Paws for Alarm

by Shadowmane PX-41

Rating: everyone
Tags: Twilight Sparkle (EqG), Equestria Girls, Comedy, Sour Sweet
Length: 6263

Twilight is turning into a cat. Only Sour Sweet can save her.

Twilight is turning into a cat.

Only Sour Sweet can save her.

Published 2018-01-18 17:10:07 UTC
Last updated 2018-01-18 17:10:07 UTC

Paws for Alarm

Author's Note

Before we begin, I want to state outright that this isn't meant to be taken seriously. I thought that I'd try out a new style of writing. One that doesn't have a lot of cohesion to the other types of work I put out and instead make something silly with a silly plot and silly resolution. Because, in the end, isn't that what fanfic writing is all about? Being silly, laughing, and enjoying all that there is to enjoy?

If you're not a fan of this style, then I totally understand and you'd rather see stuff out of me that's more cohesive, has a more structured plot, and more important elements. But if you do like this, then that's great and I might just make some more stories in the future.

Regardless, I hope that you enjoy this silly little fic for what it's worth and have an absolutely stellar day with whatever it is you're all doing.

Paws for Alarm

Sour Sweet strolled through the streets of Canterlot with her arms drooping down her sides. The cold wind blowing gently through her ponytail as she did so. On any other day, she would've been in Crystal Prep with the rest of her peers, cramming in as much as they could for their finals, even though she thought it was the stupidest time of the school year. How she and the others could put up with all that excess studying in such a short amount of time was beyond her. But regardless, she was still making good use of the time she had off.

Honestly, I swear, Principal Cadence is only nice whenever tests aren't involved... Sour thought to herself as she turned the corner to the coffee shop. At least I don't have to worry about Indigo and Lemon's shenanigans while I'm at it.

Sour went inside and headed up to the counter, paying for her usual brew: A half-and-half coffee with no sugar or sweeteners. It wasn't that she was buying the drink because of her unique personality and the witty name she had that went with it, but more because she just didn't want to end up picking a side in the long-waged debate that she had heard so much about from her family and whatever semblance of friends she had.

She took one sip of the drink and said, "Oh yeah. That's the good stuff." before heading off to the city.

Sour Sweet was a mystery wrapped in a riddle buried within an enigma. Or at least, that's what Sugarcoat called her. Nobody but her understood her, mostly due to her emotional mood swings. The way that she walked and talked, many people would think that she was insane, but not her. Maybe that was something her parents had always said to her to make her feel better, but regardless, she kept on her way.

Just as Sour was about to enter the shops, she saw a familiar figure before her. It was none other than Twilight Sparkle, dressed no longer in her Crystal Prep attire, but rather, a purple skirt and pink shirt with aquamarine sleeves. Her hair was now tied up in a ponytail as well, but her glasses still remained. She was typing away on her phone, most likely sending messages to the other Rainbooms.

"Twilight?" Sour Sweet spoke shrilly as she walked up to her. "What are you doing here?"

"Oh!" Twilight jumped up from her phone and fumbled around with it before stuffing it back in her pocket. "Hi, Sour Sweet. I, uh, didn't think you would be here today." She blushed and rubbed the back of her head while letting out a weak chuckle. "What are you doing here?"

"Oh, not much." Sour put on one of her innocent smiles. "Just going shopping, getting some grub, worrying that this test'll get me kicked out of Crystal Prep... Just another day in the life, huh?" She finished with a frown.

"You've got a test coming up?" Twilight asked. "How bad is it? I could help you out if you wanted."

"Oh, no. It's totally fine. Nothing I can't really handle." Her smile very quickly returned as she stared out at the shops. "You wanna go shopping together? I ain't got nothing better to do myself."

"Shopping? That sounds good." Twilight nodded gently. "I've been meaning to take my mind of something but I just can't seem to do it. Maybe I just need a bit of retail therapy."

Sour and Twilight made their way off towards the accessory shop first, passing by a number of stands and other shops along the way. They stepped inside and were instantly met with the sight of many different accessories. Some for clothes, some for hair, and much more.

"Y'know, I've always wanted to get some new beads for my hair." Sour turned towards the hair accessories. "I mean, the whole holly berry thing looks nice and all, but it's good to branch out a bit." She patted her own hairpiece. "What do you think, Twilight?"

"Well, it's good that you're taking that step, but I kinda like you the way you are, Sour." Twilight took a quick glance at the bands and scrunchies hanging from the hooks.

"Hmm... Maybe I should, just in case." Sour reached over and took a few off of the stand. "I mean, there might come a day where everyone at Crystal Prep suddenly turns against you and you might end up having to throw away the tacky garbage you have because you're worried you'll spend the rest of your time at CPA as an outcast and end up on the streets begging people for money because your poor fashion sense could end up derailing your entire life... But, why leave anything to chance?" She stretched them out to see just how flexible they were. "It's good to mix it up from time to time. Makes you feel like a totally different person."

Twilight gulped. "Different? What makes you say that?" Her pupils shrunk slightly. "I'm not different, are you different? Why do we have to be different?"

"Twilight. Calm down. It's just a figure of speech." Sour patted Twilight on her hair and examined the accessories more. "I won't literally turn into somebody else, if that's what you're wondering."

"Oh, well, I just assumed that you were going through a pretty bad day yourself. I mean you wake up wanting to lick yourself, you want to eat fish all the time, and sometimes, you think it's OK to jump and run all across walls and roofs while letting out little meows all the time. But hey, what do I know? I'm just a silly little nerd far away from Crystal Prep..." She mustered up the most forced laugh she'd ever made in her life.

Sour's eyes just bulged at Twilight's little tirade. "Okay. Be real with me, Twilight. What's going on here?" She put her hands on Twilight's shoulders and gave both of them a squeeze. "Because you don't sound like yourself today."

"What do you mean? I sound totally fine!" Twilight's pupils were so tiny, that they were almost invisible. "Why do you need to worry about me anyway, Sour Sweet?" She was about to feign another laugh, when all of a sudden, her body began to glow slightly and goosebumps shot up all around her body. "Oh no..."

Twilight hobbled backwards from Sour Sweet and fell to her hands and knees, brushing her toes and fingers against the ground as she felt a magical force begin to overtake her. The geode around her neck let off a faint little flash of light before a long, furry purple tail popped out of Twilight's butt, poking out through her skirt. As it finally stopped and she stood back up, Twilight's hairstyle also began to change, with two massive ears resembling that of cat ears rising up near her hairband.

"What the..." Sour stepped back at Twilight's transformation. "What happened to you, Twilight?"

"I don't know!" She wailed. "I just woke up this morning and all of a sudden, I felt like I was slowly turning into a cat! And now... look at me!" She closed the gap between her and Sour. "You've gotta help me, Sour!"

"Help you? But this is MAGIC stuff!" Sour Sweet threw her arms down. "I can't deal with magic! I can't even deal with my freaking mental state!"

"I know that, but you're pretty much my last hope at this point." Twilight felt her tail flexing and curling around. "Applejack and Pinkie are out picking fruits, Rarity and Fluttershy are modelling for Prim Hemline's latest magazine, and Rainbow's doing some exercise with Sunset Shimmer. Case in point; THEY'RE ALL BUSY!"

"So, why don't you just run over there and tell them everything?!" Sour shouted. "Who cares what the heck they're doing? Just get 'em to fix this little problem you're in already!"

"And risk making them all sad? I don't want to." Twilight took some deep breaths and tried to compose herself. "Look, Sour, I appreciate the input, but I don't wanna always pull my friends out just because stuff's going wrong. It just doesn't seem right to be the girl who cried magic."

"Well, even if I'm the only one who can help, I have little to NO experience with magic." Sour twiddled her fingers. "Well, except from that one guy who tried to scam me while I was on that little vacation once. Trust me, when you're out at sea, magicians have NO rules! It's all their show!" She calmed back down and clasped her hands together. "But I digress. I'm definitely not the best girl for this."

"Sour..." Twilight looked deep into Sour Sweet's eyes and said, "You're the ONLY person for this."

"What?" Sour slowly stepped backwards, watching Twilight's tail twitch and twinge. "B-but, we go to completely different schools now! How am I supposed to help you when I don't even know what's going on myself?"

"Listen, Sour. I know that it comes as a shock, but right now, I'm up a creek without a paddle here." Twilight scratched her cheeks instinctively. "I know that your help might not be much, but as long as you make me feel some remote sense of ease, then I'll take it."

"Well..." Sour took a good long look at Twilight's pendant, watching as a tiny little glow emanated from the center. "Alright, fine. I'll help. But not because I'm some renowned expert in magic, but because I've got nothing better to do anyways."

"Oh, thank you, Sour." Twilight began violently shaking Sour's hand.

"But I don't wanna hear you saying 'meow' all the way home, got it?" She poked Twilight in the belly. "My dog would get pretty mad if he found out there was a cat in the house."

"You have a dog?" Twilight blinked.

"Oh. My. God. Twilight." Sour slammed her hand into her face. "Did you LIVE at Crystal Prep or something?!"

"Can you blame me? I wanted to go to Everton before the Friendship Games happened!" Twilight threw her arms out to her sides. "Do you know how hard it is to get in there? You have to get at least twenty qualifications to do it! And even then, there's no guarantee of getting in unless some real strings are pulled..."

"Still, you should've made some time to go out with some of us..." Sour went over to the counter and paid for her accessories. "I mean, even Sugarcoat and Sunny don't spend all their time on laptops and in libraries. They've got their own lives to lead." She took the receipt, change, and bag before walking out of the shop. "C'mon, Twilight."

Twilight stepped out of the shop, trying her best to tuck her newfound tail underneath her skirt. As she fumbled around trying to conceal her new appendage, a few people started staring at her. Her cheeks flushed a bright shade of red as she finally concealed it and walked onwards. This is not my day... Her face slumped as she felt the tail rustling around and ticking her back.

Sour just watched back as Twilight became more and more uncomfortable. Though it had been a long time since the two of them had been together, and for the fact that she had only known Twilight for being an anti-social nerd up until now, Sour felt the need to defend her. She gave menacing scowls to the people staring at Twilight and made jerking motions towards them, as if wanting to provoke a fight. Sure enough, the crowd either turned away or ran from her.

Sour and Twilight arrived at a simple house atop a grassy knoll, with a large front lawn covered in flowers and other plantlife. The house seemed very similar to that of a cottage in a fairytale, complete with a roof that looked like it was made out of twigs and sticks.

"Sorry for the long walk out here, Twilight," said Sour Sweet. "But my mom and dad are a little bit paranoid of cities. But I mean, why wouldn't they be? Cities are EVIL. All sorts of rats, thugs, and other horrible people in 'em..."

"Wow." Twilight climbed up the path and strode through the front gate. "I didn't know you and your family lived somewhere so beautiful, Sour."

"Well, y'know." Sour gave an innocent grin as she walked inside. "There's much better, but this is pretty nice too. If you don't mind the long walk out everywhere, that is." Twilight made her way to the door. "Mom and dad are out right now. They're just getting some groceries."

"I probably won't be staying very long." Twilight's tail finally drooped out of her clothes again. "Just as long as we fix this mess."

As Twilight opened the door, she was tackled by a dog with bright brown skin and little black spots on his fur. It excitedly barked and panted, wiggling its' own tail in delight as it slobbered all over her face.

"Xavier! Back up, boy!" Sour ran over and hunched down over Twilight, pushing the dog off of her torso. "You don't tackle guests like that. Even if they smell terrible and don't get out much!"

"Xavier, eh?" Twilight finally climbed back to her feet and looked down at the dog. "He seems like a nice dog."

As Xavier was about to run back up to Twilight's side, he noticed her bushy tail and stopped panting. Very quickly, he started to let off small growls. The pet cocked a brow and tried to check Twilight's backside, only for Sour Sweet to pick him up and carry him off.

"I'm sorry about that, Twilight. Xavier is a little excitable." Sour glared down at her dog. "Bad boy! Bad! Go in your cage and behave!" She gritted her teeth as she shoved Xavier into a black dog cage by the couch and locked the door.

"You... cage your dog?" Twilight stared in disbelief at the pet prison. "Isn't that harsh?"

"Twilight, if you fully turn into a cat, Xavier is going to SLAUGHTER YOU." Sour Sweet gave the dog a look that could make an entire army run in fear. "And that's not the mean side of me talking. He HATES cats with every fiber of his being."

Twilight's pupils shrunk as she felt fur begin to grow on her arms and legs, with a few more patches beginning to poke out of her face. "Okay, I take it back. I'm kinda glad he's caged up now."

"Let's get upstairs first. See what's causing all of that magic stuff." Sour Sweet charged up the stairs, barely having to use the bannisters to haul herself to the top. All the training she had been doing at CPA was starting to pay off; which, given the number of stairs she had, was a big bonus. "C'mon, Twilight!"

Twilight tried her best to keep up the pace as she slogged up the stairs, very quickly losing steam after running halfway up. As she finally petered out, she could hear Sour Sweet running back down the stairs. Before she could make any objections, Sour carried Twilight up over her shoulders and charged back up with her hanging round her neck.

"You REALLY need to get out more." Sour laid Twilight down by a door with a multitude of stickers on it. Some of them were all cutesy and looked like they came out of a little kid's book while the others seemed like they were ripped straight out of a goth fashion column. "Like, seriously, Twilight. You know doing science is just asking for people to bully you, right?"

Twilight said nothing as she reached up for the handle and crawled into the bedroom.

Sour Sweet's bedroom was nothing like Twilight had been expecting it to be. Where she was hoping that it would play in conjunction to her personality, what she got was something entirely different. The walls were light green and pink with brightly-coloured furniture, the place was very well-kept, and there were so many stuffed animals on Sour's bed that it almost seemed like a kid's bedroom.

"I know it's not the best of bedrooms, but it helps me from going absolutely crazy." Sour made circular motions with her fingers to her temples. "Plus, these plushies make me feel like I'm not alone when I do."

"It's a... nice room, Sour." Twilight couldn't think of anything to make of her surroundings.

"Oh, don't be so patronizing, Twilight. It's a baby's room. Nothing more, nothing less." Sour stepped inside and closed the door behind her. "My parents didn't even bother to recolor the walls once I grew up. And you think you're lazy."

"So... what should we do?" Twilight glowed again, but only for a brief instance. Once it died down, Twilight's nails grew much sharper; almost to the point where they could be used as lethal weapons.

"Well, I'm no expert on whatever kinda hocus-pocus you and your friends do, but I think we should try and find out whatever's going on with you first." Sour sat down on the bed and started patting Twilight down. "Don't mind the whole TSA-treatment, Twilight. Just checking for magic."

"I don't mind that, Sour." Twilight felt as Sour gently patted the area above her chest. "Well, mostly."

"If there is something that's messing with you, then we need to tell it to get out of here." Sour felt all over Twilight, finishing off with her neck and pendant. As she tried to pull Twilight's geode away, Sour felt like she was receiving a burn. "OUCH!" She yanked backwards and tried to recover, pulling Twilight down into her legs, which then caused her to grab onto Sour's clothes and scratch them up with her sharpened claws. "GAH!" Sour jumped backwards and toppled onto the ground, which sent Twilight down with her.

"This isn't really going well..." Twilight moaned as she slapped her hands to her face, only for those very same hands to grow hair on both sides. "And it's only getting worse!"

"When I touched your freaky necklace, I got hurt..." Sour rolled Twilight away and got back up again. "Are you developing some kind of anti-bullying necklace now that you're out of CPA?"

"No, not exactly." Twilight looked down at her crystal necklace. "Until now, I hadn't even thought that this little necklace of mine could've been the issue, but..." She flipped the back side of it up, revealing a small crack in the back, with multi-coloured magic swirling around inside. "Now that you mention it, I guess it does seem plausible."

"So, you know what's going on? Because I sure as heck don't!" Sour leaned in closer towards the necklace. When she got too close, tiny lightning bolts jolted her on the nose and turned her ponytail into a poofy mess. If not for her clip, it would've shot her hair out in all directions.

"I don't even know what's going on myself, but if I had to take a guess, I would say that my magic's been in an erratic state ever since it got chipped, so it's trying to hold it all together by transfiguring me into something," Twilight held the necklace up to get a better angle of the tiny crack. "But I don't know why it would want to turn me into a cat."

"Well, whatever it's doing, can't you just tape up the crack?" Sour watched sparks flying out of the crystal, coiling themselves around Twilight's hands. Within seconds, the hands were morphed into large cat paws. "Oookay. Let me reword that. Can't I just tape up the crack?"

"Sour, I appreciate the input, but what's a little bit of tape gonna—"

"Done." Sour Sweet had already applied a layer of tape over the crack. "See? How hard was that?"

"Sour, does that really help?" Twilight just deadpanned as she looked down through the transparent tape. "Not being mean, but just asking."

"I've stopped the magic from leaking out. What more do you want from me?!" She held her hands out like claws. "Aside for some compliments for a job well done?"

"You've only temporarily stopped the flow of magic, Sour. If we're gonna have to try and truly fix this, I think we need to fix that crack up for good." Twilight stared down at the magic inside her crystal, pushing and slamming against the tape as hard as it could, but to no avail. "You've bought me some time, and I can't thank you enough for that, but that's not gonna hold this magic forever."

"Well, I don't know how to repair necklaces like this; especially not if there's magic going on inside of them." Sour pushed her fingers together. "And by the time I do take up necklace repair, you'll probably be barfing up hairballs, scratching at posts, and licking yourself clean like a filthy animal..."

"I'd look for something to do it myself, but now..." Twilight held her paws up, feeling very uncomfortable with a lack of any fingers to wiggle. Maybe now she knew what her pony counterpart was like on the other side of the portal.

"Hey. You know how you said your friends were busy earlier?" Sour felt a lightbulb turning on in her head, though it was probably the lamest and most stupid idea she could think of.

"Yeah?" Twilight leaned in.

"They must be done by now. I mean, heck, they can't be doing all their chores forever." Sour Sweet rolled her eyes. "I mean, what losers would wanna spend ALL their time doing stupid stuff like that?"

"My friends, maybe?" Twilight snidely pouted at Sour, folding her paws over each other.

"Hand me your phone, Twilight." Sour looked down towards Twilight's pockets, which her cat tail was beginning to cover up. Whether it was instinct seeping into her acquaintance's mind or just sheer defensiveness against her, Sour didn't even know and frankly didn't want to. "This isn't negotiable."

"And what if I don't want to?" Twilight put her hands to her hips.

Sour, wanting to waste no time in fixing this mess, dove her hands into Twilight's pockets and hastily snatched her phone away from her. As Twilight tried to get it back, Sour just stared Twilight down and silently jabbed a finger at the phone's password input screen.

Twilight tried her best to input the passcode in, but every time her new paw touched the screen, it managed to tap all of the buttons at once, and her growing claws were very close to shattering the screen. Groaning, she just dropped the phone into her lap.

"Ugh, this is getting nowhere." Sour picked up the phone and started tapping out number combinations in a frenzy. Every single combo she tried was met with a big fat "ACCESS DENIED" notification on it. "Twilight? Can't you give me your passcode?"

"I don't want to, because I know you'll just abuse it later on." Twilight tipped her former hand downwards. "But... I guess I don't really have a choice in the matter, do I?"

"No. You don't." Sour poised her fingers once again.

"It's 2-7-7-9-1-8," said Twilight, watching as Sour very quickly broke into the phone and opened up the list of contacts. "I just hope you know what you're doing, Sour. And please... don't be too harsh on them all."

"Ah, hold your horses, Twilight. I'm fine." Sour opened Sunset's contact and pushed the button to call her. "Social interactions are kinda my thing. No need to worry."

"Hello?" Sunset called from the other side.

"Sunset. Your friend's turning into a cat. Get over to my house. NOW." Sour hung up and tossed the phone back to Twilight. "See? Aced it!"

Twilight just gave Sour Sweet a deadpan look as she took the phone back up and gently tapped on the re-dial button of Sunset's contact details. Then she tried to place the phone to her ears, but struggled with just trying to keep it in her paws.

"Sunset? I'm sorry about earlier." Twilight eventually gave up trying to hold the phone and laid it down on the bed. "Sour Sweet rung you for me. I'd like to explain, but I don't think I've got any time to," she said. "Can you come over to Sour's house with the rest of the girls?" As she arched her body over the phone like a cat would, Sour took notice of Twilight's feet. Slowly, but surely, Twilight's feet were transforming into paws as well, only without any claws on them. "Yeah. 34 Amaryllis Lane. See you soon."

Sour and Twilight lay sprawled over the bed as they waited for Sunset and the others to arrive. As an extra procaution, Sour had taped Twilight's necklace even more to the point where some of the tape was beginning to poke out of the back of the geode like a symbiote in a sci-fi movie.

"I hope your friends are pretty good runners, Twilight." Sour pulled her head up from the pillows and turned to face her. She watched the tapes on the back of the necklace begin to bulge, as if the magic was trying to force its' way out of it. "Because if they aren't, well... I hope you like cat food."

"You're not funny, you know that?" Twilight sat up and crossed her legs.

"Gee, you didn't notice?" Sour grumbled.

Before either of them could make any more remarks toward each other, a series of knocks came from the bedroom door. Sour was about to walk up to it, but she couldn't even get out of the bed before a blast of confetti volleyed into the room and doused both of them in brightly coloured shower of paper.

"Twilight!" Pinkie bounced into the room with a spring in her step. She too had cat ears and a tail, but these were just clip-on. "We heard about how you were developing a case of anime-fever so we decided to drop on by and cheer you up!"

"Pinkie, I'm not suffering an anime addic—"

"Ooh! You should totally try on this bell I found the other day!" Pinkie reached into her hair and found a cat bell collar. She very quickly strapped it onto Twilight's neck and made sure that it was extra tight. "You look so kawaii right now, Twilight. I just wanna gobble you up!"

"Pinkie! Stop! I'm literally turning into a—"

"Catgirl! One of the greatest types of girl in anime EVER!" Pinkie wiggled her butt, shaking her tail around wildly. "We can do whatever we want and I guarantee you that there's gonna be a boy that loves you for—"

"PINKIE! STOP IT!" Twilight threw her paws out and craned her neck to the ceiling. "I AM TURNING INTO A CAT!"

And, as if fate had answered her call, the tapes holding back the magic popped off, causing the magic to burst out and envelop Twilight in a beguiling vortex of colourful magic. The lights began to lift her up into the air and morph her body even more.

"It's... too late!" Twilight felt her limbs re-shape and twist as she spiraled around above the bed. Her clothes transformed into a full body of hair and her legs became much slender and pet-like. "It's too late for meeeeeeeeeoooowwww!"

"Twilight!" Sunset ran forward and leapt heroically at her rapidly transforming friend. She violently grabbed onto Twilight's crystal and tried to contain the leaking magic, only for her to glow a brilliant hue of gold.

"Sunset?! What the heck are you doing?!" Sour clutched onto the bed as lights shot all around the room. "And why the heck are you causing a rave party? My parents are gonna kill me, y'know!"

"It's not a rave, Sour Sweet!" Sunset called from the maelstrom of magic. "I'm trying to save Twilight from turning into a cat!"

"I know, I know. You could at least make the effort not to transform my room into a disco..."

With one final surge of magic, Sunset was blasted back into the wall, where she crashed hard and fell like a ragdoll down towards a bunch of other stuffed toys near the trash can. The other Rainbooms all clamored around and began to help her back onto her feet, though her legs started shaking and wobbling like towers of jell-o.

"Geez, not even that's enough?!" Sour Sweet turned towards Twilight, watching as the magic began to shrink, thinking all kinds of thoughts. If she didn't hurry, then the dog would have a whole new enemy and Sunset would be torn to pieces. "Why can't this little magic thing just fix itself already?!" Sour cried and lunged for the pendant as hard as she could, grabbing hard onto the geode to contain the energy inside.

"Sour?! What the heck are you doing, girl?!" Rainbow Dash watched what could only be described as Sour Sweet wrestling with a larger-than-average cat as she tried to yank the crystal off of its' collar.

"What does it look like I'm doing? I'm getting rid of this stupid thing!" Sour fumbled around and unclipped the geode from Twilight's neck, the magic still flowing out all over the room. Once she slipped the necklace off, she walked towards the window with magic blasting out of the cracks in her hand with every step. "If Twilight wears it any longer, she's just gonna become a filthy cat, and goddess only knows what we can do then..." She used her free hand to open the window up, then threw Twilight's geode out of the window and onto the lawn ahead.

Once the crystal was out of Twilight's reach, it stopped. The magic inside of it fizzled down and disappeared. It still glowed and the crack was still visible but there were no more streams of any sort bursting out of it. Sour took some deep breaths as she turned away from the window and closed it up tight.

"Twilight?" She called as she swiveled her head back into the house. What she saw was a cat with fur resembling Twilight's hair and a face with an equally striking resemblance—add the whiskers, though. "Girl. I know this magic stuff's gotten to you, but I swear, don't you dare throw up any hairballs or start meowing like it's too late."

"Sour. I don't think that's any way to talk to Twilight..." Rarity waltzed over to the bed and picked Twilight up. "The poor dear's been through so much today. Can't you muster up a little bit of sympathy for her?"

"Rarity, I go to Crystal Prep and I'm diagnosed as bipolar. Being mean is just as natural to me as breathing is," Sour deadpanned and crossed her arms. "But... you're right." She hobbled forward and fell before the cat. "Are we really too late?"

Twilight looked up at Sour and raised her paw towards the ponytailed girl's face. She was about to let out a small and sultry purr, but she felt something fill in her throat, so she started wretching it up.

"Oh boy..." Sour groaned and face-palmed. "Here comes a hairball."

Twilight heaved and jerked her chest, trying so hard to evict the irregularity in her stomach. She coughed once, twice, three times, but no such luck. Then finally, with a loud cough, Twilight let out a purple hairball with a slightly brighter center. She leapt out of Rarity's hands and landed by the ball, patting it gently.

Suddenly, the ball burst wide open, causing another wave of magic to pop out. This one was more smooth and wasn't crashing against her body as it levitated her up away from the ground. The light was very soothing, and almost hypnotising to the group as it seeped in through the pores of Twilight's new body. Eventually, the magic started changing her back into a human and growing her back up to normal size. With a final singularity of light and magic, Twilight returned to normal; glasses and all.

"Twilight?" Sour's eyes shot open at the sight of her. "Thank goddess!"

"I'll say." Twilight looked down at her skirt for any excess hair. "I was worried there for a few seconds that we weren't gonna make it."

Sour gave Twilight a hard slap on the cheek, leaving a red mark behind.

"Ow!" Twilight cried.

"Twilight. Don't you dare break that crystal thingy of yours ever again. Do you KNOW how much I was worried about you?!" Sour's dark side was on full display with the way she was curling her fingers, but it was quickly invalidated by a tender smile. "I mean, if you're gone, how are we gonna try and get you to come back to the new Crystal Prep?"

"Why in the heck would ya slap her, then smile and be happy about it?" Applejack tipped her hand and lifted her eyebrows up to her forehead.

"I have issues, alright?!" Sour hollered, causing Applejack to step back. Sour took some deep breaths and clasped her hands together. "I just have one question about this whole thing. How the heck did that little pendant thingy of Twilight's even break like that? I'm pretty sure that a little piece of plastic like that can last, even if it is tacky and so out-of-fashion..."

"I'm not too sure myself..." Sunset walked over to the window and took a look at the cracked pendant. "Probably just set it down too hard somewhere."

"Nuh-uh. I call shenanigans." Sour folded her arms. "I want a good answer for why Twilight nearly turned into cannon-fodder for Xavier down there." She flicked her right index finger down to the ground.

"Alright then..." Sunset turned to Twilight and laid her hand on her arm, probing her memories.

Twilight Sparkle was typing away at her computer, filling some work set out for her by Principal Celestia. She seemed so far gone into her work that she didn't even bother to take a sip of the water or a bite of the sandwich by her side. Instead,
she typed away like a mindless zombie.

"Just have to take this square root and combine the results of that with the algorithm from the previous conundrum..." She said, bringing up her computer's calculator. "And, done!" With a final click, she saved the work onto her computer and clicked off of the program.

As Twilight turned away from the computer, she mis-stepped and ended up tripping over her own legs, tumbling over towards the ground. She reached out for something to hold on and unintentionally grabbed onto the necklace she had been wearing, pulling it down with her. As she fell, her geode slipped under her arm and cushioned her hand as she fell around a small machine.

"Ow..." Twilight stood back up and saw that her geode had fallen with her in the chaos. She took it and reattached it to her neck, not even noticing that there was a fresh new crack on the rear end and that small bursts of magic leaked out.

"Twilight? You broke your pendant by tripping?" Sunset asked, wanting confirmation.

"Sounds pretty pathetic when you say it like that. But I guess it's no surprise," said Sour Sweet. "She always was a klutz back at Crystal Prep when she wasn't in class."

"Alright. I get that your name is a clever take on something, but can you please tone down the insults? It's starting to get on my nerves..." Sunset gave Sour a small glimpse.

"What? You'd rather I be called Sweet Sweet instead? Fat chance of that." Sour turned her back to Sunset.

"I think we should go now." Fluttershy gently tugged on Sunset's clothes. "We don't need to be here anymore. Let's just let Sour get on with her day."

"Is it something I said?" Sour stared bug-eyed at Fluttershy.

"Fluttershy's right. Let's all get out of here." Twilight turned to the door. "I know how Sour Sweet works. When she gets mad, she really gets mad. Still can't believe Cinch kept her in all these years."

"Twilight... Don't you dare." Sour gnashed her teeth together, but the Rainbooms were already making for the door.

"Sorry, Sour. But it's the truth. Plus, you're kinda showing me all your worst parts right now..." She heard the other Rainbooms leave, then went out with them.

"Oh, I'll show you worst parts!" Sour clenched her hands into fists and barrelled out of the room after the Rainbooms. "C'mere, you!"