> Equestria Girls - Lucky Chances > by TheOneAndOnlyRhyanSparks > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Prologue > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The book by my bedside began to vibrate, waking me from my slumber. It was about 2AM in the morning, my alarm telling me it was Tuesday. It's been about two weeks since that book's vibrated. Yes, that's right. Vibrated. What I wish for, is to be able to visit them again. Having those adventures made me feel like I was living the dream of my life. This book, well, it's kinda complicated. It's personal, but on a level way beyond personal. This book has helped me change ever since I found it. Most of my days are spent meddling with my 'toys', hanging out with friends and taking my book all over with me, reporting everything I did that always reminded me of what we all did together. My friends were always wondering why I carried the book around with me. Not always, but the topic came up often enough. Well, today was their lucky day. The day they'd learn about my adventures. And how I'd somehow managed to go from internally wounded in a coma to a fully healed guy in seconds. They were a little perplexed at first by the language I'd not noticed I'd been writing since I ... *ahem* 'came to' after the incident. I still find it hard to believe that I was stuck there. I smile, not noticing I've walked straight past the table that my friends were sitting at. "Hey, Rhyan!" I hear my name call me, snapping me out of my mind. "Get your butt over here!" I see my friends behind me. I mentally facepalm a wall, as I turn around and sit down with my friends. "You still have that book on you?" Asked Becka, my friend I sit with in my science class. She's always had an interest in biology, sometimes bringing in a pet after getting permission. Her shyness, well, reminds me of another friend. "This thing?" I respond whilst tapping the book, with an honest smile. "It's what i want to tell you guys about. You see, I've k--" "Youbasicallyjustwanttotellushowyouwerestuckinsomeparalleluniversewhereyoumetsomenewfriendsandhadlotsofadventureswiththemwhilstyouwerestuckinanotherdimensionforalmostayeartryingtogetbacktothisworldandalsowanttoexplainhowyouwereabletogetbackandfindthatbookandkeepintouchwithyourfriends." Interrupted Electra after pulling a huge breath of air in, smiling sweetly. My other friends all stared at her. My jaw dropped after she smiled. Aurora spoke up after a few seconds of silence. "I'm pretty sure that's not 100 percent true." She responded, her southern, country drawl thick as she spoke. "Oh," I said, still surprised at her words. "I'm pretty sure it is 100 percent true." My book vibrated again. This time however, I didn't hide it. I was a bit curious to her rapid response, reminding me of a certain friend. "How did you know?" "Just a hunch." Electra replied, playing a noise from her phone. I instantly recognized who she attempted to impersonate, and laugh. She laughs with me, thinking she just made me laugh. "Uh, why's your book doing that?" Asked Jesse, pointing at the book. "Is it some new device doohickey or something?" Jesse loved arts and fashion. She ran a small clothes store for the campus, ever since the art teacher saw her potential. It's funny, how I can now see the similarities between my friends and those from where I was. It brings back some good memories. I snap my attention back, when I notice that they're all looking at me, waiting for a response. "What?" I ask, bemused, before realizing what Jesse had said. "Oh right... The book. " I lean forward, hesitantly, as I then open the book up. It stopped vibrating, and glowed a little as soon as I touched it. "What you're about to read is a language that took me a good month or two to understand. A language that shouldn't exist in our world, yet it does. Can you understand that?" I say, with a hopeful smile on my face. "Go on, sweetie," replied Jesse, sliding closer to me on the seat and placing her hand on my shoulder. "We believe you. Besides, we're all in this together." "Okay then. Here's the truth. No lies or twists, the full, honest truth." Man, if only she knew... I thought to myself. This book was forged by a good friend in the other world. One of many I still keep in touch with. "But first, I'll tell you somewhere a bit more... private. It's more serious than I let on." Especially with a certain someone. Forget long distance relationships, over on the other side is my first girlfriend. They wouldn't believe it, but then again, I guess they would. I just wish I could see her again. Her lusciously purple hair, her adorable fashion sense... Reminds me a lot of Jesse. Ironically, Jesse has the same hair colour and style, but it's like seeing a reflection. Their hairstyles made them look like reflections in a mirror. I quickly finish delving on my thoughts. I gestured for them to all come with me. It's a lunch break, plus next period is study, which meant I had time to read my story out. We headed to a free room with no sessions booked in it until Thursday this week. Sitting around the table, I place the book in the middle. It starts to vibrate again a few seconds after I let go. "Well, before I start, I just need to reply to someone." As expected, they were thinking I was going to use my tablet. Instead, they looked befuddled at me reaching for the book instead. I opened the book up, with a small burst of energy appearing so quickly, you'd miss it if you blinked. I smile satisfyingly, feeling a little bit smug at their reactions. I quickly scan the text in the book from my last message. That was only this morning. Good thing our worlds have the same time periods. I thought to myself, as I pick up a special pen from my pocket. <~I miss you so much xxxx ~> <~ -Rarity xxxx ~> Read the first of the two messages. I smile sweetly at her messages as I read through them, reading how her friend and herself are helping their twilight get used to her powers it appears her writing is getting better. Turns out Sunset's writing lessons are helping her a lot. I go to begin my response, out of curiosity to their progress, but I decided to hold back a little. "Oh, if you're curious, this is a transcription book. It allows me to write messages, then transcripts them to another world beyond our own." I say, getting the attention of Jesse, Electra and Aurora. I begin a response to my girlfriend's message whilst they try to read it, to no success though. I wondered what was going through their minds when I said it was a 'transcription book'. <~Hey sweetie! xxxx~> I responded, secretly watching my friends faces as I began to write fluently. <~I Miss you so much too! xxxx It's good to hear about what you're up to! I was just starting lunch when I got your messages! If it's okay with the others on your side, I've decided I'm going to tell my friends about what happened when I met all of you. It's been a while since you last sent me a message. Is everything okay over there? <3 xxxx ~> <~ -Rhyan xxxx ~> A few seconds after my writing finished, I watched the text glow for a few seconds, then stop. "Um, what was that?" I heard Aurora ask, pointing at the text I'd just written in a slightly comical way. "That," I replied swiftly. "Was the text being transcribed to my other friends." I lean back into my chair, as the others leaned forward in theirs. I watched the page glow a little again. Not just text appeared this time however, as a picture was now on the page. Not drawn in though. It was an actual still picture. I quickly picked it up from the page, hoping it wasn't glued in. I guess right, but I wasn't fast enough to hide it. "Who was that, Rhyan?" Spoke Jesse, a little agitated. "I saw her. She had the same hair as me. And she was with other girls." I take note of her question, but ask if I can just read Rarity's message. I take note that everything's fine, just that she almost misplaced her version of the book in the library, if it wasn't for Pinkie Pie taking it from the table for her. I laugh, then turn to the others. "Well, you all wanted to know why I carry this around, don't you?" I say, smiling, making them all look at me. "But firstly, don't go crazy, as I was actually there. ANd the girl in the picture? Well..." "OOH! TELL US, TELL US, TELL UUSSS!!" Screamed Electra, who, no pun intended seemed to be buzzing at this new information. "Okay, okay! I'll get to that!" I smile, then put the image back into the book, letting them all see who it was. I watched as their faces all began to take on a look of shock. Of course, I guessed that they might make the guess of the picture being Rarity with Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Twilight, Spike, Fluttershy and Sunset Shimmer in a picture. Fortunately for me, this was a very special picture. Rarity's body language, if looked at closely, would sort of give it away. "Recognize any of them?" I question them, smiling. "Because I've met them, face to face. That picture, as a matter of fact, was taken by me." The next few minutes end up with them, staring at me for a good minute or two, before asking a whole bunch of questions. The first few were 'What, HOW IS THAT EVEN POSSIBLE?!', 'How come you were and 'What was it like over there?', which I answered quickly, but with enough detail. Turns out I'm a lot more like Twilight, personality wise, than I realised. It took ten minutes to go through all their questions. "Any more questions?" I asked, looking between them. "Hmm.... Nope! Not any more!" Spoke Electra, who yet again plays the same noise from her soundboard as she smiles strongly, making me chuckle. So I decided against saying how close I was to Rarity and instead started the story. I decided to lean forward, making it look like this was going to be a long story. They all sat down around the small table. This was definitely going to be a long story. "It was around the time I had the car crash, when it all began..." > 12 Months Earlier... > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Classes aren't fun. I mean, who enjoys listening to a teacher drone on about Romeo and Juliet? All my other classes I enjoy, but when it comes to English, I have no idea on how to do the assignments. I'm supposed to write reports. Although, when I think about it, maybe I do understand it. I mean, I've never had any friends since I was younger. And never have I had a girlfriend either. Being an only child, I always have the most free time out of my whole family. Well, I basically did all the chores before I got asked to do them. I was very much like an introvert before I started Cordial High. I never really thought I would have the time to make friends. Studying was all I really think about. A lot of the time though, I tended to find myself becoming more and more extrovert with my feelings, as I'm starting to know a few people who appear in most of my classes. We sit in the same small group a lot, so it's easier for me to grow into this thing called friendship. Well, I say most, as none of them appear in certain other classes. Mainly because they're self-taught classes. The reason why I was making these friends? Well, my school had been slightly worried that I'd been studying non-stop since arriving, so they had asked my parents to introduce me to some other kids my age once my parents found out why my grades and my homework results were so high in comparison to the other classmates, that weren't really my classmates at the time. 'Too high' they'd said. So after finding that out from my parents and after realising the social interaction known as friendship, I had taken it upon myself to learn how to make some friends. So here I am, almost a month after my arrival, with me almost getting sent off to a new campus, when two of the people I was attempting to make friends with managed to befriend and persuade my parents to let me stay at the dormitory building for the school. It was nice of them. Nice... That's new to me. I like the feeling of friends. Of those who'd do anything to cover for you. Well, if I was to believe what I'd read about without performing some secret 'field tests' at my own accord. Two days later, I had my books, clothes and computer kit all moved from my bedroom to my new dorm. The campus was a nice place to be, giving access to an animal enclosure near the playgrounds, three tennis courts that became either a soccer, basketball or football field, I could list all the amazing places, but I felt more at home than ever in the library. I do have to say, the statue is remarkable. I occasionally bump into my new friends as often as I want to, as they teach me how I can be a part of their friendship group. One of them was a girl called Electra Hyris, who was always full of energy and was the friend who helped me gain four new friends. Another, Aurora Borealys, loved anything to do with the country, speaking with country-isms and a strong country accent.  Hates liars, so she mostly says things out of what she says is the truth. Jesse Fassyn was the fashionista, who loved creating visual contributions to our group.  She even ran her own on-campus clothes shop. Ellen Shyton was the shyest one of the group, even if her name itself didn't at least give it away, she was always the quiet one, with the kindness of her heart, she felt like someone special to have as a friend. It wasn't until I showed her my special project, a new species of animal, which I was very close to cracking, that she opened up to me. She helps run the on-site animal enclosure. Next is Shaun Boudash, the sports fanatic, who is trying out for a football game, or soccer as it's known over in the US.  He's kinda grown on me since I arrived. We sorta became our own little group, albeit one of us was an ex-bully who used to spend most of their time getting a reputation as some to watch out for, but for friendship sakes, the six of us forgave her after she'd somehow undergone some therapy during a short holiday a few weeks ago. Her name, well, it surprised me when I recognised her surname - Sonya Shimmers. MY uncle never told me I had a cousin. Then again, maybe I wasn't listening when he had told me, I don't really remember meeting... Oh wait, yeah, so that was her. I'd been so caught up in my studying earlier in life not to connect the dots like I was doing now.  Friends are like a blessing you could never get enough of. She was the daughter of my favourite director, and my uncle, Keenan Shimmers and singer Angel Shimmers. What surprised the others, less so for me after finding out earlier this year, was that we're actually related. I loved the look on their faces when I mentioned her father is my uncle. We're cousins, so I didn't forgive her just for being family, but for how she had redeemed herself, reformed even. She's definitely turning over a new leaf in my books. Catching up on my uncle's latest progress through my cousin is a delicate thing, with all the secrecy and limited information that he's allowed to leak, but right now, we're working out things to help my cous' with her new friends.  Sorry, our new friends. Well, I've been getting ahead of myself.  I'm currently thinking all this over once again, as I sit at a canteen table with my friends. "--hyan! Rhyan!  Yo, Sparks!!" Shaun speaks sternly, snapping his fingers in front of my face, making me jump out of my seat. "Took you long enough!" "Aheh, sorry," I replied sheepishly, rubbing my hair.  I like the red streaks Aurora had dyed into it.  They looked cool.  I turn back to my friends. "Hey, I heard that there's a nice place to grab some dinner later.  Why don't we all go?" "I'll pay," piped up Sonya, with a warming smile. "Besides, it's been a while since I've actually done something nice for people."  I watched her shiver a tiny bit as she leans into her hands, mildly muffling her voice. "I can't believe I was such a jerk before." "It's okay, Sonya," Spoke Aurora, wrapping an arm over her shoulders. "We're here for yeh." "And besides, we've already forgiven you, sweetie," Jesse said softly, patting Sonya's shoulder. "Just know that we are always going to be here for you now." It was very heartwarming, another new feeling since making friends, to see my cousin trying her best to redeem herself. I'm just glad to have made these friends, but there is one last thing I need to do before our summer holidays start. I need, with the help of my friends of course, to perform the biggest hurdle I've yet to do with my friends. To book a holiday trip for just my friends and I. To Everglades Forest. > A Long Awaited Trip > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Just a few days later, we're all sitting around a lunch table, planning our short holiday. All seven of us, sitting with our lunch from the nearby cafe, of which I always struggled remembering.  I had no idea of what was coming my way during the summer. "So, who wants to come along in my car?" I'd recently passed both my theory and practical within a week, without telling my friends or my parents. Well, Electra sorta found out when I'd accidentally left a letter in my home mailbox - yes, my father likes using it - and had found it, but surprisingly, my parents had bought me a small Mazda instead.  A fairly used Mazda RX-8, in crimson red with, surprisingly, matt black rims on the wheels. I was expecting a smaller car to be honest, but this just straight up surprised me. The Mazda was a lot of fun, but I took lots of care with it.  Even though I liked going fast, I did do all speed limits that I'd seen or remembered for my favourite routes.  Although, I did manage to save a scheduled time a year or so from now to try a racetrack event in said car.  That'll be fun!  ...Well, I hope so! Today was the last day of this term, and we were all going in our cars to a country campsite, away from the city and school. Not a lot of people were out this Thursday, as we were finishing up on the packing. I'm glad that one of my friends had a pickup for the weekend, but I was in charge of bringing the essentials that we'll be living off, so I had my fairly hyper... Well, constantly hyper friend Electra decide what we'll need for this trip. "Be careful Rhyan," Spoke Athena, my mother. "I hope you get there safely." Her caring voice getting me to smile. "I'll be careful, mum," I responded, turning to look at my parents as I packed the essentials that Electra and I had bought together. "Don't you worry too much while I'm gone." "We will still worry about you, son," Responded my father, Tallius. "We hope you'll be safe on this small trip." In all honesty, I could tell they were worried and nervous that I was. This was a big step for me. I'm very nervous, as this is the first time I've ever done something impulsive before. It gave me a tickling sensation on my back. I turn back around to find that Electra was filling one of her suitcases just with food. The candy kind, alongside all the other types. At least she's already packed her clothes. Well, hopefully that is. I laugh at the fact that she's attempting to close it with all the food lodged in it. My parents and her laugh as well at the funny sight. We shouldn't have made her laugh, as right as she laughs, the suitcase cover flings open, spilling most of the packed food onto the floor once again. That's the third time she's done that this morning. Eventually, with the help from my mother and I, we were able to pack most of the food into her suitcase. And not a moment too soon, as the others decided to show up right as we were finishing. I was surprised when I found out how light it was. Outside, there was my car, with my suitcase full of my essentials and Electra's, full of hers. Because my car has small space, we all agreed to use Aurora's fully enclosed pickup.  Technically, it's her brothers, but this was a week long trip, it being the start of my first summer with friends. After having a satnav installed into my car, after buying it myself of course, I decide to take the lead for the first part of the trip.  At first, Aurora thought we could all go and visit a campsite, but after taking a good look at my car, we eventually decided on a small lodge area. So we ended up finding a place that's not too muddy that I couldn't drive, however not too local to be a simple​ hotel, or motel.  [[There is a difference!]] However, if we were to get there on time, we would have to leave now.  Alas to annoy us even more, a storm is brewing right as they pull up. "Hey, Y'all!" Aurora says after opening her window.  "We're set ov'r h'ere.  Lead the way, Rhyan!" "We're on it already!" Electra says, exaggerating her arm movements towards the luggage going into my car. "Just give me a second," I spoke, packing a small notepad and a map into my backpack. "There, that's all done." After giving my parents a hug, we set off on our trip, only to end up taking a detour.  Sonya had managed to persuade her father to let her join us, so we had to visit the school parking zone, adding moretime to our journey. "Thanks guys," Spoke Sonya, walking over from the now driving off black sedan.  "I'm glad I can finally get a holiday! Even with my new friends!" We all perform a big-ish group hug, but only for a few seconds before we head into the mall for our food storage. "Well I'll be!" Spoke Aurora, who had noticed her older brother, Jordan, alongside the rest of us, in the food aisles of the closest food store.  I took a quick notice of the place - it was M&S.  I watched her storm off, dragging Shaun with her. Afterwards, we were outside when Sonya mentioned something. "Hey guys," She'd said, pointing discretely over to the school entrance.  "Who's that? I've not seen her around our town before." "Well duh," piped up Electra, pulling a comedic 'duh' face.  "She's the new girl at school.  Remember how I was busy giving a tour of the school?" We all nodded, whilst I looked a bit surprised.  That earned me a cheerful giggle from her. "Well, her name is... Uh, I can't exactly remember her name though.  Melonie, or Merrilie or something similar." She shrugged, before coming over and sitting by me at the place we'd stopped at for lunch.  We had no idea that dark, thick clouds had rolled in overhead, until we heard a soft rumble from above, thinking it was just a small cloud passing over. After our lunch, at a quickly and pleasingly served restaurant called 'The Bermuda Fry-angle', we set off right as a very close, thunderous boom echoes overhead.  The storm was really close by, and by that, I mean that it immediately went from a soft drizzle, to a windy and mildly strong downpour just as we stepped into our vehicles. The sky gradually got darker and gloomier as we drive off into the forest, so we had to put our lights on as the winds picked up more strongly and the rain lashed down more heavily, making the rising, twisting and winding roads a lot more dangerous. Everglades Forest was such a mystery to most of the town, as there are rumours that people go missing once they walk into the forest during the 7th and 13th moons of the year.  Strangely however, the mysteries stopped when all at once, five years ago, all the lost travellers miraculously appeared from the haunted trail still in their hiking gear. Unfortunately, this thought lost my concentration for only a split second, but that was enough to make the lead car, my car, suddenly slide around a sharp bend in the road, narrowly missing the vast drop down the edge of the hill. I had almost gained control, when a lumbering lorry slowly came the other way.  Immediately, for about half a second, I found my car perform a one-eighty, facing my other friends, with Electra beside me screaming from fright.  I hadn't realised we were both doing it until just now. My car, luckily, spun around several times and careened off the road into a safe clearing, mainly for couples to park and admire the view in the beautiful summer evenings, but in this case, not so much. I manage to sense a tingle, as if lightning was about to strike nearby.  I was so focused on saving my car that I hadn't noticed Electra had managed to bail rather quickly, as I tried to bring it to a stop.  Up above however, an impossibly loud boom shakes the ground as Aurora's car pulls into the car park safely. But within the time for my car to come to a stop, impacting strongly against a lamppost and the railing, I watch in fight or flight mode as time slows down and a huge, thick bolt of ... well ... thick, rainbow coloured lightning zaps down through the air and enters my car through the roof, hitting me.  I scream in pain, but yet no pain, over the noise of everything. Electra was now sitting under a black umbrella with Aurora, screaming her head off as the bolt of lightning struck my car, making the roof explode into a few fragments and setting it on fire. Electra stopped screaming after a few minutes, sobbing worse than any of the others at their loss of a dear friend. Me. "He-he, he wa-was," cried Electra into Aurora's shoulder that she had turned her face into, sobbing between gasps heavily and sadly as she was lead over to Aurora's pickup. "th-th-th-the, cl-cl-closest thi-thing, I ha-had, tuh-to a, br-bru-brother, tha-that I-I, NH-NEV-NEVER HA-HA-HA-HAAAAD!!!" It was just minutes later that they'd realised how much shock they were in for watching the boy they all loved the most, die before his first ever, spur-of-the-moment, impulse attempt to hang out with his friends on a holiday of their own. But there is only one problem...  A really, really big problem... .... I was no longer in the car by the time it blew up. > A New World > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- When you crash in a car, you expect to wake up in a hospital, in a cast or two and with bandages. For me, on the other hand, I was face down in a wet, hard road. Newly soaked might I add. My head hurt like crazy. My vision was slightly foggy, my brain in some sort of thick haze. I hear screeching, tyre screeching, making me snap my head up to see a pair of bright lights. This gave me a very big headache, making me clutch my head immensely as I wince in pain. I barely have enough energy to register the person who manages to pull me from the street, rather quickly onto the sidewalk, as the car zooms past blaring its horn. My head feels fuzzy, but not in a good way. Uh, where am I? How did I get here? I managed to think, even though I was barely thinking straight at all. My head buzzed wildly, along with my body, as I cringe in pain and clutch at my head again. I barely make out a voice, as I start to slowly remove my hands from my head. It's still raining, but I'm feeling patches of rain through my grey hoodie, like it had holes in it.  I'm barely aware of the other person, as my hands move really slowly, shaking like crazy. I definitely feel drained of all my energy.  I hear faint dial tones as I feel, with super shaky hands, the holes in my grey hoodie.  They roughly matched the holes in my navy blue gym shirt underneath. With the thought that I might have some burn marks, I start to panic and begin to try and stand.  I feel my head spin extremely fast, making me lose lots of balance. Before I know it, the person still has their phone in their hand as I reach up to my head to try and numb the pain, cringing and groaning loudly.  I barely register a pair of hands grab me firmly... Annoyingly, just before I completely pass out. I come to slowly, feeling extremely fragile, cold, shaky and weak.  I cough loudly, seemingly getting the attention of someone.  The gasps of more than one person in the room make me go to open my eyes. Seeing cartoons is one thing, but living in it?  I would say it's impossible, but in fact, I'm doing that right now.  My throat feels extremely sore, with even just my breathing sounding raspy. "Hey, take it easy," I hear, with a quiet and soft tone to it.  It sounds female, but too young to be an adult. "You've been out for quite a while." I gently roll my head sideways, to get a good look at who was speaking to me.  I then note of the room I'm in, noticing things you'd usually see in a first aid room on a school campus.  I eventually found who was speaking. I stare with as much energy as I could, but I couldn't put a name to their face.  Like I should know them.  However, I didn't need to ask. "My name is Melody," Melody says, just before giving a serious look on her face.  I spot someone who looked like a teacher or something behind her. "Melody Symfonía.  Be grateful that I helped, but speak to anyone about what I did and I'll pretend that I was never there." "That's enough, Melody," Spoke the teacher, who stepped closer to us. I didn't recognise her either, but her face felt familiar somehow. "We don't want to frighten him so much that he won't talk.  He's already looking petrified from what's happened.  Why don't you head on home?" "Okay, Miss Luna." Melody says, hugging Miss Luna, who I think is a teacher and then turning away from me.  I know she whispered something, but I'm too weak to focus on it.  In fact, I was indeed petrified, but I was also bewildered by what was going on.  I watch her grab her backpack and walk out of the room. As soon as she closed the door, I really wanted to ask some questions, but it was obvious that I couldn't do anything. "Get some rest," Miss Luna says, coming over and patting my head gently. "You'll feel better by tomorrow.  I at least hope you will." And with that, I watch her leave through the door, but then stops and turns back to me. "If you prefer it, I can turn the lights off for the night?" I nod enough for her to see.  She smiles, turning the light off and leaving the room as I fall into a deep sleep. The next morning, I wake up and feel a fair bit better, but there's a reason I woke up.  The commotion just beyond the door is what woke me up.  I don't feel as fragile, but the warmth under this duvet kept me from doing anything, let alone to sit up. It's just so comfy.  I then realised I'd been placed in a medical bed.  I have an IV drip and a heart monitor watching my main vitals.  My heartbeat is just below 60, which was a good sign in my books. After a while the commotion dies down, as I begin to hear some bird chirps from the window opposite me.  I see a cute, bright blue bird, like a song bird, perching and conversing cheerfully with another bird like itself.  The other one was red with a yellow belly. I then realised they were inside, as the bluebird flies over my bed as I watch it and then lands on the door handle.  It taps four times rapidly, then twice slowly. I hear the voices quiet down very quickly, like the bird was actually knocking in code.  That's crazy, I thought, dumbfounded at what I'd just seen.  Well, heard. I watch as three girls walk into the room.  I don't recognize any of these girls like how I didn't recognise the teacher.  One girl had an amazing shine to her hair, making that purple shine glamorously.  I thought she looked really cute, in an outfit I thought was stunning.  And that says a lot about my taste in girls! I had as an afterthought, as I looked over to the other girls.  One had a short strand of her straight, pink hair flopping down in front of her face as I watched her talking to the bluebird.  She looked cute too.  I took a note in my head that their skin colours looked different too. The last girl had a nice mix of colours in her hair.  Yellow and red stripes.  Kinda made me think of a small bundle of flames.  She was the first to begin talking to me, sitting on the edge of my bed gently. "Hi, I heard you'd had a nasty accident last night." She states, patting my leg.  I smile, not yet really up to speaking. "Vice principal Luna told us about last night, how a student had brought you in during the storm." I raise my eyebrows at the mention of Miss Luna being the vice principal.  i then listen to her describe how a student who wanted to remain anonymous had found me on the road after a bolt of lightning had struck the road and assumed it had hit me.  I agreed, but only because I had no recollection of how I'd got there.  Last thing I remember is waking up here. "Um, Sunset," spoke the softer-yellow skinned girl.  Why do I recognise that name? I thought, but make no further thoughts on it. "You do know how weak he is, right?" "Yes, Fluttershy, " Sunset replied.  She sounded more like someone who's been through a lot.  She speaks just as softly, but with a bit more, it's kinda hard to sense it, because I can't exactly describe it.   "Yes I do.  I just hope that we could at least get some answers to our questions." As I'm listening to them speaking, I watch as vice principal Luna walks into the room, along with a clipboard in her hands.  I assume that's where the questions are.  Another staff member follows her into the room.  She's taller and has a brilliant range of colours from pink to pale yellow and white in her hair. "Now students," She spoke, with a strong undertone of authority as she spoke gently.  You couldn't really miss it, even in my state on this bed! "He's been out for four days now, so please be gent-" she didn't get a chance to finish speaking. I've been out for FOUR DAYS?! I thought madly, just as she had mentioned it, my body tensing up with the thought of how long is been asleep.  Unfortunately, this gave me immense pain and spasms, making my body shake like crazy from the seizures I started having. I groan in pain, but I'm more aware to the fact that all three girls help to hold me down.  After a few minutes, my body relaxes, then the five of them spend some time talking quietly over at the machines as I look out of the window. I watch the soft fall of snowflakes as I watch the world outside get a soft white layer to it.  I reach up and touch the window beside my bed, feeling the heat from the radiator warm my hand as I feel the winter coldness through the window by my palm. I hear one of the girls come over to me and give me a very gentle hug.  I slowly return the gesture, feeling her soft, gorgeous hair.  I see some long, purple hair in the corner of my eye as I hug her. Wait, why am I thinking that? I turn my head to try and see her face, whilst feeling a little flustered.  She seems to acknowledge my movement, then wipes at my eyes with a small cloth from her pocket then wipes her own away. Wait, I was crying?  I smile, as she then places a quick kiss on my forehead, unnoticed by anyone else, as she gets up and returns to the others.  I begin to feel sleepy, smiling at the earth I'm feeling inside me.  I then end up falling asleep, hoping I don't wake up the next day. I only have one final thought before I fall into a deep sleep... ... I like her. > Christmas With The 'huMane 7' > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- I fall asleep, then wake up again, hopefully just a few hours later. I'm feeling much better now, but I'm going to be leaving this room soon, or so I'd heard, as I slowly sit up in my bed. The girl from earlier came over with some clothes in her arms, leaving me to guess that she noticed me going to sit upright. "I see you're feeling better already," she says, smiling softly to me, making me smile back just as much. "I couldn't help it but notice the dreadful burn holes in all your clothes, darling, so I decided to make you some instead." She hands me the clothes, which are very similar to my own, but I notice the colours are different. Surprisingly, these were also my second most favourite colours for casual dress up. She leaves me alone in the small area, as she closes the window blinds which surprises me, as she also begins sliding the patient curtain around for privacy. She gives me a thumbs up as she walks out of the now secluded area I'm in. I hear her leaving with the taller staff member, to leave me in peace as I got dressed. A few minutes later I heard a short, muffled conversation followed by movement through the door, after getting dressed. I pull back the curtain and reopen the blinds just before I hear something over the speaker system - I could hear music. Well played music at that. I'm guessing there were some teenagers here who were talented singers. Maybe there's a famous band on-site? I thought to myself, as an afterthought, whilst I got up with the last bandage still wrapped around my body, under my new clothes of course, courtesy of that pretty girl. The other bandages from my arms, head and legs all gone as of yesterday. Pulling the curtain around, I almost forgot that my previous hoodie was burnt to shreds. I feel my arm jerk a little from the rapid movements, like I was going to get a sore muscle spasm again, but after a few seconds of just string shaking, my arm and hand finally relax back down to my side. I give a slight rap on the door after I hear the noise from beyond the door descend in volume rather quickly, followed by someone opening the door that I hadn't met before. Her hair had vivid and multiple colours in it. It somehow made me think of a rainbow. "Um, hello?" I asked, confusion obviously plastered on my face. I wince and cringe internally at the quivering tone to my voice. I rub the back of my head as I stand just outside the half open doors. "I heard some music playing, bu-" before I could continue, the girl from earlier came over to the door. She whispered in the girls ear, making her pupils shrink. Hopefully reminding her about who I am. If it had happened in a better time and place, I would have found her dumbstruck face absolutely hilarious, but alas I have had a rough few days. I watch as the blue skinned girl's eyes return to normal, laughing ... awkwardly? "Heh heh, sorry," She spoke, rubbing her head. "We were just doing some rehearsals for the winter festival coming up in a few weeks." "It's okay," I respond, bringing my hands up as if to apologise. "I can always come back later." "Nonsense, darling," The cute girl replied, gently grabbing my wrists and guiding me inside. "Here, come over and listen." Once I'm seated, I watch them get back into place and begin to listen to them begin singing. "Will you be lost by time, Or be part of history. Will your story be told, Or remain a mystery... "Will they sing your song, Telling all that you have done. Time to make your choice, Only you can be the one. "Ohh, ohh, OOhh. OoOhh, As you join, in the Legend of, Everfree. Hey! "Ohh, ohh, OOhh. OoOhh, As you join, in the Legend of, Everfree. Hey! Hey! Hey! "Will you be something great, With the time you have here. Would you make your mark, Will you conquer what you fear. "When you go back home, Everybody there will see, You were part, of the Legend of, Everfree! "Ohh, ohh, OOhh. OoOhh, As you join, in the Legend of, Everfree. Hey! "Ohh, ohh, OOhh. OoOhh, As you join, in the Legend of, Everfree! Hey! "Will you find your greatest glory, Will you be a falling star. Here to learn what nature teaches, Here to learn more who you are. "Will you be lost by time, Or be part of history. Will your story be told, Or remain a mystery. "And when you go back home, Everybody there will see, You were part, of the Legend of, Everfree! "Ohh, ohh, OOhh. OoOhh, As you join, in the Legend of, Everfree! Hey! "Ohh, ohh, OOhh. OoOhh, As you join, in the Legend of, EverFREE! Hey!" I watch on and nod my head in time to the beat until in absolute surprise, something magical happens to all of them just around a third of the way into the song. They all seem to glow, literally, with an aura that glows in a similar colour to their skin. But that's not the only change, as their ears change into bigger and pointed ears on top on their head. All their hair elongates, like they were extensions or, dare I say it, like tails. The shy looking girl from earlier, who I barely remember as Fluttershy, grows a pair of feathered wings from her back, as does the purple skinned girl with the glasses and the blue skinned girl too. I'm just sitting there, mouth agape, as I watch the impossible happen right in front of me. I watch, as their new appearances fade back to their normal appearances, with a visible aura around them. "That. Was. AWESOME!" Cried the rainbow haired girl, who punched the air with excitement. "I have to say I couldn't agree more, Rainbow Dash," Spoke Rarity, pointing a finger towards her. I just watch as she looks my way, then just starts giggling. "It was simply stunning!" For a long moment, I don't know why they're all giggling, but I then realise my jaw did indeed drop down to show my surprise. "Attention!" Said the voice which came through the in-ceiling speaker. It sounded like Vice Principal Luna. "Could all students please head to the sports hall for an announcement. Principal Celestial will inform you of the details once you're all there." Immediately, the seven in front of me all look at each other, shrugging whilst I raise an eyebrow in confusion, then put their instruments away and walk out of the door.  Rarity however, comes over and grabs my hand. I feel my cheeks flushing up as she pulls me out of my seat.  Once we're all out of the room, I follow them down to where they know the sports hall is. During the walk, I almost don't realise that we're still holding hands whilst Rainbow Dash and the girl with the country hat are talking animatedly ahead of us.  I briefly catch her name during their conversation as AppleJack, the shy, quiet girl I remember as Fluttershy is talking with the girl who wore glasses. It was when the sports hall was in view when Rarity releases my hand, making me look around.  With my eyes of course, because I didn't want to look sheepish on my first day awake here. I did notice a few stares from the students as we passed into the sports hall and got into our seats, well, the seating stands for us anyway. The room was fairly noisy as the students calmly came in in an orderly fashion and I assume they'd found their usual seats as well. "Uh, what's going on?" I question quietly, turning to face Rarity and the others, who I just noticed that I sat with on the stands. She turned to face me with a soft glow in her cheeks, so pretending that I couldn't tell she was looking flushed, I smile back softly, which seems to calm her down.  I say that, because the glowing seems to disappear. But before any of them got to respond, the lady I'd met earlier on stood on the stage opposite us. If I remember correctly, her name was Principal Celestia. "Good afternoon my fellow students," she started with.  I was a bit taken aback by how strong her voice was.  "I suspect you've all heard about a young boy who was saved by a student at this very school." Murmurs and whispers started spreading throughout the room, but just putting her hand up, I was surprised once again how she could do such a thing.  I take note that there were barely any glances my way, but the few I caught looked sympathetic towards me.  It gave me an awkward, butterfly feeling inside me. "I am glad to say that the student is currently amongst you, but unfortunately, I cannot prolong this call as the weather outside will soon leave us snowed in if we continued on with the school curriculum."  I watch some of the students rush over to the doors leading outside and even I can see that half a foot of snow has risen up against it when they open the doors. "So furthermore, I shall be sending you all home right now.  And since there's only a week until Christmas, I will allow you to have the next three weeks off.  Thank you." Almost immediately, the students start to head out of the hall to grab their stuff. "Well," I hear from my left, spotting Rarity standing beside me, giggling for just a moment. "I guess we'll now need to find a place for you to stay, darling.  I just hope it's not too much to ask for, with what I hear happened to you." So, the eight of us, that being me and the seven girls, I quickly learn all of their names. The nerdy girl was Twilight Sparkle, the hyper one being Pinkie Pie, the girl with the hat is AppleJack who I asked if it was okay to call her AJ, the sporty one is Rainbow Dash, the quiet and kind one was Fluttershy, the one holding a book with a sun on it was Sunset Shimmer and the girl beside me, with stunning hair and an adorable smile is Rarity. But as we walk out of the front of the school, the moment I look straight at the statue ahead, well, what was left of it, I clutch my head in pain as I get extremely lightheaded. I feel arms try to catch me, but when I thought I had passed the nauseous moment and go to get up... ...I'm unconscious before faceplanting the pile of snow by the statue. The last thing I remember before my mind goes completely black, is a scream followed by the sound of an explosion. > Drawn Together > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- I wake up with panic, still feeling a bit nauseous, as if I had been in shock. I have a vague recollection of where I was, but I was too sleepy and just completely out of it to not even acknowledge where 'here' even was. Mainly because of the nightmare I just had. I go to stand up, but imagine your head exploding and imploding at the exact same time, mixed with a headache, a migraine and a bit of brain freeze. It absolutely hurts, I'll tell you that much. I had no idea I'd made any noise at the pain in my head, but the next thing I can register during the pain is the soft hug I feel as I clench my head tightly. I open my eyes when I feel the hug loosen, finding the same girl I thought was cute holding a cup of something. I could tell it wasn't water, as water doesn't give off vapour. Hot drinks do that. "Here, drink this, sweetie," She whispers softly. "This should help for the moment." I remove one hand and take a look at the contents in the mug. It looks yellow but tinged with brown and smells... what's the word? Extravagant? Exquisite? No, it's exotic. That's the one. I feel her rub my back as I take a sip of the warm drink. It tastes so much better than coffee. I notice a slight taste on my tongue after the first sip, but can't put any thoughts on it. Well, I could describe it as a taste of apples, chocolate and ... well, I can't really tell what the last bit is. After a few more sips, my headache that feels like my head will explode begins to stop throbbing as much. I'm left with a very odd ringing in my ears from it. "What is this?" I asked, turning to her, paying no attention to my voice. "It's nice, but I can't name one of the things I'm tasting in it. What is it?" She stops rubbing my back, then gets yup off of the bed. This is when I notice that this might be either her bedroom or a guest bedroom. I'm hoping it's a guest bedroom, but I've not looked at the room completely yet. "Well," She replies, chuckling a bit, but I pick up on the sad frown that makes an appearance on her face just as she looks at her lap. "With your current condition, I had to ask for help from Applejack to get you up into my bedroom." I catch a slight peachy glow on her cheeks as I watch her fidget with the edge of her dress. Uhh... yu-your buh-bedrh-room?! I thought, looking away from Rarity. I then take note of many fashion designs and written notes on a desk over on the opposite wall from her bed. How come I hadn't noticed any of this when I ... Oh. Yeah. My condition. I turn back to her, placing a hand on her leg closest to me. "Hey, uh-um..." I say, slightly stuttering. I can hear how hoarse my voice sounds as I speak. "Could you help me to, uh, to get downstairs?" After shakily getting up, I feel my strength returning slowly as she agrees with a nod to help me. I notice a very strong look of concern on her face as she also grabs my arm and carefully places it over her shoulders. I try to avoid eye contact, partly because this is probably awkward for both of us, partly because we're probably blushing strongly. Well, I feel like I am anyway. But it's mostly for my sake, if anything else. I begin taking stronger and stronger steps as we head down a set of stairs to her kitchen. We manage to reach and sit down on the small sofa by the wall. I dozed off for just a few minutes after feeling tired just from coming downstairs, but I wake up as I hear a loud clang of noise. "Rarity?" I call out, my voice sounding a lot better than it did earlier. I watch someone smaller, probably a younger girl, just dash through a doorway I hadn't noticed. It was then when something weird happened. It felt like, well, it's hard to explain. All I can describe is that I'm no longer feeling weak and a bit light headed, but instead feeling reborn, alive, energised. I spot Rarity falling from the ladder that I notice she is using to grab something atop a large cabinet. I pay no attention to anything else but her, as I run between objects moving super slowly through the air. I keep my thoughts focused on her, as I pay no attention to the fact that I've stepped on a few objects mid-air as I run higher, then softly grab her from her slow fall. I quickly realise I'm now falling in the air along with her, with the ladder now tilted at an angle above us. I don't want to raise my hand in case I drop her, so I cradle her close and attempt to put myself between the ladder and her and the floor. The moment I go into position, my feet touch the floor and everything suddenly starts to move quickly and make a mess as it all returns to normal speed. I'm feeling a bit nauseous, my head buzzing like I was thinking at a million miles a second. In all honesty, I had no idea what had just occured until I hear an "Oh my," quote loudly in my ears. I find my face really close to Rarity's face. We hear someone gasp and both turn out heads to see who it was. I was actually surprised when Rarity spoke her name. This also made the ladder somehow splinter into pieces above us, surprising me a lot. "Sweetie Belle!" SweetieBelle'sPoV ((trying something new, please comment here if this is a good idea or not)) I've made it! I thought to myself, fist pumping the air in excitement. I barely dodge a girl who shoves past me through the doorway as she leaves and I enter. I recognise her as the new girl in my sister's year, but I pay no attention to her as I continue entering. Was that, uh, Melody? Nevermind, I hope my sister tells me what she meant by 'come home and see them for yours--' My thoughts are rudely interrupted by my sister's scream. I rush to get to her as I hear something begin to fall the moment I put my bag down. I rush through the door to her work place, hoping I can somehow save her. Right as I enter the room, one second I see my sister falling on the rather tall ladder, the next I see some some weird, green lightning bolts and the last thing I see, which I think is still in the same second that I saw everything, is that I see a boy crouching on the floor holding my sister close to him as the ladder falls and just stops in the middle of the air above his back! Omigosh! I thought in shock and surprise. He's a real life superhero! But something happens in my head and I gasp. Wait, isTHISwho she was talking about?! I jump as the ladder suddenly explodes above them. I've definitely got to tell the other crusaders about this! ...He's also kinda cute... I quickly add as an afterthought, smiling as I watch him help my sister up. Rhyan'sPOV After awkwardly staying in the pose were in for a bit too long, I lean into my left knee as I help Rarity back up to her feet. "Oh my!" She says out of shock and what I could tell was surprise. I just notice we're holding hands as we stand there. "That was truly terrifying! ... Wait, how did you... Why are you... What did you...?!". To be entirely honest, I was just as completely baffled as much as she was. I go to release her hand from my own, but after what happened, she still grips my hand I suspect in shock. I get the feeling that she needs a hug to calm down.  I return to holding her hand and after she looks into my eyes, I offer open arms and she just leans into my chest as I close my arms around her and give her a hug. I tap Rarity's shoulder and motion to the sofa closest to us as I watch Sweetie Belle pull out her phone and appear to text someone.  We're just sitting together on the sofa, her and I, until out of nowhere a flash of light comes from Sweetie Belle's direction. "Sweetie Belle!  It's not nice to take pictures of your sister in distress!" Well, having my picture taken was a bit of a surprise.  I catch a smirk on the face of the younger girl, before she apologises to Rarity and excuses herself from the room. "Oh my," Rarity states after turning around. "This is a complete mess!" "Would you like me to help?" I asked, getting a nod in return from her. We're able to tidy up a lot of the mess in just a couple of minutes, but she'll have to buy a new ladder that she said 'needed to fit the décor of the room'. A few minutes later, just as she was finishing orders to a few other customers, I briefly catch her looking at me then immediately turn her head sharply, as if she'd been caught. I shrug it off, but little moments like this happen for the rest of the day.  Just as much for me as I suspect for her too, but there are moments where I'm just looking at her and end up in a slight trance from how adorable she is. Although, I was totally not expecting a surprise visit from Vice Principal Luna.  I look over at Rarity with a questioning look, which she mirrors until she steps out to speak to her. I watch, seeing them talking, then Rarity cover her lower face in... shock? I then watch them come over. "Hello, Rhyan," Miss Luna spoke, a slight undertone of ... Well, I can't really tell, but it felt concerning nonetheless.  "There's, uh, a bit of an issue, regarding your parents.  But that's not the least of our worries." I take note of my hand being held by Rarity as she sits down beside me. "Well," She says, smiling a little as I catch her looking at our hands whilst I listen to her. "We have a couple of students who together enjoy helping others in the school, but when they came back to tell me what they'd found, well..." I feel confused as she trails off. I feel Rarity clench my hand as Vice Principal Luna looks, well, concerning and confused at the same time.  However, she composes herself rather quickly, coughing at the same time as she sits down.  Rarity let's go of my hand, saying she would hear about it later on. "I guess I'll have to start from the beginning," She looks past me, making me look as well. "Actually, I don't have to."  I just watch as she calls over Sweetie Belle. "Hi, Miss Luna," she said, her sweet voice making me smile a bit.  "Oh, hi Rhyan!" She waves at me, so I smile more and wave back briefly. "What's wrong miss?" "I was wondering, would you be able to tell young Rhyan here what you and your friends, the, uh..." "Oh, the Crusaders?" The young girl responded cheerfully, making the vice principal nod and half smile in return. "Yes, the Crusaders.  Could you tell Rhyan what you told me?" Miss Luna asks, going to turn around.  "I'm already late for lunch with my sister." And with that, she leaves.  The younger girl now motions to go into the living area of the store, I'm guessing to tell me how she, well, her friends and herself had found something perplexing about me.  I felt intrigued, but scared at the same time. "Well," Sweetie Belle starts, hesitating. I just sit there, being patient.  "It, uh, I kinda came over to say this anyway, but vice principal Luna got here first, so here's the short story of what we found." I just hope something about me would be useful.  I hate amnesia.  I still don't know where I am... ... Or where I'm from. > Crusaders of Curiosity > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- A Few Days Earlier... 3rd Person PoV After the teenager was brought in to the CHS first aid room, Vice Principal Luna heads to her office, hoping to find something about the young teenager. She just manages to dodge a student run past her as she turns a corner. The student appears to be crying, but as she almost calls out to them, she spots the pink haired student, Fluttershy, with her group of magical friends coming the other way. Fluttershy notices the crying student, managing to immediately convince her friend Pinkie Pie to go towards the student with her. Smiling briefly, VP Luna then continues for her office. Stopping only to remind the new student that had upset the other young girl. "Melody Symfonía," She warned strongly. "You know better that your behaviour like that could get you expelled from the school." Luna pulls out a detention slip, signs it for lunch time and hands it to her. "Tch, whatevers, Miss Luna." Melody grumbles quietly in response, taking the slip. Luna does a quick look up and down the hall, then ruffles her hair as they hug quickly. Melody then heads for the canteen to grab a small snack, flicking a brief look backwards before turning the corner. Upon reaching the office, Luna smiles back to her sister, Principal Celestia, as she goes to sit at her desk. They share a short discussion about looking for the boys parents, amongst other things. Luna mentions to Celestia not to mention that their new student, Melody, was the one to save him. They both agree to wait until the young boy is awake before mentioning anything. Right, She thought, as her computer was starting up. Two minutes later, she was in her web browser FireMare. Now, where do I look? And who do I look for? Luna started searching for ... Well, she couldn't, as she didn't know the boy's name. But she did know the young fashionista, Rarity, who might be able to fix or replace his burnt clothes. Just as she'd sent off an email to the student regarding security and his safety, two younger students appeared at the door. "Miss Luna, Principal Celestia," they both said at the same time, their voices higher pitched than normal. "What is it, students?" Responded Principal Celestia, sitting up sharply at their appearance. The light-purple haired student, Sweetie Belle, spoke first. "We told her not to, but Scootaloo thought it was a good idea to see who it was in the first aid room, so we tried to talk her out of going in there, but we couldn't stop her, so we had to ru-, uh, speed walk to your office and stop her before she does something stupid.... Again." She rambled quickly, barely getting her words out slowly enough. "Yeah, wha' she said." Added Apple Bloom, just as fast. "We didn' mean no harm, an' we tried ah best to stop her!" For the rest of the day, after the 2 crusaders, Celestia and Luna were able to convince young Scootaloo to not say anything. But the trio did discover a torn up rucksack with burn marks matching those on his clothes. Especially when it had the young, unconscious boy's name embroidered perfectly into the back of it, just below the hand strap. "You should go and look for his parents, Luna," Spoke principal Celestia, smiling as she patted her sisters shoulder. "I'll go and collect two of those girls who always ending up saving our school with their magic." Adding with an afterthought, as not to say it whilst the door was open. But I still find it impossible to believe that magic exists. Principal Celestia had noticed after looking up the girls that indeed three of them had a free session just before lunch. Heading off, she gave a comforting smile to her sister.  Who returned the gesture as she got back to work on her filing and the search for the boys name and his parents. Luna searched through the school records, but almost an hour later, there was no 'Rhyan Sparks' to be found.  She groaned internally, then went to speak with another student about skipping classes. Again. On her return route, she took a change of direction to get an update on the young boy, meeting her sister and the three students she said she had asked to meet her here. Meanwhile... The trio of crusaders, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo, were not exactly thrilled to hear that they can't tell anybody about the young boy, nor that they could help. But they decided to help look into his 'sudden' appearance anyway.  So during their lunch break, they decided to grab a notepad and a pen, as well as a voice recorder from the music studio without asking, they decided to try and find the boys parents. As they usually messed things up before fixing them, Sweetie Belle quickly decided that telling her sister might help.  Until she saw Principal Celestia heading the same way, making her perform a sharp 180 degree turn to walk the other way. Later, she thought to herself. I'll ask her later. As she walks off, she pays no attention to the other girl watching her. A few minutes later, the trio were going through their lunch break.  Sneaking off campus was a great feeling, but the fact that students can visit the shops and café's nearby anyway, the school allowed students to get the chance to mingle socially outside of the learning environment from time to time. "So, what're we lookin' for again?" Spoke Apple Bloom, still a bit confused. "The boy's parents, duh." Sweetie Belle replied, rolling her eyes before humming a small song she'd been working on. They asked around, seeing if anybody was aware of the name of "Sparks".  Annoyingly, the three girls later sat around in the school cafeteria, disappointed with their results. Although, they hadn't given up hope. After writing down some, well, rather far fetched theories and a few basic theories, the trio then take a lunch break. "Hey guys," spoke Sweetie Belle softly, looking confused whilst slurping some soft drink. "Isn't it a bit odd that this boy appears exactly when the school suffered a strange storm?"  The three of them thought for a second. "I mean come on, you can't survive a strike from the lightning that night and just appear in the street, right?" "Nah!/Nope!" The other two said in unison, as they laughed and continued writing down things.  Then returned to their normal, well, normal-ish daily activities and classes. Later That Day... The trio head to Rarity's workplace right after the school finished, which also had the fashionista's home located above it. "Rarity, I'm home! I brought my friends over!" Sweetie Belle yells up the stairs, hoping her sister is home.  A muffled response replies, which agrees to let the trio hang out downstairs in the room they usually use.  But they all forgot which direction the voice was coming from. The trio run for the room and hope to start working on finding anything, finding Rarity at work on a weekend.  She turns around to face the trio, a slight sweat due to working on some new clothes. "Heheh, hi sis!" Sweetie Belle stutters briefly, walking slowly to their little room. "Were just gonna go and do some crusading stuff again." The trio of friends suddenly stop walking then each look befuddled, confused, curious and interested all at once at what Rarity is designing. "Wait, what are you designing?" Asks Apple Bloom, feeling curious. "Oh nothing, Sweetie," She responds, wiping her forehead a little.  "I hear that you've seen the boy who was struck by lightning?" The trio nod silently. "Well, I should be fine telling you this then.  Whilst listening to how he was found outside the school, I took a good look at his clothing-" And his handsomely good looks. She added mentally. "-after the principal called for me.  I was told to keep him as a secret between my friends and I, so I've been at work on designing some new clothes for him... if he does eventually wake up that is." She quickly daydreams, eyelids dropping slightly, then snaps back to reality and continues sewing the red hoodie. The trio then go into their room and discuss the details of everything they could possibly know about the boy. After spending an hour in the room they all changed over, after getting mostly everything written down, to do some trig and English homework. "Ugh, this homework is boooriiing!!" Groaned Scootaloo, leaning into her beanbag and flopping her head backwards.  She looks and notices something on their pinboard, with the title of 'Wall of Curiosity', regarding the new teenager. "Wait a minute..." She says, turning over quickly to get a better look at the board. "There's only one place we haven't checked yet." The trio look between each other and smile. "The School Statue!" They all say in unison, and loudly at that. Rather quickly, the three Crusaders got dressed to go outside, oblivious to the fashionista, who was now completely focused on working on a pair of black jeans. On the way, a small storm was brewing overhead, but it was a good thing the trio of friends had taken their coats.  A thunderclap makes two of them jump, but Scootaloo just smiles as a bolt of lightning reminds her of the older sports fan, Rainbow Dash, of whom she considers as a sister. The sudden drizzle slowly turns into soft rain, then almost a downpour, as they rush to the remaining block the statue was once a part of. Looking around, the storm starts swirling counterclockwise slowly above, but was ignored by the Crusaders as they try to find any clues. "Where could a clue be if we can barely see in this weather?!" Cried Apple Bloom over the noise of the storm. "I can't see either! What gives?!" Replied Scootaloo, just close enough to be seen by the other two in the now thick downpour. As they near the statue pedestal however, they all fall forward into each other as if they broke through a wall in the strong winds.  The rain just fell straight down where they were, as they stared at the pedestal in shock. Up above, the trio watch as an impossibly thick bolt of rainbow coloured lightning moves a bit slower down towards them, but not directly at them. They all gasp loudly, as the bolt then splits into 3 smaller bolts that zap the ground in three different spots in enough to time for each of the girls to get up and, stupidly, run over to those spots.  The lightning appears to have struck a phone and two necklaces. Scootaloo picks up the phone on the road sitting face down right by the curb, Sweetie Belle picks up one necklace, which she can barely make out the shape of, with the initials "M.S." on the back. Lastly, Apple Bloom picks up the second necklace with an electric green, six-sided gem underneath some bright red lightning bolts.  This one had the initials "R.S." engraved in a more fancy, elegant style on the back of it. Sweetie Belle, who luckily brought her backpack, stores the three items in the bag as the storm returns to normal but continues to rain with the occasional flash of light followed by a thunderclap. But on the way home, unbeknownst to the three girls, the two necklaces were glowing softly in the bag.  The phone however, had been able to retain all the apps but unfortunately no contacts or text messages. Two Hours Later... Completely forgetting the contents of the backpack, the trio have returned home and actually managed to complete their current homework, surprising Rarity a little, before they had to separate and go home ready for another day at school. Except the bag was moved by Rarity, who tripped on it whilst it sat in the upstairs hallway and placed in a new location where it wouldn't interfere with her work. But this was only the beginning of something new. Something exciting. Something that feels... Powerful. > Destiny Awaits > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- In The Present Rhyan's POV "Okay, but that doesn't explain why I woke up not remembering anything." I say, softly rubbing my head. "Wait, you mentio--" I get interrupted quickly. "Well," Sweetie Belle begins, but looks like she gets lost in thought for a moment. "That storm was very weird, but the school has seen weirder." "You didn't tell me about this storm sooner?!" Rarity expressed vividly to her sister, in what I thought was an upset and caring tone. "I might have lost you! Being your older sister gives me the right to worry about you!" "Well, soorryyy for not telling you sooner! Besides, I'm here still, aren't I?! And I don't see you pull away from your work long enough anyway to come and at least spend time with me!" The younger girl responded, with a slightly meaner tone as I watch her get up and leave the room in a grump. I look at Rarity and notice a shocked expression on her face. I feel awkward being on the outside of their short conversation, but I still feel like I should offer her a hug. I raise my arm and let it hang behind her shoulders, feeling it was the right thing to do. What surprises me, is how she just leans into my side. Instead of reacting in shock, I feel my cheeks glow a small bit as I wrap my arm around her. This isn't really like me. She still leans into me as she goes to continue the story from her side of the following day, when we both look up to see Luna walk in, followed by another young girl. "Rhyan," Luna says, sitting on the seat adjacent to the sofa. "I would like to greet you to the new student who saved your life. Her name is Melody Symfonía, Mel for short. But I would prefer it if you keep this as a secret?" We both nod. "Good, because I'd like you to keep this a secret as well. Being new in school, my foster daughter will need a friend or many to be around. Could you do that?" Luna requests, her posture looking slightly nervous. "Sure thing, Miss Luna." Rarity replies, in a surprised tone. I'm just as surprised to hear she's her foster daughter. Sitting down with us, Melody, sorry, Mel and Luna decide to stay a while and tell the story from their sides too. Earlier: The next few days... 3rd Person PoV On her morning routine, Vice Principal Luna took a change of direction to get an update on the young boy, meeting her sister and the three students from yesterday. "Oh, I still hope the poor darling is okay!" Worried the purple haired fashionista Rarity, who gave a quick waft with her hand to her face. "Just seeing him yesterday was awful. But his story is even worse!" Her two friends, the reformed student, who was once a problem for us before we met the first Twilight, which is still confusing to me, Luna thought, Sunset Shimmer nodded, agreeing with the other girl, Fluttershy. "Uhuh," spoke Fluttershy, softly. "I really hope he wakes up soon. I alsp heard he was struck by lightning! How awful!" She hugs herself and slightly whimpers, before Sunset wrapped an arm around her friend gently. "Hey, he'll be alright. Don't worry too much, okay?" Sunset says, smiling but with a faint bit of concern. Fluttershy just nods in return as they all enter the room.  Rarity is the first one who makes it over to the bed the young boy is in for the second time. She gasps, but not as much as the others do, at the sight of his clothes. "Oh my!" She looks him up and down. "That looks really bad, worse than what I could partially see yesterday. And I'm not just talking about the burn marks. Oh, I hope he's going to be okay!" She watches the other two, as do Luna and Celestia, walk around to the other side of the bed.  Sunset holds her necklace and grabs his hand. Fluttershy asks gently if she could see anything whilst holding his hand, but when Sunset pulls away, a bit more sharply than she wanted to, she froze in shock, then shook her head.  Sunset had seen something, but the majority of what he was thinking was a lot of extremely blurry thoughts, feelings and memories amidst a thick, white void. The most recent, was foggy but clear enough to show his arrival.  But what shocked her was the short couple of seconds of a memory that was more vivid and clearer than the others, but it was still a blur to her.  She quickly excuses herself from the room, being chased by Fluttershy whilst Rarity kept a worried look focused on the boys calm, motionless face. Both Luna and Celestia left just seconds later, at a slower pace, with confused faces as Luna got an email from the young crusaders. When Rarity brushes her fingers on his right hand, an unnoticed soft zap of red and green light blinks for less than a split second unknowingly.  Softly holding his hand, she leans forward in the room that now only has her and the boy. Kissing his forehead, another spark goes off. "Oh!" She exclaimed, sudden but quietly, then smiled softly with a worried look. "Hmm, I hope you'll get better soon, darling." After sitting for about ten minutes by his side, still holding his hand, she gets up to leave but is somehow restrained as the boy's hand softly but firmly holds her hand back.  Wiping away a tear, she smiles as she rubs her thumb on his hand, which somehow releases his grip. "I hope you wake up soon darling," She says softly, pulling herself together. She looks back three times before leaving the room. Luna and Celestia are back in their office discussing the options for the young boy, when young Sweetie Belle enters the office. "Um, Principal Celestia?" She asks softly. "Yes, Sweetie Belle?" The principal responds calmly whilst smiling. "What can we do for you?" "Well," she says hesitantly, before moving a red backpack from behind her. "We first found this backpack near the front of the school yesterday during our break, then some things nearby where we first found it during that storm last night and the three of us decided to hand in everything we've found so far just now." She holds the backpack out, which Luna takes and looks inside. Taking note of the damage to the bag, Luna takes it and proceeds with looking at the items in it. Amongst the objects, those being a notebook, artpad, pencil case and laptop, were a slightly bashed phone and two necklaces. "Thank you, young student." Luna says to Sweetie Belle, smiling a little bit. "You're dismissed. Go on to class, or you'll be late." "Yes ma'am!" Sweetie Belle replies, quickly making her way out of the room. The day continues with Luna's search for the boys family, with little success. The next day, which was a bank holiday, Celestia and Luna head over to the local hospital, followed by the police department, to find out what they might know of the boy.  Gathering some unexpected information from the helpful staff and one of the managers, they thanked them and swiftly but sensibly drove over to the local police department.  Chief Constable Duskstar Sentry, the head of said police department, invited them into his office upon hearing of their arrival. "Tuh what do aye welcome ye for today, Principal Celestia and Vice Principal Luna?" He says, in his strong accent. "We're here to check up on a student who is, uhm, currently in our first aid room under unexpected circumstances." Luna responds, earning a nod from her sister.  The officer raises an eyebrow, but asks no question. "We believed that the hospital might know of any family he has," Began Celestia, as she began her story of how they'd gone for a visit, but ended up requiring permission to look at customer documents who'd been in the hospital.  "So you see, we're looking for the boy's parents or relatives and since we can't ask for any help from the hospital, we thought that at least you would be able to help us." "Hmm," The chief thinks aloud. "Well, aye will go check our database for anyt'ing.  What did ye say the boy's name was again, ma'am?"  He leans forward and starts searching on his computer, waiting to insert the boy's name.  "The boys name is Sparks, Rhyan Sparks." Replied Luna, crossing her arms as she hoped that the search wouldn't take too long before they had to go.  The chief does a brief search, letting five minutes pass.  His posture grows from small disappointment to slight frustration.  "Is there a problem officer?" Celestia asks, looking out of the window briefly to watch some students walking past, talking animatedly. "Ah believe there is aahm afraid." He replies, sighing in mild frustration.  He performs a few clicks and movements of his mouse and turns the monitor so that the two head staff members could see what he could find so far.  "From whatever aye've had ter look through, there are no digital or recorded civilians by the name o' Rhyan Sparks.  Although..." "What do you mean by 'although', sir?" Celestia asks, leaning forward a little.  Even Luna was intrigued, but slightly worried what Celestia would hear.  "Is there anything there we're missing?" "Aye was jus' lookin' at the search results and for a brief moment, it did show one result, but that was because it hadn't filtered out the results liked to deaths.  So therefore, ye will be assured that there were indeed ah family by the name of Sparks, but they are, unfortunately, no longer with us.  The family of four died in ah horrible drivin' accident 'bout eight years ago.  Had to break the news to Flash about it.  He was close friends with the young girl at the time." Leaning forwards, Duskstar asks that they don't ask him about the family, in case he breaks up in tears again. "Oh, how unfortunate indeed." Spoke Celestia, softly.  Feeling sorry for the boy in burnt cloths and the one who lost a very close friend.  "Thank you for your time, Chief Sentry.  And we won't say a thing." "You're welcome, Principal Celestia." He replies, nodding and tipping his a hat. "And off the record, aye was glad to be ah part of your lov'ly charity event last month.  Ye too Vice Principal Luna.  If there's anythin' ya need, I'll try ma best to help ye out."  They nodded in return, as they left the police department.  Said charity event was how Luna had discovered that even she could foster a child, as long as her sister was willing to support her.  Celestia gave Luna as much support that she needed to support the poor child back into a helpful and caring family. As the week went on, things gradually quiet ended down since the weird, magical events that were always appearing at Canterlot High.  Sunset's friend from Equestria, Starlight Glimmer, sometimes visits whenever she's free from her duties.  Rarity still visits Rhyan during the week, with her friends, telling him stories about her day as he lays unconscious.  It was the day before he wakes up, that the six girls had come along to see the boy, after hearing about his family. Rarity had somewhat become attached to the young teenager and vice principal Luna had agreed with her that she could look after him in her home above her shop.  Rhyan could have made it to Rarity's guest room, had it not been for his current condition.  Instead, they decided to keep him at the school. "Are ya sure it's alright, sugar cube?" Asked Applejack.  "Shouldn't he be in some hospital or somethin'?" She adds. "I believe that was our first plan for him," Responded Luna, who'd just entered the reception of Rarity's small shop as they came downstairs. "But as they are currently over working, I had requested that you girls could look after him, due to the circumstances that we've recently been faced with."  She didn't like to mention how some of her students are still having to undergo some therapy from being a part of the events.  she finally remembers something, reaching into her small shoulder bag. "Oh, I believe that this might belong to him.  Could one of you girls keep an eye on it?" "Don't worry about it, Vice Principal Luna," Replied Sunset Shimmer, smiling as she sat on a sunset red couch beside FlutterShy and Rainbow Dash. "I'm sure we can help him out when he wakes up."  Convinced with this, Luna nods and leaves the building.  The seven girls relaxed and talked about who might be the best person to help him. Later that night, Rarity slept in her guest bedroom, thinking about who the poor boy was.  So did Sunset, Twilight and the others, but not as much as Rarity was.  Little did she know, that the necklace downstairs started to glow dimly, with one bolt of rainbow lightning snaking off of it as it sparks a few times with small green lightning bolts.  The magical bolt traverses its way outside, crawling along the walls and the ground as it races for the school's medical room.  Upon arrival, it zips through the cabling and arriving near his bed. Softly zapping Rhyan's forehead in the process. > Siren of Sympathy > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Three Days Later... Since moving in, after hearing the long story about what happened whilst I was asleep, I've been helping Rarity design a new dress for the upcoming spring formal. Turns out I have a talent in fashion design. But recently, I've found myself thinking more about her. I mean, we all have moments where we think we've fallen for someone, don't we? well, to put it in the simplest form - I think I have a crush on Rarity. At first, I thought my cheeks flushing up every time our hands touched was some odd allergy. My stupid amnesia that we discovered the other day seemed to suggest so, but I soon started to doubt that since ... well, since it started happening more often. Since moving in three days ago, there have been a few small moments where we've not seen eye. But it doesn't really happen that much. No, really, it hasn't. Occasionally, we'd find ourselves reaching for the same thing and freezing for just a short moment whilst our hands or fingers make brief contact with each other. Oh, that reminds me, I noticed her behaviour had changed ever so slightly since yesterd-- *Ding!* Oh, a new customer. I quickly make my way from out of the side room, almost tripping on something, but lucky enough not to break anything valuable. I walk up to the counter and greet the new customer. "Hi there, welcome to Rarity's Boutique! I'm Rhyan, how can I be of sserrviceee...?" My voice breaks a tiny bit as my question ends on an awkward note. The young girl reminds me of someone, but I still can't put my finger on it. I hear a gentle 'coming' from Rarity as I stammer, but I recover it quickly. "Ar-are you okay? What's your name?" I say eventually, noticing the sad look on her face as she clutches her arm. "My-my name I-is so-son-Sonata." She spoke softly, looking downwards. I just notice a small tear streak down her face. "An-and I wo-would like t-to apo-ap-apologise to th-the gir-girls we we-were fi-fi-fighting ag-against." I rush around the counter to catch her as she almost drops to the floor. I help her over to a sunset red coloured couch, whilst I go back to the counter briefly to take the orders of two other customers. Keeping an eye on her from the counter, from my peripheral vision, I could she was looking around scared. Mostly she looked out of the front windows, as if expecting someone. I see Rarity bringing out a new line of clothes to my left smiling as I smile back to her. I have yet to see the ones I helped out with, but I'm not fussed. Come to think of it, how did I know the technical term for looking out of the corner of me eye? "What are you doing here, Sonata?" I hear Rarity say loudly, getting most of the customers to look her way. I see her flinch from behind, but I don't see her face. I don't know how, but I sense a hint of embarrassment from her then quickly dismiss any thoughts about it. I quietly walk over, to hear the conversation a bit better. I watch as some of our friends enter the shop. Twilight, Sunset and Rainbow Dash all walk in. "I-I'm so-sorry, Ra-Rarity." Stuttered Sonata softly. She continued to look down, hugging herself in the process. I walk over and touch Rarity's shoulder, only to get an odd look from her. "I-I-I just wa-want to ap-ap-apologise and av-a-avoid the others." We look back at Sonata as the other customers go back to looking through the store again. "What's she doing here?" I hear Sunset say, as I turn around to face her. THe others all had angry faces aimed at the girl I'd only just learned the name of. "I thought she was with the Dazzlings." She probably noticed my confused face and as I'm about to ask, she adds, with a less angry face; "It's a fairly long story. We'll tell you later." I just nod in return. "She claims to be here to apologise," Rarity replies, with her eyes narrowing a bit. I feel like I should step in, but I'm unsure to what I should say. "But I don't buy it." I look at Sonata and once again I notice a feeling, but it's from sincerity and sadness. I go to open my mouth to speak, when Sonata cuts me off. "It's okay if you don't believe me." She says quietly, still looking at the floor. "I'm just a normal girl now, with no place to say anything.... I guess I'll just go now." As she gets up and walks past us, time slows a little as I watch her slowly look towards me, with her tears dripping slowly. I let time return to normal as I watch her leave the shop, tears stinging her eyes and sobbing quietly. I'm still getting used to my, uhm, special powers. The past few days, I've been practicing with it in private. Mainly when I'm not being looked at. I can sort of catch subtle changes in body language with it, or run around without being seen. Although, I did almost get caught using it when I got back to Rarity's shop one time and found that she was turning around to probably talk with me. "I'll just be right back," I say, hoping I didn't say it too quickly. "I'm just going to, uh, check on something." I walk off after I get an 'okay' from them as they go back to normal. I'm about halfway up the stairs, ready to zip off, when I hear Rainbow Dash talking about seeing a really fast green streak, almost like neon lightning, zoom past her the other day. I freeze, hoping I heard that right. Yup, I did. I''d been so fast that luckily, I was fast enough not to be seen, but I quickly found out that I leave some sort of trail as I run with my powers. I start moving again, running upstairs, but something flashes green from my peripheral. Again, a word I don't know that I somehow know to use. Was I smart before my amnesia? I thought to myself, as I put on the new jacket Rarity gave me after replacing my clothes. I always keep a pocket watch with me, since I found one just laying in the street, as I suddenly hear a tick slow down to extremely slow, deep, rumbling cricks of the gears as I shift into my super speed. I just walk past my friends as I then get into a fast jog, thinking about everything that's just happened. I catch up with Sonata after thinking about who had left the pocket watch and finding them. I hear it finish ticking as I grab Sonata around the waist and behind her head. I push her along to the closest and brightest alley, hoping to ask her some questions. Yes, this will probably reveal my secret, but I felt like I was strong enough to at least let Sonata know. Coming out of super speed, I catch her as she trips and wobbles a bit after appearing in a new place so quickly. "Woaoaahh!" I hear her say, as I think quickly about how to avoid her knowing who I was. With my black jeans and hoodie, I decide to test something that keeps nagging at my mind after deciding to ask her why she wants to apologise. I pull my hoodie up, then try and vibrate my entire body. I feel it working, like I'm buzzing. As she turns around I start to notice small sparks of green zipping across my vision every now and then. "Uh, who are you?" She asks, tilting her head cluelessly as I vibrate. "And what are you doing?" Her innocent looks make me want to laugh, but that would be rude, so I cross my arms and hope my voice sounds different like this. "I hear you're looking to apologise to the girls in that fashion shop." I am just as surprised as her, because my voice sounds jittery, a bit like static and deeper than my normal voice. "Give me one reason why I shouldn't leave right now." I tried not to sound menacing, but as I turn around to leave, I get grabbed and shoved into a wall. "Hey mister," I hear behind me, as I still vibrate. Rainbow Dash? I thought in utmost surprise. "Stop harassing the girl. There's no way you can... Wait, who are you and how are you doing that?" I guess my vibrating body must be at least a little bit freaky. I hope that she isn't mad at me, as I stop vibrating and hear a gasp. I immediately get released from the wall as I turn around to see Rainbow Dash, but her hair is longer, has wings on her back and her ears have changed. I see the shocked look on her face, as I shrug with my hands up, hoping for sympathy with a half-smile, half-grimace on my face. "Wait, RHYAN?!" She yells, as the other five girls come around the corner, looking normal. They share the same look on their faces. "But how did... What is.. HOW?!" I didn't want to say anything, but I see the look of curiosity and forgiveness in all of their faces. "Okay, Rhyan," Sunset says, breaking the awkward silence. "You need to tell us everything." She smiles and puts a hand on my shoulder after walking over to me. I flinch a bit. "Don't worry, we just want to know how you can run that fast." A question nips at the back of my mind. "I have one question though," I ask, getting the attention of all of them, as I barely notice Sonata slip by and run off down the street. "How did you find me so quickly, Rainbow Dash?" I watch her chuckle, only just realising she's actually flying. "I caught a streak of green and raced after it." She replies, her cheeks flushing up a bit as she gives a short giggle. "Heh, sorry guys." "Well," Rarity pipes up. "At least you've got someone you can race against now, Rainbow Dash." I watch Rainbow Dash turn into her usual self, acknowledge the comment, then lunge at me. Awkwardly, she releases me from the hug she just gave me. "Um, heheh, sorry Rhyan." She says, blushing as we all start walking towards the school. "It's okay." I reply, as my head starts filling with lots of questions. "Hey, Dash, how did you, uh, how did you change your appearance like that?" "Oh, that's magic." Twilight responds, pushing her glasses up her nose. "All seven of us have it." They all laugh as I look shocked and surprised. "Yeah, it's not that big of a deal though." "Uh, Yeah, it is a big deal!" Interrupted Rainbow Dash. "We get to kick bad people's butts!" They all laugh, so I join in. I think about how fast she must have been going to see my streak, which gives me a brilliant idea. "Hey Dash," I ask, wiping away a tear from the laughing just now. "Fancy a race? I want to know how fast I am." "You're on Rhyan!" She replies, as we fistbump each other. "Hey Sunset, could you and Applejack the others get our classmates to come and watch a race between us two?" "I'm not sure a race is a good idea, Rainbow Dash." Spoke the voice of Principal Celestia, who had walked over to our bench outside the school. "Especially seeing how recent his injuries are." "Principal Ceiestia," Began Sunset, but I interrupted her without trying to be rude. "Principal Celestia, all my injuries have healed. They're pretty much non-existent now." I say, taking off my hoodie to show that all the scars and burn marks are indeed not there anymore. That was enough to convince her that it was okay for us to race. With some help with the sports department, the race between Dash and I was scheduled for Monday. I was looking forward to how fast I could go. The rest of the bank holiday weekend went by practicing for the race. I told my friends about how I discovered my powers and why I had kept it a secret. They forgave me for it and show me their powers in return. It was amazing what they could do. Although, when I was watching Twilight use her ability to move things without touching them, I felt a spark as I watch a necklace she levitates Glow and then fall to the ground. I put it on and feel a small rush as I somehow 'pony up', according to Sunset's description of what happens to them when they power up. For half a second, I see some blurry images flash before me as I float in my new form, before it disappears and I clutch my head in pain. I have no idea what that was, but I push it to the back of my mind as I continue to play with my speed on a treadmill Twilight was able to modify for Rainbow Dash. A few times I fell off backwards into a pile of clothing filled boxes, making Rarity laugh, but besides that, my top speed was the exact same as Dash's. But there was something telling me that this wasn't my full potential. Even though I felt something might happen during our race tomorrow. > Timed Out > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The morning classes had all my classmates asking who I was, how fast I was and why I was racing against Rainbow Dash. All I could say was that they should watch the race to find out. Most of the sports teams were voting for Rainbow Dash, whereas a decent number of students were voting for me. Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie were able to create some flyers for the race yesterday and I was impressed at how many were voting for the two of us. We're pretty much neck-and-back in the number of votes we both have. As lunch is starting, I have a smile on my face as I take my lunch outside to the sports fields. More specifically, the 400 metre racetrack followed by the city loop race. Most of the students were seated in the stands surrounding the racetrack. The surprise on my face as I walk out in some fancy running gear, courtesy of Rarity, was obvious to anybody looking my way. I quickly jog up to the starting line, where Dash was in her suit she'd worn from the previous school sports event. If I can remember correctly, which I'm struggling to do from how nervous I am, I believe it was the... Uh... The Friendship Games? Yeah, I hope that's right. I thought to myself. Anyway, I walk over to her by the starting line. I watch as she twiddles the stone gem on her neck, when I get a sense of déjà vu. I shrug it off, focusing on the starting line. I hear all the students begin to cheer for the two of us. After all, this is a friendly competition between the two of us. I kept hearing around the school about the magical problems that have appeared so many times and Sunset gave me a quick rundown of their second encounter with magic before the race. I grin broadly, as Dash sees me coming over. "I see you didn't chicken out, huh?" She says teasingly, releasing her necklace. Indeed, I was two minutes late, but I didn't want to give away my true powers until the race around the town. I'm honestly surprised that Principal Celestia and Vice Principal Luna were able to pull it off. "Nope," I reply, shifting the race kit Rarity made for me a little to avoid a bit of creasing. I have to say, she knew what I'd like without even asking me. "But I'm ready to beat you any day of the week." I smirk teasingly. "Haha," Dash replies. "Good luck with that!" We both laugh quickly, before getting into position at the start line. I had heard yesterday about another Twilight who was coming to see the race, but was delayed last minute. Sunset was hoping to talk face to face, but shrugged it off due to the race. "On your marks," Started Luna, speaking into a megaphone. "Get set...... GO!!" The moment the horn went off, we took off at our fastest around the four hundred metre track without our powers. Those would be used in the bigger race. I was able to keep up without breaking a sweat, making the students cheer wildly. I could see Dash smiling as she ran, but every time I caught up with her, I could see her worry until the corners on the track came up. On the third lap and the fifth & final lap, I was almost able to overtake and win, but one of my laces came undone and I tumbled into Rainbow Dash. This became a fast crabs across the finish line, where both of us were hoping to see who won. Because of this unexpected finish, we had tied our race times, as our hands both crossed the line simultaneously. Also, we were out of breath, which felt odd for me, but that was probably due to the lack of super speed, like I could tap into it at will. I fell onto my back after winning the race as Dash leant on her knees. "Whew," Rainbow Dash rasped, breathing quickly. "Now that was fun! I can't believe we tied the race!" We smiled at each other at that comment. I caught her winking at me, but made no comment. "Hey AJ! Did you see how close that was!" She yelled into the stands, as she ran up to higher friends on the closest row of seats to the finish. The next event took place through the school, where we had to collect as many flags hidden on the campus as possible in thirty minutes. This allowed the staff in the police department to get our race at the end of the day ready for us.  When the signal to go went, I took off normally, which annoyingly let Dash sneak ahead, as she used a brief burst of speed to get to the school entrance, before slowing down and entering the front doors to the building.  I felt surprised, then I smirked, then shift into a little bit of my speed to catch up. Running across campus, we occasionally passed each other.  Every time we found a flag, we had to beeline back to the start to put it in our coloured box before finding the next one.  My box colour was green, whilst Dash's box was Blue.  I wish I had the red one, but I didn't get to choose them.  Each time I came back with the flag, we were pretty much neck and neck.  Sometimes I was one flag behind, the next I'm one flag ahead.  Thinking back to my earlier event, I really wish we didn't run out of time to collect all the flags And tie once again. Out of the most strangest of coincidences must be happening a lot to me, but I decide to think about it later as I give a military salute as I rush past Dash on my 19th flag, the same amount as Dash has, when I notice the timer.  For one whole second, I stared at it with Dash.  There were three minutes left for the race, as we smiled at each other.  Nobody would see what really happened next, as we attempt to add a little bit of speed to our finds.  In total, forty four flags were hidden on site, but we were told it was almost two times more than normal due to how competitive Dash was and because we have similar abilities.  Nobody had been able to find all of them and we were going to see if we could beat that.  Running around I hear an inverted boom as I catch a flash of green streak down the hallway ahead of me after we separated.  I wanted to see what it was, but I trip on a sheet of paper and fall.  I hear doors being slammed quickly as Dash is about to find her next flag. I get up, racing for my final flag, when Dash zooms past me laughing.  I smile, running after her for my final flag.  We exchange playful comments about beating each other, when I run off to get my flag.  Running back to the front, I end up sliding my feet across the tiles as I run into a newly washed floor.  I snack into a wall, then land on my butt.  I get up, only to see dash running to put her second to last flag in the box outside then turn around to find her last flag. I get a bit of a shock when I realise we're tied once again, with only fourty one seconds left on the big timer at the finish.   I watch as she stops by me briefly, biting her lip Nervously, like she was choosing whether to get the last flag or to help me.  She probably wants to get the flag, but I'm surprised when she helps me up.   For a brief moment, I think of the streak and then zoom off after giving a quick thank you to her.  I don't really know what I'm thinking, but I start running all over the school looking for the final flag and hopefully beat her and the school's record. About twenty seven seconds later, I don't really know what happened, but I think back on the green streak as I turn to run down another corridor and I suddenly sense that time is really, really slow As I get partially blinded by a flash of silver light.  I run down the corridor, slowly reaching the end, peeking around the corner for a moment, as I watch in very slow motion, myself slipping and falling.  I smack my forehead in surprise right as I hear a very muffled, long and deep thwump as I fall on the floor.   Making my decision, I sprint across this corridor intersection as I sense time speed up again, but only back to what I hope it was previously.  I run down, checking room, up to a room with a sign saying it's for music practice, arriving right as dash does as well.  We both look in surprise at each other as we both arrive to search the room for our last flags.   Honestly, this has happened earlier, searching rooms together, but we're both standing there for a couple of precious seconds, until we both enter together. "I bet both flags are in here if we are both here, ya know." I hear her say, as I shuffle through some small instrument storage boxes.  "It's not like it'll be anywhere els-- Oh! I found your flag over here!" I look up in surprise, as I see her holding her flag and my flag. "Wait a minute," I say, as we both run out of the room and for the entrance to the school. "Why did you help me find my flag?" I question her as we run together, taking my flag.  "It's what friends do for each other," she replies quickly, smiling.  "Plus, if you're a friend with one of us, you're a friend with all of us.".  We then come close to the entrance, pushing the doors together as we run for our boxes.  The timer has seven seconds left, making me think we won't make it in time, but I continue to keep astride with Rainbow Dash and chuck my flag in the box right as she does in hers, as the timer hits zero. "That's time!" Principal Celestia calls out over the speakers.  "Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, please count the number of flags in their boxes."   I watch the two young girls empty the boxes, counting them as they do so.  Two minutes later, the boxes had been emptied and we'd both tied once again, like the chances of us tying twice were infinitesimal.  Again, how do I know these words?!  I think to myself. "Well," Begins Vice Principal Luna, surprised at the outcome from the flag hunting race. "It seems we have another tie."  The school's lunch bell goes off. "We'll be ready with the race after lunch.  You can place your votes for this final race in the box by the doors to the lunch."  And with that, everybody dispersed back into the school for their lunch.  I caught sight of Melody speaking with VP Luna and watch with a keen eye, but then look away as my new friends come over. Exchanging a couple of words, we discuss how Dash and I can't wait for the chance to test our superspeed, then head inside for lunch.  Everything feels normal, but I get the same feeling from earlier in my mind again.  Like something will happen, but I don't want to ruin the day for all of us, so I keep what happened to myself as we walk down the corridors. "Hey Rhyan,"  I hear, snapping my head around to find Applejack talking to me. "You okay? You're lookin' a little pale." "Aheheh, I'm fine really," I reply, scratching my head as I smile nervously. "I guess I'm just nervous for the race coming up."  She just nods in return, before walking off with Dash. Smiling, we all head into the lunch hall, until the race was to start.  About forty minutes later, the race route had been set up.  Still can't believe how easy it must have been to set this up.  There must have been a favour that was used in return for something the two head teachers had done.  Anyway, we begin the race in ten minutes, with Dash showing her excitement of racing some just as fast as her. "Hey Dash," I call to her, smirking as I bite an apple. "See you at the finish line!" I laugh with the others as she tells me to 'eat dust'.  We finish our lunch and head over to the start line.  "Welcome back fellow students," Speaks Celestia, somehow appearing in the spectator's box from when the friendship games were held.  "For the final event, we will be witness to a race around the town, marked out by our local police force.  SO when our two students are ready, we can start the race!"  Getting into position, we both share a smile, or smirk, as we stare down the road. Luna starts the race once again, but this time, we get to use our powers.  The moment she calls go, we rush off in a blur of green lightning bolts and a streak of rainbow for our speed trails.  On our first lap, Dash has the lead, but I catch up on the next lap, tying it with her.  With three laps left, we both nod in agreement as we let out a bit more speed.  Not that it felt like our top speed, but enough to not crash into anything.  The next lap, she came out ahead as we passed the stands full of our friends and classmates. The deep, long, drones of their voices in slow motion makes me smile, almost making me trip up.  This allowed her to come up on my left, through the first corner away from the school.  I kept feeling dejá vu as we ran around the town, but I was able to fend off my thoughts on it as I just wanted to enjoy the race against Rainbow Dash.  Mainly because I don't want it to be another tie again.  That thought pushed me to overtake her on the second to last lap, but yet she could still keep up with me, making me smile widely. However, as we ran around the town on the last lap, I could feel a weird pull from the magical energy I was using as we were matched speed for speed, corner for corner, in the town loop. Sometimes it happened when I was ahead, or behind as we raced.  I didn't know what to say about it, it feel weird. I want to hold its something amazing, but the thing I can sense about it, isn't a very good feeling.  But it isn't a bad feeling either. "Hey Dash," I call out over the wind, hoping she can hear me. "I think something's wrong with my powers."  I share my look of worry with her look of confusion at me. "WHAT?! How can something be wrong with your pow-WOAAHH!!!" She's cut off as she is talking to me, in just as much shock as I am. As a bright, electric silver flash of light surrounded our vision, blinding us briefly. We come to a stop on an empty street where the finish line should be. "Woah, wait, where are we?" "I have a sneaking suspicion it's not where, but when." I answer, catching a newspaper drifting on a breeze down the sidewalk and read the date at the top of it. "Um, Dash, did anything happen on this date that I should know about?". I show her the date on the paper. "Oh no!" She shrieks in shock. "Nonononono NO!"  I jump at her reaction as she snatches the paper and reads the date, making me feel, well, shocked, scared and confused.  Mostly scared. "What?!" I reply in fright at her reaction. "What's wrong?!" Shifting my sight between her face and the paper multiple times. "It's the week where we defeated the Dazzlings at our school's Battle of The Bands!" She responds, clutching her head after dropping it. "That means we're going to be stuck here forever!" I watch her eyes shrink in realisation of something. "OH NO!! There's gonna be TWO of me!!!". I only had two words for my response. "Wait, WHAT?!" > Time to Shine > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Looking around frantically and confused, we try to look for places to hide as the sun is starting to rise.  I'm glad it's daytime, but at the same time, Rainbow Dash is on my right as we nervously make our way down the street. "Uugh," I hear her complain, as we walk with the growing sunrise. "Why are we even back here? I can't even think about what could go wrong." This doesn't sound like Dash. It sounds more like Sunset or Twilight. But I bet she know what's probably going on. "I only heard a brief story about your, our school from Sunset," I start, unsure of how to comprehend what's happened. "I wonder if we could somehow help around here." I look around, recognising some of the shops from our run. They look a bit different in some places. "Hey Dash, shouldn't we have a disguise or something? People will notice you and I together." I watch her react to my idea, then grab my wrist and run off with me. Good thing we have our speed, as I bet nobody can really see us as we run, well she runs and I'm half running and half being dragged, to some shop. When we come to a stop, I notice it's a café. I get elbowed, probably to get my attention, as she points to the next shop along. A hairdressers. I check my pockets, finding no cash, but I watch as Dash just disappears in a flash of rainbow streaks into the store. I follow suit, turning on my speed too. A few minutes later, we're sitting on a bench at a park, as Dash is gawking and gagging whilst she tries to apply a different colour to her hair, with little to no success. "Hey Dash," I say, grabbing her wrist. "Would you like me to apply that for you?" I watch her give a disgusted face as she nods. "Yeah," she replies awkwardly. "I don't know a thing about styling hair." I take note that the colour of this hairspray is Crimson Sunset. I chuckle a bit, thinking of how Rarity mentioned the exotic and oddly unique names of some colours in her fabric collection. Two minutes or so later, her hair is a few different shades of red, courtesy of the different colours she previously had. I zip back to return the spray as I look for one that I could do with wearing, when I spot a look in a poster inside the hairdressers and think of applying it to Dash. After applying a green spray to my hair, I zip back to her, finding that she had got up and started walking with a bit more confidence in her step. Smiling, I make my way over to her, tap her shoulder and whisper "time travel" in a loud enough voice so that she doesn't get a shock. Before I know it, she gives me a big hug, then backs off with a soft blush. Sitting in the park, we just sit there for awhile, talking about why we're here and what might go wrong as I do her hair up similar to the one I saw earlier. I think back to the blast of silver light, wondering how I could somehow control it, when I sense her lean away from me. "Uh, Rhyan," She whispers loudly, making me turn to look at her. "Why did your hair just flash silver?" She points at my head. "Wait, " I reply, surprised. "My hair?" I reach up to my head, getting a bit of the not-yet-dried hairspray on my hands. She laughs a bit, then I hear her go completely still. I look at her, her eyes look a bit colder than I'm used to, then where she's looking and I see three girls walking past the entrance to the park. "The Dazzlings." I hear her say, then lean into me, I sense another foreign feeling coming from her direction, mixed with a bit of anger. "They're trouble." I wrap my right arm around her shoulders as I take note of their appearances. The girl at the front of their group must be their group leader. I listen to Dash as she tells me who each one is. The girl with the two orange and yellow, ball shaped pony tails is Adagio Dazzle, the purple and blue haired girl with two long flat pony tails is Aria Blaze, and the third one I recognised before she even told me. Sonata Dusk. I watch with Dash as they seem to be arguing over something. That's when I notice that Sonata is being left out. I feel like wanting to go over, but a tug on my shirt stops me from going over. "You know," Dash says to me, grabbing my attention as the three of them walk off together. "I think they might be heading for the school." I nod in agreement as I remove my arm from her shoulders. "But, I still need to change my clothes." I look at her, then realise she was right. "I hope you don't mind ransacking Rarity's clothes pile then?" I ask, remembering her shop from just a few blocks away. Dash nods, smiles, then disappears in a streak of rainbows. I sit there, wondering what's going on, when just under a minute later, she reappears at my side. Her red shirt under a blue jacket had a blue bolt in the middle, with a green gem on the top left corner, top right for me, of the jacket. I internally laugh as I recognise the resemblance to my necklace. "I figured I should probably get something to resemble a part of you, to show that I'm from the future like you," She says, as we get up and head for the school. "Don't want you thinking that you couldn't find me, heh!" I catch her cheeks glowing a bit again, but I guess it's because we're the only ones who aren't supposed to be here. "It's fine," I reply, smiling. "Besides, I even noticed the bolt and the gem symbols before you even mentioned them." I gently punch her shoulder as we share a chuckle on our way to the school. As we arrive, we mingle with the students that are around us as we walk in. Most of them appear to be heading for the cafeteria, where she told me how they first met the trio of trouble. Well, that's what I've decided to call them. The cafeteria seems to be filling with students as I watch them all settling in to their own groups of friends. "We better sit in an empty table in the corner," I begin, pointing to an empty table in the furthest corner. "That's a bit risky." Dash replies, point to the table beside it. "My table, sorry, our past table is the one right beside it." I notice the table she points at, right as the six girls, Sunset, Pinkie, Rainbow, Rarity, FlutterShy and Applejack walk over to it and sit down. "They won't recognise me," I say, hoping to comfort her. 'But I'd sit with your back to them as we sit at that table. Or, would you prefer to move to another table?". She quickly shakes her head, dragging me to the table. I get the feeling she's nervous about something, but I don't want to push it. Sitting across from them, I watch Pinkie shove some food into her mouth as she attempts to imagine what 'felt off' about the trio, according to Sunset's comments. At least I was finally reliving the events first hand. Seconds after she stops guessing, Both Dash and I, with mostly everybody else in the room, look at the door as that just opened to the room. The trio, start to sing a song and appear to be affecting the students in the room. "This is before we find out that we're not affected by their 'dark magic', unlike the others." Dash whispers across to me. I look surprised, whilst she sulks in embarrassment. "This is also where we started to disagree on all the small things." She added. The entire room is bickering and arguing after the song finishes, except us and the Rainbooms, as I catch the lead singer, Adagio I think it was, cackling, rather than laughing. We leave quickly, when the other students leave as well. I start to think of anything that could or couldn't go wrong. That was when Dash pointed down the corridor somewhat discretely to our mutual friends. "That's Princess Twilight." She says, the one from the other world, then she notices something. "But. I remember her tripping into Flash Sentry. Something is definitely off abo--" I cut her off by somehow making a green spark jump down my arm and shoot out from one of my fingers and create a brief aura that locks onto her foot as she partially stumbles into Flash. I catch Dash's smiling softly at me. "Okay, now I 'm starting to see why some weird things happened during our 'battle of the bands' tournament." I smile back nervously, scratching me head in the process. The rest of the day goes on uneventfullay and eventfully, where we watch from the stands in the sports hall and I actually got, sorry get see how badly her bands performance was, sorry, is ... wait a minute, gahh, time travel is so confusing! Anyway, before I confuse myself even more, I, sorry, we begin to start noticing more and more negative interactions between the past version of our friends. Dash almost revealed herself to them once as they walked past us after the school day finished, but when I started to talk about music in a certain way, I hoped that she got the hint. "Whew," Dash responds after I give the all clear that the Rainbooms. She slides down the wall outside the school. "That was definitely way too close, don't ya think?" She says, looking up from her position, her hand placed on her head. I smile and nod in return. "Well," I mumble, thinking of what else might go wrong to how Dash remembers it going. "Is there anything else that we should look out for?" I ask, looking at her as I sit down beside her. "Hmmm...." She mutters, then her eyes light up as she quickly looks to me. "Something odd happened during the final battle. It couldn't have happened naturally." I nod, as she describes how during the battle, Twilight is blown back by some sonic attack, releasing the microphone, making it fly backwards then somehow landing at Sunset's feet, like it was pushed there deliberately. We look at each other, then zip over to the stadium they play at later tonight, where we watch a girl, who Dash mentions to me as Trixie, who apparently wasn't 'oh so great and powerful' after they'd found out she was there to pull the lever that put them below the stage. Dash mentioned how she'd wished she'd pulled the door below instead of running into it. Right as she mentions this, we both catch Twilight's dog, Spike I believe it was, drop his toy then run off. Dash shares a confused and scared look with me as he runs straight over to where we're hiding. We both hope that he runs straight past us, but he stops and looks directly at us. "Let me guess," He says, which completely surprised me. I had no idea he could talk. "You're not affected like everyone else, are you." He points his paw at us. "And you don't look like you're from here, are you?" He looked from me to Dash and back, placing a paw on his furry chin. "Hmm, let me guess, Dash is down below the stage, a half decent cover of Dash up here, I'm going to guess something happened in the future?" We both look at him with a gawking expression on our faces. "Yup, that must be it!" He continues, then looks around. "Uh, I guess I couldn't ask for your help, uh ...?" That's when I realise he talking to me. "Oh," I reply, coming to with a nervous smile whilst scratching my head. "Sorry, I'm Rhyan Sparks, and I don't think I'm supposed to be the one that helps you." Future Dash rubs her hair, creating a soft cloud of red around her head, as her original hair colour reappears after she coughs. I do the same to mine, hoping I get the same effect. Huh, it worked. What d'ya know. I thought to myself, coughing at the small clouds of dusty hair colours. "Huh, red hair." Spike says, commenting on my original hair colour. "Who knew. Anyway, who do I get?" He adds, making me look at Dash. "Well..." She emphasises, thinking of what happened, I believe it was that girl with the love for rock and roll music. I don't remember her name yet, but she wears shades and headphones. DJ something, I think." She shrugs, not knowing the full name. "Hey, uh, Spike," I say to the dog, which felt really weird. "Could you by any chance not tell anybody about the battle that'll be here later tonight?" I bend down and pat his head. "Oh, and please don't talk to Princess Twilight until I meet you two later in the future, okay? I'll say the word 'redhead' when I next see you and Twilight.  You got that?" "Aah," He sighs, as I scratch behind his ears, before becoming aware of his surroundings again. "Oh, yeah, I promise not say anything. Thanks for your help!" He adds, then runs off as fast as he can on his little legs. "Well that was something, huh." Dash says, as we then zip off for the rest of the afternoon, keeping in a low superspeed mode as we wait for the battle later in the night. We waited in a bush up on the hill, playing a small card game, when we both hear the past versions of or friends rock up with the DJ. Watching her car transform into a live dance station was unbelievable. No, really, it was unbelievable something like that was possible in this world without the need for magic. As the battle commences, I watch as the trio on the stage power-up as I hear past Dash wow in amazement at the , then start playing on her guitar, along with the band. The battle turned into a literal battle of the bands, as the Dazzlings turned into some weird, astral beings that had amazing voices. We were just in the right spot, as the vocal attack from the lead astral creature knocking the microphone past the converted the car and through the air, almost towards our bush.  "I hope Spike knows what he's doing." I mutter to myself, as I shift the microphone ever so slightly in the air so it heads for her feet.  I watch it change momentum abruptly enough to bounce off of the hood and towards Sunset's feet.  Everything had gone according to plan, but we had to find a way home.  "Hey Dash," I whisper, turning around to see her not by my side and then suddenly by my side in less than a second in her normal clothes. "Wha... Nevermind, are you ready to try and go home?" She grabs my shirt by both of her hands, slightly shaking me. "We can?!" She whispers excitedly. "How?!" She looks at me with a very excited look in her eyes. "Because I think I've figured out how to get back to our own time." I respond, sneaking out of the bush with her as I explain my plan.  Which was to run as fast as we can together, then get distracted by each other at the last second. Unbeknownst to everybody else, who are probably distracted by the big, magical attack in the sky, two streaks, Dash and I, zoomed down the street in which we came from and disappear in a small flash of silver light as we passed the school statue, disappearing from this point in time. We tried our best not to interfere with our past selves, but I get the feeling, as we are somehow still running in some weird silver lightning filled dimension, that an impending threat might possibly be something that we are not willing to face. But there's one problem As we drop out of the real of silver lightning with the same thought in our heads. "Where the hell are we?" > Dichronal Anomalies > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- We just stand there, in complete awe, at the world around us. It's definitely where we're supposed to be, but something in that silver realm, which I might end up calling the 'Time Stream', must have brought us here for a reason, if anything. "What is this place?" Rainbow Dash says, who is standing on my left. "And why does it look redder than I remember?" I feel curious and frightened at where we are. She's probably feeling the same way. A crash down the street makes us jump, well it made me jump anyway, I don't know what it did to her though. Taking me by surprise, I almost lose my balance as Dash runs into me whilst hugging me in fright. We both cautiously walk down the sidewalk, me ahead, as we poke our head out around the corner.  Without us knowing it, we're bagged from behind, over our heads, then dragged off screaming.  Well, Dash was anyway, but I didn't want to freak out and do something stupid. I got the feeling that this was bad. Really bad. We had no idea what was going on, until I feel something soft bash against my back. I don't even dare to say anything, in-case who we're up against are the people who did this to our future, sorry, present time. I worry for Dash as I begin to softly attempt to vibrate my body again. Although, I stop when my arm shackles start to rattle the moment I hear a soft buzz coming from my body. "Hey you," A deep, masculine voice says. I bet it's at me, but I can't tell. "Get the boy and take him to our leader. Take the rainbow haired girl too." The pure mention of Dash being okay washes through me with relief, but I'm a bit confused by something. The softly announcing but masculine voice has the same intonation as FlutterShy. I try to look through the bag on my head as we're being pushed to our location. We come to a halt a couple of minutes later when Dash and I reel in pain at the sound of some ancient-like grind of metal as it moves. We're both roughly shoved as the bag are removed from our heads. "Ow!" I hear from my left, recognising the voice. "Hey that hurt! What gives? Oh, RHYAN!" I'm jump attacked by a big hug, as Dash literally runs into me. She let's go after we find that we're both okay. We both wonder why we're even here, but after an agreed silence, we decided not to say anything else. It feels like days, but with decent hospitality, we soon realise that we're not under some lockdown. Heck, we hadn't even realised that the door was open the entire time. I look out of the door, to be greeted with Dash by about eight or so people. Someone starts walking over from the back of the group as Dash hides behind me with what I could only describe as an angry but confused look on her face. "I see you might think you were there to stay, let me introduce myself, for I am ZeZe." The woman says as she nears us. Her rhyming was kinda unexpected. Like, really unexpected. "Uh, hi... SeySey, was it?" I ask awkwardly. "What's going on around here?" I add, at the same time Dash says it too. I notice that her name pronunciation says it with more with the letter 'z' than an 's' just after our jinxed question, making me cringe a bit internally. "My name will be spoken as ZeZe, now come, what have you got to say?" She beckons, as she gestures for us to follow. We shrug as we follow her into the basement of the house we're in. "You are now welcome to our home, all but outside, you are free to roam." I guess that meant we weren't allowed outside the house then. I get tapped on my shoulder by Dash, as she get my attention, pointing to a guy with the same voice we heard from earlier. He was looking after a small group of kids, showing them how to look after animals. "He's behaving a lot like FlutterShy." She whispers into my ear as I just stare at him with her. I just nod in agreement. All around us, as we walk over to a bunch of weird equipment, we recognise the other versions of our friends. We stare at each other in astonishment at what we are currently witnessing.  Except there's one small issue - there isn't another Rainbow Dash.  Turning around to follow ZeZe again, we notice that they're all in some sort of worn out school uniform.  Including some of the other teenagers. "So, uh," I hear Dash start, uncomfortably, as we enter a room that blocks out a majority of the noise from out there. "What happened here?" I add, finishing her sentence.  "For deep in the forest where it came from yonder, a creature that called itself, Ghalmar the Beyonder."  ZeZe replied.  That was the most sense we got out of her.  "He definitely came from out of thin air, but I hear that it was through some magical tear."  That bit we literally tilted our heads in unison due to our joint confusion, barely understanding her once again. It was only now that I realised I could get a good look at her under the soft glow from the lights above.  Her hair had white with retreating black stripes, her skin was what our Rarity would call majestic white, she also had two golden, circular earrings from her ears, a white shirt under a pale grey hoodie, black jeans with white stitching and white and black sneakers.  Making us jump, someone walked into the room from a door we hadn't been aware of before.  "Zec- uh, ZeZe," They began, correcting themselves very quickly, but I caught on that ZeZe was a nickname for her. "We jus' did ah check on these two - they're not one of his minions.  They're clean, heck, even their eyes are unaffected by anything this world has seen."  ZeZe nods, then smiles.  The girl's voice sounded very familiar. "Excuse me!" I say a bit louder than I wanted to, getting ZeZe's attention, including the other girl.  "Could you help us, please?  As we're struggling to understand what she saaeeee...." I immediately trailed off the last words as I realise who it was when they came into the light completely. It was Applejack. "Um, ah'm JackApples, but who the hay are you two?" She says, with no hint of recognition in her eyes.  I refrain Dash from zipping around the table, mainly because I saw her getting out of her seat probably after recognising this girls, sorry, JackApples' voice.  "And why aren't yah both dressed like us?" I see her pointing between us, with half-crossed arms, as Dash sat back down.  "Well," I begin, as I describe our situation, with Dash's random input as well, over the course of a few minutes, leaving out some information about our friends from our own time.  "And that's how we got here." "Huh," JackApples responds, as I watch her face change from a sceptical look, to a surprised look then finally a bewildered look. "Ah guess y'all want to help us out?  We're actually in need of some support in this war for our world."  She tells us the story, along with ZeZe's input too, as we begin to understand her rhyming more and more.   It was a complete shock to hear that their Sunrise Shimmer had magically sacrificed herself to help them relocate back into this town, to confuse the big threat they all know as 'Ghalmar The Beyonder'. A few minutes after our private meeting, we're stuck in a briefing room as some of the students Dash and I once called friends all huddle into.  I recognise Twilight, FlutterSh-, sorry, FlutterGuy, JackApples and Party Pie.   The others must be somewhere else.  Seeing Dash upset about this timeline's Sunset Shimmer had in fact been a bigger shock to her that it was for me.  Out of nowhere, I watch as Dash's hair pulse silver and recognise a silver flash in her eyes the moment I look at her.  So that's what it looks like on me. I thought to myself, when I see that everybody in the room goes quiet as they stare at us.  Uh oh, busted. "It now seems very clear to me," Began ZeZe, her voice loud and strong. "That we are the ones, who are not meant to be." I'm confused, then all of a sudden, I realise she meant that this is a timeline that shouldn't exist.  "Come my colleagues and friends, for now this battle must have to end!" I recognise a young girl hiding in a corner of the room, her hood covering her head.  I just begin to notice that she's talking to her self, but ZeZe beckons the two of us out to the training court to display our abilities to those who are still surviving this cold world.  Within seconds, we're standing in the middle of a large warehouse, with a lot of training equipment that most of the students that fight train with.  I recognise the girl I knew as a DJ. I watch her place a hand on the bag with a musical note symbol on it, then throw her other hand towards a bashed up but clean mannequin, firing a warping stream of musical notes at it.  I notice Dash's jaw has dropped dramatically, probably like mine has, as we watch the barrage of music cocoon the prop, then implode,, leaving a slightly burnt and scratched mannequin in its place. "Come an' give it ah go, Rhyan. You too, Rainbow Dash!" JackApples says, patting my shoulder. "Show us what yah got."  I catch Dash winking at me whilst giving a thumbs up, before disappearing in a rainbow streak, giving strong punches to a stationary punchbag.  I hear the "ooh's" and "aah's" of a lot of the other teenagers as she zooms around, dodging automated attacks and laser tag rifles.  I smirk, then chuckle a bit, before shifting into a faster speed than she's going at, as I do the same thing to the ones on my side of the room.   For a brief moment into our display of power, I stop by a display that shows a thirty second delay to our progress, as I watch my streaks and Dash's streaks overlapping every now and then.  I couldn't help but notice that when they did, my lightning kinda flashed silver.  Keeping that in mind, I wanted to try something new.  Shifting into an even faster speed, I decide to run over to Dash, as I tell her to shift out of super speed as I tell her my plan.  I stop by ZeZe and JackApples, telling them to inform the others of something that is only possible by us and to expect it any second.   As Dash and I start running, I explain how we'll temporarily see ourselves before I try a controlled 'time jump' For the first time.  Her face lights up at the plan.  We start to run side by side, looping around the circuit.  I take a brief look backwards at our speed, noticing that our trails start to mix together and randomly flicker silver as our speed suddenly increases dramatically.  I feel my body suddenly become a blur of movement, with the exact same look of surprise but control as Dash does as we look at each other.   Two seconds later, our two silver trails both stay silver, as we suddenly have a copy of ourselves by our sides as we run around for three laps, then I focus on a silver portal in front of each of us, just off of our current positions, reappearing in the place we saw our future selves.  We don't look at our past selves, until they jump through a portal as well.   I have to admit, this would feel OP, if it didn't drain us of our powers so dramatically. We come to a sliding stop, then jog normally back over to the group of onlookers.  Every face we looked at, except for five of them, had the look of shock and amazement with dropped jaws.  One of the younger girls even closed another girl's jaw just for the comedic impact.  We both start laughing, making the entire group shake out of the unbelievable experience. However, the experience was short lived, as the roof of the warehouse was ripped off by something really big.  Zipping around and saving girls and boys from the falling rubble, I attempt to try something I'd not tried before.  I wanted to try something new. Something cool.  As I run in a tight circle, I catch up with my own lightning, then immediately stop and throw my arms forward and upward, watching my powers flow past me, striking all the rubble and turning it into extremely fine dust. "NO! When did he... HOW DID HE FIND US?!" I hear Moonlight Sparkle yell, this timeline's version of our Twilight, as I saw what, or who was staring into the warehouse after my weak attack, which could only mean that the one they all feared had found their hideout.  The one who controls this world by force and fear. The one they call... Ghalmar The Beyonder. > Battle of The Beyonder > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Staring at the oversized Minotaur, I catch Dash in my peripheral as she performs a pony-up, when I do the same. That trick from earlier could save us, but I feel like we might not need it. But there's only one problem. The demon girl from the shadows of the other room I'd seen her in. And she's standing right below him, her eyes glowing a vivid red. "You're not going anywhere." She spoke to us, with the hollow, echo-like reverb of her voice. We both jump and flinch when she appears near the creatures feet after it just straight up walks through the wall. "Ghalmar The Beyonder wants to know who you are and why you want to stop him from ruling this retched world." "You will not make us cower," I hear ZeZe yell from behind me, as I keep my eyes on the hooded girl. "For we still have our additional power!" I knew she was hinting indirectly at the two of us. Out of nowhere, she bellows some native war cry, making everybody in the room run straight for the monster, excluding the younger ones of course. Dash and I share a shocked look, then dash into the quarry with the mind-controlled minions were were told about earlier. I'm continuously wishing I could just return to our other world. I barely register a growing diamond blade as it passes right in front of me, bringing me to a standstill as I return to normal speed and look to my right, where it came from. It was Rarity alright, but she looked exactly the same as the one I knew. I desperately wanted to tell her or somehow speak to her about the two of us, but it was probably some secret rule that the universe doesn't allow to be broken. "Rhyan," I hear from behind me. It was JackApples. "We could really use yah help right about now!" I turn to see a huge group closing in on her, so I shift to high speed again. I begin with shoving, pushing and gently punching the minions around so that they're at least knocked out from the fight. I watch in surprise as I take out some number of them, as the mound of minions above JA starts to bulge. I move over to the growing and expanding pile, pulling each unfortunate victim off as I notice a growing dome of diamond shapes and putting them in a place before tapping their heads to send them to sleep. I got that technique after watching Dash do it just moments ago, well, in our current perception of time anyway. So many adults and teenagers that were victims of Ghalmar's mind control were entering the warehouse, but I kept seeing beads of sweat coming off of the girl that I remember as Melody from my previous home. I think back, but as I do, a brief flash of red occurs in my vision, bringing me out of superspeed and dropping to the floor in excruciating pain. "AAAGH, what is this?!" I yell in shock, making some of the teenagers nearby drop their guard and look at me. "It hurts, so, much!" I scream, as I start to hear a ringing in my ears. All of a Sudden all my senses return to normal, well not so much my hearing, then I look up at Melody again, as if she was the one who'd been in my head. I can see her expression is now a half angered, half bewildered look. I still feel a bit dizzy from the attack, but I begin to stand back up, before I'm attacked again, this time however, I'm attacked by minions. "How did you defy my mental command?" I hear from Melody, her voice sounding a bit like a broken record, just a little bit though. "Nobody, and I mean NObody, is able to withstand Broken Melody's mental attack!" I take note of how she called herself in the third person a bit like the girl Trixie from my own timeline. Watching her eyes turn red, I shift into superspeed again, running around and knocking the minions out cold.  Something feels strange as I turn one hundred and eighty degrees, appearing face to face with the girl I remember being Sonata, but as a minion.  However, I do notice her eyes flickering from the red haze to their natural look.  Still in superspeed, I grab her shoulders willing myself to spread my speed to her.  In doing so, I had no idea how I did it, but she shifts into my speed and completely loses the look in her eyes, like the connections she'd been under was broken completely. "Aaaahh!!"  She screams, but not before dropping to her knees. "Huh, wha, where, how... Uh, who are you?" I help her stand up, still holding onto her.  I notice soft sparks of green snaking down my arms and into her shoulders and her wrists,  the places I was basically holding onto her. "I don't know how, but I recognised you." I say, looking into her face.  "Are your sisters any of these minions you see around us?" I watch her start moving and looking around, whilst I still hold her that is. "No, I don't see any of them." She says, as she recognises some people behind me, then looks back at me. "Wait, how are you doing this?" Her face has a shocked look on it. "Honestly, I'm as surprised as you are." I reply, watching the minions moving excruciatingly slowly, like they haven't registered us yet. "Hold on, I'm going to take you to the infirmary, if I remember where it is."  Walking through the crowd, I actually spot her sisters on some of the computers at the back of the room.  Walking over at superspeed, I realise some of the papers behind me are flying up as I walk past them.  I drop Sonata by the two girls, telling her she'll feel a bit disoriented as I feel her starting to slip from the connection we have to move this fast.  Running back into the fray, after putting the paper's back, I slow down enough to hear them reunite together.  However, I slowed down for long enough to get another psychic blast from Melody. Sorry, Broken Melody. However, this time I shifted back into superspeed just as the attack hits, getting enough to at least make me sweat and cringe in pain, but not enough to knock me down.  I notice the big bad firing red beams into the crowd of attackers, seeing one heading right for Rarity.  Running straight for her, I realise I'm running at the same speed the beam is moving at.  I don't think I'm going to make it, as I jump, cuddle Rarity gently, floating through the air as the magical beam grazes my right foot. I lay on my back as time speeds back to normal, drained of my energy, then realise that I'm holding Rarity on top of me right as the beam strikes behind her.  I roll over with as much energy as I can muster, blocking the blast wave from hurting her.  I open one eye, to see her staring at me like a deer looking into headlights, but her eyes are glistening as she looks at me.   We're literally just staring at each other, when I suddenly realise the position we're in.  Stuttering a lot, feeling my cheeks glowing strongly, as I hold her hand and help her up.  I'm literally knocked off my feet again as she hugs me.  I awkwardly hug her back, then see a slight blush on her cheeks with a tear, before she quickly goes back into the battle.  I don't know what came over me, but it must have been my feelings for the other Rarity.  Not that the other rarity was mine.. I find myself thinking. "Whoops! Too slow!" I hear from Dash as I run over to her.  "Try again!"  She sounds like it's too easy for her, until I see her fly right at me after a blast goes off at her feet, knocking us both down to the floor.  Luckily, I softened her landing.  Then I notice a diamondy thing under on my back.  I look at Rarity, who winks at me briefly whilst trapping minions in prisms.  Wait, why hadn't I noticed those before? I thought to myself, as I notice a whole bunch of them on the other side of the room.  I feel like the battle might be in vain, when I remembered what Sunset said about ponying up from a while ago. "Hey, Moonlight Sparkle!" I yell, running normally over to her, as I see the others make their way over whilst battling minions. "I have a plan, but it requires you, FlutterGuy, JackApples, Pinkie Pie, Dash and I.  Could you help me with it?"  I quickly run in a circle, throwing some weak bolts of lightning at some minions, knocking them out whilst making their hair smoke a little bit.  Oops, my bad. "Sure, I'll help you Rhyan."  She responds, calling the others over.  "Okay girls, you too FlutterGuy and Rainbow Dash, according to Rhyan, we need to do something that he calls a pony up.". Out of nowhere, Dash does it right on the spot, making the others look at her in surprise, but only momentarily as she transforms back. Standing together, Rarity puts up a shield around the six of us, as we all place our hands into the middle.  I remember what each of them represent, chanting off their magical elements.  "Generosity," Rarity glows a glittering, pearlescent white. "Kindness," FlutterGuy glows a soft yellow. "Loyalty," Dash glows a soft blue. "Laughter," Making Pinkie glow pink. "Honesty." Making JackApples glow a soft but vivid orange.  "And the most powerful of all these elements combined, Magic."  Moonlight Sparkle glows a strong purple-ish pink.   Out of nowhere, their elements all combine into a ball of magical energy above our hands, then blasts outwards.  However, I don't feel a kick at all.  I open my eyes after the huge flash from the blast, seeing we're all coated in a soft pink aura, when I look up I watch in absolute surprise as their hair extends, like it's a tail, with their ears turning into pony ears, like Dash's do.  I then realise we're floating a good height from the ground as we face off with Ghalmar at eye height.  Firing a barrage of beams based on their cutie marks, I watch as their attacks severely weaken the beast that's controlling the world.  I saw the sky flicker between normal and back to red for a few moments.  I then noticed two balls of electric magic in my hands, firing them at Ghalmar The Beyonder.   All the minions stop moving below as our attack disables his connection to them.   SOme even get hugged by their friends below as they come out of the trance. Our attack was really strong, but he still wasn't going down.  I catch him smirking, as he fires an attack that cancels ours out.  It almost reaches us, when I recognise a very, very familiar voice that reminded me of the girl that sacrificed herself.  "Stand aside, Ghalmar," The voice yells, making everybody, and I mean everybody stare at the girl who they all thought was dead.  I'd looked down and everyone but ZeZe was staring in shock, whilst she only smiled. "You will be defeated, for you will not be taking this world back anymore!  The people have fought you and you will now suffer the most powerful magic of all, the magic, of friendship."  Joining us, I notice she's already in her pony form.  "NIce to meet you, Rhyan.  I've heard a lot about you."  I just stare in shock at her when she mentions my name, still firing my magical beam at the huge brute.  I watch as she floats between us in a red aura, firing a red and yellow beam that joins our own beams, pushing back and turning Ghalmar into a ball of energy that shoots into a black portal in the sky that appears for a really quick moment, that you'd blink and you'd miss it. "Don't worry, I used some magic to create a magical portal to the prison he was in.  I was there for a good week before I finally escaped." Sunrise Shimmer says as she drops to the floor with us, when I hear some sobbing. Moving from behind us. It was the girl I remembered calling herself Broken Melody.  But as she was now free from his mind control, she should be enjoying the freedom, not crying.  I make my way over to her and place a hand on her shoulder, but we're all surprised when she shocks use with what she does next. She actually hugs me as she apologises over and over and over and... ... You get the idea. > From Sunset to Sunset > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Defeat of Ghalmar The Beyonder brought lots of cheer from those who fought beside us. But there was still one problem. What to do with the girl who'd been his mental slave. Seeing her laying on the ground whilst hugging me just begged for forgiveness. I looked at the ponied up girls behind me, as they all smile in forgiveness but with a concerned look on their faces. The red glow in the sky is no longer there and is replaced by the sound of birds singing and distant cheers and celebratory claxons. "I am SO SORRY!" Melody cries, tears pouring from her eyes as she hugged me tighter. "I never meant any of those things I said! I didn't know I was under any control until I saw you. I owe you all an apology!  I know I was mean before he appeared, but I regret everything that I said!" As we continue to hug, the six girls all come over and place their hands on her shoulders and back. I get a look from Rarity which I recognise, kind of, as I have caught my Rarity with that look before. Wait, not that she is my Rarity! I thought to myself quickly, blushing softly And making this Rarity giggle a bit. "It's okay," Moonlight Sparkle says softly. "We all forgive you. I don't know about the others, but you'll need to be more convincing when it comes to apologising to the others. Wait, your hair Rhyan!" I turned around to look at Moonlight only to find everybody just staring at us, as I look at Dash and find her her hair flashing silver and back. My hair must be doing the same. "I guess that's our cue then Dash." I say, making her smile, barely catching the pink glow on her cheeks. I'll need to ask her about her blushing. I thought to myself as I got up from the ground and headed outside.  Heading outside, we're all treated by huge crowds of people who were freed from Ghalmar's forces. Looking back, I find FlutterGuy, Moonlight and Dash all floating in the sky and waving. Then from nowhere, another rainbow streak rushed past everybody and appeared at the front of the group we're facing. It's another Rainbow Dash. "WOAH!" The other Dash yells, as she walks over cautiously. "I was watching from over in Cloudsdale City when I wanted to see for myself! I can't believe I'm seeing another me! This is so awesome!" I saw Dash's hair flash again whilst they fist bumped, making the other Dash and Sunrise jump back again whilst getting a wave of shock from the crowds around us. "For all who can see," I hear ZeZe strongly yell to the crowds. "It is clear these two are not meant to be. For their time here has come to an end, we now have some old and new friends." Out of nowhere, I spot a flash of white in the distance, but it slowly starts growing instead. I catch a silver flash within it. II immediately realise what it is. "Hey Dash," I yell, watching both look at me. I scratch at my neck whilst chuckling. "The Dash I came here with that is. Yeah, we, uh gotta go." I say, subtly pointing at the growing white and silver hole in the distance. She looks In that direction then looks back at me as her hair flashes again, nodding. Giving a hug to the other Dash, they both nod, as I notice my Dash telling the other Dash something.  "Hey girls," I say, turning to them all. "Take good care of her, okay? I trust you can keep an eye on other magical things now that you know how to defeat them?" They all nod and Dash and I run off into the compound, eating and taking a couple of snack bars and cupcakes left by Pinkie Pie on a table. Maybe I'll ask about her feelings later. I think to myself, as we shoot off and barely outrun the magic behind us as we slip into the 'Time Stream' again. This time, I notice different exits, spotting the one with the race we were previously in. It looks like it's only been seconds since we left it. "Dash, over here." I say, grabbing her hand and gently pulling her towards the exit until I let go when she starts running right alongside me. We slip through the exit, a slight zap of silver as we appear and still keep on running for the finish line. It's a lot quieter than I remember, but the students all start cheering again as we run onto the final stretch. I look at Dash, who looks back at me, as we both wink together. We add as much speed as we dare to crossing the finishing line, with both of us crossing the line at the exact same time. Again. This time, we didn't care who won. We just laughed as we skidded to a halt. Pinkie Pie jumped onto Dash as Dash fistbumps AppleJack, making Sunset and Twilight giggle while I offer a high five them. For a moment, I saw Sunset's eyes flash white when we high fived, but all she does is giving a serious but knowing look at me as we continue to celebrate. "Oh yeah!  We have got to showcase this!" Dash says, as Sunset pulls me to the side whilst they head over to the scoreboards. "Did you really time travel in that moment when you disappeared just now?" She asks me, crossing her arms, I catch a serious look, but I notice she smiles comfortingly through her eyes. "I only got a glimpse, but I did see a bit from the Battle of The Bands." I stutter a bit, then she holds my shoulder. "Don't worry, tell us when you're ready.  I bet Dash would happily tell the story for you, knowing her. Although, I suspect that something happened over there that you're not willing to share not quite yet."  She winks, as we both look at our friends.  We make our way to the sports hall, to hear the results from the race.  I feel a pair of eyes on my left and catch Rarity quickly looking away from me, with a blush, as I look at her.  I blush too, as I scoot a little bit closer to let a spiky, blue haired student sit down beside me.  "Good afternoon everyone." Started vice principal Luna, as I watch her eyes look around the hall. "In enlightenment of what we have witnessed today, it appears that Rainbow Dash and Rhyan have indeed tied in each of the three games."  Celestia comes up to the pedestal after Luna steps down. "After seeing these two students compete fairly with each other, as well as being great entertainment for us all, It is safe to assume that they are both winners!" She exclaims to all of us, making the entire hall cheer for us. "If you could come on stage and collect your trophy, that would great!" She adds with a smile. Stunned, I just sit there in surprise, until I'm shaken on the shoulders by Applejack from the row above.  I smile broadly as Dash and I get told to go down to the small stage.   Stepping down the stairs, I get a lot of praise from other students.  Although, I do catch Melody's comment of "Hrrumpf, why does he get to be so popular so quickly?" which makes me feel a bit more nervous about receiving this award than I want to be.  I feel like I should probably speak to her later. Seeing all the students from the stage with Dash by my side, I'm a little blinded by the light I somehow decided to stand under.  I step to the side just a bit, as I recognise only one trophy being pulled into view from behind the podium. Dash and I are given the medal and hold it high as the room cheers. Thirty minutes later, the school day had definitely ended on a high, with Rarity saying she is on an all time high as well. I can't help but smile at that as we head our different ways home from sitting out by the statue after the school had closed. I stand there for a second, briefly staring at the sky, thinking things whilst my body aches a bit, when I notice Rarity turns to look back at me at the bottom of my peripheral. "Are you coming, darling? Oh, are you feeling okay, sweetie? You look a little worn out." She asks me softly, as I watch the sky starting to glow from a soft orange to a soft pink whilst the sun goes down. "It's a glorious evening though, isn't it?" I just nod, as I get an idea. I don't really know what it is I've just thought of, but it just feels right for some reason. The sun setting just makes me want to go and watch it with Rarity, just the two of us. This might be dude to the feelings I've been feeling for her. I hoped I'm right, as I feel like she'll definitely say yes. "Hey Rarity," I begin, my voice isn't wavering, but I stutter a little as I get a positive 'mhmm' from her whilst I look down to see her smiling a little bit. "Is there a place we could go and visit to watch the sun set?" I watch her think, one arm propped up in her other hand. "I suppose there is," She replies, pointing towards a hill where the sun is setting. "It's a bit further up that hilltop, but I don't see how... Oh..." I catch her eyes glistening over a little as we lock eyes again, right as I feel a soothingly warm glow in my cheeks. "I would like to at least change before we go there." I just smile, holding my elbow out as we walk to her home above her shop. Upon arriving home, I let her go and change whilst I sit downstairs, thinking about my feelings. Mainly about what I'm doing now. Only a minute or so later, I hear soft footsteps as I see a pair of glamorous, diamond blue coloured sneakers coming down the stairs, followed by a cute pair of jeans in ocean blue, then an adorable, short sleeved, sky blue shirt which just barely reaches the top of her trousers.  A small, soft, pearlescent purple frill sits on the neckline of her top which I notice emphasises the colour of her hair and eyes. I'm literally stuck with my mouth open as her jaw dropping, adorable outfit accentuates features I hadn't noticed before. Oh. My God. I am definitely in love with Rarity. I hear myself think, as she comes over to me. She stops near me, crossing her right knee in front of her left leg as she crosses her straight arms in front of her torso. She looks so beautiful too. I add silently. "It's not too over the top is it, sweetie?" I hear, snapping me out of how cute she is. "I can go and put on something else if it's not." I notice her brush her hair back a bit with her hand as she looks down a bit whilst blushing a deep red. I get up and hold her hands gently, locking eyes once again. "You look amazing." I say without thinking, making my cheeks feel even warmer than before. "Are you ready?" I add, picking her up on my back after she nods, our cheeks both burning brightly as I catch them in the mirror by a clothes rack. I take a quick look out of the front door, then zoom off up into the hills where I find a perfect spot to stop and watch the sun setting. Upon arrival, the timing couldn't be better when I reach the bench facing the magnificent view of the sunset. Coming to a stop, I look around as Rarity pats her hair down. Sitting down, hand in hand, we just stay there quietly, Rarity places her head on my shoulder as the wind softly whooshing as the sunset lights up the distant view of a city from behind it. Just this moment was enough to bring us even closer together than before. I mean, who wouldn't want to be with someone close with such a beautiful sight? And I'm not just talking about the view. As the sun sets below the horizon, bringing out the starry sky above, I try to wake Rarity up, but just seeing her sleeping on my shoulder with a beautiful smile on her face. I plant a soft kiss on her forehead as I smile back, making hers widen a bit more, gently moving her so that I'm now holding her bridal style whilst she has her arms wrapped around my neck, which I feel. I sneak back through the town, keeping an eye out for anybody watching, as I race into our home. Well, her home mainly, but it's the only home I have at the minute. Coming out of superspeed, I take her upstairs and lay her on the bed as I head downstairs To sleep on a couch hidden from any prying eyes. For a couple of minutes, I hear nothing until I hear her getting up and moving about upstairs. I head up, then knock on her bedroom door. "Hey, um," I start, freezing a little as I think of what to say to her. "I brought you home after you fell asleep on my shoulder." I don't hear any movement after I've spoken, until I hear quick footsteps coming my way. Only seconds later, Rarity opens her door in her adorable pyjamas and gives me a soft but warm hug, which I quickly return. Leaning back in my arms, she wraps her arms around my neck, as I move my hands to hold her lower back. Her half-lidded eyes and slightly rosy cheeks completely stop me from saying anything, as we find ourselves lip to lip, but only for a few seconds. But these precious seconds... ...felt like they lasted an entire lifetime. > Keeping Secrets > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Waking up the next day, I'm glad I didn't choose to stay downstairs. I slept so deeply, I'm surprised I've even managed to wake up. Like, how comfortable is a couch to a luxuriously soft bed? I take a look around the room and recognise a lot of things. I remember how Rarity and I kissed for the first time last night, but afterwards, we'd both agreed on talking about taking our relationship slowly at some point today. I didn't know the first thing about having a girlfriend, nor being in a relationship, so there was that as well. Waking up a bit more, I notice I'm still back to back with Rarity, my glamorous gemstar. Yeah, I've already thought of a nickname for her, but I'm going to have to keep that to myself from now on. I slowly attempt to slip out of bed, when Rarity turns over and lays her arm across me. I feel my cheeks burning brightly as I stay still for a couple of seconds, before lifting her arm gently and placing it back onto the bed. One thing I'm also grateful for, is the red and black two-piece pyjama's Rarity had somehow designed for me. As my blush continues, I quietly go downstairs and head into the kitchen to make myself some breakfast, after almost tripping over Rarity's cat in the process. Good thing I have superspeed, as I instinctively use it to slide around the cat and upright myself. I begin to think as I sit at the table with a slice of toast about everything that's happened so far as I decide that a little bit of coffee wouldn't hurt. Even with thinking about the fact I might have lost my memories, I'm actually beginning to enjoy this place. "Morning, Rhyan!" I hear from behind me, making me jump as it's followed by a yawn, almost making me knock my coffee over. "Sorry, I didn't mean to make you jump. I woke up early too." I realise it's Sweetie Belle, then calm down as I sit in the seat again whilst thinking back to last night. She sits in the seat to my left after she grabs her breakfast - a bowl of cereal. "Hey, you feeling okay? You look a little, uh, warm cheeked. Is there something bothering you this early in the morning?" I hadn't realised it was only just gone 5am until I took a glance at the clock, including the gentle glow on my cheeks. "Uh, um, it's nothing. Really." I respond a bit too quickly, burning my tongue on the coffee afterwards, making her chuckle. "Oh, okay." She says, leaning onto the table, as if thinking about something. "Hey Rhyan, did you ever get your backpack back?" She adds, looking at me. "Uh, no, I don't think so." I say, trying not to burn my tongue again, then realise something as I bite my toast. "Wait, my backpack?" I almost spew the bit of toast in my mouth in surprise, making me almost choke on it instead. "Um, yeah. Hold on, I'll go and get it for you. Wait here." She gets up to look for it, as I get up and put my empty plate in the dishwasher as I carry my drink with me. My cheeks have stopped feeling warm, which is a good thing. Out of nowhere, she returns, knocking me enough to spill my coffee. Shifting subconsciously into superspeed, I had no idea what I was doing, but all I saw was my arm holding the cup swing in a wide arc, collecting all the spilt coffee back into the cup as I spin once to counter the drink's momentum. I giggle, nervously scratching my head as she just looked at me wide eyed. "Uh, you did that speed thingy again, didn't you?" She asks me, as I nod in return laughing softly, which she returns. "I had no idea I'd done it to be entirely honest." I reply, putting the cup back down on the table as I look through the contents of the bag. I recognise another necklace in the bag. "Huh? Why is there another necklace?" I look at Sweetie Belle, but she just shrugged. I remembered when I first put mine on. I still remember the pain like it was yesterday. I take out the broken looking phone and stick it in my pocket after looking at It for a few seconds. Looking up at the clock, it's only half past five. I would go back to sleep, but I don't want to wake Rarity, so staying awake it is then. Just thinking of her makes my cheeks warm up. I really need to control my blushing. I think to myself, making a mental note about it. "Well, I guess you will need to get that fixed." She says over my shoulder as I zip the bag up. "Hey, you're gonna come back to CHS, right?" She adds, as I catch a glint of happiness in her eyes. "Um, yeah." I respond, thinking a bit. "Well, I hope I will be. I'll need to check with Principal Celestia about it really." I catch the sight of a calendar on the wall as I sit back down and pull the phone out. Taking a sip of my now lukewarm coffee, I scroll through the phone, seeing it's pretty much clean. But somehow, I feel like I've had this phone for most of my life, like how familiar everyone feels. I freeze, expecting a blinding pain in my head, but for once I don't get one. I look through the phone's settings, finding it all as defaults. I go through everything else setting up and had help downloading apps she thought I'd be able to use to keep in touch with my friends. "Are you sure I should download PonyHopper?" I ask, looking at the game's trailer video, where a pony, sorry, pegasus flying between pipes earns points, until it dies after changing colour and its score seven times. "Why would I play this?" She just rolled her eyes, skipping the game entirely. By quarter to six, I'm a little less sleepy, as I manage to finish my coffee. Sitting there, I tap my fingers as I try to think of something to do to pass time. Something shiny sparkles in the corner of my eye, making me think of a design that I could give to Rarity someday. I ask Sweetie Belle to help me, but she declined, because she doesn't like to mess with anything that's being worked on. Fair enough. Spending about ten or so minutes designing something I thought was kinda okay, I started pulling out some thin black frills and a roll of fabric, uh, I look at the name tag and notice it's silk and is the colour of fuchsia. Exotic name that. It looks pretty too. I thought to myself. I move to the next room look around, noticing a lot of unfinished designs. At least I eventually spot a free child-sized and a teen-sized display model in the back of the store. It's just before half-past six, when I'm almost done with turning my art into a dress. The thin frill follows the fold down from the neckline, over the chest area to the hip on the right side of the body. Sweetie Belle asked what I was up to as I was applying a custom cut to the bottom of the dress, making me jump, but I quietly explained that is was a surprise present for Rarity someday. I was surprised when she told me her birthday was coming up soon. Just four days away to be exact. "Do you think you'll be finished before she wakes up?" She asks me whilst swinging her legs from the nearby stool, as I stare at the bottom of the dress, that's now half dress, half skirt as it sits from just above the left knee to about an inch or two below the right, now with a soft but silvery-white frill at the bottom. "I hope so, what time is it exactly?" I reply, Finding a thin silver belt with a sky blue buckle and cosmic silver bag within the accessories area, as I see Sweetie Belle help herself to another bowl of cereal. I hear it's almost 7:45am as I delicately remove the black frill and replace it with the same one I used on the bottom of the dress. A few minutes later, I've embroidered two diamonds with superspeed into the silver bag and attached two belt loops so I could attach it to the belt. Admiring my work, I gently remove the bag first and fold the new dress up. Come to think of it, I think Rarity will like it, but I hope she doesn't notice that I used her stuff to make it. Waiting downstairs fifteen minutes later, my gift is secretly packed away in my bag after Sweetie Belle promises to not say anything about it or anything that she's likely to overhear between Rarity and I. But in return, I had to give her a ride on my back at superspeed on the way to school, with a helmet of course. As I got up, I checked the fridge and cupboards and make a second breakfast, a bowl this time, upon finishing and returning to the table, I turn to look at the doorway as I see Rarity there right as I catch the clock turning to 7am. "Morning sis!" The younger girl says, her voice carrying through the room a bit. "did you sleep well?". I notice Rarity cringe a bit from her voice. "Oh, sorry sis." She adds, as her older sister comes over to sit beside me. I push the bowl of yoghurt and berries in front of me over to Rarity's place, which she takes from me then a few seconds later, gives me a questioning but surprised look on her face after her second spoonful. "Rhyan, darling," She asks me after swallowing a spoonful. "How did you know what I was going to have today?" I just respond with a shrug as Sweetie Belle heads upstairs to get ready for school whilst Rarity sneaks in a quick cheek kiss as she heads for the stairs. "Do you think we should tell our friends about this, um, this new thing we have?" She whispers to me, leaning onto my right shoulder whilst eating. "I don't know," I respond, remembering the agreement from last night, as I hear the upstairs shower turn on whilst I wrap my arm around her back. "I'm just as new to it as you are. Would the school be okay with it?" I ask, giving a soft pat with my hand, but Rarity pulls her head up from my shoulder and looks at me. "The school doesn't entirely like students dating during school hours darling," She replies a bit coldly, placing her hand on my chest after seeing my reaction, she relaxes and leans back into as we both hear sudden movement upstairs. "Sorry darling, but I think keeping it a secret would be a good idea for now, okay?" I just nod as we quickly share a quick glance for the stairs as we expect Sweetie Belle to appear there. For a quick moment, we share a warm kiss together as we hug each other for a few more seconds, then we both go and get ready for our school day, glad that Sweetie Belle hadn't seen us. Minutes later, Sweetie Belle is actually ready to leave earlier than Rarity says she usually leaves. Instead of leaving with Rarity and her sister later, I might as well let her ride as I zoom towards the school. I keep a slow pace, so I can hear what the younger sibling is saying about the speed. I drop my speed momentarily just before the school, sliding to a stop and dropping her off by her two friends, before zipping back to Rarity's home. I should probably start calling it our home, now that I'm probably going to be living there. I hear that the CHS dorms are just as comfy, like Sunset's, but I feel like I just need someone there, by my side, who knows what I'm going through. Especially if it's someone I love... ...who loves me back. > Trouble Comes in Three's > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- It's been almost half a day without anything magical happening. Well, mostly that is. I was in a class earlier today and Trixie, who annoyingly refers to herself in third person a bit too much, tried to show up Fluttershy because she'd been talking to some of the birds, probably through some of her magic, but ended up with her solving a complicated maths question rather easily. I was honestly surprised at how smart she was, but also at how easily I understood it. Sometimes I wish I could just remember things, like how I can understand complex equations so easily, or how I can randomly say advanced words, uh, terminology. I'm still vaguely aware that I'm seeing a world that is cartoon like, but recently, it just feels like I fit in. At lunch, the eight of us, Rarity, me, FlutterShy, Sunset and the others all went to the shopping mall. I was surprised to hear that the last time they were here, the other Twilight's, um, pupil Starlight Glimmer had saved the day and befriended another girl. If I remember correctly, her name was Juniper Montage? I hope I got that right. Anyway, we're sitting at the three small tables that Sunset had said she'd run out of pages in her journal. "It's nice to be back here." I hear Rarity say on my left, as a hanging screen displays a music video with them and some other girls in it. "Ooh! We were actually doing that a couple of weeks ago actually, weren't we girls?" I watch as they all nod enthusiastically. "Oh, the premiere night was a bit of a surprise for the three of us, but at least we survived that horrible mirror thing!" The girls agreed cheerfully, as we started having our lunch together. I watch the video playing, wondering who the other girls are as I tuck into a tofu & salad salsa wrap. I notice a girl with some small, movie reel hair clips in her hair as she works across the hall from us, at a popcorn stall. "Hey Sunset," I say, getting her attention, as well as the rest of them. "Uh, who's that over there?" I point in the general direction, after looking to check again. "Oh, that's Juniper Montage." She replies, smiling. Pinkie gets up and goes over to her and I watch as they share a hug and come over. "Heya." She waves a bit nervously at us, as I notice a few looks from onlookers with scowls on their faces. "I'm still getting used to all the stares. But I'm not mad about you girls from before." I notice her looking between us all, making me look as well. "Is Starlight not with you?" "Not exactly." Sunset responds, closing her journal. "But right now, she's definitely 'out of town', so to speak." I wanted to know what she meant by that, but kept my mouth shut. "JUNIPER!" A static male voice calls out from a walkie talkie on her belt. "We have CUSTOMERS!" I notice her head droop a little, with a slightly angered look for a short moment, as she mimics his voice with a rudimentary hand that makes us laugh then says goodbye to us then as she heads back to the counter that she came from. A few minutes later, I hear a few raised voices as I see them all look with me towards the direction the voices came from. I couldn't help but somehow recognise the hair of one of the three girls as one is leaning over the counter that Juniper's working at. And once again, I get the feeling that I should know the other two, but I don't know why. "Oh, great," I heard Sunset mumble. "The Dazzlings are back." I look back at her in surprise, then remember the time trip I had with Dash to the past. I catch a knowing look from Dash herself as we look at each other so quickly, you'll blink and miss it. After partially overhearing them, I recognise Sonata is staying really quiet. Her head looks higher than normal, but as they head off, I get a slight chill down my back as I catch Sonata looking back at me briefly but do nothing. As they walk off, they appear to be arguing between themselves as we continue with our lunch. I remember seeing something in Sonata's eyes, like she was trying to think. From what I heard from Sunset, she's quite oblivious to a lot of things going on around her. As our lunch break is almost over, we start walking back to the school, I'm talking animatedly with Sunset and Twilight about how science and magic don't mix very well. It's very interesting. Even though I have amnesia, I seem to have some kind of connection to it. It's like whatever is giving me the feeling that I shouldn't be here could be part of the magic, but then again... Well, there's no other way to describe why. During our discussion, Pinkie Pie makes a funny comment on and makes us all laugh, including some teenager passing us snickers cheerfully from her comment. His style is familiar, like how they felt when I woke up about a few weeks ago, but I push the feeling aside when I see him create a balloon toy for a young girl who'd dropped her ice-cream. Coming up to the school, I notice the principal talking to a familiar blue haired girl from earlier. My friends just walk past her but I listen in a bit as we walked past as a group. Hopefully I can hear something decent at least. "...and I hope you'll enjoy your first days here soon, Sonata." I hear Principal Celestia say as we walk by. "I hope that at least some of the students will forgive you for what you did during our, uh, unexpected 'Battle of The Bands' earlier this year." Sonata simply nods in response. A slightly awkward and unhappy smile upon her downcast face. I didn't realise I'd stopped to look at the teenage girl, until Rarity somehow gracefully grabs my shoulder a bit harder than I would expect from her, making me jump in shock, but not too loudly. When I look around to Rarity, her face is one of slight disgust but somehow manages to hide it in a smile as Celestia turns around to introduce the former student of the school back. "Hello, girls." She says and holds Sonata's opposite shoulder from her side. "I hope you can forgive this young girl for her past mistakes. Even I didn't see that she and her friends had affected Vice Principal Luna and I as well." Before the seven girls I'm with could respond, with Rarity by my side and the others by the school's entrance, she leaves and heads inside. Probably heading for her office. I still see hidden but angry faces from my friends towards Sonata as we head inside. To be honest, I've heard what her sisters had been up to during the musical battle, but I had no idea how magical they were until that weird trip To the past. Coming back from my little daydream, I'm now sitting in class and just got asked a question by the teacher. I wasn't paying attention at all to the maths class, but my completely random guess was actually the correct answer. During the walk to my next class, going from maths to science, I'm walking alone when I spot two girls that I'd seen from lunch earlier today. From what I can remember, if you're not a student, you're not allowed on the school grounds unless given access to do so. Well, that's what I remember being told during my brief induction with Vice Principal Luna. After asking Sunset earlier about who they are, I guess these two are Aria Blaze and Adagio Dazzle. As I walk by them, I think the girl with the curly, orange hair sees me, but I don't think she has until she's grabbed my shoulder. I'm rudely turned around as I hold my backpack over my left shoulder. "Hey, handsome," Adagio says to me, in what I can only guess is flirtation. Her smirk is slightly unsettling for me. "I'm looking for a girl." "Pfft, I'm not." I hear Aria whisper behind her, making Adagio turn around. "She's better off without us anyway." She adds, mumbling as she shrugs and looks at her fingernails. I just stand there, watching the small bickering going on as students still rush to class. I'm about to turn away, when she loops her arm awkwardly around mine. "I promise it won't be long." She says, her awkward smirk of prowess, or whatever it is, as she starts to half drag me around. I'm now being dragged toward, then past my next class. I'm half-walking, half-dragged past a classroom as I recognise two friendly faces listening to the teacher, one of whom looks at me for the brief moment that I pass the door's window. Uh oh, I hope Rarity didn't see her dragging me. "Look," I say, getting out of her grasp and beyond arms reach. "I want to help you, but I don't know who your looking for." I play dumb, hoping she doesn't notice the glint I felt in my eyes as I figure out that the girl they're after is Sonata. "Oh, don't worry," Adagio says flirtatiously, with a bit of an angry look seeping through her 'charm' of flirting whilst leaning her hands on her hips. "She's got blue hair and can be a bit ... uh, slow from time to time." Aria makes a quiet but sassy comment of 'actually, like all the time' making herself smirk and looks sideways at me. That gave me shivers. I notice Adagio tenses up for no reason, until I turn around to who she's looking at. The corridor is now free of students, but I watch my Rarity stare down Adagio and Aria with something I could only sense as anger with a bit of jealousy. Wait, jealousy? I think silently as I decide to play half-dumb as I go to explain that I'm late for class. But before I could say anything, Rarity comes to my side and wraps an arm around me and leaning a bit as she starts talking in a rather rudely colourful to the two girls, with them arguing a bit before sharply turning me around and somewhat escorting me to my class. As we're walking away, I hear a quietly mischievous laugh, or more accurately, a soft cackle from behind. I get the sense that she knows something's up between us, but I hope I'm deeply wrong about that. "I'm sorry you had to hear all that, darling." She sighs, briefly leaning into my side a bit as we stand just past the door's window of my next class that I should be in. "I just wish they weren't so... so... evil." I feel her shiver a bit before she lifts her head up. "Oh well, I'll see you later sweetie. Meet us at Sugarcube Corner after school! I'll text you the directions." She adds as she quickly struts her way to class after checking around and quickly pecking my cheek. Walking into the class, I'm surprisingly seated next to Sonata. I never thought she'd be someone to actually pay attention to the class, but she's already got a full page of notes in her induction notebook. The rest of class went on as normal, with some practical study as well. Being paired with Sonata, I'm surprised that she can barely understand science, but knows enough to get by in our little experiment. But she behaved completely differently to how Sunset said she would. I somehow got the feeling thought that she wasn't thinking about tacos for once, which I just simply shook my head at for no reason. After the class, I walk out chatting somewhat animatedly with Sonata about the group assignment homework, but bump into Twilight and Spike. I say goodbye to Sonata, giving her a heads up about the two girls looking for her from earlier. Sonata looks like she hangs her head in shame, but I notice tears falling. With Twilight and I by her side, she begins to cry as she opens up to us completely, making Twilight and I feel sympathetic for her instead, well at least I hope Twilight does as much as I do now. Heading to SugarCube Corner, with me between Sonata and Twilight, I start to hear Sonata humming to herself. As the café Pinkie says is the best one around, I notice that we're early. Upon arriving at the little café, Twilight brings us over to the area that she's sat with the other girls before. I catch sight of a green haired guy entering as I sit down and Twilight immediately gets up to see him. Must be someone close or something. I think to myself as I sit down with Sonata, who somehow got two smoothies whilst I wasn't looking, and wait for the others as she gives me her second one. Unfortunately, just four minutes after Twilight introduces me to Timber Spruce, both our group of friends and the other girls who I saw with Sonata earlier arrive together. I can't help but think that there's going to be an argument and a falling out between the two groups, but as they either don't notice each other or are probably ignoring each other, my friends make their way over to our table with their usual cheerfulness, until they see Sonata. But as they're sitting down with us and take notice of a 'plus one' with them, Sonata stands up, shakily might I add, as I notice that Adagio and Aria are now coming over with angry faces. Probably after recognising her being with us. "Sonata!" Growled Adagio, coming our way slowly and getting some attention of nearby customers. "What are you doing with these girls? I thought I could trust you enough to avoid them!" Her voice raises a little bit as she gets angry at the poor girl with us, gaining more watchers in the process. "Yeah, what she said." Aria says, throwing her thumb and pointing at Adagio weakly, but with a strong tone in her voice. "But hey, at least you won't be such a buzzkill." I barely hear her add with a mumble and a smirk. But we're a bit taken aback as Sonata yells loud enough to make the rest of the café stare in our direction. "I'm... I-I-I'm f-fed up o-o-o-of being with y-yu-you two!!" Sonata yelled somewhat courageously, silencing both of the other sirens in the process. "I do-don't want to-to be a pa-part of your little par-party of fu-fun anym-anymore!" I can see her face just slightly from my position and she looks upset and angry. "I HA-HATE Y-YU-YOU!" I can't see her face, but from what I can hear, she's crying openly. Stepping backwards in shock, Adagio and Aria just share an upset, angered and somewhat disgusted face as they both take off and leave at the same time Sonata just plops down into the sofa between FlutterShy and I, leaning her face into and hiding it in her hands. We're all in shock, surprise and awe, well, with a bit of confusion too, at how the young girl had stood up for herself. To be honest, I'm feeling sorry for her after seeing how she felt around her sisters. "I'm so-so-sor-sorry fo-fo-fo-for ev-ev-everyth-th-thing!!" She wails quietly into her hands, as I get the feeling that she's now lost the trust of her sisters. Shocking my friends, I just scoot a bit closer and offer a soothing rub to her back. I sense a feeling of praise and surprise around me, but I don't know where it's from once again, but I get the feeling that I know who it's aimed at. As if something magical happens, the girls all start trying to calm Sonata down with me. My friends have found a new friend who needs help... And also in need of a new 'family' too... > Sound Of a Siren > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- It's been almost five days since the young girl, Sonata Dusk, had stood up against her sisters at the café. I mean, what's up with that? I vaguely remember hearing from Rainbow that she must have been the annoyingly stupid sibling that every family has. Even thought there is still a bit of tension between the girls and Sonata, I couldn't help but still feel sorry for her. I mean, look at Sunset. Yeah, she's helpful and kind now, but from the stories I hear, it seems that not everything about her was 'all that peachy'. I'm just quoting Pinkie Pie on that. Anyway, from time to time, during the rest of the week and towards the holiday, we keep bumping into Adagio and Aria. And it's not always a simple pass-and-breathe when we accidentally meet in public. Somehow, the biggest surprise was awaiting us when we met up outside the school. A popular spot was our morning rendezvous that Rarity said they occasionally meet at to discuss everyday things. Also, it's a portal to another world. Who knew? I sarcastically think to myself, whilst remembering it's where Sunset is from. "So there I was, just minding my own business," I hear Pinkie say, as we're walking over to the statue that the girls found me by. "Just walking into the coffee shop to get my coffee, but I was early, so I just walked straight into the shop anyway, but there was a queue so I joined it and stayed in line, whilst trying to peek ahead." She runs over and peeks her head around from behind Applejack, who'd just arrived a minute before. "And then that's when I saw something crazy! I saw that lead singer siren girl taking people's orders!" She adds, throwing her hands into the air dramatically, throwing a few streamers in the process. Some of the girls and I chuckle at her display of emotion. "Is that so, darling?" Rarity responds, sitting beside me as she writes in her diary, smiling a little as she looks through a very fashionable pair of glasses. "Yes indeedily!" Pinkie replies, plopping herself down beside the portal, sticking a hand through it before getting it yanked back out but Sunset. "Aww. Spoilsport." She sticks her tongue out at Sunset, as if to make fun of her and we all begin laughing as Sunset returns the gesture. I'm always curious about why the statue has this portal in it, but I'll decide to ask about it later. The reason why, is because I hear some soft and in-tune humming of the music video Rainbow Dash showed me for a fundraiser coming our way when we almost ran into each other on our way to this exact spot. I notice the girls all look in the direction of the humming as Sonata makes her way past us, as if we weren't even here. I call out to her but she continues humming as she enters the school. I can't help but wonder what's going on with her today. But as I'm about to get up, I watch a girl tripping up over her own feet at the steps and dropping all her books in the process. I see Dash get up to go and help her, like I was going to, but Sonata turns around and helps her pick up her books instead. We're all a bit surprised at how nice this Siren could be, well, I say we, but I saw how much she just wanted to be herself. Then again, some comment she makes sends the sound of a cry our way as the girl she helped then runs inside the school. Sonata just stares at her hands, then slumps down onto the stairs. Except I've noticed her bedraggled, let down hair has now fallen around her head as she crosses her arms and hides her face in them. Now that was kinda unexpected. I just watch the girls all look between each other as I hear a soft sobbing. I quickly look around before shifting into my superspeed, take a page from the back of my school book, write a note, then zip over to Sonata, and tap her shoulder after placing it in her exposed hand. All of this happens in less than a second or two, but I do see a hint of recognition from Dash at what I did, so I quickly hold a finger to my mouth as the rest of us begin to talk quietly amongst ourselves. I notice her look up then over her shoulder from my peripheral, then look around to see who'd tapped her shoulder. I look away as I begin talking with the girls again. As it was only a few minutes before our morning lecture was to start, I notice that Sonata has started to come over to us. There wasn't much space for all of us, but I shifted a little bit closer to my right, towards Rarity, just to let her in. At least my friends are a bit more accepting of her after what happened with her breakup between herself and her sisters. "Um, hi." Spoke Sonata, a bit stronger than Fluttershy's soft voice, but still quiet and shy. "I don't really know much about friendship, but I was there most of the time when you all appeared from that mirror that the girl had used." My eyebrows raise in surprise at the same time some of my friends gasp. In case you're wondering, Sunset had previously mentioned to me since Sonata's family break up throughout this past week about the stories and adventures between the girls and the magical mishaps they'd all been through. But I had to believe that Sunset and her friends were shocked to hear that Sonata had been the only one of her sisters to see the events that transpired in the mall that day. Somehow, during the rest of the day, Sonata still has her dumb moments, but has classes with one of two of us for the rest of the day. I help her out in science with Twilight after lunch as we try to turn light into a single colour beam with a prism and some filters. I hear from Fluttershy how she was able to hum along to the music in her class, but still struggled with her singing In their little after-class session. But when it came to being in Sunset's class, that's where she didn't show up for once. "I don't get it, darling," I hear Rarity say from beside me during our joint free period, as we sit on the roof of the observatory alone. Trying to look for her. "Where would Sonata be? I know she's shown how she really feels since we last saw her, but I actually feel sorry for her if she goes back to her old ways." She leans her head onto my shoulder as we share this moment out of any prying eyes. "Oh, if only I'd given her something more noticeable, like a new bag or hoodie, or something! Her current fashion sense is just dreadful and her hair being down is enough to render her invisible to me-- um, us!" I roll my eyes mentally as I wrap an arm around her, cutting her off. Smiling, she leans her head against my shoulder as we share a brief but tender moment together. Although, it was shattered the moment we felt alone completely, as we heard some singing coming from down below. Leaning towards the edge, I peek over carefully to find Sonata just singing softly as she rocks in place, crouched and looking upset. From up here, I could tell she was in need of some support, mainly because she was hidden behind some bushes. Her voice cracks a bit as she sings too. "I'll be right back, sweetie." I say, giving Rarity a soft kiss on the cheek, making her blush a little and looking a bit dreamy towards me. "Don't go anywhere just yet." I get up after she gives me a hug, then pats her skirt down and continues to wait for me. With one last look at her, I run with my superspeed through the observational dome, down the stairs, slowly through the library, then pick up speed again to get down to Sonata, sliding a bit as I come to a stop near her. Jogging normally, I follow the sound of her singing as I dodge a girl with dark green hair again. I can't help but get the feeling she's someone I've met already, but put the thought to the back of my mind as I come around the corner and peek around the bushes. "...so that as time goes on, it's obvious not to see." I hear her sing in a less raspy but still not perfect voice, as I quietly make my way to her, well try to. "That there's no longer the magical flow of sound in m--." She stops short abruptly as I accidentally crack a twig underfoot. "Who's there?" I hear from her in an upset tone. Raising my hands, I come around and sit near her. "It's just me." I say, not very convinced with how calmly I said it. "We were worried about where you'd gone." She freezes, then just tucks her face into her knees and looks away before I give her a side hug, secretly throwing a thumbs up to Rarity above me, after spotting her shadow. A few minutes later, I hear a somewhat rushed movement of footsteps nearby after I manage to calm her down from her rocking. Stepping out from behind the bush, bringing Sonata with me, Fluttershy, Sunset and Rarity all come over and ask if she's okay. Back behind the bush, I'd calmed her down by asking her about what makes her happy just to help her cheer up. Her face still looked down, but I could sense a feeling of trust and respect towards the girls and I. I might also be a bit of an idol now to her too, I won't tell me friends about it, but I snuck off, with superspeed, to buy her a mildly spicy taco after saying she was hungry. "Are you okay, Sonata?" Fluttershy asks gently. "Did something horrible happen?" She stands beside her as she just nods gently. I shuffle around to be a bit closer to Rarity as the five of us enter the back of the school together. Then with a quick check Rarity sneaks off, after quickly grasping my hand, to finish her self-study almost without us noticing. Well, I noticed anyway from her hand holding mine, so I suspect they did too. After a minute of just talking to her, Sonata and Fluttershy seem to have a really good bond. One that would take a lot longer to reach if it was anybody else. Turns out that Sunset's idea to get access to the roof paid off. Still an odd idea though, nonetheless. Plus, she kinda admitted with a faint colour to her cheeks for being stuck up there one night just to sing a song about herself. We laughed a little as we waved goodbye to each other as Sonata heads off with Sunset to their joint History class. As it was a free for me, I decided to just take a walk around the school seeing how I have already completed my homework for the day. Again. I still have no idea why I can do things or why I'm here, but something catches me off guard as I round a corner. I found Pinkie Pie talking to Vice Principal Luna's adopted daughter, Melody Symphonía. It kind of looked like an argument, but Pinkie was surprisingly just taking it in pride with a big smile and without a care. I sense the opposite type of feeling from what I'm seeing, so I'm about to turn away with a grin but Mel says something and Pinkie Pie just stops talking, then she faints on the corner of my peripheral. Before she even hits the floor, I run over with superspeed and catch her mid-fall as I catch Melody's face with a warm look but with shock. "um, I-I-I-I ..." Stutters Mel, before holding her head in her hands, shaking it then running off after adding with a loud mumble: "Why did I have to say that? She'll hate me." as she runs off around the corner. I get the feeling that it's not going to be the end of what I have just seen between these two. Well, Pinkie is still out cold, so I just shift her into my arms, getting a smile to appear in her face as I speed off and carry her to the library, where I bet Rarity and Twilight would be now. I was almost right. Rarity is here, but I can't see Twili-- Oh wait, there she is. Her nose stuck in a book again. I catch the title of it as she makes some notes and realise she's probably trying to study the science between the portal from our world to some distant pony world I keep hearing about from Sunset. Anyway, I smile as I head over to a few beanbags and place Pinkie on them as I slide to a stop. The rush of wind from my arrival made Rarity jump audibly, whilst Twilight just looks up and places her hand on the papers before they had a chance to move. Good reflexes. I think silently to myself, smiling a bit in the process. "Um, darling, why is Pinkie Pie sleeping?" Rarity whispers as I come over and sit with her before I could say hi to them. "She's not exactly sleeping." I respond, hopefully just as quietly, but earn myself a 'SSHHH' from the table behind us and from Twilight, so I speak even quieter as we both decide move to an emptier seating area. "I was walking around after completing my work and found her talking with Mel." Rarity nods, leaning onto the back of her hands, pencil in hand. "I sensed what they were talking about was okay somehow, but as I went to turn away, Mel says something and Pinkie just faints, so I catch her just as she starts falling and Mel runs off... With a soft blush on her cheeks!" We chuckle very quietly, Rarity covering her mouth with her free hand as I just lower my head a bit. "I guess we're not the only ones between our friends with relationships then, darling." Rarity replies, with the hint of knowledge to her voice as she tilts her head and winks as I hear a soft thump in the background. "I may or may not have seen Rainbow react to one of AppleJack's comments as she looked eye to eye with Dash." She giggles a little bit, as Pinkie suddenly slides into a chair opposite us, making us jump and RayRay 'eep' a bit. Oh, a new nickname I could give her. I think. And I wish Pinkie had a bell to warn others of her arrival. I add in afterthought. "Heya!" She whispers. Enthusiastically too. "What cha talking about?" Somehow, she pulls a cupcake from her hair and eats it carefully. "Nothing much darling," Rarity responds, as I pull out my phone after it buzzed. "Just discussing something about the school work." I secretly squeeze her leg gently under the table for covering so well, which she returns with a smile. One thing still bugs me however. Well, two things, but one isn't as important. The first thing... ...Why would Pinkie Pie faint from something Mel said? The second thing... Who is that green haired girl I keep dodging without noticing I've dodged her? > A Writer's Nightly Wonder > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- I find myself in CHS the next day and see Sonata & Fluttershy are just the only two in the music room, the doors closed and the intercom turned off, like they're isolated from the world, as Sonata took some more singing lessons to make her singing voice better than it used to be before. Sonata was glad to get the help of her new 'family', which consisted of Rhyan and the seven girls who left her feeling at an emotionally higher place than ever before. I could see she was well aware that when she was with her siren sisters, she never got any help with her emotional issues, so being absent-minded just kinda grew naturally to compensate for the lack of support. It has already been over twenty four hours since she disappeared from one of her classes with a new friend of hers, Sunset Shimmer, but the pain from having to avoid singing at her full potential was hurting her head. Enough to put her off the tacos she is currently eating for lunch. Having the chance to learn to sing again was exciting to her, but she was soon figuring out, with help from Fluttershy, that there is a more powerful magic than the type her and her siblings had been born with. And it didn't require any magical pendants. Sitting in the Café on Sugarcube Corner, Sonata is thinking about ... Well, mainly just tacos, but also about her voice improving so quickly that it had become her first real secret to hide from others. Why are tacos so deliciously sweet and spicy? Was one train of thought she had. But why am I hiding my true voice from my friends? Was another, hidden just behind the first one, which then quickly became the more dominant thought. To some of the others, having a taco inside Sugarcube Corner would be a bit weird, but there was a portable taco stall just across the road, so this time, they all shrugged it off. Mainly the staff members. I could see that some students were still upset with what she had done with her sisters during the musical showcase a fair number of months earlier. Okay, so things seem a little bit down, but on the bright side, the young girl now has the girls who defeated her as her friends. Her siblings have cut ties with her entirely. Adagio is working somewhere Sonata doesn't even know about, but Aria? Well, let's go see. We make our way to a fashion shop, and through a window opposite, I spot them both. "Urgh.." Groans Aria Blaze, sitting in her cramped, slightly damaged apartment room with her sister. It is part of a small apartment Adagio managed to get last minute with the last of their cash about a month after the magical battle. "Adagio, why didn't we ditch her sooner?" Laying on her bed, she takes her time typing into a laptop she somehow snagged from a low-end tech store. Learning to use it had been a bit of a problem for her before, but she was effortless in using it now. Especially since she'd found the history of this world, which included the gems of ancient myths of creatures that this world once might have had. Just out of interest, I take a closer look at her screen and find two of the three Siren stones on display at a museum in a city about one hundred and twenty nine miles south of Manehatten. "Because she is our sister, Aria." Adagio replied instinctively. "Even though we were defeated by those... girls... she was the first one out of all of us to want to make things right." She looks out of the glum window looking directly at a fashion boutique store. "Oh, riiight." Aria slowly grumbles, as she check her nails out whilst on her computer. "So I take it you're not looking to do the same thing?" She adds, briefly looking up as her browser logs her into an online website in a new tab. I randomly notice the site name; Manebook. "Actually, I think our sister, albeit absent-minded and always annoying, does have the right idea, but I still don't know why she did it. OR how we can do it." Adagio half-responds, talking to herself out loud whilst also saying it to her sister. "The thought of food was usually what she thought about. But to pull a switching act on us must mean something..." She trails off, as Aria comes over to the window and stares with her. They continue to gossip about their joint mix of hate and somewhat growing respect for 'The Rainboom's' and their sister. Both staring out at the small fashion shop, unbeknownst to the two of them, Rhyan and Rarity are up above it, sitting on a small couch together in the upstairs lounge and watching the relatively normal television. I could sense Sweetie Belle was supposed to be asleep, but was on the phone to her friends instead, so I just pass her room quickly. Let's take a look. I wonder what they're up to? I write/think/say, as I think about describing what I might see from outside. It's not like I can be seen in their world anyway. I add in afterthought and go to look at them them anyway. Floating through the walls, I find them watching an episode of 'Frankly Fashionable', a choice made from a quick game of Rock Paper Scissors between the two lovebirds, the winner probably being Rarity, which was apparently discussing the current trends in fashion for the month and was just about to start It's fourth part, after playing some adverts. Oh, I want to tell Rhyan about earlier, She thought to herself during the final advert segment, as she was leaning into him with slightly droopy eyelids, showing off her 'eggshell blue' eyeshadow just that little bit more. But I also know I have to keep it from him. I also want to know why some of my materials are missing too, but I get the feeling I shouldn't worry. Besides, it's my birthday tomorrow anyway. I hope he has a wonderful present for me. Snuggling into Rhyan a bit more, she softly giggles as he wraps an arm around her, also close to forgetting her previous thoughts from earlier too, right as something funny happens on an advert. This new secret she has to keep? Well, let's take a look: Earlier today, she was just leaving Rhyan by himself to take a look around the mall to give him a bit of space and to look for something, when she was confronted by Principal Celestia and Vice Principal Luna. She learnt that he is supposed to be dead from a car crash incident a long time before he turned up. But with the case being closed, the chief of police willingly decided not to do anything about it and to not inform Rhyan of it what so ever. Anyway, back to the current day, well, late evening. Further down the street, Fluttershy was just finishing with taking the animals to bed with Sunset, whilst out at AppleJack's house, AJ and Rainbow Dash were collecting apples competitively with their powers. Again. Twilight? Well, it depends on which one you ask about. The princess was busy in her world saving some ponies from another friendship problem, whilst the human one is currently studying at Sunset Shimmer's apartment. Why? Well, it's not just a magical knowledge study night for her. Plus, she's secretly stuck between her feelings for Sunset and Timber, but doesn't know how to approach either of them about it. Let's see, okay, so when Rhyan was admitted all those days ago, Rarity had taken to pairing with AJ for her feelings were torn between helping Rhyan and wanting to get closer to AJ. For a lot could've changed, if AJ had admitted to feeling for Rarity too, but something changed in the air that stopped her from saying it and they both silently agreed to help Rhyan out together. Moving on, heading over to Sugarcube Corner, I find Pinkie Pie baking some birthday edibles for Rarity's birthday tomorrow late into the night. About an hour later, after baking about 14 muffins, 19 cupcakes and 11 brownies, we find Fluttershy talking with Sonata as they pass the front of the bakery where Pinkie's working, waving happily at Pinkie as they passed. Sunset has gone back to her apartment, where Twilight is having her first official solo sleepover with the girl who knows the most about equestrian magic. Anyway, Mr and Mrs Cake, of whom are currently asleep, including their younger kids, both have an agreement with Pinkie Pie that as long as she's tidy and also cleans up, she has free reign of the kitchen for her party planning. Including their free bedroom for late night cooking. Going inside, I find her cooking after putting the kids to bed, as I notice a few damp footprints heading for the shoe section near the stairs. "Hello!" She says to a quiet kitchen, with only her in it. "Oh come on, don't be so quiet! I know you're there!" She says to the empty kitchen again, as she twirls a new mixture of brownies. Um,hello? I think/say to the pink-haired girl, feeling confused. Did she sense me, or was she talking to my readers through me? Ho-how can you hear me? I'm not supposed to be noticed in your world. I add, shocked at the new development. "There's no need to, silly!" Replied Pinkie, as if she was looking directly at me through my screen. "It's nice to speak with somebody this late at night!" She laughs and stops spinning the spoon to whisper loudly to the room behind her hand. "It's not like I've spoken to myself from a world that I'm actually a pony from before!" She winks, then quickly puts the mixture into a tray, which then went into the oven so she could make a batch of new brownie later on. I don't think Princess Twilight would be happy with you about that. I inform her warily, knowing the movies, the specials and the shorts all too well, but not saying anything. "It's fine," She responds, smiling. "It's not like we swap worlds together simultaynee-thingy for a day or two." She finishes as she finally looks down at her cooking and starts humming a familiar song her pony counterpart had sung once about cooking. Whilst she's humming I'm thinking about what everybody else is doing as they get ready to go to bed as she continues to hum and work on her now cooked brownies. Once the last batch is decorated to perfection, she starts to head for bed as I decide to go and see how Sonata was doing whilst staying over at Fluttershy's for a night. "HEY! Please don't leave me yet!" Pinkie somehow calls out to me, oddly getting my attention from where she was as I was just at the end of her street. "Where are you going?" She adds quickly, her eyes pleading into thin air somewhere near the counter, just as she was about to start heading upstairs to her temporary bedroom. Which was roughly where I pictured we would see her from. Uh, I respond, in surprise at how she got my attention like that. I'm going away soo youu can go to bed? I add after hesitating, now uncertain of what to say or think. "Oh, okay!" She replies, perking up a lot. "If you want to know, I have noticed things happening a lot lately." She says, her voice muffling gradually as the writer hears her make her way upstairs as she gets ready for bed before entering her room. With permission of course. Okay, you've caught my interest. The writer responds, somehow crossing his arms within his work. What do you know? "Well..." She begins, sitting on her bed, as she rapidly rattles off the things she's seen. This goes from what she thinks is the growing secret relationships between her and her friends, including some shipping names. "Okay, so I don't know why you didn't just let me speak really quickly my way, but I don't care as long as I have a little notepad with all these ship names on it!" She interrupts cheerfully. "Okay, so there's RariJack, which I thought was going to happen until mister red-haired, speedy guy showed up... There's AppleShy, which I think would be adorable.... Oh AppleDash is my favourite, which I think some others would agree on." She flips the page and continues rambling. It's definitely a small notepad if it takes only three ship names to fill it. "There's also... FlutterDash, which I kinda don't get, as they're exact opposites or whatever." She shrugs, then just says to continue listing the ships, those being TwiSet, Twimber, RariLight, Rarian, and more original or alternative ships that we all know about. Maybe Rarian could be a thing, after all, it's the most obvious secret couple between all my friends that I've seen so far, well it's definitely above AppleDash and Twimber double dating FlashSet, or was that just TwiSet? Oh Well, those ones are the hardest to predict anyway. She adds in afterthought silently, as she quickly writes these new thoughts down into it on a new page. Wait a minute, The writer says to Pinkie. I've not-- uh, they've not told you that yet. How did you figure out that Rhyan and Rarity were dating so quickly? I question her, as I somehow give a look of unexpected curiosity with a raised eyebrow. You readers probably would too. "Eh, kinda just a hunch!" She replies awkwardly, not acting like she'd been caught red-handed but her cheeks glow a slightly stronger, darker pink on her natural light pink colouring. "Wait... Di-did you ree-read my mind or suh-suh-something?!" She adds after a few seconds of realisation, until I convince her that it's okay as long as she keeps it a secret, making her blush rapidly fade away with her smiling, yawning shortly afterwards. "Anyway, I'm pooped. Night!" She quickly falls asleep onto her bed lazily and drops the pad on the floor. I secretly wonder if she's figured out the link between her and Melody Symphonía yet. But that's for you to think about. Shaking my head, we take a look around and find everybody sleeping peacefully. Well, except for Pinkie's slightly dimension breaking snoring as we look down on CHS. And yet something was soon to break the peace that only the writer knew how everything was not going to be this peaceful and calm for long. Especially for Sunset and Rhyan. > "Who Are You?" - Memory Mishaps, Part 1 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Walking around the school the next day, getting ready for almost a whole weekend of just Rarity and I being alone together and growing closer.  With knowing that her birthday is today, Pinkie surprisingly kept this a secret rather than blurt it out around the school that we'd agreed on a small, friends-only party on the beach. I just wish I could remember where I was from, seeing that just a day ago, I had previously and accidentally overheard Rarity with Principal Celestia and Vice Principal Luna talking about what she'd discovered. Something feels like I've been kept in the dark about something ... but my thoughts are rudely interrupted as I bump into a green, well, darker green haired girl.   I'm knocked to the floor, sprawling all my sheets of school work and some textbooks across the floor between us.  As some papers float down to the floor, I notice how I've never really seen her around before, but each time I remember dodging her I'd not remember dodging her.  A bit like Deja Vu, but the other name.   Oh, Jamais Vu, that's it. "Sorry," She says softly, picking me up off the floor. "I should probably watch where I'm going." She bends down with me to pick my papers up, as well as her textbooks. "It's okay," I reply, smiling softly as she her shyness reminds me of Fluttershy. "Things happen." As I get up, she shows no sign of emotion, but I do catch a glint of her mind doing lots of work through her eyes as she just continues on her way to class. I catch a glimpse of a rock in her hands, reminding me of Pinkie's sister I keep hearing about who has a pet rock.  If I remember correctly, her name was Maud. That was odd, I think to myself. Who is she anyway? I've noticed her before, but I don't recall ever talking to her. I add, as I make my way to class. I thought I was on time, but apparently I'd missed almost five minutes of it, but luckily the substitute let me in.  The substitute's name was Hystericus Discordial, but the students all called him Mr Discord or 'sir'.  He was a replacement for our science teacher, who's known for his sense of humour and to me, his wacky fashion sense made me think that it was anti-Rarity.  However, I found out just before class that Rarity actually enjoyed his 'wardrobe malfunction' for how comical and unique it was.  I guess I should be taking time to stop considering things like that if it makes her feel happy.  Sonata enjoys it when he's her substitute, because his class experiments are fun and practical.  Today, he was teaching us about time and how the Chaos Effect of what doing something one way, like a butterflies wing beat, could effect what happens further on exponentially. The best example was to try and make two separate rivers just by blocking one small stream with your finger.  The experiment was fun and he moved over effortlessly and efficiently to showing us what a flash flood does in comparison to a tsunami.  His class was fun and it showed us how nature can be so, um, how did he describe it? Oh yeah, 'chaotically balanced'.  Aside from this class, the rest of the day goes by uneventful, but there have been an increase in interactions with the ivy-green haired girl who keeps popping up. Later in the evening, Rarity and I decided to sit together and watch a movie.  Sweetie Belle was out at a friends house with her other two friends and I got the feeling that I was being watched, but when I looked, nothing was there except for an empty window. I shifted my gaze to a hanging photo on the right side of it, with Rarity and Sweetie Belle when they were younger.  I relax and briefly look at the time instead.  It's not that late, but the sky outside was just beginning to darken so we agreed to watch the TV for the rest of the episode. Feeling tired together all of a sudden, we head upstairs and have a short kiss by her bedroom door, where my mind quickly wonders and I start to think of where I am and who I am again, with thoughts of that night waking up in the rain and remembering mostly nothing, followed by pain, then my sudden ability to run at near subsonic speeds like Rainbow Dash.  This caused me to break the kiss with a distant gaze. "Hmm... Oh, what's wrong sweetie?" I hear, snapping me back slow but abruptly to see her face looking a bit sorrow. "Something on your mind?" She adds, dragging me into her room gently. "Not really," I reply, yawning afterwards.  "I just, there's something about why I can't remember who I am, as well as how it's a little bit odd about this girl at school, but it's probably nothing."  She just hums in response, before twiddling her finger to tell me to turn around, so I oblige.  I quickly zip to the spare room upstairs, the one that I've been sleeping in for these past few weeks, to grab my pyjama's and the birthday present I almost forgot about, then zip back and stand where I was in them.  Still standing there, I wait about a minute then get tapped on my shoulder.  The present was the night gown I'd made all those days ago, when Sweetie Belle was up a bit too early.  I notice that Rarity was in her adorably cute, purple pyjama's which accentuates her hips in a glamorous way.  "Here's the present I didn't think would be acceptable earlier." I say, making her eyes light up as I feel my cheeks glowing brightly.  "Happy birthday! I hope it's okay." I add, taking a look at the shoddy work I did on wrapping it again as I feel a warm glow on my cheeks. Sitting on her bed with her, she elegantly tears off my rubbish wrapping, laughing at how bad it was.  I just smile, as I see her eyes widen when she holds the dress out to let it fall down the whole way.  Without even reacting, she just gives me a really big hug, knocking me back onto her bed, followed by a passionate kiss that I give her back in return. With a brief moment of saying she loved it.  This night was special for both of us.  So instead of going back to the spare room, Rarity and I both sleep together in her bedroom, per her request. We were asleep within seconds, but during my dream after a few fuzzy things, I dreamt of Sunset and the gang doing something together, but I soon began to notice that Sunset was fading, I could feel something sore in my head as she faded, so I reached out to grab her hand as I noticed her face was beginning to look sad behind the smile.   My head was really beginning to hurt as I rushed at superspeed for her, only slowing the disappearance of her a little bit. I tried to run faster and faster, when I saw her disappear from that dream.  It must have been a memory, because as I ran, I suddenly found myself in a tunnel of cosmic colours, with my memories of my friends and I hanging around together, one at the skate park watching Dash and AJ where I notice Sunset fade away halfway through a failed trick on a skateboard.  Other memories I saw of her gave me headaches, but any of her getting angry or mad stayed.  My head finally felt light as I ended up in a white void, where I could see some images of when I arrived.  These must be my first memories of arriving here.  There's one of a very burry interior inside of a car as a burst of light breaks through the roof, which felt like I should be there, but it gets replaced by a memory of me being dazed and completely out of it in the middle of the street.  However, the last memory I have of Sunset doesn't have her disappearing.  This is the one that I hear her talking to a teacher, which sounds the complete opposite of the angered girl that she was.   But I begin to notice that her name feels, off... different... Unknown.  That all happened in just one simple night, but it felt like I'd been running for days on end.  I wake up, rubbing my head as Opal jumps off the bed, meowing angrily at my sudden movement.  Rarity wakes up beside me, rubbing her eyes a little bit in the process.  I quickly forget what happened in my dream as we get ready for the weekend. Well, most of it.  I still see a faint glow of a girl from my dreams, but she's just a pale white glow.  Anyway, I get up and decide to get breakfast for the three of us.  After all, Rarity's sister has a bedroom here too.  Heading downstairs, I continue to think about the day ahead, once again almost bumping into Sweetie Belle, who'd returned earlier this morning. "Whoops, sorry." She exclaimed in surprise.  "I didn't see you coming." She smiles, a slight glow on her cheeks making me smile. "It's cool." I reply, smiling as I notice the glow fade off quickly.  I miss being a kid. I add as an after thought. But for us, this morning is a little bit of a shock, even for me.  I briefly notice a young girl with a yellow skin tone, with red hair that had yellow streaks in it, walk past below holding some books as Sweetie Belle randomly asked openly if we were dating.  Both RarRar and I looked at her innocent face then at each other, and I notice her cheeks burning red as she holds her cup of tea to her lips. Unfortunately for me, I'd just finished my sip of coffee, so I ended up spewing most of it over the tabletop.   "Wh-why wha-whatever do you mean, da-darling?" Rarity stuttered after finishing her drink, her eyes darting between me and her younger sister.  I wasn't expecting her to be interrupted as Sweetie Belle begins to explain that she's okay with it as she heads out of the kitchen, bag in hand, as she heads downstairs after the door chime dings.  Truth be told, I start to get the feeling that the girl I saw below was somebody I knew.  Somebody familiar.  Whilst she got me to start jogging my memory, I begin to remember that some of my memories are partially white voids.  Like, literally just white voids.  Unfortunately, thinking of these voids cause my head to burn wildly.  Clutching the table, I grimace in pain, barely feeling the hand on my back and the other on my hand guide me to the sofa, but I barely get to it before I pass out. I wake up back in Rarity's bedroom, a cold towel over my forehead as I open my eyes, feeling a bit groggy. I've barely turned to look at her, when I'm pulled into a hug. We don't say anything about what happened as we continue to hug. Sweetie Belle, on the other hand, is sitting on a stool at the end of the bed, her face a mix of worry and concern. But probably not as much as Rarity's. "I don't think you're okay to go with us today sweetie, after what we've been planning on this entire time." Rarity whispers, rubbing my back again. "Tell you what, why don't I ask Twilight to use that new drone thingy of hers to send you some pictures?" She leans back as her voice gets a bit stronger. Sweetie Belle suddenly gets a loud text, leaving me with giving her a glare, which strangely makes her giggle. Taking a picture, she then shows us the same glare that RarRar and I are giving her. "And with that, I'm gonna go meet up with my friends again." She quips, hopping out of the room and quickly makes a run for the door as Rarity runs after her, yelling at her to delete it. Giggling, I get up and zip downstairs to the front door. I watch as Sweetie Belle slides into me as I grab her, then her still unlocked phone and proceed to delete the photo. At least that's one photo she can't share with her friends today. Although, I get the feeling that isn't the only thing she's got of us being together. Seeing how I'm still feeling okay, we decided to continue with the party plan. On our way to the beach, I catch a glimpse of that girl from earlier. Her sunset like bikini looks like Rarity designed it, and I feel like I should know her. Whilst Rarity goes off to the beach, I say that I'd catch up with her soon. After a few seconds, for no reason, I then start walking over to the yellow haired girl who looks like she's checking her bag for something. "Um, hello?" I say, making her head snap up. "Are you looking for something?" I add, as she turns around. "Oh, Hi Rhyan," She starts, shocking me that she knew my name. "I'm so glad you're here!" She sounds like we're good friends, but I don't remember her other than the feeling of familiarity. Instead of walking off, I just start talking with her. The thought of her being friends with me is growing rather quickly, so I just invite her to our party. But as I go to get an ice-cream before heading over to RarRar, and my friends too, I hear their voices arguing with the girl I was just with. When I don't hear anything else, I step down from the sidewalk onto the beach to find her sitting under the lifeguard structure. She also looked sad, then pulls out a fancy book from her bag. After looking at the faces of my friends who she just came from, I decide to walk over to her And sit by her side, as I notice the paper glowing as she wrote into it. "Um, hi?" I whisper as I sit down beside her, seeing her jump a little. "Are, uh, are you okay?" I add, taking a small lick and a bite from my ice-cream As she quickly closes her book. "I'm fine!" She responded rather quickly, too quickly, making me raise an eyebrow in surprise. "Okay, I'm not fine. At first I thought my friends would be ready for the photo shoot we remembered to do yesterday but then today, it's as if I'm the biggest meanie all over again." She explains, finishing just as her book buzzes and glows. After writing her glowing message to the new text, which honestly baffled me, she gets up and offers her hand to me, which I take, allowing her to help me up. What I was totally not expecting, was the most abnormal thing I've ever heard from someone I've met. She even noticed my look of shock, especially my dropped jaw. She just laughs nervously as she asks the question: "How would you like to visit a world where everybody is a pony version of the ones from here?" > The Unexpected Trip - Memory Mishaps, Part 2 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- I just look back towards the beach after hearing about the alternate world, still feeling reluctant to go. But after making up my mind, I decide to follow the girl. As we approached the bus, she stops after a few steps then turns to me. "Would you, by any chance --" she says softly, whilst leaning in to whisper to me. "-- be able to use your speed to go to the portal?". She steps back. Looking like she'd just been fine with it, but I somehow felt her emotions she was giving off were contradictory to her facial expression as she stepped backwards a little bit. I look around, wondering how she knew about my abilities. Seeing some students looking away from us, who I feel are scared or frightened of something, I shift into superspeed, pick her up and begin my sprint into Town. Along the roads I was following, it wasn't until I was passing some kind of camp in the forest when I lost my speed for a few seconds. I don't know how, but even whilst losing it, I managed an almost perfect front flip that barely grazes the ground before I slide along on my feet, the smell of burning soles reaching my nose as she shuffles in my arms. I'm not going here again any time soon! My speed returns as I pass the camp entrance, unsure as to why I lost my speed. Still shocked at the loss of my powers, I didn't run as fast as I was going previously, in case it happened again. But luckily, they didn't. Or at least I hope they won't. I slowly drop my speed to one that I can communicate at whilst still moving faster than a sports car. "--ke a left. Oh, you missed the turn." I hear from her as her muffled voice speeds up and barely reaches my ears over the wind. "Sorry, just tell me where to go and I'll get there." I reply at hopefully the same speed and tone, feeling her jump, albeit slower than normal, in my arms as I respond. After telling me how to get to her apartment, we then head for our school, after she needed to change her appearance. I take a look around, wondering where this portal was, when her hand slowly squeezes my arm. Shifting out of superspeed, I slide towards the steps at the front of the school before I put her down. Standing still for just a moment she appears to be a little dazed, blinking quickly. I sensed a bit of fright, but lots of a somewhat euphoric feeling. Why do I know this word? Wait a sec... And then I notice her hair and giggle a bit at it. My laughter then increases in volume, as she looks up and grabs her hair before laughing with me as she tidies it up with a brush from her bag. From her apartment of course. "Well, that was interesting!" She says after fixing the final bit before holding her free hand out, still giggling with me. "I'm Sunset Shimmer. Nice to see you still remember me, Rhyan.". I take her hand, but I turn white when she calls me by my name. I haven't told her it yet! How does she know me? I thought in response. Just by touching me, her eyes flash a magical white for a brief moment before she suddenly looks like she remembered something whilst giving me a caring look. Sometimes I wish I knew what what people were thinking with that face. I thought, when she just gives me a long hug out of nowhere. "I'm sorry," she whispers reassuringly, before letting go. "I should've remembered that you still had memory issues. At least I've not been completely erased from your memories." I can't help but wonder what she means as she just holds my shoulders for a few more seconds, smiling assuringly, then starts walking towards the statue after letting go. "Are you coming or what?" She adds happily afterwards, as she turns her head around. "Yeah, I'm ready." I respond, jogging up to her as she touches the side facing the school, making it glow around her hand before she passed straight into it. I stare is astonishment, then before anybody else can see, I just jump straight into it. Without realising the risks, I'd jumped straight in and almost immediately regret it. In an unimaginable, indescribable feeling of pain, I feel my body stretching awkwardly as I pass through some long, rainbow coloured, magical tunnel. My head is beginning to spin as I start to catch glimpses of Sunset ahead of me. So that's what this looks like. I think to myself, as I watch her spinning like in a vortex. Well, more like water draining from a sink. It feels like minutes have passed since I entered, but I'm greeted with Sunset disappearing in a flash of white, followed by my sight going white as I pass through the place she disappeared from. I didn't recall her mentioning what 'the other side' was like, but I noticed a lot of similar things, but also different at the same time. Well, apart from the impossible crystal walls of the room were in. I start to get up, but quickly fall back down onto all fours. Wait, i'm on all fours? I look down at my hands, or what were my hands, and I was about to yell out when something similar to my own ... whatever these clamps over my mouth. "Ssh! I don't want her to know that I've brought you here just yet!" The yellow coloured pony whispers, making sure I kept quiet. "In fact, we're early than originally planned, so I thought that maybe I could keep you calm and teach you a little about my world." She adds, making my eyes open wide and my jaw drop a little as she just giggles at my face. I awkwardly giggle in return, expecting a fairly decent lesson of what this world is like. But as she looks me over, her eyes bug out in surprise as she just stared at me. "Uh, is something wrong with my body?" I ask, wondering why she stopped talking. "Oh! Uh ..." She replies, jumping at my sudden question. Right as she's about to say what she sees, the doors opened and a pony version of Twilight walks through. Sunset's face lights back up as the purple pony walks into the room. "Twilight!"/"Sunset!" They exclaim loudly together, as Sunset stands on her hind legs, wobbles, then lands on her feet before they hug with one han-- sorry, hoof each. I shake my head a little, trying not to believe what I'm seeing as I notice Sunset coming over with Twilight. That's going to be an issue. I think silently, as I smile and make idle conversation whilst Sunset introduces me to the Twilight she knew. But they decide to keep whatever Sunset had seen to themselves after Twilight's eyes bugged out as well. A few minutes later, we're on the train to Canterlot, where apparently Princess Celestia and Princess Luna could be found to help out with the issues. I remember standing beside SUnset when Twilgiht was saying that she might not want to meet the princess who taught her all those years ago. Walking through Ponyville afterwards, so many other ponies were calling out hello's and greetings, some even looked at me in surprise. The small village felt small, but despite the large number of ponies around, it was amazingly spacious. A few times, I slowed down to just marvel at the shops and versions of the ponies that I knew from the human world, before I realise that I was about to lose my friend every time. "Howdy y'all!" Comes a voice from behind, when Twilight started explaining how she was a bit busy with Sunset and I. "heheh, okay then Twah'light! Catch y'all later!" She added with an honest smile, before turning and trotting away. I'd looked directly at Sunset afterwards, making both the females laugh at my reaction to the pony version of Applejack. I barely caught Twilight eye-roll gently at some comment from Sunset after laughing. Anyway, back to being on the train, we've finally arrived at Canterlot and we're now walking through the town. "I can't help but wonder what my human friends have been up to, " Twilight spoke softly, once again starting up a small conversation with Sunset. I tuned them out as Sunset spoke about how things are going in our world, updating each other as we came up to the castle entrance. Which must have been at least the fourth time since we got onto the train. She must be very knowledgeable about friendship, after all, Sunset did tell me that before I'd met her in her castle. I lowered my head as we come up to the entrance, noticing how big it was. But once passing through the gates, I feel completely amazed at the sight before me as we trot out into the castle court. "Hey Rhyan," I hear from my left, sounding a little bit like how my RayRay would speak to me whenever I felt down. But this time, it's Twilight. "Sunset said she'd helped you out with her friends when you appeared in a freak storm. Is it true you don't remember anything since your arrival?" She asked cautiously. I just nodded in response. Way to be direct about it. I think to myself, feeling a bit isolated and upset at the question, but somehow struggling to remember what happened that day. "I, uh, well I'm still try to rememb--" And that's when my arrival all came back to me vividly, making my eyes open wide. The pain in my head from trying to remember burnt strongly, after clutching my head as best I could with my hooves, I was blinded by a flash of white light, then blackness followed. Waking up, I find myself in a soft bed, thinking that I'd dreamt being a pony from another world, but that's shot down when princip-- sorry, Princess Luna sits by the edge of my bed with glowing eyes. I jump at the sight of her, snapping her out of her magical state. Literally. "I'm so sorry young colt! Please accept my greatest apologies." She says, sounding royal. She probably is. I think, looking around as I wobble whilst trying to stand on to my hooves. "Your friends were worried about you, but the circumstances with your sudden ... blackout had upended their original plans." She adds as I get back on to my hooves again. "Thank you for letting me know." I reply, then notice a sleeping pony on an even softer looking bed over by the window. "I hope you don't mind me asking, but is she... adopted?" I point my left hoof in her direction. "Oh," Luna replied, turning her head, then smiling a little bit. "Not exactly. She is my natural born. My heir." My eyes widen a little, but not enough to convey that I wasn't surprised. "I guess you know her from the other world Sunset know resides in?" I nod a little, smiling but also frowning at the thought of Pinkie's reaction whenever we've teased her about it. I go into a slight daydream state thinking about Rarity as well as how the other girl makes her faint. "It's okay to be worried about you friend's feelings." She says out of nowhere, making me jump a bit. Her smile is gone and raises an eyebrow at my reaction. "Sunset didn't didn't tell you, did she? I can access dreams, and can rarely get the chance view daydreams, that is, if I feel like it." I just shake my head in response. "Rhyan, I've been meaning to ask you something." She adds, as we start walking out of the room. "Go ahead." I reply, trotting along beside her as we head through the maze of hallways. "Sunset says she'd told you about the different types of ponies in our world. Is this correct?" She continues looking ahead, her tone is very forced and I can sense it. "Yeah, why d'you ask?" I turn to face her. "Is something bothering you?" I notice her look down my body, like she's scanning me. Before she could speak anything else, Sunset and Twilight come back out with Princess Celestia. Some feeling of newly kindled happiness was coming from all three them. Mostly Sunset. Without hesitation, we all go for a stroll to the library. I thought we were trying to solve Sunset's problem? I think, following them over a bridge. For a brief moment Sunset stops in her tracks to look at one of the guards, almost making me bump into her b-- uh, flank. "Do you recognise him?" I ask, making her jump a bit. "Sorry, didn't mean to startle you." I add, giggling a bit. "It's fine. And yes, I do recognise him." She replies, as we continue walking towards the library with the others. With everything going on around me in this wonderful place called Canterlot, the use of magic is common knowledge and there are lots of Pegasi, earth ponies and unicorns. I see objects floating in a variety of coloured magical energies, males and females mingling equally. This place is very peaceful. It wasn't until what I thought was a few hours later, that we'd find something to help Sunset and her memory mishaps with her friends. But the bigger problem that I might be able to find answers for... Might be here with Princess Twilight Sparkle. > Stone of Mind - Memory Mishaps, Part 3 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- After a few hours, we finally find the solution to what could be the problem. Twilight's quip about Sunset finding fun books got me to look up as she runs to the table, which we all surround. There is some kind of rock that can erase all or parts of memories. As Twilight dubs it, a Memory Stone. It seems like Sunset and I will need to be heading back to our world, but I really want to know more about the world of ponies. However, there is one thing that bothers me now and it's what they're are doing which I'd like to ask them about every time I talk, but something else pops up just as I'm about to ask. It's the strange looks they keep giving me. After waiting for the right moment, which comes only a few minutes later, I catch Sunset alone looking out over Canterlot at a tall glass window. Her ears and head are drooping a little as I get closer, so I slow my pace and soften my steps as I trot up beside her. I have to say, it's definitely a lot easier on four legs than two. "Hey, uh, you okay?" I speak softly, making her react as if she was caught doing something as she turned to look at me. "Sorry, didn't mean to startle you." I smile gently as she giggles, but only briefly. "Oh it's fine," She begins, then just looks out the window again. "Well, not so much. This was the world that I grew hatred for, but now with with the help of you and our friends, I can finally feel the friendship and peace in my home world." I stare out the window for a while with her, before attempting a pony version of a short shoulder hug. It surprisingly works better than I was expecting. "Thanks Rhyan, but I think we'd better get back to our world. Wouldn't want to miss the fun on the beach with them." We both laugh and start walking away from the window. Glimpsing back, I notice it's a frosted glass window. But that isn't what makes me jump. It's the multi-creatured being that Princess Twilight had told me about. Discord. He was waving at me, then winks before disappearing in a puff of glass shards. Yes, he was in the window we looked out of. I just snap my head back around and hope to forget what I'd seen By talking with Sunset again. I hope I can get some answers to my questions this time. "Hey Sunset," I start saying, nervously. "I was hoping I could get some questions answered." I notice the guard we walked past earlier and salute him, he returns the gesture with a smile.  I had to hold in the laugh I just had, as I realise how similar he'd be if a boy I've seen would be a pony like Twilight and Sunset. What I find interesting, is how Princess Luna's daughter, Melody Symfonía, is part of the Royal Guard.  I wonder what her skills are in this world. I think to myself for a brief moment. "Oh, sure." Her happy spirit lifted like we hadn't had a friendly moment together earlier. "What would you like to know?" She adds, briefly smiling awkwardly and quickly glancing away before smiling normally. "I was wondering why all the other ponies, you and the Princesses keep looking at me in a weird way." My question shocks her, but she quickly shakes her head. "Sorry. I don't quite get why looking at me is such a shock to everyo-- everypony." I have no idea why I corrected myself, when it's just the two of us trotting around quietly. "I think it has to do with the fact that..." She hesitates, but I notice it. "You're an alicorn, but ... you don't exactly display powers or have a visible cutie mark." She lowers her voice as I start looking at myself. I reach to my forehead with my right hoof, feeling the horn, I look to my rear end to confirm I didn't have this 'cutie mark, after seeing it for a brief moment on her flank, which I notice is making her blush, not like the other ponies I'd been looking at. "Um, Rhyan.  Can you not."  I just barely catch her saying, then realise something. Oh, right, it's her ... Um, yeah, her, uh, butt.  Oops. I think while blushing myself and quickly glancing the other way, which I guess she was doing too. Awkward much. After a few seconds, curiosity gets the better of me and I look backwards at my wings, which somehow instinctively opens them naturally. Unfortunately for me, this was most likely a bad idea. Within seconds, I'm literally airborne but I have no control whatsoever. Seeing the floor now a few feet below me, I'm trying to think of Rarity to calm myself down. But the moment I close my eyes to think of her, I end up feeling like time slows down.  As well as simultaneously aiming straight at the wall in front of me, because I feel something solid connect with my body while my eyes are shut. After I feel time return to normal I rub my eyes after opening them, then my face, to make sure nothing hurts. It's surprising nothing feels broken, but my jaw does tingle a bit. From where I'm sitting, Princess Luna is just staring at me with her eyes wide open, right as the large doors beside me open with Sunset and Twilight rushing through the gap in a panic, shortly followed by Princes Celestia. "What was that?! It came from here!" Cried Princess Twilight, clearly in a slight panic. "Are we under attack?!" I can see Sunset look my way after her comment, but her eyes widen as well before she runs over and hugs me. "So glad to see you're okay!" She whispers as she releases her hug, before looking over my shoulder. "Uh, did you do that?" She adds, speaking normally. I follow her eyes to see a perfect shape of my impact, imprinted into the wall of the castle. "Um, maybe?" I reply, still unsure. "All I did was check myself over when I asked you about the looks you were all giving me." I add, getting up off the floor. Surprisingly, I look back around and finding Twilight with her jaw dropped like it had hit the floor. I catch Sunset rolling her eyes as she walks over and closes her jaw. After the shock, she shakes her head and I follow they as they say goodbye to the two princesses, who promptly disappear behind the big doors, who rule this land I've come to enjoy being in.  Walking behind them, I decide to listen to the world around me and I begin to hear the small murmurs around me again. Looking around, I find confused but happy looks on the mares and colts.  I hear snippets and whispers, wondering what they mean as I walk along innocently whilst I catch up with Twilight and Sunset. "...he's an alicorn...", "...I thought alicorns were only mares?", "Who is he?" And "...He's got wings... and a horn..." Were most of what I was hearing.   I didn't find it too annoying, but it was beginning to get on my nerves just a little, so I decided to try and think of avoiding my powers from earlier and the world around me.  Once again, I find Discord somehow cleaning the inside of a photo frame, from inside the photo behind a shop's window.  One second he's in there, the next he's suddenly beside us in a puff of smoke. "Tsk, took your time to notice me." He mumbles, a gruff tone to his voice, followed by his eyes briefly going wide.  "Who are you anyway?" He adds, looking at me questioningly, then looking me up and down.  "You're from that other world Sunset is from, aren't you?" He says, then snaps his fingers and freezes on the spot. For a few seconds, I suddenly have my vision filled with green electricity and a curious humming from Discord followed by an 'ow', as I somehow feel it vigorously but carefully flowing all around me, before entering my necklace that I'd completely forgotten about, then disappearing from my vision and returning it to normal. The two mares ahead of me turn around and look in my direction, probably due to his behaviour.  I watch Twilight facepalm her hoof.  Wouldn't that be a facehoof? I think silently, finding my humour is still with me, despite my memory issues. A few seconds later, I begin to think that Discord is surprised he can't use his powers on me, as it felt more like some kind of magical forcefield was stopping him from discovering anything. Then he turns to Twilight and Sunset while I just walk along behind them. Tuning out the talk between Discord, Twilight and Sunset, it's a few minutes before he disappears after saying that he's having afternoon tea with Fluttershy.  The small puff of smoke he leaves behind makes me cough a little, but surprisingly, I hadn't noticed that he'd teleported us to just outside Twilight's castle while we were trotting along, nor that Twilight was trying to tak to me. "--hyan! You okay?" I hear from my right, making my head snap up suddenly at my name being called. It was Twilight's voice. "I hear you've been having some memory issues back in your world.  If you want to, you can stay here and let Princess Luna have a look whilst you sleep?" "I, uh," I stutter, dragging my hoof in small circles in the ground as I lower my voice. "I don't know.  I'm not sure if it'll hurt or not." I add, remembering and mentioning the small moments where I think I'd fallen unconscious whilst my head had felt in pain and waking up in a different place entirely.  Like waking up in RaeRae's room. I keep to myself, but can't help blush ever so slightly. "Oh I'm pretty sure it's painless." She responds quickly, tapping her hoof on what I assume is her chest. "I have, as a matter of fact, had a few of these experiences myself. So there is no need to worry!" She swings her hoof through the air as she finishes her sentence. "You know Rhyan," She says, in a softer voice while looking down before looking at me. "If you're having any more memory issues after your visit with Princess Luna, you're always welcome to visit here at any time you want."   "Thanks," I respond, smiling again, the though of the dream thing sounding as painless as possible. "I'll keep that in mind." After about another hour just hanging around Twilight's castle, I had been introduced to her friends, who were like the spitting image of my friends, but in pony form.  It was a bit of a surprise when Spike's message returned in a burp and some green fire.  Apparently it was about the session with Princess Luna I was going to have to access my memories again.  Well, it would be nice to have it done again, but I think it's almost time to get back home before it's too late.  The doohickey contraption Twilight made to keep it open looks fascinating, but before I got to ask any questions about it, Sunset grabbed my hoof with hers, somehow, and dragged me back through the portal.  I catch a brief glimpse of a weird pink, bubbly like trail inside the portal, but despite my powers, they seemed ineffective in this world as I try to slow time down when I tried to follow it.   I  think that was a bad idea as something feels different as I'm forced back towards my portal, but I find myself on my hands and legs on the floor, where I'm faced with seeing Sunset and I walking over.  I run as quickly as I can with my speed and hide on the other side of the portal, waiting for the sounds of them entering the portal to stop before I take off at speed. Running along, I'm thinking to myself about what the hell has just happened, when I narrowly dodge a girl crossing the street mid-pose.  It was the Melody girl walking alone with Pinkie Pie, who was mid-jump and eyes closed but slowly opening as I suddenly realise she's somehow watching me when her eyes turn normally as I walk side to side with my superspeed, before running off and forgetting about how weird that just was between us.   I decide that running around the town wasn't helping and. Sliding to a stop, I realise I've ran out of the local area and down a road I find familiar.  It's the one I tripped up on.  How did I overshoot my home? I think, then zip back to the school, where I should find some time to kill before Sunset returns through the portal with me.   Maybe I should've realised how early I was in returning, as by the time I returned, I could still see my foot passing through the portal upon arriving. A few hours pass and in that time, I was able to relax more by helping Fluttershy at her animal shelter while she was in her free sessions, playing a few levels of a game against Rainbow Dash in the games room in the school, then spending a bit of time with Rarity at our little spot on the hill, taking about things that we both enjoy, but I was avoiding talking of Sunset since I can't really remember anything about her except how nice she has been today.  Luckily it was lunch break during these few hours, but I was still checking the portal every now and then for Sunset's arrival. I really shouldn't have tried to follow that trail I'd seen. I think as I race back to the portal right as I see her walking out of it.  It takes her a second to notice that I wasn't right behind her, but waiting for her instead.  And with a bottle of apple juice, courtesy of AppleJack. "Wait a sec," She says, a look of confusion plastered on her face while looking between me and the portal a few times. "Weren't you just behind me?"I just nod, making her smile. "How long have you been waiting for me?" She adds, popping her hip out slightly while taking the drink. "Uh, pretty much since we stepped into the portal." I reply, thinking of how she would take it, while taking a sip of the fresh drink.  "Wow, really?" She says with surprise in her voice. "You must have done something inside the portal to send you back that far."  The conversation steers away from this after I tell her about what I got up to, while avoiding the details of the weirdly familiar, pink and bubbly trail I'd seen in there. One thing still bugs me while we're looking around the school. It's that I keep bumping into this green haired girl, but I can never recall talking to her, but feel like I do every time.  But that's not the only thing on my mind right now, besides Rae of course. It's that trail I'd seen. And little did I know, that the trail belonged to someone Who I was previously in my family from back home.... Who could already use the powers I possess too. > Mystical Mischief - Memory Mishaps, Part 4 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The day continued with mild success, but it was definitely interesting to see Sunset use such a rude insult to a girl with lots of stars and a very over the top atmosphere to her. I have had a few classes with her. She's very extroverted, and I think she has a weird ego I can never seem to understand. As I slowly tune out their conversation as she says while the crowd of students disperses, I don't know why but whenever I see her, my head feels extremely foggy and bubbly, like I'm remembering something from my past. Whenever I get these bubbles of fogginess, they occur when something suddenly triggers my locked away memories, and when I'm not busy with homework, group work and class work, I've usually asked my 'Radiant RaeRae' if I can attempt magical counseling with Sunset, which had always been answered with a yes prior to the past few days, since I explained that it was to try and help me recover my locked away memories she'd seen in my head back when I first joined the school. Oh, right, sidetracking, sorry. Now where was I? Oh yeah, that's Trixie, I remember why I was thinking of her now. I weirdly think to myself, partially oblivious but picking up on Melody's questioning and curious gaze as she walks past us, while watching Sunset somehow befriending Trixie right in front of our eyes. "--etty Decent Assistant-Detective-Helper Person." I hear in response to something Sunset chided to her. I noticed that the book in Sunset's locker starts to vibrate, but she's not paying attention as she walks off with Trixie, as I take it and read it. I look in surprise at Twilight's message, then put the book back in the locker with a note. I say to and zoom over to the portal and jump back through to Ponyville. "Oh great, not this again!" I yell as I feel my body stretching again, the pain much worse than before, whilst also trying to stop myself from moving in the weird dimension-like goop once again. This time, the weird pink trail from earlier was even closer than it had been before and even had a different direction. Like it was getting closer. Not wanting to experience what happened last time, I just let the magic take me. Upon arriving, I am somehow already in my superspeed as my eyesight, for a brief instant, felt higher than it had been when I was here previously and I catch a glimpse of my actual hand before my vision is covered in a silver and rainbow coloured magic for a split second and I was shifted back out as I continue staring at my hoof. "That must be some kind of magical hallucination." I whisper, then cringe as it reverberates around the room. Or some magic interference. I add as an afterthought, in case I'm actually heard. I hear movement coming from outside the hallway, so I feel like I should hide, but instead, I remember what I'd come back here for, so I wait patiently, but feel a bit panicked. Rounding the corner is none other than Princess Twilight. "Who are you? where's- Nevermind, I remember!" She almost shrieks, before recognising me in my pony form after facehoofing at herself. "I take it you're here regarding the memory stone?" She adds, composing herself. "Yeah, among other things." I reply, as we trot out of her castle and head back into Canterlot. On the way, Twilight gives me some pointers on how the magic in her world works, in comparison to the other. So in retrospect, I can't use my abilities here like the way I did back in the human world. I think to myself, when Twilight decides that we should take a look for information regarding the use of the Memory Stone and how i can regain access to my magic in her world. So to recap after half a day of research, during our conversation as she helped me study their use of magic studied magic and the use of the Memory Stone, the stone is used to wipe memories and partial moments from memories, but in my case, it didn't really remove the strongest memory I had of Sunset. That could explain, after been checked and confirmed by Princess Luna, why Sunset appears as a white silhouette and sounds like a faint angel-like echo in my memories back from when I first arrived here, instead of being removed completely. Under the training of Rainbow Dash and Twilight from this pony world, I discover that I don't just have the insane superspeed that puts Dash's speed to shame, but telekinesis too. To think that I unlocked my speed ability here and then beat Dash's best time on a ground-based speed course by fifteen seconds feels like I'm cheating a little. Or just that I'm a natural prodigy. I weirdly think to myself, then shake my head. After a bit of practice, not only can I access my telekinesis ability at will after only a few classes, what I saw to be the astonishment of Princess Twilight, shock to Luna's daughter Melody, who was watching from her guard post at my magical skills, and even the surprise to Princess Celestia, I was able to create a new type of telekinetic magic, which I had the weirdly familiar feeling of naming it a 'psionic burst', which emits a strong wave of invisible energy which can blast things away or shield me from anything fired at me if used correctly. Getting back on track, I soon realise that I've been wasting my time whilst I was supposed to help Sunset figure out how to fix the memory stone issue. Was a little bit weird to me to know that she found the three day limit information inside a piece of an artifact, but it as vital and as I remembered it, I wanted Twilight to know that I needed to get back home as soon as I can. Good thing it's still daytime, but I get the feeling that time feels slightly different between the worlds. "You can't by any chance, I don't know, teleport us back to your castle in Ponyville?" I ask suggestively, but in a rushed and slightly impatient manner, hoping her magic can actually reach that far. "Not that taking the train is a bad thing, but I would like to get all my memories of Sunset and the others returned before i lose them permanently." "No can do, I don't think my magic can reach that far yet. However..." She replies, her tone changing as she hints at my pony-adapted abilities I'd learnt way too quickly in this magical world. A door suddenly opens abruptly from nearby. "Oh just go already!" Yells Pinkie Pie, as she pokes her head through the doorway, then slams it shut quickly. We both stare at the door with wide eyes that she just so happened to be behind in absolute surprise, then I shake my head after a minute or two at the same time I see that she shakes hers and laughing about it. "That's just Pinkie being Pinkie. I think you should go." She says after half a minute or so, from us laughing, shaking her right hoof as if to entice me into going. I grin and nod, shifting into my speed and leaving behind a blur and electric green lightning in my wake. Surprisingly, I don't create wind gusts in this world, so I smile as I rush towards the castle entrance, watching as a blue haired colt raises his hoof extremely slowly as I gallop past him at superspeed. He looks familiar, but I can't quite put a face to it. Shame I couldn't learn how to properly fly in the time I've been here with my magic. I think to myself, running up to the station and following the train line back to Ponyville. The train is being hauled by some earth ponies who look like they're moving as slow as a falling leaf, so I guess that the train itself ran out. I heard from Twilight that different trains use different methods of travel. I smile, then quickly step out in front of the train and zip down the track, through the tunnel and come out to see the unmistakable castle that Twilight owns. Running through town, the freakiest thing occurs as I somehow catch Pinkie Pie, who's now cooking in Mister and Mrs Cake's store, look my way, albeit slow but way too fast for any normal pony, smile at me, wink, then go back to looking at the counter as I look ahead and narrowly miss a hovering yellow pegasus who looks like she's slowly getting frightened. I stop, slowly step around her, then zip back into the castle. I disappear into the portal, after disabling my powers, as I realise that Sunset Shimmer might be in more trouble than previously thought. But in order to travel back home to Sunset in time, as well as see Rarity and the rest of my friends at Canterlot High, I have to make sure I find Sunset and let her know about what we've done in the time it has taken us to find anything interesting. I want to look around for this girl I keep seeing but never end up talking to, when I find her in the room that Sunset was working in three days ago for the annual classbook and was pulling out a weird rock from her bag as she's confronting Sunset and Trixie. I quickly run towards them about to grab the stone as I saw it starting to glow, only to suddenly find myself facing up towards the ceiling, with a vague idea of what's going on. And I remember something about a message to Sunset. The first voice I hear isn't that of Sunsets. "Huh? What was I saying? I'm sure it was something brilliant. Also," I hear a gasp and look over to see Trixie point at the clock and gasps. "How is it already three o'clock?!" Going over to the door, she jiggles the handle, only to find it locked. Weird, it's the end of the day, but this door should be open. I think to myself, as Sunset starts freaking out. "Is anybody out there? Somebody open the door!" She yells frantically, hoping someone will hear her as she rattles and bangs the door with us inside the room. She then proceeds to deflate emotionally down the side of the door. "If we don't get outta here and figure out who has the Stone, in a few hours, it'll be too late to restore everyone's memories. I'll lose my friends forever." I get the sudden want to ask both girls a question, but Trixie beats me there first, by a second, word for word. "How are we supposed to catch someone who can erase our memory every time we get close to catching them?" Trixie asks, crossing her arms just as I remember something at the same time I see Sunset pull out a piece of paper from her pocket. "by being clever!" We say together looking between each other and the paper, then giggle as Trixie just looks at us in confusion. "huh?" "I wrote myself a note. 'Check the video.'." She replies, then runs over to the drone camera Twilight had been planning to use yesterday. "Yes! It's been recording this whole time!" She adds, as I see a very happy face on her. Watching Sunset and Trixie go over the footage, and a remark about a long song, I decide to test out something that's been nagging at the back of my head since Princess Twilight said how my magic 8s extremely unique and that my body seemed to be emitting two different kinds of "vibrational energy", whatever that meant. But whatever it was, the word vibration kept me thinking to myself, when I suddenly find myself coughing on smoke with Sunset and somehow teleporting between both sides of the door. "Uh, just go already!" I hear Trixie say, her voice muffled by the door. "Thanks Trixie!" Sunset replies, as we take off together in a jog, to not be yelled at for running on school grounds. "I'll never forget this!" "Never say Never!" I hear over my shoulder, as we run through the school and out the front. While looking for Wallflower and finding out that she'd left through the back from Melody, we thank her for the information and I wait out front as she legs it back into the school. Leaning back against the side of the statue that isn't a portal and watch the cars driving by as Melody finally gets picked up surprisingly in a white limo, before being told to shut up and not tell anyone about what I'd just seen. "Hey Rhyan, want a lift? ... Not that you need it or anything." I hear over my shoulder after watching it pull It was Flash Sentry. "Who was that?" "I don't know, and I'll take you up on your offer." I respond, slowly getting up from the floor. "I'm actually surprised I've been running around so much that I didn't realise how tired I felt." I added, hopping in to the nice looking car. Nice ride dude. "Thanks! I'd been saving up for it since I joined the school with side jobs." "Huh, must spent lots of time at the job and doing your class assignments." He rubs his head a little, a bit sheepish as he drives back around the school, perking my curiosity. "I was wondering, why are you here instead of any oth—?" I raise my eyebrow a little, a little curious before Sunset runs across the parking lot and making him come to a stop. Watching the confrontation, I could see that the six girls weren't aware that we'd pulled up yet as Sunset and Wallflower are having a heated discussion. The angry words that shocked us all the most, as I watched sunset cringe and the others all show surprise, uneasiness and shock too, just by the way they jumped. It was just three words that finally managed to penetrate the windows from across the car park: "I HATE YOU!" > Memory Mishaps - The Final Chapter > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The confrontation between Sunset Shimmer and Wallflower Blush before me and the girls took a sudden turn at those three words. Flash and I step out of the car to hear what was going on. "I only tried to erase their good memories of you," Wallflower continues, pulling out the dark, turquoise coloured rock. The Memory Stone. "But that didn't work." I'm in shock and slight disgust at how easy she found herself removing memories. I could also see similar expressions on RaeRae and the others girls. "What if I removed ALL of their memories of high school?" She adds menacingly, grasping the rock with a wicked grin on her face. "You can't! You'd be stealing their memories of each other!" "They'll think of each other the way you think of me! Which is not at all!" Wallflower fires a turquoise beam of energy from the Memory Stone, directly for our group of friends, when I catch movement to my right. "Nooo!" I watch as Sunset jumps in the way of the beam and takes it full force before it could reach her friends, as it surrounds her in a thick aura. The girls, Flash and I all gasp in shock at the actions shed taken to save them. "I've ruined their friendship once before. I'd rather give up my own memories than let it happen again!" She says with all the strength she could muster, as the aura disappears from foot to head and a glowing appears on her forehead. "Hgnn... Fluttershy! No!" I hear her say, as the glowing reveals what looked like an old movie reel tape leaving her head, but a pale yellow colour of it. Which I definitely think had to be all her memories of Fluttershy. Already I could tell this was going to go downhill a lot and something really bad was going to happen, as she started to recite all the names of the girls. "Applejack!" A brownish orange one leaves her head. "hnnh... Rarity!" A soft Purple memory reel tape this time. "Aaagh! Rainbow Dash!" Deep blue for her. "Pinkie Pie!" Vivid pink. "Twilight! Don't forget me!" Deep violet. As the last one leaves her head, Twilight gasps in shock as Sunset's last memories enter the stone, leaving a mixed crowd of shocked faces as she then slumps to the ground. Even Wallflower is surprised by how strong that magical blast had been as her stone absorbs the last memory. "This isn't Canterlot. Where am I? Princess Celestia? What's happened to me? Somepony, help me!" I'm getting an uneasy feeling as she looks up at Twilight. "Who are you?" "We're your friends." She replies, looking with an angry expression to Wallflower, or what I could only guess from where Flash and I were standing. "We may not remember you..." AJ starts speaking, followed by Pinkie Pie, Rarity and Fluttershy. "But after seeing what you did..." "...the sacrifice you made for us..." "...we'd be proud to call you..." "...our friend!" They all chorus together. Wallflower and I all gasp in shock and surprise as the geodes the girls have all make their bodies glow. Weirdly, I don't actually 'pony-up' like the girls do this time. Nor do I join them. Probably because I'm focused on something else. I think to myself, as I'm mesmerised by the Memory Stone. Then I watch them transform into new uniforms as some weird but heroic background music starts to play from thin air. "Hey Flash, do you hear that?" I ask him as they're all transforming. "Huh, hear what?" He replies, looking at me briefly with curiosity before watching them. "Nothing, never mind." Why do I only hear the background music then? Is it all in my head, or part of the magic? After the transformations, the girls all hover there in the air, the air so full of magic around them that it's like it was actually sparkling around them like the stars on a clear night sky. "Wallflower! You have magic you do not understand! But it is nothing compared to the Magic of—!" Twilight starts monologuing a line she probably tried rehearsing, only to be interrupted by Pinkie as I hear the music randomly stop. "Yeah, yeah, we get it. Light her up, ladies!" The music I'm hearing suddenly starts back up again, but a lot more vigorous and vivacious. I watch as all their magic coalesces into a rainbow beam that shatters the Memory Stone directly from knocking it out of Wallflower's hands and sending her falling onto her butt. As the memory shards all start to return to their respective hosts, me included, I couldn't help but wonder what Pinkie was thinking about to cause that weirdly lewd expression, not that I would know what anything lewd is, but quickly dismiss it as Pinkie being Pinkie. I watch as they all respond to the reflux of their memories being fixed. Reflux? Again with these weirdly familiar science terms! I thought to myself as I see Sunset rubbing her head as the shards lose their glow. "Twilight... Sparkle?" Ihear from Sunset, hesitation in her voice. "Sunset Shimmer!" She replies excitedly. The rest of the girls cheer happily as they all get into a brief hug of support. "We're so sorry." Twilight says after the hug stops. "I'm just glad to have you all back." "I'm so ashamed." Interrupted Wallflower. "When I first found the Memory Stone, I only erased little things – awkward hellos, saying the wrong thing, literally any public speaking..." Her face showed what I could only sense as extreme emotional turmoil from her. "I've had plenty of awkward moments I wish I could erase, too." Twilight adds on, as I walk over to Rarity and we give each other a peck on each others lips quick enough to hopefully not have it be noticed. "But it's no excuse. I was so used to erasing memories that I got completely carried away. I'm sorry for everything." "It's okay. I'm sorry, too." She bends down to Wallflower, who's hugging her legs. "I may have stopped being mean, but a Great and Powerful friend helped me realize I still wasn't very nice to you. Everyone matters, Wallflower. No matter how insignificant or invisible they feel." Grabbing Sunset's outstretched hand, she gets up and I hug my arm around RaeRae's waist as they hug each other. To avoid any awkwardness, Wallflower invites all of us, including Flash, who'd been watching curiously and with awe this entire time. "This is my garden. I didn't really mean to manipulate everyone's memories. I guess I was just jealous." "It's alright, we forgive you." A warm hand rests on her shoulder, making her blush happily. Now I feel like her name make more sense. I think to myself as Rarity guides me forward with her hand holding mine. Walking into the quiet, alcove-like area, there are three rocks that I saw when I was with Twilight in the same formation that I'd seen in Sunset's book when we'd been stuck in the computer room. Oh no, Tri— "Oh no, Trixie!" I blurt, making them all look my way look my way, with Sunset facepalming. "Don't worry, I'll go and get her! I'll be back in a few seconds!" I add, before getting a confirming nod and smile from her as I shift into superspeed then dash back into the school. I remember exactly where to go, so I run towards the room, dodging a barely moving Vice Principal Luna along the way, making me worry about Trixie being locked in the room after the school timetable has finished. I hope I'm not too late! I arrive by the door, her fists mid hit on the door, making a long, soft, deep hum reach my ears as I quickly walk up to it. Deciding to utilise an idea I had earlier, I reach out for the door and wonder what would happen if I vibrate my hands. I don't know why I wanted to do this, but it just felt right. When I feel my hands beginning to buzz rapidly, a lot faster than I thought they would, I suddenly feel my arms vibrating in the same way. As I watch in fascination, I slowly attempt to push against the door, which surprisingly feels like it isn't even there. Snapping back to Trixie's position, her face starts to take on a hint of recognition and confusion. As I grab her with my hands through the door, I worry that I won't be able to pull her through but somehow, instinctively, I give my weird ability to her as I slowly pull her through the door. Right as she's clear of the door by a few feet, I suddenly shift out of my superspeed and double over. Not from feeling sick, but from the amount of energy I've put into vibrating my arms to 'phase' through solid matter. "HEL—... Oh. I'm out." I hear from above me, as I kneel there, on all fours, feeling very dizzy, disoriented and tired. "I, um, I guess a thanks is in order?" She adds, helping me to my feet. "After my amazing Magician's Exit to get Sunset and I out, well mostly Sunset, it stopped working after she left me in here!" A long pause happens, before she begins talking again. "Did Sunset manage to get to Wallflower in t—?" As she's talking, I see a memory strip float into her head, making her stop talking. She winces a little after it disappears inside her head. I see her thinking about what she was doing, then a little glint appears in her eyes. "Hmm, now where was I? Oh right, I was explaining how the Great and Powerful Trixie was grateful for her frie—... um, Pretty Decent Assistant-Detective-Helper People!" We both laugh at that. After that, she walks along with me, avoiding Vice Principal Luna by sneaking into a somehow open room with no lights on, then running fairly quietly out the front of the school with a giggle. After I say that Sunset would be glad she's free, I say I just need to go and ask her something, so I disappear in a flash of green lightning and reappear back in the garden. "What took you so long, darling?" Rarity asks, without turning her head or missing a beat. "Nothing. Well, not exactly nothing." This earned me a questioning look from Rarity. Jealousy? No, i don't think so. "Aa-actually, I went to go and get Trixie out of the locked computer room that Sunset, her and I were locked in before the confrontation I was watching." "Oh, um, okay." I detected a hint of something, but I didn't know what that feeling was. Walking around the garden, Wallflower is a lot nicer than I was actually expecting. tour of the flower garden, I notice a somewhat familiar engraving in one of the stones. I dare not go near it after what happened with the memory stone, but the symbol matched my pendant around my neck perfectly. I don't know how, but I feel like someday, I will need to come back here to fulfill something. I realise that I have this feeling to hate prophecies, but this time, I feel like just forgetting about all that. Two Days Later... After a good night's sleep, we all help out, around 10-ish, at school with moving some stuff as Big Mac shows up in his truck as Luna walk out from the double-door exit. Sunset is writing to Princess Twilight and I am sitting with RaeRae as we discuss what her next fashion line should be for the autumn season in a few weeks. Good thing the four of us here are all on a break in our timetables. "No student parking in the faculty lot!" Luna yells informatively towards Applejack and the others helping out with the boxes. I couldn't help but snicker along with Sunset for some reason when she said that, but I quickly turn back to the designs before me. "I think this line-up will do perfectly. It not only works, but also emphasises on great appearance and style. A bit like the ones from Saddle." I point to the third group of designs. "I think so too, Darling, but there's also this one on par with the shique of current fashion in Cosmare." She replies, pointing to group five. There are seven groups of designs overall and we've only just looked over them briefly today. "Then what about this one?" I point at the sixth group. "Ooh! That might just do it! Thank you, my dearest!" She squeals joyfully. Giving me a quick peck on my cheek, she then proceeds to pack her designs up and head back inside as I feel her blushing from here, or maybe that's just me blushing. I get ready to follow her, but I'm interrupted. "Um, can I borrow Rhyan for a second, Rarity?" A soft voice asks. "It won't take long." I turn around to see Fluttershy looking a little bit down, so after a silent message just through eye contact with RaeRae, I sit back down with Fluttershy. Just by looking at her body posture, she's nervous but I'm not sure why. When she said that her animal friends knew we were dating, she wanted to ask me for some advice. After a few minutes of just talking, I think what I'm getting at from the quiet conversation between us is that Fluttershy has a crush on Rainbow Dash, not that she'd said anything directly about it, but that she's also noticed Dash returning her feelings but hanging out more with Applejack. With a nice calm hug, I calm down her feelings of sadness and her lovely, timid but perky smile lights up her face and she walks inside as I help with the last two boxes before heading back inside myself. Passing through the hall, I hear someone yelling about a yearbook and its president, and when I walk around the corner I'm greeted with a joyful Sunset and Trixie. "A yearbook president, never reveals her secrets!" I walk past them as they giggle together while heading off to a class. After my class of science with Twilight and Applejack, I have a free just before lunch. Walking out of the side exit to the school, into the faculty lot, I spot Sunset walking to the not-so-secret flower garden Wallflower had made and follow suit by just a few seconds. I arrive to find Wallflower hugging the new journal with a warm smile, then walk over to the two of them. Sunset spots me first. I'm amazed how in the span of a couple of days, Wallflower has gone from a timid, girl hiding in plain sight, to a strong-willed, plant-loving girl with a surprisingly talkative personality as we helped her out of her shell of shyness. "Hey, Rhyan." "Hi, Sunset. Wow, this flower garden looks amazing, Wallflower!" "Yeah, thanks. I spent a lot of my free time just managing it whenever I didn't have any classwork to do." She says with a caring smile. That was when Sunset's eyes widen a little at something she's seen, then looks at my neck, probably at my pendant, and did at least two double takes before huffing and looking away. She looked fine with her joyful , but I could immediately sense that she was confused and feeling unnerved about something. It was like my ability to sense her emotions, amongst the other students around, had gone into overdrive like when I got my pendant but this time I was sensing her emotions almost in their entirety. "Um, what is is Sunset? Is something wrong?" "Nothing!" She stammers hurriedly, the feeling of worry felt like it was flowing right off of her. "I'm sure it's nothing Rhyan." She waves it off like it wasn't worth noting, but somehow, knowing Sunset, I look where she'd been looking at it was the same rock that I'd noticed my pendant was on. As we are getting ready to leave for lunch, I had told Sunset about the rock with my pendant in it and that we shouldn't worry about it so much. However, something interesting seemed to have wiped away the worrying and upset emotions, turning them into a joyful one. "Hey, Rhyan, I was just talking with Wallflower and she would like to give you the fragment of the Memory Stone she'd been holding on to since it got destroyed." Holding out her hand, she shows the fragment with a slight swirl on it from part of the engravings. "She doesn't know the whole story behind your amnesia, but I thought it would be helpful to have something that might have some use in the future." "Oh. Thanks." I remark, surprised at the kind gesture. I take the fragment, which now has a strap attached to it so it can hang from my pendant. A few school hours pass and during the day, Wallflower is actually in a lot more classes than I realised after the stone got broken. Whenever she's told off for late submission, either one of the girls or someone in the class she'd been working with had been kind enough to actually back her up. During the lunch break we finally get given our yearbooks, yet I still haven't really been here. Can't believe how many students there are for us to get the yearbook by lunchtime. I think, as we meet up outside, near where the portal to Equestria was. Rainbow came out looking ecstatic at a supposed 'Best Friends of the Year' page with all of us on it. But her reaction to our Best Friends page was hilarious! Sunset and I just laughed at her reaction while the others were stifling their reactions to the big guy with large biceps and kissing them, being on the opposite page to ours as she opened and closed the book. "Oh come on! SERIOUSLY?!" > Epilogue: The Aftermath > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The strange memory event has passed, and it's been two months since Rhyan and Rarity almost revealed their relationship to the school, on many occasions. But Rhyan spotted something in his other friends after they welcomed Wallflower Blush into their little group. All was well in the world of magic, but some things aren't always completely gone. They just linger in the shadows, waiting for the opportune moment to spring back in anyone's face. Within them all, one very special thing is amiss and Rhyan feels like he should know what it is, but has made a decision to stay with his girlfriend for a little while longer before anything else happens. She notices he's been distracted by thought just by the subtle changes in his behaviour in the last few weeks since summer vacation had started and started to ponder if she should pursue this change in him, knowing he was going to be honest with her about his thoughts. 'Rhyan, Darling,' Rarity whispers, leaning into him as they share her bed. 'Are you sure you're okay?' Her voice was soothing to Rhyan, as he pulls her closer to his side. 'Well, I'm ...' He replies, but is at a loss for words. 'Thinking back to the night that I arrived here, I can't help but want to know why I can't remember anything. SInce I've been aware of it, I always get this feeling that I'm a different person.' Rarity draws a finger across his toned chest, through his PJ top, as he talks before laying it flat and leaning her head against him. 'Darling, I'm sure there's a pretty good reason why your memories have been frozen.' 'I know, but I wish I knew why I keep feeling this way.' he whispers back in a soft grumble while rubbing his face in frustration. He huffs out a long, deep sigh before wrapping his arm around her, falling asleep after a few more minutes of talking together. The next day comes all too quickly. Surprisingly, Pinkie Pie walks up to them on their walk to the park, with Melody in tow, holding hands. Both Rhyan and Rarity are a little bit taken aback, but not so surprised that it had shown on their faces. Their plan to be alone in the park slowly seemed like it was going to be enjoyed by their friends too. The walk was a bit noisier as the summer break had lots of student couples milling around the calm lake with a soft ambience of young, teenage voices mingling through the summer air. 'Wow, I wasn't expecting to see this many people here around this time.' 'Me neither, Sparky.' He looks incredulously at her, surprised at her sudden nickname and giggles anxiously. 'Did you just call me "Sparky"?' 'Oh no! I didn't mean for that to slip out!' A look of panic on her face appears, with a very warm blush on her cheeks. 'It's okay. It's not like I have one for you, RaeRae.' He deliberately uses his nickname out loud, hoping to catch her off guard. It pays off, as she gives the same incredulous look back at him, before they just laugh and hug sideways. As they approach an ice-cream truck, Rarity checks her bag, only to notice something is missing. 'Oh dear, I think I left something at home. Could you-' In a flash of green lightning for just over five or so seconds, he's gone, only to return with one of her other handbags. Purple, with three diamonds stitched into the side with a styling that displays her name in nothing but fancy curves and twists. 'I believe this is the bag you're thinking of?' 'Why I do believe it is! Thank you so much, darling!' 'You're welcome!' He replies, with an exaggerated bow, making everybody, including Melody and himself, laugh. This laugh didn't go unnoticed, as Rainbow Dash and Applejack appeared together, Twilight with Sunset holding Spike and Fluttershy with an older, new boy all arrive from different directions. For most of them, something didn't feel right with the new kid, but Rhyan got the impression that he'd do anything to be a good friend for Fluttershy. There seemed to be a weird aura of, well, chaos about him. After a sweet, first day of summer antics with the nine of them hanging out, they all went home feeling spent and with different partners. Fluttershy with Dash, AJ with Twilight and Spike, and Rarity with Sunset and Rhyan. The boy had introduced himself as Desmond Cordial, but prefers the nickname of Discord, saying it was a mix of the beginning to his first and last name in response to Rhyan's curiosity. TIme flies by as the first two weeks of summer go by, but nightmares keep him awake at night. It was only a few weeks after the memory mishaps that he'd been getting these weird but familiar dreams, ending up with something blurry and scary whenever he woke up. He knew something was trying to break through his amnesia, but the trauma behind the vivid recreation within his nightmares was keeping them from appearing during the day. After Sunset's latest message to Princess Twilight, Rhyan did another visit to the "Land of Equines", as he dubbed it when Rarity didn't want to see him go back there again. The visit had only been a short one, just for Princess Luna to peek into his nightmares and see what was troubling him with his amnesia, but something wasn't just keeping him out, but her as well. Even Twilight had been brought into his dream world, experiencing his slightly different perspective on the world around him. Curiosity got the better of her and with some help, went with Rhyan back through to the memory of waking up in the first aid room. Somehow, in one way or another, in the pony reality, his memory stone, now hiding within his cutie mark, was glowing vibrantly from behind the green gem, seeping its spiral shape into the gem itself. The glow fades as they stop viewing the memories, but when the time came for them to leave the dream world and wake up Twilight did in fact notice his Cutie Mark, and that beyond everything she knew, had indeed changed while they'd been reviewing his dreams again and what the weird, fuzzy "car memory" was all about. Returning home, Rhyan is reunited with his girlfriend, revealing what had happened. She also points out to him that his two necklaces had fused into one while he'd been gone. 'Rhyan, Darling, didn't you have two necklaces before you went through the portal-thingy?' 'huh?' He looks down. 'Oh, yeah. Wait... They've fused?!' This got the attention of Sunset, but besides this unexpected change, they decided it would be best to just let his magic do its thing. But the worst thing happens around the twenty-third nightmare, his latest one. The voices were very familiar, but they didn't match the voices of the girls he was close with. He could hear happy voices, then the overbearing boom of a thunderstorm wrecks his dream world and he finds himself feeling extremely warm and mumbling names and some muffled yelling. He wakes up sweating and worked up, finding Rarity is hugging him very tightly, also wide awake, with a look on her face comprised of being scared, caring, upset and worried for him when she pulls back after realising he's now awake and not shaking or screaming anymore. Rhyan was told, in the most soothing voice, that he had been convulsing and screaming out names of people she didn't know, his body shaking like crazy as if he'd been electrocuted and his eyes had been glowing softly in the dark room with wisps of sparks dancing through his tears. After a long hug, she suggests he go for a run, like Dash would do whenever she has nightmares. Taking her up on the offer, with a kiss on the lips they shared for a minute or two, he puts on his black tracksuit with fancy, green, electricity-styled stitching to match his ability. His first time wearing this tracksuit, he could smell the perfume softly emitting from around the collar, knowing she'd probably fallen asleep on it when she'd worked on it. After taking a peek outside at the quiet, early-morning streets, he zips away at hyperspeed, loosely pondering about his dreams and nightmares as well as why they're so strongly vivid but locked away from him. Unfortunately, as he runs, he finds that he's actually making a lot of noise in the quiet streets as windows are being lit up as he turns down every street. Running out of the town, he takes a scenic detour, running up to and through Manehatten, getting the same response, then through Cloudsdale with less of a response but enough to suggest he avoid busy areas. He takes a lot of quiet but long country roads when something seems off about his speed, as it cuts out mid run. Luck was on his side this time, as he slides to a long stop, burning his soles and wearing them down a little, before realising that he'd stopped outside the road to Camp Everfree. Something weird was going on whenever he was anywhere near this place and it also reflected in the emotional connection with his necklace, but the resulting problem was probably something he'd plan on dealing with way later, it wasn't that important to him right now. Not knowing that the school had issued a summer camp trip to Camp Everfree again, during the summer, he jogs 'normally' until his necklace flashes briefly once and begins to shine again he's far enough away, then zips back home. He's welcomed back by Rarity and Sweetie Belle and a lovely cup of hot chocolate with a few small marshmallows, then they all sit together and just relax into the early morning, as Sweetie Belle goes back to bed thinking that Rhyan is a great father-like figure for her, even though he's dating her sister. All is well, when something from deep within Camp Everfree, back in the cave of crystals, began to glow. The cave began to shimmer in a mixture of silver and pink colouring, just before a portal appears in the middle of the room and really close to the pedestal that was once home to the geodes of the seven girls. The portal shimmers rapidly then disappears in a flash of impossible, silver coloured light and a young girl with blonde hair in two long ponytails and a skin complexion similar to Applejack's. Brushing her long hair back, then doubling over in the cave behind some rocks, she wipes her mouth and stumbles out into the world. #\____________________/#____#\____________________/# 'Where am I?! This isn't Aerylidale...'