***Authors' Note***
This story assumes that you have read the previous Portal Panic installments, especially the bonus chapters at the end of Portal Panic 1. It is highly recommended that you go read the other two stories first, or else it will be hard to understand the events of this story.
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Ribbon's eyes fluttered open. Thinking she had slept over 6 hours, she was dismayed to find it had barely been 2 at her best guess. The sun was still setting over the bay area of the strange city, small ocean waves lapping at the nearby shoreline. Adding more to her disappointment was the fact that her guardian and the strange grey pony next to her were both soundly knocked out. Whatever ordeal they faced before, she figured, it was enough for them to sleep like a couple of giant rocks.
``Well, this is a bummer,'' she said, keeping her voice low to avoid prematurely waking the pair, although, what was considered low for her was still audible for the crowd of onlookers that still gathered near the protective barrier that surrounded the trio of horses. Cameras flashed at her from all sides, eager to capture their own digital piece of history. With a groan, the maroon filly got to her hooves, causing tremors that rattled the nerves of some of the crowd and the bodies of everyone else.
``Excuse me, need to get by here,'' she said rather plainly, her hooves easily carrying her over the gawkers. Some found themselves blocking out a sandy rain as Ribbon started making her way down the beach, her steps freeing more of the sand from her coat, her mane, and the massive namesakes adorning her head and tail. The braver onlookers chose to tail her at a safe distance, avoiding the craters her hooves put in the beach, but the ones that were either wiser or smarter stuck around the perimeter to take more pictures of the other two horses, much to the guards' dismay.
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Meanwhile, back at the lab, the chief scientist was wrapping up what turned out to be the worst day of his life. He sighed, the consequences for his actions not yet known, and slung his lab coat across his shoulder, looking back across it at the cause of his misery sitting firmly in the middle of the test room. The generator lay dormant, its mechanical heart lying nearby in the form of a sphere of melted metal and wiring. The artificial light of the room reflected off of its various parts. What was supposed to be his greatest achievement turned out to be his greatest miscalculation. In all honesty, it had succeeded in ways he couldn't even fathom. The portals did work, there was no question about that, but it was the fact that they worked so well that was the problem. The coastal city had been utterly devastated, its proud skyline now ruined by huge holes in its more prominent buildings, some of which threatened to collapse, and others looking like unfinished jenga games. And the worst part? The two--no, wait, apparently three--giant monsters that his creation brought down onto his hometown were somehow not responsible for adding more destruction. Some of his team members even claimed to see them helping out, when, the time he last saw them, they were threatening to fight each other. He glared at a hastily drawn pie chart on a whiteboard. Titled ``Amount of Destruction,'' the graph made a note that roughly 70% of it had the ``machine'' label, with 4 other slots that looked roughly even. Originally meant to be for the team to somewhat track what was going on outside while they raced to shut down the machine, it now served as a distinct reminder of how much of this mess was his fault.
``I can't believe this,'' he said, taking a dry eraser to the whiteboard and removing the graph with a few angry grunts. ``All of this because I didn't bother to check the weather.'' He practically threw the eraser back into its position, which caused it to clatter to the floor. By this point, he was so flustered that he didn't even bother correcting this mistake, and instead went to make sure his station was as tidy as he felt like making it. Satisfied, he gave the room one final once-over before swiftly turning on his heel, flicking off the light, and striding out of the room to his beat-up car, ready to put the entire day behind him. However, the day still held one last surprise. A lone bolt of electricity arced across two points where the fuses had been. Suddenly, in the eerie darkness, the generator roared back to life, a single monitor coming on with it. The humming from its working parts got louder and louder for about a minute, before the machine finally powered down once more. Ominously flashing on the monitor was a sequence of portal coordinates.
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Ribbon had finally put enough distance between herself and the small mob following her to shake herself free of whatever sand still clinged to her body like a giant puppy, which she wasted no time in doing, planting her huge maroon hooves in the sand as she did so. The mob finally stopped pursuing her when she kicked up a miniature sandstorm. After seeing that she was mostly clean of sand, the filly looked behind her to see that most of the crown had started to make the trek back to the protective perimeter. She heaved an unfiltered sigh of relief, having traveled far enough down the beach to be out of earshot of the sleeping kaiju. ``Now that they're heading back, I can figure out what I can do while I wait.''
A splash of water on the sides of her right hooves caused her to look down. It seemed she strayed too close to the shoreline, and the water was starting to lap at her hooves as waves came ashore. Ribbon giggled to herself and continued walking, the tide lapping at her hooves a couple more times as her steps shook the loose sand around her. She had just finished causing a small sand castle to collapse from her passing by when her face furrowed a bit. As the tide lapped her hooves once more, the surface that her forehooves came in contact which felt very much not like sand and more like glass or a cold metal floor. Sliding her hoof to the side, she looked down and gasped as it looked like she was... standing on water? She couldn't quite tell what it was, since the sun had fully dropped behind the horizon and the light was fading fast; all she could see was something dark blue and shimmering like water, and yet it felt like glass.
``What is this and how is it holding me up?'' she wondered, scraping her other hooves to the sides in turn. Each one revealed that she was standing on this strange shimmering surface, that apparently there was a small pond hidden under the sand. Ribbon cleared a bit more of the sand away from an area in front of her hooves, crouched and lowered her head towards the strangely strong surface the sand was concealing. ``Is this--'' Before she could finish her question, the surface changed to a bright green, emitting a green light that shone through holes in the sand to mark the area this `pond' covered. Even the former sand castle was within the range of the green lights, and that was a good 20 feet away from the 40 foot filly who was somewhere near the center. In the same instance, she felt that her hooves were touching no surface at all and she began falling at an alarming rate. All at once, Ribbon and a large quantity of sand fell into the opened portal, the former unable to let out a scream before she was all the way through. The aperture closed seconds later, leaving in its wake a 1,000-square-foot crater of sand that the incoming tide rapidly began to fill up.
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A young girl hopped off a bus near an apartment complex within the urban confines of the coastal city. As she eagerly jogged to her home, a large yellow ribbon bobbed up and down on the back of her head, the tails of it fluttering behind her, and the backpack on her back jostling with various school supplies. Her home is in one of the farther buildings, but the complex is not bus-friendly, so she has to go the rest of the way on foot. Normally, she would walk, but today, today was special. She's trying to earn extra time to finish off her homework before the evening news airs. Upon reaching her building, she took the steps two at a time, light blue shirt and pink plaid skirt billowing in the breeze caused by her energetic movements. Down a hallway she ran then she burst through the second door on the right. ``Hi mom I'm home from school!'' she shouted triumphantly, immediately doubling over afterwards to catch her breath.
The apartment was more spacious than one might think. The front door opened up into a large living area off to the right, which sported a couch, a loveseat, a modestly-sized TV, a table near the room's center, a couple of windows and even a sliding door to a balcony tucked away in the back right corner. The wall to the left of the front door separated this living space from a small kitchen, in which an older woman was hard at work preparing dinner, although there was an opening cut into the wall for a bar-like area, with chairs that barred short people from readily clambering into them. The kitchen had all of the appliances one could ask for, but allowed for few people to be in there at a time. An indent opposite the kitchen housed the laundry equipment, and a short hallway opposite the front door led to a closet, a bathroom, and two bedrooms.
``Did you have a good day, Suzie?'' asks Mom from the kitchen, unable to make eye contact with her daughter due to the layout of the apartment.
``Uh huh!'' comes the energetic reply as her pink glittery shoes come flying off.
``Why do you sound so worn out?'' the older woman asks, finally able to exit into the main living space, giving Suzie a peck on her forehead and running a hand through the girl's strawberry-blonde hair.
The girl beamed a smile back at her mother. ``I've got a lotta homework ta do and I can't waste any time if I wanna get done before the news!''
While most other parents would freeze up or check their child for a fever upon hearing a sentence like that, Suzie's mother almost smirked. ``I take it someone wants to see them again, right?''
Nodding so fast that it sent the strawberry blond curls into a whiplash was the reply.
``Remember, just because you have a lot doesn't mean you have to rush. Remember to take your time!''
``I will!'' came the faded reply; Suzie was already sprinting down the hallway to her room.
``Dinner will be ready around that time!'' her mom called after her.
Suzie's Mom shook her head and started walking back into the kitchen. ``That girl... She's going to do big things one day, if she can be that energetic when she reaches my age...'' As she washed her hands again and went back to dinner preparation, she thought about just what had worked her child into such a frenzy. It had been a few months since the giant alien creatures came to their city, and only when she got home after watching the big maroon filly hug her daughter did she learn that two more had arrived that day, along with some horrible abomination that the other two subdued. Ever since that day, little Suzie had been fascinated with them, especially the one that hugged her. What was her name? Bow? Button? No, Ribbon! Ah, that was it. Ribbon. She had insisted on wearing a bow just like hers. Every evening since then, the news would air a piece pertaining to those giant creatures in some way, and she was hard pressed to keep Suzie unglued from the screen, unless the segment was about the ``bad scientist man,'' as she called him.
While Suzie was enamored with the pink-and-purple giant and the grey giant that glowed blue, she was really watching the news looking for Ribbon, as she had disappeared all those months ago and hasn't been seen since. Suzie's Mom paused at that. She wasn't quite sure how something so big could just vanish, but she wasn't an expert, and she didn't have any running theories. Resuming her task, she resumed her thoughts. Apparently those giant horses were rebuilding the park or something or other. At first, she didn't believe it, but as the months flew by, she was more and more impressed at what the park was becoming. Suzie had voiced on multiple occasions that she wanted to visit the park when it was finished, and she agreed to it for the curiosity factor alone.
A sharp beeping cut her thoughts short. The oven timer was going off. Dinner was ready. Glancing back across the room at the TV, she saw that the last few credits of a reality show were whizzing by, signaling that the news would start shortly. Right on cue, Suzie appeared at the hallway entrance, beaming a smile at her guardian. ``Allllll finished~!'' Suzie's Mom smiled back, fixing plates for the both of them.
``You didn't rush through it, did you?'' Suzie vigorously shook her head, sending her hair this way and that, before looking at her mother again.
``No Mama I took my time.''
``Good.'' Suzie's Mom walked out of the kitchen holding one plate in each hand. She set each down on the table in the living area and took her place at the couch. Suzie practically ran to take her place on the couch as the flashy evening news title sequence played across the TV screen.
As the pair ate, the news displayed its usual barrage of information. A burglary here, a high speed chase there, nothing too out of the ordinary. At least, for the first half of the newshour. The second half was when Suzie in particular began paying attention. As a camera provided a birds-eye view of the nearly-finished park, the anchor stated that the park was on track to be completed within the week. Suzie leaned forward, gasping audibly, while her mother chuckled softly. Seems opening day will come sooner than she thought. Another segment focused on the chief scientist, which was promptly met with the sound of Suzie groaning and throwing her back into the back of the couch and crossing her arms. This segment warned that they were due to test the generator also within the week, which would cause minor power fluctuations. This time, it was Suzie's Mom that showed some annoyance, rolling her eyes and groaning to herself. The generator tests, despite her best efforts, would always fall at the most inopportune times. Trying to pinpoint when the cable guy would show up was easier than trying to nail when the test would happen. Every time she tried to wait for the test to come and go, she would set aside time, only for the power to suddenly cut when she gave up and decided to do anything requiring electricity. She expected that this time would be no different, and she was contemplating if she should even try to plan around the test. With those segments, and a final feel-good-moment segment, the news went off the air, switching to a news segment focused more on world events. Suzie's Mom glanced over to see that her daughter had cleared her plate despite being disgusted with one of the news segments. ``May I be excused?'' she asked politely from her spot. Mom nodded, and Suzie scurried off for the bathroom.
Suzie's Mom went ahead and took both of their plates to the kitchen where she began cleaning them. Then came the arduous process of trying to entertain herself with something to get through the couple of hours between then and putting Suzie to bed. Luckily, tonight's TV lineup was good, so the hours flew by and found both of them in their respective beds in fairly short order. As both parties drifted into the dreamworld, one was having sweet dreams about frolicking in a field with a giant filly, and the other was still contemplating planning around the upcoming test.
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Two days later, and the chief scientist and his team were pouring over the preliminary data ahead of the test scheduled for 4 pm. Which, unfortunately, meant trying to decipher a veritable mountain of information in 3 hours. No one dared to attempt to make light of the situation, lest they get the full force of the chief's wrath. He became noticeably more sour after learning of the charges leveled against him, and the possible punishments. Choosing the option that didn't immediately put him into the smallest jail cell they could find did do a little for his mood. Sure he got the unlimited funding for his project, but as it stood right now, the finished generator was only supposed to send the monsters home and then be dismantled, according to the orders given to him.
The chief swiftly went from station to station, only moving on when he was absolutely sure that the person at that station had gotten everything 100% correct.... three times over. Passing by the machine, he paused, nearly leaving skid marks in the floor before popping open the new fuse box. Shiny brand-new wires were cleanly installed, with a failsafe added at the assistant's request that allowed for easy removal of the entire assembly in case of emergencies. ``I better not have to use that failsafe any time soon,'' the chief muttered under his breath, shutting the case.
After what seemed like an eternity, the test was finally cleared to begin, right on time for once. ``Carl, has the media been notified about the timing of the test?''
Carl, the assistant, piped up from his station. ``I sent the email a day ago; the warning should be circulating already.''
``Good.'' The chief then gruffly spoke to everyone in the room. ``We've already got 100% stable portal functionality within this room, as well as within the lab, but after that little hiccup at the park the other day, a thought occurred to me. We need to establish a maximum range for portal stability. Today's test is for exactly that. We need to see at what distance from the generator that the portals begin displaying unstable characteristics. We'll start right outside the lab, then generate portals outward from that spot in a straight line away from the city until we hit the sweet spot. Understood?'' Collective nodding and grunts of agreement sounded in reply. ``Is the program ready?''
A nervous technician looked over from his monitor. ``Y-yes Mr. Chief sir, the a-automated portal p-program is ready t-to be executed.''
``Good. Run it. Remember, people, no bells and whistles today.'' Furious typing echoed from the tech's keyboard as he called up the program in question. ``Well, aside from the ones we're expecting from this test,'' the chief added as the generator started powering up.
Just as before, the cherry-colored node atop the machine began glowing before firing a beam down that stopped at a point in front of the chief. This point rapidly expanded into a sphere of shimmering dark blue liquid. ``Confirming creation of lab aperture,'' piped up the tech. The chief nodded and looked towards Carl. ``Activate the Radial Monitor.''
``Booting up the Monitor now, Boss,'' he replied, typing away at his keyboard. Once the typing stopped, he swiveled around his computer screen so that the chief could see it. Taking up the entire screen was a large map of the lab and the surrounding area, with a series of circles layered over it with numbers on them indicating the distance, in miles, from the lab, out to a range of 100 miles. A blue dot was present in the middle of the map.
The chief glanced over at the blue sphere in the lab and nodded. ``Proceed,'' he shouted to the tech.
``Confirmed, opening first test aperture.'' A second blue dot formed on the monitor, right outside the lab in short order, rapidly growing to match the size of the first one. ``Establishing link.''
The portal in the lab changed and finally revealed the parking lot, the chief looking through it at his own car and the others, satisfied. ``Looks good visually. How are the readouts?''
A second tech spoke up. ``Readouts are green across the board!'' The chief nodded, starting to relax a little for the first time since he could remember.
``Alright, open the next one.''
For the next 45 minutes or so, the experiment proceeded in this manner, the distance doubling for the next portal opened. A red dot tracked a successfully opened and closed portal on the Radial Monitor, and the chief would glance between the monitor and the linked portal as the time went on. At about 16 miles out from the lab, however, problems began to arise. The chief couldn't tell visually because for the past 5 portals, they had opened up over open ocean with no discernable landmarks. It was only when he glanced back at the Radial Monitor that he raised an eyebrow. This most recent portal had ruined the perfectly straight line. ``Got an error on the monitor here, seems your coordinates were a bit off, there.''
The nervous tech started panicking and looking over his code. ``I ran this in multiple simulations, this shouldn't be happening.''
``Interesting... Open the next portal at 20 miles, and increment by 5 miles.'' The program was altered and restarted, but the curve persisted. It became painfully clear that the line of red dots was now traveling towards the coastal city despite everyone's best efforts. The color of the dots changed from red to yellow on the monitor, Carl's touch that indicated that the portal had errors associated with it. The chief had no choice. ``Abort test! Shut it down!'' The program's kill command was entered, and just like that, the portals stopped, the last one being right near the pristine beach of the city, roughly 30 miles away from the lab.
Just as the team was about to breathe a collective sigh of relief, the stable lab sphere suddenly fell to the floor like it was actually made of water, before vanishing. Any fears that something bad was about to happen were confirmed as the generator suddenly powered down before restarting. The lights all across the generator began glowing dimmer and then brighter in unison, starting off slowly, then flashing faster and faster and faster before they became stable again, albeit brighter than what anyone was used to. Some of the staff, including the chief, thought they were going to be swarmed with unstable portals again, but nothing of the sort happened.
``Uh, Boss?'' It was Carl this time. ``Take a look at the monitor.'' He did just that, with about 5 other people, and put a hand to his chin. On the monitor were two newly opened portals, one a little smaller than their test sizes and colored purple, and the other much, much larger and colored green. The green portal seemed to cover up an entire intersection about 45 miles away, while the purple portal was above a building 50 miles out.
``Interesting color choices, Carl. I didn't recall you mentioning them when you briefed me on the monitor program.''
``That's because I was hoping this wouldn't happen,'' came Carl's reply, ``but I put the code in just in case.''
``What do they mean, Carl?''
``Well,'' said the readout tech, fresh from his station, pointing at the green dot, ``if you couldn't guess, that one's got the `critical mass' warning on it. Something big's coming out, and that one won't close until it does.''
The chief glared at the readout tech, who shrank back a bit and went to his station, before turning back to Carl. ``Now, how about those colors? What do they correspond to?''
Carl pushed up his glasses. ``The purple one, that's easy. It's interdimensional.''
``Like the ones the monsters came out of?''
``Exactly, Boss.''
``Okay, so that one's latched to something in another dimension. What about the green one?''
``Unfortunately, green is not a color I wanted to show up, Boss. Green, basically stands for `other'.'' The chief raised an eyebrow.
```Other'?''
``Yes. Scenarios that we didn't plan for or don't know about based on our current understanding.''
``So if it's not linked to another dimension, or anywhere we've accounted for, then what is it linked to?'' grunted the chief with a hand to his forehead.
``B-boss, we might have something,'' the nervous tech spoke up. He apparently had the answer, or at least a working theory. He had shared some notes with the readout tech, and both were pouring over the former's monitors. ``But if we're looking at this right, then the correct question to ask isn't what. It's when.'' Everyone that was crowding the Radial Monitor now moved to crowd the nervous tech's station. ``What do you mean when?'' asked the chief. ``Are you meaning to tell me that whatever's coming through that portal is from a different time?''
``Well, time-travel would be a previously unknown scenario for this machine,'' Carl piped up. As the chief glared at him, he continued, staring right on back. ``Unless you have any other suggestions, I suggest we hash out this theory for now.''
The chief grumbled and folded his arms. ``Alright, fine! Let's assume this portal is linked to another time. How do we know it?s from this dimension, first question?''
``My Radial Monitor program's color priority,'' said Carl. ``If it were interdimensional, it would've been colored purple on the map instead of green.'' The chief seemed satisfied with that answer. ``Right, because that would be a scenario we know about. Okay, second question: Do we have any way of figuring from when this thing might be coming? The last thing we need is some kind of dinosaur incident like in the movies.''
It was the nervous tech's turn to speak up. ``Normally, no, but lucky for us, we might be able to extrapolate the culprit portal.''
The chief raised an eyebrow, this clearly wasn't the answer he was expecting. ``Go on,'' he said.
``As far as we know, the machine can't make portals in this dimension that existed before it did, so it had to have been from a portal that was made after the machine was created,'' said the nervous tech. ``This narrows the possible field of choices.''
``Right, but not by much,'' grunted the chief. ``But, we do have something on our side that reduces the field considerably,'' said the readout tech. ``The critical mass warning. That warning has only been triggered 6 times since the machine's creation, including this time here.''
``So, that leaves 5 other portals for it to be linked to,'' mused the chief. ``Conservation of Mass and whatnot.'' He processed for a few seconds before an idea hit him out of the blue. ``Carl, can the Radial Monitor show us what types of portals those 6 were?''
``Should be able to,'' came the reply. ``We have all the relevant information logged for every portal so it should work just fine with the program.''
``Then do it,'' said the chief. ``Let's get to the bottom of this.''
Carl, the nervous tech, and the readout tech shared some information as the machine finally allowed itself to be powered down, the contents of the mystery portals dispensed some time ago. Finally, the chief and the entire staff were staring at the Radial Monitor program running on the biggest screen in the room, only displaying the 6 critical mass portal locations.
``Huh, 2 of `em even overlap,'' said the chief, before pointing at the portal above a section of the beach, ``but this one has to be the one. It's the only other one that isn't purple. What's the story behind this one? Was it also from the malfunction?'' The readout tech was ready with a response.
``Logs show it did open on the day of the malfunction, but--''
``But?'' The chief was intrigued.
``--but, this one opened long after we had disabled the machine, at 7:16pm.''
``How?'' said Carl. ``That's impossible! I pulled out those wires myself, there should be no way that a portal could've been made at that time!''
``My readouts confirm a successful aperture creation at that time that returned a critical mass flag, and speaking of critical mass, that brings me to my second point,'' said the readout tech. ``All of the other portals returned critical mass coming out. This one, is the only one that returned critical mass going in.''
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Suzie had a lighter load of homework today, so she didn't feel the need to run home from the bus stop. Sporting a yellow tank top with a smiling sunflower on the front, light blue denim shorts, her frilly pink princess backpack, and of course that big yellow ribbon, she half walked, half skipped to her apartment in the depths of the complex. Meanwhile, while waiting for her daughter to come home, Suzie's Mom had been eying the TV, seeing the continuous warning message about the 4 pm test and setting aside time for it, although she was unable to shake away the feeling that somehow, this test too would inconvenience her in some way. As Suzie entered the living area and sent her pink shoes flying again, her mother greeted her with the same smile that you can only offer your young offspring.
``Dinner's going to be a bit delayed, sweetheart. The test should be happening around this time,'' said Suzie's Mom.
``I hope the bad scientist man doesn't mess anything up,'' replied Suzie, folding her arms. ``The test thingy won't take too long, will it? I wanna be able to see the news!'' Right on cue, the power dimmed, then cut completely, leaving the house to be lit up only by the afternoon sun for the time being. Suzie's Mom went over to the fuse box and turned off the main breaker with a sigh. She was honestly not in the mood to deal with this test. If these guys are so smart, why does this generator or whatever keep messing with the city's power, she wondered. She went to the couch to stretch out while Suzie went to her room to knock out her light workload, the little girl joining her mother on the couch roughly 45 minutes later once she was finished.
Suzie's Mom glanced at her watch, it was close enough to 5 pm to warrant risking turning back on the power. She got up from the couch and made her way to the fuse box as her daughter shifted positions on the couch, eager to potentially watch the news. When she flicked on the breaker, instead of stable power, she was met with a flickering mess, the lights dimming and brightening in a quickening pattern before the power died off completely. She was about to let out an exasperated groan, but a yelp of surprise caused her head to snap back to her daughter. Suzie was clutching the back of the couch in fear and surprise, and as she walked back into the living space, she saw the reason why.
Hovering just above the loveseat was a disco-ball-sized sphere of the deepest blue water either had ever seen. Where she expected a wet spot on the cushions, she saw nothing, which served to make her all the more confused. Before she could process the sphere even further, a truly horrible series of events played out in front of the mother's eyes in a matter of seconds. First, the sphere flashed, changing color for a split second. Then, a bluish half-beam, half-bolt of energy lashed out from the sphere, striking Suzie square in the chest, knocking her back into the other side of the couch. Next, the sphere dropped to the ground as if it suddenly remembered what gravity was, and as the pool shrank down to a pinprick that disappeared from existence, Suzie was left shaking and spasming on the couch. Instantly, the motherly instincts kicked in. She ran over to Suzie, collecting her discarded shoes on the way and slipping them onto her feet with a panicked grunt of effort. Then she picked up her daughter, slipping on her own sandals in the process, and quickly exited the apartment, so concerned was she with her daughter's wellbeing that she forgot to lock the door. By this point, she had noticed that Suzie's shaking had stopped, but what she hadn't noticed was that her daughter was becoming heavier and heavier by the second.
Down the steps and towards her car raced Suzie's mother, thinking that just driving her injured daughter to the nearby hospital would be faster than calling 911. But as she prepared to shift Suzie to open up the passenger door of her vehicle, she finally felt that something was off. The 8-year-old was about double her normal size and growing rapidly right in her mother's arms. Even with her adrenaline-fueled strength, the mother's arms were threatening to give, so she was forced to set Suzie down against her car and just watch as the unthinkable was happening right before her eyes. Suzie subconsciously leaned forward, but this didn't stop her body from pressing up against more and more of the family vehicle. The girl's growth suddenly accelerated, her bottom pushing her mother's car into a slew of other parked cars beyond it, denting them with audible crunches and setting off various car alarms.
Meanwhile, Suzie's Mom attempted to back away from her expanding daughter, but tripped on a rogue chunk of asphalt and fell onto her own backside, as the girl's legs grew right on by. Luckily, there were no cars for her shoes to plow aside. Finally, Suzie's growth slowed and stopped, and it was at this point that she was stirred awake, driven back into consciousness by the blaring alarms and the commotion caused by their angry owners coming out to see what was going on, only to stare up with shocked expressions.
``No way.''
``This is happening again?''
``I thought this was supposed to be fixed!''
``I knew he was lying to us.''
``Wait, isn't that little Suzie?''
``Not so little anymore!''
``They grow up so fast...''
Everyone gave the last guy more than a few glares and groans as the big girl got her bearings, looking this way and that. ``Mama? Mama? Where'd you go?'' Suzie didn't yet understand the new value of keeping her voice down, so her panicked outcry sent everyone's hands to their ears and shattered a couple nearby windows. On instinct, her mother sprang up and frantically waved her arms to flag down her now-gigantic daughter from the space between her legs. Suzie caught on to the motions and looked down, planting her hands on the pavement in front of her. ``Mama?''
The asphalt held but cracks were spreading from her hands, as her mom continued waving her arms. ``Yes sweetheart, it's me!'' she shouted. Suzie couldn't believe it, so she leaned in closer. Surprisingly flexible for her age, she leaned all the way forward until her face was in front of her mother. For Suzie's Mom, the sight was intimidating to say the least. Having her entire field of vision be filled with the face of her daughter was certainly not something she was prepared to experience. Suzie's eyes darted this way and that, trying to think of what was going on, and she was at a loss for what to do, before she remembered one encounter in particular. She absent-mindedly tugged at one of the tails of her bigger yellow ribbon as she replayed the event in her mind. Suddenly, it all clicked.
``I'm... I'm big like Ribbon now, aren't I?'' she asked, in a much lower volume voice.
Her mom nodded, genuinely surprised that she didn't just lose her hearing. ``Do you feel alright?''
Suzie nodded back, pulling back a bit. ``I feel fine now, but that was really scary... I wonder how big I am now... Watch out, please!'' It would seem Suzie paid more attention to the news than her mom originally gave her credit for. Everyone gave her a wide berth, but she had to wait a bit for her mother to hightail it out from between her daughter's legs. Then, she gingerly rose to her full height, the pavement cracking in protest as more and more of her weight settled on it. She glanced to her left at the roof of her apartment building. The apartments were three stories tall, with an 8-foot roof topping them off. Suzie could easily see over this roof, so that put her in the ballpark of 40 to 45 feet tall, not that anyone could tell. The neighbors took this time to survey the damage to their cars and to admire Suzie from a safe distance. Suzie's mother, meanwhile, was trying to comprehend her daughter's new size, particularly the glittery pink shoes that were about as big as her car was. They didn't get very far before a very particular and very loud scream pierced the air like a knife. That, along with the sound of several windows shattering, caused everyone to turn their heads, including Suzie. Looking over her right shoulder, she gasped.
Hovering above the distant city was a large green sphere, and right below it was the source of the scream: a blur of green and maroon that fell below the skyline, causing a tremor that shook everyone seconds later. ``That can't be her... Can it?'' Suzie asked, taking a couple of steps to fully rotate her body in the direction of the scream, adding more instances of her shoes' tread to the fracturing parking lot. Realizing that there's only one way to find out, Suzie bent her legs. Only her mother knew what was running through her big little girl's mind, but before she, or anyone else, could protest, Suzie broke out into a sprint, her powerful legs propelling her over the crowd and out of the complex in short order, leaving her tread all over the parking lot and strong tremors in her wake. She hopped, skipped, and even outright jumped over large groups of cars heading for where the blur fell, not quite aware that each of these actions caused quakes so strong that they displaced cars and knocked people off their feet.
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For Ribbon, she would've prefered it to be a blur this time. The area into which she had fallen was full of different shades of that same green and no way to get her bearings at all. The only direction she could tell she was going was down, rather rapidly, as she and the sand she was standing on were falling at the same speed, with her screaming all the while. Suddenly and abruptly, another circle of blue appeared below her, changing to a faint grey before she and the sand passed through. Opening her eyes, she saw it was the same city she was in before, except it was now daytime. With her scream at a fever pitch, and with a silent question as to why she was not a pegasus, she crashed into the street below.
Opening her eyes, she saw that, against all odds, she had once again landed in the same intersection that she had yesterday, except this time at a much faster rate and with a bunch of sand pooling below her. Looking up out of the hole, she grimaced as she saw she crashed through brand new pavement, but it was that very pavement that didn't make any sense. ``I know the people back home are fast, but I thought I just broke this yesterday... How was it fixed already?'' Glancing out of the crater, waiting for her right side to stop stinging from the impact, she was expecting one of the streets to have the tell-tale signs of her passing by, but not a single one showed any sign of that, although the lights would have been more giant-friendly, had they not been knocked out of place from her impact. Ribbon was getting more confused by the second as the expected crowd of onlookers approached. ``Hey... Uh, sorry about the road... again. You all got it fixed so fast, it's amazing!'' She was met with a few replies.
``Is that the same one that crashed here all those months ago?''
``Fast? Please, the road was shut down for weeks last time!''
``Are you alright, dear? That looked rather painful.''
Ribbon's ears drooped at the mixed responses, only making her more confused. As she tried to process the incoming information, a random thought entered her head and exited through her lips: ``A comforting hug would sure be nice right about now....''
``I guess we know now that the roads aren't as strong as---''
Ribbon's ears perked up as the side conversations were abruptly cut short. Several car alarms were going off, and she soon felt the reason why. The ground under her was rumbling and the shaking was getting stronger. ``Uh... You miiiiiight want to get to safety, everyone,'' Ribbon mused to the crowd that was already wisely backing off.
``I thought they weren't scheduled to be in this area today,'' said a middle-aged man.
``Then where is all the shaking coming from?'' asked the elderly lady the man was assisting.
The answer quickly arrived as Ribbon's ears picked up the sounds of pavement being ravaged due to something skidding to a stop, noises she was all too familiar with for various reasons. Snapping her head to the right, her jaw dropped and she stepped out of the crater a couple disbelieving steps. What greeted her two blocks down, was a girl. A girl wearing a yellow tank top, blue denim shorts, pink shoes, and a hair ribbon about as big as her own. Most notable of all, was that the girl was about as big as she was.
``No way...'' the two breathed simultaneously. While one was in pure disbelief, the other was reaching new heights of happiness. With a cry of ``RIBBON~!'' that shattered all the windows on the block, the girl charged towards the filly, bounding over cars and violently shaking the ground she ran on.
Ribbon, meanwhile, backed back into the crater and braced herself, planting her hind hooves into the ruined ground and standing on them, forehooves free. ``...Suzie?''
There was no more time for Ribbon to prepare, as Suzie outright dove into her outstretched hooves, embracing the filly tightly. Ribbon had so many questions, but feeling those hands on her back suppressed them for the time being. The filly's hooves closed around the girl's back, trying to return the vice grip with equal enthusiasm as they hugged it out in the impact crater.
``I missed you so much you were gone for months I kept watching the news and hoping you'd come back and now here you are I'm so happy to see you!'' Suzie practically shouted.
Ribbon could take the volume; everyone else nearby, could not. ``I'll admit, even though the last time we met it was just a couple of hi's and byes, it's really good to see a familiar face,'' she replied. ``But, just how did you get as big as me? Last time I checked, that's not something that just... happens.''
Suzie beamed. ``Oh, well this weird blob thingy appeared in my house and zapped me with a bolt thingy. Next thing I knew I was this big and saw you falling out of the sky.''
Ribbon broke up the hug and dropped to all fours, surprised to see that she was eye level with the girl afterwards, more or less. ``Hmm... wait. Suzie, did that blob look like it was made of water? Really blue, really deep looking water?''
``Uh huh, yeah, it did! Why do you ask?''
``That same type of thing was what caused me to fall out of the sky just now. ...Have I really been gone for months? It feels like we were only here yesterday...''
``Uh huh! You just, disappeared; no one knew where you were. I kept watching the news hoping you'd show up but it didn't happen. But now you're here!''
Ribbon laughed despite the situation she was currently in. ``Seems like we've both made big news today.''
Suzie giggled at the pun, then blinked in surprise. ``Oh no, I left Mama back home! I was so excited to see you that I just left! I hope I don't get into trouble...''
Ribbon shook her head. ``I'm sure you'll be fine. We'll have to find some way to get you back to normal before we can worry about that. Speaking of parents and guardians, do you know where Gabby and that other weird unicorn are? Hopefully they aren't still sleeping on the beach...''
Suzie shook her head this time. ``Nope, not there~! But they are pretty close. The news says they rebuilt the park! It was supposed to be opened sometime this week!''
``You mean that same park that was a muddy ruined mess yester-- Er, a few months back?''
``The very same one~!'' beamed Suzie, moving her hands to her front as the conversation continued.
``Do you wanna come with? Meet Gabby and whoever the other one is?'' the filly asked.
``I think her name is Orchard or something like that, but sure! I'd love to!'' replied the girl.
Ribbon turned in the crater so that her side was facing Suzie. ``You wanna ride or you wanna walk?''
A gruff megaphone-enhanced voice replied before Suzie could. ``Whatever you decide, you'll need a police escort. Dem's tha rules nowadays, girls.'' Both girls looked around in surprise. So absorbed they were in their conversation that they didn't see the buildup of black-and-white cars in the streets surrounding the crater. Someone must've called the police on their behalf. It was Suzie that found the officer wielding the megaphone, facing him and crouching down a little bit; Ribbon spotting him shortly after and following suit.
``Well, when'd you all get here?'' Ribbon asked, sheepishly. The officer simply smirked. To their credit, they didn't use their sirens on approach, effectively sneaking up on the pair.
``Thank you very much Mr. Officers,'' said Suzie, happier than ever, ``We'd like to go to the new park please~. That's where Ribbon's Mama is supposed to be.'' As Ribbon got a little flustered, muttering something about not taking it that far, the officers looked at each other with confused expressions, some looking like they finally had the missing piece of the puzzle placed in front of them, and others looking rather shameful that a not-so-little girl was more on top of the monster family tree than they were.
``I'm sure that can be arranged, ma'am,'' replied the officer, reaching into his parked patrol car and grabbing his radio. With a wry grin, he pressed the radio toggle. ``Car 15 to dispatch; I've got two lovely ladies here in need of a parade.''
A few minutes later found the pair walking side-by-side along a now cleared road, with a heavy police presence surrounding them. Sirens wailed constantly around them as their big ribbons bobbed up and down in earnest.
``If I remember correctly, the park is quite a ways away,'' said Ribbon.
``How `bout we get to know each other? Y'know, as friends!'' asked Suzie. ``Unless you don't want me as a friend....''
``Are you kidding?! I'd love to have you as a friend! I'll admit, I was wondering if I'd ever see you again.''
Suzie smiled. ``Well, wonder no more, `cause here I am!''
``That you are! So, uh, how old are you?''
``I'm about 8 years old, gonna turn 9 soon though.''
``Really? Me too! I never would've guessed we were the same age!''
``Yay, another thing we have in common~!'' Suzie declared excitedly.
Ribbon glanced at the yellow tail of Suzie's ribbon brushing up against the red tail of hers. ``Speaking of things we have in common, when did you get the ribbon?''
``Well...'' Suzie's voice grew soft; Ribbon glanced over worriedly. ``...after we first met that day I begged Mama to take me to a store so I could wear a ribbon just like yours! I wanted to show it off the next time we met, but--''
``But then I disappeared,'' finished Ribbon.
``Mmhm,'' affirmed Suzie. ``It became more of a thing to remember you by. I wore it every day, hoping for us to meet again, just like this! Well, not exactly just like this, but I'll take it~!''
Ribbon giggled. ``Well, I hope being this big won't put a damper on your day. No telling how long you'll be like this, or if it'll even be fixed.''
``As long as I get to play with you, I'll be a-okay~!''
At this time, both girls looked up to see a swarm of news helicopters flying overhead, each one vying for the perfect shot of the pair being escorted while their pilots struggled to avoid mid-air collisions. Ribbon's prediction would prove true as news of the pair's movements was plastered all over the airwaves.
With a staggering lack of traffic to avoid and a lack of traffic signals to avoid clipping, the journey to the park was faster than Ribbon's first venture. As soon as they arrived on the corner, Suzie let out an audible gasp that was heard above the sea of sirens, Ribbon giving a whistle as the pair surveyed the park. The trees softly blew in the wind as the afternoon sun illuminated the gently rippling waters of the lake. ``This certainly looks like your handiwork, Gabby,'' Ribbon said.
``It's beautiful...'' Suzie added. ``And the view is great from up here!'' A light scraping sound turned the pair's attention towards the park's parking lot, where there was a jumbled mass of grey and lavender. It would seem, to either one's best guess, that something was pinned between the two monstrous kaiju's stomachs. While they slept soundly, two bulbs attached to the grey one's head opened up, slowly rising up from their relaxed positions. The glowing blue petals were pointing at them, one aimed at each girl.
Suzie flinched and couldn't move, but Ribbon placed a hoof on her shoulder. ``Relax, I don't think those do anything.''
``A-are ya sure...?''
``Yeah, pretty sure. If they did anything it probably would've happened the first time.''
An armored ear flicked, a glowing blue eye lazily fluttered open, drawn out of slumber by the multitude of sirens. After rubbing an eye with a funny-looking hoof, suddenly both of the creature's eyes shot open, taking in the forms before them. The grey creature then began to furiously tap the lavender creature, its tail strands releasing the object that was stuck between them as it tried to rouse the other creature. ``Gabby. Gabby! Look!'' came a feminine voice. A groan came from the lavender creature as she woke up, the grey creature pointing a hoof in the intruders' direction. Gabby looked in the direction of the hoof, turning her head. Upon seeing what had gotten her friend so worked up, her pupils shrank and her jaw dropped in disbelief.
Ribbon wore the biggest smile across her face.
