It was Wednesday and finals were continuing. First of course was math, specifically trigonometry. Indigo had real trouble studying but both Sunny and Sugarcoat managed to help her get through the review sheet and the girl certainly felt much more confident afterward.
Sunny wasn’t sure if her teacher decided to be a prick or just give his students more of a challenge for most of the questions were between above basic and advanced, much to her annoyance. Well, joke was on him since she prepared herself for these types of questions, especially the later chapters. In the end, it came down to the last five minutes but she was able to finish it.
The next final was for one of her electives, which was Sports and Entertainment Marketing. This class was so easy and simple Sunny wasn’t sure why there was a final, but it was easy and one both Indigo and Lemon recommended. She was able to finish it within half an hour.
The girls had nothing planned for today so Sunny went home and continued her studying. At least her mom was kind enough to bring home some cinnamon buns from the bakery downtown.
Thursday’s first final was English, oh dreaded English. Sunny could easily differentiate its and it’s or they’re, their, and there, but commas and semicolons were a whole different story. Even with all her studying, Sunny still got stuck on certain points and at the last second just wrote whatever came to her. Partial credit was better than no credit.
The last final was another of her electives, which was Intro to C++. Before she chose this class, Sunny wasn’t even sure she would get into computer programming. Despite a large need, the area was highly competitive and in college it was hard to get into, sometimes even with a 4.0. But throughout the year, Sunny found the material surprisingly easier than she imagined and after many exercises was able to design her own little programs. It was something to be proud of at least.
It wasn’t much of a final, more than just another project, with a two hour time limit. As expected, it wasn’t something she could wing in thirty minutes but she was able to submit her work to the teacher with about ten minutes to go. It was finally over, she could go home and take a much needed nap and probably pig out on something. She earned that much.
But it just wasn’t meant to be. As Sunny went out of the classroom, Dean Cadance was waiting for her there. “Sunny, I need to have a word…or rather Principal Cinch would like a word.” She looked uncomfortable, much to Sunny’s surprise. “If you could follow me.”
Sunny had a sinking feeling in her gut and it only got worse when she went inside the office. Her friends were there, all looking the same way and Sunny knew right away: Somehow, Twilight screwed up. She must’ve left some clue that led Cinch to believe her computer had been touched.
“Ah, good, we’re all here,” Cinch said, clearing her throat. “I’m afraid something has come to my attention. It would seem someone decided to enter my office and look through certain files on my computer.”
“Principal Cinch, if you’re accusing any of them, we both know it couldn’t have been them,” Cadance said quickly. “They were in the cafeteria that day when the um…creature attacked and since then it has only been them coming and going between classes.”
“Oh I’m quite aware Dean Cadance, but there was one student…one former student that is that was unaccounted for,” Cinch said. “After the incident, Twilight Sparkle was nowhere to be seen at all. Isn’t that odd?”
“Well…perhaps she got what she needed and left,” Cadance suggested.
“So quickly? I find that surprising actually. She did contact you did she not? You’re certain that’s all she asked about?”
Sunny knew where this was going. She was quickly pointing the blame towards Cadance and she wasn’t going to let that happen. In her mind, she realized that Cinch was doing this as a way for the girls to confess but she was going to beat them to the punch.
“It was I, Principal Cinch,” she said calmly. “I was the one who conspired with Sparkle.” Yes, she was admitting Twilight did steal the files but Cinch probably knew there were no other suspects. Hopefully, Twilight would forgive her for snitching her out.
Cinch stared at her for a moment. “I would’ve expected such actions from certain students but not you Sunny Flare. Would you care to explain yourself?”
There was no turning back now. “Ever since the Friendship Games, weird things have been going on. Rifts in the fabric of space, creatures that are crossing through those same rifts, the sudden magical abilities the five of us possess. Surely even you were curious about what was going on?”
“You are correct about that, but how does that explain your actions?”
“It’s not mere coincidence Principal Cinch; I think it has everything to do with the school, or rather the school’s location. There’s a collapsed mine right beneath our feet but what exactly were they mining for? And why is it only now that we’re reacting to something here?”
Cinch was silent for a moment as she turned around and looked outside the window. “It seems you’ve been rather active Miss Flare. In fact, I think you’ve dug yourself deeper than you could possibly imagine. I cannot explain why these things are happening but it’s clear you have become rather obsessed with the entire subject. So I will give you a choice.
“First of all, I will not press charges against Miss Sparkle, even though she did break into my personal computer. But as for you five, yes I know you all contributed to this in some way, you all have a decision. You can all forget about what you’ve seen or heard and drop the matter completely. Or, if you do decide to continue this charade, I will have no choice but to expel you all indefinitely.”
The room suddenly went cold. “E-Expel us?” Indigo said weakly.
“Wait Principal Cinch, this all seems a little much!” Cadance broke in. “There’s no need for-”
“I will decide what’s best for these students,” Cinch snapped. “As I said, the decision is yours but I would choose wisely. It would be terrible for you all to be expelled right before the beginning of your senior year wouldn’t it?” She glanced at all of them. “Nothing to say? Very well, I’ll let you all think hard about it. Now then, that should be all, you may leave now.”
The feeling of dread hung in the air even as the girls left the office and headed towards the entrance. Outside, they sat at the steps, all looking down and not saying a word.
Finally, Lemon broke the silence. “So…I guess this is it huh? I mean, we can’t go through with the plan now right?”
“Lemon, let’s not think about it right now…” Sugarcoat said.
“Not think about it?” Sour suddenly stood up. “What, you really have to think that hard? Cinch made it crystal clear! We either shut up about it or kiss any career dreams we have goodbye!” She kicked a soda can that was on the ground. “I hate bending to Cinch’s will but what choice do we have!?”
“I’m not quitting.” Sunny felt everyone’s eyes on her as she said.
“Oh, so you don’t care what happens to you huh?” Sour asked.
“I care more about the world I live in than my future at the moment,” Sunny snapped. “At least then I’ll have a future to look forward to.” She paused for a moment. “I don’t care what happens to me…its not because I haven’t decided on a future yet, or because I haven’t discovered whatever power I have, if I even have one…I’m doing this for you guys…because I care. You all have something to give this world but me? I’m not sure…so even if it’s just me and I stop all this and I get expelled, at least I can be happy for you guys. But I can’t do this by myself. Indigo, you haven’t said anything.”
Indigo looked up at her and Sunny could see she was conflicted. “I see…so all that stuff about Shadowbolts and friendship and teamwork means nothing now? All we’ve done now was for nothing? Well fine. I’ll finish what I started. Don’t worry about me.” She turned around and started heading down the steps.
“Wait.” The word stopped her in her tracks and she turned around to see Indigo getting up. “You know…you can be a real pain in the ass sometimes ya know?” She was smiling. “Look, I’ll be honest: I’m definitely not book-smart to get into some great university, but I can assure you my skills on the field might earn me a scholarship. Thing is…all it takes is one career-ending injury and I got nothing left to look forward to. So with that being said, you bet your sweet ass I’m gonna help you finish this.”
Sunny smiled slightly and looked at the others. “Well, she makes a good point,” Lemon said. “We got no future if there’s no world to live in right?” She smiled and nodded.
“I guess we can’t stop you,” Sugarcoat grinned slightly. “Besides, even if it’s just you Cinch will probably just expel all of us anyway so…what the hell.”
They all stared at Sour. Sour glanced at all of them and growled. “Seriously, am I the only sane one here now?” She sighed loudly. “Alright, alright…I can’t be the one who drags everyone down.”
“Girls…thank you. I mean it,” Sunny said. “And if we all do get expelled well…least we got each other right?”
“Hell yeah!” Indigo said.
“There’s just one more thing to do,” Sunny said with a mischievous grin. “I hope everyone has their credit cards cause we’re about to do some shopping!”
Meanwhile, Twilight was on her laptop, again looking through the files. For whatever reason, she felt as if she was missing something. With what she had read, it didn’t tell her very much about the school.
Then she found them. There were more documents in the folder about the school’s history. In fact, they appeared to be scanned copies of what looked to be diary entries from long ago. She started going through the entries.
June 23, 1918
We found a most interesting discovery today. Deep down in the mine, we found the treasure trove of crystallium, but even more impressive was the one that stood out the most. A large black crystal, shaped into the most intricate design. This was not manmade for sure, which made it all more impressive.
As we found out, no machine had the power to break this natural beauty so it was decided to be left alone. Not even dynamite could crack this thing, which made me think of it as a diamond but there were traces of carbon in it at all. It’s quite puzzling. Maybe in fifty years or so we’ll have something that could crack this thing like a peanut. For now, all we can do is stare in awe of nature and its beauty.
December 17, 1918
It has been almost twenty years since our first discovery of crystallium. The time has gone quick. However, despite the holiday season no one seems to be in a cheerful mood. Lately all one has to do is make some back-handed comment and you practically have a fight on your hands. I guess it can’t be helped.
Well, at least I know I’ll be able to spend the holidays at home with my family for once so I shall not let my colleagues’ attitude get to me.
March 23, 1919
We had to send another one to the hospital today. It was the third one this month who claimed they heard “voices in their head”. We’re in a mine, of course you’re going to hear things! They also claim that every time they went near that black crystal, they swore they felt like it was pulsing.
Even as I’m writing this I get chills thinking about that. I think people are just overreacting over nothing.
October 29, 1919
They were right. For all these months, I thought my fellow workers to be paranoid or high from inhaling something in the mine. But I was wrong, so wrong.
Last month, I heard the voices. At first they were just whispers, just noise. But then I could hear words, terrible things. It only got worse. The voices went from calm to screaming, shouting so loud I felt like my head was about to burst.
And the crystal…that damn crystal…it beats like a heart. There is something here, something evil. I have no doubts about it now. Whatever happened here, however long ago, I do not know the answers but unlike the others I haven’t broken yet.
This place needs to be shut down…better yet that crystal needs to be destroyed. If it can draw out your emotions, your fear…I tremble at the thought of what else it could drive inside all of us…
The entries ended there and the more Twilight read, the colder it felt inside the room. She quickly grabbed her phone and dialed Sunset’s number. “Sunset, it’s me. You might want to get over her pronto.”