The next day, the girls met at the entrance of the school. “So, we all know what we’re doing?” Sunny asked. “Twilight will be coming around noon, assuming Dean Cadance bought her story. Indigo, did you bring the goods?”
Indigo smiled and patted her bag. “Of course! You do know these are a fire hazard right? I mean, I’m not complaining but I don’t want to send anyone to the hospital.”
“Then make sure they don’t hit anyone,” Sugarcoat said. “That’ll most likely bring both Principal Cinch and Dean Cadance to the cafeteria and the rest of us will have to keep them occupied while Twilight sneaks into Cinch’s office.”
“You know…doesn’t it seem kind of weird?” Lemon asked. “I mean, the reason we got picked for the Friendship Games was because we were kind of the model students right? But look at us now.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, I quite like being the renegade student,” Sour said.
Sunny rolled her eyes. “Sometimes you have to do necessary evils for the greater good, in this case trying to figure out what’s going on with our school.” She then looked at her phone. “Twilight said she’ll give us a text when she ready so Indigo and Lemon, make sure you’re ready.”
The morning continued on without incident. At about quarter to twelve, Twilight made her way up the steps to the school. It made her think about the last time she had come here, just after the Friendship Games.
Crystal Prep always had a cold, sterile environment of sorts when she was attending, but before no one appeared to be paying attention to her. That day, everyone’s attention was on her and it almost seemed a miracle she got out of there unscathed, equipment intact. Now once again she would have to brave the halls and more than likely encounter Principal Cinch again.
Luckily, as she opened the doors, she found that the halls were clear at the moment. Since it was close to noon, the students were probably already at lunch. As she walked down the hall, she got out her phone and sent a group message to the other girls. I’m here.
She found Cadance’s office and knocked on her door. The door quickly opened and Cadance peered out. “Oh, Twilight! You’re…fifteen minutes early!”
Twilight smiled weakly. “That still surprises you?”
“Well, no, not really,” Cadance laughed. “But I am surprised that you forgot something here. You’re usually pretty thorough.”
“Oh…well, no offense but…I was kind of in a hurry to get out of here.” Well, it wasn’t a lie.
“Well…I guess…” She then smirked. “I’m still not convinced though…come on, you can tell me.”
Twilight did want to tell her. Cadance was the only one here she could confide in…but she couldn’t. She knew Cadance wouldn’t snitch her to Cinch but she also didn’t want to put Cadance or her career in danger. “Well…okay…I kind of wanted to see you…it’s been awhile since we last hung out.”
“Aw…” Cadance then gave her a hug. “That’s what this was about? You could’ve just told me that over the phone.”
“Am I interrupting something?” Both of them looked over and saw a well-dressed woman approaching them with her arms crossed.
“Oh, Principal Cinch,” Cadance said quickly. “You’ll have to excuse us, Twilight informed me there was something she had forgotten from her lab and she’s here to pick it up.”
“Is that so?” Cinch asked. She then looked to Twilight. “I always thought you were a thorough girl.”
Cadance laughed weakly. “Well, that’s what I said too but um…you know how it is sometimes when you’re in a rush?”
Cinch still had her eyes on Twilight. “So Miss Sparkle, I’m assuming all is well at Canterlot High?”
“Very much so.” Twilight stared back at her. As a student, she had many reasons to feel intimidated by Cinch, but now she had no power over her.
“Good to hear. I wouldn’t want our former best student’s performance to go downhill at a more mediocre school.”
“You know, I think I’ll escort Twilight down to the lab so she can get her stuff,” Cadance quickly interrupted. “It shouldn’t take more than a few-”
Suddenly there was a loud scream that echoed down the hallway. It came from the cafeteria. “What in the world was that!?” Cinch snapped. She then quickly ran down the hallway. “Dean Cadance!”
“Er, right, coming!” Cadance looked back to Twilight. “Um…we’ll be right back! I’m sure it’s nothing!” She then followed Cinch down the hall.
Twilight waited a moment before looking around and then she quickly made her way towards Cinch’s office. She checked the door and was relieved to see it was unlocked. She went inside and quickly closed the door before making her way over to the desk. Apparently today was her lucky day since Cinch was still logged in.
Twilight quickly pulled out the USB, slid it into the side of the desktop and got to work.
Five minutes earlier…
Indigo and Lemon were behind one of the emergency exits in the cafeteria, waiting for the signal. Indigo then received the text from Twilight shortly after. “Alright, it’s show time.” She then pulled out firecrackers from her bag. “Alright, we line these up and light them up in one go and get the hell out of dodge.”
“Um…you do know once these go off its going to sound like gunshots right?” Lemon asked.
“Yeah?”
“I mean, that’s kind of a big deal…”
“That’s the plan we talked about.”
“Well…”
“You better not be getting cold feet Zest!” Indigo snapped. “We need to give Sparkle a distraction!”
“Alright, alright.” Lemon took a deep breath. “But if something blows up, it’s not my fault.”
“There’s nothing flammable in here you-”
Suddenly there was a scream. “Okay, that was premature,” Lemon commented.
On the other side of the door, they could hear a loud commotion of chairs being moved and people yelling. “I got a bad feeling about this,” Indigo said. The two of them opened the door and saw students were looking for any exit they could, including the door they just came through.
Indigo and Lemon saw the others and went over to them. “What’s going on, we didn’t even fire anything?” Indigo asked.
Sunny pointed and both Indigo and Lemon saw the purplish line that indicated a tear in the space-time continuum. “Okay, so it’s a little tear,” Sour said. “What could possibly-”
Suddenly the tear was ripped open quite forcefully. “You just had to say something…” Sugarcoat muttered.
It was only when they saw the claws that they realized something was forcing its way into their dimension. When it finally came out, the creature was both extraordinary and familiar. “Uh…what the hell is that?” Indigo asked.
“That looks like Ursa Minor,” Sugarcoat replied.
“Huh?” Lemon asked.
“The constellation on the bear’s body…that’s Ursa Minor,” Sugarcoat explained. “Seriously, none of you ever do any stargazing?”
“How about we just call him Star Bear and make it simple?” Indigo suggested.
“Aw…he’s kind of cute,” Lemon said. Two seconds later, they had to duck as Star Bear decided to throw a table at them. “Okay…maybe a little feral but still cute.”
“Okay so what do we do about him?” Sour asked as they ducked behind one of the standing tables.
“It’s going to rampage through the entire school if we don’t get rid of him,” Sunny said.
Indigo looked around. “Okay, but there’s still people here and if they see us-”
“You want this thing getting loose!?” Sunny snapped. “Spiders are one thing, but there is nothing natural about that bear and I rather have the school see us than the entire world finding out about this and panicking!”
“What is the meaning of this!?” Principal Cinch had just burst into the room and immediately stopped in her tracks. She looked around at the other students who were currently present. “What is this thing doing here!?”
Star Bear got on his front feet and roared his displeasure at being called a thing towards her. “Principal Cinch, I think its best we…evacuate the school,” Cadance said, who showed up behind her.
“Crap, we need to give Twilight more time!” Indigo said.
Sunny then got up. “I’m sorry girls, but I don’t think we have a choice.” She looked towards the two women. “Principal Cinch wait! We can handle this guy.”
“I beg your pardon!?” Cinch said with surprise.
“It’s kind of hard to explain so…” Sunny then looked to Indigo. “We need to get something to fight with.”
“Gotcha, I know just the place!” Indigo then zoomed past the two women out the door.
Both of them stared at each other in surprise. “Did she just…?” Cinch began.
“I think so…” Cadance said. “I also think perhaps we should get out of the way since I have a feeling this is going to get quite messy.” Luckily, Star Bear was currently occupied with eating what was left of everyone’s lunches. A bear was a bear after all.
Indigo soon came back and dropped a bunch of sports equipment on the ground. “This was all I could find in the storage room in the gym,” Indigo said. “So take your pick.”
Sunny helped herself to the metal bat. She then looked around and saw the tear was still open. “I think I know how to get rid of this guy…non-lethally of course.”
“Oh good,” Lemon said, sighing in relief. “I mean, spiders are one thing but I don’t really like killing, even if they just go poof.”
“I gotcha, we tire him out and send him packing huh?” Indigo asked.
“Just don’t get too close and let your guard down,” Sugarcoat warned as she picked up the bow. “One swing from him and he’ll take your head off.”
“Well come on let’s get going already!” Sour snapped.
“HOLD IT!” Everyone stopped and looked, including the celestial bear. Lemon was currently looking through her phone.
“Oh no please, finish your tweet,” Sour said, rolling her eyes.
Lemon ignored her and kept sliding her screen. “…There it is.” She then pushed play before slipping on her headphones and cracking her neck slightly and slapping her fist into her palm. “Alright…it’s go time.”
“Hmm…yeah I’ll go with that,” Indigo grinned. “Alright ya big lug of stars, I hope you’re hungry for a big can of whoop ass!”
The girls spread out across the cafeteria. Sunny got on top of one of the tables and took any coffee cups she could find and threw them in the air before launching them at the bear’s head. The ceramic cups shattered, leaving small bits embedded in the bear’s skull but to it it was merely a small annoyance.
“Hey, haven’t you heard never to take your eyes off your prey!” Indigo ran up and hit the bear straight in the lower jaw, which caused the bear to grunt in pain. “Physics, right Sugarcoat!?”
“Yeah…kind of!” Sugarcoat took aim and fired her shot, hitting the bear in the stomach. Like Sunny suggested, they didn’t want to kill the creature but injuring it enough would greatly lower its stamina.
“Aw look it even bleeds cosmos!” Lemon gushed. Star Bear wasn’t amused and took a hard swing, sending Lemon into one of the tables and her headphones flying.
“Lemon!” Sour gritted her teeth and grabbed any forks and knives she could before throwing them at the bear. “You stupid jerkface!” Unfortunately, Crystal Prep had a policy about not using sharp knives.
Lemon groaned as she got up and then realized her headphones were over on one of the chairs. She clenched her fists and glared at the bear. “Those are $200 headphones you asshole!” She then grabbed a chair and started smashing the bear in the face. “If. Those. Are. Broken. I. Am. So. Making. You. Pay for it!”
“Wow, I’ve never seen Lemon get that mad before,” Sunny commented.
“Those headphones are like a part of her,” Indigo said as she went over and checked them out. “It’s alright Lemon, they’re good!”
“Oh.” Lemon stared at the now dazed bear. “Sorry…”
Indigo then had an idea. “Hey Lemon, you up for a game!?” She then zoomed around the bear, attempting to tie him up until he was literally a ball of stars.
“Oh…gotcha!” Lemon then stretched her legs slightly. “Okay…this is it…the game-winning score. All is on the line now…”
“Oh for crying out loud will you just boot the damn thing out of here!?” Sour snapped.
“Shut up Sour I’m getting in my zone!” Lemon snapped back at her.
“Yeah Sour shut up she needs to be in her zone!” Indigo yelled. Sour just cursed under her breath.
Lemon took a deep breath and then raced forward. “Booyakasha!” She kicked the bear right in the butt and the bear went flying right into the portal, crashing through and disappearing before the portal closed in on itself. “Score! This girl’s on fire!”
“Someone better call the fire department!” Indigo yelled, grinning.
“That was…easier than I expected,” Sugarcoat said. “At least now we know not to steal Lemon’s headphones.”
“Come on team, bring it in!” Indigo said as they all shared a high five. “I think I can get used to this.” There was then loud cheering. “See, the school loves us!”
“Ahem!” Principal Cinch apparently decided to come back into the cafeteria now that it was safe. “Ladies, my office. Now.”
“And that just killed the mood,” Indigo replied, sighing.