Broken Strings

Twilight and Pinkie turned to face Trixie who looked like she was about to explode. "So you two thieves were the ones who stole my key, huh?"

"No, of course not! We were just um..." Twilight trailed of, silently.

"Checking through my belongings? What did you steal from my bag? Well? Speak!"

"We didn't steal anything," Pinkie defended.

"Then what were you doing in my locker?!"

"I think you know the answer to that," Twilight snapped, finally managing to speak.

Trixie raised an eyebrow, quizzically,"What?"

"Don't act so innocent! We know what you did so you can drop the act now, buster!" Pinkie yelled, pushing her head against Trixie's. Trixie, who was obviously confused, backed away a few steps.

"Uh...huh?" She scratched her head, wondering why they were the ones who were angry even though they were looking through her locker. Getting annoyed at this nonsense, Trixie sighed and shook her head. "Look, I don't know what the heck you guys are up to but I don't even wanna know so I'll be taking my key and leaving." She snatched the key from Pinkie's hand and locked her locker. "And don't even dare to go in my locker again! Got it?"

"Why? What's so important in there? Is it a stone?" Twilight asked, smirking at Trixie.

"What? Why the heck would I have a stone in my locker? You know what, you guys need to visit a doctor or something. You clearly have gone crazy," Trixie sneered as she pushed past them.

"Welp, she doesn't keep it in her locker or her bag. We're gonna have to check in her house for it, maybe," Pinkie said.

Sunset was walking to the classroom at break. No one was there except for Lilac who was looking in her bag for something, unaware that Sunset was standing at the classroom doorway. Smiling, Sunset was about to say "hi" but she stopped when she saw a green light shining out of Lilac's bag. A corner of an emerald stone was poking out, Sunset stared in shock at it. Before Lilac could pull out the full stone, Mr Doodle was standing behind Sunset a coughed to grab Sunset's and Lilac's attention. Lilac saw Sunset standing at the doorway and began sweating, nervously as she zipped her bag up.

"Shouldn't you be outside?" He asked.

"Oh uh sorry," Sunset quickly ran off. Sunset kept running until she was outside, where she stopped to catch her breath. "It can't be! But it sure looked like it. Is it her? Is it her who stole our powers?" Sunset couldn't believe her eyes. The scene of Lilac unzipping her bag and seeing the stone kept rewinding again and again in her head. Things slowly began to piece together. The missing powers, the Rainbow Dash situation. All of it. Sunset felt her heart feel heavy with guilt for trusting Lilac that easily. "How could I be so stupid? How could I be so blind?" Sunset thought, swallowing a lump in her throat. But Sunset was also burning with fury. Enough was enough. She couldn't tell her friends as they wouldn't believe her because of their trust in Lilac but...she could show them who Lilac really is.

Lilac, on the other hand, was terrified. "Did Sunset really see the stone? No, of course not! Right? There could be a chance she didn't see it...but there could be a chance she did." Lilac groaned, frustratedly. "Everything was going to plan! Why did this have to happen to me?!" Lilac took a deep breath in and out. "I know! I'll see how Sunset reacts when I come up to her. But even if she does act normal, it might be because it's part of her plan. Well, I had to be that careless with the stone, didn't I?" Lilac was about to stand up but Sunset came up to her and sat down next to her, smiling calmly. Lilac tried her best to return the smile, but it looked a bit more forced.

"Hey Lilac!" Sunset flashed a wide smile, her pearly white teeth gleaming in the sun.

"Oh hey Sunset! What are you doing here?" Lilac asked.

"I just wanted to hang out with you," Sunset said, her eyes drifting towards Lilac's backpack. Lilac noticed this and casually put her backpack on her back, hiding it from Sunset's view.

"Yeah," Lilac chuckled nervously, "Nice weather we're having, huh?"

"You said it," Sunset said as she leaned back on the bench, sighing happily. "Mr Doodle sure was mad when we were in the classroom, huh?" Sunset looked over at Lilac with a faint smirk a she saw her nervous reaction.

"Oh yeah, totally!"

"I was just gonna get some water but looks like I wasn't allowed, hehe. What were you doing?" Lilac felt the hairs on her neck stand as she straightened up her posture, attentively.

"I was just trying to get my book. I couldn't find it in there so it took me a while," Lilac lied.

"Cool," Sunset nodded and leaned closer to Lilac, muttering in her ear,"Hey do you like my new emerald necklace?" She emphasised on the word emerald which made Lilac even more uneasy.

"Oh uh yeah! It's beautiful," Lilac said, moving slightly away from Sunset. "I need to go to the toilets. Bye!" She stood up and quickly ran away, leaving a content and smug Sunset behind.

Lilac quickly entered the bathroom and panted as she stood next to the sink.

"Doesn't someone look nervous?" A familiar raspy voice sneered. Lilac looked up and glared daggers at Rainbow Dash who leaned against the wall, with a grin. Lilac stood up straight and smiled slyly at Rainbow Dash.

"And what makes you say that? I'm the one who's winning and your the one who's losing," Lilac boasted.

"Well Lilac, I'm gonna be honest to you," Rainbow said as she wrapped an arm around her, "You made my life a living hell, no joke. But, you're gonna be exposed pretty soon, so I'd better start packing my bags if I were you." Lilac pushed Rainbow's arm off of her shoulders and scowled at her.

"I'm not leaving anywhere," Lilac said through gritted teeth, "I never lose."

"Your arrogance is definitely gonna make you lose Lilac. And remember this, what goes around comes around. You can't get away with doing something bad without getting your payback eventually. And your time for fun is up." Rainbow warned her, sternly.

"Like a haven't heard that one a million times (!)" Lilac rolled her eyes.

"You'll get it soon," Rainbow said as she walked out of the bathroom, leaving Lilac on her own. Lilac looked into the mirror in front of her and closed her eyes, taking deep breaths...