Equestria Girls: Magical Meltdown

by PonyUpYourBits

Opening Up

Two weeks later

"Try to set up that tent there," Sunset instructed, pointing with her pen at the spot she wanted to put the cotton candy tent. Three students unpacked the tent supplies and set to work constructing the awning at the location Sunset asked for. The construction for the senior homecoming festival had begun on the front grounds of Canterlot High and the students had already set up several tents to house festival attractions such as games or refreshments. Sunset looked back down at her clipboard to check the progress of her project.

"Hey! Could you help us hold this leg?" one of the students working on the cotton candy tent called out. On the far side of the festival site, another student was about to take a bite of a fresh apple in his hand when the request for assistance reached him. He set down the apple on a nearby workbench and walked over to help the other three with the tent. The uneaten apple caught Sunset's attention and she gazed upon its bright sheen in the sun. The sight of the apple inspired her to reminisce.

"Concentrate, Sunset Shimmer," Sunset was instructed. "This exercise is to help teach you precision."

Sunset was standing in the throne room of Canterlot Castle before her mentor Princess Celestia. She was levitating an apple and focusing her magic intensely on it.

"I'm...trying, Princess," Sunset said, concentrating with all her might. She clenched her teeth and closed her eyes as her face began to become slightly flush. She focused more magical energy into the apple and it began to vibrate.

"Yes, Sunset," Celestia praised. "You're doing fine."

Sunset grunted and used as much magical energy as she could find in herself on the apple. Suddenly, the apple split in half. Sunset looked upon the result with disappointment. "Oooh!" she spat. "I hate this exercise! I can't even do it right!" She stomped her hoof down in frustration as she released the apple halves from her magic and they fell to the floor.

Celestia stepped over to a table where several apples were laid out. "Sunset, you show strong magical potential," she said, levitating another apple herself. "However magic is not something you can force, it is a trained and conditioned talent that grows with mastery." As she spoke, Celestia hovered the apple in front of her own face then magically split the apple into six even sections with little effort. "We are not simply born into magical ability, it is practiced and developed. Once understood, we are all capable of great things." She levitated the apple pieces towards Sunset.

Sunset sat down on the floor of the hall and sighed at the relative simplicity Celestia had demonstrated with her own ability when she herself couldn't even complete the task correctly when pushing herself. "But why do we need to dwell on these sort of exercises? I'm sure there's a thousand different ways to learn what you're trying to say. This can't be the only method for me to master this!"

"Skill is a product of process, Sunset Shimmer," Celestia explained. "I have chosen these tasks not to illuminate your shortcomings but as a way for you to grow your knowledge. It is not enough to simply execute a magic spell but to understand why it works. Our comprehension of functional magic hinges on the research that forms it as much as the ability to use it." Sunset narrowed her eyes and let out a small huff then looked off to the side, away from Celestia.

"I think we've covered enough for today, Sunset," Celestia said, dismissing her pupil. "You may return to the dormitories."

Sunset exited and closed the door behind her. "Celestia says can see my potential but throws these unnecessary tasks in my way as a way of slowing me down so I don't overtake all her other students," Sunset said to herself as she slowly trotted down the corridor outside the throne room. "There's probably loads of spells in the Canterlot Library that don't require any of this petty nonsense to learn...and I intend to find out..." Her facial expression grew into a sinister grin as she began plotting.

"Oh, Sunset!" a voice called from the front doors of the school. Sunset snapped out of her memory and turned towards the school doors. Rarity and Fluttershy were standing at the top of the steps. Rarity was holding a pile of fabric.

"Hi, Rarity, Fluttershy," Sunset responded. "Are those the festival banners?"

"Oh yes, you simply must see what we've created," she said, enthusiastically. "You'll simply love them! Fluttershy's designs are inspired!" Fluttershy blushed modestly.

Sunset nodded and began walking towards the pair to examine their work.

---

Pearlescent was checking emails and status updates on her phone as she walked through the halls of Canterlot High on her way to the front of the school to meet Jade Jewel. The school day had ended and other students brushed past her in the hall but she remained fixated on her phone's screen.

"Junk...junk...already knew it..." she muttered, thumbing through the various unimportant communications she had received through the day. Having cleared her queues, she slipped her phone back into her bag when a familiar sound brought her to a pause.

"Hm...?" she wondered to herself. The sound was that of a rhythmic percussion accented with the crash of cymbals. She stayed where she was, continuing to listen to the sound and tapping her foot to the beat. It was coming from around the corner of a nearby hallway. Pearlescent pulled her phone back out of her bag and typed out a short text message to Jade Jewel then returned her phone to her bag and began to search out the origin of the sound. After rounding the bend and walking a short way down the hall, she came upon the music room where the beats were coming from. Pearlescent peered into the door's window and saw a girl with fluffy pink hair practicing on a drum set inside. As she watched, the girl set down her drumsticks for a break and took a drink from a water bottle that was near her feet.

Pearlescent opened the door to the music room and stepped inside. The pink-haired girl took notice quickly.

"Hiya!" she said in a sing-song voice. Her speech was slightly labored from playing the drums but she still managed to greet her guest with cheer.

"Uh...hey," Pearlescent responded. "Couldn't help overhearing you in the halls."

"Yep, just working on some drum lines for our next show," she said. She picked up her drumsticks again and resumed her practice, filling the music room with percussion. Pearlescent set down her bag against the wall and nodded her head in time with the beats as she walked over to the drum kit. After another round, the girl set down her sticks again and took another sip of water. "You like the drums?" she asked Pearlescent.

"Yeah," Pearlescent answered. "Mind if I try?"

The pink-haired girl got off the drum throne and passed her drumsticks to Pearlescent. Pearlescent sat down at the kit and positioned her feet onto the bass pedals. "I think I know what you were going for," she said. "Let me know if I'm on the right track."

Pearlescent proceeded to play what she had heard the pink-haired girl do to the best of her ability. "You might have been rushing yourself in the middle here," Pearlescent observed as she played, shouting slightly to be heard over the sound of the drums. "It'll keep the band on tempo and also not wear you out as quickly!" She played at a more even pace than the pink-haired girl to demonstrate her point while adding some new drum fills in order to spice things up. The pink-haired girl listened attentively to this new girl's skillful play. At the end of her demonstration, she set the drumsticks down.

"Wooow!" the pink-haired girl blurted out after she was done. "That was a big improvement! I'd love to put something like that in our next performance!"

Pearlescent smiled and laughed a little. "Thanks. It's been awhile since I played. Felt good to get back to it." She rotated her left shoulder to stretch it out.

"My name's 'Pinkie Pie'," the other girl said, introducing herself properly. She reached out her hand to shake Pearlescent's.

"Pearlescent," she responded. She took Pinkie's hand in her own and completed the gesture.

"How'd you learn to play so well?" Pinkie Pie asked.

"I used to play in a band; the 'Rebel Mares'," Pearlescent explained. "We did quite a few shows at the local scene, mostly rock and grunge. We even made runner-up in a band competition last year and got to open for a big show at the town's festival."

"Did you quit playing?" Pinkie asked, curious about the 'used to' part of Pearlescent's story.

Pearlescent frowned slightly and broke eye contact with Pinkie. "Not really by choice," she said, in a mildly ashamed tone. "When I got arrested they kicked me out. Said I was creating a 'bad image' for them. I haven't spoken to them in about six months now."

"Awww..." Pinkie sympathized. "I'm sorry, Pearlescent. But, hey, if you want to you could come listen to the Rainbooms practice sometime!"

Pearlescent smiled, feeling appreciated and welcomed for the first time since before going into juvenile detainment. "I think I might, thanks..." She looked up at a clock in the room. "Hey, this was fun but I have to get going. Thanks for letting me play, Pinkie."

"No problem!" she responded cheerily. "You were really helpful!"

"I'll try to show you how it works next time," Pearlescent said as she picked up her bag. Pinkie grinned and the two girls waved good bye as Pearlescent left the music room.

---

A chirp came from Jade Jewel's back pocket. She was waiting at the front of Canterlot High for Pearlescent to join her. Jade reached around and retrieved her phone. She brushed aside her dark green bangs and looked down at the lock screen.

"Pearlescent: Found something cool in here, want to check it out. I'll meet up with you at the smoothie shop, go ahead without me."

"Eh, whatevs," Jade said to herself. She wrote up a quick reply then put her phone back into her pocket before setting out on her own. After walking for a short distance she came across the local library. The library had a large flight of stairs running up to the entrance and she could see a girl with rainbow hair and cyan skin standing at the top of the steps. She was focusing intently on the rail and using her right foot to push a skateboard back and forth. Jade stopped walking and observed what was about to happen.

The girl pushed off the ground with her left foot then put it onto the board once it was rolling. She crouched down then hopped her board up as she approached the stair rail in front of her. The board's trucks landed on the rail and she began to grind the railing down. However she was struggling to maintain her balance as she rode the rail, shifting her weight in an increasingly desperate fashion to stay level.

"Wh-wo...wo...AHHHHH!!!" she cried halfway down the railing. She lost her balance entirely and got flung off her board. Jade winced as she witnessed the trick go terribly wrong. "WAAAAAAA...OOOF!" The rainbow-haired girl had crash-landed in a set of shrubs at the bottom of the stairs. Jade dropped her bag and quickly ran over to the shrubs to check on the girl.

"Are you alright?!" she said, panicked that the girl had hurt herself during her failed stunt.

"Uuuughhhh..." she groaned. "Yeah...nothing broken..." she said sheepishly. Jade helped her to her feet and noticed the skateboard rolling by. She stopped it with her foot. "Thanks," the rainbow-haired girl said as she brushed the dust and leaves off her clothes.

"You ever make it down those steps before?" Jade asked. The other girl shook her head.

"I can grind that wheelchair ramp," she said, pointing to a nearby handicap ramp rail, "but I've always wanted to do the big set."

"Name's 'Rainbow Dash'," the skateboarder introduced herself. "I've seen you around. You're new to CHS, right?"

"Yeah, my name's 'Jade Jewel'," she said, returning Rainbow Dash's introduction. She was carefully assessing the rail Rainbow Dash had tried to grind while rolling the skateboard back and forth beneath her foot, as Rainbow Dash had done before attempting her grind. "You know...that doesn't look so bad. Can I have a go at it?"

"Knock yourself out," Dash permitted with a nonchalant shrug. Jade picked up Rainbow Dash's skateboard and the pair climbed the stairs back to the top. Jade Jewel walked back away from the stair rail to give herself enough room to build up momentum as Rainbow Dash stood off to the side and watched. Jade lined up her run at the rail and concentrated. She took two large strides forward then set the board down while moving so it would be rolling as soon as it hit the ground. She set her right foot on the front of the board then gave one final kick with her left before lifting it onto the board. Jade crouched down as Rainbow Dash had done on her attempt then popped the board up. Her leap was almost in slow motion from Rainbow Dash's point of view, gracefully sailing both herself and the board into the air.

The trucks hit the rail evenly and Jade smoothly maintained her balance as she rode the board down the rail to the bottom. Dash was awestruck at the control and elegance Jade demonstrated with her technique. At the end of the rail Jade landed back on all four wheels and continued to roll towards the shrubs Dash had landed in the first time. She jumped off the board shortly before hitting them and leaped over the shrubs to the grass on the other side as the board itself came to a halt at the edge of the pavement.

"WHOA!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed when Jade had finished. She hopped onto the rail herself and slid down to the bottom to meet Jade Jewel. "That was amazing!" Jade flicked her hair back in triumph.

"Wow, that felt great!" Jade said, excited she had completed the trick successfully. She could still feel the adrenaline from the moment.

"You can really skate!" Dash said, congratulating Jade on her feat.

"Yeah! Haven't done something like that in ages!" she replied.

"You gotta show me some of your stuff sometime!" Dash begged. "Are you pro?"

Jade responded to the question with a coy shrug and a blissful grin. "Couple of years ago I thought I was going to be. I had won some local skate comps and people were starting to talk." She climbed back over the shrubs and picked the skateboard off the ground. "I guess I would have by now if I stuck with it."

"Why didn't you?" Rainbow Dash asked, puzzled why someone so gifted wouldn't try to go as far as possible.

"Oh...you know..." Jade said, thinking back. "Stuff happened...found myself hanging with a different crowd...wasn't going to the skatepark as much...or...at all..." Her enthusiasm began to retreat as she thought through the poor choices she had made that took her away from skating.

"Oh..." Rainbow Dash said, reading between her words. "Well, hey, I won't dig it up if you don't wanna talk about it. But, still, you really have to show me what you can do with a board!" trying to redirect the conversation back to Jade Jewel's skating talent.

"Sure, I never turned down a chance to sho-" Jade started to say. Suddenly the doors to the library slid open and one of the librarians came storming out.

"Hey, you kids! You can't skate here!" she shouted from the top of the steps, aggressively pointing down to the pair at the bottom of the steps. Jade Jewel and Rainbow Dash looked at each other in panic. "You've got to the count of five to get out of my sight or I'm involving the police!"

"Whuh oh!" Rainbow Dash said upon hearing 'police'.

"Oh man, I can't get busted again!" Jade exclaimed herself. She tossed Rainbow Dash's skateboard back to her and hurriedly picked up her bag. "Guess this'll have to wait!"

The two girls began to run off in separate directions. "Hey! I'll see you Monday!" Dash called after her while they were still in earshot. Jade quickly nodded then the two girls hastily vacated the area.