//------------------------------// // Shadows and Jealousy // Story: Apple Scratch : Onward to the Equestria Games! // by Mariacheat-Brony //------------------------------//         Archery competition, Fourteenth Day of the Equestria Games...         Allie took a deep breath as she pulled the string of her bow to her cheek, making it so the blue feather of her arrow’s tailplane was a few millimeter before her matching eye. She blocked her respiration as her target ceased to be an indistinct blur of red and white and took the shape of perfect circles. Allie lifted her bow a bit by arching her back a little bit so that sharp end of her arrow was now pointing at the top white circle of her target.         Allie sharply extended the two fingers that held the string back while vigorously pulling her left forearm backwards. The bow took its original, wider curve as the arrow flew away from it toward the top of the target. Mid flying, the arrow started to curve its trajectory down before it planted itself just below the red center of the target, just between the height separating her two previous arrows. “..AWWW! Just a teensie little bit under the bullseye!” Pinkie commented in her megaphone after she inspected the target with the judges as the crowd none the less applauded while cheering for the diminutive archer. “But, it’s okay for Allie because with a total score for this volley of twenty-eight opposed to her opponent’s twenty-five, she wins her third volley out of five and wins the match! Great job, Allie!”         Allie shook her Zebrican opponent’s hand before she went back to her team who cheered loudly to celebrate her qualification for the finale of the Archery competition. “Nice one, Kid!” Vinyl smiled before ruffling the smaller girl’s hair. “Still one more match to win, and you’ll get the gold!” Ditzy assured strongly. “Thanks guys,” Allie replied with an embarrassed blush as the other pair of semi-finalist took place on the shooting range. “Look,” Raindrops pointed at the orange-haired archer on the field. “Lightning Dust sure looks nervous…”         All faces turned to the field where they could see Lightning sweating bullets as her opponent joined her on the field. With her mane of white hair tied up in a messy ponytail that fell at the side of her quiver, Fleetfoot stopped at Lightning Dust’s right, extending her hand to wish her adversary good luck. Lightning sheepish shook hands with the Wonderbolt, gulping nervously. “I think everyone would, and should be nervous against Stormwind,” Cloud let out calmly as Pinkie shouted in her megaphone that it was time for Lightning’s first volley. “Fleetfoot’s that good?” Roseluck asked with interest? “I mean, she got this far, but she only had one point or two more than her opponent at every volley,” she added as Lightning ended her volley with a score of twenty-eight. “Just watch,” Cloud advised, taking Roseluck’s chin to make her face in the white-haired archer’s direction. “And keep your eyes wide open.”         Immediately after that, Cloud sharply whistled three times at Fleetfoot as the Wonderbolt was taking her position on the shooting line. The white-haired archer, who thought she had heard the signal that Spitfire used to grab the Bolts’ attention, turned around to look where the whistles came from. Lightning Dust, as a member of the Junior Wonderbolts, recognized the whistles too and turned her head to it, only to be surprised to see Cloud pointing her thumb at Roseluck. How can Kicker know that call? Lightning wondered with a frown as Fleetfoot chuckled briefly before looking back at the target ahead of her. Only the Wonderbolts and the Juniors who worked under Spitfire’s command know about it.         Fleetfoot took a short breath and readied her bow while taking an arrow from her quiver. She hooked it to the string and pulled until the aim-feather of the arrow was before her right eye. Fleetfoot kept her concentration for a few seconds. She waited until the small yellow circle at the center of the target became as clear to her as it would if it were just one meter before her. Then, she smirked deviously.         To every spectator’s shock, Fleetfoot suddenly tilted her upper body backward while raising her arm, before letting go of her arrow. The audience barely had the time to blink before the Wonderbolt shot two more arrows to the skies. Pleased with herself, Fleetfoot turned away from the empty target before her to see the confused faces of the other teams, minus Cloud, Shining, Soarin and Spitfire’s. The young Ponyvillian was laughing softly while her three teammates were shaking their head with discrete smirks. “What was that?” Lightning Dust asked with a confused expression. “You’re giving this volley to humiliate me later on?” “No. Not at all,” Fleetfoot assured to her opponent. “I’m humiliating you right now,” she added in whisper as three thuds rang through the field before the crowd started to shout in awe.         Lightning turned around before her jaw tried to reach for the floor at the sight of Fleetfoot’s target. Sure, the Wonderbolt’s arrows were plunged perfectly vertical into the target, something that was far from usual on an archery field, but all three of them had hit the cross mark that showed the bullseye of the target. “And Fleetfoot of the Wonderbolts wins this volley after that amazing display of archery skills with a perfect score of 30!” Pinkie announced with excitement. “....Woa…” Roseluck let out as Lightning, sweating even more than before, prepared herself for her second volley. “She’s that good?” “More or less,” Cloud shrugged as her teammates whistled in amazement. “You should see her shoot while she shapes the wind to change the course of her arrows. That’s even more impressive than that!” she explained, pointing at Fleetfoot’s arrows in the target across the field. “And, how am I supposed to beat her?!” Allie asked in a quiet whisper. “Simple! Ya just do yer best,” Applejack stated matter-of-factly. “Even if she can do those fancy-looking shots, if ya still managed a thirty on a volley, she can’t do better than to tie with ya!” “Besides, we can still have Roseluck distracting Fleetfoot,” Cloud suggested with a shrug as Allie nodded slowly to Applejack’s advice. “...What?!” Roseluck asked in confusion. “What do you mean by that?” she asked with worry. “You know, the Sexy-Distractions 101,” Cloud went on matter-of-factly. “Like, pulling your shirt down a little to make your cleavage more generous,” she suggested by giving Rose’s top a little pull downwards, earning a mad blush and meek squeak from the florist. “Stop that!” Rose protested by covering her chest with her hands. “Right, sorry!” Cloud let go of the redhead’s top instantly. “Cleavage isn’t thing for you… Maybe if you would pick up something by bending over very slowly… That should distract Fleetfoot, right?” “NO!” “Come on, Rose,” Vinyl let out playfully. “Where’s your team spirit?” “Yeah, Rose!” Allie pleaded with a smirk. “Take one for the team!” “NO!” “If not for the team, do it for Allie!” Ditzy let out before joining Applejack and Raindrops’ chuckling fit. “I SAID NO! I WILL NOT DO SOMETHING LIKE THAT!!!!” “I’m sure Fleetfoot will love it,” Cloud let out with a knowing smirk. “........I….NO!” “She hesitated on that one!” Redheart pointed out with a mocking smile while Rose turned as red as her namesake. “Wooooooooooh!” Ponyville team let out in unison as Roseluck tried to hide inside the hood of her jacket while Pinkie announced Fleetfoot’s victory by three volleys won to none from Lightning Dust and a total score of ninety for the Wonderbolt.         A few minutes later, it was in a very lighthearted manner that Allie joined Fleetfoot on the field for the finale. While she knew she couldn’t possibly win against the rumored best archer of the Royal Guard, it didn’t tarnish the tranquility and peace of mind Allie had found after sharing a good laugh with her friends and teammates, even if it was at Rose’s expense.         It was with that same serene attitude that Allie took her shots against Fleetfoot, conceding the first two volleys of the match by forcing the Wonderbolt to get a perfect score to beat her two twenty-nine’s. Though it was at the third volley that things got interesting: when both archers scored thirty points and thus had to shoot a fourth arrow the closest to the bullseye for the tie break.         Five tie-breaking arrows later, the volley was in full course. For every arrow that Allie had shot as close of the bullseye as she could, Fleetfoot landed hers at the exact same distance, forcing the match to continue. The crowd was silent as Allie hooked the sixth arrow on her bow-string before she pulled its end close to her eye.         The sun had been shining rather brightly for a while now, and it made her start to sweat a bit. Her intense focus despite her calm attitude only made things worse. A small drop rolled down her forehead to her right eyebrow. A couple of others rolled down Allie’s skin before they converged with the one held by her eyebrow, causing it grow in size and to roll downer before it got stuck in her right upper-eyelash.         The drop of sweat stuck on her eyelash blurred the vision of her aiming eye, making her curse under her breath. She tried to blink it away, but it only worsened the problem. Allie was about to loosen the string of her bow to wipe her eye, and thus looking rather ridiculous in front of the Wonderbolt and all of Equestria because she took too long to shoot her arrow, but that was before something happened.         The drop of sweat that hindered her aim delicately floated off of her eyelashes, only to be imitated by the other droplets of sweat on her brow. Allie’s sweat turned into a faint, and nearly unnoticeable puff of steam that vanished into the air before her. Not breaking her stance, but her mind still confused by that magic trick, Allie’s right eye glanced around only to stop on the right hand of her opponent. Fleetfoot’s right hand held her bow in a decontracted grip, but Allie noticed something odd about the fore-finger of the white-haired archer: it kept slowly tracing circles in the air for no reason. Allie’s teal eye looked up to Fleetfoot’s face. The Wonderbolt had the same casual smile she had been showing since the start of the archery competition, her eyes focused on the target at which Allie was aiming. Then, one the Wonderbolt’s purple eye turned to Allie’s direction before its lid closed for a second. Grinning softly at the wink, Allie refocused her attention on the target ahead of her. She breathed in as the bullseye became clear in her eye, and breathed out calmly as she let go of her arrow. After it touched the target, one of the Games officials quickly went to check before declaring to the crowd that Allie’s arrow had reached the exact center of the target. “Well done!” Fleetfoot commented with sincerity as the crowd exploded in cheers and applauses. “Let’s see you try to beat that,” Allie let out without thinking at how cocky it sounded.         Fleetfoot shrugged casually before taking her stance in front of the target as the official walked away from it. She twirled her arrow in her fingers before hooking it to the string of her bow. She took her aim for barely a second, and then let the arrow loose. A sharp whistle and a low thud later, the crowd shouted in awe: Fleetfoot’s arrow was firmly planted into the end of Allie’s own arrow. “Okaaaay,” Allie whispered slowly. “That was mean, but insanely cool!” “I do try to be cool,” Fleetfoot retorted with a smile as she looked at her opponent while the official unplucked their arrows for the next shot. “Shall we continue?” “I’m not giving up, if that’s what you’re asking!” Allie replied firmly. Fleetfoot’s smile only grew larger. “Exactly what I wanted to hear!” ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~         200 Meters Sprint Finale, Fifteenth Day of the Equestria Games… “Ready for you second bronze medal of the day, Vinyl?” Rainbow jabbed with a triumphing smirk at the blue-haired woman next to her. “Are you ready for missing the gold for the second time today, Renée?” Vinyl asked back to the Cloudsdalian to her right, earning a brief chuckle from Spitfire who was getting ready at her left. “Yeah, right! You won’t best me this time around,” Rainbow assured with pride. “The student will surpass the master today!” “Master?” Vinyl asked in confusion, while facing Spitfire. “As a the Captain of the Wonderbolts, it’s my job to also supervise the training of the Junior Wonderbolts, of which Rainbow is the founding member…” “Yeah, and I was so awesome as Junior that she personally took me under her wing!” Rainbow assured with pride. “I’m the greatest of Spitfire’s apprentices… Even if there’s only been two of them,” she added more humbly. “Only two apprentices?” Vinyl asked slowly, slightly turning her face toward Spitfire. “Do I know the other?” “Sure you do!” Rainbow assured before Spitfire could reply. “It’s Lightning Dust!” “Runners! On your marks!” Pinkie shouted in her megaphone.         Rainbow quickly put herself in position while Vinyl held Spitfire’s gaze barely for the time of a blink. The Wonderbolt and the Magic-musician then took position on their respective starting blocks. After Pinkie’s ‘Get set!’ the runners leaned on their starting blocks, causing them to raise their lower backs along with their heads. With their eyes focused on the finish line, the three girls lunged forward immediately after the bang of Pinkie’s cannon.         When they reached the turn after the first hundred meters of the race, Vinyl, Spitfire and Rainbow had managed to have a second-long advance on the other racers. For the final straight lined sprint, all three athletes were neck and neck, none of the three succeeding in outrunning the others. That was until Spitfire created the gap between her and her younger competitors. The Wonderbolt’s feet always reached a few inches ahead of Rainbow or Vinyl’s.         When Spitfire was only twenty meters away from the finish line, Rainbow started to gain on her, and got slightly ahead of Vinyl. Ten meters away, Vinyl’s opponents were respectively two and one stride ahead of her. She gritted her teeth when Spitfire was now about four meters away from the finish line, and three strides ahead of her.         Vinyl leaned on her right foot heavily, ready to give it all for the final meters. When her foot left the ground, she heard a low buzz coming from under it and before she knew it, the wall of the Coliseum that stood far beyond the finish line was just centimeters before her. Oh FFFFFFUUUUUC….. She thought before her body slammed itself against the brick wall with strength. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~         Sweet Apple Acres stables, Sixteenth Day of the Equestria Games… “I gotta say,” Colgate let out as she examined Vinyl’s shades with attention. “Lady Sparkle really did a good job on enchanting your shades… I mean, you crashed head first into a brick wall and there’s not a single crack on them.” She glanced at her blue-haired friend brushing the jet-black mare’s coat. “Too bad she didn’t think of enchanting your nose.” The University student had to bite her lip at the sight of the white bandaid on her friend’s face. “Colgate, I like you, and everything, but don’t think you can laugh at my expenses, and getting away with it!” Vinyl warned slowly, before Alizee whinnied in protest at the blue-and-white haired girl. “Yeah! You tell her, girl!” Vinyl said to the horse before gently pecking it on the nose. “Fine! Fine!” Colgate lifted her arms to surrender. “I won’t laugh about it anymore,” she added with sincerity. “How did it go with the Games officials though?” “Well, I was disqualified for the two-hundred meters sprint, as you already know,” Vinyl explained matter-of-factly. “But, they all agreed that it was clearly an uncontrolled, and involuntary surge of magic from my part, so they let me participate in the trials I have left. Though, if it happens again, I’m off my team’s roster.” “If they’re letting you participate in the rest of the games, why aren’t you in the Coliseum with the others?” Colgate asked in confusion. “Well, the only trials I have left are the finale of the horse-riding competitions next week,” Vinyl explained matter-of-factly. “I’ll probably spent a large deal of my time practicing with Alizee here.” The mare in question snorted happily at that. “Something she doesn’t seem to mind. Is that right, girl?... You were jelly because I spent my time away from you, huh? You were jelly of the other lady of my life, weren’t you? Yes, you were! Yes, you were!”         The baby-talk and Vinyl playfully caressing both sides of her horse’s head made Colgate giggle softly while Alizee let out a long, happy whinny in response. As the black mare nuzzled the face of her owner, carefully avoiding her recently, almost broken nose, Colgate grabbed one of the nearby mane-brushes. “Need a hand for grooming her?” she asked with a warm smile. “I’m not one to refuse free help when it’s offered nicely,” Vinyl replied, retaking the horse’s coat-brush. “Be extremely gentle with her though. She’s as fussy and delicate as Rarity… I’m quoting AJ on that,” she added with a wink. “I still can’t believe you and your sister got together with two members of the Council of Harmony,” Colgate let casually as she shown the brush in her hand to Alizee. “I probably shouldn’t be that much surprised about you, because I know you’ve been crushing on Octavia Philharmonica for years, though I never thought you’d actually act on it. Your sister and Rarity Belle… Now, THAT was a shock alright!” Colgate chuckled as she passed the brush through Alizee’s black mane slowly and gently. “I have not been crushing on Octavia for years,” Vinyl replied with a mad blush. “You had that giant poster of her with her cello in our dorm at the University since day one,” Colgate retorted with a cocked eyebrow. “Remember what you did to it when we got back from that Stalliongrad-themed party?” “Oh come on! I just had a little too much vodka!” “I wouldn’t call two whole bottles a little,” Colgate commented with a brief laugh. “You drank more than I did,” Vinyl sorely reminded. “I didn’t make out with a poster, so I’ll say I was in a better state of mind than you,” Colgate retorted with a wink. “Ehenanahanahana,” Vinyl muttered angrily before she leaned down to hide her face with Alizee’ body. “Wow! Really mature!” Colgate chuckled playfully as she brushed another lock of Alizee’s mane. “So, is kissing the real Octavia better than her poster version?”         Her sole reply was an embarrassed groan coming from behind the black horse before her. As Alizee looked at her owner with an expression akin to puzzlement, Colgate laughed at Vinyl before brushing the front bangs between the horse’s ears. “All jokes aside, you seem happy with her,” Colgate commented slowly as Alizee’s ears flopped down to let the brush pass easily. “And, I clearly saw that she cares about you a lot… Even if I barely saw her during ten relatively embarrassing seconds.” “Well, if you hadn’t left….” “I wasn’t going to stay if she didn’t like me,” Colgate stated with a shrug, causing Vinyl to stand up straight with a confused frown on her face. “I’m sorry, what?” “She doesn’t like me,” Colgate repeated slowly. “Your Octavia.” “You’ve barely seen, yet talked to her!” Vinyl snapped a bit. “How can you say that?” “Well, the look she gave me while marking you as her own was worth all the actually voiced Come closer to my precious, and I’ll end you! in the world,” Colgate explained with a chuckle. “You were too busy having your life sucked out of you to notice.” “... She was a bit more forceful than usual with that kiss,” Vinyl admitted softly. “I just don’t get why she acted like that with you…” “Simple jealousy, Sweetie,” Colgate replied with wisdom. “She probably just didn’t like seeing you hugging me… If I had been in her place, I would have been jealous too…” “So, because I’ve got a girlfriend now, I can’t hug my friends anymore?” Vinyl snapped in a sour mood. “I’m not saying that.” Colgate shook her head slowly. “But, put yourself in her place. If she knows you as well as I do… Probably even more than I do… Then Octavia probably knows that you don’t hug just anybody.” Colgate glanced at her friends with sadness. “Because of…” she added, pointing a trembling finger at her lower back. “....What?!” Vinyl asked in a shaken whisper. “...How… How do you know about that?” “I saw it once back at our dorm… You were getting changed when I walked in… I understood why you never told me, and I prefer never mentioned it before today,” Colgate explained with sadness.         Sensing her owner’s uneasiness, Alizee nuzzled Vinyl’s arm softly before the Apple patted her flank to have her trot away from the two women. The black Saddle Arabian mare joined the other horses outside the stables while Vinyl looked at Colgate with a mix of sadness, and puzzlement. “Then why are you telling me this now?” Vinyl asked softly, causing Colgate to come closer to her, and to rest her hand on her cheek. “So that you realize Octavia’s state of mind about me, Vinyl,” Colgate explained gently. “So that, if you talk to her about it, you don’t get all snappy, and say something you might regret…” “I guess that could have happened,” Vinyl agreed slowly. “I’m ...just not comfortable with those conversations…” “If you want, I can stay clear of you for a while,” Colgate suggested. “To let Octavia’s jealousy die down a bit….Or I could flirt with you so she could mark you more,” she added with a wink. “You seemed to like that…”         Colgate all but received a blank look from her friend, and her expression fell at that. Vinyl didn’t even blushed at the mention of her lover being a bit forceful in her displays of affection. “Sorry, I was just trying to light up the mood,” Colgate explained uneasily. “I know,” Vinyl replied quietly. “I’m just surprised you would joke about that… considering we dated for a while.” “I just thought we were past that, Vinyl.” Colgate held her head low. “I’m sorry. It was a mistake.” “Damn right, it was!” Vinyl’s voice rang cold, and furious before Colgate saw a glowing, blue hand grabbed her throat. “Where’s she?!” “Vinyl, what...What are you doing?!” Colgate let out in a choked tone as Vinyl’s hand tightened her grip. “Where’s who?!” “The REAL Colgate, bitch!” Vinyl snarled, pushing the other blue-haired woman against the wall of the stables. “Colgate would have NEVER flirted with me as a joke after turning me down when I asked her out years ago… So where is she?!” “... You’re a smart one, Apple,” Colgate let out in a different totally different voice. “As for your friend, let’s say she had a fateful encounter on her way here…”         Vinyl literally roared at that comment, before she conjured strings of magic around her fist. She was about to throw her punch at the imposter before said imposter’s hand flew up to Vinyl’s bruised nose. While yelping in pain, Vinyl unconsciously let go of the faker’s throat. The imposter caught her breath back before she started to hum a gentle tone.         Vinyl’s pupils contracted to a needle’s width as she struggled to even stand back up. The imposter’s song grew louder before tendrils of blue magic converged toward the small gemstone she had just pulled out of one of her pockets. The red gem absorbed Vinyl’s magic for a while before a loud, angry whinny rang to the imposter’s right side. She barely had the time to look to her right, before she saw Alizee’s hooves coming down on her after the mare had reared as high as she could. “Shit!” the imposter let out, interrupting her song before conjuring a gleaming shield just before the hooves reached her head.         There was a bright flash of light that followed the impact of hooves on the magic surface. When the light died down, Vinyl managed to look up from the ground, and saw a woman running away from the stables through the orchard. Choking a snarl, Vinyl was about to run after her when she heard Alizee whine behind her. “.....Oh no!” Vinyl’s anger died down for a while at the sight of the bloody wounds on her horse’s front legs. “Shhhh… It’s okay, I’m here,” she added with sadness as she hugged Alizee’s head.         Vinyl levitated the veterinary first-aid kit they kept in the stables close to her, her hands never leaving Alizee’s face as tears rolled out of her red eyes. Vinyl was about to treat her horse when fury invaded her mind. She took a deep breath as her magic wrapped itself around her throat and Alizee’s ears. “APPLES!!! INTRUDER IN THE SOUTH-EASTERN ORCHARD!!! GET HER!!!!”         Vinyl’s order rang through the whole surface occupied by the acres, and even beyond. It made the imposter stop her run to cover her ears with a wince. It was as strong as if Vinyl’s amplified voice had come from just next to her ears. It took the fake Colgate a few seconds for the buzzing in them to vanish, but when it did, she only heard dog barks coming closer to her. She glanced back to see half a dozen of dogs lead by a small, white and brown Collie, charging in her direction from the open field in front of the South-Eastern Orchard, along with fifteen farmers that were close behind the dogs. She cursed a couple of times before she ran like Cerberus was on her tail, hoping to reach the Everfree Forest before the dogs of Apple Family caught up with her. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~         Later that evening, in the Old Castle in the Everfree Forest… “Got what I asked for?” Sunset asked casually at the two women in front of her. “It was easy,” Aria, the one with the two purple and teal pigtails, replied casually as she extended the red gemstone to Sunset. “Hello! It was like super easy!” Sonata, the one with a two-toned teal ponytail, added in a chipper tone. “Lady Sparkle uses her magic for like everything!” “Yeah, but you almost ruined our plan by asking for her autograph,” Aria reminded sorely, her purple eyes narrowed at the tealette. “Oh, yeah?” Sonata argued childishly. “Well, let me remind you that it’s thanks to me that we managed to collect a sample of her magic from the pen she used. I totally knew she would use her magic to take the pen from me when I asked!” “No, you didn’t!” Aria retorted with a frown. “You were too busy fangirling like a five years old to have thought of that.” “Well, excuse me for being in character!” Sonata argued with anger. “At least, I have more than the broody girl in my acting repertoire.” “Please, you’re like the worst actress ever!” “You are!” “.....Idiots!” Sunset muttered before taking the crystal from Aria’s hand as the pair continued to argue with one another. “Althea, bring me my tools, please!” “Right away, Sunset!” the petite woman nodded before bringing the Titanian a thick, leather satchel.         After thanking her aide, Sunset opened the satchel and unfurled it, revealing a series of advanced-looking tongs, spoons, and hooks along with a series of lead boxes. Sunset then put her glasses on before she opened one of the boxes, and took what was inside with the longest tongs of her set. Under Althea’s fascinated gaze, Sunset brought the jet black shard she had pulled out of the box in contact with the red gem. On contact, the black crystal started to grow around the red one before Sunset’s finger lit up with her magic. “... If we had followed YOUR plan, we would have been seen by Lady Sparkle’s girlfriend,” Sonata argued with an accusing finger. “What difference would it have made?” Aria snapped with a frown. “Are you, like, for real?” Sonata asked back incredulously. “Lovers on a date tend to remember people that interrupts their time together… That sexy blonde would have remembered us!” she crossed her arms with a pout. “Besides, I didn’t have it in me to interrupt their lunch date! They were so cute together….”         Sunset suddenly slammed her hand on the table before glaring at the tealette with the darkest eyes she could muster. When Aria, and Sonata sheepishly looked back at the red-and-yellow haired woman in complete silence, Sunset turned back to what she was doing, though she kept an angry eye on the ponytail girl. “What? What did I say?” Sonata asked in whisper filled with confusion. “I don’t know,” Aria let out with a shrug. “So, what’s the conclusion, Sunset?” Althea asked, changing the subject of the discussion. “Just as I thought,” Sunset let out as she glanced at the bright, smooth purple crystal that used be a black, edgy shard of a gem a few seconds earlier. “Twilight Sparkle’s compatible.” “If you already thought that Sparkle was compatible, why did you send me to that stupid farm?!” another, female voice snarled after the sound of a door slammed open was heard. “You’re late, Adagio,” Sunset stated coldly, not bothering herself with facing the curly, orange-haired woman that walked up to her. “You have the sample of her magic?” “Yes!” Adagio snarled, making the red gem she had with her roll on the stone table to Sunset’s right hand. “Though, I don’t know what’s the big deal about her… I sensed her core, she’s only a Beta! That’s clearly not enough.” “It is indeed not enough,” Sunset agreed before taking another black shard from another box of her satchel. “For what we have planned, we need an Alpha, or an Alpha+ like Twilight Sparkle…”         Sunset repeated the experience with the gemstone that contained a sample of Vinyl’s magical aura, only this time, the black shard didn’t change its color, and shape. It shattered in a bright, white flash, causing all the girls around to wince, and groan at the sudden explosion. While all the other girls looked at the table with gaping mouth, Sunset picked one of her tiny spoons, and collected the pure white diamond dust that used to be a black, crystal shard. “Is it supposed to do that?” Sonata asked softly, earning a sole shake of head from Sunset. “Then, what does it mean?” Aria, and Althea asked at the same time, confusion lacing both their voice. “It means that someone lied to our leader,” Adagio replied instead of Sunset. “Or that she lied to us,” Sunset added sternly, her eyes focused on the tiny, white diamonds.