Take With Food

by Norm De Plume

The Smell of Food

Crystal Prep Academy had one heck of a Home Economics department, if their performance in the Friendship Games hadn't already made that apparent. Everything was immaculate, gleaming, and cutting-edge. Well, except for one particular workstation, where it looked as if a baked goods bomb had exploded.

Sunset Shimmer picked delicately at a cupcake wrapper, taken aback by the sheer number of freshly-frosted treats that covered the counter. Cupcakes were cooling on racks, others had already been frosted, and there was a suspicious attempt at something vaguely resembling Rice Krispies Treats in a miniature pyramid. “Thanks for agreeing to this meeting. I'm sorry I couldn't say more over the phone, but this is done better in-person.”

“And we apologize that you had to come here, but as you see, Sour Sweet is having a bit of an episode,” Sugarcoat commented, pointing a thumb over her shoulder at the girl pirouetting around the messiest of the kitchens. “We couldn't pull her away from her oven.”

“I'm in the ZONE, okay?” came a sing-song snarl. “If I could stop, I would! Cupcakes, so sweet and tasty! Cupcaaakes!” The unmusical whine of a blender drowned out her warbling.

Lemon Zest slid her headphones off and let them hang around her neck, wincing at the racket. “Yeah, she's been at that for a while. Kinda weird, since she's never been the kitchen sort.” She shrugged. “But whatevs. I can't wait to see Sugar Belle's face when she finds out there's no more icing sugar left for class tomorrow.”

Sunset was sure this was why Twilight had bolted from Crystal Prep. If she had hackles, they would be rising with all the suffocating, passive-aggressive sarcasm. But at the same time, the attitude spoke volumes about their surroundings. This was a group that was always on the defensive, the hyper-competitive atmosphere making it difficult for any of them to trust each other. Was this why the magic of Friendship had chosen them?

“I'm actually impressed you managed to sneak in here,” Sunny Flare said, looking far more amused than Sunset felt was necessary as she reached across to rub the sleeve fabric between thumb and forefinger. “Nice fake Crystal Prep uniform. What's the matter, didn't Twilight's old outfit fit you?”

Sunset ignored that, trying to remain calm and not yank her arm away. They hadn't been Twilight's friends before, so it was no business of theirs what she did now, but she still had to have this conversation with them. “It doesn't matter. Something's happening and I need your help, but it could be dangerous.”

“Are we talking 'eaten by a carnivorous plant' dangerous or 'falling through a hole into another world' dangerous?” Indigo Zap asked, putting her chin in her hands and looking intrigued. “Because, whoo, that magic of yours is weird!”

“Wait.” Lemon Zest sat up from her casual lounging. “Sour Sweet's not gonna tear a hole in space when she opens that oven, is she?”

Sugarcoat snorted. “Highly unlikely, given she's been baking for the last few hours without incident. If anything would to rip open the fabric of reality, it'd be that noise you call music.”

Sunset choked back a frustrated noise and shot to her feet, startling the four girls across the counter. “Hey! I came here, hoping the magic of Equestria had somehow found its way inside you, but none of you are interested in anything other than making smart remarks! Maybe I was silly enough to think brilliant students like yourselves might have noticed something was off. But now I'm wondering how you even gave Canterlot High so many problems in past Games!”

Wide-eyed, Sugarcoat opened her mouth, then closed it again, colouring slightly.

Lemon Zest flailed her arms, having pushed off a little too hard with her chair tilted back and she scrabbled frantically at Indigo and Sunny's hands, grasping them to pull herself back up.

In the middle of this, Sour Sweet scurried up, her clasped hands pressed to her flour-stained cheek and her pale violet eyes sparkling in a disturbingly cheerful manner. She slapped her oven mitts down. “Oooh, you really think we might have some of that pony magic inside us?” She seemed to grow three inches taller as she rocketed up onto the tips of her toes to lean across the counter and get into Sunset's face. “No kidding! I get wings when I least expect them, and I can't stop prancing and baking cupcakes! So forgive us for trying to deal with it in our own way!” Then she scooped up a cupcake decorated with white frosting and a sparse cover of miniature jujubes. “Oh, and try this, if you want. You've picked at it enough already!”

There was silence, then Sugarcoat grunted. “What she said.”

Tentatively accepting the treat, Sunset leaned back on her stool. “Okay. I'm sorry.” She tried to calm down as she peeled the wrapper off. “When Twilight opened all the portals to Equestria, more magic leaked into this world. I don't know how much more, but since we were all in the middle of that mess, it's likely most of the populations of CHS and Crystal Prep were exposed.” She bit into the cupcake and her tastebuds were suddenly assailed by a mixture of chocolate, sugary frosting, and a sudden burst of flavor as the jujubes were revealed to be sour. “Mmmmf!”

“Good, isn't it? Indigo's going to make us all run laps if we keep indulging ourselves like this,” Sunny Flare said, resting her chin on her crossed arms. “Tell us about the magic. It's pretty safe, isn't it?”

Sunset paused to wipe her mouth. “Yes, it's safe. In fact, I think it's happy with all of you. You've got potential and magic likes potential.”

“Oh, it likes potential! Then why isn't Twilight Sparkle popping ears like I've been?” Sour Sweet growled, stuffing her hands into oven mitts to go and get her next batch out of the oven.

“Yeah,” Indigo Zap said, casually reaching over to snag a cupcake of her own. “Did it reject her because she did stupid things with it?”

Shaking her head, Sunset tapped herself on the breast. “No. It's actually buried deep inside her. The same thing happened to me last year when I tried to open the Element of Magic for my own use. Magic doesn't reject you, it consumes you.” She shivered. “Being overpowered by magic isn't stupid, but if you abuse it, it'll be a long time before it talks to you again. Call it self-preservation on its part, meant to stop even more damage from being done.”

There were no smart remarks now, as the five girls stared at her. Sour Sweet slumped in a chair, pulling off one mitt and reaching up to touch her scalp where pony ears would be. Lemon Zest looked pale, even as she tucked one leg beneath the other. And Sugarcoat opened her mouth again, then closed it once more.

“The magic's inside you. Like I said, it won't hurt you unless you abuse it, but I'm asking you to accept it and treat it well. It comes out when you show the truest part of yourself.” Sunset looked Indigo Zap in the eyes. “That must be hard, since this place makes you form a shell to keep yourself safe. Even passing through those halls, I can see that no one looks out for each other here. We were once like that at Canterlot High.”

“We . . . kinda care about each other,” Lemon Zest protested. “I mean, it's not like we hang out after school or have sleepovers, or go shopping on weekends, but we —” She frowned. “Hey, how come we don't go shopping on weekends? We should totally do that!”

“What a great idea!” Sour Sweet cooed, fanning herself with her oven mitt. “If only we could pull ourselves out from the mountains of homework we get!” She growled, snatching her frosting spreader away from Indigo Zap before she could lick it.

Sunny Flare shoved at them and smiled at Sunset. “They just mean it's stressful being this good. Don't judge us because we're all trying to stay afloat. What's waiting for you when you graduate?”

Equestria, perhaps, if she could ever gather up the courage to return. Sunset knew she could atone there for her many mistakes, just as she had in this world, but she had also been the one to bring magic to Canterlot High and the surrounding area. That made it her responsibility to watch over this world. She didn't dare think about going back home until that job was finished. “I've . . . got some options,” she allowed.

“So, you're here to help us figure out how to control this magic, yeah?” Lemon Zest asked. “We might not be able to hide it from others for too long. People kind of notice when things are weird. Well, other than Sour Sweet trying to murder people with a muffin tin.”

“That's an average Home Economics class for us,” Sugarcoat pointed out. “Except usually she prefers a hand-cranked eggbeater when she goes on a rampage. Her wings might raise suspicion, though.”

This was the hard part. Would they care? “I'm not here for that, no. Something's come up, and the six of us at Canterlot High don't have enough of our own magic to do anything about it. I said it would be dangerous, and it is. In fact, it might even mean losing our magic if we don't do it right.” Sunset spun her phone across the counter, banking it off a muffin tray so it slid to a stop in front of Sunny Flare. “Someone sent a video to me after Twilight and I fought. This is why I came.”

The other Shadowbolts gathered around Sunny as she tapped the screen, and they all watched over her shoulder. The tiny speakers couldn't handle the deep rumbling, and so the distortion was loud, but no one flinched until the video reached the moment that had broken Sunset's own heart. The moment where the camera panned away from her tussle with Twilight to focus on the shadows across the street from the school, where three figures lurked. They wore dark pants and sweatshirts with the hoods pulled right up, but there was no mistaking the thin faces, the hunger, and the pained loss in their eyes.

The Sirens were huddled together, starving, and staring at a buffet they couldn't eat.

“Geez,” Lemon Zest hissed. She looked up at Sunset, eyes narrowed as if she were calculating something. “That's not good.”

Indigo Zap shook her head. “I've had teammates that tried to lose weight fast before. Lemon Zest's right. That's not healthy. What's it been, a month for them?”

Sunset nodded. “They tried to take over this world by using our own Equestrian magic against us. The more we had, the more they took. When we finally beat them, their power was broken and they ran off before I could do anything. Believe me, I never thought they would end up this badly. As it turns out, there's still a need inside them to feed on magical energy, even if they're human.”

She dropped something on the counter and everyone jumped at the sight of a battered and broken magic-trap. They had good reason to be spooked, as the last time they had seen Twilight's artifact, it had consumed their classmate and turned her into a vengeful dark alicorn. “I need to help them, but it means creating another one of these. A new trap that can absorb a little bit of magic, rather than completely draining it. It has to be something that won't hurt anyone, either them or us.”

“And you need guinea pigs,” Sugarcoat said, tentatively prodding the cracked and soot-stained trap with a nearby knife. “Is that it?”

She didn't hesitate. She'd never get their help if she held back information. “Yes. Twilight didn't know what her first device would do. Now that I'm helping her, we're confident that we can get it right. My friends are also pitching in, but we could always use more magic. Even altogether, we wouldn't have enough to feed the Sirens for long. We need more sources.” She looked at their uncertain faces. “I wouldn't ask if I didn't think it was important.”

“Why?” That came from Sunny Flare. “Why is it so important to you that they get better?”

Sunset Shimmer sat back down and put her head in her hands. “Because it's my fault magic's in this world. Every time it hurts someone or causes problems, I feel guilty.” She looked up again. “You've got Equestrian Magic now because Twilight didn't understand it, but I'm the one who unleashed it in the first place and I can't seem to stop it from growing. So all I can do is try to make sure it's being used for the right reasons. Is that important enough?”

Everyone hesitated, then Sunny Flare looked around and received nods from everyone. ”Miss Shimmer, I believe you can count on Crystal Prep's help.”

“Oh, joy,” Sugarcoat sighed, reaching for a cupcake. “More wacky adventures. Looks like I picked the wrong week to go off sugar.”

-~-~-~-~-~

Comments

[livinthelife]

I think you forgot to close an italics tag.

[Maddiepink5]

Italics a teeny bit distracting there. ..

[nebulaegalaxy]

Everything is italics.

[artofwar77]

“Oh, joy,” Sugarcoat sighed, reaching for a cupcake. “More wacky adventures. Looks like I picked the wrong week to go off sugar.”

[jaroslav]

That they would starve without the gems is wrong. They were hit by elements of harmony. It wouldn't be harmonius to make them die from hunger.