Twilight's eyes narrowed as she stared at the several sheets of paper and red lines that circled a singular image at the center, an innocent and by all accounts normal looking high school that had more rumors and wild stories surrounding it than any celebrity couple she cared to name.
“There's no doubt about it Spike...there's definitely something strange going on at that school.”
The dog, happily oblivious to everything except his bowl of food, barked twice at hearing his name before returning to the much more important task of eating.
Honestly, it was a conclusion she had reached long ago, but the latest earthquake and accompanying light-show that had lit up the sky for miles was near ironclad proof.
There had been blogs, reports, and crazy stories from many of the students at the school. Stories about she-demons, grainy and barely-coherent footage of supernatural light shows that were about as convincing as most pictures of bigfoot, and scattered anecdotes of people encountering a particular group of students who they swore up and down could manifest equine traits.
The sheer ridiculousness of the stories would have been amusing if they hadn't been so consistent and widespread. The reaction from the sensible scientific community had been incredulity and skepticism and Twilight had been among them until just yesterday.
Turning back to what her mother had lovingly dubbed the 'wall of crazy', Twilight carefully pinned up a rough sketch of the sight she had witnessed yesterday. A crude drawing of an ethereal horse with a pointed horn and gigantic wings with a rainbow trail behind it. Seeing it had been pure coincidence and the result of her stargazing hobby and the image had passed too quickly for her to take a picture of, but the image itself was rooted firmly in her mind.
By all accounts it should have been impossible. There was no hologram technology that could replicate such a sight in an outside and uncontrolled environment. Many had dismissed the sight as some sort of effect of the concert that was being held that night, but even if the technology had been there, it wouldn't have been available to a high school with a limited budget.
“Where do I go from here though?” asked Twilight aloud, looking back towards her dog who had finished his meal. “I'm not getting anywhere with just observing the place.”
The dog seemed to ponder the question in his own cute way before looking towards the central picture on the wall of Canterlot High and barking once.
“What, actually go to the high school? Spike, I've spent my entire life avoiding public education,” she said with a groan.
The dog barked again.
“I can't just show up there and try to conduct experiments Spike. You need a license for that sort of thing, and probably permission from the board of education.” Not to mention that her young age meant she'd never be taken seriously, even if her claims weren't completely ludicrous.
Despite the insurmountable obstacles, Twilight continued to think over the problem, checking and rechecking every angle. It was the duty of a scientist to explore these sorts of things. Unravel the mysteries of the universe and most importantly, to never ignore data that was staring at them in the face.
“I still say everything seems impossible, but that doesn't change what I saw,” said Twilight finally. “I'd be a lousy scientist if I reject my data just because it conflicts with my perceived world view. That road only leads to scientific stagnation.”
Spike yipped in agreement...or he could have possibly been demanding attention and pets, both of which Twilight was quick to give him as he jumped up on the bed next to her. “Of course I have a plan,” she said with a smile, withdrawing a well-used journal from the desk near her bed and opening it up onto one of the blank pages.
“Step one: Pretend to be interested in joining Canterlot High,” she said aloud as she wrote.
---
“And that is why I'd like to take the opportunity to tour your school and its facilities to see if the place would be an ideal match for my own personal growth and the future goals I have in mind,” finished Twilight as she sat in the principal's office, coming to the end of her prepared speech.
Principal Celestia blinked, her hands paused motionless over the keyboard as she looked at the glasses wearing girl in front of her. “You mean...you're not actually a student here?” she said finally.
Twilight blinked, processing the statement from every angle before giving up on trying to make sense of it. “No...I'm not. I just told you that.”
Celestia closed her eyes and gently rubbed her head. “But I could have sworn...ah, well I suppose that's not terribly important. Shouldn't your parents be here though?”
Opening up the folder she had prepared, Twilight produced a letter she had printed out earlier that day, signed by both of her parents after Twilight had used the convincing argument of needing it for a scientific experiment. Those magic words had been greeted with blank smiles and friendly nods, her parents barely even looking at what they were signing.
“This should be sufficient,” said the purple haired girl confidently.
The principal took the notes and glanced over them, her eyes flicking across the page before she flipped over to the second...and then the third. “Well, if it's with their permission then I see no reason not to grant your request. I'll have one of our students-”
“Thank you but that won't be necessary,” interrupted Twilight, “I've already acquired a map of the school and I know the relevant places of interest that I wish to observe.”
“Oh...well you certainly seem to have things in hand then,” said Celestia kindly. “Please feel free to ask if you change your mind.”
Twilight was already out the door by the time she finished her parting words.
---
“Infiltration complete. Quite a bit easier than I thought it would be. Either that or Celestia just lets anyone into her school,” murmured Twilight as she adjusted her bag and head towards her first destination. Of the various rumors that had spread outwards from the school, the most consistent ones seemed to have been centered around the musical talents of a band called the Rainbooms, so her first observation point was there.
She had timed her 'tour' of the school with the lunch hour and was satisfied to find only empty hallways between her and her destination. As she placed a hand on the door to the music room though, the partition slid open. There was a flash of blue hair obstructing her vision before something solid bumped into her, sending her stumbling back a few steps.
“Twilight! You're here!”
Very carefully, the student adjusted her glasses, her eyes focusing on the athletic, blue-haired male that had bumped into her. “Who are you and how do you know my name?” she demanded.
“Er...it's me...Flash Sentry,” said the boy awkwardly. “Look, I wanted to apologize-”
“Don't change the subject. I asked you how you knew my name,” interrupted Twilight. “Also, you're free to say 'excuse me' or perhaps even 'sorry I ran into you'. That is what you normally say when you accidentally ram someone, yes?”
“Er...yes, right, sorry...” said Flash, suddenly on the defensive under the piercing gaze of the glasses wearing student. “Listen Twilight, are you sure you're alright?” he asked, placing a hand on her shoulder. “I mean, I like the new look and all but you seem a bit off.”
“Hand off,” said the girl sharply, causing Flash to quickly pull the appendage back to his side. “You're avoiding the question again, which means that you're probably trying to hide something.” Like magic, a notepad and a pencil suddenly appeared in her hand. “Tell me, when was the last time I visited this school? Feel free to continue pretending I have memory loss.”
Flash gulped, suddenly realizing the hot water he was in. Letting out a forced laugh, the boy sheepishly rubbed the back of his head. “Ah, actually that might have been someone who just looked a lot like you now that I think about it. Twin maybe? Sister?” he said nervously. “Sorry for the trouble,” he added quickly, giving her another pat on the shoulder.
Twilight's eyes narrowed.
---
“Wait, wait, hold on. You mean to tell me that a girl half your weight and muscle managed to lay you out?” said Rainbow with a wide grin on her face.
Holding an ice pack between his legs, Flash Sentry groaned and nodded.
“Oh man, that is awesome! I wish someone had gotten a video! I never took Twilight for the physical type.”
“Well I for one would like to know what she's doing back here,” interjected Rarity. “Obviously she doesn't need an excuse to come and visit, but trouble usually isn't far behind when she does. And she hasn't dropped by to say hello.”
“Well duh, it's obviously not 'our' Twilight!” Rarity yelped as Pinkie suddenly sprang up from beneath the table, quickly producing a tray and setting several items on it.
“What do you mean 'our' Twilight?” asked Applejack curiously.
Pinkie opened her mouth but stopped upon spying Flash hunched over and face down on the cafeteria table. Leaning over to Rarity, Pinkie Pie managed to whisper in a way that all of her friends managed to catch but Flash did not. “Does he know that Twilight is a pony yet?”
“Err...no, I don't think so...” murmured Rarity.
Tilting her head to the side, Pinkie reached into the mass of pink curls and pulled out a cupcake. “Hey Flashy, open wide!”
“Wha-” SMOOSH!
There was a muffled sound of surprise as Flash found his mouth full of pink frosting before his eyes rolled upwards and his head hit the table with a thunk. “There we go. He'll be out for an hour or two depending on his sugar tolerance.”
There was a quiet cough as the other four stared at her. “What?”
“Um...Pinkie, we could have just asked him to leave.”
“Boring! Hey Sunny! Over here!”
Sunset Shimmer, tray in hand, quickly spotted the frantic waving and headed over with a smile. “Hey girls, what's up?”
“We might have a bit of a problem,” said Applejack. “Did Twilight send you any messages lately?”
“Not lately no. The last one I got from her was plans for some sort of adventure she was going on back in Equestria. I haven't heard from her for the last three days. Why?”
“Well...we might have a problem. Flash over there just said he saw Twilight around the music room asking questions and observing things.”
“Non-pony Twilight,” clarified Pinkie quickly.
“Um...is that really so bad?” asked Fluttershy. “I mean, she doesn't have magic, right? Just as long as we keep our own hidden she'll just make her observations and leave, shouldn't she?”
Sunset drummed her fingers on the table as she stared at the cover of the book she used to communicate with Twilight. “This...might actually be a problem. Equestria Twilight told me that the last use of the portal left it a bit unstable. It was a real jury rigged job and any improper magical influence could make it go haywire and...” Sunset grimaced as she opened the book to the panicked writing of Twilight on the day she had found out. The list of potential consequences filled several paragraphs.
“Okay, but what are the odds of her actually finding the portal?” asked Rarity skeptically.
Sunset Shimmer gave the question some thought. “Well, the Twilight in Equestria had enough talent and brains to attract the attention of the most powerful being in their world who literally controls the sun at her command, and this Twilight is a human mirror of her.”
There was a moment of silence at the table as the six of them processed that. “Maybe we oughtta keep an eye on her just in case,” said Applejack finally.
“Agreed,” came the chorus of replies.
As the six of them left the table, Rainbow Dash spared a glance towards the sleeping Flash who was starting to drool slightly. “So...if this version of Twilight hates Flash, do you think I have a chance?”
Quick as a whip, Applejack's hand swung around and smacked the rainbow haired girl upside the head.
“Ow! Hey, I was just kidding!”
---
“Observation continues after minor obstruction in the form of the student body,” said Twilight, talking carefully and clearly into her microphone as she observed the instruments in front of her. “Lead guitar looks to be custom made and specially designed. Strings seem almost brand new and the guitar is in pristine condition despite presumably repeated use.”
All of the other instruments had similar stories to tell. “This band must have some serious financial backing,” she concluded finally, reaching into her bag and pulling out a set of special chemicals.
Slowly and without any sort of accompanying noise, the door to the music room began to open, several pairs of eyes looking in to see the violet haired girl at work.
“What the hell is she doing with our instruments?” hissed Applejack.
“Experimenting,” said Sunset Shimmer, placing a calming hand on the base player's shoulder. “Perfectly harmless. I don't think Twilight would be crazy enough to actually damage anything.”
A flinch was shared among the group as the sound of electricity discharging reached their ears, the single-minded scientist holding two wicked looking electrodes as she knelt down by-
“Hey! That's my bass!” There was a yelp as the other five students suddenly felt themselves pushed aside, an irate Applejack throwing the doors open and storming into the room.
Twilight jerked upright and turned around, eyes briefly widening as she saw the angry farm girl walking towards her. “Ah swear if you so much as touched my guitar-”
So fast that their heads almost collided, Twilight stood up, a small smile on her face and a gleam in her eye that made the other girl hesitate. “Ah, just the person I was looking for,” she said, excitement building in her voice. “Judging by your choice of instrument and the design of your clothes, you must be Applejack, base player for the Rainbooms and local farmhand, yes?”
“Er...yes, that's right. But Ah'm a bit-”
“Strange...you don't seem to have pony ears anywhere,” said Twilight, looking curiously at either side of her head. “That was one of the most commonly repeated rumors I heard. Do you hide them normally?”
Applejack broke out of her stupor long enough to take a step back and avoid Twilight's curious hands. “Now hold on a minute sugarcube, Ah wanna know what you were doing in here with our instruments.”
Twilight looked at her in confusion. “Nothing. I've been gathering ambient data from the room and taking notes on the passive energy readings.”
Curiously, Applejack took a look over her shoulder, noticing that the instruments themselves were completely untouched, though surrounded on all sides by various instruments.
“Er...well I appreciate that Twilight, but you really should ask before you go conductin-”
“How did you know my name?”
Applejack froze. “Er...well Ah...”
“You're the second student today that seems to know me even though I know I've never been here before.” There was a frown on her face and her eyes had narrowed as she advanced on the suddenly nervous farmer. “What happened here one week ago?”
Beads of sweat dripped down Applejack's neck. “Er...you know what? Go ahead and go nuts with the instruments, just don' scratch anything ya hear? Ah gotta go do stuff.” With a quick turn and a hard push off the ground, the farmer girl sped through the music room doors, leaving a very puzzled Twilight behind.
---
“Nice one Applejack. Not only did you blow our cover, you managed to make her even more suspicious,” derided Rainbow Dash once the group had fled to a safe distance. “She's probably gonna be suspicious of anyone in the band now.”
“So Ah should have just let her manhandle my guitar? Ah already lost that thing once, Ah ain't gonna let it happen again!”
“What's the worst she could have done? Those things are so pumped full of magic I can't even scratch them if I try!”
Sunset Shimmer ignored the bickering pair as Twilight walked a fair distance in front of them. If she hadn't been so focused on her goal, she might have noticed the colorful group following her, but thankfully her tunnel vision kept her oblivious as she looked at a device in her hand and walked towards the front of the school.
“Is she heading towards the portal?” asked Fluttershy nervously.
“It doesn't seem like it. She's probably picking up on harmonic magic with that device if she's using the readings she got from the instruments,” muttered Sunset. “And the portal itself is an entirely different type of magic unless...oh hell.”
Ahead of them, Twilight paused as the small remote-sized device in her hand clicked loudly. Curiously, she examined the area and noticed the slight discoloration of the wall, as though someone had recently rebuilt it. Kneeling down near the affected area, Twilight pulled out a pair of tweezers, gently shifting the blades of grass around until she found a small piece of blackened brick. A small bag came out next for the object to be placed in which was quickly tucked away inside her coat.
“Maybe we should just leave her to this, dear,” said Rarity gently. “I mean really, how far could she possibly get? So long as we avoid her and secure our instruments a bit better, we can keep her cut off from magic entirely and stop her from ever reaching the portal.”
Sunset Shimmer sighed. “Maybe you're right. Could you pass along that message to Applejack and Rainbow Dash once they're done bickering?”
---
Twilight was getting frustrated, but she didn't let it show as she looked down at the two students she had managed to actually get some answers out of, though how helpful those answers were was...debatable.
“So to reiterate, you two were Sunset Shimmer's...”
“Minions!” said the orange one on the left.
“Naw, you were a minion! I was a lackey!”
“And,” interrupted Twilight before they could begin fighting again, “At the end of the Fall Formal event she transformed into...what exactly?”
“Umm...they said it was a rage...ing...she-demon!”
“Yeah, and we transformed too! I had wings!”
Twilight nodded carefully, underlining a few things in her notebook and making a special note to check the water and the cafeteria food.
“But then we got hit with a rainbow laser.”
“It was all...woosh! And then...boom! And...we had to help rebuild the front of the school.”
“Yes...let's see...woosh, and then boom,” intoned Twilight as she wrote down those words while underlining the word 'suspect' next to Snips and Snails names. “Well, thank you for your time. If you see Sunset Shimmer, could you pass along the message that I'd like to see her?”
The two boys eagerly nodded and scurried off, leaving a frustrated Twilight behind, rubbing her head gently. “This school is full of crazy people,” she muttered under her breath, but despite the rather dim nature of those two, their stories did reflect the fuzzy picture she had been building throughout the day.
The truly baffling thing was just how easy every student seemed to be taking these things. If there was some element or substance that could casually trample over the laws of space and time, the entire community of scientific study would have exploded into an uproar.
Her journey was taking her away from the school now and towards the final point of observation, the concert area where the giant winged pony had appeared in the night sky. With the crude tracking instrument in her hand, she smiled slightly as the readings began to grow.
---
“Uh...Sunset? What did we do with those red gems that all the sirens had?” asked Rainbow worriedly as she examined the researcher from the nearby hill with a pair of binoculars.
“Twilight...er, that is pony Twilight made sure to gather them so she could safely dispose of them once she got back. Why?”
“I think she might have missed one.”
Taking the binoculars from the rainbow haired girl, Sunset Shimmer watched a kneeling Twilight carefully tease out a small sliver of red from a crack in the stage, holding it in a pair of tweezers as she examined it carefully.
“It shouldn't be a problem though, there isn't any magic left in them,” said Sunset, but she seemed unsure.
“Oh yeah, then how did she find it in the first place?”
---
“Observations continue. Residual energy from the Rainboom's instruments henceforth referred to as Substance X seems to react in the presence of the residual substance from the school and the small sliver of gemstone from the concert, henceforth referred to as Substance Y and Substance Z. If the rumors are to have any weight to them whatsoever, presumably Substance X is a conflicting source of energy to the latter two.” Placing all three substances side by side, Twilight looked at each in turn before turning on her mic again.
“Research into the Rainbooms has revealed little except in the way of Sunset Shimmer, alias known as Raging She-Demon. Public records reveal little in the way of information about her. By all accounts she seemed to have simply shown up at Canterlot High two years ago and was admitted into the school thanks to the lax policies of Principal Celestia. Seeing as how those same public records fail to indicate what Celestia's last name is though, they could possibly be an unreliable source of data.”
The mic clicked off as Twilight sat down on the desk, the two substances in her bags placed side by side with the crude element detector she'd rigged up from whatever energy had been surrounding the Rainbooms.
“Now then, let's get to work,” she said, snapping on a pair of gloves and placing a pair of goggles over her eyes.
---
Five people stared as Rarity's cell-phone taken video continued to play, showing Twilight hard at work within her commandeered laboratory, borrowing substances of all kinds and pulling out a seemingly endless supply of materials from her modestly sized bag. The mixtures she had made were starting to take on a rainbow shine and the steam rising from the glass beakers seemed to shift colors rapidly.
“I really think it's best you talk to her dear, she's being quite stubborn about this.”
“It shouldn't be dangerous. She's only working with the magic of harmony,” assured the fiery haired girl.
“But ain't that siren crystal like...the opposite of harmony magic?” asked Applejack.
“And wasn't that magic you were using like...corrupted harmony magic?” added Rainbow Dash.
Sunset sighed. “Look, I know it's hard to believe, but I was really good at magic back in Equestria. There's no possible way that there's enough energy in the remnants of of those shards to cause anything more than a minor reaction at most. Small scale rainbow explosion at worst. Twilight's intelligent, but she just doesn't have the resources to open that portal.”
“Oh good,” said Pinkie with a sigh of relief. “Because I was totally going to be worried about Twilight standing out in front of the Canterlot High statue with an incredibly dangerous looking vial in her hand that was filled with this rainbow stuff that looks really really tasty, but if you're sure we shouldn't be worried then I won't be.”
With her worry completely gone, Pinkie began to dig into her bag of sweets before noticing the stares of her other five friends. “What?”
“C'mon, Pinkie!” snapped Rainbow Dash, grabbing her friend by the arm and pulling her after the other four who were already running.
---
“Readings and rumors all indicate that this is the focal point,” murmured Twilight as she stood with the mixture in her hand, a combination of perfectly attuned harmonic and disharmonious magic that swirled around the glass, slowly building and feeding off of one another without her knowledge.
Touching the statue itself revealed it to be solid stone through and through, but the faintest hint of that energy was still being picked up from it. “Field test number one,” she said, turning on her mic. “Assuming that this focal point is the reason behind all of these strange energies, it could possibly react in response to them.”
Behind her, six wide eyed girls watched as she uncorked the vial and yelped, a sudden eruption of black lightning and rainbow colors exploding outwards and striking the base of the statue before dispersing.
Shakily, Twilight adjusted her glasses, looking down at the shattered flask and then towards the statue. “I have...um...discovered something unusual and...and...” The words were jumbled in her mind, her eyes not quite believing what she had just seen.
“Stoooop!” A sudden cry behind her made the scientist whirl around, her eyes quickly darting to six different faces with radically different hairstyles. Unconsciously she took a step back...and slipped.