Twilight had opted to change into a pair of jeans, a t-shirt, and a pair of purple sneakers topped off with a teal hoodie. The nature of her research was still a secret after all and the fewer questions, the better. Not to mention the bitter rivalry between Canterlot High and Crystal Prep. Showing up at the other school in her very obvious burgundy uniform was sure to draw attention that the scientist would rather avoid.
Stashing the duffle bag containing her clothes back in her lab, the teen scientist bid farewell to her canine companion, much to his disappointment, and made her way to the bus stop. As much as she wished she could bring the little dog with her on the trip, Spike was a cute puppy, too cute even, and was bound to draw attention.
Boarding the bus, she mentally went over her plan. She had it all worked out. She left CPA early as she had the last period as a study hall so she could work on her projects. That way she could continue them after school and not have to worry about stopping in the middle of an experiment. It also had the added benefit of completely avoiding the hallways, and the other students, at the end of the day.
Leaving now also provided optimum timing to get to CHS after the majority of the students had left for the day as their schedule let out earlier than Crystal Prep. This would hopefully allow ample time to scout the school and try to locate the elusive source of her mystery energy readings without being caught or questioned by anyone at the school. Just in case though, Twilight had memorized the bus schedule, which ran rather frequently, as well as a map of the area in case a quick escape proved necessary.
Stepping off the bus, Twilight crossed the street in front of Canterlot High. The look of the school struck her. Given everything she had heard about the school from the other Crystal Prep students, she had expected a terrifying dilapidated building populated by thugs and lowlifes. Though she saw no students around to gauge the latter, the school itself appeared to be a well-kept brick building, if the signs of recent repairs around the front entrance were any indication. The school, with its decorative glass windows and numerous horse details, looked more like a castle out of a fairy tale than a public school. Though not as impressive as the glass and crystal modern architectural marvel that Crystal Prep claimed to be, it was a far cry from what had been described to her.
Pulling out the energy scanner from underneath her hoodie, she noted the increase in the reactions of the device. Focusing on the readings, she allowed them to guide her way up the front walk toward the school’s entrance.
***
Sunset was in a bad mood. Not unusual for her these days. If there had been anyone else around, they might have said she’d woken up on the wrong side of the bed. Of course, that would imply she had actually slept in a bed. No, the amber unicorn had fallen asleep once again at the wooden desk in Princess Twilight’s private library, her limbs contorted as per usual with a moderately sized puddle of drool soaking into her notes below her.
She had forgotten how depressing being alone all the time really was. When she had been the old her, bent on manipulating people to rule the school, it was easier to get distracted by her plans. Even being in Canterlot this past year catching up on her studies had provided enough of a distraction to keep herself out of her own head. Being here, now though, in the same room as the infernal mirror that started it all, Sunset couldn’t help but have her mind wander back to what she’d lost on the other side of the portal. Not able or willing to go to sleep, as a result, Sunset had completed a few more tests, all failures, in the hopes that she could lose herself in the work. It had worked to a degree until she finally collapsed on top of her latest results.
Sunset was now resetting her latest test as the drool-covered notes were illegible, not that they had been all that thorough to begin with considering how sleep-deprived her mind was at that point. Grumbling and stomping around the lab, Sunset reset the experiment with little care or proper lab decorum as she was tired, grumpy, and a bit in pain as her unusual sleeping position had left a crick in her neck. All in all, it was shaping up to be a bad day.
Unfortunately, due to her frustrated stomping, she was unable to hear the doors to the castle opening. First to admit an unwelcome pink unicorn as she made her way quietly to the throne room, and then once again as Twilight and Spike returned not long after from their trip.
Sunset’s first indication that her bad day was about to get worse occurred as she completed the setup to rerun her previous night’s experiment. She reinserted the blackened journal that bore the cutie mark of Princess Celestia into the apparatus surrounding the mirror and returned to activate the other spells for the experiment when she began to feel a magic resonance begin to build in the castle. Turning back to the mirror, Sunset saw the portal begin to glow and spark.
No, no, no. This should not be happening, the flustered unicorn mentally screamed as her horn lit in a pale ruby glow. Running every magical scan she had learned and a few that she cobbled together in the moment, Sunset blanched as the results streamed into her mind. A massive amount of thaumic energy had activated in the castle and it was reacting with the mirror. No not just reacting. The power had somehow managed to jump-start the mirror to such a degree that it was not just functional, it was supercharged and actively trying to pull things into itself.
Casting a few spells on herself including an adhesion spell and a gravity manipulation spell to try and slow the effects the pull was having as it began to pull in everything in the room. Sunset tried to determine what had caused the portal to react. She could tell from her scans that the massive magical spike she sensed had come from the throne room. Then she registered a familiar magical presence in the middle of the magical maelstrom: Twilight.
Sunset tried to make her way toward the door, fighting against the pull of the mirror. If someone was using that much magic, then that could only mean there was trouble, possibly of the apocalyptic variety, and with Twilight in trouble, somepony else would have to step up and try to save the day.
Unfortunately, it was not looking like that pony would be her. As much as she tried to inch away from the portal, any time she decreased the force of her spells to move forward, the pull of the mirror would suck her back twice as much. Try as she might, she also couldn’t find a way to stop the mirror. The journal would not come off of its stand, and all of the apparatus seemed to be emanating a magical aura that protected it from her attempts to damage it. Even the direct damage attacks she hurled at it in frustration seemed only to be pulled through the portal and be seemingly absorbed. As she was pulled closer and closer to the mirror portal, Sunset could feel the magic of the spells she had cast on herself be pulled away, and she slid nearer to the portal.
Then just as Sunset feared she would be pulled into the unstable portal, the energy spike that had caused the device to react so wildly suddenly dissipated and all traces of the magic returned to normal levels.
Breathing a sigh of relief, the amber unicorn righted herself. The roar of the magical backlash gone, Sunset was able to make out the voices of Spike and Twilight in the throne room where the magic had been centered. With them apparently safe, Sunset opted to cautiously approach the mirror. Starting another diagnostic spell, Sunset began to take readings knowing they would want to know what happened and Twilight preferred actual data to just a simple recounting.
As she received the results of her scan, it appeared that the portal had returned once again to its inert state. Just as dormant as it had been. Part of Sunset, she was surprised to find, was actually saddened by that bit of information. She didn’t know if she’d ever actually want to go back to the human world after everything that had happened, but part of her would have liked that to be her choice and not their's.
Sighing, Sunset started to turn to check in with the princess of friendship, when she felt it again. Though she knew what it was and what would happen as a result, there was simply no time. Not that casting a spell this close to the portal would likely have done her any good.
With a yelp, the amber unicorn was pulled into the portal. As she tore through the rainbow vortex, Sunset barely had time to note the lack of swirling she recalled from her previous trips between worlds. It was as if some force were pulling her along causing Sunset to realize just how fast she was traveling and what that would mean when she was hurled out the other side. Unable to do anything to slow her momentum, the amber unicorn could only scream as the edge of the polychromatic reality approached, and Sunset’s vision inexplicably shifted from a rainbow blur to a wall of purple and teal. A wall that she struck at an uncomfortable speed followed by striking the ground and everything going black.
***
Twilight gaped at the information her spectrometer was reporting back to her as it directed her to the large, stone statue of a rearing horse in front of Canterlot High School. While the readings she’d seen for the previous appearances of the mysterious energy’s signature had been far higher, they had all faded soon after. As a result, Twilight had not managed to discover the source. Now though, as she stared at the device in her hand, it showed the plinth as the source of a continuous, if minimal, amount of the energy that had baffled Twilight for months.
While she was thrilled to have a new lead, this new information, only left Twilight with a new host of questions to be answered. A block of stone, as it appeared to be, should not be emitting any energy whatsoever, let alone an, until now, undiscovered one.
Cautiously, Twilight raised her hand to run it over the mirrored surface of the statue’s base. As she did, the surface seemed to shimmer and swirl like a pool of water under her touch. Twilight quickly jerked her hand away as the pendant she wore began to react more intensely. Turning her attention back to the device, she took note of the readings as they filtered in. The statue’s output of the mystery energy had increased exponentially causing the device to emit a high-pitched whine as the readings seemed to spike to levels similar to those Twilight had recorded months earlier. This sudden surge triggered the device’s secondary function; to attempt to collect a sample of the mystery energy.
Twilight watched as the pendant seemed to be pulled closer to the plinth, almost like magnetism, lifting the device closer as the energy seemed to pool on the surface of the stone. Where she had placed her hand only moments before now seemed to glow lightly taking on alternating red and gold hues. The energy, defying any laws of physics, was drawn through the air towards Twilight’s still hovering device.
Twilight was rendered immobile at the sight of the laws of nature being casually broken in front of her, though her scientific curiosity won out and she was able to take note of the energy readings as the energy began to pulse faster becoming a whirl of red and gold. Despite siphoning energy off of the statue’s base, the readings did not show the energy levels dropping. Instead, they were increasing, pulling more and more power from the unknown source.
And just as it had started, without warning, the energy stopped. Her pendant falling lifelessly back against her chest. Rubbing her neck from where the cord had pulled, Twilight panted heavily. What was that? the teen scientist pondered, What kind of energy can produce that sort of reaction? Lifting the device, Twilight noted that she had collected a sizable amount of energy.
Before she had time to start planning what experiments to run on the newly collected energy, the device rose back into the air with such force she was pulled toward the statue’s base. As she watched the energy readings climb, her pendant emitted a keening wail, causing Twilight to cover her ears and thank whatever higher power had ensured that she left Spike at home for this trip. As the power spiked to a level she’d only recorded two other times, Twilight thought she registered a scream over the din, but she couldn’t be sure whether or not it came from her mouth as her mind was quickly flooded with a blur of red and gold before pain and darkness took her.