As much as I hate to say it, my magical detection system was more or less useless at the moment, no matter how much I looked, there was only two sources of magic in the tristate area, Sunset Shimmer, and the portal. So, unless I wanted to be arrested for stalking, and for, you know, hacking into federal security systems, I sighed and closed the tab. Leaning back in my chair, absentmindedly petting Spike as I did, I turned my head towards the roof of my room. The dusty air giving the place a stale odor, as you might imagine, my room is a complete mess. Books were scattered all over, the floor was particularly unseeable due to the sheer mishmash of clothes, discarded chip bags, coffee cups, and general trash littered the room, so much so that it was hard to even find a patch of carpet through all the mess. If I had OCD, I’d imagine that this much chaos would probably send me into a coma and the only way to revive me would be to organize everything, which would probably take the better part of two months, unless of course, you had magic.
Magic, huh.
If you had told me two weeks ago that magic exists, I would’ve thought you were an escapee from a mental institute, and if you had told me that I would be friends with a magical pony turned human, I definitely would’ve started walking in the other direction very quickly. It was just so...strange, magic. I said it before and I’ll say it again, the “Magic of Friendship” was infuriating. No matter which way I went about it, I couldn’t make heads or tails of it. From a scientist’s perspective, it was completely mind boggling. The wings Rainbow Dash grew shouldn’t allow for flight like, the tails they grew during practice shouldn’t exist at all, and when Sunset transforms….It’s just, wow, it was as if the laws of physics didn’t apply to her. She once told me that she was the student of a very powerful, and pardon the term, mage in her old world. She didn’t tell me the name, I think, she said it was a Princess Celestia or something, but, I dunno. Princess were usually third in command in a Monarchy, after the prince, and before the prince, came the king and queen, and if my theory about doubles was correct, I really couldn’t see Principal Celestia as anything less than the queen of the land...Unless, did the princess have the same name as the queen? That would make more sense.
Oh yeah, back to Sunset. Compared to the others, she doesn’t transform as often, in fact, I’ve only seen her transform once aside from the Friendship Games, and that was during band practice. From what I could understood, they would “pony up” (Ugh, really?) when they “showed their truest selves.” From what little I understood of philosophy, I imagine they transform when their “spirits” or, I.E; their “elements” are properly alight. In other words, when they reach a mental, or perhaps physical threshold, they transform. Of course, that’s just a theory, I would need more data before I could make a proper analyzation. But still, when they transformed, it was sight to see.
Such as when Rainbow Dash transformed during the friendship games to save her friends, and me, or when Fluttershy is showing almost saint like kindness to others. Pinkie when she was making everyone happy, Applejack when she was truly honest and trustworthy, I haven’t seen Rarity’s, but perhaps when she’s being generous?
Sunset on the other hand….That one time she transformed, it was like watching, well, the sun-set. When the light hits just right, the world becomes something else in its presence. I believe the correct term would be “Magical Hour.” Beautiful, and somehow, a little sad. She also carried herself a little differently from the others when she transformed, the rest would be giddy, as if they just had a massive intake of sugar, or in Pinkie Pie’s case, her morning breakfast. But in Sunset’s case, it was like she was used to the feeling, and at the same time, she also didn’t….enjoy it. I’m not sure why, though, I guess the power she absorbed to fight me was far greater than what happened naturally to her, and anything that was lesser in comparison just...meh.
“Twilight? Are in there?”
My musings were cut off as a gentle knock rapped against the wooden door to my room. Judging by the voice, it was my former babysitter and all-time best friend, Dean Cadance.
“I’m here.” I called back.
Opening the door and letting herself in, I was once again reminded of what kind of life Cadance lead. Contrary to popular belief, she wasn’t some all-powerful princess who lived in the lap of luxury, she was human, and more often than once, I saw the toll her life took on her. This, sadly, was one of those times. She had bags under her eyes, there was a slight slouch in her demeanor, and she looked like she had just ran a marathon, despite this though, I’ve never seen her eyes lose that spark of kindness I’ve come to cherish over the years.
As she looked around my dirty room, a thought, or rather, a memory struck me. Sugarcoat had said that Cinch was making Crystal Prep an utter hell for the students, so was Cadance’s current condition because of that?
Well, make that another reason to dislike Cinch, and add that to the list!
Yes, I have a list of reasons to dislike Cinch, had it ever since the Friendship Games and I’ve been adding to it ever since.
“Cadance, are you alright?” I asked.
Shaking her head, as I knew she would, Cadance just smiled, “Oh, I’m fine Twi. Just give me a good night’s sleep and I’ll be right as rain!” I was about to protest that rain was never right, as it was always in a constant state of flux and change, and you know, wet, but then she opened window curtain to my room.
Light flooded my room, and I shielded my poorly developed eyes with my arm, the light! It burns!
Obviously bemused by my suffering, Cadance let out a little giggle, “Really Twilight, you’ve got to stop hanging out in dark rooms all the time, people might start thinking you’re a vampire.”
Needless to say, the correlations between my name and that book series brought me no end of grief, I don’t care if the guy’s hot, vampires don't sparkle!
…..Wait, if I was a vampire, would I sparkle? I mean, it’s in my name so...Maybe?
Oblivious to my internal dilemma, Cadance made her way over to me, as she did, Spike was stirred back to the waking world and yawned loudly.
“Good afternoon Cadance…” He said, still half asleep.
To her credit, Cadance was proving great at handling now recurring events in my life, but to be frank, I guess after the friendship games where two super powered teenagers battled for the fate of the….universe? Multiverse? Either one really, but I guess compared to that, a talking dog just wasn’t that impressive. Smiling, she gently rubbed Spike’s head, “Good afternoon Spike.” She said, then looked at me, “You know, if you had told me two weeks ago that Spike could talk, I would’ve sent you to a shrink.”
I rolled my eyes, “Oh, trust me, I would’ve gone there myself if I did.”
“Speaking of, how’s Canterlot High?” Cadance asked, “Have you made any new friends?”
For the first time in my life, I actually had a legitimate answer to her question: “Yeah! There’s Pinkie Pie who’s super energetic and happy, I swear she’s always laughing Rarity’s always so generous, Rainbow Dash is probably the most loyal person I’ve met, and Applejack is always so honest and nice.” That was probably a run on sentence but I don’t care, “Oh, but Fluttershy is easily the kindest out of them all, she’s really good with animals. Sunset is just wow, she’s like, smart, probably smarter than me in some areas and really-” My rambling was cut off when Cadance placed a finger to my lips.
“As much as I enjoy hearing about those five girls and your crush,” Wait, what? “I meant, have you made any other friends besides those six?”
“Oh….ummm….” So much for having a legitimate answer, “Uh, let’s see….There’s uh….Oh! Derpy! I mean Ditzy! I mean…Muffins?” What was that girl’s actual name, again? No, really, I honestly don’t know. I’ve heard be called so many things, it’s confusing as heck, “She’s nice, kinda bubbly though, she hangs out with this doctor guy a lot though. Oh, there’s this one girl I kinda like, her names Vinyl, I think she’s a DJ, or something.”
“Oh? Have you spoken to her?” Cadance asked.
And here comes the awkward bit, “Oh, ummm….I haven’t heard her talk, at all.” I slumped my shoulders, “I think she’s mute.”
“Oh….Well,” Cadance was taken aback, but recovered quickly enough, “Well, it’s good to see that you’re going out more.”
“Yeah….” A spark went off in my head, and I found a way to reorganize the conversation to my favor, “Oh, I met Sugarcoat on the bus today.”
Cadance’s eyes widened slightly, oh so slightly, “Really? How did it go?”
“Well, she was straightforward as ever,” Blunt was more like it, but it worked for me this time, “But she said that Cinch was trying to study magic, do you know anything about that?”
“Oh.” That was all she said, just….oh. Not to mention her eyes were shifting around, as if trying to come up with an answer to a question she much rather avoid, like when I asked her why she and Shining were studying biology.
Seriously, they’re grown adults, why would they need to study biology? Was it an entrance test to some fancy college? I wanna take it then, Everton wasn’t really high on my list of priorities anymore, but it was still good to plan for the future.
Finally, after a few seconds of panicking, she sighed, “Listen Twilight, you don’t need to worry about Crystal Prep, okay?” Cadance placed a hand on my shoulder, “Everything is going to be just fine.”
….Why did you feel the need to say that if it wasn’t fine?
With one last parting rub on the head, Cadance exited the room, giving me one last look before she shut the door.
Spike and I looked at each other.
“You’re planning to go to Crystal Prep huh?” Spike asked.
“....Just a little.” I admitted.
“You know you’re not a student there anymore Twi,” Spike pointed out, “You can’t just walk in.”
He had a point, I couldn’t just walk in willy nilly. But I knew the school better than anyone, and this time though, I got the feeling I would need some help with this one.
“You know Twi, when you said that you needed help breaking into Crystal Prep over the phone, I didn’t think you meant breaking into Crystal Prep.”
I blinked, “What did you think I meant?”
Rainbow Dash groaned and rubbed her face, next to her, Pinkie Pie bounced up and down in place before raising her hand as if we were in the classroom, which was ridiculous, we were in Sugarcube Corner, “Ooo ooo! Didja think that she meant sneaking into the store after hours so you could raid the candy storage?” She asked, sending a look of longing to what I assume to be the backroom.
“....Don’t you work here?” I asked.
“Only on the weekends.” Pinkie nodded.
“Anyway Rainbow shook her head, turning her attention back to me, Rainbow Dash crossed her arms and leaned back in her seat, “Listen Twi, I’m all for teaching those snotty two-shoes a lesson in soccer and everything, but what makes you think we’re going to help you break in?”
I tilted my head, confused, “Didn’t you two already do this?”
Rainbow blinked in surprise, “Huh?”
“Well, it’s just…” I twiddled my thumbs, “I heard rumors about a rainbow haired girl and a party girl spying on the soccer team before the Friendship Games happened, and when I met you two I just sorta figured…”
Rainbow spent a few seconds staring at me, then pressed her hand firmly against her face.
“Makes perfect sense to me.” Pinkie chirped.
I nodded to Pinkie before turning my attention back to Rainbow, “So...Will you help me?”
Rainbow spared a few good seconds looking at me, then sighed, “Alright, but just you know, the last time it was to spyon Crystal Prep, not to break in.”
“Noted.” I said, then breathed a sigh of relief. At the same time though, a feeling of nervousness welled up in my chest, if I went through with this, I’d be breaking into my old school. That place where only the academically strong could survive, never once giving a thought about those whose talents lie elsewhere and belittling anyone they could. Especially that….Ugh, Sour Sweet.
I’m not a bad person, I like to think so at least, and while I’m grateful for when she stuck up for me when Cinch tried to worm her way out, Sour Sweet was, for the lack of a better term, an extremely unlikeable person. Her frequent mood swings constantly freaked me out back at Crystal Prep, and her demeaning attitude to….well, everyone, made her a terror throughout the school. Sure, the other Shadowbolts had their faults, Sugarcoat’s inability to understand tact being one of them, and Lemon Zest being the only one I even remotely liked out of the group, but still, at least none of them were so destructively bipolar like she was.
Hopefully, with any luck, I would never see her ever again, I mean, really, what are the chances?
I blinked as a thought struck me, and quickly did the math in my head just to be sure. Let’s see, if I take in the circumference of the city limits, estimate the total populace, add in the time frame before graduation and calculate the total number of days in school counting breaks and I get-
“Oh, hey, look, it’s Twilight Sparkle. How pleasant.”
You know, there are times when I wasn’t such a bookworm or so caught up in my own thoughts, I might have been able to hide if I heard the door open and listened to the all too familiar scoff. Turning around, my breath caught in my throat, and my blood ran cold.
There was Sour Sweet, standing in the doorway, flanked by Sunny Flare and the aforementioned Lemon Zest.
Oh, how bloody wonderful.