Great. Just great. Now the locals were getting powers. I didn't even have levitation here, and now suddenly Twilight had smacked herself in the face with a hairbrush. This could only mean bad things, at least for the moment. I pulled Twilight and Sunset aside to the empty cafeteria, while Blaze and Rapids followed me.
"Okay, so that happened," I said, looking around to see if there wasn't somebody around. "If I remember right, you didn't have those powers when I was there last, so why now?"
Sunset shrugged while Twilight looked down at the floor in shock. Rapids occasionally poked her shoulder to see if she could get any reaction, but no dice. At least she didn't knock herself out with her brush.
"It makes about as much sense as anything else that's going on around here," Sunset said. "With this much latent magic in the air, it was bound to manifest itself in weird ways at some point."
"Yeah, but why me?" Twilight groaned. "You three and Sunset are from Equestria originally, so it would make sense if something like that happened to you, but I suddenly get the power to levitate things? Why would that even happen?"
"I have no idea, but I'm going to find out." I glanced out of the cafeteria window where everybody else was just milling around and doing their various camp activities. If Twilight randomly gained powers, what on earth would happen to the rest of them? Would we have a bunch of other campers randomly getting powers, some of whom had no idea about Equestria and what it meant to wield Equestrian magic? There was no way that Twilight hadn't absorbed some, so if everybody else was exposed... no, that wouldn't be good.
"So, the first thing is to try to find out exactly where the magic is coming from again. Maybe there are some artifacts or a... I dunno, magic egg or something like that that I can get back to Equestria for safe disposal."
Or, depending on what it was, my weapons room. Whatever it was had enough power to give random high schoolers magic powers. Studying and refining that would be interesting.
One thing at a time, though.
The five of us walked out of the cafeteria. I spotted Kristen walking around seemingly searching for something. Given that she perked up and made a beeline for us when she saw us, I could guess what that was. She grinned when she got closer and poked my shoulder.
"There you are. I was beginning to wonder where you'd gotten off to."
"I could say the same about you," I replied with a raised eyebrow. "What are you getting up to?"
She shrugged. "This and that. Nothing destructive. Probably."
"We're here to investigate Equestrian magic," I growled. "This isn't the time for pranks."
She gave me an uneasy chuckle and rubbed the back of her neck. "Well then, I think I have some bad news for you."
I really didn't have time for any of this.
"Whatever, just don't cause too much trouble. I want to find the problem and get out with as little fuss as possible, which is getting harder because..." I squeezed my eyes shut and rubbed my temples. "Twilight got herself some levitation powers."
Kristen's grin widened to a near impossible length, and she began bouncing up and down. "Yay! Oh, this is just the best thing ever!"
"Kristen, I swear--"
"I won't tell anybody," she said, raising her left hand and putting her right over her heart. "We just need to find something fun to do with this. Nothing too destructive, of course, but a bit of a fun nudge."
"Why would you even want to?!" I growled.
She shrugged. "Chaos god."
"Whatever," I said with a wave of my hand. "For right now, we need to poke around camp some more; watch some of the other students and see if they're getting any powers, and if so, where they might have gotten them." I motioned right. "Blaze, you take the rec hall." Left. "Rapids, look around the docks. Sunset, Twilight, see if you can find the rest of your group. Trouble follows them the most, so if there was anybody that I could see getting powers, its them. Kristen and I will search the campgrounds."
Everybody nodded, and we split up.
"So, how bad do you think this is going to get?" Kristen asked as we walked toward the tents. "Given the track record of, well, the last several years of your life, there's no way that this is going to just end quietly."
"You're telling me," I grumbled. "Although the last time ended pretty easily. We just had to record Principal Nastyface threatening Twilight and that pretty much solved everything."
"With how much magic is here, I doubt it will be that simple again." Kristen frowned and tilted her head as we got closer to the tents. "Wonder what happened to her anyway."
"Lunch lady at some small school, from what Sunset was telling me. Now..." We reached Twilight's tent, and I started looking around for... something. Anything." Maybe whatever Twilight was exposed to is around here. Long shot, but I want to cross everything off of the list. Maybe there's something we've missed."
Kristen pointed at the tent. "Like the pixie dust?"
Pixie dust? I frowned and looked to where Kristen was pointing. Sure enough, there was a thin layer of something radiating magic on the side of the tent. I reached a hand out to swipe some of it, and sure enough, the second I touched it, I got a small jolt of magic. Seems we found a lead, Watson.
"We have to figure out where this stuff is coming from," I said as Kristen swabbed some of it off herself. "I know that they tied it to that legend of Gaia Everfree stuff, but I'm going to go out on a limb and say that there's a different explanation."
"Probably. Interested to see what it is."
Then she snorted the pixie dust.
For goodness sakes.
The second she did, her eyes widened, and she flew back like she'd been hit with a cannon. Two green beams of magic shot out of her hands and would have obliterated an entire row of tents if she'd fallen just a little slower. Kristen bounced a few times after hitting the ground, then just laid there when she came to a stop, groaning a bit. I rolled my eyes and walked over to her. She coughed a bit, then sat up.
"Wow. Strawberry."
I sighed and rubbed my temples. "And you thought that was a good idea why?"
"Chaos god." She stood up and looked down at her hands, which were still smoldering a bit. "Huh. Never done that before."
"As stupid as that was, it does confirm that this dust is probably what's causing Twilight's magic to manifest, especially give we found it on Twilight's tent. It's probably a good idea to examine the other tents and see if any of them have the dust on them, and if so, get rid of it somehow."
"I didn't think to bring a hose, did you?"
I scoffed. "What, that a bit outside of your chaos powers a the moment?"
All that got me was an eye roll.
* * * *
I'd never been to a camp as a filly that didn't involve flying, so to see everybody just walking around felt a little off. Well, that and the magic I could feel in the air, but that had become sort of a background buzz at this point. Added to the ambiance of the camp. So far none of the campers looked like they'd gained magical spike powers, or something like that, so that was good. Hopefully the others would find something that would crack all of this wide open.
I looked out at the lake where some of the campers were paddling around on boats and talking to each other. Everything was pretty tranquil. Nothing to speak of. Right now this is about as exciting as working security for a foals' event. Nice.
I was about to turn around and try to find Prince Antares again to give my report when I saw Adagio walking toward the treeline like she was very much up to something. She kept glancing around at the other campers as if one of them would start following her. Even when one or two of them noticed her and said hi, she didn't make eye contact and mumbled a quiet greeting back at them. Very shifty. Prince Antares would probably want to know what she was doing. Looking around the area my self to make sure that nobody was coming up to me, or noticing me at all, I moseyed over in her direction to begin following her.
It would be so nice if I caught her at something and was able to make an arrest of some sort. I owed her after what happened the last time we saw each other. I didn't appreciate waking up tied and gagged with a cut on my cheek and a smashing headache. Stupid emotion-eating siren.
Heh, not anymore, though.
I rued the fact that I didn't have wings as I followed her. It would be far easier to remain undetected, and the clouds could provide cover that trees couldn't. No chance of stepping on branches either.
Adagio went into the trees after one more glance around to make sure nobody was there. I hid behind a tree as she stopped, and peeked my head around right as she began moving again. I waited a few seconds, the began following her again. Pegasi are naturally stealthy, so I did a good job of avoiding the rocks and branches that could give away my position if I'd stepped on or kicked one of them. Maybe we used to be hunters a long, long time ago. We still ate fish, so maybe that was it.
In any case, she didn't see me as I followed her into the woods. Maybe she was headed to some cave where she'd hidden whatever was leaking the magic and she'd found something that she thought could get her her powers back. I wondered if she'd offer the same power to her sisters again, or if she'd go it alone.
Probably alone, if I'd gotten a good reading of her personality last time.
She stopped right in a clearing and looked around once again, but I hid behind a tree again, holding my breath so that my breathing wouldn't give me away. Although, if it came to a fight, I was still a toned, strong soldier, and she was ninety pounds soaking wet, but a big fight wasn't what I was after this time around. I peeked my head around the tree to see that she'd gone further into the clearing. Another person came through the trees on the other side, and I slinked closer to see who it was.
Gloriosa?
I frowned as I stopped behind a closer tree. The two looked like they were arguing with each other, if their tone and Gloriosa's expression was any indication. I chanced getting to a closer tree to get a better idea of what they were talking about.
--"horrible idea!" Adagio growled. "You don't know what you're messing with, and with several Equestrians here to investigate, we're getting in way too deep! You need to--"
Gloriosa scoffed. "I know what I'm doing. Just keep doing your job, and everything will come together."
"You don't understand! One of them is literally seen as the god of war in his dimension, if what I overheard from Sunset and Twilight is correct. You have to rethink this."
"You sound just like my brother," Gloriosa said with a roll of her eyes. "This is all going to be over soon, then I'll get rid of them and everything will go back to the way it was."
"That isn't how magic like that works!' Adagio snapped. "It's a drug. Yes, the camp is under threat from Filthy, and I can see why you might want to use them, but what happens when you beat this, then the next thing comes along that isn't as important and suddenly you're pulling them out again? It'll hit the point where they'll just be a constant. They're powerful now, but they will consume you, and Timber and I won't be able to stop you! Just give them to me. I know how to handle Equestrian magic."
Ooh, so Miss Reformed was trying to get ahold of some powerful magic, was she? Knew it. She found somebody over her head with some powerful stuff and she was taking advantage of her ignorance to get back to full strength. Typical villain.
"You have no idea what you're talking about!" Gloriosa snarled. "You'll see when I make everything better. Trust me, I got this."
Well, won't this be an interesting little story to tell Prince Antares? Gloriosa has the magical stuff, and Adagio is trying to manipulate it from her so that she can take over. Well, this was a nice little trip into the woods. Very informative. Gloriosa stomped away, leaving Adagio alone in the clearing. My time to exit, too.
"You can come out now." Adagio turned around and pursed her lips, putting her hands on her hips. "Did you get enough for your report?"
Sigh. Maybe I didn't bring enough of that pegasus stealth through the portal. I stepped out from behind the tree and glared at her.
"So, it seems like you've been up to a lot here," I growled, glaring at her. "Interesting conversation."
She shrugged. "You didn't hear anything that mattered. If I were you, I'd just stay out of it. You and your prince are just going to make her more unstable if she thinks you're actually going to do something."
"So that means that you can take whatever she's gotten and use it for yourself, huh?" I shook my head. "You work here because you sensed it too and couldn't help trying to find something to get your powers back."
Adagio bared her teeth at me and balled her fists. "I've changed, bitch. I just want what's best for Camp Everfree and the people in it." She relaxed a bit and smirked at me. "Though it looks like you've gone through a bit of a change yourself. Nice face. You buy a particularly nasty cat?"
Welp, she shouldn't have said that.
I charged right at her and swung at her head once she got in range. Instead of the satisfying connection, she stepped back, and my swing missed by a mile.
"This is a bad idea! Don't do this!" she snarled. "You think I want to fight you? I'm trying to help these people!"
"By making them your slaves again?" I rolled my eyes and snapped a punch out to test her defenses. She batted the punch away. "Yeah, I saw what you did to them the last time you were in charge of these students."
"It's called 'being hungry'," Adagio growled through gritted teeth. "But now that I'm not longer an immortal emotion-eating siren, I had to take stock of my life, and now I've made the best of what I have! I'm not trying to hurt any of these students! If you stop me, you are!"
Alright, no more Miss Nice Rapids.
I threw another punch, and when she jumped back, I jumped forward and tackled her to the ground. The thud she made when I landed on top of her didn't sound so nice, but I was stopping a bad guy here. Now that she couldn't just dodge, I threw a punch that glanced off of her face when she moved her head. Dang it, just stay still so I can beat you up!
"I still owe you for that cut on my cheek and the baseball bat," I snarled as she pushed her palm into my face, shoving me back so that I couldn't get a good swing in.
"I seem to recall you attacking me first! Just stop this and we can have a conversation like adults! You are an adult, right?"
I was just trying to stop you from using your stupid powers to drain everybody in that school." I grabbed her wrist and pushed it on the ground, then gave her a nasty grin. "Kind of like now, actually."
She didn't manage to dodge my next punch that hit her face with a meaty thud. She cried out in pain, and blood instantly began spurting from her nose. Then another punch. Then another. She went limp, and I used that opportunity to pin her other hand down.
"What are you planning? What are you trying to take from her? What do they do? What are you going to do with them?!"
Adagio groaned and squeezed her eyes shut. "For goodness sakes, we could have talked about that like adults, but noooo, you had to be the hero and beat the nasty old siren who just wants to control everybody, didn't you?"
"I don't need any of your sass. Give up now and Prince Antares might let you live with Sunset and your sisters."
Adagio half opened her eyes in a glare, but after a few seconds, it slowly faded, and she looked... tired. She completely relaxed and just stared up at the sky.
"Maybe I should have just done that originally. I suppose I was just too proud and too stubborn to actually accept help and live a better life. It would have been less... lonely."
I shouldn't have, but... I relaxed a little bit. The rage that made me want to beat down on her to get her plan out faded away a bit. Dang it.
"Maybe they'd still take me back, but for the moment..." She looks around the forest. "This camp is my home. I've had some good times here. Who'd have thought it? I'm doing water balloon fights and long hikes that get me all sweaty and paddle boats and working with my hands to build things." She looked back up at me and shrugged as well as she could with my pinning her down. "But I suppose you're going to turn me in to your god of war who will send me to Tartarus forever. So go on, then. Beat me half to death and drag what's left to your prince before I can tell you what's really going on."
A slight frown creased my face. Maybe this was stupid. "And what exactly is going on?"
* * * *
Alright, so we just had to figure out where the magic pixie dust is coming from and stop that ASAP. Whatever was leaking the dust was also most likely what was causing all of the magic in the air. Once we nullified that, we could all get home and hopefully not have to deal with Equestrian magic in this world again. With my luck, it would be something that I'd need to call the other alicorns in for.
No, no, if I didn't need them for the Sirens, I wouldn't need them for this.
We met up with Blaze at the rock climbing wall where the rest of the Rainbooms were hanging out. Hopefully alone so that we could talk with each other about everything going on. Rarity was climbing up the wall with Applejack as her spotter.
"So, you find anything interesting?" Sunset asked. "We couldn't."
"Yeah, actually." I motioned for Blaze to shut the doors so that we could hopefully have some privacy. "You guys noticed the dust in the air around here? I think whatever is causing the magic around here is leaking the dust, and that's what's..." I grimaced and motioned to Twilight. "Giving Twilight magic powers."
The jaws of the rest of the Rainbooms dropped open, and Twilight blushed. "It's true. For some reason, I can levitate things now."
"Land sakes," Applejack whispered. "Ah know that things have been crazy with Equestria magic around here, but Ah never thought Ah'd see that!"
"That's why it's important to find out what's causing the dust," I said. I found some on Twilight's tent, so it's probably the cause of it. I'm not sure if it's permanent or anything, but if other students get exposed to it, we could have a real big problem on our hands."
Rainbow Dash scoffed. "Uh, yeah, no, it would be just fine if all of our classmates suddenly gained various magic powers. Would it all be levitation, or could we see a range?"
I shrugged. "No idea. I'd rather not find out. I've felt a bunch of it in the forest, but it's risky to just go exploring and getting lost without finding something. If I could still use magic or fly, this would be really simple."
"Well, why not try to find a bunch of this dust and get your powers back?" Pinkie asked, idly playing with a can of sprinkles. "That might solve things."
"Or make it worse, since I have no idea what it would do. It could give me my usual magic back, or it could cause a complete overload that levels the camp. Alicorn magic is kind of tricky like that."
"I didn't level the camp, and I'm gonna get a ton more powerful than you," Kristen said with a shrug.
Fluttershy raised an eyebrow and tilted her head. "Really? Are you an alicorn over there, too?"
Kristen grinned and shook her head. "Nope, I'm the chaos god, and I still have my magic here! Let me show you..."
She snapped her fingers, and all Tartarus broke loose. A gigantic stuffed squid appeared in the middle of the room right in front of Pinkie, who dropped the can of sprinkles which, for whatever reason, completely exploded, denting the floor. Applejack flinched back so hard that the rope she was using to anchor Rarity completely snapped, causing Rarity to fall to the floor. She reached her hands out and a diamond shield appeared that broke her fall. Rainbow Dash stepped backward to fast that she hit the wall on the opposite end of the room.
Nobody spoke for a few moments as we all tried to register what had just happened. Great, just great, they had powers now, too. Kristen at least had the decency to look embarrassed. It was Rarity the broke the silence.
"Ow."
Rainbow Dash rubbed the back of her head, grimacing a bit in pain. "Ech. You okay, Rares?"
"I think so," Rarity said with a groan, slowly pushing herself up off of the shield that she'd conjured. "I'm still not quite sure what happened."
"Me neither," Applejack said. "Sorry Rarity, Ah..." She looked down at the snapped rope in her hand. "Ah don't know how that happened. The rope just came apart in mah hand like it was paper."
"That still makes more sense than..." Pinkie pointed to the crater. "That."
"Fantastic, just fantastic!" I cried. "We got super strength, speed, shields and a bomb, which goes along nicely with the telekenisis. What next? Do--"
That's when I heard an owl hoot, and looked at Fluttershy, whose arms and head were completely covered with birds. She looked as confused as I felt, but I didn't even feel the need to ask. Based on what I know about Equestria's Fluttershy, she could probably talk to them, or something like that.
"Um..." Fluttershy looked up at the gigantic owl perched on her head. "Owletta asked what the... heck just happened?"
"So done!" I snapped. "So, so done! I just want to figure this all out and go home! To my wife! And my daughter! And just--"
"Antares, calm down," Sunset said. "I know this is kind of stressful, but--"
That's when she touched my shoulder. Her eyes instantly went completely white, and she froze in spot. It was almost like my body was electrocuting her, or something like that. I gently pushed her hand off of me, and she actually collapsed onto the ground, her eyes going back to normal.
"Uh... you okay, Sunset?" I asked tilting my head. "What happened?"
Sunset's mouth flopped up and down for a few seconds before she shakily stood up and actually wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. What the heck?
"I-it's nothing," she whispered. "I know that... I mean, I didn't..." She gave me an odd look, then took a deep breath. "It's not important. I just... wow."
Okayyy, so she obviously had some kind of power, too. Don't know what that would have to do with me, but she clearly had something.
Before I could even ask, the door burst open, and Rapids walked in followed by, of all people, Adagio, who had a good black eye and bloody nose.
"What happened to her?" I asked.
"Not important," Rapids said with a wave of her hand. "We've got a bit of a problem."