Mondays.

Mondays.

It is a unanimously agreed by everyone that has or will ever live that Mondays are the worst thing that has ever been invented by mankind. It’s that weird transition from a relaxing and fun-filled weekend with the depressing droll life that we are forced to live when the new week begins. Kids hate it, adults hate it, even ponies hate it. In fact, science has proved that winning the lottery is easier than finding someone who honestly loved Mondays.

This hatred, of course, was also prominent in a group of teenagers walking down the street as they headed for Canterlot High. Each one had a reason to hate Monday, and this Monday in particular was even worse than any other.

One of them just had their kitchen burned down for miscellaneous reasons.

The lone boy in the group had been denied the chance to finish watching the last episode of the show he had started watching.

Another didn’t have time to put on her third layer of make up before being unceremoniously dragged out of her own home.

The fourth had been denied access to the computer despite her insistence that she was only using it for research purposes.

And last but not least, the last girl was this close to getting the chance to skip school because she was trapped in an alternate universe.

Despite how petty some of their complaints are, to them it was the worst possible thing ever. Mondays just had that effect on people, really. Small things look like huge disasters and suddenly missing a sock is more dreadful than world hunger. Mondays, man. Just… Mondays.

“Urgh...” Sunset stretched her body as much as she could. After everything she’s been through yesterday, going to school today was just a chore for her. She would have called in sick if the damn portal wasn’t located at school in the first place “Last night was just brutal…”

“Ye tell me,” Quickfix groaned. She tightened the straps of her satchel, which had miraculously replaced the saddle she had brought over from her world. It was a miracle that most of her inventions even survived the trip here. “Ah’m not the one who thought that stayin’ up the whole night before a big mission was a good idea. I blame Shade.”

“I wouldn’t blame him for anything, really,” said Fluttershy, stifling a yawn. Besides her backpack, she also brought along a large travelling bag filled with clothes. She really didn’t want to see her parents’ reactions when they see their house when they get back from their trip “We were the ones who stayed up late playing board games.”

“He blasted those speakers so loud the neighbours probably have a new favourite theme song.”

“Well, you have to agree that it’s a really upbeat and catchy-”

“Ah know, ah memorised it.”

Thwomp

“Mrrrrrrgggghhhhh…”

Four sets of footsteps stopped as their brains tried to process what that voice was. For some reason, it sounded suspiciously like Punchbag Bob had fallen onto the ground and was trying its best to complain about his life. But really, who cares? It’s just a punching bag. Those things fall down all the time.

“Oh, Shade darling, now is not the time to have an afternoon nap.”

“Dammit, Shade…” Quickfix grumbled as she slapped her palm on her forehead. Man, doing it as a human really did feel different. For one thing, she didn’t have a horn getting in the way anymore. And since she didn’t have hooves, it wasn’t as painful either “Can’t we just, ye know, leave him there, Rarity? It’s not like anyone’ll notice.”

As Rarity, who was voted Canterlot High’s most high maintenance girl three times in a row, ignored the former Unicorn’s incessant grumbling, she whipped out a cleaning rag from her handbag and proceeded to dust the poor boy off. She would have used any of the more sophisticated items in there, such as the feather duster or the handkerchief, but she really didn’t want to dirty them.

“Quickfix dear, Shade here is your boy-” Quickfix gave her a death glare that would make daggers proud “-mutual friend. If anything, you should be the one concerned about him, not me. After all, I only just met him yesterday.”

“Serves him right for watching that damn show till 6 a.m. in the mornin’.”

“I wanna join the Recon Corps, mom,” Shade muttered blissfully. Quickfix slowly came to the realisation that he was completely unaware of what was going on around him. In fact, if she completely loathed the guy, she would have used that to her advantage. Unfortunately, she really needed a lab assistant and finding a new one, especially one that’s also fireproof, was near impossible.

“Quickfix, give it a rest,” Sunset placed a hand on her friend’s shoulder “At least he had fun, right?”

“Define fun.”

“Not getting your kitchen burned down,” Fluttershy chimed in, raising a knowing finger “And obviously not going to a dolphin show.”

“… What do dolphins even-?”

“I just really don’t like dolphins.”

The group turned to Rarity for answers, considering that the two of them had been friends the longest. In turn, she only replied by raising her arms in an ‘X’ symbol and shaking her head. Now that Sunset thought about it, she finally realised just how Fluttershy always conveniently skipped the dolphin show whenever they visited the aquarium.

“Puttin’ that topic aside…” Quickfix dragged Shade off the ground and shouldered him “Why did ye choose to move the sleepover ta Rarity’s house, anyway?”

“Oh, her house was the nearest, actually,” replied Sunset nonchalantly. She was lying, of course, but it wasn’t like the others could prove her otherwise.

“We had ta take a taxi ta get ta her house.”

“The others live farther away. Much farther away.

The truth was that she really didn’t want to go to her other friends’ house. Pinkie Pie and her sisters were, to be perfectly honest, a bit on the crazy side of the sanity scale. The last time they had a sleepover there, Sunset nearly died of a heart attack. Rainbow Dash was a terrible host. If they ever crashed at her place, they’ll be sleeping on the couch. Going back to Vinyl’s house would just be awkward, and no doubt Pinkie’s other sister Octavia would be sleeping there in her stead. She always did that whenever Sunset wasn’t around. As for Applejack’s house…

Let’s just say that Big Mac is not willing to let a random boy sleep in their house.

But it didn’t matter in the end, really. Rarity welcomed them into her humble abode with open arms. She was also apparently fine with the knowledge that Fluttershy’s kitchen had burned down. She muttered something about understanding her plight, before ominously looking at a picture of Sweetie Belle she had hanging on her wall.

At first, Rarity didn’t know what to do with Shade. Her house wasn’t really boy-friendly, what with how all of her things just screamed ‘girly’ with a capital everything. So instead she allowed him to rummage through all her movie DVDs so he wouldn’t get too bored.

And then he found the anime DVDs.

“I never knew Sweetie Belle was such a huge anime fan, though,” Sunset laughed, entirely missing the terrified look in Rarity’s eyes “I mean, did you see how many DVDs she had hidden behind all of those romantic-comedy movies? I never took her to be into those kinds of shows, though. She always seemed so… clueless, I guess.”

“Yes, yes, they’re so obviously Sweetie Belle’s that you can’t even deny it, because who else would watch those shows? Not me, that’s who,” Rarity said as fast as she could. Somehow, Sunset still didn’t catch all the panic she was emanating “I’ll have to hide them- I mean, tell her to keep them someplace else next time. Don’t want anyone else finding out about her secret now, do we?”

“I WANNA KILL ALL THE TITANS!”

“That’s very nice, Shade,” Fluttershy patted Shade’s back gently, like a mother telling her son that Santa’s coming to visit this year if he acted really, really nice “You go and kill those titans nice and good now. And while you’re at it, the dolphins are also attacking everyone. Could you be a dear and-”

“KILL ALL THE DOLPHINS!”

“Thank you, Shade.”

A shiver ran down Quickfix’s spine as she wondered just what Fluttershy was truly capable of. And to think that she pegged her as the innocent timid type, just like Coco. She also wondered just what brought about this whole dolphin hatred, but her rational mind wasn’t willing to go that far for the truth. At this point, she was hoping to get to the school as fast as possible just so she could get this whole thing over with.

That was why, as soon as she saw the large building with the plaque reading Canterlot High out front, Quickfix ran straight towards it with Shade still in tow. All of the other students, who were obviously down with the Monday blues, stared at her in shock and wisely kept a two mile radius away from her. When they noticed that she was previously walking with Sunset Shimmer and friends, some of them even quickened their pace and walked straight into school without a second glance.

“Wait, wha-?”

Approaching the school, the first thing that Quickfix noticed was the giant statue of a horse standing proudly in all of its glory. But that wasn’t the weird thing. After all, Princess Celestia had a whole garden filled with statues which may or may not be actual living, breathing beings turned to stone just outside her castle. The weird thing was that the glass panels on the base of the statue were rippling as if they were sheets of cloth being blown in the wind. Also, nobody else seemed to notice, or if they did they didn’t care.

It was the latter, by the way. They just knew that today was going to be one of those days. Some kids even turned around and started walking home, saying that it wasn’t worth it. Good for them!

“Uhm, quick question,” Quickfix tapped on Sunset’s shoulder and pointed to the statue “Does that thing always do that?”

“Huh, weird.”

Sunset approached the statue which acted as this world’s World Mirror. Strange, it never did act this way before. Normally, she’d have to chuck a rock at it to see if it was active or not. Quickly glancing around, she picked up a tiny pebble on the ground and chucked it at the mirror. She patiently waited for the sound of someone screaming in pain on the other side of the mirror.

CRAKOOOOOOM

That did not sound like someone screaming in pain.

“I…I think the portal’s busted,” she says after a moment of silence for the poor pebble. Rest in pieces, little friend.

“Can a magical mirror portal even malfunction?” Rarity inquired as she raised a finger to her chin “Perhaps you should ask Princess Twilight? Maybe it’s a problem on her side.”

“No need to tell me twice.”

Taking out the self-christened Phone Book, Sunset started to write down her next letter to Princess Twilight, right next to her explanation of her weird dream and the long explanation trying to tell Twilight that, no, she is not crazy and no, she doesn’t need any medication.

“We’ll probably be here for a while,” Sunset said in between thinking of a way to phrase the sentence so that Twilight wouldn’t go crazy and try to fix the problem by herself “Why don’t you give our guests a tour of the school in the meantime, ‘Shy?”

“Oh, I wouldn’t mind,” Fluttershy mutters as she holds Quickfix’s arm, making her visible flinch and almost drop Shade “That is, if you want to.”

Quickfix desperately tried to pull her arm free. Fluttershy was nice, yes, but who knows just what menacing thoughts she had hidden behind that beautiful smile of hers “But we’ll probably just be here for a few hours.”

“Better safe than sorry, right?”

Quickfix raised an eyebrow “Yer sayin’ that like y’er expectin’ us ta stay here.”

Ignoring Quickfix’s question, Fluttershy quietly dragged the two former Unicorns into the school. Finally giving in, Quickfix allowed herself to be dragged by the wrist with Shade in tow. On their way to the grand entrance of the school, she noticed just how many boys, and even some girls, were staring at Fluttershy with that same look you would give an abandoned puppy. She randomly wondered just how many valentines’ cards she gets every year considering how adorable she looks.

No, Quickfix does not swing that way. Or the other way, either. In fact, even she isn’t really sure if she even swings.

“So, where do you want to go first?” Fluttershy asked with the kindest smile she could muster “We could visit Principal Celestia. I heard that she’ll accept anyone into the school if they visit her office.”

Thwomp

“Mrrrrrrgggghhhhh…”

Grrrrrrmmmmble

“… or we could visit the cafeteria. We didn’t really have the chance to eat breakfast back at Rarity’s house, didn’t we? I didn’t know that all of her foodstuff was already burnt somehow. Oh, Pinkie Pie said she’s helping out at the cafeteria today! I’m sure she’ll be happy to give us a free sample.”

“Ye know, fer someone with ‘shy’ in her name, yer pretty talkative, aren’t ye?” Quickfix managed to say as she literally allowed Fluttershy to drag her along the ground

“This only happens with pony-people…”

“Ah.”

As Fluttershy and Quickfix both drifted off into whatever direction Fluttershy finally agreed for them to go to, they both failed to realise that their load had suddenly gotten quite lighter. In fact, if they listened carefully they would have heard the distinct sound of Punchbag Bob falling onto the floor. But sadly, this is the sad life of Shade, forever to be forgotten even by his best friends. But in their defence, it was a high school hallway. They were bound to lose something one way or another.

Now it’s not to say that people didn’t notice Shade falling face first onto the floor. Some people even had half a mind to help him up. However, the other half of their mind which had been cultivated by the school system was constantly knocking on their heads, asking them why they weren’t already running to Physics 101 because oh my god guys, it’s Physics!

“Celestia, if you’re listening to me right now, then can you please send me an angel? I promise I won’t hit on your daughter for a week.” Shade muttered to no one in particular. After a moment of silence, he quickly added “If you bring me breakfast too, I’ll make that two weeks.”

“Oh, it seems like we have an injured patient here.”

“THANK YOU, CELESTIA!”

Standing above Shade was a girl with pale white skin who had her light pink hair tied up into a bun. She was sporting a pink nurse’s uniform, which isn’t really something teenagers wear, but Shade isn’t supposed to know that, is he? But that wasn’t what caught his attention. What did catch his attention were the two huge buns she had on her chest, swinging voluptuously in front of Shade’s hungry eyes.

“Would you like a bun?” she handed him one of the buns she was holding in front of her chest, to which Shade happily accepted “You seem rather heavy for me to lift, and the infirmary is pretty far... Ah, Bulk dear, could you please help me carry this boy to the infirmary?”

“YEAH!!”

“Thank you, darling.”

Just as Shade was finally getting a good look at the beautiful angel who had saved his life, she was instantly replaced by a huge, hulking beast of a man whose muscles would make watermelons feel inadequate. Remembering all of his past experiences with these kinds of people, especially those damned Angry Knights, Shade did the most rational thing he could think of and screamed. Oh, he screamed all right. The beautiful white nurse even took out a stopwatch, silently calculating how long he could scream before he needed to gasp for air.

“Um, Redheart, should we-” Bulk tried to say, but was instantly shushed by the girl

“Ah, thirty-one seconds. I guess he doesn’t have any lung damage. Although, he needs a lot of work if he wants to beat the record for longest scream,” she then took out a clipboard from her backpack and wrote down her findings before quietly slipping it back into her bag “Come on, Bulk. We don’t want him to fall unconscious now.”

While the two white-skinned students talked about random topics on their way to the school infirmary, Shade’s brain was finally assessing the situation. He was separated from his friends, in an alternate world, with no magic, and with no way to contact the others. Sure, he could say that things couldn’t get worse than that, but his bad luck streak was bad enough already. He didn’t dare evoke Murphy’s Law any more than he normally did.

Somehow despite his never ending screams, the hulking beast had managed to bring Shade all the way to a sterile white room with beds lining the walls without slamming his face into a wall just so he would shut up. Usually, that’s what everyone else does to him when he starts to get too loud. Finding an empty bed near the end of the room, the muscular giant dropped him off there and left, but not before getting a peck on his cheek by the cute white girl in the nurse uniform.

“I’ll see you after class, Bulk,” Redheart smiled, hugging the muscular teen’s stocky chest

“I’ll be counting the seconds, Redheart,” Bulk replied, not even hiding the glaring blush on his face

Meanwhile, Shade was there watching the whole thing. There was something extremely wrong about this scene, but he can’t quite put a finger on it. Speaking of which, this girl said that her name was… Redheart, right? Then by that logic, then this must be this world’s version of his friend. That wasn’t the weird part. In fact, he was sort of expecting that. No, whatever it was, Shade knew that it was just so surprising that if he would never look at Redheart the same way again.

He quickly pushed that thought aside as Redheart walked towards him, clipboard in hand and a pen placed on her ear.

“I’ve never seen you before, and trust me, I never forget a face,” she says quickly, jotting down notes on her trusty clipboard “My name’s Redheart in case you don’t know, and no, you may not call me Nurse Redheart. No, you cannot ask me out on a date and I don’t care how much it hurt when I fell from heaven. Yes, I have a boyfriend. You just met him, in fact. And no, he isn’t compensating for anything. I know, I checked.”

Oh, so that’s what’s wrong. Redheart’s dating Bulk Biceps!

Wait.

“WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-”

“Silence, please,” Redheart placed a thermometer into Shade’s mouth and started feeling his pulse “Blood levels are normal, and your temperature is fine. You seem healthy on paper, but that… grumbling stomach seems to say otherwise. Please eat the bun, thank you. It seems to me like your eyes are rather swollen, and judging by what you’ve been muttering on the way here, I would assume that you’ve been binge watching anime the night before?”

“-AAAAAAAAAAAAAA-”

“Now, I won’t complain about your lifestyle. Heaven knows, I binge watch shows all the time, but I would assume you would know that you shouldn’t be sacrificing sleep to watch them. And on a school night, at that. Unless of course, you simply forgot that today was a school day.”

“-AAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?!”

Oh, for crying out loud-

“Is it really that surprising that I have a boyfriend?” Redheart sighed, rubbing her forehead in astonishment “I mean, I’m a girl, too! I think I deserve my own happiness. It’s not like I’m getting any younger, you know! Also, that was forty two seconds. If you keep this up, you’ll beat that record in no time.”

An uncomfortable silence wafted through the air as the two teenagers just sat there, not doing anything. Sure, Redheart was used to these reactions from most of the male population. For some reason, they just can’t get it into their thick skulls that she wasn’t going to NTR her boyfriend any time soon. However, there was something different about this person. It wasn’t that he seemed disappointed. No, it seemed more like he was… happy?

In Shade’s mind, only three words echoed endlessly as he tried to wrap his head around the fact that in this world, Redheart was probably the most popular girl in school and had a boyfriend. Three words that would never leave his mind, and would always haunt him for the rest of his life whenever he sees Redheart and Bulk Biceps ever again.

‘I ship it’

Elsewhere in the school, Fluttershy was pacing nervously in a circle. Quickfix stood nearby, munching on a biscuit and completely uncaring of Fluttershy’s plight. To the normal man, she would seem rather uncaring or unforgiving. Even Quickfix agreed that she could become rather heartless sometimes, as well. But then again, Fluttershy was worried about Shade.

“Oh, what if he gets lost? Or what if bullies picked him up and dunked his head into the toilet!?! Oh, I am such a terrible host!”

“Calm down, Fluttershy!” Quickfix muttered again for the umpteenth time “This is Shade we’re talkin’ aboot. He’s not goin’ ta die any time soon. In fact, ah’m sure we’ll find him in a hospital or somethin’.”

“H-Hospital?!”

Maybe saying that wasn’t the best thing she could have done.

Ignoring Fluttershy’s outburst, Quickfix walked over to the cafeteria counter where two teenagers were setting up food for lunch. One of them had pale whitish-grey skin and had her blonde hair tied up into a bun, while the other just screamed ‘PINK’. Somehow, she had managed to keep all of that hair into a small hairnet. Quickfix would have asked her how she did that if she wasn’t already friends with Fiddlesticks.

“Fluttershy’s still panickin’,” Quickfix took one of the muffins they had placed on the counter and bit into it, savouring the sweet blueberry taste that it had “So Pizzelle, tell me aboot ye’self.”

“Wow, that’s the first time someone asked me to talk. Usually they tell me not to talk!” the grey skinned girl smiled as she stirred some of the cafeteria’s mystery meet. She should really ask Granny Smith what they’re made of. Or why they’re spelled wrong “But if it’s for an inter-dimensional friend, then I’ll be happy to help! Anyway, I live in a bakery across the street with my family, and I sort of work there part time. Does it even count as part time if I live there? Then doesn’t that mean that I should be working there full time? Speaking of which, I don’t think my parents even pay me, so I’m not technically working per se. Or maybe my daily allowance is really my pay. Huh, never really thought of it that way.”

“Interesting,” Quickfix said out of formality more than anything else. Having Pizzelle around was good for background noise, and boy did she need it. What Quickfix was really interested in was what Pinkie Pie (Celestia, her parents had a weird naming sense) was doing with the wooden spoons.

Could wooden spoons even bend like that? Because as an engineer, she knows that wood does not bend like that!

“-And last week, me and my boyfriend picked up this really cute kitty at the adoption agency! Oh, it was just the cutest little ball of fur! We named it Aki Hikaru, that’s Neighponese for ‘Shining Autumn’, by the way. Speaking of which, have you noticed that a lot of places have horse puns in their names? I mean, Canterlot?”

“Wait, what did you say?”

“Um, that a lot of places have horse puns in their names?”

“I just assumed that they were drunk when they named them!” Pinkie Pie interjected. She had ditched the wooden spoons and was- Wow, how do you even do that with a spatula? Doesn’t that go against the laws of gravity?

“No, no, before that,”

“Aki?”

“Before that!”

“Me and my boyfriend-”

“Yeah… that.”

Well, it didn’t really surprise Quickfix that this Pizzelle was in a relationship. After all, her Pizzelle had been looking for a husband for months. Years, even, if her stories were credible. And considering her title as the Element of Truth, they most probably were. Maybe she should find out more about this person. If she’s lucky, then she could help out her Pizzelle by getting the two of them together.

No, that probably wouldn’t work. After all, alternate universes and all. Just look at Sunset! She’s nothing like her world’s Sunset Shimmer, but they have the same name and everything. In fact, she wouldn’t be surprised if in a whole other world, there was a Sunset Shimmer who was much more sociable and friendly, and was the Element of Magic! No, not Magic. No doubt the Sunset of that world ditched the whole Magic thing and called herself the Element of Friendship.

Hopefully, she won’t be dragged into that alternate world.

“-And he’s just the nicest person I’ve ever met! You just have to meet him! Wait, why don’t you meet him right now? I could give him a call! I do hope that he‘s fine with meeting people from alternate dimensions. What should I tell him?”

“What about you?” Quickfix turned to Pinkie Pie, who was finally using the spatula the way that it was supposed to be used “You have any boyfriends or anything?”

“Nope! Never had one,” she said matter-of-factly, flipping ten patties and stacking them perfectly on top of a plate “But I do know what it’s like to get hot and dirty on bed! I doubt even Rarity’s done that before.”

“Wait, but aren’t you-”

“Youngest of the group? Yeah, that’s what they want you to think. Wink, wink.”

Well, that conversation got really weird really fast. Seeing as Quickfix was starting to feel uncomfortable just looking at Pinkie Pie, and that she doesn’t actually care about Pizzelle’s love life, Quickfix decided to go back to Fluttershy. Maybe she could hold a decent-

“We have to file a missing person report!”

Why did she ever get her hopes up?

Knowing that she was probably never going to get any peace of mind surrounded by these… people, Quickfix opened her satchel and started rummaging around for anything she could use. She had packed a lot of miscellaneous items, most of which aren’t even useful in any situation. Honestly, what was she supposed to use a portable egg beater for? Several uneventful minutes later, she finally gave up and pulled out a few pieces of scrap metal, opting to let her fingers move for her.

RRRRRRRRRNNNNNGGG

“Ooh, time for class!” Pinkie Pie squealed, taking off her apron and hairnet, instantly making her hair explode everywhere like a mini-firework. She then casually walked back into the kitchen, disappearing from Quickfix’s view.

“I have Biology with Fluttershy after this,” Pizzelle kindly said as she took off her apron and hung it on a nearby rack “If you’ll excuse me, I’ll be taking her now. See you soon!”

“Yeah, see ye soon… Wait, do ye know where the infirmary is?”

“Down the hallway, turn left at the creepy dark hallway with the flickering lights, third door on your right. You can’t miss it!”

“Thanks!”

Pizzelle calmly wrapped an arm around Fluttershy’s shoulders and brought her through the large double doors. Quickfix then waited for Pinkie Pie to come out of the kitchen, but was confused when she never did. Quietly slipping past the counter, Quickfix peeked through the windowed door and scanned for the bright pink girl.

She wasn’t there.

“Welp, not questionin’ that,” Quickfix continued tinkering with the two pieces of scrap metal in her hands. For now, it was best if she went to look for the school clinic. If there was anything she learned from working with Shade after all this time, it’s that if he was missing, he’ll probably be at the hospital.

On the other side of the school, Sunset Shimmer was busy trying to dial up Fluttershy to ask her where she last left her two new otherworldly friends. She silently cursed at Fluttershy for always keeping her phone on silent. How many times does she have to tell her to leave it on during an emergency?!

But then again, she wasn’t really aware of just how big of an emergency this really is.

She quickly bolted past students who were on their way to class, apologising every time she bumped into someone. Weaving through the group of people, Sunset noticed a familiar person waving at her, or maybe it was her general direction? She quickly looked around, wondering if there was anyone else that the person could have waved to. Do you know just how awkward it is when you find out that someone was really waving at someone behind you? Very. Seriously, you’ve never felt awkward until you’ve done it.

“Sunset Shimmer!”

Well, that answers that question. Quickly making her way to the girl, Sunset wondered just what she had to say to her.

“Hello, Sunset,”

“Um, hi… Redheart.” Sunset replied, not really sure how she was supposed to act.

She knew exactly who Redheart is. After all, she’s undoubtedly the most popular girl in school without even trying. With a rack that huge and working part-time in a job that requires her getting up close and personal with people, it was inevitable that she would gain a following. Not that she wanted to, of course, but still.

But no matter how popular she was, they all knew one thing. Whenever she starts a conversation with you for no reason, it’s never for anything good.

“I take it you brought a… friend, from your world?” Redheart asked, crossing her arms underneath her chest

“Well, two actually. How’d you know?”

“I met one and helped him to the infirmary. As for how I knew that he was your friend… he didn’t really try to hide that fact.”

After watching him fall face first onto the ground and not even flinch, Sunset really should have seen that coming. And that ominous second part, too. She suddenly had this strange mental image of Shade trying to sign his name using his mouth, much akin to what Princess Twilight does. She’s gonna need a lot of brain bleach to get that picture out of her head.

Before Sunset apologised and thanked Redheart for her assistance, she felt a hand touch her shoulder.

“Sunset, please be honest with me,” Redheart said, worry imminent in her eyes “How much trouble are we in this time?”

“I… I can’t say…”

“You can’t, or you won’t?”

Sunset visibly winced, hugging her Phone Book even tighter to her chest. She wasn’t willing to make other people worried, and this wasn’t really knowledge that the average person she live knowing. But then she looked at Redheart’s eyes and felt a pang of guilt crawling around her heart.

After the Battle of the Bands, Sunset found herself in a very weird position with her schoolmates. Most of them felt apologetic for how they’ve been treating her all this time, while others didn’t dare look her in the eye. However, one thing was prevalent with the whole school body, being friends with Sunset Shimmer was dangerous. Who knows what kinds of crazy things they would get sucked into just for being near her?

But now here Redheart was, asking her – no, forcing her to tell her what’s wrong. The hallway was already mostly empty and time was running short. Reluctantly, Sunset sighed and looked at the nurse’s assistant with worried eyes.

“If what Twilight told me was true, then we’ll probably be safe. Code word ‘probably’. But the other world, my new friends’ world… I’m not sure,” she muttered, clutching the Phone Book even tighter to her chest “If you really want to know what’s going on, then you could follow me to the infirmary. I need to tell everyone else too, and I don’t think that I wanna mention this twice.”

She hoped that Redheart would be okay with just that. After all, she still had classes to go to, and Redheart didn’t look like someone who would skip classes. Instead, Redheart just gave a wry grin and started walking towards the infirmary.

“Well, then we better not waste any time. Come on, I know a shortcut.”

“Wait, but what about classes?” Sunset called out as she caught up to the girl “At least I have an excuse. And I could always get the other Rainbooms, too! Principal Celestia wouldn’t mind us skipping class to save the world, but you’re-”

“Now your friend, Sunset Shimmer,” Redheart giggled “And I’m the nurse’s assistant. I go to class late tons of times. I take it your friends are coming as well?”

Well, it wasn’t like that was really worth asking. Rainbow Dash, Vinyl Scratch and Pinkie Pie have already received warning letters from skipping one too many classes, while Fluttershy was probably too scared to skip class. Rarity was the class rep, so she had to go to class early, while Applejack wouldn’t want to break her good student record. However, they all promised to come as soon as the homeroom teacher took their attendance records.

“Of course they are,” Sunset’s smile was much more hopeful now than it was this morning.

With their vigour at its highest peak, both girls started running as fast as they can towards the school clinic. The students and teachers that passed by them would start to question just what they were up to, but quickly went back to their original task. No use getting into Sunset’s business. Soon, they could see their goal just standing before them. Just a few more steps and they would make it!

“Now, stop right there,”

“Oh god dammit,” Sunset cursed as she came to a screeching halt “Of all the people…”

“Oh, I’m hurt! Am I not good enough for you? I may be a janitor, but I have feelings, too!”

The two girls only rolled their eyes as they were stopped by the one most annoying janitor in all of existence; Discord. He held his mop proudly as if it was a staff or a sword. Maybe even both. If his manic grin was anything to go by, then they knew that they were going to be there for a long time.

“It looks like our little pony princess is going out on a new adventure!” he giggled like a schoolboy, which coming from Discord actually made it sound eerily creepy “Oh, and you made a new friend! How wonderful!”

“Look, we need to hurry, Discord. Can you please-”

“Tsk, tsk, tsk,” Discord tsked as he threw his staff-sword-mop onto the floor and dug his hands into his cleaning bucket “You save the world once and now you think you’re above everyone else. If I were you, I’d act more humble with my peers. No wonder you don’t have that many friends.”

“I-”

“Don’t tempt him,” Redheart warned “He’s only playing with you. He’s Discord, after all.”

Discord made a hearty laugh as he rolled on the floor, laughing like a mad hyena on laughing gas. Sunset took this chance to sneak past him and enter the clinic room but was stopped short. She didn’t even get to take a single step before Discord stood back up, hands behind his back and a face so grim it was hilarious.

“Nuh uh uh,” he wagged his finger in front of Sunset’s face, a little too close for comfort “I won’t let you go on a world saving adventure. Don’t you know that it’s dangerous to go alone? Take this!”

Dunking his hand into the cleaning bucket, Discord started searching around for that blasted thing. When he finally pulled his hand back out, he was holding a Linkin Bark CD. After throwing that into the trash can, he continued his search and pulled out a chicken wing. Seeing that it wasn’t that dirty, Discord promptly bit into the chicken wing and placed his hand back into the bucket.

“Umm, is this going to take-”

“Ah ha!” Discord yelled triumphantly as he pulled out-

“A pen,” Sunset deadpanned “You held us up so you could look for a pen.”

“It’s not just any pen, it’s a magic pen that turns into a sword if you uncap it! But it only works once, so you best not waste it.”

“How can we even be sure that it is a magic pen-sword?”

“How can you be sure that it isn’t?” Discord wiggled his eyebrows in that one way that made him look so punchable, yet no one would dare punch him because they knew he would win. Damn those eyebrows! “Well, I’m off to mop Principal Celestia’s room. Toodles!”

The two girls watched as Discord merrily skipped along the hallway, mop in one hand and bucket in the other. They then looked at the pen that Discord had given them, eyeing it wearily. They really wanted to open it, but at the same time they were a little scared at the thought of a pen turning into a sword. Hey, they’ve seen stranger things after all.

“Wait, I thought Principal Celestia’s room has a carpet floor?” Sunset leaned her head to see if Discord was still there, but he had already disappeared.

“Just… don’t question it.”

With that out of the way, Sunset finally pushed the infirmary door open, and who else would they meet first if not Quickfix? She was sitting by Shade’s bed, tinkering with a few cogs absentmindedly as her mouth muttered something incomprehensible. When she looked up to look at the newcomers, Quickfix groaned.

“Ye brought this world’s Redheart, whoop de freakin’ doo.”

“Now’s not the time, Quickfix,” Sunset walked over to the bed Shade was sleeping on and dropped her book on it, instantly waking up Shade “I think I might know just who’s doing all this, and the way for us to get your Sunset Shimmer back.”

“Is it gonna hurt…” complained Shade as he rubbed his tired head. Tilting his head to the side, he saw Redheart standing beside the two girls with a stern look on her face. He had so many questions about this, but didn’t really want to ask them. He’ll find out eventually.

“Have you seen the things we’ve been through?” Quicfix laughed a bit at Shade’s question “A course it’ll hurt!”

“I take it you were in a rush to tell us?” Redheart asked politely, earning a gaze from everyone there. She was right. There was no use in stalling the facts any longer.

The atmosphere suddenly grew thicker as Sunset finally opened the book, flipping to the latest page with Twilight’s response. Her reply was extremely long, covering up to two pages, but they knew that Twilight meant well. She only wanted to make sure that her friends were okay. With a heavy heart, Sunset read the first page of Twilight’s reply.

“Have you ever heard of the God of Dreams, Morpheus?”

Author's Notes:

Sorry that this chapter took longer than usual. I'm sure you all know that I've been busy writing another story for Valentine's Day. But anyway, the next chapter might also be a little late. I'll be busy writing a different one-shot, also for the Shimmerverse.

Yes, I really like this verse.