//------------------------------// // 10 - Practicing Magic // Story: Once Upon a Nightmare // by Maran //------------------------------// There wasn't much that Sunset Shimmer and her friends could do while the nurses pumped Rainbow's and Pinkie's stomachs. Sunset decided it would be best to follow her earlier plan of searching Vice Principal Luna's home for clues about what her next move would be. But first, she wanted to get Principal Celestia's permission. She sat down with her friends near to the fountain in the front lobby, and pulled up Celestia's number. “Hello, Miss Celestia? It's me, Sunset.” “Are you still at the hospital?” As Celestia talked, another voice yelled in the background. Sunset heard the words “Sunset that's not . . .” something. It was hard to make out. But the alarming part was that it sounded like Celestia. That's not me. “Excuse me? I heard someone yelling in the background. Is everything all right over there? Did you find Miss Luna?” The silence stretched for a long time. Sunset checked her screen to make certain they were still connected. Finally, Celestia's voice spoke. “I'm sorry. We must have had a bad connection. That's a thing that happens with smartphones, isn't it?” By this point, Sunset was positive that this was Nightmare Luna, because it was no secret that Luna was a technophobe, and the Nightmare would know squat about modern technology. “Right. Well, I can hear you just fine now.” Sunset brushed her hair out of her face and pondered what to say – and what not to say. “Good. So, have you left the hospital yet? You may stay the rest of the day if you wish.” “That's very nice of you, Miss Celestia. Actually, we're about to leave. Pinkie and Rainbow are still unconscious, and there's nothing we can do for them. Besides, Fluttershy isn't feeling well, so we're taking her home,” she fibbed. Fluttershy, Rarity, and Applejack looked at her in surprise. “What?” Fluttershy asked softly. Sunset prided herself on being a skilled liar, even with Applejack staring at her. Sunset wasn't the Element of Honesty. “Actually, I think Fluttershy might have gotten some of the tainted cider on her,” she added, in a burst of inspiration. “I'm going to go tell the nurses right now. Gotta go!” “Oh, uh, that's too bad. Please keep me posted with any news on your friends.” “I will.” Sunset tapped the end call button. “What was that about?” Applejack raised her eyebrow so high that Sunset could almost hear the muscles in her forehead creaking under the strain. “I'm pretty sure I just talked to Nightmare Luna impersonating Celestia,” answered Sunset. “Really?” Rarity frowned. “How could you tell?” “I thought I heard another Celestia yelling at me in the background.” “Oh, dear.” Fluttershy's wings twitched. “I hope Miss Celestia's all right.” “Me too Fluttershy,” said Sunset. “But I bought us some time. Let her underestimate us while we search for clues and think of a plan. Rarity checked her phone. “Oh my goodness! Sweetie Belle says she called the police.” Sunset shook her head in disbelief. “The police? What can they do against Equestrian magic?” “Arrest Miss Luna after the dust settles?” guessed Rarity with a shrug. “I guess. I'm just glad Miss Celestia and Luna chose not to press charges against me after I took over.” “Well,” said AJ, rising to her feet, “let's not dwell on that now, sugar. We gotta get to McQueen Mansion to search for somethin' that can turn Miss Luna back to good or whatever.” “Shouldn't someone stay here in case Pinkie and Dash wake up?” Fluttershy gazed at the corridor to the Intensive Care wing. “Where is she.” Sunset had come to know that monotone voice. Glancing up, she saw Maud striding toward the group of teens, her face betraying no emotion. Jumping up from the bench where she'd been sitting, Sunset said, “Thank goodness you're here. Pinkie and Rainbow are in room 201, but they might not let you in – the nurses, I mean, not . . . you know. The girls are having the potion pumped out of their stomachs.” “Thank you for looking out for her. I'm glad Pinkie has such good friends.” Maud adjusted her scarf, which seemed suspiciously like a cleaning rag, and turned to power-walk toward the Intensive Care wing. Sunset watched her just long enough to be sure she was heading in the right direction. Then she pivoted back to her friends. “Let's get going. I know how to get to the mansion if you want to follow me,” offered Sunset, ducking her head. “I did a lot of researching and exploring when I first came to this world. Miss Celestia's house was one of the first places I looked for.” “It's not that embarrassing, darling.” Rarity stood and hefted her book bag onto her shoulder. “McQueen Mansion is one of the most famous houses in Canterlot. Its architecture is quite elegant.” “Thank you for not judging,” said Sunset. She led the other girls outside, zipping up her jacket as she hastened toward her bike. To help jog her memory of the mansion's location, she brought it up on her map app. Then the girls climbed onto their motorcycles and rode toward the wealthy historical district. The landscaping started to appear more ambitious, even with most of the plants dormant for fall. Evergreen shrubs were pruned in the shape of corkscrews and animal topiaries. Many yards featured fountains, small ponds, and statues of lions, eagles, and horses. This town seemed to have a thing for equines even before Sunset arrived and brought Equestrian magic there. Even the name was a horse reference, since humans didn't canter. Sunset supposed it was just another way the two worlds ran parallel. Sunset slowed in front of a large pond with a fountain spraying fifteen feet into the air. “We're here,” she said, nodding toward the noble home a few mansions away. It didn't hold a candle to the royal palace in Equestria, but it was swanky for a high school principal, even if she did share it with the vice principal. “Let's not park too close together so these hoity-toity folks don't get suspicious,” suggested AJ. “If they aren't already suspicious,” said Rarity, tugging at her riding gloves. “Still, that's not a bad idea.” The teens parked their bikes several houses away from each other and met in front of Miss Luna's house. Sunset thought they could still draw unwanted attention from the wealthy residents, especially with their pony ears and Fluttershy's wings. “So, now what?” asked Fluttershy, eyeing the mansion. “How do we get in?” Sunset had already come up with a solution on the way there. Since they were still powered up, she wanted to find out if her magic would work the way it had when she was a unicorn. She choose not to tell her friends, however. If it was unsuccessful, they wouldn't be disappointed, and if it was, they'd be surprised. She gazed at one of the darkened windows, first estimating the distance, and then concentrating on what the interior of the house would look and feel like. It would be warm, clean, and tastefully furnished. Fluttershy turned toward her, combing her fingers through her long hair. “Sunset? Are you okay?” Sunset was silent as she felt the magic surging in her forehead, as well as her hands. A blue-green light radiated from her fingers. “What's happening, darling?” asked Rarity, her eyes wide as she saw Sunset's aura. Grinning, Sunset allowed the magic to envelope her entire body, and the pale, teal light filled her vision. And all of a sudden, she was inside the house. She pumped her fist. It felt so great to use unicorn magic again. A bird squawked, sounding like it came from inside. That was unexpected. But Sunset had priorities before she did any investigating. She walked over to the double doors, unlocked them, and opened one side, enjoying the sight of her friends' shocked faces. They jogged toward the doorway, and AJ reached it first. “Shoot, I didn't know you could teleport like Miss Luna!” Applejack pushed her hat back. “Why didn't you do it before?” asked Fluttershy. “I didn't think of it until now,” answered Sunset, closing the door behind the other girls. “Pinkie Pie would've loved seeing that,” Rarity said wistfully. “Do you think we could learn to do it too?” “I'm not sure.” Sunset chose her words carefully so she wouldn't come across as boastful. “In Equestria, only unicorns can teleport, and not every unicorn has enough power or mental focus for it. But magic works differently here, so who knows? Maybe all of you could teleport with the right training.” At that moment, the bird squawked once more, making Fluttershy's ears perk. She hurried into the room with the light, where the noise had come from. Sunset, Rarity, and Applejack followed her at a slower pace. When they entered the room, they discovered a cage taller than they were, with a cockatoo on a swing inside. The lamp bathed the cage in a warm glow. The rest of the room had normal human living room furniture, and the walls were hung with oil portraits of people dressed in 1800s clothing. Sunset preferred the stained glass windows of the royal palace, because she didn't like the way the painted eyes seemed to follow her. “Hello there cutie!” Fluttershy leaned toward the birdcage. The cockatoo raised and lowered its crest, hissing like a goose. Fluttershy twisted her head around as far as it would go and looked at her yellow wings. “Oh, you think I'm a big bird of prey, don't you?” She flattened her wings against her back and faced the bird once more. “Don't worry, I'm human, just like your mommy. I won't hurt you.” Rarity, meanwhile, moved past the cage and approached a side table, peering down at the framed photos propped on it. Among the photos was a card, which she picked up with care. After reading the card, she hummed in thought. “This is a bit informal for my taste. 'Kindly join us for the wedding of Shining Armor and Cadance.' It doesn't even have any titles or parents' names.” “Shining Armor and Cadance?” Sunset walked over to join Rarity and glanced at the card. “Twilight told me her brother's name is Shining Armor. And there's a Princess Cadance in Equestria. I met her a few times. She seemed nice, but . . .” She rubbed her arm. “Well, I was so jealous of her that it was hard for me to talk to her.” “Don't be too hard on yourself, Sunset. I can imagine it would be hard not to feel jealous of a princess, especially since you wanted to become one yourself,” said Rarity with a reassuring smile. “So, does that mean Cadance is a principal here?” asked Applejack. Sunset blinked. “I don't know if it works like that. If there were an exact match up between principals and royalty, there'd be either thousands of royals in Equestria or about twenty principals here, on this entire planet.” She shook her head and picked up one of the picture frames and stared at the photo of Miss Celestia and Luna and a pink-skinned girl. Their arms were draped around each others' shoulders as they beamed at the camera. “This is Cadance. She's Celestia's adopted niece in Equestria.” “Be sure to put that picture back exactly where it was,” cautioned Rarity. “Right,” agreed Sunset, setting it back down. Rarity returned the invitation to its place in the midst of the frames. “She's in an awful lotta them pictures. Looks like they're real close.” AJ's eyelids creased as she smiled in approval. “If they're so close,” said Fluttershy, stepping away from the birdcage, “then maybe Cadance could convince Miss Luna to give up the Nightmare.” The teens shared a look. “Maybe she could get through to her. But how do we reach her?” Sunset waved her hands. “How do we even begin to explain that her aunt is possessed by a magic demon from another world?” “I suppose that depends on how much her aunts told her about the magic at our school,” answered Rarity. “Of course, your first question is more important. How are we going to reach her? We could see if they have her phone number written down somewhere, but that seems like a long shot,” she added, putting her hands on her hips and glancing around the room. “What would Dash and Pinkie do if they were here?” Applejack asked quietly, lowering her eyebrows. Then she snapped her fingers. “I got it! They'd search for Cadance on the socials.” “That's a great idea,” said Sunset. “Applejack, search for her online, and the rest of us will keep looking for anything that can help us here. Oh, and make sure you spell Cadance the way it is on the invitation.” As the girls snooped around, though, they failed to uncover all that much that was useful. Rarity figured out that they were in Celestia's exclusive living quarters when she found clothes that obviously belonged to the principal, and none that they had ever noticed her sister wearing. “They must have completely separate apartments,” said Rarity, bringing her hand to her pale cheek. “I'm embarrassed that it took me this long to notice.” “It does explain all the sun shaped light switch covers.” Fluttershy pointed to one of the bronze suns screwed onto the wall. “Can you teleport to the other side of the mansion, Sunset?” asked Rarity. “With pleasure.” Sunset beamed and focused on a spot just beyond the kitchen wall. She would have to be careful not to send herself inside a wall or any other object, but she was confident in her rediscovered talent. The magic pulsed in her forehead and fingers, and then she appeared in an empty hallway. “Figures it would be darker on this side,” she muttered to herself. Hugging the wall was a narrow table that held a mound of unopened mail. The top envelope had Cadance's name and address at the top left corner. Sunset studied it before grabbing and sliding it into her jacket. Whether it was a wedding invitation or a birthday card, she had a hunch that Luna needed to read it, and Sunset would be the one to deliver it to her. She opened the front door then and scurried across the porch to motion her friends over. She had never teleported anyone besides herself, even in Equestria, and she wasn't about to try it now. Perhaps at a later date, when things were calmer and she was in a controlled environment . . . But that was a goal for another day. Sunset was still a few feet away from the door when Applejack slammed it open. The impact was accompanied by a crunching noise inside, along with Rarity's exasperated shout. “Applejack! Will you control your – your outbursts!” “Sorry. I didn't mean to. I wasn't even tryin' to pull it that hard.” Applejack sidled away from the door frame. A man walking a dog stared directly at them from across the street. He pulled his phone away from his ear and thumbed it. “We should leave now.” Sunset bit her lip. “You're tellin' me! Apple Bloom and Big Mac texted me sayin' Nightmare Luna ain't lettin' anyone leave the school,” said AJ. Sunset's eyes widened. “Is it two thirty already?” Rarity nodded. “Yes, and Sweetie just sent me a text that said, 'You need to come here now' with two exclamation points and a frowny face.” Sunset glanced across the street again. The man had stopped strolling and had his phone to his ear once more, while keeping his gaze on the girls. “All right, go out to your bikes,” said Sunset, waving her hands toward the street. “I'll lock up and be right behind you. I wouldn't want to invite any real thieves into their mansion.” Her friends descended the marble porch steps, trying to hurry without looking like they were hurrying. Sunset found that she couldn't turn the locks from the inside while the doors were open and have them catch when they closed. She also noticed that the door stopper was broken on one side, and on that same side, there was a dent in the wall at doorknob level. But they would have to worry about that later. For now, she was concerned about keeping the doors secured. She elected to lock each door from the inside and teleport out. It might be a mundane use for an amazing power, but Equestria was full of such instances. And Sunset had to admit that she welcomed any excuse to teleport. “Sunset, what took you so long?” Rarity yelled over the wind as Sunset rode up behind her. “Just practicing some magic,” she shouted. “Now let's ride.”