The Legend of the Everfree

by Shadowmane PX-41

Power

Sunset Shimmer and the Rainbooms woke up the next morning feeling refreshed and invigorated. They threw off the covers of their beds and climbed out of their sleeping bags as they went to freshen themselves up. With all of the planning that had gone into their festival to save Camp Everfree, they now needed to be sure that they could back it up with their tight budget and limited deadline.

"Rarity, have you finished the posters for the event?" Sunset asked as Rarity pulled out a computerized tablet and a small stylus and sat back down on her bed.

"Just give me a few more minutes, Sunset." Rarity gently stroked the screen with the stylus's tip and added her own background and special decorations to the digital poster. "If we're going to attract enough patrons to save the Everfree Forest from Miasma's wrath, then the advertisments need to make an impact."

"Alright." Sunset gave Rarity a gentle nod and saw Pinkie Pie walk back in. "Pinkie, have you shared the story about Miasma trying to destroy the Everfree Forest?"

"Yep!" Pinkie showed her phone with pictures of Miasma threatening to kill Rainbow Dash, then the next one of her logging machines ripping the forest apart. "Just gonna post these onto MyStable, Facebook, and Change, and we're gonna beat that big, fat, mean, meanie pants once and for all!" She threw up her arms, firing out confetti from her sleeves.

"Miasma won't take kindly to all of the attention," Sci-Twi stood up, re-adjusted her glasses and took a drink of the nearby glass of water. "If needs be, she could use those machines to interrupt the festivities and do some real harm to people..."

"Well, Gaia and Gloriosa are the solution to that." Applejack tipped her hat over her face and leaned against the wall, chewing on a piece of grass. "Gaia's got that freaky-deaky magic of hers, and Gloriosa's got a lot of tricks up her sleeve. Together, the two of them'll bust those varmints before they even get the chance to hurt anyone."

"I don't really trust Gaia yet..." Fluttershy's hair drooped down over her right eye and half of her mouth. "She did almost try to kill you with her magic."

"But Gloriosa's able to communicate with her, isn't she?" Rarity raised a brow as she glanced over at Fluttershy. "Think about it. Both Gaia and Gloriosa speak in that archaic language of theirs, right?"

"About that... What is that language?" Sci-Twi walked out of the tent and leaned against the wall. "It's not like any language I've ever heard before, and I know a lot of different languages." As she spoke, she began to glow, and she ended up speaking in Spanish, French, German, Japanese, Chinese, Dutch, Arabic, and then back to English as the light faded. "But I still don't—" only then did she realize what had just happened "—whoa."

"Twilight..." Sunset stared with her mouth agape. "I didn't know you were fluent in eight languages!"

"I'm not! And that's even more strange!" Sci-Twi threw her arms out and cuddled herself. "What happened to me last night?"

"Well, I'm sure that it wasn't anything too harsh." As soon as Fluttershy walked out, she was blitzed by almost every animal she had ever loved and was being licked and cuddled all over. She let out a yelp, which soon escalated into a scream as the weight of all of the wildlife weighed on top of her.

"Fluttershy!" Sunset reached out to her and fired beams of yellow light, akin to the ones she had shot when she became her angelic form back at the Friendship Games. "Whoa!"

"Sunset!" Everyone else cried out as they ran outside, causing the animals to get off of Fluttershy, but still remain close to her.

"O...kay. Apparently, I have the ability to fire lasers as a regular teenage girl now." Sunset blinked as she looked down at her hand, which was still emitting a faint smoke from the blast.

"Does anyone know where Rainbow Dash or the Shadowbolts are?" Pinkie Pie asked.

At the precise moment she said it, a rainbow blur crashed head on into two similar looking girls, sending them all flying into a tree, spilling the leaves and covering them with dirt, mud, and sticks.

"Found her!" Pinkie Pie pointed to Rainbow Dash, but then ended up teleporting next to her in a flash of pink light. "Hey! Neat-o! I didn't know I could do that!"

"Pinkie! You too?!" Applejack came running over and helped the three girls up onto their feet. "What in tarnation's going on with—" she then looked over at the two twins and gasped "—who the heck are you?! Sour Sweet's sister?!"

"Don't ask. She's been like this all day," The first of the two Sour Sweets grumbled, cleaning herself off. "I'm just glad to be free of that dorky other half, even if it is just for a moment."

"Hi! I'm Sweet!" the other one waved giddily and bounced over to Pinkie Pie. "I wanna know everything about you and be super-duper best friendsies!" she squealed and pulled Pinkie into a hug.

"What happened to you both?!" Applejack's mouth hug open wider than it had ever been before.

"It's quite obvious what happened to Sour Sweet." Sugarcoat walked up with part of her hair singed off. "That Gaia Everfree character also gave us new magical powers when she sent us through that portal back to Camp Everfree."

"Yeah." Indigo Zap approached the group, rubbing the back of her head. As she did, lightning formed around her hand which she then shook off into the ground. "For some reason, I've been shooting electricity out of my fingertips like I'm some kind of walking thunderstorm..."

"Sugarcoat got the power to launch fireworks every time she points at something; Sunny Flare somehow got weather controlling magic; Indy got lighting powers; and Sour Sweet's personality literally split her in half!" Lemon Zest walked up, chuckling at her own joke. "And as for me..." She raised her arm, causing dubstep noises to immediately fill the air. "Whenever I raise my arms, that happens. You don't wanna see what happens when I bring it down, though."

"Wait. You're all saying that you got supernatural powers from Gaia Everfree's portal?" Sunset Shimmer asked the Shadowbolts as Sunny Flare walked up to join them.

"Uh-huh." Everyone else nodded in agreement as they gathered around.

"Honestly, it's not so bad!" Sweet squeaked. "Although Sour over here has been a total buzzkill." Sweet walked over and made a smile by manipulating the corners of Sour's mouth. "Honestly, she should learn to smile sometime!"

"Oh, shut up!" Sour promptly gave Sweet a punch in the face, knocking her into Applejack's arms. "I think this is horrible! Not only am I half the person I used to be, but now I'm stuck with some thumb-sucking, mindless, and downright baby-ish twin!"

"Hey! You leave her alone, you big bully!" Pinkie Pie ran in front of both Sour and Sweet and threw her arms around Sweet. "She's just trying to have fun, who's to say she can't have it?!"

"Me! Now move aside!" Sour tried to rip Pinkie Pie away, but Applejack reached out to Sour, firing golden lassos that tied her up both around her body and legs.

"Lassos? Really?" Applejack deadpanned as she brought Sour to the ground. "Is that because I'm some kinda cowgirl?"

As everything settled down and the other Shadowbolts took a hold of Sour with the Rainbooms cuddling a crying Sweet, Pinkie Pie and Rarity gasped together.

"IDEA!" They both chorused.

"Huh?" Sugarcoat tilted her head to the side at Pinkie and Rarity. "What is it?"

"We've got super powers. We're raising money to save Camp Everfree. And we also have to defeat the forces of evil again," Rarity started. "Why don't we benefit from this little occurence and put these abilities to good use?"

"What do you mean by that?" Sci-Twi asked.

"We could show off our super-powers at the festival!" Pinkie Pie jumped into the air, hurling more confetti as she did. "People get a real kick out of the weird and wonderful these days, and with these powers being used as part of a stage show, everyone'll be able to see what we can do, without having to worry about being called freaks or monsters!"

"You mean degrade ourselves into being circus animals? No thanks!" Sour flicked her hair to the side.

"You don't have to be a part of it if you don't want to be, Sour." Sunset Shimmer stepped forward. "But it would be nice if you pitched in just a little." She gently tapped the girl's arm, before she was pulled close as Sour got into her face.

"NEVER. TOUCH. ME. AGAIN." Sour growled before she threw Sunset into Sweet, who had stopped crying.

"I honestly can't tell which is worse now." Sugarcoat crossed her arms.

"I can. I think I prefer Sweet more than Sour now that the two have split up." Indigo flexed her fingers as she looked at the two copies. "I mean, Sour Sweet as a single person was cool to hang with, but her two attitudes are what kinda drove me away from her, y'know?"

"Oh yes. I can never forget the day she punched Fleur de Lis in the face just because she criticized her test scores last year..." Sunny Flare shuddered as she remembered the event in great detail. "That black eye is going to haunt my nightmares forever."

"Let's just keep on track here." Sci-Twi pushed her hand out to get everyone's attention. "We've been dawdling for too long, and we only have three days left to save Camp Everfree before Miasma calls in the cavalry."

"So what are we doing standing here?!" Rainbow Dash charged off to the visitor's centre to speak with the other campers and site staff about the festival.

"She makes a good point." Rarity leisurely walked into the centre with the other Rainbooms and Shadowbolts, staying close to Sweet to make sure she didn't get hurt again. "We want to save the forest. And what good is saving it if we're tardy?"

"True that." Applejack nodded with the rest of the Rainbooms as they went inside.

"Are you coming, Twilight?" Sunset Shimmer looked back at Sci-Twi as she walked over to the nearby gazebo.

"Oh. You go on ahead. I'll catch up." Sci-Twi gave Sunset a gentle wave and watched her go inside before she climbed up on to the gazebo and looked out at the trees.

Sci-Twi let out a long and exasparated sigh as she thought about everything that had happened to her in the past months. With the events of the Friendship Games still engraved into her memory, and with the encounters with Miasma and Gaia Everfree flashing in her mind, her confidence in saving the forest was beginning to dwindle.

"Why are we fighting this battle?" Sci-Twi asked as she put her elbow on the wooden railing and put her head on her chin. "Even if we defeat Miasma, this New World group that she's a part of will only hunt us down afterwards." She looked into the sky. "And then, who are this New World? Are they terrorists? A secretive magical cult? A group of malicious ponies from Equestria? I don't even know anymore!"

"How does it feel?" Midnight slithered as her voice travelled on the blowing winds. "To be given the power of magic once more?"

"You! Come out! Show yourself!" Sci-Twi remembered the voice and took up a meek fighting stance. "I'm not afraid of you!

"Oh, I think you are. You're just so blinded by this foolish thing known as friendship that you don't want to admit it," Midnight chuckled as her voice came right up next to Twilight's ears. "Why, back at Crystal Prep, you had no friends, and that was what freed me from those shackles known as your body. But what were to happen if you needed to use magic, and your friends weren't there to back you up, or got themselves killed by Miasma or Gaia Everfree?

"You can't restrain me, Twilight Sparkle." Midnight Sparkle appeared as a translucent figure in Sci-Twi's vision next to her. "I am you! And you are nothing more than a weak and feeble scientist, fighting for the wrong side! You've always been wrong! Serving that weak old woman back at Crystal Prep, and now bowing down to those feeble teenagers!"

"Shut up!" Sci-Twi threw her arms back and stared down the demon. "I'm not going to be fazed by you! Sunset's never going to leave me! And neither are the others!"

"The true right side is never one that you choose. It's always your side that's right." Midnight paced back and forth. "Sunset Shimmer and the Rainbooms have magic, but they don't know how to use it for its' true potential. Miasma and her de-forestation company is like me. They want to conquer, but they have to be dependent on some New World cockroaches to do it.

"And as for the Shadowbolts? What have they ever done to you other than tease, hurt, demoralize, threaten, and push you against the wall?!" Midnight charged at Sci-Twi, slamming her into one of the poles. "You're weak! You let the world walk all over you like a doormat! You didn't use the magic back at the Games because you wanted to see what it could do! You were simply the lapdog for the umpteenth time! That's the only reason you lost, because you followed the beat of someone's drum, instead of carving out your own destiny!"

"Shut up! You're just a monster! I never want to see your face again, Midnight!" Sci-Twi screamed as loud as she could, causing the Rainbooms and Shadowbolts to come running, making the illusion fade away into nothingness.

"Twilight!" Sunset ran up to Sci-Twi and gently held her hand. "What's wrong?"

"Another Midnight Sparkle vision, I presume?" Rarity tipped her hand.

"They're just getting worse and worse..." Pinkie Pie wrapped her arm around Sci-Twi's shoulders and walked her into the building. "What she needs is some good grub and her friends, stat!"

As Sci-Twi was escorted inside, she looked back and saw Midnight once again.

"Think long and hard about this, Twilight Sparkle." Midnight crossed her arms and gave her a malicious look. "Will you continue to walk all over the world and be subservient to the rest of the species? Or will you take the magic you've accrued and actually make your own decisions for once?" With that sentence, Midnight vanished again. "It's your choice..."

Comments

[Stardust_Shade]

And midnight grows every stronger...I like the power set for everyone too...sour sweet needs to chill xD

[Shadowmane PX-41]

7546430 Sour Sweet has become two people.

Sour is all of her anger and hate, while Sweet is all of her kind, loveable, and energetic nature.

So in truth, Sour needs to chill.

[Stardust_Shade]

7547991 right lol

[FourShadow]

Now everybody's got powers. Nice.