Wednesday, June 29, 2016

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Today's Horoscope (Virgo): Don't get sidetracked. You're running out of time to take care of important business.

Early Morning

After morning chores and breakfast, Twilight clears her throat. "Before we get started today, we need to have a dorm meeting." She looks around the room. "Sorry, but this is just for us girls and Flash. Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle...you go on and get started on today's chore list with Scootaloo and Silver Spoon. Shining Armor, you need to call Cadance. I talked to her last night and she wants to talk to you."

Shining Armor swallows and nods, his face pale and drawn.

"Am I part of this meeting?" Sunset asks.

"You are this meeting," I say. I look over at Big Macintosh and Granny. "Sorry, but we're going to need to have this in private."

Big Mac nods. "Use th' barn," he says. "Ain't doin' nothin' in there today nohow."

"Thanks."

"We'll be done as quick as we can and get on with th' chores," Applejack assures him with a smile. She gives Apple Bloom a sharp look. "No eavesdroppin' now."

Apple Bloom folds her arms. "Ah wasn't gonna," she pouts.

"Uh-huh." Applejack shakes her head.

We all file out of the house and head for the barn. Once we're all inside, Twilight shuts and bolts the door, then we all form a circle around Sunset Shimmer. She looks around at us, eyes dancing with mild alarm, and folds her arms defensively. "What is this, an intervention?"

"No, it's an interrogation," Fluttershy says.

"Umm...for what? You already know everything I—"

"Red Flag," I interrupt. "What do you know about him?"

Sunset blinks. The surprise on her face is plain and almost comical. "The janitor?" She laughs shakily. "That creepy old guy who used to be a hotshot IT guy before his company threw him under the bus?"

"That's the one," I say.

Sunset shakes her head. "What's he got to do with anything?"

"That's what we wanna know," Rainbow says.

"Sunset, we have reason to believe Red Flag is connected to Zodiac somehow," Twilight says.

Sunset blinks. "Huh?" She tilts her head. "What makes you think that?"

"Things we've learned," I say. "About his past, about his Canterbook access, about—"

"Yeah, I know all about his dirty little secrets," Sunset says. "That he changed his name to Juan after the old Wondercolt network blew up in his face. That Celestia took pity on him and hired him as a janitor but gave him tier three access. That doesn't even take five minutes to find out. It's not even really a secret." She shrugs and shakes her head. "I don't really see the connection, sorry."

"So you've never seen him in Zodiac?" Twilight asks.

"Not even once," Sunset says. "Believe me, if he was there, I'd know. All of Zodiac is like a spider web to me. One little twitch and I know where—" She trails off. "Sorry."

"The metaphor seems to suit you quite adroitly," Rarity says.

"Hey," Rainbow says suddenly. "Question. Be real with us. Where did Zodiac come from?"

Sunset frowns. "I told you already, I don't know! I just found it one day when I was digging around in Canterbook's code base. I blundered into it the exact same way Fluttershy did."

"But you have a lot more power there than she does," Twilight points out.

Sunset rolls her eyes. "Uh, duh," she says. "I've been hacking it longer than she has and I'm a lot smarter than she is."

Twilight frowns thoughtfully. "Then that means you know more about the Hunters we haven't seen yet than we do."

Sunset shifts her weight, casting her eyes away. "Yeah," she says.

"How are you even able to control those monsters?" Rarity asks.

Sunset shrugs. "It's not so much that I control them," she says. "I just...kind of aim them. It's just data manipulation, really. Setting one variable to point them at who I want them to..." She trails off, then sighs. "You get the idea."

"Why did you send Aquarius after Cadance last year?" Twilight asks.

"I didn't," Sunset says. "I only use the Hunters to attack people when I have something to gain from it or just...y'know." She shakes her head. "Cadance being attacked was just random."

"Or maybe it wasn't," Fluttershy says, rubbing her chin thoughtfully. "Just because Sunset didn't attack Cadance doesn't necessarily mean somebody else didn't."

"Like Red Flag?" I ask. "But why?"

"Good question..."

"If he has anything to do with Zodiac at all," Sunset points out. Her brow furrows. "Then again, that'd actually make sense, Zodiac being his revenge for what happened to him all those years ago." She snorts. "But creating something like Zodiac would be...well, impossible, even for the best hackers in the world."

"And Cadance was still in school herself back then," Twilight says. "Not even at CHS. So going after her wouldn't make any sense." She looks at Sunset. "We'll go back to that later. Actually, what I wanted to ask about is Leo."

Fluttershy's eyes widen. "Oh yeah! Good thinking, Twilight." She nods. "I've seen Aquarius and Cancer with my own eyes, but I've never seen Leo."

"Neither has Cadance," I say. "I remember her telling me that she thought the whole Zodiac thing was over with when there weren't any attacks after Cancer."

Sunset frowns. "Now that you mention it, I've never seen Leo either. Huh. That's..." She shakes her head and runs a hand through her hair. "You know, I never really gave it much thought before, but now..."

Rainbow blinks. "Wait. So you mean nobody's seen Leo?"

"Looks that way," Sunset says. "That's really weird."

"That bothers me," Twilight says. "After everything we've been through with these Hunter Shadows, the fact that nobody knows anything about this specific one is kind of..."

"Ominous?" I suggest.

"Yeah."

"Maybe somebody already killed it," Applejack suggests.

"No," Sunset says, shaking her head. "Until Flash came along, the only two people who had the power to kill Shadows were me and Fluttershy. When Cadance got her Persona, all she could do was run and hide until they went away. I'd know if any other Persona users were around." She glances at Fluttershy. "And I've had my Persona a lot longer, so..." She frowns, rubbing her chin. "You know, it's funny...I should've noticed this a lot sooner. I mean, I'm a Leo."

Twilight's head snaps up sharply. I can see gears turning in her head. I resolve to ask about it later...

"That's right, your birthday is August first," Fluttershy says.

Sunset smirks at her. "I should probably thank you again for the little gift you gave me last year—"

Fluttershy snap-kicks her in the face. "Not. One. Word."

"GAH! Always with the kicking!"

"Fluttershy, please stop kicking people that annoy you," Twilight says tiredly.

"I like kicking people," Fluttershy says defensively, pouting.

I rub the bridge of my nose. "So you really don't know anything more about Red Flag than we know?" I ask Sunset.

Sunset looks up at me, still rubbing her nose. "No," she says, shaking her head.

"Okay. I guess we're done here. Pinkie, can you go with Sunset and patch her up so she can get back to work?"

"Sure." Pinkie leads Sunset up to the house.

The rest of us look around at each other. "Do we believe her?" I ask.

"I think so," Twilight says. "She seemed surprised we mentioned Red Flag."

"That could just mean she thinks we're too dumb to figure it out," Rainbow says.

"Or it could mean it came so far out of left field that she didn't know what to think about us asking," Fluttershy says. She glances at me. "After all, just because we know everything about him she knows, that doesn't necessarily mean she knows everything about him we know."

Twilight nods. "That's the impression I got."

Applejack sighs. "So we went through all that for nothin'?"

"No, we did learn something important," Twilight says.

Fluttershy nods. "Yeah."

"Which is?" Rainbow asks.

Twilight takes a deep breath. "That no Persona user has ever seen Leo."

"Which means...?"

"I don't know," Twilight says, shaking her head. "But the more I think about it, the more it bothers me." She sighs. "Anyway, I guess that's that. We should get on with the chores." With that, we all leave the barn to get started working.

Daytime

Shortly after our meeting broke up, Applejack went into town with Big Macintosh to pick up some supplies Granny's starting to run low on. Fluttershy's tending to a sick chicken, while everyone else is doing various small chores. While there's always something to do on a farm, we've been doing so much this past week that we're down to trifling little things like scrubbing down barrels and pulling weeds along the fences.

I'm in the middle of checking the Apples' cornfield for bugs when Sweetie Belle comes rushing up. "Hey, Flash? You seen Apple Bloom?"

I look up and shake my head. "Nope, haven't seen her since breakfast. Why?"

"She's wandered off and doesn't have her phone with her," Sweetie Belle says. "Sil and Scootaloo are looking for her."

"Hmm." I scratch my chin. "I think I know where she might be. I'll go check."

"Thanks."

I head out to the east orchard, where I find Apple Bloom sitting under the same old, dead tree she and Applejack were under the night we first got here last week. She looks up at me and smiles. "Hey."

"Hey. The girls are worried about you. You don't have your phone."

Apple Bloom blinks and roots through her jeans pocket. "Aw shoot!" She shakes her head. "Text 'em an' tell 'em Ah'll be back in a bit?"

I nod and pull out my phone, texting Sweetie Belle that I found Apple Bloom. I then sit down next to her. "Thinking about your parents again?"

Apple Bloom shrugs. "Jes' takin' a minute, really." She looks out over the orchard. "Ah think after Ah graduate school, if'n we can swing college, Ah'm leavin' th' farm behind."

I blink. "Really? But...it's your home."

"An' it always will be," Apple Bloom says. "It's jes'...Ah don't think this is what Ah wanna do with mah life. This farm done took mah folks, an' Big Mac an' Applejack are gonna spend their lives workin' here an' they're gonna die here too. Ah don't wanna die on this here farm. Ah wanna git out there, do things, see things Ah can't see out here. Don't git me wrong, Ah don't..." She shakes her head. "Ah ain't got nothin' against farmin' or country life. Ah jes'...Ah wanna be th' first Apple that does somethin' else with her life, y'know?"

I nod. "I'm sure Big Mac and Applejack will be proud of you no matter what you decide. They only want you to be happy."

Apple Bloom smiles. "Mostly, Ah jes' want th' chance t' be with mah friends as long as Ah can, least 'til life takes us all in different directions. Ah been doin' too much sayin' goodbye lately...Ah don't wanna do no more sayin' goodbye than Ah have to." She gives me a sad look. "Even though Ah'm gonna hafta say goodbye t' you an' the gals after y'all graduate next year an' leave th' dorm. Ah'll still be there, gittin' ready t' go ta CHS with Sweetie an' Sil an' Scoots." She laughs. "Ah guess that's life. You're always sayin' goodbye t' someone."

"And you're always meeting somebody new."

Apple Bloom smiles more brightly. "That's true." She stands up and breaks a thick, stubby piece of a broken branch off the tree, then sits down and pulls out her pocket knife. She starts whittling; after a few minutes, she's cut the old dead wood down into a crude little apple shape with a heart carved into it. She wipes it on the tail of her shirt, then hands it to me. "Ah want you t' keep this," she says. "Wherever you an' Twilight end up, don't forget me or Sweet Apple Acres, okay?"

I smile and put the little wooden apple in my pocket. "I promise."

---

Apple Bloom stands up again and brushes off her bottom. "Welp, guess Ah'd better git back t' th' girls."

I check the time on my phone. "Actually, it's almost time for lunch. Let's head back to the house together."

Evening

Applejack and Big Macintosh brought back a treat from the city: three large cherry cheesecakes, which we cut into for dessert after dinner. Granny Smith seems delighted by this; apparently cheesecake is one of her favorites, but she doesn't get to have it very often and it's one of the few things she can't really make.

As we're turning in for the night, Twilight turns to me. "Hey, Flash?"

"Yeah?"

"Something else has been bothering me since last night. Usually after one of those battles, Zecora tells us when the next fight's going to be, right? Well, she didn't this time. It sounded like she was giving you some kind of warning."

"Oh yeah!" Pinkie says. "Now that you mention it, that was pretty weird."

"Do you have any idea what she was talking about?" Twilight asks.

I think back to Zecora's words, and the fact that the next Shadow after Octavia should be Applejack...

I grimace. "Yeah, I think I do. Don't worry about it. I know what I have to do."

Tomorrow, I have to get Applejack alone...