unintentionally.
Luckily, the musty collection of rooms was deserted at this hour - lessons had just begun, after all, and, while it was still a public high school, the principals had enough sense not to subject anyone to Haycartes at this hour. And considering that Twilight knew all too well about Rarity’s little secret, having photographic proof of it too, there was no doubt in the fashionista’s mind that the self-proclaimed scientist was about to drill her worse than a Vietnam-era boot camp.
"Okay, Rarity, I'm not gonna take away too much of your time, or at least I hope I don't," Twilight replied as she took a seat at a desk and pulled a notepad and a pen from her bag, "I mean, we’re technically missing math class after all. But people just don't suddenly gain an evil twin overnight. An intense sensation of negative emotions and a load of magic is required in order for them to come into existence-"
"Spirit," Rarity interrupted, lounging on a nearby couch and struggling to stay calm.
Twilight paused. Her scribbling stopped. "Uh, come again?"
"Calling what you saw an ‘evil twin’ isn't exactly accurate, darling, especially considering how radically different she looks from yours truly," Rarity explained, steepling her fingers, “Calling dear Nightmarity a ‘spirit’ would be more appropriate."
"She?" Twilight wrote on her notepad. "So, it's a female, like biologically. Wait, it has biology? That would imply its corporeal and then..." for a while she babbled.
Eventually, Rarity rose, sashayed over to her and chimed in, "No, darling, It's a guy that just so happens to look like a girl, like in those droll animes Sunny Flare watches," the seamstress rolled her eyes, "Look, could we skip the foolish questions and speculation and head straight to the meat of the matter? Unlike you, I probably should study for the upcoming exams. Trigonometry is quite the beast."
"You're surprisingly eager to get this over with."
"Classes have already started, Twilight, and both your and my perfect attendance records are in danger. That and this place simply reeks of… dust."
Flinching, Twilight wrote that down too and hastily asked, "Okay, so, just one question then; how did that spirit come into existence? What caused this."
Rarity took a deep breath, collected herself, and then explained, "One day, during an ordinary evening at the Boutique, we received an... unexpected costumer. My boss-"
Twilight choked. "Wait, don't you own the place?"
"Come on, Twilight, I'm sixteen! And besides, nobody owns anything anymore. We rent, as is vogue. Anyway, my boss had me take care of the customer, so I did. I had to use all the patience in the world simply to take her measurements, since she just wouldn't shut up about how her life had gone to shambles and howmagic was responsible for everything."
The girl raised an indigo eyebrow, but she kept quiet as Rarity continued her story.
"Eventually, my frustration got so great with that dreadful hag, pardon my French, that it took living form and created the spirit you saw in the picture you… somehow have. The spirit lashed out at her, and when she recognized it was made of magic, she fled" Rarity lowered her head. "It took a lot of explaining what happened before my employers decided to rehire me. But while I was looking for work, I kept talking with the spirit... and eventually... I couldn't help but-"
"Rarity, wait, before you keep going," Twilight adjusted her glasses. "You say you got a customer, a woman, who knew about magic, hated it, and recognized a being made of magic... Could this person be-"
"Principal Cinch? Or, as Hoity called her, Ex-Principal Cinch?" Rarity hid her giggling with a manicured hand. "Yeah, it's her."
The bell chose that moment to clang Twilight’s pen clean out of her shaking hands.
"Well, guess our perfect attendance records are in shambles," Rarity declared as she extended a hand forward. "Wanna dash and see if we can make it before the teacher notices? Or at least write up a proper excuse."
Twilight just stood there, completely paralyzed in disbelief. "Huh?"
Due to the principals’ excessive gullibility, one white lie later and Rarity as well as a rather put off Twilight were both free. While the former claimed some excuse about a broken keytar and some unwelcome suitors, Twilight had gathered with the rest of her friends and told them what she herself had been told. Needless to say, while their reactions were varied, confusion was the tone they all shared. Pinkie nearly choked on her cupcake and passed out.
"Ah'm sorry, what?"
"Ex-Principal Cinch! Hahaha!"
"Poor Rarity."
"Cinch had it coming, let's be honest."
Ak, awk, cough cough.”
"So, if I'm getting this right," Sunset spoke, getting everyone's attention and slapping the rainbow-frosted confection out of her friend’s lungs. "Cinch got fired, went to Canterlot Boutique to vent slash change her outfit for the first time this millenium, and Rarity failed to contain her anger, which gave birth to that evil twin of hers?"
"She insisted it was more of a spirit than a twin," Twilight said, picking at her food. "But yeah, everything else is right. So, what do you think?"
"Well, it's quite obvious the other person isn't Rarity's twin!" Pinkie Pie stated, pointing at the picture Twilight snapped. "I mean, they don't look remotely alike! Like, they’re as different as black and white. As different as me and… uh, Maud. Yeah, her."
"No, Pinkie, we’re talking about the existence of the spirit!" Twilight clarified. "If my calculations are correct, then this might be a similar entity to... Midnight Sparkle."
The group gasped. Applejack even took off her hat.
"Are you sure about that, Twilight?" Sunset frowned, scratching her head. "That's a pretty serious thing to say."
"Made of magic, created from negative emotion, Cinch technically responsible, everything checks out!" Twilight stated.
"Actually, one thing doesn't fit in," Rainbow Dash remarked. "Midnight Sparkle was made when you got corrupted by wild magic, wasn't she?"
"Yeah, and the concentration of magic was made of all our magic combined, and then some!" Fluttershy spoke. "Rarity would need to have absorbed all our magic before the incident in order to create... what's her name again?"
"I didn't manage to get her name; just as Rarity brought up the more important details, the bell rang," Twilight sighed. "And I have the feeling if I try to ask her again, she's not gonna tell me anything. She pretty much disappeared once lunch started."
"Maybe we all could ask 'er?" Applejack suggested.
"And risk bothering her enough to make this worse?" Twilight shook her head. "I'm sorry, but it's too risky; as far as we know, this is an unforeseen chain of events, and we need to be careful lest something else happen?"
Pinkie Pie tilted her head. "Like what? Oh! Like two spirits?"
Twilight sank her head and took a deep breath. She eyed each of her friends, and once she had gathered enough courage, she revealed what was concerning her the most.
"Like Midnight Sparkle coming back."
The group gasped once again, and like last time, Sunset was the first to speak up, "How could that be possible? Midnight Sparkle was your corrupted self; by conquering your fear of magic, you conquered Midnight Sparkle! She's no longer around!"
"By that logic, Rarity's comparatively small pool of magic shouldn't be able to create an evil spirit after a single intense negative emotion, and yet here we are."
Twilight's friends had no counterargument. Pinkie’s hair lost its poof. Fluttershy flinched. Rainbow groaned and Applejack downed what she insisted was non-alcoholic cider. Sunset rested her chin in one hand and tattooed the aluminum table with the other.
"Look, we've all faced magic before,” elaborated Twilight, “And we know that when it gets involved, everything is possible. So, until we get more information, we should approach this with the utmost caution."
Just then, the bell sounded, and the girls hastily finished their lunch before heading for class.
"Twilight, wait!" Sunset exclaimed, hurrying after her to an advanced class she herself had forgotten to apply for. "I'll come with you!"
The bespectacled girl turned around, and raised an eyebrow.
"We have our next class together, I think, well I sit in on it anyway, but besides that, I got an idea," Sunset smiled and raised a finger. "Once school's over and everybody's heading home, we could ask Rarity what's going on together!"
"Isn't that a greatly toned down variation of Applejack's suggestion?"
"Yeah, but listen: we're the only ones of her friends who knows what it feels like to create an evil living spirit of magic. If somebody can help her, It's us! Empathy!" she clicked her fingers at finally getting to bring up her element.
Twilight looked skeptical for a moment, but a little thinking made it clear this was her best chance to get answers. That, and Sunset's puppy dog eyes compelled her.
"Alright, let's do that. But please, be careful."
Rarity had a yawning pit in her guts as she strode towards the school's entrance. She didn't know why, but she had a feeling she was being stalked. Either that, or somebody was about to get in her way-oh hey, Sunset and Twilight were there!
"Hello there, Rarity!" Sunset greeted with a poisonous amount of cheer. "Fancy seeing you here! At school! That place we attend daily!"
"Darling, I'm heading back home. I’m feeling awfully foul and I’m waiting for a taxi. Now isn’t really the perfect time." Rarity sighed. "What in Chanel’s name is so important that you decided to bother me out here instead of waiting or, I don’t know, texting me?"
"Right, I guess that would be the less weird option, wouldn't it?" Twilight smiled sheepishly. "Sorry."
"It's okay, I am all too familiar with you two and your numerous problems with normal human social interaction," Rarity waved her hands and smiled. "Now, I'm kind of in a hurry and kind of not trying to have a fit, so if you’ve got something to ask, darlings, do be quick."
"Don't worry, we'll be very quick," Sunset promised, leaning against the portal statue with her arms crossed and almost falling into it, "Now. What can you tell us about the evil spirit that appeared in Canterlot Boutique?"
Rarity's smile slowly turned into an angry frown, and she spun to Twilight, conjuring a panel of magic diamond in the rough shape of a sword some yards away. It flicked like an adder’s fangs. "You told them didn't you? I trusted you, darling!"
"This is a very concerning topic, Rarity, who knows how our friends would've reacted if I didn't tell them when I could," Twilight replied, tapping her glasses. "And remember, the only thing we want to do is help you, so if you could give us more information-"
Rarity threw a hand over Twilight's mouth, and took a deep, heavy breath before releasing her and stating bluntly, "I believe this conversation is over. Please, go on and talk to yourself. Speculate. I’ve had enough."
With that, she brought the reflective panel close enough to mirror their stunned expressions and walked away. Seconds later, Sunset sprinted up to her and grabbed her arm.
"Rarity, please! If something's going on and you need help, you need to tell us!"
"I have nothing to say to you, Sunset."
"Not even a little hint or clue?" Twilight added. "Something that could help us understand this better? We’re trying to help"
"No hint, no clue, no nothing! May I leave now!?"
Sunset kept her grip firm, even when Rarity shot quite the glare at her and summoned the wicked sharp diamond closer. She only released her once Rarity smaked her with its blunt face and pushed her away, hissing, "Let me be very clear with you: Don't. Get. Involved!"
A cage of the white crystals burst from the ground between the girls, and no matter what Twilight and Sunset did, the wall wouldn't budge.
Seeing this was her chance, Rarity took a couple steps back before bolting out of the premises, at which point the walls vanished to dust.
"Rarity had never done that before," Sunset said, rubbing her head. "Not like that, anyway."
IInstinctively, Twilight whipped a gadget from a pocket and used it to analyze the crystals before they vanished, because of course she had a gadget for that. She’d bought it online.
"I can confirm it," she said. "Compared to her usual magic output, this was notably twice as strong than usual. Sharper too."
Sunset frowned, running a shorn lock of bacony hair through her fingers. "Found that out the hard way. Anyhow, do you think it has something to do with the spirit?"
"I'd say we shouldn't get ahead of ourselves, but..." Twilight took a deep breath. "Well, you know the rule."
The unicorn nodded. "When magic's involved, everything's possible."
Twilight nodded back, and as she looked at the exit, she couldn't help but feel that there was so much more than met her eyes.
But most importantly, she was worried about what role, if any, Midnight Sparkle had in this...