Equestria Grads

by Toon4Thought

Chapter 6

One by one, each of the five girls shakily stepped out of the marble housing the portal. This trip was no less dizzy than the first, not to mention having to once again adjust to being on two legs, resulting in them stepping as if they were stuffed in a washer. Rarity and Applejack nearly tripped before settling onto the grass, Fluttershy simply took it slowly before sitting on one side of the statue, and Pinkie Pie - to no one's shock - walked out extremely casually and nonchalantly, as if nothing had happened to her.

The last to enter, Rainbow Dash, simply laid her back on the side opposite Applejack. “Ugh… I’m glad that’s over,”

“Me too,” Rarity added, “I mean, I loved exploring the beautiful settings, but… I just can’t wait for things to get back to normal.”

“Uh, Rarity, I don’t think we’re done quite yet,” said Applejack, nudging Rarity in the shoulder to truly wake her up.

She pointed in the direction of the school. The sidewalk between the school and the statue showed heavy cracks, which were very plainly increasing in size. Ripples into Equestria forming at a few points on the ground, large enough for them to get a glimpse of the land they just visited. Even a few things like the trees and bushes around the school were levitating in the air.

“...I think I want to go back,” Fluttershy whimpered. She turned toward the portal, but Applejack tapped her shoulder to stop her.

“No, we don’t want to go bothering Princess Twilight or cause some paradox or let some other bad thing happen,” she said passively.

“Even still, I’m not sure how we’ll be able to go on with our lives until the portal is shut,” said Rainbow Dash.

“Well, I guess we’ll have to… deal,” said Rarity reluctantly, still stressed.

She knew this was going to be harder than even her claim implied, but none of them had any idea just how difficult it would be.

***

A couple hours later saw Rarity back in her bedroom/workshop, eager to get back to dress work. Her current personal project was a special dress for the post-graduation party; it was going to be a dazzling spectacle of light blue fabric with yellow sleeves, matching the school’s colors, a gown-like bottom with a rounded, ovular pattern, and a tight circular collar.

She had it all blueprinted, taped on the wall over their desk. As she was preparing to sew one sleeve to the main part of the dress, she saw the large piece of cloth meant to be the sleeve sort of flinch out of the path of the sewing machine. Rarity shrugged, passing it off as a light breeze. This happened to her all the time after all, nothing big.

But upon trying again, not only did it pull itself away again, it did so much more quickly and forcefully.

“C’mon, stay in place…” she said to the disobedient material. It was clearly contaminated with magic, but she felt it still could be reasoned with.

It couldn’t. Moving as if it were flowing with the wind, but not obeying the laws of physics, it instead completely flew off the desk and ‘motioned’ the other fabrics in Rarity’s room to join along.

Before long, Rarity found herself standing right in the middle of a colorful parade of beautiful yet disorienting colors circling around her, before finally coming together and forming a sort of life-size, origami woman that looked just like her, even though the colors weren’t necessarily correct.

The eyes, which were small blue pieces of paper glued to a large white piece of cotton making up the head, fluttered open. There were even nice little strands left on the sides to represent the eyelashes.

Rarity, not sure of what to say, decided to complement ‘it’. “Uh, I really appreciate you trying to, I guess, resemble my complexion, but…” She couldn’t resist nitpicking; it was her material, after all. That’s what they’re there for, she thought. “I must say, you probably could’ve nailed it a bit bitter. My waist is NOT that wide-”

Before she could continue, the Rarity collage pushed Rarity to the floor.

“What was that for?” she said, frustrated at the sudden aggression.

Her answer came in the form of a sewing needle in one of its cloth hands, as well as a measuring tape and a pair of scissors in the other.

Her eyes widened in pure horror as she felt her limbs pinned to the floor.

***

It was the time of the week again, the time for Applejack to harvest all the fresh apples from the healthy trees. She loved the fresh orchard smell as she stepped out of her barn, with a large bucket in one hand and a ladder in the other.

She approached the first tree in the yard, and placed the top part of the ladder along the tree’s wide trunk. Just from the ground, she could tell all the apples - gala, honeycrisp, and fuji alike - looked as red and delicious as a good apple should be.

However, she couldn’t let herself get distracted by the rustic beauty of the trees. There was work to be done after all, and their family’s apples helped serve many a hungry citizen far and wide. So, she eagerly climbed up the ladder, but before she picked off the first apple, it suddenly levitated off the branch and hid in the leaves of the tree.

“What the hay?” Applejack thought out loud, before the answer quickly came to mind. “Ugh… must be more magic going on…”

Hoping it only affected that one, she turned to the next apple that caught her eye. This time, she was able to expertly pick it off the branch and onto her hand, but just as she was able to sigh out of relief, it too floated, but this time just above Applejack’s head.

It was at this point that Applejack curiously noticed that all the other apples she could see were on the tree before suddenly disappeared. She had no idea what this was about, until her ear picked up a huge rustling of leaves. With grave curiosity, she slowly lifted her head up to find the apples were all grouped together and ready to pour down. She quickly slid down the ladder as the first few apples began to pelt her body.

Thankfully, they didn’t fall at a fast enough rate to cause any severe injuries, but it still hurt her body in the short term just the same. And there was probably at least one bad bruise there, too. Worse still, half of the apples were turned into applesauce! How could she sell and use them now?

***

The other girls were, needless to say, having similar magic-related problems in their own lives.

Outside the local animal shelter, one could easily see Fluttershy carefully but hastily rushing out the door, back pinned to blockade the entrance with her arms seemingly pinned to the doors. She was breathing hard, and it was plain to see why - from the other side came obnoxiously loud roars, the sound of scraping claws, and the general vibe of something dangerous trying to get it. And anyone who looked through the window would identify what those things were: a bear with two extra limbs and a third eye, a super-tall and super-muscular rabbit with a clear attitude problem, and several, decidedly less describable mutant animals. It was unclear as to just how much longer she could hold up before the doors finally gave way. Next thing she knew, some sirens started to ring, and they got progressively louder over the next minute, and only stopped once a giant white truck pulled up in front of her.

Rainbow was doing some sports practice in her backyard, but no matter where her feet kicked the soccer balls, it would never head in the direction she wanted, regardless of the intended trajectory. They swerved across the backyard, seemingly at random and showed no sign of stopping. Next thing she knew, her collection of soccer balls - as well as some she believed belonged to her neighbors - banded together in a familiar-looking formation and chased Dash all across the yard. She would run to one end, only to find a large line of soccer balls prompting her to run the other. Eventually, they cornered her at the net on the far side of the yard, and pushed her inside.

At Pinkie Pie’s house, everything was messed up in general. Her plushie, which she named Gummy, gained sentience, which would’ve been pretty cute if it wasn’t for the tiny yet sharp teeth that came close to biting her finger a couple times. Then she baked some sweets in a magic-contaminated oven, only for them to come out with faces that certainly weren't there before. At first, it seemed pretty fun. They sang cute little songs that Pinkie would sing along with (including a fun little cupcake ditty she thought she ought to write down), but then the horror came that whenever she tried to take a bite, they’d let out a high-pitched, almost squeaky, cry of pain. It wasn’t right to eat something with a heart and soul, no matter how tasty it was… right?

***

They gathered together yet again in front of the school that following morning. None of them really had to say how tired they were; their frazzled and drowsy faces said more than words could.

“Girls… ‘dealing with this’ isn’t working out,” said Rarity, holding out her arms showing several minor skin tears, “It’ll take me some time to recover from those cuts.”

“The animal shelter has been condemned due to mutant activity,” Fluttershy whimpered, “I know they’re contaminated, but I don’t want those critters to get hurt…”

“My farm can’t exactly make any profits if I can’t pick properly pick any of my apples,” said an annoyed Applejack, “I swear they’re forming their own society at this rate.”

“I like the idea of having my equipment play the game on their own, but it’s no fun for you to be part of the game,” said Rainbow Dash.

“Never before have I questioned the morality of eating something so delicious…” said Pinkie Pie, who was seemingly staring off into space and speaking in a surprisingly philosophical tone. “Cupcakes are meant to be eaten, especially ones with creamy frosting… so if they can’t be eaten, what purpose do they serve?”

“Besides,” Rarity added on, “shouldn’t we have heard from Twilight Sparkle by now?”

“Yeah, she told us she’d be here before Princess Twilight shut down the portal,” Fluttershy replied.

“You don’t think…” Applejack thought out loud, “that Princess Twilight is holding back for Sunset’s sake? Ugh, and I thought she’s understand the importance of keeping both worlds safe…”

The four remaining girls stared at each other for a little while.

“AJ,” said Rainbow, “you know, Sunset is our friend. I don’t think it was very cool for us to walk out on her like that.”

“Yeah, in hindsight I’d have to agree,” said Rarity. “I mean, obviously the magic needs to be mitigated as soon as possible, but I’m sure with enough reasoning, we could’ve easily gone with some level of understanding.”

“She did seem really unsure about her future,” Fluttershy added on, “In fact, I’m starting to realize she probably never even had a plan. She always avoided it whenever we’d bring it up.”

The others slowly nodded, picking up on such a realization themselves.

“And… if she were to stay in Equestria,” said Pinkie Pie, still in her daze but talking more normally, “she can’t exactly reach us through cell phones.”

“I don’t know about you,” said Rarity, “but I sure would miss her.”

“Me too,” said Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy together.

Applejack took a deep breath. “Yep, I would miss her also, but… I really do think she’s overthinking everything and letting it get in the way of what’s even more important.”

“But even still, darling, can you really blame her?” Rarity asked to Applejack. “I mean, she was clearly caught off guard by the recommended course of action.”

“Yeah, if I had to make such a life choice like that,” said Rainbow Dash, “I’d probably act a little irrationally out of impulse too.”

“Well, we all know you would…” said Rarity, rolling her eyes, “But yeah, we really should keep things in perspective.”

Applejack didn’t want to admit her mistake, but she gave herself a minute of reflection before solemnly responding. “Yeah girls, I suppose I do owe Sunset Shimmer a little apology... I still think her priorities were a little skewed, but no matter what I think, I really should've approached her about it as a friend.”

“Me too," said Fluttershy, nodding in agreement. "Maybe we should go back and talk to her again…”

But the slight rumbling of the ground underneath their feet that persisted throughout their exchange quickly become more and more extreme. The concrete surface began to crumble, and major cracks formed that rapidly spread all around the school.

The girls saw the landscape in front of them begin to sink… but the sensation around them make them quickly catch on that instead, the school area lifted off the ground and was slowly levitating about three feet into the air, and was only slowly rising further from there.

“Perhaps this will be a little more difficult than we thought,” said Applejack aptly.

Comments

[Toon4Thought]

Next chapter will be up Friday; there's simply a lot to rework in that one. Plus, should I keep to the 'every 4th day' schedule afterward like I have been, it'll allow me to post the ninth and final chapter on a weekend. The last two chapters I have much more figured out, so I know those won't be pushed back.