//------------------------------// // Three - Faint // Story: The Infestation of Canterlot High School // by Bonster //------------------------------// Three - Faint Sunset raised an eyebrow as she entered Twilight’s makeshift laboratory. It was the more disorganized than ever—apparently, Twilight considered everything to be a shelf, including the ceiling fan. The part of Sunset left over from before the Fall Formal told her to turn the fan on, but she held back. That would be mean. Funny, though. But mean. “How do you even find anything in here?” Twilight cocked her head in confusion. “What do you mean?” “This place is a mess. I mean, you used old pizza boxes to extend your filing cabinet.” Sunset gestured to the stack of old ‘Mama Joanne’s’ boxes stacked on top of each other, the corners of various documents poking out. Twilight blushed slightly. “It’s an efficient use of available resources! And I needed more space for my documentation of anomalies. There seem to be quite a lot around here.” “She says to the pony alien.” “Anyway, we’re not here to talk about my innovative organizational techniques.” Twilight bent down and picked up six pieces of paper scattered on the floor and showed them to Sunset, who thought that Twilight knowing exactly which of the dozens of papers on the floor were the correct ones should be documented as an anomaly. “I’ve been trying to find a way to ‘weave’ magic like you mentioned when we talked about how unicorns form spells, but I’ve been having trouble.” Sunset looked at the proffered papers. “I think I see your problem. You’re trying to alter the pattern of the spell after you release the magic, but you need to alter the pattern at conception if you want it to stop being dimensional. Right now, all you’re doing is making it a different kind of dimensional spell, not a different kind of spell.” “Oh, that makes sense. Thanks so much, I was worried I wouldn’t be able to pull this off…” “Really?” Sunset looked down at Twilight’s notes again. “Because this stuff is genius. You know, in Equestria, they haven’t managed to build a device that can harness magic like this without using magic to make it. You’re kind of inventing a whole new branch of arcane research here, and you’ve only been experimenting with magic for a few months.” “Oh, I’m sure the only reason Equestrians haven’t come up with this stuff is because they haven’t needed to. They have natural ways of harnessing magic.” “Maybe, but you’re still breaking new ground. You really should show this to Twilight—the other one—next time we see her.” Twilight nodded and opened her mouth, but was cut off by a knock at the door. “That’s probably one of our friends,” said Sunset, already getting up. “Better see what they want.” But when Sunset opened the door, it wasn’t one of her friends after all. A cream skinned girl with blue-pink hair smiled sweetly at Sunset. Sunset raised an eyebrow. “Oh, um, hey, Bon Bon. Uh… Why are you here?” “If you two aren’t in the middle of something, I was wondering if I could talk to you in private?” she asked, her grin widening. “Sure, I guess.” Sunset turned to Twilight and mouthed ‘Be right back’; she flashed a thumbs-up in response. As soon as Sunset closed the door, Bon Bon’s smile dropped and she lowered her voice, in both volume and pitch. “Alright, I’m going to be straight with you—are you and your friends expecting a threat to the school?” Sunset gulped. “Uh, why do you ask?” “Absentee rates are through the roof, students’ personalities are changing for seemingly no reason, you and magic girl are locked up in her lab; do I need to continue?” Sunset sighed and cast her gaze away. “We’re not entirely sure, but you’re right. All of that and… more… suggests that something’s happening. But whatever it is, it isn’t big and flashy like the Sirens were. It’s subtle. And until we have more information, we don’t want to cause a panic. So don’t go shouting all this through the halls, alright?” “You treat me like a child,” scoffed Bon Bon. “I’m not that stupid.” Sunset was about to retort as Bon Bon’s smile returned, as genuine as any, and her voice sprang back into its usual soprano. “Thanks a bunch, Sunset! See you around!” “…Yeah, you too,” Sunset mumbled as she watched the girl walk down the hall, pull her phone out of her pocket and put it to her ear. What a weird person. Rarity grimaced at the cafeteria food on her tray; she didn’t even know what that glob of brown stuff was. “Alright, that settles it. I’m packing my lunch from now on. This slop looks positively inedible!” Rarity whined with her ever-present dramatic flair. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” exclaimed Pinkie Pie, shoveling large forkfuls of food down her face. “This stuff’s great!” “Well, help yourself, then.” Rarity scooped the mystery glop onto her fork and moved to dump it onto Pinkie’s plate. Instead, Pinkie ate it straight from Rarity’s fork, causing the girl to gag and use Rainbow’s napkin to wipe it down. Rainbow, who was quite taken with her hamburger, didn’t so much as notice. “I do worry about the nutritional value,” Fluttershy commented. “I learn a lot about animal diets at the shelter, and I think some of that still applies to humans. And, um… I don’t want to be rude, but the cafeteria meals aren’t exactly… well rounded.” “I’m sure if Twilight were here, she’d be rattlin’ off all sortsa facts ‘bout the ‘nutritional value’.” “Where is she, anyway?” Rarity asked. “She was present in history, I’m sure of it.” Pinkie finished guzzling down her food and licked her lips clean before replying. “She’s in the lab with Sunset working on top secret magic projects!” “They sure seem to be spending an awful lotta time there lately,” Applejack said. “Does anybody actually know what they’re working on?” “Laser guns!” Rainbow practically screamed, leaning forward and smiling jubilantly. “They’re building magical laser guns! Awesome, right?” Fluttershy shrank down in her seat. “I don’t know. Couldn’t it have been a magical, um, pencil or something?” Rainbow gave Fluttershy a half-lidded glare. “A pencil.” “I just don’t think we should be building guns. It makes me uncomfortable.” Applejack laid a hand on her shoulder. “I see where your comin’ from, Shy, but it is practical, especially considerin’ all the weird stuff that’s been happenin’ recently.” “Oh, that reminds me!” Rarity shot up in her seat a bit. “Since we’re supposed to be on the lookout for unusual occurrences and whatnot, I should mention that just a few minutes ago, Twinkleshine was asking me an awful lot of questions about how our magic works. She was very persistent, too, especially for someone I don’t know well.” Pinkie gasped comically and grabbed Rarity’s shoulders. “Oh my god Rarity that’s totally freaky!” “Pinkie, what—” “After science today, Micro Chips came up to me and started asking me the same stuff! It’s a conspiracy!” “Pinkie, dear, I hardly think two cases of spontaneous questioning qualifies as a conspiracy.” “But what about three?” Rainbow interjected, slamming a palm on the table. “Trenderfoot wouldn’t leave me alone all morning!” “Amethyst Star was buggin’ me ‘bout magic, too,” supplied Applejack. They all turned to Fluttershy, who looked back with large, unassuming eyes. “Hmm? Oh, um, Sandalwood talked with me about that. He was very polite, though.” Rainbow Dash sat back in her chair and folded her arms. “Yeah, I’d say that this crosses way past coincidences.” “What did I say? Conspiracy!” Pinkie threw hands up and to the sides in emphasis, nearly smacking an unamused Rarity in the face. “But don’t worry, I’ve got a solution.” She pulled five tin foil hats out of her hair, placing one lopsided on her head. Rarity nearly choked on her milk. “If you think I’m wearing that horrid piece of trash for even a second, Pinkie—” Applejack coughed pointedly. “Don’t y’all think we should maybe talk about why people are suddenly all over us like pigs at feedin’ time?” “Maybe they’re just curious. We have been keeping them in the dark,” suggested Fluttershy. “They weren’t curious before!” Rainbow countered. “If you ask me, there’s gunna be a monster attack!” “An’ if ya ask me, you just want an excuse t’ be violent.” “Maybe the government is brainwashing people into gathering information about us!” Pinkie hissed, gesturing at her hat. “While this is quite a thrilling discussion,” Rarity said, pushing out against the table, “I need to freshen up, so please excuse me.” “Oh, just say you have to piss, Rarity,” Rainbow called over her shoulder, and Rarity chose not to dignify her with a response. As she made her way through the halls, Rarity could swear that every eye was on her—it seemed that nearly every student she looked at stared straight back. Rarity shook her head vigorously as she pushed open the door to the girls’ bathroom; she was starting to sound like Pinkie Pie, and that was never a good thing. But when she looked back up, she jumped in shock. Three girls were standing in the middle of the bathroom, stock still, eerie eyes trained on Rarity. “Oh, um, hi there. Sorry, I didn’t…” Twinkleshine, Amethyst Star… “Didn’t see…” Lyra Heartstrings? Wasn’t she out sick today? Rarity’s eyes widened—and she hit the grimy tiled floor with a soft thud. Graxx unwove his disguise, bending down over the girl and touching his horn to her head. He saw visions flash through his mind like a movie on fast forward—he saw the girl enter the twelfth grade, saw her meet the strange new girl, saw the bully that turned into a demon, saw the aura that enveloped the girl as she blasted her into a better place. He saw the enchantresses that turned heads and melted minds with their music, saw them shed their human facades using this girl’s—Rarity’s—magic, saw Rarity and her friends turn into half-pony abominations and shatter the enchantresses’ gemstones. He saw her compete in the Friendship games, saw the portals to Equestria and the fight between her two empowered friends. And he saw as Rarity and her friends came close to discovering #0926 spying on them from an alleyway (#0926 was always so careless. The kind of changeling who never got Named), saw the humans start to unravel their secrets. And he streamed all of this straight through the hivemind—it would reach the Queen soon enough. His voice was sharp and alien as he spoke to his cohorts. “Impersonation is impossible. Wipe her short-term memory and scatter. Our job here is done.” Sunset checked her watch as she raced through the halls. There were still ten minutes left in lunch; enough time to scarf down a hotdog or something. She skidded around a corner hastily, slamming straight into Rarity and sending them both to the ground. “Ow! Oh, hey, Rarity.” Sunset got to her feet and offered Rarity a hand. “Sorry, I wasn’t looking where I was going.” Rarity woozily hoisted herself up with Sunset’s assistance. “Oh, don’t worry about it, darling.” She put a hand on her forehead and groaned. “Uh, Rarity? Are you alright?” “No, I’m afraid not. The strangest thing just happened to me.” Sunset looked on encouragingly, and Rarity continued. “Last I remember, I was walking through the halls to the bathroom, when suddenly I wake up on the bathroom floor with no memory of how I got there. And to top it all off, I’ve got a massive migraine.” Sunset knew those symptoms alright. “Rarity, why were you drinking?” “WHAT?! I would never! Whatever gave you that idea?” “Well, you just gave me a pretty good description of what a hangover feels like. Speaking from experience here.” “From experience? Sunset, you’re not of legal drinking age.” “Back when I was Sunbitch, I didn’t really care about that kind of thing. And besides, drinking age in Equestria is sixteen, so I was of legal age back there.” Rarity paused to do some mental math. Eighteen minus four… “No you weren’t. You would’ve been fourteen at most.” Oh no, thought Sunset as she realized her mistake. “Unless you’re lying about your age,” Rarity said with a laugh. Sunset smiled sheepishly. Aw, shit. Rarity’s eyes widened. Hadn’t Sunset mentioned something about time being inconsistent across dimensions? “Sunset, how old are you?” Sunset’s smile dropped to a defeated frown. “Uh, well, I ran away when I was seventeen as a pony, and it’s been five years, so I’m twenty-two.” Rarity’s mouth hung open. “A-and how old is Twilight? The pony one, I mean.” Sunset exhaled heavily. “So, that’s where it gets complicated. Time between the two dimensions is weird and inconsistent and makes no sense in any way at all, so it’s kind of hard to tell, and I’ve never directly asked her, because that’s rude, you know? But, let’s see, she was accepted as Celestia’s student after I ran away, when she was, like, six, and even though it’s been only five years for me, she’s been living on her own for at least three years now, if not more. So unless she was incredibly self-sufficient and could move out as an eight year old, she’s probably around my age.” “Sunset?” “Yeah?” “Can we just pretend we never had this conversation and try to hopelessly salvage the status quo?” “Yeah.” Twilight studied her (now stabilized) locket as she walked around her back yard. Her parents were off at some business party that night, so it was the perfect chance to test the prototype of her thaumic compressor. “Alright, Spike, looks like this area of the yard has the densest concentration of atmospheric magic.” The dog bounded to her side. “Well, what are you waiting for? Let’s see if it works!” Twilight lifted the compressor to her shoulder, double-checked that the safety inhibitor was switched to ‘ON’, and aimed the barrel towards an old sycamore a few feet away from her. She pulled the trigger, and two hatches on either side of the body of the gun slid open to reveal a glowing sphere of energy. Just like the absorption function of her locket, the magic in the air was pulled in, and a small laser shot from the barrel. “It works!” Spike jumped in little circles around Twilight, who had stuck out her tongue in concentration as she burned a six-pointed star shape into the tree. Just before she could finish the design, the laser sputtered and died, and she released the trigger. Twilight once again looked down at her locket, the built-in thaumometer coming up blank. “It certainly eats up magic quickly, though, and that was with the inhibitor on. But if one of our friends is ponied up, it should be able to sustain a decently powerful beam for a good time.” “What would happen if you turned the inhibitor off?” “At the rate it was absorbing magic, it would probably fire off all available energy near instantly. Combine that with all the magic a pony up produces, and you could probably kill someone with a single shot.” Spike cringed. “Let’s not test that.” Twilight giggled. “I wasn’t planning to.” “Hey, Twilight?” called out a kind voice. Twilight froze. How could she forget about Cadance? She tried her best to hide the thaumic compressor behind her back as she turned to greet her former babysitter and dean. “Y-yeah?” “Shiny and I are about to eat, so—” Cadance leaned to the side to look around Twilight, but she swiveled, keeping her invention out of sight. “—we were wondering if maybe—” Cadance leaned the other way, only for Twilight to twist again. “—you’d like to join us, and—okay, Twilight, what’s behind your back?” “My back? What are you talking about?” Spike put a paw to his nose. “Just show her. She’s going to find out eventually.” Begrudgingly, Twilight showed Cadance the compressor. The older woman’s eyes bulged and her jaw fell. “TWILIGHT! Is that a GUN?!” “No! Well, yes, but a totally harmless magic one!” It was then that Cadance noticed Twilight’s attempt at artistry. “A totally harmless gun that can sear trees?!” Cadance whisper-shouted, pointing to the star. Twilight cringed. “If Velvet hears about this—” “Please don’t tell her!” exploded Twilight, panic in her eyes. “Please, Cadance!” Cadance sighed. What was it with this family and being too cute to refuse? “I won’t tell her.” Twilight’s whole body loosened. “But you seriously need to be careful. Look, I don’t know what’s going on at Canterlot, but it’s dangerous. And nobody here could bear seeing you hurt.” Twilight looked to the ground, and Cadance put hand on her cheek. “I’m not telling you to stop, Twilight. No one can. Well, Velvet will probably try, but it’s because she loves you. You know that, right? We all love you.” Twilight looked up and smiled faintly. “You’re way too sappy.” A laugh. “Come on, we’d better go in soon or Shiny will worry that we’ve been eaten by a bear.” The two laughed some more as they started walking back up to the house, Spike padding diligently behind them.