Hypothesis
Two Months Later
Two months had passed since the Shadowbolts and Sunset Shimmer began working together. The temperate spring gradually gave way to the warmth of summer. People were wearing shorter sleeves, shorter skirts, and shorts. The city pools were jammed with more people, summer hits blared across radios, and sunscreen and smoothies flowed like water.
And at Canterlot High, several girls were on the brink of a major discovery.
Sunny looked in the mirror and powdered her nose. After two Sundays in a row of getting pampered by her mom, she gave in and started pampering herself. And after a while, she started to like it. It made her feel more adult.
"I look like a movie star," Sunny said to herself as she prepared to leave for church. She looked at the clock and glanced at the door, waiting anxiously for her new arrival. After a few moments, she heard a knock at the door.
"I'll get it," Sunny said. She opened the door and saw Bon Bon at the door.
"Hey Bon Bon, you got the stuff?" Sunny asked.
"Yep," the pink and purple haired girl said. She pulled out sugar cookies wrapped in a plastic bag. "Cookies made with my grandma's recipe."
"Thanks. These are gonna look good at the church bake sale," Sunny said, taking the bag of cookies and putting them in a nearby table.
"Thanks. You look good yourself," Bon Bon said warmly.
"I wish I could take credit," Sunny said with a sheepish smile. "But all this was my mom's idea. Anyways, why don't you come to the church bake sale and volunteer?" Bon Bon's smile slipped into something more forced.
"Thanks, but, I'd rather not be told I am damned for...dating Lyra," Bon Bon said sheepishly. Sunny looked at Bon Bon with a tinge of sadness.
"Father Cross isn't like that," Sunny said. Bon Bon raised her eyebrow in disbelief. "I mean," Sunny said with a sigh, "he does believe that marriage should be between a man and a woman, but he isn't going to be up in your face about it."
"Well it isn't him I'm worried about," Bon Bon said with a tried expression. "It is those snobby ladies who somehow forget about little things like 'tolerance' and 'brotherhood', and complain about how I am abomination." Her tone was sarcastic but tinged with a lot of bitterness.
"Yeah, my mom has tea with those bit-kinds of people," Sunny said with a tried sigh.
"Don't let that stop you from having a good time," Bon Bon said with a reassuring smile. "Anyways, I hear Princess Twilight is coming to visit this Monday."
"She's actually coming today," Sunny said. "She's here because Sunset and Juniper might have figured out what happened with the amulet."
"What was it?" Bon Bon asked in a serious tone.
"Don't know," Sunny said with a shrug of her shoulders. "I'm just a lab assistant."
"Well, I hope you guys figure it out," Bon Bon said in a hopeful tone.
"Well, that's what today is for," Sunny said. "Do you want a drink?"
"Sorry, I got to take Lyra to the dentist," Bon Bon said. "She eats sweets like they were water. See ya'," Bon Bon said, turning away from Sunny, "and tell June I said 'hi'."
"Bye," Sunny said. Sunny still couldn't believe how her relationship with Bon Bon evolved. 6 weeks ago, the tanned-skinned Canterlot student hated her guts. But after Pinkie Pie got her and Bon Bon to talk their problems out, suddenly they discovered they had a lot more in common. Her classmates were also doing more to make friends with Canterlot students.
Sunny only wished Twilight were alive to see this.
Canterlot Lab's 12:30 PM
The Rainbooms and the Shadowbolts gathered in the science lab. Juniper and Sunset were already there, wearing lab coats and googles. There weren't any experiments going on today, so Sunny assumed the two were wearing the coats to look professional. The two groups gave each other the perfunctory greetings before sitting down on the stools.
After a few minutes, Cadence, Shining Armor, Principal Celestia and Principal Luna stepped into the lab. The Shadowbolts hadn't seen Shining Armor since he broke down in tears after Human Twilight turned out to be not alive. While Shining's mood had improved, his attitude toward the Shadowbolts was still poor. The Shadowbolts barely suppressed their feelings of shame, while the Rainbooms looked at the married couple with no small amount of sympathy.
"Where's Princess Twilight?" Lemon Zest asked.
"She had some business to take care off," Sunset said evasively.
"What kind of business?" Indigo asked Sunset, sensing Sunset was deflecting the question.
"Just some business," Sunset said with a small blush on her face.
Canterlot Beach, 1 Hour Earlier
"Twilight," Flash said to the pony princess with some annoyance. "This is a beach not a library." Flash was clad in a blue swim trunk with green stripes on the sides. Flash wanted Twilight to have a good time. Despite the beautiful weather, the lavender-skinned royal just sat under the blue umbrella reading a science encyclopedia on a towel.
"But Flash," Twilight complained, "there is so much information about your world that I still don't know about."
"Then I'll get you some books and you can read those when you get back home," Flash said with some exasperation.
"Nope," Twilight said without looking up from her book, "I won't leave a good book unread."
"OK Twilight," Flash said with a sly smile before walking away, "whatever you say." Twilight ignored him, continuing to read in silence. Suddenly, she felt a cool jet of water spray onto her face. Twilight began sputtering from the cold and the water.
"What the hay," Twilight said, wiping the water off her face. She noticed one of the pages was soaking wet. "Who did tha-," Twilight looked up, and saw Flash holding some water gun and looking at her with a cheeky smile.
"FLASH!" Twilight yelled. "You ruined a perfectly good book!"
"What are you gonna do about it," Flash taunted. "You're just a little prissy princess whose too scared to put her toe in the sand." Twilight narrowed her eyes.
"Is that what you think?" Twilight said in a calm but menacing voice, slamming the moist book down on the towel. She reached into Flash's bag, "I tried to be nice," she said, pulling out another water gun and filling it up with water from a nearby pond. "But you have crossed the line, Sentry! I'll show you who's the scared little prissy princess!"
"Well, bring in on!" Flash said. Twilight charged toward Flash, water gun bared.
"She'll be here shortly," Sunset said. After a few moments, Princess Twilight stepped in.
"Hey guys," the Princess greeted.
"Hi Princess Twilight!" the high students all said, while Pinkie jumped for joy. Princess Twilight than turned to the heads of CHS.
"Principals Luna and Celestia," Princess Twilight said warmly.
"Hello Twilight," the two sisters said. She then turned to Cadence and Shining Armor.
"Mr. Armor," Twilight said robotically to the white-skinned man in a somewhat pained tone. She turned to Cadence. "Miss Cadenza."
"Hello your highness," Cadence said robotically.
"Hello...your Majesty," Shining Armor almost spat in the same cold tone. Sunny frowned at this. Princess Twilight wanted to greet those two warmly, but Sunny realized that treating them like strangers was the only way for them to help two accept the fact that their younger sister was dead.
Princess Twilight was a walking representation of the girl Human Twilight could've become had anyone ever given her a chance.
"If I had just let her sit at my table," Sunny thought to herself bitterly.
"Alright let's begin," Twilight said. She turned to the two scientists present. "June and Sunset, what have you two figured out?" Sunset and Juniper looked a bit uneasy.
"Well," Sunset said sheepishly, "we were...kind of at a dead end."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, about three weeks ago, we finally developed a working hypothesis," Juniper began.
"We think that magic is tied directly to mood," Sunset continued.
"Mood?" Began said.
"Well let's start the presentation, shall we," Juniper said, pulling out a remote and clicking a red button. A presentation slide came down. Juniper activated the projector, and a map of Equestria appeared.
"In our pony world, there is one force that guides everything, from weather, to climate, to agriculture," Sunset said. "The power of Harmony." Sunset then showed a drawing of all the sapient creatures of Equestria. "Harmony guides all creatures towards the ideals of balance and virtue."
"Wait," Shining Armor asked. "Is Harmony...like...some kind of nature god that you...ponies...worship?"
"Harmony isn't a being that us ponies build statues for," Princess Twilight said in a wavering voice.
"Than what is it?" Luna asked.
"Have any of you ever heard of the Gaia Hypothesis?" Juniper asked the crowd.
"The idea that the Earth is one giant organism that maintains itself in equilibrium," Lemon Zest blurted. Lemon looked apprehensive at the fact that everyone was staring at her in confusion.
"Lemon," Sunny asked with surprise. "How did you know that?"
"I read Earth sciences," Lemon Zest said sheepishly. "I think that stuff's pretty...rad."
"Yeah that's...a pretty good way to describe it," Princess Twilight said.
"Anyways, most creatures work to maintain balance," Sunset said. She then showed a slide, showing pictures of Equestria's most recent villains. "Of course, there are beings out there who are not only bad, but seek to disrupt this balance for their own selfish ends," she said ominously. She then clicked a slide, showing off a picture of the Elements of Harmony. "That's where the Elements of Harmony come in," Sunset said. "These gems contain a power which can beat back the malevolent beings who try to bring down Equestria and upset the balance that governs it. Only those who define these traits are seen as worthy enough to wield them."
"As the Princess of Harmony and Bearer of Magic," Princess Twilight said proudly. "I lead my friends to beat back any evil that dares threaten Equestria."
"So basically, you have this magic ray gun that can solve all of your problems," Sugarcoat said in an unimpressed tone. "That sounds like a bad deus ex machina."
"Well it does seem that way," Princess Twilight said uneasily, "but it only works on dangerous magical threats not the average...street thug. Anyways, when Harmony is disrupted and hate engulfs the land, it causes terrible chaos across all creatures and ecosystems."
"And we think that this might be the case here as well," Juniper said. "It appears that magical calamity is the result of those using it being under some kind of...emotional distress or turmoil." Juniper pushed the button to the next slide: Sunset in demon form.
"My whole...demon episode," Sunset began reluctantly, "was when I put on Twilight's crown and hoped to use the power for myself. It brought out all the-,"
"Evil? Hatred? Selfishness? Desire to take over and enslave the pony world?" Pinkie Pie supplied helpfully. Sunset let out a sigh before nodding her head.
"You tried to take over the world?" Shining Armor asked Sunset with utter disbelief.
"Yeah," Sunset said uneasily. "I wasn't...a good egg." The Rainbooms and the Principals chuckled at the understatement. The next slide showed a picture of the girls in their "ponied up" forms. "On the other hand, my friends, and eventually I, were able to manifest our powers in a positive way because Harmony decided we reflected its virtues. During the Games, their powers came out when they demonstrated an act that reflected Harmony and the Magic of Friendship." The Rainbooms all felt proud at that remark. She flashed another picture showing the Dazzlings, after they gained a massive dose of power.
"Who are those guys?" Indigo asked.
"The Dazzlings," Rarity said. "A group of ne'er do well Sirens who brainwashed everyone".
"Sirens are real too?" Sunny asked in amazement.
"Yes," Fluttershy said. "Those meanies trick everyone into being grouchy, and then fed off of their negative energy."
"They can literally feed off of...bad vibes?" Indigo said.
"The could," Rainbow Dash said. "But then we kicked their butts!" She boasted.
"Yes," Sunset said. "Magic and its effects in this world are proportionate to the mood of the person wielding it. A demeanor generates a good result, while anger and other bad emotions lead to chaos and violence. June and I experimented with magic, and we more or less got the same result." Sunset pushed a button, revealing a picture of Human Twilight with a clear blue question mark on her.
"But we don't really know why that would cause Twilight to up and...explode," Juniper said. "You guys were in the last part of the Friendship Games. Surely, her mind should've been on winning?" The Shadowbolts looked uncomfortable.
"Yeah," Pinkie Pie piped in. "The magic should've turned her into some kind off...super flag finder."
"I don't she was thinking about winning," Sunny said. "I mean...she seemed....kind off...upset."
"Oh really," Rainbow Dash asked with bitter sarcasm. "I think she seemed quite happy when you screamed at her 'you're really bad at this,' didn't she Sugarcoat?" The grey-skinned girl craned her neck in shame.
"Oh yeah," Applejack said with. "I remember how thrilled she was when Sour screamed at her every time she missed a target." Sour craned her neck in shame as well. The Shadowbolts looked at the adults gathered. Cadence, Luna, and Celestia gave her looks off utter disappointment. Shining just stared at the girls with icy eyes that made them want to sink into their chairs.
"What I mean is," Sunny continued is. "From minute one, she didn't seem excited at all."
"What do you mean?" Cadence asked her with some concern.
"Well, I was a bit surprised when Twilight said she was gonna do the Games," Indigo said. "I mean, she was usually a wimp who didn't like-," Indigo paused when she saw everyone, including Juniper, glaring at her. Mr. Armor stared at her with a clenched fist. "I mean, she wasn't good. I was trying to pump her up actually."
"Pump her up?" Celestia asked.
"She was asking Twilight 'are we gonna win!' "Sour said, imitating Indigo's excited voice. "But instead of saying something positive, she just gave this...really awkward speech about how we might lose."
"Wow," Rainbow said in amazement. "Talk about a buzzkill."
"I don't think so," Indigo said anxiously. "From the moment she got on the bus, she was just...really, really nervous."
"I remember she was like that the morning before," Cadence said.
"Really?" Celestia said.
"Yeah," Shining Armor said in a low, but serious tone.
"You at the Friendship Games, Twily," Shining Armor said happily at breakfast. Shining was having pancakes while Twilight was having a plain bran cereal. "It's like we're one family dynasty of winners, and you and I."
"Yeah," Twilight said, nervously. She was looking down at her cereal, but not eating it.
"Twilight, are you OK?" Shining Armor said.
"Yeah, I'm fine," Twilight said unconvincingly.
"You're not OK. What's wrong?"
"Well-," Twilight began.
"Oh I get it," Shining Armor said.
"You do?"
"Yeah," Shining Armor said. "You're nervous about winning right?"
"Yeah," Twilight said, looking down at her cereal.
"Don't worry Twily", Shining said happily. "All you have to do is try your best, and everyone will like you."
"Sure," Twilight muttered. Unbeknownst to Shining, Twilight was clenching her fist under the table.
"You see, she didn't really want to do it," Shining Armor. "I pushed her into it because, well, I was trying to convince her not to do the Everton program."
"Everton?" Pinkie said.
"Basically this independent study program," Cadence said with exhaustion. "It allows her to study whatever she wants. But...she's basically on her own, with no one to interact with."
"And why did she want to do that Cadence?" Shining Armor asked in falsely cheerful tone. Cadence looked down at the floor in shame. "Oh yeah. Because she kept telling us how no one cared for her at school." Shining Armor said that, looking directly at the Shadowbolts. The five students frowned at his sweetly venomous tone. "At the beginning of the year, all these kids were either making fun of her, or sending her on goose chases, or inviting her to her first party only to dump paint on her." Sunny looked down at the floor.
"Did any of you have any role in that...wonderful night?" Shining said, almost yelling at the private school girls.
"I-" Sunny began.
"You dumped paint on her," Shining interrupted, almost baring his teeth, and looking like a tiger about to pounce.
"I didn't dump paint on her," Sunny said uneasily. "But, when she ran out of the house crying," Sunny said shamefully. "I-I laughed at her."
"Why?" Shining Armor said, his eyes trained on her like a shark. Everyone else in the room looked at her with a mixture of anger and disappointment. Even Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy.
"Well," Sunny began, only to feel the hands of June and everyone else on her shoulders. They helped her relax a little bit. "She was always showing off to the teachers how smart she was, and she needed to be...put in her place."
"Put in her place," Shining parroted, his face calm but red with boiling anger.
"She wasn't the only one who...treated Twilight like that," Lemon Zest said, trying to defend her friend from the anger of everyone else. "I remember she asked about going to this party freshman year."
"And?" Shining said.
Lemon Zest looked at the floor before continuing.
"Well..."
Lemon Zest was opening her locker when a sad looking Twilight came up to her.
"Lemon Zest," Twilight said meekly. "You told me the party was on the other side of town. The directions you gave me led me to an...abandoned warehouse."
"Oh sorry Twilight," Lemon Zest, with a fake smile. "I must've...mixed up the directions. I didn't mean it."
"Oh well, that's OK," Twilight said uneasily. "Can I...come to your next party?"
"Sure," Lemon Zest said, her eyes darting back and forth. "Let me work out all the details and I'll...get back to you."
"So you lied to her about a party?" Pinkie Pie asked in a quiet, incredulous tone. It was nothing like the cheerful timbre she was known for. Lemon Zest stared at the wall. Pinkie Pie got up in her face.
"Why?" Pinkie Pie asked in a cold voice.
"Because...she snitched on us over the paint bucket thing," Lemon Zest said," and she always so annoying and needy." Pinkie Pie narrowed her eyes in disgust.
"So because of that, she didn't deserve to be happy or have friends?" Pinkie Pie said, her mouth twisted into an angry frown.
"Well," Lemon Zest said, but felt herself shivering at Pinkie's merciless gaze.
"EVERYONE DESERVES TO BE HAPPY!" Pinkie Pie. "Even jerks like you!" The other Shadowbolts tried to respond, but the pink girl turned away. "La la la," Pinkie Pie said, covering her ears. "I don't want to hear your excuses!" She said, before turning around and walking out of the room in a huff.
"Pinkie are you OK?" Fluttershy asked the party girl.
"Fine." she said in an annoyed voice that convinced no one, before slamming the door. Everyone was speechless at Pinkie's anger.
"Man, no one's ever managed to get Pinkie to walk out of the room," Sunset said in astonishment.
"Wow, you girls certainly had some good times with Twilight didn't you." Shining Armor said, gritting his teeth. The Shadowbolts speechlessly looked away. "Anyways, Twilight was so upset, she begged us to let her go to some alternative school. What did we tell her Cadence?" Shining asked his wife, who just stared at the floor in shame. "Oh yeah, we told her 'you're gonna be a Crystal Prep girl soon Twilight'. 'Soon, you'll have lots of friends.'" The Shadowbolts continued to look at the floor.
"But she was so upset by all the pranks, she just kept spending all her time in the lab. We promised her if she wasn't happy at the end of the year, we'd let her transfer to another school," Shining said. He gave the Shadowbolts an unhappy smile.
"But per Cinch's advice, we broke that promise," Shining continued, almost saying Cinch's name like it was poison, "and told her to give it one more year. So, she applied for Everton just so she could leave Crystal Prep. I didn't want to see her give up on being a Crystal Prep student or spend the rest of high school with no friends. So...I told her to do the Friendship Games, hoping she would put herself out there." Shining took a deep breath before continuing. "One of the last things I ever said to her was ,'if you just try your best Twilight, they'll like you win or lose!'", he finished. The Shadowbolts' eyes were rooted the floor, their lips quivering in shame. "And well, you girls certainly showed her a good time, didn't you?"
"Mr. Armor," Juniper said in a scolding tone, cutting off Shining's controlled tirade. "These girls want to change their ways. They didn't want any of this to happen, and if Twilight was here, they-,"
"Well she isn't," Shining Armor barked, letting lose some anger. "And we all know who was responsible-,"
"Anyways," Sunset interrupted, "we don't know why the magic obliterated her. We'd have find out what was inside her heart. And...she's not here to tell us," Sunset said with frustration. "Did Twilight ever have a diary?" Shining Armor and Cadence shook their heads. "We need to find someone who knew Twilight, and who could tell us what was going on inside her mind. Someone she would've told her deepest secrets."
"I think I know...someone who would," Cadence said, her eyes widening in realization.
Stats
Page generated in 0.022 seconds
Total duration
650 users online
829,225 hits today, 2,004,447 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
So I'm guessing they are going to bring in the Equestria-Girls Spike in then or what?
Man... Shining Armor doesn't hold back on his anger, but Pinkie's anger is even scarier!
I think I have a pretty good idea on who that is!
You know, before I read this chapter, I was wondering when are we gonna see Spikey Wikey again
The end of this chapter somehow read my mind....
I think we all know who they're going to get. A certain dog comes immediately to mind.
And I'm still sticking with my theory Sci-Twi isn't dead, but in a magical ether where time and space mean nothing and she's stuck there. However, I think with the idea of different emotions coming into play, this changes a lot of things. If Twilight was feeling upset and down, then I think this changes a lot of what'll happen when the others finally free her. For a long time, she's put up with bullying, being mocked, and hated. So that means when Twilight is freed, it may alter her in some way. The repressed feelings for years, and the feeling of being abandoned by those around her have pushed her over the edge to possibly turn her into Midnight Sparkle and she has only one thing on her mind; vengeance against every Crystal Prep student for what they've done to her. So they will get Twilight back, but will most likely have to deal with her wrath and fury of being a dark demigoddess.
10020461
To me, making Pinkie angry is the one sign that you've really screwed up. My headcanon around Pinkie is that there is one thing she really can't tolerate: making someone actively miserable. She can accept grouchiness and meanness, but she has no patience for people who hurt other people's feelings. That's why she went off on Bon Bon: it is one thing to be mad at the Shadowbolts, but telling someone they deserve to die is beyond the pale.
😞You are right Pinkie, Everybuddy deserve happiness & true friendship, even outcasts. 😢 I'm sorry that Crystal Prep has angred you even more.
They are lucky pinkie didn't murder them.
Don't act like you cared about your dead little sister Shining Armor, are we sure she is dead?
She's be proud with your process.
Vice Principal Luna*
Damn!
Is there a reason why Luna has been periodically been referred to as Principal over Vice Principal continuously throughout this story!?!?
help the two*
"Mood?" Said Princess Twilight.*
deus ex machine?
everyone."*
"They could,"*
Twill."*
Easy for you to say Shinning Armor.
At this point, they're gonna need a hell marry or something to get Shinning's trust.
This is why no one should upset Pinkie Pie. Ever.
have to find out*
I wonder who it might be?
Since at least two months have now passed after Friendship Games, have you sorta thought of what's happening at Camp Everfree by now? Like considering the events of Legend of Everfree would've happened by now in the canon timeline, how come the geodes and the spring break Camp Everfree trip haven't come up yet?