• Published 11th Aug 2017
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Vanishing Act - redandready45

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Speculation

Canterlot High Science Lab

Sunday, 1 PM

"So your saying my sister isn't dead?" Shining Armor asked Sunset and Juniper. "That she's actually in this...pony world?" The Rainbooms, Shadowbolts, the CHS Principals, Princess Twilight, and Cadence and Shining Armor all gathered in the science lab to hear and discuss Juniper's discovery.

"Yes Mr. Armor," Sunset said happily. "We believe the magic burst created a wormhole that transported your sister to Equestria." To Sunset's dismay, Shining and Cadence didn't look happy. They looked... frustrated.

"Please don't do this," Cadence said in a tired voice.

"Do what?" Juniper asked.

"Don't get our hopes up," Shining Armor said with some frustration. "or fill our heads with stupid lies."

"It isn't a lie," Princess Twilight said. "I've looked at the notes-,"

"We saw her get blown up," Cadence said, shutting her eyes as she recalled that horrible memory. "Her shoe was half-melted."

"But," Juniper began.

"Enough!" Shining Armor interrupted with frustration. "We've already been let down once," he said, rising from his chair along with his wife. "I don't need another-,"

"Mr. Armor," Principal Celestia said in scolding tone.

"Cadence," Luna said with more patience. "I know you two have been hurt before and let down in the past. But I'm asking you to please hear these girls out before you leave." Cadence and Shining Armor glanced cynically toward the door, and then glanced back at the magical scientists giving them pleading looks. With great reluctance, they sat back down.

"Yes, the melted shoe did indicate that there was great heat generated," Juniper said. "But according to Twi-, I mean Princess, there was almost no residue of your Twilight."

"Residue?" Shining Armor asked.

"You see, it is possible for a very powerful spell to vaporize an object," Princess Twilight said. "But usually a destroyed object leaves behind some kind of residue, which provides evidence of its existence."

"There was no residue of Twilight anywhere," Sunset said. "Not on her shoes, her glasses, nor where she had last stood."

"So, how do you know if she was teleported?" Cadence asked.

"Well, let me begin with our previous experiments," Juniper said. "So for the first few weeks I began working with Sunset, we spent it trying to explore the various properties of magic. After four weeks, we concluded magic directly responded to emotion."

"Please stand back and allow me to demonstrate," Sunset said with a small smile, holding up the red amulet she wore around her neck. Everyone moved toward the edges of the room, as Sunset prepared to open the amulet. Sunset narrowed her eyes and began whimpering.

"That poor dog didn't have to die," Sunset said mournfully. She then clicked the amulet open. Suddenly, a burst of red magic came out of the device, and formed into a small rain cloud that formed over Sunset's head. It clapped thunder before raining over the somewhat annoyed girl. Everyone in the room was amazed.
"How did it do that?" Shining said, honestly astounded.

"Magic reflected my mood," Sunset said, before reopening the amulet again. The rain cloud was sucked back into the device.

"Impressive," Principal Celestia said with a proud smile.

"What would've been impressive is if my amulet could dry me off," Sunset snarked, still soaking wet from the mini rain cloud. Juniper handed Sunset a small towel, which she used to dry me off.

"Using some of my magic, I was able to generate all kinds of effects using my own emotions," Sunset said. "And then we spent two weeks trying to recreate what we assumed to be Twilight's vaporization. But nothing we did could recreate the effect. Naturally, we couldn't think of a specific cause for Twilight's seeming obliteration." She looked proudly at the pig-tailed girl." But then Juniper came up with the teleportation hypothesis."

"So we went to the portal and got a tiny bit of the portal magic," Juniper said with a proud smile.

"Using it, we managed to actually teleport a nickel about five yards," Sunset said.

"Wow!" Rainbow Dash said.

"Can we see?" Lemon Zest and Pinkie Pie asked in unison.

"No," Sunset said. "I don't want to mess with the portal anymore than we have to. But we proved that it is technically possible to harness the portal magic."

"So, my sister, you said, accidentally absorbed the portal," Shining Armor said.

"Yes. On top of all of our magic," Sunset said. "When she opened the amulet, the portal magic, combined with all the other magic, generated a spell that sent Twilight to Equestria."

"But why there, specifically?" Vice-Principal Luna asked Juniper.

"Well," Juniper said uneasily. "Again, magic responds to emotions. From what Spike told us, Twilight's emotions weren't exactly...stable."

"Deep down in her mind," Sunset said sadly, "she just wanted out of her life, and the amulet...granted that wish." Cadence looked down at her lap while Shining turned to glare to the Shadowbolts.

"Gee," Shining said with bitter sarcasm, " I wonder why?" The Shadowbolts flinched and stared at the ground in shame.

"So, you know for a fact that my sister is in Equestria?" Cadence asked Sunset and Juniper.

"Yes," Juniper said. "The magical residue showed wormhole magic."

"Do you know where she ended up?"

"No," Sunset said sadly. "We don't."

"Well," Shining Armor said uneasily. "Can you use the portal magic to...like...find her."

"No," Princess Twilight said sadly. "I looked at the notes written by the pony who wrote about wormholes."

"And?"

"The way they work is that there's this...void that separates our worlds," Twilight said. "Wormholes...tunnel through the void, acting as a passage way for those who want to come and go."

"When your Twilight opened the amulet," Sunset said, "it generated a large amount of energy that penetrated the void. But as soon as the energy blast ended, the wormhole would've immediately dissipated, and the void would close back up."

"Could you, maybe, make another portal to Equestria?" Shining Armor. "One that could lead to where my Twilight is?"

"Well, no," Twilight said. "The pony who created portals never figured out a way to get them to open up at an ideal exit point on the other side. The reason why the portal ended up in that horse statue is because of, well, chance."

"So no, we can't just create a portal to wherever your sister is," Sunset said. "And even if we could, there isn't a strong enough native magic source in this world to create a stable portal." Shining and Cadence looked somewhat depressed, as did the Shadowbolts.

"So let me see if I have this clear," Shining said, rising from his chair and almost gritting his teeth. "You mean to tell me that there is this magic world, full of giant monsters and evil villains. And my 15-going-on-16-year-old-sister, a sheltered, now half-blind," he said, glancing at the abandoned glasses, "timid girl with no streets smarts, bad social skills, zero survival skills, no money, no support network, and no relatives, has been dropped there alone for almost two months now." He leaned into Princess Twilight. "And you can't tell me where she is?"

"Well, no," Princess Twilight said reluctantly. Shining Armor's face fell into his hand with a sigh and he returned to his seat.

"She's screwed," Sugarcoat grunted. She noticed everyone glaring at her furiously. "What?"

"Look Equestria isn't perfect," Twilight said reassuringly. Everyone turned back to Princess Twilight. "But most ponies are decent, hardworking folk who believe in the principles of Harmony. And I'm sure that wherever she ended up, there's at least one pony there to help her out."

"I was able to adapt to this world," Sunset said with a proud smile. "I mean, I did have gold and gems on me when I came here, so I had a pretty soft landing. But if I could adapt, there is a good chance that your Twilight could've adapted to Equestria by now."

"Ooh, ooh, ooh," Pinkie Pie said, waving her arms into the air. "Ooh, ooh, pick me. Pick me."

"Pinkie Pie, this is not a classroom," Sunset said with some annoyance. "You don't have to raise your hand if you want to ask a question."

"You said that this other Twilight ended up in your world, right?" Pinkie Pie asked. Princess Twilight nodded. "Well, wouldn't you have heard some story about this silly imposter pony who looks like Twilight and runs around calling herself 'Twilight' and keeps asking for a way home?" Everyone's eyes widened at Pinkie's remark.

"That's actually a good point," Applejack muttered. "Surely something like that would've happened several weeks ago?"

"It's actually more common than you think," Twilight said with a wry smile. "Since my coronation, there have been hundreds of cases of random ponies calling themselves 'Twilight Sparkle'."

"Really?" Sunset said with amusement. "You have impersonators now?"

"Impersonators, ponies who dress up as me, fan clubs," Princess Twilight said with amusement. "The whole nine hooves."

"What happens to them, usually?" Rarity says.

"Most of them are harmless kooks that don't bother anyone," Princess Twilight said. "But some of them are real malcontents who are sent to asylums and prisons."

"That's where we could start looking," Sunset said. "I mean, if you look at the reports of Twilight impersonators, one of them could be our girl."

"Good idea, Sunset," Princess Twilight said. "I'll start looking into reports about that."

"Um, Princess Twilight?," Sunny said. "Is there...some kind of magic spell you can use to find her? Some kind of tracking spell."

"We do have spells like that," Twilight said. Sunny smiled hopefully until she saw Twilight's frown. "But there are two problems with them. One: they only work on short distances. Pony police use them to search buildings for criminals, but not much else. Two: you need to hone in a creature's Magical Signature for a tracking spell to work. To do that, you need a sample from that pony for it work. And we don't have any magic samples of your Twilight."

"But what about a sample from you?" Sunny asked. "Aren't you, like, the same as her."

"Well, not exactly," Princess Twilight said. "While there are lot of similarities between my friends here and my friends back home, there are also a lot of substantial differences. I don't know if we share the same Signatures. Also, my becoming a princess changed my biology from unicorn to alicorn. Doing that altered my Signature. My other self would've most likely ended up a unicorn. So we probably have two different Signatures." Sunny looked down in frustration.

"Look, there are a lot of things we have to consider," Princess Twilight said. "Let's all take a break for now, and then tonight," she said, looking at the high-schoolers, "we'll all meet up at Sunset's apartment and do some brainstorming."

Everyone let out assurances at the idea and began piling out of the room. Princess Twilight was about to walk out of the room when she felt a hand tap her shoulder.

"Princess," Shining asked Princess Twilight. The human version of her brother and Cadence looked at her with hopeful eyes. The two were holding each others hands.

"Do you really think my sister is out there?" Cadence said seriously. "And you might be able to bring her home?"

"I know I can," Princess Twilight said, taking the pink woman's hand. "The Power of Harmony is not designed to harm an innocent. I'm sure that wherever she ended up, she's learning about how magical friendship is." She gave them a reassuring smile, which Cadence and Shining Armor returned.


"So any ideas about how we can find Twilight?" Sugarcoat asked the group of teenagers. She noticed everyone turned to look at her with cold eyes.

"What did I do?"

"Nothing," Sour said kindly. "EXCEPT TELL TWILIGHT'S BROTHER AND SISTER THAT SHE WOULD DIE IN THAT OTHER WORLD!"

"Yeah, Sugar," Lemon Zest said in a disappointed tone. "That was really uncool of you to say." Sugarcoat, with an annoyed sigh, took off her eyes glasses and glared at everyone.

"Oh, so you all want to be part of this stupid fairy tale," Sugarcoat with frustration. "Where we all walk off into the sunset and everything works out?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Rainbow Dash said, her heckles raised.

"I think its better to tell those people a nasty truth that she might have died, then string them along with something that isn't real." Everyone else looked at her with disbelief.

"That's what that was about?" Rainbow Dash said, walking up to her. "You have no faith that she could actually make it on her own?"

"Well, she was kind of a doormat," Sugarcoat said sternly.

"Let me ask you a question?" Rainbow Dash said in a low, stern tone. "When we were doing ACADECA, what was that nice thing you told Twilight, when she bumbling through the whole thing?" Sugarcoat's stern expression twisted into something remorseful. "What was that again," Rainbow Dash repeated. "Oh that's right: 'YOU'RE REALLY BAD AT THIS!'", Rainbow screamed at Sugarcoat, who leaned back, having been startled by Rainbow's outburst. "That was horrible, right? Well you just did that to Cadence and Shining Armor right now." Sugarcoat looked down at the ground in shame.

"I did?" Sugarcoat asked, a touch of contriteness in her voice.

"Yeah, you did!" Rainbow Dash yelled with narrowed eyes. "Let me tell you something. I'm captain of 5 different teams. Sometimes, captains have to be harsh. Sometimes, they have to be put their foot down. Sometimes they have to yell at someone when they won't fall into line or when they screw up." Rainbow Dash took a deep breath. "But you can't just attack them for the things they do wrong," Rainbow Dash said in a softer tone. "You have to have faith in them. You have to believe in them. You have to make them think they can do better." Rainbow Dash's eyes narrowed. "Yeah, Twilight was a bad athlete. But you guys were HORRIBLE TEAMMATES!" Rainbow shouted angrily, at the Shadowbolts, who were startled by Rainbow's outburst. "Instead of patting her on the back for the things she did right, you just...gave up on her the minute she did something wrong." Rainbow Dash's face fell into her hand. The Shadowbolts looked down at the ground in shame. "You made her feel so horrible about herself, she always hid in her lab and wanted to transfer schools. No matter what she did, you just kept putting her down, and didn't take anything she said seriously." Rainbow Dash said, her voice twisted into a more disappointed. "If you just had a little faith in here, she might still be here." Sugarcoat broke down in tears.

"I'm sorry," Sugarcoat said, crying in shame. "You're right. We-I-didn't have any faith her. I never gave her a chance. I made her feel worthless and drove her away." Sugarcoat paused, letting out more sobs. "I didn't know I was making her feel that way," she finished, before sobbing more and more. Rainbow Dash enveloped Sugarcoat in a hug.

"But now you know better," Rainbow Dash said in a soothing tone, patting the remorseful girl on the back. "And now that you know better, you can be a better friend." Once Sugarcoat's crying ended, Rainbow Dash released her, looking at her with a small smile. "See, isn't that better then me kicking you while you're down.

"Yeah," Sugarcoat said in a weak voice. "I guess."

"Look, you're right that Twilight might not make it," Rainbow said with a small frown. "But if you don't believe in her, you'll definitely never find her." Sugarcoat frowned. "Will you believe in her?"

"I will," Sugarcoat said in a honest, but still weak voice.

"And when, not if, we find her, you can be the friend you wish you could've been," Rainbow said with encouragement.

"Rainbow's right, you know," Princess Twilight said to the other Shadowbolts. "You five hurt someone in the past. But now you have a chance-no-a responsibility to make amends with this person. Promise me that when your Twilight is found, you'll show her the kindness and faith you've given to Juniper and that I've given you." The Shadowbolts glanced to their pigtailed friend, who gave them a reassuring smile in return.

"We promise Princess," Sunny said in a serious tone to the lavender-skinned princess. "We will."

"Alright," Princess Twilight said, walking over to join the Rainbooms, "we'll see you girls tonight, OK?"

"OK," Lemon Zest said. "See 'ya!" The two groups of friends looked their separate ways.

"Listen," Juniper said to Sugarcoat, putting her hand on white-haired girl's shoulder. "If Twilight was friends with you now, I know she would be in good hands."

"Thanks June", Sugarcoat said with a warm smile. Sunny looked at the nearby statue that led to the pony world. And then she looked up at the sky.

"God," Sunny said in silent prayer, clutching the rosary with a golden crucifix around her neck. "I know I have sinned. But please help me find this innocent soul. I promise when I bring her home, I'll always be there for her, I'll make her feel like she's special, and I'll make sure she feels she belongs somewhere.

Author's Note:

Glad this chapter is out of way.

Now that I've reached a crucial part of my story that I've wanted to reach for quite a while, I want to announce that I am putting Vanishing Act on hiatus until the summer.

I have my final semester of graduate school coming up. Which means I'll be loaded with work, on top of finding that internship I've put off for too long.

I am not leaving FIMFiction. I also have other projects and stories I want to publish. But now that I've gotten to a critical part of this story, I want to put it down for a bit and explore other ideas, as well as focus on my school work as I reach a seminal part of my early adulthood.

I also want to give thanks to all those who've read my story and made it my first (relative) success on this site. I also want to thank you for making me think my writing can be good enough to have an impact on others. I hope you've enjoyed reading it as much as I've enjoyed writing it.

-Redandready45

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