Caught Slipping
Everypony rushed through the library’s doors.
Spike fell off his chair, comic book falling flat on his face.
Dragon hopped down and pulled his dog-turned-dragon self up. “Problem?”
“Big problem!” Sparkle shouted, levitating the journal out of its spot.
The Spikes rushed to their respective Twilights, standing by their sides as everyone else looked at the princess with bated breath.
Sparkle floated a quill and an inkwell to her side and wrote.
“Luna?” Principal Celestia asked as the sisters strolled around in a greeting card store, hearing smooth bossa nova inside.
Luna groaned and glared at her with baggy eyes. “What is it, sister?”
“What do you think would make a perfect gift for Cadance next week?” Celestia asked. She picked up a mug with a couple hearts in its design; even the handle was shaped like half of a heart.
Luna rolled her eyes. “A bribe?”
Celestia took a card from the shelf, reading the pink letters imposed on a white background. “Here’s one! ‘You are the best person I’ve met in my entire life, so have a happy birthday!’”
“What do you say to the second-best person?” Luna snarked, rubbing her aching forehead as she looked at the sky outside.
The bright but irritating blue sky.
Celestia walked to the window and looked up at the sun. “Sorry to go off-topic, but judging from the sun’s position, I’d say it’s ten thirty-three.”
Luna brought up her phone, keeping up that glare. “Nice try, sister, but your forgetfulness to bring your watch has—“
And opened her mouth in astonishment. She re-read the time on her phone.
Ten thirty-three A.M.
Luna looked at her sister who was admiring the beautiful sunshine, her sister’s face complementing the glow the sun was giving her. “How were you able to do that?”
Celestia chuckled, turning away from the window and back to the isles of cards. “Not sure. It just came naturally.”
Luna lowered a brow. “But you’ve always failed when you tried to tell the time with—” and stopped herself, eyes dilating.
She pushed Celestia to the window, eliciting an “Oh!” from her.
“Look directly at the sun again!” Luna ordered, pointing a finger upwards.
That garnered more than a few odd looks from the cashiers and the other customers there, surprised to see some showmanship from a vice principal—and perhaps a lack of concern for her sister’s eyesight.
“Why the sudden request?” Celestia asked kindly albeit puzzled.
Luna checked her phone then went to her clock app, seeing the seconds hand tick by. “If you think you are so good at telling the time with your method, then tell me the seconds, too!”
“Sibling rivalry getting to you?” Celestia said, putting a hand to her hip.
Luna rolled her eyes again. “I will see if I can do the same with moon later tonight which will certainly not turn out well. Now, do as I have told you, sister!”
Celestia smiled. “Alright, just to satisfy your curiosity.”
The principal looked up at the sun again. She squinted her eyes, her vision never blinded by the sun’s light.
“That’d be...” bent her head to the side, “about ten seconds to ten thirty-four.”
Luna looked back at her phone’s ticking clock.
It just ticked ten seconds to ten thirty-four.
“There’s...there’s no mistaking it!” Luna said, placing a hand on her sister and shoving the phone to her face. “You have uncannily developed the ability of precisely knowing what time it is just by looking at the sun’s position in the sky!” She raised both hands in joy. “You are a living sundial!”
Celestia smiled. “Comeuppance for what happened back at camp all those years ago?”
“You started it, Celie,” Luna said, pointing a finger at her now.
Then, her bag rumbled.
Celestia’s smile disappeared, noticing the bag. “A message from Sunset?”
Luna shifted around, making sure her back was turned against everyone else in the store as she opened her bag and took out the item in question.
It was Sunset’s journal, vibrating like a cellphone.
Both sisters frowned at the sight of it.
“This is not good,” Luna said as she flipped through the pages and finally saw the glowing letters:
Dear Vice Principal Luna, is anything strange going on magic-wise?
Celestia took out a ballpen and handed it to Luna whose hands were trembling.
Luna put the ballpen on the paper, putting a dot which was supposed to become full-fledged letter. However, she turned to Celestia, inked tip on the page. “Well, there is the strange cold spreading throughout the city.”
Celestia rubbed her chin, looking back at the sky for thoughts. “Yes, the so-called cold that is behaving nothing like the common cold if we’re to believe today’s texts and news reports: turning all infected into practical vegetarians, causing wildy different symptoms from one person to the next, and, coupled with the spike in jewelry sales—“
Luna held up a hand, causing her sister to stop. “Vegetarians, different symptoms, people buying more jewelry than ever before….” Tapping her head with the ballpen, “This has the scent of magic in it, but I do not know what.”
Then, Celestia’s calm frown dipped. “I just realized: My princess self in the other world raises and lowers the sun, right?”
“Your memory does not fail you,” Luna said, “which means—“
And she gasped.
Luna yanked Celestia out the store and onto the sidewalk, making her drop the greeting card to the floor. Bringing her closer, she whispered with a deeper accent of fear, “You’re gaining Princess Celestia’s powers!”
Celestia looked at her hands, and then at the sun. “If that’s the case, it’s only a matter of time before I could...raise and lower the sun?” She took a step back, sighed, and leaned on the store’s facade. “It’s making sense now! I can’t eat meat because Princess Celestia can’t eat meat, I could tell the time from the sun because I’m getting her magical powers, and the jewelry—“
“Could become magical relics!” Luna completed. “Just like how they are depicted in fiction!”
Then, she gasped.
“We do gain traits of our pony selves!”
And covered her mouth.
“Old English?!” Luna exclaimed. “Since when did we—“
“Because, if I remember correctly from what Sunset’s told me right after her confessions,” Celestia replied, even her tone wavering a little, “your princess self used to speak in some kind of royal voice!”
Luna then looked at her sister, terrified. “I-Is that why I had the huge headache this morning while you felt strangely rejuvenated? What wilt happen when—ah!” Covered her mouth. “There it is again! This is going beyond amateur age jokes!”
Celestia tapped her foot, now pulling her sister a little closer. “Does that mean we’re...” gulped, “we’re becoming ponies?”
Luna’s eyes went wide.
She grabbed the ballpen.
“We must write before we lose our fingers!” Luna yelled, scribbling furiously on the journal.
Ring! Ring! Ring!
Celestia picked up her phone, taking the call. “Yes, hello? Why, Hard Hat, how are you?” A frown and a suppressed gasp. “Oh? Bulk Biceps did what to the statue?”
Sparkle gasped, closed the journal, and levitated the book to its spot above the mirror portal.
“What does it say?” Sunset asked, trotting forward with Sci-Twi.
“It’s...it’s not good news,” Sparkle said as magical electricity sparked out of the journal and into the contraption’s various parts with its zap!’s. “There’s been a disease spreading in Canterlot as of this morning, but it’s no normal disease.”
“What is it?” Sci-Twi asked.
Sparkle took a deep breath and: “It’s slowly turning people into ponies!”
Everypony, plus every dragon—all two of them—gasped, Rarity falling to the floor but not fainting.
“With magic and all?!” Sci-Twi yelled, having blocked a brief smile.
“Looks like it,” Sparkle said, worry in her voice. “Luna’s heard people talking about Trixie’s magic shows today, and from the sound of it, she’s already developed real magic in your world!”
Starlight stomped her hoof and pawed the floor. “Why did Trixie have to teach her? Does she know anything about meddling in cross-dimensional affairs?!”
Sci-Twi’s friends looked at each other concerned, whispering among themselves.
Sparkle glanced at the portal as the purple swirl appeared on it. “I may not know much about the details of cross-dimensional affairs, but I know what will happen if we don’t stop this magical infestation.”
Rarity gasped, having been revived from her near swoon. “They’ll all become ponies?!”
“And other Equestrian creatures,” Sparkle said, turning her body to everyone else, “depending on who’s what here and there, but that’s not the worst of it.” She huffed, flicked her tail: “If we don’t stop it in time, magic will go far beyond Canterlot City. It will spread across the area, and then the state, and then the country, and then the continent...” and her ears drooped, mouth left hanging open. “Before we know it, the whole world will become magical!”
“That’d be too late, right?” Cotton asked, raising her hoof politely.
“Far too late, Pink—I mean, Cotton,” Sparkle replied. “The effects would be irreversible, everyone will be stuck as Equestrian creatures, and magic would take over everything!”
“Then what are we waiting for?!” Sunset yelled as she galloped to the portal. “Let’s go!”
And bumped into the mirror.
She fell down.
The ponies gasped, all gathering around Sunset as some pulled her back up on her four hooves.
Sunset shook her head, chasing the pain away, then looked at the swirling portal. “Huh? What gives?”
Sparkle trotted to the portal and placed a hoof on it.
Like it was a solid wall.
She pushed it. No results; her hoof did not go through one inch.
The swirl fizzled out with a shwam!, reverting to a normal mirror.
“Wh-What?!” Sparkle blurted out. “N-No...no!”
AJ trotted slowly to the portal, taking care not to trip. “Is our way back home gone?!”
Dash flew to the mirror, shoving Sparkle out of the way and did everything she could think of: scratch it, rub it, clean it with a towel, even push her weight against it.
Then, Rainbow pulled her out, wearing a feeble frown as she put her down.
“Hey!” Dash yelled, slapping her hoof and releasing herself. “You’re not taking me away from everyone I love!”
“What?!”
As the little argument grew back and forth, Starlight went over to Fluttershy who was tearing up, breaking down on the floor.
“What i-if we can never go back?” Fluttershy asked, voice choked.
Cotton Candy needed no waiting when it came to crying; she burst into tears, Pinkie and Rare coming to her aid by hugging her, not minding the torrent gushing out of her eyes.
Rarity and AJ got the care and comfort of Flutters who did her best to not well up like her other self. The farmpony took her hat off and placed it to her chest, closing her eyes in silent sadness; the fashionista took out a box of tissues, ready to wipe her face as she held back her own set of tears as much as possible.
Applejack, Starlight, Spike, and Sparkle went to Sci-Twi’s side as she took out her glasses and sniffled.
Spike looked on at the defunct portal. “What now?”
Dragon patted him on the back. “They’ll find a way. When it comes to world-ending scenarios, they’ll always find a way.”
Sparkle then looked up, seeing the journal rumble and beep.
She gasped. “There’s more!”
Everyone looked at the book, too, as Sparkle floated the journal down and opened it.
“They what?” asked Luna as she and her sister ran down the sidewalk and past quiet houses, cars whizzing by and an ambulance racing down.
“Bulk Biceps joined the soccer team as a substitute,” Celestia said between gasps and pants. “Looks like we may have at least two broken walls and a cracked statue in our hands.”
“And if the statue is cracked,” Luna began deducing, “then the portal is damaged!”
While she ran, she jotted more on the journal, handwriting becoming deformed in her fast pace.
They came upon the school, seeing a new and shiny marble horse statue lying on its side and the statue’s base chipped with some highly visible cracks and chinks on it. A construction crew with their helmets and their flashy vests were talking heatedly with the soccer team in their uniform, one of those players extremely muscular and towering over his teammates.
The principal sisters crossed the street and approached the crew and the team. They crossed their arms as everyone else looked at the two.
“What seems to be the problem?” Celestia asked, neither smiling nor frowning.
“It was all Bulk Biceps’s fault,” Fleetfoot said, taking a shot at the big man who then cowered behind a paper bag.
“It was not my fault!” Bulk yelled from behind said paper bag, the gust from his lungs blowing out Fleetfoot’s wind-swept hair. Turning to the principals and pointing at the whole team: “They were telling me to the kick the ball hard so I can score the goal!”
“Uh-uh,” Hard Hat cut in, holding a clipboard and probably feeling important that way. “I got the testimony of Field Forehoof and Patinando, and they’re enough to back me up on this!” Pointing his pencil at Bulk, “He did this ‘cause he wanted to. I mean, look at him! His muscles are so big, they’re practically fireproof!”
“Not to mention the light show you were having, too!” Spitfire yelled, holding up her whistle.
“I didn’t make any light shows!” Bulk yelled back, the wind sweeping Spitfire’s hair, too. “You saw it, I saw it—I was nowhere near it when those shiny lights went to the sky!”
“Then why did you have firecrackers in your bag?” Hard Hat said, picking up his backpack like it was indisputable evidence.
“Hey!” Bulk then grappled with the construction man and tried to pry his bag away. “Didn’t your parents tell you it’s bad to snoop?!”
“See how that logic stands up to the police!” Hard Hat shouted, struggling to keep the bag but failing against Bulk’s might, veins showing.
Celestia stepped in and placed a hand on both of them. “Stop!”
And they stopped, shoving each other away as they stood up.
Luna kept her arms crossed, eyeing everyone in the vicinity. “So, let us get this straight: For whatever reason, the soccer ball was kicked so hard it went over the school,” glancing at the rather unbroken state of the school’s walls, “and landed on the statue with enough force to inflict considerable damage to it.” She cleared her throat. “Are we following?”
And everyone nodded, but Hard Hat shook his hands and his head and looked at Bulk again. “Buddy, you’re sure your muscle mass is healthy at this point? You could’ve deflated the thing!”
“I am not unhealthy!” Bulk said, punching his fists together. “Do you wanna fight?!”
Celestia stepped in again, holding out both hands towards the belligerents. “Stop already! This kind of talk will only escalate into more violence,” and glaring at Hard Hat, “and I can contact your superiors for inciting violence on school grounds!”
Hard Hat gulped, tugged at his collar.
Luna sighed, then blurted out loud, “Have you seen anything...magical?”
Both construction workers and soccer players scratched their heads, exchanging more one-line questions with each other.
“On second thought,” Fleetfoot said, making Luna look, “the firecrackers haven’t exploded in his bag so it’s not from whatever’s inside.”
“Then what do you think could be the cause of, say, the ‘light show’?” Luna asked, slower this time.
And everyone looked at each other, wondering.
“Where did you think those lights come from?” Celestia asked Bulk.
He held his paper bag closer to his face. “Um...I-I—“
“From the school’s front yard,” Soarin said, raising his hand.
“Where the statue is!” Luna remarked.
Hard Hat sighed. “So...magic?”
Luna nodded. “It is the only sensible explanation at this point.”
The construction man turned to his co-workers. “Be on the alert, guys. We might be busy today.”
With that, they went back to fixing the statue.
As for the soccer team, they gathered together and spoke with one another.
Celestia got her phone. “I’ll be having a meeting with the mayor.” Then, taking a few steps towards her sister who was rubbing her head in discomfort, “Luna, call me if things get worse and keep updating Sunset and her frie—are you OK?”
Luna was taking out a pill. She swallowed it dry. “I think we’ll be better,” and then winced at using the royal we.
Celestia sighed and placed a hand on her shoulder. In a hushed voice: “If it’s true that we’re becoming ponies, then nothing short of magic is going to stop it.”
Luna’s eyes went wide again. Under her sister’s gaze, she got the rest of her pills out from her bag, seeing them in their many colors.
She put them back inside, zipped the bag shut.
Celestia dialed the mayor’s number and walked away to the sidewalk, phone by her ear.
Fleetfoot ran out of the group and approached Luna, worry on her face. “Vice Prinicpal Luna, what’s going on?”
Luna sighed, glancing at her bag. “I am afraid to know what is going on.”
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Looks like it's time to use our combined eggheads to magic the new portal to human world. At least the journal is still in the human world, the connection hasn't completely servered yet.
...hmmm... does Discord still around town? Maybe he would like to see the chaos on the other side?
Might just be humans with magic
Oh... boy. Things just went from bad to worse!
9093179
That alone wouldn't be too bad, except look what's happening to Celestia and Luna. Luna is becoming nocturnal, gaining a tendency towards more archaic and royal speech; while Celestia is able to tell time to the second from the sun alone and may gain literal control over it. Don't forget, Earth is not geocentric but Heliocentric. A human woman suddenly gaining control of the very center of our solar system could send it fling out of the galaxy.
yeah, this is very bad.
There is another way: The same way the Pillars of Light banished the Sirens.
And that's how Equestria was made!
Yeah, they're not going to solve this with magic anymore than they could put out a fire by pouring accelerant on it. For that matter, this world has already begun to spark its own magical field. Those geodes? That's the Tree of Harmony growing its roots into this neighboring dimension, yggdrasil-style. This world's turning ponish and there's nothing to be done but mitigate the chaos.
9093325
Magical shenanigans always seem so much worse when you account for realistic physics. Reminds me of one of Principal Celestia's lines in Oversaturated: "So, what do I need to do to keep the solar system heliocentric?"
Man, every time I think this story is done throwing ideas, it just ends up getting right into another.
Is this a trick question? If it isn't, the answer is yes, yes she does. That's why she did it.
NotLikeThis
Funny, they're over 25; Discord must be running late.
I'm loving seeing what Luna and Celestia are up to, and I confess I hope this goes further just to see how they fare.