The Demon of Canterlot City

by Amadeus cancer


Magical practices

"Eveything is hard before it is easy."
-Johann Wolfgang Van Goeth
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Cluck, Cluck! Cluck, Cluck! Clu-

In one swift motion, a hand rose out of the fort of blankets and gently placed itself onto the button of the chicken-shaped clock, silencing it immediately. Letting out a loud yawn, the lone occupant of the room pulled her arms outward and stretched from underneath her cocoon of warmth, before grabbing the blankets and yanking them off her body. Swinging her legs to the side and off the comfort of her mattress the occupant, a young female in a full blue onesie, stood up and sighed with happiness before walking over to her shaded window, a thin trail of sun peeking out from the crack.

Grabbing the cloth, she flung the shades aside and opened her window before being immediately greeted with the crisp morning air, coupled with the intoxicating smell of apples. Peering outside, she looked down from her window to see the chicken coup below, with the soft warmth of the sun barely coating half of the small animal house. On the roof of the coup was non other than Rocky, Sweet Apple Acres current rooster, sound asleep as the sun had not reached far enough to stir him.

She chuckled lightheartedly before bringing her fingers to her mouth and whistling loudly, the sound startling the chicken awake while blinking his cute beady eyes in confusion. After a split few seconds, the rooster seemed to regain his train of thought before letting out an equally, if not louder call, which echoed off the house and around the rest of the farmland, awakening almost every other resident in the vicinity.

Nodding in approval, the teen moved away from the window and towards her dresser, ready to change from her sleep attire. Shuffling in the clothes, she picked out her chosen outfit and quickly began dressing herself.

Today was going to be more work hardy than usual, so she’d decided on a pair of working jeans and a regular t-shirt with an apple insignia on the front. Almost finished wiggling the shirt on, a loud knock echoed through her room, slightly startling her as a voice spoke from the other side of the bedroom door.

“You up an at ‘em missy!? You better not be snoozin’ ya hear, it may be a weekend but that don’t excuse you from yer chores!” The sound of her expectant grandmother called out as she continued rapping on the wooden door frame.

She silently sighed at her elder relative’s impatience, before cupping her mouth and calling out from over her shoulder.

“Don’t you worry none Granny, ah’m almost done! Just a few more minutes!”

Fitting on her boots Applejack fiddled her sun blonde hair into a neat bun before walking over to her closet and fishing out the broom in the corner, a smile on her lips. First things first.

___

“Granny Smith, why does Applejack get to go to Everfree while ah’m stuck here at the house all morning on a Saturday?!”

Applebloom huffed and crossed her arms, semi glaring at her older sister from across the table who was focused more on her breakfast omelet then answering. To the right of the young girl sat an elderly woman who simply tutted at her granddaughter’s question, giving her a look.

“Perhaps it’s because Applejack here spent the whole of yesterday cleaning up that there mess you made in the kitchen while you were fiddling around with your friends at the mall.”

Hearing this, the youngest of the Apple family residents groaned before placing a hand on her cheek and poking her own food. Applejack scanned her eyes upward at her downcast sister, almost half a mind to give her own two cents about the absolute chaos the young Bloom had caused in their otherwise pristine kitchen but decided against it. Instead, she moved her head to glance at the clock hanging above their fridge. 8:15. Good, that gave her enough time to add a few more chapters in her book.

Over the past couple months, the farm girl had gotten a sudden passion for literature writing, her source of inspiration being that Little House on the Prairie series Twilight had requested. Reading about the life of young Laura Wilder encouraged the apple picker to start her own story on how her experience had progressed from a normal farm life to a downright spiral of crazy ups and downs in the snap of a finger. Of course, that didn’t stop the likes of RD to playfully tease at her every chance she got, often calling her “egg-head apples.”

Scarfing down the rest of her eggs, Applejack hopped up from her seat and shuffled towards the sink, turning on the water and scrubbing the caked gunk off before shoving it into the dishwasher. Once she was finished, AJ scurried passed her dining family while giving them a smile.

“Thanks for breakfast Big Mac!”

Her older brother, a young man in a red farmer’s jacket, gave his sister a thumbs up before going back to his own breakfast. Granny and Applebloom watched as the middle daughter ran back up the stairs, one wearing an expression of confusion while another one of proudness.

“I wonder how Applejack’s doing on her story.” Applebloom wondered aloud. Granny Smith gave a lighthearted laugh.

“Oh, Ah’m sure she’s doing just fine deary. Ah know ah for one ah’m as excited as a horse in a hayfield to see what she’s written.”

Seeing that her sister was out of sight, the youngest sibling finally turned to the other relatives, finally speak the question that had been on her mind for a while.

“Do you think she’s gonna write about all the weird magical stuff that’s been going on with her friends?”

This time she heard Big Mac let out his own laugh, who set down his fork and brought his glass of apple juice up to his lips.

“Eyep.” He chuckled.

__

Applejack closed her door gently before walking over to her desk, which housed her rather large computer and keyboard, and pressed the button to turn it on. Hearing the soft thrum of the machine’s circuitry come to life, she cracked her knuckles as the blue screen lit up and gave her full view of the desktop where many of her chosen tabs where housed. Immediately clicking the “notebook” tab, AJ watched as it pulled up a screen show casting all of her work made from the year before. She let out a smile before dragging her hands to hover over the top of the keyboard, before she felt her mind suddenly going blank.

There had been a whole slew of things to write about from last year, all the way from her rekindling with her childhood friend Rainbow Dash, to her and Twilight finally getting back at those no-good swindlers the Flim Flam brothers at the Harvesting festival. There was also the Canterlot Annual Sporting Event next week, which meant there’d be plenty of things she could work with.

But for now?

For a while, the start of this specific year had at first been very uneventful, what with them finally being somewhat in tune with their inner Equestrian magic. Although there were the occasional freak incidents, what with the second floor of the Carousel Boutique mysteriously falling back in December as well as Rainbow Dash’s dramatic speed run through town, of which no doubt cost the city tons in electric damages.

At first she’d heavy debated writing about those moments, as she knew those had been far different experiences than their regular adventures. However strangely enough, both the fashionista and the athlete had encouraged AJ to write about the scenarios anyway; something about keeping the readers on their toes and what-not.

All that was left was one specific situation that came to her mind, and this time she really was unsure whether to consider writing about it or not.

You see, to a person like Applejack, writing was a way to clear her mind of thoughts. To rid her conscious of the many memories, experiences, ideas, wishes, and personal thinking that swarmed her mind on a daily basis. Over time, writing about all the crazy/wacko Equestrian magic incidents that’ve happened to her and her friends pretty much felt therapeutic. Because while she indeed had friends who she could talk to and know that they understood, there wasn’t really any other alternative route to venture on.

Her family, while certainly supportive, only knew so much about otherworldly powers, and it wasn’t as if there were any major experts to console. That and coupled with the fact that telling this to a doctor might just end her up in the wrong type of hospital.

In truth, she… tolerated her powers. They certainly had their advantages, as she could now lift a full-sized semi-truck with nothing but her bare hands without breaking a sweat. And lord knows how helpful it’s been around the orchard, why now she could so much as rap on one of her trees with her knuckles and the apples would come flying off their high up stems.

On the other hand however, she had to be very, very aware of herself. It seemed like everything and everyone around her was made of glass. Lockers tore off their hinges if she were so much as startled, and she could see flinching whenever she firmly grasped their hands. Then again, if AJ was being honest, she also sorta had that particular problem even before the geodes. Farming at its finest she supposed.

To make it simple, her powers scared her. To have that much otherworldly strength contained in her fingertips to fight monsters like Gaia Everfree, all the while making sure she didn’t break any of Applebloom’s bones just by a hug alone. Ugh, the very thought haunted her subconscious in her sleep. In all honesty, she often found herself wondering if things would’ve been better to not have powers in the first place.

Luckily, if she could call it that, it seemed as though she wasn’t the only one having a hard time coming to terms with it. Twilight herself constantly kept her hackles raised whenever they used their magic, even for something as harmless as Ponying up. Thankfully, both Applejack and Twilight had the encouragement from their friends to keep them going, although the apple farmer could tell that they too had some inner doubts as well.

And it seemed like Monday was what finally broke the straw on the camel’s back. Because after their little “freak-out” as Sunset called it, any and all mention of magic was kept extremely hush-hush followed by each of the seven girls becoming very cautious with their surroundings. That was until Thursday night, where Sunset had texted that they all meet after class on Friday in the music room, and it was there that both her and Rainbow Dash revealed their plan to the group on having some sort of test on each of their magic.

Although many were skeptical of the idea, Applejack found herself automatically agreeing with the gesture, speaking up to the rest of her friends on how they were barely staying afloat in the metaphorical pond as it was. Being a farm girl of a proud family, she was raised to fix a problem whenever it needed fixin, no matter how tough or nerve wracking the situation. Plus, she had a sneaking suspicion in her very soul that mother and father would’ve been tossing and turning at the mere sight of her seemingly ignoring the problem for over a week. After listening to her two friends declare their idea it gave AJ hope. Maybe this magic practice was the perfect way to start on the road towards betterment, where they soon wouldn’t have to constantly fear about not being strong to face beings from other worlds or their own powers themselves.

It could just be considered a pipe dream, but for Applejack it was worth it.

And that’s when they all collectively agreed to have it on Saturday, today, at 10 o’clock all the way at Camp Everfree. That way there would be an open space for plenty of movement so no building, cars, and worst of all, pedestrians. After a quick call to Gloriosa Daisy, the camp Director, it was made official, and each girl was welcome to bring a set of their own things to test themselves out.

As for Applejack, she agreed to bring a box of her home tools for Twilight to juggle with, a couple of heavy weightlifters from Big Macintosh, as well as some home-made cider for their break time. She just hoped that was enough for the day.

However, even after all that was said and done, there was still a deep pit in her stomach filled to the brim with nauseating doubt. They were all nearly killed during that car ride to the hospital, what could possibly help them control something capable of causing such a disastrous mess?

Ping!

The noise caught AJ slightly off guard, who quickly retracted her arms from her keyboard and looked to her phone, which sat beside her computer, as its screen lit up. Recognizing the name, Applejack opened the phone to her messages and read the incoming text from Rarity.

“Don’t forget to pack only the essentials dear!”

She playfully rolled her eyes at the comment. Ironic, because according to Rarity bringing the whole entire bed to the outdoor forest for fancy-pantsy picnic time counted as “essential.” Curse that Fashionista and her otherworldly obsessions.

AJ sighed before halfheartedly texting back with a “Sure thing. Although the same goes for you too missy. No privacy screens or gigantic pillows ya hear!?” before setting the device back down, content with going back to her writing.

However, her hand barely grazed the keyboard before another alarm set off from her phone. Confused, Applejack reached over as an all-new message was given by her other friend Fluttershy on the group thread.

“I know that Camp Everfree has all kinds of cute little animals, but would you girls mind if I bring Mumbles with us? Maybe we could see if our magic scared him.”

She held back the sudden urge to grimace at the name of the tabby, the memories of both Fluttershy’s cat and mouse scurrying all around her truck, scratching and clawing everything in their wake, clear as day. She had no ill will of the small critters, she just wished they would’ve chosen a better time to agitate each other.

Regardless, the other girls were quick to respond, already sending texts of their own urging the animal lover to do so if it helped their cause.

Placing the noisy phone back down, this time pushing it a little ways away for good measure, Applejack turned back towards her device with a hint of impatience. Now, where was she?

Ping, Ping, Ping, Ping!

Normally she wouldn’t consider looking back at her phone, but today’s situation was serious and whatever the girls had to say was important.

“I’m bringing marshmallows and smores!”

“You know we won’t be staying there that long, right? It won’t be night by the time we’re done.”

“Should I bring my chapeau or perhaps my new sunblock scarf. Oh, or both!?”

“Marshmallows are for anytime silly :p”

AJ sighed, her friends had to be the strangest people she ever had the pleasure of knowing. but enough distractions, she had a story to-

Beep! Beep! Beep!

Suddenly a new sound broke through the air as her phone buzzed and rattled on her desk, making the situation all the more annoying. She gritted her teeth before quickly snatching up the little device and glaring at the hinderance before her eyes went wide at the notification. It was the alarm informing her of the time, 8:30. Camp Everfree was almost an hour and fifteen-minute drive from her home, and if she wanted to be there by ten o’clock while avoiding heavy traffic then she needed to leave early.

Silencing her device, Applejack placed it inside her pocket before staring at her untouched computer screen. After a split few seconds, she brought her forehead down and landed it onto her desk with a thud, her frustration reaching its peak.

So much for writing.

_____________________

Camp Everfree

Birds chirped peacefully as the cool spring wind blew throughout the forest, rippling through the trees as the morning sun soaked into the atmosphere. Even the calm rustlings of leaves could be heard as the normally energetic wildlife camp lay silent, almost giving it a heavenly appearance. Due to the camp strictly being a summertime event, the place was closed during the spring leaving only the sole two owners to be left in charge. Which in turn meant the grounds where free range for practice without any sightseers.

Stepping out of her car, Applejack gazed out at her surroundings while smiling, breathing in the strong smell of pine and wood that wafted heavily through the air. Ah, how she absolutely loved the woods, the idea of being out in the pure bare wilderness with nothing but the small resources at your disposal to carry on with even the smallest of tasks. Foraging for your own supplies and hiking through vast terrains home to dozens of exotic creatures you’d never find in the suburbs or her farm.

The apple farmer eventually looked away from the sights of the woods, instead scanning the campgrounds for her friends. It was ten on the dot, so that must’ve meant her friends should be here. But so far, the only person she could see was her, so where were they?

“APPLEJACK!”

A familiar voice screamed out as the farm girl felt a hefty force collide into her, a pair of slender arms wrapping around her body in a constricting grasp and a squealing face pressed against hers. Not deterred in the slightest, Applejack chuckled while pulling out a free arm around the newcomer in a one-armed hug.

“Heya Pinkie.” She giggled.

Her friend in response simply squeezed her grip tighter, nearly cutting off AJ’s blood supply.

“This is going to be so. Much. Fun! We’re going to rock these powers out of their world! Well, I guess our world since technically they’re from a different world, but in in the metaphorical since it could be their world though our worlds are connected, or maybe rocking them out of both our worlds, though that doesn’t really roll off the tongue as well…”

“I think she gets the idea Pinks.” A new voice spoke up, halting Pinkie from her onslaught of word vomit and causing both girls to peer to the left. A sight of rainbow-colored hair greeted them as Dash herself walked over, a smirk on her face.

Pinkie seemed to agree with her athlete friend before finally letting go of AJ, who could just barely be heard letting out a weak cough as the air returned to her previously captive lungs.

“Whoa nelly.” She wheezed. “I’m glad to see you’re feeling better about this whole ordeal Pinkie Pie.”

This earned a short laugh from the party girl before Rainbow Dash placed a hand on her friend’s shoulder and gestured a thumb over her shoulder.

“The rest of the girls are in the dining cabin, Timber and Gloriosa are about to go over the schedule in a few minutes, so you have time to bring in your supplies if you want.”

Applejack hummed in thought before clicking her tongue, waving her hand while nodding.

“Nah,” She exclaimed. “…. better leave that junk in the car, no sense in dragging it all the way to the cabin only to bring it back out here.”

Dash seemed to accept this, patting her farmer friend on the back and waving the two to follow her. Finally regaining some air into her lungs, AJ fixated her hat before eventually trailing behind the athlete with Pinkie at her side. As the three girls made their way towards the cabin up ahead in relative silence, each of them taking a moment to once more glance at the scenery of the area, their jittery nerves calmed by the slight chilly wind and the sound of loose dry dirt shuffling from underneath their feet somewhat relaxing. As the birds overhead chirped, the youngest of the three friends, Pinkie Pie, began to whistle, her tune not far off from the melodic chirping.

Almost nearly halfway to the destination, Rainbow Dash took the comfortable silence as a sign to speak up.

“Do you guys really think this will work?”

Applejack brought her attention away from the forest to Rainbow as Pinkie ceased whistling. Their athletic friend looked back at their questioning stares, her expression uncommonly soft and gentle, yet with a hint of underlying nervousness. Noticing their confusion, she continued.

“I mean, I trust Sunset with my life, but how do we know this whole ‘practice session’ won’t turn into some kind of screwed up fiasco like last time?”

Both Applejack and Pinkie turned to glance at each other in silent communication, before AJ smiled and shuffled up towards her old friend.

“Ah think we’ve got nothin’ to worry about as long as we don’t take this whole thing for granted. Like you said, Sunset is our friend, and we need to trust her on this, and if somethin’ does go bad…”

Wrapping an arm around Dash, the apple farmer gestured towards Pinkie Pie as the excitable party girl bounded towards into AJ’s welcoming arms.

“… Then we take it on together. It ain’t called the ‘magic of friendship’ for no reason.”

Feeling a tightening grip on her shoulder, Applejack smiled as Dash chuckled softly underneath her breath.

“Good.” She whispered. “I was just wondering.”

“Does that mean I can finally go back to cooking my marshmallow-jam surprise with sprinkles now?”

*Sigh* “Yes Pinkie Pie.”

Pinkie giggled before her happy expression quickly switched to worry on a dime, grabbing both her friends’ collars and yanking them along as she began bolting towards the cabin.

“What are we doing standing around, we’re going to be late!”

The two other girls barely had time to register their situation as they found themselves dragging alongside the excitable teen, dust and dirt kicking up into their clothes as they made their way to the dining cabin.

“HEY!” Dash yelled. “PINKIE, SLOW DOWN, I’M GETTING DIRT IN MY POCKETS!”

____

“Thank you so much for your hospitality Gloriosa darling.”

The normally excitement-filled cabin was rather calm and peaceful as the six occupants in the room chatted peacefully amongst one another. In the corner of the large area were two people, one being a stylized, beautiful fashionista teen giving her companion, a purplish pink skinned 21-year-old woman in bright earthy clothes, a kind and thankful smile. The camp owner, Gloriosa Daisy, gave the young girl in front of her a small wave of her wrist while chuckling.

“Oh, it’s no problem Rarity, after all it’s the least I could do.”

Rarity placed a hand on her friend’s shoulder, her other palm pressing to her heart while giving the counselor a knowing look.

“We realize how much Camp Everfree means to you, I promise we won’t do anything to harm it.”

Gloriosa once again smiled, nodding her head in agreement before grabbing for more grape soda.

Meanwhile, on one of the dining tables, Twilight sat alongside both her small dog Spike and Sunset Shimmer, an open book from the Princess Twilight from Equestria laying on the counter as the three of them overviewed it.

“Ok, I may have a good idea on how this is going to work.” Twilight spoke up, pointing to a specific paragraph on the page before her.

“It says here that the best way to enhance a pony er- person’s skills in magic is to stress your body and mind in order to really create an effect.”

Beside the book-smart teen, Sunset nodded in affirmation, her previous knowledge of magic from her studies in Equestria resurfacing. Taking note of this, Twilight continued on, shoving the book aside and looking towards her friend and interlocking her fingers, giving her appearance that of a very serious tone.

“So, considering the high amounts of stress we had on Tuesday, I’d say it’d be a pretty good idea to stress ourselves both physically as well as emotionally today.”

Sunset placed a hand on her chin for a quick moment, giving it her best thought before turning back towards Twilight.

“Sounds like a good plan to me.” She hummed in approval.

Twilight let out a barely noticeable sigh of relief, until she sat up abruptly, clapping her hands together.

“Great! Now all we need is Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash and Applejack, who should be getting here any minute.”

CRASH!

Speak of the devil. Sunset smirked as the blurred form of her pink-haired friend busted through the double doors of the cabin, dragging alongside two very stunned AJ and Dash.

“Wait! AJ’s here, don’t start without us!”

An abrupt silence filled the large room, with all eyes on the three new arrivals. Suddenly, a boy dressed in counselor gear cleared his throat in an attempt to gain everyone’s attention, specifically Gloriosa’s, as he waved his hand in his sister’s direction, signaling her to begin. Gloriosa perked at the sign, letting out a small “Oh!” before standing up from her seat to speak up.

“Um, well! Splendid, now that everyone’s here, we can begin!”

Pinkie quickly ran over to the nearest table and plopped her two ragdoll friends to the seats beside her, with Applejack appearing as though she’d just been dragged around by a speeding vehicle and Rainbow Dash giving a withering glare at her friend’s direction.

“To start with…” Gloriosa began. “…for the time being, due to some rather unforeseen weather conditions, both the Lamar Trail and the Coyote trail near the pond are closed. And this is the type of season for poison oak, so if you’re going to be hiking, I recommend you put on some protection.”

Looking towards the boy, her younger brother, Timber Spruce, she waited until he gave her a slight nod before she continued.

“Other than that, Camp Everfree is free for you to do whatever you want. Both me and Timber agreed that if you need to, you are all welcome to some of the camp’s supplies for your practice.”

Timber took her words as a quick opportunity to speak his own mind, walking over and placing a palm on Gloriosa’s shoulder while talking.

“As for us two, we’ll just be sitting nearby, ready to help in case you guys need us.”

The group of teens before them seemed to understand this, each of them equally nodding with a few “No problem”s and “Gotcha”s here and there. Seeing their approval of her terms, Gloriosa took her brother to the side as Twilight sat up and began to walk over, dragging behind her a rather large, double-sided easel board.

Soon standing in the counselors’ place, she adjusted her glasses slightly and brought up the small piece of chalk in her hands. Written on the easel board was a map of schematics and a small overhead view of the entirety of Camp Everfree, with specific pinpoints circled on the sections of the map. With everyone’s attention now focused on her, Twilight lifted her hand in a stern, teacher like stance.

“Thank you Gloriosa and Timber. Now, as we discussed before, each of us will be doing separate things today, by which I mean we’ll both be practicing our own magic as well as watching over each other for safety reasons. Now for starters, we’ll be separating into teams...”

Bringing her hand to the board, Twilight quickly wrote down a graph of each girls’ initials, before slicing a line in between them.

“Ok, first me, Sunset, and Applejack will be positioned in the picnic area next to the pond. I will be trying to use my magic to lift some supplies while AJ progressively adds much more heavier objects into the mix. After that, we’ll have Applejack try and constrain her strength by holding fragile equipment. Thank you again Fluttershy for volunteering we’d use your car as part of the practice. And as for Pinkie Pie and Rarity, you’ll be over by the cabins. Rarity will be using her diamond shields and attempting to meditate, while Pinkie’s job is to every now and then try and distract her. You know, startling her into loosing focus.”

Hearing this, Pinkie herself turned to give her fashionista friend a small, apologetic glance, which was quickly returned by a gentle hand wave as a signal of no harm done. Regardless, Twilight continued.

“As for yourself Pinkie, you’ll be in the dining cabin trying to cook one of your famous recipes without the sprinkles exploding. All the while most of us will be right by you for encouragement. Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, you two will be in the forest today. Both of you will take separate hiking trails than each other so one won’t accidentally bump into the other. Dash, you’ll be speeding through the much longer, more advanced path, while Fluttershy will be hiking in the denser, less traveled areas, thankfully Gloriosa and Timber have already placed markers on the trails, that way you won’t get lost.”

Fluttershy nearly squealed in excitement, the thought of communicating with the exotic wildlife felt like cotton candy brewing in her stomach. Dash for her part gave a confident thumbs up along with her signature smirk.

“And finally, Sunset Shimmer.”

Before Twilight could finish, Sunset spoke up from her seated position on one of the tables.

“Considering how when we all use our magic more often than usual, there’s no doubt I’ll be experiencing other people’s thoughts without even touching them, so my job is to try and keep it under control, see if there’s a way I can distract myself from them.”

Twilight nodded, backing up a hair and readjusting her glasses once more.

“Ok. So, what does everyone think?”

Once the question was asked, the other six friends looked towards one another in the eyes, each sending a silent signal to the other before they all turned their gazes back to the purple teen.

“Sounds good to me!”

“We’ll do our best!”

“Of course, Darling.”

“Ahm up for it.”

“You betcha!”

“I like it.”

Letting out a sigh of relief, Twilight pushed back her board and stepped forwards, gesturing to the watch on her wrist.

“Great, it’s currently 10:30 right now, so if you girls are ready, we can start right away!”

Hearing this, the other six girls each sat up and walked towards their smart friend, arm around one another’s arms before Pinkie bounded up and placed a hand in the middle. Almost automatically, each teen placed her own hand onto the pile, smiling widely.

“We’ve got this girls! One!.” Pinkie began.

“Two.” Dash responded.

“Three.” Sunset finished.

“““““““PROTECTORS OF EQUESTRIA!””””””

_______________________________________________

Picnic pondside area.

Twilight considered herself a smart and mentally strong girl for her age. Not to toot her own horn, but she was pretty sure there were few scientists, much less young teens, who could count down Einstein’s hardcore math equations while stopping power hungry forces from other worlds. However, that didn’t stop her from feeling human emotions like fear and slight paranoia every now and then, especially when it came down to her own plans. After all, everyone makes mistakes. It just so happened that hers could be potentially dangerous.

Such as now, as she was currently watching her friend Applejack lift a body-sized toolbox over her shoulder and a 40-pound weightlifter tucked underneath her other arm.

Needless to say, she was refraining from chewing a hole through her bottom lip as AJ dropped the supplies in front of her with care. Next to the farm girl was Sunset Shimmer, who was currently carrying a gigantic container of water alongside her hip. Plopping the container on a nearby picnic table, the redhead then walked over to a large, filled black trash bag, grabbing the rubber lip to drag it near their testing ground. As her head was turned, the young Einstein heard Applejack speak up.

“If you’d like, Ah made sure to get lighter weights in case it gets a touch too difficult for you Twilight.”

She turned back towards the farm girl with a welcomed smile, nodding her head as Sunset spoke.

“Ok.” Sunset began while taking out more supplies from the plastic bag. “We’ve got a couple text books here, some flashcards, pillows, Dash’s old keyboard, and a basketball. That’s about it for the light stuff.”

As Sunset listed the objects off, placing them in a pile on the ground, Twilight folded her arms behind her back and hummed in approval, until looking over to the much heavier supplies at Applejacks feet.

AJ clicked her tongue and peered down at her own set, kicking them with her boot.

“And as you can see, Ah’ve got some weights, my own tool assortments, rocks from the quarry, and the camp’s toolbox.”

Sunset seemed to be crossing off checkmarks on an invisible list inside her head, as she nodded and scanned each and every tool at their disposal.

“Alright, other than the water jug I’d say we’ve gotten everything we need.” She concluded. “All that’s left is you Twi. We’re ready whenever you are.”

The sound of her name being called out shook the teen out of her stupor, glancing at the redhead who was now turned towards her direction. Suddenly, she felt a small sensation brush up against her lower leg, causing her to look down. The big emerald eyes of her small puppy Spike greeted her as a comforting smirk formed on his muzzle, then he suddenly spoke up to his owner.

“I don’t see why you’re so worried.” He chuckled in his usual confident tone. “You’ve got this in the bag remember? You’ll be a natural.”

Silently shaking away the looming inner thoughts, Twilight coughed into her fist and brightened with a look of pure determination.

“You’re right Spike. I’ll be fine, I’m sure of it.” She bent down and lovingly scratched behind one of his ears, already feeling a tad more confident in herself. She then stood back up and beamed at the other two teens I front of her.

“Ok….I’m ready”

Spike nodded and gave her yet another warm nuzzle before running into Sunset’s arms, and all three of them stepped back a few feet. Closing her eyes, Twilight let out a calmed sigh before her hands began to glow a bright purple and she slowly lifted them outwards to her sides. As if on command the many scattered objects on the floor, most notably the flashcards, tools from AJ’s own small toolbox, textbooks, and keyboard, lit up with a similar purple aura blanketing their forms and ever so gently lifted off the ground.

Twilight opened her eyes as she calmly flicked her wrists to her inward direction, causing the objects she was lifting to inch towards her while in midair. Once in arms reach the floating objects began to lift upwards into the sky in a tail-like formation, until reaching a certain point in the sky and circling back down to the earth. However, before they could hit the ground at Twilight’s feet, the objects once again circled back up and into the air.

Concentration strained on Twilight’s face as she juggled the many loose supplies with her Equestrian magic, careful not to lose focus. After a few minutes, she looked back to the two girls in front of her and smiled.

Applejack took this as a sign and bent down to grab two of the smaller weight plates before gently tossing them both in the other’s direction. As the objects came close to her, Twilight narrowed her eyes and consciously twitched both her palms in a grabbing fashion, which in turn halted the metal plates midair before they too joined the trail of mismatched, juggling supplies.

Seeing how the two metal weight plates caused such a little effect, AJ once again nodded at Twilight’s approved look and bent back down, this time grabbing two more slightly heavier and larger plates and tossing them forward.

Only deterred by this just a little, Twilight caught the two new incoming plates with ease and added them to her juggling pile. As the minutes went by, Applejack would gradually increase the number of objects in Twilight’s magical hold, with Sunset off to the side giving words of encouragement and refills of cool water. Soon, almost all the loose plates and extra supplies on the ground were gone, leaving only the massive weight dumbbells, some significantly sized boulders, and the giant toolbox.

Twilight inwardly gulped at the sight, having been already dreading this inevitable scenario since earlier this morning. She knew both Sunset and Applejack would watch over her for any incidents, but that still did little to halt her worries.

But at the same time, she knew she absolutely needed to do this. People’s lives, including her friends’, were at stake here! They could not let another accident like that happen again no matter the cost, and if her dreams were any confirmation that trouble was not far away then she didn’t know what was. Not to mention what Cadence had told her about…

“Twilight?”

She shook at the sound of her name, the juggling objects in her magical field shifting slightly at her surprise. Looking over at Sunset, Twilight noticed Applejack was currently holding the large weight and one of the boulders in her arms ready for her. She smiled sheepishly before clearing her throat and giving a confident gaze.

Applejack stepped up, weariness clear in her eyes but still grinning nonetheless.

“Alright.” The cowgirl spoke up. “On three Ah guess.”

She fidgeted effortlessly with the normally extremely heavy objects before counting down.

“One. Two. Three!”

In an instant she chucked them both simultaneously at her friend, who widened her eyes and opened her palms outward. For a split second everything she was currently holding stopped midair as her magic grasped the large pieces once they got into arms reach. Sunset, Spike, and Applejack froze at the sight of their friend’s distress, near seconds away from running up to help, only to stop once they collectively saw Twilight’s expression calmly soften and she straightened her back.

As if on command, the weight and the boulder inched forward into Twilight’s little juggling circle before gradually following in line in the trail of random objects, following in suite as she began juggling them as well.

Her three friends let out collectively relieved sighs, smiling in confidence as Twilight continued. Meanwhile Twilight breathed in deeply at the sight whilst she juggled, ignorant of the bead of sweat dripping down her forehead.

“O-okay, I think I’m ready for the rest.”

In response to this, Applejack reached out to grab another waist sized boulder and the second weightlift, holding one over her shoulder and the other dangling in her palm while she stood waiting for affirmation. Twilight simply nodded, and that was all AJ needed before she tossed the weight first, -watching as the purple-haired teen once again slightly strained herself to catch it, all the while keeping the dozens of loose objects afloat in the air with her magic.

This was immediately backed up with AJ throwing the rock off her shoulder and into the fray, causing both Sunset and Twilight to instinctively gasp. This time, the current objects in Twilight’s grip faltered even more so, shaking and wobbling as she once again grabbed her oncoming assailant mere inches from where she stood. Letting out a shaky breath, Twilight felt the sweat start to run down her face while she dragged the massive stone closer, her already strained physique and muscles aching in contentment.

For a few minutes, the boulder held itself in midair shaking like a leaf, alongside the many other objects in the large circle form in front of the girl. The boulder, neither the objects, moved anywhere else, only staying straight in the air while shaking, waiting for their master to puppeteer them into place.

She didn’t need to tell her friends to stay back, because even though they were struggling to stay put and not help her, they knew just as much as Twilight did that she needed to handle this on her own. Though that sure as heck didn’t stop either of them from clenching their teeth at the sight of her struggles.

Soon, after a few tense seconds, the boulder ever so gently came over to her, as she juggled it alongside the others, albeit much more slowly this time.

“Now *Huff*.” Twilight breathed. “T-the toolbox.”

Sunset and Spike looked over to Applejack with nervousness, who returned it with her own worried frown.

“U-um. Twilight, are you sure that’s a good idea?” Sunset stammered, weary of Twi’s now noticeably tired exterior.

“The toolbox, NOW!” Twilight stressed.

Gulping, AJ finally turned to the last item left, picking it up awkwardly as to not spill the inner contents and hoppled closer to the juggling teen, and tossed it for her friend to catch.

Which was originally the plan, but unfortunately for the three of them, once Twilight attempted to grab the flying kit she let out a small whimper at the stinging pain in her skin and immediately dropped both her arms and the toolbox. As she did this, the rest of the items in her hold shook even more before the purplish aura around them vanished and they all fell to the ground. Twilight widened her eyes and jumped back as the junk she was currently juggling rained down to the floor, barely missing her feet by mere centimeters.

As the stuff dropped and laid lifelessly on the grass, the small group stood in silent shock with their mouths agape, unsure as what to say. Twilight for one clasped a palm over hers, now uncomfortably aware of the sweat dripping down her face and back, as well as the painful strain in her bones and muscles.

Okay, so she might have gone a bit overboard at the end there.

Luckily for her, Sunset was the first to break the ice.

“Alright.” She chuckled. “I think that’s enough for right now.”

She couldn’t help but agree.

___________

Tripper Trail, Camp Everfree.

Like any outdoor campground, Everfree had it’s far share of arranged trails and spots for the dwellers to visit at their pleasure, whether it be in a nice, large sunny field, or the calm and relaxing shadow covered creek, or even the thick inner most parts of the forest.

However, if a person where to really want to get in touch with nature, to stray as far from human civilization as they could, then they’d have to take none other than Tripper Trail. Settled square in the middle of Everfree, all you could see were waist high bushes, towering trees with vines as long as a forearm snaking up their trunks, and scattered rock formations at every other turn. This of course was where most of the forest’s animals liked to stay, as not many camp dwellers came onto this certain trail in large groups as opposed to the more publicly used ones.

But as for the few that did take this specific trail, well, it’s safe to say that they wouldn’t find a place any more peaceful and quieter in Everfree. And specifically, to a quiet, introverted girl like Fluttershy, it was like taking a stroll through Eden. Humming a thoughtful tune, she practically skipped across the trail as the sounds of high up birds chirped excitedly and the squirrels chattered amongst the ground. As part of her practice for today, Fluttershy’s job was to try and communicate with the cute little animals of the forest, all the while being prepared in case her magic attracted a massive horde of them. Usually, she had no problem being the center of nature’s attention, except that got a bit awkward and hard to explain whenever she would be walking down the streets of Canterlot with a massive pack of lovesick strays following her every move.

As if on cue, she stopped in her tracks once she heard the bushes next to her ruffle, small footsteps barley made out through the dense foliage. Peering over, she inched towards the bush as a small coyote creeped from the leaves, curiousness clear in its dark eyes. Resisting the urge to squeal, Fluttershy settled for a massive smile as she carefully bent down to the canine’s level before speaking in a soft tone.

“Why hello there cutie.” She giggled. “What can I do for you?”

The coyote nudged its head forward, sniffing the teen before it and gently licking her outstretched fingers. Her smile split even wider across her face, laughing gently as the canine curiously studied her, feeling at ease with the human’s kind demeanor.

Soon, the small mammal inched closer to Fluttershy, placing its furry head deeper into her palm while she began to smoothly rub and scratch its forehead. This sent an immediate sense of pleasure through the canine, who steeped even closer to her and sat down on its lower haunches.

She never knew what it was that allowed her and animals to always have such a special connection, magical powers, a nice smell, or just the fact that she seemed to understand them as much as regular humans, but Fluttershy would never complain. Creatures of nature where sometimes so underappreciated, they had so much they could teach yet people barely paid them a second thought. Well, their loss!

The coyote laid its chin on the leg, obviously deeply at peace with the attention she was giving, its tail wagging happily while panting. Fluttershy giggled once more, she could be like this all day.

Suddenly, she felt a strange disturbance from within her. A pulse so to speak, that radiated something akin to an alarming signal. Freezing slightly, she took her hand off of the canine’s forehead and pressed her palm to her heart, nervousness building as the strange feeling slowly spiked with every second.

Before she could speculate further, a sound similar to a speeding car could heard just about a mile from her location as the trees rustled due to the picked-up wind. Fluttershy blinked when she noticed the magical geode/necklace hanging around her throat start to feel warm as it glowed a bright yellow. Rainbow Dash, it seemed, was closer to Fluttershy’s trail than she realized.

The thought of her old childhood friend sent a nervous tick through Fluttershy’s stomach. The athlete had been uncharacteristically quiet the passing week, which of course hadn’t sat well with Shy at all. RD was always the first to speak in a situation, with Pinkie barely a step away, but now it she always seemed to have something troubling on her mind. In fact, so far it was as if a dark cloud had befallen everyone. She hated it.

Having magical powers from an entirely different world could definitely be stressful and downright terrifying at times, but that didn’t stop them from trying to live their lives as normally as they could, and whenever a problem arose, no matter what, they all promised to take it on together. She knew that things would be just fine as long as she stood by her friends. So why did the situation from the hospital feel different? Why did her geode hurt and feel as though it wanted to melt in agitation?

While she was thinking, the coyote at her feet seemed to notice her discomfort and drastic change in attitude, because it huffed in exasperation before lifting its head off her thigh and turning tail back into the brush.

It took a second for her to shake off her zoned-out stance before she finally realized the canine leaving before motioning out for it with an outstretched arm.

“W-wait a minute! Come back!” she cried.

Unfortunately, her pleas went unheard as the mammal soon disappeared into the forest almost as quickly as it had come. Frowning sadly, she lowered her hand as she found herself once again all by her lonesome, with nothing but the birds chirping and tree leaves rustling accompanying her. Darn it.

Sighing in defeat, Fluttershy stood back up to her feet, brushing off the dirt on her jeans and looking forward on the path ahead. Wrapping her arms behind her back, she breathed in the fresh air. Oh well. she mused, there was at least two more miles left in the trail, so who knew what else she’d find.

However, as she began to continue pressing on, she couldn’t quiet shake off the lone feeling in the dark corners of her mind. It nagged at her conscious, trying to tell her some secret code, but there was no way to decipher the message, so she walked regardless.

_____

Recreation Cabin

Smiling softly, Rarity exhaled as she breathed in the cool air, filling her lungs with the pure oxygen as the sun shone down on her. Luckily, she remembered to bring her sun hat to protect her face from the heat; Mascara needs protection just as much as skin you know.

The grass tickled her exposed legs and she sat crisscross in the grass, her arms loosely outstretched as pearly white aura coated her palms. Her eyes shut tight with her expression slightly scrunched in a concentrated way as she forced the five magical, floating crystal shields circling around her to move along in a peaceful pattern. No sound could be heard, other than her slow breathing and the distant chirping of birds in the far-off trees, and honestly, the normally city-centric fashionista wouldn’t have it any other way.

As much as she blatantly appalled the very idea of the sheer dirt and grim the woods provided, she had to give it the benefit of doubt when it came to a peaceful place to rest. Cars could be so distracting and costumers/bosses a tad stressful, none of which would ever set foot near Everfree.

So far things were going pretty good on her end, with only slight hiccups here and there. What made it better was the absolute gorgeous sight that was today, the sun wasn’t particularly sweltering, and the wind carrying a gentle breeze that cooled to the touch. She resisted the urge to smile, only so that she wouldn’t lose focus on the task at hand, she had to be prepared after all.

“Poke!”

Rarity nearly squeaked when she felt something hard and rough dig into the soft spot of her back that housed sensitive nerves, her body suddenly going ridged as she sucked in a breath. Giggling suddenly erupted from behind, causing the teen to promptly roll her eyes while she refocused her thoughts.

“Good one Pinkie” She stated dryly.

The younger female behind her, who had begun giggling louder, twiddled the large stick in her hands and snickered.

“Hehehe, almost got you that time.” The party girl chuckled from behind her fist.

Rarity simply shook her head before closing her eyes once more, intent on keeping the five crystals around her moving at an even pace. However, not a few seconds into her focused stupor she felt the stick once again pierce her backside, this time a tad harder. Gritting her clenched teeth, she chose to ignore it, only to inwardly sigh when she felt it poke her neck this time.

Eventually bringing the stick back, Pinkies placed it beside her and sighed while striking a thoughtful pose to ponder her next move. So far their progress had been going on a steady pace, with most of her efforts at disrupting Rarity from her focus only simply hindering the fashionista slightly. Now with minimum ideas left, she was starting to get a little bored. Who know progress could mean less excitement?

She wouldn’t dare get Rarity’s clothes messy, that’d just hurt her feelings. Maybe toss something at the shields? Nah, she tried that already with a couple pebbles and a cupcake. Oh, what about talking about the mystery of the new dessert she planned on making for work. (Spoiler: it’s called a CherriChanga, an absolute genius idea gifted to her by a special friend of hers.) Hmm. No, she still had a few kinks to work out on it before she could tell anyone.

She frowned and placed a palm on her cheek, pursing her lips. Something distracting. Something distracting. Something distracting. Something distracting. Something distracting. Something distracting.

A light switch flipped on inside her brain as her eyes bugged out into saucers. Wait. Idea.

Without a word Pinkie jumped up and sped off, past a confused Rarity and towards the recreational cabin in front of them. For a minute Rarity was left alone, blinking dumbly as she watched her blurred friend disappear behind the cabin doors. From her spot in the grass, she could hear the sounds of stuff (most likely boxes, and furniture?) being moved around within the cabin as Pinkie gave out the occasional frustrated grunt. It was obvious she was looking for something, but what exactly, she had no clue. There always was no telling what that little ball of pure energy was up to.

Eventually, a loud cry of victory could be made out before the sound of the cabin’s backdoor opened from the other side. Something clattered against the wood cabin’s side as Pinkie’ grunt more prominent until to Rarity’s horror, she watched as Pinkie climbed up from her ladder and onto the roof, smiling innocently while crouching over the stoop and onto the edge facing her friend.

“Wha…What are you doing?!” Rarity all but yelled as she gawked at the pink girl, who simply waved back down at her.

“Distracting you, silly!” Pinkie called down, cupping her mouth with her free hand. Although she didn’t have her glasses, Rarity noticed that Pinkie in fact had something tucked in her other arm. A lot of somethings, as she struggled to keep them from slipping out of her grasp and off the roof. Biting her lower lip, Rarity narrowed her eyes while calling back up.

“Pinkie darling, get down from there this instant!”

The teen in question only seemed to brush off the demand, instead lifting her torso up, albeit very wobbly, until she finally stood to her full height.

“I can’t hear you!” She shouted, “I’m busy helping!”

She followed up with grabbing the tucked objects from her armpit and laying them out in her outstretched hands before she flipped one of them upwards. After, she instantly followed up with thrusting the other objects into the air as well, juggling them with relative ease. Although to most, the scene would appear rather impressive, it did nothing to sooth Rarity’s increasing worries, especially with the fact that even without her glasses she could plainly see Pinkie Pie’s legs wobble from the angled shingle roof.

While she watched the younger teen continue to mingle atop the rickety shack, she herself had yet to notice the crystal shields surrounding her frame begin to pick up in their pace in faster fashion. A growl arose from within her throat as Rarity once again called up to her friend, a stronger hint of authority seeping through her voice.

“Pinkie Pie, get off that thing! You’re going to hurt yourself, and I’d rather not take another trip to the hospital again any time soon.”

“What was that!?” Pinkie yelled from afar, “You think I should try my new dance move too!? Okay, if you say so Rares!”

Once again to Rarity’s growing horror, she could do nothing but stare as Pinkie Pie began to hop around and twist her legs to copy some kind of practiced dance move, except her steps could only come off as janky and wobbled due to the slanted area.

Rarity grit her teeth as the sickening pit in her stomach grew when Pinkie just barely recuperated from a slip of her foot, causing her to unconsciously inch closer to the edge of the shingles. The crystals surrounding Rarity shook like tremors, who still didn’t realize her powers’ new reactions.

Pinkie seemed to not notice this either, as she began to quicken her pace with the dancing while thrusting her juggling objects into the air with more tenacity than before. Pinkie giggled loudly when she eventually kicked out one of her legs and reached for her shoe, somehow without screwing up her juggling, and pulled out what had to be a deflated red balloon hidden underneath the tongue.

Bringing the rubber opening to her lips, Pinkie breathed in as she brought her arms back to juggling the objects before blowing with all her might.

What could she say? Being an entertainer for babysitting kids certainly had its advantages.

For almost two full minutes her friend continued the ridiculous act, appearing to not even render the current dangerous predicament in the slightest. Although, inwardly she had to admit that it was rather impressive once the party girl blew the balloon into the shape of a puppy without so much as touching the thing with her hands.

Suddenly to Rarity’s horror, one of the shingles underneath Pinkie Pie’s feet shifted slightly in agitation, although it was hardly noticed by the other teen, as she applied more weight to her left foot and lifted her right leg out as she began hopping like a kangaroo.

Hop.

Hop.

Hop-

*FWIP!*

“Whooooaaaaaaaahhhh!!”

Pinkie shrill scream echoed as the loose shingle finally snapped out of its socket and sent her tumbling down to slanted rooftop, forcing her to drop everything in her hands while she flailed like a maniac. Feeling her shoulder slam hard into one of the shingles, Pinkie Pie sucked in a breath as she felt gravity finally pull her body down off the edge of the gutter and towards the hard ground below. This was really gonna hurt.

SWISH!

As she fell, she heard a sound rip across the field, slicing clean through the air, and head straight towards her. Before she knew it, the wind in her ears abruptly stopped and her bottom landed on something smooth, halting her fall midway.

Prying open her eyes, Pinkie peered down to see one of Rarity’s massive diamond shields holding her in place while suspended in air and protecting her from the fall. Drooping her hands down to the sides, she sighed and looked back to her friend in thankful relief, only to feel her heart clench in guilt. If looks could kill, Pinkie would’ve been melted to a bubbly puddle and dumped into a glass vase. On the other side of the field, she could practically feel the heated glare Rarity was giving her, the statement clear that considering the stunt she just pulled didn’t kill her, now her friend would.

Suddenly feeling the blood in her ears begin burn in embarrassment, an awkward chuckle escaped Pinkie’s throat as she brought her arms up to form a half-hearted shrug while her savior steadily lowered her to the floor. Once mere inches from the ground, Pinkie slid evenly off the diamond and straightened, brushing the stray dirt off before tucking her hands behind her back and hanging her head low, still feeling rather small underneath Rarity’s heavy gaze.

Rarity waited for pinkie to stew a few minutes until she slowly cooled down her gaze from melting magma to a simmering fire, before she sagged her shoulders and let out a deep sigh. The diamonds surrounding her quickly dissipated into a baby blueish mist, until their particles scattered into the air as Rarity uncrossed her legs and stood to her feet, placing her hands on her hips while staring back at her friend.

The false smile on Pinkie lips edged downward as she shuffled towards Rarity until they were merely three feet from one another, the younger girl still hanging her head low and bringing a hand up to awkwardly rub her neck. As Rarity stood before her, she felt a small pang in her stomach at seeing Pinkie’s downcast expression, the entire scene similar to that of a guilty little sister awaiting her older sibling for a heaping of scolding.

Eventually she felt her expression soften as she placed a hand onto Pinkie’s shoulder, causing the other teen to lift her eyes up. A soothing smile etched across Rarity’s face, signifying forgiveness, which in turn caused Pinkie to form a smile of her own.

Oh well, at least there was a hint of progress made.

_________

Camp Everfree Parking lot

Applejack grunted when she pulled the backside of Fluttershy’s Beetle upwards, the normally two-ton weight of metal and slew of mechanical parts having no effect against the powerful Equestrian magic coursing through her bloodstream. Why, to her it was as if she were picking up something as simple as a household kitchen chair. Although kitchen chairs were slightly less expensive to buy, not to mention it belonged to one of her best and oldest friends.

Bending her torso downwards, AJ slowly edged her body until she was right square underneath the car before repositioning her arms and lifting the entire vehicle up into the air over her shoulders with as much care as she could muster. As she eased it above her head, she blew a stray gold lock from her face when Twilight and Timber Spruce walked over to her.

Behind the two, the fiery-haired form of Sunset Shimmer could be seen just barely tagging along with Spike still nestled comfortably in her arms, her eyes occasionally darting from side to side. Every few seconds she seemed to twitch in agitation, almost like she was being spooked by some invisible force. AJ frowned, the poor girl’s mind must’ve been automatically hearing their inner voices again due to all the magical commotion around camp.

Suddenly she heard Timber clear his throat, causing her to swivel her head to the right. The young camp counselor gave an uneasy smile as he shuffled up to her front, his eyes unconsciously glazing over the full-bodied automobile hanging high above the girl only two years older than him, before speaking in his usual confident tone.

“Wow, pretty impressive Applejack.” He whistled. “Bet you catch a lot of eyes back home.”

Blinking dumbly, it took a split second for the statement to fully form inside the farm girl’s head before a hint of a blush marred her freckled cheeks, before shaking it off and forcing out a chuckle.

“Ha! Yeah right, if anythin’ it makes the fellers more fidgety than a chicken in a fox den. Ah mean honestly, from the way people stare at me you’d think I was some kinda unhinged bull ready to pounce.”

Her expression suddenly shifted to an annoyed frown, her next words small and painfully bitter.

“Had a bad date turn out that way. Ah swear ah’ve never seen a man so scared of someone just trying to help.”

Noticing the quick negative change in the topic, Timber awkwardly cleared his throat again and puffed out his chest.

“Well in any case, try not to show off around here too much. Camp Everfree already has a pretty awesome counselor to protect her, can’t have anyone else stealing all the ladies’ gazes, if you know what I mean.”

Rolling her eyes, AJ just simply smirked before attempting to shrug her shoulders at him, that was until Twilight clapped her hands to signal everyone’s attention.

“Alright everybody!” She shouted, “Let’s get to work! Sunset, would you please get into position over by those trees over there?”

Giving her friend a halfhearted two finger salute, Sunset set Spike back down to the floor, jogged past AJ and ran towards a set of Pine trees on the other side of the lot. Now, it should probably be noted by now that Camp Everfree, despite being a large outdoorsy ground usually packed to the brim with activity and loose items, was almost always in a pristine, clean condition. Which is to be expected when owned by a passionate director and strong-willed counselor.

However, as of now the Camp parking lot’s current state of affairs was anything but. All around the ground, spare car tires formed a sort of makeshift ladder, and large barrels stood loosely around the area, alongside several lawn chairs. The entire scene looked to be some kind of makeshift obstacle course.

Applejack seemed to just now notice the lot’s new decor, prompting her to peer at Twilight who was currently pulling out her signature stopwatch.

“Uh, remind me what we’re doin’ again?”

Glancing up from the timer, Twilight gave AJ a questioning gaze until realization clicked and she gave a reassuring grin.

“Oh! Well, that’s pretty easy. See, as previously stated back at the cabin, we agreed that you wanted to practice more on handling your everyday objects without accidentally breaking them. Specifically, things that are extremely important. For this example, we’re using Fluttershy’s car.”

She pointed towards the arranged assortment of supplies on the ground, adjusting her glasses with her other hand.

“What we, or rather I mean you, are going to try and do is complete this obstacle course we have set up here in the quickest time you can manage, all the while keeping the car in your grip. While you’re doing this, me, Sunset, and Timber will take different jobs; such as timing you or rearranging most of the stuff.”

Mulling the information over, AJ ignored the noticeable strain in her arms and nodded at Twilight. All in all, it sounded pretty foolproof to her.

“Ok, ah think ah can manage that.”

The answer causing Twilight to beam in pride, the younger girl straightened before pulling out a makeshift notepad from seemingly out of nowhere with her other free hand.

“Great! Then if you’re all for it, I’d say we’re ready to go!”

Turning on her heel, Twilight looked towards Sunset Shimmer and cupped her mouth.

“Sunset, are things good to go on your end!?”

On the other side of the lot, the two girls could just make out Sunset waving a thumbs up at them, signifying the go ahead. With that, Applejack stepped into position, a lengthy tree branch horizontally placed at what had to be the ‘start’ of the course, before giving Twilight a confident gaze. The bookworm gave her own nod and brought up her stopwatch, thumb barely grazing the button.

“Alright then, on three.” She began. “One. Two. THREE, GO!”

No sooner had the words left her mouth, Applejack jolted forward down the makeshift track, careful as to steady the car held above her head and keep it from tipping too far over. Although not as fast as she normally could, the trio of teens watched slack jawed as the farm girl weaved and dodged around the rain barrels and lawn chairs with a relative quickness. However, they did have to catch their breath every now and then when the car would occasionally shift to the side or wobble whenever AJ made too sharp of a turn.

Applejack for her part felt rather tense as she jogged across the parking lot, nervous beads of sweat rolling down her forehead as she just barely caught herself from accidentally tripping on what had to be a large crack in the ground. While most people would praise her for making something as crazy as this seem easy, she had to admit it was a heck of a whole lot harder than it looked.

Twisting her hips at an even angle to weave past a large barrel, she sputtered with a mix of panic and frustration when she bumped into the rain-filled, rock-solid wood, immediately feeling the massive vehicle in her arms buckle slightly. The car itself wasn’t abnormally off balance, but the amount of mass that weighed down on its side once it began tipping was enough to make Applejack gasp at the sudden strain. After all, superpowers or no, the thing weighed a couple tons, and there was a major difference between lifting things and keeping them in place.

Luckily for everyone, years of experience cradling buckets of well water and chicken feed over her shoulders provided AJ with acute focus. Yes, this particular scenario was vastly different than anything she’d ever done at Sweet Apple Acres, but all in all, balance was something she at least worked with before.

Pushing past the wooden containers, she continued to jog ahead until she stepped up to the part where she’d been dreading. The tire ladders.

She stopped in her tracks, her confidence suddenly taking a nosedive as she stared at the rubber rings in front of her. While to an outsider’s view, the ladder itself appeared like something that could easily be a walk in the park for a person like Applejack, she never necessarily jumped off the ground when she held massively oversized objects.

Her friends seemed to quickly catch on to her abrupt worry, with Twilight nearly about to stop the timer and Sunset, (who was now only a few feet from Applejack), stepping towards to her, arms outstretched in a vain attempt to help the farmer but stopping herself short when realizing that it would be useless.

“Applejack, is everything alright?”

She heard Twilight speak up from behind her, yet still kept her attention on the obstacles in her path. Suddenly feeling her throat turn dry, AJ gulped while fidgeting with the car in her hold before glancing up at the approaching Sunset Shimmer. The girl in question noticed AJ’s look and understood immediately, expression softening from worry to empathetic.

“Hey…” She spoke softly. “…It’s alright AJ, we’re all here for you. If you need us to step in, just say the word.”

It was obvious her words began to stew inside the apple farmer, who managed to stomach her wounded pride and smile back at Sunset in thanks. Then she breathed in deeply and straightened, settling on glaring at the makeshift ladder in defiance. Sunset sighed in relief before looking over and nodding at Twilight, giving her the message to keep the stopwatch going.

Although her initial nervousness was still very much present, AJ did have to admit she felt a little better due to Sunset’s reminder. After all, Twilight had telekinesis which at its best could lift even the heaviest of boulders. She just hoped Twi still had some strength left over to halt such an object.

But now was time for action! Sucking in a few breaths, Applejack bent her knees in practice before hopping forward, her right leg aimed straight for the first tire hole she could get through. Much to her relief, her boot slide cleanly through the circular hole like a glove, her sole hitting the solid ground at an even angle; She nearly cheered in excitement, she did it!

There was no time to celebrate though, as she felt the car above her tilt at both the jump and her now uneven stance, instantly spelling out to her that she needed to keep going if she wanted to keep it steady. So, she brought her other leg up and aimed it towards the next hole, her boot sliding through the tire hole just as easily as the first. Unfortunately, the car wobbled even more at her newfound set of movement, prompting her to shift her hands to keep its hood from tipping over her head and nosediving to the ground, before forcefully pushing it back up and aiming her next foot forwards.

For what felt like hours, she hoppled from one tire to another, left to right, carefully minding exactly how and where she placed her steps as she went along. It was almost crazy how her initial worries made this seem like that big of a deal, maybe she shouldn’t have been so scared in the first place. Curiosity forced her to pull her eyes from her feet and quickly glance at her progress, finding to her surprise that the finish line was only three steps away!

Speeding up her pace, Applejack quickly reached the end in no time, resisting the urge to sigh in relief when she brought her foot from the last hole and heard Twilight yell “TIME!”. Lowering her arms, Applejack shifted the car towards the side and gently laid it down on the dirt road, careful as to not get a single scratch it, and suddenly felt a hand grasp her shoulder.

Looking over, she locked eyes with a beaming Sunset Shimmer, who without hesitation lifted a sparkly water bottle up to her friend in understanding. Applejack thankfully took the reward and unscrewed the lid in a flash, downing half the bottle of pristine liquid in a millisecond and welcoming the intense chill cool her drying throat.

Taking the lid from her mouth with an audible ‘smack’ she handed it back and brought both her hands up to her face, clenching and unclenching them to rid herself of the slight burn in her muscles. Beside her, Sunset placed the bottle down and laughed.

“Seems like you’ve already got the hang of this AJ.”

She winked and brought a fist up to bump the farmer’s shoulder playfully.

“And here I thought we’d be giving you a challenge. If they add something like this at the Sporting event next weekend, I almost feel sorry for the other team.”

Applejack grinned at her friend, bringing her arm up and ruffling Sunset’s yellow and red hair in a sisterly fashion as the both of them chuckled. Soon she heard footsteps approach them as Twilight came up with Spike at her heels, her eyes peering down at her notepad.

“Nice job AJ…” She spoke up. “…about two and a half minutes total, minus the extra few seconds back at the tires there. I’d say we’re at a pretty good start so far.”

Applejack smiled brightly as Sunset took a swig of her own water, Twilight scribbling down her notes before finally looking up at the both of them.

“For round two, you’ll begin on this side instead. So, whenever you’re ready to start, so are we.”

Applejack hummed in response as Twilight nodded and walked back to the other side of the obstacle course, Timber on the other end repositioning most of the supplies for her. Watching her go, Applejack stretched her arms to the side before turning and heading back to the car for her next round. Only to stop when she passed Sunset and out the corner of her eye she saw the ex-unicorn bring a hand up to her head, massaging her temples and squinting her eyes shut. Fully looking at her, AJ frowned as Sunset fought off what looked to be a massive headache, her mouth etched into a tight grimace as she moaned in pain.

“Sunset? Are you alright there?”

Once hearing her name, Sunset shook her head slightly and waved her off.

“Yeah, yeah I’m fine. Fit as a fiddle.”

Raising an eyebrow, Applejack placed her hands on her hips in disbelief.

“That’s quite a fiddle.”

Not bothering to respond, Sunset ushered another nonchalant wave of her hand before walking off, probability in an attempt to clear her head. However, AJ didn’t have any time to dwell on it, as she heard Twilight yell.

“Are we good to go on that end!?”

Applejack bent her body down and grabbed the underneath of the beetle once more, carefully shifting her hands as to get a much better grip on the underbelly made of hard pipes and metal wires, and slowly lifted the car off the Earth once more.

Trudging back to the ‘finish’ line, she once again positioned herself as Twilight raised her timer into the air, counting down for the second round.

“Ok, on three! One….Two…THREE!”

Applejack growled as she dove her leg forward, jumping into the first tire with relative ease before hopping into the next. However, she grunted in surprise when she suddenly felt her foot twist awkwardly to the side as she stepped on an unseen root growing from the dirt. Wincing at the pain, she lifted her other foot as the gravity pulled at her body due to her uneven stance, and quickly thrusted her free leg out to catch her from falling.

In her haste, instead of her foot going into the hole it landed on the tire’s outer rim, screwing up her balance even more so. Applejack yelped as her tipped to the side and brought her sore foot out from its hole before attempting to jump into the next tire, instead landing on its outer rim as well. What a bad way to start.

With the heavy vehicle in her hands looming over her and the stopwatch breathing down her neck, AJ huffed in indignation before hopping to the next tire, this time intentionally aiming for its rim. Once she landed on it, her boot taking a moment to steady itself on the curved angle, before she jumped over to the next.

Well, it wasn’t exactly how she was supposed to ‘climb’ the ladder, but it at least kept her at an even balance for now.

With one last jump, she pushed off the last tire and landed back on solid ground, ignoring the strained muscle in her foot, and shuffled down the rest of the course. Passing by the multiple other objects in her way, Applejack hopped over a small haystack and glanced at the finish line, which was getting closer by the second.

Curiosity got the best of her, and her eyes left the finish line, automatically scanning the area to glance at her friends.

Twilight held the stopwatch in one hand while she squinted at the notepad in her hand, supposedly comparing her notes from the first run to this one, while Timber was proudly giving AJ a respectable thumbs up. As for Sunset…

Applejack felt herself mentally pause when she finally looked back at the red-haired girl. When they talked just moments ago, Sunset seemed to have been struggling with a sort of headache, yet still managed to press on the believed fact that she was fine. However, now it seemed that her headache was growing into more of a problem. The ex-Equestrian currently stood a couple ways away from the trio, her eyes still shut and finger massaging her temples in a feeble attempt to calm down whatever was bothering her, yet to no avail.

Before Applejack could process it any further, she watched as Sunset gasped in either shock or a sort of surprised pain and hunched over, clasping her fingers around her entire skull while stumbling over her feet.

Suddenly, Applejack wasn’t in Camp Everfree anymore. Instead, she was in her car on her way to the hospital, listening as the backseat exploded into a flurry of crowded noises. Pinkie Pie’s terrified ramblings halted AJ from getting in a word edgewise, and Sunset, by Faust, her echoing bloodcurdling screams sent haunting chills down AJ’s spine that would last forever. She was unsure what was worse, being so caught off guard by Sunset sudden, out of nowhere screaming, or being forced to bear through it while driving.

She gripped the steering wheel tight, so tight she was certain she’d cut off circulation, as Sunset wailed in untold agony. She should stop. Stop the car. Stop the car and hold her friend, tell her that she and Pinkie were there and that everything would be alright.

But she couldn’t, something stopped her from doing so. The muscles in her arms constricted, forcing her hands to be glued to the wheel and her foot pressed to the gas pedal, like she was being puppeted against her will to keep going and ignore her clearly distressed friends.

Why? Why was Sunset crying? Why did this always have to happen to them? To her? They were good people, Sunset was a good person, they did good things to help their loved ones. Just why? Why. Why. Why. Why. Why. Why. Why!

APPLEJACK!”

She sputtered in surprise and shock when her stomach slammed straight into one of the barrels, causing her to let out a choked cough as the solid wood knocked the wind right from her lungs, before it tumbled down to the ground. She quickly attempted to right herself, only to have her confused legs get caught around now fallen barrel, causing her to stumble even more. Now completely uneven, she soon felt her body’s natural reaction to tip over to the floor, which in turn .

It was too much, with the gravity pulling it at full force mixed with her already stunned state, the teen could only yelp in terror as the car tipped out of her hands towards the ground.

Suddenly, she felt something familiar pick up in the air, causing the geode around her neck to glow as a flurry of objects flew over her head at lightning speed towards the car. Meanwhile, something tickled the hair on the back of her neck, like electric static from a balloon, and she found herself halted midair.

Lifting her head up, she stared in both relief and shock at Twilight, who had all but tossed her supplies to the floor and activated her geode, causing a dark purplish aura to surround her body. That same purple aura was also now covering Applejack as well, suspending her safely from falling

What she did not expect to see, were the new forms of Rarity and Pinkie Pie standing right next to Twilight, with the fashionista’s arms outstretched and body glowing a blindingly white hue as well.

It was then Applejack eventually peered upward, and her jaw nearly dropped to the floor. Like her, Fluttershy’s Beetle was also being kept midair by Equestrian magic, only this time by a blanket of crystal shields surrounding both the front hood and underside, leaving it tilted as though the car was slanted down some kind of hill.

Rarity flicked her hands down, her shields lowered to the ground at a slow pace, before they carefully touched the ground and evaporated into thin air, gently leaving the Beetle on the parking lot like nothing had ever happened.

The purple glow around Applejack began to straighten her too, settling her back up on to her feet. Once she was back into the right position, the purple aura dissipated and left her, the warmth in her geode fading away.

“Thanks Twi. You too Rarity.” She breathed, placing her hands on her hips while the fashionista dropped her arms before waving with an overdramatic huff.

“Honestly, it’s as if I can’t go a second without any of you getting into trouble.”

Applejack resisted the urge to scoff herself, instead focusing on controlling her rapidly beating heart. It wasn’t long before footsteps approached her, and she heard the frantic voice of Twilight speak up.

“Applejack! What happened!? Are you hurt?”

The farm girl winced at the high volume, before turning around to face her friend, who she could instantly tell was one step away from freaking out. Forcing out a smile, AJ pulled up both her hands in a calming manner.

“Whoa there sugarcube, ah’m alright. See?” She gestured her right hand over her unscathed body. “No injuries here, just got the wind knocked outta me, that’s all.”

“Then what happened to you?” The cautious tone of Timber Spruce broke out, forcing AJ to close her mouth shut. For a few seconds she said nothing, her mind still in a tizzy after the little mind trip, until she cleared her throat and looked towards the concerned faces of her friends.

“Ah, uh, just got a little distracted, that’s all.”

Though many of their expressions softened, she knew they still had their doubts. But there was no need to get worked up over her!

“Now, now.” She spoke up in her more authoritative voice. “There’s no need for frettin’, Y’all here! My mind just took a step outta its pen, nothing else.”

Though obviously still skeptical, Twilight visibly relaxed before repositioning her glasses.

“Well, if you’re sure you’re ok…” she began, only to pause for a moment until changing the subject. “In any case, I think now’s a good time to take ten. We’ll try this again for another hour or so, then help Pinkie Pie with her test.”

AJ nodded, thankful in the change in topic. Giving her several pats on the shoulder and comforting glances, Twilight, Pinkie, Timber, and Rarity turned and walked over to the ice chest and water jug, preparing for break. However, instead of immediately following behind, Applejack stood there for a minute, letting out a frustrated sigh as she massaged her eyes.

More footsteps approached her, this time only being one pair, and a hand grasped her shoulder. It was Sunset, who had somehow shaken herself out of her own troubled mindset and had witnessed AJ’s near disastrous fall.

“Hey, are you sure everything’s okay Applejack?”

No, it’s not. “Yeah, ah’m sure.” She sighed, hoping her friend would get the message that she wanted this scenario to be over already.

Luckily, Sunset seemed to get the hint and gave the country girl one last comforting pat before heading over to the rest of the teens, her movements a tad sluggish. Applejack gritted her teeth as the memories began flooding back, reminiscing all the pain and horror in all their sinister glory. She growled as her subconscious shoved the unwelcome thoughts away into the deepest pit of her mind, hoping to Faust that they would stay there, before fixing her Stetson hat and walking over to her friends.

She could do this. She had to. After all, she had the magic of Friendship by her side, there was no obstacle she, or any of them couldn’t overcome.

Right?

___________________________________

Canterlot City, Larson Square.

There it was again. Cole snarled as he dropped the unconscious mugger to ground, not caring for the hollow thud coming from the punk’s skull once it dropped unceremoniously on the concrete. Ignoring the screams of the thief’s would-be victims who were now tumbling their way out of the alleyway and back into the street, probably more scared of the ‘town’s most wanted terrorist’ rather than some random thug, he bent down to pick up the stolen money.

He had a slight hunch that the money’s original owners weren’t coming back anytime soon, so might as well make the whole scenario worth his while.

All day he’d been on edge. Something was going on and it riled up his insides like a tornado, unseen signals that only he could hear wafted alongside the city air that just screamed for attention. Could it be, whatever it was, calling for him specifically?

It made him anxious and fidgety, like an animal who accidentally wandered into another’s territory. Therefore, ever since morning the conduit had scoured almost the entirety of Canterlot City, searching high and low as best he could to find the source, from the city’s tallest skyscraper to nearly entering the outer suburbs, only to have his search end in failure. Then again, why was he even surprised, life never could give you a straight answer.

Which lead him to here, taking his frustration out on an unsuspecting criminal while probably scarring a couple for the rest of their lives. But hey, at least now he had a whole lot less steam to pent up. Sheathing the Amp back into its strap, he pocketed what had to be a good set of Twenties before jogging to the closet drainpipe and scaling upward in no time flat.

Once he managed to grab the shingles and hoist his full body onto the rooftop, Cole twitched when he felt another strong wave of unseen power rush into his head, small bits of electricity automatically dancing out of his skin while the sense brushed by him. Normally he’d be able to track supernatural activity without any problem at all, but unfortunately for him the entire city itself was already coated with some kind of untold aura, which seemed to meld with whatever this new sense was, making it even more impossible to track.

Rubbing the forming bags underneath his eyes, Cole sighed before walking towards the edge of the roof preparing to jump off to the next, only to stop abruptly when his eyes looked got caught at the sight before him. Once again, he felt his brain go blank at the brilliant colors and feeling of the soft, calm tone that thrived within the strange city. It always seemed to automatically freeze him right in his tracks.

Cole’s tense shoulders sagged in relaxation, breathing in before suddenly finding himself unconsciously bending over to sit down, his legs dangling off the roof while continuing to gaze out. It was mesmerizing, the bright neon colors of the various clubs, the pureness of the carefree citizens, as well as the brilliant orange sky. Empire City never looked this peaceful, even in its prime.

He paused when he felt the sense once more, the mysterious signal wafting past as though it were trying to yank him by the ear and get his attention. The courier grumbled as he tried to ignore the message, desperately enforcing his agitated mind that to go out and look some more would only be a wild goose chase, nothing but more of his time wasted.

Instead, he looked down at the people below, watching as they mingled with one another and went about their daily lives. As couples chatted and kids bounced from their parents’ arms, everything seemed so at peace; No psychopathic fascists, no backstabbing government officials grasping at people’s lives for control, and best of all, no Beast. For now, anyway.

There were dangers still at large, that was for certain. The Changlers were still out there, no doubt planning their next move, John was still out there planning God knows what, and many other problems he’d have to deal with. But as of this moment, there was mostly nothing but the sweet sound of silence, something Cole could honestly say he missed most of all in the last two months.

He closed his eyes as the stress finally eased to a simmering heat, fatigue quickly replacing into his system. How long had it been since he had a day, a full day, to just relax and be himself? To be Cole Macgrath. Not the superhero ‘Electric Man’, or the ‘demon terrorist’, but instead just the nobody bike messenger who pissed off his dad for a living and carried around packages instead of bombs on his bicycle.

He brought up a hand, blue sparks seeping out of his fingers and illuminating the orange, crisp afternoon air. Except he couldn’t, he couldn’t be that nobody bike messenger, not anymore. No matter where he went, no matter what he could do or who’s lives he saved, he would always be a conduit. A superhero. A terrorist. A freak.

And that was fine, because he made his peace with that fact long ago.

Drooping the hand back down to his sides, Cole twitched again as the air thickened with the strange sense and irritated his conduit insides. He resisted the urge to sigh, instead settling for placing a hand on his chin in thought, narrowing his eyes into focus. There had to be something he was overlooking, a clue that could point him in the right direction, and at least explain some of the crazy happenings in this valley.

But where? Where could he find such a clue, or a trail to follow? Maybe there was someone else who knew something, because come on, there was no way he was the only person in this city who felt as though things here were weird. There had to be some other person or people who could tell something was off, maybe even talked about it, perhaps conspiracy websites, blog posts, reports, or…

Wait.

His eyes shot open as previous memories from days past resurfaced. Quickly shuffling his sling bag off from his back, Cole undid the zipper and shuffled his hand underneath the hard metal of the Amp, before he eventually found the stolen article.

Yanking it out of the bag’s pocket, Cole repositioned his backpack before looking back down on the paper. The familiar black and white picture of some kind of colored blur greeted him, forming an uneasy knot in his stomach just by looking at it. His eyes skimmed over the title once more.

“Strange occurrences grow as scientists struggle to identify source.”

He smiled. Looks like he had a clue after all.

_________________________________

Camp Everfree, dining cabin

Sunset winced as yet another voice passed through her head, this time being Rarity’s, interrupting the short peace and quiet of the wilderness. With all seven of them out practicing their magic to their full potential, it didn’t take long for Sunset to hear all of her friends’ inner thoughts without even touching them. And not just them either, there were some moments where she could hear both Timber and Gloriosa’s thoughts as well, making the situation all the more awkward.

Luckily, she came prepared today, bringing her headphones from home, as well as a handful of books Twilight had loaned her just yesterday. One of which she was currently attempting to read right now; An Equis Science book her friend no doubt borrowed herself from CHS’ science teacher, Prof. Igneous. She never truly cared much for mineral science in itself, often finding the studies of rock formations and weather affects on soil uninteresting. After all, why focus your attention on rocks of all things when there were so many unanswered questions on formulas and solutions?

Sunset waited as Rarity’s inner voice floated around in her own mind for a few seconds before eventually leaving, the fashionista inwardly ranting about what Sunset guessed was all the splattered goo covering her dress. If you asked her, maybe Rarity should’ve thought better on her attire when going to an outdoor summer camp. Then again, arguing with Rarity about her taste in clothing was like pulling the teeth out of a ticked off Manticore. Nevertheless, the ex-Equestrian could do nothing but roll her eyes and continue back to her reading.

“Chapter 8…” She spoke aloud. “…Theory of Plate Tectonics. Plate Tectonics is the theory that Equis’ lithosphere is divided into tectonic plates which move around on top of the Asthenosphere. Before we begin on what causes tectonic plates to move however, we must first start with discussing tectonic plate boundaries...”

The teen hummed in thought while skimming through the various pages of the textbook, her interest neither growing nor increasing as she read more. Page after page of how much the tectonic boundaries depended on how the plates moved relative to one another, or whenever the rocky surface of said plates were heated, they tended to expand and rise to Equis’ surface.

Already finding herself entering chapter 9, Sunset anxiously tapped her fingers on her leg when something in her brain lurched, causing her to drop the textbook out of her hands and grasp her skull.

It hurt, it hurt a lot, as if somebody suddenly injected a syringe full of poison into her brain and it slowley began eating away on the inside.

This wasn’t the first time either, ever since they started hours earlier, she’d been having episodes where something in her head would act up and hurt her like this. What’s worse, was the fact that it felt familiar, so familiar it scared her. At the beginning she chalked it up to random Déjà vu, that was until Applejack’s session, where it had gotten so bad to the point where it was noticeable.

Even before meeting up with the farm girl, Sunset was already struggling with her overpowered magic to begin with. It was difficult, but not unbearable, as she was used to hearing multiple thoughts at once, not to mention they were her friends’ thoughts. However, the real issue started in AJ’s second lap through the obstacle course, where right in the middle of it all Sunset felt the very same pain inject into her brain.

It caught her off guard at first, to the point where she audibly gasped at the pain and clutched her head. That’s when she heard it, a voice that was different then that of her friends, that dark, mysterious mixture of a whisper and a scream which clung onto her subconscious. Drifting by like a passing fog, before disappearing in a matter of what felt like both seconds and hours. After that was a blur, while she was dealing with whatever had found its way into her head, she could hear something going on in the background, most notably Twilight’s anxious voice calling out for Applejack, coupled with what sounded like objects falling over and surprised shouts from both Timber and AJ. Finally, she managed to open her eyes as the dark substance drifted away, only to wish she hadn’t.

Apparently Applejack had somehow tripped during her run and fallen down without catching herself, dropping Fluttershy’s car in the process. Luckily Twilight had caught the cowgirl in time, holding the teen up with her own purple magic, but then what about…

She then suddenly heard Rarity speak up from the side, prompting her to look up and notice the fashionista’s signature crystal shields holding the large vehicle in place. A collective feeling of relief filled the air as both Rarity and Twilight righted their respective rescuees, before Sunset narrowed her eyes pulled her attention back to her mind.

That voice, she heard it before, on the hospital drive last week. The whole reason she was here in Camp Everfree now.

But why did it return now of all days? Last time, it was when everyone’s respective powers went crazy, but that wasn’t happening here as far as she could tell. It worried her, perhaps it only came when magic in itself was involved?

Before she could contemplate more, she quickly noticed the group crowding Applejack and questioning the strange turn of events, continuously asking if she were okay. To which the cowgirl responded in her usual confident tone ‘to not worry about it.’

After, everyone seemed to simultaneously agree to take a ten-minute break and trudged off to sit down. As for Sunset, she instead when up to Applejack, not entirely convinced that her friend was okay as she claimed. That suspicion proved even more so to be true when she managed to talk to the farmer, getting a heated reassurance that she was okay and to leave it at that, to which she hesitantly did.

Once the hour passed, it was decided that AJ would be done for the day, thus finally making it Pinkie Pie’s turn to practice her magic. And that was why everyone else, minus Dash and Fluttershy, was currently inside the Camp Everfree dining room, cheering their pink friend on as she tried to bake one of her most famous cupcake recipes without making the sprinkles in her hand explode. As for Sunset, she decided to sit outside of the cabin on the porch as to not get Twilight’s books soaked in oily batter.

(That and so she could actually have some sort of chance at thinking straight, because a noisy room of exploding food mixed with having the loud inner thoughts of other people rummage around in your head can be very stressful.)

A loud bang echoed from behind her, signaling that another one of Pinkie’s attempts at cooking just exploded again, causing Sunset to wince in sympathy. They’d been at this for how long now? She reached into her jacket’s breast pocket and pulled out her phone, clicking the power button and gazing at the clock on the lock screen. Almost an hour and fifteen minutes.

She had to admit, as zany and childish as Pinkie could appear, when she had her mind set on something that girl was relentless. She couldn’t help but feel a bubble of pride emerge in her stomach, all of the girls had pitched in today and given their absolute all, despite obviously being uncomfortable with the whole situation, and in return they’d at least gotten some good results.

But inwardly, she knew that just one day of practice wouldn’t be enough. They still had a ways to go in order to figure out just what exactly happened on Tuesday, therefore more and more practice sessions would be needed. They wouldn’t be able to do them after school, there was too much of a concern for them getting caught by other people and gaining unwanted attention.

That in particular had always been one of Sunset’s worst fears, accidentally gaining the attention of authorities or even the government. No, no she’d be caught dead before one of her friends, her family were placed in some kind of cage and subjected to prying scientists or power crazed people. She made a promise to them, to princess Twilight, to herself that nothing would happen to any of them, and that was a promise she intended to keep.

Another loud “SPLAT” hit the window of the dining cabin’s door window, as noises continued from inside. Feeling the pain once again fade away, Sunset looked back down at the book she’d dropped, contemplating to herself.

Eventually, her boredom and curiosity got the best of her, as she picked up Twilight’s textbook, placed it on the small table beside her before standing up and turning towards the cabin’s front double doors. Gripping the handle of the right side, she clicked the knob and pushed it inward, stepping into the chilled room of the cabin.

Only to widen her eyes in shock as she just barely dodged a flying chunk of batter which bolted past her face and out the door. Covering her face, Sunset, peeked her eyes over to the large kitchen table in the middle of the room, where she saw most of her friends.

Twilight, Applejack and timber stood right beside Pinkie, each and every one of them rubbing off the splattered batter on their accessories (Glasses, Stetson hat, beanie, ect.) and holding specific cooking items, obviously in the middle of helping Pinkie with her cooking. Meanwhile she saw Rarity over by the kitchen sink desperately checking her body for any stains, although the large apron and bouffant hat atop her head no doubt put her in the clear. To the far left corner of the room, she could see the little form of Spike huddled underneath one of the shelves, licking the batter out of his purple fur while making sure to keep himself out of the line of fire.

As for the current girl of the hour, Pinkie was glaring at the platter of destroyed cupcakes in seething, betrayed anger, as if she were asking them why they would hurt her like this, ignore her love and spit in her face for no reason at all.

Huffing in frustration, Pinkie’s head suddenly became a blur as she shook the gunk out of her hair like a dog before her back went ramrod straight.

“Sparkle!” she barked, startling the teens beside her. “Frosting, STAT!

Fumbling with her glasses, Twilight let out a surprised squeak at Pinkie’s unusual commanding tone and rushed over to the plastic tube on the other side of the table. As her friend bounced off to get the recipe, Pinkie turned to Timber and AJ, who froze once under the pink fury’s gaze.

“Applejack, Timber, I want the baking powder and vanilla, and I wanted it yesterday!”

Not needing to be told twice, Applejack nodding quickly and Timber lifting his hand to give a shaky salute, both teens practically flung themselves towards the bags of ingredients and placed them right beside the batter-filled bowl Pinkie had pulled out of nowhere.

“Rarity! I need you to check that other batch in the oven, if my Pinkie senses are correct, we have precisely ten minutes for those tasty cakes to be done.”

Rarity, who jumped slightly when Pinkie pointed to her, managed to recompose herself and dashed away from the sink to the oven, peering inside the glass window. While she was busy, Pinkie grabbed a second bowl and began whisking together a handful of butter and sugar, creating more thick, fluffy batter.

After she was done, the party girl automatically thrusted her hand to the side as Twilight handed her egg after egg, allowing Pinkie to stir them in as well. As Pinkie continued to beat up yet another batch, Sunset heard Rarity call out in affirmation.

“Why, you’re right Pinkie, these do in fact only need ten more minutes!”

A satisfactory smile formed of Pinkie’s face as she finished whipping the batter, pawning it over to Timber for him to mix in the ingredients from both bowls as well as the buttermilk. For the next few minutes, Sunset watched in amazement as each person rushed here and there around the kitchen, stirring together the batter or dipping it into the muffin pans to be ready for the oven, until finally the high-pitched beeping of the timer screeched through the air signaling the cakes were finished cooking.

Quick as a flash, Pinkie whipped her body around and pulled open the oven door, scooping out their creation and bringing it up to her face, her nose catching a nice whiff of the sweet aroma and causing her to momentarily shudder in delight. Licking her lips, Pinkie then turned back to the table and placed the muffin pan down, spotting Twilight in the corner of her eye holding the frosting in between her hands.

Looking over to her purple haired friend, she nodded to Twilight for her to begin the process. Smiling, Twilight moved up and graciously poured on the sugary topping onto the undecorated cupcakes, as Pinkie then focused her attention back on the final batch. Still wearing the oven mitts, she gently picked up the other batter filled pan and watched as Rarity opened up the oven, before quickly placing them inside and setting the timer for another twenty minutes.

Meanwhile, Twilight, alongside a now appearing Applejack, had just finished decorating the already made cupcakes, signaling to their temporary leader.

“Pinkie, we’re ready for it.” Applejack spoke, although even from her place by the door, Sunset could clearly hear a good amount of hesitance in her words. As for Pinkie, she actually froze on the spot, her determined demeanor wavering slightly. quickly noticing the sudden change in atmosphere, Rarity grasped onto Pinkie’s shoulder in a comforting manner, causing one of her oldest friends to shake free from her trace and finally notice the dress maker’s kind smile.

Though it was obvious Pinkie was clearly having doubts, Rarity insisted on giving her a well needed pat while speaking softly.

“It’s going to be okay darling, I know this is difficult, be we believe in you. You can do this, I know you can!”

Still unsure, Pinkie nevertheless gave Rarity her own small smile before standing straight, brushing off the stray batter on her clothes, and nervously inched towards the pan of ready-made cupcakes. In her eyes, they already looked splendiferous and delicious, with their crisp and toasty bread body topped with a hairdo of glistening, sugary coated frosting they were practically begging to be eaten. All that was missing was the final touch. The cherry on top.

A nice dash of uber delicious sprinkles.

But that was just it, the sprinkles were the whole problem. Everything worked out perfectly, the bread, the ingredients, the cooing, the frosting décor. It was just the sprinkles that caused her issues.

Imagine building a beautiful batch of cupcakes with scrumptious frosting while trying to add sprinkles, only to have those little flakes of sugar explode like individual bombs and turn your hard worked creation into a pile of yucky, mushy slop. It defeats the whole process of the fun!

At the beginning, Pinkie had found her new Equestrian powers to be amazing and honestly really funny, after all, exploding sprinkles made for great pranks! However, she quickly understood that while silly in a party, sugar explosions weren’t necessarily the right type of ingredient for originally solid deserts.

And it wasn’t just the food that got ruined, sometimes while with friends she’d find herself automatically reaching for the can of sprinkles while getting cookies prepared, then accidentally flinging sticky batter all into other people’s hair and clothes. Now that wasn’t a very funny scenario to be in.

Gulping down her nervousness, Pinkie Pie shuffled her hands before finally reaching over to the small can of sprinkles and shyly holding it up, her eyes glancing down to look at the plastic container’s interior. With the lid unscrewed and placed aside, there was no barrier to hold them in place, allowing her to see the small sugary pieces in their full glory. From here, they appeared so harmless to her, as of now they were simply desert decorations waiting to be used instead of potential hazards to herself and her friends.

All around her, Pinkie felt her friends try and get as close as they could, despite their better judgment, and each began to speak to her in their own comforting ways.

“We’re here for you Pinkie, you can do this!”

“It’s gonna be alright sugarcube, you’ve got this.”

“You’re a pro at cooking, this is nothing to you!”

She smiled as the group continued to chant her on, until her eyes suddenly passed by the cabin’s doors, and she finally noticed Sunset Shimmer, who gave the party girl her own smile and an encouraging thumbs up.

The edges of Pinkie Pie’s eyes watered, a warm spark igniting in her chest before she wiped them dry with her free forearm and breathed deeply, her expression once again becoming one of determination. Hand twitching, she reached her hand outward to where the sprinkle can was right over the frosting covered cupcakes and ever so gently began to tip it sideways while midair.

She could do this, she could do this.

Calming her breathing, Pinkie tapped the side of the can with her finger, causing three or four sprinkles to lazily roll out of the opening and fall towards their destination. Everyone held their breath as the small sugar toppings landed square on the whipped frosting, immediately sinking into the crust on impact.

….
….

Nothing. That was good, but there was still more to do. She tapped the can with her finger once more, this time a bit harder, which caused a larger number of sprinkles to fall from their home and onto the cupcakes below. When they fell onto the small cakes without so much as a fizzle, this time Pinkie could just barely hear Timber breath a small sigh of relief and a prayer to Faust, to which Applejack promptly elbowed him for. Pinkie breathed in deeply once more, holding it for a few seconds until letting it out, the small gesture somewhat soothing her nerves, and steeled herself. Time for the main course.

This time she hit the can with two of her fingers, creating an audible thump, and about a dozen sprinkles poured out onto the undecorated cupcakes further down the pan, neither of them exploding either. This was going great, greater than her last segment anyway! She just hoped it could do this for the rest of the cupcakes, she didn’t want to make even more of a mess in Gloriosa’s kitchen.

While she was thinking, she absentmindedly thumped the can again and this time could see a hint of the sprinkles glowing a bright pink as they hit their target. She really hoped it was just a sudden trick of the eye and that her inner anxiety was only making her seeing things, but that hope faded quickly when she felt the teens around her flinch as well at the sight. She narrowed her eyes, she just needed to try harder then, therefore she instead shook her head clear of anymore thoughts and dumped on more of the sugar.

The bright pink she saw before was gone, luckily, as she continued to decorate the cupcakes alongside the pan, her smile slowly etching more and more. Even her friends had gotten less and less tense, instead, getting closer to the pan and watching in astounded amazement as she continued dressing up the deserts.

This is what Pinkie missed most of all. Again, cooking with exploding sprinkles could be silly and insanely fun at times, but there were moments in cooking that required calm and precise work, otherwise the delicious food wouldn’t be at it’s total potential. A soufflé for example, needed to be stylized and neatly formed in order for the tasters to get the most out of their experience, therefore she had to be extra, super-dooper careful with her cooking.

To be perfectly honest, it wasn’t just her cooking she was worried about. She could still feel the others’ gazes around her, certainly not judging but still very much weary about the whole predicament. Pinkie didn’t want to disappoint them, they all seemed pretty adamant about taking more control over their powers and made it plainly clear that they needed her help in doing so. She couldn’t fail when all her friends were counting on her! No. She would so this, she would make them proud and not screw up this time. not again, not like she always did-

SPLAT!

All five backed from the table in horror, (apart from Sunset who instead winced), as one of the last few muffins exploded into shards of batter and sugar, its force completely ruining it neighboring muffins as well as the surrounding area.

Rarity let out a barely contained shriek as the batter slapped her straight in her face and sent her tumbling back, grabbing AJ by the collar and yanking the cowgirl down with alongside her. Twilight covered her face so the batter wouldn’t smudge her glasses again and Timber quickly ducked behind the purple teen for cover.

Just as soon and it happened, the explosion quickly ceased, and the kitchen was once again quiet, only this time a thick layer of tension filled the air, many of them unsure what to say at the moment. As for Pinkie, the party planner just simply stood in her designated place in front of the table, baffled. Her eyes cast downward at the destroyed pastries, a mixture of emotions swirling in her stomach and burning up to her chest. She screwed up, again. She’d been doing this for almost two whole hours, and she was still failing. Then again, that was to be expected of her. She felt the edges of her eyes water as dark memories began to resurface, ones she struggled relentlessly to shove down. Foolish girl, making a mess of things as usual!

Her thoughts were interrupted as an arm wrapped around her shoulders, causing her to swivel her face to see a batter-soaked Applejack peering at her in comfort.

“Well, uh…” She seemed to struggle with her words for a minute. “…Ah certainly do think that was the closest you’ve to finishing those suckers so far.”

In response to her words, Pinkie Pie brought her eyes back down to the tables, a hollow chuckle escaping her lips as she whispered a silent “Yeah” before folding her arms. Applejack obviously noticed her usually bubbly friend’s disheartenment and patted her other shoulder, unsure how to respond, with no help from the others who had begun fidgeting and finding the ground suddenly very interesting.

A high-pitched beeping rung through the air as the oven interrupted the silence. From beside Twilight, Timber awkwardly chuckled.

“Well, sounds like the next batch is done.”

He immediately shut his mouth when all five heads turned towards his direction, their heated glares boring into his soul.

_____

Camp Everfree, Gazebo area

Dust, rocks, and forest debris kicked up from underneath her feet as Rainbow Dash bolted out of the forest trail and back onto the level ground of Camp Everfree’s main area. Huffing out a wheezy breath, Rainbow Dash pulled the collar of her t-shirt up and dabbed her sweat-soaked eyebrows, her chest heaving in and out.

“Ho-boy…” She breathed. “…Note to self, watch out for tree roots and holly bushes next time.”

With her eyes dry, RD flicked her sore foot and slightly hoppled over to one of the camp benches before practically melting into the seat. Letting out one last sigh of relief, Rainbow pulled out her half empty water bottle and guzzled down the now lukewarm liquid until it was completely empty, though not near enough to help her sandpaper dry throat.

Lifting her arm, she stared at the clock on her wrist, the time reading 4:30 on the dot. If she remembered correctly from the text messages, Five o’clock was around the time they had to leave the place, which in turn meant she had thirty minutes to spare.

Speaking of which, she wondered how the rest of the girls were doing with their practicing. She hadn’t seen any of them so far, and the place sounded awfully quiet. Without missing a beat, Dash pulled her phone from her pants pocket and brought up the first contact number, Applejack, and was about to press the call button before stopping herself.

Just before they’d started today, each of them made a promise as to not call one another on account of them risking one of them to losing focus during training, which would create a big problem for everyone. If she called AJ while she was right in the middle of bench pressing Fluttershy’s vehicle, she’d never hear the end of it!

So instead she rolled her eyes back and stuffed the phone deep into her pockets before wrapping her arms behind her skull and leaning back, therefore her eyes were cast towards the dimming, cloudless blue sky. Closing her eyes as a nice calm breeze wafted by her face, Dash silently wished she’d brought her shades if she’d known she’d have time for a break today. Were they not here for the intention of working, this would’ve been the perfect day and place to kick back and relax, the lack of beating sun coupled with the cool breeze made it the cherry on top.

A sound echoed off to her left, what sounded like footsteps and someone pushing through bushes made their way to her before a very familiar sneeze caught RD’s attention. Not opening her eyes, she grunted.

“Hey Fluttershy.”

A small “eep!” could be heard as the new arrival finally noticed the only other occupant in the area, possibly ruffling her dress in embarrassment at being so caught off guard before inching over to the resting athlete. Rainbow Dash felt the bench creak slightly as Fluttershy sat next to her, noticing RD’s state of comfort and chose to keep quiet. For a solid 10 minutes, the two laid in comfortable silence, basking in the lukewarm glow of the sun as the day slowly began to set, Fluttershy fiddling with her dress while humming a soft tune, of which seemed to lull Rainbow Dash almost to sleep.

“How do you suppose they’re doing?”

Rainbow Dash lifted a noticeably heavy eyelid to peer over at her childhood friend, who had stopped messing with her clothes and was staring off towards what RD guessed was the direction to the kitchen-something cabin where everyone else was, her eyes obviously full of worry.

Closing her squinted eye back shut, RD waved her hand nonchalantly while scoffing.

“Eh, I’m sure they’re doing fine, it’s Pinkie Pie’s turn right? If anything, I’m surprised they hadn’t finished early with how determined she can be sometimes.”

Fluttershy giggled into her hand, looking back over at her old friend with heart melting warmth etched all over her features.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right. she does have a way with surprising us.”

Rainbow nodded before laying further back into the bench, content with nearly falling asleep again. Truth be told, she was actually a bit worried for them, for the whole entire day too. Despite AJ’s earlier pep talk from the morning, something just left a big pit in her stomach that refused to go away regardless of her attempts to stomach it down. She knew the girls could handle themselves with minor magical problems, that much was obvious, but what about when something major happened to them and Dash wasn’t there to help? She shuddered at the mere thought, she’d never forgive herself if they got hurt and there was a chance she could’ve done something about it.

Ugh, images to horrible to describe had plagued her mind throughout her runs in the forest, making it difficult to focus on where she was going and trying to not get lost. Sometimes her only saving grace being the bright trail markings on the trees made by Gloriosa and Timber. Luckily, her magic seemed to be in a good mood today, no super crazy, unstoppable hyper speed power boost thus far, which counted as a big win in her books! Of course, there was the occasional trip or weird ‘pushes’ of her magic that seemed to ramp up her speed a bit, otherwise things looked up all things considering.

Once again without opening her eyes, Dash spoke up to ease her stewing nerves.

“So, uh…” she forced her tongue to work. “…How did it go?”

Fluttershy grimaced at the question, nervously chewing her lower lip while moving a lock of pink hair away from her eyes.

“Oh, you know… i-it went well I suppose. I mean, there were a few bumps here and there and I did almost... n-no, what I mean is…”

With her stammering getting increasingly worse, Rainbow opened both her eyes this time to see the animal lover now anxiously pulling at her hair while desperately trying to get a comprehensive sentence out. Eventually she stopped midsentence and sighed before turning her head bck to face her friend in the eyes.

“What I mean is, it went fine. I had a little trouble, but I’m fine.”

RD in turn raised a skeptical eyebrow, obviously unconvinced by the statement, to which Fluttershy immediately noticed and began to smile in her best way possible.

“Really…” she pressed. “…It went well. I’m fine.”

Still suspicious, RD nevertheless conceived to her statement, shrugging her shoulders and looking back up at the sky.

“What about you? Did you have any problems?”

Oh joy, there it was. Holding back her own grimace, Dash settled for smirking broadly while looking back to the teen.

“Heh, please, I coulda done this whole shindig with my eyes closed. Ain’t nothin’ keeping this girl down!”

Fluttershy let out a small laugh this time, putting a hand up to her mouth and scooting closer to RD, wearing a rare smirk of her own.

“Oh really?” She smiled.

Dash scoffed as the question.

“Yeah! Of course, why else would I be this early? Figured I’d let you guys didn’t need to wait around for me to finish.” Her hand retracted from behind her head and rested on her stomach. “Cuz I don’t know about you, but this girl needs some chow!”

Fluttershy giggled into her hand some more before bending her torso down and resting her head onto Dash’s shoulder, her childhood friend following up with draping an arm around her own neck. For another ten minutes or so, the two sat in silence, listening to the birds and the soft rustles of the pond hitting the shore as the sun began to set lower with every minute.

Suddenly the comfortable peace was interrupted as a voice called out from behind them.

“Rainbow Dash! Fluttershy! Is that you!?”

Fluttershy sat herself up and turned towards the source of the voice, grinning as she waved over the new arrivals.

“Yes! We’re over here Twilight!”

Rainbow didn’t bother turning her head as a herd of footsteps shuffled towards her, signaling that all ten of the sole people at Camp Everfree were now once again all together. A little ways away from Twilight, Dash also heard AJ cough into her fist while speaking up.

“Ah see you’re done with your little jog there, Rainbow Dash.” She chuckled. “Surprised all we heard were just little shockwaves.”

The rainbow-haired athlete rolled her eyes at the comment, closing her eyes and sighing.

“I’m surprised I didn’t see Fluttershy’s car go flying in the air earlier.”

“All right, everyone play nice.” Gloriosa’s own voice blocked Applejack retort, earning RD a win for this round. A flurry of purple burst out of nowhere and rocketed into fluttershy, the quiet girl huffing in surprise as Spike snuggled deeply into her chest. The poor guy must’ve been whooped.

RD rolled her head back, feeling her neck pop and groan at the movement as a yawn stifled her words. Guess he’s not the only one. Suddenly Sunset Shimmer was before the both of them, standing in front of the bench with a satisfied smile gracing her lips. With closer inspection, Dash noticed that she was in fact looking at all of them, and not just the two on the bench.

“Well…” Sunset began, causing the gang of teens to silence and look towards her. “…After what I’ve seen so far, I have to say today went pretty good!”

Unbeknownst to the other, Rainbow released a breath she didn’t know she’d been holding as she watched their de facto leader continue to speak.

“Despite some…uh…issues, you all managed to try and work through in figuring out your magic even though you were hesitant. And even though we did still have a few problems today, that didn’t halt us from making good progress.”

Sunset paused, as if struggling to come up with her next choice of words, before placing a palm on her heart and giving her friends a toothy smile.

“I know you all are scared, I am too, but I can’t tell you how proud I was when you agreed to do this today. I know this isn’t easy, and I feel responsible for that, none of this would’ve happened if I didn’t come to your world. But now I know we can work this together, no matter what happens.”

Amongst the beaming teens, Rainbow Dash felt pride swell from inside her. She did it! She was making progress!

Twilight cleared her throat to gain everyone’s attention, forcing most to snap out of their happy thoughts.

“Of course, that doesn’t mean this is over though.” She concluded. “It’s true we made progress here, but there were still many things we could’ve done better at, which also means we’ll have to try this again soon.”

All of them nodded simultaneously, suddenly growing serious. Sunset herself straightened and placed her hands on her hips.

“She’s right, while we did a fairly good job, we still obviously have a lot of work to do. Next weekend is Canterlot High’s Sport event, so we won’t have time to do anything then, maybe the weekend next if that’s good with all of you?”

Some, like Pinkie, Dash, Gloriosa, Timber, and Twilight, all nodded once again in approval. Meanwhile the rest: AJ, Rarity, and Fluttershy, seemed hesitant at the request. Rarity placed a hand under her chin in thought.

“Hmm, well that does sound quite dandy darling, however, if I recall Mrs. Hemline requested I finish one of my many new designs for that week’s sale. Therefore, I might not be able to come. Though I will certainly try.”

Applejack righted her hat while pressing her memory for more her inner schedule.

“Ah also may have some work to do both at the farm and at the smoothie stand, though hopefully it won’t be too much of a hassle.”

Sunset processed the newfound information, placing one hand on her hip while the other under her chin, deep in thought. Eventually she conceited and glanced back up.

“Alright, we’ll keep that in mind, we may have to find another day. Now if that’s all, then I think it’s time we quite for the day. Who wants to eat?”

A chorus of “me’s” echoed throughout the air as Sunset felt a chuckle escape her throat before she finally turned to the camp’s two sole owners.

“What about you two, you guys wanna come?”

While grateful for the offer, Gloriosa opened her mouth to decline when Timber suddenly clasped an arm on her shoulder and quickly halted her words.

“I think that’d be a great idea, after all, what’s a little break, huh?”

Gloriosia gave her brother a sideways half glare, prepared to snipe back, only to stop abruptly when seeing his pleading look. Sighing in exasperation and defeat, the workaholic slumped her head and shrugged.

“Well, I suppose a break wouldn’t kill me.”

Timber beamed, thankful that his sister finally would step away from her paperwork and cleanup, and quickly ushered her towards the cars, the massive number of teens following behind them.

“Great! I heard Sugarcube corner has the best snacks.”

“Really, I was thinking more along the lines of burgerphile.”

“Don’t be silly, Sweet Snacks Café has the best food!”

“You can’t just say that because you work there Pinkie.”

“It’s true though!”

As they all walked towards the cars, discussing where and what to eat, Sunset simply trailed her eyes while she watched them pass, her proud smile faltering a little. They made progress today, but again, this was only the first time each of them had actually done something like this before. They’d never pushed themselves as far as they did today. At least they never tried. It would take a lot, and she meant a lot of work to get their powers under control as to not have such a disastrous catastrophe happen again.

What’s worse, from what she’d been hearing over the news, things were getting bad up in Canterlot City. The Changlers had really gone too far this time, and though they’d been stopped, there was also supposedly some rumor that one of them was actually on the run inside the city now.

If that Changler ever saw them using their powers out in the open… Sunset visibly shuddered, she didn’t even want to think about gaining those wacko’s attention. Because no matter how much she wanted to take them down, she knew that even with her friends together, the seven of them had a snowballs chance of leaving unscathed, much less alive. That sole thought was what had often kept her up at night, knowing that there were people out there, practically living right next door to her, that she had the potential power to help yet had no idea how.

She brought magic into their world, powerful magic that from her home could stop both a fully adult dragon and an aircraft carrier in mid run, and yet here she was barley understanding how to control it. How pathetic was that?

She clenched her fists into her palms, feeling her nails dig into her skin while she glared at the now empty camp. They had to get their magic under control, the fate of peoples lives depended on them now, and she was going to make damn sure they’d be there when others needed them.

_____________

He paused. Looking up from the paper, he scanned the now darkened city, eyes narrowed suspiciously as he glanced at the surrounding area. It stopped. It was gone, he could feel it now. The lack of tenseness in the air was immediately noticeable, as was the calmness returning to the wind, causing his body to finally relax and the irritable itch in his skin now fading away.

He huffed in annoyance, half thankful for the welcomed peace and irritated at the massive amounts of questions now bombarding in his head. Instead, he lifted the newspaper once more as his other free hand began to spark with blue, allowing him to finish reading the article in his hands.

Whatever, he’d find the source soon enough. All it took was a little more patience.

As his eyes scanned through the readings, skimming through pointless rambling claims of shocked civilians and desperate scientists, one particular sentence suddenly caught his attention.

“In regard to the strange occurrence, reports of similar tales have been spoken by people living inside the suburban areas just outside the Canterlot metroplex, where many fingers, including Principle Abacus Cinch of Crystal Prep Highschool, have pointed towards Canterlot’s second high school CHS, although these judging claims have yet to be proven.”