//------------------------------// // Chapter 1 // Story: School Magic // by Ricky Otaku //------------------------------// In the cover of darkness, a hooded figure approached the school. It was highly unusual, given it was the middle of the night. No students should be wandering at such a late hour on school grounds, but there she was, lurking in the shadows, observing the site where so many strange phenomena had happened in the last few months. Holding some kind of device, she was inspecting the area. When she reached the school’s statue, the device started to ring. A grin spread across her face- she had found what she had searched for. Magic. “At last, I found it,” she said, letting her hand run on the surface of the statue. “The cause of all those disturbances in our world. Then, a glimmer of malevolence shone in her eyes. “And it’s up to me to fix this.” “It was… awesome!” Rainbow Dash let out enthusiastically. “Just like always!” The Rainboom had just finished their daily practice and as usual, they had “ponied up” midway. They still had their pony ears and for some of them, wings. It was now normal for them, but it would certainly be a shock for an unexpected passerby. “Twilight, darling, is it me or did your vocals improve?” Rarity asked. Twilight looked away shyly, readjusting her glasses. “I might have… practice a little bit, on my own,” she admitted. “Well, it shows,” Applejack praised. “Please, I wouldn’t sound nearly as good if it wasn’t of the lyric. So really, you should be praising Fluttershy,” Twilight deflected. “Me?” Fluttershy reached, blushing. “I… I didn’t do anything… worthy of praise, really…” “Aww, don’t be so modest!” Pinkie Pie jumped near her. “You did a great job with the lyrics!” “If… if you say so…” “How about we do one more song?” Rainbow Dash suggested. “Dash, I don’t think we have the time, class is starting soon…” Twilight replied. As her friends continued to discuss, Sunset Shimmer’s attention was drawn to the window. Or rather, something outside. Her friends eventually noticed that her attention was elsewhere. “Sunset, darling, everything alright?” Rarity suddenly asked. Sunset winced when she felt her friend’s hand on her shoulder. “Oh, uh, yes…! I just… felt like we were being observed,” Sunset replied while still glancing through the window. “Someone spying on us?” Fluttershy said. “But why?” “Probably because we are so AWESOME! Especially me,” Rainbow Dash bragged. “Hmm… I’m probably imagining things,” Sunset said. “Even if someone was watching us, it’s not like it would be unusual. I mean, look at us!” As she said that, Sunset pointed to their pony ears and tails. “Right… that sure would attract anyone’s attention,” Applejack said. “Well, if they aren’t already used to these.” “I guess most people at CHS aren’t surprised anymore,” Twilight added, “so we forget how jarring those can be to anyone else.” “Right,” Sunset nodded. “I guess I’m just being too cautious then, but still-” Before she could finish her sentence the bell suddenly rang. “Ahh, class is starting! We’re going to be late!” Twilight exclaimed, running out of the practice room. The others rolled their eyes and exited too, while Sunset glanced one last time at the window, unable to chase away the bad feeling that was growing inside of her. “Today a new student will be joining us,” Miss Cheerilee began to say. “I hope you will all be nice to her and welcome her properly to our school.” Sunset couldn’t believe her eyes. She knew that new student. What she didn’t know was what she was doing here, why was she back in this world, especially as a student… “Hey, Sunset, isn’t that your friend from the pony world?” Rainbow Dash asked. Before Sunset could answer, the teacher continued. “I’ll let her introduce herself,” Cheerilee added. “Go ahead.” The new student had a warm smile on her face. “Hi everyone, it’s a pleasure meeting you. My name is Starlight Glimmer and I hope we’ll all become good friends.” Sunset kept staring at her in disbelief. So she was indeed Starlight, yet she seemed… different. For starters, her haircut wasn’t the same as when the pony Starlight visited the human world. Instead, her hair was tied into a ponytail and she sported a fringe. Her clothing was also less colourful, she was wearing a simple gray cardigan with a shirt of the same colour. Starlight seemed to have noticed how Sunset was staring at her and waved at her. Sunset suddenly felt somewhat embarrassed to have been caught and quickly looked away. “Well, that was awkward,” she thought. She wasn’t sure why she felt that way from being caught by Starlight. After all, they were friends, right? She knew her… or did she? She couldn’t help but think something felt different about the girl she considered a friend.  “Alright, you can go sit down,” Cheerilee said, gesturing to an empty seat near the window. “We are going to start class.” Starlight nodded and walked to her seat. Sunset discreetly followed her with her eyes, this time not being noticed. Sunset just couldn’t shake that strange feeling she got about Starlight out of her chest. “Alright students, open your book at page 42…” Sunset focused her attention back on the teacher. She’ll need to have a chat with Starlight after class. “Starlight, wait! Starlight Glimmer!” Sunset had managed to catch up to Starlight on her way out of the school. Starlight stopped walking, standing at the bottom of the stairs. She slowly turned down, staring at Sunset with what appeared to be a wary expression. “... yes?” “W-well, I wasn’t expecting to see you so soon after you went back to Equestria, especially not as a new student… Did Twilight send you?” Starlight continued to stare at her, but her wary expression turned into confusion. At this moment, Sunset realized her mistake, which Starlight confirmed with her next sentence. “What… are you talking about? Why are you acting like you know me?” Starlight replied. Sunset could barely keep eye contact with Starlight. This sure was embarrassing. If Sunset could just disappear right now, she would.  “O-oh, sorry I… must have confused you for someone I know…” Sunset said, looking down. Starlight raised an eyebrow and cocked her head, looking uncertain. “Someone you know… who’s also named Starlight Glimmer?” Sunset laughed nervously. “Haha… yeah. It’s… a long story.” “Hmm. Well, if you’re done, I’d like to get going now-” “Wait…!” Sunset instinctively tried to reach for Starlight, to grab her by the arm and prevent her from leaving. She wasn’t done yet, despite her previous embarrassment, she wanted to talk more. Know more about this Starlight. But she didn’t expect Starlight to flinch at her contact and quickly take a few steps to be out of her reach. For a split second, Sunset could have sworn Starlight had a panic expression, before glaring at her. “Starlight…?” Sunset said, confused. Starlight’s frown suddenly turned into a smile that looked anything but genuine. “Oh, sorry, you just startled me,” Starlight replied nervously. “A-anyway, as I was saying, I really need to get going. Bye!” Without waiting for Sunset’s reply, Starlight quickly walked away. Sunset was tempted to go after her again but finally decided against it. That would feel a bit like harassment if she did at this point. “Well, that was awkward… again,” Sunset mumbled to herself. “Awkward doesn’t begin to describe what we just saw… what was that!?” Rainbow Dash exclaimed. Sunset only noticed now that her friends were behind her. She blushed, overwhelmed by a deep feeling of embarrassment. “Oh, you guys were there…” “Well, yeah, you kind of ran away after class was over, silly, so we followed you!” Pinkie Pie let out. “That was your friend from Equestria, right? The one we met at the mall the other day?” Twilight asked. “No, I was wrong,” Sunset replied. “I should have known better. It was obvious from the start I was being mistaken. Why didn’t I realize sooner…” “What do you mean by that?” Fluttershy asked. Sunset sighed. “This isn’t the Starlight Glimmer you met, the one from Equestria. She’s the Starlight Glimmer of this world.”