Twilight sat in class, her posture stiff as she took notes. Other students gave her passing glances from the corners of their eyes as usual, but instead of envy or spite, their gaze held worry. This was mostly due to the strained smile held tight across her face, but the occasional twitch from her left eye didn't help.
For once, their stares went completely unnoticed to her. Instead, the teenager's mind was pulled towards two very important topics. The first was Mr. Onyx's history lesson on the rise and fall of the Roaman Empire. The second was the very interesting thing hanging around her neck. More specifically, what a certain person trapped inside of said item told her the night before. She had to consciously fight the urge to stroke her pendant when said events ran through her mind.
***
"Wh-Who's there?" Twilight stammered, jumping to her feet.
"You can hear me," the voice said, a hint of joy coloring her tone. "About fucking time."
"Where are you?!" Twilight cried, eyes looking around frantically as she she ran to her desk and pulled open a drawer.
"About two inches above your boobs," the voice sighed with an irate grumble.
"What!?" she squawked, pulling a taser out of the drawer and facing the room.
"For the love of- I'M IN THE PENDANT!!!"
Twilight blinked, stared down at the accessory in question, and frowned. Putting the taser on her desk, she retook her seat at her desk and went online. A quick google search later and the voice let out an exasperated laugh.
"You're not having a mental break down, human!"
"Right," she snorted, "A piece of unknown crystal that I have been studying for the past week is suddenly talking to me. Clearly, I am not showing symptoms of a psychological break."
"Wow, I think this is the first time I've seen you use sarcasm," the voice intoned flatly. "If I had a calendar in here, I would probably mark it today."
Twilight frowned as she curled in on herself and whispered, "I'm sorry."
The voice let out a frustrated scream and yelled, "Don't apologize damn it! STAND UP FOR YOURSELF!!!"
"I'm sorry!" she cried, hugging her legs to her chest.
The sound of a hand smacking into a face could be heard, followed by a frustrated groan.
"For the love of The Queen, how can you be this timid?"
Twilight said nothing, the girl far too interesting in hiding from the voice. Said being sighed, the sound of feet patting on something flat and hard drawing Twilight's face away from her knees. She looked around frantically for the noise's source, but the soft carpet on the floor of her lab would never allow such a sound. It sounded like the girl talking to her was walking around her, a thought that put a chill down her spine.
"What's your name, human?" the voice asked, making Twilight jump in spite of the softer tone.
"T-Twilight Sparkle," she stammered, eyes following the rough area of the steps.
"Twilight Sparkle, eh," the voice mused. "Sounds a bit flashy for a wallflower, don't you think?"
Twilight didn't respond, her eyes "following" the voice's steps as she tried to wrap her head around what was happening.
"Wh-Who.....what are you?" She stammered.
"Who? No clue. What? A very ticked off Wraith that is sick and tired of seeing you get kicked around!"
Twilight curled in on herself as the voice snarled out that last part. Seemingly aware of this, the voice let out an irate sigh.
"I'm sorry," she grumbled. "i'm just...full and I hate it."
"Full?" Twilight asked, a hint of curiosity mixing with her nerves. "What do you mean?"
The voice took on an awkward nervous pitch as she said, "I, uh, eat negative emotions."
Twilight blinked, then thought back to the last few days. Every time she felt nervous or scared, she would touch the pendant. Each time, she abruptly felt herself slide out of those dark emotional states. At first, she thought that it was all psychosomatic, like squeezing a rubber ball to alleviate stress. Now that she knew the truth, she wasn't sure how she felt about it. At least, not yet.
Now granted a puzzle to solve, her scientific mind clicked back into place and with a deep breath, she tried to think of the right way to find out more about her situation. More specifically, a way to prove whether or not all of this was real. After that, if this was real, another set of questions were going to need to be asked.
"Okay," Twilight sighed. "As concerning as that is, I want to make sure of a few things before I ask you anything else."
"And that is?" the voice asked, sounding annoyed.
"First; whether or not you are real or just the early sign of some kind of mental break."
A pause, then the voice let out a frustrated groan.
"Are you serous?!"
Twilight nodded.
A small chuckle filled the room, then the voice said, "Figures now you'd choose to show some spine. Fine. How do you want to do this?"
The purple girl thought about it for a moment, then said, "You can see things through the crystal, correct?"
"Yeah?" the voice egged.
"What do you see right now?"
A pause, then, "Your desk and laptop."
"And that's it?"
"Yep."
So she can only see what's in front of me.
With that in mind, she logged onto her search engine and held her hand over the keyboard.
"Here's what we are going to do," she frowned. "I'm going to close my eyes and tap the keys with my index finger. You are going to tell me what direction you want me to move my finger and what keys you want me to type. Understood?"
"Sure, but what is this going to prove?" the voice asked.
"I generally have poor hand-eye coordination skills," Twilight said, a hint of shame hidden beneath her matter of fact tone. "As such, even though I have thoroughly memorized my keyboard's layout, I can't type a coherent sentence without seeing the board. If you are real, then I should be able to make a google search without being aware of what's on the screen."
"Sounds good to me," the voice said, a shrug audible in her tone.
"Alright," Twilight nodded, then closed her eyes and said, "Let's begin."
For the next five minutes, Twilight let the voice guide her hand. All the while, several questions ran through her head. Assuming this being was real, where did she come from? How did she get trapped in a piece of crystal? Were their more like her? How did she eat emotions? Was there a way to calculate the nutritional value? Could she eat other things?
One question in particular almost made her stop mid-type.
What did she mean when she said she had "no clue" about what her name is?
"Okay, now move up a little," the voice ordered with a barely suppressed snicker.
Slowly, Twilight obeyed, pressing down when given the order. A long pause filled the room before the voice told her to open her eyes. Twilight was eager to see if her test worked, right up until she saw what was on the screen. Her face turned bright red and she let out a strangled cry as she shot back in her seat. The force was just enough to send both it and her crashing to the floor. Twilight groaned, rubbing her head as she staggered to her feet. She made a conscious effort to avoid the computer screen. All the while, the voice was laughing hysterically, possibly pounding her fist onto the ground if the accompanying thumping noises she was hearing was anything to go by.
"That's not funny!" Twilight cried, taking her glasses off to minimize the damage a clear view of what was on the screen would do to her brain as she frantically tried to exit the page.
"Oh, PLEASE!" the voice howled, mirth heavy in every word. "You and I both know you've at least read books about that kind of thing."
"THIS IS LINKED TO THE SCHOOL'S MAIN SERVER!" she cried, finally getting the seedy image off of her screen.
"Label it under Sex Ed research," the voice said with yet another audible shrug.
"Now I need to clean my search history," the purple teen muttered, doing just that.
"That's what happens when you give someone too much power over you," the voice chuckled. "Does that prove that I'm real now?"
"I...suppose," she nodded, stepping away from her computer to put her chair back up.
"Good," she said, tone taking on a more aggressive edge. "Cuz I've got a few bones to pick with you."
"Like what...um..."
"What now?" the voice groaned, seemingly picking up on Twilight's anxieties.
"You never told me your name."
Another awkward pause, then the voice let out a small sigh and said, "I don't have one."
Twilight blinked.
"What do you mean you don't have one?" she asked, taking a seat.
"Just that," the voice growled. "I woke up one day with no clue how I got here or who the hell I am. Aside from a few general things, I don't know anything about myself or anything really."
"What kind of general things?" Twilight pressed, a worried frown marring her face.
"How to feed. How my powers work. What I am. Those kind of things."
"I see," she hummed. "Do you want to have one? A name, that is."
"I guess," the voice said, a shrug audible in her tone. "It might make things a little easier in the future. Got any ideas?"
Twilight mulled it over a bit, a few possible options moving through her head. Out of habit, she rubbed her thumb against the pendant's smooth surface. A startled gasp slipped past her lips when she realized what she was doing and let go of the stone. As the stone fell back into place against her shirt's collar, a single thought echoed in her head.
It looks like a crystal flower petal.
"How about Crystal Petal?" Twilight asked, a small smile growing on her face.
"Right, because I'd love to be named after the thing I'm trapped in," the voice deadpanned.
"Right, sorry," Twilight cringed.
"It's fine," the voice sighed. "Let's see what else we can come up with."
***
It took them two hours to come up with a name that didn't irritate the young Wraith or make the teen feel uncomfortable saying out loud. It was also around that time that said Wraith refused to answer any questions or give the girl any peace until she went home and went to bed. Now she sat in class, carefully taking notes as her mind rewound to how much she wore her new accessory and everything the being within most likely saw.
"Twilight, you're about to pop a blood vessel," said being cautiously warned.
"No I'm not," she whispered, hand stiffly taking notes.
"I can read your emotions. You're about an inch away from having an aneurism. Either tell me what's wrong, or I'm going to have to feed off of you. Again."
"I'll tell you about it later, Petal Wasp," she stiffly hissed.
"Whatever," Petal muttered. "I'm taking a nibble anyway."
Twilight barely had time to brace herself before a large chunk of her panicked mortification vanished. The sudden feeling of calm was a lot for her to take in all at once. The sensation reminded her of being upside down for a few minutes then being suddenly put upright. Her eyes and posture drooped, her stiff smile being replaced by a drowsy one as she took notes at a more relaxed pace.
"Okay, that should keep you from being sent to the nurse," Petal sighed. "You owe me an explanation later."
Twilight nodded, numbly aware that she should be worried about something, but couldn't put her finger on what. She just sat and continued to take notes, barely aware of the curious eyes of her fellow students. Meanwhile, Petal frowned at one of her prison's crystal walls, this one showing Twilight's hands sluggishly jot notes into a notebook.
It was painfully obvious to her that this whole situation was jarring for Twilight. Not that it wasn't for her either. While she was happy to get a name out of it, being able to directly interact with the human added a whole new host of issues. Now that Twilight could hear her, she couldn't scream her frustrations into the void like she had been doing this whole time. It also meant that she needed to be mindful of her more critical thoughts, especially if she thought out loud. This was going to require her to be fairly tactful and cautious in how she moved forward with Twilight.
I am so screwed, she thought with a sigh, gingerly massaging the bridge of her nose.
Just thinking of all of the things Twilight had to put up with put her on edge, more so considering how much of it was avoidable in the long run. To put it simply, the girl needed to grow a spine. The girl was brilliant, kind, and had a beautiful soul in both the literal and metaphorical sense. Sure, she was awkward and had the fashion sense of a drunk elephant, but that added to the charm she could see hidden beneath the surface. If she could just help her tap into that potential, she knew that Twilight could become something great. The problem was that the girl's self-esteem was so low, it needed to be measured with negative numbers.
How do I fix that? she mused, tapping a finger against her chin. Aside from the Dean and her dog, she doesn't really have anyone here she can be herself around. Not that I can blame her. This place is a nest of assholes and bitches with the Queen Bitch herself running the whole place. The lab is pretty much her only safe place in the whole school.
Her eyes drifted towards one of her prison walls, a perfect mirrored surface that showed her glaring back at herself. Sighing, she stared at her reflection and did what she always did to kill time during Twilight's classes; change her outfit. With just a thought, her tattered mini dress shifted into a simple pair of jet black jeans with a matching T-shirt. Admiring herself for a few seconds, turning this way and that to get a look at herself from different angles, she frowned before waving a hand over herself. Rips appeared on the knees and lower thighs of her jeans while the right sleeve of her shirt looked to have been ripped off. Nodding to herself, she kept note of the look before willing her clothes to change again. Now she wore a black tank-top, jean skirt, and leather jacket. Her smile grew the more she stared at this particular outfit, liking the sense of danger she gave off. At the same time, the look felt incomplete, like she was missing something to give it a little extra kick. She tapped a finger against her chin as she stared at her reflexion, quietly mulling over what it was that she was missing. It was when her eyes drifted towards her reflection's hand that an idea came to her. Smiling, she willed a pair of open-fingered gloves onto her hands, each bearing silver crystal spikes on the knuckles.
She shifted through many more outfits, each featuring spikes, tears, or skulls to some degree. At the same time, she wondered what Twilight would look like if she tried on some of the outfits. Shifting back to her usual look, she tried to imagine the scrawny girl in her more aggressive style. She blinked in shock when she realized that the girl could actually pull it off if she really tried.
If she got her hair out of that granny-bun and put on a little blush, she'd look pretty good, she mused, staring idly at her reflection.
She blinked in surprise when her reflection turned into a grayscale version of Twilight, the girl now wearing Petal's tattered minidress. Her lavender eyes and small smile held a bit of mischief as she winked at her, her hair down and just enough blush to put focus on said eyes. A shade of dark gray colored Petal's cheeks as she forced herself to look away from the wall.
"Stupid fucking prison," she muttered softly to herself, crossing her arms.
A bit of movement from the wall she was watching previously caught her attention, showing Twilight putting her things away. Sighing, the Wraith took note of what she knew of the girl's schedule and how it could make her job any easier. She could almost predict everything the girl was going to do with the only X-factors being when she went to the bathroom or needed to clean her glasses. It was both a blessing and a curse as far as she was concerned. It meant that planning her next move wasn't going to be too difficult, but it also meant that The Elites could do the same. Two girls in particular if the pattern Petal could see was anything to go by. It didn't take her long to come up with a plan, though a large part of how she was going to go about it put a bad taste in her mouth.
With a guilty frown, she turned her head back towards her makeshift mirror, the surface now showing nothing but her reflection. Looking away again, she took a deep breath and thought about what she was going to say when she put her plan into action. If she was going to need tact to help Twilight, she had better get as much practice as she could get.
***
Twilight carefully navigated the student-flooded halls, trying and failing to avoid bumping into her peers all the way towards the cafeteria. Like aways, she made sure that Sour and Sunny or any of the other Elites weren't following her. At the same time, she tried to keep the fact that there was a living being chained to her neck out of her head. While a part of her was fascinated by that fact, the rest of her was struggling to accept it. This was the kind of thing that happened in fairytales or TV shows, not in real life! The real world was ruled by the laws of science and logic, not the insanity of magic or other such things bound by the thin veil of fiction. This couldn't be really happening!
But....what if it was?
Once she was inside the cafeteria, she practically ran towards the line to get her food, her mind running in all kinds of different directions. Did this mean that she was going to have to go on adventures? Was the fate of the world now in her hands? Was she going to have to wear those skimpy outfits other magical girls wore into battle?! WHAT WAS HER MOTHER GOING TO THINK?! She was so frazzled that she barely payed attention to what she put on her tray, until a cry from Petal pulled her out of her trance.
A quick look around told her that she was at the end of the line and had a tray full of food that she couldn't even properly identify.
Great, she thought with a sigh.
"Yes Petal?" she whispered nervously, making her way towards her table.
"Not much," the Wraith said with an audible shrug. "Just DON'T YOU FUCKING DARE SIT AT THAT TABLE!!!"
Twilight froze, pure terror shooting through her as she stared at her usual spot a few feet away.
"Why?" she whispered. "What's wrong?"
"Aside from the fact that those two stooges are going to give you shit if you sit there? Not much. Besides, I think you could use a change of scenery."
"Right," she mumbled, her body drooping. "I guess the lab would be a good place to-"
"Not there either," Petal huffed.
Twilight blinked, then frowned bitterly at her pendant as she aggressively whispered, "Then were should I go? The other Elites hang out everywhere else?"
"Everywhere? Are you sure about that?" Petal asked, a knowing smirk coloring her tone.
***
"I can't believe you talked me into this," Twilight gulped, clutching her tray as she stepped out onto the school's roof.
"Oh just live a little," Petal laughed. "Who the hell's gonna give us any grief?"
"Principle Cinch for one," Twilight frowned. "If she finds out about this, I'll have detention for a month!"
"You mean the the stuck up lady that looks like she's trying to pass a kidney stone every day?"
"I...wouldn't put it like that," she whispered, clutching her loaded tray tighter as she gave her surroundings a quick once over. "But yeah. That's her."
Petal let out an annoyed Tsk and said, "I say we give a flying fuck what she thinks when she pulls that bus-sized stick out of her ass first."
Twilight gaped at that, then sputtered, "You can't say that kind of stuff!"
"Why?" Petal asked, a raised brow coloring her tone. "It's not like anyone can hear me? Well, you can, but that's besides the point."
Twilight sighed, then took a seat against the roof's guard railing. She didn't think she was ever going to get used to Petal's foul language. Not that she didn't swear on occasion, but it was such a rarity that her brother often teased her over it. Petal, on the other hand, couldn't seem to go more than a second before she spat out a swear.
She quietly sat and ate her food, the faint sound of city life the only break in the peace. Even Petal seemed unwilling to break the quiet. Slowly, Twilight's nerves started to settle as something gradually became clear to her; she didn't feel like she was under a microscope. There were no eyes constantly sneaking glances at her when no one thought she was looking. There weren't mocking whispers that she needed to tune out. There wasn't the constant bracing she had to go through each day, waiting for Sunny and Sour to move in and remind her of why she... of why she hated this place so much.
She gasped, finally being able to taste her food again for the first time since she came to Crystal Prep. It was good, no, great! Almost the best thing she had ever eaten! She barely noticed the tears trailing down her cheeks as she wolfed down her meal, shoveling it as if she hadn't eaten in months. When the tray was finally picked clean, she let it slide off of her lap with a content sigh, her head falling back to stare at the clear blue sky above.
"You okay?" Petal asked. "Your emotions are kind of all over the place right now."
"Yeah," Twilight chuckled, sluggishly wiping away her tears. "I'm...I think I'll be okay."
"If you say so," the Wraith said, a hint of concern hidden in her aloof tone. "Ready to get started?"
"Yeah," Twilight smiled, still staring at the sky. "I guess the first thing I want to know is, what kind of energy do you use? A couple weeks ago, a huge spike of some unknown energy fried most of the sensors in my lab. A similar type of energy was detected where I found you and you seem to be giving it off as well. What is it?"
"Sounds like what you're gizmos picked up on was my Miasma," Petal said casually.
"Miasma?" Twilight blinked.
"It's what my kind call it. When we take in negative emotions, our bodies metabolize them and turns them into Miasma."
"I see. What kind of things can Miasma do?" Twilight asked, pulling her attention away from the sky and down towards her pendant.
"A lot of things. It powers all of our abilities and keeps us healthy."
"What kind of powers do Wraiths have?" Twilight asked, a small eager smile spreading across her face.
"Not gonna tell ya!" Petal laughed, earning a pout out of the girl. "Now its my turn. How come you have a lab at school?"
Sighing, Twilight frowned at the sky before answering.
"Because I asked for one."
"Just like that?" petal snorted.
"In a way. The school has a sort of ranking system based on a student's overall GPA and attendance record. The higher your rank, the more privileges you get."
"Interesting," the Wraith murmured. "Where do you place?"
"First," she sighed.
A pause, then, "HOW COME YOU LET PEOPLE FUCKING WALK ALL OVER YOU?!"
Twilight flinched, curling in on herself as she covered both of her ears.
"S-Sorry about that," Petal fretted, worry heavy in her tone as Twilight recovered. "It's just...fuck, I've spent the whole week watching you get harassed by the students here and...I'm sorry."
"It's fine," Twilight sighed, resting her forehead on her knees as she curled in on herself. "I know that I should stick up for myself, but every time I try to gather up the nerve I just...freeze."
"Why don't you tell your mom about all of this?" Petal asked.
"I don't want her to worry," Twilight frowned, hugging her knees tighter.
Petal let out a sad snort and said, "Twilight, she's a mom and moms are two things, worry worts and not stupid. I'm stuck in a piece of rock and even I can tell that she 's worried about you. Why do you think she's pushing you to make friends in the first place?"
"I know," Twilight sniffled. "But what can I do? It's not like I can just walk up to someone here and say 'Hi, I'm Twilight Sparkle. Want to hang out?'. There's only one way to make it here at Crystal Prep and its to do it all alone."
A long pause settled between the two of them, Twilight struggling to keep back her tears while Petal slowly digested what she had been told. The Wraith's blood slowly boiled in her veins, her teeth constantly repairing themselves under the pressure of her mounting rage. She knew that humans could be cruel, that in a lot of ways, they were worse than her kind ever could be. Wraiths spread misery and woe because they needed to to survive, but humans seemed to do it just for kicks.
She let out a frustrated growl as she said, "Fuck that! You wan't a friend? You've got one right here!"
"Huh?" Twilight blinked, uncurling enough to look down at her pendant.
"Did I stutter?" Petal growled. "I said I'll be your friend and I ain't taking no for an answer, you got that?"
"Yeah," Twilight smiled, a small warmth growing in her chest. "Got it."
"Good," Petal said, a bit of mirth filling her tone. "And that means you can't dissect me or throw me under another car, got it?"
"Right," Twilight chuckled. "I'm sorry about that."
"Eh, no harm no foul," the Wraith said with an audible shrug. "Also, as your friend, I'm gonna see if we can fix you're little 'freezing' problem."
"Th-That would be nice," Twilight frowned, eyes drifting towards the floor. "Do you have any plans for that?"
"I may have a few ideas," she said coyly.
Twilight giggled at that, then stared up at the sky again as she said, "A friend. I've never had a real friend before."
"Me neither," Petal chuckled. "Guess that makes us each other's firsts, huh?"
"P-Petal!" Twilight sputtered, cheeks turning red as she glared down at her pendant.
"What? We are! Not my fault you have a dirty mind."
Twilight sighed and massaged the bridge of her nose. At the same time, Petal chuckled at the reaction she got out of her friend. While the feelings on the matter differed slightly, the two of them shared one very real thought. This was going to take some serious getting used to.