What if you woke up in a world you knew was fiction, but in a timeline you didn't? A world in which the freedom of its people is at stake and your friends lives are in danger? Austin wakes up in a new world trying to figure out the answers.
Austin Bradly is a troubled 17-year-old kid who gave up on a life that's taking everything away from him. One day he found something, a purpose. A purpose that leads him into a different dimension where things start to go wrong. Where is he? How did he get there? Can he get back? But most importantly, Does he want to go back?
What if I told you the world was a mess? A huge pile of darkness that haunts you every day? Maybe you got bullied in school for being the largest kid in class. Maybe you got hit multiple times because they want your launch money. It's all the same to me. In the end, all I felt was nothing. Long ago it started with a feeling of sorrow, a feeling of loneliness that was present even if there were people in my life who loved me. Slowly but surely it continued until I just didn't feel anything. No pain. No happiness. I became neutral in any and every situation. My parents thought something was wrong with me. They told me it wasn't normal to NOT feel happiness, but for me… this was my happiness. To be quite honest I didn't really remember what happiness was. It had been so long that I just thought what I felt were all emotions at once. Maybe it was human evolution… yeah, that's ridiculous but that's what I thought before.
It got so dark… that to a certain point I couldn't even see anything in color. They punched, kicked, and harassed me. All of these events helped me set up a chair and a rope on the roof of my room. It was scheduled, the day I would see light again. That's what people see in the afterlife right? A white light at the end of the tunnel?
Days passed like seconds just as usual, until one day before the end, I managed to see it. Another student was all dressed funny. I couldn't blame him, it was Halloween so everyone was dressed as a fictional character and acted as they did in the movies or comics. I was too busy acting too, not as a comic book character but as myself. Or at least a happy version of myself.
Can't let my parents get suspicious and cancel my perfect plan. But what the heck, they weren't even at home. Always busy with work and stuff.
Either way, going back to that day, I saw a student with rainbow-colored hair, a blueish jacket, and a pony logo. I figured out that girl liked a cartoon series called “My Little Pony Friendship is Magic”. It captivated me. Even if it was for children, those colors... I felt attracted to it as if it were calling me. I was 16 and many people may have thought that I was affiliated with drug cartels and such. Even the teachers were cautious when handling me. They thought I could shoot up the school if I was provoked.
But… of course, I would never do that. Why would I? Why would someone worthless attempt to take the lives of people who have a future?
My last supposed day came and I set up all my things. Even left a letter to my parents. I knew they wouldn't come home until a week later, so I left it in their room’s bed. It would make them happy that I left… they… wouldn't have to drag me by like they normally did.
In the last minutes, I stayed there, watching the chair that was gonna take my life. Suddenly I remembered that rainbow. The only color I had seen in years.
“Before I go…” I said
Searching the name in my small portable computer wasn't hard, there were thousands if not millions of web pages dedicated to talking about “My little pony”. It was a cultural phenomenon.
Then I watched. And watched. And watched until the day ended. Episode past episode, this quirky little series captivated me to the point of forgetting the world was black and gray. Then I realized something. The show was in color… I couldn't stop watching, their adventures were amazing and I just… I figured out something… As if it awakened inside of me. The show made clear the message of making friends and caring for them. Maybe… maybe my job is to take care of the people around me… It would all make sense. I'm not special, and they all are. Maybe it's my job to take away their darkness, make them feel better about themselves. Make them realize how special they are.
As soon as I realized this, I changed. Everything happening around me stayed the same. I still got called names, I still got punched. But it's better if it happened for me rather than the girl they normally did this to. Harassment isn't as bad when you know you might be saving another person’s life. A person who actually DESERVES a life.
Not to mention that my life was a bit better then, at least for my standards now. After watching the whole series and even its spinoffs I realized my true purpose in life. I slowly managed to mimic basic human emotions that I had before and people began to see me as a sort of friend they could rely on. Maybe on their side, we were, but for me, we were as separate as China from the US.
This continued until one fateful day where I woke up in a room that wasn't mine. And this is where my story begins.
Austin opened his eyes to see a wooden ceiling with black stripes. It was different from the normal white ceiling he woke up to every morning.
“What…” he said while he slowly got up.
He turned to look at the room he was in. Bookshelves and digital monitors, picture frames of random families, and drawing material. A normal bedroom from a normal boy. It was well organized and polished, not a single particle of dust was there. Surprised, Austin looked down to the bedsheets that covered his legs. He panicked. With a world-breaking jump, he slid off the bed and into the wooden floor. A creaking sound was formed when his foot touched the ground. This made Austin freeze and take a look around again. He wanted to see if anyone was moving around. After his wide eyes peeked one last time, he slowly tiptoed to the front of the bed only to be met by his reflection in the mirror.
Austin looks as his eyes jump from his sockets.
“AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!” he screams while contemplating his look.
He had really messy black and red hair, his eyes were color green and his yaw was sharp. What surprised him the most was his body. He didn't realize it before but when he woke up, he wasn't wearing a shirt and he was wearing boxers. The exposure of skin seen in the 16-year-old kid who laid in front of him made him uncomfortable. But what captivated his gaze was the sweaty abdominal six-pack visible in his lean body. The difference between his previous body and this one was huge. He had gotten used to his chubbiness and now with this one, he felt so light.
“AAAAHHHHHH!!” he screamed again.
It was too much for him. Austin didn't know what was happening, so he decided to run. He put on a white shirt he found on top of a table and pants he saw on the floor while he ran through the door. He didn't care how the people looked at him as he ran down some building stairs that lead to a social area of what seemed like an apartment complex. He zoomed out of the glass automatic door as fresh august air hit him in the face. He finally stopped and took in the light from the outside. Sounds of cars moving, people talking, birds flying. Everything was so similar yet so different at the same time. It was just a normal city, some people might confuse it as Chicago or something similar to its size. Right as he opened his eyes, he could tell something was different. Everyone’s skin… it's of a different color. From red to white to purple to gray. This freaks him out even more and he starts running through the sidewalk as people try to get out of the way.
Running from them was his goal… but the noises were everywhere, the people were different and he didn't know where he was. He ran multiple streets until a park entrance could be seen in front. As nature surrounded him, he felt everything was being left behind. The noises were dissipating and the feeling of calm was getting more intense. As he slowed down, his head began to think a little more. He stopped in front of a big fountain that laid across a big body of water in the center of the park.
“Wait for a second…”
He turned around and saw the road he took to get where he was. Right after, he lifts his hand towards his mouth to try and measure his breath.
“This… I'm not tired” he thinks as he looks into the sky only to find a blimp.
It was a beautiful day. No rain in sight, only clouds that showed the dawn of sunshine. Austin looked around and saw some people running their daily morning jog with a dog following them. Each of them with different color skin tones, just like the people back on the streets in front of the apartment.
“They seem like normal people. Maybe I just overreacted… but why do they each have a specific color of skin?” he thinks while taking a quick look at his own hands.
He had normal colored skin, pretty light considering the people jogging to his left.
“Am I dreaming? Or… WAS I KIDNAPPED AND DRUGGED?!”
Just as he dismissed that thought, a police officer with green color skin is seen approaching on a bike from the park entrance. He seemed a little out of shape but still tried his hardest to put the pedal to the metal. His blueish shirt made it seem like he was sweating more than usual and his shorts would have made Austin the laughing stock if he were seen in them at school.
Austin stopped putting attention to the officer and looked at his right hand for a few moments.
“No… this doesn't seem like a dream. It's too real. But… I ran about 700 yards in less than 2 minutes and didn't get tired at all. It just doesn't make sense” he thought as the gaze of the 16-year-old changed from his hand towards some birds who started flying from a tree.
“Hello there stranger!” the police officer says as he stops the bike in front of Austin “What are you doing here kiddo?”
Austin looks at him surprised, but he realizes that it might make the officer suspicious.
“Oh, I… amh… I was just going for a run! Yes! Just a normal run!” Austin responds with a fake smile.
“Oh, is that so? You have a very chaotic way of jogging then” he says with a laugh “I thought something was wrong so I came to check up”
He bought Austin’s lie. To be fair the officer never stood a chance, Austin was too good at acting he could actually star in any movies where the protagonist looked innocent even though he was a killer.
“Before you go, officer, I want to ask you a few quick questions,” he said as the cop got up to his bike seat.
“Oh, of course! I serve the people”
Austin looked at the sky for a few seconds trying to collect his thoughts.
“I first gotta understand where I am, maybe that way I can coordinate and see what is happening. I still gotta know how I got here and what happened to my body.” he thought while watching the bird that left the tree before coming back.
He turns to look at the cop, his big mustache covering his whole mouth and his eyes full of energy.
“I kind of got lost, I've been running for some time and I lost track of time. Do you know where I am right now?”
“Oh, that's an easy one. You are in Equestria City’s National park at the heart of the city itself”
Austin’s eyes widened.
“Equestria?” he thinks “What is he talking about? Is this a joke?”
He walks closer to the cop and his bike. Passing in front of him a flash of reflected light could be seen under the handles. It stuns him for a second but then he sees it, a driving plate normally seen in cars.
“Equestría City Police Department Property”
He turns to look at the large body of water now in front of him. The police officer looks at him in confusion.
“Are you sure you are okay kid?” he asks with a concerned face.
“Oh. I'm just fine, thank you for asking” Austin responds, his face is covered by the reflective light from water under him.
“Alright then. I do have to get going now, if you ever need anything come down to the police department. I heard there have been some weird cases of people getting scared at night by some kind of person, so do me a favor and be careful out here!” he says with a smile.
Before he got going, another person passed him at fast speeds, panicking a little. The cop sees him and starts his race towards him.
“HEY, YOU THERE! WHAT'S THE RUSH?!”
As the officer got away from the scene Austin´s mind could not stop thinking, which was something very uncommon for him before.
“Equestria City? I've never heard that before but everything leads to only one possible response”
He looks at the people running in front of him at the other side of the small lake. A pink woman and a red man playing with a small blue child.
“People with different skin colors and the fact that this place has that name… I'm not in the pony world, but… am I in Equestria Girls?”
As he asks this question he looks towards the sky, where he sees a beautiful rainbow.
“Yeah, this is definitely it. There wouldn't be a rainbow-like that if this were my previous world. But how did I get here? And why?”
As some minutes pass, he decides to find more answers about where and why he was there. He looks towards the path which leads back to the park entrance. His mind begins to move its gears. He remembers every single moment of when he was running as if he were watching it in the third person. The walk back to the apartment wasn't that long, but he captivated every detail to a perfect extent. He was gathering information like a google search bar. Everything just registered perfectly in his mind, from the billboards of the newest Daring Do Movie and fast food places to the name of every street.
He entered the apartment complex in a hurry as every eye was staring at him.
“This is incredible!” he thinks while going up the stairs to the third floor “My brain functionality increased to an absurd amount! I used to have severe brain fog but now I see everything so clear it's actually scary!”
As he opens the doors from the stairs to the third floor, he analyzes the steps needed to reach his door. He remembered that he ran about 30 steps before entering this exact stairwell, which means that the walking distance would be around 47 steps or so. Austin walked and walked, step by step only to find that his premonition was true. It took exactly 47 steps to reach his apartment door. He jumps with amazement and runs into the apartment jumping from left to right.
“OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD!!” he screamed as the neighbors on the bottom floor of his apartment asked themselves if their upstairs neighbor moved out and another one took his place.
He continues to jump until he meets the mirror in front of his bed again. His face was completely different, this body wasn't his. Suddenly his mood changed from being amazed to feeling worried.
“Who… am I?” he thinks “… this isn't me…”
As questions surged through his mind, one thing was clear: the situation kept getting more intense.
“How did I change so much?! HOW COULD THIS HAPPEN?! HOW THE HELL DID I GET HERE?!”
His thoughts were racing fast and after that, panic began to form. This was also different, in his old self his emotions were almost non-existent but in this body, it was more difficult to control them. He couldn't handle them. The room stayed the same but Austin’s vision got so fixated on the mirror that everything else became pitch black. It was getting worse and worse, sounds were starting to stop registering in his ears, the only one remaining being the deep and rapid breaths emanating from him.
Suddenly a sound broke out so loud that it woke him from his trance. It was a doorbell ring that emanated from the front door.
Austin looked at it for a second before he realized he didn't shut it when he stumbled into the huge room.
“CRAP!” he thought as he looked around to hide “Is it the owner?”
“Jake! Are you there? Is this your apartment?”
Austin looked puzzled by the female voice.
“Jake? Who was that?”
He moved a little backward until he hit one of the drawers connected to the farthest corner of the wall from the door.
“OW!” Austin screamed as the pain went from his foot to his head.
“I heard that! Come on! You know I don't want to be here Jake!”
The girl which stood in front of the door was relatively tall, not as high as Austin but still higher than most 16-year-olds. Her skin was a relatively light yellow, she had freckles that contemplated the purple-ish hair color wrapped up in a ponytail. She was looking at her phone, bored out of her mind. Her uniform was one of the shadow bolts, a special team made of students from Crystal Prep. Austin slowly opened the door to reveal a wide smile.
“H-hey! How are you doing?… hmm”
The girl looked up from her phone only to be greeted by his large white teeth. She takes a step back and makes a surprised face. Immediately Austin stops and completely opens the door.
“Dude, are you okay? You are acting… strange…”
“Oh, no! Nothing wrong here!”
The girl continued to look at him with suspicious eyes until she took a quick look at her phone.
“So… do you have any business with me?”
“Business with you? What are you implying?” she responds with a defensive tone.
“Oh, Nothing! I just, hmm… I just wanted to know why you were in… you know, my apartment?” he says with a wide smile.
“Don't you remember me? I'm Sour Sweet? One of your biology classmates?” She says with an unsurprised look “I knew you were anti, but you really are beyond help…”
Austin recognizes what this means. He was in high school, just as his previous self, he had classmates and he was antisocial… wait…
“Anti?” he asks, trying to understand better what she meant.
“Ahh! Forget it! I just came here to pick you up. What you pulled off today is not normal and you're wasting my time by not being ready for school!”
“School? OH, Yeah! Sorry, I kind of got held up by an inconvenience”
She looks at him for a second as if she were analyzing him.
“You woke up in a good mood huh?”
“What do you me-”
“JUST GET READY ALREADY!” she exclaimed.
“RIGHT”
Austin tries to look for his clothes, but he just didn't know what was where, but he suddenly got an idea. Abusing his newfound abilities, he opened every drawer and in his mind remembered what was where. This made it easier to find the clothes he thought were school uniforms. After changing, he looked around the room to find anything he would need for school. He gathered everything that could be related to his school work and put it on the backpack he saw laid down beside his bed. Before leaving through the door he turned to see a mobile phone in the drawer next to the bed he woke up from. In a final act of normalcy, he picked it up and tried to turn it on but got met with a needed password.
“CRAP! This was the holy load of information and it's just out of my grasp!”
“ARE YOU DONE ALREADY?! ARGH! CAN I GO NOW?!” Sour exclaimed in the hallway.
“Coming!”
Putting the phone in his pocket was the last thing he did before shutting the door behind him and locking it with the keys he found in the wallet his pants held.
“I need to get as much information as possible,” he thinks before facing Sour and looking in her eyes.
She stands there a little grossed out.
“So… I'll follow your lead!” he says with a smile.
“How are you today?” Austin asks as they pass one street to the next.
Sour Sweet and he had been walking for only 5 minutes, but no words were exchanged before then.
“You’re really talkative today… WHY TODAY OF ALL DAYS?!” she exclaimed, still looking at her phone.
They stopped at a crossroads as cars were passing by in front.
“W-well, I just need some way to relax, and talking is a way for me to do it”
He waited for a response. With that conversation, a lot of information was learned about this body and the context surrounding it. This person was called Jake, from what Austin could tell he is not keen on talking or interacting with anyone. Sour didn't really want to come to get him, which meant someone from school with authority made her do it. That would mean this person, before Austin took control over it, had high importance to the school, at least academic-wise. And his mental abilities also suggest such a theory.
Sour didn't respond, she just kept looking at her phone.
“How do you know when cars will pass by if you only look at your phone?”
She turned with an angry expression towards Austin.
“Ahhh, it's called MULTITASKING! But you being a genius should already know that” she finally responds waving her hands angrily.
He backed up for a second, afraid she might actually hit him. This made her stop.
“Sorry… I would never do that” she said while looking away.
“Oh, n-no problem! I'm used to it” he responded trying to make her feel better.
“You are?” she asked with curious eyes.
“AHM… I-I mean… NO!” he responded with a forceful tone.
He slipped up for a second but managed to make it so that they continued walking towards their unknown destination.
“I can't let anyone know I'm not the owner of this body. They might think I'm crazy! One thing is clear, I have gotta keep this cover-up. At least until I can confirm what is happening to me” he thought while walking behind Sour.
A few minutes go by and a few streets pass until they see the famous Crystal Prep school. Immediately Austin recognizes this. He can't believe it but it proves what he had been thinking all along.
“I'm in the My Little Pony universe…” he thought while standing still, his mouth wide open as his eyes look with amazement.
Sour walked a few feet in front but turns around to see what has kept him.
“COME ON! Hurry up! Director Cinch wants to talk with you” she said with an annoyed face.
“Oh, Okay!”
They entered the school to find its hallways empty. Students were still in class. The hallways were so blue with lockers aligned on both sides.
“Ok, I am not familiar with the complete layout of the school but from what I remember… Nah I got nothing…”
Even with his new hyper memory, he can't seem to recall a concrete layout of the premises. The primary theory in his head is that the movies and TV shows didn't bother showing any real concurrent scenes that might help map out the school, at least for THIS one.
“Ok, I'll just continue to follow her. Gonna have to get some info from Cinch… that woman… I'm gonna have a serious chat with that selfish lady…”
He remembers the events of the 3rd Equestria Girls movie and how she almost got everyone hurt. They walked by a few hallways while students were in class. Everything was so organized, so clean, so CONTROLLED. Austin looked from a window at a mathematics class. The students were not friendly to each other. They didn't talk, they didn't interact… they only worked. The walk lasted less than a minute more until they reached a large white door that said, "Principal's Office".
“Alright, my job is finally done!” Sour said as she walked away still looking at her phone.
“O-oh, Thank you!” Austin said with a smile.
She turned around with a face of surprise only for it to become a little red.
“Y-yeah, no problem”
Sour walked a little faster away until she could no longer be seen.
“Okay, this is it! I Gotta take this chance to at least find out what my relationship to the school is”
He put his hand on the door hold and slowly opened it. The door didn't creek nor did it feel heavy. Austin could have easily lifted it. The door led into a reception room where multiple other students were seated. After they recognized him, they glared a little only to go back to what they were doing.
“It appears I'm not that liked here,” he thinks while looking at them in an unsuspicious manner.
He stands before the reception desk with two ladies viewing some computers and paperwork. The ladies quickly look at him for a second only to be dismissed with a hand movement. Austin’s smiling head looks towards the students who were sitting behind and for some reason, they looked at him again with those heart-stopping glares. He shrunk his head towards his shoulders and walked towards the nearest empty seat. As he sat down the student beside him sighed and pulled the magazine closer to his head.
“So… h-how are you today?” Austin asked, looking at the roof.
As soon as those words left his mouth all the students seated looked at him with surprise, as if they just heard a person scream out of nowhere.
Austin felt a little ashamed from all the staring and decided to stop interacting for a second.
“These people really don't like me…” he thinks as he looks at his reflection from a mirror to his left.
Just as he is getting impatient, a mysterious woman opens the door that leads to Director Cinch's office. She was tall and her skin was really white as if she hadn't seen the sun in forever. She had formal attire and her hair reminded her of someone, someone from the series he loved so much.
“Mr. Walker, director Cinch is ready to see you now,” she said with a friendly smile.
Austin stood up as fast as possible as he realized who she was.
“PRINCESS CADENCE?!” he exclaimed in a surprised tone.
She took one step back as her expression turned to one of a startled child. Immediately Austin recognized he messed up.
“Sorry…” he said with an embarrassed look “I- I hope you are well”
He walks towards her and they both head towards the door.
“You woke up in a good mood didn't you?” she asked with a chuckle.
“Second person to tell me that today” Austin responded with a fake smile.
“Is that so?” she says with another chuckle “So, are you?”
He looks at her with admiration. He never imagined a worthless failure like him would ever meet a high-ranking member in the MLP franchise. But of course, she doesn't even know she’s a princess.
“I… I don't really know. Today I woke up with a bit of a headache”
“Well, you seem to talk quite a bit more. You normally don't ever speak to your classmates or want to continue with a conversation”
“I see” he whispers under his breath.
They stop behind a crystal color door with the name “Director Cinch” in the center. Cadence opens the door and makes space so that Austin could enter.
“I'll see you after the meeting, Jake,” she says while closing one of her eyes while also smiling at him.
Austin’s cheeks turn a little red. He wasn't accustomed to being treated like this, especially by such a beautiful-looking woman. Come to think of it everyone in the streets and school has looked genuinely pretty, at least when you don't get weirded out by the sheer amount of different skin colors. He nods at Cadence and smiles. She feels genuinely surprised by that but continues with her duties and closes the door behind her as Austin enters and walks towards the main desk in the center of the small office.
He sees multiple rows of organized bookshelves and photographs of Cinch when she graduated from university and when she started Crystal Prep. Everything seemed so polished, almost as if it were a flash animation. No imperfections. In front of him laid two chairs, a desk, and behind it a larger seat with beautiful leather detail. The chair was facing the same way that he was, which made it impossible to see Cinch. He didn't say a word for some time, he didn't want to. Thinking began to sink in his brain. While walking here he managed to come up with some pretty simple questions that would give him some important information about this world. All of a sudden, Cinch turns around with a few folders and puts them on the large table. She made sure to move any items that were already there like the pens in her pen holder, or the laptop computer on the left side.
“Mister Walker,” she said as her look moved towards his eyes “It's nice to see you're in good health”
Austin looked at her with menace but laid off a little after he remembered she was a valuable source of information.
“Hello Director Cinch,” he said with a neutral voice.
“My, my, you woke up in a good mood today didn't you Jake?”
Austin rolled his eyes. It's the 3rd time he's heard that same comment.
“Yeah well, I wouldn't say I'm in a good mood. Just a little bit confused”
She looked at him with interest. She turned to the laptop and searched for a digital file.
“I see. This is the first Jake, you've never missed a single school class in all of last semester” she says while viewing “Jake’s” attendance records “We thought something happened so we sent a student to go check”
“It's not normal for students to stay home while they are sick?”
“Yes, but only if they submit a report for a rest request,” she says while moving her gaze back to Austin “But you are not sick, are you?”
He can sense a tense atmosphere building up. He knew that she was an authoritarian woman in the movies, but being right in front of her was something else. It wasn't just her tone and her body language, it was her eyes. She stands up and begins to walk around the office. There are multiple artifacts fixated around, from one gladiator helmet to a broken piece of what appeared to be a black emerald. Each of the multiple artifacts was maintained behind a thick glass cover.
“It would be a shame if our star student were to become sick just a few months from the Friendship Games with “CHS”
Austin’s eyes opened wide. CHS? That's Canterlot High School, right? The gears in his head began to move.
“A few months before the Friendship Games? I’m the star student? What happened to Twilight? I need to find out where in the timeline I am” he thought while preparing his line of questioning.
Austin turns to look at Cinch as she moves behind him.
“Director… What happened to Twilight Sparkle? Wasn't she the best student in the school?” he asked in a calm yet curious voice.
She looked at him with confused eyes.
“Don't you remember? Twilight WAS the best until you entered 3 months ago”
That can't be… In the movies there was never a “Jake Walker”, and Twilight WAS the best student in Crystal Prep right before she left for CHS. Wait…
“I think I get it! I'm at a point before the friendship games happen and before Twilight leaves! That makes it easy! I just have to search for Twilight who is investigating magic and see if she could help me find out what is happening!” he thinks before realizing something “But what if she HASN'T started her magic study? She only starts after Rainbow Rocks when two anomalies happen, right?”
“Speaking of “What happened”, I would like to ask why you were late for school today. As we already know, you normally don't do such things. We thought maybe you got in an accident” Cinch said while walking to her leather chair.
Austin stopped thinking about Twilight for a second and concentrated on her question. He decides to tell her part of the truth.
“I don't really know how to explain it, but today I woke up as if I were in a different body than the one I'm normally in. I was confused and panicked a little. Then I found Sour looking for me and I came here”
Cinch looked at his face for a few seconds and leaned back in her chair.
“You know Jake, we here at Crystal Prep are very keen on following rules. I think you already know that especially because you have never broken any of them” She says while looking at him with sharp eyes “Did you do drugs yesterday?”
He leaned back for a second. Drugs? Did she just say that in a cartoon movie? How can that be possible?
“I don't think so, at least to my knowledge it was a normal night to a normal day,” Austin said with a serious face.
This is different. Different from the MLP movies, different from the normal timeline.
Cinch looked at the clock that hung on top of the main door and sighed a little.
“I know losing a loved one is hard Jake, but you have to understand that doing such things will only get in the way of your success. What if she was here? Would your mother want to see you like this?” She said with a face showing pity.
What is she talking about? Losing a mother? A few seconds go by while both of them don't make a sound. This makes Cinch look at the clock again.
“Well Mister Walker, I have a meeting in a few minutes with the school council so I'm gonna have to make this short,” she said while standing up “Make sure to not get into any trouble, you are a powerful asset to the school and we would like to… have you at full strength if anything happens”
Austin looks at her with angry eyes.
“I may be on a different timeline, but this woman is the same Cinch as the other one. Sharp and selfish” he thinks while starting to stand up.
Cinch guides Austin to the exit of her office and just as she is about to close the door she calls for him.
“Jake, stay out of trouble”
He looks at her for a second and turns back towards the exit.
“What was all of that about?” Cadence asks while looking at him with a worried face.
“Oh, that was just… I asked her a few things and she thinks I'm doing drugs or something”
Cadence gasps and leans closer to him.
“Please tell me you are not doing it! You know how people turn out with that stuff, right? especially in your young age”, she says with a worried face.
“Of course not. I just had a bad night yesterday and I couldn't go to sleep, that's all”
“That better be all mister! Or else…”
She seemed like a big sister. It hit Austin after he heard her talking like that. He is being treated just as she treats Twilight. That either means she treats everyone the same, or he has a connection to her that's under the surface.
“Either way, I do have to go now… you know, class,” he says while slowly walking to the door.
“But Jake, it's just about to be lunch” she responds as the bells ring all around the school, notifying the students that it's time to eat.
Austin waves at her and leaves through the door.
“Even better,” he says while understanding what has to happen next.
“This world is completely different, which means I can't depend on it following the original timeline. That means that I have to find out if Twilight has started her research on magic and see if I could use it to find a way back home… I can't live like this…” Austin thinks while walking along school hallways.
As he walked students seemed to be enjoying their lunch break with other friends, some even with what seemed to be girlfriends and boyfriends.
Every time he took a step the students in front of him moved around to let him pass. Confused, Austin tried to look at their faces, but they all gave him that same jealous look.
“I see…” he thinks “Damn Jake… what kind of a genius are you?”
Minutes turned to hours in his head, but he didn't manage to find her. From left to right to the second and third floor, he practically searched every place in the school.
“You know, from what the animations showed, people might have thought that this place was not big… BUT THIS IS HUGE!”
He physically made a desperate gesture.
“Come on Austin! You can do it! Alright, let's think for a second. Twilight wasn't the person to make friends, at least early on in the story. We already know that she IS in school, but she isn't in any public room. I could search for her next class, but that would limit the time I have talking to her” he thinks with an analytical face.
He turned to look at the signs at each corner of the halls. “Cafeteria”, “East Wing”, “South wing”, “Library”.
“Not even in the library… where else could she be? WAIT. He has Spike… it's lunchtime which means she might be eating with him, but Cadence told her that pets aren't allowed in the school, right? In the third movie? YES! She might be in the dormitories!”
With finally a concrete lead, he heads towards the entrance of the dormitory wing of the school.
As he walks he sees fewer and fewer students around. He guesses that Twilight doesn't like the company.
“Now that I think about it, why didn't I wake up in a dormitory? I'm a part of the school after all… I mean, Jake is. There is still a lot I don't know…
After a few minutes, he made it to the wing. There was a large glass door with a keypad on it which seemed to require a special keycard that they give each of the students that live there.
“You gotta be kidding, even here my luck is bad…”
He waits for a little in a far corner of the hallway until a student comes by and opens the door. Immediately Austin runs and catches the door right before it closes.
“Thank you new body!” he thinks while passing through.
Everything seemed a little bit closer together, especially the walls. The hallways were shorter and smaller in length.
With a little trouble, he manages to find a list of all the people who live in the wing and what their room number was.
“Twilight Sparkle,” he says while scanning all the names “Got ya!”
Right on the bottom right was her name, her room number being “222”.
He searches around, door by door, floor by floor. Room 128, 160, 200, 220.
He finally reaches room 222 on the third floor of the wing. The door was purple and the name in front was “Twilight Sparkle” shown in big black thick letters.
He takes a big breath and tries to organize what he's gonna ask her.
“With the information, I have right now, I'm in a superior position than her in the school hierarchy, which could mean we either have a competitive relationship or respect each other. In the movies, Twilight doesn't seem like the kind of person to have such jealousy, but it's been shown that I'm not in the same timeline… Gotta take precaution” he thinks.
He gets ready to knock on the door but stops himself, preparing himself for what was about to happen.
“Knock knock knock”
Immediately after the sounds emanated, the sloppy movement could be heard behind the door. A bark and a person saying “NO SPIKE!” in loud whispers. A few seconds pass until some locks are heard opening up and the door begins to open slowly.
“Hello?” an innocent voice said with fear.
“H-hi…” Austin said with a smile.
She opened the door a little more until the upper part of her body could be seen. She was just as the movies depicted her. Her skin was purple and her hair was large. She had wide purple eyes and the expression of a child that's trying to hide something from their parents. Austin couldn't stop fanboying mentally.
“Oh! J-Jake! I d-didn't know you were coming by” she said in a fast voice.
She was afraid, but not of him. She didn't want anyone to know Spike was behind her.
“Yeah sorry for not telling you before, this was all kind of sudden and I wanted to ask you a few questions that could help me with a research paper I’m doing for Astrophysics class,” he asks, trying to make her buy the lie.
“Oh, I didn't know you were taking Astro 3. B-but sure, I can help you. Could we just… d-do it somewhere else?” she asks with a smile.
“You can't hide it Twi, I know Spike is in there,” he says with a smirk and a chuckle.
Her face turns a little red and she starts to open the door a little more.
“PLEASE DON'T TELL ANYONE!” she whispers to him.
“I'm not a snitch”
“Oh, nonononono I didn't mean it that-”
“It's okay Twilight, I know you didn't,” he says with a smile.
They both enter the room as Austin closes the door and Twilight opens a hatch to let Spike out. Spike runs around a little and sniffs Austin’s shoes. Satisfied that he isn't a threat, he goes back to Twilight as she throws a toy to play with.
“I figured you were here with Spike, lunchtime calls animals harder than with humans,” he says while inspecting the room.
It had only one bookshelf, a bed, and a desk with multiple stacked papers. Even the ground was full of books and work.
“You seem to be in a good mood today,” Twilight says as she takes the toy Spike brought her and throws it gently away so that they could continue to play.
“If I had a penny for every time they told me that I would be rich” he responds while looking at Spike.
“By the way, how did you know about Spike?” she asks with a worried face.
“Don't worry, no one else knows, I kind of saw him before and figured he was yours” Austin replied trying to avoid eye contact.
“Thank goodness… I was worried he might be taken away from me because of school rules…”
“Yeah, I can see everyone follows them pretty firmly”
“Yeah, everyone is so interested in doing their best that they figure following them might give them an advantage academic wise”
“Well, look at you. You don't follow all of them and you are the best student in the school!”
Twilight’s face turns a little red after hearing that.
“You don't have to flatter me,” she says with a smile “You already proved yourself to be the best already… especially after winning that chess tournament with your eyes closed… or that time you beat everyone in the shadow bolts football team but refused to play on the tournament… or that time when you were the only person to get a 100 in all midterms…”
She looks down towards Spike. Austin could see that she felt a little jealous. From the information Cinch gave him, Twilight was a close second behind Jake.
“T-that may be so, but look at you. You managed to keep me on my toes all the times we had an exam” he said with a smile “And besides, you are smarter than I will ever be! I just got lucky”
She turned towards him with big eyes but she immediately made a noticeable frown.
“You and I both know Luck isn't a thing. There is a scientific explanation to everything!” she says while standing up.
“Then that means that SCIENTIFICALLY, you are really smart”
She turns towards him and makes a nervous smile.
“T-thank you…”
A minute goes by before they interact again. It became kind of awkward, but internally Austin was enjoying every second of it. How could he not? He was with one of his favorite fictional characters.
“So… you had some questions for me?” she asked with a nervous look.
“Oh, right! For the paper”
He cleared his throat and mentally remembered all his questions as if they were listed on a piece of paper.
“I first would like to ask what day is it, with month and year too”
She looked at him confused. How could the most intelligent student in the school not know the date? All that confusion faded away after seeing his serious face.
“Okay, T-today is well… the year is 2013 and month September… and day… 23rd,” she said with a nervous look as if she were taking a test.
With this newfound information, Austin could now figure the most important question he has at the moment.
“I see. So we are in September, which means that we are around the Fall Formal event…” he thinks.
Twilight looks at his face a little bit too much. When Austin finally comes back from his thinking she immediately looks away to avoid an embarrassing situation.
“Do you know if the Fall Formal already happened?” he asked her with a soft smile.
“Fall Formal?” she replied with a look of confusion “I- I'm sorry, I don't know what that is. WAIT, IS THAT A CONCEPT THAT'S COMING IN OUR NEXT TEST?”
“Oh, no-no. It's an event happening someplace else. It’s not school-related” he said with a chuckle.
“Oof.. that's good” she responded with a sigh of relief.
Austin didn't notice but all through their interrogation, he was smiling. Normally he had to force himself, but with her it was different. He didn't have to make that conscious effort.
“One last question and this is the most important one”
Twilight leaned in with anticipation, her eyes glowing with life and wonder.
“Do you believe in Magic?” he finally said after a few seconds.
Twi’s face fell to the floor by this ridiculous question.
“Of course Magic doesn't exist,” she says while adjusting her glasses “As I said before, there is a scientific explanation to everything”
That answered the last of his questions. To be fair, those were only 3 but it confirmed multiple things. Twilight hadn't started her research into magic yet which means the first energy anomaly hasn't happened, which also means that the fall formal is still yet to start, which ALSO means that Princess Twilight would soon come to this world.
Austin looks at his reflection in the only mirror the room had.
“Maybe I can go back to my world with her help. From what I can tell my presence here has created a whole different timeline from the original continuity. That could suggest that me being here… could change the whole story” he thinks.
Twilight looks at him with curiosity. She had never seen Jake this intensely immersed in his own thoughts before.
Austin notices her and panics a little, he can't let any more information spill out.
“Sorry, was thinking a little,” he said while trying to act normal.
“Oh, no problem. I kind of figured, you normally are not a people person… just like me”
This catches him by surprise. It reminds him of what happens in the third movie. This Twilight hasn't realized the importance of friendship yet.
“You know, sometimes we gotta reach out to others so that they can help us. Look at me today, we managed to get a good conversation going right?” he says with a comforting smile.
His comment made Twilight blush a little. It's true that she was jealous of him, but she hadn't heard any other student talk to her like this for a long time.
Just before she opened her mouth to say something a loud sound could be heard in the hall. It was that annoying ringtone that sounds when lunch is over and a class is about to start.
Austin took this opportunity to make his escape.
“That's my queue to go,” he says with a thumbs up.
Without saying another word he grabs his backpack from the corner of the room and heads towards the exit.
“WAIT!” Twilight exclaims while standing up “Do YOU believe in Magic?”
Before passing through the door opening he looks back at her. Her beautiful face shining in front of his.
“With you existing, hell yeah,” he said without even thinking.
This made both of them blush. Austin didn't mean to say that, he was too captivated by her beauty and the moment.
“I- I gotta go! See you later!” he says while running out of the room and gently shutting the door.
Twilight stayed there with her mouth open as Spike licks her legs to get a reaction, but she just could not believe he said that.
“CRAP, CRAP! CRAP!!” Austin thinks while leaving the dormitory wing “This is bad, now she is gonna think “Jake” has a crush on her… I gotta get my emotions in check! Remember Austin, you are just a pebble in the road. Just a tiny insignificant particle!”
He leaves the school via the front doors and searches the way to Jake’s apartment. But before he started walking the way he remembered, his head turned back towards the Crystal Prep building.
“I'm sorry Jake but I'm gonna have to take action into my own hands. I can't stay in your body and I can't stay in this world… I gotta go back… and the only way I can is with her help… I hope you forgive me for taking control of your life…” he says.
And as he walks towards his apartment something activates in his mind. It's nothing big, just a tiny impulse in the back of his brain. As if there were another consciousness in his body waking up slowly…. but surely.
The sound of a tape recorder is heard. Multiple little noises come out of the small device as a projector shows some videos on a garage concrete wall.
Instrumental music starts playing in the background as a picture of a family shows up in the projection. Multiple videos are shown of that family, one with a mother holding a baby as the father hugs the two of them. Another where the father was playing with that same baby that grew up into a child. Multiple other short clips are projected with that same family until the projector malfunctions.
As the projector begins to shut down a man could be seen seated in a wooden chair as if he were watching a movie, surrounded by old photo holders and an opened beer. He gets up to fix the projector but something could be seen in his hand. A picture of that same family, but this one doesn't have the mother in it.
“We love you,” the projector says as its power source diminishes.
While he shuts it down, he turns to look at the watch on his right wrist and sees the time.
“It's that time again... “ he thinks while heading to a nearby phone.
When he reached it he started to dial a number and waited. As the ring tones sounded he got directed to voicemail which in turn made the man look up to the roof and shake his head a few times.
“Please leave a message,” the phone said.
The man took a deep breath and sighed. He waited a few seconds to say something and his face looked as if he were thinking what he wanted to say.
“Hello Jake, I hope you've been well. I- it's your dad”
As the man’s words continue, Austin is seen entering “his” apartment and looking for clues about who Jake was while also getting ready to head towards CHS.
“I know you may not wanna talk to me, and t-that's all right. I know how you feel, you've made it clear multiple times before and I just wish I knew what to tell you. But after a while I've come to the realization that we gotta talk about it son, it's not gonna solve itself”
After setting up multiple important products in his backpack he looks at his reflection in the mirror.
“I know you've been working hard in school for some time and I completely respect that, but I just… you know… hoped that maybe we could meet sometime soon. It's been very long since the last time we met and well…” the man said through the phone before a long pause was made.
Austin looks at the picture frames of families on the walls. A lot of them were of two parents and a child boy, all of them being happy and in a good mood. He turned to some of them until he finally reached one where he could recognize a single boy. Jake.
“... I- I learned how to make Pancakes! So maybe we could meet one of these days for breakfast?... If you hear this message, please call me back… You may not believe me, but I love you, son,” the man said before hanging up the phone.
He looked back to where there was a video previously projected and focused on the picture frame to the right. Little did he know it was the same one Austin was looking at that same exact moment.
“Who are you, Jake Walker?” Austin asked while looking at the huge red “X” painted over the family picture.
The car was moving smoothly on the road as multiple bumps could be seen in front.
“YOU HAVE TO BE KIDDING!” Austin exclaimed out loud, annoyed “IT'S THE 17th ONE IVE HIT IN THE LAST 5 MINUTES!”
He hadn't found the time to digest the number of bumps on the road, but his frustration was still rising. He could not think.
Just as fast as he was moving, the day was going forward as the sunset could be seen shining behind the mountains of Equestria city.
Suddenly he drifts multiple times trying to gain control of the vehicle and just verily avoiding crashing. He had never driven seriously before, only when his parents forced him to take driving classes back home.
As the car exits Equestria City’s limits he turns towards his right to see a map of the state.
“Ok, so I'm 13 minutes away from CHS from what the guide told me,” Austin said while looking at the road and quickly switching to the map back and forth.
The road looked limitless in front but that didn't stop him from questioning his situation.
“I wonder when Twilight’s gonna pass through the portal. Maybe today or maybe in one of the following 7 days”
Questioning himself made time move much faster. So much so that before he knew it his car was passing through the front of Canterlot High School.
His gaze stayed fixed on the building as students started to walk out the main glass doors, one of them catching his eye. A girl with a black jacket, her skin color dark yellow, her hair simulating the sunset he saw while driving. It was her. The villain of the first movie.
Sunset Shimmer.
Austin parked the car with a little difficulty but he was relieved when opening the door and touching the firm ground. He almost died multiple times in the last hour.
After shutting down the car he quickly tried to find that sunset hair girl that captivated him before. She was walking past the light post before starting to cross the street towards the inner part of the town.
Austin tried to crouch as much as he could behind “his” car, and with his new body, it was easily done. Sunset finished crossing the road and waited for something or someone in front of a small food store.
Now that he saw her, Sunset was a beautiful girl. She was tall and emanated a pretty dominating presence. He knew that of course, he saw the movie and understood her character arc. But watching her this close, watching her in the “real” world was different. He was so accustomed to seeing her smiling later on in the series that watching her frown got to him. Maybe he could help?
“I can't do that… “ he told himself “Even if the timeline is a tiny bit different if I make a mistake it could ruin everything”
But then why was he there? Wouldn't he interfere if he met Twilight either way? How would that be any different?
“That’s different, I can talk to Twilight and leave with her help. Then she can resume like in the movie” he said.
A movement behind his head made him turn around a little. He found that a couple was walking by and got weirded out when Austin was talking to himself. He waved with a nervous smile as they walked past Sunset who was still waiting there.
After a few silent moments, Snips and Snails come running towards her from the direction of the school. They were laughing hysterically as they waved their phones. Sunset put up a devilish smile as she turned to look at them.
That's when he saw it. That turn of expression showed a tiny bit of her true self. A few years of not having any feelings really makes you look at how other people expressed themselves so it was easy to see it, that sadness in her eyes, her lips. It was too evident for him.
As Snips and Snails got closer he could hear just a little of their conversation, but could not understand them completely.
In front of Sunset, they showed her their phones and what seemed to be videos. Austin could not see it even with his 20/20 eyesight. He chose to take action.
He looked around before finally standing up and walked slowly towards them. This made it easier to hear and see what they were doing.
“This is perfect!” Sunset exclaimed “With this, she will be done for”
She looked happier than before, but yet again it was just a front. Austin looked at them only with his eyes, his slow pace making it difficult to arouse suspicion of his plan.
“Send me this via email, I'll finish the job,” she said while shifting her weight from one leg to another “Twilight Sparkle will NOT know how to handle this! She is just a bug on the sidewalk”
“YEAH, a bug!” said Snips.
“On the sidewalk” continued Snails.
“Go send me this NOW” she demanded as the two boys started to run towards their homes. Before Austin could do anything else, Sunset turned around and saw him for the first time.
She looked at him with intense eyes that would burn the soul of an individual. Austin just stood there looking at her without emotion.
“What are you looking at?” she said with a challenging tone.
Austin panicked and tried to walk away, but his legs were not letting him. As if his body wanted to stand there.
“Are you dense? Or just dumb?” she continued while walking towards him “Are you stalking me?”
Austin just continued to stare at her. This made her angrier than before. She was in front of him now, just a foot away from his face.
“I asked…. ARE YOU STALKING ME?” she repeated as her eyes stared “You know, it would be really easy to just scream and attract attention. I can practically see it: HELP ME, HELP ME! This guy is going to kidnap me! Somebody, please call the police!”
She wanted to get a reaction just as she normally does with her other students but Austin didn't give it to her. He just stared. His mind was still comparing the Sunset he knew and the Sunset in front of him.
She runs out of patience. If verbal threats don't work on him maybe a little push will. She smirks and quickly pushes him with her hands towards the wall. A large sound is heard as Austin’s head hits the wall. This makes Sunset take a step back, and just for a second, her face turned to one of worry only for it to return back to her mad front. She thought Austin would just take a step back. She never expected him to hit the wall.
Without knowing, Austin began to smile. His body, his mind, he didn't want to say what he was about to, but it's as if he needed to say it.
“There it was… that face. For just a few seconds you showed it. You slipped up” he said.
She took another step back as Austin regained his composure.
“That was the face of a person who regretted doing what he did. That face is only present in people who seek redemption. Do you think what you're about to do is right? Making a video about her is not going to make you feel better. Nor is getting that crown. It's gonna make you feel worse. More alone than you've ever been” Austin made a pause and took a step towards her “You have the eyes of a person who is suffering inside”
His mouth was moving on its own. Even if he tried to go away, he couldn't. And just as he couldn't stop, Sunset’s eyes were getting wider as he continued to speak.
“Wha-, what are you saying!?” she responded in shock “You don't know anything about me you freak! I can do whatever I want whenever I want”
Those words would have hurt anyone else, but they were just empty shells that failed to damage Austin.
He realized something. Sunset showed a tiny flaw in her disguise. His decision was made and he needed to do something he didn't wanna do. And just as he prepared, something on the inside made it just a tiny bit easier to do it, a little satisfaction.
“Do you regret it? Leaving her behind in Equestria? Betraying her as you walked through that mirror?”
As small moments passed, Austin noted her eyes started to get teary but he could not stop. He had to keep cutting deep, deep enough for her to reflect. He already messed up, so might as well go all the way.
The tension in the air began to feel like flames to the skin.
“If this is how you feel now, imagine how you would feel walking back through that mirror with an army only to be met by your teacher’s eyes. How would she feel? How would she feel if she saw YOU forcing your magic upon others, taking their free will only to serve a cause that's flawed? Think about it for a second Sunset!”
Sunset had no words to respond this time. She knew this, so her panic began to set in as she tried to tilt her head to the left, trying to avoid eye contact with him as her tears began to slide down her cheeks.
“NO. Look at me Sunset Shimmer!”
He grabbed her shoulders and forced her to look at him.
“YOU ARE A GOOD PERSON. You KNOW that this is wrong. And I know that you know what could happen. So please… please reconsider what you are panning” he finally said, taking a few steps back.
Sunset stared at him with her tears now reaching the tip of her chin. She suddenly closed her eyes and began to sprint away as fast as she could.
Austin reached towards her, but she was just too far away.
“Sunset wait!” he exclaimed but she was already gone.
“CRAP,” he said while covering his head with his hands “Did I go too far?”
After a few moments, his view changed from the ground towards CHS.
“No… maybe it worked… maybe she will change… she is not a bad person, right? Maybe my words got to her enough so that she might change her mind….” He thought, trying to justify the way he treated her. “CRAP, CRAP, CRAP! I really messed up!”
He understood what he did.
“I turned into the thing I fight against…” he thinks “NEVER AGAIN”
A few seconds passed as his view stayed centered on the school building.
“I practically already messed up the timeline… I have to be more careful so that I don't completely ruin it”
He turned towards where Sunset ran one last time only to be met with an empty street and a few houses and building windows lighted up.
As the crosswalk light turns green, he walks towards the school. Towards his Objective.
“I have to find her before I mess up anything else,” he thinks as his car keys fall from his pants “Oh crap”
“Ok, so from what I saw Sunset was happy because Snips and Snails recorded videos of Twilight in the library. She said that Twilight would fail, which confirms she has already arrived here through the portal. This also means I have a two-day time limit without counting this one… crap… she might think I'm crazy if I told her everything… but then again she is a magical pony from another dimension” Austin thinks while passing in front of the portal statue which leads towards Equestria.
He holds his chin for a little bit, curious to what effect his hand might have if he passed through it.
“Must be Jake’s scientific mind kicking in” he thought while slowly walking towards it. He lifted his hand and slowly pushed it towards what seemed to be stone. But before actually touching it, a light reached for him from his back.
“Hey! What are you doing?!” a security guard asked while walking down the front steps towards him.
“Oh, sorry sir. I was just captivated by this wonderful statue. Didn't mean to scare” Austin said while turning to look at the tall bearded man.
“Oh, sorry, I thought you were someone else. You shouldn't be out so late, I heard there have been sightings of a dangerous man who is scaring the town folk” the man responded in a more calm manner.
“Yeah, a police officer told me this some time ago. Did it start recently?” he asks while looking at the open main glass door the guard came from.
“Yeah, only started happening about a week ago. So you better get home soon kid, don't wanna see anyone be kidnapped on my watch” the man says with a smile that could be seen through his mustache.
“Oh, of course. I'll get going now” he said just before looking towards the side of the school “Wait! DID YOU SEE THAT?”
The security guard got alarmed by Austin’s sudden reaction.
“No, what happened?” he asked while turning towards the way he was pointing.
“I saw something move that way! I think it was a man!” Austin said.
The guard picked up his radio and spoke softly towards it.
“Code nine, side east of the school grounds, head towards the cafeteria and back entrance, copy,” he said.
After that, he started moving towards where Austin was pointing.
“Go home kid, run before it gets ugly,” the man said in a surprisingly manly voice.
“Got it!” he responded while slowly walking towards the front entrance and entering CHS through the open glass door.
It was really dark inside, nothing but the light coming through the barely visible windows of the hallways and the classrooms.
The entrance lobby was just as the movies depicted, square-like in shape, trophies behind glass to the right, and even the stairs which lead to the second floor were accurate.
“I can't believe it,” Austin thinks while swiftly turning around and around trying to look at every single detail “This really is… REAL…”
He moves to the trophies to his right.
“These were the same ones Twilight saw when she first entered the school,” he thinks while making a smile and seeing a donut-shaped trophy “Yeah, these are definitely from Equestria”
While he was looking something caught him by surprise. In the center of all the trophies, there was a small shard of a black diamond. For some instances it shined, but stopped afterward. He doesn't remember that black shard being there in the movies. He looks at it for a few seconds trying to analyze it until a loud sound is heard behind some glass doors which lead closer to the center of the school.
As fast and quietly as he could, Austin walked to the stairs and went to the second floor of the building. Just as he managed to get out of sight a few security guards opened the doors and looked around.
“No one in the entrance, main doors are closed,” one of them said.
“You really gotta get that memory looked into old man, one day someone might actually get in…” the other one joined in as the radio started to receive a message.
“It's better if we keep this level of security tight. Let's do one more search before we move out. I'll do one outside, you search every room inside, copy?”
“Copy” both guards said with a yawn.
Austin moves a little bit back as the two men start to search the first-floor room by room.
“Crap! If they really search every room that includes the library! And that means…” he thinks just as he starts to move in a tiptoe fashion through the halls.
As he moved from left to right trying to find a way that led to the library, the darkness in the halls made it look like a horror movie. Sounds of wind could be heard through the classroom doors and the footsteps of the guards started to creep up behind his ear.
“I know where it is, I just don't know where to go…” he whispers in frustration just as his head hits a wall in front.
It took a while but Austin finally managed to reach the main entrance of the school library. He looks back and forth through the hallway to see if anyone was watching. As he sees the coast clear, he takes a look through the windows. It's dark, but not enough to blind a person. The moonlight shine reflected on the floor makes visibility far easier than on the hallways.
“Thank god the Library has a windowed ceiling,” he says while slowly opening the door and shifting inside.
Inside the room, he looks at it for a little bit. Everything seems to be normal. It seemed the teachers left the school premises at this time in the afternoon. He looks at the stairs which lead to the second floor of the library. In his mind he knew Twilight would be there sleeping in a pile of books with Spike, he just didn't know what to do.
“Should I tell her the truth? No… she already has enough on her plate and in the movie she barely was able to get back to her world with the Sunset situation… But what if what I told her changed that? Maybe she will change early and that will give her time to figure this out…” he thinks while still looking at the second-floor stairs.
Austin changes his view to the moon which could be viewed by the windows in the ceiling.
“That's a valid consideration, but what if she hasn't? I gotta be extra careful, especially with the stunt I did before…” he tells himself while also swiftly punching his own face “You really put me in a hard place didn't you Austin…”
With a determined look, he switched his gaze towards his hands.
“I gotta make this right… with what I did, maybe I changed the timeline enough to put them in danger… And they don't deserve that… but maybe I can change it so that things go right!”
He puts one foot forward, then another, and so on. He slowly goes up the stairs and hides behind some bookshelves.
He looks around for a bit until he spots something, a little light.
“A reflected light…” he thinks while standing in front of the gap between two large bookshelves “She’s here”.
Twilight Sparkle was a pony princess from another dimension but she, just as everyone else, needed time to rest, to sleep. But instead of dreaming, she was remembering her friends and her old world. Since coming to this one she felt alone as if no one could understand what she was going through… and it piled up enough to stress her out. Maybe Spike was there, but other than that the weight of the world was on her. She remembered everything from that day. The way she had to leave her world behind, when she first met Fluttershy, Applejack, and Pinky, when she confronted Sunset for the first time, but most importantly the information she gained from a yearbook. Her friends were not the same and that's what freaked her out the most. For one instance she thought that things would not turn out alright… but why was this? She was supposed to be the princess of friendship and for her to not find the answer to her problem was just annoying.
She needed to gain the trust of everyone in the school so that they vote for her in the Fall Formal even to gain her crown back, but doing it alone would be really difficult. She needs the help of her friends...
“So let's start from the start,” She thought “Why would my friends be annoyed with each other? And how can I fix it?”
In the middle of her sleeping thoughts, she hears a sound. It wasn't just any normal one, it was one of a book falling. She didn't mind, but then it sounded again… and again… and again.
Twilight slowly opened her eyes as a yawn was made. She looked beside her to find Spike sleeping, but something was wrong. She immediately hears a small noise coming from the front of the book bed. A shadow could be seen, a person, no, a boy was sitting in a small chair and he was… reading a book?
The boy slowly moved his gaze towards hers and they met eye to eye. He smiled softly and prepared to say something.
“Well, hello there-” he tried to say before being cut off by Twilight’s panicked face.
“AHHH!” she screamed just as Spike woke up from his sleeping dream.
“Wha- what happened Twilight?” he asked with his eyes full of sleepiness.
The boy got up from the chair with surprise as he saw Twilight jump out of her bed and hug Spike. Her face showed a little bit of shock.
“Wait a second!” the boy said “I'm not going to hurt you!”
Twilight stayed back. She didn't know who he was or why he was watching them sleep, but it creeped her out.
“I wasn't doing anything bad, I was just looking for a book and found you two here!”
The boy made a relaxed gesture to Twilight as he tried to calm her down. Slowly Twilight began to calm down, but her guard was still up.
“W-who are you?” she asked with a scared voice.
It was noticeable that she was scared, and the boy caught up with it.
“My name is Austin, I'm here to read a book” he responded with a smile.
He knew Twilight was new to this world and its culture, which means that this little lie might actually pay off.
“Oh. A book… at this time of day? You do know that not sleeping makes your brain capacity less productive right?” she says with a calmer voice.
“Oh yeah, I am familiarized with that concept. But… I never let it stop me” he says with a smile.
He needs to gain her trust, so using this type of language and terminologies might make it so that they have an easier time connecting. If Austin knows anything about Twilight is that she loves her science.
“But… why did you sit right in front of our-” she was saying before looking at the “bed” she and Spike were occupying.
“-Bed?” she finished with a large forced smile.
“Oh, Ahm… well, you were sleeping in the social study and school-related section, and well... Science books were right around the corner. But when I went to get them I saw you and I asked myself “Why would a girl sleep in a school library at night?” I told myself that maybe it was a fetish or something”
“A fetish?!” she asked with a worried face “What is that?”
Austin raised an eyebrow at that question. It seemed like her terminology was a little limited in this type of conversation.
“It's something you do that you like to do. But I wouldn't worry about that, I'm more worried about the fact that the dog in your arms talked, dog vocal cords aren't supposed to allow this type of thing” he said while hiding the dog anatomy book behind his leg.
He wanted to deflect the conversation so that she did not question the situation even more. Lucky he knew how to press her buttons. Pressuring her just a tiny bit will make her not ask so many questions.
“Oh!... that… hmmm…” she tried saying while looking from left to right.
Spike looked at her with a face of worry just as Austin noticed.
“I know he didn't speak, don't be so alarmed,” he said with a smile “As you said before, my brain is not functioning at its 100%, so I know I just imagined things”
With a face of relief, both she and Spike exhaled the air that was stuck in their longs in that brief moment.
“But why are YOU here tonight?” he asked while sitting in the small chair again.
“Oh! Me? well…. I was, hmmm…” she tried to answer the question but couldn't come up with an answer.
“I get it, sometimes you just need time to breathe and relax in a dark library,” Austin said with a chuckle.
“To be honest, I came here to do some research, I had to find an answer to one of my problems” she finally responded “You see, I wanna be the Princess of the Fall Formal and I need to find a way to connect with students from the school. I think that with the help of my friends I could do it...”
“Did you find the answer?” he asked while leaning back and bringing a book to his face, trying to make it seem as if he was reading.
“I- I think so, but I'm not sure how to approach the solution and well… I…” she couldn't finish that sentence.
Both Austin and Spike looked at her.
“I- I'm just a little confused”
Austin analyzed her face just as she tried to avoid eye contact with him. He understood that she was scared. The way she was acting and moving, she was putting a front, maybe so that Spike didn't panic.
He knew that it was because of chance or plot armor that made her find her friends which in turn helped her gain the trust of everyone in the school. But she doesn't know that here, she doesn't know that luck was on her side.
“It's alright to be confused” he finally said while looking at the book he was supposedly reading “When scientists do experiments they are also confused. They question everything to find an answer, in your case being a solution...”
He took a little glimpse over towards her and saw that she was putting full attention to his words.
“It's okay to be afraid of the unknown, but last time I checked things were always easier to do with the help of others”
Twilight thought about this for a few moments and realized the truth of his words.
“You're right,” she said while sitting in the book bed again “The magic of friendship shines no matter the cost, we just gotta make them realize that…”
After saying this she turned to look at Austin with a face of embarrassment. She didn't wanna involve a stranger with her problems.
“Did you have a fight with a friend or something?” he asked while still looking at the book.
“Mhmm, something like that. The thing is… “my friends” got into a fight and I don't know how to fix it…” she says while looking and petting Spike.
“Did you try to see what originated the problem?”
“I did, and I think it was because of one person…”
“Sunset Shimmer?”
Twilight turned towards him with surprise as Austin returned the stare for a few seconds.
“She is known to be a troublemaker. I wouldn't be surprised if it were her”
“R-right… but knowing that I still don't know how to fix this… they could help me with my problem, but...”
Austin turned to look at her and noticed she was still worried.
“Lucky for you I'm an expert in these situations. I know EXACTLY what to do” he said with a wink.
Twilight stayed silent for a few seconds.
“I would really appreciate that,” she says with a smile.
“No worries, what are FRIENDS for” he responds while looking back at the book.
Knowing that she might have someone who could help her really made Twilight relax a little more. She was feeling so alone and for someone to come help her save the world really made it a little less worrisome.
Spike slowly moved towards her and tapped her legs trying to get her attention. Twilight looked at him with confusion. He signaled her to follow him but before anything could be done a sound emanated from the first floor of the library.
The sound of a door opening. Flashlight lights could be seen by the three of them on the first floor.
“I'm in the library, it appears nothing is out of the ordinary. Yes, yes.. I'll also check the second floor, you don't have to tell me twice...”
Austin looked at the stairs in a panic.
“Crap! I completely forgot about them…” he tells himself as he turns to look towards Twilight.
She was grabbing Spike and it was evident that she didn't know what was happening. If they are found by the guards the timeline could be completely ruined.
He moves towards them and covers the book bed with the diet bedsheets.
“Ok, I need you to follow my lead. Don't make any sound and do as I do” Austin says while grabbing the small chair he was sitting on.
“What is going on?” she asks with a worried face.
“We aren't really supposed to be sleeping in the school library,” he says while gently grabbing her arm and pushing her towards him.
“Oh…” she says with an expression of disbelief.
They both go to the end of the bookshelf hallway and hide behind the bookshelves themselves.
The guard finishes going up the stairs and starts to look around.
“Great… first they increase the amount of taxes to be paid when buying chips and now I gotta search for a person that might actually be my boss’s imaginary criminal…” the guard exclaims in whispers with frustration.
Slowly the guard makes his way between the bookshelf corridors, getting closer and closer to Austin and Twilight. The tension was rising and the air became thicker and thicker as the steps were heard closer to them.
Austin began to think of a solution to the current problem as his eyes glow with a brilliant plan. He remembers something, something from long ago that they taught him in the early years of high school.
Twilight was looking around to see if everything was okay until suddenly Austin turns towards her and begins to tell her his plan.
“Ok, here’s what we’re gonna do: We’re gonna use an old ninja technique made in 1843 Japan, it consists of simulating a person’s movement so that if followed at the same pace between an object it will make it so that the enemy never sees us” he whispers as fast as possible.
“The what of the where?” she asks with a confused face.
“Don't worry, just follow me” he responds with a confident smile.
It wasn't much but it did make her calm down.
Just as the guard was in the bookshelf corridor beside them, they started their move. Austin was leading while Twilight and Spike were following.
The guard was turning a corner which would make him see them, but in a swift and calculated move, the three of them walked at the same speed as the guard which in turn made them switch corridors. The Guard was now in the corridor where Austin, Twilight, and Spike were just a moment ago while the three of them were now in the corridor the guard just left.
“That's weird… was there always a mass of books ordered on the ground like this?” the guard asked while looking at the made-up bed.
Austin turns to look at Twilight while she responds with another forced smile.
“Hmmm, maybe those 3 kids were filming another shortly before the school closed… oh well, not my problem,” the man said before continuing with his search.
A few minutes pass as he returns to the first floor of the library.
“The library is completely secure. Gonna lock the doors” the guard said as he closed the main doors behind him and locked them.
“Copy that, continue with the search” his radio responded as he walked through the hallways towards the next classroom.
Twilight and Spike couldn't help but exhale with relief. But Austin didn't… this was something that bothered him.
“When I first knew I was in another body I was able to show much more emotion than my normal self… but now… I can feel it… I feel as if I'm turning back to my old self…” he thinks while quickly looking at his reflection on his phone “At least mentally wise… but why is this happening?”
After asking himself this, he turns towards Twilight and Spike.
“That was a close one… Thank you very much” Twilight says with a smile.
That smile was so sincere that he couldn't stop being jealous of it. But that didn't matter. What mattered to him is that he was able to fix the timeline just a tiny bit. This made him feel better and more secure about the decision hes making.
“It's no problem. Now let's go help your friends” he says with a manly tone but soon realizes it's still the middle of the night.
“Or… maybe tomorrow” he corrects himself with a chuckle as both Twilight and Spike shake their heads with a smile.
A girl could be seen running from one street to the next. She was wearing a black leather jacket, a yellow skirt and had sunset-colored hair. It was her.
Sunset Shimmer.
She hadn't stopped running ever since she heard that strange boy tell her about her original world. The Pony world. Not only that but about Celestia. How could he know her? Did Celestia send him to spy on her? She couldn't really think about such things. She didn't know why but her crying was not stopping. She didn't even know why this was happening.
After a few minutes, her legs finally stopped in the middle of a street. She was exhausted but her legs wouldn't stop running before then.
Her tears were still coming down as she started to try and make them stop with her hands.
She remembered her teacher from long ago. Celestia. Her greatest master… or who used to be.
Finally able to clear her tears, Sunset entered a deep thinking state, she was thinking about what that boy said… She had completely forgotten about asking HOW he knew so much.
Her legs started to walk towards the sidewalk and towards her apartment with each step becoming slower than the last.
“Celestia…” she thought while entering her apartment complex.
She began to remember. Sunset was the best of the best. The greatest student, her future was determined to be great as she thought she was destined to be the greatest magic user in Equestria.
THE BEST.
As the elevator opened its doors to the 3rd floor of her apartment complex, Sunset walked out with anger building up inside.
Ever since she came to this world she had to suffer through multiple stages of loneliness, when she got here, she had to learn what this place was, how this place WORKED. She had to understand how to rule them, ALL of them. The people, the pathetic students with no intellect from this world.
When talking to that boy… for just a moment she forgot what her mission was. But now she remembers.
Sunset stops in front of her apartment and looks at the golden tag which was encrusted on the metallic door.
SUNSET SHIMMER.
That gold. She remembers the first time her name was placed on a golden trophy. She was just 8 years old and had already shown incredible magic potential. Her power was so high compared to the students of her age, and a grade above… and another grade above.
Slowly but surely she started to see the truth. HER truth. She became so engulfed in admiration, so engulfed in power… She understood who SHE was and who SHE could become. A ruler. The most powerful pony in the world, even stronger than the old wizards.
But Celestia didn't see it that way. She saw her as unfit.
Sunset entered the apartment as her hands formed fists.
CELESTIA DENIED HER DESTINY. SHE BETRAYED HER.
Sunset closed the door behind her as she saw Celestia inside the room, standing in front of her.
She didn’t know it but this Celestia was just an image formed by her imagination. For her it felt like the princess was actually there, looking at her with those disappointed eyes.
“You are not ready!” Celestia protested while Sunset got closer to her “You never were and might never will”
Sunset barely contained her anger but still ignored her and walked towards the computer which laid on a small wooden desk at the edge of the room.
“If you continue down this path there will only be darkness! Don’t you understand?” Celestia continued “What you are planning could ruin both worlds!”
“Don't YOU get it?!” Sunset protested in response “Both worlds will be ruled by one single person! The most qualified! ME!”
She entered her password in the small laptop and stood up in front of Celestia.
“You aren't qualified to rule Equestria anymore, ever since you made your greatest mistake! What do you think happened to Luna? It was your selfishness that drove her to become Nightmare Moon! And what happened? You JUST continued on with your life!” she exclaimed “The fact you did the same thing with ME shows how unfit you are as a ruler!”
Celestia shifted her weight back in shock for a few moments.
“Celestia always looked out for you, raised you as her student! If you do this... you might… You might become just as bad as Nightmare Moon...”
Sunset widened her eyes. Even if those words were not real… it still hurts her.
“No… I’m not as bad as her… I’m BETTER… I’ll do what she never could, I’ll SHOW you how powerful I am!”
“If that’s so then why do you need that Element of Harmony?” Celestia refuted.
This caught Sunset by surprise. She knew where the direction of this conversation was going and she didn't like it.
“Think about it for a second Sunset! If you think you’re more powerful than Celestia then why do you need such a powerful source of magic to finish your plan? Are you afraid of accepting that Celestia was right? That you were not ready? That you are NOT ready?” the white alicorn continued.
Sunset could feel it even more now, spontaneous energy filling her up. ANGER. The imaginary Celestia also took notice of this.
“Look Sunset… Celestia knows how you feel… if you just realize that what you are doing is wrong and stop letting ego get in your way she might forgive you… she might continue to be your teacher… you can go back to being a student, learning with a teacher that loved you...”
The room stayed silent after those last words were spoken… Those words got to her… The possibility of having a person who cared about her wasn't a bad idea. All those years alone made her forget how it felt to be loved… It made her miss that feeling…
Sunset had an expression of sadness as the imaginary Celestia got closer to where she was standing and tried to hug her but Sunset pushed her away.
“If you loved me then why would you do this to me? Why would you push me away like that? I was superior to them! I had proven that I was the most talented… NO ONE was able to stand up to me!” She exclaimed with tears “We could have been ruling together! We could have done great things!”
“You could have Sunset… you still can-” Celestia tried to say but got caught off.
“Now… Now you’ve shown me your true colors… and now I know it was foolish of me to rely on you... ” she said with a chuckle “I'll make things right… I'll come back with an army and I will SHOW how WRONG you were!... just you wait… We will reunite… but this time I will be a teacher and you will be a student!”
Sunset starts laughing as Celestia takes a few steps back.
“Sunset please!”
“SHUT UP!” Sunset exploded “DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH TIME I'VE BEEN PLANNING THIS? I'VE COME TOO FAR TO MAGICALLY SEE A WRONG THAT DOESN'T EXISTS!”
She slowly walks towards Celestia with a devilish smile.
“T-this isn't you!… w-who are you?” Celestia asked with fear.
Sunset stops right in front of her face as her smile widens even more.
“Oh, I am Sunset Shimmer. The future ruler of Equestria” she responds while moving her right hand through the air in a swiping motion which in turn makes Celestia disappear from her sight as if she were smoke.
Just as Sunset turns around towards the computer, she receives an e-mail from Snails with the caption: “Twilight Sparkle Video”.
“I WILL succeed… and you won’t get in my way Twilight Sparkle” she exclaims while sitting on her office chair.
And as the night passes by, Sunset Shimmer develops a video that will ensure her future. Her Destiny.
“Okay, so…” Austin begins telling Twilight as they both walk down the stairs from the second floor of the library “All your friends attend this school right? If that's the case we have a good chance of fixing everything before tomorrow night”
“Tomorrow night?!” she exclaimed in a panic before looking at Austin “Oh… That's perfect!”
As they prepare their things the sun brightens the library up. It was now morning and classes were about to start which means they have limited time to find their friends. Austin knew this too well, he was aware that helping Twilight would change the entire timeline but he knew that if played with the right cards he could fix everything he did up until then. It was a gamble but it paid off well, and he also needed Twilight’s help to get back home.
“Hey Austin, I just wanted to thank you for helping me… but I also wanted to ask WHY you are doing this” Twilight said.
Austin turns towards her and smiles softly.
“I’m doing this because I saw someone who needed help. I never stop helping people in need” he responds.
This leaves Twilight speechless. It was her first time being in this dimension and seeing how there are good people here made her even confident in her actions. She needed to not only save Equestria but also this world.
As they both leave the library through the now opened glass doors, students could be seen all around the halls.
Austin sees them looking at their phones which makes him remember what happened with Sunset the day before.
“This is the moment of truth,” he thought “Please show me I at least do some good from yesterday”
They continued to walk but unnoticed by Austin, Spike gained Twilight’s attention through her backpack.
“Spike, we can’t be seen talking to each other” she whispers at him.
“I know Twilight, but I wanted to know if you were sure to trust him… finding him looking at us sleeping isn't really the most unsuspicious interaction”
“That's true Spike but he did help us avoid the guard yesterday night-” before she could finish a few giggles could be heard around them.
Austin turned to look at the surrounding students which in turn were looking at Twilight trying not to laugh out loud.
“Crap,” he thought while still looking at them.
“Okay Twilight, don't worry about them we just have to-” he said before noticing that she had disappeared.
“Dammit, I even made sure to go through a different hallway. I gotta find Rarity” he thought while starting his search through some classrooms.
Twilight was pushed through some hallways and into an empty classroom. Her surprise quickly made her turn around only to find who brought her here. To her disbelief, it was Rarity, who was shutting the door with her back.
She had pure white skin, a stylish purple colored hair and from the looks of it chose pretty standard clothes, at least for her standards.
She was in a panic so as soon as Twilight acknowledged her presence she ran towards her bag to pick up a measuring tape.
“Rarity?” Twilight asked with surprise just as Spike opened the backpack to see.
She ignored her words and continued with her mission. As soon as she had the measuring tape she began to move around Twilight, measuring each part of her body.
“Oh Yes, this is Good!” she said while moving towards her bag and putting a greenish dress over Twilight. She seemed like a completely different student.
“That should do it!” she said with a smile while walking around Twilight and Spike “People won’t recognize you this way”
“Why wouldn’t I wanna be recognized?” Twilight asked while looking at the wigg Rarity put on her.
“And we’re gonna need a disguise for your dog too, which is too bad…” she says while leaning in towards Spike and rubbing his fur “He really is so adorable!”
Rarity steps back and shifts her weight from one leg to the next.
“With just a little work I might be able to make him look like a rabbit instead,” she says with a smile.
“A rabbit?” Twilight asks with confusion. But just as Rarity was getting ready to start her work, Applejack entered the room through the door.
“Oh, heya Twilight!” she says with a nervous smile.
“Wow… So much for the disguise” Rarity exclaims while crossing her arms.
“I’ve been looking all over for you” Applejack announces while walking inside the room.
“Me too…” Fluttershy says following Applejack's footsteps.
“Me three!” Pinkie Pie screams while joining the girls.
She walks towards Twilight and stares at her for a moment as if she were analyzing her. Twilight can do nothing but smile nervously. She knew they were her friends from another world, but she still wasn't familiarized with it to the point of feeling comfortable.
“I like your new outfit!” Pinki says with a smile.
“I do have an eye for these sort of things” Rarity says while turning towards her “Not that YOU seem to care”
Twilight turns towards her, shocked by that response. She knew some of her friends were mad at each other, but for almost everyone to be this way was something she wasn't expecting. One thing was for sure in her mind, this just made Sunset Shimmer look more suspicious.
“Why do you think she doesn't care?” she asked in confusion.
Twilight continued to ask up until seeing Applejack and Fluttershy signaling her to stop with their hands.
“No, never mind” she continued “Why were you all looking for me? What's happening?”
All the girls' faces turned to one of nervousness.
“Oh no, she hasn't seen it yet,” Fluttershy said with a sad expression.
“Seen what?” Twilight asked as the girls set up a computer in one of the many empty desks of the classroom and showed her a video, a video made out of pure evil.
“It might not be that bad,” Pinki said with a nervous smile while starting the video.
As the girls see it Austin was still trying to find Twilight throughout the hallways of CHS, but his search was coming back empty.
“Damn,” he thought while looking at the many students around him “Come on Austin! Remember… The room shown in the movie had windows which lead to the outside, this means that it has to be one of the classrooms from the outer sector of the school perimeter”
His gaze moves from one hallway to the next.
“There were two doors (Where Twilight entered and where the other girls did), which means it's a classroom between two separated hallways. That limits the search to only 4 sections of the school…”
As his thoughts were racing, so were his feet. He walked as fast as he could towards the classroom he thought Twilight was in.
“From the proximity of where Rarity grabbed her, it's likely she could be on the second floor,” he thought while getting closer.
He finally saw the classroom and opened its door but no one was there. It was the same exact room he remembers from the movie, and with the buildup of evidence suggesting he has a photographic memory it shows how different this timeline was compared to the original one.
“Crap! If they’re not here that means that I won't be able to determine ANYTHING with certainty anymore… only guesses. Maybe I should have gone the same hallway Twilight took after leaving the library… Wait!” he thought as an idea came to mind.
He begins running closer to the library only to find someone waiting for him after turning left in a hallway intersection.
He was not expecting to see her so soon after all of what happened before, but it appears SHE was looking for him.
Sunset Shimmer was right in front of him, and she was... not mad?
Austin stopped moving after seeing her. He didn't know what to do in a situation like this, but if he wanted to try and fix the timeline it should start with her.
Starting the conversation would be difficult so he decided to think first. How can he approach the situation? Maybe go in with a forceful personality? Be friendly? Everything was a gamble and for some reason, he thought it was only just the beginning of a long road.
As the two students stared at each other the people around them decided to leave while they still could. This feeling of retreat got amplified as a smirk could be seen on Sunset’s face. They knew better than to cross her when she had that smile.
“Jake Walker…” she began to say while slowly approaching the boy “You seem to be pretty far away from home, especially for an Equestria City boy”
This caught him completely off guard. She did her research, and that means that his identity could be compromised if he didn't play with the right cards. Playing nice didn't work before, so maybe playing forcefully might get the job done.
“Sorry Jake, gonna have to mimic your personality to the best of my ability,” Austin thought while preparing himself for a serious talk.
“You did your homework” he responded with dry words.
“Oh, I did more than that Jake. After the talk, we had yesterday you made me realize something… those words you said... I didn't know Celestia was sending spies to this world” Sunset continued while walking around him “I didn't seem to think she could be capable of such a thing but look at us now… I underestimated her”
“You seem to have a misconception. I'm not a spy for anyone” he said, continuing his act.
“And YOU seem to know way too much about me… and not just things from this world… my place of origin, Equestria, Celestia, and the video Snips and Snails gave me…”
Austin stared at her with intense eyes.
“Why did you release that video Sunset? You know that's playing dirty”
“Playing Dirty? I’m sorry Jake but WE are at war. I thought that being a puppet for Celestia would have taught you something… how disappointing”
“You won't get away with this… I know what you want, and we WILL stop you” he said with a smile.
This made Sunset back off for just a moment.
“Ha! You? Don't make me laugh. I told Twilight the same thing I'm gonna tell you: YOU CAN'T TOUCH ME HERE. You know nothing about this world! Look at your Princess of Friendship! She doesn't even know how to make her own shoes off!”
Austin slowly walks towards her, his head now being a few centimeters from hers.
“Don't test me, Shimmer” he said with a serious tone.
She didn't move, didn't even flinch. Austin saw this and was surprised. She was completely different from before as if her personality changed overnight. She seemed less… human.
“Oh wow! What are you gonna do, tough guy? Are you gonna rig the event so that Twilight wins? Are you gonna kidnap me and lock me in a room until the event is over? Oh, please!” Sunset remarked while laughing.
Austin backed off after all those questions. He didn't really know how to handle this anymore. She was too different, even while comparing to her movie counterpart.
“I need you to answer a simple question Jake, it shouldn't be that complex to a genius like you, right? What school are you from again?” she asked while winking with her right eye.
Her face was angled up which showed a position of superiority that even Austin could acknowledge as intimidating, but he didn't let that get to him and maintained silence. He's gonna let his stare do the talking this time.
Sunset thought it was cute, but continued speaking.
“It would be really easy to tell this world’s Celestia that Crystal Prep has sent a person to spy on us in bad faith for the Friendship Games, making countless students from CHS feel… uncomfortable” she finished with a smirk.
Hearing her say that hurt him... especially after getting accustomed to Sunset’s kind self in the later movies of the franchise. But he knew something she didn't. She has always been fighting HERSELF, questioning whether she was doing the right thing. This could help him.
“You’re bluffing Sunset. I know you have kindness in your heart, I've seen it before. You cried last night, remember? After I asked you to stop this nonsense”
“On the contrary, you made me realize how WEAK I was. Back when I still held those feelings towards Celestia… you made me understand how I needed to throw them away so that I could actually achieve my full potential… and I thank you for that” she said while looking at the floor.
Austin looked confused by that remark. What was she saying?
“That’s why I'm here. I'll give you one chance Jake, one last chance to leave before I destroy you and that Twilight Sparkle” she said while glaring at him seriously “I'll even consider giving you a job at my empire”
He didn't know what to say, this crushed any hope he had about going home soon. Fixing all of this might take a long time.
“That's not happening,” he finally responded.
She couldn't help but make a face of disappointment after hearing that, but quickly shrugged it off while walking past him.
“It's a shame really. I would have wanted to see you become my slave willingly, but I guess I'm gonna have to force you. It would've been more fun that way” she said with a frown.
“Sunset!” Austin exclaimed, breaking his character as panic began to gain control.
She tilts her head towards him but says nothing.
“Did those tears make you feel anything at all?!” he asked, demanding an answer.
She waited a few seconds as if she were deciding how to respond.
“Those tears were filled with a misplaced feeling that Celestia took away when she didn't allow me to fulfill my destiny”
“STOP PLAYING THE VICTIM SUNSET! You could have avoided all of this if you just had patience and gave friendship a chance!” Austin exclaimed.
The tension in the air could now be physically felt. Thick enough to be cut with a knife.
Suddenly Sunset’s eyes showed something… something horrid… a stare that even made Austin fear.
“You will regret saying that Jake Walker,” she said before slowly walking away from him.
But as she walked away Austin just stayed there without the ability to speak.
“Holy Shit!” he thought while his breathing returned back to normal.
The feeling of fear transformed into a feeling of anger as he realized the truth of the situation.
“This is all my fault!... If I just had not gotten in her way everything would not be this complicated!” he thought while squeezing his fists “I need to fix all of this! But first…”
Austin continues searching every single classroom at a rapid pace with the hope of finding Twilight. It might take some time but he will at least eventually find her.
As he continues his search, in an unknown classroom Rarity, Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Twilight finish viewing the video Sunset uploaded to the internet.
“AH!? But….. I…..” Twilight murmured as the video finished
“Never mind… It is pretty bad” Pinki said with a worried face.
“But this all happened yesterday… at the library…. has everyone seen it? Is that why they were laughing at us?” Twilight continues while covering her face with her hands.
“Mmmhmmm” all the girls try to answer.
“Awwww… No one’s gonna vote for me after seeing this! What am I gonna do?…” she asked while crouching on the chair.
But at that moment she remembers Austin. Her head moves from left to right seeing if he's anywhere in sight but finds nothing.
“Not that it will make any difference, but I'll still vote for you,” Fluttershy said while trying to comfort her “You were so nice to stand up for me when Sunset was picking on me yesterday”
“If you still wanna run, maybe there is something I can do to help,” Pinki said while walking closer to her.
Just as Pinki finished talking, Fluttershy got closer towards Twilight with an angry expression.
“A word of advice, don't accept HER help. She doesn't take anything seriously” she said.
“WHA!? Why do you have to be so awful to me?” Pinki protested.
“Pfff, don't act so innocent Pinkie Pie, you are just as guilty as SHE is,” Rarity said while pointing at Fluttershy.
“And what is that supposed to mean?!” Pinkie responds with an angry expression.
“I am happy to provide my assistance as well…. TO SOMEONE WHO WOULD APPRECIATE WHAT I HAVE TO OFFER!” Rarity responded while getting closer to Pinkie’s face.
Just as she finished speaking the three of them began to argue with one another even more. It was starting to get so out of control that even Spike went back to Twilight’s backpack and sealed himself in. But before it could escalate even more, Applejack stepped in.
“Listen to ya'll! Stop fighting! Get over it and move on” she exclaimed while finishing to eat an apple.
“You mean like how YOU’VE moved on from what happened with Rainbow Dash?” Rarity responded while she sat on one of the many empty desks.
“That's different! Rainbow promised me she would bring the softball team to make an appearance in my Bake Sale” Applejack said while walking towards Twilight “I tell everyone they are coming and then not one of them shows up! She made me seem like a liar!”
“It is not different!” Fluttershy, Pinkie, and Rarity responded at the same time.
“It's too!” The apple gal exclaimed.
They all began arguing with each other again, this time Applejack joining them. It was starting to get more intense that even Twilight began to panic. She just didn’t know how to approach the situation.
This continued for a few seconds until she had enough and prepared to stop them. But before she could do anything the door of the room opened as a boy entered the scene.
“STOP!” Austin exclaimed as he gained the attention of them all.
Twilight turned towards him and smiled. She was relieved that there was someone else who could help with this.
Applejack turned towards him with surprise. She had never seen him before on school grounds. But who had the most surprise was Pinkie Pie. She was usually so informed about every student, but she didn't know anything about the boy in front of her.
“Okay Austin… remember Twilight’s words, remember exactly what she said in the movie,” he thought while getting to talk, but before anything could happen Rarity.
“And who might YOU be?” she asked, a little impatient.
“He's a friend of mine!” Twilight responded with a nervous smile “He is someone who can help you all”
“Help us do what?” Applejack asked defensively “We are perfectly fine right now. I don't need any help being friends with people who betray me like this”
Austin walked closer towards Twilight as he signals her to take out the yearbook in her backpack. She sees the signal and immediately grabs her bag.
“Look, I know you have gone through some situations that lead to all of you not trusting each other but have you forgotten the memories you've all made before?” He said.
As Austin finishes, Twilight opens the yearbook and lands on a page which shows a picture of them together when they were younger.
“You were friends once,” Twilight exclaimed.
All the girls gathered up behind her watching the picture with pure nostalgia in their eyes. While they look at it, Austin walks and sits on a desk in front of all of them.
“Yeah…” all of them said with a soft voice as if they were remembering how they met for the first time.
“Something happened between all of you and we think that something was Sunset Shimmer,” Twilight said while also looking at the picture.
All the girls turned to look at her at the same time. It seemed as if they were wondering why he would say that name.
“Well, it's a nice theory darling but… sunset shimmer had nothing to do with it,” Rarity said.
“She is right, Sunset Shimmer wasn't the one to set up a fireworks show in the Animal Shelter Anniversary Auction. It was supposed to be a serious event but Pinkie ruined it” Fluttershy tuned in.
“What are you talking about?! I got a message from you saying you didn't want a silent Auction. You said you wanted a big Party!” Pinkie responded while taking out her phone and showing her evidence.
“What? I never sent you a text message…” Fluttershy said with confusion as Pinkie looked at her phone again.
“You don't think she is the one who's been sending me those emails, do you?” Rarity asked with an analytical face “Every time I volunteer to help with the decorations of School Function I get an email from Pinkie Pie saying she has plenty of volunteers only to discover that she’s been doing everything herself!”
“Well, I never sent you any emails…” Pinkie responds with a worried tone.
“And maybe she is the reason Rainbow didn't show up to the Bake Sale…” Applejack joined.
“Didn't you ever ask Rainbow Dash why she never showed up?” Austin questioned with a sincere voice.
Applejack looked at him with sadness and prepared her response.
“Well… I guess I kind of stopped talking to her at all after that…” she said with a guilty tone.
Austin got off the desk and slowly walked towards her. He knew she needed a little bit of reassurance so he tried to make her feel more sure of herself.
“Maybe now’s a good time to start” he responded while patting her on the shoulder.
“You're right…” she said with a soft smile.
Twilight looked at him with surprise and admiration after what he did. Now she felt even more assured of herself.
“We can do this!” she thought.
Rarity and Fluttershy looked at Pinkie with a sad expression. With the information at hand, they realized the mistake they made. A mistake that blamed Pinkie for actions she didn't do.
“I’m… I’m sorry Pinkie Pie. All this time I thought you were… I thought you were denying my requests to help because maybe I wasn't at your level. I thought you considered me inferior…”
Pinkie and Austin were surprised to hear her say that. He knew Rarity felt sorry, but it was never addressed in the movie.
“Of course not! I would never do that… we're friends after all” she responded with a smile that seemed to make Rarity feel better.
“I'm also sorry… I would have never blamed you if I knew you didn't do it on purpose… I am really, really sorry” Fluttershy whimpered as if she were about to cry.
“Come on Fluttershy… we were all affected by this! You know I will always forgive you guys” Pinkie said while hugging them as hard as she could, nearly lifting them up from the ground.
Everyone seemed to feel better by the fact that things were resolved and they seemed to be friends, especially Twilight now that things were starting to look positive.
“Now then, let’s go help you regain your best friend Applejack,” Austin said.
It was less than two days ago when Austin woke up in a body that wasn't his and a lot of things have happened. From almost dying driving a car to having an intense conversation with Sunset Shimmer. It was a hell of a day, but nothing came close to what he was feeling now.
“OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD!” he was thinking while sitting beside Fluttershy “I can't believe I’m in front of them! I can actually talk to them!”
The school day was halfway over as recess was just beginning. The group of friends walked out of the school and decided it was the perfect time for Applejack and Rainbow Dash to talk. Applejack started to move towards Rainbow while the rest of the group went to sit on the seats around the small outdoor football field.
He was a little hungry but Fluttershy’s beauty managed to get his full attention. She was wearing a tami top shirt and a light green skirt that reached her ankles. But the most beautiful part was her face. It was as if she were a supermodel.
“If this was the real world, Twitter would kill me for having a crush on fictional characters,” he thought. “Come to think of it, everyone here doesn't have any flaws in their facial features…”
“Excuse me for asking and I'm sorry if I didn't hear earlier but, what may be your name?” Fluttershy asked with a sweet voice.
“Oh, my name is Austin” he responded while returning her smile.
“Oh, really nice to meet you Austin,” she said with glowing eyes “I just wanted to thank you for helping us clear up the problem we had before. I'm sorry you had to see us fight like that…”
“No worries, I have a distinct ability to fix other people’s problems. It was no big deal”
Hearing this made Fluttershy trust him even more than before. She hadn't met him before so at first, she was afraid, but now it was different. She was sure Austin wasn't a bad person and that made her feel safe.
While all of them were talking, Applejack’s boots could be heard squishing the grass as she walked towards Rainbow Dash. She was ashamed of the misinformation from the situation, and to face Rainbow like this would put a little strain on her but it was something she was willing to do.
Rainbow Dash was at the center of the field getting ready to kick some practice goals. She looked as cool as ever with her sports outfit, her hair moving through the wind and her light blue skin shining as sweat went down her body.
“Rainbow Dash....” Applejack announced as Rainbow turned towards her “H-hello…”
“What do you want?” she asked in an annoyed tone “Here to ask me ANOTHER favor?”
As she finished her question, she kicked a football so hard it shot into the net. It was easy to move due to the two-piece sports outfit she was wearing being able to be really flexible.
“About that... “ Applejack continued “There was a misunderstanding”
Rainbow quickly turned towards her.
“Is that so? So you mean you didn't intentionally make me move the softball game two days after the actual Bake Sale only to be met with an empty field?” Rainbow responded while walking closer to Applejack in an aggressive way “Do you know what you did? You made me look like an idiot in front of all my classmates! Do you know how humiliating that is?!”
Applejack managed to keep her eyes looking straight at Rainbow even if it was hard to do so. She needed to survive her verbal attack before being able to explain.
“It was a misunderstanding because I never told you to move the game…”
“Oh? I thought you were always honest Applejack! What happened to all that about honesty? Because what you just said is a LIE! I have the messages to prove it”
“It wasn't me who sent you those messages… It was Sunset Shimmer” Applejack finally said.
This took Rainbow by surprise, what does Sunset have to do with this?
“Are you sure about that? Because it clearly has your name as the person who sent those messages” Rainbow explained.
“We don't know how she did it, but the same thing happened with Fluttershy, Rarity, and Pinkie… Sunset sent them messages which in turn made them fight”
“How do I know I can trust you?”
Applejack waited a couple of seconds as she thought about what to say. It was a hard question to respond to, but an important one nonetheless.
“You don't have to trust me Rainbow… just trust your friends. They know what really happened… and when they figured out why they were fighting they were quick to make up” she finally responded “I'm sorry I didn't come to you to clear up what happened… I just thought that you made me look like a liar in front of everyone on purpose… I'm so sorry”
Rainbow took a few steps back. This was surprising to her but her honesty was straight in her face. She thought for a second and realized it would make sense. Sunset has hated them throughout the school years, and from what Applejack just showed she really does regret it.
“I… I’m also sorry for not talking to you beforehand. I just felt that you changed the date because you didn't want me to ruin the sale with all my extreme sports” she said.
“I would never do that Rainbow… And even if I did, it would have been because you would steal the show at the event” Applejack responded with a chuckle that made even Rainbow Dash smile.
A few seconds of silence happened as both students processed the situation when Applejack decided to continue.
“Friends?”
“Friends” Rainbow said as they both shook each other's hand.
Back in the seats Austin and Fluttershy continued talking.
“I have always loved animals, they are just the most precious things! I remember when my dad first got me a dog. I was very little and he always wanted to play, but every time I would go back into the house covered in dog hair. I was so covered that my parents called me a furball” She said with excitement.
Austin laughed at her comment. He never expected her to be this 3 dimensional. Before, all he could go by when analyzing her was by pretty limited animated shorts and the movies, but here she has more to her than the books made her out to be.
“Could I ask one last question?” Fluttershy asked.
“Shoot away”
“Do you think they will make up? They have been there for a while and I’m just scared things might not end up well” she said with a worried face.
“No need to worry. I'm a professional in this, they should be coming here any second now”
Just as he finished saying that Rarity entered the conversation.
“Look! Here they come!” She said as both Applejack and Rainbow dash walked towards the seats.
“Somebody, and I think we all know who, sent a message to Rainbow Dash saying my Bake sale had been moved to a different day” Applejack exclaimed “Then Rainbow showed up with all the softball team and thought I canceled on her”
Just as this was explained, Rainbow looked at Twilight for a few seconds. She wanted to see the person who stood up to Sunset Shimmer.
“So… you are looking to de-throne Sunset Shimmer and become the princess of the fall formal huh?” she asked with curious eyes.
Twilight nodded her head nervously in response.
“Gotta say, I would really love to see that happen! I’ll totally help you out” she continued while kicking a football up and down “All you gotta do is beat me in a game of one on one”
This made Twilight freak out a little. She didn't know anything about this world and now she needed to compete in a sport she hasn't even heard of.
“W-what?” she exclaimed with worry.
“First to five goals win!” Rainbow responded while also kicking the ball hard enough to make a goal “1-0!”
Twilight gets up and prepares herself for the challenge but does not know WHAT to actually do. Seeing her distress, Austin gets up and walks towards her.
“It's okay. This is just a 1v1 practice, which means you don't have to follow any technical rules” he said, trying to physically comfort her “Just make sure to kick the ball with your legs, never grab it. The goal is to make the football hit the net of the opposing team”
She looked at him while analyzing his words and then nodded.
“Wish me luck!” she said while heading towards the center of the field.
“You got this!” Austin replied, waving at her.
Rarity took notice of them and got just a tiny bit curious about their relationship.
“So… darling, what may your name be?” she asked with a polite tone.
“Oh, I’m Austin Bradly. It's a pleasure to meet you all” He responded.
“The pleasure is all mine!” Pinki said while walking around him “Wait! Aren't you someone that lives in Equestria City? The same as Twilight?”
Austin gets a little bit nervous due to that question, he has to watch what he says.
“You could say we’re good friends. I promised her I would help you guys out”
“By the way, I wanted to ask about that. Why is she so interested in us? She barely knows us and we barely know her” Rarity asked curiously.
“Ahm, well... The only thing I can say is that she has a kind heart and she's willing to do anything to help others. I think she saw how you guys were having trouble and decided to help you out” Austin remarked.
“Well I gotta say, she did help us out in the end. We’re grateful to both of y'all” Applejack said with a smile.
“It's no problem. Twilight did all the work really, I don't deserve your praise” he said as an autopilot answer.
His response caught them by surprise. They never expected this, especially after playing a big part in why they were all able to forgive each other, but to Austin he just thought the same he always did: He is just dirt on the ground, helping others is why he exists.
Before any of them could respond, Twilight and Rainbow Dash caught all of their attention.
Rainbow could be seen running as Twilight prepared to stop the ball from touching the net. She still wasn't sure what to do completely but her determination was stronger than her fear.
“I CAN DO THIS!” She thought as her opponent closed the distance between them.
With a fast and seamless move, Rainbow lifted up the ball and kicked it so hard Twilight barely was able to crouch down and avoid getting hit.
“2-0!” Rainbow said while walking towards Twilight.
She picked up the ball from the net and placed it in front of Twi, but before she could do anything with it Rainbow snatched it with her foot and kicked it towards her net.
“3-0,” she said while making a competitive face.
This made Austin start to think. What if in this timeline Rainbow doesn’t help them because Twilight loses? It's a long stretch, but anything can happen now and nothing is guaranteed.
“Do I risk it? Or do I try to help?” he thought while watching Rainbow Dash score another point “No… I have trust in Rainbow Dash. She would not be that kind of person”
It was the last point now and Twilight had the ball. She started to run with it but it was hard to maintain it centered with her new body. Luckily she managed to be in a position where she could kick it towards the net. And before she knew it her leg moved to a kicking position. She poured all her strength and impacted the ball, but the impact was so weak that the football only rolled towards Rainbow, who was guarding the goal.
She stopped the ball from hitting the net and then kicked it towards Twilight’s side. The football went flying far and perfectly hit the net in the middle as if it were a bullseye.
“5-0!” She celebrated as Twilight fell on the grass while breathing heavily “That’s game!”
“WAIT!” Austin exclaimed as Rainbow walked towards Twilight.
All the girls looked at him, trying to anticipate what his next words would be. He didn't know why he spoke up, it was like what happened with Sunset Shimmer the night before. As if his body WANTED this to happen.
“I know you said it was a 1v1… but… could we do one last point? This time 2v1?” he asked “You see, Twilight doesn't really do sports but she tried her best! And well…”
Suddenly he remembered what Twilight from Crystal Prep told him. Jake was good at sports! And with all that's happened to him, Austin knew his body was capable of keeping up with Rainbow. He needed to gain her attention and convince her, lucky he knew how.
“I'm one of the best at my school. So if you are looking for a challenge the two of us might be able to do something” he finished with an unintentional smirk.
Rainbow looked at him for a while. She was thinking hard about what she would do. She had planned to test Twilight’s determination by making her play, and she passed, but this boy was different.
“What's your name?” She asked.
“Austin Bradly”
“Well, Austin I gotta say… I do love a challenge. You're on!” She said while helping Twilight up.
“2v1, same rules as before. ONE GOAL wins everything”
Austin turned to look at Twilight who was still breathing heavily. She smiled at him. Knowing he had her back was a big relief, but now they had to work together.
The two of them walked towards their side of the field.
“What are we gonna do?” Twilight asked him.
“Ok, I think that the most optimal strategy is for you to maintain a defensive position while I go on the offensive. I'll try to make her stay away, and if she ever kicks the ball from afar, you'll be able to easily stop it. And keep in mind that you can stop it with your hands”
“Wha? I thought I could only kick it” she said in confusion.
“You can only grab it if you are the goalkeeper”
“Oh… I didn't know that…”
“That’s why I’m here,” Austin responded.
Twilight couldn't hope but smile as they got in their positions.
“I'll let you have the ball Austin! Make sure to give it your all!” Rainbow said as she threw the football towards him.
The ball rolled right between his legs and stopped in front. He didn't know why this was happening, if his body demanded to do this then the only thing he could do was roll with it.
“Come on Austin, the best way to win is if my body takes full control,” he thought while touching the ball with his foot.
For the first time, he let his body move on its own. By instinct. He lifted the ball and mimicked the way Rainbow Dash was moving before. With his super memory and his autopilot body, he managed to maintain the ball in the air for about 5 seconds before it slipped from his leg. It might have been short, but he understood exactly what to do and how to do it.
Before heading into the storm that was Rainbow Dash he tried to remember all the instances he has seen Soccer in his world. As soon as he thought he was ready, his legs began to move. He could feel the wind pushing against his body, brushing through his hair.
He kicked the ball with his left foot, then his right one in a way that made it possible to control it without a problem.
“It seems you've played Soccer before, right Jake?” he thought while easily controlling his movement.
Rainbow Dash was surprised. This kid who she barely knew was doing advanced soccer techniques that she did, copying her.
“OH, IT'S ON!” Rainbow thought as she started to run towards him.
A few seconds passed and both of them were now at the center of the field. A fierce battle began as Austin moved the ball from left to right and Rainbow Dash followed him. She wasn't planning on letting him past her. The ball moved so fast that only they could follow what was happening.
“Wow…” all the girls in the stands said.
Even Twilight was amazed at his level of skill. Compared to everyone Austin was playing like the best player in the world, but not for Rainbow. She was easily catching up to him. This didn't catch him by surprise though.
As fast as he could, his body tried multiple techniques he had seen back in his world. Some of them were getting canceled by Rainbow, but a few surprised her. As the battle continued both of them clashed with each other until Austin finally managed to fool her. He did an easy lift-off on the ball and it passed right on top of Rainbow. Soon Austin passed her and headed towards the ball.
Surprised by this, Rainbow stopped holding back.
“Let's get serious!” She thought while catching up to Austin.
From the movement, their bodies showed how both of them had the stamina of athletes and the physical capability to back up each hit they did on the ball.
Rainbow caught up and with a quick move from her leg took the ball away from Austin’s feet, but before she could get away with it Austin showed a fast reaction. He stopped her with his left foot. It became a struggle. The ball went from left to right as the control switched from one of the players to the other.
The victory of the struggle was Rainbow Dash as she made Austin trip and lose his balance. She began to run towards Twilight as panic could be seen in the goalkeeper’s eyes. She was so close to kicking the ball, but Austin managed to pass her and block the ball with his body. The football flew in the air for a couple of seconds and hit the grass behind Rainbow Dash but before she could react Austin took the first steps and managed to get it first.
With Rainbow Dash behind him, he had the perfect chance to shoot and hit the goal. He ran and ran until being 10 meters from the net, but as he kicked the ball he slipped due to a little bit of wet grass. This made the ball fly so far that it left school grounds.
“Ow!” Austin exclaimed as his clothes started to get wet.
Rainbow Dash stared at him amazed while he got up. She had never seen anyone hit the ball that hard, but what surprised her more was the way he moved. He kept up with her without even sweating.
“Dude… That was... AWESOME!” she said in between deep breaths.
“Thanks… but you were even more awesome” he responded with a smile.
This made her heart skip a beat. It wasn't every day she met someone as skilled as her on the field and for him to show such sportsmanship made her very happy.
“I guess this means we lost?” Austin continued “I kind of accidentally made the ball fly to the moon”
Before Rainbow could answer all the girls were walking towards them.
“That was AMAZING!” Pinkie fanboyed.
“That was really exciting” Fluttershy joined in.
“Now that's what I call hard work!” Applejack said.
Rainbow turned towards Austin and made a confident face.
“You played your heart out there, both of you. I respect that, but most importantly that's a quality NEEDED in a Fall Formal Princess” she said while looking at Twilight “Of course I will help you guy’s out”
Twilight smiled so much her cheeks started to hurt. She immediately went towards Austin and hugged him.
“Thank you!” she said, but no one gave a response.
It was… weird. No one has hugged him in more than 4 years, and to him, it felt uncomfortable. He was used to“Thank you” or “Thanks” or even a punch to the face, but a hug?
He slowly pushed her back, trying to calm her down.
“It’s no problem, what are friends for right?” he said with a nervous tone.
“Let's go!” Pinkie screamed with multiple canons of confetti firing.
And as all of them began to laugh at the now covered with confetti Pinkie, Sunset Shimmer looked from far away at the group. She wasn't disappointed, she was mostly amazed at the moves Austin showed when playing against Rainbow. It was truly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see Rainbow try her best, especially in a practice match. Nonetheless, he decided to ignore Sunset’s advice.
“Dammit!” she thought while looking at the group laughing.
She wasn't mad that Austin had chosen to be a bump in the road, she was mad that they were all having a good time. The laughter they emanated reminded her of why she separated them in the first place. Who would have thought that a little bit of jealousy could hurt a lot of people?
She remembered the feeling of loneliness she had 3 years ago. And seeing them laugh together made her angry. She didn’t want to feel that pain… the only way to forget is to remove reminders… and that’s what she did.
While she was thinking, Snips and Snails were cracking up with laughter.
“Stop laughing! You might attract unwanted attention!” she whispered towards them.
As a response, they showed her their phones. There were multiple pictures of Twilight and Austin playing soccer against Rainbow Dash. The pictures alone were harmless, but with a little editing, they could become something more... useful.
As she saw them, plans were starting to form in her head. Plans that would shut Twilight down and kick Austin from the school. A little devilish smile could be seen forming on her face.
The sun shined high as the recess for CHS students continued. In less than 30 minutes Austin managed to help Applejack makeup with Rainbow Dash, which in turn left an hour and a half to plan out how the group was gonna convince the whole school to vote for Twilight. After the football game the group left for Sugarcube Corner for a bite, and along the way, Rainbow could not stop asking questions about Austin. From where did he come from to who trained him. Of course, he didn’t know what to respond but he managed to keep her from suspecting the worst. They were all seated in a circular formation on a couch and a few metal chairs, though Austin stayed standing as there was not enough room for all of them. Twilight went to get her smoothie from the reception desk and recognized the workers as the Cupcakes. She still had to get accustomed to this, but slowly it would happen.
“So… Austin” Rainbow began as she moved closer to him “You did some pretty cool moves back there, it’s as if you copied my playstyle as a whole. First, a quick move with the right foot to distract the opponent, then move the ball with the left so that he gets confused and you can have a positional advantage!”
“Yeah… I- I learned from the best” he said without looking at her. He was too fixated on Twilight to pay complete attention.
It didn't bother Rainbow Dash though, on the contrary, she was very proud. She interpreted it as if it were her who showed him the moves he knows. Twilight started to walk back towards the group but as soon as she turned around with the drinks she stumbled into Flash Sentry which in turn made the drinks fall from her hands and splash on the floor. Flash was surprised but not mad at the fact that his favorite shirt was now stained with a white smoothie.
“We gotta stop bumping into each other like this,” he said with a chuckle after cleaning himself up a little.
Twilight saw he was alright, but her full attention switched to the drinks on the floor. She leaned down to help clean up but Flash met her hand when she was grabbing one of the many cups. Their hands were holding the same cup as they looked at each other for a second. Flash started to blush and began to feel awkward about the situation. But on the other hand, Twilight didn't show any physical sign of awkwardness. She didn't even blush.
“Oh no…” Austin thought while Rainbow Dash was still bugging him “That’s not supposed to happen”
Flash helped Twilight up and offered to pay for a refill.
“Thank you, I would really appreciate it,” she said with a smile.
As Flash went to retrieve new drinks Twilight just stared at him.
“She isn't showing any type of affection towards him…”Austin thought as Rainbow asked another question “Maybe she is blushing but it's harder to tell in real life?”
Twilight noticed Austin was looking at her, so she turned towards him and smiled. It was noticeable that after seeing him she started to blush.
“OH NO!” He thought as Rainbow snapped her fingers multiple times in front of his eyes.
“Yo? Rainbow to Major Tom!” she exclaimed, trying to get his attention “I've been asking you what type of sports shoes you use”
Austin turned towards her and smiled as naturally as he could.
“Sorry about that, I was just thinking about how we could help Twilight. Oh, and I use Nike”
“Nike?” she asks with a confused expression.
“It's a small company from Equestria City. They sell some pretty good shoes overall, not just sport-wise” he responded.
“Oh, nice! Maybe one day I can go there and see what they've got! I've got “Breezy’s” by the way” she whispers in his ear “Don't tell anyone though, it's a top-secret shop only known by some specific people”
“I'll keep that in mind” he chuckled.
Just as Austin finished saying that his view turned back towards Twilight, who was carrying all the drinks to the table.
“You know…” she said while putting some drinks down “This is… really heavy”
“That's what happens when you lose a game of rock, paper, scissors darling. We used to do this every day when we were younger” Rarity said with a smile as she picked her Latte up.
“Next time we’ll take turns, it’s only fair that everyone goes at least once, right?” Fluttershy said while picking up a water bottle Twilight brought.
All the girls picked up what they ordered, from Pinkie with her smoothie to Rainbow Dash with her energy drink.
“You know, this one has fewer calories and more overall protein,” Rainbow said while shoving the drink on his face.
“I see…”
Twilight got closer to Austin and gave him a drink that resembled a “Sprite” from his world.
“Thanks,” he said while grabbing it.
“N-no problem,” she responded, a bit nervous.
This confirmed his suspicions. He was getting too attached to her, and this was getting in the way of the scenes in the movie. Twilight WAS supposed to have a crush on Flash.
“B-but does it really impact the overall story? Their relationship was never explored more than just a tiny bit” he murmured to himself.
“Ahm, sorry Austin I couldn't hear you,” Fluttershy said with an apologetic voice.
“Oh, it's nothing. I was just talking to myself”
“You too? Sometimes I do that as well!” Pinkie said while taking a big sip of her smoothie “Just don't pay attention to the crazy voices in the back... they are TROUBLE”
Applejack pushed Pinkie back gently as she stepped in front of everyone.
“All right y'all, dance is tomorrow night and we still don't know how to get Twilight the votes she needs to be named princess. Right now the school only knows Twilight from the videos Sunset posted on the web. We need to help them see her differently” She said while walking up to her and patting her on the shoulder.
The girls started to think but they didn't have any idea. Austin, on the other hand, knew exactly what to do, he just didn't want to say it himself.
“I just gotta wait until Rarity gives the basis of the idea, then I can come in and help them with the song lyrics and the dance choreography,” he thought while faking confusion.
“I'VE GOT IT!” Rarity screamed as an idea generated spontaneously inside her head.
Everyone in the cafe turned towards her in confusion and a little bit of fear just as she felt a little awkward and began to blush. She coughed a couple of times to cover her nervousness and began talking.
“Perhaps I have a solution,” she said while walking towards her bag, grabbing a few items “Now this may be a horrible idea, but what if we all wore THIS as a sign of unity?!”
She showed the items to the group. It was a tiara with pony ears attached to it and a belt with a ponytail.
Everyone looked in confusion and were a little weirded out, but they knew it was one of the only ideas they had that may work.
“In freshman year they were very, VERY popular. You know? a way for everybody to show their school spirit! GO CANTERLOT WONDERCOLTS!” she pointed out with a wide smile.
Everyone still looked at her confused, but they understood her a little better now.
“I haven't sold any in ages” she whispered while getting more tiaras and belts from her bag and giving it to each member of the group “I mean, we are obviously very different but deep down we are all Canterlot Wandercots! Sunset Shimmer is the one who DIVIDED us and Twilight Sparkle is the one who UNITED us! And we are gonna let everyone know it!”
Everyone was now wearing a tiara except for Austin. He just couldn't put it on even if he forced himself to. To him, he didn't deserve such a privilege. None of the girls seemed to care about it though as they all greenlighted the idea.
“I think it's a good idea” Austin finally said “And I know how to help you guys out”
He may not know exactly how they set up the whole dance or song, but he can help them with everything they need.
“I think we should do dance choreography in the cafeteria before recess is over. Maybe dance to a song that talks about unity” he continued.
“That's a pretty interesting idea, we could also make the song instead of using one that already exists!” Rarity responded “A way to make a splash and be unique”
“That sounds really fun!” Pinkie joined.
“I… don't… I...” Rainbow said before backing off “I think that's a good idea… I guess”
The others didn't mind Rainbow’s choice of words, but Austin knew a lie when he heard it. And Rainbow Dash WAS lying.
“I.. don't know” Fluttershy whispered “You know I'm not the type of person that likes the spotlight… and singing in front of others, that may be a little too much for me”
“Aww, come on Fluttershy!” Applejack said “I've heard you sing before and you have a wonderful voice”
“I have to agree with Applejack,” Twilight said with a smile before remembering she isn't supposed to know her “I mean, everyone’s voice is beautiful you know?”
Their words gave her more confidence, enough to change her mind.
“But if this is for Twilight then I'll do it,” she said with confident words.
“Great, now we just have to create the lyrics and brainstorm the dance choreography,” Austin said while still looking at Rainbow Dash’s unconfident face “Let's start by choosing a beat”
After a few minutes of searching through Pinkie Pie's phone album in “Spoti” they all finally decided on a base beat they would dance on and sing, but something wasn't right. Austin had been keeping an eye on Rainbow and she was acting strange, not like her usual self. From the fact that it started after he gave the idea of a dance and song, he figured what was the matter.
“She danced as if she liked it when I saw the movie… what happened here?” he thought while helping make up the lyrics.
Austin’s question still wasn't answered as they finished the lyrics and started with the dance choreography. He knew it was a big task to do this in less than an hour… maybe the pressure was getting to her. Rainbow grew a little bit more distant from the group, especially when the practice choreography started.
“You guys keep going, I'll be right back,” Austin said while the rest of the girls continued to practice.
He walked towards Rainbow Dash, who was seated in one of the metal chairs of the cafe. She seemed to be nervous but tried her best to hide it. As Austin got closer she panicked a little. Rainbow didn't want him to suspect anything about what she was thinking. He walked past her and sat where Twilight was before, their bodies were now facing each other, but she tried to avoid eye contact.
“For her to act like this... “ he thought “It's completely opposite to her character”
“So… how is everything looking?” Rainbow finally asked while turning to look at him “You seem to be having fun”
“Yeah, everything will be ready by the time we get back to school. If we don't rush a little, Twilight might fail in making her dream a reality”
“Her dream?!” She asked worriedly “What do you mean by HER DREAM?”
“Well, she came to me with the mission of becoming a Fall Formal Princess. So I’m gonna say it’s at least her goal”
After hearing his words Rainbow became even more nervous. Austin noticed this and decided to get it over with, they had no time for this.
“You don’t like to dance don't you?” He asked with a serious tone.
“I… well… It's not EXACTLY dancing… I just don't like to… I DON'T LIKE TO SING IN PUBLIC ALRIGHT!” She exclaimed, “It's just embarrassing for me, okay?”
“Oh, I understand. I don't like to sing either” He responded with a smile.
“You don't?” she asked with a surprised tone, “I thought you did… you had a great idea of what the lyrics were gonna be… and you just seemed so comfortable with all this”
“Why don't you like to sing though? I would’ve thought you did from the first time I met you”
“Wait… You did?” She asked, confused.
“Of course. The first time I saw you I could tell things from your tone and mannerisms. You were confident, competitive, loyal…” he said while looking at the roof “You are one of a kind Rainbow Dash. A person who wouldn't leave her friends no matter what”
He was imagining her movie counterpart, noticing details he didn't before. Rainbow looked surprised. She had heard other people praise her before… but not like this.
“You've faced Soccer games before. You've faced a stadium full of people looking at you, cheering and booing"
"That's different! I've been practicing my whole life to play sports, but this…" she said while looking at the roof.
Austin took a deep breath and prepared for his next few words.
“I know you act tough on the outside Dash, you act brave when in reality you are scared. So I'll tell you this: forget about everything. Even if you don't like dancing or singing, even if you are worried that other people might see that not-so-tough inside, even if you are embarrassed… it's all worth it for the smile of your friends, right? So forget about what other people think and let's get embarrassed together alright?” he said with a smile.
She looked at him amazed at what he just said. It made her reflect not just about her relationships but about her self-image. She had always been so fixated on what other people thought of her that she forgot about what really mattered. Herself.
“You’re right…” she said with a smile “You are completely right! I'm not gonna coward behind and let my friends do this alone!”
“That's the spirit,” Austin said while getting up from his chair “Now let's get to work”.
Both Austin and Rainbow walked towards the other girls as they continued.
“Let's do this!” She said with an excited voice.
Even if she didn't notice, Austin felt bad for what he just did. Knowing how to manipulate someone was easy for him. He's been doing that for a long time, false personalities, lies, he's a master at it. Though, that doesn't make it any easier to do it, especially to the people he admires. But even still, he continues his path, a path that now requires his help to make right.
The cafeteria was null. The same groups were together again as they interacted at their individual desks while eating. The techs with the techs, the sportspeople with sportspeople. The individuality and separation could be seen even from the window of the entrance to the cafeteria. In the hallway of the entrance, a feeling of nervousness could be felt in the air.
“I don’t know about doing this anymore,” Fluttershy said, shaking while looking through the window of the door that leads into the cafeteria.
Everyone seemed nervous but acted as if nothing was wrong. But it was. It seemed so long ago when Austin could feel what they were feeling, but from watching other people he knew exactly the signs. Who could blame them tho, it wasn't every day you plan to make a song and ACTUALLY make it.
“Come on y'all, we gotta do this for Twilight to have a better image,” Applejack said while standing in front of everyone.
“Yeah! It's just a song, how bad could it be?” Pinkie backed up Applejack.
Austin looked at all the girls. It seemed like they were willing to do this, but needed a little push. He turned towards Rainbowdash, who seemed to be shaking the most. It was clear she was still uncomfortable with this. He walked towards her just as their eyesight met.
“You holding up?” Austin asked while examining her expression for changes.
“I…. YUP!” she said with her shaking voice.
Austin gave her a look that questioned her answer.
“Fine… I’m not good… Even if I wanna do it… I just can’t shake the feeling that everyone will be watching me while I… I just… can't explain it. But I guess you've felt it before right?”
“To be honest, I haven't really done this before. Especially in front of a school crowd” he responded.
“Then, how? How are you so calm?” She asked with a worried face.
Austin looked up and thought about his answer.
“I accept reality for what it is. Even if it makes me nervous or it’s painful. You can’t do anything to change what life throws at you, so you just gotta go with the flow”
Rainbow looked at him while thinking. She saw the logic in his words because it’s something she also believes in. Going with the flow of life was their way. But just as she finished thinking, Austin continued.
“In this case, life has thrown up something really special. A chance of being with your friends again. Remember what we talked about at the cafe? You are not alone in this”
Austin turned to look at the others just as Rainbow followed him.
“They will be with you, I will be with you”
He turns towards Rainbow and looks at her shining eyes.
“Think about the feeling of accomplishment you will have after this. Think about celebrating with them, about remembering the memory you are about to create”
His words were calming her, making her feel better about herself.
“Think about this as if it were a game. A simple football game. Every word you sing is a kick to the ball. One kick at a time” he finished.
As she finally calmed herself, she regained confidence similar to how she did in Sugar Cube Corner.
“One kick at a time,” she told Austin with a relaxed face.
“One kick at a time,” he said back while walking towards Fluttershy, but before he could get to her, Rainbow stopped him.
“Hey, Austin! Thanks” she said with a soft smile.
He waved at her and smiled back. It was nice getting to talk to Rainbow Dash, but his mind wasn't focused on fanboying, he had a goal in mind and knew he needed to focus.
“Hey Fluttershy, are you good?” he asked while she was looking through the glass door again.
“I’m…. trying… to… manage…” she said while still looking through the glass.
“Fluttershy, I need you to listen to me for a second,” he said while trying to make her stop looking at the people in the cafeteria.
He needed to treat her with care, he needed to make her understand how important this was without making her even more nervous. Just as he managed to take her attention, Austin looked at the clock on top of the door. They needed to hurry, recess was going to end pretty soon and if they didn't sing today, then the timeline would truly be messed up.
“I can't do this Austin!” she finally cried out “It’s too much for me”
“Look, it will only be too much for you if you let it be. Remember that everyone is here with you, you won't do this alone”
His words were doing no good. Fluttershy was getting even more nervous as she realized everyone else was counting on her.
“Crap” Austin thought while stepping back for a second.
Before he could continue, Twilight walked past him and towards Fluttershy.
“Fluttershy, you don't have to worry about a thing. Being in the spotlight can be quite nerve-wracking, but we gotta fight through it and be strong. I know you are strong” she said.
It wasn't working. Nothing they said was getting to her. But suddenly Austin remembers something.
“The Animal Shelter!” he said with a smile.
This finally caught her full attention.
“What about the animal shelter?” she asked while looking at him with wide eyes.
“You said that no one was paying attention to you about the animal shelter yesterday right? What if you take this opportunity in gaining popularity and use it to help the animals there? Maybe with this performance, people will pay more attention to what you wanna say later on. This could help out the shelter in the long run” he finished.
She understood every word. It was true that if she did this people might start taking interest in her, which in turn could lead to more interest in the shelter. She made a wide smile and stood up.
“You’re right,” she said, still a little nervous.
“If you’re still struggling, just imagine that every person in the cafeteria is a rabbit. If you do that then you’ll have an easier time singing” Austin said while putting a hand on her shoulder.
She looked at him and nodded. It was clear that she wasn't as nervous as before, at least enough to willingly do this. Twilight also smiled at him. She was impressed at how he handled the situation. But before anything else could happen, Austin looked at the clock and knew it was time.
“Alright everyone, let's do this,” he said while walking towards the door.
“Everybody knows their parts?” Rarity asked while handling the tiara ears and belt tail to the group.
“Yeah” they all responded.
“Let's do this y’all,” Applejack said while walking through the now opened glass doors of the cafeteria.
All the girls passed as Austin and Twilight stayed behind. His part wasn't as important as the rest of the girls, but it was still necessary for him to be there.
“I’m a little nervous,” Twilight said as she looked at the radio device Pinkie was carrying.
“Don’t be, you’ll be great” Austin responded while everyone started getting into position.
“Hey, I… I wanted to thank you for helping me with this. It was all your plan after all”
“No problem, what are friends for, right?” he responded with a gentle smile.
“Right!”
Just as they finished their conversation, a beat could be heard starting to form inside the cafeteria. Spike turned up the music that emanated from Pinkie’s radio device and sound filled up the whole room.
Austin couldn’t help but be excited about this, he was a big part of what was about to happen and the cafeteria song was one of his favorites from the original Equestria Girl movie.
“HEY HEY EVERYBODY! WE'VE GOT SOMETHING TO SAY!” all the girls started to sing as they began their dance choreography.
Rainbow Dash seemed different. She didn’t seem as nervous as before, as if she were a different person, the REAL Rainbow Dash. Austin smiled as he felt the confidence in her tone. He then turned to Fluttershy who had also changed. She sang with beauty and grace as if an angel came down from heaven. Every one of them was doing an amazing job.
“SO GET UP, GET DOWN, IF YOU’RE GONNA COME AROUND, WE CAN WORK TOGETHER HELPING TWILIGHT WIN THE CROWN!” They sang with wide smiles.
While hearing this something inside Austin happened. As if for one single instance he felt something. A little feeling, so small but large enough to be felt.
Happiness.
Twilight and Austin prepared as it was almost their time to join the dance, but all of a sudden something caught Austin’s eyes. He turned towards his right only to be met by something at the end of the hallway. A dark figure with a coat. It looked tall as if it were an adult, but what troubled him was that no other student was aware of that thing’s existence. Students were passing to its sides and they didn't seem to know it was there.
“What the heck is that?” he thought, trying to get a better glance at it.
But before he could identify it, the figure moved towards the entrance of the school. Austin wasn't sure what it was, but his body was acting as if it was… “Dangerous”.
“Austin, you okay?” Twilight asked with a worried face.
“Did you see that?” he responded, still looking at the end of the hallway.
“See what?”
“I'll be right back,” he said while running to the end of the hallway.
“Austin, wait!” Twilight exclaimed before Austin’s head turned towards her.
“Don’t worry, I'll be here in less than a minute,” he said with a smile.
He turned to the left at the end of the hallway and followed where that thing was supposedly going. It was as if he already knew where the thing was headed. Just as he reached another hallway, he finally made it to the entrance. There weren't any students around in the large room, only Austin and that thing in front of him.
The black figure was facing the glass which held gold trophies and a large picture of the wonderbolts team. It was as if that thing was looking for something among the trophies. Just as Austin was getting closer, the large dark figure reached out toward the glass and its hand phased through it. He picked up a small shiny piece of a black emerald and retrieved it from its display.
Austin could see it. It was the same shard he saw when he entered the school yesterday night.
“Hey!” Austin exclaimed as he walked closer to the figure “Don't you know it isn't right to steal from school property? You are practically stealing from the government”
The figure stood still for a few seconds, then continued with his mission. He placed the shard in his left leg as a small black mist engulfed it and entered the entity’s body.
“Who are you?” Austin asked with an analytic face.
This thing wasn't from the movies at all. There wasn't a glimpse nor a sign of anything similar either.
“I am just like you,” the entity said with a British accent “An otherworldly creature that seeks escape”
Austin stopped right behind the entity. His body was sensing danger coming from that thing, but he needed to know what it was.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” he asked “And why do you need that shard?”
The black figure didn’t move an inch for a couple of seconds.
“Tell me, child… Do you wish to go back to your own world?” the figure finally asked, still facing away from Austin.
“What is happening?” Austin thought “How does he know?”
He ignored that comment. It seemed that shard was important to the creature and from the way he looked and spoke, it wasn't with good intention.
“I’m gonna need you to put that back”
The creature turned slowly towards Austin. It was unlike anything he's ever seen before, it was as if the creature was fully covered with dark mist.
“I’m warning you, leave now before you get hurt,” he said.
“That’s not happ-” Austin said before he felt a huge pain in his stomach.
All of a sudden, his body lifted from the ground and went flying towards a concrete wall where he made impact. The wall cracked due to the large force, knocking off a few papers that were glued there.
On the other side of the school, Twilight looked through the glass door as Applejack, Fluttershy, Rarity, Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash were still singing. She was getting worried because Austin was not coming back and they needed him.
“GENEROUS, HONESTY, LAUGHTER, KINDNESS, LOYALTY!” They sang as the dance continued.
The song was working, the students were listening and the girls were enjoying themselves. Rainbow was having the time of her life and Fluttershy was still singing like an angel. As good as everything was going, Rarity and Pinkie noticed that the doors to the cafeteria were still closed. The plan was for Austin to open them a few seconds ago so that Twilight could come out, but no one was there.
Coming back to Austin, just as his body fell to the ground, the dark figure ran to the stairs and into the second floor.
“AW!” Austin exclaimed as he got up.
He felt a HUGE pain in his back and he could feel his face burning.
“THAT...HURT!” He thought while looking at the cracked wall “No normal person has the strength to do that. Is he from Equestria?”
He immediately set his way towards the stairs and into the second floor, attempting to follow the figure. Students looked at him as he ran. It appeared only he could see him.
“How did he know I was from another world? Did he mean he's just like me? A person from the real world?” he thought while following glimpses of darkness through the hallways.
He entered a set of stairs that lead to the roof but before he could continue his path, the black figure surprised him from the side. The figure lifted Austin off the ground with his hands and pinned him to the wall. Austin was starting to be choked while hanging 3 feet off the ground.
Back in the cafeteria, Rarity and Pinkie were getting even more worried as the doors were still shut. If Austin didn't open them now it would be too late and the whole choreography would be ruined. Twilight was still getting worried. If this went wrong then everything would be ruined and her chances of becoming a formal princess would go down significantly.
She grabbed the door handle herself as she prepared to open it without the help of Austin, but before she could the door opened by itself as white light emanating from the cafeteria engulfed her.
Austin was going to pass out if he didn’t do something. Being stuck 3 feet off the ground while a person 2 times his size was choking him was bad enough, but knowing that this guy had the answers he was seeking made it extra hard to keep composure. Just as he was about to pass out, his body moved on its own. He grabbed one of the arms that were pinning him to the wall and with all his strength pushed him away. It was slow, but he was pushing the dark entity’s arm back. He suddenly lifted his right leg and placed it in his chest, then pushed as hard as he could. This made the entity lose a little balance and fall back. As Austin got free, he fell and hit the ground. He was finally able to breathe, but the entity was way ahead of him. As the entity grabbed Austin and lifted him up again, he punched him once, then again, then again, and once he was about to punch him in the face one last time, he stopped right before making contact. Austin had a large bruise on his left cheek and a bloody nose. He couldn't stop him now.
The entity threw him to the wall and walked to the stairs. Austin tried to get up, but the pain in his back was too much.
“S… stop…” he tried to say as the entity looked back at him.
“I spared your life today, I will not do it again. If you interfere with my plan you will have the pleasure of dying by my hands”
And just like that, the figure continued his path to the roof. A few minutes passed before Austin got up and went up the stairs to follow him. It was hard to go up the steps, but his will was more powerful than his pain. Once he got up and opened the metallic door, the bright sunlight hit his face and the warm heat of day engulfed him. He looked around but didn’t find a trace of the dark entity.
“Who the hell was that?” he thought while holding his back in pain.
“OW! OW! OW!” he exclaimed as questions began to be made in his mind.
Before he could think any longer, he remembered Twilight and the girls. He moved as fast as he could towards the stairs and towards the first floor, but just as the metal door closed, a small piece of black fog disappeared at the edge of the roof. Austin made his way and managed to walk all the way to the entrance of the school. A lot of students were present as a couple of security guards cleaned up the debris from the cracked wall Austin was thrown to a few minutes before.
“Did anyone see anything?” one of the students asked his friend.
“No, they say a group of 3rd graders heard a large crash and came to see what was happening” he responded.
Just as the gossip was spreading, Principal Celestia entered the room and told the students to clear out.
“Nothing to see here, only a small accident,” she said.
Austin covered his face as fast as he could, then he continued his walk towards the cafeteria. He struggled but finally managed to imitate a normal walking cycle. As soon as he entered the cafeteria he knew he messed up. Almost all the students were finished with their food and were getting ready for their next class.
“Oh no…” he whispered as he passed through the door and exited the cafeteria.
He moves around the school, trying to find Twilight and her friends, from the library to the classroom where they originally met. He couldn’t find them and it was starting to worry him.
“Come one!” he said trying to think of something “Wait! The soccer field!”
He made his way towards the outside of the school only to be met by Vice Principal Luna. She was wearing office attire and was apparently waiting for someone.
Austin walked past her and managed to enter the soccer field before being stopped by a familiar voice.
“It’s him!” A girl with sunset-colored hair said.
“He’s the one that challenged Rainbow Dash to gather information for Crystal Prep?” Luna asked while looking at Austin.
“Yes!” Sunset Shimmer responded with a smirk.
Austin turned to look at Sunset but Luna stepped forward.
“Mister Jake, please follow me to my office,” she said while walking towards him.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Austin thought while looking at the photographs which laid on the desk in front of him “First I get beat up by a shadow, then I miss the cafeteria performance and now this happens?!”
He was in a dark office room, Luna’s office room to be specific. The only light source could be seen emanating from a lamp located on the desk, but it was just barely illuminating the photos. The photographs were displaying multiple angles of Austin and Twilight playing against Rainbow Dash on the football field behind the school. They were just normal pictures, nothing seemed to be edited and nothing seemed out of place. As Austin continued to analyze them, a chuckle could be heard from his left. It was Sunset Shimmer. She was seated in another office chair and was enjoying the view of Austin suffering.
“You really like to make my work hard don't you?” Austin said, glaring at Sunset.
She made a sarcastic gesture of fear as a response, then she got up and started to walk around the room.
“OH, THE FEAR! OH THE SHAME!” she said while also doing exaggerated movements with her body “A BOY FROM CRYSTAL PREP CAME TO SPY ON THE STUDENTS OF CANTERLOT HIGH!”
“If that's the case then I'm a terrible spy. Spying is supposed to be an out of sight kinda sport” Austin refuted.
“Well, it wasn't as if she didn't believe it. I told you, I have COMPLETE CONTROL over this world”
“But you know that's not the truth. Even if I were trying to gain information out of this place, why would they believe I’m doing it for Crystal Prep?”
“I don’t know…” she said while switching her weight from her left leg to her right one “Maybe because you are the number 1 student in the school? DUH!”
“That’s even more of a reason why I wouldn't do that. I would risk my entire school status on this?”
“You wouldn't be risking anything if they themselves sent you, would you? And even if they didn't, you are too important to them. They wouldn't let you go” Sunset finished while watching her nails.
Austin couldn't respond to that, she had everything planned out. It wasn't false evidence either, it just made him look bad.
“Wait…” he thought “THAT’S IT! It just made me look bad! That means that there isn't an official statement or concrete evidence!”
Austin chuckled a little bit. Sunset saw this and was immediately alerted.
“What's so funny?” she asked with a smirk
“Well, I just… I just find it funny how you miscalculated” he said with a smile.
“What are you talking about?” Sunset asked, trying to maintain composure.
“You messed up badly on this one. These pictures don't prove anything”
“They PROVE that you were playing Soccer with Rainbow Dash, a sport which is used in the Friendship Games, thus you are trying to gain analytical information to create counterplay. Why would a Crystal Prep student come all the way over here? Isn't it funny how you show up a couple of months before the event?” she asked.
Austin just looks at her with a smile in response.
“What are you smiling for?!” she exclaimed while showing her impatience.
“The thing is, you have no case. These photographs PROVE that I was playing soccer with Rainbow Dash, they DON’T prove anything less NOR anything more. You say that my intention was to gain information for Crystal Prep, but that's also illogical because they have a winning record on this school. Why would they need information on a school they beat every time? Why would they send anyone as a spie when they always win without one? Do you see where I’m going? You can argue whatever you want, but it all comes down to a “he said, she said'' situation. And from what I can tell, this school is smart, they will see through your lies” Austin explained.
Sunset was baffled by this. She couldn't believe everything he just said, it was as if he outright outsmarted her.
“I… You… But-” She started to say but got cut off by vice-principal Luna walking through the main door of the dark office.
“Sorry for the delay, but Principal Celestia and I needed to do a little discussion before making a final decision. Now, mister Jake, I need you to answer a couple of questions, starting with: Why are you on Canterlot High school grounds? Aren't you supposed to be on Crystal Prep?” she asked while sitting in her office chair.
That was a really hard question to answer without any loopholes or without revealing any information.
“Damn! If I don't think of something it's all gonna go downhill” Austin thought while preparing to answer.
“I’m… I’m here because I was looking at school options for a possible transfer, and this school was the first one on the list” he said with a confident tone.
“A possible transfer?!” Sunset asked furiously.
“I see,” Luna said with an analytical face, “Sunset said that you were recollecting information to aid Crystal Prep in the Friendship Games a few months from now. Can you confirm that’s not true?”
“Yes. My intention never was to gain information for the games, It was to see and experience the life of a normal teenager here in the school. If I were getting information for Crystal Prep then it would go against the good faith both school’s have and I’m a man of good faith”
Luna smiled, unlike Sunset, she was pleased with that answer.
“What do you think of the school so far?” She continued asking.
“I think you have shown great integrity by tackling a misunderstanding this way. You chose to hear both sides and that’s something I respect. Every student has freedom here, every classroom is clear, and the school cafeteria has healthy food. This school is at the top of my list” he finished.
“Glad you are enjoying yourself, Jake. One last question, who is that girl in the pictures? The one in the goalkeeper position?”
“Oh, that’s Twilight Sparkle. She’s running for Princess of Fall Formal. She even did a performance in the cafeteria just a few minutes ago”
Luna seemed confused as if something wasn't fitting in. He took notice of that and a feeling of worry started to pile up.
“Is something wrong?” Austin asked.
“Well, we did a little research and it appears Twilight Sparkle is also from Crystal Prep. The problem is that being Princess of the Fall Formal requires to be a student of Canterlot High”
Austin’s stomach turned from left to right. Normally he would emulate emotion, but this hit him like a truck, he never realized this would be a problem.
“HA!” Sunset exclaimed while also looking at Austin’s worrying face.
“We can't let her participate because she isn't officially a Student,” Luna said with sadness showing on her face.
He thought and thought but nothing came to mind. No solution was being made up in his head. Time was running out and he needed something FAST. He tried to remember the Equestria Girls movie, he wanted to see if something there could be used right now. He then realized something.
“But, didn’t Princess- I mean, Principal Celestia give her permission to participate?” Austin asked.
“Yes, that’s another problem. Principal Celestia encouraged her to participate under the assumption that she was a NEW student. Twilight Sparkle told her that. She lied to her”
Everything seemed worse and worse for him. As Austin was thinking, Sunset seemed to feel a little more relaxed. She had different plans, but it’s all working the same. This made a smile form on her face.
“Okay… yeah, she’s from Crystal Prep. But if I recall correctly Twilight said she was “NEW here”. She never stated she was a student, while Celestia did state ANYONE could run for Princess of fall formal, you can ask her yourself. That’s why she wanted to do it. It was a miscommunication between them that led to her registering with the Fall Formal Committee and I think it would be really unfair if you just deny her because of a mistake both Twilight and the Principle made” Austin started to say.
Luna stayed silent. She was thinking about everything he was saying. Sunset was taken back by this. He was actually changing Luna’s mind.
“You can’t be seriously considering letting an outsider of the school run for this SCHOOL event, which was designed for SCHOOL students” she exclaimed while looking at Luna.
“Look, she worked hard today, Vice Principal Luna. She united students in the cafeteria and helped reunite a group of friends…” he continued while looking at Sunset with a glare “... which were UNFORTUNATELY driven apart”
Luna looked at Austin for a second, then looked at the calendar beside her desk.
“Fair enough. You've brought up some pretty good points, and considering this all started from a misconception by both parties, then denying her access to participate would go against our values” she finished with a smile.
Austin could not believe he actually did it. His shocked expression even made Luna chuckle. But contrary to him, Sunset looked devastated as she gasped.
“WHAT?!” she exclaimed “B-but she isn’t a student! Non-Student's shouldn’t be able to participate in an event that’s literally dedicated to Canterlot High!” she tried to say.
“What’s wrong Sunset? Afraid of a little competition?” Austin asked with a smirk.
“Why you little-!” she whispered before being stopped by Luna.
“It was the school’s fault this misunderstanding happened, Sunset. It’s only fair we continue with the original request from Twilight” she responded.
Austin stood up and walked closer to Sunset.
“And besides, you still have a chance to win Sunset. Just give it everything you have. Hard work pays off” he said with a nod.
“Well, I’m glad it’s gotten resolved. Mister Jake, please enjoy the rest of lunch, and I invite you to come to the dance tomorrow night. Seeing an actual school event play out might help you decide which school you are planning to register for. Canterlot High needs more morally acknowledged students like you” Luna said with a smile.
Austin walked to the door and opened it to exit, but before he walked through he turned towards her.
“Thank you for your hospitality. And you can count on seeing me there” he said before gently closing the door.
Now that Austin left, there was only Vice Principal Luna and Sunset in the dark office. Sunset looked at Luna as the tension in the small room started to increase.
“Why did you lie to me Miss. Sunset,” Luna asked with a disappointed expression.
“I… I didn't, I thought I heard him saying he was going back to Crystal Prep for business, and I assumed the worst” she said while trying to avoid eye contact.
Luna exhaled while leaning back in her chair.
“Sometimes you overthink things a little too much, Sunset. You've done it multiple times in the past school events. It’s not all about you, your actions can hurt other people. That’s why I took careful steps when you brought up this accusation”
“B-but, it wasn't-'' Sunset tried to say before being stopped by the Vice-Principal.
“I know you like to win everything Sunset, but don't let that blind you from what’s right and fair” she finished.
Sunset couldn’t even respond to that. She had no words. Her plan was getting ripped apart by one single person, and even the guardian who was supposed to be in her back pocket was betraying her. Sunset opened the door and stormed off without saying a word.
“You are just as bad as her! Once I get that crown I’ll turn you to my slave first!” she whispered under her breath.
Once the door was closed, Luna exhaled again.
Austin walked through the halls of the school with no students in sight, as if the school was completely empty. Just as he walked one step at a time, his thoughts were racing one at a time.
“Okay… I just dodged a HUGE bullet there… thank god…” he said while taking a right at the end of a hallway.
Before he could react, Austin heard a worried voice.
“Austin!” Twilight exclaimed while running towards him “Are you okay? What happened?!”
“What do you mean?” he asked with a curious expression.
She quickly entered his personal space and put her hand on his cheek to see his scars a little more closely. This immediately made Austin feel uncomfortable.
“What are you doing?” he asked while slowly pushing her away.
“What do you mean? Your face is a wreck!” she cried out while trying to get closer.
“I’m fine, I’m fine”
“But, you don't look fine! What happened to you?”
“I… fell down some stairs”
Twilight felt a little calmer after his response but still got close to help him.
As they were still struggling, the bell rang while students immediately exited their respective classrooms and into the halls.
“We better get out of here,” Twilight said.
“Yeah, I second that,” Austin responded.
They made their way outside of school and into the Soccer field where the sun was still shining in the sky.
“So, you got these by falling down the stairs?” she asked, surprised at the scars Austin had.
“Y- yeah, I can still - OW- feel the pain in my back” he responded while Twilight was still physically examining his face.
“I’m… I’m really sorry I wasn't there for the performance… I was going to make it back but I couldn't physically run”
“That’s okay, I’m just glad you are safe… after watching you run away and not coming back I was starting to get worried, especially after not finding you for a whole hour. I thought something bad happened to you”
“Ah, y- yeah, sorry about that. After I fell down, Vice Principal Luna called me into her office so that I could answer some questions. But you don't have to worry about that, I’m still gonna be able to help you” he said.
“Alright, that’s good no know. But, why did you run off like that?”
“I thought I saw something… I followed someone but didn’t manage to catch up to him”
Twilight looked at him for a second before realizing they were both making eye contact. She then realized she was sitting way too close to him. With an embarrassed face, she quickly separated herself from him and created a meter of distance.
“I- I’m just glad you are okay,” she said while avoiding eye contact.
“OMG OMG OMG OMG” Austin thought while looking away from her.
Before any of them could say one more word, footsteps could be heard approaching them. It was Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Applejack. They were walking towards them as Rainbow was balancing a ball with her legs.
“Yo, Austin! Wanna go for another 1 v 1 game or-” she said before getting a good view of his face “Wow dude, what happened to you?”
Fluttershy gasped. She immediately ran towards him and took a look. This made him even more uncomfortable, but he opened his arms to her warmth.
“You’ll be okay! I have experience treating hurt animals in the shelter!” she said before being stopped by Austin.
“It’s okay guys, I fell down some stairs and got a little hurt but I've gone through much worse”
“Much worse huh?” Applejack asked “You would be a really good farmer”
“Sometimes getting hurt can seem kind of fun!” Pinkie said.
Everyone stayed silent and looked at her for a few moments.
“What? When I get hit with paintballs in “Gotcha” I still have fun, don't you guys?”
Rarity looked towards Austin and prepared to say something.
“Darling, you've gotta take better care of yourself. Your body is a temple which only you can take care of, same goes for all of us” Rarity said while showing her body in a dance.
“If you took care of your body you wouldn't be drinking Lattes for breakfast, lunch, and dinner” Rainbow commented while laughing at her little dance.
“Hey! I don't do such things!” Rarity responded before staying silent for a few seconds “And plus, they taste pretty good…”
Austin smiled at their comments. It really felt as if he was inside an episode of My Little Pony. Their interactions were just… perfect.
“Hey, Austin?” Applejack asked.
“What’s up?” he responded while Fluttershy was still patching him up with a small toolkit in her backpack.
“Why did you leave us hanging in the choreography? Did something happen?” she asked with a curious expression.
“Ah, yeah. I kind of saw something and felt like I needed to follow it, but it was nothing. While coming back I fell down the stairs and then Vice Principal Luna asked to speak with me”
“Oh,” Applejack said.
“What did you talk about?” Pinkie asked while looking Austin in the eye a little bit too closely.
“It was something about tomorrow’s dance and how it would be set up”
“Wait, you helped her with the dance… AND I WASN'T TOLD ABOUT IT?!” Pinkie exclaimed.
“Nah, she just told me to wear my best suit… which is something I don’t have” he responded.
Before any more could be said, the school bell rang again.
“Ah, I gotta go to the Track Club. Sorry guys, I’ll see you tomorrow!” Rainbow said before running away with the soccer ball she was still balancing with her legs.
“I also gotta go to the Baking club, then the Dance club, then the Architecture club, and so on,” Pinkie said while jumping towards the school entrance “I’ll see you tomorrow!”
“Yeah, I gotta go to the Animal club too,” Fluttershy said while putting her equipment in her backpack “It’s almost all patched up. I’m really sorry for not being able to do it completely but I promised the headmaster I would watch the animals all day”
“No problem, you have fun!” Austin said while waving as she walked away.
“Me too y'all, I gotta go help my family with the farm,” Applejack said before heading to the parking lot “I’ll see ya tomorrow!”
As they all left, the only people who were still there were Twilight, Rarity, and Austin.
“What about you two?” Rarity asked as Twilight looked down.
She was starting to feel nervous, lying to her friends required a lot out of her and it was something she didn’t wanna do.
“We kind of have a problem. She and I come from out of town and need a place to stay. We kind of slept in a hotel yesterday, but today we have nowhere to go” Austin said.
“Y-yeah” Twilight continued, a little nervous.
“Oh, darling that’s awful,” Rarity said “You don’t have anyone in town that could house you for today? Or at least until you figure your stay out?”
“N-no” Twilight responded.
“Well… that’s a little short-minded” Rarity whispered, “BUT NOT TO WORRY!”
Rarity walked closer to them and grabbed their hands. They both got up and followed her towards the parking lot.
“Lucky for you, my boutique is in perfect shape for you to stay in! Two rooms with one bed each!” she said with a smile.
“Really?!” Twilight exclaimed with happiness in her voice.
“Yup! Tho, I’m gonna ask you to do something as a favor tho”
“What’s that?” Austin asked with a smile.
“I’m gonna need you two to be my models for today!” she responded.
As the three of them walked closer to Rarity’s car, Sunset Shimmer could see them from behind a tree. She was visibly angry, to the point of not being able to stop making her hand a fist.
“God damn you!” she thought while seeing the car leaving “I HAVE TO DO SOMETHING!”
Ideas were entering her head, but she was discarding them as they came. Suddenly one brilliant idea entered her mind.
“If I can’t have the crown, then she will be stuck here until I do!” she exclaimed as some students were walking beside her with weirded-out faces.
She immediately opened her phone and called a mysterious number.
“Snips! I need you two to do something for me…” she said as a wide smile was forming on her face.
On the other side of town, a small dark bedroom could be seen as a dark shadow emanated from an opened window. The dark figure Austin apprehended in school landed on the wooden floor and walked towards the bed in front. The figure made its way into the bed and stayed facing towards the ceiling. Suddenly the dark mist that emanated from the entity moved towards under the bed, revealing a middle-aged man who stayed facing up. The man looked as if he were sleeping, and snored like it too. As the mist completely entered the bottom of the bed, a projector could be seen in the background.
A British voice emanated from under the bed as moonlight from the opened window shined on the wooden floor.
“Hey…. hm… Rarity? Do I really have to put these on?” Twilight asks embarrassed while looking at some two-piece swimsuits in a cardboard box.
“Oh! No darling!” Rarity responds with a few chuckles “Those are for some clients from out of town. I finished these a few days ago but delivery isn’t until the end of November. I don’t know why someone would want swimsuits at the end of the year, but business is business”
While Rarity was ranting about some aspects of business, Austin walked around the large Boutique. He tried to take in everything at once, the clothes, the colors, the smells. It smelled like a comfortable cafe.
“Wow,” Austin thought while looking at how everything was well organized “I didn't know designs like these could even exist”
“You're really gonna make it far in the world of fashion,” he said, still perplexed by the amazing designs.
“Oh, thank you, dear. I have to do school work and then actual work to maintain myself. No money means no school… or food… or hot water, and I might have to start avoiding Taxes, BUT THANKFULLY I found a way to do both at the same time!”
“Well, I’m glad it's working out for you”
A small moment of silence took place as Rarity got everything set up.
“Hey, by the way, I wanted to ask what our parts will be in this” Austin said while she moved things from left to right.
“Well, I figured you haven't done this kind of thing before, so I took the freedom to simplify the job into 3 simple steps. First I hand you some clothes, then you put them on and at the end, I take a few pictures behind a green screen so that later on I can edit them. Then we do that again and again until we finish for the day” She said before finishing to set up the photoshoot equipment ''Are you ready to start?”
Austin and Twilight nodded before Rarity moved towards a huge pile of clothes. She seemed to be planning which clothes would go after which.
“Alright, first we'll start with winter clothes, then we will go with party wear, and we will end with swimsuits” she finished with a little bit of red on her cheeks before she started coughing “Okay! Let's begin shall we?”
Austin took notice of this and immediately knew what she was thinking.
“This is what Jake gets for having a supermodel body I guess…” he thought while walking towards the changing room “I don’t think I have it in me to do that”
A few minutes pass as they got dressed. While Austin was changing, he noticed something in his pant’s pocket. It seemed to be a square-like device. As he took it out of his pocket, he realized it was his cellphone, well, Jake’s cellphone.
“Completely forgot about you,” he said while pressing the circle button at the bottom of the device.
He tried to turn it on but it didn't work, as if it didn't have any battery.
“Well lucky me…”
After putting the phone down and changing his clothes, he looked at the mirror in the changing room.
“Well, if Jake was egocentric, I would completely understand why he would love himself,” he thought while doing little poses “I still can't get over how I’m in a different body”
He stops posing and looks at his own face for a few seconds.
“Is it wrong that I’m in his body? Is it wrong that I’m making decisions that affect him?...”
Austin looks at his right hand for a second.
“Is it wrong that I’m enjoying this?” he asked himself out loud.
Suddenly Rarity’s voice scared him from behind the door.
“No dear, you could say it's kind of normal for models to enjoy their job! But I’m glad you're liking this! Maybe I can hire you to be my store’s model later on!” she says while walking around on the other side of the wooden door.
By instinct, Austin ran towards the door and pushed against it. He peeped from the top of the door to see if she was close. If anyone found out he was not the actual Jake, who knows what they would do. As his head reached the top, he saw that Rarity was busy, but most of all she seemed worried. After collecting his things, he opened the door and walked out.
“Wow! You look wonderful!” Rarity said while also carrying a couple of sketch notes from one side of the room to the other “I’ll be right back”
He watched as she went up some stairs and disappeared. While waiting, he walked closer to a mirror to see how he looked again. Suddenly his right hand starts to move on its own. It started to shake, first slowly, then faster and faster. Austin took notice of this and immediately got weirded out.
“What the hell?” he thought while trying to stop his arm from moving “I’m not doing this!”
It came to the point of him actually using his left arm to stop it from. He didn’t know what happened. It was completely out of his actual control as if another person was occupying his body. Austin stayed there silent for a couple of minutes, trying to see if it would move again. He didn't notice Twilight was calling to him until she touched his shoulder.
“Hey, are you okay Austin?” she asked.
“Oh! I- I didn't notice you finished changing”
He turned around only to be met with a beautiful girl in a ski outfit. She moved around, trying to get more comfortable. Wearing clothes was still something new to her and using an outfit this hot in October wasn't the best option.
“That looks great on you,” Austin said with a thumbs up.
“Thanks! But… don’t you think it’s kind of hot here?” she asks while trying to get some fresh air inside her winter coat.
“Well, if we rate Rarity’s clothes by the functionality they would get a 100” Austin commented while also moving around and looking at his yellow ski jacket “But it’s hard to imagine Rarity doing these designs. They are so… different than what I remember”
Suddenly Rarity stumbles down the stairs with a huge device that seemed to be a camera. It was really big, almost as big as a movie recording camera for Imax.
“LET’S BEGIN… The shoot” She said with a wide smile.
She moves the two of them towards the green background and asks them to pose multiple times. She was taking pictures left and right as if there was no tomorrow.
“Ok! Now only Austin with a sitting pose! PERFECT! Now a pose with you looking up at the sky! As if you saw an alien or something! PERFECT!!”
She was going faster and faster up until she requested one last pose.
“Now, Twilight, grab him by the shoulders and get close to each other!”
They slowed down at that last request. Twilight grabbed Austin by the shoulders and slowly got close to him. It was really noticeable she was uncomfortable, so he started to think of something to change the mood.
“A little conversation doesn't hurt,” he thought while also getting into position “Maybe I can start telling her… about everything…”
He looked at his right hand for a second. It was a really weird feeling, losing control of his body. He looked back at Twilight, who was noticeably trying to avoid eye contact.
“So, Twilight” he started to say “Do you have any plans for tomorrow night?”
She looked at him with curiosity, but then remembered her little secret. Her gaze moved from Austin towards Spike, who was sitting while eating some snacks. He looked at her with his mouth full and nodded.
“Well… I kind of have to go before midnight” she said, a little nervous “Bad things will happen if I don’t”
She was still not revealing her secret. It was another difference from the original timeline. Austin knew what she was feeling tho, so to him, it wasn't a problem.
“I understand, sometimes your parents want you back before it gets too late” he responds with a supportive tone.
“Y-yeah… Hey… I wanted to ask you something…”
“Yeah?”
“Well... what if I told you I was from a different dimension?”
Austin looked at her for a second before giving an answer. He never expected her to be so… forward.
“I would say it’s not as uncommon as you think it is”
She looked at him with confusion.
“In other words, I would believe you. Even if it goes against what the world views as normal, I’m open to anything. Even if it's something I need faith in. That’s what friends do, right? They trust each other.”
Twilight’s eyes widened. His response shocked her. Who wouldn’t be shocked? If you told people you were from a different dimension, they would most likely call you crazy, but not him.
“Well… I… I’m from a different-” she was starting to say before Rarity interrupted them.
“That was perfect! We finished with the first patch of clothes in less than an hour. Now we only have 16 left” she said while walking to get the next patch of clothes.
“SIXTEEN?” Twilight and Austin exclaimed at the same time.
They quickly moved through the clothes, trying to finish all sixteen patches before it got dark. First was the October patch with Halloween costumes, then the December patch with snow gear, then the January pack, and so on. It went pretty smoothly up until the “Event” Patch. This one was filled with multiple suits with ties, dresses, and Tuxedos.
“Wow…” Twilight expressed while looking at Austin trying out a blue Tux.
“I know right? He looks wonderful” Rarity whispered behind her ear “He really does have potential to be an actual famous model”
Twilight couldn’t stop looking at him. For a few minutes, Austin didn’t notice until he thought it was too silent. He turned around only to be met with two cat-like faces staring at him.
“Hm…. what’s up?” he asked nervously.
“Aw, nothing sweety, I just happen to remember you said you didn't have a suit earlier today, so I was debating whether to let you use this one for tomorrow night or not”
Twilight suddenly remembered her mission. Hearing about tomorrow’s event made her snap out of her trance and realize how dire the situation is.
“I need to tell him… but…” she thinks while still looking at him “What if…”
Austin walks slowly towards Rarity.
“Wait… are you being serious right now?” he asks while forming a smile.
“Why, of course! It’s like, free publicity! And well, we’re friend’s too”
Twilight looks at the two of them and thinks.
“They are my friends… they’ll listen to me, right? They’ll believe me?”
She then focuses on Austin.
“Austin said he would trust me… but what if it still scares him? What if they leave me on my own?” she thinks.
Before finishing her thought, Rarity walks in front of them to make an announcement.
“Alright! We managed to do every patch of clothes except the Summer vacation one, but that one can wait for next year” she says with pride “We did some really good work today and I know you are both tired, so let's call it a day for now”
Austin and Twilight both exhale deeply as they take a seat on some leather chairs.
“Thank god,” Austin thought.
“Tho, I will be calling you for that Summer swimsuit photoshoot, later on, Austin” Rarity said with a wink.
After a few minutes of setting stuff down, they all headed towards the second floor of the boutique. It wasn't that different from the bottom floor, everything was well organized and clean, from the white roof to the purple floor.
“This is your room for tonight, Twilight” Rarity says while showing her a medium-sized room with a bed and a couple of texture sheets on some shelves “Sorry for it being a little bit messy, darling. I had a lot on my plate this week”
“No problem. I’m just thankful you offered to help me-... I mean, to help us” Twilight responded while walking inside.
“We’ll leave you to change into your pajamas, they’re on the front of the bed” Rarity said while taking Austin to another room.
They walked a few steps deeper into the hallway and she opened another door.
“And this is for you” she finished.
Austin entered and saw that it was practically the same room as Twilight's. The colors were a little bit less saturated, but that didn't seem to bother him.
“Thanks,” Austin said while taking a seat on the small bed.
“No problem, I’m just sorry that I don’t have pajamas for men right now”
Austin looked at her with a face of panic.
“Does she really wanna see this body that much?” he thought.
“Don’t worry Darling, these doors have locks. No one will… take a peek” she finished while walking out the door.
After she closed the door behind her, Austin looked at the mirror beside the bed.
“Well… she’s dangerous,” he thought while walking around the room.
An hour went by quickly as both Twilight and Austin got ready to sleep. It was around 9 pm and Austin was about to change clothes. He managed to find a large shirt he could sleep with but still needed to take the Tux off.
Twilight was ready to sleep. She had her pajamas on and was about to get comfortable in the bed before Spike interrupted her. He was sitting in a small prototype of a doggy house on the right side of the bed.
“Weren't you gonna tell him?” he asked.
“I mean… I was… but…”
Spike saw her insecure face and understood what was happening immediately.
“Twilight, do you really think they won't believe you?”
“No, I mean, YES, I mean… I don’t know Spike…” she responded, still confused about what she should do, “That crown is really important, and in the wrong hands it can be a lethal weapon… but… what if they decide to not help me because I’m different from them? What if they get scared by the complexity of the situation?”
“Twilight, that’s not gonna happen. They’ve helped you out up until now, what makes you think they’ll stop after learning the truth?” he asked while trying to comfort her.
“Well, it’s not every day someone tells you that you come from a dimension in which people are ponies and where magic exists”
“I do see the point, but I’m sure that if you tell him, NO, if you tell all of them, they won't stop supporting you. They followed you because you were a great friend to them… and even if they know you are a pony… that’s not going anywhere” he tells Twilight with a smile.
She stays silent for a few moments. It made her calmer knowing that Spike was there for her, but doubt was still in her eyes.
Before anything else could happen a knock is heard on the door. It was Rarity. She was still wearing her work clothes, but she did change her shirt before heading up towards Twilight’s room.
“Yes?” Twilight asked as Spike went back towards the doggy house “How can I help you Rarity?”
Rarity opened the door slowly and peeked in.
“Twilight! Follow me for a few minutes” she whispered.
It was clear she didn't want Austin to hear her. Twilight followed her without knowing her intentions, but then they stopped in front of Austin’s door.
“What are we doing?” Twilight asked, a little confused.
“Darling, you don't have to hide it from me. I see that spark in your eyes every time you see him. You really care about him, right?”
Twilight stayed silent for a few seconds, her face starting to become a little red.
“I just recently met him and he’s… he’s just been too good to me… too good for everyone,” Twilight says before taking a deep breath “He made himself a special place in my heart”
Rarity smiled after hearing her say that.
“Well, tonight I will bring you a one-time opportunity to see him… shirtless” she whispers, a little bit too excited.
“Shirtless?” Twilight asks “What is that?”
Rarity looks at her with a serious face for a few seconds, while Twilight immediately makes a nervous smile.
“OH! You mean… without a shirt?” she finished asking.
“Oh darling, when you’re as popular as me you gotta choose your boy’s right. They have to be smart! They have to be Kind! But most importantly…”
Twilight stared at her with anticipation.
“... They have to be handsome!” she finished.
Twilight immediately stepped back for a second.
“I… I don’t know Rarity, I normally see what is inside the person instead of how they look” she commented.
“Oh, of course, darling! But I, as a fashion designer, always take a look at their appearance. It normally speaks volumes of a person” Rarity said.
They hear movement from the other side of the door and immediately Rarity looks through the keyhole.
“Rarity! That's a breach of privacy!” Twilight whispered while trying to get her attention.
“Oh, Twilight! He’s doing it!” she whispered back.
“Wha-?” Twilight was about to ask before being pushed towards the door and into the keyhole.
“HEY!” she was saying before taking a look through the hole.
What she saw captivated her. It was Austin, he was taking off his white button shirt. Button by button, slowly but surely. He revealed his upper body as Twilight’s eyes widened.
“Oh my Celestia...” she said, still looking through.
Suddenly Austin stops and looks towards the door. He heard that.
“Hey!” he exclaimed before ducking behind the bed “What are you guys doing!?”
Rarity giggled and grabbed Twilight by the arm.
“It’s time to run,” she said, still giggling.
Before Austin could open the door, the girls left running. Twilight entered her room and closed the door, while Rarity went back downstairs. Austin steps out of his room with his tuxedo pants and a large shirt.
He looked from left to right but found no one. Before looking around, his right hand started to shake again.
“Oh, not again!” he thought while walking back into the room and closing that door.
He walked towards the bed while trying to control himself, but before he could get there his left leg started to shake. Without his control, he slipped and fell on the floor.
“OW!” he exclaimed.
It took all his strength, but he managed to get on top of the bed and sit upright. It took a few minutes, but his body was going back to normal.
“What is happening to me?” he thought while looking at his right hand “It’s as if this body is rejecting me…”
He then realized what that meant.
“OH CRAP!” he said “What if… this body is having a secondary reaction to me using it? What if it’s rejecting me?”
He stayed there… frozen in time as if nothing was moving. He couldn’t hear anything but his heart beating faster and faster by the second.
“What if I start losing control of all my muscles? What if I start losing control over my own organs? That means I have a huge risk of suffocation… But why now? Why didn’t this happen earlier?”
He looked at himself in the mirror again.
“Is this Jake? Is he doing this? It’s his body after all… What if… what if I go to sleep and I suffocate in my sleep?”
As thoughts kept racing in his mind, the room began to fade into black as his thoughts of worry were overpowering him. It kept up like this for a few seconds until, unexpectedly, a digital alarm clock started to make noise. Austin immediately looked at it. It showed the time was 12 am.
“Holy crap!” he exclaimed “How did time just go by so quickly? I… I better at least try to get some sleep…”
He got under the bedsheets and closed his eyes. One minute passed… then another, then 3, then 30, then an hour….
“AHHHH!” he whispered in desperation.
He stood up in bed and looked around for a second.
“If Jake really is trying to regain control of his body… does that mean I’m the main reason he can't use it?”
He looked at the floor. There was a piece of fabric covering another one underneath as if it wanted to stop it from seeing the light.
“That means… that we could both be in danger… how would two people even control one body?” he asked himself.
Before even more questions could be asked, he hears a crash on the first floor of the boutique. His look stays fixated on the door while he decides if going downstairs was a good option.
“If there's someone downstairs, they might be stealing something… or even worse… they could be targeting someone…”
He then remembered the black figure.
“OH NO,” he thought while immediately getting off the bed and moving towards the door.
He makes his way towards the stairs and slowly makes his way down. Everything was silent as if no one was down there, but then he saw the lights were on.
“What?” he questioned himself before walking down.
To his surprise, it was Rarity. She was picking up a few things from the floor. Apparently, she fell and dropped them by accident.
“Hey, are you okay?” Austin asked while walking towards her to help.
“Oh I’m so sorry Austin, did I wake you up?” she asked while getting up and putting the stuff on a work table.
“Nah, I couldn't fall asleep…” he responded while helping her “But what about you? You have school tomorrow, and it's already 1 am”
“Oh, me? I’m used to working late. I finished an order 30 minutes ago, and now I’m doing some finishing touches on some of tomorrow’s ornaments for the fall formal. Pinkie felt bad about the misunderstanding we had and offered me to finish these”
He looked at her while she kept working hard. It was clear she was physically sweating from all the things she was doing.
“Don’t you think this is a little too much?” he asked.
“Nah, I've gone through worse. You should’ve seen me when I almost went bankrupt. THAT was an actual nightmare”
This comment raised an eyebrow on Austin’s face. Bankrupt?
“What do you mean?”
She looked towards him for a second and then returned to work.
“A few months ago the boutique wasn't in the best of states. I got sick and had a hard time getting things ready for delivery”
“Delivery?”
“Oh, yeah. My shop is a midway transport for multiple shipments of clothes. I'm allied with big companies and they hit me up when they want to move products from one state to another. This place is like a midway point that products go through before they reach a destination”
“Wait, are you telling me you didn't make any of the clothes we tried on?”
“Well, almost everything you tried was made by big corporations like the Brezzy’s shoe company or the Flim Flam Association”
“Wait what?! The Flim Flam Brothers? And I thought Breezy's shoes were supposed to be a secret from the public…” Austin murmured.
“Oh, that's just what Rainbow likes to think. She likes some of the premium shoes they have and only tells her most trusted friends about them” Rarity said before looking at him “Look at you, being her best friend in less than a day”
“Time passes fast, doesn't it? It isn't every day you bring a person you just met to your house and peep on him when he's changing clothes” he said while chuckling.
Rarity’s face turned red just as she tried to avoid eye contact.
“Yeah… sorry about that”
“Let's just, not do that again” he murmured, “But back to the original discussion… Why the pictures tho? If it isn't your clothes, why do it?”
“Well, my job is to see if the product is okay and take evidence photos… I almost got scammed one time…” she said with an annoyed expression.
Something was just not right to Austin. In the movies, she made all of her own designs. Another thing is different from the original timeline.
“But… why? Why don't you make your own designs? What’s stopping you from doing so?” he asked, trying to understand her reasoning “You have the imagination and the skills to do it”
Rarity took a deep breath and stopped working for a second. She looked towards the window of the boutique.
“I just… I just don't have time for that… With school and this job… I make fun sketches between classes, but I don’t have actual time to create one for real”
Austin looked at her for a few moments before realizing something. In his years of being bullied, he memorized the faces people make when they’re trying to hide the truth, and she was definitely hiding something.
“I still don’t get it. If you quit this job you are gonna have more than enough time to do something you enjoy and-” he tried to say before being stopped by Rarity.
“Look, Austin… sometimes people have a responsibility so big that it overcomes their desire to get a job they like. Sometimes people can’t get what they want… because… they just can’t”
He still didn't understand. She couldn’t be happy because she has a responsibility? What was this responsibility?
He continued to look at her before turning around and walking towards the stairs.
“I know you don't want to tell me. It must be something personal and I completely understand if you don't want to talk about it” Austin said while reaching the stairs.
"I have some secrets of my own," he thought while looking at his right hand.
He remembers how he wants to tell Twilight about his situation but in doing so he might change the timeline to the point of no return. To the point of not being able to fix things. To the point when somebody might actually get hurt.
Rarity looked at him with sadness. And before he continued to walk, she stopped him.
“Wait Austin… you seem like a good guy, so I need you to do me a favor and not tell anyone what I’m about to say”
She looked at him with serious eyes.
“If I lose this job and do my own designs… there’s a chance that my work won’t sell and that the boutique will fail”
He turned towards her and saw that it was taking all her strength to say what she wanted to say.
“If I don’t get any income… then I'll be forced to sell this place… and…”
She stopped for a second before continuing.
“This is all Sweetie Belle and I have”
Austin stood there, perplexed.
“What about your parents?” he asked “I’m sure they would be willing to help”
She looked at him with such sadness that even he figured out the answer to that question.
“Our parents… they’re gone…”
After those words left her mouth, the two of them stood silent as the breeze of the big room passed through their hair. Austin never expected this… at all.
“I’m… sorry for your loss,” he said, trying to be supportive “And I’m sorry for asking”
“It’s okay… They went out of town and rented a small van that was supposedly new… it turned out there was a faulty wheel… and they had an accident”
Austin looked at her with sympathetic eyes. He knew how she felt.
"I've been taking care of us by myself for over two years…"
Before she knew it, Austin walked towards her and looked at her with the same saddened eyes.
"My parents… were not always there for me when I needed them. I know it's not the same as your situation, but… I want you to know, that…" he began to say before stopping for a few moments "I want you to know that I'm here for you. Living without support from parents… can change someone… for the better... or for the worst"
He remembered his previous miserable life. How he always waited for his parents to return, but they never opened the door to the house. How he waited and waited for days, weeks, months, only to be received by the same words: "Sorry honey, we have work to do".
Rarity never realized he had gone through something similar. She started to feel even sadder as her will to finish what was left of work left her body.
"Are they okay?" She asked.
Austin looked at her and smiled.
"I truly hope so"
A few awkward seconds passed by before Rarity recomposed herself to continue talking.
“If I don't get enough income, I risk being unable to support myself and Sweetie Belle. That’s why I don’t do it… It’s my responsibility to keep her safe... I promised them I would do ANYTHING to protect her” she finished.
Austin stood still for what seemed like hours before saying something. He was still processing the information.
“Your parents would be proud of what you've accomplished. I’m sure they’re in a better place”
Rarity turned towards the window to see the sky.
“I truly hope so”
No words were exchanged for half a minute before Austin scratched his head and prepared to continue.
“I could help you if you want. The dance is later today so we are pretty limited in time”
She looked at him, her gaze tired of working the whole day.
“I think I’m done for right now. I can finish the rest tomorrow” she said while walking past Austin and towards the stairs “Turn the lights off before heading up please”
He looked at her going up before hitting himself in the face.
“GREAT JOB AUSTIN!” he thought while looking around to see if anything was laying on the ground “Next time let’s just directly ask her how she feels about not having any parents around why don’t ya?”
As he turned off the lights and went up the stairs, something could be seen in the background. It was placed on top of a large ornament meant for the Fall Formal. It seemed to be a small black shard of an emerald.
