//------------------------------// // Contact made - VIEWPOINT_SWAP // Story: A Certain Magical Friendship – Context_SHIFT // by Sora2455 //------------------------------// Satin blinked owlishly as she looked around. Wooden buildings. Cobblestone roads. Thatch roofs. Basically, she was now somewhere that looked nothing like the Academy. What had happened? Gatekeeper was sick, so she had looked after her until dark. Realising it was past curfew, she had hurried back to her dorm when she had found a deep hole in the ground. She'd gone down into the hole, but had come up out of it, somewhere she didn't recognise. There was only one reasonable explanation for this. Satin's shoulders trembled at the mere thought of it. Then she couldn't hold it in any longer, and let out a huge whoop of excitement. Those stupid ponies back at the Academy said that a hole through the centre of the Earth was impossible! Hah! Just wait until the hear that I actually found one! Satin lips stretched up to her ears in a huge smirk. She stood up on her hind legs to get a better look at where she was. The hole - which, she just noticed, was glowing faintly in the dark - was just off the side of a dirt road leading into an overgrown forest. Going the other way, it led into the town she had noticed upon arrival. Hold on. It was well and truly night-time here, as it was when she had entered the hole on the other side of the globe. In that case, there was something that really needed investigating. A mystery which meant that she wouldn't be sleeping in the foreseeable future, as she tried to puzzle it out. Was that a party she could hear in that tree-house in the middle of town? Rainbow squinted at the city around her. Concrete buildings. Paved roads. Steel and glass skyscrapers occasionally breaking up the monotony. Yeah, this was definitely not Humansville. Rainbow would honestly be surprised if someone told her her hometown had a building with three stories in it. Okay, quick recap. The Princess was throwing a parade or something - Rainbow may have slept through the details - so she was in charge of making sure the weather didn't do something dumb, like rain. The town's resident party girl had set up a pre-celebration celebration, to which she had been heading when she had spotted the obviously magical hole in the ground. Rainbow blew a tuft of hair out of her face. I'm pretty sure wonderland is supposed to have more trees than this. Well, now that that was out of the way, where actually was she? The hole she had emerged from, Rainbow saw, was right next to a pathway leading through a park. The buildings she saw rose above the trees, letting her see them, and the edge of the park was close enough for her to see the road through the trees. The area was lit up with street-lamps, it being the dead of night here. No obvious clues to her location beyond that could be seen. Rainbow's plastic wings twitched. No Dash, bad. Flying where random people can see you gets you a lecture. Even if it would probably be the fastest way to figure out where she was... Rainbow was jerked out of her thoughts as an angry shout came from the road. There wasn't a sign or anything, and the door was open, so Satin just walked right in. Inside, it appeared to be a library - or rather, it would be normally. Just like Satin had suspected, the ponies inside were partying. Not the kind of party with a DJ and a boom box. The kind of party were everypony just kinda milled around, talked, and ate party food. Satin personally preferred some music to go with this kind of activity, but that was being unreasonable of her. Firstly, because this wasn't her party. But more importantly, even if she felt rude enough to complain, nopony here seemed to speak Neighponiese. The casual buzz of conversation might as well have been cricket chirping for all she could make out. Wait, bad example. Some of the crickets back home could be pretty verbose. Anyway, she was a stranger who didn't even speak the language. And it's not like she was invited or anything. Satin was an outgoing mare, but even that confidence was starting to fade when faced with the awkwardness of the situation. She was confident in her ability to communicate through gestures, but trying to start a friendship through charades didn't sound like the best of ideas. Satin decided to cut her losses and just gracefully trot out. Then, to make things even more awkward, an undignified screech told Satin that she'd just stood on somepony's tail. The stream of foreign language was coming from a tall, busty woman in a green jersey, her hair tied back in a ponytail. The lady was yelling something at Rainbow, gesturing as though she expected Rainbow to respond. Rainbow crossed her hands behind her head. "English, lady. Only language I speak." The woman's annoyed expression gained a tint of confusion. When she spoke next, it was in heavily accented but understandable English. "I say, it past curfew now. What are you doing out so late?" "There's a curfew...?" Rainbow slowly lowered her arms. "We are city full of school students. Of course there is curfew." The lady walked from the road into the park proper, raising an eyebrow as she got a good look at Rainbow's ridiculous hair colouration. "You are from District 3, yes?" What? Why would this lady assume the obvious foreign girl is a local? "No - " Rainbow started to explain. "Really? You not from city district for visitors?" Ah. That made more sense. "No, I'm not - " "Then where you stay the night?" "I just got here just now, lady!" The woman frowned. "Who bring you into city? They should have bed for you." I flew in down a hole in the ground. Rainbow didn't say. "Uh, yeah! They told me to meet them in... um... district..." "5? 7?" "...23?" Rainbow tried. The lady's frown changed from a 'you troublemaker' sort of frown to a 'you idiot' sort of frown. "That is being Airport district." Oh good, that was a real place. "Yeah, right, the airport district." Rainbow lied. "Is on other side of Academy City." "Whoops!" Rainbow pretended that she cared, rubbing the back of her neck. "Better get walking then." To Rainbow's surprise, the woman actually rolled her eyes. "Not this late of night! Come. I give you lift." Oops. She'd accidentally gotten some unwanted 'help'. "Uh, that's okay." Rainbow backed away slowly. "I can make it on my own - " The woman's right hand came down firmly on Rainbow's shoulder. "Is fine. I Anti-Skill officer, is my duty to make sure students safe." Flustered, Rainbow tried to think of a way out of this mess as the woman marched her to her car. There was a white-furred, purple-maned unicorn screeching in Satin's face, and she didn't know what to do about it. Satin apologised, bowing deep and low in the neighpon style, forehooves tucked back near her back hooves. The unicorn seemed taken aback by the unknown (to her) language and bowing combo. After a moment, she seemed to murmur an apology of her own, bowing in the western style with her forehooves spread out to the side. After the sudden noise, however, curious ponies jostled each other to get a look at the strange pony in the slightly crowded room. The murmurs, gone for after the screech, came back; focused on Satin this time. Satin, not a fan of being the centre of attention for causing a scene, found herself backing up into a wall as ponies crowded around her. Luckily, one of the ponies in the room seemed to realise her problem. The orange mare yelled words that Satin didn't understand, but were probably something like 'give her some space', because the ponies backed off. Satin bowed her head in gratitude, even though the pony wouldn't understand her. Satin's head snapped up at the accented and grammatically incorrect but still understandable Neighponiese. The pony that had spoken was her 'rescuer'. She had orange fur, a blond mane, freckles, and a cowgirl hat. The corner of Satin's mouth twitched as the mare ruthlessly butchered her native tongue, but she quashed that annoyance with the gratitude that somepony here spoke her language at all. Satin turned her head to the side, finding a pink-furred mare smiling way too widely, like she'd just told the funniest joke in the world. Applejack sighed. Pie beamed. Satin asked Applejack. Applejack cautioned her. At the start of the drive, the lady had introduced herself as 'Yomikawa Aiho'. She'd asked Rainbow for her name, but Rainbow stayed silent, not wanting to dig herself in any further. Staring out the window, being driven across the inter-city highway, Rainbow was thinking furiously. Anti-Skill, Anti-Skill... she says that like I should know what that is. More than that, she says it like it makes pulling me into her car okay. I swear, if she's trying to abduct me I will show her how creative I can get with thunderclouds. "We here." "Huh?" Rainbow looked up, jolted out of her thoughts. "District 23. We here." Yomikawa jerked her head. indicating the world outside the car windows. They had emerged from the thicket of skyscrapers into flat, grassy plains. Square-shaped, fenced-off plains sporadically covered in runways and... rocket launch pads? Despite that, it was still the most natural-looking place Rainbow had seen yet. "So." Yomikawa continued. "Where did friend say meet?" ... Oh. Yeah. Right. Um. Rainbow pointed vaguely out the window at a cluster of buildings. "Yeah, it was, like, over there..." Rainbow facepalmed at how lame she sounded, glad she was in the back where Yomikawa couldn't see her. Yomikawa said nothing, turning the car towards the buildings in question. Okay Dash. Rainbow promised herself. Get out of the car, say your goodbyes, fly the coop. Foolproof plan. Reaching the buildings (which appeared to be mostly aircraft hangers), Yomikawa stopped the car, and got out. Rainbow, sitting directly behind her, got out as well, immediately turning away from the Anti-Skill officer. "Well, I better get going - " "I no see anyone near." Yomikawa comments. Rainbow freezes up. "Uh, yeah! They must be... uh... late! Yeah, late!" "Rude of them." The Anti-Skill officer folds her hands. "If no person show, will have to take you back to my place for night." All right, forget it. I'm outta here. Rainbow snapped her plastic wings open, and jumped up. Twilight Sparkle liked to think of herself as a patient mare. However, she had not been having a good day in the slightest. All the weirdo antics of the townsponies had completely eaten away the time she had planned to spend researching how to, oh, beat Nightmare Moon. She had finished off her list of duties like a good student, gotten 'home', and then found out the weirdos had followed her there. After she had trotted off upstairs, the noise from the party had seemed to go down, and she had actually thought that she could get some rest, but no! Somepony had apparently caused a ruckus downstairs. Libraries are supposed to be quiet! Twilight thought, not for the first time tonight. Well, as much as she'd had her fill of socialisation for the day, Twilight was just curious enough to go down and see what the fuss was about. Trotting back down the stairs, she found that farmpony (What was her name? Oh right, Applejack.) speaking with a black-furred earth pony that Twilight didn't remember seeing before. "Why, if it ain't the mare of the hour!" Applejack greeted her. "I was jus' talking with Satin here." "Hi." Twilight said sourly. Satin waved her hoof. "Konnichiwa!" "Don't speak a word of Equish, poor filly." Applejack explained. "If I weren't here, she wouldn't have a soul to talk to." Twilight's eyebrows rose incredulously. "You are bilingual." Applejack frowned. "Didn't ya ma and pa teach ya to not judge a pony by her coat?" "Sorry." Twilight apologised with a huff. "I have not been having a good day... or night, now... what with all this pointless 'friend-making' all day." "Hey now, making new friends ain't ever pointless." Applejack refuted, surprised at the abrupt outburst. Satin's eyes kept turning from mare to mare as she tried to follow the conversation from the other side of the language barrier. Twilight frowned in anger for a moment, then she sized Applejack up. Leaning forward and speaking quietly, she spoke. "Not if tomorrow is the start of a reign of everlasting darkness!" "Say what?" Applejack blinked, leaning in close herself. "The Mare in the Moon - Nightmare Moon - is prophesized to return tomorrow!" Twilight hissed. Satin's eyes widened a little, and her brow furrowed. "Really?" Applejack was confused. "That sounds like something ya tell the Princess about, not keep to yourself." Twilight's face screwed up in frustration. "I did!" "And?" "She gave me busywork and told me to 'stop reading those dusty old books'!" Twilight huffed. "Then there ain't nothing to worry about, I reckon." Applejack nodded. "Nee-ight mare Moo-na?" Satin butted in. Twilight and Applejack both turned to her, having forgotten she was there. Satin had a big, know-it-all grin on her face. Shirai Kuroko liked to think of herself as a patient girl. (She was, after all, still waiting on her Sissy to accept her pure and wholesome affections...) Of course, normally she wasn't staying up into the wee hours of the morning working. The notorious criminal, the Graviton Bomber, had been caught just that afternoon. As a member of the volunteer peacekeeping organisation, Judgement, Kuroko would normally be thrilled to have a guy like that off the streets. The only trouble was, despite the guy having been caught basically in the act, it was still impossible for him to have committed the crimes. See, the bombs were made using the esper power Synchrotron. With the explosions observed, the culprit would need to be at least a Level 3 esper, most likely Level 4. The guy they had caught was Level 2. Kuroko had darn near pulled her pigtails out trying to figure out how he'd done it. Then, of all things, the office phone rang. The middle-school girl grumbled about the hour and answered the phone. Came the voice from the other end of the phone. Kuroko didn't let any of her frustration reach her voice. Kuroko frowned. Judgement was the peacekeeping organisation comprised of students. Anti-Skill was the 'sister' organisation comprised of adults. Knowing that sometimes made people question the need for Judgement at all, until they were reminded that the students here in Academy City were all learning to become espers. Still, Judgement usually called Anti-Skill for help, not the other way around. Kuroko's frown deepened. There were surprisingly few esper powers that allowed one to ignore the unimaginable weight of the planet below. <177 is the branch with the Level 4 Teleporter, right?> Kuroko resisted the urge to groan. "Do you know something about Nightmare Moon?!" Twilight grabbed the sides of Satin's head, pulling her closer so their eyes were nearly touching. Applejack helpfully translated. Satin smiled, a little painfully as Twilight was way too close. "What did she say?!" Twilight demanded of Applejack, not moving her face. "Nothin' yet, really. Let the poor filly talk." "Wha- the Princess?!" Applejack blurted. Twilight let go of Satin at the unexpected shout. Deprived of her 'support', Satin fell backwards onto her rump. Several curious ponies looked on, silently hoping for more drama. "What? What about the Princess?" Applejack turned to Twilight in befuddlement. "She says the Princess is the one who sealed Nightmare Moon away in the firs' place." "What?" Twilight's face scrunched up in confusion. "No it wasn't, it was some unnamed mare who went on to take responsibility for keeping... night and day... working..." Twilight's speech slowed as what she was saying dawned on her. "No!" Twilight's voice came back with a shout. In the background, Pinkie Pie was moving throughout the crowd distributing snacks as everypony looked on at the shouting. "That doesn't make any sense!" "Last ah checked, we only had one mare who handled the whole light/darkness shebang." Applejack pointed out. Twilight glared at Applejack. "But if Princess Celestia was the one who defeated Nightmare Moon a thousand years ago..." She took a deep breath. "...then why is the story a legend?" The thing about clouds, Rainbow reflected, was that they didn't start until you were a long way off the ground. Resting on top of one was a magical experience for several reasons. First of all, duh, you couldn't do it without magic. Second, because you could see for ages up this high. The night sky, even obscured from the city's light pollution, was brilliant from this viewpoint. Third, Rainbow thought as she leaned back, resting her whole body on the Cumulous she had picked, because nobody bothers you up here. Then, suddenly, Rainbow had a lap full of middle-school girl. The girl with the multi-coloured hair made an -oof!- sound and the air was pressed out of her lungs. "What are you doing up here?" The girl asked, her English better than Yomikawa's, but still accented. She had a pair of plaid pigtails, and was wearing a light brown vest over a white collared shirt. Rainbow sucked in a breath as the girl shifted her weight off her chest. "None of your business." "I'm Shirai Kuroko, a member of Judgement, so an esper making trouble for others is my business." Great. Another group Rainbow had never heard of. And what did she mean by esper? ...wait. She didn't mean those fake Gemstones they made down in... Academy... Rainbow suddenly rolled over, causing Kuroko to squawk indignantly as she was flung clear. Now facing down, Rainbow could get a good look at the city below. From her vantage point, she could see the well-illuminated city below. Specifically, she could see how the city had a wall surrounding it, and another much larger city to it's east. Rainbow swallowed. If that larger city is Tokyo, then that smaller city would be Academy City. As in, the Bastion of Science. As in, I'm in huge trouble for being here. "Ah don't follow." Applejack admitted. Satin nudged her, and the farmpony quietly relayed Twilight's thoughts as best she could. "If the Princess was there, then what happened would be history, not legends, right?" Twilight's speaking was getting a little fast. "Maybe she don't like talking 'bout it." Wait. If the Princess was the mare from the legend, wouldn't that make Nightmare Moon her little sister? If she ever had to do something like that to Apple Bloom, why... she didn't know if her heart could take it. "But if she was the one who sealed away Nightmare Moon, then she would know how dangerous she was! So why the blasé attitude?" Twilight's voice was also getting a little high in the vocal range. "Um, excuse me?" One of the pegasi in the room took a step forward. "She wouldn't hold a celebration if she was expecting a fight, that's for sure!" "If I could just say just a teensy-weensy something, it wouldn't take much time at all, really..." "The Princess trusts me! She wouldn't just dismiss my warnings if she knew they were true!" "Um, okay. If you don't want to listen that's fine." "Twilight?" Applejack nudged Twilight in the shoulder. (That is, just under her neck.) "Mind if Fluttershy there gets a word in edgewise?" "What?" Twilight was genuinely surprised to see the yellow-and-pink pegasus had stepped forward. "Oh! Um. I guess?" Her rant aborted, the steam she had been building up seemed to fade. "Um." Fluttershy seemed to recede into herself at suddenly being made the centre of attention. "Well, it's just a thought I had, but maybe the reason the Princess isn't worried is because she doesn't think her sister returning is a problem?" "Doesn't think..?" Twilight echoed somewhat blankly. "Like I said, for what Satin said to be true the Princess would be the one to seal Nightmare away in the first place!" "Well, um." Fluttershy's voice had gained enough confidence to be clearly audible. "Why wouldn't she just do that again?" Soundlessly, Kuroko reappeared on Rainbow's back, knocking the breath from her once again. "Do you often throw girls to their deaths?" "You got up here, you can get down." Rainbow retorted, then she stiffened. "Uh, so you'd be an esper then?" "If you know another way to teleport, please do tell." Kuroko's voice dripped with the emotion of 'duh'. "Eh heh. Yep. How silly of me to ask." Rainbow mostly succeeded in keeping her voice level. Kuroko twisted her body around until her legs were hanging off Rainbow's side, treating Rainbow's back like some kind of chair. "I asked you already, but what are you doing up here?" "A girl can't want some fresh air from time to time?" "Not right after abandoning a concerned Anti-Skill officer, no." "I..." Rainbow hesitated, wondering how much she should tell. And how much she could tell. "I'm lost." There. That seemed simple enough. Rainbow couldn't actually see Kuroko's face as she was lying down, but her voice made Rainbow think she was rolling her eyes. "If you were lost you should have told Miss Yomikawa that." Dangit. Lying is hard. "I... well, I need to get back to the park she found me in, but I can't recognise it from up here." "Then why - " "Look, I didn't want to explain what I was actually doing in the park, okay?!" Kuroko was silent for a moment, simple swinging her legs back and forth. ... "What is your name?" "Huh? Oh, I'm Rainbow Dash." "I asked for your name, not your Ability's name." "That is my name!" Kuroko went silent again. Twilight Sparkle galloped through the night. It had been quite rude of her to suddenly leave Pinkie's party like that, but as she had said many times today: any friendships she would make would be secondary at best to the problem of Nightmare Moon. The last time she'd had Spike send her mentor a letter, she'd been brushed off. The only way she was getting answers out of the ancient alicorn was to ask them in pony. Twilight had come to Ponyville ahead of the Princess, but there was no way Celestia would arrive in town mere seconds before raising the sun. Or fighting the Nightmare, a doubtful part of Twilight whispered. This close to dawn, she must be here already. "Min' explaining just where you're goin' in such a huff?" Twilight stumbled slightly as Applejack galloped up alongside her. As did that fashionista unicorn from earlier today. Fluttershy flew up above, Pinkie Pie bounced along, and Satin struggled to figure out why everypony was going somewhere in such a hurry. "Why are you all following me?" Twilight counter-asked. "'cause friends don't let friends panic alone?" "The smell of adventure is irresistible, darling." "Well, I'm kind of curious as to how this will all turn out..." "This seems like fun!" "I am going to talk to my mentor." Twilight told the ponies. They nodded. (Except Satin, who still didn't know what was going on.) "It will be a very private talk." They nodded again. Twilight sighed. "Look, there she is!" Pinkie cried, pointing to the town square. Right. Time to get some answers. If, yesterday, you had asked Rainbow Dash what instantaneously moving 80 meters via the 11th dimension was like, she wouldn't have been able to answer you. If you asked her now, (and explained that that was what Kuroko was doing) she would say it didn't feel like anything. It was, after all, instantaneous. Still, Rainbow's usual method of traversing the skies was to soar like a bird. A very, very fast bird, but a bird nonetheless. Feel the wind in her hair, see the landmarks move around, beautiful stuff. How Kuroko traversed the skies was to jump from point to point with rapid teleporting. About once a second, the world around the two girls would suddenly jump forwards, and any downward momentum would disappear, ready to be gained again in the second before the next jump. It was a little like the first second of bungee jumping on loop. It should be noted that due to the second delay and range limit, it was actually faster for Rainbow to fly than for Kuroko to teleport the two of them. Of course, only the Judgement girl knew where they were going, and it wasn't that long before the two were back in the park that Rainbow had entered the city through. As Rainbow stopped her legs from shaking (she flew under her own power, she was not used to that amount of falling), she looked around. "Huh. Got the right park on the first try." "Despite all the work done to make the city environmentally friendly, there are only a small number of parks in the city." Kuroko explained, looking around and holding in a yawn. "Please, in future do remember not to make such a huge fuss this late at night." "You're right, I won't. Sorry." Rainbow scratched the back of her neck. "Thanks for getting me home." "...you live in a park?" Rainbow's frantic denials were interrupted by a middle-school girl flying out of a hole in the ground, and landing undignified on the pavement with a -smack-. "Owwww..." Kuroko, who had been looking sleepy, was suddenly wide awake. "Saten-san?!" The black-haired girl looked up, alarm on her face. "Shirai-san!" That exchange was also brought short by more girls being ejected out the hole, each with brightly coloured dye-jobs. "Fluttershy?!" Rainbow exclaimed at a familiar face. "Rainbow Dash?! What are you doing here?" "I could ask you the same thing!" One of the other girls, one with bright purple hair with a pink stripe, picked herself off the ground. "That's not important. We need to get out of here, right now!" "Why?" Kuroko asked suspiciously. Across Academy City, the few magicians that had managed to enter felt the hairs on their backs rise at the feeling of powerful magic nearby. A man (woman?) floating upside-down in a tank of liquid frowned at what one of his (her?) screens was showing. Sound asleep, a high-school boy with spiky black hair rolled over in his bed. And out of a certain trouble-making 'hole', purple mist rose up. Twilight Sparkle tried in vain to swallow, all moisture and confidence gone from her mouth. "Because Nightmare Moon is right on our tails..."