> A Certain Magical Friendship - MIRROR_NOISE > by Sora2455 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Remember the events so far - story_resumes > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- There was a party well underway in Ponyville. If you were to flag down a passing pony and ask them why this was so, most would tell you that it was merely the Summer Sun Celebration, slightly delayed this year. If you hunted down a smaller number of ponies who had been in right places at the right times, they would tell you that they were celebrating the defeat of Nightmare Moon, the legendary Mare in the Moon. (Some would know that somepony named ‘Luna’ had been rescued from her evil clutches, or something. They were very fuzzy on the details.) Most ponies were content with one of those explanations. They trusted that they would hear an official explanation for the weirdness of the night in due time. For now, they just wanted to party. But if you asked a much smaller group, you’d get a much more detailed story. A story about how Nightmare Moon, breaking out of her seal after a thousand years of banishment, had descended to the Earth. They would tell you how she had banished her sister Celestia to the same moon she had just escaped from, intending to forever shroud the world in Eternal Night. But there had been one pony present last night who had been from out-off-town. While everypony else had been panicking at the defeat of Celestia, Satin had panicked in a slightly different way. While most of the ponies had wanted to run away, Satin had a particular destination in mind to run to: a mysterious glowing hole, just inside the boundaries of the Everfree forest. From there, things had gotten weird. They’d jumped into this hole, and fallen so far that by the time they reached the other end, they were falling up. And on the other side of that hole had laid a city full of people with talents and abilities that none of those ponies had ever heard from before. They had helped defeat Nightmare Moon and her minions, and the ponies had helped defeat an aggressor from ‘over there’. But at the moment, five of those mares couldn’t care less about what was on the other side of the hole. They were full concerned about what was on this side. Because, after everything had been said and done, Twilight still wasn’t attending the party. “Twwwiiiilllliiiigghhhtt.” Pinkie Pie whined. “Come oooonnnnn. Most of the ponies have gone home already. Even the princesses have left! If you don’t come now, there won’t be a party left for you to attend!” “The princess is gone?” Twilight’s voice came out slightly slurred, before she caught herself and shook her head vigorously. “I mean, the princesses are gone?” She corrected herself, sounding much more awake this time. Having two princesses was going to take some getting used to. (Well, there was Cadence, but she had only just finished school a year ago, so nopony thought of her as a ‘real’ princess yet.) “Yup.” Applejack said. “Said ya could stay as long as you liked, an’ come back to Canterlot when you’re ready.” “Oh.” Twilight said. “That’s nice.” Rarity moved closer, inspecting Twilight’s muzzle close-up. “Dear, your adorable little dragon said that you haven’t slept since the night before last. If you aren’t going to join the party –” “Which you should!” Pinkie insisted. “– then you should be sleeping, dear.” Twilight squinted at the three mares confronting her. “…haven’t you been awake since then as well?” “Ya can’t sleep though a Pinkie Pie party, sugercube.” Applejack said. “S’not possible.” “Why would anypony want to sleep though a party?” Pinkie looked honestly confused. “Well, I appreciate your concern girls, but I can’t come.” Twilight shook her head. “That ‘hole’ in the Everfree – something isn’t right about it, and I need to figure out what.” “Twilight, dear, the princess – I mean, princess Celestia already said that she’d take care of that.” “Princess Celestia conjured a fence around the hole with a sign saying ‘Danger: probably magic’.” Twilight deadpanned. “’xactly.” Applejack nodded. “So if anypony falls in, it’s their own fault.” Twilight turned around, looking down at the scroll she had been reading when the other mares had come in. “But there’s more to it than that.” She insisted. “Listen. I wrote down what happened last night, and it doesn’t make any sense!” Applejack opened her mouth to say ‘Leave magic to the unicorns and go to sleep’, remembered who she was talking to, and closed it again. “You mean like how we saw the sun rise twice, but the ponies here only saw it rise once?” Pinkie noted. Twilight turned her head back just enough so that she could look Pinkie in the eye as she nodded. “More than that. ‘Over here’, Satin knew the legend of Nightmare Moon even better than I did, but on ‘the other side’, she didn’t know anything about it!” Rarity frowned. “Yes, that was rather unusual, wasn’t it?” “And Applejack, you got hurt fighting a Shadowbolt, right? Do you remember how you got better?” “Nope.” Applejack answered. “Next thin’ ah remember, we were bein’ swarmed by th’ Nightmare Forces.” Twilight turned around, facing the three of them again. “Well, I asked Fluttershy, and she said that she healed you with magic!” Applejack’s mouth fell open, as did Rarity’s and Pinkie Pie’s. “Come again?” Quite aside from the fact that Fluttershy lacked a horn to be casting spells with, there had been exactly one pony in the last millennium who could cast healing spells. That was a super-rare Talent. “I know!” Twilight exclaimed. “Fluttershy couldn’t explain it either – she clearly remembered healing you, but she couldn’t explain how!” “Land sakes!” Applejack swore. “Tha’ is weird.” “That’s still not the weirdest part.” “There’s more?” Pinkie, Applejack and Rarity said together. “Girls, do you remember the name of where we were, on the other side of the hole?” The three mares opposite Twilight looked uncertain. “I was just thinking of it as ‘Satin’s home’.” Pinkie admitted. “Did anypony actually say…?” Applejack asked. “We all had other things on our minds, darling.” Rarity said. “Where we were exactly didn’t seem so important.” “Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy remembered.” Twilight said. “They called it ‘the Academy’. And they both remember being shocked to find that out, though they can’t remember why now.” Pinkie, Applejack and Rarity shared uncertain looks. “I, uh, don’t think we’ve every heard of a place like tha’.” Applejack admitted. “You wouldn’t have.” Twilight said, her tone serious. “Seeing as how it doesn’t exist.” “Doesn’t…? Darling, you must be pulling my leg.” Rarity protested. “We were all there mere hours ago. You can’t just say that we were in a place that isn’t real.” Twilight’s head swung around to look at the bookshelf behind her. “I checked everything – ‘Great schools of the world’, ‘Where to get research done’, ‘Grand faculties of the globe’… I even had Spike send for ‘The complete guide to Neighpon’ from the Canterlot library. Girls, none of the academies in the world look anything like where we were!” “So they got the name wrong.” Applejack said. Twilight shook her head. “No. Something is wrong with that hole.” Telekinetically gathering up the stacks of books on the table, Twilight started walking up the stairs. “And I’m going to figure out what!” Entering her bedroom, Twilight dramatically slammed the door shut. “Hole’s not going anywhere, though.” Applejack told the door. “Honestly, ya need ta sleep.” The door, being a door, did not answer her. “Well, shoot.” “She doesn’t want to attend my party?” Pinkie sounded slightly shell-shocked. “I’m sure she wants to, dear.” Rarity sighed. “It’s just that she thinks this is more urgent, though. It’s not like she’s forgotten there’s a party going on.” Pinkie’s wide eyes slowly narrowed in confusion. “Forgotten there’s a…?” She gasped suddenly in a huge intake of air. “That’s right! I almost forgot! I kinda need to got back and check on our new friends because they also haven’t come to the party and actually I’m not sure they can read Equish so they might not have understood my invitations and they’ve gone all this time without a party, and –” “Breathe, Pinkie.” Applejack interrupted, which seemed to break Pinkie out of her run-on sentence. “Right! I’ll be right back!” Pinkie dashed out the door of the Golden Oak library so fast she left a smoky after-image. Applejack rolled her eyes. “Honestly, that mare.” “Wait a minute.” Rarity said. “When she said ‘our new friends’, you don’t think she meant the ones over there, do you?” Applejack and Rarity shared a worried glance. “...those are your orders. Do you understand, 9748?” “Misaka understands, Misaka replies as she begins to prepare for deployment.” > Send out the invitations - laugh_and_cry > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- -Ding, dong- That was the sound that hundreds of students had been waiting for all day. It was the joyous sound that heralded days of unparalleled fun and freedom. It signalled an end to the oppressive system of indoctrination and unpaid labour. (In their minds, at least.) In other words, it was the bell that signalled the end of the school year. The day had started off with a disastrous phenomenon from well outside normal understanding, so you would have been forgiven if you had thought that school would have been cancelled for the day. Unfortunately, the grown-ups that ran the city had decided that the best way to keep order would be to impose normal routine over the day. As everyone went through the motions of normalcy, their thoughts were guided onto their usual, everyday paths. It also gave time for various stories to spring up, each one attempting to explain the global ‘blackout’. They ranged from undetected meteors causing an impromptu eclipse to an experimental countermeasure against solar flares. For the first time in her life, Saten was in the unusual position of knowing the true source of the rumours that flooded the message boards. Her fingers itched to type out the true explanation, and tell the world exactly what had happened. But… If I do that… would anybody believe me? And more importantly… what would happen if they did? Somehow, Saten knew, one lady had caused the sun to fail to shine one morning. One miserable, pathetic human being had stretched our her hand and snapped her fingers, and the unfathomable power of the sun had abruptly been extinguished. That was not the sort of thing you went to school the next day and forgot about. Saten, like all the students in Academy City, dreamed of one day being a powerful Esper. Earlier this week, she’d gotten the chance to meet one of her idols, the #3 Railgun who had worked her way from Level 1 to Level 5. Saten had scoured the internet, searching for something – for someone to tell her what she was doing wrong, why all her efforts hadn’t raised her Level above 0. Now though, the day of attendance at school had given time for the idea to take root that even if she found the mysterious Level Upper, that she would forever remember that snap of the fingers with a chill down her spine. Such melancholic thoughts followed Saten out of her classroom and down to the front gate. There, she stopped and stared. Standing just outside the front gate, there was a girl who would best be described as ‘pink’. Pink hair, pink wristbands, pink jacket. She stood out from the crowd so much that she seemed almost unreal, like finding a four leaf clover in a desert. Pinkie Pie said, tapping her foot. Saten managed. Saten switched languages. “Par-tay?” For some reason, Pinkie seemed to insist on speaking in her nonsense Japanese. Admittedly, Saten’s English was only just above the ‘pass’ level expected of a first year middle school student, but now they were down to pantomiming. Saten tried again, moving her hands like she was pulling the string on an invisible popper. Pinkie smiled. Saten sighed. A few of the other Tokiwadai girls stopped to listen and stare at the public spectacle, but the throbbing vein on Misaka’s forehead convinced them to move on whenever her glare shifted to them. Misaka roughly pulled Kuroko to her feet. Misaka realised this was the wrong thing to say immediately, but Kuroko had already doubled the volume of tears and snot running down her face. Misaka wanted to groan (or better yet, roll her eyes), but first she had to calm down her overemotional roommate. -sob- Misaka paused, putting a finger on her chin. An aura of gloom had settled over Kuroko as she curled up into the fetal position. Misaka pressed a hand into her face and sighed. She was saved from having to try and salvage the conversation from the ringing of her phone. Misaka gave out more death glares until the next wave of passers-by moved on, and answered her phone with a tense . The person on the other end of the line was taken aback by her tone. Misaka looked down at Kuroko, who had started chanting ‘I hurt Sissy’ to herself quietly. Misaka turned around and cupped her hand around the phone. Misaka blinked, running the idea through her head. She put a hand over her phone’s receiver. For the moment, the light of intelligent thought re-entered Kuroko’s eyes. Kuroko’s pigtails stuck straight up in the air like she had just been electrocuted. In the span of an eye-blink, she was no longer kneeling, but now stood ramrod-straight directly in front of Misaka. Misaka felt a chill down her spine. With great dread, Misaka raised her phone back up to her mouth. <…are you sure you’re okay?> Touma Kamijou’s face was down as he walked down the street. With school out, he really should have been skipping down the road, jumping for joy, but his late arrival at school today had upset his suspiciously young-looking homeroom teacher. Rather than give him detention, like a normal teacher, Ms Komoe had instead tearfully wondered if she was trying hard enough as a teacher. Seeing that sorrow-stricken face had made his classmates give him death-glares all day. It had gotten so bad that Touma was worried they were going to jump him on his way home and beat him up. Just his luck. On his way home he had been struck by the impulse to go out and spurge a little at a restaurant, but the prospect of a second mouth to feed had sucked that impulse down of him. Instead, he had stopped by a supermarket and stocked up on pretty much everything that was on sale… which wasn’t much. Touma sighed, but hefted his shopping bag behind his back and started climbing up the stairs to his apartment. The building hadn’t been on fire when he got back, so that was a plus. Wait. His wall still had a giant hole knocked in it. Drat. Knowing my luck, it’ll pour with rain tonight. Touma thought sourly. Academy City’s giant supercomputer, Tree Diagram, could predict weather down to the second, but Touma felt that even if it predicted clear skies a lone storm cloud would appear just to drench his apartment. He called out, feeling slightly foolish for doing so. Still, he’d given Index his keys, and his spare was inside the room. If it turned out she hadn’t taken up his offer, he was going to have to try to climb in the hole in the wall, suspended as it was over a sheer drop. To his pleasant surprise, however, the door opened, revealing Index behind it. <…um, welcome home?> Touma looked the nun up and down, narrowing his eyes and rubbing his chin. <…what?> Index squirmed under his gaze. It was a bit of a struggle, but Touma managed to make it past the threshold. His apartment was small – it consisted of just a bedroom/living area with a tiny kitchen attached and a bathroom. It wasn’t really built to entertain guests, and there was a definite sense of snugness as two people and a kitten manoeuvred around each other. Touma moved into the kitchen and dropped his cargo down on the bench. Index walked in after him, her eyes flickering between his face and the bags of food. The apartment became very quiet as Touma put the food away, the atmosphere only broken up by the pained winces Touma gave as he saw how much of his food Index had eaten while he was away. Neither of them really knew what to say to each other. Touma didn’t regret offering Index a place to stay, he just… didn’t know where to go from here. Did she have some goal she could reach once she had time to plan it out? Or if nothing changed, would she really be content with sleeping in a random boy’s apartment forever? Index was just as uncertain. She had been planing to take advantage of a sanctuary, but in a church. Index knew how churches worked. When they extended out their hand to their needy, they did so because their divine lord had instructed them to do so. But a look though Touma’s apartment made Index quite sure that Touma wasn’t religious, so there was no way to be sure how long his charity would hold out for. Even if his hand had shown her nothing but kindness so far (and for some reason, the bruise on her face throbbed as she thought that), there was no guarantee that she could depend on him forever. Touma had almost finished unpacking the groceries when the kitten walked in and sat down next to Index’s robes, looking up and meowing as if to say Well somebody say something! Touma started hesitantly. Index spun around, showing off her sparkling white-and-gold habit. It had gotten soaked on blood during the incident of the previous night, but didn’t show any traces of that anymore. Touma scratched his head. Index continued. Index frowned. Index scowled. Touma finished packing food into cupboards, and turned to face Index. Index corrected, as though she was disputing what colour they had been wearing. Touma felt a little out of his depth. Index was speaking in square boxes, but his mind only had round holes to put them in. The deliberate calm in Index’s voice told Touma he was skating on thin ice. He asked, hoping to move on from what was apparently a blunder. He stumbled around the foreign word. Index finished for him. -Knock, knock, knock- All three heads, human and cat, turned to stare at the door. Touma and Index then shared a look. -Knock, knock, knock- Came a girl’s voice, speaking in slightly muffled voice. Touma found himself getting uneasy. That did not sound like Tsuchimikado or his sister, who were the only two people who would normally come calling. Even worse, he thought he did know that voice. Touma carefully stepped around Index to head towards the door. For her part, Index grabbed a frying pan and held it threateningly, which did nothing to ease Touma’s nerves. Touma bent down to stare though his keyhole. He saw tea-coloured hair. Misaka murmured to herself, impatiently knocking again. She felt slightly foolish, standing outside a boy’s dorm room knocking on the door, but the first person to poke fun at her was taking a 5,000 volt penalty for doing so. She asked the door rhetorically. Sighing, she held her hand up to the lock. Sparks jumped between her fingers as she used magnetism to slide the lock into the ‘open’ position. Opening the door and striding inside, Misaka continued to grumble to herself. Misaka blinked. Halfway out the hole in his wall, bed-sheets tied together into a makeshift rope, Touma sweated. Misaka continued to stare, her eyelids rapidly opening and closing as though she could blink away the ridiculousness of the scene. Touma said, somewhat pathetically. <…what are you doing?> His cunning plan of escape foiled, Touma began to climb back into the room. A third voice drifted in from behind and below Touma. Touma twisted around so that his head was looking down his makeshift rope. After a few more rounds of shouting, Touma and Index were back inside the apartment. Now present in the same room, Index and Misaka stared at each other. Index, who couldn’t remember anything from the time she was ‘talking in her sleep’, only recognised her as the girl who had chased after Touma flinging lightning bolts at him. Misaka, on the other hand, remembered that incident just fine, and she stared down sharply at the girl who had outright ignored all her attacks. She’d been hampered by the Nightmare Forces, but still! Both girls raised a hand to point at each other. Touma moved his hands in a calming gesture. Touma blinked, totally stupefied. Touma normally remembered incidents like that one through a new collection of injuries, so the notion of celebrating together with friends afterwards was new to him. A curious warm feeling spread though him, but his natural pessimism warred against it. He turned around at this point to face Index, and discovered that she had started drooling. She said, sparkles in her eyes. Touma turned back around. With six out of eight targets acquired (nobody seemed to know where the smoking boy and the sword girl were), Pinkie was ready to return home. There was just one last hurdle. Uiharu fretted, trying to think of how to say this politely. She was already confused, having been dragged from her apartment straight here with only the short explanation of ‘a party’. Kuroko didn’t bother being polite. She said bluntly. She was already in a foul mood, having arrived to find that others would be joining her and Misaka in this outing. Kuroko switched languages. “I speak English just fine, so –” Pinkie insisted. Index said, as she, Touma and Misaka walked onto the scene. Kuroko turned around, her face dripping with exasperation. Whatever she would have said, however, died on her lips as she properly noticed Index. She asked, honest confusion overriding her manners. Index said with a completely straight face. Touma swiftly clamped his hand over Index’s mouth. He let out a laugh that didn’t fool anyone. Kuroko said, completely unconvinced. Misaka waved away Kuroko’s concerns. Kuroko eyed her roommate suspiciously. <…no.> As an argument started to break out, Saten gave Uiharu an awkward smile. Uiharu carefully leaned over the edge. The sun hadn’t been directly overhead for hours now, but Uiharu was sure that even with the lighting she had that she should have been able to see the bottom. She couldn’t. Saten reassured her. Uiharu had many, many questions, but for now she’d settle for: She couldn’t see any way to climb down this thing – what had Saten done, just slid down the sides? Uiharu turned her head weakly. <…come again?> Too late – Saten wrapped an arm around Uiharu and, shrieking with delight, jumped down the hole, pulling her friend with her. Uiharu started shrieking as well, though for entirely different reasons. At the sound of the dual shrieks, Kuroko and Pinkie’s heads both swivelled around in surprise. Pinkie said, in a tone that made everyone sure that she meant to say ‘Well, finally!’. With a hop, skip and a jump, the pink-haired girl was falling down the hole as well. Kuroko made a noise of pure panic and dived after them, the only thought going through her head was that she was the only one here well suited to aerial rescue. Touma wasn’t far behind, though he skidded to a stop in front of the hole. He called back to Index. He wasn’t quite sold on this ‘magic’ business, but she seemed to know what was going on – more than he did, at any rate. Index considered the question. Touma’s face grew pained at that. If negating things wasn’t an option, he was no more help than any other high-school student. He sighed. Misaka did not respond. Touma looked up. There was a distinct lack of tea-coloured hair in the park. Misaka 9748 tilted her head to the side as the other Misaka strode towards her. |Misaka thought that she was the only Misaka deployed on this mission, Misaka comments idly.| The other Misaka flinched, but kept on striding forward until she stood directly in front of 9748. Then, she bodily shoved 9748 into the alleyway she had been standing in the mouth of, out of sight of the street. 9748 righted herself. |You are displaying abnormal behaviour, Misaka notes with alarm. When was the last time you had maintenance performed?| |9748, there are no other Sister units in your vicinity, Misaka notes having counted them all up.| The other Misaka hissed out loud. 9748 blinked. For some reason, this seemed to upset the malfunctioning unit. Two and two are… The Original’s eyes grew wide, and her voice shook. Her behaviour was consistent with the data 9748 had of the condition called ‘shock’. 9748 frowned. The Original did not know of the project? But wasn’t she the one who had donated her DNA for it in the first place? |The Original’s DNA was obtained under false pretences, Misaka reminds Misaka while figuratively waving a finger. It isn’t a surprise that she has no idea what use it was actually put to.| The Original flinched again. <(What’s up with that way of talking?) Okay then, what are you doing?!> The Original’s breathing was starting to steady. Given that she had started to focus on the details of the situation, then by 9748’s understanding she was past the worst of her shock. Still, protocol was protocol. |Your mission is still time-critical, Misaka reminds Misaka.| The Original did not flinch this time, but instead turned around to face the direction of 9874’s broadcast. So saying, the Original stepped back from 9748 and into the main street, before running in the general direction of 9874. 9748 considered this for a moment. 9874 was not, in fact, anywhere near the current production facility – she was supplying one of the equipment drop-points for a later experiment. Still, she had her orders. Going from what she had glimpsed earlier, several members of the city had already entered the anomaly. The natives from inside it would be fully alert for more visitors, so her mission to observe unobtrusively was already doomed. She had no choice. Whatever it was that was occurring inside the anomaly, she would have to join in. > Mistakes were made - heroes_DISPLACED > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Shortly within the borders of the Everfree forest, just off the path, a deep hole was present in the forest floor. It didn’t look like something an animal would dig – it was far too circular, and the walls far too smooth. It’s abrupt appearance just screamed ‘magic’, even before one noticed that its edges were glowing. The wooden sign ‘Danger, probably magic’ prominently nailed to the nearest tree seemed almost superfluous. When taken in as a whole, the scene looked less like a real place and more like a postcard of the Everfree that somepony had taken a hole punch to. The strange, alien impression the hole gave off was, however, dispelled somewhat by the sound of a mare’s scream approaching. Saten was a carefree young girl. She was a level 0 esper, attending Sakugawa Middle School. She was friends with Uiharu Kazari, Shirai Kuroko, and Misaka Mikoto. Uiharu was another Sakugawa student. She was friends with her schoolmate Saten, had a more mischievous relationship with her Judgement partner Kuroko, and a more distant one with the friend of her friend, Misaka. _____ was a carefree young ____. She was a ____________________________________________. She was friends with ______ _____, ______ ______, and ______ _______. _______ was another _________ student. She was friends with her schoolmate _____, had a more mischievous relationship with her _________ ______ ______, and a more distant one with the friend of her friend, ____. Satin was a carefree young mare. She was an earth pony with a Cutie Mark of a magnifying glass. She was friends with Gatekeeper, Stage Hand, and Railgun. Gatekeeper was another Academy student. She was friends with her schoolmate Satin, had a more mischievous relationship with her other friend Stagehand, and a more distant one with the friend of her friend, Railgun. Faster than the eye could track, two shapes shot out of the glowing hole in the ground, slowed to a stop in the air, then came crashing back down to the ground next to the hole. This flight path meant that they went over the top of the completely out-of-place picket fence that tightly followed the edges of the hole. The moment the shapes hit the ground, the screaming stopped, the air squashed out of their lungs. For a moment, the forest was quiet again, before one of the shapes groaned and stood to its hooves, revealing itself as an earth pony mare with dark-coloured fur and the Cutie Mark of a magnifying glass. The other mare wearily raised her head, looking quite shaken. She had light blue fur, and her Cutie Mark was obscured by the flowers weaved into her mane. -Click- “4:46 PM. Two mares ejected from hole, pictures attached. First subject appears identical to Academy resident ‘Satin’, second mare unknown.” The two mares’ heads turned at the unexpected voice. A third mare sat on the other side of the path from the hole, a seemingly-random assortment of equipment surrounding her. Her horn glowed purple, as did the camera that had just taken their picture. A small dragon stood by her side, looking rather bored as he jotted down notes with a clipboard and pencil. Now, the context from which the two ‘mares’ had come from and the context in which they now resided had different ideas on what a name should be like. This meant that, when moved from one context to the other, their names changed to match. However, not all transitions were as simple as Saten to Satin. Some of the new names, like Gatekeeper, might be strange and unfamiliar. However, their names had not really changed, even if they were treated differently ‘somewhere else’. Thus, to ease any confusion, all characters will be referred to by their ‘real’ names in narration from now on. Saten cast her mind back to the introductions of the previous night. <...Twilight?> She said, half-guessing. Twilight peered intently back at Saten. “4:46 PM. Subject 0000 is able to identify me by name.” “Subject appears to be attempting to communicate in unknown language.” Uiharu reminded, getting to her hooves. “Weeeeeeeeeee – oof!” Another mare flew out of the hole, crashing right on top of Uiharu with a loud -donk-! -Click- “4:47 PM. Single mare ejected from hole, identical in appearance to Ponyville resident Pinkie Pie.” The pink mare in question lifted her head off the ground to look at Twilight in confusion. “I am Pinkie Pie.” “Okay, prove it.” Twilight glared the glare of someone who was working long after they should have gone to sleep. “Tell me something only Pinkie Pie would know.” “Your favourite snack is tea cake with vanilla frosting.” Pinkie replied immediately. “I never told Pinkie Pie that.” Twilight shot back. Pinkie paused, then drooped her head. “Oh, right.” Twilight suddenly blinked. “Wait. How did you know what my favourite –” Kuroko was a young teleport-type esper who let herself get obsessed far too easily. She attended Tokiwadai Middle School along with the centre of her universe, Misaka. She generally got along with her Judgement partner Uiharu, though she frequently lost her temper at her. She barely knew Uiharu’s schoolmate, Saten. ______ was a young _________________________ who let herself get obsessed far too easily. She attended ___________________ along with the centre of her universe, ______. She generally got along with her _______________ ______, though she frequently lost her temper at her. She barely knew _________’s __________, ______. Stagehand was a young unicorn with a talent for teleportation who let herself get obsessed far too easily. She attended the Academy along with the centre of her universe, Railgun. She generally got along with her schoolmate Gatekeeper, though she frequently lost her temper at her. She barely knew Gatekeeper’s other friend, Satin. “Ahhhhhhhh –” -Poof-! A fourth mare flew out of the hole. Though instead of crashing into the ground like the others had, she disappeared with a flash at the apex of her flight and reappeared safely on the ground, sprawled out on all fours. Twilight shot one last confused look at Pinkie, then turned to the new arrival and snapped another photo. “4:47 PM. Single mare ejected from hole, identical in appearance to Academy resident ‘Stagehand’.” “I’ll never be single as long as I have Sissy!” One forehoof suddenly shot into the sky as the mare shouted, her twin pigtails lifted skyward with the sudden motion. There was a slightly awkward pause as Twilight, Spike and Pinkie took in this declaration, while Saten and Uiharu just shared a look. As suddenly as it had risen, Kuroko’s hoof shot slammed down to face Saten. Kuroko disappeared in a bright flash of magic, reappearing on her hooves in front of Saten, nearly nose-to-nose with the other mare. Uiharu wheezed from underneath Pinkie. Pinkie looked down, blinked, and then jumped off the poor mare. Saten moved her head and neck backwards, sweating slightly from the intensity of Kuroko’s glare. Kuroko said, ignoring the fact that Index was older than her. Saten opened her mouth. When she didn’t continue, Kuroko raised an eyebrow. Saten closed her mouth, her eyes widening. There had been a reason – something that Kuroko knew that made her unable to believe Index’s words, but for the life of her Saten couldn’t remember what it was. “Ahem.” Twilight cleared her throat. “Please state your name for the record.” Kuroko glanced over at Twilight, glanced back at Saten to make sure she wasn’t going to continue, then turned around bodily to face Twilight. “What are you doing, Sparkle?” “I’m keeping detailed notes so I can investigate this anomaly scientifically.” Twilight said. “You mean I’m keeping detailed notes.” Spike interrupted grumpily, his pencil still moving back and forth across his clipboard. Twilight looked over at her assistant. “I promised you a diamond for this, didn’t I?” Behind Kuroko, Pinkie yawned. She looked up at the (low) position of the sun in the sky, and tapped one of her hind-hooves against the ground. Kuroko sighed. “When you say anomaly, I assume you mean the portal behind me?” “That’s right.” Twilight turned back to face Kuroko again. “I’ve done some preliminary research on magical portals – there’s one quite close to here that opens up every so often so the Breezies can collect pollen – and none of the ones studied so far display the same side-effects as this one.” “Side-effects?” Kuroko raised an eyebrow. “Such as?” “Tell me your name first.” Twilight said, stubbornly. Kuroko rolled her eyes. “I told you last night, my name is Stagehand.” Twilight turned back to Spike. “4:49 PM. Subject 0003 claims her name is ‘Stagehand’.” “I got it, I got it.” Spike said, tongue clenched between his teeth as he continued to write furiously. “(I should have asked for a bigger gemstone…)” Pinkie was joined in her boredom by Saten and Uiharu, neither of who spoke Equish very well and therefore couldn’t understand a word that was being said. Kuroko sighed. “And what exactly is wrong with my name, Sparkle?” “Nothing, nothing.” Twilight said, in a way that completely failed to convey any sense that there wasn’t anything wrong. “Now, just for the record, what is the name of the place you just came from?” Kuroko stared at Twilight for a few seconds, then closed her eyes and sighed. “I have just come from the Academy. I came because I was chasing Gatekeeper, Satin and Pinkie, trying to keep them from going -splat-. The time was 5:03 PM when I left, it was an overcast day, and my favourite food is cherries. Is that enough for you, Sparkle?” She opened one eye, watching Twilight’s reaction. “For now.” Twilight answered, gently easing several still-developing photos out of her camera. “Now, those side-effects?” Kuroko prompted. “Travelling through the anomaly creates discrepancies.” Twilight said. “Logical inconsistencies.” At some unsaid signal, Pinkie, Saten and Uiharu set off for Ponyville at a walk. Twilight and Kuroko were too engrossed in conversation to notice. Spike shot them a jealous look as he watched them go. “Logical inconsistencies like…?” Kuroko prompted again. “How many times would you say that the sun rose this morning?” Twilight asked. Kuroko cocked her head at the odd question. “…twice.” She said. “Once normally, then a second time once Nightmare Moon was subdued and Eternal Night ended.” “That’s what I remember, too.” Twilight said. “Unfortunately, that sequence of events is quite impossible.” “Huh?” Kuroko blinked. “We saw the sun rise, Nightmare Moon set it, then the Princess –” Spike gently nudged Twilight, and she corrected herself mid-sentence “ – Princess Celestia returned it to its rightful place. But that’s not what the ponies over here saw. They saw Nightmare Moon arrive and leave, Princess Celestia raise the sun, and it stay raised.” She glanced at the sky, where the sun was getting reasonably close to the horizon. “It was early in the morning.” Kuroko offered. “Maybe everypony just missed the ‘false dawn’?” Twilight raised an eyebrow. “On the morning of the Summer Sun Celebration? The one day a year when everypony watches the raising of the sun?” “Alright, fine.” Kuroko said, slightly testily. “You explain it.” “I can’t.” Twilight responded, just as testy. “That’s the problem. It’s easier to cause a sunrise then it is to fake one, and the ponies here would have seen that as well. We can’t have seen a sunrise – so how come we did?” “So, what, you think this portal messes with the ponies that go through it?” Kuroko said, her expression and voice suddenly completely flat. “Please excuse me while I go fetch my tinfoil hat.” Twilight stamped a hoof on the ground. “This is serious! Sure, the side effects thus far have been small and easily dismissed, but what if something big were to happen to somepony who moved through?!” “Excuse me, Railgun politely interrupts. Could you please direct me to the nearest area of civilisation, Railgun asks, assuming and presuming that such a place exists.” Twilight had been looking at Kuroko at the time, and so saw quite clearly as all the colour drained out of her fur. Moving in short, sudden jerks, Kuroko’s head turned to face the voice that had just spoken. She matched exactly what Twilight remembered of Misaka from last night – the same tea-coloured mane, the same chestnut eyes, the same light brown wings. Her mane made snapping and crackling noises, which wasn’t at all surprising considering that she had taken the extraordinary step of weaving lightning bolts into her fur. The newcomer looked at the two shocked faces aimed at her. “Did Railgun say something odd, Railgun asks?” A high-pitched whistling noise came from somewhere near the back of Kuroko’s throat. Twilight blinked, a little taken aback herself. “For example…” “S-S-S-S-Sis-Sis-Sissy!” Kuroko screeched. “Wha – what has happened to you?!” “Railgun does not know what you mean, Railgun says as she tilts her head to the side in confusion. Railgun has never met you before, so she does not know to what baseline you would be comparing her to.” “Sparkle!” Kuroko’s gaze snapped around to focus on Twilight with panic in her eyes. “What do we do to fix her? TELL ME WE CAN FIX HER!” “I – well – I’d need more data to work with – there’s a lab under the Ponyville library, but –” “Then lets go!” Kuroko’s horn suddenly stared glowing. “No wait –!” Twilight’s objections were ignored as three ponies and a dragon were enveloped in a bright flash of magic, and vanished without a trace. Index was an extraordinary young girl who could be said to contain the combined magical knowledge of every civilisation of the human race. She had just begun to make friends with the Academy City resident Touma Kamijou. Touma was stubborn, unlucky and held some very strong opinions on the subjects of right and wrong. He was listed in Academy City as a Level 0 esper, but his right hand contained the mysterious existence known as Imagine Breaker. He had managed to attract an unrequited rivalry from Misaka Mikoto, and was host of the otherwise homeless Index Librorum Prohibitorum. _____ was an extraordinary young ___ who could be said to contain the combined magical knowledge of every ________ __ _____________. She had just begun to make friends with the ____________ _______ _____________. _____ was stubborn, unlucky and held some very strong opinions on the subjects of right and wrong. He was listed in ____________as a ____ _ ____, but his right ____ contained the mysterious existence known as Imagine Breaker. He had managed to attract an unrequited rivalry from _____________, and was host of the otherwise homeless ________________________. The sound of breaking glass rang out. Index was an extraordinary young mare who could be said to contain the combined magical knowledge of every race in Equestria. She had just begun to make friends with the Academy student ______ ______. Touma was _______, _______ and held some very strong ______ on the subjects of right and wrong. He was _____ in Academy City as a Level 0 esper, but his ___ hand contained the mysterious _____ known as Imagine Breaker. He had managed to attract an _________ rivalry from Misaka Mikoto, and was ___ of the otherwise _______ Index Librorum Prohibitorum. The _____ of breaking glass ____ out. Index was an extraordinary young mare who could be said to contain the combined magical knowledge of every race in Equestria. She had just begun to make friends with the _______ ______ ______ ______. Touma ___ boneheaded, unlucky ___ ____ ____ ____ _____ opinions __ ___ ______ __ ____ ___ _____. __ ___ listed __ University City __ _ Level 0 psychic, ___ ___ right hand ________ ___ ______ power ____ __ Imagine Breaker. __ ___ ________ __ ______ __ unwanted rivalry ___ Misaka Mikoto, ___ ___ host __ ___ ________ homeless Index of Prohibited Books. The _____ of _______ ____ ____ out. Index was an extraordinary young mare who could be said to contain the combined magical knowledge of every race in Equestria. She had just begun to make ______ with ___ _______ ______ ______ ______. _____ ___ ___________, _______ ___ ____ ____ ____ _____ ________ __ ___ ______ __ ____ ___ _____. __ ___ ____ __ _______ ___ __ _ ____ _ ______, ___ ___ _____ ___ ________ ___ ______ _____ ____ __ Imagine Breaker. __ ___ ________ __ ______ __ _________ _____ ___ ______ ______, ___ ___ ___ __ ___ ________ ________ _____ __ _______ _____. Unlike any of the other mares who had made the trip through the hole in the Everfree forest, Index’s flight was neither uncontrolled nor were her movements panicked. The apex of her flight coincided with ground level almost perfectly, and she stepped onto the small ledge next to the fence like she was walking off a boat. Grabbing hold of the fence like a railing, Index checked herself over for anything missing – or more worryingly, anything extra. One, two, three… all four hooves were in place, her fur its usual light blue. She was still clothed in her white-and-gold robes. No wings, and – she touched her forehead with a forehoof – no horn. So far so good. She looked around. On this side, the portal was surrounded by the thick trunks of forest trees. Apart from the fence and a sign nailed to the nearest tree, nothing artificial could be seen. Index’s eyebrows drew together. Everything around her seemed perfectly natural, and for a portal like that she should be seeing something – The fur on the back of her neck suddenly stood on end. Slowly and carefully, Index turned her head to look. _____ _______ was splayed out on the ground opposite her. … … She shook her head to clear it, and looked again. No good. The _____ was still ______ _____. Index’s eyes was seeing _____, but her brain was refusing to attach any meaning to that _____. It wasn’t that there wasn’t anything there, or that it was a eldritch abomination that could not be understood. Instead, it seemed to not fit into any category that existed in this world, even the category of nothings. _______ started to _____ ____ to where she was, _____ ________ ______ as __ did so. As a knee-jerk reaction, Index pressed herself into the fence behind her. There was nothing in her 103,000 grimoires that could produce an effect like this. All of a sudden, she realised she was afraid. ______ was still _____ towards her. “Wha-what is this?” The words tumbled from her lips. “What kind of spell could have produced something like this?! That power of yours should have protected you from –!” Index’s panicked thoughts came to a screeching halt. ‘That power’? Yes, that was right. ______ held a special power that rendered attempts to affect __ with magic useless. That meant it was a something. The mind that had been designed to analyse and counter any magical effect kicked into high gear. What else could she infer? ______ was not there was she had come through the portal – it had appeared shortly after she had arrived. It was almost a certainty that it had also come from the portal. But it hadn’t continued skyward like a ray would – it had changed direction. It had the property of ‘velocity’. It was an object. Before her eyes, some of the mysteries of ______ started to be filled in. Now that she had forcibly placed it in the category of ‘object’ it gained presence and solidity. She could now see that ______ was moving towards her. It wasn’t moving downhill – it was moving under its own power. Magic could not be its animating force – not with the power it held. Therefore, ______ was a creature. With that worked out, some of the gaps in her memory that Index hadn’t even realised were there started to become filled in. Yes, that was right – she and ______ had both wanted to come through the portal together, but ______ had been worried that their special power would destroy the portal while they were travelling through it. They had wanted to quickly return home to grab a _____ to cover their ____ with. ______ finally reached her, and touched ___ ______ to her shoulder, __________. Index flinched at the sensation, which felt distinctly like ___. The deductions were coming thick and fast now. ______ had a home with possessions. That home was within easy travel distance – ______ lived in the Academy. These facts together mean that ______ wasn’t an animal – it was one of the talking races. If ___ was one of the talking races, and she had been willing to wait for ___ to return before proceeding, then that could only mean that she knew ___. Some other part of ______’s existence clicked into place, and Index could suddenly comprehend a loud screeching noise, sounding like nails being scraped down a chalkboard. Index flinched at the loud and distressing sound. “Cut that out, Imagine Breaker!” -click- That seemed to have been the final hurdle. There was a crunching sound that inexplicably put the image of two gears crushing an obstruction between them to mind, and Touma snapped back into understanding. All of a sudden, Index realised that it was his forehoof shaking her roughly, and his voice that was shouting in her face. He cried. She snapped, swatting away his boot-covered forehoof with one of her own. At once, the awful screeching sound stopped, ending on a peal that almost sounded confused. All four of Touma’s knees folded under him, and he collapsed to the ground, panting. The loud sounds that had been filling the air were now gone. Now that a creature from beyond understanding was no longer bearing down on her, Index could feel her racing heart begin to slow. She took the chance to look him over more thoroughly. His fur was a dirty white. His mane was black, and stuck up around his head like the spikes of a hedgehog. He had no wings or horn, which wasn’t surprising given that his features had the gangly cast that marked him as a mule, a half-donkey, rather than a pure-bred pony. Curiously, there was a faint mark on his flanks that resembled a Cutie Mark – when Index squinted, she thought she could see the outline of a zero symbol. All of this matched up with how Index remembered him. The only trouble was, was that the way she had remembered him before coming through the portal? Touma’s shaken voice interrupted Index’s introspection. She looked down into his eyes. Index considered the question. How best to explain this? Then she shrugged. Touma’s eyes slowly lifted off the ground. … He managed. Index climbed over the fence around the portal, and Touma moved to follow her out of sheer reflex. Index repeated. Touma stared at her, blank incomprehension in his eyes. Index chastised him, setting off down the path at a trot. Touma scrambled to follow her. Index freely admitted. Touma froze in mid-step. Index glanced back at him. His head was drooping down to the ground, and an aura of doom and gloom had settled around his shoulders like a cloak. A twinge of sympathy flashed across the mind that was otherwise concerned with the food awaiting her in town. She reassured him. Touma moped. Index rattled off automatically, turning around fully. <…yeah, that one.> Touma said, having momentarily forgotten that Index was a walking encyclopaedia of everything magical. As soon as Index spoke those words, a rift opened in spacetime. “There you are!” Cried a brown earth pony with a hourglass as a Cutie Mark as he leaned out of the rift. “Where have you – oh nevermind now, the time beavers are coming!” So saying, the strange pony wrapped both forehooves around Touma’s middle and pulled him through the rift, which sealed behind him. … … Index opened her mouth, and closed it again. “Well howdy there sugercube!” Applejack greeted Index as she walked somewhat stiffly into Ponyville Square. “We was worried ya’d gotten stuck halfway down that hole or somethin’. Er – ya don’t happen to know where th’ others are, do ya?” Index’s rump hit the ground with a firm -thud- as her eyes stared off into the distance. Applejack blinked, and leaned closer. “Somethin’ the matter?” “Something just happened that makes absolutely no sense.” Index said, faintly. “I need to sit down for a while.” Applejack took in Index’s unfocused eyes and slightly slurred speech and jumped to the completely wrong conclusion. “Don’t worry about it, sugercube.” She said. “Lots of ponies have that reaction to Pinkie Pie. The headaches dull over time.” She offered a small confectionery on the end of a hoof. “Cupcake?” > Reflected echo - continue_the_fall > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- “Railgun does not fully understand your intentions, Railgun says, however if you intend to hold me captive it will be met by heavy retaliation from my people.” “Oh, Sissy!” Kuroko moaned. “Can you really not remember anything of our deep, everlasting love for each other?!” She reached forward to wrap both forelegs around Misaka 9748, which proved to be a mistake as one of the lightning bolts in 9748’s fur was jiggled loose. -ZAP-! “Don’t touch me.” 9748 said in a complete monotone that somehow still managed to sound contemptuous, looking down at Kuroko’s smoking body. Twilight, who was rummaging through cupboards and bookshelves on the other side of the Golden Oak’s library’s basement, looked up and over at the two of them. “4:55 PM. Subject 0004 displays intense hostility to 0003, supposedly her friend.” Kuroko moaned “Actually, this is normal…” at the same time as Spike yelped “Wait, I’m still taking notes?”. Ignoring both of them, Twilight went back to rummaging in cupboards. 9748 looked around at the underground room. Whoever designed it had apparently been on a B-grade sci-fi kick when they had – there were large scientific instruments taking up much of the floorspace that 9748 was reasonably sure were decorative. The roots of a large tree dangled down from above and wrapped around some of the equipment, giving the room an air of abandonment despite the fact that it was clean and well-maintained. “Ah-ha!” Twilight crowed. “I was hoping that there would be one of these down here!” Kuroko flopped around on the ground to face Twilight, and she, Spike, and 9748 all stared at the contraption that she had telekinetically pulled out of one of the cupboards. It resembled a wide-brim hat comprised primarily out of light-bulbs, and thus looked like an even lower-quality prop than the rest of the basement lab. “I’ll just place this on Stagehand to get a baseline reading –” Twilight said, proceeding to do so “– and then I’ll record Railgun’s brainwaves, and hopefully the comparison will tell us –” -Zap!- -Bang!- Just before the device touched 9748’s fur, a bright flash and the smell of ozone suddenly filled the room as a spark jumped from her tea-coloured mane to the device, causing all of its light-bulbs to shatter explosively. Spike yelped, and toppled backwards off of the counter-top he had been sitting on. Kuroko looked up with wide eyes at one of her pigtails, which was swinging back and forth with the force of the glass shard that had whizzed through it. Twilight, who had been standing at ground zero, blinked uncomprehendingly. Several red lines traced themselves across her muzzle, and the metallic smell of blood began to mix with the ozone. For a moment, there was complete silence. “What –” Twilight found her voice “– what was that for?!” “You did not ask Railgun for permission to read her brainwaves, Railgun scoffs.” One of Twilight’s sleep-deprived eyes began to twitch. “And because of that, you decided to blow up a valuable scientific instrument in my face?!” “Yes, Railgun says, glad that the rude pony has understood her point.” “You – agh!” Twilight let out a noise of pure frustration. She turned away in a huff, using her magic to pull a first-aid kit out of another cupboard. She walked into the nearby bathroom, set herself up in front of the mirror, and slammed the door shut with a purple aura. The moment the door closed, 9748 immediately turned around and began to walk back up the stairs. “W-wait! Sissy, where are you going?!” Kuroko vanished with a flash and reappeared in 9748’s path. “Railgun is leaving, Railgun states the obvious.” The Sister said, shoving Kuroko out of the way. “Railgun has much better things to do than to entertain the fantasies of ponies she doesn’t know, Railgun adds with a note of scorn in her voice.” In a way, the monotone voice and emotionless eyes made it worse. Kuroko stared wordlessly as the object of her affections walked out, the dismissal obvious in the way she didn’t look back. “W-wow, she’s really eating all of it!” “Applejack, fetch more of them fruit!” “Yes granny!” “The Apple family ain’t gonna lose in a battle of food!” Saten and Uiharu were both sitting on their haunches, watching dumbly. Though neither of them had reacted much at the time, the both of them had been just as surprised as Kuroko when the white-and-gold Index had shown up at the Academy side of the portal unexpectedly. Any worries they might have had had about her intentions, however, had been completely forgotten in the face of the desperate struggle in front of them. Uiharu in particular seemed completely flummoxed after watching Index devour the leftovers of a banquet that had been set up to feed an entire town. Mystery-hunter Saten, on the other hand, had sparkles in her eyes. “U-um…” Saten and Uiharu turned to face a new pony – one who had dark pink fur, and a Cutie Mark of three flowers. “Well, it’s just that I don’t think I’ve seen you around Ponyville before, and I just wanted to say welcome!” There was a short pause. Index finished draining the punch bowl before turning to face the two of them. Uiharu deflated. Index repeated the message. The other pony, feeling that continuing through an interpreter would be too awkward, smiled nervously and walked off. Surrounded by the oppressive power of the language barrier, Saten and Uiharu only had only one pony they could really talk to. Uiharu started, inwardly cringing. Of course they were never introduced – she’d never met the robe-wearing pony in person until just before they all jumped down the portal. Index swallowed a big mouthful of apples and nodded. She said this in an entirely pleasant way, a friendly smile prominent on her features. It was a stark contrast, Uiharu couldn’t help but think, from the soulless expression she’d been wearing back when she’d faced down Nightmare Moon by herself, holding Misaka off with one metaphorical hoof. But where Uiharu was nervous, Saten was excited. Index observed, her ravenous eating put on pause for now as she fully committed to the conversation. The old earth pony who’d sent Applejack off for more food blinked and leant in to examine the apple pie Index had been about to eat, unsure if she should count this as her victory. Uiharu, who was just as much of a fangirl about the aristocracy as Rarity was, suddenly had the nervousness in her eyes replaced by stars. She got a far-away look in her eye, probably remembering something she read in a Shōjo manga. Index sweat-dropped. Saten’s amateur detective instincts flared up. Index hadn’t planed to get this personal with a ponies she’d just met, but… Saten and Uiharu shouted in surprised stereo, startling the few ponies still hanging around Pinkie’s party. Index tilted her head to the side, and in a slightly confused tone of voice said Saten opened her mouth, couldn’t find any words, and closed it again. Next to her, Uiharu sat in a similar state of confusion. But… Saten and Uiharu both jumped. ‘Misaka’ seemed to have arrived on scene while they were distracted with Index. Index greeted 9748 with an annoyed scowl. She gulped down the pie in front of her, re-lighting the fire in the eyes of the elderly earth pony watching. Saten asked timidly. Confusing things seemed to be raining from the sky at this point. Saten and Uiharu stared at 9748, taken aback at her monotone vitriol. Even Index found the time to raise an eyebrow in-between gulping down the last of the party food. Uiharu interrupted, hoping to steer the conversation back to friendlier waters. Saten joined in, catching on. The terrible Neighponese heralded the return of Applejack, hitched up to a cart of apple-based foodstuffs. Index’s eyes lit up and she zipped over to the cart, her eyes devouring the food before her hooves had even touched it. Applejack raised an eyebrow at the rude narration. Misaka’s mouth fell open. Misaka’s brain spun, trying desperately to make sense of this new information. The man turned his head, and Misaka followed his gaze. Another man was placing Kuroko’s phone into an evidence bag. Misaka’s mouth worked up and down, her brain struggling to think of what to say. No… no, this is all wrong…! The man addressed the frog-faced doctor, who had now finished bandaging Kuroko’s hands and was standing up as though to shield her. The Doctor allowed. The man let out a bark of laughter, his professional persona slipping for a moment. Then his eyes focused, and the mask went back up. He nodded at his subordinates, and two of them grabbed Misaka by the arms as two more fetched a stretcher to carry the still-unconscious Kuroko. As his subordinates herded the spluttering #3 into the van lined with AIM Jammer, Kihara Amata resisted the urge to scratch under ‘his’ uniform. Man, is Anti-Skill’s equipment really that much lower-spec, or did whoever last wash this really screw it up? Eh, whatever. The Anti-Skill investigation was real… or at least, it would be after the city’s higher-ups finished faking the paperwork for it. Before that happened, it was down to Hound Dog to sniff out all the evidence and destroy it. Damn it, Aleister – give us something fun to do next time. By the time Twilight was half-way out of the Everfree, Applejack started to rouse. “Ohhh… mah achin’ head...” “Oh, good.” Twilight said, sounding more drained then happy. “You’re awake.” Applejack stretched her head back, noticing that she was lying on a forcefield that Twilight was pulling behind her. Her earth pony pride asserting itself full force, she rolled off onto the ground before properly checking on her condition, and promptly collapsed to the ground as her legs folded under her weight. “Oof!” Twilight paused and looked back, but Applejack forced herself to her hooves before she could say anything. “Ah’m okay!” Twilight gave her a tired look, before shaking her head and turning back to the road. Applejack blinked, then galloped to catch up. For a moment, they trotted together in silence. Out of the corner of her eye, Applejack saw Pinkie Pie floating behind them on the same kind of magic that she had been. “We didn’t win, did we?” Applejack eventually asked. “She’s gone, Applejack.” Twilight said, staring off into the distance. “The stallion, he just…!” She sniffed. “We’ll never see her again. A-and you know the worst thing?” Applejack didn’t say anything, just watching as the corners of Twilight’s eyes started to water. “The worst part is… the only reason he could do that… is because I failed to do it first!” Quiet tears began to stream down Twilight’s face. Applejack kept her trap shut all the way to the edge of town, opening it only when Twilight stopped walking and started staring at the ground. “What’cha gonna do now, Sugercube?” Applejack asked softly. “I can’t stay.” Twilight said, her voice shaking. “Sugercube –” “I don’t… I’ve caused too much trouble for everyone, I can’t –” “T’aint us ah’m worried about, Sugercube!” Applejack jumped in front of Twilight, staring her in the eyes. She saw sadness, regret, and just a hint of panic. Neither of them said anything for a moment, before Twilight broke eye contact to look down. With a soft -pop-, the forcefield holding Pinkie aloft failed, causing the mare to drop to the ground. Twilight immediately started panicking. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry…!” Applejack dashed around Twilight to check that Pinkie was okay. The mare still hadn’t woken up, which Applejack took as a bad sign. She bit her bottom lip, her eyes dashing back and forth between Pinkie and Twilight. “I didn’t… I didn’t mean to, I just… I couldn’t keep it going any longer…!” Twilight was starting to hyperventilate. Applejack grimaced, but hoisted Pinkie over her back and turned to face the hospital. “Go to bed, Twi’. I promise yah, things will seem better in the morning.” Twilight said nothing, simply continuing to cry as she watched Applejack trot off as gently as she could manage. <****ing hell, nothing gives those researchers pause, does it?> Accelerator stared wearily at the Sister, who was standing on the other side of the roof from him. A nose splint was attached to his face, the only sign of the hasty treatment the project had given him. Misaka 9749 stared back evenly, her eyes concealed by a pair of googles that covered the top half of her face. Two horizontal strips on the goggles glowed faintly in the dark. It was a pretty stupid feature for night vision googles, Accelerator thought. Every part of these battles was calculated out down to the second, so if they got there early, Accelerator and the Sister slated to die would often find themselves just… waiting for it to start. A lot of the times Accelerator would try to get a rise out of the Sister. He’d explain how painfully and slowly he was going to kill them, and they would just stand there with that damn blank expression, and ask in that damn monotone voice what the point of telling her that was when she was going to find out in a minute anyway. They’d never shown any fear or hesitation. Never any doubt. Never shown the slightest hint of wanting to run away. Yeah, **** subtlety. <…Misaka is not sure she understands the question, Misaka responds after a thoughtful pause.> Accelerator clenched his teeth. “I still don’t like this, Shiny.” Shining Armor, captain of the Equestrian Royal Guard, hurried to keep up with Cadence’s slightly longer stride. His special somepony had been frantic for 24 of the last 32 hours, and she still hadn’t completely calmed down, even though everything seemed to be resolved. “I dunno. If the princess wants her younger sister to move in with her, who am I to judge?” “That’s not what I mean and you know it!” In a huff, Cadence lightly batted Shining’s head with a wing. “Okay, I get not wanting to cause a panic. I get not wanting to make ponies afraid of Aunt Luna. But I really can’t see how she thought this through! She didn’t tell anypony, Shiny! Not me, not you, nopony! Nopony knew what was going on except her, so when she got captured –!” Shining Armor interrupted Cadence with a shrug. “I mean, if she had told me, I probably would have mobilised the whole guard and tried to batter her into submission. Er, Princess Luna, I mean.” He clarified hurriedly at the shocked expression on Cadence’s face. “Hospital visits for everypony, and it gets made obvious to all of Equestria that Princess Luna and Nightmare Moon are the same pony.” Given that Nightmare Moon was usually equated to the Boogiemare, that would have killed any hope of re-integration into society. Now, that realisation would hopefully be delayed enough that ponies would give the newly reinstated princess a chance. “It still feels wrong.” Cadence grumbled. “She spends weeks teaching me about responsibility, and then she pulls this?” Yeah, but if it had been Twily up there, I probably would have tried an even worse plan to get her back. Shining wrapped a foreleg around Cadence’s neck. “Well, if being with you has taught me anything, it’s that alicorns are ponies too.” “Oh?” Cadence said in a dangerous tone of voice. “And what exactly do you mean by that?” Shining Armor grinned. “Well for one thing, it means that you get cranky when you haven’t had –” a look of panic appeared on Cadence’s face “– your daily tummy rub!” “Shining Armor, don’t you dare –!” Cadence said, beginning to back away from Shining too late. The captain of the guard jumped on Cadence, knocking her over, and began to relentlessly tickle the underside of her barrel with his hooves. She couldn’t help herself, and began howling with uncontrollable laughter. The nearby serving staff of Canterlot Castle collectively blushed, and hurried past the all-too-common scene, professional enough to keep their thoughts on appropriate behaviour to themselves. Later that night found Misaka face down in a pillow, stewing. Kuroko hovered over her nervously, wanting to help but unable to think of anything that could make light of her situation. She’d gone to give Misaka one of her special hugs earlier, but Misaka had shot her a look of such cold fury that she’d lost her nerve and backed off. Instead, she was reduced to sitting on her own bed, twiddling her heavily-bandaged thumbs. She longed to get into contact with Uiharu, to put their heads together and uncover just what conspiracy had been levelled against them. Unfortunately, the Dorm Manager had confiscated all of their electronics, and Kuroko wouldn’t be surprised if their room was under radio surveillance. Even if she hadn’t been lost in worry, there was no chance for Kuroko to notice the moment her own thoughts became locked inward, her expression going starry-eyed. She didn’t hear the knock at the door, nor see Misaka stir on the bed and give a muffled yell of An incredibly annoying voice came through the door. The grinding of Misaka’s teeth was audible even through the pillow. She lifted up a sparking hand and waved it, the door lock opening without her touch. Behind it stood the #5 level five esper, Shokuhou Misaki, and the second-in-command of their clique, a girl with her hair curled into ringlets. Misaki strode into the apartment room like she owned it, the ringlet curl girl hovering behind her nervously. Misaka rolled over and sat up to face the intruding pair, not bothering to ask how they had gotten in here when she was under house arrest. Misaki’s Ability of Mental Out would let her force anyone to obey her commands. Even, Misaka glanced at Kuroko, ones such as “ignore me” and “forget I was here”. The ringlet curl girl slung a package down from her back, and to Misaka’s disbelieving eyes set up a collapsible table and two chairs, before also getting out a tea set and pouring out a cup for Misaki. She poured another one for Misaka before moving to stand next to the door, hands folded behind her back. Misaki took a sip from her cup, apparently savouring the taste, before delicately placing it down in its saucer like a proper lady. Misaka snorted, shambling off of the bed to sit in the other chair. She glared at her tea cup like it had personally offended her. Misaki added, swirling her tea around. Misaka’s gaze shot up to the other level five, and she half rose out of her chair before she properly parsed the second sentence. Misaki sounded almost as disgusted with the idea as Misaka. Misaka blinked in surprise. Tension seeped out of Misaka’s body as she slumped back, her eyes dropping back down, and she began to idly flick the handle on her teacup. After a moment, she said Misaki snapped. It had been Kuroko that had tried to get Judgement involved, but Misaka answered the question as though it had been her. This time it was Misaki who snorted. <…one of the major research facilities?> Misaka guessed. Misaka stared at Misaki, her eyes slowly widening as she began to realise just how much trouble she was in. Misaki took another sip of tea, slamming her cup into its saucer afterwards. Misaka’s mouth worked for a moment, but no sound came out. Eventually, she managed a soft Misaki closed one eye and stared at Misaka as she took another sip of tea. Then she sighed, and softly placed the cup down. Misaki placed the tips of her fingers together and stared over them, the ringlet curl girl looking away awkwardly. Misaki cocked her head. Misaka stared off into the distance, her body slumping bonelessly down in the chair, trying to make it all work in her head. Misaki finished the last of her tea. her eyes flicked over to Kuroko Misaka’s gaze slid back to Misaki, her mouth opening in horror. Misaki said, mistaking the source of Misaka’s horrified confusion. She stood up, and the ringlet curl girl began to pack away the tea set and furniture, studiously avoiding eye contact with Misaka. Once the ringlet curl girl was done, Misaki turned to leave, but she paused to say one last thing. she said, as though it was a given there would be a next time The intruding pair then left, closing the door behind them. After a second, Kuroko’s eyes refocused, and she gave a start when she realised Misaka was standing and staring dejectedly at the wall instead of lying on her bed. Misaka turned around, flopped back onto the bed, pulled her pillow to her face and screamed into it. For the first time in a very long time, Princess Celestia woke up early. A thousand years had drilled the raising of the sun into her like the beat of a drum. Every day, at the exact same time, she would wake up and pull the day sky into it’s proper place in the heavens. Even the disasters that Equestria seemed to suffer on a bi-annual basis wouldn’t throw her off her rhythm for more than a day. But today, she couldn’t help herself. This day, she leapt clear out of her bed the moment her eyes opened. With practised ease, her golden tiara, collar, and horseshoes floated onto their respective places with the yellow glow of her magic. The biggest smile imaginable was plastered across her face. Luna’s here, Luna’s here, Luna’s here…! A thousand years of waiting had finally paid off last night, and Celestia was fully planning on enjoying every minute of it. She threw the door to her chambers wide open, and to her surprise and delight found Luna outside waiting for her. “Luna!” She scooped up her smaller sister in a great big wing-hug. “Oh, it is so good to see you!” “U-um, yes, we are glad to see you as well, sister…” Celestia held the hug for a moment longer, then sighed and put Luna down. “What’s happened?” Luna looked off to the right, and Celestia followed her gaze to find Twilight sitting quietly in the hallway, Spike hovering nervously behind her. There were damp patches of fur under her eyes. “Twilight…?” Celestia asked. Twilight’s bottom lip trembled, but she didn’t say a word. Spike and Luna, standing out of Twilight’s field of view, shrugged helplessly and gently shook their head respectively. Celestia stood, uncertain for a moment, then turned her body to face Twilight and opened her wings up wide. Twilight took the invitation, crashing into Celestia and beginning to sob. Several days later She didn’t have enough money for the train. She counted twice more, hoping that she’d missed some the previous times. She was exactly 200 Yen short of a train ticket out of Academy City. She briefly considered begging for leniency, then glanced over at the train station again. Everything from the ticket sales to garbage collection was automated – no humans to ask for help. It was the middle of the day, so there weren’t even any pedestrians she could beg change off of. She managed to find a seat on a park bench before her legs gave out from under her. Was this it? Weeks of planning to escape from the school, only to be stopped just before freedom because she didn’t steal enough spare change? …she probably had less than an hour before her “bodyguards” found her again. She’d seen a fast-food place on her way to the train station. If she couldn’t beg money out of them, then at least she could gorge herself on burgers before she was forced back into captivity. As she was considering this, however, her ears picked up the sound of two more people approaching: two older thug-looking boys in street clothes. <– I’m telling you Hanzou! It’s the real deal!> Silently, the girl followed after the two thugs, figuring that one of them might be able to spare 200 Yen if they could stop arguing for a minute. The boy whose name was apparently Hamazura yelled, pointing at something on the other side of a line of bushes. <…I see the hole in the ground, yes.> A third thug-looking boy was waiting in the park. He was a giant – all three boys looked like they should be in high school, but this third boy made the other two look like primary school students. The girl estimated his height at a whopping 230cm, or about 7’6’’. The giant boy, apparently named Komaba, spoke up with an appropriately deep voice, infused with great gravity. He said. Hamazura yelled in despair, as his last supporter appeared to abandon him. The second boy (Hanzou?) snorted. Komaba said The girl walked up behind the boys, peering over their shoulders. None of them noticed her, but she hadn’t really expected them to. On the other side of the bushes was indeed a hole in the ground, about as wide as a park bench and deeper than she could see. Komaba said, picking up a rock about the size of an ordinary man’s fist. He dropped it down the hole and waited. After about a minute, the rock came rocketing back out of the hole, and Komaba caught it. He offered it to Hanzou to examine. Hanzou took the rock, looking it over. he said Komaba nodded. This time he offered a piece of paper to Hanzou, who looked it over. <…is this English?> Hanzou asked, peering at the writing on the paper. Hamazura scratched the back of his head. <…I can’t read English though.> The girl, apparently unlike the boys, actually could read English reasonably well, and could see that the paper simply said ‘Please stop throwing rocks up here.’ …wait, the other side of the hole was ‘up’? This hole didn’t run all the way through the centre of the Earth and come out the other side, did it? Suddenly, the girl felt the hair on the back of her neck stand up. She turned around to find one of her “bodyguards” on the other side of the park. He was looking directly at her, and speaking into a mobile phone. Typical. She was only noticed by the people she didn’t want to see her. A group of three likely-Skill-Out-members were hardly going to intervene to save her from her “bodyguards”, especially if large numbers of them appeared to take her back to Misawa Cram School. There was no chance she could shake him, even if she started running now. That left one way out. She shoved her way past the boys, who finally noticed her presence with shouts of offence and alarm. She deftly evaded Komaba’s attempt to grab her, bent her knees, and jumped into the hole in the ground. Aisa Himegami had only one goal in this world: find a way to stop her Ability from getting everyone she knew turned into monsters and killed. ______ ____ had only one goal in this world: find a way to stop her _____ from getting everyone she knew turned into monsters and killed. Deep Blood had only one goal in this world: find a way to stop her Talent from getting everyone she knew turned into monsters and killed. A mare arrived in the Everfree Forest alone, which is how she had arrived everywhere since that fateful night ten years ago. She took in her surroundings with dead, emotionless eyes, which showed feeling for only a brief moment when she noticed Canterlot Mountain through the trees at the edge of the forest. The princess will be able to help me. She thought to herself. She has to be. The world she was now in didn’t have the concept of “seeking sanctuary in a church”, so her Walking Church had not made the transition between Contexts with her. Her flanks were bared to the world, allowing anyone to easily see her Cutie Mark: the skull of a pony with elongated canines. There is no rule that says that mixing two good things must always result in a better thing. Pay close attention – some of the biggest changes yet have gone completely unnoticed. Now that the MIRROR_NOISE has died down, we will begin to see some blood_manifestation. > Bonus: Spellbook > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- In a small auditorium, two podiums stood empty on the stage. In the audience sat a small crowd of espers and ponies, shifting uncomfortably. “…they’re not commin’, are they?” Applejack eventually broke the silence. Japanese subtitles briefly flashed into existence before her, repeating what she had said. Saten squirmed a little in her chair. Equish subtitles appeared here as well. “Even if she wasn’t, I’m afraid that both she and Twilight are still… rather upset about everything, darling.” Rarity finished. Japanese subtitles… well, you get the idea. Uiharu slowly raised a hand. “Do I hear somepony in need of a special guest appearance?!” The espers and ponies looked in confusion over at stage left, with the exception of Pinkie, whose eyes bugged out of her head. “No no no! You can’t appear here! You’re still sealed!” “Well, isn’t it lucky for me that I own a time machine then?” The mismatched form of Discord swooped in from offstage, curling around a podium like the snake that ate the canary. “A time machine you neglected to mention was smaller on the inside, spirit.” A second new arrival said, lazily riding a Segway onstage. She was human (in appearance, anyway), and wore a witch’s hat, a black cape, an eye-patch, and frankly not much else. In one hand she carried an ornate spear longer than she was tall. Discord scoffed, snapping two claws together to freeze the audience in place before they could finish running for the exits. With a wave of his paw, the audience spun back around to face the stage, and rigidly sat down in their seats, panicked looks frozen on their faces. “Oh come on Othi-poo, you know you love it!” He fluttered his eyelashes at her. With a rubbery squelch noise, Othinus ran Discord through from behind, her spear pinning him to his podium. “Never call me that again.” “Okay, okay, fine!” Discord huffed, wriggling around the spear more in annoyance than in pain. (Luckily for him, he was the furthest thing from the ‘symbols of human power’ that that spear destroyed). After a moment, he seemed to realise that he couldn’t pull himself free, and stopped. “Um, little help?” Ignoring him, Othinus picked up the list of questions left on the podium Discord wasn’t pinned to and skimmed them. “Hmm… stupid… insulting… stupid and insulting…” She paused. “‘How does Twilight and co’s magic work in Academy City?’” “That’s not much of a question.” Discord protested. “Most of them have already had their magic explained – Fluttershy has a Sleeping Beauty ‘blessed by the fairies’ spell, Rainbow Dash is still using Pegasus magic, Pinkie Pie’s a Gemstone and Applejack’s normal!” Othinus narrowed her eyes at her ‘co-host’. “The rainbow-haired one keeps her magic?” Discord waved a finger, smirking. “Not at all! In my world, it’s ‘pegasus magic’, as in the species, and in your world it’s ‘Pegasus magic’, as in the stallion.” “That explains why she can carry lightning bolts,” because Pegasus had often been said to carry bolts for Zeus “but not why she can move clouds around.” “Because Pegasus was made from a cloud, duh.” Othinus’s narrowed eyes became a full glare. “No he was not. He was born when Medusa was beheaded.” “In the original maybe, but that’s just icky, so she based her spells on the Disney version instead.” Before Othinus could think of a response to that, Discord stretched himself over to pluck the list of questions out of her hands. “Ooh, this one looks interesting...” Othinus sighed, and her gaze briefly flickered to the girls still frozen in the audience. “Just so we’re clear, humans, Rarity’s cloth magic is a mix of several different myths, much like that English Knight Leader’s sword spells. Twilight’s magic is primarily based of Hephaestus, the Greek forge-god. If she properly put the time and effort in, she could make some properly divine ‘arrows’ and ‘armour’; but she’s always in a hurry, so she churns out second-rate beams and forcefields instead.” “‘What is this SYSTEM thing anyway?’” Discord read out. “Humans cannot comprehend God.” Othinus explained, leaning forward on her Segway. “As a being that exists outside of time and space, cause and effect; lacking completely in the concept of ‘limits’. Therefore, to understand God, you must become more than human. Academy City calls this result, a human with the so-called ‘mind of God’, SYSTEM. It is the defining trait of a Level 6 Esper.” Discord leafed through a textbook, coke-bottle glasses suddenly perched on his nose. “Uh-huh… okay… yeah...” Reaching the end of the book, he threw it behind himself, his glasses disappearing when he did so. “Okay, the fact-checkers are all done. What do we think, boys?” Two more Discords who were abruptly standing next to the curtains on both sides of the stage sang out in chorus: “That is not science!” “Naturally.” Othinus deadpanned. (The extra Discords disappearing the moment no-one was looking). “Most of the city thinks it’s some kind of abstract goal that can never be reached, like world peace. Only a select few realise that the Director-General is completely serious.” “Oh, here’s another interesting one!” Discord said, looking back down at the question list. “‘Does telekinesis really go though another dimension?’” He looked over at Othinus eagerly. “…what are you talking about?” Othinus tilted her head. Discord blinked. Wordlessly, one of his arms stretched offstage and returned with a television clutched in his paw. His claw tapped it, and Accelerator’s face appeared on it. “The **** is that? Some kind of energy Ability that can also be used for telekinesis? You’re not just making it up like that pain-in-the-*** #2, are you? Here’s a tip. What’s the reflection of you pushing me down? Answer: me pushing you up. It doesn’t matter through what weird other-space you have to draw the vector in.” The image of Accelerator said, his voice slightly distorted by the recording. “Ah, I see.” Othinus nodded in understanding. “You’re asking me if telekinesis works by routing the force through another dimension to avoid crossing the space to the target?” “Uh, yeah?” Discord raised an eyebrow and waited. When Othinus didn’t respond, his other eyebrow rose to meet the first one. “Wait, do you not know?” “It’s not a Hephaestus-based spell, I can tell you that much.” Othinus shrugged. “Beyond that, no I do not know. The spell she casts in my world is simply the closest approximation to the spell she has in your world. It could easily be from a long-forgotten cult, dead for thousands of years until she rediscovered it, or even an original invention of hers. It might well work the way the esper suggests.” “Some god of magic you are.” Discord said, holding up a small statuette of Othinus and dropping it into a bin he held in his claw. Both disappeared as suddenly as they’d appeared. Othinus scowled. “I created that world by applying phases over another one, changing the parameters that make it up. I have no special knowledge of its contents; much like a child with a grow-your-own-crystals toy does not know what the crystals look like until they examine them. I’d like to see you do better, spirit.” “Fine, I will!” Discord declared, scrolling down the list of questions. “Oh! This one’s a doozy. ‘What the what was up with Touma going down the magic hole in the ground and coming out ____?’” Othinus squinted at Discord. “…are they talking about Context Shift?” Discord lifted the list of questions closer to his head, one eye briefly occupying all of his face as he peered closer at the words. “Must be. I guess they haven’t named it yet.” He turned to face a calendar that hadn’t been on the wall just before, peering intently at it. Othinus sighed. “To properly understand what happened, you must understand both phases and Imagine Breaker itself.” “See, lots of smart ponies think that there’s lots of different worlds, but that’s not true!” Discord leaned back, resting his head on his mismatched claw and paw. “There’s just the one ‘real’ world, and that’s the Pure World. It’s a world of pure science, no magic. Nobody believes in anything, not in fate, not in gods, not even in luck!” He paused. “It’s a pretty rubbish place to live, frankly.” “Spirit, you have no idea what life is like there. You would dissolve the minute you arrived, the magic that comprises your form sucked out in a feeble attempt to fill the vacuum.” “Are you sure about that?” Discord said, his head twisting upside-down and looming over Othinus’s form. Othinus ignored Discord’s antics, and the draconequus snapped back to whatever passed as normal for him. “Regardless, the minute that anyone believes something, they cease to live in the Pure World and now live in a world where that belief influences the world. At first the only way the newborn ‘phase’ can do so is through you, but the more people believe the same thing for longer, the greater the distortion grows.” “It’s a bit like stained-glass windows!” Discord said, snapping his claws and conjuring one at the back of the stage. “The light behind the glass is a pure white, but because of all the obstructions in the way, it looks like there are beautiful patterns in it!” “Unlike with stained-glass windows,” Othinus took up the explanation “phases can be layered on top of each other as many times as you can imagine, each one changing the ‘appearance’ of the world you live in just a little more.” “For example, Princess K-K might well be ‘Equestria’s darling little princess’,” Discord said, pretending to gag “but she also runs Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns. She has plenty of students who think of her as their principal so much that they forget she’s also a princess – so much so that there’s a version of the world where she’s only a principal, not a princess.” “A more common example are the ‘alpha worlds’, where a prominent figure is decried as evil or praised as good with no basis.” Othinus’s mouth twisted in distaste, her knuckles turning white as they clenched tight onto her Segway. “If the distortion becomes great enough, the forces of good and evil can swap places altogether.” “I am never going to live ‘Captain Goodguy’ down.” Discord hung his head in shame. “Which brings us back to Imagine Breaker.” Othinus said. “Some people mistakenly think that it’s the power to ‘destroy magic’, which is ridiculous. The souls that people posses and the ley lines that run through the planet are undeniably magic, and it destroys neither people nor planet. Instead, it is the power to ‘return things to normal’.” “But here’s the kicker!” Discord waved one ‘finger’ from his paw. “What counts as ‘normal’ is context-dependent! I mean, obviously, otherwise young mister Fantasy Killer would be returning everything he touched to its Pure World version.” “Context Shift is a gap between the layers of stained-glass windows.” Othinus resumed. “As you leave the ‘light’ formed by the phases of your home, all of your features become indistinct, lost in the ‘darkness’. It is only when you emerge into another layer that you can see yourself again, though because of the different spread of light and colour, you ‘look different’.” “Imagine Breaker knew that Touma wasn’t supposed to be a mule in a world of pastel-coloured ponies, so it blocked that transformation. But having left the ‘light’ of his home phase, it couldn’t figure out what he was supposed to ‘look’ like. Eventually it gave up and left him ‘in the dark’ as it were.” “Only a true god like myself and Imagine Breaker working together could remove the effects of a phase, so the human was very lucky that the Index was able to ‘shine light’ on what he was.” Discord looked over at Othinus, offended. “What’s with this ‘only a true god’ business? I can do that too!” “Spirit, I will admit that what you can do with just one phase is very impressive. However, all you are doing is increasing and decreasing the influence of this… ‘Chaosville’. You cannot create a new phase from nothing, and you certainly cannot destroy one. That is beyond even me.” “Oh, pish.” Discord scoffed. “You just don’t want to admit I could do something you can’t.” “Naturally you can do things I can’t, spirit. Otherwise, why would we –” “Shhh!” Discord covered her lips with a finger. “Don’t want to give away too much too early, now do we?” With a finger-flick, Othinus splattered Discord’s upper half across the back wall of the small hall. His middle stretched out to cover the gap, his lower half still pinned into his podium. “Think twice before you lay hands on a god, spirit.” Othinus scowled. Discord coughed up a handful of splinters as he pulled himself back together. “Noted.” He wheezed. “Good, because we are out of time.” Othinus pulled Gungnir out of Discord with a rubbery squelch sound. The newly freed draconequus quickly flew around to Othinus, wrapping around her and her Segway. “Oh come on, please? Just two more?” Discord pleaded. Two extra heads sprouted from his neck, one of a puppy and one of a kitten, both of which did their best pleading faces. Othinus stared flatly at Discord, before rolling her eyes. “Fine. But no more.” She reached over and picked up the list of questions, scanning through the entries. “‘Is Time Turner secretly the Doctor...’” She paused. “Doctor who?” -Bu-dum tish- Othinus looked over at Discord. “…why did you do that?” Discord looked down at the drum kit that had suddenly appeared around his podium. “You know, I’m not actually sure?” Othinus gave a long-suffering sigh, and finished reading the question. “‘…and are the time-beavers just re-skinned Reapers?’” She shook her head. “What utter nonsense. Why would anyone want to put skin back on the Reaper? A beaver skin at that. Spirit, does this make any sense to you?” As she looked up, she found that Discord had turned white as a sheet, all of his colour having leaked out of him and formed a puddle around his feet. “The time-beavers are back?” He whispered in horror. Othinus stared at Discord for a moment, before shaking her head and selecting another question from the list. “‘Is Kuroko in the 3rd or 177th branch of Judgement?’ They’re really asking me this?” She sighed, pulling out a small Academy City guidebook from a compartment in her Segway and leafing through it. “The 3rd.” She said after finding the relevant page. “Judgement officers only have jurisdiction inside their own school, so they have one branch per school. The 3rd is Tokiwadai Middle School’s branch.” She made to throw the list away, but noticed just before she did that that question had a postscript written in a smaller font. “‘But wasn’t Kuroko in the office of the 177th branch when Rainbow Dash first entered Academy City? Yomikawa called for her there!’” She squinted at the list, wondering how they had a follow-up question prepared in advance. “Branch 177 is Sakugawa Middle School’s branch of Judgement – the school that the flower girl and the rumour-finder attend. The teleporter visits there only to fill out joint paperwork and to visit her friend. It would be weird if she regularly visited the office, given that it’s inside Sakugawa proper. If the officer was looking for her there, it would be because she first tried her Dorm Manager who then told her to look there, I’m sure.” With growing annoyance, she noticed a second postscript in even smaller text. “‘Eh? But isn’t the 177th’s office next to the street, not in a school?’” She looked up at the girls still frozen in the audience. “Did you really write these? Where did you get such a hare-brained idea as that? No, such a building does not exist. Judgement offices are always on the grounds of the school they watch over.” With a jerk, Discord suddenly started moving again, giving out a strained laugh. “Oh? Oh, so it’s one of those things that’s always been that way, huh? Like Twilight actually knowing Moondancer, or the Endymion tower existing, or the Castle of the Two Sisters having been built in the Everfree, or –!” “Is something bothering you, spirit?” Othinus asked, still sounding quite bored. In one smooth motion, Discord scooped his colour off the floor and dropped it back inside his outline, his eyes constantly spinning in their sockets as they tried to look everywhere at once. “Well, um, you see, I didn’t realise that the time-beavers were active before I decided to violate causality to make a guest appearance…!” The sound of a thousand buck teeth chewing on wood suddenly rang out throughout the small hall. Discord’s colour dropped right out from his outline again. “Abort!” He yelled, grabbing the unamused Othinus and dashing back towards the side of the stage where they’d entered. “Abort! Abo –”