Thursday, October 29, 2015

2015
AUGUST
SEPTEMBER
OCTOBER





NOVEMBER
DECEMBER
GO TO 2016

Today's Horoscope (Virgo): Get over yourself. You're not that special.

Early Morning

I wake up feeling horrible. My eyes feel tight, my throat feels scratchy, and my head is pounding. Considering how late I was up last night and how fatigued I was after fighting Scorpio and...

That had to have been Sunset Shimmer. I have to keep telling myself that. At the same time, I feel a nagging sense of doubt...

Was that Sunset Shimmer? Was it somebody else? Whoever it was...they have the same power...Persona...

My door bursts open, and Cadance walks in, holding a couple pills and a cup of water. "Take this," she says in a rush.

I take the pills and swallow them with a frown. "What was that?" I ask.

"Bannaflu," Cadance says. "Fluttershy's burning up and puking all over the place. I'm giving everyone in the dorm Bannaflu just to be safe."

"Ugh," I groan. "I do have a sore throat and a headache this morning, but I thought it was just from last night..."

Cadance feels my forehead, then pulls a thermometer out of her pocket and slips one of those little plastic things on it. She shoves it in my mouth and waits for it to beep. "No fever," she says. "I'll give you something for the symptoms. Unless you want to be excused from school today...I wouldn't blame you if you did."

"No," I say, shaking my head. "Just gimme something for the headache and I'm good. I need to be at school today."

"Alright," Cadance says. "I'll have it waiting for you when you come downstairs. Take your time."

I glance at my phone. It's less than an hour until time for school. "Crap!"

"Don't worry about it," Cadance says. "Pinkie and Twilight are still getting ready too." She frowns. "Twilight looks like hell, and...Athena's magic healed up that shoulder, but it's not pretty. It may take that a couple of days to fully heal. I might even have her go back into Zodiac after school just to use her Persona's power again...maybe speed up the healing."

"Is that a good idea?" I ask.

Cadance shrugs. "Dunno." She heads out.

I take a quick shower, dress, and get my stuff together, then head downstairs. There's a platter of cold bacon and egg sandwiches on the table. Pinkie's already eating. I sit down and grab one. Cadance comes in a moment later with another dose of medicine for me. Twilight comes down shortly after this. Her eyes have dark circles under them and her hair isn't in the best shape. I reach over and smooth it out a bit for her as she grabs three sandwiches off the platter and crams one into her mouth.

"I really hope none of us get Fluttershy's flu," Pinkie says. "That'd really suck with Halloween on Saturday."

The gruesome sound of a stomach being emptied rips through the silence, making me shudder.

"Wow, Fluttershy throws up really loud," Pinkie says, eyes wide.

"I hope she'll be alright," Twilight says around the mangled remains of her third sandwich. How she managed to eat two already is beyond me...

"Hey, you okay, Flash?" Twilight asks.

"I just have a really bad headache," I say. "And...kind of a sore throat."

"Uh-oh," Pinkie says, sliding away from me. "I was all over you last night, and you caught the Flutterflu...gyaaah!"

"You were what last night?" Twilight demands sharply.

"You know, we did all that hugging and making sweet sweet friendship? You were there too, you know..."

"Pinkie," Twilight groans, facepalming. Shaking her head with a sigh, she stands up and brushes crumbs off her...everything, actually. "Cadance is waiting for us, let's get going."

The three of us head outside and pile into Cadance's SUV. Once we're buckled in, Cadance looks into the back. "Everyone okay?"

"Just a little headachey," Pinkie says.

"I'll be alright," Twilight says.

"Just waiting for that cold medicine to kick in."

Cadance starts the engine. "This evening after dinner, we need to meet in the secret headquarters. Pinkie, Twilight'll show you where it is."

"Okay," Pinkie says. "Are we gonna fight monsters again?"

"No, we're just going to talk about fighting monsters," Cadance says. "By the way, this whole Zodiac and Persona thing is a secret, alright?"

"Yeah, I figured as much," Pinkie says. "Don't worry, I'll keep it a secret, Pinkie promise! Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye!"

"Good," Cadance says. "Twilight? How long do we have until the next target?"

"I don't have the list with me," Twilight says. "It's in my desk. I didn't feel safe keeping it on my phone or my computer. But..." Her face scrunches up. "Rainbow Dash's birthday is after November 20...so we have less than a month."

"Dashie?!" Pinkie exclaims.

"So far, every target has lived in Applewood Dorm," Twilight says. "After I was attacked, I predicted you'd be next, and...I was right. So...Rainbow Dash will probably be the next target."

"We'll need to do some training," Cadance says. "Especially if that other Persona user shows up again."

We pull into the parking lot. "We'll talk about this tonight."

After School

By the end of the school day, I'm mostly feeling better, but I'm still tired from last night.

Trixie is full of energy and life when I arrive at the Music Club. When I enter, she rushes up to me. "Flash! I...I wanted to thank you for asking me to perform for your friends." She smiles. "I...I had a lot of fun."

"I'm glad," I say.

"I recorded my performance," Trixie says. "I've been showing it to some of the Music Club members, and pointing out how different...how different I am from my stage persona. They...well..."

"We think when she's putting on a show, her 'Great And Powerful Trixie' schtick is fun," Lyra says from behind her. "We're just glad she doesn't act like that all the time anymore."

I grin. "Yeah, the Real And Friendly Trixie is better for every day," I quip.

Trixie laughs. Then, looking down, she says, "I...I also took the things you said about how I used to be and...and incorporated them into my stage act," she says. "I cut out the bragging and boasting and playing myself up, and...and just let the magic speak for itself." She looks up hopefully. "It...it seemed like your friends warmed up to me after a while."

"They did enjoy your show," I say. "Especially Pinkie."

"That makes me...happy," Trixie says. "I...think I forgot that's the real reason I wanted to learn to do magic in the first place. Because...because it feels good to see other people smile and laugh at a trick." Suddenly, she shakes her head. "Hey, aren't we here to play some music?" She picks up her guitar and starts playing something really energetic. I laugh and join in; the other members of the Music Club start singing along.

After the club meeting, I'm headed for the school entrance when I run into the janitor.

"Well, hello there, Flash!" Juan says. "How's life treating you?"

I shrug.

"I hear things have been rather interesting lately," he says. "That rather revealing picture of Celestia that showed up on Canterbook...oh, surely you didn't have anything to do with that, right?"

"No," I say. "Canterbook was hacked."

"Of course it was," Juan says. "Between you and me, Canterbook's security is incredibly sloppy. Why, you'd need little more than an entry-tier login to do some serious damage...it's a pity Celestia believes her precious social scholastic network is so perfect when it's so incredibly flawed." He raises an eyebrow. "Did you know there are dozens of hidden apps on Canterbook that don't even seem to do anything? And all of them are keyed to tier one access."

"How...how do you know that?" I ask.

He chuckles. "I have tier three access," he says.

"You?!"

"What, a janitor isn't important enough to be trusted with Canterbook's secrets?" Juan smiles. "Celestia and I have a...complicated past. Suffice to say that...I wasn't always a janitor."

I stare at him. He simply grins toothily. "So...how are things with you and your girlfriend?"

"Fine," I say.

"She looked rather tired when I saw her earlier today," Juan says. "I heard your dormmate Fluttershy has the flu. I hope you're all being careful."

"We took Bannaflu this morning," I say. "We do have the school nurse looking out for us."

"Oh yes, Cadance. Such a sweet girl." Juan nods. "Well...don't let me keep you. I'm sure you have places to do and people to be."

As I'm leaving, he calls out, "Oh, by the way...something very interesting happened this morning." I stop and turn. "I had to extract a freshman from a locker. I asked the poor kid who stuffed him in, but...he wouldn't say." He tilts his head. "Funny thing...that Sunset Shimmer girl seemed to be in a very bad mood when she came to school..."

I suddenly realize something: I didn't see Sunset Shimmer in the cafeteria at lunch today.

"Well...there's messes to clean up. Adios!" Juan says, waving jauntily. I leave and head back to the dorm, thinking about what he said.

Surely the school janitor couldn't possibly have that kind of access to Canterbook...

What kind of screwed-up system is this school running?

Evening

After dinner, Pinkie, Twilight, Cadance, and I gather in our secret headquarters. We take some time to explain everything that's been going on to Pinkie Pie.

"That girl we saw last night...was she Sunset Shimmer or not?" Twilight asks.

"I honestly don't know," I say. "I'm still convinced she's connected to all this..."

"She said she wasn't, though," Pinkie says.

"She could've been lying," Twilight points out.

"There's something else," I say. "I've heard that Canterbook's security isn't anywhere close to what it should be. If what I heard today is true, Sunset Shimmer's tier one access is more than enough to screw up all kinds of stuff on the system."

"Tier one?" Pinkie asks. "She's the daughter of the guy that made the thing. They really think she's just got tier one access? She probably knows where her daddy keeps all the access codes..."

We stare at Pinkie. She blinks innocently. "What?"

Twilight sighs. "It keeps coming back to Sunset Shimmer," she says. "And we still can't do anything or even prove anything."

"I need more Personas," I say. "If we run into that bitch from last night again, I can't use Chiron. Her wind attacks almost killed me."

"We need to figure out what works for a weapon for Pinkie," Cadance says. "And then we need to find a good time to start training."

"Rainbow Dash's birthday is on the 21st," Twilight says. "I looked it up as soon as I got home."

"And...and you really think...she's next?" Pinkie asks.

"I'm afraid so," Twilight says.

Pinkie looks down, her eyes sad. "Then we gotta be ready." She looks up at us with a small, determined smile. "You can count on me," she says. "Me and Euphy won't let you down!"

"Euphy?" Twilight asks.

"Well...her name is Euphrosyne, but that's like, really long to say, so...I just call her Euphy," Pinkie says.

"Ooooo...kaaaaaaay," Twilight drawls.

"So what's everybody going as for Halloween?" Cadance asks brightly.

"We...don't actually know yet," Twilight says. "Rarity hasn't told us what she has in mind...she just said our costumes would be ready Saturday morning..."

Rarity...

I still need to talk to her about what happened on Sunday...

We talk about things unrelated to Zodiac and the mystery Persona user for a while, then head to our own rooms. I'm too tired to think...I go right to bed and go to sleep.

---