The machines and other apparatus that Twilight had set up in her new CHS lab were all doing their thing, whirring and beeping and clicking in that way that only scientific equipment could do. The young scientist herself was at her desk, looking over her notes and figures, squinting her eyes through her spectacles while trying to make sense of it all. Beside her was Sunset, who placed her hand upon the younger girl's shoulder, giving her an equally concerned expression.
"Well?" she asked.
Placing her papers down, Twilight let out a long sigh, removing her glasses briefly and rubbing the bridge of her nose as she responded.
"Just like we thought...nothing."
Sunset took on a disappointed look.
"I thought so. But then...it is magic, Twilight. I doubt this stuff of yours could really get a handle on it."
The scientist nodded as she put her glasses back upon her face.
"Yeah...you'd think I'd have learned that by now."
Looking down, she gazed upon the strange object on her desk, which she now took into her hand. A necklace, whose central jewel was but a simple circle, engraved with a purple star symbol. Twilight narrowed her eyes at the thing slightly before glancing back up to her friend.
"You think she'll be able to help?"
Sunset nodded, giving her a small smile.
"If there's anyone at this school who'll know about magical necklaces, it's her."
Twilight considered this, giving her a nod right back. But before she had a chance to properly respond to Sunset's words, she was halted by a loud nocking upon the door of her lab. Both girls turned to it immediately, and after a brief moment of hesitancy, Twilight called out to the mysterious new arrival.
"Um...it's unlocked!"
The knob turned, and the door opened soon afterwards. On the other side was Adagio, entering the lab with a look of incredulity upon her face. But that expression changed to slight amusement as she entered the place in earnest, closing the door behind her and really taking in everything this lab had in it.
"You know...when my sisters told me you'd set up a lab, I didn't quite believe it. But here it is."
Placing her hands upon her hips, Adagio gained one of her infamous smirks as she regarded Twilight.
"Quite the little Dexter, aren't you?"
But the other girls weren't smiling, and in fact looked to one another for a moment before, at last, Sunset broke the silence between them.
"Adagio...we need some advice."
The Siren's smirk faded. She knew that tone when she heard it, and she began to stand normally, giving a nod of consent to the former unicorn. Looking back to Twilight, Sunset gave her a reassuring pat on the shoulder, which the other girl took as instruction. Standing, Twilight offered her hand to Adagio, wherein the latter finally saw the pendant. Immediately, her eyes widened, and she reached out. She did not take the necklace, but rather let her hand hover over it, closing her eyes as she did so. Sunset instantly recognised the look on the Siren's face, for it was the same look she had herself when she first stepped into that cave not so long ago. As expected, Adagio's next words confirmed this.
"It's...Equestrian magic?!"
Opening her eyes again, Adagio frowned as she turned to Sunset.
"Where did you find this?"
Sunset folded her arms as she began to explain.
"Camp Everfree. There was this cave, with seven crystals. After wrangling with the camp's owner, who'd been taken over by their power, me, Twilight and the other girls each got a necklace like this ourselves."
To emphasise this point, Sunset reached up, pulling down the neck-line of her blue shirt, revealing her own necklace to the Siren. Adagio stared at it with interest, then back to Twilight's, before, to the surprise of both of them, letting out a chuckle.
"Seriously...you girls can't even go five minutes without something weird happening to you? I'm rather regretting not taking you up on your offer to come along. I imagine it would have been quite the show."
In spite of the general mood, Sunset returned the laugh.
"At this point, it's pretty par for the course here."
Twilight looked over to Sunset, then back over to Adagio.
"Is...is there anything you can tell us about these things?"
Sighing, Adagio shrugged her shoulders.
"I can't give any specifics, but I can tell you that it does not surprise me that these crystals of yours exist."
A look of interest crossed the faces of both of the other girls, prompting Adagio to continue.
"As you know, my sisters and I have been in this world for a long time. And for most of it, we had to get by on just the barest scraps of negative magic."
Looking away slightly, a grimace formed on the Siren's face.
"You can probably guess that we weren't too happy about this situation, so we tried everything in our power to get more than what this word was offering us."
She looked back to Twilight's necklace.
"We never found anything of substance until you girls and your magic came onto the scene. But even so...there were rumours."
Sunset and Twilight's intrigued expressions deepened, but they said nothing as Adagio continued.
"We heard things over the centuries. Stories, whispers of some great powers in the hidden places of the world. But despite our searches, we never found anything."
Sunset looked down to her own necklace, placing her hand upon it.
"The way these things reacted to us...it was as if they were meant for us."
Adagio nodded.
"Unsurprising. There are some powers in this world that are simply intended for one person above all. Take me and my sisters for instance."
Sunset and Twilight looked to her with curiosity as she began to elaborate.
"When we first came to this world, we were unsure about our own pendants. What had once been a part of us was now separate. An item of clothing that could be taken on and off at our leisure."
Placing her hand upon her now-bare neck, Adagio took on a thoughtful look as she carried on.
"We experimented. We would swap our pendants, trying to see if they could be used by anyone. But all we found was that, despite their identical appearance, each jewel only worked with one of us. Mine wouldn't work on Aria, Sonata's wouldn't work with me, and so on."
Looking back up to Twilight's necklace, Adagio narrowed her eyes slightly.
"If your jewels work the same way, then chances are my sisters and I would not have found them useful even if we had found them all those years ago. Magic intended for one specific person like this tends to be...unkind to others."
A grimace crossed Twilight's face.
"You're not kidding. Gloriosa, the one running the camp? She was taken over by that magic, overwhelmed by it. All her obsessions, trying to save the camp...it became twisted, poisoned by that magic, until there was nothing left of her but some...some cruel mockery of her."
Adagio nodded, turning to Sunset.
"I understand you went through something similar? Back with Princess Twilight's crown?"
Although not enjoying having to be reminded of that, Sunset nevertheless nodded.
"Yeah. My mind wasn't taken over like Gloriosa, but...I remember the feeling. It was...wrong. I wasn't meant for that power."
Sighing, Adagio nodded.
"Indeed. Things like this...they have quite a kick-back when misused."
There was an air of agreement between them, during which only the clicking of the nearby machines could be heard. When it was over, it was Sunset who spoke first, bearing a genuine smile as she looked over to Twilight.
"Who knows? Maybe, given time, we'll come to understand these things and their power better. Perhaps...we just need to wait."
Looking over to her, Twilight returned the smile, giving a nod before placing her necklace back around her own neck.
"You're right. No sense obsessing over this right now, especially given how helpful they were."
The two girls continued to smile at one another, only to stop when they heard the sound of Adagio clearing her throat. Turning, the looked upon her as she started to give Sunset a look of curiosity.
"Out of interest...what powers did they give?"
Looking down at her own pendant, Sunset answered.
"It varied from one girl to the other. Mine, for example, gave me the power to see into other people's minds."
Adagio looked to her, impressed.
"Interesting. Care to give it a whirl?"
The implication was clear, as Adagio gave the former unicorn one of her usual sultry expressions. But Sunset, having gotten used to such looks from her at this point, merely chuckled.
"Thanks for the offer, Adagio. But if I looked into your mind, I'd probably feel an instant need to have a vigorous bath afterwards."
Flipping some of her hair aside, the Siren gave a brief laugh.
"Hmph! Spoilsport!"
