While Leo and Twilight were off in the woods, Sunset Shimmer was looking around trying to find Twilight. She went into the tent seeing no sign of her. She spotted Spike on his little bed talking in his sleep, "So many squirrels..." he said to himself.
Sunset tapped the dog, "Spike?"
Spike woke up feeling startled, "Aw, man! I was having the best dream. Wait. That dream could be a reality!" he got off his bed and was prepared to go out, until sunset stopped him.
"Before you run off to chase squirrels, do you have any idea where Twilight could be? I really need to talk to her."
Spike looked curious, "What happened? Did she do that lifting things off the ground thing again?"
"That's just it. I don't know if it was her. But if it was, we need to deal with it head on."
"I can track her down." Spike said, as he got his sniffer ready.
"Then lead the way." Sunset ordered, as Spike took off.
Spike's nose led them to the forest area, only for Raph to call to them, "Hey, you two."
"Hey, guys," Sunset looked around, "Where's Leo?"
"He went after Twilight after she fled for the forest." Donnie explained.
"Because he's so worried about her." Mikey made lovey dovey noises.
"Thanks, guys. Spike and I will go look for them." Sunset said, as she and the dog took off into the forest.
Back in the forest Twilight was walking along the path back to camp, while talking to herself, "Leo's right. I can overcome this. I've faced aliens in the last few months. I can totally conquer this. I am not a monster." She suddenly found herself walking into Timber, and both ended up screaming in shock.
"Oh, hi," Twilight chuckled sheepishly, "What are you doing here?"
"Uh... Looking for you." he answered.
"Oh, I was just on a nature walk and got a little lost."
"Let me show you the way. I'm kind of an expert at these woods. I've lived here my whole life." Timber offered, as the two began walking with Leo shadowing them.
"It must've been nice growing up at a camp." Twilight tried to make small talk.
"Yeah, though it has its downsides," Timber began sounding depressed, "When I was younger, I wished we'd sell this place so we could live in a town like normal people."
"Really?" Twilight asked.
"I was ten. I really wanted to hand out at the mall," Timber admitted, and the two chuckled, "I've never told that to anyone. You must be special," Twilight looked away feeling embarrassed, until Timber reached behind her head. Leo looked ready to pounce him thinking he was about to make a move on her, only to see Timber holding a little tree branch, "And not just because you have tree branch in your hair."
Twilight was surprised and felt awkward, "Ugh. How long has that been in there?"
"Not long. Just the whole time we were talking." Timber teased her.
Twilight laughed, "Well, why didn't you say something?"
From behind a bush, Sunset and Spike watched the scene play out while looking amused. Sunset spoke to the dog, "I guess we can help Twilight deal with the magic stuff a little later.
"I don't think you'll have to worry about that." Leo appeared at their sides.
"Leo?" Spike gasped feeling startled.
"What do you mean? Did Twilight..." Leo stopped her.
"I talked it out with her. I think she'll be ok." Leo assured her, as he smiled at Twilight seeing how happy she looked even if she was talking to someone else.
Back at camp, several campers were standing before a rock climbing wall with such campers as Rainbow and Casey looking the most excited. Principal Celestia explained things to them, "Rock climbing is all about perseverance and trust. Rarity, you can trust that Applejack will spot you." she instructed Rarity who was strapped into the harness while Applejack was holding the end of the line.
"Yeah, so you can totally go faster than you're going." Rainbow voiced her irritation.
"Rainbow Dash!" A.J scolded her.
"Sorry. I've been waiting to do this since we got here." Rainbow replied.
"Well, you have to wait a little longer, darling." Rarity said, as she slowly went up the wall.
Casey who was strapped to a harness spoke, "By the time you get up there, Rarity. Camp will be over. Cover me, April, I'm going up." Casey told April, as she held the end of his harness line.
"Easy, Casey you familiar with the phrase slow and steady wins the race?" April asked, as Karai and Shini chuckle.
"Why be slow and steady when you can be fast and metal!" Casey declared, as he climbed.
As Twilight and Timber came over, Rainbow spoke to Twilight, "Oh, good! Twilight, if you spot me, I can finally go. I'll go get another harness." Rainbow left to grab one.
"I'm not sure I..."
Timber cut her off, "I better make sure my sister doesn't need anything. See you later?" she asked, and they smiled with Timber taking his leave.
Sunset arrived with Spike, "Twilight, there you are! I was looking for you."
By the turtles who were watching from the bushes, Leo suddenly returned, "There you are. We thought you weren't coming back." Raph said.
"Is Twilight ok?" Mikey asked.
"She's fine, Mikey." Leo answered, as he watched her from their hiding spot.
"What about you?" Donnie asked.
"I'm ok." Leo replied, making sure not to let any words get underneath his skin.
Suddenly the whole ground started shaking, as Raph asked, "Earthquake?"
"No, it's another Kraang worm quake!" Mikey panicked, as he grabbed onto a tree.
By the campers who had felt the same shake, Spike spoke, "Was that an earthquake?"
"We aren't near any fault lines." Twilight noted.
"Well, whatever it was threw me off my game!" Casey called, as he stopped in the middle of the wall when the earthquake occurred.
Bulk Biceps looked down at the ground, "Hey! Who left this crystaly dusty stuff here?!"
Karai looked at it, "The same stuff that was by the boat when it crashed into the docks."
"This can't be coincidence." Shinigami said suspiciously.
Rarity who had been dangling above from the wall called, "I believe I'd like to come down now!"
Applejack gave her a thumb's up and tried pulling her down, but the line was jammed, "Sorry, it's a little bit stuck." she pulled on it while unaware of her hands glowing orange. Suddenly the line jerked and Rarity was sent flying up to the top of the wall, much to Casey's shock.
"Oh, come on!" Casey called.
Applejack suddenly released the line, and Rarity began falling for the ground screaming, "Rarity!" April called.
Applejack quickly grabbed hold of the line, and stopped it as Rarity was inches away from the ground, "Applejack, what are you doing?!" she screamed in shock.
Principal Celestia and Bishop approached with the undercover Utrom speaking, "Is everything ok?"
"What's going on?" Principal Celestia inquired.
Applejack spoke while feeling confused, "Uh, I don't know what happened. I didn't even pull the rope that hard. It's like she was light as a feather all of a sudden."
"I was scared half to death!" Rarity breathed heavily.
It wasn't my fault! Let me help you get your harness out." Applejack offered, by reaching out for her.
"No thank you!" Rarity held her hands out, and suddenly a glowing diamond made from a magical aura appeared and pushed Applejack away making her fall into the water. Applejack walked over completely soaked.
"What in the world just happened?" Principal Celestia asked in shock.
"This is certainly strange." Bishop said in surprise.
"Oh, dear! I am so sorry! I think. Did I just do whatever that was?" Rarity asked her friends.
Casey who climbed back down answered, "If you did, then let me say that was Metal!"
"I don't think it was your fault," Twilight said, feeling guilty, "I gonna go get Applejack a towel." she took off.
"Me too." Sunset went after Twilight.
From the bushes, the turtles witnessed the strange phenomenon that occurred, and Mikey gasped, "Holy cheesy balls! Did you guys see that?!"
"I can't deny it since I saw it with my own eyes." Donnie admitted.
"This just keeps getting more insane with every passing day." Raph said in disbelief.
"But why is this happening?" Leo asked, while noticing Twilight's worried expression.
As Twilight and Sunset walked, the red and yellow haired girl spoke to her friend, "You're not the only one with a new kind of magic! This is great!"
Twilight replied with no enthusiasm, "No, it's not! Rarity and Applejack could have really hurt each other! Why is this happening? I don't..."
Twilight was cut off as Gloriosa appeared, "Hi, girls! Anything I can do for you?"
Twilight quickly explained Applejack's situation, "Uh, Applejack just fell into the lake!"
"Oh, no!" Gloriosa gasped, "She's gonna need warm towels, dry clothes, oh, and a hot cocoa! I've got this!" she hurried off.
Karai and April approached, as the former bad ninja spoke, "Ever notice how she's always there to help fix a problem?"
"She's just doing her job." Twilight reminded Karai.
"Yeah, but she acts like she's too prepared to fix problem." April said suspiciously, until they heard a scream.
"Fluttershy?" they gasped, as they ran to find her.
They ran into the dining hall seeing baking batter all over the place like it exploded. The turtles who also heard the commotion leaped in through a window armed and ready, "All right, who're we fighting here?!" Raph demanded, until they saw no potential enemies around.
"Did we miss the fight?" Mikey asked.
Leo turned to Fluttershy and Pinkie, "What happened?"
Fluttershy answered, "I don't know. We were just decorating cookies and..."
Pinkie cut her off, "And I was all, "You need more sprinkles! And you need more sprinkles!" she pretended to sprinkle the cookies.
Raph sighed, "Seriously?"
"So, standard Pinkie Pie stuff." Sunset asked seeing no problem.
"I was just tossing sprinkles to Fluttershy, when all of a sudden they glowed pink and exploded!" she tossed some sprinkles up and they exploded like firecrackers. The explosion caused the girls hair to blow back, while the turtles stood in shock. Pinkie shook her head making her hair return to its usual state, "Just like that only earlier."
"Oookaay. Why don't you lay off touching stuff for a while?" Sunset suggested.
"Yeah, before you make anything else explode." April added.
"Namely us." Karai agreed.
Fluttershy looked around at the big mess made, "Oh, dear. We really should clean all of this up," she went over to grab some paper towels from a shelf but couldn't reach it, "Can someone help me out?"
"I got this, girl." Mikey was ready to ninja up to the shelf, only for a bird to fly in and bring it down to Fluttershy.
"Thank you, Mr. Bird," Fluttershy thanked the bird, as it tweeted to her, "Why, of course I can get you a little something to..." she gasped, "Did you just... talk?" the bird tweeted, "But I don't speak chirp. I don't know if you're the only bird I can understand. Oh, no! Please don't call for your friends." the bird tweeted some more and suddenly multiple little birds and two owls flew in and perched on Fluttershy's arms, "It's nice to meet all of you too." she said.
"Were you just talking to the birds?" Sunset asked in confusion.
"Um, yes?"
"Great. Pinkie Pie's blowing up stuff by touching them, and now Fluttershy's Dr. Dolittle?" Raph said feeling exasperated.
"Fascinating." Donnie said feeling intrigued.
Suddenly the door slammed open making Fluttershy scream in shock, causing the birds on her arms to fly off. Entering was Applejack, Rarity, Casey, and Shini, "Did you tell them what happened?" Applejack asked the group.
"It was so wicked!" Casey cheered.
"More like crazy," A.J corrected, "I hoisted Rarity up the rock climbin' wall like it was nothin'! Like I had way more strength than I usually do."
Rarity spoke up, "And I made a diamondy thing appear out of nowhere, which normally I'd be excited about. I mean, the facets were just perfect, and the..."
"Rarity!" Applejack interrupted her.
"Oh, sorry. It knocked Applejack over and then it disappeared!"
"Speaking of disappearing, has anyone seen Rainbow Dash?" Shini asked.
"Wasn't she right behind us?" Casey asked.
Suddenly something zoomed into the dining hall leaving a rainbow trail. It was Rainbow who ran right into the wall and fell on her butt, "Ow!"
"Ooh, crash and burn!" Mikey chuckled, as he and Casey high fived.
"Whoa! How'd you do that?" Applejack asked, as she and Shini helped her up.
"I don't know. I started running to get the harness, and the next thing I knew, I was practically back in town!"
Karai was curious, "But if you had super speed, why you were gone for so long?"
"Because I lost it when I got far away. And then it came back when I got close to camp."
Pinkie gasped, "Being at camp is giving us all new magical abilities!"
"Well, we don't have them." Casey said on behalf of himself and his friends.
"Yeah, you girls get all the cool stuff." Mikey grumbled.
Sunset replied, "Not all of us have gotten new abilities. I haven't, but Twilight..." she saw Twilight motioning her to not say a word "...hasn't, either."
Applejack sighed, "So much for my theory that leavin' CHS would mean leavin' any new magic business behind."
Donnie spoke up, "Something at the camp must be making this happen."
"Um, Gaea Everfree?" Fluttershy suggested, as Donnie replied.
"Well, that's one theory, but let's try and stay open to perspective."
April gasped, "Someone else is coming... Guys!" she tried to warn the turtles who had already vanished, "Never mind."
The doors slammed open and everyone saw something big and scary stumble in making Fluttershy scream again. It was Gloriosa carrying fresh towels and Applejack's hat, "Applejack! I was looking for you! Here, I brought you some towels and dry clothes," she noticed the mess in the dining hall, "Uh, what happened in here?" she looked around while hanging from the ceiling were the turtles who were praying she wouldn't look up.
Sunset answered her, "We're kinda trying to figure that out."
"Well, don't worry about it. I got this!" Gloriosa declared. She was about to head out only for Sandalwood and Derpy to barge in with the Eco-boy speaking.
"Gloriosa, I kicked my beanbag into the lake!"
Gloriosa's eye twitched, "I'll get you another one!" she tried to keep up her responsibilities.
"And I'm all out of arrows!" Derpy added.
"Say no more! New arrows coming right up!' Gloriosa said, as she was trying to keep her act together.
Timber came in and spoke to his sister, "There you are," he whispered to her, "Filthy Rich is back. Do you want me to handle it?"
She answered in a hushed tone, "Absolutely not!" she spoke up, "I got this!" as she passed Sunset Shimmer the girl heard screaming, as everyone piled out.
"Fluttershy, enough with the screaming." Sunset sighed.
Fluttershy looked confused, "I didn't scream."
"For once." Rainbow snarked.
"Nobody did." Rarity said.
"Yeah. If there was one we would've heard it." Mikey said, as the turtles dropped in.
"That's strange." Sunset said, as the door burst open again making Fluttershy scream.
"Ok, that one was me." she admitted.
It was Bishop who spoke, "Are you girls ok?"
"We're fine, Bishop." Sunset answered.
"Something wrong?" April inquired.
"After witnessing the strange phenomenon involving Applejack and Rarity I had to be sure you were all ok."
"It's not just Applejack and Rarity, Bishop." Leo replied.
"Pinkie Pie was able to make things explode by touching them!" Mikey cried.
"And Fluttershy's talking to the birds, literally." Raph added.
"Not to mention Rainbow Dash has super speed." Donnie finished.
"This is all becoming very peculiar." Bishop pondered.
"Don't worry, Bishop. We'll figure this out somehow." Sunset assured him.
Suddenly Principal Celestia's voice came over the P.A, "Attention, campers! Anyone who's interested in making floating paper lanterns, please meet us by the picnic tables."
Applejack spoke to the group, "I don't know about the rest of y'all, but I've been lookin' forward to comin' here for a month. Maybe we forget about this "new magic" for a bit and just try to focus on enjoyin' our time at camp?"
Rarity smiled, and spoke in agreement, "I was oh, so excited about designs I've come up with for the camp fashion show."
"And I've barely gotten to whoop anybody in tetherball." Rainbow added.
"And I'm still looking forward to playing floor hockey." Casey put in.
Sunset was concerned about the magic situations, but didn't want to ruin everyone's fun, "I think we should try to figure it out. But if letting it go for now is what the rest of you want..." The girls agreed, while Twilight kept to herself thinking she was causing it.
"Come on, guys. Let's make us some lanterns." April said, as they started leaving.
When Twilight was the last to leave, Leo spoke, "Twilight, a moment please."
"What, Leo?"
"I know what you're thinking right now, and I suggest you put it out of your mind."
"But, Leo..."
"No buts. Remember what I told you?" Leo reminded her of their pep talk.
"I... Yes, Leo."
"Trust me, it's going to be ok."
Twilight sighed, and said softly, "I hope so." she took her leave.
"What's wrong with her?" Mikey asked.
"You know something, Leo?" Raph asked while getting in his face.
"It's not for me to say, Raph. It's Twilight's choice."
"Well, she better come clean before she forces us to make her talk." Raph replied.
"Just let her be, Raph." Leo warned him, as he watched Twilight from the dining hall window.
As the sun was setting the campers were by the picnic tables making their own designed lanterns. April's was yellow with a dragon design on it, Casey's made his black with white hockey puck outlines on his, Karai's was silver with the Hamato clan symbol on it, and Shini's was purple with magical symbols on it. From behind the dining hall, Bishop had supplied the turtles with the right material for them to make lanterns as well.
"At least this is one camp activity we can partake in." Mikey said, as he was trying to make his.
"Yeah, I was getting bored with doing nothing." Raph agreed.
"Plus this helps take our minds off of what's been happening." Donnie said.
"But Sunset Shimmer has a point, with all that's happening it really isn't something that should be ignored." Leo noted.
"They just need some time of peace, Leo." Mikey replied.
"Yeah. They just wanna have some fun without worrying so much." Donnie added, while Leo couldn't help but see their point.
Back by the campers, Rarity noticed Pinkie was decorating her lantern with marshmallows, "Um, Pinkie Pie, what are you doing?"
"Putting marshmallows in my lantern. Then when we light them, mine will be beautiful and delicious!" she declared.
By a separate table sat Twilight with Spike at her side, "Hey, Twilight, why aren't you with everyone else?" her dog asked.
"Donnie said something at camp is causing the other girls to get new magic. I think it's Midnight Sparkle. She's still part of me. I can feel it. And I think her magic is infecting my friends." she voiced her worries.
"Didn't you hear what Leo told you?"
"I know, but it's not as easy to think that way with all these latest disturbances."
"What are we gonna do?"
"I don't know what I can do." she sighed.
Gloriosa called out, "Okay, everyone! It's time to watch your lanterns fly!" The campers started walking up to the dock to set their lanterns off.
As Twilight walked, Timber walked close to her, "Hey, cool lantern! Mine's my face!" he showed her his lantern with his face painted on it. Twilight laughed nervously while looking dismal, which Timber noticed, "Uh, you ok?" Twilight nodded, "You don't seem like yourself tonight." Twilight said nothing, as they joined the others at the dock.
After the lanterns were given a flame to fly, Gloriosa called, "Ready? And... go!"
Everyone released their lanterns, as they started flying up while Pinkie's being too heavy from the marshmallows fell down, "Aw! Oh, well! Now I get to eat it!" she ate some of the marshmallows off it, "Yep, beautiful and delicious."
Flash looked up, "Hey, who made those four?" Everyone looked up seeing four new lanterns joining the others.
Each was colored green with distinct patterns and symbols on them. One had blue markings with a pair of katana crossing each other, the second had purple markings with atom symbols, the third had red markings with a pair of sais on it, and the fourth had orange markings with pizza slices as well. The campers were curious and shrugged, while the Rainbooms, April, Casey, Shini, and Karai glanced back seeing the turtles peeking out from hiding while giving them the thumb's up. They smiled and continued watching their lanterns float up into the starlit sky.