To try keep her relationship with Sunny from falling apart, Midnight Sparkle tries something interesting.
Dating hasn't been particularly easy for the likes of Midnight Sparkle and Sunny Flare.
One was an almighty entity of magic created by Twilight after being overcharged by magic, who could easily destroy the fabric of reality.
The other was a Crystal Prep student with an attitude.
If that wasn't bad enough, they could only date during The Witching Hour, between 12 at midnight and 1 AM.
During one of these nights, Midnight realizes she can't keep doing this forever, so to try and fix this, she asks for help from the most unexpected sources: Carousel Boutique.
More specifically, her old bully, Nightmare Rarity.
Sunny Flare wasn't quite sure what was going on, but she was pretty sure she had been heading to bed, intent on waking up early for school once. Now, however, she was back at the sleepover with Twilight Sparkle, and both sets of her friends, and just after she had done her ill-advised Midnight Sparkle impression too.
Okay, this seemed weird so far, especially because she couldn't remember actually doing the Midnight impression. But oh, she knew how this ended, she might as well play along.
"Look, I just thought that this was another Sunset thing; where even though it happened recently, everybody began joking about it as if nothing happened."
"Is that your excuse for mocking my daughter?!"
Sunny flinched. Maybe it was the fact the idea of Midnight being someone's daughter hadn’t really occurred to her before now. Maybe it was the fact the line came completely out of nowhere. Had she even met Twilight’s, Midnight’s, father?
Or maybe it was the fact that Twilight Sparkle had suddenly grown a moustache and was wearing a business suit.
Maybe.
"Uh, what?" she replied.
"It's okay, Dad! I'm fine with it!"
With that, Midnight Sparkle herself emerged from a shadow. Apart from the sparkling black halter dress she wore with effortless ease, there was no difference between her now and the psychopathic monster terrorizing the schools at the Friendship Games. Even the ferocious grin was identical.
"First this brat insults me at our high school reunion, and then she makes fun of you, and you still think it's a good idea to date her?!" Twilight put her hands on her hips. "I'm telling you, Midnight, I don't trust Sunny one bit! She's way too old for you too!"
As much as Sunny's brain was melting trying to make sense of what was going on, that was a statement she could not actually refute. After all, even if she looked exactly as old as Twilight, technically speaking, Midnight was nowhere near that old. At best, she had only existed for a couple of months come the time when Twilight expelled her from her mind during the Everfree Camp incident, or so she was told - if Sunset Shimmer and company were to be believed.
At worst, she had barely existed for a few minutes before Sunset defeated Twilight and drove the corruption out of her. Although, given Midnight's immense power, maybe her short existence was a blessing in disguise. After all, even just existing for ten minutes, she had managed to cause untold havoc - nearly killing people.
"Sunny, don't just stand there!" Midnight begged before flying to her girlfriend’s side and shaking her like a soda can. "Say something to Twilight! Convince her that this relationship can work out! Please!"
As much as Sunny wanted to say something, to ask what how exactly she was supposed to fix this or even just how this all was happening, her lips had glued themselves shut. Around her, the dream’s chaos continued, with Twilight ranting on and Midnight clinging frantically to her.
"Sunny! Sunny!" the spirit screamed in desperation - and then all was, finally, dark.
Back again in reality, Sunny shot up, panting and shivering like a husky after a sleigh-tug through the Arctic. Quickly though, as the freezing moonlight bled in through the fluttering curtains, she longed to return to her dreams.
Now she was in her pajamas, stumbling barefoot across the empty streets of Other-Questria during the Witching Hour, as proven by her companion: Midnight Sparkle. The spirit held a concerned expression as she shook her once again.
"Sunny! Hey, stay with me!"
"Uh, wha-what?" she stuttered, rubbing her head as she yawned. "What time is it?"
"12:20 AM, almost halfway through our time together," Midnight explained as she wrapped Sunny's arm around her. "Just forty minutes left, and I'll send you back home so you can still get a goodnight's rest, okay? But for now, let's continue our date."
Sunny yawned again as she tried to walk with Midnight, but wobbled on weary legs until she bumped cheeks with her.
"Geez, I don't remember you being this tired when we started dating," Midnight complained.
"That was because I took extra precautions to stay awake long enough to make the Witching Hour bearable," Sunny rubbed her eyes. "I didn't do it this time because I didn't think you'd want another date so soon. Of course I’m tired. You dragged me out of bed just as I was finally getting a proper sleep."
Confused, Midnight raised an eyebrow. "What are you talking about? It's been a while since we had a date."
"We had a date yesterday!" Sunny snapped.
"Yeah! For half of the Witching Hour!" Midnight pouted. "Just once, I want a date that goes the full hour! How does anything else even count."
Sunny groaned and clenched her fist. "Midnight, please, you have to understand that I'm not in the condition to survive the rest of the hour! I’m not like you," she explained, “I have obligations. Stuff to do in the day. I can’t just wander around at night like this.”
"I know. That’s why we're going to the house of an old..." Midnight paused, as if trying, and failing, to find the right word to use. "We're heading to someone's house! They'll help you stay awake!"
Sunny blinked and it wasn’t just from exhaustion. "How?"
Midnight merely flashed a sharktooth smile. "You'll see."
A few minutes later and the couple staggered - or, in Midnight’s case, glided - into the Carousel Boutique. To Sunny’s surprise, not only was the door unlocked but the shop itself was still populated. After a handful of tense moments tiptoeing through a forest of darkened mannequins and other storefront displays, she arrived in a backroom lit dimly by a single hissing candle atop an antique table. There two women sat, like Virginian belles right out of a monochrome photo, despite the odd hour and strange locale.
On one chair there sat an entity with long, flowing purple hair with white streaks, skin that was as dark as the night, and light blue, crystalline eyes. She wore a light purple dress with white highlights, purple boots, and white opera gloves.
Perched atop one chair like an opera-goer, or perhaps a vindictive empress at the colosseum, was an… entity. The more Sunny gawked at her, the less human she seemed - the more like her own partner the spirit became. The apparition’s skin was blacker than an overcast night, halfway between a Hindu goddess and a golliwog doll, while amethyst-purple hair streaked with silver cascaded down her shoulders and plumed out onto the tiled floor. At the shimmering quality of her lavender dress, Sunny couldn’t help but faintly whistle and that caused the entity’s crystalline sky-blue eyes to snap to her.
The effect wasn’t unlike a baseball bat to the head. Sunny couldn’t help but let her head droop and her eyelids sag, preventing her from getting a proper look at the occupant of the other chair.
A voice brought her back to consciousness - it was sharp and haughty, yet not without a hint of gracefulness. "Rarity! Be a good dear and put on another round of coffee!"
Rarity? Sunny blinked as reality struck her. As in, Rarity, one of Twilight's new friends? Sure, she knew she worked at the Carousel Boutique, but - actually, wait, wasn't the boutique supposed to be closed at this hour? How did they get in, let alone brew coffee in here?
"Ugh, not you again," Rarity groaned, tone simmering with utter exasperation. "I just served myself a cup, can't you wait a couple minutes?"
"Sweetheart, I think she was talking about me," the dark-skinned Rarity lookalike spoke.
Midnight pouted once more. "No, I was talking to the one who doesn't bully me."
Sunny tried really hard to hold back a chuckle. Midnight Sparkle, the nightmarish ghost, being bullied? That was just something she had to see for herself.
And also something she'd probably not come out of alive, if she did see it.
"Alright, I'll make you your wretched coffee," Rarity sighed as she stood up. "Sit down while I go make it."
Midnight nodded, and Rarity walked over to the French press. Midnight tried to drag Sunny to the empty table, but the lookalike Rarity caught Midnight's shoulder and stopped her, flashing a disapproving glare once she turned to her.
"You know, I'd appreciate it if you didn't act like a pest to my girlfriend."
"Well, I'd appreciate it if you didn't henpeck me, but you do it anyway, don't you?" Midnight smirked. "I like to think ordering your girlfriend to make us drinks puts us even."
The lookalike tightened her grip. "Do it again, darling, and you're a goner."
"Hah! You can't kill me!" Midnight scoffed. "As long as Twilight lives, I will live!"
"Yes, but as such, you are her." the lookalike narrowed her eyes. "Her pain is your pain, her anguish is your anguish, and her despair is your despair. I may not be able to kill you, Midnight, but that doesn't mean I can't hurt you."
The lookalike released Midnight and went back to her table, leaving the demonic entity to wobble her way to the table. She set her baffled date on one chair, then sat on the remaining one before she whispered to Sunny, "Phew! That went better than expected!"
"What the hell just happened!?" Sunny tried to scream, though her low energy barely made it sound higher than her normal voice.
"Oh, right, you probably need an explanation," Midnight noted.
"Or a dozen!"
"Well, you'll have to do with just one for now: the girl we just met is called Nightmare Rarity. She's the evil counterpart of Rarity, just as I technically am Twilight's evil counterpart. Nightmarity for short, or if you’re feeling suicidal."
"Well… okay then." Sunny rested her cheek on her palm. “But that reminds me, what even are you? Like, do I have some evil counterpart too then?"
Midnight mimicked Sunny's motion. "Whatever do you mean?"
"You were created when Twilight got overcharged with magic, and she went nuts with it, but you still existed within Twilight after Sunset calmed her down. Then, when Twilight practically rejected you during the Everfree incident, you still existed even though Twilight should've practically erased you from existence right then and there. And then you went all philosophical and told me about the clock and the word and…” she sighed, “I just need a proper answer."
Midnight frowned. "Sunny, I'm going to give you the most honest yet crushing answer I can give you. You deserve nothing less."
She pouted. "I don't care, as long as I have some sort of answer."
"There is no answer."
That doesn't help me at all! Sunny vehemently thought. "W-Whatever do you mean?" she stuttered seconds later.
"Hey! You said the same thing I just did!" Midnight chirped, clapping rapidly as she bounced up and down. "Oh! We should try finishing each other's sentences next!"
"Midnight!" she slammed a hand on the table, jilting the cups to miniature tidal waves. Across from them, the nightmare fashionista hid a chuckle beneath an ivory-gloved claw.
"Right, sorry, I got sidetracked," Midnight took a deep breath. "What I mean is, trying to figure out exactly what I am is a very difficult thing to do because I was, for lack of a better word, an accident: Twilight had no intention of creating me, I had no intention of being created, and before anybody knew it, I was gone in the blink of an eye. No analysis, no attempt at figuring out who I was, I simply existed, then I didn't."
Sunny turned, folding her arms. "And that's the only answer I'm getting from you, aren't I?"
"It's the only answer I’ve reached."
Sunny’s retort was hacked off by the clink of a new pair of mugs against the table’s ebony. A particularly annoyed Rarity slid them over to their respective drinkers, before sashaying off back to her own seat beside her counterpart. Sunny glanced over at the cup, its chipped lettering betraying its intended owner - A “Number One Dad” - before glaring at Midnight, who had happily downed half the steaming liquid already; no sugar, no cream, no nothing.
"Midnight,” Sunny gulped a breath, as the Rarities resumed their own hushed bickering, “Can I ask you something?"
"Sure, what is it?" Midnight cocked an eyebrow, taking a sip of the Ethiopian Roast.
After daring a glance over Rarity and getting a vaguely encouraging nod in respond, Sunny wound tentative fingers around the handle of her mug. "Could we... maybe put the dates on hold for a while?"
Midnight choked on her drink, and coughed as she set the cup down and tried to gasp for air. Having read it in a fanfic once and hoping it would help, Sunny impulsively shot up and slapped the corporeal spirit on the back.
Though why was she worried when Midnight was essentially immortal escaped her.
"Where... did that... come from?!" Midnight asked as soon as she finally could breath again.
"Um..." Sunny smiled sheepishly. "From my mouth?"
"Sunny, be serious!" Midnight snapped as she flew up and stared down the teenager. "Why do you want to put the dates on hold?!"
"M-Midnight, listen to me; you can't keep ignoring the fact that unlike you, I need to sleep!" Sunny stated, as the pair of Rarities looked on in a mixture of genuine concern and amused eagerness. "I have school, I have club activities, I have so many things to do that I won't be able to do if I don't sleep properly! A-And besides, you haven't... asked me if... if I actually wanted to go on a date with you."
Midnight's eyes widened. "... I haven't?"
Sunny shrugged. "After that letter, you... kinda just dragged me out of my bed and forced me to stay awake."
"I have?"
Suddenly ashamed, she silently nodded.
Midnight backed away a little and took a better look at the exhausted girl. And she wasn't kidding when she said she needed her sleep: between the bags under her bloodshoot eyes, her eyelids’ desperate attempt to not shut themselves, and the girl's inability to stand up and stay still for longer than a second, it was clear a week of ghost-induced insomnia was a real detriment to her life.
"I... I see..." Midnight lowered her head. "I... didn't consider that..."
"B-But we can go on dates once I'm feeling better!" Sunny hastily added. "J-Just, let me sleep for a while, and ask first before doing anything, okay?"
Midnight turned back to see Sunny's forced smile, and she returned it with a nod. After saying their farewells to their hosts, the spirit swept up her date in a bridal carry and flew out of the establishment.
Sunny plopped down on her bed, hugging her pillow and laughing joyously at the fact she would be able to sleep once more. She stopped soon after, however, once she remembered who brought her back.
"S-Sorry for cutting off our date so soon, Midnight," she said.
"It's okay, you need to sleep," Midnight answered as she swished the bedsheet on top of Sunny. "And I... have some things to think about too."
"Thanks for being so understanding," Sunny scratched the back of her head. "Although, if I can be honest, I'm surprised you were understanding at all."
Midnight frowned. "R-Really?"
"Well, you have so much power, that I thought you'd just disregard everything I said," Sunny shrugged and shook her head. "I mean, why would you care about anything I said?"
The ghost blinked. "... Because I love you?"
Sunny flinched and turned to Midnight, who was by now holding back tears. "But... I don't know if you love me too. You aren’t… well, you don’t always show it too well." With that, she sighed again, deep enough to shiver.
Midnight tried to steel herself, and found that her magical confidence had all but melted away in the face of real emotional effort, the face of her girlfriend. “Of course I love you. You’re… well, you. Cute. I mean, don’t you feel the same way about me?”
The girl flinched, drawing her knees to her chest beneath the covers. She sniffed. “Well…”
Something clicked and it sounded to Midnight like a firearm’s trigger. This was too soon and too serious, and the wrong time to boot. She didn’t wait for an answer; before Sunny could explain herself, the ghost had already flown off again.
"I'M SUCH AN IDIOT!"
If Midnight wasn't both invisible and inaudible to mortals after the Witching Hour, she most likely would've woken up anybody and everybody in a ten-mile radius. But luckily, the only one who got to hear her scream was herself.
"I wholeheartedly agree."
And somebody else, apparently?
Midnight snapped back and growled upon seeing Nightmare Rarity emerging from the ground, taking a seat right next to the magical entity, who had eventually calmed down to a furious sulk atop a random rooftop.
"What are you doing here, Nightmare?"
The fiend rolled her eyes. "Darling, you're on top of Carousel Boutique, why wouldn't I be here?"
Midnight looked down, and to her dismay, the nightmare was right; she was sitting at the edge of the Carousel Boutique, legs hooked around one of its ostentatious spires.
Man, she really was an idiot.
"Anyhow, I heard your exclamation and I couldn't help but wonder," Nightmarity raised an impeccably-plucked purple eyebrow. "Why? I mean, I know very well you are, but I’d enjoy a more in-depth explanation of how exactly you figured it out."
Midnight pouted and folded her arms, avoiding eye contact with the nightmare as she explained herself, "I took Sunny back to her house so she could get the full sleep she needed, and then I got emotional and made an awkward question. Not like you care, but seriously screwed up back there."
"Oho?" Nightmare Rarity leaned closer. "What, did you ask her to marry you?"
"Heck no, nothing that far!" Midnight frowned. "I asked her if she loved me, and when she was going to give me an answer, I just... flew away."
"Ah, I see, you instinctively reacted to the possible answer with fear, especially since the answer would hurt you no matter what happened: if she said yes, then you'd have to face the fact you've been a truly awful lover, what with you basically coercing a defenceless girl into an illicit nighttime affair and whatnot. And if she said no, then instead you'd have to face the fact you've been dragging an innocent teenager into your delusion of romance and have wrecked the last month of her life beyond repair."
"That's... not something I thought about, actually," Midnight sighed. "And I guess you are right there. But, there's one thing I did think about. How am I supposed to keep this relationship from falling apart? I mean, I do like her. A lot! More than even Twilight, who technically created me."
Tilting her head one angle too far, Nightmarity grinned like a cat come feeding time.
"Oh don't act stupid, Nightmare, you know what I mean!” Midnight replied, “I'm an entity made of magic, she's flesh and blood. I'm only tangible during the Witching Hour, she's tangible all the time. She has school and a real life to live, loads of friends and a real future ahead of her. I got the loneliest existence ever, stuck with you and other monsters for twenty-three hours a day. And most importantly, I don't need to sleep, and she does."
Her tirade almost complete, Midnight brought her legs to her chest and curled up. "On paper, it sounds like our relationship is doomed to end in a sour note. And I don't want that."
Nightmarity hummed and ran an array of claws across her chin; quickly, she devised a plan. "Well, there might yet be a chance you can salvage this little tryst of yours."
"There is?!" Midnight chirped, only to grow cautious upon catching a glimpse of the fiend's sly smile. "And how do I know I can trust you?"
"You can't!” she giggled, “You simply don't have any other options."
"Dang it,” Midnight swore, “... You're right."
"Of course I am, darling." With that, she leaned closer to Midnight's ear. "Now be a good incorporeal shadow counterpart and listen properly. I shall say this only once."
The nightmare whispered her idea, and the Midnight’s eyes grew to miniature sapphire moons as she quickly thought about it.
She gulped. "That’s risky. More than destroying the world risky."
Like a dilettante walking off a train crash, Nightmarity shrugged, flicking a lock of gemstone hair over one obsidian shoulder. Her grin intensified but, after catching a faint hint of companionship in the gleaming pearl glare, Midnight nodded.
"But if it's for Sunny, then it'll be worth it! Let's do it!"
She had expected to wake up to her alarm, but the tune currently jolting Sunny awake was one she’d come to dread recently. Groaning as she woke up to the sunlight filtering through her window, she rubbed her tired eyes as she let out an extended yawn. Once she managed to open her eyes fully, she scanned herbed room to see if Midnight had tampered with anything after taking her back home.
It didn’t take her long. Despite her family’s wealth, they weren’t the sort to flaunt it and Sunny’s bedroom wasn’t a large one. A desk of incomplete homework and one rather expensive computer in one corner, overlooking the garden and pool through the open windows, and a shelf of games beside it. Another shelf, this one for books - mostly nonfiction, gifts from her dreaded grandmother, all unsorted - dominated another wall. The third held her bed, a single, and a smattering of posters above it. Fourth had her wardrobe; the door a jar and clothes cascading out of it. Everything seemed to be in order.
RIIING!
Oh, yes! Her phone was ringing. Wait, it was ringing? This early in the morning? For the love of Midnight, don't let it be who Sunny thought it was-
Principal Cinch
The teenager said something the editor later removed before collapsing back into the comfort of her sheets with a heavy sigh. The phone rang itself out, and chimed with a text tone precisely three seconds later.
Sunny groaned again, taking a quick glance at the message before hammering out an ever quicker reply. Strange that, how she’d noted the contact as “Principal” and not “Grandmother”, but the way Cinch had messaged her had made it more than clear she felt the same way. It was professional - robotic.
What worried Sunny far more than her unlikable relative was the time though - 07:43. School began at eight, sharp. The school might've changed dramatically since Dean Cadence became Principal Cadence, but there were some things that remained the same, and one of them was a heavy intolerance for lateness.
Putting aside any further complaints, Sunny staggered over to her wardrobe, tore a uniform and underclothes out from it and put them on. Then she grabbed her bag, sweeping an arm across her desk and funneling what was hopefully the right pile of homework and textbook into it. That done, she flew downstairs - her parents already gone, there was nothing more for her to do than to swig down the lukewarm cup of coffee they’d left for her and grab the piece of toast left beside it.
Wait a minute! Was she seriously planning to go to school with a piece of toast on her mouth?! That was so anime! And besides, every time a girl went to school with a toast on her mouth, she'd inevitably, without fail, end up bumping into her supposed love interest.
Sure, Midnight was incorporeal during the day, but cliches surpassed any and all logic, and Sunny couldn't handle the risk. After all, she hadn’t even told her friends yet… well, apart from Rarity. But the fashionista seemed to be in a case of her own these days.
So screw it! She was eating her toast before leaving.
Sunny's gut growled like a lawnmower and rumbled like a semi truck. Maybe she should've eaten a full breakfast rather than just a slice of bread? She shoved the concern aside; she was fairly certain she had done this routine enough to grow used to it, to manage until lunchtime at least, so why couldn't her stomach be the same?
Ugh, she needed to forget about the food. Come on, think of something else to think about! Surely there must be something worth pondering about while she walked, or in today’s case ran, the few miles separating her house from the school campus.
Another text. Sunny checked it as she hurried, rolling her eyes - it was Cinch and yes, Sunny had remembered to eat a full and nutritious breakfast this time.
But that whole affair only took a minute. Now, what to think about? Boys? Not her in a million years and then some. School? No point in doing that before she even arrived there. Friends? Well Indigo had been talking about that cruise...
Wait. Cinch's relationship with Midnight!
Yeah, now that she thought about it, Cinch was at least partially, if not fully, responsible for bringing Midnight into the world. Sure, it was Twilight getting overcharged with unstable magic that caused Midnight to bloom into existence, but it was Cinch's idea to have Twilight gather up the magic in the first place.
All just so Crystal Prep could keep their winning streak against Canterlot High.
Damn.
Her train of thought hit a blockade half a second after she did. Sunny’s world went upside down, and she hit the sidewalk a second later. Rubbing her head, she looked up - spotting a rather preppy looking girl dressed in workout gear, her face obscured by the shadows of her cap.
How and why? She ate the piece of toast at home and not on the road so this wouldn't happen!
"Are you okay, Sunny?" the girl asked in a posh Tidewater accent that more or less totally failed to match her get-up yet still worked on an oddly instinctual level.
Sunny blinked. “Rarity?”
"You aren’t hurt, are you?" the fashionista asked as she helped Sunny stand up. "My sincerest apologies, I wasn't looking where I was going."
"It's okay, I'm guilty of that too," Sunny replied, rubbing her head. "I was thinking about-"
She stopped herself. Was the potential family ties between Midnight, Twilight, and Cinch something Rarity needed to know? In fact, was it something anybody needed to know?
The answer was felt like a no, so she shut her mouth.
"Sorry for how I acted yesterday," Rarity continued, after looking around and spotting nobody else. "Darling Nightmarity woke up in the middle of my beauty sleep, so you can guess how I was feeling a little cranky because of it. Felt lonely, the poor thing."
Nightmarity? Was she talking about Nightmare Rarity? Midnight did call her that, but she said it was only said by those who felt suicidal. Then again, Rarity was her girlfriend, however that worked, so maybe she was the exception?
“Now I really must rush off. I cannot finish my morning exercise and arrive for class only fashionably late if we stay talking too long,” the girl said, clasping her hands, “But I suppose I might as well just check since you’re here. You see, a mannequin at the Carousel Boutique was stolen last night. I asked Nightmarity about it, but she said she had no idea what happened! Seriously, I do wonder why we pay her.”
"Pay her?!" Sunny exclaimed. She shushed herself and switched to whispering as she continued, "You mean your Nightmare self actually works at the boutique? I thought she was a pretty freeloader! Or just a ghost."
"Not in my house, she isn't,” Rarity replied, “Even a malicious shadow fiend should be able to earn her keep. I gave her the job of security guard during the night, making sure that no burglars could get in and steal the merchandise. She also helps set everything up in the morning and close the shop at night," Rarity sighed. "But as you can guess, she didn't do the her duty well last night."
"Well, this is the first time I've heard about it," Sunny scratched her chin. "You say they stole a mannequin? Did the mannequin even wear anything?"
"Nope, it was as naked as they come," Rarity rolled her eyes. "If you ask me, whoever stole it must've been a pretty dumb burglar. It was my favourite mannequin though… as much as one can keep favourites among storefront dolls."
"ACHOO!"
The girls turned to face the place where the sneezing came from, and Sunny raised an eyebrow. "Well, I wish you luck looking for the culprit, but I have to get going to Crystal Prep now. I don’t really want to be late, fashionably or otherwise."
"And I need to head off too," Rarity said, finally returning to her normal tone of voice. "Have a good day, Sunny."
"Same to you, Rarity."
The girls separated and waved goodbye. Rarity ran off back home, and Sunny was just preparing to do the same but to the school when another sneeze blared. She turned to the spot she heard it echo from, at a tree a few yards down the street. And she sighed.
"Gee, that better not be Midnight," she said with an expression halfway between a fond smile and a tired glare.
"ACHOO!"
Sunny ran to the blossoming tree, having confirmed it really was the source of the sneezing, and once she saw what was hiding behind it, her jaw nearly dropped: Leant beside the trunk was a girl about her own age; porcelain skin and a shock of hair split evenly between night-dark purple and dusk-bright pink.
"Stupid nose!" the girl whined, rubbing her nose. "I don't even have internal organs, why am I sneezing?"
To her surprise, Sunny recognized the voice. "Midnight?"
The girl flinched and turned to face the baffled teenager. She freaked out and tried to back away, only to hit the back of the tree and cause an apple to fall right on her head.
"Ouch! That hurts!" she whined, rubbing her skull. "I mean, I'll take anything over being blasted by Sunset's energy beam, but still!"
"So it really is you, Midnight!" Sunny narrowed her eyes. "Now, let me guess: the actual body you're using right now is a mannequin?"
Midnight twiddled her fingers. "Y-Yes..."
"And the uniform?"
"I grabbed it from your closet when you were sleeping. It was pretty messy. Didn’t think that you’d exactly notice."
Well, that mystery was solved pretty quickly. Still, Sunny did not appreciate somebody rifling through her wardrobe - she had things in there… probably, under all the junk. And there was the problem of the missing mannequin. Frowning, she went out on a limb and caught Midnight by the collar of her stolen blouse.
"W-W-Wait, I-I can explain!" Midnight flailed her arms. "I-I thought about last night, and how this can't keep going the way it is, so I asked Nightmare Rarity to help me out and she suggested me to use this mannequin as an alternative!"
So that's why Nightmare Rarity didn't tell Rarity who the burglar was, she was in the know about this the whole time! Oh, Rarity would be so furious when she told her!
"I only did it so this relationship of ours could actually go somewhere!" Midnight smiled like a caught dog. "I don't want this relationship to end, but I don't want it to become a burden for you for you either. So, this was the best thing I could think of!"
Sunny released the animate mannequin and rubbed her eyes. Why didn't she see something like this coming? Midnight was such an unpredictable individual that she could've literally done anything after their disastrous date last night. Come to think of it, this was actually pretty benign.
Midnight winced. "And that's not the worst part."
Or maybe it was pretty bad after all.
“Dearie, what now?"
The spirit coughed with shame, angling her doll-head away and at the ground. "Well, I don't know what to call myself!"
... Seriously? She just committed theft on two private properties, and the thing that bothered her the most was that she couldn't figure out how to name her alter ego!? But then again, if she wanted this to work, Sunny realized that the ghost couldn't go as "Midnight Sparkle" anymore. Even a night-themed name could make people suspicious and, besides, there weren’t even that many of those to go around any more - Sunset, Starlight, Midnight herself, Luna, Moondancer, Twilight, the other Twilight...
Although, if she really wanted this to work, she really should've picked a mannequin with a different color scheme. At this rate, people would just end up mistaking her for Rarity.
Sunny pinched the bridge of her nose and hissed in a breath - at least her girlfriend wasn’t terrifying during the day. "Alright, what have you thought up for a name so far?"
Midnight remained silent. After several minutes of that - a school bell buzzed in the distance as the two waited - Sunny assumed she hadn't thought of anything and spoke, "Fine, let me give you an idea: how about Star Gazer? I don’t think that’s taken yet."
Despite haunting an inflexible mannequin, Midnight beamed. "It's perfect! I love it!"
She didn't even hesitate! Sunny took a deep breath. "Fine, take it if you want, but don't come crying to me when it turns out some other character got to it first. I have to get going to Crystal Prep right now. I’m already late and I don’t think I’m ready to tell Cadance you’re my excuse. I mean, no offence."
But Midnight - sorry, Star Gazer - was not offended at all. Instead, she stood up straight and after a few seconds of rapid hand waving and finger curling, a purplish aura blossomed around her and, slowly, her feet left the ground. She was flying.
"Wait, you can use magic in this form?!" Sunny exclaimed.
"Why not? Sunset and her friends can use it in their people forms no problem," Midnight - sorry, Star - folded her arms. "And since I'm basically made of magic, it'd be kind of ridiculous if I couldn't control what I essentially am, right? Besides, this looks really cool!"
Sunny rolled her eyes. "I feel like I could refute that comment, but I don't want to. Could you give me a ride?"
The living mannequin beamed a wide smile, and without saying anything else, she grabbed Sunny's hand and hugged before she took off to the skies. Sunny hugged back once the mannequin began flying towards Crystal Prep, and she made the mistake of looking down.
"Don't worry, Sunny, I'm not going to drop you!" Star assured her.
Sunny was too terrified to listen.
After flying for a minutes, but it felt like hours to Sunny and bad hours too, both girls overlooked Crystal Prep, and after a few brief theatrics, Midnight began flying down as their classmates noticed them, scrambling and shouting and slipping out phones for the inevitable YouTube clips.
"Hey, look!" Sour Sweet exclaimed. "It's a bird!"
"It's a plane!" Lemon Zest shouted.
"It's something really weird, but not really that surprising," Indigo Zap added.
Sunny and the mannequin touched the ground. With a snap of plastic fingers, Star shut off the aura, kicking up a small tornado of dust and conveniently shorting out all the phones nearby.
"The third thing is the correct answer!" she declared, hands on her hips and girl at her side like she was a comic book hero.
“No shit,” muttered Sugarcoat.
"Say hello to your newest transfer student," the spirit flashed a smirk, waving an arm and conjuring a small flash of fireworks, "Star Gazer!"
Sunny was sweating bullets - no, bombs. Nukes, she was that nervous - nukes! Well, maybe not nukes. Or bombs. Definitely bullets though - and if she wasn’t sat across a remarkably ostentatious desk from Principal Cadence herself, she’d have sniffed her coffer; she didn’t put on deodorant today, did she? Never mind. There were more important things to worry about.
At least the office itself was the same comfortable pocket of gloom it had been when Cinch was in charge. Mostly, anyway - the windows were now open a crack and the curtains were drawn likewise apart: in the dim light, a trio of shelves containing every textbook and setwork in a subject the illustrious school offered and then some, a globe, an ornate cabinet of trophies, and finally and the most bittersweet of them all, a framed picture of Sunny’s grandmother alongside the other portraits of retired principals could all be seen. Apart from that, the only other suggestion that the room had changed since the past forty years of Cinch’s tyranny was the woman in the armchair behind the desk - but right now her expression was exactly the same as that of her predecessor’s portrait, and Cinch hated being painted.
Cadence sighed deeply, clicking closed the Pinterest tab on her laptop before closing its lid to stare down the two offending teenagers like a judge in court.
Sunny, seeing as Midnight - um, Star Gazer - still lazed in her chair without a care in the world - began, "U-Um, P-Principal Cadence, I-I can explain-"
"Oh, I'm certain you can, Sunny Flare," Cadence answered. Her tone didn't hold any actual malice, but it still got the point across that the pink lady wasn't someone to screw around with. At all. The sudden surge in detentions proved that much, even if they were just for genuine offenses like bullying and theft. "But for now, I want to focus on this supposedly "magical" student that appeared to be carrying you like a bride," she continued, pointing a perfectly manicured finger at the cocky ghost and her mannequin body.
Sunny gulped. "Y-Yes, ma'am. Understood, ma'am."
"Okay, so... Star Gazer, right?" Cadence asked, earning a nod from the living dummy. "I wasn't informed we'd be getting a transfer student... Where are you transferring from, anyway?"
Sunny eyed the living mannequin. Even if her appearance was completely different, Star was still Midnight, and thus still utterly unpredictable. Come to think of it, they really should’ve thought this through. Like, at all. Even a-
"I come from Witching Woods Institution!" the ghost interrupted.
Or she could just make up a school! That works too!
"Oh, you mean the school that's located close to Camp Everfree?" Cadence smiled then, with a mixture of fond nostalgia and total skepticism. “I was the student president there, back in my day. Good times.”
Wait, it actually existed?! Not that it was a problem, in fact, it was perfect for the charade, but still, it existed?! And Cadence went there!?
"Yep! That very same one! Saw your plaque on the wall too." Star blushed, somehow, and scratched the back of her head. "You see, I decided to transfer here in order to live closer to the city, but it seems that the dossier the school admin sent never arrived."
Cadence hummed. "I guess that's to be expected, there was an incident at Camp Everfree not too long ago, so maybe they got tangled in the mess."
How was the mannequin able to blush, Sunny would never know, but the more important thing was that things were going well for once! If only her girlfriend could keep it up...
"Although, that still doesn't explain how you’re able to fly, or use magic at all," the principal continued, folding her arms atop the desk and fixing Star with a glare that could stop a train.
And there was the roadblock. Sunny winced and tried not to show it.
"Well, you see, this is kinda personal," Star bluffed. What, did she have an actual story planned? "You see, during an attack at Camp Everfree, by someone named Gaea Everfree I believe, magic was used to such an extent, some of it leaked into our school, and caused all of us to become empowered by magic. Yeah, really."
That’s right, Sunny remembered - Midnight was actually there for that fateful school trip. Admittedly, from her own understanding of the event; what little her girlfriend had bothered to tell her; the spirit had mostly stayed haunting the sidelines and/or the girl’s locker rooms, but she definitely had seen the whole thing. Combine that with the fact that the Crystal Prep students were almost all too self-absorbed to even care about Star’s flight earlier, it shouldn’t be too much of an issue to convince Cadence of the truth. Still, Cadence wasn’t a student, and Sunny did have a twinge of doubt that the lie might be a house of cards just waiting to collapse here.
"Do you know the people who helped save the camp? It's kinda like them!" Star continued. "I think they were called Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie...Rarity...” she paused for a second before the final pair of names, “Sunset Shimmer and Twilight Sparkle. .
A hint of sadness trailed at the last part. Guess Star wasn't over those two yet. Come to think of it, Sunny wouldn’t be either in her position. Hey, even she still actually felt some guilt over the way she’d treated Twilight for the past four years.
"Hmm, well, that's certainly unfortunate," Cadence rested her chin on the back of her hand as she scrutinized the luckily living and breathing mannequin. "I assume the principal of your school managed to help you deal with the sudden rise of powers? Last I checked, Ms Glimmer was quite the mentor figure."
"Nope! She retired! Sudden kite flying accident put her right out of commission. I had to figure totally everything out on my own!" Star chirped. "But the vice-principal did keep an eye on everyone for everything else, so I guess you could say he did help us."
Cadence took a deep breath. "Alright, your story sounds logical enough, and I have too much work for today to give it a closer look,” she said, referring to the ten pages of kitten memes she had left to browse, “However, I will look at it in-depth later, and if I find any holes in it that reveal it to be a lie, I hope you have an explanation. Until that point, you may attend classes as normal. But, please, please do not abuse whatever powers you have. We do not need the media coming over here… again. That goes for you too, Miss Flare."
Great, the principal was wary of Sunny too. And what's worse, it had nothing to do with Cinch! Thanks Midnight, and no, you don't get to be called Star right now!
"For now, classes are about to start, so get going you two. I don’t want to see you in here twice in one day, and certainly not over a lateness complaint."
"Yes, Principal Cadence," Sunny said as she stood up. "Come on, let's go Star."
"Got it!" the ghost cheered, springing to her feet and earning a glare from the principal. Sunny grinned more sheepishly than a lamb on Passover night and placed a cautious hand on her girlfriend’s shoulder, and pressed until the mannequin’s heels touched the ground again.
Sunny held Star's hand as the two walked over to the lockers, the former keeping her head low with an exasperated expression, while the latter cheerfully strolled without a care in the world, occasionally leaving the crystal tiles in an oblivious hover before being tugged back down to the grim reality of the American school system.
"That too came out way better than expected!" Star cheered. "I almost thought she would..." A sudden ray of insight hit her then and the ghost eyed her surroundings, then leaned closer to Sunny's ear and whispered, "The you know what, right?"
"We're not in the clear yet, Midni-em-Star" Sunny sternly pointed out. "She's going to look at the story you gave her later, and if she finds any holes in it, she's no doubt going to call us to explain ourselves. We need to think of something to say when that happens. I mean, this Principal Glimmer person didn’tactually retire, right?"
"And I agree, but for now, I wanna greet all of my new classmates!" Star spotted Lemon Zest in the distance. "Hi new classmate!" she waved, hard enough to nearly unscrew her own hand.
The greenette rolled her eyes and went back to pretending to study, a Switch hidden in her textbook and her head hidden underneath a curtain of lime hair and a pair of pounding headphone boths. Busy - Exams, she signed to no avail.
"I think she likes me!" Star whispered to Sunny, a grin nearly splitting her plastic face in half. "Sadly for her, though, I'm already taken. If you know what I mean."
"Okay, first, you're not going to get into anybody's good side that easily here at Crystal Prep; you're gonna have to earn their trust first," Sunny sighed. "And second, even if she did like you, she wouldn't know you're dating someone."
Star frowned. "Why not?"
Sunny took a deep breath, brought Star to a shadowy corner so nobody would see them, and she confessed right to her ear:
"I... haven't... told any of my friends that we're dating… Also… ‘Star Gazer’ only, like, started existing today, remember?"
Sunny separated and prepared for anything that Star would throw at her, flinching slightly and realizing that, yeah, she probably should’ve showered last night. A scolding, a puppy dog eyed look, even a magical blast since her being magical wasn't exactly hidden right now - no matter what Cadence said - neither was off the table.
She certainly didn't expect confusion, though. Midnight, somehow, blinked. "Why would you? I mean, I just recently became Star Gazer."
"No, you don't understand, I haven't told them I had a relationship with you, as Midnight, nor as Star, or, like, with anyone. Ever." Sunny calmly explained. "Not only did I never find the time, but you have to admit, who would believe me if I told them that I was dating a… somebody, like, literally made of magic."
"Well, why not tell... Sunset and her friends?" Star shrugged. "One of them is in a similar situation, even. And I mean, for all their faults they’re not bad people."
"Yeah, but I didn't know that until last night," Sunny put a hand on Star's cheek. "Look, just, don't tell anybody okay? I don't think they're ready to know I've been dating a magical being capable of destroying the universe. I swear Sour Sweet still thinks I’m straight. Either that or a furry. Actually forget I said anything. Can we just be subtle, okay?"
"Well, when you put it like that..." Star flashed a little smile. "Alright, Sunny dearest, the secret is safe with me."
Midnight-as-Star was surprisingly calm and understanding. Sunny honestly expected she would go back to her chipper sociopathy as soon as they left this conversation, though. Oh joy.
"Okay, so, let's go to class, we're gonna be late,” Sunny said, a bell’s ear-stabbing chime ringing the pair out of their conversation and back into school.
"Sure, lead the way!” Star cheered, springing into the air and clapping her hands, “Like, please do. 'Cause I have no idea where anything even is!"
Sunny couldn't help but release a chuckle as she grabbed Star's hand, and the two walked to the first class they'd have, exchanging little smiles as the people around them mostly ignored them or stared on in social media infused disbelief.
Meanwhile, at Canterlot High, Rarity walked through the door and caught her breath as she headed for her class. On the way there, however, she bumped into Twilight, who was looking at some sort of gadget.
"Oh sorry, sweetie, I didnt watch where I was going!" Rarity apologized, though she got no response from Twilight in response. "Um, Twilight, darling. We talk to people in this school, remember? Sociability, you know?"
"This doesn't make any sense," Twilight eventually muttered.
"No, darling. Its sort of the basis of modern culture. Actually, hello, Earth to Twilight?" Rarity snapped her fingers twice, finally getting the girl's attention. "What's got your mind covered, sweetie? What’s that odd widget there also?"
"Well, remember that science fair where I invented a gadget capable of detecting magical alter egos?" Rarity couldn't honestly remember, but she nodded just in case. "Well, it activated on my last visit to your Boutique, and..."
Twilight showed the gadget to Rarity, revealing the screen had a flashing image between Rarity... and Nightmare Rarity.
Luckily, the musty collection of rooms was deserted at this hour - lessons had just begun, after all, and, while it was still a public high school, the principals had enough sense not to subject anyone to Haycartes at this hour. And considering that Twilight knew all too well about Rarity’s little secret, having photographic proof of it too, there was no doubt in the fashionista’s mind that the self-proclaimed scientist was about to drill her worse than a Vietnam-era boot camp.
"Okay, Rarity, I'm not gonna take away too much of your time, or at least I hope I don't," Twilight replied as she took a seat at a desk and pulled a notepad and a pen from her bag, "I mean, we’re technically missing math class after all. But people just don't suddenly gain an evil twin overnight. An intense sensation of negative emotions and a load of magic is required in order for them to come into existence-"
"Spirit," Rarity interrupted, lounging on a nearby couch and struggling to stay calm.
Twilight paused. Her scribbling stopped. "Uh, come again?"
"Calling what you saw an ‘evil twin’ isn't exactly accurate, darling, especially considering how radically different she looks from yours truly," Rarity explained, steepling her fingers, “Calling dear Nightmarity a ‘spirit’ would be more appropriate."
"She?" Twilight wrote on her notepad. "So, it's a female, like biologically. Wait, it has biology? That would imply its corporeal and then..." for a while she babbled.
Eventually, Rarity rose, sashayed over to her and chimed in, "No, darling, It's a guy that just so happens to look like a girl, like in those droll animes Sunny Flare watches," the seamstress rolled her eyes, "Look, could we skip the foolish questions and speculation and head straight to the meat of the matter? Unlike you, I probably should study for the upcoming exams. Trigonometry is quite the beast."
"You're surprisingly eager to get this over with."
"Classes have already started, Twilight, and both your and my perfect attendance records are in danger. That and this place simply reeks of… dust."
Flinching, Twilight wrote that down too and hastily asked, "Okay, so, just one question then; how did that spirit come into existence? What caused this."
Rarity took a deep breath, collected herself, and then explained, "One day, during an ordinary evening at the Boutique, we received an... unexpected costumer. My boss-"
Twilight choked. "Wait, don't you own the place?"
"Come on, Twilight, I'm sixteen! And besides, nobody owns anything anymore. We rent, as is vogue. Anyway, my boss had me take care of the customer, so I did. I had to use all the patience in the world simply to take her measurements, since she just wouldn't shut up about how her life had gone to shambles and howmagic was responsible for everything."
The girl raised an indigo eyebrow, but she kept quiet as Rarity continued her story.
"Eventually, my frustration got so great with that dreadful hag, pardon my French, that it took living form and created the spirit you saw in the picture you… somehow have. The spirit lashed out at her, and when she recognized it was made of magic, she fled" Rarity lowered her head. "It took a lot of explaining what happened before my employers decided to rehire me. But while I was looking for work, I kept talking with the spirit... and eventually... I couldn't help but-"
"Rarity, wait, before you keep going," Twilight adjusted her glasses. "You say you got a customer, a woman, who knew about magic, hated it, and recognized a being made of magic... Could this person be-"
"Principal Cinch? Or, as Hoity called her, Ex-Principal Cinch?" Rarity hid her giggling with a manicured hand. "Yeah, it's her."
The bell chose that moment to clang Twilight’s pen clean out of her shaking hands.
"Well, guess our perfect attendance records are in shambles," Rarity declared as she extended a hand forward. "Wanna dash and see if we can make it before the teacher notices? Or at least write up a proper excuse."
Twilight just stood there, completely paralyzed in disbelief. "Huh?"
Due to the principals’ excessive gullibility, one white lie later and Rarity as well as a rather put off Twilight were both free. While the former claimed some excuse about a broken keytar and some unwelcome suitors, Twilight had gathered with the rest of her friends and told them what she herself had been told. Needless to say, while their reactions were varied, confusion was the tone they all shared. Pinkie nearly choked on her cupcake and passed out.
"Ah'm sorry, what?"
"Ex-Principal Cinch! Hahaha!"
"Poor Rarity."
"Cinch had it coming, let's be honest."
Ak, awk, cough cough.”
"So, if I'm getting this right," Sunset spoke, getting everyone's attention and slapping the rainbow-frosted confection out of her friend’s lungs. "Cinch got fired, went to Canterlot Boutique to vent slash change her outfit for the first time this millenium, and Rarity failed to contain her anger, which gave birth to that evil twin of hers?"
"She insisted it was more of a spirit than a twin," Twilight said, picking at her food. "But yeah, everything else is right. So, what do you think?"
"Well, it's quite obvious the other person isn't Rarity's twin!" Pinkie Pie stated, pointing at the picture Twilight snapped. "I mean, they don't look remotely alike! Like, they’re as different as black and white. As different as me and… uh, Maud. Yeah, her."
"No, Pinkie, we’re talking about the existence of the spirit!" Twilight clarified. "If my calculations are correct, then this might be a similar entity to... Midnight Sparkle."
The group gasped. Applejack even took off her hat.
"Are you sure about that, Twilight?" Sunset frowned, scratching her head. "That's a pretty serious thing to say."
"Made of magic, created from negative emotion, Cinch technically responsible, everything checks out!" Twilight stated.
"Actually, one thing doesn't fit in," Rainbow Dash remarked. "Midnight Sparkle was made when you got corrupted by wild magic, wasn't she?"
"Yeah, and the concentration of magic was made of all our magic combined, and then some!" Fluttershy spoke. "Rarity would need to have absorbed all our magic before the incident in order to create... what's her name again?"
"I didn't manage to get her name; just as Rarity brought up the more important details, the bell rang," Twilight sighed. "And I have the feeling if I try to ask her again, she's not gonna tell me anything. She pretty much disappeared once lunch started."
"Maybe we all could ask 'er?" Applejack suggested.
"And risk bothering her enough to make this worse?" Twilight shook her head. "I'm sorry, but it's too risky; as far as we know, this is an unforeseen chain of events, and we need to be careful lest something else happen?"
Pinkie Pie tilted her head. "Like what? Oh! Like two spirits?"
Twilight sank her head and took a deep breath. She eyed each of her friends, and once she had gathered enough courage, she revealed what was concerning her the most.
"Like Midnight Sparkle coming back."
The group gasped once again, and like last time, Sunset was the first to speak up, "How could that be possible? Midnight Sparkle was your corrupted self; by conquering your fear of magic, you conquered Midnight Sparkle! She's no longer around!"
"By that logic, Rarity's comparatively small pool of magic shouldn't be able to create an evil spirit after a single intense negative emotion, and yet here we are."
Twilight's friends had no counterargument. Pinkie’s hair lost its poof. Fluttershy flinched. Rainbow groaned and Applejack downed what she insisted was non-alcoholic cider. Sunset rested her chin in one hand and tattooed the aluminum table with the other.
"Look, we've all faced magic before,” elaborated Twilight, “And we know that when it gets involved, everything is possible. So, until we get more information, we should approach this with the utmost caution."
Just then, the bell sounded, and the girls hastily finished their lunch before heading for class.
"Twilight, wait!" Sunset exclaimed, hurrying after her to an advanced class she herself had forgotten to apply for. "I'll come with you!"
The bespectacled girl turned around, and raised an eyebrow.
"We have our next class together, I think, well I sit in on it anyway, but besides that, I got an idea," Sunset smiled and raised a finger. "Once school's over and everybody's heading home, we could ask Rarity what's going on together!"
"Isn't that a greatly toned down variation of Applejack's suggestion?"
"Yeah, but listen: we're the only ones of her friends who knows what it feels like to create an evil living spirit of magic. If somebody can help her, It's us! Empathy!" she clicked her fingers at finally getting to bring up her element.
Twilight looked skeptical for a moment, but a little thinking made it clear this was her best chance to get answers. That, and Sunset's puppy dog eyes compelled her.
"Alright, let's do that. But please, be careful."
Rarity had a yawning pit in her guts as she strode towards the school's entrance. She didn't know why, but she had a feeling she was being stalked. Either that, or somebody was about to get in her way-oh hey, Sunset and Twilight were there!
"Hello there, Rarity!" Sunset greeted with a poisonous amount of cheer. "Fancy seeing you here! At school! That place we attend daily!"
"Darling, I'm heading back home. I’m feeling awfully foul and I’m waiting for a taxi. Now isn’t really the perfect time." Rarity sighed. "What in Chanel’s name is so important that you decided to bother me out here instead of waiting or, I don’t know, texting me?"
"Right, I guess that would be the less weird option, wouldn't it?" Twilight smiled sheepishly. "Sorry."
"It's okay, I am all too familiar with you two and your numerous problems with normal human social interaction," Rarity waved her hands and smiled. "Now, I'm kind of in a hurry and kind of not trying to have a fit, so if you’ve got something to ask, darlings, do be quick."
"Don't worry, we'll be very quick," Sunset promised, leaning against the portal statue with her arms crossed and almost falling into it, "Now. What can you tell us about the evil spirit that appeared in Canterlot Boutique?"
Rarity's smile slowly turned into an angry frown, and she spun to Twilight, conjuring a panel of magic diamond in the rough shape of a sword some yards away. It flicked like an adder’s fangs. "You told them didn't you? I trusted you, darling!"
"This is a very concerning topic, Rarity, who knows how our friends would've reacted if I didn't tell them when I could," Twilight replied, tapping her glasses. "And remember, the only thing we want to do is help you, so if you could give us more information-"
Rarity threw a hand over Twilight's mouth, and took a deep, heavy breath before releasing her and stating bluntly, "I believe this conversation is over. Please, go on and talk to yourself. Speculate. I’ve had enough."
With that, she brought the reflective panel close enough to mirror their stunned expressions and walked away. Seconds later, Sunset sprinted up to her and grabbed her arm.
"Rarity, please! If something's going on and you need help, you need to tell us!"
"I have nothing to say to you, Sunset."
"Not even a little hint or clue?" Twilight added. "Something that could help us understand this better? We’re trying to help"
"No hint, no clue, no nothing! May I leave now!?"
Sunset kept her grip firm, even when Rarity shot quite the glare at her and summoned the wicked sharp diamond closer. She only released her once Rarity smaked her with its blunt face and pushed her away, hissing, "Let me be very clear with you: Don't. Get. Involved!"
A cage of the white crystals burst from the ground between the girls, and no matter what Twilight and Sunset did, the wall wouldn't budge.
Seeing this was her chance, Rarity took a couple steps back before bolting out of the premises, at which point the walls vanished to dust.
"Rarity had never done that before," Sunset said, rubbing her head. "Not like that, anyway."
IInstinctively, Twilight whipped a gadget from a pocket and used it to analyze the crystals before they vanished, because of course she had a gadget for that. She’d bought it online.
"I can confirm it," she said. "Compared to her usual magic output, this was notably twice as strong than usual. Sharper too."
Sunset frowned, running a shorn lock of bacony hair through her fingers. "Found that out the hard way. Anyhow, do you think it has something to do with the spirit?"
"I'd say we shouldn't get ahead of ourselves, but..." Twilight took a deep breath. "Well, you know the rule."
The unicorn nodded. "When magic's involved, everything's possible."
Twilight nodded back, and as she looked at the exit, she couldn't help but feel that there was so much more than met her eyes.
But most importantly, she was worried about what role, if any, Midnight Sparkle had in this...
