//------------------------------//
// Shadows 
// Story: Magical Curiosity 
// by Comma Typer 
//------------------------------//

Things over at Crystal Prep Academy were going pretty smoothly, and by “pretty smoothly”, it’s meant that absolutely nothing was happening at the school since it was Sunday.
Well, except for the Shadowbolts having a trite picnic in front of the institution’s sparkly columns, sitting down on a plaid red-and-white mat to complete the stereotypical look, catching whiffs of whatever food was in their bags and baskets.
Sour Sweet chewed on her mayonnaise sandwich. After gulping it down, she said, “Mayonnaise is made out of non-meat stuff, right?”
Sugarcoat crossed her arms. “That depends on your definition of ‘egg yolk’. Some classify it as meat, others consider it as an animal product which is not on the same level as meat; think of dairy products like cheese, for example.”
Indigo Zap shrugged as she took out a multi-decker sandwich which consisted of pasta and ketchup.
Everyone else eyed her sandwich.
Indigo smiled. “Jealous?”
“I only packed some jellybeans,” Lemon Zest cut in, taking her headphones off. “Grass flavor.”
Sunny Flare arched a brow. “Why grass?”
Lemon Zest shot a smile at her. “I want to be as safe as possible!”
“You might as well eat real grass,” was Sugarcoat’s reply, staying deadpan. “Jellybeans contain gelatin which is composed of animal products, specifically beeswax or, worse, livestock tissue—which is contrary to your desire to be as safe as possible.”
Lemon then popped a few jellybeans in her mouth. “Mmm! Minty!”
“You were ignoring me this whole time, weren’t you?”
Sunny Flare rolled her eyes, picking up her energy gels from her bag. “This is what I had to resort to.”
Lemon smiled, detecting the rather flat food packs. “Does it come in lemon flavor, too?”
Sour Sweet put on a smile and stood up. “This picnic idea is going great!...” then, wearing a bitter pout, “if it had any real food.”
“Hey, don’t think like that!” Indigo said, standing up with her. “In the future, all those canned foods will be as healthy as the real thing! Cheap, affordable, delicious, and nutritious!”
Sour Sweet pulled on her pony tail hair. “You sound just like Mrs. Beta...” and then, smiling, “which should make you a good candidate for the play!”
“We’re not supposed to mock our teachers in the play,” Lemon reminded before blasting rock music into her ears with those headphones.
“Well, Zest, that’s—“ and saw Lemon banging her head. “Nevermind.”



The Shadowbolts walked as a cool and smug pack through downtown, desperately looking for a place to pass a free yet empty Sunday. Under the looming height of imposing skyscrapers, they passed by the supermarket. On the sliding doors was a notice scrawled with the following: In consideration of our customers’ health, we are not selling meat until the Canterlot City Authority deems it safe. In the meantime, if you need your protein fix, come buy our new protein mix! It contains peanuts, beans, seeds, peas, tofu, and broccoli!
Except it was on the sliding door itself, which gave Sugarcoat a headache trying to read it while people walked in and out of the establishment, the piece of paper swaying left and right.
Next, they went to the local jewelry shop.
“Seriously, Flare?” Indigo blurted out, putting her goggles on her face as they stood at the entrance. “You’re gonna waste money on those shiny things?”
“They are not just ‘shiny things’!” Flare snapped, arms stretched down in rage. “They are elegant, rare, and extremely valuable!”
Indigo put her goggles back on her hair. “If only they were extremely fragile….”
“I heard that!”
With that little squabble over, they opened the glass doors and stepped inside.
And were greeted to a chaotic scene as a horde of teenagers, among others, inspected the diamonds and other precious stones behind those glass displays. Several were busy asking—no, busy interrogating the jewelers on what type they were, how many karats were in this alexandrite cufflink, what the price of that was, and what the meaning of the words “karat” and “alexandrite” were. Coupled with the hum of air conditioning, the buzz of questions and answers made this refined shop less so in atmosphere.
Flare took a step back outside. “What’s this? Diamond day?”
Indigo closed her eyes. “The Canterlot Bruisers are going to be fighting the Baltimare—“
“I wasn’t talking about baseball!”
And she stormed out of the shop, her friends following her but not without taking glances at the impromptu crowd there.
Finally, they settled for a run-of-the-mill park. As to be expected from a park, there were flowers, benches, trees, fountains, buskers, grills, ponds, ducks, and breadcrumbs.
They also saw Trixie standing on a soapbox, wearing her full wizard costume of pointy hat and flowing cape; she was wielding a wand, too, waving it around before her somewhat interested audience. “Behold, the Great and Powerful Trixie shall perform feats of magic that you shall never comprehend!”
“I can comprehend them!” shouted a fancy-sounding student, lowering his round glasses.
Trixie gave him an evil look. “Jet Set? From Crystal Prep? Hah!” She raised her head in that snooty fashion. “As if you can know the secrets of the Great and Powerful Trixie!”
“Ugh.”
The Shadowbolts looked at each other.
“Do you think we should watch?” Indigo asked.
Sour Sweet rubbed her hands, wearing a devious grin. “With Jet Set on our side, it’ll be fun to watch Trixie try to defend herself in vain—“ and then turning her grin into a happy one, “but, of course, perhaps Trixie is prepared, or maybe she’s made a new magic trick no one’s ever seen before!”
Then, Trixie threw a smoke bomb to the ground, making her audience move back, some coughing as the smog reached them. When the smoke cleared, they saw two things behind her: a cage and a closed one-door booth.
The magician sneezed, coughing up some confetti. After daintily wiping her mouth with her hankerchief, she went on: “The Great and Powerful Trixie shall follow in the footsteps of her hero, Hoofdini! But, she shall soon eclipse even the great Hoofdini, for, after you have seen this daring escape with your own eyes, you shall chant about the magical prowess of the Greater and Powerfuler Trixie!”
Then, she noticed those prominent Shadowbolts, all five of them crossing their arms. “Brilliant! More hecklers to amaze! Victory is all the sweeter when you win against your enemies!”
“Who else are you going to fight?” Sugarcoat asked, looking at the rest of the crowd she was in. “It wouldn’t be a fight if you had no enemies to fight with.”
Some laughed at that.
Trixie wagged her wand around with her hand. “That is where you’re wrong!”
More laughter erupted from the crowd.
“You’re going to find a way to win a fight against nothing?” Sugarcoat asked.
Trixie groaned, then turned away from the inquisitive rival. “Do not mind such low-minded dissidents! Soon, even her skeptics shall wonder, ‘How did the Great and Powerful Trixie do such an impossible impossibility in the most impossible way impossibly imaginable?’”
“Redundancy.”
And yet more howling laughter.
Trixie, however, did not grumble. She kept her composure, dusted her shoulders. “Yes, yes...doubt Trixie all you want! In fact, she has expected this kind of mockery to arrive, which is why—“
Threw a smoke bomb, shrouding herself in mystery and her audience in more coughing fits.
When the smoke cleared again, they saw a little television screen hooked up to the booth, showing real-time footage of what was happening inside: nothing.
“Trixie shall demonstrate this trick to you!” she boasted, raising and lowering her arms like an out-of-control lever, then swished her cape around since there was no wind. After that, she pointed at the cage. “The Great and Powerful Trixie will trap herself in a compressing cage.” She took out a small remote control. “She will hand this device to one of you. When you press the button—which is the only button there, by the way—the cage will helplessly attempt to crush the Great and Undefeatable Trixie!”
Whatever teasing smiles were plastered on the audience’s faces disappeared. Instead, there were worrisome murmurs and whispers, hands covering their mouths; even the Shadowbolts creased their foreheads in concern, Sour Sweet’s devious grin giving way to a scared frown.
“Yes, you mere mortals!” The magician raised her hands to the air as if she was holding a big paper airplane. “Trixie shall indeed put herself in harm’s way, but she is not scared! Do you know why?”
“Because you’ll reappear in the booth?” Sugarcoat asked, making Jet Set glance at her for having stolen his words.
“Correct!” Trixie said, pointing a finger at such a worthy rival. She stepped down from her soapbox and handed her the remote control.
Sugarcoat received it, inspecting the simple device with its one and only button.
“If you are curious,” Trixie added, “press the button. Let everyone see for themselves the insurmountable odds the Great and Powerful Trixie shall put herself up against!”
Sugarcoat looked at her, then the cage, then back at her, then back at the cage.
She pressed the button.
And the cage’s thick ceiling fell down to the floor with a slam!, rumbling the ground and causing several leaves to fall from their branches.
The audience stepped back, a few even running away screaming before they returned in shivers and frightened glances at a magician who, surely, was at least a little insane at this point. Lemon Zest screamed and clung on to Sour Sweet who pushed her out of the way; Indigo Zap rubbed her hands and wore her goggles to watch a self-depreciating spectacle, Sunny Flare put her hands on her hips in both confusion and apprehension, and Sugarcoat herself raised a brow.
“What happens if you fail?” Jet Set asked, raising a finger to get Trixie’s attention.
She huffed. “Then, Trixie shall be crushed and suffer painful injuries...which shall not be the case, for she is not the Weak and Powerless Trixie!”
“Isn’t that a bit dangerous?” Flash Sentry asked, making himself known in the audience.
Trixie turned her head away. “The Great and Powerful Trixie scoffs in the face of danger!”
“Before getting crushed by said danger,” Sour Sweet mumbled to herself.
Trixie then hummed her way to the cage, tramping a nice path through the grass.
Everyone watched as she opened it, went inside, locked herself, and threw the key as far as she could, hitting Jet Set’s head and making him drop his glasses.
All eyes were on her, then at the screen.
Trixie smiled, raising a hand and pointing at herself. “Brace yourselves! When Sugarcoat presses the button, the cage shall indeed crush but it won’t crush Trixie, for she is Great and Powerful enough to make herself appear in the booth safe and sound!”
Lemon tapped Sugarcoat on the shoulder. “Uh, I don’t want you to go to jail for breaking her bones.”
Sugarcoat gave her a small smile. “She follows Hoofdini. If she isn’t petrified at all, then she has a trick up her sleeve we don’t know.”
Then, button pressed.
The ceiling fell.
And Trixie was gone.
A poof! from the booth.
On the screen, they saw Trixie appear out of thin air. She gave a thumbs up to the hidden camera inside, and then she walked out, stretching out one arm to drink in the applause.
Which has not started yet.
With closed eyes and pointing her wand at herself: “Behold, the Great and Powerful Trixie!”
Silence.
Flash Sentry clapped his hands slowly.
Then, everyone was clapping, bringing out a round of applause for Trixie. Some passers-by even stopped to give the amateur magician a clap or two, probably deducing the trick performed from seeing the cage and booth present.
Next, Trixie brought out a dozen coins, threw them into the air, and caught them.
But not with her hand.
Instead, they floated in the air, inches away from her open hand.
Everyone walked closer to give those levitating coins a closer look, seeing them go front, back, sideways, and even form a couple of simple shapes.
All without Trixie touching them.
“Strings!” Jet Set yelled, running to her side. “You are using invisible strings!”
Trixie chuckled. “Really, now? Well, disprove this!”
And a coin was levitated right before his eyes.
Everyone gasped.
Jet Set gulped, sweat pouring down his forehead. He moved his hand around the coin but felt nothing.
“Wha...what?!”
“Admit it, Jet Set!” Trixie said, voice getting cockier. “CHS has the best magician in the world!”
“That’s because we don’t have any magicians in Crystal Prep,” Sugarcoat said, still crossing her arms and holding the remote control. “Yet.”
Trixie snickered at that, then turned to the would-be naysayer. “Oh, so you think you can produce a magician that can match me? The Great and Powerful Trixie possesses knowledge you do not understand!”
“Because you can’t understand what you don’t know,” was Sugarcoat’s answer.
Lemon, however, had her mouth wide open the whole time. She walked up to Trixie and offered a handshake. “That’s some...cool stuff you got there!”
Trixie gave her a firm shake of the hand. Then, turning her eyes to her observers and her pointed finger to Lemon: “Even a Shadowbolt defers to Trixie, the magical magician of Canterlot High!”
Indigo then yanked Lemon away from the handshake. “Not today, magic girl!”
Trixie smiled, then looked around. “Has anyone recorded that? The Great and Powerful Trixie shall wow those who were not even present at this momentous occasion!”
Sunny Flare rolled her eyes. “You think we don’t know the internet is?”
Trixie giggled, then stared at her with half-closed eyes. “Maybe.”
Flare rolled up her sleeves. “Why, I oughta’—“
And Indigo and Sour Sweet held her back, holding one arm each as her feet scurried in place.
It was Trixie’s turn to cross her arms. “Well, well, well...too bad! If you want to fight me, you’d have to find your way around this!”
She jumped up into the air.
And stayed there.
Everyone looked at her in awe as she floated several inches above the ground, her boots clearly not even touching the grass.
Now more than a few screamed and ran away from Trixie.
“You can try throwing your punches at Trixie,” she said, accent haughtier than before. “However, can you defeat a wizard?!”
“Any magician who knows his salt can levitate like that!” Jet Set shouted.
Trixie smirked. “There are no strings, no stilts, and I’m not wearing a pants-length skirt!”
“Then, you are creative!” Jet Set conceded. “Creative, but you can’t possibly be really levitating!”
Indigo then gasped, taking out her goggles. “Unless she really is a wizard!”
“The only ones with real magic are Sunset Shimmer and her friends,” Flare said, “and they’re out of Canterlot. Even if they were here, why would they teach Trixie magic if it’s too dangerous for parlor tricks?”
Trixie laughed, sounding a tad bit unhinged. “The Great and Powerful Trixie shall say it again: A magician never reveals her secrets!”
She landed on the ground, threw a smoke bomb, and, after all was done, there was no trace of her, the cage, the booth, the screen. Only the soapbox remained.
Leaving the audience stunned, standing on the park with frozen feet for a good while.



“...as more reports of today’s sudden cold crop up in Canterlot City, the mayor has advised all citizens to wash their hands every hour, and to always bring hand sanitizers when going out.”
The radio continued outside Sweet Shoppe as the Shadowbolts sat around the table, concealing themselves from the rising sun under the umbrella though they still felt the heat. Lemon Zest was busy eating lemon cheesecake and drinking lemonade, helping herself to a lemon-themed snack.
Which was enough to raise Sour Sweet’s ire. “Do you really have to order everything with your name on it?!”
Lemon’s reply was nothing since she kept banging her head to whatever she was listening to on those headphones.
“Let her be,” Sunny Flare said as the reporter rambled on through the radio, cooling herself with a fan. “You get to eat tarts and cranberries, Sugarcoat could eat anything in a candy shop, and Zap can always order some zap apple jam from the Apples.”
“Which I don’t,” was Indigo’s adamant reply as she chewed on her cabbage, tomatoes, and mushroom taco with ketchup and mustard.
Flare looked back at Sour Sweet. “The point being: I can’t eat sunlight or solar flares.”
Sour Sweet rolled her eyes. “I guess you’re right on that one.”
Flare turned off the radio. She stared at it for a few seconds. Then: “Do you have it?”
“The cold?” Sour asked. She shook her head. “No. Doesn’t make me want to eat any beef for the moment.” She sighed, remembering something. “I don’t want a repeat of last year.”
“When everyone thought you had salmonella but Cadance and Sugarcoat were the only ones who knew the truth?” Indigo asked with a snicker. “Those were the days, girls! Those were the days!”
“Wasn’t for me!” yelled Sour, fuming as she held up the radio, about to smash Indigo’s head with it.
“Woah!” Flare half-raised herself from the chair and stole it away, put it back on the table. Cornering Sour with her fan: “Chill out, Sweet! We’re not targeting you!”
“You made me miss more than half a week of school and good grades!” Sour retaliated, counting those two items with her fingers.
“Psst!”
Then, all the Shadowbolts looked at the table next to them.
Bon Bon, Big Mac, and Octavia sat there, with Lyra in a hoodie and wearing some shades as she sipped on lukewarm coffee.
Lemon took out half of her headphones. “Uh, what’re you doing here?” Then, eyeing Lyra, “And why are you wearing that? It’s like thirty degrees out here!”
“Twenty-six, to be exact,” Bon Bon said, sipping on her milkshake as she looked at her phone for the temperature. “We’re here because we’re waiting.”
“Waiting for what?” Indigo asked, raising her shoulders and seeing no empty chairs at the other table.
“DJ Pon-3,” Octavia answered. “We’re all worried for her.”
Flare gulped. “Is she down with the cold, too?”
“Not as far as I know,” Octavia replied, stirring her cup of tea with a spoon. “However, she is beginning to become...hard to understand as of late.”
“Which means…?” Sour demanded with a, well, sour look on her face, tight lips and all.
Octavia sighed. “Canterlot High will be hosting Floral Week starting this Monday—“
“As we know,” Sugarcoat interrupted.
Bon Bon grumbled at that. “Along with all the other activities, there’s going to be a music competition revolving around flowers and the beauty of nature. We were expecting Octavia herself to get the most votes and what not—“
“But then,” Octavia continued, “out of nowhere, Vinyl joined in and everyone ended up clamoring for her in MyStable. Now, she’s become the head of Canterlot High’s Floral Week Music Tournament.”
Flare raised a brow. “Funny. An electro girl running a music battle about pretty flowers? I thought you’d be the one,” motioning a hand towards Octavia, “what with your classical niche.”
“It’s not a niche!” Octavia replied with some anger in her words. Then, calming down: “What makes it worse is that, since she has to be in school most of the day and night judging the participants plus volunteering to be a sound engineer, she won’t be able tend to her job for most of the week.” Exchanging glances with Bon Bon and Big Mac, “We’re all afraid that she’ll be fired or, at least, be given disciplinary measures for what amounts to insubordination or going absent without leave.”
“But why is Lyra wearing a hoodie and a pair of shades?” Sugarcoat inquired, ignoring the rest of Octavia’s words.
Bon Bon raised her hand, catching everyone else’s attention. “She’s down with the cold.”
“I don’t hear her nose running,” Indigo remarked, examining camouflaged Lyra from her table.
“That’s the thing,” Bon Bon said, gesturing to her spiky-haired friend. “All the people I’ve met who have the cold don’t have a cold’s symptoms at all. No runny noses, no constant sneezing or coughing, no sore throat or fever—they only get a fever after they eat meat—“
“So you’re saying all of us are infected but most of us aren’t showing the symptoms?” Flare suggested. “That’s an unconventional disease.”
“That’s great!” Sour shouted. Then, with a pout: “In a weird way.”
Octavia nodded, looking at Lyra who was shaking her cup of coffee without spilling any of it on her clothes. “We hoped it’s just bad meat, but it seems that there’s more to it than that.”
Sugarcoat crossed her arms. “How so?”
Bon Bon pointed a thumb at Lyra. “She tried to experiment by eating some canned pork she still has from last year. It wasn’t expired, and she just had that for dinner last night with no ill effects.”
Sugarcoat kept her arms crossed, though she fixed her bow tie a bit. “Well?”
Bon Bon’s eyes fluttered. “She burned the can less than five minutes in.”
Lyra sighed before silencing herself with her coffee.
As for Big Mac, he was helping himself to apple pie, listening to the whole conversation.
“So, no meat until they say yes meat?” Indigo asked.
“I’m afraid so,” Octavia replied, eyeing the radio on the table and then back at Indigo.
Then, silence between the two groups.
“OK, then!” Sour smiled, waving at them. “Have a good day!”
Crystal and Canterlot students then huddled together, going back to their own food, their own classmates, and their own tables.
Octavia massaged her temples. “First abandoning her shop, and then a missing guitar!” She sighed again. “She says it’s not her fault, and I see not a trace of it in her room, but...this won’t translate well when word spreads.”
Bon Bon picked on her waffle with her fork. “Yeah….” Then, eyeing Big Mac staring at the road, she looked at him odd. “Uh, Big Mac?”
As he stared there.
“Big Mac!”
He shook his head, getting himself out of it. With a raspy voice: “Wha-What? What’s the m-matter?”
“Uh, what’s the matter with you?” Lyra asked, looking smug with her shades and her cup of coffee.
Big Mac pursed his lips and went on with eating his apple pie.
“Must be about Sugar Belle,” Bon Bon mumbled as she went on eating her chocolate muffins beside the waffle
As they ate, Big Mac tried to distract himself with his apple pie, though prospects were less than ideal—the pie was almost finished, much of it having crumbled into crumbles. He took the final morsel with his hand, chewed on it, looked back to the road so he would not be bored by the table, and—
He stared.
Seeing a wide-eyed unicorn waving at him on the other side of the street.
“Hello?!”
And Bon Bon’s voice brought him back as his head rattled and reeled from the sight.
Big Mac blinked, rubbed his eyes.
“What’s gotten into you?” Bon Bon asked, holding up a fork like it was a big stick. “You look like you’ve seen some magical creature or something!”
“That’s normal,” Octavia commented as she eyed her cello bag under the table. “Besides, what are the chances a teenager like us gets corrupted by magic by the time Floral Week’s over?”
Big Mac gasped in lots of air, breathing slowly as he whirled his head back towards the street.
He saw nothing but a few cars waiting for the traffic light to turn green.
“Imagination,” was the only word he said to himself before grabbing one more bite from his pie.
He discovered too late that he had already eaten that one more bite.