Aria arrived outside city hall. Her jaw dropped and she found herself at a loss for words. Adagio was actually wearing a deerstalker, a brown long coat, and using a magnifying glass to examine the area around the steps. Anon and Sonata both puffed on their bubble pipes, their bowlers firmly mounted atop their heads. Sonata even had what appeared to be a Sig P226 strapped to her hip. She preferred Martin Freeman’s Watson. Her eyes lit up as she saw Aria. She waved frantically, bubble solution splashing everywhere. Quickly she got back into character and cleared her throat.
“Hmmm, interesting,” murmured Sonata as she studied the steps.
“Yes, indeed,” agreed Anon.
“It is clear that the culprit is a time traveler or some kind of ghost!” shouted Sonata authoritatively.
“Indubitably, Miss Dusk,” puffed Anon.
Adagio ignored them as she moved to study the foot patterns from the crowd in the grass. She knew there was probably nothing specific she could get out of them. That’s when she spotted it.
“Girls! Look at this!”
Noticing Aria, she motioned for her to come over as well. She pointed down to the barely noticeable pattern in the grass. It was a crude type of magic circle design. Adagio touched the salt, then brought it to her lips as she tasted it.
“This… isn’t Equestrian magic.”
“It’s a thaumaturgical magic circle,” offered Sonata. “It’s similar to a mandala, and can be used to summon, focus, and gather energy into the center.”
Everyone stood dumbfounded.
“What? Since we can’t sing or use our gems anymore, I’ve been reading these books about a guy who uses magic and cell phones to summon things and do spells! If we could do that we could maybe get our magic back…”
Anon’s heart broke for the girl as she continued to describe the exploits of the IT tech. Could he truly bring himself to reveal that there was no eldritch Santa sleeping forever below the ocean in the city of R’lyeh waiting to give her magic powers? As he wavered back and forth, Aria made his heart wrenching indecision moot.
“That’s just a story! Its fake like movies and the Easter Bunny!”
Tears swelled up in Sonata’s eyes. Anon’s eyes teared up in sympathy. Just before the dam broke, Dagi spoke.
“Maybe they aren’t just stories… Something definitely happened here. Perhaps there is a form of magic here as well that we don’t know about.”
“And that candy has to get there somehow!” added Anon.
Sonata calmed down after that. The Dazzlings spoke with people around the front desk, but they had no more info. People just suddenly got really pissed off and carried the mayor off during a town hall meeting.
“It was crazy! One minute we were talking about rezoning so you couldn’t keep farm animals within city limits, next thing you know the crowd has grabbed the mayor and yelled about how maybe she’d like to clean out a pig pen! It was a good thing those girls showed up and calmed the crowd down. They all dispersed after that.”
Adagio nodded, then thanked the desk clerk. Sonata and Anon waved bye. Something bugged Aria but she couldn’t put her finger on it.
Back in their headquarters above the restaurant, the Dazzlings dug into a big pot of spaghetti. Thick red sauce full of meatballs was spooned generously atop the pasta, a slice of garlic bread placed on the side. After taking a giant bite and swallowing, Adagio began to speak.
“So, it seems someone is running around and feeding off people’s emotions, but they are doing it using a slightly different method from us.”
“Yeah. It doesn’t look like they are actually controlling people. They are just amplifying emotions and gathering the energy,” replied Aria.
“Doesn’t your friend study magic?”
All eyes turned to Sonata.
“If she’s been studying human magic, she might know something about what’s happening!” Sonata continued.
“Hmm, yeah, I think she would. We were too busy fighting off a giant angry mob of shoppers to talk much about magic today though.”
Now Anon, Dagi, and Sonata’s eyes fell on her.
“Aria, your friend studies magic, has your gem, and a riot followed you guys to the mall. Doesn’t that set off alarm bells?”
“What?! There’s no way Doc was using my gem, I would have felt it. There wasn’t any magic circle or anything either at the mall.”
"We need to go have a talk with her. I didn't want to ask for your and Sonata's gems back so you wouldn't have to feel the pain, but we are going to need some answers.”
“She’s said she’s gonna be gone all this week. She did say she’d have a surprise for me ready by next Sunday.”
“Well. Crap.” Adagio couldn’t think of anything else to say.
“Oh yeah, that was a nice airsoft gun you had on today Sonata,” complimented Anon, as he slurped another mouthful of spaghetti.
“What’s an airsoft?” asked Sonata innocently.
---
From her secret clock tower lair far above the city, Midnight Sparkle surveilled her new domain. Her melodious laughter filled the tower as she brushed her long black and purple pony tail aside. Her dark purple wings spread out without her thinking, fluffing as the feathers realigned then relaxed to her side. Her purple gown with its green translucent train swayed lightly in the cool night breeze. She reveled in her power, closing her fist and smiling as sparks crackled around her.
“Once I sweep aside those six pesky magical girls, I will be free to gather all of this world’s energy! I won’t make the same mistakes as those other foals. They won’t even see me coming…”
With another cackle, she leapt from the tower. Her wings spread out majestically as they caught the wind, but she knew they weren’t what was holding her aloft. It was the magic. The wonderful, delicious magical energy the humans gave off. One week. That was how long she would need to gather the energy required. Luckily, there was an event coming soon that would allow her to gather every single magical font together in one place. Everything would be decided there, at the Friendship Games.