Sunday, May 22, 2016

2015
2016
JANUARY
FEBRUARY
MARCH
APRIL
MAY





JUNE
JULY
AUGUST

Daytime

The scene in the karaoke box is completely different from what we left what feels like ages ago.

Apple Bloom is lying spread out in the booth, unconscious. Big Mac is hovering over her, while Granny Smith strokes her forehead with worry and confusion on her face. Sweetie Belle is rocking back and forth, face more pale than usual and eyes full of fear. Shining Armor is pacing frantically back and forth. As soon as he sees us, he stops and rushes over to Cadance, seizing her in a bear hug. "Thank God," he says.

"RARITY!" Sweetie Belle shrieks. She bolts over to Rarity and jumps onto her, wrapping her arms around her.

"Whut th' HELL'S goin' on here?" Big Mac thunders. "You all up an'...an' vanished! Then Apple Bloom turned up again, an' then she fainted!"

We look around at each other, wide-eyed.

Applejack coughs. "Y'all uhh...y'all saw us go missin', huh?"

Cadance rushes over to Apple Bloom and checks her. "She's okay," she says, letting out a shaky breath. "She just...needs a minute."

"Whut'n tarnation's goin' on around here?" Granny Smith asks. "Now Ah know Ah'm gittin' on in mah years, but Ah know folks don't just up an' vanish inta thin air! Least of all if'n it's mah grandbabies!"

"How long...were we gone?" Twilight asks.

Shining Armor frowns. "About thirty minutes." He looks at Apple Bloom. "She came back, fainted, then about five minutes later, the rest of you showed up again." He looks at Twilight, then at Cadance, then at me. "This is about that thing we talked about back in January, isn't it?"

I nod. "Yeah."

"SOMEBODY START MAKIN' SOME SENSE!" Big Mac thunders. He points a shaking hand at Apple Bloom. "Ah wanna know why mah baby sister jes' disappeared, then showed up all passed out like this! An' why mah OTHER li'l sis up an' disappeared too!"

We all look at each other. I look at Fluttershy. "Why did time pass this time?"

She shakes her head. "Silver Spoon," she says. "Two targets, two separate Hunters...you took that one out before we took the other one out, she left Zodiac...it restarted time."

Cadance sighs. "I guess...we'd better explain..."

We all sit down, and take it in turns explaining exactly what's going on.

Sweetie Belle looks fascinated and horrified. Granny Smith's face is scrunched up in disbelief. Big Macintosh has a stoic, studious frown.

Shining Armor looks as though a lot of pieces are starting to fall into place.

"An' so that's pretty much it," Applejack says. "Last month, on mah birthday, Ah found out about all this crazy stuff. An' today..." She runs a hand through Apple Bloom's hair. "Today..." She bows her head; tears glisten in her eyes. "Dammit..."

"We're pullin' Apple Bloom outta that school right now," Big Mac says. "She's comin' back home, we'll keep up her schoolin'—"

"There ain't no need for all that now, Mac," Applejack says.

"She's right, Big Macintosh," Twilight says. "Apple Bloom is safe now. Gemini is gone. Forever. Sunset Shimmer can't go after her again."

Big Macintosh frowns. "An' whut about jes' drivin' by her school an' doin' somethin' there?"

"She won't do that," Fluttershy says. "Sunset Shimmer won't do anything in the real world that would expose her. Even her actions as 'Mephistopheles' can't be pinned on her unless...unless I turn myself in." She shakes her head. "And even then, there's no guarantee I can prove anything."

"So all the secret meetings, that stuff at the party hall, all of it..." Shining Armor looks from Cadance, to me, to Twilight. "That's what's been going on all this time?"

"Yeah," Cadance says. "That's also why I was under so much stress last year. All the time I was planning the wedding, and...and after..." She shakes her head. "I was dealing with this. Alone."

"My God..."

"Listen," Twilight says. "It's very important that none of you breathe a word of any of this to anyone. Even if anyone would believe it—which they won't—if anyone starts looking into what Sunset Shimmer's really doing, if she's tipped off in any way...she can do some serious damage to everyone here. And everyone we all care about."

"Starting with that damn video," I mutter.

The Apples fall silent. Tension fills the room.

Apple Bloom groans and sits up, rubbing her head. "Ugh," she says. "Whut happened?"

"Apple Bloom!" Applejack cries. "Are you alright?"

"Ah think so," Apple Bloom says. She frowns. "Did...did Ah pass out?"

"You fainted," Cadance says gently. She crouches down in front of Apple Bloom with concern. "What do you remember?"

Apple Bloom shakes her head. "Everythin' goin' dark...voices..." She runs her hands through her hair. "Ah thought..." She pauses. "Ah dunno." She looks around, fear and exhaustion in her eyes. "Ah know Ah wanted t' spend th' day here an' all, but...can we go home? Ah...Ah feel so tired..."

"Of course we can," Cadance says. "We'll get you home, you can take a nap, we'll make you a nice birthday dinner, we can have your cake after if you're up for it..."

Apple Bloom nods. "Yeah, that...that sounds good..." She closes her eyes and sags back on the bench.

Big Macintosh wordlessly picks her up. We all file out and head downstairs, then leave the karaoke box.

When we get back to the dorm, Applejack gently puts Apple Bloom to bed, then sits with her. Big Mac and Granny Smith follow Cadance and Shining Armor over to the apartment; Cadance tells us she's going to have a long talk with all of them.

The rest of us, exhausted from our ordeal, go to our own rooms to rest and recover.

Evening

Big Macintosh and Granny Smith had to leave before dinner.

Applejack walks back in from seeing them off and joins everyone in the lounge. "Well," she says tiredly, "that coulda gone better."

"No shit," Rainbow says. "Fluttershy, be straight with us. Did you know Sunset could do that crap with copying Flash's Personas?"

Fluttershy frowns and shakes her head. "That...confuses and disturbs me. I've only seen her control Shadows, and...and her Persona. What you all described from your fight with her..." Her brow furrows. "I don't know what the hell happened."

"The readings I got during the fight...didn't make sense," Cadance says. "I could detect Sunset Shimmer, but..." She frowns, gesturing vaguely. "For a while there, Eros was telling me she was, well..." She swallows. "A Shadow."

"A Shadow?" Shining Armor asks. "Those monsters you fight?"

Cadance nods.

Rainbow frowns. "So wait...Sunset Shimmer is a Shadow?"

"That's not possible," Fluttershy says. "Shadows don't exist outside of Zodiac, and we know Sunset Shimmer is human."

"Sunset Shimmer is absolutely human," Cadance agrees. "Whenever I detect her, I always detect a human. Even today, I picked her up as a human. But when she started doing...that thing...her reading changed. It was almost as if..."

"She turned into a Shadow?" Twilight suggests.

"Yeah," Cadance says. "It...it doesn't make sense, but..." She frowns. "But after Flash summoned that really strong Persona and wiped out all those others, she read as human again. Then she summoned..." She draws her knees up to her chest and shudders. "Mephistopheles..."

Twilight turns to Fluttershy. "What IS her Persona?" she asks. "We didn't...actually get to see it before you teleported us out of there."

Fluttershy shudders. "Imagine staring straight into the face of Hell itself and having a hundred years of nightmares shoved right up your ass all at once. And that's before it even does anything."

A nervous silence follows that.

"So those copies of my Personas," I say after a time. "Those were Shadows?"

"I don't know what they were," Cadance says. "They registered as Personas, but there was something wrong about them. They weren't Shadows, they couldn't have been real Personas..." She shrugs. "Your guess is as good as mine."

So when it's time to fight her for real, we won't just be fighting her freakishly scary Persona that even Fluttershy is scared of, but we'll be fighting every Persona Flash has too?

"I hope not," Twilight says with a shudder. "Going through that once was enough..."

Rarity coughs. "We need to figure out who the next target will be," she says. "And when we'll have to fight."

"The next Hunter is Cancer," Fluttershy says.

Shining Armor flinches. Twilight pales.

Cadance bows her head and closes her eyes.

Fluttershy looks at them, frowning.

I clear my throat. "I don't think we'll need to worry about figuring out who the next target is," I say. "It's obviously going to be Shining Armor."

"Yeah," Twilight says miserably, glancing at her brother. "All things considered, Sunset's definitely going to use you to hurt me." She gets up, walks over to Shining Armor, and hugs him. "I'm sorry," she says.

"Don't worry," Cadance says, taking Shining Armor's hand and squeezing it. "These kids...they'll protect you. And...and I'll be there to do what I can to make sure they succeed."

"You could just quit," Fluttershy says. "Quit your job and get taken off Canterbook. Delete Canterbook off your phone or get a new one. She can't touch you if you're not in the system."

Shining Armor shakes his head. "No," he says. "After everything I've heard today? I want the chance to see this for myself. I want to know what my sister and my wife are dealing with." His face sets into a hard frown. "I'll be the bait to draw her out. You kids...you kids do whatever you have to do."

"Shining Armor, no," Twilight whispers.

Shining Armor grins. "Hey. Maybe I'll get lucky and get one of these Persona things. Then I can fight too."

"Hey, how come Apple Bloom didn't get a Persona?" Rainbow wonders.

"Because she didn't fight," Fluttershy says. "We kept her safe in the karaoke box with Cadance. She never even saw the Shadow."

"So...so whut happens next time we're in Zodiac?" Applejack asks fretfully.

"Nothing," Fluttershy says. "We're pulled into Zodiac every time because we have Personas. She doesn't. She'll never see Zodiac again."

"She's right," Cadance says. "The victims I saved before Flash came along don't show up in Zodiac at all."

"Well that's a relief," Applejack says.

Twilight looks around at all of us. "So...I guess for now, we just keep training and wait for Sunset Shimmer to make her next move?"

"That's all we can do," Fluttershy says.

"Next time, we'll be ready for her!" Rainbow says, pounding a fist into an open palm.

"Next time, hopefully we'll all be together," Rarity says. "Perhaps eight against one odds will work more in our favor."

Fluttershy sighs. "I hope you're right," she says. "I really hope you're right..."

Apple Bloom pads downstairs, followed closely by Sweetie Belle. We end our little meeting to have dinner, after which Apple Bloom blows out her candles and we have birthday cake.

After the birthday cake, I head upstairs to get ready for bed. I'm still tired...

Twilight comes in, dressed in her favorite pajamas, a doubtful and afraid look on her face. "Are we...even going to survive all this?"

I sigh. "I don't know." I pull her into my arms and hold her.

I finish changing for bed, and she slides in next to me, cuddling up against me. She silently cries until she falls asleep.

Sunset Shimmer is more dangerous than any of us expected.

In three weeks, the school year ends. Final exams suddenly don't seem as important...

It's been a long day. I'm too exhausted to think. I snuggle up against Twilight and doze off.