Principal Luna was busily typing away at her keyboard, filing some reports, trying to get anything done she could until the weather cleared up. Principal Cinch took this time to wander around the school to get re-acquainted again (since she didn't really get the chance to last time) and Vice-Principal Celestia was doing her own work as well. But as Principal Luna finished filing away her notes, she opened up a file on her computer, turning on the security cameras to her monitor.
She flipped through several cameras, making sure everything was still normal as it should have been. But as she looked, she stopped. On one of the cams was Octavia, yelling at someone. But who was it? Zooming in, she got a quick closeup at the girl she was ranting and raving at.
"Wait a minute... that's Twilight Sparkle. But why is Octavia yelling at her?"
Within a few seconds, she dropped dead silent. The two girls were fighting over the pendent until it burst open and began to absorb the magic from Octavia's body. The Crystal Prep girl was seen clearly in full panic, trying to stop the device from anymore, but then, something else happened. As if fading into the winds, Octavia's body slowly began to disintegrate and turn to dust as she was absorbed into the pendent. And then, it ended. A panicked and terrified Twilight Sparkle was left on the cameras, showing clear remorse and regret for her actions just before she ran.
"Oh my gosh..."
In any scenario involving a student suddenly vanishing, she would have stepped in right away. But the activity she saw was more of a magic-based problem, something completely out of her jurisdiction. So, who else to talk to but to Trixie and her friends. She just had to find them first.
Principal Luna opened up the first door she came across, and a burst of music exploded in her face as it finally escaped. And like fighting a blizzard, she tried hard to shut the door, not wanting any more of it to leak into the halls.
I really need to talk to these students about how loud they can adjust their music.
And so she checked another door--
I'm invisible! Invisible!
I try to so hard to resist!
Invisible! Invisible!
Sometimes I wish I don't exist...
--And immediately slammed the door on that room, her face just wide with disturbance and equal fear. That student didn't sound quite okay, she might need to have a talk with her later. The next room she checked was the home ec room, and the first thing she received was an explosion of confetti blasted in her face, almost flooding the entire hallway.
"Oops! Sorry!" Pinkie called from the room.
"So that's why you told me not to touch the party bomb," Lemon answered.
Principal Luna sighed as she wiped the confetti off of her. "Pinkie Pie, could you please get a dustpan and brush and clean this up?"
"Yes Principal Luna!" She chirped.
"Thank you," Principal Luna replied, flicking a few pieces out of her hair. "Now before the explosion, I was going to ask if any of you had seen Trixie or her friends."
"Oh, I saw them run down the hall a few minutes ago. I think Trixie was chased by an angry mob... but then again, I don't think it was really there," Rainbow replied, unsure.
"Okay. Thank you," Principal Luna said, struggling to understand. She put her focus back onto finding the girls. And as luck would have it, they were just around the corner... fighting? A strange man in black clothes, taller than Amethyst herself was engaged in a sword duel, in the poorly lit hallway. She could still clearly see them, thanks to the laser swords that they were both holding. And off to the sides were Vinyl and Trixie, giggling at the scene before them.
"My teacher's gonna--I'm gonna tell my teacher about you!" Amethyst shouted.
"I am your teacher!"
"Nooooo!"
And Amethyst threw another swing with the sword, creating another clash of sparks and bolts. The two battled hard, and even Principal Luna had to admit; there was some joy in seeing her returned student doing something silly and fun. But the fun quickly ended the minute the retro-loving girl spun around and caught the principal.
"Dah, oh, hey!" Amethyst said. "Uh... how much of that did you hear?"
"Oh, Principal Luna, hey!" Trixie squeaked. "Um, hi... uh... we were... just... um... I swear we weren't doing anything wrong!"
"Girls, I wish to speak to you three alone, in my office. Now."
Trixie nervously tapped her legs against the floor. Getting called down to the principal's office was never a good sign
"Um... are we in trouble?" Trixie asked, twiddling her fingers.
"No, girls. You're not in trouble. But I believe something rather disturbing is happening you might need to be wary of," Principal Luna said.
"What? What happened? Are the Dazzlings back and under mind control?" Trixie gasped.
"Did Sunset escape from jail for revenge?" Vinyl gulped.
"Did someone raid the vending machine for the imported Bon Mot Praline Peanut Butter Crunch Bars again?" Amethyst asked. All her question received was awkward glances from the rest of the people in the room. "What? It happens... more often than you realize."
"... Anyways. A few moments ago, I was surveying the security footage from yesterday when I found something I think you three need to see."
She flipped the computer monitor around to show them the security from the day before.
The three girls zoomed in to take a closer look. Their eyes widened and they gasped when they saw her following her little hand-held device to the statue just before it absorbed all of the magic from the portal with a big blast. The footage ended with her looking around, trying to make sure she wasn't followed or seen before running away.
"Oh my goodness... who was that?" Trixie asked.
"I believe I know who. Her name is Twilight Sparkle, you know, one of the competitors for the Crystal Prep team?"
"Y-Yeah, a bit," Vinyl nodded.
"She... she did that?" Amethyst pointed. "She took out all of that... by herself!? How did she do that!?"
"I'm afraid I don't know," Principal Luna shook her head. "And, I don't wish to distress you girls, but there is a chance that one of your friends has gone... missing."
Trixie swore she heard glass shatter. "Could you uh... excuse me for a moment?" She stepped out of the room, and let the door shut behind her. No one heard her, as their next assumption was she was going to scream at the top of her lungs in panic.
"Is she okay?"
"Hold on," Amethyst held a hand up.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Trixie's scream was so loud it sent soft tremors into Principal Luna's office and it shattered the glass in the front door, leading to her office. Books and other items fell off of shelves, hung picture frames fell off their hooks, breaking on the floor! The door slowly creaked open like the person on the other end was walking right into a haunted house. And on the other side was an embarrassed Trixie looking very full of shame.
"Um... s-sorry I broke your window," Trixie twiddled her thumbs. "If you'll excuse me again, I... I think I need some peanut butter crackers."
And with a walk of shame, she stepped away from Principal Luna's office, leaving her two friends and the school's principal staring in awkward silence.
"Well," Vinyl broke the silence. "Principal Luna, I don't know where this Twilight Sparkle is, but I do know this. If we just talk to her, I'm sure we can get her to undo what she's done. We'll just talk to her."
"We're not gonna kick her butt?"
"Amy!"
"What, I'm just saying!" She put her hands innocently. "Someone steals Equestrian Magic from the statue and we're not gonna stop her?"
Vinyl rolled her eyes as she walked towards the door. "Look, we will. But we're not using violence."
"Aww... so no rainbow smoke bomb?" Amy whined as she followed her.
"No!" Vinyl shouted.
"But Vinyl... she took the magic..." she continued whine, and the talk was dragged into the hallway where Principal Luna could still hear them. And all the while she just sat idly and listened while sipping coffee.
"I don't care!"
"No, that's not fair!"
Luna just chuckled at the conversation. She could swear Vinyl would make a good parent when she grew up.
"Ohhhhh..." Trixie moaned as she paced back and forth. "This is bad, this is bad, this is really really bad..."
Vinyl and Amethyst sat on the steps as a panicked Trixie continued pacing.
"Trixie, look, stay calm--"
"--Don't talk to me about staying calm, Vinyl!" Trixie barked. She sighed, realizing how loud she was being. "I'm sorry, I'm just really scared. I mean, are they dead? Did she kill them!? What if they're gone and we can't get them back, I don't want to lose them now! Not when the Dazzlings are gone, I can't handle this!"
"Trixie!" Amethyst shouted. She gripped Trixie's shoulders. "Get a grip on yourself!"
Trixie gulped and nodded quickly, afraid that Amethyst was going to do something else, maybe even slap her.
"Look. I don't know what happened to them. I hope they're not dead as well, but we can't jump to that conclusion right now. All we know is that Twilight zapped them. For all we know they're probably just stuck in a void somewhere and won't get out unless we stop this girl. Lets just try to keep that hope, okay?"
Trixie nodded. "O-Okay..." The girl took a deep breath, inhaling and exhaling a few times. She remembered going to see a psychiatrist and using this trick to help her whenever she was in high stress. "Alright, lets think about this."
She snapped her fingers and an illusion of a holographic like grid appeared before the three friends.
"So this is Twilight," showing a shadowy image of Twilight Sparkle, "this is us," six images of the girls flashed on the grid, "and here's the portal."
With every statement that followed, she created the illusion, or at least, cartoony versions of what they knew on the grid board.
"So this girl took the magic from the Wondercolt statue. The very next day, each of our friends start to go missing. First Lyra, then Bon Bon, and now Octavia. This is no coincidence."
"Which means it's only a matter of time before she gets us," Vinyl concluded.
"Girls, you're forgetting something," Amethyst pointed out.
"What?"
"Illusion..." She pointed to Trixie. "Sound." She pointed to herself. "Electricity." She finished off with Vinyl. "We still have powers... meaning maybe... maybe we could stop her before she does anything else."
"If you're suggesting we beat her--"
"Whoa, whoa! No! I'm not saying we should do that, that's a terrible idea!" Amethyst said. "... We'd have to clean up the body first!"
"Amethyst that's not even a little bit funny!" Vinyl snapped.
"Humor is my coping mechanism!" Amethyst whined.
"Ladies!" A new voice shouted.
The two girls jutted their heads into the direction of the voice, finding Adagio Dazzle holding two Tommyguns in her arms with a mad grin on her face.
"If you two are done with your bickering, we need to find a way to put an end to her stealing the magic!!!"
And like a madwoman, she shot them wildly into the ceiling before dashing through the door, quite literally, phasing through it without opening it. The resulting reaction left Vinyl and Amethyst staring at Trixie with faces that screamed 'what was running through your head?'
"I have a weird brain sometimes," Trixie blushed.
But just then, they heard a knock on the door.
"Who's there?"
"Hey, uh, it's Rainbow Dash. Alright if I can come in?"
"Depends," Amethyst shouted.
"Just come in, Rainbow," Vinyl replied.
"Uh, hey guys," Rainbow said, stepping inside. "Oh, this is Indigo Zap, she's my new friend."
"Oh, nice to meet you," Trixie smiled, shaking her hand.
"Nice to meet ya, mistress of magic," Indigo winked.
"Oh, and these are my friends, Vinyl and Amethyst."
"Hey."
"Wazzup?"
Indigo nodded with a smile. "Nice to meet you two. Nice mullet head." Amethyst giggled. "So I guess correctly, you're the gal who was swinging the keytar on Monday?"
"Yep, that's me!"
Indigo chuckled. "I think Lemon Zest would get along with you very well. She was squeeing like a fan girl over your hairstyle, I swear."
"So what's up?" Vinyl asked.
"What... oh! Right! Did Octavia swing by here a few minutes ago?"
"No. Why?" Trixie asked.
"Well she barged into the home ec room looking like she was ready to kick someone's butt," Rainbow explained.
"And judging by how she acted when she learned about Twilight, I have a bad feeling she either already has done something, or is about to," Indigo added.
"What do you mean?"
"She acted like she had some personal vendetta against Twilight, and I don't know if there's something I'm missing here or--"
"Wait a minute," Trixie interrupted. The two athletes came quiet, allowing the magician to speak. "You said Octavia was acting like she had a grudge against Twilight. Did Octavia mention something or a hint of anything as to why she was wanting to find her?"
"She said something about Twilight having done something to her friends, I think? I don't know, she came in and out real quickly," Rainbow admitted.
"But this I do know. For the last few weeks in school, most of us who ran or bumped into her, kept getting some nonsense about magic and how it's 'too dangerous' and all that. I guess seeing that giant monster from a few weeks ago spooked her badly," Indigo shrugged.
"By giant monster you mean--?"
"The three-headed sea looking thing that I swear looks like the Aquadon monster from those old Japanese monster movies," Indigo finished.
Amethyst, Vinyl, and Trixie's faces were completely fearful. Bad enough seeing Octavia getting zapped by that weird device, but now this girl had been keeping close tabs on them for a while now? Oh this was a deeper hole than what they were hoping.
"Girls?" Rainbow asked. "Are you okay?"
"... can you give us a moment alone, please?"
Rainbow and Indigo nodded, backing out of the room and closing it shut. Trixie flipped herself around and nearly squealed in fear. "She's the reason they're missing!?"
"Apparently," Vinyl crossed her arms, deep in thought. "So this girl's been hunting us all down one by one, and now she thinks we're evil because we're the ones holding the magic?"
"More like terrorists," Amethyst spat.
"Ohhh..." Trixie moaned, pulling at her hair. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm starting to miss the days where the only things I had to worry about was the Rainbooms! I don't need this in my life!" She yanked on her hair some more, until she stopped. A light bulb flickered over her head. "Wait... I have an idea," Trixie snapped her fingers.
"What is it?"
"Well, it's a little unorthodox... but what if we find this, Twilight. We show her that our magic and everything we've done so far hasn't been for evil, and never will be?"
Vinyl was undetermined. "I don't know, what makes you think this girl will believe us?"
Trixie scratched her chin until a slowly building smile grew on her face. "I have an idea... All we have to do is show her, right? So why not put on an actual show?"
"... I'm not sure I'm liking where you're going with this," Amethyst agreed.
"Girls, look. I can make illusions, right? So what if I created an illusion of a new monster, or threat... but we act as if it's really there, and fight it? If Twilight is there to witness, we could go into this situation being superheroes, 'saving' her from the threat, and showing everything is not so bad after all!"
"... or we could just, you know, talk to her? You know, handle this rationally, like mature adults?"
Trixie blinked. "That works too. But you know, if we do talk to her, we're going to need to be careful, one wrong slip and..."
"We know," Amethyst nodded. "But I know we can save our friends."
"Then ladies," Trixie stood up, creating a soft illusion of a performance outfit around her body with a wizard hat. "Lets show Twilight Sparkle we're not here for evil. And just for the heck of it..."
She pointed two fingers at Vinyl and Amethyst, and illusions of new outfits swarmed over their bodies. Amethyst was back in her over the top 80s garb, and Vinyl had her classy penguin suit back again.
"Classing things up are we?" Vinyl smirked with duck lips.
Trixie giggled. "Come on, lets go talk to her."
The three girls left the practice room and went down the hallway. Now it was time to find Twilight Sparkle...
What they failed to see though was that the Rainbooms and their Shadowbolt friends were on the sidelines, waiting for them to come out, or at least, trying to listen in. But they heard enough to understand what they were doing. At least, some of the Rainbooms did...
"Okay, so they're going to go have a chat with Twilight. I'm thinkin' maybe we should tag along just so.. we... um. Sugarcoat?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"... are you even paying attention?"
"I am, I'm just checking on the local news, I want to see if this bad weather will clear up," Sugarcoat said, not paying attention to them and swiping tabs on her phone.
"Anyways... any idea what that was all about?" Applejack asked.
"I don't know, but I think whatever it is is probably not going to be good," Pinkie said, watching them leave.
"Anyone else think maybe we should, you know, keep a close eye on them? Just for safety, of course. Bigger in numbers, provided that the Dazzlings will finally show up," Rarity inquired.
"Fine by me, lets go!"
And so the Rainbooms quickly dashed away, running after the girls. They may not have earned their trust yet, but if Twilight knew anything or was capable of anything involving magic, they would at least need to step in. They were the only ones who had any encounter with it outside of the Dazzlings friends of course.
"So should we follow 'em?" Lemon Zest asked.
"Maybe?" Sour asked. "Or we could just sit on our butts and not worry about a thing!"
"Hang on, I just want to check out this news report real quickly," Sugarcoat said, still glued to her phone.
"And here we are with breaking news here on Canterlot News Today, apparently a private jet has been reported to have gone missing after taking off from California airport a few days ago..."