//------------------------------// // Chapter 3: Outburst // Story: The Magic of Love // by Ro994 //------------------------------// It didn’t take Twilight as much as she thought to get adjusted to the classes in CHS. Well, not completely. The education level was alright, although a little bit lower than what she was used to. And thanks to the many hours she had spent investigating, learning by herself, and even inventing, it almost felt like children’s play. The one thing she did miss about Crystal Prep was that she no longer had the option of going to her private study to study at her own pace, and her chemistry teacher, Ms. Harshwhinny, wasn’t really teaching anything that Twilight didn’t know already. But, she was aware that she had to spend more time amongst her fellow students in order to acquire social skills and, in words of Sunset, “learn more about friendship”. This, she still had to get more used to. Because of how basic these lessons felt for her, she got bored quickly. She began to worry, because lately, when she didn’t keep her mind busy, she began to… …remember. As hard as she tried to think about other things, the memory of that fateful day when she unleashed the magic still haunted her. The rush of all the power running through her body and taking over her mind, leaving her in a thoughtless state where all she could envision was this other world of discoveries and how she was willing to eliminate every obstacle that kept her from her goal… …even if that meant ripping apart her own world. She tried her best to snap out of it. She looked up and saw her friend, Flash Sentry, in front of the board trying to solve an exercise and finding out the molecular mass of four caffeine ions. He failed horribly, as he got even the formula wrong. Ms. Harshwhinny, whom Twilight’s friends have told her to have a very short temper, snatched the chalk out of Flash’s hand almost violently before he could even begin writing the mass of the first element. “Mr. Sentry, you are staying behind in my class and your grades are lower each time!” She yelled at him, causing Flash to stare at her in almost horror. “I suggest you to stop playing rock-star like a child and begin focusing in more important issues, young man! Now back to your seat!” Flash lowered his view and blushed in embarrassment. He did as he was ordered to. Twilight felt sorry for him, noticing the sad look that drew on his face as he sat next to his friend Brawly Beats, who patted his back in an attempt to make him feel better. Twilight shared seats with Sunset, to whom she whispered: “Well, that was uncalled for!” Sunset nodded and answered, as she kept looking at what the teacher was writing on the board, “She does that all the time when someone makes even the slightest mistake or does something she just doesn’t like. We told you, she has a bad temper.” Sunset looked down at her notebook and continued to do the next exercise. These basic chemistry was piece of cake for her too, since the magical principles she learned back in the day in Equestria required much more complicated scientific knowledge, but she had spent so much time at Canterlot High School that she had grown used to working at the other’s pace, mostly to dissimulate, partly due to the fear Ms. Harshwhinny inspired her and everyone else. But Twilight certainly hadn’t acquired this habit yet, and had already finished all of the exercises assigned for today’s class, and even half of the ones due tomorrow. She looked back at Flash again and saw he was still upset. But then he looked up at her, and she gave him a comforting smile. He smiled back at her in thanks, although his gaze remained sad. She grabbed a marker and a sheet from her notebook and wrote a quick note, which she held up for him to see, without the teacher noticing. “U ok?” read the message. He answered in the same matter, writing the response on the last page of his own pad and holding it only to Twilight’s view. “I’ll be fine. Not the 1st time” and next to the last word, he drew a little wink face. Both of them snickered quietly at this, but got cut by Harshwhinny’s sudden roar. “Sentry! Sparkle! Speaking in class is forbidden, especially when it’s behind the Teacher’s back!” “Sorry, Miss” both of them said in unison, lowering their voices and looking down at their calculators. Harshwhinny glared at Twilight before she called her. “You, newbie! To the board!” She held the chalk up. “Exercise 11. Calculate the mass of 3.64 moles of sodium nitrate.” Twilight was a little taken aback by this. She gave Sunset a quick look, and she smiled and nodded encouragingly at her friend. She got up and walked forward to the board, taking the chalk from the teacher’s had a little nervously, since she was beginning to understand why everyone talked about Ms. Harshwhinny which such devoted fear. She quickly wrote down the formula of sodium nitrate and applied the conversion factor, calculating a total of 309.40 grams. Although Twilight was certain this answered was correct, the educator was not amused at all. “What, you did not utilize your calculator? Nor your periodic table?” The girl was not expecting to get this question, so she took a few seconds to answer. “I… no, I actually don’t need them… I can do it mentally…” she said nervously, giggling a bit. “Don’t you dare even think just because you’re new you can make fun of me, young lady!” said Harshwhinny bluntly and a little loudly, wiping off Twilight’s smile. “I know you younglings and your devil’s technology, able to find the answer to any formula in a second!” She lowered her voice a bit, without toning down her anger. “Yes, the calculator wasn’t all that good news itself, but the internet…!” “Miss, are you implying I cheated?” Twilight asked, a little surprised and offended. “I won’t allow you to speak to me in that tone, Sparkle!” Harshwhinny shouted in Twilight’s face, taking a step forward and making the young girl take a step back. The whole classed looked at the scene, unsure of what to do. She kept shouting and Twilight closed her eyes tight in fear. “Just because you come from a fancy private school doesn’t make you any better than anyone else in this muddy group of teenagers, and I will not allow you try to outsmart me!” Flash got up from his seat and decided to speak up. “With all due respect, Miss, she did the exercises previously, all by hand, on her own!” Everyone else was impressed by this act of courage. Sunset stood up as well and grabbed Twilight’s notebook, holding up the solved formulas her friend had written. “Flash is right, I saw her doing all of them in ten minutes!” “SILENCE!” the woman shouted yet again, making both of the students sit down almost immediately. “This is none of your business! One more word and you will get a detention!” She turned to Twilight again, who still had her eyes tensely closed, obscured by her bangs, and was looking down, tightening her teeth. “As for you, I’ll repeat myself again, to make sure your, said, brilliant brain remembers this: NO ONE MAKES FUN O—” “SHUT UP!” The whole class gasped and then a funeral silence grew as well as a tense atmosphere. “What… did… you… SAY TO ME!?” Harshwhinny uttered as shocked as she was angered. Twilight looked up and opened her eyes, making everyone shake in fear. Her gentle and warm purple eyes had disappeared and been replaced by small, magenta irises with no pupil. Her sclerosis was a cyan color and a fire-like aura of that same color glowed around the corners of her eyes, replacing her glasses. Her voice was louder than usual and slightly deeper. An enraged look drew on her face. “Are you deaf, Harshwhinny?” She asked her in a menacing tone, looking straight to her eyes, successfully frightening the older woman and making her walk back as she slowly advanced forward. “I said shut up, you miserable spinster! You may be the teacher here, but even you should think twice before messing with me!” As she spoke, a holed, translucent horn materialized on her forehead and dark-purple eagle-like wings sprouted from her back. “I AM THE ONE IN CONTROL!” She used her wings to hover above the ground and let out of her hands and horn a burst of mint-green magic that expanded from around her, making everyone scream and run out in fear. Everyone but the Rainbooms and Flash Sentry. Although Flash did run to the door, he stopped before coming out of the class and turned around, seeing the six girls lining up, ready to jump into action. He looked up at Twilight, who almost didn’t seem like the same girl that was messaging him through notes less than three minutes ago. She laughed maniacally as she contemplated the magic she summoned, ready to start opening portals to Equestria. Sunset moved forward and called for her. “Twilight, you have to snap out of this!” Twilight looked at Sunset with an angered expression. “YOU! You will not defeat me this time!” She formed a ball of magic and was about to fire it at Sunset, and Flash took notice of this. He ran across the classroom and placed himself between the Rainbooms and the possessed girl. “Twilight, stop! Don’t do this again!” The magic from Twilight’s hands slowly turned off and her eyes grew wide as she started at Flash, not expecting an intervention from him. “This isn’t you.” Flash said almost too softly to Twilight, but loud enough so that she was able to hear it. The mint-green light around her began to shut down as Twilight’s eyes slowly returned to her normal state, not before the girl passed out and fell on the floor as her horn and wings evaporated into thin air. Her backpack was hanging on the side of her seat, and inside of it was Spike, who managed to open the zipper and hop out of the bag, running next to his owner and friend. He felt worried at the lifeless look on her face, but when he started to lick her eyes, she began to moan, to his and everyone else’s relief. She leaned on her right forearm and rubbed her eyes with her left hand, as she slowly opened her eyes and moaned in slight pain. “Ow, my head… why does it hurt so bad?” she looked to her right and met Spike’s worried and frightened look. She then looked around and saw that not only the classroom was empty, it was a true mess, all the papers were on the floor and several windows and even lightbulbs were broken. “What happened here?” she asked aloud, clearly confused and staggered. She looked up and saw her seven friends, who all were in tense positions, looking at her in the same matter Spike was: worried and frightened. Twilight had no idea of what was going on. “Guys, what happened?” Flash, the Rainbooms and Spike sat outside Principal Celestia’s office, as if they were witnesses in a judgement, waiting for the judge to allow them to come in and testify. They were not able to hear the Principal or Twilight from inside, but Ms. Harshwhinny screamed from the bottom of her lungs with a passionate rage, and although they weren’t able to see Twilight, the teacher’s piercing yells could only make them imagine the look on their friend’s face. “THIS YOUNG LADY IS A MENACE! WE SHOULD EXPEL HER AT ONCE BEFORE SHE CAUSES A CATASTROPHE! I FEEL UNEASY ONLY STANDING NEXT TO HER, WHO KNOWS WHEN SHE’S GOING TO SNAP NEXT…! They all looked at each other awkwardly and petrified in tension. Flash exhaled heavily and Fluttershy, who sat next to him, took notice of this and saw him frowning at the ground. “Are you okay?” she asked him in her usual kind manner. Flash awoke from his thoughts and softened his expression as he turned his head to look at Fluttershy. “I’m fine. It’s just…” the rest of the girls turned around to look at him as well. He looked back at the ground and sighed. “It just seems so unfair to her. That they won’t let her be herself. Both Harshwhinny and this… this magic she still has. Is she going to crack every time someone stresses her out? How long will this keep going?” “Those are very good questions” said Sunset, putting her hand under her chin, mentally connecting the dots. “My theory is that the magic didn’t abandon her system completely. And because of how pressured and uneasy she felt the first time she used the Equestrian magic and transformed, similar feelings may evoke this memory and allow the magic to take over her mind once again. So when she screamed at the teacher and almost attacked us, it wasn’t her acting, it’s the power combined with negative emotions, which according to my experiences, is never a good mix.” “So basically, the answer to your first question is yes” Rainbow Dash said to Flash. “What ‘bout the second one, though?” Applejack asked. “How long will this keep going? Is there a way to wipe off the magic she has left?” “I have no idea,” answered Sunset, concerned. “This has never happened before, that I know of. Like I’ve said before, the way magic works in this world is as much of a mystery to me as it is for the rest of you. All I can assume from now is that trying to verbally calm her down can help, but I don’t think it can be just anyone. It didn’t go exactly well when I tried to reason with her.” “When Flash stepped in, on the other hand…” said Rarity, gesturing at him with her hand. He looked up at her in surprise. Spike, who sat on Fluttershy’s lap, nodded in agreement. “Yeah, when you spoke to her, she turned back even faster than when I gave her the puppy-dog-eyes last time!” “That was super-duper brave of you!” exclaimed Pinkie Pie, throwing her arms in the air. Flash couldn’t help but blush slightly at these remarks. “Well, I did offer her my friendship when she got here, y’know? Friends have to look out for each other, like you guys do. It also seemed really important to her for everyone else to get over what happened in the Friendship Games, and since it happened again, well…” The girls saw the truly concerned look on Flash’s eyes and felt moved by this. Applejack knelt next to him and put a hand on his shoulder. “We get it, sugarcube. You worry about her, so do we.” “The important thing is that we all help her through this. Together” said Sunset determined and positive. Everyone smiled at her. Suddenly, the door to Principal Celestia’s office opened. Vice Principal Luna gestured the group to come in, and as they did, she closed the door. They all stood in a line, in front of Principal Celestia, who was sitting behind her desk. Ms. Harshwhinny stood next to the desk with her hands behind her back and a condescending look on her face. Twilight was sitting in front of the Principal. She looked down and had her arms crossed. She wouldn’t look up to either her teachers or her friends. She obviously felt terrible about all of this, which worried all of her friends, especially Flash. “Well, students” the Principal spoke, in a serious yet passive tone, very contrasting with Harshwhinny’s loud fury. “Could you offer us your perspective about this incident?” One by one, taking turns, the group retold everything that happened in the Chemistry classroom, trying to remain as detailed and neutral as they could, because although they clearly came in Twilight’s defense, they preferred to avoid any more confrontation with Harshwhinny. Principal Celestia listened to them carefully and attentively, and when they finished narrating, she nodded and took a few moments to meditate her verdict. She stood up and spoke to Twilight: “Are you sure you don’t remember any of this, Twilight?” “No, Principal Celestia” answered Twilight, with a quiet and quivering voice, barely looking up at her. “One moment, Miss Harshwhinny was screaming at me, I had a blackout before she finished, and the next thing I knew, I was laying on the floor with a terrible headache, my friends were looking at me worriedly, and the classroom was a complete mess!” The more she spoke, the more fear and desperation filled her voice, alarming the friends that stood behind her, although the teachers tried to keep their composure. The Principal fixed a pile of papers that was on top of her desk and finally said: “It appears to me that Twilight is not at fault of this.” “WHAT?” Harshwhinny exclaimed, indignant. “You are simply going to let this slide!? After she almost murdered me!?” Twilight gasped in shock and hugged her knees close to her body as she began to quietly hyperventilate. Instinctively, Flash stepped forward and put a hand on Twilight’s shoulder. “Easy, Twilight, it’s ok…” he said softly, attempting to calm her down. “Miss Harshwhinny, please” Principal Celestia scolded the teacher. “I don’t think putting Twilight under any more pressure will do any good right now!” “Oh, now you’re taking her side!?” Harshwhinny reclaimed to her boss, gesturing at Twilight, who hid her face with her hands. Flash and the Rainbooms looked at their teacher angrily. She continued ranting: “Whatever happened to the discipline in this institute!? The respect towards the teacher! The protection to what’s NORMAL!” She angrily stomped to the door and opened it before her last shout: “I won’t stand this sort of treatment for another minute, I QUIT!!” She finished, exiting the room and slamming the door closed behind her. An atmosphere of almost relief filled the air as her footsteps sounded further and further away. Twilight, still looking down, was covering her mouth with one hand, and clutched the other one close to her side, as silent tears started dripping from the corners of her eyes. Flash, who still stood next to her, took notice of this, not knowing what to do. He thought fast, knelt to her side and spoke to her gently again: “Uhhh…well, look at the bright side… you… you won’t have to deal with her anymore…” he giggled nervously, but his forced smile faded when Twilight turned her head to him, her eyes drowned in tears and pain. She quickly stood up and ran out of the room sobbing. It was exit time and everyone headed home. Twilight sat on the ground in front of the newly-restored Wondercolts statue. Although the bus that would take her back to the city wouldn’t be arriving for another half hour, she had her earbuds on, shutting the world out, not feeling like talking to anyone. She was not crying anymore, but a saddened expression was drawn on her face. Spike was next to her, laying his head on her lap. His several attempts of consoling her had been unfruitful and, as a dog who only recently had learned how to speak, he failed to find the right words, so he limited himself to physically be there for his owner, keeping her company. Flash watched her from the distance and a feeling of impotence overwhelmed him again. However, an idea crossed his mind, and although his head hesitated, he decided to follow his gut and his heart before he had time to regret it. He began to walk to Twilight, but he got cut halfway by a sudden human wall in front of him, formed by his four best friends. “Woah, there! We’re gonna have to stop you, man” said Brawly Beats, the drummer of Flash’s band, Flash Drive. Brawly had big muscles, but an even bigger heart, and he always looked out for his friends like an older brother. Flash crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow. “Guys, let me pass.” “No good, dude” said Sandalwood, deep and slowly, half-closing his eyes. He was not on Flash’s band, but hanged out with them often. He was the naturalist of the group. “There’s a toxic aura coming from this situation. It could really affect your chakras for the worse…” “Translation?” Flash asked, deadpan. “Don’t do it, bro” said Ringo Starr, the bassist of his band, just as bluntly. He was a man of few words. Micro Chips, the tech-man behind his band and the intellectual of the group, stepped forward with a calculator on his hand. He spoke with his eyes closed and his chin up. “According to my calculations, the chances of this ending up in a bad outcome are…” But when he opened his eyes, Flash had already walked around them and directed himself back to Twilight. “WAIT!” Micro yelled, running as fast as his weak legs allowed him and blocking Flash’s way once more. “Don’t do this, Flash!” he pleaded. “This is insane! You could get hurt! She is DANGEROUS!” “She’s just scared and confused, guys!” Flash exclaimed, directing to all of his buds, who surrounded him. “This is just like what happened to Sunset: everyone felt resentment towards her, but in the end, she turned out to be truly repented and became a great friend to all of us!” “Yeah, but Sunset didn’t turn into a demon ever again. She does” Ringo said, tilting his head towards Twilight. “She’ll control it. I know she’ll learn how to!” Flash affirmed. “Sunset said this is leagued to her emotions.” He gave another look at the girl ahead, and said, more to himself than to the others: “I just want to make sure she feels well her. Keep her from those negative emotions…” The gang shared some worried looks. Brawly put a hand on Flash’s shoulder, making his friend look back at him. “Dude, you know she’s not your Twilight. Don’t feel responsible for her.” Flash led out a sad sigh. Although he had already discarded his romantic feelings towards the Equestrian princess, the memory of her –particularly their last meeting– still brought bittersweet emotions to him. “I’m very aware she’s not Princess Twilight. But that doesn’t matter right now, she doesn’t have to be someone I already know for me to want to make her feel better”, Flash glanced at the saddened girl one more time. “She comes from a school where she was alone and rejected. The thought of the same thing happening here must be… awful to her. Or anyone, for that matter…” Everyone looked at Flash a little confused. What he was saying sounded… almost too personal and sincere. As is if he sort of… related to what Twilight was feeling? Flash snapped out of his thoughts and shook his head. He glanced at his friends with a determined frown on his face. “If you guys are afraid of her, that’s your problem. The more she keeps thinking about it, the most likely she’s to transform again. It’s better for someone to keep her mind off that. He turned around and before he started walking, Sandalwood spoke. “That’s… radical, man, but… can’t it wait until like, tomorrow?” “Yeah, she seems to want to be alone right now” Brawly agreed. Flash spoke quietly, without looking back. “Trust me. No one wants to be alone.” Then he took a firm step forward and made his way to the statue. Flash’s four friends stood there, not knowing what to do. Suddenly, they heard someone near going “Psst!” They looked around and saw no one, until Micro Chips pointed at a bush behind them. Out of that bush, a head with poofy pink hair popped out. “Pinkie Pie?” the four of them said in unison, surprised. “Hi guys! Wanna spy with us?” she asked cheerfully, pointing with her thumb at the five bushes next to her. Some grunts were heard coming from them. Rainbow Dash, who was next to Pinkie, popped her head out as well and said: “Still lousy spy work, Pinkie.” The pink-headed girl just smiled widely and shrug. Dash face-palmed and groaned in response, before she looked up at the guys and asked them bluntly: “Well, you guys in or not?” The four of them hesitated for a moment, but ultimately decided to get inside the fake greenery. With four more people in a space thought for six, everyone had to tighten up and try to make room for the newcomers. “So why are you guys doing this?” Brawly Beats asked as he tried to accommodate himself. He turned, with difficulty, to see Sunset Shimmer, next to him. “Wasn’t she your friend or something?” “Yeah, but she wouldn’t talk to us, no matter how hard we tried. And this is just… for precaution…” Sunset answered pronouncing the last words between her teeth and blushing in embarrassment. “Look!” Rarity exclaimed, pointing at Flash ahead. He was nearly two meters away from Twilight, when he suddenly stumbled with a stone on the ground that he didn’t see, making him trip and bump, yet again, into Twilight. All of the ten spectators gasped at this, afraid of how Twilight might unintentionally react. Pinkie Pie even stood up in fear, and Sunset quickly pulled her back inside the shrub. Flash quickly composed himself and began to stammer in panic: “Ah-I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to—I wasn’t—There was a—uhm… are you okay?” he asked, grinning nervously at Twilight and scratching the back of his neck. “I’m fine” Twilight answered almost inaudibly, readjusting her glasses and looking down at her earbuds, folding them and putting them away inside one of her backpack’s pockets. Flash sat there awkwardly for a few seconds, until he quietly cleared his throat. “It’s gonna be ok”, he said to her softly. “How could you possibly know that?” Twilight asked, as she opened her backpack for Spike to get inside. “I… I don’t. But what I do know is… you’re not alone anymore” Flash answered, making the girl turn to look at him curiously. Taking her hands, and looking into her amethyst eyes, he insinuated with a reassuring tone, “You have myself, and the Rainbooms. We’ll help you through this. I don’t know if we’ll be able to find a solution, but we’ll make sure everyone forgets about this. Like I promised you early today, they’ll get to know the real you”. He gave her a sincere and comforting smile. Although Twilight didn’t feel completely alright yet, she smiled back at him in thanks. She hadn’t really noticed until now, but Flash had the quality of making her feel well and safe whenever he was around. Like she was around an old friend, someone she could trust. Flash took a notebook and a calculator out of his backpack. “Uh, off-topic, but… I was wondering if you could help me with some of these chemistry exercises. I kind of stink at it…” he chuckled, showing his notes to her. Twilight could tell that he was trying to distract her from thinking about the recent incident, but she felt grateful for it, because that was just what she needed right now. She examined the proceedings in Flash’s notebook, and she couldn’t help but snort. “Flash, this is all wrong!” she exclaimed. Flash felt relieved when he saw her distracted and smiling more naturally. “I told you, Chemistry class and I have… no chemistry!” Twilight snickered and rolled her eyes. “Pun intended?” Flash laughed a little. “Not really, no”. “You are in serious need of a tutor.” Twilight said, rising an eyebrow. From inside her backpack, Spike handed her a pen and she took out a periodic table. “Why don’t we start with disodium sulphide?” “Whatever you say, teacher” Flash teased, leaning close to Twilight, who chuckled a little at this. She handed him the periodic table and began explaining. “Okay, first of all, how do we form this formula?” Twilight and Flash’s friends, still inside the fake bushes, watched the scene in surprise and disbelief. “Well, I did not take this outcome in consideration…” said Micro Chips, typing into his calculator, readjusting his previous calculations. “She opened up to him… and he even made her smile!” Applejack exclaimed. “That’s more than what any of us accomplished” said Fluttershy. “Radical…” Sandalwood approved, closing his eyes and slowly nodding. “Guess we shouldn’t have doubted Sentry, after all!” Brawly admitted. “Word” Ringo agreed. “Well, he seems to have a very positive effect on her, if you ask me” said Rarity. Sunset smiled at the scene in front of them. “I think they both have a really good influence on each other.”