clearly underage Sunshim went and sat in the driver’s seat, pulled out the clutch and skillfully piloted the car right out of the parking lot, down the road. The five friends had a lot to think about in those moments after. Dinky had his hands pressed up on where the purple girl had been inspecting the statue, murmuring, “I wonder what they were doing with this statue. A secret switch, maybe?” “Not exactly secret if you’re doing it in full view of the entire school,” Scootaloo remarked snarkily. “I think there are even classroom windows facing this side of the statue. Not to mention the street is like, right there. “Kind of odd how nobody out of the dance is around here though,” Sweetie said, “Or on the street really. I mean it is night time, but it’s still strange.” “Who left a stethoscope here?” Diamond announced, picking up the curiosity and looking at it with suspicion. And Apple Bloom said nothing. Scootaloo crouched down beside Apple Bloom, who still couldn’t move, because she knew just what would happen if she did. “You okay, Apple Bloom?” Scootaloo asked. And Apple Bloom was pretty sure both of them knew the answer to that question. “Ah wanna go home,” Apple Bloom said. She started shaking she did, just saying it filled her with an anxious grief. “Ah wanna go home!” she said out in her stupid little baby voice. “Ah want Applejack ah wanna go home. This’s a bad idea I don’ wanna be here, I wan’ Applejack. I wanna go home!” and she was just screaming and crying her head off at that point. “I wanna go ho-ome!” she screamed. Her friends were all around her and she didn’t care. She hated this dance, and she hated the purple girl, and she hated her friends for making her do this, and she hated herself because she got upset at every god damn little thing now and she was scared out of her wits with nothing there to be scared of. She couldn’t think straight anymore. Her life was over, and the only reason for that, was it was dark, and scary out, and Apple Bloom wanted Applejack, and hugs and she wanted home. And... and she got Applejack, at least. Her friends didn’t know what to do with her, but one of them went and did get Applejack. Apple Bloom didn’t even know who. All she knew is Applejack was there, and just ignored her bawling and scooped the collapsed pony right up into her arms. Applejack held Apple Bloom tight to her breast whispering to her that it’s okay, she’s here now. Apple Bloom was actually hiccupping. She sounded so stupid! It shouldn’t have felt so good, being cradled by her sister like a little baby. She should have been able to settle down on her own, and taken care of herself. But as the tension drained out of her, and Apple Bloom remained only dimly aware of Applejack talking to the other freshmen in sharp tones, Apple Bloom just couldn’t help but feel like everything was alright again. She was so very worn out from tonight, but... but Applejack was here, and Apple Bloom was going to okay now. She didn’t know about the rest of the world, but, maybe she was just herself gonna ....be all okay and... stuff... Apple Bloom snorted awake in the little back seat of the Apple family’s pickup. Big Macintosh was up front there in the passenger seat, his dark silouette in the rumbling vehicle matched with Applejack’s. Applejack was at the wheel, driving quietly down the road at night. Scootaloo, Sweetie, and Diamond Tiara were nowhere to be seen. And... oh man, she’d gone, and gotten exposed in front of a boy, and he was nowhere to be seen either. Apple Bloom had humiliated herself, and her sister, over just some stupid angry purple girl, who reacted perfectly normally to a weird creature who might be trying to eat your brains. Apple Bloom had gone and put herself in danger, and done something stupid just over some stupid dance. What was she thinking, fighting demons and saving princesses? Apple Bloom done screwed up bad. “A-ah’m sorry, Applejack,” Apple Bloom said quietly from the back seat, her high reedy voice cutting easily over the truck’s deep sonorous rumbles. “Ah should hope so,” Applejack said in a guarded tone. “Considerin’ what you been through tonight.” “I should never h-have gone to the dance,” Apple Bloom said. She had to sniffle then all cutely and stuff. “It was jus’ a silly idear all along.” “Diamond told me she forced you to come,” Applejack said in a... somber tone more than an angry one. “Said she was all crazy about that demon battle, and figured you had to be there to see it.” Apple Bloom stared forward lost a moment, then shook her head saying, “S–she” “She was lyin’ the whole time of course,” Applejack continued. “Said that it was all her fault, and I had to get her in trouble, and not you or anyone else involved.” Apple Bloom sat up on her belly, from where she’d been laying on her side. She didn’t really even know what to think about that. Applejack didn’t seem mad that Diamond tried to lie to cover for her, so that was... bad, right? “Rest of your friends were the same way,” Applejack added. She fell to silence again, and Apple Bloom was just... strangely aching for how her friends stood up for her like that, when she didn’t even deserve it. “You got some good friends, Apple Bloom,” Applejack concluded at last. Neither she, nor Big Macintosh, nor Apple Bloom said a single word after that, not until they got all the way back to the Sweet Apple Acres and down the long driveway, surrounded by the blessed silence and solitude, and the dim unreliable flickery fickle wonderful light, that enwreathed the farm house. Apple Bloom ain’t never felt better to have such a nice, warm, soft bed to sleep in, before that day.