Equestria Girls: Waves

by Deaku

Chapter 3

Equestria Girls: Waves
Chapter 03
By Deaku

The halls of Canterlot High were nearly empty it being so early in the morning that the doors had just been unlocked to admit students; while some early risers had arrived most still wouldn’t be arriving for some time yet so the school was quiet. A trio of girls were walking and talking as they carried various boxes and bags, a feat made easier since there was barely anyone else in the halls maneuver around.

“Thank you both again for helping carry my materials in.” Rarity smiled as she looked back over her shoulder. “Bringing everything in one trip will allow me to start all the sooner. Though I must apologize for dragging you in so early.”

“It’s okay Rarity, I don’t mind.” Fluttershy assured her. “I’m actually really curious to see what you and Blooming Hope have come up with.”

“I was going to be coming in early anyway.” Sunset said with a bit of a shrug. “Take a look around for anything suspicious…”

“Ah yes, I’ve been wondering about the Dazzlings since yesterday as well.” Rarity frowned a bit as she nodded. “Where there’s one the other two are bound to be close by.”

“Can we really be sure about that?” Fluttershy asked, the others immediately gave her questioning looks. She shrunk back a bit but still was able to reply “What I mean is, how do we know that Sonata didn’t come back here alone for her own reasons?”

“I suppose that’s possible,” Sunset mused. “If their shared powers were really the only thing that kept them together losing them might have caused them to go their separate ways… But that still leaves the question of why would she come back here of all places?”

“Maybe she was lonely and didn’t know where else to go.” Fluttershy offered, sounding a bit sad.

“If we see her again perhaps we can ask her, try talking to her instead of chasing her.” Rarity suggested. “Pinkie did do her best alerting us and trying to catch her; but if Sonata really didn’t have any bad intentions in being here maybe yelling and chasing after her wasn’t the best thing to do. If we see Sonata again let us try approaching her calmly and try simply talking to her.”

“I like that idea better than Rainbow Dash’s ‘beat them up’ plan.” Fluttershy admitted.

“Well whatever they’re planning, whether it’s just Sonata by herself or all the Dazzlings, it would be nice to be able to just talk it out instead of having a potentially life threatening battle.” Sunset sighed as she thought back to those incidents, then shook her head and decided to change subjects. “So where are we taking all this stuff anyway?”

“The band room.” Rarity answered as she motioned down the hall. “No one uses it this early in the morning so there’s plenty of space and it’ll be quiet; perfect for the creative process.”

“And if you want to take a break and do something else for a while you could play some music.” Fluttershy suggested.

“I don’t think I’ll be taking any breaks from creating fashion.” Rarity commented, then a thoughtful look appeared on her face. “Although considering our theme perhaps playing music would give us even more inspiration…”

It was then they noticed a faint sound as they moved down the hall getting louder as they got closer to the band room; it was someone singing accompanied by piano music, a song that had been popular on the charts for a while.

“Seems like someone’s already there.” Sunset said as she listened to the music. “Sounds like they managed to pull out the old upright piano too.”

“Well Blooming Hope was going to meet me there.” Rarity told them as she listened to the familiar voice. “Looks like she arrived first.”

As the three reached the band room they noticed that the door was slightly ajar and so they peered inside to check if it really was Blooming Hope in there, and to not disturb the singing if they could help it. When they looked inside they saw it was indeed who they thought it was; they could see Blooming Hope singing with her eyes closed and her body swaying to the tune, but she was not the one playing the music. Off to one side they could see Dragon at the piano.

Rarity, Fluttershy & Sunset quietly opened the door and stepped inside, setting the stuff they were carrying down quietly so they wouldn’t disrupt Blooming Hope’s singing. But they did not go completely unnoticed as they saw Dragon turn his head a bit and looked towards them out of the corner of his eye, he simply nodded his head in greeting and continued to play the music.

While the three girls enjoyed what they heard it was only a moment later Blooming Hope finished her song and so they began clapping. Still having her eyes closed and not expecting applause the clapping surprised Blooming Hope; she let out a gasp and jumped back slightly, one foot slipping as she did so. With one hand she grabbed Dragon’s shoulder behind her and the other shot out in front of her towards the girls as she tried to balance herself.

Fluttershy quickly rushed forward and grabbed Blooming Hope’s outstretched hand to give her some additional support. “I got you, I got you, I’m so sorry we startled you, I got you.”

“We’re so sorry Dear. Are you all right?” Rarity asked as the green girl straightened up.

“Yeah I’m okay,” Blooming Hope laughed a bit and stuck out her tongue. “Guess I was too absorbed in the music, I didn’t even hear you come in.”

“Well we were trying to be quiet so we wouldn’t distract you so that’s partially our fault.” Sunset said apologetically, then smiled. “You have a wonderful singing voice.”

“Thank you very much.” Blooming Hope blushed a bit.

“And not bad with the piano Dragon.” Sunset looked towards him with a bit of a smirk. “Actually really good for someone who says he just does it as a hobby to relax.”

“Eh, what can I say?” Dragon shrugged and returned a smirk of his own. “I like to relax a lot.”

“I had no idea you were musicians too; though perhaps I really should have guessed considering the theme you came up with for this project.” Rarity smiled at Blooming Hope, then looked at Sunset. “You already knew?”

“It came up when I was showing them around on their first day here.” Sunset nodded as she looked at the two. “Blooming Hope even writes her own songs.”

“Oh! Will you perform one of your songs for us?” Rarity asked sweetly.

“Oh, well…” Blooming Hope said nervously and began fidgeting with her fingers.

“I’d like to hear one of your songs too.” Fluttershy added, but noticed how nervous Blooming Hope was. “But only if it’s okay with you. I write songs too so I know how nervous you can get when performing your work in front of others.”

“It’s just that…” Blooming Hope trailed off and then looked at Dragon.

“It’s up to you, they’re your songs.” Dragon told her and then tapped a piano key. “I’m just here to provide musical accompaniment.”

“Well I guess it wouldn’t hurt to sing one of my songs.” Blooming Hope finally agreed with a small smile. “I just hope it sounds okay, I haven’t really sang in front of anyone else other than family.” She looked at Dragon again. “I’m going to sing ‘Together to the Stars’ if that’s okay.”

“Fine with me. That’s your newest one isn’t it?” Dragon said as he cracked his knuckles and wiggled his fingers a bit before placing them over the keys of the piano. “Ready when you are.”

Blooming Hope took a deep breath and nodded; Dragon began to play, the melody starting out soft and almost dreamy. Blooming Hope started to sing, her singing starting out quiet and soft like the music but her voice soon began to rise as the tempo picked up. It was a song about friendship; friends supporting and helping each other to reach as high as they could to seize their dreams. Rarity, Fluttershy and Sunset were either swaying their bodies or tapping their feet to the music as Blooming Hope was putting her all into the performance. When the song finished the three applauded once again, without the startled reaction from Blooming Hope since she knew they were there.

“A lovely song.” Rarity said brightly.

“I liked it.” Fluttershy smiled as she clapped a bit more.

“Great work on both the singing and the song writing.” Sunset nodded approvingly.

“T-thank you.” Blooming Hope blushed even more than she had before. “I’m glad you liked it.”

Just then another musical tune sounded, though it didn’t come from any of the instruments in the room.

“That’s mine…” Sunset said rather sheepishly as she pulled out her phone and looked at the screen. “Looks like Twilight’s arrived; I should get going, we got a project of our own to work on. Good luck with your project.” She gave a smile and a quick wave as she left the room.

“I’d better get going too, I need to check on a couple things before classes start.” Fluttershy told them. “But I’m really looking forward to seeing what you guys make.” The pink haired girl followed out after Sunset.

“I’ll get out of your way too, you don’t need me around distracting you.” Dragon stood up from the bench in front of the piano and stretched. “Let me know if you want a ride home after school Hope.”

“You didn’t tell him?” Rarity asked Blooming Hope as Dragon began to walk away.

“Well I hadn’t found the right time yet…” Blooming Hope laughed rather nervously.

“Hope…” Dragon stopped walking as he turned towards his cousin then crossed his arms and quirked an eyebrow. “What did you volunteer me for this time?”

“Remember I told you that along with out report we were going to make various outfits to go with our history of musical fashion theme?” Blooming Hope asked and Dragon nodded. “Well we need someone to wear the outfits.”

“I figured one of you would wear the outfits while the other gave the report, or you’d alternate.” Dragon commented.

“We did consider that at first. But then decided that it would be better to give the report together, in our own special outfits of course, and have others model our outfits instead.” Rarity explained. “We need two models, a boy and a girl.”

“You know since the fashions can vary quite a bit between guys and girls.” Blooming Hope added. “So I was thinking you could be our male model.”

“Yeah… I don’t think I’m model material.” Dragon simply shook his head.

“We think you’d be a perfectly fine model Darling.” Rarity said sweetly with a wink. “Especially once we get you out of those black clothes.”

Dragon looked down at his outfit. “What’s wrong with black? I like black, I think it contrasts well with my pale skin.” He held up an arm in front of his shirt to better show the contrast.

Rarity giggled. “Indeed it does. But we think some other colors and styles would suit you very well; especially with your build and features.” Rarity reached up and squeezed his cheeks slightly between her hands as she turned Dragon’s head back and forth while studying his features. “Yes, I think I could make something that would compliment this face very nicely.”

“Please Dragon…” Blooming Hope said as a pout began to appear on her face. “It’d really help us out.”

“Don’t even!” Dragon leveled a finger at Blooming Hope. “No doing that! You better not!”

“Pleeeeaaaase?” Blooming Hope stepped closer to Dragon; her head tilted to one side as she looked up at him with pleading eyes and her lower lip quivering.

“Nope! Not gonna work this time!” Dragon tried looking away, but that just made Blooming Hope move right next to him while continuing to pout. He looked at her out of the corner of his eye, then gritted his teeth and threw his hands up. “Gah! Fine I’ll do it!” Dragon nearly growled. “Just stop with the pouting!”

“Yay!” Blooming Hope cheered with a grin. “Thank you Dragon.”

Rarity managed to hold back a laugh at what she just witnessed and took a breath to regain her composure then smiled. “I’m sure you’ll do a fantastic job for our project, thank you.”

Dragon just sighed. “Well, let me know when you need me to dress-up.” He said as he walked towards the door.

“Just one more moment if you please Dragon.” Rarity said before he could leave and quickly moved over to the things she, Fluttershy and Sunset had brought in earlier.

“If you want me to help with preparing materials I feel the need to mention needlework is not something I’m skilled at.” Dragon said as he watched Rarity pull out a small box.

Rarity pulled out her work glasses and slipped them on before taking something else out of the box, she turned to Dragon with something long and thin rolled up in her hand. She smirked and there was an audible pop as Rarity grabbed one end of it and quickly stretched it out between her hands. Dragon took a step back with a rather worried look on is face.

“Uh… What is…?” Dragon began to question.

“We must take your measurements.” Rarity said happily as she held up her measuring tape. “It simply will not do to have one of our models wearing ill-fitting clothes will it?” She glanced to Blooming Hope. “If you would be so kind as to write them down while I take the measurements.”

Blooming Hope nodded and pulled out a notebook as Rarity began her work; she took the measurements swiftly and efficiently starting each number as she took it, it only took a few moments for Rarity to get everything she needed.

“And done.” Rarity announced as she stepped back from Dragon and gave a brilliant smile. “These outfits will be spectacular!”

“So now that I’m all measured out is it okay for me to leave?” Dragon motioned towards the door.

“Of course Darling.” Rarity nodded but then held up a finger right when Dragon was about to turn away. “However we will need you once more for a final fitting before we give the report.”

“Okay, just give me a call when you need me.” Dragon gave a wave as he walked out the door. “Later.”

Rarity waited a moment until she was sure Dragon was out of earshot. “I must say that pout was devastatingly effective.” Rarity laughed. “I haven’t known all of you very long but I didn’t think anything would get that sort of reaction out of him.”

“There’s not much that can.” Blooming Hope said seriously, then laughed. “I’m just glad that it’s still effective on him. Though I gotta use it sparingly or he might build up an immunity to it like he did with Shining Nova; she used to use it all the time when we were younger but it eventually stopped working on Dragon for her.”

“Understandable.” Rarity commented as she looked over the measurements. “Using something like that too much would just weaken the effect each time.”

“Well now we have our male model. What about out female model?” Blooming Hope inquired.

“Worry not my dear Blooming Hope, I already have someone in mind.” Rarity said as she began to pull out various materials to begin working. “I already have her measurements but it might prove difficult to convince her to stop competing with your sister long enough to give us a hand. Do you think I could borrow your pout for a bit?”

“Sure.” Blooming Hope smiled. “Just use it responsibly.”

They both laugh laughed as they got started on the next stage of their project.

*******

As the majority of Canterlot High’s students began to arrive for the day none were aware they were being watched by a figure that stood atop the school, an individual who wore a dark hooded long coat and scarf; the hood and green scarf completely hiding their features from view. Starwind glanced at all the students moving about below as his hands quickly moved over his mystic screen, tapping various symbols while pictures and other symbols flashed across its surface. Red symbols would pop up frequently and the screen would briefly be covered in static as he continued to work.

“Hmmm… Is the interference a side-effect of the other-worldly magic existing and being used in the area?” Starwind wondered aloud as he looked over his screen. “Or is it a natural reaction of this world’s magic field to foreign magic?”

Starwind tilted his head to one side as if he was trying to listen to something, he then made a few quick signs with his hands as he turned and motioned towards a spot behind him. The shadows around the area he had motioned towards began to warp and seemed to become a dark mist that rose up from the surface of the roof; the mist gathered into a thick cloud and then suddenly dissipated, vanishing without a trace as the shadows returned to normal. In place of the cloud stood the Dazzlings.

“Morning Starwind!” Sonata grinned and waved.

“I don’t think I’ll ever get used to travelling like that.” Aria rubbed her arms trying to warm herself up.

“Urgh…” Adagio just groaned and swayed a bit in place, being only half-awake. While she was dressed her hair was an absolute mess and she was lacking her usual makeup. “Too… early…”

“So what are you doing up here?” Aria asked as she walked over and looked at Starwind’s mystic screen.

“Trying to figure out what is causing the interference to my area scans.” Starwind answered as he tapped his screen a few times, causing static and a couple red symbols to flash by.

“I thought you said Equestrian magic didn’t screw up your scans.” Aria gave him a dubious look.

“The interference is not the Equestrian magic, not directly anyway.” Starwind explained as he went over the information on his screen. “And it only comes up when I try to do a general wide-area scan, if I’m doing a focused scan on a particular object or searching for known targets there’s no problems. For example…”

The images on the screen shifted and became a map of the school and a bit of the surrounding area. Eight glowing dots were in various places around the map, most were already in the school but a few were still outside.

“The Rainbooms.” Aria guessed.

“Correct.” Starwind nodded.

“That one must be that Pinkie girl.” Sonata pointed to a dot that seemed to be moving in a random pattern as it got closer to the school, then pointed to another that was heading towards the school at a high speed. “And that’s probably Rainbow Dash.” Last she pointed to a dot that was moving around the in the trees behind the school. “And that’s their dog.”

“If I knew we were just going to stand around up here talking about pointless stuff I would have just stayed home and stayed in bed.” Adagio grumbled as she rubbed her eyes. “What are we even doing here today?”

“To continue our observations of course.” Starwind stated matter-of-factly.

“Why? So Sonata can almost get herself caught again?” Adagio growled and jabbed a finger at the blue siren.

“At least I was doing what I was supposed to be doing!” Sonata shot back. “I was able to observe all the Rainboooms. You watched how many of them? Maybe one? The rest of the time you were just grumping around the school.”

“Seriously Adagio, I’m surprised you didn’t attract attention the way you were stomping around part of the time.” Aria added. “Were you even paying attention at all when you were following the cowgirl around? “

“Oh don’t you start with me.” Adagio said warningly as she narrowed her eyes. “At least I didn’t fall asleep on the job.”

“Hey! You try sitting there and listening to those two go on and on about fashion stuff!” Aria sneered and then rolled her eyes. “But even falling asleep I still was able to watch more than you did.”

Starwind sighed, a rather odd sound as it was echoing like his voice. “We have a job to do, this bickering is only wasting time.”

“What are we even going to do down there?” Adagio demanded as she got right in Starwind’s face. “Thanks to Sonata’s screw-up they’ll probably be on the look out; bet that spell of yours won’t do much if they’re actively looking for us.”

“As long as you don’t do anything to draw attention to yourselves my spell will continue to keep you from being noticed.” Starwind answered calmly despite the siren practically growling in his face. “To find you they would have to be checking every person in the school up close and personal to be able to see through the enchantment, and it doesn’t seem like they’re that desperate to find you. Even if they were you would clearly see what was happening and be able to slip away before they got to you.”

“If your magic can mess with everyone’s perceptions like that why don’t you just put the Rainbooms under some sort of spell to get the answers you want?” Adagio questioned as she crossed her arms and glared at Starwind.

“Whatever kept you from mesmerizing them with your songs also seems to protect their minds from the influence of my magic.” Starwind taped his screen and pictures of the Rainbooms and their information appeared. “That can probably be attributed to the Equestrian magic.”

“So you actually have tried casting magic on them?” Aria inquired with a raised eyebrow.

“What’d you use on them?” Sonata asked, then put her fingers to her temples with a look of concentration on her face. “Mind reading?” She then put her hand over her heart and made a goofy grin. “A charming love spell?” Then she stuck her arms straight out and began walking in a circle. “Mind control?”

“Nothing quite like that Sonata.” Starwind said as he waved a hand and his mystic screen vanished. “Something more subtle than that, just some minor spells that would go unnoticed as I tested their defenses.”

“Minor? Seriously?” Adagio deadpanned then shook her heard. “Why not use something major? Something big? Something that would blow their minds… preferably literally.”

“Because it wouldn’t have worked. Which is why I was testing things with minor spells; if the ones I used to test them had no effect on their minds the major ones wouldn’t have either. And literally blowing someone’s mind with magic tends not to leave much in the way of usable information.” Starwind quickly closed and opened his hand for an explosion then wiggled his fingers and he lowered his hand like ashes falling. “Besides a big spell would have given me away; not only would they be able to feel something was happening but many of those kinds of spells require me to be in close proximity, if not outright having to touch them, which just would have made things even more obvious. If I reveal myself I’d rather it not be in that way.”

“Is that why you hide away while we’re doing all the work?” Adagio said accusingly and poked him in the chest. “Cause you’re afraid of getting caught?”

“Actually I have been around observing as well.” Starwind said as he put a hand over Adagio’s and slowly moved it away from him so she wouldn’t be poking him in the chest. “With my ability to scan over the entire area inhibited direct observation is the next best thing.”

“But I haven’t seen you around observing.” Sonata raised a hand to her chin in thought, then let out a gasp. “Have you been making yourself invisible?!”

“No invisibility, merely approaching the observation from a different angle.” Starwind said in a somewhat soothing tone when it looked like Sonata may have been angry at the thought of him being invisible and not making her that way too. “I am in a different guise when I’m out observing so I doubt you’d recognize me even if you were right next to me.”

“Well have you seen them using their magic from this ‘different angle’ of yours?” Adagio asked pointedly.

“Unfortunately no, I’ve heard things but have yet to actually see anything.” Starwind sighed a bit. “Which is why we must continue our observations. If you are all ready.”

“All ready!” Sonata said with a smile.

“Whatever.” Aria said coolly. “We gotta do what we gotta do.”

“Do I look ready to you?” Adagio held her hands up to indicate her hair, which still looked like she had just rolled out of bed.

“Does it really bother you so much?” Starwind questioned as Adagio tried and failed to fix her hair with just her hands. “It’s not like people are going to even notice it thanks to my spell.”

“I don’t care, I do not want to be walking around in public looking like this.” Aria glowered at him. “I wouldn’t have even left the bedroom without having this fixed if it wasn’t for you grabbing us before I was ready with that shadow transport spell of yours.”

Starwind said nothing as he simply pointed at Adagio. Before she could question what he was doing Starwind snapped his fingers and suddenly Adagio felt a tingly feeling over her whole body, but especially around her head.

Adagio noticed Sonata was staring at her with a surprised look on her face while Aria had merely arched an eyebrow. “What do you just do?!” She demanded of Starwind.

Starwind made a couple quick signs with one hand and suddenly a mirror appeared in the air in front of Adagio; she looked into it to see her hair was in its usual style without a strand out of place, even her makeup was perfect.

“Well I suppose you’re not completely useless.” Adagio commented offhandedly as she checked out her reflection from different angles before the mirror vanished.

“I aim to please.” Starwind said with a trace of sarcasm in his voice as he pulled out a trio of notebooks with pens clipped to them out of his coat and handed them to the Dazzlings. “You can use these today to write down any observations you make or anything else interesting you hear; it’ll help us keep more organized and we won’t have to worry about anyone forgetting anything if it’s written down. Plus it should help in remaining unnoticed.”

“Because if we’re sitting around in a class room looking like we’re taking notes like everyone else it’ll help us blend in better and not draw attention to ourselves.” Aria guessed rather then waiting for one of the others to ask about it.

“Correct again Aria.” Stawind confirmed.

“Let’s just get this over with.” Adagio grumbled. “The sooner we get done with this and go back home the better.”

“Very well.” Starwind made some quick motions with his hands and pointed at the Dazzlings; they felt a brief tingling and the air around them brightened slightly, but both quickly faded. “Now that the spell is in place let us head down into the school.”

Starwind went up to the door that was at the side of the library’s dome; he point towards the lock and there was a loud click as it unlocked, Starwind opened the door and motioned for the Dazzlings to enter. As the Dazzlings went through the door Starwind handed each of them money for food as he had done the day before and they started down the stairs.

As Adagio pocketed the money she thought of something. “Where do you get this money anyway?” She asked as she turned back around; only to see that Starwind was gone and the door was slowly swinging shut. “Oh come on!”

Sonata hopped back up to the top of the stairs and opened the door back up. “Starwind?” She poked her head out and looked around the roof, then looked back at the other Dazzlings as she closed the door. “He’s gone.”

“Probably ‘ported himself down into the school somewhere.” Aria shrugged. “Get started on what he’s doing for his observation or whatever.”

“Doesn’t make it any less annoying…” Adagio began to growl, then stopped herself and took a deep breath. “Let’s go.” She said calmly as she headed down the stairs and into the school.

*******

Sunset and Twilight talked as they sat at a table towards the back of the classroom, most of the other students were gathered into different groups as they chatted amongst themselves. The usual teacher was ill and so they had a substitute who only gave the students a brief quiz before saying that was all for the class and they could do whatever as long as they didn’t get too loud or troublesome. Sunset and Twilight had moved to the back of the room away from the majority of the other students so that they could discuss their ideas for a new device to detect magic with at least a small amount of privacy.

“Here’s the original plans for my previous device.” Twilight opened up a notebook to reveal a schematic. “I didn’t use it for very long before I made the other one but it was able to get the readings I needed. So I was thinking we could refine this design into what we need.”

“I remember that.” Sunset smiled as she recognized the device. “That’s the one you had when you were here before the Friendship Games.

“Sorry about that.” Twilight hung her head. “Snooping around like that probably only made you more suspicious of me when I came back with the other Crystal Prep students.”

“Actually at the time I didn’t get a good look at your face so I didn’t know just who to be suspicious of, so don’t worry about it.” Sunset patted her on the shoulder. “What worried me more was someone messing with the portal to Equestria. Someone accidentally going through it would be in for a big surprise, not to mention Princess Twilight and whoever else was on the other side getting a surprise when an unexpected visitor dropped in on them.”

“I never would have guessed that was a portal to another world.” Twilight said with some wonder in her voice, then laughed a bit. “But even if I didn’t know what it was at the time I just had to take a closer look at it since it was the first thing I picked up and the readings from my invention told me that it was emanating the unknown energy.”

“And that’s when I spotted you then chased after you when you ran.” Sunset chuckled as she recalled the incident.

“Yeah, again sorry about that. I imagine running away like that probably just made things look worse, that I really was up to something bad.” Twilight sighed. “I was so focused on the mystery I didn’t stop to think what me sneaking around like that would look like to other people.”

“It’s okay Twilight, consider it a lesson learned.” Sunset assured her, then decided to get back to what this discussion was supposed to be about. “So do you have any ideas yet about how we could refine the device?”

“Well I think this design is a bit too conspicuous to be carrying around the school. Which is one of the reasons I made my next one look like pendant compact, something that wouldn’t look too out of place being carried around by a teenage girl. Though that really didn’t work out as well as I thought it would… Anyway, I think the first step is coming up with a new look for our magic scanner.” Twilight pulled out a clean sheet of paper and began sketching, a minute later she slid the paper over to Sunset so she could see it. “These are all the absolutely necessary components, as long as they’re all there we can have them in pretty much any configuration we want. So want do you think? Do you have any ideas we could use for a new configuration?”

Sunset looked over the parts Twilight had sketched out and thought for a bit, then smiled. “Actually I think I just might…” Sunset pulled out a notebook of her own and began sketching, a few moments later she showed Twilight. “So what do you think?”

“It looks like a cellphone…” Twilight stared at Sunset’s sketch quizzically, then a look of realization appeared on her face. “Oh! That’s a really good idea. What would look less out of place in a teen’s hand than a cellphone?” Twilight picked up the notebook to get a closer look. “You even have it so that the antenna can slide out from the sides when it’s activated.”

“So you do you think it’s a workable design?” Sunset inquired as Twilight continued to look over her rough design. “I wasn’t entirely sure everything would work in this configuration.”

“I’m sure we can get it to work, we might even be able to use our own cellphones as a base.” Twilight nodded as she set the notebook down. “Though we’ll have to come up with a new interface program for it since it’ll have to utilize a touch screen. And if we arrange everything right we might even be able to keep its functionality as a cellphone too. Let’s get started.”

Twilight smiled and pulled out her own cellphone along with a small tool set and got ready to pry her phone open to start work. Sunset quickly grabbed Twilight’s hands and stopped her from dismantling her phone.

“Hold on there a sec Twilight; you probably shouldn’t be ripping apart your phone in class, you’d have parts all over when the bell rang.” Sunset gently took the phone and tool away from Twilight and set them down one the table. “How about we work on this design a bit more so we’ll be sure everything works, then we can start ripping our phones apart.”

“Yeah that would be the best course of action.” Twilight gave an embarrassed smile.

At the next table, unnoticed by all the others in the classroom, sat Adagio. She continued writing Sunset’s and Twilight’s conversation down into the notebook Starwind had given her; Adagio decided she’d outdo both Aria and Sonata in recording their observations in the notebooks, that’d show them up for criticizing her earlier.

When she started Adagio figured she wouldn’t be hearing anything she’d particularly care about, but listening in on the conversation between Sunset and Twilight had proven her wrong. This Twilight being from this world was apparently true as Sunset as mentioned a Princess Twilight separate from her; not that’d Adagio would ever admit to the others that she was wrong with her insistence that this Twilight had been the same one from the Battle of the Bands. Another item of interest was that they were apparently trying to make something that could detect magic; Adagio briefly considered keeping that tidbit of information from Starwind just to see him surprised if they actually detected and caught him, but she decided to tell him after all because she thought Starwind possibly freaking out over it would be funny.

But what caught Adagio’s interest most of all was that there was an active portal to Equestria somewhere around the school. While she continued to write she found her thoughts kept drifting back to that portal to Equestria, a way back after all this time. But even if she could find the portal Adagio wondered if it’d even be worth it to use it. Her power, along with Aria’s and Sonata’s, was gone, if they went back they’d still have nothing now that their gems were destroyed. Not to mention from what Sunset had said Princess Twilight and whoever else could be waiting on the other side of the portal. With a potentially hostile reception along with what would probably not be a very suitable environment for their original forms going through the portal would be a big risk. Would that risk even be worth it now that they no longer had the power they had before?

Adagio decided to think about it for a while as she continued to write down her observations.

*******

Pinkie skipped across the cafeteria balancing five drinks in her arms, and despite dodging and spinning around various students as she went she didn’t spill a drop. She was still helping the group she had shown around the day before get accustomed to the school, Pinkie was sure her friends wouldn’t mind since they all had stuff of their own to do. With one final spin around Curly Winds Pinkie made it to the table where Happy Ditty, Jubilee, Crimson Sun and Whirl were waiting for her.

“Presenting the Pinkie Soda Special!” Pinkie grinned and slid the drinks across the table, each stopping perfectly in front of its intended recipient. “Well maybe I should say it’s the Pinkie Soda Special Lite, they didn’t have everything here to make the full recipe.”

“Ooooo… looks good.” Happy Ditty immediately took a sip and smiled. “Mmmm… it is good!”

“If they’re all from the same recipe why is the stuff in each glass a different color?” Jubilee questioned as she looked over all the drinks, but took a drink anyway. “Not bad though.”

“Indeed, it is quite good.” Crimson Sun commented as she stirred her glass a bit with her straw. “I should like to have the recipe.”

Whirl smelled her drink and gave it a questioning look but took a taste anyway; she grimaced and shuddered. “That’s… intense”

“No surprise you’d think that Miss Can’t-Handle-Sugar.” Jubilee snickered as she took another drink.

Happy Ditty downed the rest of her drink. “Yum!” As she set her glass down she turned to Pinkie with a smile. “So Pinkie you said something about a band earlier?”

“Yeah! Me and my friends have a band called the Rainbooms, we have all sorts of fun in it!” Pinkie began tapping her fingers on the table. “I play the drums!”

“Hey! I play drums too!” Whirl grinned and put her glass down before daring to take another drink and slid it to one side.

“Really? Are you in a band too?” Pinkie jumped up and leaned across the table putting her face right in front of Whirl’s, causing the blue girl to lean back a bit.

“Actually we’re all in the band.” Jubilee smirked as she watched Whirl trying to lean away from Pinkie. “Well sort of a band anyway, we haven’t had any gigs or played in front of people or anything.”

“But we’ve practiced a whole bunch though!” Happy Ditty piped in. “I play the guitar and sing, well we all sing really, Jubilee plays the bass, like Whirl said she’s on the drums, Crimson Sun plays the keyboard and the saxophone and the…”

“I play whatever is suitable for the song.” Crimson Sun interjected, reaching over and closing Happy Ditty’s mouth so that she wouldn’t continue run off a list of musical instruments. “Most songs I use the keyboard or saxophone though.”

“So what’s your band called?” Pinkie asked as she sat back down in her seat, much to Whirl’s relief.

“Chocolate Gumdrops!” Happy Ditty practically cheered.

“For right now anyway.” Jubilee quickly added. “We’re still working on that actually.”

“Oh come on, I already came up with a great name.” Whirl sounded a bit indignant as she crossed her arms. “Cybertronics.”

“And the rest of us voted not to be called that.” Crimson Sun commented as she sipped her drink. “Don’t be angry just because you lost the vote.”

“Good afternoon Miss Pie, could I speak with you for a moment?” A voice from behind Pinkie spoke, she quickly spun around to see that it was the Principle.

“Sure!” Pinkie jumped up from her seat. “What can I do for you Principle Celestia?”

“I was speaking to Miss Love here and I think she has a wonderful idea for helping students both new and old get to know each other better.” Celestia said as she looked towards the tall pink and red girl standing next to her. “A get-together this Saturday here at the school; not anything too fancy, just something relaxing and friendly.” Celestia smiled and put a hand on Pinkie’s shoulder. “And since you’re our premier party planner I thought that you might like to lend a hand.”

“I would love to!” Pinkie gave a huge grin then reached over and grabbed Venus Love’s hand to shake it. “Hi again Venus, we met yesterday but didn’t get to talk much since I was busy introducing my group to everyone. But I think a get-together this Saturday is a great idea!”

“Thank you Pinkie.” Venus returned the handshake briefly then pulled her hand back and smiled warmly. “But please don’t feel like you have to help with this, it was my idea so I wouldn’t mind having to do all the work myself.”

“It’s okay, I’d be happy to help.” Pinkie smiled back; then offered her hand to the guy that was standing a little behind Venus, Sundown Calm she remembered, but he didn’t even notice and simply kept writing in his notebook. Pinkie just shrugged and turned back to Venus. “Party planning is a specialty of mine.”

Venus’s smiled dropped a little but then she then brightened back up. “I really wouldn’t want to trouble you, especially if you have any previous plans.”

“I insist.” Pinkie told her as she placed a hand to her chest. “I always have the time to plan a party.”

“Well if you insist…” Venus simply nodded and kept smiling, though an eyebrow twitched almost imperceptibly. “I would be happy to work with you.”

“So what sort of ideas do you have for it so far?” Pinkie bounced on her heels in excitement.

“Well nothing really major, just food and maybe some music.” Venus explained. “Just a little something to really get those positive feelings up and flowing.”

“We could even have live music, there’s quite a few bands here at CHS. Oh!” Pinkie had a realization and spun back around to those still sitting at the table. “This could be your big debut! The Cyber-Gumdrops Live!”

“Cyber-Gumdrops?” Whirl repeated in a confused tone.

“Uh Pinkie…? That’s supposed to be Chocolate Gumdrops.” Jubilee corrected while holding back a laugh.

“I kinda like Cyber-Gumdrops.” Happy Ditty smiled and nodded.

“This would be a good chance to play in front of an audience.” Crimson Sun commented in a thoughtful tone.

“What do you think Venus?” Pinkie asked as she spun back around. “Wouldn’t having live bands be great?”

“Live bands do tend to have a more positive effect on most people than recorded music and probably would help get people together.” Venus thought a bit, then turned to Sundown. “Did you get that? Bands at the get-together?”

“Huh?” Sundown looked up from his notebook to see Venus looking at him expectantly, then flipped back a few pages and jotted something down. “Live bands at the get-together… There, got it.”

“Excellent.” Venus nodded then turned back to Pinkie. “Now we just need to refine our ideas.”

“It looks like you two will make an great team.” Celestia said happily. “Now we don’t have too long until the weekend so let’s keep things simple and have everything planned out and on my desk by Friday morning so I can review and approve it.”

“Of course Principal Celestia.” Venus nodded.

“Okie dokie lokie.” Pinkie grinned.

“Well I shall leave you girls to your planning then, I look forward to seeing what you come up with.” Celestia nodded and gave a smile before walking away.

“Let’s head out to the field, I thought that would be the best place to have something like this.” Venus told Pinkie as she motioned for her to follow. “Maybe we can come up with some more ideas if we’re in the setting the get-together is going to be at.”

“Oooo… good idea.” Pinkie began to skip along, then stopped and turned back to the table. “You guys wanna come along? See where you’re first big performance is going to be?”

“Sure.” Happy Ditty answered while the rest nodded.

As the four stood up from the table Whirl thought she had better finish off her drink before going. It may have been way more sweet than what she liked but the least she could do is finish it off since Pinkie made it just for them, but when Whirl reached for her glass she found it empty. She held up the glass and wondered if one of the others grabbed it and finished it off when she wasn’t looking, most likely Happy Ditty. Whirl just shrugged and set the glass back down before following after the others.

At the next table over Sonata finished up writing down her notes on the conversation she just observed. She hoped that Starwind would want to check out that get-together once she told him about it, she thought it sounded like it’d be fun. Sonata also hoped that Pinkie would give that Crimson Sun girl the recipe to that drink she made sometime while she was observing them, that glass she had snuck away from the other blue girl had been delicious.

With her notes on her current observation done Sonata decided to move on and find someone or something else to observe.

*******

In the science lab the students had been split-up by the teacher into pairs to work on the day’s assignment; at a table near the window sat Applejack, Firecracker, Rainbow Dash & Shining Nova. They wore goggles, aprons and gloves as they carefully worked with the chemicals before them.

“You seem to have a pretty good handle on this,” Applejack commented as she measured out chemicals as precisely as she could. “You done this before?”

“Yeah actually.” Firecracker replied as she carefully poured the chemicals Applejack measured out into a beaker that was slowing heating over a flame. “Was working on pretty much the same thing at the school we were at before this one.”

“Must be kinda nice already knowing what we’re working on, makes it nice and easy.” Applejack chuckled a bit as she handed another test tube to Firecracker. “Kinda like a vacation from the usual school work.”

“Well I wouldn’t ever call schoolwork a vacation.” Firecracker said as she poured the last chemical into the beaker, then carefully adjusted the heat. “I won’t complain about it being easier though.”

“Shouldn’t you already know this stuff too?” Rainbow Dash questioned her partner. “You did go to the same school before this right?”

“Well I didn’t think I’d be doing it again so I didn’t exactly commit it to memory.” Shining Nova answered as she measured out chemicals.

“Well don’t worry about it, we can just wing it.” Rainbow Dash said confidently as she poured chemicals into her and Shining Nova’s beaker.

“This ain’t the kind of thing you can just wing Rainbow Dash.” Applejack shook her head as she wrote down a couple things on the worksheet that she had attached to a clipboard. “You shouldn’t even need to wing it considerin’ you have the worksheet right there in front of you.”

“It’ll be fine AJ.” Rainbow Dash waved off as she fiddled with the heat.

“So Cuz… any hints you want to throw my way?” Shining Nova asked as she leaned closer to Firecracker.

“Read the worksheet again.” Firecracker smirked as she and Applejack watched the fluid in their beaker change colors.

“Already gave it one read over, that should be enough.” Shining Nova slid the worksheet off to one side. “Right Rainbow Dash?”

“Right. We learn by doing, not by reading.” Rainbow Dash nodded and grinned. “Now check this out.”

The rainbow-haired teen suddenly cranked up the temperature under their beaker and sat back with a rather smug expression on her face. The fluid in the beaker changed colors like Applejack’s and Firecracker’s did, but then began to bubble and boil. It started to change color again and shifted through several more colors; the four of them watched in fascination as the fluid finally became a rainbow of colors. But with a sudden hiss and a puff of smoke the mixture turned black.

“Well that was an interesting reaction.” Firecracker snickered. “Not what we were supposed to be going for though.”

“You might want to read through that worksheet one more time, just in case ya missed something…” Applejack slid their worksheet back towards them. “Like the right temperature.”

“I thought it looked pretty cool.” Rainbow Dash reached over and turned off the heat. “Until it burned anyway.”

“Maybe we can get extra credit for making it change like that.” Shining Nova suggested.

“Sorry girls, no extra credit for boiling the assignment into inactivity.” The teacher, Mr. Rye, suddenly leaned in; smiling he switched the blackened beaker with a new one. “But there’s still plenty of time in class, so why don’t you give it another try?”

The pair sighed and got back to work.

“I’d rather be back out on the field.” Shining Nova thought aloud as she returned to measuring chemicals.

“Me too.” Rainbow Dash simply nodded as Shining Nova handed her the first test tube of chemicals. “So have we figured out what we’re going to do next?”

“Not sure. I heard someone say we should play tennis, another said homerun derby, football…” Shining Nova began to count off suggestions she heard.

Sitting on a spare stool nearby Aria just shook her head and continued to write in her notebook. It was turning out to be a pretty boring class, when it looked like something interesting was going to happen it went up in smoke pretty quick. The whole day had been pretty boring so far; with the exception of a few rumors and general gossip she didn’t have much of interest in her notebook, just a general report of various members of the Rainbooms in their classes.

Out of the corner of her eye Aria saw a beaker at the table she was next to starting to boil so violently that it was beginning to shake, neither of the pair that was supposed to be watching it was paying any attention to their assignment. One was busy writing something in his notebook while the other was just staring towards the same group Aria had been watching with a goofy smile on his face. By the look of it things were going to be more interesting than when Rainbow Dash and her partner messed up theirs. While it might be fun to watch Aria had no desire to be anywhere close to the beaker when it blew.

Aria was just starting to get up to leave when another idea crossed her mind. She sighed and sat back down, she rolled her eyes at what she saw as idiocy as she reached over to the one that had been making the goofy smile and flicked him in the ear.

“Ow! What was tha…?” His head spun around towards his partner, but suddenly stopped when he saw the beaker. “Whoa! Turn it off, turn it off, turn it off!”

The other guy heard the commotion his partner was making and looked over and saw what was going on in the beaker as well. Their hands both shot out and with some fumbling they managed to turn the heat off and after a moment the bubbling stopped and the chemical mixture settled into a brown sludge. The boys breathed a sigh of relief but then started laughing nervously when they saw the teacher standing across the table from them giving them a stern look.

“You’re welcome idiots…” Aria muttered as she went back to her observations.

*******

After school Twilight and Sunset sat in the library going over their designs for their new magic scanner, still making small changes and adjustments. Rarity sat on the other side of the table texting while Pinkie and Fluttershy were at the next table talking. A moment later Applejack and Rainbow Dash walked in, Pinkie waved excitedly until they reached the tables.

“So is this going to be the magic detector thing you’re working on?” Rainbow Dash asked as she looked over the papers full of sketches and notes spread out on the table. “You’re seriously gonna make it look like a cellphone?”

“It’s was Sunset’s idea.” Twilight smiled as she held up one of the sketches. “It’ll be the perfect camouflage for the magic scanners.”

“We’re pretty sure we can keep them functional as cellphones too.” Sunset added.

“So they’d be like some sort of spy-gear hidden in our phones?” Rainbow Dash picked up the sketch and gave it a quizzical look.

“Well I suppose you could think of it that way.” Twilight brought a finger to her chin as she considered it. “But we won’t install it in your phone if you don’t want us to.”

“It’s cool, I don’t mind.” Rainbow Dash told her as she handed the sketch back. “It’d be pretty awesome having a spy phone.”

Applejack took a seat with Fluttershy and Pinkie while Rainbow Dash dropped her backpack on the table and flopped down in the seat across from her and let out an annoyed sigh.

“Is something wrong Rainbow Dash?” Fluttershy asked worriedly.

“Not really, just a bit ticked that I didn’t win against Nova today.” Rainbow Dash frowned a bit.

“I heard it was a tie.” Applejack laughed a bit at the way Rainbow Dash was acting. “Means you didn’t lose either.”

“But I would have won if all those people hadn’t come pouring out onto the field!” Rainbow Dash threw her hands up.

“That might be my fault.” Pinkie admitted apologetically. “I was one of the ones they were kinda following out there.”

“I’m not really annoyed at you or the rest of the people that came out,” Rainbow Dash told the Pinkie, getting a smile in return. “I’m more annoyed with myself for getting distracted by that; Nova was totally distracted too and if I would’ve been paying attention I could’ve scored another goal and won the game instead of just getting a tie.”

“What was that all about anyway?” Applejack asked as she quirked an eyebrow. “I saw a bunch of people parading down the hall but didn’t have a clue what was goin’ on.”

“I was wondering that too.” Fluttershy added.

“Well Venus Love had the idea of having a get-together this Saturday where new and old students could get to know each other, Celestia asked if I’d like to help. I said yes of course.” Pinkie explained. “Venus though it’d be best to have it out on the field so we went out there to start planning everything. It started with just seven of us but I may have mentioned it to a few more people on the way there and they wanted to help out too.”

“Looked to be more than a few people there Pinkie.” Applejack chuckled

“Word spreads fast?” Pinkie offered as an explanation.

“So what did you come up with?” Sunset asked as she finished up some alterations to a design.

“The basics are going to be food, music and games; and there’ll be plenty of room to dance or just to hang out and get to know each other. I bet the whole school’s gonna be there!” Pinkie told them with a huge grin. “Speaking of music it’s gonna be live, I already got a few of our friends’ bands to agree to be there but I think there’s room for one more. So what do you say? Are the Rainbooms gonna make an appearance?”

“Well of course they are.” Rainbow Dash said immediately, while everyone else nodded, then she smirked. “Gotta show the new guys how we rock here at Canterlot High.”

While the rest laughed Rarity tilted her head to one side as if trying to listen to something. “Does anyone else hear that? A scratching sound?”

The rest went silent and started to listen, at first no one else seemed to hear anything but after a moment they began to hear some sort of scratching nearby.

“Yeah, there it is.” Applejack said as she cupped a hand to her ear trying to zero in on the source of the noise.

“I think it’s coming from over here.” Rainbow Dash got up and began walking towards one of the bookshelves.

“I’m think you’re right.” Sunset said as she began moving towards the bookshelf as well.

“Be careful.” Fluttershy quietly called after them

The pair stepped quietly as they got closer to the bookshelf, listening closely to figure out exactly where the noise was coming from. When they got to the shelf they were finally able to pinpoint where it was, they both looked up as they could tell the sound was coming from the top of the shelves above them. Rainbow Dash looked at Sunset and nodded then kneeled down and linked her hands together to give Sunset a step up, when Sunset put her foot in place Rainbow Dash slowly began to lift.

As Rainbow Dash lifted her up Sunset could hear some sort of sniffing sound along with the scratching. When she was able to peek over the top of the shelves Sunset wasn’t quite sure what she was looking at; there was some sort of small dark rounded form, it was fuzzy standing on four small clawed feet and facing away from her. As Sunset stared at it trying to figure out what it was it suddenly spun around revealing three small red eyes, then it let out a hiss showing many small fangs. Sunset jerked back, causing her to lose her balance and go crashing down on top of Rainbow Dash.

As Sunset and Rainbow Dash hit the floor whatever the thing was jumped off the bookshelf and landed on the table where Twilight and Rarity were sitting before immediately bounding off, eliciting a shrike from Rarity as she fell backwards in surprise while Twilight quickly grabbed her phone and tried to take a picture. Whatever the little creature was it shot off between the bookshelves.

“What in tarnation was that?” Applejack asked as she helped Rarity up.

“I don’t know.” Sunset groaned as she and Rainbow Dash untangled themselves. “But it’s not any normal animal that I’ve ever seen.”

“Whatever it is catch it!” Rainbow Dash jumped up after she and Sunset managed to get untangled and ran after the creature, quickly followed by Applejack and Pinkie.

“Is everyone okay?” Sunset asked as she looked over the others.

“I’m fine.” Fluttershy answered. “It sure surprised me though.”

“It didn’t touch me.” Twilight said as she started cleaning up the papers that had been sent flying all over the place. “It sure made a mess of our designs and notes though.”

“What a horrid little thing.” Rarity said with disgust as she brushed herself off.

“If it’s dangerous we’d better make sure it doesn’t get out of here.” Sunset said determinedly. “Let’s get the doors closed so it can’t leave that way.”

As the girls rushed over to the doors to get them closed they heard yelling coming from further back in the library; while part of it was their friends chasing after the thing the rest of the yells were from other people that had been in the library that had just seen the little creature. Several students came running out into the front of the library, Sunset managed to direct them a bit and keep them from colliding with each other as the others held open the doors.

“Girls what are you doing?” Cheerilee asked as she was making sure the rest of the students were out of the library. “We all need to get out of here and call animal control, there’s some little creature on the loose back there.”

We know Miss Cheerilee, we already saw it.” Sunset told her. “Rainbow Dash, Applejack and Pinkie are trying to catch it. We were going to close the doors so it can’t get out, you can go out and check on the others to make sure they’re okay and we’ll close up behind you.”

“No girls, I’m not about to let you lock yourselves up alone with a potentially dangerous animal.” Cheerilee said sternly. “I’m not going to leave until I’m sure you’re all safe.”

The sounds of the chase were coming closer and they watched as the creature shot out into the open with Rainbow Dash right behind it, but it suddenly turned and when Rainbow Dash tried to follow her forward momentum was too much and she ended up skidding across the floor. Applejack and Pinkie came running out from the bookshelves from other directions trying to head off the thing.

“Applejack!” Rainbow Dash called out as she kicked a small trashcan she had come to a stop near into the air towards the blond girl.

Applejack leaped into the air and caught the trashcan, the creature stopped and stared up at her, as she came down Applejack slammed the trashcan down over the thing. The was a screech and a sudden banging coming from underneath the can but Applejack held it in place with her foot on top and the creature was unable to escape.

“Nice slam Applejack.” Rainbow Dash said as she came running up and gave her a high-five.

“Did anyone get hurt chasing that thing around?” Sunset asked as she came walking up with the others.

“Nah, the thing just ran away from us hissing all the way.” Applejack shook her head as the noise from under the trashcan continued. “Didn’t even try and bite nobody, just ran between their legs.”

“While I can’t condone you girls taking it upon yourselves to capture a potentially dangerous animal,” Cheerilee began in a lecturing tone, then smiled. “I will say good work in catching it without anyone getting hurt.”

“I hope it’s okay.” Fluttershy said worriedly, even when the others gave her strange looks. “Whatever it is it might just be scared and that’s why it ran.”

“We should get it out of there so we can get a better look at it and find out what it is.” Twilight commented as she looked down at the trashcan with a thoughtful expression. “Question is what can we use to keep it from running again?”

“We use this.” Pinkie smiled and held up a net.

“Pinkie, why do you have a net?” Rainbow Dash questioned as she stared at Pinkie.

“How else am I supposed to catch the little creature?” Pinkie answered as she swung the net around.

Everyone looked down when the noise suddenly stopped.

“I hope that means it just calmed down.” Sunset said apprehensively.

“Ready with that net Pinkie?” Applejack kneeled down to grab the trashcan with her hands.

“Yup.” Pinkie grinned and held her net in a ready position.

Applejack quickly lifted the trashcan and Pinkie slammed the net down; but there was nothing to catch, only a bit of black smoke wafting through the air.

“Where’d it go?!” Rainbow Dash kneeled down and moved Pinkie’s net to check the floor where the creature should have been then checked the empty trashcan. “No way it could have vanished.”

“Why not?” Rarity said as Rainbow Dash stood back up. “It not like we haven’t experienced stranger things.”

“Could it have been something from Equestria?” Fluttershy asked as she turned to Sunset.

“I don’t think so.” Sunset shook her head. “I didn’t get a very good look at it but it didn’t look like any Equestrian creature I know of.”

“Well I did try to get a picture, maybe we can have a better look at it.” Twilight said as she took out her phone, then sighed. “Or not…”

Twilight showed everyone the picture. While the little creature was in the shot it was nothing more than a black blur across the image, more noticeable was Rarity falling backwards as she shrieked.

“Not my most flattering picture.” Rarity said dryly.

“So first a Dazzling and now a weird little monster. What’s going on around here?” Rainbow Dash crossed her arms as and annoyed expression appeared on her face. “And what are we gonna do about it?”

“Not a whole lot we can until we figure out what it all means.” Applejack said matter-of-factly.

“Yeah all we can do for now is keep our eyes and ears open as we try and figure this out, and if it’s something bad hope we can catch it before it starts.” Sunset said seriously. “Until then…”

“We can go to Sugar Cube Corner!” Pinkie suddenly piped in.

“That actually sounds pretty good right now.” Sunset cracked a smile. “So let’s clean up and do that.”

“Whatever you girls do please be careful, and good luck.” Cheerilee told them. “I’m going to go check and make sure everyone else is okay.”

As Cheerilee left the group quickly cleaned up and gathered their things before setting out themselves. As they were heading out the library doors Sunset stopped and looked back briefly, there was no way that was just some random occurrence. But what did it mean? Was something else starting to happen at Canterlot High? Something bad yet again? Sunset didn’t have enough information to even make an educated guess and could only hope she could learn more before any problems arose.

“Sunset!” Pinkie called back from down the hallway.

“Coming!” Sunset called out as she rushed to catch up.

To be continued…

Comments

[Wysteria]

So the girls just openly spoke about Equestria and magic in front of Cheerilee...

[p61blkwidow]

man this is getting sooo good! onward girls to find answer! this is one fun story well done!!

[Blackbird2]

So finally done with this chapter! I like it! The mystery deepens. Like what the heck is that creature? I'm gonna get one of Starwind's creations? At least I hope or something ELSE is skulking around the school! Man what IS it with that place? My guess...built on a Hellmouth.

Also maybe this is just me but when they were chasing that thing I had the chase music from the old Real Ghostbusters cartoon running through my head.