Monday, February 8, 2016

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Today's Horoscope (Virgo): You're better off paying attention to the people and things that matter the most to you today instead of obsessing over chasing shadows and rumors.

Early Morning

Twilight walks into my room shortly after sunrise. "I didn't sleep very well last night," she says.

"Me neither."

"Are...are you absolutely sure somebody...?"

I sigh. "Yeah. I...I just know it's true."

Twilight rubs her shoulders. "I...I've checked," she says. "There's five people at CHS whose birthday was yesterday. I guess...we'll see..."

"You didn't...check to see already?"

Twilight snorts. "What, text five random people with 'Hey, are you still alive?'"

"Point taken." I scratch myself. "What about Fluttershy?"

"Oh, I almost forgot," Twilight says. "Rainbow asked her where she was yesterday. Pretty tactfully for her, according to Rarity. Said she happened to be in the park, went looking for her, didn't see her." Twilight shrugs. "Fluttershy said she got hung up at the animal shelter and never made it to the park."

I frown. "Awful convenient."

"Flash..." Twilight sighs. "Maybe...maybe you're wrong about this one."

"Maybe," I admit. "But...I can't shake the feeling that we can't trust Fluttershy."

Twilight looks down.

After freshening up and getting dressed, I head downstairs for breakfast.

Pinkie, Rainbow, and Rarity don't look like they slept very well either. Fluttershy has a pensive look on her face.

Sonata, Sweetie Belle, and Apple Bloom are looking around at us all. I can see the questions in the younger girls' eyes...

"Why's everybody so down in th' dumps this mornin'?" Apple Bloom asks.

Twilight, Pinkie, Rainbow, Rarity, and I all look at each other...

Yeah, what's up with everybody this morning? You all look like somebody died.

We all stare at Sonata.

Her eyes widen.

Oh my gosh...DID somebody die?

She looks like she's about to cry...

I cough. "It's personal, private stuff," I say. "It's...not something any of us want to talk about at the table. Right, girls?"

Applejack raises an eyebrow. "Alright, which one'a y'all is pregnant?"

The younger girls gasp. "P-pregnant?" Sweetie Belle asks, eyes wide.

"NOBODY'S PREGNANT!" Twilight yells, face flaming. "At...at least, I hope not..." She looks at Pinkie.

Pinkie shrugs. "Not me," she says.

"Look...girls...it's just not something we're comfortable discussing, alright?" Twilight suggests as calmly as she can.

"Well...alright," Apple Bloom says.

Applejack looks around at us all, brow furrowed and eyes narrowed.

I glance at Fluttershy. Her hair is hiding half of her face. She notices me looking at her, frowns, and shrinks into herself.

The tension hangs over the table like a black fog. We all finish our breakfasts and head off to finish getting ready for school.

Lunch

At lunch, Fluttershy sits at the very end of our table. She keeps her head low over her tray and her face hidden behind her hair.

"Hey...anybody else notice something missing here?" Rainbow whispers.

"Like what?" Pinkie asks.

Rainbow points with her fork at Sunset Shimmer's table. She's sitting there, an open book in front of her face as she eats her lunch.

I frown. "It's Sunset Shimmer. So?"

"So!" Rainbow says. "Her other little turdwad goon is gone."

I shrug. "Maybe he's in the bathroom?"

Twilight looks up suddenly. "You mean Snips?" She frowns thoughtfully, pulling out her phone and tapping away at it.

A minute later, it chimes with a new text. Her brow furrows. "He's absent from school today," she says.

"So Sunset Shimmer's troll's outta school, big whoop," Applejack says. "What's so important about that?"

"Oh...nothing," Rainbow says. "It just...caught me by surprise."

Applejack frowns. "If you say so..."

After lunch, Twilight pulls me, Pinkie, Rarity, and Rainbow aside. "Snips is one of the five," she whispers. "His birthday was yesterday!"

"Whoa," Rainbow says. "You mean he could be...?"

"Let's not jump to conclusions," Rarity says. The bell rings. "We should get to class. We can discuss this later."

After School

We meet up in the nurse's office after school.

Cadance frowns at her tablet. "There are three students and two teachers who had a birthday yesterday," she says. "Three of them—two students and a teacher—were out of school today."

We look at one another.

"Snips' absence is unexcused and unexplained. The attendance notes say his family couldn't be contacted. The other student is that foreign exchange student from Saddle Arabia, Camel Case. His host family called and said he had a 102 degree fever this morning."

"And the absent teacher?" Twilight asks.

"Flax Seed," Cadance says with a mild frown. "He's actually been missing since Friday. Apparently, he's dropped off the grid."

"Flax Seed...is he that hippie?" Rainbow asks.

"Yes," Cadance says with distaste. "The other teachers frequently complain about his smell..."

I stroke my chin. "So...if there was a death in Zodiac yesterday, it...was probably Snips."

"I just don't understand how there could have been an attack," Cadance says. "I didn't sense Aquarius. I've never not sensed the Shadow before, even if it was too far away for me to do anything about it..."

"We need to keep looking into this," Twilight says. "Just...just to be sure. But we should also be ready for...for the possibility of an attack on Sunday."

Cadance looks around at all of us. "The only thing I want all of you to do right now is go shopping for outfits for the Valentine's Dance." She smiles. "You can't let all this worry and frustration stop you from living and enjoying yourselves."

"Oh, dress shopping!" Rarity says, clasping her hands together with a bright smile. "Yes, let's do that! Come, girls! The stores await!"

"Pass," Rainbow says miserably. "I'm not goin'."

"Oh, but I insist!" Rarity says. She bustles the girls out the door.

I watch them go, frowning.

Cadance puts a hand on my shoulder. "Flash," she says. "I know it's hard, but...try to put things like Zodiac and murders and secrets and...and whatever else...just try to put it out of your mind for a few days, alright? This...this is going to be Twilight's first Valentine's Day with her special someone..." She looks into my eyes. "Make it special for her, alright? She deserves that. You deserve that."

I nod, then leave.

Cadance is right...

I need to try to get my mind off all this crap...

Evening

When I get back to the dorm, I find Sweetie Belle standing right outside my room waiting for me. "Hey Flash? Can...can I ask you something?"

"Sure," I say. "What's up?"

Sweetie Belle wrings her hands. "I...I need some advice." She blushes. "On...on boys."

"Okay...?"

She ducks her head. "A...a boy asked me out for Valentine's Day," she says.

"That doesn't surprise me," I say. "You're as pretty as your sister."

Sweetie Belle blushes more heavily. "Th-thank you," she says. "Umm...th-the thing is...the boy who asked me out...I don't want to go with him, but...but I don't want to offend him, or make him feel bad about himself..."

I sit down against the wall. "Hmm. Well...just try turning him down gently?"

"I..." Sweetie Belle pauses. "The thing is...when he asked me...a lot of kids started laughing at him." She sighs. "He's, well...he's not very popular, and he's a bit...chubby." She pulls out her phone, slides the screen for a minute, and shows me a picture.

The kid in the picture isn't "chubby". He's a lardass.

"I...I don't want Truffle Shuffle to think I'm turning him down because he's overweight," Sweetie Belle says nervously. "I don't want to hurt his feelings. It's..."

"So why are you turning him down?" I ask.

Sweetie Belle smiles a silly little smile. "W-well...there's this boy I like. Kinda. I think." She digs a toe into the carpet, then slides the screen on her phone again.

The next picture she shows me is a short, scrawny kid with brown skin, flaming red hair, and a propeller beanie. He's engrossed in a handheld video game.

"His name's Button Mash," she says. "He...he gets teased a lot, and he isn't very popular, but..." She looks at the picture on her phone and sighs. "I've known him...since we were little kids. We used to...used to have milkshake races together."

"Milkshake races?" I ask.

Sweetie Belle winces. "Don't ask. Anyway...he's gotten more and more obsessed with his silly games over the years, but...I still..." She sighs. "No...I've only...over the last year or so...really started crushing on him."

I run a hand through my hair. "Okay, look," I say. "This is my advice. Tell this Truffle Shuffle kid that there's somebody you already like, and you were hoping to go out with that person. Then, make sure you help set HIM up with somebody so that he doesn't think you're shooting him down because he's fat. Maybe Apple Bloom or the chicken girl."

"Scootaloo."

"Whatever. Then, right after that, you go up to Button Mash and ask him out."

"A-ask h-him?" Sweetie Belle squeaks. "I...I couldn't—!"

"Why not?" I ask. "Think about what Rarity would do. Do you think she'd be afraid to go up to a boy she likes and ask him out?"

Sweetie Belle ponders this. "W-well...n-no..." She shakes her head. "But that's Rarity! She's—"

"A girl," I say. "Just like you. Just...go up to this kid and ask him out." I hold my hands out to my sides. "That's really all there is to it."

"That's easy for you to say," Sweetie Belle says.

I shrug. "You wanted my advice, that's my advice. Trust me. A girl asking a guy out? Most guys wish they had that kind of luck."

"Okay...I'll try," Sweetie Belle says. "Thanks."

"Anytime."

"I wish I could get Rarity to give me advice like that," Sweetie Belle says. "Usually she's either busy and yells at me, or tries to turn me into a copy of her..." She waves. "Well, I've got homework to do. See you at dinner."

---

Sweetie Belle heads downstairs. I get started on my own homework.

When I'm done with my homework, I head down to dinner. Vice-Principal Luna has arrived and is serving everyone. Fluttershy isn't at the table.

"Where's Fluttershy?" Luna wonders as she sets a big bowl of mashed potaoes on the table.

"Nobody's seen her all evening," Pinkie says with a frown. "It doesn't look like she ever came home..."

Luna frowns. "Well...so long as she returns to the dorm by curfew..."

After dinner, I head upstairs to practice guitar. I've just finished tuning when Luna walks in.

"Oh, please, don't let me interrupt," she says, starting to leave.

"No, it's fine." I turn down the volume on my guitar and start playing. "What's up?"

Luna sits down in my desk chair. "My sister told me about the rather cruel prank someone played." She frowns. "Spoofing Rainbow Dash, placing both her and Celestia in such an uncomfortable situation..." She sighs. "The cruelty of these cyber attacks is..."

"Yeah."

Luna gives me a measuring, penetrating gaze. "Flash...I know I'm asking a lot, and I shouldn't put you in a position to...to potentially betray a friend's confidence, but...I didn't feel comfortable asking Rainbow this directly." She swallows. "Does...does Rainbow Dash..." She frowns. "How shall I put this...?"

I set my guitar down. "Yeah. Rainbow has a bit of a crush on Celestia." I sigh. "What happened Saturday...it really upset her."

Luna sighs. "Damn." She shakes her head. "I had suspected, but..."

"And no, Rainbow didn't send the message herself and then try to back out of it by claiming it was a hack."

"Oh, I know," Luna says. "We checked into it, and the hack has the same discrepancies as some of the other incidents. In fact, it has more discrepancies...almost as if we were meant to discover it."

I frown. "That'd explain why she didn't just steal Rainbow's phone to do that..."

"What was that?" Luna asks sharply.

"Nothing...!"

"No, Flash. You know something. Be honest now."

I sigh. "We...think...maybe...the hacker is somebody in this dorm."

Luna's eyes widen. "WHAT?!"

"We're not absolutely certain," I say. "It's just...this latest thing, with Rainbow. Nobody outside of this dorm knew about her crush on Celestia."

Luna sits back, steepling her fingers. "This is disturbing," she says. She looks at me. "Who do you suspect, if I might ask?"

I frown. "I'd rather not say. If I'm wrong..."

Luna sighs. "I...I understand. You don't want to accuse a friend..." She stands. "Very well. I won't press you on this matter...for now. But Flash? Do understand...if you have true cause to suspect a resident of this dorm of committing these crimes...you must come forward. If you don't..."

She lets that hang as she leaves.

I sigh and pick my guitar up again. I'm halfway through the opening riff of a song that always calms my nerves when the lights go out.

"Perfect," I mutter. It's too dark to look for a flashlight, and my phone is over on the desk, so I set my guitar aside and lean back on the bed.

I'm half asleep when I feel something cold and sharp press against my throat.

"You and your friends need to keep your fucking mouths shut," a scratchy feminine voice rasps in my ear. "All this screwing around you losers are doing is gonna get a LOT of people killed. Starting with you."

"Eris," I mutter. "What do you want?"

"I want you to shut the fuck up," Eris hisses. "I will kill you in the real world if I have to."

I shove Eris off me and jump to my feet, grabbing my guitar by the neck. "And if I beat the shit out of you and drag you downstairs, we can put an end to all of this tonight."

"You do and everybody in this dorm dies," Eris rasps. "Your two little tramps, the queer, the hick, the diva...everybody burns!"

The lights flicker back on. Eris covers her head and runs to the window, throwing it open and jumping out.

This is the third floor...is she insane?!

My door flies open. "Flash! I heard...something in here," Twilight says. "Are you alright?"

I rub my neck and grimace. "Eris just showed up," I say. "She threatened to torch the dorm."

Twilight gasps, hands flying to her face. "No..." She looks around. "But...where...?"

I point at the window. "She jumped."

Twilight blinks. "Flash...this is the third floor. There's no way she could've..."

"You think I don't know that?"

Sonata walks in, holding up her notebook.

What's all the yelling in here?

"Nothing! Everything's fine," I say. "Sorry we bothered you."

Sonata frowns at us, then shrugs and leaves.

"We need to go downstairs, and we need to hurry," I whisper to Twilight. "We can catch Fluttershy sneaking back in..."

Twilight frowns, but nods. We run to the stairs, practically jumping down to the first floor.

We arrive at the landing to find Fluttershy coming out of the kitchen, dressed in butterfly-patterned green pajamas, a graham cracker sticking out of her mouth and a comically surprised expression on her face.

We stare at her, then at each other. "Fluttershy?" Twilight asks. "When...did you get back?"

Fluttershy takes the graham cracker out of her mouth. "About ten minutes ago," she says. "I was getting a snack before bed when the lights went out...is something wrong?"

Twilight and I look at each other. "N-no," Twilight says. "Good...goodnight, Fluttershy."

"Oh...goodnight," Fluttershy says, padding to the stairs.

Twilight and I look at one another, then run outside. We search the grounds, but don't turn up any sign of Eris, or even any indication that somebody actually jumped out of my third floor window.

When we head back to the entrance, we find Luna there, arms folded. "And what are you two doing?" she asks.

Something tells me telling Luna the truth about what just happened really will get us all killed...

"We thought we heard something outside," I say. "We decided to check it out."

"But there's nothing out here," Twilight says. "We were wrong."

Luna frowns. "Back upstairs, both of you," she says.

We return to our rooms under Luna's watchful gaze.

As soon as our doors are closed behind us, my phone lights up on my desk.

It's a long time before I'm able to get to sleep...