The crowd cheered uproariously, standing ovation as Trixie and Starlight took their bows. "Thank you for coming out, you were a wonderful audience!" Trixie threw her arms up as Starlight covertly dropped a smoke bomb, it mixed with the red flash from the magician, the combination resulting in a faded reddish-gray smoke around the now empty stage as the residual magic flickered out, sparkling at first as if it were an electrical current but fading as if it were only glitter flitting to the ground and faded away.
***
"Well, we've got Light and Indigo on the same page at least.. " Dash said. "Good thing they didn't actually fight. I know both of them would regret it...no matter who won."
Sunset crossed her arms. "We have no idea on their potential strength...so good work on avoiding conflict. Now...if two people are channeling your element...we should scout for anyone with the others…"
"Right...so I suggest their friend groups." Dash noted.
"Huh. Good a place as any. Indigo has Sunny, Sour, Sugarcoat, Lemon and Starlight."
"And Light has Octavia, Derpy, Bon bon, Lyra, Vinyl and Moondancer." Dash said. "We have one too many there…"
"Not exactly. I have my own element too, remember? So outside of Loyalty, Generosity, Kindness, Honesty, Laughter, and Magic...there's mine."
"And what exactly should we call yours?" She asked.
"Well. I only got it after reforming...so maybe something to do with my powers? Empathy would be a good placeholder."
"Okay...well that leaves Indigo's group missing one."
"...Starlight has someone who she interacts with regularly… Trixie. So if anything, she could have some residual magic...especially since she's been involved with everything here as well."
"This is making my head hurt…"
"Me too. Wanna call it a night? We can ask the girls tomorrow."
"Sounds good."
Sunset clicked off the light and scooted under the covers with Dash.
***
Trixie walked into the school, shoulders back and nose in the air. Pride exuded from her. Her best show, and pay day, was the night before. Confidence was finally back behind the bravado she maintained in public.
"Snails, look out!" A voice warned before Trixie was bowled over by the younger boy.
"Ahhh, sorry Trixie." He extended his hand, having stood back up quickly.
'No harm, really.' She thought, but a sudden anger spiked within her as she shot to her feet. 'Huh?' She heard her voice speaking without even consulting her thoughts.
"WATCH WHERE YOU'RE GOING! I swear, if the great and powerful Trixie wouldn't be reprimanded for it, she'd make you suffer." She growled in the shivering boy's face. His eyes teared up slightly before he backed away and ran.
Trixie blinked, unaware of the red that had taken over her natural eye color...the wisps fading from the sides of her eyes. "W-Wait! I didn't mean…" She held her hand out before realizing she was in the middle of a group of student's disapproving looks. The confidence slipped from her. Her shoulders slumped.
"I thought yous was a lot nicer, Trixie. Guess we was wrong." Snips said before turning to follow his friend.
That did it. All the good she'd felt was gone in a flash. She looked around before darting down an empty hallway.
The change in her eyes didn't go unnoticed. A certain blue haired guitarist watched as Trixie darted off, he glanced back to the crowd as they dispersed. Some muttering about how they knew she hadn't changed.
He caught one boy's arm. "Hey, Sandalwood. Did you...notice anything different about Trixie?"
"Other than her having some seriously bad vibes? Nah. Why?" He asked.
"Maybe I was seeing things…" He shook his head as he began down the hall. "Later!"
***
"Dear...this is unbearable…" Octavia sighed, fanning herself with her hand. "Can we not do this in a music room with air conditioning..?"
Vinyl gave her a pout. Not just any pout. The pout. The one that guaranteed Vinyl got her way.
"That's hardly fair…" She mumbled, the dj tilted down her glasses, giving her a glimpse of the eyes beneath. Octavia's resolve crumbled as her girlfriend continued to rewire a speaker.
Octavia sighed again, looking to the window nearby. She extended her hand towards it, feeling a rush of air as it flowed from her fingertips. She blinked, seeing the white flow of air pass by Vinyl who jolted up and shivered at the touch. The confused DJ turned, looking to Octavia before her jaw slackened.
"Wh-What is it?" She asked.
Vinyl adjusted her glasses before bringing her hands up to sign. 'Glowing'.
***
"Sunny! You have to help, hurry!" The director shouted, grabbing her arm and pulling her along.
"Juniper, what are you doing at my school?" She asked, being pulled along.
"Autumn and I were scouting filming locations of course." She said simply. "But that's not important! She got caught in the freezer!"
"There's a safety latch in the freezer." Sunny pulled her arm free as Juniper stopped to catch her breath. "And if she's in such a dangerous spot...why did you come find me and not call me?!" She asked.
"SO I MESSED UP, OKAY?!" She defended. "Sorry I'm not as smart as you! I panicked! Now please, I know we don't get along very well. But help Autumn?"
Sunny sighed. "Of course...lead the way." She said, following after her. "You know...I don't think you're dumb, but I do understand if I come off as rude sometimes." She said as she walked.
"Sorry ...this project has been at a standstill...and I feel responsible, so I...figure you girls aren't very happy with me." Juniper said as she led her to the freezer.
"Crass as it is to say, Indigo would simply leave it at 'shit happens'." She shrugged.
They grabbed onto the handle and yanked it, and nothing happened.
"Dammit!" Juniper hit the door. "Autumn! You okay in there?"
"A little chilly...if I'm being honest…" The normally bubbly girl shivered.
"...is the handle frozen..?" Sunny asked.
"Sunny? Oh, uh...surprise! We came to visit!" Autumn said before coughing.
"Focus Autumn. Is the handle frozen on your side?"
"I think..?" She said. "It's hard to keep a hold on."
"WHY WERE YOU IN THE FREEZER?!" She growled, grabbing the handle again and pulling, unaware of how much strength she was using...the handle bending somehow as Juniper pulled at the door itself.
"We were hiding!" Juniper admitted, a bead of sweat running down her forehead as the annoyance seemed to radiate off of Sunny.
A loud crack came from the other side of the door before she and Juniper fell to the floor as the door slid open, Autumn falling on top of them. She was shivering and pale...but the color returned extremely quickly as she latched onto the source of warmth.
Sunny groaned, holding her head. "Autumn, please…" She mumbled.
"You're like a furnace though…" She sighed happily.
Juniper giggled. "Indigo is gonna be upset that you're feeling up her girl."
"This is life or death, Juniper!" The girl whined but pushed off.
"Whoa...why are you glowing, Sunny?"
"Huh?"
***
Rarity sat in class, taking notes...until her geode necklace glowed faintly. The light getting her teacher's attention.
"Rarity, what is that?" She asked.
"Oh. Uh...pardon me...I believe I should look into this." She stood. The teacher nodded and Rarity rushed out.
She brought her phone to her ear. "Sunset, darling...something is happening with my geode."
"Uhh...get...get to the lab. Oh man...what is going on?" She sighed. The frustration in her voice made Rarity frown.
"Darling, are you doing alright?"
"I'm...I'm Okay. Just...confused and annoyed. Nothing is lining up."
"We'll figure this out, darling." She assured.
***
Trixie wiped her eyes, opening the bathroom stall. She stepped to the sink, running some water and washing the tear tracks from her face. She sighed, looking into the mirror and jumping back with a shout.
Her reflection had a darker skin tone, her hair more lustrous, flowing around her shoulders in a stylish magician's outfit...sort of like her performing outfit. Her eyes were red, the same color flowed from the energy at the edges of her eyes.
"Finally, you see how great and powerful you can be." It spoke.
"Y-You're...what are you?"
"Everything you want to be. You just need to let me help you." She extended her hand. "Take my hand Trixie, who better to guide you to your dreams...than the you that achieved them."
Trixie bit her lip. "You're…"
"Only wanting to help." The voice spoke. "Acceptance. Recognition. Wealth. Power." It continued. "We do it all...though it took me much longer on my own…"
Trixie looked at the hand.
"Mother missed us...you know?"
Her heart dropped.
"Come now, the sooner we prove her wrong...the sooner we can fix the tear in our family."
Trixie bit her lip, slowly lifting her arm.
The bathroom door opened, causing her to jump, Pinkie looking directly at her.
"I heard a shout...are you okay?" She asked.
Trixie looked confused at the girl before back to the mirror to her...regular reflection.
"Wh-What..?" She examined herself.
"...Trixie-"
"...is okay!" She posed, arms on her hips proudly. "I must have freaked out when I slipped is all." She faked a laugh and a smile. Pinkie knew when a smile was genuine, she was not fooled...but the hurt of being lied to from her therapy partner...that stung long enough for Trixie to push past her.
"Come now Pinkie, it's almost lunch time."
Her voice caught in her throat. She turned, watching her leave. She glanced back to the mirror. "Who were you talking to then..?"
***
"Sunset...you got a minute?" Flash asked, putting a hand on her shoulder to get her attention.
"Uh...yeah. Hey Flash, what's up?" She asked, her hair was more messy, as if she hadn't brushed it in a while, and she had bags under her eyes.
"You look frazzled. You doing okay?"
"Lots of people have needed my advice lately. Guess I'm starting to feel a little overwhelmed." She admitted, scratching her arm as she sighed.
"Oh...then I'm sorry for bothering you with this. Trixie blew up at Snails this morning. Like...full on made the dude cry." He said. Sunset frowned, looking down. "That's not all. She had this weird red glow in her eyes. I didn't know if only I saw it...but I wanted to let one of you girls know."
Sunset's eyes widened. "Thanks Flash, I'll talk with her."
"This is a magic thing isn't it?" He asked.
"I hope not." She said simply, taking her phone out to message the group that now included Lightning and Indigo.
***
Indigo reached down deep, trying to pull on that thin thread that connected her to the magic. Anger? It manifested when she wanted to fight Lightning, but she wasn't upset at her now and that was squashed. She bit her lip. Being protective..? Maybe. It flared when she defended Sour.
"Ugh! I just want to know my trigger!" She growled. "I'm falling behind already!" She held the sides of her head, unaware that her aura had started to form...a stray spark flew from her, the lightbulb of a nearby lamp popping violently. She jolted and backed away. "Was...that me..?" She asked, looking to her hands as electricity crackled around them. She gasped. "My power...its electricity!" She excitedly shouted, unintentionally letting her energy flow as well, bursting several overhead lights. "Shit!"
***
"Don't fire, there's someone on the range!" Sour shouted, pushing past a student as the archer fired, glancing back at the noise.
"What?" He asked.
A pained scream came from the distance.
"You fUCKING IDIOT!" She shoved the boy, running past him and onto the archery range. She came to the student, the arrow only clipped his leg, but the wound was bleeding pretty badly.
She knelt beside him. "Stay still," She pressed her hands to the wound. "Get the teacher!" She called over her shoulder.
"It hurts!"
"It's just a scrape ya big baby." She grumbled, keeping the pressure to help stem the bleeding. Her left hand began to glow...and pain formed in her own leg. She winced, glancing over to see a red spot under her sock, staining the fabric.
"Th-Thanks Sour Sweet…" He mumbled, seemingly feeling less and less pain. She peeked under to see a barely bleeding scrape, her breathing was a bit shallow, trying to keep her cool with a stinging pain in her calf.
She took a second to bandage his leg, "S-See? Just...a...scrape." She grunted, playing off the pain. She put her right hand to the ground, a faint pale yellow glow came from it. The pain subsided...before vanishing totally...leaving just the blood stain. 'What..?' When she moved her hand, there was a deep gash in the ground.
***
"I thought Light's girls were all goody goods." Roll chuckled as she walked beside the blonde girl.
Derpy grinned. "Then I have even you fooled."
"Still, skipping class to hang out with little ol' me? I'm flattered. She smirked down at the shorter girl. Derpy smiled softly, linking her hands behind her back.
"You should! My time is valuable." She teased.
"Keep that confidence, Derps. It works for you. C'mon, lets get some grub."
"Sure thing."
"Y'know, outside of Moondancer, you may be the only one who welcomed me with open arms." She thought aloud as she walked.
"Light has a hard time trusting people...and you did fight her at first. But she's trying. She wears that jacket, you gave her all the time."
"That was a design I was gonna use when I made my own gang." She smirked. "Kinda...didn't wanna do that after getting stabbed. Or at least not at the moment anyway."
"Hey, how'd you get that scar across your eye?" Derpy asked.
"Well, it was sort of an accident? Sort of a lesson learned." She scratched the back of her head. "I was hanging out at a construction site after hours. My friends, at the time were screwing around with the equipment and a support beam broke. One of the bars had snapped and caught my face as it came down. Pretty stupid, huh?" She asked.
"It's silly. But I'm glad you're okay."
"Looking back, I wonder how I managed to live this long. I'm a fucking moron."
"Oh come on, I think you're being too hard on yourself. People can make mistakes, so long as they try to correct themselves."
Roll glanced over at her. "Hmph. You're a sweet girl, know that? Ya sure you wanna be lumped in with a prick like me?" She nudged her with a grin.
Derpy blushed lightly and waved her hand at the taller girl. "Oh stop it…" A wet smacking sound came off of the arm that Derpy had gently batted away.
"Yo, you nervous or something? Your hand is like super wet."
"H-Huh?" Derpy examined her hands as she glowed a faint gray light, wings appearing on her back.
"Oh shit! Wait! You're showing your true trait...was that what Sunset's friends said..?" She crossed her arms. "So like...being really sweet and kind is your thing."
Derpy blinked up at the taller girl as the moisture in her palms began to form small bubbles. "My magic is based on me being nice..?" She asked, surprised at how quickly Roll had gathered her wits and drawn the conclusion...despite being the newest in their group to magic.
***
Fluttershy's geode glowed faintly, she quickly took it off to examine it. "Oh my…"
"This is getting out of control…" Dash said, looking over from her seat, she face palmed. "We've got nothing so far…"
***
Sunset rushed to her journal, flipping it open to the page about the missing artifacts. She stopped at the 'Alicorn Amulet'. The drawing looked familiar...but she couldn't place it. She took out a pen.
'Twilight. I need more on that amulet. Anything you've got.'
'Have you found it?'
'Maybe. But before I go blowing our cover...if we are wrong, the person who actually has it may just get away.' She ran her hand through her dual colored hair. "We can't afford to let whoever has it realize how strong it is...especially if they have no clue." She spoke as she wrote.
'I don't have as much freedom to visit as I used to. But this is a matter of security for both worlds. I'm worried about you girls.'
'Twilight...that's not all. Several of my classmates and our Twilight's old schoolmates are gaining powers like mine has. I think they're resonating with the elements of this world.'
'Fascinating. You wrote a bit about this a while back, do you have any new information?'
'Well...it may be easier to show you in person than to write it all out. Plus...I could really use a hand. I'm kinda in over my head with this. How do I teach all of them about magic..?'
'The same way you taught our friends. With time. I'll make a request for someone to cover my duties. I'm sure Starlight can work the moon and sun amulet.'
'The what?'
'Oh, the amulet Celestia and Luna charged for me so I can raise and lower the moon when they retire.'
'When they WHAT?!'
'Oops. Thought I told you… Anyway. I'll be there tomorrow. Gather all of the newly magical girls and we'll see what we can do.'
***
Sugarcoat groaned, her head was pounding. She closed her eyes, leaning back to face the ceiling of the library. 'Why do you hurt so much..?' She asked herself, taking a small bottle of painkillers from her pocket. She snuck her bottle of water, downing two pills and resting her head on her palms, staring at the table with closed eyes. Her elbows rested on the table.
She breathed in and out slowly, this was worse than usual. With a pained grunt, she started to massage her temples. She blinked. Why was it suddenly so quiet? She glanced up a faint white glow surrounded her in a sphere. "That's...not normal." She thought aloud. The bubble faded and sounds of typing and pages turning resumed.
She glanced down at her hand, feeling a surge of something encompass herself. She calmly adjusted her glasses. "Interesting."
***
"Hey Bonnie, whatcha up to?" Lyra asked, approaching the girl. She turned, looking confused.
"Who are you..?"
Lyra froze. "Wh-What..?" Her heart began to sink.
"My name's not "Bonnie"." The girl said, cupping her chin. "Unless…"
"There you are!" Another accented voice called out. A very frazzled Bon Bon shouted, running up to the twin?
"Bon..?"
"It's me Lyra." She assured. "This...thing appeared a few minutes ago. I have no idea what it is or how it got here."
"Oh. It's probably magic."
"I don't like how casually you said that."
"Light's got it. It makes sense that other people can get it."
"Don't say it like it's a disease…" She sighed.
"If I'm being honest, the idea of multiple BonBons is only a good thing in my book."
"You…" She grumbled, turning and throwing her book at her, not forcefully...but enough to make Lyra flinch, covering her face with her arms. The book floated a few feet in front of her.
"Uhhh...I don't suppose you're doing that…"
"No."
"I have it too!" She cheered, a yellow arm appearing from somewhere on her back, extending to hold the book in a hand.
***
Lemon drummed on her desk as her music played. She bobbed her head, tapping her heel to keep beat. As it got toward the harder portion of the music, she felt the ground shake making her pause. 'Huh?' She spotted the glow on her hand. She gently tapped the pencil on the desk and felt the pulse from it.
"What the?!" She asked, the room covering their ears at the volume of her words.
"Miss Zest! Inside voices!"
"I'm not shouting…" She said in what she thought was a quiet voice.
Her classmate put a hand on her. "Lemon, you're glowing." Starlight whispered.
"So are you…" She said, noting the boom in her voice had stopped. "Whoa, it stopped…"
"What's going on..?" Starlight asked, looking at her glowing hand.
"Whatever it is, it's pretty sick." Lemon smirked.
***
Vinyl finished setting up the speaker as Octavia extended her arms, trying to bring back the cool from before.
The DJ glanced back, a hand still on the speaker, her hand glowed with a faint blue as she watched her. Octavia pausing at a racing pulsing beat that came from the speaker...which Vinyl pulled her hand away from quickly.
"Vinyl, you're glowing now…" She said.
Vinyl put her hand to her chest, feeling the same bpm from her heartbeat as the pulsing from moments before.
She looked at her hands. She signed 'Magic' and tilted her head, confused.
***
Sunset and Twilight's geodes glowed at about the same time…
"This is happening way too quickly…" Twilight thought aloud.
"Yeah! It's like someone's trying to establish everyone having powers in quick succession just to set up why the shadowbolts, rainbooms and light's crew all have powers to fight off a potential threat that may or may not already be amassing power of its own." Pinkie said, appearing behind them.
"PINKIE!" Sunset shouted, Twilight and...Applejack? catching her from falling out of her seat.
"We came to tell y'all our geodes started glowing…" Applejack said, glaring up to the bashful baker.
"Mine isn't glowing as brightly." Twilight noted, looking at her geode.
"Wonder why that is…"
"It's about as bright as mine…" Sunset thought aloud, examining the gems.
***
Moondancer yawned as she walked to the library.
"AHHH!" A scream broke her train of thought, she looked over to see someone had missed the last step on the stairs, and as he flailed for something to grab, she turned to try and help...only to realize he had stopped. Mid air.
She blinked before quickly grabbing his hand and dragging him to the floor past the step, before a rush of energy hit her...time resuming as the student hit the ground with an 'oof!'
"Are...you okay?" She panted, holding onto her knees as she sucked in a breath.
***
Twilight's geode began to match Pinkie and Applejack's brightness.
"Oh wait, there it is." Pinkie said simply.
Sunset groaned.
***
Trixie climbed into her rv, getting changed from her school clothes. She slid off the necklace and put it in her drawer. She rubbed her head, feeling more tired suddenly. She yawned. "Okay...bed" She said to no one before a magenta flash encased her and she appeared on her bed.
"I teleported again!" She said excitedly. "Maybe Sunset can help with this…"
***
Sunset's geode glowed even brighter in the case beside Rainbow's.
"Ugh...put a blanket over those…" Rainbow groaned from her spot on the bed.
"Guess the other one finally got their power…" She mused, glancing over. She took a loose shirt and covered the light.
"Don't think about it. Just focus on the now." Rainbow smiled up at her as Sunset returned her attention to the athlete, leaning down to kiss her again.
Author's Note
Had this done for a bit, kinda had to work myself up to post it. I want to at least finish this arc.
Hope you guys enjoy!
